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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 569.95, 573.91, 574.11, 577.50, 575.47, 572.30, 575.54, 598.21, 608.63, 606.59, 610.44, 614.54, 626.32, 622.86, 623.51, 606.72, 608.24, 609.24, 610.68, 607.16, 606.97, 605.98, 609.87, 609.23, 608.31, 597.15, 596.30, 602.84, 602.62, 600.83, 608.04, 606.17, 604.73, 605.69, 609.73, 613.98, 610.89, 612.13, 610.20, 612.51, 613.02, 617.12, 619.11, 616.75, 618.99, 641.07, 636.19, 636.79, 640.38, 638.65, 641.63, 639.19, 637.96, 630.52, 630.86, 632.83, 657.29, 657.07, 653.76, 657.59, 678.30, 688.31, 689.65, 714.48, 701.86, 700.97, 729.79, 740.83, 688.70, 703.23, 703.42, 711.52, 703.13, 709.85, 723.27, 715.53, 716.41, 705.05, 702.03, 705.02, 711.62, 744.20, 740.98, 751.59, 751.62, 731.03, 739.25, 751.35, 744.59, 740.29.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-11-24]
Volume: 85919296, RSI (14-day): 59.29, 50-day EMA: 693.23, 200-day EMA: 610.09
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Tips on How to Protect Your Private Information On Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Americans will line up around stores and standby their computers or smartphones to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, but protecting their private information should also be priority for shoppers. During the holiday season many shoppers are harmed by failing to take simple precautions, says Gene Richardson, COO of Experts Exchange , a network for technology professionals. In Store Vs. Online Retail stores are one of the top areas identity thieves go after, Richardson said in an email to the IBTimes. A large number of some of the biggest identity thefts in the past few years were at large retail stores, he says. Long lines and busy cashiers could potentially put your private information at risk. “All the clerk cares about is getting you through the line as fast as they can so they can deal with the next customer and hope that none of you are angry,” says Richardson. “So, if there is a hiccup with your transaction, they will take “backup” paths to complete your transaction like entering your credit card number by hand.” Richardson, who is also the former head of the data security teams IBM, Charles Schwab and Motorola, says customers should never give their credit card to someone to perform a transaction by entering a card number. “Hand transactions are a huge risk for identity theft,” he says. Customers should also avoid buying if a cashier’s computer is down or too busy, unless it’s with cash, or try to go back later. Credit card scanners are also a threat to customers, as some of them may be rigged to copy a person’s information so that a duplicate credit card can be made. People may be less exposed to this action in large retail stores, but the risk is higher in smaller boutiques shops, says Richardson. Customers should also make sure their credit card number is not printed on receipts and should instead have XXX's where the number is displayed. But online purchases can be riskier because of all the extra information customers hand over, like their name, address, phone number, credit card information, expiration date and CSV. Story continues “They ask for so much more information from you to validate who you are than a purchase in a retail store,” says Richardson. “You have no control of who or where that information is going.” Tips to Protect Yourself Here are Richardson’s tips for shoppers on how they can protect themselves on Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Ensure that the website address is secure and has a valid encryption certificate. It will usually display a “locked, green” indicator in front of the website name. If it doesn’t have that, it does not have a higher level of security that has been guaranteed by a known entity like Verisign, Symantec and others. Ensure your system has the most recent recommended system and security patches. Always use a credit card that is not tied directly to your personal bank account(s), even if you are using PayPal, Bitcoin or some other payment method. Never give anything other than name, address and phone number. You should not need to answer security or privacy questions when making a purchase or checking out. If they ask, see if you can checkout as a “guest” instead. Monitor your credit through a third party for identify theft and have SMS and email alerts sent to you immediately. Set-up alerts with your credit card company that send both SMS and emails when any purchases are made and the credit card was not scanned (meaning, it wasn’t in someone’s hand when the charge was made). Set them as low as $25 per purchase. Also, set-up alerts for total purchases over $500 in a billing period to protect multiple $24.99 purchases. And if possible, a maximum amount of purchases allowed in a billing period such as $1500 before card will get declined. Ensure that you have a reputable Antivirus program running on your computer and that your browser has an Ad blocking plug-in. (Richardson recommends Norton, McAfee or ESET.) Ensure that the network your computer/device is on is secure and you know who has access to your network. This is usually done with your router. You want to lock down your router so that traffic can be initiated from the inside-out but you do not want traffic to be initiated from the outside-in. If you are using a WiFi connection, make sure that network is also secure and requires a password to join. If it is a public WiFi network that doesn’t require a password, then the traffic coming from your device can be monitored and stolen. (Link to onsite how-to article?) Any passwords that you use should be strong, hard to guess ones. Or, even better, hard to guess, but easy to remember . Don’t click on unfamiliar links to sites advertising sales, coupons, etc. Use two-factor authentication/verification, if it is offered. Shopping on Mobile Devices One in 10 mobile apps that are found through searching “Black Friday” are blacklisted as malicious, according to cyber security company RiskIQ An estimated 30 percent of purchases will be made on mobile devices, RiskIQ says. Shopping on mobile devices can substantially increase the risk of encountering phishing pages, malicious apps, and viruses that infect customers’ smartphones and tablets to steal money and private information. There are also fake apps out there that contain malware that can steal customers’ data or lock the device until the user pays a ransom, says RiskIQ. Other malicious apps may ask consumers to use their Facebook or Gmail logins, which could compromise their private information. Tips For Safe Shopping on Mobile Devices Here are some tips from RiskIQ: Ensure that you are only downloading apps from official app stores such as Google or Apple Be wary of applications that ask for suspicious permissions, like access to contacts, text messages, administrative features, stored passwords, or credit card info. Just because an app appears to have a good reputation doesn’t make it so. Rave reviews can be forged, and a high amount of downloads can simply indicate a threat actor was successful in fooling a lot of victims. Before downloading an app, be sure to take a look at the developer—if it’s not a brand you recognize or has a strange appearance or spelling, think twice. You can even do a Google search on the developer for more clues about its reputation. Make sure to take a deep look at each app. New developers, or developers that leverage free email services (e.g., @gmail) for their developer contact, can be enormous red flags— threat actors often use these services to produce mass amounts of malicious apps in a short period. Also, poor grammar in the description highlights the haste of development and the lack of marketing professionalism that are hallmarks of mobile malware campaigns. Check website addresses after following links on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media channels to be sure you end up on the true website of the retailer you want. Look for the “S” in HTTPS when you visit shopping sites. Beware of shopping sites that do not use HTTPS in their website addresses or do not display the symbol of a lock next to the web address. Secure sites use HTTPS, and without that, you’re dealing with unsecured connections or weak encryption of personal data. Never provide your credit card information unless you are in a secure online shopping portal. Sites that ask for it in return for “coupons” or to win “free” merchandise are almost always scams. Protect Yourself From a Major Headache For those who might not want to go through the hassle of setting up credit card alerts on purchases or locking down their router, it’s important to remember that it can and save consumers from a major headache. “Identity theft could cost you several thousand dollars in actual money and can cost you a lot more in your personal time and future anticipated losses cleaning up after the fact,” Richardson said. “The impact of identity theft could last years as you personally have to work to call all your creditors to fix your credit, loss of credibility for future purchases of a home, car, etc. as your credit scores will have been impacted, the effect on future employment opportunities as background checks are run and many, many more,” he added. Related Articles $100 Off HTC Vive On Black Friday and Cyber Monday American Consumers Prep For Cyber Monday || Tips on How to Protect Your Private Information On Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Americans will line up around stores and standby their computers or smartphones to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, but protecting their private information should also be priority for shoppers. During the holiday season many shoppers are harmed by failing to take simple precautions, says Gene Richardson, COO of Experts Exchange , a network for technology professionals. In Store Vs. Online Retail stores are one of the top areas identity thieves go after, Richardson said in an email to the IBTimes. A large number of some of the biggest identity thefts in the past few years were at large retail stores, he says. Long lines and busy cashiers could potentially put your private information at risk. “All the clerk cares about is getting you through the line as fast as they can so they can deal with the next customer and hope that none of you are angry,” says Richardson. “So, if there is a hiccup with your transaction, they will take “backup” paths to complete your transaction like entering your credit card number by hand.” Richardson, who is also the former head of the data security teams IBM, Charles Schwab and Motorola, says customers should never give their credit card to someone to perform a transaction by entering a card number. “Hand transactions are a huge risk for identity theft,” he says. Customers should also avoid buying if a cashier’s computer is down or too busy, unless it’s with cash, or try to go back later. Credit card scanners are also a threat to customers, as some of them may be rigged to copy a person’s information so that a duplicate credit card can be made. People may be less exposed to this action in large retail stores, but the risk is higher in smaller boutiques shops, says Richardson. Customers should also make sure their credit card number is not printed on receipts and should instead have XXX's where the number is displayed. But online purchases can be riskier because of all the extra information customers hand over, like their name, address, phone number, credit card information, expiration date and CSV. Story continues “They ask for so much more information from you to validate who you are than a purchase in a retail store,” says Richardson. “You have no control of who or where that information is going.” Tips to Protect Yourself Here are Richardson’s tips for shoppers on how they can protect themselves on Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Ensure that the website address is secure and has a valid encryption certificate. It will usually display a “locked, green” indicator in front of the website name. If it doesn’t have that, it does not have a higher level of security that has been guaranteed by a known entity like Verisign, Symantec and others. Ensure your system has the most recent recommended system and security patches. Always use a credit card that is not tied directly to your personal bank account(s), even if you are using PayPal, Bitcoin or some other payment method. Never give anything other than name, address and phone number. You should not need to answer security or privacy questions when making a purchase or checking out. If they ask, see if you can checkout as a “guest” instead. Monitor your credit through a third party for identify theft and have SMS and email alerts sent to you immediately. Set-up alerts with your credit card company that send both SMS and emails when any purchases are made and the credit card was not scanned (meaning, it wasn’t in someone’s hand when the charge was made). Set them as low as $25 per purchase. Also, set-up alerts for total purchases over $500 in a billing period to protect multiple $24.99 purchases. And if possible, a maximum amount of purchases allowed in a billing period such as $1500 before card will get declined. Ensure that you have a reputable Antivirus program running on your computer and that your browser has an Ad blocking plug-in. (Richardson recommends Norton, McAfee or ESET.) Ensure that the network your computer/device is on is secure and you know who has access to your network. This is usually done with your router. You want to lock down your router so that traffic can be initiated from the inside-out but you do not want traffic to be initiated from the outside-in. If you are using a WiFi connection, make sure that network is also secure and requires a password to join. If it is a public WiFi network that doesn’t require a password, then the traffic coming from your device can be monitored and stolen. (Link to onsite how-to article?) Any passwords that you use should be strong, hard to guess ones. Or, even better, hard to guess, but easy to remember . Don’t click on unfamiliar links to sites advertising sales, coupons, etc. Use two-factor authentication/verification, if it is offered. Shopping on Mobile Devices One in 10 mobile apps that are found through searching “Black Friday” are blacklisted as malicious, according to cyber security company RiskIQ An estimated 30 percent of purchases will be made on mobile devices, RiskIQ says. Shopping on mobile devices can substantially increase the risk of encountering phishing pages, malicious apps, and viruses that infect customers’ smartphones and tablets to steal money and private information. There are also fake apps out there that contain malware that can steal customers’ data or lock the device until the user pays a ransom, says RiskIQ. Other malicious apps may ask consumers to use their Facebook or Gmail logins, which could compromise their private information. Tips For Safe Shopping on Mobile Devices Here are some tips from RiskIQ: Ensure that you are only downloading apps from official app stores such as Google or Apple Be wary of applications that ask for suspicious permissions, like access to contacts, text messages, administrative features, stored passwords, or credit card info. Just because an app appears to have a good reputation doesn’t make it so. Rave reviews can be forged, and a high amount of downloads can simply indicate a threat actor was successful in fooling a lot of victims. Before downloading an app, be sure to take a look at the developer—if it’s not a brand you recognize or has a strange appearance or spelling, think twice. You can even do a Google search on the developer for more clues about its reputation. Make sure to take a deep look at each app. New developers, or developers that leverage free email services (e.g., @gmail) for their developer contact, can be enormous red flags— threat actors often use these services to produce mass amounts of malicious apps in a short period. Also, poor grammar in the description highlights the haste of development and the lack of marketing professionalism that are hallmarks of mobile malware campaigns. Check website addresses after following links on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media channels to be sure you end up on the true website of the retailer you want. Look for the “S” in HTTPS when you visit shopping sites. Beware of shopping sites that do not use HTTPS in their website addresses or do not display the symbol of a lock next to the web address. Secure sites use HTTPS, and without that, you’re dealing with unsecured connections or weak encryption of personal data. Never provide your credit card information unless you are in a secure online shopping portal. Sites that ask for it in return for “coupons” or to win “free” merchandise are almost always scams. Protect Yourself From a Major Headache For those who might not want to go through the hassle of setting up credit card alerts on purchases or locking down their router, it’s important to remember that it can and save consumers from a major headache. “Identity theft could cost you several thousand dollars in actual money and can cost you a lot more in your personal time and future anticipated losses cleaning up after the fact,” Richardson said. “The impact of identity theft could last years as you personally have to work to call all your creditors to fix your credit, loss of credibility for future purchases of a home, car, etc. as your credit scores will have been impacted, the effect on future employment opportunities as background checks are run and many, many more,” he added. Related Articles $100 Off HTC Vive On Black Friday and Cyber Monday American Consumers Prep For Cyber Monday || First Bitcoin Capital Corp Announces Appointment of Bitcoin Protocol Development Expert Patrick Dugan to the Company’s Board of Directors. Additional Developments Announced: VANCOUVER, B.C. / ACCESSWIRE / November 23, 2016 / First Bitcoin Capital Corp is pleased to announce that leading bitcoin protocol development expert in the crypto currency field Patrick Dugan has joined the company's Board of Directors. A serial entrepreneur with several years of experience in blockchain, finance, ecommerce and game development, Mr. Dugan has extensive knowledge of complex securitization structures and trading strategies. Mr. Dugan brings 9 years of trading experience, with over 3 years in cryptocurrency trading, averaging 50% annual returns. He served as a consultant on social game economics, and market making operations for exchanges. Mr. Dugan has served for the last year and a half as operations manager for the Omni Layer Foundation (previously Mastercoin), and has been involved in the issuance of the world's first bearer bonds on the Bitcoin blockchain. "Patrick Dugan is well known in the international crypto-currency space," the company said. "He brings a wealth of strategic experience in finance and blockchain business development. We look forward to his contributions as a member of our Board as we advance the development of the world’s first on-blockchain REIT offering." Mrs. Dugan said he seeks to bring to First Bitcoin Capital his expertise in bitcoin and blockchain protocol and assist new or existing initiatives that plan to build upon and take advantage of the capabilities offered by the Omni Layer protocol. BITCF has thus far utilized the Omni Layer Protocol to launch 6 cryptocurrencies such as symbols, PRES, TESLA, HILL, GARY, BURN, and OTX. Furthermore, in conjunction with BITCF expanding ownership of its common shares onto its own blockchain (BIT) and trading on foreign international cryptocurrency exchanges, the company invites its shareholders to exercise an option to convert their paper certificates into digital shares. Shareholders need only surrender their certificates with instruction to deliver those shares to the BIT wallet address they provide to the company. Story continues About the company: First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. "Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies." At this time the Company owns and operates the following digital assets. www.BITCoinCapitalcorp.com company website. www.CoinQX.com Cryptocurrency Exchange, registered with FINCEN. www.iCoiNEWS.com real time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site. www.BITminer.cc providing mining pool management services. www.2016coin.org online daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL and $GARY $BURN coins. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release .Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com . Contact us via: [email protected] or visit http://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com SOURCE: First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Corp Announces Appointment of Bitcoin Protocol Development Expert Patrick Dugan to the Company’s Board of Directors. Additional Developments Announced: VANCOUVER, B.C. / ACCESSWIRE / November 23, 2016 /First Bitcoin Capital Corp is pleased to announce that leading bitcoin protocol development expert in the crypto currency field Patrick Dugan has joined the company's Board of Directors.
A serial entrepreneur with several years of experience in blockchain, finance, ecommerce and game development, Mr. Dugan has extensive knowledge of complex securitization structures and trading strategies.
Mr. Dugan brings 9 years of trading experience, with over 3 years in cryptocurrency trading, averaging 50% annual returns. He served as a consultant on social game economics, and market making operations for exchanges.
Mr. Dugan has served for the last year and a half as operations manager for the Omni Layer Foundation (previously Mastercoin), and has been involved in the issuance of the world's first bearer bonds on the Bitcoin blockchain.
"Patrick Dugan is well known in the international crypto-currency space," the company said. "He brings a wealth of strategic experience in finance and blockchain business development. We look forward to his contributions as a member of our Board as we advance the development of the world’s first on-blockchain REIT offering."
Mrs. Dugan said he seeks to bring to First Bitcoin Capital his expertise in bitcoin and blockchain protocol and assist new or existing initiatives that plan to build upon and take advantage of the capabilities offered by the Omni Layer protocol. BITCF has thus far utilized the Omni Layer Protocol to launch 6 cryptocurrencies such as symbols, PRES, TESLA, HILL, GARY, BURN, and OTX.
Furthermore, in conjunction with BITCF expanding ownership of its common shares onto its own blockchain (BIT) and trading on foreign international cryptocurrency exchanges, the company invites its shareholders to exercise an option to convert their paper certificates into digital shares. Shareholders need only surrender their certificates with instruction to deliver those shares to the BIT wallet address they provide to the company.
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. "Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies." At this time the Company owns and operates the following digital assets.
www.BITCoinCapitalcorp.comcompany website.
www.CoinQX.comCryptocurrency Exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL and $GARY $BURN coins.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release .Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Corp Announces Appointment of Bitcoin Protocol Development Expert Patrick Dugan to the Company’s Board of Directors. Additional Developments Announced: VANCOUVER, B.C. / ACCESSWIRE / November 23, 2016 /First Bitcoin Capital Corp is pleased to announce that leading bitcoin protocol development expert in the crypto currency field Patrick Dugan has joined the company's Board of Directors.
A serial entrepreneur with several years of experience in blockchain, finance, ecommerce and game development, Mr. Dugan has extensive knowledge of complex securitization structures and trading strategies.
Mr. Dugan brings 9 years of trading experience, with over 3 years in cryptocurrency trading, averaging 50% annual returns. He served as a consultant on social game economics, and market making operations for exchanges.
Mr. Dugan has served for the last year and a half as operations manager for the Omni Layer Foundation (previously Mastercoin), and has been involved in the issuance of the world's first bearer bonds on the Bitcoin blockchain.
"Patrick Dugan is well known in the international crypto-currency space," the company said. "He brings a wealth of strategic experience in finance and blockchain business development. We look forward to his contributions as a member of our Board as we advance the development of the world’s first on-blockchain REIT offering."
Mrs. Dugan said he seeks to bring to First Bitcoin Capital his expertise in bitcoin and blockchain protocol and assist new or existing initiatives that plan to build upon and take advantage of the capabilities offered by the Omni Layer protocol. BITCF has thus far utilized the Omni Layer Protocol to launch 6 cryptocurrencies such as symbols, PRES, TESLA, HILL, GARY, BURN, and OTX.
Furthermore, in conjunction with BITCF expanding ownership of its common shares onto its own blockchain (BIT) and trading on foreign international cryptocurrency exchanges, the company invites its shareholders to exercise an option to convert their paper certificates into digital shares. Shareholders need only surrender their certificates with instruction to deliver those shares to the BIT wallet address they provide to the company.
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. "Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies." At this time the Company owns and operates the following digital assets.
www.BITCoinCapitalcorp.comcompany website.
www.CoinQX.comCryptocurrency Exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL and $GARY $BURN coins.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release .Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || John Reid Confirmed as CEO of Cable and Wireless: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Nov 21, 2016) - John Reid has been confirmed as Chief Executive Officer ofC&W Communications("C&W", or the "Company") effective November 7, 2016. C&W serves 18 countries and is one of the largest full service telecommunications and entertainment providers in the Caribbean and Latin America. The Company was recently acquired byLiberty Globalplc "Liberty Global", the world's largest international TV and broadband company.
"This is a time of meaningful change and development for C&W, and I am excited for the expertise and continuity that John brings to this growing region," said Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global. Reid is tasked with aligning the former UK-based company with Liberty's Latin America and Caribbean ("LiLAC Group") division, while strengthening the Company's growth opportunities, in particular triple-play, mobile data and fixed-mobile convergence, and seizing on the significant business-to-business and wholesale opportunities in the region.
"I am honored to lead C&W Communications into the next phase of our development. I look forward to achieving our growth objectives, creating greater value for our stakeholders, and transforming our employee and customer experience," Reid said.
Reid, a Canadian national, is uniquely positioned to take C&W to its next chapter as he has over 28 years of telecommunications and cable television experience, and has spearheaded complex integrations and pioneered a culture of transformation and engagement, first in Canada, and during the past 11 years, across the Caribbean. Prior to his role as Interim CEO of C&W, Reid served as C&W's President, Consumer Division and was part of the executive leadership team at C&W that achieved in excess of $100m in synergies in less than 18 months following the Columbus transaction.
At Columbus, where he was President and Chief Operating Officer, he led the Company to become a leader and innovator in the broadband and entertainment industry across the Caribbean and Latin America. Prior to Columbus John held various roles with Canadian MSO Persona, holding the position of Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer.
John holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Memorial University of Newfoundland, serves as the Chairman of Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), a 49% subsidiary of C&W, and is a member of the Advisory Board of Caribbean Tales.
About C&W CommunicationsC&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty GlobalLiberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Liberty Global invests in the infrastructure that empowers its customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Liberty Global's scale and commitment to innovation enables it to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect its 29 million customers who subscribe to 60 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. Liberty Global also serves over 10 million mobile subscribers and offers WiFi service across seven million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for its European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of its operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com.
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3082861 || John Reid Confirmed as CEO of Cable and Wireless: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Nov 21, 2016) - John Reid has been confirmed as Chief Executive Officer of C&W Communications ("C&W", or the "Company") effective November 7, 2016. C&W serves 18 countries and is one of the largest full service telecommunications and entertainment providers in the Caribbean and Latin America. The Company was recently acquired by Liberty Global plc "Liberty Global", the world's largest international TV and broadband company. "This is a time of meaningful change and development for C&W, and I am excited for the expertise and continuity that John brings to this growing region," said Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global. Reid is tasked with aligning the former UK-based company with Liberty's Latin America and Caribbean ("LiLAC Group") division, while strengthening the Company's growth opportunities, in particular triple-play, mobile data and fixed-mobile convergence, and seizing on the significant business-to-business and wholesale opportunities in the region. "I am honored to lead C&W Communications into the next phase of our development. I look forward to achieving our growth objectives, creating greater value for our stakeholders, and transforming our employee and customer experience," Reid said. Reid, a Canadian national, is uniquely positioned to take C&W to its next chapter as he has over 28 years of telecommunications and cable television experience, and has spearheaded complex integrations and pioneered a culture of transformation and engagement, first in Canada, and during the past 11 years, across the Caribbean. Prior to his role as Interim CEO of C&W, Reid served as C&W's President, Consumer Division and was part of the executive leadership team at C&W that achieved in excess of $100m in synergies in less than 18 months following the Columbus transaction. At Columbus, where he was President and Chief Operating Officer, he led the Company to become a leader and innovator in the broadband and entertainment industry across the Caribbean and Latin America. Prior to Columbus John held various roles with Canadian MSO Persona, holding the position of Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer. Story continues John holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Memorial University of Newfoundland, serves as the Chairman of Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), a 49% subsidiary of C&W, and is a member of the Advisory Board of Caribbean Tales. About C&W Communications C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Liberty Global invests in the infrastructure that empowers its customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Liberty Global's scale and commitment to innovation enables it to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect its 29 million customers who subscribe to 60 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. Liberty Global also serves over 10 million mobile subscribers and offers WiFi service across seven million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYB ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for its European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of its operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com . Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3082861
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 39747.50, 40869.55, 42816.50, 44555.80, 43798.12, 46365.40, 45585.03, 45593.64, 44428.29, 47793.32, 47096.95, 47047.00, 46004.48, 44695.36, 44801.19, 46717.58, 49339.18, 48905.49, 49321.65, 49546.15, 47706.12, 48960.79, 46942.22, 49058.67, 48902.40, 48829.83, 47054.98, 47166.69, 48847.03, 49327.72, 50025.38, 49944.62, 51753.41, 52633.54, 46811.13, 46091.39, 46391.42, 44883.91, 45201.46, 46063.27, 44963.07, 47092.49, 48176.35, 47783.36, 47267.52, 48278.36, 47260.22, 42843.80, 40693.68, 43574.51, 44895.10, 42839.75, 42716.59, 43208.54, 42235.73, 41034.54, 41564.36, 43790.89, 48116.94, 47711.49, 48199.95, 49112.90, 51514.81, 55361.45, 53805.98, 53967.85, 54968.22, 54771.58, 57484.79, 56041.06, 57401.10, 57321.52, 61593.95, 60892.18, 61553.62, 62026.08, 64261.99, 65992.84, 62210.17, 60692.27, 61393.62, 60930.84, 63039.82, 60363.79, 58482.39, 60622.14, 62227.96, 61888.83, 61318.96, 61004.41.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-11-01]
Volume: 36150572843, RSI (14-day): 56.30, 50-day EMA: 55254.89, 200-day EMA: 46420.26
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1795.10, Gold RSI: 55.16
Oil Price: 84.05, Oil RSI: 67.82
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Rishi Sunak faces Budget grilling: • Chancellor faces Treasury Select Committee
• Darktrace’s shares drop as end of trading lock-up looms
• Barclays boss Jes Staley quits over Jeffrey Epstein investigation
• BT shares rise after slashing costs faster than expected
• Ryanair post first quarterly profit since start of pandemic
• Ben Marlow:Barclays was far too slow to exorcise the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein
Thank you for joining us, we will be back tomorrow with the latest markets news
On Sunday, The Telegraph revealed that Sky's chief executive has been jumping aboard Comcast's private jet for her business trips to the UK broadcaster. Unfortunately, this coincides with its sponsorship of today's COP26 conference.
Matthew Lynnhad this to say about it:
The real problem is not whether each major company has a perfect record on combating CO2 emissions or not. It is the corporate grandstanding that surrounds events such asCop26.
• Read his full comment here:Corporate grandstanding will do nothing to tackle climate change
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged that the South Asian nation will reach its net neutral targets on carbon emissions by 2070, and called for help from the developed world to help it reach it, Bloomberg reports.
“It is India’s expectation that the world’s developed nations make $1 trillion available as climate finance as soon as possible,” Modi said. “Justice would demand that those nations that have not kept their climate commitments should be pressured.”
Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP, quizzes the Chancellor on why he has decided to air passenger duty on short haul air travel, while the country is currently hosting COP26 in Glasgow to promote a green drive towards net zero.
Sunak claims that the net impact on emissions of an increase in air passenger duty on long haul flying "just about offset each other", and adds that the Government has also announced a broader net zero strategy, including £180m funding for sustainable fuel.
He adds carbon emissions from aviation are 8pc of the UK total, and only around 5pc of that is from domestic flying.
Sunak, when challenged again on why he is subsidising air travel and not rail, says the policy is likely to cost merely £20m.
A cryptocurrency claiming a link to Netflix's hit Korean TV show Squid Game has disappeared with millions of dollars from investors.
Cryptocurrency speculators hunting out "meme" coins that have surged in value on the back of momentum and hype rather than any kind of fundamentals have been left with their fingers burned.
The coin, called SQUID, soared thousands of percent after it launched last month from a fraction of a dollar to more than $2,800.
However, buyers soon began to panic after they reported they were unable to sell any SQUID tokens online.
To the surprise of nobody who has followed the cryptocurrency space, on Monday the social media and website accounts promoting the tokens disappeared went dark. The value of the tokens instantly dropped more than 99pc.
Dame Angela Eagle questions the Chancellor over the growing tax burden since the Government was elected. She points to figures that the tax burden will rise by on average £3,000 per year in the 2020s.
Sunak defends the rises before reiterating he would, ultimately, want to lower taxes.
Yes, people are paying more. No one is pretending otherwise. That is why in an ideal world I would prefer not to put taxes up on people...
Sunak also forced to back up the Treasury's £5bn spend on cladding repairs under questioning from Labour's Siobhain McDonagh.
Sunak says the £5bn is a "very significant amount", but deflects saying the funding is "not my area".
Time to hand over to my colleagueMatthew Field, who will steer the blog into the evening. Thanks for following along today!
The Chancellor’s been talking for a few minutes about wage growth. He says the Government has done what it can to push up pay at the bottom end of the spectrum through minimum wage increases, but says the best way to increase pay is to have people undertake further training to improve their skills.
After a pretty slow open, it’s just kicked off a bit at the TSC, with Labour’s Siobhan McDonagh accusing the Chancellor of presiding over of a low-growth economy.
The Chancellor contests this and says the figures for this year and next look strong – although, as he concedes, that is primarily a post-pandemic effect.
Ms McDonagh asks how the Chancellor should not cut surcharges for banks at the same time as cutting back on Universal Credit.
The Chancellor says banks will end up paying more because of the corporation tax increase.
The backlog of animals awaiting slaughter on UK farms has reached 150,000, according to the National Pig Association.
That’s up from about 100,000 in September. The excess of animals on farms means some are being culled, with a total of 10,000 pigs killed this way so far in recent weeks.
Speaking to MPs on the EFRA Select Committee, NPA senior policy advisor Charlie Dewhirst said:
We have a huge lag in the system, which means that solving the problem is not very easy to do overnight. The numbers have built by about 15,000 a week. We currently have more than 150,000 pigs on farms.
The Chancellor is laying out the different things that need to ‘go right’ for him to meet his fiscal targets. He highlights:
1. Spending –he says Budgets should be fixed on a sustainable fitting, but warns unexpected events could require adaptation.
2. Higher inflation and interest rates –something which was obviously a pretty major focus of last week’s Office for Budget Responsibility report following the Budget. The UK has an usually large amount of RPI-tied debt, which makes it unusually vulnerable for a top economy.
3. Worker shortages –Mr Sunak calls for “pragmatism” over immigration, particularly creating opportunities for workers to come to the UK and work jobs that are being particularly pinched by a lack of workers, such as HGV driving and food picking.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will face questions from MPs on the Treasury Select Committee shortly.
• You can follow alongherevia ParliamentLive
Coal for delivery in Europe next year has continued to fall as China steps up production.
The price has now halved from the intraday peak of $193 per metric ton reached early last month.
The Asian superpower has ramped up production massively over the period to sate high levels of demand.
Financial firms Jefferies and Cantor Fitzgerald have settled a legal suit born out of a mass move of bankers between the two companies.
Bloomberg has more details:
The case centered on the sudden resignation of 26 Jefferies bankers across New York, London and Hong Kong on the same day in November 2017. The settlement came after Cantor lost its attempt last year to dismiss the London suit.
Further details of the settlement have not been disclosed.
A couple of hours to go until the close of trading in London, but Darktrace is still deep in the red, down about 13pc currently but still slightly off its session lows.
• Here’s another plug for our weekend piece on the tech company’s present troubles:Darktrace share price set for more pressure as lock-ups end
Diesel prices in the UK have hit a new record at an average 147.94p per litre according to the RAC.
The figure – based on Sunday trading numbers – follows a surge in costs across both crude and biodiesel, the latter of which covers about 10pc of demand.
The price has climbed 30p in a year to top a previous record struck in April 2012.
Growth in the US manufacturing sector continued in October, albeit at a mildly slower pace than the month before.
The Institute for Supply Management’s factory PMI fell to 60.8 – down from 61.1, but well clear of the ‘no-change’ mark at 50.
Companies reported persistent supply chain difficulties and worker shortages.
Timothy Fiore from the ISM said:
Companies and suppliers continue to deal with an unprecedented number of hurdles to meet increasing demand.
Over in the US, markets have opened higher, with the benchmark S&P 500 rising for a third consecutive session.
After some recent wobbles, investor confidence has been buoyed by strong recent earnings data, with nearly 80pc of companies on the top index coming in ahead of expectations for the third quarter according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has broken above 36,000.
The S&P 500 is up 6pc since October 13th – the biggest gain over such a period since 2014.
There are long goodbyes and then there’s the departure of Barclays boss Jes Staley, who has been allowed to hang around for the last 18 months despite a regulatory investigation into whether he was friends with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
So writes our columnistBen Marlow, who says the bank should have acted sooner. He writes:
The decision of the board to allow Staley to continue under such a black cloud never made sense. A lame duck boss is never a good thing but a lame duck boss whose close relationship with a man accused of being a prolific paedophile is the subject of a joint probe by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority is plainly terrible.
• Read more:Barclays was far too slow to exorcise the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein
Elon Musk has said he is prepared to sell Tesla shares worth $6bn (£4.4bn) if the United Nations can demonstrate how it would feed 42m people.
My colleagueJames Titcombreports:
The world’s richest person challenged David Beasley, head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), after he said billionaires should “step up now” to save lives.
• Read more:Musk vows to sell $6bn Tesla stake if UN shows how cash can ‘solve world hunger’
BT shares have surged by as much as 7pc to 148.5p today after the firm met its cost-cutting targets 18 months early.
The former state telecoms monopoly this morning said £1bn in savings had been made through its modernisation programme, confirming a Sunday Telegraph report.
Bosses had originally vowed to do this by March 2023.
BT’s announcement comes as chief executive Philip Jansen, and the company's board are preparing to bolster their defences against a potential takeover bid by theFrench billionaire Patrick Drahi.
A living-costs crunch caused by tax hikes, surging energy bills and interest rate rises has sent consumer confidence sliding to its lowest level since the winter lockdown.
My colleagueTom Reesreports:
Bank of America’s confidence gauge extended its recent plunge in October to hit a near eight-month low as households fret over growing inflationary pressures.
Binance, the world’s top Bitcoin exchange, has paused crypto withdrawals, blaming a backlog:
Colin Bermingham, a former Barclays trader who was convicted of helping to rig Euribor, a key benchmark rate, has been handed a lifetime ban from working in the finance industry.
Mr Bermingham was sentenced to five years in prison in 2019. The Financial Conduct Authority said today he was not “fit and proper” to take on a regulated role.
In a statement, the watchdog said:
His conviction demonstrates clear and serious dishonesty and a lack of integrity.
Some pretty grim news (via Bloomberg) from an environmental perspective on the first day of the COP26 summit in Glasgow:
BHP Group’s exit from thermal coal is looking less certain as record prices and shifting investor attitudes put the brakes on its planned retreat from the dirtiest fuel, according to people familiar with the matter.
• Read more:Boris Johnson ‘right to be pessimistic’ about Cop26 breakthrough, Nicola Sturgeon warns
Every model in the Jaguar Land Rover range except the recently launched Defender suffered a sales fall in the second quarter, results from the company’s Indian parent Tata Motors have revealed.
My colleagueAlan Toveyreports:
The global shortage of computer chips was a major factor in the poor performance over the three months to the end of September, with year-on-year retail sales down almost a fifth to 92,710 vehicles worldwide.
Mr Hughes says the OBR expects rising Covid-19 cases to put pressure on consumer spending during the winter. He adds that given the epidemiological backdrop, people might be less keen to undertake activities that involve going into unventilated spaces – something that becomes more likely if people are also trying to keep out the cold.
In the wake of last week’s Budget, the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes, is facing MPs on the Treasury Select Committee.
I’ll pick out salient lines, but you can also follow along live via ParliamentLivehere.
Later on today, Chancellor Rishi Sunak will appear in front of the TSC to discuss his spending plans.
Outsourcer Mitie is splashing out up to £14.5m on an electricity connection company as it cashes in on the boom in electric cars.
My colleagueRachel Millardreports:
Private company Rock Power Connections specialises in supplying high voltage connections, which are in growing demand to help drivers charge up quickly.
Darktrace has made a pretty prodigious rise follow its initial public offering, quickly qualifying from the top flight of British equities in the FTSE 100.
But its fortunes have taken a turn in the past week, after it plunged last Monday following a bearish analysts’ report.
Brokers Peel Hunt initiated coverage of the tech company at a sell rating, saying its shares are worth just 473p, about half its then-price.
Investors have been rattled, and today’s drop follows a 21pc fall that Monday.
Looking across the City, Peel Hunt is on its own currently. Bloomberg has ratings tracked for six analysts. Of the others, four rate it a buy, and one as neutral. All have price targets of 900p or above.
At time of going to pixel, Darktrace shares are changing hands at 727.50p a pop. It will be interesting to see who ends up being right…
The Financial Reporting Council has fined challenger audit company Grant Thornton £718,250 over failing in its audit of Interserve.
Sanctions including a £70,000 fine have also been announced against Simon Lowe, one of the company’s auditors, over his involvement in the construction company’s 2015–17 financial statements.
The fine for the company was reduced from £1.3m because of mitigating factors and admissions.
The FRC said the errors reolved around:
Interserve, which is now in administration, had previously been a prominent company with several high-profile contracts.
It’s the second time Grant Thornton has been fined in six weeks.
Shares in cybersecurity company Darktrace have slumped this morning ahead of the end of a freeze on insiders selling shares.
It is down about 14.6pc currently, making it easily the biggest faller on the FTSE 100.
As my colleagueJames Titcombreported yesterday:
Darktrace, one of the biggest technology flotations this year, soared to FTSE 100 status [in October] after quadrupling in value since its April float.
• Read more:Darktrace share price set for more pressure as lock-ups end
The pound is dipping against nearly all its major global peers today, as tensions continue to bubble over who gets to fish in the English Channel.
Over on our politics liveblog, my colleagueCat Neilanreports:
France has 48 hours to back down on fishing threats or the UK will bring legal action over the row, the Foreign Secretary has said.Speaking as the key climate summit Cop26 kicks off, Liz Truss rejected suggestions a deal had been done, and showed no sign of the UK shifting its stance, warning that the UK would see “compensatory measures” if France did not “back down”.
• Read more:France has 48 hours to back down on fishing threats or face legal action, says Foreign Secretary
Here are some of the day’s top stories from the Telegraph Money team:
• Fears of mass NHS doctor exodus as many are hit by eye-watering tax bills:NHS doctors are refusing extra work and retiring early to avoid devastating tax bills due to “flawed and unfair” pension rules, experts have warned.
• Money Makeover: ‘Have we blown our £40k-a-year dream retirement?’:Can our readers retire early, satisfy their travel bug and leave money to their children?
• For sale: Sir Ernest Shackleton's surprisingly tropical £9.25m Putney home:The former home of the Antarctic explorer features palm trees and a swimming pool.
Bloomberg has some interesting details on new Barclays boss C.S. ‘Venkat’ Venkatakrishnan, the bank’s former chief risk officer and one of Jes Staley’s first hires:
As an example of why investment banks should listen to their risk managers, C.S. Venkatakrishnan’s experience at JPMorgan Chase. is hard to top. Back in March 2012, just weeks into a senior risk job at the Wall Street giant, his team flagged the potential for $6.3 billion of losses from a murky derivatives trade in London.
It’s worth noting he had only been global head of markets for a month, having been moved to that role as part of succession planning efforts.
Shares in developer U+I have soared today after a takeover offer by FTSE 100 property group Land Securities.
LandSec made a 149p per share offer for U+I, which says it is “focused on regeneration in London, Manchester [and] Dublin”.
The offers values the company at around £190m.
Mark Allen, LandSec’s chief executive, said:
The combination of Landsec and U+I is compelling and will help us accelerate our strategy, both by introducing exciting new Urban development opportunities and by further strengthening Landsec’s front-end development capabilities and placemaking [sic] skills.
There are warning signs for Germany in figures released this morning, which show retail sales fell 2.5pc in September.
Those number are a bit of a surprise, given economists polled by Bloomberg had expected a increase (albeit narrow) of 0.4pc.
Germany’s manufacturers were already struggling, and now it looks like consumer sentiment is softening.
Here’s more detail from Ryanair as the budget airline considers delighting from London’s share bourse. The group said:
Trading on the London Stock Exchange as a percentage of overall trading volume in Ryanair's ordinary shares has reduced materially during 2021.
As a reminder, Ryanair is primarily listed on the Euronext Dublin exchange, and has depositary receipts on the US-based Nasdaq.
Barclays shares are down about 1.3pc currently, having fallen as much as 3.7pc at the open. That’s putting a bit of a drag on the FTSE 100, but the blue-chip index is still making decent gains of about 0.5pc.
Initial reaction to Jes Staley’s exit at Barclays has started coming in. Gary Greenwood from Shore Capital said the exit may be a blow to the bank’s business, but was not wholly unexpected:
The news of Mr Staley’s sudden departure is very disappointing to us as we believe he has done an excellent job in improving the performance of the group in recent years, both in terms of strengthening its capital position and increasing profitability.
He added:
In Venkat, Barclays has an experienced and well-respected replacement, and the fact that he had already been identified for the role means that there should be little disruption caused by this transition.
And here’s more on Jes Staley’s exit, from my colleagueLucy Burton:
The bank said its board was made aware of the results of a two year inquiry by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) into his links with the late financier on Friday and of “Mr Staley’s intention to contest them”.
• Read more:Barclays boss Jes Staley quits over Jeffrey Epstein investigation
Here’s more from Bloomberg on those Ryanair result:
Ryanair reported net income of €225m in the three months through September 30th but expects to report a full-year loss, it said in a statement Monday. The Dublin-based group is considering delisting from the London Stock Exchange.
Good morning. Ryanair has posted its first quarterly profit since the start of the pandemic, and revealed it is considering delisting from the London Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, Barclays chief executive Jes Staley has quit with immediate effect following an investigation by City regulators into his relationship with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
5 things to start your day
1)Eurostar dismisses Spanish threatBoss Jacques Damas says the French operator is ready for a rival such as Renfe to run competing services through the Chunnel.
2)Top rate-setters insulated from higher mortgage costsGovernor Andrew Bailey and senior lieutenants do not have mortgages of their own, protecting them from the impact of an interest rate rise.
3)Matchesfashion sounds alarm after pandemic sales hitSales at the Apax-backed online luxury retailer dried up when Covid-19 struck.
4)Chinese bid for Welsh chip factory faces new hurdleReview into £63m takeover of Newport Wafer Fab is unlikely to report before new security laws come into force next year.
5)France’s Sanofi to send more booster jabs to EU than BritainThe UK will be offered 17pc of extra available doses – thought to be proportionate to the British population compared with that of Europe.
What happened overnight
Stocks advanced in Asia on Monday, with Tokyo's benchmark up 2.2pc after the ruling Liberal Democrats won a stronger than expected majority in an election Sunday.
Shares rose in all regional markets except Hong Kong.
The regional gains followed further milestones on Wall Street, where the three major indexes set records. The S&P 500 rose 0.2pc; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3pc and the Nasdaq closed 0.3pc higher.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index surged 645.46 points to 29,538.15, while the Kospi in Seoul gained 0.4pc to 2,983.59. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.7pc to 7,371.10. The Shanghai Composite index edged less than 0.1pc higher, to 3,549.61.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.2pc to 25,084.11 as investor concerns over financial risks for property developers added to worries over the economic outlook.
Coming up today
Corporate:Ryanair (interim results)
Economics:Manufacturing PMIs (UK, US) || Rishi Sunak faces Budget grilling: Sunak Chancellor faces Treasury Select Committee Darktrace’s shares drop as end of trading lock-up looms Barclays boss Jes Staley quits over Jeffrey Epstein investigation BT shares rise after slashing costs faster than expected Ryanair post first quarterly profit since start of pandemic Ben Marlow: Barclays was far too slow to exorcise the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein 06:09 PM That's all for today Thank you for joining us, we will be back tomorrow with the latest markets news 06:06 PM Matthew Lynn: Corporate grandstanding will do nothing to tackle climate change On Sunday, The Telegraph revealed that Sky's chief executive has been jumping aboard Comcast's private jet for her business trips to the UK broadcaster. Unfortunately, this coincides with its sponsorship of today's COP26 conference. Matthew Lynn had this to say about it: The real problem is not whether each major company has a perfect record on combating CO2 emissions or not. It is the corporate grandstanding that surrounds events such as Cop26 . Chief executives and their armies of lobbyists and flaks are turning it into a Davos-style schmooze-fest. And yet all that does is lay themselves wide open to attack, while contributing precisely nothing to fixing the crisis. The best thing any CEO who is actually worried about climate change could do is quietly get on with reducing their own company’s carbon footprint, and diligently following whatever rules are agreed between governments. Anything else will simply backfire. Read his full comment here: Corporate grandstanding will do nothing to tackle climate change 05:30 PM Modi calls for $1 trillion to help India reach net zero India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged that the South Asian nation will reach its net neutral targets on carbon emissions by 2070, and called for help from the developed world to help it reach it, Bloomberg reports. “It is India’s expectation that the world’s developed nations make $1 trillion available as climate finance as soon as possible,” Modi said. “Justice would demand that those nations that have not kept their climate commitments should be pressured.” Story continues 05:07 PM Sunak challenged on air passenger duty cut Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP, quizzes the Chancellor on why he has decided to air passenger duty on short haul air travel, while the country is currently hosting COP26 in Glasgow to promote a green drive towards net zero. Sunak claims that the net impact on emissions of an increase in air passenger duty on long haul flying "just about offset each other", and adds that the Government has also announced a broader net zero strategy, including £180m funding for sustainable fuel. He adds carbon emissions from aviation are 8pc of the UK total, and only around 5pc of that is from domestic flying. Sunak, when challenged again on why he is subsidising air travel and not rail, says the policy is likely to cost merely £20m. 04:46 PM 'Squid Game' cryptocurrency disappears with investor millions A cryptocurrency claiming a link to Netflix's hit Korean TV show Squid Game has disappeared with millions of dollars from investors. Cryptocurrency speculators hunting out "meme" coins that have surged in value on the back of momentum and hype rather than any kind of fundamentals have been left with their fingers burned. The coin, called SQUID, soared thousands of percent after it launched last month from a fraction of a dollar to more than $2,800. However, buyers soon began to panic after they reported they were unable to sell any SQUID tokens online. To the surprise of nobody who has followed the cryptocurrency space, on Monday the social media and website accounts promoting the tokens disappeared went dark. The value of the tokens instantly dropped more than 99pc. 04:22 PM Sunak: I would rather not raise taxes Dame Angela Eagle questions the Chancellor over the growing tax burden since the Government was elected. She points to figures that the tax burden will rise by on average £3,000 per year in the 2020s. Sunak defends the rises before reiterating he would, ultimately, want to lower taxes. Yes, people are paying more. No one is pretending otherwise. That is why in an ideal world I would prefer not to put taxes up on people... The state is taking a lot of money from people, it is absolutely right that is spent well. Sunak also forced to back up the Treasury's £5bn spend on cladding repairs under questioning from Labour's Siobhain McDonagh. Sunak says the £5bn is a "very significant amount", but deflects saying the funding is "not my area". 04:14 PM Handover Time to hand over to my colleague Matthew Field , who will steer the blog into the evening. Thanks for following along today! 04:13 PM Sunak: Training is key to wage growth The Chancellor’s been talking for a few minutes about wage growth. He says the Government has done what it can to push up pay at the bottom end of the spectrum through minimum wage increases, but says the best way to increase pay is to have people undertake further training to improve their skills. 04:02 PM Sunak: We’re not a low-growth economy After a pretty slow open, it’s just kicked off a bit at the TSC, with Labour’s Siobhan McDonagh accusing the Chancellor of presiding over of a low-growth economy. The Chancellor contests this and says the figures for this year and next look strong – although, as he concedes, that is primarily a post-pandemic effect. Ms McDonagh asks how the Chancellor should not cut surcharges for banks at the same time as cutting back on Universal Credit. The Chancellor says banks will end up paying more because of the corporation tax increase. 03:47 PM Pig backlog at 150,000 The backlog of animals awaiting slaughter on UK farms has reached 150,000, according to the National Pig Association. That’s up from about 100,000 in September. The excess of animals on farms means some are being culled, with a total of 10,000 pigs killed this way so far in recent weeks. Speaking to MPs on the EFRA Select Committee, NPA senior policy advisor Charlie Dewhirst said: We have a huge lag in the system, which means that solving the problem is not very easy to do overnight. The numbers have built by about 15,000 a week. We currently have more than 150,000 pigs on farms. Some farms have reached the point where there is no contingency left to stock those animals, and they have been culled in a welfare cull and have not entered the food chain. It has been and is a deeply distressing time for the industry, which is already struggling for a number of other reasons… There are over 150,000 animals on farms that should not be on farms. That is the number of animals that could end up being culled. We hope that it does not get anywhere near that. Around 8,000 have been reported to us (a figure that now stands at 10,000). 03:30 PM Top things needed to hit fiscal targets The Chancellor is laying out the different things that need to ‘go right’ for him to meet his fiscal targets. He highlights: Spending – he says Budgets should be fixed on a sustainable fitting, but warns unexpected events could require adaptation. Higher inflation and interest rates – something which was obviously a pretty major focus of last week’s Office for Budget Responsibility report following the Budget. The UK has an usually large amount of RPI-tied debt, which makes it unusually vulnerable for a top economy. Worker shortages – Mr Sunak calls for “pragmatism” over immigration, particularly creating opportunities for workers to come to the UK and work jobs that are being particularly pinched by a lack of workers, such as HGV driving and food picking. 03:16 PM Sunak to face MPs Chancellor Rishi Sunak will face questions from MPs on the Treasury Select Committee shortly. You can follow along here via ParliamentLive 03:09 PM European coal price falls below $100 Coal for delivery in Europe next year has continued to fall as China steps up production. The price has now halved from the intraday peak of $193 per metric ton reached early last month. The Asian superpower has ramped up production massively over the period to sate high levels of demand. 02:40 PM Jefferies and Cantor reach settlement over poaching case Financial firms Jefferies and Cantor Fitzgerald have settled a legal suit born out of a mass move of bankers between the two companies. Bloomberg has more details: The case centered on the sudden resignation of 26 Jefferies bankers across New York, London and Hong Kong on the same day in November 2017. The settlement came after Cantor lost its attempt last year to dismiss the London suit. Jefferies had accused the brokerage of making a “concerted global effort” to stop the bankers from repaying bonuses it says it was due. In an amended defense filed by Cantor earlier this year, the brokerage said it “admits that it induced” the employees not to repay the bonuses “but denies that it acted unlawfully in so doing.” Further details of the settlement have not been disclosed. 02:26 PM Darktrace still under the cosh A couple of hours to go until the close of trading in London, but Darktrace is still deep in the red, down about 13pc currently but still slightly off its session lows. Here’s another plug for our weekend piece on the tech company’s present troubles: Darktrace share price set for more pressure as lock-ups end 02:17 PM Diesel price hits new record Diesel - Lewis Whyld/PA Wire Diesel prices in the UK have hit a new record at an average 147.94p per litre according to the RAC. The figure – based on Sunday trading numbers – follows a surge in costs across both crude and biodiesel, the latter of which covers about 10pc of demand. The price has climbed 30p in a year to top a previous record struck in April 2012. 02:11 PM US manufacturing activity growth slows Growth in the US manufacturing sector continued in October, albeit at a mildly slower pace than the month before. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory PMI fell to 60.8 – down from 61.1, but well clear of the ‘no-change’ mark at 50. Companies reported persistent supply chain difficulties and worker shortages. Timothy Fiore from the ISM said: Companies and suppliers continue to deal with an unprecedented number of hurdles to meet increasing demand. 01:44 PM US stocks extend gains Over in the US, markets have opened higher, with the benchmark S&P 500 rising for a third consecutive session. After some recent wobbles, investor confidence has been buoyed by strong recent earnings data, with nearly 80pc of companies on the top index coming in ahead of expectations for the third quarter according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has broken above 36,000. The S&P 500 is up 6pc since October 13th – the biggest gain over such a period since 2014. 01:36 PM Ben Marlow: Barclays kept Jes Staley too long Jes Staley - Simon Dawson/Bloomberg There are long goodbyes and then there’s the departure of Barclays boss Jes Staley, who has been allowed to hang around for the last 18 months despite a regulatory investigation into whether he was friends with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. So writes our columnist Ben Marlow , who says the bank should have acted sooner. He writes: The decision of the board to allow Staley to continue under such a black cloud never made sense. A lame duck boss is never a good thing but a lame duck boss whose close relationship with a man accused of being a prolific paedophile is the subject of a joint probe by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority is plainly terrible. Read more: Barclays was far too slow to exorcise the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein 01:15 PM Musk offers $6bn if UN shows it would feed 42m Elon Musk - BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images Elon Musk has said he is prepared to sell Tesla shares worth $6bn (£4.4bn) if the United Nations can demonstrate how it would feed 42m people. My colleague James Titcomb reports: The world’s richest person challenged David Beasley, head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), after he said billionaires should “step up now” to save lives. Mr Musk tweeted: “If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6bn will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it. But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent.” Mr Musk is worth $311bn, according to Bloomberg, so $6bn represents about 2pc of his net worth. He has said he plans to spend his fortune on endeavours such as sending humans to Mars. If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 31, 2021 Read more: Musk vows to sell $6bn Tesla stake if UN shows how cash can ‘solve world hunger’ 12:58 PM BT rises after hitting £1bn savings target BT chief executive Philip Jansen - Hollie Adams/Bloomberg BT shares have surged by as much as 7pc to 148.5p today after the firm met its cost-cutting targets 18 months early. The former state telecoms monopoly this morning said £1bn in savings had been made through its modernisation programme, confirming a Sunday Telegraph report. Bosses had originally vowed to do this by March 2023. BT’s announcement comes as chief executive Philip Jansen, and the company's board are preparing to bolster their defences against a potential takeover bid by the French billionaire Patrick Drahi . 12:15 PM Consumer confidence wanes as costs rise High street - Jamie Lorriman A living-costs crunch caused by tax hikes, surging energy bills and interest rate rises has sent consumer confidence sliding to its lowest level since the winter lockdown. My colleague Tom Rees reports: Bank of America’s confidence gauge extended its recent plunge in October to hit a near eight-month low as households fret over growing inflationary pressures. A deterioration in confidence in the economic outlook and personal finances knocked the indicator down to just above minus 20, down from a peak of close to minus 10 in the summer. It measures the difference between consumers that are optimistic and pessimistic. Bank of America economist Robert Wood said: “Almost a perfect storm is hitting UK consumers right now. Rising utility prices, rising inflation more generally, rapid rate hikes and tax hikes.” 12:04 PM Binance pauses crypto withdrawals amid ‘backlog’ Binance, the world’s top Bitcoin exchange, has paused crypto withdrawals, blaming a backlog: We have temporarily disabled all crypto withdrawals on https://t.co/QILSkzx7ac due to a large backlog. Rest assured our team is working on it with top priority. Thank you for your patience and apologies for any inconvenience caused. — Binance (@binance) November 1, 2021 11:57 AM Former Barclays trader banned for life Colin Bermingham - Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP Colin Bermingham, a former Barclays trader who was convicted of helping to rig Euribor, a key benchmark rate, has been handed a lifetime ban from working in the finance industry. Mr Bermingham was sentenced to five years in prison in 2019. The Financial Conduct Authority said today he was not “fit and proper” to take on a regulated role. In a statement, the watchdog said: His conviction demonstrates clear and serious dishonesty and a lack of integrity. 11:44 AM Doubts grow over BHP’s thermal coal exit after price spikes Some pretty grim news (via Bloomberg) from an environmental perspective on the first day of the COP26 summit in Glasgow: BHP Group’s exit from thermal coal is looking less certain as record prices and shifting investor attitudes put the brakes on its planned retreat from the dirtiest fuel, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has been planning its thermal coal exit for at least two years – BHP has already sold a stake in the Cerrejon thermal coal mine in Colombia and is nearing a deal to sell some Australian coking coal mines. But the process for offloading its Mt Arthur mine in Australia is stalling because coal’s rally has made the asset more valuable, and it’s no longer under as much pressure from some investors to sell, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. Read more: Boris Johnson ‘right to be pessimistic’ about Cop26 breakthrough, Nicola Sturgeon warns 11:35 AM Defender holds up as other JLR models struggle JLR - Nick Dimbleby Every model in the Jaguar Land Rover range except the recently launched Defender suffered a sales fall in the second quarter, results from the company’s Indian parent Tata Motors have revealed. My colleague Alan Tovey reports: The global shortage of computer chips was a major factor in the poor performance over the three months to the end of September, with year-on-year retail sales down almost a fifth to 92,710 vehicles worldwide. The new Land Rover Defender was the only model to escape the gloom, with 16,725 sales, up 70pc and making it the upmarket marque’s bestseller during the period. JLR reported a pre-tax loss of £302m, on sales 11pc lower at £3.9bn. 11:24 AM OBR: We expects economic activity to slow in winter Mr Hughes says the OBR expects rising Covid-19 cases to put pressure on consumer spending during the winter. He adds that given the epidemiological backdrop, people might be less keen to undertake activities that involve going into unventilated spaces – something that becomes more likely if people are also trying to keep out the cold. 11:16 AM Fiscal watchdog boss faces MPs In the wake of last week’s Budget, the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes, is facing MPs on the Treasury Select Committee. I’ll pick out salient lines, but you can also follow along live via ParliamentLive here . Now live on Parliament TV 📺 https://t.co/LjaJ4oUXOW pic.twitter.com/gqEFmOl4J8 — Office for Budget Responsibility (@OBR_UK) November 1, 2021 Later on today, Chancellor Rishi Sunak will appear in front of the TSC to discuss his spending plans. 11:13 AM Mitie hooks up with connection company Mitie - Ed Robinson/OneRedEye Outsourcer Mitie is splashing out up to £14.5m on an electricity connection company as it cashes in on the boom in electric cars. My colleague Rachel Millard reports: Private company Rock Power Connections specialises in supplying high voltage connections, which are in growing demand to help drivers charge up quickly. Mitie has already developed thousands of EV charging points but said buying Rock would “significantly enhance Mitie's ability to offer a truly end-to-end solution.” It is paying an initial £10m, followed by two payments worth up to £4.5m linked to performance targets. Rock made sales of £7.4m and profit of £400,000 during 2020, with figures this year already “well ahead” of that. 10:53 AM Aftershocks from analysts’ note continue to shake Darktrace Darktrace has made a pretty prodigious rise follow its initial public offering, quickly qualifying from the top flight of British equities in the FTSE 100. But its fortunes have taken a turn in the past week, after it plunged last Monday following a bearish analysts’ report. Brokers Peel Hunt initiated coverage of the tech company at a sell rating, saying its shares are worth just 473p, about half its then-price. Investors have been rattled, and today’s drop follows a 21pc fall that Monday. Looking across the City, Peel Hunt is on its own currently. Bloomberg has ratings tracked for six analysts. Of the others, four rate it a buy, and one as neutral. All have price targets of 900p or above. At time of going to pixel, Darktrace shares are changing hands at 727.50p a pop. It will be interesting to see who ends up being right… 10:33 AM Grant Thornton fined £718k over Interserve audit failings Interserve - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg The Financial Reporting Council has fined challenger audit company Grant Thornton £718,250 over failing in its audit of Interserve. Sanctions including a £70,000 fine have also been announced against Simon Lowe, one of the company’s auditors, over his involvement in the construction company’s 2015–17 financial statements. The fine for the company was reduced from £1.3m because of mitigating factors and admissions. The FRC said the errors reolved around: Interserve, which is now in administration, had previously been a prominent company with several high-profile contracts. It’s the second time Grant Thornton has been fined in six weeks. 10:18 AM Darktrace shares plunge as doubts grow around tech darling Darktrace - Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph Shares in cybersecurity company Darktrace have slumped this morning ahead of the end of a freeze on insiders selling shares. It is down about 14.6pc currently, making it easily the biggest faller on the FTSE 100. As my colleague James Titcomb reported yesterday: Darktrace, one of the biggest technology flotations this year, soared to FTSE 100 status [in October] after quadrupling in value since its April float. However, shares fell by 21pc last Monday when broker Peel Hunt said the company was worth half its value and suggested that its marketing was not matched by its technology. The end of lock-up periods can push prices down by flooding the market with new shares if early investors choose to realise their gains. In Darktrace’s case, it will more than double the number of shares available to be traded. The company has previously warned that the end of the 180-day “lock up” period could send shares falling. Read more: Darktrace share price set for more pressure as lock-ups end 09:54 AM Sterling stung as fishing row drags on The pound is dipping against nearly all its major global peers today, as tensions continue to bubble over who gets to fish in the English Channel. Over on our politics liveblog, my colleague Cat Neilan reports: France has 48 hours to back down on fishing threats or the UK will bring legal action over the row, the Foreign Secretary has said. Speaking as the key climate summit Cop26 kicks off, Liz Truss rejected suggestions a deal had been done, and showed no sign of the UK shifting its stance, warning that the UK would see “compensatory measures” if France did not “back down”. Read more: France has 48 hours to back down on fishing threats or face legal action, says Foreign Secretary 09:37 AM Money round-up Here are some of the day’s top stories from the Telegraph Money team: Fears of mass NHS doctor exodus as many are hit by eye-watering tax bills : NHS doctors are refusing extra work and retiring early to avoid devastating tax bills due to “flawed and unfair” pension rules, experts have warned. Money Makeover: ‘Have we blown our £40k-a-year dream retirement?’ : Can our readers retire early, satisfy their travel bug and leave money to their children? For sale: Sir Ernest Shackleton's surprisingly tropical £9.25m Putney home : The former home of the Antarctic explorer features palm trees and a swimming pool. 09:24 AM Who is ‘Venkat’, Barclays’ new boss? C.S. ‘Venkat’ Venkatakrishnan - Barclays Bloomberg has some interesting details on new Barclays boss C.S. ‘Venkat’ Venkatakrishnan, the bank’s former chief risk officer and one of Jes Staley’s first hires: As an example of why investment banks should listen to their risk managers, C.S. Venkatakrishnan’s experience at JPMorgan Chase. is hard to top. Back in March 2012, just weeks into a senior risk job at the Wall Street giant, his team flagged the potential for $6.3 billion of losses from a murky derivatives trade in London. The analysis was dismissed as “garbage” by the risk officer at the JPMorgan department responsible for the trades. But Venkat, as he’s known to colleagues, proved remarkably prescient. The trading strategy exploded spectacularly, giving rise to a $6.2 billion loss and the legend of the London Whale, the nickname for the banker who made bigger and bigger bets to try to cover his positions. A US Senate investigation said some losses would have been avoided if the Whale’s unit had heeded Venkat’s warning. It’s worth noting he had only been global head of markets for a month, having been moved to that role as part of succession planning efforts. 09:13 AM U+I soars after LandSec offer Shares in developer U+I have soared today after a takeover offer by FTSE 100 property group Land Securities. LandSec made a 149p per share offer for U+I, which says it is “focused on regeneration in London, Manchester [and] Dublin”. The offers values the company at around £190m. Mark Allen, LandSec’s chief executive, said: The combination of Landsec and U+I is compelling and will help us accelerate our strategy, both by introducing exciting new Urban development opportunities and by further strengthening Landsec’s front-end development capabilities and placemaking [sic] skills. 08:58 AM German retail sales drop sharply There are warning signs for Germany in figures released this morning, which show retail sales fell 2.5pc in September. Those number are a bit of a surprise, given economists polled by Bloomberg had expected a increase (albeit narrow) of 0.4pc. Germany’s manufacturers were already struggling, and now it looks like consumer sentiment is softening. Germany - Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg 08:52 AM Ryanair blames Brexit as it considers shunning London Stock Exchange Here’s more detail from Ryanair as the budget airline considers delighting from London’s share bourse. The group said: Trading on the London Stock Exchange as a percentage of overall trading volume in Ryanair's ordinary shares has reduced materially during 2021. The migration away from the LSE is consistent with a general trend for trading in shares of EU corporates post Brexit and is, potentially, more acute for Ryanair as a result of the long-standing prohibition on non-EU citizens purchasing Ryanair’s ordinary shares being extended to UK nationals following Brexit. The Board of Ryanair is now considering the merits of retaining the Standard listing on the LSE. As a reminder, Ryanair is primarily listed on the Euronext Dublin exchange, and has depositary receipts on the US-based Nasdaq. 08:45 AM FTSE makes moderate rise Barclays shares are down about 1.3pc currently, having fallen as much as 3.7pc at the open. That’s putting a bit of a drag on the FTSE 100, but the blue-chip index is still making decent gains of about 0.5pc. 08:32 AM Shore: Staley’s exit ‘very disappointing’ Initial reaction to Jes Staley’s exit at Barclays has started coming in. Gary Greenwood from Shore Capital said the exit may be a blow to the bank’s business, but was not wholly unexpected: The news of Mr Staley’s sudden departure is very disappointing to us as we believe he has done an excellent job in improving the performance of the group in recent years, both in terms of strengthening its capital position and increasing profitability. However, with such an investigation bubbling away in the background it was always possible that this kind of outcome could happen. He added: In Venkat, Barclays has an experienced and well-respected replacement, and the fact that he had already been identified for the role means that there should be little disruption caused by this transition. 08:22 AM Full story: Staley out Barclays boss Jes Staley - Simon Dawson/Bloomberg And here’s more on Jes Staley’s exit, from my colleague Lucy Burton : The bank said its board was made aware of the results of a two year inquiry by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) into his links with the late financier on Friday and of “Mr Staley’s intention to contest them”. Barclays’ shares fell 3.2pc as markets opened following the news. Mr Staley visited the convicted paedophile while he was serving time for soliciting a minor in 2009, and then called in at Epstein’s private Caribbean island for a four-hour lunch just months before taking the top job at Barclays. Read more: Barclays boss Jes Staley quits over Jeffrey Epstein investigation 08:14 AM Ryanair mulls delisting Here’s more from Bloomberg on those Ryanair result: Ryanair reported net income of €225m in the three months through September 30th but expects to report a full-year loss, it said in a statement Monday. The Dublin-based group is considering delisting from the London Stock Exchange. Europe’s biggest discount carrier has used its financial clout to expand in markets ranging from Italy, Austria and Portugal to Scandinavia as most rivals take a more cautious approach to the rebound. The Irish firm said that capacity will exceed pre-pandemic levels next spring. “I think breakeven is unlikely this year,” chief executive officer Michael O’Leary told Bloomberg Television. “I’m really focused on next year.” 08:03 AM Agenda: Ryanair profit flies again as Staley quits Good morning. Ryanair has posted its first quarterly profit since the start of the pandemic, and revealed it is considering delisting from the London Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, Barclays chief executive Jes Staley has quit with immediate effect following an investigation by City regulators into his relationship with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 5 things to start your day 1) Eurostar dismisses Spanish threat Boss Jacques Damas says the French operator is ready for a rival such as Renfe to run competing services through the Chunnel. 2) Top rate-setters insulated from higher mortgage costs Governor Andrew Bailey and senior lieutenants do not have mortgages of their own, protecting them from the impact of an interest rate rise. 3) Matchesfashion sounds alarm after pandemic sales hit Sales at the Apax-backed online luxury retailer dried up when Covid-19 struck. 4) Chinese bid for Welsh chip factory faces new hurdle Review into £63m takeover of Newport Wafer Fab is unlikely to report before new security laws come into force next year. 5) France’s Sanofi to send more booster jabs to EU than Britain The UK will be offered 17pc of extra available doses – thought to be proportionate to the British population compared with that of Europe. What happened overnight Stocks advanced in Asia on Monday, with Tokyo's benchmark up 2.2pc after the ruling Liberal Democrats won a stronger than expected majority in an election Sunday. Shares rose in all regional markets except Hong Kong. The regional gains followed further milestones on Wall Street, where the three major indexes set records. The S&P 500 rose 0.2pc; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3pc and the Nasdaq closed 0.3pc higher. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index surged 645.46 points to 29,538.15, while the Kospi in Seoul gained 0.4pc to 2,983.59. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.7pc to 7,371.10. The Shanghai Composite index edged less than 0.1pc higher, to 3,549.61. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.2pc to 25,084.11 as investor concerns over financial risks for property developers added to worries over the economic outlook. Coming up today Corporate: Ryanair (interim results) Economics: Manufacturing PMIs (UK, US) || Fintech Focus For November 1, 2021: Quote To Start The Day:“The next phase and the way applications and businesses are built is this Web 3 concept of data transparency and fungibility between different projects.”
Source:Trevor Marshall
One Big Thing In Fintech:[T]he companies that have been more successful are the passive “invest-from-your-couch” investment platforms and those with innovations that democratise access to capital markets through “fractionalisation” which allow, for instance, a retail investor to get $10 off an Apple share if they can’t afford the whole price.
“In the US there were hundreds of wealthtech businesses that didn’t work out very well,” says Michael Meyer, managing partner at Middlegame Ventures.
Source:Sifted
Other Key Fintech Developments:
• Facebookaddsa crypto wallet. (NASDAQ:FB)
• EBANX isgoingpublic via IPO.
• Selfbookraisingfor payments.
• Biconomyadds$11.5M for API.
• Maxwellraiseda $52.5M round.
• Q2, NYDIGintroBitcoin trading.
• BlockFi, Bermanpartneringup.
• MicrosofttappedWorldpay, FIS. (NASDAQ:MSFT)
• KuCoinrevealsapp: KuCoin S.
• MastercardaddedTouch Card. (NYSE:MA)
• Causality Linkaddedan advisor.
• NubankeyeingU.S.-based IPO.
• Tigerleads$3M Union54 round.
• Greenlightannouncesnew offer.
• Alchemygrewvaluation to $3.5B.
• Marigold & Colaunchesfintech.
• Amount, Marqeta arepartnering.
• MXintrosa fintech API platform.
• Rallyraises$6M for checkouts.
• Symphony and Unqorkteamed.
• U.S. Bank’s ElavoneyesBNPL. (NYSE:USB)
• UpstreamlaunchingIPO for film.
• VanaCarsraises$50M Series B.
Watch Out For This:Auto loans have long been what we in the industry call “a shitshow.” Long terms, high payments, and predatory lending tactics have dominated the industry for years.
Now, a terrifying study from Consumer Reports shows that things are worse than anyone thought — and with increasing investment in auto-loan-backed securities, another financial crisis could be brewing. Double, double, toil and trouble.
Source:Jalopnik
Interesting Reads:
• Jordan BelfortentersMetaverse.
• Square CFOoncrypto, Afterpay. (NYSE:SQ)
• Demsscrapbank reporting idea.
• Whartonallowscrypto payments.
• Unpacked: The business of bets.
Market Moving Headline:We are pulling forward our forecast for the Fed’s first rate hike by one full year to July 2022, shortly after tapering is scheduled to conclude.
We expect a second hike in November 2022 and two hikes per year after that.
Source:Goldman Sachs(NYSE:GS)
See more from Benzinga
• Click here for options trades from Benzinga
• EXCLUSIVE: 'Banking Without Banks': Current CTO On Motivations And Vision At Money20/20
• Money20/20 Special: eToro CEO Talks Empowerment Through Ownership
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Fintech Focus For November 1, 2021: Fintech Header Quote To Start The Day: “The next phase and the way applications and businesses are built is this Web 3 concept of data transparency and fungibility between different projects.” Source: Trevor Marshall One Big Thing In Fintech: [T]he companies that have been more successful are the passive “invest-from-your-couch” investment platforms and those with innovations that democratise access to capital markets through “fractionalisation” which allow, for instance, a retail investor to get $10 off an Apple share if they can’t afford the whole price. “In the US there were hundreds of wealthtech businesses that didn’t work out very well,” says Michael Meyer, managing partner at Middlegame Ventures. Source: Sifted Other Key Fintech Developments: Facebook adds a crypto wallet. (NASDAQ: FB ) EBANX is going public via IPO. Selfbook raising for payments. Biconomy adds $11.5M for API. Maxwell raised a $52.5M round. Q2, NYDIG intro Bitcoin trading. BlockFi, Berman partnering up. Microsoft tapped Worldpay, FIS. (NASDAQ: MSFT ) KuCoin reveals app: KuCoin S. Mastercard added Touch Card. (NYSE: MA ) Causality Link added an advisor. Nubank eyeing U.S.-based IPO. Tiger leads $3M Union54 round. Greenlight announces new offer. Alchemy grew valuation to $3.5B. Marigold & Co launches fintech. Amount, Marqeta are partnering . MX intros a fintech API platform. Rally raises $6M for checkouts. Symphony and Unqork teamed . U.S. Bank’s Elavon eyes BNPL. (NYSE: USB ) Upstream launching IPO for film. VanaCars raises $50M Series B. Watch Out For This: Auto loans have long been what we in the industry call “a shitshow.” Long terms, high payments, and predatory lending tactics have dominated the industry for years. Now, a terrifying study from Consumer Reports shows that things are worse than anyone thought — and with increasing investment in auto-loan-backed securities, another financial crisis could be brewing. Double, double, toil and trouble. Source: Jalopnik Interesting Reads: Jordan Belfort enters Metaverse. Square CFO on crypto, Afterpay. (NYSE: SQ ) Dems scrap bank reporting idea. Wharton allows crypto payments. Unpacked : The business of bets. Story continues Market Moving Headline: We are pulling forward our forecast for the Fed’s first rate hike by one full year to July 2022, shortly after tapering is scheduled to conclude. We expect a second hike in November 2022 and two hikes per year after that. Source: Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga EXCLUSIVE: 'Banking Without Banks': Current CTO On Motivations And Vision At Money20/20 Money20/20 Special: eToro CEO Talks Empowerment Through Ownership © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Bulls Still Waiting for the Cold Weather: Natural gas futures fell for a third straight session on Friday to close out the week lower. The selling was fueled by forecasts calling for milder temperatures to start November, rising production and a tightening supply deficit. Meanwhile a price slide in Europe also weighed on the U.S. market. Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) reported that U.S. prices took their cue from Europe, where Dutch Title Transfer Facility prices stumbled for a second day on growing optimism that Russia would begin sending more gas to Europe in early November. On Friday, December natural gas futures settled at $5.426, down $0.356 or -6.16%. Energy Information Administration Weekly Storage Report The EIA reported last Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 87 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week-ended October 22. That was a bit less than the average increase of 90 Bcf forecast by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 3.548 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), down 403 Bcf from a year ago and 126 Bcf below the five-year average, the government said. Short-Term Outlook The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. A trade through $6.281 will signal a resumption of the uptrend. A move through $5.070 will change the main trend to down. The short-term range is $5.070 to $6.281. On Friday, the market closed on the weak side of its retracement zone at $5.514 to $5.652, making it resistance. The intermediate range is $6.593 to $5.070. Its retracement zone at $5.832 to $6.011 is additional resistance. The main range is $3.944 to $6.593. Its retracement zone at $5.269 to $4.956 is the next major downside target zone. This zone stopped the selling at $5.070 on October 19. Buyers could come in on a test of $5.269 to $4.956. There is some risk to the downside, however. Big sell stops could be waiting under $4.879. We’re not likely to see the start of a significant rally until the first solid cold front hits the country. For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar . Story continues This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Bitcoin and Ethereum – Weekly Technical Analysis – November 1st, 2021 Earnings Week Ahead: NXP Semiconductors, Pfizer, Ferrari, Expedia and Moderna in Focus SafeMoon Rallies 9% as Investors Hunt Next Big Meme Coin Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple’s XRP – Daily Tech Analysis – November 1st, 2021 Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Limited OPEC+ Output Helps Offset US Supply Rise Concerns European Equities: German Retail Sales and Corporate Earnings in Focus || Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Bulls Still Waiting for the Cold Weather: Natural gas futures fell for a third straight session on Friday to close out the week lower. The selling was fueled by forecasts calling for milder temperatures to start November, rising production and a tightening supply deficit.
Meanwhile a price slide in Europe also weighed on the U.S. market. Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) reported that U.S. prices took their cue from Europe, where Dutch Title Transfer Facility prices stumbled for a second day on growing optimism that Russia would begin sending more gas to Europe in early November.
On Friday,December natural gas futuressettled at $5.426, down $0.356 or -6.16%.
The EIA reported last Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 87 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week-ended October 22. That was a bit less than the average increase of 90 Bcf forecast by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts.
Total stocks now stand at 3.548 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), down 403 Bcf from a year ago and 126 Bcf below the five-year average, the government said.
The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. A trade through $6.281 will signal a resumption of the uptrend. A move through $5.070 will change the main trend to down.
The short-term range is $5.070 to $6.281. On Friday, the market closed on the weak side of its retracement zone at $5.514 to $5.652, making it resistance.
The intermediate range is $6.593 to $5.070. Its retracement zone at $5.832 to $6.011 is additional resistance.
The main range is $3.944 to $6.593. Its retracement zone at $5.269 to $4.956 is the next major downside target zone. This zone stopped the selling at $5.070 on October 19.
Buyers could come in on a test of $5.269 to $4.956.
There is some risk to the downside, however. Big sell stops could be waiting under $4.879.
We’re not likely to see the start of a significant rally until the first solid cold front hits the country.
For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out oureconomic calendar.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• European Equities: German Retail Sales and Corporate Earnings in Focus || E-mini S&P 500 Index (ES) Futures Technical Analysis – Needs to Hold 4543.75 to Sustain Upside Momentum: December E-mini S&P 500 Index futures closed higher on Friday after shaking off early weakness as a rise inMicrosofthelped offset declines inAmazonandAppleafter disappointing quarterly earnings from the online retailer and iPhone maker.
On Friday,December E-mini S&P 500 Index futuressettled at 4602.50, up 15.00 or +0.33%.
The cash market S&P 500 had fallen as much as 0.65% earlier in the day. The benchmark index had advanced for a fourth straight week, its longest weekly streak of gains since April.
With 279 companies in the S&P 500 having reported results through Friday morning, 82.1% have topped earnings expectations, according to Refinitiv data. The current year-over-year earnings growth rate for the third quarter is 39.2%.
The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. The trend was reaffirmed on Friday when buyers took out 4590.00. The nearest main bottom is 4260.00. A trade through this level will change the main trend to down. This is highly unlikely, but due to the prolonged move up in terms of price and time, continue to watch for a closing price reversal top to perhaps bring an end to this rally.
The minor trend is also up. A trade through 4543.75 will change the minor trend to down. This will shift the momentum to the downside.
The minor range is 4543.75 to 4603.50. Its 50% level or pivot at 4573.50 is the nearest support. This level will move up as the market climbs above 4603.50.
The second minor range is 4317.25 to 4603.50. If the minor trend changes to down then its 50% level at 4460.25 will become the primary downside target.
The direction of the December E-mini S&P 500 Index early Monday is likely to be determined by trader reaction to 4602.50.
A sustained move over 4602.50 will indicate the presence of buyers. Taking out 4603.50 will indicate the buying is getting stronger with no visible resistance.
A sustained move under 4602.50 will signal the presence of sellers. If this creates enough downside momentum then look for the selling to possibly extend into 4573.50.
Buyers could come in on the first test of 4573.50. If it fails then sellers are likely to target the minor bottom at 4543.75.
For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out oureconomic calendar.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• EOS, Stellar’s Lumen, and Tron’s TRX – Daily Analysis – November 1st, 2021 || E-mini S&P 500 Index (ES) Futures Technical Analysis – Needs to Hold 4543.75 to Sustain Upside Momentum: December E-mini S&P 500 Index futures closed higher on Friday after shaking off early weakness as a rise in Microsoft helped offset declines in Amazon and Apple after disappointing quarterly earnings from the online retailer and iPhone maker. On Friday, December E-mini S&P 500 Index futures settled at 4602.50, up 15.00 or +0.33%. The cash market S&P 500 had fallen as much as 0.65% earlier in the day. The benchmark index had advanced for a fourth straight week, its longest weekly streak of gains since April. With 279 companies in the S&P 500 having reported results through Friday morning, 82.1% have topped earnings expectations, according to Refinitiv data. The current year-over-year earnings growth rate for the third quarter is 39.2%. Daily December E-mini S&P 500 Index Daily Swing Chart Technical Analysis The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. The trend was reaffirmed on Friday when buyers took out 4590.00. The nearest main bottom is 4260.00. A trade through this level will change the main trend to down. This is highly unlikely, but due to the prolonged move up in terms of price and time, continue to watch for a closing price reversal top to perhaps bring an end to this rally. The minor trend is also up. A trade through 4543.75 will change the minor trend to down. This will shift the momentum to the downside. The minor range is 4543.75 to 4603.50. Its 50% level or pivot at 4573.50 is the nearest support. This level will move up as the market climbs above 4603.50. The second minor range is 4317.25 to 4603.50. If the minor trend changes to down then its 50% level at 4460.25 will become the primary downside target. Short-Term Outlook The direction of the December E-mini S&P 500 Index early Monday is likely to be determined by trader reaction to 4602.50. Bullish Scenario A sustained move over 4602.50 will indicate the presence of buyers. Taking out 4603.50 will indicate the buying is getting stronger with no visible resistance. Bearish Scenario A sustained move under 4602.50 will signal the presence of sellers. If this creates enough downside momentum then look for the selling to possibly extend into 4573.50. Buyers could come in on the first test of 4573.50. If it fails then sellers are likely to target the minor bottom at 4543.75. For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar . This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Bulls Still Waiting for the Cold Weather Bitcoin and Ethereum – Weekly Technical Analysis – November 1st, 2021 USD/JPY Fundamental Daily Forecast – Boosted by Fed Tapering, Rate Hike Expectations Oil Bulls Celebrate October, Yet Market Dynamics Change SafeMoon Rallies 9% as Investors Hunt Next Big Meme Coin EOS, Stellar’s Lumen, and Tron’s TRX – Daily Analysis – November 1st, 2021 View comments || USD/JPY Fundamental Daily Forecast – Boosted by Fed Tapering, Rate Hike Expectations: The Dollar/Yen rallied on Friday, helped by firm U.S. Treasury yields and a stronger U.S. Dollar. The Forex pair was also boosted by increased demand for higher risk assets as U.S. stocks continued to climb on the back of strong earnings. Position-squaring ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve announcements and mixed U.S. economic data may have helped to limit gains.
On Friday, theUSD/JPYsettled at 113.965, up 0.413 or +0.36%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve holds a two-day meeting on November 2-3. It is widely expected to begin to pare back its massive stimulus, but traders will be looking for clues as to the timing of its first rate hike and the frequency of other rate hikes.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose slightly in a volatile session on Friday as the bond market remained unsettled ahead of this week’s Fed meeting.
The bond market has been volatile over the past week as corporate earnings and economic readings have given conflicting signals to investors and global central banks have begun to chart their separate paths to tighter policy. The 20-year yield is now higher than the 30-year yield, an unusual occurrence in the bond market, and short-term yields have spiked in recent days.
The volatility comes as U.S. policy makers are expected to make significant announcements next week as the federal government looks towards the next phase of the economic recovery.
On Thursday, the 10-year rate rose despite disappointing third-quarter economic growth data. The Commerce Department reported thatU.S. gross domestic producthad risen 2% in the third quarter versus the previous year, below the 2.8% forecast by economists.
On Friday,personal incomefell 1% in September, more than the 0.4% decline expected by economists, according to Dow Jones.Consumer spendingrose 0.6%, matching expectations. The core consumer price index rose 0.2% month over month, as expected, but the year-over-year change was the highest in three decades.
The University of Michigan’s final Octoberconsumer sentimentreading came in slightly better than expected at 71.7 but is well below levels from earlier in the year.
During the early part of this week, the focus will be on the Fed. The central bank is widely expected to announce that it will begin to unwind its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases and end the program by the middle of next year.
Investors will also be looking for the Fed’s comments on rising prices as inflation has been running at a 30-year high.
Later in the week on Friday the focus shifts toOctober’s employment report, which could show some improvement in hiring, as new cases of COVID-19 continue to decline.
For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out oureconomic calendar.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• Bitcoin and Ethereum – Weekly Technical Analysis – November 1st, 2021 || USD/JPY Fundamental Daily Forecast – Boosted by Fed Tapering, Rate Hike Expectations: The Dollar/Yen rallied on Friday, helped by firm U.S. Treasury yields and a stronger U.S. Dollar. The Forex pair was also boosted by increased demand for higher risk assets as U.S. stocks continued to climb on the back of strong earnings. Position-squaring ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve announcements and mixed U.S. economic data may have helped to limit gains. On Friday, the USD/JPY settled at 113.965, up 0.413 or +0.36%. Fed Decisions Move to the Forefront The U.S. Federal Reserve holds a two-day meeting on November 2-3. It is widely expected to begin to pare back its massive stimulus, but traders will be looking for clues as to the timing of its first rate hike and the frequency of other rate hikes. Steady-to-Better Treasury Yields The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose slightly in a volatile session on Friday as the bond market remained unsettled ahead of this week’s Fed meeting. The bond market has been volatile over the past week as corporate earnings and economic readings have given conflicting signals to investors and global central banks have begun to chart their separate paths to tighter policy. The 20-year yield is now higher than the 30-year yield, an unusual occurrence in the bond market, and short-term yields have spiked in recent days. The volatility comes as U.S. policy makers are expected to make significant announcements next week as the federal government looks towards the next phase of the economic recovery. Mixed U.S. Economic Data May have Capped Gains On Thursday, the 10-year rate rose despite disappointing third-quarter economic growth data. The Commerce Department reported that U.S. gross domestic product had risen 2% in the third quarter versus the previous year, below the 2.8% forecast by economists. On Friday, personal income fell 1% in September, more than the 0.4% decline expected by economists, according to Dow Jones. Consumer spending rose 0.6%, matching expectations. The core consumer price index rose 0.2% month over month, as expected, but the year-over-year change was the highest in three decades. Story continues The University of Michigan’s final October consumer sentiment reading came in slightly better than expected at 71.7 but is well below levels from earlier in the year. Short-Term Outlook During the early part of this week, the focus will be on the Fed. The central bank is widely expected to announce that it will begin to unwind its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases and end the program by the middle of next year. Investors will also be looking for the Fed’s comments on rising prices as inflation has been running at a 30-year high. Later in the week on Friday the focus shifts to October’s employment report , which could show some improvement in hiring, as new cases of COVID-19 continue to decline. For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar . This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Limited OPEC+ Output Helps Offset US Supply Rise Concerns European Equities: German Retail Sales and Corporate Earnings in Focus The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – November 1st, 2021 Aramco Hitting Bulls Eye, Cash Flow Enough to Pay Dividend Shiba Inu Coin – Daily Tech Analysis – November 1st, 2021 Bitcoin and Ethereum – Weekly Technical Analysis – November 1st, 2021 || NZD/USD Forex Technical Analysis – Trader Reaction to .7175 Sets Monday’s Early Tone: The New Zealand Dollar closed lower on Friday as the U.S. Dollar strengthened ahead of the start of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting on November 2-3. The Fed is widely expected to begin tapering its massive stimulus, but traders aren’t sure about the central bank’s timing of its first and subsequent rate hikes.
On Friday, theNZD/USDsettled at .7171, down 0.0033 or -0.45%.
The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart, however, momentum has been trending lower since the formation of the closing price reversal top on October 21.
A trade through .7219 will signal a resumption of the uptrend. The main trend will change to down on a move through .6860.
The minor trend is also up. A trade through .7131 will change the minor trend to down. This will confirm the shift in momentum.
The minor range is .7219 to .7131. On Friday, the NZD/USD settled slightly below its pivot at .7175 after straddling it throughout the session.
The main range is .7316 to .6806. The NZD/USD is currently trading on the strong side of its retracement zone at .7121 to .7061, making is support.
Additional support is a pair of 50% levels at .7027 and .7012.
The direction of the NZD/USD early Monday is likely to be determined by trader reaction to .7175.
A sustained move over .7175 will signal the presence of buyers. If this move is able to generate enough upside momentum then look for a surge into .7217 – .7219. Overtaking these levels could extend the move into the June 7 main top at .7243. This is a potential trigger point for an acceleration to the upside with the May 26 main top at .7316 the next likely target.
A sustained move under .7175 will indicate the presence of sellers. If this move creates enough downside momentum then look for the selling to possibly extend into .7131, followed by .7121. The latter is a potential trigger point for an acceleration to the downside with .7061 the next likely target.
For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out oureconomic calendar.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• AUD/USD and NZD/USD Fundamental Daily Forecast – Aussie Weakens Despite Bond Market Turmoil || NZD/USD Forex Technical Analysis – Trader Reaction to .7175 Sets Monday’s Early Tone: The New Zealand Dollar closed lower on Friday as the U.S. Dollar strengthened ahead of the start of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting on November 2-3. The Fed is widely expected to begin tapering its massive stimulus, but traders aren’t sure about the central bank’s timing of its first and subsequent rate hikes. On Friday, the NZD/USD settled at .7171, down 0.0033 or -0.45%. Daily NZD/USD Daily Swing Chart Technical Analysis The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart, however, momentum has been trending lower since the formation of the closing price reversal top on October 21. A trade through .7219 will signal a resumption of the uptrend. The main trend will change to down on a move through .6860. The minor trend is also up. A trade through .7131 will change the minor trend to down. This will confirm the shift in momentum. The minor range is .7219 to .7131. On Friday, the NZD/USD settled slightly below its pivot at .7175 after straddling it throughout the session. The main range is .7316 to .6806. The NZD/USD is currently trading on the strong side of its retracement zone at .7121 to .7061, making is support. Additional support is a pair of 50% levels at .7027 and .7012. Short-Term Outlook The direction of the NZD/USD early Monday is likely to be determined by trader reaction to .7175. Bullish Scenario A sustained move over .7175 will signal the presence of buyers. If this move is able to generate enough upside momentum then look for a surge into .7217 – .7219. Overtaking these levels could extend the move into the June 7 main top at .7243. This is a potential trigger point for an acceleration to the upside with the May 26 main top at .7316 the next likely target. Bearish Scenario A sustained move under .7175 will indicate the presence of sellers. If this move creates enough downside momentum then look for the selling to possibly extend into .7131, followed by .7121. The latter is a potential trigger point for an acceleration to the downside with .7061 the next likely target. Story continues For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar . This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Bitcoin and Ethereum – Weekly Technical Analysis – November 1st, 2021 SafeMoon Rallies 9% as Investors Hunt Next Big Meme Coin EOS, Stellar’s Lumen, and Tron’s TRX – Daily Analysis – November 1st, 2021 What to Expect from SOL as Solana’s TVL Nears $14 Billion? Earnings Week Ahead: NXP Semiconductors, Pfizer, Ferrari, Expedia and Moderna in Focus AUD/USD and NZD/USD Fundamental Daily Forecast – Aussie Weakens Despite Bond Market Turmoil || Could Elon Musk Really Be 'The Simpsons' Villain Hank Scorpio?: ByHernán PanessiviaEl Planteo.
He's happy, he looks like he got it.
Homer Simpsonreceives a basket of food and, also, a nice welcome. After years of grumbling with Mr. Burns, Homer has changed jobs. His boss is the very niceHank Scorpio("The Simpsons," Season 8, Episode 2, 1996).
"I've never liked to see myself on top of other people. I'm just like you. Sure, I have better hours, I earn a lot more, I get more vacation time, but I'm not more than you," Scorpio tells Homer.
However, minutes later,Hank reveals himself as a psychopath who threatens the United Nationswith a nuclear device, is determined to kill Mr. Bont - a hero who parodies James Bond,andfaces an army carrying a flamethrowerbecause of a "little problem with the government."
Oddly enough, Hank never stopped being nice to Homer. Thus, the question arises: Can people be relatable and, at the same time, a supervillain?
In the edges of the Internet, a conspiracy theory was soon woven: What if, in reality, Hank Scorpio is inspired by a real-life character?
The Simpsons Know The Truth
Thepredictive ability of Matt Groening'sanimated series is well known: from Donald Trump’s presidency, through the attack on the Twin Towers, the 2016 Rolling Stones tour and so many more events.
Therefore,Hank Scorpio's inspiration(appearing in the episode"You Only Move Twice"in the 8th season) in the billionaireRichard Branson, founder of theVirgin Galactic Holdings, Inc.(NASDAQ:SPCE) and owner of a fortune of more than $4.8 billion, could be just a mask, a feint, a bait, a hint to a bigger idea.
Could it be that Hank Scorpio is, in fact, another billionaire?
Instantly, the name of Elon Musk comes to mind.
Elon Musk is the CEO of Space XandTesla Motors(NASDAQ:TSLA), chairman of SolarCity, and co-chairman of Open AI. Owner of a fortune amounting to $223 billion, Musk competes for the position of the richest man in the world with Jeff Bezos, the majority shareholder ofAmazon(NASDAQ:AMZN).
And every time he moves a piece, whether, to endorse a crypto meme (that rose 65% in a few hours) orinvest in Bitcoin, he becomes news.
"The whole thing is like a billionaire's whim," said Marc Odo, client portfolio manager at Swan Global Investments, in an interview with Bloomberg.
One Thing And The Other
The world knew Musk as an avant-garde nerd who was making waves in Silicon Valley and amassed an enormous fortune after sellingPayPal(NASDAQ:PYPL), his first great invention, for $1.5 billion toeBay(NASDAQ:EBAY).
But he soon revealed himself as an eccentric visionary who designed technology for NASA, founded drilling companies (The Boring Company, the best and most honest name in the galaxy), promised trips to Mars because the Earth "is doomed," sent a vehicle into space while David Bowie's "Starman" was playing on a loop and even created a flamethrower that he put on sale for $500.
Musk stands as the person who dreams of changing the world through his space, automotive and technological projects.
Touted as a flesh-and-blood Tony Stark (an elegant billionaire who is also one of Marvel's Avengers), suddenly the world began to cook up the opposite idea.
Elon Musk, Hero Or Villain?
If anything can be said about Elon Musk, it's that he's not a smoke peddler. Almost all of his controversial inventions have been put into practice. Intransigent, impulsive, demanding and unquestionably brilliant. "The architect of tomorrow", was the headline of Rolling Stone magazine, in an interview that portrays him as somewhere between petulance and genius.
But what if the same guy who one daysmoked a joint at Joe Rogan'spodcast and aroused everyone's sympathy suddenly had a screw loose and decided to finish it all?He could.
Hence, the comparisons with Hank Scorpio, the villain of The Simpsons, a guy who could be a good boss and also the man who could end humanity.
In fact, in 2019, a Twitter userwroteabout it and Elon Musk took charge:"OK, fine, I'm Hank Scorpio,"he clarified.
Although his response was loaded with irony and cynicism, it build up the suspicions raised in social networks: at the end of this story,Elon Musk... will he be a hero or a villain?
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© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Could Elon Musk Really Be 'The Simpsons' Villain Hank Scorpio?: By Hernán Panessi via El Planteo . He's happy, he looks like he got it. Homer Simpson receives a basket of food and, also, a nice welcome. After years of grumbling with Mr. Burns, Homer has changed jobs. His boss is the very nice Hank Scorpio ("The Simpsons," Season 8, Episode 2, 1996). "I've never liked to see myself on top of other people. I'm just like you. Sure, I have better hours, I earn a lot more, I get more vacation time, but I'm not more than you," Scorpio tells Homer. However, minutes later, Hank reveals himself as a psychopath who threatens the United Nations with a nuclear device, is determined to kill Mr. Bont - a hero who parodies James Bond, and faces an army carrying a flamethrower because of a "little problem with the government." Oddly enough, Hank never stopped being nice to Homer. Thus, the question arises: Can people be relatable and, at the same time, a supervillain? In the edges of the Internet, a conspiracy theory was soon woven: What if, in reality, Hank Scorpio is inspired by a real-life character? The Simpsons Know The Truth The predictive ability of Matt Groening's animated series is well known: from Donald Trump’s presidency, through the attack on the Twin Towers, the 2016 Rolling Stones tour and so many more events. Therefore, Hank Scorpio's inspiration (appearing in the episode "You Only Move Twice" in the 8th season) in the billionaire Richard Branson , founder of the Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPCE ) and owner of a fortune of more than $4.8 billion, could be just a mask, a feint, a bait, a hint to a bigger idea. Could it be that Hank Scorpio is, in fact, another billionaire? Instantly, the name of Elon Musk comes to mind. Elon Musk is the CEO of Space X and Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA ), chairman of SolarCity, and co-chairman of Open AI. Owner of a fortune amounting to $223 billion, Musk competes for the position of the richest man in the world with Jeff Bezos, the majority shareholder of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ). Story continues And every time he moves a piece, whether, to endorse a crypto meme ( that rose 65% in a few hours ) or invest in Bitcoin , he becomes news. "The whole thing is like a billionaire's whim," said Marc Odo, client portfolio manager at Swan Global Investments, in an interview with Bloomberg. One Thing And The Other The world knew Musk as an avant-garde nerd who was making waves in Silicon Valley and amassed an enormous fortune after selling PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL ), his first great invention, for $1.5 billion to eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY ). But he soon revealed himself as an eccentric visionary who designed technology for NASA, founded drilling companies (The Boring Company, the best and most honest name in the galaxy), promised trips to Mars because the Earth "is doomed," sent a vehicle into space while David Bowie's "Starman" was playing on a loop and even created a flamethrower that he put on sale for $500. Musk stands as the person who dreams of changing the world through his space, automotive and technological projects. Touted as a flesh-and-blood Tony Stark (an elegant billionaire who is also one of Marvel's Avengers), suddenly the world began to cook up the opposite idea. Elon Musk, Hero Or Villain? If anything can be said about Elon Musk, it's that he's not a smoke peddler. Almost all of his controversial inventions have been put into practice. Intransigent, impulsive, demanding and unquestionably brilliant. " The architect of tomorrow ", was the headline of Rolling Stone magazine, in an interview that portrays him as somewhere between petulance and genius. But what if the same guy who one day smoked a joint at Joe Rogan's podcast and aroused everyone's sympathy suddenly had a screw loose and decided to finish it all? He could. Hence, the comparisons with Hank Scorpio, the villain of The Simpsons, a guy who could be a good boss and also the man who could end humanity. In fact, in 2019, a Twitter user wrote about it and Elon Musk took charge: "OK, fine, I'm Hank Scorpio," he clarified. Just because he has a flamethrower and I have a flamethrower doesn’t mean ... um ... ok fine I’m Hank Scorpio — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2019 Although his response was loaded with irony and cynicism, it build up the suspicions raised in social networks: at the end of this story, Elon Musk... will he be a hero or a villain? See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Cryptobuds: An NFT Game That Lets You Build A Digital Cannabis Empire Psychedelics In The United Kingdom: Prime Minister Considers Legalizing Psilocybin For Research © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || 3 Crypto Stocks Gearing up for Gains; Analysts Say ‘Buy’: The stock markets are at or near record highs right now, buoyed by a strong investors sentiment, especially among retail investors. Stocks represent a strong return while interest rates and bond yields remain low. But for return-minded investors, stocks are not the only game in town.
The notoriously volatile Bitcoin has surged 109% this year, peaking above $65,000 earlier this month. Yet, some crypto watchers believe the digital coin will climb even higher.
The cryptocurrency sector is worth approximately $2.6 trillion, globally, and it’s finding fuel from venture capitalists, who poured $5.5 billion into it in the first half of last year only to come back and pump in another $17 billion in the first six months of 2021.
That sort of money has to go somewhere, and a large part of it is going to fund the mining operations. The blockchain tech behind crypto doesn’t come cheap – the server farms and mining sites require stacks of high-end computing power, and the cooling infrastructure to keep it in running. This makes Bitcoin miners huge consumers of electricity wherever they operate.
They put that power to use running the crypto mining calculations, adding more links to the blockchain and pulling another bitcoin out of the digital ether. And in doing that, the bitcoin mining companies are opening up new avenues for market investors.
Against this backdrop, we’ve dipped into theTipRanks databaseto pull the details on three crypto miners, to find out what’s making them tick. The platform revealed that these are Strong Buy tickers, and, more importantly, all three offer considerable upside potential. Let’s take a closer look.
Argo Blockchain(ARBK)
We'll start with Argo Blockchain. This crypto miner is based in London and operates 45 megawatts of top-tier bitcoin mining servers in North America, with facilities in Quebec and Texas. The company’s total hashrate of 1075PH puts it in the top 0.7% of bitcoin miners globally, giving Argo a leg up in solving new blockchain calculations and reaping the rewards.
Argo has been expanding, both physically and in the markets. Back in May, the company completed the acquisition of its Quebec datacenters – and boasts that their combined 20 megawatts of power is provided mainly by clean hydroelectric generation, part of the company’s commitment to building a greener bitcoin industry. More recently, the company broke ground on a 125,000 square foot facility in Dickens County Texas, a facility that, by 2Q22, will be populated by 20,000 Bitmain Antminer S19J Pro machines. Argo announced the purchase of the machines this past September. The Texas facility is predicted to reach up to 200 megawatts capacity.
On the financial market side, Argo entered the US stock markets on September 23, with a sale of 7.5 million American Depositary Shares. The ARBK ticker entered the NASDAQ index, and the initial sale of shares on the US market, priced at $15 each, raised $112.5 million in gross proceeds.
Jonathan Petersen, 5-star analyst from Jefferies, sees Argo in a strong position generally in the bitcoin mining world, writing: “We expect ARBK to increase its market share of the global BTC mining market to 1.8% by YE22, from 0.7% today, which should drive a 3x increase in their revenue run-rate.”
Drilling down, Petersen takes note of Argo’s ‘green’ commitment, and points out that it helps to differentiate the company in investors’ eyes.
“While most BTC miners are making efforts to increase renewable energy sources and be carbon-neutral, Argo has made it a central pillar of their business strategy. Earlier this year, Argo announced that they are the first BTC miner to be 'climate positive.' The build in Texas, while clearly chosen for its cheap power (~2c kWh), was also picked because of the abundant wind power in the area, which produces more power than the grid uses. We believe that sourcing 100% of power from renewable sources is essential to gain broad acceptance from investors,” Petersen explained.
Petersen's upbeat outlook leads him to put a Buy rating on the stock, and his price target, of $30, implies an upside of 78% for the year ahead. (To watch Petersen’s track record,click here)
Argo is feeling some love from Wall Street since it entered the US markets; the company has received 4 analyst reviews, and all are positive – for a unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating. The stock is priced at $16.85 and its $24.25 average price target suggests it has a one-year upside potential of 44% from that level. (See ARBK stock analysis on TipRanks)
Hut 8 Mining Corporation(HUT)
Next up is Hut 8 Mining, a Toronto-based company that was one of North America’s pioneers in large-scale crypto mining. Hut 8’s operations focus on both Bitcoin and Ethereum mining, and the company boasts that it offers investors a hassle-free mode of playing the crypto market. Rather than buy the coins directly, with the hassles of setting up digital wallets, wiring money across borders, and storing the bitcoins, investors can buy shares in a major crypto miner.
Hut 8 is a truly large mining op. The company has 209 megawatts of contracted power capacity behind its mining facilities, and high rates of crypto hash generation. For BTC, Hut 8 claims a hashrate of 2.5E/H PH/s, and for Ethereum a rate of 1,600 GH/s. Hut 8 uses a combination of high-end ASIC and GPU mining equipment to keep up with the competition. The company’s two operating mining facilities are located in Alberta, the heart of Canada’s energy production industry, where Hut 8 can take advantage of abundant, nearby, natural gas resources. Industry leading power purchase agreements take advantage of cold winter temperatures and high winds, to generate cleaner energy.
Hut 8’s Drumheller facility currently operates at 42 megawatts, while the Medicine Hat location has a capacity of 67 megawatts. The company’s Alberta location, in close proximity to major energy producers, gives Hut 8 an easy runway for expansion at affordable cost.
On October 23 of this year, Hut 8 announced that its third facility, to be located in North Bay, Ontario, is expected to come online by year’s end 2021, with a capacity of 35 megawatts. Just as the Alberta locations offer proximity to energy resources, the North Bay site allows convenient power generation from by-product steam, hydrogen, and natural gas, along with secondary power generation from a geothermal system.
Among the bulls is D.A. Davidson analystChristopher Brendler, who notes the overall positive environment for investors interested in crypto mining: "We're bullish on Bitcoin and the miners represent a super-attractive way to play this transformational technology as the BTC rally and China shutdown are driving huge near-term margins.”
Brendler goes on to compare Hut 8 favorably to its peers, saying of the situation and the company: “Valuations remain surprisingly reasonable after the recent outperformance. Interestingly, while all the stocks have done extremely well off the bottom (when many were near death), the group has underperformed Bitcoin recently. As a results, versus our somewhat conservative estimates (immediate 14% drop in BTC, YE22 network hash rate over 300 EH/s and 500+ EH/s in 2023), the group trades 4x-7x our 2022E adjusted EBITDA estimates. With HUT at the low end despite compelling catalysts ahead (new low-cost facility online 4Q21) and one of the most experienced mgmt teams in the sector, we believe Hut has the best risk/reward against a super compelling peer group.”
These comments back up Brendler’s Buy rating, and his $20 price target is indicative of ~50% upside over the next 12 months. (To watch Brendler’s track record,click here)
Like Argo above, Hut 8 has 4 recent analyst reviews, all bullish, backing its Strong Buy consensus rating. The stock is selling for $13.40 and has an average price target of $13.89. (See HUT stock analysis on TipRanks)
Riot Blockchain (RIOT)
Last on our list is Riot Blockchain, the largest bitcoin miner in the US. The company takes a ‘made in the USA’ approach, expanding large-scale operations in the US, with a focus on goosing the hash rate and infrastructure capacity. Riot has a hash rate of 2.2 exahash per second, an efficiency rating of 30.1 W/TH, and currently consumes 73 megawatts of power in its mining operations.
Riot’s main operations are based in the Coinmint facility in Massena, New York, where the company is able to take advantage of 88% zero-emission energy production sources Riot has 16,146 next-gen bitcoin mining ASICs deployed at the Coinmint facility.
To augment its mining capabilities, Riot in May of this year acquired Whinstone, US. The target company is the owner-operator of the largest bitcoin mining op in North America, based out of Rockdale, Texas. The site has 190,000 square feet in three buildings on a 100-acre site, with contracts in place for both a long-term lease and electric power supply. The Whinstone site can tap into Texas’ cheap electricity, at just 2.5 cents per kWh, and has developed 300 megawatts of its 750 megawatt capacity. Riot’s acquisition of Whinstone cost the company 11.8 million common shares of RIOT and $80 million in cash.
More recently, this past October, Riot announced that it is expanding its Whinstone property through development of an immersion-cooled, 200 megawatt bitcoin mining facility. The immersion technology is expected to offer improved operational efficiencies. The new facility will host 46,000 S19 Antminers, which have already been purchased.
Again, we’ll check in with D.A. Davidson’s Chris Brendler, who is impressed by Riot’s expansion. Brendler writes: “Although the $600M Whinstone acquisition only closed four months ago, Riot has been working nonstop on the taking advantage of the additional power capacity with four new buildings expected to come online over the next 6 months with one before year end. Even though the Whinstone site has capacity for another 750 MW expansion, we wouldn't be surprised if Riot is already thinking about its next location as mgmt is laser-focused on capitalizing on the opportunity as soon as possible.”
In line with his comments, Brendler placed a Buy rating on RIOT shares. His $42 price target implies the stock will appreciate 54% in the year ahead. (To watch Brendler’s track record,click here)
All in all, Riot stock has 5 positive analyst reviews backing its Strong Buy analyst consensus. With shares selling for $27.22 and the average price target at $46.60, the stock has a 71% one-year upside potential. (See RIOT stock analysis on TipRanks)
To find good ideas for crypto stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment. || 3 Crypto Stocks Gearing up for Gains; Analysts Say ‘Buy’: The stock markets are at or near record highs right now, buoyed by a strong investors sentiment, especially among retail investors. Stocks represent a strong return while interest rates and bond yields remain low. But for return-minded investors, stocks are not the only game in town. The notoriously volatile Bitcoin has surged 109% this year, peaking above $65,000 earlier this month. Yet, some crypto watchers believe the digital coin will climb even higher. The cryptocurrency sector is worth approximately $2.6 trillion, globally, and it’s finding fuel from venture capitalists, who poured $5.5 billion into it in the first half of last year only to come back and pump in another $17 billion in the first six months of 2021. That sort of money has to go somewhere, and a large part of it is going to fund the mining operations. The blockchain tech behind crypto doesn’t come cheap – the server farms and mining sites require stacks of high-end computing power, and the cooling infrastructure to keep it in running. This makes Bitcoin miners huge consumers of electricity wherever they operate. They put that power to use running the crypto mining calculations, adding more links to the blockchain and pulling another bitcoin out of the digital ether. And in doing that, the bitcoin mining companies are opening up new avenues for market investors. Against this backdrop, we’ve dipped into the TipRanks database to pull the details on three crypto miners, to find out what’s making them tick. The platform revealed that these are Strong Buy tickers, and, more importantly, all three offer considerable upside potential. Let’s take a closer look. Argo Blockchain ( ARBK ) We'll start with Argo Blockchain. This crypto miner is based in London and operates 45 megawatts of top-tier bitcoin mining servers in North America, with facilities in Quebec and Texas. The company’s total hashrate of 1075PH puts it in the top 0.7% of bitcoin miners globally, giving Argo a leg up in solving new blockchain calculations and reaping the rewards. Story continues Argo has been expanding, both physically and in the markets. Back in May, the company completed the acquisition of its Quebec datacenters – and boasts that their combined 20 megawatts of power is provided mainly by clean hydroelectric generation, part of the company’s commitment to building a greener bitcoin industry. More recently, the company broke ground on a 125,000 square foot facility in Dickens County Texas, a facility that, by 2Q22, will be populated by 20,000 Bitmain Antminer S19J Pro machines. Argo announced the purchase of the machines this past September. The Texas facility is predicted to reach up to 200 megawatts capacity. On the financial market side, Argo entered the US stock markets on September 23, with a sale of 7.5 million American Depositary Shares. The ARBK ticker entered the NASDAQ index, and the initial sale of shares on the US market, priced at $15 each, raised $112.5 million in gross proceeds. Jonathan Petersen , 5-star analyst from Jefferies, sees Argo in a strong position generally in the bitcoin mining world, writing: “We expect ARBK to increase its market share of the global BTC mining market to 1.8% by YE22, from 0.7% today, which should drive a 3x increase in their revenue run-rate.” Drilling down, Petersen takes note of Argo’s ‘green’ commitment, and points out that it helps to differentiate the company in investors’ eyes. “While most BTC miners are making efforts to increase renewable energy sources and be carbon-neutral, Argo has made it a central pillar of their business strategy. Earlier this year, Argo announced that they are the first BTC miner to be 'climate positive.' The build in Texas, while clearly chosen for its cheap power (~2c kWh), was also picked because of the abundant wind power in the area, which produces more power than the grid uses. We believe that sourcing 100% of power from renewable sources is essential to gain broad acceptance from investors,” Petersen explained. Petersen's upbeat outlook leads him to put a Buy rating on the stock, and his price target, of $30, implies an upside of 78% for the year ahead. (To watch Petersen’s track record, click here ) Argo is feeling some love from Wall Street since it entered the US markets; the company has received 4 analyst reviews, and all are positive – for a unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating. The stock is priced at $16.85 and its $24.25 average price target suggests it has a one-year upside potential of 44% from that level. ( See ARBK stock analysis on TipRanks ) Hut 8 Mining Corporation ( HUT ) Next up is Hut 8 Mining, a Toronto-based company that was one of North America’s pioneers in large-scale crypto mining. Hut 8’s operations focus on both Bitcoin and Ethereum mining, and the company boasts that it offers investors a hassle-free mode of playing the crypto market. Rather than buy the coins directly, with the hassles of setting up digital wallets, wiring money across borders, and storing the bitcoins, investors can buy shares in a major crypto miner. Hut 8 is a truly large mining op. The company has 209 megawatts of contracted power capacity behind its mining facilities, and high rates of crypto hash generation. For BTC, Hut 8 claims a hashrate of 2.5E/H PH/s, and for Ethereum a rate of 1,600 GH/s. Hut 8 uses a combination of high-end ASIC and GPU mining equipment to keep up with the competition. The company’s two operating mining facilities are located in Alberta, the heart of Canada’s energy production industry, where Hut 8 can take advantage of abundant, nearby, natural gas resources. Industry leading power purchase agreements take advantage of cold winter temperatures and high winds, to generate cleaner energy. Hut 8’s Drumheller facility currently operates at 42 megawatts, while the Medicine Hat location has a capacity of 67 megawatts. The company’s Alberta location, in close proximity to major energy producers, gives Hut 8 an easy runway for expansion at affordable cost. On October 23 of this year, Hut 8 announced that its third facility, to be located in North Bay, Ontario, is expected to come online by year’s end 2021, with a capacity of 35 megawatts. Just as the Alberta locations offer proximity to energy resources, the North Bay site allows convenient power generation from by-product steam, hydrogen, and natural gas, along with secondary power generation from a geothermal system. Among the bulls is D.A. Davidson analyst Christopher Brendler , who notes the overall positive environment for investors interested in crypto mining: "We're bullish on Bitcoin and the miners represent a super-attractive way to play this transformational technology as the BTC rally and China shutdown are driving huge near-term margins.” Brendler goes on to compare Hut 8 favorably to its peers, saying of the situation and the company: “Valuations remain surprisingly reasonable after the recent outperformance. Interestingly, while all the stocks have done extremely well off the bottom (when many were near death), the group has underperformed Bitcoin recently. As a results, versus our somewhat conservative estimates (immediate 14% drop in BTC, YE22 network hash rate over 300 EH/s and 500+ EH/s in 2023), the group trades 4x-7x our 2022E adjusted EBITDA estimates. With HUT at the low end despite compelling catalysts ahead (new low-cost facility online 4Q21) and one of the most experienced mgmt teams in the sector, we believe Hut has the best risk/reward against a super compelling peer group.” These comments back up Brendler’s Buy rating, and his $20 price target is indicative of ~50% upside over the next 12 months. (To watch Brendler’s track record, click here ) Like Argo above, Hut 8 has 4 recent analyst reviews, all bullish, backing its Strong Buy consensus rating. The stock is selling for $13.40 and has an average price target of $13.89. ( See HUT stock analysis on TipRanks ) Riot Blockchain ( RIOT ) Last on our list is Riot Blockchain, the largest bitcoin miner in the US. The company takes a ‘made in the USA’ approach, expanding large-scale operations in the US, with a focus on goosing the hash rate and infrastructure capacity. Riot has a hash rate of 2.2 exahash per second, an efficiency rating of 30.1 W/TH, and currently consumes 73 megawatts of power in its mining operations. Riot’s main operations are based in the Coinmint facility in Massena, New York, where the company is able to take advantage of 88% zero-emission energy production sources Riot has 16,146 next-gen bitcoin mining ASICs deployed at the Coinmint facility. To augment its mining capabilities, Riot in May of this year acquired Whinstone, US. The target company is the owner-operator of the largest bitcoin mining op in North America, based out of Rockdale, Texas. The site has 190,000 square feet in three buildings on a 100-acre site, with contracts in place for both a long-term lease and electric power supply. The Whinstone site can tap into Texas’ cheap electricity, at just 2.5 cents per kWh, and has developed 300 megawatts of its 750 megawatt capacity. Riot’s acquisition of Whinstone cost the company 11.8 million common shares of RIOT and $80 million in cash. More recently, this past October, Riot announced that it is expanding its Whinstone property through development of an immersion-cooled, 200 megawatt bitcoin mining facility. The immersion technology is expected to offer improved operational efficiencies. The new facility will host 46,000 S19 Antminers, which have already been purchased. Again, we’ll check in with D.A. Davidson’s Chris Brendler, who is impressed by Riot’s expansion. Brendler writes: “Although the $600M Whinstone acquisition only closed four months ago, Riot has been working nonstop on the taking advantage of the additional power capacity with four new buildings expected to come online over the next 6 months with one before year end. Even though the Whinstone site has capacity for another 750 MW expansion, we wouldn't be surprised if Riot is already thinking about its next location as mgmt is laser-focused on capitalizing on the opportunity as soon as possible.” In line with his comments, Brendler placed a Buy rating on RIOT shares. His $42 price target implies the stock will appreciate 54% in the year ahead. (To watch Brendler’s track record, click here ) All in all, Riot stock has 5 positive analyst reviews backing its Strong Buy analyst consensus. With shares selling for $27.22 and the average price target at $46.60, the stock has a 71% one-year upside potential. ( See RIOT stock analysis on TipRanks ) To find good ideas for crypto stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy , a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer : The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment. || The Bias That Propels Shiba Inu and Dogecoin: Bitcoin may be the alpha dog of crypto, but for many small retail investors these days, dogecoin and shiba inu are the pick of the litter.
Binance subsidiary WazirX, India’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, suffered outages as traders jumped into the fray, buying shiba inu and stressing out the platform’s servers to the point thattrade executions were delayedthis past Wednesday. Over half a billion dollars’ worth of trades were done on WazirX that day, the highest of any crypto exchange in India,CEO Nischal Shetty tweeted.
“It basically brought down our exchange,” Siddharth Menon, one of WazirX’s co-founders and its chief operating officer, said onCoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” programThursday morning. “The kind of active numbers and the active users that we saw in the last 48 hours has actually shocked us. We were not ready for it. We were all ready for the bitcoin move, but we were never ready for shiba inu.”
Menon suspects that there is some amount of unit bias at play. That’s where a novice trader is prone to buy a lot of one kind of cryptocurrency because the price of one unit of it is relatively small compared with, say, bitcoin even though one can buy the same dollar amount in bitcoin as the low-priced coin.
For investors who are dipping their toes in the water with a relatively small amount of money, a low-priced coin can make one feel a little richer. For example, as of this writing, $620 buys 0.01 BTC. On the other hand, it buys about 10 million SHIB.
And while some “smart money” is starting to appear to betrading shiba inu and dogecoin, “whales,” or large investors, remain in the more familiar seas of bitcoin and ether.
That can be seen in average trading volume.
Bitcoin and ether average trade sizes are larger than those of dogecoin and shiba inu on almost every exchange. On Coinbase, bitcoin’s average trade size is hovering at around $2,000, while ether trades average $1,600. On the other hand, the exchange sees average trades for dogecoin and shiba inu of roughly $800.
“This suggests price action is mostly retail-driven,” said Clara Medalie, strategic initiatives and research lead at digital asset data provider Kaiko, adding that on Binance, the average trade for bitcoin and ether is about $2,000. That figure is $1,200 for dogecoin and $900 for shibu inu.
“While average trade size isn’t a perfect gauge for institutional investment – most large traders break apart their orders into smaller sizes – we can still observe clear trends that correspond with waves of interest,” she said.
Yet the data shows that meme coins face their own cycle, Medalie noted.
“It is interesting to note that average trade size for nearly all assets has increased considerably since the start of the bull run last November,” Medalie said. “With meme tokens such as DOGE and SHIB, we can observe spikes during the initial fervor and then sharp declines once the excitement wears off.”
And all crypto moves at least somewhat together, including how large trades get. “We can also observe that bitcoin, ethereum and doge seem to have similar trend lines for average trade size, strongly correlated to mini-bull runs,” Medalie said, pointing out that trade sizes for all assets spiked right before the May crash.
Meanwhile, meme coins serve another purpose.
Retail traders test out the experience of buying, holding and selling a small amount of cryptocurrency on new platforms by placing different types of orders and seeing how they get filled – or not. While holding $100 worth of bitcoin can be bought just the same, if not more easily, than $100 of dogecoin or shiba inu, it may take newbies a little bit of time to wrap their heads around that concept. What’s more, their experience with wild swings in meme coins will prime them for the volatile, though relatively “safer,” major cryptos like bitcoin or ether.
And when those novice traders finally realize that a single, low-priced meme coin will never surpass the price of bitcoin or ether as they currently trade (if shiba inu traded near bitcoin’s at around $62,000, its total market cap would be $36.5 quintillion, or 7,313 times the value of the earth’s estimated$5 quadrillion price tag), they may finally gain a little perspective, rid themselves of unit bias and use those meme coins instead to develop proper trader discipline.
Meme coins thus can be seen as the gateway for retail investors to become more experienced crypto traders.
An obedience school, if you will. || The Bias That Propels Shiba Inu and Dogecoin: Bitcoin may be the alpha dog of crypto, but for many small retail investors these days, dogecoin and shiba inu are the pick of the litter. Binance subsidiary WazirX, Indias largest cryptocurrency exchange, suffered outages as traders jumped into the fray, buying shiba inu and stressing out the platforms servers to the point that trade executions were delayed this past Wednesday. Over half a billion dollars worth of trades were done on WazirX that day, the highest of any crypto exchange in India, CEO Nischal Shetty tweeted . It basically brought down our exchange, Siddharth Menon, one of WazirXs co-founders and its chief operating officer, said on CoinDesk TVs First Mover program Thursday morning. The kind of active numbers and the active users that we saw in the last 48 hours has actually shocked us. We were not ready for it. We were all ready for the bitcoin move, but we were never ready for shiba inu. Menon suspects that there is some amount of unit bias at play. Thats where a novice trader is prone to buy a lot of one kind of cryptocurrency because the price of one unit of it is relatively small compared with, say, bitcoin even though one can buy the same dollar amount in bitcoin as the low-priced coin. For investors who are dipping their toes in the water with a relatively small amount of money, a low-priced coin can make one feel a little richer. For example, as of this writing, $620 buys 0.01 BTC. On the other hand, it buys about 10 million SHIB. What the data show And while some smart money is starting to appear to be trading shiba inu and dogecoin , whales, or large investors, remain in the more familiar seas of bitcoin and ether. That can be seen in average trading volume. Bitcoin and ether average trade sizes are larger than those of dogecoin and shiba inu on almost every exchange. On Coinbase, bitcoins average trade size is hovering at around $2,000, while ether trades average $1,600. On the other hand, the exchange sees average trades for dogecoin and shiba inu of roughly $800. Story continues This suggests price action is mostly retail-driven, said Clara Medalie, strategic initiatives and research lead at digital asset data provider Kaiko, adding that on Binance, the average trade for bitcoin and ether is about $2,000. That figure is $1,200 for dogecoin and $900 for shibu inu. While average trade size isnt a perfect gauge for institutional investment most large traders break apart their orders into smaller sizes we can still observe clear trends that correspond with waves of interest, she said. Dog days Yet the data shows that meme coins face their own cycle, Medalie noted. It is interesting to note that average trade size for nearly all assets has increased considerably since the start of the bull run last November, Medalie said. With meme tokens such as DOGE and SHIB, we can observe spikes during the initial fervor and then sharp declines once the excitement wears off. And all crypto moves at least somewhat together, including how large trades get. We can also observe that bitcoin, ethereum and doge seem to have similar trend lines for average trade size, strongly correlated to mini-bull runs, Medalie said, pointing out that trade sizes for all assets spiked right before the May crash. Meanwhile, meme coins serve another purpose. Retail traders test out the experience of buying, holding and selling a small amount of cryptocurrency on new platforms by placing different types of orders and seeing how they get filled or not. While holding $100 worth of bitcoin can be bought just the same, if not more easily, than $100 of dogecoin or shiba inu, it may take newbies a little bit of time to wrap their heads around that concept. Whats more, their experience with wild swings in meme coins will prime them for the volatile, though relatively safer, major cryptos like bitcoin or ether. And when those novice traders finally realize that a single, low-priced meme coin will never surpass the price of bitcoin or ether as they currently trade (if shiba inu traded near bitcoins at around $62,000, its total market cap would be $36.5 quintillion, or 7,313 times the value of the earths estimated $5 quadrillion price tag ), they may finally gain a little perspective, rid themselves of unit bias and use those meme coins instead to develop proper trader discipline. Meme coins thus can be seen as the gateway for retail investors to become more experienced crypto traders. An obedience school, if you will. || Miami mayor seeks 2nd term as he raises national profile: MIAMI (AP) — Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is hoping to easily secure a second term Tuesday, with his reelection campaign showing he can raise millions as he seeks to elevate his profile at a national level. Suarez, 44, gained name recognition for launching an effort to lure technology investors to the city at the beginning of the year, meeting with PayPal founder Peter Thiel, tech magnate Marcelo Claure and engaging on Twitter with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, among other well-known entrepreneurs. Analysts say Suarez was astute to seize a moment when some investors were looking to move to South Florida for tax reasons and looser COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic. The mayor has been more than willing to assist. In December, when someone tweeted about moving Silicon Valley to Miami, Suarez replied, “How can I help?” The effect his tech push has had on migration and job creation is still unclear as census numbers do not yet include data for 2021. But private equity firm Blackstone announced last fall that it would create a new office in downtown Miami to expand tech capabilities. Japan’s Softbank Group — an early investor in Alibaba — is also looking to grow its presence in the city, and has invested $250 million in Miami startups. And venture capital firm Founders Fund has already set up shop in the trendy neighborhood of Wynwood. Miami hosted a Bitcoin conference earlier this year, and started accepting funds generated through a cryptocurrency named MiamiCoin. Its contributions so far total about $17 million, but the money has not been spent. Former Twitter Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain on Wednesday tweeted that he traveled to Miami for a meeting and to check out the “startup scene." “What I thought was hype is actually real,” he wrote. “People in Miami exude an overwhelming sense of optimism right now. It's electric! Optimism is a foundation of real technological progress." The Miami mayoral race is nonpartisan, but if Suarez's ambitions materialize, he could soon transition to partisan contests. Story continues Although he's registered as a Republican, he was critical of former President Donald Trump and pushed back against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ COVID-19 actions, including the governor’s decision to prevent local communities from instituting mask mandates. Suarez has said he hopes the party picks more people “that unify us, not divide us.” Suarez is also not ruling out White House aspirations. He says the pandemic and social media elevated the roles and profile of “national mayors,” making them stronger contenders for the presidency. Next year, Suarez will become president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, giving him a bigger platform. In April, Suarez met with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who called him a “rock star mayor” in one of the episodes of his YouTube vlog series “Cafecito Talks.” Haley served as U.N. ambassador under Trump, and has contemplated running for president, creating speculation Suarez could be part of her ticket. “He is viewed as different with all the talk about business, tech and Bitcoin,” said Dario Moreno, a political science professor at Florida International University. “It makes it attractive to young people.” Suarez is a real estate attorney and son of Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor. When he launched his first mayoral bid back in 2013, he said he wanted to improve the reputation of the Miami government, which has long been mocked as dysfunctional. But just like his predecessors, the mayor has struggled to shake off that image. Earlier this year he tapped Houston’s police chief to lead the Miami police department and called him the “Tom Brady” and “Michael Jordan” of chiefs. Chief Art Acevedo’s tenure was short after he was fired due to clashes with politicians and the police union that aired publicly in long commission meetings. “Sometimes things don’t work out,” Suarez said of the firing. “Part of leadership is also accepting that and turning the page.” Back in 2017, when the previous mayor left office due to term limits, Suarez won with 86% of the votes. He is hoping for a similar outcome this time. This year, he has four challengers who have not held office. They include Max Martínez, who ran a digital marketing company; Marie Exantus, who has worked in marketing and at a call center and Frank Pichel, a former police officer turned private investigator who was arrested Oct. 1 on charges he impersonated law enforcement. A fourth candidate had only raised $150, and another challenger was disqualified for living outside the city limits. Suarez and his political action committee have raised more than $5 million, compared to $28,000 raised by his contenders combined. The mayor says they will probably end with $5 million unspent that he can use for the future. “We'll see where it goes," he said. || Miami mayor seeks 2nd term as he raises national profile: MIAMI (AP) — Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is hoping to easily secure a second term Tuesday, with his reelection campaign showing he can raise millions as he seeks to elevate his profile at a national level. Suarez, 44, gained name recognition for launching an effort to lure technology investors to the city at the beginning of the year, meeting with PayPal founder Peter Thiel, tech magnate Marcelo Claure and engaging on Twitter with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, among other well-known entrepreneurs. Analysts say Suarez was astute to seize a moment when some investors were looking to move to South Florida for tax reasons and looser COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic. The mayor has been more than willing to assist. In December, when someone tweeted about moving Silicon Valley to Miami, Suarez replied, “How can I help?” The effect his tech push has had on migration and job creation is still unclear as census numbers do not yet include data for 2021. But private equity firm Blackstone announced last fall that it would create a new office in downtown Miami to expand tech capabilities. Japan’s Softbank Group — an early investor in Alibaba — is also looking to grow its presence in the city, and has invested $250 million in Miami startups. And venture capital firm Founders Fund has already set up shop in the trendy neighborhood of Wynwood. Miami hosted a Bitcoin conference earlier this year, and started accepting funds generated through a cryptocurrency named MiamiCoin. Its contributions so far total about $17 million, but the money has not been spent. Former Twitter Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain on Wednesday tweeted that he traveled to Miami for a meeting and to check out the “startup scene." “What I thought was hype is actually real,” he wrote. “People in Miami exude an overwhelming sense of optimism right now. It's electric! Optimism is a foundation of real technological progress." The Miami mayoral race is nonpartisan, but if Suarez's ambitions materialize, he could soon transition to partisan contests. Story continues Although he's registered as a Republican, he was critical of former President Donald Trump and pushed back against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ COVID-19 actions, including the governor’s decision to prevent local communities from instituting mask mandates. Suarez has said he hopes the party picks more people “that unify us, not divide us.” Suarez is also not ruling out White House aspirations. He says the pandemic and social media elevated the roles and profile of “national mayors,” making them stronger contenders for the presidency. Next year, Suarez will become president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, giving him a bigger platform. In April, Suarez met with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who called him a “rock star mayor” in one of the episodes of his YouTube vlog series “Cafecito Talks.” Haley served as U.N. ambassador under Trump, and has contemplated running for president, creating speculation Suarez could be part of her ticket. “He is viewed as different with all the talk about business, tech and Bitcoin,” said Dario Moreno, a political science professor at Florida International University. “It makes it attractive to young people.” Suarez is a real estate attorney and son of Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor. When he launched his first mayoral bid back in 2013, he said he wanted to improve the reputation of the Miami government, which has long been mocked as dysfunctional. But just like his predecessors, the mayor has struggled to shake off that image. Earlier this year he tapped Houston’s police chief to lead the Miami police department and called him the “Tom Brady” and “Michael Jordan” of chiefs. Chief Art Acevedo’s tenure was short after he was fired due to clashes with politicians and the police union that aired publicly in long commission meetings. “Sometimes things don’t work out,” Suarez said of the firing. “Part of leadership is also accepting that and turning the page.” Back in 2017, when the previous mayor left office due to term limits, Suarez won with 86% of the votes. He is hoping for a similar outcome this time. This year, he has four challengers who have not held office. They include Max Martínez, who ran a digital marketing company; Marie Exantus, who has worked in marketing and at a call center and Frank Pichel, a former police officer turned private investigator who was arrested Oct. 1 on charges he impersonated law enforcement. A fourth candidate had only raised $150, and another challenger was disqualified for living outside the city limits. Suarez and his political action committee have raised more than $5 million, compared to $28,000 raised by his contenders combined. The mayor says they will probably end with $5 million unspent that he can use for the future. “We'll see where it goes," he said.
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
|
63226.40, 62970.05, 61452.23, 61125.68, 61527.48, 63326.99, 67566.83, 66971.83, 64995.23, 64949.96
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 244.22, 247.27, 253.01, 254.32, 253.70, 260.60, 255.49, 253.18, 245.02, 243.68, 236.07, 236.55, 236.15, 224.59, 219.16, 223.83, 228.57, 222.88, 223.36, 222.60, 224.63, 235.27, 234.18, 236.46, 231.27, 226.39, 219.43, 229.29, 225.85, 225.81, 236.15, 232.08, 234.93, 240.36, 239.02, 236.12, 229.78, 237.33, 243.86, 241.83, 240.30, 242.16, 241.11, 236.38, 236.93, 237.60, 236.15, 236.80, 233.13, 231.95, 234.02, 235.34, 240.35, 238.87, 240.95, 237.11, 237.12, 237.28, 237.41, 237.10, 233.35, 230.19, 222.93, 225.80, 225.87, 224.32, 224.95, 225.62, 222.88, 228.49, 229.05, 228.80, 229.71, 229.98, 232.40, 233.54, 236.82, 250.90, 249.28, 249.01, 244.61, 245.21, 243.94, 246.99, 244.30, 240.51, 242.80, 243.59, 250.99, 249.01.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-06-28]
Volume: 15137600, RSI (14-day): 61.70, 50-day EMA: 238.77, 200-day EMA: 253.45
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Fund Managers Double Down On Greek Crisis: Despite the fact that Greece and its creditors are dragging the nation's debt negotiations into the weekend, some fund managers say they are moving money into Europe in hopes of a big return. With Athens scheduled to repay its International Monetary Fund loan in just a few days, many worry that Greece is heading for a default, but others say the region is on the upswing despite the ongoing Greek drama. Possibility Of A Grexit? For months, European policy makers have been saying that a Greek exit from the eurozone would not be an option. However, in recent weeks a Grexit has begun to look like a real possibility, and EU officials have acknowledged that. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker remarked that although they were working to avoid a Grexit, he couldn't "pull a rabbit out of a hat" to keep it from happening. Related Link: Exclusive: The Grexit And Why "We're About To Witness The Return Of Drachma" Weekend Summit This weekend, EU policymakers are expected to gather in order to try to reach an eleventh-hour deal to release Greece's funding. So far, the nation has been unsuccessful in convincing its creditors that it is serious about reform, especially after Syriza, an anti-austerity political party, was elected into power. Bracing For Default Many now believe that a Grexit is a very real possibility, but fund managers say Europe is ready to weather such an event. As Greece's debt problems have been ongoing for four years, some say that markets will remain calm in the event of a default. For that reason, funds like the Thornburg International Value Fund Class A (MUTF: TGVAX) and RSQ International Equity Fund Investor Class (MUTF: RSQVX) are pouring money into European markets despite the region's uncertainty. Nations like Italy, Spain and Germany are all expected to benefit from the European Central Bank's quantitative easing program, and lower oil prices are likely to help boost the region's GDP in the coming quarters. Many fund managers say that with the Greece issue dragging the region's share markets lower, now is the time to buy. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Debate Deepens On Usage Of Confederate Flag Bitcoin Gaining Momentum...Or Is It? Study Shows Marijuana Is Often Mislabeled © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. View comments || Fund Managers Double Down On Greek Crisis: Despite the fact that Greece and its creditors are dragging the nation's debt negotiations into the weekend, some fund managers say they aremoving money into Europein hopes of a big return.
With Athens scheduled to repay its International Monetary Fund loan in just a few days, many worry that Greece is heading for a default, but others say the region is on the upswing despite the ongoing Greek drama.
Possibility Of A Grexit?
For months, European policy makers have been saying that aGreek exitfrom the eurozone would not be an option. However, in recent weeks a Grexit has begun to look like a real possibility, and EU officials have acknowledged that.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker remarked that although they were working to avoid a Grexit, he couldn't "pull a rabbit out of a hat" to keep it from happening.
Related Link:Exclusive: The Grexit And Why "We're About To Witness The Return Of Drachma"
Weekend Summit
This weekend, EU policymakers are expected to gather in order to try to reach an eleventh-hour deal to release Greece's funding. So far, the nation has been unsuccessful in convincing its creditors that it is serious about reform, especially after Syriza, an anti-austerity political party, was elected into power.
Bracing For Default
Many now believe that a Grexit is a very real possibility, but fund managers say Europe is ready to weather such an event. As Greece's debt problems have been ongoing for four years, some say that markets will remain calm in the event of a default.
For that reason, funds like theThornburg International Value Fund Class A(MUTF: TGVAX) andRSQ International Equity Fund Investor Class(MUTF: RSQVX) are pouring money into European markets despite the region's uncertainty.
Nations like Italy, Spain and Germany are all expected to benefit from the European Central Bank's quantitative easing program, and lower oil prices are likely to help boost the region's GDP in the coming quarters. Many fund managers say that with the Greece issue dragging the region's share markets lower, now is the time to buy.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• Debate Deepens On Usage Of Confederate Flag
• Bitcoin Gaining Momentum...Or Is It?
• Study Shows Marijuana Is Often Mislabeled
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Debate Deepens On Usage Of Confederate Flag: Southern states that fly the Confederate flag are facing public backlash after a white man shot and killed nine black worshipers in a church last week. The man posted pictures of himself with the Confederate flag online, where he also wrote a racist manifesto. The incident has highlighted the negative connotations that go along with the confederate flag, leading many to call for its removal from state buildings. Lawmakers Squabble This week lawmakers in Congress debated the issue, with Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson calling for all state flags that feature some part of the Confederate flag to be removed from the House side of the Capitol. However, Republicans blocked the move as many states consider the flag to be a remembrance of the southern soldiers killed during the Civil War. Another proposal calls for reduced funding for states who allow drivers to purchase especially made confederate flag license plates, in an effort to discourage states from encouraging the flag to be flown. Related Link: EBay To Ban Confederate Flag Listings; Amazon Sales Skyrocket Private Sector Weighs In For private companies, the Confederate flag issue is a choice. Some major retailers have already begun removing the flag from their inventory— both eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY ) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN ) have made an effort to take down products flaunting a Confederate flag. Apple Steps Up Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL ) voiced its view on the flag-debate by removing all Civil War games that feature a Confederate flag. Game makers say the flag is essential to maintain historical accuracy, and plan to resubmit their games with an earlier version of the flag. Sales Increase Meanwhile, other retailers are making huge profits as the renewed focus on the confederate flag and subsequent bans have made it a hot-ticket item. San Antonio-based Dixie Flag Company sold 25 of the flags in just 24 hours, a major jump from the site's typical sales of just three flags per week. Story continues See more from Benzinga Move Over Apple, Google's Got Its Own Streaming Service Tango Makes Bitcoin Part Of Customer Reward Scheme Taylor Swift Stands Up To Apple © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Debate Deepens On Usage Of Confederate Flag: Southern states that fly the Confederate flag are facing public backlash after a white man shot and killed nine black worshipers in a church last week. The man posted pictures of himself with the Confederate flag online, where he also wrote a racist manifesto.
The incident has highlighted the negative connotations that go along with the confederate flag, leading many to call for its removal from state buildings.
Lawmakers Squabble
This week lawmakers in Congressdebatedthe issue, with Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson calling for all state flags that feature some part of the Confederate flag to be removed from the House side of the Capitol. However, Republicans blocked the move as many states consider the flag to be a remembrance of the southern soldiers killed during the Civil War. Another proposal calls for reduced funding for states who allow drivers to purchase especially made confederate flag license plates, in an effort to discourage states from encouraging the flag to be flown.
Related Link:EBay To Ban Confederate Flag Listings; Amazon Sales Skyrocket
Private Sector Weighs In
For private companies, the Confederate flag issue is a choice. Some major retailers have already begun removing the flag from their inventory— botheBay Inc(NASDAQ:EBAY) andAmazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN) have made an effort to take down products flaunting a Confederate flag.
Apple Steps Up
Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) voiced its view on the flag-debate byremovingall Civil War games that feature a Confederate flag. Game makers say the flag is essential to maintain historical accuracy, and plan to resubmit their games with an earlier version of the flag.
Sales Increase
Meanwhile, other retailers are making huge profits as the renewed focus on the confederate flag and subsequent bans have made it a hot-ticket item. San Antonio-based Dixie Flag Company sold 25 of the flags in just 24 hours, a major jump from the site's typical sales of just three flags per week.
See more from Benzinga
• Move Over Apple, Google's Got Its Own Streaming Service
• Tango Makes Bitcoin Part Of Customer Reward Scheme
• Taylor Swift Stands Up To Apple
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Global Arena Holding, Inc. Has Entered Into an Agreement to Acquire Blockchain Technologies Corporation: NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jun 26, 2015) - Global Arena Holding, Inc., ( OTC PINK : GAHC ) reported in GAHC's Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 20, 2015, that GAHC incorporated a new wholly owned subsidiary in the State of Delaware called "GAHI Acquisition Corp." This entity was incorporated to be the merger subsidiary for the acquisition of Blockchain Technologies Corporation (BTC). GAHC entered into an agreement and plan of merger with BTC. Under this agreement, BTC will merge with GAHI Acquisition Corp., and GAHI Acquisition Corp. will be the surviving corporation. Pursuant to the terms of the merger, GAHC will reserve a number of shares equal to 1/3 of the total issued and outstanding of GAHC to be issued to BTC shareholders. Additionally, GAHC will also have capitalized GAHI Acquisition Corp. with $1,250,000 plus an amount equal to an outstanding bridge loan, which amount shall be used for the development and implementation of the Blockchain business and technologies, as well as, the repayment of said outstanding debt. For complete terms, please see GAHC's Form 8-K filed on May 20, 2015 located at www.sec.gov . BTC is a technology company that acts as an early-stage investor, incubator, and seed accelerator program featuring a number of innovative startups utilizing the Blockchain, the underlying technology of the bitcoin digital currency. BTC currently owns several startups that are operating in the Blockchain technology field. Intellectual property included in the proposed GAHC-BTC merger includes at least four provisional patent applications reflecting material improvements upon rudimentary Bitcoin blockchain technology in areas such as i) database creation and utilization, ii) decentralized voting, iii) retail affinity tokens or rewards, and iv) the invention of an interactive Internet browser that makes possible user-advertiser affinity tokens or rewards. The Provisional Patents are: 1. Application No. 62/029,409 filed July 25, 2014; A system and method for database for self-actuating contracts and other data. 2. Application No. 62/033,706 filed August 5, 2014; Designed for the use of the Blockchain Database to Enhance Security of and Support Secure Electronic Voting and Election Result Tabulation. 3. Application No. 62/090,370 filed December 11, 2014; Retailer-Captive Blockchain System for Hosting Secure and Non-Counterfeit Affinity Token Transactions, and Tracking Affinity Token Inventory, Within A Customer Affinity Program. 4. Application No. 62/112,130 February 4, 2015; System and Method for Blockchain-Type Based Search Engine Database within an Internet Browser Supporting a User Affinity Program. Story continues When consummated, this deal will mark a significant step in the history of the rapidly growing Blockchain ecosystem by having one of its key players be part of a publicly traded company, GAHC. In particular, the GAHC proposed acquisition affords GAHC ownership of Blockchain Technologies Corporation's wholly owned technology companies including: Slidechain LLC: a company that utilizes multiple Blockchains simultaneously, with their backbone being the Bitcoin blockchain; Digital Assets Vending Inc.: a bitcoin ATM / BTM company whose main product, D.A.V.E. (Digital Asset Vending Equipment), is being developed to be the easiest, most flexible, and affordable device of its kind; Cryptos: a high-speed, ultra-secure digital currency-trading platform with AlphaPoint, the same backend Bitfinex uses; Overseas BC Marketing: A company that has entered into an agreement with an Irish gaming company pursuant to which Overseas BC Marketing will market online web-based waging services and products. This platform does not allow wagering from U.S. citizens; Blockchain Apparatus LLC: a company that uses the Blockchain for an incorruptible voting application and self-executing wills and smart contracts, among other uses. GAHC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John S. Matthews said, "I am very pleased with the potential technology acquisition and believe on consummation, BTC and its subsidiaries will add an exciting dimension to the growth of GAHC." BTC Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Nick Spanos stated "We're delighted with the GAHC proposed merger as it will enable us to compensate developers with a publicly traded stock, and we are further inspired by the knowledge that as a function of this proposed merger, the public can now participate in a company with Blockchain technology. GAHC is trading on the OTC pink sheets and has been publicly traded since 2011. GAHC holds a number of interests, including Global Elections Services, and Global Arena Investment Management. Safe Harbor: This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, which involve assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, are generally identifiable by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. The reader is cautioned that such forward-looking statements should not be construed as a guarantee or assurance of future performance or results. Actual events or results may differ materially from those discussed in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward- looking statements contained herein will in fact occur. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and the Company assumes no obligation to update this information. The Company is a going concern. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by the Company in its Form 10-K and in the Company's other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that discuss certain of the risks and factors that may affect the Company and its business. View comments || Global Arena Holding, Inc. Has Entered Into an Agreement to Acquire Blockchain Technologies Corporation: NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jun 26, 2015) - Global Arena Holding, Inc., (OTC PINK:GAHC) reported in GAHC's Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 20, 2015, that GAHC incorporated a new wholly owned subsidiary in the State of Delaware called "GAHI Acquisition Corp." This entity was incorporated to be the merger subsidiary for the acquisition of Blockchain Technologies Corporation (BTC).
GAHC entered into an agreement and plan of merger with BTC. Under this agreement, BTC will merge with GAHI Acquisition Corp., and GAHI Acquisition Corp. will be the surviving corporation. Pursuant to the terms of the merger, GAHC will reserve a number of shares equal to 1/3 of the total issued and outstanding of GAHC to be issued to BTC shareholders. Additionally, GAHC will also have capitalized GAHI Acquisition Corp. with $1,250,000 plus an amount equal to an outstanding bridge loan, which amount shall be used for the development and implementation of the Blockchain business and technologies, as well as, the repayment of said outstanding debt. For complete terms, please see GAHC's Form 8-K filed on May 20, 2015 located atwww.sec.gov.
BTC is a technology company that acts as an early-stage investor, incubator, and seed accelerator program featuring a number of innovative startups utilizing the Blockchain, the underlying technology of the bitcoin digital currency. BTC currently owns several startups that are operating in the Blockchain technology field.
Intellectual property included in the proposed GAHC-BTC merger includes at least four provisional patent applications reflecting material improvements upon rudimentary Bitcoin blockchain technology in areas such as i) database creation and utilization, ii) decentralized voting, iii) retail affinity tokens or rewards, and iv) the invention of an interactive Internet browser that makes possible user-advertiser affinity tokens or rewards.
The Provisional Patents are:
1. Application No. 62/029,409 filed July 25, 2014; A system and method for database for self-actuating contracts and other data.
2. Application No. 62/033,706 filed August 5, 2014; Designed for the use of the Blockchain Database to Enhance Security of and Support Secure Electronic Voting and Election Result Tabulation.
3. Application No. 62/090,370 filed December 11, 2014; Retailer-Captive Blockchain System for Hosting Secure and Non-Counterfeit Affinity Token Transactions, and Tracking Affinity Token Inventory, Within A Customer Affinity Program.
4. Application No. 62/112,130 February 4, 2015; System and Method for Blockchain-Type Based Search Engine Database within an Internet Browser Supporting a User Affinity Program.
When consummated, this deal will mark a significant step in the history of the rapidly growing Blockchain ecosystem by having one of its key players be part of a publicly traded company, GAHC.
In particular, the GAHC proposed acquisition affords GAHC ownership of Blockchain Technologies Corporation's wholly owned technology companies including:
Slidechain LLC: a company that utilizes multiple Blockchains simultaneously, with their backbone being the Bitcoin blockchain;
Digital Assets Vending Inc.: a bitcoin ATM / BTM company whose main product, D.A.V.E. (Digital Asset Vending Equipment), is being developed to be the easiest, most flexible, and affordable device of its kind;
Cryptos: a high-speed, ultra-secure digital currency-trading platform with AlphaPoint, the same backend Bitfinex uses;
Overseas BC Marketing: A company that has entered into an agreement with an Irish gaming company pursuant to which Overseas BC Marketing will market online web-based waging services and products. This platform does not allow wagering from U.S. citizens;
Blockchain Apparatus LLC: a company that uses the Blockchain for an incorruptible voting application and self-executing wills and smart contracts, among other uses.
GAHC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John S. Matthews said, "I am very pleased with the potential technology acquisition and believe on consummation, BTC and its subsidiaries will add an exciting dimension to the growth of GAHC."
BTC Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Nick Spanos stated "We're delighted with the GAHC proposed merger as it will enable us to compensate developers with a publicly traded stock, and we are further inspired by the knowledge that as a function of this proposed merger, the public can now participate in a company with Blockchain technology.
GAHC is trading on the OTC pink sheets and has been publicly traded since 2011. GAHC holds a number of interests, including Global Elections Services, and Global Arena Investment Management.
Safe Harbor: This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, which involve assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, are generally identifiable by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. The reader is cautioned that such forward-looking statements should not be construed as a guarantee or assurance of future performance or results. Actual events or results may differ materially from those discussed in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward- looking statements contained herein will in fact occur. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and the Company assumes no obligation to update this information. The Company is a going concern. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by the Company in its Form 10-K and in the Company's other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that discuss certain of the risks and factors that may affect the Company and its business. || Are Data Centers Worsening California's Drought?: In California, water has become scarce and residents have begun cutting back on their usage in order to conserve the resource and end a four-year drought. However, while most look to shorter showers and strategic plant watering in order to cut down on waste, another industry has been under the microscope for its water usage —data centers.
Environmentally Unfriendly
With San Francisco being home to several large tech names, California has a large population of massive data centers. The facilities have been criticized in the past for their energy usage, but now the centers are being forced to take a look at their cooling systems, which require a substantial amount of water.
Related Link:California's Drought Turns Traders Attention To Water Plays
Major Drain
In order to keep rooms full of servers from overheating, many data centers use cooling towers that take water in, use it to cool the air and expel it. In this way, data centers are a major contributor to California's drought, as they rid the state of its water supply through evaporation. The facilities require a great deal of water to maintain the cooling systems as well; Utah's NSA Data Center uses up to 1.7 million gallons of water per day to keep its servers cool.
New Designs
Now that water usage has become a concern, many tech companies are rethinking their cooling systems in order to make their operations more sustainable in times of drought.Google Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has explored using non-potable water in its cooling process, whileFacebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB) has tried using a system that cools outside air using a water mist, which requires much less water than traditional cooling.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• Dangers Of Marijuana Uncertain In Growing Industry
• 3D Printer And A Latte, Please
• Overstock Loses Big On Bitcoin
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Are Data Centers Worsening California's Drought?: In California, water has become scarce and residents have begun cutting back on their usage in order to conserve the resource and end a four-year drought. However, while most look to shorter showers and strategic plant watering in order to cut down on waste, another industry has been under the microscope for its water usage — data centers . Environmentally Unfriendly With San Francisco being home to several large tech names, California has a large population of massive data centers. The facilities have been criticized in the past for their energy usage, but now the centers are being forced to take a look at their cooling systems, which require a substantial amount of water. Related Link: California's Drought Turns Traders Attention To Water Plays Major Drain In order to keep rooms full of servers from overheating, many data centers use cooling towers that take water in, use it to cool the air and expel it. In this way, data centers are a major contributor to California's drought, as they rid the state of its water supply through evaporation. The facilities require a great deal of water to maintain the cooling systems as well; Utah's NSA Data Center uses up to 1.7 million gallons of water per day to keep its servers cool. New Designs Now that water usage has become a concern, many tech companies are rethinking their cooling systems in order to make their operations more sustainable in times of drought. Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) has explored using non-potable water in its cooling process, while Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB ) has tried using a system that cools outside air using a water mist, which requires much less water than traditional cooling. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Dangers Of Marijuana Uncertain In Growing Industry 3D Printer And A Latte, Please Overstock Loses Big On Bitcoin © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Dangers Of Marijuana Uncertain In Growing Industry: With the marijuana industry still in its infancy in the U.S., many are worried that not enough is known about its effects and preventative measures are lagging behind the growing breadth of THC infused products. However, a new study showing that marijuana may be a risk on the road has prompted some to call for stricter regulations regarding the drug's consumption.
Limits Questioned
While there is a clear limit of alcohol that people can ingest before driving a car, that of marijuana is a bit more uncertain. In Washington and Colorado, marijuana users are able to have 5 ug/L of TCH in their system if they are operating a vehicle. However, a new study shows that such limits may not be enough.
Related Link:The Cost Of A "Rocky Mountain High" Is Getting Lower
A Dangerous Combination
A new federalstudytested the impact of marijuana versus alcohol on a driver's ability to navigate the roads. The results showed that drivers impaired by marijuana were actually safer than those impaired by alcohol.
However, the study also showed that drivers under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana, even at the legal limits of both, were the most dangerous. This is concerning, as many marijuana users consume the drug after having one or two drinks.
Driving While High Is On The Rise
The study is likely to give lawmakers something to consider when it comes to cracking down on marijuana regulation. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey showed that weekend nighttime drivers with THC in their system have increased dramatically since 2007, from 8.6 percent to 12.6 percent.
Many believe that rise is directly attributed to the growing popularity of marijuana use as the drug is legalized in more and more states.
Image Credit:Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• 3D Printer And A Latte, Please
• Overstock Loses Big On Bitcoin
• The Cost Of A 'Rocky Mountain High' Is Getting Lower
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Dangers Of Marijuana Uncertain In Growing Industry: With the marijuana industry still in its infancy in the U.S., many are worried that not enough is known about its effects and preventative measures are lagging behind the growing breadth of THC infused products. However, a new study showing that marijuana may be a risk on the road has prompted some to call for stricter regulations regarding the drug's consumption. Limits Questioned While there is a clear limit of alcohol that people can ingest before driving a car, that of marijuana is a bit more uncertain. In Washington and Colorado, marijuana users are able to have 5 ug/L of TCH in their system if they are operating a vehicle. However, a new study shows that such limits may not be enough. Related Link: The Cost Of A "Rocky Mountain High" Is Getting Lower A Dangerous Combination A new federal study tested the impact of marijuana versus alcohol on a driver's ability to navigate the roads. The results showed that drivers impaired by marijuana were actually safer than those impaired by alcohol. However, the study also showed that drivers under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana, even at the legal limits of both, were the most dangerous. This is concerning, as many marijuana users consume the drug after having one or two drinks. Driving While High Is On The Rise The study is likely to give lawmakers something to consider when it comes to cracking down on marijuana regulation. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey showed that weekend nighttime drivers with THC in their system have increased dramatically since 2007, from 8.6 percent to 12.6 percent. Many believe that rise is directly attributed to the growing popularity of marijuana use as the drug is legalized in more and more states. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga 3D Printer And A Latte, Please Overstock Loses Big On Bitcoin The Cost Of A 'Rocky Mountain High' Is Getting Lower © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || 3D Printer And A Latte, Please: In Europe,3D printing cafesare popping up in major cities across the bloc as the technology gains traction among average consumers. Cities like Barcelona and Madrid are home to the cafes, which boast 3D printers that customers can use to design whatever they like.
Trying It Out
The rise of 3D printers for home use has made the cafes a success, as it gives customer the opportunity to use the technology without paying upwards of $1,000 to buy their own. After submitting their designs, customers can order food and beverages while they wait for their item to print. Everything from cellphone holders to action figures can be made in the cafe.
Related Link:Analyst Calls 3D Printing 'Massive Clash Of Hype Vs. Reality'
Too Complicated For The Masses
Companies like3D Systems Corporation(NYSE:DDD) andStratasys, Ltd.(NASDAQ:SSYS) have developed desktop 3D printers for use in people's homes. Many saw the printers expanding in popularity and eventually becoming a household staple, but critics say there is a long way to go before the technology becomes usable for the average consumer.
At the moment, complicated designs must be fed into the printer in order to make an object and the skills needed to create such drawings requires time and effort as it isn't easily picked up.
Making 3D More Accessible
However, 3D printing cafes have filled the gap between average consumers and complicated technology by giving people a cost-effective way to learn how to use the printers. Many of the cafes offer instruction for beginners or tools to help them understand the process.
See more from Benzinga
• Overstock Loses Big On Bitcoin
• The Cost Of A 'Rocky Mountain High' Is Getting Lower
• Greece's Final Proposal Draws Criticism From Syriza
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || 3D Printer And A Latte, Please: In Europe, 3D printing cafes are popping up in major cities across the bloc as the technology gains traction among average consumers. Cities like Barcelona and Madrid are home to the cafes, which boast 3D printers that customers can use to design whatever they like. Trying It Out The rise of 3D printers for home use has made the cafes a success, as it gives customer the opportunity to use the technology without paying upwards of $1,000 to buy their own. After submitting their designs, customers can order food and beverages while they wait for their item to print. Everything from cellphone holders to action figures can be made in the cafe. Related Link: Analyst Calls 3D Printing 'Massive Clash Of Hype Vs. Reality' Too Complicated For The Masses Companies like 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE: DDD ) and Stratasys, Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS ) have developed desktop 3D printers for use in people's homes. Many saw the printers expanding in popularity and eventually becoming a household staple, but critics say there is a long way to go before the technology becomes usable for the average consumer. At the moment, complicated designs must be fed into the printer in order to make an object and the skills needed to create such drawings requires time and effort as it isn't easily picked up. Making 3D More Accessible However, 3D printing cafes have filled the gap between average consumers and complicated technology by giving people a cost-effective way to learn how to use the printers. Many of the cafes offer instruction for beginners or tools to help them understand the process. See more from Benzinga Overstock Loses Big On Bitcoin The Cost Of A 'Rocky Mountain High' Is Getting Lower Greece's Final Proposal Draws Criticism From Syriza © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Overstock Loses Big On Bitcoin: Overstock.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:OSTK)'s latest earnings report showed that the company's cryptocurrency investmentsdeclined significantlyduring the first quarter of 2015. The losses added up to $117,000, a hefty sum and disappointing performance for investors.
Bitcoin Supporter
Overstock has been a major proponent for digital currencies; last year the company's CEO Patrick Byrne said that the firm had brought in $1.6 million in bitcoin sales. The online retailer was also one of the first major merchants to begin accepting bitcoin payments back in 2014 when markets were still very apprehensive about the currency.
What Happened?
Many believe the losses are due to the fact that the company is still holding some of its assets in bitcoin, and that the coin's volatile nature brought down the firm's value. However, if this is the case, the company may see a major increase in future reports.
Related Link:Have You Met The Bitcoin Booty Girls?
Altcoin Investments
Overstock says its losses stemmed from investment in altcoins, which performed poorly. Those investments have all been lumped together with the company's bitcoin holdings and are said to be much of the reason for the decline.
Still A Supporter
However, the language in Overstock's quarterly filing suggests that the company has not been deterred from supporting digital currencies just yet. While the company recognized the legal and financial risk of dealing in cryptocurrency, the statement said that in the future, the company "may transact in cryptocurrency directly."
The filing also confirmed that the company wasn't opposed to increasing its digital currency holdings despite the current uncertain landscape.
See more from Benzinga
• Overstock To Issue Digital Corporate Bond
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Overstock Loses Big On Bitcoin: Overstock.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:OSTK)'s latest earnings report showed that the company's cryptocurrency investmentsdeclined significantlyduring the first quarter of 2015. The losses added up to $117,000, a hefty sum and disappointing performance for investors.
Bitcoin Supporter
Overstock has been a major proponent for digital currencies; last year the company's CEO Patrick Byrne said that the firm had brought in $1.6 million in bitcoin sales. The online retailer was also one of the first major merchants to begin accepting bitcoin payments back in 2014 when markets were still very apprehensive about the currency.
What Happened?
Many believe the losses are due to the fact that the company is still holding some of its assets in bitcoin, and that the coin's volatile nature brought down the firm's value. However, if this is the case, the company may see a major increase in future reports.
Related Link:Have You Met The Bitcoin Booty Girls?
Altcoin Investments
Overstock says its losses stemmed from investment in altcoins, which performed poorly. Those investments have all been lumped together with the company's bitcoin holdings and are said to be much of the reason for the decline.
Still A Supporter
However, the language in Overstock's quarterly filing suggests that the company has not been deterred from supporting digital currencies just yet. While the company recognized the legal and financial risk of dealing in cryptocurrency, the statement said that in the future, the company "may transact in cryptocurrency directly."
The filing also confirmed that the company wasn't opposed to increasing its digital currency holdings despite the current uncertain landscape.
See more from Benzinga
• Overstock To Issue Digital Corporate Bond
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Overstock Loses Big On Bitcoin: Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK )'s latest earnings report showed that the company's cryptocurrency investments declined significantly during the first quarter of 2015. The losses added up to $117,000, a hefty sum and disappointing performance for investors. Bitcoin Supporter Overstock has been a major proponent for digital currencies; last year the company's CEO Patrick Byrne said that the firm had brought in $1.6 million in bitcoin sales. The online retailer was also one of the first major merchants to begin accepting bitcoin payments back in 2014 when markets were still very apprehensive about the currency. What Happened? Many believe the losses are due to the fact that the company is still holding some of its assets in bitcoin, and that the coin's volatile nature brought down the firm's value. However, if this is the case, the company may see a major increase in future reports. Related Link: Have You Met The Bitcoin Booty Girls? Altcoin Investments Overstock says its losses stemmed from investment in altcoins, which performed poorly. Those investments have all been lumped together with the company's bitcoin holdings and are said to be much of the reason for the decline. Still A Supporter However, the language in Overstock's quarterly filing suggests that the company has not been deterred from supporting digital currencies just yet. While the company recognized the legal and financial risk of dealing in cryptocurrency, the statement said that in the future, the company "may transact in cryptocurrency directly." The filing also confirmed that the company wasn't opposed to increasing its digital currency holdings despite the current uncertain landscape. See more from Benzinga Overstock To Issue Digital Corporate Bond © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Banx Capital Joins the BitShares Exchange Network: LEICESTERSHIRE, UK / ACCESSWIRE / June 23, 2015 /Banx Capital announced today it is joining the BitShares Exchange Network when BitShares 2.0 is released this summer.
"It just made too much business sense," said Banx CEO Mark Lyford, "What a way to cut costs, expand our available services and multiply our network effect!"
About a year ago Banx began launching a whole portfolio of cryptocurrency businesses including a crypto currency exchange, a mining company, a trading company, a physical coin company and a half dozen other enterprises intended to span the industry.
Banx put its own shares up for trading by qualified investors on what quickly became a top ten crypto-currency in its own right. You probably know it already as BanxShares on coinmarketcap.com.
"I've been watching BitShares for over a year now," he confided. "But when I got a preview of whatCryptonomex.comhad in store with BitShares 2.0 I knew I had to move fast. As a result of some pretty aggressive negotiations, both BanxShares and Banx.io will upgrade simultaneously when BitShares 2.0 launches this summer. I consider that a bit of a personal coup."
What made him move so fast?
"I can smell a revolution coming," said Lyford. "I want to be riding that wave when it hits the shore, not sitting on the beach."
He went on to explain the nature of that revolution. "Everybody knows the limitations of current exchanges. Despite their best intentions, people aren't sure if exchanges can be trusted any more. Some of the biggest have been hacked and the rest are looking over their shoulders. We can hire the best cryptogeeks on the planet and they still can't promise we are safe. On top of that, users really have no way of knowing whether an exchange is solvent. Cypto currencies are supposed to be super-secure, but the exchanges are the weak link. This is going to kill the whole industry if we don't get it fixed quick."
"BitShares has been claiming that they have solved these problems by offering a decentralized exchange on a blockchain since last summer. Incorruptible. Unhackable. Transparent. That's all quite impressive, but it just made them another one of my worries as a future competitor."
Leaning forward as if to tell me a secret, Lyford went on, "But that wasn't their killer business model at all! Sure, they are a stand-alonedecentralized exchangeon a blockchain that you can interact with from your own wallet just like Bitcoin, but that was just their prototype demo.
This year they are upgrading to an industrial strength platform that can handle every transaction in the whole crypto industry with enough bandwidth left over to host everything Visa is doing as well! And their transactions verify in 1 second not 1 hour."
Why do they need that kind of bandwidth?
"Because they are offering their 'Smartchain' as a safe, level playing field for use by the whole industry. It can serve as backbone network to all the exchanges as a way for them to trade with and against each other. Instead of keeping their order books in a dark, closed, isolated, hackable stovepipe, they can put them all out there in the transparent open where all their combined customers can trade against all their combined assets!"
He sat back as if he had just explained The Universe and Everything.
"Don't you see," he went on, "With shared order books we have deeper markets, tighter spreads, and greater liquidity. And since our customers keep their own keys while trading on this network we can't get hacked! Not only that, with BitShares easy to use hierarchical multi-sig capabilities, even our customers can't get hacked."
But what exchange would want to give up its customers to some global pool?
"That's the thing that clinched the deal," he smiled. "With theBitShares referral programwe keep our customers and our share of their fees. So there was really nothing to lose and everything to gain. I get the benefits of selling other member's products and services to my customers while outsourcing most of the costs and risks of this business. That lets me concentrate on what I do best – developing new innovations, recruiting more customers and keeping them happy."
Then he paused for a moment, as if to shift gears. "But that's just what's in it for Banx.io. The key is what all customers will be demanding a year from now once they get a taste of the new levels of transparency and safety and the quality and variety of services our networked exchanges can offer together. Banx.io along with CCEDK, Bit-X, Cryptonomex.com (and maybe a few more) are just the network's Founding Members. We expect a lot of smaller exchanges to use this as a way to become big exchanges in the coming year." Leaning back in his chair he grinned again, "Like I said, I'd rather be riding the tsunami than sitting on the beach."
Contact Banx Capital Ltd:
Zoe Hart(+44) 01530 [email protected] Dept First Floor, 81 Market Street Ashby De La Zouch Leicestershire, LE65 1AH United Kingdom
SOURCE:Banx Capital Ltd || Banx Capital Joins the BitShares Exchange Network: LEICESTERSHIRE, UK / ACCESSWIRE / June 23, 2015 / Banx Capital announced today it is joining the BitShares Exchange Network when BitShares 2.0 is released this summer. "It just made too much business sense," said Banx CEO Mark Lyford, "What a way to cut costs, expand our available services and multiply our network effect!" About a year ago Banx began launching a whole portfolio of cryptocurrency businesses including a crypto currency exchange, a mining company, a trading company, a physical coin company and a half dozen other enterprises intended to span the industry. Banx put its own shares up for trading by qualified investors on what quickly became a top ten crypto-currency in its own right. You probably know it already as BanxShares on coinmarketcap.com. "I've been watching BitShares for over a year now," he confided. "But when I got a preview of what Cryptonomex.com had in store with BitShares 2.0 I knew I had to move fast. As a result of some pretty aggressive negotiations, both BanxShares and Banx.io will upgrade simultaneously when BitShares 2.0 launches this summer. I consider that a bit of a personal coup." What made him move so fast? "I can smell a revolution coming," said Lyford. "I want to be riding that wave when it hits the shore, not sitting on the beach." He went on to explain the nature of that revolution. "Everybody knows the limitations of current exchanges. Despite their best intentions, people aren't sure if exchanges can be trusted any more. Some of the biggest have been hacked and the rest are looking over their shoulders. We can hire the best cryptogeeks on the planet and they still can't promise we are safe. On top of that, users really have no way of knowing whether an exchange is solvent. Cypto currencies are supposed to be super-secure, but the exchanges are the weak link. This is going to kill the whole industry if we don't get it fixed quick." "BitShares has been claiming that they have solved these problems by offering a decentralized exchange on a blockchain since last summer. Incorruptible. Unhackable. Transparent. That's all quite impressive, but it just made them another one of my worries as a future competitor." Story continues Leaning forward as if to tell me a secret, Lyford went on, "But that wasn't their killer business model at all! Sure, they are a stand-alone decentralized exchange on a blockchain that you can interact with from your own wallet just like Bitcoin, but that was just their prototype demo. This year they are upgrading to an industrial strength platform that can handle every transaction in the whole crypto industry with enough bandwidth left over to host everything Visa is doing as well! And their transactions verify in 1 second not 1 hour." Why do they need that kind of bandwidth? "Because they are offering their 'Smartchain' as a safe, level playing field for use by the whole industry. It can serve as backbone network to all the exchanges as a way for them to trade with and against each other. Instead of keeping their order books in a dark, closed, isolated, hackable stovepipe, they can put them all out there in the transparent open where all their combined customers can trade against all their combined assets!" He sat back as if he had just explained The Universe and Everything. "Don't you see," he went on, "With shared order books we have deeper markets, tighter spreads, and greater liquidity. And since our customers keep their own keys while trading on this network we can't get hacked! Not only that, with BitShares easy to use hierarchical multi-sig capabilities, even our customers can't get hacked." But what exchange would want to give up its customers to some global pool? "That's the thing that clinched the deal," he smiled. "With the BitShares referral program we keep our customers and our share of their fees. So there was really nothing to lose and everything to gain. I get the benefits of selling other member's products and services to my customers while outsourcing most of the costs and risks of this business. That lets me concentrate on what I do best – developing new innovations, recruiting more customers and keeping them happy." Then he paused for a moment, as if to shift gears. "But that's just what's in it for Banx.io. The key is what all customers will be demanding a year from now once they get a taste of the new levels of transparency and safety and the quality and variety of services our networked exchanges can offer together. Banx.io along with CCEDK, Bit-X, Cryptonomex.com (and maybe a few more) are just the network's Founding Members. We expect a lot of smaller exchanges to use this as a way to become big exchanges in the coming year." Leaning back in his chair he grinned again, "Like I said, I'd rather be riding the tsunami than sitting on the beach." Contact Banx Capital Ltd: Zoe Hart (+44) 01530 215015 [email protected] Marketing Dept First Floor, 81 Market Street Ashby De La Zouch Leicestershire, LE65 1AH United Kingdom SOURCE: Banx Capital Ltd || Bitcoin Shop Posts Video Presentation: ARLINGTON, VA--(Marketwired - Jun 23, 2015) -Bitcoin Shop, Inc.(OTCQB:BTCS) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology company that engages in transaction verification services, announced the release of a video from its Chairman and CEO Charles Allen. In the video, Allen discusses recently disclosed developments and provides a tour of the Company's North Carolina facility.
Highlights of the video include commentary on the recently announced pending merger with Spondoolies-Tech, including post-merger valuation metrics and peer comparisons, as well as revenue information related to the Company's transaction verification services for both 2014 and Q1 2015. Additionally, Allen discusses the Company's near-term plans to increase capacity at its North Carolina facility and the potential positive financial impacts of bringing Spondoolies' highly-efficient next-generation servers online.
The video update is available at:https://youtu.be/b2DA98yeGho
"We believe we're well-positioned to achieve key milestones on multiple fronts in the coming months that could lead to significant shareholder value improvement," stated Allen. "Our planned merger with Spondoolies will bring together a phenomenal team with the shared vision and work ethic necessary to capitalize on the immense opportunities in the digital currency space. I look forward to providing future updates as we move forward."
About BTCS:BTCS is a blockchain technology company that provides transaction verification services for digital currency. BTCS is building a universal digital currency platform with the goal of enabling users to engage in the digital currency ecosystem through one point of access. BTCS continues to actively partner and integrate with strategic digital currency technology companies who provide products or services that are complementary to its business strategy. BTCS operates its public beta site (www.btcs.com) where consumers can purchase products using digital currency such as bitcoin, litecoin, and dogecoin, by searching through a selection of over 250,000 items. For more information visit:www.btcs.com
Forward-Looking Statements:Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe,""expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Embedded Video Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2845331 || Bitcoin Shop Posts Video Presentation: ARLINGTON, VA--(Marketwired - Jun 23, 2015) -Bitcoin Shop, Inc.(OTCQB:BTCS) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology company that engages in transaction verification services, announced the release of a video from its Chairman and CEO Charles Allen. In the video, Allen discusses recently disclosed developments and provides a tour of the Company's North Carolina facility.
Highlights of the video include commentary on the recently announced pending merger with Spondoolies-Tech, including post-merger valuation metrics and peer comparisons, as well as revenue information related to the Company's transaction verification services for both 2014 and Q1 2015. Additionally, Allen discusses the Company's near-term plans to increase capacity at its North Carolina facility and the potential positive financial impacts of bringing Spondoolies' highly-efficient next-generation servers online.
The video update is available at:https://youtu.be/b2DA98yeGho
"We believe we're well-positioned to achieve key milestones on multiple fronts in the coming months that could lead to significant shareholder value improvement," stated Allen. "Our planned merger with Spondoolies will bring together a phenomenal team with the shared vision and work ethic necessary to capitalize on the immense opportunities in the digital currency space. I look forward to providing future updates as we move forward."
About BTCS:BTCS is a blockchain technology company that provides transaction verification services for digital currency. BTCS is building a universal digital currency platform with the goal of enabling users to engage in the digital currency ecosystem through one point of access. BTCS continues to actively partner and integrate with strategic digital currency technology companies who provide products or services that are complementary to its business strategy. BTCS operates its public beta site (www.btcs.com) where consumers can purchase products using digital currency such as bitcoin, litecoin, and dogecoin, by searching through a selection of over 250,000 items. For more information visit:www.btcs.com
Forward-Looking Statements:Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe,""expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Embedded Video Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2845331 || Bitcoin Shop Posts Video Presentation: ARLINGTON, VA--(Marketwired - Jun 23, 2015) - Bitcoin Shop, Inc. ( OTCQB : BTCS ) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology company that engages in transaction verification services, announced the release of a video from its Chairman and CEO Charles Allen. In the video, Allen discusses recently disclosed developments and provides a tour of the Company's North Carolina facility. Highlights of the video include commentary on the recently announced pending merger with Spondoolies-Tech, including post-merger valuation metrics and peer comparisons, as well as revenue information related to the Company's transaction verification services for both 2014 and Q1 2015. Additionally, Allen discusses the Company's near-term plans to increase capacity at its North Carolina facility and the potential positive financial impacts of bringing Spondoolies' highly-efficient next-generation servers online. The video update is available at: https://youtu.be/b2DA98yeGho "We believe we're well-positioned to achieve key milestones on multiple fronts in the coming months that could lead to significant shareholder value improvement," stated Allen. "Our planned merger with Spondoolies will bring together a phenomenal team with the shared vision and work ethic necessary to capitalize on the immense opportunities in the digital currency space. I look forward to providing future updates as we move forward." About BTCS: BTCS is a blockchain technology company that provides transaction verification services for digital currency. BTCS is building a universal digital currency platform with the goal of enabling users to engage in the digital currency ecosystem through one point of access. BTCS continues to actively partner and integrate with strategic digital currency technology companies who provide products or services that are complementary to its business strategy. BTCS operates its public beta site ( www.btcs.com ) where consumers can purchase products using digital currency such as bitcoin, litecoin, and dogecoin, by searching through a selection of over 250,000 items. For more information visit: www.btcs.com Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe,""expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Embedded Video Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2845331
[Social Media Buzz]
7 @Bitcoin_hunt, you have been sent 2400.00 MED to your address, tx = http://explorer.mediterraneancoin.org/tx/1db8dd90c14ce80aeab96a4085f41 … || buysellbitco.in #bitcoin price in INR, Buy : 16029.00 INR Sell : 15528.00 INR. Buy and sell bitcoin in #India using #buysellbitcoin || In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 18 exchange pair(s), yielding profits ranging between $0.00 and $1,628.26 #bitcoin #btc || buysellbitco.in #bitcoin price in INR, Buy : 16050.00 INR Sell : 15548.00 INR....
|
257.06, 263.07, 258.62, 255.41, 256.34, 260.89, 271.91, 269.03, 266.21, 270.79
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 921.01, 892.69, 901.54, 917.59, 919.75, 921.59, 919.50, 920.38, 970.40, 989.02, 1011.80, 1029.91, 1042.90, 1027.34, 1038.15, 1061.35, 1063.07, 994.38, 988.67, 1004.45, 999.18, 990.64, 1004.55, 1007.48, 1027.44, 1046.21, 1054.42, 1047.87, 1079.98, 1115.30, 1117.44, 1166.72, 1173.68, 1143.84, 1165.20, 1179.97, 1179.97, 1222.50, 1251.01, 1274.99, 1255.15, 1267.12, 1272.83, 1223.54, 1150.00, 1188.49, 1116.72, 1175.83, 1221.38, 1231.92, 1240.00, 1249.61, 1187.81, 1100.23, 973.82, 1036.74, 1054.23, 1120.54, 1049.14, 1038.59, 937.52, 972.78, 966.72, 1045.77, 1047.15, 1039.97, 1026.43, 1071.79, 1080.50, 1102.17, 1143.81, 1133.25, 1124.78, 1182.68, 1176.90, 1175.95, 1187.87, 1187.13, 1205.01, 1200.37, 1169.28, 1167.54, 1172.52, 1182.94, 1193.91, 1211.67, 1210.29, 1229.08, 1222.05, 1231.71.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-04-22]
Volume: 249320000, RSI (14-day): 63.93, 50-day EMA: 1139.40, 200-day EMA: 954.71
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Inside the World's Greatest Scavenger Hunt, Part 2: GISHWHES stands for the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen . Teams of 15 have one week to complete a list of 200 difficult, charitable, or hilarious tasks. They prove they’ve completed each item by submitting a photo or video of it; their $20 entry fees go to a charity, and the winning team gets a trip to an exotic location. This is Part 2 of our five-part series that goes inside the hunt. Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 Part 2: The hunt begins At 7:30 am on a bright Saturday morning, five members of Team Raised from Perdition gather near San Francisco. (The team name quotes the first line of dialogue ever spoken by Misha Collins on the cult hit show “Supernatural,” now in its twelfth season. He’s GISHWHES’s creator and organizer.) The other 12 members of the team join by video conference, via Google Hangouts, from their homes in Florida, Connecticut, Illinois, Hawaii, Tennessee, and Brazil. Although this is the team’s third year in the hunt, most have never met in person. They’ve never been all in one place. That’s typical for teams in this hunt, which is very much a creation of the Internet. Jason Sarten, an opera singer, reads off this year’s list, which includes items like: Get dental work done while a string quartet plays live music in the room. Enjoy some green eggs and ham (sunny-side up) on a boat with a goat. Provide evidence of having helped at least 10 eligible United States citizens to register to vote. Paint a portrait of a live model while both you and the model are scuba diving. Get an Amazon senior executive to order a small item from you, in a timestamped email. Using a drone, deliver the item to the executive (who must be waiting outside the office building) in less than one hour. Over 3,000 teams sign up to play GISHWHES each year, and there are nearly as many styles of running the hunt. On some teams, there’s nobody in charge. On others, there’s a captain who organizes but doesn’t actually perform any of the items. Flake-outs—people who say they’ll participate, but are no-shows when the hunt begins—are a common problem. Story continues Team Raised from Perdition is run by a pair of co-captains, Nina Mostepan and Geoff McAnally, who also perform tasks. (In real life, Mostepan teaches at an Early Start program for the deaf and hard of hearing, and McAnally is an American sign language interpreter.) The corn-husk gown One reason Raised From Perdition starts off the week with a group pow-wow: To let the team members claim the items they’re good at. For example, in Vancouver, Rob Fitz-James and Shiane Gailey live together and compete together. (He owns a tree stump-removal company; she’s a children’s entertainer.) They have radically different skills. “We work well as a team because I’m outgoing and I’ll go and do stuff in person; she’s able to manage social media, uploading, and photo and video editing,” Rob says. Shiane, fortunately for the team, is also wildly creative. After the hunt-launch meeting, she jumps on item 23: “Make this year’s must-have fashion statement: the Corn Husk Evening Wear!” Rob persuades a local thrift shop to donate a Justin Bieber bedsheet. (“Thankfully, someone grew out of a horrible phase in their life,” he says.) Shiane duct-tapes corn husks to a hoop skirt—well, the front half, the part that would be visible in the photo. “Then we spray-painted it red and yellow to make flames, and then we went downtown,” she says. “I assembled that thing onto myself in a fancy part of time, and took the picture at the Convention Center. (We got permission, of course.)” There were funny looks, she says, but she checked off item 23 as completed on the team’s master Google Sheets spreadsheet. Corn Husk Evening Wear! The space balloon Meanwhile, in Connecticut, Tia is struggling with item 153: “Secure a legitimate contract with Space X, NASA, etc., to send a message into space, addressed to the universe and written by a child. You must submit evidence that your payload was successfully launched into orbit.” It sounds impossible. Like NASA is going to carry a scavenger-hunt player’s note into space on short notice? No wonder item 153 is worth more points (314) than anything else on the list. Frantic, Tia Googles until she comes across a British company called SentIntoSpace.com . They sell near-space helium balloon kits to schools, hobbyists, marketers, and filmmakers, including everything they need to send small payloads into near space. Incredibly, the company responds to her email and agrees to donate a balloon to the cause. Destination: space! The launch goes well; the landing, not so much. Upon its return from space, the balloon blows off course and becomes ensnared high in the treetops of a dense, mountainous forest. Tia and her team of friends search until nightfall, following the signals of the satellite tracker in the payload box—but can’t find the thing. And without recovering the two GoPro cameras in its payload box, she won’t have the footage of space she needed. And without that—no credit for item 153, and little chance of winning GISHWHES. Deeply discouraged, she returns home. When things go wrong Item 153 isn’t the only GISHWHES item that’s ever gone wrong. Almost every year, an item or two disappears from the list after the hunt is under way. That’s when GISHWHES mastermind Misha Collins realizes too late that he’s created a dangerous or foolhardy challenge. “There have been people who have been arrested and court martialed and injured during the course of various GISHWHES over the years,” he says. “The second year, we had an item on the list that was, ‘Wrap yourself up in Christmas-tree lights. Plug them in and stand on the roof of a house.’ “And the very first day of the hunt, some of the submissions came in. And one of them was a photo of somebody standing on the peak of a three-story house, right at the edge, on the eave, completely entangled and ensnared in Christmas tree lights. And I immediately thought, ‘WHAT HAVE WE DONE?! There is no way that we can run this scavenger hunt and have somebody not perish from this item!’ “So I immediately sent out an e-mail saying, ‘Do not do the Christmas-tree lights on the roof item! Terrible idea.’ “And so that was sort of an ‘Aha!’ moment for me when I realized, ‘Oh, there are a lot of people who are doing whatever I say. I can’t just come up with whatever pops into my head and have them carry it out.” The hunt is on In 100 countries around the world, teams are sacrificing sleep, health, and me time as they scramble to knock off items on the list. More or less simultaneously, they’re all discovering what Team Raised from Perdition has learned: that it’s very hard to get an item into orbit on short notice, that goats don’t much enjoy floating in boats, and that Amazon.com has no intention of permitting its executives to participate in item 161. Join us for Part 3 of this series, which dives into the charitable side of GISHWHES—and documents the biggest water-balloon battle ever staged. Well, in San Francisco. In Dolores Park. That we know of. Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 More from David Pogue: The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update Now I get it: Bitcoin David Pogue tested 47 pill-reminder apps to find the best one David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’s davidpogue.com . On Twitter, he’s @pogue . On email, he’s [email protected]. You can read all his articles here , or you can sign up to get his columns by email . || Inside the World's Greatest Scavenger Hunt, Part 2: GISHWHES stands for theGreatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen. Teams of 15 have one week to complete a list of 200 difficult, charitable, or hilarious tasks. They prove they’ve completed each item by submitting a photo or video of it; their $20 entry fees go to a charity, and the winning team gets a trip to an exotic location.
This is Part 2 of our five-part series that goes inside the hunt.
Part 1• Part 2 •Part 3•Part 4•Part 5
At 7:30 am on a bright Saturday morning, five members of Team Raised from Perdition gather near San Francisco. (The team name quotes the first line of dialogue ever spoken by Misha Collins on the cult hit show “Supernatural,” now in its twelfth season. He’s GISHWHES’s creator and organizer.)
The other 12 members of the team join by video conference, via Google Hangouts, from their homes in Florida, Connecticut, Illinois, Hawaii, Tennessee, and Brazil.
Although this is the team’s third year in the hunt, most have never met in person. They’ve never been all in one place. That’s typical for teams in this hunt, which is very much a creation of the Internet.
Jason Sarten, an opera singer, reads off this year’s list, which includes items like:
• Get dental work done while a string quartet plays live music in the room.
• Enjoy some green eggs and ham (sunny-side up) on a boat with a goat.
• Provide evidence of having helped at least 10 eligible United States citizens to register to vote.
• Paint a portrait of a live model while both you and the model are scuba diving.
• Get an Amazon senior executive to order a small item from you, in a timestamped email. Using a drone, deliver the item to the executive (who must be waiting outside the office building) in less than one hour.
Over 3,000 teams sign up to play GISHWHES each year, and there are nearly as many styles of running the hunt. On some teams, there’s nobody in charge. On others, there’s a captain who organizes but doesn’t actually perform any of the items. Flake-outs—people who say they’ll participate, but are no-shows when the hunt begins—are a common problem.
Team Raised from Perdition is run by a pair of co-captains, Nina Mostepan and Geoff McAnally, who also perform tasks. (In real life, Mostepan teaches at an Early Start program for the deaf and hard of hearing, and McAnally is an American sign language interpreter.)
One reason Raised From Perdition starts off the week with a group pow-wow: To let the team members claim the items they’re good at.
For example, in Vancouver, Rob Fitz-James and Shiane Gailey live together and compete together. (He owns a tree stump-removal company; she’s a children’s entertainer.)
They have radically different skills. “We work well as a team because I’m outgoing and I’ll go and do stuff in person; she’s able to manage social media, uploading, and photo and video editing,” Rob says.
Shiane, fortunately for the team, is also wildly creative. After the hunt-launch meeting, she jumps on item 23: “Make this year’s must-have fashion statement: the Corn Husk Evening Wear!”
Rob persuades a local thrift shop to donate a Justin Bieber bedsheet. (“Thankfully, someone grew out of a horrible phase in their life,” he says.) Shiane duct-tapes corn husks to a hoop skirt—well, the front half, the part that would be visible in the photo. “Then we spray-painted it red and yellow to make flames, and then we went downtown,” she says. “I assembled that thing onto myself in a fancy part of time, and took the picture at the Convention Center. (We got permission, of course.)”
There were funny looks, she says, but she checked off item 23 as completed on the team’s master Google Sheets spreadsheet.
Meanwhile, in Connecticut, Tia is struggling with item 153: “Secure a legitimate contract with Space X, NASA, etc., to send a message into space, addressed to the universe and written by a child. You must submit evidence that your payload was successfully launched into orbit.”
It sounds impossible. Like NASA is going to carry a scavenger-hunt player’s note into space on short notice?
No wonder item 153 is worth more points (314) than anything else on the list.
Frantic, Tia Googles until she comes across a British company calledSentIntoSpace.com. They sell near-space helium balloon kits to schools, hobbyists, marketers, and filmmakers, including everything they need to send small payloads into near space. Incredibly, the company responds to her email and agrees to donate a balloon to the cause.
The launch goes well; the landing, not so much. Upon its return from space, the balloon blows off course and becomes ensnared high in the treetops of a dense, mountainous forest.
Tia and her team of friends search until nightfall, following the signals of the satellite tracker in the payload box—but can’t find the thing. And without recovering the two GoPro cameras in its payload box, she won’t have the footage of space she needed.
And without that—no credit for item 153, and little chance of winning GISHWHES. Deeply discouraged, she returns home.
Item 153 isn’t the only GISHWHES item that’s ever gone wrong. Almost every year, an item or twodisappearsfrom the list after the hunt is under way. That’s when GISHWHES mastermind Misha Collins realizes too late that he’s created a dangerous or foolhardy challenge.
“There have been people who have been arrested and court martialed and injured during the course of various GISHWHES over the years,” he says. “The second year, we had an item on the list that was, ‘Wrap yourself up in Christmas-tree lights. Plug them in and stand on the roof of a house.’
“And the very first day of the hunt, some of the submissions came in. And one of them was a photo of somebody standing on the peak of a three-story house, right at the edge, on the eave, completely entangled and ensnared in Christmas tree lights. And I immediately thought, ‘WHAT HAVE WE DONE?! There is no way that we can run this scavenger hunt and have somebody not perish from this item!’
“So I immediately sent out an e-mail saying, ‘Do not do the Christmas-tree lights on the roof item! Terrible idea.’
“And so that was sort of an ‘Aha!’ moment for me when I realized, ‘Oh, there are a lot of people who are doing whatever I say. I can’t just come up with whatever pops into my head and have them carry it out.”
In 100 countries around the world, teams are sacrificing sleep, health, and me time as they scramble to knock off items on the list.
More or less simultaneously, they’re all discovering what Team Raised from Perdition has learned: that it’s very hard to get an item into orbit on short notice, that goats don’t much enjoy floating in boats, and that Amazon.com has no intention of permitting its executives to participate in item 161.
Join us forPart 3of this series, which dives into the charitable side of GISHWHES—and documents the biggest water-balloon battle ever staged.
Well, in San Francisco.
In Dolores Park.
That we know of.
Part 1• Part 2 •Part 3•Part 4•Part 5
More from David Pogue:
The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update
Now I get it: Bitcoin
David Pogue tested 47 pill-reminder apps to find the best one
David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app
The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers
David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’sdavidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s@pogue. On email, he’s [email protected]. You canread all his articles here, or you can sign up toget his columns by email. || Sports Fans Score as CONCACAF U-17s Kick Off on Flow Sports and Flow Sports Premier: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Apr 21, 2017) - Flow customers score again as the 2017 Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Men's Under-17 World-Cup Qualifiers kick off on Flow Sports and Flow Sports Premier with multiplatform, on-the-go access via the Flow Sports app and website . Earlier this year Flow signed a partnership with CONCACAF to give customers a front row seat at both the Men's U-20 and U-17 championships. The winners of each division will go on to compete in the 2017 FIFA World Cup in India in October. The U-20s wrapped up on March 5 th , while the U-17s are set to take place in Panama from April 21 st to May 7 th . Sports fans can tune into Flow Sports , Flow Sports Premier and Flow 1 (for one game only 1 ) to watch all 25 live matches as twelve (12) teams from the Caribbean, Central America and North America vie to lock down their spot in the U-17 World Cup. Four (4) teams will advance. This year's line-up includes five (5) Caribbean nations -- Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, Curacao and Suriname. "In keeping with our commitment to deliver high quality, relevant and unmatched Caribbean content, Flow Sports' viewers can look forward to yet another major sporting event to light up their screens," said Garry Sinclair, President of Cable & Wireless Caribbean. "Needless to say, the CONCACAF World Cup qualifier is one of the most important events for emerging Caribbean superstars and, as the Home of Sports in the Caribbean , it's only natural that football fans in the region would look to us to catch the action. We will continue to raise the bar and serve up great content like the CONCACAF championships for football lovers across the Caribbean." Along with the live segments, Flow Sports will also produce a pre-, post- and halftime show for the final on May 7 th . Hosts of the show include former professional footballer and Flow Sports Premier Weekly host Terry Fenwick , along with Trinidad & Tobago's U-17 coach Russell Latapy . Together they'll serve up detailed match discussions and provide fans with an expert perspective on tomorrow's Caribbean football stars. Story continues Commenting on the partnership with Flow, CONCACAF General Secretary Philippe Moggio said, "Ensuring the broadcast reach of our tournaments into the Caribbean has always been a priority for CONCACAF, and this deal with Flow helps us to immediately achieve that." Editor's Note: CONCACAF U-17 BROADCAST SCHEDULE 2017 Match Ups Broadcast Dates Time ECT Station 1 Curacao v Haiti Friday April 21 7:30 PM Flow Sports 2 Panama v Honduras 10:00 PM Flow Sports 3 Cuba v Suriname Saturday April 22 1:30 PM Flow Sports 4 Costa Rica v Canada 4:00 PM Flow Sports 5 Jamaica v USA Sunday April 23 1:30 PM Flow Sports 6 Mexico v El Salvador 4:00 PM Flow Sports 7 Honduras v Curacao Monday April 24 6:00 PM FS Premier 8 Panama v Haiti 8:30 PM Flow Sports 9 Canada v Cuba Tuesday April 25 3:00 PM Flow Sports 10 Costa Rica v Suriname 5:30 PM Flow Sports 11 1 El Salvador v Jamaica Wednesday April 26 4:00 PM Flow 1 12 Mexico v USA 6:30 PM FS Premier 13 Honduras v Haiti Thursday April 27 6:00 PM Flow Sports 14 Panama v Curacao 8:30 PM Flow Sports 15 Canada v Suriname Friday April 28 6:30 PM Flow Sports 16 Costa Rica v Cuba 9:00 PM Flow Sports 17 El Salvador v USA Saturday April 29 11:30 PM FS Premier 18 Mexico v Jamaica 2:00 PM Flow Sports 19 TBD Monday May 1 6:30 PM Flow Sports 20 TBD 9:00 PM Flow Sports 21 TBD Wednesday May 3 4:30 PM Flow Sports 22 TBD 7:00 PM Flow Sports 23 TBD Friday May 5 6:30 PM Flow Sports 24 TBD 9:00 PM Flow Sports 25 TBD Sunday May 7 (FINALS) 4:00 PM Flow Sports About CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) is the governing body for soccer in the region, and one of six continental authorities that administer the game along with FIFA. Formed in 1961 from the merger of the Football Confederation of Central America and the Caribbean and the North American Football Confederation, CONCACAF now has 41 member associations, from Canada in the north to Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana on the South American continent. As the administrative body for the region, CONCACAF organizes competitions, offers training courses in technical and administrative aspects of the game, and helps to build football throughout the region. About C&W Communications C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 5 million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( LBTYB ) and ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) and ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com . || Sports Fans Score as CONCACAF U-17s Kick Off on Flow Sports and Flow Sports Premier: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Apr 21, 2017) - Flow customers score again as the 2017 Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Men's Under-17 World-Cup Qualifiers kick off on Flow Sports and Flow Sports Premier with multiplatform, on-the-go access via the Flow Sports app and website . Earlier this year Flow signed a partnership with CONCACAF to give customers a front row seat at both the Men's U-20 and U-17 championships. The winners of each division will go on to compete in the 2017 FIFA World Cup in India in October. The U-20s wrapped up on March 5 th , while the U-17s are set to take place in Panama from April 21 st to May 7 th . Sports fans can tune into Flow Sports , Flow Sports Premier and Flow 1 (for one game only 1 ) to watch all 25 live matches as twelve (12) teams from the Caribbean, Central America and North America vie to lock down their spot in the U-17 World Cup. Four (4) teams will advance. This year's line-up includes five (5) Caribbean nations -- Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, Curacao and Suriname. "In keeping with our commitment to deliver high quality, relevant and unmatched Caribbean content, Flow Sports' viewers can look forward to yet another major sporting event to light up their screens," said Garry Sinclair, President of Cable & Wireless Caribbean. "Needless to say, the CONCACAF World Cup qualifier is one of the most important events for emerging Caribbean superstars and, as the Home of Sports in the Caribbean , it's only natural that football fans in the region would look to us to catch the action. We will continue to raise the bar and serve up great content like the CONCACAF championships for football lovers across the Caribbean." Along with the live segments, Flow Sports will also produce a pre-, post- and halftime show for the final on May 7 th . Hosts of the show include former professional footballer and Flow Sports Premier Weekly host Terry Fenwick , along with Trinidad & Tobago's U-17 coach Russell Latapy . Together they'll serve up detailed match discussions and provide fans with an expert perspective on tomorrow's Caribbean football stars. Story continues Commenting on the partnership with Flow, CONCACAF General Secretary Philippe Moggio said, "Ensuring the broadcast reach of our tournaments into the Caribbean has always been a priority for CONCACAF, and this deal with Flow helps us to immediately achieve that." Editor's Note: CONCACAF U-17 BROADCAST SCHEDULE 2017 Match Ups Broadcast Dates Time ECT Station 1 Curacao v Haiti Friday April 21 7:30 PM Flow Sports 2 Panama v Honduras 10:00 PM Flow Sports 3 Cuba v Suriname Saturday April 22 1:30 PM Flow Sports 4 Costa Rica v Canada 4:00 PM Flow Sports 5 Jamaica v USA Sunday April 23 1:30 PM Flow Sports 6 Mexico v El Salvador 4:00 PM Flow Sports 7 Honduras v Curacao Monday April 24 6:00 PM FS Premier 8 Panama v Haiti 8:30 PM Flow Sports 9 Canada v Cuba Tuesday April 25 3:00 PM Flow Sports 10 Costa Rica v Suriname 5:30 PM Flow Sports 11 1 El Salvador v Jamaica Wednesday April 26 4:00 PM Flow 1 12 Mexico v USA 6:30 PM FS Premier 13 Honduras v Haiti Thursday April 27 6:00 PM Flow Sports 14 Panama v Curacao 8:30 PM Flow Sports 15 Canada v Suriname Friday April 28 6:30 PM Flow Sports 16 Costa Rica v Cuba 9:00 PM Flow Sports 17 El Salvador v USA Saturday April 29 11:30 PM FS Premier 18 Mexico v Jamaica 2:00 PM Flow Sports 19 TBD Monday May 1 6:30 PM Flow Sports 20 TBD 9:00 PM Flow Sports 21 TBD Wednesday May 3 4:30 PM Flow Sports 22 TBD 7:00 PM Flow Sports 23 TBD Friday May 5 6:30 PM Flow Sports 24 TBD 9:00 PM Flow Sports 25 TBD Sunday May 7 (FINALS) 4:00 PM Flow Sports About CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) is the governing body for soccer in the region, and one of six continental authorities that administer the game along with FIFA. Formed in 1961 from the merger of the Football Confederation of Central America and the Caribbean and the North American Football Confederation, CONCACAF now has 41 member associations, from Canada in the north to Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana on the South American continent. As the administrative body for the region, CONCACAF organizes competitions, offers training courses in technical and administrative aspects of the game, and helps to build football throughout the region. About C&W Communications C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 5 million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( LBTYB ) and ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) and ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com . || $BITCF's COINQX is the First Cryptocurrency Exchange to Offer Speculation in 6 Possible Outcomes of the Bitcoin Hard Fork: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 21, 2017 /CoinQx Exchange LIMITED, a wholly owned subsidiary of FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP (OTC PINK: BITCF or "Company") and the world's dominate issuer of cryptographic, indicative tokens is pleased to announce the launching of 5 additional altcoins that allow speculation on the potential outcomes of the moves to hard fork from the Bitcoin Core.
Other exchanges are now preparing for the highly anticipated hard fork of Bitcoin into two coins, with the original to remain named as Bitcoin (symbol BTC) and the forked coin as an altcoin to be named Bitcoin Unlimited, symbol BTU based on utilizing "Segregated Witness" (SegWit). Unlike those competing exchanges, COINQX is anticipating 6 possible outcomes, e.g. Bitcoin Unlimited, BCOIN, Bitcoin Plasma, Bitcoin Purse, Bitcoin Classic and Bitcoin XT.
Many Bitcoin traders are anxious to begin trading in the outcome of the hard fork. As a means to capitalize on pent up anticipation, and allow a mechanism to predict the future values of these potentialities, CONQX freshly minted on the Bitcoin Blockchain not only 9,000,000 tokens known as "Bitcoin Unlimited Futures" symbols XBU and XB, but also 5 newer issues. When/if any of these 6 potential outcomes convert into actualities, they will not be convertible or equal to BTC or the hard forked altcoin(s), however, once any of these outcomes and the "futures" coins created by COINQX are trading on COINQX they will be exchangeable by willing participants based on customers' matching bids and asks.
The five additional "futures" have been launched on the Bitcoin Blockchain using the same Omni Layer Protocol as XBU and have been named:
BCOIN FUTURES (BCN)
BITCOIN PLASMA FUTURES (BPL)
BITCOIN PURSE FUTURES (BPU)
BITCOIN CLASSIC FUTURES (XBC)
and BITCOIN XT FUTURES (BXT).
None of these "futures" tokens are backed by BTC nor are they securities, derivatives or futures contracts, yet, they are rather mere fiat cryptocurrencies designed to predict the future from their present popularity (and/or lack thereof).
In order to predict the outcome of the recent American elections, COINQX gave speculators several options including President Clinton (HILL) and President Trump (PRES). The markets in these coins accurately predicted that Clinton would lose the election as that altcoin descended towards one Satoshi while PRES held stronger as the November 8, 2016 electoral voting approached. The day the election was decided, HILL lost the most support and hit 1 Satoshi while PRES rose in BTC value. In addition to serving speculators and observers as indicators of future events, these altcoins also were designed to become the crypto equivalent of memorabilia with the intention that they would achieve a long lasting secondary life in the cryptocurrency markets. They continue to trade to this day with $PRES trading on 4 exchanges.
After the hard fork is complete, XBU and these new additional 5 futures-indicator-altcoin-competitors should also continue to trade -with the intention for those to survive as additional options to Bitcoin and the hard fork outcome as well as serving as independent altcoins and crypto collectors' memorabilia.
While these newly issued altcoins are not directly related to the original Bitcoin or its potential hard fork(s), it is indirectly related by the fact that they were all issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain similar to the top 10 cryptocurrency, MaidSafeCoin. As a consequence, these 5 "futures" are already exchangeable on the OMNIDEX against other similarly generated tokens and currencies such as$OMNI, $USDT, $PRES, $TESLA, $GARY, $BURN, $HILL,$MAID, $ALT, $XBU, $BOND viahttp://omnichest.info/mdexmarket.aspx?market=1and will soon be tradable against additional currencies atwww.coinqx.com
First Bitcoin Capital also plans to allow its clients to offer actual Bitcoin Unlimited (Futures) under symbol BTU and Bitcoin Core (Futures) under symbol BCC in competition with the Bitfinex and HitBTC exchanges through a process that will freeze in cold storage our participating clients' BTC against future delivery of BTU. Once actual BTU is delivered to BTC owners, the BTC will be unfrozen in order to make actual delivery to the futures buyers. Another way to unfreeze and have their BTC returned before the hard fork would be to buy back the same amount of BTU and BCC sold and then take their BTU and BCC derivatives off the market. Further details of the procedure will soon be announced viacoinqx.com
The Company continues to actively offer AltCoin (ALT), its first ICO via http://www.altcoinmarketcap.com and is in the process of becoming the world's first ICO (Initial Coin Offering) underwriter for a third party cryptocurrency issuers.
Some of the background that led to COINQX releasing these indicative altcoins is quoted below from the article published recently by @AlyssaHertig
http://www.coindesk.com/big-block-bitcoin-movement-embracing-bcoin/
Over the course of bitcoin's two-year scaling debate, a few major alternatives have grown to challenge the network's most popular and longest-running software, Bitcoin Core.
Among the more notable efforts have beenBitcoin XTandBitcoin Classic, which prioritized support larger block sizes as a method to support more transactions. However, a side effect of their ambitious aims was that network users would need switch implementations to enact the changes, and not everyone has wanted to do so.
The development exposes one of the more curious aspects of the scaling debate, as alternative solutions have needed to propose both a technical change - and build their own developer team - as part of their bids to put forth differing ideas.
One of the main criticisms ofBitcoin Unlimited, one recently popular alternative that allows miners and users to flag support for the block size they want, is that the code is buggy - or, at least, not yet mature. For example, in March, attackers were able toexploit two such bugs, causing most of the network nodes running the software to temporarily shut down each time.
In this light, the emergence of an implementation called 'Bcoin' (built by bitcoin startup Purse) to the debate could be a notable development in the scaling saga.
The software project got a recent boost this week when it introduced its own take on an old scaling idea, 'extension blocks' (or 'e-blocks'), which the company painted as a way for getting around today's block-size standstill.
The idea is controversial, as evidenced by complextechnical discussionfollowing the announcement, with some developers arguing that e-blocks would be an insecure addition.
Still, e-blocks have still seen a strong showing of support, in large part due to the perceived proficiency of its team. And, notably, Bitcoin Unlimited supporters have so far had favorable things to say about the project.
Haipo Yang, Chief Executive of mining firm ViaBTC, for instance, told CoinDesk that he supports Purse's concept and the Bcoin team.
Yang said:
"I think that extension blocks will be the solution that moves forward."
'Promising' option
Overall, the argument is developing that Bcoin, an alternative Node.js implementation that launchedin September, boasts a stronger technical team than that of Bitcoin Unlimited and other so-called 'big block' teams.
Purse CTO and Bcoin developer Christopher Jeffrey, for example, has been praised for architecting the software, as well as an in-progress Lightning implementation calledPlasmathat could be layered on top.
Meanwhile, Joseph Poon, Lightning Network co-creator, helped author the specification for the Bcoin implementation'srecently introducedflagship tech.
One example of trust in the competence of the team, supporters argue, is that mining pool BTC.com has already mined one block while running the software in March - allegedly a first for a client not based on bitcoin's original code implementation.
Purse has released aspecification draftandreference implementation codethat implements extension blocks on top of Bcoin.
That's not to say that Bcoin wants to offer a replacement for Bitcoin Core, as has been suggested for other implementations. When first introduced, it was described by the company as a bitcoin alternative with cleaner code that could co-exist alongside other software versions.
Divisions remain
Despite Yang's confidence, however, not all Bitcoin Unlimited supporters are going all in on extension blocks.
Former Bitcoin Foundation board member Olivier Janssens, for example, criticized the solution for its complexities, telling CoinDesk Bcoin's idea was 'way too complicated'.
"People need to get over their fear of hard forks," he said.
Still, many are saying positive things about the solution, even if they're possibly more focused on other scaling options.
"I like extension blocks, but I think there is almost no risk from making the actual blocks bigger, too," bitcoin investor and Bitcoin.com operator Roger Ver, one of the most vocal advocates for Bitcoin Core alternatives, told CoinDesk.
Bitcoin Unlimited developer David Jerry Chan went so far as to compare the tech favourably to other available solutions.
"I see the proposal as a reasonable and better alternative than SegWit," he said.
Chan went on to say that Bitcoin Unlimited developers are still discussing the proposal, and there's no 'official opinion' from the team as yet.
As far as potential setbacks go, however, one of the criticisms of Bcoin is that it needs time to review, no matter the merits of its team. (SegWit, for example, was reviewed and tested for roughly a year before release.)
On the other hand, Purse CEO Andrew Lee has argued that the Bcoin code is already live, so it could take less time to review.
Indeed, according to the technology announcement, the next steps are to deploy it on the bitcoin test network, get further review, and wrap up the specification.
Yang agreed, concluding:
"We have already waited more than one year. We can wait three months."
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange-www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company owns and operates more than the following digital assets.
www.CoinQX.comcryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins.
www.bitcannpay.comOpen Loop merchant services for dispensaries.
www.strain.IDcannabis strains genetic information depository on decentralized Blockchain.
List of Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain owned by the Company:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || $BITCF's COINQX is the First Cryptocurrency Exchange to Offer Speculation in 6 Possible Outcomes of the Bitcoin Hard Fork: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 21, 2017 / CoinQx Exchange LIMITED, a wholly owned subsidiary of FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP (OTC PINK: BITCF or "Company") and the world's dominate issuer of cryptographic, indicative tokens is pleased to announce the launching of 5 additional altcoins that allow speculation on the potential outcomes of the moves to hard fork from the Bitcoin Core. Other exchanges are now preparing for the highly anticipated hard fork of Bitcoin into two coins, with the original to remain named as Bitcoin (symbol BTC) and the forked coin as an altcoin to be named Bitcoin Unlimited, symbol BTU based on utilizing "Segregated Witness" (SegWit). Unlike those competing exchanges, COINQX is anticipating 6 possible outcomes, e.g. Bitcoin Unlimited, BCOIN, Bitcoin Plasma, Bitcoin Purse, Bitcoin Classic and Bitcoin XT. Many Bitcoin traders are anxious to begin trading in the outcome of the hard fork. As a means to capitalize on pent up anticipation, and allow a mechanism to predict the future values of these potentialities, CONQX freshly minted on the Bitcoin Blockchain not only 9,000,000 tokens known as "Bitcoin Unlimited Futures" symbols XBU and XB, but also 5 newer issues. When/if any of these 6 potential outcomes convert into actualities, they will not be convertible or equal to BTC or the hard forked altcoin(s), however, once any of these outcomes and the "futures" coins created by COINQX are trading on COINQX they will be exchangeable by willing participants based on customers' matching bids and asks. The five additional "futures" have been launched on the Bitcoin Blockchain using the same Omni Layer Protocol as XBU and have been named: BCOIN FUTURES (BCN) BITCOIN PLASMA FUTURES (BPL) BITCOIN PURSE FUTURES (BPU) BITCOIN CLASSIC FUTURES (XBC) and BITCOIN XT FUTURES (BXT) . None of these "futures" tokens are backed by BTC nor are they securities, derivatives or futures contracts, yet, they are rather mere fiat cryptocurrencies designed to predict the future from their present popularity (and/or lack thereof). Story continues In order to predict the outcome of the recent American elections, COINQX gave speculators several options including President Clinton (HILL) and President Trump (PRES). The markets in these coins accurately predicted that Clinton would lose the election as that altcoin descended towards one Satoshi while PRES held stronger as the November 8, 2016 electoral voting approached. The day the election was decided, HILL lost the most support and hit 1 Satoshi while PRES rose in BTC value. In addition to serving speculators and observers as indicators of future events, these altcoins also were designed to become the crypto equivalent of memorabilia with the intention that they would achieve a long lasting secondary life in the cryptocurrency markets. They continue to trade to this day with $PRES trading on 4 exchanges. After the hard fork is complete, XBU and these new additional 5 futures-indicator-altcoin-competitors should also continue to trade -with the intention for those to survive as additional options to Bitcoin and the hard fork outcome as well as serving as independent altcoins and crypto collectors' memorabilia. While these newly issued altcoins are not directly related to the original Bitcoin or its potential hard fork(s), it is indirectly related by the fact that they were all issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain similar to the top 10 cryptocurrency, MaidSafeCoin. As a consequence, these 5 "futures" are already exchangeable on the OMNIDEX against other similarly generated tokens and currencies such as $OMNI, $USDT, $PRES, $TESLA, $GARY, $BURN, $HILL , $MAID, $ALT, $XBU, $BOND via http://omnichest.info/mdexmarket.aspx?market=1 and will soon be tradable against additional currencies at www.coinqx.com First Bitcoin Capital also plans to allow its clients to offer actual Bitcoin Unlimited (Futures) under symbol BTU and Bitcoin Core (Futures) under symbol BCC in competition with the Bitfinex and HitBTC exchanges through a process that will freeze in cold storage our participating clients' BTC against future delivery of BTU. Once actual BTU is delivered to BTC owners, the BTC will be unfrozen in order to make actual delivery to the futures buyers. Another way to unfreeze and have their BTC returned before the hard fork would be to buy back the same amount of BTU and BCC sold and then take their BTU and BCC derivatives off the market. Further details of the procedure will soon be announced via coinqx.com The Company continues to actively offer AltCoin (ALT), its first ICO via http://www.altcoinmarketcap.com and is in the process of becoming the world's first ICO (Initial Coin Offering) underwriter for a third party cryptocurrency issuers. Some of the background that led to COINQX releasing these indicative altcoins is quoted below from the article published recently by @AlyssaHertig http://www.coindesk.com/big-block-bitcoin-movement-embracing-bcoin/ Over the course of bitcoin's two-year scaling debate, a few major alternatives have grown to challenge the network's most popular and longest-running software, Bitcoin Core. Among the more notable efforts have been Bitcoin XT and Bitcoin Classic , which prioritized support larger block sizes as a method to support more transactions. However, a side effect of their ambitious aims was that network users would need switch implementations to enact the changes, and not everyone has wanted to do so. The development exposes one of the more curious aspects of the scaling debate, as alternative solutions have needed to propose both a technical change - and build their own developer team - as part of their bids to put forth differing ideas. One of the main criticisms of Bitcoin Unlimited , one recently popular alternative that allows miners and users to flag support for the block size they want, is that the code is buggy - or, at least, not yet mature. For example, in March, attackers were able to exploit two such bugs , causing most of the network nodes running the software to temporarily shut down each time. In this light, the emergence of an implementation called 'Bcoin' (built by bitcoin startup Purse) to the debate could be a notable development in the scaling saga. The software project got a recent boost this week when it introduced its own take on an old scaling idea, ' extension blocks ' (or 'e-blocks'), which the company painted as a way for getting around today's block-size standstill. The idea is controversial, as evidenced by complex technical discussion following the announcement, with some developers arguing that e-blocks would be an insecure addition. Still, e-blocks have still seen a strong showing of support, in large part due to the perceived proficiency of its team. And, notably, Bitcoin Unlimited supporters have so far had favorable things to say about the project. Haipo Yang, Chief Executive of mining firm ViaBTC, for instance, told CoinDesk that he supports Purse's concept and the Bcoin team. Yang said: "I think that extension blocks will be the solution that moves forward." 'Promising' option Overall, the argument is developing that Bcoin, an alternative Node.js implementation that launched in September , boasts a stronger technical team than that of Bitcoin Unlimited and other so-called 'big block' teams. Purse CTO and Bcoin developer Christopher Jeffrey, for example, has been praised for architecting the software, as well as an in-progress Lightning implementation called Plasma that could be layered on top. Meanwhile, Joseph Poon, Lightning Network co-creator, helped author the specification for the Bcoin implementation's recently introduced flagship tech. One example of trust in the competence of the team, supporters argue, is that mining pool BTC.com has already mined one block while running the software in March - allegedly a first for a client not based on bitcoin's original code implementation. Purse has released a specification draft and reference implementation code that implements extension blocks on top of Bcoin. That's not to say that Bcoin wants to offer a replacement for Bitcoin Core, as has been suggested for other implementations. When first introduced, it was described by the company as a bitcoin alternative with cleaner code that could co-exist alongside other software versions. Divisions remain Despite Yang's confidence, however, not all Bitcoin Unlimited supporters are going all in on extension blocks. Former Bitcoin Foundation board member Olivier Janssens, for example, criticized the solution for its complexities, telling CoinDesk Bcoin's idea was 'way too complicated'. "People need to get over their fear of hard forks," he said. Still, many are saying positive things about the solution, even if they're possibly more focused on other scaling options. "I like extension blocks, but I think there is almost no risk from making the actual blocks bigger, too," bitcoin investor and Bitcoin.com operator Roger Ver, one of the most vocal advocates for Bitcoin Core alternatives, told CoinDesk. Bitcoin Unlimited developer David Jerry Chan went so far as to compare the tech favourably to other available solutions. "I see the proposal as a reasonable and better alternative than SegWit," he said. Chan went on to say that Bitcoin Unlimited developers are still discussing the proposal, and there's no 'official opinion' from the team as yet. As far as potential setbacks go, however, one of the criticisms of Bcoin is that it needs time to review, no matter the merits of its team. (SegWit, for example, was reviewed and tested for roughly a year before release.) On the other hand, Purse CEO Andrew Lee has argued that the Bcoin code is already live, so it could take less time to review. Indeed, according to the technology announcement, the next steps are to deploy it on the bitcoin test network, get further review, and wrap up the specification. Yang agreed, concluding: "We have already waited more than one year. We can wait three months." About the company: First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com . We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company owns and operates more than the following digital assets. www.CoinQX.com cryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN. www.iCoiNEWS.com real time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site. www.BITminer.cc providing mining pool management services. www.2016coin.org online daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins. www.bitcannpay.com Open Loop merchant services for dispensaries. www.strain.ID cannabis strains genetic information depository on decentralized Blockchain. List of Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain owned by the Company: http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com . Contact us via: [email protected] or visit http://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com SOURCE: First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || $BITCF's COINQX is the First Cryptocurrency Exchange to Offer Speculation in 6 Possible Outcomes of the Bitcoin Hard Fork: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 21, 2017 /CoinQx Exchange LIMITED, a wholly owned subsidiary of FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP (OTC PINK: BITCF or "Company") and the world's dominate issuer of cryptographic, indicative tokens is pleased to announce the launching of 5 additional altcoins that allow speculation on the potential outcomes of the moves to hard fork from the Bitcoin Core.
Other exchanges are now preparing for the highly anticipated hard fork of Bitcoin into two coins, with the original to remain named as Bitcoin (symbol BTC) and the forked coin as an altcoin to be named Bitcoin Unlimited, symbol BTU based on utilizing "Segregated Witness" (SegWit). Unlike those competing exchanges, COINQX is anticipating 6 possible outcomes, e.g. Bitcoin Unlimited, BCOIN, Bitcoin Plasma, Bitcoin Purse, Bitcoin Classic and Bitcoin XT.
Many Bitcoin traders are anxious to begin trading in the outcome of the hard fork. As a means to capitalize on pent up anticipation, and allow a mechanism to predict the future values of these potentialities, CONQX freshly minted on the Bitcoin Blockchain not only 9,000,000 tokens known as "Bitcoin Unlimited Futures" symbols XBU and XB, but also 5 newer issues. When/if any of these 6 potential outcomes convert into actualities, they will not be convertible or equal to BTC or the hard forked altcoin(s), however, once any of these outcomes and the "futures" coins created by COINQX are trading on COINQX they will be exchangeable by willing participants based on customers' matching bids and asks.
The five additional "futures" have been launched on the Bitcoin Blockchain using the same Omni Layer Protocol as XBU and have been named:
BCOIN FUTURES (BCN)
BITCOIN PLASMA FUTURES (BPL)
BITCOIN PURSE FUTURES (BPU)
BITCOIN CLASSIC FUTURES (XBC)
and BITCOIN XT FUTURES (BXT).
None of these "futures" tokens are backed by BTC nor are they securities, derivatives or futures contracts, yet, they are rather mere fiat cryptocurrencies designed to predict the future from their present popularity (and/or lack thereof).
In order to predict the outcome of the recent American elections, COINQX gave speculators several options including President Clinton (HILL) and President Trump (PRES). The markets in these coins accurately predicted that Clinton would lose the election as that altcoin descended towards one Satoshi while PRES held stronger as the November 8, 2016 electoral voting approached. The day the election was decided, HILL lost the most support and hit 1 Satoshi while PRES rose in BTC value. In addition to serving speculators and observers as indicators of future events, these altcoins also were designed to become the crypto equivalent of memorabilia with the intention that they would achieve a long lasting secondary life in the cryptocurrency markets. They continue to trade to this day with $PRES trading on 4 exchanges.
After the hard fork is complete, XBU and these new additional 5 futures-indicator-altcoin-competitors should also continue to trade -with the intention for those to survive as additional options to Bitcoin and the hard fork outcome as well as serving as independent altcoins and crypto collectors' memorabilia.
While these newly issued altcoins are not directly related to the original Bitcoin or its potential hard fork(s), it is indirectly related by the fact that they were all issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain similar to the top 10 cryptocurrency, MaidSafeCoin. As a consequence, these 5 "futures" are already exchangeable on the OMNIDEX against other similarly generated tokens and currencies such as$OMNI, $USDT, $PRES, $TESLA, $GARY, $BURN, $HILL,$MAID, $ALT, $XBU, $BOND viahttp://omnichest.info/mdexmarket.aspx?market=1and will soon be tradable against additional currencies atwww.coinqx.com
First Bitcoin Capital also plans to allow its clients to offer actual Bitcoin Unlimited (Futures) under symbol BTU and Bitcoin Core (Futures) under symbol BCC in competition with the Bitfinex and HitBTC exchanges through a process that will freeze in cold storage our participating clients' BTC against future delivery of BTU. Once actual BTU is delivered to BTC owners, the BTC will be unfrozen in order to make actual delivery to the futures buyers. Another way to unfreeze and have their BTC returned before the hard fork would be to buy back the same amount of BTU and BCC sold and then take their BTU and BCC derivatives off the market. Further details of the procedure will soon be announced viacoinqx.com
The Company continues to actively offer AltCoin (ALT), its first ICO via http://www.altcoinmarketcap.com and is in the process of becoming the world's first ICO (Initial Coin Offering) underwriter for a third party cryptocurrency issuers.
Some of the background that led to COINQX releasing these indicative altcoins is quoted below from the article published recently by @AlyssaHertig
http://www.coindesk.com/big-block-bitcoin-movement-embracing-bcoin/
Over the course of bitcoin's two-year scaling debate, a few major alternatives have grown to challenge the network's most popular and longest-running software, Bitcoin Core.
Among the more notable efforts have beenBitcoin XTandBitcoin Classic, which prioritized support larger block sizes as a method to support more transactions. However, a side effect of their ambitious aims was that network users would need switch implementations to enact the changes, and not everyone has wanted to do so.
The development exposes one of the more curious aspects of the scaling debate, as alternative solutions have needed to propose both a technical change - and build their own developer team - as part of their bids to put forth differing ideas.
One of the main criticisms ofBitcoin Unlimited, one recently popular alternative that allows miners and users to flag support for the block size they want, is that the code is buggy - or, at least, not yet mature. For example, in March, attackers were able toexploit two such bugs, causing most of the network nodes running the software to temporarily shut down each time.
In this light, the emergence of an implementation called 'Bcoin' (built by bitcoin startup Purse) to the debate could be a notable development in the scaling saga.
The software project got a recent boost this week when it introduced its own take on an old scaling idea, 'extension blocks' (or 'e-blocks'), which the company painted as a way for getting around today's block-size standstill.
The idea is controversial, as evidenced by complextechnical discussionfollowing the announcement, with some developers arguing that e-blocks would be an insecure addition.
Still, e-blocks have still seen a strong showing of support, in large part due to the perceived proficiency of its team. And, notably, Bitcoin Unlimited supporters have so far had favorable things to say about the project.
Haipo Yang, Chief Executive of mining firm ViaBTC, for instance, told CoinDesk that he supports Purse's concept and the Bcoin team.
Yang said:
"I think that extension blocks will be the solution that moves forward."
'Promising' option
Overall, the argument is developing that Bcoin, an alternative Node.js implementation that launchedin September, boasts a stronger technical team than that of Bitcoin Unlimited and other so-called 'big block' teams.
Purse CTO and Bcoin developer Christopher Jeffrey, for example, has been praised for architecting the software, as well as an in-progress Lightning implementation calledPlasmathat could be layered on top.
Meanwhile, Joseph Poon, Lightning Network co-creator, helped author the specification for the Bcoin implementation'srecently introducedflagship tech.
One example of trust in the competence of the team, supporters argue, is that mining pool BTC.com has already mined one block while running the software in March - allegedly a first for a client not based on bitcoin's original code implementation.
Purse has released aspecification draftandreference implementation codethat implements extension blocks on top of Bcoin.
That's not to say that Bcoin wants to offer a replacement for Bitcoin Core, as has been suggested for other implementations. When first introduced, it was described by the company as a bitcoin alternative with cleaner code that could co-exist alongside other software versions.
Divisions remain
Despite Yang's confidence, however, not all Bitcoin Unlimited supporters are going all in on extension blocks.
Former Bitcoin Foundation board member Olivier Janssens, for example, criticized the solution for its complexities, telling CoinDesk Bcoin's idea was 'way too complicated'.
"People need to get over their fear of hard forks," he said.
Still, many are saying positive things about the solution, even if they're possibly more focused on other scaling options.
"I like extension blocks, but I think there is almost no risk from making the actual blocks bigger, too," bitcoin investor and Bitcoin.com operator Roger Ver, one of the most vocal advocates for Bitcoin Core alternatives, told CoinDesk.
Bitcoin Unlimited developer David Jerry Chan went so far as to compare the tech favourably to other available solutions.
"I see the proposal as a reasonable and better alternative than SegWit," he said.
Chan went on to say that Bitcoin Unlimited developers are still discussing the proposal, and there's no 'official opinion' from the team as yet.
As far as potential setbacks go, however, one of the criticisms of Bcoin is that it needs time to review, no matter the merits of its team. (SegWit, for example, was reviewed and tested for roughly a year before release.)
On the other hand, Purse CEO Andrew Lee has argued that the Bcoin code is already live, so it could take less time to review.
Indeed, according to the technology announcement, the next steps are to deploy it on the bitcoin test network, get further review, and wrap up the specification.
Yang agreed, concluding:
"We have already waited more than one year. We can wait three months."
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange-www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company owns and operates more than the following digital assets.
www.CoinQX.comcryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins.
www.bitcannpay.comOpen Loop merchant services for dispensaries.
www.strain.IDcannabis strains genetic information depository on decentralized Blockchain.
List of Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain owned by the Company:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || Bitcoin is closing in on its all-time high: Bitcoin is trading at its best level in a month. The cryptocurrency is up 2.8% at $1241.35 a coin and is within striking distance of its all-time closing high of $1277.65, which was set on March 6. Four days later, bitcoin put in a record high of $1327.19 before crashing more than 25% after the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the Winklevoss twins' plans for a bitcoin ETF. The SEC rejected the plans for another bitcoin ETF just a few weeks after that. However, bitcoin has rallied off its March 24 low of $959.45 as it has gained acceptance elsewhere. First, Japan announced it was accepting the crypticurrency as a legal payment method , then, Russia said it would consider recognizing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018. Bitcoin has been the top-performing currency every year since 2010, aside from 2014. It's up 30% so far in 2017. Bitcoin (Markets Insider) NOW WATCH: Here's footage of the US military's new helicopter that'll cost as much as an F-35 More From Business Insider There's $29.4 billion in cryptocurrencies here's which ones people are using the most An under-the-radar startup is behind what might be the best watch you can buy for under $250 Iran's 'stealth' fighter is a total joke || Bitcoin is closing in on its all-time high: Bitcoinis trading at its best level in a month. The cryptocurrency is up 2.8% at $1241.35 a coin and is within striking distance of its all-time closing high of $1277.65, which was set on March 6.
Four days later, bitcoin put in a record high of $1327.19 before crashing more than 25% after the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the Winklevoss twins' plans for a bitcoin ETF. The SECrejected the plans for another bitcoin ETFjust a few weeks after that.
However, bitcoin has rallied off its March 24 low of $959.45 as it has gained acceptance elsewhere. First, Japan announced it was accepting the crypticurrency as alegal payment method, then, Russia said it wouldconsider recognizing bitcoin and other cryptocurrenciesin 2018.
Bitcoin has been the top-performing currency every year since 2010, aside from 2014. It's up 30% so far in 2017.
(Markets Insider)
NOW WATCH:Here's footage of the US military's new helicopter that'll cost as much as an F-35
More From Business Insider
• There's $29.4 billion in cryptocurrencies — here's which ones people are using the most
• An under-the-radar startup is behind what might be the best watch you can buy for under $250
• Iran's 'stealth' fighter is a total joke || Bitcoin is closing in on its all-time high: Bitcoinis trading at its best level in a month. The cryptocurrency is up 2.8% at $1241.35 a coin and is within striking distance of its all-time closing high of $1277.65, which was set on March 6.
Four days later, bitcoin put in a record high of $1327.19 before crashing more than 25% after the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the Winklevoss twins' plans for a bitcoin ETF. The SECrejected the plans for another bitcoin ETFjust a few weeks after that.
However, bitcoin has rallied off its March 24 low of $959.45 as it has gained acceptance elsewhere. First, Japan announced it was accepting the crypticurrency as alegal payment method, then, Russia said it wouldconsider recognizing bitcoin and other cryptocurrenciesin 2018.
Bitcoin has been the top-performing currency every year since 2010, aside from 2014. It's up 30% so far in 2017.
(Markets Insider)
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• There's $29.4 billion in cryptocurrencies — here's which ones people are using the most
• An under-the-radar startup is behind what might be the best watch you can buy for under $250
• Iran's 'stealth' fighter is a total joke || There's $29.4 billion in cryptocurrencies here's which ones people are using the most: Bitcoin became the first decentralized cryptocurrency back in 2009, and ever since interest in digital currencies has exploded. According to CoinMarketCap.com, there are 796 cryptocurrencies currently trading around the world , with a combined market cap of $29,374,919,176. Of those, only 10 have a market cap of $100 million or more. Check them out: Cryptocurrency market cap chart (Business Insider/Mike Nudelman, data from CoinMarketCap.com) NOW WATCH: People are outraged by this shocking video showing a passenger forcibly dragged off a United Airlines plane More From Business Insider An under-the-radar startup is behind what might be the best watch you can buy for under $250 We just got a huge sign that the US intelligence community believes the Trump dossier is legitimate Report says North Korea stole bitcoin from South Korea for years || There's $29.4 billion in cryptocurrencies — here's which ones people are using the most: Bitcoin became the firstdecentralized cryptocurrency back in 2009, and ever since interest in digital currencies has exploded. According to CoinMarketCap.com, there are796 cryptocurrencies currently trading around the world, with a combined market cap of $29,374,919,176. Of those, only 10 have a market cap of $100 million or more. Check them out:
(Business Insider/Mike Nudelman, data from CoinMarketCap.com)
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• An under-the-radar startup is behind what might be the best watch you can buy for under $250
• We just got a huge sign that the US intelligence community believes the Trump dossier is legitimate
• Report says North Korea stole bitcoin from South Korea for years || The hotel industry's secret plan to bring down AirBnB: Its always been pretty obvious why the hotel industry might not be big fans of AirBnB. After all, AirBnB lets us find lodging thats homier, less cookie-cutter, and far less expensive than renting hotel rooms. But this week, The New York Times reported on just how much AirBnB bothers the hotel industry: Its trade group, the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), which has a multimillion-dollar budget, has actually developed a secret program to cause trouble for AirBnB. So far, the plan has succeeded in virtually shutting down AirBnB apartment rentals in New York City. (The AHLA helped persuade New York lawmakers to impose a law that issues fines as high as $7,500 for people who repeatedly advertise their apartments on AirBnB for less than 30 days if theyre not also staying there.) Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Miami, and Washington, D.C. are the trade groups next targets. Brian Chesky, CEO and Co-founder of Airbnb, speaks to the Economic Club of New York at a luncheon at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S. March 13, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar Clearly, the hotel lobbyists are concerned about losing business to AirBnB and similar services. But theyre also unhappy with the uneven playing field. Airbnb hosts often do not comply with rules imposed on hotels, like anti-discrimination legislation, local tax collection laws, and safety and fire inspection standards, the Times reports. The hotel industrys other complaints: Lots of people are abusing the AirBnB model by buying many apartments and then renting them, essentially operating as a big hotel business. City governments are also concerned that these AirBnB businesspeople are, in the process, snapping up the supply of housing that city residents desperately need. Needless to say, AirBnB suspects that the hotel industry has other motivations. The hotel cartel is intent on short-sheeting the middle class so they can keep price-gouging consumers, AirBnB spokesman Nick Papas told the Times. Only one thing about AirBnBs road ahead is sure: the hotel industry intends to make it as rough a ride as possible. More from David Pogue: Inside the Worlds Greatest Scavenger Hunt, Part 1 Story continues The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update Now I get it: Bitcoin David Pogue tested 47 pill-reminder apps to find the best one David Pogues search for the worlds best air-travel app The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. On the web, hes davidpogue.com . On Twitter, hes @pogue . On email, hes [email protected]. You can read all his articles here , or you can sign up to get his columns by email . || The hotel industry's secret plan to bring down AirBnB: It’s always been pretty obvious why the hotel industry might not be big fans of AirBnB. After all, AirBnB lets us find lodging that’s homier, less cookie-cutter, and far less expensive than renting hotel rooms.
But this week,The New York Times reported onjust how much AirBnB bothers the hotel industry: Its trade group, the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), which has a multimillion-dollar budget, has actually developed a secret program to cause trouble for AirBnB.
So far, the plan has succeeded in virtually shutting down AirBnB apartment rentals in New York City. (The AHLA helped persuade New York lawmakers to impose a law that issuesfines as high as $7,500for people who repeatedly advertise their apartments on AirBnB for less than 30 days if they’re not also staying there.) Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Miami, and Washington, D.C. are the trade group’s next targets.
Clearly, the hotel lobbyists are concerned about losing business to AirBnB and similar services. But they’re also unhappy with the uneven playing field. “Airbnb hosts often do not comply with rules imposed on hotels, like anti-discrimination legislation, local tax collection laws, and safety and fire inspection standards,” the Times reports.
The hotel industry’s other complaints: Lots of people are abusing the AirBnB model by buying many apartments and then renting them, essentially operating as a big hotel business. City governments are also concerned that these AirBnB businesspeople are, in the process, snapping up the supply of housing that city residents desperately need.
Needless to say, AirBnB suspects that the hotel industry has other motivations. “The hotel cartel is intent on short-sheeting the middle class so they can keep price-gouging consumers,” AirBnB spokesman Nick Papas told the Times.
Only one thing about AirBnB’s road ahead is sure: the hotel industry intends to make it as rough a ride as possible.
More from David Pogue:
Inside the World’s Greatest Scavenger Hunt, Part 1
The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update
Now I get it: Bitcoin
David Pogue tested 47 pill-reminder apps to find the best one
David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app
The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers
David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. On the web, he’sdavidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s@pogue. On email, he’s [email protected]. You canread all his articles here, or you can sign up toget his columns by email. || Over 200 Fintech Startup Finalists to Celebrate Worldwide Fintech Innovation at the Benzinga Global Fintech Awards in New York City May 11: Benzinga Announces Finalists for 2017 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards; Over 200 Companies Will Compete at Fintech's Premier Event in New York City May 11 DETROIT, MI / ACCESSWIRE / April 17, 2017 / Benzinga , a leading online financial media publication and data provider, announced today the finalists for the 2017 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards . The Benzinga Global Fintech Awards is the largest fintech event focusing on the capital markets. In its third year, Benzinga has expanded the event's purview to the global stage, bringing over 200 companies to New York City from countries including India, Israel, Poland, and Singapore. The Benzinga Global Fintech Awards finalists were chosen by their peers in a social voting competition. In all, 372 companies applied to the competition, and 225 finalists received over 100,000 votes to advance to the judging round. Finalists will soon enter the judging stage of the Benzinga Global Fintech Awards competition. A judging board of more than 30 leaders in every fintech vertical will rank the finalists in terms of how innovative their products are and their potential to reshape the finance industry. The judging panel includes an " unprecedented " level of fintech talent, such as current and former C-suite executives of financial institutions like Morningstar and Thomson Reuters, as well as many leading investors, VCs, television personalities and financial innovators of all stripes. Firms from DE Shaw and J.P. Morgan to TD Ameritrade and Fidelity are all contributing insight and mentorship to the 225 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards finalists. The Benzinga Global Fintech Awards finalists, by category: Best Use of Alternative Investments Platform, Tool, or App BankerBay CFX Markets ClearVest Advisers, LLC CoolMellon Entrex Equitise Frictionless Healthcare Finance Income& Kettera Strategies Mercury Capital Advisors SAF Platform Seedrs Swaper YieldStreet Best Analysis Platform, Tool, or App Alpha Hat Artivest BondCliQ ChartYourTrade F.A.S.T. Graphs NewsHedge Novus Orchard Platform Polly Portfolio TradingView Web Financial Group Ycharts Story continues Best Digital Mortgage or Real Estate Platform, Tool, or App Brickvest BRICKX BuildFax Cadre Morty Neat Capital Neighborhood Pay Services PeerStreet Quicken Loans / Rocket Mortgage RealtyMogul RealtyShares Unison Home Ownership Investors Best Education & Personal Finance Platform, Tool, or App BillGO Clarity Money Copper Street Dream Forward 401(k) FinTech Business School MoneyLion Shift SmartAsset TradeBench Best Financial Advisor or Wealth Management Platform, Tool, or App Advisor Engine ALBRIDGE Backstop Solutions Group BaseVenture CBOE Vest FUNDBASE LendingCalc Mil Advisor MyVest ORION RobustWealth STRATIFI Truelytics Best Forex Platform, Tool, or App Fortex FXPRIMUS FXStreet Markets.com MarketsFactory.com MobyTrader Remitly TF Global Markets uChange Best InsurTech Platform, Tool, or App Aclaimant Bought By Many Coverfy CoverWallet Embroker FitSense Insureon League Life.io Neuroprofiler Senteri UnBrokerage WeSavvy Best Lending Platform, Tool, or App Bizfi Datanomers Global Debt Registry IdFinance InterNex Capital MYJAR P2Binvestor PayMe Rubique Stilt Suretly Think Money TWINO Best Proprietary Technology or APIs Alpha Exchange Connamara Systems Dataminr Finicity Nomad COnnection OpenFin OptionsCity Overbond Push Payments Quovo Redtail Technology Tradier Xignite Best RegTech Platform, Tool, or App AQMetrics AU10TIX ComplyAdvantage ComplySci Neurensic Qumram Rippleshot ThetaRay Trulioo Trunomi Uniken Best Research Platform, Tool, or App AlphaSense FinanceBoards MackeyRMS OptionMetrics PitchBook Slingshot Insights Sqoop Street Diligence Virtual Cove Best Robo Advisor Betterment Clinc Exeria Gravity Investments Polaris Portfolios Scalable Capital Unicorn Bay Vestwell Ways2Wealth Wealthfront Wealthsimple WiseBanyan Best Trading Execution or Brokerage Platform DriveWealth Fidelity FINVASIA Lime Brokerage (Wedbush) m1 Finance OptionsHouse SelfWealth Sterling Trading Tech StocksToTrade T3 Live TD Ameritrade (AMTD) Best Trading Idea Platform, Tool, or App ADVFN Alpaca BullBoard Chaikin Analytics Equities.com iStockPicker SharingAlpha Stocks For The Week TalkMarkets Ticker.tv TickerTags Trade Ideas Tradespoon Trumid Financial Vest Cycle Vetr Best Under-banked or Emerging Market Solution Amplify Billmo, LLC Eastpesa Limited Elevate FarmDrive Ovamba PayActiv Ping Express WorldRemit Best Use of Blockchain or Bitcoins AlphaPoint Blockchain Brave New Coin I/O Digital Melonport Netcoins Paxos Purse Remitt SecureKey Technologies Finding Alpha AlphaStreet Cindicator Croudify DarcMatter ExtractAlpha Kavout PortfolioEffect Prattle PureFunds RelateTheNews SavaNet Tradagon Visible Alpha Institutional Innovators Bond Price Validation Bridge Financial Technology ChartIQ Cloud9 Technologies Intro-act Marstone, Inc. Opportunity Network Veriday Investing In Millennials Aspiration EZMCOM Inc GRAIN Lean Financial MATADOR Payscape SprinkleBit STASH Leveling the Playing Field CALL LEVELS Capitali.se Click IPO Securities DIY.Fund EnergyFunders finbox.io IEX OptaCredit Fintech Private Limited trigger Solving Problems Through Payments Alipay CHeckbook.io disburze PayKey Payment Rails RenovITe Technologies Inc Sharepay Soundpays Spendesk SWITCH Inc Zebit ZOOZ The Benzinga Global Fintech Awards judges include: Pete Casella, Point72 Ventures Adam Boyden, RPM Ventures Amir Goldman, Susquehanna Growth Equity Partners Yin Luo, Wolfe Research Nathan Richardson, TradeIt David Teten, ff Venture Capital James Altucher Tim Seymour, CNBC Vicki Walia, Alliance-Bernstein Bill Libby, Goldman Sachs (GS) Kim Trautmann, DRW VC Seth Merrin, LiquidNet Steve Lau, WorldQuant Ventures Matt Harris, Bain Capital Ventures Tricia Rothschild, Morningstar Charlie Hartel, Yahoo! Finance (YHOO) Ed Skolarus, Investor's Business Daily Gene Munster, Loup Ventures Ken Scichiano, TA Associates Nicholas Britz, Google Finance Bill Nosal, NASDAQ John Hart, TD Ameritrade (AMTD) Alex Wong, DE Shaw Ventures Kelli Keough, J.P. Morgan Chase Matt Hatch, E&Y Jennifer Samalis, Fidelity David Jegen, F Prime Capital Man Mahjouri, Tradeworx Philip Brittan, Fmr. Thomson Reuters Sue Britton, Fintech Growth Syndicate Jeff Chiapetta, Charles Schwab Sonny Singh, BitPay Media Information: Spencer White [email protected] (for media email inquiries please put "MEDIA" at the beginning of the subject line) 313-723-2000 About Benzinga Global Fintech Awards Designed to uncover the most innovative companies within the financial technology capital markets sector, the Benzinga Fintech Awards provide winning finalists with new opportunities for growth and exposure. For last year's winners, please visit www.benzingafintechawards.com or use the hashtag #BZAwards. About Benzinga Benzinga is a leading originator of actionable financial insights for traders and investors. Benzinga's news desk is constantly breaking stories and moving billions of dollars of market capitalization through its real-time terminal, Benzinga Pro. Benzinga's original content is syndicated to 70 partner websites, such as Yahoo! Inc.'s Yahoo! Finance, Microsoft Corporation's MSN, CNNMoney, Fox Business, Marketwatch, and more. Benzinga is the leading provider of news to the North American brokerage community, with a client list including TD Ameritrade, LightSpeed, TradeKing, and many more. The company is headquartered in downtown Detroit and dedicated to driving Detroit's renaissance. For more information, check out Benzinga.com , Cloud.Benzinga.com , and Pro.Benzinga.com . SOURCE: Benzinga || Over 200 Fintech Startup Finalists to Celebrate Worldwide Fintech Innovation at the Benzinga Global Fintech Awards in New York City May 11: Benzinga Announces Finalists for 2017 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards;Over 200 Companies Will Compete at Fintech's Premier Event in New York City May 11
DETROIT, MI / ACCESSWIRE / April 17, 2017 /Benzinga, a leading online financial media publication and data provider, announced today the finalists for the 2017Benzinga Global Fintech Awards.
TheBenzinga Global Fintech Awardsis the largest fintech event focusing on the capital markets. In its third year, Benzinga has expanded the event's purview to the global stage, bringing over 200 companies to New York City from countries including India, Israel, Poland, and Singapore.
TheBenzinga Global Fintech Awardsfinalists were chosen by their peers in a social voting competition. In all, 372 companies applied to the competition, and 225 finalists received over 100,000 votes to advance to the judging round.
Finalists will soon enter the judging stage of theBenzinga Global Fintech Awardscompetition. A judging board of more than 30 leaders in every fintech vertical will rank the finalists in terms of how innovative their products are and their potential to reshape the finance industry.
The judging panel includes an "unprecedented" level of fintech talent, such as current and former C-suite executives of financial institutions like Morningstar and Thomson Reuters, as well as many leading investors, VCs, television personalities and financial innovators of all stripes. Firms from DE Shaw and J.P. Morgan to TD Ameritrade and Fidelity are all contributing insight and mentorship to the 225Benzinga Global Fintech Awardsfinalists.
TheBenzinga Global Fintech Awardsfinalists, by category:
Best Use of Alternative Investments Platform, Tool, or App
• BankerBay
• CFX Markets
• ClearVest Advisers, LLC
• CoolMellon
• Entrex
• Equitise
• Frictionless Healthcare Finance
• Income&
• Kettera Strategies
• Mercury Capital Advisors
• SAF Platform
• Seedrs
• Swaper
• YieldStreet
Best Analysis Platform, Tool, or App
• Alpha Hat
• Artivest
• BondCliQ
• ChartYourTrade
• F.A.S.T. Graphs
• NewsHedge
• Novus
• Orchard Platform
• Polly Portfolio
• TradingView
• Web Financial Group
• Ycharts
Best Digital Mortgage or Real Estate Platform, Tool, or App
• Brickvest
• BRICKX
• BuildFax
• Cadre
• Morty
• Neat Capital
• Neighborhood Pay Services
• PeerStreet
• Quicken Loans / Rocket Mortgage
• RealtyMogul
• RealtyShares
• Unison Home Ownership Investors
Best Education & Personal Finance Platform, Tool, or App
• BillGO
• Clarity Money
• Copper Street
• Dream Forward 401(k)
• FinTech Business School
• MoneyLion
• Shift
• SmartAsset
• TradeBench
Best Financial Advisor or Wealth Management Platform, Tool, or App
• Advisor Engine
• ALBRIDGE
• Backstop Solutions Group
• BaseVenture
• CBOE Vest
• FUNDBASE
• LendingCalc
• Mil Advisor
• MyVest
• ORION
• RobustWealth
• STRATIFI
• Truelytics
Best Forex Platform, Tool, or App
• Fortex
• FXPRIMUS
• FXStreet
• Markets.com
• MarketsFactory.com
• MobyTrader
• Remitly
• TF Global Markets
• uChange
Best InsurTech Platform, Tool, or App
• Aclaimant
• Bought By Many
• Coverfy
• CoverWallet
• Embroker
• FitSense
• Insureon
• League
• Life.io
• Neuroprofiler
• Senteri
• UnBrokerage
• WeSavvy
Best Lending Platform, Tool, or App
• Bizfi
• Datanomers
• Global Debt Registry
• IdFinance
• InterNex Capital
• MYJAR
• P2Binvestor
• PayMe
• Rubique
• Stilt
• Suretly
• Think Money
• TWINO
Best Proprietary Technology or APIs
• Alpha Exchange
• Connamara Systems
• Dataminr
• Finicity
• Nomad COnnection
• OpenFin
• OptionsCity
• Overbond
• Push Payments
• Quovo
• Redtail Technology
• Tradier
• Xignite
Best RegTech Platform, Tool, or App
• AQMetrics
• AU10TIX
• ComplyAdvantage
• ComplySci
• Neurensic
• Qumram
• Rippleshot
• ThetaRay
• Trulioo
• Trunomi
• Uniken
Best Research Platform, Tool, or App
• AlphaSense
• FinanceBoards
• MackeyRMS
• OptionMetrics
• PitchBook
• Slingshot Insights
• Sqoop
• Street Diligence
• Virtual Cove
Best Robo Advisor
• Betterment
• Clinc
• Exeria
• Gravity Investments
• Polaris Portfolios
• Scalable Capital
• Unicorn Bay
• Vestwell
• Ways2Wealth
• Wealthfront
• Wealthsimple
• WiseBanyan
Best Trading Execution or Brokerage Platform
• DriveWealth
• Fidelity
• FINVASIA
• Lime Brokerage (Wedbush)
• m1 Finance
• OptionsHouse
• SelfWealth
• Sterling Trading Tech
• StocksToTrade
• T3 Live
• TD Ameritrade (AMTD)
Best Trading Idea Platform, Tool, or App
• ADVFN
• Alpaca
• BullBoard
• Chaikin Analytics
• Equities.com
• iStockPicker
• SharingAlpha
• Stocks For The Week
• TalkMarkets
• Ticker.tv
• TickerTags
• Trade Ideas
• Tradespoon
• Trumid Financial
• Vest Cycle
• Vetr
Best Under-banked or Emerging Market Solution
• Amplify
• Billmo, LLC
• Eastpesa Limited
• Elevate
• FarmDrive
• Ovamba
• PayActiv
• Ping Express
• WorldRemit
Best Use of Blockchain or Bitcoins
• AlphaPoint
• Blockchain
• Brave New Coin
• I/O Digital
• Melonport
• Netcoins
• Paxos
• Purse
• Remitt
• SecureKey Technologies
Finding Alpha
• AlphaStreet
• Cindicator
• Croudify
• DarcMatter
• ExtractAlpha
• Kavout
• PortfolioEffect
• Prattle
• PureFunds
• RelateTheNews
• SavaNet
• Tradagon
• Visible Alpha
Institutional Innovators
• Bond Price Validation
• Bridge Financial Technology
• ChartIQ
• Cloud9 Technologies
• Intro-act
• Marstone, Inc.
• Opportunity Network
• Veriday
Investing In Millennials
• Aspiration
• EZMCOM Inc
• GRAIN
• Lean Financial
• MATADOR
• Payscape
• SprinkleBit
• STASH
Leveling the Playing Field
• CALL LEVELS
• Capitali.se
• Click IPO Securities
• DIY.Fund
• EnergyFunders
• finbox.io
• IEX
• OptaCredit Fintech Private Limited
• trigger
Solving Problems Through Payments
• Alipay
• CHeckbook.io
• disburze
• PayKey
• Payment Rails
• RenovITe Technologies Inc
• Sharepay
• Soundpays
• Spendesk
• SWITCH Inc
• Zebit
• ZOOZ
TheBenzinga Global Fintech Awardsjudges include:
• Pete Casella, Point72 Ventures
• Adam Boyden, RPM Ventures
• Amir Goldman, Susquehanna Growth Equity Partners
• Yin Luo, Wolfe Research
• Nathan Richardson, TradeIt
• David Teten, ff Venture Capital
• James Altucher
• Tim Seymour, CNBC
• Vicki Walia, Alliance-Bernstein
• Bill Libby, Goldman Sachs (GS)
• Kim Trautmann, DRW VC
• Seth Merrin, LiquidNet
• Steve Lau, WorldQuant Ventures
• Matt Harris, Bain Capital Ventures
• Tricia Rothschild, Morningstar
• Charlie Hartel, Yahoo! Finance (YHOO)
• Ed Skolarus, Investor's Business Daily
• Gene Munster, Loup Ventures
• Ken Scichiano, TA Associates
• Nicholas Britz, Google Finance
• Bill Nosal, NASDAQ
• John Hart, TD Ameritrade (AMTD)
• Alex Wong, DE Shaw Ventures
• Kelli Keough, J.P. Morgan Chase
• Matt Hatch, E&Y
• Jennifer Samalis, Fidelity
• David Jegen, F Prime Capital
• Man Mahjouri, Tradeworx
• Philip Brittan, Fmr. Thomson Reuters
• Sue Britton, Fintech Growth Syndicate
• Jeff Chiapetta, Charles Schwab
• Sonny Singh, BitPay
Media Information:
Spencer [email protected](for media email inquiries please put "MEDIA" at the beginning of the subject line)313-723-2000
About Benzinga Global Fintech Awards
Designed to uncover the most innovative companies within the financial technology capital markets sector, the Benzinga Fintech Awards provide winning finalists with new opportunities for growth and exposure. For last year's winners, please visitwww.benzingafintechawards.comor use the hashtag #BZAwards.
About Benzinga
Benzinga is a leading originator of actionable financial insights for traders and investors. Benzinga's news desk is constantly breaking stories and moving billions of dollars of market capitalization through its real-time terminal, Benzinga Pro. Benzinga's original content is syndicated to 70 partner websites, such as Yahoo! Inc.'s Yahoo! Finance, Microsoft Corporation's MSN, CNNMoney, Fox Business, Marketwatch, and more. Benzinga is the leading provider of news to the North American brokerage community, with a client list including TD Ameritrade, LightSpeed, TradeKing, and many more. The company is headquartered in downtown Detroit and dedicated to driving Detroit's renaissance. For more information, check outBenzinga.com,Cloud.Benzinga.com, andPro.Benzinga.com.
SOURCE:Benzinga || Tax Day 2017: Poem for When Taxes Are Due and It's the Last Day to File: It’s the day before Tax Day: Have you filed your taxes yet? If not, you’re not alone. The Internal Revenue Service says there were as many as 40 million people who had yet to file their tax returns late last week, just before April 15 (which fell on a Saturday this year). Waiting until the last minute, of course, is practically an American pastime: as many as 25% of taxpayers file in the last two weeks before the deadline, according to the IRS. But U.S. filers are especially late this year , which means that procrastinators will have their work cut out for them this week: The tax deadline for 2017 is tomorrow, April 18, at midnight (Eastern time). With those of you in mind, we thought we’d ease your pain by creating a lighthearted diversion: A true story about Tax Day 2017-set to rhyme. From the problems plaguing the people who collect your taxes, to the hopes of at least some in Donald Trump’s administration-namely, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin-to make Tax Day better (not only with tax cuts but with other reforms), this poem has everything you need to know, whether you’re settling your tab with the government or expecting an ample refund. Please enjoy, even if you don’t enjoy paying Uncle Sam. Make Tax Day Great Again Twas right before Tax Day When the word got around Changes were coming A new boss was in town . Secretary of the Treasury, Mnuchin was his name ; He would oversee the IRS, From Goldman Sachs he came. But on Wall Street they knew little Of the troubles the taxmen had For all its fearsome power Could the IRS really be this bad ? Its problems were increasing ; They were under attack; Not just from politicians, But also from hack after hack . “I was surprised,” Mnuchin cried, “30 percent staff cuts in such a short time! Why can’t doing our taxes be Just as easy as going shopping online ?” To make matters worse People were late to pay Hoping that Trump Would make their taxes go away. Ignorant as he was Of why it’s still so hard to file, Mnuchin hoped that Congress Would help on both sides of the aisle. Story continues Politicians laughed at the banker; And as the taxmen processed the news, “We thought you wanted to abolish us!” They said, “Haven’t you heard of Ted Cruz ?” But the Secretary had a vision As he surveyed his new domain And he pledged to pursue a new mission: To make the IRS Great Again! But as Tax Day got closer Some hurdles came to arise When Trump unfurled his budget There was another surprise. Mnuchin did not get his wish For enough money to hire, The proposal was just more cuts ; The funding was even more dire. “No matter,” said Mnuchin As the IRS begged for deliverance, As cheap e-filing increases, “It’ll surely make up for the difference!” By then the Secretary was on board With the President’s ambitious plan None of it would even matter Til tax reform was law of the land. For filers, there was one small reprieve: Amid the tax prep rush, a holiday fell between Meaning this year’s taxes are not due On their usual deadline of April the 15. “Take the weekend,” IRS said: “Tax Day’s the 18th; that’s a Tuesday. If you needed an extension, Forget about it, you’re excused, k?” But a different deadline was looming In the mind of Steven Mnuchin; His boss wanted tax cuts by August; So far there was only confusion . “ I’m going to cut taxes big league ,” Was the promise Donald Trump made: “Those companies who moved to Europe? How they will all wish they had stayed!” “We’ll slash rates for corporations, For individuals, we’ll whack it, Americans’ tax’ll be so low, You won’t even have the same bracket .” The price of making it happen, though? It may be the Border Adjustment Tax . Meanwhile, Americans dreamed of refunds, The size of bonuses at Goldman Sachs. That could take a while , Mnuchin knew, And Trump, after all, kept changing the deal; One minute he wanted tax reform, Now he wants Obamacare repeal? Plus, it had also become harder To convince some people it was fair That they had to file their tax returns When the President’s were God know’s where . Many people hadn’t paid what they owed; It became clear there were far too few: Bitcoin investors who disclosed profits Numbered a mere eight-hundred-and-two . Mnuchin had to find the answer The U.S. can’t afford to lose this bet; To pay for Trump’s infrastructure plan The country needs every cent it can get. Maybe we would collect more money, The Treasury Secretary mused, If filing were a bit easier, The tax laws wouldn’t be so abused! Finally, the key to fixing the state; Mnuchin may have discovered the clue: If you want to make America great, We’ll also need a better Tax Day too. For more Fortune poetry, see the week’s news review in haiku . This article was originally published on FORTUNE.com || Tax Day 2017: Poem for When Taxes Are Due and It's the Last Day to File: It’s the day before Tax Day: Have you filed your taxes yet? If not, you’re not alone. The Internal Revenue Service says there were as many as40 million people who had yet to filetheir tax returns late last week, just before April 15 (which fell on a Saturday this year). Waiting until the last minute, of course, is practically an American pastime: as many as 25% of taxpayers file in the last two weeks before the deadline, according to the IRS.
But U.S. filers areespecially late this year, which means that procrastinators will have their work cut out for them this week: The tax deadline for 2017 is tomorrow, April 18, at midnight (Eastern time). With those of you in mind, we thought we’d ease your pain by creating a lighthearted diversion: A true story about Tax Day 2017-set to rhyme.
From the problems plaguing the people who collect your taxes, to the hopes of at least some in Donald Trump’s administration-namely, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin-to make Tax Day better (not only with tax cuts but with other reforms), this poem has everything you need to know, whether you’re settling your tab with the government or expecting an ample refund. Please enjoy, even if you don’t enjoy paying Uncle Sam.
Twas right before Tax DayWhen the word got aroundChanges were comingAnew boss was in town.
Secretary of the Treasury,Mnuchin was his name;He would oversee the IRS,FromGoldman Sachshe came.
But on Wall Street they knew littleOf the troubles the taxmen hadFor all its fearsome powerCould theIRS really be this bad?
Itsproblems were increasing;They were under attack;Not just from politicians,But also fromhack after hack.
“I was surprised,”Mnuchin cried,“30 percent staff cuts in such a short time!Why can’t doing our taxes beJustas easy as going shopping online?”
To make matters worsePeople were late to payHoping that TrumpWould make their taxes go away.
Ignorant as he wasOf why it’s still so hard to file,Mnuchin hoped that CongressWould help on both sides of the aisle.
Politicians laughed at the banker;And as the taxmen processed the news,“We thought you wanted to abolish us!”They said, “Haven’tyou heard of Ted Cruz?”
But the Secretary had a visionAs he surveyed his new domainAnd he pledged to pursue a new mission:To make the IRS Great Again!
But as Tax Day got closerSome hurdles came to ariseWhen Trump unfurled his budgetThere was another surprise.
Mnuchin did not get his wishFor enough money to hire,Theproposal was just more cuts;The funding was even more dire.
“No matter,” said MnuchinAs the IRS begged for deliverance,As cheap e-filing increases,“It’ll surely make up for the difference!”
By then the Secretary was on boardWith the President’s ambitious planNone of it would even matterTil tax reform was law of the land.
For filers, there was one small reprieve:Amid the tax prep rush, aholidayfell betweenMeaning this year’s taxes are not dueOn their usual deadline of April the 15.
“Take the weekend,” IRS said:“Tax Day’s the 18th; that’s a Tuesday.If you needed an extension,Forget about it, you’re excused, k?”
But a different deadline was loomingIn the mind of Steven Mnuchin;His boss wanted tax cuts by August;So far there wasonly confusion.
“I’m going to cut taxes big league,”Was the promise Donald Trump made:“Those companies who moved to Europe?How they will all wish they had stayed!”
“We’ll slash rates for corporations,For individuals, we’ll whack it,Americans’ tax’ll be so low,Youwon’t even have the same bracket.”
The price of making it happen, though?It may be theBorder Adjustment Tax.Meanwhile, Americans dreamed of refunds,The size of bonuses at Goldman Sachs.
Thatcould take a while, Mnuchin knew,And Trump, after all, kept changing the deal;One minute he wanted tax reform,Now he wants Obamacare repeal?
Plus, it had also become harderTo convince some people it was fairThat they had to file their tax returnsWhen the President’s wereGod know’s where.
Many people hadn’t paid what they owed;It became clear there were far too few:Bitcoin investors who disclosed profitsNumbereda mere eight-hundred-and-two.
Mnuchin had to find the answerThe U.S. can’t afford to lose this bet;To pay for Trump’s infrastructure planThe country needs every cent it can get.
Maybe we would collect more money,The Treasury Secretary mused,If filing were a bit easier,The tax laws wouldn’t be so abused!
Finally, the key to fixing the state;Mnuchin may have discovered the clue:If you want to make America great,We’ll also need a better Tax Day too.
For moreFortunepoetry, seethe week’s news review in haiku.
This article was originally published on FORTUNE.com || Bitcoin Wallets Under Siege From 'Large Collider' Attack: A group called the “Large Bitcoin Collider” claims it can smash open bitcoin wallets by using a so-called brute force attack, which directs mass amounts of computer power at individual wallets in order to guess their private keys.
The project, which has been underway for months, relies on a distributed network of computers (similar to bitcoin itself), and invites anyone to participate-those who do could potentially share in the proceeds of the wallets cracked open.
A “trophy list” on the home page of Collider (an apparent reference to theHadron Collider) suggests the group has successfully opened over a dozen wallets, though only three had any bitcoin in them. It’s unclear if the group is motivated by financial gain or the cryptographic challenge of smashing wallets-the answer is probably both based on the site’s webpage and outside observers.
AQ&A liston the Collider’s website says robbing even a tiny amount from non-profit group like the Internet archive “would make you an unconditional jerk.” But it also suggests other wallets are fair game, and that proceeds would be divvied up among the Collider participants.
Meanwhile, others think the wallet-smashing endeavor is a fool’s errand, according toMotherboard, which first reported on the Large Bitcoin Collider. In this view, the project is too hard and the rewards too low and infrequent (as thisReddit commenter explains) to pay off.
But some speculate the goal of the project is not to rob a whole lot of wallets, but instead to strike a mother lode from a long-lost wallet from bitcoin’s early days:
“About 10% ofBitcoinswere created early, before 2012, and have never been traded. If somebody ever finds the key of the early lost Bitcoins, they’ll have a huge payoff, over a billion dollars. Speculation is that either “Satoshi Nakamoto”, whoever he is, is holding onto them for a big payoff, or somebody lost the private key for all those early Bitcoins. As the years go on, the second explanation seems more likely,” said the top comment on the siteHacker News.
Get Data Sheet,Fortunes technology newsletter.
As for the process of cracking open wallets, it involves the laborious task of creating private keys-which are dozens of characters in length-and trying them against existing bitcoin addresses. The Collider has so far created and checked3,000 trillionprivate keys, a researcher told Motherboard.
As for the legality of all this, it’s unclear. On one hand, the law is pretty clear that you are not supposed to join a conspiracy in order to rob people. But on the other hand, as the group’s website points out, “It is not illegal to search for colliding private keys.”
For bitcoin owners, the risk of the Large Bitcoin Collider performing a stick-up on your private wallet is pretty tiny for now. But if the process also results in someone creatinga collisionfor bitcoin’s general hashing algorithm-as happened with the longtime crypographic standard SHA-1 (cracked byGooglethis year)-that would spell a lot more trouble, though as one readerpoints out, bitcoin’s encryption algorithm can be upgraded.
This article was originally published on FORTUNE.com || Bitcoin Wallets Under Siege From 'Large Collider' Attack: A group called the Large Bitcoin Collider claims it can smash open bitcoin wallets by using a so-called brute force attack, which directs mass amounts of computer power at individual wallets in order to guess their private keys. The project, which has been underway for months, relies on a distributed network of computers (similar to bitcoin itself), and invites anyone to participate-those who do could potentially share in the proceeds of the wallets cracked open. A trophy list on the home page of Collider (an apparent reference to the Hadron Collider ) suggests the group has successfully opened over a dozen wallets, though only three had any bitcoin in them. Its unclear if the group is motivated by financial gain or the cryptographic challenge of smashing wallets-the answer is probably both based on the sites webpage and outside observers. A Q&A list on the Colliders website says robbing even a tiny amount from non-profit group like the Internet archive would make you an unconditional jerk. But it also suggests other wallets are fair game, and that proceeds would be divvied up among the Collider participants. Meanwhile, others think the wallet-smashing endeavor is a fools errand, according to Motherboard , which first reported on the Large Bitcoin Collider. In this view, the project is too hard and the rewards too low and infrequent (as this Reddit commenter explains ) to pay off. But some speculate the goal of the project is not to rob a whole lot of wallets, but instead to strike a mother lode from a long-lost wallet from bitcoins early days: About 10% of Bitcoins were created early, before 2012, and have never been traded. If somebody ever finds the key of the early lost Bitcoins, theyll have a huge payoff, over a billion dollars. Speculation is that either Satoshi Nakamoto, whoever he is, is holding onto them for a big payoff, or somebody lost the private key for all those early Bitcoins. As the years go on, the second explanation seems more likely, said the top comment on the site Hacker News . Story continues Get Data Sheet , Fortune s technology newsletter. As for the process of cracking open wallets, it involves the laborious task of creating private keys-which are dozens of characters in length-and trying them against existing bitcoin addresses. The Collider has so far created and checked 3,000 trillion private keys, a researcher told Motherboard. As for the legality of all this, its unclear. On one hand, the law is pretty clear that you are not supposed to join a conspiracy in order to rob people. But on the other hand, as the groups website points out, It is not illegal to search for colliding private keys. For bitcoin owners, the risk of the Large Bitcoin Collider performing a stick-up on your private wallet is pretty tiny for now. But if the process also results in someone creating a collision for bitcoins general hashing algorithm-as happened with the longtime crypographic standard SHA-1 (cracked by Google this year)-that would spell a lot more trouble, though as one reader points out , bitcoins encryption algorithm can be upgraded. This article was originally published on FORTUNE.com
[Social Media Buzz]
17:00~18:00時点のBitcoin市場は反落でした。
直近の市場の平均Bitcoinの価格は137636.0円
変化率は-0.206%
19:00までは上げ一服になる?
【AIコメントです:テスト中@パターンB】
#bitcoin
#AI || One Bitcoin now worth $1235.99@bitstamp. High $1247.15. Low $1199.00. Market Cap $20.130 Billion #bitcoin || El precio del bitcoin es de US$ 1246.00. #bitcoin #btc || $1229.55 at 01:15 UTC [24h Range: $1199.00 - $1247.15 Volume: 4255 BTC] || 4:00~5:00時点のBitcoin市場は上げ一服だったようだ。
直近の市場の平均Bitcoinの価格は137427.0円
変化率は0.498%
6:00までは反落?
【AIコメントです:テスト中@パターンB】
#bitcoin
#AI || 2017-04-...
|
1207.21, 1250.15, 1265.49, 1281.08, 1317.73, 1316.48, 1321.79, 1347.89, 1421.60, 1452.82
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 9273.52, 9527.16, 10144.56, 10701.69, 10855.37, 11011.10, 11790.92, 13016.23, 11182.81, 12407.33, 11959.37, 10817.16, 10583.13, 10801.68, 11961.27, 11215.44, 10978.46, 11208.55, 11450.85, 12285.96, 12573.81, 12156.51, 11358.66, 11815.99, 11392.38, 10256.06, 10895.09, 9477.64, 9693.80, 10666.48, 10530.73, 10767.14, 10599.11, 10343.11, 9900.77, 9811.93, 9911.84, 9870.30, 9477.68, 9552.86, 9519.15, 9607.42, 10085.63, 10399.67, 10518.17, 10821.73, 10970.18, 11805.65, 11478.17, 11941.97, 11966.41, 11862.94, 11354.02, 11523.58, 11382.62, 10895.83, 10051.70, 10311.55, 10374.34, 10231.74, 10345.81, 10916.05, 10763.23, 10138.05, 10131.06, 10407.96, 10159.96, 10138.52, 10370.82, 10185.50, 9754.42, 9510.20, 9598.17, 9630.66, 9757.97, 10346.76, 10623.54, 10594.49, 10575.53, 10353.30, 10517.25, 10441.28, 10334.97, 10115.98, 10178.37, 10410.13, 10360.55, 10358.05, 10347.71, 10276.79.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-09-16]
Volume: 15160167779, RSI (14-day): 48.70, 50-day EMA: 10337.25, 200-day EMA: 8702.64
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1503.10, Gold RSI: 51.59
Oil Price: 62.90, Oil RSI: 67.44
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Brent Crude Oil Price Update – First Major Target Area is $67.02 to $70.53: Traders are looking for international-benchmark Brent crude to open anywhere from $5.00 to $10.00 higher on Sunday after drone strikes on facilities in Abqaig and Khurais eliminated 5.7 million barrels of production over the weekend. After earlier estimates that the Saudi’s had lost about 50% of their production, officials now believe that they can restore 2 million barrels by the end of the day Monday.
On Friday,December Brent crude oilsettled at $59.25, down $0.21 or -0.35%.
The next several days are likely to be very volatile because we’re going to see a mix of aggressive short-covering by traders who increased bets last week on lower demand and increased supply, and aggressive speculative buyers looking for a prolonged supply disruption.
We could see as much as a $10.00 higher opening on Sunday, or we could see a $5.00 higher opening and a gradual move higher or lower depending on how quickly officials are able to restart oil production.
The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. However, momentum shifted to the downside late last week. Taking out the last main top at $62.77 will signal a resumption of the uptrend.
A $5.00 higher opening will take out $64.45 and put the market in a position to challenge the July 11 top at $66.50.
A $10.00 higher opening will put the market in a positon to challenge the May 16 top at $69.93, followed by the April 25 main top at $71.87.
The major range is formed by the October 3, 2018 main top at $81.86 and the December 26, 2018 main bottom at $52.19. Its 50% to 61.8% retracement zone is $67.02 to $70.53.
The current main range is $71.87 to $55.29. Its retracement zone at $63.58 to $65.54 is likely to act as both resistance and support on Monday.
We’re likely to be in a momentum driven market from the opening today so main tops and retracement zone levels are not likely to be that important initially in the session. Once the markets calm down and traders learn more about the timing of the repairs then traders will become more concerned over support and resistance.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Speculators Likely Eyeing Supply Reduction in Saudi Arabia
• Brent Crude Oil Price Update – First Major Target Area is $67.02 to $70.53 || Brent Crude Oil Price Update First Major Target Area is $67.02 to $70.53: Traders are looking for international-benchmark Brent crude to open anywhere from $5.00 to $10.00 higher on Sunday after drone strikes on facilities in Abqaig and Khurais eliminated 5.7 million barrels of production over the weekend. After earlier estimates that the Saudis had lost about 50% of their production, officials now believe that they can restore 2 million barrels by the end of the day Monday. On Friday, December Brent crude oil settled at $59.25, down $0.21 or -0.35%. The next several days are likely to be very volatile because were going to see a mix of aggressive short-covering by traders who increased bets last week on lower demand and increased supply, and aggressive speculative buyers looking for a prolonged supply disruption. We could see as much as a $10.00 higher opening on Sunday, or we could see a $5.00 higher opening and a gradual move higher or lower depending on how quickly officials are able to restart oil production. Daily December Brent Crude Oil Daily Swing Chart Technical Analysis The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. However, momentum shifted to the downside late last week. Taking out the last main top at $62.77 will signal a resumption of the uptrend. A $5.00 higher opening will take out $64.45 and put the market in a position to challenge the July 11 top at $66.50. A $10.00 higher opening will put the market in a positon to challenge the May 16 top at $69.93, followed by the April 25 main top at $71.87. The major range is formed by the October 3, 2018 main top at $81.86 and the December 26, 2018 main bottom at $52.19. Its 50% to 61.8% retracement zone is $67.02 to $70.53. The current main range is $71.87 to $55.29. Its retracement zone at $63.58 to $65.54 is likely to act as both resistance and support on Monday. Daily Swing Chart Technical Forecast Were likely to be in a momentum driven market from the opening today so main tops and retracement zone levels are not likely to be that important initially in the session. Once the markets calm down and traders learn more about the timing of the repairs then traders will become more concerned over support and resistance. Story continues This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 14/09/19 Price of Gold Fundamental Weekly Forecast Likely to Weaken if Fed is Dovish on Future Rate Cuts EOS & Ethereum Daily Tech Analysis 16/09/19 The Crypto Daily The Movers and Shakers 15/09/19 Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast Speculators Likely Eyeing Supply Reduction in Saudi Arabia Brent Crude Oil Price Update First Major Target Area is $67.02 to $70.53 || 8 ETFs to Take Advantage of the Next Emerging Economies: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
The Next 11 or N-11--sounds like a science fiction movie sequel or a bigger-than-necessary boy band, but in fact, it represents the next 11 emerging economies dubbed by global investment firm Goldman Sachs. For potential emerging markets (EM) investors, they may want to consider looking into eight funds, in particular, that represent these up and coming markets.
1. iShares MSCI Turkey Index (TUR) : seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI Turkey IMI 25/50 Index. The underlying index consists of stocks traded primarily on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE).
2. Market Vectors Africa Index (AFK) : seeks to replicate as closely as possible the price and yield performance of the MVIS® GDP Africa Index. The index includes local listings of companies that are incorporated in Africa and listings of companies incorporated outside of Africa but that have at least 50% of their revenues/related assets in Africa.
3. Market Vectors Vietnam Index (VNM) : seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS® Vietnam Index. The index includes securities of Vietnamese companies. A company is generally considered to be a Vietnamese company if it is incorporated in Vietnam or is incorporated outside of Vietnam but has at least 50% of its revenues/related assets in Vietnam.
4. iShares MSCI Philippines Index (EPHE) : seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index (IMI). The index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index designed to measure the performance of the Philippine equity markets.
5. Market Vectors Egypt Index (EGPT) : seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS® Egypt Index. The index includes securities of Egyptian companies. A company is generally considered to be an Egyptian company if it is incorporated in Egypt or is incorporated outside Egypt but has at least 50% of its revenues/related assets in Egypt. Such companies may include small- and medium-capitalization companies.
6. Market Vectors Indonesia Index (IDX): seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS® Indonesia Index. The index includes securities of Indonesian companies. A company is generally considered to be an Indonesian company if it is incorporated in Indonesia or is incorporated outside of Indonesia but has at least 50% of its revenues/related assets in Indonesia. Such companies may include small- and medium-capitalization companies.
7. iShares MSCI South Korea Index (EWY): seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI Korea 25/50 Index. The fund will at all times invest at least 80% of its assets in the securities of its underlying index and in depositary receipts representing securities in its underlying index. The underlying index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index with a capping methodology applied to issuer weights so that no single issuer of a component exceeds 25% of the underlying index weight, and all issuers with a weight above 5% do not cumulatively exceed 50% of the underlying index weight.
8. iShares MSCI Mexico Index (EWW): seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI Mexico IMI 25/50 Index. The fund will at all times invest at least 80% of its assets in the securities of its underlying index and in depositary receipts representing securities in its underlying index. The underlying index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index with a capping methodology applied to issuer weights so that no single issuer of a component exceeds 25% of the underlying index weight, and all issuers with a weight above 5% do not cumulatively exceed 50% of the underlying index weight.
For more relative market trends, visitETF Trends.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || 8 ETFs to Take Advantage of the Next Emerging Economies: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. The Next 11 or N-11--sounds like a science fiction movie sequel or a bigger-than-necessary boy band, but in fact, it represents the next 11 emerging economies dubbed by global investment firm Goldman Sachs. For potential emerging markets (EM) investors, they may want to consider looking into eight funds, in particular, that represent these up and coming markets. iShares MSCI Turkey Index ( TUR ) : seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI Turkey IMI 25/50 Index. The underlying index consists of stocks traded primarily on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). Market Vectors Africa Index ( AFK ) : seeks to replicate as closely as possible the price and yield performance of the MVIS® GDP Africa Index. The index includes local listings of companies that are incorporated in Africa and listings of companies incorporated outside of Africa but that have at least 50% of their revenues/related assets in Africa. Market Vectors Vietnam Index ( VNM ) : seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS® Vietnam Index. The index includes securities of Vietnamese companies. A company is generally considered to be a Vietnamese company if it is incorporated in Vietnam or is incorporated outside of Vietnam but has at least 50% of its revenues/related assets in Vietnam. iShares MSCI Philippines Index ( EPHE ) : seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index (IMI). The index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index designed to measure the performance of the Philippine equity markets. Market Vectors Egypt Index ( EGPT ) : seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS® Egypt Index. The index includes securities of Egyptian companies. A company is generally considered to be an Egyptian company if it is incorporated in Egypt or is incorporated outside Egypt but has at least 50% of its revenues/related assets in Egypt. Such companies may include small- and medium-capitalization companies. Market Vectors Indonesia Index (IDX) : seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS® Indonesia Index. The index includes securities of Indonesian companies. A company is generally considered to be an Indonesian company if it is incorporated in Indonesia or is incorporated outside of Indonesia but has at least 50% of its revenues/related assets in Indonesia. Such companies may include small- and medium-capitalization companies. iShares MSCI South Korea Index (EWY) : seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI Korea 25/50 Index. The fund will at all times invest at least 80% of its assets in the securities of its underlying index and in depositary receipts representing securities in its underlying index. The underlying index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index with a capping methodology applied to issuer weights so that no single issuer of a component exceeds 25% of the underlying index weight, and all issuers with a weight above 5% do not cumulatively exceed 50% of the underlying index weight. iShares MSCI Mexico Index (EWW) : seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI Mexico IMI 25/50 Index. The fund will at all times invest at least 80% of its assets in the securities of its underlying index and in depositary receipts representing securities in its underlying index. The underlying index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization-weighted index with a capping methodology applied to issuer weights so that no single issuer of a component exceeds 25% of the underlying index weight, and all issuers with a weight above 5% do not cumulatively exceed 50% of the underlying index weight. Story continues For more relative market trends, visit ETF Trends . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Heated Tobacco May Replace Vaping Amidst Consumer Issues VanEck And SolidX Take First Steps For Bitcoin-Related ETF Approvals Could Inverse ETFs Thrive In September? Social Media Stock SNAP Gets An Upgrade Gold, Precious Metals ETFs Surge on Geopolitical Uncertainty READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Bull Bitcoin Joins Blockstream’s Liquid Exchange Network: Liquid, a second layer tech for bitcoin created by Blockstream, just onboarded another crypto partner.
The sidechain for faster BTC payments now has around 30 members, including Bitfinex,BITMex,OKCoin,and other exchanges, with the total of $900,000 moving around on the network, Blockstream’s chief strategy officer Samson Mow told CoinDesk.
Now Canadian bitcoin exchange Bull Bitcoin is joining the platform. The new partnership will allow the users of Bull Bitcoin to interact with other exchanges on the network.
Related:Liquid Exchange Reveals Escrow Account for Sale of Telegram Tokens
Tentatively scheduled on the early 2020, the integration of Liquid tech into Bull Bitcoin’s operations will require some effort from the exchange’s tech team, Bull Bitcoin CEO Francis Pouliot said.
“We’re making sure we have this backup layer. We want to make sure bitcoin succeeds, and this is our way to participate in strengthening the network,” Pouliot told CoinDesk.
As a part of the partnership, Bull Bitcoin is going to issue its own asset on the Liquid network: Canadian dollar-pegged token dubbed L-CAD, which is supposed to be used as the exchange’s voucher for buying bitcoin.
Image of Bull Bitcoin co-founders Dave Bradley and Francis Pouliot with Blockstream CSO Samson Mow by Anna Baydakova for CoinDesk
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• Bitcoin Could Help Stop News Censorship – From Space || Bull Bitcoin Joins Blockstream’s Liquid Exchange Network: Liquid, a second layer tech for bitcoin created by Blockstream, just onboarded another crypto partner. The sidechain for faster BTC payments now has around 30 members, including Bitfinex, BITMex , OKCoin, and other exchanges, with the total of $900,000 moving around on the network, Blockstream’s chief strategy officer Samson Mow told CoinDesk. Now Canadian bitcoin exchange Bull Bitcoin is joining the platform. The new partnership will allow the users of Bull Bitcoin to interact with other exchanges on the network. Related: Liquid Exchange Reveals Escrow Account for Sale of Telegram Tokens Tentatively scheduled on the early 2020, the integration of Liquid tech into Bull Bitcoin’s operations will require some effort from the exchange’s tech team, Bull Bitcoin CEO Francis Pouliot said. “We’re making sure we have this backup layer. We want to make sure bitcoin succeeds, and this is our way to participate in strengthening the network,” Pouliot told CoinDesk. As a part of the partnership, Bull Bitcoin is going to issue its own asset on the Liquid network: Canadian dollar-pegged token dubbed L-CAD, which is supposed to be used as the exchange’s voucher for buying bitcoin. Image of Bull Bitcoin co-founders Dave Bradley and Francis Pouliot with Blockstream CSO Samson Mow by Anna Baydakova for CoinDesk Related Stories Blockstream Launches Bitcoin Mining Farm With Fidelity as Early Customer Tether Stablecoin Launches on Blockstream’s Liquid Sidechain Bitcoin Could Help Stop News Censorship – From Space View comments || Bull Bitcoin Joins Blockstream’s Liquid Exchange Network: Liquid, a second layer tech for bitcoin created by Blockstream, just onboarded another crypto partner.
The sidechain for faster BTC payments now has around 30 members, including Bitfinex,BITMex,OKCoin,and other exchanges, with the total of $900,000 moving around on the network, Blockstream’s chief strategy officer Samson Mow told CoinDesk.
Now Canadian bitcoin exchange Bull Bitcoin is joining the platform. The new partnership will allow the users of Bull Bitcoin to interact with other exchanges on the network.
Related:Liquid Exchange Reveals Escrow Account for Sale of Telegram Tokens
Tentatively scheduled on the early 2020, the integration of Liquid tech into Bull Bitcoin’s operations will require some effort from the exchange’s tech team, Bull Bitcoin CEO Francis Pouliot said.
“We’re making sure we have this backup layer. We want to make sure bitcoin succeeds, and this is our way to participate in strengthening the network,” Pouliot told CoinDesk.
As a part of the partnership, Bull Bitcoin is going to issue its own asset on the Liquid network: Canadian dollar-pegged token dubbed L-CAD, which is supposed to be used as the exchange’s voucher for buying bitcoin.
Image of Bull Bitcoin co-founders Dave Bradley and Francis Pouliot with Blockstream CSO Samson Mow by Anna Baydakova for CoinDesk
• Blockstream Launches Bitcoin Mining Farm With Fidelity as Early Customer
• Tether Stablecoin Launches on Blockstream’s Liquid Sidechain
• Bitcoin Could Help Stop News Censorship – From Space || Bitfinex adds public leaderboard for Bitcoin traders to showcase their skills: Bitfinex has gone live with a new leaderboard for traders to compete and publicly verify their crypto trading gains. Traders who decide to opt into the public leaderboard will be able to chart their trading performance on any trading pair listed in Bitfinexand compare their trading statistics with rival traders. Having such a leaderboard is not uncommon amongst crypto exchanges. In fact, the leading Bitcoin futures exchange today, BitMEXhas had a leaderboard for many years that displays the top 25 traders by both ROE (return on exchange) and also the notional profits in Bitcoin. On the BitMEX leaderboard, users are however unable to filter by time framewith the leaderboard acting more like an all-time greatness listrather than who is doing the best over a period of time or a certain market. Unlike BitMEX, Bitfinexs leaderboard will have a number of categories that are available to toggle. These include both time (3 hours, 7 days and 30 days), a user's trading volume, and trading profits in USD. Just last week, Bitfinex went live with a new set of 100x leverage Bitcoin and Ethereum derivative markets. With high leverage now available, and an interactive list for traders to showcase their skillswe hope that traders dont get too carried away in volatile crypto markets. If they do, they may end up with their names at the wrong end of the leaderboard. || Bitfinex adds public leaderboard for Bitcoin traders to showcase their skills: Bitfinex has gone live with anew leaderboardfor traders to compete and publicly verify their crypto trading gains.
Traders who decide to opt into the public leaderboard will be able to chart their trading performance on any trading pair listed in Bitfinex—and compare their trading statistics with rival traders.
Having such a leaderboard is not uncommon amongst crypto exchanges. In fact, the leadingBitcoinfutures exchange today, BitMEX—has had aleaderboardfor many years that displays the top 25 traders by both ROE (return on exchange) and also the notional profits in Bitcoin.
On the BitMEX leaderboard, users are however unable to filter by time frame—with the leaderboard acting more like an all-time greatness list—rather than who is doing the best over a period of time or a certain market.
Unlike BitMEX, Bitfinex’s leaderboard will have a number of categories that are available to toggle. These include both time (3 hours, 7 days and 30 days), a user's trading volume, and trading profits in USD.
Just last week, Bitfinexwent livewith a new set of 100x leverage Bitcoin and Ethereum derivative markets.
With high leverage now available, and an interactive list for traders to showcase their skills—we hope that traders don’t get too carried away in volatile crypto markets. If they do, they may end up with their names at the wrong end of the leaderboard. || Bitfinex adds public leaderboard for Bitcoin traders to showcase their skills: Bitfinex has gone live with anew leaderboardfor traders to compete and publicly verify their crypto trading gains.
Traders who decide to opt into the public leaderboard will be able to chart their trading performance on any trading pair listed in Bitfinex—and compare their trading statistics with rival traders.
Having such a leaderboard is not uncommon amongst crypto exchanges. In fact, the leadingBitcoinfutures exchange today, BitMEX—has had aleaderboardfor many years that displays the top 25 traders by both ROE (return on exchange) and also the notional profits in Bitcoin.
On the BitMEX leaderboard, users are however unable to filter by time frame—with the leaderboard acting more like an all-time greatness list—rather than who is doing the best over a period of time or a certain market.
Unlike BitMEX, Bitfinex’s leaderboard will have a number of categories that are available to toggle. These include both time (3 hours, 7 days and 30 days), a user's trading volume, and trading profits in USD.
Just last week, Bitfinexwent livewith a new set of 100x leverage Bitcoin and Ethereum derivative markets.
With high leverage now available, and an interactive list for traders to showcase their skills—we hope that traders don’t get too carried away in volatile crypto markets. If they do, they may end up with their names at the wrong end of the leaderboard. || AUD/USD and NZD/USD Fundamental Weekly Forecast Aussie, Kiwi Weakness Should Resume if Fed is Hawkish: The Australian and New Zealand Dollars finished mixed last week with the Aussie edging higher on improving relations between the United States and China. Gains were limited by better-than-expected U.S. economic data and expectations of an additional rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) later in the year. The kiwi was pressured mostly by the U.S. economic news and general uncertainty over the timing of the next rate cut by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). Kiwi traders showed little reaction to thawing U.S.-China trade relations. Last week, the AUD/USD settled at .6879, up 0.0029 or +0.42% and the NZD/USD finished at .6377, down 0.0050 or -0.78%. US-China Soften Tone Last week, Washington and Beijing toned down signs of any previous escalation in their dispute with reconciliatory gestures from both nations that boosted risk appetite in the markets, while reducing golds appeal as a safe-haven asset. President Trump said he was delaying plans to impose an additional 5 percent duty on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods until October 15, or two weeks later than now scheduled. China renewed its purchases of American farm goods, with Trump saying it was expected Beijing would purchase large amounts of agricultural products. The President also said Thursday that he would consider a temporary trade deal with the Chinese though hed prefer to hash out a permanent accord. Better US Economic Data Reduces Chance of Recession Last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported its consumer price index excluding the volatile food and energy components gained 0.3% for a third straight month. In the 12 months through August, the core CPI increased 2.4%, the most since July 2018, after climbing 2.2% in July. Additionally, U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in August, pointing to solid consumer spending that should continue to support a moderate pace of economic growth. The news helped drive up U.S. Treasury yields as investors bet that an improving economy would reduce the chances of a recession and additional rate cuts this year by the Federal Reserve, making the U.S. Dollar a more attractive investment. Story continues Weekly Forecast Besides the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate and monetary policy decisions on Wednesday, Aussie traders will have to deal with the RBA Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes on Tuesday and the Employment Change and Unemployment Rate on Thursday. The Minutes are likely to say the RBA is taking a wait and see approach in regards to future rate cuts. They are also going to say that policymakers would like to see a lower unemployment rate and that tensions between the U.S. and China are still a major concern. In New Zealand, traders will get the opportunity to react to the latest data on quarterly GDP. It is expected to show the economy grew by 0.4%, down from 0.6%. Traders could also start preparing for the RBNZ interest rate decision on September 24. On Wednesday, investors will get the chance to react to the latest Federal Reserve interest rate and monetary policy decisions. The market has already priced in a 25-basis point rate cut. However, weeks ago, it was also pricing in a third rate cut this year in December. Since then the economy has shown improvement and U.S.-China trade tensions have eased, reducing the odds for a third rate cut. The AUD/USD and NZD/USD could break sharply after the Fed announcements if central bankers come across as hawkish, leading to the reduction in the chances of another Fed rate cut before the end of the year. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Weekly Wrap Brexit, Monetary Policy and Trade Drove the Majors Brexit, the Pound Rebound and the Week Ahead US Stock Market Overview Stock Close Mixed Despite Robust Retail Sales Report European Equities: A Week in Review Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast Speculators Likely Eyeing Supply Reduction in Saudi Arabia Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 15/09/19 || AUD/USD and NZD/USD Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Aussie, Kiwi Weakness Should Resume if Fed is Hawkish: The Australian and New Zealand Dollars finished mixed last week with the Aussie edging higher on improving relations between the United States and China. Gains were limited by better-than-expected U.S. economic data and expectations of an additional rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) later in the year.
The kiwi was pressured mostly by the U.S. economic news and general uncertainty over the timing of the next rate cut by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). Kiwi traders showed little reaction to thawing U.S.-China trade relations.
Last week, theAUD/USDsettled at .6879, up 0.0029 or +0.42% and theNZD/USDfinished at .6377, down 0.0050 or -0.78%.
Last week, Washington and Beijing toned down signs of any previous escalation in their dispute with reconciliatory gestures from both nations that boosted risk appetite in the markets, while reducing gold’s appeal as a safe-haven asset.
President Trump said he was delaying plans to impose an additional 5 percent duty on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods until October 15, or two weeks later than now scheduled. China renewed its purchases of American farm goods, with Trump saying it was expected Beijing would purchase “large amounts” of agricultural products. The President also said Thursday that he would consider a temporary trade deal with the Chinese though he’d prefer to hash out a permanent accord.
Last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported its consumer price index excluding the volatile food and energy components gained 0.3% for a third straight month. In the 12 months through August, the core CPI increased 2.4%, the most since July 2018, after climbing 2.2% in July.
Additionally, U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in August, pointing to solid consumer spending that should continue to support a moderate pace of economic growth.
The news helped drive up U.S. Treasury yields as investors bet that an improving economy would reduce the chances of a recession and additional rate cuts this year by the Federal Reserve, making the U.S. Dollar a more attractive investment.
Besides the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate and monetary policy decisions on Wednesday, Aussie traders will have to deal with the RBA Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes on Tuesday and the Employment Change and Unemployment Rate on Thursday.
The Minutes are likely to say the RBA is taking a “wait and see” approach in regards to future rate cuts. They are also going to say that policymakers would like to see a lower unemployment rate and that tensions between the U.S. and China are still a major concern.
In New Zealand, traders will get the opportunity to react to the latest data on quarterly GDP. It is expected to show the economy grew by 0.4%, down from 0.6%. Traders could also start preparing for the RBNZ interest rate decision on September 24.
On Wednesday, investors will get the chance to react to the latest Federal Reserve interest rate and monetary policy decisions. The market has already priced in a 25-basis point rate cut. However, weeks ago, it was also pricing in a third rate cut this year in December. Since then the economy has shown improvement and U.S.-China trade tensions have eased, reducing the odds for a third rate cut.
The AUD/USD and NZD/USD could break sharply after the Fed announcements if central bankers come across as hawkish, leading to the reduction in the chances of another Fed rate cut before the end of the year.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Weekly Wrap – Brexit, Monetary Policy and Trade Drove the Majors
• Brexit, the Pound Rebound and the Week Ahead
• US Stock Market Overview – Stock Close Mixed Despite Robust Retail Sales Report
• European Equities: A Week in Review
• Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Speculators Likely Eyeing Supply Reduction in Saudi Arabia
• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 15/09/19 || Decision to block Libra proves France ‘feels threatened’, says expert: Notable Bitcoin entrepreneur and head of business development at Broctagon Herbert Sim believes “France feels threatened” by Facebook’s upcoming Libra project. Earlier this week, the French government declared that it plans to block the development of Facebook’s Libra project as it poses a threat to “monetary sovereignty”. With Libra being based in Switzerland, France’s announcement has been heckled by much of the cryptocurrency community. Speaking to Blockchain News , Sim said: “Libra represents the first stable digital currency which could be a feasible alternative for the mass market – it’s no wonder France feels threatened. And they’re not the only ones responding in the same way. Countries like the US and India seem to be actively working against crypto. “At the same time, others are throwing themselves into the race, with China advocating for Bitcoin and creating its own digital currency. It’s clear that some are recognising the opportunity cost of dismissing the crypto market. “It’s interesting that Bitcoin prices haven’t really shifted since the announcement. It seems prices are becoming less dependent on the actions of central authorities. This is a positive sign for the crypto markets. As we look set for a global recession, we could see the previous ‘Wild West’ of the investment world become a safe haven.” For more news, guides, and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . The post Decision to block Libra proves France ‘feels threatened’, says expert appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Decision to block Libra proves France ‘feels threatened’, says expert: Notable Bitcoin entrepreneur and head of business development at Broctagon Herbert Sim believes “France feels threatened” by Facebook’s upcoming Libra project. Earlier this week, the French government declared that it plans to block the development of Facebook’s Libra project as it poses a threat to “monetary sovereignty”. With Libra being based in Switzerland, France’s announcement has been heckled by much of the cryptocurrency community. Speaking to Blockchain News , Sim said: “Libra represents the first stable digital currency which could be a feasible alternative for the mass market – it’s no wonder France feels threatened. And they’re not the only ones responding in the same way. Countries like the US and India seem to be actively working against crypto. “At the same time, others are throwing themselves into the race, with China advocating for Bitcoin and creating its own digital currency. It’s clear that some are recognising the opportunity cost of dismissing the crypto market. “It’s interesting that Bitcoin prices haven’t really shifted since the announcement. It seems prices are becoming less dependent on the actions of central authorities. This is a positive sign for the crypto markets. As we look set for a global recession, we could see the previous ‘Wild West’ of the investment world become a safe haven.” For more news, guides, and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . The post Decision to block Libra proves France ‘feels threatened’, says expert appeared first on Coin Rivet . || What Bitcoin’s Valuation Says About Its Volatility: Noelle Acheson is a veteran of company analysis and CoinDesk’s Director of Research. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own.
The following article originally appeared in Institutional Crypto by CoinDesk, a weekly newsletter focused on institutional investment in crypto assets.Sign up for free here. For a primer on crypto valuation concepts, you candownload our free report here.
Most of us think we understand the term “volatility.”
Related:Bitcoin’s Record Hash Rate May Hint at Price Gains to Come
We digest headlines about tense political situations around the world; we are wary of explosive chemical compounds; some of us have had relationships with their fair share of ups and downs.
“Volatility” implies sharp and unpredictable changes, and usually has negative connotations. Even when it comes to financial markets, we intuitively shy away from investments that would produce wild swings in our wealth.
But volatility, in finance, is usually misunderstood. Even the most commonly accepted calculation is oftenincorrectly applied.
Its desirability is also confusing. Investors hate it unless it makes them money. Traders love it unless it means too high a risk premium.
Related:Bitcoin Price Indicator May Signal Next Leg Higher
And few of us understand where it comes from. Many think that it’s the result of low liquidity*. This intuitively makes sense: with thin trading volume, a large order can push prices sharply up or down. But empirical studies show that it’s actually theother way around: volatility leads to low liquidity, through the wider spread market makers apply to compensate the additional risk of holding a volatile asset in their inventory.
(*The misconception also stems from our mistaken conflation of low liquidity and low volume – it is possible to have high volume and low liquidity, but that’s for another post.)
This confusion matters in the crypto sector.
Bitcoin’s volatility has often been cited as the reason why it will never make a good store of value, a reliable payment token or a solid portfolio hedge. Many of us fall into the trap of assuming that as the market matures, volatility will decrease. This leads us to believe in use cases that may not ever be appropriate; it can also lead us to apply incorrect crypto asset valuation methods, portfolio weightings and derivative strategies that could have a material impact on our bottom line.
So it’s worth picking apart some of the assumptions and looking at why bitcoin’s unique characteristics can help us better understand market fundamentals more broadly.
First, there are different types of market volatility. Academic literature provides an array of variations, each with its distinct formula and limitations.Jump-diffusion modelsused to value assets hint at a helpful differentiation. “Jump” volatility results, as its name implies, from a sudden event. “Diffuse” volatility, however, is part of the standard trading patterns of an asset, its “usual” variation.
With this we can start to see that, when we assume that greater liquidity will dampen price swings, we’re talking about “jump” volatility.
“Diffuse” volatility, however, is a more intrinsic concept.
Thestandard deviationcalculation – the most commonly applied measure of volatility – incorporates the destabilizing effect of sharp moves by using thesquareof large deviations (otherwise they could be offset and masked by small ones). But this exaggerates the effect of outliers, which are often the result of “jump” volatility. These are likely to diminish as transaction volume grows, leading to a misleadingly downward-sloping volatility graph.
JP Koningproposes an alternative calculationthat uses the deviation from the middle value rather than the average, which reduces the effect of outliers and shows a more intrinsic volatility measure. As the below chart shows, this has not noticeably decreased over the years.
(chart from Moneyness blog)
Now let’s look at why this might be. A clue lies in the methods used to value bitcoin.
Bitcoin is one of the few “real assets” traded in markets today, in that it does not derive its value from another asset.
What’s more, it is a “real asset” with no discernible income stream. This makes it very difficult to value. Even junior analysts can calculate the “fair value” of an asset that spins off cash flows or that returns a certain amount at the end of its life. Bitcoin has no cash flows, and there is no “end of life,” let alone an identifiable value.
So, what drives the value of bitcoin?
Many theories have been put forward, some of which we describe in our report “Crypto’s New Fundamentals.” And as the market evolves, some may rise in favor while others get forgotten or superseded.
For now, though, the main driver of bitcoin’s value is sentiment: it’s worth what the market thinks it’s worth. In the absence of fundamentals, investors try to figure out what other investors are going to think. Keyneslikened this toa contest in which “we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be.”
Gold is in a similar situation, in that it is also a “real asset” with no income stream and a market value largely driven by sentiment.
So, why is its volatility so much lower?
(chart from Woobull)
Because of “radical uncertainty.”
In his book “The End of Alchemy”, Mervyn Kingexplains thatunder “radical uncertainty,” market prices are determined, not by fundamentals, but bynarrativesabout fundamentals.
Bitcoin is a new technology, and as such, we don’t yet know what its end use will be. Everyone has their theory, but as with all new technologies, no-one can be certain, which makes its narrative changeable.
Gold, on the other hand, is neither new nor a technology. It has been around for millennia, and its narrative is not uncertain. Sentiment plays an important part in its valuation, and scientists may yet uncover an innovative use for the metal that affects both demand and price. But its “story” is well established, which gives it a lower volatility profile.
For now, bitcoin’s fundamentalsareits narrative, and the uncertainty about bitcoin’s “story” means that its volatility is unlikely to diminish any time soon.
This matters for its eventual use case: will italwaysbe too volatile to be used as a payment token, store of value, etc.? This in turn impacts its narrative, which affects its valuation and volatility, which affects its eventual use case. The self-perpetuating loop will eventually be broken as the sector matures and bitcoin’s role as an alternative asset class becomes more firmly consolidated – when uncertainty diminishes and its “intrinsic value” becomes easier to quantify.
But until then, its price will continue to be driven by market sentiment, which is susceptible to changeable narratives that in turn are formed by global developments and also by market sentiment.
Until then, market shifts will continue to be amplified in either direction, whatever the trading volume.
Rather than fret about this, we should accept and even embrace it. Increasingly sophisticated providers are working on improving the access to and interpretation of sentiment data, which strengthens our analytical tools. Crypto Twitter provides an engrossing platform to gauge the sector’s mood. And the identification of the impact of narrative and sentiment on an asset class will open up new avenues of investigation that is likely to spill over into other areas of investing.
What’s more, volatility may be inconvenient for some and uncomfortable for many. But it is also an important component of superior returns. Perhaps the tools and skills we develop to hone our bitcoin valuation techniques will enable a more masterful handling of volatility’s inherent uncertainty, and allow for a deeper appreciation of what it has to offer.
Roller coasterimage via Shutterstock
• Bitcoin Eyes Move to $10,950 Hurdle After Price Breakout
• History Favors the Bulls as Bitcoin Price Trades Sideways at $10K || What Bitcoins Valuation Says About Its Volatility: Noelle Acheson is a veteran of company analysis and CoinDesks Director of Research. The opinions expressed in this article are the authors own. The following article originally appeared in Institutional Crypto by CoinDesk, a weekly newsletter focused on institutional investment in crypto assets. Sign up for free here . For a primer on crypto valuation concepts, you can download our free report here . Most of us think we understand the term volatility. Related: Bitcoins Record Hash Rate May Hint at Price Gains to Come We digest headlines about tense political situations around the world; we are wary of explosive chemical compounds; some of us have had relationships with their fair share of ups and downs. Volatility implies sharp and unpredictable changes, and usually has negative connotations. Even when it comes to financial markets, we intuitively shy away from investments that would produce wild swings in our wealth. But volatility, in finance, is usually misunderstood. Even the most commonly accepted calculation is often incorrectly applied . Its desirability is also confusing. Investors hate it unless it makes them money. Traders love it unless it means too high a risk premium. Related: Bitcoin Price Indicator May Signal Next Leg Higher And few of us understand where it comes from. Many think that its the result of low liquidity*. This intuitively makes sense: with thin trading volume, a large order can push prices sharply up or down. But empirical studies show that its actually the other way around : volatility leads to low liquidity, through the wider spread market makers apply to compensate the additional risk of holding a volatile asset in their inventory. (*The misconception also stems from our mistaken conflation of low liquidity and low volume it is possible to have high volume and low liquidity, but thats for another post.) This confusion matters in the crypto sector. Bitcoins volatility has often been cited as the reason why it will never make a good store of value, a reliable payment token or a solid portfolio hedge. Many of us fall into the trap of assuming that as the market matures, volatility will decrease. This leads us to believe in use cases that may not ever be appropriate; it can also lead us to apply incorrect crypto asset valuation methods, portfolio weightings and derivative strategies that could have a material impact on our bottom line. So its worth picking apart some of the assumptions and looking at why bitcoins unique characteristics can help us better understand market fundamentals more broadly. Story continues Changing uncertainty First, there are different types of market volatility. Academic literature provides an array of variations, each with its distinct formula and limitations. Jump-diffusion models used to value assets hint at a helpful differentiation. Jump volatility results, as its name implies, from a sudden event. Diffuse volatility, however, is part of the standard trading patterns of an asset, its usual variation. With this we can start to see that, when we assume that greater liquidity will dampen price swings, were talking about jump volatility. Diffuse volatility, however, is a more intrinsic concept. The standard deviation calculation the most commonly applied measure of volatility incorporates the destabilizing effect of sharp moves by using the square of large deviations (otherwise they could be offset and masked by small ones). But this exaggerates the effect of outliers, which are often the result of jump volatility. These are likely to diminish as transaction volume grows, leading to a misleadingly downward-sloping volatility graph. JP Koning proposes an alternative calculation that uses the deviation from the middle value rather than the average, which reduces the effect of outliers and shows a more intrinsic volatility measure. As the below chart shows, this has not noticeably decreased over the years. (chart from Moneyness blog) Now lets look at why this might be. A clue lies in the methods used to value bitcoin. Fundamental value Bitcoin is one of the few real assets traded in markets today, in that it does not derive its value from another asset. Whats more, it is a real asset with no discernible income stream. This makes it very difficult to value. Even junior analysts can calculate the fair value of an asset that spins off cash flows or that returns a certain amount at the end of its life. Bitcoin has no cash flows, and there is no end of life, let alone an identifiable value. So, what drives the value of bitcoin? Many theories have been put forward, some of which we describe in our report Cryptos New Fundamentals . And as the market evolves, some may rise in favor while others get forgotten or superseded. For now, though, the main driver of bitcoins value is sentiment: its worth what the market thinks its worth. In the absence of fundamentals, investors try to figure out what other investors are going to think. Keynes likened this to a contest in which we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be. Gold is in a similar situation, in that it is also a real asset with no income stream and a market value largely driven by sentiment. So, why is its volatility so much lower? (chart from Woobull) Because of radical uncertainty. Changing narratives In his book The End of Alchemy, Mervyn King explains that under radical uncertainty, market prices are determined, not by fundamentals, but by narratives about fundamentals. Bitcoin is a new technology, and as such, we dont yet know what its end use will be. Everyone has their theory, but as with all new technologies, no-one can be certain, which makes its narrative changeable. Gold, on the other hand, is neither new nor a technology. It has been around for millennia, and its narrative is not uncertain. Sentiment plays an important part in its valuation, and scientists may yet uncover an innovative use for the metal that affects both demand and price. But its story is well established, which gives it a lower volatility profile. For now, bitcoins fundamentals are its narrative, and the uncertainty about bitcoins story means that its volatility is unlikely to diminish any time soon. A more prominent role This matters for its eventual use case: will it always be too volatile to be used as a payment token, store of value, etc.? This in turn impacts its narrative, which affects its valuation and volatility, which affects its eventual use case. The self-perpetuating loop will eventually be broken as the sector matures and bitcoins role as an alternative asset class becomes more firmly consolidated when uncertainty diminishes and its intrinsic value becomes easier to quantify. But until then, its price will continue to be driven by market sentiment, which is susceptible to changeable narratives that in turn are formed by global developments and also by market sentiment. Until then, market shifts will continue to be amplified in either direction, whatever the trading volume. Rather than fret about this, we should accept and even embrace it. Increasingly sophisticated providers are working on improving the access to and interpretation of sentiment data, which strengthens our analytical tools. Crypto Twitter provides an engrossing platform to gauge the sectors mood. And the identification of the impact of narrative and sentiment on an asset class will open up new avenues of investigation that is likely to spill over into other areas of investing. Whats more, volatility may be inconvenient for some and uncomfortable for many. But it is also an important component of superior returns. Perhaps the tools and skills we develop to hone our bitcoin valuation techniques will enable a more masterful handling of volatilitys inherent uncertainty, and allow for a deeper appreciation of what it has to offer. Roller coaster image via Shutterstock Related Stories Bitcoin Eyes Move to $10,950 Hurdle After Price Breakout History Favors the Bulls as Bitcoin Price Trades Sideways at $10K View comments || What Bitcoin’s Valuation Says About Its Volatility: Noelle Acheson is a veteran of company analysis and CoinDesk’s Director of Research. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own.
The following article originally appeared in Institutional Crypto by CoinDesk, a weekly newsletter focused on institutional investment in crypto assets.Sign up for free here. For a primer on crypto valuation concepts, you candownload our free report here.
Most of us think we understand the term “volatility.”
Related:Bitcoin’s Record Hash Rate May Hint at Price Gains to Come
We digest headlines about tense political situations around the world; we are wary of explosive chemical compounds; some of us have had relationships with their fair share of ups and downs.
“Volatility” implies sharp and unpredictable changes, and usually has negative connotations. Even when it comes to financial markets, we intuitively shy away from investments that would produce wild swings in our wealth.
But volatility, in finance, is usually misunderstood. Even the most commonly accepted calculation is oftenincorrectly applied.
Its desirability is also confusing. Investors hate it unless it makes them money. Traders love it unless it means too high a risk premium.
Related:Bitcoin Price Indicator May Signal Next Leg Higher
And few of us understand where it comes from. Many think that it’s the result of low liquidity*. This intuitively makes sense: with thin trading volume, a large order can push prices sharply up or down. But empirical studies show that it’s actually theother way around: volatility leads to low liquidity, through the wider spread market makers apply to compensate the additional risk of holding a volatile asset in their inventory.
(*The misconception also stems from our mistaken conflation of low liquidity and low volume – it is possible to have high volume and low liquidity, but that’s for another post.)
This confusion matters in the crypto sector.
Bitcoin’s volatility has often been cited as the reason why it will never make a good store of value, a reliable payment token or a solid portfolio hedge. Many of us fall into the trap of assuming that as the market matures, volatility will decrease. This leads us to believe in use cases that may not ever be appropriate; it can also lead us to apply incorrect crypto asset valuation methods, portfolio weightings and derivative strategies that could have a material impact on our bottom line.
So it’s worth picking apart some of the assumptions and looking at why bitcoin’s unique characteristics can help us better understand market fundamentals more broadly.
First, there are different types of market volatility. Academic literature provides an array of variations, each with its distinct formula and limitations.Jump-diffusion modelsused to value assets hint at a helpful differentiation. “Jump” volatility results, as its name implies, from a sudden event. “Diffuse” volatility, however, is part of the standard trading patterns of an asset, its “usual” variation.
With this we can start to see that, when we assume that greater liquidity will dampen price swings, we’re talking about “jump” volatility.
“Diffuse” volatility, however, is a more intrinsic concept.
Thestandard deviationcalculation – the most commonly applied measure of volatility – incorporates the destabilizing effect of sharp moves by using thesquareof large deviations (otherwise they could be offset and masked by small ones). But this exaggerates the effect of outliers, which are often the result of “jump” volatility. These are likely to diminish as transaction volume grows, leading to a misleadingly downward-sloping volatility graph.
JP Koningproposes an alternative calculationthat uses the deviation from the middle value rather than the average, which reduces the effect of outliers and shows a more intrinsic volatility measure. As the below chart shows, this has not noticeably decreased over the years.
(chart from Moneyness blog)
Now let’s look at why this might be. A clue lies in the methods used to value bitcoin.
Bitcoin is one of the few “real assets” traded in markets today, in that it does not derive its value from another asset.
What’s more, it is a “real asset” with no discernible income stream. This makes it very difficult to value. Even junior analysts can calculate the “fair value” of an asset that spins off cash flows or that returns a certain amount at the end of its life. Bitcoin has no cash flows, and there is no “end of life,” let alone an identifiable value.
So, what drives the value of bitcoin?
Many theories have been put forward, some of which we describe in our report “Crypto’s New Fundamentals.” And as the market evolves, some may rise in favor while others get forgotten or superseded.
For now, though, the main driver of bitcoin’s value is sentiment: it’s worth what the market thinks it’s worth. In the absence of fundamentals, investors try to figure out what other investors are going to think. Keyneslikened this toa contest in which “we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be.”
Gold is in a similar situation, in that it is also a “real asset” with no income stream and a market value largely driven by sentiment.
So, why is its volatility so much lower?
(chart from Woobull)
Because of “radical uncertainty.”
In his book “The End of Alchemy”, Mervyn Kingexplains thatunder “radical uncertainty,” market prices are determined, not by fundamentals, but bynarrativesabout fundamentals.
Bitcoin is a new technology, and as such, we don’t yet know what its end use will be. Everyone has their theory, but as with all new technologies, no-one can be certain, which makes its narrative changeable.
Gold, on the other hand, is neither new nor a technology. It has been around for millennia, and its narrative is not uncertain. Sentiment plays an important part in its valuation, and scientists may yet uncover an innovative use for the metal that affects both demand and price. But its “story” is well established, which gives it a lower volatility profile.
For now, bitcoin’s fundamentalsareits narrative, and the uncertainty about bitcoin’s “story” means that its volatility is unlikely to diminish any time soon.
This matters for its eventual use case: will italwaysbe too volatile to be used as a payment token, store of value, etc.? This in turn impacts its narrative, which affects its valuation and volatility, which affects its eventual use case. The self-perpetuating loop will eventually be broken as the sector matures and bitcoin’s role as an alternative asset class becomes more firmly consolidated – when uncertainty diminishes and its “intrinsic value” becomes easier to quantify.
But until then, its price will continue to be driven by market sentiment, which is susceptible to changeable narratives that in turn are formed by global developments and also by market sentiment.
Until then, market shifts will continue to be amplified in either direction, whatever the trading volume.
Rather than fret about this, we should accept and even embrace it. Increasingly sophisticated providers are working on improving the access to and interpretation of sentiment data, which strengthens our analytical tools. Crypto Twitter provides an engrossing platform to gauge the sector’s mood. And the identification of the impact of narrative and sentiment on an asset class will open up new avenues of investigation that is likely to spill over into other areas of investing.
What’s more, volatility may be inconvenient for some and uncomfortable for many. But it is also an important component of superior returns. Perhaps the tools and skills we develop to hone our bitcoin valuation techniques will enable a more masterful handling of volatility’s inherent uncertainty, and allow for a deeper appreciation of what it has to offer.
Roller coasterimage via Shutterstock
• Bitcoin Eyes Move to $10,950 Hurdle After Price Breakout
• History Favors the Bulls as Bitcoin Price Trades Sideways at $10K || Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Speculators Likely Eyeing Supply Reduction in Saudi Arabia: Natural gas futures finished higher last week, garnering support from the remnants of a powerful short-squeeze rally and an underwhelming U.S. government storage report. Traders may now have to face a potential wave of speculative buying due to the shutdown of the world’s largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia after a series of drone strikes rocked the complex. Last week, November natural gas finished at $2.653, up $0.102 or +4.00%. Keep in mind that we’re only speculating at this time about a higher opening in natural gas early Sunday because Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said the attacks also led to a halt in gas production that will reduce the supply of ethane and natural gas liquids by 50%. We’re looking for a higher opening because any news of a supply disruption usually brings in the speculative buyers even if they don’t know what the impact will be. I can live with a spike to the upside, but I don’t think it’s going to turn into a long-term event because there is ample supply in the United States. We’ll know more after we crunch the numbers. U.S. Energy Information Administration Weekly Storage Report The EIA reported Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 78 billion cubic feet for the week-ended September 6. Traders were looking for the EIA storage report for the week-ending September 6 to show another above-average build. Bloomberg analysts estimated a median build of 81 Bcf with a range of 75 Bcf to 91 Bcf. Reuters analysts forecast an 82 Bcf injection, with a range of 76 Bcf to 94 Bcf. Intercontinental Exchange EIA Financial Weekly Index futures settled Tuesday at 83 Bcf. Natural Gas Intelligence’s model predicted an 86 Bcf injection. Energy Aspects issued a preliminary estimate of 86 Bcf for this week’s report. Total stocks now stand at 3.019 trillion cubic feet, up 393 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 77 billion below the five-year average, the government said. Story continues Short-Term Weather Outlook According to NatGasWeather for September 13 to September 19, “Unseasonably strong high pressure will dominate the southern and eastern/east-central US with highs of 80s and 90s for strong late season demand into the weekend. However, a tropical system will track across Florida and portions of the South and Southeast this weekend and next week, easing highs into the 70s and 80s. The Northwest, Rockies, and North Plains will be comfortable to mild with highs of upper 50s to 70s for light demand. The important corridor from Chicago to NYC will be mostly comfortable with highs of 70s to mid-80s. Overall, demand will be high across the southern US and up the East Coast and moderate-low across the rest of the US. Weekly November Natural Gas Weekly Forecast Last week’s price action and especially Friday’s suggests there are still speculators holding short positions and the speculative longs are still looking to chase them out. Furthermore, it’s my guess that they aren’t likely to keep rolling over in October and November especially after last year’s huge spike to the upside in early November. I’ve always been told that a short-squeeze won’t end until the weakest short is forced out of the market. Now the shorts have to deal with the problems in Saudi Arabia that may or may not have an impact on U.S. prices. However, when you put together words and phrases like “halt production” and “reduce supply” in a sentence, speculators are likely to buy first and ask questions later. On a side note, it’s peak hurricane season in the U.S. so continue to monitor any developments in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Our work suggests that hurricanes in the Atlantic that target the East Coast of the U.S. tend to have a bearish effect on demand, while hurricanes in the Gulf tend to be more bullish because of the threat they pose to production facilities. The weekly November natural gas chart shows an upside bias on a sustained move over $2.691, and a downside bias developing on a sustained move under $2.585. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: The Crypto Daily – The Movers and Shakers – 15/09/19 The Week Ahead – Brexit, the BoE and the FED are in Focus S&P 500 Weekly Price Forecast – Stock markets reached towards highs again US Stock Market Overview – Stock Close Mixed Despite Robust Retail Sales Report Silver Weekly Price Forecast – Silver markets fall again for the week Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 15/09/19 || Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Speculators Likely Eyeing Supply Reduction in Saudi Arabia: Natural gas futures finished higher last week, garnering support from the remnants of a powerful short-squeeze rally and an underwhelming U.S. government storage report. Traders may now have to face a potential wave of speculative buying due to the shutdown of the world’s largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia after a series of drone strikes rocked the complex.
Last week,November natural gasfinished at $2.653, up $0.102 or +4.00%.
Keep in mind that we’re only speculating at this time about a higher opening in natural gas early Sunday because Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said the attacks also led to a halt in gas production that will reduce the supply of ethane and natural gas liquids by 50%.
We’re looking for a higher opening because any news of a supply disruption usually brings in the speculative buyers even if they don’t know what the impact will be.
I can live with a spike to the upside, but I don’t think it’s going to turn into a long-term event because there is ample supply in the United States. We’ll know more after we crunch the numbers.
The EIA reported Thursday that domestic supplies of natural gas rose by 78 billion cubic feet for the week-ended September 6.
Traders were looking for the EIA storage report for the week-ending September 6 to show another above-average build.
Bloomberg analysts estimated a median build of 81 Bcf with a range of 75 Bcf to 91 Bcf. Reuters analysts forecast an 82 Bcf injection, with a range of 76 Bcf to 94 Bcf. Intercontinental Exchange EIA Financial Weekly Index futures settled Tuesday at 83 Bcf. Natural Gas Intelligence’s model predicted an 86 Bcf injection. Energy Aspects issued a preliminary estimate of 86 Bcf for this week’s report.
Total stocks now stand at 3.019 trillion cubic feet, up 393 billion cubic feet from a year ago, but 77 billion below the five-year average, the government said.
According to NatGasWeather for September 13 to September 19, “Unseasonably strong high pressure will dominate the southern and eastern/east-central US with highs of 80s and 90s for strong late season demand into the weekend.
However, a tropical system will track across Florida and portions of the South and Southeast this weekend and next week, easing highs into the 70s and 80s. The Northwest, Rockies, and North Plains will be comfortable to mild with highs of upper 50s to 70s for light demand.
The important corridor from Chicago to NYC will be mostly comfortable with highs of 70s to mid-80s. Overall, demand will be high across the southern US and up the East Coast and moderate-low across the rest of the US.
Last week’s price action and especially Friday’s suggests there are still speculators holding short positions and the speculative longs are still looking to chase them out. Furthermore, it’s my guess that they aren’t likely to keep rolling over in October and November especially after last year’s huge spike to the upside in early November. I’ve always been told that a short-squeeze won’t end until the weakest short is forced out of the market.
Now the shorts have to deal with the problems in Saudi Arabia that may or may not have an impact on U.S. prices. However, when you put together words and phrases like “halt production” and “reduce supply” in a sentence, speculators are likely to buy first and ask questions later.
On a side note, it’s peak hurricane season in the U.S. so continue to monitor any developments in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Our work suggests that hurricanes in the Atlantic that target the East Coast of the U.S. tend to have a bearish effect on demand, while hurricanes in the Gulf tend to be more bullish because of the threat they pose to production facilities.
The weekly November natural gas chart shows an upside bias on a sustained move over $2.691, and a downside bias developing on a sustained move under $2.585.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• The Crypto Daily – The Movers and Shakers – 15/09/19
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• US Stock Market Overview – Stock Close Mixed Despite Robust Retail Sales Report
• Silver Weekly Price Forecast – Silver markets fall again for the week
• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 15/09/19 || Price of Gold Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Likely to Weaken if Fed is Dovish on Future Rate Cuts: Gold futures finished lower for a third week as rapidly rising U.S. Treasury yields and higher equity markets continued to reduce gold’s appeal as a safe-haven asset. Optimism over improving trade relations between the United States and China after the two economic powerhouses made conciliatory gestures ahead of the resumption of trade talks in early October was one of the catalysts behind the drop in gold prices.
Last week,December Comex goldsettled at $1499.50, down $16.00 or -1.06%.
Other catalysts behind the weakness last week were improving U.S. economic data, which dampened the risk of recession in the world’s largest economy and aggressive stimulus from the European Central Bank (ECB) that suggested policymakers may be out of weapons to turn the Euro Zone economy around.
Throughout the summer, gold was driven higher by plunging Treasury yields as speculators increased bets on a U.S. recession due to escalating trade tensions between the United States and China. The selling was strong enough to invert the yields of the 2-year and 10-year Treasury notes, a sign used by many to forecast a future recession.
An easing of tensions between the U.S. and China following the announcement of renewed trade talks has caused investors to rethink the risk of recession. This has encouraged long bond investors to book profits, driving interest rates higher in the process. Additionally, stock market investors, betting on a stronger economy, also began reducing their safe-haven gold purchases.
Last week, Washington and Beijing toned down signs of any previous escalation in their dispute with reconciliatory gestures from both nations that boosted risk appetite in the markets, while reducing gold’s appeal as a safe-haven asset.
President Trump said he was delaying plans to impose an additional 5 percent duty on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods until October 15, or two weeks later than now scheduled. China renewed its purchases of American farm goods, with Trump saying it was expected Beijing would purchase “large amounts” of agricultural products. The President also said Thursday that he would consider a temporary trade deal with the Chinese though he’d prefer to hash out a permanent accord.
The ECB cut its deposit interest rate by 10-basis points to a record low of minus 0.5% and said it would restart bond purchases at a rate of 20 billion Euros a month from November 1 for an indefinite time.
German government bond yields surged on the back of investors thinking the European Central Bank was done stimulating the ailing Euro Zone economy after cutting rates on Thursday.
The Euro surged on the moves, driving the U.S. Dollar Index lower. However, the weaker dollar was not supportive for dollar-denominated gold. The rising German bond yields helped keep a lid on gold prices, offsetting the weakness in the U.S. Dollar.
Last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported its consumer price index excluding the volatile food and energy components gained 0.3% for a third straight month. In the 12 months through August, the core CPI increased 2.4%, the most since July 2018, after climbing 2.2% in July.
This was bearish for gold because it meant that consumer prices were still strengthening despite a July rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Additionally, U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in August, pointing to solid consumer spending that should continue to support a moderate pace of economic growth.
Gold could go up early in the week because some speculators will buy the precious metal because of the attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities over the weekend. They call this “safe-haven” buying. But as you know, I don’t because the gold market is controlled by the direction of Treasury yields and demand for risky assets.
If yields plunge as well as the stock market then a rally in gold could be supported over the short-run, however, unless the situation in the Middle East escalates into a war, gold’s gains are likely to be limited.
Gold traders will also be watching Wednesday’s Fed interest rate and monetary policy decisions. A 25-basis point rate cut is widely expected, however, traders will be more interested in how Fed policymakers feel about a December rate cut.
If the chances of a December rate cut fall after the Fed announcements then gold could see further downside pressure.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• Crude Called $5 to $10 Higher After Drones Attack Saudi Crude Facilities
• Oil Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Short-Term Bullish as Traders Await Timetable for Repairs to Saudi Facilities
• U.S Mortgage Rates Rise as Geopolitical Risk Abates
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10241.27, 10198.25, 10266.42, 10181.64, 10019.72, 10070.39, 9729.32, 8620.57, 8486.99, 8118.97
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 267.80, 225.86, 178.10, 209.84, 208.10, 199.26, 210.34, 214.86, 211.32, 226.90, 233.41, 232.88, 247.85, 253.72, 273.47, 263.48, 233.91, 233.51, 226.43, 217.46, 226.97, 238.23, 227.27, 226.85, 217.11, 222.27, 227.75, 223.41, 220.11, 219.84, 219.18, 221.76, 235.43, 257.32, 234.82, 233.84, 243.61, 236.33, 240.28, 243.78, 244.53, 235.98, 238.89, 238.74, 237.47, 236.43, 253.83, 254.26, 260.20, 275.67, 281.70, 273.09, 276.18, 272.72, 276.26, 274.35, 289.61, 291.76, 296.38, 294.35, 285.34, 281.89, 286.39, 290.59, 285.51, 256.30, 260.93, 261.75, 260.02, 267.96, 266.74, 245.60, 246.20, 248.53, 247.03, 252.80, 242.71, 247.53, 244.22, 247.27, 253.01, 254.32, 253.70, 260.60, 255.49, 253.18, 245.02, 243.68, 236.07, 236.55.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-04-11]
Volume: 16365200, RSI (14-day): 37.27, 50-day EMA: 255.21, 200-day EMA: 274.73
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Trading Internet stocks in the week ahead: With earnings season gearing up, some of CNBC's "Fast Money" traders turned their focus to Internet stocks, including Netflix(NASDAQ: NFLX), which reports next Wednesday.
Shares of the streaming giant Netflix rallied on Friday after Citigroup(NYSE: C)upgraded the stock, citing its content lineup and global growth as catalysts. "Fast Money" trader Guy Adami said he's long Netflix.
"Now I believe that $440 is your pivot. It obviously exploded through that today... I think it is ready for the next leg higher," Adami said. "I think you have a very well defined risk, reward trade."
Read MoreApple is going to $143:Technician
When it comes to trading the media stock, he says investors should "stay long against $440."
"Fast Money" trader Steve Grasso said he thinks the stock is ultimately heading to $500 a share, although he sees it facing resistance around $486.
"Content is king...people are viewing things in a total different manner," Grasso said. "I think you're going to see another price increase that's going to help. People might be negative on it originally."
"Fast Money" trader Tim Seymour says shares of fellow content streaming provider Pandora(NYSE: P)may get a boost thanks to competitor Spotify's surprise valuation.
Investors have valued its Spotify at about $8.4 billion, according a Dow Jones report, as it plans to raise some $400 million in funding. That values the firm at more than double Pandora's current market cap of $3.6 billion.
"The knee-jerk [reaction] is going to take the stock higher,"Adami said.
Read MoreCelebs spotted showing off their Apple Watches
Turning to the Internet search sector, the tech giant Yahoo lost one of its top executives, Mike Kerns, on Friday and some "Fast Money" Traders said it was a cause for concern.
"I think that the catalyst for upside profitability in the name have sort of evaporated. Everyone was playing it as the Alibaba(NYSE: BABA)trade. At this point i think you gotta stay clear of the name," Seymour said.
"Fast Money" trader Brian Kelly echoed his sentiments.
"You buy Alibaba as opposed to Yahoo if you want to have that exposure," Kelly said. "If there was really some value in Yahoo i think it would be trading much higher, so it concerns me."
Disclosures:
Tim Seymour is long T, BAC, C, DIS, XOM, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, FXI, SUNE, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, CHL, MCD, NKE, NOK, SINA, SBUX, WB.
Steve Grasso is long AAPL, EVGN, MJNA, PFE, T, TWTR, GDX, his firm is long AMZN, NE, OXY, VALE, RIG, NEM, his kids own EFG, EFA, EWJ, IJR, SPY.
Brian Kelly is long BTC=, US Dollar, GLD, EEM, CTRL calls, GSG, BBRY, SPY puts, TLT, he is short Yuan.
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || Trading Internet stocks in the week ahead: With earnings season gearing up, some of CNBC's "Fast Money" traders turned their focus to Internet stocks, including Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) , which reports next Wednesday. Shares of the streaming giant Netflix rallied on Friday after Citigroup (NYSE: C) upgraded the stock, citing its content lineup and global growth as catalysts. "Fast Money" trader Guy Adami said he's long Netflix. "Now I believe that $440 is your pivot. It obviously exploded through that today... I think it is ready for the next leg higher," Adami said. "I think you have a very well defined risk, reward trade." Read More Apple is going to $143:Technician When it comes to trading the media stock, he says investors should "stay long against $440." "Fast Money" trader Steve Grasso said he thinks the stock is ultimately heading to $500 a share, although he sees it facing resistance around $486. "Content is king...people are viewing things in a total different manner," Grasso said. "I think you're going to see another price increase that's going to help. People might be negative on it originally." "Fast Money" trader Tim Seymour says shares of fellow content streaming provider Pandora (NYSE: P) may get a boost thanks to competitor Spotify's surprise valuation. Investors have valued its Spotify at about $8.4 billion, according a Dow Jones report, as it plans to raise some $400 million in funding. That values the firm at more than double Pandora's current market cap of $3.6 billion. "The knee-jerk [reaction] is going to take the stock higher,"Adami said. Read More Celebs spotted showing off their Apple Watches Turning to the Internet search sector, the tech giant Yahoo lost one of its top executives, Mike Kerns, on Friday and some "Fast Money" Traders said it was a cause for concern. "I think that the catalyst for upside profitability in the name have sort of evaporated. Everyone was playing it as the Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) trade. At this point i think you gotta stay clear of the name," Seymour said. Story continues "Fast Money" trader Brian Kelly echoed his sentiments. "You buy Alibaba as opposed to Yahoo if you want to have that exposure," Kelly said. "If there was really some value in Yahoo i think it would be trading much higher, so it concerns me." Disclosures: Tim Seymour is long T, BAC, C, DIS, XOM, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, FXI, SUNE, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, CHL, MCD, NKE, NOK, SINA, SBUX, WB. Steve Grasso is long AAPL, EVGN, MJNA, PFE, T, TWTR, GDX, his firm is long AMZN, NE, OXY, VALE, RIG, NEM, his kids own EFG, EFA, EWJ, IJR, SPY. Brian Kelly is long BTC=, US Dollar, GLD, EEM, CTRL calls, GSG, BBRY, SPY puts, TLT, he is short Yuan. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Why Billionaire Investor Reid Hoffman Is Betting Big on Bitcoin: Reid Hoffman has an expert eye for promising tech startups. The LinkedIn chairman and co-founder's early stakes in Facebook, Airbnb and Dropbox prove he's able to see the next big thing before most of us even know what it is -- and it’s paid off for him time and again.
These days, the so-called“startup whisperer”is placing his bets on Bitcoin. As a full-time partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, he claims his primary focus is to invest in“world-class entrepreneurs with new categories of ideas with the possibility of massive scale.”One of those entrepreneurs isWences Casares, co-founder ofXapo, an ambitious, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bitcoin wallet and storage startup. With Hoffman leading the charge, Greylock invested $20 million in Xapo last year.
“Bitcoin has the potential to be a massively disruptive technology,” Hoffman wrote in apostannouncing the investment last July. “It is the leading digital currency and it’s growing fast.”
Related:LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman: Success Tips From Silicon Valley
Then, in November -- a month before Bloomberg declared Bitcointhe worst-performing currencyof 2014 -- he announced a hefty personal stake in Bitcoin that he brokered, a $21 million investment intoBlockstream. The Montreal-based startup aims toimprove upon Bitcoin’s blockchainbackbone, the shared public ledger upon which the virtual currency’s entire network relies.
We caught up with the father of online professional networking recently to find out why he’s betting big on Bitcoin and why he thinks the controversial cryptocurrency is here to stay. What follows are portions of that interview, edited for clarity and brevity.
Related:Why This Internet Pioneer Thinks Bitcoin Has the Power to Break the Cycle of Poverty
When did Bitcoin first pique your curiosity and when did you become a believer?I first got into it after speaking with Wences Casares, who I refer to as Patient Zero for Bitcoin in Silicon Valley. Patient Zero is the first infection of a viral contagion.
I’d been paying attention to Bitcoin because a couple of other people that Wences had talked with, like Katana Capital founder Charlie Songhurst, had also talked to me about it and said that it was very important. No one had made the argument in a way that stuck yet, but it made me curious. I started to really think about it, so I sought out Wences in the summer of 2013. We had a fairly thorough conversation. He articulated very strong positive theories about Bitcoin and I began to feel empowered.
Related:IBM Looking at Adopting Bitcoin Technology for Major Currencies
What is most interesting about Bitcoin to you? What attracts you to it?Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, than something else will be.
I think that a global cryptocurrency that is an asset, a currency and a platform, is pretty essential for good progress in what we can do when it comes to building products and services, banking the unbanked in the third world and creating effective commerce across borders, among other things.
Related:'Days Felt Like Years': What Morgan Spurlock Found When He Tried to Survive on Bitcoin for a Week
You’ve said that you’re not concerned with the day-to-day price of Bitcoin, that you’re more focused on the long-game outlook of your Bitcoin investments. Why?My investment philosophy is very much long-term. I don’t do any small trades, like, “Oh, I’ll own this for a year and then I’ll sell it.” I invest only in long-term trends. That’s part of the reason I’m a venture investor. When I invested in Airbnb, when it was totally a new and random thing, most people said, “No way, no one’s gonna’ have strangers over at their house to rent a room, etc.” I saw it differently.
When I invest, I think, “What is the way the world should be and is this investment part of that end? Is this plan the best plan for that to happen?” So that’s minimum five years. When it comes to Bitcoin, that’s the framework that I think about it in.
Why do you think the price of Bitcoin has diminished so much since late 2013, when it soared above $1,000?I think that the price drop has gotten lost in asset speculation. A lot of people were like, “Oh, my God, I gotta’ get in now!” They thought it was a get rich quick scheme. Obviously the run up was driven by speculation. Speculation tends to be very volatile to, “Oh, my God, it’s headed down now. Oh, get out quick.” Speculators are not long-term buyers. Speculators are cash in on the upswing and know when to get off the boat.
Honestly, I don’t even check the price. I don’t even know what it is right now. I would guess it’s around $200-ish. Once it went down to $200, it’s actually not been that volatile since. The volatility decreased after that big drop and it’s now coming to a point where it’s at the current clearing price.
Related:How a Teenage Entrepreneur Built a Startup on Bitcoin Riches
What are the biggest challenges holding Bitcoin back from mass adoption?There aren’t enough use cases that make it easy enough to transact in Bitcoin yet. It has to be easy to use and reliably fulfill people’s needs. Most of the places a digital asset is needed very badly are not places like the U.S., where I can sit with my dollars in the bank. It’s more like Argentina or Ukraine or Russia. Those areas still have to get to the point where it’s useful.
Once you get the asset store working in those locations, you have to figure out where people want to transact in Bitcoin. Is it cross-border transactions? Is it other types of transactions that are unique and difficult to do?
While it’s cool thatOverstockwill accept Bitcoin, a lot of people in the U.S. have credit cards and can buy from Overstock with them, so they don’t need to get Bitcoin in order to buy from Overstock. Most mass adoption of technology doesn’t just go do something just because it’s cool. When you get mass adoption, it’s because it’s serving a need.
Related:Winklevoss Twins: Bitcoin Is Like a 'Child Taking Its First Steps' But Will One Day Win the Finance Marathon
What is your advice to those considering investing in the Bitcoin space?Roughly speaking, it’s very much like a venture investment. What I tell people who are angel investors investing in it, even though I think that the likelihood that Bitcoin will go to zero is very low, I say don’t invest in something you’re not willing to lose, or lose a good portion of. Now, for portfolio management, like if you have $10,000 and you invest $500, that’s usually kind of an unsafe side bet.
If you’re interested in Bitcoin, if you believe it’s part of how you think the world should be, the way the world will eventually end up going towards and you want to participate in that, then it might be for you. Or, if you’re in some place where you have no real, good asset value store and you’re uncertain about the banks, you’re uncertain about the government currency, then Bitcoin can provide a useful asset store for you.
Related:16 Startup Trends That Will Be Huge in 2015 || Why Billionaire Investor Reid Hoffman Is Betting Big on Bitcoin: Reid Hoffman has an expert eye for promising tech startups. The LinkedIn chairman and co-founder's early stakes in Facebook, Airbnb and Dropbox prove he's able to see the next big thing before most of us even know what it is -- and it’s paid off for him time and again. These days, the so-called “startup whisperer” is placing his bets on Bitcoin. As a full-time partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, he claims his primary focus is to invest in “world-class entrepreneurs with new categories of ideas with the possibility of massive scale.” One of those entrepreneurs is Wences Casares , co-founder of Xapo , an ambitious, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bitcoin wallet and storage startup. With Hoffman leading the charge, Greylock invested $20 million in Xapo last year. “Bitcoin has the potential to be a massively disruptive technology,” Hoffman wrote in a post announcing the investment last July. “It is the leading digital currency and it’s growing fast.” Related: LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman: Success Tips From Silicon Valley Then, in November -- a month before Bloomberg declared Bitcoin the worst-performing currency of 2014 -- he announced a hefty personal stake in Bitcoin that he brokered, a $21 million investment into Blockstream . The Montreal-based startup aims to improve upon Bitcoin’s blockchain backbone, the shared public ledger upon which the virtual currency’s entire network relies. We caught up with the father of online professional networking recently to find out why he’s betting big on Bitcoin and why he thinks the controversial cryptocurrency is here to stay. What follows are portions of that interview, edited for clarity and brevity. Related: Why This Internet Pioneer Thinks Bitcoin Has the Power to Break the Cycle of Poverty When did Bitcoin first pique your curiosity and when did you become a believer? I first got into it after speaking with Wences Casares, who I refer to as Patient Zero for Bitcoin in Silicon Valley. Patient Zero is the first infection of a viral contagion. Story continues I’d been paying attention to Bitcoin because a couple of other people that Wences had talked with, like Katana Capital founder Charlie Songhurst, had also talked to me about it and said that it was very important. No one had made the argument in a way that stuck yet, but it made me curious. I started to really think about it, so I sought out Wences in the summer of 2013. We had a fairly thorough conversation. He articulated very strong positive theories about Bitcoin and I began to feel empowered. Related: IBM Looking at Adopting Bitcoin Technology for Major Currencies What is most interesting about Bitcoin to you? What attracts you to it? Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, than something else will be. I think that a global cryptocurrency that is an asset, a currency and a platform, is pretty essential for good progress in what we can do when it comes to building products and services, banking the unbanked in the third world and creating effective commerce across borders, among other things. Related: 'Days Felt Like Years': What Morgan Spurlock Found When He Tried to Survive on Bitcoin for a Week You’ve said that you’re not concerned with the day-to-day price of Bitcoin, that you’re more focused on the long-game outlook of your Bitcoin investments. Why? My investment philosophy is very much long-term. I don’t do any small trades, like, “Oh, I’ll own this for a year and then I’ll sell it.” I invest only in long-term trends. That’s part of the reason I’m a venture investor. When I invested in Airbnb, when it was totally a new and random thing, most people said, “No way, no one’s gonna’ have strangers over at their house to rent a room, etc.” I saw it differently. When I invest, I think, “What is the way the world should be and is this investment part of that end? Is this plan the best plan for that to happen?” So that’s minimum five years. When it comes to Bitcoin, that’s the framework that I think about it in. Why do you think the price of Bitcoin has diminished so much since late 2013, when it soared above $1,000? I think that the price drop has gotten lost in asset speculation. A lot of people were like, “Oh, my God, I gotta’ get in now!” They thought it was a get rich quick scheme. Obviously the run up was driven by speculation. Speculation tends to be very volatile to, “Oh, my God, it’s headed down now. Oh, get out quick.” Speculators are not long-term buyers. Speculators are cash in on the upswing and know when to get off the boat. Honestly, I don’t even check the price. I don’t even know what it is right now. I would guess it’s around $200-ish. Once it went down to $200, it’s actually not been that volatile since. The volatility decreased after that big drop and it’s now coming to a point where it’s at the current clearing price. Related: How a Teenage Entrepreneur Built a Startup on Bitcoin Riches What are the biggest challenges holding Bitcoin back from mass adoption? There aren’t enough use cases that make it easy enough to transact in Bitcoin yet. It has to be easy to use and reliably fulfill people’s needs. Most of the places a digital asset is needed very badly are not places like the U.S., where I can sit with my dollars in the bank. It’s more like Argentina or Ukraine or Russia. Those areas still have to get to the point where it’s useful. Once you get the asset store working in those locations, you have to figure out where people want to transact in Bitcoin. Is it cross-border transactions? Is it other types of transactions that are unique and difficult to do? While it’s cool that Overstock will accept Bitcoin, a lot of people in the U.S. have credit cards and can buy from Overstock with them, so they don’t need to get Bitcoin in order to buy from Overstock. Most mass adoption of technology doesn’t just go do something just because it’s cool. When you get mass adoption, it’s because it’s serving a need. Related: Winklevoss Twins: Bitcoin Is Like a 'Child Taking Its First Steps' But Will One Day Win the Finance Marathon What is your advice to those considering investing in the Bitcoin space? Roughly speaking, it’s very much like a venture investment. What I tell people who are angel investors investing in it, even though I think that the likelihood that Bitcoin will go to zero is very low, I say don’t invest in something you’re not willing to lose, or lose a good portion of. Now, for portfolio management, like if you have $10,000 and you invest $500, that’s usually kind of an unsafe side bet. If you’re interested in Bitcoin, if you believe it’s part of how you think the world should be, the way the world will eventually end up going towards and you want to participate in that, then it might be for you. Or, if you’re in some place where you have no real, good asset value store and you’re uncertain about the banks, you’re uncertain about the government currency, then Bitcoin can provide a useful asset store for you. Related: 16 Startup Trends That Will Be Huge in 2015 || Why Billionaire Investor Reid Hoffman Is Betting Big on Bitcoin: Reid Hoffman has an expert eye for promising tech startups. The LinkedIn chairman and co-founder's early stakes in Facebook, Airbnb and Dropbox prove he's able to see the next big thing before most of us even know what it is -- and it’s paid off for him time and again.
These days, the so-called“startup whisperer”is placing his bets on Bitcoin. As a full-time partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, he claims his primary focus is to invest in“world-class entrepreneurs with new categories of ideas with the possibility of massive scale.”One of those entrepreneurs isWences Casares, co-founder ofXapo, an ambitious, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bitcoin wallet and storage startup. With Hoffman leading the charge, Greylock invested $20 million in Xapo last year.
“Bitcoin has the potential to be a massively disruptive technology,” Hoffman wrote in apostannouncing the investment last July. “It is the leading digital currency and it’s growing fast.”
Related:LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman: Success Tips From Silicon Valley
Then, in November -- a month before Bloomberg declared Bitcointhe worst-performing currencyof 2014 -- he announced a hefty personal stake in Bitcoin that he brokered, a $21 million investment intoBlockstream. The Montreal-based startup aims toimprove upon Bitcoin’s blockchainbackbone, the shared public ledger upon which the virtual currency’s entire network relies.
We caught up with the father of online professional networking recently to find out why he’s betting big on Bitcoin and why he thinks the controversial cryptocurrency is here to stay. What follows are portions of that interview, edited for clarity and brevity.
Related:Why This Internet Pioneer Thinks Bitcoin Has the Power to Break the Cycle of Poverty
When did Bitcoin first pique your curiosity and when did you become a believer?I first got into it after speaking with Wences Casares, who I refer to as Patient Zero for Bitcoin in Silicon Valley. Patient Zero is the first infection of a viral contagion.
I’d been paying attention to Bitcoin because a couple of other people that Wences had talked with, like Katana Capital founder Charlie Songhurst, had also talked to me about it and said that it was very important. No one had made the argument in a way that stuck yet, but it made me curious. I started to really think about it, so I sought out Wences in the summer of 2013. We had a fairly thorough conversation. He articulated very strong positive theories about Bitcoin and I began to feel empowered.
Related:IBM Looking at Adopting Bitcoin Technology for Major Currencies
What is most interesting about Bitcoin to you? What attracts you to it?Once I started really digging into it, I came to realize that there are three aspects to Bitcoin that are interwoven and Bitcoin is most interesting because of them. They are: One, it’s an asset, like digital gold 2.0. Two, it’s a currency in as much as currency is like the digital app that allows you to begin to transact and trade. And, three, it’s also a platform where you can build financial and other products on top of it. These attributes all bound together are what convinced me that there’s a certainty that there will be at least one global cryptocurrency and that there’s a good argument that it’s Bitcoin, or that Bitcoin is one of them, if not THE one. And, if Bitcoin isn’t that global cryptocurrency, than something else will be.
I think that a global cryptocurrency that is an asset, a currency and a platform, is pretty essential for good progress in what we can do when it comes to building products and services, banking the unbanked in the third world and creating effective commerce across borders, among other things.
Related:'Days Felt Like Years': What Morgan Spurlock Found When He Tried to Survive on Bitcoin for a Week
You’ve said that you’re not concerned with the day-to-day price of Bitcoin, that you’re more focused on the long-game outlook of your Bitcoin investments. Why?My investment philosophy is very much long-term. I don’t do any small trades, like, “Oh, I’ll own this for a year and then I’ll sell it.” I invest only in long-term trends. That’s part of the reason I’m a venture investor. When I invested in Airbnb, when it was totally a new and random thing, most people said, “No way, no one’s gonna’ have strangers over at their house to rent a room, etc.” I saw it differently.
When I invest, I think, “What is the way the world should be and is this investment part of that end? Is this plan the best plan for that to happen?” So that’s minimum five years. When it comes to Bitcoin, that’s the framework that I think about it in.
Why do you think the price of Bitcoin has diminished so much since late 2013, when it soared above $1,000?I think that the price drop has gotten lost in asset speculation. A lot of people were like, “Oh, my God, I gotta’ get in now!” They thought it was a get rich quick scheme. Obviously the run up was driven by speculation. Speculation tends to be very volatile to, “Oh, my God, it’s headed down now. Oh, get out quick.” Speculators are not long-term buyers. Speculators are cash in on the upswing and know when to get off the boat.
Honestly, I don’t even check the price. I don’t even know what it is right now. I would guess it’s around $200-ish. Once it went down to $200, it’s actually not been that volatile since. The volatility decreased after that big drop and it’s now coming to a point where it’s at the current clearing price.
Related:How a Teenage Entrepreneur Built a Startup on Bitcoin Riches
What are the biggest challenges holding Bitcoin back from mass adoption?There aren’t enough use cases that make it easy enough to transact in Bitcoin yet. It has to be easy to use and reliably fulfill people’s needs. Most of the places a digital asset is needed very badly are not places like the U.S., where I can sit with my dollars in the bank. It’s more like Argentina or Ukraine or Russia. Those areas still have to get to the point where it’s useful.
Once you get the asset store working in those locations, you have to figure out where people want to transact in Bitcoin. Is it cross-border transactions? Is it other types of transactions that are unique and difficult to do?
While it’s cool thatOverstockwill accept Bitcoin, a lot of people in the U.S. have credit cards and can buy from Overstock with them, so they don’t need to get Bitcoin in order to buy from Overstock. Most mass adoption of technology doesn’t just go do something just because it’s cool. When you get mass adoption, it’s because it’s serving a need.
Related:Winklevoss Twins: Bitcoin Is Like a 'Child Taking Its First Steps' But Will One Day Win the Finance Marathon
What is your advice to those considering investing in the Bitcoin space?Roughly speaking, it’s very much like a venture investment. What I tell people who are angel investors investing in it, even though I think that the likelihood that Bitcoin will go to zero is very low, I say don’t invest in something you’re not willing to lose, or lose a good portion of. Now, for portfolio management, like if you have $10,000 and you invest $500, that’s usually kind of an unsafe side bet.
If you’re interested in Bitcoin, if you believe it’s part of how you think the world should be, the way the world will eventually end up going towards and you want to participate in that, then it might be for you. Or, if you’re in some place where you have no real, good asset value store and you’re uncertain about the banks, you’re uncertain about the government currency, then Bitcoin can provide a useful asset store for you.
Related:16 Startup Trends That Will Be Huge in 2015 || Iran Ripe For Investment Once Sanctions Are Lifted: From oil to consumer goods, Iran is becoming a sought after marketplace as the potential of a nuclear deal removing Western sanctions is looking more and more likely.
Everyone from individual investors to major companies is looking at the Middle Eastern nation as an emerging market with an enormous amount of untapped potential.
Investment In Oil
Whileoil pricesare likely to take a hit with the introduction of Iranian oil to the market, the Iranian oil sector is a valuable investment for U.S. and European companies looking to enter the nation's market.
In September, Iranian officials areplanninga conference in London, at which foreign firms can evaluate the conditions of new oil contracts.Expectations are highthat Western companies will be interested in taking on joint ventures with Iran's National Iranian Oil Company once the sanctions have been lifted.
Related Link:Could The Iran Nuke Deal Really Push Oil Prices Down Another ?
Banking
Iran is home to nearly 80 million people, providing a huge market that could become even more attractive than the nation's wealth of natural resources. At the moment, only a sliver of that population has a debit card and even fewer have any debt.
For that reason, Western financial firms are likely to make their way into Iran as soon as possible with the introduction of credit cards and borrowing.
Consumer Products
Iranians spent $77 billion on food and $22 billion on clothes in 2012 despite the strict sanctions, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, so it's safe to assume that consumer products' firms will be looking to enter Iran's market as well.
Some say that the nation's population is nostalgic for American-made goods, especially cars, that used to be available before the sanctions were in place.
Risks
While the figures may look good on paper, many companies are likely to be hesitant to expand into Iran at first. For some, there are ethical issues about investing in a country that has been associated with terrorism. For others, there is a worry that the nuclear deal won't hold up.
Even if the West and Iran can iron out a concrete agreement by the end of June, there is a possibility that Iran won't comply with the terms of the agreement at some point in the future, which could mean more sanctions that would prevent businesses from moving their money out of Iran.
Image Credit: Public Domain
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• Bitcoin Foundation Accused: Misleading Members
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Iran Ripe For Investment Once Sanctions Are Lifted: From oil to consumer goods, Iran is becoming a sought after marketplace as the potential of a nuclear deal removing Western sanctions is looking more and more likely. Everyone from individual investors to major companies is looking at the Middle Eastern nation as an emerging market with an enormous amount of untapped potential. Investment In Oil While oil prices are likely to take a hit with the introduction of Iranian oil to the market, the Iranian oil sector is a valuable investment for U.S. and European companies looking to enter the nation's market. In September, Iranian officials are planning a conference in London, at which foreign firms can evaluate the conditions of new oil contracts. Expectations are high that Western companies will be interested in taking on joint ventures with Iran's National Iranian Oil Company once the sanctions have been lifted. Related Link: Could The Iran Nuke Deal Really Push Oil Prices Down Another ? Banking Iran is home to nearly 80 million people, providing a huge market that could become even more attractive than the nation's wealth of natural resources. At the moment, only a sliver of that population has a debit card and even fewer have any debt. For that reason, Western financial firms are likely to make their way into Iran as soon as possible with the introduction of credit cards and borrowing. Consumer Products Iranians spent $77 billion on food and $22 billion on clothes in 2012 despite the strict sanctions, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, so it's safe to assume that consumer products' firms will be looking to enter Iran's market as well. Some say that the nation's population is nostalgic for American-made goods, especially cars, that used to be available before the sanctions were in place. Risks While the figures may look good on paper, many companies are likely to be hesitant to expand into Iran at first. For some, there are ethical issues about investing in a country that has been associated with terrorism. For others, there is a worry that the nuclear deal won't hold up. Story continues Even if the West and Iran can iron out a concrete agreement by the end of June, there is a possibility that Iran won't comply with the terms of the agreement at some point in the future, which could mean more sanctions that would prevent businesses from moving their money out of Iran. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Will Russia Help Ease Greek Debt? AIG Becomes The Latest Company To Use Drones Bitcoin Foundation Accused: Misleading Members © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Foundation Accused: Misleading Members: Bitcoin received another blow to its image over the weekend, when newly elected Bitcoin Foundation board member Olivier Janssens announced that the Foundation was "effectively bankrupt" and accused the group's leadership of misleading the public.
Janssens' claims have yet to be verified, but the Foundation released a statement on Tuesday denying those claims, though the damage may have already been done.
Poor Management
The Bitcoin Foundation has been an advocate for thecryptocurrency's mainstream adoption, but Janssens said that poor decision making and misleading the public has made it a poor example for the community.
Related Link:Rand Paul Uses Bitcoin To Boost His Campaign
In a blog post titled "The Truth About the Bitcoin Foundation," Janssens detailed how the Foundation nearly ran out of money last year and fired 90 percent of its staff.
Janssens also called on current members to organize a vote to replace the entire board or shut down the Foundation completely.
Foundation Denies Claims
The Foundation responded on Tuesday with an official blog post claiming that Janssens' claims were completely unfounded.
The post admitted that the foundation has been struggling with funding due to the sharp decline in bitcoin's value, but claimed it was not bankrupt. The post also said that many of its staff left voluntarily, and although the foundation did "downsize," it did not fire 90 percent of its workers.
Difficult To Move Forward
Now it will be up to members of the bitcoin advocacy group to determine how this public dispute is settled. The Foundation's head of core developers responded to Janssens' post, saying that it was important to move forward legally and transparently in order to restore the Foundation's image, though many believe the organization has already lost the public's trust.
Image Credit: Public Domain
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• Greece Promises To Pay, But With What Cash?
• Colorado Residents To Decide If The Government Keeps Or Refunds Their Money
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Foundation Accused: Misleading Members: Bitcoin received another blow to its image over the weekend, when newly elected Bitcoin Foundation board member Olivier Janssens announced that the Foundation was " effectively bankrupt " and accused the group's leadership of misleading the public. Janssens' claims have yet to be verified, but the Foundation released a statement on Tuesday denying those claims, though the damage may have already been done. Poor Management The Bitcoin Foundation has been an advocate for the cryptocurrency 's mainstream adoption, but Janssens said that poor decision making and misleading the public has made it a poor example for the community. Related Link: Rand Paul Uses Bitcoin To Boost His Campaign In a blog post titled "The Truth About the Bitcoin Foundation," Janssens detailed how the Foundation nearly ran out of money last year and fired 90 percent of its staff. Janssens also called on current members to organize a vote to replace the entire board or shut down the Foundation completely. Foundation Denies Claims The Foundation responded on Tuesday with an official blog post claiming that Janssens' claims were completely unfounded. The post admitted that the foundation has been struggling with funding due to the sharp decline in bitcoin's value, but claimed it was not bankrupt. The post also said that many of its staff left voluntarily, and although the foundation did "downsize," it did not fire 90 percent of its workers. Difficult To Move Forward Now it will be up to members of the bitcoin advocacy group to determine how this public dispute is settled. The Foundation's head of core developers responded to Janssens' post, saying that it was important to move forward legally and transparently in order to restore the Foundation's image, though many believe the organization has already lost the public's trust. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Investors Look To Iran With An End To Sanctions In Sight Greece Promises To Pay, But With What Cash? Colorado Residents To Decide If The Government Keeps Or Refunds Their Money © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Foundation Accused: Misleading Members: Bitcoin received another blow to its image over the weekend, when newly elected Bitcoin Foundation board member Olivier Janssens announced that the Foundation was "effectively bankrupt" and accused the group's leadership of misleading the public.
Janssens' claims have yet to be verified, but the Foundation released a statement on Tuesday denying those claims, though the damage may have already been done.
Poor Management
The Bitcoin Foundation has been an advocate for thecryptocurrency's mainstream adoption, but Janssens said that poor decision making and misleading the public has made it a poor example for the community.
Related Link:Rand Paul Uses Bitcoin To Boost His Campaign
In a blog post titled "The Truth About the Bitcoin Foundation," Janssens detailed how the Foundation nearly ran out of money last year and fired 90 percent of its staff.
Janssens also called on current members to organize a vote to replace the entire board or shut down the Foundation completely.
Foundation Denies Claims
The Foundation responded on Tuesday with an official blog post claiming that Janssens' claims were completely unfounded.
The post admitted that the foundation has been struggling with funding due to the sharp decline in bitcoin's value, but claimed it was not bankrupt. The post also said that many of its staff left voluntarily, and although the foundation did "downsize," it did not fire 90 percent of its workers.
Difficult To Move Forward
Now it will be up to members of the bitcoin advocacy group to determine how this public dispute is settled. The Foundation's head of core developers responded to Janssens' post, saying that it was important to move forward legally and transparently in order to restore the Foundation's image, though many believe the organization has already lost the public's trust.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• Investors Look To Iran With An End To Sanctions In Sight
• Greece Promises To Pay, But With What Cash?
• Colorado Residents To Decide If The Government Keeps Or Refunds Their Money
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Greece Promises To Pay, But With What Cash?: After much speculation that Greece was almost out of cash, the nation confirmed this week that it had enough money to make its debt payment to the International Monetary Fund on Thursday. Athens is due to pay 460 million to the IMF, but stalled negotiations with Greece's EU creditors had many worried that the payment would be missed. However, on Sunday, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, that Athens would pay on time. But, How? Many are wondering just where Greece will get that money from, as EU lawmakers are still unsatisfied with Athens' proposals of economic reform. Greece's creditors are withholding the next installment of bailout money until Athens proves that it is committed to economic reform and will make the necessary changes and stick to them. Without the EU funding, the Greek treasury is rumored to run dry on April 9. Related Link: Here's What Happens If Greece Runs Out Of Money A New Source Of Income On Monday, the Greek government revealed part of its plan to recoup some of that money; World War II reparations from Germany. Greek Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas claimed in parliament that Berlin owed 278.7 billion in World War II compensation, which German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said was "dumb." German officials say the war reparations claims are being used as a distraction from the nation's crippled finances and are unlikely to pay up. Grexit Still A Worry In any case, it is clear that Greece is strapped for cash, and the deteriorating relationship between Athens and its EU creditors is becoming worrisome for investors. If the two don't come to an agreement soon, Greece may default and be forced to exit the eurozone. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Colorado Residents To Decide If The Government Keeps Or Refunds Their Money Rand Paul Uses Bitcoin To Boost His Campaign Spoiler Alert: Google Could Be Watching What You're Watching © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Greece Promises To Pay, But With What Cash?: After much speculation that Greece was almost out of cash, the nationconfirmedthis week that it had enough money to make its debt payment to the International Monetary Fund on Thursday.
Athens is due to pay€460 millionto the IMF, but stalled negotiations with Greece's EU creditors had many worried that the payment would be missed. However, on Sunday, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, that Athens would pay on time.
But, How?
Many are wondering just where Greece will get that money from, as EU lawmakers are still unsatisfied with Athens' proposals of economic reform. Greece's creditors are withholding the next installment of bailout money until Athens proves that it is committed to economic reform and will make the necessary changes and stick to them.
Without the EU funding, the Greek treasury is rumored to run dry on April 9.
Related Link:Here's What Happens If Greece Runs Out Of Money
A New Source Of Income
On Monday, the Greek government revealed part of its plan to recoup some of that money; World War II reparations from Germany.
Greek Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas claimed in parliament that Berlin owed €278.7 billion in World War II compensation, which German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said was "dumb."
German officials say the war reparations claims are being used as a distraction from the nation's crippled finances and are unlikely to pay up.
Grexit Still A Worry
In any case, it is clear that Greece is strapped for cash, and the deteriorating relationship between Athens and its EU creditors is becoming worrisome for investors.
If the two don't come to an agreement soon, Greece may default and be forced to exit the eurozone.
Image Credit: Public Domain
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• Spoiler Alert: Google Could Be Watching What You're Watching
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Colorado Residents To Decide If The Government Keeps Or Refunds Their Money: Colorado stands as a shining example of just how beneficial the marijuana industry can be for state governments. The state's recreational marijuana sales were taxed at a staggering 28 percent, resulting in nearly$60 millionworth of tax dollars this year.
While that figure is below initial projections, it provided the state with an entirely new source of income. One of the key reasons voters elect to legalize marijuana is the increased funding for projects they care about, and Colorado is no exception.
The revenue brought in by pot sales in Colorado was earmarked for projects likeschool construction and upkeep, but the state's tax law may return those funds to taxpayers instead.
Related Link: What States Support Marijuana Legalization?
Refund
Colorado's legislation says that the state government is only allowed to bring in a certain amount of money each year via tax dollars, and the marijuana tax money has exceeded that figure.
The law dictates that the government must return the excess to taxpayers, but state officials say they should be allowed to keep the money and spend it as they promised.
Up To The Voters
Lawmakers in Colorado are currently working on a bill that will allow voters to determine what happens to that extra money. Instead of making the refund, state officials are appealing to residents to let the government keep the money in order to carry out the projects that were promised to voters when marijuana was legalized.
The bill itself will take some time, but if put to a vote, many believe that the state's population will wave their refund.
Image Credit: Public Domain
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© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Colorado Residents To Decide If The Government Keeps Or Refunds Their Money: Colorado stands as a shining example of just how beneficial the marijuana industry can be for state governments. The state's recreational marijuana sales were taxed at a staggering 28 percent, resulting in nearly $60 million worth of tax dollars this year. While that figure is below initial projections, it provided the state with an entirely new source of income. One of the key reasons voters elect to legalize marijuana is the increased funding for projects they care about, and Colorado is no exception. The revenue brought in by pot sales in Colorado was earmarked for projects like school construction and upkeep , but the state's tax law may return those funds to taxpayers instead. Related Link: What States Support Marijuana Legalization? Refund Colorado's legislation says that the state government is only allowed to bring in a certain amount of money each year via tax dollars, and the marijuana tax money has exceeded that figure. The law dictates that the government must return the excess to taxpayers, but state officials say they should be allowed to keep the money and spend it as they promised. Up To The Voters Lawmakers in Colorado are currently working on a bill that will allow voters to determine what happens to that extra money. Instead of making the refund, state officials are appealing to residents to let the government keep the money in order to carry out the projects that were promised to voters when marijuana was legalized. The bill itself will take some time, but if put to a vote, many believe that the state's population will wave their refund. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Rand Paul Uses Bitcoin To Boost His Campaign Spoiler Alert: Google Could Be Watching What You're Watching Why U.S. Tech Companies Are Getting Slammed In Europe © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Is LEOcoin The Real Deal?: Last week, LEOcoin had its official debut and the coin's creators claimed it would become the second largest cryptocurrency in the world after bitcoin.
However, the launch was met with muchskepticismfrom cryptocurrency enthusiasts, who say the altcoin is nothing more than a "pump and dump" scam.
LEOcoin To Take Cryptocurrency Mainstream
Dan Andersson, one of LEOcoin's founders, has said the cryptocurrency is more accessible and easier to use than bitcoin, and thus will be a good catalyst to push digital currencies into mainstream use.
Andersson claims that his relationship with thousands of big name companies through the Learning Enterprises Organization will help spread the adoption of LEOcoin to merchants around the world. He claims that over 30,000 merchants have already signed on to accept the currency and that the number of users has risen to 150,000.
Related Link:Bitcoin's Jail Stint Creates New Currency Offering
Is LEOcoin Really Such A Big Deal?
Many are criticizing LEOcoin, saying that Andersson's claims are unfounded and likely untrue. Since LEOcoin has yet to release a list of merchants willing to accept the currency, some have begun to doubt what he said. Also, LEOcoin has been criticized for touting its existence as a "new" coin offering. While its true that the official launch was on April 2, the coin has been mined since August 2014, something critics say the altcoin's founders were not forthcoming about.
Only Time Will Tell
While the April 2 launch was shadowed by skepticism, many are excited about the new coin and look forward to its mainstream adoption. However, both supporters and critics will have to wait to find out whether or not the altcoin will withstand the test of time.
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© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Is LEOcoin The Real Deal?: Last week, LEOcoin had its official debut and the coin's creators claimed it would become the second largest cryptocurrency in the world after bitcoin. However, the launch was met with much skepticism from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, who say the altcoin is nothing more than a "pump and dump" scam. LEOcoin To Take Cryptocurrency Mainstream Dan Andersson, one of LEOcoin's founders, has said the cryptocurrency is more accessible and easier to use than bitcoin, and thus will be a good catalyst to push digital currencies into mainstream use. Andersson claims that his relationship with thousands of big name companies through the Learning Enterprises Organization will help spread the adoption of LEOcoin to merchants around the world. He claims that over 30,000 merchants have already signed on to accept the currency and that the number of users has risen to 150,000. Related Link: Bitcoin's Jail Stint Creates New Currency Offering Is LEOcoin Really Such A Big Deal? Many are criticizing LEOcoin, saying that Andersson's claims are unfounded and likely untrue. Since LEOcoin has yet to release a list of merchants willing to accept the currency, some have begun to doubt what he said. Also, LEOcoin has been criticized for touting its existence as a "new" coin offering. While its true that the official launch was on April 2, the coin has been mined since August 2014, something critics say the altcoin's founders were not forthcoming about. Only Time Will Tell While the April 2 launch was shadowed by skepticism, many are excited about the new coin and look forward to its mainstream adoption. However, both supporters and critics will have to wait to find out whether or not the altcoin will withstand the test of time. See more from Benzinga Dropbox Squaring Up Against Google Docs Marijuana May Play An Important Role In The 2016 Presidential Race SeatGeek Takes Comparison Shopping To The Theater © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Online Viagra Generic and Brand Cialis: Rand Pauljust announced that he's running for president in 2016, and he's pretty flexible about what kinds of donations he'll accept.
His campaign website, headlined "Stand with Rand," allows people to make donations with a credit card, PayPal, or the digital currency bitcoin.
Viagra Generic and Brand Cialis
, a libertarian-oriented Republican senator from Kentucky, said in a statement on hisupdated campaign websiteon Tuesday that he's running for president "to return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government."
Paul's slogan willreportedly includea vow to "defeat the Washington machine."
But Viagra Generic and Brand Cialis
pointed out on Tuesdaythat Paul has been contradicting some of the messages he built his image on in order to court donors:
The firebrand who wants to scale back the authority of the Federal Reserve has been quietly courting Wall Street donors. The anti-war agitator who mounted a 13-hour filibuster to call attention to the United States' use of drones recently proposed a boost to military spending.
And the 52-year-old former eye surgeon who harnessed the anti-establishment energy of the Tea Party movement has been raising money for fellow Republicans, at times upsetting the grassroots activists who have made him a national figure.
Also this
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, a board member of the Bitcoin Foundationannounced that the group is effectively bankrupt. As Arstechnica points out, the foundation is "the closest thing to a public face that the [bitcoin] community has."
(h/t @TheStalwart)
NOW WATCH:Here's what it takes to be President Obama's right-hand man
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• Rand Paul goes off on Hillary Clinton, and says she's disqualified from bashing Uber
• Hillary Clinton just called out the economic problem of the next decade
• Donald Trump's most surprising failures and successes || Online Viagra Generic and Brand Cialis: Online Viagra Generic and Brand Cialis Rand Paul just announced that he's running for president in 2016 , and he's pretty flexible about what kinds of donations he'll accept. His campaign website, headlined "Stand with Rand," allows people to make donations with a credit card, PayPal, or the digital currency bitcoin. Rand Paul bitcoin Viagra Generic and Brand Cialis , a libertarian-oriented Republican senator from Kentucky, said in a statement on his updated campaign website on Tuesday that he's running for president "to return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government." Paul's slogan will reportedly include a vow to "defeat the Washington machine." But Viagra Generic and Brand Cialis pointed out on Tuesday that Paul has been contradicting some of the messages he built his image on in order to court donors: The firebrand who wants to scale back the authority of the Federal Reserve has been quietly courting Wall Street donors. The anti-war agitator who mounted a 13-hour filibuster to call attention to the United States' use of drones recently proposed a boost to military spending. And the 52-year-old former eye surgeon who harnessed the anti-establishment energy of the Tea Party movement has been raising money for fellow Republicans, at times upsetting the grassroots activists who have made him a national figure. Also this Online Viagra Generic and Brand Cialis , a board member of the Bitcoin Foundation announced that the group is effectively bankrupt . As Arstechnica points out, the foundation is "the closest thing to a public face that the [bitcoin] community has." ( h/t @TheStalwart ) NOW WATCH: Here's what it takes to be President Obama's right-hand man More From Business Insider Rand Paul goes off on Hillary Clinton, and says she's disqualified from bashing Uber Hillary Clinton just called out the economic problem of the next decade Donald Trump's most surprising failures and successes || Bitcoin alternative in 'pyramid scheme' storm: The founders of a new digital currency, known as LEOCoin, have hit back at reports published over the weekend linking them with a suspected pyramid scheme back in 2012. Last week, U.K.-based Learning Enterprises Organisation (LEO) unveiled a trading platform in Hong Kong for its cryptocurrency called LEOCoin, which the company is promoting as an alternative to more popular digital currencies like bitcoin (: BTC=) . At a London launch the previous week, LEO boasted that it had already promoted the product to its current client base, claiming it meant over 100,000 entrepreneurs were already actively using the cryptocurrency in anticipation of its official trading debut, with around 30,000 merchants already signed up. It also claimed this made it the "second largest digital currency" in the world, second to bitcoin, but has been slammed by reports on industry websites in the last week. Joel Dalais, a virtual currency entrepreneur and the director of bitcoin exchange IBWT, said on cryptocoinsnews.com that LEOCoin was a "good example of what a pump and dump coin looks like." He also dismissed its claims of its sizeable usage as "bulls*t." Read More Bitcoin gets a rival-how will it fare? An article by another industry website, called CoinDesk , delved into the history of project founders Dan Anderson and Atif Kamran and said that both were caught up in a controversy surrounding a suspected pyramid scheme, called UNAICO Pakistan, that was warned by the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan in 2012. Published online , the report by the Pakistani SEC said it had received various complaints from the public claiming that UNAICO was a pyramid scheme. The letter, dated April 2012, concludes that the company's activities did "broadly fall" within the definition of "fraudulent activities" and gave a recommendation to shut down the firm. LEO's Dan Anderson is named as being the CEO of UNAICO at the time and Atif Kamran was also linked to the company through Sitetalk, a social community platform that is described as a "sister concern" by the Pakistani commission. Story continues A pyramid scheme is usually described as a program whereby participants try to make money by recruiting new members to the scheme before the program collapses and some members lose money. The CoinDesk article quotes an expert witness in the prosecution of pyramid schemes, William Keep, as saying that some of LEO's business model does raise questions, in particular highlighting that it provides incentives for users to recruit others. LEO, meanwhile, has strongly refuted these claims telling CNBC via email that they were "completely untrue." "Dan Anderson and Atif Kamran have never been involved in any sort of scam and the comments about them have misunderstood the facts entirely," a spokesperson for LEO said in the emailed statement. Both resigned from UNAICO and Sitetalk after disagreeing about the direction the business was taking, according to the statement, which said that they had also ensured reimbursements for those that lost money. They have been officially discharged of all liabilities and cooperated fully with authorities in all of these matters, the spokesperson added. The company also aimed to cool talk that it was artificially inflating its user base. At the event in London in March, LEO conceded that the cryptocurrency was targeted more at small and medium-sized businesses - especially in emerging economies - rather than the large conglomerates that have started to accept bitcoin. A few examples of merchants revealed to CNBC that used LEOCoin were a Pakistani company called Capital Motors, a financial services firm in Slovenia called Profitus Skupina and a German-based energy efficiency services firm called Transformer. A U.K.-based equine sports massage company called Happy Horse World is also on its roster as well as Strel Swimming, a U.K. based online company that organizes swimming tours around Europe. Borut Strel, a director at Strel, told CNBC via telephone that the company had only seen between 10 and 15 transactions made using the cryptocurrency, but predicted the sector as a whole was on the verge of a "new era." The more popular bitcoin is a "virtual" currency that allows users to exchange online credits for goods and services. While there is no central bank that issues them, bitcoins can be created online by using a computer to complete difficult tasks, a process known as mining. A plethora of so-called "altcoins," or alternative coins, have sprung up alongside bitcoin. Dogecoin, which was initially started as a joke in 2013 and is based on an internet meme, is still the sixth largest digital currency in terms of market capitalization, according to coinmarketcap.com. More From CNBC CNBC.com News Page CNBC.com Blogs Page CNBC.com Earnings Central || Bitcoin alternative in 'pyramid scheme' storm: The founders of a new digital currency, known as LEOCoin, have hit back at reports published over the weekend linking them with a suspected pyramid scheme back in 2012.
Last week, U.K.-based Learning Enterprises Organisation (LEO) unveiled a trading platform in Hong Kong for its cryptocurrency called LEOCoin, which the company is promoting as an alternative to more popular digital currencies like bitcoin(: BTC=).
At a London launch the previous week, LEO boasted that it had already promoted the product to its current client base, claiming it meant over 100,000 entrepreneurs were already actively using the cryptocurrency in anticipation of its official trading debut, with around 30,000 merchants already signed up.
It also claimed this made it the "second largest digital currency" in the world, second to bitcoin, but has been slammed by reports on industry websites in the last week. Joel Dalais, a virtual currency entrepreneur and the director of bitcoin exchange IBWT, said oncryptocoinsnews.comthat LEOCoin was a "good example of what a pump and dump coin looks like." He also dismissed its claims of its sizeable usage as "bulls*t."
Read MoreBitcoin gets a rival-how will it fare?
An article by another industry website, calledCoinDesk, delved into the history of project founders Dan Anderson and Atif Kamran and said that both were caught up in a controversy surrounding a suspected pyramid scheme, called UNAICO Pakistan, that was warned by the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan in 2012.
Published online, the report by the Pakistani SEC said it had received various complaints from the public claiming that UNAICO was a pyramid scheme. The letter, dated April 2012, concludes that the company's activities did "broadly fall" within the definition of "fraudulent activities" and gave a recommendation to shut down the firm.
LEO's Dan Anderson is named as being the CEO of UNAICO at the time and Atif Kamran was also linked to the company through Sitetalk, a social community platform that is described as a "sister concern" by the Pakistani commission.
A pyramid scheme is usually described as a program whereby participants try to make money by recruiting new members to the scheme before the program collapses and some members lose money. The CoinDesk article quotes an expert witness in the prosecution of pyramid schemes, William Keep, as saying that some of LEO's business model does raise questions, in particular highlighting that it provides incentives for users to recruit others.
LEO, meanwhile, has strongly refuted these claims telling CNBC via email that they were "completely untrue."
"Dan Anderson and Atif Kamran have never been involved in any sort of scam and the comments about them have misunderstood the facts entirely," a spokesperson for LEO said in the emailed statement.
Both resigned from UNAICO and Sitetalk after disagreeing about the direction the business was taking, according to the statement, which said that they had also ensured reimbursements for those that lost money. They have been officially discharged of all liabilities and cooperated fully with authorities in all of these matters, the spokesperson added.
The company also aimed to cool talk that it was artificially inflating its user base. At the event in London in March, LEO conceded that the cryptocurrency was targeted more at small and medium-sized businesses - especially in emerging economies - rather than the large conglomerates that have started to accept bitcoin.
A few examples of merchants revealed to CNBC that used LEOCoin were a Pakistani company called Capital Motors, a financial services firm in Slovenia called Profitus Skupina and a German-based energy efficiency services firm called Transformer.
A U.K.-based equine sports massage company called Happy Horse World is also on its roster as well as Strel Swimming, a U.K. based online company that organizes swimming tours around Europe. Borut Strel, a director at Strel, told CNBC via telephone that the company had only seen between 10 and 15 transactions made using the cryptocurrency, but predicted the sector as a whole was on the verge of a "new era."
The more popular bitcoin is a "virtual" currency that allows users to exchange online credits for goods and services. While there is no central bank that issues them, bitcoins can be created online by using a computer to complete difficult tasks, a process known as mining. A plethora of so-called "altcoins," or alternative coins, have sprung up alongside bitcoin. Dogecoin, which was initially started as a joke in 2013 and is based on an internet meme, is still the sixth largest digital currency in terms of market capitalization, according to coinmarketcap.com.
More From CNBC
• CNBC.com News Page
• CNBC.com Blogs Page
• CNBC.com Earnings Central
[Social Media Buzz]
current #bitcoin price (winkdex) is $235.94, last changed Sat, 11 Apr 2015 05:18:00 GMT. queried at: 05:21:38 || current #bitcoin price (winkdex) is $235.56, last changed Sat, 11 Apr 2015 01:59:00 GMT. queried at: 02:01:37 || LIVE: Profit = $320.31 (4.62 %). BUY B29.83 @ $232.00 (#BTCe). SELL @ $233.63 (#HitBTC) #bitcoin #btc - http://www.projectcoin.org || current #bitcoin price (bitfinex) is $237.27, last changed Sun, 12 Apr 2015 00:32:10 GMT. queried at: 00:32:19 || current #bitcoin price...
|
236.15, 224.59, 219.16, 223.83, 228.57, 222.88, 223.36, 222.60, 224.63, 235.27
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 245.31, 249.51, 251.99, 254.32, 262.87, 270.64, 261.64, 263.44, 269.46, 266.27, 274.02, 276.50, 281.65, 283.68, 285.30, 293.79, 304.62, 313.86, 328.02, 314.17, 325.43, 361.19, 403.42, 411.56, 386.35, 374.47, 386.48, 373.37, 380.26, 336.82, 311.08, 338.15, 336.75, 332.91, 320.17, 330.75, 335.09, 334.59, 326.15, 322.02, 326.93, 324.54, 323.05, 320.05, 328.21, 352.68, 358.04, 357.38, 371.29, 377.32, 362.49, 359.19, 361.05, 363.18, 388.95, 388.78, 395.54, 415.56, 417.56, 415.48, 451.94, 435.00, 433.76, 444.18, 465.32, 454.93, 456.08, 463.62, 462.32, 442.68, 438.64, 436.57, 442.40, 454.98, 455.65, 417.27, 422.82, 422.28, 432.98, 426.62, 430.57, 434.33, 433.44, 430.01, 433.09, 431.96, 429.11, 458.05, 453.23, 447.61.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-01-09]
Volume: 32278000, RSI (14-day): 57.77, 50-day EMA: 411.15, 200-day EMA: 328.98
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
You say advertising, I say block that malware: The real reason online advertising is doomed and adblockers thrive? Its malware epidemic is unacknowledged, and out of control.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 list came out this week and it featured a prominent security researcher. Other researchers were pleased to see one of their own getting positive attention, and visited the site in droves to view the list.
On arrival, like a growing number of websites, Forbes asked readers to turn off ad blockers in order to view the article. After doing so, visitors were immediately served with pop-under malware, primed to infect their computers, and likely silently steal passwords, personal data and banking information. Or, as is popular worldwide with these malware "exploit kits," lock up their hard drives in exchange for Bitcoin ransom.
One researcher commented on Twitter that the situation was "ironic" -- and while it's certainly another variant ofhackenfreude, ironic isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe what happened.
That's because this situation spotlights what happened in 2015 to billions -- yep, billions -- of people who were victims of virus-infected ads which were spread via ad networks like germs from a sneeze across the world's most popular websites.
Less than a month ago, a bogus banner ad was found serving malvertising to visitors of video site DailyMotion. After discovering it, security companyMalwarebytescontacted the online ad platform the bad ad was coming through, Atomx. The company blamed a "rogue" advertiser on the WWPromoter network.
It was estimated the adware broadcast through DailyMotion put 128 million people at risk. To be specific, it was from the notorious malware family called "Angler Exploit Kit." Remember this name, because I'm pretty sure we're going to be getting to know it a whole lot better in 2016.
Last August, Angler struck MSN.com with -- you guessed it -- another drive-by malvertising campaign. It was the same campaign that had infected Yahoo visitors back in July (an estimated 6.9 billion visits per month, it'sconsideredthe biggest malvertising attack so far).
October saw Angler targeting Daily Mail visitors through poisoned ads as well (monthly ad impressions64.4 million). Only last month, Angler's malicious ads hit visitors to Reader's Digest (210K readers;ad impressions 1.7M). That attack sat unattended after being in the press, and was fixed only after a week of public outcry.
It's crazy to consider what a perfect marriage this is, between the advertisers and the criminals pushing the exploit kits. They have alotin common.
Both try to trick us into giving them something we don't want to. We've recently learned that both entities surveil and track us beyond what we're OK with. And both are hard to get rid of. You know, like those gross toenail and skin condition ad-banners found at the bottom of every cheapo blog you've ever seen, forever burned into the "can't unsee" section of your brain.
It actually makes business sense to think about malware attacks like an advertiser. You want to deliver your infection to, and scrape those dollars from, every little reader out there. You need a targeted delivery system, with the widest distribution, and as many clueless middlemen as possible.
It's easy to want to blame Reader's Digest, or Yahoo, or Forbes, or Daily Mail, or any of these sites for screwing viewers by serving them malicious ads and not telling them, or not helping them with the cleanup afterward. And it's a hell of a lot easier when they've compelled us to turn off our ad blockers to simply see what brought us to their site.
But the problem is coming through them, from the ad networks themselves. The same ones, it should be mentioned, who control the Faustian bargains made by bartering and selling our information.
What should the websites do? The ad networks clearly don't have a handle on this at all, giving us one more reason to use ad blockers. They're practically the most popular malware delivery systems on Earth, and they're making the websites they do business with into the same poisonous monster. I don't even want to think about what it all means for the security practices of the ad companies handling our tracking data or the sites we visit hosting these pathogens.
So, to my friend on theForbes 30 Under 30 list-- a malware researcher, which I'll concede is actually ironic -- I'm sorry I won't be seeing your time in that particular spotlight. What we need is a word for the fact that ad blockers have become our first line of defense against a malware epidemic. Especially during a time when the sites we visit are begging, pleading, demanding and practically tricking us into turning off Ad Block Plus.
[Image credit: Getty Images] || You say advertising, I say block that malware: The real reason online advertising is doomed and adblockers thrive? Its malware epidemic is unacknowledged, and out of control. The Forbes 30 Under 30 list came out this week and it featured a prominent security researcher. Other researchers were pleased to see one of their own getting positive attention, and visited the site in droves to view the list. On arrival, like a growing number of websites, Forbes asked readers to turn off ad blockers in order to view the article. After doing so, visitors were immediately served with pop-under malware, primed to infect their computers, and likely silently steal passwords, personal data and banking information. Or, as is popular worldwide with these malware "exploit kits," lock up their hard drives in exchange for Bitcoin ransom. One researcher commented on Twitter that the situation was "ironic" -- and while it's certainly another variant of hackenfreude , ironic isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe what happened. The @Forbes website held content until I disabled Ad Blocker. I did so and was immediately given pop-under malware. pic.twitter.com/eDVRAA9ZSu — Brian Baskin (@bbaskin) January 4, 2016 That's because this situation spotlights what happened in 2015 to billions -- yep, billions -- of people who were victims of virus-infected ads which were spread via ad networks like germs from a sneeze across the world's most popular websites. Less than a month ago, a bogus banner ad was found serving malvertising to visitors of video site DailyMotion. After discovering it, security company Malwarebytes contacted the online ad platform the bad ad was coming through, Atomx. The company blamed a "rogue" advertiser on the WWPromoter network. It was estimated the adware broadcast through DailyMotion put 128 million people at risk. To be specific, it was from the notorious malware family called "Angler Exploit Kit." Remember this name, because I'm pretty sure we're going to be getting to know it a whole lot better in 2016. Story continues Last August, Angler struck MSN.com with -- you guessed it -- another drive-by malvertising campaign. It was the same campaign that had infected Yahoo visitors back in July (an estimated 6.9 billion visits per month, it's considered the biggest malvertising attack so far). October saw Angler targeting Daily Mail visitors through poisoned ads as well (monthly ad impressions 64.4 million ). Only last month, Angler's malicious ads hit visitors to Reader's Digest (210K readers; ad impressions 1.7M ). That attack sat unattended after being in the press, and was fixed only after a week of public outcry. It's crazy to consider what a perfect marriage this is, between the advertisers and the criminals pushing the exploit kits. They have a lot in common. pop-up ads coming out of laptop screen with a spring Both try to trick us into giving them something we don't want to. We've recently learned that both entities surveil and track us beyond what we're OK with. And both are hard to get rid of. You know, like those gross toenail and skin condition ad-banners found at the bottom of every cheapo blog you've ever seen, forever burned into the "can't unsee" section of your brain. It actually makes business sense to think about malware attacks like an advertiser. You want to deliver your infection to, and scrape those dollars from, every little reader out there. You need a targeted delivery system, with the widest distribution, and as many clueless middlemen as possible. It's easy to want to blame Reader's Digest, or Yahoo, or Forbes, or Daily Mail, or any of these sites for screwing viewers by serving them malicious ads and not telling them, or not helping them with the cleanup afterward. And it's a hell of a lot easier when they've compelled us to turn off our ad blockers to simply see what brought us to their site. But the problem is coming through them, from the ad networks themselves. The same ones, it should be mentioned, who control the Faustian bargains made by bartering and selling our information. What should the websites do? The ad networks clearly don't have a handle on this at all, giving us one more reason to use ad blockers. They're practically the most popular malware delivery systems on Earth, and they're making the websites they do business with into the same poisonous monster. I don't even want to think about what it all means for the security practices of the ad companies handling our tracking data or the sites we visit hosting these pathogens. So, to my friend on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list -- a malware researcher, which I'll concede is actually ironic -- I'm sorry I won't be seeing your time in that particular spotlight. What we need is a word for the fact that ad blockers have become our first line of defense against a malware epidemic. Especially during a time when the sites we visit are begging, pleading, demanding and practically tricking us into turning off Ad Block Plus. [Image credit: Getty Images] || Interest In Bitcoin Mining Returns: While markets around the world suffered significant turbulence this week, bitcoinclimbed6 percent.
The cryptocurrency is well known for its wild swings in valuation, but many say the digital currency is back on a more stable path and could prove a worthwhile investment in the New Year. In 2015, bitcoin fell as low, as $183 as confidence in the cryptocurrency's staying power waned. However, on Thursday, bitcoin was trading at $429, a significant increase.
Mining Returns
With bitcoin on the upswing, bitcoin mining has begun togain popularityonce again, according to Bloomberg.
Related Link:Mike Tyson Dives Deeper Into Bitcoin
When cryptocurrencies were first introduced, miners set up their computers to solve complex problems and be rewarded with the release of new coins. As the value of bitcoin went up, so did the profitability of bitcoin mining. However, last year as bitcoin prices plummeted, the number of miners significantly declined as the cost to buy hardware and pay electric bills to run the machines outweighed the rewards.
Now that bitcoin has made its way higher, mining efforts are increasing – especially among those who bought the necessary hardware last year, but haven't been able to make use of it.
A Risky Business
While mining is gaining popularity once again, many caution that bitcoin's price isn't the only factor that drives profitability for miners. This year, bitcoin's software will reduce the number of coins that miners receive for mining activities by half, something that could have an impact on the time it takes to recoup investment costs.
Not only that, but bitcoin's price is far from stable. In past years, bitcoin's wild swings in value have proven that it is difficult to predict whether the cryptocurrency will be able to continue trading at current levels, making investing in mining equipment a bit of a gamble.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• Should Investors Be Worried About Apple?
• CES Paints Worrying Picture For Telecoms
• Netflix Gains On Expansion News, But Some Still Wary
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Interest In Bitcoin Mining Returns: While markets around the world suffered significant turbulence this week, bitcoin climbed 6 percent. The cryptocurrency is well known for its wild swings in valuation, but many say the digital currency is back on a more stable path and could prove a worthwhile investment in the New Year. In 2015, bitcoin fell as low, as $183 as confidence in the cryptocurrency's staying power waned. However, on Thursday, bitcoin was trading at $429, a significant increase. Mining Returns With bitcoin on the upswing, bitcoin mining has begun to gain popularity once again, according to Bloomberg. Related Link: Mike Tyson Dives Deeper Into Bitcoin When cryptocurrencies were first introduced, miners set up their computers to solve complex problems and be rewarded with the release of new coins. As the value of bitcoin went up, so did the profitability of bitcoin mining. However, last year as bitcoin prices plummeted, the number of miners significantly declined as the cost to buy hardware and pay electric bills to run the machines outweighed the rewards. Now that bitcoin has made its way higher, mining efforts are increasing – especially among those who bought the necessary hardware last year, but haven't been able to make use of it. A Risky Business While mining is gaining popularity once again, many caution that bitcoin's price isn't the only factor that drives profitability for miners. This year, bitcoin's software will reduce the number of coins that miners receive for mining activities by half, something that could have an impact on the time it takes to recoup investment costs. Not only that, but bitcoin's price is far from stable. In past years, bitcoin's wild swings in value have proven that it is difficult to predict whether the cryptocurrency will be able to continue trading at current levels, making investing in mining equipment a bit of a gamble. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Should Investors Be Worried About Apple? CES Paints Worrying Picture For Telecoms Netflix Gains On Expansion News, But Some Still Wary © 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Interest In Bitcoin Mining Returns: While markets around the world suffered significant turbulence this week, bitcoinclimbed6 percent.
The cryptocurrency is well known for its wild swings in valuation, but many say the digital currency is back on a more stable path and could prove a worthwhile investment in the New Year. In 2015, bitcoin fell as low, as $183 as confidence in the cryptocurrency's staying power waned. However, on Thursday, bitcoin was trading at $429, a significant increase.
Mining Returns
With bitcoin on the upswing, bitcoin mining has begun togain popularityonce again, according to Bloomberg.
Related Link:Mike Tyson Dives Deeper Into Bitcoin
When cryptocurrencies were first introduced, miners set up their computers to solve complex problems and be rewarded with the release of new coins. As the value of bitcoin went up, so did the profitability of bitcoin mining. However, last year as bitcoin prices plummeted, the number of miners significantly declined as the cost to buy hardware and pay electric bills to run the machines outweighed the rewards.
Now that bitcoin has made its way higher, mining efforts are increasing – especially among those who bought the necessary hardware last year, but haven't been able to make use of it.
A Risky Business
While mining is gaining popularity once again, many caution that bitcoin's price isn't the only factor that drives profitability for miners. This year, bitcoin's software will reduce the number of coins that miners receive for mining activities by half, something that could have an impact on the time it takes to recoup investment costs.
Not only that, but bitcoin's price is far from stable. In past years, bitcoin's wild swings in value have proven that it is difficult to predict whether the cryptocurrency will be able to continue trading at current levels, making investing in mining equipment a bit of a gamble.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• Should Investors Be Worried About Apple?
• CES Paints Worrying Picture For Telecoms
• Netflix Gains On Expansion News, But Some Still Wary
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || 6 trades to watch in an uncertain market: After U.S. stocks followed global markets lower Thursday, "Fast Money" traders outlined what they deemed safe plays to ride out uncertainty.
Major averages each closed down more than 2 percent, after a brief Chinese trading session in which a 7 percent drop in the CSI300 triggered a halt. Traders looked to longer-term plays that could offer protection through volatility.
Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF(NYSE Arca: GDX)
The price of gold(CEC:Commodities Exchange Centre: @GC.1), a traditional "safe haven" asset, climbed Thursday amid the uncertainty in stock and oil markets. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF rose more than 4 percent for the day.
Both traders Guy Adami and Brian Kelly said gold likely has more upside ahead.
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF(NYSE Arca: TLT)
U.S. Treasury prices rose in choppy trading Thursday amid a flight to safer assets, sending yields lower. In that environment, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF could make a good play, said Adami and trader Dan Nathan.
Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund(NYSE Arca: XLU)
Utilities offer a place to "hide" in current markets, said trader Steve Grasso. Nathan also identified them as a defensive play because of their dividend yields.
They looked to the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund, which fell slightly on Thursday.
Retail
Shares of department store chain Macy's(NYSE: M)climbed about 2 percent Thursday in the wake of a restructuring announcement. Adami believes the stock can rise even more.
Grasso also outlined possible strength in American Eagle Outfitters(NYSE: AEO).
Verizon(NYSE: VZ)
Nathan also saw Verizon as a possible play for investors looking for yield.
Disclosures:
Dan Nathan
Dan Nathan is long MCD Feb Put Spread, Long PFE buy-write, long TWTR March Risk Reversal, long UUP March call, long XLU Feb Call spread, long PYPL Jan Risk Reversal, long M Jan16 call spread, long NTAP Jan risk reversal, long QCOM feb calls, short SPY, Long UUP, long WMT puts
Steve Grasso
Steve Grasso is long AAPL, BA, BAC, CC, DD, DIS, DECK, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MBLY, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX firm is long APC, CXO, OXY, BP, CVX, MCD, RIG, AMZN kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY
Brian Kelly
Brian Kelly is long BBRY, Bitcoin, GDX, GLD, Hong Kong Dollar, TLT, US Dollar; he is short British Pound, Euro, Yuan, Canadian Dollar, GSG, EEM, EWC, EWH, KRE, SPY, DB
Guy Adami
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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• Personal Finance || 6 trades to watch in an uncertain market: After U.S. stocks followed global markets lower Thursday, "Fast Money" traders outlined what they deemed safe plays to ride out uncertainty. Major averages each closed down more than 2 percent, after a brief Chinese trading session in which a 7 percent drop in the CSI300 triggered a halt. Traders looked to longer-term plays that could offer protection through volatility. Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE Arca: GDX) The price of gold (CEC:Commodities Exchange Centre: @GC.1) , a traditional "safe haven" asset, climbed Thursday amid the uncertainty in stock and oil markets. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF rose more than 4 percent for the day. Both traders Guy Adami and Brian Kelly said gold likely has more upside ahead. iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE Arca: TLT) U.S. Treasury prices rose in choppy trading Thursday amid a flight to safer assets, sending yields lower. In that environment, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF could make a good play, said Adami and trader Dan Nathan. Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE Arca: XLU) Utilities offer a place to "hide" in current markets, said trader Steve Grasso. Nathan also identified them as a defensive play because of their dividend yields. They looked to the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund, which fell slightly on Thursday. Retail Shares of department store chain Macy's (NYSE: M) climbed about 2 percent Thursday in the wake of a restructuring announcement. Adami believes the stock can rise even more. Grasso also outlined possible strength in American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) . Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Nathan also saw Verizon as a possible play for investors looking for yield. Disclosures: Dan Nathan Dan Nathan is long MCD Feb Put Spread, Long PFE buy-write, long TWTR March Risk Reversal, long UUP March call, long XLU Feb Call spread, long PYPL Jan Risk Reversal, long M Jan16 call spread, long NTAP Jan risk reversal, long QCOM feb calls, short SPY, Long UUP, long WMT puts Story continues Steve Grasso Steve Grasso is long AAPL, BA, BAC, CC, DD, DIS, DECK, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MBLY, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX firm is long APC, CXO, OXY, BP, CVX, MCD, RIG, AMZN kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY Brian Kelly Brian Kelly is long BBRY, Bitcoin, GDX, GLD, Hong Kong Dollar, TLT, US Dollar; he is short British Pound, Euro, Yuan, Canadian Dollar, GSG, EEM, EWC, EWH, KRE, SPY, DB Guy Adami Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Your first trade for Friday: The "Fast Money" traders delivered their final trades of the day.
Dan Nathan was a seller of Wal-Mart(WMT).
Steve Grasso was a buyer of American Eagle Outfitters(AEO).
Brian Kelly was a seller of Deutsche Bank(XETRA:DBK-DE).
Guy Adami was a buyer of the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF(NYSE Arca: GDX)after picking Macy's(NYSE:M)three days in a row.
Trader disclosure: On January 7, 2016, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Dan Nathan is long MCD Feb put spread, long PFE buy-write, long TWTR March risk reversal, long UUP March call, long XLU Feb call spread, long PYPL Jan risk reversal, long M Jan16 call spread, long NTAP Jan risk reversal, long QCOM Feb calls, short SPY, long UUP, long WMT puts. Steve Grasso is long AAPL, BA, BAC, CC, DD, DIS, DECK, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MBLY, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX firm is long APC, CXO, OXY, BP, CVX, MCD, RIG, AMZN kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. Brian Kelly is long BBRY, Bitcoin, GDX, GLD, Hong Kong Dollar, TLT, US Dollar; he is short British Pound, Euro, Yuan, Canadian Dollar, GSG, EEM, EWC, EWH, KRE, SPY, DB. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
Wolfe Research Sr. Analyst Paul Sankey: No disclosures.
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• Personal Finance || Your first trade for Friday: The " Fast Money " traders delivered their final trades of the day. Dan Nathan was a seller of Wal-Mart ( WMT ) . Steve Grasso was a buyer of American Eagle Outfitters ( AEO ) . Brian Kelly was a seller of Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBK-DE) . Guy Adami was a buyer of the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE Arca: GDX) after picking Macy's (NYSE: M ) three days in a row. Trader disclosure: On January 7, 2016, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Dan Nathan is l ong MCD Feb put spread, long PFE buy-write, long TWTR March risk reversal, long UUP March call, long XLU Feb call spread, long PYPL Jan risk reversal, long M Jan16 call spread, long NTAP Jan risk reversal, long QCOM Feb calls, short SPY, long UUP, long WMT puts. Steve Grasso is long AAPL, BA, BAC, CC, DD, DIS, DECK, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MBLY, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX firm is long APC, CXO, OXY, BP, CVX, MCD, RIG, AMZN kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. Brian Kelly is long BBRY, Bitcoin, GDX, GLD, Hong Kong Dollar, TLT, US Dollar; he is short British Pound, Euro, Yuan, Canadian Dollar, GSG, EEM, EWC, EWH, KRE, SPY, DB. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. Wolfe Research Sr. Analyst Paul Sankey: No disclosures. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || 10 Tech Predictions for 2016: As I always say, predicting what will happen in the tech industry over a short time horizon is a lot like shooting darts at Jell-O. But someone’s got to do it and it may as well be me. Besides, myprophecies for 2015didn’t do nearly as well asin 2014, and I’m itching to redeem myself.
I did hit a number of forecasts out of the park, including the success of Apple Pay and the demise of Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. And my prediction that the Nasdaq would break its all-time high and then fizzle out turned out to be reasonably accurate.
But a few of the calls I made, including those aboutnet neutralityand the Comcast – Time Warner Cable merger – were thwarted by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and federal regulators. [Sigh.] And my bet oncinematic reality startup Magic Leapnever made the jump from virtual to reality.
Let’s see if I can do better this year. Here’s what my crystal ball says will happen in 2016:
Users will develop smart gadget fatigue.While smartphones and tablets, to a lesser extent, will continue to see strong growth in emerging markets, the growth curve will continue to flatten out in mature markets – especially among Android devices. Wearables will get a boost from Apple Watch 2 but unit sales will remain unimpressive compared with the incomparable iPhone.
Jack will tweak Twitter.O Twitter, Twitter! Wherefore art thou Twitter? The return of Jack Dorsey as CEO will see the cofounder do a lot of Facebook-like (move fast and break things) tweaking to Twitter, starting with increasing the 140 character tweet limit. Jack will continue to tweak the product until something good happens, as in renewed user growth and engagement.
Apple and Google car hype will reach fever pitch.Car tech is heating up in a big way. And since the market’s response to Apple’s first new products since Steve Jobs – Apple Watch and Apple TV (the product, not the hobby) – has been muted, fanboys will be clamoring for rumors on the car front. And Google will likewise be pressured to show progress on at least one of its massive Alphabet ventures, notably its self-driving car.
Drones will continue to bug neighbors, privacy buffs and the FAA.Drones will remain an annoying hobbyfor the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, nobody in desperate need of a midnight pizza or a six-pack will be getting one delivered by drone anytime soon. And definitely not anytime this year.
The digital and real worlds will meet in augmented reality (AR).Virtual reality has been the next big thingfor as far back as I can remember, but the technology behind Facebook Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard is becoming more real all the time. A breakthrough, however, is more likely in the AR space, where the digital and real worlds meet. That means something will pop from Magic Leap, Microsoft HoloLens, Google Glass 2, or who knows, maybe Apple.
The tech bubble will correct.With notable exceptions like Netflix and Amazon, tech stocks took a breather in 2015 after an impressive six-year bull run. But the slowing global economy, the Fed’s monetary tightening, and terrorism concerns will let some air out of theprivate equity bubbleand take the Nasdaq down into correction territory.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious Bitcoin founder, will not be found.Wired, Gizmodo and every other tech media outlet have been hot on the trail ofidentifying Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym of Bitcoin’s mysterious founder. They thought they had it figured out a few weeks ago, but that turned out to be an elaborate hoax. Still, it was nowhere near as embarrassing asNewsweek’s Dorian Nakamotodebacle of 2014.
The IPO market will be weak.The private equity bubble is keeping late-stage startups that would ordinarily go public out of the IPO market. That will change when there’s a unicorn shakeout, investors get burned and VCs stop throwing money at startups at crazy valuations. That’s when tech companies will once again see public markets as viable exits. That’s when you’ll seeunicorns stampede on Wall Street. And it won’t be in 2016.
M&A activity will be strong.With the bull market running out of steam and private investors becoming more cautious, M&A exits will be on the rise. Unfortunately, a lot of them will be companies that maintain high burn rates until it’s too late and end up going for dimes on a dollar in fire sales.
Yahoo will sell its core business and Marissa Mayer will be out as CEO.Here’s a fun little rhyme for 2016, courtesy of Humpty Dumpty:
Yahoo Yahoo sat on a wallYahoo Yahoo had a great fallAll the Valley’s CEOs and all the Valley’s chairmenCouldn’t put Yahoo Yahoo together again
Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz, Roy Bostock, Tim Morse, Scott Thompson, Ross Levinsohn, Fred Amoroso, Maynard Webb. I’m sure I missed a CEO or chairman somewhere in there, but in any case, enough is enough. It’s long past time to put this company, its board, and Marissa Mayer out of their misery. Yahoo will be acquired or taken private in 2016.
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• The Most Annoying Aspects of Our Tech-Crazed Culture || 10 Tech Predictions for 2016: As I always say, predicting what will happen in the tech industry over a short time horizon is a lot like shooting darts at Jell-O. But someone’s got to do it and it may as well be me. Besides, my prophecies for 2015 didn’t do nearly as well as in 2014 , and I’m itching to redeem myself. I did hit a number of forecasts out of the park, including the success of Apple Pay and the demise of Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. And my prediction that the Nasdaq would break its all-time high and then fizzle out turned out to be reasonably accurate. But a few of the calls I made, including those about net neutrality and the Comcast – Time Warner Cable merger – were thwarted by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and federal regulators. [Sigh.] And my bet on cinematic reality startup Magic Leap never made the jump from virtual to reality. Let’s see if I can do better this year. Here’s what my crystal ball says will happen in 2016: Users will develop smart gadget fatigue. While smartphones and tablets, to a lesser extent, will continue to see strong growth in emerging markets, the growth curve will continue to flatten out in mature markets – especially among Android devices. Wearables will get a boost from Apple Watch 2 but unit sales will remain unimpressive compared with the incomparable iPhone. Jack will tweak Twitter. O Twitter, Twitter! Wherefore art thou Twitter? The return of Jack Dorsey as CEO will see the cofounder do a lot of Facebook-like (move fast and break things) tweaking to Twitter, starting with increasing the 140 character tweet limit. Jack will continue to tweak the product until something good happens, as in renewed user growth and engagement. Apple and Google car hype will reach fever pitch. Car tech is heating up in a big way. And since the market’s response to Apple’s first new products since Steve Jobs – Apple Watch and Apple TV (the product, not the hobby) – has been muted, fanboys will be clamoring for rumors on the car front. And Google will likewise be pressured to show progress on at least one of its massive Alphabet ventures, notably its self-driving car. Drones will continue to bug neighbors, privacy buffs and the FAA. Drones will remain an annoying hobby for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, nobody in desperate need of a midnight pizza or a six-pack will be getting one delivered by drone anytime soon. And definitely not anytime this year. The digital and real worlds will meet in augmented reality (AR). Virtual reality has been the next big thing for as far back as I can remember, but the technology behind Facebook Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard is becoming more real all the time. A breakthrough, however, is more likely in the AR space, where the digital and real worlds meet. That means something will pop from Magic Leap, Microsoft HoloLens, Google Glass 2, or who knows, maybe Apple. Story continues The tech bubble will correct. With notable exceptions like Netflix and Amazon, tech stocks took a breather in 2015 after an impressive six-year bull run. But the slowing global economy, the Fed’s monetary tightening, and terrorism concerns will let some air out of the private equity bubble and take the Nasdaq down into correction territory. Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious Bitcoin founder, will not be found. Wired, Gizmodo and every other tech media outlet have been hot on the trail of identifying Satoshi Nakamoto , the pseudonym of Bitcoin’s mysterious founder. They thought they had it figured out a few weeks ago, but that turned out to be an elaborate hoax. Still, it was nowhere near as embarrassing as Newsweek’s Dorian Nakamoto debacle of 2014. The IPO market will be weak. The private equity bubble is keeping late-stage startups that would ordinarily go public out of the IPO market. That will change when there’s a unicorn shakeout, investors get burned and VCs stop throwing money at startups at crazy valuations. That’s when tech companies will once again see public markets as viable exits. That’s when you’ll see unicorns stampede on Wall Street . And it won’t be in 2016. M&A activity will be strong. With the bull market running out of steam and private investors becoming more cautious, M&A exits will be on the rise. Unfortunately, a lot of them will be companies that maintain high burn rates until it’s too late and end up going for dimes on a dollar in fire sales. Yahoo will sell its core business and Marissa Mayer will be out as CEO. Here’s a fun little rhyme for 2016, courtesy of Humpty Dumpty: Yahoo Yahoo sat on a wall Yahoo Yahoo had a great fall All the Valley’s CEOs and all the Valley’s chairmen Couldn’t put Yahoo Yahoo together again Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz, Roy Bostock, Tim Morse, Scott Thompson, Ross Levinsohn, Fred Amoroso, Maynard Webb. I’m sure I missed a CEO or chairman somewhere in there, but in any case, enough is enough. It’s long past time to put this company, its board, and Marissa Mayer out of their misery. Yahoo will be acquired or taken private in 2016. Related Articles GM Eyes the Future With $500M Bet on Lyft Where You Can Watch and Participate in the GOP Debate The Most Annoying Aspects of Our Tech-Crazed Culture View comments || Cable & Wireless Communications and Huawei Have Successfully Tested the First Trial of the Fastest Copper Based Broadband Service With G.fast Across Latin America: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jan 6, 2016) - Cable & Wireless Communications Plc's (CWC) business unit in Panama, Cable & Wireless Panama SA (CWP) and Huawei , a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, today announced the first successful trial of the fastest copper based broadband service across Latin America using leading G.fast technology. As a market leader in mobile and broadband services in Panama, CWP is also the largest telecom service provider in the country with a market leading brand, superior network coverage and excellent customer service. CWP partnered with Huawei to deploy CWC's first trial of the G.fast technology on its existing copper infrastructure. "We are excited to be partnering with Cable & Wireless Communications and together pioneering the first trial of the fastest copper fixed line broadband service with G.fast across Latin America," said Mr. Stephen Ma, CEO of Huawei for the Caribbean. "G.fast is the right way to extend the existing fixed line infrastructure to the gigabit access era by accelerating a future oriented ultra-broadband solution with unparalleled user experiences," he added. The G.fast technology trial ran for two months in Panama deploying Huawei's latest multi-service access node equipment. CWP's trial successfully achieved high speeds averaging 500 Mbps to download and 150 Mbps to upload, over its existing copper fixed lines. "We are thrilled to announce that Cable & Wireless Panama was the first market across Latin America to have successfully completed testing of the G.fast technology, which can deliver high speeds, to its customers through the fastest copper based fixed line broadband technology across the region reaching speeds of 500 Mbps," said Carlo Alloni, EVP Technology and Group CTIO, Cable & Wireless Communications. "Our strategic partnership with Huawei has strengthened our commitment to consider solutions that deliver high-speeds," added Alloni. G.fast technology is based on the Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) method with an improved algorithm that cancels the noise in the lines, reducing the effects of crosstalk and allowing transmission of higher rates of bits with a better quality, increasing the speeds of the information transmitted. Huawei's G.fast solution can complement the other technologies selected for its HFC (Hybrid fiber-coaxial) and Fibre delivery platforms. CWP's G.fast technology is providing a fivefold increase in speeds compared to any existing internet copper residential service in Panama and empowering the fastest copper fixed line broadband service across Latin America. Story continues About Huawei Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Driven by customer-centric innovation and open partnerships, Huawei has established an end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Its innovative ICT solutions, products and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one-third of the world's population. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees. About G.fast G.fast is a digital subscriber line (DSL) standard for local loops, with performance targets between 150 Mbps and 1 Gbps, depending on loop length. Since the launch of the world's first G.FAST prototype by Huawei in December 2011, G.FAST technology has become highly anticipated by the ICT industry and has maintained strong development momentum. About C&W Communications Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC) is a full service communications and entertainment provider, operating in the Caribbean and Latin America. With annual sales of over $2.4bn, it operates both mobile and fixed networks, supported by submarine and terrestrial optical fibre backhaul capacity. Through the acquisition of Columbus International Inc. on 31 March 2015, CWC now delivers superior high-speed mobile data, broadband and video services. It has leading market positions in Mobile, Fixed Line, Broadband and Video consumer offers. Through its business division, CWC provides data centre hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customised IT service solutions, utilising cloud technology to serve business and government customers. The company also operates a state-of-the-art subsea fibre optic cable network that spans more than 42,000 km -- the most extensive in the region -- as well as 38,000 km of terrestrial fibre providing wholesale and carrier backhaul capacity. CWC has more than 7,200 employees serving over 6.3 million customers (Mobile 4.1m; Fixed Line 1.1m; Video 465k and Broadband 680k) as well as over 125k corporate clients across 42 countries. The Company's leading brands include; LIME and Flow in the Caribbean; BTC in The Bahamas; Mas Movil in Panama; C&W Business and C&W Networks. CWC is the market leader in most products offered and territories served. It is a major contributor to local communities through its corporate social responsibility programmes. Cable & Wireless Communications' shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker CWC. The company is headquartered in London with its operational hub located in Miami, within close proximity to the Caribbean and Latin America. For more information visit: www.cwc.com . About CWP Cable & Wireless Panama (CWP) is the market leader in mobile, broadband and fixed line services in Panama. The Company's mobile business operates under the brand name +Movil and the other businesses under + internet and +TV Digital in Panama. CWP is also a leading regional player in enterprise and managed services as well as being a leader in carrier services in partnership with our Caribbean business. View comments || Cable & Wireless Communications and Huawei Have Successfully Tested the First Trial of the Fastest Copper Based Broadband Service With G.fast Across Latin America: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Jan 6, 2016) -Cable & Wireless CommunicationsPlc's (CWC) business unit in Panama,Cable & Wireless PanamaSA (CWP) andHuawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, today announced the first successful trial of the fastest copper based broadband service across Latin America using leading G.fast technology.
As a market leader in mobile and broadband services in Panama, CWP is also the largest telecom service provider in the country with a market leading brand, superior network coverage and excellent customer service. CWP partnered with Huawei to deploy CWC's first trial of the G.fast technology on its existing copper infrastructure.
"We are excited to be partnering with Cable & Wireless Communications and together pioneering the first trial of the fastest copper fixed line broadband service with G.fast across Latin America," said Mr. Stephen Ma, CEO of Huawei for the Caribbean. "G.fast is the right way to extend the existing fixed line infrastructure to the gigabit access era by accelerating a future oriented ultra-broadband solution with unparalleled user experiences," he added.
The G.fast technology trial ran for two months in Panama deploying Huawei's latest multi-service access node equipment. CWP's trial successfully achieved high speeds averaging 500 Mbps to download and 150 Mbps to upload, over its existing copper fixed lines.
"We are thrilled to announce that Cable & Wireless Panama was the first market across Latin America to have successfully completed testing of the G.fast technology, which can deliver high speeds, to its customers through the fastest copper based fixed line broadband technology across the region reaching speeds of 500 Mbps," said Carlo Alloni, EVP Technology and Group CTIO, Cable & Wireless Communications. "Our strategic partnership with Huawei has strengthened our commitment to consider solutions that deliver high-speeds," added Alloni.
G.fast technology is based on the Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) method with an improved algorithm that cancels the noise in the lines, reducing the effects of crosstalk and allowing transmission of higher rates of bits with a better quality, increasing the speeds of the information transmitted.
Huawei's G.fast solution can complement the other technologies selected for its HFC (Hybrid fiber-coaxial) and Fibre delivery platforms. CWP's G.fast technology is providing a fivefold increase in speeds compared to any existing internet copper residential service in Panama and empowering the fastest copper fixed line broadband service across Latin America.
About HuaweiHuawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Driven by customer-centric innovation and open partnerships, Huawei has established an end-to-end ICT solutions portfolio that gives customers competitive advantages in telecom and enterprise networks, devices and cloud computing. Its innovative ICT solutions, products and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one-third of the world's population. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a private company fully owned by its employees.
About G.fastG.fast is a digital subscriber line (DSL) standard for local loops, with performance targets between 150 Mbps and 1 Gbps, depending on loop length. Since the launch of the world's first G.FAST prototype by Huawei in December 2011, G.FAST technology has become highly anticipated by the ICT industry and has maintained strong development momentum.
About C&W CommunicationsCable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC) is a full service communications and entertainment provider, operating in the Caribbean and Latin America. With annual sales of over $2.4bn, it operates both mobile and fixed networks, supported by submarine and terrestrial optical fibre backhaul capacity. Through the acquisition of Columbus International Inc. on 31 March 2015, CWC now delivers superior high-speed mobile data, broadband and video services. It has leading market positions in Mobile, Fixed Line, Broadband and Video consumer offers.
Through its business division, CWC provides data centre hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customised IT service solutions, utilising cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
The company also operates a state-of-the-art subsea fibre optic cable network that spans more than 42,000 km -- the most extensive in the region -- as well as 38,000 km of terrestrial fibre providing wholesale and carrier backhaul capacity.
CWC has more than 7,200 employees serving over 6.3 million customers (Mobile 4.1m; Fixed Line 1.1m; Video 465k and Broadband 680k) as well as over 125k corporate clients across 42 countries. The Company's leading brands include; LIME and Flow in the Caribbean; BTC in The Bahamas; Mas Movil in Panama; C&W Business and C&W Networks. CWC is the market leader in most products offered and territories served. It is a major contributor to local communities through its corporate social responsibility programmes.
Cable & Wireless Communications' shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker CWC. The company is headquartered in London with its operational hub located in Miami, within close proximity to the Caribbean and Latin America.
For more information visit:www.cwc.com.
About CWPCable & Wireless Panama (CWP) is the market leader in mobile, broadband and fixed line services in Panama. The Company's mobile business operates under the brand name +Movil and the other businesses under + internet and +TV Digital in Panama. CWP is also a leading regional player in enterprise and managed services as well as being a leader in carrier services in partnership with our Caribbean business. || Mike Tyson Dives Deeper Into Bitcoin: Former boxing star Mike Tyson is deepening his interest in the bitcoin space by creating a digital bitcoin wallet that will allow users to store, purchase and sell the cryptocurrency. The wallet was developed by Bitcoin Direct in partnership with BitPay and will be one of the first wallets that allows users to buy and sell from inside the app.
Tyson's Bitcoin Projects
This is not Tyson's first foray into the bitcoin space. He partnered with Bitcoin Direct last year to launch a line of bitcoin ATMs that gave people the ability to turn cash into bitcoins at any machine's location. Now, with Tyson endorsing a wallet as well, many are wondering whether or not celebrity attention will drive mainstream usage.
The new wallet will feature Tyson's tribal face tattoo as the background image and is available for download on iOS. An Android version is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Celebrity Appeal
Bitcoin Direct believes that Tyson's popularity around the world and across several generations makes him a good option to engage the masses,saying that his"potential to expand the Bitcoin market is dramatic." However, it remains unknown whether or not the power of celebrity will be enough to encourage new users.
Safety Still A Concern
Although celebrity endorsements often get products more notoriety, bitcoin itself has struggled with safety and security issues that some believe can't be overcome by a recognizable face. Tyson may bring more attention to the cryptocurrency community, but he may not be able to convince the public that it is trustworthy. Instead, many believe that more regulation is the real key to taking bitcoin mainstream as that would provide users with more protections.
Image credit:Eduardo Merille, Flickr
See more from Benzinga
• Court Case Means Emissions Scandal Isn't Going Away For Volkswagen
• What To Make Of Monday's Market Selloff
• General Motors Kicks Off The Year With A Bang
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Mike Tyson Dives Deeper Into Bitcoin: Former boxing star Mike Tyson is deepening his interest in the bitcoin space by creating a digital bitcoin wallet that will allow users to store, purchase and sell the cryptocurrency. The wallet was developed by Bitcoin Direct in partnership with BitPay and will be one of the first wallets that allows users to buy and sell from inside the app.
Tyson's Bitcoin Projects
This is not Tyson's first foray into the bitcoin space. He partnered with Bitcoin Direct last year to launch a line of bitcoin ATMs that gave people the ability to turn cash into bitcoins at any machine's location. Now, with Tyson endorsing a wallet as well, many are wondering whether or not celebrity attention will drive mainstream usage.
The new wallet will feature Tyson's tribal face tattoo as the background image and is available for download on iOS. An Android version is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Celebrity Appeal
Bitcoin Direct believes that Tyson's popularity around the world and across several generations makes him a good option to engage the masses,saying that his"potential to expand the Bitcoin market is dramatic." However, it remains unknown whether or not the power of celebrity will be enough to encourage new users.
Safety Still A Concern
Although celebrity endorsements often get products more notoriety, bitcoin itself has struggled with safety and security issues that some believe can't be overcome by a recognizable face. Tyson may bring more attention to the cryptocurrency community, but he may not be able to convince the public that it is trustworthy. Instead, many believe that more regulation is the real key to taking bitcoin mainstream as that would provide users with more protections.
Image credit:Eduardo Merille, Flickr
See more from Benzinga
• Court Case Means Emissions Scandal Isn't Going Away For Volkswagen
• What To Make Of Monday's Market Selloff
• General Motors Kicks Off The Year With A Bang
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Mike Tyson Dives Deeper Into Bitcoin: Former boxing star Mike Tyson is deepening his interest in the bitcoin space by creating a digital bitcoin wallet that will allow users to store, purchase and sell the cryptocurrency. The wallet was developed by Bitcoin Direct in partnership with BitPay and will be one of the first wallets that allows users to buy and sell from inside the app. Tyson's Bitcoin Projects This is not Tyson's first foray into the bitcoin space. He partnered with Bitcoin Direct last year to launch a line of bitcoin ATMs that gave people the ability to turn cash into bitcoins at any machine's location. Now, with Tyson endorsing a wallet as well, many are wondering whether or not celebrity attention will drive mainstream usage. The new wallet will feature Tyson's tribal face tattoo as the background image and is available for download on iOS. An Android version is expected to be released in the coming weeks. Celebrity Appeal Bitcoin Direct believes that Tyson's popularity around the world and across several generations makes him a good option to engage the masses, saying that his "potential to expand the Bitcoin market is dramatic." However, it remains unknown whether or not the power of celebrity will be enough to encourage new users. Safety Still A Concern Although celebrity endorsements often get products more notoriety, bitcoin itself has struggled with safety and security issues that some believe can't be overcome by a recognizable face. Tyson may bring more attention to the cryptocurrency community, but he may not be able to convince the public that it is trustworthy. Instead, many believe that more regulation is the real key to taking bitcoin mainstream as that would provide users with more protections. Image credit: Eduardo Merille , Flickr See more from Benzinga Court Case Means Emissions Scandal Isn't Going Away For Volkswagen What To Make Of Monday's Market Selloff General Motors Kicks Off The Year With A Bang © 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Investors Set Sail With Cruise-Line Investments In 2016: 2015 proved to be a lucrative year for many cruise liners, as an improving economy and low fuel prices created the perfect conditions for a rebuilding year.
Industry juggernautCarnival Corp(NYSE:CCL) saw its shares rise 19.43 percent over the course of the year, andBarron'ssees the firm climbing another 20 percent this year, a sign that the industry can expect smooth waters ahead.
Safety In The Water
Carnival Corp has been touted as one of the safest plays in the cruise industry, because the company is the largest operator in the world. Carnival has ships in almost every body of water on the planet, operating popular names like Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises and Costa Cruises. Not only does the company have a massive brand appeal and staying power, but Carnival also pays out the heftiest dividend with a yield of 2.2 percent.
Related Link:Barron's Picks And Pans: Carnival, Pandora, American Capital And More
Expanding Into China
Another reason the cruise industry is set to continue gaining through 2016 is the potential for expansion in China as cruise holidays gain popularity. For investors looking to play this angle,Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd(NYSE:RCL) orNorwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd(NASDAQ:NCLH) could be smart plays.
Royal Caribbean has proven to be popular among the Chinese population and has been pushing upscale ships with luxury rooms that have brought in a great deal of interest. Norwegian is a relatively new entrant into the Chinese market, but the firm has been able to learn from its peers who have already penetrated the market and by offering customers a tailored experience different from what European or North American customers prefer.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• 4 CEOs With A Tough Year Ahead
• Ledger Fights For Bitcoin's Staying Power At CES 2016
• Virtual Reality In 2016
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Investors Set Sail With Cruise-Line Investments In 2016: 2015 proved to be a lucrative year for many cruise liners, as an improving economy and low fuel prices created the perfect conditions for a rebuilding year. Industry juggernaut Carnival Corp (NYSE: CCL ) saw its shares rise 19.43 percent over the course of the year, and Barron's sees the firm climbing another 20 percent this year, a sign that the industry can expect smooth waters ahead. Safety In The Water Carnival Corp has been touted as one of the safest plays in the cruise industry, because the company is the largest operator in the world. Carnival has ships in almost every body of water on the planet, operating popular names like Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises and Costa Cruises. Not only does the company have a massive brand appeal and staying power, but Carnival also pays out the heftiest dividend with a yield of 2.2 percent. Related Link: Barron's Picks And Pans: Carnival, Pandora, American Capital And More Expanding Into China Another reason the cruise industry is set to continue gaining through 2016 is the potential for expansion in China as cruise holidays gain popularity. For investors looking to play this angle, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE: RCL ) or Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: NCLH ) could be smart plays. Royal Caribbean has proven to be popular among the Chinese population and has been pushing upscale ships with luxury rooms that have brought in a great deal of interest. Norwegian is a relatively new entrant into the Chinese market, but the firm has been able to learn from its peers who have already penetrated the market and by offering customers a tailored experience different from what European or North American customers prefer. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga 4 CEOs With A Tough Year Ahead Ledger Fights For Bitcoin's Staying Power At CES 2016 Virtual Reality In 2016 © 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Ledger Fights For Bitcoin's Staying Power At CES 2016: The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a chance for electronics and technology firms to debut their latest offerings and future prospects. Everything from self-driving cars to mind-blowing virtual reality sets have made their debut at CES, and each year the show tends to set the tone for what kind of tech will be big in the coming year. This year, bitcoin startup Ledger is keeping the cryptocurrency in the spotlight by hosting the only bitcoin startup booth at the event. Physical Bitcoin Storage Ledger created a hardware wallet product in 2015 that provides customers with a safe and secure way to store and use their bitcoins. Ledger takes some of the worry out of using bitcoin by giving users a physical way to store bitcoins – a lightweight smart card. They can then use a USB to make secure payments, and the company offers a simple backup system that provides users with a microchip and pin code encrypted system in case they lose their card. Related Link: Can The Bitcoin Foundation Last? This year, Ledger is planning to exhibit new offerings at CES including a new technology that will strengthen the security of online authentication by reducing the reliance on passwords. Bitcoin's Year Ledger's presence at CES suggests that although bitcoin had a rough year in 2015, the cryptocurrency isn't dead yet. Concerns about privacy and security have increased skepticism about cryptocurrencies, making it difficult for bitcoin firms to push mainstream approval. However, many believe that as security improves and more and more vendors open up to the possibility of bitcoin transactions, the public will get on board. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Virtual Reality In 2016 Is Tesla A Good Investment For 2016? 3 CEOs Who Made Headlines In 2015 © 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Ledger Fights For Bitcoin's Staying Power At CES 2016: The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a chance for electronics and technology firms to debut their latest offerings and future prospects. Everything from self-driving cars to mind-blowing virtual reality sets have made their debut at CES, and each year the show tends to set the tone for what kind of tech will be big in the coming year.
This year, bitcoin startupLedgeris keeping the cryptocurrency in the spotlight by hosting the only bitcoin startup booth at the event.
Physical Bitcoin Storage
Ledger created a hardware wallet product in 2015 that provides customers with a safe and secure way to store and use their bitcoins. Ledger takes some of the worry out of using bitcoin by giving users a physical way to store bitcoins – a lightweight smart card. They can then use a USB to make secure payments, and the company offers a simple backup system that provides users with a microchip and pin code encrypted system in case they lose their card.
Related Link:Can The Bitcoin Foundation Last?
This year, Ledger is planning to exhibit new offerings at CES including a new technology that will strengthen the security of online authentication by reducing the reliance on passwords.
Bitcoin's Year
Ledger's presence at CES suggests that although bitcoin had a rough year in 2015, the cryptocurrency isn't dead yet. Concerns about privacy and security have increased skepticism about cryptocurrencies, making it difficult for bitcoin firms to push mainstream approval. However, many believe that as security improves and more and more vendors open up to the possibility of bitcoin transactions, the public will get on board.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• Virtual Reality In 2016
• Is Tesla A Good Investment For 2016?
• 3 CEOs Who Made Headlines In 2015
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
[Social Media Buzz]
LIVE: Profit = $780.33 (9.28 %). BUY B20.41 @ $420.00 (#VirCurex). SELL @ $450.46 (#Bitfinex) #bitcoin #btc - http://www.projectcoin.org || In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 19 exchange pair(s), yielding profits ranging between $0.00 and $794.70 #bitcoin #btc || LIVE: Profit = $791.54 (9.42 %). BUY B20.41 @ $420.00 (#VirCurex). SELL @ $450.97 (#Bitfinex) #bitcoin #btc - http://www.projectcoin.org || Average Bitcoin market price is: USD 449.00, EUR 412.27 || In the last 10 mins,...
|
447.99, 448.43, 435.69, 432.37, 430.31, 364.33, 387.54, 382.30, 387.17, 380.15
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 11074.60, 11323.20, 11657.20, 11916.70, 14291.50, 17899.70, 16569.40, 15178.20, 15455.40, 16936.80, 17415.40, 16408.20, 16564.00, 17706.90, 19497.40, 19140.80, 19114.20, 17776.70, 16624.60, 15802.90, 13831.80, 14699.20, 13925.80, 14026.60, 16099.80, 15838.50, 14606.50, 14656.20, 12952.20, 14156.40, 13657.20, 14982.10, 15201.00, 15599.20, 17429.50, 17527.00, 16477.60, 15170.10, 14595.40, 14973.30, 13405.80, 13980.60, 14360.20, 13772.00, 13819.80, 11490.50, 11188.60, 11474.90, 11607.40, 12899.20, 11600.10, 10931.40, 10868.40, 11359.40, 11259.40, 11171.40, 11440.70, 11786.30, 11296.40, 10106.30, 10221.10, 9170.54, 8830.75, 9174.91, 8277.01, 6955.27, 7754.00, 7621.30, 8265.59, 8736.98, 8621.90, 8129.97, 8926.57, 8598.31, 9494.63, 10166.40, 10233.90, 11112.70, 10551.80, 11225.30, 11403.70, 10690.40, 10005.00, 10301.10, 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-03-01]
Volume: 7317279744, RSI (14-day): 55.03, 50-day EMA: 10690.18, 200-day EMA: 9109.12
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1302.90, Gold RSI: 38.30
Oil Price: 60.99, Oil RSI: 43.46
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
What Happened in the Stock Market Today: Stocks declined for the second straight day on Wednesday, with the volatile session capping a turbulent month that not only saw the broader indexes enter correction territory -- falling as much as 12% in just two weeks -- but also left investors cheering as the market quickly clawed back around half of those losses. After a late plunge to end the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) fell around 1.5%, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) ended down 1.1%. Today's stock market Index Percentage Change Point Change Dow (1.50%) (380.83) S&P 500 (1.11%) (30.45) Data source: Yahoo! Finance. Retail stocks bucked the negative trend, reversing part of yesterday's losses with the SPDR S&P; Retail ETF (NYSEMKT: XRT) up 0.2%. But oil stocks led today's declines, with reports of higher U.S. oil production and growing inventories causing the SPDR S&P; Oil & Gas Exploration and Production ETF (NYSEMKT: XOP) to fall 2.7%. As for individual stocks, Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) plunged following a setback for its promising multiple sclerosis drug, while a strong earnings report from Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY) sent shares of the specialty e-commerce site skyward. Wall Street and Broad Street signs with American Flags in the background Image source: Getty Images. Celgene's latest setback Shares of Celgene dropped 9% today after the biotech giant revealed that it has received a Refusal to File letter from the U.S Food and Drug Administration regarding its New Drug Application (NDA) for ozanimod, a drug candidate meant to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. The FDA argued that it needs more information to perform a complete review of the nonclinical and clinical pharmacology sections of Celgene's NDA. Celgene purchased ozanimod as part of its $7.2 billion acquisition of Receptos , a biotech leader focusing on immune and metabolic diseases, in 2015. Celgene, for its part, says it will "seek immediate guidance" to determine what additional information the FDA requires, and insists it remains confident in ozanimod's clinical profile. Story continues "We will work with the FDA to expeditiously address all outstanding items and bring this important medicine to patients," added Jay Backstrom, M.D., Celgene's chief medical officer and head of global regulatory affairs. Nonetheless, as Celgene struggles to diversify its sales away from its core multiple myeloma treatment business, it's unsurprising to see the stock being punished today. Etsy's earnings blowout Meanwhile, shares of Etsy skyrocketed 20.4% today after the handmade and vintage e-commerce website announced impressive fourth-quarter 2017 results. Etsy's quarterly revenue climbed 23.6% year over year to $136.3 million, while adjusted net income arrived at $0.15 per share, swinging from a loss of $0.19 per share in the same year-ago period. Analysts, on average, were only expecting adjusted earnings of $0.09 per share on roughly the same revenue. In addition, Etsy saw gross merchandise sales (GMS) accelerate, growing 17.8% year over year to $1.019 billion and topping the 10-figure mark for the first time. Etsy CEO Josh Silverman called it a "good" quarter, crediting his company's creation of a "more engaging experience for buyers" and strong, broad-based growth in all core markets. If that wasn't enough, Etsy told investors to expect GMS to increase in the range of 14% to 16% in 2018, which should translate to full-year revenue growth of 21% to 23%. By contrast, Wall Street was anticipating 2018 revenue growth being closer to 18%. In the end, there was nothing not to like about this straightforward quarterly beat from Etsy, which it followed with an optimistic view of the coming year. As such, it's hard to blame investors for bidding shares up to a fresh 52-week high in response. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Steve Symington has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene. The Motley Fool recommends Etsy. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || What Happened in the Stock Market Today: Stocks declined for the second straight day on Wednesday, with the volatile session capping a turbulent month that not only saw the broader indexes enter correction territory --falling as much as 12%in just two weeks -- but also left investors cheering as the market quickly clawed back around half of those losses.
After a late plunge to end the day, theDow Jones Industrial Average(DJINDICES: ^DJI)fell around 1.5%, while theS&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC)ended down 1.1%.
[{"Index": "Dow", "Percentage Change": "(1.50%)", "Point Change": "(380.83)"}, {"Index": "S&P 500", "Percentage Change": "(1.11%)", "Point Change": "(30.45)"}]
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Retail stocks bucked the negative trend, reversing part ofyesterday's losseswith theSPDR S&P; Retail ETF(NYSEMKT: XRT)up 0.2%. But oil stocks led today's declines, with reports of higher U.S. oil production and growing inventories causing theSPDR S&P; Oil & Gas Exploration and Production ETF(NYSEMKT: XOP)to fall 2.7%.
As for individual stocks,Celgene(NASDAQ: CELG)plunged following a setback for its promising multiple sclerosis drug, while a strong earnings report fromEtsy(NASDAQ: ETSY)sent shares of the specialty e-commerce site skyward.
Image source: Getty Images.
Shares of Celgene dropped 9% today after the biotech giant revealed that it has received a Refusal to File letter from the U.S Food and Drug Administration regarding its New Drug Application (NDA) for ozanimod, a drug candidate meant to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis.
The FDA argued that it needs more information to perform a complete review of the nonclinical and clinical pharmacology sections of Celgene's NDA. Celgene purchased ozanimod as part of its $7.2 billionacquisition of Receptos, a biotech leader focusing on immune and metabolic diseases, in 2015.
Celgene, for its part, says it will "seek immediate guidance" to determine what additional information the FDA requires, and insists it remains confident in ozanimod's clinical profile.
"We will work with the FDA to expeditiously address all outstanding items and bring this important medicine to patients," added Jay Backstrom, M.D., Celgene's chief medical officer and head of global regulatory affairs.
Nonetheless, as Celgenestruggles to diversifyits sales away from its core multiple myeloma treatment business, it's unsurprising to see the stock being punished today.
Meanwhile, shares of Etsyskyrocketed 20.4%today after the handmade and vintage e-commerce website announced impressive fourth-quarter 2017 results. Etsy's quarterly revenue climbed 23.6% year over year to $136.3 million, while adjusted net income arrived at $0.15 per share, swinging from a loss of $0.19 per share in the same year-ago period. Analysts, on average, were only expecting adjusted earnings of $0.09 per share on roughly the same revenue.
In addition, Etsy saw gross merchandise sales (GMS) accelerate, growing 17.8% year over year to $1.019 billion and topping the 10-figure mark for the first time.
Etsy CEO Josh Silverman called it a "good" quarter, crediting his company's creation of a "more engaging experience for buyers" and strong, broad-based growth in all core markets.
If that wasn't enough, Etsy told investors to expect GMS to increase in the range of 14% to 16% in 2018, which should translate to full-year revenue growth of 21% to 23%. By contrast, Wall Street was anticipating 2018 revenue growth being closer to 18%.
In the end, there was nothing not to like about this straightforward quarterly beat from Etsy, which it followed with an optimistic view of the coming year. As such, it's hard to blame investors for bidding shares up to a fresh 52-week high in response.
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Steve Symingtonhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene. The Motley Fool recommends Etsy. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Office Depot Inc. Stock Fell Wednesday: Shares ofOffice Depot(NASDAQ: ODP)fell as much as 10.3% on Wednesday following the company's fourth-quarter earnings release. The stock is down about 6.6% at the time of this writing.
While Office Depot's revenue and adjusted earnings per share were both slightly ahead of analyst estimates, softer-than-expected guidance for Office Depot's 2018 adjusted earnings per share may have some investors worried about the company's ability to navigate an evolving retail landscape.
Image source: Getty Images.
For its fourth quarter, Office Depot reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.08 on sales of $2.6 billion. These results are worse than year-ago adjusted earnings per share and sales of $0.11 and $2.7 billion, respectively. But both figures were ahead of consensus analyst estimates for adjusted earnings per share and revenue of $0.07 and $2.54 billion, respectively.
Where Office Depot missed the mark was its earnings guidance. Management said it expected full-year 2018 adjusted earnings per share of $0.30, down from $0.45 in fiscal year 2017 and $0.46 in fiscal year 2016.
While management listed several reasons it expects lower profitability in 2018, the most notable was an expectation for incremental growth investments aimed to help it accelerate its "transition toward a services-driven model," management said. Of course, Office Depot also continues to expect profitability to be impaired by "the flow-through impact of lower sales volume," management noted.
Investors should keep an eye on Office Depot's investments as it transitions to a services-driven model. In total, investors should expect Office Depot's incremental growth investments to negatively impact adjusted operating income in 2018 by $40 million.
Looking beyond 2018, management believes its investments today will help the company return to earnings-per-share growth.
"We recognize that 2018 is a year of transition and that investments are required to advance our Company's multi-year transformation," said Office Depot CEO Gerry Smith. "However, as we look to 2019 and beyond, I expect that 2018 will be our pivot year as the actions we have already taken, coupled with the additional initiatives and investments we have planned this year, should allow us to grow year-over-year profitability in 2019."
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Daniel Sparkshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Office Depot Inc. Stock Fell Wednesday: What happened Shares of Office Depot (NASDAQ: ODP) fell as much as 10.3% on Wednesday following the company's fourth-quarter earnings release. The stock is down about 6.6% at the time of this writing. While Office Depot's revenue and adjusted earnings per share were both slightly ahead of analyst estimates, softer-than-expected guidance for Office Depot's 2018 adjusted earnings per share may have some investors worried about the company's ability to navigate an evolving retail landscape. A chalkboard sketch of a downward trending chart. Image source: Getty Images. So what For its fourth quarter, Office Depot reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.08 on sales of $2.6 billion. These results are worse than year-ago adjusted earnings per share and sales of $0.11 and $2.7 billion, respectively. But both figures were ahead of consensus analyst estimates for adjusted earnings per share and revenue of $0.07 and $2.54 billion, respectively. Where Office Depot missed the mark was its earnings guidance. Management said it expected full-year 2018 adjusted earnings per share of $0.30, down from $0.45 in fiscal year 2017 and $0.46 in fiscal year 2016. While management listed several reasons it expects lower profitability in 2018, the most notable was an expectation for incremental growth investments aimed to help it accelerate its "transition toward a services-driven model," management said. Of course, Office Depot also continues to expect profitability to be impaired by "the flow-through impact of lower sales volume," management noted. Now what Investors should keep an eye on Office Depot's investments as it transitions to a services-driven model. In total, investors should expect Office Depot's incremental growth investments to negatively impact adjusted operating income in 2018 by $40 million. Looking beyond 2018, management believes its investments today will help the company return to earnings-per-share growth. "We recognize that 2018 is a year of transition and that investments are required to advance our Company's multi-year transformation," said Office Depot CEO Gerry Smith. "However, as we look to 2019 and beyond, I expect that 2018 will be our pivot year as the actions we have already taken, coupled with the additional initiatives and investments we have planned this year, should allow us to grow year-over-year profitability in 2019." Story continues More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Daniel Sparks has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 4 Things TripAdvisor Wants You to Know: The online travel-booking industry is as attractive as ever, butTripAdvisor(NASDAQ: TRIP)hasn't yet found a way to turn its vibrant travel community into a robust business. The company recently announced meager sales growth and net losses for its fiscal fourth quarter.
In prepared remarks, CEO Steve Kaufer and his team explained why those results have convinced them to focus on improving profitability over the coming quarters, even at the expense of market share.
Below, we'll look at a few key points that executives wanted to impart in that presentation.
Image source: Getty Images.
The global TripAdvisor platform continues to generate strong network effects.
Visitor traffic grew 17% in the fourth quarter, and over the full 2017 fiscal year, user-generated content like reviews and opinions grew 30%. Executives credited the "refreshed look and feel" of the website and shopping apps for helping them deliver a more streamlined browsing experience that attracted 455 million visitors during the peak summer travel season -- up from 390 million a year ago.
Hotel segment adjusted EBITDA declines over the past couple of years have been unsatisfactory, however we are encouraged by our recent progress.
Image source: Getty Images.
Until last quarter, TripAdvisor had posted nearly two straight years of declines in the profitability of its core hotel segment. As recently as early 2016 that division had been booking adjusted earnings margins of 35%, but the rate collapsed to a low of 16% in the third quarter.
Profitability shot back up to 26% of sales over the holiday quarter even though the user base continued to migrate toward shopping on mobile devices. That success was powered by a sharp drop in marketing spending that also resulted in lower user growth. Executives said they are willing to trade a reduced growthrate for a more profitable business, though.
While we continue to move our hotel business forward on a more sustainable path toward long-term profitable growth, we continue to rapidly scale our Non-Hotel segment.
The non-hotel business logged a 20% sales expansion in the fourth quarter, compared to a 3% decrease for the hotel segment. That made the segment worth 24% of the overall business, up from 15% in 2015.
The division was solidly profitable for the year, generating $45 million in adjusted earnings compared to a $28 million loss in 2016. Management has beenbullish on the long-term potentialfor the attractions business, which is why they've aggressively added to the portfolio of bookable attractions. Investors can expect to hear more about this segment in 2018 as the company expands its offerings to target an estimated $110 billion global tours and activities market.
We believe our addressable market opportunity, our unique competitive position and our growth strategy position us to return to double-digit revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margins in excess of what we have operated to over the past couple of years.
Kaufer and his team are aiming to continue prioritizing improved profits from the hotel business in 2018. As a result, that segment should shrink slightly even as adjusted earnings hold roughly steady, they predict. That formula would result in a stabilizing profit trend following three consecutive annual declines. The hotel business shrank from a 37% margin in 2015 to a 24% margin in 2017.
The non-hotel portion will likely enjoy another year of strong sales gains, according to executives, but the focus for now is on capturing market share rather than generating profits. Put it all together, and it's possible TripAdvisor will endure its fourth straight year of declining operating income after the figure peaked at $340 million in 2014 before sinking to less than half that result over the past 12 months.
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Demitrios Kalogeropoulosowns shares of TripAdvisor. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends TripAdvisor. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 4 Things TripAdvisor Wants You to Know: The online travel-booking industry is as attractive as ever, but TripAdvisor (NASDAQ: TRIP) hasn't yet found a way to turn its vibrant travel community into a robust business. The company recently announced meager sales growth and net losses for its fiscal fourth quarter. In prepared remarks, CEO Steve Kaufer and his team explained why those results have convinced them to focus on improving profitability over the coming quarters, even at the expense of market share. Below, we'll look at a few key points that executives wanted to impart in that presentation. A couple looks out over the ocean, sitting near a cabana on stilts above the water Image source: Getty Images. It's a thriving community The global TripAdvisor platform continues to generate strong network effects. Visitor traffic grew 17% in the fourth quarter, and over the full 2017 fiscal year, user-generated content like reviews and opinions grew 30%. Executives credited the "refreshed look and feel" of the website and shopping apps for helping them deliver a more streamlined browsing experience that attracted 455 million visitors during the peak summer travel season -- up from 390 million a year ago. We're not happy with the profit performance of hotels Hotel segment adjusted EBITDA declines over the past couple of years have been unsatisfactory, however we are encouraged by our recent progress. A couple checks into a hotel. Image source: Getty Images. Until last quarter, TripAdvisor had posted nearly two straight years of declines in the profitability of its core hotel segment. As recently as early 2016 that division had been booking adjusted earnings margins of 35%, but the rate collapsed to a low of 16% in the third quarter. Profitability shot back up to 26% of sales over the holiday quarter even though the user base continued to migrate toward shopping on mobile devices. That success was powered by a sharp drop in marketing spending that also resulted in lower user growth. Executives said they are willing to trade a reduced growth rate for a more profitable business , though. Story continues The non-hotel business is strong While we continue to move our hotel business forward on a more sustainable path toward long-term profitable growth, we continue to rapidly scale our Non-Hotel segment. The non-hotel business logged a 20% sales expansion in the fourth quarter, compared to a 3% decrease for the hotel segment. That made the segment worth 24% of the overall business, up from 15% in 2015. The division was solidly profitable for the year, generating $45 million in adjusted earnings compared to a $28 million loss in 2016. Management has been bullish on the long-term potential for the attractions business, which is why they've aggressively added to the portfolio of bookable attractions. Investors can expect to hear more about this segment in 2018 as the company expands its offerings to target an estimated $110 billion global tours and activities market. Slow growth ahead We believe our addressable market opportunity, our unique competitive position and our growth strategy position us to return to double-digit revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margins in excess of what we have operated to over the past couple of years. Kaufer and his team are aiming to continue prioritizing improved profits from the hotel business in 2018. As a result, that segment should shrink slightly even as adjusted earnings hold roughly steady, they predict. That formula would result in a stabilizing profit trend following three consecutive annual declines. The hotel business shrank from a 37% margin in 2015 to a 24% margin in 2017. The non-hotel portion will likely enjoy another year of strong sales gains, according to executives, but the focus for now is on capturing market share rather than generating profits. Put it all together, and it's possible TripAdvisor will endure its fourth straight year of declining operating income after the figure peaked at $340 million in 2014 before sinking to less than half that result over the past 12 months. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Demitrios Kalogeropoulos owns shares of TripAdvisor. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends TripAdvisor. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Here's Why TiVo, Inc. Shares Jumped 17% Higher Today: Shares ofTiVo(NASDAQ: TIVO)rose as much as 17.3% higher Wednesday morning following the entertainment-technology specialist's fourth-quarter earnings report. As of noon Eastern time, the gains had moderated to 16%.
TiVo'sGAAPearnings rose to $0.15 per share, up from $0.08 per share in the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, revenues fell 13%, to land at $238 million. Analysts were expecting earnings closer to $0.39 per share on sales in the neighborhood of $214 million, so it was a mixed performance. The bottom-line number included a $26.6 million one-time tax benefit related to December's taxation reform. Without that unusual item, TiVo would have reported a net loss of $0.07 per share.
The report wasn't particularly impressive, but management also took this opportunity to announce that TiVo is "exploring all alternatives to maximize value for shareholders," which often is a first step toward finding a buyer for the entire company.
Image source: Getty Images.
According to a Seeking Alphatranscriptof TiVo's earnings call, an outright sale is definitely on the table. According to TiVo CEO Enrique Rodriguez:
Our stock price is at a level that we do not believe reflects the true value of our business. The Company and its Board feel strongly that we have a duty to our shareholders to maximize the value of the company and, as such, we have decided to explore a broad range of strategic alternatives. These options range from transformative acquisitions that would accelerate our growth, to combining our business with other leading players, to becoming a private company.
The company has enlisted a boutique advisor firm to help it evaluate all of these alternatives, and maybe it's for the best. The revenue jump that was unlocked bythe combination of Rovi and TiVohas not translated into stronger cash flows or profits. I'm quite content to watch TiVo's search for a new direction from the sidelines.
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Anders Bylundhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Here's Why TiVo, Inc. Shares Jumped 17% Higher Today: What happened Shares of TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) rose as much as 17.3% higher Wednesday morning following the entertainment-technology specialist's fourth-quarter earnings report. As of noon Eastern time, the gains had moderated to 16%. So what TiVo's GAAP earnings rose to $0.15 per share, up from $0.08 per share in the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, revenues fell 13%, to land at $238 million. Analysts were expecting earnings closer to $0.39 per share on sales in the neighborhood of $214 million, so it was a mixed performance. The bottom-line number included a $26.6 million one-time tax benefit related to December's taxation reform. Without that unusual item, TiVo would have reported a net loss of $0.07 per share. The report wasn't particularly impressive, but management also took this opportunity to announce that TiVo is "exploring all alternatives to maximize value for shareholders," which often is a first step toward finding a buyer for the entire company. Man in white shirt and blue slacks watching a wall mural of several puzzle pieces, only some of which are fitting together. Image source: Getty Images. Now what According to a Seeking Alpha transcript of TiVo's earnings call, an outright sale is definitely on the table. According to TiVo CEO Enrique Rodriguez: Our stock price is at a level that we do not believe reflects the true value of our business. The Company and its Board feel strongly that we have a duty to our shareholders to maximize the value of the company and, as such, we have decided to explore a broad range of strategic alternatives. These options range from transformative acquisitions that would accelerate our growth, to combining our business with other leading players, to becoming a private company. The company has enlisted a boutique advisor firm to help it evaluate all of these alternatives, and maybe it's for the best. The revenue jump that was unlocked by the combination of Rovi and TiVo has not translated into stronger cash flows or profits. I'm quite content to watch TiVo's search for a new direction from the sidelines. Story continues More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Safety Insurance Group's Earnings Take Reinsurance Hit: A blast from the past took a bite out ofSafety Insurance Group's(NASDAQ: SAFT)fourth-quarter earnings. Insurance losses increased as the company made a downward revision to its expectations for how much it would collect from reinsurance relating to snowstorms in 2015.
[{"Metric": "Combined ratio", "Q4 2017": "101.6%", "Q4 2016": "98.1%", "Year-Over-Year Change": "3.5 ppt"}, {"Metric": "Net income", "Q4 2017": "$11.3 million", "Q4 2016": "$12.0 million", "Year-Over-Year Change": "(5.4%)"}, {"Metric": "Diluted EPS", "Q4 2017": "$0.72", "Q4 2016": "$0.79", "Year-Over-Year Change": "(6%)"}, {"Metric": "Book value per share", "Q4 2017": "$46.06", "Q4 2016": "$44.27", "Year-Over-Year Change": "4%"}]
Data source: Safety Insurance.
• Remember thesnowstorms of 2015? They're still playing through in Safety Insurance's earnings today. The company said it will only collect $9.2 million from reinsurance relating to these storms. Safety previously expected $20.9 million in recoveries from reinsurance, so it took an $11.7 million charge in the fourth quarter for the difference. Excluding this charge, Safety'scombined ratiowould have been roughly 95.6%, 6 percentage points lower than the reported 101.6%.
• Net written premium inched higher compared to the year-ago period, increasing by $3.6 million, or 2.1%, from the fourth quarter of 2016. Price increases in auto and homeowners insurance appear to be the primary driver of growth in net written premium.
• The company earned about $10.4 million of net investment income from its investment portfolio, up slightly from $10.2 million in the year-ago period. The company's effective annualized yield on its investment portfolio was flat, at 3.2%, even as average duration fell to 3.7 years from 4.3 years. Over time, rising interest rates should buoy Safety's investment income as its portfolio is rotated into higher-yielding securities.
• Safety reported prior-year favorable development of $10.6 million in the fourth quarter. Prior-year favorable developments occur when an insurance company's loss experience is less than previously estimated. Conservative insurers regularly report prior-yearfavorabledevelopment -- Safety is one such insurer -- while insurers who are too aggressive with their early loss estimates would reportadversedevelopments. The fourth quarter marked the ninth consecutive quarter where prior-year favorable development added $10 million or more to its pre-tax earnings.
Image source: Safety Insurance.
Safety operates in just three states -- Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine -- so it was insulated from large hurricane losses that hit larger insurers hard in the third quarter, as well as California wildfires that weighed on otherproperty & casualty insurersin the fourth quarter.
Other than a large snowfall early in the year, Massachusetts has seen relatively warmer weather in the first two months of 2018. That could be a boon in the first quarter, helping Safety Insurance dodge costly weather-related claims in what has historically been one of its seasonally weakest periods for underwriting profit.
Safety Insurance generates all of its profit in the United States, so a lower corporate tax rate could boost its earnings power in 2018. The statutory corporate tax rate fell from 35% to 21%, thanks to theTax Cut and Jobs Act, but we'll have to see whether it can retain the tax savings for the benefit of shareholders, or whether fierce competition in insurance will force it to pass on the benefit to customers through lower premiums.
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Jordan Wathenhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Safety Insurance Group. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Safety Insurance Group's Earnings Take Reinsurance Hit: A blast from the past took a bite out of Safety Insurance Group 's (NASDAQ: SAFT) fourth-quarter earnings. Insurance losses increased as the company made a downward revision to its expectations for how much it would collect from reinsurance relating to snowstorms in 2015. Safety Insurance's fourth quarter: The raw numbers Metric Q4 2017 Q4 2016 Year-Over-Year Change Combined ratio 101.6% 98.1% 3.5 ppt Net income $11.3 million $12.0 million (5.4%) Diluted EPS $0.72 $0.79 (6%) Book value per share $46.06 $44.27 4% Data source: Safety Insurance. What happened this quarter Remember the snowstorms of 2015 ? They're still playing through in Safety Insurance's earnings today. The company said it will only collect $9.2 million from reinsurance relating to these storms. Safety previously expected $20.9 million in recoveries from reinsurance, so it took an $11.7 million charge in the fourth quarter for the difference. Excluding this charge, Safety's combined ratio would have been roughly 95.6%, 6 percentage points lower than the reported 101.6%. Net written premium inched higher compared to the year-ago period, increasing by $3.6 million, or 2.1%, from the fourth quarter of 2016. Price increases in auto and homeowners insurance appear to be the primary driver of growth in net written premium. The company earned about $10.4 million of net investment income from its investment portfolio, up slightly from $10.2 million in the year-ago period. The company's effective annualized yield on its investment portfolio was flat, at 3.2%, even as average duration fell to 3.7 years from 4.3 years. Over time, rising interest rates should buoy Safety's investment income as its portfolio is rotated into higher-yielding securities. Safety reported prior-year favorable development of $10.6 million in the fourth quarter. Prior-year favorable developments occur when an insurance company's loss experience is less than previously estimated. Conservative insurers regularly report prior-year favorable development -- Safety is one such insurer -- while insurers who are too aggressive with their early loss estimates would report adverse developments. The fourth quarter marked the ninth consecutive quarter where prior-year favorable development added $10 million or more to its pre-tax earnings. Story continues Safety Insurance logo Image source: Safety Insurance. Looking ahead Safety operates in just three states -- Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine -- so it was insulated from large hurricane losses that hit larger insurers hard in the third quarter, as well as California wildfires that weighed on other property & casualty insurers in the fourth quarter. Other than a large snowfall early in the year, Massachusetts has seen relatively warmer weather in the first two months of 2018. That could be a boon in the first quarter, helping Safety Insurance dodge costly weather-related claims in what has historically been one of its seasonally weakest periods for underwriting profit. Safety Insurance generates all of its profit in the United States, so a lower corporate tax rate could boost its earnings power in 2018. The statutory corporate tax rate fell from 35% to 21%, thanks to the Tax Cut and Jobs Act , but we'll have to see whether it can retain the tax savings for the benefit of shareholders, or whether fierce competition in insurance will force it to pass on the benefit to customers through lower premiums. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Jordan Wathen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Safety Insurance Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || New “Sovereign” Cryptocurrency Will Be Legal Tender in the Marshall Islands: TheRepublic of the Marshall Islands(RMI), an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean with a population of about 50,000,is poised to becomethe first sovereign nation to issue a cryptocurrency that will be legal tender.
The new currency is called “Sovereign” with the symbol “SOV.” The SOV, which will be distributed to the public via an Initial Currency Offering (ICO), will circulate as legal tender in the country, alongside its current local currency, the U.S. dollar.
Y-combinator Israeli fintech startupNeemais partnering with RMI to issue the SOV, starting with a presale that will be followed by an ICO later this year.
"SOV is a big deal because, until now, all cryptos were in regulatory limbo,” Barak Ben-Ezer, co-founder of Neema, toldBitcoin Magazine. “None of them was considered ‘real’ money by the IRS, SEC, etc. Accordingly, the IRS taxed them with capital gain tax, and the SEC wants to regulate all ICOs as issuance of securities. The IRS explained in 2014 why it’s not considered real money: because it’s not the legal tender of a sovereign nation.”
The solution for Neema was to find a country to partner with to create a cryptocurrency which would become the legal tender of a sovereign nation. “So SOV has the benefits of cryptocurrency and the legal and regulatory framework that covers sovereign currencies. You can use it without worrying about capital gains and even the ICO may be like selling any currency — Euro, Yen, etc.," said Ben-Ezer.
SOV is based on a permissioned protocol, dubbed “‘Yokwe” (meaning“hello” in the local language), which requires blockchain users to authenticate. According to the SOV promoters, this “solves the anonymity problem that plagued bitcoin and precluded its mainstream adoption.”
The official statement notes that there’s a huge market need for a non-anonymous blockchain system that can operate within a regulated environment. The SOV wants to be part of a broader E-conomy vision to create a society that uses blockchain technology intensively, with a cryptocurrency and biometric IDs securely recorded on the blockchain.
“SOV is the promising starting point for the adoption of cryptocurrencies by sovereign nations,” saidPeter Dittus, former secretary general of the Bank of International Settlements and Neema’s senior economic advisor. “The Yokwe protocol provides a promising balance between transparency and privacy and we’re excited to develop it further. It’s state of the art technology, put to good use, with the right values in mind and a clear purpose.”
“This is a historic moment for our people, finally issuing and using our own currency, alongside the USD,” said RMI President Hilda C. Heine. “It is another step of manifesting our national liberty. Allocating SOV units directly to the citizens will circulate the currency and distribute wealth efficiently to our people. In addition, The RMI will invest the revenues to support its climate change efforts, green energy, healthcare for those still affected by the U.S. nuclear tests and education.”
“The Marshall Islands is the first nation to adopt a transparent crypto monetary system, and we are proud of it,” added David Paul, Minister-in-Assistance to the President and Environment Minister of the RMI. “We are excited to be the world’s first nation to leapfrog into the era of digital currencies. 10 percent of our proceeds from the ICO will be directed toward a Green Climate Fund.” Paul added that he is especially proud of SOV since it is based on the Yokwe blockchain framework that has all the benefits of Bitcoin minus the anonymity.
Earlier in 2018, the Maduro government in Venezuelalaunched a cryptocurrencydubbed Petro, claiming that it was the world's first sovereign cryptocurrency. The SOV statement notes that, contrary to the Petro, the SOV will be legal tender of the country, as defined in a bill passed by the parliament. Furthermore, the RMI is a close ally of the U.S., whereas Venezuela is under embargo. SOV will be a decentralized cryptocurrency with a price that is uniquely determined by the market, whereas the Petro, initially pegged to the price of oil, can be manipulated at will by the Venezuelan government.
The RMI is a tiny island nation, but it is a sovereign nation and a member of the UN. Therefore, if the RMI will eventually deploy a cryptocurrency that is also legal tender, the impact could be huge.
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || New Sovereign Cryptocurrency Will Be Legal Tender in the Marshall Islands: New Sovereign Cryptocurrency Will Be Legal Tender in the Marshall Islands The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean with a population of about 50,000, is poised to become the first sovereign nation to issue a cryptocurrency that will be legal tender. The new currency is called Sovereign with the symbol SOV. The SOV, which will be distributed to the public via an Initial Currency Offering (ICO), will circulate as legal tender in the country, alongside its current local currency, the U.S. dollar. Y-combinator Israeli fintech startup Neema is partnering with RMI to issue the SOV, starting with a presale that will be followed by an ICO later this year. "SOV is a big deal because, until now, all cryptos were in regulatory limbo, Barak Ben-Ezer, co-founder of Neema, told Bitcoin Magazine . None of them was considered real money by the IRS, SEC, etc. Accordingly, the IRS taxed them with capital gain tax, and the SEC wants to regulate all ICOs as issuance of securities. The IRS explained in 2014 why its not considered real money: because its not the legal tender of a sovereign nation. The solution for Neema was to find a country to partner with to create a cryptocurrency which would become the legal tender of a sovereign nation. So SOV has the benefits of cryptocurrency and the legal and regulatory framework that covers sovereign currencies. You can use it without worrying about capital gains and even the ICO may be like selling any currency Euro, Yen, etc.," said Ben-Ezer. SOV is based on a permissioned protocol, dubbed Yokwe ( meaning hello in the local language), which requires blockchain users to authenticate. According to the SOV promoters, this solves the anonymity problem that plagued bitcoin and precluded its mainstream adoption. The official statement notes that theres a huge market need for a non-anonymous blockchain system that can operate within a regulated environment. The SOV wants to be part of a broader E-conomy vision to create a society that uses blockchain technology intensively, with a cryptocurrency and biometric IDs securely recorded on the blockchain. SOV is the promising starting point for the adoption of cryptocurrencies by sovereign nations, said Peter Dittus , former secretary general of the Bank of International Settlements and Neemas senior economic advisor. The Yokwe protocol provides a promising balance between transparency and privacy and were excited to develop it further. Its state of the art technology, put to good use, with the right values in mind and a clear purpose. This is a historic moment for our people, finally issuing and using our own currency, alongside the USD, said RMI President Hilda C. Heine. It is another step of manifesting our national liberty. Allocating SOV units directly to the citizens will circulate the currency and distribute wealth efficiently to our people. In addition, The RMI will invest the revenues to support its climate change efforts, green energy, healthcare for those still affected by the U.S. nuclear tests and education. The Marshall Islands is the first nation to adopt a transparent crypto monetary system, and we are proud of it, added David Paul, Minister-in-Assistance to the President and Environment Minister of the RMI. We are excited to be the worlds first nation to leapfrog into the era of digital currencies. 10 percent of our proceeds from the ICO will be directed toward a Green Climate Fund. Paul added that he is especially proud of SOV since it is based on the Yokwe blockchain framework that has all the benefits of Bitcoin minus the anonymity. Earlier in 2018, the Maduro government in Venezuela launched a cryptocurrency dubbed Petro, claiming that it was the world's first sovereign cryptocurrency. The SOV statement notes that, contrary to the Petro, the SOV will be legal tender of the country, as defined in a bill passed by the parliament. Furthermore, the RMI is a close ally of the U.S., whereas Venezuela is under embargo. SOV will be a decentralized cryptocurrency with a price that is uniquely determined by the market, whereas the Petro, initially pegged to the price of oil, can be manipulated at will by the Venezuelan government. The RMI is a tiny island nation, but it is a sovereign nation and a member of the UN. Therefore, if the RMI will eventually deploy a cryptocurrency that is also legal tender, the impact could be huge. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine . || Why Community Health Systems Is Sinking Today: In response to reporting fourth-quarter results, shares ofCommunity Health Systems(NYSE: CYH), a for-profit hospital operator, dropped 16% as of 11:05 a.m. EST on Wednesday.
Here's a look at the headline numbers from the quarter:
• Revenue dropped 32% to $3.06 billion, which was far lower than the $3.52 billion that Wall Street was expecting. However, this result was mainly caused by a $591 million jump in allowances for bad debts. In addition, the company's decision to sell hospitals in 2017 in an effort to pay down its huge debt load also weighed on revenue.
• Admissions fell by 1.7% when compared to the year-ago period.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $409 million.
• GAAP net loss was $2.013 billion, or $17.98 per share. However, the adjusted net loss was just $0.25 per share. That compared favorably to the $0.34 net loss per share that Wall Street had predicted, but it was still a loss nonetheless.
When these mixed results were combined with the stock'shuge year-to-date rallyit isn't surprising to see the share price take a step back today.
Image source: Getty Images.
I continue to believe that today's drop doesn't represent an opportunity for investors to get in at a discount. My logic is that this company is still heavily indebted -- long-term debt stood at $13.9 billion at year-end -- sales and admission rates are falling, and the company is expected to post a loss next year. That represents far too much risk for my taste, so my plan remains to stay far away from this troubled business.
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Brian Feroldihas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Community Health Systems Is Sinking Today: What happened In response to reporting fourth-quarter results, shares of Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) , a for-profit hospital operator, dropped 16% as of 11:05 a.m. EST on Wednesday. So what Here's a look at the headline numbers from the quarter: Revenue dropped 32% to $3.06 billion, which was far lower than the $3.52 billion that Wall Street was expecting. However, this result was mainly caused by a $591 million jump in allowances for bad debts. In addition, the company's decision to sell hospitals in 2017 in an effort to pay down its huge debt load also weighed on revenue. Admissions fell by 1.7% when compared to the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA was $409 million. GAAP net loss was $2.013 billion, or $17.98 per share. However, the adjusted net loss was just $0.25 per share. That compared favorably to the $0.34 net loss per share that Wall Street had predicted, but it was still a loss nonetheless. When these mixed results were combined with the stock's huge year-to-date rally it isn't surprising to see the share price take a step back today. Money being sucked out of the pocket of a man wearing a suit. Image source: Getty Images. Now what I continue to believe that today's drop doesn't represent an opportunity for investors to get in at a discount. My logic is that this company is still heavily indebted -- long-term debt stood at $13.9 billion at year-end -- sales and admission rates are falling, and the company is expected to post a loss next year. That represents far too much risk for my taste, so my plan remains to stay far away from this troubled business. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Brian Feroldi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 5 Things Wayfair Inc. Wants You to Know: Wayfair (NYSE: W) recently announced booming sales growth over the key holiday season quarter. The home furnishings specialist made progress in many of management's key operating goals, including winning market share and building out its (still unprofitable) international business. Yet Wall Street looked past the good news to focus on the widening losses that Wayfair is booking even as competitors consider their own aggressive moves into the industry. In a conference call with analysts, CEO Niraj Shah and his executive team explained why they see those losses as important steps on the way to significant annual profits. Here are a few highlights from that presentation. A furnished living room. Image source: Getty Images. Gaining market share Shoppers vote with their dollars and by taking a long-term approach to giving them the best possible experience, we are being rewarded with continued gains in market share. -- Shah Wayfair's 48% sales spike beat the 40% forecast that management had issued back in early November. That growth figure translates into significant market-share gains, too, as executives estimate the wider market is expanding at a 15% annual pace. Wayfair performed well on two other key growth metrics, with its customer base spiking 33% to 11 million as repeat shoppers rose to 62% of the total from 58% a year ago. Taking control of shipping We're operating 20 of our own last mile delivery facilities in the United States, up from 15 at the end of Q3, 2017, giving us coverage of approximately 60% of large parcel home deliveries. -- Shah Man looks over a warehouse. Image source: Getty Images. The company is making progress at building out its own shipping network, with the aim of reducing delivery times and adding efficiencies. As a result, the time it took to get bulky items to shoppers' homes improved by five days from the beginning to the end of 2017. Wayfair noted higher customer satisfaction came along with that success, and so executives are eager to continue the process by opening additional shipment facilities in the coming year. Story continues Spending more on advertising With the majority of our ad dollars spent on digital channels and six years of data on customer behavior under the Wayfair brand, we are able to measure payback on an extremely granular basis. -- CFO Michael Fleisher Advertising spending amounted to just under 12% of sales for the full year, or far above the company's long-term goal of between 6% and 8%. Executives also forecast aggressive investments in this area for the coming quarters. Yet management said this boost wasn't a consequence of rising ad prices but instead reflected their increased confidence in the effectiveness of the program. "We will continue to invest behind these high [return on investment] activities, Fleisher said, "and we feel good about the customers we are acquiring who will add incremental value over their lifetime." Costs are rising We added 861 new employees in the fourth quarter for a total of 7,751 employees as of December 31, 2017. Approximately 520 of these employees were in variable cost areas of our business, namely customer service and in our logistics operations, and we expect to continue to build headcount in these areas as our business scales. -- Fleisher A person holding a credit card and using a laptop. Image source: Getty Images. Wayfair's ballooning costs played the biggest role in its expanding net losses over the holiday quarter. These expenses were mostly tied to sales growth, though, and so the management team isn't especially worried about them. In fact, executives said that adjusted earnings met their expectations in both the U.S. segment, which generated a slight profit, and in the international division, which booked significant losses in the period. Looking ahead Our direct retail gross revenue quarter to date has grown above 45% year-over-year, but given the increasing comp toward the end of the quarter, we are guiding to a lower level [than in] the fourth quarter. -- Fleisher Wayfair's outlook calls for sales growth to slow to between 40% and 43% in the first quarter from 48% over the holidays. Management said they were being "prudent" with this guidance, given that the prior year period included a big demand spike late in the quarter when delayed tax refund payments started hitting consumers' accounts. The forecast still implies hefty market-share gains as the U.S. business grows at roughly double the industry's expansion rate and as the younger international segment rises by between 85% and 95%. Costs, meanwhile, will continue to mount as Wayfair adds employees, acquires shipping facilities, and expands deeper into markets like Germany and the U.K. Overall, Shah and his team see adjusted profit worsening to a 4% loss from a 1.5% loss in the fourth quarter. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Wayfair. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 5 Things Wayfair Inc. Wants You to Know: Wayfair(NYSE: W)recently announced booming sales growth over the key holiday season quarter. The home furnishings specialist made progress in many of management's key operating goals, including winning market share and building out its (still unprofitable) international business.
Yet Wall Streetlooked past the good newsto focus on the widening losses that Wayfair is booking even as competitors consider their own aggressive moves into the industry.
In a conference call with analysts, CEO Niraj Shah and his executive team explained why they see those losses as important steps on the way to significant annual profits. Here are a few highlights from that presentation.
Image source: Getty Images.
Shoppers vote with their dollars and by taking a long-term approach to giving them the best possible experience, we are being rewarded with continued gains in market share.-- Shah
Wayfair's 48% sales spike beat the 40% forecast that management had issued back in early November. That growth figure translates into significant market-share gains, too, as executives estimate the wider market is expanding at a 15% annual pace. Wayfair performed well on two other key growth metrics, with itscustomer base spiking 33%to 11 million as repeat shoppers rose to 62% of the total from 58% a year ago.
We're operating 20 of our own last mile delivery facilities in the United States, up from 15 at the end of Q3, 2017, giving us coverage of approximately 60% of large parcel home deliveries.-- Shah
Image source: Getty Images.
The company is making progress at building out its own shipping network, with the aim of reducing delivery times and adding efficiencies. As a result, the time it took to get bulky items to shoppers' homes improved by five days from the beginning to the end of 2017.
Wayfair noted higher customer satisfaction came along with that success, and so executives are eager to continue the process by opening additional shipment facilities in the coming year.
With the majority of our ad dollars spent on digital channels and six years of data on customer behavior under the Wayfair brand, we are able to measure payback on an extremely granular basis.-- CFO Michael Fleisher
Advertising spending amounted to just under 12% of sales for the full year, or far above the company's long-term goal of between 6% and 8%. Executives also forecast aggressive investments in this area for the coming quarters. Yet management said this boost wasn't a consequence of rising ad prices but instead reflected their increased confidence in the effectiveness of the program. "We will continue to invest behind these high [return on investment] activities, Fleisher said, "and we feel good about the customers we are acquiring who will add incremental value over their lifetime."
We added 861 new employees in the fourth quarter for a total of 7,751 employees as of December 31, 2017. Approximately 520 of these employees were in variable cost areas of our business, namely customer service and in our logistics operations, and we expect to continue to build headcount in these areas as our business scales.-- Fleisher
Image source: Getty Images.
Wayfair's ballooning costs played the biggest role in itsexpanding net lossesover the holiday quarter. These expenses were mostly tied to sales growth, though, and so the management team isn't especially worried about them. In fact, executives said that adjusted earnings met their expectations in both the U.S. segment, which generated a slight profit, and in the international division, which booked significant losses in the period.
Our direct retail gross revenue quarter to date has grown above 45% year-over-year, but given the increasing comp toward the end of the quarter, we are guiding to a lower level [than in] the fourth quarter.-- Fleisher
Wayfair's outlook calls for sales growth to slow to between 40% and 43% in the first quarter from 48% over the holidays. Management said they were being "prudent" with this guidance, given that the prior year period included a big demand spike late in the quarter when delayed tax refund payments started hitting consumers' accounts.
The forecast still implies hefty market-share gains as the U.S. business grows at roughly double the industry's expansion rate and as the younger international segment rises by between 85% and 95%.
Costs, meanwhile, will continue to mount as Wayfair adds employees, acquires shipping facilities, and expands deeper into markets like Germany and the U.K. Overall, Shah and his team see adjusted profit worsening to a 4% loss from a 1.5% loss in the fourth quarter.
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Demitrios Kalogeropouloshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Wayfair. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Sun Hydraulics Corporation Pumps Out More Growth, Lines Up Another Big Acquisition: Sun Hydraulics Corporation (NASDAQ: SNHY) reported its fourth quarter and full-year 2017 results on Feb. 27, finishing the year with big sales growth. Revenue from Q4 sales was $84.2 million, up 69% from last year, while full-year sales were up 74% to $343 million, driven higher both by the 2016 acquisition of Enovation Controls and 21% growth in organic sales. The company's expenses also edged higher, in part due to non-recurring items related to acquisitions, changes in tax law, and other things management said won't recur next year. This played a big role in net income declining to $2.8 million -- or $0.10 per share -- on a GAAP basis , though management said it was up 50% adjusting for non-recurring items. The company also reported expectations for sales growth of 8%-12% in 2018, a solid level of growth, though maybe less than investors were hoping for based on the market's reaction, considering shares closed down almost 7% following earnings. Orange tractors with hydraulic lines. Image source: Getty Images. The results Key fourth-quarter metrics: Metric Q4 2017 Q4 2016 Change (YoY) Revenue $84.2 $49.9 68.7% Net income $2.8 $3.1 (9.7%) Earnings per share $0.10 $0.12 (16.7%) Adjusted EPS $0.27 $0.18 50% Revenue and net income in millions. Data source: Sun Hydraulics. Full-year results: Metric 2017 2016 Change (YoY) Revenue $342.8 $196.9 74.1% Net income $31.6 $23.3 35.6% Earnings per share $1.17 $0.87 34.5% Adjusted EPS $1.60 $0.93 72% Revenue and net income in millions. Data source: Sun Hydraulics. As you can see in both the fourth-quarter and full-year results, Sun Hydraulics' revenue grew at a much higher rate than earnings. This is not uncommon when companies make acquisitions, as it can take time to fully integrate two businesses together, eliminate unnecessary expense, and find ways to leverage the scale of the combined entity. Sun said that it's still working on doing that with Enovation Controls. For the full year, the company reported $15.6 million in expenses that it excluded from its GAAP results to arrive at the adjusted earnings per share results listed above. These adjustments include $10.2 million in acquisition-related depreciation and amortization, $2.5 million in acquisition, finance, and restructuring charges and expenses, and $2.9 million in one-time operational items. The company also spent $3 million more on net interest expense in 2017 related to debt needed to fund the Enovation Controls acquisition. For the time being, these higher incremental expenses are weighing on the company's operating margins and profitability. Story continues Management did say that they have completed the initial integration of Enovation Controls, and that "synergies" were progressing ahead of plan. So there's that. Getting ready for another big acquisition On Feb. 19, Sun Hydraulics announced it was acquiring privately held Faster Group for $531 million in cash, and expected the transaction to close sometime in the second quarter. It seems to be an ideal addition to the company, as it makes quick-release hydraulic coupling systems, primarily used in agricultural, construction equipment, and general industrial applications. Faster Group generated $130 million in sales in 2017 and an EBITDA margin of 27.5%. Based on those numbers, Sun is paying about 15.6 times last year's EBITDA for the company, which expects sales to grow around 16.5% in 2018, with a similar margin profile. Sun is paying for Faster Group with $161 million in cash and $370 million in debt, using a recent $253 million secondary offering to raise the extra cash it will need, and to pay off the $116 million in debt outstanding in preparation for closing the Faster deal in the coming months. On the earnings call, CFO Tricia Fulton said, "Given the strong cash flow of our combined organization, we believe this is a very manageable level and we'll aggressively begin repaying it during 2018." Looking ahead Sun's management continues to aggressively pursue its "Vision 2025" goal of reaching $1 billion in sales by 2025. With guidance for $370 million to $385 million from the existing business this year and Faster Group expected to generate $150 million in sales during the same time (though the deal won't close until the second quarter), that puts the company about halfway there. Management will need to continue to drive out excess costs and get the most out of each acquisition to make them work profitably. The reality is, growth via acquisition can be incredibly difficult to do well, and can destroy a lot of value if done poorly. The good news? Sun will need to grow sales at "just" a 10% annualized rate starting in 2019 to reach $1 billion in sales by 2025. In other words, it may not need to make any more business-changing acquisitions to get to its sales goal. This is especially good news for investors who are focused on the rest of "Vision 2025": Superior profitability and financial strength. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Jason Hall has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Sun Hydraulics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Sun Hydraulics Corporation Pumps Out More Growth, Lines Up Another Big Acquisition: Sun Hydraulics Corporation(NASDAQ: SNHY)reported its fourth quarter and full-year 2017 results on Feb. 27, finishing the year with big sales growth. Revenue from Q4 sales was $84.2 million, up 69% from last year, while full-year sales were up 74% to $343 million, driven higher both by the 2016acquisition of Enovation Controlsand 21% growth in organic sales.
The company's expenses also edged higher, in part due to non-recurring items related to acquisitions, changes in tax law, and other things management said won't recur next year. This played a big role in net income declining to $2.8 million -- or $0.10 per share -- on aGAAP basis, though management said it was up 50% adjusting for non-recurring items. The company also reported expectations for sales growth of 8%-12% in 2018, a solid level of growth, though maybe less than investors were hoping for based on the market's reaction, considering shares closed down almost 7% following earnings.
Image source: Getty Images.
Key fourth-quarter metrics:
[{"Metric": "Revenue", "Q4 2017": "$84.2", "Q4 2016": "$49.9", "Change (YoY)": "68.7%"}, {"Metric": "Net income", "Q4 2017": "$2.8", "Q4 2016": "$3.1", "Change (YoY)": "(9.7%)"}, {"Metric": "Earnings per share", "Q4 2017": "$0.10", "Q4 2016": "$0.12", "Change (YoY)": "(16.7%)"}, {"Metric": "Adjusted EPS", "Q4 2017": "$0.27", "Q4 2016": "$0.18", "Change (YoY)": "50%"}]
Revenue and net income in millions. Data source: Sun Hydraulics.
Full-year results:
[{"Metric": "Revenue", "2017": "$342.8", "2016": "$196.9", "Change (YoY)": "74.1%"}, {"Metric": "Net income", "2017": "$31.6", "2016": "$23.3", "Change (YoY)": "35.6%"}, {"Metric": "Earnings per share", "2017": "$1.17", "2016": "$0.87", "Change (YoY)": "34.5%"}, {"Metric": "Adjusted EPS", "2017": "$1.60", "2016": "$0.93", "Change (YoY)": "72%"}]
Revenue and net income in millions. Data source: Sun Hydraulics.
As you can see in both the fourth-quarter and full-year results, Sun Hydraulics' revenue grew at a much higher rate than earnings. This is not uncommon when companies make acquisitions, as it can take time to fully integrate two businesses together, eliminate unnecessary expense, and find ways to leverage the scale of the combined entity. Sun said that it's still working on doing that with Enovation Controls.
For the full year, the company reported $15.6 million in expenses that it excluded from its GAAP results to arrive at the adjusted earnings per share results listed above. These adjustments include $10.2 million in acquisition-related depreciation and amortization, $2.5 million in acquisition, finance, and restructuring charges and expenses, and $2.9 million in one-time operational items. The company also spent $3 million more on net interest expense in 2017 related to debt needed to fund the Enovation Controls acquisition. For the time being, these higher incremental expenses are weighing on the company'soperating marginsand profitability.
Management did say that they have completed the initial integration of Enovation Controls, and that "synergies" were progressing ahead of plan. So there's that.
On Feb. 19, Sun Hydraulics announced it was acquiring privately held Faster Group for $531 million in cash, and expected the transaction to close sometime in the second quarter. It seems to be an ideal addition to the company, as it makes quick-release hydraulic coupling systems, primarily used in agricultural, construction equipment, and general industrial applications. Faster Group generated $130 million in sales in 2017 and an EBITDA margin of 27.5%. Based on those numbers, Sun is paying about 15.6 times last year'sEBITDAfor the company, which expects sales to grow around 16.5% in 2018, with a similar margin profile.
Sun is paying for Faster Group with $161 million in cash and $370 million in debt, using a recent $253 million secondary offering to raise the extra cash it will need, and to pay off the $116 million in debt outstanding in preparation for closing the Faster deal in the coming months. On the earnings call, CFO Tricia Fulton said, "Given the strong cash flow of our combined organization, we believe this is a very manageable level and we'll aggressively begin repaying it during 2018."
Sun's management continues to aggressively pursue its "Vision 2025" goal of reaching $1 billion in sales by 2025. With guidance for $370 million to $385 million from the existing business this year and Faster Group expected to generate $150 million in sales during the same time (though the deal won't close until the second quarter), that puts the company about halfway there.
Management will need to continue to drive out excess costs and get the most out of each acquisition to make them work profitably. The reality is, growth via acquisition can beincrediblydifficult to do well, and can destroy a lot of value if done poorly.
The good news? Sun will need to grow sales at "just" a 10% annualized rate starting in 2019 to reach $1 billion in sales by 2025. In other words, it may not need to make any more business-changing acquisitions to get to its sales goal. This is especially good news for investors who are focused on the rest of "Vision 2025":Superior profitability and financial strength.
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Jason Hallhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Sun Hydraulics. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 2 Stocks to Buy With Dividends Yielding More Than 5%: As an income investor, you're probably allured by high-yield dividend stocks. There's nothing wrong with that, except that the stock picks would be better poised to make you money if those high yields are backed by steadily growing earnings and dividends. Trust me, there are several such gems hidden in the market today; some offer yields as high as 5% or more and are well-poised to continue doing so for years to come. Two such stocks that I'd urge you to look at are Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE: BEP) and Welltower Inc. (NYSE: HCN) . Note that Welltower is about to change its stock ticker from HCN to WELL, effective Feb. 28. There's a strong reason for choosing these two stocks over others: Both have solid megatrends backing their growth potential, which means they're likely to offer sustainable high yields to shareholders for years to come. Here's why. Brookfield Renewable Partners: Dividend yield 6.1% The big switch to renewable energy across the globe is already under way, and companies that have made headway into clean-energy sources stand a chance to win big as the trend catches up. This is even more so when the company in question is one of the world's largest publicly traded pure-play clean-energy companies, like Brookfield Renewable Partners. Young plants growing in a stack of coins on soil Image source: Getty Images. At last count, Brookfield operated 841 power-generating facilities worth nearly $40 billion with 16,400 megawatts of capacity. Hydroelectric power makes up 82% of the company's generation, giving it a huge leeway in a niche clean-energy space that isn't as intensely competitive as solar, or even wind. Brookfield's business strategy is easy to understand: acquire high-quality renewable assets at low prices and convert them into cash-flow generation machines. Of course, it isn't as simple to make assets profitable, but Brookfield has done well so far, largely because 92% of its revenue is contracted. Since 2012, Brookfield has grown its funds from operations (FFO) and dividend per share (or distribution per unit) at compounded average annual rates of 8% and 6%, respectively. Story continues Brookfield recently delivered solid numbers for 2017 , growing its FFO by nearly 39% to $581 million, driven partly by investments worth nearly $625 million on acquisitions. Long term, Brookfield aims to spend $600 million to $700 million annually on buying "high-quality" assets, and earn 12% to 15% returns on investment. What should matter to you is Brookfield's aim to grow its distribution per unit by 5% to 9% annually, backed largely by organic growth. In other words, the company is confident of generating strong cash flows from its existing assets, even as it continues to solidify its portfolio further with opportunistic investments. For shareholders, this strategy should translate into fatter dividend paychecks and high yields year after year. The best part? You can buy this high-potential stock for under 12 times cash flow and pocket a hefty dividend yield of 6.1% today. Welltower: Dividend yield 6.5% Much like Brookfield, Welltower is preparing to cash in on another big trend: an aging population that's going to drive healthcare spending higher. Welltower is a healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) that buys out healthcare properties dealing in senior housing, post-acute care, and outpatient medical solutions, and leases them out to established healthcare providers to jointly operate and develop. The company currently has 1,279 healthcare properties under its belt. There's massive potential in healthcare , with the U.S. Census Bureau projecting the population of people over 85 will double in 20 years. Welltower gets nearly 70% of its revenue from senior housing. Since 2011, Welltower's FFO has grown more than sixfold, and its dividends have risen alongside, as reflected in the stock's incredible total returns over the years: HCN Chart HCN data by YCharts . As for dividends, Welltower has increased its dividend for eight consecutive years now, and currently yields a tidy 6.5%. Management is "comfortable" with its current dividend level, having paid out roughly 83% of its FFO in dividends last year, which means there's little reason to believe that the company won't continue its dividend streak. For shareholders, Welltower's strong foothold in a defensive and high-potential sector like healthcare should reap rich rewards in the long run, in the form of both higher dividends and stock appreciation. With the stock currently trading at a price-to-cash-flow ratio of only 13, which is far below its five-year average, you might want to get serious about adding it to your portfolio. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Neha Chamaria has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Welltower. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 2 Stocks to Buy With Dividends Yielding More Than 5%: As an income investor, you're probably allured by high-yield dividend stocks. There's nothing wrong with that, except that the stock picks would be better poised to make you money if those high yields are backed by steadily growing earnings and dividends.
Trust me, there are several such gems hidden in the market today; some offer yields as high as 5% or more and are well-poised to continue doing so for years to come. Two such stocks that I'd urge you to look at areBrookfield Renewable Partners(NYSE: BEP)andWelltower Inc.(NYSE: HCN). Note that Welltower is about to change its stock ticker from HCN to WELL, effective Feb. 28.
There's a strong reason for choosing these two stocks over others: Both have solid megatrends backing their growth potential, which means they're likely to offer sustainable high yields to shareholders for years to come. Here's why.
The big switch to renewable energy across the globe is already under way, and companies that have made headway into clean-energy sources stand a chance to win big as the trend catches up. This is even more so when the company in question is one of the world's largest publicly traded pure-play clean-energy companies, like Brookfield Renewable Partners.
Image source: Getty Images.
At last count, Brookfield operated 841 power-generating facilities worth nearly $40 billion with 16,400 megawatts of capacity. Hydroelectric power makes up 82% of the company's generation, giving it a huge leeway in a niche clean-energy space that isn't as intensely competitive as solar, or even wind.
Brookfield's business strategy is easy to understand: acquire high-quality renewable assets at low prices and convert them into cash-flow generation machines. Of course, it isn't as simple to make assets profitable, but Brookfield has done well so far, largely because 92% of its revenue is contracted. Since 2012, Brookfield has grown itsfunds from operations(FFO) and dividend per share (or distribution per unit) at compounded average annual rates of 8% and 6%, respectively.
Brookfield recentlydelivered solid numbers for 2017, growing its FFO by nearly 39% to $581 million, driven partly by investments worth nearly $625 million on acquisitions. Long term, Brookfield aims to spend $600 million to $700 million annually on buying "high-quality" assets, and earn 12% to 15% returns on investment.
What should matter to you is Brookfield's aim to grow its distribution per unit by 5% to 9% annually, backed largely by organic growth. In other words, the company is confident of generating strong cash flows from its existing assets, even as it continues to solidify its portfolio further with opportunistic investments. For shareholders, this strategy should translate into fatter dividend paychecks and high yields year after year.
The best part? You can buy this high-potential stock for under 12 times cash flow and pocket a hefty dividend yield of 6.1% today.
Much like Brookfield, Welltower is preparing to cash in on another big trend: an aging population that's going to drive healthcare spending higher.
Welltower is a healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) that buys out healthcare properties dealing in senior housing, post-acute care, and outpatient medical solutions, and leases them out to established healthcare providers to jointly operate and develop. The company currently has 1,279 healthcare properties under its belt.
There'smassive potential in healthcare, with the U.S. Census Bureau projecting the population of people over 85 will double in 20 years. Welltower gets nearly 70% of its revenue from senior housing.
Since 2011, Welltower's FFO has grown more than sixfold, and its dividends have risen alongside, as reflected in the stock's incredible total returns over the years:
HCNdata byYCharts.
As for dividends, Welltower has increased its dividend for eight consecutive years now, and currently yields a tidy 6.5%. Management is "comfortable" with its current dividend level, having paid out roughly 83% of its FFO in dividends last year, which means there's little reason to believe that the company won't continue its dividend streak.
For shareholders, Welltower's strong foothold in a defensive and high-potential sector like healthcare should reap rich rewards in the long run, in the form of both higher dividends and stock appreciation. With the stock currently trading at a price-to-cash-flow ratio of only 13, which is far below its five-year average, you might want to get serious about adding it to your portfolio.
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Neha Chamariahas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Welltower. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
[Social Media Buzz]
Right now @ 6:51 PM ...
a gold oz. = $1318.10
1 #Bitcoin = $10930.00
1 #Litecoin $209.59
1 #ETH = $868.28pic.twitter.com/0mCtzXUxOZ || The Hardware Bitcoin Wallet. Get Trezor now for only 89 EUR https://buytrezor.com?a=coinokbuytrezor.com/?a=coinok #btc #bitcoin 00 pic.twitter.com/4YxsEEkuAy || 2018/03/02 05:00
#BTC 1133282円
#ETH 90960.1円
#ETC 3567.8円
#BCH 134418.2円
#XRP 95.5円
#XEM 41.9円
#LSK 2191.6円
#MONA 590円
#仮想通貨 #ビットコイン #Bitcoin #bitFlyer #Coincheck || Sell! (3:30:23 pm PDT)
Price: 1091...
|
11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 6636.32, 6911.09, 7023.52, 6770.73, 6834.76, 6968.32, 7889.25, 7895.96, 7986.24, 8329.11, 8058.67, 7902.09, 8163.42, 8294.31, 8845.83, 8895.58, 8802.46, 8930.88, 9697.50, 8845.74, 9281.51, 8987.05, 9348.48, 9419.08, 9240.55, 9119.01, 9235.92, 9743.86, 9700.76, 9858.15, 9654.80, 9373.01, 9234.82, 9325.18, 9043.94, 8441.49, 8504.89, 8723.94, 8716.79, 8510.38, 8368.83, 8094.32, 8250.97, 8247.18, 8513.25, 8418.99, 8041.78, 7557.82, 7587.34, 7480.14, 7355.88, 7368.22, 7135.99, 7472.59, 7406.52, 7494.17, 7541.45, 7643.45, 7720.25, 7514.47, 7633.76, 7653.98, 7678.24, 7624.92, 7531.98, 6786.02, 6906.92, 6582.36, 6349.90, 6675.35, 6456.58, 6550.16, 6499.27, 6734.82, 6769.94, 6776.55, 6729.74, 6083.69, 6162.48, 6173.23, 6249.18, 6093.67, 6157.13, 5903.44, 6218.30, 6404.00, 6385.82, 6614.18, 6529.59, 6597.55.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-07-04]
Volume: 4176689920, RSI (14-day): 49.10, 50-day EMA: 7041.53, 200-day EMA: 8124.81
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Why Disney Shareholders Shouldn't Worry About the Failure of "Solo": Walt Disney(NYSE: DIS)made a mistake in picking Han Solo for a standalone movie. That error shows bad judgment by executives who decided to tell a story that few people wanted told. It is not a sign that consumers have tired of theStar Warsuniverse.
Solofailed at the box office because fewStar Warsfans cared about the background of a character who was interesting partly because he was mysterious. The audience knew how Han Solo entered theStar Warsuniverse, his role in saving it multiple times, and even how he died.
What he did before that just wasn't that interesting; there's no mystery when you know the ending. Disney's mistake was simply in thinking that anyone cared about what Han did before he met Leia and Luke.
Solo was a flop for a Star Wars film. Image source: Walt Disney.
While the original set ofStar Warsnovels are no longer considered canon, I've read every single one of them. In most cases, I enjoyed them because they advanced the story and revealed new details about the "galaxy far, far away," and what happened to the characters from the films.
The exceptions were the Expanded Universe (EU) novels that looked back on Han Solo's past. Those always bored me, because the films gave away all the backstory fans needed on the rogue hero. Learning how he made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs (covered both in the EU and inSolo) added nothing to the character.
Rogue Onewas a hit because it took a tiny piece ofStar Warsbackstory and built something entirely new around it. Aside from Darth Vader's cameo, it was a story full of unknowns, and a pretty good heist film that stood on its own.Solofilled in details few people wanted to know for a character whose fate was already tragically sealed.
Disney should tellStar Warsstories that advance our understanding of the characters and what happens to them after the films. In the EU, Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc pit. If that ends up becoming canon, then his continuing adventures would make for a good film idea. Nobody wants to learn about young Boba's adventures, but how he survived and whether he engaged Solo again (as he did many times in the EU) would be tales worth telling.
The best EU books showed the ongoing adventures of everyone from Luke and Leia to lesser players like Wedge Antilles. Some also focused on characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn (canon through theStar Wars RebelsTV series) who played no part in the original films.
Star Warsfans will almost certainly have an endless appetite for movies that advance the story and reveal new details that are surprising. The company should not scrap its anthology films; it should focus them on telling stories that consumers are interested in.
In addition to a Boba Fett movie, there's 20 years' worth of Darth Vader's personal torment and hunt for the Jedi: already comic-book fodder. There are also countless parts of the galaxy impacted by the events we've seen in the films that are not part of the story of the characters we know.
As aStar Warsfan, I want to learn new details. Give me tales of ancient Sith, or let me see shocking details about characters I know that change how I see them. I don't need to see what Chewbacca was like as a young Wookiee, but his ongoing adventures outside the tale told by the core trilogy might make an excellent film.
Disney has endless tales it can tell in theStar Warsuniverse.Solowas just not the right one. His origin story wasn't relevant to an audience that saw a rogue become a hero as he said: "You're all clear, kid. Now let's blow this thing and go home."
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Daniel B. Klinehas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Disney Shareholders Shouldn't Worry About the Failure of "Solo": Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) made a mistake in picking Han Solo for a standalone movie. That error shows bad judgment by executives who decided to tell a story that few people wanted told. It is not a sign that consumers have tired of the Star Wars universe. Solo failed at the box office because few Star Wars fans cared about the background of a character who was interesting partly because he was mysterious. The audience knew how Han Solo entered the Star Wars universe, his role in saving it multiple times, and even how he died. What he did before that just wasn't that interesting; there's no mystery when you know the ending. Disney's mistake was simply in thinking that anyone cared about what Han did before he met Leia and Luke. Part of a poster for Solo: A Star Wars Story, showing various characters over the logo Solo was a flop for a Star Wars film. Image source: Walt Disney. The expanded universe While the original set of Star Wars novels are no longer considered canon, I've read every single one of them. In most cases, I enjoyed them because they advanced the story and revealed new details about the "galaxy far, far away," and what happened to the characters from the films. The exceptions were the Expanded Universe (EU) novels that looked back on Han Solo's past. Those always bored me, because the films gave away all the backstory fans needed on the rogue hero. Learning how he made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs (covered both in the EU and in Solo ) added nothing to the character. Rogue One was a hit because it took a tiny piece of Star Wars backstory and built something entirely new around it. Aside from Darth Vader's cameo, it was a story full of unknowns, and a pretty good heist film that stood on its own. Solo filled in details few people wanted to know for a character whose fate was already tragically sealed. What happens next? Disney should tell Star Wars stories that advance our understanding of the characters and what happens to them after the films. In the EU, Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc pit. If that ends up becoming canon, then his continuing adventures would make for a good film idea. Nobody wants to learn about young Boba's adventures, but how he survived and whether he engaged Solo again (as he did many times in the EU) would be tales worth telling. Story continues The best EU books showed the ongoing adventures of everyone from Luke and Leia to lesser players like Wedge Antilles. Some also focused on characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn (canon through the Star Wars Rebels TV series) who played no part in the original films. An endless appetite Star Wars fans will almost certainly have an endless appetite for movies that advance the story and reveal new details that are surprising. The company should not scrap its anthology films; it should focus them on telling stories that consumers are interested in. In addition to a Boba Fett movie, there's 20 years' worth of Darth Vader's personal torment and hunt for the Jedi: already comic-book fodder. There are also countless parts of the galaxy impacted by the events we've seen in the films that are not part of the story of the characters we know. As a Star Wars fan, I want to learn new details. Give me tales of ancient Sith, or let me see shocking details about characters I know that change how I see them. I don't need to see what Chewbacca was like as a young Wookiee, but his ongoing adventures outside the tale told by the core trilogy might make an excellent film. Disney has endless tales it can tell in the Star Wars universe. Solo was just not the right one. His origin story wasn't relevant to an audience that saw a rogue become a hero as he said: "You're all clear, kid. Now let's blow this thing and go home." More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Daniel B. Kline has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Introducing Cryptoindex Platform - Potential to be the "Dow Jones" of the Crypto Market: LONDON / ACCESSWIRE / July 3, 2018 / The rapid growth of cryptocurrencies has attracted professionals and amateur investors worldwide. Cryptocurrencies now hold a market cap of more than $300 billion, a cap that according to many analysts will almost certainly reach $10 trillion in the not so distant future. Today, there are more than 1604 distinct cryptocurrencies on the market, a number that will increase in multitudes. It is impossible to predict the next Bitcoin. Until now. Introducing Cryptoindex , a new platform powered by AI that was built to create the Cryptocurrency market benchmark, known as the Cryptoindex100. Our unique algorithm, ‘Zorax' uses a wide variety of data inputs from an extensive number of sources to create a unique approach to the production of a fully automated index calculation. Based on these inputs (fed through neural networks) and calculations each coin is constantly revalued as part of the Index. The Cryptoindex100 is automated - We aim to reduce human influences on a minimum. The formation of the index is the obvious step for old-world finance markets to start viewing "new world" currencies as viable investment opportunities. Cryptocurrency market players have long desired a tool whereby every crypto investor, regardless of the level of knowledge, can automate and simplify the process of portfolio diversification. Cryptoindex reduces the volatility and risk of existing individual cryptocurrencies and creates a smart new benchmark for the cryptocurrency market. " The time for a professional cryptoindex has come, " remarked James Davies, former COO of the London Derivatives Exchange (LDX). Cryptoindex possesses the following functions: It creates a "crypto portfolio" that chooses the right coins, based on our rules and filters, taking into account a coin's overall ratings plus hundreds of other factors that affect their value. It obviates the need to register a host of wallets. It rebalances a portfolio automatically and instantly. Story continues A Cryptocurrency index is analogous to a commodity or equity index. Cryptocurrency indices organize a certain number of digital currencies into a single diversified portfolio, creating an effortless, efficient investment signal that is easy to understand. With Cryptoindex the customer has the opportunity to monitor the dynamics of the cryptocurrency markets and store savings in several digital currencies, conducting a minimum of transactions. Cryptoindex users can monitor the immediate value of the Cryptoindex100; track formulas and metrics through our platform, and automate crypto portfolio diversification. It reduces the volatility found in most cryptocurrencies through the purchase of what the company has dubbed the CIX100 token. CIX100 will become available on most crypto exchanges, with its own set price, though we will seek to keep the reference to the index. The purchaser uses the CIX100 to access the Cryptoindex platform purchasing datasets, and other services. Moreover, those who purchase the CIX100 tokens during the Token sale may access the Liquidity Provision Programme (LPP) provided by our partner firm. " I find the opportunities and developments in the Cryptocurrency world fascinating and exciting, " said Cryptoindex CEO VJ Angelo , a 30-year veteran of the financial markets. He continues " Cryptoindex offers the opportunity to bring the new currency and banking world together with the traditional investment and trading model. I believe this project will accelerate the development and adoption of these new products changing how we bank and trade in the future. " The algorithm ‘Zorax' was developed by a team of mathematicians with over 13 years' of market evaluation and trading strategy experience. Results from the neural network's output are fed into a strategic layer while the AI ‘Zorax' optimizes weights. This strives to produce the best possible strategy in today's ever-changing market conditions. Cryptoindex's system is a complex platform built to cover three major segments of portfolio management and fully automate the task of exchanging cryptocurrency whilst managing the rebalancing process of the index portfolio ultimately replacing coins that do not meet the required criteria. The Private sale of the CIX100 tokens will commence on the 5th of July 2018. Whitelist and ICO terms will be released at a later date on the website www.Cryptoindex.io . SOURCE: Cryptoindex || Introducing Cryptoindex Platform - Potential to be the "Dow Jones" of the Crypto Market: LONDON / ACCESSWIRE / July 3, 2018 /The rapid growth of cryptocurrencies has attracted professionals and amateur investors worldwide. Cryptocurrencies now hold a market cap of more than $300 billion, a cap that according to many analysts will almost certainly reach $10 trillion in the not so distant future. Today, there are more than 1604 distinct cryptocurrencies on the market, a number that will increase in multitudes.
It is impossible to predict the next Bitcoin. Until now.
IntroducingCryptoindex, a new platform powered by AI that was built to create the Cryptocurrency market benchmark, known as the Cryptoindex100. Our unique algorithm, ‘Zorax' uses a wide variety of data inputs from an extensive number of sources to create a unique approach to the production of a fully automated index calculation. Based on these inputs (fed through neural networks) and calculations each coin is constantly revalued as part of the Index. The Cryptoindex100 is automated - We aim to reduce human influences on a minimum.
The formation of the index is the obvious step for old-world finance markets to start viewing "new world" currencies as viable investment opportunities. Cryptocurrency market players have long desired a tool whereby every crypto investor, regardless of the level of knowledge, can automate and simplify the process of portfolio diversification. Cryptoindex reduces the volatility and risk of existing individual cryptocurrencies and creates a smart new benchmark for the cryptocurrency market.
"The time for a professional cryptoindex has come," remarked James Davies, former COO of the London Derivatives Exchange (LDX).
Cryptoindex possesses the following functions:
• It creates a "crypto portfolio" that chooses the right coins, based on our rules and filters, taking into account a coin's overall ratings plus hundreds of other factors that affect their value.
• It obviates the need to register a host of wallets.
• It rebalances a portfolio automatically and instantly.
A Cryptocurrency index is analogous to a commodity or equity index. Cryptocurrency indices organize a certain number of digital currencies into a single diversified portfolio, creating an effortless, efficient investment signal that is easy to understand. With Cryptoindex the customer has the opportunity to monitor the dynamics of the cryptocurrency markets and store savings in several digital currencies, conducting a minimum of transactions.
Cryptoindex users can monitor the immediate value of the Cryptoindex100; track formulas and metrics through our platform, and automate crypto portfolio diversification. It reduces the volatility found in most cryptocurrencies through the purchase of what the company has dubbed the CIX100 token.
CIX100 will become available on most crypto exchanges, with its own set price, though we will seek to keep the reference to the index. The purchaser uses the CIX100 to access the Cryptoindex platform purchasing datasets, and other services. Moreover, those who purchase the CIX100 tokens during the Token sale may access the Liquidity Provision Programme (LPP) provided by our partner firm.
"I find the opportunities and developments in the Cryptocurrency world fascinating and exciting," saidCryptoindex CEO VJ Angelo, a 30-year veteran of the financial markets. He continues "Cryptoindex offers the opportunity to bring the new currency and banking world together with the traditional investment and trading model. I believe this project will accelerate the development and adoption of these new products changing how we bank and trade in the future."
The algorithm ‘Zorax' was developed by a team of mathematicians with over 13 years' of market evaluation and trading strategy experience. Results from the neural network's output are fed into a strategic layer while the AI ‘Zorax' optimizes weights. This strives to produce the best possible strategy in today's ever-changing market conditions. Cryptoindex's system is a complex platform built to cover three major segments of portfolio management and fully automate the task of exchanging cryptocurrency whilst managing the rebalancing process of the index portfolio ultimately replacing coins that do not meet the required criteria.
The Private sale of the CIX100 tokens will commence on the 5th of July 2018. Whitelist and ICO terms will be released at a later date on the websitewww.Cryptoindex.io.
SOURCE:Cryptoindex || Uniqlo Lands Roger Federer With a $300 Million Contract: Wimbledon is happening now, and for the first time in his long career, top player Roger Federer is not decked out inNike(NYSE: NKE)gear. Uniqlo, the leading subsidiary of Japan'sFast Retailing Co., has inked a remarkable 10-year sponsorship deal with the 36-year-old athlete that isn't even predicated on his continuing to play.
In this segment of theMarketFoolerypodcast -- an all-mailbag episode -- host Chris Hill and Motley Fool senior analyst Bill Barker discuss the deal, why Nike didn't try to match it, and shouldn't have. They also talk a bit of tennis history and speculate about this year's tournament.
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on July 2, 2018.
Chris Hill:The World Cup is going on. Wimbledon is now underway. From a business standpoint, you mentioned something -- you're a big tennis fan -- that's pretty surprising in the sports business world, which is Rodger Federer, still one of the best, if not the best tennis players in the world, despite the fact that he's 36 -- which is not old in real terms, but it's old for a tennis player. He's been associated with Nike for basically his entire professional career. He took the court at Wimbledon, was not decked out in Nike gear. Instead, he's wearing a Japanese brand called Uniqlo. Sources say the deal is worth more than $300 million guaranteed over ten years.
That's astonishing, given his age. It would be one thing if Rodger Federer were 26 or 30. The fact that he has this reportedly 10-year, $300 million deal with this apparel company in Japan, that's a bold move.
Bill Barker:Uniqlo is, I guess, the best-known of the brands under Fast Retailing, which is the parent company that you can invest in. It's a remarkable deal, $300 million. Federer has no obligation to even play. I think there's a clause in there that he gets paid even if he doesn't play. And I don't think he'll be playing for ten years, at least not in the main draws. Whether he ends up going into the senior circuit at some point, I don't know if that would have any interest to him.
In his life, he's made $116 million on court. $300 million for wearing these clothes, and this is just one of the brands that he endorses. I can easily understand why Nike did not attempt to match this offer. They have too many people in house, too many people that would look at that and say, "Well, now I would like a contract like that, too."
He is, more or less, unique for Uniqlo. He's getting their name in the press today, and will continue to do so for at least as long as he's a great competitor in the draws of the Grand Slams, which I think has got ... I don't know. It's hard to say when the end of that would be, but it's not ten years.
Hill:Do you have a prediction for this year's Wimbledon tournament?
Barker:Federer's draw is looking awfully good. Certainly, nobody is guaranteed to win any of their matches, but he looks about as strong to get through the early rounds as anybody, just based on who his competition is going to be. A lot of interesting players coming off of injuries still. I'm hoping Zverev finally puts together a decent Grand Slam. Everybody likes Juan Martín del Potro, and he's pretty healthy right now. It'll be interesting to see if Djokovic can finally string together a full tournament of top-level play. The prediction, I would predict Federer to get into the semi, I'll go that far.
Hill:Have you ever been to Wimbledon?
Barker:I have.
Hill:For the tournament?
Barker:Yeah. Not playing.
Hill:No. No. There was not 1/1000 of 1% that suggested that I thought that you played in even an opening round of Wimbledon. That's not a knock on you.
Barker:My dad almost played in Wimbledon.
Hill:Really?
Barker:Yeah. He could have if he'd had the money to get over there.
Hill:Didn't want to make the trip? That was back when --
Barker:Yeah, it was back when there was no money in it. He was just out of college. He played in what now is the U.S. Open, at the time was the U.S. Nationals, when they were all amateur events. But it was basically the same quality of competition at that as Wimbledon is, closed to amateurs. He would have been able to play.
Hill:When would this have been?
Barker:'54.
Hill:I remember you telling me years ago, I think we were talking about, who's the greatest of all time, and any time in tennis that discussion comes up, it almost immediately centers around, here's how many Grand Slam titles this person has won. And one of the people who's high on that list is Rob Laver from Australia. You pointed out to me, the thing you didn't know about the Australian Open is that there was a good stretch of time where a lot of really great players didn't make the trip, because you need so much time to adjust your body clock and that kind of thing. Laver, being native to the country, kind of had that tournament to himself. Still a great player, but it's a little skewed.
Barker:In Laver's case, he won the Grand Slam twice, the only person to ever do that. The data point that Roy Emerson won the Australian Open many times, and that was at a time where he maintained his amateur status, while Laver went pro and was no longer able to play in the Australian and other tournaments until they became open in '68, '69.
So, Emerson piled up a number of his Grand Slam wins and had the record on the men's side for the most Grand Slam wins until Sampras broke it. But it was not considered the standard by which you would judge the greatest of all time, because of the mechanisms there, the Australian being a great tournament but not one that everybody could get to easily, and also his length of time on the amateur side.
On the women's side, another prediction ... boy, always hard to predict. A lot of different winners of the women's Grand Slam tournaments over the last three years. I think Muguruza is interesting. If anybody can predict how Serena is going to do and how her body is going to hold up after having to retire from the French, I don't know.
Hill:The tune-up tournaments, Caroline Wozniacki won, right?
Barker:I guess. I missed that one.
Hill:I think that's right. If that's not an indicator of who's going to win, it's often an indicator of who's going to advance pretty far.
Barker:She has her Grand Slam victory, Halep does, a lot of different players have one or two, and then Serena and Venus have all the rest.
Bill Barkerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned.Chris Hillhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Nike. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Uniqlo Lands Roger Federer With a $300 Million Contract: Wimbledon is happening now, and for the first time in his long career, top player Roger Federer is not decked out in Nike (NYSE: NKE) gear. Uniqlo, the leading subsidiary of Japan's Fast Retailing Co. , has inked a remarkable 10-year sponsorship deal with the 36-year-old athlete that isn't even predicated on his continuing to play. In this segment of the MarketFoolery podcast -- an all-mailbag episode -- host Chris Hill and Motley Fool senior analyst Bill Barker discuss the deal, why Nike didn't try to match it, and shouldn't have. They also talk a bit of tennis history and speculate about this year's tournament. A full transcript follows the video. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This This video was recorded on July 2, 2018. Chris Hill: The World Cup is going on. Wimbledon is now underway. From a business standpoint, you mentioned something -- you're a big tennis fan -- that's pretty surprising in the sports business world, which is Rodger Federer, still one of the best, if not the best tennis players in the world, despite the fact that he's 36 -- which is not old in real terms, but it's old for a tennis player. He's been associated with Nike for basically his entire professional career. He took the court at Wimbledon, was not decked out in Nike gear. Instead, he's wearing a Japanese brand called Uniqlo. Sources say the deal is worth more than $300 million guaranteed over ten years. That's astonishing, given his age. It would be one thing if Rodger Federer were 26 or 30. The fact that he has this reportedly 10-year, $300 million deal with this apparel company in Japan, that's a bold move. Story continues Bill Barker: Uniqlo is, I guess, the best-known of the brands under Fast Retailing, which is the parent company that you can invest in. It's a remarkable deal, $300 million. Federer has no obligation to even play. I think there's a clause in there that he gets paid even if he doesn't play. And I don't think he'll be playing for ten years, at least not in the main draws. Whether he ends up going into the senior circuit at some point, I don't know if that would have any interest to him. In his life, he's made $116 million on court. $300 million for wearing these clothes, and this is just one of the brands that he endorses. I can easily understand why Nike did not attempt to match this offer. They have too many people in house, too many people that would look at that and say, "Well, now I would like a contract like that, too." He is, more or less, unique for Uniqlo. He's getting their name in the press today, and will continue to do so for at least as long as he's a great competitor in the draws of the Grand Slams, which I think has got ... I don't know. It's hard to say when the end of that would be, but it's not ten years. Hill: Do you have a prediction for this year's Wimbledon tournament? Barker: Federer's draw is looking awfully good. Certainly, nobody is guaranteed to win any of their matches, but he looks about as strong to get through the early rounds as anybody, just based on who his competition is going to be. A lot of interesting players coming off of injuries still. I'm hoping Zverev finally puts together a decent Grand Slam. Everybody likes Juan Martín del Potro, and he's pretty healthy right now. It'll be interesting to see if Djokovic can finally string together a full tournament of top-level play. The prediction, I would predict Federer to get into the semi, I'll go that far. Hill: Have you ever been to Wimbledon? Barker: I have. Hill: For the tournament? Barker: Yeah. Not playing. Hill: No. No. There was not 1/1000 of 1% that suggested that I thought that you played in even an opening round of Wimbledon. That's not a knock on you. Barker: My dad almost played in Wimbledon. Hill: Really? Barker: Yeah. He could have if he'd had the money to get over there. Hill: Didn't want to make the trip? That was back when -- Barker: Yeah, it was back when there was no money in it. He was just out of college. He played in what now is the U.S. Open, at the time was the U.S. Nationals, when they were all amateur events. But it was basically the same quality of competition at that as Wimbledon is, closed to amateurs. He would have been able to play. Hill: When would this have been? Barker: '54. Hill: I remember you telling me years ago, I think we were talking about, who's the greatest of all time, and any time in tennis that discussion comes up, it almost immediately centers around, here's how many Grand Slam titles this person has won. And one of the people who's high on that list is Rob Laver from Australia. You pointed out to me, the thing you didn't know about the Australian Open is that there was a good stretch of time where a lot of really great players didn't make the trip, because you need so much time to adjust your body clock and that kind of thing. Laver, being native to the country, kind of had that tournament to himself. Still a great player, but it's a little skewed. Barker: In Laver's case, he won the Grand Slam twice, the only person to ever do that. The data point that Roy Emerson won the Australian Open many times, and that was at a time where he maintained his amateur status, while Laver went pro and was no longer able to play in the Australian and other tournaments until they became open in '68, '69. So, Emerson piled up a number of his Grand Slam wins and had the record on the men's side for the most Grand Slam wins until Sampras broke it. But it was not considered the standard by which you would judge the greatest of all time, because of the mechanisms there, the Australian being a great tournament but not one that everybody could get to easily, and also his length of time on the amateur side. On the women's side, another prediction ... boy, always hard to predict. A lot of different winners of the women's Grand Slam tournaments over the last three years. I think Muguruza is interesting. If anybody can predict how Serena is going to do and how her body is going to hold up after having to retire from the French, I don't know. Hill: The tune-up tournaments, Caroline Wozniacki won, right? Barker: I guess. I missed that one. Hill: I think that's right. If that's not an indicator of who's going to win, it's often an indicator of who's going to advance pretty far. Barker: She has her Grand Slam victory, Halep does, a lot of different players have one or two, and then Serena and Venus have all the rest. Bill Barker has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Chris Hill has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Nike. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Facebook Is Killing Off 3 Apps, Including 2 That Were Acquired: Not every acquisition can work out as well as Instagram.Facebook(NASDAQ: FB)announced yesterday that it is killing off three social media apps, two of which were acquired in recent years. The outgoing apps are Hello, Moves, and tbh.
Hello was developed in-house and allowed users to merge contact information from a phone. (Uploading contact lists is one of the key tools that Facebook uses to create shadow profiles of non-Facebook users.) Facebook acquired Moves, a fitness and activity tracking app, way back in 2014, andscooped up tbh, an anonymous teen polling app, just last October.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Image source: Facebook.
Facebook said it was shutting down the trio of apps "due to low usage," and will delete all user data within 90 days.
No financial terms were ever officially disclosed for Moves and tbh, although the tbh acquisition was rumored to be less than $100 million, according to TechCrunch. However, there is a clue that suggests it was much, much less. Facebook's cash flow statement for the fourth quarter shows it paid $17 million for business acquisitions (net of cash acquired), and tbh was the only known acquisition during that quarter.
It's not surprising that Facebook would shutter Moves, as the company has done almost nothing in the realm of digital health over the past four years while others likeAppleandFitbitare hard at work building their respective digital health platforms. But shutting down tbh, which was acquired less than a year ago in order to strengthen Facebook's position among teens -- a demographic that investors fret may have become disenchanted with the service -- is peculiar to say the least.
tbh didn't have a large user base to begin with, having an estimated 2.5 million daily active users (DAUs) at the time of acquisition. Presumably, the DAU base has dwindled since then, leading to the decision to kill off the app.
The good news is that there's not much downside to shutting down tbh, since Facebook may have only paid $17 million. tbh seems to have been more of a long-shot acquisition, the type that has an asymmetric risk/reward profile.
Since Facebook didn'tpay exorbitantly, it didn't have a lot to lose, but there could have been considerable upside if Facebook had been able to scale up the user base as well as it did with some of its other acquisitions (most notably Instagram, which Facebook grew from 30 million users to1 billion usersover the course of six years).
Teens are a notoriously fickle demographic, with preferences changing rapidly as users move from one fad to another. It appears that tbh may have been one such fad, and Facebook made a small bet that didn't pay off.
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Evan Niu, CFAowns shares of AAPL and Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends AAPL, Facebook, and FIT. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on AAPL and short January 2020 $155 calls on AAPL. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Facebook Is Killing Off 3 Apps, Including 2 That Were Acquired: Not every acquisition can work out as well as Instagram. Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) announced yesterday that it is killing off three social media apps, two of which were acquired in recent years. The outgoing apps are Hello, Moves, and tbh. Hello was developed in-house and allowed users to merge contact information from a phone. (Uploading contact lists is one of the key tools that Facebook uses to create shadow profiles of non-Facebook users.) Facebook acquired Moves, a fitness and activity tracking app, way back in 2014, and scooped up tbh , an anonymous teen polling app, just last October. Mark Zuckerberg speaking on stage in front of a Facebook roadmap CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Image source: Facebook. Facebook said it was shutting down the trio of apps "due to low usage," and will delete all user data within 90 days. tbh may have cost just $17 million No financial terms were ever officially disclosed for Moves and tbh, although the tbh acquisition was rumored to be less than $100 million, according to TechCrunch. However, there is a clue that suggests it was much, much less. Facebook's cash flow statement for the fourth quarter shows it paid $17 million for business acquisitions (net of cash acquired), and tbh was the only known acquisition during that quarter. It's not surprising that Facebook would shutter Moves, as the company has done almost nothing in the realm of digital health over the past four years while others like Apple and Fitbit are hard at work building their respective digital health platforms. But shutting down tbh, which was acquired less than a year ago in order to strengthen Facebook's position among teens -- a demographic that investors fret may have become disenchanted with the service -- is peculiar to say the least. tbh didn't have a large user base to begin with, having an estimated 2.5 million daily active users (DAUs) at the time of acquisition. Presumably, the DAU base has dwindled since then, leading to the decision to kill off the app. Not all bets pay off The good news is that there's not much downside to shutting down tbh, since Facebook may have only paid $17 million. tbh seems to have been more of a long-shot acquisition, the type that has an asymmetric risk/reward profile. Story continues Since Facebook didn't pay exorbitantly , it didn't have a lot to lose, but there could have been considerable upside if Facebook had been able to scale up the user base as well as it did with some of its other acquisitions (most notably Instagram, which Facebook grew from 30 million users to 1 billion users over the course of six years). Teens are a notoriously fickle demographic, with preferences changing rapidly as users move from one fad to another. It appears that tbh may have been one such fad, and Facebook made a small bet that didn't pay off. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Evan Niu, CFA owns shares of AAPL and Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends AAPL, Facebook, and FIT. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on AAPL and short January 2020 $155 calls on AAPL. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || How the Chaikin Power Gauge Can Help Enhance an ETF Portfolio: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. There are numerous market factor premiums that enhance investments over the long haul, and investors who are interested in factors may consider smart beta ETFs that can capitalize on these premiums. For example, investors can look to the Chaikin Power Gauge, a multi-factor stock selection tool that may help create a more diversified solution to potentially enhance returns over time. ETF investors may gain exposure to a diversified multi-factor approach through the IQ Chaikin U.S. Small Cap ETF ( CSML ) and the large-cap version tracking the same smart beta Chaikin Power Gauge strategy, the IQ Chaikin U.S. Large Cap ETF ( CLRG ) . "What's great about the Chaikin Power Gauge tool is that it allows you to access a lot of detailed transparency on all three thousand securities that make up the Russell 3000," Salvatore Bruno, Chief Investment Officer & Managing Director for IndexIQ , said at the 2018 Morningstar Invest Conference. As a way to diversify and potentially enhance returns, the Chaikin Analytics approach found under CSML and CLRG combine various proven factors, notably value, growth, technical and sentiment. For example, Valero Energy has been given a very bullish rating on all four of its value, growth, technical and sentiment factors. Valero Energy Corp is the second largest component under CLRG's at 1.8% of the underlying portfolio. Through the Chaikin Power Gauge stock rating tool, potential investors can look up the various holdings and dive deeper down into the four main factors to find out the sub-metrics that help define the Power Gauge's rating system. The value factor includes screens like LT debt to equity ratio, price to book value, return on equity, price to sales ratio and free cash flow. Technical factors cover price trend, price trend rate of change, relative strength vs. market and volume trend. Growth factors include earnings growth, earnings surprise, earnings trend, projected P/E ratio and earnings consistency. Lastly, the sentiment factor screens for earnings estimate trend, short interest, insider activity, analyst ratings and industry relative strength. Story continues For more ETF-related commentary from Tom Lydon and other industry experts, visit our video category . POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM Bitcoin Price Prediction: Its Getting Ugly 7 Must-Have Technologies for Holistic Financial Planners Facebooks Lifting of Bitcoin Ban Will Boost Cryptocurrency Market If You Want Certainty, Youll Pay Dearly In Investing, as in Politics, Its Wise to Stay Focused on the Evidence READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || How the Chaikin Power Gauge Can Help Enhance an ETF Portfolio: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
There are numerous market factor premiums that enhance investments over the long haul, and investors who are interested in factors may consider smart beta ETFs that can capitalize on these premiums.
For example, investors can look to the Chaikin Power Gauge, a multi-factor stock selection tool that may help create a more diversified solution to potentially enhance returns over time. ETF investors may gain exposure to a diversified multi-factor approach through the IQ Chaikin U.S. Small Cap ETF (CSML) and the large-cap version tracking the same smart beta Chaikin Power Gauge strategy, the IQ Chaikin U.S. Large Cap ETF (CLRG) .
"What's great about the Chaikin Power Gauge tool is that it allows you to access a lot of detailed transparency on all three thousand securities that make up the Russell 3000," Salvatore Bruno, Chief Investment Officer & Managing Director forIndexIQ, said at the 2018 Morningstar Invest Conference.
As a way to diversify and potentially enhance returns, the Chaikin Analytics approach found under CSML and CLRG combine various proven factors, notably value, growth, technical and sentiment.
For example, Valero Energy has been given a very bullish rating on all four of its value, growth, technical and sentiment factors. Valero Energy Corp is the second largest component under CLRG's at 1.8% of the underlying portfolio.
Through theChaikin Power Gaugestock rating tool, potential investors can look up the various holdings and dive deeper down into the four main factors to find out the sub-metrics that help define the Power Gauge's rating system.
The value factor includes screens like LT debt to equity ratio, price to book value, return on equity, price to sales ratio and free cash flow. Technical factors cover price trend, price trend rate of change, relative strength vs. market and volume trend. Growth factors include earnings growth, earnings surprise, earnings trend, projected P/E ratio and earnings consistency. Lastly, the sentiment factor screens for earnings estimate trend, short interest, insider activity, analyst ratings and industry relative strength.
For more ETF-related commentary from Tom Lydon and other industry experts, visit ourvideo category.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || "MarketFoolery" Mailbag Day: Advice for Novice Investors, Plus a Low-Tech Play on E-Commerce: In this MarketFoolery podcast, host Chris Hill and analyst Bill Barker take advantage of the slow holiday week to reply to some of their listeners' queries. First up, a beginning investor who wants to know whether he should start with index funds, or jump straight into stock picking. Next, someone is seeking the guys' opinion about WestRock (NYSE: WRK) as a play on e-commerce. (Never heard of WestRock? It's the nation's No. 2 maker of cardboard boxes.) They also discuss the news that Roger Federer has left his lifelong sponsor Nike (NYSE: NKE) for a $300 million endorsement deal with Japanese apparel maker Uniqlo -- and why Nike was probably smart not to try to match it. Bill Barker is an employee of Motley Fool Asset Management, a separate, sister company of The Motley Fool, LLC. The views of Bill Barker and Motley Fool Asset Management are not the views of The Motley Fool, LLC and should not be taken as such. A full transcript follows the video. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This This video was recorded on July 2, 2018. Chris Hill: It's Monday, July 2nd. Welcome to Market Foolery ! I'm Chris Hill. Joining me in studio, from Motley Fool Asset Management, Bill Barker. Welcome to the second half of 2018! Bill Barker: Thank you! It's good to finally be here! Hill: [laughs] How was the first half, from an investing standpoint? It seemed like it went OK. Some hiccups here and there. Barker: It depended on whether you were invested in tech or not. I don't have the exact stat in front of me, but I read an article that the information tech sector was up 10%, which was some 99% of the total amount. All of the returns that you got were in tech. So, if you had a pure tech portfolio -- which, I imagine some listeners may be very heavily overweighted in information tech -- they're probably pretty happy. Story continues Hill: What about the folks you work with, Motley Fool Asset Management? I'm assuming there are some information tech stocks in those funds. Barker: It depends on the product. I think The Motley Fool Global Opportunities fund, which is overweight tech, had a pretty good first half of the year. Small and mid-caps did better than the S&P 500. So, that was good for one of our other funds. Hill: This is going to be an all-mailbag episode for a couple of reasons, one of which is, it's a quiet week. We have Independence Day smack dab in the middle of the week, not a lot of companies reporting earnings, and it's going to be a short week for us here on Market Foolery . We'll be here today and tomorrow. Excellent opportunity for listeners to check out some of The Motley Fool's other podcasts, like Motley Fool Answers or Rule Breaker Investing . Let's go to the mailbag. By the way, you can always email us, [email protected] . Question from Roy Ben Daniel in Tel Aviv -- going international right off the bat. "Do you have a word of advice for the beginning investor -- investing in index funds or individual companies? Thanks." Great question, and I think one of those questions that a lot of beginning investors ask. Not just, how do I get started, but, where do I start? I think, in general, all things being equal, we're fans right off the bat of the index fund, particularly if you can get it at a low cost, which you should be able to do. Barker: Right. Low-cost has gotten lower and lower and lower with competition. The index fund or index funds ten or 20 years ago largely would have translated into the S&P 500 being an index, and the one that more money was aggregated around in the funds space. There are a lot of index funds now with the popularity of index funds. Really, that should be the popularity of low-cost investing. A lot of people have created more and more refined, and sometimes very specific, indices. I think that the S&P 500 index fund -- or, if you want to go broader, the Vanguard Total Market index fund -- are great places, fantastic places to start, because they give you broad diversification and low cost. Those are two great things when you're a beginning investor. Individual stocks, you can make a lot more mistakes. Risk and reward is the equation there. You're taking a lot more risk on if you're just buying one or two or three stocks. It might be more fun, it might keep you more focused on what your investment is doing, but it also carries with it the risk that you are not properly diversified. Hill: Ultimately, for anyone who's interested in investing in individual companies, we're fans of, get to the point, when it is financially feasible, where you have a diversified portfolio. So, not just the anchor of an index fund, whether it's a Total Market or an S&P 500, that sort of thing, but, you have a portfolio built out with, ideally, north of ten stocks, I would say. Barker: Yes. If you're an individual investor -- sorry, a beginning investor, learn about yourself. Hill: Only individual investors are listening right now. Barker: There's not a party. Are there listening parties for this podcast, do you suppose? Hill: No. And there are not institutional investors, there aren't, like, someone is playing this Market Foolery episode in a conference room with a dozen or so analysts on Wall Street listening at once. Barker: That's sad. Hill: [laughs] It's a couple of things, I don't think sad is on the list. Sorry, I interrupted you. Barker: You did. I think we were trying to provide useful advice, rather than these tangents that you always insist on going on when I show up. Hill: Sorry. Well, it is part of the official Market Foolery Twitter feed description --occasional tangents. For anyone out there who's like, "I just don't like the tangents," that's fine, just know that that's baked into the description of this show. Barker: Right. So, keep your costs low, be diversified. When you're a new investor, that's a little harder to do than when you have a little bit more experience. You can get excited by seeing one or two stocks go up or frightened by seeing one or two stocks go down. Know yourself when you're investing. If you have, say, most of your money in an index fund, and you use part of your money to get more lessons, both about yourself and about the market through buying individual stocks -- certainly our site, our newsletters, various things, help individual investors learn about potential good opportunities on individual stocks. I think that's more interesting than following the broad market, but most investors are going to benefit from just having a broad market index fund and buying and holding for decades. Hill: I said this is going to be a mailbag episode. We're actually going to provide three ways you can submit questions here on Market Foolery . One is the email address, [email protected] . We also have a Facebook group for all of The Motley Fool podcasts. If you're on the Facebook and want to join, you're more than welcome to join us at Motley Fool Podcasts. Barker: And I've got your phone number available for -- Hill: [laughs] I don't think you do, actually. Barker: It's on my phone. Not that I would remember it, but my phone has it. Hill: Yeah, exactly, because we're at the point in life where we don't remember phone numbers. Barker: No. Do you know your kids' phone numbers? Hill: I know the area code. Barker: [laughs] It's sad. Hill: There are more digits than that, I realize, but I have those first three down cold. Question submitted through the Facebook group from David Stansfield in Colorado -- "Do you have any thoughts on WestRock? I own it for the long term." WestRock, a company we don't talk about all that often. I think when Mike Olsen was on the podcast last year, we ended up talking about WestRock. WestRock is one of the largest paper and packaging companies in the world. This company has popped up in the past when people have looked at the rise of e-commerce, not just Amazon but all kinds of e-commerce. If more and more things are going to be shipped, then, in theory, you're going to need more and more paper products to ship them in. So, a few times in the past, people have asked, "Wait a minute, who's making all these cardboard boxes?" WestRock is one of those companies. Any thoughts on WestRock? Barker: At the moment, I'm a fan of WestRock, but maybe not for the reasons why the question came in. They have agreed to buy KapStone Paper and Packaging , which is a longtime holding of our small and mid-cap fund. KapStone is up 52% for the year, very much unlike WestRock, which is not up. They paid a premium to agree to acquire KapStone. The deal hasn't finalized yet, so there's still some chance that it might not get approved by the regulators for some reason, but it looks like it'll go through. The market is pricing that in. Meanwhile, WestRock has grown a tremendous amount as a company. It's been a serial acquirer. And yet, the stock has not performed nearly as well. That's a function of investing in highly cyclical products or sectors. Paper is not a growth industry, it's very much a cyclical industry, where all the participants are basically at the mercy of the market pricing for paper and corrugated paper, craft paper, it does a lot of different kinds of container board and paper and packaging. But, the market sets the price for that. It's a commodity producer. There's good and bad management within commodity-producing sectors, but at the end of the day, you're largely just taking what the market gives you. You don't really get the same sort of compounding effects of growth, but if you're good, for some reason, at timing the cycles, you can make a lot of money on the cycle. If you bought this at the beginning of 2016, you've doubled your money. But if you bought it when it first came public, or if you bought it in 2015, it's flat. Hill: Any time I hear the phrase "serial acquirer," any company that is looking to buy as many competitors as possible, and that's how they're going to achieve growth, the first question that pops into my mind is, how are they doing at the integration? Any time we've seen trouble for companies in that mode of growth, that's usually, if it's not the No. 1 reason they're not getting it done, it's certainly in the top three. They're going out and buying, and they're not really thinking through, "How are we going to wring out the synergies with this company we just bought? How are we going to integrate them and the people from that company into our corporate culture, to the extent that we have one?" Barker: I can't give you a good answer on that, except that it's a good question to ask when looking at whether you should be an investor in a serial acquirer. There are economies of scale. This is a company that, in 2007, let's say -- go back a little bit before the recession so we're not anchoring on those numbers -- doing about $2 billion a year in sales. $15 billion now. So, tremendous growth at the top line. But the bottom line, it's obviously, where did they get the money to acquire all that stuff? It's issued a lot of shares over that time. I think the story is a good one here, and they have allocated capital well. But, despite the fact that they are 7X the size in terms of sales, they've diluted a fair amount. They have about 4X as many shares out. It's more like, the earnings per share have a little bit better than doubled in the last ten years. Hill: Third way you can submit questions is on our Twitter feed, which is @MarketFoolery. Question from Sam Muffley in New York. "I expect you'll find a way to discuss these new Oreo flavors on Market Foolery ?" Yes, we will, Sam, and it's via your question. [laughs] That's how we're going to discuss these. For any listeners who are relatively new -- welcome, thanks for checking us out -- I've made no secret over the past year or so for my utter disdain for the way the Mondelez (NASDAQ: MDLZ) management, specifically in the Oreo division at Mondelez, have gotten drunk with power. You talk about WestRock issuing new shares, that's nothing compared to the way the Oreo executives are spitting out new Oreo flavors with no regard whatsoever to shareholder value. Barker: A point of clarification: there are times when some of the listeners, some of the fans, write in to you, or post on the Twitter or the Facebook, those kinds of things, and seek our comments. Whereas, on the coffee, I'm a co-conspirator; I believe that Oreos is really your pet peeve. And sometimes I'm here to work you through your issues on that, and sometimes it's other people. A lot of people have had the chance to talk Oreos with you. Hill: Oh, yeah, I wasn't trying to get across that this is an issue for you. This is entirely my thing. Barker: Yes. Hill: And, again, I'm coming at it from the shareholder perspective. In the past year -- and feel free, email, post on Twitter, tell me the most noteworthy thing the Mondelez Corporation, which has a lot of different brands, tell me the biggest headlines Mondelez has garnered for any of their brands. I would argue that if it's not No. 1, certainly very high up the list is Oreos and their limited-edition flavors. Keep in mind, they're already producing the No. 1 cookie in the world. Oreos is fine, they're just bored over there in the Oreo division, and that's why they're coming out with Pistachio Thins, Strawberry Shortcake, Peppermint Bark, Rocky Road with -- wait for it, here's the kicker -- the Rocky Road flavor? It doesn't have nuts like Rocky Road ice cream does, because they want to sell to people -- it's like, "Oh, you have a nut allergy? Don't worry. Our Rocky Road doesn't have nuts, it has soy nuts." And then they have Mickey Mouse, which is really just birthday cake flavor with -- Barker: Small bits of mice. Hill: [laughs] No. That would be amazing, but no, I think it's just the original Mickey Mouse logo stamped on the cookie. Barker: The implication that you get to eat Mickey Mouse is false. False advertising, you say. Whereas everything else, they're picturing what you're going to enjoy eating; when it comes to Mickey Mouse, no such luck. Hill: Mickey Mouse is an icon, nobody's looking to bite into Mickey Mouse. Barker: You're just helping people figure that out, I suppose. Hill: Again, to go back to the investing part -- over the past year, where the market is up, the S&P 500 is up 12%, shares of Mondelez down 5%. They're just fiddling while Rome burns -- and by Rome, I mean their own shareholder value. Barker: Alright, well, as I say, I'm here mostly to help you work through your issues on this -- Hill: Before we get to the coffee story. Barker: [laughs] Yes, where we both have issues. It's a tough world for packaged brand foods. Mondelez and Oreos may be distracting from the larger story, which is that this has not been easy times for any of these companies. I don't know whether they've outperformed the competition over the time period that you're looking at, but if they've underperformed, it's not because Oreos is the problem, it's because of the industry. Hill: Which is exactly my point. Barker: Get out of the industry, you're saying? Hill: No. They're in an industry that is struggling right now. We've talked before about how consumer goods -- in particular, packaged food -- is struggling right now. Again, they already have the No. 1 best-selling cookie. Why would you waste any resources on Oreos? If I'm running Mondelez, I'm looking at the Oreo division and saying, "Look, anyone who's working on anything other than simply producing the basics," and by the basics, I mean Oreos and double-stuffed -- I think they're No. 1 and No. 2, so they're fine in the cookie department. Take anyone in that division, any money you're throwing at advertising or promoting these limited-edition things, put it somewhere else, because the rest of your business is on fire right now, and not in the good way of being on fire. Barker: What I think you need to do is extend an invitation to somebody from Mondelez for one of your many fine podcast and radio shows to talk through the serious business issues of your proposed strategy, which may be a value-creating one, but they may have somebody that would be able to educate you, like, "This is why we're doing this." And it is free advertising. Part of it is that they're getting, as you point out, much more attention for this than for the other brands -- which, I just went to their site -- Chips Ahoy, Nutter Butter, Ritz, Wheat Thins, Honey Maid graham crackers, Trident, Dentyne, all great brands. These are all things that you haven't bothered to say anything about in your adult lifetime, probably. Hill: Yeah, that's probably true. Barker: And yet Oreos, you end up promoting through your bitter recounting of their extended brands. Hill: I just hate to see companies waste shareholder money, and that's what's been going on at Mondelez for the last couple of years. Let's get to the coffee store, which comes via Christian Myers, who tweeted it and simply wrote, "Drink up." It is the latest -- and I say "the latest" because there was an increasingly long string of scientific research putting forth and supporting the idea that coffee might be the greatest natural drug on the planet Earth, in terms of health. This comes via an article on Science Daily -- caffeine from four cups of coffee protects the heart with the help of mitochondria. Let me just give you the key quote here from one of the researchers, which is that, "These results should lead to better strategies for protecting heart muscle from damage, including consideration of coffee consumption or caffeine as an additional dietary factor in the elderly population." Look, you're not a scientist, producer Dan Boyd is not a scientist, the only person who comes close is me. And I take this to mean that this research is saying, "If you're a younger person, you should think about upping your coffee consumption. If you're an older person, you really should be upping your coffee consumption." Barker: Good point, but, question. I wasn't listening closely because I was looking at something to maybe use to comment -- did you say that you were close to a scientist? Hill: I'm saying, in a group of you, me, and Dan Boyd, I'm the closest. I say that because my kid is studying to be a nurse. [laughs] I'm not saying it's sound logic, it's just the one I'm going with. Barker: That sounds to me like you're the closest to being a nurse. Nurses are not scientists. Hill: There's some science involved there, as I understand it. Regardless, one more bit of research supporting our belief that coffee is the greatest thing in the world. Barker: Yeah. And those that mistakenly try to "help" others by saying, "Don't you think you're drinking too much coffee?" there is no such thing, is what we're trying to get at. Unless you have hypertension. There are occasions, like if you have hypertension, if you have high blood pressure, then coffee is not beneficial for those things. But, being, as it is, a fruit, it's remarkable that it doesn't get more attention. And this whole new information about Midi-chlorians is especially useful. Hill: It's mitochondria. Barker: It sounds like Midi-chlorians, which, as you know, are the power for the Force in the Star Wars movies. Hill: Midi-chlorians? Barker: Midi-chlorians, yeah. Don't remember that part? Dan Boyd: You guys don't want to go down this rabbit hole, you really don't. Hill: Did that come up in any of the movies? Barker: It did, yeah! You apparently aren't a geek, enough of a fan, although Dan might be able to comment here on it. Yes, it's a point of great contention with Star Wars fans. Boyd: It's from The Phantom Menace , which a lot of people didn't like, and the whole inclusion of it doesn't really make any sense or have any bearing whatsoever on the story, yet it's a central part of this terrible movie. Barker: The good news is, coffee may help increase your power with the Force, because of this new study, is what I'm hearing. Hill: Maybe there's a follow-up article on sciencedaily.com that we can look forward to. The World Cup is going on. Wimbledon is now under way. From a business standpoint, you mentioned something -- you're a big tennis fan -- that's pretty surprising in the sports business world, which is Rodger Federer, still one of the best, if not the best tennis players in the world, despite the fact that he's 36 -- which is not old in real terms, but it's old for a tennis player. He's been associated with Nik for basically his entire professional career. He took the court at Wimbledon, was not decked out in Nike gear. Instead, he's wearing a Japanese brand called Uniqlo. Sources say the deal is worth more than $300 million guaranteed over ten years. That's astonishing, given his age. It would be one thing if Rodger Federer were 26 or 30. The fact that he has this reportedly 10-year, $300 million deal with this apparel company in Japan, that's a bold move. Barker: Uniqlo is, I guess, the best-known of the brands under Fast Retailing , which is the parent company that you can invest in. It's a remarkable deal, $300 million. Federer has no obligation to even play. I think there's a clause in there that he gets paid even if he doesn't play. And I don't think he'll be playing for ten years, at least not in the main draws. Whether he ends up going into the senior circuit at some point, I don't know if that would have any interest to him. In his life, he's made $116 million on court. $300 million for wearing these clothes, and this is just one of the brands that he endorses. I can easily understand why Nike did not attempt to match this offer. They have too many people in house, too many people that would look at that and say, "Well, now I would like a contract like that, too." He is, more or less, unique for Uniqlo. He's getting their name in the press today, and will continue to do so for at least as long as he's a great competitor in the draws of the Grand Slams, which I think has got ... I don't know. It's hard to say when the end of that would be, but it's not ten years. Hill: Do you have a prediction for this year's Wimbledon tournament? Barker: Federer's draw is looking awfully good. Certainly, nobody is guaranteed to win any of their matches, but he looks about as strong to get through the early rounds as anybody, just based on who his competition is going to be. A lot of interesting players coming off of injuries still. I'm hoping Zverev finally puts together a decent Grand Slam. Everybody likes Juan Martín del Potro, and he's pretty healthy right now. It'll be interesting to see if Djokovic can finally string together a full tournament of top-level play. The prediction, I would predict Federer to get into the semi, I'll go that far. Hill: Have you ever been to Wimbledon? Barker: I have. Hill: For the tournament? Barker: Yeah. Not playing. Hill: No. No. There was not 1/1000 of 1% that suggested that I thought that you played in even an opening round of Wimbledon. That's not a knock on you. Barker: My dad almost played in Wimbledon. Hill: Really? Barker: Yeah. He could have if he'd had the money to get over there. Hill: Didn't want to make the trip? That was back when -- Barker: Yeah, it was back when there was no money in it. He was just out of college. He played in what now is the U.S. Open, at the time was the U.S. Nationals, when they were all amateur events. But it was basically the same quality of competition at that as Wimbledon is, closed to amateurs. He would have been able to play. Hill: When would this have been? Barker: '54. Hill: I remember you telling me years ago, I think we were talking about, who's the greatest of all time, and any time in tennis that discussion comes up, it almost immediately centers around, here's how many Grand Slam titles this person has won. And one of the people who's high on that list is Rob Laver from Australia. You pointed out to me, the thing you didn't know about the Australian Open is that there was a good stretch of time where a lot of really great players didn't make the trip, because you need so much time to adjust your body clock and that kind of thing. Laver, being native to the country, kind of had that tournament to himself. Still a great player, but it's a little skewed. Barker: In Laver's case, he won the Grand Slam twice, the only person to ever do that. The data point that Roy Emerson won the Australian Open many times, and that was at a time where he maintained his amateur status, while Laver went pro and was no longer able to play in the Australian and other tournaments until they became open in '68, '69. So, Emerson piled up a number of his Grand Slam wins and had the record on the men's side for the most Grand Slam wins until Sampras broke it. But it was not considered the standard by which you would judge the greatest of all time, because of the mechanisms there, the Australian being a great tournament but not one that everybody could get to easily, and also his length of time on the amateur side. On the women's side, another prediction ... boy, always hard to predict. A lot of different winners of the women's Grand Slam tournaments over the last three years. I think Muguruza is interesting. If anybody can predict how Serena is going to do and how her body is going to hold up after having to retire from the French, I don't know. Hill: The tune-up tournaments, Caroline Wozniacki won, right? Barker: I guess. I missed that one. Hill: I think that's right. If that's not an indicator of who's going to win, it's often an indicator of who's going to advance pretty far. Barker: She has her Grand Slam victory, Halep does, a lot of different players have one or two, and then Serena and Venus have all the rest. Hill: In hindsight -- for anyone who's still listening -- the point where we started talking about Oreos, that was your clue that the bulk of the investing conversation was done. Barker: Well, you had an investing point to make. Hill: I had an investing point to make about that, and we did talk about the business of Nike. Barker: Are you advising people to go back in time and stop listening at whatever point that is? Hill: I mean, to the extent that anyone has access to a time machine, there are probably better things to do with that time machine, but yeah, certainly -- Barker: Is seems like a trivial use of it. Hill: Yeah, I think so. Barker: Although, frankly, getting those ten minutes back, that's still ten minutes. Hill: Look, if you have a time machine, kind of like with investing, you don't want to just jump in willy nilly and just, "I'm going to go back in time and do XYZ." No! Test it out! Do the little things! So, yeah, actually, if you have a time machine, go back in time ten minutes or so to when we started talking about Oreos and be like, "Oh, I don't need to listen to this." Barker: Maybe the whole episode. Hill: Yeah, I think a lot of people do that. Like, "Oh, it's one of those. I can skip this one and go straight to Industry Focus, where host Shannon Jones is talking about something of actual importance, which is our nation's banking system and the stress tests. I'm going to go back in time, I'm going to listen to Industry Focus, that's what I'm going to do." Barker: We're wading into the quiet days for the podcasts. Hill: Why do you think I said it's a short week for us? Bill Barker, Motley Fool Asset Management. Go to foolfunds.com and read more. You don't have to have a time machine, you can just go to foolfunds.com and check out the writings from Bill Barker and Bryan Hinmon and the entire crew at Motley Fool Asset Management. Thanks for being here! Barker: Thank you! Hill: As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. That's going to do it for this edition of Market Foolery . The show is mixed by Dan Boyd. I'm Chris Hill. Thanks for listening! We'll see you tomorrow! John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Bill Barker has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Chris Hill owns shares of AMZN. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends AMZN, FB, Nike, and TWTR. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || "MarketFoolery" Mailbag Day: Advice for Novice Investors, Plus a Low-Tech Play on E-Commerce: In thisMarketFoolerypodcast, host Chris Hill and analyst Bill Barker take advantage of the slow holiday week to reply to some of their listeners' queries. First up, a beginning investor who wants to know whether he should start with index funds, or jump straight into stock picking.
Next, someone is seeking the guys' opinion aboutWestRock(NYSE: WRK)as a play on e-commerce. (Never heard of WestRock? It's the nation's No. 2 maker of cardboard boxes.) They also discuss the news that Roger Federer has left his lifelong sponsorNike(NYSE: NKE)for a $300 million endorsement deal with Japanese apparel maker Uniqlo -- and why Nike was probably smart not to try to match it.
Bill Barker is an employee of Motley Fool Asset Management, a separate, sister company of The Motley Fool, LLC. The views of Bill Barker and Motley Fool Asset Management are not the views of The Motley Fool, LLC and should not be taken as such.
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on July 2, 2018.
Chris Hill:It's Monday, July 2nd. Welcome toMarket Foolery! I'm Chris Hill. Joining me in studio, from Motley Fool Asset Management, Bill Barker. Welcome to the second half of 2018!
Bill Barker:Thank you! It's good to finally be here!
Hill:[laughs] How was the first half, from an investing standpoint? It seemed like it went OK. Some hiccups here and there.
Barker:It depended on whether you were invested in tech or not. I don't have the exact stat in front of me, but I read an article that the information tech sector was up 10%, which was some 99% of the total amount. All of the returns that you got were in tech. So, if you had a pure tech portfolio -- which, I imagine some listeners may be very heavily overweighted in information tech -- they're probably pretty happy.
Hill:What about the folks you work with, Motley Fool Asset Management? I'm assuming there are some information tech stocks in those funds.
Barker:It depends on the product. I think The Motley Fool Global Opportunities fund, which is overweight tech, had a pretty good first half of the year. Small and mid-caps did better than the S&P 500. So, that was good for one of our other funds.
Hill:This is going to be an all-mailbag episode for a couple of reasons, one of which is, it's a quiet week. We have Independence Day smack dab in the middle of the week, not a lot of companies reporting earnings, and it's going to be a short week for us here onMarket Foolery. We'll be here today and tomorrow. Excellent opportunity for listeners to check out some of The Motley Fool's other podcasts, likeMotley Fool AnswersorRule Breaker Investing. Let's go to the mailbag. By the way, you can always email us,[email protected].
Question from Roy Ben Daniel in Tel Aviv -- going international right off the bat. "Do you have a word of advice for the beginning investor -- investing in index funds or individual companies? Thanks."
Great question, and I think one of those questions that a lot of beginning investors ask. Not just, how do I get started, but, where do I start? I think, in general, all things being equal, we're fans right off the bat of the index fund, particularly if you can get it at a low cost, which you should be able to do.
Barker:Right. Low-cost has gotten lower and lower and lower with competition. The index fund or index funds ten or 20 years ago largely would have translated into the S&P 500 being an index, and the one that more money was aggregated around in the funds space. There are a lot of index funds now with the popularity of index funds. Really, that should be the popularity of low-cost investing. A lot of people have created more and more refined, and sometimes very specific, indices. I think that the S&P 500 index fund -- or, if you want to go broader, theVanguardTotal Market index fund -- are great places, fantastic places to start, because they give you broad diversification and low cost. Those are two great things when you're a beginning investor.
Individual stocks, you can make a lot more mistakes. Risk and reward is the equation there. You're taking a lot more risk on if you're just buying one or two or three stocks. It might be more fun, it might keep you more focused on what your investment is doing, but it also carries with it the risk that you are not properly diversified.
Hill:Ultimately, for anyone who's interested in investing in individual companies, we're fans of, get to the point, when it is financially feasible, where you have a diversified portfolio. So, not just the anchor of an index fund, whether it's a Total Market or an S&P 500, that sort of thing, but, you have a portfolio built out with, ideally, north of ten stocks, I would say.
Barker:Yes. If you're an individual investor -- sorry, a beginning investor, learn about yourself.
Hill:Only individual investors are listening right now.
Barker:There's not a party. Are there listening parties for this podcast, do you suppose?
Hill:No. And there are not institutional investors, there aren't, like, someone is playing thisMarket Fooleryepisode in a conference room with a dozen or so analysts on Wall Street listening at once.
Barker:That's sad.
Hill:[laughs] It's a couple of things, I don't think sad is on the list. Sorry, I interrupted you.
Barker:You did. I think we were trying to provide useful advice, rather than these tangents that you always insist on going on when I show up.
Hill:Sorry. Well, it is part of the officialMarket FooleryTwitterfeed description --occasional tangents. For anyone out there who's like, "I just don't like the tangents," that's fine, just know that that's baked into the description of this show.
Barker:Right. So, keep your costs low, be diversified. When you're a new investor, that's a little harder to do than when you have a little bit more experience. You can get excited by seeing one or two stocks go up or frightened by seeing one or two stocks go down. Know yourself when you're investing.
If you have, say, most of your money in an index fund, and you use part of your money to get more lessons, both about yourself and about the market through buying individual stocks -- certainly our site, our newsletters, various things, help individual investors learn about potential good opportunities on individual stocks. I think that's more interesting than following the broad market, but most investors are going to benefit from just having a broad market index fund and buying and holding for decades.
Hill:I said this is going to be a mailbag episode. We're actually going to provide three ways you can submit questions here onMarket Foolery. One is the email address,[email protected]. We also have aFacebookgroup for all of The Motley Fool podcasts. If you're on the Facebook and want to join, you're more than welcome to join us at Motley Fool Podcasts.
Barker:And I've got your phone number available for --
Hill:[laughs] I don't think you do, actually.
Barker:It's on my phone. Not that I would remember it, but my phone has it.
Hill:Yeah, exactly, because we're at the point in life where we don't remember phone numbers.
Barker:No. Do you know your kids' phone numbers?
Hill:I know the area code.
Barker:[laughs] It's sad.
Hill:There are more digits than that, I realize, but I have those first three down cold. Question submitted through the Facebook group from David Stansfield in Colorado -- "Do you have any thoughts on WestRock? I own it for the long term." WestRock, a company we don't talk about all that often. I think when Mike Olsen was on the podcast last year, we ended up talking about WestRock.
WestRock is one of the largest paper and packaging companies in the world. This company has popped up in the past when people have looked at the rise of e-commerce, not justAmazonbut all kinds of e-commerce. If more and more things are going to be shipped, then, in theory, you're going to need more and more paper products to ship them in. So, a few times in the past, people have asked, "Wait a minute, who's making all these cardboard boxes?" WestRock is one of those companies. Any thoughts on WestRock?
Barker:At the moment, I'm a fan of WestRock, but maybe not for the reasons why the question came in. They have agreed to buyKapStone Paper and Packaging, which is a longtime holding of our small and mid-cap fund. KapStone is up 52% for the year, very much unlike WestRock, which is not up. They paid a premium to agree to acquire KapStone. The deal hasn't finalized yet, so there's still some chance that it might not get approved by the regulators for some reason, but it looks like it'll go through. The market is pricing that in.
Meanwhile, WestRock has grown a tremendous amount as a company. It's been a serial acquirer. And yet, the stock has not performed nearly as well. That's a function of investing in highly cyclical products or sectors. Paper is not a growth industry, it's very much a cyclical industry, where all the participants are basically at the mercy of the market pricing for paper and corrugated paper, craft paper, it does a lot of different kinds of container board and paper and packaging. But, the market sets the price for that.
It's a commodity producer. There's good and bad management within commodity-producing sectors, but at the end of the day, you're largely just taking what the market gives you. You don't really get the same sort of compounding effects of growth, but if you're good, for some reason, at timing the cycles, you can make a lot of money on the cycle. If you bought this at the beginning of 2016, you've doubled your money. But if you bought it when it first came public, or if you bought it in 2015, it's flat.
Hill:Any time I hear the phrase "serial acquirer," any company that is looking to buy as many competitors as possible, and that's how they're going to achieve growth, the first question that pops into my mind is, how are they doing at the integration? Any time we've seen trouble for companies in that mode of growth, that's usually, if it's not the No. 1 reason they're not getting it done, it's certainly in the top three. They're going out and buying, and they're not really thinking through, "How are we going to wring out the synergies with this company we just bought? How are we going to integrate them and the people from that company into our corporate culture, to the extent that we have one?"
Barker:I can't give you a good answer on that, except that it's a good question to ask when looking at whether you should be an investor in a serial acquirer. There are economies of scale. This is a company that, in 2007, let's say -- go back a little bit before the recession so we're not anchoring on those numbers -- doing about $2 billion a year in sales. $15 billion now. So, tremendous growth at the top line. But the bottom line, it's obviously, where did they get the money to acquire all that stuff? It's issued a lot of shares over that time.
I think the story is a good one here, and they have allocated capital well. But, despite the fact that they are 7X the size in terms of sales, they've diluted a fair amount. They have about 4X as many shares out. It's more like, the earnings per share have a little bit better than doubled in the last ten years.
Hill:Third way you can submit questions is on our Twitter feed, which is @MarketFoolery. Question from Sam Muffley in New York. "I expect you'll find a way to discuss these new Oreo flavors onMarket Foolery?" Yes, we will, Sam, and it's via your question. [laughs] That's how we're going to discuss these.
For any listeners who are relatively new -- welcome, thanks for checking us out -- I've made no secret over the past year or so for my utter disdain for the way theMondelez(NASDAQ: MDLZ)management, specifically in the Oreo division at Mondelez, have gotten drunk with power. You talk about WestRock issuing new shares, that's nothing compared to the way the Oreo executives are spitting out new Oreo flavors with no regard whatsoever to shareholder value.
Barker:A point of clarification: there are times when some of the listeners, some of the fans, write in to you, or post on the Twitter or the Facebook, those kinds of things, and seek our comments. Whereas, on the coffee, I'm a co-conspirator; I believe that Oreos is really your pet peeve. And sometimes I'm here to work you through your issues on that, and sometimes it's other people. A lot of people have had the chance to talk Oreos with you.
Hill:Oh, yeah, I wasn't trying to get across that this is an issue for you. This is entirely my thing.
Barker:Yes.
Hill:And, again, I'm coming at it from the shareholder perspective. In the past year -- and feel free, email, post on Twitter, tell me the most noteworthy thing the Mondelez Corporation, which has a lot of different brands, tell me the biggest headlines Mondelez has garnered for any of their brands. I would argue that if it's not No. 1, certainly very high up the list is Oreos and their limited-edition flavors.
Keep in mind, they're already producing the No. 1 cookie in the world. Oreos is fine, they're just bored over there in the Oreo division, and that's why they're coming out with Pistachio Thins, Strawberry Shortcake, Peppermint Bark, Rocky Road with -- wait for it, here's the kicker -- the Rocky Road flavor? It doesn't have nuts like Rocky Road ice cream does, because they want to sell to people -- it's like, "Oh, you have a nut allergy? Don't worry. Our Rocky Road doesn't have nuts, it has soy nuts." And then they have Mickey Mouse, which is really just birthday cake flavor with --
Barker:Small bits of mice.
Hill:[laughs] No. That would be amazing, but no, I think it's just the original Mickey Mouse logo stamped on the cookie.
Barker:The implication that you get to eat Mickey Mouse is false. False advertising, you say. Whereas everything else, they're picturing what you're going to enjoy eating; when it comes to Mickey Mouse, no such luck.
Hill:Mickey Mouse is an icon, nobody's looking to bite into Mickey Mouse.
Barker:You're just helping people figure that out, I suppose.
Hill:Again, to go back to the investing part -- over the past year, where the market is up, the S&P 500 is up 12%, shares of Mondelez down 5%. They're just fiddling while Rome burns -- and by Rome, I mean their own shareholder value.
Barker:Alright, well, as I say, I'm here mostly to help you work through your issues on this --
Hill:Before we get to the coffee story.
Barker:[laughs] Yes, where we both have issues. It's a tough world for packaged brand foods. Mondelez and Oreos may be distracting from the larger story, which is that this has not been easy times for any of these companies. I don't know whether they've outperformed the competition over the time period that you're looking at, but if they've underperformed, it's not because Oreos is the problem, it's because of the industry.
Hill:Which is exactly my point.
Barker:Get out of the industry, you're saying?
Hill:No. They're in an industry that is struggling right now. We've talked before about how consumer goods -- in particular, packaged food -- is struggling right now. Again, they already have the No. 1 best-selling cookie. Why would you waste any resources on Oreos? If I'm running Mondelez, I'm looking at the Oreo division and saying, "Look, anyone who's working on anything other than simply producing the basics," and by the basics, I mean Oreos and double-stuffed -- I think they're No. 1 and No. 2, so they're fine in the cookie department. Take anyone in that division, any money you're throwing at advertising or promoting these limited-edition things, put it somewhere else, because the rest of your business is on fire right now, and not in the good way of being on fire.
Barker:What I think you need to do is extend an invitation to somebody from Mondelez for one of your many fine podcast and radio shows to talk through the serious business issues of your proposed strategy, which may be a value-creating one, but they may have somebody that would be able to educate you, like, "This is why we're doing this."
And it is free advertising. Part of it is that they're getting, as you point out, much more attention for this than for the other brands -- which, I just went to their site -- Chips Ahoy, Nutter Butter, Ritz, Wheat Thins, Honey Maid graham crackers, Trident, Dentyne, all great brands. These are all things that you haven't bothered to say anything about in your adult lifetime, probably.
Hill:Yeah, that's probably true.
Barker:And yet Oreos, you end up promoting through your bitter recounting of their extended brands.
Hill:I just hate to see companies waste shareholder money, and that's what's been going on at Mondelez for the last couple of years.
Let's get to the coffee store, which comes via Christian Myers, who tweeted it and simply wrote, "Drink up." It is the latest -- and I say "the latest" because there was an increasingly long string of scientific research putting forth and supporting the idea that coffee might be the greatest natural drug on the planet Earth, in terms of health. This comes via an article on Science Daily -- caffeine from four cups of coffee protects the heart with the help of mitochondria. Let me just give you the key quote here from one of the researchers, which is that, "These results should lead to better strategies for protecting heart muscle from damage, including consideration of coffee consumption or caffeine as an additional dietary factor in the elderly population."
Look, you're not a scientist, producer Dan Boyd is not a scientist, the only person who comes close is me. And I take this to mean that this research is saying, "If you're a younger person, you should think about upping your coffee consumption. If you're an older person, you really should be upping your coffee consumption."
Barker:Good point, but, question. I wasn't listening closely because I was looking at something to maybe use to comment -- did you say that you were close to a scientist?
Hill:I'm saying, in a group of you, me, and Dan Boyd, I'm the closest. I say that because my kid is studying to be a nurse. [laughs] I'm not saying it's sound logic, it's just the one I'm going with.
Barker:That sounds to me like you're the closest to being a nurse. Nurses are not scientists.
Hill:There's some science involved there, as I understand it. Regardless, one more bit of research supporting our belief that coffee is the greatest thing in the world.
Barker:Yeah. And those that mistakenly try to "help" others by saying, "Don't you think you're drinking too much coffee?" there is no such thing, is what we're trying to get at. Unless you have hypertension. There are occasions, like if you have hypertension, if you have high blood pressure, then coffee is not beneficial for those things. But, being, as it is, a fruit, it's remarkable that it doesn't get more attention. And this whole new information about Midi-chlorians is especially useful.
Hill:It's mitochondria.
Barker:It sounds like Midi-chlorians, which, as you know, are the power for the Force in theStar Warsmovies.
Hill:Midi-chlorians?
Barker:Midi-chlorians, yeah. Don't remember that part?
Dan Boyd:You guys don't want to go down this rabbit hole, you really don't.
Hill:Did that come up in any of the movies?
Barker:It did, yeah! You apparently aren't a geek, enough of a fan, although Dan might be able to comment here on it. Yes, it's a point of great contention withStar Warsfans.
Boyd:It's fromThe Phantom Menace, which a lot of people didn't like, and the whole inclusion of it doesn't really make any sense or have any bearing whatsoever on the story, yet it's a central part of this terrible movie.
Barker:The good news is, coffee may help increase your power with the Force, because of this new study, is what I'm hearing.
Hill:Maybe there's a follow-up article on sciencedaily.com that we can look forward to.
The World Cup is going on. Wimbledon is now under way. From a business standpoint, you mentioned something -- you're a big tennis fan -- that's pretty surprising in the sports business world, which is Rodger Federer, still one of the best, if not the best tennis players in the world, despite the fact that he's 36 -- which is not old in real terms, but it's old for a tennis player. He's been associated with Nik for basically his entire professional career. He took the court at Wimbledon, was not decked out in Nike gear. Instead, he's wearing a Japanese brand called Uniqlo. Sources say the deal is worth more than $300 million guaranteed over ten years.
That's astonishing, given his age. It would be one thing if Rodger Federer were 26 or 30. The fact that he has this reportedly 10-year, $300 million deal with this apparel company in Japan, that's a bold move.
Barker:Uniqlo is, I guess, the best-known of the brands underFast Retailing, which is the parent company that you can invest in. It's a remarkable deal, $300 million. Federer has no obligation to even play. I think there's a clause in there that he gets paid even if he doesn't play. And I don't think he'll be playing for ten years, at least not in the main draws. Whether he ends up going into the senior circuit at some point, I don't know if that would have any interest to him.
In his life, he's made $116 million on court. $300 million for wearing these clothes, and this is just one of the brands that he endorses. I can easily understand why Nike did not attempt to match this offer. They have too many people in house, too many people that would look at that and say, "Well, now I would like a contract like that, too."
He is, more or less, unique for Uniqlo. He's getting their name in the press today, and will continue to do so for at least as long as he's a great competitor in the draws of the Grand Slams, which I think has got ... I don't know. It's hard to say when the end of that would be, but it's not ten years.
Hill:Do you have a prediction for this year's Wimbledon tournament?
Barker:Federer's draw is looking awfully good. Certainly, nobody is guaranteed to win any of their matches, but he looks about as strong to get through the early rounds as anybody, just based on who his competition is going to be. A lot of interesting players coming off of injuries still. I'm hoping Zverev finally puts together a decent Grand Slam. Everybody likes Juan Martín del Potro, and he's pretty healthy right now. It'll be interesting to see if Djokovic can finally string together a full tournament of top-level play. The prediction, I would predict Federer to get into the semi, I'll go that far.
Hill:Have you ever been to Wimbledon?
Barker:I have.
Hill:For the tournament?
Barker:Yeah. Not playing.
Hill:No. No. There was not 1/1000 of 1% that suggested that I thought that you played in even an opening round of Wimbledon. That's not a knock on you.
Barker:My dad almost played in Wimbledon.
Hill:Really?
Barker:Yeah. He could have if he'd had the money to get over there.
Hill:Didn't want to make the trip? That was back when --
Barker:Yeah, it was back when there was no money in it. He was just out of college. He played in what now is the U.S. Open, at the time was the U.S. Nationals, when they were all amateur events. But it was basically the same quality of competition at that as Wimbledon is, closed to amateurs. He would have been able to play.
Hill:When would this have been?
Barker:'54.
Hill:I remember you telling me years ago, I think we were talking about, who's the greatest of all time, and any time in tennis that discussion comes up, it almost immediately centers around, here's how many Grand Slam titles this person has won. And one of the people who's high on that list is Rob Laver from Australia. You pointed out to me, the thing you didn't know about the Australian Open is that there was a good stretch of time where a lot of really great players didn't make the trip, because you need so much time to adjust your body clock and that kind of thing. Laver, being native to the country, kind of had that tournament to himself. Still a great player, but it's a little skewed.
Barker:In Laver's case, he won the Grand Slam twice, the only person to ever do that. The data point that Roy Emerson won the Australian Open many times, and that was at a time where he maintained his amateur status, while Laver went pro and was no longer able to play in the Australian and other tournaments until they became open in '68, '69.
So, Emerson piled up a number of his Grand Slam wins and had the record on the men's side for the most Grand Slam wins until Sampras broke it. But it was not considered the standard by which you would judge the greatest of all time, because of the mechanisms there, the Australian being a great tournament but not one that everybody could get to easily, and also his length of time on the amateur side.
On the women's side, another prediction ... boy, always hard to predict. A lot of different winners of the women's Grand Slam tournaments over the last three years. I think Muguruza is interesting. If anybody can predict how Serena is going to do and how her body is going to hold up after having to retire from the French, I don't know.
Hill:The tune-up tournaments, Caroline Wozniacki won, right?
Barker:I guess. I missed that one.
Hill:I think that's right. If that's not an indicator of who's going to win, it's often an indicator of who's going to advance pretty far.
Barker:She has her Grand Slam victory, Halep does, a lot of different players have one or two, and then Serena and Venus have all the rest.
Hill:In hindsight -- for anyone who's still listening -- the point where we started talking about Oreos, that was your clue that the bulk of the investing conversation was done.
Barker:Well, you had an investing point to make.
Hill:I had an investing point to make about that, and we did talk about the business of Nike.
Barker:Are you advising people to go back in time and stop listening at whatever point that is?
Hill:I mean, to the extent that anyone has access to a time machine, there are probably better things to do with that time machine, but yeah, certainly --
Barker:Is seems like a trivial use of it.
Hill:Yeah, I think so.
Barker:Although, frankly, getting those ten minutes back, that's still ten minutes.
Hill:Look, if you have a time machine, kind of like with investing, you don't want to just jump in willy nilly and just, "I'm going to go back in time and do XYZ." No! Test it out! Do the little things! So, yeah, actually, if you have a time machine, go back in time ten minutes or so to when we started talking about Oreos and be like, "Oh, I don't need to listen to this."
Barker:Maybe the whole episode.
Hill:Yeah, I think a lot of people do that. Like, "Oh, it's one of those. I can skip this one and go straight to Industry Focus, where host Shannon Jones is talking about something of actual importance, which is our nation's banking system and the stress tests. I'm going to go back in time, I'm going to listen to Industry Focus, that's what I'm going to do."
Barker:We're wading into the quiet days for the podcasts.
Hill:Why do you think I said it's a short week for us? Bill Barker, Motley Fool Asset Management. Go tofoolfunds.comand read more. You don't have to have a time machine, you can just go tofoolfunds.comand check out the writings from Bill Barker and Bryan Hinmon and the entire crew at Motley Fool Asset Management. Thanks for being here!
Barker:Thank you!
Hill:As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. That's going to do it for this edition ofMarket Foolery. The show is mixed by Dan Boyd. I'm Chris Hill. Thanks for listening! We'll see you tomorrow!
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Bill Barkerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned.Chris Hillowns shares of AMZN. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends AMZN, FB, Nike, and TWTR. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || The 5 Best Oil Stocks of 2018 (So Far): Oil prices have been blistering hot so far in 2018. A barrel of WTI, which is the U.S. oil price benchmark, has rocketed 23% in the first half to more than $74, its highest level since November 2014. Meanwhile, Brent, the global oil benchmark, has been almost as hot, rising 18.8% for the year to more than $79 per barrel. Those surging crude prices fueled big gains for the stocks of oil producers, with the following five components of the S&P 500 leading the way: Oil Stock YTD % Change Type of company Hess (NYSE: HES) 36.7% Oil producer Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) 35.1% Oil producer ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) 25% Oil producer Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) 22% Oil producer Noble Energy (NYSE: NBL) 16.6% Oil producer Returns as of July 2, 2018. An oil pumping unit in the evening. Image source: Getty Images. Hess: Oil was only the tip of the iceberg While red-hot oil prices helped fuel Hess' gains this year, it was far from the only catalyst. Hess and its partner ExxonMobil announced three more offshore discoveries near Guyana, bringing the total to eight. The partners now plan to develop three phases of that field, which could produce more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day by late 2023. In addition to that, Hess continued cleaning up its portfolio and balance sheet by selling its joint venture in the Utica Shale and paying off more debt. Meanwhile, the company has used the excess cash generated by higher oil prices to buy back stock, authorizing a $1.5 billion repurchase program, enough to retire nearly 10% of its outstanding shares. The company could expand that program even further later this year given the uptick in crude prices. Anadarko Petroleum: Sending back the windfall Anadarko Petroleum is also sending more money back to shareholders thanks to higher oil prices. After initially authorizing a $2.5 billion repurchase program last fall (enough to retire 10% of its outstanding shares), the oil giant added $500 million to its buyback this year and is expected to spend the entire amount by the end of the second quarter. On top of that, Anadarko announced a fivefold increase in its dividend and committed to repaying another $1 billion in debt by the end of next year. With oil running well above Anadarko's $50-a-barrel budget level, the company should generate even more excess cash that it could send back to shareholders. Story continues ConocoPhillips: Spreading the wealth Higher oil prices have also given ConocoPhillips some extra money to allocate in creating value for its investors this year. Not only did the company increase its dividend by 7.5%, but it also now expects to buy back $2 billion in stock this year, which is an increase of $500 million from its initial plan. On top of that, the company expects to hit its debt reduction target more than a year ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips has also been allocating capital toward future growth by acquiring land in two emerging shale plays and buying out its partner in Alaska. These initiatives set the oil giant up for continued success in 2018 and beyond. Several pumpjacks in a row with sunburst. Image source: Getty Images. Marathon Oil: Cash is beginning to pile up Marathon Oil has spent most of 2018 finishing its portfolio cleanup plan. Not only did the company receive the final payment from last year's sale of its oil-sands position, but it also sold its Libya subsidiary. Those deals brought in $1.2 billion in cash, boosting the company's balance to a healthy $1.6 billion. That level should continue rising this year since the company can balance its budget at $50 oil, putting it on pace to generate $500 million in excess cash if crude averages $60 a barrel -- and even more at current prices. Marathon hasn't yet decided what it plans to do with the money, other than investing some of it in buying land in an emerging shale play in Louisiana, though the company said that it could start returning some of it to shareholders later this year via a stock repurchase program. Noble Energy: Starting to unleash the gusher Like most of the other oil producers on this list, Noble Energy put the finishing touches on its portfolio cleanup by selling several assets, including its position in the Gulf of Mexico. That gave the company the money to pay down some debt as well as repurchase shares, as it announced a $750 million buyback program. That authorization is part of a plan to return $1.3 billion in cash to investors by the end of 2020, which also includes the company's dividend. However, with Noble Energy basing that plan on $50 oil, it will likely be able to return even more cash to investors in the coming years, given where crude prices are these days. Oil wasn't the only fuel driving these stocks higher While the oil price rally has been a major catalyst driving up oil stocks this year, it wasn't the only factor. Another common one is that oil companies are beginning to return more cash to shareholders, primarily by repurchasing shares, which has acted like lighter fluid for oil stocks. That catalyst could continue playing a significant role this year, which is why investors should consider oil stocks that have big-time share repurchase programs underway ( like this one ) since they'll have more fuel to drive outperformance. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Matthew DiLallo owns shares of ConocoPhillips. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || The 5 Best Oil Stocks of 2018 (So Far): Oil prices have been blistering hot so far in 2018. A barrel of WTI, which is the U.S. oil price benchmark, has rocketed 23% in the first half to more than $74, its highest level since November 2014. Meanwhile, Brent, the global oil benchmark, has been almost as hot, rising 18.8% for the year to more than $79 per barrel.
Those surging crude prices fueled big gains for the stocks of oil producers, with the following five components of theS&P 500leading the way:
[{"Oil Stock": "Hess(NYSE: HES)", "YTD % Change": "36.7%", "Type of company": "Oil producer"}, {"Oil Stock": "Anadarko Petroleum(NYSE: APC)", "YTD % Change": "35.1%", "Type of company": "Oil producer"}, {"Oil Stock": "ConocoPhillips(NYSE: COP)", "YTD % Change": "25%", "Type of company": "Oil producer"}, {"Oil Stock": "Marathon Oil(NYSE: MRO)", "YTD % Change": "22%", "Type of company": "Oil producer"}, {"Oil Stock": "Noble Energy(NYSE: NBL)", "YTD % Change": "16.6%", "Type of company": "Oil producer"}]
Returns as of July 2, 2018.
Image source: Getty Images.
While red-hot oil prices helped fuel Hess' gains this year, it was far from the only catalyst. Hess and its partnerExxonMobilannounced three more offshore discoveries near Guyana, bringing the total to eight. The partners now plan to develop three phases of that field, which could produce more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day by late 2023. In addition to that, Hess continued cleaning up its portfolio and balance sheet by selling its joint venture in theUtica Shaleand paying off more debt. Meanwhile, the company has used the excess cash generated by higher oil prices to buy back stock, authorizing a $1.5 billion repurchase program, enough to retire nearly 10% of its outstanding shares. The company could expand that program even further later this year given the uptick in crude prices.
Anadarko Petroleum is also sending more money back to shareholders thanks to higher oil prices. After initiallyauthorizing a $2.5 billion repurchase program last fall(enough to retire 10% of its outstanding shares), the oil giant added $500 million to its buyback this year and is expected to spend the entire amount by the end of the second quarter. On top of that, Anadarko announced a fivefold increase in its dividend and committed to repaying another $1 billion in debt by the end of next year. With oil running well above Anadarko's $50-a-barrel budget level, the company should generate even more excess cash that it could send back to shareholders.
Higher oil prices have also given ConocoPhillips some extra money to allocate in creating value for its investors this year. Not only did the company increase its dividend by 7.5%, but it also now expects to buy back $2 billion in stock this year, which is an increase of $500 million from its initial plan. On top of that, the company expects to hit its debt reduction target more than a year ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips has also been allocating capital toward future growth by acquiring land in two emerging shale plays and buying out its partner in Alaska. These initiatives set the oil giant up for continued success in 2018 and beyond.
Image source: Getty Images.
Marathon Oil has spent most of 2018 finishing its portfolio cleanup plan. Not only did the company receive the final payment from last year's sale of its oil-sands position, but it also sold its Libya subsidiary. Those deals brought in $1.2 billion in cash, boosting the company's balance to a healthy $1.6 billion. That level should continue rising this year since the company can balance its budget at $50 oil, putting it on pace to generate $500 million in excess cash if crude averages $60 a barrel -- and even more at current prices. Marathon hasn't yet decided what it plans to do with the money, other than investing some of it in buying land in an emerging shale play in Louisiana, thoughthe company saidthat it could start returning some of it to shareholders later this year via a stock repurchase program.
Like most of the other oil producers on this list, Noble Energy put the finishing touches on its portfolio cleanup by selling several assets, including its position in the Gulf of Mexico. That gave the company the money to pay down some debt as well as repurchase shares, as it announced a $750 million buyback program. That authorization is part of a plan to return $1.3 billion in cash to investors by the end of 2020, which also includes the company's dividend. However, with Noble Energy basing that plan on $50 oil, it will likely be able to return even more cash to investors in the coming years, given where crude prices are these days.
While the oil price rally has been a major catalyst driving up oil stocks this year, it wasn't the only factor. Another common one is that oil companies are beginning to return more cash to shareholders, primarily by repurchasing shares, which has acted like lighter fluid for oil stocks. That catalyst could continue playing a significant role this year, which is why investors should consider oil stocks that have big-time share repurchase programs underway (like this one) since they'll have more fuel to drive outperformance.
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Matthew DiLalloowns shares of ConocoPhillips. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || About to Buy Penny Stocks? Look at These 3 Companies First: Penny stocks tempt investors with the promise of sky-high returns, while often delivering disappointing results. These companies typically don't have the same disclosure requirements that other publicly traded companies do -- which keep investors in the dark -- and their prices can fluctuate very quickly and leave their investors reeling . Of course, no investment is guaranteed to make you money. But you're far better off buying stocks in great companies and holding them for the long haul, rather than trying to time the market with sketchy companies you hardly know anything about. To help you track down a few stable investments, we reached out to a few Motley Fool investors for some stock recommendations. Here's why they think Osisko Gold Royalties (NYSE: OR) , Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ: CRUS) , and Square (NYSE: SQ) are better investments than penny stocks. A pile of pennies with a stack of pennies on top. Image source: Getty Images. A big step up from a penny gold stock Reuben Gregg Brewer (Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd.): Mining companies are a mainstay of the penny stock universe. But there's a lot of risk involved when you invest in a miner that, in penny stock land, often has just a single undeveloped project underpinning its business . That's why you should look at Osisko Gold Royalties, a streaming and royalty company that's a bit more aggressive than its larger peers. Streaming companies make money by providing cash up front to miners for the right to buy gold and silver in the future at contractually guaranteed low prices. Very often, miners use the money to build new mines. Osisko has 130 streaming deals, but only 20 are currently generating cash flow. The others are in some earlier stage of development. However, that's not the full picture. About 75% of management's time is dedicated to its streaming business with the rest dedicated to direct investments in mining companies. It holds stakes in four mining companies. The company calls this segment its accelerator business, as it attempts to help miners build new projects by directly financing the mining companies. Story continues Osisko's direct investments exposes it to the ups and downs of the mining business that streaming is meant to avoid. However, this exposure can also provide additional upside if management makes the right investment choices. Offsetting the risk, meanwhile, is the more conservative streaming portfolio. Streaming-focused, and more diversified, peers like Royal Gold and Franco-Nevada are a better call if you are risk-averse. But for more aggressive types, Osisko's dual approach is worth a closer look. A small-cap chip play Ashraf Eassa (Cirrus Logic): Instead of buying a risky penny stock, you might want to check out shares of audio-chip maker Cirrus Logic. Cirrus Logic generates most of its revenue from selling audio chips to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) in support of the iPhone, iPad, and other devices, so it's a stock that carries with it some very real concentration risk. Nevertheless, with the shares trading near a 52-week low thanks to weaker-than-expected chip sales to Apple (unsurprising, as demand for its current iPhone portfolio has fallen short of expectations), I think it could be a good time for more risk-tolerant investors to consider picking up some shares of the chip company. CRUS Chart CRUS data by YCharts . If the upcoming iPhone product cycle proves robust (and I think the rumored iPhone lineup looks substantially more compelling than the current one is), then that could act as a source of positive earnings surprises for stockholders. Moreover, a recent report from analysts at Susquehanna claims that Cirrus Logic will be providing chips that perform noise cancellation for Apple's next-generation AirPods line of wireless earbuds. That win coupled with the potential for other wireless earbud makers to try to follow suit could be an interesting source of revenue growth in the coming years. Cirrus Logic isn't the safest stock in the world -- after all, it's a small-cap chip stock with high exposure to a single demanding customer with a taste for vertical integration -- but given that the stock is trading near 52-week lows with multiple potential catalysts coming up, I'd much rather own Cirrus Logic shares than any penny stock. Hip to be square Chris Neiger (Square): If you're chasing after huge returns, consider that over the past three years, shares of Square have surged about 380%. There's no guarantee they'll continue climbing, of course, but the company is making some solid moves that indicate Square should keep growing. Square has its hands in a number of different payment and management services for businesses of all sizes. The company's hardware and software allow business to swipe credit cards and accept wireless payments (you've likely seen their bright white payment terminals that connect to iPads), but Square also has lending services, a food delivery business , payroll and inventory management, and can even help business build websites. In short, the company has built itself into the place for businesses to get their own businesses up and running. Investors have been optimistic about this company because of Square's ongoing growth. In the most recent quarter , Square's revenue jumped by 45% year over year, and its gross payment volume (GPV) -- the dollar amount of all transactions processed through its platform -- increased by 31% to $17.8 billion. Aside from the company's organic growth, Square recently purchased the website-building company Weebly , which will bring Square 625,000 paid subscribers. Not only that, but 40% of Weebly's customers are outside of the U.S., which helps Square grow its international footprint as well. Investors should know that Square is still firmly in growth mode and isn't profitable right now, but the company's continual opportunities from its payment services, website building, and other services are all moving this company in the right direction. If Square's sales and GPV keep growing, then it's only a matter of time before profits begin to materialize. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Ashraf Eassa has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and Square. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Cirrus Logic. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || About to Buy Penny Stocks? Look at These 3 Companies First: Penny stocks tempt investors with the promise of sky-high returns, while often delivering disappointing results. These companies typically don't have the same disclosure requirements that other publicly traded companies do -- which keep investors in the dark -- and their prices can fluctuate very quickly and leave their investors reeling . Of course, no investment is guaranteed to make you money. But you're far better off buying stocks in great companies and holding them for the long haul, rather than trying to time the market with sketchy companies you hardly know anything about. To help you track down a few stable investments, we reached out to a few Motley Fool investors for some stock recommendations. Here's why they think Osisko Gold Royalties (NYSE: OR) , Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ: CRUS) , and Square (NYSE: SQ) are better investments than penny stocks. A pile of pennies with a stack of pennies on top. Image source: Getty Images. A big step up from a penny gold stock Reuben Gregg Brewer (Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd.): Mining companies are a mainstay of the penny stock universe. But there's a lot of risk involved when you invest in a miner that, in penny stock land, often has just a single undeveloped project underpinning its business . That's why you should look at Osisko Gold Royalties, a streaming and royalty company that's a bit more aggressive than its larger peers. Streaming companies make money by providing cash up front to miners for the right to buy gold and silver in the future at contractually guaranteed low prices. Very often, miners use the money to build new mines. Osisko has 130 streaming deals, but only 20 are currently generating cash flow. The others are in some earlier stage of development. However, that's not the full picture. About 75% of management's time is dedicated to its streaming business with the rest dedicated to direct investments in mining companies. It holds stakes in four mining companies. The company calls this segment its accelerator business, as it attempts to help miners build new projects by directly financing the mining companies. Story continues Osisko's direct investments exposes it to the ups and downs of the mining business that streaming is meant to avoid. However, this exposure can also provide additional upside if management makes the right investment choices. Offsetting the risk, meanwhile, is the more conservative streaming portfolio. Streaming-focused, and more diversified, peers like Royal Gold and Franco-Nevada are a better call if you are risk-averse. But for more aggressive types, Osisko's dual approach is worth a closer look. A small-cap chip play Ashraf Eassa (Cirrus Logic): Instead of buying a risky penny stock, you might want to check out shares of audio-chip maker Cirrus Logic. Cirrus Logic generates most of its revenue from selling audio chips to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) in support of the iPhone, iPad, and other devices, so it's a stock that carries with it some very real concentration risk. Nevertheless, with the shares trading near a 52-week low thanks to weaker-than-expected chip sales to Apple (unsurprising, as demand for its current iPhone portfolio has fallen short of expectations), I think it could be a good time for more risk-tolerant investors to consider picking up some shares of the chip company. CRUS Chart CRUS data by YCharts . If the upcoming iPhone product cycle proves robust (and I think the rumored iPhone lineup looks substantially more compelling than the current one is), then that could act as a source of positive earnings surprises for stockholders. Moreover, a recent report from analysts at Susquehanna claims that Cirrus Logic will be providing chips that perform noise cancellation for Apple's next-generation AirPods line of wireless earbuds. That win coupled with the potential for other wireless earbud makers to try to follow suit could be an interesting source of revenue growth in the coming years. Cirrus Logic isn't the safest stock in the world -- after all, it's a small-cap chip stock with high exposure to a single demanding customer with a taste for vertical integration -- but given that the stock is trading near 52-week lows with multiple potential catalysts coming up, I'd much rather own Cirrus Logic shares than any penny stock. Hip to be square Chris Neiger (Square): If you're chasing after huge returns, consider that over the past three years, shares of Square have surged about 380%. There's no guarantee they'll continue climbing, of course, but the company is making some solid moves that indicate Square should keep growing. Square has its hands in a number of different payment and management services for businesses of all sizes. The company's hardware and software allow business to swipe credit cards and accept wireless payments (you've likely seen their bright white payment terminals that connect to iPads), but Square also has lending services, a food delivery business , payroll and inventory management, and can even help business build websites. In short, the company has built itself into the place for businesses to get their own businesses up and running. Investors have been optimistic about this company because of Square's ongoing growth. In the most recent quarter , Square's revenue jumped by 45% year over year, and its gross payment volume (GPV) -- the dollar amount of all transactions processed through its platform -- increased by 31% to $17.8 billion. Aside from the company's organic growth, Square recently purchased the website-building company Weebly , which will bring Square 625,000 paid subscribers. Not only that, but 40% of Weebly's customers are outside of the U.S., which helps Square grow its international footprint as well. Investors should know that Square is still firmly in growth mode and isn't profitable right now, but the company's continual opportunities from its payment services, website building, and other services are all moving this company in the right direction. If Square's sales and GPV keep growing, then it's only a matter of time before profits begin to materialize. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Ashraf Eassa has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and Square. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Cirrus Logic. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Switzerland's “Crypto Valley” Successfully Completes Blockchain Voting Trial: Zug, a city in Switzerland's Crypto Valley, completed its first blockchain-based municipal vote on July 2, 2018, the Swiss News Agencyreports. Hailed as a “success” by local officials, the vote was held using a trial digital ID system announced in June of this year. City authorities, who have issued digital identities to residents since 2017, are currently evaluating different applications of blockchain technology for governance.
The votes, which were placed through amobile app, allowed residents with digital IDs to provide feedback on matters such as the inclusion "of fireworks at the annual Lakeside Festival, and whether they think digital IDs should be used to borrow books from the library or pay parking fees."
Residents were also asked if the blockchain digital ID system should frequently be used for referendum votes in the future.
According to the head of communications for the city, Dieter Müller, “the premiere was a success,” and there will be an evaluation of the exercise's technical details in the coming months with a focus on privacy and voting secrecy, as well as on ensuring results are verifiable for future elections.
Still, Müller was not too happy about voter turnout, believing more citizens could have taken part. Out of 240 total voters who registered, only 30 percent participated in the trial. “The number of participants could have been higher,” he conceded.
Müller revealed that while most of the residents found it easy to vote using their smartphones, a small fraction of voters still had difficulty with the process. The exercise also revealed other meaningful use cases the city can explore for the digital ID system, such as using the technology for parking fee payments and tax returns.
Zug is a hotspot for cryptocurrency and blockchain companies known for its low taxes and favorable cryptocurrency laws. This blockchain-friendly city is home to a cluster of cryptocurrency businesses and foundations, includingthe Ethereum Foundation,Tezos Foundation, ShapeShift andXapo.
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || Switzerland's “Crypto Valley” Successfully Completes Blockchain Voting Trial: Switzerland's “Crypto Valley” Successfully Completes Blockchain Voting Trial Zug, a city in Switzerland's Crypto Valley, completed its first blockchain-based municipal vote on July 2, 2018, the Swiss News Agency reports . Hailed as a “success” by local officials, the vote was held using a trial digital ID system announced in June of this year. City authorities, who have issued digital identities to residents since 2017, are currently evaluating different applications of blockchain technology for governance. The votes, which were placed through a mobile app , allowed residents with digital IDs to provide feedback on matters such as the inclusion "of fireworks at the annual Lakeside Festival, and whether they think digital IDs should be used to borrow books from the library or pay parking fees." Residents were also asked if the blockchain digital ID system should frequently be used for referendum votes in the future. According to the head of communications for the city, Dieter Müller, “the premiere was a success,” and there will be an evaluation of the exercise's technical details in the coming months with a focus on privacy and voting secrecy, as well as on ensuring results are verifiable for future elections. Still, Müller was not too happy about voter turnout, believing more citizens could have taken part. Out of 240 total voters who registered, only 30 percent participated in the trial. “The number of participants could have been higher,” he conceded. Müller revealed that while most of the residents found it easy to vote using their smartphones, a small fraction of voters still had difficulty with the process. The exercise also revealed other meaningful use cases the city can explore for the digital ID system, such as using the technology for parking fee payments and tax returns. Zug is a hotspot for cryptocurrency and blockchain companies known for its low taxes and favorable cryptocurrency laws. This blockchain-friendly city is home to a cluster of cryptocurrency businesses and foundations, including the Ethereum Foundation , Tezos Foundation , ShapeShift and Xapo . This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine . || Argentina ETFs Pop After Central Bank Strengthens Peso: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Argentina country-specific ETFs climbed Tuesday after the Argentinian central bank moved to shore up its currency, lifting the peso to its biggest gain in six weeks.
On Tuesday, the Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (ARGT) increased 4.6% and the iShares MSCI Argentina and Global Exposure ETF (AGT) rose 3.0%. The Argentina markets have been experiencing an awful year, with ARGT down 24.8% and AGT 24.7% lower year-to-date.
Argentina's central bank moved to diminish the number of pesos circulating in the economy by raising reserve requirements for banks, a measure that will sop up 60 billion pesos, or $2.1 billion, in liquidity,Bloombergreports.
“The increase in reserve requirements today will apply only to pesos reserves and will be added to another increase of 3 percentage points that went into effect on June 18 and to the additional 2 percentage points that will come into effect on July 18,” the statement said.
Policy makers also hiked rates on local central bank notes, or also known as Lebacs, due over the next few months to pay yields as high as 52%.
U.S. Dollar Against Argentina Peso
The U.S. dollar depreciated 0.7% against the Argentina peso to ARS$28.094 Tuesday. The peso has depreciated 34% this year for the worst performance among emerging market currencies.
The tightening monetary policies are part of the new central bank chief Luis Caputo's plans to halt the sell-off in the peso currency.
Meanwhile, President Mauricio Macri is moving to bolster confidence in the economy, obtaining a record $50 billion credit line from the International Monetary Fund following the plunge in the currency.
"The most important objective is to regain the confidence of the markets to lower the cost of financing," Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne said during a conference call. "That’s our No. 1 objective."
For more information on the developing economies, visit ouremerging markets category.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Argentina ETFs Pop After Central Bank Strengthens Peso: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Argentina country-specific ETFs climbed Tuesday after the Argentinian central bank moved to shore up its currency, lifting the peso to its biggest gain in six weeks. On Tuesday, the Global X MSCI Argentina ETF ( ARGT ) increased 4.6% and the iShares MSCI Argentina and Global Exposure ETF ( AGT ) rose 3.0%. The Argentina markets have been experiencing an awful year, with ARGT down 24.8% and AGT 24.7% lower year-to-date. Argentina's central bank moved to diminish the number of pesos circulating in the economy by raising reserve requirements for banks, a measure that will sop up 60 billion pesos, or $2.1 billion, in liquidity, Bloomberg reports. The increase in reserve requirements today will apply only to pesos reserves and will be added to another increase of 3 percentage points that went into effect on June 18 and to the additional 2 percentage points that will come into effect on July 18, the statement said. Policy makers also hiked rates on local central bank notes, or also known as Lebacs, due over the next few months to pay yields as high as 52%. U.S. Dollar Against Argentina Peso The U.S. dollar depreciated 0.7% against the Argentina peso to ARS$28.094 Tuesday. The peso has depreciated 34% this year for the worst performance among emerging market currencies. The tightening monetary policies are part of the new central bank chief Luis Caputo's plans to halt the sell-off in the peso currency. Meanwhile, President Mauricio Macri is moving to bolster confidence in the economy, obtaining a record $50 billion credit line from the International Monetary Fund following the plunge in the currency. "The most important objective is to regain the confidence of the markets to lower the cost of financing," Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne said during a conference call. "Thats our No. 1 objective." For more information on the developing economies, visit our emerging markets category . Story continues POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM Bitcoin Price Prediction: Its Getting Ugly 7 Must-Have Technologies for Holistic Financial Planners Facebooks Lifting of Bitcoin Ban Will Boost Cryptocurrency Market If You Want Certainty, Youll Pay Dearly In Investing, as in Politics, Its Wise to Stay Focused on the Evidence READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM >
[Social Media Buzz]
Price: $6,698.98
1h: -0.35%
24h: 1.68%
7d: 9.34%
Market Cap: $114,758,464,548.00
#Bitcoin #BTC || 1 BTC = 26000.10000000 BRL em 04/07/2018 ás 20:00:02. #bitcoin #bitcoinbr #bitcoinexchangebr || 24H
2018/07/05 01:00 (2018/07/04 01:00)
LONG : 34432.77 BTC (-115.18 BTC)
SHORT : 23036.08 BTC (+4.37 BTC)
LS比 : 59% vs 40% (60% vs 39%) pic.twitter.com/8gUAQHMR5x || Bitcoin: $6,698.00
+1.65% (+$109.04)
High: $6,800.00
Low: $6,400
Volume: 1544
$BTC #BTC #bitcoin || Market Cap: $274,650,039,230
BT...
|
6639.14, 6673.50, 6856.93, 6773.88, 6741.75, 6329.95, 6394.71, 6228.81, 6238.05, 6276.12
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 3424.59, 3486.95, 3313.68, 3242.48, 3236.76, 3252.84, 3545.86, 3696.06, 3745.95, 4134.44, 3896.54, 4014.18, 3998.98, 4078.60, 3815.49, 3857.30, 3654.83, 3923.92, 3820.41, 3865.95, 3742.70, 3843.52, 3943.41, 3836.74, 3857.72, 3845.19, 4076.63, 4025.25, 4030.85, 4035.30, 3678.92, 3687.37, 3661.30, 3552.95, 3706.05, 3630.68, 3655.01, 3678.56, 3657.84, 3728.57, 3601.01, 3576.03, 3604.58, 3585.12, 3600.87, 3599.77, 3602.46, 3583.97, 3470.45, 3448.12, 3486.18, 3457.79, 3487.95, 3521.06, 3464.01, 3459.15, 3466.36, 3413.77, 3399.47, 3666.78, 3671.20, 3690.19, 3648.43, 3653.53, 3632.07, 3616.88, 3620.81, 3629.79, 3673.84, 3915.71, 3947.09, 3999.82, 3954.12, 4005.53, 4142.53, 3810.43, 3882.70, 3854.36, 3851.05, 3854.79, 3859.58, 3864.42, 3847.18, 3761.56, 3896.38, 3903.94, 3911.48, 3901.13, 3963.31, 3951.60.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-03-10]
Volume: 9713267607, RSI (14-day): 58.74, 50-day EMA: 3818.95, 200-day EMA: 4808.40
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Weekly Trade Talk Progress: U.S. Gains Edge, China Fears Trump May Walk Away from Negotiations: U.S.-China trade negotiations took a backseat last week to central bank activity and as well as key global and domestic economic reports. However, activity continued behind the scenes. Also absent this week was the day to day jawboning from U.S. and China officials and even President Trump that seemed to paint an optimistic view of an imminent trade deal at times even though the activity in the U.S. equity markets indicated investors were growing tired of the reports.
The stock market took a pause early last week despite reports that U.S.-China trade talks were in their “final stages.” Some experts said the weakness was fueled by investors who had grown weary of the slow progress in the negotiations.
Even with the lack of fresh news over U.S.-China trade negotiations, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow offered a positive spin at the end of the week.
“We have them over a barrel,” said Kudlow, director of the president’s National Economic Council. “On the other hand, we would like a good deal. Both countries should benefit.”
“We have hurt them,” Kudlow said on “Squawk on the Street,” as both sides hope the finish line to resolving their trade war is near. “We are still negotiating by phone and teleconference.”
“The documents from two weeks ago advanced enormously. That’s why the president is optimistic about the potential for a deal,” Kudlow added. But he stressed, “I don’t want to hang a timetable on this.”
Kudlow emphasized Trump’s message. “He’s very serious, if we don’t get a good deal for the United States…then we won’t get a good deal. You saw him walk away from North Korea” nuclear talks in Vietnam last week.
After President Trump ended abruptly the nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea, Chinese officials grew worried Trump could do the same in trade talks, a senior administration officials told CNBC on Friday.
“The Chinese saw him walk away from North Korea and they’re concerned he will walk away from the China deal,” the official said. “You don’t want to send Xi to Mar-a-Lago and have Trump walk away. That would be a diplomatic catastrophe.”
The official went on to say that Beijing and Washington are going through “line-by-line negotiations.” “What they don’t want is to send their guy here and POTUS say ‘nope I’m out of here, see you on the 9thhole,” the official said.
Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and a CNBC contributor, told CNBC’s “Halftime Report” that “We finally have deal headline fatigue. We have rallied 80 days each day, on renewed optimism over China talks, and 50 different derivations of that. But it’s the same story every day. Sometimes it happens in the middle of the day, so we can open red and then we close green. So, how many days in a row can you rally on the same premise? So I think the market now understands something will happen. I don’t think the market actually cares about the details. I think we want some sort of resolution, and then some people will say it’s good, some will say it’s bad, and we’ll be back to politics as normal.”
Safanad’s chief investment officer, John Rutledge, who advised former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, contended on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that a finalized deal could actually boost stocks: “There are some people inside our government that think that China’s been pushing their currency down. It has fallen, but they’ve actually been trying to prop it up. It’s fallen because foreign investors have pulled their money out of China, making it difficult to maintain the currency at its current level. And so announcing a stable currency is going to discourage those people from pulling capital out. It’ll actually make the People’s Bank of China’s job a lot easier. The economy is very weak, they’ve done all they can do to stimulate it, and it’ll take some time before that takes effect. But I think the markets themselves are going to really like the deal.”
Sarat Sethi, managing partner and portfolio manager at Douglas C. Lane & Associates, shared a few ways to play the market’s reversal on “Squawk Box”: Yes, a lot of this ‘stimulus’ is baked in, but if you look at the overall market, I still think the areas that we can still go forward if this deal is done properly and there are specifics that can help, especially in the industrials, the cyclicals, the financials. They’ve come back, but not as much as the rest of the market. And I think, on a valuation basis, that’s where the opportunity’s going to be because, really, if you look at it: what are the parts of the economy that haven’t really come ahead? FANGs, tech, they’ve all kind of rallied, but let’s look as specifics.”
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural gas markets stall || Weekly Trade Talk Progress: U.S. Gains Edge, China Fears Trump May Walk Away from Negotiations: U.S.-China trade negotiations took a backseat last week to central bank activity and as well as key global and domestic economic reports. However, activity continued behind the scenes. Also absent this week was the day to day jawboning from U.S. and China officials and even President Trump that seemed to paint an optimistic view of an imminent trade deal at times even though the activity in the U.S. equity markets indicated investors were growing tired of the reports. The stock market took a pause early last week despite reports that U.S.-China trade talks were in their “final stages.” Some experts said the weakness was fueled by investors who had grown weary of the slow progress in the negotiations. Kudlow: Tough U.S. Tariffs Give Trump an Edge in China Trade Talks Even with the lack of fresh news over U.S.-China trade negotiations, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow offered a positive spin at the end of the week. “We have them over a barrel,” said Kudlow, director of the president’s National Economic Council. “On the other hand, we would like a good deal. Both countries should benefit.” “We have hurt them,” Kudlow said on “Squawk on the Street,” as both sides hope the finish line to resolving their trade war is near. “We are still negotiating by phone and teleconference.” “The documents from two weeks ago advanced enormously. That’s why the president is optimistic about the potential for a deal,” Kudlow added. But he stressed, “I don’t want to hang a timetable on this.” Kudlow emphasized Trump’s message. “He’s very serious, if we don’t get a good deal for the United States…then we won’t get a good deal. You saw him walk away from North Korea” nuclear talks in Vietnam last week. Trump Has Beijing Worried After President Trump ended abruptly the nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea, Chinese officials grew worried Trump could do the same in trade talks, a senior administration officials told CNBC on Friday. “The Chinese saw him walk away from North Korea and they’re concerned he will walk away from the China deal,” the official said. “You don’t want to send Xi to Mar-a-Lago and have Trump walk away. That would be a diplomatic catastrophe.” The official went on to say that Beijing and Washington are going through “line-by-line negotiations.” “What they don’t want is to send their guy here and POTUS say ‘nope I’m out of here, see you on the 9 th hole,” the official said. Story continues Experts Weigh-in on Trade Deal Expectations Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and a CNBC contributor, told CNBC’s “Halftime Report” that “We finally have deal headline fatigue. We have rallied 80 days each day, on renewed optimism over China talks, and 50 different derivations of that. But it’s the same story every day. Sometimes it happens in the middle of the day, so we can open red and then we close green. So, how many days in a row can you rally on the same premise? So I think the market now understands something will happen. I don’t think the market actually cares about the details. I think we want some sort of resolution, and then some people will say it’s good, some will say it’s bad, and we’ll be back to politics as normal.” Safanad’s chief investment officer, John Rutledge, who advised former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, contended on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that a finalized deal could actually boost stocks: “There are some people inside our government that think that China’s been pushing their currency down. It has fallen, but they’ve actually been trying to prop it up. It’s fallen because foreign investors have pulled their money out of China, making it difficult to maintain the currency at its current level. And so announcing a stable currency is going to discourage those people from pulling capital out. It’ll actually make the People’s Bank of China’s job a lot easier. The economy is very weak, they’ve done all they can do to stimulate it, and it’ll take some time before that takes effect. But I think the markets themselves are going to really like the deal.” Sarat Sethi, managing partner and portfolio manager at Douglas C. Lane & Associates, shared a few ways to play the market’s reversal on “Squawk Box”: Yes, a lot of this ‘stimulus’ is baked in, but if you look at the overall market, I still think the areas that we can still go forward if this deal is done properly and there are specifics that can help, especially in the industrials, the cyclicals, the financials. They’ve come back, but not as much as the rest of the market. And I think, on a valuation basis, that’s where the opportunity’s going to be because, really, if you look at it: what are the parts of the economy that haven’t really come ahead? FANGs, tech, they’ve all kind of rallied, but let’s look as specifics.” This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Bitcoin And Ethereum Daily Price Forecast – Major Crypto Coins Rangebound Ahead of Weekend The Weekly Wrap – The Loonie, the EUR and the Pound Took the Spotlight Crude Oil Weekly Price Forecast – Crude oil markets struggle for the week Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 09/03/19 S&P 500 Weekly Price Forecast – Huge bearish bar for the week Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural gas markets stall View comments || Top Cryptos See Slight Growth as Bitcoin Approaches $4,000: Saturday, March 9 — most of the top 20 cryptocurrencies are reporting slight gains on the day by press time. Bitcoin ( BTC ) is approaching the $4,000 mark again, according to Coin360 data. Market visualization from Coin360 Market visualization from Coin360 At press time, Bitcoin is up just under one percent on the day, trading at around $3,960 , according to CoinMarketCap data. Looking at its weekly chart, the current price is nearly three percent higher than $3,851, the price at which Bitcoin started the week. Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap In Bitcoin news, Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey alluded to spending $10,000 per week on BTC on a podcast earlier this week. Ethereum ( ETH ) is holding onto its position as the largest altcoin by market cap, which is at about $14.4 billion. The second-largest altcoin, Ripple ( XRP ), has a market cap of about $13 billion. ETH is down by a very mild 0.15 percent over the last 24 hours. At press time, ETH is trading around $138, after having started the day around the same price. On its weekly chart, Ethereum has seen its value increase by about 2.5 percent from $133, ETH’s price last Saturday. Ethereum 7-day price chart Ethereum 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap A recent report by crypto asset management firm Electric Capital claimed that Ethereum has the most developers per month working on its core protocol of all cryptocurrencies. Second-largest altcoin Ripple has gained just over a third of a percent in the 24 hours to press time and is currently trading at around $0.314 . Looking at the coin’s weekly chart, its current price is almost identical to the price at which it started the week, down just 0.44 percent. Ripple 7-day price chart. Ripple 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap Recently, Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse , said that the digital asset being developed by United States banking giant JPMorgan Chase — reported to potentially be an XRP competitor — lacks the interoperability that would make it a significant innovation. Story continues Among the top 20 cryptocurrencies, the one experiencing the most notable growth is Nem ( XEM ), which is up nearly 10 percent on the day to press time. The total market cap of all cryptocurrencies is pushing $135 billion today, close to four percent higher than $130 billion, the value it reported one week ago. As Cointelegraph recently reported , economist and notorious cryptocurrency critic Nouriel Roubini has claimed that crypto “as a technology has absolutely no basis for success.” Related Articles: Top Cryptos See Minor Losses as Bitcoin Falls Towards $3,900 Crypto Markets See Mixed Signals, Gold Hovers Near Multi-Week Low Leading Social Investing Platform EToro Launches Crypto Services in 32 US States Crypto Markets Mellow After a Surge of Growth, Stock Market Slightly Down || Top Cryptos See Slight Growth as Bitcoin Approaches $4,000: Saturday, March 9 — most of the top 20cryptocurrenciesare reporting slight gains on the day by press time. Bitcoin (BTC) is approaching the $4,000 mark again, according toCoin360data.
Market visualization fromCoin360
At press time, Bitcoin is up just under one percent on the day, trading at around$3,960, according to CoinMarketCap data. Looking at its weekly chart, the current price is nearly three percent higher than $3,851, the price at which Bitcoin started the week.
Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source:CoinMarketCap
In Bitcoin news,TwitterandSquareCEO Jack Dorseyalludedto spending $10,000 per week on BTC on a podcast earlier this week.
Ethereum (ETH) is holding onto its position as the largest altcoin by market cap, which is at about $14.4 billion. The second-largest altcoin, Ripple (XRP), has a market cap of about $13 billion.
ETH is down by a very mild 0.15 percent over the last 24 hours. At press time, ETH is trading around $138, after having started the day around the same price. On its weekly chart, Ethereum has seen its value increase by about 2.5 percent from $133, ETH’s price last Saturday.
Ethereum 7-day price chart. Source:CoinMarketCap
A recent report by crypto asset management firm Electric Capitalclaimedthat Ethereum has the most developers per month working on its core protocol of all cryptocurrencies.
Second-largest altcoin Ripple has gained just over a third of a percent in the 24 hours to press time and is currently trading at around$0.314. Looking at the coin’s weekly chart, its current price is almost identical to the price at which it started the week, down just 0.44 percent.
Ripple 7-day price chart. Source:CoinMarketCap
Recently, Ripple’s CEO,Brad Garlinghouse,saidthat the digital asset being developed byUnited StatesbankinggiantJPMorgan Chase—reportedto potentially be an XRP competitor — lacks the interoperability that would make it a significant innovation.
Among the top 20 cryptocurrencies, the one experiencing the most notable growth is Nem (XEM), which is up nearly 10 percent on the day to press time.
Thetotal market cap of all cryptocurrenciesis pushing $135 billion today, close to four percent higher than $130 billion, the value it reported one week ago.As Cointelegraph recentlyreported, economist and notorious cryptocurrency criticNouriel Roubinihas claimed that crypto “as a technology has absolutely no basis for success.”
• Top Cryptos See Minor Losses as Bitcoin Falls Towards $3,900
• Crypto Markets See Mixed Signals, Gold Hovers Near Multi-Week Low
• Leading Social Investing Platform EToro Launches Crypto Services in 32 US States
• Crypto Markets Mellow After a Surge of Growth, Stock Market Slightly Down || Top Cryptos See Slight Growth as Bitcoin Approaches $4,000: Saturday, March 9 — most of the top 20cryptocurrenciesare reporting slight gains on the day by press time. Bitcoin (BTC) is approaching the $4,000 mark again, according toCoin360data.
Market visualization fromCoin360
At press time, Bitcoin is up just under one percent on the day, trading at around$3,960, according to CoinMarketCap data. Looking at its weekly chart, the current price is nearly three percent higher than $3,851, the price at which Bitcoin started the week.
Bitcoin 7-day price chart. Source:CoinMarketCap
In Bitcoin news,TwitterandSquareCEO Jack Dorseyalludedto spending $10,000 per week on BTC on a podcast earlier this week.
Ethereum (ETH) is holding onto its position as the largest altcoin by market cap, which is at about $14.4 billion. The second-largest altcoin, Ripple (XRP), has a market cap of about $13 billion.
ETH is down by a very mild 0.15 percent over the last 24 hours. At press time, ETH is trading around $138, after having started the day around the same price. On its weekly chart, Ethereum has seen its value increase by about 2.5 percent from $133, ETH’s price last Saturday.
Ethereum 7-day price chart. Source:CoinMarketCap
A recent report by crypto asset management firm Electric Capitalclaimedthat Ethereum has the most developers per month working on its core protocol of all cryptocurrencies.
Second-largest altcoin Ripple has gained just over a third of a percent in the 24 hours to press time and is currently trading at around$0.314. Looking at the coin’s weekly chart, its current price is almost identical to the price at which it started the week, down just 0.44 percent.
Ripple 7-day price chart. Source:CoinMarketCap
Recently, Ripple’s CEO,Brad Garlinghouse,saidthat the digital asset being developed byUnited StatesbankinggiantJPMorgan Chase—reportedto potentially be an XRP competitor — lacks the interoperability that would make it a significant innovation.
Among the top 20 cryptocurrencies, the one experiencing the most notable growth is Nem (XEM), which is up nearly 10 percent on the day to press time.
Thetotal market cap of all cryptocurrenciesis pushing $135 billion today, close to four percent higher than $130 billion, the value it reported one week ago.As Cointelegraph recentlyreported, economist and notorious cryptocurrency criticNouriel Roubinihas claimed that crypto “as a technology has absolutely no basis for success.”
• Top Cryptos See Minor Losses as Bitcoin Falls Towards $3,900
• Crypto Markets See Mixed Signals, Gold Hovers Near Multi-Week Low
• Leading Social Investing Platform EToro Launches Crypto Services in 32 US States
• Crypto Markets Mellow After a Surge of Growth, Stock Market Slightly Down || Tim Draper: Paying for Starbucks coffee with Bitcoin not far off: By 2022, people will routinely use Bitcoin in everyday transactions such as buying coffee at Starbucks, according to venture capitalist Tim Draper. In a recent podcast interview on NBC Bay Area’s “Sand Hill Road,” he said: “Bitcoin is one of the greatest technological advances that humanity has ever seen and it can make a bigger change in society than any of us ever imagined.” He added: “I think when you go to Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee, and you try to pay with dollars, they will laugh at you because you are not using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency…It will be like the old lady paying out with pennies.” But if, as predicted by Draper, a single Bitcoin will be worth $250,000 , how can it ever hope to cross over to the mainstream? “Is that a problem?” he responded. “That’s a temporary problem. There is a market for Bitcoin right now. People are buying and selling it and they are buying and selling things and services with it. As it spreads, it will go up in value. And it is spreading.” The post Tim Draper: Paying for Starbucks coffee with Bitcoin not far off appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Tim Draper: Paying for Starbucks coffee with Bitcoin not far off: By 2022, people will routinely use Bitcoin in everyday transactions such as buying coffee at Starbucks, according to venture capitalist Tim Draper. In a recent podcast interview on NBC Bay Area’s “Sand Hill Road,” he said: “Bitcoin is one of the greatest technological advances that humanity has ever seen and it can make a bigger change in society than any of us ever imagined.” He added: “I think when you go to Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee, and you try to pay with dollars, they will laugh at you because you are not using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency…It will be like the old lady paying out with pennies.” But if, as predicted by Draper, a single Bitcoin will be worth $250,000 , how can it ever hope to cross over to the mainstream? “Is that a problem?” he responded. “That’s a temporary problem. There is a market for Bitcoin right now. People are buying and selling it and they are buying and selling things and services with it. As it spreads, it will go up in value. And it is spreading.” The post Tim Draper: Paying for Starbucks coffee with Bitcoin not far off appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Tim Draper: Paying for Starbucks coffee with Bitcoin not far off: By 2022, people will routinely use Bitcoin in everyday transactions such as buying coffee at Starbucks, according to venture capitalist Tim Draper. In a recent podcast interview on NBC Bay Area’s “Sand Hill Road,” he said: “Bitcoin is one of the greatest technological advances that humanity has ever seen and it can make a bigger change in society than any of us ever imagined.” He added: “I think when you go to Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee, and you try to pay with dollars, they will laugh at you because you are not using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency…It will be like the old lady paying out with pennies.” But if, as predicted by Draper, a single Bitcoin will be worth $250,000 , how can it ever hope to cross over to the mainstream? “Is that a problem?” he responded. “That’s a temporary problem. There is a market for Bitcoin right now. People are buying and selling it and they are buying and selling things and services with it. As it spreads, it will go up in value. And it is spreading.” The post Tim Draper: Paying for Starbucks coffee with Bitcoin not far off appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Over 80 Percent of Total ETH Supply is Held by 7,572 Addresses: Research: Over 80 percent of the total circulating supply of Ethereum (ETH) is held by 7,572 addresses, claims a reportreleasedby digital asset research company Delphi Digital on March 7.
More precisely, the data contained in the report claim that over 80 percent of the total supply of ETH coins are held by addresses with a balance higher than 1,000 ETH. The number of such addresses adds up to 7,572. The research breaks down the total number of addresses by volume of ETH they contain, stating that 6,490 addresses hold between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH, 923 of them hold between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH, 155 between 100,000 and 1,000,000 ETH and only four between 1,000,000 and 10,000,000 ETH.
In the same document, the company also claims that the price of ETH has dropped an average of 19 percent after each of the past five hard forks, over the following 30 days.
Still, the most recent hard fork before last month’sConstantinople and St. Petersburg updatesactually saw the price of ETH decrease by under one percent, which the report suggests is in part due to the decrease in block rewards from 5 ETH to 3 ETH.
The researchers also pointed out that as of March 3, over 2.3 million Ethereum (about 2 percent of thetotal supply) was present in decentralized finance apps.
Most of the ETH being staked in decentralized finance apps — reportedly 98 percent — is in MakerDAO smart contracts, which permit the creation and destruction of the Maker’s decentralized stablecoin Dai (DAI). The second decentralized finance app with the most staked ETH is the decentralized lending platform Compound, which held roughly 28,500 Ethereum as of March 3.
Lastly, the report also raises concerns over technical risks facing Ethereum in the near future. In particular, the documents points to the alleged centralization of Infura, the infrastructure-as-a-service arm of Ethereum-focused development company ConsenSys. Infura allows DApp developers to deploy their DApps without hosting their own full node.
However, by using Infura, the report argues, developers rely on infrastructure entirely operated by ConsenSys and hosted by Amazon Web Services, which creates a single point of failure that decentralization is meant to avoid.
The report’s author, Delphi Digital, positions itself as a company aiming to produce unbiased content concerning digital assets and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and to provide analysis services to institutional clients. The company alsocountsMorgan Creek Digital Assets founder Anthony Pompliano as a member of its board of directors.
As Cointelegraphreportedin December last year, Pompliano forecasted that Bitcoin (BTC) had still “lower to go” in the short term before it hit bottom, despite the bull run to above $4,000 that happened at the time. A month before that, he alsodefinedBitcoin as the world’s best-performing asset over the past ten years.Another recent report on Ethereum, this time by crypto asset management firm Electric Capital,claimedthat Ethereum has the most developers working on its base protocol of allcryptocurrencies, not counting community project developers.
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• Crypto Exchange Hopes to Become Trendsetter by Scrapping Trading Fees Entirely || Over 80 Percent of Total ETH Supply is Held by 7,572 Addresses: Research: Over 80 percent of the total circulating supply of Ethereum ( ETH ) is held by 7,572 addresses, claims a report released by digital asset research company Delphi Digital on March 7. More precisely, the data contained in the report claim that over 80 percent of the total supply of ETH coins are held by addresses with a balance higher than 1,000 ETH. The number of such addresses adds up to 7,572. The research breaks down the total number of addresses by volume of ETH they contain, stating that 6,490 addresses hold between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH, 923 of them hold between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH, 155 between 100,000 and 1,000,000 ETH and only four between 1,000,000 and 10,000,000 ETH. In the same document, the company also claims that the price of ETH has dropped an average of 19 percent after each of the past five hard forks, over the following 30 days. Still, the most recent hard fork before last month’s Constantinople and St. Petersburg updates actually saw the price of ETH decrease by under one percent, which the report suggests is in part due to the decrease in block rewards from 5 ETH to 3 ETH. The researchers also pointed out that as of March 3, over 2.3 million Ethereum (about 2 percent of the total supply ) was present in decentralized finance apps. Most of the ETH being staked in decentralized finance apps — reportedly 98 percent — is in MakerDAO smart contracts, which permit the creation and destruction of the Maker’s decentralized stablecoin Dai ( DAI ). The second decentralized finance app with the most staked ETH is the decentralized lending platform Compound, which held roughly 28,500 Ethereum as of March 3. Lastly, the report also raises concerns over technical risks facing Ethereum in the near future. In particular, the documents points to the alleged centralization of Infura, the infrastructure-as-a-service arm of Ethereum-focused development company ConsenSys. Infura allows DApp developers to deploy their DApps without hosting their own full node. Story continues However, by using Infura, the report argues, developers rely on infrastructure entirely operated by ConsenSys and hosted by Amazon Web Services, which creates a single point of failure that decentralization is meant to avoid. The report’s author, Delphi Digital, positions itself as a company aiming to produce unbiased content concerning digital assets and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and to provide analysis services to institutional clients. The company also counts Morgan Creek Digital Assets founder Anthony Pompliano as a member of its board of directors. As Cointelegraph reported in December last year, Pompliano forecasted that Bitcoin ( BTC ) had still “lower to go” in the short term before it hit bottom, despite the bull run to above $4,000 that happened at the time. A month before that, he also defined Bitcoin as the world’s best-performing asset over the past ten years. Another recent report on Ethereum, this time by crypto asset management firm Electric Capital, claimed that Ethereum has the most developers working on its base protocol of all cryptocurrencies , not counting community project developers. Related Articles: Unity Unveils Patent for Blockchain-Based, Uniquely Identified In-Game Token System Thai Petroleum Company Tests Blockchain Energy Trading Platform Blockchain Startup Enjin to Release Dev Kit for Game Engine Giant Unity Crypto Exchange Hopes to Become Trendsetter by Scrapping Trading Fees Entirely || CEO of Crypto City Project Bitcointopia Pleads Guilty to Selling Land He Didn’t Have: Morgan Rockcoons, also known as Morgan Rockwell, has pleaded guilty to two cryptocurrency-related charges in San Diego federal court this week. Rockcoons admitted both to selling land he didn’t have for a crypto city project dubbed “Bitcointopia” and to operating a money transmitting business without a license, daily news outlet the Los Angeles Times (LA Times) reported on March 8. Per the report, Rockcoons first attracted the attention of law enforcement in 2015 with his Bitcoin ( BTC )-fiat currency exchange services, which he advertised online. The LA Times reports that under United States federal law, businesses exchanging crypto for cash in the country must be licensed as money transmitters with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. At the end of 2016, an undercover U.S. agent allegedly posed as a hash oil manufacturer who needed to pay for equipment in BTC. In his plea agreement, Rockcoons reportedly admitted that he transferred about $9,200 in Bitcoin to the agent for $14,500 in cash, keeping the surplus as a fee. Per the report, during his bail period, Rockcoons launched his crypto city project Bitcointopia, an initiative described as “the desert crypto-kingdom of the future.” While the project’s website is evidently offline, an advertisement on what appears to be Bitcointopia’s official Twitter profile shows that the company was selling one acre of land in Nevada for 0.5 BTC (about $1,977 at press time), two acres for one BTC (about $3,956) and three acres for 1.5 BTC (about $5,934) According to the LA Times, the land was located in Elko County, Nevada, but prosecutors said that Rockcoons in fact only owned under 5 acres in two non-contiguous plots. The report claims that he, however, advertised 500 to 1,000 acre plots and the loss to investors amounted at least to $45,600. Rockcoons reportedly faces up to 20 years in prison over the fraud charge and up to 5 years because of operating an unregistered money transmission business in the U.S. Story continues As Cointelegraph reported in October last year, a U.S. citizen then also pled guilty before a federal court to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business via LocalBitcoins . In June 2018, news broke that an Los Angeles-based trader, who acted under the pseudonym “Bitcoin Maven,” was prosecuted for similar charges, allegedly running an unregistered multi-million dollar Bitcoin-fiat money transmitting business, also via a LocalBitcoins. Related Articles: US District Attorney Charges OneCoin Founders With ‘Billions’ in Alleged Fraud Japan: Reported Cases of Crypto-Related Money Laundering Increase 10-Fold in 2018 German Blockchain Strategy Should Include Framework for Crypto Trading, Say Politicians US Marshals Service Issues Information Request on Management of Forfeited Crypto Assets || CEO of Crypto City Project Bitcointopia Pleads Guilty to Selling Land He Didn’t Have: Morgan Rockcoons, also known as Morgan Rockwell, has pleaded guilty to two cryptocurrency-related charges in San Diego federal court this week. Rockcoons admitted both to selling land he didn’t have for acryptocity project dubbed “Bitcointopia” and to operating a money transmitting business without a license, daily news outlet the Los Angeles Times (LA Times)reportedon March 8.
Per the report, Rockcoons first attracted the attention of law enforcement in 2015 with his Bitcoin (BTC)-fiat currency exchange services, which he advertised online. The LA Times reports that under United States federal law, businesses exchanging crypto for cash in the country must be licensed as money transmitters with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
At the end of 2016, an undercover U.S. agent allegedly posed as a hash oil manufacturer who needed to pay for equipment in BTC. In his plea agreement, Rockcoons reportedly admitted that he transferred about $9,200 in Bitcoin to the agent for $14,500 in cash, keeping the surplus as a fee.
Per the report, during his bail period, Rockcoons launched his crypto city project Bitcointopia, an initiativedescribedas “the desert crypto-kingdom of the future.” While the project’s website is evidently offline, an advertisement on what appears to be Bitcointopia’s official Twitter profileshowsthat the company was selling one acre of land in Nevada for 0.5 BTC (about$1,977at press time), two acres for one BTC (about $3,956) and three acres for 1.5 BTC (about $5,934)
According to the LA Times, the land was located in Elko County, Nevada, but prosecutors said that Rockcoons in fact only owned under 5 acres in two non-contiguous plots. The report claims that he, however, advertised 500 to 1,000 acre plots and the loss to investors amounted at least to $45,600.
Rockcoons reportedly faces up to 20 years in prison over the fraud charge and up to 5 years because of operating an unregistered money transmission business in the U.S.
As Cointelegraphreportedin October last year, a U.S. citizen then also pled guilty before a federal court to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business viaLocalBitcoins.In June 2018,news brokethat an Los Angeles-based trader, who acted under the pseudonym “Bitcoin Maven,” was prosecuted for similar charges, allegedly running an unregistered multi-million dollar Bitcoin-fiat money transmitting business, also via a LocalBitcoins.
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• US Marshals Service Issues Information Request on Management of Forfeited Crypto Assets || CEO of Crypto City Project Bitcointopia Pleads Guilty to Selling Land He Didn’t Have: Morgan Rockcoons, also known as Morgan Rockwell, has pleaded guilty to two cryptocurrency-related charges in San Diego federal court this week. Rockcoons admitted both to selling land he didn’t have for acryptocity project dubbed “Bitcointopia” and to operating a money transmitting business without a license, daily news outlet the Los Angeles Times (LA Times)reportedon March 8.
Per the report, Rockcoons first attracted the attention of law enforcement in 2015 with his Bitcoin (BTC)-fiat currency exchange services, which he advertised online. The LA Times reports that under United States federal law, businesses exchanging crypto for cash in the country must be licensed as money transmitters with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
At the end of 2016, an undercover U.S. agent allegedly posed as a hash oil manufacturer who needed to pay for equipment in BTC. In his plea agreement, Rockcoons reportedly admitted that he transferred about $9,200 in Bitcoin to the agent for $14,500 in cash, keeping the surplus as a fee.
Per the report, during his bail period, Rockcoons launched his crypto city project Bitcointopia, an initiativedescribedas “the desert crypto-kingdom of the future.” While the project’s website is evidently offline, an advertisement on what appears to be Bitcointopia’s official Twitter profileshowsthat the company was selling one acre of land in Nevada for 0.5 BTC (about$1,977at press time), two acres for one BTC (about $3,956) and three acres for 1.5 BTC (about $5,934)
According to the LA Times, the land was located in Elko County, Nevada, but prosecutors said that Rockcoons in fact only owned under 5 acres in two non-contiguous plots. The report claims that he, however, advertised 500 to 1,000 acre plots and the loss to investors amounted at least to $45,600.
Rockcoons reportedly faces up to 20 years in prison over the fraud charge and up to 5 years because of operating an unregistered money transmission business in the U.S.
As Cointelegraphreportedin October last year, a U.S. citizen then also pled guilty before a federal court to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business viaLocalBitcoins.In June 2018,news brokethat an Los Angeles-based trader, who acted under the pseudonym “Bitcoin Maven,” was prosecuted for similar charges, allegedly running an unregistered multi-million dollar Bitcoin-fiat money transmitting business, also via a LocalBitcoins.
• US District Attorney Charges OneCoin Founders With ‘Billions’ in Alleged Fraud
• Japan: Reported Cases of Crypto-Related Money Laundering Increase 10-Fold in 2018
• German Blockchain Strategy Should Include Framework for Crypto Trading, Say Politicians
• US Marshals Service Issues Information Request on Management of Forfeited Crypto Assets || ‘Satoshi’ Craig Wright Brags about Destroying Anonymous Coins Monero, Zcash: Dr. Craig Wright is back. And this time, he is out to destroy the societally menacing anonymous coins.
The Australian computer scientist andalleged creator of Bitcointold CNBC Africa’s Ran Neuner that he knows how to kill Zcash andMonero. Dr. Wright said that he was going to expose these anonymous coins sometime this year, adding:
“If you have a privacy coin, I will show you that it is basically as private as running through Times Square with your pants around your ankles.”
If what Dr. Wright is saying is correct, then it is a piece of troubling news for discerning dark web drug traders and pseudonymous hackers. They reportedly prefer a Monero over a Bitcoin because Monero promises to offer better privacy protections. It is designed to mix up payments so that anyone investigating Monero’s blockchain can’t link transactions to its source. On the other hand, Bitcoin’s blockchain is open, where researchers can trace transactions back to the original sender/recipient. All they would need is an address in the chain linked to a user’s true identity.
But it doesn’t precisely make Dr. Wright a genius, given he used a lot of I’s in his statements. The respected scholar tends to forget that researchers before him had studied Monero for its potential flaws. Takethis Wired reportfor instance. It discusses the findings of a team of researchers from Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, Boston University, MIT, and the University of Illinois. Per them, Monero’s mixing has a flaw. It makes it possible for investigators to extract individual transactions.
According to researchers, Monero’s transactions were not so private until February 2017, when the project went through a privacy protection upgrade dubbed as Ring Confidential Transactions. But before that, the Monero blockchain had hosted roughly 200,000 transactions which remain traceable to this date.
There is also another defect – not found by Dr. Wright – that Monero developers are attempting to solve. As explained above, Monero mixes transactions at the time of transmission to hide their source.
The Battle of Seven Potters | Source: Warner Bros Entertainment Inc
Remember the Battle of Seven Potters? In the book and movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Order of Phoenix manages to escort the real Harry Potter by transforming six of the order members into his lookalikes. Monero uses similar decoys known as “mixins” to cover tracks of the original Monero coins. (Yes, I am a Potter-head.)
So, the crack has to do with Monero’s optional privacy feature. For instance, in its first year, many users opted out of Monero privacy and transacted coins openly. The trouble lies in the fact that an already identified Monero token can be easily pulled out of the mixins by the Death Eaters, otherwise known as regulators. That leads to the same Bitcoin problem: one identified transaction revealing the identity of the following transactions. Like the cowardice of Mundungus Fletcher, who was one of the Potter decoys, exposed the rest of the Order to danger. (Yes, I am.)
It is too early to say Dr. Craig Wright was taking his cues from the study mentioned above. But he sounds like a person who is projecting a technology’s potential flaw as a doomsday button. It is as if Dr. Wright wants the projects to fail at any cost, never realizing that a flaw prompts developers to fix the problem, not shut down the entire operation.
And then, there is a self-righteous brag. In one of the tweets, Dr. Wright said he was going to help the criminal enforcement agencies how to stop an anonymous coin. They are the same agencies who would waste no time in arresting Dr. Wright for claiming that he is the creator of bitcoin, a digital currency that reportedly facilitated money laundering and drug trafficking in the last decade.
It is not important whether you didn’t commit a murder. But if you openly proclaim that you did, then you belong in jail anyway.
The situation explains why Dr. Wright is cozying up with the Feds, luring them into a deal that could potentially scale up their crackdowns against digital currencies. But dear feds, beware! What you might get is a recycled study in the name of technological breakthrough. For more information, just go through this tweet:
Yes, Dr. Craig Wright can destroy anonymous coins. In these times, anything can happen over a tweet.
[Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article is of the author and author’s only.]
Read the full story on CCN.com. || ‘Satoshi’ Craig Wright Brags about Destroying Anonymous Coins Monero, Zcash: Self-professed bitcoin creator Craig Wright reveals his take on privacy-centric coins. | Source: Shutterstock Dr. Craig Wright is back. And this time, he is out to destroy the societally menacing anonymous coins. The Australian computer scientist and alleged creator of Bitcoin told CNBC Africa’s Ran Neuner that he knows how to kill Zcash and Monero . Dr. Wright said that he was going to expose these anonymous coins sometime this year, adding: “If you have a privacy coin, I will show you that it is basically as private as running through Times Square with your pants around your ankles.” If what Dr. Wright is saying is correct, then it is a piece of troubling news for discerning dark web drug traders and pseudonymous hackers. They reportedly prefer a Monero over a Bitcoin because Monero promises to offer better privacy protections. It is designed to mix up payments so that anyone investigating Monero’s blockchain can’t link transactions to its source. On the other hand, Bitcoin’s blockchain is open, where researchers can trace transactions back to the original sender/recipient. All they would need is an address in the chain linked to a user’s true identity. But it doesn’t precisely make Dr. Wright a genius, given he used a lot of I’s in his statements. The respected scholar tends to forget that researchers before him had studied Monero for its potential flaws. Take this Wired report for instance. It discusses the findings of a team of researchers from Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, Boston University, MIT, and the University of Illinois. Per them, Monero’s mixing has a flaw. It makes it possible for investigators to extract individual transactions. What’s The Defect According to researchers, Monero’s transactions were not so private until February 2017, when the project went through a privacy protection upgrade dubbed as Ring Confidential Transactions. But before that, the Monero blockchain had hosted roughly 200,000 transactions which remain traceable to this date. There is also another defect – not found by Dr. Wright – that Monero developers are attempting to solve. As explained above, Monero mixes transactions at the time of transmission to hide their source. Story continues Harry Potter, Bitcoin, Monero, Dr Craig Wright The Battle of Seven Potters | Source: Warner Bros Entertainment Inc Remember the Battle of Seven Potters? In the book and movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Order of Phoenix manages to escort the real Harry Potter by transforming six of the order members into his lookalikes. Monero uses similar decoys known as “mixins” to cover tracks of the original Monero coins. (Yes, I am a Potter-head.) So, the crack has to do with Monero’s optional privacy feature. For instance, in its first year, many users opted out of Monero privacy and transacted coins openly. The trouble lies in the fact that an already identified Monero token can be easily pulled out of the mixins by the Death Eaters, otherwise known as regulators. That leads to the same Bitcoin problem: one identified transaction revealing the identity of the following transactions. Like the cowardice of Mundungus Fletcher, who was one of the Potter decoys, exposed the rest of the Order to danger. (Yes, I am.) A Not-So-Anonymous Arrogance It is too early to say Dr. Craig Wright was taking his cues from the study mentioned above. But he sounds like a person who is projecting a technology’s potential flaw as a doomsday button. It is as if Dr. Wright wants the projects to fail at any cost, never realizing that a flaw prompts developers to fix the problem, not shut down the entire operation. Not my issue, you use an anon coin, a crime coin as this is all they really are, and you are in many countries already committing a crime. So, I would rather teach the Feds how to stop this than help a bunch of losers help criminals — Dr Craig S Wright (@ProfFaustus) March 5, 2019 And then, there is a self-righteous brag. In one of the tweets, Dr. Wright said he was going to help the criminal enforcement agencies how to stop an anonymous coin. They are the same agencies who would waste no time in arresting Dr. Wright for claiming that he is the creator of bitcoin, a digital currency that reportedly facilitated money laundering and drug trafficking in the last decade. It is not important whether you didn’t commit a murder. But if you openly proclaim that you did, then you belong in jail anyway. The situation explains why Dr. Wright is cozying up with the Feds, luring them into a deal that could potentially scale up their crackdowns against digital currencies. But dear feds, beware! What you might get is a recycled study in the name of technological breakthrough. For more information, just go through this tweet: The Bernie Madoff of #Bitcoin , Craig S. Wright, who keeps forging documents to make it seem that he is Bitcoin's pseudonymous inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, caught again, this time forging a "2001" antecedent to Nakamoto's first Bitcoin paper. https://t.co/Xqmok0p0U4 pic.twitter.com/HssXgTuQ7l — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 13, 2019 Yes, Dr. Craig Wright can destroy anonymous coins. In these times, anything can happen over a tweet. [Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article is of the author and author’s only.] Read the full story on CCN.com . || EU countries need to pick up the crypto pace, Luno: 47% of European countries are still sceptical about the profitability and safety of cryptocurrencies, according to research by Luno. Whereas 79% of those in emerging markets outside of Europe are more optimistic about the profitability of Bitcoin, Ethereum et al. Also of interest: Luno’s Maya Kumar: Regulation is the invisible foundation of innovation This is a space that is attracting interest from investors outside of Europe, with 82% of people in emerging markets purchasing crypto solely to invest. This is compared to only 58% of Europeans who have invested in cryptocurrencies to boost their bank balance, whilst 29% use them solely to shop online. The research, involving 500 people in each of seven territories, also found that 29% of emerging markets and 21% of Europeans have already received crypto as a form of payment. However, many Europeans have safety concerns. In the long-term, only a third believe that cryptocurrencies are a safe investment compared to 69% of those in emerging markets. At the same time, though, 84% of European consumers that don’t own cryptocurrencies are interested in owning crypto in the near future. 37% of Europeans and 44% of emerging markets agree that an increase in price stability would have a positive impact on their outlooks. Along with this, 43% of Europeans and 48% of emerging markets would like to see less risk of losing money, and under a third would change their opinion if Governments took a positive outlook on the cryptosphere. Finally, 48% of Europeans and 49% in emerging markets stated that using crypto is complicated. Christian Zeiler, GM Europe at Luno, says: “It’s really interesting to see that even in times of uncertainty in the crypto market, consumers that don’t own any cryptocurrency are looking to get involved in the space. I still think there is a long way to go to get these consumers to buy cryptocurrency but we are leading the way in educating the general public in the benefits of cryptocurrencies and through our educational programmes and talks we hope that we can show the consumers that think cryptocurrencies are complicated that this is not the case and get them more involved in this evolving technology.” The post EU countries need to pick up the crypto pace, Luno appeared first on Coin Rivet . || EU countries need to pick up the crypto pace, Luno: 47% of European countries are still sceptical about the profitability and safety of cryptocurrencies, according to research by Luno. Whereas 79% of those in emerging markets outside of Europe are more optimistic about the profitability of Bitcoin, Ethereum et al. Also of interest: Luno’s Maya Kumar: Regulation is the invisible foundation of innovation This is a space that is attracting interest from investors outside of Europe, with 82% of people in emerging markets purchasing crypto solely to invest. This is compared to only 58% of Europeans who have invested in cryptocurrencies to boost their bank balance, whilst 29% use them solely to shop online. The research, involving 500 people in each of seven territories, also found that 29% of emerging markets and 21% of Europeans have already received crypto as a form of payment. However, many Europeans have safety concerns. In the long-term, only a third believe that cryptocurrencies are a safe investment compared to 69% of those in emerging markets. At the same time, though, 84% of European consumers that don’t own cryptocurrencies are interested in owning crypto in the near future. 37% of Europeans and 44% of emerging markets agree that an increase in price stability would have a positive impact on their outlooks. Along with this, 43% of Europeans and 48% of emerging markets would like to see less risk of losing money, and under a third would change their opinion if Governments took a positive outlook on the cryptosphere. Finally, 48% of Europeans and 49% in emerging markets stated that using crypto is complicated. Christian Zeiler, GM Europe at Luno, says: “It’s really interesting to see that even in times of uncertainty in the crypto market, consumers that don’t own any cryptocurrency are looking to get involved in the space. I still think there is a long way to go to get these consumers to buy cryptocurrency but we are leading the way in educating the general public in the benefits of cryptocurrencies and through our educational programmes and talks we hope that we can show the consumers that think cryptocurrencies are complicated that this is not the case and get them more involved in this evolving technology.” The post EU countries need to pick up the crypto pace, Luno appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Ethereum Has More Than Twice as Many Core Devs per Month as Bitcoin, Report Says: Ethereum ( ETH ) has the most developers working on its base protocol of all cryptocurrencies , not counting community project developers, according to a report by crypto asset management firm Electric Capital. The report was published in a Medium post on March 7. Per the post, the company fingerprinted over 20,000 code repositories and 16 million commits to obtain data, which reveals that on average 216 developers contribute code to ETH repositories every month. The company also specifies that this data is undercounting the number of Ethereum developers since we do not include ecosystem projects like Truffle. Bitcoin ( BTC ), the largest of all cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, has a healthy developer base as well, averaging over 50 developers per month. The report specifies that this data does not include ecosystem projects. An even more restrictive data set, which only considers contributions to core protocol, reveals that: Ethereum is by far the most active at 99 monthly developers on average. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has an average of 47 core protocol developers every month, making it the second most active. The data also reveals that big platforms such as Eos ( EOS ), Tron ( TRX ) and Cardano ( ADA ) all have over 25 monthly core protocol developers on average. Another point made in the report is that while the market lost about 80 percent since its peak, data shows that the monthly active developer base has fallen by only 4 percent. Moreover, according to the report, the number of developers working on public coin repositories has doubled over the last two years. According to the companys global data, over 4,000 developers per month contribute code to over 2,800 public coins. As the study notes, this data does not consider private, not yet launched or non-coin projects, such as the Lightning Network. The report also points out that many projects who [sic] are being abandoned by developers are forks of high network value coins. For instance, Dogecoin ( DOGE ) hasnt had developers for months while the Litecoin ( LTC ) developer base has fallen from 40 developers per month to just three over the last year. Story continues The report also notes that both Bitcoin Diamond ( BCD ) and Bitcoin Gold ( BTG ) have had code contributions from under five developers since October 2018. As Cointelegraph recently reported , Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has stated he was trying to solve Bitcoins limited functionality with the creation of Ethereum. On the other hand, Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey alluded to spending $10,000 per week on Bitcoin during a recent podcast. Related Articles: Chinas 10th Crypto Rankings: EOS Still in First, TRON Joins and Beats Ethereum to Second Crypto Markets Mellow After a Surge of Growth, Stock Market Slightly Down Most Top Cryptos See Minor Losses as Bitcoin Hovers Over $3,850 Bitcoin Hovers Over $3,850 as Most Top Cryptos See Losses || Ethereum Has More Than Twice as Many Core Devs per Month as Bitcoin, Report Says: Ethereum (ETH) has the most developers working on its base protocol of allcryptocurrencies, not counting community project developers, according to a report by crypto asset management firm Electric Capital. The report was published in a Mediumposton March 7.
Per the post, the company fingerprinted over 20,000 code repositories and 16 million commits to obtain data, which reveals that on average 216 developers contribute code to ETH repositories every month. The company also specifies that this data “is undercounting the number of Ethereum developers since we do not include ecosystem projects like Truffle.”
Bitcoin (BTC), the largest of all cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, has a healthy developer base as well, averaging over 50 developers per month. The report specifies that this data does not include ecosystem projects.
An even more restrictive data set, which only considers contributions to core protocol, reveals that:
“Ethereum is by far the most active at 99 monthly developers on average.”
Bitcoin, on the other hand, has an average of 47 core protocol developers every month, making it the second most active.
The data also reveals that big platforms such as Eos (EOS), Tron (TRX) and Cardano (ADA) all have over 25 monthly core protocol developers on average.
Another point made in the report is that while the market lost about 80 percent since its peak, data shows that the monthly active developer base has fallen by only 4 percent. Moreover, according to the report, the number of developers working on public coin repositories has doubled over the last two years.
According to the company’s global data, over 4,000 developers per month contribute code to over 2,800 public coins. As the study notes, this data does not consider private, not yet launched or non-coin projects, such as the Lightning Network.
The report also points out that “many projects who [sic] are being abandoned by developers are forks of high network value coins.” For instance, Dogecoin (DOGE) hasn’t had developers for months while the Litecoin (LTC) developer base has fallen from 40 developers per month to just three over the last year.
The report also notes that both Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) and Bitcoin Gold (BTG) have had code contributions from under five developers since October 2018.
As Cointelegraph recentlyreported, Ethereum co-founderVitalik Buterinhas stated he was trying to solve Bitcoin’s limited functionality with the creation of Ethereum.
On the other hand,TwitterandSquareCEO Jack Dorseyalludedto spending $10,000 per week on Bitcoin during a recent podcast.
• China’s 10th Crypto Rankings: EOS Still in First, TRON Joins and Beats Ethereum to Second
• Crypto Markets Mellow After a Surge of Growth, Stock Market Slightly Down
• Most Top Cryptos See Minor Losses as Bitcoin Hovers Over $3,850
• Bitcoin Hovers Over $3,850 as Most Top Cryptos See Losses || Ethereum Has More Than Twice as Many Core Devs per Month as Bitcoin, Report Says: Ethereum (ETH) has the most developers working on its base protocol of allcryptocurrencies, not counting community project developers, according to a report by crypto asset management firm Electric Capital. The report was published in a Mediumposton March 7.
Per the post, the company fingerprinted over 20,000 code repositories and 16 million commits to obtain data, which reveals that on average 216 developers contribute code to ETH repositories every month. The company also specifies that this data “is undercounting the number of Ethereum developers since we do not include ecosystem projects like Truffle.”
Bitcoin (BTC), the largest of all cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, has a healthy developer base as well, averaging over 50 developers per month. The report specifies that this data does not include ecosystem projects.
An even more restrictive data set, which only considers contributions to core protocol, reveals that:
“Ethereum is by far the most active at 99 monthly developers on average.”
Bitcoin, on the other hand, has an average of 47 core protocol developers every month, making it the second most active.
The data also reveals that big platforms such as Eos (EOS), Tron (TRX) and Cardano (ADA) all have over 25 monthly core protocol developers on average.
Another point made in the report is that while the market lost about 80 percent since its peak, data shows that the monthly active developer base has fallen by only 4 percent. Moreover, according to the report, the number of developers working on public coin repositories has doubled over the last two years.
According to the company’s global data, over 4,000 developers per month contribute code to over 2,800 public coins. As the study notes, this data does not consider private, not yet launched or non-coin projects, such as the Lightning Network.
The report also points out that “many projects who [sic] are being abandoned by developers are forks of high network value coins.” For instance, Dogecoin (DOGE) hasn’t had developers for months while the Litecoin (LTC) developer base has fallen from 40 developers per month to just three over the last year.
The report also notes that both Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) and Bitcoin Gold (BTG) have had code contributions from under five developers since October 2018.
As Cointelegraph recentlyreported, Ethereum co-founderVitalik Buterinhas stated he was trying to solve Bitcoin’s limited functionality with the creation of Ethereum.
On the other hand,TwitterandSquareCEO Jack Dorseyalludedto spending $10,000 per week on Bitcoin during a recent podcast.
• China’s 10th Crypto Rankings: EOS Still in First, TRON Joins and Beats Ethereum to Second
• Crypto Markets Mellow After a Surge of Growth, Stock Market Slightly Down
• Most Top Cryptos See Minor Losses as Bitcoin Hovers Over $3,850
• Bitcoin Hovers Over $3,850 as Most Top Cryptos See Losses
[Social Media Buzz]
1 #BTC (#Bitcoin) quotes:
$3880.44/$3880.81 #Bitstamp
$3881.00/$3882.40 #Kraken
⇢$0.19/$1.96 || 03-10 15:00(GMT)
#SPINDLE price
$SPD (BTC)
Yobit :0.00000011
HitBTC :0.00000011
LiveCoin:0.00000011
$SPD (JPY)
Yobit :0.05
HitBTC :0.05
LiveCoin:0.05 || 03-10 20:00(GMT)
#SPINDLE price
$SPD (BTC)
Yobit :0.00000011
HitBTC :0.00000011
LiveCoin:0.00000011
$SPD (JPY)
Yobit :0.05
HitBTC :0.05
LiveCoin:0.05 || Hello humans, as of Sun Mar 10 00:30:13 CST 2019, current #cryptocoin prices:
#bit...
|
3905.23, 3909.16, 3906.72, 3924.37, 3960.91, 4048.73, 4025.23, 4032.51, 4071.19, 4087.48
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 63503.46, 63109.70, 63314.01, 61572.79, 60683.82, 56216.18, 55724.27, 56473.03, 53906.09, 51762.27, 51093.65, 50050.87, 49004.25, 54021.75, 55033.12, 54824.70, 53555.11, 57750.18, 57828.05, 56631.08, 57200.29, 53333.54, 57424.01, 56396.52, 57356.40, 58803.78, 58232.32, 55859.80, 56704.57, 49150.54, 49716.19, 49880.54, 46760.19, 46456.06, 43537.51, 42909.40, 37002.44, 40782.74, 37304.69, 37536.63, 34770.58, 38705.98, 38402.22, 39294.20, 38436.97, 35697.61, 34616.07, 35678.13, 37332.86, 36684.93, 37575.18, 39208.77, 36894.41, 35551.96, 35862.38, 33560.71, 33472.63, 37345.12, 36702.60, 37334.40, 35552.52, 39097.86, 40218.48, 40406.27, 38347.06, 38053.50, 35787.25, 35615.87, 35698.30, 31676.69, 32505.66, 33723.03, 34662.44, 31637.78, 32186.28, 34649.64, 34434.34, 35867.78, 35040.84, 33572.12, 33897.05, 34668.55, 35287.78, 33746.00, 34235.20, 33855.33, 32877.37, 33798.01, 33520.52, 34240.19.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-07-11]
Volume: 20108729370, RSI (14-day): 47.74, 50-day EMA: 37147.62, 200-day EMA: 39454.72
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Futurist David Orban Joins Forces with Beyond Enterprizes: Beyond Enterprizes Welcomes David Orban Las Vegas, Nevada, July 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beyond Enterprizes, the internationally renowned blockchain advisory firm, partnered with over 60 Insurtech, FinTech, and DeFi projects worldwide, announces author, speaker, entrepreneur, and thought leader of global technology, David Orban will be joining the firm as Managing Advisor. An aficionado of blockchain technologies and Bitcoin investor since 2010, David Orban was an early adopter of Ethereum at its launch in 2014. He serves on the Faculty of and acts as Advisor to the Singularity University, at the NASA Research Park. Orban is the author of Something New, on artificial intelligence, available in three languages, English, Italian, and Spanish. As a speaker, he has given over 100 talks worldwide. Orban is a mentor for the Thiel Fellowship, a Scientific Advisory Board Member for the Lifeboat Foundation, and an Advisor to the Institute of Ethics and Emergent Technologies. He was the Chairman of the Board, and is an Advisor to Humanity+, promoting scientific advancement and emerging innovation for social impact. Orban’s personal motto is “What is the question I should be asking?” This is his vehicle for accelerating cycles of invention to help build a better world. Brad Yasar, Founder of Beyond Enterprizes, had this to say about Mr. Orban joining the team: “It is exciting to welcome my good friend David to Beyond Enterprizes. We have worked synergistically in the past on multiple projects and expect to have his vast experience, unique skills, seasoned wisdom, and creative vision benefit all our projects moving forward.” And from David Orban: “I feel a resonance with the work Beyond is doing to guide emerging technologies and innovative endeavors. I’m honored to join the team and look forward to a bright and exciting tomorrow.” ### Press contact: Juliet Annerino +1 (310) 666-2544 ____________________________________ Beyond Enterprizes is a strategic advisory firm assisting clients with technical leadership and support for projects in all stages of blockchain and new technology. The team has built ex- changes on four continents. The team’s commitment to world-changing projects has included a global community of crypto funds and investors under the Blockchain Investors Consortium (BIC). Projects partnered with Beyond Enterprizes have reached a combined market cap of over $5 billion, allowing expansion from a strategic advisory to full-service partnership for development, and execution of successful products and services. Story continues Please see: https://www.beyondenterprizes.com / for more information. Media contact: Tanner James 8609992793 Content Disclaimer: DISCLAIMER of Liability. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR PR COMPANY BE LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFITS OR LOST OPPORTUNITIES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES IN ADVANCE AND REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION UPON WHICH ANY SUCH CLAIM IS BASED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY OF THE CONTENT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, AUDIO, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND VIDEOS, OR OF THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR LEGALITY OF ANY STATEMENT MADE IN OR OMITTED FROM ANY advertisement, sponsorship, endorsement, testimonial, opinion, or other product-related or service-related statement or review appearing in the Websites or in ANY post or article distributed via the Websites. || Futurist David Orban Joins Forces with Beyond Enterprizes: Beyond Enterprizes Welcomes David Orban
Las Vegas, Nevada, July 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beyond Enterprizes, the internationally renowned blockchain advisory firm, partnered with over 60 Insurtech, FinTech, and DeFi projects worldwide, announces author, speaker, entrepreneur, and thought leader of global technology, David Orban will be joining the firm as Managing Advisor.
An aficionado of blockchain technologies and Bitcoin investor since 2010, David Orban was an early adopter of Ethereum at its launch in 2014. He serves on the Faculty of and acts as Advisor to the Singularity University, at the NASA Research Park.
Orban is the author of Something New, on artificial intelligence, available in three languages, English, Italian, and Spanish. As a speaker, he has given over 100 talks worldwide.
Orban is a mentor for the Thiel Fellowship, a Scientific Advisory Board Member for the Lifeboat Foundation, and an Advisor to the Institute of Ethics and Emergent Technologies. He was the Chairman of the Board, and is an Advisor to Humanity+, promoting scientific advancement and emerging innovation for social impact.
Orban’s personal motto is “What is the question I should be asking?” This is his vehicle for accelerating cycles of invention to help build a better world.
Brad Yasar, Founder of Beyond Enterprizes, had this to say about Mr. Orban joining the team:
“It is exciting to welcome my good friend David to Beyond Enterprizes. We have worked synergistically in the past on multiple projects and expect to have his vast experience, unique skills, seasoned wisdom, and creative vision benefit all our projects moving forward.”
And from David Orban:
“I feel a resonance with the work Beyond is doing to guide emerging technologies and innovative endeavors. I’m honored to join the team and look forward to a bright and exciting tomorrow.”
###
Press contact: Juliet Annerino +1 (310) 666-2544
____________________________________
Beyond Enterprizesis a strategic advisory firm assisting clients with technical leadership and support for projects in all stages of blockchain and new technology. The team has built ex- changes on four continents. The team’s commitment to world-changing projects has included a global community of crypto funds and investors under the Blockchain Investors Consortium (BIC). Projects partnered withBeyond Enterprizeshave reached a combined market cap of over $5 billion, allowing expansion from a strategic advisory to full-service partnership for development, and execution of successful products and services.
Please see:https://www.beyondenterprizes.com/ for more information.
Media contact:
Tanner James 8609992793
Content Disclaimer:
DISCLAIMER of Liability. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR PR COMPANY BE LIABLE OR RESPONSIBLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST PROFITS OR LOST OPPORTUNITIES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES IN ADVANCE AND REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION UPON WHICH ANY SUCH CLAIM IS BASED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY OF THE CONTENT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, AUDIO, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND VIDEOS, OR OF THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR LEGALITY OF ANY STATEMENT MADE IN OR OMITTED FROM ANY advertisement, sponsorship, endorsement, testimonial, opinion, or other product-related or service-related statement or review appearing in the Websites or in ANY post or article distributed via the Websites. || China Partners with Co2Bit Technologies to Reduce the Impact of Climate Change: The Co2Bit program will help mitigate the inevitable impacts of climate change.
Orlando, FL, July 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- China Investment Association in cooperation with China Africa Investment Cooperation Ltd. has signed a strategic partnership with Co2bit technologies to support the Co2 tokens. These blockchains based secure digital assets are a uniquely sustainable finance mechanism supporting projects to reduce and mitigate impact of the climate change globally.
Mr. Wang Tao - Executive Deputy Director of China Investment Association
All parties to the agreement and dozens of other nations contractually concur that Co2 tokens are suitable offsets to be used by emitters, in addition to or in lieu of voluntary carbon credits and can be legally distributed via banks, forex exchange offices, and regulated public and private entities within their nations’ purview.
The Co2 tokens, part of an innovative finance mechanism, is being used to finance environmentally projects, including reducing deforestation, improving agricultural efficiencies and funding other innovations impacting declining CO2 sequestration. Most importantly, the Co2Bit program will help mitigate the inevitable impacts of climate change such as inhabitant migrations, food and water shortages, and economic adaptation. Co2 tokens have a comprehensive objective to protect the planet and its inhabitants, through the financing of projects aimed at reducing the impacts of global warming in the near term and long term in a sustainable manner.
Media contact
Company: Co2Bitcoin
Contact: Ron Henley, IGM
Email:[email protected]
Telephone: +1 (917) 612-7416 (GMT – 5)
Website:www.co2bit.com
Attachment
• Co2Bitcoin || China Partners with Co2Bit Technologies to Reduce the Impact of Climate Change: The Co2Bit program will help mitigate the inevitable impacts of climate change. Co2Bitcoin China Partners with Co2Bit Technologies to Reduce the Impact of Climate Change China Partners with Co2Bit Technologies to Reduce the Impact of Climate Change Orlando, FL, July 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- China Investment Association in cooperation with China Africa Investment Cooperation Ltd. has signed a strategic partnership with Co2bit technologies to support the Co2 tokens. These blockchains based secure digital assets are a uniquely sustainable finance mechanism supporting projects to reduce and mitigate impact of the climate change globally. Mr. Wang Tao - Mr. Wang Tao - Executive Deputy Director of China Investment Association All parties to the agreement and dozens of other nations contractually concur that Co2 tokens are suitable offsets to be used by emitters, in addition to or in lieu of voluntary carbon credits and can be legally distributed via banks, forex exchange offices, and regulated public and private entities within their nations purview. The Co2 tokens, part of an innovative finance mechanism, is being used to finance environmentally projects, including reducing deforestation, improving agricultural efficiencies and funding other innovations impacting declining CO2 sequestration. Most importantly, the Co2Bit program will help mitigate the inevitable impacts of climate change such as inhabitant migrations, food and water shortages, and economic adaptation. Co2 tokens have a comprehensive objective to protect the planet and its inhabitants, through the financing of projects aimed at reducing the impacts of global warming in the near term and long term in a sustainable manner. Media contact Company: Co2Bitcoin Contact: Ron Henley, IGM Email: [email protected] Telephone: +1 (917) 612-7416 (GMT 5) Website: www.co2bit.com Attachment Co2Bitcoin || The Data Shows That Bitcoin Is Ready for Higher Prices: It’s no secret that the price action in Bitcoin (CCC: BTC-USD ) hasn’t been great in recent months. A concept coin for Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Source: Shutterstock The industry bellwether and world’s largest cryptocurrency is down about 50% from its April 14 peak above $64,000. That’s a pretty steep decline… But it’s also no secret that the cryptocurrency market is incredibly volatile. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Volatility is tough for a lot of investors. Nobody likes watching their investments underperform and even stagnate at times. Emotions take over and push logical thinking to the backburner. And that’s when bad decisions are made… But in order to be a successful long-term investor, you must be able to keep those emotions in check. You must be able to ignore the financial media noise and keep your head. 7 Undervalued Stocks to Buy for July 2021 And you must be able to stay focused on the big picture. When it comes to the cryptocurrency market, that big picture is incredibly promising… Bitcoin has spent the last seven weeks trading in a range between $31,500 and $40,500. It fell below its 20-week simple moving average on May 15, and lesser-known altcoins broke down even harder. History shows that when Bitcoin is below its 20-week SMA, altcoins have a difficult time trending higher let alone breaking out to new highs. That’s where we are today. But despite what the financial media pundits might be saying, there are absolutely no signs of a bear market on the horizon. In fact, we are seeing signs of just the opposite… The Bitcoin network is still growing. More than 34,000 new entities are coming into Bitcoin every day, which is a very positive trend and lends credibility to the idea that the downward action since April is nothing but a garden variety correction. Not a new bear market. Glassnode uses mathematical models to identify entities on the blockchain, and the chart below shows the strong growth we’ve been seeing recently. The whales are buying. Bitcoin “whales” — entities that hold 1,000 or more Bitcoins — are fundamentally important to the crypto market because they have a lot of firepower to move it one way or the other. Story continues Current data indicates that these whales have stopped selling and are in fact adding to their positions — even with the less-than-impressive performance. That means they view the current weakness as a buying opportunity … and expect the price action to trend upward again. Bitcoin is moving off the exchanges. Experienced crypto investors do not typically leave their cryptocurrencies on centralized exchanges. It counteracts one of cryptos’ greatest principles. Instead, many investors take custody of their coins and hold them in safer options, like offline wallets. Here’s why that’s important… Generally speaking, a significant increase in coins being sent to exchanges can be viewed as a bearish signal, as this indicates that investors are preparing to sell. Conversely, coins leaving exchanges tells us that investors are likely planning to hold. The latter is what we’re seeing today. More than 31,000 Bitcoins left exchanges in just one day this week. That’s a bullish sign. The Puell Multiple is flashing a buy signal. Miners are the backbone of the Bitcoin network, and their behavior can oftentimes tell us a lot about where the market is heading. That’s where the “Puell Multiple” comes in. It looks at Bitcoin supply by miners and their revenue and is calculated by dividing the daily issuance value of Bitcoins by the 365-day moving average of daily issuance value. This provides potential buy and sell zones based on historical data. The green shaded box in the chart below shows periods when the daily issuance value was extremely low. When the Puell Multiple (the orange line) dips to this level, it has historically represented a fantastic buying opportunity for smart investors. The black line is Bitcoin’s price, and you can see that investors who bought during these periods and held for the long term were rewarded with massive and potentially life-changing returns. Well, it looks like the Puell Multiple is dropping into the green box again. And if Bitcoin is preparing for its next leg higher, you can bet that select altcoins are ready to soar as well. So … the data doesn’t lie. The crypto awakening that we’ve been talking about for months isn’t just alive and well … it’s already underway. Bitcoin, altcoins and the blockchain technology they run on will change so much about our lives. From the big stuff like buying a home or paying your taxes to how your pay for a pizza and everyday goods and services. As the world realizes that these changes are coming, it will drive the price of Bitcoin — and the strongest altcoins — to never-before-seen heights. I still believe this will happen. That’s why we’re not focused on the short-term price action. We’re focused on the big picture, and that big picture continues to point to higher prices ahead. We may have to be patient as Bitcoin and altcoins chop around in the near term. But if Bitcoin makes its way to 100K in the next 12 months as I expect it will … select altcoins should multiply even more . On the date of publication, Matthew McCall did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Matthew McCall left Wall Street to actually help investors — by getting them into the world’s biggest, most revolutionary trends BEFORE anyone else. Click here to see what Matt has up his sleeve now . More From InvestorPlace Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. The post The Data Shows That Bitcoin Is Ready for Higher Prices appeared first on InvestorPlace . || The Data Shows That Bitcoin Is Ready for Higher Prices: It’s no secret that the price action inBitcoin(CCC:BTC-USD) hasn’t been great in recent months.
Source: Shutterstock
The industry bellwether and world’s largest cryptocurrency is down about 50% from its April 14 peak above $64,000. That’s a pretty steep decline…
But it’s also no secret that the cryptocurrency market is incredibly volatile.
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
Volatility is tough for a lot of investors. Nobody likes watching their investments underperform and even stagnate at times. Emotions take over and push logical thinking to the backburner. And that’s when bad decisions are made…
But in order to be a successful long-term investor, you must be able to keep those emotions in check. You must be able to ignore the financial media noise and keep your head.
• 7 Undervalued Stocks to Buy for July 2021
And you must be able to stay focused on the big picture.
When it comes to the cryptocurrency market, that big picture is incredibly promising…
Bitcoin has spent the last seven weeks trading in a range between $31,500 and $40,500. It fell below its 20-week simple moving average on May 15, andlesser-known altcoinsbroke down even harder.
History shows that when Bitcoin is below its 20-week SMA, altcoins have a difficult time trending higher let alone breaking out to new highs.
That’s where we are today. But despite what the financial media pundits might be saying, there are absolutely no signs of a bear market on the horizon.
In fact, we are seeing signs of just the opposite…
The Bitcoin network is still growing.More than 34,000 new entities are coming into Bitcoin every day, which is a very positive trend and lends credibility to the idea that the downward action since April is nothing but a garden variety correction.
Not a new bear market.
Glassnode uses mathematical models to identify entities on the blockchain, and the chart below shows the strong growth we’ve been seeing recently.
The whales are buying.Bitcoin “whales” — entities that hold 1,000 or more Bitcoins — are fundamentally important to the crypto market because they have a lot of firepower to move it one way or the other.
Current data indicates that these whales have stopped selling and are in fact adding to their positions — even with the less-than-impressive performance. That means they view the current weakness as a buying opportunity … and expect the price action to trend upward again.
Bitcoin is moving off the exchanges.Experienced crypto investors do not typically leave their cryptocurrencies on centralized exchanges. It counteracts one of cryptos’ greatest principles. Instead, many investors take custody of their coins and hold them in safer options, like offline wallets.
Here’s why that’s important…
Generally speaking, a significant increase in coins being sent to exchanges can be viewed as a bearish signal, as this indicates that investors are preparing to sell. Conversely, coins leaving exchanges tells us that investors are likely planning to hold.
The latter is what we’re seeing today. More than 31,000 Bitcoins left exchanges in just one day this week. That’s a bullish sign.
The Puell Multiple is flashing a buy signal.Miners are the backbone of the Bitcoin network, and their behavior can oftentimes tell us a lot about where the market is heading.
That’s where the “Puell Multiple” comes in. It looks at Bitcoin supply by miners and their revenue and is calculated by dividing the daily issuance value of Bitcoins by the 365-day moving average of daily issuance value. This provides potential buy and sell zones based on historical data.
The green shaded box in the chart below shows periods when the daily issuance value was extremely low. When the Puell Multiple (the orange line) dips to this level, it has historically represented a fantastic buying opportunity for smart investors. The black line is Bitcoin’s price, and you can see that investors who bought during these periods and held for the long term were rewarded with massive and potentially life-changing returns.
Well, it looks like the Puell Multiple is dropping into the green box again. And if Bitcoin is preparing for its next leg higher, you can bet that select altcoins are ready to soar as well.
So … the data doesn’t lie.
Thecrypto awakeningthat we’ve been talking about for months isn’t just alive and well … it’s already underway.
Bitcoin, altcoins and the blockchain technology they run on will change so much about our lives. From the big stuff like buying a home or paying your taxes to how your pay for a pizza and everyday goods and services.
As the world realizes that these changes are coming, it will drive the price of Bitcoin — andthe strongest altcoins— to never-before-seen heights.
I still believe this will happen.
That’s why we’re not focused on the short-term price action. We’re focused on the big picture, and that big picture continues to point to higher prices ahead.
We may have to be patient as Bitcoin and altcoins chop around in the near term. But if Bitcoin makes its way to 100K in the next 12 months as I expect it will …select altcoins should multiply even more.
On the date of publication, Matthew McCall did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
Matthew McCall left Wall Street to actually help investors — by getting them into the world’s biggest, most revolutionary trends BEFORE anyone else.Click here to see what Matt has up his sleeve now.
• Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now
• It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now.
The postThe Data Shows That Bitcoin Is Ready for Higher Pricesappeared first onInvestorPlace. || The Data Shows That Bitcoin Is Ready for Higher Prices: It’s no secret that the price action inBitcoin(CCC:BTC-USD) hasn’t been great in recent months.
Source: Shutterstock
The industry bellwether and world’s largest cryptocurrency is down about 50% from its April 14 peak above $64,000. That’s a pretty steep decline…
But it’s also no secret that the cryptocurrency market is incredibly volatile.
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
Volatility is tough for a lot of investors. Nobody likes watching their investments underperform and even stagnate at times. Emotions take over and push logical thinking to the backburner. And that’s when bad decisions are made…
But in order to be a successful long-term investor, you must be able to keep those emotions in check. You must be able to ignore the financial media noise and keep your head.
• 7 Undervalued Stocks to Buy for July 2021
And you must be able to stay focused on the big picture.
When it comes to the cryptocurrency market, that big picture is incredibly promising…
Bitcoin has spent the last seven weeks trading in a range between $31,500 and $40,500. It fell below its 20-week simple moving average on May 15, andlesser-known altcoinsbroke down even harder.
History shows that when Bitcoin is below its 20-week SMA, altcoins have a difficult time trending higher let alone breaking out to new highs.
That’s where we are today. But despite what the financial media pundits might be saying, there are absolutely no signs of a bear market on the horizon.
In fact, we are seeing signs of just the opposite…
The Bitcoin network is still growing.More than 34,000 new entities are coming into Bitcoin every day, which is a very positive trend and lends credibility to the idea that the downward action since April is nothing but a garden variety correction.
Not a new bear market.
Glassnode uses mathematical models to identify entities on the blockchain, and the chart below shows the strong growth we’ve been seeing recently.
The whales are buying.Bitcoin “whales” — entities that hold 1,000 or more Bitcoins — are fundamentally important to the crypto market because they have a lot of firepower to move it one way or the other.
Current data indicates that these whales have stopped selling and are in fact adding to their positions — even with the less-than-impressive performance. That means they view the current weakness as a buying opportunity … and expect the price action to trend upward again.
Bitcoin is moving off the exchanges.Experienced crypto investors do not typically leave their cryptocurrencies on centralized exchanges. It counteracts one of cryptos’ greatest principles. Instead, many investors take custody of their coins and hold them in safer options, like offline wallets.
Here’s why that’s important…
Generally speaking, a significant increase in coins being sent to exchanges can be viewed as a bearish signal, as this indicates that investors are preparing to sell. Conversely, coins leaving exchanges tells us that investors are likely planning to hold.
The latter is what we’re seeing today. More than 31,000 Bitcoins left exchanges in just one day this week. That’s a bullish sign.
The Puell Multiple is flashing a buy signal.Miners are the backbone of the Bitcoin network, and their behavior can oftentimes tell us a lot about where the market is heading.
That’s where the “Puell Multiple” comes in. It looks at Bitcoin supply by miners and their revenue and is calculated by dividing the daily issuance value of Bitcoins by the 365-day moving average of daily issuance value. This provides potential buy and sell zones based on historical data.
The green shaded box in the chart below shows periods when the daily issuance value was extremely low. When the Puell Multiple (the orange line) dips to this level, it has historically represented a fantastic buying opportunity for smart investors. The black line is Bitcoin’s price, and you can see that investors who bought during these periods and held for the long term were rewarded with massive and potentially life-changing returns.
Well, it looks like the Puell Multiple is dropping into the green box again. And if Bitcoin is preparing for its next leg higher, you can bet that select altcoins are ready to soar as well.
So … the data doesn’t lie.
Thecrypto awakeningthat we’ve been talking about for months isn’t just alive and well … it’s already underway.
Bitcoin, altcoins and the blockchain technology they run on will change so much about our lives. From the big stuff like buying a home or paying your taxes to how your pay for a pizza and everyday goods and services.
As the world realizes that these changes are coming, it will drive the price of Bitcoin — andthe strongest altcoins— to never-before-seen heights.
I still believe this will happen.
That’s why we’re not focused on the short-term price action. We’re focused on the big picture, and that big picture continues to point to higher prices ahead.
We may have to be patient as Bitcoin and altcoins chop around in the near term. But if Bitcoin makes its way to 100K in the next 12 months as I expect it will …select altcoins should multiply even more.
On the date of publication, Matthew McCall did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
Matthew McCall left Wall Street to actually help investors — by getting them into the world’s biggest, most revolutionary trends BEFORE anyone else.Click here to see what Matt has up his sleeve now.
• Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now
• It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now.
The postThe Data Shows That Bitcoin Is Ready for Higher Pricesappeared first onInvestorPlace. || Virgil Griffith Should Return to Jail Pending Trial, Prosecutors Tell Judge: Virgil Griffith, the Ethereum developer charged with violating U.S. sanctions law in North Korea, has violated his bail conditions and should be returned to jail, U.S. prosecutors wrote to the judge presiding over the case.
• Griffith has posed a serious flight risk since his arrest, the prosecutors wrote in their request, and his recent attempt to access one of his frozen cryptocurrency accounts containing $1 million has increased that risk to an “unacceptable level.”
• Griffith was arrested in November 2019 and charged with helping North Koreans circumvent U.S. economic sanctions via cryptocurrency.
• Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York allege Griffith violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by giving a speech in April 2019 at the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference on how to use cryptocurrency to get around U.S. sanctions.
• Griffith’s lawyers has argued his First Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution protected him and that he did not render North Korea any “services” because he received no compensation for the speech.
• The government’s lawyers seek a conference on their request at the earliest possible time.
• Jason Gottlieb, a partner and head of Morrison Cohen’s White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement practice group, took to Twitter to criticize the government’s request to have Griffith return to jail to await his trial, calling the prosecutors “incredibly heavy handed and punitive.”
• Fed Says ‘Surge’ in Crypto Prices Reflects Increased Appetite for Risk
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises After Volatile Week
• Bitcoin Struggles Within Choppy Range, Could Stabilize at $30K
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Sells Off as Regulatory Concerns Resurface || RARA is live on Binance Smart Chain now! No reservations for mining!: SINGAPORE, July 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --NFT ushered in the era of fair governance
As an upcoming NFT trading platform,RARAincludes additional advantages such as Defi economic form and NFT value discovery system. In terms of project governance, RARA strictly adheres blockchain principles and implements DAO governance. This enabled the RARA to start mining from zero with unreserved mining, which truly makes the project open and fair in governance.
Fair governance with the DAOThe RARA platform will be controlled by a DAO, which is voted on by the community for various operational improvements, additions and modifications to the platform. Each month, the RARA platform will have a voting period for new governance proposals. RARA governance operates on a secondary voting mechanism in which RARA token holdings do not directly translate into voting rights. Members of the DAO community receive their voting rights by pledging RARA tokens to mint vRARA voting tokens at a 1:1 ratio.
Each community member has a membership level determined by the vRARA holding. There are three levels of membership: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Each has their own membership benefits, including trading discounts, governance rights and an arithmetic factor for mystery box mining arithmetic.
The RARA market game under unreserved miningIn the RARA platform, RARA tokens can be used to purchase NFT, purchase blind boxes to further participate in pledge mining, participate in DAO, etc. In the platform, there are relatively limited ways to generate RARA tokens, and in times of low rare pet NFTs, whoever buys a blind box through RARA to open a rare pet NFT first will gain more. But at the same time, the probability of rare pet NFTs is such that conservative users avoid this approach. Aggressive investors will turn their attention to grabbing rare pet NFTs, which will inevitably result in frequent trading of mined RARA tokens in the market. And frequent trading will cause more RARA to be burned and destroyed as fees. The tightening of RARA tokens will lead to higher prices, greater gains for miners and greater gains for those holding RARA tokens, and these will gradually balance out as rarer pet NFTs are mined. The more RARA tokens burned and destroyed, the more all users on the platform will gain.
100% fair startRARA is a fair start project, meaning that it does not initially store or allocate its token float, but instead conducts an offering of 48 RARA per block while being open to all. RARA has no maximum cap and operates on a fully inflated and burned model. Starting with 48 RARA per block, the total allocation of RARA per block may be halved over time, depending on the outcome of a decisive vote by the DAO governance.
This is a huge difference and progression from even other projects on the market, more like the early Genesis blocks in the early days of the Bitcoin offering. The governance advantages arising from no set-aside mining could usher in greater market advantages in future DAO governance for RARA.
Early adopters benefit easierRARA's economic model determines the platform's focus on users, and early participants in unreserved mining will benefit more from the platform, both financially, and in terms of DAO governance interests. In RARA's economic model of mining, 48 RARA tokens will be minted per block, of which 12 are allocated to the mining pool and 8 to the system pool. In addition to the tokens minted, a different number of tokens will be burned on each block, starting with the 28 RARA tokens burned.
That is, only 12 RARA are actually generated per block in the mining pool, meaning that future RARA will become increasingly difficult to mine as the total pool deepens. At the same time the RARA generated by mining can be used for DAO, and for early participants in the RARA ecosystem, they have more opportunities to vote on future governance adjustments to the platform in terms of revenue distribution through DAO governance. For example, changes in the number of tokens minted, burned and allocated to the pool may change in the future depending on the outcome of the vote on the governance bill to increase the flexibility of the platform's token economics.
Through unreserved zero-mining, RARA’s fair launch drives all users on the platform to first explore the value and weigh the use of the RARA token itself, in line with the platform's own desire to unlock the value potential of NFT, and subsequently, through the gamification of the system and the continued launch of a new IP series, the platform's audience will continue to grow, encouraging traditional crypto and non-crypto holders to join and experience RARA's vast array of IP creators and brands.
Together with RARA, all users of the platform will take entertainment, sports, digital arts and media to new heights by bringing the freshest NFT ownership experience that is more entertaining, sensational and interactive. At the RARA platform, we believe we are bringing a new way of defining 'intellectual property',
Media Contacts -Company - RARAWebsite -https://www.rara.farm/Email - [email protected] || RARA is live on Binance Smart Chain now! No reservations for mining!: SINGAPORE, July 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NFT ushered in the era of fair governance As an upcoming NFT trading platform, RARA includes additional advantages such as Defi economic form and NFT value discovery system. In terms of project governance, RARA strictly adheres blockchain principles and implements DAO governance. This enabled the RARA to start mining from zero with unreserved mining, which truly makes the project open and fair in governance. Fair governance with the DAO The RARA platform will be controlled by a DAO, which is voted on by the community for various operational improvements, additions and modifications to the platform. Each month, the RARA platform will have a voting period for new governance proposals. RARA governance operates on a secondary voting mechanism in which RARA token holdings do not directly translate into voting rights. Members of the DAO community receive their voting rights by pledging RARA tokens to mint vRARA voting tokens at a 1:1 ratio. Each community member has a membership level determined by the vRARA holding. There are three levels of membership: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Each has their own membership benefits, including trading discounts, governance rights and an arithmetic factor for mystery box mining arithmetic. The RARA market game under unreserved mining In the RARA platform, RARA tokens can be used to purchase NFT, purchase blind boxes to further participate in pledge mining, participate in DAO, etc. In the platform, there are relatively limited ways to generate RARA tokens, and in times of low rare pet NFTs, whoever buys a blind box through RARA to open a rare pet NFT first will gain more. But at the same time, the probability of rare pet NFTs is such that conservative users avoid this approach. Aggressive investors will turn their attention to grabbing rare pet NFTs, which will inevitably result in frequent trading of mined RARA tokens in the market. And frequent trading will cause more RARA to be burned and destroyed as fees. The tightening of RARA tokens will lead to higher prices, greater gains for miners and greater gains for those holding RARA tokens, and these will gradually balance out as rarer pet NFTs are mined. The more RARA tokens burned and destroyed, the more all users on the platform will gain. Story continues 100% fair start RARA is a fair start project, meaning that it does not initially store or allocate its token float, but instead conducts an offering of 48 RARA per block while being open to all. RARA has no maximum cap and operates on a fully inflated and burned model. Starting with 48 RARA per block, the total allocation of RARA per block may be halved over time, depending on the outcome of a decisive vote by the DAO governance. This is a huge difference and progression from even other projects on the market, more like the early Genesis blocks in the early days of the Bitcoin offering. The governance advantages arising from no set-aside mining could usher in greater market advantages in future DAO governance for RARA. Early adopters benefit easier RARA's economic model determines the platform's focus on users, and early participants in unreserved mining will benefit more from the platform, both financially, and in terms of DAO governance interests. In RARA's economic model of mining, 48 RARA tokens will be minted per block, of which 12 are allocated to the mining pool and 8 to the system pool. In addition to the tokens minted, a different number of tokens will be burned on each block, starting with the 28 RARA tokens burned. That is, only 12 RARA are actually generated per block in the mining pool, meaning that future RARA will become increasingly difficult to mine as the total pool deepens. At the same time the RARA generated by mining can be used for DAO, and for early participants in the RARA ecosystem, they have more opportunities to vote on future governance adjustments to the platform in terms of revenue distribution through DAO governance. For example, changes in the number of tokens minted, burned and allocated to the pool may change in the future depending on the outcome of the vote on the governance bill to increase the flexibility of the platform's token economics. Through unreserved zero-mining, RARA’s fair launch drives all users on the platform to first explore the value and weigh the use of the RARA token itself, in line with the platform's own desire to unlock the value potential of NFT, and subsequently, through the gamification of the system and the continued launch of a new IP series, the platform's audience will continue to grow, encouraging traditional crypto and non-crypto holders to join and experience RARA's vast array of IP creators and brands. Together with RARA, all users of the platform will take entertainment, sports, digital arts and media to new heights by bringing the freshest NFT ownership experience that is more entertaining, sensational and interactive. At the RARA platform, we believe we are bringing a new way of defining 'intellectual property', Media Contacts - Company - RARA Website - https://www.rara.farm/ Email - [email protected] || Swedish national sentenced to 15 years in multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme: A Swedish national was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to defrauding thousands of people in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, the Justice Department announced. Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson, 47, pleaded guilty to various securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges on March 4 for his role in the scheme, which solicited victims to purchase shares in a faux investment venture he named “Eastern Metal Securities,” according to court documents. The victims, who were told they would receive large returns, paid into the scheme using Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Instead of investing the funds, Karlsson transferred them into his personal bank accounts and used the money to buy homes, a racehorse, and a resort in Thailand for himself, according to the Justice Department. TWO CHARGED IN $650 MILLION PONZI SCHEME INVOLVING FAKE CATTLE INVESTMENTS During the period of the scheme, which lasted from 2011 until he was arrested in Thailand in June 2019, Karlsson worked to evade detection by authorities by using aliases, shell companies, by rebranding his project, and by giving victim investors account statements meant to update them on the status of their assets, the Justice Department 's statement noted. Karlsson also falsely told victims he was working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to explain delays in paying out their returns. “The investigation into Roger Karlsson’s fraud uncovered a frighteningly callous scheme that lasted more than a decade during which Karlsson targeted thousands of victims, including financially vulnerable seniors, to callously rob them of their assets and all to fuel an extravagant lifestyle surrounded by luxury condominiums and lavish international vacations,” said acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds for the Northern District of California in a statement. Karlsson’s scheme is “one of the largest to be sentenced to date,” Hinds said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Alongside the prison sentence, Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered Karlsson to forfeit the Thai resort and other properties and to forfeit $16,263,820 to be paid as restitution to the victim investors. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News , Justice Department , Crime , Cryptocurrency , Sweden , Thailand , Bitcoin , Law , Economy , Waste and Fraud Original Author: Jeremy Beaman Original Location: Swedish national sentenced to 15 years in multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme View comments || Swedish national sentenced to 15 years in multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme: A Swedish national was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to defrauding thousands of people in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, the Justice Department announced. Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson, 47, pleaded guilty to various securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges on March 4 for his role in the scheme, which solicited victims to purchase shares in a faux investment venture he named “Eastern Metal Securities,” according to court documents. The victims, who were told they would receive large returns, paid into the scheme using Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Instead of investing the funds, Karlsson transferred them into his personal bank accounts and used the money to buy homes, a racehorse, and a resort in Thailand for himself, according to the Justice Department. TWO CHARGED IN $650 MILLION PONZI SCHEME INVOLVING FAKE CATTLE INVESTMENTS During the period of the scheme, which lasted from 2011 until he was arrested in Thailand in June 2019, Karlsson worked to evade detection by authorities by using aliases, shell companies, by rebranding his project, and by giving victim investors account statements meant to update them on the status of their assets, the Justice Department 's statement noted. Karlsson also falsely told victims he was working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to explain delays in paying out their returns. “The investigation into Roger Karlsson’s fraud uncovered a frighteningly callous scheme that lasted more than a decade during which Karlsson targeted thousands of victims, including financially vulnerable seniors, to callously rob them of their assets and all to fuel an extravagant lifestyle surrounded by luxury condominiums and lavish international vacations,” said acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Hinds for the Northern District of California in a statement. Karlsson’s scheme is “one of the largest to be sentenced to date,” Hinds said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Alongside the prison sentence, Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered Karlsson to forfeit the Thai resort and other properties and to forfeit $16,263,820 to be paid as restitution to the victim investors. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News , Justice Department , Crime , Cryptocurrency , Sweden , Thailand , Bitcoin , Law , Economy , Waste and Fraud Original Author: Jeremy Beaman Original Location: Swedish national sentenced to 15 years in multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme View comments || What The ETF: VanEck Is Not Giving Up on SEC Applications: The VanEck Bitcoin Trust is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that has undergone multiple revisions since its inception all the way back in 2018. However, it has failed to materialize due to the United States Securities and Exchange Commissions unwillingness to embrace the asset class. Institutional investment in bitcoin has ramped up since the latter half of 2020. Between global technology giants finally adding cryptocurrency to their balance sheets and El Salvador declaring bitcoin legal tender , its clear that the asset class is stronger than it has ever been. Despite this bullish sentiment, though, the U.S. has yet to approve a single bitcoin ETF. Why a bitcoin ETF? ETFs are a popular type of investment fund that abstract the complexities of holding the underlying asset. In the case of bitcoin, it would remove the responsibility of securing a bitcoin wallet for long-term investing. Over the past few decades, ETFs have become an increasingly popular investment choice for certain assets. This is especially true of commodities such as gold. In fact, gold ETFs, in particular, have expanded 42% per year on average since 2003. Most investors looking to profit from gold as a store of value are unlikely to have the resources to own it in its physical form. Similarly, bitcoin can sometimes be challenging to acquire and manage safely. This is especially true for those coming from a traditional investment background. An ETF abstracts these difficulties, lowering the bar for bitcoin investment and solidifying its role as a store of value. An ETF three years in the making Some of the traditional ETFs offered by VanEcK: Official website VanEck is an extremely dominant player in the ETF space. It was established in New York under the title of Van Eck Global. Since 1955, the company has launched dozens of funds across several international markets. These include South East Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America. The backing of a company as influential as VanEck has major implications for the cryptocurrency industry. Especially because the investment firm appears to have market commitment, it has relentlessly sought the approval of a bitcoin-backed ETF over the past three years. Story continues VanEcks original ETF application dates all the way back to August 2018. It was sponsored by the blockchain company SolidX at the time. The fund was slated to be titled the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust . Each share would cost investors a staggering $200,000 signaling that the product was designed solely with institutional investors in mind. Even after multiple revisions to the original application, however, VanEck and SolidX failed to win the trust of the SEC. Alongside many other bitcoin ETF applicants. Eventually, in September 2019, the firms withdrew their application from the SECs review. However, VanEck said it was committed to launching a bitcoin ETF and would reapply at some point. Another year passed by before the investment firm readied a new proposal . In December 2020, a new application for the VanEck Bitcoin Trust went to the SEC. Notably, this revised ETF proposal did not list SolidX as a sponsor or partner, indicating VanEck would be on its own for this endeavor. VanEcks existing cryptocurrency investment products VanEcks proposed bitcoin ETF will not be the firms first foray into the cryptocurrency industry. In Europe, the company already offers institutional investors a bitcoin-backed exchange-traded note (ETN) product. Named VanEck Vectors Bitcoin ETN , it trades under the VBTC ticker. These days, traders pay a mere 1% in fees to the fund, down from the initial 2% . ETNs are an investment vehicle like ETFs, replicating the underlying assets performance. However, they are typically debt offerings, similar to bonds. Even though ETNs are traditionally unsecured debt securities, VanEck says that its VBTC product is 100% backed by bitcoin that is wholly owned by the firm. This makes VBTC a fully collateralized ETN. Mandatory public disclosures allow us to know that VanEck currently holds 4,221 bitcoins in cold storage. A regulatory third-party custodian manages this storage. Bitcoin holdings: Bitcoin Treasuries With holdings amounting to roughly $150 million, VBTC is clearly a much smaller investment offering than other established institutional ETFs. According to data from Bitcoin Treasuries , VanEcks ETN accounts for just 0.025% of all bitcoin in circulation. In comparison, Grayscale Investments GBTC owns upwards of 654,800 BTC. This translates to 3.12% of the cryptocurrencys maximum supply. Still, its worth noting that VBTC has only been trading since November 2020, while Grayscale enjoyed an early movers advantage. According to the official VBTC fact sheet , VanEcks ETN trades on four exchanges in the European Union namely Germanys Deutsche Börse, Six Swiss Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam, and Euronext Paris. VanEck, SEC and bitcoin manipulation VanEck aims to answer the SECs concerns of fraud and manipulation by relying on multiple exchanges for price data instead of just one. More specifically, the firm has stated that it will use CryptoCompares Bitcoin Benchmark Rate index to determine the funds daily rate change. This index calculates an equal-weighted average of the prevailing price at multiple cryptocurrency trading platforms. The exchanges considered for the index include Bitstamp, Coinbase, Gemini, itBit, and Kraken. In the 60 minutes leading up to 4 PM EST every day, MVIS and CryptoCompare capture 20 snapshots of trading prices at these exchanges. Chunks of data are collected over three-minute periods. As a result, VanEck says that the index is resistant to manipulation by malicious actors. Furthermore, the firm claims that the use of a volume-weighted median instead of a simple median prevents manipulation by individuals executing a large number of low-dollar trades. This is because the number of trades is irrelevant only the volume matters. Most malicious individuals do not own enough bitcoin to overwhelmingly turn the tide against typical volumes at multiple large exchanges. All combined, VanEck believes that these measures will sufficiently safeguard U.S. investors from manipulation and keep the SECs concerns at bay. Whether the agency thinks similarly, however, remains to be seen. Is VanEck likely to win the SECs approval? Even though the SEC received VanEcks ETF filing in December 2020, it didnt begin examining it until several months later. On April 28, the agency released a press release that confirmed what most feared the decision would be delayed for 45 days. On June 17, another delay was confirmed . This time, however, the agency has invited public comment on the matter. As cryptocurrency investors await the SECs decision with bated breath, regulators in many other developed countries have gone ahead and approved bitcoin ETFs without much fanfare. Canada, much to everyones surprise, greenlit multiple bitcoin ETFs earlier in 2021. One of the funds, backed by Purpose Investments , attracted investments worth $421 million in the first two days alone. The ETFs Assets Under Management (AUM) metric went on to breach the $1 billion threshold only two months later. A similar fate is likely for whichever bitcoin ETF wins approval in the U.S. Notably, the SEC has not approved or denied any cryptocurrency ETFs since Jay Clayton stepped down as the chairman in December 2020. Gary Gensler is now head of the agency, a known blockchain advocate. Many in the cryptocurrency community are hopeful that the agencys ruling on bitcoin ETFs will be favorable this time around. After all, it is likely no coincidence that the VanEck filed its latest application just days after Claytons final day in office. || What The ETF: VanEck Is Not Giving Up on SEC Applications: The VanEck Bitcoin Trust is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that has undergone multiple revisions since its inception all the way back in 2018. However, it has failed to materialize due to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s unwillingness to embrace the asset class.
Institutional investment in bitcoin has ramped up since the latter half of 2020. Between global technology giants finally adding cryptocurrency to their balance sheets and El Salvadordeclaring bitcoin legal tender, it’s clear that the asset class is stronger than it has ever been.
Despite this bullish sentiment, though, the U.S. has yet to approve a single bitcoin ETF.
ETFs are a popular type of investment fund that abstract the complexities of holding the underlying asset. In the case of bitcoin, it would remove the responsibility of securing a bitcoin wallet for long-term investing.
Over the past few decades, ETFs have become an increasingly popular investment choice for certain assets. This is especially true of commodities such as gold. In fact, gold ETFs, in particular, have expanded42% per yearon average since 2003.
Most investors looking to profit from gold as a store of value are unlikely to have the resources to own it in its physical form.
Similarly, bitcoin can sometimes be challenging to acquire and manage safely. This is especially true for those coming from a traditional investment background. An ETF abstracts these difficulties, lowering the bar for bitcoin investment and solidifying its role as a store of value.
VanEck is an extremely dominant player in the ETF space. It was established in New York under the title of Van Eck Global.
Since 1955, the company has launched dozens of funds across several international markets. These include South East Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America.
The backing of a company as influential as VanEck has major implications for the cryptocurrency industry. Especially because the investment firm appears to have market commitment, it has relentlessly sought the approval of a bitcoin-backed ETF over the past three years.
VanEck’soriginal ETF applicationdates all the way back to August 2018. It was sponsored by the blockchain company SolidX at the time. The fund was slated to be titled theVanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust. Each share would cost investors a staggering $200,000 — signaling that the product was designed solely with institutional investors in mind.
Even after multiple revisions to the original application, however, VanEck and SolidX failed to win the trust of the SEC. Alongside many other bitcoin ETF applicants.
Eventually, in September 2019, the firmswithdrew their applicationfrom the SEC’s review. However, VanEck said it was committed to launching a bitcoin ETF and would reapply at some point.
Another year passed by before the investment firmreadied a new proposal. In December 2020, a new application for the VanEck Bitcoin Trust went to the SEC. Notably, this revised ETF proposal did not list SolidX as a sponsor or partner, indicating VanEck would be on its own for this endeavor.
VanEck’s proposed bitcoin ETF will not be the firm’s first foray into the cryptocurrency industry. In Europe, the company already offers institutional investors a bitcoin-backed exchange-traded note (ETN) product.
NamedVanEck Vectors Bitcoin ETN, it trades under the VBTC ticker. These days, traders pay a mere 1% in fees to the fund,down from the initial 2%. ETNs are an investment vehicle like ETFs, replicating the underlying asset’s performance. However, they are typically debt offerings, similar to bonds.
Even though ETNs are traditionally unsecured debt securities, VanEck says that its VBTC product is 100% backed by bitcoin that is wholly owned by the firm.
This makes VBTC a fully collateralized ETN. Mandatory public disclosures allow us to know thatVanEck currently holds 4,221 bitcoinsin cold storage. A regulatory third-party custodian manages this storage.
With holdings amounting to roughly $150 million, VBTC is clearly a much smaller investment offering than other established institutional ETFs. According todata from Bitcoin Treasuries, VanEck’s ETN accounts for just 0.025% of all bitcoin in circulation.
In comparison, Grayscale Investment’s GBTC owns upwards of 654,800 BTC. This translates to 3.12% of the cryptocurrency’s maximum supply. Still, it’s worth noting that VBTC has only been trading since November 2020, while Grayscale enjoyed an early mover’s advantage.
According tothe official VBTC fact sheet, VanEck’s ETN trades on four exchanges in the European Union — namely Germany’s Deutsche Börse, Six Swiss Exchange, Euronext Amsterdam, and Euronext Paris.
VanEck aims to answer the SEC’s concerns of fraud and manipulation by relying on multiple exchanges for price data instead of just one.
More specifically, the firm has stated that it will use CryptoCompare’sBitcoin Benchmark Rateindex to determine the fund’s daily rate change.
This index calculates an equal-weighted average of the prevailing price at multiple cryptocurrency trading platforms. The exchanges considered for the index include Bitstamp, Coinbase, Gemini, itBit, and Kraken.
In the 60 minutes leading up to 4 PM EST every day, MVIS and CryptoCompare capture 20 snapshots of trading prices at these exchanges.
Chunks of data are collected over three-minute periods. As a result, VanEck says that the index is resistant to manipulation by malicious actors.
Furthermore, the firm claims that the use of a volume-weighted median instead of a simple median prevents manipulation by individuals executing a large number of low-dollar trades.
This is because the number of trades is irrelevant — only the volume matters. Most malicious individuals do not own enough bitcoin to overwhelmingly turn the tide against typical volumes at multiple large exchanges.
All combined, VanEck believes that these measures will sufficiently safeguard U.S. investors from manipulation and keep the SEC’s concerns at bay. Whether the agency thinks similarly, however, remains to be seen.
Even though the SEC received VanEck’s ETF filing in December 2020, it didn’t begin examining it until several months later.
On April 28, the agency released a press releasethat confirmedwhat most feared — the decision would be delayed for 45 days. On June 17,another delay was confirmed. This time, however, the agency has invited public comment on the matter.
As cryptocurrency investors await the SEC’s decision with bated breath, regulators in many other developed countries have gone ahead and approved bitcoin ETFs without much fanfare. Canada, much to everyone’s surprise, greenlit multiple bitcoin ETFs earlier in 2021.
One of the funds,backed by Purpose Investments, attracted investments worth $421 million in the first two days alone. The ETF’s Assets Under Management (AUM) metric went on to breach the $1 billion threshold only two months later.
A similar fate is likely for whichever bitcoin ETF wins approval in the U.S. Notably, the SEC has not approved or denied any cryptocurrency ETFs since Jay Clayton stepped down as the chairman in December 2020. Gary Gensler is now head of the agency, a known blockchain advocate.
Many in the cryptocurrency community are hopeful that the agency’s ruling on bitcoin ETFs will be favorable this time around. After all, it is likely no coincidence that the VanEck filed its latest application just days after Clayton’s final day in office. || This Gigantic 101-Carat Diamond Just Sold for $12.3 Million—in Cryptocurrency: The pear-shaped diamond that Sotheby’s Hong Kong just sold may not be the largest of its kind, but it’s still a record-breaker. The massive 101.38-carat stone, named The Key 10138, was sold to an unidentified buyer for $12.3 million on Friday in Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg News . That price would be staggering regardless of the circumstances, but the auction house said it also makes the stone the most expensive piece of jewelry ever sold via cryptocurrency. More from Robb Report The Sneakers Michael Jordan Wore to the 1984 Olympic Trials Are Heading to Auction Sotheby's Is Set to Sell the Sketches From Christo's Final Artwork This Fall A Copy of 'Super Mario 64' Sells for $1.56 Million to Become the World's Most Expensive Video Game Although the sales method will grab all the headlines, it can’t be stressed how special The Key 10138 is. The gem from Diacore is the second-largest pear-shaped diamond to ever be sold publicly. It’s also been classified as a Type IIa diamond. With no IR-detectable nitrogen or boron impurities, Type IIa diamonds are among the rarest in the world, making up just two percent of those mined. So, not only is the gem huge, but it’s also exceedingly rare. The Key 10138 diamond - Credit: Sotheby's Sotheby's Because of this, it’s easy to see why Sotheby’s made such a to-do about the diamond. Last month, the auction house announced it would be selling the stone in a single-lot live sale and would be accepting fiat money, Bitcoin and Ethereum as payment methods. About a dozen bids were put before the gavel sounded during the live-streamed sale. As high as the sale price for the gem may be, it actually comes in lower than it could have. When the auction was first announced, Sotheby’s said it expected the special stone to fetch between $10 million and $15 million. In the end, it fell squarely in the middle of that range. While the sale is good news for Sotheby’s and Diacore, it’s less so for those of us feeling some crypto fatigue. Although the diamond failed to meet or exceed its high estimate—unlike, say, Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5,000 Days —it still sold for a lot of money. Because of that, it seems unlikely that the art and auction world’s love affair with cryptocurrency will end any time soon. Story continues Best of Robb Report 11 Stunning Jewelry Moments From the 2020 Oscars The 10 Most Expensive Watches Sold at Auction in the 21st Century So Far The New Suit: A Buyer’s Guide Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter . For the latest news, follow us on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram . || This Gigantic 101-Carat Diamond Just Sold for $12.3 Million—in Cryptocurrency: The pear-shaped diamond that Sotheby’s Hong Kong just sold may not be the largest of its kind, but it’s still a record-breaker. The massive 101.38-carat stone, named The Key 10138, was sold to an unidentified buyer for $12.3 million on Friday in Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg News . That price would be staggering regardless of the circumstances, but the auction house said it also makes the stone the most expensive piece of jewelry ever sold via cryptocurrency. More from Robb Report The Sneakers Michael Jordan Wore to the 1984 Olympic Trials Are Heading to Auction Sotheby's Is Set to Sell the Sketches From Christo's Final Artwork This Fall A Copy of 'Super Mario 64' Sells for $1.56 Million to Become the World's Most Expensive Video Game Although the sales method will grab all the headlines, it can’t be stressed how special The Key 10138 is. The gem from Diacore is the second-largest pear-shaped diamond to ever be sold publicly. It’s also been classified as a Type IIa diamond. With no IR-detectable nitrogen or boron impurities, Type IIa diamonds are among the rarest in the world, making up just two percent of those mined. So, not only is the gem huge, but it’s also exceedingly rare. The Key 10138 diamond - Credit: Sotheby's Sotheby's Because of this, it’s easy to see why Sotheby’s made such a to-do about the diamond. Last month, the auction house announced it would be selling the stone in a single-lot live sale and would be accepting fiat money, Bitcoin and Ethereum as payment methods. About a dozen bids were put before the gavel sounded during the live-streamed sale. As high as the sale price for the gem may be, it actually comes in lower than it could have. When the auction was first announced, Sotheby’s said it expected the special stone to fetch between $10 million and $15 million. In the end, it fell squarely in the middle of that range. While the sale is good news for Sotheby’s and Diacore, it’s less so for those of us feeling some crypto fatigue. Although the diamond failed to meet or exceed its high estimate—unlike, say, Beeple’s Everydays: The First 5,000 Days —it still sold for a lot of money. Because of that, it seems unlikely that the art and auction world’s love affair with cryptocurrency will end any time soon. Story continues Best of Robb Report 11 Stunning Jewelry Moments From the 2020 Oscars The 10 Most Expensive Watches Sold at Auction in the 21st Century So Far The New Suit: A Buyer’s Guide Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter . For the latest news, follow us on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram . || Criminals Haul $45,000 in BTC as Police Covert Op Backfires: Police in New Zealand have reported that criminals stole $45,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC) during an online covert operation.
Reports indicatethat the detectives were conducting an undercover investigation into money laundering. However, during the operation, the criminals they were pursuing made off with $45,000 worth of BTC. The New Zealand police purchased the funds especially for the money laundering operation.
Since the theft, police in New Zealand have reportedly carried out two further inquiries. It also sparked an internal investigation into police procedure. Reports indicate that this investigation highlighted procedural gaps by which the police failed to protect the money. It also made recommendations for how the procedure may be improved and updated. The changes are reportedly currently still under consultation.
The police also carried out a further criminal investigation into the theft itself. However, at time of press, the inquiry has not turned up any information about the money’s whereabouts or the thieves’ identities. According to reports, Detective Inspector Stuart Mills, from the New Zealand Police’s National Organized Crime Group, believes the criminals are based overseas. He also said they were likely part of a wider fraud operation.
This revelation comes days after reports of another cryptocurrency theft; in this case amounting to $250,000 worth. A former employee of the international crypto exchange Cryptopia, based in Christchurch,pleaded guiltyto stealing the quarter-million, as reported on July 5. According to reports, the court convicted the defendant and remanded him on bail. He will return to court in October for sentencing.
Recent reportsrevealed that New Zealand’s central bank has begun consulting on improving its current systems for cash and currency. Including considerations over a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand issueda noticeon July 7, in which assistant governor Christian Hawkesby stated the first of the consultations will be directed towards “the broad concepts of money and cash stewardship.”
The notice also alluded to a series of money and cash issues papers, which the Reserve Bank will release for feedback between August and November this year.
Assistant Governor Hawkesby went on to say “Subsequent papers will look at the potential for a Central Bank Digital Currency, to work alongside cash as government-backed money, issues arising from new electronic money forms including crypto assets (such as bitcoin) and stable coins (such as proposed by a Facebook-led consortium), and how the cash system might need to change to continue to meet the needs of users.” || Criminals Haul $45,000 in BTC as Police Covert Op Backfires: Police in New Zealand have reported that criminals stole $45,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC) during an online covert operation.
Reports indicatethat the detectives were conducting an undercover investigation into money laundering. However, during the operation, the criminals they were pursuing made off with $45,000 worth of BTC. The New Zealand police purchased the funds especially for the money laundering operation.
Since the theft, police in New Zealand have reportedly carried out two further inquiries. It also sparked an internal investigation into police procedure. Reports indicate that this investigation highlighted procedural gaps by which the police failed to protect the money. It also made recommendations for how the procedure may be improved and updated. The changes are reportedly currently still under consultation.
The police also carried out a further criminal investigation into the theft itself. However, at time of press, the inquiry has not turned up any information about the money’s whereabouts or the thieves’ identities. According to reports, Detective Inspector Stuart Mills, from the New Zealand Police’s National Organized Crime Group, believes the criminals are based overseas. He also said they were likely part of a wider fraud operation.
This revelation comes days after reports of another cryptocurrency theft; in this case amounting to $250,000 worth. A former employee of the international crypto exchange Cryptopia, based in Christchurch,pleaded guiltyto stealing the quarter-million, as reported on July 5. According to reports, the court convicted the defendant and remanded him on bail. He will return to court in October for sentencing.
Recent reportsrevealed that New Zealand’s central bank has begun consulting on improving its current systems for cash and currency. Including considerations over a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand issueda noticeon July 7, in which assistant governor Christian Hawkesby stated the first of the consultations will be directed towards “the broad concepts of money and cash stewardship.”
The notice also alluded to a series of money and cash issues papers, which the Reserve Bank will release for feedback between August and November this year.
Assistant Governor Hawkesby went on to say “Subsequent papers will look at the potential for a Central Bank Digital Currency, to work alongside cash as government-backed money, issues arising from new electronic money forms including crypto assets (such as bitcoin) and stable coins (such as proposed by a Facebook-led consortium), and how the cash system might need to change to continue to meet the needs of users.” || Criminals Haul $45,000 in BTC as Police Covert Op Backfires: Police in New Zealand have reported that criminals stole $45,000 worth of bitcoin (BTC) during an online covert operation. Reports indicate that the detectives were conducting an undercover investigation into money laundering. However, during the operation, the criminals they were pursuing made off with $45,000 worth of BTC. The New Zealand police purchased the funds especially for the money laundering operation. Since the theft, police in New Zealand have reportedly carried out two further inquiries. It also sparked an internal investigation into police procedure. Reports indicate that this investigation highlighted procedural gaps by which the police failed to protect the money. It also made recommendations for how the procedure may be improved and updated. The changes are reportedly currently still under consultation. The police also carried out a further criminal investigation into the theft itself. However, at time of press, the inquiry has not turned up any information about the money’s whereabouts or the thieves’ identities. According to reports, Detective Inspector Stuart Mills, from the New Zealand Police’s National Organized Crime Group, believes the criminals are based overseas. He also said they were likely part of a wider fraud operation. This revelation comes days after reports of another cryptocurrency theft; in this case amounting to $250,000 worth. A former employee of the international crypto exchange Cryptopia, based in Christchurch, pleaded guilty to stealing the quarter-million, as reported on July 5. According to reports, the court convicted the defendant and remanded him on bail. He will return to court in October for sentencing. New Zealand embracing CBDC idea Recent reports revealed that New Zealand’s central bank has begun consulting on improving its current systems for cash and currency. Including considerations over a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The Reserve Bank of New Zealand issued a notice on July 7, in which assistant governor Christian Hawkesby stated the first of the consultations will be directed towards “the broad concepts of money and cash stewardship.” The notice also alluded to a series of money and cash issues papers, which the Reserve Bank will release for feedback between August and November this year. Assistant Governor Hawkesby went on to say “Subsequent papers will look at the potential for a Central Bank Digital Currency, to work alongside cash as government-backed money, issues arising from new electronic money forms including crypto assets (such as bitcoin) and stable coins (such as proposed by a Facebook-led consortium), and how the cash system might need to change to continue to meet the needs of users.” || Paraguay Congressman to Present Regulation Bill Next Week: A member of the Paraguayan congress has announced they will present a bill regulating crypto in the next few days.
Carlos Antonio Rejala Helman, a member of the Hagamos Party,issued a tweeton June 9, in which he stated:
“I am here to unite Paraguay, that is why we decided with Senator Fernando Silva Facetti to present together the bill bitcoin on Wednesday, July 14! Stay tuned since there will be a mega surprise for Paraguay and the world. Something GIANT is coming.”
Rejala previously asserted that he would introduce cryptocurrency legislation in Julyin earlier tweets. One such assertion occurred after Grupo Cinco, one of Paraguay’s biggest entertainment companies, announced they would start accepting payments in BTC and other cryptocurrencies from July onwards.
The congressman excited the crypto space back in June when he alluded to a project between Paraguay, bitcoin (BTC) and PayPal.
This came around the same time as El Salvador’s presidentNayib Bukele declaringhe would make BTC legal tender in his country, leading some to speculate that Paraguay intended to follow suit. The Salvadoran congresspassed President Bukele’s billwith 62 votes in favor out of 84. El Salvador consequently became the first country in the world to formally adopt BTC as legal tender.
Rejalasince clarifiedthat his plans relate to regulating cryptocurrency in Paraguay. He told Reuters “It is a bill of digital assets and it differs from that of El Salvador because they are taking it as legal currency and in Paraguay it will be impossible to do something like that.”
As Paraguay prepares to press ahead with their crypto plans,reports indicatethat other Latin American countries have similar intentions. Panama, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina among them.
However, El Salvador’s BTC adoption has hardly been an easy ride so far. Since congress passed the bill, President Bukele and his government have faced opposition from its people, other political parties, and financial authorities. Arecent surveyof 1,233 Salvadorans showed that BTC is unpopular in the country.
In addition, opposition party member Jaime Guevara headed a citizen group infiling a lawsuitagainst El Salvador itself for its adoption of BTC. Guevara dubbed the decision unconstitutional; other citizens said there is no legal basis to make BTC legal tender.
Still, El Salvador is not without its supporters. On July 3, reports revealed that Blockstreamhad entered talkswith the Salvadoran government about a blockchain bond. The digital bond would be denominated against the US dollar. Officials in El Salvador had reportedly expressed interest. However, at time of press, they are still yet to make a final decision.
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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33155.85, 32702.03, 32822.35, 31780.73, 31421.54, 31533.07, 31796.81, 30817.83, 29807.35, 32110.69
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 59893.45, 63503.46, 63109.70, 63314.01, 61572.79, 60683.82, 56216.18, 55724.27, 56473.03, 53906.09, 51762.27, 51093.65, 50050.87, 49004.25, 54021.75, 55033.12, 54824.70, 53555.11, 57750.18, 57828.05, 56631.08, 57200.29, 53333.54, 57424.01, 56396.52, 57356.40, 58803.78, 58232.32, 55859.80, 56704.57, 49150.54, 49716.19, 49880.54, 46760.19, 46456.06, 43537.51, 42909.40, 37002.44, 40782.74, 37304.69, 37536.63, 34770.58, 38705.98, 38402.22, 39294.20, 38436.97, 35697.61, 34616.07, 35678.13, 37332.86, 36684.93, 37575.18, 39208.77, 36894.41, 35551.96, 35862.38, 33560.71, 33472.63, 37345.12, 36702.60, 37334.40, 35552.52, 39097.86, 40218.48, 40406.27, 38347.06, 38053.50, 35787.25, 35615.87, 35698.30, 31676.69, 32505.66, 33723.03, 34662.44, 31637.78, 32186.28, 34649.64, 34434.34, 35867.78, 35040.84, 33572.12, 33897.05, 34668.55, 35287.78, 33746.00, 34235.20, 33855.33, 32877.37, 33798.01, 33520.52.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-07-10]
Volume: 22971873468, RSI (14-day): 45.03, 50-day EMA: 37266.29, 200-day EMA: 39507.13
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Judge Bans PaxForex From US for Offering Unregistered, Leveraged Crypto Trades: A federal judge banned trading platform PaxForex from operating in the U.S. late last month, writing in a default judgement that the futures shop, which in 2018 was host to unlicensed leveraged crypto products, failed to defend itself in court. Laino Group Ltd., the St. Vincent-based company that is behind PaxForex, must pay a $374,864 fine and is permanently barred from trading, soliciting or registering in the U.S., David Hittner, a federal judge in Texas Southern District, ordered Hittner ruled that PaxForex leveraged bitcoin , ether and litecoin trading operation violated the Commodity Exchange Act because it failed to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the nations top derivatives regulator. Related: Traders Make Money Selling ‘Strangles’ as Bitcoin Goes Quiet Federal agents seized the companys domain name last September in coordination with the CFTC, which then filed suit . The CFTC strongly urges the public to verify a companys registration with the CFTC before committing funds, the agency said in a statement . Related Stories BitMEX CEO Maps Out Future Living by the Rules Bitcoin ETF Would Be Good for Investors and Regulators, Says Former CFTC Chairman Bitcoins Sliding Put-Call Ratio Points to Weakening Bearish Sentiment: Analysts || Judge Bans PaxForex From US for Offering Unregistered, Leveraged Crypto Trades: A federal judge banned trading platform PaxForex from operating in the U.S. late last month, writing in a default judgement that the futures shop, which in 2018 was host to unlicensed leveraged crypto products, failed to defend itself in court.
Laino Group Ltd., the St. Vincent-based company that is behind PaxForex, must pay a $374,864 fine and is permanently barred from trading, soliciting or registering in the U.S., David Hittner, a federal judge in Texas’ Southern District, ordered
Hittner ruled that PaxForex’ leveragedbitcoin,etherandlitecointrading operation violated the Commodity Exchange Act because it failed to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the nation’s top derivatives regulator.
Related:Traders Make Money Selling ‘Strangles’ as Bitcoin Goes Quiet
Federal agents seized the company’s domain name last September in coordination with the CFTC, which then filedsuit.
“The CFTC strongly urges the public to verify a company’s registration with the CFTC before committing funds,” the agency said ina statement.
• BitMEX CEO Maps Out Future ‘Living by the Rules’
• Bitcoin ETF Would Be Good for Investors and Regulators, Says Former CFTC Chairman
• Bitcoin’s Sliding Put-Call Ratio Points to Weakening Bearish Sentiment: Analysts || SEC Brings Insider Trading Charges Against Dark Web User ‘The Bull’: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a 30-year-old Greek man with securities fraud and money laundering for allegedly selling insider trading tips on dark web marketplaces. Between December 2016 and this February, the SEC says Apostolos Trovias, who used the screen name “The Bull,” claimed to be “an actual office clerk working in a trading branch” and sold stock tips to buyers through monthly and weekly subscriptions as well as one-off sales. Trovias also occasionally sold unpublished earnings reports of public companies. Trovias used several dark web marketplaces to hawk his wares, including the now-defunct AlphaBay, Dream Market, Nightmare Market and ASAP Market. Trovias also created his own website to sell subscriptions to his “tips.” Related: Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund Becomes SEC Registered Company All of Trovias’ sales were payable in bitcoin , which the SEC’s complaint says was used to hide his “insider trading scheme.” It is still unclear whether the purported stock tips Trovias was selling to his customers were based on real nonpublic information obtained from a “third-party tipper,” or whether Trovias simply made them up. Related Stories Bitcoin Listless as New ‘Bearish Crossover’ Looms Synthetix Rallies as DeFi Protocol Announces Layer 2 Launch El Salvador Could Face ‘Limitation’ on Bitcoin’s Use as Medium of Exchange: JPMorgan || SEC Brings Insider Trading Charges Against Dark Web User ‘The Bull’: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)has chargeda 30-year-old Greek man with securities fraud and money laundering for allegedly selling insider trading tips on dark web marketplaces.
Between December 2016 and this February, the SEC says Apostolos Trovias, who used the screen name “The Bull,” claimed to be “an actual office clerk working in a trading branch” and sold stock tips to buyers through monthly and weekly subscriptions as well as one-off sales. Trovias also occasionally sold unpublished earnings reports of public companies.
Trovias used several dark web marketplaces to hawk his wares, including the now-defunct AlphaBay, Dream Market, Nightmare Market and ASAP Market. Trovias also created his own website to sell subscriptions to his “tips.”
Related:Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund Becomes SEC Registered Company
All of Trovias’ sales were payable inbitcoin, which the SEC’s complaint says was used to hide his “insider trading scheme.”
It is still unclear whether the purported stock tips Trovias was selling to his customers were based on real nonpublic information obtained from a “third-party tipper,” or whether Trovias simply made them up.
• Bitcoin Listless as New ‘Bearish Crossover’ Looms
• Synthetix Rallies as DeFi Protocol Announces Layer 2 Launch
• El Salvador Could Face ‘Limitation’ on Bitcoin’s Use as Medium of Exchange: JPMorgan || Fed Says ‘Surge’ in Crypto Prices Reflects Increased Appetite for Risk: The U.S. Federal Reserve singled out a dramatic rise in the price of cryptocurrencies in its overall assessment of the stability of the financial system, according to Bloomberg, which said it’s the first time the central bank has ever done so. In its semiannual Monetary Policy Report, the Fed told Congress “the surge in the prices of a variety of crypto assets” reflects investors’ increased appetite for risk. While Fed officials have discussed crypto before, they have seldom, if ever, used the asset class as a benchmark to consider broader market conditions. Small shifts point to the Fed giving crypto a closer look. Top brass have met with key industry figures in recent months as they prepare to tackle more questions about crypto, such as how to proceed on a digital dollar project. Related: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises After Volatile Week Even so, one small shoutout doesn’t amount to a sea change. The 69-page report declined to elaborate further on crypto assets or their resiliency, prospects and impact on monetary policy. It bundled the mention within a broader section on the price of “risky assets,” sandwiched between housing prices and Treasury yields. “Asset prices may be subject to significant declines should investor risk appetite fall, interest rates rise unexpectedly or the recovery stall,” the section ended. Related Stories Bitcoin Struggles Within Choppy Range, Could Stabilize at $30K Market Wrap: Bitcoin Sells Off as Regulatory Concerns Resurface Bank of Thailand: Don’t Use Crypto for Payments || Fed Says ‘Surge’ in Crypto Prices Reflects Increased Appetite for Risk: The U.S. Federal Reserve singled out a dramatic rise in the price of cryptocurrencies in its overall assessment of the stability of the financial system, according to Bloomberg, which said it’s the first time the central bank has ever done so.
In its semiannual Monetary Policy Report, the FedtoldCongress “the surge in the prices of a variety of crypto assets” reflects investors’ increased appetite for risk. While Fed officials have discussed crypto before, they have seldom, if ever, used the asset class as a benchmark to consider broader market conditions.
Small shifts point to the Fed giving crypto a closer look. Top brass have met with key industry figures in recent months as they prepare to tackle more questions about crypto, such as how to proceed on a digital dollar project.
Related:Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises After Volatile Week
Even so, one small shoutout doesn’t amount to a sea change. The 69-page report declined to elaborate further on crypto assets or their resiliency, prospects and impact on monetary policy. It bundled the mention within a broader section on the price of “risky assets,” sandwiched between housing prices and Treasury yields.
“Asset prices may be subject to significant declines should investor risk appetite fall, interest rates rise unexpectedly or the recovery stall,” the section ended.
• Bitcoin Struggles Within Choppy Range, Could Stabilize at $30K
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Sells Off as Regulatory Concerns Resurface
• Bank of Thailand: Don’t Use Crypto for Payments || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises After Volatile Week: Cryptocurrencies traded higher on Friday after a volatile week. Bitcoin was holding above $33,000 support at press time and is roughly flat for the week.Technical chartssuggest buyers will remain active above $30,000, although upside momentum is starting to slow heading into the weekend.
“The possibility of price action dropping into the mid-$20,000 range is alive, but traders looking for a retest of previous all-time highs will likely be disappointed,” Sean Rooney, head of research at crypto asset managerValkyrie Investments, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.
Cryptocurrencies:
• Bitcoin(BTC) $33422.1, +1.25%
• Ether(ETH) $2127.6, -1.43%
Related:Bitcoin Listless as New ‘Bearish Crossover’ Looms
Traditional markets:
• S&P 500: 4369.55, +1.13%
• Gold: $1808.4, +0.31%
• 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.358%, compared with 1.297% on Thursday
“The May price drop was dramatic, whereas the on-chain reaccumulation of the bitcoin sold in that downturn into longer-term holders has occurred throughout eight weeks of sideways price action,” Rooney wrote. “This sets up well for an end-of-summer rally heading into the fourth quarter.”
More than 5,000 bitcoin shorts were added on the Bitfinex exchange on Thursday. “When shorts close their positions, they do so by going long to offset their short exposure,”tweetedDelphi Digital.
The recent buildup in shorts is still below peak levels in June, which suggests pessimism could continue as bitcoin remains in an intermediate-term downtrend that began in April.
Related:Synthetix Rallies as DeFi Protocol Announces Layer 2 Launch
Eventually, extreme pessimism could lead to a short squeeze as buyers respond to oversold conditions, fueling a price rally.
Ruffer Investments, a U.K. investment manager, booked a $1.1 billionprofitfrom a bitcoin investment in five months. “So, what’s changed? The price,” Duncan MacInnes, investment director at Ruffer, wrote in a Fridayblog post.
“Last November, we gained exposure to bitcoin,” MacInnes wrote. “We viewed it as an option on an emerging store of value with a highly skewed and attractive risk/reward profile.”
However, retail speculation and peak liquidity indicated frothy market conditions earlier this year, which prompted Ruffer to sell all of its bitcoin exposure in April.
In recent weeks, bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P 500 has started to rise, while the correlation with commodities continues to fall. That divergence could make bitcoin attractive for investors looking to diversify exposure across equities, commodities and cryptocurrencies.
Mike McGlone, commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, expects bitcoin to outperform Brent crude oil this year.
“The relative discount in the bitcoin price vs. the premium in crude oil may show that technicals and fundamentals are aligned for resuming the upward trajectory in the ratio,” McGlone wrote in a Thursday report.
“Akin to similar conditions at the end of 2016, we see the bitcoin-to-crude ratio well poised to resume its uptrend, especially if a new low in relative bitcoin volatility at the end of 2020 is a guide.”
Though bitcoin has gone comatose in a narrow range above $30,000, less than half the all-time high reached just two months ago, some options traders are busy as ever, taking relatively high-risk strategies to profit from the cryptocurrency’s continued price consolidation.
One of those strategiesinvolvesputting on “short strangles,” essentially a bet that bitcoin’s price won’t break out anytime soon.
“Our favorite trade continues to be short BTC strangles within the $30,000 to $40,000 range,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a Telegram post on June 30. “With psychological resistance at $40,000 and strong support at $30,000, there’s a good chance that BTC trades in this $10,000 range in the near future, which would likely cause implied volatility to collapse.”
Short strangles involve selling out-of-the-money (OTM) call and put options with the same expiration dates. OTM calls are ones at strike prices higher than bitcoin’s current level, while OTM puts have strikes lower than bitcoin’s going price.
USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, has the potential to become “the most widely used iteration of the U.S. dollar,” Mati Greenspan, CEO and founder of Quantum Economics, wrote in a note, after the currency’s backer, Circle,announcedits plan to go public.
“At the moment, there is only one that is widely circulated and is compliant with all known U.S. regulations, and that’s USD coin,” Greenspan wrote.
USDC is gaining more shares as the stablecoin industry grows fast. Meanwhile, some of the top decentralized finance (DeFi) sites provide higher yields for staking the largest stablecoin USDT than USDC.
“Even though tether is more readily available and more liquid, USD coin is just seen as a more stable investment vehicle,” Greenspan wrote.
• EOS price hike:The price of EOS surged 20.3%, after its creator, Block.one’s unit Bullish,announcedits plan to go public on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with Far Peak Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Bullish is planning to launch a cryptocurrency exchange, while the deal will value the combined company at $9 billion.
• Growth in Euro Stablecoins:As the circulating supply of euro-pegged stablecoin EURS tokens more than doubled this year to nearly 80 million, some token issuers arepicturinga future of foreign exchange markets on digital rails. However, challenges remain with financing and regulations.
• Why China’s Ban on Crypto Mining Is More Serious Than Before
• Survey Suggests Most Salvadorans Wary of Bitcoin as Legal Tender
• BIS, IMF, World Bank Say Central Banks Must Consider Cross-Border Implications of CBDCs
Most digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 ended up higher on Friday.
Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
eos(EOS) +15.14%
algorand(ALGO) +3.42%
the graph(GRT) +1.81%
Notable losers:
nucypher(NU) – 3.65%
chainlink(LINK) -2.55%
aave(AAVE) -2.19%
• El Salvador Could Face ‘Limitation’ on Bitcoin’s Use as Medium of Exchange: JPMorgan
• Crypto Long & Short: A Bear Market Doesn’t Spell Doom || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises After Volatile Week: Cryptocurrencies traded higher on Friday after a volatile week. Bitcoin was holding above $33,000 support at press time and is roughly flat for the week.Technical chartssuggest buyers will remain active above $30,000, although upside momentum is starting to slow heading into the weekend.
“The possibility of price action dropping into the mid-$20,000 range is alive, but traders looking for a retest of previous all-time highs will likely be disappointed,” Sean Rooney, head of research at crypto asset managerValkyrie Investments, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.
Cryptocurrencies:
• Bitcoin(BTC) $33422.1, +1.25%
• Ether(ETH) $2127.6, -1.43%
Related:Bitcoin Listless as New ‘Bearish Crossover’ Looms
Traditional markets:
• S&P 500: 4369.55, +1.13%
• Gold: $1808.4, +0.31%
• 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.358%, compared with 1.297% on Thursday
“The May price drop was dramatic, whereas the on-chain reaccumulation of the bitcoin sold in that downturn into longer-term holders has occurred throughout eight weeks of sideways price action,” Rooney wrote. “This sets up well for an end-of-summer rally heading into the fourth quarter.”
More than 5,000 bitcoin shorts were added on the Bitfinex exchange on Thursday. “When shorts close their positions, they do so by going long to offset their short exposure,”tweetedDelphi Digital.
The recent buildup in shorts is still below peak levels in June, which suggests pessimism could continue as bitcoin remains in an intermediate-term downtrend that began in April.
Related:Synthetix Rallies as DeFi Protocol Announces Layer 2 Launch
Eventually, extreme pessimism could lead to a short squeeze as buyers respond to oversold conditions, fueling a price rally.
Ruffer Investments, a U.K. investment manager, booked a $1.1 billionprofitfrom a bitcoin investment in five months. “So, what’s changed? The price,” Duncan MacInnes, investment director at Ruffer, wrote in a Fridayblog post.
“Last November, we gained exposure to bitcoin,” MacInnes wrote. “We viewed it as an option on an emerging store of value with a highly skewed and attractive risk/reward profile.”
However, retail speculation and peak liquidity indicated frothy market conditions earlier this year, which prompted Ruffer to sell all of its bitcoin exposure in April.
In recent weeks, bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P 500 has started to rise, while the correlation with commodities continues to fall. That divergence could make bitcoin attractive for investors looking to diversify exposure across equities, commodities and cryptocurrencies.
Mike McGlone, commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, expects bitcoin to outperform Brent crude oil this year.
“The relative discount in the bitcoin price vs. the premium in crude oil may show that technicals and fundamentals are aligned for resuming the upward trajectory in the ratio,” McGlone wrote in a Thursday report.
“Akin to similar conditions at the end of 2016, we see the bitcoin-to-crude ratio well poised to resume its uptrend, especially if a new low in relative bitcoin volatility at the end of 2020 is a guide.”
Though bitcoin has gone comatose in a narrow range above $30,000, less than half the all-time high reached just two months ago, some options traders are busy as ever, taking relatively high-risk strategies to profit from the cryptocurrency’s continued price consolidation.
One of those strategiesinvolvesputting on “short strangles,” essentially a bet that bitcoin’s price won’t break out anytime soon.
“Our favorite trade continues to be short BTC strangles within the $30,000 to $40,000 range,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a Telegram post on June 30. “With psychological resistance at $40,000 and strong support at $30,000, there’s a good chance that BTC trades in this $10,000 range in the near future, which would likely cause implied volatility to collapse.”
Short strangles involve selling out-of-the-money (OTM) call and put options with the same expiration dates. OTM calls are ones at strike prices higher than bitcoin’s current level, while OTM puts have strikes lower than bitcoin’s going price.
USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, has the potential to become “the most widely used iteration of the U.S. dollar,” Mati Greenspan, CEO and founder of Quantum Economics, wrote in a note, after the currency’s backer, Circle,announcedits plan to go public.
“At the moment, there is only one that is widely circulated and is compliant with all known U.S. regulations, and that’s USD coin,” Greenspan wrote.
USDC is gaining more shares as the stablecoin industry grows fast. Meanwhile, some of the top decentralized finance (DeFi) sites provide higher yields for staking the largest stablecoin USDT than USDC.
“Even though tether is more readily available and more liquid, USD coin is just seen as a more stable investment vehicle,” Greenspan wrote.
• EOS price hike:The price of EOS surged 20.3%, after its creator, Block.one’s unit Bullish,announcedits plan to go public on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with Far Peak Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Bullish is planning to launch a cryptocurrency exchange, while the deal will value the combined company at $9 billion.
• Growth in Euro Stablecoins:As the circulating supply of euro-pegged stablecoin EURS tokens more than doubled this year to nearly 80 million, some token issuers arepicturinga future of foreign exchange markets on digital rails. However, challenges remain with financing and regulations.
• Why China’s Ban on Crypto Mining Is More Serious Than Before
• Survey Suggests Most Salvadorans Wary of Bitcoin as Legal Tender
• BIS, IMF, World Bank Say Central Banks Must Consider Cross-Border Implications of CBDCs
Most digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 ended up higher on Friday.
Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
eos(EOS) +15.14%
algorand(ALGO) +3.42%
the graph(GRT) +1.81%
Notable losers:
nucypher(NU) – 3.65%
chainlink(LINK) -2.55%
aave(AAVE) -2.19%
• El Salvador Could Face ‘Limitation’ on Bitcoin’s Use as Medium of Exchange: JPMorgan
• Crypto Long & Short: A Bear Market Doesn’t Spell Doom || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises After Volatile Week: Cryptocurrencies traded higher on Friday after a volatile week. Bitcoin was holding above $33,000 support at press time and is roughly flat for the week. Technical charts suggest buyers will remain active above $30,000, although upside momentum is starting to slow heading into the weekend. “The possibility of price action dropping into the mid-$20,000 range is alive, but traders looking for a retest of previous all-time highs will likely be disappointed,” Sean Rooney, head of research at crypto asset manager Valkyrie Investments , wrote in an email to CoinDesk. Latest prices Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC) $33422.1, +1.25% Ether (ETH) $2127.6, -1.43% Related: Bitcoin Listless as New ‘Bearish Crossover’ Looms Traditional markets: S&P 500: 4369.55, +1.13% Gold: $1808.4, +0.31% 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.358%, compared with 1.297% on Thursday “The May price drop was dramatic, whereas the on-chain reaccumulation of the bitcoin sold in that downturn into longer-term holders has occurred throughout eight weeks of sideways price action,” Rooney wrote. “This sets up well for an end-of-summer rally heading into the fourth quarter.” Bitcoin shorts pile up More than 5,000 bitcoin shorts were added on the Bitfinex exchange on Thursday. “When shorts close their positions, they do so by going long to offset their short exposure,” tweeted Delphi Digital. The recent buildup in shorts is still below peak levels in June, which suggests pessimism could continue as bitcoin remains in an intermediate-term downtrend that began in April. Related: Synthetix Rallies as DeFi Protocol Announces Layer 2 Launch Eventually, extreme pessimism could lead to a short squeeze as buyers respond to oversold conditions, fueling a price rally. Ruffer sold bitcoin on signs of froth Ruffer Investments, a U.K. investment manager, booked a $1.1 billion profit from a bitcoin investment in five months. “So, what’s changed? The price,” Duncan MacInnes, investment director at Ruffer, wrote in a Friday blog post . Story continues “Last November, we gained exposure to bitcoin,” MacInnes wrote. “We viewed it as an option on an emerging store of value with a highly skewed and attractive risk/reward profile.” However, retail speculation and peak liquidity indicated frothy market conditions earlier this year, which prompted Ruffer to sell all of its bitcoin exposure in April. Bitcoin vs. commodities In recent weeks, bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P 500 has started to rise, while the correlation with commodities continues to fall. That divergence could make bitcoin attractive for investors looking to diversify exposure across equities, commodities and cryptocurrencies. Mike McGlone , commodity strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, expects bitcoin to outperform Brent crude oil this year. “The relative discount in the bitcoin price vs. the premium in crude oil may show that technicals and fundamentals are aligned for resuming the upward trajectory in the ratio,” McGlone wrote in a Thursday report. “Akin to similar conditions at the end of 2016, we see the bitcoin-to-crude ratio well poised to resume its uptrend, especially if a new low in relative bitcoin volatility at the end of 2020 is a guide.” Traders sells “strangles” as bitcoin goes quiet Though bitcoin has gone comatose in a narrow range above $30,000, less than half the all-time high reached just two months ago, some options traders are busy as ever, taking relatively high-risk strategies to profit from the cryptocurrency’s continued price consolidation. One of those strategies involves putting on “short strangles,” essentially a bet that bitcoin’s price won’t break out anytime soon. “Our favorite trade continues to be short BTC strangles within the $30,000 to $40,000 range,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a Telegram post on June 30. “With psychological resistance at $40,000 and strong support at $30,000, there’s a good chance that BTC trades in this $10,000 range in the near future, which would likely cause implied volatility to collapse.” Short strangles involve selling out-of-the-money (OTM) call and put options with the same expiration dates. OTM calls are ones at strike prices higher than bitcoin’s current level, while OTM puts have strikes lower than bitcoin’s going price. USD Coin’s potential USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market cap, has the potential to become “the most widely used iteration of the U.S. dollar,” Mati Greenspan, CEO and founder of Quantum Economics, wrote in a note, after the currency’s backer, Circle, announced its plan to go public. “At the moment, there is only one that is widely circulated and is compliant with all known U.S. regulations, and that’s USD coin,” Greenspan wrote. USDC is gaining more shares as the stablecoin industry grows fast. Meanwhile, some of the top decentralized finance (DeFi) sites provide higher yields for staking the largest stablecoin USDT than USDC. “Even though tether is more readily available and more liquid, USD coin is just seen as a more stable investment vehicle,” Greenspan wrote. Altcoin roundup EOS price hike: The price of EOS surged 20.3%, after its creator, Block.one’s unit Bullish, announced its plan to go public on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with Far Peak Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Bullish is planning to launch a cryptocurrency exchange, while the deal will value the combined company at $9 billion. Growth in Euro Stablecoins: As the circulating supply of euro-pegged stablecoin EURS tokens more than doubled this year to nearly 80 million, some token issuers are picturing a future of foreign exchange markets on digital rails. However, challenges remain with financing and regulations. Relevant news Why China’s Ban on Crypto Mining Is More Serious Than Before Survey Suggests Most Salvadorans Wary of Bitcoin as Legal Tender BIS, IMF, World Bank Say Central Banks Must Consider Cross-Border Implications of CBDCs Other markets Most digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 ended up higher on Friday. Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): eos (EOS) +15.14% algorand (ALGO) +3.42% the graph (GRT) +1.81% Notable losers: nucypher (NU) – 3.65% chainlink (LINK) -2.55% aave (AAVE) -2.19% Related Stories El Salvador Could Face ‘Limitation’ on Bitcoin’s Use as Medium of Exchange: JPMorgan Crypto Long & Short: A Bear Market Doesn’t Spell Doom || Stock Market Today: Stocks Bounce Back to Hit New Highs: art showing man jumping off hand and reaching bullseye Getty Images The major market indexes finished a holiday-shortened week in fine fashion, leaving behind Thursday's Treasury-rate tumult to end today at record highs. After falling to its lowest level since February yesterday, the 10-year Treasury yield stabilized, settling up 7 basis points (one basis point is one-one hundredth of a percentage point) to 1.36%. SEE MORE 14 Best Infrastructure Stocks for Biden's Big Building Spend Also moving higher today were reopening stocks like American Airlines ( AAL , +2.7%) and Carnival ( CCL , +2.3%), as well as financials (+2.8%). Sign up for Kiplinger's FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.3% to finish at 34,870 as big banks Goldman Sachs ( GS , +3.6%) and JPMorgan Chase ( JPM , +3.2%) surged ahead of next week's earnings reports , while the S&P 500 Index jumped 1.1% to 4,369. Even the Nasdaq Composite brushed off news of President Joe Biden's executive order aimed at promoting competition in a wide range of sectors, including technology, to finish up 1.0% at 14,701. Other action in the stock market today: The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 2.2% to 2,280. Discover Financial Services ( DFS ) jumped 6.2% today. Citi upgraded the big bank stock to Buy, saying it "has the clearest near-term path to benefit from the return of consumer card spending and lending as pandemic-related benefits expire and elevated payment rates return to lower levels." There were a number of stocks that moved on M&A news today. Philip Morris International ( PM ) rose 1.1% after the tobacco titan said it was buying U.K. respiratory treatment specialist Vectura for $1.4 billion. Additionally, Stamps.com ( STMP ) soared 64.0% after the mailing company agreed to be taken private by Thoma Bravo in a deal valued at $6.6 billion. U.S. crude oil futures spiked 2.3% to $74.60 per barrel, but still fell 0.8% on the week. Gold futures gained 0.6% to finish at $1,810.60 an ounce. For the week, gold rose 1.5% – its third consecutive weekly win. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) plunged 14.8% to end at 16.18. Bitcoin added 1.3% to $33,446.99. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day. Story continues stock price chart 070921 YCharts So, What's in Store for Next Week? While the start to second-quarter earnings season will certainly be front and center, Wall Street will also be watching inflation with the latest consumer price index (CPI) due out ahead of the opening bell on Tuesday, July 13. Last month's CPI reading rose 5% on a year-over-year basis – its biggest annual increase since August 2008. And according to Gargi Chaudhuri, head of iShares Investment Strategy, Americas at BlackRock, inflation is going to continue to run hot. This is due to several factors, including the Fed's easy money policy, higher production costs and supply bottlenecks. SEE MORE 15 Dividend Aristocrats You Can Buy at a Discount However, Chaudhuri says that the rising-inflation trend bodes well for "cyclically oriented value stocks in sectors such as financials that have been strong performers so far in 2021." For investors looking to position for higher inflation, we've recently compiled a list of top-rated financial stocks to watch for the remainder of the year. These are the most compelling plays in the space, according to Wall Street's analysts. Check them out here. SEE MORE 5 Five-Star Mutual Funds for Any Investor You may also like Your Guide to Roth Conversions The Most-Overlooked Tax Breaks for Retirees 13 States That Tax Social Security Benefits || Stock Market Today: Stocks Bounce Back to Hit New Highs: art showing man jumping off hand and reaching bullseye Getty Images The major market indexes finished a holiday-shortened week in fine fashion, leaving behind Thursday's Treasury-rate tumult to end today at record highs. After falling to its lowest level since February yesterday, the 10-year Treasury yield stabilized, settling up 7 basis points (one basis point is one-one hundredth of a percentage point) to 1.36%. SEE MORE 14 Best Infrastructure Stocks for Biden's Big Building Spend Also moving higher today were reopening stocks like American Airlines ( AAL , +2.7%) and Carnival ( CCL , +2.3%), as well as financials (+2.8%). Sign up for Kiplinger's FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.3% to finish at 34,870 as big banks Goldman Sachs ( GS , +3.6%) and JPMorgan Chase ( JPM , +3.2%) surged ahead of next week's earnings reports , while the S&P 500 Index jumped 1.1% to 4,369. Even the Nasdaq Composite brushed off news of President Joe Biden's executive order aimed at promoting competition in a wide range of sectors, including technology, to finish up 1.0% at 14,701. Other action in the stock market today: The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 2.2% to 2,280. Discover Financial Services ( DFS ) jumped 6.2% today. Citi upgraded the big bank stock to Buy, saying it "has the clearest near-term path to benefit from the return of consumer card spending and lending as pandemic-related benefits expire and elevated payment rates return to lower levels." There were a number of stocks that moved on M&A news today. Philip Morris International ( PM ) rose 1.1% after the tobacco titan said it was buying U.K. respiratory treatment specialist Vectura for $1.4 billion. Additionally, Stamps.com ( STMP ) soared 64.0% after the mailing company agreed to be taken private by Thoma Bravo in a deal valued at $6.6 billion. U.S. crude oil futures spiked 2.3% to $74.60 per barrel, but still fell 0.8% on the week. Gold futures gained 0.6% to finish at $1,810.60 an ounce. For the week, gold rose 1.5% – its third consecutive weekly win. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) plunged 14.8% to end at 16.18. Bitcoin added 1.3% to $33,446.99. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day. Story continues stock price chart 070921 YCharts So, What's in Store for Next Week? While the start to second-quarter earnings season will certainly be front and center, Wall Street will also be watching inflation with the latest consumer price index (CPI) due out ahead of the opening bell on Tuesday, July 13. Last month's CPI reading rose 5% on a year-over-year basis – its biggest annual increase since August 2008. And according to Gargi Chaudhuri, head of iShares Investment Strategy, Americas at BlackRock, inflation is going to continue to run hot. This is due to several factors, including the Fed's easy money policy, higher production costs and supply bottlenecks. SEE MORE 15 Dividend Aristocrats You Can Buy at a Discount However, Chaudhuri says that the rising-inflation trend bodes well for "cyclically oriented value stocks in sectors such as financials that have been strong performers so far in 2021." For investors looking to position for higher inflation, we've recently compiled a list of top-rated financial stocks to watch for the remainder of the year. These are the most compelling plays in the space, according to Wall Street's analysts. Check them out here. SEE MORE 5 Five-Star Mutual Funds for Any Investor You may also like Your Guide to Roth Conversions The Most-Overlooked Tax Breaks for Retirees 13 States That Tax Social Security Benefits || What Investors Need to Know About Circle’s Listing: Circle, a longtime fixture of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, announced yesterday it will go public via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC , at a valuation of $4.5 billion. Though the big money will be going to insiders already in the SPAC , it still gives retail investors an opportunity to make a long-term bet on a company that has a real shot at becoming central to the crypto-economy. If you’re considering buying into the offering, read on for some key facts and factors. Circle was founded in 2013, making it truly venerable by crypto standards. But the company spent many years wandering the desert in search of a defining purpose: it has at various times dabbled with Bitcoin, with non-crypto payments, and with crypto exchanges. David Z. Morris is CoinDesk’s chief insights columnist. Related: Which Crypto Firms Will Follow Coinbase, Circle Into the Public Markets? Starting in 2018, Circle seems to have truly found its calling with the USDC stablecoin. Stablecoins come in a few flavors, but USDC is of the fully-backed variety: In exchange for deposits of low-tech dollars or equivalents, Circle prints dollar tokens to Ethereum and other blockchains. Currently, stablecoins are mostly used by crypto traders looking for a way to safely park funds without making the expensive and slow swap to true fiat currency. But as crypto continues to grow as a sector, they’re expected to have many more everyday financial applications, from payments to decentralized finance-based loans . (Disclosure: Circle has previously partnered with DCG , CoinDesk’s parent company.) Where Circle fits In crypto Circle was founded in 2013, a longevity that attests to solid management. From the start, Circle was very much on the corporate and careful side of the cryptoverse, aiming at mainstream applications and high-profile partnerships. If Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is crypto’s robotoid Mark Zuckerberg, Allaire is a crypto mini-Jamie Dimon, with the finance world’s old-school sheen. That cultivation of respectability and trust has likely helped Circle establish its largest current revenue source, treasury and management services . Story continues Related: Can a New Wave of Crypto IPOs Rekindle Wall Street Excitement? But the real story for Circle is USDC. The stablecoin is a joint project between Circle and Coinbase, through an entity called Centre. USDC has been growing at a huge rate over the past year-plus, from $1 billion to $25 billion of USDC in circulation. That makes it a truly viable competitor to tether , currently the top stablecoin with about $63 billion in circulating supply. Circle, in a recent presentation, projected $83 billion in USDC issued by next year, and $200 billion by 2023. That would have a direct impact on Circle’s bottom line through growing transaction fees and interest on reserves. Circle has been consolidating to focus on its success with USDC, primarily by unloading trading assets. In October 2019 it sold the Poloniex exchange , acquired just two years prior. In its SPAC filings, Circle disclosed it lost $156 million overall on Poloniex. Circle also sold its over-the-counter trading desk to Kraken in December 2019, and unloaded its retail trading app, Circle Invest , in February 2020. USDC: Big potential, big regulatory risk In a best-case scenario, the management of a USD stablecoin by a public, regulated U.S. entity could be a watershed, both practically and conceptually. At the highest level, it would be perhaps the most direct currency competition between a private company and the U.S. government since the post-Civil War crackdown on private bank currencies . Within the cryptosphere, if USDC establishes trust it could continue to displace tether, which many critics see as a systemic risk because of its lack of reserve transparency. It could even be an alternative to a USD-backed stablecoin managed by the Federal Reserve, and some see the private route as preferable . However, there are doubts about whether that will happen. In recent conversations, Allaire has failed to answer questions about Circle’s reserves to the satisfaction of onlookers, particularly regarding unknown “approved investments” backing USDC . Allaire has reaffirmed a commitment to transparency in a Twitter thread on June 8. Circle also faces obvious regulatory risk. Stablecoins are so novel that it’s still unclear exactly what compliant management of one would mean. Many existing rules certainly apply in novel ways, and regulators may also want to create new rules over coming years. Those are both looming unknowns for would-be investors in Circle stock. Circle has a major potential advantage with regulators: Centre has ultimate control of USDC, including the ability to lock user’s holdings: In June, Centre froze $100,000 at the request of law enforcement. This level of control will, of course, be a barrier for the token’s adoption by users who prioritize finality, or those who object on principle to a centralized token taking on a systemic role in crypto. But at least for now, stablecoins are primarily of interest to traders more focused on money than ideology, so the objections have been fairly muted. Either way, it’s a bit of a devil’s bargain – with truly decentralized stablecoins showing signs of long-term fragility, the main choice would seem to be between a centralized coin and one that appears quite risky. Though initially launched on Ethereum as an ERC-20 token , versions of USDC now run on a surprising number of blockchains, including Stellar and Solana. That diversity is important because while there are methods to connect an ERC-20 to systems outside of Ethereum, native stablecoins are crucially faster for trades or operations on a given network. Tether, USDC’s main competition, also runs on a number of networks, including EOS and Tron. The SPAC Factor If Circle has at points seemed like a company in search of a purpose, the timing of its public listing could also suggest a certain lack of ferocity. The listing will take place through a SPAC, essentially a reverse merger with an existing publicly listed entity. These offerings have lower reporting and transparency requirements than a traditional initial public offering, and saw a huge surge during 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic somehow sent the New York Stock Exchange into overdrive. Many of those SPACs have become disasters for retail investors, leaving serious egg on the face of promoters like Chamath Palihapatiya . With the bloom off the rose, the SPAC frenzy has fallen off dramatically. While Circle is late to the SPAC party, that may actually be in its favor. The wave of SPAC deflations has led the Securities and Exchange Commission to tighten some SPAC reporting standards in April, another cause of the SPAC slowdown. That suggests that many past or pending SPACs had leaned on the reporting loophole, while Circle is comfortable going to market under tighter standards and could improve on SPAC’s spotty track record. Related Stories Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises After Volatile Week Money Reimagined: Inflation Is Here? Always Has Been || What Investors Need to Know About Circle’s Listing: Circle, a longtime fixture of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, announced yesterday it will go public via a special purpose acquisition company, orSPAC, at a valuation of $4.5 billion. Though the big money will be going toinsiders already in the SPAC, it still gives retail investors an opportunity to make a long-term bet on a company that has a real shot at becoming central to the crypto-economy. If you’re considering buying into the offering, read on for some key facts and factors.
Circle was founded in 2013, making it truly venerable by crypto standards. But the company spent many years wandering the desert in search of a defining purpose: it has at various times dabbled with Bitcoin, with non-crypto payments, and with crypto exchanges.
David Z. Morris is CoinDesk’s chief insights columnist.
Related:Which Crypto Firms Will Follow Coinbase, Circle Into the Public Markets?
Starting in 2018, Circle seems to have truly found its calling with theUSDCstablecoin. Stablecoins come in a few flavors, but USDC is of the fully-backed variety: In exchange for deposits of low-tech dollars or equivalents, Circle prints dollar tokens to Ethereum and other blockchains.
Currently, stablecoins are mostly used by crypto traders looking for a way to safely park funds without making the expensive and slow swap to true fiat currency. But as crypto continues to grow as a sector, they’re expected to have many more everyday financial applications, frompaymentstodecentralized finance-based loans.
(Disclosure: Circle has previouslypartnered with DCG, CoinDesk’s parent company.)
Circle was founded in 2013, a longevity that attests to solid management. From the start, Circle was very much on the corporate and careful side of the cryptoverse, aiming at mainstream applications and high-profile partnerships. If Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is crypto’s robotoid Mark Zuckerberg, Allaire is a crypto mini-Jamie Dimon, with the finance world’s old-school sheen. That cultivation of respectability and trust has likely helped Circle establish its largest current revenue source,treasury and management services.
Related:Can a New Wave of Crypto IPOs Rekindle Wall Street Excitement?
But the real story for Circle is USDC. The stablecoin is a joint project between Circle and Coinbase, through an entity called Centre. USDC has been growing at a huge rate over the past year-plus, from $1 billion to $25 billion of USDC in circulation. That makes it a truly viable competitor totether, currently the top stablecoin with about $63 billion in circulating supply. Circle, in a recent presentation, projected$83 billion in USDC issuedby next year, and $200 billion by 2023. That would have a direct impact on Circle’s bottom line through growing transaction fees and interest on reserves.
Circle has been consolidating to focus on its success with USDC, primarily by unloading trading assets. In October 2019 itsold the Poloniex exchange, acquired just two years prior. In its SPAC filings, Circle disclosed itlost $156 millionoverall on Poloniex. Circle also sold itsover-the-counter trading desk to Krakenin December 2019, and unloaded its retail trading app,Circle Invest, in February 2020.
In a best-case scenario, the management of a USD stablecoin by a public, regulated U.S. entity could be a watershed, both practically and conceptually. At the highest level, it would be perhaps the most direct currency competition between a private company and the U.S. government since the post-Civil War crackdown onprivate bank currencies.
Within the cryptosphere, if USDC establishes trust it could continue to displace tether, which many critics see as a systemic risk because of its lack of reserve transparency. It could even be an alternative to a USD-backed stablecoin managed by the Federal Reserve, and some see theprivate route as preferable.
However, there are doubts about whether that will happen. In recent conversations, Allaire has failed to answer questions about Circle’s reserves to the satisfaction of onlookers, particularly regardingunknown “approved investments” backing USDC. Allaire has reaffirmed acommitment to transparencyin a Twitter thread on June 8.
Circle also faces obvious regulatory risk. Stablecoins are so novel that it’s still unclear exactly what compliant management of one would mean. Many existing rules certainly apply in novel ways, and regulators may also want to create new rules over coming years. Those are both looming unknowns for would-be investors in Circle stock.
Circle has a major potential advantage with regulators: Centre has ultimate control of USDC, including the ability to lock user’s holdings: In June, Centrefroze $100,000at the request of law enforcement. This level of control will, of course, be a barrier for the token’s adoption by users who prioritize finality, or those who object on principle to a centralized token taking on a systemic role in crypto.
But at least for now, stablecoins are primarily of interest to traders more focused on money than ideology, so the objections have been fairly muted. Either way, it’s a bit of a devil’s bargain – with truly decentralized stablecoins showing signs of long-term fragility, the main choice would seem to be between a centralized coin and one that appears quite risky.
Though initially launched on Ethereum as anERC-20 token, versions of USDC now run on a surprising number of blockchains, including Stellar and Solana. That diversity is important because while there are methods to connect an ERC-20 to systems outside of Ethereum, native stablecoins are crucially faster for trades or operations on a given network. Tether, USDC’s main competition, also runs on a number of networks, including EOS and Tron.
If Circle has at points seemed like a company in search of a purpose, the timing of its public listing could also suggest a certain lack of ferocity. The listing will take place through a SPAC, essentially a reverse merger with an existing publicly listed entity. These offerings have lower reporting and transparency requirements than a traditional initial public offering, and saw a huge surge during 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic somehow sent the New York Stock Exchange into overdrive.
Many of those SPACs have become disasters for retail investors, leaving serious egg on the face of promoters likeChamath Palihapatiya. With the bloom off the rose, the SPAC frenzy has fallen off dramatically.
While Circle is late to the SPAC party, that may actually be in its favor. The wave of SPAC deflations has led the Securities and Exchange Commission to tighten some SPACreporting standardsin April, another cause of the SPAC slowdown. That suggests that many past or pending SPACs had leaned on the reporting loophole, while Circle is comfortable going to market under tighter standards and could improve on SPAC’s spotty track record.
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises After Volatile Week
• Money Reimagined: Inflation Is Here? Always Has Been || Single Buyer Apes Into Moochs ETH Fund for $5.7M, Docs Show: SkyBridge Capitals Ethereum fund has officially launched with a solitary investor committing $5.7 million to the vehicle in its first week, new regulatory documents show. It is now the second crypto-specific private fund offered by Anthony Scaramuccis investment firm. The other, a bitcoin vehicle, disclosed $46.7 million in sales to 170 investors on Friday. Scaramucci previewed the funds existence on a recent podcast by The Block but declined at the time to elaborate. The new documents reviewed by CoinDesk add some detail. Related: Power Ledger to Move to Solana From Ethereum The fund, named First Trust SkyBridge Ethereum Fund L.P., indicates SkyBridge is deepening its relationship with First Trust, the partner firm in its bid to land a bitcoin exchange-traded fund . The ETH fund takes $25,000 minimum investments and notched its first and only sale on July 1. Private funds allow wealthy investors access to crypto price movement without having to think about issues like custody, settlement and trading. It is not clear who the one investor is, but Scaramucci has seeded similar vehicles with his firms cash. His office did not immediately comment on the filing. First Trust did not immediately respond either. Related Stories ¿Qué es el hashrate y por qué importa? Bear Markets Dont Scare Protocol Developers: CoinDesk 2021 Q2 Review SEC Delays Decision on SkyBridge Capitals Proposed Bitcoin ETF to August || Single Buyer Apes Into Mooch’s ETH Fund for $5.7M, Docs Show: SkyBridge Capital’s Ethereum fund has officially launched with a solitary investor committing $5.7 million to the vehicle in its first week, new regulatorydocumentsshow.
It is now the second crypto-specific private fund offered by Anthony Scaramucci’s investment firm. The other, abitcoinvehicle,disclosed$46.7 million in sales to 170 investors on Friday.
Scaramucci previewed the fund’s existence on a recentpodcastby The Block but declined at the time to elaborate. The new documents reviewed by CoinDesk add some detail.
Related:Power Ledger to Move to Solana From Ethereum
The fund, named First Trust SkyBridge Ethereum Fund L.P., indicates SkyBridge is deepening its relationship with First Trust, the partner firm in its bid to land a bitcoinexchange-traded fund. TheETHfund takes $25,000 minimum investments and notched its first and only sale on July 1.
Private funds allow wealthy investors access to crypto price movement without having to think about issues like custody, settlement and trading.
It is not clear who the one investor is, but Scaramucci has seeded similar vehicles with his firm’s cash. His office did not immediately comment on the filing. First Trust did not immediately respond either.
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• SEC Delays Decision on SkyBridge Capital’s Proposed Bitcoin ETF to August || Lookout Uncovers Crypto Mining Scam Involving Nearly 100K Android Users: California-based security firm, Lookout, released a report Friday announcing the discovery of a major scam targeting android devices.
According to arecent report from security firm Lookout, some 93,000 Android users have been victims of a scam to sell them fake cryptocurrency via the Google Play Store. The apps were advertised as an avenue to passively earn money by mining cryptos for the user. In reality, the apps did nothing of the sort.
What they did do was charge victims for improvements that would help them mine more and more bitcoin. Essentially,the scammersare tricking users into investing in a bitcoin mining operation that does not exist.
Similar scam apps are set up to steam your private data from buyers. When the user goes to withdrawal their funds, an error message pops up and stops them in their tracks.
The problem is not just limited to a few bad eggs either, Lookout detected170 or so such apps making the roundswith 25 of them currently available on the Google Play Store. The remaining 150 require third-party software to be downloaded.
The report breaks down the scams into two categories, BitScam and CloudScam.
Lookout breaks the scams down into these two main categories based on how each is funded. Both BitScam and CloudScam apps offer similar subscriptions to mining or services that promise to up the amount of crypto you can mine at one time. Each service also utilizes Google’s in-app billing system.
The main difference between the two is that BitScam allows users to fund scammers using Bitcoin and Ethereum. Meanwhile, CloudScam apps only allow users to lose money with their credit or debit cards.
It should be noted that there is a number totally legitimate cloud mining apps on the Google Play Store. Those apps have high-quality coding and following secure coding practices ensuring users remain safe and are not scammed out of their money. The legit apps are also generally linked to a known mining operation.
Meanwhile, thescam appsall share a very similar and basic code and are not tied to any reputable mining operation. The apps are so basic that even somebody who lacks programming experience can create the framework they run on. || Lookout Uncovers Crypto Mining Scam Involving Nearly 100K Android Users: California-based security firm, Lookout, released a report Friday announcing the discovery of a major scam targeting android devices. According to a recent report from security firm Lookout , some 93,000 Android users have been victims of a scam to sell them fake cryptocurrency via the Google Play Store. The apps were advertised as an avenue to passively earn money by mining cryptos for the user. In reality, the apps did nothing of the sort. What they did do was charge victims for improvements that would help them mine more and more bitcoin. Essentially, the scammers are tricking users into investing in a bitcoin mining operation that does not exist. Similar scam apps are set up to steam your private data from buyers. When the user goes to withdrawal their funds, an error message pops up and stops them in their tracks. The problem is not just limited to a few bad eggs either, Lookout detected 170 or so such apps making the rounds with 25 of them currently available on the Google Play Store. The remaining 150 require third-party software to be downloaded. The report breaks down the scams into two categories, BitScam and CloudScam. Distinguishing between BitScam and CloudScam apps Lookout breaks the scams down into these two main categories based on how each is funded. Both BitScam and CloudScam apps offer similar subscriptions to mining or services that promise to up the amount of crypto you can mine at one time. Each service also utilizes Google’s in-app billing system. The main difference between the two is that BitScam allows users to fund scammers using Bitcoin and Ethereum. Meanwhile, CloudScam apps only allow users to lose money with their credit or debit cards. It should be noted that there is a number totally legitimate cloud mining apps on the Google Play Store. Those apps have high-quality coding and following secure coding practices ensuring users remain safe and are not scammed out of their money. The legit apps are also generally linked to a known mining operation. Meanwhile, the scam apps all share a very similar and basic code and are not tied to any reputable mining operation. The apps are so basic that even somebody who lacks programming experience can create the framework they run on. || Ankr Offers Accessible Node Setup for Easy Entry Into Cryptocurrency: Ankr(CCC:ANKR-USD) has been among the best performing altcoins in the past 12 months. The altcoin has grown from less than a penny to its current price around 70 cents, one of the most impressive run-ups for any crypto in the past year. Though it has sold off along with the broader crypto market in the past couple of months, it has long-term potential, which cannot be denied.
Source: karnoff
Ankr provides a blockchain solution with its fundamental concepts entrenched in the sharing economy. It essentially offers a multi-chain platform that allows anyone to use their idle resources and become a blockchain node. Users with idle resources can effectively monetize their spare resources by using them as nodes for the platform. These are essentially the concepts we see in thefuture of the internet in Web 3.0.
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With the crypto market maturing, it’s best to look towards digital assets with the long-term utility to add to your portfolio. Ankr is definitely one of the more promising altcoins with several unique features and pertinence in decentralized finance.
Ankr solves one of the critical issues with blockchain technology: the cumbersome requirements of setting up a cryptocurrency node. Running personalized nodes ensures maximum efficiency and security in crypto transactions. However, running blockchain nodes is not a simple task by any means.
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Ankr provides an effective solution to this problem: affordable and accessible cloud hosting to several blockchain nodes. Hence, a node can be set up without having to set up lots of expensive hardware. Moreover, it supports the most popular blockchains such asBitcoin(CCC:BTC-USD) and smaller networks such asPolygon(CCC:MATIC-USD).
Another unique feature of Ankr is that it comes in three forms. Naturally, it can be utilized on the Ankr network as the ANKR coin. However, it can also be purchased in the form of BEP-2 and ERC-20 tokens. Additionally, the supply of ANKR tokens is finite, asno more than 10 billionwill ever exist.
Ankr’s multi-chain platform facilitates the development of DeFi applications. The goal for Ankr is to make it an affordable and accessible platform for its users to develop DeFi apps, host nodes, and in staking. The ANKR token itself is used to pay for services on the Ankr platform, including API services and node deployments.
Ankr has enjoyed great success in the past year, and most analysts are bullish on its potential moving forward. This year, the crypto market has been remarkably volatile due to government regulatory crackdowns. However, cryptocurrencies offering utility to their users have a long growth runway ahead and will effectively weather the short-term crises that come their way. Ankr is one in that category. Based on its price estimates, it’s clear that most analysts have faith in its ability to continue on its growth trajectory.
Wallet Investorpredicts a price of22 cents a year from nowfor the ANKR token and 79 cents in five years.Digital Coin Pricesuggests it will be 27 cents next July and80 cents by 2028.Ripple Coin Newssees the token reaching 18 cents by January 2022 and reaching a high of 27 cents that year, but believesby 2024 it will reach $1.50.
The consensus estimates are all bullish to varying degrees on Ankr’s price potential for this year and beyond. It currently trades at just 7 cents; if any of the mentioned websites turns out to be correct, that’s a growth of at least 200%. It has a bright future ahead as well, as 3-5 year price targets are also highly encouraging at this point.
Ankr is an altcoin that has proven to have a lot of utility and attributes for its users. Though it has dropped its price in line with the rest of the sector, it is likely to come out of these short-term troubles unscathed. Analysts are upbeat about its long-term potential and its position as a leading altcoin in the future. It’s not a get-rich-quick kind of crypto, but it can certainly complement other leading cryptos in your portfolio.
On the date of publication, Muslim Farooque did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.comPublishing Guidelines.
Muslim Farooque is a keen investor and an optimist at heart. A life-long gamer and tech enthusiast, he has a particular affinity for analyzing technology stocks. Muslim holds a bachelor’s of science degree in applied accounting from Oxford Brookes University.
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The postAnkr Offers Accessible Node Setup for Easy Entry Into Cryptocurrencyappeared first onInvestorPlace. || Money Reimagined: Inflation Is Here? Always Has Been: A quick programming note… Michael Casey is away. Writing the main essay this week is Adam B. Levine, CoinDesk’s managing editor of Podcasts. He discusses the reappearance of inflation in the U.S. economy and the long-running ways in which elites in Washington, D.C., and Wall Street tend to downplay the threat. The debate, of course, is important for how people think about bitcoin : if prices are rising faster than official statistics suggest, a fixed-supply cryptocurrency is likely to become more attractive to investors and users. This week’s “Money Reimagined” podcast is taken from a recording that Michael and co-host Sheila Warren made during CoinDesk’s Consensus conference in May. It looks at the growing demands for companies to comply with environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) standards and how blockchain technology could help them do that. The episode, which is divided into digestible segments, features appearances from Meltem Demirors , chief strategy officer of CoinShares, Mike Colyer, CEO of Foundry (a miner and sister company to CoinDesk) and Julius Akinyemi , founder and CEO of UWINCorp, among other guests. Have a listen after reading today’s newsletter. The CPI’s False Comforts After a long period of complacency in the U.S. about inflation, the threat has suddenly reared its head. But look closely and you’ll see it’s been there all along. Related: Crypto Long & Short: A Bear Market Doesn’t Spell Doom It’s an article of faith among mainstream economic observers that we live in an era of low inflation – in other words, that the purchasing power of the dollars in your bank account have held fairly steady, especially compared to the period of historically high inflation in the 1970s and early 1980s. You’re reading Money Reimagined , a weekly look at the technological, economic and social events and trends that are redefining our relationship with money and transforming the global financial system. Subscribe to get the full newsletter here . Story continues Just look at the consumer price index (CPI), the pundits will say. By that measure, they’re not wrong. Since 2001 official inflation, as measured in 12-month changes in the CPI, peaked at 5.6% in July 2008, and only briefly, before plunging to negative levels in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. This goes a long way toward explaining why goldbugs and their intellectual heirs in the Bitcoin community are mocked as cranks by the “blue check” class . Inflation? What inflation? From this perspective one of the vaunted use cases for the original cryptocurrency – a store of value that can’t be debased by central bankers’ printing presses – may be relevant in Venezuela but surely not in Virginia or Vermont. Related: What Investors Need to Know About Circle’s Listing Lately, inflation concerns don’t seem quite so risible, even by the accepted measurements of the Washington and Wall Street intelligentsia. As the economy recovers from coronavirus-related lockdowns, we’re closer to that peak post-2000 rate than at any time since, with May 2021 CPI clocking in at a toasty 5%. This inflation, which the U.S. Federal Reserve calls “ transitory ” (Beltway-speak for “temporary”), comes at a time when the traditionally obvious activity of collecting interest on your savings from your bank yields effectively nothing. The extremely low cost of money comes courtesy of the continued extraordinary monetary policy experiment underway at the U.S. central bank, whose congressional mandate is to maintain “full economic employment and stable pricing,” which the Fed says means keeping inflation at around 2% per year. To be clear, 5% inflation means that, in broad terms, what cost a dollar in May of last year costs a dollar and five cents this year. In practice inflation is lumpy; some areas like energy and airline fares have seen massive increases of 30% and 24% year over year while a pair of items (medical care commodities and alcoholic beverage components) saw small drops (-1.9% and -0.2%, respectively). These changes in price are then weighted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (the BLS) to create the modern CPI. The CPI is one of the most important ways that we measure how our world is doing and is vital when planning for the future. In fact, CPI is so important that in 1972 Congress tied it to cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for government support programs like Social Security. When inflation eats away at purchasing power, COLAs adjust the amounts beneficiaries receive, providing more money to keep things fair and purchasing power predictable. The goal is to ensure that someone who receives Social Security today will be able to afford the same standard of living, taking inflation into account, for as long as the person receives the entitlement. Which makes sense – if you’re giving people $1,000 per month because that’s how much additional support they need to live, the value of that money dropping each year puts the goal at risk. And so, perhaps naively, I was floored recently when I set out to understand the history of how we calculate this all-important metric and how those calculations have changed over time. What I found can plausibly be described as political calculus run amok and the most serious case of missing the forest for the trees to beset the American people in my lifetime. Flashback By all accounts, the 1970s were a rough time for purchasing power. I wouldn’t know – I was born in 1984 – but history tells us it was an era of escalating prices and myriad government attempts to ease that pain. Prior to 1975, COLA adjustments for programs like Social Security were set by Congress, which made it a bit of a Sophie’s Choice situation. Congress could vote to increase amounts paid to recipients that would keep purchasing power stable, at the cost of an ever-growing portion of taxes being used for that purpose. Politically there was no winning choice, just a question of who you most wanted to avoid angering. In 1972, Congress hatched a plan to automate the process and offload the decision to the BLS, which maintains CPI, the official measure of inflation. Starting in 1975, we’d put our best data to work, scientifically determining whether and how much Social Security benefits should be increased or, at least in theory, decreased to provide that consistent, stable standard of living. In practice, this only made things worse. Between 1975 and 1982, annual cost-of-living adjustments were between 5.9% and 14.3%. Over just seven years, government spending for social security alone increased by a total of 94.43%. This was, as you might imagine, a huge problem that quickly turned political. It was also a problem that had no good solutions, really just two bad ones. Congress could unhitch COLAs from CPI, at which point politicians would reclaim control over the decision and bear responsibility for whether and how much to change payments. Alternatively, it could leave the automated adjustments in place. Given how long inflation had run and the repeated failed attempts to control it in the 1970s, it was more than feasible that all the money collected in taxes could eventually, and not too distantly, go toward paying for programs like Social Security. The story goes that in the early 1980s “inflation was tamed” by the legendary Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. But concurrent with Volcker’s actions, the BLS embarked on the first of a series of changes in how inflation was measured. These changes to the math and methodology used to calculate official inflation, without exception, decreased the readings. Even if we assume these changes were necessary refinements to bring the CPI measurement closer to reality, they made it impossible for mainstream economics to compare our present with our past. Very few even independent economists still calculate the CPI using original BLS methodologies but everybody still calls our official measure of inflation the “Consumer Price Index.” This means that when you ask a mainstream economist if inflation today is as high as it was in the 1970s, that person will tell you it’s not, referring you to the modern CPI as if comparing a reading from today’s modified inflation measurement to the original are equivalent. The BLS is a fact-finding agency, and the principle of charity (or at least Hanlon’s razor ) requires us to assume until proven otherwise it made these changes in good faith. But looking at the effect of its decisions, one could be forgiven for drawing this conclusion: Because the government couldn’t change actual inflation, it changed the way it was measured and talked about it to make it seem like there was less of it. If so, politically speaking, this was brilliant. The government slowed the rate at which spending for our most needy grew without the backlash that would rightly come from abandoning them to an ever-declining standard of living. By any non-political standard, this would be, in my book, one of the biggest, most regressive scandals you’ve never heard of. In the nearly 40 years that have followed, the difference between actual inflation as the BLS measured it before 1983 and inflation as officially measured for COLA purposes has exploded. It’s exactly the outcome the 1975 CPI-COLA tie was designed to avoid: a declining standard of living for society’s neediest, because the money they are paid is worth less. Its impact goes far beyond government programs, with CPI-driven cost of living adjustments finding their way into everything from private salary negotiations to alimony payments. Broken compass There’s a whole other story to tell about exactly what was done to the CPI that resulted in benign inflation readings. In 1983 home prices were replaced with “owner occupied equivalent rent ,” which is a made-up number for how much homeowners would charge themselves to rent their house to themselves. In practice, this resulted in a reduction in measured inflation compared to the pre-1983 CPI calculations using the same data and, it stands to reason, at least contributed to the “taming of inflation” for which Volcker is credited today. But by the end of the 1980s, even the “improved” CPI was showing inflation on the rise. In 1990, Social Security saw a COLA increase of 5.4% (which would have been higher without the 1983 change). Further changes would be required to keep things from going off the rails. The early 1990s saw two more changes: “hedonic adjustments” and “substitutions.” Hedonic adjustments introduced a way for actual price increases to be transformed into price decreases . Imagine that last year a television set cost $300 and this year it costs $400. That price increase would indicate that inflation is, depending on how you do the math, somewhere between 25% and 33%. But what if that $400 TV had a better screen resolution? Instead of 1080p, it was 1440p. The BLS might determine that, although the purchase price had increased by $100, the value of that TV had increased by $150 thanks to its improved resolution. That would mean that the adjusted price of the TV was $250 – a savings of $50 and, for inflation purposes, something that would lower the total CPI reading by off-setting other categories which increased in price during the same time period. Substitutions accomplished largely the same thing in a different way. If the CPI tracks the price of steak and steak is 20% more expensive this year than it was last year, you would think that would result in a higher official measure of inflation. Instead, the BLS says, “Steak is expensive! We’ll substitute ground beef in our inflation measurement in its place because who in their right mind would buy steak at these prices?” Outside of measuring inflation, that assertion could be correct. Surely many people substitute cheaper products when what they normally buy becomes more expensive. But for the purposes of accurately calculating inflation, it’s nonsensical and obviously undermines that goal. In practice this second round of changes to how inflation is officially measured further reduced measured inflation. While the government no longer tracks CPI using the original, unmodified methodology, it can still be compiled from available data. Economist John Williams, publisher of “Shadow Government Statistics,” has been calculating the index using the original methods and comparing it against the subsequently revised methodologies since the early 1980s. The resulting picture is pretty sobering: The official misrepresentation of inflation is bad on its own, but has also tainted most of the data we use to make decisions, notably GDP which is exaggerated to the upside (good for whoever is in power) because it is growth minus inflation. If you replay the numbers with actual inflation, we’ve had mostly negative GDP growth for the last 20 years. That’s despite the incredible productivity gains from the internet and technology broadly, which could lead one to believe that government as practiced in the U.S. has been aggressively detrimental to society and prosperity at all levels. Like the blue pill in “The Matrix,” the CPI has given Americans a falsely comforting perception of reality. When even this metric jumps 5%, we’d better hope it’s a glitch. –- Adam B. Levine Off the charts Bitcoin’s Puell Multiple shows better days ahead While Bitcoin miners have received an increasingly smaller amount in block rewards over the years, the USD value of their rewards peaked in 2021 Q2 as BTC price hit a new all-time price high of $64,889. By the end of the quarter, BTC plummeted 46% off its price high, pushing miner revenue back down to pre-bull market levels. Analyzing bitcoin miner revenue can reveal important insights about the timing and magnitude of crypto market cycles. The Puell Multiple is a metric that is often used to identify market peaks and troughs by measuring periods of time in which miner rewards are overvalued or undervalued, compared to historical returns. The Puell Multiple is calculated by dividing the daily issuance value of bitcoins in dollars by the one year moving average of daily issuance value. The green zone from 0.3 to 0.5 in the Puell chart here has historically been a support zone and a strong indicator that bitcoin price has found a bottom. Since 2012, the Puell Multiple has dipped into the green zone a total of six times. Notably, each dip has been followed by a bitcoin price surge. A few notable Puell bottoms are November 2011, before bitcoin moved from $2.50 to $950, December 2018, where bitcoin ran from $3,500 to $12,500 in the following seven months, and March of 2020. Last month, the Puell multiple appeared to find support briefly in the green zone and now we wait to see if history repeats itself. –- Teddy Oosterbaan Related Stories Ethereum’s Political Philosophy Explained Debasing the Currency: Putting Crypto in Context || Money Reimagined: Inflation Is Here? Always Has Been: A quick programming note…Michael Casey is away. Writing the main essay this week is Adam B. Levine, CoinDesk’s managing editor of Podcasts. He discusses the reappearance of inflation in the U.S. economy and the long-running ways in which elites in Washington, D.C., and Wall Street tend to downplay the threat. The debate, of course, is important for how people think aboutbitcoin: if prices are rising faster than official statistics suggest, a fixed-supply cryptocurrency is likely to become more attractive to investors and users.
This week’s “Money Reimagined” podcast is taken from a recording that Michael and co-host Sheila Warren made during CoinDesk’s Consensus conference in May. It looks at the growing demands for companies to comply with environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) standards and how blockchain technology could help them do that. The episode, which is divided into digestible segments, features appearances fromMeltem Demirors, chief strategy officer of CoinShares, Mike Colyer, CEO of Foundry (a miner and sister company to CoinDesk) andJulius Akinyemi, founder and CEO of UWINCorp, among other guests. Have a listen after reading today’s newsletter.
After a long period of complacency in the U.S. about inflation, the threat has suddenly reared its head. But look closely and you’ll see it’s been there all along.
Related:Crypto Long & Short: A Bear Market Doesn’t Spell Doom
It’s an article of faith among mainstream economic observers that we live in an era of low inflation – in other words, that the purchasing power of the dollars in your bank account have held fairly steady, especially compared to the period of historically high inflation in the 1970s and early 1980s.
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Just look at the consumer price index (CPI), the pundits will say. By that measure, they’re not wrong. Since 2001 official inflation, as measured in 12-month changes in the CPI, peaked at 5.6% in July 2008, and only briefly, before plunging to negative levels in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
This goes a long way toward explaining why goldbugs and their intellectual heirs in the Bitcoin community are mocked as cranks by the“blue check” class.Inflation? What inflation?From this perspective one of the vaunted use cases for the original cryptocurrency – a store of value that can’t be debased by central bankers’ printing presses – may be relevant in Venezuela but surely not in Virginia or Vermont.
Related:What Investors Need to Know About Circle’s Listing
Lately, inflation concerns don’t seem quite so risible, even by the accepted measurements of the Washington and Wall Street intelligentsia. As the economy recovers from coronavirus-related lockdowns, we’re closer to that peak post-2000 rate than at any time since, with May 2021 CPI clocking in at a toasty 5%.
This inflation, which the U.S. Federal Reserve calls “transitory” (Beltway-speak for “temporary”), comes at a time when the traditionally obvious activity of collecting interest on your savings from your bank yields effectively nothing. The extremely low cost of money comes courtesy of the continued extraordinary monetary policy experiment underway at the U.S. central bank, whose congressional mandate is to maintain “full economic employment and stable pricing,” which the Fed says means keeping inflation at around 2% per year.
To be clear, 5% inflation means that, in broad terms, what cost a dollar in May of last year costs a dollar and five cents this year. In practice inflation is lumpy; some areas like energy and airline fares have seen massive increases of 30% and 24% year over year while a pair of items (medical care commodities and alcoholic beverage components) saw small drops (-1.9% and -0.2%, respectively). These changes in price are then weighted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (the BLS) to create the modern CPI.
The CPI is one of the most important ways that we measure how our world is doing and is vital when planning for the future. In fact, CPI is so important that in 1972 Congress tied it to cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for government support programs like Social Security.
When inflation eats away at purchasing power, COLAs adjust the amounts beneficiaries receive, providing more money to keep things fair and purchasing power predictable. The goal is to ensure that someone who receives Social Security today will be able to afford the same standard of living, taking inflation into account, for as long as the person receives the entitlement.
Which makes sense – if you’re giving people $1,000 per month because that’s how much additional support they need to live, the value of that money dropping each year puts the goal at risk.
And so, perhaps naively, I was floored recently when I set out to understand the history of how we calculate this all-important metric and how those calculations have changed over time. What I found can plausibly be described as political calculus run amok and the most serious case of missing the forest for the trees to beset the American people in my lifetime.
By all accounts, the 1970s were a rough time for purchasing power. I wouldn’t know – I was born in 1984 – but history tells us it was an era of escalating prices and myriad government attempts to ease that pain.
Prior to 1975, COLA adjustments for programs like Social Security were set by Congress, which made it a bit of aSophie’s Choicesituation. Congress could vote to increase amounts paid to recipients that would keep purchasing power stable, at the cost of an ever-growing portion of taxes being used for that purpose. Politically there was no winning choice, just a question of who you most wanted to avoid angering.
In 1972, Congress hatched a plan to automate the process and offload the decision to the BLS, which maintains CPI, the official measure of inflation. Starting in 1975, we’d put our best data to work, scientifically determining whether and how much Social Security benefits should be increased or, at least in theory, decreased to provide that consistent, stable standard of living.
In practice, this only made things worse. Between 1975 and 1982, annual cost-of-living adjustments were between 5.9% and 14.3%. Over just seven years, government spending for social security alone increased by a total of 94.43%.
This was, as you might imagine, a huge problem that quickly turned political. It was also a problem that had no good solutions, really just two bad ones. Congress could unhitch COLAs from CPI, at which point politicians would reclaim control over the decision and bear responsibility for whether and how much to change payments. Alternatively, it could leave the automated adjustments in place. Given how long inflation had run and the repeated failed attempts to control it in the 1970s, it was more than feasible that all the money collected in taxes could eventually, and not too distantly, go toward paying for programs like Social Security.
The story goes that in the early 1980s “inflation was tamed” by the legendary Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. But concurrent with Volcker’s actions, the BLS embarked on the first of a series of changes in how inflation was measured.
These changes to the math and methodology used to calculate official inflation, without exception, decreased the readings.
Even if we assume these changes were necessary refinements to bring the CPI measurement closer to reality, they made it impossible for mainstream economics to compare our present with our past. Very few even independent economists still calculate the CPI using original BLS methodologies but everybody still calls our official measure of inflation the “Consumer Price Index.” This means that when you ask a mainstream economist if inflation today is as high as it was in the 1970s, that person will tell you it’s not, referring you to the modern CPI as if comparing a reading from today’s modified inflation measurement to the original are equivalent.
The BLS is a fact-finding agency, and the principle of charity (or at leastHanlon’s razor) requires us to assume until proven otherwise it made these changes in good faith. But looking at the effect of its decisions, one could be forgiven for drawing this conclusion: Because the government couldn’t change actual inflation, it changed the way it was measured and talked about it to make it seem like there was less of it.
If so, politically speaking, this was brilliant. The government slowed the rate at which spending for our most needy grew without the backlash that would rightly come from abandoning them to an ever-declining standard of living.
By any non-political standard, this would be, in my book, one of the biggest, most regressive scandals you’ve never heard of.
In the nearly 40 years that have followed, the difference between actual inflation as the BLS measured it before 1983 and inflation as officially measured for COLA purposes has exploded. It’s exactly the outcome the 1975 CPI-COLA tie was designed to avoid: a declining standard of living for society’s neediest, because the money they are paid is worth less. Its impact goes far beyond government programs, with CPI-driven cost of living adjustments finding their way into everything from private salary negotiations to alimony payments.
There’s a whole other story to tell about exactly what was done to the CPI that resulted in benign inflation readings.
In 1983 home prices were replaced with “owner occupiedequivalent rent,” which is amade-up numberfor how much homeowners would charge themselves to rent their house to themselves. In practice, this resulted in a reduction in measured inflation compared to the pre-1983 CPI calculations using the same data and, it stands to reason, at least contributed to the “taming of inflation” for which Volcker is credited today.
But by the end of the 1980s, even the “improved” CPI was showing inflation on the rise. In 1990, Social Security saw a COLA increase of 5.4% (which would have been higher without the 1983 change). Further changes would be required to keep things from going off the rails.
The early 1990s saw two more changes: “hedonic adjustments” and “substitutions.”
Hedonic adjustmentsintroduced a way for actual price increases to be transformed into pricedecreases. Imagine that last year a television set cost $300 and this year it costs $400. That price increase would indicate that inflation is, depending on how you do the math, somewhere between 25% and 33%.
But what if that $400 TV had a better screen resolution? Instead of 1080p, it was 1440p. The BLS might determine that, although the purchase price had increased by $100, thevalueof that TV had increased by $150 thanks to its improved resolution. That would mean that theadjustedprice of the TV was $250 – a savings of $50 and, for inflation purposes, something that wouldlowerthe total CPI reading by off-setting other categories which increased in price during the same time period.
Substitutions accomplished largely the same thing in a different way. If the CPI tracks the price of steak and steak is 20% more expensive this year than it was last year, you would think that would result in a higher official measure of inflation. Instead, the BLS says, “Steak is expensive! We’llsubstituteground beef in our inflation measurement in its place because who in their right mind would buy steak at these prices?”
Outside of measuring inflation, that assertion could be correct. Surely many people substitute cheaper products when what they normally buy becomes more expensive. But for the purposes of accurately calculating inflation, it’s nonsensical and obviously undermines that goal.
In practice this second round of changes to how inflation is officially measured further reduced measured inflation.
While the government no longer tracks CPI using the original, unmodified methodology, it can still be compiled from available data. Economist John Williams, publisher of “Shadow Government Statistics,” has been calculating the index using the original methods and comparing it against the subsequently revised methodologies since the early 1980s. Theresulting pictureis pretty sobering:
The official misrepresentation of inflation is bad on its own, but has also tainted most of the data we use to make decisions, notably GDP which is exaggerated to the upside (good for whoever is in power) because it is growth minus inflation. If you replay the numbers with actual inflation, we’ve had mostly negative GDP growth for the last 20 years.
That’s despite the incredible productivity gains from the internet and technology broadly, which could lead one to believe that government as practiced in the U.S. has been aggressively detrimental to society and prosperity at all levels.
Like the blue pill in “The Matrix,” the CPI has given Americans a falsely comforting perception of reality. When eventhismetric jumps 5%, we’d better hope it’s a glitch.
–-Adam B. Levine
While Bitcoin miners have received an increasingly smaller amount in block rewards over the years, the USD value of their rewards peaked in 2021 Q2 as BTC price hit a new all-time price high of $64,889. By the end of the quarter, BTC plummeted 46% off its price high, pushing miner revenue back down to pre-bull market levels.
Analyzing bitcoin miner revenue can reveal important insights about the timing and magnitude of crypto market cycles.The Puell Multipleis a metric that is often used to identify market peaks and troughs by measuring periods of time in which miner rewards are overvalued or undervalued, compared to historical returns.
The Puell Multiple is calculated by dividing the daily issuance value of bitcoins in dollars by the one year moving average of daily issuance value. The green zone from 0.3 to 0.5 in the Puell chart here has historically been a support zone and a strong indicator that bitcoin price has found a bottom.
Since 2012, the Puell Multiple has dipped into the green zone a total of six times. Notably, each dip has been followed by a bitcoin price surge. A few notable Puell bottoms are November 2011, before bitcoin moved from $2.50 to $950, December 2018, where bitcoin ran from $3,500 to $12,500 in the following seven months, and March of 2020.
Last month, the Puell multiple appeared to find support briefly in the green zone and now we wait to see if history repeats itself.
–-Teddy Oosterbaan
• Ethereum’s Political Philosophy Explained
• Debasing the Currency: Putting Crypto in Context
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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34240.19, 33155.85, 32702.03, 32822.35, 31780.73, 31421.54, 31533.07, 31796.81, 30817.83, 29807.35
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 32366.39, 32569.85, 30432.55, 33466.10, 34316.39, 34269.52, 33114.36, 33537.18, 35510.29, 37472.09, 36926.07, 38144.31, 39266.01, 38903.44, 46196.46, 46481.11, 44918.18, 47909.33, 47504.85, 47105.52, 48717.29, 47945.06, 49199.87, 52149.01, 51679.80, 55888.13, 56099.52, 57539.95, 54207.32, 48824.43, 49705.33, 47093.85, 46339.76, 46188.45, 45137.77, 49631.24, 48378.99, 50538.24, 48561.17, 48927.30, 48912.38, 51206.69, 52246.52, 54824.12, 56008.55, 57805.12, 57332.09, 61243.09, 59302.32, 55907.20, 56804.90, 58870.89, 57858.92, 58346.65, 58313.64, 57523.42, 54529.14, 54738.95, 52774.27, 51704.16, 55137.31, 55973.51, 55950.75, 57750.20, 58917.69, 58918.83, 59095.81, 59384.31, 57603.89, 58758.55, 59057.88, 58192.36, 56048.94, 58323.95, 58245.00, 59793.23, 60204.96, 59893.45, 63503.46, 63109.70, 63314.01, 61572.79, 60683.82, 56216.18, 55724.27, 56473.03, 53906.09, 51762.27, 51093.65, 50050.87.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-04-24]
Volume: 49014494781, RSI (14-day): 31.62, 50-day EMA: 55254.01, 200-day EMA: 39259.01
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bobby Goodlatte has designs on how to succeed in venture (and so far, so good): Bobby Goodlatte has only been an investor for about a decade, but he appears to have already made tens of millions of dollars, contrary to the expectations of some traditional VCs who have privately, and publicly, griped that too many novice investors have flooded into the industry.
“I remember a very prominent investor saying at the time, ‘All these new angel investors, they're all going to lose all their money; they're fools for doing this'," recalls Goodlatte, who was recruited out of college to become a product designer at Facebook and left four years later, when the company went public. "I'm glad that I didn't get shaken off of it.”
As it happens, Goodlatte’s second check went to Coinbase. It was an auspicious start for Goodlatte, who more recently formed his first institutional fund,Form Capital, with entrepreneurJosh Williams, an outfit that offers up to 40 hours of design help with logos or packaging or whatever else a team might need, with each check that it writes.
We talked with Goodlatte this week about the venture firm and its $12 million debut fund, which is largely funded by Goodlatte (it also counts the fund of funds Cendana Capitalas a limited partner). He shared why he thinks the biggest returns in the coming years will flow to very small funds that feature a big financial commitment from the general partners. He talked about investing in other small funds to ensure strong deal flow. He also shared why three months ago he moved to Miami, where he believes a "movement" is afoot. Excerpts from that chat follow, edited lightly for length and clarity.
Cendana has raised a $30 million ‘fund of funds’ for VCs managing $15 million or less
TC: You were an early designer on Facebook's user growth team, working with Chamath Palihapitiya, among others. It's interesting that you stayed for just four years, leaving in 2012 when the company went public.
BG: I had given some thought to staying longer, and obviously many of my friends are still there and have risen in the ranks and done extremely well. I was just very eager to get started as an investor . . . and at the time, Facebook was saying, 'Well, you can't stay here and do angel investing.' Little did I know that some people skirted the rules a bit and ended up angel investing [without leaving]. But I was very excited to dig in and quite glad that I got started when I did [because] my second-ever angel investment was in Coinbase and had I stayed longer, maybe I would have missed that one.
TC: You've mentioned in the past that you'd been a Bitcoin nerd and followed some of the discussion threads that others might have missed. What sparked that early interest?
BG: There's that famous William Gibsonquote: "The future is already here -- it's just not evenly distributed." I think about that in quite literal terms in the sense that there are sort of pockets of the future, these bubble hiding all around. In 2012, I think theBitcoin subredditwas this bubble where, within it, people were talking very excitedly about Bitcoin and if you weren't in it, you would kind of scratch your head about it. . . . I felt a similar feeling about Facebook back in the day. I was a college student when Facebook launched, and everyone who was in college at the time was kind of privy to this future that was quite obvious amongst college students. But if you weren't in college, people would kind of scratch their heads and say, 'I don't really understand what's going on.'
TC: Can you comment on your return from Coinbase? You were an investor in the A, C and E rounds. Is there anything you can say about the cash on cash return?
BG: A lot of this is fairlypublic knowledgeat this point, but the Series A cost basis was 20 cents, so folks can kind of do math based on that.
I think so much of startup investing is [that] you can kind of have a prepared mind about things, but there's also an element of luck about it. I don't think I had complete foresight when I made the investment that Coinbase was going to be an $80 billion-plus company. I thought it was going to be successful. But it has clearly eclipsed even my greatest expectations, and I feel very lucky and fortunate to have to realized that.
TC: There are various on-ramps to VC these days, including AngelList syndicates and rolling funds. Did you ever take advantage of these or did you keep writing checks from your own pocket before founding Form Capital?
BG: I don't know if I should should be embarrassed to say this or not, but when I first got my start as an angel, I got advice from financial advisors and who said, 'When it comes to angel investing, only invest a tiny percentage of your overall net worth into this.' And to be honest, I maybe foolishly ignored that advice. Obviously, it has netted out in the long term, [but] it was large risk I took. I did 40 deals out of my own pocket. I was sort of getting closer to the end of running out of tape.
[At that point] I wound up investing through a small scout-like fund for a few deals and hit some incredible deals through that [and] I was able to play around, investing at a larger check size. It also helped me sort of step-stone up to doing [Form Capital]. But yeah, I kind of ignored a lot of the advice and put a lot of my own personal net worth into seed-stage investing and thankfully, it all worked out. Otherwise, I could have been in trouble. I think the advice is well-considered.
TC: How might you advise someone just spinning out of, say, Coinbase and thinking about jumping into angel investing? Go it alone? Use one of these other products?
BG: I think it depends on their risk profile and their own appetite and whether they truly enjoy this type of work, because it can become a lot of work. If you want to develop a real portfolio, you have to take a lot of meetings, you have to make yourself available and put yourself out there in a way that I think a lot of folks who wind up getting a very meaningful personal exit may not want.For those folks who are trying to break into venture who haven't had this sort of exit, I say go for it. I say welcome. Let's go invest together. Honestly, there's a lot of space for small check investors. I think the folks writing small collaborative checks have an incredible opportunity to post some insane multiples.
TC: You stress collaboration. Are people more or less collaborative when you started in 2012? Seed-size checks aregetting bigger, which suggests things have grown more competitive.
BG: There was a period where it was extremely competitive, and for some folks who are deploying out of a certain fund size, it might feel extremely competitive right now. To me, it feels at its most collaborative, including because I am personally an LP in a number of tiny funds [headed by] tremendously talented managers who are just getting their start . . .
I do think there are a number of funds that raised more than they should have; I think there's a danger zone somewhere around $80 million where you're forced to be a lead investor and you can't be a collaborative investor and so it becomes this slug-it-out, duke-it-out [situation] with other other funds as to who's going to be the lead writer on a given deal . . .
US seed-stage investing flourished during pandemic
If you're aiming to write a large check, let's say $1.5 million, and the founder comes back to you and says, 'We can't do that, but we can give you a $150,000 allocation,' that's just absolutely fatal to somebody trying to deploy a very large seed fund, versus if my target check size is something like $250,000. If I get squeezed down to $150,000, I can actually make that work economically within the fund math.
TC: So you'll write a check as small as $150,000. What's the upper boundary, and how much ownership are you targeting when you fund a startup?
BG: It's upwards of $500,000, give or take, and our target is 3%. But, again, part of the joy of being a small fund manager is more flexibility in terms of constructing a portfolio. In the cases where we may get squeezed down a little bit, or we want to invest at a slightly higher valuation than is typical, we can paint outside the lines a tiny bit more.
TC: Meaning bigger checks? Do you typically raise special purpose vehicles, or SPVS, in order to take a bigger bite of certain companies?
BG: One pattern for that was my personal investment in Coinbase. By being close to the company, by helping on a few very minor things over the years in terms of design, in terms of making connections to design firms and helping recruit some designers, they gave me follow-on allocations. And then in the Series E, I was able to raise an SPV into the deal based on the idea of building a deep relationship with the company.
That's essentially the model going forward. We may or may not continue to pursue SPVs. We may pick a different vehicle in the future for how to deploy that follow-on capital. But the idea is: wedge in early with a small check, put a lot of skin in the game on that check [with a bigger general partner commitment in the fund than is typical], and build a relationship and try to be disproportionately helpful relative to our check size.
TC: You tweeted that for that SPV, you pitched 50 different parties, and only three said yes.
BG: Yeah, it was amazing in late 2018 how in the dumps the crypto market was, and people thought that the overall stock market was going to be heading that way, so this was a very, very difficult SPV to raise. I wasn't the only person who had one, and so there was some amount of market competition. Then just the nature of SPVs is such that you get your allocation, and bang goes the starting gun, and you need to very quickly talk to a lot of people.
[Still] it is remarkable how quickly the perception of that company has changed over just two short years, give or take. I give a lot of credit to the investors who backed us on that SPV because they they took the risk with us. I've had a number of people [since] say, 'Oh, you should have called me, I would have invested.' And maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't have.
TC: You talked at the outset about communities and bubbles and I can't help but wonder if you think you are hearing about more interesting deals, having moved recently to Miami three months ago, than you would in the Bay Area.
BG: It does really feel like that's the case, and I started seeing this maybe in late November, and then very quickly said, 'Okay, why not? This feels fun, this feels exciting.' And I'm glad I made the jump, because while I love San Francisco -- I think San Francisco is a tremendous place [that] will always be one of the great tech epicenters of the world -- I think a lot of folks moved here because they were looking to change things up. And the energy that comes from that, where everyone's trying to make this work, is really quite exciting.
A lot of people said, 'Oh, you're going to miss out on things by moving to Miami, you're going to take a step back in your career.' And really, it's been the opposite of that. It's been a total accelerant of my career and investing.
We're an interesting fit for Miami because Miami is known as being a design capital, and we're a really design-driven fund, and there's a lot of parallels there. [But I also realized that] I can be one of many thousands of new funds based in the Bay Area, or I can be one of a tiny handful based here in Miami and get all these tailwinds and have the mayor hype us up, and that sounds like a good deal to me.
Pictured above, left to right: Goodlatte with Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, who more recently co-founded the cryptocurrency investment firm Paradigm. || NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin ETF: Valkyrie Digital Assets is getting ready to launch itsbitcoinexchange-traded fund (ETF).
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)filed a 19B-4 Formon behalf of the investment firm for its bitcoin ETF late on Friday. The form kicked off a 45-day review period when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledges the filing. During that time, the SEC has to either approve or disapprove the application, or extend the review period.
“This is something that I’ve wanted to do for five years now,” said Steven McClurg, chief investment officer of Valkyrie Investments. “It wasn’t until recently that I believed that the SEC would probably approve a bitcoin ETF. So we started working on that in earnest probably in August.”
Related:Marathon Appoints Fred Thiel as Chief Executive Officer
The SEC has rejected every bitcoin ETF application, but Gary Gensler, the SEC’s new chairman, couldchange the regulator’s attitudeto the novel investment product. Gensler is a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman who taught crypto and blockchain courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In January, Dalia Blass, the director of the SEC’s division of investment management, left the agency. In 2018, Blasswrote a letterexpressing concerns that the bitcoin market wasn’t large enough or liquid enough to be ready for an exchange-traded product.
Several firms have applied for a bitcoin ETF in anticipation of the new administration. Earlier in March, Valkyrieproposed an ETFthat would invest the majority of its capital into companies that have bitcoin on their balance sheets or are otherwise connected to crypto, and it filed a registration proposal calledValkyrie Bitcoin Trustin January.
Valkyrie is the at least the fourth firm to file a 19B-4, following VanEck,which filed one in Marchandhad its 19B-4 acknowledged by the SEC on March 18. The SEC is also reviewing WisdomTree and Kryptoin’s ETF applications.
• NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin ETF
• NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin ETF
• NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin ETF || NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin ETF: Valkyrie Digital Assets is getting ready to launch itsbitcoinexchange-traded fund (ETF).
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)filed a 19B-4 Formon behalf of the investment firm for its bitcoin ETF late on Friday. The form kicked off a 45-day review period when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledges the filing. During that time, the SEC has to either approve or disapprove the application, or extend the review period.
“This is something that I’ve wanted to do for five years now,” said Steven McClurg, chief investment officer of Valkyrie Investments. “It wasn’t until recently that I believed that the SEC would probably approve a bitcoin ETF. So we started working on that in earnest probably in August.”
Related:Marathon Appoints Fred Thiel as Chief Executive Officer
The SEC has rejected every bitcoin ETF application, but Gary Gensler, the SEC’s new chairman, couldchange the regulator’s attitudeto the novel investment product. Gensler is a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman who taught crypto and blockchain courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In January, Dalia Blass, the director of the SEC’s division of investment management, left the agency. In 2018, Blasswrote a letterexpressing concerns that the bitcoin market wasn’t large enough or liquid enough to be ready for an exchange-traded product.
Several firms have applied for a bitcoin ETF in anticipation of the new administration. Earlier in March, Valkyrieproposed an ETFthat would invest the majority of its capital into companies that have bitcoin on their balance sheets or are otherwise connected to crypto, and it filed a registration proposal calledValkyrie Bitcoin Trustin January.
Valkyrie is the at least the fourth firm to file a 19B-4, following VanEck,which filed one in Marchandhad its 19B-4 acknowledged by the SEC on March 18. The SEC is also reviewing WisdomTree and Kryptoin’s ETF applications.
• NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin ETF
• NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin ETF
• NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyrie’s Bitcoin ETF || NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyries Bitcoin ETF: Valkyrie Digital Assets is getting ready to launch its bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) filed a 19B-4 Form on behalf of the investment firm for its bitcoin ETF late on Friday. The form kicked off a 45-day review period when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledges the filing. During that time, the SEC has to either approve or disapprove the application, or extend the review period. This is something that Ive wanted to do for five years now, said Steven McClurg, chief investment officer of Valkyrie Investments. It wasnt until recently that I believed that the SEC would probably approve a bitcoin ETF. So we started working on that in earnest probably in August. Related: Marathon Appoints Fred Thiel as Chief Executive Officer The SEC has rejected every bitcoin ETF application, but Gary Gensler, the SECs new chairman, could change the regulators attitude to the novel investment product. Gensler is a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman who taught crypto and blockchain courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In January, Dalia Blass, the director of the SECs division of investment management, left the agency. In 2018, Blass wrote a letter expressing concerns that the bitcoin market wasnt large enough or liquid enough to be ready for an exchange-traded product. Several firms have applied for a bitcoin ETF in anticipation of the new administration. Earlier in March, Valkyrie proposed an ETF that would invest the majority of its capital into companies that have bitcoin on their balance sheets or are otherwise connected to crypto, and it filed a registration proposal called Valkyrie Bitcoin Trust in January. Valkyrie is the at least the fourth firm to file a 19B-4, following VanEck, which filed one in March and had its 19B-4 acknowledged by the SEC on March 18 . The SEC is also reviewing WisdomTree and Kryptoins ETF applications. Related Stories NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyries Bitcoin ETF NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyries Bitcoin ETF NYSE Files to List Shares of Valkyries Bitcoin ETF View comments || Daily Crunch: Meet Disney Imagineering's new robot: We get up close with a robotic Groot, SpaceX has a successful astronaut launch and cryptocurrency prices tumble. This is your Daily Crunch for April 23, 2021.
The big story: Meet Disney Imagineering's new robot
Disney Imagineering's Project Kiwi represents a real robotics milestone — a free-walking robot that seems to fully capture the personality of the original character. In this case, the original is Groot, the beloved tree character from "Guardians of the Galaxy."
I'm not just saying that based on the demo video, either.Matthew Panzarino has seen Project Kiwi in personand reports:
The pint-sized character has accurately rendered textures on its face, hands and feet. It’s dressed in a distressed red flight suit that you may remember from the films. And its eyes are expressive as it looks at me and waves. This is the moment, the one that Disney Imagineers and park goers alike have been waiting decades to realize.
Startups, funding and venture capital
SpaceX successfully launches astronauts with a re-used Dragon spacecraft for the first time— This was SpaceX’s second official astronaut delivery mission for NASA.
Hyundai invests in teleoperations startup Ottopia as part of $9M round— Ottopia’s first product is a universal teleoperation platform that allows a human operator to monitor and control any type of vehicle from thousands of miles away.
Introvoke raises $2.7M to power online events that can be embedded anywhere— While there’s been plenty of attention and money lavished on virtual event platforms over the past year, Introvoke co-founder and CEO Oana Manolache predicted that we’re only at the beginning of a “third wave of digital transformation.”
Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch
2021 should be a banner year for biotech startups that make smart choices early— Be wise when managing legal risk and choosing investors.
After going public, once-hot startups are riding a valuation roller coaster— A short meditation on value.
Should you give an anchor investor a stake in your fund’s management company?— A GP stake investor brings significant advantages and disadvantages.
(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead.You can sign up here.)
Everything else
Crypto market takes a dive with Bitcoin leading the way— Cryptocurrency prices continued to tumble today, with Bitcoin leading the charge.
India restricts American Express from adding new customers for violating data storage rules— In a statement, the Reserve Bank of India said existing customers of either of the two card companies (American Express and Diners Club) will not be impacted by the new order, which goes into effect May 1.
Just one week left to save $100 on TC Early Stage 2021: Marketing & Fundraising— Get ready to join your community of early-inning startup founders for a two-day bootcamp July 8-9.
The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch's roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you'd like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 3pm Pacific, you cansubscribe here. || Daily Crunch: Meet Disney Imagineering's new robot: We get up close with a robotic Groot, SpaceX has a successful astronaut launch and cryptocurrency prices tumble. This is your Daily Crunch for April 23, 2021. The big story: Meet Disney Imagineering's new robot Disney Imagineering's Project Kiwi represents a real robotics milestone — a free-walking robot that seems to fully capture the personality of the original character. In this case, the original is Groot, the beloved tree character from "Guardians of the Galaxy." I'm not just saying that based on the demo video, either. Matthew Panzarino has seen Project Kiwi in person and reports: The pint-sized character has accurately rendered textures on its face, hands and feet. It’s dressed in a distressed red flight suit that you may remember from the films. And its eyes are expressive as it looks at me and waves. This is the moment, the one that Disney Imagineers and park goers alike have been waiting decades to realize. Startups, funding and venture capital SpaceX successfully launches astronauts with a re-used Dragon spacecraft for the first time — This was SpaceX’s second official astronaut delivery mission for NASA. Hyundai invests in teleoperations startup Ottopia as part of $9M round — Ottopia’s first product is a universal teleoperation platform that allows a human operator to monitor and control any type of vehicle from thousands of miles away. Introvoke raises $2.7M to power online events that can be embedded anywhere — While there’s been plenty of attention and money lavished on virtual event platforms over the past year, Introvoke co-founder and CEO Oana Manolache predicted that we’re only at the beginning of a “third wave of digital transformation.” Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch 2021 should be a banner year for biotech startups that make smart choices early — Be wise when managing legal risk and choosing investors. After going public, once-hot startups are riding a valuation roller coaster — A short meditation on value. Story continues Should you give an anchor investor a stake in your fund’s management company? — A GP stake investor brings significant advantages and disadvantages. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here .) Everything else Crypto market takes a dive with Bitcoin leading the way — Cryptocurrency prices continued to tumble today, with Bitcoin leading the charge. India restricts American Express from adding new customers for violating data storage rules — In a statement, the Reserve Bank of India said existing customers of either of the two card companies (American Express and Diners Club) will not be impacted by the new order, which goes into effect May 1. Just one week left to save $100 on TC Early Stage 2021: Marketing & Fundraising — Get ready to join your community of early-inning startup founders for a two-day bootcamp July 8-9. The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch's roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you'd like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 3pm Pacific, you can subscribe here . || Social Life Network (OTC: WDLF) Now Accepting Bitcoin as Payment from TBI Licensees, Tapp Says: LOS ANGELES, CA, April 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Social Life Network, Inc. (OTC: WDLF) announces today that it will begin accepting Bitcoin as a payment from its Technology Business Incubator (TBI) licensees.
Having stunned markets with their revealing bet on Bitcoin earlier this year, Tesla announced they will now start accepting the world’s largest electronic currency as payments for its electric cars. Following the lead of companies like Square, MicroStrategy, and dozens of other high profile publicly traded companies, Social Life Network is now going to add Bitcoin to its own balance sheet.
Chief Executive Officer Ken Tapp on Friday tweeted: “Our licensees can now pay us with Bitcoin”.
Social Life Network announced in January of 2019 that its licensee, HuntPost.com, was going to accept cryptocurrency alongside fiat currency, through its newly launched e-marketplace. The purchase of products and services through the e-marketplace for HuntPost and the other Social Life Network licensees marketplace platforms is currently provided through the PayPal, BitPay and dozens of other international payment gateways. On March 30th of this year, PayPal Holdings Inc announced that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost use of digital assets in everyday commerce,” said Director Todd Markey.
In addition to lending increased legitimacy to electronic currency use throughout the Social Life Network licensee e-marketplaces, management’s embrace of Bitcoin as a source of payment for the 5% licensee fee on revenue from its TBI participating companies, fits their forward thinking growth strategy.
“Social Life Network will only use internal and open-source software and any Bitcoin paid to the company by our licensees will be retained as Bitcoin and not converted to a fiat currency. The 5% revenue share that we have built into our TBI licensee agreements will remain, priced in dollars,” added Tapp.
About Social Life Network, Inc.
Social Life Network is a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) that, through individual licensing agreements, provides tech start-ups with seed technology development, legal and executive leadership, making it easier for start-up founders to focus on raising capital, perfecting their business model, and growing their network user-ship. Our seed technology is an artificial intelligence ("AI") powered social network and Ecommerce platform that leverages blockchain technology to increase speed, security and accuracy on the niche social networks that we license to the companies in our TBI. Since the launch of the company in January of 2013, the Company has launched niche industry social networks to service the millions of business professionals and consumers in the residential real estate industry, the legal global cannabis industry, sports verticals including racket sports, golf, cycling, soccer, space exploration, auto racing, travel, hunting, fishing and camping. The Company operates in part, like a publicly traded tech incubator, and retains ownership in each licensee through stock and options ownership when they reach a contracted user ship growth, outlined in their licensing contracts. This allows the Company to minimize its expenses and exposure to failed startups licensees that use its platform.
For more information, visit our website @www.SocialNetwork.ai
Watch our latest shareholder update podcasts @www.SocialNetwork.ai/podcast
SAFE HARBOR & DISCLAIMER
This information does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities or assets of Social Life Network, Inc. All information presented herein with respect to the existing business and the historical operating results of Social Life Network ("the Company") and estimates and projections as to future operations are based on materials prepared by the management of the Company and involve significant elements of subjective judgment and analysis which may or may not be correct. While the information provided herein is believed to be accurate and reliable, the Company makes no representations or warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of such information. In furnishing this information, the Company reserves the right to amend or replace some or all of the information herein at any time and undertakes no obligation to provide the recipient with access to any additional information. Nothing contained herein is or should be relied upon as a promise or representation as to the future. No information in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Company’s future revenues, results of operations, or stock price.
Todd MarkeyInvestor RelationsSocial Life Network, [email protected] || Social Life Network (OTC: WDLF) Now Accepting Bitcoin as Payment from TBI Licensees, Tapp Says: LOS ANGELES, CA, April 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Social Life Network, Inc. (OTC: WDLF) announces today that it will begin accepting Bitcoin as a payment from its Technology Business Incubator (TBI) licensees.
Having stunned markets with their revealing bet on Bitcoin earlier this year, Tesla announced they will now start accepting the world’s largest electronic currency as payments for its electric cars. Following the lead of companies like Square, MicroStrategy, and dozens of other high profile publicly traded companies, Social Life Network is now going to add Bitcoin to its own balance sheet.
Chief Executive Officer Ken Tapp on Friday tweeted: “Our licensees can now pay us with Bitcoin”.
Social Life Network announced in January of 2019 that its licensee, HuntPost.com, was going to accept cryptocurrency alongside fiat currency, through its newly launched e-marketplace. The purchase of products and services through the e-marketplace for HuntPost and the other Social Life Network licensees marketplace platforms is currently provided through the PayPal, BitPay and dozens of other international payment gateways. On March 30th of this year, PayPal Holdings Inc announced that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost use of digital assets in everyday commerce,” said Director Todd Markey.
In addition to lending increased legitimacy to electronic currency use throughout the Social Life Network licensee e-marketplaces, management’s embrace of Bitcoin as a source of payment for the 5% licensee fee on revenue from its TBI participating companies, fits their forward thinking growth strategy.
“Social Life Network will only use internal and open-source software and any Bitcoin paid to the company by our licensees will be retained as Bitcoin and not converted to a fiat currency. The 5% revenue share that we have built into our TBI licensee agreements will remain, priced in dollars,” added Tapp.
About Social Life Network, Inc.
Social Life Network is a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) that, through individual licensing agreements, provides tech start-ups with seed technology development, legal and executive leadership, making it easier for start-up founders to focus on raising capital, perfecting their business model, and growing their network user-ship. Our seed technology is an artificial intelligence ("AI") powered social network and Ecommerce platform that leverages blockchain technology to increase speed, security and accuracy on the niche social networks that we license to the companies in our TBI. Since the launch of the company in January of 2013, the Company has launched niche industry social networks to service the millions of business professionals and consumers in the residential real estate industry, the legal global cannabis industry, sports verticals including racket sports, golf, cycling, soccer, space exploration, auto racing, travel, hunting, fishing and camping. The Company operates in part, like a publicly traded tech incubator, and retains ownership in each licensee through stock and options ownership when they reach a contracted user ship growth, outlined in their licensing contracts. This allows the Company to minimize its expenses and exposure to failed startups licensees that use its platform.
For more information, visit our website @www.SocialNetwork.ai
Watch our latest shareholder update podcasts @www.SocialNetwork.ai/podcast
SAFE HARBOR & DISCLAIMER
This information does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities or assets of Social Life Network, Inc. All information presented herein with respect to the existing business and the historical operating results of Social Life Network ("the Company") and estimates and projections as to future operations are based on materials prepared by the management of the Company and involve significant elements of subjective judgment and analysis which may or may not be correct. While the information provided herein is believed to be accurate and reliable, the Company makes no representations or warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of such information. In furnishing this information, the Company reserves the right to amend or replace some or all of the information herein at any time and undertakes no obligation to provide the recipient with access to any additional information. Nothing contained herein is or should be relied upon as a promise or representation as to the future. No information in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Company’s future revenues, results of operations, or stock price.
Todd MarkeyInvestor RelationsSocial Life Network, [email protected] || Social Life Network (OTC: WDLF) Now Accepting Bitcoin as Payment from TBI Licensees, Tapp Says: LOS ANGELES, CA, April 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Social Life Network, Inc. (OTC: WDLF) announces today that it will begin accepting Bitcoin as a payment from its Technology Business Incubator (TBI) licensees. Having stunned markets with their revealing bet on Bitcoin earlier this year, Tesla announced they will now start accepting the worlds largest electronic currency as payments for its electric cars. Following the lead of companies like Square, MicroStrategy, and dozens of other high profile publicly traded companies, Social Life Network is now going to add Bitcoin to its own balance sheet. Chief Executive Officer Ken Tapp on Friday tweeted: Our licensees can now pay us with Bitcoin. Social Life Network announced in January of 2019 that its licensee, HuntPost.com, was going to accept cryptocurrency alongside fiat currency, through its newly launched e-marketplace. The purchase of products and services through the e-marketplace for HuntPost and the other Social Life Network licensees marketplace platforms is currently provided through the PayPal, BitPay and dozens of other international payment gateways. On March 30th of this year, PayPal Holdings Inc announced that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally, a move that could significantly boost use of digital assets in everyday commerce, said Director Todd Markey. In addition to lending increased legitimacy to electronic currency use throughout the Social Life Network licensee e-marketplaces, managements embrace of Bitcoin as a source of payment for the 5% licensee fee on revenue from its TBI participating companies, fits their forward thinking growth strategy. Social Life Network will only use internal and open-source software and any Bitcoin paid to the company by our licensees will be retained as Bitcoin and not converted to a fiat currency. The 5% revenue share that we have built into our TBI licensee agreements will remain, priced in dollars, added Tapp. Story continues About Social Life Network, Inc. Social Life Network is a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) that, through individual licensing agreements, provides tech start-ups with seed technology development, legal and executive leadership, making it easier for start-up founders to focus on raising capital, perfecting their business model, and growing their network user-ship. Our seed technology is an artificial intelligence ("AI") powered social network and Ecommerce platform that leverages blockchain technology to increase speed, security and accuracy on the niche social networks that we license to the companies in our TBI. Since the launch of the company in January of 2013, the Company has launched niche industry social networks to service the millions of business professionals and consumers in the residential real estate industry, the legal global cannabis industry, sports verticals including racket sports, golf, cycling, soccer, space exploration, auto racing, travel, hunting, fishing and camping. The Company operates in part, like a publicly traded tech incubator, and retains ownership in each licensee through stock and options ownership when they reach a contracted user ship growth, outlined in their licensing contracts. This allows the Company to minimize its expenses and exposure to failed startups licensees that use its platform. For more information, visit our website @ www.SocialNetwork.ai Watch our latest shareholder update podcasts @ www.SocialNetwork.ai/podcast SAFE HARBOR & DISCLAIMER This information does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities or assets of Social Life Network, Inc. All information presented herein with respect to the existing business and the historical operating results of Social Life Network ("the Company") and estimates and projections as to future operations are based on materials prepared by the management of the Company and involve significant elements of subjective judgment and analysis which may or may not be correct. While the information provided herein is believed to be accurate and reliable, the Company makes no representations or warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of such information. In furnishing this information, the Company reserves the right to amend or replace some or all of the information herein at any time and undertakes no obligation to provide the recipient with access to any additional information. Nothing contained herein is or should be relied upon as a promise or representation as to the future. No information in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Companys future revenues, results of operations, or stock price. Todd Markey Investor Relations Social Life Network, Inc. [email protected] 1-855-933-3277 || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Steadies After $300B Market Cap Dump on Taxation Trepidation: The value of the cryptocurrency market declined by hundreds of billions of dollars Friday but seems to be recovering at the close of the business week. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $50,993 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Slipping 3.7% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $47,875-$52,557 (CoinDesk 20) BTC above the 10-hour but below 50-hour moving average on the hourly chart, a sideways signal for market technicians. The price of bitcoin fell over the past 24 hours, with the asset dipping as low as $47,875 around 09:00 GMT (4 a.m. ET) according to CoinDesk 20 data. The price is now retrenching from the loss, at around $50,993 as of press time. Analysts pointed to U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposal to double capital gains taxes on high-income individuals as the catalyst. Related: 'A Crazy Success Story': Trevor Jones' NFT Gamble Pays Off “My take right now is that the Joe Biden tax has something to do with it. Sellers probably jammed the market, and bids disappeared,” said Consantine Kogan, partner at investment firm Wave Financial. “U.S. participants are just a portion of the market but probably the wealthiest, both corporate and retail.” “Bitcoin broke the $50,000 support, going back to early March price levels with a drawdown of 25%,” noted Elie Le Rest, partner at quantitative trading firm ExoAlpha. “Holding ground at $50,000 would confirm the accumulation pattern by institutional investors at or below $50,000, leaving room to grow for bitcoin in the coming weeks and months.” Bitcoin had been in the doldrums for most of the week while alternative cryptocurrencies shined as recently as Thursday . But no asset was completely spared during the recent fall. Total crypto market capitalization, as provided by charting software TradingView, fell from $2 trillion to as low as $1.7 trillion, a $300 billion plunge that exemplifies the fickle nature of blockchain-based assets. As of press time, total cryptocurrency market cap is recovering but still down 1.7% over the past 24 hours. Story continues Related: Polygon Jumps in Crypto Market Rebound, as Ether Congestion Drives Adoption for Rivals As usual, liquidations, the crypto market equivalent of a margin call on Wall Street, exacerbated the price drop. According to data aggregator Bybt, over $3.4 billion in long liquidations occurred across all cryptocurrencies in the past 24 hours. The tumble began late Thursday in the U.S. equities markets, with the S&P 500 falling 0.80% Thursday. Not long after the U.S. market closed, bitcoin began its slide below $50,000 . Darius Sit, partner at quantitative trading firm QCP Capital, noted that larger macro events, such as the fear of higher taxes on traders and investors, cause most markets to work in tandem. “When there is a deleveraging event, everything is correlated,” he told CoinDesk. Jean-Marc Bonnefous, managing partner of investment firm Tellurian Capital, highlighted $50,000 per BTC as a key market price point as taxes might still stay front and center in market dynamics over the next month or so. “We are still seeing good BTC support at $50,000,” Bonnefous told CoinDesk via a Telegram message. “However, [it is] important to mention also as an exogenous factor the possibility of selling as the tax deadline is nearing in May … always entertaining for sure.” Read More: Bitcoin Drops Below 100-Day MA as Selling Picks Up on Biden’s Tax Plans Ether volumes way up in 2021 Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was down Friday, trading around $2,370 and falling 6.5% in 24 hours as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). After making double-digit gains while bitcoin was in the dumps this week, ether has fallen with with the rest of crypto and was doing worse than bitcoin Friday in terms of 24-hour price performance. “ETH usually dumps more,” said Stefan Coolican, chief financial officer of investment firm Ether Capital. “Whereas yesterday ETH was the outlier in terms of its strength, today is a more normal sight.” This year has seen more liquidity than ever flow into the ether market, and it seems to have occurred around the start of the year, according to data from CoinDesk Research. In 2020, average daily ether volume across exchanges was $12 billion. For 2021 so far, that figure has jumped to $36 billion in ETH volume per day. More liquidity means more traders buying and selling ether, meaning its price could easily rebound in bullish conditions, compared with previous years. That bullishness could come back. Ether Capital’s Coolican termed Friday’s bearish-leaning market as temporary after a crazy run-up so far this year. “Generally, the crypto markets have been really robust for the past few months and it’s not unusual to see some weakness after big runs,” he said. Ether prices are still more than triple where they started the year. Read More: Chiliz’s CHZ Holders Love the Nasty Elbows – And the 20-Fold Price Gains in 2021 Other markets Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are all in the red Friday. Notable losers as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): Notable losers: omg network (OMG) – 16% eos (EOS) – 15.2% xrp (XRP) – 14.8% Equities: Asia’s Nikkei 225 index closed in the red 0.57%, led by a 5% drop in smartphone component manufacturer Nidec after it released a disappointing forecast . Europe’s FTSE 100 was flat, remaining unchanged Friday as traders weighed coronavirus concerns with positive retail data from March . The United States’ S&P 500 index gained 1% as investors relaxed over a potential jump in the capital gains tax rate to almost 40% for those making $1 million or more . Read More: Newly Public Coinbase Lists Tether’s Controversial USDT for Pro Traders Commodities: Oil was up 0.82%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $62.15. Gold was in the red 0.42% and at $1,776 as of press time. Silver is falling, down 0.45% and changing hands at $25.99. Treasurys: The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield climbed Friday to 1.560 and in the green 1.2%. Related Stories Market Wrap: Bitcoin Steadies After $300B Market Cap Dump on Taxation Trepidation Market Wrap: Bitcoin Steadies After $300B Market Cap Dump on Taxation Trepidation || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Steadies After $300B Market Cap Dump on Taxation Trepidation: The value of the cryptocurrency market declined by hundreds of billions of dollars Friday but seems to be recovering at the close of the business week. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $50,993 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Slipping 3.7% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $47,875-$52,557 (CoinDesk 20) BTC above the 10-hour but below 50-hour moving average on the hourly chart, a sideways signal for market technicians. The price of bitcoin fell over the past 24 hours, with the asset dipping as low as $47,875 around 09:00 GMT (4 a.m. ET) according to CoinDesk 20 data. The price is now retrenching from the loss, at around $50,993 as of press time. Analysts pointed to U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposal to double capital gains taxes on high-income individuals as the catalyst. Related: 'A Crazy Success Story': Trevor Jones' NFT Gamble Pays Off “My take right now is that the Joe Biden tax has something to do with it. Sellers probably jammed the market, and bids disappeared,” said Consantine Kogan, partner at investment firm Wave Financial. “U.S. participants are just a portion of the market but probably the wealthiest, both corporate and retail.” “Bitcoin broke the $50,000 support, going back to early March price levels with a drawdown of 25%,” noted Elie Le Rest, partner at quantitative trading firm ExoAlpha. “Holding ground at $50,000 would confirm the accumulation pattern by institutional investors at or below $50,000, leaving room to grow for bitcoin in the coming weeks and months.” Bitcoin had been in the doldrums for most of the week while alternative cryptocurrencies shined as recently as Thursday . But no asset was completely spared during the recent fall. Total crypto market capitalization, as provided by charting software TradingView, fell from $2 trillion to as low as $1.7 trillion, a $300 billion plunge that exemplifies the fickle nature of blockchain-based assets. As of press time, total cryptocurrency market cap is recovering but still down 1.7% over the past 24 hours. Story continues Related: Polygon Jumps in Crypto Market Rebound, as Ether Congestion Drives Adoption for Rivals As usual, liquidations, the crypto market equivalent of a margin call on Wall Street, exacerbated the price drop. According to data aggregator Bybt, over $3.4 billion in long liquidations occurred across all cryptocurrencies in the past 24 hours. The tumble began late Thursday in the U.S. equities markets, with the S&P 500 falling 0.80% Thursday. Not long after the U.S. market closed, bitcoin began its slide below $50,000 . Darius Sit, partner at quantitative trading firm QCP Capital, noted that larger macro events, such as the fear of higher taxes on traders and investors, cause most markets to work in tandem. “When there is a deleveraging event, everything is correlated,” he told CoinDesk. Jean-Marc Bonnefous, managing partner of investment firm Tellurian Capital, highlighted $50,000 per BTC as a key market price point as taxes might still stay front and center in market dynamics over the next month or so. “We are still seeing good BTC support at $50,000,” Bonnefous told CoinDesk via a Telegram message. “However, [it is] important to mention also as an exogenous factor the possibility of selling as the tax deadline is nearing in May … always entertaining for sure.” Read More: Bitcoin Drops Below 100-Day MA as Selling Picks Up on Biden’s Tax Plans Ether volumes way up in 2021 Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was down Friday, trading around $2,370 and falling 6.5% in 24 hours as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). After making double-digit gains while bitcoin was in the dumps this week, ether has fallen with with the rest of crypto and was doing worse than bitcoin Friday in terms of 24-hour price performance. “ETH usually dumps more,” said Stefan Coolican, chief financial officer of investment firm Ether Capital. “Whereas yesterday ETH was the outlier in terms of its strength, today is a more normal sight.” This year has seen more liquidity than ever flow into the ether market, and it seems to have occurred around the start of the year, according to data from CoinDesk Research. In 2020, average daily ether volume across exchanges was $12 billion. For 2021 so far, that figure has jumped to $36 billion in ETH volume per day. More liquidity means more traders buying and selling ether, meaning its price could easily rebound in bullish conditions, compared with previous years. That bullishness could come back. Ether Capital’s Coolican termed Friday’s bearish-leaning market as temporary after a crazy run-up so far this year. “Generally, the crypto markets have been really robust for the past few months and it’s not unusual to see some weakness after big runs,” he said. Ether prices are still more than triple where they started the year. Read More: Chiliz’s CHZ Holders Love the Nasty Elbows – And the 20-Fold Price Gains in 2021 Other markets Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are all in the red Friday. Notable losers as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): Notable losers: omg network (OMG) – 16% eos (EOS) – 15.2% xrp (XRP) – 14.8% Equities: Asia’s Nikkei 225 index closed in the red 0.57%, led by a 5% drop in smartphone component manufacturer Nidec after it released a disappointing forecast . Europe’s FTSE 100 was flat, remaining unchanged Friday as traders weighed coronavirus concerns with positive retail data from March . The United States’ S&P 500 index gained 1% as investors relaxed over a potential jump in the capital gains tax rate to almost 40% for those making $1 million or more . Read More: Newly Public Coinbase Lists Tether’s Controversial USDT for Pro Traders Commodities: Oil was up 0.82%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $62.15. Gold was in the red 0.42% and at $1,776 as of press time. Silver is falling, down 0.45% and changing hands at $25.99. Treasurys: The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield climbed Friday to 1.560 and in the green 1.2%. Related Stories Market Wrap: Bitcoin Steadies After $300B Market Cap Dump on Taxation Trepidation Market Wrap: Bitcoin Steadies After $300B Market Cap Dump on Taxation Trepidation || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Steadies After $300B Market Cap Dump on Taxation Trepidation: The value of the cryptocurrency market declined by hundreds of billions of dollars Friday but seems to be recovering at the close of the business week. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $50,993 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Slipping 3.7% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $47,875-$52,557 (CoinDesk 20) BTC above the 10-hour but below 50-hour moving average on the hourly chart, a sideways signal for market technicians. The price of bitcoin fell over the past 24 hours, with the asset dipping as low as $47,875 around 09:00 GMT (4 a.m. ET) according to CoinDesk 20 data. The price is now retrenching from the loss, at around $50,993 as of press time. Analysts pointed to U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposal to double capital gains taxes on high-income individuals as the catalyst. Related: 'A Crazy Success Story': Trevor Jones' NFT Gamble Pays Off “My take right now is that the Joe Biden tax has something to do with it. Sellers probably jammed the market, and bids disappeared,” said Consantine Kogan, partner at investment firm Wave Financial. “U.S. participants are just a portion of the market but probably the wealthiest, both corporate and retail.” “Bitcoin broke the $50,000 support, going back to early March price levels with a drawdown of 25%,” noted Elie Le Rest, partner at quantitative trading firm ExoAlpha. “Holding ground at $50,000 would confirm the accumulation pattern by institutional investors at or below $50,000, leaving room to grow for bitcoin in the coming weeks and months.” Bitcoin had been in the doldrums for most of the week while alternative cryptocurrencies shined as recently as Thursday . But no asset was completely spared during the recent fall. Total crypto market capitalization, as provided by charting software TradingView, fell from $2 trillion to as low as $1.7 trillion, a $300 billion plunge that exemplifies the fickle nature of blockchain-based assets. As of press time, total cryptocurrency market cap is recovering but still down 1.7% over the past 24 hours. Story continues Related: Polygon Jumps in Crypto Market Rebound, as Ether Congestion Drives Adoption for Rivals As usual, liquidations, the crypto market equivalent of a margin call on Wall Street, exacerbated the price drop. According to data aggregator Bybt, over $3.4 billion in long liquidations occurred across all cryptocurrencies in the past 24 hours. The tumble began late Thursday in the U.S. equities markets, with the S&P 500 falling 0.80% Thursday. Not long after the U.S. market closed, bitcoin began its slide below $50,000 . Darius Sit, partner at quantitative trading firm QCP Capital, noted that larger macro events, such as the fear of higher taxes on traders and investors, cause most markets to work in tandem. “When there is a deleveraging event, everything is correlated,” he told CoinDesk. Jean-Marc Bonnefous, managing partner of investment firm Tellurian Capital, highlighted $50,000 per BTC as a key market price point as taxes might still stay front and center in market dynamics over the next month or so. “We are still seeing good BTC support at $50,000,” Bonnefous told CoinDesk via a Telegram message. “However, [it is] important to mention also as an exogenous factor the possibility of selling as the tax deadline is nearing in May … always entertaining for sure.” Read More: Bitcoin Drops Below 100-Day MA as Selling Picks Up on Biden’s Tax Plans Ether volumes way up in 2021 Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was down Friday, trading around $2,370 and falling 6.5% in 24 hours as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). After making double-digit gains while bitcoin was in the dumps this week, ether has fallen with with the rest of crypto and was doing worse than bitcoin Friday in terms of 24-hour price performance. “ETH usually dumps more,” said Stefan Coolican, chief financial officer of investment firm Ether Capital. “Whereas yesterday ETH was the outlier in terms of its strength, today is a more normal sight.” This year has seen more liquidity than ever flow into the ether market, and it seems to have occurred around the start of the year, according to data from CoinDesk Research. In 2020, average daily ether volume across exchanges was $12 billion. For 2021 so far, that figure has jumped to $36 billion in ETH volume per day. More liquidity means more traders buying and selling ether, meaning its price could easily rebound in bullish conditions, compared with previous years. That bullishness could come back. Ether Capital’s Coolican termed Friday’s bearish-leaning market as temporary after a crazy run-up so far this year. “Generally, the crypto markets have been really robust for the past few months and it’s not unusual to see some weakness after big runs,” he said. Ether prices are still more than triple where they started the year. Read More: Chiliz’s CHZ Holders Love the Nasty Elbows – And the 20-Fold Price Gains in 2021 Other markets Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are all in the red Friday. Notable losers as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): Notable losers: omg network (OMG) – 16% eos (EOS) – 15.2% xrp (XRP) – 14.8% Equities: Asia’s Nikkei 225 index closed in the red 0.57%, led by a 5% drop in smartphone component manufacturer Nidec after it released a disappointing forecast . Europe’s FTSE 100 was flat, remaining unchanged Friday as traders weighed coronavirus concerns with positive retail data from March . The United States’ S&P 500 index gained 1% as investors relaxed over a potential jump in the capital gains tax rate to almost 40% for those making $1 million or more . Read More: Newly Public Coinbase Lists Tether’s Controversial USDT for Pro Traders Commodities: Oil was up 0.82%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $62.15. Gold was in the red 0.42% and at $1,776 as of press time. Silver is falling, down 0.45% and changing hands at $25.99. Treasurys: The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield climbed Friday to 1.560 and in the green 1.2%. Related Stories Market Wrap: Bitcoin Steadies After $300B Market Cap Dump on Taxation Trepidation Market Wrap: Bitcoin Steadies After $300B Market Cap Dump on Taxation Trepidation || South Koreas Top Financial Regulator Suggests All Crypto Exchanges Could Be Shut Down: The head of South Koreas financial regulatory agency has created controversy by saying all the countrys cryptocurrency exchanges could be shut down in September. During a meeting of the National Assemblys policy committee on April 22, Eun Sung-soo , chair of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said the agency has yet to receive any any Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) applications required under a recently amended law going into effect later this year. There are an estimated 200 cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, he added. But if the current situation continues then all of them could be shut down. Related: Polygon Jumps Most in Crypto Market Rebound; Bitcoin and Ether Gain Eun was referring to South Koreas anti-money laundering (AML) law, the Financial Transactions Reporting Act (FTRA), which was amended last year to apply to crypto exchanges. The legislation requires VASPs to register with financial authorities. The FSC began accepting applications for registration on March 25, but no exchanges have applied yet. Exchanges have until Sept. 24 to have their registration approved by the FSC. The FSC will only approve exchanges that can sufficiently demonstrate the robustness of their AML systems. On April 19, the governments policy office issued a statement that authorities will implement a special enforcement period from April to September to shut down any illegitimate crypto businesses and ensure that exchanges are abiding by the FTRA. The most important qualification for VASP registration is an official partnership with a local commercial bank. Out of the some 200 exchanges to which Eun alluded, only the countrys four largest exchanges, known as the Big 4, have established such partnerships thus far. Many industry insiders already think the Big 4 will end up being the only exchanges to survive the regulatory tidal wave, but Euns comments have stirred up new worries. Story continues Related: Chiefs Tight End Sean Culkin to Convert Entire NFL Salary Into Bitcoin Euns remarks come at a time when interest in crypto among Koreans is booming. The Big 4 registered 2.49 million new users during the first quarter of 2021, 64% of them in their 20s and 30s. Traders in their 30s devoted over $398 million on crypto trading, outspending every other demographic. Shutting down the Big 4 would deal a severe blow to these young investors. When asked about normalizing crypto trading, Euns response was, The worry is that officializing the cryptocurrency industry and bringing it in under regulatory approval will only encourage speculation. Regarding legal protections for crypto traders against scams, Eun said that its difficult for the state to protect crypto traders, claiming that crypto trading is inherently more speculative than stock trading. He compared crypto transactions to fine art deals, explaining the state doesnt take responsibility for consumers being scammed by art counterfeiters. Its the personal responsibility of the buyer to protect himself from [crypto] scams, he said. This isnt the first time South Koreas traders have faced government-induced agita. In January 2018, the countrys justice minister announced during a press conference his ministry was preparing legislation that effectively prohibits cryptocurrency trading and that the ministrys goal was to shut down all exchanges. Park went on to equate crypto trading with gambling . The global price of bitcoin plummeted 8% on the day of Parks comments. Due to the so-called kimchi premium, the local price plunged as much as 15% . South Koreans refer to this day as the Park Sang-ki disaster. On the day of Euns comments, the kimchi premium stood at around 13% but fell to as low as 2% the next day. This drop was coupled with a steep decline in bitcoins global price. Related Stories South Koreas Top Financial Regulator Suggests All Crypto Exchanges Could Be Shut Down South Koreas Top Financial Regulator Suggests All Crypto Exchanges Could Be Shut Down || South Korea’s Top Financial Regulator Suggests All Crypto Exchanges Could Be Shut Down: The head of South Korea’s financial regulatory agency has created controversy by saying all the country’s cryptocurrency exchanges could be shut down in September.
During a meeting of the National Assembly’s policy committee on April 22,Eun Sung-soo, chair of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said the agency has yet to receive any any Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) applications required under a recently amended law going into effect later this year.
“There are an estimated 200 cryptocurrency exchanges in the country,” he added. “But if the current situation continues then all of them could be shut down.”
Related:Polygon Jumps Most in Crypto Market Rebound; Bitcoin and Ether Gain
Eun was referring to South Korea’s anti-money laundering (AML) law, the Financial Transactions Reporting Act (FTRA), which was amended last year to apply to crypto exchanges. Thelegislationrequires VASPs to register with financial authorities.
The FSC began accepting applications for registration on March 25, but no exchanges have applied yet. Exchanges have until Sept. 24 to have their registration approved by the FSC. The FSC will only approve exchanges that can sufficiently demonstrate the robustness of their AML systems.
On April 19, the government’s policy office issued astatementthat authorities will implement a “special enforcement period” from April to September to shut down any “illegitimate crypto businesses” and ensure that exchanges are abiding by the FTRA.
The most important qualification for VASP registration is an official partnership with a local commercial bank. Out of the some 200 exchanges to which Eun alluded, only the country’s four largest exchanges, known as the “Big 4,” have established such partnerships thus far. Many industry insiders already think the Big 4 will end up beingthe only exchangesto survive the regulatory tidal wave, but Eun’s comments have stirred up new worries.
Related:Chiefs Tight End Sean Culkin to Convert Entire NFL Salary Into Bitcoin
Eun’s remarks come at a time when interest in crypto among Koreans is booming. The Big 4 registered2.49 million new usersduring the first quarter of 2021, 64% of them in their 20s and 30s. Traders in their 30s devoted over $398 million on crypto trading, outspending every other demographic. Shutting down the Big 4 would deal a severe blow to these young investors.
When asked about normalizing crypto trading, Eun’s response was, “The worry is that officializing the cryptocurrency industry and bringing it in under regulatory approval will only encourage speculation.”
Regarding legal protections for crypto traders against scams, Eun said that “it’s difficult for the state to protect crypto traders,” claiming that crypto trading is inherently more speculative than stock trading. He compared crypto transactions to fine art deals, explaining the state doesn’t take responsibility for consumers being scammed by art counterfeiters. “It’s the personal responsibility of the buyer to protect himself from [crypto] scams,” he said.
This isn’t the first time South Korea’s traders have faced government-induced agita. In January 2018, the country’sjustice ministerannounced during a press conference his ministry was “preparing legislation that effectively prohibits cryptocurrency trading” and that the ministry’s goal was to “shut down all exchanges.” Park went on to equate crypto trading with “gambling.”
The global price ofbitcoinplummeted 8% on the day of Park’s comments. Due to the so-called kimchi premium, the local price plunged as much as15%. South Koreans refer to this day as the “Park Sang-ki disaster.”
On the day of Eun’s comments, the kimchi premium stood at around 13% but fell to as low as 2% the next day. This drop was coupled with asteep declinein bitcoin’s global price.
• South Korea’s Top Financial Regulator Suggests All Crypto Exchanges Could Be Shut Down
• South Korea’s Top Financial Regulator Suggests All Crypto Exchanges Could Be Shut Down || Stock market news live updates: Stocks trade mostly higher, shaking off capital gains tax increase concerns: Stocks rose Friday, steadying after selling off sharply on Thursday following a report that President Joe Biden was eyeing a proposal to increase the capital gains tax rate on wealthy individuals. The S&P 500 added more than 1% to reach a record intraday high, after the index dropped 0.9% during the regular trading day for its worst session in five weeks. The blue-chip index ended just short of its record closing high. The Dow and Nasdaq also rose to reverse Thursday's losses following the report, which suggested Biden was considering increasing the capital gains tax rate on those earning more than $1 million to 39.6% . The current base capital gains tax rate is 20%. "I think the immediate reaction was probably a bit overdone. These proposals come out and you never know, especially with tax proposals, where we'll end up. So it looks like an opening bid. I'm sure there will be intense lobbying from the investment community to adjust those numbers," Kathy Jones, Charles Schwab chief fixed income strategist, told Yahoo Finance on Thursday. "But I think at the moment, when you have very high valuations in the market, anything that is bad news can spark a bit of a sell-off." Shares of Dow-component Intel ( INTC ) dropped after the chip-maker posted first-quarter data center revenues that missed expectations. Mattel ( MAT ) shares jumped after quarterly net sales surged far more than expected and the toy-maker raised its full-year outlook. Snap ( SNAP ) shares rose as quarterly revenue and daily active users extended 2020's momentum and each sharply exceeded estimates. Overall this week, stocks have hovered just below record levels as investors sought new equity drivers and more data on corporate earnings results and economic activity. In another report that appeared to corroborate the pick-up in economic activity, Thursday's initial unemployment claims report showed just 547,000 individuals filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, marking an unexpected improvement to a new pandemic-era low. Next week's advanced print on first-quarter gross domestic product and quarterly results from mega-cap companies including Apple ( AAPL ), Amazon ( AMZN ) and Alphabet ( GOOGL ) and Facebook ( FB ), are expected to further underscore the latest pick-up in economic activity and corporate profits during the recovery from the pandemic. Story continues "We've spent kind of the entire month of April struggling for direction in the markets. We've had 13 out of the 14 slowest days of the year in April. We're just looking for new catalysts. I think the market has already priced in a lot of the surge in economic growth, in earnings growth," Gabriela Santos, global market strategist for JPMorgan Asset Management, told Yahoo Finance. "And it just feels like we should consolidate, maybe even have a pullback before we continue that trend higher over 6 months and 12 months. So I think this is just part of the market struggling to find direction in the short term." "Specifically related to capital gains, this should not be a surprise," sh added. "It was a part of President Biden's agenda during the election and it was anticipated as part of the American Families Plan which should be presented next week and will be a discussion for the rest of the year. So [stocks are] just struggling to find direction in what otherwise we still consider to be a favorable backdrop for equities." — 4:02 p.m. ET: Stocks end higher, S&P 500 posts fresh intraday high Here's where the three major indexes ended Friday's session: S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : +45.22 points (+1.09%) to 4,180.2 Dow ( ^DJI ) : +227.92 points (+0.67%) to 34,043.82 Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) : +198.39 points (+1.44%) to 14,016.81 — 3:06 p.m. ET: 'We're going to have our own form of Roaring Twenties': Analyst With economic activity already showing strong signs of picking up, the U.S. is on track for a resurgence akin to the Roaring Twenties after the Spanish Flu, according to Morgan Stanley managing director Kathy Entwistle. “What we’re looking at is, the economy is opening up, we’re starting to see people put money to work again. We’ve all been locked down for a year, and we’re going to start seeing different things happening in the economy that are very positive. And it’s going to have a big impact on not only our investments but also the spending, which is going to grow investments into companies even further in a different way, whether it’s, you’re buying a stock or you’re buying a product or you’re out spending money on retail – it’s all going to make an impact," Kathy Entwistle, Morgan Stanley managing director, told Yahoo Finance on Friday. "We talked about what happened after the Spanish Flu, and it was the Roaring Twenties. I think we’re going to have our own form of Roaring Twenties coming up," she added. "It will be a little bit different than 100 years ago, but it will still be something that is very energized, and we’re going to see money being spent.” — 2:04 p.m. ET: Stocks extend gains, S&P 500 and Nasdaq add more than 1% Here's where markets were trading as of 2:04 p.m. ET: S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : +47.6 points (+1.15%) to 4,182.58 Dow ( ^DJI ) : +225.84 points (+0.67%) to 34,041.74 Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) : +217.21 points (+1.57%) to 14,035.11 Crude ( CL=F ) : +$0.53 (+0.86%) to $61.96 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : -$5.10 (-0.29%) to $1,776.90 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : +0.5 bps to yield 1.561% — 10:00 a.m. ET: New home sales surge to the highest level since 2006 in March New home sales jumped far more than expected in March to hit the highest level in 15 years, with housing demand still holding up even as mortgage rates began to creep higher this year. New home sales surged 20.7% in March over February, the Commerce Department said Friday. A monthly rise of 14.2% was expected. The jump brought the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of new home sales to 1.021 million, or the highest level since 2006. A 40.2% monthly jump in new home sales in the South led advances, and sales also increased in the Northeast and Midwest on a month-over-month basis. New home sales in the West dropped by 30% in March over February, however. In February, new home sales dropped by an upwardly revised 16.2% month-over-month, with harsh winter weather weighing on housing market activity during the period. — 9:49 a.m. ET: Output in U.S. manufacturing, service sectors reach record highs in April: IHS Markit Activity in both the private U.S. services and manufacturing sectors jumped to a record high in April, with the vaccine-enabled broad-based reopening helping fuel growth across the economy. The U.S. manufacturing sector's preliminary purchasing managers' index for April rose to 60.6, from 59.1 in March, IHS Markit reported Friday. This marked the highest level since the firm began tracking the metric. The U.S. services sector saw even faster growth, with the PMI rising to 63.1 from 60.4 in March. This was faster than the 61.5 expected, according to Bloomberg data, and also marked a series high. "The upturn is broad-based: the service sector is growing at the fastest rate recorded in almost 12 years of survey history, and manufacturers reported one of the strongest expansions seen over the past seven years," Chris Williamson, chief business economist for IHS Markit, said in a statement. "The latter was all the more impressive, as factories continued to be throttled by unprecedented supply chain delays, a consequence of which was a further steep rise in prices." “The worsening supply situation is a concern for the outlook, especially in relation to prices. Supply needs to improve to come into line with demand," he added. "But with record supply chain delays driving a rise in backlogs of uncompleted work of a magnitude not surpassed for over seven years, firms appear to be struggling to boost operating capacity in the near-term.” — 9:36 a.m. ET: Bitcoin, other cryptocurrency prices plunge amid capital gains tax jitters Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) prices plunged 11% to below $49,000 on Friday, extending the selloff in other risk assets seen Thursday as concerns over higher capital gains taxes weighed on assets that have experienced rapid price gains. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap was on track to post its worst weekly performance in nearly two months amid the drawdown, according to data from Bloomberg. Ethereum ( ETH-USD ), the second largest cryptocurrency, also sank by 14%. Meme-based dogecoin ( DOGE-USD ), which saw a renascence this week that sent prices up sharply, dropped 19%. — 9:30 a.m. ET: Stocks open mixed, Intel drags down Dow while S&P 500 and Nasdaq rise The three major indexes opened mixed Friday morning, with a drop in shares of Intel pulling the Dow down by 70 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose, however, to shake off steep losses from the prior session, sparked by concerns over an increase in the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals. — 7:05 a.m. ET Friday: Stock futures rise, shaking off Thursday's declines Here's where markets were trading ahead of the opening bell: S&P 500 futures ( ES=F ) : 4,138.25, up 10.5 points or 0.25% Dow futures ( YM=F ) : 33,777.00, up 69 points or 0.2% Nasdaq futures ( NQ=F ): 13,780.25, up 30.00 points or 0.22% Crude ( CL=F ) : +$0.35 (+0.57%) to $61.78 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$5.70 (+0.32%) to $1,787.70 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : -0.5 bps to yield 1.551% — 6:02 p.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures edge lower Here's where markets were trading as the overnight session began. S&P 500 futures ( ES=F ) : 4,129.75, up 2 points or 0.05% Dow futures ( YM=F ) : 33,720.00, up 11 points or 0.03% Nasdaq futures ( NQ=F ): 13,759.75, up 9.5 points or 0.07% Health care workers walk with protective face masks on past the New York Stock Exchange, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in the lower section of Manhattan in New York City, U.S., September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (Shannon Stapleton / reuters) — Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck Read more from Emily: Charlie Munger on Robinhood and GameStop frenzy: 'It's a dirty way to make money' Charlie Munger says Costco 'has one thing that Amazon does not have' Labor market weakness could last ‘for several years’ in pandemic’s wake: economist Credit Suisse boosts 2021 S&P 500 price target to 4,200 with more stimulus expected What happened in the economy in 2020 These tech jobs may disappear in the face of automation || Stock market news live updates: Stocks rise, shaking off capital gains tax increase concerns: Stocks rose Friday, steadying after selling off sharply on Thursday following a report that President Joe Biden was eyeing a proposal to increase the capital gains tax rate on wealthy individuals.
The S&P 500 added more than 1% to reach a record intraday high, after the index dropped 0.9% during the regular trading day for its worst session in five weeks. The blue-chip index ended just short of its record closing high. The Dow and Nasdaq also rose to reverse Thursday's losses following the report, which suggested Biden was consideringincreasing the capital gains tax rate on those earning more than $1 million to 39.6%. The current base capital gains tax rate is 20%.
"I think the immediate reaction was probably a bit overdone. These proposals come out and you never know, especially with tax proposals, where we'll end up. So it looks like an opening bid. I'm sure there will be intense lobbying from the investment community to adjust those numbers," Kathy Jones, Charles Schwab chief fixed income strategist,told Yahoo Finance on Thursday."But I think at the moment, when you have very high valuations in the market, anything that is bad news can spark a bit of a sell-off."
Shares of Dow-component Intel (INTC) dropped after the chip-maker posted first-quarter data center revenues that missed expectations. Mattel (MAT) shares jumped after quarterly net sales surged far more than expected and the toy-maker raised its full-year outlook. Snap (SNAP)shares rose as quarterly revenue and daily active usersextended 2020's momentum and each sharply exceeded estimates.
Overall this week, stocks have hovered just below record levels as investors sought new equity drivers and more data on corporate earnings results and economic activity.
In another report that appeared to corroborate the pick-up in economic activity, Thursday's initial unemployment claims report showed just547,000 individuals filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week,marking an unexpected improvement to a new pandemic-era low. Next week's advanced print on first-quarter gross domestic product and quarterly results from mega-cap companies including Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB), are expected to further underscore the latest pick-up in economic activity and corporate profits during the recovery from the pandemic.
"We've spent kind of the entire month of April struggling for direction in the markets. We've had 13 out of the 14 slowest days of the year in April. We're just looking for new catalysts. I think the market has already priced in a lot of the surge in economic growth, in earnings growth," Gabriela Santos,global market strategist for JPMorgan Asset Management, told Yahoo Finance."And it just feels like we should consolidate, maybe even have a pullback before we continue that trend higher over 6 months and 12 months. So I think this is just part of the market struggling to find direction in the short term."
"Specifically related to capital gains, this should not be a surprise," sh added. "It was a part of President Biden's agenda during the election and it was anticipated as part of the American Families Plan which should be presented next week and will be a discussion for the rest of the year. So [stocks are] just struggling to find direction in what otherwise we still consider to be a favorable backdrop for equities."
—
Here's where the three major indexes ended Friday's session:
• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +45.22 points (+1.09%) to 4,180.2
• Dow (^DJI): +227.92 points (+0.67%) to 34,043.82
• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +198.39 points (+1.44%) to 14,016.81
—
With economic activity already showing strong signs of picking up, the U.S. is on track for a resurgence akin to the Roaring Twenties after the Spanish Flu, according to Morgan Stanley managing director Kathy Entwistle.
“What we’re looking at is, the economy is opening up, we’re starting to see people put money to work again. We’ve all been locked down for a year, and we’re going to start seeing different things happening in the economy that are very positive. And it’s going to have a big impact on not only our investments but also the spending, which is going to grow investments into companies even further in a different way, whether it’s, you’re buying a stock or you’re buying a product or you’re out spending money on retail – it’s all going to make an impact," Kathy Entwistle, Morgan Stanley managing director, told Yahoo Finance on Friday.
"We talked about what happened after the Spanish Flu, and it was the Roaring Twenties. I think we’re going to have our own form of Roaring Twenties coming up," she added. "It will be a little bit different than 100 years ago, but it will still be something that is very energized, and we’re going to see money being spent.”
—
Here's where markets were trading as of 2:04 p.m. ET:
• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +47.6 points (+1.15%) to 4,182.58
• Dow (^DJI): +225.84 points (+0.67%) to 34,041.74
• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +217.21 points (+1.57%) to 14,035.11
• Crude (CL=F): +$0.53 (+0.86%) to $61.96 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): -$5.10 (-0.29%) to $1,776.90 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +0.5 bps to yield 1.561%
—
New home sales jumped far more than expected in March to hit the highest level in 15 years, with housing demand still holding up even as mortgage rates began to creep higher this year.
New home sales surged 20.7% in March over February,the Commerce Department said Friday.A monthly rise of 14.2% was expected. The jump brought the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of new home sales to 1.021 million, or the highest level since 2006. A 40.2% monthly jump in new home sales in the South led advances, and sales also increased in the Northeast and Midwest on a month-over-month basis. New home sales in the West dropped by 30% in March over February, however.
In February, new home sales dropped by an upwardly revised 16.2% month-over-month, with harsh winter weather weighing on housing market activity during the period.
—
Activity in both the private U.S. services and manufacturing sectors jumped to a record high in April, with the vaccine-enabled broad-based reopening helping fuel growth across the economy.
The U.S. manufacturing sector's preliminary purchasing managers' index for April rose to 60.6, from 59.1 in March, IHS Markit reported Friday. This marked the highest level since the firm began tracking the metric.
The U.S. services sector saw even faster growth, with the PMI rising to 63.1 from 60.4 in March. This was faster than the 61.5 expected, according to Bloomberg data, and also marked a series high.
"The upturn is broad-based: the service sector is growing at the fastest rate recorded in almost 12 years of survey history, and manufacturers reported one of the strongest expansions seen over the past seven years," Chris Williamson, chief business economist for IHS Markit, said in a statement. "The latter was all the more impressive, as factories continued to be throttled by unprecedented supply chain delays, a consequence of which was a further steep rise in prices."
“The worsening supply situation is a concern for the outlook, especially in relation to prices. Supply needs to improve to come into line with demand," he added. "But with record supply chain delays driving a rise in backlogs of uncompleted work of a magnitude not surpassed for over seven years, firms appear to be struggling to boost operating capacity in the near-term.”
—
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices plunged 11% to below $49,000 on Friday, extending the selloff in other risk assets seen Thursday as concerns over higher capital gains taxes weighed on assets that have experienced rapid price gains.
The largest cryptocurrency by market cap was on track to post its worst weekly performance in nearly two months amid the drawdown, according to data from Bloomberg. Ethereum (ETH-USD), the second largest cryptocurrency, also sank by 14%. Meme-based dogecoin (DOGE-USD), which saw a renascence this week that sent prices up sharply, dropped 19%.
—
The three major indexes opened mixed Friday morning, with a drop in shares of Intel pulling the Dow down by 70 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose, however, to shake off steep losses from the prior session, sparked by concerns over an increase in the capital gains tax rate for wealthy individuals.
—
Here's where markets were trading ahead of the opening bell:
• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 4,138.25, up 10.5 points or 0.25%
• Dow futures (YM=F): 33,777.00, up 69 points or 0.2%
• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F):13,780.25, up 30.00 points or 0.22%
• Crude (CL=F): +$0.35 (+0.57%) to $61.78 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$5.70 (+0.32%) to $1,787.70 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -0.5 bps to yield 1.551%
—
Here's where markets were trading as the overnight session began.
• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 4,129.75, up 2 points or 0.05%
• Dow futures (YM=F): 33,720.00, up 11 points or 0.03%
• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F):13,759.75, up 9.5 points or 0.07%
—
Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck
Read more from Emily:
• Charlie Munger on Robinhood and GameStop frenzy: 'It's a dirty way to make money'
• Charlie Munger says Costco 'has one thing that Amazon does not have'
• Labor market weakness could last ‘for several years’ in pandemic’s wake: economist
• Credit Suisse boosts 2021 S&P 500 price target to 4,200 with more stimulus expected
• What happened in the economy in 2020
• These tech jobs may disappear in the face of automation || FOREX-Dollar falls as yields languish, euro gets extra late-day lift: * Dollar index falls back to early March lows * Euro gets extra lift late in the day * U.S. yields languish as Fed meeting next week comes into focus * Biden tax plan hammers cryptocurrencies * Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E (Revises with updated market action prices, comments) By David Henry NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - The dollar fell against major currencies on Friday as U.S. yields languished and the euro got an extra late-day lift following a earlier boost from an upbeat survey of purchasing managers. The dollar index fell 0.5% to 90.8080, a level not seen since early March, after the euro climbed 0.7% to $1.2098, pushing through its earlier high for the week. More than half of the euro's appreciation came late in the day after the market digested earlier economic news. "This is thin markets on a Friday afternoon," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York. "The euro making new highs for the week late in the day suggests it is going to have momentum into next week." The exaggerated move came after the markets saw a European purchasing managers' index for April come in better than expected, supporting the view that the region's economic recovery is accelerating and won't keep lagging so far behind the U.S. recovery. A similar U.S. survey showed factory activity powered ahead in April. Another report said new home sales in the United States jumped 21% in March. Both affirmed that the economy was being lifted by government stimulus and increased vaccinations against the coronavirus. The U.S. survey results were tempered by manufacturers reporting increased struggles to get raw materials and other supplies for production. Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries traded in a narrow range through the news and were at 1.56% late in the day, about four basis points lower than at the start of the week. Until the late-day boost to the euro, Chandler said Friday's major currency markets were largely "a continuation of what we have seen since the beginning of the month," with the dollar losing much that it had gained earlier in the year as yields climbed to 1.75% on March 31. "The dollar had a very strong first quarter and the market is still unwinding that," Chandler said. The dollar in the first quarter gained 3.6% but it has lost about 2.6% so far in April. Markets now are looking toward next week's meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve Open Market Committee to review monetary policy and the economy. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to echo Thursday's message from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde that scaled back some expectations for a withdrawal of monetary easing. Powell's remarks could put more downward pressure on Treasury yields and limit any bounce of the dollar. Auctions of U.S. Treasuries next week are not likely to be big factor, Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank told the Reuters Global Markets forum on Friday. "There still appears to be good demand for Treasury product," Osborne said. "The FOMC will likely be the highlight of a busy data week for the U.S.," Osborne said. Overall, he expects that "low yields, low volatility plus strengthening global growth should drive diversification away from the USD to riskier assets." The Australian and New Zealand dollars firmed on Friday, but traders said risks are pointed to the downside due to the recent weakening in commodity prices. The British pound rose 0.3% on the day.. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies trimmed some losses that had come out of concern that U.S. President Joe Biden's plan to raise capital gains taxes will curb investment in digital assets. Bitcoin, the biggest and most popular cryptocurrency, slumped as much as 5% and fell below $50,000 for the first time since early March. It was down 1.5% to $50,932 at 21495 GMT. Smaller rival Ether was down fell about 2%. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 3:41PM (1941 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 90.8080 91.2870 -0.52% 0.919% +91.2940 +90.8080 Euro/Dollar $1.2098 $1.2016 +0.69% -0.98% +$1.2099 +$1.2013 Dollar/Yen 107.8850 107.9650 -0.07% +4.41% +108.1400 +107.4800 Euro/Yen 130.52 129.72 +0.62% +2.84% +130.5600 +129.6000 Dollar/Swiss 0.9129 0.9169 -0.43% +3.19% +0.9173 +0.9129 Sterling/Dollar $1.3888 $1.3842 +0.33% +1.65% +$1.3895 +$1.3836 Dollar/Canadian 1.2469 1.2503 -0.25% -2.07% +1.2509 +1.2466 Aussie/Dollar $0.7759 $0.7708 +0.67% +0.86% +$0.7760 +$0.7693 Euro/Swiss 1.1043 1.1015 +0.25% +2.18% +1.1052 +1.1017 Euro/Sterling 0.8710 0.8680 +0.35% -2.54% +0.8718 +0.8673 NZ $0.7202 $0.7166 +0.53% +0.31% +$0.7203 +$0.7151 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 8.2840 8.3835 -1.03% -3.38% +8.3625 +8.2970 Euro/Norway 10.0236 10.0507 -0.27% -4.24% +10.0625 +10.0211 Dollar/Sweden 8.3801 8.4263 +0.08% +2.24% +8.4615 +8.3800 Euro/Sweden 10.1394 10.1314 +0.08% +0.63% +10.1551 +10.1155 (Reporting by David Henry in New York and Tommy Wilkes in London; Editing by John Stonestreet, Steve Orlofsky, Andrew Heavens and David Gregorio) || FOREX-Dollar falls as yields languish, euro gets extra late-day lift: * Dollar index falls back to early March lows * Euro gets extra lift late in the day * U.S. yields languish as Fed meeting next week comes into focus * Biden tax plan hammers cryptocurrencies * Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E (Revises with updated market action prices, comments) By David Henry NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - The dollar fell against major currencies on Friday as U.S. yields languished and the euro got an extra late-day lift following a earlier boost from an upbeat survey of purchasing managers. The dollar index fell 0.5% to 90.8080, a level not seen since early March, after the euro climbed 0.7% to $1.2098, pushing through its earlier high for the week. More than half of the euro's appreciation came late in the day after the market digested earlier economic news. "This is thin markets on a Friday afternoon," said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York. "The euro making new highs for the week late in the day suggests it is going to have momentum into next week." The exaggerated move came after the markets saw a European purchasing managers' index for April come in better than expected, supporting the view that the region's economic recovery is accelerating and won't keep lagging so far behind the U.S. recovery. A similar U.S. survey showed factory activity powered ahead in April. Another report said new home sales in the United States jumped 21% in March. Both affirmed that the economy was being lifted by government stimulus and increased vaccinations against the coronavirus. The U.S. survey results were tempered by manufacturers reporting increased struggles to get raw materials and other supplies for production. Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries traded in a narrow range through the news and were at 1.56% late in the day, about four basis points lower than at the start of the week. Until the late-day boost to the euro, Chandler said Friday's major currency markets were largely "a continuation of what we have seen since the beginning of the month," with the dollar losing much that it had gained earlier in the year as yields climbed to 1.75% on March 31. "The dollar had a very strong first quarter and the market is still unwinding that," Chandler said. The dollar in the first quarter gained 3.6% but it has lost about 2.6% so far in April. Markets now are looking toward next week's meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve Open Market Committee to review monetary policy and the economy. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to echo Thursday's message from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde that scaled back some expectations for a withdrawal of monetary easing. Powell's remarks could put more downward pressure on Treasury yields and limit any bounce of the dollar. Auctions of U.S. Treasuries next week are not likely to be big factor, Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank told the Reuters Global Markets forum on Friday. "There still appears to be good demand for Treasury product," Osborne said. "The FOMC will likely be the highlight of a busy data week for the U.S.," Osborne said. Overall, he expects that "low yields, low volatility plus strengthening global growth should drive diversification away from the USD to riskier assets." The Australian and New Zealand dollars firmed on Friday, but traders said risks are pointed to the downside due to the recent weakening in commodity prices. The British pound rose 0.3% on the day.. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies trimmed some losses that had come out of concern that U.S. President Joe Biden's plan to raise capital gains taxes will curb investment in digital assets. Bitcoin, the biggest and most popular cryptocurrency, slumped as much as 5% and fell below $50,000 for the first time since early March. It was down 1.5% to $50,932 at 21495 GMT. Smaller rival Ether was down fell about 2%. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 3:41PM (1941 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 90.8080 91.2870 -0.52% 0.919% +91.2940 +90.8080 Euro/Dollar $1.2098 $1.2016 +0.69% -0.98% +$1.2099 +$1.2013 Dollar/Yen 107.8850 107.9650 -0.07% +4.41% +108.1400 +107.4800 Euro/Yen 130.52 129.72 +0.62% +2.84% +130.5600 +129.6000 Dollar/Swiss 0.9129 0.9169 -0.43% +3.19% +0.9173 +0.9129 Sterling/Dollar $1.3888 $1.3842 +0.33% +1.65% +$1.3895 +$1.3836 Dollar/Canadian 1.2469 1.2503 -0.25% -2.07% +1.2509 +1.2466 Aussie/Dollar $0.7759 $0.7708 +0.67% +0.86% +$0.7760 +$0.7693 Euro/Swiss 1.1043 1.1015 +0.25% +2.18% +1.1052 +1.1017 Euro/Sterling 0.8710 0.8680 +0.35% -2.54% +0.8718 +0.8673 NZ $0.7202 $0.7166 +0.53% +0.31% +$0.7203 +$0.7151 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 8.2840 8.3835 -1.03% -3.38% +8.3625 +8.2970 Euro/Norway 10.0236 10.0507 -0.27% -4.24% +10.0625 +10.0211 Dollar/Sweden 8.3801 8.4263 +0.08% +2.24% +8.4615 +8.3800 Euro/Sweden 10.1394 10.1314 +0.08% +0.63% +10.1551 +10.1155 (Reporting by David Henry in New York and Tommy Wilkes in London; Editing by John Stonestreet, Steve Orlofsky, Andrew Heavens and David Gregorio) || Chainlink (LINK) is Now Available in iTrustCapital IRA / 401k Retirement Accounts!: iTrustCapital, the #1Crypto IRA platformthat allows investors to access cryptocurrencies, digital assets and precious metals within their retirement accounts has announced that Chainlink (LINK ) is now available on their platform.
What is Chainlink?
Every blockchain network is unique. Not in their ideas or use cases, but in the actual data that flows within each one. Some are focused on money, like Bitcoin, while others, like Ethereum, emphasize decentralized applications. On Ethereum, users interact with those applications via smart contracts - essentially automated if, then statements. However, these interactions are based on information created within the network. For example, an Ethereum-based startup looking for funding is new and was built within the Ethereum network regulations. But what if an existing group wants to utilize the blockchain? How do they move existing, off-chain databases, price information, and other data over?
This is where Chainlink comes into play.
Chainlink utilizes a unique technology called oracles to pull information from the real world onto the blockchain. This is mostly seen on blockchain-based lending and derivatives platforms to keep up with real-time price points. Exchanges take advantage of the technology and keep up to date with real-world price points in correlation with crypto prices. However, how can we be sure the data transferred onto a blockchain is legitimate? That a badactor isn’t in place to manipulate it? Thanks to decentralization. Essentially, data being sent through Chainlink is managed by a provider - parties that bring and validate data onto the Chainlink network. Providers are paid for their work in the LINK token, incentivizing legitimate effort. Providers must also stake some of their own LINK before working, which will be lost if their work is done poorly.
How Does Chainlink Impact Blockchain Technology?
Thanks to its Oracles, Chainlink helps prep the rest of the world’s adoption of blockchain technology. As more companies around the world adopt blockchain, Chainlink will be there to assist. More specifically, the group is looking to partner with various banks and banking applications like SWIFT and PayPal in the near future. The idea is for banks to move their traditional infrastructures, systems, etc., to the blockchain, utilizing Chainlinks oracles as an intermediary. Some big tech companies are already taking advantage of this. Google is using Chainlink to move information from cloud-based applications to the Ethereum blockchain, for instance.
What is the LINK token, and why is it valuable?
As mentioned, providers must stake LINK to start working and are paid in the token as well. This information is provided to purchasers - parties that need to acquire such data. If a provider does good work, they are rated by a purchaser. Providers with the highest reputation are rewarded with more work and earn more LINK overall. By creating this incentive to provide legitimate information, the LINK token has inherent value. The more work to be done, the higher the value of LINK. As the network’s use case rises and more platforms look to migrate to blockchain technology, Chainlink will ideally raise in value over time.
Chainlink (LINK) in your IRA / 401k
If you want to learn more about Chainlink and/or invest within your IRA / 401k retirement accounts, head toiTrustCapital.
See more from Benzinga
• Click here for options trades from Benzinga
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• North Carolina Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Legalize Recreational Cannabis
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Chainlink (LINK) is Now Available in iTrustCapital IRA / 401k Retirement Accounts!: iTrustCapital , the #1 Crypto IRA platform that allows investors to access cryptocurrencies, digital assets and precious metals within their retirement accounts has announced that Chainlink (LINK ) is now available on their platform. What is Chainlink? Every blockchain network is unique. Not in their ideas or use cases, but in the actual data that flows within each one. Some are focused on money, like Bitcoin, while others, like Ethereum, emphasize decentralized applications. On Ethereum, users interact with those applications via smart contracts - essentially automated if, then statements. However, these interactions are based on information created within the network. For example, an Ethereum-based startup looking for funding is new and was built within the Ethereum network regulations. But what if an existing group wants to utilize the blockchain? How do they move existing, off-chain databases, price information, and other data over? This is where Chainlink comes into play. Chainlink utilizes a unique technology called oracles to pull information from the real world onto the blockchain. This is mostly seen on blockchain-based lending and derivatives platforms to keep up with real-time price points. Exchanges take advantage of the technology and keep up to date with real-world price points in correlation with crypto prices. However, how can we be sure the data transferred onto a blockchain is legitimate? That a bad actor isnt in place to manipulate it? Thanks to decentralization. Essentially, data being sent through Chainlink is managed by a provider - parties that bring and validate data onto the Chainlink network. Providers are paid for their work in the LINK token, incentivizing legitimate effort. Providers must also stake some of their own LINK before working, which will be lost if their work is done poorly. How Does Chainlink Impact Blockchain Technology? Thanks to its Oracles, Chainlink helps prep the rest of the worlds adoption of blockchain technology. As more companies around the world adopt blockchain, Chainlink will be there to assist. More specifically, the group is looking to partner with various banks and banking applications like SWIFT and PayPal in the near future. The idea is for banks to move their traditional infrastructures, systems, etc., to the blockchain, utilizing Chainlinks oracles as an intermediary. Some big tech companies are already taking advantage of this. Google is using Chainlink to move information from cloud-based applications to the Ethereum blockchain, for instance. Story continues What is the LINK token, and why is it valuable? As mentioned, providers must stake LINK to start working and are paid in the token as well. This information is provided to purchasers - parties that need to acquire such data. If a provider does good work, they are rated by a purchaser. Providers with the highest reputation are rewarded with more work and earn more LINK overall. By creating this incentive to provide legitimate information, the LINK token has inherent value. The more work to be done, the higher the value of LINK. As the networks use case rises and more platforms look to migrate to blockchain technology, Chainlink will ideally raise in value over time. Chainlink (LINK) in your IRA / 401k If you want to learn more about Chainlink and/or invest within your IRA / 401k retirement accounts, head to iTrustCapital . See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Cannabis Movers & Shakers: Sensi Media Group, Southern Glazer's North Carolina Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Legalize Recreational Cannabis © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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49004.25, 54021.75, 55033.12, 54824.70, 53555.11, 57750.18, 57828.05, 56631.08, 57200.29, 53333.54
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 5298.39, 5303.81, 5337.89, 5314.53, 5399.37, 5572.36, 5464.87, 5210.52, 5279.35, 5268.29, 5285.14, 5247.35, 5350.73, 5402.70, 5505.28, 5768.29, 5831.17, 5795.71, 5746.81, 5829.50, 5982.46, 6174.53, 6378.85, 7204.77, 6972.37, 7814.92, 7994.42, 8205.17, 7884.91, 7343.90, 7271.21, 8197.69, 7978.31, 7963.33, 7680.07, 7881.85, 7987.37, 8052.54, 8673.22, 8805.78, 8719.96, 8659.49, 8319.47, 8574.50, 8564.02, 8742.96, 8209.00, 7707.77, 7824.23, 7822.02, 8043.95, 7954.13, 7688.08, 8000.33, 7927.71, 8145.86, 8230.92, 8693.83, 8838.38, 8994.49, 9320.35, 9081.76, 9273.52, 9527.16, 10144.56, 10701.69, 10855.37, 11011.10, 11790.92, 13016.23, 11182.81, 12407.33, 11959.37, 10817.16, 10583.13, 10801.68, 11961.27, 11215.44, 10978.46, 11208.55, 11450.85, 12285.96, 12573.81, 12156.51, 11358.66, 11815.99, 11392.38, 10256.06, 10895.09, 9477.64.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-07-16]
Volume: 24151199070, RSI (14-day): 41.70, 50-day EMA: 10046.15, 200-day EMA: 7238.54
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1409.20, Gold RSI: 63.30
Oil Price: 57.62, Oil RSI: 49.11
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Polychain Leads $7 Million Round in Crypto Trading Desk Altonomy: Altonomy, a cryptocurrency trading desk, has closed a $7 million financing round fromPolychain Capital. The company, founded by Bo Dong, is also funded by 7 Blocks.
“As a liquidity provider for altcoins, more funding will allow us to have more inventory, taking larger exposure and managing risk more effectively,” said co-founder Ricky Li. “We don’t need to put constraints on our clients at settlement. This enables us to serve more clients, better.”
“As a long-time user of Altonomy’s trading services, it was an easy decision for us to invest in their business when the opportunity became available,” said Polychain Capital founder Olaf Carlson-Wee.
Related:Bitmain Lawsuit Seeks Millions from Staffers Who Founded Rival Mining Pool
“We are proud of our ability to source liquidity for customers, regardless of token type, order size, market cap, or whether the asset trades on centralized or decentralized exchanges,” added Li.
Li wasn’t alway so bullish on altcoins. In January 2019 he told entrepreneurs who raised via initial coin offerings to “to liquidate enough ETH so they would have at least two years of runway.”
Now, however, the founder sees a rebirth.
In the last year Altonomy also launched AltMiner, a cloud service for bigger clients looking to dip a toe in the mining industry. Like its trading desk,Altonomyclaims a “superior return profile” with the “newest generation of miners, low electricity costs and a secure hosting site.”
Related:FINRA Fines Ex-Merrill Lynch Investment Adviser Over Crypto Mining Sideline
The cash infusion will help the company grow out these services in the next year.
Minerimage via Shutterstock
• Crypto Miners’ Electricity Shouldn’t Be Subsidized: Iranian Energy Minister
• Bitcoin’s First Public Mining Pool Is Rebranding || Polychain Leads $7 Million Round in Crypto Trading Desk Altonomy: Altonomy, a cryptocurrency trading desk, has closed a $7 million financing round from Polychain Capital . The company, founded by Bo Dong, is also funded by 7 Blocks. “As a liquidity provider for altcoins, more funding will allow us to have more inventory, taking larger exposure and managing risk more effectively,” said co-founder Ricky Li. “We don’t need to put constraints on our clients at settlement. This enables us to serve more clients, better.” “As a long-time user of Altonomy’s trading services, it was an easy decision for us to invest in their business when the opportunity became available,” said Polychain Capital founder Olaf Carlson-Wee. Related: Bitmain Lawsuit Seeks Millions from Staffers Who Founded Rival Mining Pool “We are proud of our ability to source liquidity for customers, regardless of token type, order size, market cap, or whether the asset trades on centralized or decentralized exchanges,” added Li. Li wasn’t alway so bullish on altcoins. In January 2019 he told entrepreneurs who raised via initial coin offerings to “ to liquidate enough ETH so they would have at least two years of runway .” Now, however, the founder sees a rebirth. In the last year Altonomy also launched AltMiner, a cloud service for bigger clients looking to dip a toe in the mining industry. Like its trading desk, Altonomy claims a “superior return profile” with the “newest generation of miners, low electricity costs and a secure hosting site.” Related: FINRA Fines Ex-Merrill Lynch Investment Adviser Over Crypto Mining Sideline The cash infusion will help the company grow out these services in the next year. Miner image via Shutterstock Related Stories Crypto Miners’ Electricity Shouldn’t Be Subsidized: Iranian Energy Minister Bitcoin’s First Public Mining Pool Is Rebranding || Facebook heads to Capitol Hill — What to know in markets Tuesday: Social media giant Facebook ( FB ) heads to Capitol Hill on Tuesday and will face lawmakers for two days of testimony. This time, not for its misinformation woes or data privacy concerns, but for its bold new cryptocurrency ambitions. On Tuesday morning, David Marcus, head of Facebook’s Calibra project, will testify in front of the Senate Banking Committee. He is expected to defend Calibra and the planned digital currency Libra. In his prepared remarks , Marcus said, “We know we need to take the time to get this right. And I want to be clear: Facebook will not offer the Libra digital currency until we have fully addressed regulatory concerns and received appropriate approvals.” Marcus’s testimony comes on the heels of a quickly growing list of cryptocurrency critics, which include policymakers, regulators and even the president. President Donald Trump publicly attacked crypto and Facebook’s Libra in a series of tweets last week. I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019 ....Similarly, Facebook Libra’s “virtual currency” will have little standing or dependability. If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019 ...and International. We have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever, both dependable and reliable. It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the World, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019 And on Monday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held a press briefing , in which he discussed Facebook’s Libra. He called Facebook’s project a national security threat and said that he had many concerns. Mnuchin said that the potential for illegal activities is high and thus Facebook will have a long and tough road ahead before getting the green light from regulators. Story continues Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also expressed concern over Facebook’s crypto project last week. Marcus addressed Powell’s concerns, “Chairman Powell has made clear that the process for reviewing Libra needs to be patient and thorough, rather than a sprint to implementation. We strongly agree. That was the spirit with which we published the white paper introducing the Libra project. The time between now and launch is designed to be an open process and subject to regulatory oversight and review.” The hearing is scheduled to kick off at 10 a.m. ET. — Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung . Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , Flipboard , LinkedIn , and reddit . Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance More from Heidi: Does Amazon Prime Day deliver for investors? It's complicated. Jobs report smashes expectations Job cuts during the first half of the year were the highest since 2009: Challenger U.S. private sector employment grows at disappointingly slow pace McDonald’s Japan is one of the most popular places on Facebook || Wells Fargo bans customers from purchasing cryptocurrency: Major US bank Wells Fargo has placed a ban on customers purchasing cryptocurrencies via debit cards, according to a tweet over the weekend. A beleaguered customer of Wells Fargo wrote : “ Something fishy is going on with my bank Wells Fargo. I cant buy crypto on Cash App or Coinbase. I tried to attach my debit card and it said “Card not found”, and I just used it to pay my bills. A nybody else having this issue?” The bank’s support team replied by saying: “Unfortunately, Wells Fargo does not allow transactions involving cryptocurrency.” Thanks for reaching out to us. Unfortunately, Wells Fargo does not allow transactions involving cryptocurrency. -Josh — Ask Wells Fargo (@Ask_WellsFargo) July 12, 2019 It is not the first bank to hold a pessimistic view on cryptocurrencies, with the likes of JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon labelling Bitcoin as a “fraud” in 2017 before ironically launching JPM Coin earlier this year. Last summer, Wells Fargo took the bold step to ban the purchase of cryptocurrencies using credit cards, citing “multiple risks associated with this volatile investment”. “Customers can no longer use their Wells Fargo credit cards to purchase cryptocurrency. We’re doing this in order to be consistent across the Wells Fargo enterprise due to the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment. This decision is in line with the overall industry,” a spokesperson said at the time. For more news, guides, and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . The post Wells Fargo bans customers from purchasing cryptocurrency appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Wells Fargo bans customers from purchasing cryptocurrency: Major US bank Wells Fargo has placed a ban on customers purchasing cryptocurrencies via debit cards, according to a tweet over the weekend. A beleaguered customer of Wells Fargo wrote : “ Something fishy is going on with my bank Wells Fargo. I cant buy crypto on Cash App or Coinbase. I tried to attach my debit card and it said “Card not found”, and I just used it to pay my bills. A nybody else having this issue?” The bank’s support team replied by saying: “Unfortunately, Wells Fargo does not allow transactions involving cryptocurrency.” Thanks for reaching out to us. Unfortunately, Wells Fargo does not allow transactions involving cryptocurrency. -Josh — Ask Wells Fargo (@Ask_WellsFargo) July 12, 2019 It is not the first bank to hold a pessimistic view on cryptocurrencies, with the likes of JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon labelling Bitcoin as a “fraud” in 2017 before ironically launching JPM Coin earlier this year. Last summer, Wells Fargo took the bold step to ban the purchase of cryptocurrencies using credit cards, citing “multiple risks associated with this volatile investment”. “Customers can no longer use their Wells Fargo credit cards to purchase cryptocurrency. We’re doing this in order to be consistent across the Wells Fargo enterprise due to the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment. This decision is in line with the overall industry,” a spokesperson said at the time. For more news, guides, and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . The post Wells Fargo bans customers from purchasing cryptocurrency appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Facebook’s Crypto Woes Deepen as Mnuchin Joins Parade of Critics: (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. faced its latest Washington crisis Monday, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin joining a parade of policy makers and politicians who’ve bashed its proposed cryptocurrency, demonstrating the hurdles the company must overcome to ever make the token a reality. Speaking from the White House, Mnuchin said he has serious concerns about the national security implications of Facebook’s coin and other virtual currencies. He said the potential for money laundering and other illicit activities is high, and vowed that Treasury would crack down on law breakers when it finds them. “This is indeed a national security issue,” Mnuchin said in a briefing for reporters at the White House. “We will not allow digital asset service providers to operate in the shadows.” Bitcoin pared an earlier decline after Mnuchin’s comments, and was down 9.6 percent to $10,765.78 at 2:42 p.m. in New York. Many Critics He is far from the first official to express skepticism. President Donald Trump took to Twitter July 11 to criticize Facebook’s effort, saying he’s not a fan of Bitcoin and that cryptocurrencies are often used to facilitate “unlawful behavior.” And some of Trump’s staunchest foes in Congress, including Representative Maxine Waters, have also faulted Facebook, going so far as to demand that the company halt all work on the coin, called Libra. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell chimed in last week, telling lawmakers that he has “serious concerns’’ about the token and cast doubt on Facebook’s timeline for launching it by next year. The opposition from both Republicans and Democrats might put fresh pressure on Facebook -- already under fire in Washington over scandals tied to data privacy -- to assess whether its cryptocurrency is worth it. The fireworks will start again tomorrow when the company faces a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee followed by another Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee. Story continues In prepared remarks before the Senate panel, the top Facebook executive working on Libra, David Marcus, went further than the company has previously to try to assuage policy makers’ concerns that the coin could be a threat to the financial system. Read More: Facebook’s Crypto Plan Unites Trump and Democrats in Disdain Marcus said the token won’t launch until regulatory questions are fully addressed and he added that Facebook will get “appropriate approvals.” He said the coin isn’t isn’t intended to compete with countries’ sovereign currencies and won’t interfere with central banks on monetary policy. “The time between now and launch is designed to be an open process and subject to regulatory oversight and review,” Marcus wrote. “We know we need to take the time to get this right. And I want to be clear: Facebook will not offer the Libra digital currency until we have fully addressed regulatory concerns and received appropriate approvals.” In his remarks, Mnuchin said that Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network “will hold any entity that transacts in Bitcoin, Libra or any other cryptocurrency to its highest standards.” He broadly criticized cryptocurrencies, echoing Trump, who said in his series of tweets last week that they are “not money.” “Bitcoin is highly volatile and based on thin air,” Mnuchin said. “We are concerned about the speculative nature of Bitcoin and will make sure that the U.S. financial system is protected from fraud.” Crypto Anxiety Mnuchin said he would address the issue with the finance ministers from other major global economies at a Group of Seven summit in France this week. He’s also discussed the issue “extensively” with the Fed’s Powell, he said. The sentiment poses risk for the broader digital coin industry. In the run-up to this week’s hearings, a number of competing digital coin companies are distancing themselves from Facebook. Some industry groups are also conducting briefings for congressional staff, pointing out that Facebook’s plan is light on details and not necessarily representative of all tokens. For Facebook, Mnuchin indicated that U.S. approvals may take a while. “They and others have a lot of work to do before they get us comfortable,” he said. But he said the company is “being very candid with the administration and where they are.” Trump said four days ago that companies issuing cryptocurrency, including Facebook, should be subject to banking regulations. Mnuchin said the president has “legitimate concerns.” He advised investors to “be careful” before purchasing Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. “There’s a lot of good things to invest in,” he said. “I have no idea why Bitcoin trades where it is,” Mnuchin said. “I’m not commenting whether it’s high or it’s low.” --With assistance from Robert Schmidt, Austin Weinstein and Ben Bain. To contact the reporters on this story: Josh Wingrove in Washington at [email protected];Margaret Talev in Washington at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at [email protected], Jesse Westbrook, Jillian Ward For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com ©2019 Bloomberg L.P. || Facebook’s Crypto Woes Deepen as Mnuchin Joins Parade of Critics: (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. faced its latest Washington crisis Monday, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin joining a parade of policy makers and politicians who’ve bashed its proposed cryptocurrency, demonstrating the hurdles the company must overcome to ever make the token a reality.
Speaking from the White House, Mnuchin said he has serious concerns about the national security implications of Facebook’s coin and other virtual currencies. He said the potential for money laundering and other illicit activities is high, and vowed that Treasury would crack down on law breakers when it finds them.
“This is indeed a national security issue,” Mnuchin said in a briefing for reporters at the White House. “We will not allow digital asset service providers to operate in the shadows.”
Bitcoin pared an earlier decline after Mnuchin’s comments, and was down 9.6 percent to $10,765.78 at 2:42 p.m. in New York.
Many Critics
He is far from the first official to express skepticism. President Donald Trump took to Twitter July 11 to criticize Facebook’s effort, saying he’s not a fan of Bitcoin and that cryptocurrencies are often used to facilitate “unlawful behavior.” And some of Trump’s staunchest foes in Congress, including Representative Maxine Waters, have also faulted Facebook, going so far as to demand that the company halt all work on the coin, called Libra.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell chimed in last week, telling lawmakers that he has “serious concerns’’ about the token and cast doubt on Facebook’s timeline for launching it by next year.
The opposition from both Republicans and Democrats might put fresh pressure on Facebook -- already under fire in Washington over scandals tied to data privacy -- to assess whether its cryptocurrency is worth it. The fireworks will start again tomorrow when the company faces a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee followed by another Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee.
In prepared remarks before the Senate panel, the top Facebook executive working on Libra, David Marcus, went further than the company has previously to try to assuage policy makers’ concerns that the coin could be a threat to the financial system.
Read More: Facebook’s Crypto Plan Unites Trump and Democrats in Disdain
Marcus said the token won’t launch until regulatory questions are fully addressed and he added that Facebook will get “appropriate approvals.” He said the coin isn’t isn’t intended to compete with countries’ sovereign currencies and won’t interfere with central banks on monetary policy.
“The time between now and launch is designed to be an open process and subject to regulatory oversight and review,” Marcus wrote. “We know we need to take the time to get this right. And I want to be clear: Facebook will not offer the Libra digital currency until we have fully addressed regulatory concerns and received appropriate approvals.”
In his remarks, Mnuchin said that Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network “will hold any entity that transacts in Bitcoin, Libra or any other cryptocurrency to its highest standards.” He broadly criticized cryptocurrencies, echoing Trump, who said in his series of tweets last week that they are “not money.”
“Bitcoin is highly volatile and based on thin air,” Mnuchin said. “We are concerned about the speculative nature of Bitcoin and will make sure that the U.S. financial system is protected from fraud.”
Crypto Anxiety
Mnuchin said he would address the issue with the finance ministers from other major global economies at a Group of Seven summit in France this week. He’s also discussed the issue “extensively” with the Fed’s Powell, he said.
The sentiment poses risk for the broader digital coin industry. In the run-up to this week’s hearings, a number of competing digital coin companies are distancing themselves from Facebook. Some industry groups are also conducting briefings for congressional staff, pointing out that Facebook’s plan is light on details and not necessarily representative of all tokens.
For Facebook, Mnuchin indicated that U.S. approvals may take a while.
“They and others have a lot of work to do before they get us comfortable,” he said. But he said the company is “being very candid with the administration and where they are.”
Trump said four days ago that companies issuing cryptocurrency, including Facebook, should be subject to banking regulations.
Mnuchin said the president has “legitimate concerns.” He advised investors to “be careful” before purchasing Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. “There’s a lot of good things to invest in,” he said.
“I have no idea why Bitcoin trades where it is,” Mnuchin said. “I’m not commenting whether it’s high or it’s low.”
--With assistance from Robert Schmidt, Austin Weinstein and Ben Bain.
To contact the reporters on this story: Josh Wingrove in Washington at [email protected];Margaret Talev in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at [email protected], Jesse Westbrook, Jillian Ward
For more articles like this, please visit us atbloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P. || Forged documents and multi-billion dollar fortunes: Craig Wright faces tough questions in court: Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who claims to be the inventor of bitcoin, faced tough cross examination during a U.S. District Court hearing in West Palm Beach, Florida, on June 28, where he claimed he couldn’t produce a list of early Bitcoin addresses holding an enormous, potentially multi-billion dollar fortune. Wright was summoned to Florida as part of the civil suit, to explain why he failed to give up the addresses of Satoshi’s lost bitcoins, which he says he may never be able to access. The session took place on June 28, but the court transcript was made public today. The estate of Wright’s late business partner, Dave Kleiman, alleges that the addresses hold a $10 billion fortune, which it claims Wright stole. While both parties believe that Wright is the inventor of Bitcoin—indeed, their assertions depend on it—Wright’s deposition introduced a number of jarring details. Wright’s defense The primary thrust of Wright’s argument was that he couldn’t access the coins because they were held in a blind trust protected by a labyrinthine encryption mechanism, and tangled in a web of complex legal agreements drafted by a succession of lawyers. He also said he didn’t want to access the coins, because they would implicate him as Satoshi Nakamoto—which might be viewed as strange, given that Wright is so heavily invested in the claim that he has sued doubters for libel. During the hearing, the plaintiffs’ counsel put Wright through his paces, suggesting the computer scientist had forged a number of documents that he had presented to the court as evidence. For instance, several emails supposedly dating to 2011 and 2012, bore “metadata” placing them far more recently. And a font copyrighted in 2015 appeared on an another email supposedly dispatched in 2011. But Wright denied any meddling, and said that the server from which the documents originated had been “compromised.” He testified that the documents submitted were bastardized “PDFs” and not legitimate copies of the relevant correspondence—a “provably false” attempt to frame him by the plaintiff and, apparently, others who had outed him as Satoshi. Story continues “When someone has modified a file on a compromised server that was hacked, and is known to be hacked,” he said, “then all sorts of funny things happen.” Later, the plaintiff’s attorney challenged Wright on a company he had claimed to have purchased as a beneficiary of the blind trust. “Well, let me get this straight,” said the counsel for the plaintiff. “A company you didn’t buy until 2014 is listed as a beneficiary of a trust document you claimed was formed in 2012?’ “No,” said Wright. “You have put documents I don’t recognize.” “Documents you produced in discovery?” “Yes, from other machines in my organization.” Before this, Wright had been asked if any of the documents he had produced were authentic in the first place, to which he repeatedly stated that they had indeed been in his “possession,” but were not necessarily authentic themselves. The counsel was more direct at points. “Dr. Wright, are these documents forgeries?” he asked. “Um, I don’t know,” said Wright. The long road to court Wright claims he invented Bitcoin, and says Dave Kleiman, who died in 2013, helped him. But last year, Kleiman’s estate alleged that Wright had fraudulently transferred some one million of the bitcoins he and Kleiman had mined together (now worth some $10 billion) to himself. Wright says that he doesn’t owe Kleiman’s estate anything, and that he is unable to access the coins because they are held in a blind trust controlled by third parties he is not aware of, and that the keys to the funds themselves are unknown. Nevertheless, in late June, the court summoned him to Florida to determine whether his failure to comply with orders to produce the coins amounted to contempt. In court, Wright expressed regret over his supposed invention, which he says has been blighted by crime. He said he had originally wanted to “destroy” the enormous fortune, and had only entrusted the keys to Kleiman after much convincing. “Dave talked me out of destroying it utterly,” he said. “If I had my way, I would have put a hammer through the hard drive that held those.” He said he rued inventing bitcoin because it has been linked to criminal activities, including drug dealing and money laundering. He described his own “fork” of Bitcoin, Bitcoin SV, as being compliant with law enforcement. (SV was reportedly used to process child pornography last year.) At several points, Wright offered jarring, uncommon characterizations of the Bitcoin protocol. He described the technology foremost as a “Mandela network,” and claimed the phrase “public address”—the term most commonly used to describe where Bitcoins are sent—was a misnomer, though the case depends on his producing a number of such “public addresses.” “There are no public addresses at all in Bitcoin,” he said. He said the primary reason he can’t access the coins is that he lacks certain “key slices” that were held by Kleiman and due to pass onto Wright next year. But if they don’t pass on, he said, he may never be able to access the coins. Several times when the counsel questioned why the number of these “key slices” required to access the trust appeared to vary, Wright said the counsel was confusing the trust with another set of Bitcoins, held in the “Liberty reserve”—a now defunct digital currency exchange that doesn’t appear to have dealt in Bitcoin. At one point Wright threw a document, and was chastised by the judge, who threatened him with “handcuffs.” Wright later apologised. “I’m very sorry, Your honor. I lose control sometimes,” he said. “My wife is a psychologist, and she’s working with me.” Wright is involved in several other lawsuits with people who claim he is not the inventor of Bitcoin, among them podcaster Peter McCormack . Some observers suggest the Florida hearing, if it raises sufficient doubt over those claims, could be enough to have those cases thrown out. || Forged documents and multi-billion dollar fortunes: Craig Wright faces tough questions in court: Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who claims to be the inventor of bitcoin, faced tough cross examination during a U.S. District Court hearing in West Palm Beach, Florida, on June 28, where he claimed he couldn’t produce a list of early Bitcoin addresses holding an enormous, potentially multi-billion dollar fortune.
Wright was summoned to Florida as part of the civil suit, to explain why he failed to give up the addresses of Satoshi’s lost bitcoins, which he says he may never be able to access. The session took place on June 28, but the court transcript was madepublictoday.
The estate of Wright’s late business partner, Dave Kleiman, alleges that the addresses hold a $10 billion fortune, which it claims Wright stole. While both parties believe that Wright is the inventor of Bitcoin—indeed, their assertions depend on it—Wright’s deposition introduced a number of jarring details.
The primary thrust of Wright’s argument was that he couldn’t access the coins because they were held in a blind trust protected by a labyrinthine encryption mechanism, and tangled in a web of complex legal agreements drafted by a succession of lawyers. He also said he didn’t want to access the coins, because they would implicate him as Satoshi Nakamoto—which might be viewed as strange, given that Wright is so heavily invested in the claim that he hassueddoubters for libel.
During the hearing, the plaintiffs’ counsel put Wright through his paces, suggesting the computer scientist had forged a number of documents that he had presented to the court as evidence. For instance, several emails supposedly dating to 2011 and 2012, bore “metadata” placing them far more recently. And a font copyrighted in 2015 appeared on an another email supposedly dispatched in 2011.
But Wright denied any meddling, and said that the server from which the documents originated had been “compromised.” He testified that the documents submitted were bastardized “PDFs” and not legitimate copies of the relevant correspondence—a “provably false” attempt to frame him by the plaintiff and, apparently, others who had outed him as Satoshi.
“When someone has modified a file on a compromised server that was hacked, and is known to be hacked,” he said, “then all sorts of funny things happen.”
Later, the plaintiff’s attorney challenged Wright on a company he had claimed to have purchased as a beneficiary of the blind trust. “Well, let me get this straight,” said the counsel for the plaintiff. “A company you didn’t buy until 2014 is listed as a beneficiary of a trust document you claimed was formed in 2012?’
“No,” said Wright. “You have put documents I don’t recognize.”
“Documents you produced in discovery?”
“Yes, from other machines in my organization.”
Before this, Wright had been asked if any of the documents he had produced were authentic in the first place, to which he repeatedly stated that they had indeed been in his “possession,” but were not necessarily authentic themselves.
The counsel was more direct at points. “Dr. Wright, are these documents forgeries?” he asked. “Um, I don’t know,” said Wright.
Wright claims he invented Bitcoin, and says Dave Kleiman, who died in 2013, helped him. But last year, Kleiman’s estate alleged that Wright had fraudulently transferred some one million of the bitcoins he and Kleiman had mined together (now worth some $10 billion) to himself.
Wright says that he doesn’t owe Kleiman’s estate anything, and that he is unable to access the coins because they are held in a blind trust controlled by third parties he is not aware of, and that the keys to the funds themselves are unknown.
Nevertheless, in late June, the court summoned him to Florida to determine whether his failure to comply with orders to produce the coins amounted to contempt.
In court, Wright expressed regret over his supposed invention, which he says has been blighted by crime. He said he had originally wanted to “destroy” the enormous fortune, and had only entrusted the keys to Kleiman after much convincing. “Dave talked me out of destroying it utterly,” he said. “If I had my way, I would have put a hammer through the hard drive that held those.”
He said he rued inventing bitcoin because it has been linked to criminal activities, including drug dealing and money laundering. He described his own “fork” of Bitcoin, Bitcoin SV, as being compliant with law enforcement. (SV wasreportedlyused to process child pornography last year.)
At several points, Wright offered jarring, uncommon characterizations of the Bitcoin protocol. He described the technology foremost as a “Mandela network,” and claimed the phrase “public address”—the term most commonly used to describe where Bitcoins are sent—was a misnomer, though the case depends on his producing a number of such “public addresses.”
“There are no public addresses at all in Bitcoin,” he said.
He said the primary reason he can’t access the coins is that he lacks certain “key slices” that were held by Kleiman and due to pass onto Wright next year. But if they don’t pass on, he said, he may never be able to access the coins.
Several times when the counsel questioned why the number of these “key slices” required to access the trust appeared to vary, Wright said the counsel was confusing the trust with another set of Bitcoins, held in the “Liberty reserve”—a now defunct digital currency exchange that doesn’t appear to have dealt in Bitcoin.
At one point Wright threw a document, and was chastised by the judge, who threatened him with “handcuffs.” Wright later apologised. “I’m very sorry, Your honor. I lose control sometimes,” he said. “My wife is a psychologist, and she’s working with me.”
Wright is involved in several other lawsuits with people who claim he is not the inventor of Bitcoin, among them podcasterPeter McCormack. Some observerssuggestthe Florida hearing, if it raises sufficient doubt over those claims, could be enough to have those cases thrown out. || What happens when politics and cryptocurrency meet?: Politics and cryptocurrency need to find some common ground. Regulators are increasingly expected to incorporate digital assets into the global economy, and as the general public becomes more aware of cryptocurrency, central authorities should accept it as part of the game. Cryptocurrency companies and adopters often need a legal framework to buy and sell crypto assets. However, politicians seem to be taking baby steps when it comes to cryptocurrency adoption. With more G20 nations ready to support global regulation for cryptocurrencies, politics and cryptocurrency may become more closely intertwined. However, a significant number of politicians still associate cryptocurrency with high risks, especially after Facebooks announcement of its Libra project. Politicians who advocate crypto While most countries lack clear legislation for cryptocurrencies, some legislators arent afraid of expressing their position on virtual money and digital assets. Politicians like Israel s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu or South Koreas minister of science and IT Yoo Young-min are known supporters of cryptocurrency. US Democratic party 2020 presidential candidate hopeful Andrew Yang is also bullish on Bitcoin, and accepts Bitcoin and Ethereum donations to fund his campaign. Reputable members of the parliament of Sweden, the UK, the US, Switzerland, and Japan have also expressed their support for crypto and blockchain adoption. Even Vladimir Putin mentions cryptocurrency in his speeches, imploring lawmakers to stop slowing down the development of new technologies. However, these voices alone cant bring politics and cryptocurrency together for now. Many politicians continue to attack Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the public space including the worlds most powerful man and prolific tweeter, President Trump. Just days ago, he caused a stir by badmouthing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for being based on thin air. I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity
. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019 Many crypto enthusiasts see Trumps negative attitude as positive for Bitcoins popularity. However, these types of statements cant have a positive effect on the relationship between politics and cryptocurrency in the long run. Story continues Why governments dont like cryptocurrency Most governments are still afraid of cryptocurrencies, mainly because digital coins are decentralised and hard to regulate and control. Fiat currencies, on the other hand, are the core of a countrys monetary policy and have a high impact on the national economy. Traditional financial systems empower governments and enable them to control the amount of money flowing in an economy. Lawmakers can stimulate consumption or investment to generate jobs, encourage exportation, or avoid inflation. Its a complex system that cryptocurrency could disrupt for good if politics were to endorse it. FATF standards to virtual assets The disruptive nature of blockchain technology requires politics and cryptocurrency developers to work together. People need clear laws that enable them to benefit from cryptocurrency while limiting undesired use and protecting retail investors. Its very challenging, as adopting laws involves understanding the concepts behind cryptocurrencies. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the organism that combats threats like terrorist financing and money laundering worldwide. The organisation has put together a set of recommendations regarding the use of cryptocurrencies. These could become the international standard for crypto adoption if the G20 nations support the FATF proposition. However, not all countries seem ready to have an official position on cryptocurrency. Many EU countries, for example, are worried about the implications of massive crypto adoption for tax evasion and financial crime . Facebook raises the highest doubts Nothing has brought politics and cryptocurrency so close as Facebooks Libra. The potential digital coin has scared governments worldwide long before its launch, and not without a solid reason. European politicians starting with French finance minister Bruno Le Maire are concerned about the impact of Facebooks Libra on the financial markets. German regulators soon followed, pointing out that lawmakers should be vigilant regarding the new payment system. European regulators have a long history of investigations and fines against Facebook, due to the tech giants inability to protect its users privacy. And EU politicians arent the only ones to ask for more control over the social media giant. President Trumps decision to make cryptocurrencies a hot topic before the 2020 elections may be triggered by Libra as well. Moreover, concerns about Facebooks abilities to manage a cryptocurrency also come from developers. Ethereum co-founders Joseph Lubin and Mihai Alisie have mentioned the risks that come with the Libra project. According to them, Facebook could reverse the gains made by crypto developers with decentralisation and positive awareness. Final thoughts When politics and cryptocurrency meet, there is either regulation and adoption or prohibition. Politicians can encourage cryptocurrency adoption, but they need help understanding the decentralisation concept and its benefits. Cryptocurrency questions the traditional financial system, which is mostly controlled by politics. So, its only natural that politicians refuse to accept the benefits, as they dont want to lose control over their economies. Politicians need to regulate the use of digital coins and assets to help people benefit from cryptocurrency. Organisations like the FATF could help limit the risks of scams, fraud, and terrorist financing, but they can also hinder innovation as digital assets are hard to categorise. With Trumps latest tweet, the crypto conversation has sparked off in earnest. Lets hope that politicians prove themselves open enough to welcome new technology rather than trying to keep it down. The post What happens when politics and cryptocurrency meet? appeared first on Coin Rivet . || What happens when politics and cryptocurrency meet?: Politics and cryptocurrency need to find some common ground. Regulators are increasingly expected to incorporate digital assets into the global economy, and as the general public becomes more aware of cryptocurrency, central authorities should accept it as part of the game. Cryptocurrency companies and adopters often need a legal framework to buy and sell crypto assets. However, politicians seem to be taking baby steps when it comes to cryptocurrency adoption. With more G20 nations ready to support global regulation for cryptocurrencies, politics and cryptocurrency may become more closely intertwined. However, a significant number of politicians still associate cryptocurrency with high risks, especially after Facebooks announcement of its Libra project. Politicians who advocate crypto While most countries lack clear legislation for cryptocurrencies, some legislators arent afraid of expressing their position on virtual money and digital assets. Politicians like Israel s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu or South Koreas minister of science and IT Yoo Young-min are known supporters of cryptocurrency. US Democratic party 2020 presidential candidate hopeful Andrew Yang is also bullish on Bitcoin, and accepts Bitcoin and Ethereum donations to fund his campaign. Reputable members of the parliament of Sweden, the UK, the US, Switzerland, and Japan have also expressed their support for crypto and blockchain adoption. Even Vladimir Putin mentions cryptocurrency in his speeches, imploring lawmakers to stop slowing down the development of new technologies. However, these voices alone cant bring politics and cryptocurrency together for now. Many politicians continue to attack Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the public space including the worlds most powerful man and prolific tweeter, President Trump. Just days ago, he caused a stir by badmouthing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for being based on thin air. I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity
. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019 Many crypto enthusiasts see Trumps negative attitude as positive for Bitcoins popularity. However, these types of statements cant have a positive effect on the relationship between politics and cryptocurrency in the long run. Story continues Why governments dont like cryptocurrency Most governments are still afraid of cryptocurrencies, mainly because digital coins are decentralised and hard to regulate and control. Fiat currencies, on the other hand, are the core of a countrys monetary policy and have a high impact on the national economy. Traditional financial systems empower governments and enable them to control the amount of money flowing in an economy. Lawmakers can stimulate consumption or investment to generate jobs, encourage exportation, or avoid inflation. Its a complex system that cryptocurrency could disrupt for good if politics were to endorse it. FATF standards to virtual assets The disruptive nature of blockchain technology requires politics and cryptocurrency developers to work together. People need clear laws that enable them to benefit from cryptocurrency while limiting undesired use and protecting retail investors. Its very challenging, as adopting laws involves understanding the concepts behind cryptocurrencies. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is the organism that combats threats like terrorist financing and money laundering worldwide. The organisation has put together a set of recommendations regarding the use of cryptocurrencies. These could become the international standard for crypto adoption if the G20 nations support the FATF proposition. However, not all countries seem ready to have an official position on cryptocurrency. Many EU countries, for example, are worried about the implications of massive crypto adoption for tax evasion and financial crime . Facebook raises the highest doubts Nothing has brought politics and cryptocurrency so close as Facebooks Libra. The potential digital coin has scared governments worldwide long before its launch, and not without a solid reason. European politicians starting with French finance minister Bruno Le Maire are concerned about the impact of Facebooks Libra on the financial markets. German regulators soon followed, pointing out that lawmakers should be vigilant regarding the new payment system. European regulators have a long history of investigations and fines against Facebook, due to the tech giants inability to protect its users privacy. And EU politicians arent the only ones to ask for more control over the social media giant. President Trumps decision to make cryptocurrencies a hot topic before the 2020 elections may be triggered by Libra as well. Moreover, concerns about Facebooks abilities to manage a cryptocurrency also come from developers. Ethereum co-founders Joseph Lubin and Mihai Alisie have mentioned the risks that come with the Libra project. According to them, Facebook could reverse the gains made by crypto developers with decentralisation and positive awareness. Final thoughts When politics and cryptocurrency meet, there is either regulation and adoption or prohibition. Politicians can encourage cryptocurrency adoption, but they need help understanding the decentralisation concept and its benefits. Cryptocurrency questions the traditional financial system, which is mostly controlled by politics. So, its only natural that politicians refuse to accept the benefits, as they dont want to lose control over their economies. Politicians need to regulate the use of digital coins and assets to help people benefit from cryptocurrency. Organisations like the FATF could help limit the risks of scams, fraud, and terrorist financing, but they can also hinder innovation as digital assets are hard to categorise. With Trumps latest tweet, the crypto conversation has sparked off in earnest. Lets hope that politicians prove themselves open enough to welcome new technology rather than trying to keep it down. The post What happens when politics and cryptocurrency meet? appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Bitcoin Tumbles as Trump Critique Tests Stellar Run for 2019: (Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin slumped briefly below $10,000 on Monday, following another weekend sell-off that saw some digital tokens plunge by more than 20%.
The largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 17% from Friday before paring its drop to 11% at $10,571 as of 11:50 a.m. in New York, according to Bloomberg composite pricing. Other highly traded coins also retreated: Ethereum declined 17% and Litecoin fell 13%.
The tumble comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized digital coins on the heels of this year’s stellar rally. Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday that he is “not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” adding that “Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”
Read about weekends as the “Wild West” for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin “continues to trade lower as comments from President Trump put downward pressure on the cryptocurrency,” said Alfonso Esparza, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. in Toronto. Drawing Trump’s ire means “it could fall further to $8,000, giving back all the gains made in June.”
Bitcoin initially climbed after Trump’s comments, but has since more than erased the gains.
Technical indicators were ominous, too. The GTI Vera Convergence Divergence indicator, which detects positive and negative trends, flashed a sell signal as Bitcoin hovered around $10,000.
Though it remains the key support line for the coin, a sustained break below that threshold could signal further losses ahead. The last time the indicator flashed a sell signal -- in early June -- Bitcoin dropped about 10% over the subsequent two trading sessions.
(Adds GTI Vera indicator paragraphs.)
--With assistance from Todd White, Olivia Rinaldi, Vildana Hajric, Brendan Walsh and Kenneth Sexton.
To contact the reporter on this story: Joanna Ossinger in Singapore at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at [email protected], Adam Haigh, Yakob Peterseil
For more articles like this, please visit us atbloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P. || Bitcoin Tumbles as Trump Critique Tests Stellar Run for 2019: (Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin slumped briefly below $10,000 on Monday, following another weekend sell-off that saw some digital tokens plunge by more than 20%.
The largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 17% from Friday before paring its drop to 11% at $10,571 as of 11:50 a.m. in New York, according to Bloomberg composite pricing. Other highly traded coins also retreated: Ethereum declined 17% and Litecoin fell 13%.
The tumble comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized digital coins on the heels of this year’s stellar rally. Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday that he is “not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” adding that “Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”
Read about weekends as the “Wild West” for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin “continues to trade lower as comments from President Trump put downward pressure on the cryptocurrency,” said Alfonso Esparza, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. in Toronto. Drawing Trump’s ire means “it could fall further to $8,000, giving back all the gains made in June.”
Bitcoin initially climbed after Trump’s comments, but has since more than erased the gains.
Technical indicators were ominous, too. The GTI Vera Convergence Divergence indicator, which detects positive and negative trends, flashed a sell signal as Bitcoin hovered around $10,000.
Though it remains the key support line for the coin, a sustained break below that threshold could signal further losses ahead. The last time the indicator flashed a sell signal -- in early June -- Bitcoin dropped about 10% over the subsequent two trading sessions.
(Adds GTI Vera indicator paragraphs.)
--With assistance from Todd White, Olivia Rinaldi, Vildana Hajric, Brendan Walsh and Kenneth Sexton.
To contact the reporter on this story: Joanna Ossinger in Singapore at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at [email protected], Adam Haigh, Yakob Peterseil
For more articles like this, please visit us atbloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P. || Bitcoin Tumbles as Trump Critique Tests Stellar Run for 2019: (Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin slumped briefly below $10,000 on Monday, following another weekend sell-off that saw some digital tokens plunge by more than 20%. The largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 17% from Friday before paring its drop to 11% at $10,571 as of 11:50 a.m. in New York, according to Bloomberg composite pricing. Other highly traded coins also retreated: Ethereum declined 17% and Litecoin fell 13%. The tumble comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized digital coins on the heels of this years stellar rally. Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday that he is not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air, adding that Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity. Read about weekends as the Wild West for Bitcoin. Bitcoin continues to trade lower as comments from President Trump put downward pressure on the cryptocurrency, said Alfonso Esparza, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. in Toronto. Drawing Trumps ire means it could fall further to $8,000, giving back all the gains made in June. Bitcoin initially climbed after Trumps comments, but has since more than erased the gains. Technical indicators were ominous, too. The GTI Vera Convergence Divergence indicator, which detects positive and negative trends, flashed a sell signal as Bitcoin hovered around $10,000. Though it remains the key support line for the coin, a sustained break below that threshold could signal further losses ahead. The last time the indicator flashed a sell signal -- in early June -- Bitcoin dropped about 10% over the subsequent two trading sessions. (Adds GTI Vera indicator paragraphs.) --With assistance from Todd White, Olivia Rinaldi, Vildana Hajric, Brendan Walsh and Kenneth Sexton. To contact the reporter on this story: Joanna Ossinger in Singapore at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at [email protected], Adam Haigh, Yakob Peterseil For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com ©2019 Bloomberg L.P. || Silver Price Forecast – Silver markets rally to open up the week: Silver marketswent back and forth during the day on Monday with an upward tilt, as we are basically at the “point of control” of the last 30 days, meaning the area where the most volume has been traded in the futures market. That being the case, it’s very likely that we aren’t ready to go significantly higher or lower, and we will simply continue to bounce around between the $15.00 level underneath and the $15.50 level above. At this point, the market is essentially right in the middle of this area, so I’m not overly compelled to put a lot of money to work in the silver market right now. However, there are couple of things that make me lean in one direction.
The Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in July should continue to help silver and other precious metals as well, but the question now is going to be whether or not they cut 25 or 50 basis points. Another thing that we are going to be paying attention to is whether or not the Federal Reserve is likely to continue cutting, and if they do sound like they are more than likely going to do that, then it’s very likely that we will finally break through the $15.50 and start reaching towards the $16.00 level as well. All things in equal though, this is a market that will probably continue to chop around in the meantime. I believe that the $15.00 level underneath should offer massive support.
Please let us know what you think in the comments below
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• European Equities: A Light Calendar Leaves Earnings and Trade in Focus
• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 17/07/19
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• Strong Data Does Not Interfere With The Dovish CB Policy
• Renewed US-China Trade Woes Weigh on Asian Shares
• Natural Gas Price Prediction – Prices Tumble as Hurricane Scare Fades || Silver Price Forecast Silver markets rally to open up the week: Silver markets went back and forth during the day on Monday with an upward tilt, as we are basically at the point of control of the last 30 days, meaning the area where the most volume has been traded in the futures market. That being the case, its very likely that we arent ready to go significantly higher or lower, and we will simply continue to bounce around between the $15.00 level underneath and the $15.50 level above. At this point, the market is essentially right in the middle of this area, so Im not overly compelled to put a lot of money to work in the silver market right now. However, there are couple of things that make me lean in one direction. SILVER Video 16.07.19 The Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in July should continue to help silver and other precious metals as well, but the question now is going to be whether or not they cut 25 or 50 basis points. Another thing that we are going to be paying attention to is whether or not the Federal Reserve is likely to continue cutting, and if they do sound like they are more than likely going to do that, then its very likely that we will finally break through the $15.50 and start reaching towards the $16.00 level as well. All things in equal though, this is a market that will probably continue to chop around in the meantime. I believe that the $15.00 level underneath should offer massive support. Please let us know what you think in the comments below This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: European Equities: A Light Calendar Leaves Earnings and Trade in Focus Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 17/07/19 Forex Daily Recap Mexican Peso Tanks 0.4% on Pemex Refinancing Plan Strong Data Does Not Interfere With The Dovish CB Policy Renewed US-China Trade Woes Weigh on Asian Shares Natural Gas Price Prediction Prices Tumble as Hurricane Scare Fades || Facebook's Crypto Plan Unites Trump and Democrats in Disdain: (Bloomberg) -- It’s long seemed that nothing could unite President Donald Trump and Democrats on Capitol Hill. Then Facebook Inc. decided to create a cryptocurrency.
Washington’s bipartisan distrust of the social-networking giant will be on display this week as it defends the digital-money proposal in two congressional hearings. In a sign that the testimony is likely to be an ordeal for Facebook, Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to bash the effort.
The presidential lashing was just the latest setback for Facebook, which rolled out its plan for a token called Libra in June –- a move that many policy makers called hubristic and ill-timed, considering the political turmoil that continues to swirl around the company. Last week, Facebook agreed to pay about $5 billion in a record privacy settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
Facebook’s traditional pre-hearing courtesy visits to discuss Libra in the House and Senate aren’t going well, according to interviews with lawmakers and congressional staff. While the company has taken pains to describe its initiative in utopian and futuristic terms, lawmakers have been more interested in data security, the company’s awesome market power and why it decided to base the operation outside the U.S.
Facebook’s Libra Crypto Coin: 5 Things We Know, and 5 We Don’t
“Look at their arrogance, look at their role in the 2016 presidential campaign, look at the fact that they’ve rarely shown any contrition on much of anything,’’ Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the Banking Committee’s top Democrat, said in an interview. “There’s going to be a group of us that’s going to demand some real information.’’
Complaints about Libra haven’t just come from politicians. Trump-appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers last week he has “serious concerns’’ about the token and cast doubt on Facebook’s timeline for launching it by next year. He also warned that the U.S. regulatory system may not be equipped to handle the enormous digital payment system envisioned by Facebook, which has more than 2 billion users.
Democrats, including Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters of California, have already demanded that the company put its plans on hold while Congress investigates. Republicans, though less vocal, also haven’t been supportive.
Power to Dominate
The controversy around the project, however unwanted by Facebook, nevertheless highlights the company’s power to dominate policy debates and, to some extent, set the agenda in Washington. Until Facebook jumped in a few weeks ago, cryptocurrency was more of a fringe issue that attracted an unusual crowd of libertarians, speculators and blockchain geeks. Many in Congress were uninterested.
The stakes are high for both Facebook and the broader digital coin industry as David Marcus, a top executive at the company, prepares to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.
In his prepared remarks, released by the Senate panel Monday, Marcus acknowledged the extensive criticism and pledged to work closely with regulators and governments across the globe. He also addressed one of Washington’s top concerns, saying Libra isn’t intended to compete with national currencies or interfere with central banks on monetary policy.
“We know we need to take the time to get this right,” Marcus said in the testimony. “And I want to be clear: Facebook will not offer the Libra digital currency until we have fully addressed regulatory concerns and received appropriate approvals.”
Existing Laws
Marcus, whose preparation has included a mock hearing, also told the senators that while Facebook has spearheaded the Libra project, it’s not acting alone. The company has said that it envisions a governing body that would include at least 100 organizations. There are currently 28 listed as founders for the Libra Association, although none has paid the $10 million entrance fee.
Libra, he added, will help consumers across the world transfer money much more efficiently and cheaply. And, Marcus warned that if “we fail to act, we could soon see a digital currency controlled by others whose values are dramatically different.” Though he didn’t offer specifics, the People’s Bank of China has already said it’s developing a digital currency.
Facebook has been making similar arguments in briefings with lawmakers and congressional aides, according to interviews. The major companies that have partnered with Facebook on the project, including Mastercard Inc., Visa Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., have been mostly silent about Libra and largely absent from the lobbying effort.
Few details on Libra have been disclosed beyond a 12-page white paper issued in June, which said Libra will be built on a new blockchain infrastructure accessible from anywhere in the world. Facebook and its partners have set up a non-profit organization in Switzerland to oversee the payment network. The token will be backed by a reserve of bank deposits and short-term government securities.
Trump, in his tweets last week, said he’s “not a fan” of digital coins in general because of their potential use in criminal activity. As for Libra, Trump wrote that it “will have little standing or dependability.” He added that if Facebook really wanted to get into finance it should become a bank -- and be regulated like one.
Though the price of Bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies has gained on the surge in mainstream interest in the concept, a number of competing digital coin companies are distancing themselves from Facebook. Some industry groups are also conducting briefings for congressional staff, pointing out that Facebook’s plan is light on details and not necessarily representative of all tokens.
Libra is more of a “company-issued asset” rather than than a true cyptocurrency like Bitcoin, said Coin Center Executive Director Jerry Brito, who’s been involved in some of the meetings on Capitol Hill. A key complaint among purists has been that Libra isn’t decentralized. “There is no company that issues Bitcoin,” Brito added.
$5 Billion Settlement
Blockchain Association Director Kristin Smith, whose group represents several large crypto companies, said she’s generally not opposed to Facebook’s entrance into the market. She acknowledged, however, that there’s a lot of potential risk.
“It’s mixed,” she said. “We certainly don’t want the whole industry to become associated with some of the issues that Facebook has had as a company in the past.’’
Along with complaints that it allowed Russia to hijack its platform to support Trump’s election campaign, the company has also drawn fire for numerous consumer privacy breaches. The $5 billion FTC settlement, which still needs final approval from the U.S. Department of Justice, resolves an investigation stemming from Facebook’s involvement with Trump campaign consultant Cambridge Analytica.
Need to Clarify
Smith attended a news conference at the Capitol last week with four moderate Democratic and Republican members of the House who are strongly supportive of the financial technology industry. They, too, weren’t leaping to endorse the Libra project.
Representative Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat who sits on the financial services panel, said at the event that he hopes the focus on Facebook’s proposal will prompt lawmakers to consider legislation that clarifies the regulatory landscape. Some of the laws governing digital currency, he noted, go back to the 1930s.
“We have to have the conversation,’’ he said. “I don’t want to lose the jobs and innovation elsewhere.’’
Gottheimer plans to strike a similar theme at the Facebook hearing this week, but it’s not clear how many other members of the House panel will be interested in the finer details of Libra or digital payments.
Some lawmakers predicted that the hearing may quickly devolve into a series of anti-Facebook rants, on issues like fake news in the 2016 campaign, data protection, the company’s market dominance and the FTC settlement. Those topics are often easier to understand for some members of Congress who are decidedly not techies.
In what may be a harbinger, Financial Services Committee member David Scott, a Georgia Democrat, mistakenly referred to the digital token Libra as Libor, an interbank lending rate, while questioning the Powell last week. The Fed chief didn’t bother to correct him.
(Updates with Marcus testimony beginning in 10th paragraph.)
--With assistance from Lydia Beyoud, Austin Weinstein and Julie Verhage.
To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Schmidt in Washington at [email protected];Ben Bain in Washington at [email protected];Kurt Wagner in San Francisco at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jesse Westbrook at [email protected], Gregory Mott
For more articles like this, please visit us atbloomberg.com
©2019 Bloomberg L.P. || Facebook's Crypto Plan Unites Trump and Democrats in Disdain: (Bloomberg) -- It’s long seemed that nothing could unite President Donald Trump and Democrats on Capitol Hill. Then Facebook Inc. decided to create a cryptocurrency. Washington’s bipartisan distrust of the social-networking giant will be on display this week as it defends the digital-money proposal in two congressional hearings. In a sign that the testimony is likely to be an ordeal for Facebook, Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to bash the effort. The presidential lashing was just the latest setback for Facebook, which rolled out its plan for a token called Libra in June –- a move that many policy makers called hubristic and ill-timed, considering the political turmoil that continues to swirl around the company. Last week, Facebook agreed to pay about $5 billion in a record privacy settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. Facebook’s traditional pre-hearing courtesy visits to discuss Libra in the House and Senate aren’t going well, according to interviews with lawmakers and congressional staff. While the company has taken pains to describe its initiative in utopian and futuristic terms, lawmakers have been more interested in data security, the company’s awesome market power and why it decided to base the operation outside the U.S. Facebook’s Libra Crypto Coin: 5 Things We Know, and 5 We Don’t “Look at their arrogance, look at their role in the 2016 presidential campaign, look at the fact that they’ve rarely shown any contrition on much of anything,’’ Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the Banking Committee’s top Democrat, said in an interview. “There’s going to be a group of us that’s going to demand some real information.’’ Complaints about Libra haven’t just come from politicians. Trump-appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers last week he has “serious concerns’’ about the token and cast doubt on Facebook’s timeline for launching it by next year. He also warned that the U.S. regulatory system may not be equipped to handle the enormous digital payment system envisioned by Facebook, which has more than 2 billion users. Story continues Democrats, including Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters of California, have already demanded that the company put its plans on hold while Congress investigates. Republicans, though less vocal, also haven’t been supportive. Power to Dominate The controversy around the project, however unwanted by Facebook, nevertheless highlights the company’s power to dominate policy debates and, to some extent, set the agenda in Washington. Until Facebook jumped in a few weeks ago, cryptocurrency was more of a fringe issue that attracted an unusual crowd of libertarians, speculators and blockchain geeks. Many in Congress were uninterested. The stakes are high for both Facebook and the broader digital coin industry as David Marcus, a top executive at the company, prepares to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. In his prepared remarks, released by the Senate panel Monday, Marcus acknowledged the extensive criticism and pledged to work closely with regulators and governments across the globe. He also addressed one of Washington’s top concerns, saying Libra isn’t intended to compete with national currencies or interfere with central banks on monetary policy. “We know we need to take the time to get this right,” Marcus said in the testimony. “And I want to be clear: Facebook will not offer the Libra digital currency until we have fully addressed regulatory concerns and received appropriate approvals.” Existing Laws Marcus, whose preparation has included a mock hearing, also told the senators that while Facebook has spearheaded the Libra project, it’s not acting alone. The company has said that it envisions a governing body that would include at least 100 organizations. There are currently 28 listed as founders for the Libra Association, although none has paid the $10 million entrance fee. Libra, he added, will help consumers across the world transfer money much more efficiently and cheaply. And, Marcus warned that if “we fail to act, we could soon see a digital currency controlled by others whose values are dramatically different.” Though he didn’t offer specifics, the People’s Bank of China has already said it’s developing a digital currency. Facebook has been making similar arguments in briefings with lawmakers and congressional aides, according to interviews. The major companies that have partnered with Facebook on the project, including Mastercard Inc., Visa Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc., have been mostly silent about Libra and largely absent from the lobbying effort. Few details on Libra have been disclosed beyond a 12-page white paper issued in June, which said Libra will be built on a new blockchain infrastructure accessible from anywhere in the world. Facebook and its partners have set up a non-profit organization in Switzerland to oversee the payment network. The token will be backed by a reserve of bank deposits and short-term government securities. Trump, in his tweets last week, said he’s “not a fan” of digital coins in general because of their potential use in criminal activity. As for Libra, Trump wrote that it “will have little standing or dependability.” He added that if Facebook really wanted to get into finance it should become a bank -- and be regulated like one. Though the price of Bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies has gained on the surge in mainstream interest in the concept, a number of competing digital coin companies are distancing themselves from Facebook. Some industry groups are also conducting briefings for congressional staff, pointing out that Facebook’s plan is light on details and not necessarily representative of all tokens. Libra is more of a “company-issued asset” rather than than a true cyptocurrency like Bitcoin, said Coin Center Executive Director Jerry Brito, who’s been involved in some of the meetings on Capitol Hill. A key complaint among purists has been that Libra isn’t decentralized. “There is no company that issues Bitcoin,” Brito added. $5 Billion Settlement Blockchain Association Director Kristin Smith, whose group represents several large crypto companies, said she’s generally not opposed to Facebook’s entrance into the market. She acknowledged, however, that there’s a lot of potential risk. “It’s mixed,” she said. “We certainly don’t want the whole industry to become associated with some of the issues that Facebook has had as a company in the past.’’ Along with complaints that it allowed Russia to hijack its platform to support Trump’s election campaign, the company has also drawn fire for numerous consumer privacy breaches. The $5 billion FTC settlement, which still needs final approval from the U.S. Department of Justice, resolves an investigation stemming from Facebook’s involvement with Trump campaign consultant Cambridge Analytica. Need to Clarify Smith attended a news conference at the Capitol last week with four moderate Democratic and Republican members of the House who are strongly supportive of the financial technology industry. They, too, weren’t leaping to endorse the Libra project. Representative Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat who sits on the financial services panel, said at the event that he hopes the focus on Facebook’s proposal will prompt lawmakers to consider legislation that clarifies the regulatory landscape. Some of the laws governing digital currency, he noted, go back to the 1930s. “We have to have the conversation,’’ he said. “I don’t want to lose the jobs and innovation elsewhere.’’ Gottheimer plans to strike a similar theme at the Facebook hearing this week, but it’s not clear how many other members of the House panel will be interested in the finer details of Libra or digital payments. Some lawmakers predicted that the hearing may quickly devolve into a series of anti-Facebook rants, on issues like fake news in the 2016 campaign, data protection, the company’s market dominance and the FTC settlement. Those topics are often easier to understand for some members of Congress who are decidedly not techies. In what may be a harbinger, Financial Services Committee member David Scott, a Georgia Democrat, mistakenly referred to the digital token Libra as Libor, an interbank lending rate, while questioning the Powell last week. The Fed chief didn’t bother to correct him. (Updates with Marcus testimony beginning in 10th paragraph.) --With assistance from Lydia Beyoud, Austin Weinstein and Julie Verhage. To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Schmidt in Washington at [email protected];Ben Bain in Washington at [email protected];Kurt Wagner in San Francisco at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jesse Westbrook at [email protected], Gregory Mott For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com ©2019 Bloomberg L.P. || Maduro’s scheme to give away petro to Venezuela’s youth is good for bitcoin: The government of Venezuela will not let itspetro cryptocurrencydreams die.
And Venezuela’sembattled president, Nicolás Maduro, now has a new plan to get his state-backedcryptointo the hands of his people: give it away to the nation’s youth.
It’s a scheme that might actually work to spur adoption—but not necessarily the way Maduro intends. In a country with one of the most significant peer-to-peerBTCtrading volumes in the world, even if young people in Venezuela ultimately reject the petro, the results of this experiment could be great forBitcoin.
Just two weeks ago, Maduroannouncedthe approval of a budget of $924 million bolivars (approximately $150,000 USD) to begin distributing 1 million crypto wallets, preloaded with petro tokens. The wallets are earmarked for individuals registered in the country’s Plan Chamba Juvenil, a government work program for students and other young people.
The idea, according to the president’s announcement, is to encourage the country’s youth to begin using and trading the petro. The country’s specially developed “Digital Bank for Students and Youth,” firstannounced in May 2018, will begin accepting petros from these wallets, said the president. The bank would then presumably exchange the crypto for fiat, since petros are still not accepted as currency by merchants or government services in the country.
But if the plan works, it could at last kickstart nationwide acceptance and use of the petro—Maduro’s Hail Mary effort to rescue the Venezuelan economy and evade U.S. sanctions.
The petro is real and Venezuelans are slowly starting to trade it
Precise details as to how the tokens will be distributed, however, have not been made available, and representatives for the government’s National Superintendency of Crypto Assets and Related Activities (Sunacrip) did not respond toDecrypt’s requests for comment.
But even though the Venezuelan government has yet to come through ongrandiose plans involving the petro, Maduro’s announcement was met with optimism by the country’s National Cryptocurrencies Association (Asonacrip)—a nonprofit organization that promotes the use and adoption of cryptocurrency in Venezuela.
Jose Angel Alvarez, president of Asonacrip, toldDecryptthat he sees Maduro’s plan as a “positive” sign for crypto broadly. “It’s a little premature to provide a full analysis,” he said, since we don’t yet know the details of how the $150,000 fund is going to be used. Nevertheless, getting crypto into the hands of a million young people could provide a valuable “educational and training” tool, he said.
Regardless of the government’s goals with this program, it’s a net positive for crypto, he said—if it comes to fruition. “We are talking about a million individuals with crypto wallets ready to be used for buying and paying for goods and services withblockchaintechnology,” said Alvarez. And since the only trading pair currently available for the petro on open exchanges is bitcoin, the Venezuelan government could indirectly drive up demand for BTC, he said.
Although Venezuelans still have very little exposure to cryptocurrencies generally, the country ranks among the top 5 nations in the world in terms of peer-to-peer trading volume in bitcoin. In fact, in 2018, Venezuelans moved more bitcoin p2p than traders on the entire European continent, according to analysis fromAirTMconsultantMatt Ahlborg.
It’s also worth noting that the Venezuelan government has itself been welcoming of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In March, itlauncheda nationalcrypto remittance servicethat allows users to send funds in both bitcoin and litecoin to a custodial wallet, which the government then takes and deposits into the beneficiary’s account in fiat. The service doesn’t yet accept petros.
Still, until Maduro’s government lays out the specifics for its latest petro-promotion strategy and delivers tangible results, much of this will remain purely speculative. After all, the Digital Bank which is supposed to handle petro exchanges doesn’t exist yet, nor has it even been registered in the country’s Official Gazette (a prerequisite for the creation for any new institution).
What’s more, this isn’t the first time that Venezuela has attempted a petro “airdrop” of sorts. Last November, Maduro triedgiving away petros to the country’s elderlypensioners. Itdidn’t work outso well.
The government failed to properly explain to those receiving pension payments in petros what to do with their crypto, or how to convert it to bolivars. The ordeal resulted inprotests in the streetsacross several Venezuelan cities, and the program has since been quietly shut down.
Maduro’s new plan could similarly yield unintended consequences—and that’s good news for bitcoin. || Maduro’s scheme to give away petro to Venezuela’s youth is good for bitcoin: The government of Venezuela will not let its petro cryptocurrency dreams die. And Venezuela’s embattled president , Nicolás Maduro, now has a new plan to get his state-backed crypto into the hands of his people: give it away to the nation’s youth. It’s a scheme that might actually work to spur adoption—but not necessarily the way Maduro intends. In a country with one of the most significant peer-to-peer BTC trading volumes in the world, even if young people in Venezuela ultimately reject the petro, the results of this experiment could be great for Bitcoin . Just two weeks ago, Maduro announced the approval of a budget of $924 million bolivars (approximately $150,000 USD) to begin distributing 1 million crypto wallets, preloaded with petro tokens. The wallets are earmarked for individuals registered in the country’s Plan Chamba Juvenil, a government work program for students and other young people. The idea, according to the president’s announcement, is to encourage the country’s youth to begin using and trading the petro. The country’s specially developed “Digital Bank for Students and Youth,” first announced in May 2018 , will begin accepting petros from these wallets, said the president. The bank would then presumably exchange the crypto for fiat, since petros are still not accepted as currency by merchants or government services in the country. But if the plan works, it could at last kickstart nationwide acceptance and use of the petro—Maduro’s Hail Mary effort to rescue the Venezuelan economy and evade U.S. sanctions. The petro is real and Venezuelans are slowly starting to trade it Precise details as to how the tokens will be distributed, however, have not been made available, and representatives for the government’s National Superintendency of Crypto Assets and Related Activities (Sunacrip) did not respond to Decrypt ’s requests for comment. But even though the Venezuelan government has yet to come through on grandiose plans involving the petro , Maduro’s announcement was met with optimism by the country’s National Cryptocurrencies Association ( Asonacrip )—a nonprofit organization that promotes the use and adoption of cryptocurrency in Venezuela. Story continues Jose Angel Alvarez, president of Asonacrip, told Decrypt that he sees Maduro’s plan as a “positive” sign for crypto broadly. “It’s a little premature to provide a full analysis,” he said, since we don’t yet know the details of how the $150,000 fund is going to be used. Nevertheless, getting crypto into the hands of a million young people could provide a valuable “educational and training” tool, he said. Regardless of the government’s goals with this program, it’s a net positive for crypto, he said—if it comes to fruition. “We are talking about a million individuals with crypto wallets ready to be used for buying and paying for goods and services with blockchain technology,” said Alvarez. And since the only trading pair currently available for the petro on open exchanges is bitcoin, the Venezuelan government could indirectly drive up demand for BTC, he said. Although Venezuelans still have very little exposure to cryptocurrencies generally, the country ranks among the top 5 nations in the world in terms of peer-to-peer trading volume in bitcoin. In fact, in 2018, Venezuelans moved more bitcoin p2p than traders on the entire European continent, according to analysis from AirTM consultant Matt Ahlborg . It’s also worth noting that the Venezuelan government has itself been welcoming of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In March, it launched a national crypto remittance service that allows users to send funds in both bitcoin and litecoin to a custodial wallet, which the government then takes and deposits into the beneficiary’s account in fiat. The service doesn’t yet accept petros. Still, until Maduro’s government lays out the specifics for its latest petro-promotion strategy and delivers tangible results, much of this will remain purely speculative. After all, the Digital Bank which is supposed to handle petro exchanges doesn’t exist yet, nor has it even been registered in the country’s Official Gazette (a prerequisite for the creation for any new institution). What’s more, this isn’t the first time that Venezuela has attempted a petro “airdrop” of sorts. Last November, Maduro tried giving away petros to the country’s elderly pensioners. It didn’t work out so well. The government failed to properly explain to those receiving pension payments in petros what to do with their crypto, or how to convert it to bolivars. The ordeal resulted in protests in the streets across several Venezuelan cities, and the program has since been quietly shut down. Maduro’s new plan could similarly yield unintended consequences—and that’s good news for bitcoin.
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airdrop cryptocurrency blockchain https://t.co/YM3JvOHMHb || 【BTC Surged by 1.13% Within 5 Min...
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9693.80, 10666.48, 10530.73, 10767.14, 10599.11, 10343.11, 9900.77, 9811.93, 9911.84, 9870.30
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 10669.58, 10793.34, 10604.41, 10668.97, 10915.69, 11064.46, 11296.36, 11384.18, 11555.36, 11425.90, 11429.51, 11495.35, 11322.12, 11358.10, 11483.36, 11742.04, 11916.33, 12823.69, 12965.89, 12931.54, 13108.06, 13031.17, 13075.25, 13654.22, 13271.29, 13437.88, 13546.52, 13781.00, 13737.11, 13550.49, 13950.30, 14133.71, 15579.85, 15565.88, 14833.75, 15479.57, 15332.32, 15290.90, 15701.34, 16276.34, 16317.81, 16068.14, 15955.59, 16716.11, 17645.41, 17804.01, 17817.09, 18621.31, 18642.23, 18370.00, 18364.12, 19107.46, 18732.12, 17150.62, 17108.40, 17717.41, 18177.48, 19625.84, 18803.00, 19201.09, 19445.40, 18699.77, 19154.23, 19345.12, 19191.63, 18321.14, 18553.92, 18264.99, 18058.90, 18803.66, 19142.38, 19246.64, 19417.08, 21310.60, 22805.16, 23137.96, 23869.83, 23477.29, 22803.08, 23783.03, 23241.35, 23735.95, 24664.79, 26437.04, 26272.29, 27084.81, 27362.44, 28840.95, 29001.72, 29374.15.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-01-01]
Volume: 40730301359, RSI (14-day): 83.47, 50-day EMA: 21267.15, 200-day EMA: 14942.14
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
BTV News Alert Video: 3iQ Corp. - Two Brand New Products: Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 31, 2020) - 3iQ Corp. (The Bitcoin Fund (TSX: QBTC), The Ether Fund (TSX: QETH.U)) - The company has brought two brand new products to the market - The Bitcoin Fund and the Ether Fund. If you cannot view the video above, please visit: https://www.b-tv.com/3iq-corp-2-brand-new-products-news-alert-60sec/ 3iQ Corp. (The Bitcoin Fund (TSX: QBTC), The Ether Fund (TSX: QETH.U)) 3iQ is being featured on BNN Bloomberg on Jan 4 th to 10 th , 2021, throughout the day and evenings. 3iq.ca About BTV: BTV-Business Television is Canada's longest running business show. With Hosts Taylor Thoen and Jessica Katrichak, BTV features emerging companies across the country to bring viewers investment opportunities. BTV also produces News Alerts and branding/ awareness spots for issuers broadcast on BNN Bloomberg, Fox Business News, Bloomberg TV US and Bloomberg Terminals. www.b-tv.com BTV - Business Television/CEO Clips Contact: Trina Schlingmann (604) 664-7401 x 5 [email protected] To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/71255 || BTV News Alert Video: 3iQ Corp. - Two Brand New Products: Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 31, 2020) -3iQ Corp. (The Bitcoin Fund (TSX: QBTC), The Ether Fund (TSX: QETH.U)) -The company has brought two brand new products to the market - The Bitcoin Fund and the Ether Fund.
If you cannot view the video above, please visit:https://www.b-tv.com/3iq-corp-2-brand-new-products-news-alert-60sec/
3iQ Corp. (The Bitcoin Fund (TSX: QBTC), The Ether Fund (TSX: QETH.U))
3iQ is being featured on BNN Bloomberg on Jan 4thto 10th, 2021, throughout the day and evenings.
3iq.ca
About BTV:
BTV-Business Televisionis Canada's longest running business show. With Hosts Taylor Thoen and Jessica Katrichak, BTV features emerging companies across the country to bring viewers investment opportunities. BTV also produces News Alerts and branding/ awareness spots for issuers broadcast onBNN Bloomberg, Fox Business News, Bloomberg TV USandBloomberg Terminals.www.b-tv.com
BTV - Business Television/CEO Clips Contact: Trina Schlingmann (604) 664-7401 x [email protected]
To view the source version of this press release, please visithttps://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/71255 || ALT 5 Sigma Digital Instrument Market Summary for BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / December 31, 2020 / ALT 5 Sigma Inc. an emerging leader in blockchain powered financial platforms provides its daily digital instruments market summary for Bitcoin (BTC/USD), Ether (ETH/USD), Litecoin (LTC/USD). Real-Time Market Data is available at www.alt5pro.com and Real-Time Market Data feed is also available at www.alt5sigma.com ALT 5 Sigma Digital Instrument Market Summary for BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH Market Summary Thursday, December 31 2020 at 4:20:17 PM ET Digital Asset Pair Price 24hr Chg 7d Chg 24/hr Volume MarketCap Bitcoin BTC/USD $29,102.12 $0.01 $0.25 $46,847 M $540,914 M Ethereum ETH/USD $742.82 -$0.01 $0.25 $14,100 M $84,728 M XRP XRP/USD $0.23 $0.10 -$0.12 $5,700 M $10,233 M Litecoin LTC/USD $124.59 -$0.03 $0.18 $6,329 M $8,249 M Bitcoin Cash BCH/USD $342.49 -$0.03 $0.20 $3,842 M $6,371 M Bitcoin SV BSV/USD $163.24 -$0.03 $0.04 $363 M $3,038 M Monero XMR/USD $157.25 -$0.01 $0.06 $1,033 M $2,799 M Stellar XLM/USD $0.13 -$0.04 -$0.18 $476 M $2,784 M EOS EOS/USD $2.59 -$0.00 $0.04 $2,203 M $2,435 M Dash DASH/USD $99.26 -$0.01 $0.07 $474 M $982 M About ALT 5 Sigma Inc. ALT 5 is a fintech company specializing in the development and deployment of digital assets trading and exchange platforms. Alt 5 was founded by financial industry specialists out of the necessity to provide the digital asset economy with security, accessibility, transparency and compliance. ALT 5 provides its clients the ability to buy, sell and hold digital assets in a safe and secure environment deployed with the best practices of the financial industry. ALT 5's products and services are available to Banks, Broker Dealers, Funds, Family Offices, Professional Traders, Retail Traders, Digital Asset Exchanges, Digital Asset Brokers, Blockchain Developers, and Financial Information Providers. ALT 5's digital asset custodian services are secured by GardaWorld. GardaWorld is the world's largest privately-owned business solutions and security services company, offering cash management services. Story continues For more information, visit www.alt5sigma.com . Contact: Andre Beauchesne Tel. 1-800-204-6203 [email protected] For more information on ALT 5 Pay, visit www.alt5pay.com For more information on ALT 5 Pro, visit www.alt5pro.com SOURCE: ALT 5 Sigma Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/622851/ALT-5-Sigma-Digital-Instrument-Market-Summary-for-BTC-ETH-LTC-BCH || ALT 5 Sigma Digital Instrument Market Summary for BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / December 31, 2020 /ALT 5 Sigma Inc. an emerging leader in blockchain powered financial platforms provides its daily digital instruments market summary for Bitcoin (BTC/USD), Ether (ETH/USD), Litecoin (LTC/USD).
Real-Time Market Data is available atwww.alt5pro.comand Real-Time Market Data feed is also available atwww.alt5sigma.com
ALT 5 Sigma Digital Instrument Market Summary for BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH
[["Digital Asset", "Pair", "Price", "24hr Chg", "7d Chg", "24/hr Volume", "MarketCap"], ["Bitcoin", "BTC/USD", "$29,102.12", "$0.01", "$0.25", "$46,847 M", "$540,914 M"], ["Ethereum", "ETH/USD", "$742.82", "-$0.01", "$0.25", "$14,100 M", "$84,728 M"], ["XRP", "XRP/USD", "$0.23", "$0.10", "-$0.12", "$5,700 M", "$10,233 M"], ["Litecoin", "LTC/USD", "$124.59", "-$0.03", "$0.18", "$6,329 M", "$8,249 M"], ["Bitcoin Cash", "BCH/USD", "$342.49", "-$0.03", "$0.20", "$3,842 M", "$6,371 M"], ["Bitcoin SV", "BSV/USD", "$163.24", "-$0.03", "$0.04", "$363 M", "$3,038 M"], ["Monero", "XMR/USD", "$157.25", "-$0.01", "$0.06", "$1,033 M", "$2,799 M"], ["Stellar", "XLM/USD", "$0.13", "-$0.04", "-$0.18", "$476 M", "$2,784 M"], ["EOS", "EOS/USD", "$2.59", "-$0.00", "$0.04", "$2,203 M", "$2,435 M"], ["Dash", "DASH/USD", "$99.26", "-$0.01", "$0.07", "$474 M", "$982 M"]]
About ALT 5 Sigma Inc.ALT 5 is a fintech company specializing in the development and deployment of digital assets trading and exchange platforms. Alt 5 was founded by financial industry specialists out of the necessity to provide the digital asset economy with security, accessibility, transparency and compliance.
ALT 5 provides its clients the ability to buy, sell and hold digital assets in a safe and secure environment deployed with the best practices of the financial industry. ALT 5's products and services are available to Banks, Broker Dealers, Funds, Family Offices, Professional Traders, Retail Traders, Digital Asset Exchanges, Digital Asset Brokers, Blockchain Developers, and Financial Information Providers.
ALT 5's digital asset custodian services are secured by GardaWorld. GardaWorld is the world's largest privately-owned business solutions and security services company, offering cash management services.
For more information, visitwww.alt5sigma.com.
Contact:Andre BeauchesneTel. [email protected]
For more information on ALT 5 Pay, visitwww.alt5pay.comFor more information on ALT 5 Pro, visitwww.alt5pro.com
SOURCE:ALT 5 Sigma Inc.
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/622851/ALT-5-Sigma-Digital-Instrument-Market-Summary-for-BTC-ETH-LTC-BCH || ALT 5 Sigma Digital Instrument Market Summary for BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / December 31, 2020 /ALT 5 Sigma Inc. an emerging leader in blockchain powered financial platforms provides its daily digital instruments market summary for Bitcoin (BTC/USD), Ether (ETH/USD), Litecoin (LTC/USD).
Real-Time Market Data is available atwww.alt5pro.comand Real-Time Market Data feed is also available atwww.alt5sigma.com
ALT 5 Sigma Digital Instrument Market Summary for BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH
[["Digital Asset", "Pair", "Price", "24hr Chg", "7d Chg", "24/hr Volume", "MarketCap"], ["Bitcoin", "BTC/USD", "$29,102.12", "$0.01", "$0.25", "$46,847 M", "$540,914 M"], ["Ethereum", "ETH/USD", "$742.82", "-$0.01", "$0.25", "$14,100 M", "$84,728 M"], ["XRP", "XRP/USD", "$0.23", "$0.10", "-$0.12", "$5,700 M", "$10,233 M"], ["Litecoin", "LTC/USD", "$124.59", "-$0.03", "$0.18", "$6,329 M", "$8,249 M"], ["Bitcoin Cash", "BCH/USD", "$342.49", "-$0.03", "$0.20", "$3,842 M", "$6,371 M"], ["Bitcoin SV", "BSV/USD", "$163.24", "-$0.03", "$0.04", "$363 M", "$3,038 M"], ["Monero", "XMR/USD", "$157.25", "-$0.01", "$0.06", "$1,033 M", "$2,799 M"], ["Stellar", "XLM/USD", "$0.13", "-$0.04", "-$0.18", "$476 M", "$2,784 M"], ["EOS", "EOS/USD", "$2.59", "-$0.00", "$0.04", "$2,203 M", "$2,435 M"], ["Dash", "DASH/USD", "$99.26", "-$0.01", "$0.07", "$474 M", "$982 M"]]
About ALT 5 Sigma Inc.ALT 5 is a fintech company specializing in the development and deployment of digital assets trading and exchange platforms. Alt 5 was founded by financial industry specialists out of the necessity to provide the digital asset economy with security, accessibility, transparency and compliance.
ALT 5 provides its clients the ability to buy, sell and hold digital assets in a safe and secure environment deployed with the best practices of the financial industry. ALT 5's products and services are available to Banks, Broker Dealers, Funds, Family Offices, Professional Traders, Retail Traders, Digital Asset Exchanges, Digital Asset Brokers, Blockchain Developers, and Financial Information Providers.
ALT 5's digital asset custodian services are secured by GardaWorld. GardaWorld is the world's largest privately-owned business solutions and security services company, offering cash management services.
For more information, visitwww.alt5sigma.com.
Contact:Andre BeauchesneTel. [email protected]
For more information on ALT 5 Pay, visitwww.alt5pay.comFor more information on ALT 5 Pro, visitwww.alt5pro.com
SOURCE:ALT 5 Sigma Inc.
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/622851/ALT-5-Sigma-Digital-Instrument-Market-Summary-for-BTC-ETH-LTC-BCH || Stock market news live updates: S&P 500 powers to a record closing high on the final day of 2020, ending the year with a 16% rise: Stocks closed out 2020 at record highs.
The S&P 500 ended the year at an all-time closing high, securing a gain of just over 16% for the year, or 18% with reinvested dividends. This marked a back-to-back year of double-digit gains for the blue-chip index, after it advanced by nearly 29% in 2019.
The newest entrant to the S&P 500 was also the best performer in the index. Tesla (TSLA), added to the S&P 500 in mid-December, closed out 2020 with a jump of about 740%, followed by Etsy (ETSY) with a gain of 300%. Meanwhile Occidental Petroleum (OXY) and Carnival Corp (CCL) were the worst performers in the index, as each dropped by about 57%.
The Dow also reached a record closing high, and ended the year with an increase of about 7%.
Though the Nasdaq lagged during Thursday’s session, its year-to-date gains were the strongest of the three major indices. With Big Tech and software stocks among the most popular this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nasdaq ended the year with a jump of more than 40%. The information technology and Amazon-heavy (AMZN) consumer discretionary sectors were the biggest outperformers in the S&P 500, in another testament to the 2020’s banner year for tech.
Stocks closed out the year with strong returns, even given the lingering economic strain induced by the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. economic output remains below pre-virus levels even after a record third-quarter surge, and the labor market is still 9.8 million jobs short of its total before the pandemic hit in March. On Thursday, the Labor Department’s final weekly unemployment claims report for 2020 showedanother 787,000 Americans filed for first-time jobless claims,for a sum well above the pre-pandemic weekly average of 200,000 new claims, but still the lowest level in a month.
But heading into 2021, a vaccine is roll-out under way and $900 billion in additional stimulus is set to be unleashed into the economy, offering hopes for a rebound in economic growth and corporate profitability.
“In the last couple quarters, the market probably got most of what it wanted to see,” Tim Courtney,chief investment officer for Exencial Wealth Advisors, told Yahoo Finance.“It got the vaccines with the high efficacy rates, it got very, very low interest rates, and so far low inflation moving into 2021. It’s got what looks like a divided Congress, although that’s still up in the air.”
“But moving into next year, it’s going to be how these things play out. Will the vaccine be distributed efficiently, effectively? Will consumer confidence rise to the point where we could get some of this deferred consumption in 2021, which is what the market wants to see? And will consumers be healthy enough, will these stimulus checks ... keep them above water long enough to have some kind of return to normalcy? The market seems to be priced for these things to work out relatively well.”
While the latest stimulus package will offer a lifeline to many businesses and individuals impacted by the pandemic, many have called for further relief to help bridge the gap for the most vulnerable populations until a longer-lasting economic reopening can take place. Though the House of Representatives voted to increase direct payments to consumers to $2,000, up from the $600 offered in the current virus relief bill, theSenate has so far suggested it will not advance the measure on its own.
Still, the combination of fiscal and monetary policy gave traders reason to be bullish this year, and that optimism may extend into the next, according to many strategists.
“I think that the zero interest rate phenomenon that we find ourselves in is covering over a lot of problems for the market. We do have the issue that there is no alternative,” Courtney added.“And when you have really no effective alternative to stocks, I think you are going to see that markets will shrug off bad news and use the good news to justify the current valuations. I think some level of that is justified when there truly is no alternative, no other place to go get a real return in liquid markets.”
Meager treasury yields have also pushed investors into other risk assets, and Bitcoin (BTC-USD) prices on Thursdaysurged to a fresh record high of more than $29,000, just over two weeks after breaching the $20,000 level for the first time ever.
—
Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:06 p.m. ET:
• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +24.03 (+0.64%) to 3,756.07
• Dow (^DJI): +196.92 (+0.65%) to 30,606.48
• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +18.28 (+0.14%) to 12,888.28
• Crude (CL=F): +$0.02 (+0.04%) to $48.42 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$10.50 (+0.55%) to $1,903.90 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -0.9 bps to yield 0.9170%
—
Companies offering goods and services conducive to keeping people occupied while staying indoors working and entertaining themselves at home surged this year, and were some of 2020’s biggest stock winners.
Zoom Video Communications (ZM) –Yahoo Finance’s Company of the Year for 2020– saw its stock surge nearly 400%, as its video conferencing service became nearly ubiquitous across workplaces, educational institutions and among individuals for keeping in touch with their loved ones. Home fitness company Peloton (PTON) saw shares surge more than 430%.
E-commerce companies also performed strongly, benefiting from the accelerated shift to online shopping as mobility restrictions were in place. Etsy (ETSY) shares jumped 300% this year, and Amazon’s (AMZN) stock rose 75%. Among the Big Tech FAANG names, Amazon’s rise was surpassed only by Apple’s (AAPL), as the iPhone-maker’s stock powered higher by 80% this year.
Also of note was the rise in shares of Moderna (MRNA), which ballooned 425% this year as the company rose from a little-known biotechnology name to become a leader in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
—
As 2020 comes to a close, traders are looking ahead to what 2021 may bring.
According to LPL Financial, history suggests stocks will rise further by year-end 2021, given the rally seen in the final months of this year. The S&P 500 has risen more than 14% between November and December.
“Turns out a 10% or more gain the final two months of the year has equaled a higher S&P 500 the following year every single time since World War II,” LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick said in a note Thursday. “In fact, January was also higher every single time as well, so maybe this strong rally to end the year is a clue for higher prices into next year.”
Still, this would not preclude the market from feeling a correction sometime over the course of the coming months, as many other strategists have suggested may occur given 2020’s sharp advances.
—
Here were the main moves in markets, as of 9:31 a.m. ET:
• S&P 500 (^GSPC): 3,732.44, up 0.4 points or 0.01%
• Dow (^DJI): 30,401.59, down 7.97 points or 0.03%
• Nasdaq (^IXIC):12,877.25, up 7.97 points or 0.06%
• Crude (CL=F): -$0.36 (-0.74%) to $48.04 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$8.90 (+0.47%) to $1,902.30 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): unchanged, yielding 0.926%
—
New jobless claims broke below the 800,000 level for the first time this month, after holding above that level for the past three consecutive weeks.
Initial unemployment claims totaled 787,000, coming in much better than the 835,000 expected. The previous week’s new claims were revised to 806,000.
Still, weekly initial jobless claims remain high compared to the about 200,000 new claims filed on average each week before the pandemic.
Continuing claims, which measure the total number of individuals still receiving unemployment benefits, also unexpectedly fell. These totaled 5.219 million, coming in below the 5.370 million expected and revised 5.322 million during the prior week.
—
Here were the main moves in markets, as of 7:15 a.m. ET:
• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,726.75, up 2.5 points or 0.07%
• Dow futures (YM=F): 30,311.00, up 9 points or 0.03%
• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F):12,860.00, up 18.5 points or 0.14%
• Crude (CL=F): -$0.48 (-0.99%) to $47.92 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$4.00 (+0.21%) to $1,897.40 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): unchanged, yielding 0.926%
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Here were the main moves in markets as the overnight session kicked off Wednesday evening:
• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,726.00, up 1.75 points or 0.05%
• Dow futures (YM=F): 30,334.00, up 32 points or 0.11%
• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F):12,847.5, up 6 points or 0.05%
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For tutorials and information on investing and trading stocks, check out Cashay || Stock market news live updates: S&P 500 powers to a record closing high on the final day of 2020, ending the year with a 16% rise: Stocks closed out 2020 at record highs. The S&P 500 ended the year at an all-time closing high, securing a gain of just over 16% for the year, or 18% with reinvested dividends. This marked a back-to-back year of double-digit gains for the blue-chip index, after it advanced by nearly 29% in 2019. The newest entrant to the S&P 500 was also the best performer in the index. Tesla ( TSLA ), added to the S&P 500 in mid-December, closed out 2020 with a jump of about 740%, followed by Etsy ( ETSY ) with a gain of 300%. Meanwhile Occidental Petroleum ( OXY ) and Carnival Corp ( CCL ) were the worst performers in the index, as each dropped by about 57%. The Dow also reached a record closing high, and ended the year with an increase of about 7%. Though the Nasdaq lagged during Thursday’s session, its year-to-date gains were the strongest of the three major indices. With Big Tech and software stocks among the most popular this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nasdaq ended the year with a jump of more than 40%. The information technology and Amazon-heavy ( AMZN ) consumer discretionary sectors were the biggest outperformers in the S&P 500, in another testament to the 2020’s banner year for tech. Stocks closed out the year with strong returns, even given the lingering economic strain induced by the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. economic output remains below pre-virus levels even after a record third-quarter surge, and the labor market is still 9.8 million jobs short of its total before the pandemic hit in March. On Thursday, the Labor Department’s final weekly unemployment claims report for 2020 showed another 787,000 Americans filed for first-time jobless claims, for a sum well above the pre-pandemic weekly average of 200,000 new claims, but still the lowest level in a month. But heading into 2021, a vaccine is roll-out under way and $900 billion in additional stimulus is set to be unleashed into the economy, offering hopes for a rebound in economic growth and corporate profitability. Story continues “In the last couple quarters, the market probably got most of what it wanted to see,” Tim Courtney, chief investment officer for Exencial Wealth Advisors, told Yahoo Finance. “It got the vaccines with the high efficacy rates, it got very, very low interest rates, and so far low inflation moving into 2021. It’s got what looks like a divided Congress, although that’s still up in the air.” “But moving into next year, it’s going to be how these things play out. Will the vaccine be distributed efficiently, effectively? Will consumer confidence rise to the point where we could get some of this deferred consumption in 2021, which is what the market wants to see? And will consumers be healthy enough, will these stimulus checks ... keep them above water long enough to have some kind of return to normalcy? The market seems to be priced for these things to work out relatively well.” While the latest stimulus package will offer a lifeline to many businesses and individuals impacted by the pandemic, many have called for further relief to help bridge the gap for the most vulnerable populations until a longer-lasting economic reopening can take place. Though the House of Representatives voted to increase direct payments to consumers to $2,000, up from the $600 offered in the current virus relief bill, the Senate has so far suggested it will not advance the measure on its own. Still, the combination of fiscal and monetary policy gave traders reason to be bullish this year, and that optimism may extend into the next, according to many strategists. “I think that the zero interest rate phenomenon that we find ourselves in is covering over a lot of problems for the market. We do have the issue that there is no alternative,” Courtney added . “And when you have really no effective alternative to stocks, I think you are going to see that markets will shrug off bad news and use the good news to justify the current valuations. I think some level of that is justified when there truly is no alternative, no other place to go get a real return in liquid markets.” Meager treasury yields have also pushed investors into other risk assets, and Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) prices on Thursday surged to a fresh record high of more than $29,000 , just over two weeks after breaching the $20,000 level for the first time ever. — 4:06 p.m. ET: S&P 500 powers to a record closing high on the final day of 2020, ending the year with a 16% rise Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:06 p.m. ET: S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : +24.03 (+0.64%) to 3,756.07 Dow ( ^DJI ) : +196.92 (+0.65%) to 30,606.48 Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) : +18.28 (+0.14%) to 12,888.28 Crude ( CL=F ) : +$0.02 (+0.04%) to $48.42 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$10.50 (+0.55%) to $1,903.90 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : -0.9 bps to yield 0.9170% — 3:37 p.m. ET: Stay-at-home trade stocks were some of 2020’s biggest winners Companies offering goods and services conducive to keeping people occupied while staying indoors working and entertaining themselves at home surged this year, and were some of 2020’s biggest stock winners. Zoom Video Communications ( ZM ) – Yahoo Finance’s Company of the Year for 2020 – saw its stock surge nearly 400%, as its video conferencing service became nearly ubiquitous across workplaces, educational institutions and among individuals for keeping in touch with their loved ones. Home fitness company Peloton ( PTON ) saw shares surge more than 430%. E-commerce companies also performed strongly, benefiting from the accelerated shift to online shopping as mobility restrictions were in place. Etsy ( ETSY ) shares jumped 300% this year, and Amazon’s ( AMZN ) stock rose 75%. Among the Big Tech FAANG names, Amazon’s rise was surpassed only by Apple’s ( AAPL ), as the iPhone-maker’s stock powered higher by 80% this year. Also of note was the rise in shares of Moderna ( MRNA ), which ballooned 425% this year as the company rose from a little-known biotechnology name to become a leader in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. — 1:02 p.m. ET: Year-end rally suggests stocks will keep rising: LPL Financial As 2020 comes to a close, traders are looking ahead to what 2021 may bring. According to LPL Financial, history suggests stocks will rise further by year-end 2021, given the rally seen in the final months of this year. The S&P 500 has risen more than 14% between November and December. “Turns out a 10% or more gain the final two months of the year has equaled a higher S&P 500 the following year every single time since World War II,” LPL Financial Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick said in a note Thursday. “In fact, January was also higher every single time as well, so maybe this strong rally to end the year is a clue for higher prices into next year.” Still, this would not preclude the market from feeling a correction sometime over the course of the coming months, as many other strategists have suggested may occur given 2020’s sharp advances. — 9:31 a.m. ET: Stocks open mixed in final session of 2020 Here were the main moves in markets, as of 9:31 a.m. ET: S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : 3,732.44, up 0.4 points or 0.01% Dow ( ^DJI ) : 30,401.59, down 7.97 points or 0.03% Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ): 12,877.25, up 7.97 points or 0.06% Crude ( CL=F ) : -$0.36 (-0.74%) to $48.04 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$8.90 (+0.47%) to $1,902.30 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : unchanged, yielding 0.926% — 8:30 a.m. ET: Jobless claims unexpectedly decline, but still hold well above pre-pandemic levels New jobless claims broke below the 800,000 level for the first time this month, after holding above that level for the past three consecutive weeks. Initial unemployment claims totaled 787,000, coming in much better than the 835,000 expected. The previous week’s new claims were revised to 806,000. Still, weekly initial jobless claims remain high compared to the about 200,000 new claims filed on average each week before the pandemic. Continuing claims, which measure the total number of individuals still receiving unemployment benefits, also unexpectedly fell. These totaled 5.219 million, coming in below the 5.370 million expected and revised 5.322 million during the prior week. — 7:15 a.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures point to a higher open as overnight gains hold Here were the main moves in markets, as of 7:15 a.m. ET: S&P 500 futures ( ES=F ) : 3,726.75, up 2.5 points or 0.07% Dow futures ( YM=F ) : 30,311.00, up 9 points or 0.03% Nasdaq futures ( NQ=F ): 12,860.00, up 18.5 points or 0.14% Crude ( CL=F ) : -$0.48 (-0.99%) to $47.92 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$4.00 (+0.21%) to $1,897.40 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : unchanged, yielding 0.926% — 6:01 p.m. ET Wednesday: Stock futures tick up Here were the main moves in markets as the overnight session kicked off Wednesday evening: S&P 500 futures ( ES=F ) : 3,726.00, up 1.75 points or 0.05% Dow futures ( YM=F ) : 30,334.00, up 32 points or 0.11% Nasdaq futures ( NQ=F ): 12,847.5, up 6 points or 0.05% NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 18: A view of the New York Stock Exchange in Wall Street as the city continues the re-opening efforts following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on December 18, 2020 in New York City. The pandemic has caused long-term repercussions throughout the tourism and entertainment industries, including temporary and permanent closures of historic and iconic venues, costing the city and businesses billions in revenue. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images) — Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , Flipboard , LinkedIn , and reddit . Find live stock market quotes and the latest business and finance news For tutorials and information on investing and trading stocks, check out Cashay || $2000 checks are ‘socialism for rich people’ says McConnell, killing hope of extra stimulus: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday snuffed any hope that the current Congress will deliver extrastimulus money. In a speech on the Senate floor, McConnell repeatedly decried proposals to provide $2,000 to millions of Americans as “socialism for rich people.”
Despite claims by President Trump and members of Congress that many Americans need the extra money to stay afloat in the coming months, McConnell denounced the calls for $2,000 as profligate and unnecessary.
“Borrowing from our grandkids to do socialism for rich people is a terrible way to get help to families who actually need it,” said McConnell on the Senate floor, accordingto Politico.
The speech came after McConnell repeatedly blocked efforts by Democrats to arrange a stand-alone vote on the proposal to increase forthcoming relief from $600 to $2,000—one that has already passed the House of Representatives. Instead, the Majority Leader has proposed tying the measure to suggested legislation on social media rules and investigations into election fraud for which there is no evidence.
Political observers have described the social media and election proposals as poison bills that would doom the extra stimulus measure. The upshot is that McConnell appears to have decided to run out the clock on stimulus discussions, since the current session of Congress ends on January 3, and there is effectively no time to pass complicated legislation before then.
McConnell’s remarks about “socialism for rich people” drew a sharp retort from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Va). According to the Politico report, Sanders accused McConnell of hypocrisy, remarking, “The majority leader helped lead this body to pass Trump’s tax bill. You want to talk about socialism for the rich, Mr. Majority Leader?”
Sanders’ comment came after the Democratic Senator blasted McConnell on Wednesday for suggesting that changes to the social media law—known as Section 230—are as urgent or important to Americans as the stimulus measures.
McConnell’s decision to bar a stand-alone vote on the $2,000 measure came after a handful of Republican Senators had said they would support the extra stimulus, which meant that bill might have achieved the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. By refusing to allow a vote at all, McConnell chose to side with deficit hawks in his party who claimed the measure would be too expensive.
For now, this means that single Americans who make under $75,000 will only receive theinitial $600 disbursement. Those who make slightly more will receivea reduced amount, and those who make $87,000 or more will receive nothing. The cutoffs are higher for those with children.
The incoming Congress, which will be the first under President-elect Joe Biden, could renew efforts to increase the stimulus amount, but that would likely succeed only if Democrats take power in the Senate by winning bothspecial electionsthat are taking place in Georgia on January 5.
• When to expect$600 checks and $300 enhanced unemployment payments
• A brief history ofBitcoin bubbles
• From Bitcoin to Asian tech stocks, these arethe biggest winners and losers of the 2020 global markets
• The biggestbusiness scandalsof 2020
• Under Biden, expectmore scrutiny of Big Tech and mergers
This story was originally featured onFortune.com || $2000 checks are ‘socialism for rich people’ says McConnell, killing hope of extra stimulus: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday snuffed any hope that the current Congress will deliver extra stimulus money . In a speech on the Senate floor, McConnell repeatedly decried proposals to provide $2,000 to millions of Americans as “socialism for rich people.” Despite claims by President Trump and members of Congress that many Americans need the extra money to stay afloat in the coming months, McConnell denounced the calls for $2,000 as profligate and unnecessary. “Borrowing from our grandkids to do socialism for rich people is a terrible way to get help to families who actually need it,” said McConnell on the Senate floor, according to Politico . The speech came after McConnell repeatedly blocked efforts by Democrats to arrange a stand-alone vote on the proposal to increase forthcoming relief from $600 to $2,000—one that has already passed the House of Representatives. Instead, the Majority Leader has proposed tying the measure to suggested legislation on social media rules and investigations into election fraud for which there is no evidence. Political observers have described the social media and election proposals as poison bills that would doom the extra stimulus measure. The upshot is that McConnell appears to have decided to run out the clock on stimulus discussions, since the current session of Congress ends on January 3, and there is effectively no time to pass complicated legislation before then. McConnell’s remarks about “socialism for rich people” drew a sharp retort from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Va). According to the Politico report, Sanders accused McConnell of hypocrisy, remarking, “The majority leader helped lead this body to pass Trump’s tax bill. You want to talk about socialism for the rich, Mr. Majority Leader?” Sanders’ comment came after the Democratic Senator blasted McConnell on Wednesday for suggesting that changes to the social media law—known as Section 230—are as urgent or important to Americans as the stimulus measures. Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Do you think that all over America people are saying, 'My God, we have to repeal Section 230 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, my God, that is a major national priority' Nobody even knows what that is." pic.twitter.com/pW3zUI4aIe — The Hill (@thehill) December 30, 2020 McConnell’s decision to bar a stand-alone vote on the $2,000 measure came after a handful of Republican Senators had said they would support the extra stimulus, which meant that bill might have achieved the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. By refusing to allow a vote at all, McConnell chose to side with deficit hawks in his party who claimed the measure would be too expensive. Story continues For now, this means that single Americans who make under $75,000 will only receive the initial $600 disbursement . Those who make slightly more will receive a reduced amount , and those who make $87,000 or more will receive nothing. The cutoffs are higher for those with children. The incoming Congress, which will be the first under President-elect Joe Biden, could renew efforts to increase the stimulus amount, but that would likely succeed only if Democrats take power in the Senate by winning both special elections that are taking place in Georgia on January 5. More must-read finance coverage from Fortune : When to expect $600 checks and $300 enhanced unemployment payments A brief history of Bitcoin bubbles From Bitcoin to Asian tech stocks, these are the biggest winners and losers of the 2020 global markets The biggest business scandals of 2020 Under Biden, expect more scrutiny of Big Tech and mergers This story was originally featured on Fortune.com View comments || Benzinga's 2020 Year In Review: Coronavirus Mayhem, Historic Crash And Recovery, EV Surge And More: 2020 was a year unlike any other. The stock market suffered a historic crash as the COVID-19 pandemic spread to the United States.
Economic shutdowns and a volatile presidential election couldn’t keep Mr. Market down for long, as all the major indices made new all-time highs as the year drew to a close. The S&P 500 began the year trading around 3,257, crashed to 2,237 in March, and is on pace to close out the year around the 3,740 level.
A look back at Benzinga’s most popular stories of the year paints an interesting portrait of market volatility and trader enthusiasm. Here’s a look at some of our most-read stories of 2020.
January
McDonald's CEO To Employees: The Party's Over
McDonald’s(NYSE:MCD) CEO Chris Kempczinski took over as CEO after the fast-food giant fired Stephen Easterbrook in late 2019 for violating company policy and engaging in a consensual relationship with another employee.
"We're going to be a lot better, a lot closer to where we want to be, where we aspire to be as a company,” Kempczinski told employees.
Cantor Fitzgerald On Aurora Cannabis: Buy The Dip
Shares ofAurora Cannabis(NYSE:ACB) had dropped about 30% over the previous last month, under pressure due to analyst downgrades and “misplaced market chatter,” according to Cantor Fitzgerald. The stock traded around $20 per share at the time and shares currently trade at $8.72, down about 66% year-to-date.
Here's How Much Investing 0 In Bank Of America Stock Back In 2010 Would Be Worth Today
One market laggard of the past decade wasBank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC). Bank of America and other U.S. banks were hit hard during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. Among the big banks that survived the crisis, Bank of America was one of the hardest hit. At one point in 2009, Bank of America’s share price dropped as low as $2.53 on fears it might not survive.
Jan. 26:Kobe Bryantand his daughter Gianna were among nine people in a helicopter that crashed in California. There were no survivors. The NBA legend played 20 years for the Los Angeles Lakers and won five NBA championships.
February
Here's How Tesla Shares Will Hit ,000 By 2024
It’s safe to say the electric vehicle space provided the biggest “story stock” run of the year, best exemplified by industry stalwartTesla Inc(NASDAQ:TSLA). Longtime bull Cathie Wood, the CEO of Ark Investment Management, slapped a $7,000 price target on the stock on Feb. 1, which drew plenty of cheers and jeers. With Tesla shares up 700% year-to-date, Wood may be getting the last laugh.
Tesla Model 3 Teardown Finds Technology Years Ahead Of Established Automakers
Tesla’s core computing technology, which will allow autonomous operation, is "far ahead" of other carmakers' computing, according to a "tear-down" of the vehicle and review by Nikkei Asian Review. No wonder the stock hasoutperformed the entire auto industry.
Apple Demands To Stop Publication Of Book Written By Employee Because It Allegedly Reveals Company Secrets
Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) lawyers initiated legal action against a former employee for allegedly violating his terms of employment. Tom Sadowski published a book called "App Store Confidential" that the consumer electronics giant believes reveals confidential information that Sadowski wasn't supposed to disclose as part of his employment contract.
March
Coronavirus Checklist: What You'll Need To Have At Home In Case Of Quarantine
What should you have in your home emergency kit in case of a quarantine? The question was at top of mind in early March, as the COVID-19 coronavirus started making its way to all corners of the country.
So-Called 'MAGA' Stocks Lose T Market Value In A Single Day
The continued spread of the novel coronavirus has affected the economic activity in the country, with citizens being advised to avoid non-essential social gatherings.
The drop in the value of “MAGA” stocks on March 17 came as the Nasdaq dropped more than 12%. Others, including Dow Jones and S&P 500, suffered similar losses in what was the worst single-day performance since October 1987.
Cruise Line Analyst Jumps Ship On Norwegian Cruise, Royal Caribbean Amid Coronavirus Cancellations
Carnival Corp(NYSE:CCL),Royal Caribbean Cruises(NYSE:RCL) andNorwegian Cruise Line Holdings(NYSE:NCLH) had their businesses completely upended by the pandemic. The service suspensions — and the long-term impact on consumer trust — could prove painful, according to BofA Securities.
By BofA's assessment, demand could take several years to recover. Net yields took three years to return to pre-Sept. 11 levels and about eight years to return to pre-Great Recession levels.
5 Best Performing S&P 500 Stocks Of 2020
• Tesla Inc
• Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY)
• Carrier Global Corp (NYSE:CARR)
• Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
• Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL)
April
Moderna Gains More Than 40% In A Week
One stock that has been on an upward trajectory since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic isModerna Inc(NASDAQ:MRNA), a clinical-stage mRNA company. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company first announced a collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 23.
Back in mid-April, the enrollment of participants for the highest dose arm was underway in the Phase 1 study of mRNA-1273, its vaccine candidate for the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. The vaccine received emergency use authorization from the FDA on Dec. 18.
Bill Gates, Backer of Inovio And Six Others, Says Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Mass Produced Within A Year
"If everything went perfectly, we'd be in scale manufacturing within a year," Bill Gates told CNN's Fareed Zakaria. "It could be as long as two years." In December, millions of vaccine doses from Moderna and Pfizer were distributed.
May
Here's What Warren Buffett Thinks About Tesla And Elon Musk
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.(NYSE:BRK-A) (NYSE:BRK-B) CEO Warren Buffett is one of the most successful and well-respected investors of all time, and Tesla is one of the most controversial investments on Wall Street these days. So when Buffett recently sat down with Yahoo Finance for an interview, it’s only natural that editor-in-chief Andy Serwer would ask Buffett about Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk.
Study: Cannabis Could Prevent COVID-19 Infections
A study published in the journal Preprints, which is not peer-reviewed, found certain marijuana strains could prevent the spread and severity of COVID-19. It’s all tied to how the coronavirus is transmitted between patients.
Like most respiratory illnesses, tiny droplets carrying the disease expelled by coughing or sneezing go airborne. Once a non-infected patient inhales those droplets, it typically enters your body through cells in your lungs and corresponding tissue.
June
Citron On Genius Brands: 'The Lowest Form Of Retail Investor'
Genius Brands International(NASDAQ:GNUS) surged more than 2,850% since May on news of operational improvements and investments. The children’s entertainment company announced it would merge its “Kid Genius Cartoon Channel” and “Baby Genius TV” into a digital network. CEO Andy Heyward called it a free “Netflix for kids” and, in an appeal to today’s parents, an “economic vaccine for COVID-19.”
To Citron Research, the developments didn’t warrant the dramatic price surge. It wouldn't be the last time we heard from the notorious short seller.
What’s Behind The Rally In Luckin Coffee?
Scandal-stained Luckin Coffee saw its shares slump to a low of $1.33 on delisting risk but saw strong momentum this particular week. The spike may have been due to bargain hunting amid the stock's plunge. With bargain hunters picking up the stock, some of the short bets may have unwound, creating additional strength.
5 Worst Performing S&P 500 Stocks Of 2020
• Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY)
• Carnival Corp
• Norwegian Cruise Line
• TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE:FTI)
• Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO)
July
Tesla Demonstrates Why Short Selling Is So Much More Dangerous Than Going Long
Tesla had the single largest short position of any U.S. stock. And while short sellers still pound the table on how detached the stock has come from reality, Tesla is a textbook example of how much more dangerous it is for traders to short a stock than go long.
Workhorse CFO On Meteoric Stock Rise, Electric Delivery Vehicle Maker's Capital Plans
Workhorse Group(NASDAQ:WKHS) is an electric truck manufacturer. The stock exploded in June, spending the first half of the year trading under $4 a share and the second half of the year trading between $17 and $30. CFO Steve Schrader spoke with Benzinga about Workhorse's valuation, its financing and its place in the market.
Congress Allows Troops To Use CBD Products
Military service members are no longer forbidden to use CBD products. The House of Representatives approved a measure that allows troops to use hemp products as well as its derivatives.
The measure passed by a vote of 336 to 71 and the initiative was led by Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is also a military veteran. It specifies that the Secretary of Defense may not prohibit ”the possession, use, or consumption” of hemp or hemp-derived product to a “member of the Armed Forces” as long as the crop meets federal standards.
August
Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II Files For IPO: What You Need to Know
The popularity of this news item was just a microcosm of the SPAC (specialty purpose acquisition company) explosion this year. A SPAC is a company with no commercial operations formed to raise capital through an initial public offering for the purpose of acquiring an existing company.
219 "blank-check" companies raised $73 billion in proceeds in 2020. The 462% year-over-year rise raised by SPACs this year outpaced traditional IPOs, which raised $67 billion year-to-date.
Due to their popularity, Benzinga launched a daily “SPACS Attack” show on YouTube.
September
Tesla Announces B Stock Offering Following 5-For-1 Split
One day after Tesla’s 5-for-1 stock split took effect, the electric vehicle manufacturer announced a $5-billion at-the-market offering. The move came amid the stock’s massive rise in value, as well as the company’s ongoing efforts to construct new Gigafactories in Texas and Germany.
Tesla Chinese Rivals Not Losing Sleep Over Planned K Electric Vehicle
Tesla’s Chinese peers didn’t see the company's plan to bring out a $25,000 electric vehicle as a cause of major concern. Tesla had said it aims to produce a $25,000 fully autonomous electric car within three years at its battery day event.
Xpeng Inc’s(NASDAQ:XPEV) Vice Chairman Brian Gu said the company's mid-range EVs are already priced around the $25,000 mark and if Tesla raises its Shanghai plant’s output to 1 million vehicles annually, it “means the market has grown so much faster and bigger than what we anticipated.”
Sept. 18: Supreme Court JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburgdied following complications from pancreatic cancer. At 87 years old, Ginsburg had served on the court for 27 years.
October
Why Hertz Global's Stock Is Up 90%
Hertz Global shares spiked sharply higher after the company announced it secured commitments of $1.65 billion in debtor-in-possession financing. On May 22, Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection amid $19 billion in debt and 700,000 idle rental cars due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The stock currently trades under $2 on the OTC market.
Revisiting Nio's Dream Run This Week
Nio Inc(NYSE:NIO), one of the year’s best performers, had a strong run in its share price this particular week. The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer was on the cusp of capitalizing on a slew of initiatives it has undertaken to push vehicle sales higher and bring about cost discipline.
November
Can These 2 Hot Stocks Continue To Rise In November?
Shares of Kate Spade and Coach parent companyTapestry Inc(NYSE:TPR) notched a strong return in October. Meanwhile, shares ofGeneral Electric Company(NYSE:GE) rallied 20% throughout October after a few months of softness. Both stocks continued to trade higher throughout the last two months of the year.
Citron Pulls Plug On Nio, Says Valuation 'Can Never Be Justified'
Back in November 2018, Citron Research’s Andrew Left compared Nio to Tesla when the former was trading at around $7 per share. At the time of this story, Nio shares traded at $53.
“After a rocky road of trading, NIO has found itself in unchartered territory that can never be justified by its current standing in the China EV market or its near-term prospects,” Left wrote in a report, which was Benzinga’s most-read story of the entire year.
December
PlayStation 5, Xbox Units Unexpectedly Arrived At GameStop Stores. Of Course, Chaos Ensued
Ahh, the holidays. Restocking ofSony’s(NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 5 andMicrosoft’s(NASDAQ:MSFT) latest Xbox consoles leftGameStop(NYSE:GME) employees surprised as they were given little notice of the fresh stock, which led to chaotic crowds posing a potential health risk amid the ongoing pandemic.
A GameStop manager reportedly shared a company email sent to the store minutes before the public announcement that indicated the location would have 15 new consoles available for pre-order. However, minutes after the announcement, a crowd of 40 appeared at the store, violating social distancing norms.
Elon Musk Calls Bitcoin 'BS' In Tawdry Tweet, Causes 20% Dogecoin Surge
Yep, Elon Musk was back at it again in the final month of the year. The Tesla and SpaceX founder has a history of poking fun at cryptocurrencies.
The price Bitcoin sat around the $7,000 level in January. As of Dec. 30, the cryptocurrency traded around $28,000.
What Happens If You Smoke Weed Everyday?
A headline that perfectly captures life in 2020. Actor and well-known stoner Seth Rogen has said, “I smoke weed all day and every day and have for 20 years. For me, it's like glasses or shoes.” But is smoking weed every day a good idea? If so, what actually happens?
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© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Benzinga's 2020 Year In Review: Coronavirus Mayhem, Historic Crash And Recovery, EV Surge And More: 2020 was a year unlike any other. The stock market suffered a historic crash as the COVID-19 pandemic spread to the United States. Economic shutdowns and a volatile presidential election couldn’t keep Mr. Market down for long, as all the major indices made new all-time highs as the year drew to a close. The S&P 500 began the year trading around 3,257, crashed to 2,237 in March, and is on pace to close out the year around the 3,740 level. A look back at Benzinga’s most popular stories of the year paints an interesting portrait of market volatility and trader enthusiasm. Here’s a look at some of our most-read stories of 2020. January McDonald's CEO To Employees: The Party's Over McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD ) CEO Chris Kempczinski took over as CEO after the fast-food giant fired Stephen Easterbrook in late 2019 for violating company policy and engaging in a consensual relationship with another employee. "We're going to be a lot better, a lot closer to where we want to be, where we aspire to be as a company,” Kempczinski told employees. Cantor Fitzgerald On Aurora Cannabis: Buy The Dip Shares of Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB ) had dropped about 30% over the previous last month, under pressure due to analyst downgrades and “misplaced market chatter,” according to Cantor Fitzgerald. The stock traded around $20 per share at the time and shares currently trade at $8.72, down about 66% year-to-date. Here's How Much Investing 0 In Bank Of America Stock Back In 2010 Would Be Worth Today One market laggard of the past decade was Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC ). Bank of America and other U.S. banks were hit hard during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. Among the big banks that survived the crisis, Bank of America was one of the hardest hit. At one point in 2009, Bank of America’s share price dropped as low as $2.53 on fears it might not survive. Jan. 26: Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine people in a helicopter that crashed in California. There were no survivors. The NBA legend played 20 years for the Los Angeles Lakers and won five NBA championships. Story continues February Here's How Tesla Shares Will Hit ,000 By 2024 It’s safe to say the electric vehicle space provided the biggest “story stock” run of the year, best exemplified by industry stalwart Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA ). Longtime bull Cathie Wood, the CEO of Ark Investment Management, slapped a $7,000 price target on the stock on Feb. 1, which drew plenty of cheers and jeers. With Tesla shares up 700% year-to-date, Wood may be getting the last laugh. Tesla Model 3 Teardown Finds Technology Years Ahead Of Established Automakers Tesla’s core computing technology, which will allow autonomous operation, is "far ahead" of other carmakers' computing, according to a "tear-down" of the vehicle and review by Nikkei Asian Review. No wonder the stock has outperformed the entire auto industry . Apple Demands To Stop Publication Of Book Written By Employee Because It Allegedly Reveals Company Secrets Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL ) lawyers initiated legal action against a former employee for allegedly violating his terms of employment. Tom Sadowski published a book called "App Store Confidential" that the consumer electronics giant believes reveals confidential information that Sadowski wasn't supposed to disclose as part of his employment contract. March Coronavirus Checklist: What You'll Need To Have At Home In Case Of Quarantine What should you have in your home emergency kit in case of a quarantine? The question was at top of mind in early March, as the COVID-19 coronavirus started making its way to all corners of the country. So-Called 'MAGA' Stocks Lose T Market Value In A Single Day The continued spread of the novel coronavirus has affected the economic activity in the country, with citizens being advised to avoid non-essential social gatherings. The drop in the value of “MAGA” stocks on March 17 came as the Nasdaq dropped more than 12%. Others, including Dow Jones and S&P 500, suffered similar losses in what was the worst single-day performance since October 1987. Cruise Line Analyst Jumps Ship On Norwegian Cruise, Royal Caribbean Amid Coronavirus Cancellations Carnival Corp (NYSE: CCL ), Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL ) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NYSE: NCLH ) had their businesses completely upended by the pandemic. The service suspensions — and the long-term impact on consumer trust — could prove painful, according to BofA Securities. By BofA's assessment, demand could take several years to recover. Net yields took three years to return to pre-Sept. 11 levels and about eight years to return to pre-Great Recession levels. 5 Best Performing S&P 500 Stocks Of 2020 Tesla Inc Etsy Inc (NASDAQ: ETSY ) Carrier Global Corp (NYSE: CARR ) Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA ) Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL ) April Moderna Gains More Than 40% In A Week One stock that has been on an upward trajectory since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA ), a clinical-stage mRNA company. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company first announced a collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 23. Back in mid-April, the enrollment of participants for the highest dose arm was underway in the Phase 1 study of mRNA-1273, its vaccine candidate for the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. The vaccine received emergency use authorization from the FDA on Dec. 18. Bill Gates, Backer of Inovio And Six Others, Says Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Mass Produced Within A Year "If everything went perfectly, we'd be in scale manufacturing within a year," Bill Gates told CNN's Fareed Zakaria. "It could be as long as two years." In December, millions of vaccine doses from Moderna and Pfizer were distributed. May Here's What Warren Buffett Thinks About Tesla And Elon Musk Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A ) (NYSE: BRK-B ) CEO Warren Buffett is one of the most successful and well-respected investors of all time, and Tesla is one of the most controversial investments on Wall Street these days. So when Buffett recently sat down with Yahoo Finance for an interview, it’s only natural that editor-in-chief Andy Serwer would ask Buffett about Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk. Study: Cannabis Could Prevent COVID-19 Infections A study published in the journal Preprints, which is not peer-reviewed, found certain marijuana strains could prevent the spread and severity of COVID-19. It’s all tied to how the coronavirus is transmitted between patients. Like most respiratory illnesses, tiny droplets carrying the disease expelled by coughing or sneezing go airborne. Once a non-infected patient inhales those droplets, it typically enters your body through cells in your lungs and corresponding tissue. June Citron On Genius Brands: 'The Lowest Form Of Retail Investor' Genius Brands International (NASDAQ: GNUS ) surged more than 2,850% since May on news of operational improvements and investments. The children’s entertainment company announced it would merge its “Kid Genius Cartoon Channel” and “Baby Genius TV” into a digital network. CEO Andy Heyward called it a free “Netflix for kids” and, in an appeal to today’s parents, an “economic vaccine for COVID-19.” To Citron Research, the developments didn’t warrant the dramatic price surge. It wouldn't be the last time we heard from the notorious short seller. What’s Behind The Rally In Luckin Coffee? Scandal-stained Luckin Coffee saw its shares slump to a low of $1.33 on delisting risk but saw strong momentum this particular week. The spike may have been due to bargain hunting amid the stock's plunge. With bargain hunters picking up the stock, some of the short bets may have unwound, creating additional strength. 5 Worst Performing S&P 500 Stocks Of 2020 Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY ) Carnival Corp Norwegian Cruise Line TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE: FTI ) Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO ) July Tesla Demonstrates Why Short Selling Is So Much More Dangerous Than Going Long Tesla had the single largest short position of any U.S. stock. And while short sellers still pound the table on how detached the stock has come from reality, Tesla is a textbook example of how much more dangerous it is for traders to short a stock than go long. Workhorse CFO On Meteoric Stock Rise, Electric Delivery Vehicle Maker's Capital Plans Workhorse Group (NASDAQ: WKHS ) is an electric truck manufacturer. The stock exploded in June, spending the first half of the year trading under $4 a share and the second half of the year trading between $17 and $30. CFO Steve Schrader spoke with Benzinga about Workhorse's valuation, its financing and its place in the market. Congress Allows Troops To Use CBD Products Military service members are no longer forbidden to use CBD products. The House of Representatives approved a measure that allows troops to use hemp products as well as its derivatives. The measure passed by a vote of 336 to 71 and the initiative was led by Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is also a military veteran. It specifies that the Secretary of Defense may not prohibit ”the possession, use, or consumption” of hemp or hemp-derived product to a “member of the Armed Forces” as long as the crop meets federal standards. August Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II Files For IPO: What You Need to Know The popularity of this news item was just a microcosm of the SPAC (specialty purpose acquisition company) explosion this year. A SPAC is a company with no commercial operations formed to raise capital through an initial public offering for the purpose of acquiring an existing company. 219 "blank-check" companies raised $73 billion in proceeds in 2020. The 462% year-over-year rise raised by SPACs this year outpaced traditional IPOs, which raised $67 billion year-to-date. Due to their popularity, Benzinga launched a daily “ SPACS Attack ” show on YouTube. September Tesla Announces B Stock Offering Following 5-For-1 Split One day after Tesla’s 5-for-1 stock split took effect, the electric vehicle manufacturer announced a $5-billion at-the-market offering. The move came amid the stock’s massive rise in value, as well as the company’s ongoing efforts to construct new Gigafactories in Texas and Germany. Tesla Chinese Rivals Not Losing Sleep Over Planned K Electric Vehicle Tesla’s Chinese peers didn’t see the company's plan to bring out a $25,000 electric vehicle as a cause of major concern. Tesla had said it aims to produce a $25,000 fully autonomous electric car within three years at its battery day event. Xpeng Inc’s (NASDAQ: XPEV ) Vice Chairman Brian Gu said the company's mid-range EVs are already priced around the $25,000 mark and if Tesla raises its Shanghai plant’s output to 1 million vehicles annually, it “means the market has grown so much faster and bigger than what we anticipated.” Sept. 18: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died following complications from pancreatic cancer. At 87 years old, Ginsburg had served on the court for 27 years. October Why Hertz Global's Stock Is Up 90% Hertz Global shares spiked sharply higher after the company announced it secured commitments of $1.65 billion in debtor-in-possession financing. On May 22, Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection amid $19 billion in debt and 700,000 idle rental cars due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The stock currently trades under $2 on the OTC market. Revisiting Nio's Dream Run This Week Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO ), one of the year’s best performers, had a strong run in its share price this particular week. The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer was on the cusp of capitalizing on a slew of initiatives it has undertaken to push vehicle sales higher and bring about cost discipline. November Can These 2 Hot Stocks Continue To Rise In November? Shares of Kate Spade and Coach parent company Tapestry Inc (NYSE: TPR ) notched a strong return in October. Meanwhile, shares of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) rallied 20% throughout October after a few months of softness. Both stocks continued to trade higher throughout the last two months of the year. Citron Pulls Plug On Nio, Says Valuation 'Can Never Be Justified' Back in November 2018, Citron Research’s Andrew Left compared Nio to Tesla when the former was trading at around $7 per share. At the time of this story, Nio shares traded at $53. “After a rocky road of trading, NIO has found itself in unchartered territory that can never be justified by its current standing in the China EV market or its near-term prospects,” Left wrote in a report, which was Benzinga’s most-read story of the entire year. December PlayStation 5, Xbox Units Unexpectedly Arrived At GameStop Stores. Of Course, Chaos Ensued Ahh, the holidays. Restocking of Sony’s (NYSE: SNE ) PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT ) latest Xbox consoles left GameStop (NYSE: GME ) employees surprised as they were given little notice of the fresh stock, which led to chaotic crowds posing a potential health risk amid the ongoing pandemic. A GameStop manager reportedly shared a company email sent to the store minutes before the public announcement that indicated the location would have 15 new consoles available for pre-order. However, minutes after the announcement, a crowd of 40 appeared at the store, violating social distancing norms. Elon Musk Calls Bitcoin 'BS' In Tawdry Tweet, Causes 20% Dogecoin Surge Yep, Elon Musk was back at it again in the final month of the year. The Tesla and SpaceX founder has a history of poking fun at cryptocurrencies. The price Bitcoin sat around the $7,000 level in January. As of Dec. 30, the cryptocurrency traded around $28,000. What Happens If You Smoke Weed Everyday? A headline that perfectly captures life in 2020. Actor and well-known stoner Seth Rogen has said, “I smoke weed all day and every day and have for 20 years. For me, it's like glasses or shoes.” But is smoking weed every day a good idea? If so, what actually happens? Who on Twitter Taught You The Most About Investing/Trading This Year? — Benzinga (@Benzinga) December 29, 2020 See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Feds Fine Daimler Trucks M For Slow Recall Reporting Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Dow Rises 60 Points; Red Lion Hotels Shares Climb On Acquisition News © 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || FOREX-More weakness seen as dollar posts worst year since 2017: * Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E (Adds context, yearly performance for currency pairs, updates prices) By Karen Brettell NEW YORK, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The dollar posted its biggest yearly loss since 2017 on Thursday, capping off a manic year that saw the currency serve as a safe haven in March when panic over the spread of COVID-19 in the United States peaked, before dropping on unprecedented Federal Reserve stimulus. The greenback soared to a three-year high of 102.99 against a basket of currencies in March, before ending the year at 89.96, down 6.77% on the year and 12.65% from its March high. An improving global economic outlook as COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, rock-bottom U.S. interest rates and ongoing Fed bond purchases have dented the dollar's appeal. Expectations of additional fiscal stimulus and rising fiscal and current account deficits are additional headwinds that are likely to hurt the U.S. currency over the coming year. "I expect the dollar to depreciate further over the next few years as the Fed keeps rates at zero whilst maintaining its bloated balance sheet," Kevin Boscher, chief investment officer at asset manager Ravenscroft, told clients. "The magnitude of the twin deficits dwarfs any other major economy," he said. The euro ended at $1.2215, up 8.97% on the year. It reached $1.2310 on Wednesday, the highest since April 2018, but pared gains as investors squared positions for the year. The Aussie and kiwi both hit their highest levels since April 2018 on Thursday with the Aussie surging as high as $0.7743 and the New Zealand dollar reaching $0.7241. They pared gains but ended up 9.76% and 6.82% this year, respectively. The dollar slipped 4.90% this year against the Japanese currency to 103.25 yen. It is holding just above a nine-month low of 102.86 yen reached on Dec. 17. The greenback also lost 12.09% to the Swedish crown, ending at 8.2176. Bitcoin blasted to a record high of $29,300 on Thursday, taking the yearly gain for the world's most popular cryptocurrency past 300%. U.S. Senate leader Mitch McConnell dealt a likely death blow on Wednesday to Republican President Donald Trump's bid to boost coronavirus aid to Americans, declining to schedule a swift Senate vote on a bill to raise relief checks to $2,000 from $600. However, Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office next month, is expected to push for more measures to support the U.S. economy. Data on Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week but remain elevated more than nine months. Investors are also watching runoff elections in Georgia for two Senate seats next Tuesday that will determine which party controls the Senate. If the Republicans win one or both of the Georgia seats, they will retain a slim majority in the chamber and can block Biden's legislative goals and judicial nominees. Sterling got a boost after Britain's markets watchdog intervened hours before the country leaves the European Union's single market on Thursday with a partial climbdown on curbs that risked disrupting swaps trades worth billions of euros. The pound ended up 2.98% at $1.3656 after a year full of Brexit drama. It reached $1.3686 earlier on Thursday, the highest since May 2018. The greenback fell 1.79% this year against the Canadian dollar, ending at 1.2755 Canadian dollars. The loonie’s recent rise has lagged other currencies as oil prices waver. "The lack of direction in oil prices over that last 10 days or so has rendered the Canadian dollar the underperformer of the dollar bloc pack," analysts at Action Economics said in a report on Thursday. Oil is a major Canadian export. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 2:01PM (1901 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 89.9610 89.5950 +0.42% +0.00% +89.9800 +89.5150 Euro/Dollar $1.2215 $1.2300 -0.68% +8.97% +$1.2310 +$1.2215 Dollar/Yen 103.2450 103.2600 +0.03% -4.90% +103.3050 +103.0050 Euro/Yen 126.11 126.92 -0.64% +3.41% +126.9800 +126.1300 Dollar/Swiss 0.8856 0.8814 +0.47% -8.48% +0.8856 +0.8794 Sterling/Dollar $1.3656 $1.3626 +0.23% +2.98% +$1.3685 +$1.3600 Dollar/Canadian 1.2755 1.2751 +0.06% -1.79% +1.2769 +1.2714 Aussie/Dollar $0.7700 $0.7686 +0.20% +9.76% +$0.7742 +$0.7682 Euro/Swiss 1.0817 1.0841 -0.22% -0.32% +1.0846 +1.0799 Euro/Sterling 0.8943 0.9025 -0.91% +5.78% +0.9035 +0.8944 NZ $0.7187 $0.7205 -0.24% +6.82% +$0.7240 +$0.7183 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 8.5845 8.5400 +0.59% -2.07% +8.5900 +8.5015 Euro/Norway 10.4902 10.4915 -0.01% +6.63% +10.5230 +10.4480 Dollar/Sweden 8.2176 8.1964 -0.38% -12.09% +8.2249 +8.1504 Euro/Sweden 10.0382 10.0764 -0.38% -4.12% +10.0949 +10.0100 (Additional reporting by Sujata Rao in London; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Jonathan Oatis) || FOREX-More weakness seen as dollar posts worst year since 2017: * Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E (Adds context, yearly performance for currency pairs, updates prices) By Karen Brettell NEW YORK, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The dollar posted its biggest yearly loss since 2017 on Thursday, capping off a manic year that saw the currency serve as a safe haven in March when panic over the spread of COVID-19 in the United States peaked, before dropping on unprecedented Federal Reserve stimulus. The greenback soared to a three-year high of 102.99 against a basket of currencies in March, before ending the year at 89.96, down 6.77% on the year and 12.65% from its March high. An improving global economic outlook as COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, rock-bottom U.S. interest rates and ongoing Fed bond purchases have dented the dollar's appeal. Expectations of additional fiscal stimulus and rising fiscal and current account deficits are additional headwinds that are likely to hurt the U.S. currency over the coming year. "I expect the dollar to depreciate further over the next few years as the Fed keeps rates at zero whilst maintaining its bloated balance sheet," Kevin Boscher, chief investment officer at asset manager Ravenscroft, told clients. "The magnitude of the twin deficits dwarfs any other major economy," he said. The euro ended at $1.2215, up 8.97% on the year. It reached $1.2310 on Wednesday, the highest since April 2018, but pared gains as investors squared positions for the year. The Aussie and kiwi both hit their highest levels since April 2018 on Thursday with the Aussie surging as high as $0.7743 and the New Zealand dollar reaching $0.7241. They pared gains but ended up 9.76% and 6.82% this year, respectively. The dollar slipped 4.90% this year against the Japanese currency to 103.25 yen. It is holding just above a nine-month low of 102.86 yen reached on Dec. 17. The greenback also lost 12.09% to the Swedish crown, ending at 8.2176. Bitcoin blasted to a record high of $29,300 on Thursday, taking the yearly gain for the world's most popular cryptocurrency past 300%. U.S. Senate leader Mitch McConnell dealt a likely death blow on Wednesday to Republican President Donald Trump's bid to boost coronavirus aid to Americans, declining to schedule a swift Senate vote on a bill to raise relief checks to $2,000 from $600. However, Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office next month, is expected to push for more measures to support the U.S. economy. Data on Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week but remain elevated more than nine months. Investors are also watching runoff elections in Georgia for two Senate seats next Tuesday that will determine which party controls the Senate. If the Republicans win one or both of the Georgia seats, they will retain a slim majority in the chamber and can block Biden's legislative goals and judicial nominees. Sterling got a boost after Britain's markets watchdog intervened hours before the country leaves the European Union's single market on Thursday with a partial climbdown on curbs that risked disrupting swaps trades worth billions of euros. The pound ended up 2.98% at $1.3656 after a year full of Brexit drama. It reached $1.3686 earlier on Thursday, the highest since May 2018. The greenback fell 1.79% this year against the Canadian dollar, ending at 1.2755 Canadian dollars. The loonie’s recent rise has lagged other currencies as oil prices waver. "The lack of direction in oil prices over that last 10 days or so has rendered the Canadian dollar the underperformer of the dollar bloc pack," analysts at Action Economics said in a report on Thursday. Oil is a major Canadian export. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 2:01PM (1901 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Dollar index 89.9610 89.5950 +0.42% +0.00% +89.9800 +89.5150 Euro/Dollar $1.2215 $1.2300 -0.68% +8.97% +$1.2310 +$1.2215 Dollar/Yen 103.2450 103.2600 +0.03% -4.90% +103.3050 +103.0050 Euro/Yen 126.11 126.92 -0.64% +3.41% +126.9800 +126.1300 Dollar/Swiss 0.8856 0.8814 +0.47% -8.48% +0.8856 +0.8794 Sterling/Dollar $1.3656 $1.3626 +0.23% +2.98% +$1.3685 +$1.3600 Dollar/Canadian 1.2755 1.2751 +0.06% -1.79% +1.2769 +1.2714 Aussie/Dollar $0.7700 $0.7686 +0.20% +9.76% +$0.7742 +$0.7682 Euro/Swiss 1.0817 1.0841 -0.22% -0.32% +1.0846 +1.0799 Euro/Sterling 0.8943 0.9025 -0.91% +5.78% +0.9035 +0.8944 NZ $0.7187 $0.7205 -0.24% +6.82% +$0.7240 +$0.7183 Dollar/Dollar Dollar/Norway 8.5845 8.5400 +0.59% -2.07% +8.5900 +8.5015 Euro/Norway 10.4902 10.4915 -0.01% +6.63% +10.5230 +10.4480 Dollar/Sweden 8.2176 8.1964 -0.38% -12.09% +8.2249 +8.1504 Euro/Sweden 10.0382 10.0764 -0.38% -4.12% +10.0949 +10.0100 (Additional reporting by Sujata Rao in London; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Jonathan Oatis) || Bitcoin touches record above $29,000, extending 2020 rally: By John McCrank
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The price of Bitcoin topped $29,000 on Thursday for the first time, with the digital currency almost quadrupling in value this year amid heightened interest from investors big and small alike.
The world's most popular cryptocurrency touched $29,300 before pulling back, most recently down 0.67% at $28,774.36. It has surged by nearly half since breaking $20,000 for the first time on Dec. 16.
Bitcoin's potential for quick gains, as well as expectations it could become a mainstream payment method, has attracted demand from larger U.S. investors, as well as from traders who normally stick to equities.
"You can buy a stock like Amazon, you can buy a stock like Apple, and you know what you got," said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC. "Bitcoin you really just have digits on a screen and you're really hoping that the guy behind you sees it as being worth more than what you just paid for it, so it's a purely speculative view," he said.
Still, intrigued by the story behind bitcoin and the traction it was getting with institutional investors, he put 1% of his net worth into a bitcoin fund around five weeks ago, which has doubled in value since then, and he sold half on Thursday.
"When you double your money within five weeks, if you sell half of it, I figure now you’re playing with the house's money," he said.
Recent gains have taken bitcoin's market capitalization past $536 billion, according to industry website CoinMarketCap https://coinmarketcap.com.
(Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Jonathan Oatis) || Bitcoin touches record above $29,000, extending 2020 rally: By John McCrank NEW YORK (Reuters) - The price of Bitcoin topped $29,000 on Thursday for the first time, with the digital currency almost quadrupling in value this year amid heightened interest from investors big and small alike. The world's most popular cryptocurrency touched $29,300 before pulling back, most recently down 0.67% at $28,774.36. It has surged by nearly half since breaking $20,000 for the first time on Dec. 16. Bitcoin's potential for quick gains, as well as expectations it could become a mainstream payment method, has attracted demand from larger U.S. investors, as well as from traders who normally stick to equities. "You can buy a stock like Amazon, you can buy a stock like Apple, and you know what you got," said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC. "Bitcoin you really just have digits on a screen and you're really hoping that the guy behind you sees it as being worth more than what you just paid for it, so it's a purely speculative view," he said. Still, intrigued by the story behind bitcoin and the traction it was getting with institutional investors, he put 1% of his net worth into a bitcoin fund around five weeks ago, which has doubled in value since then, and he sold half on Thursday. "When you double your money within five weeks, if you sell half of it, I figure now youre playing with the house's money," he said. Recent gains have taken bitcoin's market capitalization past $536 billion, according to industry website CoinMarketCap https://coinmarketcap.com. (Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Jonathan Oatis) || Bitcoin touches record above $29,000, extending 2020 rally: By John McCrank
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The price of Bitcoin topped $29,000 on Thursday for the first time, with the digital currency almost quadrupling in value this year amid heightened interest from investors big and small alike.
The world's most popular cryptocurrency touched $29,300 before pulling back, most recently down 0.67% at $28,774.36. It has surged by nearly half since breaking $20,000 for the first time on Dec. 16.
Bitcoin's potential for quick gains, as well as expectations it could become a mainstream payment method, has attracted demand from larger U.S. investors, as well as from traders who normally stick to equities.
"You can buy a stock like Amazon, you can buy a stock like Apple, and you know what you got," said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC. "Bitcoin you really just have digits on a screen and you're really hoping that the guy behind you sees it as being worth more than what you just paid for it, so it's a purely speculative view," he said.
Still, intrigued by the story behind bitcoin and the traction it was getting with institutional investors, he put 1% of his net worth into a bitcoin fund around five weeks ago, which has doubled in value since then, and he sold half on Thursday.
"When you double your money within five weeks, if you sell half of it, I figure now you’re playing with the house's money," he said.
Recent gains have taken bitcoin's market capitalization past $536 billion, according to industry website CoinMarketCap https://coinmarketcap.com.
(Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Jonathan Oatis) || Bitcoin touches record above $29,000, extending 2020 rally: By John McCrank NEW YORK (Reuters) - The price of Bitcoin topped $29,000 on Thursday for the first time, with the digital currency almost quadrupling in value this year amid heightened interest from investors big and small alike. The world's most popular cryptocurrency touched $29,300 before pulling back, most recently down 0.67% at $28,774.36. It has surged by nearly half since breaking $20,000 for the first time on Dec. 16. Bitcoin's potential for quick gains, as well as expectations it could become a mainstream payment method, has attracted demand from larger U.S. investors, as well as from traders who normally stick to equities. "You can buy a stock like Amazon, you can buy a stock like Apple, and you know what you got," said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC. "Bitcoin you really just have digits on a screen and you're really hoping that the guy behind you sees it as being worth more than what you just paid for it, so it's a purely speculative view," he said. Still, intrigued by the story behind bitcoin and the traction it was getting with institutional investors, he put 1% of his net worth into a bitcoin fund around five weeks ago, which has doubled in value since then, and he sold half on Thursday. "When you double your money within five weeks, if you sell half of it, I figure now youre playing with the house's money," he said. Recent gains have taken bitcoin's market capitalization past $536 billion, according to industry website CoinMarketCap https://coinmarketcap.com. (Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Jonathan Oatis) || Bitcoin touches record above $29,000, extending 2020 rally: By John McCrank
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The price of Bitcoin topped $29,000 on Thursday for the first time, with the digital currency almost quadrupling in value this year amid heightened interest from investors big and small alike.
The world's most popular cryptocurrency touched $29,300 before pulling back, most recently down 0.67% at $28,774.36. It has surged by nearly half since breaking $20,000 for the first time on Dec. 16.
Bitcoin's potential for quick gains, as well as expectations it could become a mainstream payment method, has attracted demand from larger U.S. investors, as well as from traders who normally stick to equities.
"You can buy a stock like Amazon, you can buy a stock like Apple, and you know what you got," said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC. "Bitcoin you really just have digits on a screen and you're really hoping that the guy behind you sees it as being worth more than what you just paid for it, so it's a purely speculative view," he said.
Still, intrigued by the story behind bitcoin and the traction it was getting with institutional investors, he put 1% of his net worth into a bitcoin fund around five weeks ago, which has doubled in value since then, and he sold half on Thursday.
"When you double your money within five weeks, if you sell half of it, I figure now you’re playing with the house's money," he said.
Recent gains have taken bitcoin's market capitalization past $536 billion, according to industry website CoinMarketCap https://coinmarketcap.com.
(Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Jonathan Oatis) || Bitcoin touches record above $29,000, extending 2020 rally: By John McCrank
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The price of Bitcoin topped $29,000 on Thursday for the first time, with the digital currency almost quadrupling in value this year amid heightened interest from investors big and small alike.
The world's most popular cryptocurrency touched $29,300 before pulling back, most recently down 0.67% at $28,774.36. It has surged by nearly half since breaking $20,000 for the first time on Dec. 16.
Bitcoin's potential for quick gains, as well as expectations it could become a mainstream payment method, has attracted demand from larger U.S. investors, as well as from traders who normally stick to equities.
"You can buy a stock like Amazon, you can buy a stock like Apple, and you know what you got," said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC. "Bitcoin you really just have digits on a screen and you're really hoping that the guy behind you sees it as being worth more than what you just paid for it, so it's a purely speculative view," he said.
Still, intrigued by the story behind bitcoin and the traction it was getting with institutional investors, he put 1% of his net worth into a bitcoin fund around five weeks ago, which has doubled in value since then, and he sold half on Thursday.
"When you double your money within five weeks, if you sell half of it, I figure now you’re playing with the house's money," he said.
Recent gains have taken bitcoin's market capitalization past $536 billion, according to industry website CoinMarketCap https://coinmarketcap.com.
(Reporting by John McCrank; editing by Jonathan Oatis) || The Most Important Bitcoin Infrastructure Developments of 2020, feat. Alyse Killeen: A look at privacy and infrastructure advances that will shape the bitcoin ecosystem in the years to come.
Formore episodesand free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublica,iHeartRadioorRSS.
This episode is sponsored byCrypto.comandNexo.io.
Related:It's Genesis Block Day. Do You Know Where Your Bitcoin Keys Are?
Download this episode
Alyse Killeen is the founder and managing partner of StillMark, and has been investing in bitcoin companies since 2013. While much of the conversation this year has been about high level narratives and new institutional investors, Alyse breaks down the technical advances that happened this year.
Find our guest online:@AlyseKilleen
See also:Writing Bitcoin Smart Contracts Is About to Get Easier With New Coding Language
Related:The Unorthodox Trades That Will Drive Value in 2021, feat. Tony Greer
Formore episodesand free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublica,iHeartRadioorRSS.
• The Most Important Bitcoin Infrastructure Developments of 2020, feat. Alyse Killeen
• The Most Important Bitcoin Infrastructure Developments of 2020, feat. Alyse Killeen
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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32127.27, 32782.02, 31971.91, 33992.43, 36824.36, 39371.04, 40797.61, 40254.55, 38356.44, 35566.66
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 10311.55, 10374.34, 10231.74, 10345.81, 10916.05, 10763.23, 10138.05, 10131.06, 10407.96, 10159.96, 10138.52, 10370.82, 10185.50, 9754.42, 9510.20, 9598.17, 9630.66, 9757.97, 10346.76, 10623.54, 10594.49, 10575.53, 10353.30, 10517.25, 10441.28, 10334.97, 10115.98, 10178.37, 10410.13, 10360.55, 10358.05, 10347.71, 10276.79, 10241.27, 10198.25, 10266.42, 10181.64, 10019.72, 10070.39, 9729.32, 8620.57, 8486.99, 8118.97, 8251.85, 8245.92, 8104.19, 8293.87, 8343.28, 8393.04, 8259.99, 8205.94, 8151.50, 7988.16, 8245.62, 8228.78, 8595.74, 8586.47, 8321.76, 8336.56, 8321.01, 8374.69, 8205.37, 8047.53, 8103.91, 7973.21, 7988.56, 8222.08, 8243.72, 8078.20, 7514.67, 7493.49, 8660.70, 9244.97, 9551.71, 9256.15, 9427.69, 9205.73, 9199.58, 9261.10, 9324.72, 9235.35, 9412.61, 9342.53, 9360.88, 9267.56, 8804.88, 8813.58, 9055.53, 8757.79, 8815.66.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-11-12]
Volume: 20309769107, RSI (14-day): 47.92, 50-day EMA: 8961.51, 200-day EMA: 8725.15
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1452.10, Gold RSI: 35.70
Oil Price: 56.80, Oil RSI: 56.13
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitcoin falls to $8,700 despite weekend price surge: The price of Bitcoin has fallen back into the $8,700 range after an active weekend took it beyond $9,000 for a brief period. On Sunday, after a few days of trading at $8,800 per coin, Bitcoin rose to nearly $9,100 according to data from Messari . But any short-term bullish sentiment that Bitcoin may be headed back above that price line for good has since passed. Bitcoin had been trading above $9,000 since late October, first hitting the $9,500 mark near the end of the month. It was able to maintain this momentum well into November, though it fell into the $8,000 range for the first time in over two weeks on Friday. Enthusiasm for Bitcoin and blockchain technology in general swelled in the past month following comments from Chinese president Xi Jinping, who stated that blockchain had the power to expand Chinas infrastructure and economy. Chinas president is now looking to heighten blockchain innovation within Chinas borders. But that enthusiasm, and even the impressive turnaround for Bakkt (the Bitcoin futures trading platform backed by the owners of the New York Stock Exchange), hasnt been enough to sustain a prolonged bullish trend. The crypto markets are seeing red across the board today with every top-20 coinminus Stellar and NEOexperiencing a downturn in price of roughly one to five percent since the weekend. || Bitcoin falls to $8,700 despite weekend price surge: The price ofBitcoinhas fallen backinto the $8,700 rangeafter an active weekend took it beyond $9,000 for a brief period.
On Sunday, after a few days of trading at $8,800 per coin, Bitcoin rose to nearly $9,100according to data fromMessari. But any short-term bullish sentiment that Bitcoin may be headed back above that price line for good has since passed.
Bitcoin had been trading above $9,000 since late October, first hitting the $9,500 mark near the end of the month. It was able to maintain this momentum well into November,though it fell into the$8,000 range for the first time in over two weeks on Friday.
Enthusiasm for Bitcoin andblockchaintechnology in general swelled in the past month following comments from Chinese president Xi Jinping, who stated thatblockchain had the powerto expand China’s infrastructure and economy. China’s president is now looking to heighten blockchain innovation within China’s borders.
But that enthusiasm, and even theimpressive turnaroundfor Bakkt (theBitcoin futures trading platformbacked by the owners of the New York Stock Exchange), hasn’t been enough to sustain a prolonged bullish trend.
Thecryptomarkets are seeing red across the board today with every top-20 coin—minus Stellar and NEO—experiencing a downturn in price of roughly one to five percent since the weekend. || Bitcoin falls to $8,700 despite weekend price surge: The price ofBitcoinhas fallen backinto the $8,700 rangeafter an active weekend took it beyond $9,000 for a brief period.
On Sunday, after a few days of trading at $8,800 per coin, Bitcoin rose to nearly $9,100according to data fromMessari. But any short-term bullish sentiment that Bitcoin may be headed back above that price line for good has since passed.
Bitcoin had been trading above $9,000 since late October, first hitting the $9,500 mark near the end of the month. It was able to maintain this momentum well into November,though it fell into the$8,000 range for the first time in over two weeks on Friday.
Enthusiasm for Bitcoin andblockchaintechnology in general swelled in the past month following comments from Chinese president Xi Jinping, who stated thatblockchain had the powerto expand China’s infrastructure and economy. China’s president is now looking to heighten blockchain innovation within China’s borders.
But that enthusiasm, and even theimpressive turnaroundfor Bakkt (theBitcoin futures trading platformbacked by the owners of the New York Stock Exchange), hasn’t been enough to sustain a prolonged bullish trend.
Thecryptomarkets are seeing red across the board today with every top-20 coin—minus Stellar and NEO—experiencing a downturn in price of roughly one to five percent since the weekend. || TradeStation Intros Commission-Free Trading, Cryptocurrency Capabilities: Nick LaMaina, senior vice president of product management and strategy at TradeStation , a trading technology and brokerage service for individual and institutional traders, spoke with Benzinga regarding the companys prospects. Background TradeStation is a subsidiary of Monex Group, a Japanese online financial service provider. The firm began as Omega Research, a trading analytics software company that caught its first big break after striking a deal to offer a premium service to Dow Jones institutional clients. After going public in 1997, Omega Research transformed into an online securities brokerage, TradeStation, that evolved into a self-clearing equities, options and futures firm. Whats New? Last month, we saw some pretty transformational changes in the retail brokerage space, LaMaina told Benzinga. In October, the firm rolled out commission-free stock and ETF trading via a new service, TradeStation TSgo. Now, when customers open accounts, two choices are available: Select and TSgo. Users receive the same high-quality execution and educational offerings with both products. TSgo has fewer analytical offerings. Why TradeStation? "Were not just about technology," LaMaina said. TradeStation is a destination for novice and professional traders, he said. Its really about building user-friendly, easy-to-use products, education and community. Thats where we really see the value in TradeStation moving forward. Trade Station's TradingApp Store allows platforms like TradingView, Yahoo! Finance, and 85 other API partners to connect and link with TradeStation accounts, the exec said. Additionally, TradeStation has increased its focus on its trading platforms, he said: Weve totally revamped our futures offering and relaunched our FuturesPlus platform this summer. Next Steps TradeStation Group will soon introduce cryptocurrency trading through its subsidiary, TradeStation Crypto, LaMaina said. "Its in beta right now. We have external customers trading seven different crypto currency crosses and pairs. We have Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin." Story continues Additionally, TradeStation has acquired YouCanTrade , an online trading community and educational offering. It is an ecosystem of multiple coaches a combination of live training and trading demonstrations. It also has a wealth of recorded education the ability to subscribe to different coaches trading signals. The intent is to attract users through the commission-free model and increase engagement with the educational and technical offering. So, the thought of free commissions bringing customers in, but the breadth of products, services, education, and community keeping people here, LaMaina said. You can check out dozens of up-and-coming fintech companies at the fifth annual Benzinga Global Fintech Awards on Nov. 19 in New York City. 0 See more from Benzinga Alpaca, TradingView Offer Commission-Free Trading For Tech Natives, Developers 'Changing the Way Consumers Engage With Content': AskTipster Founders Look To Leverage Technology, Augmented Reality 3 Reasons Why Tesla Will Hit ,000, According To Ark Invest's Catherine Wood © 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || TradeStation Intros Commission-Free Trading, Cryptocurrency Capabilities: Nick LaMaina, senior vice president of product management and strategy atTradeStation, a trading technology and brokerage service for individual and institutional traders, spoke with Benzinga regarding the company’s prospects.
Background
TradeStation is a subsidiary of Monex Group, a Japanese online financial service provider.
The firm began as Omega Research, a trading analytics software company that caught its first big break after striking a deal to offer a premium service to Dow Jones’ institutional clients.
After going public in 1997, Omega Research transformed into an online securities brokerage, TradeStation, that evolved into a self-clearing equities, options and futures firm.
What’s New?
“Last month, we saw some pretty transformational changes in the retail brokerage space,” LaMaina told Benzinga.
In October, the firm rolled out commission-free stock and ETF trading via a new service, TradeStation TSgo.
Now, when customers open accounts, two choices are available: Select and TSgo.
Users receive the same high-quality execution and educational offerings with both products.
TSgo has fewer analytical offerings.
Why TradeStation?
"We’re not just about technology," LaMaina said.
TradeStation is a destination for novice and professional traders, he said.
“It’s really about building user-friendly, easy-to-use products, education and community. That’s where we really see the value in TradeStation moving forward.”
Trade Station's TradingApp Store allows platforms like TradingView, Yahoo! Finance, and 85 other API partners to connect and link with TradeStation accounts, the exec said.
Additionally, TradeStation has increased its focus on its trading platforms, he said: “We’ve totally revamped our futures offering and relaunched our FuturesPlus platform this summer.”
Next Steps
TradeStation Group will soon introduce cryptocurrency trading through its subsidiary, TradeStation Crypto, LaMaina said.
"It’s in beta right now. We have external customers trading seven different crypto currency crosses and pairs. We have Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin."
Additionally, TradeStation has acquiredYouCanTrade, an online trading community and educational offering.
“It is an ecosystem of multiple coaches — a combination of live training and trading demonstrations. It also has a wealth of recorded education — the ability to subscribe to different coaches’ trading signals.”
The intent is to attract users through the commission-free model and increase engagement with the educational and technical offering.
“So, the thought of free commissions bringing customers in, but the breadth of products, services, education, and community keeping people here,” LaMaina said.
You can check out dozens of up-and-coming fintech companies at the fifth annualBenzinga Global Fintech Awardson Nov. 19 in New York City.
0
See more from Benzinga
• Alpaca, TradingView Offer Commission-Free Trading For Tech Natives, Developers
• 'Changing the Way Consumers Engage With Content': AskTipster Founders Look To Leverage Technology, Augmented Reality
• 3 Reasons Why Tesla Will Hit ,000, According To Ark Invest's Catherine Wood
© 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || How to buy XRP with USD: XRP, the cryptocurrency used by the Ripple payment network, is growing in popularity. The world’s third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is now used by a number of major banks as part of their payment settlement infrastructure. The altcoin has become a major cryptocurrency, so it’s no surprise that many retail investors want to get their hands on it. Thankfully, it is much easier to buy XRP today than it was a few years ago. There are now several exchanges which allow you to buy XRP with USD, as well as with other fiat currencies. What is XRP? XRP is the cryptocurrency used by the Ripple payment network, which was created to speed up the transfer of money between institutions. Ripple has been increasingly adopted by banks and payment networks as a settlement infrastructure technology, therefore boosting the usage of XRP. It has already been acknowledged by huge companies such as UniCredit, UBS, and Santander. Unlike Bitcoin, XRP can’t be mined. Every coin has already been calculated, although presently only about 40% of XRP tokens are in circulation. Ripple’s network can handle significantly higher transaction volumes than other leading cryptocurrencies. According to Coinmama, Ethereum can handle about 15 transactions per second, whereas Ripple’s network consistently handles about 1,500 transactions per second. XRP can be sent to anyone in the world virtually instantly for a low fee. You can also hold on to it as an investment, sell it, or convert it into Bitcoin. Getting started Before you buy XRP, you need to have a wallet to store it in. Your main decision will be choosing between a software wallet and a hardware wallet. Hardware wallets are physical devices that enable you to store your crypto offline. They’re considered the most secure way to store your cryptocurrency, but they can be expensive. Examples of hardware wallets that support XRP include Ledger and Trezor. Software wallets let you store your coins on your computer. They’re usually free, which makes them a good option for people dipping their toes into crypto trading, but they are considered less safe. Story continues A major difference between Bitcoin and Ripple wallets is that Ripple requires you to deposit and maintain a balance greater than 20 XRP at all times to use the ledger. Once you’ve funded your wallet address, your account will be activated. Finding an exchange The next step is to find an exchange that supports the purchase of XRP. There are lots of exchanges available that enable you to trade Bitcoin for XRP, and a few that let you buy XRP with fiat currency like USD. It’s also possible to invest indirectly in XRP through a platform like eToro, which enables you to speculate on the price without actually accessing coins directly. Buying altcoins like XRP used to be difficult, but because of high demand, major fiat exchanges now enable the purchase of XRP. Once you’ve set up an account with your chosen exchange, you should be able to buy some XRP using either a debit or credit card or via a bank transfer. Final steps It’s possible to leave your XRP on the exchange you bought it from. However, this doesn’t give you any control over the private key for your coins, meaning you do not actually own them. If the exchange gets hacked and the coins are lost, you won’t be able to get them back. It is therefore strongly recommended that you withdraw your XRP coins to your wallet as soon as you have bought it. The post How to buy XRP with USD appeared first on Coin Rivet . || How to buy XRP with USD: XRP, the cryptocurrency used by the Ripple payment network, is growing in popularity. The world’s third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap is now used by a number of major banks as part of their payment settlement infrastructure. The altcoin has become a major cryptocurrency, so it’s no surprise that many retail investors want to get their hands on it. Thankfully, it is much easier to buy XRP today than it was a few years ago. There are now several exchanges which allow you to buy XRP with USD, as well as with other fiat currencies. What is XRP? XRP is the cryptocurrency used by the Ripple payment network, which was created to speed up the transfer of money between institutions. Ripple has been increasingly adopted by banks and payment networks as a settlement infrastructure technology, therefore boosting the usage of XRP. It has already been acknowledged by huge companies such as UniCredit, UBS, and Santander. Unlike Bitcoin, XRP can’t be mined. Every coin has already been calculated, although presently only about 40% of XRP tokens are in circulation. Ripple’s network can handle significantly higher transaction volumes than other leading cryptocurrencies. According to Coinmama, Ethereum can handle about 15 transactions per second, whereas Ripple’s network consistently handles about 1,500 transactions per second. XRP can be sent to anyone in the world virtually instantly for a low fee. You can also hold on to it as an investment, sell it, or convert it into Bitcoin. Getting started Before you buy XRP, you need to have a wallet to store it in. Your main decision will be choosing between a software wallet and a hardware wallet. Hardware wallets are physical devices that enable you to store your crypto offline. They’re considered the most secure way to store your cryptocurrency, but they can be expensive. Examples of hardware wallets that support XRP include Ledger and Trezor. Software wallets let you store your coins on your computer. They’re usually free, which makes them a good option for people dipping their toes into crypto trading, but they are considered less safe. Story continues A major difference between Bitcoin and Ripple wallets is that Ripple requires you to deposit and maintain a balance greater than 20 XRP at all times to use the ledger. Once you’ve funded your wallet address, your account will be activated. Finding an exchange The next step is to find an exchange that supports the purchase of XRP. There are lots of exchanges available that enable you to trade Bitcoin for XRP, and a few that let you buy XRP with fiat currency like USD. It’s also possible to invest indirectly in XRP through a platform like eToro, which enables you to speculate on the price without actually accessing coins directly. Buying altcoins like XRP used to be difficult, but because of high demand, major fiat exchanges now enable the purchase of XRP. Once you’ve set up an account with your chosen exchange, you should be able to buy some XRP using either a debit or credit card or via a bank transfer. Final steps It’s possible to leave your XRP on the exchange you bought it from. However, this doesn’t give you any control over the private key for your coins, meaning you do not actually own them. If the exchange gets hacked and the coins are lost, you won’t be able to get them back. It is therefore strongly recommended that you withdraw your XRP coins to your wallet as soon as you have bought it. The post How to buy XRP with USD appeared first on Coin Rivet . || BnkToTheFuture CEO: 50 Percent of Funding Will Be Through Security Tokens in 2020: Online investment platform BnkToTheFuture will expand its security token offering (STOs) business to the U.S with an investment in a Securities and Exchange Commission-licensed broker dealer. Announced in a Nov. 7 statement to investors, BnkToTheFuture acquired an undisclosed stake in BMI Capital Internationals holding company, which enables the lending platform to offer STOs to the U.S. market. In an email to CoinDesk, BnkToTheFuture CEO Simon Dixon said: Related: Leading Japanese Firms Partner on Security Token Research We forecast by 2020 up to 50 percent will opt for an innovative security token that improves the potential for returns for investors over traditional equity. We are aiming to build a new industry and asset class. Launched in 2010, BnkToTheFuture is a Cayman Islands-based platform that allows accredited investors to raise equity for financial technology and crypto companies. Since opening STO investments in 2019, its launched two security tokens, including the Bitfinex hack recovery token convertible to Bitfinex equity, and the Lottery.com revenue share token. Dixon said three more offerings are scheduled for 2020 and the platform has brought 450 individuals to invest in STOs. All three strategic investments or acquisitions BnkToTheFuture made this year were to expand its STO business, Dixon said, including an investment in Altcoin.io, which will support a security token exchange to launch in 2020. Related: Six Major Japanese Brokerages Form Security Token Offering Association We are currently working on security tokens built on the liquid Bitcoin sidechain so we can automate Bitcoin dividends under a revenue share model, he said. Dixon previously said 18 percent of the pitches the firm receives from companies looking for funding were for security tokens. Currently 95 percent of deals on BnkToTheFutures platform are in traditional equity. In 2019, 61 percent of investments were made in crypto. Of the crypto investments 42 percent was in ether, 36 percent bitcoin and 22 percent stablecoins. Story continues Funding photo via Shutterstock Related Stories Spencer Dinwiddie Could Decentralize Pro Sports If Accredited Investors Want In WATCH: The State of Security Tokens in Asia || BnkToTheFuture CEO: 50 Percent of Funding Will Be Through Security Tokens in 2020: Online investment platform BnkToTheFuture will expand its security token offering (STOs) business to the U.S with an investment in a Securities and Exchange Commission-licensed broker dealer.
Announced in a Nov. 7 statement to investors, BnkToTheFuture acquired an undisclosed stake in BMI Capital International’s holding company, which enables the lending platform to offer STOs to the U.S. market.
In an email to CoinDesk, BnkToTheFuture CEO Simon Dixon said:
Related:Leading Japanese Firms Partner on Security Token Research
Launched in 2010, BnkToTheFuture is a Cayman Islands-based platform that allows accredited investors to raise equity for financial technology and crypto companies.
Since opening STO investments in 2019, it’s launched two security tokens, including the Bitfinex hack recovery token convertible to Bitfinex equity, and the Lottery.com revenue share token. Dixon said three more offerings are scheduled for 2020 and the platform has brought 450 individuals to invest in STOs.
All three strategic investments or acquisitions BnkToTheFuture made this year were to expand its STO business, Dixon said, including an investment in Altcoin.io, which will support a security token exchange to launch in 2020.
Related:Six Major Japanese Brokerages Form Security Token Offering Association
“We are currently working on security tokens built on the liquid Bitcoin sidechain so we can automate Bitcoin dividends under a revenue share model,” he said.
Dixon previously said 18 percent of the pitches the firm receives from companies looking for funding were for security tokens.
Currently 95 percent of deals on BnkToTheFuture’s platform are in traditional equity. In 2019, 61 percent of investments were made in crypto. Of the crypto investments 42 percent was in ether, 36 percent bitcoin and 22 percent stablecoins.
Funding photo via Shutterstock
• Spencer Dinwiddie Could Decentralize Pro Sports – If Accredited Investors Want In
• WATCH: The State of Security Tokens in Asia || The two main problems Satoshi Nakamoto fixed with Bitcoin: Bitcoin is digital gold because it has a predetermined supply and cannot be censored. Satoshi Nakamoto – Bitcoin’s creator – envisioned a worldwide digital currency backed by energy that could not be coerced by governments. In order to achieve his goal, Satoshi had to solve two major problems with the current economy: censorship and inflation. Will Bitcoin take over the world? The most important key metric that really drives crypto adoption is price. If you want to try and predict the future price action of Bitcoin, you should understand how price moves. The two main variables that affect BTC price action are: Number of coins minted per day Number of buyers When the late-2017 bull run took place, there were (literally) millions of people being onboarded every week and, sometimes, even on a daily basis. Bitcoin’s price went through the roof because the number of Bitcoins available is limited and because the number of people looking to buy the asset exploded. The inflation problem By devaluing savings through inflation the middle class is paying a hidden tax. #richdad — Robert T. Kiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) February 12, 2017 One of the most misunderstood problems by economists worldwide is the fact inflation is treated as simply an effect of money being produced. We could look at inflation that way, like a natural cause that simply robs us of our wealth, but that is not how things work in the natural world. As far as I’m concerned, most assets are limited, so money should be as well. Since when new currency is minted it reaches the pockets of a select few first, these people can then buy stock or real estate. This causes the price of these assets to explode. Free/cheap money creates a bubble . Story continues However, inflation is not the only problem Bitcoin fixes. Now that cryptocurrencies are out of the box, my bet is that we’ll see government digital currencies being treated as cryptos – which brings us to the second issue. The censorship problem Censorship resistance is the main goal of a blockchain. If your favourite blockchain project is fast but permissioned, you’re going to have a bad time. Let me explain why openness is a key feature of Bitcoin in one line: if too few people control the network, they’ll censor your transactions. Projects like EOS or NEO, which I support as interesting experiments, face this problem a lot (as we’ve seen in the recent past). When too few people control the decision-making process, problems can occur. Out of nowhere, transactions can be censored by validators. This is the really important feature when we look at Bitcoin vs “super-fast consensus” protocols. They trade decentralisation for scalability without telling you up front. The real power of Bitcoin is its censorship resistance and hard-money properties. Don’t forget, for money to be money, it needs to go through the three stages of acceptance: First it is a collectible that very few people value Then it becomes a store of value as more and more people hoard the asset Finally it becomes both a medium of exchange and unit of account if it is accepted by the people as a strong store of value If you do not agree with this logic, think long and hard about currencies that don’t serve the first purpose. If you had to choose to spend either dollars or Bitcoin, what currency would you choose? Easy. The one with the least perceived value. Therefore, the dollar is a great medium of exchange (however, it is a terrible store of value). Bad money is always used first. Safe trades! The post The two main problems Satoshi Nakamoto fixed with Bitcoin appeared first on Coin Rivet . || The two main problems Satoshi Nakamoto fixed with Bitcoin: Bitcoin is digital gold because it has a predetermined supply and cannot be censored. Satoshi Nakamoto – Bitcoin’s creator – envisioned a worldwide digital currency backed by energy that could not be coerced by governments. In order to achieve his goal, Satoshi had to solve two major problems with the current economy: censorship and inflation. Will Bitcoin take over the world? The most important key metric that really drives crypto adoption is price. If you want to try and predict the future price action of Bitcoin, you should understand how price moves. The two main variables that affect BTC price action are: Number of coins minted per day Number of buyers When the late-2017 bull run took place, there were (literally) millions of people being onboarded every week and, sometimes, even on a daily basis. Bitcoin’s price went through the roof because the number of Bitcoins available is limited and because the number of people looking to buy the asset exploded. The inflation problem By devaluing savings through inflation the middle class is paying a hidden tax. #richdad — Robert T. Kiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) February 12, 2017 One of the most misunderstood problems by economists worldwide is the fact inflation is treated as simply an effect of money being produced. We could look at inflation that way, like a natural cause that simply robs us of our wealth, but that is not how things work in the natural world. As far as I’m concerned, most assets are limited, so money should be as well. Since when new currency is minted it reaches the pockets of a select few first, these people can then buy stock or real estate. This causes the price of these assets to explode. Free/cheap money creates a bubble . Story continues However, inflation is not the only problem Bitcoin fixes. Now that cryptocurrencies are out of the box, my bet is that we’ll see government digital currencies being treated as cryptos – which brings us to the second issue. The censorship problem Censorship resistance is the main goal of a blockchain. If your favourite blockchain project is fast but permissioned, you’re going to have a bad time. Let me explain why openness is a key feature of Bitcoin in one line: if too few people control the network, they’ll censor your transactions. Projects like EOS or NEO, which I support as interesting experiments, face this problem a lot (as we’ve seen in the recent past). When too few people control the decision-making process, problems can occur. Out of nowhere, transactions can be censored by validators. This is the really important feature when we look at Bitcoin vs “super-fast consensus” protocols. They trade decentralisation for scalability without telling you up front. The real power of Bitcoin is its censorship resistance and hard-money properties. Don’t forget, for money to be money, it needs to go through the three stages of acceptance: First it is a collectible that very few people value Then it becomes a store of value as more and more people hoard the asset Finally it becomes both a medium of exchange and unit of account if it is accepted by the people as a strong store of value If you do not agree with this logic, think long and hard about currencies that don’t serve the first purpose. If you had to choose to spend either dollars or Bitcoin, what currency would you choose? Easy. The one with the least perceived value. Therefore, the dollar is a great medium of exchange (however, it is a terrible store of value). Bad money is always used first. Safe trades! The post The two main problems Satoshi Nakamoto fixed with Bitcoin appeared first on Coin Rivet . || The two main problems Satoshi Nakamoto fixed with Bitcoin: Bitcoin is digital gold because it has a predetermined supply and cannot be censored. Satoshi Nakamoto – Bitcoin’s creator – envisioned a worldwide digital currency backed by energy that could not be coerced by governments. In order to achieve his goal, Satoshi had to solve two major problems with the current economy: censorship and inflation. Will Bitcoin take over the world? The most important key metric that really drives crypto adoption is price. If you want to try and predict the future price action of Bitcoin, you should understand how price moves. The two main variables that affect BTC price action are: Number of coins minted per day Number of buyers When the late-2017 bull run took place, there were (literally) millions of people being onboarded every week and, sometimes, even on a daily basis. Bitcoin’s price went through the roof because the number of Bitcoins available is limited and because the number of people looking to buy the asset exploded. The inflation problem By devaluing savings through inflation the middle class is paying a hidden tax. #richdad — Robert T. Kiyosaki (@theRealKiyosaki) February 12, 2017 One of the most misunderstood problems by economists worldwide is the fact inflation is treated as simply an effect of money being produced. We could look at inflation that way, like a natural cause that simply robs us of our wealth, but that is not how things work in the natural world. As far as I’m concerned, most assets are limited, so money should be as well. Since when new currency is minted it reaches the pockets of a select few first, these people can then buy stock or real estate. This causes the price of these assets to explode. Free/cheap money creates a bubble . Story continues However, inflation is not the only problem Bitcoin fixes. Now that cryptocurrencies are out of the box, my bet is that we’ll see government digital currencies being treated as cryptos – which brings us to the second issue. The censorship problem Censorship resistance is the main goal of a blockchain. If your favourite blockchain project is fast but permissioned, you’re going to have a bad time. Let me explain why openness is a key feature of Bitcoin in one line: if too few people control the network, they’ll censor your transactions. Projects like EOS or NEO, which I support as interesting experiments, face this problem a lot (as we’ve seen in the recent past). When too few people control the decision-making process, problems can occur. Out of nowhere, transactions can be censored by validators. This is the really important feature when we look at Bitcoin vs “super-fast consensus” protocols. They trade decentralisation for scalability without telling you up front. The real power of Bitcoin is its censorship resistance and hard-money properties. Don’t forget, for money to be money, it needs to go through the three stages of acceptance: First it is a collectible that very few people value Then it becomes a store of value as more and more people hoard the asset Finally it becomes both a medium of exchange and unit of account if it is accepted by the people as a strong store of value If you do not agree with this logic, think long and hard about currencies that don’t serve the first purpose. If you had to choose to spend either dollars or Bitcoin, what currency would you choose? Easy. The one with the least perceived value. Therefore, the dollar is a great medium of exchange (however, it is a terrible store of value). Bad money is always used first. Safe trades! The post The two main problems Satoshi Nakamoto fixed with Bitcoin appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Alibaba Offers Bitcoin Rewards Through Lolli Shopping App for ‘Singles Day’: Lolli, an affiliate retail startup that gives online shoppers bitcoin instead of regular cash-back perks, just announced its firstAsian partnershipwith Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Lolli’s in-browser app allows users to shop through merchants’ websites as they normally would, but earn small bitcoin rewards delivered to the in-browser wallet.
CoinDesk reached out to Alibaba for comment and will update the article if we hear back.
Related:Bitcoin Price Faces Drop to $8.5K After Consecutive Weekly Losses
This announcement comes on Singles Day, the Nov. 11 Chinese shopping holiday comparable to the U.S.’s Black Friday.Alibaba Group’sonline Singles Day sales have reportedly generated more than$23 billionso far this year.
However, Lolli’s head of communications, Aubrey Strobel, told CoinDesk that Lolli perks will only be available to purchases made in the U.S. For Chinese-Americans, foreign students or travelers, this new option could add additional perks if they participate in online holiday sales, but residents in China will be unable to participate.
“Its products would be shipped from China to U.S. users,” Strobel said.
Lolli CEO Alex Adelman referred to this partnership as a milestone for the startup, which plans to expand internationally in 2020.
Related:Why Bitcoin’s Next ‘Halving’ May Not Pump the Price Like Last Time
“This partnership is a great first step to connect the two largest economies, China and the US, through bitcoin and commerce,” he told CoinDesk. “The opportunity is available for US users only for now but we plan to expand internationally soon, letting everyone in the world easily earn and own bitcoin.”
Stepping back, several cash-back crypto startups are gearing up for the holiday shopping season. There are now several bitcoin retail apps, including competitors likeFold, Pei andSPEDN, targeting customers over the 2019 holiday shopping season, offering more bitcoin options than in previous years.
Alibabaimage via Shutterstock
• How Bitcoin’s Lightning Can Be Used for Private Messaging
• Bitcoin’s Weekly Chart May See Golden Cross for First Time in 3.5 Years || Alibaba Offers Bitcoin Rewards Through Lolli Shopping App for ‘Singles Day’: Lolli, an affiliate retail startup that gives online shoppers bitcoin instead of regular cash-back perks, just announced its firstAsian partnershipwith Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Lolli’s in-browser app allows users to shop through merchants’ websites as they normally would, but earn small bitcoin rewards delivered to the in-browser wallet.
CoinDesk reached out to Alibaba for comment and will update the article if we hear back.
Related:Bitcoin Price Faces Drop to $8.5K After Consecutive Weekly Losses
This announcement comes on Singles Day, the Nov. 11 Chinese shopping holiday comparable to the U.S.’s Black Friday.Alibaba Group’sonline Singles Day sales have reportedly generated more than$23 billionso far this year.
However, Lolli’s head of communications, Aubrey Strobel, told CoinDesk that Lolli perks will only be available to purchases made in the U.S. For Chinese-Americans, foreign students or travelers, this new option could add additional perks if they participate in online holiday sales, but residents in China will be unable to participate.
“Its products would be shipped from China to U.S. users,” Strobel said.
Lolli CEO Alex Adelman referred to this partnership as a milestone for the startup, which plans to expand internationally in 2020.
Related:Why Bitcoin’s Next ‘Halving’ May Not Pump the Price Like Last Time
“This partnership is a great first step to connect the two largest economies, China and the US, through bitcoin and commerce,” he told CoinDesk. “The opportunity is available for US users only for now but we plan to expand internationally soon, letting everyone in the world easily earn and own bitcoin.”
Stepping back, several cash-back crypto startups are gearing up for the holiday shopping season. There are now several bitcoin retail apps, including competitors likeFold, Pei andSPEDN, targeting customers over the 2019 holiday shopping season, offering more bitcoin options than in previous years.
Alibabaimage via Shutterstock
• How Bitcoin’s Lightning Can Be Used for Private Messaging
• Bitcoin’s Weekly Chart May See Golden Cross for First Time in 3.5 Years || Alibaba Offers Bitcoin Rewards Through Lolli Shopping App for ‘Singles Day’: Lolli, an affiliate retail startup that gives online shoppers bitcoin instead of regular cash-back perks, just announced its first Asian partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Lolli’s in-browser app allows users to shop through merchants’ websites as they normally would, but earn small bitcoin rewards delivered to the in-browser wallet. CoinDesk reached out to Alibaba for comment and will update the article if we hear back. Related: Bitcoin Price Faces Drop to $8.5K After Consecutive Weekly Losses This announcement comes on Singles Day, the Nov. 11 Chinese shopping holiday comparable to the U.S.’s Black Friday. Alibaba Group’s online Singles Day sales have reportedly generated more than $23 billion so far this year. However, Lolli’s head of communications, Aubrey Strobel, told CoinDesk that Lolli perks will only be available to purchases made in the U.S. For Chinese-Americans, foreign students or travelers, this new option could add additional perks if they participate in online holiday sales, but residents in China will be unable to participate. “Its products would be shipped from China to U.S. users,” Strobel said. Lolli CEO Alex Adelman referred to this partnership as a milestone for the startup, which plans to expand internationally in 2020. Related: Why Bitcoin’s Next ‘Halving’ May Not Pump the Price Like Last Time “This partnership is a great first step to connect the two largest economies, China and the US, through bitcoin and commerce,” he told CoinDesk. “The opportunity is available for US users only for now but we plan to expand internationally soon, letting everyone in the world easily earn and own bitcoin.” Stepping back, several cash-back crypto startups are gearing up for the holiday shopping season. There are now several bitcoin retail apps, including competitors like Fold , Pei and SPEDN , targeting customers over the 2019 holiday shopping season, offering more bitcoin options than in previous years. Alibaba image via Shutterstock Related Stories How Bitcoin’s Lightning Can Be Used for Private Messaging Bitcoin’s Weekly Chart May See Golden Cross for First Time in 3.5 Years || Bakkt’s monthly bitcoin futures hit all-time-high of $15M: Bitcoin derivatives provider Bakkt just logged the largest single-day trading volume of its physically-settled monthly bitcoin futures.
The volume hit ~$15.33 million on Friday, passing its previous high of ~$10.25 million on October 25. The total volume of Bakkt’s monthly bitcoin futures now stands at $106.74 million (12,012 BTC) since its launch on Sept. 23. The average volume has been ~$3.05 million (343.2 BTC) a day over the last 35 trading days. To be sure, $15 million is a small fraction of the average daily turnover on more established crypto trading platforms, such as CME Group.
Bakkt recentlyannouncedthat its plans to launch a cryptocurrency consumer app and merchant portal in the first half of 2020 with Starbucks, the provider's first launch partner. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) CEO Jeffrey Sprecher alsoannouncedin an earnings call that all types of financial institutions were talking to Bakkt to explore the possibility of adopting its offering. ICE is the main backer of Bakkt.
In October, the firm rolled out aliquidity incentive program, which is awaiting approval from the CFTC, according to a source. || Bakkt’s monthly bitcoin futures hit all-time-high of $15M: Bitcoin derivatives provider Bakkt just logged the largest single-day trading volume of its physically-settled monthly bitcoin futures. The volume hit ~$15.33 million on Friday, passing its previous high of ~$10.25 million on October 25. The total volume of Bakkt’s monthly bitcoin futures now stands at $106.74 million (12,012 BTC) since its launch on Sept. 23. The average volume has been ~$3.05 million (343.2 BTC) a day over the last 35 trading days. To be sure, $15 million is a small fraction of the average daily turnover on more established crypto trading platforms, such as CME Group. Bakkt recently announced that its plans to launch a cryptocurrency consumer app and merchant portal in the first half of 2020 with Starbucks, the provider's first launch partner. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) CEO Jeffrey Sprecher also announced in an earnings call that all types of financial institutions were talking to Bakkt to explore the possibility of adopting its offering. ICE is the main backer of Bakkt. In October, the firm rolled out a liquidity incentive program , which is awaiting approval from the CFTC, according to a source. || Bitmain rival Canaan Creative set for Nov. 20 IPO on Nasdaq: Bitcoin miner manufacturer Canaan Creative will ring the bell at Nasdaq on Nov. 20, several sources have confirmed to The Block.
The biggest rival to Bitmainfiledfor a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) on Oct. 28 with Citi Group, Credit Suisse, Galaxy Digital, and four other firms as underwriters. The filing shows that Canaan is looking to raise $400 million from the IPO, although it is not clear in what price range the firm is considering listing its shares.
Canaan's successful listing on Nasdaq follows a slew of failed attempts to be listed on other stock exchanges in Hong Kong and mainland China. Bitmain, whose IPO plan in Hong Kong also fell through, is said to have secretly filed a U.S. IPO as well, sponsored by Deutsche Bank.
In the earlier filing, Canaan said it controlled 23.3% of the global bitcoin mining machine marketshare in 1H19, while Bitmain took up 64.5%. || Bitmain rival Canaan Creative set for Nov. 20 IPO on Nasdaq: Bitcoin miner manufacturer Canaan Creative will ring the bell at Nasdaq on Nov. 20, several sources have confirmed to The Block. The biggest rival to Bitmain filed for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) on Oct. 28 with Citi Group, Credit Suisse, Galaxy Digital, and four other firms as underwriters. The filing shows that Canaan is looking to raise $400 million from the IPO, although it is not clear in what price range the firm is considering listing its shares. Canaan's successful listing on Nasdaq follows a slew of failed attempts to be listed on other stock exchanges in Hong Kong and mainland China. Bitmain, whose IPO plan in Hong Kong also fell through, is said to have secretly filed a U.S. IPO as well, sponsored by Deutsche Bank. In the earlier filing, Canaan said it controlled 23.3% of the global bitcoin mining machine marketshare in 1H19, while Bitmain took up 64.5%. || Bittrex Will Release Frozen Crypto to Former Users in Sanctioned Regimes: Crypto exchange Bittrex is looking to return crypto holdings to customers in sanctioned nations.
Accordingto a letterposted on Twitter by ex-user Ziya Sadr, Bittrex is reaching out to former customers who reside in “a country or region” in which the exchange is legally unable to offer services due to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and whose accounts were suspended as a result.
“In May of 2018, Bittrex filed an application to permit it to release the funds currently frozen back to the owners. This application was recently granted and we are writing to let you know that you may withdraw your funds to another exchange,” the letter said.
Related:How Lebanon’s Economic Crisis Highlights Bitcoin’s Limitations
A number of restrictions apply for any former customers hoping to secure their funds. Residents of sanctioned nations must create an account at a cryptocurrency exchange that is not in Iran, Syria, Cuba or Crimea or otherwise subject to OFAC sanctions; create a Bittrex support account (using the same email as the original Bittrex account); and fill out a form denoting where to send the funds.
Even then, users whose wallet balances are below the exchange’s minimum withdrawal limit will still not be able to access their funds. The minimum withdrawal amount must be three times the transaction fee, according toa May 2018 support page.
Those users who are able to withdraw their funds must submit the request to Bittrex by March 15, 2020.
Bittrex has previously acknowledged that residents from Iran, one sanctioned nation, were able to trade on the exchange. In April, chief compliance officer John Roth told CoinDesk that “an unintentional gap” on the platform’s compliance procedures allowed Iranian residents to participate on the platform, though no user from the country (or any OFAC-sanctioned region) had been able to access the platform since October 2017 (which is when Sadr’s account was suspended).
Related:New York Watchdog Extends Window for Bittrex Users to Withdraw Funds
The exchange did not disclose how many users had their accounts suspended as a result of OFAC’s actions. In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson sent CoinDesk a statement stating:
“Bittrex must comply with Federal economic sanctions which prohibits U.S. companies from economic transactions with residents of certain countries. Bittrex has received permission from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control to allow eligible customers to withdraw funds to another exchange. Affected customers will be contacted directly.”
Bittrex CSO Kiran Raj image via CoinDesk archives
• Flaws in LocalBitcoins Data Call Into Question Regional Adoption Claims
• Iranian Bitcoiners Risk Fines, Jail Time as Government Regulates Mining
[Social Media Buzz]
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price: $8750.035 || #Bitcoin its just the beginning. https://t.co/25Dvpew98m || GET 0,7% daily of ur invest though TELEGRAM, a trading based on bitcoin. from 5 € until 50 K € of invest.
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8808.26, 8708.09, 8491.99, 8550.76, 8577.98, 8309.29, 8206.15, 8027.27, 7642.75, 7296.58
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 1421.60, 1452.82, 1490.09, 1537.67, 1555.45, 1578.80, 1596.71, 1723.35, 1755.36, 1787.13, 1848.57, 1724.24, 1804.91, 1808.91, 1738.43, 1734.45, 1839.09, 1888.65, 1987.71, 2084.73, 2041.20, 2173.40, 2320.42, 2443.64, 2304.98, 2202.42, 2038.87, 2155.80, 2255.61, 2175.47, 2286.41, 2407.88, 2488.55, 2515.35, 2511.81, 2686.81, 2863.20, 2732.16, 2805.62, 2823.81, 2947.71, 2958.11, 2659.63, 2717.02, 2506.37, 2464.58, 2518.56, 2655.88, 2548.29, 2589.60, 2721.79, 2689.10, 2705.41, 2744.91, 2608.72, 2589.41, 2478.45, 2552.45, 2574.79, 2539.32, 2480.84, 2434.55, 2506.47, 2564.06, 2601.64, 2601.99, 2608.56, 2518.66, 2571.34, 2518.44, 2372.56, 2337.79, 2398.84, 2357.90, 2233.34, 1998.86, 1929.82, 2228.41, 2318.88, 2273.43, 2817.60, 2667.76, 2810.12, 2730.40, 2754.86, 2576.48, 2529.45, 2671.78, 2809.01, 2726.45.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-07-29]
Volume: 803745984, RSI (14-day): 55.80, 50-day EMA: 2473.92, 200-day EMA: 1823.41
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Tech Sector Weakness Drives S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite Lower For Week: U.S. stock equity futures closed mixed for a second day on Friday. The Dow was the sole winner of the day, posting intraday and closing highs. The NASDAQ Composite ended lower with tech giants Facebook, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet a drag on the index. The S&P 500 Index also eased, driven lower by the weak Consumer Staples sector, but supported by the Energy sector.
In the cash market, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 21830.31, up 33.76 or +0.15%. The technology-based NASDAQ Composite settled at 6374.38, down 7.81 or -0.12% and the benchmark S&P 500 Index ended the session at 2472.10, down 3.32 or -0.13%.
The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 were under pressure early in the session, led by a drop in Amazon.com. The on-line retail giant fell as much as 4.3 percent on the back of much weaker-than-expected quarterly results. Sales came in above expectations, but second-quarterly earnings were below expectations, $0.40 vs the $1.42 a share estimate.
The major indexes also posted mixed weekly results, with the S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ Composite Index finishing slightly lower while the Dow rose 1 percent during the time period.
In economic news, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, the second-quarter Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualized rate of 2.6 percent, matching pre-report estimates.
The Employment Cost Index came in at 0.5%, below the 0.6% estimate and 0.8% previous read. A separate report showed the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, increased at a rate of 0.9 percent.
Revised University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment was 93.4, slightly above the 93.2 estimate and 93.1 previous read. This indicates that Americans appear the most optimistic about the current economic situation in the U.S. than they have in 12 years.
In other news, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Friday that the Federal Reserve’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet is not doing a lot to boost the U.S. economy at this time and trimming it gradually is the right thing to do.
“I think the big, big balance sheet isn’t doing a lot to boost the economy right now, but I do think there are costs in terms of public confidence in the Federal Reserve,” Kashkari told a business group in Woodbury, Minnesota.
“I have been in favor of us slowly bringing that balance sheet back down to a more normal size even though I’m still concerned about inflation,” he said. “We can focus on inflation with our short-term interest rate.”
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Will Bitcoin Network Split to Two on August 1st? All the Things You Need to Know About it
• Tech Sector Weakness Drives S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite Lower For Week
• Market Snapshot – Euro and Dollar in Focus
• Technology Stocks and Earnings Weigh on European Shares
• Morning Market Update – USD/JPY
• The EUR and USD in Focus, with GDP Figures in the Spotlight || Tech Sector Weakness Drives S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite Lower For Week: U.S. stock equity futures closed mixed for a second day on Friday. The Dow was the sole winner of the day, posting intraday and closing highs. The NASDAQ Composite ended lower with tech giants Facebook, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet a drag on the index. The S&P 500 Index also eased, driven lower by the weak Consumer Staples sector, but supported by the Energy sector. In the cash market, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 21830.31, up 33.76 or +0.15%. The technology-based NASDAQ Composite settled at 6374.38, down 7.81 or -0.12% and the benchmark S&P 500 Index ended the session at 2472.10, down 3.32 or -0.13%. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 were under pressure early in the session, led by a drop in Amazon.com. The on-line retail giant fell as much as 4.3 percent on the back of much weaker-than-expected quarterly results. Sales came in above expectations, but second-quarterly earnings were below expectations, $0.40 vs the $1.42 a share estimate. The major indexes also posted mixed weekly results, with the S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ Composite Index finishing slightly lower while the Dow rose 1 percent during the time period. Economic News In economic news, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, the second-quarter Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualized rate of 2.6 percent, matching pre-report estimates. The Employment Cost Index came in at 0.5%, below the 0.6% estimate and 0.8% previous read. A separate report showed the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Feds preferred inflation gauge, increased at a rate of 0.9 percent. Revised University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment was 93.4, slightly above the 93.2 estimate and 93.1 previous read. This indicates that Americans appear the most optimistic about the current economic situation in the U.S. than they have in 12 years. In other news, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Friday that the Federal Reserves $4.5 trillion balance sheet is not doing a lot to boost the U.S. economy at this time and trimming it gradually is the right thing to do. Story continues I think the big, big balance sheet isnt doing a lot to boost the economy right now, but I do think there are costs in terms of public confidence in the Federal Reserve, Kashkari told a business group in Woodbury, Minnesota. I have been in favor of us slowly bringing that balance sheet back down to a more normal size even though Im still concerned about inflation, he said. We can focus on inflation with our short-term interest rate. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Will Bitcoin Network Split to Two on August 1st? All the Things You Need to Know About it Tech Sector Weakness Drives S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite Lower For Week Market Snapshot Euro and Dollar in Focus Technology Stocks and Earnings Weigh on European Shares Morning Market Update USD/JPY The EUR and USD in Focus, with GDP Figures in the Spotlight || Alleged bitcoin fraud 'mastermind' sought by U.S. held in Greek prison: By Angeliki Koutantou ATHENS (Reuters) - A Russian national suspected of masterminding a money-laundering operation using bitcoin was transferred to prison in Greece on Friday, while the United States prepares documentation to back an extradition request for him. Russian national Alexander Vinnik, 38, is suspected of operating a digital currency exchange which was the alleged conduit for more than $4 billion in proceeds from illicit transactions. He was arrested in northern Greece on July 25 on the basis of a U.S. warrant for his arrest and extradition. "He has gone to a prosecutor, a jail order was issued, and he was escorted to prison today," a senior police official told Reuters. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that according to regulations the United States has a two-month window in which to submit the relevant documentation to appeals prosecutors regarding Vinnik's extradition. Vinnik was arrested at a hotel in the Chalkidiki region. Police seized five mobile telephones, two laptops, two tablets and a router during the arrest. Local media have reported that Vinnik denies allegations against him. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer. Officials have described Vinnik in a U.S. Justice Department statement as the operator of BTC-e, an exchange used to trade the digital bitcoin currency in operation since 2011. Vinnik, justice officials alleged, committed crimes which went beyond the lack of regulation of the bitcoin exchange he operated. They have alleged Vinnik and his firm received more than $4 billion in bitcoin, and that BTC-e 'obtained' funds from Mt Gox, a Japan-based bitcoin exchange which collapsed in 2014 after being hacked. A 'sizeable portion' of the stolen Mt Gox funds were deposited in accounts controlled, owned and operated by BTC-e and Vinnik, the indictment said. Mt Gox was one of the most prominent examples of how the lightly regulated digital currency could burn investors, after an estimated $450 million worth of bitcoin and $27 million in hard cash vanished when it collapsed. (Reporting By Angeliki Koutantou; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Hugh Lawson) View comments || Alleged bitcoin fraud 'mastermind' sought by U.S. held in Greek prison: By Angeliki Koutantou ATHENS (Reuters) - A Russian national suspected of masterminding a money-laundering operation using bitcoin was transferred to prison in Greece on Friday, while the United States prepares documentation to back an extradition request for him. Russian national Alexander Vinnik, 38, is suspected of operating a digital currency exchange which was the alleged conduit for more than $4 billion in proceeds from illicit transactions. He was arrested in northern Greece on July 25 on the basis of a U.S. warrant for his arrest and extradition. "He has gone to a prosecutor, a jail order was issued, and he was escorted to prison today," a senior police official told Reuters. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that according to regulations the United States has a two-month window in which to submit the relevant documentation to appeals prosecutors regarding Vinnik's extradition. Vinnik was arrested at a hotel in the Chalkidiki region. Police seized five mobile telephones, two laptops, two tablets and a router during the arrest. Local media have reported that Vinnik denies allegations against him. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer. Officials have described Vinnik in a U.S. Justice Department statement as the operator of BTC-e, an exchange used to trade the digital bitcoin currency in operation since 2011. Vinnik, justice officials alleged, committed crimes which went beyond the lack of regulation of the bitcoin exchange he operated. They have alleged Vinnik and his firm received more than $4 billion in bitcoin, and that BTC-e 'obtained' funds from Mt Gox, a Japan-based bitcoin exchange which collapsed in 2014 after being hacked. A 'sizeable portion' of the stolen Mt Gox funds were deposited in accounts controlled, owned and operated by BTC-e and Vinnik, the indictment said. Mt Gox was one of the most prominent examples of how the lightly regulated digital currency could burn investors, after an estimated $450 million worth of bitcoin and $27 million in hard cash vanished when it collapsed. (Reporting By Angeliki Koutantou; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Hugh Lawson) View comments || How a one-of-a-kind business has kept 5,000 kitchens out of landfills: Ordinarily, you’d probably have no interest in my kitchen renovation project. It’s a common story: The kitchen is nearly 20 years old and starting to fall apart, we’re readying the house for an eventual sale, blah blah blah.
What makes it fascinating was how we got rid of it.
Most people throw their old kitchens into dumpsters, which takes all of it to the landfill: cabinets, countertops, appliances. Sometimes your contractor may take pieces off your hands; sometimes you can get Habitat for Humanity to take pieces of it. But mostly, it’s landfill.
But we stumbled onto a much better approach, in the form of a company calledRenovation Angel. There’s only one company like it in the country, and its business model is astonishingly airtight:
• They send a crew to dismantle, wrap, and haul away your old kitchen, piece by piece, for free. You’re saved the cost of the demolition ($5,000 or so), dumpster rental, and disposal fees. Then they then give you a huge tax deduction.Winner:You.
• They set up your kitchen’s components in a 43,000-foot showroom in New Jersey, where they then resell your entire kitchen! Other people who are renovating their kitchens get luxury stuff for a fraction of its usual price—maybe 10% or 20% of its original cost.Winner:The next owner of your kitchen.
• Over 12 years, this operation has saved 5,000 kitchens from the landfill.Winner:The planet.
• The company employs 35 people.Winner:Renovation Angel’s employees.
• The best part: After expenses, Renovation co-founder Steve Feldman donates the rest of the company’s income to charity—$2.2 million so far.Winners:At-risk children, recovering addicts, job trainees.
This is, in other words, a win-win-win-win-win scenario.
I love that that this idea has something for both hard-nosed conservatives (“I’ll take that $25,000 tax deduction, thank you”) and bleeding-heart liberals (“Save the environmentandhelp the less fortunate? Sign me up!”) But I’ll just say it: All of this sounded too good to be true.
So I emailed the company. They sent a guy out to look over the kitchen, measure, take photos, and assess its resale value. The economics of this company work out, Feldman says, only if he resellsupscalekitchens; at the moment, Renovation Angel accepts only about half of the candidate kitchens.
Our kitchen made the cut. So on the appointed day, a crew of four men—insured, background-checked—spent about four nonstop hours taking the old kitchen apart. (Incredibly, this was theirsecondkitchen of the day.)
The term for this process isdemolition, but no destruction was involved. Instead, they carefully unscrewed every piece, wrapped it for protection, and loaded it into a moving truck parked outside. It was amazing to watch, especially in time-lapse (see my video above)
To get the tax deduction, I had to hire an appraiser; but that was my only expense. (I guess that means that somebodyelsewins from all of this.)
A week later, I visited the Renovation Angel showroom to interview Feldman—and there, among all the other kitchens stacked up for sale, were all the pieces of my own beloved kitchen, ready to move on to a new home. I even saw a New Jersey couple checking it out.
That’s the part I didn’t get. How can someone buy a kitchen from a totally different house? What are the odds that it will fittheirkitchen space?
“Everybody has this question,” Feldman says. “The answer is, kitchens are modular. So if you had a 20 by 15-foot space, somebody else might have a 12 by 20 space. They use a few less cabinets. They rearrange them differently. They get different granite. But at the end of the day, they’re saving themselves tens of thousands of dollars.”
Confusingly, at least to me, Renovation Angel is the name of the demolition side of the company; the part that resells the kitchens is called Green Demolition. It’s the Green Demolition site thatlists kitchens for resale.
Feldman, the creator of both halves, has quite a life story. He was an alcohol and drug addict from his teen years right through his career as a radio executive, working for “Imus in the Morning.” He credits a drug-rehab program for saving his life when he was 30. “I’m a recovered addict for 29 years,” he says now.
About 12 years ago, he saw a 10,000-square-foot house in Greenwich, Connecticut, being demolished—and watched all the fine marble, custom cabinetry, and expensive appliances get tossed into a dumpster.
“And I see a sign in the driveway, and it says, ‘Demolition in progress.’ And I think, what’s this? So I drive up to the mansion, and it’s gone. Just a pile of rubble. And I have this ‘Aha!’ moment: Maybe I can earn money by selling kitchens and beautiful fixtures out of mansions.”
When the local Greenwich newspaper wrote an article about this idea, Feldman got 36 phone calls from hedge fund managers, architects, builders, and designers—and the company was on its way.
Today, the company recycles about 500 kitchens a year, and has started to reclaim furniture and fixtures from other rooms of the house. Renovation Angel crews can rescue kitchens from anywhere in the country; eventually, Feldman hopes to open showrooms in California and Florida.
His backstory, by the way, accounts for Feldman’s decision to turn over the company’s profits to charity. “I got my life given back to me [by one of these social programs], and I’m motivated for the rest of my life to give back.”
It’s fun to walk through the enormous Renovation Angel showroom, because Feldman is bursting with the stories behind these kitchens.
“We went into one of the biggest mansions in North Las Vegas,” he says. “The kitchen had only been used 25 times. It was a $400,000 kitchen, but it was forest green. It wasn’t the color that most people want. The kitchen designer told me that kitchen would have been thrown out if we hadn’t reclaimed it.” In the end, Feldman says, “a woman in Johnson City, Tennessee bought it for $62,000, because her house had recently burned down.”
At one point, he says, he acquired a kitchen worth $630,000, although it included 15 rooms’ worth of millwork (doors and trim). “A guy ordered it in LA, his Ponzi scheme got bankrupted, and it all sat in a warehouse. I found a dentist to buy the whole lot for $125,000. It was a good deal for everybody.”
Feldman says he also gets kitchens from manufacturers and designers where parts were mis-ordered. “One designer ordered the wrong color on a kitchen—a $127,000 kitchen. The homeowner said, ‘This is the wrong color—order me the right color!’ So she brought this kitchen here, and we sold it.”
“All right, let me play the role of a viewer,” I finally asked Feldman. “It’s like, oh, OK, so people like Pogue get a huge tax write-off and free removal of the old kitchen. The landfill wins. Charities win. Future buyers win. It sounds a little too good to be true.Somebodyhere is losing.”
“Well, the risk is on our organization,” Feldman replied. “It’s a ton of labor. We do a lot of overtime. And it’s a lot of complicated logistics to coordinate, from the removal to the transportation to the unpacking to the selling to the delivering. That’s why the kitchen industry never had a recycle or trade-in component: because it’s difficult, and it’s space-consuming, time-consuming risk. They want to focus on selling new. So the opportunity is left for us.”
I just couldn’t see who doesn’t come out ahead in Renovation Angel’s system. Feldman insists that the answer is, nobody. “Nobody loses,” he says. “Nobody! You know why? Because it would otherwise go to a landfill. The loser is when you put your kitchen in the dumpster.”
More from David Pogue:
Is through-the-air charging a hoax?
Electrify your existing bike in 2 minutes with these ingenious wheels
Marty Cooper, inventor of the cellphone: The next step is implantables
The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update
Now I get it: Bitcoin
David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app
The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers
David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’sdavidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s@pogue. On email, he’s [email protected]. You canread all his articles here, or you can sign up toget his columns by email. || How a one-of-a-kind business has kept 5,000 kitchens out of landfills: Ordinarily, you’d probably have no interest in my kitchen renovation project. It’s a common story: The kitchen is nearly 20 years old and starting to fall apart, we’re readying the house for an eventual sale, blah blah blah. What makes it fascinating was how we got rid of it. Most people throw their old kitchens into dumpsters, which takes all of it to the landfill: cabinets, countertops, appliances. Sometimes your contractor may take pieces off your hands; sometimes you can get Habitat for Humanity to take pieces of it. But mostly, it’s landfill. But we stumbled onto a much better approach, in the form of a company called Renovation Angel . There’s only one company like it in the country, and its business model is astonishingly airtight: They send a crew to dismantle, wrap, and haul away your old kitchen, piece by piece, for free. You’re saved the cost of the demolition ($5,000 or so), dumpster rental, and disposal fees. Then they then give you a huge tax deduction. Winner: You. They set up your kitchen’s components in a 43,000-foot showroom in New Jersey, where they then resell your entire kitchen! Other people who are renovating their kitchens get luxury stuff for a fraction of its usual price—maybe 10% or 20% of its original cost. Winner: The next owner of your kitchen. The showroom holds about 50 kitchens at a time. Over 12 years, this operation has saved 5,000 kitchens from the landfill. Winner: The planet. The company employs 35 people. Winner: Renovation Angel’s employees. The best part: After expenses, Renovation co-founder Steve Feldman donates the rest of the company’s income to charity—$2.2 million so far. Winners: At-risk children, recovering addicts, job trainees. This is, in other words, a win-win-win-win-win scenario. But does it work? I love that that this idea has something for both hard-nosed conservatives (“I’ll take that $25,000 tax deduction, thank you”) and bleeding-heart liberals (“Save the environment and help the less fortunate? Sign me up!”) But I’ll just say it: All of this sounded too good to be true. Story continues So I emailed the company. They sent a guy out to look over the kitchen, measure, take photos, and assess its resale value. The economics of this company work out, Feldman says, only if he resells upscale kitchens; at the moment, Renovation Angel accepts only about half of the candidate kitchens. Our kitchen made the cut. So on the appointed day, a crew of four men—insured, background-checked—spent about four nonstop hours taking the old kitchen apart. (Incredibly, this was their second kitchen of the day.) The Renovation Angel crew doesn’t demolish the old kitchen; they recycle it. The term for this process is demolition , but no destruction was involved. Instead, they carefully unscrewed every piece, wrapped it for protection, and loaded it into a moving truck parked outside. It was amazing to watch, especially in time-lapse (see my video above) Off it goes to New Jersey! To get the tax deduction, I had to hire an appraiser; but that was my only expense. (I guess that means that somebody else wins from all of this.) A week later, I visited the Renovation Angel showroom to interview Feldman—and there, among all the other kitchens stacked up for sale, were all the pieces of my own beloved kitchen, ready to move on to a new home. I even saw a New Jersey couple checking it out. That’s the part I didn’t get. How can someone buy a kitchen from a totally different house? What are the odds that it will fit their kitchen space? “Everybody has this question,” Feldman says. “The answer is, kitchens are modular. So if you had a 20 by 15-foot space, somebody else might have a 12 by 20 space. They use a few less cabinets. They rearrange them differently. They get different granite. But at the end of the day, they’re saving themselves tens of thousands of dollars.” Founder Steve Feldman shows off a kitchen ready for a new life. Steve’s story Confusingly, at least to me, Renovation Angel is the name of the demolition side of the company; the part that resells the kitchens is called Green Demolition. It’s the Green Demolition site that lists kitchens for resale . Feldman, the creator of both halves, has quite a life story. He was an alcohol and drug addict from his teen years right through his career as a radio executive, working for “Imus in the Morning.” He credits a drug-rehab program for saving his life when he was 30. “I’m a recovered addict for 29 years,” he says now. About 12 years ago, he saw a 10,000-square-foot house in Greenwich, Connecticut, being demolished—and watched all the fine marble, custom cabinetry, and expensive appliances get tossed into a dumpster. “And I see a sign in the driveway, and it says, ‘Demolition in progress.’ And I think, what’s this? So I drive up to the mansion, and it’s gone. Just a pile of rubble. And I have this ‘Aha!’ moment: Maybe I can earn money by selling kitchens and beautiful fixtures out of mansions.” When the local Greenwich newspaper wrote an article about this idea, Feldman got 36 phone calls from hedge fund managers, architects, builders, and designers—and the company was on its way. Today, the company recycles about 500 kitchens a year, and has started to reclaim furniture and fixtures from other rooms of the house. Renovation Angel crews can rescue kitchens from anywhere in the country; eventually, Feldman hopes to open showrooms in California and Florida. His backstory, by the way, accounts for Feldman’s decision to turn over the company’s profits to charity. “I got my life given back to me [by one of these social programs], and I’m motivated for the rest of my life to give back.” Storied kitchens It’s fun to walk through the enormous Renovation Angel showroom, because Feldman is bursting with the stories behind these kitchens. “We went into one of the biggest mansions in North Las Vegas,” he says. “The kitchen had only been used 25 times. It was a $400,000 kitchen, but it was forest green. It wasn’t the color that most people want. The kitchen designer told me that kitchen would have been thrown out if we hadn’t reclaimed it.” In the end, Feldman says, “a woman in Johnson City, Tennessee bought it for $62,000, because her house had recently burned down.” When Feldman says it’s a kitchen store, he means it. At one point, he says, he acquired a kitchen worth $630,000, although it included 15 rooms’ worth of millwork (doors and trim). “A guy ordered it in LA, his Ponzi scheme got bankrupted, and it all sat in a warehouse. I found a dentist to buy the whole lot for $125,000. It was a good deal for everybody.” Feldman says he also gets kitchens from manufacturers and designers where parts were mis-ordered. “One designer ordered the wrong color on a kitchen—a $127,000 kitchen. The homeowner said, ‘This is the wrong color—order me the right color!’ So she brought this kitchen here, and we sold it.” One of a kind “All right, let me play the role of a viewer,” I finally asked Feldman. “It’s like, oh, OK, so people like Pogue get a huge tax write-off and free removal of the old kitchen. The landfill wins. Charities win. Future buyers win. It sounds a little too good to be true. Somebody here is losing.” “Well, the risk is on our organization,” Feldman replied. “It’s a ton of labor. We do a lot of overtime. And it’s a lot of complicated logistics to coordinate, from the removal to the transportation to the unpacking to the selling to the delivering. That’s why the kitchen industry never had a recycle or trade-in component: because it’s difficult, and it’s space-consuming, time-consuming risk. They want to focus on selling new. So the opportunity is left for us.” I just couldn’t see who doesn’t come out ahead in Renovation Angel’s system. Feldman insists that the answer is, nobody. “Nobody loses,” he says. “Nobody! You know why? Because it would otherwise go to a landfill. The loser is when you put your kitchen in the dumpster.” More from David Pogue: Is through-the-air charging a hoax? Electrify your existing bike in 2 minutes with these ingenious wheels Marty Cooper, inventor of the cellphone: The next step is implantables The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update Now I get it: Bitcoin David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’s davidpogue.com . On Twitter, he’s @pogue . On email, he’s [email protected]. You can read all his articles here , or you can sign up to get his columns by email . || Cryptocurrency ICOs Are Making Bitcoin Startups Richer than VCs Ever Did: When initial coin offerings emerged as a new way for startups to raise money a few months ago, there was much speculation—andsome doubt—about whether the cryptocurrency crowdfunding methodcould disrupt or even replace the traditional venture capital industry.
Now, the early numbers are in, and there is no question thatICOs, an unregulated form of fundraising by which companies can sell their own form of digital currency or tokens to investors, are winning this race, at least in the blockchain industry.
ICOs have now raised nearly four times as much money as bitcoin companies raised in venture capital dollars so far this year. That’s according to PitchBook, which tallied up the latest numbers: ICOs have raised almost $1.3 billion in 2017 so far, while only about $358 million in traditional VC money went to blockchain startups over the same period.
And that’s at a time when venture capital is booming among blockchain companies. Last quarter was the best quarter for blockchain and bitcoin VC funding on record, more than doubling the amount raised in the first quarter and up 89% year over year, according to CBInsights.
But ICOs are growing much faster, having already raised almost six times as much this year as they raised in all of 2016.
Now, a fundraising method that you likely had never heard of until a few months ago is on track this year to exceed all prior VC investment in blockchain, which has totaled a cumulative $1.7 billion over the past eight years, PitchBook says.
To underscore just what a whirlwind trend this has become, even entrepreneurs doing their own ICOs are astonished by the craze.
At a panel discussion hosted by BlockchainDriven Thursday night, Morgan Hill, an investor at Attis Capital, announced that he was launching a new cryptocurrency hedge fund called AxionV in August. But unlike thecrypto hedge fund startup MetaStable, which recently received funding from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, AxionV has a different plan. It will do an ICO itself, targeting a $30 million fund, which it will then use to invest in other ICOs, Hill said.
He also told a story of another hedge fund manager in London who was planning to launch an ICO of a company that aims to put the entire Quran online, and use the new cryptocurrency to compensate people who contribute to the digitization of the religious text. Hill’s take: “The first thing I thought was, this is categorically insane.”
He later came around, he said, acknowledging “religion is a very important piece of information” and that the project “actually does provide a huge value.” || Cryptocurrency ICOs Are Making Bitcoin Startups Richer than VCs Ever Did: When initial coin offerings emerged as a new way for startups to raise money a few months ago, there was much speculation—and some doubt —about whether the cryptocurrency crowdfunding method could disrupt or even replace the traditional venture capital industry . Now, the early numbers are in, and there is no question that ICOs , an unregulated form of fundraising by which companies can sell their own form of digital currency or tokens to investors, are winning this race, at least in the blockchain industry. ICOs have now raised nearly four times as much money as bitcoin companies raised in venture capital dollars so far this year. That’s according to PitchBook, which tallied up the latest numbers: ICOs have raised almost $1.3 billion in 2017 so far, while only about $358 million in traditional VC money went to blockchain startups over the same period. And that’s at a time when venture capital is booming among blockchain companies. Last quarter was the best quarter for blockchain and bitcoin VC funding on record, more than doubling the amount raised in the first quarter and up 89% year over year, according to CBInsights. But ICOs are growing much faster, having already raised almost six times as much this year as they raised in all of 2016. Now, a fundraising method that you likely had never heard of until a few months ago is on track this year to exceed all prior VC investment in blockchain, which has totaled a cumulative $1.7 billion over the past eight years, PitchBook says. To underscore just what a whirlwind trend this has become, even entrepreneurs doing their own ICOs are astonished by the craze. At a panel discussion hosted by BlockchainDriven Thursday night, Morgan Hill, an investor at Attis Capital, announced that he was launching a new cryptocurrency hedge fund called AxionV in August. But unlike the crypto hedge fund startup MetaStable , which recently received funding from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, AxionV has a different plan. It will do an ICO itself, targeting a $30 million fund, which it will then use to invest in other ICOs, Hill said. He also told a story of another hedge fund manager in London who was planning to launch an ICO of a company that aims to put the entire Quran online, and use the new cryptocurrency to compensate people who contribute to the digitization of the religious text. Hill’s take: “The first thing I thought was, this is categorically insane.” He later came around, he said, acknowledging “religion is a very important piece of information” and that the project “actually does provide a huge value.” || Cryptocurrency ICOs Are Making Bitcoin Startups Richer than VCs Ever Did: When initial coin offerings emerged as a new way for startups to raise money a few months ago, there was much speculation—andsome doubt—about whether the cryptocurrency crowdfunding methodcould disrupt or even replace the traditional venture capital industry.
Now, the early numbers are in, and there is no question thatICOs, an unregulated form of fundraising by which companies can sell their own form of digital currency or tokens to investors, are winning this race, at least in the blockchain industry.
ICOs have now raised nearly four times as much money as bitcoin companies raised in venture capital dollars so far this year. That’s according to PitchBook, which tallied up the latest numbers: ICOs have raised almost $1.3 billion in 2017 so far, while only about $358 million in traditional VC money went to blockchain startups over the same period.
And that’s at a time when venture capital is booming among blockchain companies. Last quarter was the best quarter for blockchain and bitcoin VC funding on record, more than doubling the amount raised in the first quarter and up 89% year over year, according to CBInsights.
But ICOs are growing much faster, having already raised almost six times as much this year as they raised in all of 2016.
Now, a fundraising method that you likely had never heard of until a few months ago is on track this year to exceed all prior VC investment in blockchain, which has totaled a cumulative $1.7 billion over the past eight years, PitchBook says.
To underscore just what a whirlwind trend this has become, even entrepreneurs doing their own ICOs are astonished by the craze.
At a panel discussion hosted by BlockchainDriven Thursday night, Morgan Hill, an investor at Attis Capital, announced that he was launching a new cryptocurrency hedge fund called AxionV in August. But unlike thecrypto hedge fund startup MetaStable, which recently received funding from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, AxionV has a different plan. It will do an ICO itself, targeting a $30 million fund, which it will then use to invest in other ICOs, Hill said.
He also told a story of another hedge fund manager in London who was planning to launch an ICO of a company that aims to put the entire Quran online, and use the new cryptocurrency to compensate people who contribute to the digitization of the religious text. Hill’s take: “The first thing I thought was, this is categorically insane.”
He later came around, he said, acknowledging “religion is a very important piece of information” and that the project “actually does provide a huge value.” || North Korea hacking increasingly focused on making money more than espionage: South Korea study: By Christine Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is behind an increasingly orchestrated effort at hacking into computers of financial institutions in South Korea and around the world to steal cash for the impoverished country, a South Korean state-backed agency said in a report. In the past, suspected hacking attempts by North Korea appeared intended to cause social disruption or steal classified military or government data, but the focus seems to have shifted in recent years to raising foreign currency, the South's Financial Security Institute (FSI) said. The isolated regime is suspected to be behind a hacking group called Lazarus, which global cybersecurity firms have linked to last year's $81 million cyber heist at the Bangladesh central bank and the 2014 attack on Sony's Hollywood studio. The U.S. government has blamed North Korea for the Sony hack and some U.S. officials have said prosecutors are building a case against Pyongyang in the Bangladesh Bank theft. In April, Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab also identified a hacking group called Bluenoroff, a spin off of Lazarus, as focused on attacking mostly foreign financial institutions. The new report, which analysed suspected cyber attacks between 2015 and 2017 on South Korean government and commercial institutions, identified another Lazarus spinoff named Andariel. "Bluenoroff and Andariel share their common root, but they have different targets and motives," the report said. "Andariel focuses on attacking South Korean businesses and government agencies using methods tailored for the country." Pyongyang has been stepping up its online hacking capabilities as one way of earning hard currency under the chokehold of international sanctions imposed to stop the development of its nuclear weapons programme. Cyber security researchers have also said they have found technical evidence that could link North Korea with the global WannaCry "ransomware" cyber attack that infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries in May. Story continues "We've seen an increasing trend of North Korea using its cyber espionage capabilities for financial gain. With the pressure from sanctions and the price growth in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum - these exchanges likely present an attractive target," said Luke McNamara, senior analyst at FireEye, a cybersecurity company. North Korea has routinely denied involvement in cyber attacks against other countries. The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment. ATM, ONLINE POKER The report said the North Korean hacking group Andariel has been spotted attempting to steal bank card information by hacking into automated teller machines, and then using it to withdraw cash or sell the bank information on the black market. It also created malware to hack into online poker and other gambling sites and steal cash. "South Korea prefers to use local ATM vendors and these attackers managed to analyse and compromise SK ATMs from at least two vendors earlier this year," said Vitaly Kamluk, director of the APAC research centre at Kaspersky. "We believe this subgroup (Andariel) has been active since at least May 2016." The latest report lined up eight different hacking instances spotted within the South in the last few years, which North Korea was suspected to be behind, by tracking down the same code patterns within the malware used for the attacks. One case spotted last September was an attack on the personal computer of South Korea's defence minister as well as the ministry's intranet to extract military operations intelligence. North Korean hackers used IP addresses in Shenyang, China to access the defence ministry's server, the report said. Established in 2015, the FSI was launched by the South Korean government in order to boost information management and protection in the country's financial sector following attacks on major South Korean banks in previous years. The report said some of the content has not been proven fully and is not an official view of the government. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in SINGAPORE; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Michael Perry) || North Korea hacking increasingly focused on making money more than espionage: South Korea study: By Christine Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is behind an increasingly orchestrated effort at hacking into computers of financial institutions in South Korea and around the world to steal cash for the impoverished country, a South Korean state-backed agency said in a report. In the past, suspected hacking attempts by North Korea appeared intended to cause social disruption or steal classified military or government data, but the focus seems to have shifted in recent years to raising foreign currency, the South's Financial Security Institute (FSI) said. The isolated regime is suspected to be behind a hacking group called Lazarus, which global cybersecurity firms have linked to last year's $81 million cyber heist at the Bangladesh central bank and the 2014 attack on Sony's Hollywood studio. The U.S. government has blamed North Korea for the Sony hack and some U.S. officials have said prosecutors are building a case against Pyongyang in the Bangladesh Bank theft. In April, Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab also identified a hacking group called Bluenoroff, a spin off of Lazarus, as focused on attacking mostly foreign financial institutions. The new report, which analysed suspected cyber attacks between 2015 and 2017 on South Korean government and commercial institutions, identified another Lazarus spinoff named Andariel. "Bluenoroff and Andariel share their common root, but they have different targets and motives," the report said. "Andariel focuses on attacking South Korean businesses and government agencies using methods tailored for the country." Pyongyang has been stepping up its online hacking capabilities as one way of earning hard currency under the chokehold of international sanctions imposed to stop the development of its nuclear weapons programme. Cyber security researchers have also said they have found technical evidence that could link North Korea with the global WannaCry "ransomware" cyber attack that infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries in May. Story continues "We've seen an increasing trend of North Korea using its cyber espionage capabilities for financial gain. With the pressure from sanctions and the price growth in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum - these exchanges likely present an attractive target," said Luke McNamara, senior analyst at FireEye, a cybersecurity company. North Korea has routinely denied involvement in cyber attacks against other countries. The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment. ATM, ONLINE POKER The report said the North Korean hacking group Andariel has been spotted attempting to steal bank card information by hacking into automated teller machines, and then using it to withdraw cash or sell the bank information on the black market. It also created malware to hack into online poker and other gambling sites and steal cash. "South Korea prefers to use local ATM vendors and these attackers managed to analyse and compromise SK ATMs from at least two vendors earlier this year," said Vitaly Kamluk, director of the APAC research centre at Kaspersky. "We believe this subgroup (Andariel) has been active since at least May 2016." The latest report lined up eight different hacking instances spotted within the South in the last few years, which North Korea was suspected to be behind, by tracking down the same code patterns within the malware used for the attacks. One case spotted last September was an attack on the personal computer of South Korea's defence minister as well as the ministry's intranet to extract military operations intelligence. North Korean hackers used IP addresses in Shenyang, China to access the defence ministry's server, the report said. Established in 2015, the FSI was launched by the South Korean government in order to boost information management and protection in the country's financial sector following attacks on major South Korean banks in previous years. The report said some of the content has not been proven fully and is not an official view of the government. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in SINGAPORE; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Michael Perry) || Digital currency start-ups shrug off SEC warning on fund raising: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Anna Irrera
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Technology companies looking to raise money by issuing digital coins are moving forward with their plans despite a U.S. regulator's decision that their offerings may be subject to tough securities laws.
Such initial coin offerings, or ICOs, have allowed startups to raise $1 billion so far this year, but until this week it was unclear how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would treat the transactions.
On Tuesday, the SEC decided that tokens issued through the ICOs can be considered securities, meaning they would fall under laws that require disclosures and are subject to regulatory scrutiny to protect investors, unless a "valid exemption" applies.
Some industry participants and analysts had thought such a decision would have a chilling effect on the ICO market. But 20 new ICOs were announced since the SEC's decision, with more than 120 scheduled to launch this year, according to ICO tracker tokendata.io.
Representatives of Rivetz and ICOBox, which plan to launch tokens over the next few weeks, told Reuters they are pushing through with their offerings.
During an ICO, contributors typically send digital currencies like Bitcoin and receive new tokens in return. Those tokens are then listed on cryptocurrency exchanges where they can be traded for other types of tokens. (http://reut.rs/2sFKLAm)
Even as some ICOs have been criticized for failing to disclose information about underlying businesses and the way tokens are distributed, the frenzy surrounding the events has drawn backing from prominent venture capitalists and celebrities.
Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather took to Facebook on Thursday to say he was participating in the ICO of a company called STX technologies Ltd next week.
POTENTIAL EXEMPTIONS
But even with the SEC's warning, it is not clear how much regulatory scrutiny the upcoming offerings will attract. Unlike a regular securities offering, ICOs have had limited disclosures and most participants do not get any equity rights.
The most likely exemption to the SEC rule refers to tokens that would have utility for a specific project. Many tech companies that pursue ICOs say their tokens are just that: "utility tokens," which are necessary to activate their products or accelerate their development.
Both Rivetz Chief Executive Officer Steven Sprague and ICOBox founder Nick Evdokimov told Reuters their ICOs have a utility.
Charley Cooper, managing director of R3, a consortium of banks looking at using the technology behind digital currencies, said companies looking at ICOs needed to be certain the exemption applied to them.
"Anyone is who is contemplating doing an ICO now had better call their general counsel and fully understand securities laws in the U.S. and how they apply in their case," he said.
"This wasn't some vague policy that they floated. This is the division of enforcement of the SEC saying that if you operate in this market you need to follow the regulations."
The SEC ruling also raises questions for digital currency exchanges such as Bittrex that facilitate trading after an ICO.
Crypto-exchanges may be required to register with the SEC if they trade tokens considered securities and are based in the United States or have U.S. customers, said Llew Claasen, managing director, at venture capital firm Newtown Partners.
Bill Shihara, chief executive officer of U.S.-based Bittrex, said he sees no need to register his exchange with the SEC because it does not plan to trade securities on its platform, only utility tokens.
"If the facts and circumstances of a token change and lead us to conclude it is a security, we will delist it from the exchange."
(Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Cynthia Osterman) || Digital currency start-ups shrug off SEC warning on fund raising: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Anna Irrera NEW YORK (Reuters) - Technology companies looking to raise money by issuing digital coins are moving forward with their plans despite a U.S. regulator's decision that their offerings may be subject to tough securities laws. Such initial coin offerings, or ICOs, have allowed startups to raise $1 billion so far this year, but until this week it was unclear how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would treat the transactions. On Tuesday, the SEC decided that tokens issued through the ICOs can be considered securities, meaning they would fall under laws that require disclosures and are subject to regulatory scrutiny to protect investors, unless a "valid exemption" applies. Some industry participants and analysts had thought such a decision would have a chilling effect on the ICO market. But 20 new ICOs were announced since the SEC's decision, with more than 120 scheduled to launch this year, according to ICO tracker tokendata.io. Representatives of Rivetz and ICOBox, which plan to launch tokens over the next few weeks, told Reuters they are pushing through with their offerings. During an ICO, contributors typically send digital currencies like Bitcoin and receive new tokens in return. Those tokens are then listed on cryptocurrency exchanges where they can be traded for other types of tokens. ( http://reut.rs/2sFKLAm ) Even as some ICOs have been criticized for failing to disclose information about underlying businesses and the way tokens are distributed, the frenzy surrounding the events has drawn backing from prominent venture capitalists and celebrities. Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather took to Facebook on Thursday to say he was participating in the ICO of a company called STX technologies Ltd next week. POTENTIAL EXEMPTIONS But even with the SEC's warning, it is not clear how much regulatory scrutiny the upcoming offerings will attract. Unlike a regular securities offering, ICOs have had limited disclosures and most participants do not get any equity rights. Story continues The most likely exemption to the SEC rule refers to tokens that would have utility for a specific project. Many tech companies that pursue ICOs say their tokens are just that: "utility tokens," which are necessary to activate their products or accelerate their development. Both Rivetz Chief Executive Officer Steven Sprague and ICOBox founder Nick Evdokimov told Reuters their ICOs have a utility. Charley Cooper, managing director of R3, a consortium of banks looking at using the technology behind digital currencies, said companies looking at ICOs needed to be certain the exemption applied to them. "Anyone is who is contemplating doing an ICO now had better call their general counsel and fully understand securities laws in the U.S. and how they apply in their case," he said. "This wasn't some vague policy that they floated. This is the division of enforcement of the SEC saying that if you operate in this market you need to follow the regulations." The SEC ruling also raises questions for digital currency exchanges such as Bittrex that facilitate trading after an ICO. Crypto-exchanges may be required to register with the SEC if they trade tokens considered securities and are based in the United States or have U.S. customers, said Llew Claasen, managing director, at venture capital firm Newtown Partners. Bill Shihara, chief executive officer of U.S.-based Bittrex, said he sees no need to register his exchange with the SEC because it does not plan to trade securities on its platform, only utility tokens. "If the facts and circumstances of a token change and lead us to conclude it is a security, we will delist it from the exchange." (Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Cynthia Osterman) || Floyd Mayweather says he's gonna make a 's--- ton of money' from an initial coin offering: (Floyd MayweatherChris Carlson/AP)
Boxing champ Floyd Mayweather has caught the cryptocurrency bug.
On Thursday, the undefeated world champion took to Instagram to promote an initial coin offering byStox,a blockchain prediction company. The ICO will take place on August 2.
According to Mayweather's Instagram post, the boxer thinks he's going to make a "s--- ton of money" from the capital raise. Here's a tweet of the post:
Initial coin offering participants invest money and receive digital "tokens" in return. Thus far, ICOs have been largely unregulated, with some crowdfunding events raising hundreds of millions of dollars. In total, ICOs have raised $1.37 billion, according to Lex Sokolin, a partner at Autonomous NEXT, a fintech analytics firm.
On Tuesday,the SEC saidthat initial coin offerings (ICOs), in some cases, can be considered securities; and as such will be required to subscribe to the necessary regulations.
Mayweather might need that extra money from the ICO.
According to an ESPN report, much of Mayweather's wealth is tied up in assets and not liquid. This prevented him from being able to pay back atax liability of $22.2 millionto the IRS.
"Although the taxpayer has substantial assets, those assets are restricted and primarily illiquid,"Darren Rovell of ESPN said in a recent article, citing Law360. "The taxpayer has a significant liquidity event scheduled in about 60 days from which he intends to pay the balance of the 2015 tax liability due and outstanding."
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• Here's why Bitcoin is rebounding || Floyd Mayweather says he's gonna make a 's--- ton of money' from an initial coin offering: Floyd Mayweather (Floyd MayweatherChris Carlson/AP) Boxing champ Floyd Mayweather has caught the cryptocurrency bug. On Thursday, the undefeated world champion took to Instagram to promote an initial coin offering by Stox, a blockchain prediction company. The ICO will take place on August 2. According to Mayweather's Instagram post, the boxer thinks he's going to make a "s--- ton of money" from the capital raise. Here's a tweet of the post: He just posted that people. Floyd Mayweather is going all in on ICOs. 😭🤦♂️🤣 $ETH.X $BTC.X https://t.co/XpEmJpaANw pic.twitter.com/YNJI1JVmEK — StockTwits (@StockTwits) July 27, 2017 Initial coin offering participants invest money and receive digital "tokens" in return. Thus far, ICOs have been largely unregulated, with some crowdfunding events raising hundreds of millions of dollars. In total, ICOs have raised $1.37 billion, according to Lex Sokolin, a partner at Autonomous NEXT, a fintech analytics firm. On Tuesday, the SEC said that initial coin offerings (ICOs), in some cases, can be considered securities; and as such will be required to subscribe to the necessary regulations. Mayweather might need that extra money from the ICO. According to an ESPN report, much of Mayweather's wealth is tied up in assets and not liquid. This prevented him from being able to pay back a tax liability of $22.2 million to the IRS. "Although the taxpayer has substantial assets, those assets are restricted and primarily illiquid," Darren Rovell of ESPN said in a recent article, citing Law360 . "The taxpayer has a significant liquidity event scheduled in about 60 days from which he intends to pay the balance of the 2015 tax liability due and outstanding." Story continues NOW WATCH: Harvard Business School professor explains the most important problem we have in finance today and how to fix it More From Business Insider Jeff Bezos is now the world's richest person — and he could redefine philanthropy 5 great tech brands you’ve probably never heard of Here's why Bitcoin is rebounding || Dance The Roomba: iRobot's Sterling Second Quarter Has Pro Bullish On Domestic Robot Space: iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ: IRBT )'s stellar second quarter makes Loup Ventures' Andrew Murphy more bullish on a market that includes robots that clean your floors and cut your lawn. Revenue for the second quarter of 2017 was $183.1 million, compared with $148.7 million for the second quarter of 2016. Revenue for the first half of 2017 was $351.6 million, compared with $279.5 million last year. “We believe the domestic robot market, which includes robotic vacuums, mops, and lawnmowers, is one of the most promising sub-categories within the robotics space.” Murphy wrote in a note. View more earnings on IRBT He said iRobot’s results leads to these takeaways: Legacy Vacuum Companies Not A Big Threat “It’s easier for a robotics company to build a vacuum than it is for a vacuum company to build a robot,” he wrote. “Although a Roomba vacuum cleaner may look simplistic on the outside, the advanced software programming, computer vision systems and engineering acumen that goes into developing a high-performing robot is difficult to replicate.” Related Link: Cornell’s Eccentric Robot Genius Gets Ideas From Infant Daughter The Market Is Bigger Than Anybody Thought “iRobot’s total robot revenues increased 24.2% y/y and the company raised full year 2017 guidance, which now implies 25.0% y/y growth in their robot business.” It’s Not Just Vacuums IRobots wet floor mops were up 80 percent. “And domestic robots is just the beginning of the much larger connected home theme.” Domestic Robots Are A Global Trend “While iRobot saw the strongest growth for robots domestically, the company is also upbeat about the growth they are seeing internationally.” ________ Image Credit: By Nohau - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Latest Ratings for IRBT Jul 2017 Downgrades Buy Neutral May 2017 Canaccord Genuity Downgrades Buy Hold Nov 2016 Dougherty Initiates Coverage On Buy View More Analyst Ratings for IRBT View the Latest Analyst Ratings Story continues See more from Benzinga Stay Tuned For Facebook TV: Ad Sales Will Fund Big Bet On Video Feds Bust Reputed Bitcoin Baron In Billion Scheme To Launder Drug Money, Ransomware, Bribes And Identity Theft Scams The Athletic's New Model For Local Sports Writing: If You Build It, Will They Buy It? © 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Dance The Roomba: iRobot's Sterling Second Quarter Has Pro Bullish On Domestic Robot Space: iRobot Corporation(NASDAQ:IRBT)'s stellar second quarter makes Loup Ventures' Andrew Murphy more bullish on a market that includes robots that clean your floors and cut your lawn.
Revenue for the second quarter of 2017 was $183.1 million, compared with $148.7 million for the second quarter of 2016. Revenue for the first half of 2017 was $351.6 million, compared with $279.5 million last year.
“We believe the domestic robot market, which includes robotic vacuums, mops, and lawnmowers, is one of the most promising sub-categories within the robotics space.” Murphy wrote in a note.
View more earnings on IRBT
He said iRobot’s results leads to these takeaways:
Legacy Vacuum Companies Not A Big Threat
“It’s easier for a robotics company to build a vacuum than it is for a vacuum company to build a robot,” he wrote. “Although a Roomba vacuum cleaner may look simplistic on the outside, the advanced software programming, computer vision systems and engineering acumen that goes into developing a high-performing robot is difficult to replicate.”
Related Link:Cornell’s Eccentric Robot Genius Gets Ideas From Infant Daughter
The Market Is Bigger Than Anybody Thought
“iRobot’s total robot revenues increased 24.2% y/y and the company raised full year 2017 guidance, which now implies 25.0% y/y growth in their robot business.”
It’s Not Just Vacuums
IRobots wet floor mops were up 80 percent. “And domestic robots is just the beginning of the much larger connected home theme.”
Domestic Robots Are A Global Trend
“While iRobot saw the strongest growth for robots domestically, the company is also upbeat about the growth they are seeing internationally.”
________
Image Credit: By Nohau - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,via Wikimedia Commons
Latest Ratings for IRBT
[{"Jul 2017": "May 2017", "": "Canaccord Genuity", "Downgrades": "Downgrades", "Buy": "Buy", "Neutral": "Hold"}, {"Jul 2017": "Nov 2016", "": "Dougherty", "Downgrades": "Initiates Coverage On", "Buy": "", "Neutral": "Buy"}]
View More Analyst Ratings for IRBTView the Latest Analyst Ratings
See more from Benzinga
• Stay Tuned For Facebook TV: Ad Sales Will Fund Big Bet On Video
• Feds Bust Reputed Bitcoin Baron In Billion Scheme To Launder Drug Money, Ransomware, Bribes And Identity Theft Scams
• The Athletic's New Model For Local Sports Writing: If You Build It, Will They Buy It?
© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Here's why some Americans are risking their life savings on a Bitcoin IRA: Investors have been bullish on bitcoin all this year because of its rapid appreciation, but now, mom and pop buyers are also looking for a way to benefit from its price surge, despite the big risks. BitcoinIRA launched in May of 2016 , offering investors the tax-advantage of an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), plus the return of a high-risk, high-reward alternative asset class. It's similar in nature to other IRAs, except that instead of being funded by gold, cash, and bonds, it's backed by bitcoin. And the company isn't just dealing in bitcoin anymore. As of April, it now includes rival cryptocurrency ether, and it plans to add two more coins to its roster by the end of the summer. Chief Operating Officer Chris Kline says business couldn't be better. In its first year, he says BitcoinIRA was averaging around a million dollars of monthly inflows. In the last six months, they started doing that amount of business in a single day, he says. (CNBC did not independently verify the flows.) The popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin, may be highly volatile, but that didn't deter early adopter Roy Trimboli. Roy calls himself '11,' since he's the proud owner of the eleventh-ever BitcoinIRA. He says he's been a conventional guy since 22, always maxing out his 401(k) and investing in blue chip mutual funds, but a year ago, he put 10 bitcoins into a BitcoinIRA. He says he's now up about 300 percent. "It's a couple of generations worth of returns," he says. '11' is now just one of over 700 individual account holders, including clients as young as 20-years-old. But even with these kinds of returns, the fact remains, a speculative asset like bitcoin or ether comes with a certain degree of risk. Cryptocurrencies don't sleep. They're literally always moving, and if recent history is any indication, they're prone to seismic price moves in a very short space of time. Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University, says this kind of volatility is brutal. "We're talking six times the volatility of the S&P 500 or five times the volatility of gold." He says it has to do with the fact that this is new technology, "and it's not easy to think about the fundamental value of a cryptocurrency." Story continues That brutal volatility he's talking about is partly to do with the fact that these cryptocurrencies aren't collateralized. They're valuable, because people believe they're valuable. That's a big part of why Campbell says he's really worried about the BitcoinIRA. "I'm worried that people will put too much of their retirement in an asset like this. It's a very small piece of the market right now and it's extremely volatile. To put this into your savings, you need to be willing to lose everything. If you put your retirement savings into the stock market, there is almost no chance that you're going to lose everything." Risk aside, a BitcoinIRA itself isn't free. If you sink any less than $50,000 into your crypto nest egg, you'll face a hefty 15 percent set-up fee. But clients like Damon Smedley remain undeterred. He invested $330,000 into his BitcoinIRA last November. "You look at where I was one year ago, versus where I'm at today, and it's quite a drastic difference," Smedley said. It's not just the promise of a crazy return that's intrigued savers, it's also the fact that it's a hedge against the inflationary tendencies of mainstream currencies. Central banks in countries around the world have been printing cash to prop up their struggling economies, but that goes hand in hand with inflation. In the U.S., gold, stocks, and bonds have long been the traditional hedge against inflation and the rising dollar. But now, bitcoin and ethereum offer an alternative way to beat inflation, though it's clearly not for the faint of heart. One thing is for sure, despite its volatility, this new cryptocurrency asset class isn't going anywhere. More From CNBC Terror to end bitcoin anonymity? 'Smart' people and Panama Papers Bitcoin mining IPO falls short || Here's why some Americans are risking their life savings on a Bitcoin IRA: Investors have been bullish on bitcoin all this year because of its rapid appreciation, but now, mom and pop buyers are also looking for a way to benefit from its price surge, despite the big risks.BitcoinIRAlaunched in May of 2016, offering investors the tax-advantage of an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), plus the return of a high-risk, high-reward alternative asset class. It's similar in nature to other IRAs, except that instead of being funded by gold, cash, and bonds, it's backed by bitcoin.
And the company isn't just dealing in bitcoin anymore. As of April, it now includes rival cryptocurrency ether, and it plans to add two more coins to its roster by the end of the summer.
Chief Operating Officer Chris Kline says business couldn't be better. In its first year, he says BitcoinIRA was averaging around a million dollars of monthly inflows. In the last six months, they started doing that amount of business in a single day, he says. (CNBC did not independently verify the flows.)
The popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin, may be highly volatile, but that didn't deter early adopter Roy Trimboli.Roy calls himself '11,' since he's the proud owner of the eleventh-ever BitcoinIRA. He says he's been a conventional guy since 22, always maxing out his 401(k) and investing in blue chip mutual funds, but a year ago, he put 10 bitcoins into a BitcoinIRA. He says he's now up about 300 percent.
"It's a couple of generations worth of returns," he says.
'11' is now just one of over 700 individual account holders, including clients as young as 20-years-old.
But even with these kinds of returns, the fact remains, a speculative asset like bitcoin or ether comes with a certain degree of risk. Cryptocurrencies don't sleep. They're literally always moving, and if recent history is any indication, they're prone to seismic price moves in a very short space of time.
Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University, says this kind of volatility is brutal. "We're talking six times the volatility of the S&P 500 or five times the volatility of gold." He says it has to do with the fact that this is new technology, "and it's not easy to think about the fundamental value of a cryptocurrency."
That brutal volatility he's talking about is partly to do with the fact that these cryptocurrencies aren't collateralized. They're valuable, because people believe they're valuable. That's a big part of why Campbell says he's really worried about the BitcoinIRA.
"I'm worried that people will put too much of their retirement in an asset like this. It's a very small piece of the market right now and it's extremely volatile. To put this into your savings, you need to be willing to lose everything. If you put your retirement savings into the stock market, there is almost no chance that you're going to lose everything."
Risk aside, a BitcoinIRA itself isn't free. If you sink any less than $50,000 into your crypto nest egg, you'll face a hefty 15 percent set-up fee. But clients like Damon Smedley remain undeterred. He invested $330,000 into his BitcoinIRA last November.
"You look at where I was one year ago, versus where I'm at today, and it's quite a drastic difference," Smedley said.
It's not just the promise of a crazy return that's intrigued savers, it's also the fact that it's a hedge against the inflationary tendencies of mainstream currencies. Central banks in countries around the world have been printing cash to prop up their struggling economies, but that goes hand in hand with inflation.
In the U.S., gold, stocks, and bonds have long been the traditional hedge against inflation and the rising dollar. But now, bitcoin and ethereum offer an alternative way to beat inflation, though it's clearly not for the faint of heart.
One thing is for sure, despite its volatility, this new cryptocurrency asset class isn't going anywhere.
More From CNBC
• Terror to end bitcoin anonymity?
• 'Smart' people and Panama Papers
• Bitcoin mining IPO falls short || Here's why some Americans are risking their life savings on a Bitcoin IRA: Investors have been bullish on bitcoin all this year because of its rapid appreciation, but now, mom and pop buyers are also looking for a way to benefit from its price surge, despite the big risks.BitcoinIRAlaunched in May of 2016, offering investors the tax-advantage of an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), plus the return of a high-risk, high-reward alternative asset class. It's similar in nature to other IRAs, except that instead of being funded by gold, cash, and bonds, it's backed by bitcoin.
And the company isn't just dealing in bitcoin anymore. As of April, it now includes rival cryptocurrency ether, and it plans to add two more coins to its roster by the end of the summer.
Chief Operating Officer Chris Kline says business couldn't be better. In its first year, he says BitcoinIRA was averaging around a million dollars of monthly inflows. In the last six months, they started doing that amount of business in a single day, he says. (CNBC did not independently verify the flows.)
The popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin, may be highly volatile, but that didn't deter early adopter Roy Trimboli.Roy calls himself '11,' since he's the proud owner of the eleventh-ever BitcoinIRA. He says he's been a conventional guy since 22, always maxing out his 401(k) and investing in blue chip mutual funds, but a year ago, he put 10 bitcoins into a BitcoinIRA. He says he's now up about 300 percent.
"It's a couple of generations worth of returns," he says.
'11' is now just one of over 700 individual account holders, including clients as young as 20-years-old.
But even with these kinds of returns, the fact remains, a speculative asset like bitcoin or ether comes with a certain degree of risk. Cryptocurrencies don't sleep. They're literally always moving, and if recent history is any indication, they're prone to seismic price moves in a very short space of time.
Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University, says this kind of volatility is brutal. "We're talking six times the volatility of the S&P 500 or five times the volatility of gold." He says it has to do with the fact that this is new technology, "and it's not easy to think about the fundamental value of a cryptocurrency."
That brutal volatility he's talking about is partly to do with the fact that these cryptocurrencies aren't collateralized. They're valuable, because people believe they're valuable. That's a big part of why Campbell says he's really worried about the BitcoinIRA.
"I'm worried that people will put too much of their retirement in an asset like this. It's a very small piece of the market right now and it's extremely volatile. To put this into your savings, you need to be willing to lose everything. If you put your retirement savings into the stock market, there is almost no chance that you're going to lose everything."
Risk aside, a BitcoinIRA itself isn't free. If you sink any less than $50,000 into your crypto nest egg, you'll face a hefty 15 percent set-up fee. But clients like Damon Smedley remain undeterred. He invested $330,000 into his BitcoinIRA last November.
"You look at where I was one year ago, versus where I'm at today, and it's quite a drastic difference," Smedley said.
It's not just the promise of a crazy return that's intrigued savers, it's also the fact that it's a hedge against the inflationary tendencies of mainstream currencies. Central banks in countries around the world have been printing cash to prop up their struggling economies, but that goes hand in hand with inflation.
In the U.S., gold, stocks, and bonds have long been the traditional hedge against inflation and the rising dollar. But now, bitcoin and ethereum offer an alternative way to beat inflation, though it's clearly not for the faint of heart.
One thing is for sure, despite its volatility, this new cryptocurrency asset class isn't going anywhere.
More From CNBC
• Terror to end bitcoin anonymity?
• 'Smart' people and Panama Papers
• Bitcoin mining IPO falls short
[Social Media Buzz]
ВАЖНО! Торги и ввод-вывод #BTC будут остановлены 31 июля в 12-00, возобновим после 2 августа. http://kuna.ua/?p=3595 || #Monacoin 54.8円↓[Zaif] -円→[もなとれ]
#NEM #XEM 18.2円↓[Zaif]
#Bitcoin 307,730円↓[Zaif]
07/29 11:00
口座開設はこちらで！ https://goo.gl/31dyoO || 1 DOGE Price: Bter 0.00000062 BTC #doge #dogecoin 2017-07-29 00:31 pic.twitter.com/hPqEKDurnb || #BTC El precio actual del Bitcoin es de 2740.00$ http://bit.ly/2uxXjwo || #SegWit blocks mined: 100.00%; 1664 more for lock-in. (Period ends in 10 days...
|
2757.18, 2875.34, 2718.26, 2710.67, 2804.73, 2895.89, 3252.91, 3213.94, 3378.94, 3419.94
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 2506.37, 2464.58, 2518.56, 2655.88, 2548.29, 2589.60, 2721.79, 2689.10, 2705.41, 2744.91, 2608.72, 2589.41, 2478.45, 2552.45, 2574.79, 2539.32, 2480.84, 2434.55, 2506.47, 2564.06, 2601.64, 2601.99, 2608.56, 2518.66, 2571.34, 2518.44, 2372.56, 2337.79, 2398.84, 2357.90, 2233.34, 1998.86, 1929.82, 2228.41, 2318.88, 2273.43, 2817.60, 2667.76, 2810.12, 2730.40, 2754.86, 2576.48, 2529.45, 2671.78, 2809.01, 2726.45, 2757.18, 2875.34, 2718.26, 2710.67, 2804.73, 2895.89, 3252.91, 3213.94, 3378.94, 3419.94, 3342.47, 3381.28, 3650.62, 3884.71, 4073.26, 4325.13, 4181.93, 4376.63, 4331.69, 4160.62, 4193.70, 4087.66, 4001.74, 4100.52, 4151.52, 4334.68, 4371.60, 4352.40, 4382.88, 4382.66, 4579.02, 4565.30, 4703.39, 4892.01, 4578.77, 4582.96, 4236.31, 4376.53, 4597.12, 4599.88, 4228.75, 4226.06, 4122.94, 4161.27.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-09-11]
Volume: 1557330048, RSI (14-day): 48.19, 50-day EMA: 3889.11, 200-day EMA: 2608.73
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1331.00, Gold RSI: 65.36
Oil Price: 48.07, Oil RSI: 51.55
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries. Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide. Nikkei futures were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago. The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday. The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futures <0#TY:> fell 10 ticks. The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 <.DXY> but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011. The euro eased to $1.2015 , having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program. ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported. China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday. "The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note. "The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports." The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan , off a low of 6.4437. There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally. Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000. In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54. Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma. U.S. crude was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent rose 17 cents to $53.95. (Editing by Richard Pullin) || Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries. Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide. Nikkei futures <NKc1> were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago. The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday. The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 <ESc1> by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futures <0#TY:> fell 10 ticks. The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen <JPY=> and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 <.DXY> but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011. The euro eased to $1.2015 <EUR=>, having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program. ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported. China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday. "The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note. Story continues "The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports." The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan <CNH=>, off a low of 6.4437. There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally. Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 <BTC=BTSP> on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000. In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce <XAU=> and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54. Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma. U.S. crude <CLcv1> was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent <LCOcv1> rose 17 cents to $53.95. (Editing by Richard Pullin) || Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries. Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide. Nikkei futures were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago. The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday. The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futures <0#TY:> fell 10 ticks. The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 <.DXY> but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011. The euro eased to $1.2015 , having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program. ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported. China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday. "The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note. "The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports." The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan , off a low of 6.4437. There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally. Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000. In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54. Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma. U.S. crude was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent rose 17 cents to $53.95. (Editing by Richard Pullin) || Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries. Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide. Nikkei futures <NKc1> were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago. The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday. The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 <ESc1> by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futures <0#TY:> fell 10 ticks. The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen <JPY=> and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 <.DXY> but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011. The euro eased to $1.2015 <EUR=>, having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program. ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported. China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday. "The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note. Story continues "The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports." The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan <CNH=>, off a low of 6.4437. There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally. Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 <BTC=BTSP> on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000. In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce <XAU=> and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54. Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma. U.S. crude <CLcv1> was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent <LCOcv1> rose 17 cents to $53.95. (Editing by Richard Pullin) || Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries.
Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide.
Nikkei futures (NKc1) were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago.
The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday.
The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 (ESc1) by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futuresfell 10 ticks.
The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen (JPY=) and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 (.DXY) but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011.
The euro eased to $1.2015 (EUR=), having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program.
ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported.
China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday.
"The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note.
"The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports."
The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan (CNH=), off a low of 6.4437.
There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally.
Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 (BTC=BTSP) on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000.
In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce (XAU=) and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54.
Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma.
U.S. crude (CLcv1) was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent (LCOcv1) rose 17 cents to $53.95.
(Editing by Richard Pullin) || Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries. Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide. Nikkei futures (NKc1) were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago. The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday. The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 (ESc1) by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futures fell 10 ticks. The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen (JPY=) and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 (.DXY) but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011. The euro eased to $1.2015 (EUR=), having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program. ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported. China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday. "The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note. "The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports." The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan (CNH=), off a low of 6.4437. There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally. Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 (BTC=BTSP) on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000. In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce (XAU=) and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54. Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma. Story continues U.S. crude (CLcv1) was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent (LCOcv1) rose 17 cents to $53.95. (Editing by Richard Pullin) View comments || Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries. Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide. Nikkei futures (NKc1) were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago. The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday. The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 (ESc1) by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futures fell 10 ticks. The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen (JPY=) and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 (.DXY) but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011. The euro eased to $1.2015 (EUR=), having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program. ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported. China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday. "The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note. "The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports." Story continues The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan (CNH=), off a low of 6.4437. There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally. Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 (BTC=BTSP) on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000. In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce (XAU=) and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54. Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma. [O/R] U.S. crude (CLcv1) was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent (LCOcv1) rose 17 cents to $53.95. (Editing by Richard Pullin) || Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries.
Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide.
Nikkei futures (NKc1) were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago.
The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday.
The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 (ESc1) by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futuresfell 10 ticks.
The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen (JPY=) and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 (.DXY) but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011.
The euro eased to $1.2015 (EUR=), having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program.
ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported.
China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday.
"The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note.
"The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports."
The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan (CNH=), off a low of 6.4437.
There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally.
Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 (BTC=BTSP) on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000.
In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce (XAU=) and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54.
Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma. [O/R]
U.S. crude (CLcv1) was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent (LCOcv1) rose 17 cents to $53.95.
(Editing by Richard Pullin) || GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: * Relief in Asia as Pyongyang holds back on missile test * Nikkei futures bounce as yen eases back, dollar edges up * Oil pares losses as Irma downgraded to Category 2 * Eyes on yuan on talk PBOC to ease currency restrictions By Wayne Cole SYDNEY, Sept 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries. Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide. Nikkei futures were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago. The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday. The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futures fell 10 ticks. The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011. The euro eased to $1.2015, having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program. ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported. China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday. "The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note. Story continues "The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports." The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan, off a low of 6.4437. There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally. Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000. In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54. Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma. U.S. crude was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent rose 17 cents to $53.95. (Editing by Richard Pullin) || GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar, shares bounce on relief at North Korea inaction: * Relief in Asia as Pyongyang holds back on missile test
* Nikkei futures bounce as yen eases back, dollar edges up
* Oil pares losses as Irma downgraded to Category 2
* Eyes on yuan on talk PBOC to ease currency restrictions
By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, Sept 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar won a reprieve from risk aversion on Monday after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile, tempering safe havens like the yen and Treasuries.
Investors remained cautious over the possible economic impact of Hurricane Irma as it chewed its way up the Florida coast, knocking out electricity to 2.5 million homes and businesses statewide.
Nikkei futures were trading up 0.8 percent after Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week ago.
The United States and its allies had been bracing for another long-range missile launch in time for the 69th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Saturday.
The sense of relief was enough to lift E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 by 0.3 percent, while Treasury 10-year note futures fell 10 ticks.
The U.S. dollar edged up to 108.43 yen and away from Friday's 10-month trough of 107.32. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar added 0.2 percent to 91.521 but that was still uncomfortably close to last week's 2-1/2 year low of 91.011.
The euro eased to $1.2015, having hit a top of $1.2092 on Friday amid speculation the European Central Bank was closer to starting a wind-back of its stimulus program.
ECB officials last week generally agreed their next move would be to cut their bond purchases and discussed a range of options, Reuters reported.
China's central bank was also a focus in Asia after sources said it plans to scrap reserve requirements for financial institutions settling foreign exchange forward yuan positions with effect from Monday.
"The removal potentially makes it easier for traders to purchase the USD, easing the pressure for yuan appreciation," said analysts at ANZ in a note.
"The change likely signals some discomfort about the stronger yuan and its impact on Chinese exports."
The dollar was last up 0.25 percent against the offshore yuan at 6.5013 yuan, off a low of 6.4437.
There were also reports Beijing was planning to shut down local crypto-currency exchanges, dealing a blow to Bitcoin's recent stellar rally.
Bitcoin was quoted down 0.8 percent at $4,274 on the BitStamp platform, off the recent record high of nearly $5,000.
In commodity markets, gold softened 0.7 percent to $1,337.01 an ounce and away from a one-year peak of $1,357.54.
Oil prices regained a little ground after falling sharply on Friday amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma.
U.S. crude was trading 22 cents firmer at $47.70 a barrel, while Brent rose 17 cents to $53.95.
(Editing by Richard Pullin) || China Aims to Push Gas-Powered Cars Out of the Market: China's vice minister of industry and information technology, Xin Guobin, says the country is working on a timetable to end the production and sale of vehicles that run on fossil fuels, potentially dramatically reshaping the global automobile market in favor of electric vehicles.
No deadline for the switch has been set yet,according to Bloomberg. Butother countriesthat have plans to transition away from gas power have targets centered around 2030. Those countries include India, with atarget date of 2030, but no hard deadline;Britain, aiming for 2040; France, with adeadline of 2040; and Norway, with themost ambitioustarget, 2025.
China would be the largest single market to push towards electrification. Because the growth of China's economy continues to propel more people into the car-owningmiddle class, the effect of its mandate is likely to be larger than India's, whose GDP growth has recentlydeclined.
Get Data Sheet,Fortune'stechnology newsletter.
China has pledged to cap its carbon emissions by 2030, and transitioning to electric vehicles will also allay severe air-quality problems that plague its citizens. But the transition could also benefit domestic manufacturers who are developing electric vehicles. Those include BYD, which according to Bloomberg has the largest portion of China's domestic market, as well as more shaky propositions including LeEco, which has pushed into electric car production but faced a majorcash crisisin 2016.
The other big winner could be America's Tesla Motors, which has madeincreasing headwayin the Chinese market ahead of the release of its lower-priced Model 3 sedan.
A manager for another Chinese car manufacturer, Chery Automobile, speculated to Bloomberg that 2040 would be a reasonable target for the gas-car phaseout, given the size of China's market.
See original article on Fortune.com
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• China Is Backing More UN Sanctions Against North Korea After Its Latest Nuke Test || China Aims to Push Gas-Powered Cars Out of the Market: China's vice minister of industry and information technology, Xin Guobin, says the country is working on a timetable to end the production and sale of vehicles that run on fossil fuels, potentially dramatically reshaping the global automobile market in favor of electric vehicles. No deadline for the switch has been set yet, according to Bloomberg . But other countries that have plans to transition away from gas power have targets centered around 2030. Those countries include India, with a target date of 2030 , but no hard deadline; Britain , aiming for 2040; France, with a deadline of 2040 ; and Norway, with the most ambitious target, 2025. China would be the largest single market to push towards electrification. Because the growth of China's economy continues to propel more people into the car-owning middle class , the effect of its mandate is likely to be larger than India's, whose GDP growth has recently declined . Get Data Sheet , Fortune's technology newsletter. China has pledged to cap its carbon emissions by 2030, and transitioning to electric vehicles will also allay severe air-quality problems that plague its citizens. But the transition could also benefit domestic manufacturers who are developing electric vehicles. Those include BYD, which according to Bloomberg has the largest portion of China's domestic market, as well as more shaky propositions including LeEco, which has pushed into electric car production but faced a major cash crisis in 2016. The other big winner could be America's Tesla Motors, which has made increasing headway in the Chinese market ahead of the release of its lower-priced Model 3 sedan. A manager for another Chinese car manufacturer, Chery Automobile, speculated to Bloomberg that 2040 would be a reasonable target for the gas-car phaseout, given the size of China's market. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Here's Who China's Bitcoin Exchange Ban Reportedly Won't Affect Trump's conduit to China: if not Javanka, who? CEO Daily: Saturday, September 9, 2017 Why Killing Kim Jong-un Won't Solve Anything China Is Backing More UN Sanctions Against North Korea After Its Latest Nuke Test || A Crucial Week for Bitcoin: The Chinese authorities seem to be pretty determined to prick the bitcoin bubble and that of the other crytocurrencies as well. While the people from China have been the biggest investors and miners of bitcoins and other cryptos, they have also been launching many number of ICOs and this is the main thing that seemed to have ticked off the authorities. These ICOs were supposed to be an avenue for budding entrepreneurs to collect funds for their projects in an easy and quick manner but as with any method that is easy, this avenue began to be exploited by unscrupulous entities.
Get Into Bitcoin Trading Today
Many ICOs were launched in China under the guise of projects that never took off. These ICOs had only website and a white paper and after funds were collected, which ran into millions in certain cases, there was no progress and the people who invested in these ICOs, in return for coins, were defrauded. Some of these ICOs were also used as conduits for taking funds out of the country and also for bringing unaccounted money into the country as well. All these were being done in a unregulated manner and there were many such ICOs and schemes based out of them which caused a lot of investors and traders to lose their hard earned money.
This seemed to have been the breaking point for the Chinese regulators, who banned all ICOs last week and announced that Chinese people should not invest or launch any ICOs. Those who had collected funds through ICOs were asked to return them back and the platforms that were used for launching ICOs were to be regulated and audited as well. This led a large crash in the bitcoin and ethereum prices, as also that of other coins as well. The Chinese traders sought to liquidate their holdings in fear of further regulation and the ICO owners also tried to dump their holdings into the market so that they would not be traced in the future. This led to large scale selling of the bitcoins and ETH as well and the Chinese were joined by traders from other parts of the world as the effect snowballed.
The bitcoin prices crashed from their highs near $5000 to the strong support at $4000 while the ETH prices crashed from near $400 to the $270 region on the back of this selling. The situation seemed to improve towards the middle of the week as the market began to come to terms with this ban and began to look forward but the fear underneath was clear for everyone to see. It needed only one more small spark to ignite the selling and that came towards the end of the week as there were reports that the Chinese regulators would go after the crypto exchanges in China as well and ban them too. So far,there has been no such official announcement but the traders did not bother to wait and that led to another round of selling which has led the bitcoin and the ETH prices back to their lows again.
This makes the upcoming week a crucial one for bitcoin as the market would be looking out for any such announcement from China and if it turns out to be true, it could lead to another major round of selling in bitcoins. On the other hand, the market would also be looking for any such bad news from any other part of the world and watch out for how the situation develops. If the news about the exchange ban turns out to be false, then we could be in for a major bullish run in the bitcoin prices as the buyers return but any such short term moves will have to be carefully handled.
From a technical standpoint, this could be viewed only as a correction so far as the bitcoin prices have managed to bounce off the strong support at the round figure of $4000 and this has happened twice. Both times, the bounce from the support has been strong which means that several buys and stops could be building up in this region every time there is a bounce and this would only make this support stronger.
If the prices do manage to break through the $4000 region, then the next target would be $3800 and then $3600 on the downside. If the news turns out to be false and we see a bullish leg in the prices, then the target would be $4600 and any progress beyond this region would be doubtful at this point of time when there is so much uncertainty around.
We believe that this is a sign of maturing of the market as more and more regulations begin to come in to ensure the correct flow of funds in this industry and once such drastic actions from the Chinese and other regulators have the desired effect, they would be stepping in to restart the whole market again in a regulated manner under their purview. This should help to keep the bitcoin prices buoyant in the medium and long term.
The Best and Safest Way to Buy and Sell Bitcoins
For those who are looking to take advantage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies price fluctuations,Some brokersprovide traders with instant access to trade Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. The process is fast and easy with convenient and advanced trading platform (desktop and mobile), low spreads and instant execution.Click here for more details.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• A Crucial Week for Bitcoin
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• Market Snapshot – Dollar Continues to be Weak As Risks Threaten || A Crucial Week for Bitcoin: The Chinese authorities seem to be pretty determined to prick the bitcoin bubble and that of the other crytocurrencies as well. While the people from China have been the biggest investors and miners of bitcoins and other cryptos, they have also been launching many number of ICOs and this is the main thing that seemed to have ticked off the authorities. These ICOs were supposed to be an avenue for budding entrepreneurs to collect funds for their projects in an easy and quick manner but as with any method that is easy, this avenue began to be exploited by unscrupulous entities. Get Into Bitcoin Trading Today ICOs Being Misused Many ICOs were launched in China under the guise of projects that never took off. These ICOs had only website and a white paper and after funds were collected, which ran into millions in certain cases, there was no progress and the people who invested in these ICOs, in return for coins, were defrauded. Some of these ICOs were also used as conduits for taking funds out of the country and also for bringing unaccounted money into the country as well. All these were being done in a unregulated manner and there were many such ICOs and schemes based out of them which caused a lot of investors and traders to lose their hard earned money. This seemed to have been the breaking point for the Chinese regulators, who banned all ICOs last week and announced that Chinese people should not invest or launch any ICOs. Those who had collected funds through ICOs were asked to return them back and the platforms that were used for launching ICOs were to be regulated and audited as well. This led a large crash in the bitcoin and ethereum prices, as also that of other coins as well. The Chinese traders sought to liquidate their holdings in fear of further regulation and the ICO owners also tried to dump their holdings into the market so that they would not be traced in the future. This led to large scale selling of the bitcoins and ETH as well and the Chinese were joined by traders from other parts of the world as the effect snowballed. Story continues Bitcoin Prices Suffer Steep Fall The bitcoin prices crashed from their highs near $5000 to the strong support at $4000 while the ETH prices crashed from near $400 to the $270 region on the back of this selling. The situation seemed to improve towards the middle of the week as the market began to come to terms with this ban and began to look forward but the fear underneath was clear for everyone to see. It needed only one more small spark to ignite the selling and that came towards the end of the week as there were reports that the Chinese regulators would go after the crypto exchanges in China as well and ban them too. So far,there has been no such official announcement but the traders did not bother to wait and that led to another round of selling which has led the bitcoin and the ETH prices back to their lows again. Bitcoin 4H This makes the upcoming week a crucial one for bitcoin as the market would be looking out for any such announcement from China and if it turns out to be true, it could lead to another major round of selling in bitcoins. On the other hand, the market would also be looking for any such bad news from any other part of the world and watch out for how the situation develops. If the news about the exchange ban turns out to be false, then we could be in for a major bullish run in the bitcoin prices as the buyers return but any such short term moves will have to be carefully handled. Price Regions To Note From a technical standpoint, this could be viewed only as a correction so far as the bitcoin prices have managed to bounce off the strong support at the round figure of $4000 and this has happened twice. Both times, the bounce from the support has been strong which means that several buys and stops could be building up in this region every time there is a bounce and this would only make this support stronger. If the prices do manage to break through the $4000 region, then the next target would be $3800 and then $3600 on the downside. If the news turns out to be false and we see a bullish leg in the prices, then the target would be $4600 and any progress beyond this region would be doubtful at this point of time when there is so much uncertainty around. We believe that this is a sign of maturing of the market as more and more regulations begin to come in to ensure the correct flow of funds in this industry and once such drastic actions from the Chinese and other regulators have the desired effect, they would be stepping in to restart the whole market again in a regulated manner under their purview. This should help to keep the bitcoin prices buoyant in the medium and long term. The Best and Safest Way to Buy and Sell Bitcoins For those who are looking to take advantage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies price fluctuations, Some brokers provide traders with instant access to trade Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. The process is fast and easy with convenient and advanced trading platform (desktop and mobile), low spreads and instant execution. Click here for more details . This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Investing in Cryptocurrencies Now or It’s Too Late? A Crucial Week for Bitcoin Draghi Fails to Talk Down Euro; Says ECB Will Decide on Tapering this Autumn Australian Dollar Needs RBA’s Help U.S. Dollar Tumbles as Investors Weigh Impact of Hurricane Irma on Economy Market Snapshot – Dollar Continues to be Weak As Risks Threaten || A Crucial Week for Bitcoin: The Chinese authorities seem to be pretty determined to prick the bitcoin bubble and that of the other crytocurrencies as well. While the people from China have been the biggest investors and miners of bitcoins and other cryptos, they have also been launching many number of ICOs and this is the main thing that seemed to have ticked off the authorities. These ICOs were supposed to be an avenue for budding entrepreneurs to collect funds for their projects in an easy and quick manner but as with any method that is easy, this avenue began to be exploited by unscrupulous entities.
Get Into Bitcoin Trading Today
Many ICOs were launched in China under the guise of projects that never took off. These ICOs had only website and a white paper and after funds were collected, which ran into millions in certain cases, there was no progress and the people who invested in these ICOs, in return for coins, were defrauded. Some of these ICOs were also used as conduits for taking funds out of the country and also for bringing unaccounted money into the country as well. All these were being done in a unregulated manner and there were many such ICOs and schemes based out of them which caused a lot of investors and traders to lose their hard earned money.
This seemed to have been the breaking point for the Chinese regulators, who banned all ICOs last week and announced that Chinese people should not invest or launch any ICOs. Those who had collected funds through ICOs were asked to return them back and the platforms that were used for launching ICOs were to be regulated and audited as well. This led a large crash in the bitcoin and ethereum prices, as also that of other coins as well. The Chinese traders sought to liquidate their holdings in fear of further regulation and the ICO owners also tried to dump their holdings into the market so that they would not be traced in the future. This led to large scale selling of the bitcoins and ETH as well and the Chinese were joined by traders from other parts of the world as the effect snowballed.
The bitcoin prices crashed from their highs near $5000 to the strong support at $4000 while the ETH prices crashed from near $400 to the $270 region on the back of this selling. The situation seemed to improve towards the middle of the week as the market began to come to terms with this ban and began to look forward but the fear underneath was clear for everyone to see. It needed only one more small spark to ignite the selling and that came towards the end of the week as there were reports that the Chinese regulators would go after the crypto exchanges in China as well and ban them too. So far,there has been no such official announcement but the traders did not bother to wait and that led to another round of selling which has led the bitcoin and the ETH prices back to their lows again.
This makes the upcoming week a crucial one for bitcoin as the market would be looking out for any such announcement from China and if it turns out to be true, it could lead to another major round of selling in bitcoins. On the other hand, the market would also be looking for any such bad news from any other part of the world and watch out for how the situation develops. If the news about the exchange ban turns out to be false, then we could be in for a major bullish run in the bitcoin prices as the buyers return but any such short term moves will have to be carefully handled.
From a technical standpoint, this could be viewed only as a correction so far as the bitcoin prices have managed to bounce off the strong support at the round figure of $4000 and this has happened twice. Both times, the bounce from the support has been strong which means that several buys and stops could be building up in this region every time there is a bounce and this would only make this support stronger.
If the prices do manage to break through the $4000 region, then the next target would be $3800 and then $3600 on the downside. If the news turns out to be false and we see a bullish leg in the prices, then the target would be $4600 and any progress beyond this region would be doubtful at this point of time when there is so much uncertainty around.
We believe that this is a sign of maturing of the market as more and more regulations begin to come in to ensure the correct flow of funds in this industry and once such drastic actions from the Chinese and other regulators have the desired effect, they would be stepping in to restart the whole market again in a regulated manner under their purview. This should help to keep the bitcoin prices buoyant in the medium and long term.
The Best and Safest Way to Buy and Sell Bitcoins
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Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• A Crucial Week for Bitcoin
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• Market Snapshot – Dollar Continues to be Weak As Risks Threaten || Bitcoin extends losses to drop below $4,000 amid China uncertainty: Investing.com - Bitcoin, the world's biggest digital currency by market cap, briefly fell back below the $4,000-level on Sunday, extending weekend losses on reports saying that China was planning to shut down local cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitcoin sank to a low of $3,974.10 and last traded at $4,138.60 by 10:15AM ET (1415GMT), down $179.30, or around 4.2%. The digital currency rallied to an all-time high of $4,911.80 at the start of September.
It lost nearly 7% on Friday in response to a report from a Chinese news outlet that said Beijing was planning onshutting down key Bitcoin exchanges in China.
However, officials at three Chinese bitcoin exchanges - Beijing-based OKCoin, Shanghai-based BTC China, and Beijing-based Huobi - said they have not heard anything from the Chinese government thus far.
The latest crackdown on cryptocurrency activity in China comes a few days after the People’s Bank of China sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market, afterimposing a banon individuals and businesses from raising funds through initial coin offerings (ICOs).
Ethereum, Bitcoin's closest rival in terms of market cap, sank 5%, or $14.29, to $288.50. It rose to a record peak of $394.78 on Sept. 2.
Other prominent cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple and Dash also traded sharply lower.
The total value of all publicly traded cryptocurrencies was $140 billion, a figure that was down more than 20% from a high of nearly $180 billion reached a little more than a week ago.
To stay on top of the latest moves in the crypto-space, be sure to check out:https://www.investing.com/crypto/
Related Articles
Bitcoin extends losses to drop below $4,000 amid China uncertainty
U.S. blockchain startups R3 and Ripple in legal battle
Bitcoin ETF idea still a little funky, experts say || Bitcoin extends losses to drop below $4,000 amid China uncertainty: Bitcoin extends losses to drop below $4,000 Investing.com - Bitcoin, the world's biggest digital currency by market cap, briefly fell back below the $4,000-level on Sunday, extending weekend losses on reports saying that China was planning to shut down local cryptocurrency exchanges. Bitcoin sank to a low of $3,974.10 and last traded at $4,138.60 by 10:15AM ET (1415GMT), down $179.30, or around 4.2%. The digital currency rallied to an all-time high of $4,911.80 at the start of September. It lost nearly 7% on Friday in response to a report from a Chinese news outlet that said Beijing was planning on shutting down key Bitcoin exchanges in China . However, officials at three Chinese bitcoin exchanges - Beijing-based OKCoin, Shanghai-based BTC China, and Beijing-based Huobi - said they have not heard anything from the Chinese government thus far. The latest crackdown on cryptocurrency activity in China comes a few days after the Peoples Bank of China sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market, after imposing a ban on individuals and businesses from raising funds through initial coin offerings (ICOs). Ethereum, Bitcoin's closest rival in terms of market cap, sank 5%, or $14.29, to $288.50. It rose to a record peak of $394.78 on Sept. 2. Other prominent cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple and Dash also traded sharply lower. The total value of all publicly traded cryptocurrencies was $140 billion, a figure that was down more than 20% from a high of nearly $180 billion reached a little more than a week ago. To stay on top of the latest moves in the crypto-space, be sure to check out: https://www.investing.com/crypto/ Related Articles Bitcoin extends losses to drop below $4,000 amid China uncertainty U.S. blockchain startups R3 and Ripple in legal battle Bitcoin ETF idea still a little funky, experts say || Bitcoin extends losses to drop below $4,000 amid China uncertainty: Investing.com - Bitcoin, the world's biggest digital currency by market cap, briefly fell back below the $4,000-level on Sunday, extending weekend losses on reports saying that China was planning to shut down local cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitcoin sank to a low of $3,974.10 and last traded at $4,138.60 by 10:15AM ET (1415GMT), down $179.30, or around 4.2%. The digital currency rallied to an all-time high of $4,911.80 at the start of September.
It lost nearly 7% on Friday in response to a report from a Chinese news outlet that said Beijing was planning onshutting down key Bitcoin exchanges in China.
However, officials at three Chinese bitcoin exchanges - Beijing-based OKCoin, Shanghai-based BTC China, and Beijing-based Huobi - said they have not heard anything from the Chinese government thus far.
The latest crackdown on cryptocurrency activity in China comes a few days after the People’s Bank of China sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market, afterimposing a banon individuals and businesses from raising funds through initial coin offerings (ICOs).
Ethereum, Bitcoin's closest rival in terms of market cap, sank 5%, or $14.29, to $288.50. It rose to a record peak of $394.78 on Sept. 2.
Other prominent cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple and Dash also traded sharply lower.
The total value of all publicly traded cryptocurrencies was $140 billion, a figure that was down more than 20% from a high of nearly $180 billion reached a little more than a week ago.
To stay on top of the latest moves in the crypto-space, be sure to check out:https://www.investing.com/crypto/
Related Articles
Bitcoin extends losses to drop below $4,000 amid China uncertainty
U.S. blockchain startups R3 and Ripple in legal battle
Bitcoin ETF idea still a little funky, experts say || Weekly outlook: September 11 - 15: Investing.com - The dollar slumped to more than two-and-a-half year lows against a basket of the other major currencies on Friday amid growing doubts over whether the Federal Reserve will be able to deliver another interest rate hike this year.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.2% at 91.31 in late trade after earlier touching a trough of 90.99, the lowest level since January 2015.
The index ended the week down 1.55%, the largest weekly percentage decline since late June.
Diminished expectations for a third rate hike this year compounded by heightened tensions withNorth Koreaand worries over the economic impact ofhurricanes in the southeastern U.S.pressured the dollar lower.
Concerns over political turmoil in Washington have also fed into recent dollar weakness.
An agreement to postpone U.S. debt ceiling talks until December, which would coincide with the Fed's policy meeting have diminished chances for a rate hike.
The dollar plumbed 10-month lows against the yen, with USD/JPY falling to 107.32, before pulling back to 107.81 in late trade.
The dollar ended the week down 2.2% against the Japanese currency, the biggest weekly percentage decline in around 13 months.
The euro ended slightly higher against the dollar, with EUR/USD at 1.2036 after rising as high as 1.2092 earlier, the most since January 2015.
The euro ended the week up 1.48% against the dollar and is up almost 14% against the dollar so far this year.
Demand for the single currency continued to beunderpinnedafter European Central Bank President Mario Draghi indicated Thursday that the bank may start tapering its massive stimulus program this autumn.
Meanwhile, sterling rose to five-week highs against the softer dollar, with GBP/USD advancing 0.65% to 1.3195 late Friday.
The pound was boosted by stronger than expected data on UK manufacturing output growth.
In the week ahead, investors will be closely watching Thursday’s U.S. inflation report for fresh clues on the possible timing of the next Fed rate hike. A monetary policy announcement by the Bank of England will also be in focus.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of these and other significant events likely to affect the markets.
Monday, September 11
Japan is to release data on core machinery orders.
Canada is to report on housing starts.
Tuesday, September 12
Australia is to release data on business confidence.
The UK is to publish its monthly inflation report.
Wednesday, September 13
Switzerland is to release data on producer price inflation.
The UK is to publish its monthly employment report.
The U.S. is to publish figures on producer price inflation.
Thursday, September 14
Australia is to release its monthly jobs report.
China is to publish data on fixed asset investment.
The Swiss National Bank is to announce its latest monetary policy decision and publish its policy assessment.
The Bank of England is to announce its latest interest rate decision and publish the minutes of its monetary policy meeting.
Canada is to report on new house price inflation.
The U.S. is to release data on consumer price inflation and initial jobless claims.
Friday, September 15
New Zealand is to release private sector data on manufacturing activity.
The U.S. is to round up the week with a string of economic reports, including data on retail sales, industrial production, manufacturing activity in the New York region and consumer sentiment.
Related Articles
Forex - Weekly outlook: September 11 - 15
Bitcoin tumbles on report China to shutter digital currency exchanges
CFTC: Euro Net Longs at 6-Year High; Gold Longs at 1-Year High || Weekly outlook: September 11 - 15: Dollar hits 2-1/2 year low against currency basket as rate hike expectations dim Investing.com - The dollar slumped to more than two-and-a-half year lows against a basket of the other major currencies on Friday amid growing doubts over whether the Federal Reserve will be able to deliver another interest rate hike this year. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.2% at 91.31 in late trade after earlier touching a trough of 90.99, the lowest level since January 2015. The index ended the week down 1.55%, the largest weekly percentage decline since late June. Diminished expectations for a third rate hike this year compounded by heightened tensions with North Korea and worries over the economic impact of hurricanes in the southeastern U.S. pressured the dollar lower. Concerns over political turmoil in Washington have also fed into recent dollar weakness. An agreement to postpone U.S. debt ceiling talks until December, which would coincide with the Fed's policy meeting have diminished chances for a rate hike. The dollar plumbed 10-month lows against the yen, with USD/JPY falling to 107.32, before pulling back to 107.81 in late trade. The dollar ended the week down 2.2% against the Japanese currency, the biggest weekly percentage decline in around 13 months. The euro ended slightly higher against the dollar, with EUR/USD at 1.2036 after rising as high as 1.2092 earlier, the most since January 2015. The euro ended the week up 1.48% against the dollar and is up almost 14% against the dollar so far this year. Demand for the single currency continued to be underpinned after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi indicated Thursday that the bank may start tapering its massive stimulus program this autumn. Meanwhile, sterling rose to five-week highs against the softer dollar, with GBP/USD advancing 0.65% to 1.3195 late Friday. The pound was boosted by stronger than expected data on UK manufacturing output growth. In the week ahead , investors will be closely watching Thursday’s U.S. inflation report for fresh clues on the possible timing of the next Fed rate hike. A monetary policy announcement by the Bank of England will also be in focus. Story continues Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of these and other significant events likely to affect the markets. Monday, September 11 Japan is to release data on core machinery orders. Canada is to report on housing starts. Tuesday, September 12 Australia is to release data on business confidence. The UK is to publish its monthly inflation report. Wednesday, September 13 Switzerland is to release data on producer price inflation. The UK is to publish its monthly employment report. The U.S. is to publish figures on producer price inflation. Thursday, September 14 Australia is to release its monthly jobs report. China is to publish data on fixed asset investment. The Swiss National Bank is to announce its latest monetary policy decision and publish its policy assessment. The Bank of England is to announce its latest interest rate decision and publish the minutes of its monetary policy meeting. Canada is to report on new house price inflation. The U.S. is to release data on consumer price inflation and initial jobless claims. Friday, September 15 New Zealand is to release private sector data on manufacturing activity. The U.S. is to round up the week with a string of economic reports, including data on retail sales, industrial production, manufacturing activity in the New York region and consumer sentiment. Related Articles Forex - Weekly outlook: September 11 - 15 Bitcoin tumbles on report China to shutter digital currency exchanges CFTC: Euro Net Longs at 6-Year High; Gold Longs at 1-Year High
[Social Media Buzz]
$BTC Current price of Bitcoin is $4202.00 #bitcoin | More on #CryptoPresshttp://ift.tt/2lgMf2q || 2017-09-11 22:00~23:00のBitcoin市場は上げ一服だったようだ。
変化率は0.8716%
24:00までは急落になる?
直近の市場の平均Bitcoinの価格は461145.0円
#ビットコイン
#bitcoin
#AI || 1 KOBO = 0.00000396 BTC
= 0.0169 USD
= 6.0840 NGN
= 0.2190 ZAR
= 1.7331 KES
#Kobocoin 2017-09-12 00:00 || 2017-09-11 00:00
1 BTC son: 24.700.633Gs. #btc #gs #pyg #bitcoin #paraguay #guaranies || 2017-09-11 12:00~13:00のBitcoin市場は上げ一服でした。
変化率は0.7959%
14:00までは反騰かな?
直近の...
|
4130.81, 3882.59, 3154.95, 3637.52, 3625.04, 3582.88, 4065.20, 3924.97, 3905.95, 3631.04
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 452.73, 454.77, 455.67, 455.67, 457.57, 454.16, 453.78, 454.62, 438.71, 442.68, 443.19, 439.32, 444.15, 445.98, 449.60, 453.38, 473.46, 530.04, 526.23, 533.86, 531.39, 536.92, 537.97, 569.19, 572.73, 574.98, 585.54, 576.60, 581.65, 574.63, 577.47, 606.73, 672.78, 704.38, 685.56, 694.47, 766.31, 748.91, 756.23, 763.78, 737.23, 666.65, 596.12, 623.98, 665.30, 665.12, 629.37, 655.28, 647.00, 639.89, 673.34, 676.30, 703.70, 658.66, 683.66, 670.63, 677.33, 640.56, 666.52, 650.96, 649.36, 647.66, 664.55, 654.47, 658.08, 663.26, 660.77, 679.46, 673.11, 672.86, 665.68, 665.01, 650.62, 655.56, 661.28, 654.10, 651.78, 654.35, 655.03, 656.99, 655.05, 624.68, 606.27, 547.47, 566.35, 578.29, 575.04, 587.78, 592.69, 591.05.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-08-08]
Volume: 61194100, RSI (14-day): 40.09, 50-day EMA: 624.01, 200-day EMA: 525.99
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1333.40, Gold RSI: 50.79
Oil Price: 43.02, Oil RSI: 47.12
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
High Prices And Expensive Gifts offered by PowerBTC to Bitcoin Sellers: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 7, 2016 /With the rise in popularity of Bitcoin commerce, many online firms are finding creative new ways to take advantage of this valuable virtual resource. However, none are more market-savvy than PowerBTC, an up-and-coming financial world star that is taking e-commerce by storm.
PowerBTC LLC (http://www.PowerBTC.com), an already well known cryptocurrency trader on the virtual market, has its on-going offer of higher-than-the-market-price premiums on Bitcoin purchase. Their offer is time-limited but comes along with a bunch of benefits for 10+ or larger transactions. While their standard approach of Bitcoin sellers remains a bonus of 10% more than the market's official rate, the company has added few more additional premiums and gifts for volume business.
While having listed all of them below, customers can be assisted and given additional information at any time.
POWERBTC CURRENT PROMOTIONAL OFFERS:
10+ BTC (24-karat gold coin);20+ BTC (24-karat gold coin +3 %);30+ BTC (24-karat gold coin +5 %);50+ BTC (24-karat gold coin +8 %)
24-karat gold coin worth of 450 USD based on the gold market price.
Tom Clark, the CEO of PowerBTC, commented: "We are happy that with this promotional offer we will be able to help the Bitcoin community. By riding on this next wave of digital technology, we hope to become a major leader of the Bitcoin community, and offer exceptional deals for all Bitcoin purchases. It's about staying in-step with the times, and we know that Bitcoin is a wise investment and are confident that it can take us to the top."
A visit tohttp://www.PowerBTC.comreveals a cleanly-designed website that is easy to use, making Bitcoin transactions quick and easy. Users only need to enter their email address, and bank or PayPal information and they will be ready to take advantage of this new promotional offer.
While the offer may appear to be a bit chaotic for the regular seller, the mechanism behind it is based not only on the company's appetite for Bitcoin purchase, but also on the outcome of the Bitcoin PowerBTC is reinvesting, together with a sophisticated calculus and certain principles common within any financial services business.
Rates are updated constantly, following current market trends, for the most accurate information. Combined with knowledgeable staff and a regularly updated news page, this gives PowerBTC the edge over competitors in the field by offering a depth of market knowledge that is unrivaled.
PowerBTC is currently purchasing Bitcoins so any interested sellers should visit their website as soon as possible for the best deals. For more information, visit,http://www.PowerBTC.com.SOURCE:PowerBTC LLC || High Prices And Expensive Gifts offered by PowerBTC to Bitcoin Sellers: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 7, 2016 / With the rise in popularity of Bitcoin commerce, many online firms are finding creative new ways to take advantage of this valuable virtual resource. However, none are more market-savvy than PowerBTC, an up-and-coming financial world star that is taking e-commerce by storm. PowerBTC LLC ( http://www.PowerBTC.com ), an already well known cryptocurrency trader on the virtual market, has its on-going offer of higher-than-the-market-price premiums on Bitcoin purchase. Their offer is time-limited but comes along with a bunch of benefits for 10+ or larger transactions. While their standard approach of Bitcoin sellers remains a bonus of 10% more than the market's official rate, the company has added few more additional premiums and gifts for volume business. While having listed all of them below, customers can be assisted and given additional information at any time. POWERBTC CURRENT PROMOTIONAL OFFERS: 10+ BTC (24-karat gold coin); 20+ BTC (24-karat gold coin +3 %); 30+ BTC (24-karat gold coin +5 %); 50+ BTC (24-karat gold coin +8 %) 24-karat gold coin worth of 450 USD based on the gold market price. Tom Clark, the CEO of PowerBTC, commented: "We are happy that with this promotional offer we will be able to help the Bitcoin community. By riding on this next wave of digital technology, we hope to become a major leader of the Bitcoin community, and offer exceptional deals for all Bitcoin purchases. It's about staying in-step with the times, and we know that Bitcoin is a wise investment and are confident that it can take us to the top." A visit to http://www.PowerBTC.com reveals a cleanly-designed website that is easy to use, making Bitcoin transactions quick and easy. Users only need to enter their email address, and bank or PayPal information and they will be ready to take advantage of this new promotional offer. While the offer may appear to be a bit chaotic for the regular seller, the mechanism behind it is based not only on the company's appetite for Bitcoin purchase, but also on the outcome of the Bitcoin PowerBTC is reinvesting, together with a sophisticated calculus and certain principles common within any financial services business. Story continues Rates are updated constantly, following current market trends, for the most accurate information. Combined with knowledgeable staff and a regularly updated news page, this gives PowerBTC the edge over competitors in the field by offering a depth of market knowledge that is unrivaled. PowerBTC is currently purchasing Bitcoins so any interested sellers should visit their website as soon as possible for the best deals. For more information, visit, http://www.PowerBTC.com . SOURCE: PowerBTC LLC || High Prices And Expensive Gifts offered by PowerBTC to Bitcoin Sellers: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 7, 2016 /With the rise in popularity of Bitcoin commerce, many online firms are finding creative new ways to take advantage of this valuable virtual resource. However, none are more market-savvy than PowerBTC, an up-and-coming financial world star that is taking e-commerce by storm.
PowerBTC LLC (http://www.PowerBTC.com), an already well known cryptocurrency trader on the virtual market, has its on-going offer of higher-than-the-market-price premiums on Bitcoin purchase. Their offer is time-limited but comes along with a bunch of benefits for 10+ or larger transactions. While their standard approach of Bitcoin sellers remains a bonus of 10% more than the market's official rate, the company has added few more additional premiums and gifts for volume business.
While having listed all of them below, customers can be assisted and given additional information at any time.
POWERBTC CURRENT PROMOTIONAL OFFERS:
10+ BTC (24-karat gold coin);20+ BTC (24-karat gold coin +3 %);30+ BTC (24-karat gold coin +5 %);50+ BTC (24-karat gold coin +8 %)
24-karat gold coin worth of 450 USD based on the gold market price.
Tom Clark, the CEO of PowerBTC, commented: "We are happy that with this promotional offer we will be able to help the Bitcoin community. By riding on this next wave of digital technology, we hope to become a major leader of the Bitcoin community, and offer exceptional deals for all Bitcoin purchases. It's about staying in-step with the times, and we know that Bitcoin is a wise investment and are confident that it can take us to the top."
A visit tohttp://www.PowerBTC.comreveals a cleanly-designed website that is easy to use, making Bitcoin transactions quick and easy. Users only need to enter their email address, and bank or PayPal information and they will be ready to take advantage of this new promotional offer.
While the offer may appear to be a bit chaotic for the regular seller, the mechanism behind it is based not only on the company's appetite for Bitcoin purchase, but also on the outcome of the Bitcoin PowerBTC is reinvesting, together with a sophisticated calculus and certain principles common within any financial services business.
Rates are updated constantly, following current market trends, for the most accurate information. Combined with knowledgeable staff and a regularly updated news page, this gives PowerBTC the edge over competitors in the field by offering a depth of market knowledge that is unrivaled.
PowerBTC is currently purchasing Bitcoins so any interested sellers should visit their website as soon as possible for the best deals. For more information, visit,http://www.PowerBTC.com.SOURCE:PowerBTC LLC || Bitcoin Exchange Will Look To Spread The Pain Of Recent Hack Across All Users In 'Socialized Loss': Earlier this week, 119,756 bitcoins were stolen in a hack from the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. The hack marks the second largest security breach of a digital currency exchange, and the value of the stolen currency exceeds $70 million, representing roughly 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation.
The worst hack involving the digital currency occurred in 2014 when Mt Gox was robbed of 744,408 bitcoin, which was worth $350 million at the time.
Bitfinex did not offer an explanation on its website as to what happened, and it is in the process of restoring limited functionality currently, with full functionality to come at an undisclosed later time.
Related Link:What Is Blockchain, And Why Should You Care?
"We are investigating the breach to determine what happened, but we know that some of our users have had their bitcoins stolen," the exchange acknowledged.
The exchange is also looking to implement a "socialized" measure to make up for the loss. This may include spreading the loss across all clients of the firm, asspeculated by Cnet.
The price of one bitcoin plunged by 23 percent on Tuesday to as low as $465.28 as news of the hack became widely circulated. However, the digital currency rebounded and was trading near the $570 mark on Friday.
Do you have ideas for articles/interviews you'd like to see more of on Benzinga? Please email [email protected] with your best article ideas. One person will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon gift card!
See more from Benzinga
• Jim Cramer Doesn't Think FireEye Will Be Taken Over
• Monster Beverages: An Attractive Name In One Of 2016's Best Performing Sectors
• Priceline Remains One Of The Best Internet Large Caps
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Exchange Will Look To Spread The Pain Of Recent Hack Across All Users In 'Socialized Loss': Earlier this week, 119,756 bitcoins were stolen in a hack from the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. The hack marks the second largest security breach of a digital currency exchange, and the value of the stolen currency exceeds $70 million, representing roughly 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation. The worst hack involving the digital currency occurred in 2014 when Mt Gox was robbed of 744,408 bitcoin, which was worth $350 million at the time. Bitfinex did not offer an explanation on its website as to what happened, and it is in the process of restoring limited functionality currently, with full functionality to come at an undisclosed later time. Related Link: What Is Blockchain, And Why Should You Care? "We are investigating the breach to determine what happened, but we know that some of our users have had their bitcoins stolen," the exchange acknowledged. The exchange is also looking to implement a "socialized" measure to make up for the loss. This may include spreading the loss across all clients of the firm, as speculated by Cnet. The price of one bitcoin plunged by 23 percent on Tuesday to as low as $465.28 as news of the hack became widely circulated. However, the digital currency rebounded and was trading near the $570 mark on Friday. Do you have ideas for articles/interviews you'd like to see more of on Benzinga? Please email [email protected] with your best article ideas. One person will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon gift card! See more from Benzinga Jim Cramer Doesn't Think FireEye Will Be Taken Over Monster Beverages: An Attractive Name In One Of 2016's Best Performing Sectors Priceline Remains One Of The Best Internet Large Caps © 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Exchange Will Look To Spread The Pain Of Recent Hack Across All Users In 'Socialized Loss': Earlier this week, 119,756 bitcoins were stolen in a hack from the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. The hack marks the second largest security breach of a digital currency exchange, and the value of the stolen currency exceeds $70 million, representing roughly 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation.
The worst hack involving the digital currency occurred in 2014 when Mt Gox was robbed of 744,408 bitcoin, which was worth $350 million at the time.
Bitfinex did not offer an explanation on its website as to what happened, and it is in the process of restoring limited functionality currently, with full functionality to come at an undisclosed later time.
Related Link:What Is Blockchain, And Why Should You Care?
"We are investigating the breach to determine what happened, but we know that some of our users have had their bitcoins stolen," the exchange acknowledged.
The exchange is also looking to implement a "socialized" measure to make up for the loss. This may include spreading the loss across all clients of the firm, asspeculated by Cnet.
The price of one bitcoin plunged by 23 percent on Tuesday to as low as $465.28 as news of the hack became widely circulated. However, the digital currency rebounded and was trading near the $570 mark on Friday.
Do you have ideas for articles/interviews you'd like to see more of on Benzinga? Please email [email protected] with your best article ideas. One person will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon gift card!
See more from Benzinga
• Jim Cramer Doesn't Think FireEye Will Be Taken Over
• Monster Beverages: An Attractive Name In One Of 2016's Best Performing Sectors
• Priceline Remains One Of The Best Internet Large Caps
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Cable & Wireless Reports Preliminary Q1 2016/17 Results: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Aug 5, 2016) - Cable & Wireless Communications Limited ("CWC") is a leading telecommunications operator in substantially all of its consumer markets, which are predominantly located in the Caribbean and Latin America, providing entertainment, information and communication services to 3.7 million mobile, 0.4 million television, 0.6 million internet and 0.8 million telephony subscribers. In addition, CWC delivers B2B services across the region and provides wholesale services over its sub-sea and terrestrial networks that connect over 30 markets. Operating and financial highlights*: Delivered 14,000 subscriber additions in Q1 2016/17, as compared to 4,000 adds in prior-year period 2,000 video additions driven by our DTH business in Panama 5,000 broadband internet and 6,000 telephony subscriber adds, supported by network investment Mobile data penetration up seven percentage points YoY to 53% Further strengthened our customer proposition through launch of Flow Sports Premier in July Providing HD sporting content exclusively to Flow customers with unrivaled Premier League coverage; only Flow customers can watch all 380 games a season, beginning in August Investing to drive future performance, including: Completed roll-out of unified Flow brand across region Activated LTE-Advanced network in Cayman providing peak throughput > 75Mbps Launched fixed bundles in Trinidad & Tobago Strengthened B2B portfolio with launch of cloud-based call center solution Deploying new advanced video platforms in Panama and the Bahamas Subscriber Statistics CWC delivered a solid Q1 2016/17 performance as the organic changes for all of our fixed and mobile product categories improved year-over-year. In our mobile business, which represents roughly 40% of our total revenue, the total base increased by 148,000 subscribers or 4% year-over-year to 3.7 million. This performance was led by a 21% increase in subscribers who purchased a data plan. Mobile data penetration now stands at 53% of our total mobile subscriber base, up 2 percentage points from 51% at March 31, 2016. Story continues Turning to our fixed-line business, we added 14,000 subscribers during the quarter, with year-over-year improvements across all three products. We reported 5,000 broadband net additions in Q1 2016/17, as we increased penetration over our improved networks. On the video front, we added 2,000 subscribers in the quarter, driven by growth in Panama DTH, where we have seen strong demand for our prepaid TV product and our DTH subscriber base rose from 16,000 to 39,000 year-over-year. Offsetting this increase, video subscribers in the Caribbean declined as a result of increased competition and challenging economic environments, however we are working to mitigate these factors by re-vamping our product offering in these markets, including the July launch of our Flow Sports Premier channel. This premium channel will feature HD content and offer the very best in sporting content, exclusively to Flow's customers across the region. The highlight of Flow Sports Premier will be unrivaled coverage of the Premier League beginning in August 2016 -- the world's most popular football league -- ensuring that only Flow's customers can watch all 380 games a season. Rounding out our fixed-line products, we added 6,000 telephony subscribers in the quarter, as we increased penetration of our VoIP-based services through bundling across our footprint. Triple-play penetration increased 170 basis points over the year to cover 8.6% of our subscribers at June 30, 2016, still leaving ample room for growth. Finally, during the last twelve months, we have expanded our network by roughly 35,000 homes and upgraded over 100,000 homes to two-way capability. From a regional standpoint, the following highlights the trends in our largest markets: Panama mobile subscribers declined 1% in the quarter as continued competition through aggressive promotional activity adversely impacted our prepaid customer base. However, this was partly offset by higher-ARPU postpaid subscribers, which were up 2%, representing the eighth consecutive quarter of growth. Our prepaid DTH product, up 22% in the quarter, continued to drive video subscriber growth in Panama. Fixed video and broadband subscribers grew by 3%, and should be further supported by the upcoming launch of re-vamped video and broadband products in the Panama market. In the Bahamas, we experienced relatively flat broadband and fixed voice performance but plan to launch a video product in Q2 2016/17 that we expect will strengthen our competitive position. Turning to Jamaica, one of the largest telecommunications markets in the region, broadband subscribers were up 2%, and mobile subscriber numbers continued to grow, with 18,000 additions in the quarter, as we continued to win back market share following the successful rebranding to Flow. Increased competition and challenging macroeconomic environments in Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago led to reduced video subscribers, however we are seeing encouraging early results from recently launched fixed bundles in Trinidad & Tobago. About C&W Communications CWC is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, CWC provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. CWC also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region -- in over 30 markets. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enables us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 29 million customers who subscribe to over 59 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve 11 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across seven million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYB ) and ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) and ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com . || Cable & Wireless Reports Preliminary Q1 2016/17 Results: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Aug 5, 2016) -Cable & Wireless CommunicationsLimited ("CWC") is a leading telecommunications operator in substantially all of its consumer markets, which are predominantly located in the Caribbean and Latin America, providing entertainment, information and communication services to 3.7 million mobile, 0.4 million television, 0.6 million internet and 0.8 million telephony subscribers. In addition, CWC delivers B2B services across the region and provides wholesale services over its sub-sea and terrestrial networks that connect over 30 markets.
Operating and financial highlights*:
• Delivered 14,000 subscriber additions in Q1 2016/17, as compared to 4,000 adds in prior-year period2,000 video additions driven by our DTH business in Panama5,000 broadband internet and 6,000 telephony subscriber adds, supported by network investment
• Mobile data penetration up seven percentage points YoY to 53%
• Further strengthened our customer proposition through launch of Flow Sports Premier in JulyProviding HD sporting content exclusively to Flow customers with unrivaled Premier League coverage; only Flow customers can watch all 380 games a season, beginning in August
• Investing to drive future performance, including:Completed roll-out of unified Flow brand across regionActivated LTE-Advanced network in Cayman providing peak throughput > 75MbpsLaunched fixed bundles in Trinidad & TobagoStrengthened B2B portfolio with launch of cloud-based call center solutionDeploying new advanced video platforms in Panama and the Bahamas
Subscriber Statistics
CWC delivered a solid Q1 2016/17 performance as the organic changes for all of our fixed and mobile product categories improved year-over-year. In our mobile business, which represents roughly 40% of our total revenue, the total base increased by 148,000 subscribers or 4% year-over-year to 3.7 million. This performance was led by a 21% increase in subscribers who purchased a data plan. Mobile data penetration now stands at 53% of our total mobile subscriber base, up 2 percentage points from 51% at March 31, 2016.
Turning to our fixed-line business, we added 14,000 subscribers during the quarter, with year-over-year improvements across all three products. We reported 5,000 broadband net additions in Q1 2016/17, as we increased penetration over our improved networks. On the video front, we added 2,000 subscribers in the quarter, driven by growth in Panama DTH, where we have seen strong demand for our prepaid TV product and our DTH subscriber base rose from 16,000 to 39,000 year-over-year. Offsetting this increase, video subscribers in the Caribbean declined as a result of increased competition and challenging economic environments, however we are working to mitigate these factors by re-vamping our product offering in these markets, including the July launch of our Flow Sports Premier channel. This premium channel will feature HD content and offer the very best in sporting content, exclusively to Flow's customers across the region. The highlight of Flow Sports Premier will be unrivaled coverage of the Premier League beginning in August 2016 -- the world's most popular football league -- ensuring that only Flow's customers can watch all 380 games a season.
Rounding out our fixed-line products, we added 6,000 telephony subscribers in the quarter, as we increased penetration of our VoIP-based services through bundling across our footprint. Triple-play penetration increased 170 basis points over the year to cover 8.6% of our subscribers at June 30, 2016, still leaving ample room for growth. Finally, during the last twelve months, we have expanded our network by roughly 35,000 homes and upgraded over 100,000 homes to two-way capability.
From a regional standpoint, the following highlights the trends in our largest markets:
• Panama mobile subscribers declined 1% in the quarter as continued competition through aggressive promotional activity adversely impacted our prepaid customer base. However, this was partly offset by higher-ARPU postpaid subscribers, which were up 2%, representing the eighth consecutive quarter of growth. Our prepaid DTH product, up 22% in the quarter, continued to drive video subscriber growth in Panama. Fixed video and broadband subscribers grew by 3%, and should be further supported by the upcoming launch of re-vamped video and broadband products in the Panama market.
• In the Bahamas, we experienced relatively flat broadband and fixed voice performance but plan to launch a video product in Q2 2016/17 that we expect will strengthen our competitive position.
• Turning to Jamaica, one of the largest telecommunications markets in the region, broadband subscribers were up 2%, and mobile subscriber numbers continued to grow, with 18,000 additions in the quarter, as we continued to win back market share following the successful rebranding to Flow.
• Increased competition and challenging macroeconomic environments in Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago led to reduced video subscribers, however we are seeing encouraging early results from recently launched fixed bundles in Trinidad & Tobago.
About C&W CommunicationsCWC is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, CWC provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. CWC also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region -- in over 30 markets.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty GlobalLiberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enables us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 29 million customers who subscribe to over 59 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve 11 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across seven million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) and (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) and (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com. || Kim Dotcom says he has the answer to bitcoins civil war and will soon give it to the world: Kim Dotcom launches his new website "Mega" in Auckland One-time online pirate king Kim Dotcom is poised to launch a new version of his file-sharing service Megaupload. Its not only going to revolutionize encryption and security when sharing your files in the cloud, he promises, but its going to solve a problem that has vexed the smartest minds in cryptocurrency as a bonus. This is the order countries will march in during the Olympic opening ceremonies @CryptoGambleh The 'cache' in Bitcache solves the problem. It eliminates all blockchain limitations. Wait for it :-) Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 5, 2016 NBC is airing the Rio Olympics opening ceremony on a tape delay, but theres still a way for Americans to watch it live The blockchain limitation Dotcom speaks of is the bitcoin networks ability to process a larger quantity of transactions than its currently capable of. Its a question that has turned the bitcoin worlds top developers against one another, leading to paralysis over how best to scale up the bitcoin networks capacity, and even public apostasy by one of the digital currencys earliest contributors. The battle over the open-source protocol has been described as a civil war. Dotcom is vague about how he will solve the scaling problem. But hes already decided on a name for the solutionBitcache. He says all will be revealed at the launch of his new platform, Megaupload 2.0, on Jan. 20, 2017. In the meantime, he promises Bitcache will do something else: boost the price of bitcoin fourfold to over $2,000. The new platform will link every file transfer to a bitcoin micro-transaction. Megaupload had 150 million users at its peak and was responsible for $500 million in pirated material , according to an indictment from the US Department of Justice. Dotcom is currently in New Zealand appealing extradition to the US . If the relaunched Megaupload gets even a fraction of that popularity, it could result in millions more new transactions flowing over the bitcoin network. With that in mind, this is his investment advice: Story continues Buy Bitcoin while cheap. Like right now. Trust me. Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 5, 2016 While Dotcoms promises may simply be the bluster of an internet raconteur, he has been tinkering with radical payment ideas for years. In 2012, he brainstormed ideas for payments systems on Twitter, attracting prominent bitcoin advocates to the discussion. Last month, he seems to have cracked the puzzle, announcing this on his social network: I can tell you that Megaupload and Bitcoin had sex. There is a pregnancy and I have a feeling that the baby will be such a joy. Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) July 10, 2016 Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief , our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: The Rio Olympics finally represents the whole world, including millions with no country Investors have placed a one-way bet on Uberwhich made us want to find a way to short it || Kim Dotcom says he has the answer to bitcoins civil war and will soon give it to the world: Kim Dotcom launches his new website "Mega" in Auckland One-time online pirate king Kim Dotcom is poised to launch a new version of his file-sharing service Megaupload. Its not only going to revolutionize encryption and security when sharing your files in the cloud, he promises, but its going to solve a problem that has vexed the smartest minds in cryptocurrency as a bonus. This is the order countries will march in during the Olympic opening ceremonies @CryptoGambleh The 'cache' in Bitcache solves the problem. It eliminates all blockchain limitations. Wait for it :-) Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 5, 2016 NBC is airing the Rio Olympics opening ceremony on a tape delay, but theres still a way for Americans to watch it live The blockchain limitation Dotcom speaks of is the bitcoin networks ability to process a larger quantity of transactions than its currently capable of. Its a question that has turned the bitcoin worlds top developers against one another, leading to paralysis over how best to scale up the bitcoin networks capacity, and even public apostasy by one of the digital currencys earliest contributors. The battle over the open-source protocol has been described as a civil war. Dotcom is vague about how he will solve the scaling problem. But hes already decided on a name for the solutionBitcache. He says all will be revealed at the launch of his new platform, Megaupload 2.0, on Jan. 20, 2017. In the meantime, he promises Bitcache will do something else: boost the price of bitcoin fourfold to over $2,000. The new platform will link every file transfer to a bitcoin micro-transaction. Megaupload had 150 million users at its peak and was responsible for $500 million in pirated material , according to an indictment from the US Department of Justice. Dotcom is currently in New Zealand appealing extradition to the US . If the relaunched Megaupload gets even a fraction of that popularity, it could result in millions more new transactions flowing over the bitcoin network. With that in mind, this is his investment advice: Story continues Buy Bitcoin while cheap. Like right now. Trust me. Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) August 5, 2016 While Dotcoms promises may simply be the bluster of an internet raconteur, he has been tinkering with radical payment ideas for years. In 2012, he brainstormed ideas for payments systems on Twitter, attracting prominent bitcoin advocates to the discussion. Last month, he seems to have cracked the puzzle, announcing this on his social network: I can tell you that Megaupload and Bitcoin had sex. There is a pregnancy and I have a feeling that the baby will be such a joy. Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) July 10, 2016 Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief , our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: The Rio Olympics finally represents the whole world, including millions with no country Investors have placed a one-way bet on Uberwhich made us want to find a way to short it || MarilynJean Interactive (MJMI.QB) in Negotiations for Private Placement Financing: HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / August 5, 2016 /MarilynJean Interactive (MJMI.QB) today announced it has entered into negotiations for a private placement financing. The success of this financing would allow the company to target a much wider range of potential acquisition targets. By allowing the company to offer both cash and stock as part of its acquisition strategy, the company would have a much wider range of targets to acquire while it builds its digital currency exchange system.
With a market capitalization of over $9 Billion, Bitcoin continues to draw investment capital and talent to the industry. CNN reports that over $1 Billion has been invested in Bitcoin start-ups.
Peter Janosi, MJMI's president said: "The liquidity of our publicly traded shares as a currency for acquisitions will be significantly enhanced by the ability to offer cash as a part of a purchase package. In addition, we hope to raise sufficient funds to expand our existing operations."
About MJMI
MJMI is in the business of providing safe and accessible services for the users of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies.
Crypto-currencies are a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Bitcoin became the first decentralized crypto-currency in 2009. Crypto-currency is produced at a rate which is defined when the system is created and publicly known. By contrast, in centralized banking and economic systems, such as the Federal Reserve System, corporate boards or governments control the supply of currency by printing units or demanding additions to digital banking ledgers. However, neither companies nor governments can produce units of crypto-currency and as such the value of crypto-currencies are completely based on supply and demand, free from any governmental control. Many people believe crypto-currencies, and in particular bitcoin, hold the promise of being the most significant advancement in global finance in modern history. The advent of bitcoin creates a secure, easily accessible and transferable transnational currency that is completely liberated from political influence.
MJMI is currently exploring partnerships in several verticals within the crypto-currency space, including the multi-billion dollar remittance market. Management believes that several industries, including both international remittances and online gambling are on the verge of being revolutionized by the use of Bitcoin to effect transactions.
MarilynJean Media Interactive is among the first publicly traded companies focussed on bitcoin and the crypto-currency space. The company's trading symbol is MJMI.QB.
Website:www.marilynjean.com
Press Contact:[email protected]
SOURCE:MarilynJean Media Interactive || MarilynJean Interactive (MJMI.QB) in Negotiations for Private Placement Financing: HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / August 5, 2016 / MarilynJean Interactive (MJMI.QB) today announced it has entered into negotiations for a private placement financing. The success of this financing would allow the company to target a much wider range of potential acquisition targets. By allowing the company to offer both cash and stock as part of its acquisition strategy, the company would have a much wider range of targets to acquire while it builds its digital currency exchange system. With a market capitalization of over $9 Billion, Bitcoin continues to draw investment capital and talent to the industry. CNN reports that over $1 Billion has been invested in Bitcoin start-ups. Peter Janosi, MJMI's president said: "The liquidity of our publicly traded shares as a currency for acquisitions will be significantly enhanced by the ability to offer cash as a part of a purchase package. In addition, we hope to raise sufficient funds to expand our existing operations." About MJMI MJMI is in the business of providing safe and accessible services for the users of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies. Crypto-currencies are a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Bitcoin became the first decentralized crypto-currency in 2009. Crypto-currency is produced at a rate which is defined when the system is created and publicly known. By contrast, in centralized banking and economic systems, such as the Federal Reserve System, corporate boards or governments control the supply of currency by printing units or demanding additions to digital banking ledgers. However, neither companies nor governments can produce units of crypto-currency and as such the value of crypto-currencies are completely based on supply and demand, free from any governmental control. Many people believe crypto-currencies, and in particular bitcoin, hold the promise of being the most significant advancement in global finance in modern history. The advent of bitcoin creates a secure, easily accessible and transferable transnational currency that is completely liberated from political influence. MJMI is currently exploring partnerships in several verticals within the crypto-currency space, including the multi-billion dollar remittance market. Management believes that several industries, including both international remittances and online gambling are on the verge of being revolutionized by the use of Bitcoin to effect transactions. MarilynJean Media Interactive is among the first publicly traded companies focussed on bitcoin and the crypto-currency space. The company's trading symbol is MJMI.QB. Story continues Website: www.marilynjean.com Press Contact: [email protected] SOURCE: MarilynJean Media Interactive View comments || Bitfinex says expects 'socialized loss' for $72 million bitcoin hack: By Clare Baldwin HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based crypto-currency exchange Bitfinex, from which hackers stole about US$72 million worth of bitcoin this week, said on Friday that it expected to "socialize" the losses among bitcoin balances. In dollar terms, the theft of the 119,756 bitcoin revealed on Tuesday was the second-biggest security breach ever of a digital currency exchange. The theft accounted for about 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation. "We are still working out the details," Bitfinex said on its website, "however, we are leaning towards a socialized loss scenario among bitcoin balances and active loans to BTCUSD positions." The exchange, which is known for its liquidity in the U.S. dollar/bitcoin currency pair, did not explain what that would entail. It has said previously it would settle accounts at an exchange rate of $604.06, the midpoint of the bid and ask on Aug. 2, 2016 at 18:00:00 UTC. The price of bitcoin plunged more than 23 percent on Tuesday when news of the hack became public, trading as low as $465.28 on the BitStamp platform BTC=BTSP. It was trading at $569.84 on Friday. (Reporting by Clare Baldwin; Editing by Will Waterman) || Bitfinex says expects 'socialized loss' for $72 million bitcoin hack: By Clare Baldwin HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based crypto-currency exchange Bitfinex, from which hackers stole about US$72 million worth of bitcoin this week, said on Friday that it expected to "socialize" the losses among bitcoin balances. In dollar terms, the theft of the 119,756 bitcoin revealed on Tuesday was the second-biggest security breach ever of a digital currency exchange. The theft accounted for about 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation. "We are still working out the details," Bitfinex said on its website, "however, we are leaning towards a socialized loss scenario among bitcoin balances and active loans to BTCUSD positions." The exchange, which is known for its liquidity in the U.S. dollar/bitcoin currency pair, did not explain what that would entail. It has said previously it would settle accounts at an exchange rate of $604.06, the midpoint of the bid and ask on Aug. 2, 2016 at 18:00:00 UTC. The price of bitcoin plunged more than 23 percent on Tuesday when news of the hack became public, trading as low as $465.28 on the BitStamp platform BTC=BTSP. It was trading at $569.84 on Friday. (Reporting by Clare Baldwin; Editing by Will Waterman) || Bitfinex says expects 'socialized loss' for $72 million bitcoin hack: By Clare Baldwin HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based crypto-currency exchange Bitfinex, from which hackers stole about US$72 million worth of bitcoin this week, said on Friday that it expected to "socialize" the losses among bitcoin balances. In dollar terms, the theft of the 119,756 bitcoin revealed on Tuesday was the second-biggest security breach ever of a digital currency exchange. The theft accounted for about 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation. "We are still working out the details," Bitfinex said on its website, "however, we are leaning towards a socialized loss scenario among bitcoin balances and active loans to BTCUSD positions." The exchange, which is known for its liquidity in the U.S. dollar/bitcoin currency pair, did not explain what that would entail. It has said previously it would settle accounts at an exchange rate of $604.06, the midpoint of the bid and ask on Aug. 2, 2016 at 18:00:00 UTC. The price of bitcoin plunged more than 23 percent on Tuesday when news of the hack became public, trading as low as $465.28 on the BitStamp platform BTC=BTSP. It was trading at $569.84 on Friday. (Reporting by Clare Baldwin; Editing by Will Waterman) || Bitfinex says expects 'socialized loss' for $72 million bitcoin hack: By Clare Baldwin
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based crypto-currency exchange Bitfinex, from which hackers stole about US$72 million worth of bitcoin this week, said on Friday that it expected to "socialize" the losses among bitcoin balances.
In dollar terms, the theft of the 119,756 bitcoin revealed on Tuesday was the second-biggest security breach ever of a digital currency exchange. The theft accounted for about 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation.
"We are still working out the details," Bitfinex said on its website, "however, we are leaning towards a socialized loss scenario among bitcoin balances and active loans to BTCUSD positions."
The exchange, which is known for its liquidity in the U.S. dollar/bitcoin currency pair, did not explain what that would entail.
It has said previously it would settle accounts at an exchange rate of $604.06, the midpoint of the bid and ask on Aug. 2, 2016 at 18:00:00 UTC.
The price of bitcoin plunged more than 23 percent on Tuesday when news of the hack became public, trading as low as $465.28 on the BitStamp platform BTC=BTSP. It was trading at $569.84 on Friday.
(Reporting by Clare Baldwin; Editing by Will Waterman) || Bitfinex says expects "socialized loss" for $72 million bitcoin hack: By Clare Baldwin HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based crypto-currency exchange Bitfinex, from which hackers stole about US$72 million (54.8 million pounds) worth of bitcoin this week, said on Friday that it expected to "socialize" the losses among bitcoin balances. In dollar terms, the theft of the 119,756 bitcoin revealed on Tuesday was the second-biggest security breach ever of a digital currency exchange. The theft accounted for about 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation. "We are still working out the details," Bitfinex said on its website, "however, we are leaning towards a socialized loss scenario among bitcoin balances and active loans to BTCUSD positions." The exchange, which is known for its liquidity in the U.S. dollar/bitcoin currency pair, did not explain what that would entail. It has said previously it would settle accounts at an exchange rate of $604.06, the midpoint of the bid and ask on Aug. 2, 2016 at 18:00:00 UTC. The price of bitcoin plunged more than 23 percent on Tuesday when news of the hack became public, trading as low as $465.28 on the BitStamp platform BTC=BTSP. It was trading at $569.84 on Friday. (Reporting by Clare Baldwin; Editing by Will Waterman) || Bitfinex says expects "socialized loss" for $72 million bitcoin hack: By Clare Baldwin HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based crypto-currency exchange Bitfinex, from which hackers stole about US$72 million (54.8 million pounds) worth of bitcoin this week, said on Friday that it expected to "socialize" the losses among bitcoin balances. In dollar terms, the theft of the 119,756 bitcoin revealed on Tuesday was the second-biggest security breach ever of a digital currency exchange. The theft accounted for about 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation. "We are still working out the details," Bitfinex said on its website, "however, we are leaning towards a socialized loss scenario among bitcoin balances and active loans to BTCUSD positions." The exchange, which is known for its liquidity in the U.S. dollar/bitcoin currency pair, did not explain what that would entail. It has said previously it would settle accounts at an exchange rate of $604.06, the midpoint of the bid and ask on Aug. 2, 2016 at 18:00:00 UTC. The price of bitcoin plunged more than 23 percent on Tuesday when news of the hack became public, trading as low as $465.28 on the BitStamp platform BTC=BTSP. It was trading at $569.84 on Friday. (Reporting by Clare Baldwin; Editing by Will Waterman) || 9 Best Laptops for $500 or Less: Laptops have become the choice computer for college students, business people on the go and even families at home. The Vaio Z has a battery life upwards of 22 hours; the Samsung Notebook 9 weighs less than two pounds. And while some laptops could set you back nearly $2000, there are plenty of options that are both high quality and affordable. Consumer Reports tested 137 laptops and graded them on a range of features: performance (speed on productivity apps, web browsing, multimedia and 3D games); ergonomics (keyboard, pointing device, feature accessibility and, if applicable, touchscreen); portability (battery life and weight); versatility (hardware and software, along with tech support and warranty agreements); and display (screen size, glare, clarity, color, contrast, brightness etc.). We also checked with CNET and PCWorld and found similar results. Related: The $200 Billion Technology That Will Replace Your Wallet Here are some of the best affordable laptops of 2016: 1. Asus Transformer Book T300CHI-F1-DB Overall Score: 64 Retail Price: $500 The performance of this laptop-tablet (the touchscreen detaches for a 2-in-1 device) is top-notch. The laptop responds quickly, whether running emails, word processing, browsing the web, streaming videos or playing complex games. 2. Asus VivoBook E403SA-US21 Overall Score: 62 Retail Price: $350 Asus VivoBook is great for basic web browsing and productivity applications. With a battery life over 15 hours and a weight of just over three pounds, this is a good choice if you still want a big screen (14-inches) while on the move. 3. Microsoft Surface 3 Overall Score: 61 Retail Price: $500 Although it has less memory and a small solid-state drive, this is a well-rounded laptop light, great battery, and good basic performance. It also comes with a years worth of Microsoft Office 365 Personal, which would cost you $100 otherwise. Related: Your Money: Avoid the Shock of a Fifth Year of College Tuition 4. Asus VivoBook E200HA-US01 Overall Score: 58 Retail Price: $211.15 A smaller and cheaper version of the VivoBook above, Asus 11.6 inch VivoBook is light (just over 2 pounds) and has a battery life of nearly 15 hours. Its processor preserves the battery, though sometimes at the cost of performance, which can be slow. You will probably need cloud storage since this VivoBook has only 2GB of memory. Story continues 5. Asus Transformer Book TP200SADH04T Overall Score: 57 Retail Price: $299-339 A smaller version of the Transformer Book T300CHI, with a touchscreen and very long battery life, the performance is mediocre. But it works well for simple tasks like email, word processing and web browsing. Related: Big Banks Just Got Serious About Bitcoin Technology 6. HP Pavilion x360-13t Overall Score: 57 Retail Price: $490 This 13.3-inch laptop is comparatively heavy at nearly 4 lbs, but it is versatile, able to convert to stand, tent and tablet modes. While there is a touchscreen, the full-sized keyboard and touchpad are well designed and easy to use. 7. Dell Inspiron 11 3000 Overall Score: 56 Retail Price: $180 Although its speed is mediocre, this laptop has a long battery life and is easy to carry. The matte screen reduces glare, making it a great laptop for brightly lit rooms and for outdoors use. 8. Acer Aspire E5-574-53QS Overall Score: 56 Retail Price: $389.99 The 15.6-inch Acer Aspire is one of the best value large laptops youll find. Besides well-designed keyboards and touchpads, the laptop comes with a huge 1TB hard drive. 9. Dell Inspiron I3452-600BLK Overall Score: 54 Retail Price: $160 For a 14-inch laptop, this Dell is very light, and the battery lasts nearly 13 hours. The keyboard and touchpad are great , and performance is good enough for web browsing, emails and other productivity apps. || 9 Best Laptops for $500 or Less: Laptops have become the choice computer for college students, business people on the go and even families at home. TheVaio Zhas a battery life upwards of 22 hours; theSamsung Notebook 9weighs less than two pounds. And while some laptops could set you back nearly $2000, there are plenty of options that are both high quality and affordable.
Consumer Reportstested 137 laptops and graded them on a range of features: performance (speed on productivity apps, web browsing, multimedia and 3D games); ergonomics (keyboard, pointing device, feature accessibility and, if applicable, touchscreen); portability (battery life and weight); versatility (hardware and software, along with tech support and warranty agreements); and display (screen size, glare, clarity, color, contrast, brightness etc.).
We also checked with CNET and PCWorld and found similar results.
Related: The $200 Billion Technology That Will Replace Your Wallet
Here are some of the best affordable laptops of 2016:
1. Asus Transformer Book T300CHI-F1-DBOverall Score:64Retail Price:$500The performance of this laptop-tablet (the touchscreen detaches for a 2-in-1 device) is top-notch. The laptop responds quickly, whether running emails, word processing, browsing the web, streaming videos or playing complex games.
2. Asus VivoBook E403SA-US21Overall Score:62Retail Price:$350Asus’ VivoBook is great for basic web browsing and productivity applications. With a battery life over 15 hours and a weight of just over three pounds, this is a good choice if you still want a big screen (14-inches) while on the move.
3. Microsoft Surface 3Overall Score:61Retail Price:$500Although it has less memory and a small solid-state drive, this is a well-rounded laptop – light, great battery, and good basic performance. It also comes with a year’s worth of Microsoft Office 365 Personal, which would cost you $100 otherwise.
Related: Your Money: Avoid the Shock of a Fifth Year of College Tuition
4. Asus VivoBook E200HA-US01Overall Score:58Retail Price:$211.15A smaller and cheaper version of the VivoBook above, Asus’ 11.6 inch VivoBook is light (just over 2 pounds) and has a battery life of nearly 15 hours. Its processor preserves the battery, though sometimes at the cost of performance, which can be slow. You will probably need cloud storage since this VivoBook has only 2GB of memory.
5. Asus Transformer Book TP200SADH04TOverall Score:57Retail Price:$299-339A smaller version of the Transformer Book T300CHI, with a touchscreen and very long battery life, the performance is mediocre. But it works well for simple tasks like email, word processing and web browsing.
Related: Big Banks Just Got Serious About Bitcoin Technology
6. HP Pavilion x360-13tOverall Score:57Retail Price:$490This 13.3-inch laptop is comparatively heavy at nearly 4 lbs, but it is versatile, able to convert to stand, tent and tablet modes. While there is a touchscreen, the full-sized keyboard and touchpad are well designed and easy to use.
7. Dell Inspiron 11 3000Overall Score:56Retail Price:$180Although its speed is mediocre, this laptop has a long battery life and is easy to carry. The matte screen reduces glare, making it a great laptop for brightly lit rooms and for outdoors use.
8. Acer Aspire E5-574-53QSOverall Score:56Retail Price:$389.99The 15.6-inch Acer Aspire is one of the best value large laptops you’ll find. Besides well-designed keyboards and touchpads, the laptop comes with a huge 1TB hard drive.
9. Dell Inspiron I3452-600BLKOverall Score:54Retail Price:$160For a 14-inch laptop, this Dell is very light, and the battery lasts nearly 13 hours. The keyboard and touchpad aregreat, and performance is good enough for web browsing,emailsand other productivity apps.
[Social Media Buzz]
1 KOBO = 0.00000799 BTC
= 0.0047 USD
= 1.4993 NGN
= 0.0644 ZAR
= 0.4761 KES
#Kobocoin 2016-08-08 11:00 pic.twitter.com/Qr0OkYPS6J || 1 #bitcoin = $10975.00 MXN | $589.6 USD #BitAPeso 1 USD = 18.61MXN http://www.bitapeso.com || #SativaCoin #STV $ 0.004004 (0.14 %) 0.00000676 BTC (0.00 %) || #DigitalNote #XDN $ 0.000100 (-0.00 %) 0.00000017 BTC (-0.24 %) || One Bitcoin now worth $591.88@bitstamp. High $594.00. Low $583.58. Market Cap $ 9.353 Billion #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/sf3ZukGSRw |...
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587.80, 592.10, 589.12, 587.56, 585.59, 570.47, 567.24, 577.44, 573.22, 574.32
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 8309.29, 8206.15, 8027.27, 7642.75, 7296.58, 7397.80, 7047.92, 7146.13, 7218.37, 7531.66, 7463.11, 7761.24, 7569.63, 7424.29, 7321.99, 7320.15, 7252.03, 7448.31, 7547.00, 7556.24, 7564.35, 7400.90, 7278.12, 7217.43, 7243.13, 7269.68, 7124.67, 7152.30, 6932.48, 6640.52, 7276.80, 7202.84, 7218.82, 7191.16, 7511.59, 7355.63, 7322.53, 7275.16, 7238.97, 7290.09, 7317.99, 7422.65, 7293.00, 7193.60, 7200.17, 6985.47, 7344.88, 7410.66, 7411.32, 7769.22, 8163.69, 8079.86, 7879.07, 8166.55, 8037.54, 8192.49, 8144.19, 8827.76, 8807.01, 8723.79, 8929.04, 8942.81, 8706.25, 8657.64, 8745.89, 8680.88, 8406.52, 8445.43, 8367.85, 8596.83, 8909.82, 9358.59, 9316.63, 9508.99, 9350.53, 9392.88, 9344.37, 9293.52, 9180.96, 9613.42, 9729.80, 9795.94, 9865.12, 10116.67, 9856.61, 10208.24, 10326.05, 10214.38, 10312.12, 9889.42.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-02-15]
Volume: 43865054831, RSI (14-day): 58.81, 50-day EMA: 9003.51, 200-day EMA: 8503.07
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
CFTC Sues Alleged Crypto Ponzi Scammer for $500K Theft: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is suing an alleged Ponzi scammer on claims he and his company raised half a million dollars for cryptocurrency investments, which instead went to personal uses. According to a press release , Breonna Clark, otherwise known as Eliot Clark or Alexander Pak, and his firm Venture Capital Investments Ltd. and The Life Group allegedly raised $534,829 from 72 victims, promising to invest funds in bitcoin (BTC), altcoins and foreign currency contracts. Instead, some $400,000 in funds went to personal uses, including the purchase of a BMW. The CFTC is charging Clark with fraud by a commodity pool operator and commodity trading adviser, fraud by deceptive device, failure to register as a commodity pool operator and failure to register as a commodity trading advisor. Related: LabCFTC Wants to Meet FinTech Startups in New York Clark created false account statements to mislead investors and used some of the funds he raised to pay off other investors, an attached complaint claims. A small portion of the funds were ultimately used to trade on the pools behalf. At various times during the Relevant Period, several pool participants requested to withdraw funds from their accounts. In some instances, Clark failed to respond at all to a pool participants request. In other instances, Clark responded with false excuses. Among the false excuses Clark made to pool participants why Defendants could not comply was that the CFTC was conducting an audit,' the complaint said (the CFTC did not conduct an audit). Clark did not return any of the funds raised through the alleged scheme, the complaint said. The press release thanked the Financial Supervision Commission of Bulgaria, Financial Markets Authority of New Zealand, Seychelles Financial Services Authority, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Financial Services Authority and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority. Related: US Authorities Charge Crypto Trading Club Operators With Defrauding 150 Investors Story continues Read the full complaint below: Related Stories CFTC Asked to Provide Opinion in SEC Case Against Telegram ICO Now More Than Ever, SEC Is Scrutinizing Unregistered Token Offerings || CFTC Sues Alleged Crypto Ponzi Scammer for $500K Theft: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is suing an alleged Ponzi scammer on claims he and his company raised half a million dollars for cryptocurrency investments, which instead went to personal uses.
Accordingto a press release, Breonna Clark, otherwise known as Eliot Clark or Alexander Pak, and his firm Venture Capital Investments Ltd. and The Life Group allegedly raised $534,829 from 72 victims, promising to invest funds in bitcoin (BTC), altcoins and foreign currency contracts. Instead, some $400,000 in funds went to personal uses, including the purchase of a BMW.
The CFTC is charging Clark with fraud by a commodity pool operator and commodity trading adviser, fraud by deceptive device, failure to register as a commodity pool operator and failure to register as a commodity trading advisor.
Related:LabCFTC Wants to Meet FinTech Startups in New York
Clark created “false account statements” to mislead investors and used some of the funds he raised to pay off other investors,an attached complaintclaims. “A small portion” of the funds were ultimately used to trade on the pool’s behalf.
“At various times during the Relevant Period, several pool participants requested to withdraw funds from their accounts. In some instances, Clark failed to respond at all to a pool participant’s request. In other instances, Clark responded with false excuses. Among the false excuses Clark made to pool participants why Defendants could not comply was that the CFTC was conducting an ‘audit,'” the complaint said (the CFTC did not conduct an audit).
Clark did not return any of the funds raised through the alleged scheme, the complaint said.
The press release thanked the Financial Supervision Commission of Bulgaria, Financial Markets Authority of New Zealand, Seychelles Financial Services Authority, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Financial Services Authority and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.
Related:US Authorities Charge Crypto ‘Trading Club’ Operators With Defrauding 150 Investors
Read the full complaint below:
• CFTC Asked to Provide Opinion in SEC Case Against Telegram ICO
• Now More Than Ever, SEC Is Scrutinizing Unregistered Token Offerings || Canopy Growth surges 15% on shrinking losses, CEO says acquisitions won't be an emphasis moving forward: Canopy Growth CEO David Klein had a lot to celebrate on his first earnings call.
Canopy shares (CGC) surged as much as 20% Friday after the world’s largest cannabis companyreported results for its fiscal third quarter, highlighted by shrinking adjusted losses and net revenue that topped analysts’ expectations.
The company also boasted a major improvement to gross margins, which came in at 34%, marking the highest margin benchmark for Canopy since its fiscal first quarter in 2018. That, coupled with its adjusted EBITDA losses shrinking $64 million from last quarter helped strengthen the case that Canopy, under Klein’s leadership, is getting serious about minimizing costs and operating expenses to make good on its 40%-margin goal and path to profitability.
In his first interview as CEO, Klein told Yahoo Finance a large part of delivering on both of those goals moving forward will be avoiding unnecessary expenditures and doubling down on investments that Canopy has already made.
“I think we need to focus on the businesses that we have,” Klein toldYahoo Finance’s YFi PM, praising deals made under his predecessors, including taking a majority stake in sports nutrition company BioSteel and acquiring cosmetics company This Works. “I think right now we’re going through a phase in the cannabis space where we at Canopy need to focus on execution and more-focused execution, meaning we have to pick a couple of areas we intend to win and then we need to make sure we’re investing behind those areas so that we do in fact win in those key profit pools.”
One of those areas of focus identified by his predecessor and former Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton was the opportunity in CBD retail products, estimated by research firm Brightfield Group to become a $25 billion market opportunity by 2025. As CEO, Linton not only orchestrated both the This Works acquisition and BioSteel investment to line up adding CBD to various consumer products, butalso doubled the $150 million he planned to pour into hemp-CBD cultivation efforts in the U.S.
Klein made it clear that he still sees the same opportunity Canopy has with CBD efforts, but said future acquisitions that might again expand future losses won’t be a pillar of his regime.
“Our investments will be more in route-to-market, in sales execution, in brand building execution in that marketplace more than it will be in things like M&A,” he said.
As a former CFO at alcohol giant Constellation Brands (STZ), which invested billions in Canopy Growth, Klein is expectedly more aligned with the pressure being applied by Constellation leadership to tighten the purse stings — somethingLinton said was part of his ousting. Constellation Brands CEO Bill Newlands sits on Canopy’s Board, along with five other Constellation-affiliated directors including newly appointed Canopy Board Chair Judy Schmeling, who also serves as Constellation’s audit committee chair.
Klein highlighted that newfound alignment with the board as a positive moving forward and made very clear what he is using as his measurement for success.
“If anything else, what I am trying to do is to build a closer relationship with Constellation to take advantage of their consumer insights, their brand building capabilities, their sales execution capability because we can really benefit from that,” he said. “At the end of the day my job is to create as much value at Canopy Growth as I possibly can so that we actually entice Constellation to exercise their warrants in 2023, which would bring $3.5 billion of cash to Canopy at that time.”
Canopy ended the quarter with roughly $1.73 billion in cash on its balance sheet, which was less than the $2.03 billion it had at the end of the prior quarter. For the time being, however, Klein said his company isn’t facing the same cash concerns some of his cannabis competitors are facing after turning in profitless quarter after profitless quarter.
Zack Guzman is the host ofYFi PMas well as a senior writer and on-air reporter covering entrepreneurship, cannabis, startups, and breaking news at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter@zGuz.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Read more:
Bitcoin could more than double again in 2020 after 30% surge, says Tom Lee
Illinois becomes the latest state to legalize marijuana, these states may follow
Follow Yahoo Finance onTwitter,Facebook,Instagram,Flipboard,SmartNews,LinkedIn,YouTube, andreddit. || Canopy Growth surges 15% on shrinking losses, CEO says acquisitions won't be an emphasis moving forward: Canopy Growth CEO David Klein had a lot to celebrate on his first earnings call. Canopy shares ( CGC ) surged as much as 20% Friday after the world’s largest cannabis company reported results for its fiscal third quarter , highlighted by shrinking adjusted losses and net revenue that topped analysts’ expectations. The company also boasted a major improvement to gross margins, which came in at 34%, marking the highest margin benchmark for Canopy since its fiscal first quarter in 2018. That, coupled with its adjusted EBITDA losses shrinking $64 million from last quarter helped strengthen the case that Canopy, under Klein’s leadership, is getting serious about minimizing costs and operating expenses to make good on its 40%-margin goal and path to profitability. In his first interview as CEO, Klein told Yahoo Finance a large part of delivering on both of those goals moving forward will be avoiding unnecessary expenditures and doubling down on investments that Canopy has already made. “I think we need to focus on the businesses that we have,” Klein told Yahoo Finance’s YFi PM , praising deals made under his predecessors, including taking a majority stake in sports nutrition company BioSteel and acquiring cosmetics company This Works. “I think right now we’re going through a phase in the cannabis space where we at Canopy need to focus on execution and more-focused execution, meaning we have to pick a couple of areas we intend to win and then we need to make sure we’re investing behind those areas so that we do in fact win in those key profit pools.” One of those areas of focus identified by his predecessor and former Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton was the opportunity in CBD retail products, estimated by research firm Brightfield Group to become a $25 billion market opportunity by 2025. As CEO, Linton not only orchestrated both the This Works acquisition and BioSteel investment to line up adding CBD to various consumer products, but also doubled the $150 million he planned to pour into hemp-CBD cultivation efforts in the U.S. Klein made it clear that he still sees the same opportunity Canopy has with CBD efforts, but said future acquisitions that might again expand future losses won’t be a pillar of his regime. “Our investments will be more in route-to-market, in sales execution, in brand building execution in that marketplace more than it will be in things like M&A,” he said. Closer ties to Constellation As a former CFO at alcohol giant Constellation Brands ( STZ ), which invested billions in Canopy Growth, Klein is expectedly more aligned with the pressure being applied by Constellation leadership to tighten the purse stings — something Linton said was part of his ousting . Constellation Brands CEO Bill Newlands sits on Canopy’s Board, along with five other Constellation-affiliated directors including newly appointed Canopy Board Chair Judy Schmeling, who also serves as Constellation’s audit committee chair. Story continues “Our investments will be more in route-to-market, in sales execution, in brand building execution in that marketplace more than it will be in things like M&A,” said Canopy Growth CEO David Klein. Credit: Yahoo Finance Klein highlighted that newfound alignment with the board as a positive moving forward and made very clear what he is using as his measurement for success. “If anything else, what I am trying to do is to build a closer relationship with Constellation to take advantage of their consumer insights, their brand building capabilities, their sales execution capability because we can really benefit from that,” he said. “At the end of the day my job is to create as much value at Canopy Growth as I possibly can so that we actually entice Constellation to exercise their warrants in 2023, which would bring $3.5 billion of cash to Canopy at that time.” Canopy ended the quarter with roughly $1.73 billion in cash on its balance sheet, which was less than the $2.03 billion it had at the end of the prior quarter. For the time being, however, Klein said his company isn’t facing the same cash concerns some of his cannabis competitors are facing after turning in profitless quarter after profitless quarter. Zack Guzman is the host of YFi PM as well as a senior writer and on-air reporter covering entrepreneurship, cannabis, startups, and breaking news at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @zGuz . Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Read more: Bitcoin could more than double again in 2020 after 30% surge, says Tom Lee Illinois becomes the latest state to legalize marijuana, these states may follow Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , Flipboard , SmartNews , LinkedIn , YouTube , and reddit . View comments || The Next Big Trend Most Investors Will Miss: Investors are always looking for the next big thing. When they find it, the opportunity can pay out fast, or it can take a couple years to develop. The trades that work out over the longer-term are usually referred to as a market trend.You might be shocked to find out that you missed out on one of the biggest hidden trends over the last year. I'm not talking Apple, Tesla, or even Bitcoin. While those are all very well-known outperformers, what I'm bringing you today was a big secret up until recently. This hidden treasure resides in the often-overlooked commodity asset class, in a segment that you might not have known existed.Many investors think you can only make money in commodities through futures contracts and options. They also mainly think of investing in gold or oil. So it's likely they wouldn't have considered a simple ETF trade in what turned out to be a super-hot commodity: Palladium.What the heck is Palladium???Palladium is a chemical element that is easily found as "PD" on the Periodic Table. The silvery-white metal is used in catalytic convertors to contain engine emissions, by turning them into water vapor or carbon-dioxide. New pollution control innovations for catalytic convertors in cars has helped keep the demand for Palladium strong.With governments mandating emission regulations all over the world, the need for palladium continues to accelerate. Now add in that the element is very rare, the demand is weighing on supply, which has caused the price to skyrocket.
Continued . . .------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This Simple Little-Known Buy Could TRIPLEDon't miss the Sunday deadline to start Zacks' new approach to the overlooked, skyrocketing potential of commodities investing.Now you can get in the easy way. No futures contracts or option moves - just stocks and ETFs.In fact, Zacks expert Jeremy Mullin is about to trigger the portfolio's first move. He predicts it will exceed the breakneck growth of palladium which more than tripled in the last 3 years.Important: Your chance to access this new portfolio endsmidnight Sunday, February 16.Be First to its First Buys >>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Let's talk numbersPalladium's move started a few years back, but it really didn't take off until late 2018. The Palladium ETF (ticker PALL) was trading at $75 at the start of 2017, when Palladium's actual price was at $750. Since then we have seen a 217% run, with the ETF making 2020 highs at $237.99, or $2427 per ounce. In 2020 alone, the ETF has gone parabolic, already making an almost 30% move higher from the beginning of the year.The fun has likely been had in Palladium and the trade now seems exhausted. There might be some more meat on the bone as traders scramble to cover short positions, forcing a short squeeze even higher. However, the big portion of the move is likely over as the market starts to normalize. You might have missed that big move, but make sure you don't miss the next commodity opportunity.How to take advantage of the next big trendI see a similar move forming for another commodity, one that could be a top performer in 2020. There are comparable supply/demand issues in this particular segment that makes it very compelling over the next few years.Recently, commodities and some stocks have seen big pullbacks due to a systematic risk: The Coronavirus. This tragedy has created an exceptional opportunity for those interested in commodities, one of the hardest hit asset classes over the last month.When the environment normalizes, I expect bullish trends to resume, especially in certain commodity markets as China comes back online.The segment I have identified is on sale right now! And when its trend resumes, we could see the same kind of results in 2020 that Palladium showed investors in 2019.You're invited to take part in the brand-new portfolio service I'm directing,Zacks Commodity Innovators.I will post the single best move to make when the markets re-open after the Presidents Day holiday, Tuesday, February 18th.No need to get involved with futures contracts or complicated option moves.Commodity Innovatorswill only recommend easy-to-trade stocks and ETFs.Our first selection will be an ETF that allows investors to enter a market that most aren't even aware of and have never be exposed to. Make sure you don't miss the opportunity to get in on the hottest commodity trend of 2020.I'm also getting ready to post 2 other moves to take advantage of the Big Rebound that lies ahead.This new portfolio will capitalize both on breaking news and on developing long-term trends. We will minimize our risk without being exposed to the futures market, while keeping the same potential rewards. With the Zacks Rank working for us, we will have a plethora of ETFs and stocks to choose from that will allow us to capture this profit potential.We aim for short-term jumps of +20-40% and also ride trends that could carry us for months and years to gains of +100% and more.Important: Please note that the number of investors who view these moves will be restricted and the deadline to gain access is coming up fast. The portfolio closes to entrySunday, February 16.Be sure to look intoZacks Commodity Innovatorsright now >>Good Investing,JeremyJeremy Mullin is a technical expert with 15 years' experience pinpointing the best times to buy and sell commodities. He is the editor of Zacks' newest portfolio,Commodity Innovators.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research || The IRS won't ask you to report 'Fortnite' V-Bucks on tax returns: Don't worry, you won't have to factor in-game currency into your taxes... at least, not yet. The IRS has removed a guideline (cached here) from October that treatedFortnite's V-Bucks, Roblox's Robux and other in-game currencies with real monetary value as "convertible" currency that could be subject to federal taxes. In a follow-up, IRS Chief Counsel Michael DesmondconfirmedtoCNN Businessthat including in-game money was an error. The updated section now focuses on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, so you can likely rest easy if you received a V-Bucks gift card last year.
The tax forms won't clarify matters, though. Schedule 1 in Form 1040 asks taxpayers if they have "any financial interest in any virtual currency" without a definition or an indication of what to do next. While many will check with the IRS for a clarification or simply assume the tax bureau is referring to crypto, this could lead to confusion for gamers who aren't sure if their in-game cash needs to be declared.
The ambiguity has prompted calls for the IRS to explicitly outline its approach to in-game currency, and it might need to take action relatively soon given the sheer volume of transactions in games.Fortnitealone racked up an estimated$1.8 billionin worldwide revenue in 2019 from people buying season passes and cosmetic gear. While only a fraction of in-game currency use is likely to be of any concern to the US government, the numbers might grow too large for officials to ignore. || The IRS won't ask you to report 'Fortnite' V-Bucks on tax returns: Don't worry, you won't have to factor in-game currency into your taxes... at least, not yet. The IRS has removed a guideline ( cached here ) from October that treated Fortnite 's V-Bucks, Roblox's Robux and other in-game currencies with real monetary value as "convertible" currency that could be subject to federal taxes. In a follow-up, IRS Chief Counsel Michael Desmond confirmed to CNN Business that including in-game money was an error. The updated section now focuses on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, so you can likely rest easy if you received a V-Bucks gift card last year. The tax forms won't clarify matters, though. Schedule 1 in Form 1040 asks taxpayers if they have "any financial interest in any virtual currency" without a definition or an indication of what to do next. While many will check with the IRS for a clarification or simply assume the tax bureau is referring to crypto, this could lead to confusion for gamers who aren't sure if their in-game cash needs to be declared. The ambiguity has prompted calls for the IRS to explicitly outline its approach to in-game currency, and it might need to take action relatively soon given the sheer volume of transactions in games. Fortnite alone racked up an estimated $1.8 billion in worldwide revenue in 2019 from people buying season passes and cosmetic gear. While only a fraction of in-game currency use is likely to be of any concern to the US government, the numbers might grow too large for officials to ignore. || Latest Ripple price and analysis (XRP to USD): Ripple’s XRP token is on the brink of a major breakout following a fruitful start to the year that has seen it rise by more than 88%. At the time of writing it is trading at around $0.33 after obliterating the $0.30 level of support for the first time since August 2019. Upside targets remain at both $0.35 and $0.37 although it wouldn’t be out of the blue for XRP to surge all the way to $0.40 over the coming weeks. In the past 48-hours alone it was up by 16% as spectators begin to believe in a newfound cryptocurrency bull market that has been spurred by the impact of coronavirus on the global economy. Another factor in the surge of cryptocurrencies is the upcoming Bitcoin halving, which will commence in May. Block rewards for miners will be slashed from 12.5BTC to 6.25BTC per block, an event that has historically caused a hike in the price of cryptocurrencies as supply dries up amid mounting demand. However, despite much of the attention being focused on Bitcoin, altcoins like Ethereum and XRP have stolen the show this week by trading above all major moving averages moving into the typically low volume weekend. Latest Ripple price Current live Ripple pricing information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest Ripple price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar – XRPtoUSD British Pound Sterling – XRPtoGBP Japanese Yen – XRPtoJPY Euro – XRPtoEUR Australian Dollar – XRPtoAUD Russian Rouble – XRPtoRUB Bitcoin – XRPtoBTC About Ripple Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) developed by the Ripple company. It is also referred to as the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) or Ripple protocol. It can trace its roots to 2004 when a web developer called Ryan Fugger had the idea to create a monetary system that was decentralised and could effectively allow individuals to create their own money. Story continues Ripple is one of the largest cryptocurrencies and is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. More Ripple news and information If you want to find out more information about Ripple or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s a recent article to get you started: Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse hits back at critics: ‘XRP is not a security’ By Oliver Knight – February 14, 2020 As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. The post Latest Ripple price and analysis (XRP to USD) appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Latest Ripple price and analysis (XRP to USD): Ripple’s XRP token is on the brink of a major breakout following a fruitful start to the year that has seen it rise by more than 88%. At the time of writing it is trading at around $0.33 after obliterating the $0.30 level of support for the first time since August 2019. Upside targets remain at both $0.35 and $0.37 although it wouldn’t be out of the blue for XRP to surge all the way to $0.40 over the coming weeks. In the past 48-hours alone it was up by 16% as spectators begin to believe in a newfound cryptocurrency bull market that has been spurred by the impact of coronavirus on the global economy. Another factor in the surge of cryptocurrencies is the upcoming Bitcoin halving, which will commence in May. Block rewards for miners will be slashed from 12.5BTC to 6.25BTC per block, an event that has historically caused a hike in the price of cryptocurrencies as supply dries up amid mounting demand. However, despite much of the attention being focused on Bitcoin, altcoins like Ethereum and XRP have stolen the show this week by trading above all major moving averages moving into the typically low volume weekend. Latest Ripple price Current live Ripple pricing information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest Ripple price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar – XRPtoUSD British Pound Sterling – XRPtoGBP Japanese Yen – XRPtoJPY Euro – XRPtoEUR Australian Dollar – XRPtoAUD Russian Rouble – XRPtoRUB Bitcoin – XRPtoBTC About Ripple Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) developed by the Ripple company. It is also referred to as the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) or Ripple protocol. It can trace its roots to 2004 when a web developer called Ryan Fugger had the idea to create a monetary system that was decentralised and could effectively allow individuals to create their own money. Story continues Ripple is one of the largest cryptocurrencies and is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. More Ripple news and information If you want to find out more information about Ripple or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s a recent article to get you started: Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse hits back at critics: ‘XRP is not a security’ By Oliver Knight – February 14, 2020 As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. The post Latest Ripple price and analysis (XRP to USD) appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Altcoins are racing past Bitcoin ahead of its halvening: It's altseason again. Although Bitcoin (BTC) is due to experience itsthird block reward halving eventin the coming months, reducing the Bitcoin inflation rate, it appears that traders are more concerned with altcoins markets.
According to data provided byMessari, almost every altcoin in the top 15 by market capitalization has racked up significant gains against Bitcoin in the last 30 days. Among these, Tezos (XTZ), Chainlink (LINK) and Ethereum (ETH) have performed best, gaining 110.6%, 45.1% and 39.4% respectively against BTC in this time. Conversely, Bitcoin SV (BSV) is the only large altcoin to have lost against Bitcoin, losing 3.2% in this timeframe.
A similar pattern is also seen when looking at the 90-day timeframe, as although Bitcoin has gained against the US-dollar, most major altcoins have gained even faster. As it stands, Bitcoin SV and Tezos are leading the way in terms of 90-day gains, both having gained well over 130% on BTC since November. Likewise, Ethereum Classic (ETC) is also up more than 110% against Bitcoin in the last 3 months, but has seen its momentum slow as in more recent weeks as other altcoins surged.
Inside Pundi X's troubled plan to take Bitcoin mainstream
As a result of this renewed interest in altcoins, Bitcoin has seen its market dominance slashed to just 61.2%—its lowest value since July 2019. While Bitcoin may be leading the direction of the market, right now, altcoins have the edge.
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || Altcoins are racing past Bitcoin ahead of its halvening: It's altseason again. Although Bitcoin (BTC) is due to experience itsthird block reward halving eventin the coming months, reducing the Bitcoin inflation rate, it appears that traders are more concerned with altcoins markets.
According to data provided byMessari, almost every altcoin in the top 15 by market capitalization has racked up significant gains against Bitcoin in the last 30 days. Among these, Tezos (XTZ), Chainlink (LINK) and Ethereum (ETH) have performed best, gaining 110.6%, 45.1% and 39.4% respectively against BTC in this time. Conversely, Bitcoin SV (BSV) is the only large altcoin to have lost against Bitcoin, losing 3.2% in this timeframe.
A similar pattern is also seen when looking at the 90-day timeframe, as although Bitcoin has gained against the US-dollar, most major altcoins have gained even faster. As it stands, Bitcoin SV and Tezos are leading the way in terms of 90-day gains, both having gained well over 130% on BTC since November. Likewise, Ethereum Classic (ETC) is also up more than 110% against Bitcoin in the last 3 months, but has seen its momentum slow as in more recent weeks as other altcoins surged.
Inside Pundi X's troubled plan to take Bitcoin mainstream
As a result of this renewed interest in altcoins, Bitcoin has seen its market dominance slashed to just 61.2%—its lowest value since July 2019. While Bitcoin may be leading the direction of the market, right now, altcoins have the edge.
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || Altcoins are racing past Bitcoin ahead of its halvening: It's altseason again. Although Bitcoin (BTC) is due to experience its third block reward halving event in the coming months, reducing the Bitcoin inflation rate, it appears that traders are more concerned with altcoins markets. 83 days left until next #BitcoinHalving ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░ 94% — Bitcoin Halving Countdown (@Bitcoin_Halving) February 14, 2020 According to data provided by Messari , almost every altcoin in the top 15 by market capitalization has racked up significant gains against Bitcoin in the last 30 days. Among these, Tezos (XTZ), Chainlink (LINK) and Ethereum (ETH) have performed best, gaining 110.6%, 45.1% and 39.4% respectively against BTC in this time. Conversely, Bitcoin SV (BSV) is the only large altcoin to have lost against Bitcoin, losing 3.2% in this timeframe. A similar pattern is also seen when looking at the 90-day timeframe, as although Bitcoin has gained against the US-dollar, most major altcoins have gained even faster. As it stands, Bitcoin SV and Tezos are leading the way in terms of 90-day gains, both having gained well over 130% on BTC since November. Likewise, Ethereum Classic (ETC) is also up more than 110% against Bitcoin in the last 3 months, but has seen its momentum slow as in more recent weeks as other altcoins surged. Inside Pundi X's troubled plan to take Bitcoin mainstream As a result of this renewed interest in altcoins, Bitcoin has seen its market dominance slashed to just 61.2%—its lowest value since July 2019. While Bitcoin may be leading the direction of the market, right now, altcoins have the edge. The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || Polychain Capital Targets $200M for Second Venture Fund, Slide Deck Reveals: Cryptocurrency investment firm Polychain Capital is raising $200 million for a second fund aimed at venture investing, a funding goal that would top its first venture fund by $25 million. According to an investor slide deck obtained by CoinDesk, the second venture fund opened at the beginning of 2020 and is accepting minimum investments of $1 million for up to three years. Like Polychain Capital’s first venture fund, the new money will back early-stage crypto startups raising pre-seed, seed and Series A funding rounds. The first venture fund, which raised $175 million from investors who cut checks normally between $500,000 and $5 million, invested most of its capital by the end of last year after launching in the first quarter of 2018, according to the Polychain slide deck. The capital, the deck says, was split 40 percent to startups that improved on existing blockchain infrastructure and 60 percent to startups that explored less-tested industry concepts. Related: Bitcoin Lender BlockFi Raises $30M in Series B Led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures The second venture fund was registered in December of last year, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents. The deck does not indicate the amount Polychain Capital has raised for the second venture fund. Polychain Capital declined to comment on funding progress and specifics due to investor restrictions. Blockchain networks with enhanced privacy, engineering and flexibility will be prioritized in the second venture fund, the deck says, piggybacking on existing investments in cloud platform Dfinity and blockchain interoperability projects Cosmos and Polkadot. With its first fund, Polychain says it sought exposure to cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians through the investments that were considered foundational to the industry, a strategy that homes in on Polychain’s banner investment, Coinbase, the San Francisco-based crypto exchange and tech unicorn. More novel investments in the flagship venture portfolio, meanwhile, trended toward decentralized financial entities – digitized financial instruments and brokers that self-regulate themselves and avoid manual oversight while often settling in crypto. So far, Polychain has backed decentralized finance (DeFi) powerhouse MakerDAO, margin trading book dYdX, blockchain bank Dharma and lending protocol Compound, among others. Story continues Venture trajectory Related: PoolTogether DeFi App Announces $1M Investment After No-Loss Lottery Payout Tops $1K To date, none of Polychain Capital’s reported venture fund investments has issued a public offering or been acquired. Such exits traditionally allow a fund to cash out its holdings in a portfolio company and deliver sizable returns to fund investors. Investors in Polychain Capital, or limited partners, have reportedly counted technology venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund and Union Square Ventures – some of which have co-invested in Polychain portfolio companies. SEC filings show that assets across all Polychain Capital funds dipped from $967.8 million in August 2018 to $595.1 million in March 2019. The total assets accounted for cryptocurrencies, equity in company investments and unspent investor money as valued at the time the disclosure forms were filed. Of those funds, Polychain Capital claims in the new investor deck that its cryptocurrency asset fund – a hedge fund launched in 2016 that trades short-term and long-term positions of digital assets – manages some $550 million. The deck, which appears to have been produced in or after October 2019, notes that the hedge fund is simultaneously taking investments north of $1 million on a rolling basis. An early pioneer in the crypto VC space, Polychain Capital was founded in San Francisco by Olaf Carlson-Wee, the first employee and former head of risk at Coinbase. Polychain CTO Rob Witoff and Polychain partners Sam Rosenblum and Aurora Harshner are also alumni of Coinbase. Polychain Capital’s two executive partners aside from Carlson-Wee and Witoff – President Joe Eagan and joint COO-CFO Matt Perona – hail from traditional finance backgrounds. Perona was CFO of Criterion Capital from 2015 to 2018. Eagan was previously COO of Tiger Legatus, a consumer stock hedge fund. Related Stories ETF Giant Leads $17.7M Series A for Blockchain Compliance Startup Hong Kong Blockchain VC Hires Former NEO Exec to Launch Shanghai Office || Polychain Capital Targets $200M for Second Venture Fund, Slide Deck Reveals: Cryptocurrency investment firm Polychain Capital is raising $200 million for a second fund aimed at venture investing, a funding goal that would top its first venture fund by $25 million.
According to an investor slide deck obtained by CoinDesk, the second venture fund opened at the beginning of 2020 and is accepting minimum investments of $1 million for up to three years. Like Polychain Capital’s first venture fund, the new money will back early-stage crypto startups raising pre-seed, seed and Series A funding rounds.
The first venture fund, which raised$175 millionfrom investors who cut checks normally between $500,000 and $5 million, invested most of its capital by the end of last year after launching in the first quarter of 2018, according to the Polychain slide deck. The capital, the deck says, was split 40 percent to startups that improved on existing blockchain infrastructure and 60 percent to startups that explored less-tested industry concepts.
Related:Bitcoin Lender BlockFi Raises $30M in Series B Led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures
The second venture fund was registered in December of last year, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents. The deck does not indicate the amount Polychain Capital has raised for the second venture fund. Polychain Capital declined to comment on funding progress and specifics due to investor restrictions.
Blockchain networks with enhanced privacy, engineering and flexibility will be prioritized in the second venture fund, the deck says, piggybacking on existing investments in cloud platform Dfinity and blockchain interoperability projects Cosmos and Polkadot.
With its first fund, Polychain says it sought exposure to cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians through the investments that were considered foundational to the industry, a strategy that homes in on Polychain’s banner investment, Coinbase, the San Francisco-based crypto exchange and tech unicorn.
More novel investments in the flagship venture portfolio, meanwhile, trended toward decentralized financial entities – digitized financial instruments and brokers that self-regulate themselves and avoid manual oversight while often settling in crypto. So far, Polychain has backed decentralized finance (DeFi) powerhouse MakerDAO, margin trading book dYdX, blockchain bank Dharma and lending protocol Compound, among others.
Related:PoolTogether DeFi App Announces $1M Investment After No-Loss Lottery Payout Tops $1K
To date, none of Polychain Capital’s reported venture fund investments has issued a public offering or been acquired. Such exits traditionally allow a fund to cash out its holdings in a portfolio company and deliver sizable returns to fund investors.
Investors in Polychain Capital, or limited partners, have reportedly counted technology venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund and Union Square Ventures – some of which have co-invested in Polychain portfolio companies.
SEC filings show that assets across all Polychain Capital fundsdippedfrom $967.8 million in August 2018 to $595.1 million in March 2019. The total assets accounted for cryptocurrencies, equity in company investments and unspent investor money as valued at the time the disclosure forms were filed.
Of those funds, Polychain Capital claims in the new investor deck that its cryptocurrency asset fund – a hedge fund launched in 2016 that trades short-term and long-term positions of digital assets – manages some $550 million. The deck, which appears to have been produced in or after October 2019, notes that the hedge fund is simultaneously taking investments north of $1 million on a rolling basis.
An early pioneer in the crypto VC space, Polychain Capital wasfoundedin San Francisco by Olaf Carlson-Wee, the first employee and former head of risk at Coinbase. Polychain CTO Rob Witoff and Polychain partners Sam Rosenblum and Aurora Harshner are also alumni of Coinbase.
Polychain Capital’s two executive partners aside from Carlson-Wee and Witoff – President Joe Eagan and joint COO-CFO Matt Perona – hail from traditional finance backgrounds. Perona was CFO of Criterion Capital from 2015 to 2018. Eagan was previously COO of Tiger Legatus, a consumer stock hedge fund.
• ETF Giant Leads $17.7M Series A for Blockchain Compliance Startup
• Hong Kong Blockchain VC Hires Former NEO Exec to Launch Shanghai Office || Coinbase Commerce Integrates Dai Cryptocurrency for Merchant Payments: Coinbase’s merchant payments arm has added support for the dai stablecoin, bringing together online retail and decentralized finance (DeFi).
MakerDAOannouncedThursday Coinbase Commerce had integrated dai as a payment method, opening the cryptocurrency up to affiliated online merchants and online commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce.
The integration will introduce “merchants to a growing segment of the cryptocurrency market, allowing them to bridge the gap between DeFi dapp entrepreneurs and their own “real world” businesses,” according to the blog post.
Related:Binance Adds 15 Fiat Currencies as Exchange Pushes Global Expansion
Coinbase Commerce is a free-to-use service for online retailers, allowing them to integrate cryptocurrency into their businesses. Starting out with bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH) and litecoin (LTC), the platform has only added support for USDC – the stablecoin created by Circle and Coinbase as part of the CENTRE consortium – since its February 2018 launch.
CoinDesk has approached Coinbase for comment and will update this article if we hear back.
With the new integration, merchants will also be able to earn interest on any received dai by transferring it into a Dai Savings Rate (DSR) smart contract on the maker protocol. The DSR interest rate was raised to 7.5 percent by community vote earlier in February.
MakerDAO says the integration will boost perceptions of dai and, potentially, bring increased adoption.
Related:Santander Hires Former Apple Pay Exec to Lead P2P Payments
Currently, 435,000 ether (worth roughly US $117.4 million) have been locked up in dai “vaults,” down more than 75 percent since its all-time high in November,accordingto statistics site MKR Tools. Maker’s vaults create dai as users commit collateral assets into them.
The Coinbase Commerce integration means dai could be potentially accepted at the roughly four million online merchants that use the payments service. Coinbasesaidit had exceeded more than $135 million in merchant transactions in 2019, a 600 percent increase since 2018.
• Top Bitcoin Developers Face Off in a Lightning-Powered Boxing Match
• BitPay Launches In-Store Crypto Payments With New POS Partnership || Coinbase Commerce Integrates Dai Cryptocurrency for Merchant Payments: Coinbase’s merchant payments arm has added support for the dai stablecoin, bringing together online retail and decentralized finance (DeFi). MakerDAO announced Thursday Coinbase Commerce had integrated dai as a payment method, opening the cryptocurrency up to affiliated online merchants and online commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. The integration will introduce “merchants to a growing segment of the cryptocurrency market, allowing them to bridge the gap between DeFi dapp entrepreneurs and their own “real world” businesses,” according to the blog post. Related: Binance Adds 15 Fiat Currencies as Exchange Pushes Global Expansion Coinbase Commerce is a free-to-use service for online retailers, allowing them to integrate cryptocurrency into their businesses. Starting out with bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH) and litecoin (LTC), the platform has only added support for USDC – the stablecoin created by Circle and Coinbase as part of the CENTRE consortium – since its February 2018 launch. CoinDesk has approached Coinbase for comment and will update this article if we hear back. With the new integration, merchants will also be able to earn interest on any received dai by transferring it into a Dai Savings Rate (DSR) smart contract on the maker protocol. The DSR interest rate was raised to 7.5 percent by community vote earlier in February. MakerDAO says the integration will boost perceptions of dai and, potentially, bring increased adoption. Related: Santander Hires Former Apple Pay Exec to Lead P2P Payments Currently, 435,000 ether (worth roughly US $117.4 million) have been locked up in dai “vaults,” down more than 75 percent since its all-time high in November, according to statistics site MKR Tools. Maker’s vaults create dai as users commit collateral assets into them. The Coinbase Commerce integration means dai could be potentially accepted at the roughly four million online merchants that use the payments service. Coinbase said it had exceeded more than $135 million in merchant transactions in 2019, a 600 percent increase since 2018. Related Stories Top Bitcoin Developers Face Off in a Lightning-Powered Boxing Match BitPay Launches In-Store Crypto Payments With New POS Partnership || How Lamborghinis can be used to predict Bitcoin's price: What came first, the Lamborghini or the Bitcoin? It's not exactly an age-old question, but it might have some relevance. The link between Bitcoin (BTC) and Lamborghinis was previously thought to be a superficial one at best. Individuals who get wealthy from Bitcoin would purchase a Lamborghini as a kind of status symbol. And the entire Bitcoin community ended up seeing it as the status symbol. However, it appears this link may be deeper than previously realized, after charting platform ChartStart revealed that the number of Reddit mentions on Bitcoin forums for "Lambo"—short for Lamborghini—can sometimes be used as an indicator of Bitcoin price action. According to the report, which tracks the number of Lambo mentions on Reddit in relation to the Bitcoin price , there has been a spike in mentions preceeding a short rally. Looking at July 2017, the number of Lambo mentions rose considerably before the price saw further bullish action. And later, in October 2019, mentions of the luxury car dropped sharply before the price crashed. Do "Lambo" mentions reflect a Bitcoin community that's feeling bullish. Image: ChartStar. However, during the main bull run, Lambo mentions couldn't keep up with price of Bitcoin and were actually a lagging indicator—showing they responded to the price not the other way around. This isn't the only correlation noticed between Bitcoin prices and worldly goods. Back in October, Decrypt reported on the surprising correlation between avocado prices and the price of Bitcoin. At the time, Bloomberg analyst Tracy Alloway joked that it was the avocados that forewarned her of Bitcoin’s sudden price drop . What is it with the price of Bitcoin and avocados? Even worse, avocados have recently become so valuable that crime groups have started stealing them —en masse. Better hold onto your Bitcoin. The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || How Lamborghinis can be used to predict Bitcoin's price: What came first, the Lamborghini or the Bitcoin? It's not exactly an age-old question, but it might have some relevance.
The link between Bitcoin (BTC) and Lamborghinis was previously thought to be a superficial one at best. Individuals who get wealthy from Bitcoin would purchase a Lamborghini as a kind of status symbol. And the entire Bitcoin community ended up seeing it asthestatus symbol.
However, it appears this link may be deeper than previously realized, after charting platform ChartStartrevealedthat the number of Reddit mentions on Bitcoin forums for "Lambo"—short for Lamborghini—can sometimes be used as an indicator of Bitcoin price action.
According to the report, which tracks the number of Lambo mentions on Reddit in relation to theBitcoin price, there has been a spike in mentions preceeding a short rally. Looking at July 2017, the number of Lambo mentions rose considerably before the price saw further bullish action. And later, in October 2019, mentions of the luxury car dropped sharply before the price crashed.
However, during the main bull run, Lambo mentions couldn't keep up with price of Bitcoin and were actually a lagging indicator—showing they responded to the price not the other way around.
This isn't the only correlation noticed between Bitcoin prices and worldly goods. Back in October,Decryptreported on the surprising correlation between avocado prices and the price of Bitcoin. At the time, Bloomberg analyst Tracy Alloway joked that it was the avocados that forewarned her ofBitcoin’s sudden price drop.
What is it with the price of Bitcoin and avocados?
Even worse, avocados have recently become so valuable that crime groups havestarted stealing them—en masse. Better hold onto your Bitcoin.
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || How Lamborghinis can be used to predict Bitcoin's price: What came first, the Lamborghini or the Bitcoin? It's not exactly an age-old question, but it might have some relevance.
The link between Bitcoin (BTC) and Lamborghinis was previously thought to be a superficial one at best. Individuals who get wealthy from Bitcoin would purchase a Lamborghini as a kind of status symbol. And the entire Bitcoin community ended up seeing it asthestatus symbol.
However, it appears this link may be deeper than previously realized, after charting platform ChartStartrevealedthat the number of Reddit mentions on Bitcoin forums for "Lambo"—short for Lamborghini—can sometimes be used as an indicator of Bitcoin price action.
According to the report, which tracks the number of Lambo mentions on Reddit in relation to theBitcoin price, there has been a spike in mentions preceeding a short rally. Looking at July 2017, the number of Lambo mentions rose considerably before the price saw further bullish action. And later, in October 2019, mentions of the luxury car dropped sharply before the price crashed.
However, during the main bull run, Lambo mentions couldn't keep up with price of Bitcoin and were actually a lagging indicator—showing they responded to the price not the other way around.
This isn't the only correlation noticed between Bitcoin prices and worldly goods. Back in October,Decryptreported on the surprising correlation between avocado prices and the price of Bitcoin. At the time, Bloomberg analyst Tracy Alloway joked that it was the avocados that forewarned her ofBitcoin’s sudden price drop.
What is it with the price of Bitcoin and avocados?
Even worse, avocados have recently become so valuable that crime groups havestarted stealing them—en masse. Better hold onto your Bitcoin.
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || OKEx Partners With Bain-Backed Crypto Exchange to Launch Leveraged Futures in India: An Indian cryptocurrency exchange has partnered with Malta-based trading platform OKEx to offer futures products specifically for the subcontinent market.
Mumbai-based CoinDCX announced Friday the strategic partnership will help it develop a new derivative facility – known as DCXfutures – in return for providing OKEx with a foothold in the Indian market.
Using CoinDCX’s new derivatives facility, Indian investors will be able to trade futures, with leverage of up to 15x provided by OKEx on nine cryptocurrencies including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), XRP (XRP) and litecoin (LTC). Available to both institutional and retail investors, the platform will also offer perpetual futures contracts in both bitcoin and ether.
Related:Binance Adds 15 Fiat Currencies as Exchange Pushes Global Expansion
The partnership with CoinDCX – which is backed by an undisclosed amount from investors includingBain Capital– provides OKEx with insight, liquidity and connectivity to the rebounding Indian cryptocurrency scene, according to the announcement.
During the 2017 initial coin offering boom, five million Indians were estimated to be trading digital currencies, but in April 2018 the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank,orderedfinancial institutions to stop dealing with any firms involved in crypto trading in 2018, greatly restricting the market.
Local exchange Koinex was forced toclose its doorslast summer, claiming the RBI ban had made it economically unfeasible for them to operate as a business. Zebpay, which used to be the largest exchange in India,complainedthe ban had “crippled” its ability to offer crypto trading services. Some, however, have soldiered on, offering crypto-to-crypto trading only.
In the coming weeks, the country’s Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether the RBI acted outside its jurisdiction when it issued the banking ban. In anticipation of a favorable ruling, some cryptocurrency companies are beginning to set out their stalls. Binanceenteredthe Indian market in November after acquiring local exchange WazirX.
Related:Nasdaq, Morgan Stanley Trading Vets Build Startup to Unite Crypto Market Price Ranges
“India is primed to be the driving force behind the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies, which is why we are keen on adding more equitable currencies to the ecosystem,” said Zaz Zou, head of OKEx India. “We believe having a variety of options to transact digital currencies will bolster the growth of economy in India as it positively impacts both crowdfunding and institutional funding.”
Credit rating and audit firm Crebaco Globalcalculatedthe Indian cryptocurrency scene, if properly regulated, could have an immediate potential market size of $12.9 billion, with the possibility of creating anywhere between 25,000 and 30,000 jobs.
“We have witnessed rapidly growing demand for futures trading among Indian cryptocurrency market participants,” said CoinDCX CEO and co-founder Sumit Gupta. India could become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world just by leveraging the “huge potential of cryptocurrency markets to accelerate economic growth and wealth generation,” he added.
CoinDCX’s futures platform is currently available to limited numbers of testers, but is expected to be made available to the general public sometime in Q2 2020.
• Ether Futures Volume Highest Since June 2019
• Coinbase Revives Margin Trading, With Conservative (for Crypto) 3x Leverage
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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9934.43, 9690.14, 10142.00, 9633.39, 9608.48, 9686.44, 9663.18, 9924.52, 9650.17, 9341.71
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 359.19, 361.05, 363.18, 388.95, 388.78, 395.54, 415.56, 417.56, 415.48, 451.94, 435.00, 433.76, 444.18, 465.32, 454.93, 456.08, 463.62, 462.32, 442.68, 438.64, 436.57, 442.40, 454.98, 455.65, 417.27, 422.82, 422.28, 432.98, 426.62, 430.57, 434.33, 433.44, 430.01, 433.09, 431.96, 429.11, 458.05, 453.23, 447.61, 447.99, 448.43, 435.69, 432.37, 430.31, 364.33, 387.54, 382.30, 387.17, 380.15, 420.23, 410.26, 382.49, 387.49, 402.97, 391.73, 392.15, 394.97, 380.29, 379.47, 378.26, 368.77, 373.06, 374.45, 369.95, 389.59, 386.55, 376.52, 376.62, 373.45, 376.03, 381.65, 379.65, 384.26, 391.86, 407.23, 400.18, 407.49, 416.32, 422.37, 420.79, 437.16, 438.80, 437.75, 420.74, 424.95, 424.54, 432.15, 432.52, 433.50, 437.70.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-02-29]
Volume: 60694700, RSI (14-day): 64.50, 50-day EMA: 408.69, 200-day EMA: 358.68
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1233.90, Gold RSI: 64.30
Oil Price: 33.75, Oil RSI: 58.10
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
University of California Berkeley notifies 80,000 of cyber attack: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Officials at the University of California Berkeley said on Friday that they were alerting 80,000 people, including current and former students, faculty and vendors of a cyber attack on a system that stores social security and bank account numbers. The news comes just more than a week after a Southern California hospital paid hackers $17,000 in the digital currency Bitcoin to regain control of their computer systems after a so-called "ransomware" attack. The San Francisco Bay Area university said there was no evidence that attackers actually took any personal information, but that it was still alerting the 80,000 individuals to be on the lookout for misuse of their information. The school said a hacker or hackers gained access to its financial management software in late December due to a security flaw present when the system is updating. Officials have notified law enforcement, including the FBI, and hired a private computer investigation company. The university said among the potentially affected are 57,000 current and former students; about 18,800 former and current employees; and 10,300 vendors who work with the school. Those figures come out to about half of the school's current students and two-thirds of its active employees. Large, high-profile organizations and businesses routinely come under cyber attack, and the school said it frequently identifies similar hacking attempts. "The security and privacy of the personal information provided to the university is of great importance to us," Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley's chief information security officer, said in a statement. "We regret that this occurred and have taken additional measures to better safeguard that information." The school said it was providing credit protection service free of charge to those potentially impacted. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein) || University of California Berkeley notifies 80,000 of cyber attack: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Officials at the University of California Berkeley said on Friday that they were alerting 80,000 people, including current and former students, faculty and vendors of a cyber attack on a system that stores social security and bank account numbers.
The news comes just more than a week after a Southern California hospital paid hackers $17,000 in the digital currency Bitcoin to regain control of their computer systems after a so-called "ransomware" attack.
The San Francisco Bay Area university said there was no evidence that attackers actually took any personal information, but that it was still alerting the 80,000 individuals to be on the lookout for misuse of their information.
The school said a hacker or hackers gained access to its financial management software in late December due to a security flaw present when the system is updating. Officials have notified law enforcement, including the FBI, and hired a private computer investigation company.
The university said among the potentially affected are 57,000 current and former students; about 18,800 former and current employees; and 10,300 vendors who work with the school. Those figures come out to about half of the school's current students and two-thirds of its active employees.
Large, high-profile organizations and businesses routinely come under cyber attack, and the school said it frequently identifies similar hacking attempts.
"The security and privacy of the personal information provided to the university is of great importance to us," Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley's chief information security officer, said in a statement. "We regret that this occurred and have taken additional measures to better safeguard that information."
The school said it was providing credit protection service free of charge to those potentially impacted.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein) || University of California Berkeley notifies 80,000 of cyber attack: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Officials at the University of California Berkeley said on Friday that they were alerting 80,000 people, including current and former students, faculty and vendors of a cyber attack on a system that stores social security and bank account numbers. The news comes just more than a week after a Southern California hospital paid hackers $17,000 in the digital currency Bitcoin to regain control of their computer systems after a so-called "ransomware" attack. The San Francisco Bay Area university said there was no evidence that attackers actually took any personal information, but that it was still alerting the 80,000 individuals to be on the lookout for misuse of their information. The school said a hacker or hackers gained access to its financial management software in late December due to a security flaw present when the system is updating. Officials have notified law enforcement, including the FBI, and hired a private computer investigation company. The university said among the potentially affected are 57,000 current and former students; about 18,800 former and current employees; and 10,300 vendors who work with the school. Those figures come out to about half of the school's current students and two-thirds of its active employees. Large, high-profile organizations and businesses routinely come under cyber attack, and the school said it frequently identifies similar hacking attempts. "The security and privacy of the personal information provided to the university is of great importance to us," Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley's chief information security officer, said in a statement. "We regret that this occurred and have taken additional measures to better safeguard that information." The school said it was providing credit protection service free of charge to those potentially impacted. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein) || University of California Berkeley notifies 80,000 of cyber attack: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Officials at the University of California Berkeley said on Friday that they were alerting 80,000 people, including current and former students, faculty and vendors of a cyber attack on a system that stores social security and bank account numbers. The news comes just more than a week after a Southern California hospital paid hackers $17,000 in the digital currency Bitcoin to regain control of their computer systems after a so-called "ransomware" attack. The San Francisco Bay Area university said there was no evidence that attackers actually took any personal information, but that it was still alerting the 80,000 individuals to be on the lookout for misuse of their information. The school said a hacker or hackers gained access to its financial management software in late December due to a security flaw present when the system is updating. Officials have notified law enforcement, including the FBI, and hired a private computer investigation company. The university said among the potentially affected are 57,000 current and former students; about 18,800 former and current employees; and 10,300 vendors who work with the school. Those figures come out to about half of the school's current students and two-thirds of its active employees. Large, high-profile organizations and businesses routinely come under cyber attack, and the school said it frequently identifies similar hacking attempts. "The security and privacy of the personal information provided to the university is of great importance to us," Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley's chief information security officer, said in a statement. "We regret that this occurred and have taken additional measures to better safeguard that information." The school said it was providing credit protection service free of charge to those potentially impacted. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein) || University of California notifies 80,000 of cyber attack: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Officials at the University of California Berkeley said on Friday that they were alerting 80,000 people, including current and former students, faculty and vendors of a cyber attack on a system that stores social security and bank account numbers. The news comes just more than a week after a Southern California hospital paid hackers $17,000 in the digital currency Bitcoin to regain control of their computer systems after a so-called "ransomware" attack. The San Francisco Bay Area university said there was no evidence that attackers actually took any personal information, but that it was still alerting the 80,000 individuals to be on the lookout for misuse of their information. The school said a hacker or hackers gained access to its financial management software in late December due to a security flaw present when the system is updating. Officials have notified law enforcement, including the FBI, and hired a private computer investigation company. The university said among the potentially affected are 57,000 current and former students; about 18,800 former and current employees; and 10,300 vendors who work with the school. Those figures come out to about half of the school's current students and two-thirds of its active employees. Large, high-profile organizations and businesses routinely come under cyber attack, and the school said it frequently identifies similar hacking attempts. "The security and privacy of the personal information provided to the university is of great importance to us," Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley's chief information security officer, said in a statement. "We regret that this occurred and have taken additional measures to better safeguard that information." The school said it was providing credit protection service free of charge to those potentially impacted. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein) || University of California notifies 80,000 of cyber attack: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Officials at the University of California Berkeley said on Friday that they were alerting 80,000 people, including current and former students, faculty and vendors of a cyber attack on a system that stores social security and bank account numbers. The news comes just more than a week after a Southern California hospital paid hackers $17,000 in the digital currency Bitcoin to regain control of their computer systems after a so-called "ransomware" attack. The San Francisco Bay Area university said there was no evidence that attackers actually took any personal information, but that it was still alerting the 80,000 individuals to be on the lookout for misuse of their information. The school said a hacker or hackers gained access to its financial management software in late December due to a security flaw present when the system is updating. Officials have notified law enforcement, including the FBI, and hired a private computer investigation company. The university said among the potentially affected are 57,000 current and former students; about 18,800 former and current employees; and 10,300 vendors who work with the school. Those figures come out to about half of the school's current students and two-thirds of its active employees. Large, high-profile organizations and businesses routinely come under cyber attack, and the school said it frequently identifies similar hacking attempts. "The security and privacy of the personal information provided to the university is of great importance to us," Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley's chief information security officer, said in a statement. "We regret that this occurred and have taken additional measures to better safeguard that information." The school said it was providing credit protection service free of charge to those potentially impacted. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein) || University of California notifies 80,000 of cyber attack: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Officials at the University of California Berkeley said on Friday that they were alerting 80,000 people, including current and former students, faculty and vendors of a cyber attack on a system that stores social security and bank account numbers. The news comes just more than a week after a Southern California hospital paid hackers $17,000 in the digital currency Bitcoin to regain control of their computer systems after a so-called "ransomware" attack. The San Francisco Bay Area university said there was no evidence that attackers actually took any personal information, but that it was still alerting the 80,000 individuals to be on the lookout for misuse of their information. The school said a hacker or hackers gained access to its financial management software in late December due to a security flaw present when the system is updating. Officials have notified law enforcement, including the FBI, and hired a private computer investigation company. The university said among the potentially affected are 57,000 current and former students; about 18,800 former and current employees; and 10,300 vendors who work with the school. Those figures come out to about half of the school's current students and two-thirds of its active employees. Large, high-profile organizations and businesses routinely come under cyber attack, and the school said it frequently identifies similar hacking attempts. "The security and privacy of the personal information provided to the university is of great importance to us," Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley's chief information security officer, said in a statement. "We regret that this occurred and have taken additional measures to better safeguard that information." The school said it was providing credit protection service free of charge to those potentially impacted. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein) || University of California notifies 80,000 of cyber attack: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Officials at the University of California Berkeley said on Friday that they were alerting 80,000 people, including current and former students, faculty and vendors of a cyber attack on a system that stores social security and bank account numbers. The news comes just more than a week after a Southern California hospital paid hackers $17,000 in the digital currency Bitcoin to regain control of their computer systems after a so-called "ransomware" attack. The San Francisco Bay Area university said there was no evidence that attackers actually took any personal information, but that it was still alerting the 80,000 individuals to be on the lookout for misuse of their information. The school said a hacker or hackers gained access to its financial management software in late December due to a security flaw present when the system is updating. Officials have notified law enforcement, including the FBI, and hired a private computer investigation company. The university said among the potentially affected are 57,000 current and former students; about 18,800 former and current employees; and 10,300 vendors who work with the school. Those figures come out to about half of the school's current students and two-thirds of its active employees. Large, high-profile organizations and businesses routinely come under cyber attack, and the school said it frequently identifies similar hacking attempts. "The security and privacy of the personal information provided to the university is of great importance to us," Paul Rivers, UC Berkeley's chief information security officer, said in a statement. "We regret that this occurred and have taken additional measures to better safeguard that information." The school said it was providing credit protection service free of charge to those potentially impacted. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sharon Bernstein) || The IT industry is launching new markets worth more than $2 trillion, IBM CEO says: IBM CEO Ginni Rometty (Business Insider) IBM CEO Ginni Rometty It's fashionable these days to beat up on IBM and its CEO, Ginni Rometty. It's easy to point to a struggling share price, shrinking revenues across just about all of its traditional core businesses, a downright addiction to share buy-backs to prop-up share price and earnings-per-share ($4.5 billion worth of buybacks last year alone, a $125 billion worth in the decade prior.) Plus there's the never-ending layoffs handled with an almost paranoid sense of secrecy . But an extremely cheerful Rometty opened the company annual investor's day on Thursday to explain, again, where's she's leading the company and offer update on the progress. "I've been looking forward to this day," she told them with a big smile. This is in sharp contrast to the grin-and-bear-it mood of last year's investor meeting, when Rometty had just failed to meet her predecessor's promise of hitting $20 earnings per share in 2015. She says IBM is on track to meet her promise to investors, made last year, of hitting $40 billion worth of revenue in a bunch of new and more profitable markets by 2018. These include big data/analytics, cloud computing, security, social and mobile. The company has already hit $29 billion in these "strategic imperative" areas, and they are now 36% of IBM's $82 billion of revenue, she said. These new markets, which IBM calls "decision support" represent a $2 trillion market. Plus IBM sees a bunch of other growth markets. 1. Machine learning (which IBM calls 'cognitive computing") is at the heart of the $2 trillion market IBM sees developing by 2025 . This is where smart computers that can learn, can understand all kinds of data (even audio, photos, videos), reason, talk, make decisions and learn. Companies will use this to make all of their important decisions she believes. And it will be used to solve other problems like managing and curing illness. Watson is already being used by medical device manufacturer Medtronic to help patients predict dangerous low-blood sugar events up to two hours before they occur. Story continues Decision support will create $2 trillion worth of IT spending beyond the $1 trillion companies already spend on software, services and hardware. IBM Decision Support market (IBM) IBM sees a $2 trillion "decision support" market beyond the traditional software, services and hardware market where it already competes. 2. Hybrid computing will become a $400 billion market. This is a revamp of the traditional $1 trillion market. It's where companies maintain their own data centers while also using the cloud. Rometty didn't offer a time frame when this market will be worth that much. Some market researchers say it will be an $88 billion market in 2019. But she insists that most companies will adopt this model forever and that it's "not a transition phase" on the way for companies to go "all-in" on the cloud and unplug their data centers. In other words, she believes that IBM will continue to sell its hardware and software to companies forever, in addition to selling its cloud services. IBM investor briefing, Ginni Rometty (Business Insider) IBM CEO Ginni Rometty That's in contrast to the message being told by happy Amazon cloud customers. Amazon, the cloud computing leader, doesn't sell hardware or software and has an increasing roster of huge customers that are unplugging their data centers completely to use Amazon's cloud exclusively. Rometty offers as proof that hybrid is the future: In 2015 IBM's consulting unit signed 70 contracts "greater than $100 million" and "7 out of 10 of them were about hybrid cloud," she says. 3. Internet of Things will be a $400 billion market by 2019 . That's where all kinds of objects get sensors, apps and join the internet. All of the apps that run all of those objects will live on somebody's cloud. Every big IT company is going after this market. Cisco has said that IoT will be much bigger, a $19 trillion market in a decade. 4. Blockchain will eventually be worth "hundreds of billions of opportunity," Rometty says. Blockchain is the tech that underlines the online currency called Bitcoin. But Rometty says that it's much bigger than Bitcoin. It's a technology that can secure all kinds of important data, financial and otherwise. She says that IBM is already using it internally and IBM has already introduced a blockchain cloud computing service. She's not alone in thinking Blockchain will be huge. VC Marc Andreessen has been touting it, and investing in it . And the nonprofit Linux Foundation has launched a consortium to develop blockchain. IBM is a member, as is a who's who roster of tech and financial services companies. NOW WATCH: We tried Shake Shack and In-N-Out side by side, and it's clear which one is better More From Business Insider This man grew his company from $30 million to $100 million in one year, mostly thanks to Amazon Bill Gates offered the best advice on how to not feel overwhelmed when taking on huge projects Sexism almost ended the career of one of the most powerful women in the Valley and her new startup is fighting back || The IT industry is launching new markets worth more than $2 trillion, IBM CEO says: IBM CEO Ginni Rometty (Business Insider) IBM CEO Ginni Rometty It's fashionable these days to beat up on IBM and its CEO, Ginni Rometty. It's easy to point to a struggling share price, shrinking revenues across just about all of its traditional core businesses, a downright addiction to share buy-backs to prop-up share price and earnings-per-share ($4.5 billion worth of buybacks last year alone, a $125 billion worth in the decade prior.) Plus there's the never-ending layoffs handled with an almost paranoid sense of secrecy . But an extremely cheerful Rometty opened the company annual investor's day on Thursday to explain, again, where's she's leading the company and offer update on the progress. "I've been looking forward to this day," she told them with a big smile. This is in sharp contrast to the grin-and-bear-it mood of last year's investor meeting, when Rometty had just failed to meet her predecessor's promise of hitting $20 earnings per share in 2015. She says IBM is on track to meet her promise to investors, made last year, of hitting $40 billion worth of revenue in a bunch of new and more profitable markets by 2018. These include big data/analytics, cloud computing, security, social and mobile. The company has already hit $29 billion in these "strategic imperative" areas, and they are now 36% of IBM's $82 billion of revenue, she said. These new markets, which IBM calls "decision support" represent a $2 trillion market. Plus IBM sees a bunch of other growth markets. 1. Machine learning (which IBM calls 'cognitive computing") is at the heart of the $2 trillion market IBM sees developing by 2025 . This is where smart computers that can learn, can understand all kinds of data (even audio, photos, videos), reason, talk, make decisions and learn. Companies will use this to make all of their important decisions she believes. And it will be used to solve other problems like managing and curing illness. Watson is already being used by medical device manufacturer Medtronic to help patients predict dangerous low-blood sugar events up to two hours before they occur. Story continues Decision support will create $2 trillion worth of IT spending beyond the $1 trillion companies already spend on software, services and hardware. IBM Decision Support market (IBM) IBM sees a $2 trillion "decision support" market beyond the traditional software, services and hardware market where it already competes. 2. Hybrid computing will become a $400 billion market. This is a revamp of the traditional $1 trillion market. It's where companies maintain their own data centers while also using the cloud. Rometty didn't offer a time frame when this market will be worth that much. Some market researchers say it will be an $88 billion market in 2019. But she insists that most companies will adopt this model forever and that it's "not a transition phase" on the way for companies to go "all-in" on the cloud and unplug their data centers. In other words, she believes that IBM will continue to sell its hardware and software to companies forever, in addition to selling its cloud services. IBM investor briefing, Ginni Rometty (Business Insider) IBM CEO Ginni Rometty That's in contrast to the message being told by happy Amazon cloud customers. Amazon, the cloud computing leader, doesn't sell hardware or software and has an increasing roster of huge customers that are unplugging their data centers completely to use Amazon's cloud exclusively. Rometty offers as proof that hybrid is the future: In 2015 IBM's consulting unit signed 70 contracts "greater than $100 million" and "7 out of 10 of them were about hybrid cloud," she says. 3. Internet of Things will be a $400 billion market by 2019 . That's where all kinds of objects get sensors, apps and join the internet. All of the apps that run all of those objects will live on somebody's cloud. Every big IT company is going after this market. Cisco has said that IoT will be much bigger, a $19 trillion market in a decade. 4. Blockchain will eventually be worth "hundreds of billions of opportunity," Rometty says. Blockchain is the tech that underlines the online currency called Bitcoin. But Rometty says that it's much bigger than Bitcoin. It's a technology that can secure all kinds of important data, financial and otherwise. She says that IBM is already using it internally and IBM has already introduced a blockchain cloud computing service. She's not alone in thinking Blockchain will be huge. VC Marc Andreessen has been touting it, and investing in it . And the nonprofit Linux Foundation has launched a consortium to develop blockchain. IBM is a member, as is a who's who roster of tech and financial services companies. NOW WATCH: We tried Shake Shack and In-N-Out side by side, and it's clear which one is better More From Business Insider This man grew his company from $30 million to $100 million in one year, mostly thanks to Amazon Bill Gates offered the best advice on how to not feel overwhelmed when taking on huge projects Sexism almost ended the career of one of the most powerful women in the Valley and her new startup is fighting back || Digatrade Executes Bitcoin Debit Card Development Contract: Digatrade Bitcoin Debit Card Set to Launch VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 25, 2016 / BITX FINANCIAL CORP ( BITXF ) and its 100% owned and operated digital asset-currency exchange DIGATRADE ( digatrade.com ) today announced the execution of a technology development agreement with ANX Technologies. Under terms of the agreement Digatrade will have a bitcoin debit card developed by ANX Technologies, one of the world's first financial technology companies to have developed a bitcoin debit card and one of the largest distributors of debit cards in the market offering customers as well as businesses a fast and reliable payment solution. The Digatrade debit card will provide a gateway between digital assets and traditional payments processing. The reloadable debit card can be used to make purchases in any retail, point-of-sale devices or withdraw cash from ATMs that support the global payment network. Digatrade customers will be able to add funds to their debit card via the Digatrade exchange platform and will empower digital assets to be accepted worldwide. More information will be made available as it materializes. ABOUT DIGATRADE: DIGATRADE is a global digital asset-currency exchange located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Company is owned and operated 100% by Bit-X Financial Corp which is publically listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. BITXF is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC". Digatrade has now become a global platform offering its customers instant card-based transactions worldwide. CORPORATE CONTACT INFORMATION: Brad Moynes, CEO Bit-X Financial Corp DigaTrade.com 838 West Hastings Street, Suite 300 Vancouver, BC V6C-0A6 Canada Tel: +1(604) 200-0071 Fax: +1(604) 200-0072 www.digatrade.com Media inquiries: [email protected] Forward-Looking Information This press release contains certain "forward-looking information". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or development that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future constitute forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects the current expectations or beliefs of the company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, the possibility of unanticipated costs and expenses. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein. SOURCE: Bit-X Financial Corp || Digatrade Executes Bitcoin Debit Card Development Contract: Digatrade Bitcoin Debit Card Set to Launch
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 25, 2016 /BITX FINANCIAL CORP (BITXF) and its 100% owned and operated digital asset-currency exchange DIGATRADE™ (digatrade.com) today announced the execution of a technology development agreement with ANX Technologies. Under terms of the agreement Digatrade will have a bitcoin debit card developed by ANX Technologies, one of the world's first financial technology companies to have developed a bitcoin debit card and one of the largest distributors of debit cards in the market offering customers as well as businesses a fast and reliable payment solution.
The Digatrade debit card will provide a gateway between digital assets and traditional payments processing. The reloadable debit card can be used to make purchases in any retail, point-of-sale devices or withdraw cash from ATMs that support the global payment network. Digatrade customers will be able to add funds to their debit card via the Digatrade exchange platform and will empower digital assets to be accepted worldwide.
More information will be made available as it materializes.
ABOUT DIGATRADE:
DIGATRADE is a global digital asset-currency exchange located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Company is owned and operated 100% by Bit-X Financial Corp which is publically listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. BITXF is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC". Digatrade has now become a global platform offering its customers instant card-based transactions worldwide.
CORPORATE CONTACT INFORMATION:
Brad Moynes, CEOBit-X Financial CorpDigaTrade.com838 West Hastings Street, Suite 300Vancouver, BC V6C-0A6CanadaTel: +1(604) 200-0071Fax: +1(604) 200-0072www.digatrade.com
Media inquiries:
[email protected]
Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains certain "forward-looking information". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or development that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future constitute forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects the current expectations or beliefs of the company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, the possibility of unanticipated costs and expenses. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
SOURCE:Bit-X Financial Corp || Digatrade Executes Bitcoin Debit Card Development Contract: Digatrade Bitcoin Debit Card Set to Launch
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / February 25, 2016 /BITX FINANCIAL CORP (BITXF) and its 100% owned and operated digital asset-currency exchange DIGATRADE™ (digatrade.com) today announced the execution of a technology development agreement with ANX Technologies. Under terms of the agreement Digatrade will have a bitcoin debit card developed by ANX Technologies, one of the world's first financial technology companies to have developed a bitcoin debit card and one of the largest distributors of debit cards in the market offering customers as well as businesses a fast and reliable payment solution.
The Digatrade debit card will provide a gateway between digital assets and traditional payments processing. The reloadable debit card can be used to make purchases in any retail, point-of-sale devices or withdraw cash from ATMs that support the global payment network. Digatrade customers will be able to add funds to their debit card via the Digatrade exchange platform and will empower digital assets to be accepted worldwide.
More information will be made available as it materializes.
ABOUT DIGATRADE:
DIGATRADE is a global digital asset-currency exchange located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Company is owned and operated 100% by Bit-X Financial Corp which is publically listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. BITXF is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC". Digatrade has now become a global platform offering its customers instant card-based transactions worldwide.
CORPORATE CONTACT INFORMATION:
Brad Moynes, CEOBit-X Financial CorpDigaTrade.com838 West Hastings Street, Suite 300Vancouver, BC V6C-0A6CanadaTel: +1(604) 200-0071Fax: +1(604) 200-0072www.digatrade.com
Media inquiries:
[email protected]
Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains certain "forward-looking information". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or development that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future constitute forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects the current expectations or beliefs of the company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, the possibility of unanticipated costs and expenses. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
SOURCE:Bit-X Financial Corp || Safe Cash Speeds up Blockchain to 25,000 Transactions per Second: SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 24, 2016) - Safe Cash (www.safe.cash), a digital payment technology for banks, merchants, and consumers, has announced that it is able to handle up to 25,000 transactions per second on its blockchain -- more than 3,000 times as many as Bitcoin. The time to complete and final settlement is under five seconds. This makes Safe Cash the fastest private blockchain, orders of magnitude ahead of competing private blockchains that are simple forks of bitcoin or litecoin.
"Because of its slow consensus time, uncertain governance, and price volatility, Bitcoin is not a reasonable solution for banks, and it's not built to scale for massive adoption of instant e-commerce," said Chris Kitze, founder and CEO of Safe Cash Payment Technologies. "No open-source software can touch this performance. Our development team worked for the past eighteen months to solve a number of critical technical problems. It is not trivial. We also have a clear technical path to increase this speed to 100,000 transactions per second later this year, well in advance of that kind of global demand."
In an era of permissioned blockchains gaining favor with financial institutions over decentralized, freely trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Ripple, Safe Cash is one of the first blockchains to be commercially viable that can meet the transaction processing speed and throughput requirements of today's market. Safe Cash employs instant settlement in under five seconds, improved security, and controlled consensus that does not rely on miners or any intermediary coin that must be purchased. It allows banks to wean themselves off the high-priced, inefficient SWIFT network that can take days to transfer money. Banks can have their own "white label" blockchain that they control and manage. Inter-bank settlement can be achieved with multi-currency wallets, a separate bank settlement blockchain, or a combination thereof, depending on bank requirements and legal compliance.
A demonstration of this technology is freely available athttps://safe.cash, where the public is invited to get a free account to test out Safe Cash's loyalty token. Banks are invited to internally proof-of-concept test Safe Cash.
About Safe Cash Payment Technologies, Inc.Founded in 2015, Safe Cash is the first payment system to allow cash to be used as a digital asset, with member banks storing the USD and providing tokens that are redeemable for cash. The system is designed to work globally and on most phones.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners. || Safe Cash Speeds up Blockchain to 25,000 Transactions per Second: SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 24, 2016) - Safe Cash ( www.safe.cash ), a digital payment technology for banks, merchants, and consumers, has announced that it is able to handle up to 25,000 transactions per second on its blockchain -- more than 3,000 times as many as Bitcoin. The time to complete and final settlement is under five seconds. This makes Safe Cash the fastest private blockchain, orders of magnitude ahead of competing private blockchains that are simple forks of bitcoin or litecoin. "Because of its slow consensus time, uncertain governance, and price volatility, Bitcoin is not a reasonable solution for banks, and it's not built to scale for massive adoption of instant e-commerce," said Chris Kitze, founder and CEO of Safe Cash Payment Technologies. "No open-source software can touch this performance. Our development team worked for the past eighteen months to solve a number of critical technical problems. It is not trivial. We also have a clear technical path to increase this speed to 100,000 transactions per second later this year, well in advance of that kind of global demand." In an era of permissioned blockchains gaining favor with financial institutions over decentralized, freely trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Ripple, Safe Cash is one of the first blockchains to be commercially viable that can meet the transaction processing speed and throughput requirements of today's market. Safe Cash employs instant settlement in under five seconds, improved security, and controlled consensus that does not rely on miners or any intermediary coin that must be purchased. It allows banks to wean themselves off the high-priced, inefficient SWIFT network that can take days to transfer money. Banks can have their own "white label" blockchain that they control and manage. Inter-bank settlement can be achieved with multi-currency wallets, a separate bank settlement blockchain, or a combination thereof, depending on bank requirements and legal compliance. Story continues A demonstration of this technology is freely available at https://safe.cash , where the public is invited to get a free account to test out Safe Cash's loyalty token. Banks are invited to internally proof-of-concept test Safe Cash. About Safe Cash Payment Technologies, Inc. Founded in 2015, Safe Cash is the first payment system to allow cash to be used as a digital asset, with member banks storing the USD and providing tokens that are redeemable for cash. The system is designed to work globally and on most phones. All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners. || BTCS Announces Letter to Shareholders From CEO: ARLINGTON, VA--(Marketwired - Feb 23, 2016) - BTCS Inc. ( OTCQB : BTCS ) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology focused company which secures the blockchain through its transaction verification services business, released a Letter to Shareholders updating current activities and outlining its corporate strategy for 2016, as follows: Dear Shareholders, Over the past few months, several major investment banks have published research foretelling the significant potential for blockchain technologies to revolutionize industries on a massive scale. Recognizing this potential, much of our work in 2015 focused on building a strong operational foundation to capitalize on the rapidly-evolving blockchain opportunity. Despite many successes in this effort, our stock continued to decline throughout 2015 and is now trading near its 52-week low. As a significant shareholder myself, I too am feeling the pain of our low stock price, and I firmly believe it is not representative of our accomplishments or potential. BTCS originally began operations focused exclusively on the Bitcoin ecosystem, and while our revenues today are generated from securing the blockchain through our transaction verification services segment, we plan to evaluate broader opportunities in blockchain consumer solutions. As noted in recently published research from Goldman Sachs, the real opportunity lies in the underlying technology of Bitcoin, the blockchain. Referred to as the golden egg by analysts at Goldman Sachs, the blockchain can not only live outside of Bitcoin, it has the potential to streamline a multitude of businesses. We believe the work we completed in 2015 has established us as an early mover in this burgeoning market opportunity, positioning us for strong shareholder value improvement in the quarters and years ahead as the use of blockchain technologies begins to revolutionize standard business practices. Our current transaction verification operation touches every blockchain transaction. Even after doubling our server processing power in January of 2016, we're currently using just 33% of the expanded power capacity we added in July 2015. The foundation to rapidly scale our operations is in place, and our pending merger with Spondoolies-Tech Ltd. ("Spondoolies") is poised to provide us a technology advantage that we believe will positively impact revenues over the long-term. Story continues We've also strengthened our financial footing, most recently with the completion of a $1.45 million capital raise in December 2015, 1,225% year-over-year revenue growth for the fiscal year ended 2015, and a 25% decrease in cash flow used from operating activities. Our management team remains dedicated to creating value and protecting our shareholders and continues to demonstrate its commitment to the future of BTCS through positive steps at improving our capital structure. From management's voluntarily return of 12.75 million shares of stock valued at $1.15 million in late 2014, which absorbed nearly all of the dilution from our January 2015 funding, to the recent voluntary escrowing of founder shares representing 15% of the outstanding shares of the company, we are literally "putting our money where our mouth is" and plan to continue to work tirelessly to make our company a success. Looking ahead, there are several key milestones we anticipate achieving in 2016. We believe our transaction verification services business will lead to rapid revenue growth this year, and our pending merger with Spondoolies should further strengthen our financial performance and product offerings. If we complete these and other initiatives, ultimately we believe we will be in a position to up list to a major exchange this year, greatly improving our visibility in the capital markets and setting the stage for further acceleration of growth as blockchain technology spreads across the global economy. Blockchain technology is still in its infancy, and just as the Internet has become a ubiquitous driver of global commerce in a relatively short period of time, we believe the impending boom in blockchain adoption is nearly upon us. On behalf of our management team, I want to personally thank you for your continued support. Sincerely, Charles Allen CEO and Chairman About BTCS: BTCS secures the blockchain through its rapidly growing transaction verification services business and plans to build a broader ecosystem to capitalize on opportunities in this fast growing industry. The blockchain is a decentralized public ledger and has the ability to fundamentally impact all industries on a global basis that rely on or utilize record keeping and require trust. BTCS continues to evaluate and build additional blockchain technology consumer solutions. BTCS also actively partners and integrates with strategic digital currency and blockchain technology companies who provide products or services that are complementary to its business strategy. For more information visit: www.btcs.com Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release, including those related to an anticipated merger, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. || BTCS Announces Letter to Shareholders From CEO: ARLINGTON, VA--(Marketwired - Feb 23, 2016) - BTCS Inc. ( OTCQB : BTCS ) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology focused company which secures the blockchain through its transaction verification services business, released a Letter to Shareholders updating current activities and outlining its corporate strategy for 2016, as follows: Dear Shareholders, Over the past few months, several major investment banks have published research foretelling the significant potential for blockchain technologies to revolutionize industries on a massive scale. Recognizing this potential, much of our work in 2015 focused on building a strong operational foundation to capitalize on the rapidly-evolving blockchain opportunity. Despite many successes in this effort, our stock continued to decline throughout 2015 and is now trading near its 52-week low. As a significant shareholder myself, I too am feeling the pain of our low stock price, and I firmly believe it is not representative of our accomplishments or potential. BTCS originally began operations focused exclusively on the Bitcoin ecosystem, and while our revenues today are generated from securing the blockchain through our transaction verification services segment, we plan to evaluate broader opportunities in blockchain consumer solutions. As noted in recently published research from Goldman Sachs, the real opportunity lies in the underlying technology of Bitcoin, the blockchain. Referred to as the golden egg by analysts at Goldman Sachs, the blockchain can not only live outside of Bitcoin, it has the potential to streamline a multitude of businesses. We believe the work we completed in 2015 has established us as an early mover in this burgeoning market opportunity, positioning us for strong shareholder value improvement in the quarters and years ahead as the use of blockchain technologies begins to revolutionize standard business practices. Our current transaction verification operation touches every blockchain transaction. Even after doubling our server processing power in January of 2016, we're currently using just 33% of the expanded power capacity we added in July 2015. The foundation to rapidly scale our operations is in place, and our pending merger with Spondoolies-Tech Ltd. ("Spondoolies") is poised to provide us a technology advantage that we believe will positively impact revenues over the long-term. Story continues We've also strengthened our financial footing, most recently with the completion of a $1.45 million capital raise in December 2015, 1,225% year-over-year revenue growth for the fiscal year ended 2015, and a 25% decrease in cash flow used from operating activities. Our management team remains dedicated to creating value and protecting our shareholders and continues to demonstrate its commitment to the future of BTCS through positive steps at improving our capital structure. From management's voluntarily return of 12.75 million shares of stock valued at $1.15 million in late 2014, which absorbed nearly all of the dilution from our January 2015 funding, to the recent voluntary escrowing of founder shares representing 15% of the outstanding shares of the company, we are literally "putting our money where our mouth is" and plan to continue to work tirelessly to make our company a success. Looking ahead, there are several key milestones we anticipate achieving in 2016. We believe our transaction verification services business will lead to rapid revenue growth this year, and our pending merger with Spondoolies should further strengthen our financial performance and product offerings. If we complete these and other initiatives, ultimately we believe we will be in a position to up list to a major exchange this year, greatly improving our visibility in the capital markets and setting the stage for further acceleration of growth as blockchain technology spreads across the global economy. Blockchain technology is still in its infancy, and just as the Internet has become a ubiquitous driver of global commerce in a relatively short period of time, we believe the impending boom in blockchain adoption is nearly upon us. On behalf of our management team, I want to personally thank you for your continued support. Sincerely, Charles Allen CEO and Chairman About BTCS: BTCS secures the blockchain through its rapidly growing transaction verification services business and plans to build a broader ecosystem to capitalize on opportunities in this fast growing industry. The blockchain is a decentralized public ledger and has the ability to fundamentally impact all industries on a global basis that rely on or utilize record keeping and require trust. BTCS continues to evaluate and build additional blockchain technology consumer solutions. BTCS also actively partners and integrates with strategic digital currency and blockchain technology companies who provide products or services that are complementary to its business strategy. For more information visit: www.btcs.com Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release, including those related to an anticipated merger, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. || C&W Business Earns Fortinet Platinum Partner Recognition: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Feb 22, 2016) - C&W Business, part of Cable & Wireless Communications , Plc (CWC), today announces it has been recognized as a Fortinet Platinum Partner. To receive Platinum status, C&W Business demonstrated that it had successfully achieved all Fortinet certification requirements and training programmes needed to deliver the highest levels of partnership, performance and commitment. As a certified Platinum partner, C&W Business are experts in delivering Fortinet's superior, next generation multi-threat security solutions to their customers across the Caribbean and Latin American region. C&W Business has a proven track record of delivering managed security services over a vast range of advanced security technologies, such as Web Application Firewall, Email Security, DDOS protection, Advanced Persistent Threat protection, among others. C&W Business offers unparalleled skills in the region, with local resources across 26 countries and experts with the highest certification levels across the board. C&W Business has successfully deployed complex security solutions, using Fortinet's technology, in large and medium companies from a number of different sectors -- including Banking, Retail, Government and BPO. "This recognition as a Platinum Partner highlights our dedication to be the most complete ICT Solutions provider in the Caribbean and Latin American region. Security is a topic that is high in CIO's minds and we take that very seriously," said Daniel Peiretti, SVP Product Development, C&W Business. "We have focused in hiring and certifying security experts and giving them the tools necessary to ensure our customers enjoy peace of mind with their network," added Peiretti. Security threats are on the rise so corporations and government agencies alike must do everything to protect their networks and their data. C&W Business employs security experts in their Security Operation Centers (SOC) throughout the region to monitor their network 24X7X365. Story continues "We are excited to recognize C&W Business as a Platinum Partner, based on their strong commitment to delivering innovative solutions that drive customer success," said Pedro Paixao, General Manager, Latin America, at Fortinet. "C&W Business plays an important role in transforming customers, across multiple industries, into more agile, connected and secure companies that can rest assured their most important assets and the assets of their end-users are protected." About Cable & Wireless Communications Plc Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC) is a full service communications and entertainment provider, operating in Latin America and the Caribbean. With annual sales of over US$2.4 billion, it operates both mobile and fixed networks, supported by submarine and terrestrial optical fibre backhaul capacity. CWC delivers superior high-speed mobile data, broadband and video services. It has leading market positions in Mobile, Fixed Line, Broadband and Video consumer offers. Through its business division, CWC provides data centre hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customised IT service solutions, utilising cloud technology to serve business and government customers. The Group also operates a state-of-the-art subsea fibre optic cable network that spans more than 48,000 km -- the most extensive in the region -- as well as 38,000 km of terrestrial fibre providing wholesale and carrier backhaul capacity. CWC has more than 7,300 employees serving 6.4 million customers (Mobile 4.1m; Fixed Line 1.1m; Video 470k and Broadband 690k) across 42 countries. The Group's leading brands include; LIME and Flow in the Caribbean; BTC in The Bahamas; Mas Movil in Panama; C&W Business and C&W Networks. CWC is the market leader in most products offered and territories served. It is a major contributor to local communities through its corporate social responsibility programmes. Cable & Wireless Communications Plc's shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker CWC. The Group is headquartered in London with its operational hub located in Miami, within close proximity to the Caribbean and Latin America. For more information visit: www.cwc.com . About Fortinet Fortinet ( NASDAQ : FTNT ) helps protect networks, users and data from continually evolving threats. As a global leader in high-performance network security, we enable businesses and governments to consolidate and integrate stand-alone technologies without suffering performance penalties. Unlike costly, inflexible and low-performance alternatives, Fortinet solutions empower customers to embrace new technologies and business opportunities while protecting essential systems and content. Learn more at www.fortinet.com , or follow Fortinet at the Fortinet Blog , Google+ , Linkedin or Twitter . Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2967158 || C&W Business Earns Fortinet Platinum Partner Recognition: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Feb 22, 2016) -C&W Business, part of Cable & Wireless Communications, Plc (CWC), today announces it has been recognized as aFortinetPlatinum Partner. To receive Platinum status, C&W Business demonstrated that it had successfully achieved all Fortinet certification requirements and training programmes needed to deliver the highest levels of partnership, performance and commitment. As a certified Platinum partner, C&W Business are experts in delivering Fortinet's superior, next generation multi-threat security solutions to their customers across the Caribbean and Latin American region.
C&W Business has a proven track record of delivering managed security services over a vast range of advanced security technologies, such as Web Application Firewall, Email Security, DDOS protection, Advanced Persistent Threat protection, among others. C&W Business offers unparalleled skills in the region, with local resources across 26 countries and experts with the highest certification levels across the board. C&W Business has successfully deployed complex security solutions, using Fortinet's technology, in large and medium companies from a number of different sectors -- including Banking, Retail, Government and BPO.
"This recognition as a Platinum Partner highlights our dedication to be the most complete ICT Solutions provider in the Caribbean and Latin American region. Security is a topic that is high in CIO's minds and we take that very seriously," said Daniel Peiretti, SVP Product Development, C&W Business. "We have focused in hiring and certifying security experts and giving them the tools necessary to ensure our customers enjoy peace of mind with their network," added Peiretti.
Security threats are on the rise so corporations and government agencies alike must do everything to protect their networks and their data. C&W Business employs security experts in their Security Operation Centers (SOC) throughout the region to monitor their network 24X7X365.
"We are excited to recognize C&W Business as a Platinum Partner, based on their strong commitment to delivering innovative solutions that drive customer success," said Pedro Paixao, General Manager, Latin America, at Fortinet. "C&W Business plays an important role in transforming customers, across multiple industries, into more agile, connected and secure companies that can rest assured their most important assets and the assets of their end-users are protected."
About Cable & Wireless Communications PlcCable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC) is a full service communications and entertainment provider, operating in Latin America and the Caribbean. With annual sales of over US$2.4 billion, it operates both mobile and fixed networks, supported by submarine and terrestrial optical fibre backhaul capacity. CWC delivers superior high-speed mobile data, broadband and video services. It has leading market positions in Mobile, Fixed Line, Broadband and Video consumer offers. Through its business division, CWC provides data centre hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customised IT service solutions, utilising cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
The Group also operates a state-of-the-art subsea fibre optic cable network that spans more than 48,000 km -- the most extensive in the region -- as well as 38,000 km of terrestrial fibre providing wholesale and carrier backhaul capacity.
CWC has more than 7,300 employees serving 6.4 million customers (Mobile 4.1m; Fixed Line 1.1m; Video 470k and Broadband 690k) across 42 countries. The Group's leading brands include; LIME and Flow in the Caribbean; BTC in The Bahamas; Mas Movil in Panama; C&W Business and C&W Networks. CWC is the market leader in most products offered and territories served. It is a major contributor to local communities through its corporate social responsibility programmes.
Cable & Wireless Communications Plc's shares are quoted on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker CWC. The Group is headquartered in London with its operational hub located in Miami, within close proximity to the Caribbean and Latin America.
For more information visit:www.cwc.com.
About FortinetFortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) helps protect networks, users and data from continually evolving threats. As a global leader in high-performance network security, we enable businesses and governments to consolidate and integrate stand-alone technologies without suffering performance penalties. Unlike costly, inflexible and low-performance alternatives, Fortinet solutions empower customers to embrace new technologies and business opportunities while protecting essential systems and content. Learn more atwww.fortinet.com, or follow Fortinet at theFortinet Blog,Google+,LinkedinorTwitter.
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2967158
[Social Media Buzz]
$438.64 #bitfinex;
$436.00 #coinbase;
$435.96 #bitstamp;
$435.05 #btce;
#bitcoin #btc || 1 #bitcoin 1314.2 TL, 437.323 $, 394.8 €, GBP, 31000.00 RUR, 49598 ¥, CNH, CAD #btc || Current price: 309.74£ $BTCGBP $btc #bitcoin 2016-02-29 01:00:18 GMT || LIVE: Profit = $526.96 (6.45 %). BUY B19.82 @ $420.00 (#VirCurex). SELL @ $439.31 (#Bitfinex) #bitcoin #btc - http://www.projectcoin.org || 1 INFX Price: Bittrex 0.00001213 BTC #infx #infxprice 2016-02-29 16:00 pic.twitter.com/uSlscretkZ || LI...
|
435.12, 423.99, 421.65, 410.94, 400.57, 407.71, 414.32, 413.97, 414.86, 417.13
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 533.86, 531.39, 536.92, 537.97, 569.19, 572.73, 574.98, 585.54, 576.60, 581.65, 574.63, 577.47, 606.73, 672.78, 704.38, 685.56, 694.47, 766.31, 748.91, 756.23, 763.78, 737.23, 666.65, 596.12, 623.98, 665.30, 665.12, 629.37, 655.28, 647.00, 639.89, 673.34, 676.30, 703.70, 658.66, 683.66, 670.63, 677.33, 640.56, 666.52, 650.96, 649.36, 647.66, 664.55, 654.47, 658.08, 663.26, 660.77, 679.46, 673.11, 672.86, 665.68, 665.01, 650.62, 655.56, 661.28, 654.10, 651.78, 654.35, 655.03, 656.99, 655.05, 624.68, 606.27, 547.47, 566.35, 578.29, 575.04, 587.78, 592.69, 591.05, 587.80, 592.10, 589.12, 587.56, 585.59, 570.47, 567.24, 577.44, 573.22, 574.32, 575.63, 581.70, 581.31, 586.75, 583.41, 580.18, 577.76, 579.65, 569.95.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-08-27]
Volume: 59698300, RSI (14-day): 37.75, 50-day EMA: 600.33, 200-day EMA: 535.33
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
This infographic shows the questionable effectiveness of UN Peacekeeping missions: (French UN soldiers run from Sarajevo's Radio and Television building on July 27, 1993 after it came under attack by artillery shells.Chris Helgren/Reuters)
TheUnited Nationshas long been a purported force for change in developing countries and other international crises.
Public opinion on their undertakings have been mixed at best, with the role of UN Peacekeeping missions particularly under the microscope.
Wearing their recognizable light blue berets and helmets, UN peacekeepers have been bothsuccessfulin resolving conflicts andcriticizedfor their lack of action during life-threatening emergencies.
The following infographic fromNorwich University Onlineexplains UN Peacekeeping missions and seeks to explain if the missions are even effective in the long run.
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• Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined || This infographic shows the questionable effectiveness of UN Peacekeeping missions: UN soldiers (French UN soldiers run from Sarajevo's Radio and Television building on July 27, 1993 after it came under attack by artillery shells.Chris Helgren/Reuters) The United Nations has long been a purported force for change in developing countries and other international crises. Public opinion on their undertakings have been mixed at best, with the role of UN Peacekeeping missions particularly under the microscope. Wearing their recognizable light blue berets and helmets, UN peacekeepers have been both successful in resolving conflicts and criticized for their lack of action during life-threatening emergencies. The following infographic from Norwich University Online explains UN Peacekeeping missions and seeks to explain if the missions are even effective in the long run. Norwich University Online Masters in Diplomacy NOW WATCH: The Pentagon made a move that will revolutionize thousands of soldiers' lives More From Business Insider The man who accurately predicted 5 market crashes has 3 more dates we need to worry about THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined || JIM ROGERS: 'I'm not the only person who knows there's turmoil coming': Jim Rogers (Jim RogersREUTERS/Brendan McDermid) There's economic havoc on the horizon, but no safe haven, says legendary investor Jim Rogers. "I'm not the only person who knows there's turmoil coming," Rogers said in an interview with Real Vision TV released Friday. "And people are looking for ways to protect themselves." Rogers is worried about the increasing valuation of gold and the US dollar, as well as the US stock indexes, which he said are up despite most underlying stocks being down. Meanwhile, many investors are seeking shelter in gold and the US dollar, but neither are safe, Rogers said. "I own a lot of US dollars, though," he added. "Not because it's a safe haven, but because people think it's a safe haven. And when the world falls apart, people will put their money into the dollar. That's going to mean the dollar's going to go up." In turn, the dollar's increase is going to hurt a lot of other currencies, Rogers said, including the euro, the UK pound, and the Chinese currency. Rogers warned against seeing strength in the strong US stock market, which has continued to rise. "Everybody thinks, well, things are great because look at the S&P," he said. "Well, look under the S&P, and you would say, 'Oh, my God, look what's going on here.' We've got problems, and that's happening this year as well." Rogers joins other notable investors who have raised concerns about potential market turmoil. Stan Druckenmiller said earlier this year that investors should move their money to gold, and 36 South's Jerry Haworth, who runs a black swan fund, said he also expects chaos to come . NOW WATCH: Kobe Bryant is starting a $100-million venture capital fund More From Business Insider The man who accurately predicted 5 market crashes has 3 more dates we need to worry about THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined || JIM ROGERS: 'I'm not the only person who knows there's turmoil coming': (Jim RogersREUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
There's economic havoc on the horizon, but no safe haven, says legendary investor Jim Rogers.
"I'm not the only person who knows there's turmoil coming," Rogers said in an interview withReal Vision TVreleased Friday. "And people are looking for ways to protect themselves."
Rogers is worried about the increasing valuation of gold and the US dollar, as well as the US stock indexes, which he said are up despite most underlying stocks being down.
Meanwhile, many investors are seeking shelter in gold and the US dollar, but neither are safe, Rogers said.
"I own a lot of US dollars, though," he added. "Not because it's a safe haven, but because people think it's a safe haven. And when the world falls apart, people will put their money into the dollar. That's going to mean the dollar's going to go up."
In turn, the dollar's increase is going to hurt a lot of other currencies, Rogers said, including the euro, the UK pound, and the Chinese currency.
Rogers warned against seeing strength in the strong US stock market, which has continued to rise. "Everybody thinks, well, things are great because look at the S&P," he said. "Well, look under the S&P, and you would say, 'Oh, my God, look what's going on here.' We've got problems, and that's happening this year as well."
Rogers joins other notable investors who have raised concerns about potential market turmoil.
Stan Druckenmiller said earlier this year that investors should move their money to gold, and 36 South's Jerry Haworth, who runs a black swan fund, said he also expectschaos to come.
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• THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem
• Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined || Maine governor challenges 'son of a b----' politician to duel after leaving profanity-laced voicemail: Paul LePage (Paul LePage.AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) Maine Gov. Paul LePage challenged a state representative to "prove that I'm a racist" in a scathing, profane voicemail to the lawmaker he attacked. LePage left the wild voicemail Thursday morning after a reporter confronted him and suggested that Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine was among several who labeled the Pine Tree State governor a racist after a series of comments made by LePage throughout the year. "Mr. Gattine, this is Gov. Paul Richard LePage," began the voicemail, published Friday by The Portland Press Herald . "I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you c---s-----. I want to talk to you." "I want you to prove that I'm a racist," he continued. "I've spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-b---- socialist c---s-----. You ... I need you to, just friggin' — I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you." Listen to the voicemail: After local media obtained the voicemail, the Maine Republican invited reporters to hear him out. The governor admitted to leaving the voicemail and professed a desire to settle the dispute with Gattine in an armed duel. "When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I'd like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825," LePage said, according to The Press Herald. "And we would have a duel, that's how angry I am, and I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you, I would not be [Alexander] Hamilton. I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt and he has not done a damn thing since he's been in this Legislature to help move the state forward." Gattine told The Press Herald that he never explicitly called LePage a racist. On Wednesday , LePage stirred up controversy when he said that for the past seven months he kept a binder in which he inserts photos of drug dealers arrested in the state. LePage said he's logged the photos in an attempt to justify racially tinged comments he made earlier this year when speaking about drug-related problems in his state. "I made the comment that black people are trafficking in our state," he said. "Now, ever since I said that comment I've been collecting every single drug dealer who has been arrested in our state." "I don't ask them to come to Maine and sell their poison, but they come," he continued. "And I will tell you that 90-plus percent of those pictures in my book ― and it's a three-ringed binder ― are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut, the Bronx, and Brooklyn." Story continues Paul LePage (AP) LePage said in January that "guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie," come to Maine to sell drugs and "impregnate a young, white girl." "They come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home," he said. "Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road." He gave an apology for the comments in a subsequent press conference, saying that he should've said "Maine women" instead of white women. Later that month, he said convicted drug criminals should face "the guillotine." LePage is an active supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, introducing him at multiple Maine rallies. LePage's daughter also recently accepted a position in the Trump campaign. NOW WATCH: INSTANT POLL: Americans viewed Clinton's convention speech more favorably than Trump's More From Business Insider The man who accurately predicted 5 market crashes has 3 more dates we need to worry about THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined View comments || Maine governor challenges 'son of a b----' politician to duel after leaving profanity-laced voicemail: (Paul LePage.AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Maine Gov. Paul LePage challenged a state representative to "prove that I'm a racist" in a scathing, profane voicemail to the lawmaker he attacked.
LePage left the wild voicemail Thursday morning after a reporter confronted him and suggested that Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine was among several who labeled the Pine Tree State governor a racist after a series of comments made by LePage throughout the year.
"Mr. Gattine, this is Gov. Paul Richard LePage," began the voicemail,published Friday by The Portland Press Herald. "I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you c---s-----. I want to talk to you."
"I want you to prove that I'm a racist," he continued. "I've spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-b---- socialist c---s-----. You ... I need you to, just friggin' — I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you."
After local media obtained the voicemail, the Maine Republican invited reporters to hear him out. The governor admitted to leaving the voicemail and professed a desire to settle the dispute with Gattine in an armed duel.
"When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I'd like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825," LePage said, according to The Press Herald.
"And we would have a duel, that's how angry I am, and I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you, I would not be [Alexander] Hamilton. I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt and he has not done a damn thing since he's been in this Legislature to help move the state forward."
Gattine told The Press Herald that he never explicitly called LePage a racist.
On Wednesday, LePage stirred up controversy when he said that for the past seven months he kept a binder in which he inserts photos of drug dealers arrested in the state. LePage said he's logged the photos in an attempt to justify racially tinged comments he made earlier this year when speaking about drug-related problems in his state.
"I made the comment that black people are trafficking in our state," he said. "Now, ever since I said that comment I've been collecting every single drug dealer who has been arrested in our state."
"I don't ask them to come to Maine and sell their poison, but they come," he continued. "And I will tell you that 90-plus percent of those pictures in my book ― and it's a three-ringed binder ― are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut, the Bronx, and Brooklyn."
(AP)
LePage said in Januarythat "guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie," come to Maine to sell drugs and "impregnate a young, white girl."
"They come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home," he said. "Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road."
He gave an apology for the comments in a subsequent press conference, saying that he should've said "Maine women" instead of white women.
Later that month, he saidconvicted drug criminalsshould face "the guillotine."
LePage is an active supporter of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, introducing him at multiple Maine rallies. LePage's daughteralso recently accepteda position in the Trump campaign.
NOW WATCH:INSTANT POLL: Americans viewed Clinton's convention speech more favorably than Trump's
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• Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined || This CEO says he was shut out by tons of investors in Silicon Valley for classifying his workers as W-2 employees: josh bruno hometeam (Hometeam CEO Josh BrunoHometeam) The debate about whether "on-demand" economy workers should be classified as independent contractors (who use IRS Form 1099) or employees (who use Form W-2) rages on, but one startup CEO found that for Silicon Valley venture capitalists, there was a clear preference for 1099s. On-demand startups like ride-hailing Uber or delivery service Instacart generally rely on 1099 workers who aren't technically employees of the company. And there's a simple reason: Having employees on your payroll can get expensive. Last year, the food delivery service Munchery told Business Insider that hiring its drivers as employees instead of contractors adds an estimated 20-30% to cost per hour. That's a ton. But having your workers on 1099s restricts the type of training and support a startup can give, and this can decrease efficiency. The cost-benefit analysis of 1099 versus W-2 even caused valet startup Luxe to switch from W-2 to 1099, and then back to W-2. It can sometimes be tough for a startup to decide which is best for it and its workers. But Josh Bruno, the CEO of senior-care startup Hometeam , said that for him it was always clear that Hometeam's 1,000-plus caregivers needed to be on W-2s. They needed a lot of training, and Bruno wanted to give them the sense that Hometeam was investing in them for the long haul. But unfortunately, when Bruno was trying to raise money, that wasn't what Silicon Valley VCs wanted to hear. "I was kicked out of every office on Sand Hill Road," Bruno said, referring to the iconic street that houses many famous Silicon Valley VCs. Bruno said he even had a verbal agreement with a "flashy name" VC, who then wouldn't go through with the investment unless Bruno put his workers on 1099s. Why? One reason, Bruno said, is because big names like Uber and Lyft were doing it. Bruno's main competitor, Honor, which was named one of Business Insider's hottest San Francisco startups to watch in 2016, originally used 1099s. It has since switched to W-2s. Story continues But it wasn't simply because everyone was doing it, Bruno said. The deeper reason rested in what a 1099 represented. Bruno said that to VCs he spoke with, a 1099 meant a job that was both easy and repeatable. The worker is a part that can be swapped in, which is good because it means the business will be easier to scale, Bruno explained. And it would be easier to get the kind of growth the VCs were looking for. Not all VCs think this way, even among those whom Bruno was pitching. Hometeam has so far raised $43.5 million from Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Lux Capital, IA Ventures, and Recruit Strategic Partners. Honor has raised $62 million total, and recently raised $42 million long after switching its workers to W-2s. But Bruno's experience raises useful points about how "gig economy" workers are conceptualized by both startups and VCs. The more that workers swing toward the W-2 side, the less they seem like cogs in a machine, but the less they feel like part of a startup that can use technology to scale itself rapidly, up and up. NOW WATCH: Apple just fixed a major security problem — and you should update your iPhone right now More From Business Insider The man who accurately predicted 5 market crashes has 3 more dates we need to worry about THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined || This CEO says he was shut out by tons of investors in Silicon Valley for classifying his workers as W-2 employees: (Hometeam CEO Josh BrunoHometeam)
The debate about whether "on-demand" economy workers should be classified as independent contractors (who use IRS Form 1099) or employees (who use Form W-2) rages on, but one startup CEO found that for Silicon Valley venture capitalists, there was a clear preference for 1099s.
On-demand startups like ride-hailing Uber or delivery service Instacart generally rely on 1099 workers who aren't technically employees of the company.
And there's a simple reason: Having employees on your payroll can get expensive.
Last year, the food delivery serviceMunchery told Business Insiderthat hiring its drivers as employees instead of contractors adds an estimated 20-30% to cost per hour. That's a ton.
But having your workers on 1099s restricts the type of training and support a startup can give, and this can decrease efficiency. The cost-benefit analysis of 1099 versus W-2even causedvalet startup Luxe to switch from W-2 to 1099, and then back to W-2. It can sometimes be tough for a startup to decide which is best for it and its workers.
But Josh Bruno, the CEO of senior-care startupHometeam, said that for him it was always clear that Hometeam's1,000-plus caregiversneeded to be on W-2s. They needed a lot of training, and Bruno wanted to give them the sense that Hometeam was investing in them for the long haul.
But unfortunately, when Bruno was trying to raise money, that wasn't what Silicon Valley VCs wanted to hear.
"I was kicked out of every office on Sand Hill Road," Bruno said, referring to the iconic street that houses many famous Silicon Valley VCs. Bruno said he even had a verbal agreement with a "flashy name" VC, who then wouldn't go through with the investment unless Bruno put his workers on 1099s.
Why? One reason, Bruno said, is because big names like Uber and Lyft were doing it. Bruno's main competitor, Honor, which was named one of Business Insider'shottest San Franciscostartups to watch in 2016, originally used 1099s. It has since switched to W-2s.
But it wasn't simply because everyone was doing it, Bruno said. The deeper reason rested in what a 1099 represented.
Bruno said that to VCs he spoke with, a 1099 meant a job that was both easy and repeatable. The worker is a part that can be swapped in, which is good because it means the business will be easier to scale, Bruno explained. And it would be easier to get the kind of growth the VCs were looking for.
Not all VCs think this way, even among those whom Bruno was pitching. Hometeam has so far raised $43.5 million from Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Lux Capital, IA Ventures, and Recruit Strategic Partners.
Honor has raised $62 million total, andrecently raised $42 millionlong after switching its workers to W-2s.
But Bruno's experience raises useful points about how "gig economy" workers are conceptualized by both startups and VCs. The more that workers swing toward the W-2 side, the less they seem like cogs in a machine, but the less they feel like part of a startup that can use technology to scale itself rapidly, up and up.
NOW WATCH:Apple just fixed a major security problem — and you should update your iPhone right now
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• Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined || Your first trade for Friday, August 26: The " Fast Money " traders gave their final trades of the day. Steve Grasso is a buyer of Dollar General (DG ( DG ) ). Karen Finerman is a buyer of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY (NYSE Arca: SPY) ). David Seaburg is a buyer of Bank of America (BAC (NYSE: BAC"A) ). Brian Kelly is a buyer of the Gold Miners ETF (GDX (NYSE Arca: GDX) ). Trader disclosure: On Thursday, August 25 the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: STEVE GRASSO is long BA, CC, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX Grasso's Kids Own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY No Shorts Stuart Frankel & Co Inc. and some of its Partners have a financial interest in LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, VALE, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, NXTD, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, JCP, GE, AIR FP KAREN FINERMAN is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, DRII, DRII calls, FB, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, DRII, DRII calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI, her firm is short IWM, MDY. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT. BRIAN KELLY is long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, TLT, VXX, XLF, XOP, US Dollar UUP; he is short EUR=, JPY= || Your first trade for Friday, August 26: The "Fast Money" traders gave their final trades of the day.
Steve Grasso is a buyer of Dollar General (DG(DG)).
Karen Finerman is a buyer of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY(NYSE Arca: SPY)).
David Seaburg is a buyer of Bank of America (BAC(NYSE: BAC"A)).
Brian Kelly is a buyer of the Gold Miners ETF (GDX(NYSE Arca: GDX)).
Trader disclosure: OnThursday, August 25the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:
STEVE GRASSOis long BA, CC, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX Grasso's Kids Own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY No Shorts Stuart Frankel & Co Inc. and some of its Partners have a financial interest in LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, VALE, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, NXTD, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, JCP, GE, AIR FP
KAREN FINERMANis long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, DRII, DRII calls, FB, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, DRII, DRII calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI, her firm is short IWM, MDY. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.
Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT.
BRIAN KELLYis long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, TLT, VXX, XLF, XOP, US Dollar UUP; he is short EUR=, JPY= || Consumer confidence unexpectedly drops: (Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty Images)
The University of Michigan's final reading for consumer confidence in the month of August came in at 89.8, lower than economist's expectations of 90.5.
The number is also lower than the preliminary number of 90.4 from August 12.
This is a decline than the index's reading of 90 from July.
According to Richard Curtin, chief economist of the survey, the decline mostly came from young people worried about their personal finances.
"Less favorable personal financial prospects were largely offset by a slight improvement in the outlook for the overall economy," said Curtin in the release. "Most of the weakness in personal finances was among younger households who cited higher expenses than anticipated as well as slightly smaller expected income gains."
NOW WATCH:Scientists just collected a mysterious 'purple orb' at the bottom of the ocean, but no one could anticipate what happened next
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• This 350-foot megayacht comes with its own private 'beach' onboard || Consumer confidence unexpectedly drops: walmart checkout cashier shopping (Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty Images) The University of Michigan's final reading for consumer confidence in the month of August came in at 89.8, lower than economist's expectations of 90.5. The number is also lower than the preliminary number of 90.4 from August 12. This is a decline than the index's reading of 90 from July. According to Richard Curtin, chief economist of the survey, the decline mostly came from young people worried about their personal finances. " Less favorable personal financial prospects were largely offset by a slight improvement in the outlook for the overall economy," said Curtin in the release. "Most of the weakness in personal finances was among younger households who cited higher expenses than anticipated as well as slightly smaller expected income gains." NOW WATCH: Scientists just collected a mysterious 'purple orb' at the bottom of the ocean, but no one could anticipate what happened next More From Business Insider THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined This 350-foot megayacht comes with its own private 'beach' onboard || The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: UBS Group AG, Deutsche Bank, Bank of New York Mellon and Banco Santander: For Immediate Release Chicago, IL – August 26, 2016 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include UBS Group AG (UBS), Deutsche Bank AG (DB), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. ( BK) and Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN). Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free. Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog: Big Banks Team Up to Develop Blockchain System Wall Street's increasing focus on digital currency technology has been affirmed yet again with the recent teaming up of a group of financial giants for the development of Utility Settlement Coin (USC). It is a digital cash model based on blockchain that aims to facilitate payment and settlement for global institutional financial markets. Swiss banking giant UBS Group AG ( UBS ) and London-based Clearmatics initiated USC last September “to validate the potential benefits of USC for capital efficiency, settlement and systemic risk reduction in global financial markets.” The successful conclusion of the first phase of this project led to the joining of Deutsche Bank AG ( DB ), The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. ( BK ), Banco Santander, S.A. ( SAN ) and brokerage firm ICAP to develop the concept further. The group also plans to undertake test in a real market environment. USC is a series of cash assets implemented on distributed ledger technology and is entirely backed by cash assets held at a central bank. With a version for each of the main currencies including USD, EUR, GBP and CHF, USC would be convertible at parity with a bank deposit in the related currency. According to a joint release, spending a USC will be equivalent to spending its real-world currency. The group of financial institutions will focus on the financial structuring of the USC and its implications in the broader market. Alongside they will remain engaged in discussions with central banks and regulators to ensure a regulation compliant and efficient framework within which the USC can be implemented. Hyder Jaffrey, Head of Strategic Investment & FinTech Innovation at UBS Investment Bank stated, "Digital cash is a core component of a future financial market fabric based on blockchain technologies.” He further added, "There are several digital cash models being explored across the Street. The Utility Settlement Coin is focused on facilitating a new model for digital central bank cash." Paul Maley, Managing Director, Institutional Client Group, Deutsche Bank noted, "As today's settlement and clearing is a process involving many institutions, it's vital that we collaborate with our peers to develop viable alternatives to current models, creating new digital capabilities for the financial services industry.” Blockchain Buzz Blockchain, the “digital ledger” or the underlying technology behind Bitcoin, has gained attraction for its significant potential to revamp the extensive and complex network of bank payments as well as settlements. While Bitcoin was one of the first cryptographic currencies that drew attention in 2009, several other cryptographic currencies are currently available including Novacoin, Namecoin and Dogecoin. Bottom line Story continues The latest development tied with Blockchain platform crops up as banks are embracing technology and are continuously looking out for ways to restructure daily operations, update back-office functions and making huge investments for auto execution of transactions. While banks and regulators continue to explore prospects and benefits of digital currencies, concerns including security and impact on the broader financial system still lingers. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days . Click to get this free report >> Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free. About Zacks Equity Research Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term. Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons. Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today. About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates. Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 [email protected] https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report UBS GROUP AG (UBS): Free Stock Analysis Report DEUTSCHE BK AG (DB): Free Stock Analysis Report BANK OF NY MELL (BK): Free Stock Analysis Report BANCO SANTAN SA (SAN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. || The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: UBS Group AG, Deutsche Bank, Bank of New York Mellon and Banco Santander: For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – August 26, 2016 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog includeUBS Group AG (UBS), Deutsche Bank AG (DB), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. ( BK)andBanco Santander, S.A. (SAN).
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:
Big Banks Team Up to Develop Blockchain System
Wall Street's increasing focus on digital currency technology has been affirmed yet again with the recent teaming up of a group of financial giants for the development of Utility Settlement Coin (USC). It is a digital cash model based on blockchain that aims to facilitate payment and settlement for global institutional financial markets.
Swiss banking giant UBS Group AG (UBS) and London-based Clearmatics initiated USC last September “to validate the potential benefits of USC for capital efficiency, settlement and systemic risk reduction in global financial markets.” The successful conclusion of the first phase of this project led to the joining of Deutsche Bank AG (DB), The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN) and brokerage firm ICAP to develop the concept further. The group also plans to undertake test in a real market environment.USC is a series of cash assets implemented on distributed ledger technology and is entirely backed by cash assets held at a central bank. With a version for each of the main currencies including USD, EUR, GBP and CHF, USC would be convertible at parity with a bank deposit in the related currency. According to a joint release, spending a USC will be equivalent to spending its real-world currency.The group of financial institutions will focus on the financial structuring of the USC and its implications in the broader market. Alongside they will remain engaged in discussions with central banks and regulators to ensure a regulation compliant and efficient framework within which the USC can be implemented.Hyder Jaffrey, Head of Strategic Investment & FinTech Innovation at UBS Investment Bank stated, "Digital cash is a core component of a future financial market fabric based on blockchain technologies.” He further added, "There are several digital cash models being explored across the Street. The Utility Settlement Coin is focused on facilitating a new model for digital central bank cash."Paul Maley, Managing Director, Institutional Client Group, Deutsche Bank noted, "As today's settlement and clearing is a process involving many institutions, it's vital that we collaborate with our peers to develop viable alternatives to current models, creating new digital capabilities for the financial services industry.”Blockchain BuzzBlockchain, the “digital ledger” or the underlying technology behind Bitcoin, has gained attraction for its significant potential to revamp the extensive and complex network of bank payments as well as settlements. While Bitcoin was one of the first cryptographic currencies that drew attention in 2009, several other cryptographic currencies are currently available including Novacoin, Namecoin and Dogecoin.Bottom line
The latest development tied with Blockchain platform crops up as banks are embracing technology and are continuously looking out for ways to restructure daily operations, update back-office functions and making huge investments for auto execution of transactions. While banks and regulators continue to explore prospects and benefits of digital currencies, concerns including security and impact on the broader financial system still lingers.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
About Zacks Equity Research
Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.
Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today.
About Zacks
Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportUBS GROUP AG (UBS): Free Stock Analysis ReportDEUTSCHE BK AG (DB): Free Stock Analysis ReportBANK OF NY MELL (BK): Free Stock Analysis ReportBANCO SANTAN SA (SAN): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here. || Apollo's Rackspace deal is crushing short-sellers: Apollo Global Management justtook Rackspace, one of the most heavily shorted stocks, private.
The cloud services company is being acquired for$32 per share in a $4.3 billion deal, which, as Business Insider reporter Akin Oyedele notes, is a 6% premium above Thursday's closing price. It's alsoa38% premiumto Rackspace's closing price on August 3.
So Rackspace's move to go private is harsh news for a number of its short-sellers. (To short a stock means to bet its price will go down.)
Short-sellers had been adding on to their bet against Rackspace since mid-April, bringing short interest on Thursday to $404 million, according to Ihor Dusaniwsky at S3 Partners, a research firm.
The short float on the stock was 12.7% as of August 15, according to Bloomberg data. And it's in the top 100 of stocks that are being sold short, according to data trackerFinViz.
(Investing.com)
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• Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined
• This 350-foot megayacht comes with its own private 'beach' onboard || Apollo's Rackspace deal is crushing short-sellers: Apollo Global Management just took Rackspace , one of the most heavily shorted stocks, private. The cloud services company is being acquired for $32 per share in a $4.3 billion deal , which, as Business Insider reporter Akin Oyedele notes, is a 6% premium above Thursday's closing price. It's also a 38% premium to Rackspace's closing price on August 3. So Rackspace's move to go private is harsh news for a number of its short-sellers. (To short a stock means to bet its price will go down.) Short-sellers had been adding on to their bet against Rackspace since mid-April, bringing short interest on Thursday to $404 million, according to Ihor Dusaniwsky at S3 Partners, a research firm. The short float on the stock was 12.7% as of August 15, according to Bloomberg data. And it's in the top 100 of stocks that are being sold short, according to data tracker FinViz . Rackspace (Investing.com) NOW WATCH: Theres a glaring security problem with those new credit card chips More From Business Insider THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined This 350-foot megayacht comes with its own private 'beach' onboard || Traders pick the best bets for Yellen's speech: The " Fast Money " traders made their last few bets ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen 's Friday speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Trader Brian Kelly said he recently added a new position in the banks (NYSE Arca: KBE) . He said if Yellen makes hawkish statements on Friday, the banks could rally. If the Fed chair's statement ends up dovish, defensive assets like the utilities sector and gold miners are the places to invest, said trader Steve Grasso. Kelly said, however, that Yellen's potentially hawkish comments are already priced into the gold miners and other gold assets. On Wednesday, the gold miners broke below their 50-day moving average . But even with the recent move to the downside, the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE Arca: GDX) has soared 99 percent this year. "Gold, to me, appears to be in a long-run bull market. You buy the dips in that," he said. Disclosures: STEVE GRASSO Steve Grasso is long BA, CC, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. Grasso's kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. No Shorts. Stuart Frankel & Co Inc. and some of its Partners have a financial interest in LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, VALE, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, NXTD, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, JCP, GE, AIR FP. KAREN FINERMAN Karen Finerman is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, DRII, DRII calls, FB, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, DRII, DRII calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI. Her firm is short IWM, MDY. Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. DAVID SEABURG Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT. BRIAN KELLY Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, TLT, VXX, XLF, XOP, US Dollar UUP; he is short the euro and Japanese yen. || Traders pick the best bets for Yellen's speech: The "Fast Money" traders made their last few bets ahead ofFederal ReserveChairJanet Yellen's Friday speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Trader Brian Kelly said he recently added a new position in the banks(NYSE Arca: KBE). He said if Yellen makes hawkish statements on Friday, the banks could rally.
If the Fed chair's statement ends up dovish, defensive assets like the utilities sector and gold miners are the places to invest, said trader Steve Grasso.
Kelly said, however, that Yellen's potentially hawkish comments are already priced into the gold miners and other gold assets. On Wednesday, the gold minersbroke below their 50-day moving average. But even with the recent move to the downside, the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF(NYSE Arca: GDX)has soared 99 percent this year.
"Gold, to me, appears to be in a long-run bull market. You buy the dips in that," he said.
Disclosures:
STEVE GRASSO
Steve Grasso is long BA, CC, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. Grasso's kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. No Shorts. Stuart Frankel & Co Inc. and some of its Partners have a financial interest in LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, VALE, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, NXTD, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, JCP, GE, AIR FP.
KAREN FINERMAN
Karen Finerman is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, DRII, DRII calls, FB, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, DRII, DRII calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI. Her firm is short IWM, MDY. Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.
DAVID SEABURG
Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT.
BRIAN KELLY
Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, TLT, VXX, XLF, XOP, US Dollar UUP; he is short the euro and Japanese yen. || How Yellen’s Jackson Hole Speech Will Affect Popular ETF Plays: Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen will give her much-anticipated Jackson Hole speech on Friday 10 a.m. Eastern, and depending on how dovish she seems, exchange traded funds on some of this year’s most popular plays may either continue to push higher or find an abrupt ceiling.
Yellen has maintained a dovish stance throughout the year, and most observers anticipate the Fed chief will likely raise rates at least one time this year, maybe in December. Looking at the fed fund futures market, options traders place a roughly 50-to-50 percent change of a 25 basis point hike at the December meeting.
If we continue to stay the course, the markets may enjoy a nice rebound in assets like gold and Treasuries, which have lost their way ahead of Yellen’s speech.
For instance, the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) , iShares Gold Trust (IAU) and ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (SGOL) have declined about 1.6% over the past week, with Comex gold futures now trading at $1,325.5 per ounce.
TheVanEckVectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) dropped 11.2% andVanEckVectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) declined 12.9% over the past week as gold prices pulled back.
SEE MORE:Treasury Bond ETFs Strengthen Despite Hawkish Fed Comments
Meanwhile, long-term Treasury bond ETFs have been stuck without direction after falling off from their highs in early July. Over the past week, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) was up 0.3%, PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon US Treasury (ZROZ) was flat and Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury ETF (EDV) was 0.4% higher.
Alternatively, more aggressive traders may capitalize on a potential rally in these assets through leveraged ETF products, such as the DB Gold Double Long ETN (DGP) , which takes the double or 200% exposure of gold price movements, ProShares Ultra Gold ETF (UGL) , which also takes the 2x of gold prices, and VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN (UGLD) , which offers a larger 3x or 300% exposure to price movements.
For long Treasuries exposure, the ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury (UBT) takes the 2x or 200% daily performance of long-term Treasuries and Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3x Shares ETF (TMF) follows the 3x or 300% performance of long-term Treasuries.
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However, the biggest concern many market participants are sweating over is a potentially more hawkish-than-expected stance Yellen might take in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. If Yellen suggests a quickening interest rate normalization time table, the U.S. dollar would strengthen, which would weigh on commodities like gold, and push up yields Treasuries or weigh on bond prices.
Consequently, investors may look at PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP) , which tracks the price movement of the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies, including the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc.
Gold would be less attractive in a rising rate environment as the hard asset does not offer a yield and it will be pressured by a rising dollar. Traders may consider short or inverse gold ETF options to hedge against a potential turn.
For instance, the ProShares UltraShort Gold (GLL) provides a two times inverse or -200% daily performance of gold bullion. Alternatively, ETN options include the DB Gold Double Short ETN (DZZ) , which tries to generate the twice inverse or -200% return of the daily performance of gold; DB Gold Short ETN (DGZ) , which tries to reflect the inverse of gold price movements; and VelocityShares 3x Inverse Gold ETN (DGLD) , which tries to reflect the performance of three times the inverse or -300% daily performance.
Additionally, investors can look to hedge bets against gold miners with bearish options like the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X Shares (DUST) , the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3X Shares (JDST) , ProShares UltraShort Gold Miners (GDXS) and ProShares UltraShort Junior Miners (GDJS) . The Direxion options take the -300% exposure to large miners and junior miners, respectively, while the ProShares options take the -200% exposure to large miners and junior miners, respectively.
SEE MORE:Yellen Cements Low Rate Theme, Off-Beat ETFs To Consider
Lastly, to hedge against falling Treasury bond prices, the ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury (UBT) takes the 2x or 200% daily performance of long-term Treasuries and the Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3x Shares ETF (TMF) follows the 3x or 300% performance of long-term Treasuries.
While these types of leveraged and inverse ETFs may help traders capitalize on short-term moves, investors should be aware of the risks of investing in these geared products over the long haul and during periods of heightened volatility.
Full disclosure: Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of GLD, GDX.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product. || How Yellen’s Jackson Hole Speech Will Affect Popular ETF Plays: Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen will give her much-anticipated Jackson Hole speech on Friday 10 a.m. Eastern, and depending on how dovish she seems, exchange traded funds on some of this year’s most popular plays may either continue to push higher or find an abrupt ceiling. Yellen has maintained a dovish stance throughout the year, and most observers anticipate the Fed chief will likely raise rates at least one time this year, maybe in December. Looking at the fed fund futures market, options traders place a roughly 50-to-50 percent change of a 25 basis point hike at the December meeting. If we continue to stay the course, the markets may enjoy a nice rebound in assets like gold and Treasuries, which have lost their way ahead of Yellen’s speech. For instance, the SPDR Gold Shares ( GLD ) , iShares Gold Trust ( IAU ) and ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares ( SGOL ) have declined about 1.6% over the past week, with Comex gold futures now trading at $1,325.5 per ounce. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF ( GDX ) dropped 11.2% and VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF ( GDXJ ) declined 12.9% over the past week as gold prices pulled back. SEE MORE: Treasury Bond ETFs Strengthen Despite Hawkish Fed Comments Meanwhile, long-term Treasury bond ETFs have been stuck without direction after falling off from their highs in early July. Over the past week, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF ( TLT ) was up 0.3%, PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon US Treasury ( ZROZ ) was flat and Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury ETF ( EDV ) was 0.4% higher. Alternatively, more aggressive traders may capitalize on a potential rally in these assets through leveraged ETF products, such as the DB Gold Double Long ETN ( DGP ) , which takes the double or 200% exposure of gold price movements, ProShares Ultra Gold ETF ( UGL ) , which also takes the 2x of gold prices, and VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN ( UGLD ) , which offers a larger 3x or 300% exposure to price movements. For long Treasuries exposure, the ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury ( UBT ) takes the 2x or 200% daily performance of long-term Treasuries and Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3x Shares ETF ( TMF ) follows the 3x or 300% performance of long-term Treasuries. Story continues Trending on ETF Trends The Unintended Consequences From the DOL Fiduciary Rule From Intern to Employee: Considering Long-Term Financial Plans The Complete Guide to Technology for New Advisors Bitcoin: A Significantly Investable Asset Creative Destruction is Key to Revolutionize Your Business, Life However, the biggest concern many market participants are sweating over is a potentially more hawkish-than-expected stance Yellen might take in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. If Yellen suggests a quickening interest rate normalization time table, the U.S. dollar would strengthen, which would weigh on commodities like gold, and push up yields Treasuries or weigh on bond prices. Consequently, investors may look at PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund ( UUP ) , which tracks the price movement of the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies, including the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc. Gold would be less attractive in a rising rate environment as the hard asset does not offer a yield and it will be pressured by a rising dollar. Traders may consider short or inverse gold ETF options to hedge against a potential turn. For instance, the ProShares UltraShort Gold ( GLL ) provides a two times inverse or -200% daily performance of gold bullion. Alternatively, ETN options include the DB Gold Double Short ETN ( DZZ ) , which tries to generate the twice inverse or -200% return of the daily performance of gold; DB Gold Short ETN ( DGZ ) , which tries to reflect the inverse of gold price movements; and VelocityShares 3x Inverse Gold ETN ( DGLD ) , which tries to reflect the performance of three times the inverse or -300% daily performance. Additionally, investors can look to hedge bets against gold miners with bearish options like the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X Shares ( DUST ) , the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3X Shares ( JDST ) , ProShares UltraShort Gold Miners ( GDXS ) and ProShares UltraShort Junior Miners ( GDJS ) . The Direxion options take the -300% exposure to large miners and junior miners, respectively, while the ProShares options take the -200% exposure to large miners and junior miners, respectively. SEE MORE: Yellen Cements Low Rate Theme, Off-Beat ETFs To Consider Lastly, to hedge against falling Treasury bond prices, the ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury ( UBT ) takes the 2x or 200% daily performance of long-term Treasuries and the Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3x Shares ETF ( TMF ) follows the 3x or 300% performance of long-term Treasuries. While these types of leveraged and inverse ETFs may help traders capitalize on short-term moves, investors should be aware of the risks of investing in these geared products over the long haul and during periods of heightened volatility. Full disclosure: Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of GLD, GDX. The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.
[Social Media Buzz]
Bitstamp: $568.00
Bitfinex: $569.91
Coinbase: $571.19
Get a #Bitcion loan today https://goo.gl/smQBq1
#btc #FreeBitcoin || #UFOCoin #UFO $ 0.000012 (-0.62 %) 0.00000002 BTC (-0.00 %) || 1 MUE Price: Bittrex 0.00000133 BTC YoBit 0.00000083 BTC Bleutrade 0.00000143 BTC #MUE #MUEprice 2016-08-27 09:00 pic.twitter.com/iuutfK0v2s || 1 KOBO = 0.00000700 BTC
= 0.0040 USD
= 1.2590 NGN
= 0.0568 ZAR
= 0.4051 KES
#Kobocoin 2016-08-27 06:00 pic.twitter.com/yG3oT1xgJU || $575.00 #btce;
$574.78 #GD...
|
573.91, 574.11, 577.50, 575.47, 572.30, 575.54, 598.21, 608.63, 606.59, 610.44
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 6329.70, 6321.20, 6351.80, 6517.31, 6512.71, 6543.20, 6517.18, 6281.20, 6371.30, 6398.54, 6519.67, 6734.95, 6721.98, 6710.63, 6595.41, 6446.47, 6495.00, 6676.75, 6644.13, 6601.96, 6625.56, 6589.62, 6556.10, 6502.59, 6576.69, 6622.48, 6588.31, 6602.95, 6652.23, 6642.64, 6585.53, 6256.24, 6274.58, 6285.99, 6290.93, 6596.54, 6596.11, 6544.43, 6476.71, 6465.41, 6489.19, 6482.35, 6487.16, 6475.74, 6495.84, 6476.29, 6474.75, 6480.38, 6486.39, 6332.63, 6334.27, 6317.61, 6377.78, 6388.44, 6361.26, 6376.13, 6419.66, 6461.01, 6530.14, 6453.72, 6385.62, 6409.22, 6411.27, 6371.27, 6359.49, 5738.35, 5648.03, 5575.55, 5554.33, 5623.54, 4871.49, 4451.87, 4602.17, 4365.94, 4347.11, 3880.76, 4009.97, 3779.13, 3820.72, 4257.42, 4278.85, 4017.27, 4214.67, 4139.88, 3894.13, 3956.89, 3753.99, 3521.10, 3419.94, 3476.11.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-12-08]
Volume: 5305024497, RSI (14-day): 26.87, 50-day EMA: 5035.59, 200-day EMA: 6427.53
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitcoin on the Brink: Will The Crypto Market Go Under $100 Billion?: The crypto market has faced a lot of downward pressure the past few weeks and, as we reported yesterday, so is everything else. Indeed, the weeksaw an overall 3+% lossin the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and no other exchanges were performing well, either. It’s just a bad time to be a bull, it seems.
TheBitcoin priceis a long way from the heady days of a year ago when a single coin would buy a modest new car, and Bitcoin by itself now accounts for a full 54% of all the money invested in cryptocurrency as a whole. This is why the typical case is that when Bitcoin is taking big losses, so are the rest. This is not just because so many cryptos are only liquidated through BTC before getting to fiat currencies, but also because when bears attack the Bitcoin markets, they simultaneously assault associated altcoin markets.
Those clever bears are eating well these days, that much we know. At least a couple of situations would have been hard to predict a couple months ago:
• Bitcoin SV overtaking Bitcoin ABC, or lasting as a viable product at all.
• The Bitcoin price failing to rebound above $4,000.
Either of these situations could make millionaires and paupers depending on how trades were positioned. Those betting long onBitcoin SVare surely pleased with themselves, while those who were confident it was to be a loser againstBitcoin ABCand other cryptos, destined for the bottom of the barrel, are hopefully reassessing their analysis skills.
The crypto market as a whole is hovering just above $100 billion, down from its heady half-trillion-dollar and up heyday. Today it’s lost and added several billion dollars, on paper anyway, resting at time of writing around $109 billion. Bitcoin only needs to lose a few hundred dollars per unit for the market to go sub-$100 billion. Where the money goes, nobody knows, but there’s a psychological boundary at round figures like $100 billion, and it could be along roadback to a bull run if such an event occurs.
One thing that is certainly not stagnant in the industry is innovation. Dozens of projects continue to launch and see traction across the blockchain space. As long as this is the case, the tokens that power such blockchains will have some demand and inherent value.
Ethereum continues toflirt with the $100 markand had only barely gone beneath it at time of writing, perhaps creating a large buy opportunity for start-ups that will be issuing tokens, or investors looking to get into ICOs in the coming months.
It is not out of line or even speculative to say that several future millionaires are probably in the acquisition phase of Bitcoin, while smart and seasoned traders are trying to time their buys just right to seize the maximum possible discount.
As such, a discount onEOS, which has seensome interesting venture capital-funded projectsin recent times, is probably of interest to various types of investors and confident traders. It lost around 50 cents USD in the past day, but like all cryptos has in the past seen prices more than twice this.
The underdogBitcoin SVis still in a price discovery phase, but as yet we’ve seen that traders are still treating it close to equivalent as Bitcoin ABC (orBitcoin Cash). It stumbled a bit today but could be in a run-up to race past Bitcoin ABC.
The author’s not a trading expert, but these observations are based on experience. Bitcoin SV, in particular, is either headed for greatness or headed forLitecoin-like prices. Several factors play into this, and currently, all of its price action can rightly be attributed to speculators as opposed to organic demand for services, as it is still developing its ecosystem. However, development of its ecosystem seems to be concerted and realistic, and thus such organic demand as a future reality is entirely possible.
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts fromTradingView.
The postBitcoin on the Brink: Will The Crypto Market Go Under $100 Billion?appeared first onCCN. || Bitcoin on the Brink: Will The Crypto Market Go Under $100 Billion?: The crypto market has faced a lot of downward pressure the past few weeks and, as we reported yesterday, so is everything else. Indeed, the weeksaw an overall 3+% lossin the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and no other exchanges were performing well, either. It’s just a bad time to be a bull, it seems.
TheBitcoin priceis a long way from the heady days of a year ago when a single coin would buy a modest new car, and Bitcoin by itself now accounts for a full 54% of all the money invested in cryptocurrency as a whole. This is why the typical case is that when Bitcoin is taking big losses, so are the rest. This is not just because so many cryptos are only liquidated through BTC before getting to fiat currencies, but also because when bears attack the Bitcoin markets, they simultaneously assault associated altcoin markets.
Those clever bears are eating well these days, that much we know. At least a couple of situations would have been hard to predict a couple months ago:
• Bitcoin SV overtaking Bitcoin ABC, or lasting as a viable product at all.
• The Bitcoin price failing to rebound above $4,000.
Either of these situations could make millionaires and paupers depending on how trades were positioned. Those betting long onBitcoin SVare surely pleased with themselves, while those who were confident it was to be a loser againstBitcoin ABCand other cryptos, destined for the bottom of the barrel, are hopefully reassessing their analysis skills.
The crypto market as a whole is hovering just above $100 billion, down from its heady half-trillion-dollar and up heyday. Today it’s lost and added several billion dollars, on paper anyway, resting at time of writing around $109 billion. Bitcoin only needs to lose a few hundred dollars per unit for the market to go sub-$100 billion. Where the money goes, nobody knows, but there’s a psychological boundary at round figures like $100 billion, and it could be along roadback to a bull run if such an event occurs.
One thing that is certainly not stagnant in the industry is innovation. Dozens of projects continue to launch and see traction across the blockchain space. As long as this is the case, the tokens that power such blockchains will have some demand and inherent value.
Ethereum continues toflirt with the $100 markand had only barely gone beneath it at time of writing, perhaps creating a large buy opportunity for start-ups that will be issuing tokens, or investors looking to get into ICOs in the coming months.
It is not out of line or even speculative to say that several future millionaires are probably in the acquisition phase of Bitcoin, while smart and seasoned traders are trying to time their buys just right to seize the maximum possible discount.
As such, a discount onEOS, which has seensome interesting venture capital-funded projectsin recent times, is probably of interest to various types of investors and confident traders. It lost around 50 cents USD in the past day, but like all cryptos has in the past seen prices more than twice this.
The underdogBitcoin SVis still in a price discovery phase, but as yet we’ve seen that traders are still treating it close to equivalent as Bitcoin ABC (orBitcoin Cash). It stumbled a bit today but could be in a run-up to race past Bitcoin ABC.
The author’s not a trading expert, but these observations are based on experience. Bitcoin SV, in particular, is either headed for greatness or headed forLitecoin-like prices. Several factors play into this, and currently, all of its price action can rightly be attributed to speculators as opposed to organic demand for services, as it is still developing its ecosystem. However, development of its ecosystem seems to be concerted and realistic, and thus such organic demand as a future reality is entirely possible.
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts fromTradingView.
The postBitcoin on the Brink: Will The Crypto Market Go Under $100 Billion?appeared first onCCN. || Bitcoin on the Brink: Will The Crypto Market Go Under $100 Billion?: bitcoin price cliff edge The crypto market has faced a lot of downward pressure the past few weeks and, as we reported yesterday, so is everything else. Indeed, the week saw an overall 3+% loss in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and no other exchanges were performing well, either. Its just a bad time to be a bull, it seems. Bitcoin Price Languishes Near Yearly Low as BSV Rallies The Bitcoin price is a long way from the heady days of a year ago when a single coin would buy a modest new car, and Bitcoin by itself now accounts for a full 54% of all the money invested in cryptocurrency as a whole. This is why the typical case is that when Bitcoin is taking big losses, so are the rest. This is not just because so many cryptos are only liquidated through BTC before getting to fiat currencies, but also because when bears attack the Bitcoin markets, they simultaneously assault associated altcoin markets. bitcoin price Those clever bears are eating well these days, that much we know. At least a couple of situations would have been hard to predict a couple months ago: Bitcoin SV overtaking Bitcoin ABC, or lasting as a viable product at all. The Bitcoin price failing to rebound above $4,000. Either of these situations could make millionaires and paupers depending on how trades were positioned. Those betting long on Bitcoin SV are surely pleased with themselves, while those who were confident it was to be a loser against Bitcoin ABC and other cryptos, destined for the bottom of the barrel, are hopefully reassessing their analysis skills. Crypto Market Faces Sub-$100 Billion Drop The crypto market as a whole is hovering just above $100 billion, down from its heady half-trillion-dollar and up heyday. Today its lost and added several billion dollars, on paper anyway, resting at time of writing around $109 billion. Bitcoin only needs to lose a few hundred dollars per unit for the market to go sub-$100 billion. Where the money goes, nobody knows, but theres a psychological boundary at round figures like $100 billion, and it could be a long road back to a bull run if such an event occurs. Story continues cryptocurrency market cap One thing that is certainly not stagnant in the industry is innovation. Dozens of projects continue to launch and see traction across the blockchain space. As long as this is the case, the tokens that power such blockchains will have some demand and inherent value. Out in the Ether ethereum price Ethereum continues to flirt with the $100 mark and had only barely gone beneath it at time of writing, perhaps creating a large buy opportunity for start-ups that will be issuing tokens, or investors looking to get into ICOs in the coming months. It is not out of line or even speculative to say that several future millionaires are probably in the acquisition phase of Bitcoin, while smart and seasoned traders are trying to time their buys just right to seize the maximum possible discount. Ethereum Alternative EOS Takes A Hit As such, a discount on EOS , which has seen some interesting venture capital-funded projects in recent times, is probably of interest to various types of investors and confident traders. It lost around 50 cents USD in the past day, but like all cryptos has in the past seen prices more than twice this. eos price Bitcoin SV Playing In The Outfield The underdog Bitcoin SV is still in a price discovery phase, but as yet weve seen that traders are still treating it close to equivalent as Bitcoin ABC (or Bitcoin Cash ). It stumbled a bit today but could be in a run-up to race past Bitcoin ABC. bitcoin sv price The authors not a trading expert, but these observations are based on experience. Bitcoin SV, in particular, is either headed for greatness or headed for Litecoin -like prices. Several factors play into this, and currently, all of its price action can rightly be attributed to speculators as opposed to organic demand for services, as it is still developing its ecosystem. However, development of its ecosystem seems to be concerted and realistic, and thus such organic demand as a future reality is entirely possible. Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts from TradingView . The post Bitcoin on the Brink: Will The Crypto Market Go Under $100 Billion? appeared first on CCN . || Coinbase CTO: ‘BUIDL’ Trademark Will be Given Back to Crypto Community: coinbase cto balaji srinivasan CCN previously reported on a move by Coinbase to trademark the crypto rallying cry “BUIDL,” but it turns out there’s nothing to fear. According to Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, Coinbase has no interest in actually using the trademark in any way that prevents others in the community from using it themselves. They’re doing so for the good of crypto, he said, and will give it back to the community after it’s approved. Saw the commotion on Twitter & dug into this. Coinbase filed the trademark for BUIDL some time back. I learned about it today & chatted with team. TLDR is that @brian_armstrong & I don’t believe in trademarks for stuff like this so we’ll be giving this one back to the community. — Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis) December 6, 2018 According to the tweet, billionaire Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Srinivasan talked it over and concluded that there’s no need of the trademark from the company’s perspective, but they do want to protect it from other companies outside of the crypto community who might decide to trademark it. PS: to my knowledge, the first use of BUIDL was actually in a talk I gave back in April 2015 way before joining Coinbase. But it’s entered the common crypto lexicon at this point and we wouldn’t have it any other way. https://t.co/NaEyVXBNUb — Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis) December 7, 2018 Twitter personalities were disturbed by the move without having clarification from the company. The move has been in motion for a couple of months and is not yet official. Those who still do not like “Bitcoin banks” in general, including Coinbase, will likely not have their fears assuaged by the sentiment of the CTO. After all, just because they say they’re not going to use it for anything doesn’t mean they can’t. If a competitor decided to use the term in an advertising company, banking on the fact that they had said they don’t believe in trademarks for things like this, could they not initiate a cease and desist nevertheless? According to the Small Business Administration : Story continues “Registering a trademark guarantees exclusive use, establishes legally that your mark is not already being used, and provides government protection from any liability or infringement issues that may arise. Being cautious in the beginning can certainly save you trouble in the long run. You may choose to personally apply for trademark registration or hire an intellectual property lawyer to register for you.” In any case, for now, we’re all free to keep buidling and using the term buidl, a much less popular community-born watchword than “ hodl .” Featured Image from TechCrunch/ Flickr The post Coinbase CTO: ‘BUIDL’ Trademark Will be Given Back to Crypto Community appeared first on CCN . || Coinbase CTO: ‘BUIDL’ Trademark Will be Given Back to Crypto Community: CCN previously reported on a move byCoinbase to trademark the crypto rallying cry “BUIDL,”but it turns out there’s nothing to fear. According to Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, Coinbase has no interest in actually using the trademark in any way that prevents others in the community from using it themselves. They’re doing so for the good of crypto, he said, and will give it back to the community after it’s approved.
According to the tweet,billionaireCoinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Srinivasan talked it over and concluded that there’s no need of the trademark from the company’s perspective, but they do want to protect it from other companies outside of the crypto community who might decide to trademark it.
Twitter personalities were disturbed by the move without having clarification from the company. The move has been in motion for a couple of months and is not yet official. Those who still do not like “Bitcoin banks” in general, including Coinbase, will likely not have their fears assuaged by the sentiment of the CTO. After all, just because they say they’re not going to use it for anything doesn’t mean they can’t. If a competitor decided to use the term in an advertising company, banking on the fact that they had said they don’t believe in trademarks for things like this, could they not initiate a cease and desist nevertheless? According to theSmall Business Administration:
“Registering a trademark guarantees exclusive use, establishes legally that your mark is not already being used, and provides government protection from any liability or infringement issues that may arise. Being cautious in the beginning can certainly save you trouble in the long run. You may choose to personally apply for trademark registration or hire an intellectual property lawyer to register for you.”
In any case, for now, we’re all free to keep buidling and using the term buidl, a much less popular community-born watchword than “hodl.”
Featured Image from TechCrunch/Flickr
The postCoinbase CTO: ‘BUIDL’ Trademark Will be Given Back to Crypto Communityappeared first onCCN. || 10 ETF Strategies to Stay Ahead of the Bearish Turn: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
As the equity market continues to pullback and more or less erase gains for the year, concerned investors can take on some exposure to bearish or inverse ETFs to hedge against further falls.
For example, theProShares Short S&P500 (SH) takes a simple inverse or -100% daily performance of the S&P 500 index. Alternatively, for the more aggressive trader, leveraged options include theProShares UltraShort S&P500 ETF (SDS) , which tries to reflect the -2x or -200% daily performance of the S&P 500, theDirexion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3x Shares (SPXS) , which takes the -3x or -300% daily performance of the S&P 500, andProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 ETF (SPXU) , which also takes the -300% daily performance of the S&P 500.
Those who want to hedge against risk in the Dow Jones Industrial Average utilized inverse ETFs to bolster their long equities positions. TheProShares Short Dow 30 ETF (DOG) tries to reflect the -100% daily performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. For the more aggressive traders, theProShares UltraShort Dow 30 ETF (DXD) takes the -200% of the Dow Jones and theProShares UltraPro Short Dow 30 (SDOW) reflects the -300% of the Dow.
Lastly, investors also hedged against a dipping Nasdaq through bearish options as well. For instance, theProShares Short QQQ ETF (PSQ) takes the inverse or -100% daily performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index. For the aggressive trader, theProShares UltraShort QQQ ETF (QID) tracks the double inverse or -200% performance of the Nasdaq-100, and theProShares UltraPro Short QQQ ETF (SQQQ) reflects the triple inverse or -300% of the Nasdaq-100.
"Ongoing risks keep us cautious and we continue to recommend that investors pare back risk if their equity holdings are above longer-term strategic allocations," senior strategists at Charles Schwab warned clients, according toCNBC. "Economic and earnings growth rates may be peaking, while the labor market continues to tighten. This mix contributes to higher wage growth, possibly higher inflation and related uncertainty with regard to Fed policy."
Despite the strengthening economy and steady corporate fundamentals, the growing concerns over economic growth, political headwinds and rising interest rates have all contributed to uncertainty ahead, with the sharp pullback this week revealing the potential volatility investors will have to face.
"Unlike 2016, there are no more tax cuts to salivate over and the deregulation momentum is going to now slow, or maybe stall, in the House," David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff, said in a note. "Rare is the day when the stock market goes down in the lead-up to Thanksgiving – and if it does, that indeed will be a very bearish signal."
Nevertheless, there are some that remain hopeful of a turnaround. GDP continues to strengthen and the fourth quarter is likely to produce U.S. economic growth of around 3%, which is consistent with the full year. The employment numbers remain robust with wage growth on the rise. Many still trust the Federal Reserve will step in if things get too bad. Investors would then have to monitor short-term volatility that could trump the long-term growth trends.
For more information on the markets, visit ourcurrent affairs category.
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• Keep the Menorah ‘LIT’ With This ETF
• Will Cryptocurrencies Offer Safe Haven If Global Economy Slows?
• Bitcoin: Battered & Bruised Hitting 2018 Low of $3,280
• A Year-End Report Card for Industry Predictions in 2018
READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || 10 ETF Strategies to Stay Ahead of the Bearish Turn: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. As the equity market continues to pullback and more or less erase gains for the year, concerned investors can take on some exposure to bearish or inverse ETFs to hedge against further falls. For example, the ProShares Short S&P500 ( SH ) takes a simple inverse or -100% daily performance of the S&P 500 index. Alternatively, for the more aggressive trader, leveraged options include the ProShares UltraShort S&P500 ETF ( SDS ) , which tries to reflect the -2x or -200% daily performance of the S&P 500, the Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bear 3x Shares ( SPXS ) , which takes the -3x or -300% daily performance of the S&P 500, and ProShares UltraPro Short S&P 500 ETF ( SPXU ) , which also takes the -300% daily performance of the S&P 500. Those who want to hedge against risk in the Dow Jones Industrial Average utilized inverse ETFs to bolster their long equities positions. The ProShares Short Dow 30 ETF ( DOG ) tries to reflect the -100% daily performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. For the more aggressive traders, the ProShares UltraShort Dow 30 ETF ( DXD ) takes the -200% of the Dow Jones and the ProShares UltraPro Short Dow 30 ( SDOW ) reflects the -300% of the Dow. Lastly, investors also hedged against a dipping Nasdaq through bearish options as well. For instance, the ProShares Short QQQ ETF ( PSQ ) takes the inverse or -100% daily performance of the Nasdaq-100 Index. For the aggressive trader, the ProShares UltraShort QQQ ETF ( QID ) tracks the double inverse or -200% performance of the Nasdaq-100, and the ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ ETF ( SQQQ ) reflects the triple inverse or -300% of the Nasdaq-100. "Ongoing risks keep us cautious and we continue to recommend that investors pare back risk if their equity holdings are above longer-term strategic allocations," senior strategists at Charles Schwab warned clients, according to CNBC . "Economic and earnings growth rates may be peaking, while the labor market continues to tighten. This mix contributes to higher wage growth, possibly higher inflation and related uncertainty with regard to Fed policy." Despite the strengthening economy and steady corporate fundamentals, the growing concerns over economic growth, political headwinds and rising interest rates have all contributed to uncertainty ahead, with the sharp pullback this week revealing the potential volatility investors will have to face. "Unlike 2016, there are no more tax cuts to salivate over and the deregulation momentum is going to now slow, or maybe stall, in the House," David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff, said in a note. "Rare is the day when the stock market goes down in the lead-up to Thanksgiving – and if it does, that indeed will be a very bearish signal." Story continues Nevertheless, there are some that remain hopeful of a turnaround. GDP continues to strengthen and the fourth quarter is likely to produce U.S. economic growth of around 3%, which is consistent with the full year. The employment numbers remain robust with wage growth on the rise. Many still trust the Federal Reserve will step in if things get too bad. Investors would then have to monitor short-term volatility that could trump the long-term growth trends. For more information on the markets, visit our current affairs category . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs 6 Strategies to Consider After Your Family Experiences a Significant Wealth Event Keep the Menorah ‘LIT’ With This ETF Will Cryptocurrencies Offer Safe Haven If Global Economy Slows? Bitcoin: Battered & Bruised Hitting 2018 Low of $3,280 A Year-End Report Card for Industry Predictions in 2018 READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > View comments || Bitcoin Price Eyes Support at $3,000 as Crypto Market Sets New Yearly Low: The bitcoin price on Friday plunged 6.5 percent against the US Dollar, breaking below the flagship cryptocurrency’s previous yearly low at $3,455.
The bearish cycle took another turn after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)halted its decisionon the VanEck’s upcoming bitcoin ETF once again. The fundamental has been treated as one of the strongest bullish catalysts for the bitcoin market, with manybelievingthat its approval would bring a minimum of $1 billion investment into space. In case the US regulator disapproves it, the market sentiment would be equally bearish.
TheBTC/USD ratewas already in shock after the SEC’s decision came to the wire. It established another yearly low, this time towards 3218-fiat, threatening to overreach its downside target at $1,500 in the medium-term. However, the market noted a minor pullback action from the newfound bottom — or support. As of now, the BTC/USD pair is forming a Doji on a daily chart, indicating the bias conflict in the market.
The latest price action has slightly pushed us away from reading technical patterns and relying more on the supply and demand ratio ofbitcoinas an asset. The market now looks for a balanced level that could derive the true economic nature of the cryptocurrency. Is there a demand against the constant supply in the near-term? If not, then how low can bitcoin drop to locate a bottom? Would a weak bitcoin price be any good for theminingcommunity? So many questions, but answers are nowhere to be seen.
Psychologically, the bitcoin price is heading towards an area that once showed a huge demand for the asset. With the breach of 3455-fiat yesterday, the BTC/USD pair is now targeting 3000-fiat as the next potential bottom. In September 2017, the bulls had breached this level as resistance, only to retest it in a bearish correction action as support before pursuing a strong rebound to the north. The rejection initiated a long-term bullish run that took its last breath near 19500-fiat.
Coming back to the technicalities, BTC/USD on the daily charts is signaling a rebound. The RSI momentum indicator could slip further but would eventually bounce back from its oversold region. Similarly, the Stochastic Oscillator could also first slip and then attempt a strong reversal. We are also noticing a decline in volume that proves that bears are at a point of exhaustion at the time of this writing.
Nevertheless, let’s not misread a bullish correction as a magical rally towards the bitcoin’s all-time high. The pair would likely retest its 50-period consolidation area to establish an extended bullish bias. Unless that happens, bitcoin is unfortunatelybearish.
Note: We are not placing any intraday positions due to highly risky scenarios. Kindly check back for more updates.
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts fromTradingView.
The postBitcoin Price Eyes Support at $3,000 as Crypto Market Sets New Yearly Lowappeared first onCCN. || Bitcoin Price Eyes Support at $3,000 as Crypto Market Sets New Yearly Low: The bitcoin price on Friday plunged 6.5 percent against the US Dollar, breaking below the flagship cryptocurrency’s previous yearly low at $3,455.
The bearish cycle took another turn after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)halted its decisionon the VanEck’s upcoming bitcoin ETF once again. The fundamental has been treated as one of the strongest bullish catalysts for the bitcoin market, with manybelievingthat its approval would bring a minimum of $1 billion investment into space. In case the US regulator disapproves it, the market sentiment would be equally bearish.
TheBTC/USD ratewas already in shock after the SEC’s decision came to the wire. It established another yearly low, this time towards 3218-fiat, threatening to overreach its downside target at $1,500 in the medium-term. However, the market noted a minor pullback action from the newfound bottom — or support. As of now, the BTC/USD pair is forming a Doji on a daily chart, indicating the bias conflict in the market.
The latest price action has slightly pushed us away from reading technical patterns and relying more on the supply and demand ratio ofbitcoinas an asset. The market now looks for a balanced level that could derive the true economic nature of the cryptocurrency. Is there a demand against the constant supply in the near-term? If not, then how low can bitcoin drop to locate a bottom? Would a weak bitcoin price be any good for theminingcommunity? So many questions, but answers are nowhere to be seen.
Psychologically, the bitcoin price is heading towards an area that once showed a huge demand for the asset. With the breach of 3455-fiat yesterday, the BTC/USD pair is now targeting 3000-fiat as the next potential bottom. In September 2017, the bulls had breached this level as resistance, only to retest it in a bearish correction action as support before pursuing a strong rebound to the north. The rejection initiated a long-term bullish run that took its last breath near 19500-fiat.
Coming back to the technicalities, BTC/USD on the daily charts is signaling a rebound. The RSI momentum indicator could slip further but would eventually bounce back from its oversold region. Similarly, the Stochastic Oscillator could also first slip and then attempt a strong reversal. We are also noticing a decline in volume that proves that bears are at a point of exhaustion at the time of this writing.
Nevertheless, let’s not misread a bullish correction as a magical rally towards the bitcoin’s all-time high. The pair would likely retest its 50-period consolidation area to establish an extended bullish bias. Unless that happens, bitcoin is unfortunatelybearish.
Note: We are not placing any intraday positions due to highly risky scenarios. Kindly check back for more updates.
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts fromTradingView.
The postBitcoin Price Eyes Support at $3,000 as Crypto Market Sets New Yearly Lowappeared first onCCN. || Bitcoin Price Eyes Support at $3,000 as Crypto Market Sets New Yearly Low: bitcoin price slide The bitcoin price on Friday plunged 6.5 percent against the US Dollar, breaking below the flagship cryptocurrencys previous yearly low at $3,455. The bearish cycle took another turn after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) halted its decision on the VanEcks upcoming bitcoin ETF once again. The fundamental has been treated as one of the strongest bullish catalysts for the bitcoin market, with many believing that its approval would bring a minimum of $1 billion investment into space. In case the US regulator disapproves it, the market sentiment would be equally bearish. The BTC/USD rate was already in shock after the SECs decision came to the wire. It established another yearly low, this time towards 3218-fiat, threatening to overreach its downside target at $1,500 in the medium-term. However, the market noted a minor pullback action from the newfound bottom or support. As of now, the BTC/USD pair is forming a Doji on a daily chart, indicating the bias conflict in the market. The latest price action has slightly pushed us away from reading technical patterns and relying more on the supply and demand ratio of bitcoin as an asset. The market now looks for a balanced level that could derive the true economic nature of the cryptocurrency. Is there a demand against the constant supply in the near-term? If not, then how low can bitcoin drop to locate a bottom? Would a weak bitcoin price be any good for the mining community? So many questions, but answers are nowhere to be seen. Psychologically, the bitcoin price is heading towards an area that once showed a huge demand for the asset. With the breach of 3455-fiat yesterday, the BTC/USD pair is now targeting 3000-fiat as the next potential bottom. In September 2017, the bulls had breached this level as resistance, only to retest it in a bearish correction action as support before pursuing a strong rebound to the north. The rejection initiated a long-term bullish run that took its last breath near 19500-fiat. Story continues Coming back to the technicalities, BTC/USD on the daily charts is signaling a rebound. The RSI momentum indicator could slip further but would eventually bounce back from its oversold region. Similarly, the Stochastic Oscillator could also first slip and then attempt a strong reversal. We are also noticing a decline in volume that proves that bears are at a point of exhaustion at the time of this writing. Nevertheless, lets not misread a bullish correction as a magical rally towards the bitcoins all-time high. The pair would likely retest its 50-period consolidation area to establish an extended bullish bias. Unless that happens, bitcoin is unfortunately bearish . Note: We are not placing any intraday positions due to highly risky scenarios. Kindly check back for more updates. Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts from TradingView . The post Bitcoin Price Eyes Support at $3,000 as Crypto Market Sets New Yearly Low appeared first on CCN . || Bitcoin Hits New Lows, SEC Delays ETF Ruling: The cryptocurrency market finished another disastrous week on a low note on Friday, with most major currencies trading down more than 5 percent on the day.Here’s a look at some of the headlines that were moving the cryptocurrency market this week and which currencies were on the move.
Headlines
The cryptocurrency sell-off continuedthis week, with bitcoin briefly falling below $3,300 for the first time in 15 months. Cryptocurrencies once again missed out on an opportunity to prove they can be a safe store of value during periods of volatility in the stock market. This week’s sell-off continues the bearish momentum for cryptocurrencies that began in November and was exacerbated by a contentious and confusing hard fork in Bitcoin Cash.
On Thursday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission once again delayed a ruling on approving the first bitcoin ETF for listing on a major U.S. exchange. The SEC has repeatedly rejected cryptocurrency ETFs citing concerns over market liquidity and investor safety, and it now has until Feb. 27 to rule on VanEck’s latest bitcoin ETF proposal.
On Thursday, Congress introduced two new bipartisan House bills aimed at stricter regulations for cryptocurrency markets. The bills are designed at reducing cryptocurrency market manipulation and fraud and keeping the U.S. a leader in cryptocurrency technology.
On Friday, the National Police Agency of Japan reported that, through the end of October, it has recorded 5,944 reports of suspicious cryptocurrency transactions in 2018, up from just 699 total reports from April to December of 2017. The suspicious activity includes potential use of cryptocurrency for money laundering and tax evasion.
Price Action
TheBitcoin Investment Trust(OTC:GBTC) traded at $4.10, down 22.1 percent for the week.
Here’s how several top crypto investments fared this week. Prices are as of 3:30 p.m. ET and reflect the previous seven days.
• Bitcoin declined 13.5 percent to $3,474;
• XRP declined 14.9 percent to 30 cents;
• Ethereum declined 16.3 percent to $94;
• Stellar declined 27.4 percent to 11 cents.
• Bitcoin Cash declined 38.1 percent to $107;
The three cryptocurrencies with at least $1-million market caps that have made the biggest gains over the past seven days are:
• Tittiecoin: $1.3-million market cap, 1,235-percent gain.
• Lightpaycoin: $2.3-million market cap, 94.7-percent gain.
• GoldCoin: $1.1-million market cap, 91.9-percent gain.
The three cryptocurrencies hit hardest in the past seven days were:
• Experience Points: $1.9-million market cap, 60-percent decline.
• Semux: $1.6-million market cap, 40.7-percent decline.
• EOS: $1.6-billion market cap, 38.3-percent decline.
Related Links:
This Week In Cryptocurrency: DoJ Investigates Tether, Crypto Hacker Steals M
A Bitcoin Bull Says The Selling May Not Be Over
See more from Benzinga
• A Bitcoin Bull Says The Selling May Not Be Over
• This Week In Cryptocurrency: DoJ Investigates Tether, Crypto Hacker Steals M
• With Tether In Focus, The DoJ Is Investigating Last Year's Cryptomania
© 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Hits New Lows, SEC Delays ETF Ruling: The cryptocurrency market finished another disastrous week on a low note on Friday, with most major currencies trading down more than 5 percent on the day.Here’s a look at some of the headlines that were moving the cryptocurrency market this week and which currencies were on the move.
Headlines
The cryptocurrency sell-off continuedthis week, with bitcoin briefly falling below $3,300 for the first time in 15 months. Cryptocurrencies once again missed out on an opportunity to prove they can be a safe store of value during periods of volatility in the stock market. This week’s sell-off continues the bearish momentum for cryptocurrencies that began in November and was exacerbated by a contentious and confusing hard fork in Bitcoin Cash.
On Thursday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission once again delayed a ruling on approving the first bitcoin ETF for listing on a major U.S. exchange. The SEC has repeatedly rejected cryptocurrency ETFs citing concerns over market liquidity and investor safety, and it now has until Feb. 27 to rule on VanEck’s latest bitcoin ETF proposal.
On Thursday, Congress introduced two new bipartisan House bills aimed at stricter regulations for cryptocurrency markets. The bills are designed at reducing cryptocurrency market manipulation and fraud and keeping the U.S. a leader in cryptocurrency technology.
On Friday, the National Police Agency of Japan reported that, through the end of October, it has recorded 5,944 reports of suspicious cryptocurrency transactions in 2018, up from just 699 total reports from April to December of 2017. The suspicious activity includes potential use of cryptocurrency for money laundering and tax evasion.
Price Action
TheBitcoin Investment Trust(OTC:GBTC) traded at $4.10, down 22.1 percent for the week.
Here’s how several top crypto investments fared this week. Prices are as of 3:30 p.m. ET and reflect the previous seven days.
• Bitcoin declined 13.5 percent to $3,474;
• XRP declined 14.9 percent to 30 cents;
• Ethereum declined 16.3 percent to $94;
• Stellar declined 27.4 percent to 11 cents.
• Bitcoin Cash declined 38.1 percent to $107;
The three cryptocurrencies with at least $1-million market caps that have made the biggest gains over the past seven days are:
• Tittiecoin: $1.3-million market cap, 1,235-percent gain.
• Lightpaycoin: $2.3-million market cap, 94.7-percent gain.
• GoldCoin: $1.1-million market cap, 91.9-percent gain.
The three cryptocurrencies hit hardest in the past seven days were:
• Experience Points: $1.9-million market cap, 60-percent decline.
• Semux: $1.6-million market cap, 40.7-percent decline.
• EOS: $1.6-billion market cap, 38.3-percent decline.
Related Links:
This Week In Cryptocurrency: DoJ Investigates Tether, Crypto Hacker Steals M
A Bitcoin Bull Says The Selling May Not Be Over
See more from Benzinga
• A Bitcoin Bull Says The Selling May Not Be Over
• This Week In Cryptocurrency: DoJ Investigates Tether, Crypto Hacker Steals M
• With Tether In Focus, The DoJ Is Investigating Last Year's Cryptomania
© 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Hits New Lows, SEC Delays ETF Ruling: The cryptocurrency market finished another disastrous week on a low note on Friday, with most major currencies trading down more than 5 percent on the day. Heres a look at some of the headlines that were moving the cryptocurrency market this week and which currencies were on the move. Headlines The cryptocurrency sell-off continued this week , with bitcoin briefly falling below $3,300 for the first time in 15 months. Cryptocurrencies once again missed out on an opportunity to prove they can be a safe store of value during periods of volatility in the stock market. This weeks sell-off continues the bearish momentum for cryptocurrencies that began in November and was exacerbated by a contentious and confusing hard fork in Bitcoin Cash. On Thursday , the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission once again delayed a ruling on approving the first bitcoin ETF for listing on a major U.S. exchange. The SEC has repeatedly rejected cryptocurrency ETFs citing concerns over market liquidity and investor safety, and it now has until Feb. 27 to rule on VanEcks latest bitcoin ETF proposal. On Thursday, Congress introduced two new bipartisan House bills aimed at stricter regulations for cryptocurrency markets. The bills are designed at reducing cryptocurrency market manipulation and fraud and keeping the U.S. a leader in cryptocurrency technology. On Friday, the National Police Agency of Japan reported that, through the end of October, it has recorded 5,944 reports of suspicious cryptocurrency transactions in 2018, up from just 699 total reports from April to December of 2017. The suspicious activity includes potential use of cryptocurrency for money laundering and tax evasion. Price Action The Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC: GBTC ) traded at $4.10, down 22.1 percent for the week. Heres how several top crypto investments fared this week. Prices are as of 3:30 p.m. ET and reflect the previous seven days. Bitcoin declined 13.5 percent to $3,474; XRP declined 14.9 percent to 30 cents; Ethereum declined 16.3 percent to $94; Stellar declined 27.4 percent to 11 cents. Bitcoin Cash declined 38.1 percent to $107; Story continues The three cryptocurrencies with at least $1-million market caps that have made the biggest gains over the past seven days are: Tittiecoin: $1.3-million market cap, 1,235-percent gain. Lightpaycoin: $2.3-million market cap, 94.7-percent gain. GoldCoin: $1.1-million market cap, 91.9-percent gain. The three cryptocurrencies hit hardest in the past seven days were: Experience Points: $1.9-million market cap, 60-percent decline. Semux: $1.6-million market cap, 40.7-percent decline. EOS: $1.6-billion market cap, 38.3-percent decline. Related Links: This Week In Cryptocurrency: DoJ Investigates Tether, Crypto Hacker Steals M A Bitcoin Bull Says The Selling May Not Be Over See more from Benzinga A Bitcoin Bull Says The Selling May Not Be Over This Week In Cryptocurrency: DoJ Investigates Tether, Crypto Hacker Steals M With Tether In Focus, The DoJ Is Investigating Last Year's Cryptomania © 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Leveraged Treasury Bull ETFs Benefitting from Shift to Risk-Off: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged almost 800 points on Thursday followed by another day of sell-offs in U.S. equities with a loss of over 500 points on Friday, confirming that a risk-off sentiment is being highlighted by a flight to government debt--a benefit for leveraged Treasury bull exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like theDirexion Daily 7-10 Year Treasury Bull 3X ETF (TYD) andDirexion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3X ETF (TMF) .
In the past month, TYD has risen past its 200-day moving average, while TMF is close to doing the same as the risk-off sentiment has taken hold of the capital markets with fears of a global economic slowdown permeating investors' psyche.
It's certainly welcome news for the bond markets as inflows of capital flood the fixed-income space, but to equities investors, it could be a sign of more pain to come.
"The tide is turning,"saidKomal Sri-Kumar, president of Sri-Kumar Global Strategies. "The fact the 10-year yield is falling so sharply after the massive correction on Tuesday—we don't even have a dead cat bounce—says there's a lot more pain ahead for equities."
TYD seeks daily investment results equal to 300% of the daily performance of the ICE U.S. Treasury 7-10 Year Bond Index. TYD invests in securities of the index and ETFs that track the index and other financial instruments that provide daily leveraged exposure to the index or ETFs that track the index. The index is a market value weighted index that includes publicly issued U.S. Treasury securities that have a remaining maturity of greater than seven years and less than or equal to ten years.
Related:Lessons From How Pros Use Bond ETFs
TMF seeks daily investment results worth 300% of the daily performance of the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in securities of the index and ETFs that track the index and other financial instruments that provide daily leveraged exposure to the index or ETFs that track the index. The index is a market value weighted index that includes publicly issued U.S. Treasury securities that have a remaining maturity of greater than 20 years.
On Monday, U.S. equities were boosted as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping agreed to cease fire on their tariff-for-tariff battle, giving the markets hope that a year-end rally could ensue. However, it proved to be an overreaction as volatility returned on Tuesday, racking U.S. equities for the remainder of the week.
Meanwhile, fears of an inverted yield curve also helped to rack U.S. equities as sell-offs in stocks were accompanied by an influx of capital into bonds. As equities investors seek asylum into safer-haven assets like debt, the shift is occurring across the spectrum whether it's short or long-term durations.
“The expectations of further turmoil in equities and widening in credit is serving to support Treasuries,” said Peter Chatwell, head of European rates strategy at Mizuho International Plc. “The main support for USTs being at the front end highlights that investors are comfortable in positioning contrary to what the Fed has been guiding the market to expect.”
For more market trends, visitETF Trends.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Leveraged Treasury Bull ETFs Benefitting from Shift to Risk-Off: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged almost 800 points on Thursday followed by another day of sell-offs in U.S. equities with a loss of over 500 points on Friday, confirming that a risk-off sentiment is being highlighted by a flight to government debt--a benefit for leveraged Treasury bull exchange-traded funds (ETFs) like the Direxion Daily 7-10 Year Treasury Bull 3X ETF ( TYD ) and Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3X ETF ( TMF ) . In the past month, TYD has risen past its 200-day moving average, while TMF is close to doing the same as the risk-off sentiment has taken hold of the capital markets with fears of a global economic slowdown permeating investors' psyche. It's certainly welcome news for the bond markets as inflows of capital flood the fixed-income space, but to equities investors, it could be a sign of more pain to come. "The tide is turning," said Komal Sri-Kumar, president of Sri-Kumar Global Strategies. "The fact the 10-year yield is falling so sharply after the massive correction on Tuesday—we don't even have a dead cat bounce—says there's a lot more pain ahead for equities." TYD seeks daily investment results equal to 300% of the daily performance of the ICE U.S. Treasury 7-10 Year Bond Index. TYD invests in securities of the index and ETFs that track the index and other financial instruments that provide daily leveraged exposure to the index or ETFs that track the index. The index is a market value weighted index that includes publicly issued U.S. Treasury securities that have a remaining maturity of greater than seven years and less than or equal to ten years. Related: Lessons From How Pros Use Bond ETFs TMF seeks daily investment results worth 300% of the daily performance of the ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in securities of the index and ETFs that track the index and other financial instruments that provide daily leveraged exposure to the index or ETFs that track the index. The index is a market value weighted index that includes publicly issued U.S. Treasury securities that have a remaining maturity of greater than 20 years. On Monday, U.S. equities were boosted as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping agreed to cease fire on their tariff-for-tariff battle, giving the markets hope that a year-end rally could ensue. However, it proved to be an overreaction as volatility returned on Tuesday, racking U.S. equities for the remainder of the week. Meanwhile, fears of an inverted yield curve also helped to rack U.S. equities as sell-offs in stocks were accompanied by an influx of capital into bonds. As equities investors seek asylum into safer-haven assets like debt, the shift is occurring across the spectrum whether it's short or long-term durations. Story continues “The expectations of further turmoil in equities and widening in credit is serving to support Treasuries,” said Peter Chatwell, head of European rates strategy at Mizuho International Plc. “The main support for USTs being at the front end highlights that investors are comfortable in positioning contrary to what the Fed has been guiding the market to expect.” For more market trends, visit ETF Trends . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Will Cryptocurrencies Offer Safe Haven If Global Economy Slows? Bitcoin: Battered & Bruised Hitting 2018 Low of $3,280 A Year-End Report Card for Industry Predictions in 2018 Forget the Mistletoe, Bring Missiles: 4 Aerospace & Defense ETFs Smart ETF Plays in a Volatile Market Environment READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > View comments || Asia Bonds Mirroring U.S. Bonds Could Lead to Global Bond Crisis: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Asia bonds appear to be mirroring the U.S. bond market with respect to concerns surrounding BBB-rated debt falling into high-yield territory, which could trigger a global bond crisis. When risk-on sentiment was at a peak during the thick of the extended bull market, risky less-than-investment-grade bonds were in vogue with their attractive yields, particularly in a rising rate environment, but BBB bonds that are on the cusp of high yield status could be facing a liquidity crisis, according to a recent CNBC report . As the latest bouts of volatility have been racking the stock markets, it has also affected the bond markets, particularly liquidity–the ability purchase and sell an asset within a reasonable amount of time. BBB bond markets are especially susceptible because institutional investors, who carry war chests full of capital that aid in liquidity, aren’t able to invest in these bonds if they become high yield or “junk” issues. BBB bonds comprise almost 50% of the $5.8 trillion investment-grade bond market and a lack of liquidity could leave BBB bond investors holding the debt as it toes the line between investment grade and junk bond status–the worry, of course, being that it may eventually fall into the category of the latter. “There’s a lot of worry about the BBB-rated world,” said Jason Shoup, head of global credit strategy at institutional asset manager Legal & General Investment Management America.. “It’s not an issue today, but in a recession, it’s possible that between $500 billion and $1 trillion in BBB-rated bonds could slide into the high-yield market.” Now, it appears that Asia is facing the same problem with investment-grade corporate debt down 1%, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. Like the U.S., BBB bonds make up a good portion of investment-grade debt in Asia--44%--and they, too, are on the verge of a falling into high-yield or "junk" status. A number of investors are worried that Moody's Investors Service will take these Asia BBB bonds and knock them down a notch lower--the downgrade, of course, putting a majority of them into the less-than-investment-grade category. “People are worried about the potential turbulence” said Anne Zhang, an executive director in the fixed-income team at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Hong Kong. “We have been telling investors to up the credit quality." U.S. Investment Grade ETF Options Story continues In order to avoid a possible liquidity crisis, investors can opt for more liquid exchange-traded funds that allocate capital into investment-grade debt issues, such as the iShares 1-3 Year Credit Bond ETF ( CSJ ) and ProShares Investment Grade—Intr Rt Hdgd ( IGHG ) . CSJ tracks the investment results of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Credit Bond Index where 90 percent of its assets will be allocated towards a mix of investment-grade corporate debt and sovereign, supranational, local authority, and non-U.S. agency bonds that are U.S. dollar-denominated and have a remaining maturity of greater than one year and less than or equal to three years--this shorter duration is beneficial during recessionary environments. IGHG tracks the performance of the Citi Corporate Investment Grade (Treasury Rate-Hedged) Index with long positions in investment grade corporate bonds issued by both U.S. and foreign domiciled companies. This is particularly important during market downturns when the propensity for a company to default on its debt is higher. As such, IGHG focuses on investment-grade issues to reduce credit risk. Related: 3 ETFs to Consider as a Possible Liquidity Crisis in BBB Bonds Looms For more trends in fixed income, visit the Fixed Income Channel . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Bitcoin: Battered & Bruised Hitting 2018 Low of $3,280 A Year-End Report Card for Industry Predictions in 2018 Forget the Mistletoe, Bring Missiles: 4 Aerospace & Defense ETFs Smart ETF Plays in a Volatile Market Environment 3 Economic Challenges George H.W. Bush Overcame During his Presidency READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Asia Bonds Mirroring U.S. Bonds Could Lead to Global Bond Crisis: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Asia bonds appear to be mirroring the U.S. bond market with respect to concerns surrounding BBB-rated debt falling into high-yield territory, which could trigger a global bond crisis.
When risk-on sentiment was at a peak during the thick of the extended bull market, risky less-than-investment-grade bonds were in vogue with their attractive yields, particularly in a rising rate environment, but BBB bonds that are on the cusp of high yield status could be facing a liquidity crisis, according to a recentCNBC report.
As the latest bouts of volatility have been racking the stock markets, it has also affected the bond markets, particularly liquidity–the ability purchase and sell an asset within a reasonable amount of time. BBB bond markets are especially susceptible because institutional investors, who carry war chests full of capital that aid in liquidity, aren’t able to invest in these bonds if they become high yield or “junk” issues.
BBB bonds comprise almost 50% of the $5.8 trillion investment-grade bond market and a lack of liquidity could leave BBB bond investors holding the debt as it toes the line between investment grade and junk bond status–the worry, of course, being that it may eventually fall into the category of the latter.
“There’s a lot of worry about the BBB-rated world,” said Jason Shoup, head of global credit strategy at institutional asset manager Legal & General Investment Management America.. “It’s not an issue today, but in a recession, it’s possible that between $500 billion and $1 trillion in BBB-rated bonds could slide into the high-yield market.”
Now, it appears that Asia is facing the same problem with investment-grade corporate debt down 1%, according toan articlein the Wall Street Journal. Like the U.S., BBB bonds make up a good portion of investment-grade debt in Asia--44%--and they, too, are on the verge of a falling into high-yield or "junk" status. A number of investors are worried that Moody's Investors Service will take these Asia BBB bonds and knock them down a notch lower--the downgrade, of course, putting a majority of them into the less-than-investment-grade category. “People are worried about the potential turbulence” said Anne Zhang, an executive director in the fixed-income team at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Hong Kong. “We have been telling investors to up the credit quality." U.S. Investment Grade ETF Options
In order to avoid a possible liquidity crisis, investors can opt for more liquid exchange-traded funds that allocate capital into investment-grade debt issues, such as theiShares 1-3 Year Credit Bond ETF (CSJ) andProShares Investment Grade—Intr Rt Hdgd (IGHG) .
CSJ tracks the investment results of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Credit Bond Index where 90 percent of its assets will be allocated towards a mix of investment-grade corporate debt and sovereign, supranational, local authority, and non-U.S. agency bonds that are U.S. dollar-denominated and have a remaining maturity of greater than one year and less than or equal to three years--this shorter duration is beneficial during recessionary environments.
IGHG tracks the performance of the Citi Corporate Investment Grade (Treasury Rate-Hedged) Index with long positions in investment grade corporate bonds issued by both U.S. and foreign domiciled companies. This is particularly important during market downturns when the propensity for a company to default on its debt is higher. As such, IGHG focuses on investment-grade issues to reduce credit risk.
Related:3 ETFs to Consider as a Possible Liquidity Crisis in BBB Bonds Looms
For more trends in fixed income, visit theFixed Income Channel.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || US Bills Seeks to Protect Cryptocurrency Investors from Market Manipulation: Congress bitcoin blockchain cryptocurrency Two US congressmen introduced bipartisan legislation designed to prevent cryptocurrency price manipulation and position the United States as a leader in the crypto industry. Democrat Rep. Darren Soto of Florida and Republican Rep. Ted Budd of North Carolina unveiled the following bills: Virtual Currency Consumer Protection Act . This bill directs the CFTC to explain how price manipulation occurs and to recommend regulatory changes to prevent it. Virtual Currency Market and Regulatory Competitiveness Act . This law directs the CFTC to conduct a comparative study of crypto regulations in other countries and to recommend ways to make the United States more competitive by providing regulatory clarity and finding alternatives to burdensome laws that impede innovation. Lawmakers: Crypto Can Drive Economic Growth In a joint statement released December 6, Rep. Darren Soto and Rep. Ted Budd underscored the “profound potential” of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the technology underpinning bitcoin. “Virtual currencies and the underlying blockchain technology has a profound potential to be a driver of economic growth,” the congressmen said. “That’s why we must ensure that the United States is at the forefront.” Soto and Budd said the laws they proposed would protect consumers and investors without dampening the “environment of innovation” that would maximize the potential of these groundbreaking technologies. DOJ Probes Bitcoin Price Manipulation bitcoin price In September 2018, the New York Attorney General’s Office released a report concluding that some cryptocurrency exchanges can easily be manipulated because they lack sufficient consumer protections, are riddled with conflicts of interest, and don’t have safeguards to prevent abusive trading. “Platforms lack robust real-time and historical market surveillance capabilities — like those found in traditional trading venues — to identify and stop suspicious trading patterns,” the report said. Story continues In November 2018, the US Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into whether the cryptocurrency market’s spectacular price spike in 2017 was manipulated using tether (USDT). The DOJ probe came five months after a University of Texas finance professor published a report claiming that at least 50 percent of the increase in bitcoin’s price in 2017 was artificially manipulated using tether. Report: Bitcoin Price Was Artificially Inflated In his damning 66-page research paper entitled “ Is Bitcoin Really Un-Tethered? “ , Professor John M. Griffin said trading patterns suggest there was coordinated manipulation designed to keep bitcoin prices artificially high. Griffin — who specializes in spotting financial fraud — claimed tether was used numerous times to buy bitcoin on Bitfinex after its price slipped. “It was creating price support for bitcoin, and over the period that we examined, had huge price effects,” Professor Griffin said. “Our research would indicate that there are sophisticated people harnessing investor interest for their benefit.” Others, though, have questioned this thesis. Tom Lee: Keep Calm and Hodl On While skeptics point to regulatory crackdowns to discredit the industry, bitcoin bulls like the Winklevoss twins and Fundstrat’s Tom Lee welcome regulatory scrutiny , saying it will help — not hurt — the industry by ridding it of scam artists. This, in turn, will legitimize the market, they argue. “Do I think bitcoin as a long-term fundamental story is broken? I don’t think so,” Lee said. “Price at the moment isn’t confirming fundamentals.” Bitcoin plunged 16% Tuesday and fell as low as $4,200.22. Crypto evangelist Tom Lee joined us to discuss why he is lowering his bitcoin price target to $15,000 from $25,000. https://t.co/H04pEqEm7v pic.twitter.com/AZ2zQZWcea — CNBC (@CNBC) November 20, 2018 Lee also pointed out that bitcoin’s market penetration is gradually increasing, despite recent setbacks. “The next wave of adoption is institutional,” he said. “There is a crossover happening. This is just an awkward transition.” Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts from TradingView . The post US Bills Seeks to Protect Cryptocurrency Investors from Market Manipulation appeared first on CCN . || US Bills Seeks to Protect Cryptocurrency Investors from Market Manipulation: Two US congressmen introduced bipartisan legislation designed to prevent cryptocurrency price manipulation and position the United States as a leader in the crypto industry.
Democrat Rep. Darren Soto of Florida and Republican Rep. Ted Budd of North Carolina unveiled the following bills:
• Virtual Currency Consumer Protection Act. This bill directs the CFTC to explain how price manipulation occurs and to recommend regulatory changes to prevent it.
• Virtual Currency Market and Regulatory Competitiveness Act. This law directs the CFTC to conduct a comparative study of crypto regulations in other countries and to recommend ways to make the United States more competitive by providing regulatory clarity and finding alternatives to burdensome laws that impede innovation.
In a jointstatementreleased December 6, Rep. Darren Soto and Rep. Ted Budd underscored the “profound potential” of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the technology underpinning bitcoin.
“Virtual currencies and the underlying blockchain technology has a profound potential to be a driver of economic growth,” the congressmen said. “That’s why we must ensure that the United States is at the forefront.”
Soto and Budd said the laws they proposed would protect consumers and investors without dampening the “environment of innovation” that would maximize the potential of these groundbreaking technologies.
In September 2018, the New York Attorney General’s Office released a report concluding that some cryptocurrency exchanges caneasily be manipulatedbecause they lack sufficient consumer protections, are riddled with conflicts of interest, and don’t have safeguards to prevent abusive trading.
“Platforms lack robust real-time and historical market surveillance capabilities — like those found in traditional trading venues — to identify and stop suspicious trading patterns,” the report said.
In November 2018, the US Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into whether the cryptocurrency market’s spectacular price spike in 2017 was manipulated usingtether(USDT).
The DOJ probe came five months after a University of Texas finance professor published a report claiming that at least 50 percent of the increase in bitcoin’s price in 2017 wasartificially manipulatedusing tether.
In his damning 66-page research paper entitled “Is Bitcoin Really Un-Tethered?“,Professor John M. Griffin said trading patterns suggest there was coordinated manipulation designed to keep bitcoin prices artificially high.
Griffin — who specializes in spotting financial fraud — claimed tether was used numerous times to buy bitcoin on Bitfinex after its price slipped.
“It was creating price support for bitcoin, and over the period that we examined, had huge price effects,” Professor Griffin said. “Our research would indicate that there are sophisticated people harnessing investor interest for their benefit.”
Others, though, havequestionedthis thesis.
While skeptics point to regulatory crackdowns to discredit the industry, bitcoin bulls like the Winklevoss twins and Fundstrat’s Tom Leewelcome regulatory scrutiny, saying it will help — not hurt — the industry by ridding it of scam artists. This, in turn, will legitimize the market, they argue.
“Do I think bitcoin as a long-term fundamental story is broken? I don’t think so,” Lee said. “Price at the moment isn’t confirming fundamentals.”
Lee also pointed out that bitcoin’s market penetration is gradually increasing, despite recent setbacks. “Thenext wave of adoptionis institutional,” he said. “There is a crossover happening. This is just an awkward transition.”
Featured Image from Shutterstock. Charts fromTradingView.
The postUS Bills Seeks to Protect Cryptocurrency Investors from Market Manipulationappeared first onCCN. || Supply Shortage Could Impact Lithium ETF: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Long viewed as one of the primary avenues for playing the electric vehicle boom, theGlobal X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LIT) , which tracks the full lithium cycle from mining and refining through battery production, is down more than 20% this year.
Tighter supply in the global lithium market could impact LIT. LIT is more than eight years old and targets the Solactive Global Lithium Index.
“Fitch believes there are challenges to producing high-quality supply that could cause additions to fall short of expectations, even if demand for electric vehicles (EV) and other electronics requiring rechargeable batteries temporarily slows,” said Fitch Ratingsin a note out Thursday.
Electric vehicles are in the early innings of development and there are signs that there is a lot of pent up demand among consumers whom want to embrace the technology. In 2017, electric vehicle sales represented 1.7% of all vehicle sales globally, exceeding 1 million for the first time and rising 51% year-over-year. The rate could continue to accelerate as a result of EVs becoming more economical than gas-powered cars and as a result of a pro-climate regulatory changes pushing to ban gas-powered cars.
Crimped Lithium Mining Supply
LIT holds 33 stocks and several of those companies are directly engaged in lithium mining. Over 58% of LIT's sector exposure is allocated to the material sector.
“CRU projects global supply of lithium carbonate equivalent will hit 557 kilotonnes (kt) by 2023, rising at an 18% CAGR from 2015 to 2023. This projected capacity growth is highlighted by expansion projects from all of the leading global producers,” according to Fitch.
While producers are looking to increase lithium output to meet rising demand, that does not mean all the projects will come online in a timely fashion. Nor does it mean producers are assured of tapping high-grade lithium.
“Lithium operations, particularly brine, can be difficult to bring online and require expertise and a significant learning curve to operate effectively,” said Fitch. “Delays in project timing are not uncommon, even among top producers, and plants can take years to fully ramp up once construction is completed.”
The potential for supply shortages comes against a backdrop of robust demand expectations and those expectations are in place for a multi-year period.
“Leading industry analysts project lithium demand to remain robust through the next several years as a result of the continued adoption of EV, with CRU projecting lithium demand to grow at a 12% CAGR through 2023 to 484kt,” according to Fitch.
For more information on the materials space, visit ourbasic materials category.
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[Social Media Buzz]
12/09 08:00現在
#Bitcoin : 390,000円↑
#NEM #XEM : 8.112円↑
#Monacoin : 134円→
#Ethereum : 10,300円↑
#Zaif : 0.1649円↑ || 2018/12/08 20:00
#Binance 格安コイン
1位 #HOT 0.00000013 BTC(0.05円)
2位 #NPXS 0.00000016 BTC(0.06円)
3位 #BCN 0.00000022 BTC(0.08円)
4位 #DENT 0.00000027 BTC(0.1円)
5位 #NCASH 0.00000051 BTC(0.2円)
#仮想通貨 #アルトコイン #草コイン || The "store of value" narrative promoted by BTC maximalists like @saifedean looks a lot more ridiculous now that BTC is down nearly 80% YTD. It was irresponsible to ever promote...
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3614.23, 3502.66, 3424.59, 3486.95, 3313.68, 3242.48, 3236.76, 3252.84, 3545.86, 3696.06
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 5446.91, 5647.21, 5831.79, 5678.19, 5725.59, 5605.51, 5590.69, 5708.52, 6011.45, 6031.60, 6008.42, 5930.32, 5526.64, 5750.80, 5904.83, 5780.90, 5753.09, 6153.85, 6130.53, 6468.40, 6767.31, 7078.50, 7207.76, 7379.95, 7407.41, 7022.76, 7144.38, 7459.69, 7143.58, 6618.14, 6357.60, 5950.07, 6559.49, 6635.75, 7315.54, 7871.69, 7708.99, 7790.15, 8036.49, 8200.64, 8071.26, 8253.55, 8038.77, 8253.69, 8790.92, 9330.55, 9818.35, 10058.80, 9888.61, 10233.60, 10975.60, 11074.60, 11323.20, 11657.20, 11916.70, 14291.50, 17899.70, 16569.40, 15178.20, 15455.40, 16936.80, 17415.40, 16408.20, 16564.00, 17706.90, 19497.40, 19140.80, 19114.20, 17776.70, 16624.60, 15802.90, 13831.80, 14699.20, 13925.80, 14026.60, 16099.80, 15838.50, 14606.50, 14656.20, 12952.20, 14156.40, 13657.20, 14982.10, 15201.00, 15599.20, 17429.50, 17527.00, 16477.60, 15170.10, 14595.40.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-01-09]
Volume: 16659999744, RSI (14-day): 47.68, 50-day EMA: 13819.18, 200-day EMA: 8199.34
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1311.70, Gold RSI: 65.96
Oil Price: 62.96, Oil RSI: 74.59
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Warren Buffett Just Won a 10-Year Million-Dollar Bet: Here's Why: Superinvestor Warren Buffett has recommendednever betting against America, noting in his 2015 letter to shareholders: "For 240 years it's been a terrible mistake to bet against America, and now is no time to start. ... America's golden goose of commerce and innovation will continue to lay more and larger eggs."
It's also smart not to bet against Buffett himself, as he has just won a 10-year-long, $1 million bet, gifting his winnings to Omaha nonprofit Girls Inc.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Buffett and his business partner Charlie Munger have long criticized hedge funds, in large part due to their hefty fees. At the most recent annual meeting of their company,Berkshire Hathaway(NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B), Buffett explained:
If you go to a dentist, if you hire a plumber, in all the professions, there is value added by the professionals as a group compared to doing it yourself or just randomly picking laymen. ... In the investment world it isn't true. The active group, the people that are professionals in aggregate, are not, cannot, do better than the aggregate of the people who just sit tight.
Munger, meanwhile, has expressed particular scorn at the typical compensation scheme of hedge fund managers, wherein they collect 2% of assets every year regardless of the fund's performance (or underperformance) and take 20% of the gains in years when the fund has a positive return. At a 2006 annual meeting of Munger's own company, Wesco, he cracked:
You ask a hedge fund operator why they charge 2 and 20, and they say 'because I can't get 3 and 30.' ... [For hedge funds], it's not about thinking what is fair and right -- but merely 'how much can I get?' It's a ghastly culture... there will be terrible scandal in due course.
Munger has also noted, "The investing world is just a morass of wrong incentives, crazy reporting and, I'd say, a fair amount of delusion."
Buffett's no fan of the 2-and-20 fee plan, either: "If you even have a billion dollar fund and get two percent of it, for terrible performance, that's $20 million. In any other field, it would just blow your mind."
Image source: Getty Images.
In his 2016 annual letter to shareholders, Buffett explained how the bet arose:
In Berkshire's 2005 annual report, I argued that active investment management by professionals -- in aggregate -- would over a period of years underperform the returns achieved by rank amateurs who simply sat still. I explained that the massive fees levied by a variety of "helpers" would leave their clients -- again in aggregate -- worse off than if the amateurs simply invested in an unmanaged low-cost index fund.
He offered to bet any investment professional $500,000 that a low-cost Vanguard S&P 500 index fund would outperform his opponent's group of at least five hedge funds over a period of 10 years.
I then sat back and waited expectantly for a parade of fund managers -- who could include their own fund as one of the five -- to come forth and defend their occupation. After all, these managers urged others to bet billions on their abilities. Why should they fear putting a little of their own money on the line? What followed was the sound of silence. Though there are thousands of professional investment managers who have amassed staggering fortunes by touting their stock-selecting prowess, only one man -- Ted Seides -- stepped up to my challenge.
It has been clear for years that Buffett seemed likely to win the bet, and as of the end of 2017, he officially did. Hedge funds' returns are not publicly available, but in his 2016 letter to shareholders, Buffett shared the results of the bet over its first nine years.
In every year except 2008, when the U.S. economy was in a deep recession, the S&P 500 outperformed the average gain or loss of the five hedge funds. Check it out:
[{"Year": "2008", "Hedge Fund Average Return": "(23.90%)", "S&P 500 Index Fund Return": "(37%)"}, {"Year": "2009", "Hedge Fund Average Return": "16.10%", "S&P 500 Index Fund Return": "26.6%"}, {"Year": "2010", "Hedge Fund Average Return": "8.56%", "S&P 500 Index Fund Return": "15.1%"}, {"Year": "2011", "Hedge Fund Average Return": "(0.42%)", "S&P 500 Index Fund Return": "2.1%"}, {"Year": "2012", "Hedge Fund Average Return": "6.80%", "S&P 500 Index Fund Return": "16%"}, {"Year": "2013", "Hedge Fund Average Return": "12.62%", "S&P 500 Index Fund Return": "32.3%"}, {"Year": "2014", "Hedge Fund Average Return": "5.24%", "S&P 500 Index Fund Return": "13.6%"}, {"Year": "2015", "Hedge Fund Average Return": "1.18%", "S&P 500 Index Fund Return": "1.4%"}, {"Year": "2016", "Hedge Fund Average Return": "0.86%", "S&P 500 Index Fund Return": "11.9%"}]
Source: Author calculations.
Through the first nine years of the bet, the S&P 500 returned a total of 85.4%. The hedge funds averaged 22%, with the best returning 62.8% and the worst returning a frankly abysmal 2.9% over nearly a decade.
How about this last year? Well, the S&P 500's performance wasn't too shabby: It gained more than 19%. Over the entire decade, the five hedge funds' average annual gain was 2.1%, while the S&P 500 averaged 7.1%. It wasn't exactly a nailbiter of a finish.
Buffett didn't win the bet purely due to chance. There were a few factors that contributed to the S&P 500's strong returns and the hedge funds' disappointing performance. It's easy to point to hedge funds' hefty fees, which drag down net returns, but the hedge funds underperformed the index significantly even without counting fees.
Hedge funds face many challenges that managed mutual funds do: Their managers often feel pressure to outperform in the short term in order to please their shareholders and attractmoreshareholders, so they jump in and out of investments in the pursuit of quick profits. This activity alone generates costs through commissions and capital gains taxes.
By contrast, an index fund simply holds the same securities that are in the index. It has no need to research other investments or to buy and sell securities except in those rare instances when the underlying index adds or drops some components. Buffett has often sung the praises of inactivity in investing: "Much success can be attributed to inactivity. Most investors cannot resist the temptation to constantly buy and sell."
Buffett has also said that "lethargy, bordering on sloth should remain the cornerstone of an investment style."
Indeed, Buffett has even said that when he dies, much of his personal wealth will be put in an S&P 500 index fund for his wife's benefit, and he has recommended index funds for most investors.
An interesting twist in this story is that Buffett ended up winning not $1 million, but $2.2 million instead of the originally anticipated $1 million. That's because, mid-bet, the wagerers changed the rules a bit. Originally, they each invested about $320,000 into bonds that were expected to grow over the decade, ending up worth $500,000 each. However, interest rates dropped in the bet's early years, boosting the value of their investments. In 2012, they agreed to put their money into 11,200 shares of Berkshire Hathaway, for a total value at the time of about $1 million. Since then, the shares have more than doubled, leaving the 11,200 shares worth about $2.2 million at the end of 2017. That switch turned out to be a great move for Girls Inc. of Omaha.
Finally, note that Buffettloves to sharehis investing wisdom with others, offering educational letters to shareholders each year, answering shareholders' questions for many hours during his annual meetings, and welcoming classes of students to Omaha regularly.
This bet is one more way he is teaching us, demonstrating over 10 full years the power of index investing, the value of patience, and the fact that ordinary people choosing ordinary investments can outperform highly compensated Wall Street professionals. Buffett is likely to discuss the bet at his next shareholder meeting in May and in his annual letter to shareholders, which should be released in late February or early March.
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Selena Maranjianowns shares of Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 2 Stocks That Could Lose You a Lot of Money: Every company's shares are ultimately valued based on the cash flows the business will generate throughout the rest of its existence, with future cash flows discounted to today to account for risks. Since that number is not known in advance, investors buying and selling its shares in the market each make their own estimates. The best estimates of the most recent buyers and sellers of those stocks are what determine the market's current price for a business.
It's important to remember that reality when investing, because while the market usually does a great job estimating the true value of a business, there are times when it gets ahead of itself. Even a world class company is worth only the discounted value of the cash flows it will generate over time, and neglecting that fact can cost you a lot of money. Even though their underlying businesses are strong, these two stocks are priced for such a rosy future that they could lose you a lot of money.
Image source: Getty Images.
Tesla(NASDAQ: TSLA)admittedly has some awesome technology. The combination of its electric vehicles and supercharging network has cracked the nut of performance and range that make electric cars a legitimate consideration for drivers. Tesla's Model 3, with a price point starting at $35,000, even makes cost far less of a barrier to own an electric vehicle than it has been in the past.
Image source: Getty Images
The key issue with Tesla is the fact that it's already trading as though it were a major car company. At $53 billion, its market capitalization is actually slightly ahead ofFord(NYSE: F). That's despite the fact that Ford's $150 billion in trailing sales and $4.4 billion in trailing earnings absolutely dwarfs Tesla's $11 billion in trailing sales $1.4 billion in trailinglosses.
Could Tesla someday be a major auto manufacturer? Perhaps, but it's already trading as though it were one today, even thoughit continues to face troubles scaling up production of its Model 3. The market's expectations are simply far higher for Tesla than it has shown itself capable of delivering. Tesla is already priced comparably to a financially successful automaker producing at scale.
Because of that current market pricing, even if it is ultimately operationally successful, Tesla's shareholders won't necessarily benefit from that success. That prices a lot of risk of operational failure -- for very little potential reward -- in Tesla's stock today.
Image source: Getty Images
There's no question that technology giantAmazon.com(NASDAQ: AMZN)is tremendously good at disrupting industries. Whether it's retail, cloud computing, or logistics, Amazon.com has a pattern of sacrificing margin and delivering higher levels of automation to drive its top line growth. Thus far, the market has rewarded Amazon.com for that top line focus, rewarding the company with a market capitalization at an eye-popping level near $600 billion.
The past has been wonderful for Amazon.com investors, but for current investors, there's a lot of risk priced into its stock. Consider that from a revenue perspective Amazon.com's $161 billion is around a third of fellow retail titanWal-Mart(NYSE: WMT)'s $495 billion, yet Wal-Mart's market cap is around half of Amazon.com's. The story is similar on an earnings front, too. Over the past four quarters, Amazon.com has earned around $1.9 billion, which is small compared with Walmart's $11.4 billion.
Amazon.com's disruptive tendencies and rapid top-line growth trajectory has provided a reasonable justification for its past stock price appreciation. Still, today's investors should ask themselves if a company that issubstantiallysmaller on both a revenue and an earnings perspective than its key rival should really command twice the market capitalization.
Sure, Amazon.com has broader business lines than Walmart does -- including Amazon.com'shighly profitable Web servicesbusiness. But now that Amazon.com is aleaderin many of its industries, it'll find its competitors gunning forit, much the same way it has disrupted many of them. Between the increasing need to defend its turf and the challenges associated with growing from its already large base, Amazon.com may find future share price returns tougher to achieve.
Both Tesla and Amazon.com are tremendously strong disruptors in their respective industries, and both companies have built great reputations for quality. The concern with both is that their sharesalreadytrade at prices that represent stronger results than their larger, more profitable competitors are able to deliver.
As Warren Buffett has said, "You pay a very high price in the stock market for a cheery consensus." The consensus around the greatness of Tesla and Amazon.com is so cheery that the risk of their shares underperforming is strong, even if their businesses themselves succeed. Great companies with scary stocks could still lose you a lot of money.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Chuck Salettahas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Ford, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Macy's, Inc. Slows Its Pace of Store Closures: During the past few years,Macy's(NYSE: M)has closed numerous stores in response to sliding sales. The company shuttered about 40 locations in 2016 and more than 60 in early 2017.
However, Macy's is finally poised to snap an 11-quarter streak of comp sales declines in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. Withsales trends stabilizing, the company doesn't need to keep culling its store portfolio at an accelerated pace. Sure enough, Macy's announced last week that it plans to close just 11 stores in 2018.
All of the Macy's store closures announced last week will occur during the first quarter of fiscal 2018. Four of the locations are in California: full-line stores in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Laguna Hills, plus a furniture store in Novato. Another two are in Florida -- one in Gainesville and one in Miami.
The other five stores that are closing are in Twin Falls, Idaho; Terre Haute, Ind.; Fort Gratiot Township, Mich.; Cincinnati; and Burlington, Vt.
Macy's will close another 11 stores in the next few months. Image source: Macy's.
One theme that immediately jumps out based on the list of 2018 Macy's store closures is that the company is pulling out of smaller markets. The Gainesville, Twin Falls, Terre Haute, Fort Gratiot, and Burlington locations all fall into this category. Each of these stores is the only Macy's for at least 40 miles. In some cases, the nearest Macy's is more than 100 miles away.
That means that Macy's can't expect to retain sales from these markets in other stores or online. When the only Macy's store in a region closes, online sales usually decline there, according to company CFO Karen Hoguet. Apparently, Macy's doesn't see enough potential in these smaller cities to justify maintaining a presence there.
A second theme is that Macy's iscashing in on valuable real estatein major cities. The stores that are closing in San Francisco and Los Angeles were sold by the company a year ago, fetching $41 million and $50 million, respectively. Both locations have other Macy's stores nearby. Given the buoyant state of the California real estate market, it made sense to shift to a smaller real estate footprint in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The third theme is that the company continues to close some stores with expiring leases. For example, in Miami, Macy's and its predecessor Burdines operated a downtown store for a century. However, with its below-market lease set to expire this year, Macy's decided to close up shop. Several of the other stores set to close -- those in Laguna Hills, Novato, Twin Falls, and Cincinnati -- were also leased locations.
In mid-2016, Macy's announced that it would close about 100 stores over the next few years. Including the current round of store closures, Macy's is about 80% of the way to that target.
Two more stores set to close within the next couple of years are the Macy's men's store in downtown San Francisco and the Macy's store at Tysons Galleria in McLean, Va. Like the Los Angeles and San Francisco stores closing this year, both of these valuable properties were sold by Macy's in late 2016/early 2017 and leased back temporarily.
Malls where Macy's currently operatestwo (or even three) storescould also be candidates for store closures. Many of the malls with multiple Macy's stores are prime real estate, giving the company a big incentive to consolidate into a smaller footprint. In addition, Macy's will undoubtedly close more stores with expiring leases in the coming years.
Even after Macy's reaches its target of closing 100 stores, it will probably continue trimming its portfolio gradually. However, Macy's doesn't seem likely to repeat the mass store closures of the past two years anytime soon.
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Adam Levine-Weinbergowns shares of Macy's. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Macy's, Inc. Slows Its Pace of Store Closures: During the past few years, Macy's (NYSE: M) has closed numerous stores in response to sliding sales. The company shuttered about 40 locations in 2016 and more than 60 in early 2017. However, Macy's is finally poised to snap an 11-quarter streak of comp sales declines in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. With sales trends stabilizing , the company doesn't need to keep culling its store portfolio at an accelerated pace. Sure enough, Macy's announced last week that it plans to close just 11 stores in 2018. Where is Macy's closing stores? All of the Macy's store closures announced last week will occur during the first quarter of fiscal 2018. Four of the locations are in California: full-line stores in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Laguna Hills, plus a furniture store in Novato. Another two are in Florida -- one in Gainesville and one in Miami. The other five stores that are closing are in Twin Falls, Idaho; Terre Haute, Ind.; Fort Gratiot Township, Mich.; Cincinnati; and Burlington, Vt. The exterior of a defunct Macy's store in Alexandria, Virginia Macy's will close another 11 stores in the next few months. Image source: Macy's. Three big themes One theme that immediately jumps out based on the list of 2018 Macy's store closures is that the company is pulling out of smaller markets. The Gainesville, Twin Falls, Terre Haute, Fort Gratiot, and Burlington locations all fall into this category. Each of these stores is the only Macy's for at least 40 miles. In some cases, the nearest Macy's is more than 100 miles away. That means that Macy's can't expect to retain sales from these markets in other stores or online. When the only Macy's store in a region closes, online sales usually decline there, according to company CFO Karen Hoguet. Apparently, Macy's doesn't see enough potential in these smaller cities to justify maintaining a presence there. A second theme is that Macy's is cashing in on valuable real estate in major cities. The stores that are closing in San Francisco and Los Angeles were sold by the company a year ago, fetching $41 million and $50 million, respectively. Both locations have other Macy's stores nearby. Given the buoyant state of the California real estate market, it made sense to shift to a smaller real estate footprint in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Story continues The third theme is that the company continues to close some stores with expiring leases. For example, in Miami, Macy's and its predecessor Burdines operated a downtown store for a century. However, with its below-market lease set to expire this year, Macy's decided to close up shop. Several of the other stores set to close -- those in Laguna Hills, Novato, Twin Falls, and Cincinnati -- were also leased locations. Looking ahead In mid-2016, Macy's announced that it would close about 100 stores over the next few years. Including the current round of store closures, Macy's is about 80% of the way to that target. Two more stores set to close within the next couple of years are the Macy's men's store in downtown San Francisco and the Macy's store at Tysons Galleria in McLean, Va. Like the Los Angeles and San Francisco stores closing this year, both of these valuable properties were sold by Macy's in late 2016/early 2017 and leased back temporarily. Malls where Macy's currently operates two (or even three) stores could also be candidates for store closures. Many of the malls with multiple Macy's stores are prime real estate, giving the company a big incentive to consolidate into a smaller footprint. In addition, Macy's will undoubtedly close more stores with expiring leases in the coming years. Even after Macy's reaches its target of closing 100 stores, it will probably continue trimming its portfolio gradually. However, Macy's doesn't seem likely to repeat the mass store closures of the past two years anytime soon. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of Macy's. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Job openings and small business — What you need to know for the day ahead: The stock market’s first Monday of 2018 was less exciting than the holiday-shortened week that kicked off the year, but when the dust settled the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq each made new record highs.
Most of the action on Monday was confined to the cryptocurrency space, where bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Ripple (XRP-USD) were the notable decliners as Ethereum once again became the second-largest digital currency by market cap.
Looking ahead to Tuesday, thebiggest highlights on the calendarshould be the latest job openings and labor turnover survey from the BLS as well as the NFIB’s December reading on small business optimism, both due out in the morning.
The NFIB’s report has been one of the strongest economic readings since President Donald Trump’s surprise election win in November 2016, while job openings have been tracked for signs of increasing tightness in the labor market.
On the earnings side, the biggest results expected Tuesday are from Acuity Brands (AYI) and WD-40 Company (WDFC).
2018 is setting up to be a unique year for markets.
Aside from all the political noise that remains in the background of U.S. stocks at record highs and global growth enjoying its best run in a decade, a recent investing trend looks set to be turned on its ear.
Since the financial crisis, earnings estimates have consistently started out too bullish. Wall Street analysts have over-estimated growth and then steadily cut estimates with expectations for earnings bottoming about a month out from actual reports.
This chart from Credit Suisse shows how recent years have had steady cuts in earnings expectations with 2018 poised to show an uptick as the year goes on.
But 2018 is shaping up to be a year in which analysts are too conservative in their estimates for earnings growth and forced to revise expectations higher. And this so-far modest uptick in earnings expectations in the quarters to come should accelerate, with Credit Suisse’s Jonathan Golub writing that, “Analysts have adjusted their 2018 forecasts by less than 2% for recent tax changes, a fraction of the likely impact.
Golub adds that, “During reporting season, investors will be focused on guidance around (1) each company’s new effective tax rate, (2) plans to redeploy capital back into businesses, (3) impacts on EPS from increased buybacks, and (4) the potential for higher dividends. We expect conservative guidance given the recency of new legislation. This should lead to above average revisions throughout 2018.”
—
Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter@MylesUdland
Read more from Myles here:
• Auto sales declined for the first time since the financial crisis in 2017
• The markets story of 2017 — real returns, fake news
• Evidence shows corporate tax cuts don’t work
• Foreign investors might be the key to forecasting a U.S. recession
• It’s been 17 years since U.S. consumers felt this good about the economy || Markets preview, January 9, 2018: The stock markets first Monday of 2018 was less exciting than the holiday-shortened week that kicked off the year, but when the dust settled the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq each made new record highs. Most of the action on Monday was confined to the cryptocurrency space, where bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and Ripple ( XRP-USD ) were the notable decliners as Ethereum once again became the second-largest digital currency by market cap. Looking ahead to Tuesday, the biggest highlights on the calendar should be the latest job openings and labor turnover survey from the BLS as well as the NFIBs December reading on small business optimism, both due out in the morning. Employers likely maintained a brisk pace of hiring in December while increasing wages for workers amid growing confidence in the economy. The NFIBs report has been one of the strongest economic readings since President Donald Trumps surprise election win in November 2016, while job openings have been tracked for signs of increasing tightness in the labor market. On the earnings side, the biggest results expected Tuesday are from Acuity Brands ( AYI ) and WD-40 Company ( WDFC ). Earnings estimates going up 2018 is setting up to be a unique year for markets. Aside from all the political noise that remains in the background of U.S. stocks at record highs and global growth enjoying its best run in a decade, a recent investing trend looks set to be turned on its ear. Since the financial crisis, earnings estimates have consistently started out too bullish. Wall Street analysts have over-estimated growth and then steadily cut estimates with expectations for earnings bottoming about a month out from actual reports. This chart from Credit Suisse shows how recent years have had steady cuts in earnings expectations with 2018 poised to show an uptick as the year goes on. Earnings expectations typically decline into the actual reporting quarter. This year, expectations look set to increase. (Source: Credit Suisse) But 2018 is shaping up to be a year in which analysts are too conservative in their estimates for earnings growth and forced to revise expectations higher. And this so-far modest uptick in earnings expectations in the quarters to come should accelerate, with Credit Suisses Jonathan Golub writing that, Analysts have adjusted their 2018 forecasts by less than 2% for recent tax changes, a fraction of the likely impact. Story continues Golub adds that, During reporting season, investors will be focused on guidance around (1) each companys new effective tax rate, (2) plans to redeploy capital back into businesses, (3) impacts on EPS from increased buybacks, and (4) the potential for higher dividends. We expect conservative guidance given the recency of new legislation. This should lead to above average revisions throughout 2018. Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland Read more from Myles here: Auto sales declined for the first time since the financial crisis in 2017 The markets story of 2017 real returns, fake news Evidence shows corporate tax cuts dont work Foreign investors might be the key to forecasting a U.S. recession Its been 17 years since U.S. consumers felt this good about the economy || Here's Why Alphabet and Amazon Can Earn Next to Nothing on Their Smart Speakers and Still Win: Over the holidays, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) heavily discounted their smart speakers to prices below the cost of manufacturing the devices, or pretty darn close. While nearly all of their smart speakers were discounted, here's a quick look at the discounted prices and bill of materials (how much all the parts cost to make the devices) for the companies' cheapest products -- the Echo Dot and Google Home Mini: Device Discounted Price Bill of Materials Google Home Mini $29.99 $26 Echo Dot $29.99 $34.87 Data sources: Reuters, ABI Research. Alphabet was losing a few dollars for each Home Mini it sold during the discounted period, and the Echo Dot earned less than $5 more than its bill of materials (BOM) during the perdio, according to data from Reuters and ABI Research. Of course, the BOM doesn't include things like shipping, so the overall cost to each company is likely to be higher. Lots of companies offer huge discounts during the holidays, and Google and Amazon aren't known for the their hardware sales anyway, so why does all of this matter? Because it shows that both companies are willing to lose money (or close to it) on devices so that they can gain access to customers' homes, and collect more data from them. A collage of Amazon Echo devices. Image source: Amazon.com. Data-collecting machines It helps if you start thinking about the companies' smart speakers not so much as home entertainment hardware, but rather as data collection devices. The Echo's Alexa virtual assistant and Home Mini's Google Assistant both field questions from their users about the weather, engage in trivia, play music, and can do tasks like order an Uber or add voice-activated features to other smart home products (such as the Nest thermostat). But the point of the devices for Amazon and Alphabet is to act as data collection devices that learn what users are searching for, what they're buying, what they're listening to, and what services they're requesting. Story continues In short, the companies don't care about how much money they make, if any, from the sales of these devices because the information they're learning about their customers is far more valuable. Google has been doing this for years by offering free services to its customers and then using the information it learns from them to sell targeted ads. It's working extremely well for the company, considering advertising accounts for 87% of all Alphabet's total revenue . But the same is also true for Amazon. For years the company has sold its Fire tablets at a loss or near cost to get them into more consumers' hands, so that it can sell them books, movies, TV shows, and products from its online store. Data from 2016 even showed that Echo owners tend to spend 10% more from Amazon than they did before they owned the smart speaker. The only difference is that now the two companies are focusing their attention on voice searches to gather more information and generate future sales. Amazon may be taking this one step further CNBC recently reported that Amazon is exploring promoted search results on its Echo devices, as well as tapping into past shopping purchases, to make suggestions for new products to buy. Sources told the news outlet that Clorox and Procter & Gamble are already in talks with Amazon about being part of this plan. It's worth mentioning that Amazon said it's not bringing ads to its Echo devices. It's still early to know whether Amazon will follow through with this idea, but it's becoming clear that both Amazon and Alphabet are betting that they can use these devices to glean more information about their users. comScore says that by 2020, nearly half of all online searches will be done with our voices, which means the companies are gaining more access to valuable customer information every day. And for that reason, Amazon and Alphabet will gladly take a loss on a few devices. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), and Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Here's Why Alphabet and Amazon Can Earn Next to Nothing on Their Smart Speakers and Still Win: Over the holidays,Amazon.com(NASDAQ: AMZN)andAlphabet(NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL)heavily discounted their smart speakers to prices below the cost of manufacturing the devices, or pretty darn close.
While nearly all of their smart speakers were discounted, here's a quick look at the discounted prices and bill of materials (how much all the parts cost to make the devices) for the companies' cheapest products -- the Echo Dot and Google Home Mini:
[{"Device": "Google Home Mini", "Discounted Price": "$29.99", "Bill of Materials": "$26"}, {"Device": "Echo Dot", "Discounted Price": "$29.99", "Bill of Materials": "$34.87"}]
Data sources: Reuters, ABI Research.
Alphabet was losing a few dollars for each Home Mini it sold during the discounted period, and the Echo Dot earned less than $5 more than its bill of materials (BOM) during the perdio, according to data from Reuters and ABI Research. Of course, the BOM doesn't include things like shipping, so the overall cost to each company is likely to be higher.
Lots of companies offer huge discounts during the holidays, and Google and Amazon aren't known for the their hardware sales anyway, so why does all of this matter? Because it shows that both companies are willing to lose money (or close to it) on devices so that they can gain access to customers' homes, and collect more data from them.
Image source: Amazon.com.
It helps if you start thinking about the companies' smart speakers not so much as home entertainment hardware, but rather as data collection devices.
The Echo's Alexa virtual assistant and Home Mini's Google Assistant both field questions from their users about the weather, engage in trivia, play music, and can do tasks like order an Uber or add voice-activated features to other smart home products (such as the Nest thermostat). But the point of the devices for Amazon and Alphabet is to act as data collection devices that learn what users are searching for, what they're buying, what they're listening to, and what services they're requesting.
In short, the companies don't care about how much money they make, if any, from the sales of these devices because theinformationthey're learning about their customers is far more valuable.
Google has been doing this for years by offering free services to its customers and then using the information it learns from them to sell targeted ads. It's working extremely well for the company, consideringadvertising accounts for 87% of all Alphabet's total revenue.
But the same is also true for Amazon. For years the company has sold its Fire tablets at a loss or near cost to get them into more consumers' hands, so that it can sell them books, movies, TV shows, and products from its online store. Data from 2016 even showed that Echo owners tend tospend 10% morefrom Amazon than they did before they owned the smart speaker.
The only difference is that now the two companies are focusing their attention on voice searches to gather more information and generate future sales.
CNBCrecently reportedthat Amazon is exploring promoted search results on its Echo devices, as well as tapping into past shopping purchases, to make suggestions for new products to buy. Sources told the news outlet thatCloroxandProcter & Gambleare already in talks with Amazon about being part of this plan. It's worth mentioning that Amazon said it's not bringing ads to its Echo devices.
It's still early to know whether Amazon will follow through with this idea, but it's becoming clear that both Amazon and Alphabet are betting that they can use these devices to glean more information about their users. comScore says that by 2020, nearly half of all online searches will be done with our voices, which means the companies are gaining more access to valuable customer information every day. And for that reason, Amazon and Alphabet will gladly take a loss on a few devices.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Chris Neigerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), and Amazon. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why NXP Semiconductors NV Shares Rose 20% in 2017: What happened Shares of NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) gained 19.5% in 2017, according to data from S&P; Global Market Intelligence . Given the buyout bid Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) made the chip maker in the fall of 2016, last year's gains really should have been capped at 12% . It didn't work out that way. A young investor hunches over his laptop, trying to make sense of NXP's extra-large gains in 2017. Image source: Getty Images. So what Qualcomm's takeover offer stands firm at $110 per share, to be paid in cash and with all the financing set up long ago. But regulators from China and the European Union are taking their sweet time to approve the deal. Meanwhile, impatient activist investors, led by investment firm Elliott Advisors, have been pushing for a larger price tag based on the stock price gains they feel NXP would have posted if there hadn't been a firm buyout price to consider. So NXP's share price now stands more than 7% above Qualcomm's offer, and holders of less than 2% of NXP's shares had officially accepted Qualcomm's tender offer at the latest count. Now what The companies originally wanted to close their merger by the end of 2017. The target has shifted to "early 2018" now, with the current tender offer expiring at the close of business Friday. I'd bet Qualcomm will extend the offer once again, assuming that Chinese and European regulators haven't approved the deal by then. When that happens -- be it in January or even later -- Qualcomm will most likely need to adjust its cash offer and agree to some other changes. In particular, the European Commission worries about Qualcomm's power to shut down the competition in key markets where NXP holds patents that are central to industry standards, such as near-field communication. I can't wait to see exactly what terms Qualcomm will swallow in order to get its hands on NXP's portfolio of automotive computing products -- and how this deal's final particulars could affect Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) and its own attempt to swallow Qualcomm in a hostile takeover. Story continues More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and NXP Semiconductors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why NXP Semiconductors NV Shares Rose 20% in 2017: Shares ofNXP Semiconductors(NASDAQ: NXPI)gained 19.5% in 2017,according to data from S&P; Global Market Intelligence. Given the buyout bidQualcomm(NASDAQ: QCOM)made the chip maker in the fall of 2016, last year's gainsreally should have been capped at 12%. It didn't work out that way.
Image source: Getty Images.
Qualcomm's takeover offer stands firm at $110 per share, to be paid in cash and with all the financing set up long ago. But regulators from China and the European Union are taking their sweet time to approve the deal. Meanwhile, impatient activist investors, led by investment firm Elliott Advisors, have been pushing for a larger price tag based on the stock price gains they feel NXP would have posted if there hadn't been a firm buyout price to consider.
So NXP's share price now stands more than 7% above Qualcomm's offer, andholders of less than 2% of NXP's shareshad officially accepted Qualcomm's tender offer at the latest count.
The companies originally wanted to close their merger by the end of 2017. The target has shifted to "early 2018" now, with the current tender offer expiring at the close of business Friday. I'd bet Qualcomm will extend the offer once again, assuming that Chinese and European regulators haven't approved the deal by then.
When that happens -- be it in January or even later -- Qualcomm will most likely need to adjust its cash offer and agree to some other changes. In particular, the European Commission worries about Qualcomm's power to shut down the competition in key markets where NXP holds patents that are central to industry standards, such as near-field communication.I can't wait to see exactly what terms Qualcomm will swallowin order to get its hands on NXP's portfolio of automotive computing products -- and how this deal's final particulars could affectBroadcom(NASDAQ: AVGO)and its own attempt to swallow Qualcomm in a hostile takeover.
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Anders Bylundhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and NXP Semiconductors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || GoPro's Turnaround Hits a Brick Wall: Action-camera maker GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO) went into the holiday season expecting a not-so-great performance. The company's fourth-quarter guidance called for revenue of $470 million, down from $541 million in the prior-year period. But GoPro's results weren't lackluster. They were disastrous. The company announced preliminary fourth-quarter numbers on Monday that weren't even in the ballpark of its guidance. GoPro expects revenue to come in at just $340 million, a 37% year-over-year decline. Demand for its products was far weaker than it expected just a few months ago. The Hero 6 Black camera resting on sand. The Hero 6 Black. Image source: GoPro. A lot went wrong The Hero 5 Black camera, which launched in 2016, failed to appeal to consumers this holiday season. GoPro cut the price on Dec. 10 , which helped sell-through at the expense of margins. "Despite significant marketing support, we found consumers were reluctant to purchase HERO5 Black at the same price it launched at one year earlier," reads GoPro's press release. The company saw sell-through more than double in the two weeks following the price cut. The new Hero 6 Black performed as GoPro expected during the holiday quarter, but the company is still slashing the price. The premium model now goes for $399, down from $499. Given the concerns about less expensive alternatives eating away at GoPro's action-camera market share, this price cut is not a good development. GoPro's new spherical camera performed well, but the company is officially abandoning its highest-profile product. The Karma drone, once hailed as GoPro's savior before launching late and suffering a recall , is no more. GoPro will exit the aerial market after selling its remaining Karma inventory. Intense competition and a hostile regulatory environment were cited as factors behind the decision. The badly bungled launch didn't help, either. Due to the drone-market exit and weak demand, GoPro plans to lay off hundreds of employees. The current workforce of 1,254 employees will be whittled down to fewer than 1,000. This will cut costs, but it's also an indication that GoPro's growth story is dead. Story continues A buyout might be the best option News broke Monday afternoon that GoPro has hired JPMorgan to explore a possible sale. CEO Nick Woodman, speaking to CNBC, commented on the company's plans: "If there are opportunities for us to unite with a bigger parent company to scale GoPro even bigger, that is something that we would look at." Whether GoPro ends up selling itself or not, it's clear that the company desperately needs new management. Its holiday results were downright awful, and its disastrous attempt to enter the drone market is the kind of mistake that well-run companies seldom make. GoPro expects to return to profitability and growth in the second half of 2018, but at this point I wouldn't trust its ability to forecast anything. The stock looked interesting in December , with the prospect of a decent holiday season driven by new products. But the turnaround turned out to be a mirage. A buyout would be an unceremonious end to GoPro's run as a public company. At least longtime investors would be put out of their misery. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Timothy Green has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends GoPro. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || GoPro's Turnaround Hits a Brick Wall: Action-camera makerGoPro(NASDAQ: GPRO)went into the holiday season expecting a not-so-great performance. The company's fourth-quarter guidance called for revenue of $470 million, down from $541 million in the prior-year period.
But GoPro's results weren't lackluster. They were disastrous. The company announced preliminary fourth-quarter numbers on Monday that weren't even in the ballpark of its guidance. GoPro expects revenue to come in at just $340 million, a 37% year-over-year decline. Demand for its products was far weaker than it expected just a few months ago.
The Hero 6 Black. Image source: GoPro.
The Hero 5 Black camera, which launched in 2016, failed to appeal to consumers this holiday season. GoProcut the price on Dec. 10, which helped sell-through at the expense of margins. "Despite significant marketing support, we found consumers were reluctant to purchase HERO5 Black at the same price it launched at one year earlier," reads GoPro's press release. The company saw sell-through more than double in the two weeks following the price cut.
The new Hero 6 Black performed as GoPro expected during the holiday quarter, but the company is still slashing the price. The premium model now goes for $399, down from $499. Given the concerns about less expensive alternatives eating away at GoPro's action-camera market share, this price cut is not a good development.
GoPro's new spherical camera performed well, but the company is officially abandoning its highest-profile product. The Karma drone, once hailed as GoPro's savior beforelaunching late and suffering a recall, is no more. GoPro will exit the aerial market after selling its remaining Karma inventory. Intense competition and a hostile regulatory environment were cited as factors behind the decision. The badly bungled launch didn't help, either.
Due to the drone-market exit and weak demand, GoPro plans to lay off hundreds of employees. The current workforce of 1,254 employees will be whittled down to fewer than 1,000. This will cut costs, but it's also an indication that GoPro's growth story is dead.
News broke Monday afternoon that GoPro has hiredJPMorganto explore a possible sale. CEO Nick Woodman, speaking to CNBC, commented on the company's plans: "If there are opportunities for us to unite with a bigger parent company to scale GoPro even bigger, that is something that we would look at."
Whether GoPro ends up selling itself or not, it's clear that the company desperately needs new management. Its holiday results were downright awful, and its disastrous attempt to enter the drone market is the kind of mistake that well-run companies seldom make.
GoPro expects to return to profitability and growth in the second half of 2018, but at this point I wouldn't trust its ability to forecast anything. The stocklooked interesting in December, with the prospect of a decent holiday season driven by new products. But the turnaround turned out to be a mirage. A buyout would be an unceremonious end to GoPro's run as a public company. At least longtime investors would be put out of their misery.
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Timothy Greenhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends GoPro. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. Stock Lost 11.1% in December: What happened Shares of Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNCR) shed 11.1% of their value in December, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence . The decline in the company's stock price appears to have stemmed from an unfavorable analyst rating published at the end of November, which came on the heels of a year's worth of soggy fiscal performance and concerns that the company could be delisted by Nasdaq. Man using tablet. Image source: Getty Images. So what Synchronoss stock closed a challenging 2017 with another month of double-digit share-price declines. A note from an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus published November 29 kicked off a fresh round of sell-offs, and the downward pricing movement carried through December. While there wasn't much in the way of business-related news for the company last month, shareholders seem to have lost confidence in the stock after a very tumultuous year. April saw the company's CEO and CFO depart unexpectedly along with the delivery of disappointing preliminary first-quarter results. Publication of the earnings release was then delayed in May in order to conduct an audit of recent transactions, and the company also announced that it would be restating its fiscal results for 2015 and 2016. In October, Synchronoss announced that it would sell its recently acquired Intralinks unit for $1.2 billion -- a profitable flip, but also an indication of uncertainty since the deal to buy the business at $821 million was only completed in January 2017. SNCR Chart SNCR data by YCharts Now what Following the big sell-offs over the last 12 months, Synchronoss shares are now valued at roughly 10 times forward earnings and roughly 0.9 times forward sales. Those might be metrics that pique the interest of value-focused investors. Synchronoss does have a well-established client base for its cloud services (including AT&T , Verizon , and Sprint , among many others) working in its favor, and its most recent earnings report indicated that the company had a solid balance sheet with roughly $180 million in cash against no debt. However, uncertainties remain that suggest the stock probably isn't a good fit for risk-averse investors. Synchronoss is scheduled to have a hearing with the Nasdaq Hearings Panel this January to determine whether the company will be able to meet fiscal reporting standards or have its stock delisted. Story continues More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool recommends Synchronoss Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. Stock Lost 11.1% in December: Shares ofSynchronoss Technologies, Inc.(NASDAQ: SNCR)shed 11.1% of their value in December, according to data provided byS&P Global Market Intelligence. The decline in the company's stock price appears to have stemmed from an unfavorable analyst rating published at the end of November, which came on the heels of a year's worth of soggy fiscal performance and concerns that the company could be delisted by Nasdaq.
Image source: Getty Images.
Synchronoss stock closed a challenging 2017 with another month of double-digit share-price declines. Anotefrom an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus published November 29 kicked off a fresh round of sell-offs, and the downward pricing movement carried through December. While there wasn't much in the way of business-related news for the company last month, shareholders seem to have lost confidence in the stock after a very tumultuous year.
April saw the company's CEO and CFO depart unexpectedly along with the delivery of disappointing preliminary first-quarter results. Publication of the earnings release was then delayed in May in order to conduct an audit of recent transactions, and the company also announced that it would be restating its fiscal results for 2015 and 2016. In October, Synchronoss announced that it would sell its recently acquired Intralinks unit for $1.2 billion -- a profitable flip, but also an indication of uncertainty since the deal to buy the business at $821 million was only completed in January 2017.
SNCRdata byYCharts
Following the big sell-offs over the last 12 months, Synchronoss shares are now valued at roughly 10 times forward earnings and roughly 0.9 times forward sales. Those might be metrics that pique the interest of value-focused investors.
Synchronoss does have a well-established client base for its cloud services (includingAT&T,Verizon, andSprint, among many others) working in its favor, and its most recent earnings report indicated that the company had a solid balance sheet with roughly $180 million in cash against no debt.However, uncertainties remain that suggest the stock probably isn't a good fit for risk-averse investors.Synchronoss is scheduled to have a hearing with the Nasdaq Hearings Panel this January to determine whether the company will be able to meet fiscal reporting standards or have its stock delisted.
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Keith Noonanhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool recommends Synchronoss Technologies. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Ethereum Regains Title as Second Most Valuable Cryptocurrency Behind Bitcoin: It’s been a fierce battle for silver in the cryptocurrency world in recent days.
On Monday, Ethereum regained the title of second most valuable cryptoccurency after rival asset Ripple held its ground forroughly a week.
Ripple prices fell roughly 25% Monday to $2.50, leading a broader sell-off in the cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin values also fell roughly 7.6% to $15,000, while Ethereum prices rose slightly,2.5% to $1,155. That pushed Ripple’s market capitalization down to $98.5 billion, and lifted Ethereum’s value to $111.9 billion, according to data firmCoinMarketCap. Bitcoin, meanwhile, maintains its top spot with a valuation of $255.1 billion.
It was a hodge podge of news Monday that helped shape those shifting dynamics. For one,reports have emerged that the Chinese government, home to the world’s largest Bitcoin mining operation, would push for an “orderly exit” from the cryptocurrency mining business,Quartzreported.
Then, CoinMarketCap, a major source of information in the crypto world, decided to remove data from South Korean exchanges in its calculation of asset prices. Since cryptocurrency generally trades higher in South Korea, the removal looked like a sudden across-the-board sell off—triggering panicked selling from investors who were not immediately made aware of the change.
“First, it was due to capital flows with investors realizing their profits from cryptocurrencies,” said Iqbal Gandham, Managing Director at cryptocurrency brokerage eToro in an email toFortune. “Secondly, a data adjustment by CoinMarketCap, the most popular site for cryptocurrency pricing data, removed South Korean exchanges from its site, which have been known to trade much higher than the rest of the world.”
While the execution left something to be wanted, the exclusion of South Korean markets seemed logically sound to some cryptocurrency watchers, including Ripple Chief Cryptographer David Schwartz.
Ripple’s price, which rose as high as $3.65 last week, may have gotten an extra push southward after the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbasequashed rumors that it might allow trading of Ripple in the near future.
“As of the date of this statement, we have made no decision to add additional assets to either GDAX or Coinbase,” a Coinbase representative wrote in a Jan. 4 post. “Any statement to the contrary is untrue and not authorized by the company.”
That dispelled hopes that Ripple would be exposed to even more investors, namely, those on Coinbase.
At the same time, investors have also been worrying as to whetherRipple is in bubble territory. The asset has jumped 900% in the past month alone. || Ethereum Regains Title as Second Most Valuable Cryptocurrency Behind Bitcoin: It’s been a fierce battle for silver in the cryptocurrency world in recent days.
On Monday, Ethereum regained the title of second most valuable cryptoccurency after rival asset Ripple held its ground forroughly a week.
Ripple prices fell roughly 25% Monday to $2.50, leading a broader sell-off in the cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin values also fell roughly 7.6% to $15,000, while Ethereum prices rose slightly,2.5% to $1,155. That pushed Ripple’s market capitalization down to $98.5 billion, and lifted Ethereum’s value to $111.9 billion, according to data firmCoinMarketCap. Bitcoin, meanwhile, maintains its top spot with a valuation of $255.1 billion.
It was a hodge podge of news Monday that helped shape those shifting dynamics. For one,reports have emerged that the Chinese government, home to the world’s largest Bitcoin mining operation, would push for an “orderly exit” from the cryptocurrency mining business,Quartzreported.
Then, CoinMarketCap, a major source of information in the crypto world, decided to remove data from South Korean exchanges in its calculation of asset prices. Since cryptocurrency generally trades higher in South Korea, the removal looked like a sudden across-the-board sell off—triggering panicked selling from investors who were not immediately made aware of the change.
“First, it was due to capital flows with investors realizing their profits from cryptocurrencies,” said Iqbal Gandham, Managing Director at cryptocurrency brokerage eToro in an email toFortune. “Secondly, a data adjustment by CoinMarketCap, the most popular site for cryptocurrency pricing data, removed South Korean exchanges from its site, which have been known to trade much higher than the rest of the world.”
While the execution left something to be wanted, the exclusion of South Korean markets seemed logically sound to some cryptocurrency watchers, including Ripple Chief Cryptographer David Schwartz.
Ripple’s price, which rose as high as $3.65 last week, may have gotten an extra push southward after the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbasequashed rumors that it might allow trading of Ripple in the near future.
“As of the date of this statement, we have made no decision to add additional assets to either GDAX or Coinbase,” a Coinbase representative wrote in a Jan. 4 post. “Any statement to the contrary is untrue and not authorized by the company.”
That dispelled hopes that Ripple would be exposed to even more investors, namely, those on Coinbase.
At the same time, investors have also been worrying as to whetherRipple is in bubble territory. The asset has jumped 900% in the past month alone. || Ethereum Regains Title as Second Most Valuable Cryptocurrency Behind Bitcoin: Its been a fierce battle for silver in the cryptocurrency world in recent days. On Monday, Ethereum regained the title of second most valuable cryptoccurency after rival asset Ripple held its ground for roughly a week. Ripple prices fell roughly 25% Monday to $2.50, leading a broader sell-off in the cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin values also fell roughly 7.6% to $15,000, while Ethereum prices rose slightly, 2.5% to $1,155 . That pushed Ripples market capitalization down to $98.5 billion, and lifted Ethereums value to $111.9 billion, according to data firm CoinMarketCap . Bitcoin, meanwhile, maintains its top spot with a valuation of $255.1 billion. It was a hodge podge of news Monday that helped shape those shifting dynamics. For one, reports have emerged that the Chinese government , home to the worlds largest Bitcoin mining operation, would push for an orderly exit from the cryptocurrency mining business, Quartz reported . Then, CoinMarketCap, a major source of information in the crypto world, decided to remove data from South Korean exchanges in its calculation of asset prices. Since cryptocurrency generally trades higher in South Korea, the removal looked like a sudden across-the-board sell offtriggering panicked selling from investors who were not immediately made aware of the change. First, it was due to capital flows with investors realizing their profits from cryptocurrencies, said Iqbal Gandham, Managing Director at cryptocurrency brokerage eToro in an email to Fortune . Secondly, a data adjustment by CoinMarketCap, the most popular site for cryptocurrency pricing data, removed South Korean exchanges from its site, which have been known to trade much higher than the rest of the world. This morning we excluded some Korean exchanges in price calculations due to the extreme divergence in prices from the rest of the world and limited arbitrage opportunity. We are working on better tools to provide users with the averages that are most relevant to them. CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) January 8, 2018 While the execution left something to be wanted, the exclusion of South Korean markets seemed logically sound to some cryptocurrency watchers, including Ripple Chief Cryptographer David Schwartz. Story continues They are outliers due to a shortage of cryptos in Korea and difficulty getting KRW out. The new price is more accurate and meaningful, IMO. David Schwartz (@JoelKatz) January 8, 2018 Ripples price, which rose as high as $3.65 last week, may have gotten an extra push southward after the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase quashed rumors that it might allow trading of Ripple in the near future . As of the date of this statement, we have made no decision to add additional assets to either GDAX or Coinbase, a Coinbase representative wrote in a Jan. 4 post. Any statement to the contrary is untrue and not authorized by the company. That dispelled hopes that Ripple would be exposed to even more investors, namely, those on Coinbase. At the same time, investors have also been worrying as to whether Ripple is in bubble territory . The asset has jumped 900% in the past month alone. || Why AK Steel Holdings Stock Plummeted 45% in 2017: What happened AK Steel Holdings Corporation 's (NYSE: AKS) stock had a disastrous 2017, falling a painful 45% over the 12-month span. In fact, it would have been even worse if not for a 30% rally in the last two months of the year. To give you an idea of how bad it was, United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) , probably its closest peer based on the pair's underlying businesses, ended the year up around 6%. So what AK Steel has been facing headwinds since the end of the 2007-2009 recession, when a long steel industry downturn hit. The mill bled red ink each and every year between 2009 and 2016. It's possible that 2017 will be the year that changes the streak, but we'll have to wait till the company releases full-year results at the end of the month to find out. Through the first nine months of the year, AK Steel's earnings were at $0.37 a share. However, it's lost money in the fourth quarter of each of the last two years, with a 2015 fourth-quarter loss of $0.81 a share. A relatively strong fourth quarter would be enough to turn the corner here, but it's also entirely possible that 2017 will have been another year of red ink. Men working in a steel mill with sparks flying Image source: Getty Images. That's really just a symptom of the bigger issue, however. The company is simply muddling through while others in the industry are thriving. For example, Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) has posted positive earnings every year since 2009, with 2017 set to see a big gain over 2016. This mill earned $2.48 a share in 2016, but through the first nine months of 2017, it had already earned $2.90. It expects fourth-quarter earnings of around $0.50 a share, so there's no question that Nucor will see a huge bottom-line improvement year over year. To be fair, part of the difference between Nucor and AK Steel is the businesses backing their steel production. Nucor uses electric arc mini-mills, which are easier to ramp up and down with demand. AK Steel uses blast furnaces, which require high utilization rates to turn a profit. U.S. Steel uses blast furnaces as well, which helps explain why U.S. Steel posted a string of red ink following the recession just like AK Steel. Story continues A notable headwind for the entire industry has been an influx of cheap foreign steel, pushing industry prices down and satisfying demand that might otherwise have flowed through to AK Steel's order book. That trend continued in 2017, though a broad steel rally at the end of the year was driven by hopes that China will curtail production, helping to alleviate the global oversupply, in an effort to reduce pollution in the giant Asian nation. AKS Chart AKS data by YCharts . But even that doesn't change the fact that AK Steel has been struggling to make ends meet for years. It also still has a heavily leveraged balance sheet , with negative stockholders' equity, meaning that debt makes up more than 100% of the capital structure (excluding noncontrolling interests). Interest expense, meanwhile, ate up roughly 45% of the mill's operating profit through the first nine months of 2017. That number at Nucor was roughly 1%, which helps explain why investors are less than pleased with AK Steel's stock. In fact, long-term debt was higher at the end of the fourth quarter than where it started the year. That's the wrong direction and one of the reasons why investors have been leery of AK Steel's shares. When you add in relatively weak earnings and the heavy use of blast furnaces, you start to see why 2017 wasn't such a great year for the stock. A lot needs to go right for AK Steel to turn its business around. Now what If steel demand and prices head higher in 2018, AK Steel will be a major beneficiary . A large enough improvement could also mean that the mill's bottom-line results will move solidly into the black. That will likely lead investors to push the shares higher, and rightly so. However, AK Steel remains laden with debt in what is a highly cyclical industry. If that doesn't change, the next downturn will hurt just as much, if not worse, than the last one. Although leading steel industry names like Nucor aren't cheap today, most investors would be better off waiting for a cyclical price pullback in the best companies rather than trying to ride a recovery in AK Steel's stock. It's not worth the risk since AK Steel is still dealing with a weak financial foundation. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Reuben Gregg Brewer owns shares of Nucor. The Motley Fool recommends Nucor. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why AK Steel Holdings Stock Plummeted 45% in 2017: AK Steel Holdings Corporation's(NYSE: AKS)stock had a disastrous 2017, falling a painful 45% over the 12-month span. In fact, it would have been even worse if not for a 30% rally in the last two months of the year. To give you an idea of how bad it was,United States Steel Corporation(NYSE: X), probably its closest peer based on the pair's underlying businesses, ended the year up around 6%.
AK Steel has been facing headwinds since the end of the 2007-2009 recession, when a long steel industry downturn hit. The mill bled red ink each and every year between 2009 and 2016. It's possible that 2017 will be the year that changes the streak, but we'll have to wait till the company releases full-year results at the end of the month to find out. Through the first nine months of the year, AK Steel's earnings were at $0.37 a share. However, it's lost money in the fourth quarter of each of the last two years, with a 2015 fourth-quarter loss of $0.81 a share. A relatively strong fourth quarter would be enough to turn the corner here, but it's also entirely possible that 2017 will have been another year of red ink.
Image source: Getty Images.
That's really just a symptom of the bigger issue, however. The company is simply muddling through while others in the industry are thriving. For example,Nucor Corp.(NYSE: NUE)has posted positive earnings every year since 2009, with 2017 set to see a big gain over 2016. This mill earned $2.48 a share in 2016, but through the first nine months of 2017, it had already earned $2.90. It expects fourth-quarter earnings of around $0.50 a share, so there's no question that Nucor will see a huge bottom-line improvement year over year.
To be fair, part of the difference between Nucor and AK Steel is the businesses backing their steel production. Nucor uses electric arc mini-mills, which are easier to ramp up and down with demand. AK Steel uses blast furnaces, which require high utilization rates to turn a profit. U.S. Steel uses blast furnaces as well, which helps explain why U.S. Steel posted a string of red ink following the recession just like AK Steel.
A notable headwind for the entire industry has been an influx of cheap foreign steel, pushing industry prices down and satisfying demand that might otherwise have flowed through to AK Steel's order book. That trend continued in 2017, though a broad steel rally at the end of the year was driven by hopes that China will curtail production, helping to alleviate the global oversupply, in an effort to reduce pollution in the giant Asian nation.
AKSdata byYCharts.
But even that doesn't change the fact that AK Steel has been struggling to make ends meet for years. It also still has a heavily leveragedbalance sheet, with negative stockholders' equity, meaning that debt makes up more than 100% of the capital structure (excluding noncontrolling interests). Interest expense, meanwhile, ate up roughly 45% of the mill's operating profit through the first nine months of 2017. That number at Nucor was roughly 1%, which helps explain why investors are less than pleased with AK Steel's stock.
In fact, long-term debt was higher at the end of the fourth quarter than where it started the year. That's the wrong direction and one of the reasons why investors have been leery of AK Steel's shares. When you add in relatively weak earnings and the heavy use of blast furnaces, you start to see why 2017 wasn't such a great year for the stock. A lot needs to go right for AK Steel to turn its business around.
If steel demand and prices head higher in 2018,AK Steel will be a major beneficiary. A large enough improvement could also mean that the mill's bottom-line results will move solidly into the black. That will likely lead investors to push the shares higher, and rightly so.
However, AK Steel remains laden with debt in what is a highly cyclical industry. If that doesn't change, the next downturn will hurt just as much, if not worse, than the last one. Although leading steel industry names like Nucor aren't cheap today, most investors would be better off waiting for a cyclical price pullbackin the best companiesrather than trying to ride a recovery in AK Steel's stock. It's not worth the risk since AK Steel is still dealing with a weak financial foundation.
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Reuben Gregg Brewerowns shares of Nucor. The Motley Fool recommends Nucor. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || There Was More to Caterpillar Inc. Stock's 11.6% Jump in December Than You Might Know: What happened Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) shares crushed it yet again in December, climbing 11.6% and ending the year with -- hold your breath -- gains of 70%. Yet Caterpillar's December rally was backed by valid reasons, one of which should make investors hopeful about the company's prospects for 2018. So what Caterpillar's last major announcement was its third-quarter earnings release in October. The company trampled earnings estimates and upgraded its full-year outlook for the third time in the year, fueling its share prices to rise even higher. The following months were relatively quiet from Caterpillar's end, but its retail sales statistics announced in December had a hidden message: Caterpillar's machinery sales are growing at their fastest pace in about six years. Dump trucks at a mining site Image source: Getty Images. Every month, Caterpillar releases retail machinery sales for the previous three-month rolling period. In mid-December, Caterpillar reported a 26% jump in its total retail sales for the three months ended November compared with the year-ago period. That marked the ninth straight period of sales growth. The pace of growth has been incredible too: Caterpillar first reported a turnaround during the quarter ended in March, when its sales improved 1%. The percentage had gone up to 19% for the three months ended October, and 26% for the three months ended November. As if those numbers weren't encouraging enough, Citigroup gave wings to investors' hopes when it upped its price target for the stock to $160 later in December, backed by expectations of 30% growth in the company's earnings per share in 2018. Needless to say, the market turned increasingly bullish about the heavy-equipment manufacturer, bidding its shares even higher in December. Now what Caterpillar stock may have run ahead of itself, but it's hard to ignore the upward trend in its sales. What's noteworthy is that demand for equipment from some of the company's key end markets, especially mining and energy, has just started gathering steam. Story continues If commodity prices continue to hold steady, Caterpillar's global sales could grow even faster. Meanwhile, Caterpillar will undoubtedly be one of the biggest beneficiaries if President Trump rolls out his infrastructure plans to rebuild America. Combined, these factors should support the stock price. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Neha Chamaria has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .
[Social Media Buzz]
#BTC Average: 15098.37$
#Bitfinex - 14756.00$
#Poloniex - 14784.99$
#Bitstamp - 14780.00$
#Coinbase - 14838.00$
#Binance - 14774.96$
#CEXio - 16267.68$
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#Bitcoin #Exchanges #Price || Bitcoin - BTC
Price: $14,665.00
Change in 1h: -0.74%
Market cap: $246,262,921,730.00
Ranking: 1
#Bitcoin #BTC || One Bitcoin now worth $15300.00@bitstamp. High $15994.05. Low $13900.00. Market Cap $256.897 Billion #bitcoin || 2018...
|
14973.30, 13405.80, 13980.60, 14360.20, 13772.00, 13819.80, 11490.50, 11188.60, 11474.90, 11607.40
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 48829.83, 47054.98, 47166.69, 48847.03, 49327.72, 50025.38, 49944.62, 51753.41, 52633.54, 46811.13, 46091.39, 46391.42, 44883.91, 45201.46, 46063.27, 44963.07, 47092.49, 48176.35, 47783.36, 47267.52, 48278.36, 47260.22, 42843.80, 40693.68, 43574.51, 44895.10, 42839.75, 42716.59, 43208.54, 42235.73, 41034.54, 41564.36, 43790.89, 48116.94, 47711.49, 48199.95, 49112.90, 51514.81, 55361.45, 53805.98, 53967.85, 54968.22, 54771.58, 57484.79, 56041.06, 57401.10, 57321.52, 61593.95, 60892.18, 61553.62, 62026.08, 64261.99, 65992.84, 62210.17, 60692.27, 61393.62, 60930.84, 63039.82, 60363.79, 58482.39, 60622.14, 62227.96, 61888.83, 61318.96, 61004.41, 63226.40, 62970.05, 61452.23, 61125.68, 61527.48, 63326.99, 67566.83, 66971.83, 64995.23, 64949.96, 64155.94, 64469.53, 65466.84, 63557.87, 60161.25, 60368.01, 56942.14, 58119.58, 59697.20, 58730.48, 56289.29, 57569.07, 56280.43, 57274.68, 53569.77.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-11-26]
Volume: 41810748221, RSI (14-day): 35.74, 50-day EMA: 58515.92, 200-day EMA: 49652.82
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1785.30, Gold RSI: 41.64
Oil Price: 68.15, Oil RSI: 26.87
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
First Mover Asia: What Holiday? Bitcoin Soars Past $59K Amid Brisk Trading: Good morning. Here’s what’s happening this morning: Market moves: Bitcoin broke above $59,000 with at least one analyst expecting a “healthy” holiday rally. Technician’s take (Editor’s Note): On account of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, today’s First Mover Asia will include a column in place of the usual Technician’s take. Catch the latest episodes of CoinDesk TV for insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis. Prices Bitcoin ( BTC ): $59,118 +3.5% Ether ( ETH ): $4,530 +6.4% Market moves The crypto market on Thursday, the U.S. Thanksgiving day holiday, was not as quiet as some anticipated, after bitcoin prices briefly broke past $59,000, and trading volume remained at a level similar to the previous three days. Ether soared past $4,500, a more than 6% gain. Credit: CoinDesk/CryptoCompare As bitcoin’s price finished Thursday (HKT/SGT) in the green, the rest of the crypto market experienced high price volatility with major winners of the day including gaming tokens GALA, SAND, and MANA and dog-themed meme token SHIB. These tokens all saw high daily trading volume on Thursday, a bullish sign for a token’s price when it accompanies a price rally. One analyst expects this bullish sentiment will continue during the December holiday season, particularly now that a few macroeconomic uncertainties have abated, including Jerome Powell’s reappointment as Federal Reserve chair. “The period after U.S. Thanksgiving is traditionally very bullish for risky assets and I would not be surprised to see a healthy Christmas rally for cryptos during the holiday season,” Changguang Zheng, co-founder and chief investment officer at crypto hedge fund ZX Squared Capital, told CoinDesk. Yet there were also less optimistic signs in investors’ activities. “Bitcoin put options, derivatives offering downside protection, continue to become pricier, implying bearish sentiment,” CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole reported on Thursday. Opinion El Salvador: Who Needs the IMF When You Have Bitcoin?: The IMF is a brutal bully constantly declaring its virtue. It’s about time someone pushed back. Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film, “The Dark Knight Rises,” is generally considered the weakest entry in the series, in part because it’s so easily read as a celebration of neoliberal authoritarianism. The film’s plot has the villain, Bane, take over Gotham City, wipe out all financial ledgers and reign over a kind of mega-Occupy movement. To fight back, Batman engages in a series of moral compromises that he justifies as, more or less, necessary exceptions to defend a more broadly just system. Story continues The International Monetary Fund has been playing the Batman role in the global order for decades. Though nominally aimed at supporting democracy and free markets, reforms mandated by the IMF in exchange for its loans have historically included serious cuts to social spending and industrial policy. The fallout is often devastating: The IMF’s (real world) body count is considerably higher than Batman’s. El Salvador, a country with low income and high debt, has been in negotiations with the IMF for one of its loans in the amount of $1.3 billion. One roadblock has been the country’s recent adoption of bitcoin as legal tender. The IMF signaled it wasn’t too happy with that idea. On Monday, El Salvador introduced a $1 billion “Bitcoin Bond” that could present at least a partial end-run around the IMF, highlighting why bitcoin made the IMF so queasy in the first place. “The Dark Knight Rises” contains a notorious moment, drawn from the Batman comics, in which Bane pummels Batman so badly that his back is broken, leaving him paralyzed and vulnerable. That’s about how the IMF is going to feel if El Salvador finds a way to raise large sums of international financing, as a developing country with a troubled economy, without the IMF or corruption-riddled global banks. The bond allows purchases in units of $100, using bitcoin or tether. It will be issued by Bitfinex, an essentially stateless and unregulated platform. So there are probably few if any controls on who can buy into this bond, either by source or by amount. That means one simple thing: El Salvador will absolutely sell out of this bond, and will probably be able to issue another round. It will replace that $1.3 billion from the IMF without breaking a sweat, even taking into account that about half of the first bond sale will go into a bitcoin fund. There doesn’t need to be any further explanation of this than “Bitcoiners are nuts and rich,” and would gladly pump money into this small country for the lulz. More seriously, every one of these experiments that pans out is another win for bitcoin, so pitching in is also a matter of enlightened self-interest. Remember that an Ethereum DAO just raised $40 million for what was essentially a vaguely civic-minded prank – $1 billion for an actual bond with an actual return is nothing. Let’s leave aside the touted “Bitcoin City” El Salvador says it wants to build using the other half of the first bond. That’s mostly a marketing stunt: For $500 million, at best the country will get a couple of power plants, a server farm and an IHOP. And that’s actually fine! Assuming El Salvador follows through in broad strokes, you do need some kind of infrastructure to support the mining facilities, so whether or not it’s a “city” right off the bat is a matter of semantics. And $500 million of new capital in the small country will have a major impact regardless of how it’s spent. So, kudos to El Salvador for burning down Wall Street and building a throne out of the skulls of predatory bankers. That said, the bond might not be a terribly great investment. For one thing, it introduces political counterparty risk to your bitcoin strategy. This is a country that only emerged from near-anarchy in 1994, and while President Nayib Bukele seems to have sturdy popularity, a disruptive change in leadership or the political order could mean creditors don’t get paid back. That’s not necessarily likely, but it’s on the table in a way that it’s not with, say, U.S. Treasury bonds (or just buying bitcoin yourself). Also, Blockstream’s projection that the bond will return 165% annually over 10 years is based on the bet that bitcoin will be trading at $1 million by that time. I consider that completely possible, but also completely unknowable. A 10-year projection for literally any asset is pretty much always going to be a made-up number. Invest accordingly – unless your real priority is to change the world. Important events 8:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (12:30 a.m. UTC) Australia retail sales (Oct. MoM) 3:45 p.m. HKT/SGT (7:45 a.m. UTC) France consumer confidence (Nov.) 4 p.m. HKT/SGT (8 a.m. UTC) Speech by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde at the ECB Legal Conference 2021 CoinDesk TV In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of “First Mover” on CoinDesk TV : Is El Salvador’s Bitcoin City All a Fantasy? Ambassador of El Salvador to the US Explains Country’s Bitcoin Ambitions El Salvador is doubling down on its bitcoin adoption by planning to build a bitcoin city and issue a bitcoin bond. Will El Salvador succeed? “First Mover” hosts spoke with Milena Mayorga, ambassador of El Salvador to the United States. Plus, First Mover covered markets insights from Greg King, Osprey Funds founder and CEO. His firm is planning to launch NFT funds by early next year. Latest headlines Crypto: The Gift That Keeps On Giving (to Charity) Decentraland’s MANA Token Hits All-Time High After Sale of Virtual Real Estate Elrond Leapfrogs Into DeFi’s Top 10 as Users Chase Ridiculously Large Incentive Program Canada Needs a Loonie-Linked Digital Currency, Policy Experts Say Soccer Star Andrés Iniesta Warned by Spanish Regulator After Promoting Binance Longer reads ‘Crypto-States’ Will Compete With Corporates in the Metaverse Today’s Crypto Explainer: What is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network? || First Mover Asia: What Holiday? Bitcoin Soars Past $59K Amid Brisk Trading: Good morning. Here’s what’s happening this morning:
Market moves:Bitcoin broke above $59,000 with at least one analyst expecting a “healthy” holiday rally.
Technician’s take (Editor’s Note):On account of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, today’s First Mover Asia will include a column in place of the usual Technician’s take.
Catch the latest episodesofCoinDesk TVfor insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis.
Bitcoin (BTC): $59,118 +3.5%
Ether (ETH): $4,530 +6.4%
The crypto market on Thursday, the U.S. Thanksgiving day holiday, was not as quiet as some anticipated, afterbitcoinprices briefly broke past $59,000, and trading volume remained at a level similar to the previous three days. Ether soared past $4,500, a more than 6% gain.
As bitcoin’s price finished Thursday (HKT/SGT) in the green, the rest of the crypto market experienced high price volatility with major winners of the day including gaming tokens GALA, SAND, and MANA and dog-themed meme token SHIB. These tokens all saw high daily trading volume on Thursday, a bullish sign for a token’s price when it accompanies a price rally.
One analyst expects this bullish sentiment will continue during the December holiday season, particularly now that a few macroeconomic uncertainties have abated, including Jerome Powell’sreappointmentas Federal Reserve chair.
“The period after U.S. Thanksgiving is traditionally very bullish for risky assets and I would not be surprised to see a healthy Christmas rally for cryptos during the holiday season,” Changguang Zheng, co-founder and chief investment officer at crypto hedge fund ZX Squared Capital, told CoinDesk.
Yet there were also less optimistic signs in investors’ activities. “Bitcoin put options, derivatives offering downside protection, continue to become pricier, implying bearish sentiment,” CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbolereportedon Thursday.
El Salvador: Who Needs the IMF When You Have Bitcoin?: The IMF is a brutal bully constantly declaring its virtue. It’s about time someone pushed back.
Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film, “The Dark Knight Rises,” is generally considered the weakest entry in the series, in part because it’s so easily read as a celebration of neoliberal authoritarianism. The film’s plot has the villain, Bane, take over Gotham City, wipe out all financial ledgers and reign over a kind of mega-Occupy movement. To fight back, Batman engages in a series of moral compromises that he justifies as, more or less, necessary exceptions to defend a more broadly just system.
The International Monetary Fund has been playing the Batman role in the global order for decades. Though nominally aimed at supporting democracy and free markets, reforms mandated by the IMF in exchange for its loans have historically included serious cuts to social spending and industrial policy. The fallout is often devastating: The IMF’s (real world) body count is considerably higher than Batman’s.
El Salvador, a country with low income and high debt, has been in negotiations with the IMF for one of its loans in the amount of $1.3 billion. One roadblock has been the country’s recent adoption of bitcoin as legal tender. The IMF signaled it wasn’t too happy with that idea.
On Monday, El Salvador introduced a $1 billion “Bitcoin Bond” that could present at least a partial end-run around the IMF, highlighting why bitcoin made the IMF so queasy in the first place. “The Dark Knight Rises” contains a notorious moment, drawn from the Batman comics, in which Bane pummels Batman so badly that his back is broken, leaving him paralyzed and vulnerable. That’s about how the IMF is going to feel if El Salvador finds a way to raise large sums of international financing, as a developing country with a troubled economy, without the IMF or corruption-riddled global banks.
The bond allows purchases in units of $100, using bitcoin or tether. It will be issued by Bitfinex, an essentially stateless and unregulated platform. So there are probably few if any controls on who can buy into this bond, either by source or by amount.
That means one simple thing: El Salvador will absolutely sell out of this bond, and will probably be able to issue another round. It will replace that $1.3 billion from the IMF without breaking a sweat, even taking into account that about half of the first bond sale will go into a bitcoin fund.
There doesn’t need to be any further explanation of this than “Bitcoiners are nuts and rich,” and would gladly pump money into this small country for the lulz. More seriously, every one of these experiments that pans out is another win for bitcoin, so pitching in is also a matter of enlightened self-interest. Remember that an Ethereum DAO just raised $40 million for what was essentially a vaguely civic-minded prank – $1 billion for an actual bond with an actual return is nothing.
Let’s leave aside the touted “Bitcoin City” El Salvador says it wants to build using the other half of the first bond. That’s mostly a marketing stunt: For $500 million, at best the country will get a couple of power plants, a server farm and an IHOP. And that’s actually fine! Assuming El Salvador follows through in broad strokes, you do need some kind of infrastructure to support the mining facilities, so whether or not it’s a “city” right off the bat is a matter of semantics. And $500 million of new capital in the small country will have a major impact regardless of how it’s spent.
So, kudos to El Salvador for burning down Wall Street and building a throne out of the skulls of predatory bankers. That said, the bond might not be a terribly great investment.
For one thing, it introduces political counterparty risk to your bitcoin strategy. This is a country that only emerged from near-anarchy in 1994, and while President Nayib Bukele seems to have sturdy popularity, a disruptive change in leadership or the political order could mean creditors don’t get paid back. That’s not necessarily likely, but it’s on the table in a way that it’s not with, say, U.S. Treasury bonds (or just buying bitcoin yourself).
Also, Blockstream’s projection that the bond will return 165% annually over 10 years is based on the bet that bitcoin will be trading at $1 million by that time. I consider that completely possible, but also completely unknowable. A 10-year projection for literally any asset is pretty much always going to be a made-up number. Invest accordingly – unless your real priority is to change the world.
8:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (12:30 a.m. UTC) Australia retail sales (Oct. MoM)
3:45 p.m. HKT/SGT (7:45 a.m. UTC) France consumer confidence (Nov.)
4 p.m. HKT/SGT (8 a.m. UTC) Speech by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde at the ECB Legal Conference 2021
In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of“First Mover”onCoinDesk TV:
Is El Salvador’s Bitcoin City All a Fantasy? Ambassador of El Salvador to the US Explains Country’s Bitcoin Ambitions
El Salvador is doubling down on its bitcoin adoption by planning to build a bitcoin city and issue a bitcoin bond. Will El Salvador succeed? “First Mover” hosts spoke with Milena Mayorga, ambassador of El Salvador to the United States. Plus, First Mover covered markets insights from Greg King, Osprey Funds founder and CEO. His firm is planning to launch NFT funds by early next year.
Crypto: The Gift That Keeps On Giving (to Charity)
Decentraland’s MANA Token Hits All-Time High After Sale of Virtual Real Estate
Elrond Leapfrogs Into DeFi’s Top 10 as Users Chase Ridiculously Large Incentive Program
Canada Needs a Loonie-Linked Digital Currency, Policy Experts Say
Soccer Star Andrés Iniesta Warned by Spanish Regulator After Promoting Binance
‘Crypto-States’ Will Compete With Corporates in the Metaverse
Today’s Crypto Explainer:What is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network? || First Mover Asia: What Holiday? Bitcoin Soars Past $59K Amid Brisk Trading: Good morning. Here’s what’s happening this morning:
Market moves:Bitcoin broke above $59,000 with at least one analyst expecting a “healthy” holiday rally.
Technician’s take (Editor’s Note):On account of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, today’s First Mover Asia will include a column in place of the usual Technician’s take.
Catch the latest episodesofCoinDesk TVfor insightful interviews with crypto industry leaders and analysis.
Bitcoin (BTC): $59,118 +3.5%
Ether (ETH): $4,530 +6.4%
The crypto market on Thursday, the U.S. Thanksgiving day holiday, was not as quiet as some anticipated, afterbitcoinprices briefly broke past $59,000, and trading volume remained at a level similar to the previous three days. Ether soared past $4,500, a more than 6% gain.
As bitcoin’s price finished Thursday (HKT/SGT) in the green, the rest of the crypto market experienced high price volatility with major winners of the day including gaming tokens GALA, SAND, and MANA and dog-themed meme token SHIB. These tokens all saw high daily trading volume on Thursday, a bullish sign for a token’s price when it accompanies a price rally.
One analyst expects this bullish sentiment will continue during the December holiday season, particularly now that a few macroeconomic uncertainties have abated, including Jerome Powell’sreappointmentas Federal Reserve chair.
“The period after U.S. Thanksgiving is traditionally very bullish for risky assets and I would not be surprised to see a healthy Christmas rally for cryptos during the holiday season,” Changguang Zheng, co-founder and chief investment officer at crypto hedge fund ZX Squared Capital, told CoinDesk.
Yet there were also less optimistic signs in investors’ activities. “Bitcoin put options, derivatives offering downside protection, continue to become pricier, implying bearish sentiment,” CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbolereportedon Thursday.
El Salvador: Who Needs the IMF When You Have Bitcoin?: The IMF is a brutal bully constantly declaring its virtue. It’s about time someone pushed back.
Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film, “The Dark Knight Rises,” is generally considered the weakest entry in the series, in part because it’s so easily read as a celebration of neoliberal authoritarianism. The film’s plot has the villain, Bane, take over Gotham City, wipe out all financial ledgers and reign over a kind of mega-Occupy movement. To fight back, Batman engages in a series of moral compromises that he justifies as, more or less, necessary exceptions to defend a more broadly just system.
The International Monetary Fund has been playing the Batman role in the global order for decades. Though nominally aimed at supporting democracy and free markets, reforms mandated by the IMF in exchange for its loans have historically included serious cuts to social spending and industrial policy. The fallout is often devastating: The IMF’s (real world) body count is considerably higher than Batman’s.
El Salvador, a country with low income and high debt, has been in negotiations with the IMF for one of its loans in the amount of $1.3 billion. One roadblock has been the country’s recent adoption of bitcoin as legal tender. The IMF signaled it wasn’t too happy with that idea.
On Monday, El Salvador introduced a $1 billion “Bitcoin Bond” that could present at least a partial end-run around the IMF, highlighting why bitcoin made the IMF so queasy in the first place. “The Dark Knight Rises” contains a notorious moment, drawn from the Batman comics, in which Bane pummels Batman so badly that his back is broken, leaving him paralyzed and vulnerable. That’s about how the IMF is going to feel if El Salvador finds a way to raise large sums of international financing, as a developing country with a troubled economy, without the IMF or corruption-riddled global banks.
The bond allows purchases in units of $100, using bitcoin or tether. It will be issued by Bitfinex, an essentially stateless and unregulated platform. So there are probably few if any controls on who can buy into this bond, either by source or by amount.
That means one simple thing: El Salvador will absolutely sell out of this bond, and will probably be able to issue another round. It will replace that $1.3 billion from the IMF without breaking a sweat, even taking into account that about half of the first bond sale will go into a bitcoin fund.
There doesn’t need to be any further explanation of this than “Bitcoiners are nuts and rich,” and would gladly pump money into this small country for the lulz. More seriously, every one of these experiments that pans out is another win for bitcoin, so pitching in is also a matter of enlightened self-interest. Remember that an Ethereum DAO just raised $40 million for what was essentially a vaguely civic-minded prank – $1 billion for an actual bond with an actual return is nothing.
Let’s leave aside the touted “Bitcoin City” El Salvador says it wants to build using the other half of the first bond. That’s mostly a marketing stunt: For $500 million, at best the country will get a couple of power plants, a server farm and an IHOP. And that’s actually fine! Assuming El Salvador follows through in broad strokes, you do need some kind of infrastructure to support the mining facilities, so whether or not it’s a “city” right off the bat is a matter of semantics. And $500 million of new capital in the small country will have a major impact regardless of how it’s spent.
So, kudos to El Salvador for burning down Wall Street and building a throne out of the skulls of predatory bankers. That said, the bond might not be a terribly great investment.
For one thing, it introduces political counterparty risk to your bitcoin strategy. This is a country that only emerged from near-anarchy in 1994, and while President Nayib Bukele seems to have sturdy popularity, a disruptive change in leadership or the political order could mean creditors don’t get paid back. That’s not necessarily likely, but it’s on the table in a way that it’s not with, say, U.S. Treasury bonds (or just buying bitcoin yourself).
Also, Blockstream’s projection that the bond will return 165% annually over 10 years is based on the bet that bitcoin will be trading at $1 million by that time. I consider that completely possible, but also completely unknowable. A 10-year projection for literally any asset is pretty much always going to be a made-up number. Invest accordingly – unless your real priority is to change the world.
8:30 a.m. HKT/SGT (12:30 a.m. UTC) Australia retail sales (Oct. MoM)
3:45 p.m. HKT/SGT (7:45 a.m. UTC) France consumer confidence (Nov.)
4 p.m. HKT/SGT (8 a.m. UTC) Speech by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde at the ECB Legal Conference 2021
In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of“First Mover”onCoinDesk TV:
Is El Salvador’s Bitcoin City All a Fantasy? Ambassador of El Salvador to the US Explains Country’s Bitcoin Ambitions
El Salvador is doubling down on its bitcoin adoption by planning to build a bitcoin city and issue a bitcoin bond. Will El Salvador succeed? “First Mover” hosts spoke with Milena Mayorga, ambassador of El Salvador to the United States. Plus, First Mover covered markets insights from Greg King, Osprey Funds founder and CEO. His firm is planning to launch NFT funds by early next year.
Crypto: The Gift That Keeps On Giving (to Charity)
Decentraland’s MANA Token Hits All-Time High After Sale of Virtual Real Estate
Elrond Leapfrogs Into DeFi’s Top 10 as Users Chase Ridiculously Large Incentive Program
Canada Needs a Loonie-Linked Digital Currency, Policy Experts Say
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Today’s Crypto Explainer:What is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network? || Oil collapses as new Covid variant sparks market turmoil: Oil West Texas Intermediate Brent crude Covid strain - FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images FTSE 100 closes 3.7pc lower; Travel and leisure stocks slump Wall Street tumbles – S&P 500 and Nasdaq down 2.3pc; Dow Jones sees worst fall of the year Oil prices collapse amid demand fears Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin goes to war on ‘box-ticking’ shareholders Ben Wright: JP Morgan should make no apologies to the Chinese Communist Party Sign up here for our daily business briefing newsletter Oil prices have collapsed amid fears of lower demand over the winter as the new Covid strain sparks chaos across global markets. US oil prices slumped 10pc to just above $70 a barrel, while benchmark Brent crude dropped more than 9pc to below $75. The discovery of the new strain has sparked renewed restrictions, with the UK, EU and other nations banning travel from southern African countries. Traders now fear further lockdowns could hamper demand for oil. The sharp decline in prices has undone most of oil’s gains over the last two months and further complicates a row over output levels between production cartel Opec and major consumers such as the US. 07:10 PM Wrapping up It's now time to say goodbye after a very eventful day for markets. Thank you for following us and see you next week! Before you go, have a look at some of our main stories today: Fresh Covid fears threaten to derail Bank's fightback against inflation Post Office value slashed to zero after postmasters scandal Nadine Dorries 'minded' to let Rupert Murdoch merge the Times and Sunday Times Former Tesco chief Terry Leahy joins electric car charging start-up UK economy to grow faster than China’s for first time since Mao 07:06 PM OPEC+ may scrap plans to raise output next week OPEC+ may scrap plans to raise output at next week's meeting after today's oil price crash, which was the worst seen in a year. The Saudi-led alliance was mulling over a modest production hike scheduled for January but it's now unlikely to be implemented, according to Bloomberg . Story continues The group was already considering a pause after the US and other importing countries announced the release of emergency oil stockpiles earlier this week. “The emergence of a new Covid variant that could spawn renewed shutdowns and travel restrictions is precisely the type of change in market conditions that could cause ministers to deviate from their plan” to add barrels, Bob McNally, president of consultant Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House official, was reported as saying. 06:48 PM Coronavirus vaccine makers have already started studying the new variant Coronavirus vaccine makers have already started analysing how the new variant, B.1.1.529, is interacting with their jabs. Tests are underway at Johnson & Johnson, while Pfizer and BioNTech have begun investigations, CNBC reported. AstraZeneca is also on the case with studies in Botswana and Eswatini. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control assigned it the category “Variant of Concern.” covid-19 vaccine - Dinuka Liyanawatte /REUTERS 06:25 PM Wall Street extends losses as short trading day ends US stocks continued their descent until close on the short trading day. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished both 2.3pc lower, recording their worst performance since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its sharpest drop of the year of 2.5pc. Just like in the UK, travel and leisure stocks were among the biggest losers. Treasuries jumped on haven bids, sending the 10-year yield down the most since March 2020 on a closing basis, while traders pushed back bets on the Federal Reserve hiking rates. Dow Jones closed down >900 points in biggest drop since Oct 2020 as new COVID variant sparks market plunge. It's the worst Black Friday on record for the Dow, acc to Dow Jones Market Data. WHO says new Coronavirus strain detected in Southern Africa is variant of concern. pic.twitter.com/CsxdzsfK9r — Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) November 26, 2021 06:01 PM Brent crude plunges by over a tenth amid mounting concerns for new coronavirus variant Oil prices have plunged about $10 a barrel this afternoon in the largest one-day drop seen since April 2020. Brent crude fell 11.2pc to $73.02 a barrel while US WTI crude was down 13pc to $68.29 a barrel. The new COVID-19 has become a major concern, adding to worries over a wider supply surplus in the first quarter. "We think it’s still early days to say what this means for the global economy, but it has raised concerns about weaker demand for some commodities, especially oil if travel restrictions are re-imposed," economists at Capital Economics commented. "These developments will make the OPEC+ meeting next week even more intriguing. We now think that there is a much higher risk that OPEC+ decides to slow or halt the gradual return of supply given mounting concerns over demand and the release of reserves." 05:39 PM Telecom Italia's boss to offer resignation to help with KKR bid Telecom Italia's boss Luigi Gubitosi is set to resign as early as today to facilitate a €10.8bn takeover offer by private equity firm KKR. Directors of the former Italian monopoly are meeting in the afternoon and are likely to accept the departure, Bloomberg reported. Gubitosi was already under pressure following last month's surprise profit warning that led to a rift with top shareholder Vivendi. The French giant has been closely watching Gubitosi after his efforts to boost premium services failed to stop the decline. Chairman Salvatore Rossi could assume the chief executive role on an interim basis, while the head of Brazil, Pietro Labriola, could be promoted to group general manager. 05:16 PM FTSE 100 suffers biggest fall in more than a year The FTSE 100 has suffered its biggest fall in more than a year, as fears over the newly detected and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant hit global stock markets. London's leading index ended an otherwise solid trading week down 3.7pc, its lowest in more than seven weeks, with commodity, travel, and banking stocks leading the sell-off. British Airways owner IAG slumped 14.8pc, followed by Rolls-Royce down by 11.6pc. Hotel chains InterContinental Hotels and Whitbread both lost around 9pc. We must act with caution against this new variant. Early indications suggest it may be more transmissible and vaccines less effective. If you’ve returned recently from the countries now on the red list - please book PCR tests. Watch my statement here ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/sVYuTqxad4 — Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) November 26, 2021 04:54 PM JX Nippon to sell UK North Sea assets for £1.2bn JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration has agreed to sell its UK North Sea assets to private equity-owned NEO Energy for £1.2bn. The agreement, subject to regulatory approvals, includes the Japanese group’s 20pc interest in the Mariner deposit, which is operated by Norway's Equinor, and 18pc of TotalEnergies' Culzean project. They are among the newest large oil and gas fields in the region. The deal doesn’t include JX Nippon’s interests in the North Sea’s Andrew Area, as the Asian group has been negotiating a potential sale to oil major BP. The purchase could be the biggest in the basin this year, as large energy companies make space for smaller producers and private equity firms. 04:32 PM Blue Prism bidder given deadline to raise offer Jilted bidder SS&C Technologies has been given another two weeks to make a new offer for robotics software company Blue Prism, or walk away. Yesterday the Aim-listed group agreed to a £1.2bn takeover proposal, equating to £12.50 per share, from US private equity firm Vista Equity. However, SS&C had previously offered £12.20 per share. The Takeover Panel said that SS&C must make a firm offer by 5pm on Dec 2, although if a third party enters the race the timeline will be extended again. Shares in Blue Prism closed 6.8pc higher at £12.98 today. 04:16 PM Handing over That's all from me - thanks for following on a hectic day for markets... Giulia Bottaro is in the driving seat now to see you through to the weekend. 04:07 PM Former Tesco chief Terry Leahy joins electric car charging startup Sir Terry Leahy - Andrew Crowley Sir Terry Leahy, the former Tesco chief, has joined an electric car charging startup as it steps up plans for a London listing. Here's more from Howard Mustoe : Myenergi is riding a wave of interest in electric vehicles as Britain plans to ban the sale of combustion engine vehicles from 2030. The cost of electric cars is falling and their range is rising, making them increasingly attractive purchases. Its products include the Zappi car charging system, let customers use cheap overnight electricity, solar panels and small wind turbines to replenish their cars as well as sell electricity back to the grid. It notched up sales of £16.6m for the latest year. Sir Terry has been named a director of Myenergi, in which he and tech investor William Currie invested £1.2m in 2018. He is likely to take on a senior non-executive role as the firm lines up its next stage of expansion, which could involve a share sale, or a takeover by a private equity buyer or rival. 03:47 PM Issa brothers weigh merger of Asda and EG Group Issa brothers Asda EG Group - Jon Super The billionaire Issa brothers are said to be mulling a merger between Asda and their petrol station chain EG Group. The Blackburn duo are weighing a range of options for EG, which they own with private equity firm TDR Capital, including a tie-up that could value the combined business at around $35bn (£26bn), Bloomberg reports. TDR and the Issas last year took control of Asda in a £6.8bn deal. The supermarket chain has been stepping up its cooperation with EG recently, though the pair recently abandoned a £750m deal to sell Asda's forecourt assets to EG. According to the report, EG's owners have also been looking at other options including a sale of their Australian assets or a public listing of the petrol station business. 03:34 PM City watchdog gets its skates on amid backlash The City watchdog has given its senior managers sweeping new powers to ban rogue firms in a bid to protect consumers more quickly, writes Lucy Burton . The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is trying to speed up its processes following years of criticism that its investigations take far too long. It has vowed to give its senior staff the power to take matters into their own hands, allowing them to limit a firm's permissions or start criminal proceedings for areas such as insider dealing. The watchdog was heavily criticised for failing to act fast enough when problems first emerged at savings firm London Capital & Finance (LCF), which marketed risky "minibonds" to ordinary households but collapsed in 2019. MPs also this year accused the regulator of dragging its feet on an investigation into the collapse of Neil Woodford's empire in 2019, after the former star stock-picker revealed his audacious comeback bid in an interview with The Telegraph. 03:18 PM New Covid variant could derail UK recovery, warns BoE's Pill New strains of Covid and the risk of another lockdown could yet derail the UK's economic recovery, the Bank of England's chief economist has warned. Huw Pill said the arrival of any new variant – such as the so-called Nu variant that crashed global markets today – could impact the Bank's guidance that interest rates have to rise in coming months. He said: “If there’s a financial disruption, or if there’s the onset again of a pandemic and a lockdown, those are the type of events which clearly would change our view of the world. “We hope those things don’t happen. We don’t really know what the future holds. It’s those unknown unknowns that are the most difficult to manage.” Mr Pill said he was reluctant to offer more precise guidance, citing a quote from the former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson “who famously said everybody has a plan until you’re punched in the face”. Money markets have scaled back their bets on a Bank of England rates rise amid panic about the new variant. The chance of a hike at December's meeting is now seen at around 60pc, after being almost fully priced last week. 03:09 PM Moderna and Pfizer soar as investors pin hopes on vaccines Moderna Pfizer AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine - REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo Shares in vaccine makers including Moderna and Pfizer have soared amid expectations the new strain of Covid will fuel demand for jabs. Moderna leapt 22pc, while Pfizer jumped as much as 6.8pc. BioNTech, which partners with Pfizer on a vaccine, climbed 18pc. The companies have also been boosted by disappointing results from Merck's rival antiviral pill, while Pfizer on Thursday secured EU approval for expanded use of its Covid vaccine among children. BioNTech today said it will need two weeks to determine how effective its jab is against the new strain, which was first discovered in South Africa. It said: "We expect more data from the laboratory tests in two weeks at the latest. These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally." 02:56 PM Black Friday drives up retail spending Black Friday payments Barclaycard transactions - REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski Transactions have jumped across the UK as shoppers race to snap up the biggest Black Friday bargains. The latest data from Barclays card show that as of 1pm payment volumes are up 23.3pc on the same period last year. The numbers are flattered somewhat by the restrictions that dented sales during Black Friday 2020, though supply chain troubles and inflation are placing their own pressures on this year's shopping bonanza. Compared to pre-Covid levels in 2019, payment volumes are up 4.2pc. Rob Cameron, chief executive of Barclaycard Payments, said: Encouragingly, Black Friday this year is off to a strong start despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. This morning we’ve already seen an 23.3 per cent increase in transactions compared to Black Friday 2020. It's clear that there is still appetite for the savings that are to be had, and consumers are making the most of shops being open to pick up a festive bargain. Retailers will also be pleased to see their sales volumes have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and have surpassed those seen in 2019. 02:34 PM US stocks tumble As expected, Wall Street has taken a tumble at the opening bell as concerns over the new Covid variant continue to take their toll. The benchmark S&P 500 fell 1.5pc, while the Dow Jones was down 2.2pc. The Nasdaq lost 0.8pc. Analysts have warned of thin liquidity in today's curtailed session, with many traders still away from their desks after Thursday's Thanksgiving celebrations. 02:12 PM Scottish tidal energy firms welcome £300m boost Tidal energy Nova Innovation Atlantic Energy - Nova Innovation A pair of tidal energy firms operating in Scotland have welcomed a £300m funding boost from the Government. Nova Innovation and Atlantis Energy hailed the move to set up a £20m-a-year ringfenced budget for tidal stream technology, available for 15 years under the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. A spokesperson for Nova Innovation said: "This £300m investment signals the UK Government's confidence in the role tidal energy can play in delivering net zero carbon targets. "It creates a clear route to market for UK tidal energy companies like Atlantis and Nova that will create thousands of jobs across our coastal communities." Simon Forrest, chief executive of Nova Innovation, said he was delighted that tidal stream energy has been recognised by the Government "as a core part of the UK's green industrial revolution". 01:48 PM National Grid to review power balancing as payments soar National Grid will carry out a review of how it pays to balance the market as power stations demand increasingly high prices to provide electricity. The grid operator uses the balancing market to fine-tune supply and demand, with power generators paid to increase output when supplies are stretched or turn it down when they're not needed. Companies including EDF, SSE and Drax have been able to demand increasingly high prices recently to help plug gaps in supply amid low wind. National Grid said: "In recent weeks there have been some very high-cost days in the balancing mechanism. As those costs are ultimately borne by consumers it is important to fully understand the factors driving the market." 01:33 PM Covid worries: "Markets don't like uncertainty" Frankfurt Stock Exchange - Arne Dedert / Avalon Some analysts today believe markets have overreacted to the news of a new coronavirus variant , given how little we still know about it. But it is precisely this lack of knowledge that has spooked markets so much, say others, because it throws into doubt expected tightening by central banks and raises the prospect of yet more disruption. Peter Rutter , head of equities at Royal London Asset Management, says: This news is putting the handbrake on markets. This could be the moment that people look back on as derailing the economic recovery and rate rises. What we have is a big insertion of uncertainty rather than something material but markets don't like that. The very fact we don't know, is what's concerning the market. There is a huge range of outcomes that can happen. We could have serious lockdowns or we get no lockdowns and a booming economy. 01:19 PM US markets predicted to fall as traders gripped by virus fears Investors are braced for a post-Thanksgiving selloff when the opening bell sounds in Wall Street today. Tumbling stocks in Asia and Europe do not bode well for those in New York, which have been down in pre-market trading. It comes as the World Health Organization and scientists in South Africa are scrambling figure out how quickly the new B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant can spread and whether it’s resistant to vaccines. The worries add to a wider picture that also includes concerns about inflation, an anticipated winding down of support from the Federal Reserve and slowing growth. Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote, told Bloomberg: It’s terrible news. The new Covid variant could hit the economic recovery, but this time, the central banks won’t have enough margin to act. They can’t fight inflation and boost growth at the same time. They have to choose. Carl Dooley, the head of European, Middle East and Africa trading at Cowen, added: This is a big shock for people waking up (and) seeing the news. Uncertainty and fear will remain high and maybe we aren’t going back to new highs straight away. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq are operating on shortened hours today, from 9.30am to 1pm. 12:47 PM FTSE check-up Time for a lunchtime check on the FTSE 100 after this morning's brutal sell-off. The blue-chip index has pared back losses marginally to trade down 2.6pc. That's still £52bn wiped off the exchange, though, and it's on track for its worst day since September 2020. Travel and leisure stocks have recorded the most dramatic falls, with British Airways owner IAG now down 14pc. Hotel groups InterContinental and Whitbread have shed 7pc. Banking stocks HSBC , Lloyds and Barclays have also fared badly as traders scale back their expectations for a Bank of England interest rate hike. The domestically-focused FTSE 250 is down 2.2pc, faring only a little better than its blue-chip counterpart, with trading platforms Plus500 and CMC Markets pushing higher. 12:31 PM Google makes pledges on cookies reform to appease watchdog The competition watchdog will appoint a monitor to keep tabs on controversial changes to Google’s Chrome web browser after the company promised the overhaul would not give its advertising business an unfair advantage. James Titcomb has more details: Google has committed to ensuring that an upcoming privacy change to Chrome does not tighten its grip on the online advertising market following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The search giant said it will help rivals manage the change and by ringfencing data that would give its advertising business an advantage. The CMA has been investigating Google's plans to block “third party cookies”, pieces of code that advertisers use to track individuals around the web and target adverts. Google plans to replace this with its own technology, known as Privacy Sandbox, that it said will allow adverts to be targeted while preserving personal data. Chrome is the world’s most popular browser. Advertising companies had warned that the changes would allow Google to enjoy outsized power to target adverts, while leaving rivals blind. On Friday, the CMA said it had secured commitments from Google that included providing regular reports to the regulator on the changes, and appointing a regulator-approved trustee to manage the changes. 12:20 PM Lidl UK chief to step down Lidl's UK boss Christian Hartnagel - Christopher Pledger Elsewhere, there's a major management reshuffle at Lidl. Christian Hartnagel, chief executive of the supermarket chain's British business, will step down next year to take the helm of Lidl's German operations. His current deputy chief executive, Ryan McDonnell, will take over as the British division's new chief next year. Mr Hartnagel has led Lidl's UK operations for the last five years, expanding its presence on high streets and increasingly eating away market share from Big Four rivals Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda. The surprise departure comes just two days after he set out a new long-term growth plan for Lidl GB. Bosses at the retailer said they expect to reach their original target of having 1,000 stores by 2023 and set a new ambition for 1,100 sites by 2025. 12:12 PM Wall Street drops on Covid variant fears Wall Street is poised to drop sharply this afternoon, following on from major losses for markets across Europe and Asia. Futures tracking the Dow Jones have tumbled 2.3pc, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are down 1.9pc and 1.2pc respectively. It comes as the discovery of a new strain of Covid rattles markets ahead of a shortened post-Thanksgiving trading session. Major airlines dropped between 5pc and 6pc in premarket trading, as the new variant detected in South Africa prompted the EU, UK and India to roll out travel bans. Cruise operators Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises plunged about 9pc each. Wall Street banking titans including Bank of America , Citigroup , JPMorgan , Goldman Sachs , Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley fell between 3pc and 4pc as traders pared back their recent bets on interest rate hikes. 11:38 AM 'Fear gauge' surges as Covid sparks volatility A key Wall Street index dubbed the 'fear gauge' has recorded its sharpest jump since the beginning of the year as investor jitters mount over the new Covid variant. The Vix index, which measures expectations of volatility in US stocks over the next month, leapt 38.3pc to 25.7 – its biggest move since January 27. 11:23 AM Extinction Rebellion targets Amazon depots on Black Friday It may be a Black Friday for markets, but for retailers that term has a very different meaning. Amazon was the first company to bring the shopping bonanza to Britain, but now it's finding itself at the heart of climate protests up and down the country. Extinction Rebellion has targeted 13 of the ecommerce giant's warehouses in protest at what it deems the epitome of obsessive overconsumption. Activists have blocked a string of depots in locations including Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol. The group said: Black Friday epitomises an obsession with overconsumption that is not consistent with a liveable planet," the group said. Amazon and companies like it have capitalised on our desire for convenience and stoked rampant consumerism at the expense of the natural world. Amazon protest Extinction Rebellion Amazon protest Extinction Rebellion Amazon protest Extinction Rebellion 11:05 AM Traders cut interest rate bets My colleague Louis Ashworth has some more details on how the new Covid variant is impacting traders' expectations of an interest rates rise. Money markets priced in a 70pc chance officials will vote to increase the cost of borrowing on December 16th, which had been pegged as a certainty as recently as yesterday. Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclays, said a pullback in stocks was “logical” given many markets have been pushing all-time highs. He said: “What is key is to find out whether current vaccines remain effective against the variants, or not. Covid uncertainty might force central banks to err on the side of caution.” Nigel Green, from asset manager deVere Group, said equity markets would eventually shrug off the drop, as they did after the Delta variant rose to prominence earlier this year. He said: “This wobble is likely to be temporary with markets remaining bullish for the time being.” Liquidity is likely to be thin when US markets open as many traders are still away from their desks following Thanksgiving on Thursday, with the New York Stock Exchange only opening for a half day. Read Louis' full story here 10:52 AM UK to beat China for economic growth for first time since Chairman Mao UK China economy GDP chairman Mao - REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo A touch of positive economic news now to counteract this morning's woes... Britain’s economy is set to grow more quickly than China's for the first time since the death of Mao Zedong as the world’s second-largest economy slumps to its worst performance in more than 30 years. Tim Wallace reports: The UK is expected to sustain its strong rebound from Covid with growth of 5.4pc in 2022, according to analysts at BNP Paribas. By contrast China is set to grow by 5.3pc, according to the forecasts calculated before the emergence of the new Covid variant. It will be the first time Britain has expanded faster than the Asian titan since 1976, the year of Chairman Mao’s death. China was the first big economy to rebound to its pre-Covid GDP, but now Beijing’s iron-fisted zero Covid policy is expected to hold the country back as the nation’s factories and ports are routinely forced to shut by new outbreaks. A crunch in the property market, centred around troubled developer Evergrande, will also remove a key driver of growth. 10:31 AM FTSE on track for worst day in more than a year To put today's decline into context, the FTSE 100 is currently on track to record its worst day in more than a year. Falls of as much as 3.4pc mean the blue-chip index is facing its worst session since September 2020, when it dropped 2.6pc amid concerns about a second wave of Covid. While the market reaction appears to be history repeating itself, some analysts are less concerned about the threats this time around. Economist Thomas Hirst says we "know the playbook now", making it easier to think through scenarios. Still, uncertainty is anathema to markets, and that's played out in today's drop. Market response to new variant story on Friday of Thanksgiving week is not necessarily surprising. But we know the playbook now so easier to think through the scenarios I think. In EUR credit markets, higher beta asset classes gapping out but long-end holding up. Seems reasonable — Tomas Hirst (@tomashirstecon) November 26, 2021 10:14 AM Bitcoin loses a fifth of value since September highs Bitcoin Covid variant - Angel Garcia/Bloomberg For many investors, cryptocurrencies have offered an attractive, inflation-resistant alternative to traditional assets. But in times of crisis, it seems, volatile digital coins are not quite so appealing. Bitcoin tumbled almost 8pc this morning as investors dumped riskier assets and fled to safe haven assets such as bonds, the yen and the dollar. The cryptocurrency fell as much as 7.8pc to $54,377, its lowest level since October 12. The latest decline means Bitcoin has slumped by more than a fifth since hitting a record high of almost $70,000 earlier this month. Ether, the second biggest by market capitalisation, slumped as much as 11.6pc to its lowest in a week. Read more on this story: World watches through its fingers as El Salvador bets on Bitcoin 10:07 AM Expert reaction: 'Noisy and difficult' pricing in of restrictions Chris Beauchamp , chief market analyst at IG, says: European markets have seen most of the gains made in the course of October and November evaporate overnight as investors around the globe react to the new Covid variant that has appeared in South Africa. Early reports suggest it spreads quickly and could be much more resistance to existing vaccines. While the situation appears confined to the region for now, markets are scrambling to price in a return of restrictions across the globe, taking their cue from the UK’s travel restrictions and the tighter restrictions imposed in Portugal. This process is always a noisy and difficult one, and has been exacerbated by the lack of liquidity that is always a feature of markets around Thanksgiving. Already some pockets of strength (or less weakness perhaps) have emerged, with Nasdaq futures holding up better than the rest as investors there hold their nerve, but perhaps some of the early moves today will be reversed if a more optimistic tone prevails into this afternoon and next week. 09:55 AM Oil keeps sliding amid demand fears Oil prices are firmly in negative territory this morning amid concerns the new Covid variant could dent global demand over the winter. Brent crude has dropped 5.6pc to below $78 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate has plunged 6.8pc to just over $73. Oil analyst Keshav Lohiya told Bloomberg: “With little known about it, the market is right to be panicked. However this is a cat-and-mouse game between vaccines and variants.” It comes ahead of a key meeting of Opec+ to decide production policy for January. The group has clashed with major oil consumers including the US after they announced a coordinated release of strategic reserves to help tame prices. Opec has repeatedly resisted calls to accelerate output, leading to accusations from the International Energy Agency that it was creating "artificial tightness" in the market. But today's fall in prices will add fresh complications over demand forecasts as the spectre of tighter restrictions looms. 09:48 AM Thin liquidity sparks big market moves A small word of caution now to put this morning's plunge into context. Yesterday's Thanksgiving holiday in the US has left liquidity thin, with many traders still away from their desks. As a result, today's big market movements could be more accentuated. 09:21 AM Sterling drops below $1.33 for first time this year Sterling briefly dropped below $1.33 for the first time since December 2020 as the currency got caught up in a wider exodus from riskier assets. The pound fell as low as $1.3278, before recovering ground to trade at $1.3331. Against the euro it dropped 0.6pc to 84.65p. ING analysts said: "London is naturally highly exposed to new strains given its high volume of travellers, and markets will be on the lookout in the coming days for any evidence the new variant has already reached UK, with obvious downside risks for the pound." 09:11 AM Expert reaction: Markets to shrug off new variant Amid panic about the new Covid variant, some analysts are more sanguine about the prospects for markets. Nigel Green , chief executive of deVere Group, reckons the new strain will spark a temporary wobble but will soon be shrugged off. Experts are determining whether the new variant is more transmissible or more deadly than previous ones. The fact that a new strain has been discovered and, critically, that at this stage we know little about it has caused jitters in the financial markets, which loathe uncertainty. The headlines have caused a knee-jerk reaction. In addition, Wall Street was closed yesterday meaning that a large bulk of global trades were missing, making other moves more pronounced. This wobble is likely to be temporary with markets remaining bullish for the time being. 09:08 AM Traders pull back bets on interest rates rise Money markets have pulled back their bets on a Bank of England interest rate rise as fresh Covid concerns fuel speculation central banks could slow their pace of tightening monetary policy. Traders are now pricing in less than 10 basis points of interest rate rises in December. They're also expecting an increase of less than 25bp in February. 08:56 AM Investors flock to deliveries and sanitiser There are echoes of March 2020 this morning, with investors turning to lockdown-friendly stocks. Just three companies are currently trading higher: Ocado is up 2.9pc, while Reckitt Benckiser and Royal Mail are up 0.3pc and 0.2pc respectively. The movements suggest traders are betting on more home deliveries this winter, as well as higher demand for cleaning products. 08:42 AM Even Bitcoin feels the heat It seems there's no escape from this morning's Covid concerns – even cryptocurrency is feeling the heat. Bitcoin, which recently surged to record highs, is down almost 6pc at $55,494. Ethereum, the second largest digital coin, has also slumped 5pc. NO ESCAPE! #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/fGuorBNd79 — jeroen blokland (@jsblokland) November 26, 2021 08:33 AM Leisure and travel stocks lead falls Unsurprisingly, it's leisure and travel stocks that are taking the biggest beating across Europe this morning. The UK and Israel have already announced travel bans from southern Africa, while the EU has said it's likely to follow suit. Here's how the biggest European players are faring: Airlines : IAG -21pc, Lufthansa -12pc, Air France-KLM -9.7pc, EasyJet -16pc, Wizz Air -16pc, Ryanair -9.5pc Tour operators : TUI -11pc, Jet2 -7.2pc, On the Beach -8.6pc Hotels : IHG -6.7pc, Accor -8.8pc, Melia Hotels -9.4pc, Scandic Hotels -6.5pc, Whitbread -6.9pc Travel hub retailers : Dufry -10pc, WH Smith -9.8pc, SSP Group -9.8pc, Autogrill -13pc 08:28 AM Gas prices slump on virus risks There's some bittersweet news in energy markets as soaring gas prices have begun to ease – but not for the best of reasons. Gas prices have surged in recent months, contributing to an escalating energy crisis that has put around 25 suppliers out of business. Benchmark Dutch gas has reversed course this morning, falling 2.9pc to €90.52 a megawatt-hour, though it's still up for a fourth consecutive week. It comes as the new Covid variant fuels concerns that a rise in infections and the introduction of tighter restrictions will curb demand for energy over the winter. A rise in wind power has also contributed to the easing of prices. 08:20 AM FTSE risers and fallers Right, time to take stock of what's happened on the FTSE so far. The blue-chip index has slid further into the red – it's now down 3.4pc at 7,063 points as investors react to the new South Africa Covid strain. IAG is the biggest faller. The British Airways lost as much as a quarter of its value, but it's now pared some of its initial losses to trade down 14pc. Jet engine maker Rolls-Royce is down 13pc, while hotel groups InterContinental and Whitbread have both fallen 7pc. 08:11 AM British Airways owner loses fifth of its value British Airways IAG - Steve Parsons/PA Wire It looks like IAG may be one of the biggest losers from the Covid troubles. The British Airways owner has bombed 21pc after the UK brought in a travel ban on South Africa and five other southern African nations. The EU looks set to follow suit. It's leading a 6.6pc decline on the wider pan-European Stoxx 600 travel and leisure index. 08:06 AM FTSE 100 tumbles As expected, it's a huge drop for the FTSE 100. The blue-chip index slumped as much as 2.3pc at the opening bell. It's now down 2.2pc at 7,147 points. Initial numbers coming through suggest there are some hefty falls across the index. InterContinental Hotels Group is down 5.1pc – its biggest decline in 17 months. Banking stocks are also taking a hit, with Barclays and Lloyds firmly in the red. Anglo-South African firm Investec has dropped 5.2pc in its biggest fall for eight months. 07:48 AM EU proposes South Africa travel ban The EU looks likely to follow Britain's lead and halt air travel from southern Africa in a desperate bid to keep the new strain out. European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the bloc was planning to "activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to the variant of concern B.1.1.529". The @EU_Commission will propose, in close coordination with Member States, to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to the variant of concern B.1.1.529. — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 26, 2021 07:45 AM Oil tumbles on Covid concerns Oil prices are taking a battering this morning as news of the new variant casts doubts over demand for the winter. Brent crude dropped 3.9pc to below $80 a barrel amid a wave of caution across global markets. West Texas Intermediate – another key benchmark – slumped 4pc to below $75 a barrel. 07:42 AM What's happening with the new Covid variant? The discovery of the new South Africa variant has sparked panic on the markets, but how bad is it? Researchers don't yet know just how lethal or transmissible it is, but the Government is taking a cautious approach. Fears that the strain, which has 32 mutations, could evade the vaccine are particularly concerning. Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said the new variant "may be more transmissible" than the delta strain and added "the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective". A JCVI scientist has warned the public needs to be ready for new restrictions in the wake of the discovery. Read more: Public must prepare for change in restrictions in wake of new South African Covid variant 07:34 AM FTSE set to slump at the open It looks like the FTSE won't be immune from the wider market jitters this morning. Futures tracking the blue-chip index are pointing 2pc lower as investors respond to the discovery of a potentially vaccine-resistant Covid variant. The sentiment has spread elsewhere in Europe, with futures tracking the continent's top 50 companies falling 2.3pc. All eyes will be on travel stocks when the FTSE opens after the Government announced a temporary ban on flights from South Africa and five neighbouring countries. 07:24 AM Asian shares crash on new Covid fears Good morning. Some rather grim reading to kick off your Friday, I'm afraid, as news of the new Covid super-variant sends shockwaves through markets. While not much is known about the B.1.1529 variant – first discovered in South Africa – warnings that it's the most dangerous mutation ever seen have been enough to spook investors. As well as the sharp drop in Asian stocks, US futures slumped and crude oil lost ground. US Treasuries and the yen have both pushed higher, while the South African rand dropped to its lowest level in a year. 5 things to start your day 1) M&S under fire over plan to demolish flagship Marble Arch store Critics say it risks advent of 'ugly spreadsheet architecture' 2) More EU nationals left UK last year than arrived for first time in three decades Net migration plunges as pandemic restrictions and post-Brexit rules came into force 3) Bank of England museum to host slavery exhibition Portraits of former governors linked to slave trade will go on display when Bank museum reopens 4) Huel founder in line for hundreds of millions from £1bn float Julian Hearn holds a 53pc stake in the meal-replacement drink company 5) Energy watchdog faces 'serious questions' over string of supplier collapses Two more energy providers stopped trading on Thursday, affecting another 70,000 households What happened overnight Stocks fell and headed for their largest weekly drop in almost two months on Friday, while safe haven assets such as bonds and the yen rallied as a new virus variant added to swirling concerns about future growth and higher US interest rates. South Africa's rand fell 1pc in early trade, as did US.crude futures. S&P 500 futures fell 0.4pc, while the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars dropped to three-month lows. Japan's Nikkei was down 1.7pc in early trade and Australian shares fell 0.6pc. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2% for a weekly fall of 1pc. Coming up today Corporate: No company releases scheduled for today Economics: Money supply (EU) || Oil collapses as new Covid variant sparks market turmoil: Oil West Texas Intermediate Brent crude Covid strain - FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images FTSE 100 closes 3.7pc lower; Travel and leisure stocks slump Wall Street tumbles – S&P 500 and Nasdaq down 2.3pc; Dow Jones sees worst fall of the year Oil prices collapse amid demand fears Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin goes to war on ‘box-ticking’ shareholders Ben Wright: JP Morgan should make no apologies to the Chinese Communist Party Sign up here for our daily business briefing newsletter Oil prices have collapsed amid fears of lower demand over the winter as the new Covid strain sparks chaos across global markets. US oil prices slumped 10pc to just above $70 a barrel, while benchmark Brent crude dropped more than 9pc to below $75. The discovery of the new strain has sparked renewed restrictions, with the UK, EU and other nations banning travel from southern African countries. Traders now fear further lockdowns could hamper demand for oil. The sharp decline in prices has undone most of oil’s gains over the last two months and further complicates a row over output levels between production cartel Opec and major consumers such as the US. 07:10 PM Wrapping up It's now time to say goodbye after a very eventful day for markets. Thank you for following us and see you next week! Before you go, have a look at some of our main stories today: Fresh Covid fears threaten to derail Bank's fightback against inflation Post Office value slashed to zero after postmasters scandal Nadine Dorries 'minded' to let Rupert Murdoch merge the Times and Sunday Times Former Tesco chief Terry Leahy joins electric car charging start-up UK economy to grow faster than China’s for first time since Mao 07:06 PM OPEC+ may scrap plans to raise output next week OPEC+ may scrap plans to raise output at next week's meeting after today's oil price crash, which was the worst seen in a year. The Saudi-led alliance was mulling over a modest production hike scheduled for January but it's now unlikely to be implemented, according to Bloomberg . Story continues The group was already considering a pause after the US and other importing countries announced the release of emergency oil stockpiles earlier this week. “The emergence of a new Covid variant that could spawn renewed shutdowns and travel restrictions is precisely the type of change in market conditions that could cause ministers to deviate from their plan” to add barrels, Bob McNally, president of consultant Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House official, was reported as saying. 06:48 PM Coronavirus vaccine makers have already started studying the new variant Coronavirus vaccine makers have already started analysing how the new variant, B.1.1.529, is interacting with their jabs. Tests are underway at Johnson & Johnson, while Pfizer and BioNTech have begun investigations, CNBC reported. AstraZeneca is also on the case with studies in Botswana and Eswatini. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control assigned it the category “Variant of Concern.” covid-19 vaccine - Dinuka Liyanawatte /REUTERS 06:25 PM Wall Street extends losses as short trading day ends US stocks continued their descent until close on the short trading day. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished both 2.3pc lower, recording their worst performance since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its sharpest drop of the year of 2.5pc. Just like in the UK, travel and leisure stocks were among the biggest losers. Treasuries jumped on haven bids, sending the 10-year yield down the most since March 2020 on a closing basis, while traders pushed back bets on the Federal Reserve hiking rates. Dow Jones closed down >900 points in biggest drop since Oct 2020 as new COVID variant sparks market plunge. It's the worst Black Friday on record for the Dow, acc to Dow Jones Market Data. WHO says new Coronavirus strain detected in Southern Africa is variant of concern. pic.twitter.com/CsxdzsfK9r — Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) November 26, 2021 06:01 PM Brent crude plunges by over a tenth amid mounting concerns for new coronavirus variant Oil prices have plunged about $10 a barrel this afternoon in the largest one-day drop seen since April 2020. Brent crude fell 11.2pc to $73.02 a barrel while US WTI crude was down 13pc to $68.29 a barrel. The new COVID-19 has become a major concern, adding to worries over a wider supply surplus in the first quarter. "We think it’s still early days to say what this means for the global economy, but it has raised concerns about weaker demand for some commodities, especially oil if travel restrictions are re-imposed," economists at Capital Economics commented. "These developments will make the OPEC+ meeting next week even more intriguing. We now think that there is a much higher risk that OPEC+ decides to slow or halt the gradual return of supply given mounting concerns over demand and the release of reserves." 05:39 PM Telecom Italia's boss to offer resignation to help with KKR bid Telecom Italia's boss Luigi Gubitosi is set to resign as early as today to facilitate a €10.8bn takeover offer by private equity firm KKR. Directors of the former Italian monopoly are meeting in the afternoon and are likely to accept the departure, Bloomberg reported. Gubitosi was already under pressure following last month's surprise profit warning that led to a rift with top shareholder Vivendi. The French giant has been closely watching Gubitosi after his efforts to boost premium services failed to stop the decline. Chairman Salvatore Rossi could assume the chief executive role on an interim basis, while the head of Brazil, Pietro Labriola, could be promoted to group general manager. 05:16 PM FTSE 100 suffers biggest fall in more than a year The FTSE 100 has suffered its biggest fall in more than a year, as fears over the newly detected and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant hit global stock markets. London's leading index ended an otherwise solid trading week down 3.7pc, its lowest in more than seven weeks, with commodity, travel, and banking stocks leading the sell-off. British Airways owner IAG slumped 14.8pc, followed by Rolls-Royce down by 11.6pc. Hotel chains InterContinental Hotels and Whitbread both lost around 9pc. We must act with caution against this new variant. Early indications suggest it may be more transmissible and vaccines less effective. If you’ve returned recently from the countries now on the red list - please book PCR tests. Watch my statement here ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/sVYuTqxad4 — Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) November 26, 2021 04:54 PM JX Nippon to sell UK North Sea assets for £1.2bn JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration has agreed to sell its UK North Sea assets to private equity-owned NEO Energy for £1.2bn. The agreement, subject to regulatory approvals, includes the Japanese group’s 20pc interest in the Mariner deposit, which is operated by Norway's Equinor, and 18pc of TotalEnergies' Culzean project. They are among the newest large oil and gas fields in the region. The deal doesn’t include JX Nippon’s interests in the North Sea’s Andrew Area, as the Asian group has been negotiating a potential sale to oil major BP. The purchase could be the biggest in the basin this year, as large energy companies make space for smaller producers and private equity firms. 04:32 PM Blue Prism bidder given deadline to raise offer Jilted bidder SS&C Technologies has been given another two weeks to make a new offer for robotics software company Blue Prism, or walk away. Yesterday the Aim-listed group agreed to a £1.2bn takeover proposal, equating to £12.50 per share, from US private equity firm Vista Equity. However, SS&C had previously offered £12.20 per share. The Takeover Panel said that SS&C must make a firm offer by 5pm on Dec 2, although if a third party enters the race the timeline will be extended again. Shares in Blue Prism closed 6.8pc higher at £12.98 today. 04:16 PM Handing over That's all from me - thanks for following on a hectic day for markets... Giulia Bottaro is in the driving seat now to see you through to the weekend. 04:07 PM Former Tesco chief Terry Leahy joins electric car charging startup Sir Terry Leahy - Andrew Crowley Sir Terry Leahy, the former Tesco chief, has joined an electric car charging startup as it steps up plans for a London listing. Here's more from Howard Mustoe : Myenergi is riding a wave of interest in electric vehicles as Britain plans to ban the sale of combustion engine vehicles from 2030. The cost of electric cars is falling and their range is rising, making them increasingly attractive purchases. Its products include the Zappi car charging system, let customers use cheap overnight electricity, solar panels and small wind turbines to replenish their cars as well as sell electricity back to the grid. It notched up sales of £16.6m for the latest year. Sir Terry has been named a director of Myenergi, in which he and tech investor William Currie invested £1.2m in 2018. He is likely to take on a senior non-executive role as the firm lines up its next stage of expansion, which could involve a share sale, or a takeover by a private equity buyer or rival. 03:47 PM Issa brothers weigh merger of Asda and EG Group Issa brothers Asda EG Group - Jon Super The billionaire Issa brothers are said to be mulling a merger between Asda and their petrol station chain EG Group. The Blackburn duo are weighing a range of options for EG, which they own with private equity firm TDR Capital, including a tie-up that could value the combined business at around $35bn (£26bn), Bloomberg reports. TDR and the Issas last year took control of Asda in a £6.8bn deal. The supermarket chain has been stepping up its cooperation with EG recently, though the pair recently abandoned a £750m deal to sell Asda's forecourt assets to EG. According to the report, EG's owners have also been looking at other options including a sale of their Australian assets or a public listing of the petrol station business. 03:34 PM City watchdog gets its skates on amid backlash The City watchdog has given its senior managers sweeping new powers to ban rogue firms in a bid to protect consumers more quickly, writes Lucy Burton . The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is trying to speed up its processes following years of criticism that its investigations take far too long. It has vowed to give its senior staff the power to take matters into their own hands, allowing them to limit a firm's permissions or start criminal proceedings for areas such as insider dealing. The watchdog was heavily criticised for failing to act fast enough when problems first emerged at savings firm London Capital & Finance (LCF), which marketed risky "minibonds" to ordinary households but collapsed in 2019. MPs also this year accused the regulator of dragging its feet on an investigation into the collapse of Neil Woodford's empire in 2019, after the former star stock-picker revealed his audacious comeback bid in an interview with The Telegraph. 03:18 PM New Covid variant could derail UK recovery, warns BoE's Pill New strains of Covid and the risk of another lockdown could yet derail the UK's economic recovery, the Bank of England's chief economist has warned. Huw Pill said the arrival of any new variant – such as the so-called Nu variant that crashed global markets today – could impact the Bank's guidance that interest rates have to rise in coming months. He said: “If there’s a financial disruption, or if there’s the onset again of a pandemic and a lockdown, those are the type of events which clearly would change our view of the world. “We hope those things don’t happen. We don’t really know what the future holds. It’s those unknown unknowns that are the most difficult to manage.” Mr Pill said he was reluctant to offer more precise guidance, citing a quote from the former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson “who famously said everybody has a plan until you’re punched in the face”. Money markets have scaled back their bets on a Bank of England rates rise amid panic about the new variant. The chance of a hike at December's meeting is now seen at around 60pc, after being almost fully priced last week. 03:09 PM Moderna and Pfizer soar as investors pin hopes on vaccines Moderna Pfizer AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine - REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo Shares in vaccine makers including Moderna and Pfizer have soared amid expectations the new strain of Covid will fuel demand for jabs. Moderna leapt 22pc, while Pfizer jumped as much as 6.8pc. BioNTech, which partners with Pfizer on a vaccine, climbed 18pc. The companies have also been boosted by disappointing results from Merck's rival antiviral pill, while Pfizer on Thursday secured EU approval for expanded use of its Covid vaccine among children. BioNTech today said it will need two weeks to determine how effective its jab is against the new strain, which was first discovered in South Africa. It said: "We expect more data from the laboratory tests in two weeks at the latest. These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally." 02:56 PM Black Friday drives up retail spending Black Friday payments Barclaycard transactions - REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski Transactions have jumped across the UK as shoppers race to snap up the biggest Black Friday bargains. The latest data from Barclays card show that as of 1pm payment volumes are up 23.3pc on the same period last year. The numbers are flattered somewhat by the restrictions that dented sales during Black Friday 2020, though supply chain troubles and inflation are placing their own pressures on this year's shopping bonanza. Compared to pre-Covid levels in 2019, payment volumes are up 4.2pc. Rob Cameron, chief executive of Barclaycard Payments, said: Encouragingly, Black Friday this year is off to a strong start despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. This morning we’ve already seen an 23.3 per cent increase in transactions compared to Black Friday 2020. It's clear that there is still appetite for the savings that are to be had, and consumers are making the most of shops being open to pick up a festive bargain. Retailers will also be pleased to see their sales volumes have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and have surpassed those seen in 2019. 02:34 PM US stocks tumble As expected, Wall Street has taken a tumble at the opening bell as concerns over the new Covid variant continue to take their toll. The benchmark S&P 500 fell 1.5pc, while the Dow Jones was down 2.2pc. The Nasdaq lost 0.8pc. Analysts have warned of thin liquidity in today's curtailed session, with many traders still away from their desks after Thursday's Thanksgiving celebrations. 02:12 PM Scottish tidal energy firms welcome £300m boost Tidal energy Nova Innovation Atlantic Energy - Nova Innovation A pair of tidal energy firms operating in Scotland have welcomed a £300m funding boost from the Government. Nova Innovation and Atlantis Energy hailed the move to set up a £20m-a-year ringfenced budget for tidal stream technology, available for 15 years under the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. A spokesperson for Nova Innovation said: "This £300m investment signals the UK Government's confidence in the role tidal energy can play in delivering net zero carbon targets. "It creates a clear route to market for UK tidal energy companies like Atlantis and Nova that will create thousands of jobs across our coastal communities." Simon Forrest, chief executive of Nova Innovation, said he was delighted that tidal stream energy has been recognised by the Government "as a core part of the UK's green industrial revolution". 01:48 PM National Grid to review power balancing as payments soar National Grid will carry out a review of how it pays to balance the market as power stations demand increasingly high prices to provide electricity. The grid operator uses the balancing market to fine-tune supply and demand, with power generators paid to increase output when supplies are stretched or turn it down when they're not needed. Companies including EDF, SSE and Drax have been able to demand increasingly high prices recently to help plug gaps in supply amid low wind. National Grid said: "In recent weeks there have been some very high-cost days in the balancing mechanism. As those costs are ultimately borne by consumers it is important to fully understand the factors driving the market." 01:33 PM Covid worries: "Markets don't like uncertainty" Frankfurt Stock Exchange - Arne Dedert / Avalon Some analysts today believe markets have overreacted to the news of a new coronavirus variant , given how little we still know about it. But it is precisely this lack of knowledge that has spooked markets so much, say others, because it throws into doubt expected tightening by central banks and raises the prospect of yet more disruption. Peter Rutter , head of equities at Royal London Asset Management, says: This news is putting the handbrake on markets. This could be the moment that people look back on as derailing the economic recovery and rate rises. What we have is a big insertion of uncertainty rather than something material but markets don't like that. The very fact we don't know, is what's concerning the market. There is a huge range of outcomes that can happen. We could have serious lockdowns or we get no lockdowns and a booming economy. 01:19 PM US markets predicted to fall as traders gripped by virus fears Investors are braced for a post-Thanksgiving selloff when the opening bell sounds in Wall Street today. Tumbling stocks in Asia and Europe do not bode well for those in New York, which have been down in pre-market trading. It comes as the World Health Organization and scientists in South Africa are scrambling figure out how quickly the new B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant can spread and whether it’s resistant to vaccines. The worries add to a wider picture that also includes concerns about inflation, an anticipated winding down of support from the Federal Reserve and slowing growth. Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote, told Bloomberg: It’s terrible news. The new Covid variant could hit the economic recovery, but this time, the central banks won’t have enough margin to act. They can’t fight inflation and boost growth at the same time. They have to choose. Carl Dooley, the head of European, Middle East and Africa trading at Cowen, added: This is a big shock for people waking up (and) seeing the news. Uncertainty and fear will remain high and maybe we aren’t going back to new highs straight away. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq are operating on shortened hours today, from 9.30am to 1pm. 12:47 PM FTSE check-up Time for a lunchtime check on the FTSE 100 after this morning's brutal sell-off. The blue-chip index has pared back losses marginally to trade down 2.6pc. That's still £52bn wiped off the exchange, though, and it's on track for its worst day since September 2020. Travel and leisure stocks have recorded the most dramatic falls, with British Airways owner IAG now down 14pc. Hotel groups InterContinental and Whitbread have shed 7pc. Banking stocks HSBC , Lloyds and Barclays have also fared badly as traders scale back their expectations for a Bank of England interest rate hike. The domestically-focused FTSE 250 is down 2.2pc, faring only a little better than its blue-chip counterpart, with trading platforms Plus500 and CMC Markets pushing higher. 12:31 PM Google makes pledges on cookies reform to appease watchdog The competition watchdog will appoint a monitor to keep tabs on controversial changes to Google’s Chrome web browser after the company promised the overhaul would not give its advertising business an unfair advantage. James Titcomb has more details: Google has committed to ensuring that an upcoming privacy change to Chrome does not tighten its grip on the online advertising market following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The search giant said it will help rivals manage the change and by ringfencing data that would give its advertising business an advantage. The CMA has been investigating Google's plans to block “third party cookies”, pieces of code that advertisers use to track individuals around the web and target adverts. Google plans to replace this with its own technology, known as Privacy Sandbox, that it said will allow adverts to be targeted while preserving personal data. Chrome is the world’s most popular browser. Advertising companies had warned that the changes would allow Google to enjoy outsized power to target adverts, while leaving rivals blind. On Friday, the CMA said it had secured commitments from Google that included providing regular reports to the regulator on the changes, and appointing a regulator-approved trustee to manage the changes. 12:20 PM Lidl UK chief to step down Lidl's UK boss Christian Hartnagel - Christopher Pledger Elsewhere, there's a major management reshuffle at Lidl. Christian Hartnagel, chief executive of the supermarket chain's British business, will step down next year to take the helm of Lidl's German operations. His current deputy chief executive, Ryan McDonnell, will take over as the British division's new chief next year. Mr Hartnagel has led Lidl's UK operations for the last five years, expanding its presence on high streets and increasingly eating away market share from Big Four rivals Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda. The surprise departure comes just two days after he set out a new long-term growth plan for Lidl GB. Bosses at the retailer said they expect to reach their original target of having 1,000 stores by 2023 and set a new ambition for 1,100 sites by 2025. 12:12 PM Wall Street drops on Covid variant fears Wall Street is poised to drop sharply this afternoon, following on from major losses for markets across Europe and Asia. Futures tracking the Dow Jones have tumbled 2.3pc, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are down 1.9pc and 1.2pc respectively. It comes as the discovery of a new strain of Covid rattles markets ahead of a shortened post-Thanksgiving trading session. Major airlines dropped between 5pc and 6pc in premarket trading, as the new variant detected in South Africa prompted the EU, UK and India to roll out travel bans. Cruise operators Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises plunged about 9pc each. Wall Street banking titans including Bank of America , Citigroup , JPMorgan , Goldman Sachs , Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley fell between 3pc and 4pc as traders pared back their recent bets on interest rate hikes. 11:38 AM 'Fear gauge' surges as Covid sparks volatility A key Wall Street index dubbed the 'fear gauge' has recorded its sharpest jump since the beginning of the year as investor jitters mount over the new Covid variant. The Vix index, which measures expectations of volatility in US stocks over the next month, leapt 38.3pc to 25.7 – its biggest move since January 27. 11:23 AM Extinction Rebellion targets Amazon depots on Black Friday It may be a Black Friday for markets, but for retailers that term has a very different meaning. Amazon was the first company to bring the shopping bonanza to Britain, but now it's finding itself at the heart of climate protests up and down the country. Extinction Rebellion has targeted 13 of the ecommerce giant's warehouses in protest at what it deems the epitome of obsessive overconsumption. Activists have blocked a string of depots in locations including Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol. The group said: Black Friday epitomises an obsession with overconsumption that is not consistent with a liveable planet," the group said. Amazon and companies like it have capitalised on our desire for convenience and stoked rampant consumerism at the expense of the natural world. Amazon protest Extinction Rebellion Amazon protest Extinction Rebellion Amazon protest Extinction Rebellion 11:05 AM Traders cut interest rate bets My colleague Louis Ashworth has some more details on how the new Covid variant is impacting traders' expectations of an interest rates rise. Money markets priced in a 70pc chance officials will vote to increase the cost of borrowing on December 16th, which had been pegged as a certainty as recently as yesterday. Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclays, said a pullback in stocks was “logical” given many markets have been pushing all-time highs. He said: “What is key is to find out whether current vaccines remain effective against the variants, or not. Covid uncertainty might force central banks to err on the side of caution.” Nigel Green, from asset manager deVere Group, said equity markets would eventually shrug off the drop, as they did after the Delta variant rose to prominence earlier this year. He said: “This wobble is likely to be temporary with markets remaining bullish for the time being.” Liquidity is likely to be thin when US markets open as many traders are still away from their desks following Thanksgiving on Thursday, with the New York Stock Exchange only opening for a half day. Read Louis' full story here 10:52 AM UK to beat China for economic growth for first time since Chairman Mao UK China economy GDP chairman Mao - REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo A touch of positive economic news now to counteract this morning's woes... Britain’s economy is set to grow more quickly than China's for the first time since the death of Mao Zedong as the world’s second-largest economy slumps to its worst performance in more than 30 years. Tim Wallace reports: The UK is expected to sustain its strong rebound from Covid with growth of 5.4pc in 2022, according to analysts at BNP Paribas. By contrast China is set to grow by 5.3pc, according to the forecasts calculated before the emergence of the new Covid variant. It will be the first time Britain has expanded faster than the Asian titan since 1976, the year of Chairman Mao’s death. China was the first big economy to rebound to its pre-Covid GDP, but now Beijing’s iron-fisted zero Covid policy is expected to hold the country back as the nation’s factories and ports are routinely forced to shut by new outbreaks. A crunch in the property market, centred around troubled developer Evergrande, will also remove a key driver of growth. 10:31 AM FTSE on track for worst day in more than a year To put today's decline into context, the FTSE 100 is currently on track to record its worst day in more than a year. Falls of as much as 3.4pc mean the blue-chip index is facing its worst session since September 2020, when it dropped 2.6pc amid concerns about a second wave of Covid. While the market reaction appears to be history repeating itself, some analysts are less concerned about the threats this time around. Economist Thomas Hirst says we "know the playbook now", making it easier to think through scenarios. Still, uncertainty is anathema to markets, and that's played out in today's drop. Market response to new variant story on Friday of Thanksgiving week is not necessarily surprising. But we know the playbook now so easier to think through the scenarios I think. In EUR credit markets, higher beta asset classes gapping out but long-end holding up. Seems reasonable — Tomas Hirst (@tomashirstecon) November 26, 2021 10:14 AM Bitcoin loses a fifth of value since September highs Bitcoin Covid variant - Angel Garcia/Bloomberg For many investors, cryptocurrencies have offered an attractive, inflation-resistant alternative to traditional assets. But in times of crisis, it seems, volatile digital coins are not quite so appealing. Bitcoin tumbled almost 8pc this morning as investors dumped riskier assets and fled to safe haven assets such as bonds, the yen and the dollar. The cryptocurrency fell as much as 7.8pc to $54,377, its lowest level since October 12. The latest decline means Bitcoin has slumped by more than a fifth since hitting a record high of almost $70,000 earlier this month. Ether, the second biggest by market capitalisation, slumped as much as 11.6pc to its lowest in a week. Read more on this story: World watches through its fingers as El Salvador bets on Bitcoin 10:07 AM Expert reaction: 'Noisy and difficult' pricing in of restrictions Chris Beauchamp , chief market analyst at IG, says: European markets have seen most of the gains made in the course of October and November evaporate overnight as investors around the globe react to the new Covid variant that has appeared in South Africa. Early reports suggest it spreads quickly and could be much more resistance to existing vaccines. While the situation appears confined to the region for now, markets are scrambling to price in a return of restrictions across the globe, taking their cue from the UK’s travel restrictions and the tighter restrictions imposed in Portugal. This process is always a noisy and difficult one, and has been exacerbated by the lack of liquidity that is always a feature of markets around Thanksgiving. Already some pockets of strength (or less weakness perhaps) have emerged, with Nasdaq futures holding up better than the rest as investors there hold their nerve, but perhaps some of the early moves today will be reversed if a more optimistic tone prevails into this afternoon and next week. 09:55 AM Oil keeps sliding amid demand fears Oil prices are firmly in negative territory this morning amid concerns the new Covid variant could dent global demand over the winter. Brent crude has dropped 5.6pc to below $78 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate has plunged 6.8pc to just over $73. Oil analyst Keshav Lohiya told Bloomberg: “With little known about it, the market is right to be panicked. However this is a cat-and-mouse game between vaccines and variants.” It comes ahead of a key meeting of Opec+ to decide production policy for January. The group has clashed with major oil consumers including the US after they announced a coordinated release of strategic reserves to help tame prices. Opec has repeatedly resisted calls to accelerate output, leading to accusations from the International Energy Agency that it was creating "artificial tightness" in the market. But today's fall in prices will add fresh complications over demand forecasts as the spectre of tighter restrictions looms. 09:48 AM Thin liquidity sparks big market moves A small word of caution now to put this morning's plunge into context. Yesterday's Thanksgiving holiday in the US has left liquidity thin, with many traders still away from their desks. As a result, today's big market movements could be more accentuated. 09:21 AM Sterling drops below $1.33 for first time this year Sterling briefly dropped below $1.33 for the first time since December 2020 as the currency got caught up in a wider exodus from riskier assets. The pound fell as low as $1.3278, before recovering ground to trade at $1.3331. Against the euro it dropped 0.6pc to 84.65p. ING analysts said: "London is naturally highly exposed to new strains given its high volume of travellers, and markets will be on the lookout in the coming days for any evidence the new variant has already reached UK, with obvious downside risks for the pound." 09:11 AM Expert reaction: Markets to shrug off new variant Amid panic about the new Covid variant, some analysts are more sanguine about the prospects for markets. Nigel Green , chief executive of deVere Group, reckons the new strain will spark a temporary wobble but will soon be shrugged off. Experts are determining whether the new variant is more transmissible or more deadly than previous ones. The fact that a new strain has been discovered and, critically, that at this stage we know little about it has caused jitters in the financial markets, which loathe uncertainty. The headlines have caused a knee-jerk reaction. In addition, Wall Street was closed yesterday meaning that a large bulk of global trades were missing, making other moves more pronounced. This wobble is likely to be temporary with markets remaining bullish for the time being. 09:08 AM Traders pull back bets on interest rates rise Money markets have pulled back their bets on a Bank of England interest rate rise as fresh Covid concerns fuel speculation central banks could slow their pace of tightening monetary policy. Traders are now pricing in less than 10 basis points of interest rate rises in December. They're also expecting an increase of less than 25bp in February. 08:56 AM Investors flock to deliveries and sanitiser There are echoes of March 2020 this morning, with investors turning to lockdown-friendly stocks. Just three companies are currently trading higher: Ocado is up 2.9pc, while Reckitt Benckiser and Royal Mail are up 0.3pc and 0.2pc respectively. The movements suggest traders are betting on more home deliveries this winter, as well as higher demand for cleaning products. 08:42 AM Even Bitcoin feels the heat It seems there's no escape from this morning's Covid concerns – even cryptocurrency is feeling the heat. Bitcoin, which recently surged to record highs, is down almost 6pc at $55,494. Ethereum, the second largest digital coin, has also slumped 5pc. NO ESCAPE! #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/fGuorBNd79 — jeroen blokland (@jsblokland) November 26, 2021 08:33 AM Leisure and travel stocks lead falls Unsurprisingly, it's leisure and travel stocks that are taking the biggest beating across Europe this morning. The UK and Israel have already announced travel bans from southern Africa, while the EU has said it's likely to follow suit. Here's how the biggest European players are faring: Airlines : IAG -21pc, Lufthansa -12pc, Air France-KLM -9.7pc, EasyJet -16pc, Wizz Air -16pc, Ryanair -9.5pc Tour operators : TUI -11pc, Jet2 -7.2pc, On the Beach -8.6pc Hotels : IHG -6.7pc, Accor -8.8pc, Melia Hotels -9.4pc, Scandic Hotels -6.5pc, Whitbread -6.9pc Travel hub retailers : Dufry -10pc, WH Smith -9.8pc, SSP Group -9.8pc, Autogrill -13pc 08:28 AM Gas prices slump on virus risks There's some bittersweet news in energy markets as soaring gas prices have begun to ease – but not for the best of reasons. Gas prices have surged in recent months, contributing to an escalating energy crisis that has put around 25 suppliers out of business. Benchmark Dutch gas has reversed course this morning, falling 2.9pc to €90.52 a megawatt-hour, though it's still up for a fourth consecutive week. It comes as the new Covid variant fuels concerns that a rise in infections and the introduction of tighter restrictions will curb demand for energy over the winter. A rise in wind power has also contributed to the easing of prices. 08:20 AM FTSE risers and fallers Right, time to take stock of what's happened on the FTSE so far. The blue-chip index has slid further into the red – it's now down 3.4pc at 7,063 points as investors react to the new South Africa Covid strain. IAG is the biggest faller. The British Airways lost as much as a quarter of its value, but it's now pared some of its initial losses to trade down 14pc. Jet engine maker Rolls-Royce is down 13pc, while hotel groups InterContinental and Whitbread have both fallen 7pc. 08:11 AM British Airways owner loses fifth of its value British Airways IAG - Steve Parsons/PA Wire It looks like IAG may be one of the biggest losers from the Covid troubles. The British Airways owner has bombed 21pc after the UK brought in a travel ban on South Africa and five other southern African nations. The EU looks set to follow suit. It's leading a 6.6pc decline on the wider pan-European Stoxx 600 travel and leisure index. 08:06 AM FTSE 100 tumbles As expected, it's a huge drop for the FTSE 100. The blue-chip index slumped as much as 2.3pc at the opening bell. It's now down 2.2pc at 7,147 points. Initial numbers coming through suggest there are some hefty falls across the index. InterContinental Hotels Group is down 5.1pc – its biggest decline in 17 months. Banking stocks are also taking a hit, with Barclays and Lloyds firmly in the red. Anglo-South African firm Investec has dropped 5.2pc in its biggest fall for eight months. 07:48 AM EU proposes South Africa travel ban The EU looks likely to follow Britain's lead and halt air travel from southern Africa in a desperate bid to keep the new strain out. European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the bloc was planning to "activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to the variant of concern B.1.1.529". The @EU_Commission will propose, in close coordination with Member States, to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to the variant of concern B.1.1.529. — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 26, 2021 07:45 AM Oil tumbles on Covid concerns Oil prices are taking a battering this morning as news of the new variant casts doubts over demand for the winter. Brent crude dropped 3.9pc to below $80 a barrel amid a wave of caution across global markets. West Texas Intermediate – another key benchmark – slumped 4pc to below $75 a barrel. 07:42 AM What's happening with the new Covid variant? The discovery of the new South Africa variant has sparked panic on the markets, but how bad is it? Researchers don't yet know just how lethal or transmissible it is, but the Government is taking a cautious approach. Fears that the strain, which has 32 mutations, could evade the vaccine are particularly concerning. Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said the new variant "may be more transmissible" than the delta strain and added "the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective". A JCVI scientist has warned the public needs to be ready for new restrictions in the wake of the discovery. Read more: Public must prepare for change in restrictions in wake of new South African Covid variant 07:34 AM FTSE set to slump at the open It looks like the FTSE won't be immune from the wider market jitters this morning. Futures tracking the blue-chip index are pointing 2pc lower as investors respond to the discovery of a potentially vaccine-resistant Covid variant. The sentiment has spread elsewhere in Europe, with futures tracking the continent's top 50 companies falling 2.3pc. All eyes will be on travel stocks when the FTSE opens after the Government announced a temporary ban on flights from South Africa and five neighbouring countries. 07:24 AM Asian shares crash on new Covid fears Good morning. Some rather grim reading to kick off your Friday, I'm afraid, as news of the new Covid super-variant sends shockwaves through markets. While not much is known about the B.1.1529 variant – first discovered in South Africa – warnings that it's the most dangerous mutation ever seen have been enough to spook investors. As well as the sharp drop in Asian stocks, US futures slumped and crude oil lost ground. US Treasuries and the yen have both pushed higher, while the South African rand dropped to its lowest level in a year. 5 things to start your day 1) M&S under fire over plan to demolish flagship Marble Arch store Critics say it risks advent of 'ugly spreadsheet architecture' 2) More EU nationals left UK last year than arrived for first time in three decades Net migration plunges as pandemic restrictions and post-Brexit rules came into force 3) Bank of England museum to host slavery exhibition Portraits of former governors linked to slave trade will go on display when Bank museum reopens 4) Huel founder in line for hundreds of millions from £1bn float Julian Hearn holds a 53pc stake in the meal-replacement drink company 5) Energy watchdog faces 'serious questions' over string of supplier collapses Two more energy providers stopped trading on Thursday, affecting another 70,000 households What happened overnight Stocks fell and headed for their largest weekly drop in almost two months on Friday, while safe haven assets such as bonds and the yen rallied as a new virus variant added to swirling concerns about future growth and higher US interest rates. South Africa's rand fell 1pc in early trade, as did US.crude futures. S&P 500 futures fell 0.4pc, while the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars dropped to three-month lows. Japan's Nikkei was down 1.7pc in early trade and Australian shares fell 0.6pc. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2% for a weekly fall of 1pc. Coming up today Corporate: No company releases scheduled for today Economics: Money supply (EU) || Oil collapses as new Covid variant sparks market turmoil: • FTSE 100 closes 3.7pc lower; Travel and leisure stocks slump
• Wall Street tumbles –S&P 500 and Nasdaq down 2.3pc; Dow Jones sees worst fall of the year
• Oil prices collapse amid demand fears
• Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin goes to war on ‘box-ticking’ shareholders
• Ben Wright:JP Morgan should make no apologies to the Chinese Communist Party
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Oil prices have collapsed amid fears of lower demand over the winter as the new Covid strain sparks chaos across global markets.
US oil prices slumped 10pc to just above $70 a barrel, while benchmark Brent crude dropped more than 9pc to below $75.
The discovery of the new strain has sparked renewed restrictions, with the UK, EU and other nations banning travel from southern African countries. Traders now fear further lockdowns could hamper demand for oil.
The sharp decline in prices has undone most of oil’s gains over the last two months and further complicates a row over output levels between production cartel Opec and major consumers such as the US.
It's now time to say goodbye after a very eventful day for markets. Thank you for following us and see you next week! Before you go, have a look at some of our main stories today:
• Fresh Covid fears threaten to derail Bank's fightback against inflation
• Post Office value slashed to zero after postmasters scandal
• Nadine Dorries 'minded' to let Rupert Murdoch merge the Times and Sunday Times
• Former Tesco chief Terry Leahy joins electric car charging start-up
• UK economy to grow faster than China’s for first time since Mao
OPEC+ may scrap plans to raise output at next week's meeting after today's oil price crash, which was the worst seen in a year.
The Saudi-led alliance was mulling over a modest production hike scheduled for January but it's now unlikely to be implemented, according toBloomberg.
The group was already considering a pause after the US and other importing countries announced the release of emergency oil stockpiles earlier this week.
“The emergence of a new Covid variant that could spawn renewed shutdowns and travel restrictions is precisely the type of change in market conditions that could cause ministers to deviate from their plan” to add barrels, Bob McNally, president of consultant Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House official, was reported as saying.
Coronavirus vaccine makers have already started analysing how the new variant, B.1.1.529, is interacting with their jabs.
Tests are underway at Johnson & Johnson, while Pfizer and BioNTech have begun investigations,CNBCreported.
AstraZeneca is also on the case with studies in Botswana and Eswatini.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control assigned it the category “Variant of Concern.”
US stocks continued their descent until close on the short trading day.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished both 2.3pc lower, recording their worst performance since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its sharpest drop of the year of 2.5pc. Just like in the UK, travel and leisure stocks were among the biggest losers.
Treasuries jumped on haven bids, sending the 10-year yield down the most since March 2020 on a closing basis, while traders pushed back bets on the Federal Reserve hiking rates.
Oil prices have plunged about $10 a barrel this afternoon in the largest one-day drop seen since April 2020.
Brent crude fell 11.2pc to $73.02 a barrel while US WTI crude was down 13pc to $68.29 a barrel.
The new COVID-19 has become a major concern, adding to worries over a wider supply surplus in the first quarter.
"We think it’s still early days to say what this means for the global economy, but it has raised concerns about weaker demand for some commodities, especially oil if travel restrictions are re-imposed," economists at Capital Economics commented.
"These developments will make the OPEC+ meeting next week even more intriguing. We now think that there is a much higher risk that OPEC+ decides to slow or halt the gradual return of supply given mounting concerns over demand and the release of reserves."
Telecom Italia's boss Luigi Gubitosi is set to resign as early as today to facilitate a €10.8bn takeover offer by private equity firm KKR.
Directors of the former Italian monopoly are meeting in the afternoon and are likely to accept the departure,Bloombergreported.
Gubitosi was already under pressure following last month's surprise profit warning that led to a rift with top shareholder Vivendi. The French giant has been closely watching Gubitosi after his efforts to boost premium services failed to stop the decline.
Chairman Salvatore Rossi could assume the chief executive role on an interim basis, while the head of Brazil, Pietro Labriola, could be promoted to group general manager.
The FTSE 100 has suffered its biggest fall in more than a year, as fears over the newly detected and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant hit global stock markets.
London's leading index ended an otherwise solid trading week down 3.7pc, its lowest in more than seven weeks, with commodity, travel, and banking stocks leading the sell-off.
British Airways owner IAG slumped 14.8pc, followed by Rolls-Royce down by 11.6pc. Hotel chains InterContinental Hotels and Whitbread both lost around 9pc.
JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration has agreed to sell its UK North Sea assets to private equity-owned NEO Energy for £1.2bn.
The agreement, subject to regulatory approvals, includes the Japanese group’s 20pc interest in the Mariner deposit, which is operated by Norway's Equinor, and 18pc of TotalEnergies' Culzean project. They are among the newest large oil and gas fields in the region.
The deal doesn’t include JX Nippon’s interests in the North Sea’s Andrew Area, as the Asian group has been negotiating a potential sale to oil major BP.
The purchase could be the biggest in the basin this year, as large energy companies make space for smaller producers and private equity firms.
Jilted bidder SS&C Technologies has been given another two weeks to make a new offer for robotics software company Blue Prism, or walk away.
Yesterday the Aim-listed group agreed to a £1.2bn takeover proposal, equating to £12.50 per share, from US private equity firm Vista Equity.
However, SS&C had previously offered £12.20 per share.
The Takeover Panel said that SS&C must make a firm offer by 5pm on Dec 2, although if a third party enters the race the timeline will be extended again.
Shares in Blue Prism closed 6.8pc higher at £12.98 today.
That's all from me - thanks for following on a hectic day for markets...
Giulia Bottarois in the driving seat now to see you through to the weekend.
Sir Terry Leahy, the former Tesco chief, has joined an electric car charging startup as it steps up plans for a London listing.
Here's more fromHoward Mustoe:
Myenergi is riding a wave of interest in electric vehicles as Britain plans to ban the sale of combustion engine vehicles from 2030. The cost of electric cars is falling and their range is rising, making them increasingly attractive purchases.
The billionaire Issa brothers are said to be mulling a merger between Asda and their petrol station chain EG Group.
The Blackburn duo are weighing a range of options for EG, which they own with private equity firm TDR Capital, including a tie-up that could value the combined business at around $35bn (£26bn), Bloomberg reports.
TDR and the Issas last year took control of Asda in a £6.8bn deal. The supermarket chain has been stepping up its cooperation with EG recently, though the pair recently abandoned a £750m deal to sell Asda's forecourt assets to EG.
According to the report, EG's owners have also been looking at other options including a sale of their Australian assets or a public listing of the petrol station business.
The City watchdog has given its senior managers sweeping new powers to ban rogue firms in a bid to protect consumers more quickly, writesLucy Burton.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is trying to speed up its processes following years of criticism that its investigations take far too long.
New strains of Covid and the risk of another lockdown could yet derail the UK's economic recovery, the Bank of England's chief economist has warned.
Huw Pill said the arrival of any new variant – such as the so-called Nu variant that crashed global markets today – could impact the Bank's guidance that interest rates have to rise in coming months.
He said: “If there’s a financial disruption, or if there’s the onset again of a pandemic and a lockdown, those are the type of events which clearly would change our view of the world.
“We hope those things don’t happen. We don’t really know what the future holds. It’s those unknown unknowns that are the most difficult to manage.”
Mr Pill said he was reluctant to offer more precise guidance, citing a quote from the former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson “who famously said everybody has a plan until you’re punched in the face”.
Money markets have scaled back their bets on a Bank of England rates rise amid panic about the new variant. The chance of a hike at December's meeting is now seen at around 60pc, after being almost fully priced last week.
Shares in vaccine makers including Moderna and Pfizer have soared amid expectations the new strain of Covid will fuel demand for jabs.
Moderna leapt 22pc, while Pfizer jumped as much as 6.8pc. BioNTech, which partners with Pfizer on a vaccine, climbed 18pc.
The companies have also been boosted by disappointing results from Merck's rival antiviral pill, while Pfizer on Thursday secured EU approval for expanded use of its Covid vaccine among children.
BioNTech today said it will need two weeks to determine how effective its jab is against the new strain, which was first discovered in South Africa.
It said: "We expect more data from the laboratory tests in two weeks at the latest. These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally."
Transactions have jumped across the UK as shoppers race to snap up the biggest Black Friday bargains.
The latest data from Barclays card show that as of 1pm payment volumes are up 23.3pc on the same period last year.
The numbers are flattered somewhat by the restrictions that dented sales during Black Friday 2020, though supply chain troubles and inflation are placing their own pressures on this year's shopping bonanza.
Compared to pre-Covid levels in 2019, payment volumes are up 4.2pc.
Rob Cameron, chief executive of Barclaycard Payments, said:
Encouragingly, Black Friday this year is off to a strong start despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop.
As expected, Wall Street has taken a tumble at the opening bell as concerns over the new Covid variant continue to take their toll.
The benchmark S&P 500 fell 1.5pc, while the Dow Jones was down 2.2pc. The Nasdaq lost 0.8pc.
Analysts have warned of thin liquidity in today's curtailed session, with many traders still away from their desks after Thursday's Thanksgiving celebrations.
A pair of tidal energy firms operating in Scotland have welcomed a £300m funding boost from the Government.
Nova Innovation and Atlantis Energy hailed the move to set up a £20m-a-year ringfenced budget for tidal stream technology, available for 15 years under the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme.
A spokesperson for Nova Innovation said: "This £300m investment signals the UK Government's confidence in the role tidal energy can play in delivering net zero carbon targets.
"It creates a clear route to market for UK tidal energy companies like Atlantis and Nova that will create thousands of jobs across our coastal communities."
Simon Forrest, chief executive of Nova Innovation, said he was delighted that tidal stream energy has been recognised by the Government "as a core part of the UK's green industrial revolution".
National Grid will carry out a review of how it pays to balance the market as power stations demand increasingly high prices to provide electricity.
The grid operator uses the balancing market to fine-tune supply and demand, with power generators paid to increase output when supplies are stretched or turn it down when they're not needed.
Companies including EDF, SSE and Drax have been able to demand increasingly high prices recently to help plug gaps in supply amid low wind.
National Grid said: "In recent weeks there have been some very high-cost days in the balancing mechanism. As those costs are ultimately borne by consumers it is important to fully understand the factors driving the market."
Some analysts today believe markets have overreacted tothe news of a new coronavirus variant, given how little we still know about it.
But it is precisely this lack of knowledge that has spooked markets so much, say others, because it throws into doubt expected tightening by central banks and raises the prospect of yet more disruption.
Peter Rutter, head of equities at Royal London Asset Management, says:
This news is putting the handbrake on markets. This could be the moment that people look back on as derailing the economic recovery and rate rises. What we have is a big insertion of uncertainty rather than something material but markets don't like that.
Investors are braced for a post-Thanksgiving selloff when the opening bell sounds in Wall Street today.
Tumbling stocks in Asia and Europe do not bode well for those in New York, which have been down in pre-market trading.
It comes as the World Health Organization and scientists in South Africa are scrambling figure out how quickly the new B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant can spread and whether it’s resistant to vaccines.
The worries add to a wider picture that also includes concerns about inflation, an anticipated winding down of support from the Federal Reserve and slowing growth.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote, told Bloomberg:
It’s terrible news. The new Covid variant could hit the economic recovery, but this time, the central banks won’t have enough margin to act. They can’t fight inflation and boost growth at the same time. They have to choose.
Carl Dooley, the head of European, Middle East and Africa trading at Cowen, added:
This is a big shock for people waking up (and) seeing the news.
The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq are operating on shortened hours today, from 9.30am to 1pm.
Time for a lunchtime check on the FTSE 100 after this morning's brutal sell-off.
The blue-chip index has pared back losses marginally to trade down 2.6pc. That's still £52bn wiped off the exchange, though, and it's on track for its worst day since September 2020.
Travel and leisure stocks have recorded the most dramatic falls, with British Airways ownerIAGnow down 14pc. Hotel groupsInterContinentalandWhitbreadhave shed 7pc.
Banking stocksHSBC,LloydsandBarclayshave also fared badly as traders scale back their expectations for a Bank of England interest rate hike.
The domestically-focused FTSE 250 is down 2.2pc, faring only a little better than its blue-chip counterpart, with trading platformsPlus500andCMC Marketspushing higher.
The competition watchdog will appoint a monitor to keep tabs on controversial changes to Google’s Chrome web browser after the company promised the overhaul would not give its advertising business an unfair advantage.
James Titcombhas more details:
Google has committed to ensuring that an upcoming privacy change to Chrome does not tighten its grip on the online advertising market following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Elsewhere, there's a major management reshuffle at Lidl.
Christian Hartnagel, chief executive of the supermarket chain's British business, will step down next year to take the helm of Lidl's German operations.
His current deputy chief executive, Ryan McDonnell, will take over as the British division's new chief next year.
Mr Hartnagel has led Lidl's UK operations for the last five years, expanding its presence on high streets and increasingly eating away market share from Big Four rivals Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda.
The surprise departure comes just two days after he set out a new long-term growth plan for Lidl GB.
Bosses at the retailer said they expect to reach their original target of having 1,000 stores by 2023 and set a new ambition for 1,100 sites by 2025.
Wall Street is poised to drop sharply this afternoon, following on from major losses for markets across Europe and Asia.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones have tumbled 2.3pc, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are down 1.9pc and 1.2pc respectively.
It comes as the discovery of a new strain of Covid rattles markets ahead of a shortened post-Thanksgiving trading session.
Major airlines dropped between 5pc and 6pc in premarket trading, as the new variant detected in South Africa prompted the EU, UK and India to roll out travel bans.
Cruise operatorsCarnivalandRoyal Caribbean Cruisesplunged about 9pc each.
Wall Street banking titans includingBank of America,Citigroup,JPMorgan,Goldman Sachs,Wells FargoandMorgan Stanleyfell between 3pc and 4pc as traders pared back their recent bets on interest rate hikes.
A key Wall Street index dubbed the 'fear gauge' has recorded its sharpest jump since the beginning of the year as investor jitters mount over the new Covid variant.
The Vix index, which measures expectations of volatility in US stocks over the next month, leapt 38.3pc to 25.7 – its biggest move since January 27.
It may be a Black Friday for markets, but for retailers that term has a very different meaning.
Amazon was the first company to bring the shopping bonanza to Britain, but now it's finding itself at the heart of climate protests up and down the country.
Extinction Rebellion has targeted 13 of the ecommerce giant's warehouses in protest at what it deems the epitome of obsessive overconsumption.
Activists have blocked a string of depots in locations including Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol.
The group said:
Black Friday epitomises an obsession with overconsumption that is not consistent with a liveable planet," the group said.
My colleagueLouis Ashworthhas some more details on how the new Covid variant is impacting traders' expectations of an interest rates rise.
Money markets priced in a 70pc chance officials will vote to increase the cost of borrowing on December 16th, which had been pegged as a certainty as recently as yesterday.
Read Louis' full story here
A touch of positive economic news now to counteract this morning's woes...
Britain’s economy is set to grow more quickly than China's for the first time since the death of Mao Zedong as the world’s second-largest economy slumps to its worst performance in more than 30 years.
Tim Wallacereports:
The UK is expected to sustain its strong rebound from Covid with growth of 5.4pc in 2022, according to analysts at BNP Paribas.
To put today's decline into context, the FTSE 100 is currently on track to record its worst day in more than a year.
Falls of as much as 3.4pc mean the blue-chip index is facing its worst session since September 2020, when it dropped 2.6pc amid concerns about a second wave of Covid.
While the market reaction appears to be history repeating itself, some analysts are less concerned about the threats this time around.
Economist Thomas Hirst says we "know the playbook now", making it easier to think through scenarios. Still, uncertainty is anathema to markets, and that's played out in today's drop.
For many investors, cryptocurrencies have offered an attractive, inflation-resistant alternative to traditional assets. But in times of crisis, it seems, volatile digital coins are not quite so appealing.
Bitcoin tumbled almost 8pc this morning as investors dumped riskier assets and fled to safe haven assets such as bonds, the yen and the dollar.
The cryptocurrency fell as much as 7.8pc to $54,377, its lowest level since October 12.
The latest decline means Bitcoin has slumped by more than a fifth since hitting a record high of almost $70,000 earlier this month.
Ether, the second biggest by market capitalisation, slumped as much as 11.6pc to its lowest in a week.
Read more on this story:World watches through its fingers as El Salvador bets on Bitcoin
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, says:
European markets have seen most of the gains made in the course of October and November evaporate overnight as investors around the globe react to the new Covid variant that has appeared in South Africa. Early reports suggest it spreads quickly and could be much more resistance to existing vaccines.
Oil prices are firmly in negative territory this morning amid concerns the new Covid variant could dent global demand over the winter.
Brent crude has dropped 5.6pc to below $78 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate has plunged 6.8pc to just over $73.
Oil analyst Keshav Lohiya told Bloomberg: “With little known about it, the market is right to be panicked. However this is a cat-and-mouse game between vaccines and variants.”
It comes ahead of a key meeting of Opec+ to decide production policy for January. The group has clashed with major oil consumers including the US after they announced a coordinated release of strategic reserves to help tame prices.
Opec has repeatedly resisted calls to accelerate output, leading to accusations from the International Energy Agency that it was creating "artificial tightness" in the market.
But today's fall in prices will add fresh complications over demand forecasts as the spectre of tighter restrictions looms.
A small word of caution now to put this morning's plunge into context.
Yesterday's Thanksgiving holiday in the US has left liquidity thin, with many traders still away from their desks. As a result, today's big market movements could be more accentuated.
Sterling briefly dropped below $1.33 for the first time since December 2020 as the currency got caught up in a wider exodus from riskier assets.
The pound fell as low as $1.3278, before recovering ground to trade at $1.3331. Against the euro it dropped 0.6pc to 84.65p.
ING analysts said: "London is naturally highly exposed to new strains given its high volume of travellers, and markets will be on the lookout in the coming days for any evidence the new variant has already reached UK, with obvious downside risks for the pound."
Amid panic about the new Covid variant, some analysts are more sanguine about the prospects for markets.
Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group, reckons the new strain will spark a temporary wobble but will soon be shrugged off.
Experts are determining whether the new variant is more transmissible or more deadly than previous ones.
Money markets have pulled back their bets on a Bank of England interest rate rise as fresh Covid concerns fuel speculation central banks could slow their pace of tightening monetary policy.
Traders are now pricing in less than 10 basis points of interest rate rises in December. They're also expecting an increase of less than 25bp in February.
There are echoes of March 2020 this morning, with investors turning to lockdown-friendly stocks.
Just three companies are currently trading higher:Ocadois up 2.9pc, whileReckitt BenckiserandRoyal Mailare up 0.3pc and 0.2pc respectively.
The movements suggest traders are betting on more home deliveries this winter, as well as higher demand for cleaning products.
It seems there's no escape from this morning's Covid concerns – even cryptocurrency is feeling the heat.
Bitcoin, which recently surged to record highs, is down almost 6pc at $55,494. Ethereum, the second largest digital coin, has also slumped 5pc.
Unsurprisingly, it's leisure and travel stocks that are taking the biggest beating across Europe this morning.
The UK and Israel have already announced travel bans from southern Africa, while the EU has said it's likely to follow suit.
Here's how the biggest European players are faring:
• Airlines:IAG-21pc,Lufthansa-12pc,Air France-KLM-9.7pc,EasyJet-16pc,Wizz Air-16pc,Ryanair-9.5pc
• Tour operators:TUI-11pc,Jet2-7.2pc,On the Beach-8.6pc
• Hotels:IHG-6.7pc,Accor-8.8pc,Melia Hotels-9.4pc, Scandic Hotels -6.5pc,Whitbread-6.9pc
• Travel hub retailers:Dufry-10pc,WH Smith-9.8pc,SSP Group-9.8pc,Autogrill-13pc
There's some bittersweet news in energy markets as soaring gas prices have begun to ease – but not for the best of reasons.
Gas prices have surged in recent months, contributing to an escalating energy crisis that has put around 25 suppliers out of business.
Benchmark Dutch gas has reversed course this morning, falling 2.9pc to €90.52 a megawatt-hour, though it's still up for a fourth consecutive week.
It comes as the new Covid variant fuels concerns that a rise in infections and the introduction of tighter restrictions will curb demand for energy over the winter. A rise in wind power has also contributed to the easing of prices.
Right, time to take stock of what's happened on the FTSE so far.
The blue-chip index has slid further into the red – it's now down 3.4pc at 7,063 points as investors react to the new South Africa Covid strain.
IAGis the biggest faller. The British Airways lost as much as a quarter of its value, but it's now pared some of its initial losses to trade down 14pc.
Jet engine makerRolls-Royceis down 13pc, while hotel groupsInterContinentalandWhitbreadhave both fallen 7pc.
It looks likeIAGmay be one of the biggest losers from the Covid troubles.
The British Airways owner has bombed 21pc after the UK brought in a travel ban on South Africa and five other southern African nations. The EU looks set to follow suit.
It's leading a 6.6pc decline on the wider pan-European Stoxx 600 travel and leisure index.
As expected, it's a huge drop for the FTSE 100.
The blue-chip index slumped as much as 2.3pc at the opening bell. It's now down 2.2pc at 7,147 points.
Initial numbers coming through suggest there are some hefty falls across the index.
InterContinental Hotels Groupis down 5.1pc – its biggest decline in 17 months.
Banking stocks are also taking a hit, withBarclaysandLloydsfirmly in the red. Anglo-South African firmInvestechas dropped 5.2pc in its biggest fall for eight months.
The EU looks likely to follow Britain's lead and halt air travel from southern Africa in a desperate bid to keep the new strain out.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the bloc was planning to "activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to the variant of concern B.1.1.529".
Oil prices are taking a battering this morning as news of the new variant casts doubts over demand for the winter.
Brent crude dropped 3.9pc to below $80 a barrel amid a wave of caution across global markets. West Texas Intermediate – another key benchmark – slumped 4pc to below $75 a barrel.
The discovery of the new South Africa variant has sparked panic on the markets, but how bad is it?
Researchers don't yet know just how lethal or transmissible it is, but the Government is taking a cautious approach. Fears that the strain, which has 32 mutations, could evade the vaccine are particularly concerning.
Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said the new variant "may be more transmissible" than the delta strain and added "the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective".
A JCVI scientist has warned the public needs to be ready for new restrictions in the wake of the discovery.
Read more:Public must prepare for change in restrictions in wake of new South African Covid variant
It looks like the FTSE won't be immune from the wider market jitters this morning.
Futures tracking the blue-chip index are pointing 2pc lower as investors respond to the discovery of a potentially vaccine-resistant Covid variant.
The sentiment has spread elsewhere in Europe, with futures tracking the continent's top 50 companies falling 2.3pc.
All eyes will be on travel stocks when the FTSE opens after the Government announced a temporary ban on flights from South Africa and five neighbouring countries.
Good morning.
Some rather grim reading to kick off your Friday, I'm afraid, as news of the new Covid super-variant sends shockwaves through markets.
While not much is known about the B.1.1529 variant – first discovered in South Africa – warnings that it's the most dangerous mutation ever seen have been enough to spook investors.
As well as the sharp drop in Asian stocks, US futures slumped and crude oil lost ground. US Treasuries and the yen have both pushed higher, while the South African rand dropped to its lowest level in a year.
1)M&S under fire over plan to demolish flagship Marble Arch storeCritics say it risks advent of 'ugly spreadsheet architecture'
2)More EU nationals left UK last year than arrived for first time in three decadesNet migration plunges as pandemic restrictions and post-Brexit rules came into force
3)Bank of England museum to host slavery exhibitionPortraits of former governors linked to slave trade will go on display when Bank museum reopens
4)Huel founder in line for hundreds of millions from £1bn floatJulian Hearn holds a 53pc stake in the meal-replacement drink company
5)Energy watchdog faces 'serious questions' over string of supplier collapsesTwo more energy providers stopped trading on Thursday, affecting another 70,000 households
Stocks fell and headed for their largest weekly drop in almost two months on Friday, while safe haven assets such as bonds and the yen rallied as a new virus variant added to swirling concerns about future growth and higher US interest rates.
South Africa's rand fell 1pc in early trade, as did US.crude futures. S&P 500 futures fell 0.4pc, while the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars dropped to three-month lows.
Japan's Nikkei was down 1.7pc in early trade and Australian shares fell 0.6pc. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2% for a weekly fall of 1pc.
• Corporate:No company releases scheduled for today
• Economics:Money supply(EU) || Oil collapses as new Covid variant sparks market turmoil: • FTSE 100 closes 3.7pc lower; Travel and leisure stocks slump
• Wall Street tumbles –S&P 500 and Nasdaq down 2.3pc; Dow Jones sees worst fall of the year
• Oil prices collapse amid demand fears
• Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin goes to war on ‘box-ticking’ shareholders
• Ben Wright:JP Morgan should make no apologies to the Chinese Communist Party
• Sign up here for our daily business briefing newsletter
Oil prices have collapsed amid fears of lower demand over the winter as the new Covid strain sparks chaos across global markets.
US oil prices slumped 10pc to just above $70 a barrel, while benchmark Brent crude dropped more than 9pc to below $75.
The discovery of the new strain has sparked renewed restrictions, with the UK, EU and other nations banning travel from southern African countries. Traders now fear further lockdowns could hamper demand for oil.
The sharp decline in prices has undone most of oil’s gains over the last two months and further complicates a row over output levels between production cartel Opec and major consumers such as the US.
It's now time to say goodbye after a very eventful day for markets. Thank you for following us and see you next week! Before you go, have a look at some of our main stories today:
• Fresh Covid fears threaten to derail Bank's fightback against inflation
• Post Office value slashed to zero after postmasters scandal
• Nadine Dorries 'minded' to let Rupert Murdoch merge the Times and Sunday Times
• Former Tesco chief Terry Leahy joins electric car charging start-up
• UK economy to grow faster than China’s for first time since Mao
OPEC+ may scrap plans to raise output at next week's meeting after today's oil price crash, which was the worst seen in a year.
The Saudi-led alliance was mulling over a modest production hike scheduled for January but it's now unlikely to be implemented, according toBloomberg.
The group was already considering a pause after the US and other importing countries announced the release of emergency oil stockpiles earlier this week.
“The emergence of a new Covid variant that could spawn renewed shutdowns and travel restrictions is precisely the type of change in market conditions that could cause ministers to deviate from their plan” to add barrels, Bob McNally, president of consultant Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House official, was reported as saying.
Coronavirus vaccine makers have already started analysing how the new variant, B.1.1.529, is interacting with their jabs.
Tests are underway at Johnson & Johnson, while Pfizer and BioNTech have begun investigations,CNBCreported.
AstraZeneca is also on the case with studies in Botswana and Eswatini.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control assigned it the category “Variant of Concern.”
US stocks continued their descent until close on the short trading day.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished both 2.3pc lower, recording their worst performance since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its sharpest drop of the year of 2.5pc. Just like in the UK, travel and leisure stocks were among the biggest losers.
Treasuries jumped on haven bids, sending the 10-year yield down the most since March 2020 on a closing basis, while traders pushed back bets on the Federal Reserve hiking rates.
Oil prices have plunged about $10 a barrel this afternoon in the largest one-day drop seen since April 2020.
Brent crude fell 11.2pc to $73.02 a barrel while US WTI crude was down 13pc to $68.29 a barrel.
The new COVID-19 has become a major concern, adding to worries over a wider supply surplus in the first quarter.
"We think it’s still early days to say what this means for the global economy, but it has raised concerns about weaker demand for some commodities, especially oil if travel restrictions are re-imposed," economists at Capital Economics commented.
"These developments will make the OPEC+ meeting next week even more intriguing. We now think that there is a much higher risk that OPEC+ decides to slow or halt the gradual return of supply given mounting concerns over demand and the release of reserves."
Telecom Italia's boss Luigi Gubitosi is set to resign as early as today to facilitate a €10.8bn takeover offer by private equity firm KKR.
Directors of the former Italian monopoly are meeting in the afternoon and are likely to accept the departure,Bloombergreported.
Gubitosi was already under pressure following last month's surprise profit warning that led to a rift with top shareholder Vivendi. The French giant has been closely watching Gubitosi after his efforts to boost premium services failed to stop the decline.
Chairman Salvatore Rossi could assume the chief executive role on an interim basis, while the head of Brazil, Pietro Labriola, could be promoted to group general manager.
The FTSE 100 has suffered its biggest fall in more than a year, as fears over the newly detected and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant hit global stock markets.
London's leading index ended an otherwise solid trading week down 3.7pc, its lowest in more than seven weeks, with commodity, travel, and banking stocks leading the sell-off.
British Airways owner IAG slumped 14.8pc, followed by Rolls-Royce down by 11.6pc. Hotel chains InterContinental Hotels and Whitbread both lost around 9pc.
JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration has agreed to sell its UK North Sea assets to private equity-owned NEO Energy for £1.2bn.
The agreement, subject to regulatory approvals, includes the Japanese group’s 20pc interest in the Mariner deposit, which is operated by Norway's Equinor, and 18pc of TotalEnergies' Culzean project. They are among the newest large oil and gas fields in the region.
The deal doesn’t include JX Nippon’s interests in the North Sea’s Andrew Area, as the Asian group has been negotiating a potential sale to oil major BP.
The purchase could be the biggest in the basin this year, as large energy companies make space for smaller producers and private equity firms.
Jilted bidder SS&C Technologies has been given another two weeks to make a new offer for robotics software company Blue Prism, or walk away.
Yesterday the Aim-listed group agreed to a £1.2bn takeover proposal, equating to £12.50 per share, from US private equity firm Vista Equity.
However, SS&C had previously offered £12.20 per share.
The Takeover Panel said that SS&C must make a firm offer by 5pm on Dec 2, although if a third party enters the race the timeline will be extended again.
Shares in Blue Prism closed 6.8pc higher at £12.98 today.
That's all from me - thanks for following on a hectic day for markets...
Giulia Bottarois in the driving seat now to see you through to the weekend.
Sir Terry Leahy, the former Tesco chief, has joined an electric car charging startup as it steps up plans for a London listing.
Here's more fromHoward Mustoe:
Myenergi is riding a wave of interest in electric vehicles as Britain plans to ban the sale of combustion engine vehicles from 2030. The cost of electric cars is falling and their range is rising, making them increasingly attractive purchases.
The billionaire Issa brothers are said to be mulling a merger between Asda and their petrol station chain EG Group.
The Blackburn duo are weighing a range of options for EG, which they own with private equity firm TDR Capital, including a tie-up that could value the combined business at around $35bn (£26bn), Bloomberg reports.
TDR and the Issas last year took control of Asda in a £6.8bn deal. The supermarket chain has been stepping up its cooperation with EG recently, though the pair recently abandoned a £750m deal to sell Asda's forecourt assets to EG.
According to the report, EG's owners have also been looking at other options including a sale of their Australian assets or a public listing of the petrol station business.
The City watchdog has given its senior managers sweeping new powers to ban rogue firms in a bid to protect consumers more quickly, writesLucy Burton.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is trying to speed up its processes following years of criticism that its investigations take far too long.
New strains of Covid and the risk of another lockdown could yet derail the UK's economic recovery, the Bank of England's chief economist has warned.
Huw Pill said the arrival of any new variant – such as the so-called Nu variant that crashed global markets today – could impact the Bank's guidance that interest rates have to rise in coming months.
He said: “If there’s a financial disruption, or if there’s the onset again of a pandemic and a lockdown, those are the type of events which clearly would change our view of the world.
“We hope those things don’t happen. We don’t really know what the future holds. It’s those unknown unknowns that are the most difficult to manage.”
Mr Pill said he was reluctant to offer more precise guidance, citing a quote from the former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson “who famously said everybody has a plan until you’re punched in the face”.
Money markets have scaled back their bets on a Bank of England rates rise amid panic about the new variant. The chance of a hike at December's meeting is now seen at around 60pc, after being almost fully priced last week.
Shares in vaccine makers including Moderna and Pfizer have soared amid expectations the new strain of Covid will fuel demand for jabs.
Moderna leapt 22pc, while Pfizer jumped as much as 6.8pc. BioNTech, which partners with Pfizer on a vaccine, climbed 18pc.
The companies have also been boosted by disappointing results from Merck's rival antiviral pill, while Pfizer on Thursday secured EU approval for expanded use of its Covid vaccine among children.
BioNTech today said it will need two weeks to determine how effective its jab is against the new strain, which was first discovered in South Africa.
It said: "We expect more data from the laboratory tests in two weeks at the latest. These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally."
Transactions have jumped across the UK as shoppers race to snap up the biggest Black Friday bargains.
The latest data from Barclays card show that as of 1pm payment volumes are up 23.3pc on the same period last year.
The numbers are flattered somewhat by the restrictions that dented sales during Black Friday 2020, though supply chain troubles and inflation are placing their own pressures on this year's shopping bonanza.
Compared to pre-Covid levels in 2019, payment volumes are up 4.2pc.
Rob Cameron, chief executive of Barclaycard Payments, said:
Encouragingly, Black Friday this year is off to a strong start despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop.
As expected, Wall Street has taken a tumble at the opening bell as concerns over the new Covid variant continue to take their toll.
The benchmark S&P 500 fell 1.5pc, while the Dow Jones was down 2.2pc. The Nasdaq lost 0.8pc.
Analysts have warned of thin liquidity in today's curtailed session, with many traders still away from their desks after Thursday's Thanksgiving celebrations.
A pair of tidal energy firms operating in Scotland have welcomed a £300m funding boost from the Government.
Nova Innovation and Atlantis Energy hailed the move to set up a £20m-a-year ringfenced budget for tidal stream technology, available for 15 years under the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme.
A spokesperson for Nova Innovation said: "This £300m investment signals the UK Government's confidence in the role tidal energy can play in delivering net zero carbon targets.
"It creates a clear route to market for UK tidal energy companies like Atlantis and Nova that will create thousands of jobs across our coastal communities."
Simon Forrest, chief executive of Nova Innovation, said he was delighted that tidal stream energy has been recognised by the Government "as a core part of the UK's green industrial revolution".
National Grid will carry out a review of how it pays to balance the market as power stations demand increasingly high prices to provide electricity.
The grid operator uses the balancing market to fine-tune supply and demand, with power generators paid to increase output when supplies are stretched or turn it down when they're not needed.
Companies including EDF, SSE and Drax have been able to demand increasingly high prices recently to help plug gaps in supply amid low wind.
National Grid said: "In recent weeks there have been some very high-cost days in the balancing mechanism. As those costs are ultimately borne by consumers it is important to fully understand the factors driving the market."
Some analysts today believe markets have overreacted tothe news of a new coronavirus variant, given how little we still know about it.
But it is precisely this lack of knowledge that has spooked markets so much, say others, because it throws into doubt expected tightening by central banks and raises the prospect of yet more disruption.
Peter Rutter, head of equities at Royal London Asset Management, says:
This news is putting the handbrake on markets. This could be the moment that people look back on as derailing the economic recovery and rate rises. What we have is a big insertion of uncertainty rather than something material but markets don't like that.
Investors are braced for a post-Thanksgiving selloff when the opening bell sounds in Wall Street today.
Tumbling stocks in Asia and Europe do not bode well for those in New York, which have been down in pre-market trading.
It comes as the World Health Organization and scientists in South Africa are scrambling figure out how quickly the new B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant can spread and whether it’s resistant to vaccines.
The worries add to a wider picture that also includes concerns about inflation, an anticipated winding down of support from the Federal Reserve and slowing growth.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote, told Bloomberg:
It’s terrible news. The new Covid variant could hit the economic recovery, but this time, the central banks won’t have enough margin to act. They can’t fight inflation and boost growth at the same time. They have to choose.
Carl Dooley, the head of European, Middle East and Africa trading at Cowen, added:
This is a big shock for people waking up (and) seeing the news.
The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq are operating on shortened hours today, from 9.30am to 1pm.
Time for a lunchtime check on the FTSE 100 after this morning's brutal sell-off.
The blue-chip index has pared back losses marginally to trade down 2.6pc. That's still £52bn wiped off the exchange, though, and it's on track for its worst day since September 2020.
Travel and leisure stocks have recorded the most dramatic falls, with British Airways ownerIAGnow down 14pc. Hotel groupsInterContinentalandWhitbreadhave shed 7pc.
Banking stocksHSBC,LloydsandBarclayshave also fared badly as traders scale back their expectations for a Bank of England interest rate hike.
The domestically-focused FTSE 250 is down 2.2pc, faring only a little better than its blue-chip counterpart, with trading platformsPlus500andCMC Marketspushing higher.
The competition watchdog will appoint a monitor to keep tabs on controversial changes to Google’s Chrome web browser after the company promised the overhaul would not give its advertising business an unfair advantage.
James Titcombhas more details:
Google has committed to ensuring that an upcoming privacy change to Chrome does not tighten its grip on the online advertising market following an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Elsewhere, there's a major management reshuffle at Lidl.
Christian Hartnagel, chief executive of the supermarket chain's British business, will step down next year to take the helm of Lidl's German operations.
His current deputy chief executive, Ryan McDonnell, will take over as the British division's new chief next year.
Mr Hartnagel has led Lidl's UK operations for the last five years, expanding its presence on high streets and increasingly eating away market share from Big Four rivals Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda.
The surprise departure comes just two days after he set out a new long-term growth plan for Lidl GB.
Bosses at the retailer said they expect to reach their original target of having 1,000 stores by 2023 and set a new ambition for 1,100 sites by 2025.
Wall Street is poised to drop sharply this afternoon, following on from major losses for markets across Europe and Asia.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones have tumbled 2.3pc, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are down 1.9pc and 1.2pc respectively.
It comes as the discovery of a new strain of Covid rattles markets ahead of a shortened post-Thanksgiving trading session.
Major airlines dropped between 5pc and 6pc in premarket trading, as the new variant detected in South Africa prompted the EU, UK and India to roll out travel bans.
Cruise operatorsCarnivalandRoyal Caribbean Cruisesplunged about 9pc each.
Wall Street banking titans includingBank of America,Citigroup,JPMorgan,Goldman Sachs,Wells FargoandMorgan Stanleyfell between 3pc and 4pc as traders pared back their recent bets on interest rate hikes.
A key Wall Street index dubbed the 'fear gauge' has recorded its sharpest jump since the beginning of the year as investor jitters mount over the new Covid variant.
The Vix index, which measures expectations of volatility in US stocks over the next month, leapt 38.3pc to 25.7 – its biggest move since January 27.
It may be a Black Friday for markets, but for retailers that term has a very different meaning.
Amazon was the first company to bring the shopping bonanza to Britain, but now it's finding itself at the heart of climate protests up and down the country.
Extinction Rebellion has targeted 13 of the ecommerce giant's warehouses in protest at what it deems the epitome of obsessive overconsumption.
Activists have blocked a string of depots in locations including Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol.
The group said:
Black Friday epitomises an obsession with overconsumption that is not consistent with a liveable planet," the group said.
My colleagueLouis Ashworthhas some more details on how the new Covid variant is impacting traders' expectations of an interest rates rise.
Money markets priced in a 70pc chance officials will vote to increase the cost of borrowing on December 16th, which had been pegged as a certainty as recently as yesterday.
Read Louis' full story here
A touch of positive economic news now to counteract this morning's woes...
Britain’s economy is set to grow more quickly than China's for the first time since the death of Mao Zedong as the world’s second-largest economy slumps to its worst performance in more than 30 years.
Tim Wallacereports:
The UK is expected to sustain its strong rebound from Covid with growth of 5.4pc in 2022, according to analysts at BNP Paribas.
To put today's decline into context, the FTSE 100 is currently on track to record its worst day in more than a year.
Falls of as much as 3.4pc mean the blue-chip index is facing its worst session since September 2020, when it dropped 2.6pc amid concerns about a second wave of Covid.
While the market reaction appears to be history repeating itself, some analysts are less concerned about the threats this time around.
Economist Thomas Hirst says we "know the playbook now", making it easier to think through scenarios. Still, uncertainty is anathema to markets, and that's played out in today's drop.
For many investors, cryptocurrencies have offered an attractive, inflation-resistant alternative to traditional assets. But in times of crisis, it seems, volatile digital coins are not quite so appealing.
Bitcoin tumbled almost 8pc this morning as investors dumped riskier assets and fled to safe haven assets such as bonds, the yen and the dollar.
The cryptocurrency fell as much as 7.8pc to $54,377, its lowest level since October 12.
The latest decline means Bitcoin has slumped by more than a fifth since hitting a record high of almost $70,000 earlier this month.
Ether, the second biggest by market capitalisation, slumped as much as 11.6pc to its lowest in a week.
Read more on this story:World watches through its fingers as El Salvador bets on Bitcoin
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, says:
European markets have seen most of the gains made in the course of October and November evaporate overnight as investors around the globe react to the new Covid variant that has appeared in South Africa. Early reports suggest it spreads quickly and could be much more resistance to existing vaccines.
Oil prices are firmly in negative territory this morning amid concerns the new Covid variant could dent global demand over the winter.
Brent crude has dropped 5.6pc to below $78 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate has plunged 6.8pc to just over $73.
Oil analyst Keshav Lohiya told Bloomberg: “With little known about it, the market is right to be panicked. However this is a cat-and-mouse game between vaccines and variants.”
It comes ahead of a key meeting of Opec+ to decide production policy for January. The group has clashed with major oil consumers including the US after they announced a coordinated release of strategic reserves to help tame prices.
Opec has repeatedly resisted calls to accelerate output, leading to accusations from the International Energy Agency that it was creating "artificial tightness" in the market.
But today's fall in prices will add fresh complications over demand forecasts as the spectre of tighter restrictions looms.
A small word of caution now to put this morning's plunge into context.
Yesterday's Thanksgiving holiday in the US has left liquidity thin, with many traders still away from their desks. As a result, today's big market movements could be more accentuated.
Sterling briefly dropped below $1.33 for the first time since December 2020 as the currency got caught up in a wider exodus from riskier assets.
The pound fell as low as $1.3278, before recovering ground to trade at $1.3331. Against the euro it dropped 0.6pc to 84.65p.
ING analysts said: "London is naturally highly exposed to new strains given its high volume of travellers, and markets will be on the lookout in the coming days for any evidence the new variant has already reached UK, with obvious downside risks for the pound."
Amid panic about the new Covid variant, some analysts are more sanguine about the prospects for markets.
Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group, reckons the new strain will spark a temporary wobble but will soon be shrugged off.
Experts are determining whether the new variant is more transmissible or more deadly than previous ones.
Money markets have pulled back their bets on a Bank of England interest rate rise as fresh Covid concerns fuel speculation central banks could slow their pace of tightening monetary policy.
Traders are now pricing in less than 10 basis points of interest rate rises in December. They're also expecting an increase of less than 25bp in February.
There are echoes of March 2020 this morning, with investors turning to lockdown-friendly stocks.
Just three companies are currently trading higher:Ocadois up 2.9pc, whileReckitt BenckiserandRoyal Mailare up 0.3pc and 0.2pc respectively.
The movements suggest traders are betting on more home deliveries this winter, as well as higher demand for cleaning products.
It seems there's no escape from this morning's Covid concerns – even cryptocurrency is feeling the heat.
Bitcoin, which recently surged to record highs, is down almost 6pc at $55,494. Ethereum, the second largest digital coin, has also slumped 5pc.
Unsurprisingly, it's leisure and travel stocks that are taking the biggest beating across Europe this morning.
The UK and Israel have already announced travel bans from southern Africa, while the EU has said it's likely to follow suit.
Here's how the biggest European players are faring:
• Airlines:IAG-21pc,Lufthansa-12pc,Air France-KLM-9.7pc,EasyJet-16pc,Wizz Air-16pc,Ryanair-9.5pc
• Tour operators:TUI-11pc,Jet2-7.2pc,On the Beach-8.6pc
• Hotels:IHG-6.7pc,Accor-8.8pc,Melia Hotels-9.4pc, Scandic Hotels -6.5pc,Whitbread-6.9pc
• Travel hub retailers:Dufry-10pc,WH Smith-9.8pc,SSP Group-9.8pc,Autogrill-13pc
There's some bittersweet news in energy markets as soaring gas prices have begun to ease – but not for the best of reasons.
Gas prices have surged in recent months, contributing to an escalating energy crisis that has put around 25 suppliers out of business.
Benchmark Dutch gas has reversed course this morning, falling 2.9pc to €90.52 a megawatt-hour, though it's still up for a fourth consecutive week.
It comes as the new Covid variant fuels concerns that a rise in infections and the introduction of tighter restrictions will curb demand for energy over the winter. A rise in wind power has also contributed to the easing of prices.
Right, time to take stock of what's happened on the FTSE so far.
The blue-chip index has slid further into the red – it's now down 3.4pc at 7,063 points as investors react to the new South Africa Covid strain.
IAGis the biggest faller. The British Airways lost as much as a quarter of its value, but it's now pared some of its initial losses to trade down 14pc.
Jet engine makerRolls-Royceis down 13pc, while hotel groupsInterContinentalandWhitbreadhave both fallen 7pc.
It looks likeIAGmay be one of the biggest losers from the Covid troubles.
The British Airways owner has bombed 21pc after the UK brought in a travel ban on South Africa and five other southern African nations. The EU looks set to follow suit.
It's leading a 6.6pc decline on the wider pan-European Stoxx 600 travel and leisure index.
As expected, it's a huge drop for the FTSE 100.
The blue-chip index slumped as much as 2.3pc at the opening bell. It's now down 2.2pc at 7,147 points.
Initial numbers coming through suggest there are some hefty falls across the index.
InterContinental Hotels Groupis down 5.1pc – its biggest decline in 17 months.
Banking stocks are also taking a hit, withBarclaysandLloydsfirmly in the red. Anglo-South African firmInvestechas dropped 5.2pc in its biggest fall for eight months.
The EU looks likely to follow Britain's lead and halt air travel from southern Africa in a desperate bid to keep the new strain out.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the bloc was planning to "activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to the variant of concern B.1.1.529".
Oil prices are taking a battering this morning as news of the new variant casts doubts over demand for the winter.
Brent crude dropped 3.9pc to below $80 a barrel amid a wave of caution across global markets. West Texas Intermediate – another key benchmark – slumped 4pc to below $75 a barrel.
The discovery of the new South Africa variant has sparked panic on the markets, but how bad is it?
Researchers don't yet know just how lethal or transmissible it is, but the Government is taking a cautious approach. Fears that the strain, which has 32 mutations, could evade the vaccine are particularly concerning.
Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said the new variant "may be more transmissible" than the delta strain and added "the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective".
A JCVI scientist has warned the public needs to be ready for new restrictions in the wake of the discovery.
Read more:Public must prepare for change in restrictions in wake of new South African Covid variant
It looks like the FTSE won't be immune from the wider market jitters this morning.
Futures tracking the blue-chip index are pointing 2pc lower as investors respond to the discovery of a potentially vaccine-resistant Covid variant.
The sentiment has spread elsewhere in Europe, with futures tracking the continent's top 50 companies falling 2.3pc.
All eyes will be on travel stocks when the FTSE opens after the Government announced a temporary ban on flights from South Africa and five neighbouring countries.
Good morning.
Some rather grim reading to kick off your Friday, I'm afraid, as news of the new Covid super-variant sends shockwaves through markets.
While not much is known about the B.1.1529 variant – first discovered in South Africa – warnings that it's the most dangerous mutation ever seen have been enough to spook investors.
As well as the sharp drop in Asian stocks, US futures slumped and crude oil lost ground. US Treasuries and the yen have both pushed higher, while the South African rand dropped to its lowest level in a year.
1)M&S under fire over plan to demolish flagship Marble Arch storeCritics say it risks advent of 'ugly spreadsheet architecture'
2)More EU nationals left UK last year than arrived for first time in three decadesNet migration plunges as pandemic restrictions and post-Brexit rules came into force
3)Bank of England museum to host slavery exhibitionPortraits of former governors linked to slave trade will go on display when Bank museum reopens
4)Huel founder in line for hundreds of millions from £1bn floatJulian Hearn holds a 53pc stake in the meal-replacement drink company
5)Energy watchdog faces 'serious questions' over string of supplier collapsesTwo more energy providers stopped trading on Thursday, affecting another 70,000 households
Stocks fell and headed for their largest weekly drop in almost two months on Friday, while safe haven assets such as bonds and the yen rallied as a new virus variant added to swirling concerns about future growth and higher US interest rates.
South Africa's rand fell 1pc in early trade, as did US.crude futures. S&P 500 futures fell 0.4pc, while the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars dropped to three-month lows.
Japan's Nikkei was down 1.7pc in early trade and Australian shares fell 0.6pc. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2% for a weekly fall of 1pc.
• Corporate:No company releases scheduled for today
• Economics:Money supply(EU) || Concentrated Liquidity Increases Risk of Impermanent Loss, Bancor and IntoTheBlock Found: On-Chain Markets Update byIntoTheBlock
Uniswap v3’s concentrated liquidity improved capital efficiency, but also amplified the risks of impermanent loss.
Here is the breakdown of the profitability of liquidity providers and how it could potentially be improved.
Recentlyan interesting paperwas published by the Bancor team related to impermanent loss when providing liquidity on the protocol. The study gathered data from the launch of Uniswap v3 in May until the end of September. It concluded that the impermanent losses (-$260.1M) out shadow the returns earned from trading fees ($199.3M). Also, it found no evidence that certain highly active management strategies would be outperforming those more passive strategies when readjusting liquidity.
The methodology used for the study took into account a total of 17 liquidity pools accounting for 47% of the TVL of the platform at that time. The rest of the TVL was not analyzed due to being in liquidity pools with stablecoins or coins pegged in price between each other, or in pools with not enough liquidity (less than $10M). The data is segregated into three main categories: positions, wallets and pools. This is useful since many wallets tend to deploy several different liquidity positions, on average from 1.25 to 4 positions, depending on the pool. So the performance can be measured either by wallet or by position.
Also, it allows to measure which kind of pools incurred more impermanent losses or accrued more fees, something that can help learn how to mitigate impermanent losses and provide liquidity minimizing risk. Although the gas fees are measured in the study, these conclusions were taken into account without accounting for them, so it is expected that they would exacerbate the losses if they would be considered.
At IntoTheBlock we had access to the raw data of the study and were able to replicate the results. We were particularly interested in how the performance was per wallet and per position and to compare each of them. Summing up, 53.50% of the positions were profitable versus 46.50% that were not. When looking at wallets those that were in profit were a minority with 48.25% over 51.75% that were unprofitable. So up until the date of the study, we can state that the majority of the addresses providing liquidity in Uniswap v3 were not making money.
The study goes deeper than that and analyzes the risk-adjusted returns of each position accounting for the time that they were active. After analyzing how active the positions are over different time periods it can be seen that there were no periods where positions earned more fees than impermanent losses, besides flash liquidity providers. This is an advanced and convoluted strategy known as just-in-time liquidity, performed by providing and removing liquidity in the same block as a big trade is seen in the mempool to be about to happen. So managing the liquidity actively does not outperform certain timeframes over others.
The study also found that it is usual that wallets have several different positions for the same pool, so it studied the performance of wallets by accounting for all of their positions and segregating them by pools. Those pools that have the majority of the addresses providing liquidity profitable are those that have a high correlation (BTC-ETH, LINK-ETH, AXS-ETH, FTM-ETH).
Another one not correlated is curiously BTC-USDC. This is due to the high utilization ratio that it gets (Fees/TVL). This showcases the importance of keeping in mind first the correlations in price between assets which will minimize impermanent loss and then the utilization ratios of each pool, which will maximize returns. So certain pools achieve to accrue more fees than impermanent loss, but they are the minority.
After analyzing the paper we can conclude that engaging in providing concentrated liquidity is an activity with a higher risk but higher reward profile more suited for professional LPs and experienced DeFi users, similar to how market making is done (liquidity by ranges is an abstraction related with central limit order books). Novel users seeking to provide liquidity might find easier other protocols where the impact of impermanent loss is minimal or even non-existent. Being profitable in Uniswap v3 can be approached by adjusting how the user is providing liquidity profitably or by the protocol mitigating some of these losses through design changes.
A user should always have in mind best practices like for example that those pools with highly correlated assets will suffer considerably. Those deciding to deploy positions in tight ranges can expect higher returns but at the expense of a higher risk of incurring more impermanent losses, and the time that the positions are kept open does not seem to have much effect. Risk can be taken sometimes in certain pools that despite being initially composed of uncorrelated assets, their utilization is high and its trading fees overcome impermanent losses.
Comparing the incurred impermanent loss relative to the variation in price between two assets
From the side of Uniswap v3, there are certain ideas that would be cool to try out to mitigate impermanent loss on their users, at least partially.
The most direct one would be some sort of liquidity mining program, offering UNI tokens in those popular pools that are expected to have greater impermanent loss due to their low correlation. Covering the losses with governance tokens can be implemented in some sort of impermanent loss coverage or insurance for those positions that really were impacted by it (similar toBancor). Another more adventurous endeavour would be to try out the popular topic of protocol owned liquidity (Tokemak, Olympus).
Do readers think that this change would be feasible for an already deployed protocol with such a big TVL? Let us know.
Read the original post onThe Defiant. || Concentrated Liquidity Increases Risk of Impermanent Loss, Bancor and IntoTheBlock Found: On-Chain Markets Update by IntoTheBlock Uniswap v3’s concentrated liquidity improved capital efficiency, but also amplified the risks of impermanent loss. Here is the breakdown of the profitability of liquidity providers and how it could potentially be improved. Recently an interesting paper was published by the Bancor team related to impermanent loss when providing liquidity on the protocol. The study gathered data from the launch of Uniswap v3 in May until the end of September. It concluded that the impermanent losses (-$260.1M) out shadow the returns earned from trading fees ($199.3M). Also, it found no evidence that certain highly active management strategies would be outperforming those more passive strategies when readjusting liquidity. The methodology used for the study took into account a total of 17 liquidity pools accounting for 47% of the TVL of the platform at that time. The rest of the TVL was not analyzed due to being in liquidity pools with stablecoins or coins pegged in price between each other, or in pools with not enough liquidity (less than $10M). The data is segregated into three main categories: positions, wallets and pools. This is useful since many wallets tend to deploy several different liquidity positions, on average from 1.25 to 4 positions, depending on the pool. So the performance can be measured either by wallet or by position. Also, it allows to measure which kind of pools incurred more impermanent losses or accrued more fees, something that can help learn how to mitigate impermanent losses and provide liquidity minimizing risk. Although the gas fees are measured in the study, these conclusions were taken into account without accounting for them, so it is expected that they would exacerbate the losses if they would be considered. Positions, Wallets and Pools At IntoTheBlock we had access to the raw data of the study and were able to replicate the results. We were particularly interested in how the performance was per wallet and per position and to compare each of them. Summing up, 53.50% of the positions were profitable versus 46.50% that were not. When looking at wallets those that were in profit were a minority with 48.25% over 51.75% that were unprofitable. So up until the date of the study, we can state that the majority of the addresses providing liquidity in Uniswap v3 were not making money. Story continues The study goes deeper than that and analyzes the risk-adjusted returns of each position accounting for the time that they were active. After analyzing how active the positions are over different time periods it can be seen that there were no periods where positions earned more fees than impermanent losses, besides flash liquidity providers. This is an advanced and convoluted strategy known as just-in-time liquidity, performed by providing and removing liquidity in the same block as a big trade is seen in the mempool to be about to happen. So managing the liquidity actively does not outperform certain timeframes over others. The study also found that it is usual that wallets have several different positions for the same pool, so it studied the performance of wallets by accounting for all of their positions and segregating them by pools. Those pools that have the majority of the addresses providing liquidity profitable are those that have a high correlation (BTC-ETH, LINK-ETH, AXS-ETH, FTM-ETH). Another one not correlated is curiously BTC-USDC. This is due to the high utilization ratio that it gets (Fees/TVL). This showcases the importance of keeping in mind first the correlations in price between assets which will minimize impermanent loss and then the utilization ratios of each pool, which will maximize returns. So certain pools achieve to accrue more fees than impermanent loss, but they are the minority. Teachings and Solutions After analyzing the paper we can conclude that engaging in providing concentrated liquidity is an activity with a higher risk but higher reward profile more suited for professional LPs and experienced DeFi users, similar to how market making is done (liquidity by ranges is an abstraction related with central limit order books). Novel users seeking to provide liquidity might find easier other protocols where the impact of impermanent loss is minimal or even non-existent. Being profitable in Uniswap v3 can be approached by adjusting how the user is providing liquidity profitably or by the protocol mitigating some of these losses through design changes. A user should always have in mind best practices like for example that those pools with highly correlated assets will suffer considerably. Those deciding to deploy positions in tight ranges can expect higher returns but at the expense of a higher risk of incurring more impermanent losses, and the time that the positions are kept open does not seem to have much effect. Risk can be taken sometimes in certain pools that despite being initially composed of uncorrelated assets, their utilization is high and its trading fees overcome impermanent losses. Comparing the incurred impermanent loss relative to the variation in price between two assets From the side of Uniswap v3, there are certain ideas that would be cool to try out to mitigate impermanent loss on their users, at least partially. The most direct one would be some sort of liquidity mining program, offering UNI tokens in those popular pools that are expected to have greater impermanent loss due to their low correlation. Covering the losses with governance tokens can be implemented in some sort of impermanent loss coverage or insurance for those positions that really were impacted by it (similar to Bancor ). Another more adventurous endeavour would be to try out the popular topic of protocol owned liquidity (Tokemak, Olympus). Do readers think that this change would be feasible for an already deployed protocol with such a big TVL? Let us know. Read the original post on The Defiant . || Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Supported by Solid LNG Exports, Tightening Balances: Natural gas futures edged higher on Wednesday for a second straight session as traders braced for the expiration of the December futures contract. The market was supported by strong demand for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a weekly government storage report that highlighted tightening balances. On Wednesday, January natural gas futures settled at $5.114, up 0.079 or +1.57%. Steady LNG Demand Underpinning Prices Despite somewhat bearish weather conditions, the market has been well-supported throughout the month by robust demand from Asia and Europe for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) as these regions brace for the start of winter. According to Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI), LNG feed gas volumes held above 11 Bcf throughout the abbreviated trading week – within striking distance of record levels around 12 Bcf. Short-Term Weather Outlook NGI reported that Bespoke Weather Services noted that near-term domestic weather-driven heating demand forecasts looked light Wednesday, given expectations for seasonally mild temperatures early next month. “We do fell the warmer path is the correct one…into the first half of December, thanks to a lack of high latitude blocking on either side of the continent.” US Energy Information Administration Weekly Storage Report The EIA said utilities pulled 21 Bcf of gas from storage during the week-ended November 19, which was the first withdrawal of the 2021-2022 winter season. That was in line with the 22 Bcf draw a consensus of analysts forecast. Last week’s withdrawal cut stockpiles to 3.623 trillion cubic feet (tcf) for this time of year. Ahead of today’s EIA storage report, NGI’s model predicted a 26 Bcf withdrawal from stockpiles, which would mark the season’s first net pull on Lower 48 inventories. NGI also reported a Reuters poll found estimates that ranged from withdrawals of 16 Bcf to 31 Bcf, with a median of 22 Bcf. Early results of a Bloomberg survey ranged from pulls of 22 Bcf to 26 Bcf, creating a median of 24 Bcf. The Wall Street Journal’s poll found withdrawal estimates of 11 Bcf to 25 Bcf, with an average of 20 Bcf. Story continues Last year, the EIA recorded an 11 Bcf pull for the similar week, and the five-year average is a 44 Bcf withdrawal. Daily January Natural Gas Short-Term Outlook The main range is $4.009 to $6.667. The market is currently trading inside its retracement zone at $5.024 to $5.338, making $5.024 support and $5.338 resistance. Look for an upside bias to develop on a sustained move over $5.024 with the first upside target $5.338. Overtaking this level could trigger a further rally into the main top at $5.480. Taking out this level will change the main trend to up. The downside bias will resume on a sustained move under $5.024. This could lead to a retest of the weekly low at $4.736. This is a potential trigger point for an acceleration to the downside. For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar . This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Ethereum Price Prediction – Bear Trap Brings sub-$4,000 Support Levels into Play U.S Dollar Gains For A Fifth Straight Week Crude Oil Slumps, COVID-19 Stages A Big Comeback MANA in Focus After $2.4m Decentraland Real Estate Sale Thanksgiving Cheer Ends Early for ETH, Price Drops Back to 4k Bitcoin Price Prediction – Bears Hit Back with Sub-$54,000 Eyed || Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Supported by Solid LNG Exports, Tightening Balances: Natural gas futures edged higher on Wednesday for a second straight session as traders braced for the expiration of the December futures contract. The market was supported by strong demand for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a weekly government storage report that highlighted tightening balances.
On Wednesday,January natural gas futuressettled at $5.114, up 0.079 or +1.57%.
Despite somewhat bearish weather conditions, the market has been well-supported throughout the month by robust demand from Asia and Europe for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) as these regions brace for the start of winter.
According to Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI), LNG feed gas volumes held above 11 Bcf throughout the abbreviated trading week – within striking distance of record levels around 12 Bcf.
NGI reported that Bespoke Weather Services noted that near-term domestic weather-driven heating demand forecasts looked light Wednesday, given expectations for seasonally mild temperatures early next month. “We do fell the warmer path is the correct one…into the first half of December, thanks to a lack of high latitude blocking on either side of the continent.”
The EIA said utilities pulled 21 Bcf of gas from storage during the week-ended November 19, which was the first withdrawal of the 2021-2022 winter season. That was in line with the 22 Bcf draw a consensus of analysts forecast.
Last week’s withdrawal cut stockpiles to 3.623 trillion cubic feet (tcf) for this time of year.
Ahead of today’s EIA storage report, NGI’s model predicted a 26 Bcf withdrawal from stockpiles, which would mark the season’s first net pull on Lower 48 inventories.
NGI also reported a Reuters poll found estimates that ranged from withdrawals of 16 Bcf to 31 Bcf, with a median of 22 Bcf. Early results of a Bloomberg survey ranged from pulls of 22 Bcf to 26 Bcf, creating a median of 24 Bcf. The Wall Street Journal’s poll found withdrawal estimates of 11 Bcf to 25 Bcf, with an average of 20 Bcf.
Last year, the EIA recorded an 11 Bcf pull for the similar week, and the five-year average is a 44 Bcf withdrawal.
The main range is $4.009 to $6.667. The market is currently trading inside its retracement zone at $5.024 to $5.338, making $5.024 support and $5.338 resistance.
Look for an upside bias to develop on a sustained move over $5.024 with the first upside target $5.338. Overtaking this level could trigger a further rally into the main top at $5.480. Taking out this level will change the main trend to up.
The downside bias will resume on a sustained move under $5.024. This could lead to a retest of the weekly low at $4.736. This is a potential trigger point for an acceleration to the downside.
For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out oureconomic calendar.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Ethereum Price Prediction – Bear Trap Brings sub-$4,000 Support Levels into Play
• U.S Dollar Gains For A Fifth Straight Week
• Crude Oil Slumps, COVID-19 Stages A Big Comeback
• MANA in Focus After $2.4m Decentraland Real Estate Sale
• Thanksgiving Cheer Ends Early for ETH, Price Drops Back to 4k
• Bitcoin Price Prediction – Bears Hit Back with Sub-$54,000 Eyed || Bank of England museum to host slavery exhibition: The portraits of Sir James Bateman (L), Sir Robert Clayton (C) and Sir Gilbert Heathcote (R) were quietly removed from public view over summer - Bank of England The Bank of England’s museum will host an exhibition about slavery, Andrew Bailey said, as he rejected suggestions that the central bank had “gone ‘woke’”. The display at the Bank’s Threadneedle Street headquarters will include portraits of former governors and directors linked to the slave trade that were taken down during the summer, the Governor said. The museum has been closed since Covid struck but is set to reopen soon. “We’re actually going to open up with an exhibition, a display in the museum, on the history of slavery,” Mr Bailey told students at the Cambridge Union. He added: “Quite a bit of the material that we’ve moved is going to reappear in the public part [of the Bank].” The Bank said in August it had removed oil paintings and busts of seven former leading figures at Threadneedle Street after establishing their links to the transatlantic slave trade . Mr Bailey said the Bank of England had no direct links to the slave trade, but added: “Clearly some of my predecessors were involved in it.” Explaining the decision to remove the portraits , he said: “If you’re a member of staff in the Bank of England from an ethnic background … should you be required to sit in a room looking at a painting of somebody who owned slaves? “Honestly, we can debate this at great length. I think it’s better to do it in the public part of the Bank where we can explain it.” Mr Bailey added: “It’s not because as some of the newspapers say we’ve sort of gone ‘woke’, whatever that word actually means. Let's not make people sit in rooms and feel difficult because they're looking at these images.” A report commissioned by the Bank and released in July found that ethic minority workers faced “material disparities” at Threadneedle Street and were being held back by unconscious bias and microaggressions. At the same talk on Thursday, Mr Bailey also warned that El Salvador’s decision to recognise Bitcoin as legal tender was worrying and risked harming its citizens. Story continues “It concerns me that a country would choose it as its national currency,” he said. “What would worry me most of all is, do the citizens of El Salvador understand the nature and volatility of the currency they have?” Mr Bailey’s comments come after the central American nation announced plans for a $1 billion bond issuance, with the funds raised to be split between buying the cryptocurrency and building a new city near an active volcano. The International Monetary Fund warned earlier this week that El Salvador should not use Bitcoin due to the instability of its price. The world’s biggest digital coin is known for its wild price fluctuations, having swung from under $20,000 to almost $70,000 in the past year. Led by its president Nayib Bukele, an outspoken supporter of Bitcoin, El Salvador officially adopted the cryptocurrency as legal tender in early September, meaning it must be accepted as payment for goods and services. However, the move has been plagued by problems with El Salvadorans reporting issues with the government’s bitcoin “wallet”. Mr Bailey also offered a sceptical assessment of economic developments in Turkey, where the lira has plunged as its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan fiddles the dials of monetary policy. “As far as I can tell, it's a policy stance, which says the best way to tackle inflation is to cut interest rates,” he said. “And that's an unusual combination… I don't comment on other people's policies much. But I’ll just say it's an unusual combination in economics, certainly.” || Bank of England museum to host slavery exhibition: The Bank of England’s museum will host an exhibition about slavery, Andrew Bailey said, as he rejected suggestions that the central bank had “gone ‘woke’”.
The display at the Bank’s Threadneedle Street headquarters will include portraits of former governors and directors linked to the slave trade that were taken down during the summer, the Governor said.
The museum has been closed since Covid struck but is set to reopen soon.
“We’re actually going to open up with an exhibition, a display in the museum, on the history of slavery,” Mr Bailey told students at the Cambridge Union.
He added: “Quite a bit of the material that we’ve moved is going to reappear in the public part [of the Bank].”
The Bank said in August it had removed oil paintings and busts of seven former leading figures at Threadneedle Street after establishingtheir links to the transatlantic slave trade.
Mr Bailey said the Bank of England had no direct links to the slave trade, but added: “Clearly some of my predecessors were involved in it.”
Explaining the decisionto remove the portraits, he said: “If you’re a member of staff in the Bank of England from an ethnic background … should you be required to sit in a room looking at a painting of somebody who owned slaves?
“Honestly, we can debate this at great length. I think it’s better to do it in the public part of the Bank where we can explain it.”
Mr Bailey added: “It’s not because as some of the newspapers say we’ve sort of gone ‘woke’, whatever that word actually means. Let's not make people sit in rooms and feel difficult because they're looking at these images.”
A report commissioned by the Bank and released in July found that ethic minority workers faced “material disparities” at Threadneedle Street and were being held back by unconscious bias and microaggressions.
At the same talk on Thursday, Mr Bailey also warned thatEl Salvador’s decision to recognise Bitcoin as legal tenderwas worrying and risked harming its citizens.
“It concerns me that a country would choose it as its national currency,” he said.
“What would worry me most of all is, do the citizens of El Salvador understand the nature and volatility of the currency they have?”
Mr Bailey’s comments come after the central American nation announced plans for a $1 billion bond issuance, with the funds raised to be split between buying the cryptocurrency and building a new city near an active volcano.
The International Monetary Fund warned earlier this week that El Salvador should not use Bitcoin due to the instability of its price. The world’s biggest digital coin is known for its wild price fluctuations, having swung from under $20,000 to almost $70,000 in the past year.
Led by its president Nayib Bukele, an outspoken supporter of Bitcoin, El Salvador officially adopted the cryptocurrency as legal tender in early September, meaning it must be accepted as payment for goods and services.
However, the move has been plagued by problems with El Salvadorans reporting issues with the government’s bitcoin “wallet”.
Mr Bailey also offered a sceptical assessment of economic developments in Turkey,where the lira has plungedas its president Recep Tayyip Erdogan fiddles the dials of monetary policy.
“As far as I can tell, it's a policy stance, which says the best way to tackle inflation is to cut interest rates,” he said. “And that's an unusual combination… I don't comment on other people's policies much. But I’ll just say it's an unusual combination in economics, certainly.” || NFTs Are So Much More Than JPEGs: Shutterstock Crypto investors are now running to the NFT (non-fungible token) space, and for good reason; with seasoned NFTs having appreciated by 50,000% in less than two years , it would be lunacy to ignore them. However, they are still misunderstood by many and often labeled as mere JPEGs. Put simply, NFTs are digital assets with unique properties. They can be anything from virtual items like CryptoKitties to real-world assets like real estate. Some examples of NFT digital assets include land titles, art, collectibles, memorabilia and sports cards, to name just a few. The “non-fungible” phrase refers to each asset being unique and irreplaceable. For example, one dollar is fungible because anyone can trade it for another dollar and still have the same thing. In contrast, a one-of-a-kind trading card is non-fungible. Trading it for a different card will leave the owner with something… different. It’s handy to think of them as digital collector’s items — for instance, instead of an actual painting, you get a digital file. NFTs are also part of the blockchain network. While any blockchain can develop a support standard, most NFTs are part of Ethereum (the blockchain validates every NFT transfer, rather than any one central institution). Like Bitcoin, Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, but its blockchain also supports these unique assets. One other quality is worth noting: NFTs are unique cryptographic tokens stored in virtual cryptocurrency wallets; they are divisible, transferable and consumable. Why we should care about NFTs Blockchain technologies have been changing the way we transfer assets for years, but until now, few have considered the implications of the technology for traditional assets. NFTs are driving this revolution because they provide a digital standard for ownership of tangible items. That means we can easily and safely sell physical possessions on the blockchain. In fact, NFT asset sales reached more than $3.5 billion in the first three quarters of this year. A few recent transactions: the Bored Ape Yacht Club, one of the most popular NFT projects online, sold for $982,500; and Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT for more than $2.9 million. Story continues Related: It Takes a Village: How Blockchain, Crypto and NFTs Ensure Digital Trust NFTs also have additional features that go beyond the usual, further adding to their value: Indivisibility: NFTs are indivisible concerning their utility, in the same way you can’t buy and use a train ticket partially (only one person can use the seat). Scarcity: Developers can limit the number of NFTs available, which means they can be scarce. Uniqueness: No two are the same. The metadata of every NFT is unalterable, providing verifiable authenticity. Ownership: NFTs live on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) within associated accounts. Their original creator controls the private key of the account where they live. That person is also free to transfer their NFT(s) to any account. Transparency: Public distributed ledgers are decentralized and immutable. There are publicly verify records of token issuance, activities and transfers. As a result, verifiable authenticity is assured. Interoperability: Trade (purchasing or selling) of NFTs is done across various DLTs, using a decentralized bridge. Aside from the above attributes, three additional qualities can make NFTs particularly attractive investments. Rarity CryptoPunks — a collection of pixel-art characters created in 2017 by Larva Labs —shocked the world, showing how a couple of pixels could become an exclusive piece of art. An initially free giveaway on Reddit started a revolution that ultimately propelled one, “CryptoPunk #7523”, to be sold at a Sotheby’s auction house in June for $11 million — the first hyper-successful NFT project, and CryptoPunks remain the rarest and most valuable pieces found in the market today. Related: The Art Oligarchy Is Over: NFTs Have Opened the Market to All Gamification Another highly sought-after utility is gamification, along with community voting mechanics. One organization to keep an eye on in that regard is Divine Anarchy, described on its site as “the first attempt at an in-game governance NFT that will act as an experimental catalyst for open-source tribe formation”. Its project launched on October 1, and has quickly become an NFT sensation. The art is not only stunning, but also has built-in social sandbox game theory, where the community actively participates in determining real-world effects of the Divine Anarchy NFTs. In addition, the organization has the support of huge influencers in the crypto Twitter community, and is attempting to bridge the gap between crypto and anime. Access The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) was released in June using a different approach to increase its NFT value. Owning a Bored Ape doubles as a membership card to its digital club; as a result, investors were willing to spend big bucks to access the exclusive crypto community, raising its perceived value. Further, the project is constantly updating its roadmap. According to recent BAYC social media posts, it plans to add an actual yacht club in the future, and claim to be attracting celebrities from all over the world. Plus, private clubs and secret organizations have formed around holders of these NFTs. Related: How NFTs are Ushering in the True Age of the Digital Creator The future of collecting NFTs When it comes to these assets, figuring out what you like is the easy part; what’s difficult is navigating the marketplace and knowing which platform is right for you. When I make my rounds in the NFT space, I aim to connect emotionally to the art I’m collecting, and look for an active community with people excited about the project and a competent team looking to pioneer its space. Finally, I look for innovation when it comes to new ways I can enjoy them. || NFTs Are So Much More Than JPEGs: Crypto investors are now running to the NFT (non-fungible token) space, and for good reason; with seasoned NFTs having appreciated by50,000% in less than two years, it would be lunacy to ignore them. However, they are still misunderstood by many and often labeled as mere JPEGs.
Put simply, NFTs are digital assets with unique properties. They can be anything from virtual items like CryptoKitties to real-world assets like real estate. Some examples of NFT digital assets include land titles, art, collectibles, memorabilia and sports cards, to name just a few. The “non-fungible” phrase refers to each asset being unique and irreplaceable. For example, one dollar is fungible because anyone can trade it for another dollar and still have the same thing. In contrast, a one-of-a-kind trading card is non-fungible. Trading it for a different card will leave the owner with something… different. It’s handy to think of them as digital collector’s items — for instance, instead of an actual painting, you get a digital file.
NFTs are also part of the blockchain network. While any blockchain can develop a support standard, most NFTs are part of Ethereum (the blockchain validates every NFT transfer, rather than any one central institution). Like Bitcoin, Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, but its blockchain also supports these unique assets. One other quality is worth noting: NFTs are unique cryptographic tokens stored in virtual cryptocurrency wallets; they are divisible, transferable and consumable.
Blockchain technologies have been changing the way we transfer assets for years, but until now, few have considered the implications of the technology for traditional assets. NFTs are driving this revolution because they provide a digital standard for ownership of tangible items. That means we can easily and safely sell physical possessions on the blockchain. In fact, NFT asset sales reached more than $3.5 billion in the first three quarters of this year. A few recent transactions: the Bored Ape Yacht Club, one of the most popular NFT projects online, sold for $982,500; and Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT for more than $2.9 million.
Related:It Takes a Village: How Blockchain, Crypto and NFTs Ensure Digital Trust
NFTs also have additional features that go beyond the usual, further adding to their value:
• Indivisibility: NFTs are indivisible concerning their utility, in the same way you can’t buy and use a train ticket partially (only one person can use the seat).
• Scarcity: Developers can limit the number of NFTs available, which means they can be scarce.
• Uniqueness: No two are the same. The metadata of every NFT is unalterable, providing verifiable authenticity.
• Ownership: NFTs live on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) within associated accounts. Their original creator controls the private key of the account where they live. That person is also free to transfer their NFT(s) to any account.
• Transparency: Public distributed ledgers are decentralized and immutable. There are publicly verify records of token issuance, activities and transfers. As a result, verifiable authenticity is assured.
• Interoperability: Trade (purchasing or selling) of NFTs is done across various DLTs, using a decentralized bridge.
Aside from the above attributes, three additional qualities can make NFTs particularly attractive investments.
CryptoPunks — a collection of pixel-art characters created in 2017 by Larva Labs —shocked the world, showing how a couple of pixels could become an exclusive piece of art. An initially free giveaway on Reddit started a revolution that ultimately propelled one, “CryptoPunk #7523”, to be sold at a Sotheby’s auction house in June for $11 million — the first hyper-successful NFT project, and CryptoPunks remain the rarest and most valuable pieces found in the market today.
Related:The Art Oligarchy Is Over: NFTs Have Opened the Market to All
Another highly sought-after utility is gamification, along with community voting mechanics. One organization to keep an eye on in that regard is Divine Anarchy, described on its site as “the first attempt at an in-game governance NFT that will act as an experimental catalyst for open-source tribe formation”. Its project launched on October 1, and has quickly become an NFT sensation. The art is not only stunning, but also has built-in social sandbox game theory, where the community actively participates in determining real-world effects of the Divine Anarchy NFTs. In addition, the organization has the support of huge influencers in the crypto Twitter community, and is attempting to bridge the gap between crypto and anime.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) was released in June using a different approach to increase its NFT value. Owning a Bored Ape doubles as a membership card to its digital club; as a result, investors were willing to spend big bucks to access the exclusive crypto community, raising its perceived value. Further, the project is constantly updating its roadmap. According to recent BAYC social media posts, it plans to add an actual yacht club in the future, and claim to be attracting celebrities from all over the world. Plus, private clubs and secret organizations have formed around holders of these NFTs.
Related:How NFTs are Ushering in the True Age of the Digital Creator
When it comes to these assets, figuring out what you like is the easy part; what’s difficult is navigating the marketplace and knowing which platform is right for you. When I make my rounds in the NFT space, I aim to connect emotionally to the art I’m collecting, and look for an active community with people excited about the project and a competent team looking to pioneer its space. Finally, I look for innovation when it comes to new ways I can enjoy them. || Crypto: The Gift That Keeps On Giving (to Charity): Manuel Gonzalez Alzuru, a co-founder of a soon-to-launch non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, says he is “doin’ good,” with a smile and a nod over a video call. “It never gets old saying that.” His platform, boyishly named DoinGud, is what Alzuru calls a “prosocial” experiment – a way to funnel some of the massive profits generated by the emergent NFT economy to worthy causes. “Ethereum gave me freedom,” Alzuru, 31, said. “And I’m always looking for ways to give back and to get some freedom for others as well.” That’s a message he thinks others in crypto could get behind. DoinGud, set to launch on Nov. 30, distinguishes itself from the increasingly crowded field of NFT markets by automatically directly a percentage (5%-95%) of sales to charities. This article is excerpted from The Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here . For an industry that prides itself on working on behalf of the “public good,” outright philanthropy isn’t often prioritized. Companies, projects and individuals have made breathtaking profits this year during a bull market that has driven the entire market cap of all cryptos, at times, above $3 trillion . It’s money that’s sometimes literally printed from nowhere and might be put to good use. “In order for you to give, you need to have something to give,” Alzuru said. NFTs have unlocked untold fortunes for a number of artists across industries – seemingly regardless of experience or, at times, talent . The “creator economy” was well underway in 2018 when the ERC-721 white paper was published, describing the smart contract standard underpinning NFTs. Since then, however, NFTs have extended the playing field of who can get paid for their work online. That’s at least part of what Alzuru means when he says “freedom:” Crypto has given him more than just financial “independence” (though there is that): It hast also granted him the lowercase-l, liberal freedoms some people in North America or Europe may take for granted. Born in Venezuela, Alzuru said he felt he had no guaranteed right to speech or expression, until he found Ethereum. Story continues “I’m able now to express myself on Ethereum, on the internet, and it stays there,” he said. “No one can take that away from me.” That’s the power of property rights enforced by code, he said. But don’t confuse him with any old capitalist; Alzuru, perhaps like Ethereum itself , is ideologically fluid. “I also believe in communal property rights, ‘public goods’ or public infrastructure,” he said, invoking the idea that crypto, open and accessible to all in theory, is a new type of digital commons. That’s ultimately what he wants DoinGud to become, to exist at the protocol level, a tool that other NFT or DeFi platforms can integrate to automate charitable giving. But public goods are open to exploitation. Or, as street artist Rich Simmons put it in an email, “The whole NFT and crypto climates so far have felt like a bit of a cash grab.” Simmons is joining the ranks (including publications like CoinDesk and The New Yorker) of those using NFTs to fund charitable giving. He’s using a platform called HistoryMakr and donating to several mental health organizations. Give crypto to get back Is crypto charity a way to cover up some of the evils of the industry? Under fire for its environmental footprint, rampant scams and general social toxicity, crypto certainly needs a little goodwill. See also: Want Cleaner Bitcoin Mining? Subsidize It But “corporate social responsibility,” the idea that traditional businesses owe something to the world in addition to their shareholders, often leads to less-than-desirable and sometimes hysterical results. It’s the same mentality that has the Central Intelligence Agency whitewashing itself as a progressive wing of government. At launch, creators on DoinGud will be able to determine which causes to support and what percentage is handed over. The intention is to open source its code and form a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to set protocols around charitable giving. “Consensus is also always changing,” Alzuru said, and six-member founding team isn’t comfortable determining what is “right or wrong.” A “curated” registry, launched in collaboration with The Giving Block, an established project that enables charities to accept crypto, may eventually blacklist unsavory recipients. Regardless of people’s motivations for giving, there’s a huge opportunity for charitable efforts to thrive in crypto. Blockchain has long been touted as a way to bring transparency to an industry that sometimes operates in the dark . Smart contracts, like the ones DoinGud designed, can make giving a routine part of doing business. Not to mention the wealth, the insane wealth , created during bull markets. Alzuru even thinks the psychological effects that transparent blockchains foster, the same mental forces that drive people to display NFTs as avatars on social media, could benefit charity. “With crypto, you have this proof that you’ve given back to the community,” Alzuru said, referring to the paper trail left on Ethereum. “Most of the time, [when giving], people are showing us vanity.” “You might want to create something for the betterment of humanity,” he said. “What you need to first think about yourself, like if you’re not good, if you’re not doing good yourself, you cannot be creating stuff for others.” || Crypto: The Gift That Keeps On Giving (to Charity): Manuel Gonzalez Alzuru, a co-founder of a soon-to-launch non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, says he is “doin’ good,” with a smile and a nod over a video call. “It never gets old saying that.” His platform, boyishly named DoinGud, is what Alzuru calls a “prosocial” experiment – a way to funnel some of the massive profits generated by the emergent NFT economy to worthy causes.
“Ethereum gave me freedom,” Alzuru, 31, said. “And I’m always looking for ways to give back and to get some freedom for others as well.” That’s a message he thinks others in crypto could get behind. DoinGud, set to launch on Nov. 30, distinguishes itself from the increasingly crowded field of NFT markets by automatically directly a percentage (5%-95%) of sales to charities.
This article is excerpted from The Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the fullnewsletter here.
For an industry that prides itself on working on behalf of the “public good,” outright philanthropy isn’t often prioritized. Companies, projects and individuals have made breathtaking profits this year during a bull market that has driven the entire market cap of all cryptos, at times,above $3 trillion. It’s money that’s sometimes literallyprintedfrom nowhere and might be put to good use.
“In order for you to give, you need to have something to give,” Alzuru said. NFTs have unlocked untold fortunes for a number of artists across industries – seemingly regardless of experience or, at times,talent. The“creator economy”was well underway in 2018 when the ERC-721 white paper was published, describing the smart contract standard underpinning NFTs. Since then, however, NFTs have extended the playing field ofwho can get paidfor their work online.
That’s at least part of what Alzuru means when he says “freedom:” Crypto has given him more than just financial “independence” (though there is that): It hast also granted him thelowercase-l, liberal freedomssome people in North America or Europe may take for granted. Born in Venezuela, Alzuru said he felt he had no guaranteed right to speech or expression, until he found Ethereum.
“I’m able now to express myself on Ethereum, on the internet, and it stays there,” he said. “No one can take that away from me.” That’s the power of property rights enforced by code, he said. But don’t confuse him with any old capitalist; Alzuru, perhapslike Ethereum itself, is ideologically fluid.
“I also believe in communal property rights,‘public goods’or public infrastructure,” he said, invoking the idea that crypto, open and accessible to all in theory, is a new type of digital commons. That’s ultimately what he wants DoinGud to become, to exist at the protocol level, a tool that other NFT or DeFi platforms can integrate to automate charitable giving.
But public goods are open to exploitation. Or, as street artist Rich Simmons put it in an email, “The whole NFT and crypto climates so far have felt like a bit of a cash grab.” Simmons is joining the ranks (including publications like CoinDesk and The New Yorker) of those using NFTs to fund charitable giving. He’s using a platform called HistoryMakr and donating to severalmental healthorganizations.
Is crypto charity a way to cover up some of the evils of the industry?Under firefor its environmental footprint, rampant scams and general social toxicity, crypto certainly needs a little goodwill.
See also:Want Cleaner Bitcoin Mining? Subsidize It
But “corporate social responsibility,” the idea that traditional businesses owe something to the world in addition to their shareholders, often leads toless-than-desirableandsometimes hystericalresults. It’s the same mentality that has the Central Intelligence Agency whitewashing itself as aprogressive wingof government.
At launch, creators on DoinGud will be able to determine which causes to support and what percentage is handed over. The intention is to open source its code and form a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to set protocols around charitable giving. “Consensus is also always changing,” Alzuru said, and six-member founding team isn’t comfortable determining what is “right or wrong.” A “curated” registry, launched in collaboration with The Giving Block, an established project that enables charities to accept crypto, may eventually blacklistunsavoryrecipients.
Regardless of people’s motivations for giving, there’s a huge opportunity for charitable efforts to thrive in crypto. Blockchain has long been touted as a way to bring transparency to an industry that sometimesoperates in the dark. Smart contracts, like the ones DoinGud designed, can make giving a routine part of doing business. Not to mention the wealth,the insane wealth, created during bull markets.
Alzuru even thinks the psychological effects that transparent blockchains foster, the same mental forces that drive people to display NFTs as avatars on social media, could benefit charity. “With crypto, you have this proof that you’ve given back to the community,” Alzuru said, referring to the paper trail left on Ethereum. “Most of the time, [when giving], people are showing us vanity.”
“You might want to create something for the betterment of humanity,” he said. “What you need to first think about yourself, like if you’re not good, if you’re not doing good yourself, you cannot be creating stuff for others.” || New DeFi platform CreDA aims to de-risk the world of crypto: Credit DeFi Alliance (CreDA) – the world’s first decentralised credit rating service – has launched its platform following a successful open beta. By following the example of traditional consumer credit agencies, CreDA introduced its concept of personal credit scores into the $200bn decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem populated by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Leveraging existing blockchain infrastructure, the company said it provides a trust architecture for the crypto ecosystem and a link between on-chain and traditional financial systems. The Alliance said its focus was on simplifying transactions for users, minimising risk for lenders and enabling access to capital without the need for high amounts of collateral usually needed by DeFi lenders. Cassie Zhang, CreDA’s Chief Operating Officer explained that, in traditional finance, the total value of credit-based, unsecured loans was several times that of collateralised mortgage loans. “The introduction of CreDA credit scores will enable unprecedented imagination and innovation to protocol users and developers alike,” she noted. “But more importantly, CreDA fulfills the promise of blockchain and decentralised finance, providing the trust architecture needed to unlock capital for the billions of people without access to traditional banking.” CreDA would, therefore, allow users to link their wallets, mint a credit NFT (cNFT) and borrow low or non-collateralised loans all from within the same platform. Fulfilling the promise of DeFi The company asserted it wants to improve access to capital for people who don’t have access to traditional banking since the DeFi reality hasn’t been so straightforward. The lack of trust in the system means that lenders must de-risk by demanding crippling amounts of collateral, which has become the standard in DeFi. CreDA stressed it would fulfil the promise of blockchain and decentralised finance, providing the trust architecture needed to unlock capital for the billions of people without access to traditional banking. At launch, CreDA’s partners included UniSwap, SushiSwap, Elastos, FilDA, PolyNetwork, O3 Swap, WePiggy, Channels, and dForce. Built on the Ethereum Layer 2 network, CreDA will operate across multiple chains including Arbitrum, BSC (Binance Smart Chain), Polkadot, Polygon, HECO (Huobi ECO Chain) and ESC (Elastos Sidechain). || New DeFi platform CreDA aims to de-risk the world of crypto: Credit DeFi Alliance (CreDA) – the world’s first decentralised credit rating service – has launched its platform following a successful open beta. By following the example of traditional consumer credit agencies, CreDA introduced its concept of personal credit scores into the $200bn decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem populated by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Leveraging existing blockchain infrastructure, the company said it provides a trust architecture for the crypto ecosystem and a link between on-chain and traditional financial systems. The Alliance said its focus was on simplifying transactions for users, minimising risk for lenders and enabling access to capital without the need for high amounts of collateral usually needed by DeFi lenders. Cassie Zhang, CreDA’s Chief Operating Officer explained that, in traditional finance, the total value of credit-based, unsecured loans was several times that of collateralised mortgage loans. “The introduction of CreDA credit scores will enable unprecedented imagination and innovation to protocol users and developers alike,” she noted. “But more importantly, CreDA fulfills the promise of blockchain and decentralised finance, providing the trust architecture needed to unlock capital for the billions of people without access to traditional banking.” CreDA would, therefore, allow users to link their wallets, mint a credit NFT (cNFT) and borrow low or non-collateralised loans all from within the same platform. Fulfilling the promise of DeFi The company asserted it wants to improve access to capital for people who don’t have access to traditional banking since the DeFi reality hasn’t been so straightforward. The lack of trust in the system means that lenders must de-risk by demanding crippling amounts of collateral, which has become the standard in DeFi. CreDA stressed it would fulfil the promise of blockchain and decentralised finance, providing the trust architecture needed to unlock capital for the billions of people without access to traditional banking. At launch, CreDA’s partners included UniSwap, SushiSwap, Elastos, FilDA, PolyNetwork, O3 Swap, WePiggy, Channels, and dForce. Built on the Ethereum Layer 2 network, CreDA will operate across multiple chains including Arbitrum, BSC (Binance Smart Chain), Polkadot, Polygon, HECO (Huobi ECO Chain) and ESC (Elastos Sidechain). || Bitcoin network overtakes PayPal in quarterly volume: The price of bitcoin has doubled since the start of the year (Getty Images) The bitcoin network now handles more volume than online payments giant PayPal, according to the latest data. Figures from blockchain insight firm Blockdata show that the bitcoin network processed an estimated average of $489 billion per quarter in 2021, compared to PayPal s average of $302 billion per quarter. Bitcoins figure is still a long way off that of other leading payments processors Mastercard ($1.8 trillion per quarter) and Visa ($3.2 trillion per quarter). Follow our live coverage of the crypto market PayPals announcement last year that customers could buy, sell and spend bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through its online platform , opened the digital assets up to more than 300 million customers and around 20 million active merchants around the world, and sparked the beginning of a price rally that has seen BTC rise in value by more than 400 per cent over the last 12 months. Bitcoins transaction volume has been boosted by this surging price, which has nearly doubled against the US dollar in 2021. In theory, if bitcoin were to rise in price ~260 per cent today, to $245,000, then the bitcoin network would theoretically be processing an equivalent in volume to the Mastercard network on a daily basis, Sam Wouters, a senior analyst at Blockdata, noted in a blog post . Price isnt the only way for bitcoin to catch up though, and volume isnt the only way to define the size of a financial network. The bitcoin network averages around 280,000 transactions per day on its base layer (not including layer 2 technologies like the Lightning Network ), compared to around 366 million per day for Mastercard and 597 million per day for Visa. This is where the gap between the networks is staggering, but not without reason, Mr Wouters wrote. There are many more credit card users than cryptocurrency users, and closing that gap will take time and a lot of education in how this new financial system works. A lot can change over the next years, and a conservative estimate of 2026 for bitcoin to grow to the scale of a network like Mastercard or Visa, may not be so overoptimistic after all. Story continues Bitcoins current market cap of $1.11 trillion is already more than value of Mastercard, PayPal and Visa combined. Read More How bad is bitcoin for the environment really? Crypto experts discuss bitcoin price predictions What is Solana? The crypto rising 200-times faster than bitcoin Ethereum is a better bet than bitcoin, JPMorgan says El Salvador to build crypto-fuelled Bitcoin City
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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54815.08, 57248.46, 57806.57, 57005.43, 57229.83, 56477.82, 53598.25, 49200.70, 49368.85, 50582.62
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 8577.98, 8309.29, 8206.15, 8027.27, 7642.75, 7296.58, 7397.80, 7047.92, 7146.13, 7218.37, 7531.66, 7463.11, 7761.24, 7569.63, 7424.29, 7321.99, 7320.15, 7252.03, 7448.31, 7547.00, 7556.24, 7564.35, 7400.90, 7278.12, 7217.43, 7243.13, 7269.68, 7124.67, 7152.30, 6932.48, 6640.52, 7276.80, 7202.84, 7218.82, 7191.16, 7511.59, 7355.63, 7322.53, 7275.16, 7238.97, 7290.09, 7317.99, 7422.65, 7293.00, 7193.60, 7200.17, 6985.47, 7344.88, 7410.66, 7411.32, 7769.22, 8163.69, 8079.86, 7879.07, 8166.55, 8037.54, 8192.49, 8144.19, 8827.76, 8807.01, 8723.79, 8929.04, 8942.81, 8706.25, 8657.64, 8745.89, 8680.88, 8406.52, 8445.43, 8367.85, 8596.83, 8909.82, 9358.59, 9316.63, 9508.99, 9350.53, 9392.88, 9344.37, 9293.52, 9180.96, 9613.42, 9729.80, 9795.94, 9865.12, 10116.67, 9856.61, 10208.24, 10326.05, 10214.38, 10312.12.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-02-14]
Volume: 43338264162, RSI (14-day): 70.51, 50-day EMA: 8967.35, 200-day EMA: 8489.14
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1582.70, Gold RSI: 62.53
Oil Price: 52.05, Oil RSI: 41.40
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
US DOJ Calls Bitcoin Mixing ‘a Crime’ in Arrest of Software Developer: Larry Harmon was arrested earlier this week for allegedly participating in a money-laundering conspiracy worth more than $300 million in cryptocurrency involving darknet marketplace AlphaBay. However, the family of the Coin Ninja CEO claims he was never involved with AlphaBay. Harmon’s case raises pressing questions about developer liability in the crypto industry. In addition to the crypto media site Coin Ninja, Harmon created the bitcoin (BTC) mixer Helix, which sends transactions out in mixed batches so individual payments are harder to trace. In its indictment , Department of Justice prosecutors refer to Helix as a “money transmitting and money laundering business.” Related: For Crypto Miners, Bitcoin’s Halving Could Mean a Doubling in Costs “Helix enabled customers, for a fee, to send bitcoins to designated recipients in a manner which was designed to conceal and obfuscate the source or owner of the bitcoins,” the indictment continues. “This type of service is commonly referred to as a bitcoin ‘mixer’ or ‘tumbler.’” In a statement Thursday, Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski made the department’s views on bitcoin mixers clear. “This indictment underscores that seeking to obscure virtual currency transactions in this way is a crime,” he said. Harmon’s brother and Coin Ninja coworker, Gary Harmon, said Helix did not directly partner with AlphaBay and the darknet market recommended the mixer without Larry’s permission or input. (Helix shut down in 2017; AlphaBay was seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in July 2017.) Since the arrest, Larry’s wife Margot has received threatening phone calls and texts from unknown numbers saying the harasser knows the location of her home and she is no longer safe there, Gary told CoinDesk in an interview. Related: Bitcoin Closing on Daily Golden Cross That Could Bring Boost to 2020 Price Rally “Now our family is getting threatened because the FBI decided to tell the world that there might be money hidden with us somehow,” Gary said. “They have no proof of this and are now putting our family in danger.” Story continues Gary said all his brother’s assets have been frozen and he was denied bail over flight-risk concerns. As such, the family has started a GoFundMe campaign for its expenses during the trial. ”Our address is on it,” Margot Harmon said of the indictment. “At the bond hearing they alleged that he may have had some more bitcoin. So that put us at risk.” Gary said the authorities have already confiscated all of his brother’s hardware wallets and Margot doesn’t have any more bitcoin at home. The Department of Justice says it worked with the Belize National Police Department to search Harmon’s timeshare in Belize as well. Gary said the police “trashed” both of his brother’s homes. Listen with Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Pocketcasts , Google Podcasts , Castbox , Stitcher , RadioPublica or via RSS . Major implications Many bitcoin experts are concerned this could establish a precedent where simply creating a bitcoin mixer is seen, in itself, as a money-laundering conspiracy. Bitcoin Core contributor Matt Corallo tweeted that if this accusation was upheld by the federal court in Washington, D.C., it would be “the beginning of the end.” Margot said her husband was interested in privacy technology, not criminal activity. She offered the example of queer people who may want to purchase porn or sex products without judgment from conservative family members. “Larry has always been an advocate for privacy. He doesn’t know any bad guys from the dark web. He just wanted to help people have better privacy,” she told CoinDesk Thursday. “It’s a basic right we are guaranteed in the Constitution.” The courts may decide in this case if the Fourth Amendment actually relates to bitcoin when it says Americans have the right to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Whether or not this includes a right to privacy , generally speaking, is a hotly debated issue among legal experts. In May, the Dutch Financial Criminal Investigative Service seized and shut down the popular mixing service Bestmixer.io but other companies, such as the privacy-centric bitcoin wallet Wasabi , have built-in mixers as the backbone of their business strategy. These bitcoin wallet startups typically offer non-custodial mixers, unlike the custodial mixer Helix. The Canadian venture fund Cypherpunk Holdings is invested in both Wasabi’s parent company and Samourai Wallet, which also offers a mixing service. The public policy group Coin Center argued non-custodial mixers should not be subject to regulation because they offer user-hosted software tools. Only time will tell if the court agrees this reduces the developer’s liability. CORRECTION (Feb. 14, 04:00 UTC): This article has been updated to clarify the difference between bitcoin mixers that custody digital assets and ones where users retain custody. Related Stories The US Government’s Mixed Signals on Digital Currency Privacy EFF Defends Ex-Kraken Employee’s Right to Post Anonymously About Company || US DOJ Calls Bitcoin Mixing ‘a Crime’ in Arrest of Software Developer: Larry Harmon was arrested earlier this week for allegedly participating in a money-laundering conspiracy worth more than$300 millionin cryptocurrency involving darknet marketplace AlphaBay. However, the family of the Coin Ninja CEO claims he was never involved with AlphaBay.
Harmon’s case raises pressing questions about developer liability in the crypto industry.
In addition to the crypto media site Coin Ninja, Harmon created the bitcoin (BTC) mixer Helix, which sends transactions out in mixed batches so individual payments are harder to trace.In its indictment, Department of Justice prosecutors refer to Helix as a “money transmitting and money laundering business.”
Related:For Crypto Miners, Bitcoin’s Halving Could Mean a Doubling in Costs
“Helix enabled customers, for a fee, to send bitcoins to designated recipients in a manner which was designed to conceal and obfuscate the source or owner of the bitcoins,” the indictment continues. “This type of service is commonly referred to as a bitcoin ‘mixer’ or ‘tumbler.’”
In astatementThursday, Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski made the department’s views on bitcoin mixers clear. “This indictment underscores that seeking to obscure virtual currency transactions in this way is a crime,” he said.
Harmon’s brother and Coin Ninja coworker, Gary Harmon, said Helix did not directly partner with AlphaBay and the darknet market recommended the mixer without Larry’s permission or input. (Helix shut down in 2017; AlphaBay wasseized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) in July 2017.)
Since the arrest, Larry’s wife Margot has received threatening phone calls and texts from unknown numbers saying the harasser knows the location of her home and she is no longer safe there, Gary told CoinDesk in an interview.
Related:Bitcoin Closing on Daily Golden Cross That Could Bring Boost to 2020 Price Rally
“Now our family is getting threatened because the FBI decided to tell the world that there might be money hidden with us somehow,” Gary said. “They have no proof of this and are now putting our family in danger.”
Gary said all his brother’s assets have been frozen and he was denied bail over flight-risk concerns. As such, the family has started aGoFundMecampaign for its expenses during the trial.
”Our address is on it,” Margot Harmon said of the indictment. “At the bond hearing they alleged that he may have had some more bitcoin. So that put us at risk.”
Gary said the authorities have already confiscated all of his brother’s hardware wallets and Margot doesn’t have any more bitcoin at home.
The Department of Justice says it worked with the Belize National Police Department to search Harmon’s timeshare in Belize as well. Gary said the police “trashed” both of his brother’s homes.
Listen withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublicaor viaRSS.
Many bitcoin experts are concerned this could establish a precedent where simply creating a bitcoin mixer is seen, in itself, as a money-laundering conspiracy.
Bitcoin Core contributor Matt Corallotweetedthat if this accusation was upheld by the federal court in Washington, D.C., it would be “the beginning of the end.”
Margot said her husband was interested in privacy technology, not criminal activity. She offered the example of queer people who may want to purchase porn or sex products without judgment from conservative family members.
“Larry has always been an advocate for privacy. He doesn’t know any bad guys from the dark web. He just wanted to help people have better privacy,” she told CoinDesk Thursday. “It’s a basic right we are guaranteed in the Constitution.”
The courts may decide in this case if the Fourth Amendment actually relates to bitcoin when it says Americans have the right to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Whether or not this includes aright to privacy, generally speaking, is a hotly debated issue among legal experts.
In May, the Dutch Financial Criminal Investigative Service seized and shut down the popular mixing serviceBestmixer.iobut other companies, such as the privacy-centric bitcoin walletWasabi, have built-in mixers as the backbone of their business strategy. These bitcoin wallet startups typically offer non-custodial mixers, unlike the custodial mixer Helix. The Canadian venture fundCypherpunk Holdingsis invested in both Wasabi’s parent company and Samourai Wallet, which also offers a mixing service. The public policy groupCoin Centerargued non-custodial mixers should not be subject to regulation because they offer user-hosted software tools. Only time will tell if the court agrees this reduces the developer’s liability.
CORRECTION (Feb. 14, 04:00 UTC):This article has been updated to clarify the difference between bitcoin mixers that custody digital assets and ones where users retain custody.
• The US Government’s Mixed Signals on Digital Currency Privacy
• EFF Defends Ex-Kraken Employee’s Right to Post Anonymously About Company || US DOJ Calls Bitcoin Mixing ‘a Crime’ in Arrest of Software Developer: Larry Harmon was arrested earlier this week for allegedly participating in a money-laundering conspiracy worth more than$300 millionin cryptocurrency involving darknet marketplace AlphaBay. However, the family of the Coin Ninja CEO claims he was never involved with AlphaBay.
Harmon’s case raises pressing questions about developer liability in the crypto industry.
In addition to the crypto media site Coin Ninja, Harmon created the bitcoin (BTC) mixer Helix, which sends transactions out in mixed batches so individual payments are harder to trace.In its indictment, Department of Justice prosecutors refer to Helix as a “money transmitting and money laundering business.”
Related:For Crypto Miners, Bitcoin’s Halving Could Mean a Doubling in Costs
“Helix enabled customers, for a fee, to send bitcoins to designated recipients in a manner which was designed to conceal and obfuscate the source or owner of the bitcoins,” the indictment continues. “This type of service is commonly referred to as a bitcoin ‘mixer’ or ‘tumbler.’”
In astatementThursday, Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski made the department’s views on bitcoin mixers clear. “This indictment underscores that seeking to obscure virtual currency transactions in this way is a crime,” he said.
Harmon’s brother and Coin Ninja coworker, Gary Harmon, said Helix did not directly partner with AlphaBay and the darknet market recommended the mixer without Larry’s permission or input. (Helix shut down in 2017; AlphaBay wasseized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) in July 2017.)
Since the arrest, Larry’s wife Margot has received threatening phone calls and texts from unknown numbers saying the harasser knows the location of her home and she is no longer safe there, Gary told CoinDesk in an interview.
Related:Bitcoin Closing on Daily Golden Cross That Could Bring Boost to 2020 Price Rally
“Now our family is getting threatened because the FBI decided to tell the world that there might be money hidden with us somehow,” Gary said. “They have no proof of this and are now putting our family in danger.”
Gary said all his brother’s assets have been frozen and he was denied bail over flight-risk concerns. As such, the family has started aGoFundMecampaign for its expenses during the trial.
”Our address is on it,” Margot Harmon said of the indictment. “At the bond hearing they alleged that he may have had some more bitcoin. So that put us at risk.”
Gary said the authorities have already confiscated all of his brother’s hardware wallets and Margot doesn’t have any more bitcoin at home.
The Department of Justice says it worked with the Belize National Police Department to search Harmon’s timeshare in Belize as well. Gary said the police “trashed” both of his brother’s homes.
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Many bitcoin experts are concerned this could establish a precedent where simply creating a bitcoin mixer is seen, in itself, as a money-laundering conspiracy.
Bitcoin Core contributor Matt Corallotweetedthat if this accusation was upheld by the federal court in Washington, D.C., it would be “the beginning of the end.”
Margot said her husband was interested in privacy technology, not criminal activity. She offered the example of queer people who may want to purchase porn or sex products without judgment from conservative family members.
“Larry has always been an advocate for privacy. He doesn’t know any bad guys from the dark web. He just wanted to help people have better privacy,” she told CoinDesk Thursday. “It’s a basic right we are guaranteed in the Constitution.”
The courts may decide in this case if the Fourth Amendment actually relates to bitcoin when it says Americans have the right to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Whether or not this includes aright to privacy, generally speaking, is a hotly debated issue among legal experts.
In May, the Dutch Financial Criminal Investigative Service seized and shut down the popular mixing serviceBestmixer.iobut other companies, such as the privacy-centric bitcoin walletWasabi, have built-in mixers as the backbone of their business strategy. These bitcoin wallet startups typically offer non-custodial mixers, unlike the custodial mixer Helix. The Canadian venture fundCypherpunk Holdingsis invested in both Wasabi’s parent company and Samourai Wallet, which also offers a mixing service. The public policy groupCoin Centerargued non-custodial mixers should not be subject to regulation because they offer user-hosted software tools. Only time will tell if the court agrees this reduces the developer’s liability.
CORRECTION (Feb. 14, 04:00 UTC):This article has been updated to clarify the difference between bitcoin mixers that custody digital assets and ones where users retain custody.
• The US Government’s Mixed Signals on Digital Currency Privacy
• EFF Defends Ex-Kraken Employee’s Right to Post Anonymously About Company || Novogratzs Crypto Investment Firm Galaxy Digital Shrinks Workforce 15%: Galaxy Digital, the cryptocurrency merchant bank founded by Wall Street veteran Michael Novogratz , has laid off 13 people, roughly 15 percent of its workforce, people familiar with the situation said. The layoffs occurred across the board in early January, and all of the New York-based firms business divisions asset management, trading, principal investments and advisory services were left intact. In other words, no business line was singled out or discontinued. Nearly 80 people remain on staff. The company is hiring for several open positions, one source close to the company said. (None were listed on its LinkedIn page as of Thursday evening, but the source said the company is relying on inbound inquiries, recruiters and networking for prospects.) This person and another insider described the cuts as standard year-end activity. Related: Bitcoin as a Safe Haven? US-Iran Tensions Rekindle Debate A third source, a former employee, said Galaxy had hired people expecting the digital asset markets would develop more quickly than they actually did, and realized it had overbuilt. Novogratz mentioned the reductions at an all-hands meeting to kick off the year, and they were reasonably well taken in stride, one insider said. The cuts occurred just before a recent run-up in the price of bitcoin (BTC), the bellwether of the digital asset sector, which has climbed from under $7,000 at the beginning of the year to over $10,000 this week. A spokesperson for Galaxy declined to comment. In the red Related: Canaans Post-IPO Stock Plunge Reveals Sales Slump, Price War With Bitmain Founded in 2018, Galaxy has yet to consistently turn a profit. Its net loss for the third quarter of 2019 (the most recent period for which figures are available) narrowed to $68 million from $77 million a year earlier, according to a securities filing . Operating expenses fell over this period, largely because Galaxy had paid more equity-based compensation in 2018. Trading volume declined from the second quarter, in line with the market, according to the company, whose shares are publicly traded in Canada. Story continues For the first nine months of last year, Galaxy made a profit of $58 million, compared to a $176 million loss for the comparable period in 2018. Its digital asset portfolio nearly doubled, to $133.5 million, over that nine-month period, due primarily to price increases. In addition to trading cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether (ETH), Galaxy holds stakes in high-profile startups including payments unicorn Ripple , crypto lender BlockFi , blockchain sleuthing specialist Ciphertrace, futures market Bakkt and industry-friendly financial institution Silvergate Bank . Nikhilesh De contributed reporting . Related Stories Circle Confirms New Round of Layoffs Following Co-CEO Departure Blockchain Sleuthing Firm Chainalysis Slashes 20% of Workforce || Novogratz’s Crypto Investment Firm Galaxy Digital Shrinks Workforce 15%: Galaxy Digital, the cryptocurrency merchant bank founded by Wall Street veteranMichael Novogratz, has laid off 13 people, roughly 15 percent of its workforce, people familiar with the situation said.
The layoffs occurred across the board in early January, and all of the New York-based firm’s business divisions – asset management, trading, principal investments and advisory services – were left intact. In other words, no business line was singled out or discontinued.
Nearly 80 people remain on staff. The company is hiring for several open positions, one source close to the company said. (None were listed onits LinkedIn pageas of Thursday evening, but the source said the company is relying on inbound inquiries, recruiters and networking for prospects.) This person and another insider described the cuts as “standard year-end” activity.
Related:Bitcoin as a Safe Haven? US-Iran Tensions Rekindle Debate
A third source, a former employee, said Galaxy had hired people expecting the digital asset markets would develop more quickly than they actually did, and realized it had overbuilt.
Novogratz mentioned the reductions at an all-hands meeting to kick off the year, and they were “reasonably well taken in stride,” one insider said.
The cuts occurred just before a recent run-up in the price of bitcoin (BTC), the bellwether of the digital asset sector, which has climbed from under $7,000 at the beginning of the year to over $10,000 this week.
A spokesperson for Galaxy declined to comment.
Related:Canaan’s Post-IPO Stock Plunge Reveals Sales Slump, Price War With Bitmain
Founded in 2018, Galaxy has yet to consistently turn a profit. Its net loss for the third quarter of 2019 (the most recent period for which figures are available) narrowed to $68 million from $77 million a year earlier, according to asecurities filing.
Operating expenses fell over this period, largely because Galaxy had paid more equity-based compensation in 2018. Trading volume declined from the second quarter, in line with the market, according to the company, whose shares are publicly traded in Canada.
For the first nine months of last year, Galaxy made a profit of $58 million, compared to a $176 million loss for the comparable period in 2018. Its digital asset portfolio nearly doubled, to $133.5 million, over that nine-month period, due primarily to price increases.
In addition to trading cryptocurrencies such asbitcoinandether(ETH), Galaxy holds stakes in high-profile startups including payments unicornRipple, crypto lenderBlockFi, blockchain sleuthing specialist Ciphertrace, futures marketBakktand industry-friendly financial institutionSilvergate Bank.
Nikhilesh Decontributed reporting.
• Circle Confirms New Round of Layoffs Following Co-CEO Departure
• Blockchain Sleuthing Firm Chainalysis Slashes 20% of Workforce || Iran Concerns May Be Driving Trump Administration’s Talk of New Crypto Rules: Tensions with Iran may be behind U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s cryptocurrency compliance comments on Wednesday . The New York Times reported the Trump administration “has expressed growing concern” that this technology is being used to “evade American sanctions on countries like Iran.” Earlier this week, the Parliament of Iran Research Center published a report suggesting cryptocurrency mining licenses issued in January could generate new tax revenue and bureaucratic fees. A related proposal by the same government-run center suggested this could bring the government upwards of $1 billion in annual revenue from the domestic cryptocurrency mining industry, which is estimated to be valued at $8.5 billion . Related: Bitcoin News Roundup for Feb. 14, 2020 The report also recommends allocating a portion of the Iranian government’s 2021 budget to cryptocurrency mining, though the specifics of that proposal are unclear. In short, if the Trump administration is trying to starve the Iranian regime into submission, bitcoin (BTC) may give the Islamic Republic a lifeline. Mnuchin’s comments come days after the Trump administration proposed increasing the Treasury Department’s 2021 budget for cryptocurrency oversight . In 2019 alone, various U.S. government agencies spent $5 million on blockchain analytics services from Chainalysis. In July, Mnuchin referred to Facebook’s proposed Libra stablecoin as a “ national security issue ,” citing concerns about terror financing and money laundering. Related Stories US Financial Crimes Watchdog Preparing ‘Significant’ Crypto Rules, Warns Treasury Secretary Mnuchin North Korea Is Expanding Its Monero Mining Operations, Says Report Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Stagnates as Coronavirus Outbreak Delays New Equipment || Iran Concerns May Be Driving Trump Administration’s Talk of New Crypto Rules: Tensions with Iran may be behind U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s cryptocurrency compliance comments onWednesday.
TheNew York Timesreported the Trump administration “has expressed growing concern” that this technology is being used to “evade American sanctions on countries like Iran.”
Earlier this week, theParliament of Iran Research Centerpublished a report suggestingcryptocurrency mining licensesissued in January could generate new tax revenue and bureaucratic fees. A related proposal by the same government-run center suggested this could bring the government upwards of $1 billion in annual revenue from the domestic cryptocurrency mining industry, which is estimated to be valued at$8.5 billion.
Related:Bitcoin News Roundup for Feb. 14, 2020
The report also recommends allocating a portion of the Iranian government’s 2021 budget to cryptocurrency mining, though the specifics of that proposal are unclear.
In short, if the Trump administration is trying to starve the Iranian regime into submission, bitcoin (BTC) may give the Islamic Republic a lifeline.
Mnuchin’s comments come days after the Trump administration proposed increasing the Treasury Department’s 2021 budget forcryptocurrency oversight. In 2019 alone, various U.S. government agencies spent$5 millionon blockchain analytics services from Chainalysis.
In July, Mnuchin referred to Facebook’s proposed Libra stablecoin as a “national security issue,” citing concerns about terror financing and money laundering.
• US Financial Crimes Watchdog Preparing ‘Significant’ Crypto Rules, Warns Treasury Secretary Mnuchin
• North Korea Is Expanding Its Monero Mining Operations, Says Report
• Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Stagnates as Coronavirus Outbreak Delays New Equipment || Nvidia reports record data center revenue, but warns of coronavirus impact: Graphics chip giant Nvidia ( NVDA ) reported its Q4 2020 earnings after the bell on Thursday beating Wall Streets expectations on the top and bottom line. The report comes amid a strong rebound in the data center industry, as well as the ongoing impact of the coronavirus sweeping across the tech landscape. Nvidia announced it cut its Q1 revenue guidance by $100 million due to the virus. Here are the most important numbers from the report compared to what analysts were expecting as compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue: $3.11 billion versus $2.96 billion expected Earnings per share: $1.89 versus $1.66 expected Data center revenue: $958 million Gaming revenue: $1.49 billion Nvidia's stock was up 6% following the announcement. Capital expenditures on servers and cloud-related components have seen an uptick in recent quarters, as evidenced by Intel's strong Q4 earnings report last month . Nvidia said it saw record revenue from its Data Center business, reaching $958 million in the quarter. Adoption of NVIDIA accelerated computing drove excellent results, with record data center revenue, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a release following the announcement. Our initiatives are achieving great success. Data center revenue was up 42.56% in the quarter. President and Chief Executive Officer of NVIDIA, Huang Jen-hsun speaks during the Computex Show in Taipei on May 30, 2017. (Image: Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images) UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri similarly sees Nvidia's data center business as a continued bright spot for the company. In January, Arcuri raised his price target for the chip maker to $300 from $240 on the strength of its data center platforms. "Our estimate changes are driven by a more favorable view on Hyperscale environment in Q4 and improved visibility on demand as they get ready for NVDA 7nm data center product," Arcuri wrote in a note last month. Close-up of glowing logo for an NVIDIA Geforce GTX graphics card inside a computer in a darkened room engaging in cryptocurrency mining, including for Bitcoin, San Ramon, California, October 23, 2019. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) Nvidia is also in the midst of a $6.9 billion acquisition of networking company Mellanox Technologies. In Q3 2020, Nvidia said that it was making progress with European Union and Chinese authorities, and predicted the deal would wrap up in early 2020. Story continues Nvidia also recently launched its GeForce Now game streaming service , bringing the long-awaited service out of beta, and offering it for $4.99 a month. But shortly after it was announced, Activision Blizzard ( ATVI ) pulled its games and Battle.net service from the platform, setting up what could be a major issue for Nvidia moving forward. As shown by the companys adjusted revenue guidance, Nvidia sees the ongoing coronavirus outbreak as a potential headwind for its data center, automotive, and gaming businesses in the coming quarters. Nintendo ( NTDOY ), which uses Nvidia's Tegra processor in its Switch console, has already announced that products for its Japanese domestic market will be hurt by the production slowdown in the region as a result of the virus. A previous version of this article misstated Nvidias Q4 earnings per share. More from Dan: Samsung's new Galaxy S20 brings 5G, major camera upgrades, and big prices Apple's AirPods Pros could be a $6 billion business in 2020 'Another $1 trillion market': How Google could cash in on the cloud boom Snap earnings: Revenue disappoints, stock crashes Got a tip? Email Daniel Howley at [email protected] or [email protected], and follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley . Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , Flipboard , SmartNews , LinkedIn , YouTube , and reddit . || XRP Sees Flash Crash and Quick Rebound on BitMEX: XRP, the native asset of San Francisco-based Ripple’s XRP Ledger, experienced a flash crash on Hong Kong-based derivatives exchange BitMEX on Thursday.
At exactly 14:00 UTC, the price on the XRP/USD pair quickly plummeted from 33 cents to 13 cents, a 60 percent drop. During that minute, volume spiked to $6 million, according to BitMEX data. The cryptocurrency quickly recovered within a second and closed at $0.3277, suggesting a large leveraged trade was quickly wiped out.
CoinDesk reached out to BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes via email regarding the incident but has yet to hear back.
Related:Ether Futures Volume Highest Since June 2019
A couple of minutes later in the spot market, XRP (XRP) dropped a little under 4 percent but rebounded two minutes after,according to data from Coinbase Pro.
An all-cryptocurrency platform, BitMEX offers highly leveraged trades of up to 50 times margin on collateral. If a bet goes the wrong way, a trader can be automatically liquidated, wiping out the collateral balance on the exchange instantly.
BitMEX offers some novel instruments not normally seen in the traditional financial derivatives world, including an innovative “perpetual” swap derivative that does not expire.
Long known as a bitcoin (BTC)-only derivatives exchange, BitMEX has added additional cryptocurrency assets in the past few years. Ethereum (ETH) trading was launched in 2018.
Related:Mastercard and Ripple’s Xpring Join Industry Group to Promote Blockchain Education
XRP is BitMEX’s newest addition, added on Feb. 5. The company has offices in Hong Kong but is licensed and registered in the Seychelles, where its gray-area regulatory status allows it to offer very risky bets on crypto. Bitmexhas been investigated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commissionand prohibits U.S.-based traders on its platform.
• Intermex Partners With Ripple for XRP-Based Remittance Corridor
• Galaxy’s Novogratz: XRP Will ‘Underperform Immensely Again This Year’ || XRP Sees Flash Crash and Quick Rebound on BitMEX: XRP , the native asset of San Francisco-based Ripples XRP Ledger, experienced a flash crash on Hong Kong-based derivatives exchange BitMEX on Thursday. At exactly 14:00 UTC, the price on the XRP/USD pair quickly plummeted from 33 cents to 13 cents, a 60 percent drop. During that minute, volume spiked to $6 million, according to BitMEX data. The cryptocurrency quickly recovered within a second and closed at $0.3277, suggesting a large leveraged trade was quickly wiped out. CoinDesk reached out to BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes via email regarding the incident but has yet to hear back. Related: Ether Futures Volume Highest Since June 2019 A couple of minutes later in the spot market, XRP (XRP) dropped a little under 4 percent but rebounded two minutes after, according to data from Coinbase Pro . An all-cryptocurrency platform, BitMEX offers highly leveraged trades of up to 50 times margin on collateral. If a bet goes the wrong way, a trader can be automatically liquidated, wiping out the collateral balance on the exchange instantly. BitMEX offers some novel instruments not normally seen in the traditional financial derivatives world, including an innovative perpetual swap derivative that does not expire. Long known as a bitcoin (BTC)-only derivatives exchange, BitMEX has added additional cryptocurrency assets in the past few years. Ethereum (ETH) trading was launched in 2018. Related: Mastercard and Ripples Xpring Join Industry Group to Promote Blockchain Education XRP is BitMEXs newest addition, added on Feb. 5. The company has offices in Hong Kong but is licensed and registered in the Seychelles, where its gray-area regulatory status allows it to offer very risky bets on crypto. Bitmex has been investigated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and prohibits U.S.-based traders on its platform. Related Stories Intermex Partners With Ripple for XRP-Based Remittance Corridor Galaxys Novogratz: XRP Will Underperform Immensely Again This Year || How to deal with massive poker and crypto trading losses: Whether it’s playing high-stakes poker or trading cryptocurrency, significant losses unfortunately come with the territory – even for the most seasoned professionals. This week, renowned poker professional Phil Galfond detailed his gruelling downswing that equated to a €900,240 loss, prompting him to pause the ‘Galfond Challenge’ . The 35-year-old said that he is “taking a step back to do some thinking” in order to regain the neutral mindset that gives him an edge over opponents. Unfortunately, my downswing in the first #GalfondChallenge has very much continued. I’m taking a step back to do some thinking. Here’s an update, along with some more of my thoughts: pic.twitter.com/jIcN4Bc1Jz — Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) February 11, 2020 The stories of poker losses are widespread , with several professionals confessing to upwards of seven-figure losses. The issue is not just confined to the poker industry, it also translates to the cryptocurrency ecosystem with traders often struggling to predict the volatile nature of digital assets. Bitcoin surged to a stunning all-time high of $20,000 in late 2017 before falling towards $3,150 within the space of a year. While some traders capitalised on its decline by shorting Bitcoin on derivatives exchanges, the majority of ‘holders’ found themselves wiping away a significant portion of their respective ROI. A lot of money to be made or lost with low market cap coins. I don’t do as much trading as I used to but the inexperienced can get wrecked down here if not careful 😳 #crypto #NOAH #MXM #VEST #cryptocurrencymarket #cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/CmOctpBbw9 — ✨John “The Limit” Walton✨ Crypto/Darts/Retro Games (@bigjohnlimit) December 4, 2019 One trader detailed how he lost $139,000 by trading cryptocurrencies during the 2018 bear market, admitting to a “whole series of mistakes” that eventually saw his once flourishing account hit zero. Story continues “To say that emotions are profit killers is an understatement,” he said. “Paradoxically, being emotional creatures, we underestimate the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ).” This is where the losses usually stem from; when a poker player or trader has a significant win, naturally the emotions flip towards feeling of euphoria and increased self-esteem. Poker and trading strategies The most important thing for traders and poker players to consider is recognising changes in emotional state. If one begins to feel euphoric, almost as if they can’t lose, it’s usually a time to step back and re-evaluate in order to carry on sticking to a winning strategy. Feelings of elation of euphoria can lead towards taking more risks and poor decisions. The key for traders is to always have a strategy before they enter a trade and always stick to it, regardless of the direction of the underlying asset. For example, every trade needs to be based on conservative management of capital as well a good risk/reward setup. In terms of cryptocurrencies, if a trader were to hypothetically buy Bitcoin at $10,000 with targets at $11,000 and a stop-loss at $9,800, they would be risking 2% of the order in order to potentially earn 10%. Days like today are the ones that set a difference between successful traders and permabulls. If you had the right risk management strategy you are totally fine, if not… trapped and taking emotional decisions. #Bitcoin #CryptoCurrency — Crypto Rand (@crypto_rand) January 16, 2018 This 1:5 risk reward strategy means that even if the market went against the trader on three or four occasions, they could still come out with a positive ROI. A common mistake is that when the underlying asset swings during a trade, the trader will be tempted to change strategy by adding more to a position or moving the stop-loss to preserve profits, most of which will be based on a shift in emotional state. It’s vital for traders, especially if a trade goes in the wrong direction, to take a step away from the trading platform in order to regain a neutral mental state. This is what ultimately separates long-term successful traders and losing traders, it is not simply picking a profitable trade based on technicals and fundamentals, contrary to popular belief. For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . Disclaimer: This article should not be considered as financial advice. The post How to deal with massive poker and crypto trading losses appeared first on Coin Rivet . || How to deal with massive poker and crypto trading losses: Whether it’s playing high-stakes poker or trading cryptocurrency, significant losses unfortunately come with the territory – even for the most seasoned professionals. This week, renowned poker professional Phil Galfond detailed his gruelling downswing that equated to a €900,240 loss, prompting him to pause the ‘Galfond Challenge’ . The 35-year-old said that he is “taking a step back to do some thinking” in order to regain the neutral mindset that gives him an edge over opponents. Unfortunately, my downswing in the first #GalfondChallenge has very much continued. I’m taking a step back to do some thinking. Here’s an update, along with some more of my thoughts: pic.twitter.com/jIcN4Bc1Jz — Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) February 11, 2020 The stories of poker losses are widespread , with several professionals confessing to upwards of seven-figure losses. The issue is not just confined to the poker industry, it also translates to the cryptocurrency ecosystem with traders often struggling to predict the volatile nature of digital assets. Bitcoin surged to a stunning all-time high of $20,000 in late 2017 before falling towards $3,150 within the space of a year. While some traders capitalised on its decline by shorting Bitcoin on derivatives exchanges, the majority of ‘holders’ found themselves wiping away a significant portion of their respective ROI. A lot of money to be made or lost with low market cap coins. I don’t do as much trading as I used to but the inexperienced can get wrecked down here if not careful 😳 #crypto #NOAH #MXM #VEST #cryptocurrencymarket #cryptocurrency pic.twitter.com/CmOctpBbw9 — ✨John “The Limit” Walton✨ Crypto/Darts/Retro Games (@bigjohnlimit) December 4, 2019 One trader detailed how he lost $139,000 by trading cryptocurrencies during the 2018 bear market, admitting to a “whole series of mistakes” that eventually saw his once flourishing account hit zero. Story continues “To say that emotions are profit killers is an understatement,” he said. “Paradoxically, being emotional creatures, we underestimate the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ).” This is where the losses usually stem from; when a poker player or trader has a significant win, naturally the emotions flip towards feeling of euphoria and increased self-esteem. Poker and trading strategies The most important thing for traders and poker players to consider is recognising changes in emotional state. If one begins to feel euphoric, almost as if they can’t lose, it’s usually a time to step back and re-evaluate in order to carry on sticking to a winning strategy. Feelings of elation of euphoria can lead towards taking more risks and poor decisions. The key for traders is to always have a strategy before they enter a trade and always stick to it, regardless of the direction of the underlying asset. For example, every trade needs to be based on conservative management of capital as well a good risk/reward setup. In terms of cryptocurrencies, if a trader were to hypothetically buy Bitcoin at $10,000 with targets at $11,000 and a stop-loss at $9,800, they would be risking 2% of the order in order to potentially earn 10%. Days like today are the ones that set a difference between successful traders and permabulls. If you had the right risk management strategy you are totally fine, if not… trapped and taking emotional decisions. #Bitcoin #CryptoCurrency — Crypto Rand (@crypto_rand) January 16, 2018 This 1:5 risk reward strategy means that even if the market went against the trader on three or four occasions, they could still come out with a positive ROI. A common mistake is that when the underlying asset swings during a trade, the trader will be tempted to change strategy by adding more to a position or moving the stop-loss to preserve profits, most of which will be based on a shift in emotional state. It’s vital for traders, especially if a trade goes in the wrong direction, to take a step away from the trading platform in order to regain a neutral mental state. This is what ultimately separates long-term successful traders and losing traders, it is not simply picking a profitable trade based on technicals and fundamentals, contrary to popular belief. For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . Disclaimer: This article should not be considered as financial advice. The post How to deal with massive poker and crypto trading losses appeared first on Coin Rivet . || EFF Defends Ex-Kraken Employee’s Right to Post Anonymously About Company: The Electronic Frontier Foundation is defending a former Kraken employee embroiled in a lawsuit over an anonymous review of the crypto exchange on Glassdoor.
The EFF – a non-profit digital rights group – hastaken up the causeof a John Doe defendant and isaskingCalifornia’s Marin County Superior Court to quash a motion by Kraken to identify the individual who allegedly gave the exchange a poor review on the employer rating site.
According to the EFF’s court filing, the client left a review, praising aspects of life at the firm, but also saying they felt “a deep sense of trepidation much of the time.” Kraken had originally replied and thanked the reviewer, the EFF says, but later changed tack and “began targeting Doe and other former employees.”
Related:US DOJ Calls Bitcoin Mixing ‘a Crime’ in Arrest of Software Developer
According to the filing, the anonymous reviewer also checked boxes saying they would not recommend Payward, had a “neutral outlook” on the company and “disapprove[d] of [the] CEO.”
The client had taken care not to disclose confidential information or defame the firm in the review, the EFF said.
In May 2019, Kraken filed a lawsuit against 10 anonymous reviewers, including the EFF client, alleging breach of severance contracts over the reviews and seeking to obtain identifying information. Kraken further emailed ex-employees “demanding that they delete any reviews that were in violation of the severance agreement,” said the EFF.
According to EFF staff attorney Aaron Mackey, the lawsuit is intended to “harass and silence” both current and former employees at Kraken who wish to talk publicly about their experiences at the firm.
Related:The US Government’s Mixed Signals on Digital Currency Privacy
“Kraken’s efforts to unmask and sue its former employees discourages everyone from talking about their work and demonstrates why California courts must robustly protect anonymous speakers’ First Amendment rights,” Mackey said.
The EFF’s client is said to have deleted their review despite feeling it did not break the severance agreement.
“In the cryptocurrency industry, security and reputation are paramount. Like its peer companies, Kraken uses confidentiality and severance agreements to protect the platform’s security and its reputation,” Jesse Powell, co-founder and CEO of Kraken, told CoinDesk in a statement.
“In those agreements, each side receives something. The former employee at issue here would like to benefit from the agreement without upholding his or her side of the bargain. We welcome employee feedback, but we won’t tolerate double-dealing,” Powell said.
• Could a Digital Dollar Compete on Privacy? Fed Chairman Powell Hints It Might
• Why We Need a Federal Privacy Law || EFF Defends Ex-Kraken Employees Right to Post Anonymously About Company: The Electronic Frontier Foundation is defending a former Kraken employee embroiled in a lawsuit over an anonymous review of the crypto exchange on Glassdoor. The EFF a non-profit digital rights group has taken up the cause of a John Doe defendant and is asking Californias Marin County Superior Court to quash a motion by Kraken to identify the individual who allegedly gave the exchange a poor review on the employer rating site. According to the EFFs court filing, the client left a review, praising aspects of life at the firm, but also saying they felt a deep sense of trepidation much of the time. Kraken had originally replied and thanked the reviewer, the EFF says, but later changed tack and began targeting Doe and other former employees. Related: US DOJ Calls Bitcoin Mixing a Crime in Arrest of Software Developer According to the filing, the anonymous reviewer also checked boxes saying they would not recommend Payward, had a neutral outlook on the company and disapprove[d] of [the] CEO. The client had taken care not to disclose confidential information or defame the firm in the review, the EFF said. In May 2019, Kraken filed a lawsuit against 10 anonymous reviewers, including the EFF client, alleging breach of severance contracts over the reviews and seeking to obtain identifying information. Kraken further emailed ex-employees demanding that they delete any reviews that were in violation of the severance agreement, said the EFF. According to EFF staff attorney Aaron Mackey, the lawsuit is intended to harass and silence both current and former employees at Kraken who wish to talk publicly about their experiences at the firm. Related: The US Governments Mixed Signals on Digital Currency Privacy Krakens efforts to unmask and sue its former employees discourages everyone from talking about their work and demonstrates why California courts must robustly protect anonymous speakers First Amendment rights, Mackey said. Story continues The EFFs client is said to have deleted their review despite feeling it did not break the severance agreement. In the cryptocurrency industry, security and reputation are paramount. Like its peer companies, Kraken uses confidentiality and severance agreements to protect the platforms security and its reputation, Jesse Powell, co-founder and CEO of Kraken, told CoinDesk in a statement. In those agreements, each side receives something. The former employee at issue here would like to benefit from the agreement without upholding his or her side of the bargain. We welcome employee feedback, but we wont tolerate double-dealing, Powell said. Related Stories Could a Digital Dollar Compete on Privacy? Fed Chairman Powell Hints It Might Why We Need a Federal Privacy Law || Sudden Bitcoin price drop could threaten $10,000 mark: After reaching its highest value this year earlier this morning, a sudden drop saw almost $300 wiped off the price of Bitcoin (BTC) over a three hour period. Bitcoin now sits at just north of $10,140—down more than 1.4% in the last day. Bitcoin is now just inches about the $10,000 threshold, which it only broke through earlier this week.
This loss comes just hours after the US Treasury Secretarypromisedthat the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) will roll out "some significant new requirements" in the near future—though it remains unclear if this relates to cryptocurrency holders or businesses. This bearish price action comes after almost two months of near-constant growth, which saw the cryptocurrency appreciate by more than 54% since mid-December.
Binance’s real headquarters are in the Cayman Islands
Despite this sudden bearish turn,Bitcointrading volume is at its highest point in almost a month—more than $45 billion worth of BTC changed hands in the last 24 hours.
The bullish momentum over the last few days came after comments were made in a hearing of theUS House Committee on Financial Serviceson the idea of the US launching a digital currency. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the Fed was working hard researching whether a digital currency could be a viable option. || Sudden Bitcoin price drop could threaten $10,000 mark: After reaching its highest value this year earlier this morning, a sudden drop saw almost $300 wiped off the price of Bitcoin (BTC) over a three hour period. Bitcoin now sits at just north of $10,140down more than 1.4% in the last day. Bitcoin is now just inches about the $10,000 threshold, which it only broke through earlier this week. This loss comes just hours after the US Treasury Secretary promised that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) will roll out "some significant new requirements" in the near futurethough it remains unclear if this relates to cryptocurrency holders or businesses. This bearish price action comes after almost two months of near-constant growth, which saw the cryptocurrency appreciate by more than 54% since mid-December. Binances real headquarters are in the Cayman Islands Despite this sudden bearish turn, Bitcoin trading volume is at its highest point in almost a monthmore than $45 billion worth of BTC changed hands in the last 24 hours. The bullish momentum over the last few days came after comments were made in a hearing of the US House Committee on Financial Services on the idea of the US launching a digital currency. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the Fed was working hard researching whether a digital currency could be a viable option. View comments || Sudden Bitcoin price drop could threaten $10,000 mark: After reaching its highest value this year earlier this morning, a sudden drop saw almost $300 wiped off the price of Bitcoin (BTC) over a three hour period. Bitcoin now sits at just north of $10,140—down more than 1.4% in the last day. Bitcoin is now just inches about the $10,000 threshold, which it only broke through earlier this week.
This loss comes just hours after the US Treasury Secretarypromisedthat the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) will roll out "some significant new requirements" in the near future—though it remains unclear if this relates to cryptocurrency holders or businesses. This bearish price action comes after almost two months of near-constant growth, which saw the cryptocurrency appreciate by more than 54% since mid-December.
Binance’s real headquarters are in the Cayman Islands
Despite this sudden bearish turn,Bitcointrading volume is at its highest point in almost a month—more than $45 billion worth of BTC changed hands in the last 24 hours.
The bullish momentum over the last few days came after comments were made in a hearing of theUS House Committee on Financial Serviceson the idea of the US launching a digital currency. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the Fed was working hard researching whether a digital currency could be a viable option. || Outrageous XRP flash crash liquidates BitMEX trader: The price of XRP on BitMEX’s newly-launched perpetual swap contract crashed by more than 60% to $0.13 after a volatile swing in the underlying asset. One trader on Twitter by the name of Marc de Koning revealed how his entire account had been wiped as his stop-loss failed to trigger during the unexpected flash crash. The price of XRP on spot exchanges fell to around $0.315, suggesting that the issues lie within a lack of liquidity on the books as opposed to a failure in index price. The XRP perpetual swap index is made up of prices from Kraken, Bitstamp and Coinbase Pro which, on first glance, show that price didn’t slump to below $0.317. Slippage of this magnitude is rare, however it can occasionally occur when one or several large sell orders come in without there being sufficient liquidity on the books. This also means that traders who may have set hopeful bids at around $0.13 have now been filled, equating in a tremendous gain in ROI. More than 3.7 million contracts were sold at 13:59 with 6.2 million contracts being bought at 14:00 with each contract being the equivalent of one dollar. This means that the lucky trader who got an order filled at $0.13 is now more than 150% up in terms of ROI. For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . Latest Ripple price Current live Ripple pricing information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest Ripple price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar – XRPtoUSD British Pound Sterling – XRPtoGBP Japanese Yen – XRPtoJPY Euro – XRPtoEUR Australian Dollar – XRPtoAUD Russian Rouble – XRPtoRUB Bitcoin – XRPtoBTC About XRP Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) developed by the Ripple company. It is also referred to as the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) or Ripple protocol. It can trace its roots to 2004 when a web developer called Ryan Fugger had the idea to create a monetary system that was decentralised and could effectively allow individuals to create their own money. Story continues Ripple is one of the largest cryptocurrencies and is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. More XRP news and information If you want to find out more information about Ripple or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s a recent article to get you started: Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse hits back at critics: ‘XRP is not a security’ By Oliver Knight – February 13, 2020 As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. The post Outrageous XRP flash crash liquidates BitMEX trader appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Outrageous XRP flash crash liquidates BitMEX trader: The price of XRP on BitMEX’s newly-launched perpetual swap contract crashed by more than 60% to $0.13 after a volatile swing in the underlying asset. One trader on Twitter by the name of Marc de Koning revealed how his entire account had been wiped as his stop-loss failed to trigger during the unexpected flash crash. The price of XRP on spot exchanges fell to around $0.315, suggesting that the issues lie within a lack of liquidity on the books as opposed to a failure in index price. The XRP perpetual swap index is made up of prices from Kraken, Bitstamp and Coinbase Pro which, on first glance, show that price didn’t slump to below $0.317. Slippage of this magnitude is rare, however it can occasionally occur when one or several large sell orders come in without there being sufficient liquidity on the books. This also means that traders who may have set hopeful bids at around $0.13 have now been filled, equating in a tremendous gain in ROI. More than 3.7 million contracts were sold at 13:59 with 6.2 million contracts being bought at 14:00 with each contract being the equivalent of one dollar. This means that the lucky trader who got an order filled at $0.13 is now more than 150% up in terms of ROI. For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . Latest Ripple price Current live Ripple pricing information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest Ripple price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar – XRPtoUSD British Pound Sterling – XRPtoGBP Japanese Yen – XRPtoJPY Euro – XRPtoEUR Australian Dollar – XRPtoAUD Russian Rouble – XRPtoRUB Bitcoin – XRPtoBTC About XRP Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) developed by the Ripple company. It is also referred to as the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) or Ripple protocol. It can trace its roots to 2004 when a web developer called Ryan Fugger had the idea to create a monetary system that was decentralised and could effectively allow individuals to create their own money. Story continues Ripple is one of the largest cryptocurrencies and is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. More XRP news and information If you want to find out more information about Ripple or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s a recent article to get you started: Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse hits back at critics: ‘XRP is not a security’ By Oliver Knight – February 13, 2020 As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. The post Outrageous XRP flash crash liquidates BitMEX trader appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Here’s How to Inspect Bitcoin’s Next (Likely) Major Upgrade Yourself: As the bitcoin community gears up for its next likely major code upgrade, students of the cryptocurrency have an opportunity to inspect the changes themselves, with help from core developers. The weekly Bitcoin Core review club has started guiding users through the proposed Taproot/Schnorr code, designed to improve privacy and scalability and boost smart-contract usage for the largest crypto by market cap. Bitcoin’s (BTC) code is open-source, so anyone can scan proposed changes. Reviewing code is one of the best ways new contributors can dip their toes into the complex world of making improvements to bitcoin at the base layer. Related: Bitcoin Closing on Daily Golden Cross That Could Bring Boost to 2020 Price Rally But few people are familiar with the process, which can be tricky to learn from scratch. Developer John Newbery started the weekly club last year in an effort to teach more developers to review proposed changes to bitcoin’s code. The club meets Wednesdays on the old-school chatting service Internet Relay Chat (IRC). A host usually starts the meeting with a description of a change, then lurkers jump in with questions to get a better idea of how the code works and the motivation behind it. Newbery has been contributing to Bitcoin Core – the basic version of the bitcoin software from which other customized implementations are derived – since 2016. This week’s inaugural Taproot/Schnoor chat covered “some small changes to script [execution]” from two “pull requests” (PRs). PRs are proposed changes that aren’t quite ready to be added to bitcoin. Related: US DOJ Calls Bitcoin Mixing ‘a Crime’ in Arrest of Software Developer Once a PR is submitted, developers will look over it, to approve, reject, or leave feedback so the change can make it to the next step. The changes discussed this week were “small, non-behavior-changing modifications to script execution,” according to club notes. They touch an important piece called “consensus code,” which are the rules that all bitcoin nodes need to follow to prevent the network from splitting into two. Story continues “Generally, for consensus code,the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ rule prevails,” the review club notes explain. But in this case the changes might be warranted because it “simplifies the changes for Taproot significantly.” For those who are new to the process, it might not be easy to make a judgment about the quality of the code. But it could be a springboard to diving into the code further. The club website does not say what pieces of the Taproot/Schnorr code will be covered next. The timetable for the upgrade itself is uncertain; some hope it will get done by the end of the year, but others call that overly optimistic. Related Stories $400 Drop: Bitcoin Faces Further Downside After Rejection at Price Hurdle Coinbase Revives Margin Trading, With Conservative (for Crypto) 3x Leverage
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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9889.42, 9934.43, 9690.14, 10142.00, 9633.39, 9608.48, 9686.44, 9663.18, 9924.52, 9650.17
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 7642.75, 7296.58, 7397.80, 7047.92, 7146.13, 7218.37, 7531.66, 7463.11, 7761.24, 7569.63, 7424.29, 7321.99, 7320.15, 7252.03, 7448.31, 7547.00, 7556.24, 7564.35, 7400.90, 7278.12, 7217.43, 7243.13, 7269.68, 7124.67, 7152.30, 6932.48, 6640.52, 7276.80, 7202.84, 7218.82, 7191.16, 7511.59, 7355.63, 7322.53, 7275.16, 7238.97, 7290.09, 7317.99, 7422.65, 7293.00, 7193.60, 7200.17, 6985.47, 7344.88, 7410.66, 7411.32, 7769.22, 8163.69, 8079.86, 7879.07, 8166.55, 8037.54, 8192.49, 8144.19, 8827.76, 8807.01, 8723.79, 8929.04, 8942.81, 8706.25, 8657.64, 8745.89, 8680.88, 8406.52, 8445.43, 8367.85, 8596.83, 8909.82, 9358.59, 9316.63, 9508.99, 9350.53, 9392.88, 9344.37, 9293.52, 9180.96, 9613.42, 9729.80, 9795.94, 9865.12, 10116.67, 9856.61, 10208.24, 10326.05, 10214.38, 10312.12, 9889.42, 9934.43, 9690.14, 10142.00.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-02-18]
Volume: 47271023953, RSI (14-day): 61.30, 50-day EMA: 9107.73, 200-day EMA: 8545.04
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1600.00, Gold RSI: 68.34
Oil Price: 52.05, Oil RSI: 41.40
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Craig Wright Doubles Down on Satoshi Claim, Says Bitcoin Core Infringes His ‘Database Rights’: The Australian entrepreneur who claims to be the inventor of bitcoin has suggested he might take legal action against the cryptocurrency’s developer team over claimed infringement of his intellectual property.
In ablog postpublished last Thursday, Craig Wright said while forks of bitcoin (BTC) would be allowed under the open-source MIT license under which bitcoin was released, copying the database would not.
“As the sole creator of Bitcoin, I own full rights to the Bitcoin registry. People can fork my software and make alternative versions. But, they have no rights to change the protocol using the underlying database,” Wright wrote.
Related:Bitcoin Coders Confront an Old Quandary: How to Upgrade an Entire Network
However, Bitcoin Core (the group that maintains and develops bitcoin) and Bitcoin ABC (the team behind bitcoin cash [BCH]) “have sought to use my database without authority,” Wright claimed.
It should be noted that Wright’s claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin, has not been proven either legally or to the satisfaction of many experts in the crypto community. He is also the backer of a different cryptocurrency, bitcoin SV (BSV), for Satoshi’s Vision.
In the post, Wright appeared to suggest he might attempt to take legal action against Core and ABC, saying: “Those involved with the copied systems that are passing themselves off as Bitcoin … are hereby put on notice. Please trust me when I say that I’m far nicer before the lawyers get involved.”
Based on his claim to be bitcoin’s inventor, Wright said Core and ABC infringe his intellectual property rights under theMIT open-source licenseunder which bitcoin is issued. That, however, allows use of the code “without restriction” as long as the copyright notice and permissions notice are “included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.”
Related:Golden Cross Gives Little Relief as Bitcoin Risks Fall Below 2020 Bullish Trendline
The license states:
“Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copyof this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to dealin the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rightsto use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sellcopies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software isfurnished to do so, …”
Wright also asserted he has “database rights” in the EU and the UK. “As a part of distributed global partnerships, senior partners within Core or ABC reside within Europe and the UK, presenting the opportunity to incorporate them in the matter without any jurisdictional challenges,” he wrote.
Elsewhere, he claims to have issued all 21 million bitcoin and that nodes are in effect “agents to my network.”
“If you negotiate with me, arrangements can be made allowing the continuance of selected copies of my network, with a set of restrictions. In other words, I am willing to license … the Bitcoin database. I will do so on my terms,” he wrote.
In May 2019, Wrightregistered a copyright claimin the U.S. for the bitcoin white paper and original code, with a press release appearing soon after that claimed his authorship had thus been recognized. TheCopyright Office respondeddays later, saying it had not recognized Wright as the author of the works and that it “does not investigate the truth of any statement made” in filings.
Multiple Core developers were contacted for comment but had not responded at press time.
• Low-Volume Bitcoin Pullback Stalls at Price Support Near $9.6K
• From Crypto Self-Custody to Music Rights, This Mother-Daughter Dev Team Does It All || Craig Wright Doubles Down on Satoshi Claim, Says Bitcoin Core Infringes His ‘Database Rights’: The Australian entrepreneur who claims to be the inventor of bitcoin has suggested he might take legal action against the cryptocurrency’s developer team over claimed infringement of his intellectual property.
In ablog postpublished last Thursday, Craig Wright said while forks of bitcoin (BTC) would be allowed under the open-source MIT license under which bitcoin was released, copying the database would not.
“As the sole creator of Bitcoin, I own full rights to the Bitcoin registry. People can fork my software and make alternative versions. But, they have no rights to change the protocol using the underlying database,” Wright wrote.
Related:Bitcoin Coders Confront an Old Quandary: How to Upgrade an Entire Network
However, Bitcoin Core (the group that maintains and develops bitcoin) and Bitcoin ABC (the team behind bitcoin cash [BCH]) “have sought to use my database without authority,” Wright claimed.
It should be noted that Wright’s claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin, has not been proven either legally or to the satisfaction of many experts in the crypto community. He is also the backer of a different cryptocurrency, bitcoin SV (BSV), for Satoshi’s Vision.
In the post, Wright appeared to suggest he might attempt to take legal action against Core and ABC, saying: “Those involved with the copied systems that are passing themselves off as Bitcoin … are hereby put on notice. Please trust me when I say that I’m far nicer before the lawyers get involved.”
Based on his claim to be bitcoin’s inventor, Wright said Core and ABC infringe his intellectual property rights under theMIT open-source licenseunder which bitcoin is issued. That, however, allows use of the code “without restriction” as long as the copyright notice and permissions notice are “included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.”
Related:Golden Cross Gives Little Relief as Bitcoin Risks Fall Below 2020 Bullish Trendline
The license states:
“Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copyof this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to dealin the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rightsto use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sellcopies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software isfurnished to do so, …”
Wright also asserted he has “database rights” in the EU and the UK. “As a part of distributed global partnerships, senior partners within Core or ABC reside within Europe and the UK, presenting the opportunity to incorporate them in the matter without any jurisdictional challenges,” he wrote.
Elsewhere, he claims to have issued all 21 million bitcoin and that nodes are in effect “agents to my network.”
“If you negotiate with me, arrangements can be made allowing the continuance of selected copies of my network, with a set of restrictions. In other words, I am willing to license … the Bitcoin database. I will do so on my terms,” he wrote.
In May 2019, Wrightregistered a copyright claimin the U.S. for the bitcoin white paper and original code, with a press release appearing soon after that claimed his authorship had thus been recognized. TheCopyright Office respondeddays later, saying it had not recognized Wright as the author of the works and that it “does not investigate the truth of any statement made” in filings.
Multiple Core developers were contacted for comment but had not responded at press time.
• Low-Volume Bitcoin Pullback Stalls at Price Support Near $9.6K
• From Crypto Self-Custody to Music Rights, This Mother-Daughter Dev Team Does It All || Craig Wright Doubles Down on Satoshi Claim, Says Bitcoin Core Infringes His ‘Database Rights’: The Australian entrepreneur who claims to be the inventor of bitcoin has suggested he might take legal action against the cryptocurrency’s developer team over claimed infringement of his intellectual property. In a blog post published last Thursday, Craig Wright said while forks of bitcoin (BTC) would be allowed under the open-source MIT license under which bitcoin was released, copying the database would not. “As the sole creator of Bitcoin, I own full rights to the Bitcoin registry. People can fork my software and make alternative versions. But, they have no rights to change the protocol using the underlying database,” Wright wrote. Related: Bitcoin Coders Confront an Old Quandary: How to Upgrade an Entire Network However, Bitcoin Core (the group that maintains and develops bitcoin) and Bitcoin ABC (the team behind bitcoin cash [BCH]) “have sought to use my database without authority,” Wright claimed. It should be noted that Wright’s claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin, has not been proven either legally or to the satisfaction of many experts in the crypto community. He is also the backer of a different cryptocurrency, bitcoin SV (BSV), for Satoshi’s Vision. In the post, Wright appeared to suggest he might attempt to take legal action against Core and ABC, saying: “Those involved with the copied systems that are passing themselves off as Bitcoin … are hereby put on notice. Please trust me when I say that I’m far nicer before the lawyers get involved.” Based on his claim to be bitcoin’s inventor, Wright said Core and ABC infringe his intellectual property rights under the MIT open-source license under which bitcoin is issued. That, however, allows use of the code “without restriction” as long as the copyright notice and permissions notice are “included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.” Related: Golden Cross Gives Little Relief as Bitcoin Risks Fall Below 2020 Bullish Trendline Story continues The license states: “Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, …” Wright also asserted he has “database rights” in the EU and the UK. “As a part of distributed global partnerships, senior partners within Core or ABC reside within Europe and the UK, presenting the opportunity to incorporate them in the matter without any jurisdictional challenges,” he wrote. Elsewhere, he claims to have issued all 21 million bitcoin and that nodes are in effect “agents to my network.” “If you negotiate with me, arrangements can be made allowing the continuance of selected copies of my network, with a set of restrictions. In other words, I am willing to license … the Bitcoin database. I will do so on my terms,” he wrote. In May 2019, Wright registered a copyright claim in the U.S. for the bitcoin white paper and original code, with a press release appearing soon after that claimed his authorship had thus been recognized. The Copyright Office responded days later, saying it had not recognized Wright as the author of the works and that it “does not investigate the truth of any statement made” in filings. Multiple Core developers were contacted for comment but had not responded at press time. Related Stories Low-Volume Bitcoin Pullback Stalls at Price Support Near $9.6K From Crypto Self-Custody to Music Rights, This Mother-Daughter Dev Team Does It All || XRP loses 10% as cryptocurrency market struggles: XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has lost a further 10.14% in the last day to fall back to just $0.273.
Today marks the third consecutive day of losses for the cryptocurrency, which fell from a 2020 peak of over $0.343 down to its current value—equivalent to a loss of almost 19% in less than three days.
Compared to Bitcoin,XRPhas also performed particularly poorly as of late. After briefly gaining on Bitcoin between the 11th and 14th of February, XRP once again continued its downtrend against Bitcoin, falling from a peak of 0.00003350 BTC/XRP down to just 0.00002874 BTC/XRP as of writing. This loss of more than 14% has erased almost all of XRP's gains against Bitcoin in the last week, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Despite its recent loss, XRP is still up more than 16% in the last month and 4% in the last three months. Though it is in the green in these timescales,XRPhasn't had quite the same success as many other mid-to-large cap altcoins, including the likes of Ethereum (ETH) and Tezos (XTZ), which are up 48% and 97% respectively in the last month.
Nonetheless, in the short-term, the global cryptocurrency market appears to be in a state of decline, as almost $12 billion was wiped from the global cryptocurrency market cap in the last day. XRP and most other cryptocurrencies have fallen sharply in parallel, with altcoins bearing the brunt of the damage.
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || XRP loses 10% as cryptocurrency market struggles: XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has lost a further 10.14% in the last day to fall back to just $0.273. Today marks the third consecutive day of losses for the cryptocurrency, which fell from a 2020 peak of over $0.343 down to its current valueequivalent to a loss of almost 19% in less than three days. Compared to Bitcoin, XRP has also performed particularly poorly as of late. After briefly gaining on Bitcoin between the 11th and 14th of February, XRP once again continued its downtrend against Bitcoin, falling from a peak of 0.00003350 BTC/XRP down to just 0.00002874 BTC/XRP as of writing. This loss of more than 14% has erased almost all of XRP's gains against Bitcoin in the last week, and shows no signs of slowing down. XRP up long-term Despite its recent loss, XRP is still up more than 16% in the last month and 4% in the last three months. Though it is in the green in these timescales, XRP hasn't had quite the same success as many other mid-to-large cap altcoins, including the likes of Ethereum (ETH) and Tezos (XTZ), which are up 48% and 97% respectively in the last month. Nonetheless, in the short-term, the global cryptocurrency market appears to be in a state of decline, as almost $12 billion was wiped from the global cryptocurrency market cap in the last day. XRP and most other cryptocurrencies have fallen sharply in parallel, with altcoins bearing the brunt of the damage. The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || Ethereum loses 4%, flirting with the $250 barrier: Ethereum (ETH) has just lost nearly 4% of its value, testing (and briefly dipping below) the $250 mark. Although the situation is changing rapidly, Ethereum currently sits at just north of $252, after falling from a 2020 peak of over $287 just two days ago. In total, more than $3 billion has been wiped off Ethereum's market capitalization since February 15, bringing its market cap down to around $27.7 billion. Nonetheless, Ethereum has gained slightly against Bitcoin in the last day, and now sits at a value of 0.0264 BTC/ETHup a modest 0.25%. Despite seeing its value shrink in recent days, the daily trade volume of Ethereum still appears to be on the uptick, and currently sits at around $27 billionup from $23.8 billion during its rally late last week. Although Ethereum is currently trending downwards, it isn't all bad news. Scaling back to longer-term timescales, Ethereum is still doing relatively well, and can be considered one of the best performers in recent months. As it stands, Ethereum is still up more than ten percent in the last week, and more than 47.5% in the last monthsignificantly higher than the average gain of 14.1% seen across the market during this time. The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || Ethereum loses 4%, flirting with the $250 barrier: Ethereum (ETH) has just lost nearly 4% of its value, testing (and briefly dipping below) the $250 mark. Although the situation is changing rapidly,Ethereumcurrently sits at just north of $252, after falling from a 2020 peak of over $287 just two days ago.
In total, more than $3 billion has been wiped off Ethereum's market capitalization since February 15, bringing its market cap down to around $27.7 billion. Nonetheless, Ethereum has gained slightly against Bitcoin in the last day, and now sits at a value of 0.0264 BTC/ETH—up a modest 0.25%.
Despite seeing its value shrink in recent days, the daily trade volume of Ethereum still appears to be on the uptick, and currently sits at around $27 billion—up from $23.8 billion during its rally late last week.
AlthoughEthereumis currently trending downwards, it isn't all bad news.
Scaling back to longer-term timescales, Ethereum is still doing relatively well, and can be considered one of the best performers in recent months. As it stands, Ethereum is still up more than ten percent in the last week, and more than 47.5% in the last month—significantly higher than the average gain of 14.1% seen across the market during this time.
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || Chinas DCEP Unlikely to Impact Crypto Markets in the Long Term, eToro Analyst Says: China is taking a great leap forward to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC), with more than 80 patents filed by the Peoples Bank last week. The 84 patents filed on Feb. 13 include proposals related to the supply and issuance of a CBDC as well as interbank settlements using the digital yuan and the integration of digital currency wallets into existing retail bank accounts, according to a report by the Financial Times . While the Chinese government is still largely quiet on the initiative, the new patents signify Chinas efforts to ramp up development work on its digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) system in a bid to outdo other major economies such as the U.S. and the EU. Related: Chinese Blockchain Startup Hires VC Exec to Lead North American Expansion The latest developments are unlikely to have an impact on crypto assets in the long term becausethe issuance of a digital yuan would be tightly controlled with no public mining or trading with existing cryptos, said eToro analyst Nemo Qin. Unlike most crypto assets, the DCEP will be a centralized, government-issued digital currency
[W]ith these factors, the DCEP should not have a direct impact on the crypto asset market, Qin said. The price of cryptos largest asset, bitcoin (BTC), rose more than 40 percent, from $7,435 to $10,350 in October 2019, after Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country should seize the opportunities afforded by blockchain technology. As the markets digested the news and began to understand the intentions behind Chinas move, prices for the bellwether crypto dropped by more than 37 percent before recovering by January of this year. Related: Mainstream Moments and the CompuServe of Crypto, Feat. Andreas M. Antonopoulos Indeed, Chinas ambitions have encouraged more players to enter the space, with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) setting up a group to discuss potential cases for interoperable CBDCs. We can expect more central banks to announce developments in their own crypto assets using blockchain technology, Qin added. Related Stories The Top Narratives Driving Crypto Market Growth, Feat. Travis Kling Trump Fed Nominee Judy Shelton Says US Should Be Proactive on Digital Dollar || China’s DCEP Unlikely to Impact Crypto Markets in the Long Term, eToro Analyst Says: China is taking a great leap forward to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC), with more than 80 patents filed by the People’s Bank last week.
The 84 patents filed on Feb. 13 include proposals related to the supply and issuance of a CBDC as well as interbank settlements using the digital yuan and the integration of digital currency wallets into existing retail bank accounts, according to a report by theFinancial Times.
While the Chinese government is still largely quiet on the initiative, the new patents signify China’s efforts to ramp up development work on its digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) system in a bid to outdo other major economies such as the U.S. and the EU.
Related:Chinese Blockchain Startup Hires VC Exec to Lead North American Expansion
The latest developments are unlikely to have an impact on crypto assets in the long term becausethe issuance of a digital yuan would be tightly controlled with no public mining or trading with existing cryptos, said eToro analyst Nemo Qin.
“Unlike most crypto assets, the DCEP will be a centralized, government-issued digital currency … [W]ith these factors, the DCEP should not have a direct impact on the crypto asset market,” Qin said.
The price of crypto’s largest asset, bitcoin (BTC), rose more than 40 percent, from $7,435 to $10,350 in October 2019, after Chinese President Xi Jinpingsaidhis country should “seize the opportunities” afforded by blockchain technology.
As the markets digested the news and began to understand the intentions behind China’s move, prices for the bellwether crypto dropped by more than 37 percent before recovering by January of this year.
Related:Mainstream Moments and the CompuServe of Crypto, Feat. Andreas M. Antonopoulos
Indeed, China’s ambitions have encouraged more players to enter the space, with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) setting up a group to discuss potential cases for interoperable CBDCs.
“We can expect more central banks to announce developments in their own crypto assets using blockchain technology,” Qin added.
• The Top Narratives Driving Crypto Market Growth, Feat. Travis Kling
• Trump Fed Nominee Judy Shelton Says US Should Be Proactive on Digital Dollar || Bitcoin touches $9,500 as $31 billion wiped off cryptocurrency markets: In the last three days, the cryptocurrency market has experienced a minor reversal of sorts, with more than $31 billion wiped from the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies in the last three days.
Much of this loss can be attributed to the recent bearish momentum seen byBitcoin (BTC), which fell from over $10,300 on February 15 down to briefly touch below $9,500 today as more than $14 billion was wiped off its market cap. Bitcoin has since recovered slightly and currently sits at just south of $9,600.
Other major cryptocurrencies are also experiencing similar, if not greater losses. As it stands, every cryptocurrency in the top ten by market capitalization is in the red today, with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and XRP currently performing the worst after losing between 7-8% apiece. Likewise, Ethereum (ETH) and EOS are down around 4% each.
Although it is currently unclear why the market has taken a bearish turn, recent performance issues seen by Binance may have contributed to a change in investor sentiment. Nonetheless, despite its recent losses, the global cryptocurrency market is still up by almost 14% in the last month, and almost 17% in the last three months. As such, there is still some leeway before this adverse market movement can be considered a long-term change in market dynamics.
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || Bitcoin touches $9,500 as $31 billion wiped off cryptocurrency markets: In the last three days, the cryptocurrency market has experienced a minor reversal of sorts, with more than $31 billion wiped from the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies in the last three days. Much of this loss can be attributed to the recent bearish momentum seen by Bitcoin (BTC) , which fell from over $10,300 on February 15 down to briefly touch below $9,500 today as more than $14 billion was wiped off its market cap. Bitcoin has since recovered slightly and currently sits at just south of $9,600. Other major cryptocurrencies are also experiencing similar, if not greater losses. As it stands, every cryptocurrency in the top ten by market capitalization is in the red today, with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and XRP currently performing the worst after losing between 7-8% apiece. Likewise, Ethereum (ETH) and EOS are down around 4% each. Writing a detailed report on some of the perf issues we face in the last few days. Will publish in 24h or so. It's not the first time @Binance faced challenges, and it won't be the last time we solve them. We are humbled to have the heaviest traffic in crypto, and your support! CZ Binance (@cz_binance) February 16, 2020 Although it is currently unclear why the market has taken a bearish turn, recent performance issues seen by Binance may have contributed to a change in investor sentiment. Nonetheless, despite its recent losses, the global cryptocurrency market is still up by almost 14% in the last month, and almost 17% in the last three months. As such, there is still some leeway before this adverse market movement can be considered a long-term change in market dynamics. The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || Bitcoin touches $9,500 as $31 billion wiped off cryptocurrency markets: In the last three days, the cryptocurrency market has experienced a minor reversal of sorts, with more than $31 billion wiped from the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies in the last three days.
Much of this loss can be attributed to the recent bearish momentum seen byBitcoin (BTC), which fell from over $10,300 on February 15 down to briefly touch below $9,500 today as more than $14 billion was wiped off its market cap. Bitcoin has since recovered slightly and currently sits at just south of $9,600.
Other major cryptocurrencies are also experiencing similar, if not greater losses. As it stands, every cryptocurrency in the top ten by market capitalization is in the red today, with Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and XRP currently performing the worst after losing between 7-8% apiece. Likewise, Ethereum (ETH) and EOS are down around 4% each.
Although it is currently unclear why the market has taken a bearish turn, recent performance issues seen by Binance may have contributed to a change in investor sentiment. Nonetheless, despite its recent losses, the global cryptocurrency market is still up by almost 14% in the last month, and almost 17% in the last three months. As such, there is still some leeway before this adverse market movement can be considered a long-term change in market dynamics.
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. || Latest Bitcoin price and analysis (BTC to USD): Bitcoin struggled to establish a level of support above $10,000 over the weekend, dropping to $9,600 amidst a major sell-off across all major cryptocurrencies . It now needs to continue trading above $9,600 to avoid further price action to the downside, with potential targets emerging at $9,350 and $8,830. The $9,600 level is crucial as it has been a stubborn point of resistance over the past six-months, causing sell-offs in both October and again more recently at the end of January. If Bitcoin manages to bounce from the $9,600 region it would exemplify the strength in the market leading up to May’s halving event. Block rewards for miners will be slashed from 12.5BTC to 6.25BTC per block, which has historically caused a spike in the price of all cryptocurrencies as supply begins to dry up while demand begins to rise. It’s expected that traders will attempt to price in the upcoming halving, which could see Bitcoin rise back towards 2019’s high of $14,000. Before that theory comes into fruition it needs to break above the $10,500 level while driving towards $11,000 and $12,300. Bitcoin’s daily relative strength index (RSI) is also at a critical level of 52, which has been an ongoing point of support and resistance over the past 12-months. The previous time the RSI fell to the level was on January 25, which preceded a 13% move to the upside in the following three days. For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . Bitcoin ricing Current live BTC pricing information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest Bitcoin price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar – BTCtoUSD British Pound Sterling – BTCtoGBP Japanese Yen – BTCtoJPY Euro – BTCtoEUR Australian Dollar – BTCtoAUD Russian Rouble – BTCtoRUB About Bitcoin In August 2008, the domain name bitcoin.org was registered. On 31st October 2008, a paper was published called “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. This was authored by Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. To date, no one knows who this person, or people, are. Story continues The paper outlined a method of using a P2P network for electronic transactions without “relying on trust”. On January 3 2009, the Bitcoin network came into existence. Nakamoto mined block number “0” (or the “genesis block”), which had a reward of 50 Bitcoins. More BTC news and information If you want to find out more information about Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s an article to get you started. As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. The post Latest Bitcoin price and analysis (BTC to USD) appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Latest Bitcoin price and analysis (BTC to USD): Bitcoin struggled to establish a level of support above $10,000 over the weekend, dropping to $9,600 amidst a major sell-off across all major cryptocurrencies . It now needs to continue trading above $9,600 to avoid further price action to the downside, with potential targets emerging at $9,350 and $8,830. The $9,600 level is crucial as it has been a stubborn point of resistance over the past six-months, causing sell-offs in both October and again more recently at the end of January. If Bitcoin manages to bounce from the $9,600 region it would exemplify the strength in the market leading up to May’s halving event. Block rewards for miners will be slashed from 12.5BTC to 6.25BTC per block, which has historically caused a spike in the price of all cryptocurrencies as supply begins to dry up while demand begins to rise. It’s expected that traders will attempt to price in the upcoming halving, which could see Bitcoin rise back towards 2019’s high of $14,000. Before that theory comes into fruition it needs to break above the $10,500 level while driving towards $11,000 and $12,300. Bitcoin’s daily relative strength index (RSI) is also at a critical level of 52, which has been an ongoing point of support and resistance over the past 12-months. The previous time the RSI fell to the level was on January 25, which preceded a 13% move to the upside in the following three days. For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . Bitcoin ricing Current live BTC pricing information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest Bitcoin price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar – BTCtoUSD British Pound Sterling – BTCtoGBP Japanese Yen – BTCtoJPY Euro – BTCtoEUR Australian Dollar – BTCtoAUD Russian Rouble – BTCtoRUB About Bitcoin In August 2008, the domain name bitcoin.org was registered. On 31st October 2008, a paper was published called “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. This was authored by Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. To date, no one knows who this person, or people, are. Story continues The paper outlined a method of using a P2P network for electronic transactions without “relying on trust”. On January 3 2009, the Bitcoin network came into existence. Nakamoto mined block number “0” (or the “genesis block”), which had a reward of 50 Bitcoins. More BTC news and information If you want to find out more information about Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s an article to get you started. As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. The post Latest Bitcoin price and analysis (BTC to USD) appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Latest Bitcoin price and analysis (BTC to USD): Bitcoin struggled to establish a level of support above $10,000 over the weekend, dropping to $9,600 amidst a major sell-off across all major cryptocurrencies . It now needs to continue trading above $9,600 to avoid further price action to the downside, with potential targets emerging at $9,350 and $8,830. The $9,600 level is crucial as it has been a stubborn point of resistance over the past six-months, causing sell-offs in both October and again more recently at the end of January. If Bitcoin manages to bounce from the $9,600 region it would exemplify the strength in the market leading up to May’s halving event. Block rewards for miners will be slashed from 12.5BTC to 6.25BTC per block, which has historically caused a spike in the price of all cryptocurrencies as supply begins to dry up while demand begins to rise. It’s expected that traders will attempt to price in the upcoming halving, which could see Bitcoin rise back towards 2019’s high of $14,000. Before that theory comes into fruition it needs to break above the $10,500 level while driving towards $11,000 and $12,300. Bitcoin’s daily relative strength index (RSI) is also at a critical level of 52, which has been an ongoing point of support and resistance over the past 12-months. The previous time the RSI fell to the level was on January 25, which preceded a 13% move to the upside in the following three days. For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . Bitcoin ricing Current live BTC pricing information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest Bitcoin price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar – BTCtoUSD British Pound Sterling – BTCtoGBP Japanese Yen – BTCtoJPY Euro – BTCtoEUR Australian Dollar – BTCtoAUD Russian Rouble – BTCtoRUB About Bitcoin In August 2008, the domain name bitcoin.org was registered. On 31st October 2008, a paper was published called “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. This was authored by Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. To date, no one knows who this person, or people, are. Story continues The paper outlined a method of using a P2P network for electronic transactions without “relying on trust”. On January 3 2009, the Bitcoin network came into existence. Nakamoto mined block number “0” (or the “genesis block”), which had a reward of 50 Bitcoins. More BTC news and information If you want to find out more information about Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s an article to get you started. As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. The post Latest Bitcoin price and analysis (BTC to USD) appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Crypto Exchange FCoin Insolvent After Revealing Up to $130M Bitcoin Shortfall: FCoin, a crypto exchange that adopted the controversial “trans-fee mining” model, has paused trading and withdrawal as it reveals a shortage of crypto assets worth up to $130 million.
Zhang Jian, the former Huobi CTO who launched FCoin in May 2018, wrote a lengthy post on Monday, saying the exchange is now unable to process users’ withdrawal demands as its asset reserve has fallen short of its liability – and the gap is estimated to be about 7,000 to 13,000 bitcoin (BTC).
The post,first published in Chineseand latertranslated on Reddit, comes as a shocking notice to users in China as the significant amount of assets in question led to the insolvency of the controversial model that at one point made FCoin one of the largest exchanges by trading volume.
Related:Derivatives Exchange Deribit Launches Daily Ether Options
Zhang claimed in the post the exchange was neither hacked nor an exit scam but the problem is “a little too complicated to be explained in a single sentence.”
In summary, he said the issue came from internal system errors that have – for a long period of time – credited users with more transaction-based mining rewards than they should have received. As the company failed to spot this soon enough to remedy the situation, the snowball has grown even larger since the beginning of 2019.
Fcoin went live around May 2018, introducing a novel model called “trans-fee mining” to incentivize trading and to issue its exchange token dubbed FT.
Instead of launching an initial coin offering or an airdrop, FCoin issued 51 percent of its FTs to the public in exchange for making transactions. For instance, for every transaction fee a user paid to FCoin in the form of either bitcoin or ethereum, the platform would reimburse the user 100 percent of the value in FTs.
Related:Binance to Announce White-Label Exchange Infrastructure for Local Markets
In addition, FCoin would distribute 80 percent of the transaction fees it collected in bitcoin and ether to users who held FTs bitcoin continuously throughout a day. This model, while being criticized for possibly enabling price manipulation of the FT, was quicklyadoptedby others and led to a shake-up among exchanges in terms of volume ranking.
However, according to Zhang, errors in FCoin’s system started to give away more mining rewards to users than they should have earned, beginning in mid-2018. The firm did not set up a complete back-end auditing system to properly manage its treasury until mid-2019, he said.
As the price of FT continuously decreased through 2019, Zhang said he and his team have been buying back FTs from the secondary market in efforts to increase the buying demand for the token’s price, which was one of the “decision errors” he made.
Zhang said the system problem coped with these “decision errors” gave a large amount of users the opportunity to sell and withdraw more than what should have been on their account balance, causing the significant loss of FCoin’s assets on its own balance sheet.
The announcement came just days FCoinsuspended its entire platformafter discovering a risk-control issue. Zhang said in the post that he will now personally and manually process users’ withdrawal requests made via emails.
He claimed that he will “switch tracks and start again” and hopes to use profits from his new projects to “compensate everyone for their losses.”
• Binance CEO Says Crypto Exchange Has Applied for a Singapore License
• OKEx Partners With Bain-Backed Crypto Exchange to Launch Leveraged Futures in India || Crypto Exchange FCoin Insolvent After Revealing Up to $130M Bitcoin Shortfall: FCoin, a crypto exchange that adopted the controversial “trans-fee mining” model, has paused trading and withdrawal as it reveals a shortage of crypto assets worth up to $130 million. Zhang Jian, the former Huobi CTO who launched FCoin in May 2018, wrote a lengthy post on Monday, saying the exchange is now unable to process users’ withdrawal demands as its asset reserve has fallen short of its liability – and the gap is estimated to be about 7,000 to 13,000 bitcoin (BTC). The post, first published in Chinese and later translated on Reddit , comes as a shocking notice to users in China as the significant amount of assets in question led to the insolvency of the controversial model that at one point made FCoin one of the largest exchanges by trading volume. Related: Derivatives Exchange Deribit Launches Daily Ether Options Zhang claimed in the post the exchange was neither hacked nor an exit scam but the problem is “a little too complicated to be explained in a single sentence.” In summary, he said the issue came from internal system errors that have – for a long period of time – credited users with more transaction-based mining rewards than they should have received. As the company failed to spot this soon enough to remedy the situation, the snowball has grown even larger since the beginning of 2019. Trans-fee mining Fcoin went live around May 2018, introducing a novel model called “trans-fee mining” to incentivize trading and to issue its exchange token dubbed FT. Instead of launching an initial coin offering or an airdrop, FCoin issued 51 percent of its FTs to the public in exchange for making transactions. For instance, for every transaction fee a user paid to FCoin in the form of either bitcoin or ethereum, the platform would reimburse the user 100 percent of the value in FTs. Related: Binance to Announce White-Label Exchange Infrastructure for Local Markets In addition, FCoin would distribute 80 percent of the transaction fees it collected in bitcoin and ether to users who held FTs bitcoin continuously throughout a day. This model, while being criticized for possibly enabling price manipulation of the FT, was quickly adopted by others and led to a shake-up among exchanges in terms of volume ranking. Story continues However, according to Zhang, errors in FCoin’s system started to give away more mining rewards to users than they should have earned, beginning in mid-2018. The firm did not set up a complete back-end auditing system to properly manage its treasury until mid-2019, he said. As the price of FT continuously decreased through 2019, Zhang said he and his team have been buying back FTs from the secondary market in efforts to increase the buying demand for the token’s price, which was one of the “decision errors” he made. Zhang said the system problem coped with these “decision errors” gave a large amount of users the opportunity to sell and withdraw more than what should have been on their account balance, causing the significant loss of FCoin’s assets on its own balance sheet. The announcement came just days FCoin suspended its entire platform after discovering a risk-control issue. Zhang said in the post that he will now personally and manually process users’ withdrawal requests made via emails. He claimed that he will “switch tracks and start again” and hopes to use profits from his new projects to “compensate everyone for their losses.” Related Stories Binance CEO Says Crypto Exchange Has Applied for a Singapore License OKEx Partners With Bain-Backed Crypto Exchange to Launch Leveraged Futures in India || Crypto Exchange FCoin Insolvent After Revealing Up to $130M Bitcoin Shortfall: FCoin, a crypto exchange that adopted the controversial “trans-fee mining” model, has paused trading and withdrawal as it reveals a shortage of crypto assets worth up to $130 million.
Zhang Jian, the former Huobi CTO who launched FCoin in May 2018, wrote a lengthy post on Monday, saying the exchange is now unable to process users’ withdrawal demands as its asset reserve has fallen short of its liability – and the gap is estimated to be about 7,000 to 13,000 bitcoin (BTC).
The post,first published in Chineseand latertranslated on Reddit, comes as a shocking notice to users in China as the significant amount of assets in question led to the insolvency of the controversial model that at one point made FCoin one of the largest exchanges by trading volume.
Related:Derivatives Exchange Deribit Launches Daily Ether Options
Zhang claimed in the post the exchange was neither hacked nor an exit scam but the problem is “a little too complicated to be explained in a single sentence.”
In summary, he said the issue came from internal system errors that have – for a long period of time – credited users with more transaction-based mining rewards than they should have received. As the company failed to spot this soon enough to remedy the situation, the snowball has grown even larger since the beginning of 2019.
Fcoin went live around May 2018, introducing a novel model called “trans-fee mining” to incentivize trading and to issue its exchange token dubbed FT.
Instead of launching an initial coin offering or an airdrop, FCoin issued 51 percent of its FTs to the public in exchange for making transactions. For instance, for every transaction fee a user paid to FCoin in the form of either bitcoin or ethereum, the platform would reimburse the user 100 percent of the value in FTs.
Related:Binance to Announce White-Label Exchange Infrastructure for Local Markets
In addition, FCoin would distribute 80 percent of the transaction fees it collected in bitcoin and ether to users who held FTs bitcoin continuously throughout a day. This model, while being criticized for possibly enabling price manipulation of the FT, was quicklyadoptedby others and led to a shake-up among exchanges in terms of volume ranking.
However, according to Zhang, errors in FCoin’s system started to give away more mining rewards to users than they should have earned, beginning in mid-2018. The firm did not set up a complete back-end auditing system to properly manage its treasury until mid-2019, he said.
As the price of FT continuously decreased through 2019, Zhang said he and his team have been buying back FTs from the secondary market in efforts to increase the buying demand for the token’s price, which was one of the “decision errors” he made.
Zhang said the system problem coped with these “decision errors” gave a large amount of users the opportunity to sell and withdraw more than what should have been on their account balance, causing the significant loss of FCoin’s assets on its own balance sheet.
The announcement came just days FCoinsuspended its entire platformafter discovering a risk-control issue. Zhang said in the post that he will now personally and manually process users’ withdrawal requests made via emails.
He claimed that he will “switch tracks and start again” and hopes to use profits from his new projects to “compensate everyone for their losses.”
• Binance CEO Says Crypto Exchange Has Applied for a Singapore License
• OKEx Partners With Bain-Backed Crypto Exchange to Launch Leveraged Futures in India || Binance to Announce White-Label Exchange Infrastructure for Local Markets: Binance will soon be launching a digital asset trading platform that can be rebranded by smaller exchanges for their local markets.
Binance Cloud will offer local exchanges spot market and futures trading, as well as local bank API integrations and peer-to-peer (P2P) fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchange services, the company will say in a statement this week.
Implementing a product like Binance Cloud would relieve potential exchange operators of the software burdens involved in security and scalability. That gives them more time to worry about, say, getting the proper licenses and registrations in their jurisdiction.
Related:Derivatives Exchange Deribit Launches Daily Ether Options
Binance Cloud will offer the matching engine, security controls and liquidity of the main Binance.com exchange. So while an exchange may have its own branding and local fiat currency, the back end will basically be Binance itself, which will bring the benefit of more liquidity, albeit indirectly, and potentially in places where Binance doesn’t currently operate.
“The Binance Cloud service is an all-in-one solution, featuring an easy-to-use dashboard that allows customers to manage funds, trading pairs and coin listings, as well as multilingual support, depth-sharing with the Binance.com global exchange, and more opportunities to collaborate with the ecosystem,” the company said.
Soon, Binance also plans adding “staking and OTC (over-the-counter) trading services, as well as token launch capabilities via an IEO (initial exchange offering) platform.
This could mean Binance would have to compete withAlphaPoint, one of the largest infrastructure providers on the cryptocurrency exchange market today. Founded in 2013, AlphaPoint provides software services to some of the largest exchanges in the world, although it doesn’t discuss specific clients.
Related:Crypto Exchange FCoin Insolvent After Revealing Up to $130M Bitcoin Shortfall
Exchanges are not easy to build. There are many elements to consider such as order types and matching as well as other features. Security and scaling during massive bull runs are also huge concerns for exchanges.
Security has been an issue for Binance itself. It was breached in 2019 with $40.7 million stolenafter hackers accessed exchange users’ API keys and 2FA codes. While an explanation on further technical details was never published on the hack, the exchange covered the losses via its “Secure Asset Fund for Users” (SAFU) insurance fund.
• Binance CEO Says Crypto Exchange Has Applied for a Singapore License
• OKEx Partners With Bain-Backed Crypto Exchange to Launch Leveraged Futures in India || Binance to Announce White-Label Exchange Infrastructure for Local Markets: Binance will soon be launching a digital asset trading platform that can be rebranded by smaller exchanges for their local markets. Binance Cloud will offer local exchanges spot market and futures trading, as well as local bank API integrations and peer-to-peer (P2P) fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchange services, the company will say in a statement this week. Implementing a product like Binance Cloud would relieve potential exchange operators of the software burdens involved in security and scalability. That gives them more time to worry about, say, getting the proper licenses and registrations in their jurisdiction. Related: Derivatives Exchange Deribit Launches Daily Ether Options Binance Cloud will offer the matching engine, security controls and liquidity of the main Binance.com exchange. So while an exchange may have its own branding and local fiat currency, the back end will basically be Binance itself, which will bring the benefit of more liquidity, albeit indirectly, and potentially in places where Binance doesnt currently operate. The Binance Cloud service is an all-in-one solution, featuring an easy-to-use dashboard that allows customers to manage funds, trading pairs and coin listings, as well as multilingual support, depth-sharing with the Binance.com global exchange, and more opportunities to collaborate with the ecosystem, the company said. Soon, Binance also plans adding staking and OTC (over-the-counter) trading services, as well as token launch capabilities via an IEO (initial exchange offering) platform. This could mean Binance would have to compete with AlphaPoint , one of the largest infrastructure providers on the cryptocurrency exchange market today. Founded in 2013, AlphaPoint provides software services to some of the largest exchanges in the world, although it doesnt discuss specific clients. Related: Crypto Exchange FCoin Insolvent After Revealing Up to $130M Bitcoin Shortfall Exchanges are not easy to build. There are many elements to consider such as order types and matching as well as other features. Security and scaling during massive bull runs are also huge concerns for exchanges. Security has been an issue for Binance itself. It was breached in 2019 with $40.7 million stolen after hackers accessed exchange users API keys and 2FA codes . While an explanation on further technical details was never published on the hack, the exchange covered the losses via its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) insurance fund. Related Stories Binance CEO Says Crypto Exchange Has Applied for a Singapore License OKEx Partners With Bain-Backed Crypto Exchange to Launch Leveraged Futures in India View comments
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9633.39, 9608.48, 9686.44, 9663.18, 9924.52, 9650.17, 9341.71, 8820.52, 8784.49, 8672.46
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 11970.48, 11414.03, 10245.30, 10511.81, 10169.57, 10280.35, 10369.56, 10131.52, 10242.35, 10363.14, 10400.92, 10442.17, 10323.76, 10680.84, 10796.95, 10974.91, 10948.99, 10944.59, 11094.35, 10938.27, 10462.26, 10538.46, 10246.19, 10760.07, 10692.72, 10750.72, 10775.27, 10709.65, 10844.64, 10784.49, 10619.45, 10575.97, 10549.33, 10669.58, 10793.34, 10604.41, 10668.97, 10915.69, 11064.46, 11296.36, 11384.18, 11555.36, 11425.90, 11429.51, 11495.35, 11322.12, 11358.10, 11483.36, 11742.04, 11916.33, 12823.69, 12965.89, 12931.54, 13108.06, 13031.17, 13075.25, 13654.22, 13271.29, 13437.88, 13546.52, 13781.00, 13737.11, 13550.49, 13950.30, 14133.71, 15579.85, 15565.88, 14833.75, 15479.57, 15332.32, 15290.90, 15701.34, 16276.34, 16317.81, 16068.14, 15955.59, 16716.11, 17645.41, 17804.01, 17817.09, 18621.31, 18642.23, 18370.00, 18364.12, 19107.46, 18732.12, 17150.62, 17108.40, 17717.41, 18177.48.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-11-29]
Volume: 31133957704, RSI (14-day): 63.19, 50-day EMA: 15379.30, 200-day EMA: 12006.84
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Barron's Picks And Pans This Week: Apple, Ford, Royal Dutch Shell, Tesla And A Hair Salon Chain: This weekend's Barron's cover story discusses whether Ford can be fixed and its stock can double. Other featured articles examine the bull case for Tesla in the S&P 500, some global recovery plays and how badly the pandemic has hurt real estate investment trusts. Also, the prospects for a salon operator, automaker dividends, Apple notebooks and more. Cover story " Ford Can Be Fixed. Why Its Stock Could Double " by Al Root points out that Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F ), the fifth-largest automaker in the world, has been among the worst-performing auto stocks during the past five years. See why Barron's believes its new chief executive officer could help fix the company and send its share price much higher. Leslie P. Norton's " Pandemic or Not, a House Needs a Deck. That's Good News for Azek " shows why Azek Company Inc (NYSE: AZEK ), the number two maker of composite wood decking, is growing fast after its June initial public offering. As recycling rises and composite costs fall, says the article, the company anticipates steady growth. In " Supercuts Owner Regis Is a Postpandemic Play With Style ," Nicholas Jasinski makes the case that a transition to a franchise model makes small-cap hair salon operator Regis Corporation (NYSE: RGS ) stock a buy. Haircuts cannot be sold online and delivered in a box, and investors are looking ahead to when life and business may resemble normality again. As 2021 approaches and with strong third-quarter results in their rearview mirrors, General Motors Company (NYSE: GM ), Ford and other automakers appear to be on their way to restoring their dividends. So says " Improving Cash Flows Put GM and Ford Dividends in Line for Restoration " by Lawrence C. Strauss. In Alex Eule's " Apple's New MacBooks Have Delighted Critics. Investors Should Care, Too ," see why Barron's thinks that while Macs represent just 10% of the total sales at Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ), the business is once again important to the consumer electronics giant's future. Story continues " Tesla Storms the S&P 500. Here's the Bull Case " by Jack Hough discusses why Elon Musk's electric-vehicle maker continues its amazing rise, yet the value of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA ) is now so high that car-making profits alone might not be enough, even looking out a decade and assuming massive market-share gains. See also: Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: AstraZeneca, Disney, Ford, GE, Roku And More The consumer-discretionary sector has gained almost 30% in 2020, making it the second-best performer this year, behind only tech, according to Ben Levisohn's " Tesla Is About to Upend This Sector. What Investors Should Do Now. " Discover why Barron's believes that the sector is about to get a whole lot riskier, as well as how investors may want to play it. In " Three Stocks to Buy as COVID Lockdowns Ease ," Bill Alpert looks at the claim that global recovery plays like Anheuser Busch Inbev NV (NYSE: BUD ) and Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A ) are reasonably priced, as investors look ahead to a post-pandemic world. See what else made the cut. Lawrence C. Strauss's " REITs Have Been Hit Hard by COVID-19. The Impact Could Last for Years " says that COVID-19 has caused the most long-term damage to the value of real estate investment trusts focused on malls and office space. But what about the likes of American Tower Corp (NYSE: AMT ) and Prologis Inc (NYSE: PLD )? Also in this week's Barron's: Questions for the most powerful woman in tech How much Joe Biden can actually change tax policy Five tax moves to consider for an unusual year Why taxable muni bonds are tempting Whether companies that fail to measure corporate impact will be left behind How emerging markets could benefit from COVID-19 vaccines Whether Millennials or Baby Boomers are fueling latest stock rally A review of the career of Janet Yellen Whether the Bitcoin rally still has legs A memory-loss trap to avoid in retirement At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities. Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter. Photo by Delbeautybox from Pexels See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Notable Insider Buys in the Past Week: Biglari, Coty, Danaher, Foot Locker And More Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: AstraZeneca, Disney, Ford, GE, Roku And More © 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Barron's Picks And Pans This Week: Apple, Ford, Royal Dutch Shell, Tesla And A Hair Salon Chain: This weekend's Barron's cover story discusses whether Ford can be fixed and its stock can double. Other featured articles examine the bull case for Tesla in the S&P 500, some global recovery plays and how badly the pandemic has hurt real estate investment trusts. Also, the prospects for a salon operator, automaker dividends, Apple notebooks and more. Cover story " Ford Can Be Fixed. Why Its Stock Could Double " by Al Root points out that Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F ), the fifth-largest automaker in the world, has been among the worst-performing auto stocks during the past five years. See why Barron's believes its new chief executive officer could help fix the company and send its share price much higher. Leslie P. Norton's " Pandemic or Not, a House Needs a Deck. That's Good News for Azek " shows why Azek Company Inc (NYSE: AZEK ), the number two maker of composite wood decking, is growing fast after its June initial public offering. As recycling rises and composite costs fall, says the article, the company anticipates steady growth. In " Supercuts Owner Regis Is a Postpandemic Play With Style ," Nicholas Jasinski makes the case that a transition to a franchise model makes small-cap hair salon operator Regis Corporation (NYSE: RGS ) stock a buy. Haircuts cannot be sold online and delivered in a box, and investors are looking ahead to when life and business may resemble normality again. As 2021 approaches and with strong third-quarter results in their rearview mirrors, General Motors Company (NYSE: GM ), Ford and other automakers appear to be on their way to restoring their dividends. So says " Improving Cash Flows Put GM and Ford Dividends in Line for Restoration " by Lawrence C. Strauss. In Alex Eule's " Apple's New MacBooks Have Delighted Critics. Investors Should Care, Too ," see why Barron's thinks that while Macs represent just 10% of the total sales at Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ), the business is once again important to the consumer electronics giant's future. Story continues " Tesla Storms the S&P 500. Here's the Bull Case " by Jack Hough discusses why Elon Musk's electric-vehicle maker continues its amazing rise, yet the value of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA ) is now so high that car-making profits alone might not be enough, even looking out a decade and assuming massive market-share gains. See also: Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: AstraZeneca, Disney, Ford, GE, Roku And More The consumer-discretionary sector has gained almost 30% in 2020, making it the second-best performer this year, behind only tech, according to Ben Levisohn's " Tesla Is About to Upend This Sector. What Investors Should Do Now. " Discover why Barron's believes that the sector is about to get a whole lot riskier, as well as how investors may want to play it. In " Three Stocks to Buy as COVID Lockdowns Ease ," Bill Alpert looks at the claim that global recovery plays like Anheuser Busch Inbev NV (NYSE: BUD ) and Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A ) are reasonably priced, as investors look ahead to a post-pandemic world. See what else made the cut. Lawrence C. Strauss's " REITs Have Been Hit Hard by COVID-19. The Impact Could Last for Years " says that COVID-19 has caused the most long-term damage to the value of real estate investment trusts focused on malls and office space. But what about the likes of American Tower Corp (NYSE: AMT ) and Prologis Inc (NYSE: PLD )? Also in this week's Barron's: Questions for the most powerful woman in tech How much Joe Biden can actually change tax policy Five tax moves to consider for an unusual year Why taxable muni bonds are tempting Whether companies that fail to measure corporate impact will be left behind How emerging markets could benefit from COVID-19 vaccines Whether Millennials or Baby Boomers are fueling latest stock rally A review of the career of Janet Yellen Whether the Bitcoin rally still has legs A memory-loss trap to avoid in retirement At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities. Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter. Photo by Delbeautybox from Pexels See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Notable Insider Buys in the Past Week: Biglari, Coty, Danaher, Foot Locker And More Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: AstraZeneca, Disney, Ford, GE, Roku And More © 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: AstraZeneca, Disney, Ford, GE, Roku And More: AstraZeneca HQ and research center in Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Benzinga has examined the prospects or many investorfavorite stocksover the past week.
• The bullish calls in the holiday-shortened week included old-school and newer consumer favorites.
• A COVID-19 vaccine contender and a casino stock were featured among the bearish calls.
As investors beginlooking to the future, hopes forCOVID-19 vaccinesand theincoming U.S. presidential administrationhelped buoy the markets last week, liftingDow Jones industrialsto a new all-time high. The main U.S. indexes ended the holiday-shortened week higher, led by the Nasdaq's 3% gain.
There was plenty offocus on retaillast week, with changes toBlack Friday,mixed earningsfrom retailers still coming in and some early signs of what theholiday shoppingseason has in store.
The week also saw a newworld's second richest man,additional layoffsat an entertainment giant, consolidation in thebook publishingindustry and freshgeopolitical tensions.
Through it all, Benzinga continued to examine the prospects for many of the stocks most popular with investors. Here are a few of this past week's most bullish and bearish posts that are worth another look.
Bulls
Walt Disney Co(NYSE:DIS) unveiled a plan earlier this year to focus heavily on its direct-to-consumer streaming business, according to Chris Katje's "2 Catalysts That Could Boost Disney+ Subscribers." Upcoming catalysts could bolster already strong subscriber growth. What is expected from an upcoming investor presentation?
In "Oppenheimer Upgrades General Electric: 'Turnaround Gaining Traction'," Wayne Duggan discusses howGeneral Electric Company(NYSE:GE) is making steady progress on its turnaround efforts, its balance sheet has improved and coronavirus vaccine data is bullish for the company.
"Analyst Sees Square Hitting 0 On The Back Of Bitcoin-Heavy Cash App" by Shivdeep Dhaliwal examines the prospects forSquare Inc(NYSE:SQ) and its Cash App. See how the featured analyst believes the mobile payment company will fare against competition from the likes of PayPal and Venmo.
Jayson Derrick's "Roku's Fundamentals 'Remain Strong,' Analyst Says" focuses on why recent momentum atRoku Inc(NASDAQ:ROKU) could be sustained even after a COVID-19 vaccine is available to the public. In addition, see what the company's international prospects in the new year may be.
For additional bullish calls in the past week, also have a look at the following:
• Wall Street Analysts Say These 5 Stocks Are A Buy As The World Prepares For The Post-COVID-19 Era
• China Tech Companies To Remain 'Very Much A Growth Play' Even Post-COVID-19, Says Credit Suisse
• Cramer's Year-End Game Plan: Load Up On Digital Retailers
Bears
Shanthi Rexaline's "AstraZeneca Analyst Flags Lack Of Details In Interim COVID-19 Vaccine Data" shows why one analyst called interim Phase 3 data for theAstraZeneca plc(NASDAQ:AZN) coronavirus vaccine candidate "premature and insufficient" and "likely to attract a raft of criticism."
"Morgan Stanley Downgrades Ford, Says EV Strategy Is 'Not Fully Clear'" by Jayson Derrick makes the case thatFord Motor Company(NYSE:F) deserves credit for expressing a "sense of urgency" in building out its electric vehicle lineup, but management's strategy is "not fully clear" at this point.
In Wayne Duggan's "Citron Shorts Palantir, Calls Stock A 'Full Casino'," see what made the famous short seller addPalantir Technologies(NYSE:PLTR) to the holiday short list last week. Check out how much downside from current levels Citron predicts by the end of the year.
WithCaesars Entertainment Inc(NASDAQ:CZR) stock up more than 100% in six months, it is time for a downgrade on valuation and some risks ahead. So says "Caesars Entertainment Gets Downgrade On Valuation, Short-Term Risks" by Chris Katje.
Be sure to check out these additional bearish calls:
• Bitcoin Takes A Thanksgiving Swoon
• Why Scott Nations Is Bearish On Crude Oil
• Mexico's Cannabis Legalization Bill Will Boost Business, But There Are Concerns
At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.
Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by followingBenzingaon Twitter.
Photo courtesy: AstraZeneca
See more from Benzinga
• Click here for options trades from Benzinga
• Barron's Picks And Pans: Emerging Markets, Kandi, Simon Property, Plug Power And More
• Last Week's Notable Insider Buys: Avis, Biglari And More
© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: AstraZeneca, Disney, Ford, GE, Roku And More: AstraZeneca HQ and research center in Cambridge, United Kingdom Benzinga has examined the prospects or many investor favorite stocks over the past week. The bullish calls in the holiday-shortened week included old-school and newer consumer favorites. A COVID-19 vaccine contender and a casino stock were featured among the bearish calls. As investors begin looking to the future , hopes for COVID-19 vaccines and the incoming U.S. presidential administration helped buoy the markets last week, lifting Dow Jones industrials to a new all-time high. The main U.S. indexes ended the holiday-shortened week higher, led by the Nasdaq's 3% gain. There was plenty of focus on retail last week, with changes to Black Friday , mixed earnings from retailers still coming in and some early signs of what the holiday shopping season has in store. The week also saw a new world's second richest man , additional layoffs at an entertainment giant, consolidation in the book publishing industry and fresh geopolitical tensions . Through it all, Benzinga continued to examine the prospects for many of the stocks most popular with investors. Here are a few of this past week's most bullish and bearish posts that are worth another look. Bulls Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS ) unveiled a plan earlier this year to focus heavily on its direct-to-consumer streaming business, according to Chris Katje's " 2 Catalysts That Could Boost Disney+ Subscribers ." Upcoming catalysts could bolster already strong subscriber growth. What is expected from an upcoming investor presentation? In " Oppenheimer Upgrades General Electric: 'Turnaround Gaining Traction' ," Wayne Duggan discusses how General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) is making steady progress on its turnaround efforts, its balance sheet has improved and coronavirus vaccine data is bullish for the company. " Analyst Sees Square Hitting 0 On The Back Of Bitcoin-Heavy Cash App " by Shivdeep Dhaliwal examines the prospects for Square Inc (NYSE: SQ ) and its Cash App. See how the featured analyst believes the mobile payment company will fare against competition from the likes of PayPal and Venmo. Story continues Jayson Derrick's " Roku's Fundamentals 'Remain Strong,' Analyst Says " focuses on why recent momentum at Roku Inc (NASDAQ: ROKU ) could be sustained even after a COVID-19 vaccine is available to the public. In addition, see what the company's international prospects in the new year may be. For additional bullish calls in the past week, also have a look at the following: Wall Street Analysts Say These 5 Stocks Are A Buy As The World Prepares For The Post-COVID-19 Era China Tech Companies To Remain 'Very Much A Growth Play' Even Post-COVID-19, Says Credit Suisse Cramer's Year-End Game Plan: Load Up On Digital Retailers Bears Shanthi Rexaline's " AstraZeneca Analyst Flags Lack Of Details In Interim COVID-19 Vaccine Data " shows why one analyst called interim Phase 3 data for the AstraZeneca plc (NASDAQ: AZN ) coronavirus vaccine candidate "premature and insufficient" and "likely to attract a raft of criticism." " Morgan Stanley Downgrades Ford, Says EV Strategy Is 'Not Fully Clear' " by Jayson Derrick makes the case that Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F ) deserves credit for expressing a "sense of urgency" in building out its electric vehicle lineup, but management's strategy is "not fully clear" at this point. In Wayne Duggan's " Citron Shorts Palantir, Calls Stock A 'Full Casino' ," see what made the famous short seller add Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR ) to the holiday short list last week. Check out how much downside from current levels Citron predicts by the end of the year. With Caesars Entertainment Inc (NASDAQ: CZR ) stock up more than 100% in six months, it is time for a downgrade on valuation and some risks ahead. So says " Caesars Entertainment Gets Downgrade On Valuation, Short-Term Risks " by Chris Katje. Be sure to check out these additional bearish calls: Bitcoin Takes A Thanksgiving Swoon Why Scott Nations Is Bearish On Crude Oil Mexico's Cannabis Legalization Bill Will Boost Business, But There Are Concerns At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities. Keep up with all the latest breaking news and trading ideas by following Benzinga on Twitter. Photo courtesy: AstraZeneca See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Barron's Picks And Pans: Emerging Markets, Kandi, Simon Property, Plug Power And More Last Week's Notable Insider Buys: Avis, Biglari And More © 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || How 2020 Changed the Way We Look At Money: Mature man wearing a protective mask puts a face mask on a his son in airport, supermarket or other public place. Medieval historians hold that the worst year of all time was 536, when a bizarre fog blotted out the sun, plunging parts of Europe, the Middle East and Asia into unrelenting darkness for as long as 18 months. There was great famine, a plague pandemic, mass death and a summer so cold that fresh crops died beneath beds of snow. The second worst year known to humankind, though not yet declared, might just be 2020 . Like 536, 2020 has seen famine, bizarre weather and a plague that has killed over 240,000 Americans and nearly 1.3 million worldwide. A great fog hasn’t descended on half the planet, but hey, there’s still time. During all this turbulence, we’ve been forced to stretch our money, stay cool during a crashing economy and figure out how to navigate our bills when income is unstable or lacking. It’s been a year of great tragedy but also one that has provided us great wisdom. Here’s a look at the key financial lessons people learned in 2020, and how they’re putting them to use going forward. Last updated: Nov. 16, 2020 Man in business clothes takes the money cash, concept of income, bribe, bonus, wages or savings. We Need More Savings We’ve always known that saving money is important, but the pandemic really hammered home that message. Some 60% of Americans say their emergency savings won’t last through the end of the year or that they have already run out of savings, according to Clever’s COVID-19 Financial Impact Series. “This year has taught me to have at least a year’s worth of cash reserves saved up personally and in all my businesses, because, as we’ve seen this year, even six months worth of savings to survive on is not enough,” said KC Evans , a business investor in Utah. “2020 would have been a lot easier to survive if everyone and every business had previously been more dedicated to building up an emergency savings account.” We Have Too Many Subscriptions “One thing I will do differently in 2021 is cut down on the services that automatically withdraw from my accounts,” said Donny Gamble, founder of RetirementInvestments.com . “We are all signed up for too many of these services and it adds up, without many of us really understanding how much they cost. I’m talking about platforms like Netflix, Crave TV, Spotify, Apple Music, fitness apps and more. I’ll even be cutting back on other subscription services I use for my business, like Ahrefs, QuickBooks and more.” Story continues In 2019, Americans spent an average of $640 on digital subscriptions, an analysis for The New York Times by Mint found. That number might just go down when we look back next year. selective focus of african american barista taking cash payment on bar counter in cafe. Staying Home Can Save You Money “My wife and I have accidentally saved thousands of dollars during our self-imposed quarantine simply by working from home,” said Michael Bonebright, consumer analyst with DealNews.com . “We used to make tons of incidental purchases going to and from a downtown office every day, and we’ve been kind of shocked at how much money we can save by just staying home. I do intend to return to the office a few days a week when my kids are out of virtual school, but the savings from not going every day speak for themselves.” guy using bitcoin Bitcoin Is Back Bitcoin was all the rage a few years ago — but then the buzz died down. Now, with the economy a mess, digital currency is back in favor. “Because of the craziness that is 2020, I’m putting 33% of my assets into Bitcoin,” said Brian Robben, CEO of Robben Media . “This investment hedges against inflation, and has a limited supply of only 21 million Bitcoin. Basic economics says as supply shortens, the demand (price) rises. That’s why I trust my hard-earned money in Bitcoin.” Read More: PayPal Finally Welcomes Bitcoin, More Cryptocurrencies Portrait of a young businesswoman using digital tablet. Don't Dump Stocks in Panic If you think of 2020 as a test, one of the virtues it really doubled down on was patience. Back in late spring and early summer when the economy was bottoming out, it was difficult to remain levelheaded and not yank any investments you had in the stock market back into your wallet. Despite the unrest, folks like James Shaffer, founder and CEO of Snowlink , have stayed bullish on their investments. “The troubled times of 2020 have made me double down on my long-standing, hands-off approach to investing — I haven’t sold any shares and I’ve maintained a slow drip into index funds and bond funds,” Shaffer said. “Especially during the pandemic, my investment mantra is, ‘No matter how good or bad the market looks, stick with it.’” High angle shot of an attractive young woman using her cellphone while relaxing on a couch at home. Time Is Money -- Save It Trish DaCosta, founder of BarbellPilates.com and creator of the Barbell Pilates Sisterhood, is focusing on purchasing an investment property next year; but she’s also spending more money on goods and services that will save her time. “Housekeeping, hiring a virtual assistant, shopping online for essentials instead of going to the store — these are the types of investments that buy back my time so I can focus on the activities that have the greatest ROI (return on investment) in my life and business,” DaCosta said. People are stocking up toilet paper for home quarantine from crownavirus. Stop Hoarding Toilet Paper Sure, you’ve heard of retail therapy, but have you heard of retail hysteria? That’s sort of what happened when the pandemic lockdowns began in March. We all hit the supermarkets and big-box retailers to stock up on goods. What did we stock up the most on? Toilet paper — as though that would save us from the end of the world. There is zero correlation between toilet paper and COVID-19, and to this day, nobody understands why humanity, when plopped in a grocery store during a global pandemic, went straight for that soft, soft double-ply. Our appetite for toilet paper caused a shortage that we still haven’t 100% recovered from. And what happened when we feared civil unrest following the chaotic presidential election? We went and stocked up on toilet paper. Again. This is more of an odd factoid than a key lesson, but it says a lot about our fraught relationship with money and mortality. In thousands of years, historians might look back and say, “It was a bad year for humankind, marked by plague, weather catastrophes, political unrest and a toilet paper shortage.” We might just have year 536 beat. More From GOBankingRates 37 Ways To Save For Your Emergency Fund and Any Unexpected Situations Are You Spending More Than the Average American on 25 Everyday Items? 31 Hidden Ways You’re Bleeding Money Every Month Guns and 32 Other Things You Definitely Do NOT Need To Buy During the Coronavirus Pandemic This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : How 2020 Changed the Way We Look At Money || How 2020 Changed the Way We Look At Money: Medieval historians hold that the worst year of all time was 536, when a bizarre fog blotted out the sun, plunging parts of Europe, the Middle East and Asia into unrelenting darkness for as long as 18 months. There was great famine, a plague pandemic, mass death and a summer so cold that fresh crops died beneath beds of snow.
The second worst year known to humankind, though not yet declared,might just be 2020. Like 536, 2020 has seen famine, bizarre weather and a plague that has killed over 240,000 Americans and nearly 1.3 million worldwide. A great fog hasn’t descended on half the planet, but hey, there’s still time.
During all this turbulence, we’ve been forced to stretch our money, stay cool during a crashing economy and figure out how to navigate our bills when income is unstable or lacking. It’s been a year of great tragedy but also one that has provided us great wisdom.Here’s a look at the key financial lessons people learned in 2020, and how they’re putting them to use going forward.
Last updated: Nov. 16, 2020
We’ve always known that saving money is important, but the pandemic really hammered home that message. Some 60% of Americans say their emergency savings won’t last through the end of the year or that they have already run out of savings, according to Clever’s COVID-19 Financial Impact Series.
“This year has taught me to have at least a year’s worth of cash reserves saved up personally and in all my businesses, because, as we’ve seen this year, even six months worth of savings to survive on is not enough,” saidKC Evans, a business investor in Utah. “2020 would have been a lot easier to survive if everyone and every business had previously been more dedicated to building up an emergency savings account.”
“One thing I will do differently in 2021 is cut down on the services that automatically withdraw from my accounts,” said Donny Gamble, founder ofRetirementInvestments.com. “We are all signed up for too many of these services and it adds up, without many of us really understanding how much they cost. I’m talking about platforms like Netflix, Crave TV, Spotify, Apple Music, fitness apps and more. I’ll even be cutting back on other subscription services I use for my business, like Ahrefs, QuickBooks and more.”
In 2019, Americans spent an average of $640 on digital subscriptions, an analysis for The New York Times by Mint found. That number might just go down when we look back next year.
“My wife and I have accidentally saved thousands of dollars during our self-imposed quarantine simply by working from home,” said Michael Bonebright, consumer analyst withDealNews.com. “We used to make tons of incidental purchases going to and from a downtown office every day, and we’ve been kind of shocked at how much money we can save by just staying home. I do intend to return to the office a few days a week when my kids are out of virtual school, but the savings from not going every day speak for themselves.”
Bitcoin was all the rage a few years ago — but then the buzz died down. Now, with the economy a mess, digital currency is back in favor.
“Because of the craziness that is 2020, I’m putting 33% of my assets into Bitcoin,” said Brian Robben, CEO ofRobben Media. “This investment hedges against inflation, and has a limited supply of only 21 million Bitcoin. Basic economics says as supply shortens, the demand (price) rises. That’s why I trust my hard-earned money in Bitcoin.”
Read More:PayPal Finally Welcomes Bitcoin, More Cryptocurrencies
If you think of 2020 as a test, one of the virtues it really doubled down on was patience. Back in late spring and early summer when the economy was bottoming out, it was difficult to remain levelheaded and not yank any investments you had in the stock market back into your wallet. Despite the unrest, folks like James Shaffer, founder and CEO ofSnowlink, have stayed bullish on their investments.
“The troubled times of 2020 have made me double down on my long-standing, hands-off approach to investing — I haven’t sold any shares and I’ve maintained a slow drip into index funds and bond funds,” Shaffer said. “Especially during the pandemic, my investment mantra is, ‘No matter how good or bad the market looks, stick with it.’”
Trish DaCosta, founder ofBarbellPilates.comand creator of the Barbell Pilates Sisterhood, is focusing on purchasing an investment property next year; but she’s also spending more money on goods and services that will save her time.
“Housekeeping, hiring a virtual assistant, shopping online for essentials instead of going to the store — these are the types of investments that buy back my time so I can focus on the activities that have the greatest ROI (return on investment) in my life and business,” DaCosta said.
Sure, you’ve heard of retail therapy, but have you heard of retail hysteria? That’s sort of what happened when the pandemic lockdowns began in March. We all hit the supermarkets and big-box retailers to stock up on goods. What did we stock up the most on? Toilet paper — as though that would save us from the end of the world. There is zero correlation between toilet paper and COVID-19, and to this day, nobody understands why humanity, when plopped in a grocery store during a global pandemic, went straight for that soft, soft double-ply.
Our appetite for toilet paper caused a shortage that we still haven’t 100% recovered from. And what happened when we feared civil unrest following the chaotic presidential election? We went and stocked up on toilet paper. Again.
This is more of an odd factoid than a key lesson, but it says a lot about our fraught relationship with money and mortality. In thousands of years, historians might look back and say, “It was a bad year for humankind, marked by plague, weather catastrophes, political unrest and a toilet paper shortage.” We might just have year 536 beat.
More From GOBankingRates
• 37 Ways To Save For Your Emergency Fund and Any Unexpected Situations
• Are You Spending More Than the Average American on 25 Everyday Items?
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• Guns and 32 Other Things You Definitely Do NOT Need To Buy During the Coronavirus Pandemic
This article originally appeared onGOBankingRates.com:How 2020 Changed the Way We Look At Money || Bitcoin System - Is This App Too Good To Be True? Read This Review Now: Bitcoin System platform is a software that allows its user to create a trading strategy and algorithm that are automatically executed on behalf of the user. Bitcoin System Bitcoin System platform is a software that allows its user to create a trading strategy and algorithm that are automatically executed on behalf of the user. Bitcoin System platform is a software that allows its user to create a trading strategy and algorithm that are automatically executed on behalf of the user. New York City, NY, Nov. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The cryptocurrency arena is getting more exposure day by day, and it is definitely flourishing. There are huge risks in investing in digital currencies, but there are many reports that clearly say that many investors have gained thousands within a few days. That is all because of cryptocurrencies. However, things are not very easy all the time. You have to pick the right trading robot for yourself. You get many options open, but some of them can make you really confused. The Bitcoin System is a crypto bot that comes up with various opportunities and dangers. Bitcoin System is created to perform most of the tasks by itself and thus helping you trade with Bitcoin (BTC) automatically . With the help of the Bitcoin System, one can not only trade with cryptocurrencies but also get the spot to trade with raw materials, stocks, CFDs or forex exchange markets (Forex). On the basis of the market situation, the Bitcoin System behaves as a trader and keeps its choices. Then, the algorithm assesses price trends, the market, and the statistics for picking the best time for purchasing or selling. However, it is just a machine at the end of the day, and errors are quite possible to take place. To boot, they are complicated enough to process a persistent negative growth so that the procedure and the functioning mode should also be taken care of or the automated mode should be given a pause only if losses are sustained. Is the Bitcoin System Faithful? As time has passed, the demand for crypto robots has shown a tremendous increase. At present, there are approximately 400000 people around the world who make use of the Bitcoin System crypto robot. Also, the capital invested till now is already more than five billion euros. This actually reveals how quick the platform is spreading on a global basis, and people are definitely taking the Bitcoin System quite seriously. But, to be very frank, this statement cannot be checked for now, and besides that, the platform does not possess a proper professional look, but it looks very basic. It has got very overemphasized advertising, and it's very one-sided. There are certain parameters on the basis of which we can say that this platform is definitely quite a trustworthy one. Let's check out why. The Bitcoin System gets a heavy amount of online reviews from users. On top of that, the platform is quite transparent and gives its users each and every important financial data that can permit them in order to build up informed decisions. Story continues Open Your Bitcoin System Account Now From The Official Site What the Bitcoin System uses is modern algorithms for observing the movements of the markets of Bitcoins and making decisions. These algorithms are formed on modern trading technologies inclusive of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The Bitcoin system enjoys high precision. The high precision is the outcome of these technologies and also of the fact that it is altered with a big margin. In spite of this, trading cryptocurrencies always comes with a risk level, and this is the only reason it is recommended not to invest money that you don't want to risk for a loss. If you look carefully at the reviews, you will see that they are quite positive and thus it easily reveals that the Bitcoin System is quite reliable. Most users have said that this platform is quite ideal for earning lots and making huge profits. Users claim this platform to be very transparent for proffering each and every needful data that also includes the technologies behind the robot. Also, people have been recommending this platform to invest in as the Bitcoin System is quite easy to operate and also comes with great customer service. In addition to that, this cryptocurrency trading robot gives a faster and quite a straightforward choosing procedure. ALSO READ: Bitcoin System Reviews and Testimonials: Does It Work For Everyone? Functioning The Bitcoin System is nothing more than a standard crypto trading robot. So, obviously, it functions just like any other crypto trading robots with the usage of mathematical algorithms. It does not involve any complicated procedure. You just need to go through a simple registration process and verify your account and then commence with funding with real money for starting trading live. Now, let's get into the pricing models. Not every similar platform offers a similar pricing structure. In most cases, it becomes obligatory to pay a fixed commission each month in order to keep the account open on the website. There are other cases as well, where it becomes very much mandatory to rent the bots that make the trading in their place. For your information, you can get a third model as well, but it is actually quite famous among firms that issued tokens at the time of an ICO (initial coin offer). You have to buy the native token of the service if you want these services and hold a particular sum to use several bots and features on the site. You can get to configure the bots easily if you are prepared to pay for these commissions. Once you are done with the needful, you only have to wait and expect your balance to rise. The Bitcoin System actually cooperates with various robot brokers whose responsibilities are inclusive of smoothing the path of transaction and leverage and the management of deposits. Do not think of robots as a financial establishment, and that is why it does not possess any legal instruction for managing deposits. Brokers come up with leverage up to 1:1000. Create an Account in the Bitcoin System In this review of the Bitcoin System, here's a little inside on how you can create an account with this crypto trading robot. This is just for clarifying to the readers whether it is really that simple or not. Let's jump right into it. Step 1: Registration The first thing to do to use the Bitcoin System is to make an account. You can get a form to fill up on the right side of their official page . Enter your name and email address. Put a security password which should be strong enough. The final step here is to select your nation of residence and provide your phone number. Do not forget to put the proper international prefix before the phone number. This would allow you to start trading in the demo even before you make any deposit. Step 2: Demo Account After you are done with creating your account on the platform of the Bitcoin System, you get to test it in demo mode. Here you will get 1.50 USD available for trading cryptocurrencies with the account of yours. For this, all you will be left to do is to just click on the "Go to demo" button. You can spot that on the left side of the page. You will get to spot three items at the top left which are total balance, total profit, and profitable functions. Click on the "Auto Trade" button that you will get on the right side of the page. You have to hit that button in order to start with your very first crypto exchange in demo mode. After a while, you will find several operations carried out by the platform bots. Examine the outputs and decide whether it is fine to spend your money on the Bitcoin System keeping in mind that trading cryptocurrency always carries high risks. Step 3: Real Account Here you are going for depositing and trading live. This is when you need to be all set to face the real deal. You need to go through some trading settings before you start. Set a daily stop loss, the number of operations you wish to complete on a daily basis, and the maximum profits you would like to make every day. Besides that, you will have to choose which cryptocurrencies you would like to trade with, and that is entirely up to your preferences. If not, you can rely on the robot with that. There is a red circle saying "Off" located on the right of the page. Click for commencing with the operations. It's all done now. Now it's the robot who would be negotiating on your behalf. Is There Any Application Available for the Bitcoin System? There were several attempts when the application for the Bitcoin System was searched, but there were no results, neither in Android nor in the Apple Store. The application does not exist, but the website of the Bitcoin System is very much compatible with tablets and mobiles. This is something beneficial for any user around the world, giving them the full experience of the platform. So, What's Your Verdict on This? Hopefully, this review was helpful enough to make you decide whether you would go for crypto trading robots, especially the Bitcoin System , or not. Thanks to its amazing usefulness and the ease with which people risked and gained lots of bucks. You are smart enough to choose wisely for your business. Bitcoin System - [email protected] ######################### Disclosure by content creator - This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute advice or an offer to buy. Any purchase done from this story is done at your own risk. Consult a qualified professional before any such purchase. Any purchase done from these links is subject to the final terms and conditions of the website’s selling. The content on this release does not take any responsibility directly or indirectly. This news has been published for the above source. Bitcoin System [ID=15386] Disclaimer: The pr is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied: The content publisher provides the information without warranty of any kind. We also do not accept any responsibility or liability for the legal facts, content accuracy, photos, videos. if you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above. Attachment Bitcoin System View comments || Bitcoin System - Is This App Too Good To Be True? Read This Review Now: Bitcoin System platform is a software that allows its user to create a trading strategy and algorithm that are automatically executed on behalf of the user.
New York City, NY, Nov. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The cryptocurrency arena is getting more exposure day by day, and it is definitely flourishing. There are huge risks in investing in digital currencies, but there are many reports that clearly say that many investors have gained thousands within a few days. That is all because of cryptocurrencies. However, things are not very easy all the time. You have to pick the right trading robot for yourself. You get many options open, but some of them can make you really confused. The Bitcoin System is a crypto bot that comes up with various opportunities and dangers.
Bitcoin System is created to perform most of the tasks by itself and thus helping you trade with Bitcoin (BTC) automatically. With the help of the Bitcoin System, one can not only trade with cryptocurrencies but also get the spot to trade with raw materials, stocks, CFDs or forex exchange markets (Forex).
On the basis of the market situation, the Bitcoin System behaves as a trader and keeps its choices. Then, the algorithm assesses price trends, the market, and the statistics for picking the best time for purchasing or selling. However, it is just a machine at the end of the day, and errors are quite possible to take place. To boot, they are complicated enough to process a persistent negative growth so that the procedure and the functioning mode should also be taken care of or the automated mode should be given a pause only if losses are sustained.
Is the Bitcoin System Faithful?
As time has passed, the demand for crypto robots has shown a tremendous increase. At present, there are approximately 400000 people around the world who make use of the Bitcoin System crypto robot. Also, the capital invested till now is already more than five billion euros.
This actually reveals how quick the platform is spreading on a global basis, and people are definitely taking the Bitcoin System quite seriously. But, to be very frank, this statement cannot be checked for now, and besides that, the platform does not possess a proper professional look, but it looks very basic. It has got very overemphasized advertising, and it's very one-sided.
There are certain parameters on the basis of which we can say that this platform is definitely quite a trustworthy one. Let's check out why. The Bitcoin System gets a heavy amount of online reviews from users. On top of that, the platform is quite transparent and gives its users each and every important financial data that can permit them in order to build up informed decisions.
Open Your Bitcoin System Account Now From The Official Site
What the Bitcoin System uses is modern algorithms for observing the movements of the markets of Bitcoins and making decisions. These algorithms are formed on modern trading technologies inclusive of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The Bitcoin system enjoys high precision.
The high precision is the outcome of these technologies and also of the fact that it is altered with a big margin. In spite of this, trading cryptocurrencies always comes with a risk level, and this is the only reason it is recommended not to invest money that you don't want to risk for a loss.
If you look carefully at the reviews, you will see that they are quite positive and thus it easily reveals that the Bitcoin System is quite reliable. Most users have said that this platform is quite ideal for earning lots and making huge profits.
Users claim this platform to be very transparent for proffering each and every needful data that also includes the technologies behind the robot. Also, people have been recommending this platform to invest in as the Bitcoin System is quite easy to operate and also comes with great customer service. In addition to that, this cryptocurrency trading robot gives a faster and quite a straightforward choosing procedure.
ALSO READ:Bitcoin System Reviews and Testimonials: Does It Work For Everyone?
Functioning
The Bitcoin System is nothing more than a standard crypto trading robot. So, obviously, it functions just like any other crypto trading robots with the usage of mathematical algorithms. It does not involve any complicated procedure. You just need to go through a simple registration process and verify your account and then commence with funding with real money for starting trading live.
Now, let's get into the pricing models. Not every similar platform offers a similar pricing structure. In most cases, it becomes obligatory to pay a fixed commission each month in order to keep the account open on the website. There are other cases as well, where it becomes very much mandatory to rent the bots that make the trading in their place. For your information, you can get a third model as well, but it is actually quite famous among firms that issued tokens at the time of an ICO (initial coin offer).
You have to buy the native token of the service if you want these services and hold a particular sum to use several bots and features on the site. You can get to configure the bots easily if you are prepared to pay for these commissions. Once you are done with the needful, you only have to wait and expect your balance to rise.
The Bitcoin System actually cooperates with various robot brokers whose responsibilities are inclusive of smoothing the path of transaction and leverage and the management of deposits. Do not think of robots as a financial establishment, and that is why it does not possess any legal instruction for managing deposits. Brokers come up with leverage up to 1:1000.
Create an Account in the Bitcoin System
In this review of the Bitcoin System, here's a little inside on how you can create an account with this crypto trading robot. This is just for clarifying to the readers whether it is really that simple or not. Let's jump right into it.
Step 1: Registration
The first thing to do to use the Bitcoin System is to make an account.You can get a form to fill up on the right side of their official page. Enter your name and email address. Put a security password which should be strong enough. The final step here is to select your nation of residence and provide your phone number. Do not forget to put the proper international prefix before the phone number. This would allow you to start trading in the demo even before you make any deposit.
Step 2: Demo Account
After you are done with creating your account on the platform of the Bitcoin System, you get to test it in demo mode. Here you will get 1.50 USD available for trading cryptocurrencies with the account of yours. For this, all you will be left to do is to just click on the "Go to demo" button. You can spot that on the left side of the page. You will get to spot three items at the top left which are total balance, total profit, and profitable functions.
Click on the "Auto Trade" button that you will get on the right side of the page. You have to hit that button in order to start with your very first crypto exchange in demo mode. After a while, you will find several operations carried out by the platform bots. Examine the outputs and decide whether it is fine to spend your money on the Bitcoin System keeping in mind that trading cryptocurrency always carries high risks.
Step 3: Real Account
Here you are going for depositing and trading live. This is when you need to be all set to face the real deal. You need to go through some trading settings before you start. Set a daily stop loss, the number of operations you wish to complete on a daily basis, and the maximum profits you would like to make every day.
Besides that, you will have to choose which cryptocurrencies you would like to trade with, and that is entirely up to your preferences. If not, you can rely on the robot with that. There is a red circle saying "Off" located on the right of the page. Click for commencing with the operations. It's all done now. Now it's the robot who would be negotiating on your behalf.
Is There Any Application Available for the Bitcoin System?
There were several attempts when the application for the Bitcoin System was searched, but there were no results, neither in Android nor in the Apple Store. The application does not exist, but the website of the Bitcoin System is very much compatible with tablets and mobiles. This is something beneficial for any user around the world, giving them the full experience of the platform.
So, What's Your Verdict on This?
Hopefully, this review was helpful enough to make you decide whether you wouldgo for crypto trading robots, especially the Bitcoin System, or not.
Thanks to its amazing usefulness and the ease with which people risked and gained lots of bucks. You are smart enough to choose wisely for your business.
Bitcoin [email protected]
#########################
Disclosure by content creator - This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute advice or an offer to buy. Any purchase done from this story is done at your own risk. Consult a qualified professional before any such purchase. Any purchase done from these links is subject to the final terms and conditions of the website’s selling. The content on this release does not take any responsibility directly or indirectly.
This news has been published for the above source. Bitcoin System [ID=15386]
Disclaimer: The pr is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied: The content publisher provides the information without warranty of any kind. We also do not accept any responsibility or liability for the legal facts, content accuracy, photos, videos. if you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.
Attachment
• Bitcoin System || Bitcoin System - Is This App Too Good To Be True? Read This Review Now: Bitcoin System platform is a software that allows its user to create a trading strategy and algorithm that are automatically executed on behalf of the user.
New York City, NY, Nov. 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The cryptocurrency arena is getting more exposure day by day, and it is definitely flourishing. There are huge risks in investing in digital currencies, but there are many reports that clearly say that many investors have gained thousands within a few days. That is all because of cryptocurrencies. However, things are not very easy all the time. You have to pick the right trading robot for yourself. You get many options open, but some of them can make you really confused. The Bitcoin System is a crypto bot that comes up with various opportunities and dangers.
Bitcoin System is created to perform most of the tasks by itself and thus helping you trade with Bitcoin (BTC) automatically. With the help of the Bitcoin System, one can not only trade with cryptocurrencies but also get the spot to trade with raw materials, stocks, CFDs or forex exchange markets (Forex).
On the basis of the market situation, the Bitcoin System behaves as a trader and keeps its choices. Then, the algorithm assesses price trends, the market, and the statistics for picking the best time for purchasing or selling. However, it is just a machine at the end of the day, and errors are quite possible to take place. To boot, they are complicated enough to process a persistent negative growth so that the procedure and the functioning mode should also be taken care of or the automated mode should be given a pause only if losses are sustained.
Is the Bitcoin System Faithful?
As time has passed, the demand for crypto robots has shown a tremendous increase. At present, there are approximately 400000 people around the world who make use of the Bitcoin System crypto robot. Also, the capital invested till now is already more than five billion euros.
This actually reveals how quick the platform is spreading on a global basis, and people are definitely taking the Bitcoin System quite seriously. But, to be very frank, this statement cannot be checked for now, and besides that, the platform does not possess a proper professional look, but it looks very basic. It has got very overemphasized advertising, and it's very one-sided.
There are certain parameters on the basis of which we can say that this platform is definitely quite a trustworthy one. Let's check out why. The Bitcoin System gets a heavy amount of online reviews from users. On top of that, the platform is quite transparent and gives its users each and every important financial data that can permit them in order to build up informed decisions.
Open Your Bitcoin System Account Now From The Official Site
What the Bitcoin System uses is modern algorithms for observing the movements of the markets of Bitcoins and making decisions. These algorithms are formed on modern trading technologies inclusive of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The Bitcoin system enjoys high precision.
The high precision is the outcome of these technologies and also of the fact that it is altered with a big margin. In spite of this, trading cryptocurrencies always comes with a risk level, and this is the only reason it is recommended not to invest money that you don't want to risk for a loss.
If you look carefully at the reviews, you will see that they are quite positive and thus it easily reveals that the Bitcoin System is quite reliable. Most users have said that this platform is quite ideal for earning lots and making huge profits.
Users claim this platform to be very transparent for proffering each and every needful data that also includes the technologies behind the robot. Also, people have been recommending this platform to invest in as the Bitcoin System is quite easy to operate and also comes with great customer service. In addition to that, this cryptocurrency trading robot gives a faster and quite a straightforward choosing procedure.
ALSO READ:Bitcoin System Reviews and Testimonials: Does It Work For Everyone?
Functioning
The Bitcoin System is nothing more than a standard crypto trading robot. So, obviously, it functions just like any other crypto trading robots with the usage of mathematical algorithms. It does not involve any complicated procedure. You just need to go through a simple registration process and verify your account and then commence with funding with real money for starting trading live.
Now, let's get into the pricing models. Not every similar platform offers a similar pricing structure. In most cases, it becomes obligatory to pay a fixed commission each month in order to keep the account open on the website. There are other cases as well, where it becomes very much mandatory to rent the bots that make the trading in their place. For your information, you can get a third model as well, but it is actually quite famous among firms that issued tokens at the time of an ICO (initial coin offer).
You have to buy the native token of the service if you want these services and hold a particular sum to use several bots and features on the site. You can get to configure the bots easily if you are prepared to pay for these commissions. Once you are done with the needful, you only have to wait and expect your balance to rise.
The Bitcoin System actually cooperates with various robot brokers whose responsibilities are inclusive of smoothing the path of transaction and leverage and the management of deposits. Do not think of robots as a financial establishment, and that is why it does not possess any legal instruction for managing deposits. Brokers come up with leverage up to 1:1000.
Create an Account in the Bitcoin System
In this review of the Bitcoin System, here's a little inside on how you can create an account with this crypto trading robot. This is just for clarifying to the readers whether it is really that simple or not. Let's jump right into it.
Step 1: Registration
The first thing to do to use the Bitcoin System is to make an account.You can get a form to fill up on the right side of their official page. Enter your name and email address. Put a security password which should be strong enough. The final step here is to select your nation of residence and provide your phone number. Do not forget to put the proper international prefix before the phone number. This would allow you to start trading in the demo even before you make any deposit.
Step 2: Demo Account
After you are done with creating your account on the platform of the Bitcoin System, you get to test it in demo mode. Here you will get 1.50 USD available for trading cryptocurrencies with the account of yours. For this, all you will be left to do is to just click on the "Go to demo" button. You can spot that on the left side of the page. You will get to spot three items at the top left which are total balance, total profit, and profitable functions.
Click on the "Auto Trade" button that you will get on the right side of the page. You have to hit that button in order to start with your very first crypto exchange in demo mode. After a while, you will find several operations carried out by the platform bots. Examine the outputs and decide whether it is fine to spend your money on the Bitcoin System keeping in mind that trading cryptocurrency always carries high risks.
Step 3: Real Account
Here you are going for depositing and trading live. This is when you need to be all set to face the real deal. You need to go through some trading settings before you start. Set a daily stop loss, the number of operations you wish to complete on a daily basis, and the maximum profits you would like to make every day.
Besides that, you will have to choose which cryptocurrencies you would like to trade with, and that is entirely up to your preferences. If not, you can rely on the robot with that. There is a red circle saying "Off" located on the right of the page. Click for commencing with the operations. It's all done now. Now it's the robot who would be negotiating on your behalf.
Is There Any Application Available for the Bitcoin System?
There were several attempts when the application for the Bitcoin System was searched, but there were no results, neither in Android nor in the Apple Store. The application does not exist, but the website of the Bitcoin System is very much compatible with tablets and mobiles. This is something beneficial for any user around the world, giving them the full experience of the platform.
So, What's Your Verdict on This?
Hopefully, this review was helpful enough to make you decide whether you wouldgo for crypto trading robots, especially the Bitcoin System, or not.
Thanks to its amazing usefulness and the ease with which people risked and gained lots of bucks. You are smart enough to choose wisely for your business.
Bitcoin [email protected]
#########################
Disclosure by content creator - This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute advice or an offer to buy. Any purchase done from this story is done at your own risk. Consult a qualified professional before any such purchase. Any purchase done from these links is subject to the final terms and conditions of the website’s selling. The content on this release does not take any responsibility directly or indirectly.
This news has been published for the above source. Bitcoin System [ID=15386]
Disclaimer: The pr is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied: The content publisher provides the information without warranty of any kind. We also do not accept any responsibility or liability for the legal facts, content accuracy, photos, videos. if you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.
Attachment
• Bitcoin System || Newly Launched Bitcoin Latinum Set to Become World's Largest Insured Digital Asset: PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --Bitcoin Latinum, the next-generation Bitcoin fork capable of massive transaction volume, digital asset management, cyber security, and capacity is announcing its official pre-sale launch. Bitcoin Latinum will trade under the symbol LTNM with a total supply of 888,888,888 LTNM [verifiable by LTNM].
Bitcoin Latinum is now available for pre-sale onwww.bitcoinlatinum.comand will be available on exchanges in 2021.
Marsh & McLennan, one of the world's leading specialty insurance brokers and risk advisers, has been appointed to arrange a comprehensive insurance program for Bitcoin Latinum. The insurance coverage, to be arranged by Marsh Asia, will protect Bitcoin Latinum holders in case of external theft and internal collusion, potentially up to the full value of their holdings. This contemplated insurance coverage will make Bitcoin Latinum the world's largest insured digital asset.
The Bitcoin Latinum tokens are a part of a blockchain ecosystem being adopted by companies in media, gaming, storage, cloud, and telecommunications. Bitcoin Latinum tokens will be interchangeably used on each of these partner/supplier networks by consumers. In addition, Bitcoin Latinum adds security around inflight transactions and enhanced mining node protection based on memory scanning technology. Furthermore, Bitcoin Latinum looks to reduce the cost of a Bitcoin transaction from dollars to pennies for on-chain transactions and even lower rates for lightning-based transactions.
Bitcoin's market cap is nearing $200 billion and makes up approximately 84% of the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin recently crossed $18,000 per token, demonstrating a strong bull market. Earlier this year, Gartner stated that blockchain technology will create more than $176 billion worth of business value by 2025, and $3.1 trillion by 2030. There are trillions of dollars in global assets that could potentially be digitized.
Bitcoin Latinum is an enhanced Bitcoin fork. The Bitcoin Latinum algorithm and infrastructure break barriers and speed limits that have prevented some virtual currencies from achieving practical, real-time use. Bitcoin Latinum taps into the new wave of crypto DeFi — decentralized finance – for its role in independent digital transactions. According to Nasdaq, the total DeFi related cryptocurrency market recently passed $14 billion, up from $1 billion in February 2020.
Adopting Bitcoin Latinum is Academy Award winning studio Cross Creek Media. Cross Creek has grossed over $1.7 billion in the worldwide box office. Cross Creek Media, who has long term relationships with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Pictures, most recently expanded its digital assets in film, television, and IP with Monsoon Blockchain & Marsh. Cross Creek has been a co-financier/producer of such films as Oscar winnerBlack Swanand has been behind hitsAmerican Made,Everest, and Hacksaw Ridge.Timmy Thompson, CEO of Cross Creek Media stated, "We are very excited about Bitcoin Latinum and its capabilities as an insured token, as we continue developing award-winning properties. Cross Creek's portfolio of new media technology investments perfectly positions us to take advantage of the digital asset sector in Media and Gaming."
Draper Dragon Fund will be playing a major role with Bitcoin Latinum. Draper Dragon Fund has invested in blockchain companies Telegram, Ledger, Vechain, Ultrain, Aelf and Token Insight. "The partnership with Marsh, Monsoon, and Bitcoin Latinum would further extend our digital asset portfolio," said Richard Wang, Managing Partner of Dragon Digital Fund. Draper Dragon is an extension of the Draper Venture Network (DVN) backed by billionaire Tim Draper who is often regarded as one of the most successful venture capitalists in the world.
Bitcoin Latinum has selected Hong Kong's Hex Trust, the leading digital asset custody platform for the banking sector, to be a digital asset custodian for the new token. Built with banks and financial institutions in mind, Hex Trust offers hardware security modules from IBM, and is connected to the SWIFT payment network. Recently, Hex Trust partnered with Milan-based global leader, SIA, which processes over $14 billion in digital payments and over $16 billion in institutional services transactions each year.
The implementation of blockchain and cryptocurrencies in the banking and finance sectors has been steadily increasing in the past two years. JPMorgan Chase ($2.98 Trillion AUM) recently launched a digital currency for large technology clients, and PayPal will now allow its close to 350 million users to purchase and sell major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. The blockchain network Spunta has already been adapted by many of Italy's banks, and it is being reported that a digital version of the Yuan is being tested by the People's Bank of China.
The incorporation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies into US and Asia cross-border deal flow of digital assets has been increasing exponentially. Monsoon Blockchain, Asia's premiere blockchain company, will be adaptingBitcoin Latinumin their extensive ecosystem and pipeline of digital asset deals. Monsoon is focused on becoming the company pioneering the adoption of highly secure decentralized asset management. Earlier this year Monsoon Blockchain formed major partnerships in the blockchain and digital asset space with governments, telecom, media and entertainment, and fintech industries.
FOR EDUCATIONAL AND INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY; NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE. Any Bitcoin Latinum offered is for educational and informational purposes only and should NOT be construed as a securities-related offer or solicitation, or be relied upon as personalized investment advice. Bitcoin Latinum strongly recommends you consult a licensed or registered professional before making any investment decision.
Media contact
Company: Bitcoin LatinumContact: Kai Okada, Director of CommunicationsCompany E-mail: [email protected]:https://bitcoinlatinum.com/Address: 2100 Geng Road, Palo Alto, California 94303, USATelephone: +1 800-528-0985
SOURCE:Bitcoin Latinum
A photo accompanying this announcement is available athttps://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5763c4ba-539c-490a-a3bf-9019fa077875 || Newly Launched Bitcoin Latinum Set to Become World's Largest Insured Digital Asset: PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --Bitcoin Latinum, the next-generation Bitcoin fork capable of massive transaction volume, digital asset management, cyber security, and capacity is announcing its official pre-sale launch. Bitcoin Latinum will trade under the symbol LTNM with a total supply of 888,888,888 LTNM [verifiable by LTNM].
Bitcoin Latinum is now available for pre-sale onwww.bitcoinlatinum.comand will be available on exchanges in 2021.
Marsh & McLennan, one of the world's leading specialty insurance brokers and risk advisers, has been appointed to arrange a comprehensive insurance program for Bitcoin Latinum. The insurance coverage, to be arranged by Marsh Asia, will protect Bitcoin Latinum holders in case of external theft and internal collusion, potentially up to the full value of their holdings. This contemplated insurance coverage will make Bitcoin Latinum the world's largest insured digital asset.
The Bitcoin Latinum tokens are a part of a blockchain ecosystem being adopted by companies in media, gaming, storage, cloud, and telecommunications. Bitcoin Latinum tokens will be interchangeably used on each of these partner/supplier networks by consumers. In addition, Bitcoin Latinum adds security around inflight transactions and enhanced mining node protection based on memory scanning technology. Furthermore, Bitcoin Latinum looks to reduce the cost of a Bitcoin transaction from dollars to pennies for on-chain transactions and even lower rates for lightning-based transactions.
Bitcoin's market cap is nearing $200 billion and makes up approximately 84% of the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin recently crossed $18,000 per token, demonstrating a strong bull market. Earlier this year, Gartner stated that blockchain technology will create more than $176 billion worth of business value by 2025, and $3.1 trillion by 2030. There are trillions of dollars in global assets that could potentially be digitized.
Bitcoin Latinum is an enhanced Bitcoin fork. The Bitcoin Latinum algorithm and infrastructure break barriers and speed limits that have prevented some virtual currencies from achieving practical, real-time use. Bitcoin Latinum taps into the new wave of crypto DeFi — decentralized finance – for its role in independent digital transactions. According to Nasdaq, the total DeFi related cryptocurrency market recently passed $14 billion, up from $1 billion in February 2020.
Adopting Bitcoin Latinum is Academy Award winning studio Cross Creek Media. Cross Creek has grossed over $1.7 billion in the worldwide box office. Cross Creek Media, who has long term relationships with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Universal Pictures, most recently expanded its digital assets in film, television, and IP with Monsoon Blockchain & Marsh. Cross Creek has been a co-financier/producer of such films as Oscar winnerBlack Swanand has been behind hitsAmerican Made,Everest, and Hacksaw Ridge.Timmy Thompson, CEO of Cross Creek Media stated, "We are very excited about Bitcoin Latinum and its capabilities as an insured token, as we continue developing award-winning properties. Cross Creek's portfolio of new media technology investments perfectly positions us to take advantage of the digital asset sector in Media and Gaming."
Draper Dragon Fund will be playing a major role with Bitcoin Latinum. Draper Dragon Fund has invested in blockchain companies Telegram, Ledger, Vechain, Ultrain, Aelf and Token Insight. "The partnership with Marsh, Monsoon, and Bitcoin Latinum would further extend our digital asset portfolio," said Richard Wang, Managing Partner of Dragon Digital Fund. Draper Dragon is an extension of the Draper Venture Network (DVN) backed by billionaire Tim Draper who is often regarded as one of the most successful venture capitalists in the world.
Bitcoin Latinum has selected Hong Kong's Hex Trust, the leading digital asset custody platform for the banking sector, to be a digital asset custodian for the new token. Built with banks and financial institutions in mind, Hex Trust offers hardware security modules from IBM, and is connected to the SWIFT payment network. Recently, Hex Trust partnered with Milan-based global leader, SIA, which processes over $14 billion in digital payments and over $16 billion in institutional services transactions each year.
The implementation of blockchain and cryptocurrencies in the banking and finance sectors has been steadily increasing in the past two years. JPMorgan Chase ($2.98 Trillion AUM) recently launched a digital currency for large technology clients, and PayPal will now allow its close to 350 million users to purchase and sell major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. The blockchain network Spunta has already been adapted by many of Italy's banks, and it is being reported that a digital version of the Yuan is being tested by the People's Bank of China.
The incorporation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies into US and Asia cross-border deal flow of digital assets has been increasing exponentially. Monsoon Blockchain, Asia's premiere blockchain company, will be adaptingBitcoin Latinumin their extensive ecosystem and pipeline of digital asset deals. Monsoon is focused on becoming the company pioneering the adoption of highly secure decentralized asset management. Earlier this year Monsoon Blockchain formed major partnerships in the blockchain and digital asset space with governments, telecom, media and entertainment, and fintech industries.
FOR EDUCATIONAL AND INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY; NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE. Any Bitcoin Latinum offered is for educational and informational purposes only and should NOT be construed as a securities-related offer or solicitation, or be relied upon as personalized investment advice. Bitcoin Latinum strongly recommends you consult a licensed or registered professional before making any investment decision.
Media contact
Company: Bitcoin LatinumContact: Kai Okada, Director of CommunicationsCompany E-mail: [email protected]:https://bitcoinlatinum.com/Address: 2100 Geng Road, Palo Alto, California 94303, USATelephone: +1 800-528-0985
SOURCE:Bitcoin Latinum
A photo accompanying this announcement is available athttps://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5763c4ba-539c-490a-a3bf-9019fa077875 || The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – November 28th, 2020: Bitcoin, BTC to USD, fell by 0.24% on Friday. Following on from an 8.09% slide on Thursday, Bitcoin ended the day at $17,171.0.
A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to an early morning intraday high $17,531.0 before hitting reverse.
Falling short of the first major resistance level at $18,641, Bitcoin slid to a mid-afternoon intraday low $16,501.0.
Steering clear of the first major support level at $16,050, Bitcoin moved back through to $17,100 levels to limit the downside on the day.
The near-term bullish trend remained intact, in spite of the latest slide back to sub-$17,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $9,920 to form a near-term bearish trend.
Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day on Friday.
Ripple’s XRProse by 4.64% to lead the way.
Binance Coin(+0.80%),Cardano’s ADA(+2.44%), and Polkadot (+0.11%) also found support.
It was a bearish day for the rest of the majors, however.
Crypto.com Coinslid by 4.79% to lead the way down.
Bitcoin Cash SV(-2.81%),Chainlink(-0.74%),Ethereum(-0.25%), andLitecoin(-2.70%), also joined Bitcoin in the red.
In the current week, the crypto total market cap rose to a Tuesday high $593.32bn before sliding to a Thursday low $467.23bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $504.22bn.
Bitcoin’s dominance rose to a Monday high 64.75% before sliding to a Tuesday low of 60.80%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s dominance stood at 62.94%.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down by 0.22% 17,133.0. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to an early morning high $17,198.0 before falling to a low $17,031.0.
Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day.
Bitcoin Cash SV (+0.71%) and Crypto.com Coin (+3.90%) bucked the trend early on.
It was a bearish start for the rest of the majors, however.
At the time of writing, Polkadot was down by 0.65% to lead the way down.
Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall back through the pivot level at $17,068 to bring the first major resistance level at $17,634 into play.
Support from the broader market would be needed for Bitcoin to break back through to $17,500 levels.
Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and Friday’s high $17,531.0 would likely cap any upside.
In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin could test resistance at $18,000 before any pullback. The second major resistance level sits at $18,098.
Failure to avoid a fall back through the $17,068 pivot would bring the first major support level at $16,604 into play.
Barring another extended crypto sell-off, Bitcoin should steer clear of sub-$16,000 levels. The second major support level at $16,038 should limit any downside.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Silver Price Forecast – Silver Testing Major Support
• Silver Weekly Price Forecast – Silver Markets Have Tough Week
• Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural Gas Has Neutral Week
• The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – November 28th, 2020
• Gold Forecast – Gold Indicator Triggers Buy Signal
• Oil Rebounds After Yesterday’s Pullback || The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – November 28th, 2020: Bitcoin , BTC to USD, fell by 0.24% on Friday. Following on from an 8.09% slide on Thursday, Bitcoin ended the day at $17,171.0. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to an early morning intraday high $17,531.0 before hitting reverse. Falling short of the first major resistance level at $18,641, Bitcoin slid to a mid-afternoon intraday low $16,501.0. Steering clear of the first major support level at $16,050, Bitcoin moved back through to $17,100 levels to limit the downside on the day. The near-term bullish trend remained intact, in spite of the latest slide back to sub-$17,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $9,920 to form a near-term bearish trend. The Rest of the Pack Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day on Friday. Ripple’s XRP rose by 4.64% to lead the way. Binance Coin (+0.80%), Cardano’s ADA (+2.44%), and Polkadot (+0.11%) also found support. It was a bearish day for the rest of the majors, however. Crypto.com Coin slid by 4.79% to lead the way down. Bitcoin Cash SV (-2.81%), Chainlink (-0.74%), Ethereum (-0.25%), and Litecoin (-2.70%), also joined Bitcoin in the red. In the current week, the crypto total market cap rose to a Tuesday high $593.32bn before sliding to a Thursday low $467.23bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $504.22bn. Bitcoin’s dominance rose to a Monday high 64.75% before sliding to a Tuesday low of 60.80%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s dominance stood at 62.94%. This Morning At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down by 0.22% 17,133.0. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to an early morning high $17,198.0 before falling to a low $17,031.0. Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day. Bitcoin Cash SV (+0.71%) and Crypto.com Coin (+3.90%) bucked the trend early on. It was a bearish start for the rest of the majors, however. At the time of writing, Polkadot was down by 0.65% to lead the way down. Story continues For the Bitcoin Day Ahead Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall back through the pivot level at $17,068 to bring the first major resistance level at $17,634 into play. Support from the broader market would be needed for Bitcoin to break back through to $17,500 levels. Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and Friday’s high $17,531.0 would likely cap any upside. In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin could test resistance at $18,000 before any pullback. The second major resistance level sits at $18,098. Failure to avoid a fall back through the $17,068 pivot would bring the first major support level at $16,604 into play. Barring another extended crypto sell-off, Bitcoin should steer clear of sub-$16,000 levels. The second major support level at $16,038 should limit any downside. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Silver Price Forecast – Silver Testing Major Support Silver Weekly Price Forecast – Silver Markets Have Tough Week Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural Gas Has Neutral Week The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – November 28th, 2020 Gold Forecast – Gold Indicator Triggers Buy Signal Oil Rebounds After Yesterday’s Pullback || Ripple Is Cashing Out a Third of Its Stake in Surging MoneyGram: Blockchain payments firm Ripple is selling roughly one-third of its stake in MoneyGram, in its first such sale of company stock since the startup invested in the remittance giant in 2019 . According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday, Ripple owns 6.22 million shares of MoneyGram, or 8.6% of shares outstanding, plus a warrant to buy up to another 5.95 million shares, for a total equity position of 12.2 million shares, or 17% of MoneyGram’s shares outstanding. Ripple is now selling up to 4 million shares, or approximately 33.3% of its entire stake, if you count the shares represented by the warrant. After the sale, Ripple will still own at least 3.22 million shares, or 4.44% of MoneyGram. When including the additional shares represented by the warrant, which gives Ripple the right to execute a stock buy at a predetermined price, the blockchain payments firm will still own about 11% of MoneyGram. Related: US Intelligence Chief Raises Concerns With SEC Over China's Crypto Dominance: Report Under the terms of Ripple’s initial investment announced in June 2019, the company bought the shares in MoneyGram at $4.10 apiece, at a significant premium to their price at the time. With shares of MoneyGram up more than 260% this year, closing at $7.42 on Wednesday, Ripple can now net a significant profit on its investment. “Ripple is a proud partner in MoneyGram’s digital growth transformation. This is purely a judicious financial decision to realize some gains on Ripple’s MGI [MoneyGram International] investment and is in no way a reflection of the current state of our partnership,” a Ripple spokesperson told CoinDesk. The sales are still in process, according to the spokesperson, who didn’t respond to an emailed question asking what the company intends to do with the proceeds from the stake sale. Ripple completed the purchase of a $50 million equity stake in MoneyGram in November 2019. Story continues Related: Pantera Raises Additional $5M for Its Bitcoin Fund, Bringing Total to $134M As recently as the end of Q3 2020, Ripple had paid $9.3 million to MoneyGram, noted as “market development fees” on MoneyGram’s latest financial statement, for the remittance firm’s use of Ripple’s XRP -based settlement network, the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) network (formerly known as xRapid). See also: Goldman Sachs Sells $6.5M of Shares in Ripple Partner MoneyGram: SEC Filing MoneyGram has used this cross-border solution to conduct transactions in Europe, Australia and the Philippines since June 2019, for which Ripple has paid MoneyGram at least $52 million . The remittance firm piloted Ripple’s flagship cryptocurrency in 2018. “We will remain a significant shareholder in MoneyGram following the sale. [The company is] clearly a leader in the global payments space in over 200 countries and territories. In just over a year, we’ve made incredible progress and look forward to continuing to work alongside MoneyGram to transform cross-border payments,” the Ripple spokesperson said. Related Stories Ripple Is Cashing Out a Third of Its Stake in Surging MoneyGram Ripple Is Cashing Out a Third of Its Stake in Surging MoneyGram || Ripple Is Cashing Out a Third of Its Stake in Surging MoneyGram: Blockchain payments firm Ripple is selling roughly one-third of its stake in MoneyGram, in its first such sale of company stock since the startup invested in the remittance giant in2019.
According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissionfilingon Friday, Ripple owns 6.22 million shares of MoneyGram, or 8.6% of shares outstanding, plus a warrant to buy up to another 5.95 million shares, for a total equity position of 12.2 million shares, or 17% of MoneyGram’s shares outstanding.
Ripple is now selling up to 4 million shares, or approximately 33.3% of its entire stake, if you count the shares represented by the warrant. After the sale, Ripple will still own at least 3.22 million shares, or 4.44% of MoneyGram. When including the additional shares represented by the warrant, which gives Ripple the right to execute a stock buy at a predetermined price, the blockchain payments firm will still own about 11% of MoneyGram.
Related:US Intelligence Chief Raises Concerns With SEC Over China's Crypto Dominance: Report
Under the terms of Ripple’s initial investmentannouncedin June 2019, the company bought the shares in MoneyGram at $4.10 apiece, at a significant premium to their price at the time. With shares of MoneyGram up more than 260% this year, closing at $7.42 on Wednesday, Ripple can now net a significant profit on its investment.
“Ripple is a proud partner in MoneyGram’s digital growth transformation. This is purely a judicious financial decision to realize some gains on Ripple’s MGI [MoneyGram International] investment and is in no way a reflection of the current state of our partnership,” a Ripple spokesperson told CoinDesk.
The sales are still in process, according to the spokesperson, who didn’t respond to an emailed question asking what the company intends to do with the proceeds from the stake sale.
Ripple completed the purchase of a $50 million equity stake in MoneyGram in November 2019.
Related:Pantera Raises Additional $5M for Its Bitcoin Fund, Bringing Total to $134M
As recently as the end of Q3 2020, Ripple had paid $9.3 million to MoneyGram, noted as “market development fees” on MoneyGram’s latest financial statement, for the remittance firm’s use of Ripple’sXRP-based settlement network, the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) network (formerly known as xRapid).
See also:Goldman Sachs Sells $6.5M of Shares in Ripple Partner MoneyGram: SEC Filing
MoneyGram has used this cross-border solution to conduct transactions in Europe, Australia and the Philippines since June 2019, for which Ripple has paid MoneyGram at least$52 million. The remittance firm piloted Ripple’s flagship cryptocurrency in 2018.
“We will remain a significant shareholder in MoneyGram following the sale. [The company is] clearly a leader in the global payments space in over 200 countries and territories. In just over a year, we’ve made incredible progress and look forward to continuing to work alongside MoneyGram to transform cross-border payments,” the Ripple spokesperson said.
• Ripple Is Cashing Out a Third of Its Stake in Surging MoneyGram
• Ripple Is Cashing Out a Third of Its Stake in Surging MoneyGram || HP: Is There Room Left to Run?: - By Nicholas Kitonyi Shares of U.S. computing giant HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) are up nearly 9% this week following the release of its fiscal fourth-quarter results on Tuesday. The company's revenue and earnings topped analyst expectations, which helped trigger a spike in the stock price. HP: Is There Room Left to Run? Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with HPQ. Click here to check it out. HPQ 15-Year Financial Data The intrinsic value of HPQ Peter Lynch Chart of HPQ HP has now gained nearly 70% since its lows in March. However, it is only up 7% year-to-date after suffering a sharp decline in the March Covid-19 market crash. This suggests that despite the 70% gain, there could still be room left to run going to the tail-end of the year, in my opinion, as there has been no permanent decline in overall demand for the company's products. In fact, HP's top line has been boosted by a rise in computer sales amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Manufacturers of personal computers, including Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL), Lenovo Group Ltd. (HKSE:00992) and Asustek Computer Inc. (TPE:2357), have benefited from the work-from-home and learn-from-home environments necessitated by the pandemic. Highlights from recent quarterly results In the company's most recent quarterly results, HP reported earnings per share of $0.62, which beat analyst expectations of $0.52. The company's fiscal Q4 revenue came in at $15.23 billion, beating Wall Street estimates of $14.72 billion. It reported net revenue of $56.6 billion for full fiscal year 2020, down 3.36% from the prior year. Non-GAAP earnings per share for the year came in at $2.28, well above the company's previous guidance range of $2.16 to $2.20. Looking forward, HP has provided guidance of $0.64 to $0.70 for fiscal Q1 earnings per share compared to the consensus Street estimate of $0.53. Enrique Lores, President and CEO of HP, said that the company experienced strong shipments during the quarter, which reflected "the important role HP technology is playing in the lives of our customers. Our results give us great confidence in our ability to drive long-term growth and shareholder value in 2021 and beyond." Story continues Valuation Shares of HP are currently trading at a trailing 12-month price-earnings ratio of 11.12, which is significantly lower than competitor Dell's price-earnings ratio of 21.91. Acer Inc. (TPE:2353), another competitor, also trades at a higher price-earnings ratio of 15.90, while Lenovo's price-earnings ratio is 11.13. On the other hand, Asustek trades at a more exciting price-earnings ratio of 9.71. However, when we factor in expected earnings growth for the next 12 months, HP stands out with a forward price-earnings ratio of 9.24. Dell, on the other hand, trades at a forward price-earnings ratio of 10.71, while Asustek, Lenovo and Acer trade at a forward price-earnings ratios of 10.83, 10.34 and 14.01, respectively. In summary, the year-to-date gain of just 7% and its valuation multiples relative to peers could make the stock a good value opportunity, in my view. Disclosure: No position in the stocks mentioned. Read more here: Is Bitcoin Millenials' Alternative to Gold? How Far Can BRP Run? Is Nvidia the Best Blockchain Stock? Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here. This article first appeared on GuruFocus . || HP: Is There Room Left to Run?: - By Nicholas Kitonyi
Shares of U.S. computing giant HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) are up nearly 9% this week following the release of its fiscal fourth-quarter results on Tuesday. The company's revenue and earnings topped analyst expectations, which helped trigger a spike in the stock price.
• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with HPQ. Click here to check it out.
• HPQ 15-Year Financial Data
• The intrinsic value of HPQ
• Peter Lynch Chart of HPQ
HP has now gained nearly 70% since its lows in March. However, it is only up 7% year-to-date after suffering a sharp decline in the March Covid-19 market crash. This suggests that despite the 70% gain, there could still be room left to run going to the tail-end of the year, in my opinion, as there has been no permanent decline in overall demand for the company's products.
In fact, HP's top line has been boosted by a rise in computer sales amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Manufacturers of personal computers, including Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL), Lenovo Group Ltd. (HKSE:00992) and Asustek Computer Inc. (TPE:2357), have benefited from the work-from-home and learn-from-home environments necessitated by the pandemic.
Highlights from recent quarterly results
In the company's most recent quarterly results, HP reported earnings per share of $0.62, which beat analyst expectations of $0.52. The company's fiscal Q4 revenue came in at $15.23 billion, beating Wall Street estimates of $14.72 billion.
It reported net revenue of $56.6 billion for full fiscal year 2020, down 3.36% from the prior year. Non-GAAP earnings per share for the year came in at $2.28, well above the company's previous guidance range of $2.16 to $2.20.
Looking forward, HP has provided guidance of $0.64 to $0.70 for fiscal Q1 earnings per share compared to the consensus Street estimate of $0.53.
Enrique Lores, President and CEO of HP, said that the company experienced strong shipments during the quarter, which reflected "the important role HP technology is playing in the lives of our customers. Our results give us great confidence in our ability to drive long-term growth and shareholder value in 2021 and beyond."
Valuation
Shares of HP are currently trading at a trailing 12-month price-earnings ratio of 11.12, which is significantly lower than competitor Dell's price-earnings ratio of 21.91. Acer Inc. (TPE:2353), another competitor, also trades at a higher price-earnings ratio of 15.90, while Lenovo's price-earnings ratio is 11.13. On the other hand, Asustek trades at a more exciting price-earnings ratio of 9.71.
However, when we factor in expected earnings growth for the next 12 months, HP stands out with a forward price-earnings ratio of 9.24. Dell, on the other hand, trades at a forward price-earnings ratio of 10.71, while Asustek, Lenovo and Acer trade at a forward price-earnings ratios of 10.83, 10.34 and 14.01, respectively.
In summary, the year-to-date gain of just 7% and its valuation multiples relative to peers could make the stock a good value opportunity, in my view.
Disclosure: No position in the stocks mentioned.
Read more here:
• Is Bitcoin Millenials' Alternative to Gold?
• How Far Can BRP Run?
• Is Nvidia the Best Blockchain Stock?
Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here.
This article first appeared onGuruFocus. || Is Bitcoin Millenials' Alternative to Gold?: - By Nicholas Kitonyi
The price of gold this year rallied to new historical highs as the coronavirus pandemic sent equity markets plunging. The safe-haven asset has since pulled back significantly after several pharma companies announced good results from clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine.
In the same way, the price of bitcoin also rallied to retest historical highs with the younger generation holding a stronger preference for it than gold. This has led many to call bitcoin the "millennials' safe-haven," a seeming alternative to gold.
• ARCA:GLD 15-Year Financial Data
• The intrinsic value of ARCA:GLD
• Peter Lynch Chart of ARCA:GLD
The yellow metal has historically been the most proven store of value, especially when global financial markets plunge into a crisis, but its position now appears to be under threat. Whether bitcoin can continue to gain popularity as an alternative safe-haven asset will depend on how well it is received in the mainstream markets, and far things appear to be heading in that direction.
Bitcoin gaining the attention of mainstream companies
Earlier this month, PayPal Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) rolled out its cryptocurrency services in the U.S., a move that is seen as a huge boost towards pushing crypto to the mainstream. In another case, the world's second-largest bank by market capitalization, China Construction Bank Corp (SHSE:601939), issued a $3 billion bond that can be traded for bitcoin.
Both these events, coupled with rising coronavirus cases, boosted the price of bitcoin closer to its historical highs even while gold continued to trend downwards. The price of bitcoin has since pulled back after optimism returned to equity markets following Pfizer Inc.'s (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MRNA) announcement of successful clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines, effectively behaving just like a safe-haven asset.
Thus, the pullback has not deterred bitcoin enthusiasts, as they remain optimistic about the long-term if cryptocurrencies can evolve to mimic gold.
The bitcoin challenge
On the other hand, bitcoin still undeniably faces challenges. One of the reasons why cryptocurrencies have failed to gain the trust of traditional (older) investors is because they are highly volatile, which means that despite the frequent bull-runs that the likes of bitcoin experience, it is difficult to predict where the price will be in a year or two. The older generation is less accustomed to and thus more wary of most forms of tech-driven volatility than the younger generation is.
This is also why gold is still by far the most reliable asset when it comes to safe-haven investing. As a precious metal, gold has tangible value. Legendary guru investorWarren Buffett(Trades,Portfolio) once said that the reason he hasn't invested in bitcoin yet is that it lacks intrinsic value.
Since then, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has gone on to classify bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as capital assets rather than currencies, but this still does not mean that they all now have intrinsic value. In other words, they will never be exactly the same as gold.
Older investors will likely stick to gold
The yellow metal has stood in history as a genuine store of value. You could go back in history and tie every major rally in the price of goldto a subsequent financial crisis. Even after the end of the Bretton Woods system nullified the importance of gold to central banks, investors have always gone back to the basics of safe-haven investing when the economy plunged into a crisis.
Therefore, while some (mainly younger) investors may choose bitcoin over gold when global markets are in a crisis, traditional (mainly older) investors will likely continue to stick to gold and other precious metals. Even today, some central banks are still buying gold in huge quantities in a bid to stimulate their economies. According to data, 79% of U.S. reserves are gold, while Germany and Italy's equivalents are 76% and 71%, respectively.
Data also shows that while global central banks sold more gold than they bought between 1973 and 2007, the tables turned in 2010 and they have been net buyers of gold since. This again shows why the less-exciting gold is a safer investment - there is a much higher chance that people will continue to place a high value on it in the future, even if it shares the major feature of imagined value that drives cryptocurrencies.
Disclosure: No positions in the stocks mentioned.
Read more here:
• How Far Can BRP Run?
• Is Nvidia the Best Blockchain Stock?
• Dollar Tree: Is There Room Left to Run??
Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here.
This article first appeared onGuruFocus. || Is Bitcoin Millenials' Alternative to Gold?: - By Nicholas Kitonyi The price of gold this year rallied to new historical highs as the coronavirus pandemic sent equity markets plunging. The safe-haven asset has since pulled back significantly after several pharma companies announced good results from clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine. In the same way, the price of bitcoin also rallied to retest historical highs with the younger generation holding a stronger preference for it than gold. This has led many to call bitcoin the "millennials' safe-haven," a seeming alternative to gold. ARCA:GLD 15-Year Financial Data The intrinsic value of ARCA:GLD Peter Lynch Chart of ARCA:GLD The yellow metal has historically been the most proven store of value, especially when global financial markets plunge into a crisis, but its position now appears to be under threat. Whether bitcoin can continue to gain popularity as an alternative safe-haven asset will depend on how well it is received in the mainstream markets, and far things appear to be heading in that direction. Bitcoin gaining the attention of mainstream companies Earlier this month, PayPal Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) rolled out its cryptocurrency services in the U.S., a move that is seen as a huge boost towards pushing crypto to the mainstream. In another case, the world's second-largest bank by market capitalization, China Construction Bank Corp (SHSE:601939), issued a $3 billion bond that can be traded for bitcoin. Both these events, coupled with rising coronavirus cases, boosted the price of bitcoin closer to its historical highs even while gold continued to trend downwards. The price of bitcoin has since pulled back after optimism returned to equity markets following Pfizer Inc.'s (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MRNA) announcement of successful clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines, effectively behaving just like a safe-haven asset. Thus, the pullback has not deterred bitcoin enthusiasts, as they remain optimistic about the long-term if cryptocurrencies can evolve to mimic gold. Story continues The bitcoin challenge On the other hand, bitcoin still undeniably faces challenges. One of the reasons why cryptocurrencies have failed to gain the trust of traditional (older) investors is because they are highly volatile, which means that despite the frequent bull-runs that the likes of bitcoin experience, it is difficult to predict where the price will be in a year or two. The older generation is less accustomed to and thus more wary of most forms of tech-driven volatility than the younger generation is. This is also why gold is still by far the most reliable asset when it comes to safe-haven investing. As a precious metal, gold has tangible value. Legendary guru investor Warren Buffett ( Trades , Portfolio ) once said that the reason he hasn't invested in bitcoin yet is that it lacks intrinsic value. Since then, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has gone on to classify bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as capital assets rather than currencies, but this still does not mean that they all now have intrinsic value. In other words, they will never be exactly the same as gold. Older investors will likely stick to gold The yellow metal has stood in history as a genuine store of value. You could go back in history and tie every major rally in the price of gold to a subsequent financial crisis. Even after the end of the Bretton Woods system nullified the importance of gold to central banks, investors have always gone back to the basics of safe-haven investing when the economy plunged into a crisis. Therefore, while some (mainly younger) investors may choose bitcoin over gold when global markets are in a crisis, traditional (mainly older) investors will likely continue to stick to gold and other precious metals. Even today, some central banks are still buying gold in huge quantities in a bid to stimulate their economies. According to data , 79% of U.S. reserves are gold, while Germany and Italy's equivalents are 76% and 71%, respectively. Data also shows that while global central banks sold more gold than they bought between 1973 and 2007, the tables turned in 2010 and they have been net buyers of gold since. This again shows why the less-exciting gold is a safer investment - there is a much higher chance that people will continue to place a high value on it in the future, even if it shares the major feature of imagined value that drives cryptocurrencies. Disclosure: No positions in the stocks mentioned. Read more here: How Far Can BRP Run? Is Nvidia the Best Blockchain Stock? Dollar Tree: Is There Room Left to Run?? Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here. This article first appeared on GuruFocus . || Is Bitcoin Millenials' Alternative to Gold?: - By Nicholas Kitonyi
The price of gold this year rallied to new historical highs as the coronavirus pandemic sent equity markets plunging. The safe-haven asset has since pulled back significantly after several pharma companies announced good results from clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine.
In the same way, the price of bitcoin also rallied to retest historical highs with the younger generation holding a stronger preference for it than gold. This has led many to call bitcoin the "millennials' safe-haven," a seeming alternative to gold.
• ARCA:GLD 15-Year Financial Data
• The intrinsic value of ARCA:GLD
• Peter Lynch Chart of ARCA:GLD
The yellow metal has historically been the most proven store of value, especially when global financial markets plunge into a crisis, but its position now appears to be under threat. Whether bitcoin can continue to gain popularity as an alternative safe-haven asset will depend on how well it is received in the mainstream markets, and far things appear to be heading in that direction.
Bitcoin gaining the attention of mainstream companies
Earlier this month, PayPal Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) rolled out its cryptocurrency services in the U.S., a move that is seen as a huge boost towards pushing crypto to the mainstream. In another case, the world's second-largest bank by market capitalization, China Construction Bank Corp (SHSE:601939), issued a $3 billion bond that can be traded for bitcoin.
Both these events, coupled with rising coronavirus cases, boosted the price of bitcoin closer to its historical highs even while gold continued to trend downwards. The price of bitcoin has since pulled back after optimism returned to equity markets following Pfizer Inc.'s (NYSE:PFE) and Moderna Inc.'s (NASDAQ:MRNA) announcement of successful clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines, effectively behaving just like a safe-haven asset.
Thus, the pullback has not deterred bitcoin enthusiasts, as they remain optimistic about the long-term if cryptocurrencies can evolve to mimic gold.
The bitcoin challenge
On the other hand, bitcoin still undeniably faces challenges. One of the reasons why cryptocurrencies have failed to gain the trust of traditional (older) investors is because they are highly volatile, which means that despite the frequent bull-runs that the likes of bitcoin experience, it is difficult to predict where the price will be in a year or two. The older generation is less accustomed to and thus more wary of most forms of tech-driven volatility than the younger generation is.
This is also why gold is still by far the most reliable asset when it comes to safe-haven investing. As a precious metal, gold has tangible value. Legendary guru investorWarren Buffett(Trades,Portfolio) once said that the reason he hasn't invested in bitcoin yet is that it lacks intrinsic value.
Since then, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has gone on to classify bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as capital assets rather than currencies, but this still does not mean that they all now have intrinsic value. In other words, they will never be exactly the same as gold.
Older investors will likely stick to gold
The yellow metal has stood in history as a genuine store of value. You could go back in history and tie every major rally in the price of goldto a subsequent financial crisis. Even after the end of the Bretton Woods system nullified the importance of gold to central banks, investors have always gone back to the basics of safe-haven investing when the economy plunged into a crisis.
Therefore, while some (mainly younger) investors may choose bitcoin over gold when global markets are in a crisis, traditional (mainly older) investors will likely continue to stick to gold and other precious metals. Even today, some central banks are still buying gold in huge quantities in a bid to stimulate their economies. According to data, 79% of U.S. reserves are gold, while Germany and Italy's equivalents are 76% and 71%, respectively.
Data also shows that while global central banks sold more gold than they bought between 1973 and 2007, the tables turned in 2010 and they have been net buyers of gold since. This again shows why the less-exciting gold is a safer investment - there is a much higher chance that people will continue to place a high value on it in the future, even if it shares the major feature of imagined value that drives cryptocurrencies.
Disclosure: No positions in the stocks mentioned.
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19625.84, 18803.00, 19201.09, 19445.40, 18699.77, 19154.23, 19345.12, 19191.63, 18321.14, 18553.92
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 442.40, 454.98, 455.65, 417.27, 422.82, 422.28, 432.98, 426.62, 430.57, 434.33, 433.44, 430.01, 433.09, 431.96, 429.11, 458.05, 453.23, 447.61, 447.99, 448.43, 435.69, 432.37, 430.31, 364.33, 387.54, 382.30, 387.17, 380.15, 420.23, 410.26, 382.49, 387.49, 402.97, 391.73, 392.15, 394.97, 380.29, 379.47, 378.26, 368.77, 373.06, 374.45, 369.95, 389.59, 386.55, 376.52, 376.62, 373.45, 376.03, 381.65, 379.65, 384.26, 391.86, 407.23, 400.18, 407.49, 416.32, 422.37, 420.79, 437.16, 438.80, 437.75, 420.74, 424.95, 424.54, 432.15, 432.52, 433.50, 437.70, 435.12, 423.99, 421.65, 410.94, 400.57, 407.71, 414.32, 413.97, 414.86, 417.13, 421.69, 411.62, 414.07, 416.44, 416.83, 417.01, 420.62, 409.55, 410.44, 413.76, 413.31.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-03-21]
Volume: 61655400, RSI (14-day): 48.54, 50-day EMA: 412.34, 200-day EMA: 369.42
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1243.80, Gold RSI: 54.36
Oil Price: 39.91, Oil RSI: 64.82
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favour among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community. Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes. Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 (£692) in December 2013, when its market capitalisation was $13 billion. But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday. Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds. The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors. Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years. He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation. "What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar. BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more. Story continues According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors. The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund. The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group. It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data. Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin. "A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart." Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance. ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF. Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF. For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains. For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said. (Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favour among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community. Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes. Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 (£692) in December 2013, when its market capitalisation was $13 billion. But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday. Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds. The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors. Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years. He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation. "What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar. BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more. Story continues According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors. The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund. The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group. It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data. Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin. "A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart." Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance. ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF. Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF. For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains. For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said. (Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favour among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community. Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes. Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 (£692) in December 2013, when its market capitalisation was $13 billion. But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday. Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds. The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors. Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years. He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation. "What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar. BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more. Story continues According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors. The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund. The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group. It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data. Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin. "A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart." Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance. ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF. Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF. For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains. For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said. (Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favor among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community.
Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes.
Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization was $13 billion.
But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday.
Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds.
The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors.
Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years.
He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation.
"What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar.
BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS
Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more.
According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin (BTC=BTSP) traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors.
The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group.
It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin.
"A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart."
Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance.
ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF.
Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF.
For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains.
For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said.
(Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favor among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community.
Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes.
Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization was $13 billion.
But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday.
Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds.
The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors.
Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years.
He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation.
"What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar.
BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS
Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more.
According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin <BTC=BTSP> traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors.
The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group.
It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin.
"A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart."
Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance.
ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF.
Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF.
For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains.
For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said.
(Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favor among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community. Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes. Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization was $13 billion. But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday. Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds. The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors. Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years. He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation. "What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar. BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more. Story continues According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin (BTC=BTSP) traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors. The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund. The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group. It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data. Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin. "A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart." Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance. ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF. Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF. For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains. For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said. (Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favor among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community. Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes. Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization was $13 billion. But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday. Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds. The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors. Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years. He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation. "What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar. BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more. Story continues According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin <BTC=BTSP> traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors. The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund. The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group. It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data. Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin. "A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart." Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance. ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF. Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF. For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains. For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said. (Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favor among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community.
Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes.
Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization was $13 billion.
But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday.
Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds.
The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors.
Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years.
He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation.
"What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar.
BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS
Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more.
According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin (BTC=BTSP) traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors.
The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group.
It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin.
"A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart."
Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance.
ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF.
Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF.
For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains.
For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said.
(Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favor among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community.
Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes.
Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization was $13 billion.
But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday.
Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds.
The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors.
Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years.
He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation.
"What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar.
BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS
Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more.
According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin <BTC=BTSP> traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors.
The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group.
It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin.
"A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart."
Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance.
ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF.
Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF.
For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains.
For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said.
(Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favor among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community. Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes. Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization was $13 billion. But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday. Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds. The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors. Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years. He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation. "What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar. BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more. According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors. The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund. The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group. Story continues It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data. Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin. "A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart." Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance. ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF. Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF. For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains. For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said. (Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) View comments || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favor among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community.
Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes.
Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization was $13 billion.
But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday.
Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds.
The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors.
Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years.
He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation.
"What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar.
BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS
Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more.
According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors.
The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group.
It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin.
"A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart."
Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance.
ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF.
Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF.
For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains.
For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said.
(Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Bitcoin finds room in small funds; large institutions still on sidelines: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin has found favor among smaller investors, thanks to the availability of funds designed to invest in it, but remains a niche among the larger investing community.
Investors at some family offices, smaller mutual funds, and traders at hedge funds say bitcoin has helped returns and demonstrated a low correlation with other asset classes.
Hopes that bitcoin would become a broadly used alternative to other currencies helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization was $13 billion.
But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $6.4 billion as of Thursday.
Early enthusiasts for the crypto-currency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds.
The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors.
Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50 to 90 percent of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years.
He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation.
"What is clear though is that over the last two years, bitcoin has emerged from its 'hacktivist' origins to a more institutionalized ecosystem which includes the participation of hedge funds, traders, and professional investors," said Millar.
BITCOIN IN PORTFOLIOS
Funds dedicated to investing in bitcoin are relatively small. The largest is the Pantera Bitcoin Fund, a $160 million hedge fund founded by Dan Morehead, formerly of Tiger Management, available to institutions and individuals who invest $50,000 or more.
According to a Pantera Bitcoin Fund brochure, the fund was launched in July 2013, a period when bitcoin traded at around $65. On Thursday, it traded at $418.80, a gain of more than 500 percent from July 2013. The firm did not comment on fund performance or its investors.
The majority of the Pantera Fund's investors are family offices and high net worth individuals, said two people familiar with the fund.
The Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust, with assets of more than $60 million, is another vehicle for investors. GBTC is backed by bitcoin advocate Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group.
It is the only publicly traded U.S. security in the over-the-counter market invested in bitcoin. Volume is thin, with a few thousand shares traded daily, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Antonis Polemitis, managing director at Ledra Capital in New York, a family office specializing in education and technology, said that on average, clients have allocated 1 to 3 percent of their portfolios to bitcoin.
"A lot of people will take that bet with 1 percent of their assets," he said. "A 1 percent loss does not change anyone's life in any way. If it goes up 10 times, then you get to feel very smart."
Some investment managers say having bitcoin in portfolios has helped performance.
ARK Invest, which manages four exchange-traded funds with $240 million in assets, holds GBTC in its $12 million Next Generation Internet ETF and the $7 million ARK Innovation ETF.
Chris Burniske, analyst and blockchain products lead at ARK Invest in New York, said since investing in September 2015, GBTC has contributed 67 basis points to the Next Generation Internet ETF's return and 62 basis points to the ARK Innovation ETF.
For 2015, the Next Generation ETF posted a 15.29 percent return, while the Innovation ETF had 3.76 percent gains.
For Kingsbridge Wealth Management, a multifamily office in Las Vegas with $150 million in assets, GBTC has become a great diversifier because so far it has had a low correlation with other asset classes, said David Dunn, the firm's founder and chief investment officer. The firm has about $1.7 million invested in bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, Dunn said.
(Editing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis) || Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks - security firms: By Joseph Menn REUTERS - Hackers using tactics and tools previously associated with Chinese government-supported computer network intrusions have joined the booming cyber crime industry of ransomware, four security firms that investigated attacks on U.S. companies said. Ransomware, which involves encrypting a target's computer files and then demanding payment to unlock them, has generally been considered the domain of run-of-the-mill cyber criminals. But executives of the security firms have seen a level of sophistication in at least a half dozen cases over the last three months akin to those used in state-sponsored attacks, including techniques to gain entry and move around the networks, as well as the software used to manage intrusions. "It is obviously a group of skilled of operators that have some amount of experience conducting intrusions," said Phil Burdette, who heads an incident response team at Dell SecureWorks. Burdette said his team was called in on three cases in as many months where hackers spread ransomware after exploiting known vulnerabilities in application servers. From there, the hackers tricked more than 100 computers in each of the companies into installing the malicious programs. The victims included a transportation company and a technology firm that had 30 percent of its machines captured. Security firms Attack Research, InGuardians and G-C Partners, said they had separately investigated three other similar ransomware attacks since December. Although they cannot be positive, the companies concluded that all were the work of a known advanced threat group from China, Attack Research Chief Executive Val Smith told Reuters. The ransomware attacks have not previously been reported. None of the companies that were victims of the hackers agreed to be identified publicly. Asked about the allegations, China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that if they were made with a "serious attitude" and reliable proof, China would treat the matter seriously. But ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China did not have time to respond to what he called "rumours and speculation" about the country's online activities. The security companies investigating the advanced ransomware intrusions have various theories about what is behind them, but they do not have proof and they have not come to any firm conclusions. Most of the theories flow from the possibility that the Chinese government has reduced its support for economic espionage, which it pledged to oppose in an agreement with the United States late last year. Some U.S. companies have reported a decline in Chinese hacking since the agreement. Smith said some government hackers or contractors could be out of work or with reduced work and looking to supplement their income via ransomware. It is also possible, Burdette said, that companies which had been penetrated for trade secrets or other reasons in the past were now being abandoned as China backs away, and that spies or their associates were taking as much as they could on the way out. In one of Dell's cases, the means of access by the team spreading ransomware was established in 2013. The cyber security experts could not completely rule out more prosaic explanations, such as the possibility that ordinary criminals had improved their skills and bought tools previously used only by governments. Dell said that some of the malicious software had been associated by other security firms with a group dubbed Codoso, which has a record of years of attacks of interest to the Chinese government, including those on U.S. defense companies and sites that draw Chinese minorities. PAYMENT IN BITCOIN Ransomware has been around for years, spread by some of the same people that previously installed fake antivirus programs on home computers and badgered the victims into paying to remove imaginary threats. In the past two years, better encryption techniques have often made it impossible for victims to regain access to their files without cooperation from the hackers. Many ransomware payments are made in the virtual currency Bitcoin and remain secret, but institutions including a Los Angeles hospital have gone public about ransomware attacks. Ransomware operators generally set modest prices that many victims are willing to pay, and they usually do decrypt the files, which ensures that victims will post positively online about the transaction, making the next victims who research their predicament more willing to pay. Security software companies have warned that because the aggregate payoffs for ransomware gangs are increasing, more criminals will shift to it from credit card theft and other complicated scams. The involvement of more sophisticated hackers also promises to intensify the threat. InGuardians CEO Jimmy Alderson said one of the cases his company investigated appeared to have been launched with online credentials stolen six months earlier in a suspected espionage hack of the sort typically called an Advanced Persistent Threat, or APT. "The tactics of getting access to these networks are APT tactics, but instead of going further in to sit and listen stealthily, they are used for smash-and-grab," Alderson said. (Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan in BEIJING; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Clarence Fernandez) View comments || Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks - security firms: By Joseph Menn REUTERS - Hackers using tactics and tools previously associated with Chinese government-supported computer network intrusions have joined the booming cyber crime industry of ransomware, four security firms that investigated attacks on U.S. companies said. Ransomware, which involves encrypting a target's computer files and then demanding payment to unlock them, has generally been considered the domain of run-of-the-mill cyber criminals. But executives of the security firms have seen a level of sophistication in at least a half dozen cases over the last three months akin to those used in state-sponsored attacks, including techniques to gain entry and move around the networks, as well as the software used to manage intrusions. "It is obviously a group of skilled of operators that have some amount of experience conducting intrusions," said Phil Burdette, who heads an incident response team at Dell SecureWorks. Burdette said his team was called in on three cases in as many months where hackers spread ransomware after exploiting known vulnerabilities in application servers. From there, the hackers tricked more than 100 computers in each of the companies into installing the malicious programs. The victims included a transportation company and a technology firm that had 30 percent of its machines captured. Security firms Attack Research, InGuardians and G-C Partners, said they had separately investigated three other similar ransomware attacks since December. Although they cannot be positive, the companies concluded that all were the work of a known advanced threat group from China, Attack Research Chief Executive Val Smith told Reuters. The ransomware attacks have not previously been reported. None of the companies that were victims of the hackers agreed to be identified publicly. Asked about the allegations, China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that if they were made with a "serious attitude" and reliable proof, China would treat the matter seriously. But ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China did not have time to respond to what he called "rumours and speculation" about the country's online activities. The security companies investigating the advanced ransomware intrusions have various theories about what is behind them, but they do not have proof and they have not come to any firm conclusions. Most of the theories flow from the possibility that the Chinese government has reduced its support for economic espionage, which it pledged to oppose in an agreement with the United States late last year. Some U.S. companies have reported a decline in Chinese hacking since the agreement. Smith said some government hackers or contractors could be out of work or with reduced work and looking to supplement their income via ransomware. It is also possible, Burdette said, that companies which had been penetrated for trade secrets or other reasons in the past were now being abandoned as China backs away, and that spies or their associates were taking as much as they could on the way out. In one of Dell's cases, the means of access by the team spreading ransomware was established in 2013. The cyber security experts could not completely rule out more prosaic explanations, such as the possibility that ordinary criminals had improved their skills and bought tools previously used only by governments. Dell said that some of the malicious software had been associated by other security firms with a group dubbed Codoso, which has a record of years of attacks of interest to the Chinese government, including those on U.S. defense companies and sites that draw Chinese minorities. PAYMENT IN BITCOIN Ransomware has been around for years, spread by some of the same people that previously installed fake antivirus programs on home computers and badgered the victims into paying to remove imaginary threats. In the past two years, better encryption techniques have often made it impossible for victims to regain access to their files without cooperation from the hackers. Many ransomware payments are made in the virtual currency Bitcoin and remain secret, but institutions including a Los Angeles hospital have gone public about ransomware attacks. Ransomware operators generally set modest prices that many victims are willing to pay, and they usually do decrypt the files, which ensures that victims will post positively online about the transaction, making the next victims who research their predicament more willing to pay. Security software companies have warned that because the aggregate payoffs for ransomware gangs are increasing, more criminals will shift to it from credit card theft and other complicated scams. The involvement of more sophisticated hackers also promises to intensify the threat. InGuardians CEO Jimmy Alderson said one of the cases his company investigated appeared to have been launched with online credentials stolen six months earlier in a suspected espionage hack of the sort typically called an Advanced Persistent Threat, or APT. "The tactics of getting access to these networks are APT tactics, but instead of going further in to sit and listen stealthily, they are used for smash-and-grab," Alderson said. (Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan in BEIJING; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Clarence Fernandez) View comments || Exclusive: Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks - security firms: By Joseph Menn (Reuters) - Hackers using tactics and tools previously associated with Chinese government-supported computer network intrusions have joined the booming cyber crime industry of ransomware, four security firms that investigated attacks on U.S. companies said. Ransomware, which involves encrypting a target's computer files and then demanding payment to unlock them, has generally been considered the domain of run-of-the-mill cyber criminals. But executives of the security firms have seen a level of sophistication in at least a half dozen cases over the last three months akin to those used in state-sponsored attacks, including techniques to gain entry and move around the networks, as well as the software used to manage intrusions. "It is obviously a group of skilled of operators that have some amount of experience conducting intrusions," said Phil Burdette, who heads an incident response team at Dell SecureWorks. Burdette said his team was called in on three cases in as many months where hackers spread ransomware after exploiting known vulnerabilities in application servers. From there, the hackers tricked more than 100 computers in each of the companies into installing the malicious programs. The victims included a transportation company and a technology firm that had 30 percent of its machines captured. Security firms Attack Research, InGuardians and G-C Partners, said they had separately investigated three other similar ransomware attacks since December. Although they cannot be positive, the companies concluded that all were the work of a known advanced threat group from China, Attack Research Chief Executive Val Smith told Reuters. The ransomware attacks have not previously been reported. None of the companies that were victims of the hackers agreed to be identified publicly. Asked about the allegations, China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that if they were made with a "serious attitude" and reliable proof, China would treat the matter seriously. But ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China did not have time to respond to what he called "rumors and speculation" about the country's online activities. The security companies investigating the advanced ransomware intrusions have various theories about what is behind them, but they do not have proof and they have not come to any firm conclusions. Most of the theories flow from the possibility that the Chinese government has reduced its support for economic espionage, which it pledged to oppose in an agreement with the United States late last year. Some U.S. companies have reported a decline in Chinese hacking since the agreement. Smith said some government hackers or contractors could be out of work or with reduced work and looking to supplement their income via ransomware. It is also possible, Burdette said, that companies which had been penetrated for trade secrets or other reasons in the past were now being abandoned as China backs away, and that spies or their associates were taking as much as they could on the way out. In one of Dell's cases, the means of access by the team spreading ransomware was established in 2013. The cyber security experts could not completely rule out more prosaic explanations, such as the possibility that ordinary criminals had improved their skills and bought tools previously used only by governments. Dell said that some of the malicious software had been associated by other security firms with a group dubbed Codoso, which has a record of years of attacks of interest to the Chinese government, including those on U.S. defense companies and sites that draw Chinese minorities. PAYMENT IN BITCOIN Ransomware has been around for years, spread by some of the same people that previously installed fake antivirus programs on home computers and badgered the victims into paying to remove imaginary threats. In the past two years, better encryption techniques have often made it impossible for victims to regain access to their files without cooperation from the hackers. Many ransomware payments are made in the virtual currency Bitcoin and remain secret, but institutions including a Los Angeles hospital have gone public about ransomware attacks. Ransomware operators generally set modest prices that many victims are willing to pay, and they usually do decrypt the files, which ensures that victims will post positively online about the transaction, making the next victims who research their predicament more willing to pay. Security software companies have warned that because the aggregate payoffs for ransomware gangs are increasing, more criminals will shift to it from credit card theft and other complicated scams. The involvement of more sophisticated hackers also promises to intensify the threat. InGuardians CEO Jimmy Alderson said one of the cases his company investigated appeared to have been launched with online credentials stolen six months earlier in a suspected espionage hack of the sort typically called an Advanced Persistent Threat, or APT. "The tactics of getting access to these networks are APT tactics, but instead of going further in to sit and listen stealthily, they are used for smash-and-grab," Alderson said. (Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan in BEIJING; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Clarence Fernandez) || Exclusive: Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks - security firms: By Joseph Menn (Reuters) - Hackers using tactics and tools previously associated with Chinese government-supported computer network intrusions have joined the booming cyber crime industry of ransomware, four security firms that investigated attacks on U.S. companies said. Ransomware, which involves encrypting a target's computer files and then demanding payment to unlock them, has generally been considered the domain of run-of-the-mill cyber criminals. But executives of the security firms have seen a level of sophistication in at least a half dozen cases over the last three months akin to those used in state-sponsored attacks, including techniques to gain entry and move around the networks, as well as the software used to manage intrusions. "It is obviously a group of skilled of operators that have some amount of experience conducting intrusions," said Phil Burdette, who heads an incident response team at Dell SecureWorks. Burdette said his team was called in on three cases in as many months where hackers spread ransomware after exploiting known vulnerabilities in application servers. From there, the hackers tricked more than 100 computers in each of the companies into installing the malicious programs. The victims included a transportation company and a technology firm that had 30 percent of its machines captured. Security firms Attack Research, InGuardians and G-C Partners, said they had separately investigated three other similar ransomware attacks since December. Although they cannot be positive, the companies concluded that all were the work of a known advanced threat group from China, Attack Research Chief Executive Val Smith told Reuters. The ransomware attacks have not previously been reported. None of the companies that were victims of the hackers agreed to be identified publicly. Asked about the allegations, China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that if they were made with a "serious attitude" and reliable proof, China would treat the matter seriously. But ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China did not have time to respond to what he called "rumors and speculation" about the country's online activities. The security companies investigating the advanced ransomware intrusions have various theories about what is behind them, but they do not have proof and they have not come to any firm conclusions. Most of the theories flow from the possibility that the Chinese government has reduced its support for economic espionage, which it pledged to oppose in an agreement with the United States late last year. Some U.S. companies have reported a decline in Chinese hacking since the agreement. Smith said some government hackers or contractors could be out of work or with reduced work and looking to supplement their income via ransomware. It is also possible, Burdette said, that companies which had been penetrated for trade secrets or other reasons in the past were now being abandoned as China backs away, and that spies or their associates were taking as much as they could on the way out. In one of Dell's cases, the means of access by the team spreading ransomware was established in 2013. The cyber security experts could not completely rule out more prosaic explanations, such as the possibility that ordinary criminals had improved their skills and bought tools previously used only by governments. Dell said that some of the malicious software had been associated by other security firms with a group dubbed Codoso, which has a record of years of attacks of interest to the Chinese government, including those on U.S. defense companies and sites that draw Chinese minorities. PAYMENT IN BITCOIN Ransomware has been around for years, spread by some of the same people that previously installed fake antivirus programs on home computers and badgered the victims into paying to remove imaginary threats. In the past two years, better encryption techniques have often made it impossible for victims to regain access to their files without cooperation from the hackers. Many ransomware payments are made in the virtual currency Bitcoin and remain secret, but institutions including a Los Angeles hospital have gone public about ransomware attacks. Ransomware operators generally set modest prices that many victims are willing to pay, and they usually do decrypt the files, which ensures that victims will post positively online about the transaction, making the next victims who research their predicament more willing to pay. Security software companies have warned that because the aggregate payoffs for ransomware gangs are increasing, more criminals will shift to it from credit card theft and other complicated scams. The involvement of more sophisticated hackers also promises to intensify the threat. InGuardians CEO Jimmy Alderson said one of the cases his company investigated appeared to have been launched with online credentials stolen six months earlier in a suspected espionage hack of the sort typically called an Advanced Persistent Threat, or APT. "The tactics of getting access to these networks are APT tactics, but instead of going further in to sit and listen stealthily, they are used for smash-and-grab," Alderson said. (Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan in BEIJING; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Clarence Fernandez) View comments || Exclusive: Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks - security firms: By Joseph Menn (Reuters) - Hackers using tactics and tools previously associated with Chinese government-supported computer network intrusions have joined the booming cyber crime industry of ransomware, four security firms that investigated attacks on U.S. companies said. Ransomware, which involves encrypting a target's computer files and then demanding payment to unlock them, has generally been considered the domain of run-of-the-mill cyber criminals. But executives of the security firms have seen a level of sophistication in at least a half dozen cases over the last three months akin to those used in state-sponsored attacks, including techniques to gain entry and move around the networks, as well as the software used to manage intrusions. “It is obviously a group of skilled of operators that have some amount of experience conducting intrusions,” said Phil Burdette, who heads an incident response team at Dell SecureWorks. Burdette said his team was called in on three cases in as many months where hackers spread ransomware after exploiting known vulnerabilities in application servers. From there, the hackers tricked more than 100 computers in each of the companies into installing the malicious programs. The victims included a transportation company and a technology firm that had 30 percent of its machines captured. Security firms Attack Research, InGuardians and G-C Partners, said they had separately investigated three other similar ransomware attacks since December. Although they cannot be positive, the companies concluded that all were the work of a known advanced threat group from China, Attack Research Chief Executive Val Smith told Reuters. The ransomware attacks have not previously been reported. None of the companies that were victims of the hackers agreed to be identified publicly. The security companies investigating the advanced ransomware intrusions have various theories about what is behind them, but they do not have proof and they have not come to any firm conclusions. Story continues Most of the theories flow from the possibility that the Chinese government has reduced its support for economic espionage, which it pledged to oppose in an agreement with the United States late last year. Some U.S. companies have reported a decline in Chinese hacking since the agreement. Smith said some government hackers or contractors could be out of work or with reduced work and looking to supplement their income via ransomware. It is also possible, Burdette said, that companies which had been penetrated for trade secrets or other reasons in the past were now being abandoned as China backs away, and that spies or their associates were taking as much as they could on the way out. In one of Dell’s cases, the means of access by the team spreading ransomware was established in 2013. The cyber security experts could not completely rule out more prosaic explanations, such as the possibility that ordinary criminals had improved their skills and bought tools previously used only by governments. Dell said that some of the malicious software had been associated by other security firms with a group dubbed Codoso, which has a record of years of attacks of interest to the Chinese government, including those on U.S. defense companies and sites that draw Chinese minorities. PAYMENT IN BITCOIN Ransomware has been around for years, spread by some of the same people that previously installed fake antivirus programs on home computers and badgered the victims into paying to remove imaginary threats. In the past two years, better encryption techniques have often made it impossible for victims to regain access to their files without cooperation from the hackers. Many ransomware payments are made in the virtual currency Bitcoin and remain secret, but institutions including a Los Angeles hospital have gone public about ransomware attacks. Ransomware operators generally set modest prices that many victims are willing to pay, and they usually do decrypt the files, which ensures that victims will post positively online about the transaction, making the next victims who research their predicament more willing to pay. Security software companies have warned that because the aggregate payoffs for ransomware gangs are increasing, more criminals will shift to it from credit card theft and other complicated scams. The involvement of more sophisticated hackers also promises to intensify the threat. InGuardians CEO Jimmy Alderson said one of the cases his company investigated appeared to have been launched with online credentials stolen six months earlier in a suspected espionage hack of the sort typically called an Advanced Persistent Threat, or APT. “The tactics of getting access to these networks are APT tactics, but instead of going further in to sit and listen stealthily, they are used for smash-and-grab,” Alderson said. (Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; editing by Jonathan Weber and Grant McCool) || Exclusive: Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks - security firms: By Joseph Menn (Reuters) - Hackers using tactics and tools previously associated with Chinese government-supported computer network intrusions have joined the booming cyber crime industry of ransomware, four security firms that investigated attacks on U.S. companies said. Ransomware, which involves encrypting a target's computer files and then demanding payment to unlock them, has generally been considered the domain of run-of-the-mill cyber criminals. But executives of the security firms have seen a level of sophistication in at least a half dozen cases over the last three months akin to those used in state-sponsored attacks, including techniques to gain entry and move around the networks, as well as the software used to manage intrusions. “It is obviously a group of skilled of operators that have some amount of experience conducting intrusions,” said Phil Burdette, who heads an incident response team at Dell SecureWorks. Burdette said his team was called in on three cases in as many months where hackers spread ransomware after exploiting known vulnerabilities in application servers. From there, the hackers tricked more than 100 computers in each of the companies into installing the malicious programs. The victims included a transportation company and a technology firm that had 30 percent of its machines captured. Security firms Attack Research, InGuardians and G-C Partners, said they had separately investigated three other similar ransomware attacks since December. Although they cannot be positive, the companies concluded that all were the work of a known advanced threat group from China, Attack Research Chief Executive Val Smith told Reuters. The ransomware attacks have not previously been reported. None of the companies that were victims of the hackers agreed to be identified publicly. The security companies investigating the advanced ransomware intrusions have various theories about what is behind them, but they do not have proof and they have not come to any firm conclusions. Story continues Most of the theories flow from the possibility that the Chinese government has reduced its support for economic espionage, which it pledged to oppose in an agreement with the United States late last year. Some U.S. companies have reported a decline in Chinese hacking since the agreement. Smith said some government hackers or contractors could be out of work or with reduced work and looking to supplement their income via ransomware. It is also possible, Burdette said, that companies which had been penetrated for trade secrets or other reasons in the past were now being abandoned as China backs away, and that spies or their associates were taking as much as they could on the way out. In one of Dell’s cases, the means of access by the team spreading ransomware was established in 2013. The cyber security experts could not completely rule out more prosaic explanations, such as the possibility that ordinary criminals had improved their skills and bought tools previously used only by governments. Dell said that some of the malicious software had been associated by other security firms with a group dubbed Codoso, which has a record of years of attacks of interest to the Chinese government, including those on U.S. defense companies and sites that draw Chinese minorities. PAYMENT IN BITCOIN Ransomware has been around for years, spread by some of the same people that previously installed fake antivirus programs on home computers and badgered the victims into paying to remove imaginary threats. In the past two years, better encryption techniques have often made it impossible for victims to regain access to their files without cooperation from the hackers. Many ransomware payments are made in the virtual currency Bitcoin and remain secret, but institutions including a Los Angeles hospital have gone public about ransomware attacks. Ransomware operators generally set modest prices that many victims are willing to pay, and they usually do decrypt the files, which ensures that victims will post positively online about the transaction, making the next victims who research their predicament more willing to pay. Security software companies have warned that because the aggregate payoffs for ransomware gangs are increasing, more criminals will shift to it from credit card theft and other complicated scams. The involvement of more sophisticated hackers also promises to intensify the threat. InGuardians CEO Jimmy Alderson said one of the cases his company investigated appeared to have been launched with online credentials stolen six months earlier in a suspected espionage hack of the sort typically called an Advanced Persistent Threat, or APT. “The tactics of getting access to these networks are APT tactics, but instead of going further in to sit and listen stealthily, they are used for smash-and-grab,” Alderson said. (Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; editing by Jonathan Weber and Grant McCool) || Exclusive: Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks - security firms: By Joseph Menn
(Reuters) - Hackers using tactics and tools previously associated with Chinese government-supported computer network intrusions have joined the booming cyber crime industry of ransomware, four security firms that investigated attacks on U.S. companies said.
Ransomware, which involves encrypting a target's computer files and then demanding payment to unlock them, has generally been considered the domain of run-of-the-mill cyber criminals.
But executives of the security firms have seen a level of sophistication in at least a half dozen cases over the last three months akin to those used in state-sponsored attacks, including techniques to gain entry and move around the networks, as well as the software used to manage intrusions.
“It is obviously a group of skilled of operators that have some amount of experience conducting intrusions,” said Phil Burdette, who heads an incident response team at Dell SecureWorks.
Burdette said his team was called in on three cases in as many months where hackers spread ransomware after exploiting known vulnerabilities in application servers. From there, the hackers tricked more than 100 computers in each of the companies into installing the malicious programs.
The victims included a transportation company and a technology firm that had 30 percent of its machines captured.
Security firms Attack Research, InGuardians and G-C Partners, said they had separately investigated three other similar ransomware attacks since December.
Although they cannot be positive, the companies concluded that all were the work of a known advanced threat group from China, Attack Research Chief Executive Val Smith told Reuters.
The ransomware attacks have not previously been reported. None of the companies that were victims of the hackers agreed to be identified publicly.
The security companies investigating the advanced ransomware intrusions have various theories about what is behind them, but they do not have proof and they have not come to any firm conclusions.
Most of the theories flow from the possibility that the Chinese government has reduced its support for economic espionage, which it pledged to oppose in an agreement with the United States late last year. Some U.S. companies have reported a decline in Chinese hacking since the agreement.
Smith said some government hackers or contractors could be out of work or with reduced work and looking to supplement their income via ransomware.
It is also possible, Burdette said, that companies which had been penetrated for trade secrets or other reasons in the past were now being abandoned as China backs away, and that spies or their associates were taking as much as they could on the way out. In one of Dell’s cases, the means of access by the team spreading ransomware was established in 2013.
The cyber security experts could not completely rule out more prosaic explanations, such as the possibility that ordinary criminals had improved their skills and bought tools previously used only by governments.
Dell said that some of the malicious software had been associated by other security firms with a group dubbed Codoso, which has a record of years of attacks of interest to the Chinese government, including those on U.S. defense companies and sites that draw Chinese minorities.
PAYMENT IN BITCOIN
Ransomware has been around for years, spread by some of the same people that previously installed fake antivirus programs on home computers and badgered the victims into paying to remove imaginary threats.
In the past two years, better encryption techniques have often made it impossible for victims to regain access to their files without cooperation from the hackers. Many ransomware payments are made in the virtual currency Bitcoin and remain secret, but institutions including a Los Angeles hospital have gone public about ransomware attacks.
Ransomware operators generally set modest prices that many victims are willing to pay, and they usually do decrypt the files, which ensures that victims will post positively online about the transaction, making the next victims who research their predicament more willing to pay.
Security software companies have warned that because the aggregate payoffs for ransomware gangs are increasing, more criminals will shift to it from credit card theft and other complicated scams.
The involvement of more sophisticated hackers also promises to intensify the threat.
InGuardians CEO Jimmy Alderson said one of the cases his company investigated appeared to have been launched with online credentials stolen six months earlier in a suspected espionage hack of the sort typically called an Advanced Persistent Threat, or APT.
“The tactics of getting access to these networks are APT tactics, but instead of going further in to sit and listen stealthily, they are used for smash-and-grab,” Alderson said.
(Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; editing by Jonathan Weber and Grant McCool) || Exclusive: Chinese hackers behind U.S. ransomware attacks - security firms: By Joseph Menn (Reuters) - Hackers using tactics and tools previously associated with Chinese government-supported computer network intrusions have joined the booming cyber crime industry of ransomware, four security firms that investigated attacks on U.S. companies said. Ransomware, which involves encrypting a target's computer files and then demanding payment to unlock them, has generally been considered the domain of run-of-the-mill cyber criminals. But executives of the security firms have seen a level of sophistication in at least a half dozen cases over the last three months akin to those used in state-sponsored attacks, including techniques to gain entry and move around the networks, as well as the software used to manage intrusions. “It is obviously a group of skilled of operators that have some amount of experience conducting intrusions,” said Phil Burdette, who heads an incident response team at Dell SecureWorks. Burdette said his team was called in on three cases in as many months where hackers spread ransomware after exploiting known vulnerabilities in application servers. From there, the hackers tricked more than 100 computers in each of the companies into installing the malicious programs. The victims included a transportation company and a technology firm that had 30 percent of its machines captured. Security firms Attack Research, InGuardians and G-C Partners, said they had separately investigated three other similar ransomware attacks since December. Although they cannot be positive, the companies concluded that all were the work of a known advanced threat group from China, Attack Research Chief Executive Val Smith told Reuters. The ransomware attacks have not previously been reported. None of the companies that were victims of the hackers agreed to be identified publicly. The security companies investigating the advanced ransomware intrusions have various theories about what is behind them, but they do not have proof and they have not come to any firm conclusions. Story continues Most of the theories flow from the possibility that the Chinese government has reduced its support for economic espionage, which it pledged to oppose in an agreement with the United States late last year. Some U.S. companies have reported a decline in Chinese hacking since the agreement. Smith said some government hackers or contractors could be out of work or with reduced work and looking to supplement their income via ransomware. It is also possible, Burdette said, that companies which had been penetrated for trade secrets or other reasons in the past were now being abandoned as China backs away, and that spies or their associates were taking as much as they could on the way out. In one of Dell’s cases, the means of access by the team spreading ransomware was established in 2013. The cyber security experts could not completely rule out more prosaic explanations, such as the possibility that ordinary criminals had improved their skills and bought tools previously used only by governments. Dell said that some of the malicious software had been associated by other security firms with a group dubbed Codoso, which has a record of years of attacks of interest to the Chinese government, including those on U.S. defense companies and sites that draw Chinese minorities. PAYMENT IN BITCOIN Ransomware has been around for years, spread by some of the same people that previously installed fake antivirus programs on home computers and badgered the victims into paying to remove imaginary threats. In the past two years, better encryption techniques have often made it impossible for victims to regain access to their files without cooperation from the hackers. Many ransomware payments are made in the virtual currency Bitcoin and remain secret, but institutions including a Los Angeles hospital have gone public about ransomware attacks. Ransomware operators generally set modest prices that many victims are willing to pay, and they usually do decrypt the files, which ensures that victims will post positively online about the transaction, making the next victims who research their predicament more willing to pay. Security software companies have warned that because the aggregate payoffs for ransomware gangs are increasing, more criminals will shift to it from credit card theft and other complicated scams. The involvement of more sophisticated hackers also promises to intensify the threat. InGuardians CEO Jimmy Alderson said one of the cases his company investigated appeared to have been launched with online credentials stolen six months earlier in a suspected espionage hack of the sort typically called an Advanced Persistent Threat, or APT. “The tactics of getting access to these networks are APT tactics, but instead of going further in to sit and listen stealthily, they are used for smash-and-grab,” Alderson said. (Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; editing by Jonathan Weber and Grant McCool)
[Social Media Buzz]
http://cubeminers.com SHA: 0.00 KH Scrypt: 6.49 MH x11: 1.38 MH #DigiCube #bitcoin #altcoinpic.twitter.com/YHGK7kr4IF || Block Mined, 2016-03-21T01:31:00: http://strongfellow.com/blocks/000000000000000002295e1cc23ab558794b446d40989191bd8eed7e8055fa16 … #bitcoin || @Wandee91232973 I really like MMM Global, can pay us 100% per month from bitcoin with just completing a task every day.#MMMGlobal || Current price: 409.22$ $BTCUSD $btc #bitcoin 2016-03-21 13:00:06 EDT || Gold $1,244.00 | Silv...
|
418.09, 418.04, 416.39, 417.18, 417.95, 426.77, 424.23, 416.52, 414.82, 416.73
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 38705.98, 38402.22, 39294.20, 38436.97, 35697.61, 34616.07, 35678.13, 37332.86, 36684.93, 37575.18, 39208.77, 36894.41, 35551.96, 35862.38, 33560.71, 33472.63, 37345.12, 36702.60, 37334.40, 35552.52, 39097.86, 40218.48, 40406.27, 38347.06, 38053.50, 35787.25, 35615.87, 35698.30, 31676.69, 32505.66, 33723.03, 34662.44, 31637.78, 32186.28, 34649.64, 34434.34, 35867.78, 35040.84, 33572.12, 33897.05, 34668.55, 35287.78, 33746.00, 34235.20, 33855.33, 32877.37, 33798.01, 33520.52, 34240.19, 33155.85, 32702.03, 32822.35, 31780.73, 31421.54, 31533.07, 31796.81, 30817.83, 29807.35, 32110.69, 32313.11, 33581.55, 34292.45, 35350.19, 37337.54, 39406.94, 39995.91, 40008.42, 42235.55, 41626.20, 39974.89, 39201.95, 38152.98, 39747.50, 40869.55, 42816.50, 44555.80, 43798.12, 46365.40, 45585.03, 45593.64, 44428.29, 47793.32, 47096.95, 47047.00, 46004.48, 44695.36, 44801.19, 46717.58, 49339.18, 48905.49.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-08-21]
Volume: 40585205312, RSI (14-day): 67.29, 50-day EMA: 41258.71, 200-day EMA: 39761.46
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitcoin rises 5 percent to $49,106: (Reuters) - Bitcoin rose 5.01 % to $49,106.4 at 22:04 GMT on Friday, adding $2,342.1 to its previous close.
Bitcoin, the world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is up 77.4% from the year's low of $27,734 on Jan. 4.
Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, rose 3.03% to $3,281.82 on Friday, adding $96.64 to its previous close.
(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) || Bitcoin rises 5 percent to $49,106: (Reuters) - Bitcoin rose 5.01 % to $49,106.4 at 22:04 GMT on Friday, adding $2,342.1 to its previous close. Bitcoin, the world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is up 77.4% from the year's low of $27,734 on Jan. 4. Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, rose 3.03% to $3,281.82 on Friday, adding $96.64 to its previous close. (Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) || Bitcoin rises 5 percent to $49,106: (Reuters) - Bitcoin rose 5.01 % to $49,106.4 at 22:04 GMT on Friday, adding $2,342.1 to its previous close.
Bitcoin, the world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is up 77.4% from the year's low of $27,734 on Jan. 4.
Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, rose 3.03% to $3,281.82 on Friday, adding $96.64 to its previous close.
(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) || Neuberger Berman’s $164M Commodities Fund Can Invest 5% in Bitcoin: Neuberger Berman’s $164 million commodities fund can invest up to 5% of its assets inbitcoinfutures and funds, the asset manager said Friday, following up the news from last week that it would consider cryptocurrencies.
• “Effective immediately,” Neuberger Berman Commodity Strategy Fund may invest in bitcoin futures and Canada’s bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), a regulatory filingsaid.
• The fund got an initial go-ahead to chase bitcoin andetherexposure through derivative products on Aug. 11. Ether now appears to be off the table; Friday’s bitcoin-only filing said it “replaces” the original.
• While certain ETFs are now on the fund’s whitelist, it still cannot invest directly in digital assets – likely because of regulatory concerns.
• The new filing indicates that Neuberger Berman – a $400 billion asset manager – is eyeing crypto investments if not already participating in the market.
Read more:Neuberger Berman Greenlights Indirect Crypto Investments for Commodities Fund
• Bitcoin on Longest Weekly Winning Run in 9 Months Ahead of Jackson Hole Symposium
• Bitcoin Approaches Resistance Near $50K-$55K
• Bitcoin Tops $50K for First Time in 3 Months
• Crypto Long & Short: When China Spoke, Bitcoin Reacted. America? Not So Much || Neuberger Berman’s $164M Commodities Fund Can Invest 5% in Bitcoin: Neuberger Berman’s $164 million commodities fund can invest up to 5% of its assets inbitcoinfutures and funds, the asset manager said Friday, following up the news from last week that it would consider cryptocurrencies.
• “Effective immediately,” Neuberger Berman Commodity Strategy Fund may invest in bitcoin futures and Canada’s bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), a regulatory filingsaid.
• The fund got an initial go-ahead to chase bitcoin andetherexposure through derivative products on Aug. 11. Ether now appears to be off the table; Friday’s bitcoin-only filing said it “replaces” the original.
• While certain ETFs are now on the fund’s whitelist, it still cannot invest directly in digital assets – likely because of regulatory concerns.
• The new filing indicates that Neuberger Berman – a $400 billion asset manager – is eyeing crypto investments if not already participating in the market.
Read more:Neuberger Berman Greenlights Indirect Crypto Investments for Commodities Fund
• Bitcoin on Longest Weekly Winning Run in 9 Months Ahead of Jackson Hole Symposium
• Bitcoin Approaches Resistance Near $50K-$55K
• Bitcoin Tops $50K for First Time in 3 Months
• Crypto Long & Short: When China Spoke, Bitcoin Reacted. America? Not So Much || Here's How Much Dave Portnoy's $40,000 SafeMoon Investment Is Worth Now: In May, Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports,announcedhis entrance into the “sh*tcoin” space with a $40,000 investment inSafeMoon(CRYPTO: SAFEMOON).
Since then, the cryptocurrency market has been on a tumultuous path back to a $2 trillion market cap.
But is Dave safely on the Moon yet?
WhileBitcoin(CRYPTO: BTC),Ethereum(CRYPTO: ETH),Cardano(CRYPTO: ADA), and many other crypto projects have seen their tokens taking off recently, Portnoy’s SafeMoon hasn’t fared quite as well.
You could pick up 1,000,000 SafeMoon tokens for around $7 at the time of Portnoy’s announcement. Today, you can be a SafeMoon millionaire for just over $2.
Image: CoinMarketCap
On August 18, Dave confirmed on Twitter that he has diamond hands and is still holding his 4.56 billion SafeMoon tokens.
While Dave may have started with $40,000, his bag is now worth a whopping $7,165.
Portnoy’s SafeMoon shenanigans cost him $32,835, but at least he can say he’s a crypto billionaire.
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© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Here's How Much Dave Portnoy's $40,000 SafeMoon Investment Is Worth Now: In May, Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, announced his entrance into the “sh*tcoin” space with a $40,000 investment in SafeMoon (CRYPTO: SAFEMOON). Since then, the cryptocurrency market has been on a tumultuous path back to a $2 trillion market cap. But is Dave safely on the Moon yet? While Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA), and many other crypto projects have seen their tokens taking off recently, Portnoy’s SafeMoon hasn’t fared quite as well. You could pick up 1,000,000 SafeMoon tokens for around $7 at the time of Portnoy’s announcement. Today, you can be a SafeMoon millionaire for just over $2. Image: CoinMarketCap On August 18, Dave confirmed on Twitter that he has diamond hands and is still holding his 4.56 billion SafeMoon tokens. While Dave may have started with $40,000, his bag is now worth a whopping $7,165. #safemoon https://t.co/B6X6bBQxWj pic.twitter.com/NXnTNNsFsI — Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) August 18, 2021 Portnoy’s SafeMoon shenanigans cost him $32,835, but at least he can say he’s a crypto billionaire. See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Here's How Much You Can Earn Staking Voyager's Brand New VGX 2.0 Token © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Binance Suspends Futures in Brazil Citing Regulatory Requirements: Crypto exchange Binance suspended the trading of futures contracts on its Brazilian platform on Friday to comply with local regulations.
Brazilian customers can still trade futures, options, margin products and leveraged tokens, as long as they access the products through the English site, but Binance has stopped marketing its derivatives products, the exchange confirmed through an external spokesperson.
The news wasfirst reportedby Brazilian crypto media outlet Portal do Bitcoin.
Related:Binance Hires Former Abu Dhabi Global Market Head as Singapore CEO
“To respect the Brazilian order, Binance implemented restrictions on our website and stopped marketing on the derivatives products. If there are new changes, we will evaluate and proactively engage with the relevant stakeholders to find the optimal solutions for the local users. We will share more information if and when we have a decision and are ready to announce,” Binance told CoinDesk.
Brazil’s National Securities Commission (CVM) had asked Binance to suspend futures in July 2020, because the exchange was operating with no authorization, Brazilian crypto media site Livecoinsreported.
Binance hastightenedits know-your-customer requirements worldwide after regulators in a number of different countries announced investigations into the company.
Brazil is moving to regulate cryptocurrencies more closely. At an online event held on Thursday, Brazilian Central Bank President Roberto Campos Netosaidthat the central bank and CVM are discussing the regulation of cryptocurrencies.
Related:Binance Tightens Customer Verification Requirements
During the event, which was promoted by the Council of the Americas, Campos Neto said that in emerging marketsbitcoinandethereumare more explored as investments than as payments, while he emphasized the growth in interest in stablecoins.
“It is important to report that this arises from a need that people have for payments to be fast, open, secure and with transparency in all senses,” he said.
• Binance.US Taps Joshua Sroge to Be Interim CEO
• Binance Extends Restrictions on Derivatives Offering in Australia || Binance Suspends Futures in Brazil Citing Regulatory Requirements: Crypto exchange Binance suspended the trading of futures contracts on its Brazilian platform on Friday to comply with local regulations. Brazilian customers can still trade futures, options, margin products and leveraged tokens, as long as they access the products through the English site, but Binance has stopped marketing its derivatives products, the exchange confirmed through an external spokesperson. The news was first reported by Brazilian crypto media outlet Portal do Bitcoin. Related: Binance Hires Former Abu Dhabi Global Market Head as Singapore CEO To respect the Brazilian order, Binance implemented restrictions on our website and stopped marketing on the derivatives products. If there are new changes, we will evaluate and proactively engage with the relevant stakeholders to find the optimal solutions for the local users. We will share more information if and when we have a decision and are ready to announce, Binance told CoinDesk. Brazils National Securities Commission (CVM) had asked Binance to suspend futures in July 2020, because the exchange was operating with no authorization, Brazilian crypto media site Livecoins reported . Binance has tightened its know-your-customer requirements worldwide after regulators in a number of different countries announced investigations into the company. More regulations ahead Brazil is moving to regulate cryptocurrencies more closely. At an online event held on Thursday, Brazilian Central Bank President Roberto Campos Neto said that the central bank and CVM are discussing the regulation of cryptocurrencies. Related: Binance Tightens Customer Verification Requirements During the event, which was promoted by the Council of the Americas, Campos Neto said that in emerging markets bitcoin and ethereum are more explored as investments than as payments, while he emphasized the growth in interest in stablecoins. It is important to report that this arises from a need that people have for payments to be fast, open, secure and with transparency in all senses, he said. Related Stories Binance.US Taps Joshua Sroge to Be Interim CEO Binance Extends Restrictions on Derivatives Offering in Australia || Binance.US Is Closing Funding Round With 'Top Level Investors': CEO Changpeng Zhao: Binance.US — the United States crypto trading entity of the world's top cryptocurrency exchange Binance — is purportedly about to close a funding round with world-class investors.
What Happened:According to a Thursday Bloombergreport, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said its United States-based subsidiary is seeing "significant interest from top-level investors" that "expect they will close a round shortly."
He claims that the platform "will have a diverse cap table with reputable investors and an independent board with proper governance, including the addition of new outside investors and independent members."
Brian Brooks, former Binance.US CEO that recentlyresigned, was reportedly looking to raise at least $100 million from investors.
Read also:Coinbase Prepares For Crypto Winter With B War Chest Of Cash Reserves
Binance.US' bigger brother Binance Global recently found itself in trouble as multiple regulators around the world are limiting its activities.
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authorityorderedthe cryptocurrency exchange to stop its activities in the United Kingdom, while the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)suggestedthat the exchange may have broken the law with its tokenized stocks initiative.
Why It Matters:International regulators tasked with preventing money laundering are also increasingly scrutinizing the exchange.
In an attempt to comply with regulations, the exchange announced earlier today that it will impose know-your-client checks on its whole user base.
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• Bitcoin's Rise Faces A 'Rare Confluence Of Technical Obstacles'
• Peter Schiff Admits That He Regrets Not Buying Bitcoin
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Binance.US Is Closing Funding Round With 'Top Level Investors': CEO Changpeng Zhao: Binance.US the United States crypto trading entity of the world's top cryptocurrency exchange Binance is purportedly about to close a funding round with world-class investors. What Happened: According to a Thursday Bloomberg report , Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said its United States-based subsidiary is seeing "significant interest from top-level investors" that "expect they will close a round shortly." He claims that the platform "will have a diverse cap table with reputable investors and an independent board with proper governance, including the addition of new outside investors and independent members." Brian Brooks, former Binance.US CEO that recently resigned , was reportedly looking to raise at least $100 million from investors. Read also: Coinbase Prepares For Crypto Winter With B War Chest Of Cash Reserves Binance.US' bigger brother Binance Global recently found itself in trouble as multiple regulators around the world are limiting its activities. Britains Financial Conduct Authority ordered the cryptocurrency exchange to stop its activities in the United Kingdom, while the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) suggested that the exchange may have broken the law with its tokenized stocks initiative. Why It Matters: International regulators tasked with preventing money laundering are also increasingly scrutinizing the exchange. In an attempt to comply with regulations, the exchange announced earlier today that it will impose know-your-client checks on its whole user base. See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Bitcoin's Rise Faces A 'Rare Confluence Of Technical Obstacles' Peter Schiff Admits That He Regrets Not Buying Bitcoin © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || UPDATE 1-U.S. dollar net long bets slip in latest week -CFTC, Reuters data: (Adds table, details, byline, bitcoin futures) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. dollar net longs slid in the latest week, according to Reuters calculations and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the net long dollar position declined to $1.06 billion in the week ended Aug. 17, from $3.08 billion in the previous week. U.S. dollar positioning has been net long for five straight weeks after staying net short for 16 months. U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound and Swiss franc, as well as the Canadian and Australian dollars. In a broader measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the greenback posted a net long position of $796 million, down from $2.993 billion the previous week. Despite the dip in U.S. dollar net long positioning, the greenback remained supported overall by Delta coronavirus variant concerns and expectations that the Federal Reserve could taper asset purchases under its quantitative easing program by the end of the year. The dollar this week posted a 1% gain, the most in two months. "Overall dollar positioning still remains relatively noncommittally small bullish," Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank, wrote in a report after the CFTC data. "The strong performance in the U.S. dollar in the Wednesday to Friday period, not covered in the data in this report, would nevertheless suggest next week's figures will see a move in the U.S. dollar position in the opposite direction," he added. The largest positioning change was in the euro, with net longs rising to 57,640 contracts this week, from 33,857 previously. In the cryptocurrency market, bitcoin net shorts fell to 726 contracts, in the week ended Aug. 17, from net short contracts of 1,104 the previous week. This week's bitcoin shorts were the smallest since late March 2020. Bitcoin continues to recover from the doldrums of the past few months. On Friday, it hit a three-month high of $49,163.98 . From a six-month low hit in June, bitcoin has gained 67% of its value against the dollar. Still the prospect of increased regulatory scrutiny globally has cast a somewhat dark shadow on bitcoin's outlook and the overall crypto sector. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $7.211 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 27,532 36,684 Short 90,740 97,341 Net -63,208 -60,657 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $-8.436 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 233,529 212,809 Short 175,889 178,952 Net 57,640 33,857 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $-0.399 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 41,898 44,750 Short 37,247 37,680 Net 4,651 7,070 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $-0.758 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 14,354 18,537 Short 8,807 8,859 Net 5,547 9,678 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $-0.211 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 46,499 45,445 Short 43,839 38,980 Net 2,660 6,465 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $3.651 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 64,169 57,323 Short 114,536 106,636 Net -50,367 -49,313 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $0.478 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 76,530 69,818 Short 95,647 93,705 Net -19,117 -23,887 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $0.016 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 16,674 17,295 Short 16,909 18,327 Net -235 -1,032 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) || UPDATE 1-U.S. dollar net long bets slip in latest week -CFTC, Reuters data: (Adds table, details, byline, bitcoin futures) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. dollar net longs slid in the latest week, according to Reuters calculations and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the net long dollar position declined to $1.06 billion in the week ended Aug. 17, from $3.08 billion in the previous week. U.S. dollar positioning has been net long for five straight weeks after staying net short for 16 months. U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound and Swiss franc, as well as the Canadian and Australian dollars. In a broader measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the greenback posted a net long position of $796 million, down from $2.993 billion the previous week. Despite the dip in U.S. dollar net long positioning, the greenback remained supported overall by Delta coronavirus variant concerns and expectations that the Federal Reserve could taper asset purchases under its quantitative easing program by the end of the year. The dollar this week posted a 1% gain, the most in two months. "Overall dollar positioning still remains relatively noncommittally small bullish," Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank, wrote in a report after the CFTC data. "The strong performance in the U.S. dollar in the Wednesday to Friday period, not covered in the data in this report, would nevertheless suggest next week's figures will see a move in the U.S. dollar position in the opposite direction," he added. The largest positioning change was in the euro, with net longs rising to 57,640 contracts this week, from 33,857 previously. In the cryptocurrency market, bitcoin net shorts fell to 726 contracts, in the week ended Aug. 17, from net short contracts of 1,104 the previous week. This week's bitcoin shorts were the smallest since late March 2020. Bitcoin continues to recover from the doldrums of the past few months. On Friday, it hit a three-month high of $49,163.98 . From a six-month low hit in June, bitcoin has gained 67% of its value against the dollar. Still the prospect of increased regulatory scrutiny globally has cast a somewhat dark shadow on bitcoin's outlook and the overall crypto sector. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $7.211 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 27,532 36,684 Short 90,740 97,341 Net -63,208 -60,657 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $-8.436 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 233,529 212,809 Short 175,889 178,952 Net 57,640 33,857 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $-0.399 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 41,898 44,750 Short 37,247 37,680 Net 4,651 7,070 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $-0.758 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 14,354 18,537 Short 8,807 8,859 Net 5,547 9,678 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $-0.211 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 46,499 45,445 Short 43,839 38,980 Net 2,660 6,465 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $3.651 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 64,169 57,323 Short 114,536 106,636 Net -50,367 -49,313 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $0.478 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 76,530 69,818 Short 95,647 93,705 Net -19,117 -23,887 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $0.016 billion 17 Aug 2021 Prior week week Long 16,674 17,295 Short 16,909 18,327 Net -235 -1,032 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) View comments || Stock Market Today: Stocks Snap Skid But Suffer Weekly Loss: Humorous concept art of a businessman sitting on a rebounding stock price arrow Getty Images The major indexes finished solidly in the green Friday, but those gains weren't enough to prevent the stock benchmarks from ending in the red on a weekly basis. Today's broad-based advance was led primarily by the technology (+1.3%) and utilities (+1.2%) sectors; even the energy sector stabilized, rising 0.2% despite a 2.2% decline in U.S. crude oil futures to $62.32 per barrel. Friday's action marked the seventh straight down session for crude, bringing its weekly loss to roughly 9%. SEE MORE Free Special Report: Kiplinger’s Top 25 Income Investments A dearth of economic data on the calendar allowed investors to focus on buying the dip, while an appearance by Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan on Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria" might also have boosted sentiment. The typically hawkish central banker called the COVID-19 delta variant "the big imponderable," and said he might "adjust" his outlook should it begin to negatively impact the economy. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.2% to 14,714, the S&P 500 gained 0.8% to 4,441 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 35,120. For the week, however, the Nasdaq slipped 0.7%, the S&P gave back 0.6% and the Dow slumped 1.1%. Sign up for Kiplinger's FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice. Other news in the stock market today: Cloud-based data storage firm Snowflake ( SNOW , -4.6%), a Warren Buffett holding , dipped following a note from Cleveland Research warning about competition from Google parent Alphabet ( GOOGL ) and noting that the firm's partners "are seeing sales cycles elongate on increased competition from hyperscalers." Nvidia ( NVDA , +5.1%) climbed for a second consecutive day following a second-quarter earnings beat. Gold futures eked out a marginal gain to settle at $1,784.00 per ounce. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropped sharply, retreating 14.6% to 18.51. Bitcoin prices had a fruitful day, advancing 4.2% to $48,655.32. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day.) Story continues stock chart for 082021 YCharts Will Small Caps Get Back Into Shape? Friday also offered relief for investors in smaller companies. The small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 (+1.7% to 2,167) outperformed the major indexes through the first quarter of 2021 amid sky-high, vaccine-fueled hopes for a robust economic rebound. However, delta variant concerns have since cooled off the small-stock barometer, causing it to lag its larger-cap peers for months. SEE MORE Penny Stocks: Why You Should Always Stay Away But some observers say an opportunity in smaller firms may be arising once more. "From our view, this cyclical and small-cap underperformance is a temporary stumble," says Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. "The strong labor market recovery is producing gains in hours worked and wages, which should combine for rising income and spending. We see the delta variant as not leading to the severe level of lockdowns that the initial COVID surge produced. And we do not expect the upcoming tapering process to disrupt markets or the economy. Continue to lean into the recovery." Wall Street’s stock-picking pros have sounded off too, giving their seals of approval to a number of small-cap stocks , thanks to their generally superior growth prospects. Happily, small caps can offer much more than just growth. For example, these six companies bring a considerable income proposition to the table as well. The small-cap space also offers a wealth of options for value investors. True, these 10 small-cap value stocks might struggle if America's COVID issues persist, but they’re also spring-loaded for outperformance once the country appears poised to turn the tables for good. Kyle Woodley was long NVDA as of this writing. SEE MORE 11 Best Tech Stocks for the Rest of 2021 You may also like Your Guide to Roth Conversions Strategies to Deal with Potential Capital Gains Tax Increases 6 Small-Cap Dividend Stocks to Buy Now || Stock Market Today: Stocks Snap Skid But Suffer Weekly Loss: Humorous concept art of a businessman sitting on a rebounding stock price arrow Getty Images The major indexes finished solidly in the green Friday, but those gains weren't enough to prevent the stock benchmarks from ending in the red on a weekly basis. Today's broad-based advance was led primarily by the technology (+1.3%) and utilities (+1.2%) sectors; even the energy sector stabilized, rising 0.2% despite a 2.2% decline in U.S. crude oil futures to $62.32 per barrel. Friday's action marked the seventh straight down session for crude, bringing its weekly loss to roughly 9%. SEE MORE Free Special Report: Kiplinger’s Top 25 Income Investments A dearth of economic data on the calendar allowed investors to focus on buying the dip, while an appearance by Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan on Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria" might also have boosted sentiment. The typically hawkish central banker called the COVID-19 delta variant "the big imponderable," and said he might "adjust" his outlook should it begin to negatively impact the economy. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.2% to 14,714, the S&P 500 gained 0.8% to 4,441 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 35,120. For the week, however, the Nasdaq slipped 0.7%, the S&P gave back 0.6% and the Dow slumped 1.1%. Sign up for Kiplinger's FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice. Other news in the stock market today: Cloud-based data storage firm Snowflake ( SNOW , -4.6%), a Warren Buffett holding , dipped following a note from Cleveland Research warning about competition from Google parent Alphabet ( GOOGL ) and noting that the firm's partners "are seeing sales cycles elongate on increased competition from hyperscalers." Nvidia ( NVDA , +5.1%) climbed for a second consecutive day following a second-quarter earnings beat. Gold futures eked out a marginal gain to settle at $1,784.00 per ounce. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropped sharply, retreating 14.6% to 18.51. Bitcoin prices had a fruitful day, advancing 4.2% to $48,655.32. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day.) Story continues stock chart for 082021 YCharts Will Small Caps Get Back Into Shape? Friday also offered relief for investors in smaller companies. The small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 (+1.7% to 2,167) outperformed the major indexes through the first quarter of 2021 amid sky-high, vaccine-fueled hopes for a robust economic rebound. However, delta variant concerns have since cooled off the small-stock barometer, causing it to lag its larger-cap peers for months. SEE MORE Penny Stocks: Why You Should Always Stay Away But some observers say an opportunity in smaller firms may be arising once more. "From our view, this cyclical and small-cap underperformance is a temporary stumble," says Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. "The strong labor market recovery is producing gains in hours worked and wages, which should combine for rising income and spending. We see the delta variant as not leading to the severe level of lockdowns that the initial COVID surge produced. And we do not expect the upcoming tapering process to disrupt markets or the economy. Continue to lean into the recovery." Wall Street’s stock-picking pros have sounded off too, giving their seals of approval to a number of small-cap stocks , thanks to their generally superior growth prospects. Happily, small caps can offer much more than just growth. For example, these six companies bring a considerable income proposition to the table as well. The small-cap space also offers a wealth of options for value investors. True, these 10 small-cap value stocks might struggle if America's COVID issues persist, but they’re also spring-loaded for outperformance once the country appears poised to turn the tables for good. Kyle Woodley was long NVDA as of this writing. SEE MORE 11 Best Tech Stocks for the Rest of 2021 You may also like Your Guide to Roth Conversions Strategies to Deal with Potential Capital Gains Tax Increases 6 Small-Cap Dividend Stocks to Buy Now || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rallies Ahead of $50K Resistance: Cryptocurrencies are ending the week on a strong note as bitcoinbroke above $48,000for the first time since May. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is up about 4% over the past 24 hours and could face resistance near $50,000-$55,000 heading into the weekend.
On Thursday, Coinbase announced that it will purchase more than $500 million in cryptocurrencies to add to its holdings. The crypto exchange’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, alsotweetedthat Coinbase will invest 10% “of all profit going forward in crypto.”
The Coinbase announcement encouraged bitcoin buyers to return at the $45,000 support level. Bitcoin’s price jump also coincided with stabilization in equity markets after a pullback earlier this week.
Related:Bitcoin on Longest Weekly Winning Run in 9 Months Ahead of Jackson Hole Symposium
Cryptocurrencies:
• Bitcoin(BTC) $48,634, +4.1%
• Ether(ETH) $3,248. +4.2%
Traditional markets:
• S&P 500: 4441.7, +0.81%
• Gold: $1782.5, +0.2%
• 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.259%, compared with 1.245% on Thursday.
Several analysts noted that extreme overbought conditions have unwound since April, which is providing support for the crypto rally.
“Right now, bitcoin and other cryptos have enjoyed technical support (as they were becoming mildly oversold),”Santiago Espinosa, a strategist at MRB Partners, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.
Related:Bitcoin Approaches Resistance Near $50K-$55K
“At this juncture, some cryptos can continue to do well if policymakers neglect inflationary pressures and regulatory issues don’t become a mainstream problem,” Espinosa wrote.
Bitcoin’s negative correlation with gold intensified over the past few months as inflation expectations eased. Gold is down roughly 6% year to date, compared with a 65% gain in bitcoin over the same period.
The correlation between bitcoin and the iShares long-duration Treasury bond exchange-traded fund (TLT) briefly turned positive in July as the crypto selloff stabilized. Lately, bitcoin’s relief rally has coincided with a pickup in the 10-year Treasury bond yield, which stalled near the 1.40% resistance level.
The growth in bitcoin futures volume relative to spot volume could reflect greater participation from sophisticated traders. “Over the last year, futures and perpetual swaps have become the most popular financial instruments in crypto,”tweetedDelphi Digital. Futures and perpetual futures account for over 60% of total daily bitcoin volume.
Perpetuals are gaining ground relative to spot market activity and are quickly becoming the prime source of price discovery, according to Delphi.
Bitcoin perpetual swaps are a type of derivative in cryptocurrency markets similar to futures contracts in traditional markets.
Delphi also noticed a similar trend in ether, although spot markets still play a larger role than futures markets with that crypto.
The bitcoin miners’ positioning index (MPI) has flattened over the past two weeks. The MPI tracks whether miners are shifting their BTC positions higher or lower.
The sideways movement in MPI suggests that “profit-taking by miners is clearly slowing along with the stagnation of the price increase,” CryptoQuant wrote in a Fridayblog post.
CryptoQuant expects a downward price adjustment in BTC before a decisive move above the $50,000 price level. A breakout in price could encourage miners to build positions.
• Cardano hits all-time high:Cardano (ADA), the native cryptocurrency powering the Cardano public blockchain, hashita fresh all-time high and has surpassed Binance’s native token in total market capitalization, CoinDesk’s Sebastian Sinclair reports. It would appear the Alonzo upgrade is having a significant impact on investor sentiment. The upgrade seeks to usher in smart-contract functionality and address what critics have described as one of the network’s most glaring deficiencies.
• Solana’s Luna Yield goes dark:Decentralized finance protocol Luna Yield has gone offline. Luna’s website and all of its social media accounts have been taken down, according to SolPad, an initial digital offering (IDO) platform for the Solana blockchain. Some are attributing the move offline to a rug pull. A rug pull occurs when the creators of a project take off with investors’ funds. While no official confirmation has been given, the move would mark the first rug pull of its kind on Solana. An anonymous source told CoinDesk over $6.7 million in assets had been taken. The amount has been verified by CoinDesk via the SOL scanblock explorer.
• OKEx establishes $10 million fund for GameFi projects:Crypto exchange OKEx saidit is launchinga $10 million fund to help develop GameFi, or “play-to-earn,” projects. The cash will come from the exchange’s $100 million OKEx BlockDream Ventures fund, which invests in blockchain projects, the company said. GameFi introduces financial mechanisms into video games, allowing users to make money by playing.
• Coinbase to Add Over $500M in Crypto to Current Holdings
• VanEck, ProShares Abruptly Withdraw Ether Futures ETF Proposals
• Argo Blockchain Files for Nasdaq Share Listing
• NFT-Focused Topps Abandons Plan to Go Public in SPAC Merger
• BlackRock Has Almost $400M Invested in Bitcoin Mining Stocks: Report
• Liquid Exchange Attack: Can a Crypto Wallet Ever Be 100% Safe From Hacks?
• Binance Tightens Customer Verification Requirements
All digital assets on CoinDesk 20 ended up higher on Friday.
Notable winners of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
polygon(MATIC) +7.63%
the Graph(GRT) +7.42%
algorand(ALGO) +7.27%
• Cardano Alonzo Hard Fork: What You Need to Know
• Coinbase Says USDC Reserves to Be Held In Cash, Short-Term Treasurys From September || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rallies Ahead of $50K Resistance: Cryptocurrencies are ending the week on a strong note as bitcoin broke above $48,000 for the first time since May. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is up about 4% over the past 24 hours and could face resistance near $50,000-$55,000 heading into the weekend. On Thursday, Coinbase announced that it will purchase more than $500 million in cryptocurrencies to add to its holdings. The crypto exchange’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, also tweeted that Coinbase will invest 10% “of all profit going forward in crypto.” The Coinbase announcement encouraged bitcoin buyers to return at the $45,000 support level. Bitcoin’s price jump also coincided with stabilization in equity markets after a pullback earlier this week. Latest prices Related: Bitcoin on Longest Weekly Winning Run in 9 Months Ahead of Jackson Hole Symposium Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC) $48,634, +4.1% Ether (ETH) $3,248. +4.2% Traditional markets: S&P 500: 4441.7, +0.81% Gold: $1782.5, +0.2% 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.259%, compared with 1.245% on Thursday. Several analysts noted that extreme overbought conditions have unwound since April, which is providing support for the crypto rally. “Right now, bitcoin and other cryptos have enjoyed technical support (as they were becoming mildly oversold),” Santiago Espinosa , a strategist at MRB Partners, wrote in an email to CoinDesk. Related: Bitcoin Approaches Resistance Near $50K-$55K “At this juncture, some cryptos can continue to do well if policymakers neglect inflationary pressures and regulatory issues don’t become a mainstream problem,” Espinosa wrote. Bitcoin correlations Bitcoin’s negative correlation with gold intensified over the past few months as inflation expectations eased. Gold is down roughly 6% year to date, compared with a 65% gain in bitcoin over the same period. The correlation between bitcoin and the iShares long-duration Treasury bond exchange-traded fund (TLT) briefly turned positive in July as the crypto selloff stabilized. Lately, bitcoin’s relief rally has coincided with a pickup in the 10-year Treasury bond yield, which stalled near the 1.40% resistance level. Story continues Growing futures volume The growth in bitcoin futures volume relative to spot volume could reflect greater participation from sophisticated traders. “Over the last year, futures and perpetual swaps have become the most popular financial instruments in crypto,” tweeted Delphi Digital. Futures and perpetual futures account for over 60% of total daily bitcoin volume. Perpetuals are gaining ground relative to spot market activity and are quickly becoming the prime source of price discovery, according to Delphi. Bitcoin perpetual swaps are a type of derivative in cryptocurrency markets similar to futures contracts in traditional markets. Delphi also noticed a similar trend in ether, although spot markets still play a larger role than futures markets with that crypto. Miner positioning The bitcoin miners’ positioning index (MPI) has flattened over the past two weeks. The MPI tracks whether miners are shifting their BTC positions higher or lower. The sideways movement in MPI suggests that “profit-taking by miners is clearly slowing along with the stagnation of the price increase,” CryptoQuant wrote in a Friday blog post . CryptoQuant expects a downward price adjustment in BTC before a decisive move above the $50,000 price level. A breakout in price could encourage miners to build positions. Altcoin roundup Cardano hits all-time high: Cardano (ADA), the native cryptocurrency powering the Cardano public blockchain, has hit a fresh all-time high and has surpassed Binance’s native token in total market capitalization, CoinDesk’s Sebastian Sinclair reports. It would appear the Alonzo upgrade is having a significant impact on investor sentiment. The upgrade seeks to usher in smart-contract functionality and address what critics have described as one of the network’s most glaring deficiencies. Solana’s Luna Yield goes dark: Decentralized finance protocol Luna Yield has gone offline. Luna’s website and all of its social media accounts have been taken down, according to SolPad, an initial digital offering (IDO) platform for the Solana blockchain. Some are attributing the move offline to a rug pull. A rug pull occurs when the creators of a project take off with investors’ funds. While no official confirmation has been given, the move would mark the first rug pull of its kind on Solana. An anonymous source told CoinDesk over $6.7 million in assets had been taken. The amount has been verified by CoinDesk via the SOL scan block explorer . OKEx establishes $10 million fund for GameFi projects: Crypto exchange OKEx said it is launching a $10 million fund to help develop GameFi, or “play-to-earn,” projects. The cash will come from the exchange’s $100 million OKEx BlockDream Ventures fund, which invests in blockchain projects, the company said. GameFi introduces financial mechanisms into video games, allowing users to make money by playing. Relevant news: Coinbase to Add Over $500M in Crypto to Current Holdings VanEck, ProShares Abruptly Withdraw Ether Futures ETF Proposals Argo Blockchain Files for Nasdaq Share Listing NFT-Focused Topps Abandons Plan to Go Public in SPAC Merger BlackRock Has Almost $400M Invested in Bitcoin Mining Stocks: Report Liquid Exchange Attack: Can a Crypto Wallet Ever Be 100% Safe From Hacks? Binance Tightens Customer Verification Requirements Other markets All digital assets on CoinDesk 20 ended up higher on Friday. Notable winners of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): polygon (MATIC) +7.63% the Graph (GRT) +7.42% algorand (ALGO) +7.27% Related Stories Cardano Alonzo Hard Fork: What You Need to Know Coinbase Says USDC Reserves to Be Held In Cash, Short-Term Treasurys From September || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rallies Ahead of $50K Resistance: Cryptocurrencies are ending the week on a strong note as bitcoinbroke above $48,000for the first time since May. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is up about 4% over the past 24 hours and could face resistance near $50,000-$55,000 heading into the weekend.
On Thursday, Coinbase announced that it will purchase more than $500 million in cryptocurrencies to add to its holdings. The crypto exchange’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, alsotweetedthat Coinbase will invest 10% “of all profit going forward in crypto.”
The Coinbase announcement encouraged bitcoin buyers to return at the $45,000 support level. Bitcoin’s price jump also coincided with stabilization in equity markets after a pullback earlier this week.
Related:Bitcoin on Longest Weekly Winning Run in 9 Months Ahead of Jackson Hole Symposium
Cryptocurrencies:
• Bitcoin(BTC) $48,634, +4.1%
• Ether(ETH) $3,248. +4.2%
Traditional markets:
• S&P 500: 4441.7, +0.81%
• Gold: $1782.5, +0.2%
• 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.259%, compared with 1.245% on Thursday.
Several analysts noted that extreme overbought conditions have unwound since April, which is providing support for the crypto rally.
“Right now, bitcoin and other cryptos have enjoyed technical support (as they were becoming mildly oversold),”Santiago Espinosa, a strategist at MRB Partners, wrote in an email to CoinDesk.
Related:Bitcoin Approaches Resistance Near $50K-$55K
“At this juncture, some cryptos can continue to do well if policymakers neglect inflationary pressures and regulatory issues don’t become a mainstream problem,” Espinosa wrote.
Bitcoin’s negative correlation with gold intensified over the past few months as inflation expectations eased. Gold is down roughly 6% year to date, compared with a 65% gain in bitcoin over the same period.
The correlation between bitcoin and the iShares long-duration Treasury bond exchange-traded fund (TLT) briefly turned positive in July as the crypto selloff stabilized. Lately, bitcoin’s relief rally has coincided with a pickup in the 10-year Treasury bond yield, which stalled near the 1.40% resistance level.
The growth in bitcoin futures volume relative to spot volume could reflect greater participation from sophisticated traders. “Over the last year, futures and perpetual swaps have become the most popular financial instruments in crypto,”tweetedDelphi Digital. Futures and perpetual futures account for over 60% of total daily bitcoin volume.
Perpetuals are gaining ground relative to spot market activity and are quickly becoming the prime source of price discovery, according to Delphi.
Bitcoin perpetual swaps are a type of derivative in cryptocurrency markets similar to futures contracts in traditional markets.
Delphi also noticed a similar trend in ether, although spot markets still play a larger role than futures markets with that crypto.
The bitcoin miners’ positioning index (MPI) has flattened over the past two weeks. The MPI tracks whether miners are shifting their BTC positions higher or lower.
The sideways movement in MPI suggests that “profit-taking by miners is clearly slowing along with the stagnation of the price increase,” CryptoQuant wrote in a Fridayblog post.
CryptoQuant expects a downward price adjustment in BTC before a decisive move above the $50,000 price level. A breakout in price could encourage miners to build positions.
• Cardano hits all-time high:Cardano (ADA), the native cryptocurrency powering the Cardano public blockchain, hashita fresh all-time high and has surpassed Binance’s native token in total market capitalization, CoinDesk’s Sebastian Sinclair reports. It would appear the Alonzo upgrade is having a significant impact on investor sentiment. The upgrade seeks to usher in smart-contract functionality and address what critics have described as one of the network’s most glaring deficiencies.
• Solana’s Luna Yield goes dark:Decentralized finance protocol Luna Yield has gone offline. Luna’s website and all of its social media accounts have been taken down, according to SolPad, an initial digital offering (IDO) platform for the Solana blockchain. Some are attributing the move offline to a rug pull. A rug pull occurs when the creators of a project take off with investors’ funds. While no official confirmation has been given, the move would mark the first rug pull of its kind on Solana. An anonymous source told CoinDesk over $6.7 million in assets had been taken. The amount has been verified by CoinDesk via the SOL scanblock explorer.
• OKEx establishes $10 million fund for GameFi projects:Crypto exchange OKEx saidit is launchinga $10 million fund to help develop GameFi, or “play-to-earn,” projects. The cash will come from the exchange’s $100 million OKEx BlockDream Ventures fund, which invests in blockchain projects, the company said. GameFi introduces financial mechanisms into video games, allowing users to make money by playing.
• Coinbase to Add Over $500M in Crypto to Current Holdings
• VanEck, ProShares Abruptly Withdraw Ether Futures ETF Proposals
• Argo Blockchain Files for Nasdaq Share Listing
• NFT-Focused Topps Abandons Plan to Go Public in SPAC Merger
• BlackRock Has Almost $400M Invested in Bitcoin Mining Stocks: Report
• Liquid Exchange Attack: Can a Crypto Wallet Ever Be 100% Safe From Hacks?
• Binance Tightens Customer Verification Requirements
All digital assets on CoinDesk 20 ended up higher on Friday.
Notable winners of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
polygon(MATIC) +7.63%
the Graph(GRT) +7.42%
algorand(ALGO) +7.27%
• Cardano Alonzo Hard Fork: What You Need to Know
• Coinbase Says USDC Reserves to Be Held In Cash, Short-Term Treasurys From September || Stock market news live updates: Stocks end Friday's session higher but S&P 500 posts weekly loss: Stocks traded higher on Friday, shaking off losses from earlier this week. Investors considered the latest batch of earnings and economic data and continued to contemplate the path forward for monetary policy. The S&P 500 rose for the day, but still posted a weekly decline for the first time in three weeks. Both the Nasdaq and Dow also moved to the upside during Friday's session. Traders this week have watched a number of market concerns unfold, with infections related to the Delta variant continuing to climb and the Federal Reserve suggesting in its latest meeting minutes that officials believed the economy might recover enough by the end of the year to warrant a shift in their massive asset purchase program. New weekly jobless claims fell more than expected to a fresh pandemic-era low, signaling a notable step forward in the labor market's recovery. Meanwhile, corporate earnings results have come in mostly robustly, though many companies have highlighted supply chain constraints and input price increases as potential ongoing headwinds. Manufacturing bellwether Deere ( DE ) beat estimates for fiscal third-quarter results and raised its full-year profit guidance, but the company noted these results came "while enduring significant supply-chain pressures." FootLocker ( FL ) also posted results that exceeded estimates Friday morning as more foot traffic returned, though the retailer also highlighted that it continues "to keep a close eye on the business, including temporary store closures and supply chain challenges, and we remain disciplined with expense management." "There are a lot of risks out there right now. First of all, the market is looking stretched from a valuation perspective. It's continued to make record highs, even amidst some of the volatility that we've seen," Megan Horneman, director of portfolio strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors, told Yahoo Finance. "But we do have some economic concerns right now, just from the supply chain perspective, the inflation perspective. These things are probably going to be a problem for us longer than we had anticipated." Story continues "I think the biggest concern in the equity market would be a taper tantrum," she added. "Interest rates are so stubbornly low. And I think that markets are just waiting there to see if we get some big move higher in interest rates." Others suggested the ultimate market reaction to the Fed's eventual tapering announcement and commencement will be short-lived. "Given recent Fedspeak, and the upcoming Jackson Hold Symposium and September FOMC meeting, the timing of the Fed's reduction of asset purchases has been a widely discussed topic with many of our clients we speak to seemingly convinced that the stock market will have a tantrum once the tapering is announced," Brian Belski, BMO Capital Markets chief investment strategist, said in a note. "For our part, we do not think tapering will cause any sort of prolonged market havoc," he said. "Even when the Fed begins reducing the pace of its bond purchases, the size of its balance sheet will remain very large for quite some time, which should continue to be supportive of U.S. stocks." — 4:07 p.m. ET: Stocks end higher Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:07 p.m. ET: S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : +35.87 (+0.81%) to 4,441.67 Dow ( ^DJI ) : +225.96 (+0.65%) to 35,120.08 Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) : +172.88 (+1.19%) to 14,714.66 Crude ( CL=F ) : -$1.44 (-2.26%) to $62.25 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$1.00 (+0.06%) to $1,784.10 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : +1.8 bps to yield 1.2600% — 12:44 p.m. ET: Bitcoin jumps more than 6% to rise above $48,000 after Coinbase announces $500 million in crypto investments Bitcoin ( BTC ) jumped more than 6.5% to break above $48,000 on Friday after Coinbase Global ( COIN ) announced it was committing to investing $500 million of its cash and cash equivalents into digital currencies and assets. The announcement, made via a blog posted from Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas, went on to specify that the company will also allocate 10% of its quarterly net income into crypto assets. These include ethereum, proof of stake assets, DeFi tokens and other crypto assets in addition to Bitcoin. Ethereum prices rose more than 6% to trade above $3,200. Shares of Coinbase also gained more than 4%. — 10:23 a.m. ET: Expect a sharp rebound in growth once the latest virus spread abates: BofA The spread of the Delta variant both domestically and abroad has weighed heavily on the markets, raising concerns that the virus will once again stem growth. According to Bank of America, the disruptions caused by the Delta variant will likely prove short-lived, and generate yet another reopening-related jump in activity once this latest threat attenuates. "The U.S. slowdown is due to both the surge in COVID cases and severe supply-side constraints," Ethan Harris, global economist for Bank of America Global Research, said in a note. "China's slowdown is mainly due to policy tightening, combined with a slow response to the weaker data. In both instances we expect a return to solid growth starting in 4Q." "While we believe there will be some permanent growth destruction from Delta, it is more a change in the timing of growth, in our view," he added. "Once the Delta threat is reduced and this COVID wave subsides, we should see the return of pent-up spending for leisure services. Some categories will have a bigger bounce than others—perhaps travel more than restaurants/bars, for example—but we should see people reengage in these activities." — 9:30 a.m. ET: Stocks open higher, shaking off pre-market losses The S&P 500 opened slightly higher Friday morning, pushing into positive territory after futures held lower throughout much of the overnight session. The blue-chip index, however, was still on track to post a weekly decline of more than 1%, as the energy, materials and financials sectors lagged. Investors piled ack into defensive sectors over the past week, and the healthcare, utilities and consumer staples sectors outperformed. The Dow also opened a tick above the flat line, and the Nasdaq gained. The 10-year Treasury yield was little changed to hover around 1.24%. — 7:23 a.m. ET: Stock futures point to a lower open Here's where markets were trading ahead of the opening bell: S&P 500 futures ( ES=F ) : -21.25 points (-0.48%) at 4,380.25 Dow futures ( YM=F ) : -165.00 points (-0.47%) to 35,653.00 Nasdaq futures ( NQ=F ): -46.00 points (-0.31%) to 14,882.00 Crude ( CL=F ) : -$0.52 (-0.87%) to $63.17 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$3.90 (+0.22%) to $1,787.00 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : -1.4 bps to yield 1.233% — 6:15 p.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures open slightly higher Here's where markets were trading Thursday evening: S&P 500 futures ( ES=F ) : -1.75 points (-0.04%) at 4,403.25 Dow futures ( YM=F ) : +22 points (+0.06%) to 35,840.00 Nasdaq futures ( NQ=F ): +7.25 points (+0.05%) to 14,935.25 NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 11: The New York Stock Exchange stands in lower Manhattan after global stocks fell as concerns mount that rising inflation will prompt central banks to tighten monetary policy on May 11, 2021 in New York City. By mid afternoon the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had lost 0.6% after falling 2.2% at its session low. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) (Spencer Platt via Getty Images) — Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck Read more from Emily: Inflation: Is it transitory or not? Charlie Munger on Robinhood and GameStop frenzy: 'It's a dirty way to make money' Charlie Munger says Costco 'has one thing that Amazon does not have' Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , Flipboard , LinkedIn , YouTube , and reddit || Stock market news live updates: Stocks end Friday's session higher but S&P 500 posts weekly loss: Stocks traded higher on Friday, shaking off losses from earlier this week. Investors considered the latest batch of earnings and economic data and continued to contemplate the path forward for monetary policy.
The S&P 500 rose for the day, but still posted a weekly decline for the first time in three weeks. Both the Nasdaq and Dow also moved to the upside during Friday's session.
Traders this week have watched a number of market concerns unfold, with infections related to the Delta variant continuing to climb and the Federal Reserve suggesting in its latest meeting minutes that officials believed the economy might recover enough by the end of the year to warrant a shift in their massive asset purchase program. New weekly jobless claims fell more than expected to a fresh pandemic-era low, signaling a notable step forward in the labor market's recovery.
Meanwhile, corporate earnings results have come in mostly robustly, though many companies have highlighted supply chain constraints and input price increases as potential ongoing headwinds. Manufacturing bellwether Deere (DE) beat estimates for fiscal third-quarter results and raised its full-year profit guidance, butthe company noted these resultscame "while enduring significant supply-chain pressures." FootLocker (FL) also posted results that exceeded estimates Friday morning as more foot traffic returned, though the retaileralso highlighted that it continues"to keep a close eye on the business, including temporary store closures and supply chain challenges, and we remain disciplined with expense management."
"There are a lot of risks out there right now. First of all, the market is looking stretched from a valuation perspective. It's continued to make record highs, even amidst some of the volatility that we've seen," Megan Horneman, director of portfolio strategy at Verdence Capital Advisors,told Yahoo Finance."But we do have some economic concerns right now, just from the supply chain perspective, the inflation perspective. These things are probably going to be a problem for us longer than we had anticipated."
"I think the biggest concern in the equity market would be a taper tantrum," she added. "Interest rates are so stubbornly low. And I think that markets are just waiting there to see if we get some big move higher in interest rates."
Others suggested the ultimate market reaction to the Fed's eventual tapering announcement and commencement will be short-lived.
"Given recent Fedspeak, and the upcoming Jackson Hold Symposium and September FOMC meeting, the timing of the Fed's reduction of asset purchases has been a widely discussed topic with many of our clients we speak to seemingly convinced that the stock market will have a tantrum once the tapering is announced," Brian Belski, BMO Capital Markets chief investment strategist, said in a note.
"For our part, we do not think tapering will cause any sort of prolonged market havoc," he said. "Even when the Fed begins reducing the pace of its bond purchases, the size of its balance sheet will remain very large for quite some time, which should continue to be supportive of U.S. stocks."
—
Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:07 p.m. ET:
• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +35.87 (+0.81%) to 4,441.67
• Dow (^DJI): +225.96 (+0.65%) to 35,120.08
• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +172.88 (+1.19%) to 14,714.66
• Crude (CL=F): -$1.44 (-2.26%) to $62.25 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$1.00 (+0.06%) to $1,784.10 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +1.8 bps to yield 1.2600%
—
Bitcoin (BTC) jumped more than 6.5% to break above $48,000 on Friday after Coinbase Global (COIN) announced it was committing to investing $500 million of its cash and cash equivalents into digital currencies and assets.
The announcement, madevia a blog posted from Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas,went on to specify that the company will also allocate 10% of its quarterly net income into crypto assets. These include ethereum, proof of stake assets, DeFi tokens and other crypto assets in addition to Bitcoin.
Ethereum prices rose more than 6% to trade above $3,200. Shares of Coinbase also gained more than 4%.
—
The spread of the Delta variant both domestically and abroad has weighed heavily on the markets, raising concerns that the virus will once again stem growth.
According to Bank of America, the disruptions caused by the Delta variant will likely prove short-lived, and generate yet another reopening-related jump in activity once this latest threat attenuates.
"The U.S. slowdown is due to both the surge in COVID cases and severe supply-side constraints," Ethan Harris, global economist for Bank of America Global Research, said in a note. "China's slowdown is mainly due to policy tightening, combined with a slow response to the weaker data. In both instances we expect a return to solid growth starting in 4Q."
"While we believe there will be some permanent growth destruction from Delta, it is more a change in the timing of growth, in our view," he added. "Once the Delta threat is reduced and this COVID wave subsides, we should see the return of pent-up spending for leisure services. Some categories will have a bigger bounce than others—perhaps travel more than restaurants/bars, for example—but we should see people reengage in these activities."
—
The S&P 500 opened slightly higher Friday morning, pushing into positive territory after futures held lower throughout much of the overnight session. The blue-chip index, however, was still on track to post a weekly decline of more than 1%, as the energy, materials and financials sectors lagged. Investors piled ack into defensive sectors over the past week, and the healthcare, utilities and consumer staples sectors outperformed.
The Dow also opened a tick above the flat line, and the Nasdaq gained. The 10-year Treasury yield was little changed to hover around 1.24%.
—
Here's where markets were trading ahead of the opening bell:
• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): -21.25 points (-0.48%) at 4,380.25
• Dow futures (YM=F): -165.00 points (-0.47%) to 35,653.00
• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F):-46.00 points (-0.31%) to 14,882.00
• Crude (CL=F): -$0.52 (-0.87%) to $63.17 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$3.90 (+0.22%) to $1,787.00 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -1.4 bps to yield 1.233%
—
Here's where markets were trading Thursday evening:
• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): -1.75 points (-0.04%) at 4,403.25
• Dow futures (YM=F): +22 points (+0.06%) to 35,840.00
• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F):+7.25 points (+0.05%) to 14,935.25
—
Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck
Read more from Emily:
• Inflation: Is it transitory or not?
• Charlie Munger on Robinhood and GameStop frenzy: 'It's a dirty way to make money'
• Charlie Munger says Costco 'has one thing that Amazon does not have'
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Follow Yahoo Finance onTwitter,Facebook,Instagram,Flipboard,LinkedIn,YouTube, andreddit
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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49321.65, 49546.15, 47706.12, 48960.79, 46942.22, 49058.67, 48902.40, 48829.83, 47054.98, 47166.69
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 7068.48, 6951.80, 6753.12, 6305.80, 6568.23, 6184.71, 6295.73, 6322.69, 6297.57, 6199.71, 6308.52, 6334.73, 6580.63, 6423.76, 6506.07, 6308.53, 6488.76, 6376.71, 6534.88, 6719.96, 6763.19, 6707.26, 6884.64, 7096.28, 7047.16, 6978.23, 7037.58, 7193.25, 7272.72, 7260.06, 7361.66, 6792.83, 6529.17, 6467.07, 6225.98, 6300.86, 6329.70, 6321.20, 6351.80, 6517.31, 6512.71, 6543.20, 6517.18, 6281.20, 6371.30, 6398.54, 6519.67, 6734.95, 6721.98, 6710.63, 6595.41, 6446.47, 6495.00, 6676.75, 6644.13, 6601.96, 6625.56, 6589.62, 6556.10, 6502.59, 6576.69, 6622.48, 6588.31, 6602.95, 6652.23, 6642.64, 6585.53, 6256.24, 6274.58, 6285.99, 6290.93, 6596.54, 6596.11, 6544.43, 6476.71, 6465.41, 6489.19, 6482.35, 6487.16, 6475.74, 6495.84, 6476.29, 6474.75, 6480.38, 6486.39, 6332.63, 6334.27, 6317.61, 6377.78, 6388.44.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-11-02]
Volume: 4234870000, RSI (14-day): 44.03, 50-day EMA: 6514.90, 200-day EMA: 7096.51
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1230.90, Gold RSI: 56.99
Oil Price: 63.14, Oil RSI: 25.90
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Binance Signs Up 40,000 Crypto Traders in Its First Week in Uganda: Despite global market doldrums, demand for cryptocurrency appears to be booming across Uganda, a country where nearly three out of four people don't have bank accounts.
Revealed exclusively to CoinDesk,Binance Ugandasigned up 40,000 users in the first week since the world's largest crypto exchange launched its local subsidiary inOctober.
The early results suggest a strong appetite among unbanked Ugandans for purchasing bitcoin or ether, the two coins the new Binance unit currently lists.
Data Shows Millions Leaving Crypto Wallets Tied to Long-Troubled Exchange
According to a paper by Stanford University researchers recently published in theAmerican Economic Journal,74 percent of Ugandan households are unbanked. As such, Binance's chief financial officer Wei Zhou told CoinDesk:
"They [users] just have to have money within the mobile payment system. They don't have to have bank accounts."
Aside from the local focus, the effort differs from Binance's flagship global trading platform in at least two other notable ways.
While Binance only offers trading of cryptos for other cryptos, its new unit in Uganda is partnering with a local mobile payments provider that will convert fiat to crypto or vice versa. (The partner asked not to be named, due to safety concerns related to managing large quantities of cash.) Like its Malta-based parent, Binance Uganda hasno bank account.
Binance Secures New Funding From Vertex Ventures
"One of the major issues in the region, in the continent, right now is liquidity and Binance will bring us liquidity," Nairobi-basedentrepreneur Marvin Coleby in nearby Kenya, co-trustee of the African Digital Asset Framework, told CoinDesk. "These digital assets can move, borderless, around the continent."
Further, the prospective Ugandan users are still undergoing the know-your-customer (KYC) onboarding process, verifying their government-issued IDs. Binance was historically known for only requiringan email addressto trade crypto-to-crypto.
Previously, Ugandans who wanted to trade crypto were mostly reliant on peer-to-peer exchanges likeLocalBitcoinsor nearby services such as the Zimbabwean exchangeGolix. However, Kwame Rugunda, chairman of the Uganda Blockchain Association and co-founder of the Ugandan blockchain startup CryptoSavannah, told CoinDesk such platforms hardly represent a "large population in the country that are unbanked" and "hungry" for access to cryptocurrency.
Since Binance Uganda opened, Rugunda said, several other global exchanges have started contacting local regulators.
"We've already heard of interest from other players that are looking at the Ugandan market," he said.
Meanwhile, Zhou told CoinDesk that Binance Uganda is looking to hire local operational staff for both local support and expansion of similar subsidiaries in 2019 to either Kenya, Nigeria, or South Africa.
"Uganda is our pivot to reach out to other African markets," Zhou said.
Remittance is a crucial factor driving demand for bitcoin in Uganda, Rugunda said.
A2014 national censusrevealed nearly 10 percent of Ugandan households received remittance from neighboring Kenya, only a few percentage points below the most popular remittance sources in Europe, Sweden and Germany. But these transfers carry high conversion fees, creating demand for alternatives.
"There's a lot of cost in the financial system when you switch the currencies back and forth, in addition to inflation," Zhou said, adding:
"That tells us that a use case for cryptocurrency in Africa is as a hedge against inflation."
Other factors driving cryptocurrency adoption in Uganda are rampant unemployment beyond the agricultural industry and demand for imported products, Rugunda said.
"There's a large consumer market for people purchasing cars, for example, because bitcoin is legal tender in Japan," where the cars are manufactured, Rugunda said.
Meanwhile, theInternational Labour Officeestimated in 2017 that almost 15 percent of working-age Ugandans under 30 were unemployed, plus nearly 49 percent who were employed only had irregular or temporary work. As such, many are becoming self-employed.
"Unemployment is another real factor," Rugunda added. "It forces people to look outside of formal employment structures."
This harkens to similar factors noted by cryptocurrency advocates in thePalestinian territories, where educated young people look online for opportunities to earn, shop with, and trade crypto when white-collar jobs are scarce.
On the other hand, there's still a long way to go until those 40,000 Binance Uganda users start to rely on bitcoin for daily remittances.
BitPesa CEO Elizabeth Rossiello, based in nearby Kenya, told CoinDesk that many Ugandans became skeptical of bitcoin aftercriminal operationspromised Ugandans bitcoin thendefraudedthem instead.
"Uganda is a heavily offline market, where trust is built through face-to-face interactions," Rossiello said. "We are very hopeful in regards to regulation and government support, as they have been recently very open to new blockchain events and innovations."
In his dealings with local authorities, Rugunda said he's seen an increasing openness to the cryptocurrency industry, including the establishment of aNational Taskforce for Blockchain. In fact, Ugandan royalPrince Kudra Kalemais currently spearheading an energy project with the crypto startupWala, which already has thousands of Ugandan mobile app users.
Zhou agreed Uganda is "an up-and-coming African country" with a relatively crypto-friendly and stable political system. Speaking to the high demand for fiat liquidity and affordable cross-border crypto transactions, he concluded:
"For Africa as a whole, this is just step one for Binance to serve Africa."
Uganda imagevia Shutterstock
• World's Largest Crypto Exchange Binance Looks to Add New Stablecoins
• Crypto Exchange Binance Adds Compliance Tools from Chainalysis || Binance Signs Up 40,000 Crypto Traders in Its First Week in Uganda: Unlike its parent company, Binance Uganda handles fiat currency (in partnership with a local mobile payment provider) and requires full customer ID. Despite global market doldrums, demand for cryptocurrency appears to be booming across Uganda, a country where nearly three out of four people don't have bank accounts. Revealed exclusively to CoinDesk, Binance Uganda signed up 40,000 users in the first week since the world's largest crypto exchange launched its local subsidiary in October. The early results suggest a strong appetite among unbanked Ugandans for purchasing bitcoin or ether, the two coins the new Binance unit currently lists. Data Shows Millions Leaving Crypto Wallets Tied to Long-Troubled Exchange According to a paper by Stanford University researchers recently published in the American Economic Journal , 74 percent of Ugandan households are unbanked. As such, Binance's chief financial officer Wei Zhou told CoinDesk: "They [users] just have to have money within the mobile payment system. They don't have to have bank accounts." Aside from the local focus, the effort differs from Binance's flagship global trading platform in at least two other notable ways. While Binance only offers trading of cryptos for other cryptos, its new unit in Uganda is partnering with a local mobile payments provider that will convert fiat to crypto or vice versa. (The partner asked not to be named, due to safety concerns related to managing large quantities of cash.) Like its Malta-based parent, Binance Uganda has no bank account . Binance Secures New Funding From Vertex Ventures "One of the major issues in the region, in the continent, right now is liquidity and Binance will bring us liquidity," Nairobi-based entrepreneur Marvin Coleby in nearby Kenya, co-trustee of the African Digital Asset Framework, told CoinDesk. "T hese digital assets can move, borderless, around the continent." Further, the prospective Ugandan users are still undergoing the know-your-customer (KYC) onboarding process, verifying their government-issued IDs. Binance was historically known for only requiring an email address to trade crypto-to-crypto. Story continues Previously, Ugandans who wanted to trade crypto were mostly reliant on peer-to-peer exchanges like LocalBitcoins or nearby services such as the Zimbabwean exchange Golix . However, Kwame Rugunda, chairman of the Uganda Blockchain Association and co-founder of the Ugandan blockchain startup CryptoSavannah, told CoinDesk such platforms hardly represent a "large population in the country that are unbanked" and "hungry" for access to cryptocurrency. Since Binance Uganda opened, Rugunda said, several other global exchanges have started contacting local regulators. "We've already heard of interest from other players that are looking at the Ugandan market," he said. Meanwhile, Zhou told CoinDesk that Binance Uganda is looking to hire local operational staff for both local support and expansion of similar subsidiaries in 2019 to either Kenya, Nigeria, or South Africa. "Uganda is our pivot to reach out to other African markets," Zhou said. Driving factors Remittance is a crucial factor driving demand for bitcoin in Uganda, Rugunda said. A 2014 national census revealed nearly 10 percent of Ugandan households received remittance from neighboring Kenya, only a few percentage points below the most popular remittance sources in Europe, Sweden and Germany. But these transfers carry high conversion fees, creating demand for alternatives. "There's a lot of cost in the financial system when you switch the currencies back and forth, in addition to inflation," Zhou said, adding: "That tells us that a use case for cryptocurrency in Africa is as a hedge against inflation." Other factors driving cryptocurrency adoption in Uganda are rampant unemployment beyond the agricultural industry and demand for imported products, Rugunda said. "There's a large consumer market for people purchasing cars, for example, because bitcoin is legal tender in Japan," where the cars are manufactured, Rugunda said. Meanwhile, the International Labour Office estimated in 2017 that almost 15 percent of working-age Ugandans under 30 were unemployed, plus nearly 49 percent who were employed only had irregular or temporary work. As such, many are becoming self-employed. "Unemployment is another real factor," Rugunda added. "It forces people to look outside of formal employment structures." This harkens to similar factors noted by cryptocurrency advocates in the Palestinian territories , where educated young people look online for opportunities to earn, shop with, and trade crypto when white-collar jobs are scarce. On the other hand, there's still a long way to go until those 40,000 Binance Uganda users start to rely on bitcoin for daily remittances. BitPesa CEO Elizabeth Rossiello, based in nearby Kenya, told CoinDesk that many Ugandans became skeptical of bitcoin after criminal operations promised Ugandans bitcoin then defrauded them instead. "Uganda is a heavily offline market, where trust is built through face-to-face interactions," Rossiello said. "We are very hopeful in regards to regulation and government support, as they have been recently very open to new blockchain events and innovations." In his dealings with local authorities, Rugunda said he's seen an increasing openness to the cryptocurrency industry, including the establishment of a National Taskforce for Blockchain . In fact, Ugandan royal Prince Kudra Kalema is currently spearheading an energy project with the crypto startup Wala , which already has thousands of Ugandan mobile app users. Zhou agreed Uganda is "an up-and-coming African country" with a relatively crypto-friendly and stable political system. Speaking to the high demand for fiat liquidity and affordable cross-border crypto transactions, he concluded: "For Africa as a whole, this is just step one for Binance to serve Africa." Uganda image via Shutterstock Related Stories World's Largest Crypto Exchange Binance Looks to Add New Stablecoins Crypto Exchange Binance Adds Compliance Tools from Chainalysis || Coinsource Receives First BitLicense to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New York: The world’s largest bitcoin ATM company has finally received official approval to operate in New York. They had previously been operatingin New Yorkalmost since the company’s inception via a provisional license. Last year, they received coverage in the New Yorker and have frequently been in the news with word of new ATMs across the country. Coinsource is creeping toward 200 machines, the majority of which are two-way ATMs — meaning that users can buy and sell bitcoin through them. Coinsource ATMs support transactions from $5 to a limit of $5,000 per day.
Coinsourcebelieves that real-world bitcoin ATMs are important for the adoption of bitcoin as a whole. According to an external spokesperson, regulations are worth the wait in that they “legitimize” things. Speaking of their BitLicense being granted, she said:
“Coinsource has been operating with a provisional license within that state, so the approval of the license does not necessarily change the service, but further legitimizes the company as a whole. Being granted an official license is a huge step towards general adoption. […] This milestone demonstrates to both other crypto companies and the general public that if you remain compliant and play by the rules, you will be rewarded.”
Coinsource CEO Sheffield Clark added in a statement:
“From the onset, our goal was to provide millions of Americans with a reliable and convenient way to buy digital currency. Bitcoin is no longer a fringe currency, and in 2018, is increasingly being adopted by the mainstream. Today, with the issuance of the virtual currency trading license to a BTM operator, the bitcoin industry takes another step toward public adoption.”
Coinsource is the first and only bitcoin ATM operator to be granted a full BitLicense. New York being the hub of finance in the United States, it presents an important opportunity to expand the userbase of bitcoin and later other cryptocurrencies as a whole.
Whether or not the regulations will have a positive or negative impact on bitcoin companies remains to be seen. Regulation, in general, can haveboth positive and negative impactson innovation, but in the case of the BitLicense, it can be argued that it discourages companies from operating in cryptocurrencies rather than another type of regulation which might encourage them to do so.
The BitLicense has beenan intense subject of debateandworrysince it was first proposed and later implemented by the New York Department of Financial Services. Several exchanges and other bitcoin service providersno longer work in New York Stateas a result of the licensing scheme, which many believe opens the door for favoritism and the picking of winners, among other problems.
Featured Image from Coinsource
The postCoinsource Receives First BitLicense to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New Yorkappeared first onCCN. || Coinsource Receives First BitLicense to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New York: The world’s largest bitcoin ATM company has finally received official approval to operate in New York. They had previously been operatingin New Yorkalmost since the company’s inception via a provisional license. Last year, they received coverage in the New Yorker and have frequently been in the news with word of new ATMs across the country. Coinsource is creeping toward 200 machines, the majority of which are two-way ATMs — meaning that users can buy and sell bitcoin through them. Coinsource ATMs support transactions from $5 to a limit of $5,000 per day.
Coinsourcebelieves that real-world bitcoin ATMs are important for the adoption of bitcoin as a whole. According to an external spokesperson, regulations are worth the wait in that they “legitimize” things. Speaking of their BitLicense being granted, she said:
“Coinsource has been operating with a provisional license within that state, so the approval of the license does not necessarily change the service, but further legitimizes the company as a whole. Being granted an official license is a huge step towards general adoption. […] This milestone demonstrates to both other crypto companies and the general public that if you remain compliant and play by the rules, you will be rewarded.”
Coinsource CEO Sheffield Clark added in a statement:
“From the onset, our goal was to provide millions of Americans with a reliable and convenient way to buy digital currency. Bitcoin is no longer a fringe currency, and in 2018, is increasingly being adopted by the mainstream. Today, with the issuance of the virtual currency trading license to a BTM operator, the bitcoin industry takes another step toward public adoption.”
Coinsource is the first and only bitcoin ATM operator to be granted a full BitLicense. New York being the hub of finance in the United States, it presents an important opportunity to expand the userbase of bitcoin and later other cryptocurrencies as a whole.
Whether or not the regulations will have a positive or negative impact on bitcoin companies remains to be seen. Regulation, in general, can haveboth positive and negative impactson innovation, but in the case of the BitLicense, it can be argued that it discourages companies from operating in cryptocurrencies rather than another type of regulation which might encourage them to do so.
The BitLicense has beenan intense subject of debateandworrysince it was first proposed and later implemented by the New York Department of Financial Services. Several exchanges and other bitcoin service providersno longer work in New York Stateas a result of the licensing scheme, which many believe opens the door for favoritism and the picking of winners, among other problems.
Featured Image from Coinsource
The postCoinsource Receives First BitLicense to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New Yorkappeared first onCCN. || Coinsource Receives First BitLicense to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New York: bitcoin atm coinsource The world’s largest bitcoin ATM company has finally received official approval to operate in New York. They had previously been operating in New York almost since the company’s inception via a provisional license. Last year, they received coverage in the New Yorker and have frequently been in the news with word of new ATMs across the country. Coinsource is creeping toward 200 machines, the majority of which are two-way ATMs — meaning that users can buy and sell bitcoin through them. Coinsource ATMs support transactions from $5 to a limit of $5,000 per day. BitLicense #9 Coinsource believes that real-world bitcoin ATMs are important for the adoption of bitcoin as a whole. According to an external spokesperson, regulations are worth the wait in that they “legitimize” things. Speaking of their BitLicense being granted, she said: “Coinsource has been operating with a provisional license within that state, so the approval of the license does not necessarily change the service, but further legitimizes the company as a whole. Being granted an official license is a huge step towards general adoption. […] This milestone demonstrates to both other crypto companies and the general public that if you remain compliant and play by the rules, you will be rewarded.” Coinsource CEO Sheffield Clark added in a statement: “From the onset, our goal was to provide millions of Americans with a reliable and convenient way to buy digital currency. Bitcoin is no longer a fringe currency, and in 2018, is increasingly being adopted by the mainstream. Today, with the issuance of the virtual currency trading license to a BTM operator, the bitcoin industry takes another step toward public adoption.” Coinsource is the first and only bitcoin ATM operator to be granted a full BitLicense. New York being the hub of finance in the United States, it presents an important opportunity to expand the userbase of bitcoin and later other cryptocurrencies as a whole. Story continues BitLicense Frequent Source of Frustration to bitcoiners Whether or not the regulations will have a positive or negative impact on bitcoin companies remains to be seen. Regulation, in general, can have both positive and negative impacts on innovation, but in the case of the BitLicense, it can be argued that it discourages companies from operating in cryptocurrencies rather than another type of regulation which might encourage them to do so. The BitLicense has been an intense subject of debate and worry since it was first proposed and later implemented by the New York Department of Financial Services. Several exchanges and other bitcoin service providers no longer work in New York State as a result of the licensing scheme, which many believe opens the door for favoritism and the picking of winners, among other problems. Featured Image from Coinsource The post Coinsource Receives First BitLicense to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New York appeared first on CCN . || Coinsource Receives BitLicense to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New York: Coinsource bitlicense Bitcoin ATM Operator Coinsource has been granted a BitLicense by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Based in Texas, Coinsource deploys Bitcoin ATMs to key population centers across the world with over 200 machines installed in the U.S. alone. CEO of Coinsource Sheffield Clark called the announcement a “landmark day for Coinsource" and an "important win for New Yorkers" in a statement. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine , Clark noted that he sees the "license as validation of not only our tireless efforts to offer Americans easy, convenient access to an evolving global financial system, but also progress in the acceptance and legitimization of bitcoin as a valuable currency." The virtual currency license from the NYDFS will allow Coinsource to conduct business with customers and companies based in the state. Additionally, New York-based businesses will also be able to use Coinsource's ATM kiosks to buy and sell bitcoins instantly. Formulated in 2015 , BitLicense approvals have been among the most difficult credentials to procure for virtual currency businesses seeking to operate in New York. The set of rules was developed by the New York Department of Financial Services to govern digital currency businesses operating in the state. CoinSource becomes the first Bitcoin ATM operator and the 12th company overall to receive a BitLicense from the New York regulator, joining other crypto-related businesses such as Genesis, Square, Coinbase , bitFlyer , Circle and others. Before receiving its BitLicense, Coinsource had operated under a special DFS provisional license in the state. According to Clark, the license took over three years to obtain; Coinsource had applied for it back in August 2015. Having now received it, Clark says the company feels excited to have been granted such a "prestigious license." "We are extremely honored to receive this recognition from the state of New York and applaud the state for its dedication to ensuring cryptocurrency companies are regulated appropriately." Story continues He also spoke about the growth in the demand for Bitcoin ATMs in the country, which he noted surpassed the expectations of the firm. Notwithstanding, the ATM operator's immediate focus is to grow domestically as it expands its presence to all the 50 states in America. "Aligning with blockchain’s decentralized nature, Coinsource focuses on allowing any person, no matter what their socio-economic status is, technological know-how, or where they are based, access to our generation’s most important innovation," he concluded. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine . || Coinsource Receives BitLicense to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New York: Bitcoin ATM Operator Coinsource has been granted a BitLicense by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
Based in Texas, Coinsourcedeploys Bitcoin ATMsto key population centers across the world with over 200 machines installed in the U.S. alone.
CEO of Coinsource Sheffield Clark called the announcement a “landmark day for Coinsource" and an "important win for New Yorkers" in a statement.
In an interview withBitcoin Magazine, Clark noted that he sees the "license as validation of not only our tireless efforts to offer Americans easy, convenient access to an evolving global financial system, but also progress in the acceptance and legitimization of bitcoin as a valuable currency."
The virtual currency license from the NYDFS will allow Coinsource to conduct business with customers and companies based in the state. Additionally, New York-based businesses will also be able to use Coinsource's ATM kiosks to buy and sell bitcoins instantly.
Formulatedin 2015, BitLicense approvals have been among the most difficult credentials to procure for virtual currency businesses seeking to operate in New York. The set of rules was developed by the New York Department of Financial Services to govern digital currency businesses operating in the state.
CoinSource becomes the first Bitcoin ATM operator and the 12th company overall to receive a BitLicense from the New York regulator, joining other crypto-related businesses such as Genesis, Square,Coinbase,bitFlyer,Circleand others.
Before receiving its BitLicense, Coinsource had operated under a special DFS provisional license in the state.
According to Clark, the license took over three years to obtain; Coinsource had applied for it back in August 2015. Having now received it, Clark says the company feels excited to have been granted such a "prestigious license."
"We are extremely honored to receive this recognition from the state of New York and applaud the state for its dedication to ensuring cryptocurrency companies are regulated appropriately."
He also spoke about the growth in the demand for Bitcoin ATMs in the country, which he noted surpassed the expectations of the firm. Notwithstanding, the ATM operator's immediate focus is to grow domestically as it expands its presence to all the 50 states in America.
"Aligning with blockchain’s decentralized nature, Coinsource focuses on allowing any person, no matter what their socio-economic status is, technological know-how, or where they are based, access to our generation’s most important innovation," he concluded.
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || Coinsource Receives BitLicense to Operate Bitcoin ATMs in New York: Bitcoin ATM Operator Coinsource has been granted a BitLicense by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).
Based in Texas, Coinsourcedeploys Bitcoin ATMsto key population centers across the world with over 200 machines installed in the U.S. alone.
CEO of Coinsource Sheffield Clark called the announcement a “landmark day for Coinsource" and an "important win for New Yorkers" in a statement.
In an interview withBitcoin Magazine, Clark noted that he sees the "license as validation of not only our tireless efforts to offer Americans easy, convenient access to an evolving global financial system, but also progress in the acceptance and legitimization of bitcoin as a valuable currency."
The virtual currency license from the NYDFS will allow Coinsource to conduct business with customers and companies based in the state. Additionally, New York-based businesses will also be able to use Coinsource's ATM kiosks to buy and sell bitcoins instantly.
Formulatedin 2015, BitLicense approvals have been among the most difficult credentials to procure for virtual currency businesses seeking to operate in New York. The set of rules was developed by the New York Department of Financial Services to govern digital currency businesses operating in the state.
CoinSource becomes the first Bitcoin ATM operator and the 12th company overall to receive a BitLicense from the New York regulator, joining other crypto-related businesses such as Genesis, Square,Coinbase,bitFlyer,Circleand others.
Before receiving its BitLicense, Coinsource had operated under a special DFS provisional license in the state.
According to Clark, the license took over three years to obtain; Coinsource had applied for it back in August 2015. Having now received it, Clark says the company feels excited to have been granted such a "prestigious license."
"We are extremely honored to receive this recognition from the state of New York and applaud the state for its dedication to ensuring cryptocurrency companies are regulated appropriately."
He also spoke about the growth in the demand for Bitcoin ATMs in the country, which he noted surpassed the expectations of the firm. Notwithstanding, the ATM operator's immediate focus is to grow domestically as it expands its presence to all the 50 states in America.
"Aligning with blockchain’s decentralized nature, Coinsource focuses on allowing any person, no matter what their socio-economic status is, technological know-how, or where they are based, access to our generation’s most important innovation," he concluded.
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || New York regulator grants virtual license to bitcoin ATM operator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers will be able to use their mobile phones to obtain bitcoin or sell it for cash at kiosks similar to ATMs in and around New York City after the state Department of Financial Services said on Thursday it has approved the virtual currency license of Coinsource Inc.
Bitcoin teller machines operator Coinsource, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has 40 bitcoin kiosks in the state, located in New York City and Westchester and Nassau Counties. The company allows customers to insert cash and buy bitcoin and store it on their mobile wallet, or sell bitcoin for cash, by scanning their mobile wallet at the kiosk.
"Today's approval is a further step in implementing strong regulatory safeguards and effective risk-based controls while encouraging the responsible growth of financial innovation," Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo said in a statement on Thursday.
The state Department of Financial Services has approved 12 charters or licenses so far for companies in the virtual currency marketplace.
The New York regulatory agency said Thursday's approval follows a comprehensive and rigorous review of Coinsource's application and is subject to significant regulatory conditions.
"New York represents not just a center of global innovation but also one of our largest target markets," said Sheffield Clark, Coinsource's chief executive officer.
Founded in 2015, Coinsource deploys ATMs to key population centers across the United States, with more than 200 machines in 19 states, including the District of Columbia.
Coinsource said the majority of customers choose to use bitcoin ATMs as an alternative to online exchanges, which require highly technical knowledge, has long transaction delays, high fees, and limited customer service support. Aside from that the ATM operator said online exchanges are vulnerable to manipulative trading activity and fund hacks.
"Bitcoin is no longer a fringe currency, and in 2018, is increasingly being adopted by the mainstream," Sheffield said.
DFS has earlier granted virtual licenses to BitFlyer, BitPay, Coinbase, Circle, Genesis Global Trading, XRP II, Square, and Xapo, with charters issued to Gemini Trust Company, Paxos (formerly itBit), and Coinbase Custody Trust Company LLC.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by David Gregorio) || New York regulator grants virtual license to bitcoin ATM operator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers will be able to use their mobile phones to obtain bitcoin or sell it for cash at kiosks similar to ATMs in and around New York City after the state Department of Financial Services said on Thursday it has approved the virtual currency license of Coinsource Inc. Bitcoin teller machines operator Coinsource, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has 40 bitcoin kiosks in the state, located in New York City and Westchester and Nassau Counties. The company allows customers to insert cash and buy bitcoin and store it on their mobile wallet, or sell bitcoin for cash, by scanning their mobile wallet at the kiosk. "Today's approval is a further step in implementing strong regulatory safeguards and effective risk-based controls while encouraging the responsible growth of financial innovation," Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo said in a statement on Thursday. The state Department of Financial Services has approved 12 charters or licenses so far for companies in the virtual currency marketplace. The New York regulatory agency said Thursday's approval follows a comprehensive and rigorous review of Coinsource's application and is subject to significant regulatory conditions. "New York represents not just a center of global innovation but also one of our largest target markets," said Sheffield Clark, Coinsource's chief executive officer. Founded in 2015, Coinsource deploys ATMs to key population centers across the United States, with more than 200 machines in 19 states, including the District of Columbia. Coinsource said the majority of customers choose to use bitcoin ATMs as an alternative to online exchanges, which require highly technical knowledge, has long transaction delays, high fees, and limited customer service support. Aside from that the ATM operator said online exchanges are vulnerable to manipulative trading activity and fund hacks. "Bitcoin is no longer a fringe currency, and in 2018, is increasingly being adopted by the mainstream," Sheffield said. DFS has earlier granted virtual licenses to BitFlyer, BitPay, Coinbase, Circle, Genesis Global Trading, XRP II, Square, and Xapo, with charters issued to Gemini Trust Company, Paxos (formerly itBit), and Coinbase Custody Trust Company LLC. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by David Gregorio) || New York regulator grants virtual license to bitcoin ATM operator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers will be able to use their mobile phones to obtain bitcoin or sell it for cash at kiosks similar to ATMs in and around New York City after the state Department of Financial Services said on Thursday it has approved the virtual currency license of Coinsource Inc. Bitcoin teller machines operator Coinsource, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has 40 bitcoin kiosks in the state, located in New York City and Westchester and Nassau Counties. The company allows customers to insert cash and buy bitcoin and store it on their mobile wallet, or sell bitcoin for cash, by scanning their mobile wallet at the kiosk. "Today's approval is a further step in implementing strong regulatory safeguards and effective risk-based controls while encouraging the responsible growth of financial innovation," Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo said in a statement on Thursday. The state Department of Financial Services has approved 12 charters or licenses so far for companies in the virtual currency marketplace. The New York regulatory agency said Thursday's approval follows a comprehensive and rigorous review of Coinsource's application and is subject to significant regulatory conditions. "New York represents not just a center of global innovation but also one of our largest target markets," said Sheffield Clark, Coinsource's chief executive officer. Founded in 2015, Coinsource deploys ATMs to key population centers across the United States, with more than 200 machines in 19 states, including the District of Columbia. Coinsource said the majority of customers choose to use bitcoin ATMs as an alternative to online exchanges, which require highly technical knowledge, has long transaction delays, high fees, and limited customer service support. Aside from that the ATM operator said online exchanges are vulnerable to manipulative trading activity and fund hacks. Story continues "Bitcoin is no longer a fringe currency, and in 2018, is increasingly being adopted by the mainstream," Sheffield said. DFS has earlier granted virtual licenses to BitFlyer, BitPay, Coinbase, Circle, Genesis Global Trading, XRP II, Square, and Xapo, with charters issued to Gemini Trust Company, Paxos (formerly itBit), and Coinbase Custody Trust Company LLC. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by David Gregorio) || New York regulator grants virtual license to bitcoin ATM operator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers will be able to use their mobile phones to obtain bitcoin or sell it for cash at kiosks similar to ATMs in and around New York City after the state Department of Financial Services said on Thursday it has approved the virtual currency license of Coinsource Inc.
Bitcoin teller machines operator Coinsource, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has 40 bitcoin kiosks in the state, located in New York City and Westchester and Nassau Counties. The company allows customers to insert cash and buy bitcoin and store it on their mobile wallet, or sell bitcoin for cash, by scanning their mobile wallet at the kiosk.
"Today's approval is a further step in implementing strong regulatory safeguards and effective risk-based controls while encouraging the responsible growth of financial innovation," Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo said in a statement on Thursday.
The state Department of Financial Services has approved 12 charters or licenses so far for companies in the virtual currency marketplace.
The New York regulatory agency said Thursday's approval follows a comprehensive and rigorous review of Coinsource's application and is subject to significant regulatory conditions.
"New York represents not just a center of global innovation but also one of our largest target markets," said Sheffield Clark, Coinsource's chief executive officer.
Founded in 2015, Coinsource deploys ATMs to key population centers across the United States, with more than 200 machines in 19 states, including the District of Columbia.
Coinsource said the majority of customers choose to use bitcoin ATMs as an alternative to online exchanges, which require highly technical knowledge, has long transaction delays, high fees, and limited customer service support. Aside from that the ATM operator said online exchanges are vulnerable to manipulative trading activity and fund hacks.
"Bitcoin is no longer a fringe currency, and in 2018, is increasingly being adopted by the mainstream," Sheffield said.
DFS has earlier granted virtual licenses to BitFlyer, BitPay, Coinbase, Circle, Genesis Global Trading, XRP II, Square, and Xapo, with charters issued to Gemini Trust Company, Paxos (formerly itBit), and Coinbase Custody Trust Company LLC.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by David Gregorio) || Bithumb, SeriesOne to Launch Security Token Exchange in the US: Crypto exchange Bithumb has teamed up with crowdfunding platform seriesOne to launch a compliant security token exchange in the U.S. South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has teamed up with crowdfunding platform seriesOne to launch a compliant security token exchange in the U.S. The joint venture was revealed in a press release from seriesOne shared with CoinDesk on Thursday, which adds that the exchange launch is still subject to regulatory approvals from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). SeriesOne already offers an SEC-regulated platform that supports projects launching initial token offerings, as well as traditional equities and debt offerings. Coinbase's Emilie Choi: $300 Million Raise Was 'For a Rainy Day' "I believe that our companies will be able to create a unique product to not only tokenize major assets, but that could also create liquidity through a compliant token exchange," said seriesOne CEO Michael Mildenberger. Bithumb is also investing in a seriesOne entity in South Korea in order to scale technical development and marketing, the release indicates. Back Young Heo, CEO at Bithumb, said: "We are not only impressed by the mix of talent between investment banking, compliance, and technology of the seriesOne team but also with their deep understanding of US securities regulations and how they apply to token offerings." Hong Kong's Securities Watchdog to Regulate Crypto Funds The news come months after a major setback for the Korean exchange. Back in June, Bithumb was hacked for nearly $31 million in cryptocurrency. Later the same month, the exchange claimed that it had reduced  the losses to $17 million after retrieving some of the funds. After making security improvements, the exchange said in August that it was looking to renew its contract with the local Nonghyup Bank to offer new account registrations once again. Last month, Bithumb sold  more than 38 percent of its total ownership to a blockchain consortium based in Singapore for $350 million. Story continues Bithumb image via Shutterstock Related Stories Coinbase Hits $8 Billion Valuation After $300 Million Raise Bitcoin Exchange Bitstamp Confirms Sale to Gaming Group NXC || Bithumb, SeriesOne to Launch Security Token Exchange in the US: South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has teamed up with crowdfunding platform seriesOne to launch a compliant security token exchange in the U.S.
The joint venture was revealed in a press release from seriesOne shared with CoinDesk on Thursday, which adds that the exchange launch is still subject to regulatory approvals from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
SeriesOne already offers an SEC-regulated platform that supports projects launching initial token offerings, as well as traditional equities and debt offerings.
Coinbase's Emilie Choi: $300 Million Raise Was 'For a Rainy Day'
"I believe that our companies will be able to create a unique product to not only tokenize major assets, but that could also create liquidity through a compliant token exchange," said seriesOne CEO Michael Mildenberger.
Bithumb is also investing in a seriesOne entity in South Korea in order to scale technical development and marketing, the release indicates.
Back Young Heo, CEO at Bithumb, said:
"We are not only impressed by the mix of talent between investment banking, compliance, and technology of the seriesOne team but also with their deep understanding of US securities regulations and how they apply to token offerings."
Hong Kong's Securities Watchdog to Regulate Crypto Funds
The news come months after a major setback for the Korean exchange. Back in June, Bithumb wasÂhackedfor nearly $31 million in cryptocurrency. Later the same month, the exchange claimed that it hadÂreduced the losses to $17 million after retrieving some of the funds.
After making security improvements, the exchange said in August that it was looking torenewits contract with the local Nonghyup Bank to offer new account registrations once again.
Last month, BithumbsoldÂmore than 38 percent of its total ownership to a blockchain consortium based in Singapore for $350 million.
Bithumbimagevia Shutterstock
• Coinbase Hits $8 Billion Valuation After $300 Million Raise
• Bitcoin Exchange Bitstamp Confirms Sale to Gaming Group NXC || Ethereum 2.0 Launch ‘Really Not So Far Away,’ Says Vitalik Buterin in Devcon4 Keynote: Ethereumco-founderVitalik Buterinunveiled the roadmap for what he described as the “coherent whole” Ethereum 2.0 in akeynote presentationat the Devcon4 conference in Prague Oct. 31.
Dubbed ‘Serenity,’ the project encompasses multiple projects Ethereum developers have been working on since 2014.
“Ethereum 2.0 is [...] a combination of a bunch of different features that we’ve been talking about for several years, researching for several years, actively building for several years that are finally about to come together in one cohesive whole,” Buterin summarized during his talk.
Ethereum users and analysts have long debated the potential timeframe of the network’s upgrades, which have seen recent updatespushed backin order to tighten up technical prowess.
Among Serenity’s constituent parts are a transfer toproof-of-stakealgorithm, a project known as Casper, scalability improvements via a process known as sharding, as well as various other protocol enhancements.
Prior to the “big launch,” developers will make some final tweaks, Buterin continued. These will include stabilizing protocol specifications and cross-client testnets – a testnet integrating at least two implementations of Ethereum 2.0.
The additional testing is important, he added, having learned from Ethereum 1.0 releases, which he suggested occurred too quickly.
As for when the vision would become reality, Buterin remained coy, saying only that it was “really not so far away.”
Also speaking at Devcon4 this week, the Ethereum developer who co-authored theERC-20token standard with Buterin back in 2015introduceda new model for Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) that he claims will better protect investors from fraud.
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Stellar, Litecoin, Cardano, Monero, TRON: Price Analysis, October 31
• Enterprise Ethereum Alliance Releases New Specifications
• Crypto Markets See Stirrings of Volatility as Major Coins Tip Into Red
• Ethereum’s Upgrades: Why Constantinople Fork Is So ‘Hard’ to Implement || New Zealand Government Issues $330,000 Grant to Local Bitcoin Startup: Auckland-based cryptocurrency savings and trading platform Vimba has gotten a $330,000 grant from a government entityCallaghan Innovation.
Lauding the largesse of the grantor, Vimba CEO Sam Blackmore commended Callaghan Innovation for its belief in the startup.
“This is a truly significant investment from Callaghan Innovation and a real show of faith in the future of this very exciting asset class,” he remarked in apress release.
Founded in 2014 by a duo of kiwi bitcoin enthusiasts and formerly known as MyCryptoSaver, the rebranding reflected the broad range of services offered by the Auckland-based platform.
The platform currently enables users to use the New Zealand dollars in purchasing bitcoin or Ethereum. While giving an insight into plans of expanding the range of services being offered, Blackmore noted that the company was considering the prospects of “expanding the range of cryptocurrencies.”
There was a sense of disillusionment among many traders following Bitcoin’s significant depreciation from almost US$20,000 in mid-December to an amount below US$5,000. There was an air of uncertainty about the prospects of the most popular digital asset, and this ultimately led to pessimism about other digital assets as well.
Amidst the gloom that doused the enthusiasm of many investors, Blackmore urged people not to feel discouraged by the recent volatility but rather endeavor to latch onto the digital asset’s positive trend at the long-term.
“We believe Bitcoin will at least reach the market cap of gold as it is more efficient, more accessible, more secure version of that rare asset. For it to reach the market cap of gold, one Bitcoin would be worth around $600,000 – more than 60 times what it’s worth today,” Blackmore enthused.
In his view, it’s never too late to start investing in cryptocurrencies as its long-term prospects provide leverage for anyone to join the crypto ship while it is still sailing.
Vimba Chief Operating Officer Matt Gibson disclosed plans to use the grant obtained from Callaghan to promote technological innovation that will make it possible to transfer little amounts of bitcoins to hundreds of thousands of customers in one fell swoop. This according to him will give the company a mark of distinction from its competitors.
The company also contemplates on penetrating the UK market – where Blackmore has been able to obtain a temporary residence. He intends to launch into the market within the next couple of weeks.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postNew Zealand Government Issues $330,000 Grant to Local Bitcoin Startupappeared first onCCN. || New Zealand Government Issues $330,000 Grant to Local Bitcoin Startup: Auckland-based cryptocurrency savings and trading platform Vimba has gotten a $330,000 grant from a government entityCallaghan Innovation.
Lauding the largesse of the grantor, Vimba CEO Sam Blackmore commended Callaghan Innovation for its belief in the startup.
“This is a truly significant investment from Callaghan Innovation and a real show of faith in the future of this very exciting asset class,” he remarked in apress release.
Founded in 2014 by a duo of kiwi bitcoin enthusiasts and formerly known as MyCryptoSaver, the rebranding reflected the broad range of services offered by the Auckland-based platform.
The platform currently enables users to use the New Zealand dollars in purchasing bitcoin or Ethereum. While giving an insight into plans of expanding the range of services being offered, Blackmore noted that the company was considering the prospects of “expanding the range of cryptocurrencies.”
There was a sense of disillusionment among many traders following Bitcoin’s significant depreciation from almost US$20,000 in mid-December to an amount below US$5,000. There was an air of uncertainty about the prospects of the most popular digital asset, and this ultimately led to pessimism about other digital assets as well.
Amidst the gloom that doused the enthusiasm of many investors, Blackmore urged people not to feel discouraged by the recent volatility but rather endeavor to latch onto the digital asset’s positive trend at the long-term.
“We believe Bitcoin will at least reach the market cap of gold as it is more efficient, more accessible, more secure version of that rare asset. For it to reach the market cap of gold, one Bitcoin would be worth around $600,000 – more than 60 times what it’s worth today,” Blackmore enthused.
In his view, it’s never too late to start investing in cryptocurrencies as its long-term prospects provide leverage for anyone to join the crypto ship while it is still sailing.
Vimba Chief Operating Officer Matt Gibson disclosed plans to use the grant obtained from Callaghan to promote technological innovation that will make it possible to transfer little amounts of bitcoins to hundreds of thousands of customers in one fell swoop. This according to him will give the company a mark of distinction from its competitors.
The company also contemplates on penetrating the UK market – where Blackmore has been able to obtain a temporary residence. He intends to launch into the market within the next couple of weeks.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postNew Zealand Government Issues $330,000 Grant to Local Bitcoin Startupappeared first onCCN. || New Zealand Government Issues $330,000 Grant to Local Bitcoin Startup: Auckland-based cryptocurrency savings and trading platform Vimba has gotten a $330,000 grant from a government entity Callaghan Innovation . Lauding the largesse of the grantor, Vimba CEO Sam Blackmore commended Callaghan Innovation for its belief in the startup. “This is a truly significant investment from Callaghan Innovation and a real show of faith in the future of this very exciting asset class,” he remarked in a press release . Founded in 2014 by a duo of kiwi bitcoin enthusiasts and formerly known as MyCryptoSaver, the rebranding reflected the broad range of services offered by the Auckland-based platform. The platform currently enables users to use the New Zealand dollars in purchasing bitcoin or Ethereum. While giving an insight into plans of expanding the range of services being offered, Blackmore noted that the company was considering the prospects of “expanding the range of cryptocurrencies.” There was a sense of disillusionment among many traders following Bitcoin’s significant depreciation from almost US$20,000 in mid-December to an amount below US$5,000. There was an air of uncertainty about the prospects of the most popular digital asset, and this ultimately led to pessimism about other digital assets as well. Amidst the gloom that doused the enthusiasm of many investors, Blackmore urged people not to feel discouraged by the recent volatility but rather endeavor to latch onto the digital asset’s positive trend at the long-term. “We believe Bitcoin will at least reach the market cap of gold as it is more efficient, more accessible, more secure version of that rare asset. For it to reach the market cap of gold, one Bitcoin would be worth around $600,000 – more than 60 times what it’s worth today,” Blackmore enthused. In his view, it’s never too late to start investing in cryptocurrencies as its long-term prospects provide leverage for anyone to join the crypto ship while it is still sailing. Vimba Chief Operating Officer Matt Gibson disclosed plans to use the grant obtained from Callaghan to promote technological innovation that will make it possible to transfer little amounts of bitcoins to hundreds of thousands of customers in one fell swoop. This according to him will give the company a mark of distinction from its competitors. Story continues The company also contemplates on penetrating the UK market – where Blackmore has been able to obtain a temporary residence. He intends to launch into the market within the next couple of weeks. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post New Zealand Government Issues $330,000 Grant to Local Bitcoin Startup appeared first on CCN . || SyncFab Takes Blockchain Supply Chain Solution to Service Asian Market Buyers in MOU with C Block Capital: HONG KONG / ACCESSWIRE / November 1, 2018 /SyncFab has signed an MOU with C Block Capital Group, a Hong Kong-based investment firm and blockchain venture incubator, and advisory firm.C Block Capitalis backed by a large Fintech Group in Asia, who has a strong presence in the blockchain industry with more than 2% of global Bitcoin mining capacity and a complete blockchain ecosystem.
The memorandum of understanding details both parties' intention to collaborate in a partnership.SyncFabwould be entrusted withfintechadvisory clients of C Block Capital's with supply chain needs given SyncFab's record as the leading supply chain management platform. Together they will collaborate to streamline the business models of potential clients who stand to benefit from blockchain supply chain innovations. The partnership is strategically focused on Pan-Asian businesses that are in need of these solutions.
"We're excited to continue extending our services and expertise in blockchain solutions for supply chain management. The Asian market could reap immense benefits from the more efficient and secure documentation and specialized processes we offer on the SyncFab platform. We're eager to collaborate with C Block Capital in making this happen as we believe their insight will be key in laying the groundwork for our community in new regions as we expand our global footprint," said SyncFab CEO Jeremy Goodwin.
SyncFab will also be an early supporter of C Block's SuperNode Community Project. Besides being a possible node participant, the company could become a referral source for attention-worthy projects.
About C Block Capital Group
C Block Capital Group is a private international investment group headquartered in Hong Kong. We are focused on diverse investments in Special Opportunity Investments and Blockchain. It is backed by one of Asia's largestfintechgroups and a direct investor in crypto assets. Leveraging on the strength of the Group's global presence and network, C Block Capital Group is able to provide differentiated investment themes across asset classes, industries, and geographies. The team's focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, and institutionalizationhasled to a history of delivering excellent risk-adjusted returns.
About SuperNode Community
SuperNode Community (SNC)is a decentralized venture capital ecosystem. SNC's vision is to build a decentralized, collaborative, and efficient ecosystem for the startup community. The project aims to be the first stop and gateway for every blockchain startup to access funding.
About SyncFab
Founded and headquartered near Silicon Valley, SyncFab is a distributed manufacturing platform that streamlines the way buyers procure, manage, and track precision parts production securely using blockchain technology. Through partnerships with federal and municipal government initiatives, SyncFab helps spur economic development by making regional suppliers with idle manufacturing capacity more accessible and responsive to buyers to enable a shift towards cleaner, local manufacturers worldwide. SyncFab is Partner toCESMII, The U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Energy Manufacturing Network appointed by the White House. SyncFab municipal partners include San Francisco, San Leandro, OaklandandWest Sacramento.
SOURCE:Story.KISSPR.com || SyncFab Takes Blockchain Supply Chain Solution to Service Asian Market Buyers in MOU with C Block Capital: HONG KONG / ACCESSWIRE / November 1, 2018 / SyncFab has signed an MOU with C Block Capital Group, a Hong Kong-based investment firm and blockchain venture incubator, and advisory firm. C Block Capital is backed by a large Fintech Group in Asia, who has a strong presence in the blockchain industry with more than 2% of global Bitcoin mining capacity and a complete blockchain ecosystem. The memorandum of understanding details both parties' intention to collaborate in a partnership. SyncFab would be entrusted with fintech advisory clients of C Block Capital's with supply chain needs given SyncFab's record as the leading supply chain management platform. Together they will collaborate to streamline the business models of potential clients who stand to benefit from blockchain supply chain innovations. The partnership is strategically focused on Pan-Asian businesses that are in need of these solutions. "We're excited to continue extending our services and expertise in blockchain solutions for supply chain management. The Asian market could reap immense benefits from the more efficient and secure documentation and specialized processes we offer on the SyncFab platform. We're eager to collaborate with C Block Capital in making this happen as we believe their insight will be key in laying the groundwork for our community in new regions as we expand our global footprint," said SyncFab CEO Jeremy Goodwin. SyncFab will also be an early supporter of C Block's SuperNode Community Project. Besides being a possible node participant, the company could become a referral source for attention-worthy projects. About C Block Capital Group C Block Capital Group is a private international investment group headquartered in Hong Kong. We are focused on diverse investments in Special Opportunity Investments and Blockchain. It is backed by one of Asia's largest fintech groups and a direct investor in crypto assets. Leveraging on the strength of the Group's global presence and network, C Block Capital Group is able to provide differentiated investment themes across asset classes, industries, and geographies. The team's focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, and institutionalization has led to a history of delivering excellent risk-adjusted returns. About SuperNode Community SuperNode Community (SNC) is a decentralized venture capital ecosystem. SNC's vision is to build a decentralized, collaborative, and efficient ecosystem for the startup community. The project aims to be the first stop and gateway for every blockchain startup to access funding. Story continues About SyncFab Founded and headquartered near Silicon Valley, SyncFab is a distributed manufacturing platform that streamlines the way buyers procure, manage, and track precision parts production securely using blockchain technology. Through partnerships with federal and municipal government initiatives, SyncFab helps spur economic development by making regional suppliers with idle manufacturing capacity more accessible and responsive to buyers to enable a shift towards cleaner, local manufacturers worldwide. SyncFab is Partner to CESMII , The U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Energy Manufacturing Network appointed by the White House. SyncFab municipal partners include San Francisco, San Leandro, Oakland and West Sacramento. SOURCE: Story.KISSPR.com View comments
[Social Media Buzz]
11-03 00:00(GMT)
#SPINDLE price
$SPD (BTC)
Yobit :0.00000037
HitBTC :0.00000036
LiveCoin:0.00000026
$SPD (JPY)
Yobit :0.26
HitBTC :0.25
LiveCoin:0.18 || Current price: $0.022609
Node count: 988
Total accounts: 553341
Coins burned: 3,124,716.00 TRX
#tron #trx $trx $btc #btc || #cryptocurrency Price Analysis for #Bitsend #BSD :
Last Hour Change : 0.96 % || 02-11-2018 09:00
Price in #USD : 0.1624576834 || Price in #EUR : 0.1422117195
New Price in #Bitcoin #BTC : 0.00002568 || #Coin Ra...
|
6361.26, 6376.13, 6419.66, 6461.01, 6530.14, 6453.72, 6385.62, 6409.22, 6411.27, 6371.27
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 11011.10, 11790.92, 13016.23, 11182.81, 12407.33, 11959.37, 10817.16, 10583.13, 10801.68, 11961.27, 11215.44, 10978.46, 11208.55, 11450.85, 12285.96, 12573.81, 12156.51, 11358.66, 11815.99, 11392.38, 10256.06, 10895.09, 9477.64, 9693.80, 10666.48, 10530.73, 10767.14, 10599.11, 10343.11, 9900.77, 9811.93, 9911.84, 9870.30, 9477.68, 9552.86, 9519.15, 9607.42, 10085.63, 10399.67, 10518.17, 10821.73, 10970.18, 11805.65, 11478.17, 11941.97, 11966.41, 11862.94, 11354.02, 11523.58, 11382.62, 10895.83, 10051.70, 10311.55, 10374.34, 10231.74, 10345.81, 10916.05, 10763.23, 10138.05, 10131.06, 10407.96, 10159.96, 10138.52, 10370.82, 10185.50, 9754.42, 9510.20, 9598.17, 9630.66, 9757.97, 10346.76, 10623.54, 10594.49, 10575.53, 10353.30, 10517.25, 10441.28, 10334.97, 10115.98, 10178.37, 10410.13, 10360.55, 10358.05, 10347.71, 10276.79, 10241.27, 10198.25, 10266.42, 10181.64, 10019.72.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-09-21]
Volume: 13425266806, RSI (14-day): 42.55, 50-day EMA: 10308.33, 200-day EMA: 8774.72
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitcoin is surging, bringing altcoins along for the ride: Good news for day traders. After a bearish week,Bitcoinis seeing new green pastures with a remarkable recovery after breaking below the $10,100 per coin mark for a brief time.
The bounce-back is significant for several reasons. Had this zone been broken to confirm the bearish trend, the closest support was close to $9,000, according to several technical analysts.
Throughout the course of the day, Bitcoin had four big green candles (those bars on trading charts that indicate the high, low, open, and closing prices of the asset).
First, the price went from $10,100 to almost $10,300 per BTC in just two hours. Then, it corrected to $10,150, gaining momentum for a new bullish impulse that took it above $10,250 per bitcoin.
And the altcoin market replicated this bullish behavior. According to CoinMarketCap, about 90 percent of the top 100 alts went bullish during the last 24 hours, though it’s difficult to determine the stability of this trend over a longer period.
Among the top 10 coins by market cap, ETC and XRP stand out with the most impressive growth rates. While ETH has gone up by almost 10 percent, breaking the $200 barrier to settle near $208 per coin, XRP just had its biggest bullish candle in months—increasing by 12.4 percentin the last 24 hours to reach $0.029.
The outlook is more optimistic for those who trade BTC fast. However, slow traders with overnight positions may be approaching a decisive moment in their trends. The $10,100 zone has been a support that the bears have not been able to break, and the charts show a possible closing of a descending triangle that—if confirmed—could result in a nice bullish move for BTC in the next few days. || Bitcoin is surging, bringing altcoins along for the ride: Good news for day traders. After a bearish week, Bitcoin is seeing new green pastures with a remarkable recovery after breaking below the $10,100 per coin mark for a brief time. The bounce-back is significant for several reasons. Had this zone been broken to confirm the bearish trend, the closest support was close to $9,000, according to several technical analysts. Throughout the course of the day, Bitcoin had four big green candles (those bars on trading charts that indicate the high, low, open, and closing prices of the asset). BTC sees green. First, the price went from $10,100 to almost $10,300 per BTC in just two hours. Then, it corrected to $10,150, gaining momentum for a new bullish impulse that took it above $10,250 per bitcoin. And the altcoin market replicated this bullish behavior. According to CoinMarketCap, about 90 percent of the top 100 alts went bullish during the last 24 hours, though its difficult to determine the stability of this trend over a longer period. Among the top 10 coins by market cap, ETC and XRP stand out with the most impressive growth rates. While ETH has gone up by almost 10 percent, breaking the $200 barrier to settle near $208 per coin, XRP just had its biggest bullish candle in months increasing by 12.4 percent in the last 24 hours to reach $0.029. Bullish sign for Bitcoin? The outlook is more optimistic for those who trade BTC fast. However, slow traders with overnight positions may be approaching a decisive moment in their trends. The $10,100 zone has been a support that the bears have not been able to break, and the charts show a possible closing of a descending triangle thatif confirmedcould result in a nice bullish move for BTC in the next few days. || Bitcoin is surging, bringing altcoins along for the ride: Good news for day traders. After a bearish week,Bitcoinis seeing new green pastures with a remarkable recovery after breaking below the $10,100 per coin mark for a brief time.
The bounce-back is significant for several reasons. Had this zone been broken to confirm the bearish trend, the closest support was close to $9,000, according to several technical analysts.
Throughout the course of the day, Bitcoin had four big green candles (those bars on trading charts that indicate the high, low, open, and closing prices of the asset).
First, the price went from $10,100 to almost $10,300 per BTC in just two hours. Then, it corrected to $10,150, gaining momentum for a new bullish impulse that took it above $10,250 per bitcoin.
And the altcoin market replicated this bullish behavior. According to CoinMarketCap, about 90 percent of the top 100 alts went bullish during the last 24 hours, though it’s difficult to determine the stability of this trend over a longer period.
Among the top 10 coins by market cap, ETC and XRP stand out with the most impressive growth rates. While ETH has gone up by almost 10 percent, breaking the $200 barrier to settle near $208 per coin, XRP just had its biggest bullish candle in months—increasing by 12.4 percentin the last 24 hours to reach $0.029.
The outlook is more optimistic for those who trade BTC fast. However, slow traders with overnight positions may be approaching a decisive moment in their trends. The $10,100 zone has been a support that the bears have not been able to break, and the charts show a possible closing of a descending triangle that—if confirmed—could result in a nice bullish move for BTC in the next few days. || Binance adds privacy coins to its lending platform: Crypto exchange Binance today launched another batch of lending products. Users of the exchange can now earn interest by lending privacy coins Monero, Dash and Zcash. Now in its fifth batchthe total amount of crypto that the exchange will borrow from its users will be 30,000 Monero, 30,0000 Dash and 60,000 Zcash. The product also details a strict lending term of 14 days, with annualized interest payable at a rate of 3.5 percent. Binance launched its lending platform in August, allowing its users to let their funds be used by margin traders. Previously, the platform had shown support for top cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP, its own native crypto, Binance Coin, and stablecoins including Tether and USDC. But this is the first time users have been able to do so with privacy coins. Given the combined total of $7.8 million worth of privacy coins that the exchange wants to borrow from its usersBinance will pay its lenders a total of around $10,500 in interest payments, at the end of the 14-day lock-up period. The annualized interest rate is also different to that of batch fourwhen Binance was offering 3 percent for Bitcoin and 10 percent for users to lend the exchange their BNB tokens. Despite the global limit of tokens that the exchange is willing to borrow, each individual user has their allocation capped at a limit of 300 Monero, 300 Dash and 600 Zcash. At the current market prices, that amount of Monero, Dash and Zcash total around $78,000with an expected interest payout of just over $100 to each user, due when the lending agreement ends in 14 days time. The three privacy coins are currently ranked at #11 (Monero), #17 (Dash) and #28 (Zcash) by market cap with a combined valuation of just under $2.5 billion, according to C oingecko. || Binance adds privacy coins to its lending platform: Crypto exchange Binance todaylaunchedanother batch of lending products. Users of the exchange can now earn interest by lending privacy coins Monero, Dash and Zcash.
Now in its fifth batch—the total amount of crypto that the exchange will borrow from its users will be 30,000 Monero, 30,0000 Dash and 60,000 Zcash.
The product also details a strict lending term of 14 days, with annualized interest payable at a rate of 3.5 percent.
Binance launched itslending platformin August, allowing its users to let their funds be used by margin traders. Previously, the platform had shown support for top cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP, its own native crypto, Binance Coin, and stablecoins including Tether and USDC. But this is the first time users have been able to do so with privacy coins.
Given the combined total of $7.8 million worth of privacy coins that the exchange wants to borrow from its users—Binance will pay its lenders a total of around $10,500 in interest payments, at the end of the 14-day lock-up period.
The annualized interest rate is also different to that of batch four—when Binance was offering 3 percent for Bitcoin and 10 percent for users to lend the exchange their BNB tokens.
Despite the global limit of tokens that the exchange is willing to borrow, each individual user has their allocation capped at a limit of 300 Monero, 300 Dash and 600 Zcash.
At the current market prices, that amount of Monero, Dash and Zcash total around $78,000—with an expected interest payout of just over $100 to each user, due when the lending agreement ends in 14 days time.
The three privacy coins are currently ranked at #11 (Monero), #17 (Dash) and #28 (Zcash) by market cap with a combined valuation of just under $2.5 billion, according to Coingecko. || Colombia is slowly moving toward Bitcoin-friendly regulations: To say Colombia doesn’t have the best cryptocurrency regulations in the world would be an understatement. As it stands, crypto, and those who operate in it, have no legal status or protection in the country. But a new breed of Colombian lawmakers are working hard to change that—even if at a bureaucracy's pace. Despite an unfavorable legal framework, Colombia is still the third-most important FinTech economy in Latin America. In 2017, the number of FinTech businesses grew by 61 percent compared to the year prior, according to the Spain-based, FinTech incubator Finnovista. The next year, the Colombian FinTech Associated reported that the figure rose by another 76 percent . And this year, there are already 45 percent more FinTech startups than in 2018. Some of these startups, such as Daexs and Panda , focus specifically on the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. But they do so in a perilous regulatory environment. Colombian law, for example, does not currently recognize the legality of cryptocurrency exchanges—and losing access to financial services for unlawfully handling cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin , is all too common. A failed attempt at clarity One of the most significant attempts to regulate the crypto industry came in the form of Bill 028 of 2018. The proposal sought to establish a set of rules that would formally legalize cryptocurrencies and their exchange via peer-to-peer transactions or through third parties, such as crypto exchanges, all while generating a tax of 5 percent per transaction. But the Colombian Senate rejected the proposal in June for fear of giving way to fraudsters operating pyramid schemes, Ponzis, multi-level marketing, and other scams. Decrypt contacted the Colombian Superintendency of Financial Assets to learn more about the government’s reasoning and clarify the current standing of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin under Colombian law. The response, formalized in a numbered document by the Superintendency, was precise: Story continues "None of the transactional platforms or marketers of ‘virtual currencies’ such as Bitcoin are regulated by Colombian law. Nor are they subject to the control, surveillance or inspection of this Superintendency," the agency explained. It added that "there are no mechanisms to enforce compliance with transactions with ‘virtual currencies,’ which significantly increases the possibility of noncompliance.” In other words, if you make any sort of transaction with cryptocurrency and are ultimately swindled somehow, the best you can hope for is to gripe and moan on social media. The Colombian government cannot help you. What’s more, the Superintendency of Financial Assets emphasized that cryptocurrencies "do not constitute a value in terms of Law 964 of 2005; therefore, they are not part of the infrastructure of the Colombian stock market, they do not constitute a valid investment for the supervised entities, nor are there operators authorized to advise and/or manage operations on them.” Colombians are well aware of the nebulous legal territory in which crypto operates in the country and yet—evidently—their enthusiasm for Bitcoin and other digital currencies goes undeterred. According to a recent survey commissioned by peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange Paxful , 91 percent of Colombians are convinced that cryptocurrencies are the future of global trade. At the same time, 86 percent said they believe Colombia needs to do a much better job regulating these markets. Light at the end of the tunnel Colombian Congressman Mauricio Toro of the Green Alliance Party is committed to make such change happen. The businessman turned politician has for the last year been pushing to clarify the law regarding crypto, including legalizing the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, through new legislation, Bill 097 of 2019 . Toro told Decrypt that he’s been in talks with Colombian Central Bank, the Superintendence of Finance, and a number of other government agencies to help move the legislation forward. But the reason it continues to take as long as it has to regulate the crypto market in Colombia, according to Toro, can be summed up in one word: Fear. From cocaine to crypto: The new Escobar family business "In Colombia, the financial apparatus has been overprotected due to [perceived] risks associated to financing terrorism and money laundering, financing illegal groups and drug trafficking," Toro said. “The only way to calm and modernize [this system] and update it according to the challenges of the modern economy is to understand the [Colombian] state and its concerns.” Among the changes sought by the new bill, allowing cryptocurrency exchanges to legally operate in Colombia would help generate jobs and energize the economy, Toro said. "Today, we are not talking about regulations on operations in foreign exchanges. We are looking for them to be able to operate in Colombia, pay taxes in Colombia, report to Colombia, and be legal in Colombia," he said. Fear of a crypto planet According to Toro, even some of Colombia’s national banks have recently joined the debate. This is significant, he said, considering that regulatory agencies have ordered banks to close the accounts of several crypto exchanges operating in the country without authorization. But to assuage the fears raised by the old guard, the bill expressly prohibits “developing any kind of commercial activity from network/multi-level marketing with cryptoassets, as well as the financial intermediation thereof." According to Toro, this how Colombia can have its crypto cake and eat it too—legalizing cryptocurrency while protecting against the Ponzi and pyramid schemes which are wildly popular in Colombia and other Latin American countries. Bitcoin, Ethereum adoption on the rise in Colombia, says new report The proposed law also prohibits all platforms from trading with their clients' assets. This the kind of activity that was notoriously taking place on the now defunct Canada-based QuadrigaCX , as well BTE.top , whose founder committed suicide after being liquidated and losing 2,000 BTC in a short position at 100x leverage. Toro, meanwhile, is confident his bill will pass, but said Colombians will have to wait at least a year before it has any effect, even if it does clear the legislature. Best case scenario: “Before a year and a half, as long as there is no opposition and it becomes a reality, the bill will be approved and ready to be signed by the president of the republic, which could take a couple of months [after its passage]." Colombians, though, aren’t waiting around for their politicians’ approval—for better or worse. According to Coin Dance , investments from Colombians in Bitcoin are on the rise. And in a country where politicians have a long history of failed central planning and paternalism, that approval might be a while yet. || Colombia is slowly moving toward Bitcoin-friendly regulations: To say Colombia doesn’t havethe bestcryptocurrencyregulations in the world would be an understatement. As it stands, crypto, and those who operate in it, have no legal status or protection in the country.
But a new breed of Colombian lawmakers are working hard to change that—even if at a bureaucracy's pace.
Despite an unfavorable legal framework, Colombia is still the third-most important FinTech economy in Latin America. In 2017, the number of FinTech businessesgrew by 61 percentcompared to the year prior, according to the Spain-based, FinTech incubator Finnovista. The next year, the Colombian FinTech Associated reported that the figure rose by another76 percent. And this year, there are already45 percent moreFinTech startups than in 2018.
Some of these startups, such asDaexsandPanda, focus specifically on the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. But they do so in a perilous regulatory environment.
Colombian law, for example, does not currently recognize the legality of cryptocurrency exchanges—and losing access to financial services for unlawfully handling cryptocurrencies, such asBitcoin, is all too common.
One of the most significant attempts to regulate the crypto industry came in the form ofBill 028of 2018. The proposal sought to establish a set of rules that would formally legalize cryptocurrencies and their exchange via peer-to-peer transactions or through third parties, such as crypto exchanges, all while generating a tax of 5 percent per transaction.
But the Colombian Senaterejected the proposalin June for fear of giving way to fraudsters operating pyramid schemes, Ponzis, multi-level marketing, and other scams.
Decryptcontacted the Colombian Superintendency of Financial Assets to learn more about the government’s reasoning and clarify the current standing of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin under Colombian law. The response, formalized in a numbered document by the Superintendency, was precise:
"None of the transactional platforms or marketers of ‘virtual currencies’ such as Bitcoin are regulated by Colombian law. Nor are they subject to the control, surveillance or inspection of this Superintendency," the agency explained. It added that "there are no mechanisms to enforce compliance with transactions with ‘virtual currencies,’ which significantly increases the possibility of noncompliance.”
In other words, if you make any sort of transaction with cryptocurrency and are ultimately swindled somehow, the best you can hope for is to gripe and moan on social media. The Colombian government cannot help you.
What’s more, the Superintendency of Financial Assets emphasized that cryptocurrencies "do not constitute a value in terms of Law 964 of 2005; therefore, they are not part of the infrastructure of the Colombian stock market, they do not constitute a valid investment for the supervised entities, nor are there operators authorized to advise and/or manage operations on them.”
Colombians are well aware of the nebulous legal territory in which crypto operates in the country and yet—evidently—their enthusiasm for Bitcoin and other digital currencies goes undeterred. According to arecent surveycommissioned bypeer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange Paxful, 91 percent of Colombians are convinced that cryptocurrencies are the future of global trade.
At the same time, 86 percent said they believe Colombia needs to do a much better job regulating these markets.
Colombian Congressman Mauricio Toro of the Green Alliance Party is committed to make such change happen. The businessman turned politician has for the last year been pushing to clarify the law regarding crypto, including legalizing the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, through new legislation, Bill097 of 2019.
Toro toldDecryptthat he’s been in talks with Colombian Central Bank, the Superintendence of Finance, and a number of other government agencies to help move the legislation forward. But the reason it continues to take as long as it has to regulate the crypto market in Colombia, according to Toro, can be summed up in one word: Fear.
"In Colombia, the financial apparatus has been overprotected due to [perceived] risks associated to financing terrorism and money laundering, financing illegal groups and drug trafficking," Toro said. “The only way to calm and modernize [this system] and update it according to the challenges of the modern economy is to understand the [Colombian] state and its concerns.”
Among the changes sought by the new bill, allowing cryptocurrency exchanges to legally operate in Colombia would help generate jobs and energize the economy, Toro said. "Today, we are not talking about regulations on operations in foreign exchanges. We are looking for them to be able to operate in Colombia, pay taxes in Colombia, report to Colombia, and be legal in Colombia," he said.
According to Toro, even some of Colombia’s national banks have recently joined the debate. This is significant, he said, considering that regulatory agencies have ordered banks to close the accounts of several crypto exchanges operating in the country without authorization.
But to assuage the fears raised by the old guard, the bill expressly prohibits “developing any kind of commercial activity from network/multi-level marketing with cryptoassets, as well as the financial intermediation thereof."
According to Toro, this how Colombia can have its crypto cake and eat it too—legalizing cryptocurrency while protecting against the Ponzi and pyramid schemes which are wildly popular in Colombia and other Latin American countries.
The proposed law also prohibits all platforms from trading with their clients' assets. This the kind of activity that was notoriously taking place on the now defunct Canada-basedQuadrigaCX, as wellBTE.top, whose founder committed suicide after being liquidated and losing 2,000 BTC in a short position at 100x leverage.
Toro, meanwhile, is confident his bill will pass, but said Colombians will have to wait at least a year before it has any effect, even if it does clear the legislature. Best case scenario: “Before a year and a half, as long as there is no opposition and it becomes a reality, the bill will be approved and ready to be signed by the president of the republic, which could take a couple of months [after its passage]."
Colombians, though, aren’t waiting around for their politicians’ approval—for better or worse. According toCoin Dance, investments from Colombians in Bitcoin are on the rise. And in a country where politicians have a long history of failed central planning and paternalism, that approval might be a while yet. || Colombia is slowly moving toward Bitcoin-friendly regulations: To say Colombia doesn’t havethe bestcryptocurrencyregulations in the world would be an understatement. As it stands, crypto, and those who operate in it, have no legal status or protection in the country.
But a new breed of Colombian lawmakers are working hard to change that—even if at a bureaucracy's pace.
Despite an unfavorable legal framework, Colombia is still the third-most important FinTech economy in Latin America. In 2017, the number of FinTech businessesgrew by 61 percentcompared to the year prior, according to the Spain-based, FinTech incubator Finnovista. The next year, the Colombian FinTech Associated reported that the figure rose by another76 percent. And this year, there are already45 percent moreFinTech startups than in 2018.
Some of these startups, such asDaexsandPanda, focus specifically on the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. But they do so in a perilous regulatory environment.
Colombian law, for example, does not currently recognize the legality of cryptocurrency exchanges—and losing access to financial services for unlawfully handling cryptocurrencies, such asBitcoin, is all too common.
One of the most significant attempts to regulate the crypto industry came in the form ofBill 028of 2018. The proposal sought to establish a set of rules that would formally legalize cryptocurrencies and their exchange via peer-to-peer transactions or through third parties, such as crypto exchanges, all while generating a tax of 5 percent per transaction.
But the Colombian Senaterejected the proposalin June for fear of giving way to fraudsters operating pyramid schemes, Ponzis, multi-level marketing, and other scams.
Decryptcontacted the Colombian Superintendency of Financial Assets to learn more about the government’s reasoning and clarify the current standing of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin under Colombian law. The response, formalized in a numbered document by the Superintendency, was precise:
"None of the transactional platforms or marketers of ‘virtual currencies’ such as Bitcoin are regulated by Colombian law. Nor are they subject to the control, surveillance or inspection of this Superintendency," the agency explained. It added that "there are no mechanisms to enforce compliance with transactions with ‘virtual currencies,’ which significantly increases the possibility of noncompliance.”
In other words, if you make any sort of transaction with cryptocurrency and are ultimately swindled somehow, the best you can hope for is to gripe and moan on social media. The Colombian government cannot help you.
What’s more, the Superintendency of Financial Assets emphasized that cryptocurrencies "do not constitute a value in terms of Law 964 of 2005; therefore, they are not part of the infrastructure of the Colombian stock market, they do not constitute a valid investment for the supervised entities, nor are there operators authorized to advise and/or manage operations on them.”
Colombians are well aware of the nebulous legal territory in which crypto operates in the country and yet—evidently—their enthusiasm for Bitcoin and other digital currencies goes undeterred. According to arecent surveycommissioned bypeer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange Paxful, 91 percent of Colombians are convinced that cryptocurrencies are the future of global trade.
At the same time, 86 percent said they believe Colombia needs to do a much better job regulating these markets.
Colombian Congressman Mauricio Toro of the Green Alliance Party is committed to make such change happen. The businessman turned politician has for the last year been pushing to clarify the law regarding crypto, including legalizing the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, through new legislation, Bill097 of 2019.
Toro toldDecryptthat he’s been in talks with Colombian Central Bank, the Superintendence of Finance, and a number of other government agencies to help move the legislation forward. But the reason it continues to take as long as it has to regulate the crypto market in Colombia, according to Toro, can be summed up in one word: Fear.
"In Colombia, the financial apparatus has been overprotected due to [perceived] risks associated to financing terrorism and money laundering, financing illegal groups and drug trafficking," Toro said. “The only way to calm and modernize [this system] and update it according to the challenges of the modern economy is to understand the [Colombian] state and its concerns.”
Among the changes sought by the new bill, allowing cryptocurrency exchanges to legally operate in Colombia would help generate jobs and energize the economy, Toro said. "Today, we are not talking about regulations on operations in foreign exchanges. We are looking for them to be able to operate in Colombia, pay taxes in Colombia, report to Colombia, and be legal in Colombia," he said.
According to Toro, even some of Colombia’s national banks have recently joined the debate. This is significant, he said, considering that regulatory agencies have ordered banks to close the accounts of several crypto exchanges operating in the country without authorization.
But to assuage the fears raised by the old guard, the bill expressly prohibits “developing any kind of commercial activity from network/multi-level marketing with cryptoassets, as well as the financial intermediation thereof."
According to Toro, this how Colombia can have its crypto cake and eat it too—legalizing cryptocurrency while protecting against the Ponzi and pyramid schemes which are wildly popular in Colombia and other Latin American countries.
The proposed law also prohibits all platforms from trading with their clients' assets. This the kind of activity that was notoriously taking place on the now defunct Canada-basedQuadrigaCX, as wellBTE.top, whose founder committed suicide after being liquidated and losing 2,000 BTC in a short position at 100x leverage.
Toro, meanwhile, is confident his bill will pass, but said Colombians will have to wait at least a year before it has any effect, even if it does clear the legislature. Best case scenario: “Before a year and a half, as long as there is no opposition and it becomes a reality, the bill will be approved and ready to be signed by the president of the republic, which could take a couple of months [after its passage]."
Colombians, though, aren’t waiting around for their politicians’ approval—for better or worse. According toCoin Dance, investments from Colombians in Bitcoin are on the rise. And in a country where politicians have a long history of failed central planning and paternalism, that approval might be a while yet. || Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Trend Down, but Momentum Shifts to Upside: Gold futures soared late in the session on Friday after U.S. Treasury yields fell sharply and traders dumped risky assets. The price action was fueled by the news that Chinese trade negotiators had cancelled a visit to meet U.S. farmers after they wrapped up trade talks in Washington sooner than expected. At 20:34 GMT, December Comex gold futures are trading $1523.60, up $17.40 or +1.16%. According to reports, there was no explanation as to why they were cutting their trip short. The jump in demand for safe-haven assets like Treasurys, gold and the Japanese Yen indicate that investors feel the need to take protection over the weekend in case there is bad news about the high level negotiations scheduled for early October. Daily December Comex Gold Daily Technical Analysis The main trend is down according to the daily swing chart, however, momentum shifted to the upside with the formation of the closing price reversal bottom at $1490.70 on September 18 and its subsequent confirmation on Friday. A trade through $1490.70 will negate the reversal bottom and signal a reversal of the downtrend. The main trend will change to up on a trade through $1566.20. The minor trend is up. It changed to up when buyers took out the minor top at $1519.70. This confirmed the change in momentum. The major support is the $1489.10 to $1471.00 retracement zone. The first upside target is the short-term retracement zone at $1528.50 to $1537.40. Daily Technical Forecast Holding above the downtrending Gann angle at $1518.20 will indicate that buyers are coming in ahead of the close. This could trigger a late session rally into a 50% level at $1528.50, followed by a Fibonacci level at $1537.40 and a downtrending Gann angle at $1542.20. A break back under $1518.20 will likely lead to a test of the uptrending Gann angle at $1506.70. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: S&P 500 Price Forecast – Stock markets continue to test highs Weekly Wrap – Stats, Geopolitics, and Monetary Policy Drove the Majors Gold Weekly Price Forecast – Gold markets continue to look for support Crude Oil Weekly Price Forecast – Crude oil markets gap to kick off the week Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 21/09/19 E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Technical Analysis – Trend Changes to Down if 26900 Fails to Hold || Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Trend Down, but Momentum Shifts to Upside: Gold futures soared late in the session on Friday after U.S. Treasury yields fell sharply and traders dumped risky assets. The price action was fueled by the news that Chinese trade negotiators had cancelled a visit to meet U.S. farmers after they wrapped up trade talks in Washington sooner than expected.
At 20:34 GMT,December Comex goldfutures are trading $1523.60, up $17.40 or +1.16%.
According to reports, there was no explanation as to why they were cutting their trip short. The jump in demand for safe-haven assets like Treasurys, gold and the Japanese Yen indicate that investors feel the need to take protection over the weekend in case there is bad news about the high level negotiations scheduled for early October.
The main trend is down according to the daily swing chart, however, momentum shifted to the upside with the formation of the closing price reversal bottom at $1490.70 on September 18 and its subsequent confirmation on Friday.
A trade through $1490.70 will negate the reversal bottom and signal a reversal of the downtrend. The main trend will change to up on a trade through $1566.20.
The minor trend is up. It changed to up when buyers took out the minor top at $1519.70. This confirmed the change in momentum.
The major support is the $1489.10 to $1471.00 retracement zone. The first upside target is the short-term retracement zone at $1528.50 to $1537.40.
Holding above the downtrending Gann angle at $1518.20 will indicate that buyers are coming in ahead of the close. This could trigger a late session rally into a 50% level at $1528.50, followed by a Fibonacci level at $1537.40 and a downtrending Gann angle at $1542.20.
A break back under $1518.20 will likely lead to a test of the uptrending Gann angle at $1506.70.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• S&P 500 Price Forecast – Stock markets continue to test highs
• Weekly Wrap – Stats, Geopolitics, and Monetary Policy Drove the Majors
• Gold Weekly Price Forecast – Gold markets continue to look for support
• Crude Oil Weekly Price Forecast – Crude oil markets gap to kick off the week
• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 21/09/19
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Technical Analysis – Trend Changes to Down if 26900 Fails to Hold || Huobi opening up fiat-to-crypto onramp in Argentina: Huobi Group, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, today announced the launch of its latest division, Huobi Argentina—a new exchange based in South America and supported by Huobi Cloud. The move establishes one of the first significant fiat-to-crypto onramps in the region. Argentina, in fact, is precisely the location which competitor and largest crypto exchange by volume Binance hinted back in March that it would be coming to next. Binance enlists CipherTrace to boost compliance, expand into new markets Huobi plans to establish a local team of cryptocurrency developers and enthusiasts to expand its operations throughout Latin America and open the doorway to trades between the Argentine peso (ARS)—the country’s national currency—and digital assets, according to the company’s statement. The firm also plans to allow users to purchase crypto with credit cards and wire transfers beginning in October. In a statement, Carlos Banfi, the CEO of Huobi Argentina, said that the volatility of Argentina’s national currency and the people’s distrust of traditional banks makes it the prime spot for such a venture. “Argentina is South America’s most promising market for blockchain development,” he said. “There is already a general consensus to break from a reliance on the local currency and banks, and with Huobi’s entrance into the market, it is a great opportunity to move the needle on blockchain and crypto adoption in Argentina.” Latin America has become a prime trading ground for cryptocurrencies. The company behind Dash, for example, recently announced that approximately 10,000 Dash wallets have been opened in both South and Central American countries. Meanwhile, crypto startup PundiX recently partnered with Venezuela’s largest retail company, Traki, expanding its ability to accept Bitcoin as payment for everyday purchases. According to David Chen, senior business director at Huobi Cloud, it’s exactly this sort of demand that drove Huobi to make the jump into Argentina. “The increasing demand for crypto-related products and services makes Argentina a perfect entry point for Huobi to pursue larger projects in promoting cryptocurrency and blockchain to the market,” he said. || Huobi opening up fiat-to-crypto onramp in Argentina: Huobi Group, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, today announced the launch of its latest division, Huobi Argentina—a new exchange based in South America and supported by Huobi Cloud.
The move establishes one of the first significant fiat-to-crypto onramps in the region. Argentina, in fact, is precisely the location which competitor and largest crypto exchange by volume Binancehinted back in Marchthat it would be coming to next.
Huobi plans to establish a local team of cryptocurrency developers and enthusiasts to expand its operations throughout Latin America and open the doorway to trades between the Argentine peso (ARS)—the country’s national currency—and digital assets, according to the company’s statement. The firm also plans to allow users to purchase crypto with credit cards and wire transfers beginning in October.
In a statement, Carlos Banfi, the CEO of Huobi Argentina, said that the volatility of Argentina’s national currency and the people’s distrust of traditional banks makes it the prime spot for such a venture. “Argentina is South America’s most promising market for blockchain development,” he said.
“There is already a general consensus to break from a reliance on the local currency and banks, and with Huobi’s entrance into the market, it is a great opportunity to move the needle on blockchain and crypto adoption in Argentina.”
Latin America has become a prime trading ground for cryptocurrencies. The company behind Dash, for example, recently announced thatapproximately 10,000Dash wallets have been opened in both South and Central American countries. Meanwhile,crypto startup PundiX recentlypartnered with Venezuela’s largest retail company, Traki, expanding its ability to accept Bitcoin as payment for everyday purchases.
According toDavid Chen, senior business director at Huobi Cloud, it’s exactly this sort of demand that drove Huobi to make the jump into Argentina. “The increasing demand for crypto-related products and services makes Argentina a perfect entry point for Huobi to pursue larger projects in promoting cryptocurrency and blockchain to the market,” he said. || Natural Gas ETF Rally Could Burnout, Following Saudi Oil Attacks: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Natural gas ETFs may continue to weaken as U.S. shale producers ramp up production to capitalize on the spike in oil prices, following the attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities. The United States Natural Gas Fund ( UNG ) has increased 15.6% over the past month, with Nymex natural gas futures trading around $2.54 per million British thermal units. However, natural gas prices have begun to falter as investors look to the supply outlook. Many are concerned that the increased drilling in places like West Texas and North Dakota from producers hoping to capitalize on the spike in crude oil prices could also flood the market with additional natural gas, the Wall Street Journal reports. Natural gas is also extracted when shale oil producers look for crude oil. Natural gas futures were already retreating after the U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed a bigger-than-expected injection of gas into storage on Thursday. Natgas prices, though, remain over 20% above a three-year low of $2.07 on August 5. Crude oil prices surged 15% after the weekend attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities before paring their increase to about 6% after the Kingdom said it would resume full production in a few weeks. Goldman Sachs analysts warned that a sustained price increase for crude or natural-gas liquids like propane could tempt U.S. companies to drill more. “It’s going to probably embolden U.S. oil producers to produce more,” Ryan Kelley, who manages several stock portfolios at Hennessy Funds, told the WSJ. The Energy Information Administration has calculated that the amount of natural gas extracted in Appalachia, West Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota and on the Great Plains will next month surpass records. Looking ahead, Goldman projects an an average gas price of $2.50 next year, but cautioned that its estimate might be high if oil drillers ramp up production. “Appalachia producers in particular need to show restraint in order to keep the market balanced into 2020,” the bank’s analysts said in a research note. Story continues Natural gas markets are already seeing higher gas supply at the start of the seasonal shift to autumn when prices typically pull back before winter demand picks up. For more information on the natgas market, visit our natural gas category . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Ruling Expected Before Mid-October In the Know: Where Markets Stand in the Late-Cycle U.S.-China Trade War Intensifies, But It May All Work Out in the End Vegan ETF Talk With ETF Trends’ Tom Lydon On CNBC ETF Trends CEO Tom Lydon Talks Spike in Crude Oil Prices on CNBC READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Natural Gas ETF Rally Could Burnout, Following Saudi Oil Attacks: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Natural gas ETFs may continue to weaken as U.S. shale producers ramp up production to capitalize on the spike in oil prices, following the attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities.
TheUnited States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) has increased 15.6% over the past month, with Nymex natural gas futures trading around $2.54 per million British thermal units.
However, natural gas prices have begun to falter as investors look to the supply outlook. Many are concerned that the increased drilling in places like West Texas and North Dakota from producers hoping to capitalize on the spike in crude oil prices could also flood the market with additional natural gas, theWall Street Journalreports. Natural gas is also extracted when shale oil producers look for crude oil.
Natural gas futures were already retreating after the U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed a bigger-than-expected injection of gas into storage on Thursday. Natgas prices, though, remain over 20% above a three-year low of $2.07 on August 5.
Crude oil prices surged 15% after the weekend attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities before paring their increase to about 6% after the Kingdom said it would resume full production in a few weeks. Goldman Sachs analysts warned that a sustained price increase for crude or natural-gas liquids like propane could tempt U.S. companies to drill more.
“It’s going to probably embolden U.S. oil producers to produce more,” Ryan Kelley, who manages several stock portfolios at Hennessy Funds, told the WSJ.
The Energy Information Administration has calculated that the amount of natural gas extracted in Appalachia, West Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota and on the Great Plains will next month surpass records.
Looking ahead, Goldman projects an an average gas price of $2.50 next year, but cautioned that its estimate might be high if oil drillers ramp up production.
“Appalachia producers in particular need to show restraint in order to keep the market balanced into 2020,” the bank’s analysts said in a research note.
Natural gas markets are already seeing higher gas supply at the start of the seasonal shift to autumn when prices typically pull back before winter demand picks up.
For more information on the natgas market, visit ournatural gas category.POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Will Cardano’s simple smart contracts start a stampede?: Five hundred developers are descending on the University of Wyoming today to get a first taste of working with Plutus—the latest version of the smart contract designed for use on the Cardano blockchain, and launched today. Cardano and Plutus are developed by blockchain engineering startup IOHK. Its CEO Charles Hoskinson is hoping for a stampede of iteration, innovation and interest, by some of the best minds in the industry. In fact, today’s event is even called the Wyoming Blockchain Stampede. “We’re showing off the latest and greatest of Plutus and we’re getting ready for launching Goguen,” Hoskinson told Decrypt , referring to the Cardano testnet the IOHK plans to launch later this month. Cardano’s roadmap (below) is ambitious to say the least. The team have adopted a research-driven approach and are developing a smart contract platform which they claim will have more advanced features than any other protocol in existence. Cardano's roadmap. SOURCE: Cardano The blockchain uses a proof-of-stake system, for reduced electricity use and to help improve its scalability. Hoskinson is a co-founder of Ethereum, and his team are made up of engineers and researchers from some of the world’s finest universities. But Cardano has been slow to develop, particularly in transitioning to “the Shelley era,” which will bring about proof-of-stake, and eventually mean it’s as decentralized as Bitcoin. The time that the project has taken—four-and-a-half years since its inception—has drawn its fair share of criticism . Hoskinson defends the project, saying it takes time to build a secure and efficient blockchain that’s destined to be around for 100 years. He says their progress is on track but constrained by development realities, like writing lots of code, and also community participation. “Just because you build the park, doesn’t mean that someone’s going to use the park and go and play in it,” he said. Plutus is based on a scripting language created for smart contracts by IOHK, to control the flow of money, identity and assets on the blockchain. Story continues Hoskinson said it has been developed with an onus on mathematics and precision. “On average, it has five to 10 times less code than a common programming language like Java,” he said. It allows smart contracts for the Cardano network to be more easily created and, “because you have less code, there’s less to test, and there’s more precision,” he added. Hoskinson said the aim is to make the blockchain more decentralized before pulling Plutus and smart contracts onto the Cardano system. “But we won’t delay smart contracts for the sake of decentralization,’ he added. The next big development, he said, is the launch of the next testnet, on September 28, which coincides with celebrations marking the second anniversary of Cardano’s official launch. And in November or December, with the launch of another key testnet, proof-of-stake will be enabled. People can start to build businesses, which we call stake pools, said Hoskinson, “and once we have enough of those, we can then turn the system over to the community.” Cardano, he added, “will be significantly more decentralized than any of our competitors.” A noble claim, but a little longer to wait to see if he can pull it off. || Will Cardano’s simple smart contracts start a stampede?: Five hundred developers are descending on the University of Wyoming today to get a first taste of working with Plutus—the latest version of the smart contract designed for use on theCardanoblockchain, and launched today.
Cardano and Plutus are developed by blockchain engineering startup IOHK. Its CEO Charles Hoskinson is hoping for a stampede of iteration, innovation and interest, by some of the best minds in the industry. In fact, today’s event is even called the Wyoming Blockchain Stampede.
“We’re showing off the latest and greatest of Plutus and we’re getting ready for launching Goguen,” Hoskinson toldDecrypt, referring to the Cardano testnet the IOHK plans to launch later this month.
Cardano’s roadmap (below) is ambitious to say the least. The team have adopted a research-driven approach and are developing a smart contract platform which they claim will have more advanced features than any other protocol in existence.
The blockchain uses aproof-of-stakesystem, for reduced electricity use and to help improve its scalability.
Hoskinson is a co-founder of Ethereum, and his team are made up of engineers and researchers from some of the world’s finest universities.
But Cardano has been slow to develop, particularly in transitioning to “the Shelley era,” which will bring about proof-of-stake, and eventually mean it’s as decentralized as Bitcoin. The time that the project has taken—four-and-a-half years since its inception—has drawn its fair share ofcriticism.
Hoskinson defends the project, saying it takes time to build a secure and efficient blockchain that’s destined to be around for 100 years. He says their progress is on track but constrained by development realities, like writing lots of code, and also community participation. “Just because you build the park, doesn’t mean that someone’s going to use the park and go and play in it,” he said.
Plutus is based on a scripting language created for smart contracts by IOHK, to control the flow of money, identity and assets on the blockchain.
Hoskinson said it has been developed with an onus on mathematics and precision. “On average, it has five to 10 times less code than a common programming language like Java,” he said. It allows smart contracts for the Cardano network to be more easily created and, “because you have less code, there’s less to test, and there’s more precision,” he added.
Hoskinson said the aim is to make the blockchain more decentralized before pulling Plutus and smart contracts onto the Cardano system. “But we won’t delay smart contracts for the sake of decentralization,’ he added.
The next big development, he said, is the launch of the next testnet, on September 28, which coincides with celebrations marking the second anniversary of Cardano’s official launch.
And in November or December, with the launch of another key testnet, proof-of-stake will be enabled. People can start to build businesses, which we call stake pools, said Hoskinson, “and once we have enough of those, we can then turn the system over to the community.”
Cardano, he added, “will be significantly more decentralized than any of our competitors.”
A noble claim, but a little longer to wait to see if he can pull it off. || Tether's use of Ethereum rises 1,000%, clogging up the network: Tetherhas switched its focus toEthereum, and it's already putting a heavy load on the blockchain platform. The stablecoin was mostly based on Bitcoin (via a tool called theOmni layer) but has recently swapped the majority of its tokens over to Ethereum instead.
In fact, since July, the number of Ethereum-based Tether transactions has increased from around 18,000 per day to 187,912 as of September 9, according to data fromCoin Metrics.These transactions now account for 25% of all Ethereum activity.
And it's starting to play havoc with the network. The amount of Gas used per day (a second cryptocurrency used to pay transaction fees) has risen to, at one point, 50 billion Gas ($183,000). This is up 152% since lows in July and is on track to surpass Bitcoin's daily transaction fees, which currently sit around $186,000. People making Tether transactions are now paying $21,000 a day in transaction fees—$525,000 over the last month—on Ethereum alone.
In response, Ethereum miners aretestingraising gas limits, to allow for more transactions per block. This is roughly equivalent to increasing the block size for Bitcoin blocks.
However, when looking deeper—it's not just Tether that has been clogging up the network.
A provably fair betting game, called Fair Win, is also on par with Tether's transaction fees–it spent some $531,000 over the last month.
While Ethereum is making developments on its scaling solution, called Ethereum 2.0, it's still a long way away, which begs the question: How will the network cope until then? || Tether's use of Ethereum rises 1,000%, clogging up the network: Tether has switched its focus to Ethereum , and it's already putting a heavy load on the blockchain platform. The stablecoin was mostly based on Bitcoin (via a tool called the Omni layer ) but has recently swapped the majority of its tokens over to Ethereum instead. In fact, since July, the number of Ethereum-based Tether transactions has increased from around 18,000 per day to 187,912 as of September 9, according to data from Coin Metrics. These transactions now account for 25% of all Ethereum activity. Tether is making full use of the Ethereum blockchain. Photo credit: Coin Metrics And it's starting to play havoc with the network. The amount of Gas used per day (a second cryptocurrency used to pay transaction fees) has risen to, at one point, 50 billion Gas ($183,000). This is up 152% since lows in July and is on track to surpass Bitcoin's daily transaction fees, which currently sit around $186,000. People making Tether transactions are now paying $21,000 a day in transaction fees$525,000 over the last monthon Ethereum alone. In response, Ethereum miners are testing raising gas limits, to allow for more transactions per block. This is roughly equivalent to increasing the block size for Bitcoin blocks. However, when looking deeperit's not just Tether that has been clogging up the network. A provably fair betting game, called Fair Win, is also on par with Tether's transaction feesit spent some $531,000 over the last month. While Ethereum is making developments on its scaling solution, called Ethereum 2.0, it's still a long way away, which begs the question: How will the network cope until then? || Zcash set to break $1 billion in mining revenue: Zcashis about to hit a milestone when it comes to mining revenue. According to recent data byCoin Metrics, Zcash miners have received almost $1 billion in mining revenue since the project's inception in 2016. So far, the total stands at $994,842,737 as of September 15.
Although this is a lot lower than the$14 billiongenerated through Bitcoin mining, proportionally Zcash miners have made up for their smaller market cap. While Bitcoin has a market capitalization almost 500x larger than Zcash, its mining revenue is only 14x larger that of Zcash's.
This means that much of the Zcash's circulating supply was minted when Zcash had a higher value, whereas the opposite is true for Bitcoin. This can be considered a positive indicator for Zcash, as it shows the privacy coin is growing faster than its early days, despite its value deteriorating in 2018 and 2019.
Back in February, the Zcash teamannouncedthat it had patched a potentially catastrophic vulnerability that could have allowed for infinite ZEC to be created. Despite the bad news, Zcash began a strong bull run, climbing from under $46 to as high as $120 by June—almost tripling its value. Then it crashed.
But now, Zcash is recovering, back at $50, up 4% in the last 24 hours and 8.7% in the last week. The cryptocurrency is now at its highest value since late August, indicating things may be looking up for the privacy coin. || Ethereum leads cryptocurrency market over past week: Following what can only be described as a gut-wrenching August for ether holders, Ethereum now appears to be on the road to recovery, having gained more than 5.5% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum has been witnessing back-to-back gains since the beginning of September, growing by more than 18.4% in this time. As it stands, ether is now teetering above the $200 price point, currently sitting at $201.27up 12% in a single week. Ether is currently up more than any other top 10 cryptocurrency in terms of 24-hour gains, though practically the entire market is also in the green. Outside of the top ten coins by market cap, Cosmos (ATOM), Tezos (XTZ) and TRON (TRX) are performing particularly well, gaining at least 5% in the last 24-hours. Besides its incredible price growth, Ethereum has also been growing in other areasone of which is daily transaction fee revenue. Since around June 2019, the Ethereum network has been gradually catching up to Bitcoin (BTC) in this area. According to Coin Metrics , Ethereum recently hit $182,899 in daily transaction fees , which is just shy of the $185,993 achieved by the Bitcoin network. This is notable because back in 2017, Bitcoin usually had around 10-25x higher fees than Ethereum, showing that Ethereum has gained significant ground in the past two years. However, this is largely due to Tether's increasing use of Ethereum as it switches over from Bitcoin. But can the network handle the massive influx of transactions? View comments
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10070.39, 9729.32, 8620.57, 8486.99, 8118.97, 8251.85, 8245.92, 8104.19, 8293.87, 8343.28
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 683.66, 670.63, 677.33, 640.56, 666.52, 650.96, 649.36, 647.66, 664.55, 654.47, 658.08, 663.26, 660.77, 679.46, 673.11, 672.86, 665.68, 665.01, 650.62, 655.56, 661.28, 654.10, 651.78, 654.35, 655.03, 656.99, 655.05, 624.68, 606.27, 547.47, 566.35, 578.29, 575.04, 587.78, 592.69, 591.05, 587.80, 592.10, 589.12, 587.56, 585.59, 570.47, 567.24, 577.44, 573.22, 574.32, 575.63, 581.70, 581.31, 586.75, 583.41, 580.18, 577.76, 579.65, 569.95, 573.91, 574.11, 577.50, 575.47, 572.30, 575.54, 598.21, 608.63, 606.59, 610.44, 614.54, 626.32, 622.86, 623.51, 606.72, 608.24, 609.24, 610.68, 607.16, 606.97, 605.98, 609.87, 609.23, 608.31, 597.15, 596.30, 602.84, 602.62, 600.83, 608.04, 606.17, 604.73, 605.69, 609.73, 613.98.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-10-01]
Volume: 56357000, RSI (14-day): 59.69, 50-day EMA: 603.64, 200-day EMA: 555.38
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday.
The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013.
Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses.
Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub.
Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper.
"We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview.
"So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days."
Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru.
Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 (BTC=BTSP) on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 (BTC=BTSP) on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday.
The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013.
Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses.
Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub.
Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper.
"We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview.
"So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days."
Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru.
Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Indian bitcoin company raises $1.5 million from U.S., Indian investors: NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised $1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. The company, which runs a trading platform to buy, sell, and store bitcoins for Indian customers, said the money raised was the largest for an Indian bitcoin startup. Unocoin, which has 100,000 users and more than 30 employees, has been in operation since December 2013. Unocoin describes itself as the Coinbase of India. San Francisco-based Coinbase is the largest U.S. bitcoin company and runs an exchange and a wallet service, among other businesses. Funding came from Indian entities such as Blume Ventures, Mumbai Angels and ah! Ventures along with U.S. investors such as Digital Currency Group, Boost VC, Bank to the Future, and FundersClub. Digital Currency Group was founded by one of the top U.S. bitcoin investors Barry Silbert, while Boost VC is run by U.S.-based Adam Draper, the son of billionaire entrepreneur Tim Draper. "We needed a separate exchange for India. A few years ago when we wanted to buy bitcoin, there was nothing available in India," Sunny Ray, Unocoin's co-founder and president told Reuters in an interview. "So if you want to buy bitcoin from an international exchange, you will have to do a wire transfer from India to these international exchanges and get your bitcoin and oftentimes it takes three to five days." Unocoin raised about $200,000 in its first financing round. It started from a small hometown called Tumkur, near Bengaluru. Bitcoin, a digital currency, was trading at $604.50 on the Bitstamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Got bitcoin? Despite early setbacks, some say it is stronger than ever: Bitcoin, the digital currency that captivated the world just three years ago before being tainted by scandals, may be making a comeback. In fact, many experts say it never really went away despite wild swings in its value. "I think the future of digital currency is bright," said Marco Santori, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in New York, and leader of the firm's digital currency and blockchain technology team. Blockchain refers to the virtual ledger that powers bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. "This is probably the most important invention since the internet," Santori said in an interview with CNBC's " American Greed ." From the beginning, the concept has been alluring if not utopian. Imagine a currency that is not tied to the whims of politicians, the foibles of central bankers, or the fortunes of a particular country. Rather than relying on a government to mint a currency, users could "mine" their own bitcoin by running software contributing their own computing power to verify other bitcoin transactions. Or they could simply buy bitcoin on one of several online exchanges, investing in it like any other currency. To many, it seemed like a good bet. By the fall of 2013, with the U.S. government locked in yet another showdown over raising the debt ceiling and facing the specter of an unprecedented default, interest in virtual currencies like bitcoin peaked. The price of a single bitcoin reached a high of $1,108.80 according to Coinbase, the first licensed U.S. bitcoin exchange. But the frenzy would be short-lived. Around the time prices were reaching their high, U.S. authorities were exposing what they considered the dark side of bitcoin, busting what the FBI called "a black market bazaar for drugs and illegal services" an underground web site known as Silk Road. In a case explored in the latest episode of "American Greed," the FBI arrested the site's 29-year-old founder, Ross Ulbricht, who was eventually sentenced to life in prison (he is appealing his conviction). And the government seized more than $30 million worth of Silk Road's currency of choice: bitcoin. Story continues Meanwhile in Japan, the world's largest bitcoin exchange, Mt.Gox, was spiraling into bankruptcy amid allegations it was a conduit for money laundering. Within two months of Ulbricht's arrest, bitcoin lost nearly half its value. The price would continue to decline for more than a year, hitting a low of $203.77 at the beginning of 2015, according to Coinbase. But lately, bitcoin has been rebounding, hitting $757.77 in June. The price has leveled off since then but is still roughly three times its 2015 lows. Santori says an even better indicator of bitcoin's apparent rebound is volume. "After the Silk Road was taken down, we did see a hit in volume," he said. "It confirms that bitcoin was being used on the Silk Road and used in earnest. But volume went back up again, and now it's many, many times what it was back then." Indeed, according to the Luxembourg-based technology firm Blockchain, more than 200,000 bitcoin transactions are taking place daily now, compared with just 90,000 at the peak of the frenzy in 2013. "Digital currency today is so much farther along than it was even back in 2013 when it arguably started to reach its height and peak in sort of mass market popularity," Santori said. But bitcoin still faces challenges some old, some new. Bitcoin is no longer the only game in town. Other cryptocurrencies have sprung up, most notably ethereum. It expands on bitcoin's blockchain technology, allowing users not only to engage in basic transactions, but also to execute "smart contracts" that automatically enforce themselves. Meanwhile, the law surrounding virtual currencies remains a work in process, with conflicting court rulings about how to define them. "Are they commodities? Are they property? This is going to be a very long road for virtual currencies in general to kind of settle in to a particular legal class," Santori said. Then of course there is the issue of crime. The value of any currency depends in part on its reputation, and in that respect the Silk Road case was a huge setback for bitcoin. But Santori says that is unfair. "Are bitcoins used for crime? Well of course. But so are a lot of other currencies. So are a lot of other technologies," Santori said. Many experts agree that bitcoin is actually less useful to criminals than other currencies, because contrary to popular belief, it is not anonymous. In fact, one of the IRS agents who helped to finally unravel Silk Road says it was bitcoin that ultimately led law enforcement officials to their man. "Back then, criminals are operating under the impression that bitcoin was an untraceable currency and law enforcement wouldn't ever, maybe never, be able to figure this out," Tigran Gambaryan told "American Greed." "Well, when you fast forward it to 2014-2015, that was no longer the case." So will bitcoin and its fellow cryptocurrencies eventually replace all the money in our wallet? Not necessarily. Even some of the most enthusiastic boosters, like Santori, say that contrary to some of the early expectations, it is hard to beat the U.S. dollar. "You can complain all you want about the banks, but the U.S. dollar is strong," he said. "It's a good currency. It's a good store of value. it's a good medium of exchange. It does all the things we want money to do." But he says other countries with less stable currencies could find bitcoin to be a useful alternative a medium of exchange for them, and a source of investment elsewhere, including in the U.S. And as the technology develops, we may all have to expand our concept of the meaning of money. Follow the amazing global manhunt that finally put an end to the Silk Road on the ALL-NEW season finale of "American Greed," Thursday, Sept. 29 at 10 pm ET/PT only on CNBC Prime. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Got bitcoin? Despite early setbacks, some say it is stronger than ever: Bitcoin, the digital currency that captivated the world just three years ago before being tainted by scandals, may be making a comeback.
In fact, many experts say it never really went away despite wild swings in its value.
"I think the future of digital currency is bright," said Marco Santori, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in New York, and leader of the firm's digital currency and blockchain technology team. Blockchain refers to the virtual ledger that powers bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
"This is probably the most important invention since the internet," Santori said in an interview with CNBC's "American Greed."
From the beginning, the concept has been alluring if not utopian. Imagine a currency that is not tied to the whims of politicians, the foibles of central bankers, or the fortunes of a particular country. Rather than relying on a government to mint a currency, users could "mine" their own bitcoin by running software — contributing their own computing power to verify other bitcoin transactions. Or they could simply buy bitcoin on one of several online exchanges, investing in it like any other currency. To many, it seemed like a good bet.
By the fall of 2013, with the U.S. government locked in yet another showdown over raising the debt ceiling and facing the specter of an unprecedented default, interest in virtual currencies like bitcoin peaked. The price of a single bitcoin reached a high of $1,108.80 according to Coinbase, the first licensed U.S. bitcoin exchange.
But the frenzy would be short-lived.
Around the time prices were reaching their high, U.S. authorities were exposing what they considered the dark side of bitcoin, busting what the FBI called "a black market bazaar for drugs and illegal services" — an underground web site known as Silk Road. In a case explored in the latest episode of "American Greed," the FBI arrested the site's 29-year-old founder, Ross Ulbricht, who was eventually sentenced to life in prison (he is appealing his conviction). And the government seized more than $30 million worth of Silk Road's currency of choice: bitcoin.
Meanwhile in Japan, the world's largest bitcoin exchange, Mt.Gox, was spiraling into bankruptcy amid allegations it was a conduit for money laundering.
Within two months of Ulbricht's arrest, bitcoin lost nearly half its value. The price would continue to decline for more than a year, hitting a low of $203.77 at the beginning of 2015, according to Coinbase.
But lately, bitcoin has been rebounding, hitting $757.77 in June. The price has leveled off since then but is still roughly three times its 2015 lows. Santori says an even better indicator of bitcoin's apparent rebound is volume.
"After the Silk Road was taken down, we did see a hit in volume," he said. "It confirms that bitcoin was being used on the Silk Road and used in earnest. But volume went back up again, and now it's many, many times what it was back then."
Indeed, according to the Luxembourg-based technology firm Blockchain, more than 200,000 bitcoin transactions are taking place daily now, compared with just 90,000 at the peak of the frenzy in 2013.
"Digital currency today is so much farther along than it was even back in 2013 when it arguably started to reach its height and peak in sort of mass market popularity," Santori said.
But bitcoin still faces challenges — some old, some new.
Bitcoin is no longer the only game in town. Other cryptocurrencies have sprung up, most notably ethereum. It expands on bitcoin's blockchain technology, allowing users not only to engage in basic transactions, but also to execute "smart contracts" that automatically enforce themselves.
Meanwhile, the law surrounding virtual currencies remains a work in process, with conflicting court rulings about how to define them.
"Are they commodities? Are they property? This is going to be a very long road for virtual currencies in general to kind of settle in to a particular legal class," Santori said.
Then of course there is the issue of crime. The value of any currency depends in part on its reputation, and in that respect the Silk Road case was a huge setback for bitcoin. But Santori says that is unfair.
"Are bitcoins used for crime? Well of course. But so are a lot of other currencies. So are a lot of other technologies," Santori said.
Many experts agree that bitcoin is actually less useful to criminals than other currencies, because contrary to popular belief, it is not anonymous. In fact, one of the IRS agents who helped to finally unravel Silk Road says it was bitcoin that ultimately led law enforcement officials to their man.
"Back then, criminals are operating under the impression that bitcoin was an untraceable currency and law enforcement wouldn't ever, maybe never, be able to figure this out," Tigran Gambaryan told "American Greed." "Well, when you fast forward it to 2014-2015, that was no longer the case."
So will bitcoin and its fellow cryptocurrencies eventually replace all the money in our wallet? Not necessarily.
Even some of the most enthusiastic boosters, like Santori, say that contrary to some of the early expectations, it is hard to beat the U.S. dollar.
"You can complain all you want about the banks, but the U.S. dollar is strong," he said. "It's a good currency. It's a good store of value. it's a good medium of exchange. It does all the things we want money to do."
But he says other countries with less stable currencies could find bitcoin to be a useful alternative — a medium of exchange for them, and a source of investment elsewhere, including in the U.S.
And as the technology develops, we may all have to expand our concept of the meaning of money.
Follow the amazing global manhunt that finally put an end to the Silk Road on the ALL-NEW season finale of "American Greed," Thursday, Sept. 29 at 10 pm ET/PT only on CNBC Prime.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || Traders look for opportunities to jump into oil rally after OPEC deal: The "Fast Money" traders debated how to invest in the energy sector as oil rallied on the back of an OPEC production limit agreement on Wednesday.
Trader Guy Adami said oil prices and companies like Anadarko Petroleum(APC)could continue to see gains through the rest of the week. He said the refiners "are probably dead money for a little bit."
Trader Karen Finerman agreed and said there's probably more room to run for Anadarko.
Trader Tim Seymour said investors should look for companies with "impaired balance sheets because they're the ones that have the most to gain." He said it's probably better to avoid big integrated oil companies. Instead, investors should look at the VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF(NYSE Arca: OIH), Seymour said.
Trader Brian Kelly also said that the oil services ETF is a good choice. He said it's "the greatest risk-reward in the oil space out there right now." He said if the ETF dips below $26, it would be a great buy. It closed at $28.10 on Wednesday.
Disclosures:
TIM SEYMOUR
Tim Seymour is long APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM and short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, HD, KO, MCD, MPEL, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, and short EWG, HYG, IWM
KAREN FINERMAN
Karen Finerman is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, FB, FL, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI, her firm is short IWM, MDY. Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.
BRIAN KELLY
Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, TLT, XLF, XLRE XOP, WTI, US Dollar UUP; he is short the euro and the Japanese yen.
GUY ADAMI
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. || Traders look for opportunities to jump into oil rally after OPEC deal: The " Fast Money " traders debated how to invest in the energy sector as oil rallied on the back of an OPEC production limit agreement on Wednesday. Trader Guy Adami said oil prices and companies like Anadarko Petroleum ( APC ) could continue to see gains through the rest of the week. He said the refiners "are probably dead money for a little bit." Trader Karen Finerman agreed and said there's probably more room to run for Anadarko. Trader Tim Seymour said investors should look for companies with "impaired balance sheets because they're the ones that have the most to gain." He said it's probably better to avoid big integrated oil companies. Instead, investors should look at the VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSE Arca: OIH) , Seymour said. Trader Brian Kelly also said that the oil services ETF is a good choice. He said it's "the greatest risk-reward in the oil space out there right now." He said if the ETF dips below $26, it would be a great buy. It closed at $28.10 on Wednesday. Disclosures: TIM SEYMOUR Tim Seymour is long APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM and short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, HD, KO, MCD, MPEL, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, and short EWG, HYG, IWM KAREN FINERMAN Karen Finerman is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, FB, FL, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI, her firm is short IWM, MDY. Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. BRIAN KELLY Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, TLT, XLF, XLRE XOP, WTI, US Dollar UUP; he is short the euro and the Japanese yen. GUY ADAMI Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. || Microsoft and BAML to Test Blockchain for Trade Finance: Microsoft CorporationMSFT and Bank of America Corporation’s BAC corporate and investment banking division, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (‘’BAML’’) have teamed up to implement blockchain technology in trade finance to facilitate faster, safer, cheaper and more transparent transactions.
The main objective of the collaboration is to develop and test blockchain technology before commercializing it.
We note that Microsoft’s very own cloud-based platform Azure will be utilized to test the project.
What is Blockchain?
Simply put, a blockchain is a chain of blocks, where each block represents an electronic record that cannot be revised or tampered with once it is included in the chain. Additionally, each block has its own timestamp and a link to an earlier block in the chain, which enables all the parties to have easy access to information via a secure network.
Benefits of the Blockchain
Speed:Having its origins in Bitcoin (the digital currency), the blockchain technology is believed to speed up all types of transactions as there is no need for manual processing or authentication by intermediaries.
Security:Currently trade transactions take anywhere between 7 to 10 days to complete and are vulnerable to document frauds as they involve paper trails that are often complicated. Blockchain does away with all that fuss.
Chronology:Each block in the chain is connected to an earlier block and has its own timestamp that facilitates easy record keeping in a chronological manner.
Our Take
We note that businesses throughout the world are gradually making the switch to digitization in a bid to remain competitive, agile and drive growth and blockchain could prove to be the tool to facilitate the transformation.
Though the technology is still at a nascent stage, this is not the first time that it will be tested. Per some media reports, Barclays PLC BCS and a start-up based in Israel announced this month that they have successfully deployed blockchain technology to carry out a real-world trade deal that is a first of its kind.
MICROSOFT CORP Price
MICROSOFT CORP Price | MICROSOFT CORP Quote
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
At present, Microsoft carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A better-ranked stock in the broader technology space is Avid Technology, Inc. AVID, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
We note that the estimates for Avid for 2016 and 2017 have remained steady at $2.08 and $1.60, respectively over the last 7 days.
Confidential from Zacks
Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand.Click to see them now>>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportBANK OF AMER CP (BAC): Free Stock Analysis ReportBARCLAY PLC-ADR (BCS): Free Stock Analysis ReportMICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis ReportAVID TECH INC (AVID): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research || Microsoft and BAML to Test Blockchain for Trade Finance: Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Bank of America Corporation’s BAC corporate and investment banking division, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (‘’BAML’’) have teamed up to implement blockchain technology in trade finance to facilitate faster, safer, cheaper and more transparent transactions. The main objective of the collaboration is to develop and test blockchain technology before commercializing it. We note that Microsoft’s very own cloud-based platform Azure will be utilized to test the project. What is Blockchain? Simply put, a blockchain is a chain of blocks, where each block represents an electronic record that cannot be revised or tampered with once it is included in the chain. Additionally, each block has its own timestamp and a link to an earlier block in the chain, which enables all the parties to have easy access to information via a secure network. Benefits of the Blockchain Speed: Having its origins in Bitcoin (the digital currency), the blockchain technology is believed to speed up all types of transactions as there is no need for manual processing or authentication by intermediaries. Security: Currently trade transactions take anywhere between 7 to 10 days to complete and are vulnerable to document frauds as they involve paper trails that are often complicated. Blockchain does away with all that fuss. Chronology: Each block in the chain is connected to an earlier block and has its own timestamp that facilitates easy record keeping in a chronological manner. Our Take We note that businesses throughout the world are gradually making the switch to digitization in a bid to remain competitive, agile and drive growth and blockchain could prove to be the tool to facilitate the transformation. Though the technology is still at a nascent stage, this is not the first time that it will be tested. Per some media reports, Barclays PLC BCS and a start-up based in Israel announced this month that they have successfully deployed blockchain technology to carry out a real-world trade deal that is a first of its kind. Story continues MICROSOFT CORP Price MICROSOFT CORP Price | MICROSOFT CORP Quote Zacks Rank & Key Picks At present, Microsoft carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the broader technology space is Avid Technology, Inc. AVID, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. We note that the estimates for Avid for 2016 and 2017 have remained steady at $2.08 and $1.60, respectively over the last 7 days. Confidential from Zacks Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BANK OF AMER CP (BAC): Free Stock Analysis Report BARCLAY PLC-ADR (BCS): Free Stock Analysis Report MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report AVID TECH INC (AVID): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research || At your service: cyber criminals for hire to militants, EU says: THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Cybercriminals offering contract services for hire offer militant groups the means to attack Europe but such groups have yet to employ such techniques in major attacks, EU police agency Europol said on Wednesday. "There is currently little evidence to suggest that their cyber-attack capability extends beyond common website defacement," it said in its annual cybercrime threat assessment in a year marked by Islamic State violence in Europe. But the internet's criminal shadow the Darknet had potential to be exploited by militants taking advantage of computer experts offering "crime as a service", Europol added: "The availability of cybercrime tools and services, and illicit commodities (including firearms) on the Darknet, provide ample opportunities for this situation to change." Overall, the report found, existing trends in cybercrime continued to grow, with some of the European Union's member states reporting more cyber crimes than the traditional variety. "Europol is concerned about how an expanding cybercriminal community has been able to further exploit our increasing dependence on technology and the internet," its director, Rob Wainwright, said in a statement. "We have also seen a marked shift in cyber-facilitated activities relating to trafficking in human beings, terrorism and other threats." "Ransomware" - programmes which break into databases and demand payment for unlocking codes via virtual currencies such as Bitcoin - continued to expand as a problem, as did highly targeted "phishing" attacks to extract security data from senior figures - "CEO fraud" - and video streaming of child abuse. Attacks on bank cash-machine networks were also increasing, the report found, as were frauds exploiting new contactless payment card transactions, while traditional scams involving the physical presence of a card had been successfully reduced. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) || At your service: cyber criminals for hire to militants, EU says: THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Cybercriminals offering contract services for hire offer militant groups the means to attack Europe but such groups have yet to employ such techniques in major attacks, EU police agency Europol said on Wednesday. "There is currently little evidence to suggest that their cyber-attack capability extends beyond common website defacement," it said in its annual cybercrime threat assessment in a year marked by Islamic State violence in Europe. But the internet's criminal shadow the Darknet had potential to be exploited by militants taking advantage of computer experts offering "crime as a service", Europol added: "The availability of cybercrime tools and services, and illicit commodities (including firearms) on the Darknet, provide ample opportunities for this situation to change." Overall, the report found, existing trends in cybercrime continued to grow, with some of the European Union's member states reporting more cyber crimes than the traditional variety. "Europol is concerned about how an expanding cybercriminal community has been able to further exploit our increasing dependence on technology and the internet," its director, Rob Wainwright, said in a statement. "We have also seen a marked shift in cyber-facilitated activities relating to trafficking in human beings, terrorism and other threats." "Ransomware" - programmes which break into databases and demand payment for unlocking codes via virtual currencies such as Bitcoin - continued to expand as a problem, as did highly targeted "phishing" attacks to extract security data from senior figures - "CEO fraud" - and video streaming of child abuse. Attacks on bank cash-machine networks were also increasing, the report found, as were frauds exploiting new contactless payment card transactions, while traditional scams involving the physical presence of a card had been successfully reduced. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
[Social Media Buzz]
$616.51 #GDAX;
$610.00 #btce;
$616.66 #bitfinex;
$614.28 #OKCoin;
$614.27 #bitstamp;
$615.41 #itBit;
#bitcoin news: http://bit.ly/1VI6Yse || #Anoncoin/#ANC price now: $0.144197, that's -0.00% change in 1hour. 3.17% past day, and -5.47% in the past week! #Bitcoin is $613.83 || Buy Bitcoin anywhere in the world - $50.00
#Items4Sale
List ur biz at http://blacktradelines.com pic.twitter.com/t9Ai0WJnXT || #CannaCoin #CCN $0.011080 (6.27%) 0.00001811 BTC (5.00%) || El precio del bitcoin es de US$ 61...
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610.89, 612.13, 610.20, 612.51, 613.02, 617.12, 619.11, 616.75, 618.99, 641.07
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 8504.89, 8723.94, 8716.79, 8510.38, 8368.83, 8094.32, 8250.97, 8247.18, 8513.25, 8418.99, 8041.78, 7557.82, 7587.34, 7480.14, 7355.88, 7368.22, 7135.99, 7472.59, 7406.52, 7494.17, 7541.45, 7643.45, 7720.25, 7514.47, 7633.76, 7653.98, 7678.24, 7624.92, 7531.98, 6786.02, 6906.92, 6582.36, 6349.90, 6675.35, 6456.58, 6550.16, 6499.27, 6734.82, 6769.94, 6776.55, 6729.74, 6083.69, 6162.48, 6173.23, 6249.18, 6093.67, 6157.13, 5903.44, 6218.30, 6404.00, 6385.82, 6614.18, 6529.59, 6597.55, 6639.14, 6673.50, 6856.93, 6773.88, 6741.75, 6329.95, 6394.71, 6228.81, 6238.05, 6276.12, 6359.64, 6741.75, 7321.04, 7370.78, 7466.86, 7354.13, 7419.29, 7418.49, 7711.11, 8424.27, 8181.39, 7951.58, 8165.01, 8192.15, 8218.46, 8180.48, 7780.44, 7624.91, 7567.15, 7434.39, 7032.85, 7068.48, 6951.80, 6753.12, 6305.80, 6568.23.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-08-09]
Volume: 4267040000, RSI (14-day): 37.44, 50-day EMA: 7205.72, 200-day EMA: 7848.58
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1211.90, Gold RSI: 33.66
Oil Price: 66.81, Oil RSI: 41.19
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Brian Kelly: If Youre Selling Bitcoin Because of ETF Delay, Youre Doing it Wrong: brian kelly bitcoin etf CNBC Fast Money contributor and BKCM CEO Brian Kelly has firmly emphasized that while bitcoin has seen a massive decline in price over the last 24 hours, investors selling the dominant cryptocurrency based on the delay of SEC in approving the first bitcoin ETF are doing it wrong. Bitcoin Drops 12% While EOS, Bitcoin Cash and Other Tank 20%+ Over the last 48 hours, the crypto market lost $29 billion, as major cryptocurrencies dropped by 10 to 25 percent in value. While the vast majority of analysts have pointed towards the decision of the SEC to postpone the approval of the VanEck Bitcoin ETF to justify the short-term price trend of BTC, some investors have raised their suspicion on the viability of the claim, especially considering that the delay in the SECs decision was expected. Rather, it is more likely that a large sell-off in the over-the-counter market has caused the market to plummet. bitcoin price Regardless, Kelly emphasized that it was not the right move for investors to sell holdings in crypto solely due to the SECs announcement on August 7, and that bitcoin ETFs will not be approved by the end of 2018. Kelly explained: It [bitcoin] has had a tremendous run off of $5,800, and that was all really because people thought there was going to be a bitcoin ETF. The SEC came out and postponed that decision. A little spoiler alert, on September 30, SEC will likely postpone in again, because the market is not ready for it and the SEC hasnt had the answers to their questions yet. Ethereum Classic Hype: Kelly Weighs In Throughout the past week, while all of the major cryptocurrencies and tokens have performed poorly against the US dollar, ethereum classic has demonstrated a solid movement against both bitcoin and the US dollar. Kelly noted that the price of ethereum classic has surged by over 30 percent mostly due to the integration of ETC on Coinbase and Robinhood , which is expected to open the ETC market to retail investors in US markets. Story continues He said: Ethereum classic has been up 30 percent over the last month. Really the driver of ethereum classic are two things: Coinbase and Robinhood. This is the first time the retail investors will kind of get a real easy way to get into ethereum classic. Coinbase added it to their institutional side, I believe over the next week or so, theyre going to be adding it to their retail side of the platform. Led by Barry Silberts Digital Currency Group and Grayscale Investments, ethereum classic is also one of the four cryptocurrencies alongside bitcoin, zcash, and ethereum to have a publicly tradable instrument dedicated to facilitate the trading of ETC amongst retail investors in the regulated US market. As cryptocurrency businesses continue to develop infrastructure around ethereum classic, likely due to the clarification of the SEC on the non-security nature of ethereum, the value, volume, and user base of ETC are expected to increase at a fairly rapid rate. Featured Image from CNBC/ YouTube The post Brian Kelly: If Youre Selling Bitcoin Because of ETF Delay, Youre Doing it Wrong appeared first on CCN . || Brian Kelly: If You’re Selling Bitcoin Because of ETF Delay, You’re Doing it Wrong: CNBC Fast Money contributor and BKCM CEO Brian Kelly has firmly emphasized that while bitcoin has seen a massive decline in price over the last 24 hours, investors selling the dominant cryptocurrency based on the delay of SEC in approving the first bitcoin ETF are doing it wrong.
Over the last 48 hours, the crypto market lost $29 billion, as major cryptocurrencies dropped by 10 to 25 percent in value.
While the vast majority of analysts have pointed towards the decision of the SEC topostpone the approval of the VanEck Bitcoin ETFto justify the short-term price trend of BTC, some investors have raised their suspicion on the viability of the claim, especially considering that the delay in the SEC’s decision was expected.
Rather, it is more likely that a large sell-off in the over-the-counter market has caused the market to plummet.
Regardless, Kelly emphasized that it was not the right move for investors to sell holdings in crypto solely due to the SEC’s announcement on August 7, and thatbitcoin ETFswill not be approved by the end of 2018.
Kelly explained:
“It [bitcoin] has had a tremendous run off of $5,800, and that was all really because people thought there was going to be a bitcoin ETF. The SEC came out and postponed that decision. A little spoiler alert, on September 30, SEC will likely postpone in again, because the market is not ready for it and the SEC hasn’t had the answers to their questions yet.”
Throughout the past week, while all of the major cryptocurrencies and tokens have performed poorly against the US dollar, ethereum classic has demonstrated asolid movementagainst both bitcoin and the US dollar.
Kelly noted that the price of ethereum classic has surged by over 30 percent mostly due to theintegration of ETC on Coinbase and Robinhood, which is expected to open the ETC market to retail investors in US markets.
He said:
“Ethereum classic has been up 30 percent over the last month. Really the driver of ethereum classic are two things: Coinbase and Robinhood. This is the first time the retail investors will kind of get a real easy way to get into ethereum classic. Coinbase added it to their institutional side, I believe over the next week or so, they’re going to be adding it to their retail side of the platform.”
Led by Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group and Grayscale Investments, ethereum classic is also one of the four cryptocurrencies alongside bitcoin, zcash, and ethereum to have apublicly tradable instrumentdedicated to facilitate the trading of ETC amongst retail investors in the regulated US market.
As cryptocurrency businesses continue to develop infrastructure around ethereum classic, likely due to the clarification of the SEC on the non-security nature of ethereum, the value, volume, and user base of ETC are expected to increase at a fairly rapid rate.
Featured Image from CNBC/YouTube
The postBrian Kelly: If You’re Selling Bitcoin Because of ETF Delay, You’re Doing it Wrongappeared first onCCN. || Brian Kelly: If You’re Selling Bitcoin Because of ETF Delay, You’re Doing it Wrong: CNBC Fast Money contributor and BKCM CEO Brian Kelly has firmly emphasized that while bitcoin has seen a massive decline in price over the last 24 hours, investors selling the dominant cryptocurrency based on the delay of SEC in approving the first bitcoin ETF are doing it wrong.
Over the last 48 hours, the crypto market lost $29 billion, as major cryptocurrencies dropped by 10 to 25 percent in value.
While the vast majority of analysts have pointed towards the decision of the SEC topostpone the approval of the VanEck Bitcoin ETFto justify the short-term price trend of BTC, some investors have raised their suspicion on the viability of the claim, especially considering that the delay in the SEC’s decision was expected.
Rather, it is more likely that a large sell-off in the over-the-counter market has caused the market to plummet.
Regardless, Kelly emphasized that it was not the right move for investors to sell holdings in crypto solely due to the SEC’s announcement on August 7, and thatbitcoin ETFswill not be approved by the end of 2018.
Kelly explained:
“It [bitcoin] has had a tremendous run off of $5,800, and that was all really because people thought there was going to be a bitcoin ETF. The SEC came out and postponed that decision. A little spoiler alert, on September 30, SEC will likely postpone in again, because the market is not ready for it and the SEC hasn’t had the answers to their questions yet.”
Throughout the past week, while all of the major cryptocurrencies and tokens have performed poorly against the US dollar, ethereum classic has demonstrated asolid movementagainst both bitcoin and the US dollar.
Kelly noted that the price of ethereum classic has surged by over 30 percent mostly due to theintegration of ETC on Coinbase and Robinhood, which is expected to open the ETC market to retail investors in US markets.
He said:
“Ethereum classic has been up 30 percent over the last month. Really the driver of ethereum classic are two things: Coinbase and Robinhood. This is the first time the retail investors will kind of get a real easy way to get into ethereum classic. Coinbase added it to their institutional side, I believe over the next week or so, they’re going to be adding it to their retail side of the platform.”
Led by Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group and Grayscale Investments, ethereum classic is also one of the four cryptocurrencies alongside bitcoin, zcash, and ethereum to have apublicly tradable instrumentdedicated to facilitate the trading of ETC amongst retail investors in the regulated US market.
As cryptocurrency businesses continue to develop infrastructure around ethereum classic, likely due to the clarification of the SEC on the non-security nature of ethereum, the value, volume, and user base of ETC are expected to increase at a fairly rapid rate.
Featured Image from CNBC/YouTube
The postBrian Kelly: If You’re Selling Bitcoin Because of ETF Delay, You’re Doing it Wrongappeared first onCCN. || This Crypto Scam Botnet Consists of Over 15,000 Separate Bots: This Crypto Scam Botnet Consists of Over 15,000 Separate Bots Researchers at Duo Labs have discovered that Twitter is home to at least 15,000 scam bots and have published their findings in a new report . Between May and July of 2018, staff members observed, collected and analyzed nearly 90 million public Twitter accounts that had released over 500 million tweets. In addition, researchers also examined elements of each account including profile screen names, number of followers, avatars and descriptions to gather one of the largest accumulations of Twitter data ever studied. Among the report’s most interesting finds was a sophisticated “cryptocurrency scam botnet,” which consists of at least 15,000 separate bots. The botnet ultimately siphons money from individual users by posing as cryptocurrency exchanges, news organizations, verified accounts and even celebrities. Accounts in the botnet are programmed to deploy malicious behaviors to evade detection and look like real profiles. Researchers were also able to map the botnet’s three-tiered structure, which consists of “hub” accounts that are followed by many bots, scam publishing bots, and amplification bots that specifically like tweets to increase their popularity and appear legitimate. Olabode Anise, a data scientist and co-author of the report, explained, “Users are likely to trust a tweet depending on how many times it’s been retweeted or liked. Those behind this particular botnet know this and have designed it to exploit this very tendency.” To discover the scam bots, researchers utilized subsets of varying machine-learning algorithms and built features that could train them to locate the bot accounts. Among the five considered algorithms were AdaBoost, Logistic Regression, Random Forest, Naive Bayes and Decision Trees. It was discovered that Random Forest outperformed the other algorithms during the initial testing phases. From there, three individual models of the algorithm were trained to deal with both social and crypto spam bots. Story continues Researchers discovered that bot accounts follow certain behaviors, which, once identified, made them easier to recognize. For example, bot accounts often tweet in short bursts, causing the average times between messages to remain low, while actual Twitter users often wait longer periods between their tweets. Some methods for evading discovery, however, are more sophisticated. Bots often use unicode characters in tweets rather than traditional ASCII characters. They also use screen names that are typos of spoofed accounts’ screen names, and add white spaces between words and punctuation marks. Profile pictures are also edited to prevent image detection. Finally, many bots appear to follow the same accounts. Twitter has suspended cryptocurrency spam bots in the past and usually identifies fake accounts quickly. Nevertheless, executives appear to have missed several portions of the latest scam project. A Twitter spokesperson claimed , “Spam and certain forms of automation are against Twitter’s rules. In many cases, spammy content is hidden on Twitter on the basis of automated detections. When spammy content is hidden on Twitter from areas like search and conversations, that may not affect its availability via the API. This means certain types of spam may be visible via Twitter’s API even if it is not visible on Twitter itself. Less than 5% of Twitter accounts are spam-related.” This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine . || This Crypto Scam Botnet Consists of Over 15,000 Separate Bots: This Crypto Scam Botnet Consists of Over 15,000 Separate Bots Researchers at Duo Labs have discovered that Twitter is home to at least 15,000 scam bots and have published their findings in a new report . Between May and July of 2018, staff members observed, collected and analyzed nearly 90 million public Twitter accounts that had released over 500 million tweets. In addition, researchers also examined elements of each account including profile screen names, number of followers, avatars and descriptions to gather one of the largest accumulations of Twitter data ever studied. Among the report’s most interesting finds was a sophisticated “cryptocurrency scam botnet,” which consists of at least 15,000 separate bots. The botnet ultimately siphons money from individual users by posing as cryptocurrency exchanges, news organizations, verified accounts and even celebrities. Accounts in the botnet are programmed to deploy malicious behaviors to evade detection and look like real profiles. Researchers were also able to map the botnet’s three-tiered structure, which consists of “hub” accounts that are followed by many bots, scam publishing bots, and amplification bots that specifically like tweets to increase their popularity and appear legitimate. Olabode Anise, a data scientist and co-author of the report, explained, “Users are likely to trust a tweet depending on how many times it’s been retweeted or liked. Those behind this particular botnet know this and have designed it to exploit this very tendency.” To discover the scam bots, researchers utilized subsets of varying machine-learning algorithms and built features that could train them to locate the bot accounts. Among the five considered algorithms were AdaBoost, Logistic Regression, Random Forest, Naive Bayes and Decision Trees. It was discovered that Random Forest outperformed the other algorithms during the initial testing phases. From there, three individual models of the algorithm were trained to deal with both social and crypto spam bots. Story continues Researchers discovered that bot accounts follow certain behaviors, which, once identified, made them easier to recognize. For example, bot accounts often tweet in short bursts, causing the average times between messages to remain low, while actual Twitter users often wait longer periods between their tweets. Some methods for evading discovery, however, are more sophisticated. Bots often use unicode characters in tweets rather than traditional ASCII characters. They also use screen names that are typos of spoofed accounts’ screen names, and add white spaces between words and punctuation marks. Profile pictures are also edited to prevent image detection. Finally, many bots appear to follow the same accounts. Twitter has suspended cryptocurrency spam bots in the past and usually identifies fake accounts quickly. Nevertheless, executives appear to have missed several portions of the latest scam project. A Twitter spokesperson claimed , “Spam and certain forms of automation are against Twitter’s rules. In many cases, spammy content is hidden on Twitter on the basis of automated detections. When spammy content is hidden on Twitter from areas like search and conversations, that may not affect its availability via the API. This means certain types of spam may be visible via Twitter’s API even if it is not visible on Twitter itself. Less than 5% of Twitter accounts are spam-related.” This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine . || How A Recent Election Could Affect The Colombia ETF: Several marquee Latin American economies have been affected by electoral politics this year, namely Brazil and Mexico, the region's two largest economies. Mexico recently held national elections and Brazil is slated to do so in October. What's getting lost in the region's electoral shuffle is Colombia, South America's third-largest economy. What Happened In June, conservative Senator Iván Duque won Colombia's presidential election. Year-to-date, the Global X MSCI Colombia ETF (NYSE: GXG ), the first exchange traded fund dedicated to Colombian equities, is up 3.7 percent. That's well ahead of the S&P Latin America 40 Index, which is lower by 1.2 percent. “Duque is set to assume office at an inflection point for Colombia and his success will be measured by his ability to grow the economy while managing the variety of challenges his country faces,” Global X said in a recent note . Challenges facing Colombia's economy include the rising U.S. dollar, diversification beyond oil production and issues with its inflation-racked neighbor Venezuela. Why It's Important The $106.42-million GXG holds 24 stocks, and like many single-country ETFs tracking smaller emerging economies, the fund is top-heavy at the sector level. Financial services stocks account for over 47 percent of GXG's weight. GXG tracks the MSCI All Colombia Select 25/50 Index. “As with the broader emerging markets, Colombia is vulnerable to potentially adverse effects from rising U.S. interest rates and a strengthening dollar,” said Global X. “Yet Colombia may be in a more favorable position than its Latam peers considering the size and makeup of its debt. Colombia has relatively low USD-denominated debt as a percentage of its GDP compared to Argentina, Mexico and Peru.” GXG is down 2.3 percent since June 18, the day after the Colombian election, while the S&P Latin America 40 Index is up nearly 14 percent. What's Next Energy is GXG's second-largest sector weight at 17.35 percent, a benefit when oil prices are strong, but a potential headwind when the commodity's prices decline. Oil accounts for almost one-third of Colombia's exports, underscoring the point that the country's economic diversification efforts are undoubtedly important. Story continues “In his campaign, Duque emphasized the importance of diversification to provide greater insulation from oil price fluctuations,” according to Global X. “Critical to these efforts is the extensive Fourth Generation (4G) public-private partnership infrastructure program, which includes various road and highway projects to connect remote parts of Colombia to cities, ports and airports.” Related Links: Why This ETF Likes Big GDP Numbers These Growth Stocks Look Strong See more from Benzinga SEC Delays On VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust An ETF Built For The Strong GDP Life A Young Muni Bond ETF Comes Of Age © 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || How A Recent Election Could Affect The Colombia ETF: Several marquee Latin American economies have been affected by electoral politics this year, namely Brazil and Mexico, the region's two largest economies.
Mexico recently held national elections and Brazil is slated to do so in October. What's getting lost in the region's electoral shuffle is Colombia, South America's third-largest economy.
What Happened
In June, conservative Senator Iván Duque won Colombia's presidential election. Year-to-date, theGlobal X MSCI Colombia ETF(NYSE:GXG), the first exchange traded fund dedicated to Colombian equities, is up 3.7 percent. That's well ahead of the S&P Latin America 40 Index, which is lower by 1.2 percent.
“Duque is set to assume office at an inflection point for Colombia and his success will be measured by his ability to grow the economy while managing the variety of challenges his country faces,” Global X saidin a recent note.
Challenges facing Colombia's economy include the rising U.S. dollar, diversification beyond oil production and issues with its inflation-racked neighbor Venezuela.
Why It's Important
The $106.42-million GXG holds 24 stocks, and like many single-country ETFs tracking smaller emerging economies, the fund is top-heavy at the sector level. Financial services stocks account for over 47 percent of GXG's weight. GXG tracks the MSCI All Colombia Select 25/50 Index.
“As with the broader emerging markets, Colombia is vulnerable to potentially adverse effects from rising U.S. interest rates and a strengthening dollar,” said Global X. “Yet Colombia may be in a more favorable position than its Latam peers considering the size and makeup of its debt. Colombia has relatively low USD-denominated debt as a percentage of its GDP compared to Argentina, Mexico and Peru.”
GXG is down 2.3 percent since June 18, the day after the Colombian election, while the S&P Latin America 40 Index is up nearly 14 percent.
What's Next
Energy is GXG's second-largest sector weight at 17.35 percent, a benefit when oil prices are strong, but a potential headwind when the commodity's prices decline. Oil accounts for almost one-third of Colombia's exports, underscoring the point that the country's economic diversification efforts are undoubtedly important.
“In his campaign, Duque emphasized the importance of diversification to provide greater insulation from oil price fluctuations,” according to Global X. “Critical to these efforts is the extensive Fourth Generation (4G) public-private partnership infrastructure program, which includes various road and highway projects to connect remote parts of Colombia to cities, ports and airports.”
Related Links:
Why This ETF Likes Big GDP Numbers
These Growth Stocks Look Strong
See more from Benzinga
• SEC Delays On VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust
• An ETF Built For The Strong GDP Life
• A Young Muni Bond ETF Comes Of Age
© 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || The SEC Is Delaying Another Bitcoin ETF Decision: The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is in no hurry to review the pile of Bitcoin ETF filings it has been accumulating over the past year.
Not three weeks sincepostponing its decisionon five other Bitcoin ETFs, the SEC has indicated ina public statementthat it will be delaying its decision to approve or reject SolidX Bitcoin Shares until late September.
“Accordingly, the Commission, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, designates September 30, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change (File No. SR-CboeBZX-2018-040),” the statement reads.
Submitted back in June, the proposed rule change to permit the ETF comes from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), which was cleared to list Bitcoin futures in December of last year. If approved, the ETF would be listed on Cboe’s BZX exchange in cooperation with legacy investment management company VanEck and crypto startup SolidX. This is VanEck’s second attempt to list a Bitcoin ETF after their first attempt was nixed by the SEC last year.
This is also the BZX exchange’s second attempt to secure a Bitcoin ETF listing. On July 26, 2018, a day after the SEC prolonged its deliberation for Direxion Asset Management’s five filings, the SECrejected BZX’s joint filingwith the Winklevoss twins. The ETF was rejected on the grounds that BZX has “not met its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of the Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5), in particular the requirement that its rules be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.”
With each successive rejection or prolonged decision, the industry continues to fight an uphill battle against regulators to secure its first exchange traded fund. Many believe such a listing would open the floodgates for institutional money.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peircebelieves that it could also invite more mature regulation, both from the private and public sectors. On the latest rejection by the SEC, she expressed toBitcoin Magazinethat the decision is “not a great precedent,” believing that the SEC’s decision misconstrues the commission’s purpose to protect investors as a method to decide what is and isn’t a legitimate investment.
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || The SEC Is Delaying Another Bitcoin ETF Decision: The SEC Is Delaying Another Bitcoin ETF Decision The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is in no hurry to review the pile of Bitcoin ETF filings it has been accumulating over the past year. Not three weeks since postponing its decision on five other Bitcoin ETFs, the SEC has indicated in a public statement that it will be delaying its decision to approve or reject SolidX Bitcoin Shares until late September. “Accordingly, the Commission, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, designates September 30, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change (File No. SR-CboeBZX-2018-040),” the statement reads. Submitted back in June , the proposed rule change to permit the ETF comes from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), which was cleared to list Bitcoin futures in December of last year. If approved, the ETF would be listed on Cboe’s BZX exchange in cooperation with legacy investment management company VanEck and crypto startup SolidX. This is VanEck’s second attempt to list a Bitcoin ETF after their first attempt was nixed by the SEC last year. This is also the BZX exchange’s second attempt to secure a Bitcoin ETF listing. On July 26, 2018, a day after the SEC prolonged its deliberation for Direxion Asset Management’s five filings, the SEC rejected BZX’s joint filing with the Winklevoss twins. The ETF was rejected on the grounds that BZX has “not met its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of the Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5), in particular the requirement that its rules be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.” With each successive rejection or prolonged decision, the industry continues to fight an uphill battle against regulators to secure its first exchange traded fund. Many believe such a listing would open the floodgates for institutional money. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce believes that it could also invite more mature regulation, both from the private and public sectors. On the latest rejection by the SEC, she expressed to Bitcoin Magazine that the decision is “not a great precedent,” believing that the SEC’s decision misconstrues the commission’s purpose to protect investors as a method to decide what is and isn’t a legitimate investment. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine . || The SEC Is Delaying Another Bitcoin ETF Decision: The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is in no hurry to review the pile of Bitcoin ETF filings it has been accumulating over the past year.
Not three weeks sincepostponing its decisionon five other Bitcoin ETFs, the SEC has indicated ina public statementthat it will be delaying its decision to approve or reject SolidX Bitcoin Shares until late September.
“Accordingly, the Commission, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, designates September 30, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change (File No. SR-CboeBZX-2018-040),” the statement reads.
Submitted back in June, the proposed rule change to permit the ETF comes from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), which was cleared to list Bitcoin futures in December of last year. If approved, the ETF would be listed on Cboe’s BZX exchange in cooperation with legacy investment management company VanEck and crypto startup SolidX. This is VanEck’s second attempt to list a Bitcoin ETF after their first attempt was nixed by the SEC last year.
This is also the BZX exchange’s second attempt to secure a Bitcoin ETF listing. On July 26, 2018, a day after the SEC prolonged its deliberation for Direxion Asset Management’s five filings, the SECrejected BZX’s joint filingwith the Winklevoss twins. The ETF was rejected on the grounds that BZX has “not met its burden under the Exchange Act and the Commission’s Rules of Practice to demonstrate that its proposal is consistent with the requirements of the Exchange Act Section 6(b)(5), in particular the requirement that its rules be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices.”
With each successive rejection or prolonged decision, the industry continues to fight an uphill battle against regulators to secure its first exchange traded fund. Many believe such a listing would open the floodgates for institutional money.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peircebelieves that it could also invite more mature regulation, both from the private and public sectors. On the latest rejection by the SEC, she expressed toBitcoin Magazinethat the decision is “not a great precedent,” believing that the SEC’s decision misconstrues the commission’s purpose to protect investors as a method to decide what is and isn’t a legitimate investment.
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || US SEC Postpones Decision on VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF to September: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF until September 30, 2018, according to an official document released by the Commission . This notice comes some days after Van Eck sent a 13-page report to the SEC where it addressed concerns cited as reasons for rejecting a similar ETF floated by both companies last year. The VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF proposal was filed with the SEC in June. The ETF is backed by the Chicago Board of Exchange BZX Equities Exchange (CBOE) and it was primarily touted to get approval due to the tremendous interest it generated in the community and the announcement by the SEC that it had received over 1,300 comments on the proposed rule change. In the notice published online, the SEC announced its desire to push back its decision on the Bitcoin ETF floated by VanECK and SolidX. The Commission explained that the Securities Exchange Act provides that it can extend the 45 days period from publication if it finds it “appropriate to designate a longer period” so it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change. “Accordingly, the Commission, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act designates September 30, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change.” While the Commission has chosen September 30, 2018, as the date for making its decision on the proposed rule change, it still has the power to extend it further if it feels it requires more time. According to the Exchange Act, the SEC can extend its decision by 240 days from the date published in the Federal Register. This is not the first time the SEC is on pushing back on its decision regarding an ETF. Last month, the agency used its statutory powers to postpone the decision on the Direxion Investments filing until September 2018. The Commission also declined the proposed rule change to list and trade shares of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust on the Bats BZX Exchange in late July, which was met with criticism by SEC commissioner Hester M. Price who argued that the proposed rule change, did abide by the statutory standards. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post US SEC Postpones Decision on VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF to September appeared first on CCN . || US SEC Postpones Decision on VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF to September: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF until September 30, 2018, according to an official document released by theCommission.
This notice comes some days after Van Eck sent a 13-pagereportto the SEC where it addressed concerns cited as reasons for rejecting a similar ETF floated by both companies last year.
The VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETFproposalwas filed with the SEC in June. The ETF is backed by the Chicago Board of Exchange BZX Equities Exchange (CBOE) and it was primarily touted to get approval due to the tremendous interest it generated in the community and the announcement by the SEC that it had received over 1,300 comments on the proposed rule change.
In the notice published online, the SEC announced its desire to push back its decision on the Bitcoin ETF floated by VanECK and SolidX. The Commission explained that the Securities Exchange Act provides that it can extend the 45 days period from publication if it finds it “appropriate to designate a longer period” so it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change.
“Accordingly, the Commission, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act designates September 30, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change.”
While the Commission has chosen September 30, 2018, as the date for making its decision on the proposed rule change, it still has the power to extend it further if it feels it requires more time. According to the Exchange Act, the SEC can extend its decision by 240 days from the date published in the Federal Register.
This is not the first time the SEC is on pushing back on its decision regarding an ETF. Last month, the agency used its statutory powers to postpone the decision on theDirexionInvestments filing until September 2018.
The Commission also declined the proposed rule change to list and trade shares of theWinklevossBitcoin Trust on the Bats BZX Exchange in late July, which was met with criticism by SECcommissionerHester M. Price who argued that the proposed rule change, did abide by the statutory standards.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postUS SEC Postpones Decision on VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF to Septemberappeared first onCCN. || US SEC Postpones Decision on VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF to September: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF until September 30, 2018, according to an official document released by theCommission.
This notice comes some days after Van Eck sent a 13-pagereportto the SEC where it addressed concerns cited as reasons for rejecting a similar ETF floated by both companies last year.
The VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETFproposalwas filed with the SEC in June. The ETF is backed by the Chicago Board of Exchange BZX Equities Exchange (CBOE) and it was primarily touted to get approval due to the tremendous interest it generated in the community and the announcement by the SEC that it had received over 1,300 comments on the proposed rule change.
In the notice published online, the SEC announced its desire to push back its decision on the Bitcoin ETF floated by VanECK and SolidX. The Commission explained that the Securities Exchange Act provides that it can extend the 45 days period from publication if it finds it “appropriate to designate a longer period” so it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change.
“Accordingly, the Commission, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act designates September 30, 2018, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change.”
While the Commission has chosen September 30, 2018, as the date for making its decision on the proposed rule change, it still has the power to extend it further if it feels it requires more time. According to the Exchange Act, the SEC can extend its decision by 240 days from the date published in the Federal Register.
This is not the first time the SEC is on pushing back on its decision regarding an ETF. Last month, the agency used its statutory powers to postpone the decision on theDirexionInvestments filing until September 2018.
The Commission also declined the proposed rule change to list and trade shares of theWinklevossBitcoin Trust on the Bats BZX Exchange in late July, which was met with criticism by SECcommissionerHester M. Price who argued that the proposed rule change, did abide by the statutory standards.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postUS SEC Postpones Decision on VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF to Septemberappeared first onCCN. || Here’s How Blockchain is Changing the Way the Automotive Industry Works: End of the year 2017 saw Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at their all-time highs. It caught the eye of the public and resulted in much-needed awareness about bitcoin and the blockchain technology.
It has also paved the way for many projects like theAutoblockand is set to revolutionize several industries all over the world, and all at once.
What has previously considered mere imagination is now a reality. Many companies such asTesla, Volvo, and Nissan are working to getself-driving carson the road and make them available to the public.
These self-driving cars will be able to communicate with each other using theInternet of Things (IoT)and share information about traffic and the weather. The blockchain is not just limited to the financial and banking sector but can be beneficial for every industry. Let’s look at how blockchain will impact the automotive industry:
All leading companies in the world spend tons of money to keep themselves competent in the rapidly evolving technological environment by conducting R&D. Which is why the automotive industry is testing the blockchain technology these days.
Porsche claims to be the first one in the industry to conduct feasibility tests of blockchain technology on cars. Earlier this year, they announced a partnership withXain, a Berlin-based, to test blockchain application in cars. They also claim to be the first automobile company to test and implement blockchain in a vehicle.
Any transaction done on the blockchain is secure and can be processed much faster than traditional systems. Porsche tested how the blockchain technology can be used to lock and unlock a car.
After deployment, it allowed the owner to share access to the car temporarily. Moreover, using this application, users were able to unlock a car in1.6 seconds, which is six times faster than the current pace.
Furthermore, whenever someone locks or unlocks a car, the data is logged on the blockchain and no one can edit or modify it, making it easy to keep track of who used a vehicle at a given point in time.
Also, all the data is encrypted which makes it 100% secure. It also allows you to remotely access the car or monitor its status using the app.
CarVerticalis a startup working on providing solutions based on blockchain for transparent access to a car’s data. At the moment, the data about a car exists in the form of registers and separate databases.
The problem is that the data isn’t publicly available. To get it, you must pay a significant fee to a company who in return will get you access to a small portion of that data. Only a car’s first owner can be sure about its history; all the rest rely on channels that are not 100% reliable.
For example, if a car on average had five different owners in its lifetime, only 20% of them know everything about the vehicle. If you’re purchasing a second-hand car, it is highly probable that the car may have had troubles in the past. Maybe someone tampered with the odometer to cut down some miles or hide airbag deployment.
There is also the possibility that the car was involved in an accident. Now such a piece of information will be available with the insurance company, but since their data is not public, the buyer will never know the full car history.
CarVerticalraised 15,000 Ethereum in their ICO for their project which aimed at providing a platform that logs every single piece of information about a car on the blockchain so that data is secure, accessible and cannot be manipulated.
The team revealed that they would gather information about the car from different sources and integrate it with the blockchain registry. It is great for people who want to buy used cars but are afraid that they might be conned.
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There will come a time when everything will be based on the blockchain. If you want to buy a car, the owner will give you a token that will represent the car. Whoever has the token will own the car.
So, if you want to sell your vehicle to someone else, you will send that token to the new buyer. The token will also be used to unlock and then use the car. Each car will have just one token – allowing the holder to be the only one to have access.
If you ever visit the garage for repairs or anything, it will all be recorded on the blockchain. So, if ever the ownership changes or if anyone wants to see how frequently the car has visited the garage, everything will be logged on the blockchain ensuring transparency.
The new owner can check the history of the car since blockchain ensures information access for everyone. Tampering with the mileage of the car will be an old tale as blockchain will have all the records and the owner can’t manipulate the potential new owner.
Since the blockchain is immutable, it protects data from tampering and removes intermediaries from the process. All these elements are equally important for other industries as well and make blockchain the next big thing.
In all reality, the automotive industry is changing, and among many variables, blockchain has a significant role to play in how the automotive industry will move forward into the future.
This article was written byAndrea Bell
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• E-mini S&P 500 Index (ES) Futures Technical Analysis – August 8, 2018 Forecast || Here’s How Blockchain is Changing the Way the Automotive Industry Works: End of the year 2017 saw Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at their all-time highs. It caught the eye of the public and resulted in much-needed awareness about bitcoin and the blockchain technology. It has also paved the way for many projects like the Autoblock and is set to revolutionize several industries all over the world, and all at once. What has previously considered mere imagination is now a reality. Many companies such as Tesla , Volvo, and Nissan are working to get self-driving cars on the road and make them available to the public. These self-driving cars will be able to communicate with each other using the Internet of Things (IoT) and share information about traffic and the weather. The blockchain is not just limited to the financial and banking sector but can be beneficial for every industry. Let’s look at how blockchain will impact the automotive industry: Introduction of Blockchain to Cars All leading companies in the world spend tons of money to keep themselves competent in the rapidly evolving technological environment by conducting R&D. Which is why the automotive industry is testing the blockchain technology these days. Porsche claims to be the first one in the industry to conduct feasibility tests of blockchain technology on cars. Earlier this year, they announced a partnership with Xain , a Berlin-based, to test blockchain application in cars. They also claim to be the first automobile company to test and implement blockchain in a vehicle. Any transaction done on the blockchain is secure and can be processed much faster than traditional systems. Porsche tested how the blockchain technology can be used to lock and unlock a car. After deployment, it allowed the owner to share access to the car temporarily. Moreover, using this application, users were able to unlock a car in 1.6 seconds , which is six times faster than the current pace. Furthermore, whenever someone locks or unlocks a car, the data is logged on the blockchain and no one can edit or modify it, making it easy to keep track of who used a vehicle at a given point in time. Story continues Also, all the data is encrypted which makes it 100% secure. It also allows you to remotely access the car or monitor its status using the app. CarVertical Rooting for Transparency CarVertical is a startup working on providing solutions based on blockchain for transparent access to a car’s data. At the moment, the data about a car exists in the form of registers and separate databases. The problem is that the data isn’t publicly available. To get it, you must pay a significant fee to a company who in return will get you access to a small portion of that data. Only a car’s first owner can be sure about its history; all the rest rely on channels that are not 100% reliable. For example, if a car on average had five different owners in its lifetime, only 20% of them know everything about the vehicle. If you’re purchasing a second-hand car, it is highly probable that the car may have had troubles in the past. Maybe someone tampered with the odometer to cut down some miles or hide airbag deployment. There is also the possibility that the car was involved in an accident. Now such a piece of information will be available with the insurance company, but since their data is not public, the buyer will never know the full car history. {alt} CarVertical raised 15,000 Ethereum in their ICO for their project which aimed at providing a platform that logs every single piece of information about a car on the blockchain so that data is secure, accessible and cannot be manipulated. The team revealed that they would gather information about the car from different sources and integrate it with the blockchain registry. It is great for people who want to buy used cars but are afraid that they might be conned. Suggested Articles All the Ways to Backup Your Bitcoin Wallet What are ILP’s (Initial Loan Procurements) and How Does it Work? How Can Bitcoin Be Used as a Crime Weapon? And How Can this be Solved? Future Implications There will come a time when everything will be based on the blockchain. If you want to buy a car, the owner will give you a token that will represent the car. Whoever has the token will own the car. So, if you want to sell your vehicle to someone else, you will send that token to the new buyer. The token will also be used to unlock and then use the car. Each car will have just one token – allowing the holder to be the only one to have access. If you ever visit the garage for repairs or anything, it will all be recorded on the blockchain. So, if ever the ownership changes or if anyone wants to see how frequently the car has visited the garage, everything will be logged on the blockchain ensuring transparency. The new owner can check the history of the car since blockchain ensures information access for everyone. Tampering with the mileage of the car will be an old tale as blockchain will have all the records and the owner can’t manipulate the potential new owner. {alt} Since the blockchain is immutable, it protects data from tampering and removes intermediaries from the process. All these elements are equally important for other industries as well and make blockchain the next big thing. In all reality, the automotive industry is changing, and among many variables, blockchain has a significant role to play in how the automotive industry will move forward into the future. This article was written by Andrea Bell This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: AUD/USD Forex Technical Analysis – Chart Pattern Suggests Impending Volatility, Key Pivot at .7397 Commodities Daily Forecast – August 8, 2018 China Tariffs on U.S. Crude Not Game-Changing Event Technical Overview of USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY & CHF/JPY: 08.08.2018 China Fights the Trade War Through Fiscal Stimulus, US Dollar Retains the Potential to Strengthen E-mini S&P 500 Index (ES) Futures Technical Analysis – August 8, 2018 Forecast || The Right (and Wrong) Way to Invest in Blockchains: What a ride it's been for blockchain investors.
We've almost become numb to get-rich-quick blockchain schemes, as scores have surfaced during the past two years. It seems like everyone and their dog has devised an idea on how to make money off ofblockchains.
Let's take a quick walk down bitcoin memory lane.
• The genesis of the fast-money ideas began as soon as cryptocurrencies were offered directly to the public. There was no need to be an accredited investor or to work with financial middlemen. Exchanges such as Coinbase and Circle gave individuals with no previous investing experience a way to purchase bitcoin before most people even knew what it was.
• Speculation ran rampant. "Bitcoin" became a headline that everyone wanted to read, and its price soared from $1,000 to $20,000 in 2017. Nearly 1,000 other cryptocurrencies became available to the public through Initial Coin Offerings.
• The rampant speculation attracted institutions like blood attracts sharks. Investment products such as Grayscale'sBitcoin Investment Trust(NASDAQOTH: GBTC)could be bought or sold through more traditional stock brokers like Fidelity. This gave investors a way to speculate on bitcoin's price without directly owning the cryptocurrency.
• Things then just started getting weird. Long Island Iced Teaformally changed its nametoLong Blockchain(NASDAQ: LBCC)and its shares immediately tripled in value. Bitconnect came up with a progressive referral program to boost the value of its tokens. No one cared that actions like these weren't actually creating any value.
• Suddenly, everyone started rethinking their blind optimism. Long Blockchain's shares fell 95% in six months, and Bitconnect closed its doorsafter being exposedas a Ponzi scheme.
If "euphoria" described the public's attitude toward blockchains in 2017, then "trepidation" seems to be the word for 2018. This volatility roller coaster has investors hesitant, but still eagerly waiting to see what happens next.
So is there any hope for bitcoin's future?
Image source: Getty Images.
To answer that question, we should recognize that the activities described above refer to the general public's interaction with bitcoin. Things happened quickly, there was massive speculation, and most people had no idea how or where bitcoin could actually be used.
But the enterprise is a completely different animal.
Moving much more deliberately, large corporations actually have an interest in blockchains as a way to improve their operations. And improving operations could translate to increasing profits for shareholders.
I recently spoke with CB Insights' intelligence analyst Arieh Levi at theFuture of Fintech event. Levi said that enterprises take a different view of blockchains than the general public:
It's important to separate and understand the difference between two types of blockchain companies. The first is the crop of companies that sprouted up in 2015 and 2016 that are looking to use blockchain technology in the enterprise as corporate infrastructure to help with back-office processes. And those have seen slow growth -- a lot of local funding in those years, but certainly the growth there has slowed.
There could be a lot of promise in those slow-growthcorporate infrastructure blockchain projects.Walmart(NYSE: WMT)is -- perhaps surprisingly -- one of blockchains' earliest adopters, using them in afood safety programfor their pork suppliers.Starbucks(NASDAQ: SBUX)also recently piloted a blockchain projectfor its coffee growersin Costa Rica, Colombia, and Rwanda to improve pricing transparency. Let's not forget that Starbucks' new CEO Kevin Johnson previously worked atIBM,Microsoft, andJuniper Networks, so he knows a thing or two about technology. This won't be the last blockchain project we'll see out of the global coffee giant.
Transaction-heavy businesses can use blockchains to simplify their incredibly complex supply chains. WalMart spends more than $100 billion ever year on overhead expenses, so even a 3% or 5% improvement in efficiency would add up to huge savings.
Levi went on to describe a few use cases where blockchains would absolutely make sense for larger enterprises:
[What] investors should pay attention to is really thinking about where decentralization makes sense -- and where it not only makes sense, but is entirely necessary. In places where decentralization really makes senseandwhere it's attracting users: That's certainly an area of interest for investment.
Those three areas are certainly worthy of keeping an eye on. Here is a brief overview of each:
• Asset exchanges allow people to buy, sell, and trade things of value with one another, anddecentralizedasset exchanges could introduce cryptocurrencies to more easily facilitate the transactions. This could eliminate typical sources of friction (such as calculating foreign exchange rates or middlemen charges fees), while also providing additional security against fraud.
• Stable coins derive their name from being pegged to other stable assets, such as gold or the US dollar. This could reduce much of the pricing volatility in blockchains, which might encourage them to be used for more actual transactions.
• Non-fungible tokens are cryptocurrencies that are each unique and not completely interchangeable. Every US dollar in circulation has the same value, making them "fungible". The same is technically true for limited edition rare coins; but if they are in scarce supply, they might be even more valuable to a collector ("non-fungible"). Cryptocurrencies, too, can be individually marked in a way that may impact their ultimate worth.
There are no magic bullets in investing. Investment returns follow profits, and profits stem from the creation of value.
Like most other technologies, blockchains will provide progressive companies an opportunity to unlock new pockets of value. The most obvious use cases today are logistical efficiency improvements. But it's likely that we'll see blockchains soon used for commercial transactions or in transactions on asset exchanges.
That might not sound as sexy as reaping a 2,000% gain in a single year. But buying the stocks of large corporations that are taking their time to fully understand and deploy blockchains is a much more prudent, long-term investment strategy.
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Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft.Simon Ericksonowns shares of Bitcoin Investment Trust and Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Starbucks. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || The Right (and Wrong) Way to Invest in Blockchains: What a ride it's been for blockchain investors. We've almost become numb to get-rich-quick blockchain schemes, as scores have surfaced during the past two years. It seems like everyone and their dog has devised an idea on how to make money off of blockchains . Let's take a quick walk down bitcoin memory lane. The genesis of the fast-money ideas began as soon as cryptocurrencies were offered directly to the public. There was no need to be an accredited investor or to work with financial middlemen. Exchanges such as Coinbase and Circle gave individuals with no previous investing experience a way to purchase bitcoin before most people even knew what it was. Speculation ran rampant. "Bitcoin" became a headline that everyone wanted to read, and its price soared from $1,000 to $20,000 in 2017. Nearly 1,000 other cryptocurrencies became available to the public through Initial Coin Offerings. The rampant speculation attracted institutions like blood attracts sharks. Investment products such as Grayscale's Bitcoin Investment Trust (NASDAQOTH: GBTC) could be bought or sold through more traditional stock brokers like Fidelity. This gave investors a way to speculate on bitcoin's price without directly owning the cryptocurrency. Things then just started getting weird. Long Island Iced Tea formally changed its name to Long Blockchain (NASDAQ: LBCC) and its shares immediately tripled in value. Bitconnect came up with a progressive referral program to boost the value of its tokens. No one cared that actions like these weren't actually creating any value. Suddenly, everyone started rethinking their blind optimism. Long Blockchain's shares fell 95% in six months, and Bitconnect closed its doors after being exposed as a Ponzi scheme. If "euphoria" described the public's attitude toward blockchains in 2017, then "trepidation" seems to be the word for 2018. This volatility roller coaster has investors hesitant, but still eagerly waiting to see what happens next. So is there any hope for bitcoin's future? A person dressed in a buttondown shirt and jeans looking at a diagram of a blockchain. Image source: Getty Images. Peering into the blockchain crystal ball To answer that question, we should recognize that the activities described above refer to the general public's interaction with bitcoin. Things happened quickly, there was massive speculation, and most people had no idea how or where bitcoin could actually be used. But the enterprise is a completely different animal. Moving much more deliberately, large corporations actually have an interest in blockchains as a way to improve their operations. And improving operations could translate to increasing profits for shareholders. Story continues I recently spoke with CB Insights' intelligence analyst Arieh Levi at the Future of Fintech event . Levi said that enterprises take a different view of blockchains than the general public: It's important to separate and understand the difference between two types of blockchain companies. The first is the crop of companies that sprouted up in 2015 and 2016 that are looking to use blockchain technology in the enterprise as corporate infrastructure to help with back-office processes. And those have seen slow growth -- a lot of local funding in those years, but certainly the growth there has slowed. Then, of course, there's the ICO mania and ICO craze. These are companies trying to build a new, decentralized web. And to a large degree, that thesis has seen lots of money -- they raised $18 billion [cumulative] during the past year, which is more than most other sectors combined, which is insane. At the same time, that sector, that area of blockchain research is softening and moving sideways with the price action. I think we can expect some more of that in the future as some of the worse projects there get flushed out. There could be a lot of promise in those slow-growth corporate infrastructure blockchain projects . Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is -- perhaps surprisingly -- one of blockchains' earliest adopters, using them in a food safety program for their pork suppliers. Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) also recently piloted a blockchain project for its coffee growers in Costa Rica, Colombia, and Rwanda to improve pricing transparency. Let's not forget that Starbucks' new CEO Kevin Johnson previously worked at IBM , Microsoft , and Juniper Networks , so he knows a thing or two about technology. This won't be the last blockchain project we'll see out of the global coffee giant. Transaction-heavy businesses can use blockchains to simplify their incredibly complex supply chains. WalMart spends more than $100 billion ever year on overhead expenses, so even a 3% or 5% improvement in efficiency would add up to huge savings. Levi went on to describe a few use cases where blockchains would absolutely make sense for larger enterprises: [What] investors should pay attention to is really thinking about where decentralization makes sense -- and where it not only makes sense, but is entirely necessary. In places where decentralization really makes sense and where it's attracting users: That's certainly an area of interest for investment. A couple of areas that are seeing some traction are 1) decentralized asset exchanges; another is 2) stable coins; another area is 3) non-fungible tokens. But, still, users need to come, and it remains to be [seen] where they'll flock to. Those three areas are certainly worthy of keeping an eye on. Here is a brief overview of each: Asset exchanges allow people to buy, sell, and trade things of value with one another, and decentralized asset exchanges could introduce cryptocurrencies to more easily facilitate the transactions. This could eliminate typical sources of friction (such as calculating foreign exchange rates or middlemen charges fees), while also providing additional security against fraud. Stable coins derive their name from being pegged to other stable assets, such as gold or the US dollar. This could reduce much of the pricing volatility in blockchains, which might encourage them to be used for more actual transactions. Non-fungible tokens are cryptocurrencies that are each unique and not completely interchangeable. Every US dollar in circulation has the same value, making them "fungible". The same is technically true for limited edition rare coins; but if they are in scarce supply, they might be even more valuable to a collector ("non-fungible"). Cryptocurrencies, too, can be individually marked in a way that may impact their ultimate worth. The Foolish bottom line There are no magic bullets in investing. Investment returns follow profits, and profits stem from the creation of value. Like most other technologies, blockchains will provide progressive companies an opportunity to unlock new pockets of value. The most obvious use cases today are logistical efficiency improvements. But it's likely that we'll see blockchains soon used for commercial transactions or in transactions on asset exchanges. That might not sound as sexy as reaping a 2,000% gain in a single year. But buying the stocks of large corporations that are taking their time to fully understand and deploy blockchains is a much more prudent, long-term investment strategy. More From The Motley Fool 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today 3 Stocks That Are Absurdly Cheap Right Now 5 Warren Buffett Principles to Remember in a Volatile Stock Market The $16,728 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss The Must-Read Trump Quote on Social Security 10 Reasons Why I'm Selling All of My Apple Stock Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. Simon Erickson owns shares of Bitcoin Investment Trust and Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Starbucks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || Bitcoin the ‘Best House in a Tough Neighborhood’: Wall Street Strategist: Despite the positive news seen in the crypto space recently with ICE, the owner of the world’s largest stock exchange, setting up anew bitcoin market,the rumors thatbitcoin ETFsare on the way (butmaybe not in 2018), and the classification of bitcoin as a commodity by the SEC, the price of bitcoin and altcoins has been steadily dropping in the currentdownward trend, with bitcoin sliding back below the $7,000 mark once again.
CCN reported yesterday that despite a $5 billion rebound in the crypto market, low trading volume made it more likely that another decline in value was incoming,stating:
“However, in the past several hours, the price of bitcoin and ether have started to drop once again, testing $7,100 and $410. If the volume fails to recover in the next 12 hours, bitcoin and ether will likely breach the $7,000 and $400 levels in a similar way as they did on August 5.”
This has now come to pass, with BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayesstatingthat BTC may need to test $5,000 before a bottom can be established.
However, Tom Lee of Fundstrat believes he has the answer to what seems to be a failing market, and points to one positive that he feels will save cryptocurrency: bitcoin dominance.
Bitcoin market dominance is the ratio of BTC’s individual market cap to the combined market cap of all cryptocurrencies. After plummeting from a peak of 80 percent early last year all the way down to 37 percent, dominance is now at the highest it’s been all year at 48 percent.
Speaking with CNBC, Leearguedthat this reflects the fact that investors are indeed responding to the bullish developments in the bitcoin space. While the price has not increased as many had hoped, the increased dominance shows that investors are taking note of the upcoming ETFs and ICE’s soon-to-launch crypto market. As Lee said, the news has caused investors to decide that “bitcoin is the best house in a tough neighborhood.”
Lee went on to point out that the “Misery Index” is also at comfortable levels.
The Misery Index is a method devised by Fundstrat’s to measure what the analysts expect a holder of bitcoin to be feeling. Under 27 is classed as “miserable,” and Lee said that bitcoin tends to do well when sentiment drops so low, whereas the “euphoric” stage above 67 generally indicates that bitcoin may be about to experience a decline.
Currently, the misery index is at 39, which Lee described as being in line with a healthy recovery.
Lee encouraged investors and pundits to put themselves in the shoes of Asian investors, where a lot of the new investments in cryptocurrency is coming from, saying that Asian investors are less likely to be familiar with ICE or be aware of the significance of the recent news. He also stated that the current market is essentially “Peter paying Paul,” moving within itself, and that crypto is still in an early stage with more growth to come.
While the recent bear market may well be discouraging to many, the increased dominance is indeed an indication that BTC is consolidating power within the market. Whether the price action will become more significantly influenced by the numerous positive developments in the crypto space remains to be seen.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
The postBitcoin the ‘Best House in a Tough Neighborhood’: Wall Street Strategistappeared first onCCN. || Bitcoin the ‘Best House in a Tough Neighborhood’: Wall Street Strategist: Despite the positive news seen in the crypto space recently with ICE, the owner of the world’s largest stock exchange, setting up anew bitcoin market,the rumors thatbitcoin ETFsare on the way (butmaybe not in 2018), and the classification of bitcoin as a commodity by the SEC, the price of bitcoin and altcoins has been steadily dropping in the currentdownward trend, with bitcoin sliding back below the $7,000 mark once again.
CCN reported yesterday that despite a $5 billion rebound in the crypto market, low trading volume made it more likely that another decline in value was incoming,stating:
“However, in the past several hours, the price of bitcoin and ether have started to drop once again, testing $7,100 and $410. If the volume fails to recover in the next 12 hours, bitcoin and ether will likely breach the $7,000 and $400 levels in a similar way as they did on August 5.”
This has now come to pass, with BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayesstatingthat BTC may need to test $5,000 before a bottom can be established.
However, Tom Lee of Fundstrat believes he has the answer to what seems to be a failing market, and points to one positive that he feels will save cryptocurrency: bitcoin dominance.
Bitcoin market dominance is the ratio of BTC’s individual market cap to the combined market cap of all cryptocurrencies. After plummeting from a peak of 80 percent early last year all the way down to 37 percent, dominance is now at the highest it’s been all year at 48 percent.
Speaking with CNBC, Leearguedthat this reflects the fact that investors are indeed responding to the bullish developments in the bitcoin space. While the price has not increased as many had hoped, the increased dominance shows that investors are taking note of the upcoming ETFs and ICE’s soon-to-launch crypto market. As Lee said, the news has caused investors to decide that “bitcoin is the best house in a tough neighborhood.”
Lee went on to point out that the “Misery Index” is also at comfortable levels.
The Misery Index is a method devised by Fundstrat’s to measure what the analysts expect a holder of bitcoin to be feeling. Under 27 is classed as “miserable,” and Lee said that bitcoin tends to do well when sentiment drops so low, whereas the “euphoric” stage above 67 generally indicates that bitcoin may be about to experience a decline.
Currently, the misery index is at 39, which Lee described as being in line with a healthy recovery.
Lee encouraged investors and pundits to put themselves in the shoes of Asian investors, where a lot of the new investments in cryptocurrency is coming from, saying that Asian investors are less likely to be familiar with ICE or be aware of the significance of the recent news. He also stated that the current market is essentially “Peter paying Paul,” moving within itself, and that crypto is still in an early stage with more growth to come.
While the recent bear market may well be discouraging to many, the increased dominance is indeed an indication that BTC is consolidating power within the market. Whether the price action will become more significantly influenced by the numerous positive developments in the crypto space remains to be seen.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
The postBitcoin the ‘Best House in a Tough Neighborhood’: Wall Street Strategistappeared first onCCN. || Bitcoin the Best House in a Tough Neighborhood: Wall Street Strategist: bitcoin house neighborhood Despite the positive news seen in the crypto space recently with ICE, the owner of the worlds largest stock exchange, setting up a new bitcoin market, the rumors that bitcoin ETFs are on the way (but maybe not in 2018 ), and the classification of bitcoin as a commodity by the SEC, the price of bitcoin and altcoins has been steadily dropping in the current downward trend , with bitcoin sliding back below the $7,000 mark once again. CCN reported yesterday that despite a $5 billion rebound in the crypto market, low trading volume made it more likely that another decline in value was incoming, stating : However, in the past several hours, the price of bitcoin and ether have started to drop once again, testing $7,100 and $410. If the volume fails to recover in the next 12 hours, bitcoin and ether will likely breach the $7,000 and $400 levels in a similar way as they did on August 5. This has now come to pass, with BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes stating that BTC may need to test $5,000 before a bottom can be established. bitcoin price However, Tom Lee of Fundstrat believes he has the answer to what seems to be a failing market, and points to one positive that he feels will save cryptocurrency: bitcoin dominance. Bitcoin market dominance is the ratio of BTCs individual market cap to the combined market cap of all cryptocurrencies. After plummeting from a peak of 80 percent early last year all the way down to 37 percent, dominance is now at the highest its been all year at 48 percent. Speaking with CNBC, Lee argued that this reflects the fact that investors are indeed responding to the bullish developments in the bitcoin space. While the price has not increased as many had hoped, the increased dominance shows that investors are taking note of the upcoming ETFs and ICEs soon-to-launch crypto market. As Lee said, the news has caused investors to decide that bitcoin is the best house in a tough neighborhood. Lee went on to point out that the Misery Index is also at comfortable levels. Story continues The Misery Index is a method devised by Fundstrats to measure what the analysts expect a holder of bitcoin to be feeling. Under 27 is classed as miserable, and Lee said that bitcoin tends to do well when sentiment drops so low, whereas the euphoric stage above 67 generally indicates that bitcoin may be about to experience a decline. Currently, the misery index is at 39, which Lee described as being in line with a healthy recovery. Lee encouraged investors and pundits to put themselves in the shoes of Asian investors, where a lot of the new investments in cryptocurrency is coming from, saying that Asian investors are less likely to be familiar with ICE or be aware of the significance of the recent news. He also stated that the current market is essentially Peter paying Paul, moving within itself, and that crypto is still in an early stage with more growth to come. While the recent bear market may well be discouraging to many, the increased dominance is indeed an indication that BTC is consolidating power within the market. Whether the price action will become more significantly influenced by the numerous positive developments in the crypto space remains to be seen. Featured Image from Shutterstock The post Bitcoin the Best House in a Tough Neighborhood: Wall Street Strategist appeared first on CCN .
[Social Media Buzz]
The price of Litecoin is $64.29! https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/litecoin/#.W2yQTAnw-OQ.twitter …
(2,02%)
0,00992583 BTC (-1,00%)
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|
6184.71, 6295.73, 6322.69, 6297.57, 6199.71, 6308.52, 6334.73, 6580.63, 6423.76, 6506.07
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 27362.44, 28840.95, 29001.72, 29374.15, 32127.27, 32782.02, 31971.91, 33992.43, 36824.36, 39371.04, 40797.61, 40254.55, 38356.44, 35566.66, 33922.96, 37316.36, 39187.33, 36825.37, 36178.14, 35791.28, 36630.07, 36069.80, 35547.75, 30825.70, 33005.76, 32067.64, 32289.38, 32366.39, 32569.85, 30432.55, 33466.10, 34316.39, 34269.52, 33114.36, 33537.18, 35510.29, 37472.09, 36926.07, 38144.31, 39266.01, 38903.44, 46196.46, 46481.11, 44918.18, 47909.33, 47504.85, 47105.52, 48717.29, 47945.06, 49199.87, 52149.01, 51679.80, 55888.13, 56099.52, 57539.95, 54207.32, 48824.43, 49705.33, 47093.85, 46339.76, 46188.45, 45137.77, 49631.24, 48378.99, 50538.24, 48561.17, 48927.30, 48912.38, 51206.69, 52246.52, 54824.12, 56008.55, 57805.12, 57332.09, 61243.09, 59302.32, 55907.20, 56804.90, 58870.89, 57858.92, 58346.65, 58313.64, 57523.42, 54529.14, 54738.95, 52774.27, 51704.16, 55137.31, 55973.51, 55950.75.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-03-28]
Volume: 47686580918, RSI (14-day): 54.47, 50-day EMA: 50842.36, 200-day EMA: 33468.13
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
NFTS.com Wants To Sell Domain Name For $31 Million: The owners of the website NFTS.com are offering to sell the domain — apparently for $31 million. What Happened: The news comes from Alexandre Dreyfus, the founder and CEO of Chiliz blockchain, who said on Twitter that the owners of the website had offered to sell him the domain. I receive an email from the owners of https://t.co/uowfwbbAHj . They want to sell it for $31M. If you are interested. — Alexandre Dreyfus (@alex_dreyfus) March 21, 2021 The domain still appears to be for sale, a week after Dreyfus' tweet, as the site itself says it is "accepting offers." Why It Matters: Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have gathered steam over the past few weeks, with some digital collectibles and artwork selling for millions of dollars. A user has offered over $1 million to buy one of Elon Musk’s tweets about an NFT song, and earlier this month, the artist known as Beeple sold an NFT of his digital artwork for a record $69 million. Despite the fact that Google searches for NFTs have skyrocketed lately, many long-term crypto proponents have remained skeptical of the craze around the new asset class. Robert Leshner , the founder of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Compound Finance, asked his Twitter followers if they were aware that NFTs were a bubble and what their “exit strategy” was. “I see it more of the same of any asset class with market cycles,” commented one trader, adding that in his opinion, “There will be a bear market for NFTs followed by another NFT crazed bull market afterward.” See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Controversial Crypto Project BitClout Faces Legal Charges Over Selling Social Tokens Without Users Consent Microsoft Launches Decentralized Identity Platform ION On Bitcoin's Blockchain © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. View comments || NFTS.com Wants To Sell Domain Name For $31 Million: The owners of the website NFTS.com are offering to sell the domain — apparently for $31 million.
What Happened:The news comes from Alexandre Dreyfus, the founder and CEO of Chiliz blockchain, whosaid on Twitterthat the owners of the website had offered to sell him the domain.
The domain still appears to be for sale, a week after Dreyfus' tweet, as the site itself says it is "accepting offers."
Why It Matters:Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have gathered steam over the past few weeks, with some digital collectibles and artwork selling for millions of dollars.
A user has offered over $1 million to buy one of Elon Musk’s tweets about an NFT song, and earlier this month, the artist known as Beeple sold an NFT of his digital artwork for a record $69 million.
Despite the fact that Google searches for NFTs haveskyrocketedlately, many long-term crypto proponents have remained skeptical of the craze around the new asset class.
Robert Leshner, the founder of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Compound Finance, asked his Twitter followers if they were aware that NFTs were a bubble and what their “exit strategy” was.
“I see it more of the same of any asset class with market cycles,”commentedone trader, adding that in his opinion, “There will be a bear market for NFTs followed by another NFT crazed bull market afterward.”
See more from Benzinga
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• Controversial Crypto Project BitClout Faces Legal Charges Over Selling Social Tokens Without Users Consent
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© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || The Market for Ultra-Premium American Whiskey Is Booming. Here’s Why.: Perhaps you’ve seen the headlines. A bottle of the Macallan distilled in 1926 sells for $1.9 million , shattering auction records. The English lad who sold the haul of scotch his dad had been gifting him since birth and bought a house with the bounty. Or how single malts’ valuation has been outperforming the S&P 500, gold bullion , Bitcoin—basically everything but the works of Picasso’s Blue Period. Certainly, American distilleries have taken note. Even casual whiskey enthusiasts will have noticed a dearth in supply from the most renowned names in bourbon (meaning almost anything from the myriad brands under the auspices of Buffalo Trace and Heaven Hill) at local liquor stores, as well as the explosion of new expressions with exorbitant aging statements and the price tags to match. Last fall, Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door label dropped the second whiskey in its Bootleg Series to the tune of $500. George Dickel unlocked a 17-Year Tennessee Whisky called Cascade Moon No. 2, for $250, while one of New York’s finest field-to-glass farms, Hillrock Estate, revealed a cask-strength Double Cask Rye finished in Premier Cru Sauternes casks for $140. Or take Woodford Reserve , which released its Baccarat Edition (above), in a gorgeous crystal decanter, for a cool $2,000. And these are suggested retail prices; a thirsty collector should expect to pay multiples on whiskey’s torrid gray market. More from Robb Report The Best Rocks Glasses for Whiskey Lovers The 11 Best Cask-Finished American Whiskeys to Drink Right Now How to Make a Midnight Stinger, a Whiskey Sour Enhanced by a Bitter Italian Liqueur “My crystal ball is on the fritz, but almost every market indicator points to continued growth in this segment,” says WhistlePig chief marketing officer Jason Newell. “I believe exclusivity and availability will provide the gravitational pull as more whiskey enthusiasts explore the deep end of the pool.” WhistlePig has quickly grown from a Vermont farm into North America’s top ultra-premium rye label. In December, the distillery signed a partnership with the global leader in luxury spirits, Moët Hennessy—not bad for a brand that was established only in 2007—thanks in part to offerings like its Boss Hog expression. The seventh edition, Magellan’s Atlantic, is aged 17 years in American oak, followed by a spell in rare Spanish oak, before being finished in South American teakwood. It retails for $500. Story continues Creating these limited-edition and extra-aged expressions falls to the master distiller, who must navigate an array of stock to cherry-pick the best of the best “honey barrels.” Michter’s master distiller, Dan McKee, works closely with his master of maturation to determine whether a particular barrel will benefit from further aging, or whether it has peaked and requires immediate transfer to a stainless-steel drum to arrest the maturation process. Michter’s oldest expressions are small batch, as opposed to single barrel, so blending plays a key role. “Our production involves the art of finding not just great individual barrels but great barrels that blend well with each other,” McKee says, “so that one plus one can equal three.” Woodford Reserve master distiller Chris Morris is renowned for innovation, having pioneered the use of nontraditional grains and wood finishes in the late ’90s. But experimentation isn’t just an excuse to get creative; as with pharmaceuticals, up-front costs can be huge. For the Baccarat Edition, ultra-expensive XO Cognac casks, each holding no less than three vintages, had to be sourced from France and shipped, intact, to Kentucky. There was also the extensive evaporative “angels’ share” loss to contend with as the liquid aged for an additional three to five years—a nearly unheard-of length for second finishes. “The product in the bottle is the first of its kind, which took years of experimentation to perfect,” Morris says. “It’s an extremely costly product to make.” Asked how he might counter a cynic who questions the exorbitant price tags for such rarefied bottles, Morris is quick to parry. “I would ask, ‘What’s the price of whiskey history worth to you?’” Best of Robb Report Why a Heritage Turkey Is the Best Thanksgiving Bird—and How to Get One From Champagne to Tasting Glasses, 15 Perfect Gifts for Wine Snobs From Stogies to Lighters: The 13 Best Gifts for Cigar Smokers Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter . For the latest news, follow us on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram . || The Market for Ultra-Premium American Whiskey Is Booming. Here’s Why.: Perhaps you’ve seen the headlines. A bottle of the Macallan distilled in 1926 sells for $1.9 million , shattering auction records. The English lad who sold the haul of scotch his dad had been gifting him since birth and bought a house with the bounty. Or how single malts’ valuation has been outperforming the S&P 500, gold bullion , Bitcoin—basically everything but the works of Picasso’s Blue Period. Certainly, American distilleries have taken note. Even casual whiskey enthusiasts will have noticed a dearth in supply from the most renowned names in bourbon (meaning almost anything from the myriad brands under the auspices of Buffalo Trace and Heaven Hill) at local liquor stores, as well as the explosion of new expressions with exorbitant aging statements and the price tags to match. Last fall, Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door label dropped the second whiskey in its Bootleg Series to the tune of $500. George Dickel unlocked a 17-Year Tennessee Whisky called Cascade Moon No. 2, for $250, while one of New York’s finest field-to-glass farms, Hillrock Estate, revealed a cask-strength Double Cask Rye finished in Premier Cru Sauternes casks for $140. Or take Woodford Reserve , which released its Baccarat Edition (above), in a gorgeous crystal decanter, for a cool $2,000. And these are suggested retail prices; a thirsty collector should expect to pay multiples on whiskey’s torrid gray market. More from Robb Report The Best Rocks Glasses for Whiskey Lovers The 11 Best Cask-Finished American Whiskeys to Drink Right Now How to Make a Midnight Stinger, a Whiskey Sour Enhanced by a Bitter Italian Liqueur “My crystal ball is on the fritz, but almost every market indicator points to continued growth in this segment,” says WhistlePig chief marketing officer Jason Newell. “I believe exclusivity and availability will provide the gravitational pull as more whiskey enthusiasts explore the deep end of the pool.” WhistlePig has quickly grown from a Vermont farm into North America’s top ultra-premium rye label. In December, the distillery signed a partnership with the global leader in luxury spirits, Moët Hennessy—not bad for a brand that was established only in 2007—thanks in part to offerings like its Boss Hog expression. The seventh edition, Magellan’s Atlantic, is aged 17 years in American oak, followed by a spell in rare Spanish oak, before being finished in South American teakwood. It retails for $500. Story continues Creating these limited-edition and extra-aged expressions falls to the master distiller, who must navigate an array of stock to cherry-pick the best of the best “honey barrels.” Michter’s master distiller, Dan McKee, works closely with his master of maturation to determine whether a particular barrel will benefit from further aging, or whether it has peaked and requires immediate transfer to a stainless-steel drum to arrest the maturation process. Michter’s oldest expressions are small batch, as opposed to single barrel, so blending plays a key role. “Our production involves the art of finding not just great individual barrels but great barrels that blend well with each other,” McKee says, “so that one plus one can equal three.” Woodford Reserve master distiller Chris Morris is renowned for innovation, having pioneered the use of nontraditional grains and wood finishes in the late ’90s. But experimentation isn’t just an excuse to get creative; as with pharmaceuticals, up-front costs can be huge. For the Baccarat Edition, ultra-expensive XO Cognac casks, each holding no less than three vintages, had to be sourced from France and shipped, intact, to Kentucky. There was also the extensive evaporative “angels’ share” loss to contend with as the liquid aged for an additional three to five years—a nearly unheard-of length for second finishes. “The product in the bottle is the first of its kind, which took years of experimentation to perfect,” Morris says. “It’s an extremely costly product to make.” Asked how he might counter a cynic who questions the exorbitant price tags for such rarefied bottles, Morris is quick to parry. “I would ask, ‘What’s the price of whiskey history worth to you?’” Best of Robb Report Why a Heritage Turkey Is the Best Thanksgiving Bird—and How to Get One From Champagne to Tasting Glasses, 15 Perfect Gifts for Wine Snobs From Stogies to Lighters: The 13 Best Gifts for Cigar Smokers Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter . For the latest news, follow us on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram . || You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin — but the IRS will want a cut: The Techno King has spoken.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and billionaire technology enthusiast, announced this week that you can now buy one of his electric vehicles with Bitcoin.
While this may seem like a natural progression for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, there’s one catch: the IRS will want a bit of your coin.
Yes, that’s right, cashing in your crypto will cost you. Here, we’ll explain how that works and what you may need to do when youfile your taxesthis year or next.
In the eyes of the government, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are considered property. Just like stock or bonds and any other type of asset, when you sell and make a capital gain, you owe the IRS a share on your taxes.
Using Bitcoin to purchase goods or services (like a Tesla) is essentially selling your cryptocurrency. If your coin is worth more than when you bought it, you’ve made a profit.
And like any short-term gains, your profit will be taxed at the ordinary income tax rate, which ranges from 10% to 37%, depending on your income.
Where you want to be especially careful is when spending bitcoin that’s appreciated enough to push you into a new tax bracket.
Let’s say you have a taxable income of $40,000 before you factor in your Bitcoin sale. You’re now paying a 12% tax rate. If you make another $15,000 from your Bitcoin sale, you’ll move up to the next bracket, increasing your taxes to 22%.
At $40,000, even a $600 increase would bump you up to the next income tax bracket. That’s why it’s important to keep track ofchanges to tax rateswhen you wade into investing, whether that betrading on the stock marketor buying Bitcoin.
Honestly, we don’t blame you — what a great icebreaker at cocktail parties.
And you’re not alone. As interest in Bitcoin grows, more companies are beginning to accept the currency. In addition to Tesla, these major companies now take Bitcoin as payment:
• Twitch
• Etsy
• Overstock.com
• Rakuten
• Whole Foods
• Starbucks
• PayPal
One bitcoin is currently worth $56,000. When we’re talking about moving around that kind of money, we always suggest you consult with aprofessional financial adviserto ensure you have your ducks in a row when it comes to managing it.
And if you sold off some coin in 2020, you’ll want to be sure to include that in your return when youfile your taxesbefore the May 17 deadline.
If Musk’s announcement has piqued your interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but you’re not sure how to get started, there are a number ofinvestment apps with low to no commissionsthat can get you set up.
There is an app that willallow you to do fractional trading, meaning if you can’t afford $56,000 for one Bitcoin, you can buy a small piece of one share. And while you’re at it, you can buy fractional shares of Tesla on the app too.
After you’ve touched base with your financial adviser and started your crypto trading journey, you may start to see higher tax bills.
While there’s not much you can do about how much the IRS can claim from your income, there are other things you can do to offset the extra money owing.
• Cut the cost of your debt.If you were a big plastic user even before the pandemic, you’ve probably long dealt with expensive interest. If interest (and paying interest on top of interest) is starting to weigh you down, it’s time to get your debt organized. Folding your balances into a singledebt consolidation loan at lower interestwill help you make what you owe more manageable — and get it paid off sooner.
• Shrink your insurance bills.If you’re not driving as much because of the pandemic, your car insurance company may be willing to give you a discount on your rate. Is yours being stingy? That’s easy enough — justshop around for a better deal. And while you’re at it, keep the savings rolling and cut another few hundred off the cost of your homeowners insurance by comparing rates tofind a lower priceon that coverage.
• Bring in a little extra incomeHave a hobby or special talent?Turn it into a side hustleto bring in extra income. You can alsouse an app that give you cash or gift cardsfor watching videos and taking surveys. There is even a free app that will reward you just fortaking a photo of your grocery receipts.
• Free up some funds in your current budget.By finding a few creative ways to cut back, you can possibly wring out another several hundred dollars from your monthly budget. For example, maybe it’s time to say permanently log off any streaming services or other monthly subscriptions you’re not actively using. And, download afree browser extensionthat will automatically scour for better prices and coupons whenever you shop online. || You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin — but the IRS will want a cut: The Techno King has spoken.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and billionaire technology enthusiast, announced this week that you can now buy one of his electric vehicles with Bitcoin.
While this may seem like a natural progression for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, there’s one catch: the IRS will want a bit of your coin.
Yes, that’s right, cashing in your crypto will cost you. Here, we’ll explain how that works and what you may need to do when youfile your taxesthis year or next.
In the eyes of the government, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are considered property. Just like stock or bonds and any other type of asset, when you sell and make a capital gain, you owe the IRS a share on your taxes.
Using Bitcoin to purchase goods or services (like a Tesla) is essentially selling your cryptocurrency. If your coin is worth more than when you bought it, you’ve made a profit.
And like any short-term gains, your profit will be taxed at the ordinary income tax rate, which ranges from 10% to 37%, depending on your income.
Where you want to be especially careful is when spending bitcoin that’s appreciated enough to push you into a new tax bracket.
Let’s say you have a taxable income of $40,000 before you factor in your Bitcoin sale. You’re now paying a 12% tax rate. If you make another $15,000 from your Bitcoin sale, you’ll move up to the next bracket, increasing your taxes to 22%.
At $40,000, even a $600 increase would bump you up to the next income tax bracket. That’s why it’s important to keep track ofchanges to tax rateswhen you wade into investing, whether that betrading on the stock marketor buying Bitcoin.
Honestly, we don’t blame you — what a great icebreaker at cocktail parties.
And you’re not alone. As interest in Bitcoin grows, more companies are beginning to accept the currency. In addition to Tesla, these major companies now take Bitcoin as payment:
• Twitch
• Etsy
• Overstock.com
• Rakuten
• Whole Foods
• Starbucks
• PayPal
One bitcoin is currently worth $56,000. When we’re talking about moving around that kind of money, we always suggest you consult with aprofessional financial adviserto ensure you have your ducks in a row when it comes to managing it.
And if you sold off some coin in 2020, you’ll want to be sure to include that in your return when youfile your taxesbefore the May 17 deadline.
If Musk’s announcement has piqued your interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but you’re not sure how to get started, there are a number ofinvestment apps with low to no commissionsthat can get you set up.
There is an app that willallow you to do fractional trading, meaning if you can’t afford $56,000 for one Bitcoin, you can buy a small piece of one share. And while you’re at it, you can buy fractional shares of Tesla on the app too.
After you’ve touched base with your financial adviser and started your crypto trading journey, you may start to see higher tax bills.
While there’s not much you can do about how much the IRS can claim from your income, there are other things you can do to offset the extra money owing.
• Cut the cost of your debt.If you were a big plastic user even before the pandemic, you’ve probably long dealt with expensive interest. If interest (and paying interest on top of interest) is starting to weigh you down, it’s time to get your debt organized. Folding your balances into a singledebt consolidation loan at lower interestwill help you make what you owe more manageable — and get it paid off sooner.
• Shrink your insurance bills.If you’re not driving as much because of the pandemic, your car insurance company may be willing to give you a discount on your rate. Is yours being stingy? That’s easy enough — justshop around for a better deal. And while you’re at it, keep the savings rolling and cut another few hundred off the cost of your homeowners insurance by comparing rates tofind a lower priceon that coverage.
• Bring in a little extra incomeHave a hobby or special talent?Turn it into a side hustleto bring in extra income. You can alsouse an app that give you cash or gift cardsfor watching videos and taking surveys. There is even a free app that will reward you just fortaking a photo of your grocery receipts.
• Free up some funds in your current budget.By finding a few creative ways to cut back, you can possibly wring out another several hundred dollars from your monthly budget. For example, maybe it’s time to say permanently log off any streaming services or other monthly subscriptions you’re not actively using. And, download afree browser extensionthat will automatically scour for better prices and coupons whenever you shop online. || You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin but the IRS will want a cut: You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin but the IRS will want a cut The Techno King has spoken. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and billionaire technology enthusiast, announced this week that you can now buy one of his electric vehicles with Bitcoin. While this may seem like a natural progression for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, theres one catch: the IRS will want a bit of your coin. Yes, thats right, cashing in your crypto will cost you. Here, well explain how that works and what you may need to do when you file your taxes this year or next. How much will the IRS tax my crypto? adriaticfoto / Shutterstock In the eyes of the government, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are considered property. Just like stock or bonds and any other type of asset, when you sell and make a capital gain, you owe the IRS a share on your taxes. Using Bitcoin to purchase goods or services (like a Tesla) is essentially selling your cryptocurrency. If your coin is worth more than when you bought it, youve made a profit. And like any short-term gains, your profit will be taxed at the ordinary income tax rate, which ranges from 10% to 37%, depending on your income. Where you want to be especially careful is when spending bitcoin thats appreciated enough to push you into a new tax bracket. Lets say you have a taxable income of $40,000 before you factor in your Bitcoin sale. Youre now paying a 12% tax rate. If you make another $15,000 from your Bitcoin sale, youll move up to the next bracket, increasing your taxes to 22%. At $40,000, even a $600 increase would bump you up to the next income tax bracket. Thats why its important to keep track of changes to tax rates when you wade into investing, whether that be trading on the stock market or buying Bitcoin. I still want to buy a Tesla with Bitcoin MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Honestly, we dont blame you what a great icebreaker at cocktail parties. And youre not alone. As interest in Bitcoin grows, more companies are beginning to accept the currency. In addition to Tesla, these major companies now take Bitcoin as payment: Twitch Etsy Overstock.com Rakuten Whole Foods Starbucks PayPal One bitcoin is currently worth $56,000. When were talking about moving around that kind of money, we always suggest you consult with a professional financial adviser to ensure you have your ducks in a row when it comes to managing it. And if you sold off some coin in 2020, youll want to be sure to include that in your return when you file your taxes before the May 17 deadline. How to get trading in crypto Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Shutterstock If Musks announcement has piqued your interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but youre not sure how to get started, there are a number of investment apps with low to no commissions that can get you set up. Story continues There is an app that will allow you to do fractional trading , meaning if you cant afford $56,000 for one Bitcoin, you can buy a small piece of one share. And while youre at it, you can buy fractional shares of Tesla on the app too. But dont forget about your taxes Stokkete / Shutterstock After youve touched base with your financial adviser and started your crypto trading journey, you may start to see higher tax bills. While theres not much you can do about how much the IRS can claim from your income, there are other things you can do to offset the extra money owing. Cut the cost of your debt. If you were a big plastic user even before the pandemic, youve probably long dealt with expensive interest. If interest (and paying interest on top of interest) is starting to weigh you down, its time to get your debt organized. Folding your balances into a single debt consolidation loan at lower interest will help you make what you owe more manageable and get it paid off sooner. Shrink your insurance bills. If youre not driving as much because of the pandemic, your car insurance company may be willing to give you a discount on your rate. Is yours being stingy? Thats easy enough just shop around for a better deal . And while youre at it, keep the savings rolling and cut another few hundred off the cost of your homeowners insurance by comparing rates to find a lower price on that coverage. Bring in a little extra income Have a hobby or special talent? Turn it into a side hustle to bring in extra income. You can also use an app that give you cash or gift cards for watching videos and taking surveys. There is even a free app that will reward you just for taking a photo of your grocery receipts . Free up some funds in your current budget. By finding a few creative ways to cut back, you can possibly wring out another several hundred dollars from your monthly budget. For example, maybe its time to say permanently log off any streaming services or other monthly subscriptions youre not actively using. And, download a free browser extension that will automatically scour for better prices and coupons whenever you shop online. View comments || Is Now The Time To Buy Stock In Microsoft, Disney, Apple Or Nike?: One of the most common questions traders have about stocks is Why Is It Moving? Thats why Benzinga created the Why Is It Moving, or WIIM, feature in Benzinga Pro . WIIMs are a one-sentence description as to why that stock is moving. Heres the latest news and updates for Microsoft, Disney, Apple and Nike. Microsoft Corporation s (NASDAQ: MSFT ) decentralized identity platform ION is now live on the Bitcoin blockchain. A project four years in the making, ION aims to provide people with a new way to verify credentials when using online services, according to the company's recent announcement. Read More The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS ) has unveiled plans for a major reconfiguration of its Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California. Disneyland was the companys first theme park, opening in 1955. The last addition to the park was a 14-acre Star Wars-themed section that opened in... Read More See also: How To Buy Microsoft Stock Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL ) went on an acquisition spree during the last five years and acquired more artificial intelligence companies than other U.S. technology giants during the period. The Cupertino, California-based company acquired 25 AI startups during the five-year period from 2016 to 2020, leading the acquisition race that was dominated by... Read More Baird upgraded Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) from Neutral to Outperform and announced a $150 price target Friday. The analyst Jonathan Komp issued the upgrade, based on a "positive fundamental view of Nike's transformation to a direct-to-consumer and digital-led organization, which has driven customer engagement, elevated brand positioning, and supported margin expansion." Photo by CrispyCream27 , Wikimedia. See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga The S&P 500 Soared Today. Here's Why. Why FuelCell Shares Jumped This Afternoon © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Is Now The Time To Buy Stock In Microsoft, Disney, Apple Or Nike?: One of the most common questions traders have about stocks is “Why Is It Moving?”
That’s why Benzinga created the Why Is It Moving, or WIIM, feature inBenzinga Pro. WIIMs are a one-sentence description as to why that stock is moving.
Here’s the latest news and updates for Microsoft, Disney, Apple and Nike.
Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) decentralized identity platform ION is now live on the Bitcoin blockchain.
A project four years in the making, ION aims to provide people with a new way to verify credentials when using online services, according to the company's recent announcement.Read More
The Walt Disney Co.(NYSE:DIS) has unveiled plans for a major reconfiguration of its Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California.
Disneyland was the company’s first theme park, opening in 1955. The last addition to the park was a 14-acre “Star Wars”-themed section that opened in...Read More
See also:How To Buy Microsoft Stock
Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) went on an acquisition spree during the last five years and acquired more artificial intelligence companies than other U.S. technology giants during the period.The Cupertino, California-based company acquired 25 AI startups during the five-year period from 2016 to 2020, leading the acquisition race that was dominated by...Read More
Baird upgradedNike Inc(NYSE:NKE) from Neutral to Outperform and announced a $150 price target Friday.
The analyst Jonathan Komp issued the upgrade, based on a "positive fundamental view of Nike's transformation to a direct-to-consumer and digital-led organization, which has driven customer engagement, elevated brand positioning, and supported margin expansion."
Photo byCrispyCream27, Wikimedia.
See more from Benzinga
• Click here for options trades from Benzinga
• The S&P 500 Soared Today. Here's Why.
• Why FuelCell Shares Jumped This Afternoon
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || If You Invested $1,000 In the GLD Gold ETF 1 Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now: Investors who have owned stocks in the last year have generally experienced some big gains. In fact, theSPDR S&P 500(NYSE:SPY) total return over the last 12 months is 74.3%. But there is no question some investments performed better than others along the way.
Gold’s Disappointing Year:While the stock market has been extremely strong since it bottomed on March 23, 2020, theSPDR Gold Trust(NYSE:GLD) ETF has been surprisingly weak.
A look at the 2008-2009 financial crisis shows that following aggressive stimulus spending, investors concerned about hyperinflation sent gold prices soaring from under $700 per ounce in late 2008 to as high as $1,923 per ounce in 2011.
When the stimulus-fueled hyperinflation investors feared never actually materialized, gold prices dropped back down to as low as $1,045 per ounce by late 2015.
In 2020, unprecedented pandemic-driven U.S. stimulus measures once again sent gold prices soaring to as high as $2,089.20 in mid-2020. The buying was driven in large part by the same hyperinflation fears behind the previous bull market in gold from 2008 through 2011.
However, this time around, investors found a new popular inflation hedge:Bitcoin(CRYPTO: BTC).
Several factors led to a surge in Bitcoin buying in 2020. First, investors concerned about the potential long-term damage that trillions of dollars in federal stimulus could do to the value of the dollar have flooded into Bitcoin as a potential safe-haven play. Second, younger Americans receiving three rounds of direct stimulus payments have poured a significant chunk of that cash into investments, including Bitcoin.
Related Link:If You Invested ,000 In Bitcoin One Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now
By the beginning of March 2020, the volatile cryptocurrency was at $8,600 after news of the coronavirus spreading in China prompted concerns about a pandemic.
When the stock market bottomed on March 23, Bitcoin investors started feeling the pain. Investors who had purchased Bitcoin as a COVID-19 flight-to-safety trade were down big, with Bitcoin priced at around $5,800 at the time. But, once the government stimulus payments started flowing, Bitcoin regained its swagger.
At the beginning of 2020, gold prices were hovering around $1,500 per ounce. By August, pandemic fears had pushed gold prices to new all-time highs above $2,000 per ounce.
At that point, the gold rally ran out of steam. Not surprisingly, the rally in Bitcoin started to accelerate from that point forward with all-time highs above $20,000 in December 2020. By that time, gold prices were back down to around $1,800 per ounce.
Gold In 2021, Beyond:Gold prices are now back down to around $1,733 an ounce, while Bitcoin surpassed $60,000 for the first time in history.
The gold rally may have fizzled for now, but investors who bought the GLD ETF one year ago and held on have still managed to generate a small profit on their investment. In fact, $1,000 in the GLD ETF bought on March 23, 2020, would be worth about $1,059 today.
Looking ahead, the Federal Reserve is now projecting 2.4% inflation in 2021. If inflation rates continue to rise, gold investors will be paying close attention to how gold prices react compared Bitcoin prices.
(Photo bySharon McCutcheononUnsplash)
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• Are Cracks Forming In The '4 Pillars' Supporting The Stock Market?
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || If You Invested $1,000 In the GLD Gold ETF 1 Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now: Investors who have owned stocks in the last year have generally experienced some big gains. In fact, the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY ) total return over the last 12 months is 74.3%. But there is no question some investments performed better than others along the way. Gold’s Disappointing Year: While the stock market has been extremely strong since it bottomed on March 23, 2020, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD ) ETF has been surprisingly weak. A look at the 2008-2009 financial crisis shows that following aggressive stimulus spending, investors concerned about hyperinflation sent gold prices soaring from under $700 per ounce in late 2008 to as high as $1,923 per ounce in 2011. When the stimulus-fueled hyperinflation investors feared never actually materialized, gold prices dropped back down to as low as $1,045 per ounce by late 2015. In 2020, unprecedented pandemic-driven U.S. stimulus measures once again sent gold prices soaring to as high as $2,089.20 in mid-2020. The buying was driven in large part by the same hyperinflation fears behind the previous bull market in gold from 2008 through 2011. However, this time around, investors found a new popular inflation hedge: Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC). Several factors led to a surge in Bitcoin buying in 2020. First, investors concerned about the potential long-term damage that trillions of dollars in federal stimulus could do to the value of the dollar have flooded into Bitcoin as a potential safe-haven play. Second, younger Americans receiving three rounds of direct stimulus payments have poured a significant chunk of that cash into investments, including Bitcoin. Related Link: If You Invested ,000 In Bitcoin One Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now By the beginning of March 2020, the volatile cryptocurrency was at $8,600 after news of the coronavirus spreading in China prompted concerns about a pandemic. When the stock market bottomed on March 23, Bitcoin investors started feeling the pain. Investors who had purchased Bitcoin as a COVID-19 flight-to-safety trade were down big, with Bitcoin priced at around $5,800 at the time. But, once the government stimulus payments started flowing, Bitcoin regained its swagger. Story continues At the beginning of 2020, gold prices were hovering around $1,500 per ounce. By August, pandemic fears had pushed gold prices to new all-time highs above $2,000 per ounce. At that point, the gold rally ran out of steam. Not surprisingly, the rally in Bitcoin started to accelerate from that point forward with all-time highs above $20,000 in December 2020. By that time, gold prices were back down to around $1,800 per ounce. Gold In 2021, Beyond: Gold prices are now back down to around $1,733 an ounce, while Bitcoin surpassed $60,000 for the first time in history. The gold rally may have fizzled for now, but investors who bought the GLD ETF one year ago and held on have still managed to generate a small profit on their investment. In fact, $1,000 in the GLD ETF bought on March 23, 2020, would be worth about $1,059 today. Looking ahead, the Federal Reserve is now projecting 2.4% inflation in 2021. If inflation rates continue to rise, gold investors will be paying close attention to how gold prices react compared Bitcoin prices. (Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash ) See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Why Root Is A Better Bet Than Lemonade Among Insurtech Stocks Are Cracks Forming In The '4 Pillars' Supporting The Stock Market? © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || What To Expect When Tesla Reports Q1 Deliveries: Tesla, Inc.(NASDAQ:TSLA) is expected to release first-quarter delivery numbers next week. The latest numbers will come as the company's stock has seen a sell-off since February and a chip shortage has forced many automakers to trim production.
Upbeat Expectations For Tesla:Although Tesla did not give a ballpark figure for 2021 deliveries, the ongoing sales momentum is likely to continue. The company is coming off a year in which it delivered a record 499,550 vehicles.
First-quarter deliveries are expected at 170,000 units, which suggests a 92% year-over-year increase, RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak said, citing checks and regionally reported data.
This represents a 6% quarter-over-quarter decline and a scale back from Spak's earlier estimate of 182,000.
Breaking down deliveries by model, the RBC analyst estimates 164,800 Model 3/Y deliveries and 5,300 Model S/X deliveries.
Tesla may have produced 170,000 cars in the quarter, with 96,000 expected to have been rolled out of its Fremont factory and 74,000 from its Shanghai Giga, Spak said.
The market is pricing in a bullish number for the quarter, judging bytrading in the options market.
Related Link:Why Tesla Accepting Bitcoin Is 'Seminal Moment' For EV Stock, Crypto World
Tesla's China Momentum Intact:Tesla began selling made-in-China Model Y vehicles at the start of the year. The vehicle is seen as a disruptor in the company's key Chinese market given that it is priced competitively to similarly positioned SUVs from traditional automakers.The slowdown in the sales of domestic Chinese EV makers such asNIO Limited(NYSE:NIO),XPeng Inc.(NYSE:XPEV) andLi Auto Inc.(NASDAQ:LI) has partly been blamed on the Tesla competition. Even as these homebred companies reported month-over-month declines in deliveries in February, Tesla posted an 18% increase.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said he believes Tesla is on track to be on a 200,000-plus unit trajectory in China for the year, which remains a linchpin for the company hitting its 750,000 to 800,000 figure for the year.
After a string of price cuts last year, the company has recently begun hiking vehicle prices, which underlines the strength in demand.
What To Watch In Tesla's Q1 Report:When Tesla reports its first-quarter results, the focus is likely to be on financial metrics such as gross margins and cash flow, as well as technology and future development, RBC's Spak said.
The analyst expects the company to shed light on how the chip shortage is impacting Tesla.
Downside risk could exist for the consensus deliveries forecast of 831,000 for 2021, particularly the number for the second quarter, due to chip shortages, he said.
On Friday, Niosaidit is halting production at its plant for five days due to shortages in chip supply, and the automaker also trimmed its deliveries forecast for the first quarter.
RBC has a Sector Perform rating on Tesla shares.
See also:How to Invest in Tesla Stock
TSLA Price Action:At last check, Tesla shares were down 4.28% Friday at $613.
Related Link:Tesla Raises Model 3 Prices For Second Time In A Month
Latest Ratings for TSLA
[{"Mar 2021": "Mar 2021", "Jefferies": "Mizuho", "Maintains": "Initiates Coverage On", "": "", "Hold": "Buy"}, {"Mar 2021": "Mar 2021", "Jefferies": "New Street", "Maintains": "Upgrades", "": "Neutral", "Hold": "Buy"}]
View More Analyst Ratings for TSLAView the Latest Analyst Ratings
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© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || What To Expect When Tesla Reports Q1 Deliveries: Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA ) is expected to release first-quarter delivery numbers next week. The latest numbers will come as the company's stock has seen a sell-off since February and a chip shortage has forced many automakers to trim production. Upbeat Expectations For Tesla: Although Tesla did not give a ballpark figure for 2021 deliveries, the ongoing sales momentum is likely to continue. The company is coming off a year in which it delivered a record 499,550 vehicles. First-quarter deliveries are expected at 170,000 units, which suggests a 92% year-over-year increase, RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak said, citing checks and regionally reported data. This represents a 6% quarter-over-quarter decline and a scale back from Spak's earlier estimate of 182,000. Breaking down deliveries by model, the RBC analyst estimates 164,800 Model 3/Y deliveries and 5,300 Model S/X deliveries. Tesla may have produced 170,000 cars in the quarter, with 96,000 expected to have been rolled out of its Fremont factory and 74,000 from its Shanghai Giga, Spak said. The market is pricing in a bullish number for the quarter, judging by trading in the options market. Related Link: Why Tesla Accepting Bitcoin Is 'Seminal Moment' For EV Stock, Crypto World Tesla's China Momentum Intact: Tesla began selling made-in-China Model Y vehicles at the start of the year. The vehicle is seen as a disruptor in the company's key Chinese market given that it is priced competitively to similarly positioned SUVs from traditional automakers. The slowdown in the sales of domestic Chinese EV makers such as NIO Limited (NYSE: NIO ), XPeng Inc. (NYSE: XPEV ) and Li Auto Inc. (NASDAQ: LI ) has partly been blamed on the Tesla competition. Even as these homebred companies reported month-over-month declines in deliveries in February, Tesla posted an 18% increase. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said he believes Tesla is on track to be on a 200,000-plus unit trajectory in China for the year, which remains a linchpin for the company hitting its 750,000 to 800,000 figure for the year. Story continues After a string of price cuts last year, the company has recently begun hiking vehicle prices, which underlines the strength in demand. What To Watch In Tesla's Q1 Report: When Tesla reports its first-quarter results, the focus is likely to be on financial metrics such as gross margins and cash flow, as well as technology and future development, RBC's Spak said. The analyst expects the company to shed light on how the chip shortage is impacting Tesla. Downside risk could exist for the consensus deliveries forecast of 831,000 for 2021, particularly the number for the second quarter, due to chip shortages, he said. On Friday, Nio said it is halting production at its plant for five days due to shortages in chip supply, and the automaker also trimmed its deliveries forecast for the first quarter. RBC has a Sector Perform rating on Tesla shares. See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock TSLA Price Action: At last check, Tesla shares were down 4.28% Friday at $613. Related Link: Tesla Raises Model 3 Prices For Second Time In A Month Latest Ratings for TSLA Mar 2021 Jefferies Maintains Hold Mar 2021 Mizuho Initiates Coverage On Buy Mar 2021 New Street Upgrades Neutral Buy View More Analyst Ratings for TSLA View the Latest Analyst Ratings See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Nio's Second-gen Battery Swap Station To Come In Two Versions: Report XPeng Posts Results From Real-World Autonomous Driving Challenge: What EV Investors Need To Know © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Fintech Focus Roundup For March 27, 2021: Dan Gilbert-Backed Social Media App Plain Sight Launches Republic Crowdfunding CampaignPlain Sight, a social media app geared toward in-person networking, has launched a funding campaign on Republic, a robust system for private investing in pre-seed to pre-IPO companies.
Benzinga chatted with Plain Sight CEO and founder James Chapman about the development.
Fintech Spotlight: How Reinno Creates An Intersection Between DeFi And Real Estate
Bitcoin, among other cryptocurrencies, lacks a utility component.
That’s according to Natalia Shirshova, CMO and co-founder at Reinno, a tokenization and lending company whose core focus is on increasing liquidity among real-world assets.
The co-founder said that prior to founding Reinno in 2019, she was part of conversations with institutions that were looking to level the playing field between public and private assets. Among the topics discussed was real-estate, the core focus of Reinno’s tokenization and lending efforts, today.
“We realized that there is much more value in bringing blockchain to real-world assets,” Shirshova said. “Real estate is a wonderful investment because it allows you to preserve value for generations and the prices of real estate increase over time.”
In bridging the gap between liquidity and capital, Reinno created an ecosystem for fractional ownership of the real estate.
“You [can] either sell to investors or use the tokens for loans,” the co-founder noted. “In this way, we’re basically bringing more liquidity to commercial real estate owners and investors.”
Prove Acquires Fintech Powerhouse MEDICI Global
Prove, a platform for phone-centric identity authentication, formally announced its acquisition of MEDICI Global, a top fintech insights and advisory platform.
Miami's Path To Becoming A Tech Hub, According To TheVentureCity's CEO: 'Brainpower Doesn't Have A Zip Code'
“Thinking of moving to Miami? DM me.”
That’s according to a tweet from Miami Mayor Francis Suarez that's plastered across billboards along California. The initiative, sponsored by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and early Uber Technologies Inc and Airbnb Inc investor Shervin Pishevar, comes as Miami looks to transform itself into a booming tech hub.
In unpacking why Miami is a destination for those talents, Benzinga chatted with Laura González-Estéfani, the founder and CEO of TheVentureCity, an international, operator-led venture acceleration model designed to make the global entrepreneurial ecosystem more diverse, international and accessible to fair capital.
Fintech Spotlight: ClosingBell Launches API Tracking Retail Trader Sentiment
“I was struggling to find good ways of finding ideas — starting points — to look up and research stocks.”
That’s according to Weiner, who founded ClosingBell in 2014 as a collaborative stock trading platform that allows people a better way to share their ideas and learn about opportunities in the stock market.
Through ClosingBell, users share their trading theses and rate stocks. Then, the platform will rank users’ ratings based on the performance of their past stock picks.
“The whole concept is crowd-sourced stock tips,” the founder said. “I was never really interested in what any one person would say. I really care about what the best people in the group are saying, collectively.”
NYCE Launches 'Robinhood Of Real Estate' On App Store
According to some projections, median black wealth—measured by net worth—is projected to drop to $0 by 2053.
Founded by Martin Braithwaite, a soccer player for FC Barcelona, and Philip Michael, author of “Real Estate Wealth Hacking: How To 10X Your Net Worth In 18 Months,” NYCE is looking to mend wealth disparities between different classes and demographics.
“The number one driver behind the racial wealth gap is absence of real estate ownership in minority communities,” CEO Philip Michael said, adding that NYCE created 2,000+ first-time real estate owners to date through its two public offerings.
Through a newly launched Robinhood-like app, micro-investors can now buy into real estate for $100.
“Wall Street is talking a good game and I’d like to see them actually come through with programs that help build wealth vs. bathing in fees from non-financially savvy customers," he said.
See more from Benzinga
• Click here for options trades from Benzinga
• Dan Gilbert-Backed Social Media App Plain Sight Launches Republic Crowdfunding Campaign
• The 'Boiler Room' Stock Pitch Recap: Futu, Intuitive Surgical, Ocugen, Sprouts Farmers Market And More
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Fintech Focus Roundup For March 27, 2021: Fintech Header Dan Gilbert-Backed Social Media App Plain Sight Launches Republic Crowdfunding Campaign Plain Sight, a social media app geared toward in-person networking, has launched a funding campaign on Republic, a robust system for private investing in pre-seed to pre-IPO companies. Benzinga chatted with Plain Sight CEO and founder James Chapman about the development. Fintech Spotlight: How Reinno Creates An Intersection Between DeFi And Real Estate Bitcoin, among other cryptocurrencies, lacks a utility component. That’s according to Natalia Shirshova, CMO and co-founder at Reinno, a tokenization and lending company whose core focus is on increasing liquidity among real-world assets. The co-founder said that prior to founding Reinno in 2019, she was part of conversations with institutions that were looking to level the playing field between public and private assets. Among the topics discussed was real-estate, the core focus of Reinno’s tokenization and lending efforts, today. “We realized that there is much more value in bringing blockchain to real-world assets,” Shirshova said. “Real estate is a wonderful investment because it allows you to preserve value for generations and the prices of real estate increase over time.” In bridging the gap between liquidity and capital, Reinno created an ecosystem for fractional ownership of the real estate. “You [can] either sell to investors or use the tokens for loans,” the co-founder noted. “In this way, we’re basically bringing more liquidity to commercial real estate owners and investors.” Prove Acquires Fintech Powerhouse MEDICI Global Prove, a platform for phone-centric identity authentication, formally announced its acquisition of MEDICI Global, a top fintech insights and advisory platform. Miami's Path To Becoming A Tech Hub, According To TheVentureCity's CEO: 'Brainpower Doesn't Have A Zip Code' “Thinking of moving to Miami? DM me.” That’s according to a tweet from Miami Mayor Francis Suarez that's plastered across billboards along California. The initiative, sponsored by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and early Uber Technologies Inc and Airbnb Inc investor Shervin Pishevar, comes as Miami looks to transform itself into a booming tech hub. Story continues In unpacking why Miami is a destination for those talents, Benzinga chatted with Laura González-Estéfani, the founder and CEO of TheVentureCity, an international, operator-led venture acceleration model designed to make the global entrepreneurial ecosystem more diverse, international and accessible to fair capital. Fintech Spotlight: ClosingBell Launches API Tracking Retail Trader Sentiment “I was struggling to find good ways of finding ideas — starting points — to look up and research stocks.” That’s according to Weiner, who founded ClosingBell in 2014 as a collaborative stock trading platform that allows people a better way to share their ideas and learn about opportunities in the stock market. Through ClosingBell, users share their trading theses and rate stocks. Then, the platform will rank users’ ratings based on the performance of their past stock picks. “The whole concept is crowd-sourced stock tips,” the founder said. “I was never really interested in what any one person would say. I really care about what the best people in the group are saying, collectively.” NYCE Launches 'Robinhood Of Real Estate' On App Store According to some projections, median black wealth—measured by net worth—is projected to drop to $0 by 2053. Founded by Martin Braithwaite, a soccer player for FC Barcelona, and Philip Michael, author of “Real Estate Wealth Hacking: How To 10X Your Net Worth In 18 Months,” NYCE is looking to mend wealth disparities between different classes and demographics. “The number one driver behind the racial wealth gap is absence of real estate ownership in minority communities,” CEO Philip Michael said, adding that NYCE created 2,000+ first-time real estate owners to date through its two public offerings. Through a newly launched Robinhood-like app, micro-investors can now buy into real estate for $100. “Wall Street is talking a good game and I’d like to see them actually come through with programs that help build wealth vs. bathing in fees from non-financially savvy customers," he said. See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Dan Gilbert-Backed Social Media App Plain Sight Launches Republic Crowdfunding Campaign The 'Boiler Room' Stock Pitch Recap: Futu, Intuitive Surgical, Ocugen, Sprouts Farmers Market And More © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Why Netflix won’t risk a true crackdown on password sharing: netflix bridgerton Freeloaders everywhere were put on high alert last week after reports that Netflix had begun testing a way to prevent password sharing. While Netflix may want more paying users, it’s unlikely to initiate the no-holds-barred clampdown that moochers are worried about. GammaWire reported March 10 that some Netflix users, on certain devices, noticed a warning on their accounts asking them to confirm they were authorized to access the service. “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching,” the message read. Netflix gave them three ways to proceed: verify the account with a code sent via email or text, verify later, or sign-up for a free trial. Bitcoin is wooing the millions of workers who send their earnings abroad The warnings prompted many observers to declare that, finally, after years of Netflix tacitly allowing password sharing, the end of the common practice was nigh . But the truth is probably less game-changing. Despite predictions that a crackdown on password sharing could yield Netflix billions in additional annual revenue , the company has more to lose in the long term if it strictly regulates its users. A nation of password sharers A third of streaming subscribers in the US alone admit they share passwords , according to the research firm Magid. Analysts say that could cost the streaming industry as much as $25 billion a year—or a little less than half what it currently generates in revenue worldwide. But Netflix has long looked the other way when its users shared login credentials, seeing it as a boon to both its growth and to its consumer-friendly brand. (The company’s terms of service state passwords “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.”) How big is the boat stuck in the Suez canal? “We love people sharing Netflix whether they’re two people on a couch or 10 people on a couch,” Hastings said at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2016. “That’s a positive thing, not a negative thing.” Hastings later said it was something Netflix just had to “learn to live with.” Story continues Much has changed since then. Netflix has nearly saturated the US market, and now faces formidable competition from the likes of Disney and WarnerMedia. But the company’s core proposition—that it offers a user-first, hassle-free, flexible streaming experience —has not changed. Being cool about password sharing is an unwritten but still fundamental tenet of Netflix’s pitch to consumers. Should you share your password? Ideally, no, but Netflix isn’t going to bang down your door to make you stop. That’d be seriously un-Netflix like. Pirates are worse than moochers While Netflix obviously wants everyone who uses the service to pay for it, the company would prefer users still use Netflix—even without paying—than steal its content in more nefarious ways. A crackdown on sharing would undoubtedly turn some moochers into pirates, who’d illegally download Netflix shows off Torrent sites . Netflix loses as much as 10% of its revenue due to piracy , according to a 2019 study by CordCutting.com. Freeloaders aren’t ideal, but pirates are worse. A crackdown would also risk tarnishing the global perception of the Netflix brand, which the company has spent a decade turning into one of the world’s most admired names in business . The backlash to a universal effort to terminate all password sharing could cause a loss greater than the revenue Netflix relinquishes by allowing it. Still, the test warnings make it clear Netflix would now prefer if fewer subscribers shared their passwords. They could be part of a strategy to jumpstart growth again in the US, where Netflix has hit a subscription wall . Especially as the pandemic recedes and consumers spend more time outside, the company could be looking for ways to stave off inevitable member attrition . Quietly discouraging users from sharing their passwords is one way to squeeze some extra revenue out of existing freeloaders without doing much damage to the brand. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief , our free daily newsletter with the world’s most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: McKinsey faces its moment of reckoning Russia is in no hurry to see the Suez Canal re-opened || Why Netflix won’t risk a true crackdown on password sharing: netflix bridgerton Freeloaders everywhere were put on high alert last week after reports that Netflix had begun testing a way to prevent password sharing. While Netflix may want more paying users, it’s unlikely to initiate the no-holds-barred clampdown that moochers are worried about. GammaWire reported March 10 that some Netflix users, on certain devices, noticed a warning on their accounts asking them to confirm they were authorized to access the service. “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching,” the message read. Netflix gave them three ways to proceed: verify the account with a code sent via email or text, verify later, or sign-up for a free trial. Bitcoin is wooing the millions of workers who send their earnings abroad The warnings prompted many observers to declare that, finally, after years of Netflix tacitly allowing password sharing, the end of the common practice was nigh . But the truth is probably less game-changing. Despite predictions that a crackdown on password sharing could yield Netflix billions in additional annual revenue , the company has more to lose in the long term if it strictly regulates its users. A nation of password sharers A third of streaming subscribers in the US alone admit they share passwords , according to the research firm Magid. Analysts say that could cost the streaming industry as much as $25 billion a year—or a little less than half what it currently generates in revenue worldwide. But Netflix has long looked the other way when its users shared login credentials, seeing it as a boon to both its growth and to its consumer-friendly brand. (The company’s terms of service state passwords “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.”) How big is the boat stuck in the Suez canal? “We love people sharing Netflix whether they’re two people on a couch or 10 people on a couch,” Hastings said at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2016. “That’s a positive thing, not a negative thing.” Hastings later said it was something Netflix just had to “learn to live with.” Story continues Much has changed since then. Netflix has nearly saturated the US market, and now faces formidable competition from the likes of Disney and WarnerMedia. But the company’s core proposition—that it offers a user-first, hassle-free, flexible streaming experience —has not changed. Being cool about password sharing is an unwritten but still fundamental tenet of Netflix’s pitch to consumers. Should you share your password? Ideally, no, but Netflix isn’t going to bang down your door to make you stop. That’d be seriously un-Netflix like. Pirates are worse than moochers While Netflix obviously wants everyone who uses the service to pay for it, the company would prefer users still use Netflix—even without paying—than steal its content in more nefarious ways. A crackdown on sharing would undoubtedly turn some moochers into pirates, who’d illegally download Netflix shows off Torrent sites . Netflix loses as much as 10% of its revenue due to piracy , according to a 2019 study by CordCutting.com. Freeloaders aren’t ideal, but pirates are worse. A crackdown would also risk tarnishing the global perception of the Netflix brand, which the company has spent a decade turning into one of the world’s most admired names in business . The backlash to a universal effort to terminate all password sharing could cause a loss greater than the revenue Netflix relinquishes by allowing it. Still, the test warnings make it clear Netflix would now prefer if fewer subscribers shared their passwords. They could be part of a strategy to jumpstart growth again in the US, where Netflix has hit a subscription wall . Especially as the pandemic recedes and consumers spend more time outside, the company could be looking for ways to stave off inevitable member attrition . Quietly discouraging users from sharing their passwords is one way to squeeze some extra revenue out of existing freeloaders without doing much damage to the brand. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief , our free daily newsletter with the world’s most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: McKinsey faces its moment of reckoning Russia is in no hurry to see the Suez Canal re-opened || Sentinel’s Decentralized VPN Protocol Launches on Cosmos Mainnet: The Sentinel Network, a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) bandwidth marketplace that supports the Sentinel dVPN application , is now live on the Cosmos mainnet. “Sentinel is the first project that focuses on offering privacy at the network level to any blockchain or dapp,” said Dan Edlebeck, co-founder of Exidio, which contributed to development of the Sentinel decentralized virtual private network (dVPN) protocol. “Once integrated, these blockchains or applications will be able to provide their users with both privacy and censorship resistance. Simply, the purpose of the Sentinel ecosystem is to empower universal access to the internet in a trusted and provable manner.” Sentinel Network allows anyone to be able to sell his or her bandwidth on its marketplace. Developers can use the Sentinel Protocol, built with Cosmos SDK, to build applications, both public and private, that use the Sentinel Network’s bandwidth marketplace for dVPN applications. Related: FTX CEO Says Miami Heat Naming Rights Deal Is Partly Philanthropic Users will be able to sell their bandwidth to power the Sentinel Network and be rewarded in $SENT for doing so. As Sentinel’s testnet was originally built on Ethereum, a token swap will be launched Saturday to convert holders’ ERC-20 $SENT tokens to Sentinel’s native Cosmos-based $DVPN. $DVPN will be used to secure the network, participate in on-chain governance, pay node holders and rent bandwidth. In February, Sentinel completed a $3.5M fundraising round. dVPN vs. VPN Generally, a virtual private network (VPN) lets its users create a secure connection to another network. It is often used to gain access to restricted websites and content, shield browsing activity from public Wi-Fi and provide a degree of anonymity by hiding locations. VPN applications mask a user’s internet-protocol (IP) address, which is like a fingerprint of your device. VPNs generally help obfuscate that fingerprint. A VPN server will create an encrypted tunnel for your internet traffic that shields it from governments, internet service providers (ISPs) and others. Story continues Related: India's Millennials Embrace Digital Gold Despite Proposed Bitcoin Ban Some governments block certain websites, such as Google or Wikipedia, based on geo-fencing, which means they can block it for people within different geographic regions. VPNs help evade that restriction by letting people connect to servers in areas outside the geo-fenced one. As Top 10 VPN has regularly reported, nearly three-quarters of free VPNs on the market have some level of vulnerability, share or expose customer data, or even contain malware. A decentralized VPN takes these privacy measures a few steps further in that it can’t be compromised by a central actor or shut down by closing the company or server running it. In this way, it’s more resilient than a centralized VPN. Additionally, because all the code is open source, a trusted third party isn’t needed; rather, users can just check themselves. The initial focus of the Sentinel ecosystem was to provide a framework for the construction of dVPNs, according to Peter Mancuso, chief operating officer of Exidio. Read more: Decentralized VPN Sees Increased Use in Nigeria Amid #EndSars Protests “Whether the purpose is to access restricted content or to increase the security of their transmission of data over the internet, individuals all over the world are demanding these types of security measures,” Mancuso said. As Freedom House noted in its latest annual “Freedom of the Net” report , the pandemic is “accelerating a dramatic decline in global internet freedom.” For the 10th year in a row, internet users have “experienced an overall deterioration in their rights, and the phenomenon is contributing to a broader crisis for democracy worldwide.” Sentinel can be used for everything from browsing Netflix to limiting surveillance of an IP address, and stopping ISPs from logging data and selling it. “More extreme use cases relate to people in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) using the platform to engage in pro-democracy movements, or simply organizing against the will of an authoritarian government,” Edlebeck said. Sentinel has been used by Iraqi activists , for example, as an alternative to centralized VPNs, which can be hacked. The tech Sentinel enables end-to-end encryption between users and the servers they are accessing, all with open-source transparency. The dVPN protocol has a “system of bandwidth provability,” which lets the person provide his or her bandwidth in exchange for some agreed-upon compensation from the user. Sentinel gathers no logs pertaining to the user’s browsing or data history and uses a robust relay network with exit nodes (where the encrypted traffic hits the normal internet) whose ownership is distributed across many participating nodes, so that users cannot be identified. Traditionally, exit nodes can be monitored to observe network traffic and potentially identify users. Read more: Brave Acquires Tailcat to Create Private Search Engine Competitor to Google That being said, using a dVPN doesn’t mean you will ultimately stay fully anonymous. The ever-lurking user error, downloading malware and other factors could compromise anonymity. “Importantly, ISPs could be ordered by a particular government to turn the internet off completely,” said Mancuso. “While this sounds drastic, this is certainly possible and has happened in the past . However, technology such as Starlink, developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, will literally beam the internet from space. Combining such a solution with Sentinel could prove to be a massive win for an individual’s sovereign right to security and importantly, privacy, when using the internet.” Related Stories Sentinel’s Decentralized VPN Protocol Launches on Cosmos Mainnet Sentinel’s Decentralized VPN Protocol Launches on Cosmos Mainnet || Sentinel’s Decentralized VPN Protocol Launches on Cosmos Mainnet: The Sentinel Network, a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) bandwidth marketplace that supports theSentinel dVPN application, is now live on the Cosmos mainnet.
“Sentinel is the first project that focuses on offering privacy at the network level to any blockchain or dapp,” said Dan Edlebeck, co-founder of Exidio, which contributed to development of the Sentinel decentralized virtual private network (dVPN) protocol. “Once integrated, these blockchains or applications will be able to provide their users with both privacy and censorship resistance. Simply, the purpose of the Sentinel ecosystem is to empower universal access to the internet in a trusted and provable manner.”
Sentinel Network allows anyone to be able to sell his or her bandwidth on its marketplace. Developers can use the Sentinel Protocol, built with Cosmos SDK, to build applications, both public and private, that use the Sentinel Network’s bandwidth marketplace for dVPN applications.
Related:FTX CEO Says Miami Heat Naming Rights Deal Is Partly Philanthropic
Users will be able to sell their bandwidth to power the Sentinel Network and be rewarded in $SENT for doing so. As Sentinel’s testnet was originally built on Ethereum, atoken swapwill be launched Saturday to convert holders’ ERC-20 $SENT tokens to Sentinel’s native Cosmos-based $DVPN. $DVPN will be used to secure the network, participate in on-chain governance, pay node holders and rent bandwidth.
In February, Sentinel completed a $3.5M fundraising round.
Generally, a virtual private network (VPN) lets its users create a secure connection to another network. It is often used to gain access to restricted websites and content, shield browsing activity from public Wi-Fi and provide a degree of anonymity by hiding locations.
VPN applications mask a user’s internet-protocol (IP) address, which is like a fingerprint of your device. VPNs generally help obfuscate that fingerprint. A VPN server will create an encrypted tunnel for your internet traffic that shields it from governments, internet service providers (ISPs) and others.
Related:India's Millennials Embrace Digital Gold Despite Proposed Bitcoin Ban
Some governments block certain websites, such as Google or Wikipedia, based on geo-fencing, which means they can block it for people within different geographic regions. VPNs help evade that restriction by letting people connect to servers in areas outside the geo-fenced one.
As Top 10 VPN has regularly reported,nearly three-quarters of free VPNson the market have some level of vulnerability, share or expose customer data, or even contain malware.
A decentralized VPN takes these privacy measures a few steps further in that it can’t be compromised by a central actor or shut down by closing the company or server running it. In this way, it’s more resilient than a centralized VPN. Additionally, because all the code is open source, a trusted third party isn’t needed; rather, users can just check themselves.
The initial focus of the Sentinel ecosystem was to provide a framework for the construction of dVPNs, according to Peter Mancuso, chief operating officer of Exidio.
Read more:Decentralized VPN Sees Increased Use in Nigeria Amid #EndSars Protests
“Whether the purpose is to access restricted content or to increase the security of their transmission of data over the internet, individuals all over the world are demanding these types of security measures,” Mancuso said.
As Freedom House noted in its latestannual “Freedom of the Net” report, the pandemic is “accelerating a dramatic decline in global internet freedom.” For the 10th year in a row, internet users have “experienced an overall deterioration in their rights, and the phenomenon is contributing to a broader crisis for democracy worldwide.”
Sentinel can be used for everything from browsing Netflix to limiting surveillance of an IP address, and stopping ISPs from logging data and selling it.“More extreme use cases relate to people in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) using the platform to engage in pro-democracy movements, or simply organizing against the will of an authoritarian government,” Edlebeck said.
Sentinel has beenused by Iraqi activists, for example, as an alternative to centralized VPNs, which can be hacked.
Sentinel enables end-to-end encryption between users and the servers they are accessing, all with open-source transparency. The dVPN protocol has a “system of bandwidth provability,” which lets the person provide his or her bandwidth in exchange for some agreed-upon compensation from the user.
Sentinel gathers no logs pertaining to the user’s browsing or data history and uses a robust relay network with exit nodes (where the encrypted traffic hits the normal internet) whose ownership is distributed across many participating nodes, so that users cannot be identified. Traditionally, exit nodes can be monitored to observe network traffic and potentially identify users.
Read more:Brave Acquires Tailcat to Create Private Search Engine Competitor to Google
That being said, using a dVPN doesn’t mean you will ultimately stay fully anonymous. The ever-lurking user error, downloading malware and other factors could compromise anonymity.
“Importantly, ISPs could be ordered by a particular government to turn the internet off completely,” said Mancuso. “While this sounds drastic, this is certainly possible and hashappened in the past. However, technology such as Starlink, developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, will literally beam the internet from space. Combining such a solution with Sentinel could prove to be a massive win for an individual’s sovereign right to security and importantly, privacy, when using the internet.”
• Sentinel’s Decentralized VPN Protocol Launches on Cosmos Mainnet
• Sentinel’s Decentralized VPN Protocol Launches on Cosmos Mainnet || The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – March 27th, 2021: Bitcoin , BTC to USD, rallied by 7.08% on Friday. Reversing a 1.86% loss from Thursday, Bitcoin ended the day at $54,993.0. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin fall to an early morning low $51,300.0 before making a move. Steering clear of the first major support level at $50,100, Bitcoin rallied to a late intraday high $55,000.0. Bitcoin broke through the first major resistance level at $52,866 and the second major resistance level at $54,374.0. In spite of a late pullback, Bitcoin avoided a fall through the second major resistance level, wrapping up the day at $54,900 levels. The near-term bullish trend remained intact in spite of the recent pullback. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $26,041 to form a near-term bearish trend. The Rest of the Pack Across the rest of the majors, it was a bullish day on Friday. Cardano’s ADA and Ripple’s XRP rallied by 10.78% and by 10.37% to lead the way. Binance Coin (+9.07%) Chainlink (+7.20%), Ethereum (+7.13%), and Litecoin (+7.10%) also found strong support. Bitcoin Cash SV (+3.47%), Crypto.com Coin (+3.91%), and Polkadot (+3.64%) trailed the front runners, however. In the current week, the crypto total market rose to a Monday high $1,802bn before sliding to a Thursday low $1,517bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $1,700bn. Bitcoin’s dominance rose to a Wednesday high 62.24% before falling to a Friday low 60.17%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s dominance stood at 60.87%. This Morning At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.65% to $55,348.0. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin fall to an early morning low $54,965.0 before striking a high $55,500.0. Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. Elsewhere, it was a bullish start to the day. At the time of writing, Crypto.com Coin was up by 2.63% to lead the way. For the Bitcoin Day Ahead Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall through the pivot level at $53,764 to bring the first major resistance level at $56,229 into play. Story continues Support from the broader market would be needed for Bitcoin to break out from this morning’s high $55,500.0. Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside. In the event of an extended crypto rally, Bitcoin could test resistance at $60,000 before any pullback. The second major resistance level sits at $57,464. Failure to avoid a fall through the $53,764 pivot would bring the first major support level at $52,529 into play. Barring another extended sell-off on the day, Bitcoin should steer clear of sub-$50,000 levels. The second major support level at $50,064 should limit the downside. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Silver Weekly Price Forecast – Silver Markets Have Rough Week Jefferies Raises Altria’s Target Price by 46% to $58 and Upgrades to Buy Silver Price Forecast – Silver Markets Sit on Top of Support E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index (NQ) Futures Technical Analysis – Strengthens Over 12743.75, Weakens Under 12615.25 European Equities: A Week in Review – 26/03/21 S&P 500 Weekly Price Forecast – Noisy Behavior Continues at Highs
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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57750.20, 58917.69, 58918.83, 59095.81, 59384.31, 57603.89, 58758.55, 59057.88, 58192.36, 56048.94
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 4181.93, 4376.63, 4331.69, 4160.62, 4193.70, 4087.66, 4001.74, 4100.52, 4151.52, 4334.68, 4371.60, 4352.40, 4382.88, 4382.66, 4579.02, 4565.30, 4703.39, 4892.01, 4578.77, 4582.96, 4236.31, 4376.53, 4597.12, 4599.88, 4228.75, 4226.06, 4122.94, 4161.27, 4130.81, 3882.59, 3154.95, 3637.52, 3625.04, 3582.88, 4065.20, 3924.97, 3905.95, 3631.04, 3630.70, 3792.40, 3682.84, 3926.07, 3892.35, 4200.67, 4174.73, 4163.07, 4338.71, 4403.74, 4409.32, 4317.48, 4229.36, 4328.41, 4370.81, 4426.89, 4610.48, 4772.02, 4781.99, 4826.48, 5446.91, 5647.21, 5831.79, 5678.19, 5725.59, 5605.51, 5590.69, 5708.52, 6011.45, 6031.60, 6008.42, 5930.32, 5526.64, 5750.80, 5904.83, 5780.90, 5753.09, 6153.85, 6130.53, 6468.40, 6767.31, 7078.50, 7207.76, 7379.95, 7407.41, 7022.76, 7144.38, 7459.69, 7143.58, 6618.14, 6357.60, 5950.07.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-11-12]
Volume: 8957349888, RSI (14-day): 43.75, 50-day EMA: 5784.95, 200-day EMA: 3905.12
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Global stocks dip on U.S. tax reform doubt; no respite in havens: By Trevor Hunnicutt NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stock indexes and the U.S. dollar cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum. MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.15 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains. The dollar index, too, fell 0.06 percent. The MSCI world index surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due. "The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp. Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as softness in high-yield "junk" bonds this week did little to support traditional safe havens. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell 21/32 in price to yield 2.4037 percent. The 30-year bond fell 50/32 in price to yield 2.8845 percent. [US/] Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's benchmark 10-year government bond hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27. Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.61 an ounce. Gold pays no interest, so demand for it wanes when bonds offer higher yields. [GOL/] Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann said it is rare for government bonds and equities to be hit at the same time. "It's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," he said, referring to a investment strategy that favours buying recent winners and selling losers. "We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.” Coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week, on Friday, capping a bout of volatility in credit markets. TAX OVERHAUL U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s. The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear. "I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities. "But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment." Wall Street retreated a bit on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, which would hike profits, though a rise in some media and industrial stocks limited the slide. [.N] Story continues The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.73 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,422.21, the S&P 500 lost 2.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.89 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,750.94. The pan-European STOXX 600 index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row. [.EU] "There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," said Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow. [O/R] U.S. crude fell 0.56 percent to $56.85 per barrel and Brent was last at $63.61, down 0.5 percent on the day. Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash. Graphic - Major MSCI Indexes Price Performance YTD: http://reut.rs/2zqsj4B (Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) View comments || Global stocks dip on U.S. tax reform doubt; no respite in havens: By Trevor Hunnicutt
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stock indexes and the U.S. dollar cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum.
MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.15 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains. The dollar index, too, fell 0.06 percent.
The MSCI world index surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due.
"The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp.
Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as softness in high-yield "junk" bonds this week did little to support traditional safe havens.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell 21/32 in price to yield 2.4037 percent. The 30-year bond fell 50/32 in price to yield 2.8845 percent. [US/]
Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's benchmark 10-year government bond hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27.
Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.61 an ounce. Gold pays no interest, so demand for it wanes when bonds offer higher yields. [GOL/]
Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann said it is rare for government bonds and equities to be hit at the same time.
"It's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," he said, referring to a investment strategy that favours buying recent winners and selling losers.
"We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.”
Coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week, on Friday, capping a bout of volatility in credit markets.
TAX OVERHAUL
U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s.
The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear.
"I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
"But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment."
Wall Street retreated a bit on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, which would hike profits, though a rise in some media and industrial stocks limited the slide. [.N]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.73 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,422.21, the S&P 500 lost 2.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.89 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,750.94.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row. [.EU]
"There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," said Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow. [O/R]
U.S. crude fell 0.56 percent to $56.85 per barrel and Brent was last at $63.61, down 0.5 percent on the day.
Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash.
Graphic - Major MSCI Indexes Price Performance YTD: http://reut.rs/2zqsj4B
(Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) || Global stocks dip on U.S. tax reform doubt; no respite in havens: By Trevor Hunnicutt NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stock indexes and the U.S. dollar cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum. MSCI's global stock index , which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.15 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains. The dollar index (.DXY), too, fell 0.06 percent. The MSCI world index surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due. "The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp. Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as softness in high-yield "junk" bonds this week did little to support traditional safe havens. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell 21/32 in price to yield 2.4037 percent. The 30-year bond fell 50/32 in price to yield 2.8845 percent. [US/] Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's benchmark 10-year government bond hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27. Spot gold (XAU=) dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.61 an ounce. Gold pays no interest, so demand for it wanes when bonds offer higher yields. [GOL/] Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann said it is rare for government bonds and equities to be hit at the same time. "It's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," he said, referring to a investment strategy that favors buying recent winners and selling losers. "We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.” Coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week, on Friday, capping a bout of volatility in credit markets. TAX OVERHAUL Story continues U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s. The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear. "I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities. "But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment." Wall Street retreated a bit on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, which would hike profits, though a rise in some media and industrial stocks limited the slide. [.N] The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 39.73 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,422.21, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 2.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.3 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 0.89 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,750.94. The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row. [.EU] "There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," said Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow. [O/R] U.S. crude (CLcv1) fell 0.56 percent to $56.85 per barrel and Brent (LCOcv1) was last at $63.61, down 0.5 percent on the day. Bitcoin (BTC=) dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash. (For a graphic on 'Major MSCI Indexes Price Performance YTD' click http://reut.rs/2zqsj4B ) (Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) || Global stocks dip on U.S. tax reform doubt; no respite in havens: By Trevor Hunnicutt
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stock indexes and the U.S. dollar cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum.
MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.15 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains. The dollar index (.DXY), too, fell 0.06 percent.
The MSCI world index surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due.
"The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp.
Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as softness in high-yield "junk" bonds this week did little to support traditional safe havens.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notesfell 21/32 in price to yield 2.4037 percent. The 30-year bondfell 50/32 in price to yield 2.8845 percent. [US/]
Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's benchmark 10-year government bondhit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27.
Spot gold (XAU=) dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.61 an ounce. Gold pays no interest, so demand for it wanes when bonds offer higher yields. [GOL/]
Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann said it is rare for government bonds and equities to be hit at the same time.
"It's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," he said, referring to a investment strategy that favors buying recent winners and selling losers.
"We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.”
Coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week, on Friday, capping a bout of volatility in credit markets.
TAX OVERHAUL
U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s.
The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear.
"I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
"But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment."
Wall Street retreated a bit on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, which would hike profits, though a rise in some media and industrial stocks limited the slide. [.N]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 39.73 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,422.21, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 2.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.3 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 0.89 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,750.94.
The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row. [.EU]
"There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," said Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow. [O/R]
U.S. crude (CLcv1) fell 0.56 percent to $56.85 per barrel and Brent (LCOcv1) was last at $63.61, down 0.5 percent on the day.
Bitcoin (BTC=) dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash.
(For a graphic on 'Major MSCI Indexes Price Performance YTD' clickhttp://reut.rs/2zqsj4B)
(Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) || Global stocks dip on U.S. tax reform doubt; no respite in havens: By Trevor Hunnicutt NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stock indexes and the U.S. dollar cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum. MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.15 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains. The dollar index, too, fell 0.06 percent. The MSCI world index surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due. "The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp. Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as softness in high-yield "junk" bonds this week did little to support traditional safe havens. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell 21/32 in price to yield 2.4037 percent. The 30-year bond fell 50/32 in price to yield 2.8845 percent. [US/] Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's benchmark 10-year government bond hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27. Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.61 an ounce. Gold pays no interest, so demand for it wanes when bonds offer higher yields. [GOL/] Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann said it is rare for government bonds and equities to be hit at the same time. "It's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," he said, referring to a investment strategy that favours buying recent winners and selling losers. "We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.” Coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week, on Friday, capping a bout of volatility in credit markets. TAX OVERHAUL U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s. The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear. "I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities. "But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment." Wall Street retreated a bit on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, which would hike profits, though a rise in some media and industrial stocks limited the slide. [.N] Story continues The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.73 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,422.21, the S&P 500 lost 2.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.89 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,750.94. The pan-European STOXX 600 index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row. [.EU] "There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," said Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow. [O/R] U.S. crude fell 0.56 percent to $56.85 per barrel and Brent was last at $63.61, down 0.5 percent on the day. Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash. Graphic - Major MSCI Indexes Price Performance YTD: http://reut.rs/2zqsj4B (Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) View comments || Global stocks dip on U.S. tax reform doubt; no respite in havens: By Trevor Hunnicutt NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stock indexes and the U.S. dollar cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum. MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.15 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains. The dollar index, too, fell 0.06 percent. The MSCI world index surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due. "The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp. Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as softness in high-yield "junk" bonds this week did little to support traditional safe havens. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell 21/32 in price to yield 2.4037 percent. The 30-year bond fell 50/32 in price to yield 2.8845 percent. [US/] Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's benchmark 10-year government bond hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27. Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.61 an ounce. Gold pays no interest, so demand for it wanes when bonds offer higher yields. [GOL/] Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann said it is rare for government bonds and equities to be hit at the same time. "It's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," he said, referring to a investment strategy that favours buying recent winners and selling losers. "We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.” Coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week, on Friday, capping a bout of volatility in credit markets. TAX OVERHAUL U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s. The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear. "I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities. "But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment." Wall Street retreated a bit on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, which would hike profits, though a rise in some media and industrial stocks limited the slide. [.N] Story continues The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.73 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,422.21, the S&P 500 lost 2.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.89 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,750.94. The pan-European STOXX 600 index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row. [.EU] "There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," said Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow. [O/R] U.S. crude fell 0.56 percent to $56.85 per barrel and Brent was last at $63.61, down 0.5 percent on the day. Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash. Graphic - Major MSCI Indexes Price Performance YTD: http://reut.rs/2zqsj4B (Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) View comments || GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks dip on U.S. tax reform doubt; no respite in havens: * U.S. Senate Republicans propose delay in corporate tax cut
* Global shares dip further below all-time high
* European stocks see worst week in 3 months
* U.S. longer-dated yields hit 1-1/2-week highs
* Bitcoin trades down more than $1,000 from all-time high (Updates to U.S. stock market close)
By Trevor Hunnicutt
NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Global stock indexes and the U.S. dollar cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum.
MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.15 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains. The dollar index , too, fell 0.06 percent.
The MSCI world index surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due.
"The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp.
Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as softness in high-yield "junk" bonds this week did little to support traditional safe havens.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell 21/32 in price to yield 2.4037 percent. The 30-year bond fell 50/32 in price to yield 2.8845 percent.
Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's benchmark 10-year government bond hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27.
Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.61 an ounce. Gold pays no interest, so demand for it wanes when bonds offer higher yields.
Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann said it is rare for government bonds and equities to be hit at the same time.
"It's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," he said, referring to a investment strategy that favors buying recent winners and selling losers.
"We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.”
Coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week, on Friday, capping a bout of volatility in credit markets.
TAX OVERHAUL
U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s.
The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear.
"I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
"But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment."
Wall Street retreated a bit on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, which would hike profits, though a rise in some media and industrial stocks limited the slide.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.73 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,422.21, the S&P 500 lost 2.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.89 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,750.94.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row.
"There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," said Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow.
U.S. crude fell 0.56 percent to $56.85 per barrel and Brent was last at $63.61, down 0.5 percent on the day.
Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash.
(Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) || GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks dip on U.S. tax reform doubt; no respite in havens: * U.S. Senate Republicans propose delay in corporate tax cut * Global shares dip further below all-time high * European stocks see worst week in 3 months * U.S. longer-dated yields hit 1-1/2-week highs * Bitcoin trades down more than $1,000 from all-time high (Updates to U.S. stock market close) By Trevor Hunnicutt NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Global stock indexes and the U.S. dollar cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum. MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.15 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains. The dollar index , too, fell 0.06 percent. The MSCI world index surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due. "The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp. Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as softness in high-yield "junk" bonds this week did little to support traditional safe havens. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell 21/32 in price to yield 2.4037 percent. The 30-year bond fell 50/32 in price to yield 2.8845 percent. Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's benchmark 10-year government bond hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27. Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.61 an ounce. Gold pays no interest, so demand for it wanes when bonds offer higher yields. Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann said it is rare for government bonds and equities to be hit at the same time. "It's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," he said, referring to a investment strategy that favors buying recent winners and selling losers. Story continues "We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.” Coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week, on Friday, capping a bout of volatility in credit markets. TAX OVERHAUL U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s. The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear. "I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities. "But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment." Wall Street retreated a bit on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, which would hike profits, though a rise in some media and industrial stocks limited the slide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.73 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,422.21, the S&P 500 lost 2.32 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.89 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,750.94. The pan-European STOXX 600 index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row. "There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," said Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow. U.S. crude fell 0.56 percent to $56.85 per barrel and Brent was last at $63.61, down 0.5 percent on the day. Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash. (Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) || Netflix dropped 5 percent this week, after rallying all year: The fastest growing FANG stock slowed this week. Netflix (NFLX) — up 64 percent in the last 12 months, outpacing Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) — shed more than 5 percent this week, as big media players started eyeing the streaming space.
At Friday close, the stock had fallen to $192.02. "I think Netflix is in trouble when the big guys start coming after them," Needham analyst Laura Martin said. "Netflix should be scared to death." The stock wavered Monday on reports of a possible Disney-21st Century Fox deal that could challenge the streaming service's iron grip on the market , falling just more than a percent. Disney CEO Bob Iger took a shot at the streaming service this week, telling investors that over-the-top, direct-to-consumer distribution had become vital to its business and that its own streaming service would be priced "substantially below" Netflix . All of this comes while Netflix ups its content budget by $1 billion to fund more original programming, even as two stars of Netflix original shows are accused of sexual misconduct. Netflix announced in October it would suspend filming of its breakout series "House of Cards" following reports that lead Kevin Spacey made a sexual advance at a 14-year-old in the '80s. Friday, the company tweeted it would not follow through on production of a stand-up special with comedian Louis C.K. following harassment reports by five women. To be sure, this week's stock movement was far from earth-shattering. It's still hovering just below all-time highs.
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Stocks were little changed on Friday, while a scrapped proposal to speed up the Bitcoin network sent the cryptocurrency lower.
• Dow:23,422.21, -39.73, (-0.17%)
• S&P 500:2,582.30, -2.32, (-0.09%)
• Nasdaq:6,750.94, +0.89, (+0.01%)
1.The giant Senate tax bill barely squeaked by a critical test.The Joint Committee on Taxation, the nonpartisan Congressional research service, said theSenate's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)wouldadd $1.4957trillion to the national debt between 2018 and 2027. Under the Senate rules, the TCJA can onlyadd $1.5 trillion over that time period. This means that the massive plan scrapes by the limit by just about $300 million.
2.The stunning allegations against Roy Moore could throw the GOP's tax cut push into even more chaos. First and foremost, the allegations are serious in nature on their own and have raised questions about Moore's fitness for office. In addition to the seriousness of the allegations, experts and analysts say that it could cause some serious problems forthe GOP's recent tax reform push.
3.Netflix slid after Disney outlined its plan to overthrow the streaming video king.Netflix'sstock was down 2.07% at $189.89 a share on Friday before reversing some of its losses later in the afternoon. Its shares have a tendency to slide every time Disney talks publicly about its new service, which is expected to start in 2019 when Netflix's contract for Disney content runs out.
4.UBS says it can't find compelling reasons why gold would surge anytime soon.Reasons to be bullish have now changed, UBS strategist Joni Teves said in a note on Thursday. The dollar is likely to rally against key currencies including the Japanese yen, which, like gold, traders buy as a safe-haven asset. But against others like the euro, Teves expects the dollar to continue to weaken.
5.The number of men behind bars in the US is mind-blogging. "The growing number of incarcerations has left more people with criminal records, making it difficult for them to reenter the workplace," Bank of America's Michelle Meyer and Anna Zhou said. "Digging into the details by demographic cohort, we find that men make up nearly 93% of all prisoners, of which one third are between the ages of 25 and 34."
6.Nike is trying a massive transformation in order to stay relevant. Nike is hoping that a new focus on innovation will help it fight back against this competition and regain its crown as king of the sneaker and sportswear markets.
7.Bitcoin dives below $7,000. The crypto-currency has been on a wild ride since a plan to help the red-hot coin scale was scraped.
ADDITIONALLY:
UBS: The 2 biggest stock market fears are overblown.
Isaac Newton was a genius, but even he lost millions in the stock market.
21 everyday phrases that come straight from Shakespeare's plays.
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SEE ALSO:An Ivy League professor explains chaos theory, the prisoner's dilemma, and why math isn't really boring || BITCOIN DIVES: Here's what you need to know: slide water slide Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images Stocks were little changed on Friday, while a scrapped proposal to speed up the Bitcoin network sent the cryptocurrency lower. Dow: 23,422.21, -39.73, (-0.17%) S&P 500: 2,582.30, -2.32, (-0.09%) Nasdaq: 6,750.94, +0.89, (+0.01%) 1. The giant Senate tax bill barely squeaked by a critical test . The Joint Committee on Taxation, the nonpartisan Congressional research service, said the Senate's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) would add $1.4957 trillion to the national debt between 2018 and 2027. Under the Senate rules, the TCJA can only add $1.5 trillion over that time period . This means that the massive plan scrapes by the limit by just about $300 million. 2. The stunning allegations against Roy Moore could throw the GOP's tax cut push into even more chaos . First and foremost, the allegations are serious in nature on their own and have raised questions about Moore's fitness for office. In addition to the seriousness of the allegations, experts and analysts say that it could cause some serious problems for the GOP's recent tax reform push . 3. Netflix slid after Disney outlined its plan to overthrow the streaming video king . Netflix's stock was down 2.07% at $189.89 a share on Friday before reversing some of its losses later in the afternoon. Its shares have a tendency to slide every time Disney talks publicly about its new service, which is expected to start in 2019 when Netflix's contract for Disney content runs out. 4. UBS says it can't find compelling reasons why gold would surge anytime soon . Reasons to be bullish have now changed, UBS strategist Joni Teves said in a note on Thursday. The dollar is likely to rally against key currencies including the Japanese yen, which, like gold, traders buy as a safe-haven asset. But against others like the euro, Teves expects the dollar to continue to weaken. Story continues 5. The number of men behind bars in the US is mind-blogging . "The growing number of incarcerations has left more people with criminal records, making it difficult for them to reenter the workplace," Bank of America's Michelle Meyer and Anna Zhou said. "Digging into the details by demographic cohort, we find that men make up nearly 93% of all prisoners, of which one third are between the ages of 25 and 34." 6. Nike is trying a massive transformation in order to stay relevant . Nike is hoping that a new focus on innovation will help it fight back against this competition and regain its crown as king of the sneaker and sportswear markets. 7. Bitcoin dives below $7,000 . The crypto-currency has been on a wild ride since a plan to help the red-hot coin scale was scraped. ADDITIONALLY: UBS: The 2 biggest stock market fears are overblown . Isaac Newton was a genius, but even he lost millions in the stock market . 21 everyday phrases that come straight from Shakespeare's plays . NOW WATCH: Why Nintendo is dominating like the old days See Also: SNAP GETS SLAMMED: Here's what you need to know STOCKS DIP: Here's what you need to know STOCKS TICK UP: Here's what you need to know SEE ALSO: An Ivy League professor explains chaos theory, the prisoner's dilemma, and why math isn't really boring || GE ‘absolutely’ has to cut its dividend, could fall to 50 cents: Analyst: General Electric "absolutely" has to cut its dividend, analyst Jeff Sprague told CNBC on Friday.The founder of Vertical Research Partners expects a "meaningful cut," perhaps down to about 50 cents from the current 96 cents. "If you look back over the last few years, it was fine that the industrial cash flow wasn't covering the entire dividend because you had GE Capital covering its fair share. But the company has shrunk, GE Capital is gone and it's just not sustainable for the industrial company to carry that dividend any longer," Sprague said in an interview with " Power Lunch. " GE (NYSE: GE) 's new CEO, John Flannery , is expected to lay out strategic changes and new financial targets at its investor day presentation on Monday . The plans may also include the slashing of that dividend. If that occurred, it would be only the third GE dividend cut since the Great Depression. However, Sprague doubts eliminating the dividend is on the table.What he does expect is a plan that leads to GE becoming smaller and more focused.In a note to investors on Friday, Sprague said, "It is also conceivable that looking out a few years, GE ceases to exist as we know it."However, he told CNBC he doesn't expect the company to break up."Mr. Flannery has a tough conundrum here. He does need to simplify and shrink the company a bit. I think that's a prerequisite here. But to do a full-scale breakup I think is very implausible and could destroy value," he said.— Reuters contributed to this report.Disclaimer General Electric "absolutely" has to cut its dividend, analyst Jeff Sprague told CNBC on Friday. The founder of Vertical Research Partners expects a "meaningful cut," perhaps down to about 50 cents from the current 96 cents. "If you look back over the last few years, it was fine that the industrial cash flow wasn't covering the entire dividend because you had GE Capital covering its fair share. But the company has shrunk, GE Capital is gone and it's just not sustainable for the industrial company to carry that dividend any longer," Sprague said in an interview with " Power Lunch. " GE (NYSE: GE) 's new CEO, John Flannery , is expected to lay out strategic changes and new financial targets at its investor day presentation on Monday . The plans may also include the slashing of that dividend. If that occurred, it would be only the third GE dividend cut since the Great Depression. However, Sprague doubts eliminating the dividend is on the table. What he does expect is a plan that leads to GE becoming smaller and more focused. In a note to investors on Friday, Sprague said, "It is also conceivable that looking out a few years, GE ceases to exist as we know it." However, he told CNBC he doesn't expect the company to break up. "Mr. Flannery has a tough conundrum here. He does need to simplify and shrink the company a bit. I think that's a prerequisite here. But to do a full-scale breakup I think is very implausible and could destroy value," he said. — Reuters contributed to this report. Disclaimer More From CNBC Top health care analyst on how to play Amazon’s encroachment on the industry PRO Talks: Top health care analyst Lisa Gill on drug pricing, her favorite stock ideas Bitcoin is giving this stock a huge boost || GE ‘absolutely’ has to cut its dividend, could fall to 50 cents: Analyst: General Electric "absolutely" has to cut its dividend, analyst Jeff Sprague told CNBC on Friday.The founder of Vertical Research Partners expects a "meaningful cut," perhaps down to about 50 cents from the current 96 cents. "If you look back over the last few years, it was fine that the industrial cash flow wasn't covering the entire dividend because you had GE Capital covering its fair share. But the company has shrunk, GE Capital is gone and it's just not sustainable for the industrial company to carry that dividend any longer," Sprague said in an interview with " Power Lunch. " GE (NYSE: GE) 's new CEO, John Flannery , is expected to lay out strategic changes and new financial targets at its investor day presentation on Monday . The plans may also include the slashing of that dividend. If that occurred, it would be only the third GE dividend cut since the Great Depression. However, Sprague doubts eliminating the dividend is on the table.What he does expect is a plan that leads to GE becoming smaller and more focused.In a note to investors on Friday, Sprague said, "It is also conceivable that looking out a few years, GE ceases to exist as we know it."However, he told CNBC he doesn't expect the company to break up."Mr. Flannery has a tough conundrum here. He does need to simplify and shrink the company a bit. I think that's a prerequisite here. But to do a full-scale breakup I think is very implausible and could destroy value," he said.— Reuters contributed to this report.Disclaimer General Electric "absolutely" has to cut its dividend, analyst Jeff Sprague told CNBC on Friday. The founder of Vertical Research Partners expects a "meaningful cut," perhaps down to about 50 cents from the current 96 cents. "If you look back over the last few years, it was fine that the industrial cash flow wasn't covering the entire dividend because you had GE Capital covering its fair share. But the company has shrunk, GE Capital is gone and it's just not sustainable for the industrial company to carry that dividend any longer," Sprague said in an interview with " Power Lunch. " GE (NYSE: GE) 's new CEO, John Flannery , is expected to lay out strategic changes and new financial targets at its investor day presentation on Monday . The plans may also include the slashing of that dividend. If that occurred, it would be only the third GE dividend cut since the Great Depression. However, Sprague doubts eliminating the dividend is on the table. What he does expect is a plan that leads to GE becoming smaller and more focused. In a note to investors on Friday, Sprague said, "It is also conceivable that looking out a few years, GE ceases to exist as we know it." However, he told CNBC he doesn't expect the company to break up. "Mr. Flannery has a tough conundrum here. He does need to simplify and shrink the company a bit. I think that's a prerequisite here. But to do a full-scale breakup I think is very implausible and could destroy value," he said. — Reuters contributed to this report. DisclaimerMore From CNBC
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• Bitcoin is giving this stock a huge boost || Money is pouring into bitcoin cash after bitcoin crashed more than $1,000 in 48 hours: MI
• The price of bitcoin, the red-hot digital cryptocurrency, was trading down 7.2% on Friday afternoon, at $6,618 a coin.
• That's down more than $1,000 from its all-time high of nearly $7,900 a coin, which it hit on Wednesday after news broke that a planned upgrade to the network had been called off.
• But now money is pouring out of bitcoin and into bitcoin cash, the cryptocurrency that split from bitcoin in August.
• Bitcoin cash soared to an all-time high of $1,009 a coin on Friday afternoon.
Bitcoinhas shed more than $1,000 over the past 48 hours.
On the other hand, bitcoin cash, the cryptocurrency that split from bitcoin in August, reached an all-time high of $1,009 a coin on Friday afternoon, according to data from Markets Insider. It was trading up more than 50%.
Experts think bitcoin's crash and bitcoin cash's rise are related to the same thing: a planned upgrade to bitcoin's network being called off.
Developers behind the upgrade, known as Segwit2X,revoked their support on Wednesday, meaning bitcoin's network will remain intact — at least for now.
The news initially sent bitcoin to an all-time high of nearly $7,900 a coin. But at 2:40 p.m. ET on Friday, it was trading down 7.2%, at $6,812.
Segwit2X was designed to increase the size of the blocks underpinning the bitcoin blockchain network to enable it to process more transactions more quickly. Backers thought the plan would help the digital currency scale faster.
A fork in the network resulting from the upgrade would have doubled the number of coins some investors owned — just as it did when bitcoin cash split from the original bitcoin network.
Tor Bair, the head of growth forEnigma, a crypto-investment platform, told Business Insider that investors might have increased their bitcoin holdings in hopes of getting more clone coins.
"Some traders may have been attempting a 'dividend play' on the Segwit2X fork and purchasing bitcoin in anticipation," Blair said. "With the fork called off, these speculators are now reducing their positions."
Another expert told Business Insider that backers of Segwit2X might be switching over from bitcoin to bitcoin cash.
"When you look at the trends, it does look like many Segwit2X supporters have switched to bitcoin cash," Abhishek Pitti, the CEO ofNucleus Vision, a blockchain-technology company, said in a statement. "The forked currency has seen a 35% increase in a matter of days."
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SEE ALSO:We just got a glimpse of how bitcoin futures will work || Money is pouring into bitcoin cash after bitcoin crashed more than $1,000 in 48 hours: Screen Shot 2017 11 10 at 2.40.45 PM MI The price of bitcoin, the red-hot digital cryptocurrency, was trading down 7.2% on Friday afternoon, at $6,618 a coin. That's down more than $1,000 from its all-time high of nearly $7,900 a coin, which it hit on Wednesday after news broke that a planned upgrade to the network had been called off. But now money is pouring out of bitcoin and into bitcoin cash, the cryptocurrency that split from bitcoin in August. Bitcoin cash soared to an all-time high of $1,009 a coin on Friday afternoon. Bitcoin has shed more than $1,000 over the past 48 hours. On the other hand, bitcoin cash, the cryptocurrency that split from bitcoin in August, reached an all-time high of $1,009 a coin on Friday afternoon, according to data from Markets Insider. It was trading up more than 50%. Experts think bitcoin's crash and bitcoin cash's rise are related to the same thing: a planned upgrade to bitcoin's network being called off. Developers behind the upgrade, known as Segwit2X, revoked their support on Wednesday , meaning bitcoin's network will remain intact — at least for now. The news initially sent bitcoin to an all-time high of nearly $7,900 a coin. But at 2:40 p.m. ET on Friday, it was trading down 7.2%, at $6,812. Segwit2X was designed to increase the size of the blocks underpinning the bitcoin blockchain network to enable it to process more transactions more quickly. Backers thought the plan would help the digital currency scale faster. A fork in the network resulting from the upgrade would have doubled the number of coins some investors owned — just as it did when bitcoin cash split from the original bitcoin network. Tor Bair, the head of growth for Enigma , a crypto-investment platform, told Business Insider that investors might have increased their bitcoin holdings in hopes of getting more clone coins. "Some traders may have been attempting a 'dividend play' on the Segwit2X fork and purchasing bitcoin in anticipation," Blair said. "With the fork called off, these speculators are now reducing their positions." Story continues Another expert told Business Insider that backers of Segwit2X might be switching over from bitcoin to bitcoin cash. "When you look at the trends, it does look like many Segwit2X supporters have switched to bitcoin cash," Abhishek Pitti, the CEO of Nucleus Vision , a blockchain-technology company, said in a statement. "The forked currency has seen a 35% increase in a matter of days." NOW WATCH: Tesla's value is surging 'because the vision is so intoxicating' See Also: GOLDMAN SACHS: Bitcoin could get close to $8,000 Bitcoin's 'bubble' is unlike anything we've seen recently Bitcoin hits all-time high ahead of another potential fork SEE ALSO: We just got a glimpse of how bitcoin futures will work || Air Force general says China is advancing in space five times as fast as the US: Air Force Lt. Gen. Steve Kwast believes a "Kitty Hawk" moment will begin a new era in space. But while the U.S. still leads every other country in space, Kwast cautions that the edge is whittling away. "In my best military judgment, China is on a 10-year journey to operationalize space. We're on a 50-year journey," Kwast told CNBC. Kwast, who is also the commander and president of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, said the United States must "bring together the right talent to accelerate the journey." He said this would push the space industry to a Wright Brothers-like moment. "We could be on a five-year journey because it's all about how aggressively we are going about this journey," Kwast said. Regulations in the way A half century of regulating satellites has made it nearly impossible for entrepreneurs to succeed, he said. The current regulatory environment is like needing to submit an itinerary for every item you plan to bring on a flight from D.C. to Los Angeles — one year before the flight, he said. "You have to detail everything in your suitcase — each item's material, manufacturer, weight and more — the government takes a year to go through it and then tells you what you can and can't take," Kwast said. "And, if you have to update your request, then you have to start all over." He continued, "When you finally get approval you have to spend your entire life savings for the airplane, which, when you land, you have to burn to the ground." Officials want to evolve regulatory methods but must placate taxpayers that discarded rockets will not begin falling on their homes. "You need technological innovations to reassure Congress that this is safe and effective, as the FAA cannot do this unilaterally," Kwast said. "Low-cost access to space is the first domino to making this possible." The Federal Aviation Administration told CNBC in September that it is working to make access to space more efficient. SpaceX has also criticized the regulatory process , with President Gwynne Shotwell noting the process takes six months "and then you reapply at 90 days, 30 days, and then 15 days to file a flight plan." "If we want to achieve rapid progress in space, the U.S. government must remove bureaucratic practices that run counter to innovation and speed," Shotwell said. National security and global prosperity at stake Militaries will soon work more extensively in the space between the Earth and moon, according to Kwast. That realm is the next high ground, where nations are straining to gain a strategic advantage. "China is working on building a 'navy in space'" that would work even beyond Earth's gravity, Kwast said. Yet China is the not the most pressing threat. North Korea, with its continued missile testing , is "a real problem," Kwast said. "Right now, if North Korea were to launch a missile into space and detonate an electromagnetic pulse, it would take out our eyes in space," Kwast said. The Cold War-era "Star Wars" concept was "very strategic," Kwast said, but the technology was not feasible. The more the U.S. innovates in space, the lower the potential threat from a missile. Even though the space industry is poised to become eight times as valuable over the next 30 years , Kwast believes it's too early to think about a new military force in space. "We could have an operational space force in three to five years," Kwast said. "However, that would be jumping to answering what the form looks like, before you know the function." In a January study called "Fast Space," Kwast wrote a list of recommendations to the Air Force's U.S. Space Command. He details that public-private partnerships must be the nation's focus, not an "an Air Force in space." "It took from the Wright Brothers in 1903 to 1945 — two World Wars — to get flying to where we needed an Air Force." Finding balance in public-private partnerships Kwast is a staunch supporter of corporations partnering with government. But he warns against the military completely depending on the private sector, giving the example of how the Air Force contracts launches to SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. "I think the balance between public and private is reasonable right now, but we're still not doing enough, and we're not aggressive enough," Kwast said. At the New Worlds conference in Austin, Texas on Friday, Bill Gerstenmaier, the NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, said his agency shares a similar vision. He does not expect "to get another huge budget like the Apollo missions," and says NASA will focus on "orchestrating human spaceflight," instead of conceptualizing, funding, building and operating all on its own. Gerstenmaier told CNBC that he sees NASA now operating more akin to a venture capital firm, picking investments and helping to build them up. He cited Morgan Stanley's recent report on the industry as a look into the direction space is heading. Kwast applauds the high-risk, high-reward entrepreneurial spirit of modern space companies. He calls himself "a very strong advocate" for partnerships "based on economic realities" that create competition. "Corporations have a vicious, clear-eyed view of the bottom line, which is a very healthy thing," Kwast said, before adding: "Companies that fail should fail." WATCH: National Space Council meets for first time in 25 years More From CNBC Bitcoin's value rose $10 billion in just 12 hours after a dramatic sell-off Qualcomm draws up plans to rebuff Broadcom's $103 billion offer Musk promises to 'blow your mind' with official semi-truck reveal || Air Force general says China is advancing in space five times as fast as the US: Air Force Lt. Gen. Steve Kwast believes a "Kitty Hawk" moment will begin a new era in space. But while the U.S. still leads every other country in space, Kwast cautions that the edge is whittling away. "In my best military judgment, China is on a 10-year journey to operationalize space. We're on a 50-year journey," Kwast told CNBC. Kwast, who is also the commander and president of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, said the United States must "bring together the right talent to accelerate the journey." He said this would push the space industry to a Wright Brothers-like moment. "We could be on a five-year journey because it's all about how aggressively we are going about this journey," Kwast said.
Regulations in the way A half century of regulating satellites has made it nearly impossible for entrepreneurs to succeed, he said. The current regulatory environment is like needing to submit an itinerary for every item you plan to bring on a flight from D.C. to Los Angeles — one year before the flight, he said. "You have to detail everything in your suitcase — each item's material, manufacturer, weight and more — the government takes a year to go through it and then tells you what you can and can't take," Kwast said. "And, if you have to update your request, then you have to start all over." He continued, "When you finally get approval you have to spend your entire life savings for the airplane, which, when you land, you have to burn to the ground." Officials want to evolve regulatory methods but must placate taxpayers that discarded rockets will not begin falling on their homes. "You need technological innovations to reassure Congress that this is safe and effective, as the FAA cannot do this unilaterally," Kwast said. "Low-cost access to space is the first domino to making this possible." The Federal Aviation Administration told CNBC in September that it is working to make access to space more efficient.
SpaceX has also criticized the regulatory process , with President Gwynne Shotwell noting the process takes six months "and then you reapply at 90 days, 30 days, and then 15 days to file a flight plan." "If we want to achieve rapid progress in space, the U.S. government must remove bureaucratic practices that run counter to innovation and speed," Shotwell said. National security and global prosperity at stake Militaries will soon work more extensively in the space between the Earth and moon, according to Kwast. That realm is the next high ground, where nations are straining to gain a strategic advantage. "China is working on building a 'navy in space'" that would work even beyond Earth's gravity, Kwast said. Yet China is the not the most pressing threat. North Korea, with its continued missile testing , is "a real problem," Kwast said. "Right now, if North Korea were to launch a missile into space and detonate an electromagnetic pulse, it would take out our eyes in space," Kwast said. The Cold War-era "Star Wars" concept was "very strategic," Kwast said, but the technology was not feasible. The more the U.S. innovates in space, the lower the potential threat from a missile. Even though the space industry is poised to become eight times as valuable over the next 30 years , Kwast believes it's too early to think about a new military force in space. "We could have an operational space force in three to five years," Kwast said. "However, that would be jumping to answering what the form looks like, before you know the function." In a January study called "Fast Space," Kwast wrote a list of recommendations to the Air Force's U.S. Space Command. He details that public-private partnerships must be the nation's focus, not an "an Air Force in space." "It took from the Wright Brothers in 1903 to 1945 — two World Wars — to get flying to where we needed an Air Force." Finding balance in public-private partnerships Kwast is a staunch supporter of corporations partnering with government. But he warns against the military completely depending on the private sector, giving the example of how the Air Force contracts launches to SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. "I think the balance between public and private is reasonable right now, but we're still not doing enough, and we're not aggressive enough," Kwast said. At the New Worlds conference in Austin, Texas on Friday, Bill Gerstenmaier, the NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, said his agency shares a similar vision. He does not expect "to get another huge budget like the Apollo missions," and says NASA will focus on "orchestrating human spaceflight," instead of conceptualizing, funding, building and operating all on its own. Gerstenmaier told CNBC that he sees NASA now operating more akin to a venture capital firm, picking investments and helping to build them up. He cited Morgan Stanley's recent report on the industry as a look into the direction space is heading. Kwast applauds the high-risk, high-reward entrepreneurial spirit of modern space companies. He calls himself "a very strong advocate" for partnerships "based on economic realities" that create competition. "Corporations have a vicious, clear-eyed view of the bottom line, which is a very healthy thing," Kwast said, before adding: "Companies that fail should fail." WATCH: National Space Council meets for first time in 25 yearsMore From CNBC
• Bitcoin's value rose $10 billion in just 12 hours after a dramatic sell-off
• Qualcomm draws up plans to rebuff Broadcom's $103 billion offer
• Musk promises to 'blow your mind' with official semi-truck reveal || GLOBAL MARKETS-Stock indexes dip on U.S. tax reform doubts; Bitcoin below $7000: * Senate Republicans propose delay in corporate tax cut
* Global shares dip further below all-time high
* European stocks set for worst week in 3 months
* U.S. longer-dated yields hit 1-1/2 week highs (Updates with European market close, slide in safe havens)
By Trevor Hunnicutt
NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Global stock indexes cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum.
MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.2 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains.
The MSCI world index has surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due.
"The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp.
Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as the softness in high-yield "junk" bonds did little to support traditional safe havens.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes last fell 20/32 in price to yield 2.4002 percent. The 30-year bond last fell 48/32 in price to yield 2.8813 percent.
Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's 10-year government bond, the benchmark for the bloc, hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27.
Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.69 an ounce.
"It's not often that we get rates down and equities down: it's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," said Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann, referring to a trading strategy that favors buying recent winners and selling losers.
"We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.”
Friday, coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week amid a bout of volatility in credit markets.
TAX OVERHAUL
U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s.
The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear.
"I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
"But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment."
Wall Street retreated on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, though a rise in media and semiconductor stocks limited the slide.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35.95 points, or 0.15 percent, to 23,425.99, the S&P 500 lost 2.35 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.27 and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.38 points, or 0.04 percent, to 6,752.43.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row.
"There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JP Morgan, said.
Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow.
U.S. crude fell 0.37 percent to $56.96 per barrel and Brent was last at $63.77, down 0.25 percent.
Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash, sending its value up around a third.
(Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) || GLOBAL MARKETS-Stock indexes dip on U.S. tax reform doubts; Bitcoin below $7000: * Senate Republicans propose delay in corporate tax cut * Global shares dip further below all-time high * European stocks set for worst week in 3 months * U.S. longer-dated yields hit 1-1/2 week highs (Updates with European market close, slide in safe havens) By Trevor Hunnicutt NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Global stock indexes cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum. MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.2 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains. The MSCI world index has surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due. "The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp. Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as the softness in high-yield "junk" bonds did little to support traditional safe havens. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes last fell 20/32 in price to yield 2.4002 percent. The 30-year bond last fell 48/32 in price to yield 2.8813 percent. Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's 10-year government bond, the benchmark for the bloc, hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27. Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.69 an ounce. "It's not often that we get rates down and equities down: it's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," said Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann, referring to a trading strategy that favors buying recent winners and selling losers. "We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.” Friday, coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week amid a bout of volatility in credit markets. Story continues TAX OVERHAUL U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s. The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear. "I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities. "But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment." Wall Street retreated on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, though a rise in media and semiconductor stocks limited the slide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35.95 points, or 0.15 percent, to 23,425.99, the S&P 500 lost 2.35 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.27 and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.38 points, or 0.04 percent, to 6,752.43. The pan-European STOXX 600 index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row. "There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JP Morgan, said. Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow. U.S. crude fell 0.37 percent to $56.96 per barrel and Brent was last at $63.77, down 0.25 percent. Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash, sending its value up around a third. (Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish) || GLOBAL MARKETS-Stock indexes dip on U.S. tax reform doubts; Bitcoin below $7000: * Senate Republicans propose delay in corporate tax cut
* Global shares dip further below all-time high
* European stocks set for worst week in 3 months
* U.S. longer-dated yields hit 1-1/2 week highs (Updates with European market close, slide in safe havens)
By Trevor Hunnicutt
NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Global stock indexes cooled off Friday as signs that U.S. tax reform could be delayed impeded the market's momentum.
MSCI's global stock index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, declined 0.2 percent, slipping further from a record level. On Thursday, the global index fell 0.4 percent following 10 straight days of gains.
The MSCI world index has surged more than 20 percent so far this year, and some investors believe a pullback is due.
"The pause that the market is currently in is directly related to what's going on from a tax standpoint," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist for Northern Trust Corp.
Adding insult to injury, the pullback in stocks as well as the softness in high-yield "junk" bonds did little to support traditional safe havens.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes last fell 20/32 in price to yield 2.4002 percent. The 30-year bond last fell 48/32 in price to yield 2.8813 percent.
Meanwhile, German government bond yields climbed to their highest in over a week as euro zone bonds were sold across the board for a second consecutive day. The yield on Germany's 10-year government bond, the benchmark for the bloc, hit 0.40 percent for the first time since Oct. 27.
Spot gold dropped 0.7 percent to $1,275.69 an ounce.
"It's not often that we get rates down and equities down: it's a classic hallmark of momentum strategies unwinding," said Citigroup Inc equity trading strategist Alex Altmann, referring to a trading strategy that favors buying recent winners and selling losers.
"We may not get that calm ride into the end of the year.”
Friday, coal producer Canyon Consolidated Resources became the second junk-rated company to pull a bond sale this week amid a bout of volatility in credit markets.
TAX OVERHAUL
U.S. Republican senators said they wanted to slash the corporate tax rate in 2019, later than the House's proposed schedule of 2018, complicating a push for the biggest overhaul of U.S. tax law since the 1980s.
The House was set to vote on its measure next week. But the Senate's timetable was less clear.
"I would say a compromise will be reached," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.
"But if they indeed decide to delay the tax cut by a year, there is likely to be some disappointment."
Wall Street retreated on concern over delays in corporate tax cuts, though a rise in media and semiconductor stocks limited the slide.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35.95 points, or 0.15 percent, to 23,425.99, the S&P 500 lost 2.35 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,582.27 and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.38 points, or 0.04 percent, to 6,752.43.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index suffered its worst week in three months, down 0.4 percent on Friday and falling for a fourth day in row.
"There's a feeling out there that there's a long-awaited correction, and no one wants to be caught by surprise," Emmanuel Cau, global equity strategist at JP Morgan, said.
Crude was down as expectations the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers will extend their production cut agreement were offset by U.S. drillers adding the most oil rigs in a week since June, indicating output will continue to grow.
U.S. crude fell 0.37 percent to $56.96 per barrel and Brent was last at $63.77, down 0.25 percent.
Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash, sending its value up around a third.
(Additional reporting by Kit Rees and Helen Reid in London and Hideuyki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and James Dalgleish)
[Social Media Buzz]
BTC Real Time Price: $5892.70 #GDAX;
$5930.00 #bitstamp;
$5899.55 #gemini;
$5900.00 #hitbtc;
$5847.40 #kraken;
$6155.00 #cex; || Latest Bitcoin Cash (BCH) details:
Price: $ 2,365.38
Price (BTC): ฿ 0.413751
24h Volume: $ 10,800,100,000.00
Market Cap: $ 39,720,436,679.00
Change 1h: +25.78%
Change 24h: +148.5%
Change 7d: +284.58%
Shared from: https://goo.gl/2SGzt5
この上がり方バブルだな || Nov 12, 2017 09:30:00 UTC | 6,100.40$ | 5,229.20€ | 4,625.10£ | #Bitcoin #btc pic.twitter.com/Yyby1e3Sxv || C...
|
6559.49, 6635.75, 7315.54, 7871.69, 7708.99, 7790.15, 8036.49, 8200.64, 8071.26, 8253.55
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 8813.58, 9055.53, 8757.79, 8815.66, 8808.26, 8708.09, 8491.99, 8550.76, 8577.98, 8309.29, 8206.15, 8027.27, 7642.75, 7296.58, 7397.80, 7047.92, 7146.13, 7218.37, 7531.66, 7463.11, 7761.24, 7569.63, 7424.29, 7321.99, 7320.15, 7252.03, 7448.31, 7547.00, 7556.24, 7564.35, 7400.90, 7278.12, 7217.43, 7243.13, 7269.68, 7124.67, 7152.30, 6932.48, 6640.52, 7276.80, 7202.84, 7218.82, 7191.16, 7511.59, 7355.63, 7322.53, 7275.16, 7238.97, 7290.09, 7317.99, 7422.65, 7293.00, 7193.60, 7200.17, 6985.47, 7344.88, 7410.66, 7411.32, 7769.22, 8163.69, 8079.86, 7879.07, 8166.55, 8037.54, 8192.49, 8144.19, 8827.76, 8807.01, 8723.79, 8929.04, 8942.81, 8706.25, 8657.64, 8745.89, 8680.88, 8406.52, 8445.43, 8367.85, 8596.83, 8909.82, 9358.59, 9316.63, 9508.99, 9350.53, 9392.88, 9344.37, 9293.52, 9180.96, 9613.42, 9729.80.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-02-06]
Volume: 37628823716, RSI (14-day): 69.86, 50-day EMA: 8539.14, 200-day EMA: 8355.74
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1565.10, Gold RSI: 56.68
Oil Price: 50.95, Oil RSI: 27.91
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitcoin Climbs Above 9,564.9 Level, Up 4%: Bitcoin Climbs Above 9,564.9 Level, Up 4% Investing.com - Bitcoin rose above the $9,564.9 threshold on Thursday. Bitcoin was trading at 9,564.9 by 19:49 (00:49 GMT) on the Investing.com Index, up 3.60% on the day. It was the largest one-day percentage gain since February 5. The move upwards pushed Bitcoin's market cap up to $173.9B, or 63.19% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. At its highest, Bitcoin's market cap was $241.2B. Bitcoin had traded in a range of $9,536.1 to $9,630.6 in the previous twenty-four hours. Over the past seven days, Bitcoin has seen a rise in value, as it gained 2.49%. The volume of Bitcoin traded in the twenty-four hours to time of writing was $35.3B or 26.27% of the total volume of all cryptocurrencies. It has traded in a range of $9,179.9121 to $9,726.8135 in the past 7 days. At its current price, Bitcoin is still down 51.86% from its all-time high of $19,870.62 set on December 17, 2017. Elsewhere in cryptocurrency trading Ethereum was last at $203.12 on the Investing.com Index, up 6.62% on the day. XRP was trading at $0.27455 on the Investing.com Index, a gain of 2.68%. Ethereum's market cap was last at $22.2B or 8.06% of the total cryptocurrency market cap, while XRP's market cap totaled $12.0B or 4.36% of the total cryptocurrency market value. Related Articles ICE Announces Software Platform Acquisition for Upcoming Bakkt App Price Analysis Feb 5: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, BSV, LTC, EOS, BNB, ADA, XTZ EOS Climbs Above 4.4838 Level, Up 7% || Bitcoin Climbs Above 9,564.9 Level, Up 4%: Investing.com - Bitcoin rose above the $9,564.9 threshold on Thursday. Bitcoin was trading at 9,564.9 by 19:49 (00:49 GMT) on the Investing.com Index, up 3.60% on the day. It was the largest one-day percentage gain since February 5.
The move upwards pushed Bitcoin's market cap up to $173.9B, or 63.19% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. At its highest, Bitcoin's market cap was $241.2B.
Bitcoin had traded in a range of $9,536.1 to $9,630.6 in the previous twenty-four hours.
Over the past seven days, Bitcoin has seen a rise in value, as it gained 2.49%. The volume of Bitcoin traded in the twenty-four hours to time of writing was $35.3B or 26.27% of the total volume of all cryptocurrencies. It has traded in a range of $9,179.9121 to $9,726.8135 in the past 7 days.
At its current price, Bitcoin is still down 51.86% from its all-time high of $19,870.62 set on December 17, 2017.
Ethereum was last at $203.12 on the Investing.com Index, up 6.62% on the day.
XRP was trading at $0.27455 on the Investing.com Index, a gain of 2.68%.
Ethereum's market cap was last at $22.2B or 8.06% of the total cryptocurrency market cap, while XRP's market cap totaled $12.0B or 4.36% of the total cryptocurrency market value.
Related Articles
ICE Announces Software Platform Acquisition for Upcoming Bakkt App
Price Analysis Feb 5: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, BSV, LTC, EOS, BNB, ADA, XTZ
EOS Climbs Above 4.4838 Level, Up 7% || Bitcoin Climbs Above 9,564.9 Level, Up 4%: Investing.com - Bitcoin rose above the $9,564.9 threshold on Thursday. Bitcoin was trading at 9,564.9 by 19:49 (00:49 GMT) on the Investing.com Index, up 3.60% on the day. It was the largest one-day percentage gain since February 5.
The move upwards pushed Bitcoin's market cap up to $173.9B, or 63.19% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. At its highest, Bitcoin's market cap was $241.2B.
Bitcoin had traded in a range of $9,536.1 to $9,630.6 in the previous twenty-four hours.
Over the past seven days, Bitcoin has seen a rise in value, as it gained 2.49%. The volume of Bitcoin traded in the twenty-four hours to time of writing was $35.3B or 26.27% of the total volume of all cryptocurrencies. It has traded in a range of $9,179.9121 to $9,726.8135 in the past 7 days.
At its current price, Bitcoin is still down 51.86% from its all-time high of $19,870.62 set on December 17, 2017.
Ethereum was last at $203.12 on the Investing.com Index, up 6.62% on the day.
XRP was trading at $0.27455 on the Investing.com Index, a gain of 2.68%.
Ethereum's market cap was last at $22.2B or 8.06% of the total cryptocurrency market cap, while XRP's market cap totaled $12.0B or 4.36% of the total cryptocurrency market value.
Related Articles
ICE Announces Software Platform Acquisition for Upcoming Bakkt App
Price Analysis Feb 5: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, BSV, LTC, EOS, BNB, ADA, XTZ
EOS Climbs Above 4.4838 Level, Up 7% || How the Long Tail of the Coronavirus Might Slow Bitcoin’s Hash Power Growth: The coronavirus outbreak in China may impose a longer-term impact on the bitcoin network’s mining activity at a time when an estimated65 percentof its computing power is located there.
While Chinese miner manufacturers see rising demand for new equipment ahead of bitcoin’s scheduled halving in May, they estimate the disease may limit growth in bitcoin mining power if the situation isn’t resolved in the near future because it is difficult to expand or build new machines, according to Kevin Shao, general manager of Canaan Creative’s blockchain arm.
Shao told CoinDesk that while there is little doubt miners can maintain the current level of computing power, there is a shortage of new mining machines.
Related:Bitcoin News Roundup for Feb. 6, 2020
So far, almost every bitcoin miner maker in China – Bitmain, Canaan, MicroBT and InnoSilicon –faces delaysin production and delivery.BitmainandCanaan, the world’s top two miner makers by market share, have published notices saying the delay of after-sale services until Feb. 10.
Customers want new, top-of-the-line mining models to expand existing mining facilities and replace older machines in anticipation of the bitcoin halving, currently expected to occur sometime in May 2020.
“One of the most affected businesses is our mining machine production,” Abe Yang, chief operating officer at PandaMiner, told CoinDesk.
Founded in 2013, the Shenzhen-based firm makes mining machines and provides computing power services with nine mining farms.
Related:US Judge Dismisses Bitcoin Cash ‘Hijack’ Lawsuit Against Bitmain, Kraken
“Not only us, most miner makers have been affected by the outbreak since their factories are based in cities like Dongguan and Shenzhen in Guangdong province,” Yang said. “During the extended vacation until Feb.10, almost all the production will be halted.”
Meanwhile, the lockdown of the city of Wuhan has had a more direct impact on InnoSilicon, whose headquarters is located in the outbreak’s epicenter.
“The delay currently has not affected our businesses that much since the extension [of the holiday break] will only be several days,” Shao said. “However, the impact could be much more significant if the outbreak continues for a longer period of time.”
According to data from BTC.com, bitcoin’s mining difficulty – a measure of how hard it is to compete for mining rewards on the bitcoin network – posted 6.57 percent and 7.08 percent growth on Jan. 2 and Jan. 15, respectively.
The growth rate dropped to 4.67 percent on Jan. 28 and is estimated to decline to 3 percent in about three days. Bitcoin’s mining difficulty adjusts itself about every 14 days – it goes up or down in positive correlation to whether there are more or less participants racing on the network.
“The coronavirus outbreak timespan overlaps with bitcoin’s halving event. The dual factors are apparently affecting the maintenance of mining equipment as well as the delivery of new miners,” Wang Xin, marketing director of WhatsMiner maker MicroBT said in an interview. “As such, the recovery of bitcoin’s hash rate growth will be delayed.”
Hash power has more than doubled from around 50 EH/s compared to the same period of last year as bitcoin’s market price climbed over $9,000, according to Shao.
“Second-hand miners [mostly older models like Bitmain’s AntMiner S9] that are aiming at a faster payback period, now have a larger risk as they enter a shutdown period ahead of the halving, compared to more powerful new models [like WhatsMiner M20 or AntMiner S17],” said MicroBT’s Wang.
Based on f2pool’s profitabilityindex, models like the most widely used AntMiner S9 would have a 30 percent gross margin at bitcoin’s current price with an electricity cost of $0.05 per kWh.
However, a lower number of new miners could be good news for those that have already invested in mining equipment with facilities up and running.
Existing miners could see more steady mining rewards because there wouldn’t be more competitors to enter the market due to the lack of new mining machines, Canaan’s Shao said.
But he added that one way the outbreak would affect existing miners is that many mining machine providers might not be able to offer timely post-sale services to fix malfunctioned devices.
Wang said assembly factories have delayed their return-to-business schedule, citing the Chinese government’s extension of the Lunar New Year. Businesses in the country have been ordered shut until at least Feb. 10.
This is not a crypto-specific issue either. Reutersreported MondayiPhone sales may take a hit because of the coronavirus, if the health emergency can not be contained in the near future.
Shao said one of his company’s concerns is slowing logistics, adding, “while we can make all the plans to prepare for the outbreak on our part, logistics is something we can’t control.”
Local infrastructure now prioritizes distributing necessities and supplies to those who are affected by the virus over less important deliveries, Shao said.
Therefore, some of the customers who pre-ordered miners might not be able to receive the machines on time, and it will take longer to deliver new orders if the outbreak continues, Shao said.
Even if employees all return to work, they cannot assemble miners unless their suppliers provide the necessary parts.
“If the supplies can not be delivered on time, miner makers are not going to be able to assemble the production,” Shao said.
One way companies can take advantage of their inventory is to run the machines themselves to offer computing power to their clients without selling the actual machines, Yang said. This assumes they have the necessary parts to complete assembling miners.
“However, the service is not sustainable if the outbreak continues because we would eventually reach full capacity without new machines, creating a shortage in computing power,” Yang said.
Mining farms remain unaffected for the moment, but existing quarantine controls and the possibility of an extended outbreak may soon take a toll.
Yang said PandaMiner is able to maintain operations for its existing farms, but there will be significant delays in constructing new farms.
Two-thirds of the company’s employees did not go home for the Chinese New Year, and have instead been working at the mining sites. However, for those who did go home it will take weeks to return to work, Yang said.
Many cities now require a two-week quarantine for people coming back from other areas before letting them go back to work, he said.
For example, the Xinjiang autonomous region, an area that hosts a significant portion of mining farms due to its cheap electricity, has implemented strict policies to quarantine not only those coming back from the Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, but also any other province or region, Yang said.
“We asked our employees to come back to Xinjiang as early as possible so that they can start the two-week quarantine and go back to work,” Yang said, noting policies may vary among different areas in China.
The company’s mining farm in Guizhou is subject to a stricter policy. “We are allowed to let our employees work on site and can only keep a few people to maintain the operation,” he said.
Sichuan province, which controls over 50 percent of bitcoin’s hashrate, also requires the two-week quarantine, according to Yang.
The lack of on-site staff has already negatively impacted the management of mining farms, Yang said.
Employees are responsible for ensuring mining machines are connected to the Internet and have a consistent supply of power. The employees would also need to fix broken circuit boards and other hardware to maintain operations, Yang said.
“We usually have at least 10 people on staff to maintain a mining farm,” Yang said. “With much fewer employees, it is hard for us to keep as many machines running as before.”
According to Yang, in some extreme cases where the local government prohibits all employees from working on site, companies need to negotiate with the government to leave two or three people on duty.
Wolfie Zhaocontributed reporting.
• Listen to Elon Musk’s Latest EDM Beats on the CoinDesk Crypto Roundup
• Coronavirus Controls in China Are Delaying Crypto Miner Deliveries, Firms Say || How the Long Tail of the Coronavirus Might Slow Bitcoin’s Hash Power Growth: The coronavirus outbreak in China may impose a longer-term impact on the bitcoin network’s mining activity at a time when an estimated 65 percent of its computing power is located there. While Chinese miner manufacturers see rising demand for new equipment ahead of bitcoin’s scheduled halving in May, they estimate the disease may limit growth in bitcoin mining power if the situation isn’t resolved in the near future because it is difficult to expand or build new machines, according to Kevin Shao, general manager of Canaan Creative’s blockchain arm. Shao told CoinDesk that while there is little doubt miners can maintain the current level of computing power, there is a shortage of new mining machines. Related: Bitcoin News Roundup for Feb. 6, 2020 So far, almost every bitcoin miner maker in China – Bitmain, Canaan, MicroBT and InnoSilicon – faces delays in production and delivery. Bitmain and Canaan , the world’s top two miner makers by market share, have published notices saying the delay of after-sale services until Feb. 10. Customers want new, top-of-the-line mining models to expand existing mining facilities and replace older machines in anticipation of the bitcoin halving, currently expected to occur sometime in May 2020. “One of the most affected businesses is our mining machine production,” Abe Yang, chief operating officer at PandaMiner, told CoinDesk. Founded in 2013, the Shenzhen-based firm makes mining machines and provides computing power services with nine mining farms. Related: US Judge Dismisses Bitcoin Cash ‘Hijack’ Lawsuit Against Bitmain, Kraken “Not only us, most miner makers have been affected by the outbreak since their factories are based in cities like Dongguan and Shenzhen in Guangdong province,” Yang said. “During the extended vacation until Feb.10, almost all the production will be halted.” Meanwhile, the lockdown of the city of Wuhan has had a more direct impact on InnoSilicon, whose headquarters is located in the outbreak’s epicenter. Story continues “The delay currently has not affected our businesses that much since the extension [of the holiday break] will only be several days,” Shao said. “However, the impact could be much more significant if the outbreak continues for a longer period of time.” According to data from BTC.com, bitcoin’s mining difficulty – a measure of how hard it is to compete for mining rewards on the bitcoin network – posted 6.57 percent and 7.08 percent growth on Jan. 2 and Jan. 15, respectively. The growth rate dropped to 4.67 percent on Jan. 28 and is estimated to decline to 3 percent in about three days. Bitcoin’s mining difficulty adjusts itself about every 14 days – it goes up or down in positive correlation to whether there are more or less participants racing on the network. “The coronavirus outbreak timespan overlaps with bitcoin’s halving event. The dual factors are apparently affecting the maintenance of mining equipment as well as the delivery of new miners,” Wang Xin, marketing director of WhatsMiner maker MicroBT said in an interview. “As such, the recovery of bitcoin’s hash rate growth will be delayed.” Rising demand Hash power has more than doubled from around 50 EH/s compared to the same period of last year as bitcoin’s market price climbed over $9,000, according to Shao. “Second-hand miners [mostly older models like Bitmain’s AntMiner S9] that are aiming at a faster payback period, now have a larger risk as they enter a shutdown period ahead of the halving, compared to more powerful new models [like WhatsMiner M20 or AntMiner S17],” said MicroBT’s Wang. Based on f2pool’s profitability index , models like the most widely used AntMiner S9 would have a 30 percent gross margin at bitcoin’s current price with an electricity cost of $0.05 per kWh. However, a lower number of new miners could be good news for those that have already invested in mining equipment with facilities up and running. Existing miners could see more steady mining rewards because there wouldn’t be more competitors to enter the market due to the lack of new mining machines, Canaan’s Shao said. But he added that one way the outbreak would affect existing miners is that many mining machine providers might not be able to offer timely post-sale services to fix malfunctioned devices. Logistics issues Wang said assembly factories have delayed their return-to-business schedule, citing the Chinese government’s extension of the Lunar New Year. Businesses in the country have been ordered shut until at least Feb. 10. This is not a crypto-specific issue either. Reuters reported Monday iPhone sales may take a hit because of the coronavirus, if the health emergency can not be contained in the near future. Shao said one of his company’s concerns is slowing logistics, adding, “while we can make all the plans to prepare for the outbreak on our part, logistics is something we can’t control.” Local infrastructure now prioritizes distributing necessities and supplies to those who are affected by the virus over less important deliveries, Shao said. Therefore, some of the customers who pre-ordered miners might not be able to receive the machines on time, and it will take longer to deliver new orders if the outbreak continues, Shao said. Even if employees all return to work, they cannot assemble miners unless their suppliers provide the necessary parts. “If the supplies can not be delivered on time, miner makers are not going to be able to assemble the production,” Shao said. One way companies can take advantage of their inventory is to run the machines themselves to offer computing power to their clients without selling the actual machines, Yang said. This assumes they have the necessary parts to complete assembling miners. “However, the service is not sustainable if the outbreak continues because we would eventually reach full capacity without new machines, creating a shortage in computing power,” Yang said. Mining farms Mining farms remain unaffected for the moment, but existing quarantine controls and the possibility of an extended outbreak may soon take a toll. Yang said PandaMiner is able to maintain operations for its existing farms, but there will be significant delays in constructing new farms. Two-thirds of the company’s employees did not go home for the Chinese New Year, and have instead been working at the mining sites. However, for those who did go home it will take weeks to return to work, Yang said. Many cities now require a two-week quarantine for people coming back from other areas before letting them go back to work, he said. For example, the Xinjiang autonomous region, an area that hosts a significant portion of mining farms due to its cheap electricity, has implemented strict policies to quarantine not only those coming back from the Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, but also any other province or region, Yang said. “We asked our employees to come back to Xinjiang as early as possible so that they can start the two-week quarantine and go back to work,” Yang said, noting policies may vary among different areas in China. The company’s mining farm in Guizhou is subject to a stricter policy. “We are allowed to let our employees work on site and can only keep a few people to maintain the operation,” he said. Sichuan province, which controls over 50 percent of bitcoin’s hashrate, also requires the two-week quarantine, according to Yang. The lack of on-site staff has already negatively impacted the management of mining farms, Yang said. Employees are responsible for ensuring mining machines are connected to the Internet and have a consistent supply of power. The employees would also need to fix broken circuit boards and other hardware to maintain operations, Yang said. “We usually have at least 10 people on staff to maintain a mining farm,” Yang said. “With much fewer employees, it is hard for us to keep as many machines running as before.” According to Yang, in some extreme cases where the local government prohibits all employees from working on site, companies need to negotiate with the government to leave two or three people on duty. Wolfie Zhao contributed reporting. Related Stories Listen to Elon Musk’s Latest EDM Beats on the CoinDesk Crypto Roundup Coronavirus Controls in China Are Delaying Crypto Miner Deliveries, Firms Say || How the Long Tail of the Coronavirus Might Slow Bitcoin’s Hash Power Growth: The coronavirus outbreak in China may impose a longer-term impact on the bitcoin network’s mining activity at a time when an estimated65 percentof its computing power is located there.
While Chinese miner manufacturers see rising demand for new equipment ahead of bitcoin’s scheduled halving in May, they estimate the disease may limit growth in bitcoin mining power if the situation isn’t resolved in the near future because it is difficult to expand or build new machines, according to Kevin Shao, general manager of Canaan Creative’s blockchain arm.
Shao told CoinDesk that while there is little doubt miners can maintain the current level of computing power, there is a shortage of new mining machines.
Related:Bitcoin News Roundup for Feb. 6, 2020
So far, almost every bitcoin miner maker in China – Bitmain, Canaan, MicroBT and InnoSilicon –faces delaysin production and delivery.BitmainandCanaan, the world’s top two miner makers by market share, have published notices saying the delay of after-sale services until Feb. 10.
Customers want new, top-of-the-line mining models to expand existing mining facilities and replace older machines in anticipation of the bitcoin halving, currently expected to occur sometime in May 2020.
“One of the most affected businesses is our mining machine production,” Abe Yang, chief operating officer at PandaMiner, told CoinDesk.
Founded in 2013, the Shenzhen-based firm makes mining machines and provides computing power services with nine mining farms.
Related:US Judge Dismisses Bitcoin Cash ‘Hijack’ Lawsuit Against Bitmain, Kraken
“Not only us, most miner makers have been affected by the outbreak since their factories are based in cities like Dongguan and Shenzhen in Guangdong province,” Yang said. “During the extended vacation until Feb.10, almost all the production will be halted.”
Meanwhile, the lockdown of the city of Wuhan has had a more direct impact on InnoSilicon, whose headquarters is located in the outbreak’s epicenter.
“The delay currently has not affected our businesses that much since the extension [of the holiday break] will only be several days,” Shao said. “However, the impact could be much more significant if the outbreak continues for a longer period of time.”
According to data from BTC.com, bitcoin’s mining difficulty – a measure of how hard it is to compete for mining rewards on the bitcoin network – posted 6.57 percent and 7.08 percent growth on Jan. 2 and Jan. 15, respectively.
The growth rate dropped to 4.67 percent on Jan. 28 and is estimated to decline to 3 percent in about three days. Bitcoin’s mining difficulty adjusts itself about every 14 days – it goes up or down in positive correlation to whether there are more or less participants racing on the network.
“The coronavirus outbreak timespan overlaps with bitcoin’s halving event. The dual factors are apparently affecting the maintenance of mining equipment as well as the delivery of new miners,” Wang Xin, marketing director of WhatsMiner maker MicroBT said in an interview. “As such, the recovery of bitcoin’s hash rate growth will be delayed.”
Hash power has more than doubled from around 50 EH/s compared to the same period of last year as bitcoin’s market price climbed over $9,000, according to Shao.
“Second-hand miners [mostly older models like Bitmain’s AntMiner S9] that are aiming at a faster payback period, now have a larger risk as they enter a shutdown period ahead of the halving, compared to more powerful new models [like WhatsMiner M20 or AntMiner S17],” said MicroBT’s Wang.
Based on f2pool’s profitabilityindex, models like the most widely used AntMiner S9 would have a 30 percent gross margin at bitcoin’s current price with an electricity cost of $0.05 per kWh.
However, a lower number of new miners could be good news for those that have already invested in mining equipment with facilities up and running.
Existing miners could see more steady mining rewards because there wouldn’t be more competitors to enter the market due to the lack of new mining machines, Canaan’s Shao said.
But he added that one way the outbreak would affect existing miners is that many mining machine providers might not be able to offer timely post-sale services to fix malfunctioned devices.
Wang said assembly factories have delayed their return-to-business schedule, citing the Chinese government’s extension of the Lunar New Year. Businesses in the country have been ordered shut until at least Feb. 10.
This is not a crypto-specific issue either. Reutersreported MondayiPhone sales may take a hit because of the coronavirus, if the health emergency can not be contained in the near future.
Shao said one of his company’s concerns is slowing logistics, adding, “while we can make all the plans to prepare for the outbreak on our part, logistics is something we can’t control.”
Local infrastructure now prioritizes distributing necessities and supplies to those who are affected by the virus over less important deliveries, Shao said.
Therefore, some of the customers who pre-ordered miners might not be able to receive the machines on time, and it will take longer to deliver new orders if the outbreak continues, Shao said.
Even if employees all return to work, they cannot assemble miners unless their suppliers provide the necessary parts.
“If the supplies can not be delivered on time, miner makers are not going to be able to assemble the production,” Shao said.
One way companies can take advantage of their inventory is to run the machines themselves to offer computing power to their clients without selling the actual machines, Yang said. This assumes they have the necessary parts to complete assembling miners.
“However, the service is not sustainable if the outbreak continues because we would eventually reach full capacity without new machines, creating a shortage in computing power,” Yang said.
Mining farms remain unaffected for the moment, but existing quarantine controls and the possibility of an extended outbreak may soon take a toll.
Yang said PandaMiner is able to maintain operations for its existing farms, but there will be significant delays in constructing new farms.
Two-thirds of the company’s employees did not go home for the Chinese New Year, and have instead been working at the mining sites. However, for those who did go home it will take weeks to return to work, Yang said.
Many cities now require a two-week quarantine for people coming back from other areas before letting them go back to work, he said.
For example, the Xinjiang autonomous region, an area that hosts a significant portion of mining farms due to its cheap electricity, has implemented strict policies to quarantine not only those coming back from the Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, but also any other province or region, Yang said.
“We asked our employees to come back to Xinjiang as early as possible so that they can start the two-week quarantine and go back to work,” Yang said, noting policies may vary among different areas in China.
The company’s mining farm in Guizhou is subject to a stricter policy. “We are allowed to let our employees work on site and can only keep a few people to maintain the operation,” he said.
Sichuan province, which controls over 50 percent of bitcoin’s hashrate, also requires the two-week quarantine, according to Yang.
The lack of on-site staff has already negatively impacted the management of mining farms, Yang said.
Employees are responsible for ensuring mining machines are connected to the Internet and have a consistent supply of power. The employees would also need to fix broken circuit boards and other hardware to maintain operations, Yang said.
“We usually have at least 10 people on staff to maintain a mining farm,” Yang said. “With much fewer employees, it is hard for us to keep as many machines running as before.”
According to Yang, in some extreme cases where the local government prohibits all employees from working on site, companies need to negotiate with the government to leave two or three people on duty.
Wolfie Zhaocontributed reporting.
• Listen to Elon Musk’s Latest EDM Beats on the CoinDesk Crypto Roundup
• Coronavirus Controls in China Are Delaying Crypto Miner Deliveries, Firms Say || Goldman Sachs partner who led bank’s crypto efforts is leaving: Bloomberg reports that Rana Yared, the Goldman Sachs partner who once spearheaded the bank's nascent cryptocurrency efforts, is leaving the Wall Street giant. As reported Wednesday , Yared "played a key role in a group that invested the firm’s own capital in emerging tech companies, and helped drive big returns for the trading unit through that operation." But it was her work in building up Goldman's internal crypto efforts that were on display in a 2018 New York Times profile . She told the publication that "I would not describe myself as a true believer who wakes up thinking Bitcoin will take over the world." "For almost every person involved, there has been personal skepticism brought to the table," she was quoted as saying. In that interview, she spoke to the interest among institutional firms in the crypto space and commented that "[i]t resonates with us when a client says, 'I want to hold Bitcoin or Bitcoin futures because I think it is an alternate store of value.'" Yared was named partner at Goldman Sachs in 2018, having joined the firm in 2006. || Goldman Sachs partner who led bank’s crypto efforts is leaving: Bloomberg reports that Rana Yared, the Goldman Sachs partner who once spearheaded the bank's nascent cryptocurrency efforts, is leaving the Wall Street giant.
As reported Wednesday, Yared "played a key role in a group that invested the firm’s own capital in emerging tech companies, and helped drive big returns for the trading unit through that operation."
But it was her work in building up Goldman's internal crypto efforts that were on display in a 2018New York Times profile. She told the publication that "I would not describe myself as a true believer who wakes up thinking Bitcoin will take over the world."
"For almost every person involved, there has been personal skepticism brought to the table," she was quoted as saying.
In that interview, she spoke to the interest among institutional firms in the crypto space and commented that "[i]t resonates with us when a client says, 'I want to hold Bitcoin or Bitcoin futures because I think it is an alternate store of value.'"
Yared wasnamed partnerat Goldman Sachs in 2018, having joined the firm in 2006. || Litecoin in bullish territory with break out above $70: Litecoin is on the brink of overtaking Tether in terms of market cap following a 24-hour surge of 6.5%. It is now trading above the crucial $70 level of resistance, which has suppressed price action since January 30. If the next daily candle closes above $70 Litecoin will likely go on to test $78 before targeting the psychological level of $100. After slumping to a gruelling low of $35 in December, Litecoin has risen by more than 100% with much of the cryptocurrency market experiencing a vital reversal. Litecoin has also surged by more than 20% in the past week alone as traders attempt to hedge their bets on smaller market cap altcoins instead of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin halving will commence in May with it being expected to result in a rally in the price of cryptocurrencies, including the likes of Litecoin and Ethereum. The previous two halvings in 2012 and 2016 preceded a series of staggering bull markets that saw Bitcoin eclipse a new all-time high on two occasions. If Bitcoin can manage to form a new all-time high in 2020, altcoins like LTC and ETH will eventually follow as profits will be diversified into higher risk altcoin investments. However, LTC first needs to form a new higher high above $142, which was the local top during last June’s rally. A breakout above $140 would open the metaphorical floodgates with Litecoin entering a new phase of price discovery that will likely see it trade above $185 at least. Litecoin news Recently, the “Magical Crypto Friends” show – which is available on YouTube and features Litecoin founder Charlie Lee – discussed the Litecoin Summit 2019. The show covered the most important discussions in the community. From Litecoin acting as a store of value to new development updates. Lee confirmed that the project was focused on privacy improvements as well. The Litecoin development team is working with the Mimblewimble protocol, specifically the developers behind Grim, with a view to potentially adding the privacy protocol as an extension block. Story continues According to Lee, it would work as follows: “We’re working with the Grim++ developers to add an implementation of Mimblewimble. It adds an extension block to the Litecoin main-chain. You can transact between chains to use enhanced privacy.” The goal would be to give Litecoin users improved privacy features when transacting. About Litecoin was released in October 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee. It is a fork of Bitcoin, with the main difference being a smaller block generation time. The protocol also increased the maximum number of coins and implemented a different script-based algorithm. Litecoin is one of the leading cryptocurrencies and is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. More Litecoin news and information If you want to find out more information about Litecoin or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s an article to get you started: Litecoin becomes ‘official cryptocurrency’ of the Miami Dolphins By Oliver Knight – February 5, 2020 As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. You may be interested in our range of cryptocurrency guides along with the latest cryptocurrency news . The post Litecoin in bullish territory with break out above $70 appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Litecoin in bullish territory with break out above $70: Litecoin is on the brink of overtaking Tether in terms of market cap following a 24-hour surge of 6.5%. It is now trading above the crucial $70 level of resistance, which has suppressed price action since January 30. If the next daily candle closes above $70 Litecoin will likely go on to test $78 before targeting the psychological level of $100. After slumping to a gruelling low of $35 in December, Litecoin has risen by more than 100% with much of the cryptocurrency market experiencing a vital reversal. Litecoin has also surged by more than 20% in the past week alone as traders attempt to hedge their bets on smaller market cap altcoins instead of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin halving will commence in May with it being expected to result in a rally in the price of cryptocurrencies, including the likes of Litecoin and Ethereum. The previous two halvings in 2012 and 2016 preceded a series of staggering bull markets that saw Bitcoin eclipse a new all-time high on two occasions. If Bitcoin can manage to form a new all-time high in 2020, altcoins like LTC and ETH will eventually follow as profits will be diversified into higher risk altcoin investments. However, LTC first needs to form a new higher high above $142, which was the local top during last June’s rally. A breakout above $140 would open the metaphorical floodgates with Litecoin entering a new phase of price discovery that will likely see it trade above $185 at least. Litecoin news Recently, the “Magical Crypto Friends” show – which is available on YouTube and features Litecoin founder Charlie Lee – discussed the Litecoin Summit 2019. The show covered the most important discussions in the community. From Litecoin acting as a store of value to new development updates. Lee confirmed that the project was focused on privacy improvements as well. The Litecoin development team is working with the Mimblewimble protocol, specifically the developers behind Grim, with a view to potentially adding the privacy protocol as an extension block. Story continues According to Lee, it would work as follows: “We’re working with the Grim++ developers to add an implementation of Mimblewimble. It adds an extension block to the Litecoin main-chain. You can transact between chains to use enhanced privacy.” The goal would be to give Litecoin users improved privacy features when transacting. About Litecoin was released in October 2011 by Charlie Lee, a former Google employee. It is a fork of Bitcoin, with the main difference being a smaller block generation time. The protocol also increased the maximum number of coins and implemented a different script-based algorithm. Litecoin is one of the leading cryptocurrencies and is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. More Litecoin news and information If you want to find out more information about Litecoin or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s an article to get you started: Litecoin becomes ‘official cryptocurrency’ of the Miami Dolphins By Oliver Knight – February 5, 2020 As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. You may be interested in our range of cryptocurrency guides along with the latest cryptocurrency news . The post Litecoin in bullish territory with break out above $70 appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Type 'Should I' into Google and you'll see why Tesla's stock was surging: Tesla (TSLA) stock trading advice is trending on Google, in a testament to the broadening speculation surrounding the stock after its extraordinary run-up.
As of Wednesday morning, typing “Should I” into Google (GOOG,GOOGL) produced a set of top suggested searches that led with, “Should I buy Tesla stock” and “Should I sell Tesla stock.”
This came on the heels oftwo straight days of double-digit returnsthat sent shares of the electric car-maker higher by a total of 36%, or $236 per share by Tuesday’s close. Tesla shares had more than doubled for the year to date through Tuesday.
“‘Buy Tesla stock’ is now the #1 autocomplete suggestion for the Google query “should I…,’” Datatrek co-founder Nicholas Colas wrote in a note Wednesday. “That’s pretty much all you need to know about this move.”
In other words, the implication seems to be that interest in Tesla’s stock has gone beyond the realm of active traders and experienced investor. Tesla’s surge has gone mainstream, and it may explain where the flood of buyers are coming from to bid up the stock.
According to Google, autocomplete predictions are generated as the company’s algorithms “look at the real searches that happen on Google and show common and trending ones relevant to the characters that are entered and also related to your location and previous searches.” (Tesla’s rank in Google’s autocomplete suggestions held even when an incognito window without search history was opened by Yahoo Finance).
More broadly, aGoogle Trends analysisas of Wednesday morning showed search interest for the query “tesla stock” peaked for the most recently reported week of January 26 to February 1. The number one most-related query to that search, according to Google, was “beyond meat stock,” another high-flying stock that saw a similar run-up in prices last year. And Tesla’s stock surge has earned it bubble-like comparisons on other measures as well: The stock on Tuesday hit overbought levels that exceeded Bitcoin at its peak,based on one technical indicator.
Taken together, Tesla’s sudden spike in search interest in tandem with the surge in its stock price speaks to the broad intrigue of the company among bulls and bears alike.
But even though Tesla’s stock sits at the top of queries one of the world’s largest search engines, it’s probably not one of the top holdings for an investor holding a market portfolio.
Despite having a market capitalization that exceeded Nike’s (NKE), and topped Ford’s (F) and General Motors’s (GM)several times over as of Tuesday’s close, Tesla is not a member of the S&P 500.
As Datatrek points out, to be considered for inclusion in the S&P 500 – the most popular large cap index – a company must have its trailing four quarters of reported GAAP earnings be positive. It must also delivered positive GAAP earnings in its most recently reported quarter. Tesla otherwise meets other requirements, including having a U.S. domicile, a single class of stock, liquidity and at least six to 12 months of “seasoning” as a public company.
Tesla’s last four quarters of GAAP earnings totaled negative $862 million, Datatrek noted in its analysis. Tesla could be eligible for inclusion if it posted a first-quarter profit of at least $161 million, offsetting a second-quarter 2019 loss given that its third- and fourth-quarter earnings were positive by a combined $248 million.
“The bottom line here: index based investing, especially tied to S&P criteria, misses important disruptive companies while hanging on for dear life to the disrupted,” Colas wrote.
“Despite TSLA’s unquestioned popularity, only 4.2% of its float sits in ETFs, versus 7.3% for GM and 8.2% for Ford,” he said. “It’s easy to make a case for why it should be the other way around, even if TSLA’s valuation were actually reasonable rather than stratospheric.”
—
Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck
Read more from Emily:
• Bridgewater: Stocks are more expensive in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world
• Netflix 4Q subscriber growth tops expectations, but guidance disappoints
• Tesla 4Q earnings top expectations, company sees 500K+ deliveries in 2020
• Why traders playing oil like it’s 2010 are ‘getting their heads handed to them’
• Valuations aren’t overstretched after record year for stocks, strategist says
Follow Yahoo Finance onTwitter,Facebook,Instagram,Flipboard,LinkedIn, andreddit.
Find live stock market quotes and the latest business and finance news || Type 'Should I' into Google and you'll see why Tesla's stock was surging: Tesla ( TSLA ) stock trading advice is trending on Google, in a testament to the broadening speculation surrounding the stock after its extraordinary run-up. As of Wednesday morning, typing “Should I” into Google ( GOOG , GOOGL ) produced a set of top suggested searches that led with, “Should I buy Tesla stock” and “Should I sell Tesla stock.” This came on the heels of two straight days of double-digit returns that sent shares of the electric car-maker higher by a total of 36%, or $236 per share by Tuesday’s close. Tesla shares had more than doubled for the year to date through Tuesday. “‘Buy Tesla stock’ is now the #1 autocomplete suggestion for the Google query “should I…,’” Datatrek co-founder Nicholas Colas wrote in a note Wednesday. “That’s pretty much all you need to know about this move.” In other words, the implication seems to be that interest in Tesla’s stock has gone beyond the realm of active traders and experienced investor. Tesla’s surge has gone mainstream, and it may explain where the flood of buyers are coming from to bid up the stock. According to Google , autocomplete predictions are generated as the company’s algorithms “look at the real searches that happen on Google and show common and trending ones relevant to the characters that are entered and also related to your location and previous searches.” (Tesla’s rank in Google’s autocomplete suggestions held even when an incognito window without search history was opened by Yahoo Finance). Tesla stock advice is a top recommendation with Google's autocomplete. Screenshot as of Wednesday, February 5, 2020. More broadly, a Google Trends analysis as of Wednesday morning showed search interest for the query “tesla stock” peaked for the most recently reported week of January 26 to February 1. The number one most-related query to that search, according to Google, was “beyond meat stock,” another high-flying stock that saw a similar run-up in prices last year. And Tesla’s stock surge has earned it bubble-like comparisons on other measures as well: The stock on Tuesday hit overbought levels that exceeded Bitcoin at its peak, based on one technical indicator. Story continues Taken together, Tesla’s sudden spike in search interest in tandem with the surge in its stock price speaks to the broad intrigue of the company among bulls and bears alike. Left out But even though Tesla’s stock sits at the top of queries one of the world’s largest search engines, it’s probably not one of the top holdings for an investor holding a market portfolio. Despite having a market capitalization that exceeded Nike’s ( NKE ), and topped Ford’s ( F ) and General Motors’s ( GM) several times over as of Tuesday’s close, Tesla is not a member of the S&P 500. As Datatrek points out, to be considered for inclusion in the S&P 500 – the most popular large cap index – a company must have its trailing four quarters of reported GAAP earnings be positive. It must also delivered positive GAAP earnings in its most recently reported quarter. Tesla otherwise meets other requirements, including having a U.S. domicile, a single class of stock, liquidity and at least six to 12 months of “seasoning” as a public company. Tesla’s last four quarters of GAAP earnings totaled negative $862 million, Datatrek noted in its analysis. Tesla could be eligible for inclusion if it posted a first-quarter profit of at least $161 million, offsetting a second-quarter 2019 loss given that its third- and fourth-quarter earnings were positive by a combined $248 million. “The bottom line here: index based investing, especially tied to S&P criteria, misses important disruptive companies while hanging on for dear life to the disrupted,” Colas wrote. “Despite TSLA’s unquestioned popularity, only 4.2% of its float sits in ETFs, versus 7.3% for GM and 8.2% for Ford,” he said. “It’s easy to make a case for why it should be the other way around, even if TSLA’s valuation were actually reasonable rather than stratospheric.” — Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck Read more from Emily: Bridgewater: Stocks are more expensive in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world Netflix 4Q subscriber growth tops expectations, but guidance disappoints Tesla 4Q earnings top expectations, company sees 500K+ deliveries in 2020 Why traders playing oil like it’s 2010 are ‘getting their heads handed to them’ Valuations aren’t overstretched after record year for stocks, strategist says Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , Flipboard , LinkedIn , and reddit . Find live stock market quotes and the latest business and finance news || Lightning Labs Raises $10M Series A to Be the ‘Visa’ of Bitcoin: Lightning Labs has raised $10 million in Series A financing as it gears up to launch its first paid service for merchants looking to accept bitcoin payments.
Craft Ventures led the round, with Managing Director Brian Murray joining Lightning Labs’ board of directors. Other investors include Slow Ventures, former Goldman Sachs co-head of securities David Heller, Avichal Garg of Electric Capital and Ribbit Capital.
The funding round suggests some investors see the San Francisco-based startup as one of the few protocol-oriented firms with a prospective business model.
Related:Fidelity’s VC Arm Leads $13M Series A for Blockchain-Based B2B Network Clear
“If bitcoin is going to reach its potential as a viable global currency, it’s going to need to scale beyond the base layer,” Murray said. “Similar to how Visa relieves banks from handling all fiat currency traffic, Lightning relieves the base bitcoin chain from handing all transactions, thus bring more speed and fee efficiency to the network.”
Stepping back, Lightning Labs released a beta version of the scaling solution LND in2018and previously raised $2.5 million in a seed round from investors including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Square executive Jacqueline Reses, litecoin creator Charlie Lee and former PayPal COO David Sacks. Lightning Labs also launched a mobile wallet app inJune 2019, and as of today the company is offering a paid service calledLightning Loop.
Loopaims to help merchants manage their payment channels more effectively. Lightning payment channels need to have bitcoin in them in order to stay open, which is a problem for those who actually use these channels without a perfectly balanced in-and-out flow.
“Loop ‘in’ helps people put funds into their existing channel … kind of like a prepaid debit card for a lightning account,” Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark said. “Loop ‘out’ is currently the most popular product because it allows people to continue receiving funds on lightning.”
Related:Pantera, Square Join $14M Series A for Real-Time Payments Startup Transparent
This service, which will charge a small percentage of each full loop, helps merchants and exchanges maintain liquidity in the channels.
With nearly a dozen lightningstartupssprouting up over the past two years, Stark said her startup will distinguish itself by becoming an “infrastructure provider” to other startups.
The first Lightning Conference in Berlin attracted 500 participants in 2019, so there may initially be a small pool of developers and service providers willing to pay for back-end support. “The way I see it, there will be an aggregate of financial services, of which Loop is one, and you can batch all of those,” Stark said. “The blockchain becomes an anchor layer for other Layer 2 services on lightning.”
One example might include the shopping appFold, which processed roughly1,600 lightning paymentsduring the 2019 holiday shopping season.
“We’re growing fast and Lightning Labs’ loop service makes it simple to manage our lightning node’s liquidity, letting our team focus on building out great user experiences that bring lightning to the world,” Fold’s Will Reeves told CoinDesk.
Beyond Loop, Stark said her startup will focus on options for larger payment channels in 2020, both opt-in channels that can individually hold more than $1,500 andAtomic Multi-Path Payments, which break payments into smaller parts and are able to return the whole amount if all the small parts don’t promptly arrive at the same recipient.
River FinancialCEO Alexander Leishman said his exchange startup, which uses LND to offer users lightningliquidityand trading functions, said Lightning Labs andACINQare the only two startups in the space focused on the “nitty gritty” of protocol development.
“If it allows us to support larger amounts [of bitcoin] off-chain, it improves the experience for our users. We’ve already had users that are frustrated with the [Lightning Network’s] limits,” Leishman said. “Services that would make [lightning transactions] easy for us are definitely of interest.”
Stark, who is an adviser to Leishman’s exchange, said her goal for Lightning Labs is to enable automated services so the network will “just work” without clients needing to tamper with channel allocation and flows. The peer-to-peer messaging appSphinxalso uses LND, which Murray said is only possible because of what Lightning Labs is building.
“Lightning Labs is building the channels for bitcoin to fulfill its promise as a medium of exchange, a means of micropayment, as remittance infrastructure, and much more,” investor Jill Carlson of Slow Ventures said in a press release.
Murray agreed, adding he strongly believes the infrastructure behind popular mobile apps will “take a different shape” over the next decade because it will enable direct payments between peers instead of reliance on a third-party provider that monetizes user data.
In the meantime, Stark is optimistically curious about the ability to send “small amounts of data and have payments attached to them.”
Speaking more broadly of the batched services Lightning Labs will offer by this time in 2021, she concluded: “These are lightning-native financial services that help improve the network.”
• Intermex Partners With Ripple for XRP-Based Remittance Corridor
• Sony VC Fund Joins ‘Over $14M’ Funding Round for Digital Asset Platform Securitize || Lightning Labs Raises $10M Series A to Be the ‘Visa’ of Bitcoin: Lightning Labs has raised $10 million in Series A financing as it gears up to launch its first paid service for merchants looking to accept bitcoin payments.
Craft Ventures led the round, with Managing Director Brian Murray joining Lightning Labs’ board of directors. Other investors include Slow Ventures, former Goldman Sachs co-head of securities David Heller, Avichal Garg of Electric Capital and Ribbit Capital.
The funding round suggests some investors see the San Francisco-based startup as one of the few protocol-oriented firms with a prospective business model.
Related:Fidelity’s VC Arm Leads $13M Series A for Blockchain-Based B2B Network Clear
“If bitcoin is going to reach its potential as a viable global currency, it’s going to need to scale beyond the base layer,” Murray said. “Similar to how Visa relieves banks from handling all fiat currency traffic, Lightning relieves the base bitcoin chain from handing all transactions, thus bring more speed and fee efficiency to the network.”
Stepping back, Lightning Labs released a beta version of the scaling solution LND in2018and previously raised $2.5 million in a seed round from investors including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Square executive Jacqueline Reses, litecoin creator Charlie Lee and former PayPal COO David Sacks. Lightning Labs also launched a mobile wallet app inJune 2019, and as of today the company is offering a paid service calledLightning Loop.
Loopaims to help merchants manage their payment channels more effectively. Lightning payment channels need to have bitcoin in them in order to stay open, which is a problem for those who actually use these channels without a perfectly balanced in-and-out flow.
“Loop ‘in’ helps people put funds into their existing channel … kind of like a prepaid debit card for a lightning account,” Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark said. “Loop ‘out’ is currently the most popular product because it allows people to continue receiving funds on lightning.”
Related:Pantera, Square Join $14M Series A for Real-Time Payments Startup Transparent
This service, which will charge a small percentage of each full loop, helps merchants and exchanges maintain liquidity in the channels.
With nearly a dozen lightningstartupssprouting up over the past two years, Stark said her startup will distinguish itself by becoming an “infrastructure provider” to other startups.
The first Lightning Conference in Berlin attracted 500 participants in 2019, so there may initially be a small pool of developers and service providers willing to pay for back-end support. “The way I see it, there will be an aggregate of financial services, of which Loop is one, and you can batch all of those,” Stark said. “The blockchain becomes an anchor layer for other Layer 2 services on lightning.”
One example might include the shopping appFold, which processed roughly1,600 lightning paymentsduring the 2019 holiday shopping season.
“We’re growing fast and Lightning Labs’ loop service makes it simple to manage our lightning node’s liquidity, letting our team focus on building out great user experiences that bring lightning to the world,” Fold’s Will Reeves told CoinDesk.
Beyond Loop, Stark said her startup will focus on options for larger payment channels in 2020, both opt-in channels that can individually hold more than $1,500 andAtomic Multi-Path Payments, which break payments into smaller parts and are able to return the whole amount if all the small parts don’t promptly arrive at the same recipient.
River FinancialCEO Alexander Leishman said his exchange startup, which uses LND to offer users lightningliquidityand trading functions, said Lightning Labs andACINQare the only two startups in the space focused on the “nitty gritty” of protocol development.
“If it allows us to support larger amounts [of bitcoin] off-chain, it improves the experience for our users. We’ve already had users that are frustrated with the [Lightning Network’s] limits,” Leishman said. “Services that would make [lightning transactions] easy for us are definitely of interest.”
Stark, who is an adviser to Leishman’s exchange, said her goal for Lightning Labs is to enable automated services so the network will “just work” without clients needing to tamper with channel allocation and flows. The peer-to-peer messaging appSphinxalso uses LND, which Murray said is only possible because of what Lightning Labs is building.
“Lightning Labs is building the channels for bitcoin to fulfill its promise as a medium of exchange, a means of micropayment, as remittance infrastructure, and much more,” investor Jill Carlson of Slow Ventures said in a press release.
Murray agreed, adding he strongly believes the infrastructure behind popular mobile apps will “take a different shape” over the next decade because it will enable direct payments between peers instead of reliance on a third-party provider that monetizes user data.
In the meantime, Stark is optimistically curious about the ability to send “small amounts of data and have payments attached to them.”
Speaking more broadly of the batched services Lightning Labs will offer by this time in 2021, she concluded: “These are lightning-native financial services that help improve the network.”
• Intermex Partners With Ripple for XRP-Based Remittance Corridor
• Sony VC Fund Joins ‘Over $14M’ Funding Round for Digital Asset Platform Securitize || Lightning Labs Raises $10M Series A to Be the ‘Visa’ of Bitcoin: Lightning Labs has raised $10 million in Series A financing as it gears up to launch its first paid service for merchants looking to accept bitcoin payments. Craft Ventures led the round, with Managing Director Brian Murray joining Lightning Labs’ board of directors. Other investors include Slow Ventures, former Goldman Sachs co-head of securities David Heller, Avichal Garg of Electric Capital and Ribbit Capital. The funding round suggests some investors see the San Francisco-based startup as one of the few protocol-oriented firms with a prospective business model. Related: Fidelity’s VC Arm Leads $13M Series A for Blockchain-Based B2B Network Clear “If bitcoin is going to reach its potential as a viable global currency, it’s going to need to scale beyond the base layer,” Murray said. “Similar to how Visa relieves banks from handling all fiat currency traffic, Lightning relieves the base bitcoin chain from handing all transactions, thus bring more speed and fee efficiency to the network.” Stepping back, Lightning Labs released a beta version of the scaling solution LND in 2018 and previously raised $2.5 million in a seed round from investors including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Square executive Jacqueline Reses, litecoin creator Charlie Lee and former PayPal COO David Sacks. Lightning Labs also launched a mobile wallet app in June 2019 , and as of today the company is offering a paid service called Lightning Loop . Loop aims to help merchants manage their payment channels more effectively. Lightning payment channels need to have bitcoin in them in order to stay open, which is a problem for those who actually use these channels without a perfectly balanced in-and-out flow. “Loop ‘in’ helps people put funds into their existing channel … kind of like a prepaid debit card for a lightning account,” Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark said. “Loop ‘out’ is currently the most popular product because it allows people to continue receiving funds on lightning.” Story continues Related: Pantera, Square Join $14M Series A for Real-Time Payments Startup Transparent This service, which will charge a small percentage of each full loop, helps merchants and exchanges maintain liquidity in the channels. With nearly a dozen lightning startups sprouting up over the past two years, Stark said her startup will distinguish itself by becoming an “infrastructure provider” to other startups. The first Lightning Conference in Berlin attracted 500 participants in 2019, so there may initially be a small pool of developers and service providers willing to pay for back-end support. “The way I see it, there will be an aggregate of financial services, of which Loop is one, and you can batch all of those,” Stark said. “The blockchain becomes an anchor layer for other Layer 2 services on lightning.” One example might include the shopping app Fold , which processed roughly 1,600 lightning payments during the 2019 holiday shopping season. “We’re growing fast and Lightning Labs’ loop service makes it simple to manage our lightning node’s liquidity, letting our team focus on building out great user experiences that bring lightning to the world,” Fold’s Will Reeves told CoinDesk. Infrastructure spending Beyond Loop, Stark said her startup will focus on options for larger payment channels in 2020, both opt-in channels that can individually hold more than $1,500 and Atomic Multi-Path Payments , which break payments into smaller parts and are able to return the whole amount if all the small parts don’t promptly arrive at the same recipient. River Financial CEO Alexander Leishman said his exchange startup, which uses LND to offer users lightning liquidity and trading functions, said Lightning Labs and ACINQ are the only two startups in the space focused on the “nitty gritty” of protocol development. “If it allows us to support larger amounts [of bitcoin] off-chain, it improves the experience for our users. We’ve already had users that are frustrated with the [Lightning Network’s] limits,” Leishman said. “Services that would make [lightning transactions] easy for us are definitely of interest.” Stark, who is an adviser to Leishman’s exchange, said her goal for Lightning Labs is to enable automated services so the network will “just work” without clients needing to tamper with channel allocation and flows. The peer-to-peer messaging app Sphinx also uses LND, which Murray said is only possible because of what Lightning Labs is building. “Lightning Labs is building the channels for bitcoin to fulfill its promise as a medium of exchange, a means of micropayment, as remittance infrastructure, and much more,” investor Jill Carlson of Slow Ventures said in a press release. Murray agreed, adding he strongly believes the infrastructure behind popular mobile apps will “take a different shape” over the next decade because it will enable direct payments between peers instead of reliance on a third-party provider that monetizes user data. In the meantime, Stark is optimistically curious about the ability to send “small amounts of data and have payments attached to them.” Speaking more broadly of the batched services Lightning Labs will offer by this time in 2021, she concluded: “These are lightning-native financial services that help improve the network.” Related Stories Intermex Partners With Ripple for XRP-Based Remittance Corridor Sony VC Fund Joins ‘Over $14M’ Funding Round for Digital Asset Platform Securitize || ICE Snaps Up Loyalty Program Provider Bridge2 to Boost Bakkts Consumer Play: Bakkt is getting bigger. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the bitcoin warehouses parent company, announced Wednesday it had agreed to acquire Bridge2 Solutions, a loyalty solution provider for both merchants and consumers. Bakkt, in turn, will use its funds from its ongoing Series B fundraising round to acquire Bridge2 and apply its tools to its consumer app. In a statement, Bakkt CEO Mike Blandina wrote, With the launch of the Bakkt app, we will, for the first time, offer consumers a robust platform to consolidate and use all of their digital assets, from crypto to loyalty points to in game tokens, in one user-friendly wallet. Related: Iowa Caucus App Fiasco Shows Need for Open Source Transparency Bakkt will take advantage of Bridge2s current relationships with banks and merchants, as well as its Loyalty Pay solution to launch products, he said. The company revealed its intention to build a mobile consumer app in October, when Blandina, then the chief product officer, wrote in a blog post that Bakkt was hoping to make it easy for consumers to discover and unlock the value of digital assets, as well as facilitate transactions and tracking. Merchants gain access to a broader set of customers with expanded spending power, Blandina wrote at the time. The app is likely to support more than just bitcoin, though a specific list of supported assets or other virtual forms of value have not yet been released. Related: Options Growth Will Ignite Innovation in the Bitcoin Market But Not in the Way You Think Bakkt previously announced it was targeting a launch date in the first half of 2020. Bakkt launched last year as an institutional-focused bitcoin warehouse, offering futures and options contracts in conjunction with parent company ICE. Its former CEO, Kelly Loeffler, was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, leading to Blandinas and COO Adam Whites elevations to the CEO and president roles, respectively. Related Stories Crypto News Roundup for Jan. 30, 2020 Literally No One Is Trading Bakkts Bitcoin Options || ICE Snaps Up Loyalty Program Provider Bridge2 to Boost Bakkt’s Consumer Play: Bakkt is getting bigger.
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the bitcoin warehouse’s parent company,announced Wednesdayit had agreed to acquire Bridge2 Solutions, a loyalty solution provider for both merchants and consumers. Bakkt, in turn, will use its funds from its ongoing Series B fundraising round to acquire Bridge2 and apply its tools to its consumer app.
In a statement, Bakkt CEO Mike Blandina wrote, “With the launch of the Bakkt app, we will, for the first time, offer consumers a robust platform to consolidate and use all of their digital assets, from crypto to loyalty points to in game tokens, in one user-friendly wallet.”
Related:Iowa Caucus App Fiasco Shows Need for Open Source Transparency
Bakkt will take advantage of Bridge2’s current relationships with banks and merchants, as well as its “Loyalty Pay solution” to launch products, he said.
The companyrevealed its intention to build a mobile consumer appin October, when Blandina, then the chief product officer, wrote in a blog post that Bakkt was hoping to “make it easy for consumers to discover and unlock the value of digital assets,” as well as facilitate transactions and tracking.
“Merchants gain access to a broader set of customers with expanded spending power,” Blandina wrote at the time.
The app is likely to support more than just bitcoin, though a specific list of supported assets or other virtual forms of value have not yet been released.
Related:Options Growth Will Ignite Innovation in the Bitcoin Market – But Not in the Way You Think
Bakkt previously announced it was targeting a launch date in the first half of 2020.
Bakkt launched last year as an institutional-focused bitcoin warehouse, offering futures and options contracts in conjunction with parent company ICE. Its former CEO, Kelly Loeffler, was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, leading to Blandina’s and COO Adam White’s elevations to the CEO and president roles, respectively.
• Crypto News Roundup for Jan. 30, 2020
• Literally No One Is Trading Bakkt’s Bitcoin Options || 5 Numbers That Sum Up Trading Activity On OTC Markets In 2019: More than 10,000 securities trade on OTC Markets. Broken up into three tiersOTCQX, OTCQB, and Pinkthe OTC Markets connect U.S. investors with issuers from 38 countries and dozens of emerging industries. Below are five stats that sum up trading activity on OTC Markets top two tiers, OTCQX and OTCQB, in 2019: 10,755 The number of securities on OTC Markets as of December 31, 2019, up from 10,465 at the end of 2018 and more than the NYSE and Nasdaq combined. That figure includes 489 securities on the OTCQX Best Market, the top tier of OTC Markets typically for more established companies, and 959 on OTCQB Venture Market, the middle tier typically for emerging companies. 332 The number of securities added to the OTCQX and OTCQB Markets in 2019, slightly lower from the 369 that were added in 2018. Notable new names include the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (OTCQX: ETHE), an open-ended trust that holds Ethereum, and G5 Entertainment AB (OTCQX: GENTF), a Swedish developer and publisher of mobile games. The number includes securities that upgraded to different markets during the year. For example, Hugo Boss AG (OTCQX: BOSSY), which upgraded to the OTCQX Market from the Pink market in November, and KushCo Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: KSHB), which upgraded to OTCQX from the OTCQB Venture Market in May. $82.745 billion The total combined 2019 dollar volume of all the securities on the OTCQX and OTCQB Markets. June was the month with the highest dollar volume on OTCQX, while September was the top month on OTCQB. 12 The number of countries represented among the 50 most actively traded (by dollar volume) securities on OTCQX. Twenty-three of the most-traded companies on OTC Markets in 2019 hail from North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico), 24 from Europe (France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom), one from South America (Brazil), and two from Australia. 14 The number of securities that experienced more than $1 billion in dollar trading volume in 2019. Of those 14, four trade on OTCQB and 10 trade on OTCQX. Story continues Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche was the only security to top the $10 billion volume threshold (approximately $10.95 billion worth of Roche shares traded), while the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust finished second with roughly $9.6 billion worth of shares traded. Below are the top 20 most traded securities on the OTCQX and OTCQB markets in 2019 and their corresponding dollar volume. Roche Holding Ltd (OTCQX: RHBBY) OTCQX Switzerland $10,953,932,470 Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC) (OTCQX: GBTC) OTCQX USA $9,619,684,425 Danone (OTCQX: DANOY) OTCQX France $2,423,997,538 Imperial Brands PLC (OTCQX: IMBBY) OTCQX United Kingdom $2,219,629,098 Charlotte's Web Hldgs Inc. (OTCQX: CWBHF) OTCQX USA $1,835,142,907 BNP Paribas (OTCQX: BNPQY) OTCQX France $1,708,943,692 Adidas AG (OTCQX: ADDYY) OTCQX Germany $1,481,660,075 BASF SE (OTCQX: BASFY) OTCQX Germany $1,306,660,533 Infineon Technologies AG (OTCQX: IFNNY) OTCQX Germany $1,298,380,864 Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTCQX: CURLF) OTCQX USA $1,088,115,648 Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) OTCQB USA $4,891,283,402 Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMAS) OTCQB USA $4,300,546,502 Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCKJ) OTCQB USA $3,550,202,161 Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) OTCQB USA $2,018,521,234 AXA (OTCQX: AXAHY) OTCQX France $935,140,570 Deutsche Telekom AG (OTCQX: DTEGY) OTCQX Germany $844,535,954 CV Sciences (OTCQB: CVSI) OTCQB USA $834,122,759 Repsol S.A. (OTCQX: REPYY) OTCQX Spain $734,024,351 Acreage Holdings Inc. (OTCQX: ACRGF) OTCQX USA $726,638,358 Anglo American plc (OTCQX: NGLOY) OTCQX United Kingdom $722,961,772 Image Source: Pixabay Show Advertiser Disclosure See more from Benzinga PreMarket Prep Recap, Feb. 4, 2020: TSLA Continues Its Unbelievable Move Exploring The SEC Plan That May Change How Over-The-Counter Securities Are Quoted 10 Cannabis Executives Present Their Plans For 2020 And Beyond © 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || 5 Numbers That Sum Up Trading Activity On OTC Markets In 2019: More than 10,000 securities trade on OTC Markets. Broken up into three tiers—OTCQX, OTCQB, and Pink—the OTC Markets connect U.S. investors with issuers from 38 countries and dozens of emerging industries.
Below are five stats that sum up trading activity on OTC Markets’ top two tiers, OTCQX and OTCQB, in 2019:
10,755
The number of securities on OTC Markets as of December 31, 2019, up from 10,465 at the end of 2018 and more than the NYSE and Nasdaq combined. That figure includes 489 securities on the OTCQX Best Market, the top tier of OTC Markets typically for more established companies, and 959 on OTCQB Venture Market, the middle tier typically for emerging companies.
332
The number of securities added to the OTCQX and OTCQB Markets in 2019, slightly lower from the 369 that were added in 2018. Notable new names include theGrayscale Ethereum Trust(OTCQX: ETHE), an open-ended trust that holds Ethereum, andG5 Entertainment AB(OTCQX: GENTF), a Swedish developer and publisher of mobile games.
The number includes securities that upgraded to different markets during the year. For example,Hugo Boss AG(OTCQX: BOSSY), which upgraded to the OTCQX Market from the Pink market in November, andKushCo Holdings, Inc.(OTCQX: KSHB), which upgraded to OTCQX from the OTCQB Venture Market in May.
$82.745 billion
The total combined 2019 dollar volume of all the securities on the OTCQX and OTCQB Markets. June was the month with the highest dollar volume on OTCQX, while September was the top month on OTCQB.
12
The number of countries represented among the 50 most actively traded (by dollar volume) securities on OTCQX. Twenty-three of the most-traded companies on OTC Markets in 2019 hail from North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico), 24 from Europe (France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom), one from South America (Brazil), and two from Australia.
14
The number of securities that experienced more than $1 billion in dollar trading volume in 2019. Of those 14, four trade on OTCQB and 10 trade on OTCQX.
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche was the only security to top the $10 billion volume threshold (approximately $10.95 billion worth of Roche shares traded), while the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust finished second with roughly $9.6 billion worth of shares traded.
Below are the top 20 most traded securities on the OTCQX and OTCQB markets in 2019 and their corresponding dollar volume.
[{"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC)(OTCQX: GBTC)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "USA", "$10,953,932,470": "$9,619,684,425"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Danone(OTCQX: DANOY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "France", "$10,953,932,470": "$2,423,997,538"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Imperial Brands PLC(OTCQX: IMBBY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "United Kingdom", "$10,953,932,470": "$2,219,629,098"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Charlotte's Web Hldgs Inc.(OTCQX: CWBHF)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "USA", "$10,953,932,470": "$1,835,142,907"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "BNP Paribas(OTCQX: BNPQY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "France", "$10,953,932,470": "$1,708,943,692"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Adidas AG(OTCQX: ADDYY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "Germany", "$10,953,932,470": "$1,481,660,075"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "BASF SE(OTCQX: BASFY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "Germany", "$10,953,932,470": "$1,306,660,533"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Infineon Technologies AG(OTCQX: IFNNY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "Germany", "$10,953,932,470": "$1,298,380,864"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Curaleaf Holdings Inc.(OTCQX: CURLF)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "USA", "$10,953,932,470": "$1,088,115,648"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Fannie Mae(OTCQB: FNMA)", "OTCQX": "OTCQB", "Switzerland": "USA", "$10,953,932,470": "$4,891,283,402"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Fannie Mae(OTCQB: FNMAS)", "OTCQX": "OTCQB", "Switzerland": "USA", "$10,953,932,470": "$4,300,546,502"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Freddie Mac(OTCQB: FMCKJ)", "OTCQX": "OTCQB", "Switzerland": "USA", "$10,953,932,470": "$3,550,202,161"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Freddie Mac(OTCQB: FMCC)", "OTCQX": "OTCQB", "Switzerland": "USA", "$10,953,932,470": "$2,018,521,234"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "AXA(OTCQX: AXAHY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "France", "$10,953,932,470": "$935,140,570"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Deutsche Telekom AG(OTCQX: DTEGY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "Germany", "$10,953,932,470": "$844,535,954"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "CV Sciences(OTCQB: CVSI)", "OTCQX": "OTCQB", "Switzerland": "USA", "$10,953,932,470": "$834,122,759"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Repsol S.A.(OTCQX: REPYY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "Spain", "$10,953,932,470": "$734,024,351"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Acreage Holdings Inc.(OTCQX: ACRGF)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "USA", "$10,953,932,470": "$726,638,358"}, {"Roche Holding Ltd(OTCQX: RHBBY)": "Anglo American plc(OTCQX: NGLOY)", "OTCQX": "OTCQX", "Switzerland": "United Kingdom", "$10,953,932,470": "$722,961,772"}]
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© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Jill Carlson, Meltem Demirors Back $3.3M Round for Non-Custodial Settlement Protocol Arwen: Arwen, a non-custodial settlement protocol developer, has raised $3.3 million in a funding round including Meltem Demirors at CoinShares and Jill Carlson at Slow Ventures. According to Arwen CEO and co-founder Sharon Goldberg, Slow Ventures led the round, which also included Collaborative Fund, Underscore VC and DG Lab Fund. The funding will help the Boston-based startup expand its non-custodial settlement system , a layer-2 protocol that secures “assets in motion” via atomic swaps , Goldberg said. In simpler terms, Arwen allows users to settle trades via an exchange’s hot wallet without actually handing over custody of the underlying asset. Related: Few Banks Will Touch Crypto Firms, but Silvergate Wants to Touch Bitcoin Itself The protocol currently supports bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum trades on the KuCoin exchange , though Goldberg said her company is in talks with “institutional partners” interested in using the service. Demirors said an announcement is expected in Q2 2020. Arwen’s non-custodial solution plays to high-dollar investors, according to Demirors – the type of trader that wants quick access to liquidity, but wants to avoid the risks associated with hot (online) wallets. She pointed out hackers have proven time and again through 2019 that centralized honeypots are vulnerable, valuable targets to strike. However, “this settlement technology can be used more broadly than just with centralized exchanges,” Goldberg said. In the long term, she sees Arwen providing settlement services to a wider market. Jill Carlson, who led the funding round with her firm Slow Ventures, is also bullish on the technology’s long-tail potential to impact markets beyond crypto. Related: Meltem Demirors on Government Digital Currencies and Why ‘The Halvening’ Gets Weird “This problem of efficient clearing and settlement without more risk, it’s not crypto specific,” she said, adding that traditional capital markets rely on a sluggish settlement process that could also stand to benefit. Story continues Carlson also identified another aspect of the Arwen funding round, one she said came more by circumstance than design: the deal’s major players are all women. “I think it’s really cool to see more and more female entrepreneurs in crypto,” she said. Related Stories Blockchain of Things Pays SEC $250,000 to Settle Unregistered ICO PODCAST: Meltem Demirors on the 3 Things Bitcoin Represents
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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9795.94, 9865.12, 10116.67, 9856.61, 10208.24, 10326.05, 10214.38, 10312.12, 9889.42, 9934.43
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 4328.41, 4370.81, 4426.89, 4610.48, 4772.02, 4781.99, 4826.48, 5446.91, 5647.21, 5831.79, 5678.19, 5725.59, 5605.51, 5590.69, 5708.52, 6011.45, 6031.60, 6008.42, 5930.32, 5526.64, 5750.80, 5904.83, 5780.90, 5753.09, 6153.85, 6130.53, 6468.40, 6767.31, 7078.50, 7207.76, 7379.95, 7407.41, 7022.76, 7144.38, 7459.69, 7143.58, 6618.14, 6357.60, 5950.07, 6559.49, 6635.75, 7315.54, 7871.69, 7708.99, 7790.15, 8036.49, 8200.64, 8071.26, 8253.55, 8038.77, 8253.69, 8790.92, 9330.55, 9818.35, 10058.80, 9888.61, 10233.60, 10975.60, 11074.60, 11323.20, 11657.20, 11916.70, 14291.50, 17899.70, 16569.40, 15178.20, 15455.40, 16936.80, 17415.40, 16408.20, 16564.00, 17706.90, 19497.40, 19140.80, 19114.20, 17776.70, 16624.60, 15802.90, 13831.80, 14699.20, 13925.80, 14026.60, 16099.80, 15838.50, 14606.50, 14656.20, 12952.20, 14156.40, 13657.20, 14982.10.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-01-02]
Volume: 16846600192, RSI (14-day): 51.77, 50-day EMA: 13121.92, 200-day EMA: 7634.11
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1313.70, Gold RSI: 72.01
Oil Price: 60.37, Oil RSI: 67.96
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Verizon Wants to Help Build City Streets of the Future: "How can asphalt save the environment?" That's a question Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has posed on its website promoting Internet of Things (IoT) services. Perhaps a better question, though, is "What does Verizon have to do with asphalt?" As it turns out, the wireless provider thinks getting involved in smart-city construction has a lot of upside, and if cities are known for anything, it's asphalt. A wireless network under your tires If you live in the city, you likely have to deal with traffic. That's often accompanied by poor air quality from automobile emissions. According to Verizon, Americans spend over 8 billion hours a year stuck in traffic. And that's not just a waste of time, as a car that idles an hour a day emits 10 pounds of carbon dioxide during the course of a week. A raised freeway onramp and a traffic light. The words reduce CO2 are printed over the image. Image source: Verizon. The largest wireless provider in the U.S. thinks it has a solution. The company is embedding sensors into the asphalt on city roads, pairing them with cameras on traffic lights, and connecting the devices to its wireless network to analyze traffic. That data can then be used to help a city adjust traffic light timing and make other transportation infrastructure changes to optimize the flow of traffic. Verizon thinks that its "smart asphalt" has the potential to significantly reduce fossil fuel emissions. It could also save us time by reducing the amount of traffic stops by up to 44%, according to the company, and save a collective $160 billion a year from costs related to traffic congestion. Verizon and the smart city Verizon's IoT business is still a small segment, with over $220 million in sales last quarter compared to $31.7 billion in total revenue. The company has been growing that segment by double digits, though, as wireless networks have become increasingly important to other services outside of mobile phones. Sacramento , Calif., is one place where Verizon is implementing these new services. The sensors have been placed in city streets and cameras have been installed to help analyze traffic in the state capital, and Verizon announced over the summer of 2017 that it would be spending $100 million on infrastructure to provide Wi-Fi in parks and expand its fiber optic network. Story continues A picture of a white Volkswagen sedan being controlled from a smartphone. Image source: Verizon. Sacramento will also be one of a handful of cities in which Verizon starts offering 5G network access in 2018. 5G will be more than faster data for smartphones; the aim is for the next-gen network to be a legitimate contender against broadband internet providers for homes and businesses. The technology could also be instrumental in enabling the use of self-driving vehicles, remote healthcare, and smart-city initiatives like internet-connected asphalt. What all this means It is still early on in the IoT movement, and Verizon's "smart asphalt" is but one example of how new technology is being implemented in new ways. As Wi-Fi availability expands and network reliability and speeds increase, expect the internet and connection-enabling technology to become a more integral part of our lives. For Verizon, that means more uses for its telecom network, which is beginning to look more like an internet service provider than anything. If the company is able to demonstrate success in its new smart-city and 5G initiatives, expect its IoT division to grow exponentially and become an increasingly important segment of the overall business. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Nicholas Rossolillo owns shares of Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Verizon Wants to Help Build City Streets of the Future: "How can asphalt save the environment?" That's a questionVerizon(NYSE: VZ)has posed on its website promoting Internet of Things (IoT) services. Perhaps a better question, though, is "What does Verizon have to do with asphalt?" As it turns out, the wireless provider thinks getting involved in smart-city construction has a lot of upside, and if cities are known for anything, it's asphalt.
If you live in the city, you likely have to deal with traffic. That's often accompanied by poor air quality from automobile emissions. According to Verizon, Americans spend over 8 billion hours a year stuck in traffic. And that's not just a waste of time, as a car that idles an hour a day emits 10 pounds of carbon dioxide during the course of a week.
Image source: Verizon.
The largest wireless provider in the U.S. thinks it has a solution. The company is embedding sensors into the asphalt on city roads, pairing them with cameras on traffic lights, and connecting the devices to its wireless network to analyze traffic. That data can then be used to help a city adjust traffic light timing and make other transportation infrastructure changes to optimize the flow of traffic.
Verizon thinks that its "smart asphalt" has the potential to significantly reduce fossil fuel emissions. It could also save us time by reducing the amount of traffic stops by up to 44%, according to the company, and save a collective $160 billion a year from costs related to traffic congestion.
Verizon'sIoT businessis still a small segment, with over $220 million in sales last quarter compared to $31.7 billion in total revenue. The company has been growing that segment by double digits, though, as wireless networks have become increasingly important to other services outside of mobile phones.
Sacramento , Calif., is one place where Verizon is implementing these new services. The sensors have been placed in city streets and cameras have been installed to help analyze traffic in the state capital, and Verizon announced over the summer of 2017 that it would be spending $100 million on infrastructure to provide Wi-Fi in parks and expand its fiber optic network.
Image source: Verizon.
Sacramento will also be one of a handful of cities in which Verizon starts offering 5G network access in 2018. 5G will be more than faster data for smartphones; the aim is for the next-gen network to be a legitimate contender against broadband internet providers for homes and businesses. The technology could also be instrumental in enabling the use of self-driving vehicles, remote healthcare, and smart-city initiatives like internet-connected asphalt.
It is still early on in the IoT movement, and Verizon's "smart asphalt" is but one example of how new technology is being implemented in new ways. As Wi-Fi availability expands and network reliability and speeds increase, expect the internet and connection-enabling technology to become a more integral part of our lives.
For Verizon, that means more uses for its telecom network, which is beginning to look more like an internet service provider than anything. If the company is able to demonstrate success in its new smart-city and 5G initiatives, expect its IoT division to grow exponentially and become an increasingly important segment of the overall business.
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Nicholas Rossolilloowns shares of Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || CNN Reporter Celebrates New Year’s Eve and Legal Recreational Pot by Lighting Reveler’s Bong: AsCalifornia prepared to legalize marijuana sales, CNN reporter Randi Kaye ended 2017 on a “high” note, covering New Year’s Eve in Colorado, where recreational cannabis has been legal since 2012.
Giving the Sunshine State a glimpse of its future, the CNN News fixture handled joints at a “paint and puff” party and even lit a gas mask bong for one reveler.
“I just want to point out, that this is all legal in Colorado,” host Anderson Cooper told co-host Andy Cohen.
While Kaye did not appear to partake in any drug use herself, Twitter users provided commentary as she rode a pot bus, which took revelers to various pot-related stops, including a marijuana grow house.
But not everyone was loving CNN’s cannabis-friendly coverage. Some people online noted their distaste of the report.
This could be, in part, because it’s become exceedingly rare to watch people even smoke tobacco on television. A 1971 law barred cigarette advertisements from the small screen, and a 1986 follow-up added smokeless products to the banned ads. Television programming followed suit, with fewer characters sparking their lighters in subsequent years.
But this isn’t the first time that CNN and Kaye teamed up on marijuana coverage. Here’s a 2014 clip about a previous Kaye “joint” investigation:
See original article on Fortune.com
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• Forget Obamacare. Congress Should Repeal and Replace This Instead.
• Cory Booker Is the Latest Politician to Try to Legalize Marijuana
• The Justice Department May Be Planning a Marijuana Crackdown
• Bitcoin, Pot Startups Embrace Regulations to Succeed || 2 Warren Buffett Stocks to Consider Buying Now: A $1,000 investment in Berkshire Hathaway stock in 1965 -- the year Warren Buffett took control of the once-struggling New England textile mill -- would have been worth $15.3 million at the end of 2016. Suffice to say, it's worth your time to check out what stocks Berkshire Hathaway owns. Two of them worth considering right now are Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Restaurant Brands International (NYSE: QSR) . Apple store interior flooded with customers during iPhone X launch. Apple had a strong holiday quarter thanks to high demand for iPhone X. Image source: Apple. Apple is one of Berkshire's top bets Berkshire Hathaway owned 134,092,782 shares of Apple as of the most recent 13-F filing for the quarter ending in September 2017. Those shares are worth about $23 billion at the stock's current price. Berkshire Hathaway first revealed a stake in Apple in 2016. In February 2017, Buffett summed up the case for investing in Apple, saying: Apple strikes me as having quite a sticky product and enormously useful product that people would use ... The continuity of the product is huge, and the degree to which their lives center around it is huge. And it's a pretty nice ... franchise to have with a consumer product. Apple's lead in retail sales per square foot is a telling sign of its brand strength. Apple leads all retailers with a whopping $5,546 of sales per square foot, according to research from CoStar. This ranks ahead of top jewelry brand Tiffany and also bucks the trend of declining sales per square foot for the retail industry over the last decade. Apple's success with its line of iPhones, iPads, and Macs is carrying over to growth in services revenue , which includes AppleCare protection plans, Apple Pay, Apple Music, and App Store and iTunes content. Services revenue grew 23% to $29.98 billion in fiscal 2017, about 13% of the total. Services generate much higher margins than sales of hardware, such as iPhones, and also provide Apple a fast-growing, predictable revenue stream. Services represents only 13% of Apple's total revenue, but management expects to double this source of revenue by 2020. Apple stock currently trades for 15 times fiscal 2018 earnings estimates, a discount to the S&P 500 Index P/E of 19.8 earnings. For those looking for income, Apple also sports a dividend yield of 1.4%, and a payout ratio of just 26%. Apple's cash-rich balance sheet and ability to pump out huge profits gives it a lot of wiggle room to increase that payout in the future. With services taking off, and demand for the new iPhone X expected to be strong , this could be a good time to think about joining the Oracle and adding shares of Apple to your nest egg. Story continues Corporate logos of Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen underneath logo of Restaurant Brands International. IMAGE SOURCE: RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL. A family of restaurant brands run by savvy investors A small, unrecognized, but appetizing investment listed in Berkshire Hathaway's most recent 13-F filing is Restaurant Brands International (RBI), the owner of fast-food chains Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Berkshire owned 8,438,225 shares at last report, worth $515 million at the time of this writing. To understand why Buffett likes RBI, we have to consider RBI's largest shareholder , 3G Capital, a Brazilian investment firm that Buffett has partnered with on previous deals (most notably the Kraft Heinz merger). In Berkshire Hathaway's 2015 shareholder letter, arren Buffett had high praise for 3G Capital co-founder Jorge Paulo Lemann and his partners: Jorge Paulo and his associates could not be better partners. We share with them a passion to buy, build and hold large businesses that satisfy basic needs and desires. 3G has made a name for itself by taking large stakes in well-known consumer goods companies and then improving their performance to position them for long-term growth. Its operating methods involve removing excess costs, improving margins, and using innovation and marketing to grow revenue. RBI believes the market opportunity internationally for its restaurant chains is several times the company's existing footprint. For example, while competitor Kentucky Fried Chicken has over 5,200 restaurants open in China, RBI's Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen only has 2,809 open worldwide . RBI's stock has only been trading for a few years, but investors clearly see the growth potential given the stock's relatively high P/E ratio of 31 times 2017 earnings estimates. RBI has grown adjusted earnings per share 59% cumulatively since 2015, and analysts forecast the company to grow earnings 19% annually over the next five years. RBI's growth potential coupled with the support of two very influential investors makes RBI a stock worth considering for the long term. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Ballard has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || 2 Warren Buffett Stocks to Consider Buying Now: A $1,000 investment inBerkshire Hathawaystock in 1965 -- the year Warren Buffett took control of the once-struggling New England textile mill -- would have been worth $15.3 million at the end of 2016. Suffice to say, it's worth your time to check out what stocks Berkshire Hathaway owns.
Two of them worth considering right now areApple(NASDAQ: AAPL)andRestaurant Brands International(NYSE: QSR).
Apple had a strong holiday quarter thanks to high demand for iPhone X. Image source: Apple.
Berkshire Hathaway owned 134,092,782 shares of Apple as of the most recent 13-F filing for the quarter ending in September 2017. Those shares are worth about $23 billion at the stock's current price. Berkshire Hathaway first revealed a stake in Apple in 2016.
In February 2017, Buffettsummedup the case for investing in Apple, saying:
Apple strikes me as having quite a sticky product and enormously useful product that people would use ... The continuity of the product is huge, and the degree to which their lives center around it is huge. And it's a pretty nice ... franchise to have with a consumer product.
Apple's lead in retail sales per square foot is a telling sign of its brand strength. Apple leads all retailers with a whopping $5,546 of sales per square foot, according to research from CoStar. This ranks ahead of top jewelry brandTiffanyand also bucks the trend of declining sales per square foot for the retail industry over the last decade.
Apple's success with its line of iPhones, iPads, and Macs is carrying over to growth inservices revenue, which includes AppleCare protection plans, Apple Pay, Apple Music, and App Store and iTunes content. Services revenue grew 23% to $29.98 billion in fiscal 2017, about 13% of the total.
Services generate much higher margins than sales of hardware, such as iPhones, and also provide Apple a fast-growing, predictable revenue stream. Services represents only 13% of Apple's total revenue, but management expects to double this source of revenue by 2020.
Apple stock currently trades for 15 times fiscal 2018 earnings estimates, a discount to the S&P 500 Index P/E of 19.8 earnings. For those looking for income, Apple also sports a dividend yield of 1.4%, and a payout ratio of just 26%. Apple's cash-rich balance sheet and ability to pump out huge profits gives it a lot of wiggle room to increase that payout in the future.
With services taking off, and demand for the new iPhone Xexpected to be strong, this could be a good time to think about joining the Oracle and adding shares of Apple to your nest egg.
IMAGE SOURCE: RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL.
A small, unrecognized, but appetizing investment listed in Berkshire Hathaway's most recent 13-F filing is Restaurant Brands International (RBI), the owner of fast-food chains Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Berkshire owned 8,438,225 shares at last report, worth $515 million at the time of this writing.
To understand why Buffett likes RBI, we have to consider RBI'slargest shareholder, 3G Capital, a Brazilian investment firm that Buffett has partnered with on previous deals (most notably theKraft Heinzmerger).
In Berkshire Hathaway's 2015 shareholder letter, arren Buffett had high praise for 3G Capital co-founder Jorge Paulo Lemann and his partners:
Jorge Paulo and his associates could not be better partners. We share with them a passion to buy, build and hold large businesses that satisfy basic needs and desires.
3G has made a name for itself by taking large stakes in well-known consumer goods companies and then improving their performance to position them for long-term growth. Its operating methods involve removing excess costs, improving margins, and using innovation and marketing to grow revenue.
RBI believes the market opportunity internationally for its restaurant chains is several times the company's existing footprint. For example, while competitor Kentucky Fried Chicken has over 5,200 restaurants open in China, RBI's Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen only has 2,809 openworldwide.
RBI's stock has only been trading for a few years, but investors clearly see the growth potential given the stock's relatively high P/E ratio of 31 times 2017 earnings estimates. RBI has grown adjusted earnings per share 59% cumulatively since 2015, and analysts forecast the company to grow earnings 19% annually over the next five years.
RBI's growth potential coupled with the support of two very influential investors makes RBI a stock worth considering for the long term.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
John Ballardhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Bitcoin Is Already Having a Bad Year: Bitcoin is already having a bad year.
For the first time since 2015, the cryptocurrency began a new year by tumbling, extending its slide from a record $19,511 reached on Dec. 18.
The virtual coin traded at $13,440 as of 3:55 p.m. in New York, down 6.1 percent from Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s also a fall from the $14,156 it hit Sunday, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks daily prices.
Bitcoin got off to a much stronger start last year, and then kept that momentum going, eventually creating a global frenzy for cryptocurrencies. In a sign of its phenomenal price gain in 2017, it rose 3.6 percent on the first day of 2017 to $998, data from coinmarketcap.com show. It ended the year up more than 1,300 percent.
That rally drew a growing number of competitors and last month brought bitcoin to Wall Street in the form of futures contracts. It reached the Dec. 18 peak hours after CME Group Inc. debuted its derivatives agreements, which some traders said would encourage short position-taking. || Bitcoin Is Already Having a Bad Year: Bitcoin is already having a bad year.
For the first time since 2015, the cryptocurrency began a new year by tumbling, extending its slide from a record $19,511 reached on Dec. 18.
The virtual coin traded at $13,440 as of 3:55 p.m. in New York, down 6.1 percent from Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's also a fall from the $14,156 it hit Sunday, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks daily prices.
Bitcoin got off to a much stronger start last year, and then kept that momentum going, eventually creating a global frenzy for cryptocurrencies. In a sign of its phenomenal price gain in 2017, it rose 3.6 percent on the first day of 2017 to $998, data from coinmarketcap.com show. It ended the year up more than 1,300 percent.
That rally drew a growing number of competitors and last month brought bitcoin to Wall Street in the form of futures contracts. It reached the Dec. 18 peak hours after CME Group Inc. debuted its derivatives agreements, which some traders said would encourage short position-taking.
See original article on Fortune.com
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• Forget Powerball and Mega Millions. This Bitcoin Lottery Has Better Odds || Bitcoin Is Already Having a Bad Year: Bitcoin is already having a bad year.
For the first time since 2015, the cryptocurrency began a new year by tumbling, extending its slide from a record $19,511 reached on Dec. 18.
The virtual coin traded at $13,440 as of 3:55 p.m. in New York, down 6.1 percent from Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s also a fall from the $14,156 it hit Sunday, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks daily prices.
Bitcoin got off to a much stronger start last year, and then kept that momentum going, eventually creating a global frenzy for cryptocurrencies. In a sign of its phenomenal price gain in 2017, it rose 3.6 percent on the first day of 2017 to $998, data from coinmarketcap.com show. It ended the year up more than 1,300 percent.
That rally drew a growing number of competitors and last month brought bitcoin to Wall Street in the form of futures contracts. It reached the Dec. 18 peak hours after CME Group Inc. debuted its derivatives agreements, which some traders said would encourage short position-taking. || Bitcoin Is Already Having a Bad Year: Bitcoin is already having a bad year.
For the first time since 2015, the cryptocurrency began a new year by tumbling, extending its slide from a record $19,511 reached on Dec. 18.
The virtual coin traded at $13,440 as of 3:55 p.m. in New York, down 6.1 percent from Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's also a fall from the $14,156 it hit Sunday, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks daily prices.
Bitcoin got off to a much stronger start last year, and then kept that momentum going, eventually creating a global frenzy for cryptocurrencies. In a sign of its phenomenal price gain in 2017, it rose 3.6 percent on the first day of 2017 to $998, data from coinmarketcap.com show. It ended the year up more than 1,300 percent.
That rally drew a growing number of competitors and last month brought bitcoin to Wall Street in the form of futures contracts. It reached the Dec. 18 peak hours after CME Group Inc. debuted its derivatives agreements, which some traders said would encourage short position-taking.
See original article on Fortune.com
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• Forget Powerball and Mega Millions. This Bitcoin Lottery Has Better Odds || Bitcoin Is Already Having a Bad Year: Bitcoin is already having a bad year. For the first time since 2015, the cryptocurrency began a new year by tumbling, extending its slide from a record $19,511 reached on Dec. 18. The virtual coin traded at $13,440 as of 3:55 p.m. in New York, down 6.1 percent from Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's also a fall from the $14,156 it hit Sunday, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks daily prices. Bitcoin got off to a much stronger start last year, and then kept that momentum going, eventually creating a global frenzy for cryptocurrencies. In a sign of its phenomenal price gain in 2017, it rose 3.6 percent on the first day of 2017 to $998, data from coinmarketcap.com show. It ended the year up more than 1,300 percent. That rally drew a growing number of competitors and last month brought bitcoin to Wall Street in the form of futures contracts. It reached the Dec. 18 peak hours after CME Group Inc. debuted its derivatives agreements, which some traders said would encourage short position-taking. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com A Major Cryptocurrency Platform Has Liquidated Its Customers' Bitcoin Cash for Bitcoin The Rise of Ripple: Cryptocurrency Price Surges 33% Bitcoin Keeps Its Head Above $14,000 Despite New South Korean Regulations Bitcoin Slumps After South Korea Explores Banning Exchanges. So Why Is Ripple Up? Forget Powerball and Mega Millions. This Bitcoin Lottery Has Better Odds || Bitcoin Is Already Having a Bad Year: Bitcoin is already having a bad year. For the first time since 2015, the cryptocurrency began a new year by tumbling, extending its slide from a record $19,511 reached on Dec. 18. The virtual coin traded at $13,440 as of 3:55 p.m. in New York, down 6.1 percent from Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Thats also a fall from the $14,156 it hit Sunday, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks daily prices. Bitcoin got off to a much stronger start last year, and then kept that momentum going, eventually creating a global frenzy for cryptocurrencies. In a sign of its phenomenal price gain in 2017, it rose 3.6 percent on the first day of 2017 to $998, data from coinmarketcap.com show. It ended the year up more than 1,300 percent. That rally drew a growing number of competitors and last month brought bitcoin to Wall Street in the form of futures contracts. It reached the Dec. 18 peak hours after CME Group Inc. debuted its derivatives agreements, which some traders said would encourage short position-taking. || Blockchain Technology–Have No Fear, Dive In: The blockchain concept has been around for some time now, but recently has begun to creep into the popular dialogue. If you are an attorney working outside the technology area, whether in-house or in a law firm, and even if you do work in the technology field, the term may still be foreign to you. Or, it may be synonymous in your mind with Bitcoin, the “cryptocurrency” that periodically dominates financial headlines. It may sound like the height of geekdom or the realm of financial speculators. But blockchain goes far beyond these areas. The single most important takeaway is that the words “blockchain” and Bitcoin don’t mean the same thing. Blockchain refers to an overall system of digital building blocks, a platform on which Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies are built. Many other applications can be built on this platform, as well, and many companies are already in existence, racing to do just that. If your company creates its own software, whether for internal use or as a customer offering, your developers may well be using or evaluating blockchain concepts in planning their next version of the software. Or your company’s vendors (including vendors of legal technology) may offer their next product in this format. Think of it like the internet. In the early days the internet was the language of geeks and nerds. But we have all come to take the internet for granted by now; it is the backbone of much of our daily lives. Blockchain has the potential to become this kind of fundamental, transformational technology although it likely will be some time before it becomes as ingrained as the internet. Blockchain is fundamentally nothing more than a sophisticated digital ledger system, that is for practical purposes highly resistant to hacking. It consists of a series of digital “blocks” of information, with each new block digitally linked to the immediately preceding block and then successively back to every single prior digital block all the way back to the very first piece of digital information in the chain. As series of blocks are added on to the system, each proposed addition to the chain goes through a process of being authenticated before it is verified as being part of the chain, requiring intensive computing power to do so. This characteristic makes it appealing as a way to create a trackable, auditable trail of data; it also results in a blockchain that is highly resistant to being hacked, since any change to a block would have to be digitally re-verified all the way back to that first block in the chain, as well. Imagine the massive computing power that would be required to chew through billions of tiny “blocks” of data every single time an alteration were attempted. These characteristics illustrate why blockchain is well-suited for creating artificial currencies such as Bitcoin, that can be tracked and audited without involvement of banks or other financial intermediaries. In coming months, you may also encounter blockchain technology in connection with your company’s or clients’ privacy policies, healthcare records, financial transactions and in many other areas. Regulators in the United States and throughout the world are looking at many aspects of this disruptive technology, trying to figure out what it is and struggling to keep up with rapid developments in the field as well. If you encounter a transaction based on blockchain, or if you are asked to review a “smart contract” based on blockchain, don’t be thrown by the unfamiliar terms. If a commercial relationship is documented based on blockchain technology, then as various contractual conditions are met or procedural steps completed, the conditions could be instantly and inalterably verified. But the basic concept of contract review would not be fundamentally different. Blockchain is evolving rapidly, and the field is ripe for innovation. A stream of new applications is on the near horizon, and some may appear on your desktop this year. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, or if you suddenly find yourself being asked to handle a project involving blockchain technology, have no fear. A quick search on the web will show many popular articles available on the topic (although you do have to weed out the Bitcoin-focused materials). Westlaw, ALI CLE, and even local bar associations and many other CLE sources, provide excellent introductory and more in-depth discussions both on the topic as a whole as well as specific details and definitions, and even those without technical backgrounds will be able to quickly gain a working understanding sufficient to dive in and manage many situations that may arise based on this rapidly evolving technology.Gail Papermaster is a corporate and transactions attorney based in Austin. She works with many technology companies and several of her clients are involved in cutting edge projects in the blockchain area. Papermaster is actively involved in the Austin technology, arts and music communities, and has been dubbed an honorary geek by her engineer friends. || Blockchain Technology–Have No Fear, Dive In: The blockchain concept has been around for some time now, but recently has begun to creep into the popular dialogue. If you are an attorney working outside the technology area, whether in-house or in a law firm, and even if you do work in the technology field, the term may still be foreign to you. Or, it may be synonymous in your mind with Bitcoin, the “cryptocurrency” that periodically dominates financial headlines. It may sound like the height of geekdom or the realm of financial speculators. But blockchain goes far beyond these areas. The single most important takeaway is that the words “blockchain” and Bitcoin don’t mean the same thing. Blockchain refers to an overall system of digital building blocks, a platform on which Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies are built. Many other applications can be built on this platform, as well, and many companies are already in existence, racing to do just that. If your company creates its own software, whether for internal use or as a customer offering, your developers may well be using or evaluating blockchain concepts in planning their next version of the software. Or your company’s vendors (including vendors of legal technology) may offer their next product in this format. Think of it like the internet. In the early days the internet was the language of geeks and nerds. But we have all come to take the internet for granted by now; it is the backbone of much of our daily lives. Blockchain has the potential to become this kind of fundamental, transformational technology although it likely will be some time before it becomes as ingrained as the internet. Blockchain is fundamentally nothing more than a sophisticated digital ledger system, that is for practical purposes highly resistant to hacking. It consists of a series of digital “blocks” of information, with each new block digitally linked to the immediately preceding block and then successively back to every single prior digital block all the way back to the very first piece of digital information in the chain. As series of blocks are added on to the system, each proposed addition to the chain goes through a process of being authenticated before it is verified as being part of the chain, requiring intensive computing power to do so. This characteristic makes it appealing as a way to create a trackable, auditable trail of data; it also results in a blockchain that is highly resistant to being hacked, since any change to a block would have to be digitally re-verified all the way back to that first block in the chain, as well. Imagine the massive computing power that would be required to chew through billions of tiny “blocks” of data every single time an alteration were attempted. These characteristics illustrate why blockchain is well-suited for creating artificial currencies such as Bitcoin, that can be tracked and audited without involvement of banks or other financial intermediaries. In coming months, you may also encounter blockchain technology in connection with your company’s or clients’ privacy policies, healthcare records, financial transactions and in many other areas. Regulators in the United States and throughout the world are looking at many aspects of this disruptive technology, trying to figure out what it is and struggling to keep up with rapid developments in the field as well. If you encounter a transaction based on blockchain, or if you are asked to review a “smart contract” based on blockchain, don’t be thrown by the unfamiliar terms. If a commercial relationship is documented based on blockchain technology, then as various contractual conditions are met or procedural steps completed, the conditions could be instantly and inalterably verified. But the basic concept of contract review would not be fundamentally different. Blockchain is evolving rapidly, and the field is ripe for innovation. A stream of new applications is on the near horizon, and some may appear on your desktop this year. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, or if you suddenly find yourself being asked to handle a project involving blockchain technology, have no fear. A quick search on the web will show many popular articles available on the topic (although you do have to weed out the Bitcoin-focused materials). Westlaw, ALI CLE, and even local bar associations and many other CLE sources, provide excellent introductory and more in-depth discussions both on the topic as a whole as well as specific details and definitions, and even those without technical backgrounds will be able to quickly gain a working understanding sufficient to dive in and manage many situations that may arise based on this rapidly evolving technology. Gail Papermaster is a corporate and transactions attorney based in Austin. She works with many technology companies and several of her clients are involved in cutting edge projects in the blockchain area. Papermaster is actively involved in the Austin technology, arts and music communities, and has been dubbed an honorary geek by her engineer friends. || Constellation Brands Earnings: 3 Things to Watch: Investors are expecting good news fromConstellation Brands(NYSE: STZ)when it posts fiscal third-quarter results on Thursday, Jan. 5. The overall beer and wine market may be sluggish, after all, but Constellation's portfolio dominates the premium niches that are expanding at a healthy pace right now.
Three months ago, Constellation raised its profit outlook followingsurprisingly strong earnings results. Let's look at the key trends that will determine whether the alcoholic beverage giant has another upgrade in store for investors this week.
Constellation has been soaking up beer market share as consumers increasingly opt for premium imported brands over value options. Budweiser ownerAnheuser-BuschInBev(NYSE: BUD), for example, last posted a 1.5% drop in global beer sales volumes, while Constellation Brands' shipments spiked 12%.
Image source: Getty Images.
Look for that performance gap to continue as its beer sales increase at a double-digit pace this quarter. Management will likely credit strong demand for the Corona and Modelo franchises, which together make the company the top high-end beer seller in the United States.
Constellation should also post improved profitability in the beer segment as it capitalizes on new distribution opportunities, increased prices, and innovative product launches. The gross margin expansion likely won't be as dramatic as last quarter's 4.2% surge that brought beer profitability to 41% of sales. That result benefited from peak summer production volume, after all. Still, Constellation should see more profitable beer sales that contribute to an overall increase in margins.
STZ operating margin (TTM)data byYCharts.
The wine and spirits business hasn't been nearly as successful in fiscal 2018. But its 5% volume growth last quarter -- and a slight uptick in profitability to 26% of sales -- outpaced most industry rivals.
Image source: Getty Images.
In the quarter that just closed, newly acquired wine brands like Charles Smith ideally will help protect that expansion. Meanwhile, Constellation recently launched an aggressive advertising program aimed at boosting sales during the peak wine selling season, and so investors should learn on Thursday whether that marketing strategy is working.
CEO Rob Sands and his executive team are calling for the wine and spirits segment to increase sales by 5% for the full year while the beer division expands at roughly double that pace. That prediction has held steady over the past two quarters, but it's still possible that the company will move it higher, or lower, depending on the latest operating trends. Overall profitability is projected to continue marching above 30% of sales thanks to a 7% increase in operating income.
Constellation Brands will spend over $1 billion on upgrading its Mexico-based beer operations this year as part of a$4.5 billion projectaimed at increasing production capacity and raising efficiency at its glass plant. The bad news is those capital expenditures will keep a lid on free cash flow, which is expected to range between $725 million and $825 million in fiscal 2018.
However, capital spending should start moderating in the upcoming fiscal year when executives plan to produce a record $1 billion in free cash flow. And if the business keeps posting healthy sales and profitability gains, investors should be in for rising cash returns.
Spiking free cash flow should be enough to fund solid increases in the dividend, which currently takes up less than 30% of earnings. At the same time, Constellation will have plenty of resources it can direct toward additional acquisitions in 2018 that bolster its position on the premium end of the beer, wine, and spirits niches.
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Demitrios Kalogeropouloshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Anheuser-Busch InBev NV. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Constellation Brands Earnings: 3 Things to Watch: Investors are expecting good news from Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) when it posts fiscal third-quarter results on Thursday, Jan. 5. The overall beer and wine market may be sluggish, after all, but Constellation's portfolio dominates the premium niches that are expanding at a healthy pace right now. Three months ago, Constellation raised its profit outlook following surprisingly strong earnings results . Let's look at the key trends that will determine whether the alcoholic beverage giant has another upgrade in store for investors this week. Buy me a beer Constellation has been soaking up beer market share as consumers increasingly opt for premium imported brands over value options. Budweiser owner Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) , for example, last posted a 1.5% drop in global beer sales volumes, while Constellation Brands' shipments spiked 12%. Four young adults drinking beer at a bar. Image source: Getty Images. Look for that performance gap to continue as its beer sales increase at a double-digit pace this quarter. Management will likely credit strong demand for the Corona and Modelo franchises, which together make the company the top high-end beer seller in the United States. Constellation should also post improved profitability in the beer segment as it capitalizes on new distribution opportunities, increased prices, and innovative product launches. The gross margin expansion likely won't be as dramatic as last quarter's 4.2% surge that brought beer profitability to 41% of sales. That result benefited from peak summer production volume, after all. Still, Constellation should see more profitable beer sales that contribute to an overall increase in margins. STZ Operating Margin (TTM) Chart STZ operating margin (TTM) data by YCharts . Peak wine season The wine and spirits business hasn't been nearly as successful in fiscal 2018. But its 5% volume growth last quarter -- and a slight uptick in profitability to 26% of sales -- outpaced most industry rivals. Red wine pouring into a glass. Image source: Getty Images. Story continues In the quarter that just closed, newly acquired wine brands like Charles Smith ideally will help protect that expansion. Meanwhile, Constellation recently launched an aggressive advertising program aimed at boosting sales during the peak wine selling season, and so investors should learn on Thursday whether that marketing strategy is working. CEO Rob Sands and his executive team are calling for the wine and spirits segment to increase sales by 5% for the full year while the beer division expands at roughly double that pace. That prediction has held steady over the past two quarters, but it's still possible that the company will move it higher, or lower, depending on the latest operating trends. Overall profitability is projected to continue marching above 30% of sales thanks to a 7% increase in operating income. Follow the cash Constellation Brands will spend over $1 billion on upgrading its Mexico-based beer operations this year as part of a $4.5 billion project aimed at increasing production capacity and raising efficiency at its glass plant. The bad news is those capital expenditures will keep a lid on free cash flow, which is expected to range between $725 million and $825 million in fiscal 2018. However, capital spending should start moderating in the upcoming fiscal year when executives plan to produce a record $1 billion in free cash flow. And if the business keeps posting healthy sales and profitability gains, investors should be in for rising cash returns. Spiking free cash flow should be enough to fund solid increases in the dividend, which currently takes up less than 30% of earnings. At the same time, Constellation will have plenty of resources it can direct toward additional acquisitions in 2018 that bolster its position on the premium end of the beer, wine, and spirits niches. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Anheuser-Busch InBev NV. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Rite Aid Stock Has a Lot to Prove on Wednesday: If there's life after a botched buyout for Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) , it has to start with a healthy financial report this week. The out-of-favor drugstore chain will post its fiscal third-quarter results shortly after Wednesday's market close. Rite Aid was one of 2017's worst performing stocks, plummeting 76% for the year. Investors never caught a break, with the stock declining sharply in nine of the past 12 months. Rite Aid began the year all set to be acquired by Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) . Even though regulators had already shown a reluctance to approve the deal as initially proposed in late 2015 -- Rite Aid was trading at a healthy discount to the proposed buyout terms -- not even bears could fathom Rite Aid's shares closing out the year below the $2 mark. The stock was trading above $6 the day before the original $17.2 billion buyout was announced. A Winter ad for Rite Aid. Image source: Rite Aid. Earnings its way back Analysts see revenue clocking in at $7.45 billion for the fiscal quarter ending in November. They also expect Rite Aid to post its third consecutive adjusted loss in Wednesday afternoon's report, but it's worth pointing out that all the adjusted deficits have been modest. Momentum isn't on Rite Aid's side, and we're not just talking about the cascading share price. Rite Aid's comps declined 3.4% in its previous quarter , as a 4.6% slide in pharmacy sales combined with a 0.9% dip in front-end sales. New generic introductions at lower price points held back pharmacy-side sales, but the results still would have been negative. Rite Aid has lost its way. The drugstore chain was clawing its way back into favor ahead of the Walgreens Boots Alliance buyout proposal. It was profitable with positive comps and growing sales, and that's obviously not where it's at right now. Life has been hard for Rite Aid investors since regulators nixed the combination of the two drugstore chains. The consolation prize is a $4.375 billion windfall from the sale of 1,932 stores , and the pressing issue here is what a slimmed-down Rite Aid will look like. The proceeds that recently began trickling in will help Rite aid pay down its gargantuan debt, but can Rite Aid succeed with a smaller footprint of stores? Rite Aid was already struggling from slumping sales as the result of being excluded from some pharmacy networks. Stubborn pharmacy reimbursement rates have also been an issue. Story continues Wednesday's report is important, as it's the out-of-favor chain's first report since it began handing over stores to Walgreens Boots Alliance. Rite Aid may still not have any real visibility as to what its operations will be like with a little more than half as many stores as it used to own, but since it had already warned of pharmacy margin pressure being a near-term concern, it could be that a lot of the potential bad news has already been discounted. Rite Aid may have been one of 2017's worst performers, but now it will have to step up as one of the first stocks to report fresh financials in 2018. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Rick Munarriz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Rite Aid Stock Has a Lot to Prove on Wednesday: If there's life after a botched buyout forRite Aid(NYSE: RAD), it has to start with a healthy financial report this week. The out-of-favor drugstore chain will post its fiscal third-quarter results shortly after Wednesday's market close.
Rite Aid was one of 2017's worst performing stocks, plummeting 76% for the year. Investors never caught a break, with the stock declining sharply in nine of the past 12 months. Rite Aid began the year all set to be acquired byWalgreens Boots Alliance(NASDAQ: WBA). Even though regulators had already shown a reluctance to approve the deal as initially proposed in late 2015 -- Rite Aid was trading at a healthy discount to the proposed buyout terms -- not even bears could fathom Rite Aid's shares closing out the year below the $2 mark. The stock was trading above $6 the day before the original $17.2 billion buyout was announced.
Image source: Rite Aid.
Analysts see revenue clocking in at $7.45 billion for the fiscal quarter ending in November. They also expect Rite Aid to post its third consecutive adjusted loss in Wednesday afternoon's report, but it's worth pointing out that all the adjusted deficits have been modest.
Momentum isn't on Rite Aid's side, and we're not just talking about the cascading share price. Rite Aid's comps declined 3.4% in itsprevious quarter, as a 4.6% slide in pharmacy sales combined with a 0.9% dip in front-end sales. New generic introductions at lower price points held back pharmacy-side sales, but the results still would have been negative.
Rite Aid has lost its way. The drugstore chain was clawing its way back into favor ahead of the Walgreens Boots Alliance buyout proposal. It was profitable with positive comps and growing sales, and that's obviously not where it's at right now.
Life has been hard for Rite Aid investors since regulators nixed the combination of the two drugstore chains. The consolation prize is a $4.375 billion windfall from thesale of 1,932 stores, and the pressing issue here is what a slimmed-down Rite Aid will look like. The proceeds that recently began trickling in will help Rite aid pay down its gargantuan debt, but can Rite Aid succeed with a smaller footprint of stores? Rite Aid was already struggling from slumping sales as the result of being excluded from some pharmacy networks. Stubborn pharmacy reimbursement rates have also been an issue.
Wednesday's report is important, as it's the out-of-favor chain's first report since it began handing over stores to Walgreens Boots Alliance. Rite Aid may still not have any real visibility as to what its operations will be like with a little more than half as many stores as it used to own, but since it had already warned of pharmacy margin pressure being a near-term concern, it could be that a lot of the potential bad news has already been discounted. Rite Aid may have been one of 2017's worst performers, but now it will have to step up as one of the first stocks to report fresh financials in 2018.
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Rick Munarrizhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Bitcoin Has Plunged by at Least 22% on 20 Separate Occasions Since April 2013: Forget Superman, there's a new hero in town. For the retail investor, cryptocurrencies proved to be out of this world in 2017, with numerous virtual coins delivering four-, five-, and in some rarer instances six-digit percentage gains during the year. Though arguable, it could be the single-greatest year we've ever witnessed for any asset class throughout history. Just how good were cryptocurrencies? At the end of 2016, the combined market cap of every single virtual coin combined equaled just $17.7 billion. However, by late December, the aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies combined had risen to as high as $654 billion. That's an increase in value of almost 3,600% in one year. Comparatively, the stock market has delivered historic returns of about 7% per year, inclusive of dividend reinvestment and adjusted for inflation. A physical gold bitcoin up close. Image source: Getty Images. Bitcoin carries cryptocurrencies to a record year Even though bitcoin technically underperformed its peers in 2017 on a percentage basis, it's still credited with having put the crypto craze on its back for years. Remember, this is a virtual coin that, when first traded at the start of this decade, could have been picked up from $0.003 per coin. Nowadays, bitcoin is vacillating between $13,000 and $17,000 per coin. Investors in bitcoin continue to be fascinated by its potential to be a payment facilitator, as well as its application of blockchain technology. Bitcoin currently has more merchants willing to accept its coin as legal tender than any other cryptocurrency. It's also a regulated form of tender in Japan as of mid-2017. For those unfamiliar with blockchain technology , think of it as the infrastructure that underlies most cryptocurrencies. It's the digital and decentralized ledger that's responsible for recording all transactions without the need for a third-party intermediary, which is often a bank. Bitcoin's blockchain set in motion the rush by hundreds of other cryptocurrencies to evolve new and unique blockchains to market to enterprise clients and retail consumers who crave decentralization, privacy, and efficiency. Blockchain has the potential to improve security, reduce transaction fees, and expedite settlement times, especially for cross-border transactions. Story continues News flash: Bitcoin plunges are really common However, bitcoin comes with more than just euphoria. It also comes with a ton of volatility. Retail investors are what predominantly drive its price, since institutional investors haven't been willing to trade on decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges. And it's no secret that retail investors tend to wear their emotions on their sleeves, leading to quick swings higher and lower in bitcoin. According to data aggregated by Mauldin Economics from Coindesk, bitcoin has plunged by a minimum of 22% from peak to trough 20 times since April 2013. As a reminder, Bitcoin crashes at least once per quarter pic.twitter.com/nUJpeS7lcT -- zerohedge (@zerohedge) Dec. 22, 2017 As you can see in the tweet above, bitcoin tends to collapse about once a quarter, although there's no specific rhyme or reason to the timing of the pullbacks. You'll also note that Mauldin has listed 18 of these pullbacks, with two additional pullbacks of 26% and nearly 50% occurring in December 2017 on a peak-to-trough basis not being depicted in the chart above. Quite a few of these pullbacks were severe. In fact, 13 of 20 saw bitcoin lose at least a third of its value, with seven topping 44% in lost value. Yes, bitcoin has come out smelling like a rose after each and every decline thus far, just as the stock market has over the long run, but that's not to say that the resolve of bitcoin investors, and their medicine cabinets full of antacids, aren't constantly being put to the test. Here's what could cause bitcoin to plunge by 22% or more in 2018 In 2018, there are no shortage of catalysts that could cause yet another crash in the price of bitcoin. For starters, bitcoin is going to be facing what I'd refer to as a "fairer" market this year. Prior to the kickoff of bitcoin futures trading with CBOE Global Markets on Dec. 10, bitcoins could simply be bought or sold. There was no good way for skeptics to make money off of a move lower in bitcoin, which certainly incentivized buying. With multiple platforms offering, or set to offer, bitcoin futures trading, and a number of platforms filing for bitcoin ETFs, skeptics will have a much easier means of exerting their influence this year. A worried man looking at a plunging chart on his computer screen. Image source: Getty Images. Government regulations could play a key role in bitcoin's 2018 performance. Even though it benefited from being accepted as legal currency in Japan and gained legitimacy via futures trading in the U.S., bitcoin was also banned in Morocco last year, joining around a half-dozen countries that have outlawed it and other cryptocurrencies. This year, it's possible that Russia joins the list of countries that have closed the door on cryptos like bitcoin. Another issue is intense competition in the crypto space. Bitcoin currently sits at the head of the table in terms of merchant acceptance and market cap, but its slow processing times and high transactions costs could easily lead to it being supplanted as the leading cryptocurrency. There are virtually no barriers to entry in the space, and blockchain evolutions could very easily make bitcoin yesterday's news. Finally, short-term emotions are a rollercoaster ride that can turn on a dime. As long as retail investors remain the primary force behind bitcoin, it runs the risk of multiple wild swings higher and lower. After all, retail investors have a long history of overestimating the uptake of new technology and eventually being disappointed. If you plan to hang onto bitcoin or buy into bitcoin in 2018, make sure to stock up on antacids. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Cboe Global Markets. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Bitcoin Has Plunged by at Least 22% on 20 Separate Occasions Since April 2013: Forget Superman, there's a new hero in town. For the retail investor, cryptocurrencies proved to be out of this world in 2017, with numerous virtual coins delivering four-, five-, and in some rarer instances six-digit percentage gains during the year. Though arguable, it could be the single-greatest year we've ever witnessed for any asset class throughout history.
Just how good were cryptocurrencies? At the end of 2016, the combined market cap of every single virtual coin combined equaled just $17.7 billion. However, by late December, the aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies combined had risen to as high as $654 billion. That's an increase in value of almost 3,600% in one year. Comparatively, the stock market has delivered historic returns of about 7% per year, inclusive of dividend reinvestment and adjusted for inflation.
Image source: Getty Images.
Even though bitcoin technicallyunderperformed its peers in 2017on a percentage basis, it's still credited with having put the crypto craze on its back for years. Remember, this is a virtual coin that, when first traded at the start of this decade, could have been picked up from $0.003 per coin. Nowadays, bitcoin is vacillating between $13,000 and $17,000 per coin.
Investors in bitcoin continue to be fascinated by its potential to be a payment facilitator, as well as its application of blockchain technology. Bitcoin currently has more merchants willing to accept its coin as legal tender than any other cryptocurrency. It's also a regulated form of tender in Japan as of mid-2017.
For those unfamiliar withblockchain technology, think of it as the infrastructure that underlies most cryptocurrencies. It's the digital and decentralized ledger that's responsible for recording all transactions without the need for a third-party intermediary, which is often a bank. Bitcoin's blockchain set in motion the rush by hundreds of other cryptocurrencies to evolve new and unique blockchains to market to enterprise clients and retail consumers who crave decentralization, privacy, and efficiency. Blockchain has the potential to improve security, reduce transaction fees, and expedite settlement times, especially for cross-border transactions.
However, bitcoin comes with more than just euphoria. It also comes with a ton of volatility. Retail investors are what predominantly drive its price, since institutional investors haven't been willing to trade on decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges. And it's no secret that retail investors tend to wear their emotions on their sleeves, leading to quick swings higher and lower in bitcoin.
According to data aggregated by Mauldin Economics from Coindesk, bitcoin has plunged by a minimum of 22% from peak to trough 20 times since April 2013.
As you can see in the tweet above, bitcoin tends to collapse about once a quarter, although there's no specific rhyme or reason to the timing of the pullbacks. You'll also note that Mauldin has listed 18 of these pullbacks, with two additional pullbacks of 26% and nearly 50% occurring in December 2017 on a peak-to-trough basis not being depicted in the chart above.
Quite a few of these pullbacks were severe. In fact, 13 of 20 saw bitcoin lose at least a third of its value, with seven topping 44% in lost value. Yes, bitcoin has come out smelling like a rose after each and every decline thus far, just as the stock market has over the long run, but that's not to say that the resolve of bitcoin investors, and their medicine cabinets full of antacids, aren't constantly being put to the test.
In 2018, there are no shortage of catalysts that could cause yet another crash in the price of bitcoin.
For starters, bitcoin is going to be facing what I'd refer to as a "fairer" market this year. Prior to the kickoff of bitcoin futures trading withCBOE Global Marketson Dec. 10, bitcoins could simply be bought or sold. There was no good way for skeptics to make money off of a move lower in bitcoin, which certainly incentivized buying. With multiple platforms offering, or set to offer, bitcoin futures trading, and a number of platforms filing for bitcoin ETFs, skeptics will have a much easier means of exerting their influence this year.
Image source: Getty Images.
Government regulations could play a key role in bitcoin's 2018 performance. Even though it benefited from being accepted as legal currency in Japan and gained legitimacy via futures trading in the U.S., bitcoin was also banned in Morocco last year, joining around ahalf-dozen countriesthat have outlawed it and other cryptocurrencies. This year, it's possible that Russia joins the list of countries that have closed the door on cryptos like bitcoin.
Another issue is intense competition in the crypto space. Bitcoin currently sits at the head of the table in terms of merchant acceptance and market cap, but its slow processing times and high transactions costs could easily lead to it being supplanted as the leading cryptocurrency. There are virtually no barriers to entry in the space, and blockchain evolutions could very easily make bitcoin yesterday's news.
Finally, short-term emotions are a rollercoaster ride that can turn on a dime. As long as retail investors remain the primary force behind bitcoin, it runs the risk of multiple wild swings higher and lower. After all, retail investors have a long history ofoverestimating the uptake of new technologyand eventually being disappointed.
If you plan to hang onto bitcoin or buy into bitcoin in 2018, make sure to stock up on antacids.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
Sean Williamshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Cboe Global Markets. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Bitcoin Has Plunged by at Least 22% on 20 Separate Occasions Since April 2013: Forget Superman, there's a new hero in town. For the retail investor, cryptocurrencies proved to be out of this world in 2017, with numerous virtual coins delivering four-, five-, and in some rarer instances six-digit percentage gains during the year. Though arguable, it could be the single-greatest year we've ever witnessed for any asset class throughout history.
Just how good were cryptocurrencies? At the end of 2016, the combined market cap of every single virtual coin combined equaled just $17.7 billion. However, by late December, the aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies combined had risen to as high as $654 billion. That's an increase in value of almost 3,600% in one year. Comparatively, the stock market has delivered historic returns of about 7% per year, inclusive of dividend reinvestment and adjusted for inflation.
Image source: Getty Images.
Even though bitcoin technicallyunderperformed its peers in 2017on a percentage basis, it's still credited with having put the crypto craze on its back for years. Remember, this is a virtual coin that, when first traded at the start of this decade, could have been picked up from $0.003 per coin. Nowadays, bitcoin is vacillating between $13,000 and $17,000 per coin.
Investors in bitcoin continue to be fascinated by its potential to be a payment facilitator, as well as its application of blockchain technology. Bitcoin currently has more merchants willing to accept its coin as legal tender than any other cryptocurrency. It's also a regulated form of tender in Japan as of mid-2017.
For those unfamiliar withblockchain technology, think of it as the infrastructure that underlies most cryptocurrencies. It's the digital and decentralized ledger that's responsible for recording all transactions without the need for a third-party intermediary, which is often a bank. Bitcoin's blockchain set in motion the rush by hundreds of other cryptocurrencies to evolve new and unique blockchains to market to enterprise clients and retail consumers who crave decentralization, privacy, and efficiency. Blockchain has the potential to improve security, reduce transaction fees, and expedite settlement times, especially for cross-border transactions.
However, bitcoin comes with more than just euphoria. It also comes with a ton of volatility. Retail investors are what predominantly drive its price, since institutional investors haven't been willing to trade on decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges. And it's no secret that retail investors tend to wear their emotions on their sleeves, leading to quick swings higher and lower in bitcoin.
According to data aggregated by Mauldin Economics from Coindesk, bitcoin has plunged by a minimum of 22% from peak to trough 20 times since April 2013.
As you can see in the tweet above, bitcoin tends to collapse about once a quarter, although there's no specific rhyme or reason to the timing of the pullbacks. You'll also note that Mauldin has listed 18 of these pullbacks, with two additional pullbacks of 26% and nearly 50% occurring in December 2017 on a peak-to-trough basis not being depicted in the chart above.
Quite a few of these pullbacks were severe. In fact, 13 of 20 saw bitcoin lose at least a third of its value, with seven topping 44% in lost value. Yes, bitcoin has come out smelling like a rose after each and every decline thus far, just as the stock market has over the long run, but that's not to say that the resolve of bitcoin investors, and their medicine cabinets full of antacids, aren't constantly being put to the test.
In 2018, there are no shortage of catalysts that could cause yet another crash in the price of bitcoin.
For starters, bitcoin is going to be facing what I'd refer to as a "fairer" market this year. Prior to the kickoff of bitcoin futures trading withCBOE Global Marketson Dec. 10, bitcoins could simply be bought or sold. There was no good way for skeptics to make money off of a move lower in bitcoin, which certainly incentivized buying. With multiple platforms offering, or set to offer, bitcoin futures trading, and a number of platforms filing for bitcoin ETFs, skeptics will have a much easier means of exerting their influence this year.
Image source: Getty Images.
Government regulations could play a key role in bitcoin's 2018 performance. Even though it benefited from being accepted as legal currency in Japan and gained legitimacy via futures trading in the U.S., bitcoin was also banned in Morocco last year, joining around ahalf-dozen countriesthat have outlawed it and other cryptocurrencies. This year, it's possible that Russia joins the list of countries that have closed the door on cryptos like bitcoin.
Another issue is intense competition in the crypto space. Bitcoin currently sits at the head of the table in terms of merchant acceptance and market cap, but its slow processing times and high transactions costs could easily lead to it being supplanted as the leading cryptocurrency. There are virtually no barriers to entry in the space, and blockchain evolutions could very easily make bitcoin yesterday's news.
Finally, short-term emotions are a rollercoaster ride that can turn on a dime. As long as retail investors remain the primary force behind bitcoin, it runs the risk of multiple wild swings higher and lower. After all, retail investors have a long history ofoverestimating the uptake of new technologyand eventually being disappointed.
If you plan to hang onto bitcoin or buy into bitcoin in 2018, make sure to stock up on antacids.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
Sean Williamshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Cboe Global Markets. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
[Social Media Buzz]
01/03 05:00現在
#Bitcoin : 1,735,000円↑
#NEM #XEM : 132円↓
#Monacoin : 1204円↓
#Ethereum : 100,765円→
#Zaif : 1.7176円↑ || El precio del bitcoin es de US$ 13300.00. #bitcoin #btc || Danish Alvi [Understanding Bitcoin]
Tuesday, 2nd Jan
2:30 - 4:00 pm pic.twitter.com/LCxSZxG2v4 || Gana $45,00 Usd Por Afiliar, Quieres ganarte dólares con Bitcoin sin tanto esfuerzo? Es solo de ···» https://goo.gl/Cdo6SQ . #España || Gana $45,00 Usd Por Afiliar, Quieres ganarte dólares con Bitcoin sin tanto esfuerzo? Es s...
|
15201.00, 15599.20, 17429.50, 17527.00, 16477.60, 15170.10, 14595.40, 14973.30, 13405.80, 13980.60
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 14606.50, 14656.20, 12952.20, 14156.40, 13657.20, 14982.10, 15201.00, 15599.20, 17429.50, 17527.00, 16477.60, 15170.10, 14595.40, 14973.30, 13405.80, 13980.60, 14360.20, 13772.00, 13819.80, 11490.50, 11188.60, 11474.90, 11607.40, 12899.20, 11600.10, 10931.40, 10868.40, 11359.40, 11259.40, 11171.40, 11440.70, 11786.30, 11296.40, 10106.30, 10221.10, 9170.54, 8830.75, 9174.91, 8277.01, 6955.27, 7754.00, 7621.30, 8265.59, 8736.98, 8621.90, 8129.97, 8926.57, 8598.31, 9494.63, 10166.40, 10233.90, 11112.70, 10551.80, 11225.30, 11403.70, 10690.40, 10005.00, 10301.10, 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00, 11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63, 9205.12, 9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35, 7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47, 8879.62, 8668.12, 8495.78, 8209.40, 7833.04.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-03-27]
Volume: 5378250240, RSI (14-day): 35.67, 50-day EMA: 9591.06, 200-day EMA: 9124.35
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1341.30, Gold RSI: 56.62
Oil Price: 65.25, Oil RSI: 60.76
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Is Ulta Beauty Stock a Buy?: Beauty products specialistUlta Beauty(NASDAQ: ULTA)just closed the type of fiscal year that most retailers would kill for. Revenue shot up by 11% at existing locations thanks to a mix of impressive customer traffic growth and booming demand in its digital sales channel.
Yet the stock has dramatically underperformed the market over the past year as Wall Street worries about a slowdown in Ulta's core makeup segment that's contributing tofalling profit margins. Still, with earnings set to jump 20% in 2018, this stock is attractively priced for a business with such positive long-term growth potential.
Image source: Getty Images.
By most measures, Ulta had an excellent 2017. Sure, sales growth decelerated in the last three quarters of the year. However, its 11% full-year comps gain surpassed management'soriginal targetdespite a surprise slump in the makeup category. The retailer logged a 7% traffic increase for the year while gross profit margin held steady at 36% of sales.
E-commerce provided a nice lift to the business over the past 12 months. Sales in that channel shot up by 65% to trounce management's 40% forecast. As a result, the digital segment jumped past 10% of the broader business to pass executives' goal a full two years ahead of schedule.
Yet there's a downside to that quick shift toward e-commerce. Since these sales aren't as profitable as in-person shopping, Ulta's broader margins are taking a hit. Rather than rising slightly as management had expected, operating income slipped to 13.3% of sales last year from 13.5% in 2016.
Meanwhile, Ulta, like all its peers, is dealing with a growth slowdown in makeup that's forcing price cuts as rivals battle for market share. That tough selling environment, plus increased labor costs and the added expenses required to support a growing digital sales channel, have hurt Ulta's profit outlook. CEO Mary Dillion and her team stepped back from their goal of steadily pushing operating margin toward 15% of sales for the time being, and instead forecast asecond straight year of minor declines.
Ulta should still have no problem expanding earnings by at least 20% this year thanks to a big assist from the recent tax law changes. Its operating outlook is bright, too. Comps are projected to rise by between 6% and 8%, including a 40% surge in e-commerce sales.
Those attractive figures support management's long-term goal of increasing the store footprint to as many as 1,700 locations over time. And in 2018, an additional 100 salon shops should push that total up to about 1,200, leaving plenty of room for more gains in the years ahead.
ULTA PE Ratio (TTM)data byYCharts.
Yes, Ulta's future doesn't look quite as bright as it did in early 2017, when a quickly expanding industry was powering double-digit customer traffic gains and rising profit margins. But the business is still putting up healthy results on both the top and bottom lines. It is grabbing market share at the same time, even though the makeup market isn't expanding quickly right now.
Investors are being offered a tempting discount that reflects those weaker trends. In fact, the stock is valued at about 23 times trailing earnings today compared to over 40 times a year ago.
It's hard to see that price as anything but a good deal considering Ulta's long-term opportunity hasn't changed. Sure, the industry is weakening. But Ulta is putting up industry-leading growth results both in stores and online.
Further steps toward its full market potential should keep sales growing at around 15% a year while earnings expand at closer to 20% annually. Those metrics should help deliver healthy returns to patient investors.
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• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
Demitrios Kalogeropouloshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Ulta Beauty. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Is Ulta Beauty Stock a Buy?: Beauty products specialist Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA) just closed the type of fiscal year that most retailers would kill for. Revenue shot up by 11% at existing locations thanks to a mix of impressive customer traffic growth and booming demand in its digital sales channel. Yet the stock has dramatically underperformed the market over the past year as Wall Street worries about a slowdown in Ulta's core makeup segment that's contributing to falling profit margins . Still, with earnings set to jump 20% in 2018, this stock is attractively priced for a business with such positive long-term growth potential. A woman buys hair products at a beauty retailer. Image source: Getty Images. 2017 was a good year By most measures, Ulta had an excellent 2017. Sure, sales growth decelerated in the last three quarters of the year. However, its 11% full-year comps gain surpassed management's original target despite a surprise slump in the makeup category. The retailer logged a 7% traffic increase for the year while gross profit margin held steady at 36% of sales. E-commerce provided a nice lift to the business over the past 12 months. Sales in that channel shot up by 65% to trounce management's 40% forecast. As a result, the digital segment jumped past 10% of the broader business to pass executives' goal a full two years ahead of schedule. Yet there's a downside to that quick shift toward e-commerce. Since these sales aren't as profitable as in-person shopping, Ulta's broader margins are taking a hit. Rather than rising slightly as management had expected, operating income slipped to 13.3% of sales last year from 13.5% in 2016. Meanwhile, Ulta, like all its peers, is dealing with a growth slowdown in makeup that's forcing price cuts as rivals battle for market share. That tough selling environment, plus increased labor costs and the added expenses required to support a growing digital sales channel, have hurt Ulta's profit outlook. CEO Mary Dillion and her team stepped back from their goal of steadily pushing operating margin toward 15% of sales for the time being, and instead forecast a second straight year of minor declines . Outlook and valuation Ulta should still have no problem expanding earnings by at least 20% this year thanks to a big assist from the recent tax law changes. Its operating outlook is bright, too. Comps are projected to rise by between 6% and 8%, including a 40% surge in e-commerce sales. Those attractive figures support management's long-term goal of increasing the store footprint to as many as 1,700 locations over time. And in 2018, an additional 100 salon shops should push that total up to about 1,200, leaving plenty of room for more gains in the years ahead. Story continues ULTA PE Ratio (TTM) Chart ULTA PE Ratio (TTM) data by YCharts . Yes, Ulta's future doesn't look quite as bright as it did in early 2017, when a quickly expanding industry was powering double-digit customer traffic gains and rising profit margins. But the business is still putting up healthy results on both the top and bottom lines. It is grabbing market share at the same time, even though the makeup market isn't expanding quickly right now. Investors are being offered a tempting discount that reflects those weaker trends. In fact, the stock is valued at about 23 times trailing earnings today compared to over 40 times a year ago. It's hard to see that price as anything but a good deal considering Ulta's long-term opportunity hasn't changed. Sure, the industry is weakening. But Ulta is putting up industry-leading growth results both in stores and online. Further steps toward its full market potential should keep sales growing at around 15% a year while earnings expand at closer to 20% annually. Those metrics should help deliver healthy returns to patient investors. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Ulta Beauty. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || Coinbase Announces Support for Ethereum ERC20 Tokens: Coinbaseannouncedtoday it’s intention to add ERC20 support to several of its suite of products.
Historically, Coinbase announcements have caused huge retail influxes ofretail investors, erraticprice swings, and even allegations ofmarket manipulation. That’s why it was a surprise today whenCoinbase‘s latest announcement came not with a bang but a bearish whimper. Prices are down across the board today and there has been very little reaction to Coinbases momentous announcement. Whether or not the market chooses to react in the next 24 hours, one thing is for sure. Coinbase’s addition of ERC20 support will have wide-reaching effects around the cryptocurrency markets for years to come and cannot be overlooked.
ERC20 is the standard used by Ethereum tokens andsmart contracts. It serves as an interface to which anyone wishing to issue a token or write a smart contract must comply. There are a total of 59,948 Ethereum contracts out there. Although Ethereum’s market share has shrunk, they almost single-handedly dominated the ICO bull market of 2017.
For instance, many of the most successful currencies such asEOSwhichraised $185 millionin just 5 days,Bancorwhich raised $153 million, and at least 2 more that raised $70 million or more. ERC20 tokens are seen as the bedrock of ICOs, and blockchain applications by fans of Ethereum.
Coinbase has a number of products this will affect. The first, and potentially the most important for institutional investors isCoinbase Custody. While unfamiliar to many retail investors, Coinbase Custody is a digital asset custody service that provides secure storage and financial controls of large holdings. No one knows how many customers are using custody, but it is seen as the most prominent digital asset custodian in the U.S. Therefore, the addition of ERC20 tokens might open up the door for a more diverse set of cryptocurrency trusts.
GDAX, Coinbase’s digital asset trading platform, which currently only supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash will “wait for additional regulatory clarity” before adding more assets. It’s unclear what this means, in what jurisdictions they are seeking more guidance on regulation, or what their legal concerns are. Coinbase also has not established a timeline on this so whether or not it happens in 2018 is up for speculation.
Coinbase, the companies flagship product will continue following the process it instituted after the Bitcoin Cash insider trading scandal and price pump of only adding coins to Coinbaseafterthey have been listed on GDAX.
Coinbase Asset Management, the companies index fund, will include any new assets on a market capitalization basis. I.e. if you invest $100,000 and new ERC 20 Token x has 20% of the market cap of coins on Coinbase, you will own $20,000 of token x.
Coinbase also announced that their payment processing product,Coinbase Commerce, has no plans at all to accept payments in any other cryptocurrencies. This is obviously a blow to all of the coins wishing to be used for real-time transactions but highlights the cautious approach the company is taking.
The move has failed to give the markets any confidence with the total market capitalization down around $30 billion. The move couldn’t even boost Ethereum which is odwn almost 10% today. I could be wrong, but I think if this move had come when the market cap was at $700 billion reactions would have been stronger.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postCoinbase Announces Support for Ethereum ERC20 Tokensappeared first onCCN. || Coinbase Announces Support for Ethereum ERC20 Tokens: Coinbase ERC20 Coinbase announced today it’s intention to add ERC20 support to several of its suite of products. Historically, Coinbase announcements have caused huge retail influxes of retail investors , erratic price swings , and even allegations of market manipulation . That’s why it was a surprise today when Coinbase ‘s latest announcement came not with a bang but a bearish whimper. Prices are down across the board today and there has been very little reaction to Coinbases momentous announcement. Whether or not the market chooses to react in the next 24 hours, one thing is for sure. Coinbase’s addition of ERC20 support will have wide-reaching effects around the cryptocurrency markets for years to come and cannot be overlooked. What is ERC20? ERC20 is the standard used by Ethereum tokens and smart contracts . It serves as an interface to which anyone wishing to issue a token or write a smart contract must comply. There are a total of 59,948 Ethereum contracts out there. Although Ethereum’s market share has shrunk, they almost single-handedly dominated the ICO bull market of 2017. For instance, many of the most successful currencies such as EOS which raised $185 million in just 5 days, Bancor which raised $153 million, and at least 2 more that raised $70 million or more. ERC20 tokens are seen as the bedrock of ICOs, and blockchain applications by fans of Ethereum. How will this affect Coinbase? Coinbase has a number of products this will affect. The first, and potentially the most important for institutional investors is Coinbase Custody . While unfamiliar to many retail investors, Coinbase Custody is a digital asset custody service that provides secure storage and financial controls of large holdings. No one knows how many customers are using custody, but it is seen as the most prominent digital asset custodian in the U.S. Therefore, the addition of ERC20 tokens might open up the door for a more diverse set of cryptocurrency trusts. Story continues GDAX , Coinbase’s digital asset trading platform, which currently only supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash will “wait for additional regulatory clarity” before adding more assets. It’s unclear what this means, in what jurisdictions they are seeking more guidance on regulation, or what their legal concerns are. Coinbase also has not established a timeline on this so whether or not it happens in 2018 is up for speculation. Coinbase , the companies flagship product will continue following the process it instituted after the Bitcoin Cash insider trading scandal and price pump of only adding coins to Coinbase after they have been listed on GDAX. Coinbase Asset Management , the companies index fund, will include any new assets on a market capitalization basis. I.e. if you invest $100,000 and new ERC 20 Token x has 20% of the market cap of coins on Coinbase, you will own $20,000 of token x. Coinbase also announced that their payment processing product, Coinbase Commerce , has no plans at all to accept payments in any other cryptocurrencies. This is obviously a blow to all of the coins wishing to be used for real-time transactions but highlights the cautious approach the company is taking. How will this affect CryptoMarkets? The move has failed to give the markets any confidence with the total market capitalization down around $30 billion. The move couldn’t even boost Ethereum which is odwn almost 10% today. I could be wrong, but I think if this move had come when the market cap was at $700 billion reactions would have been stronger. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Coinbase Announces Support for Ethereum ERC20 Tokens appeared first on CCN . || Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Next Target $1369.60; Weakens Under $1350.20.: Gold futures soared to their highest level since February 16 on Monday after the U.S. Dollar plunged to a five-week low. Traders primarily ignored the surge in higher risk assets, instead choosing to react to the news that the United States would expel 60 Russian diplomats.
June Comex Goldfutures finished the session at $1359.40, up $3.70 or +0.27%.
The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. The strong momentum into the close suggests investors may make a run at the February 16 top at $1369.60, followed by the January 25, or high of the year at $1375.50.
The main range is $1375.50 to $1309.30. Its retracement zone at $1350.20 to $1342.40 is new support. Trading above this zone is also giving gold a strong upside bias.
Based on the strong close at $1359.40, I’m looking for the upside momentum to continue into $1369.60 to $1375.50. A break back under $1350.20 will indicate a shift in investor sentiment to down. A move through $1342.40 will signal that the market is making a correction of the current rally. However, it will not indicate the trend is getting ready to turn lower.
The market is now up four days from its last main bottom which means it has three more sessions to go before it is in the window of time for a closing price reversal or short-term top.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Crypto Update: Governments Begin to Embrace the Blockchain Technology, Bitcoin Remains Uncertain
• Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Next Target $1369.60; Weakens Under $1350.20.
• Risk Appetite Shows Signs of Life in Markets, US Futures Rise as Trade War Concerns Ease
• EUR/USD Daily Technical Analysis for March 27, 2018
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Analysis – March 26, 2018 Forecast
• E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index (NQ) Futures Technical Analysis – Look for Late Session Surge if Buyers Take Out 6703.50 with Strong Volume || Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Next Target $1369.60; Weakens Under $1350.20.: Gold futures soared to their highest level since February 16 on Monday after the U.S. Dollar plunged to a five-week low. Traders primarily ignored the surge in higher risk assets, instead choosing to react to the news that the United States would expel 60 Russian diplomats. June Comex Gold futures finished the session at $1359.40, up $3.70 or +0.27%. Daily June Comex Gold Daily Swing Chart Analysis The main trend is up according to the daily swing chart. The strong momentum into the close suggests investors may make a run at the February 16 top at $1369.60, followed by the January 25, or high of the year at $1375.50. The main range is $1375.50 to $1309.30. Its retracement zone at $1350.20 to $1342.40 is new support. Trading above this zone is also giving gold a strong upside bias. Daily Swing Chart Forecast Based on the strong close at $1359.40, I’m looking for the upside momentum to continue into $1369.60 to $1375.50. A break back under $1350.20 will indicate a shift in investor sentiment to down. A move through $1342.40 will signal that the market is making a correction of the current rally. However, it will not indicate the trend is getting ready to turn lower. The market is now up four days from its last main bottom which means it has three more sessions to go before it is in the window of time for a closing price reversal or short-term top. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Crypto Update: Governments Begin to Embrace the Blockchain Technology, Bitcoin Remains Uncertain Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Next Target $1369.60; Weakens Under $1350.20. Risk Appetite Shows Signs of Life in Markets, US Futures Rise as Trade War Concerns Ease EUR/USD Daily Technical Analysis for March 27, 2018 E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Analysis – March 26, 2018 Forecast E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index (NQ) Futures Technical Analysis – Look for Late Session Surge if Buyers Take Out 6703.50 with Strong Volume || Twitter to ban cryptocurrency ads from Tuesday as online crackdown widens: By Tommy Wilkes and Fanny Potkin LONDON (Reuters) - Twitter Inc will start banning cryptocurrency advertising from Tuesday, joining Facebook and Google in a clampdown that seeks to avoid giving publicity to potential fraud or large investor losses. The prohibition will cover advertising of initial coin offerings (ICOs) - crowdfunding used to raise cash by creating new coins - as well as token sales, the San Francisco-based firm told Reuters on Monday. The new policy, which will be rolled out over the next 30 days, will also ban ads by cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency wallet services, unless they are public companies listed on certain major stock markets. For Japan, these will be limited to crypto exchanges regulated by its national financial regulator, Twitter said. The firm had said this month it was taking measures to prevent crypto-related accounts from "engaging with others in a deceptive manner", but faced calls to go further after bans from Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google. Facebook has restricted crypto-related adverts, while Google announced a ban that comes into force in June. The price of bitcoin, already 4 percent in the red on Monday, fell further after the Twitter announcement. It traded at $7,920 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange at 1740 GMT, down more than 6 percent on the day. REGULATORS' WARNINGS Regulators have stepped up warnings that bitcoin and other virtual currencies are highly speculative and that some could be fraudulent, and that investors should be prepared to lose everything. But last week the G20 group of rich nations failed to reach a consensus on how to supervise them. Adverts for virtual coins or ways to trade them have appeared everywhere from London's transport network to Japanese television as demand for them has soared. "With the increasing number of ICOs coming to market, it is an impossible task for anyone, much less platforms like Twitter or Facebook, to keep on top of which ICOs and cryptocurrencies are genuine versus frauds," said Zennon Kapron, director of the financial consultancy Kapronasia. Story continues "Although certainly ICO advertising must have been a significant source of revenue for Twitter, the repercussions of fraudulent activities just weren't worth the risk." Bitcoin has lost more than half its value from a December peak of almost $20,000 as fears of a regulatory clampdown spooked investors. News of the Facebook and Google bans also knocked the price. Ethereum and Ripple's XRP, the second- and third-biggest digital currencies by market capitalisation, have tumbled this year too. While critics call cryptocurrencies a Ponzi scheme that will end in tears for most investors, supporters say the coins are backed by powerful new technology that can replace traditional fiat currencies and upend the existing banking system. (Reporting by Tommy Wilkes and Fanny Potkin; Editing by Kevin Liffey and John Stonestreet) || Twitter to ban cryptocurrency ads from Tuesday as online crackdown widens: By Tommy Wilkes and Fanny Potkin LONDON (Reuters) - Twitter Inc will start banning cryptocurrency advertising from Tuesday, joining Facebook and Google in a clampdown that seeks to avoid giving publicity to potential fraud or large investor losses. The prohibition will cover advertising of initial coin offerings (ICOs) - crowdfunding used to raise cash by creating new coins - as well as token sales, the San Francisco-based firm told Reuters on Monday. The new policy, which will be rolled out over the next 30 days, will also ban ads by cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency wallet services, unless they are public companies listed on certain major stock markets. For Japan, these will be limited to crypto exchanges regulated by its national financial regulator, Twitter said. The firm had said this month it was taking measures to prevent crypto-related accounts from "engaging with others in a deceptive manner", but faced calls to go further after bans from Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google. Facebook has restricted crypto-related adverts, while Google announced a ban that comes into force in June. The price of bitcoin, already 4 percent in the red on Monday, fell further after the Twitter announcement. It traded at $7,920 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange at 1740 GMT, down more than 6 percent on the day. REGULATORS' WARNINGS Regulators have stepped up warnings that bitcoin and other virtual currencies are highly speculative and that some could be fraudulent, and that investors should be prepared to lose everything. But last week the G20 group of rich nations failed to reach a consensus on how to supervise them. Adverts for virtual coins or ways to trade them have appeared everywhere from London's transport network to Japanese television as demand for them has soared. "With the increasing number of ICOs coming to market, it is an impossible task for anyone, much less platforms like Twitter or Facebook, to keep on top of which ICOs and cryptocurrencies are genuine versus frauds," said Zennon Kapron, director of the financial consultancy Kapronasia. Story continues "Although certainly ICO advertising must have been a significant source of revenue for Twitter, the repercussions of fraudulent activities just weren't worth the risk." Bitcoin has lost more than half its value from a December peak of almost $20,000 as fears of a regulatory clampdown spooked investors. News of the Facebook and Google bans also knocked the price. Ethereum and Ripple's XRP, the second- and third-biggest digital currencies by market capitalisation, have tumbled this year too. While critics call cryptocurrencies a Ponzi scheme that will end in tears for most investors, supporters say the coins are backed by powerful new technology that can replace traditional fiat currencies and upend the existing banking system. (Reporting by Tommy Wilkes and Fanny Potkin; Editing by Kevin Liffey and John Stonestreet) || #1 in a Decade: Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, or Facebook?: You've probably seenthe headlines.Amazon(NASDAQ: AMZN)recently surpassedAlphabet(NASDAQ: GOOGL)(NASDAQ: GOOG)when measured by market cap, making the e-commerce and cloud-computing company the world's second-most-valuable publicly traded business behindApple(NASDAQ: AAPL). At the time of this writing, Amazon is worth just above $740 billion and Alphabet is worth about $720 billion.
This major milestone for Amazon shows how rewarding an investment in a strong market leader can be over time. Though Alphabet's market cap has swelled a notable $132 billion in the last twelve months, Amazon's has skyrocketed by a mind-boggling $324 billion. Just one year ago, Amazon was worth about $418 billion and Alphabet was worth about $588 billion. Meanwhile, other game-changing megacap companies like Apple andFacebook(NASDAQ: FB)have similarly seen their market caps (and stock prices) surge.
[{"Company": "Apple", "Market Cap": "$868 billion", "5-Year Market Cap Growth": "100%", "5-Year Stock Price Growth": "158%"}, {"Company": "Amazon", "Market Cap": "$742 billion", "5-Year Market Cap Growth": "537%", "5-Year Stock Price Growth": "499%"}, {"Company": "Alphabet", "Market Cap": "$720 billion", "5-Year Market Cap Growth": "170%", "5-Year Stock Price Growth": "156%"}, {"Company": "Facebook", "Market Cap": "$456 billion", "5-Year Market Cap Growth": "661%", "5-Year Stock Price Growth": "525%"}]
Data source: YCharts. Table by author.
This begs the question: How much can things change for tech giants over the next decade? Or more specifically, which tech giant will be the biggest 10 years from now: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, or Alphabet?
The caveats: 1)Microsoftis certainly in the same weight class as these four and has made impressive strides in recent years, but I'm excluding it for the purposes of this thought exercise because its market cap isn't terribly different than it was in the year 2000. For comparison, back then Apple and Amazon were each less than 5% of their current size, Alphabet was a private company, and Facebook wasn't even born yet. 2) The largest tech company a decade from now could be a company that's not mentioned in this article (see how quickly Facebook's ascended), but let's focus on the race leaders.
As the current king of market cap, Apple has consistently proven to investors its ability to keep growing its business -- even as product segments mature. When Mac sales growth slowed, Apple's growth was fueled by iTunes and the iPod. Following the iPod was iPhone, the App Store, the iPad, Apple Pay, Apple Watch, Apple Music, and more. Just as noteworthy, Apple has maintained steady growth in some product segments years after they mature. Mac revenue, for instance,hit a record highin Apple's fiscal 2017.
Apple CEO Tim Cook. Image source: Apple.
In the trailing 12 months, Apple's revenue and operating income rose 9.7% and 8.3% year over year. Though higher iPhone revenue helped during this period,rapid growth in Apple's services and "other products" segmentsmeans these segments are contributing to growth as well.
While Apple's revenue and operating income growth is notable, it's unlikely that the tech giant will be the biggest of this bunch when it comes to market capitalization in 10 years. As you'll see below, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook, are all growing faster than Apple.
Of course, this doesn't mean Apple isn't a good investment. While it has been increasingly difficult for Apple to grow its top- and bottom-line, the tech giant has been able to grow earnings per share and, subsequently, its stock price, at a more rapid rate than it's growing its market capitalization. Apple has been able to pull this off by repurchasing shares in droves. Highlighting the impact of its aggressive share repurchase program, Apple's earnings per share increased 22% year over year in the trailing 12 months, more than doubling its operating income growth during this period.
Amazon is undoubtedly a top contender for becoming the most valuable of these four tech giants by 2028. Though its valuation may appear stretched today, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 327, Amazon's business has not just been growing fast recently, but it's been growing at accelerating rates.
Amazon fulfillment center. Image source: Amazon.com.
Amazon's net sales in 2017 increased 31% and operating income pulled back 2% year over year as the e-commerce and cloud computing company doubled-down on investing in growth areas like fulfillment centers, Amazon Web Services, original content, and smart speakers. In Amazon's most recent quarter, however, net sales climbed 38% and operating income soared 69% year over year.
Though Amazon's operating income growth will likely be volatile since management's appetite for growth seems to be as aggressive as ever, investors should expect more sharp revenue growth in the coming years. Highlighting the momentum in Amazon's business, its growth drivers are broad-based; North America and international net sales rose 33% and 23% year over year in 2017, respectively, while Amazon Web Services net sales jumped 43% during this same period.
Of course, when Amazon's heavy investing finally slows, operating income could skyrocket as the company's operating margin expands. This would likely help fuel further strong growth in market capitalization.
A case can also be made for Alphabet having the largest market cap of these four companies ten years from now. Alphabet offers investors a good balance of business growth, conservative valuation ratios, and continued growth prospects.
Image source: Alphabet.
Alphabet's revenue in 2017 increased an impressive 23% year over year to $111 billion while operating income during this period increased 10%. With both revenue and operating income growing by double-digit percentages, and with strong trends in Alphabet's core online search business showing no signs of letting up, Alphabet could grow at similarly robust rates for years to come. Indeed, analysts expect Alphabet's revenue and earnings per share to grow at average annual rates of 25% and 11% over the next five years.
And beyond Alphabet's core search business, the company's Google other revenue, which is primarily driven by the Android app store, Google-branded hardware, and cloud services, has been becoming an increasingly important driver for Alphabet's growth. Google other revenue in Q4, for instance, was up 39% year over year.
Considering its momentum and Alphabet's massive economic moat as the world leader in online search, its price-to-earnings ratio of just 32 is fairly conservative.
Facebook is the fastest-growing company of these four, but it's also the smallest, with a market capitalization of $456 billion at the time of this writing.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Image source: Facebook.
Facebook's financial statements lately look like an investor's dream come true. In 2017, the social network's revenue rose 47% year over year, helped by 49% growth in advertising revenue. Meanwhile, Facebook's operating income grew 63%, thanks to revenue growth that outpaced operating expense growth.
Though Facebook is currently the fastest growing business of these four, it's arguably the least likely to be the largest in a decade when measured by market cap.
First of all, Apple already has a $412 billion head-start on Facebook, and even Alphabet is worth $264 billion more. In addition, if one of Facebook's key drivers for advertising revenue growth moderates, Facebook's sky-high growth rates could decelerate quickly. One of these drivers -- ad load --has already slowed meaningfullyrecently. And if ad pricing growth slows as well, Facebook's growth could begin to look more like digital advertising peer Alphabet.
Finally, mounting concerns about Facebook's recentCambridge Analytica debaclehas surfaced valid concerns about the liability risk of Facebook's enormous responsibilities with its users' data. Though this particular issue could turn into a non-event over the long-term, there's no denying that Facebook's growing efforts to curb security threats is going to significantly impact the social network's profitability. The company expects operating expenses in 2018 to increase 45% to 60% year over year, citing "sizable security investments in people and technology to strengthen our systems and prevent abuse" as the primary driver of this increase.
Considering the dynamics behind all four of these companies, Amazon looks like the most likely company to see its market capitalization keep marching higher until it ultimately passes up Apple and becomes the most valuable company of these game-changing businesses.
Of course, this doesn't automatically make Amazon the best investment of these four. Over the long haul, market capitalization and stock price trends don't always move in tandem. Apple, for instance, has been able to grow its stock at a much faster rate than its market capitalization as it continues to boost its capital return program. But Amazon's undeniable growth potential at least makes a case for holding onto Amazon stock over the long haul.
For some Foolish fun, here's a prediction on how these companies will rank by market cap in 10 years:
1. Amazon
2. Alphabet
3. Apple
4. Facebook
Which company do you think will be the biggest in a decade? Vote inthis poll.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft.Daniel Sparksowns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Apple, and Facebook. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || #1 in a Decade: Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, or Facebook?: You've probably seen the headlines . Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) recently surpassed Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) when measured by market cap, making the e-commerce and cloud-computing company the world's second-most-valuable publicly traded business behind Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) . At the time of this writing, Amazon is worth just above $740 billion and Alphabet is worth about $720 billion. This major milestone for Amazon shows how rewarding an investment in a strong market leader can be over time. Though Alphabet's market cap has swelled a notable $132 billion in the last twelve months, Amazon's has skyrocketed by a mind-boggling $324 billion. Just one year ago, Amazon was worth about $418 billion and Alphabet was worth about $588 billion. Meanwhile, other game-changing megacap companies like Apple and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) have similarly seen their market caps (and stock prices) surge. Company Market Cap 5-Year Market Cap Growth 5-Year Stock Price Growth Apple $868 billion 100% 158% Amazon $742 billion 537% 499% Alphabet $720 billion 170% 156% Facebook $456 billion 661% 525% Data source: YCharts. Table by author. This begs the question: How much can things change for tech giants over the next decade? Or more specifically, which tech giant will be the biggest 10 years from now: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, or Alphabet? The caveats: 1) Microsoft is certainly in the same weight class as these four and has made impressive strides in recent years, but I'm excluding it for the purposes of this thought exercise because its market cap isn't terribly different than it was in the year 2000. For comparison, back then Apple and Amazon were each less than 5% of their current size, Alphabet was a private company, and Facebook wasn't even born yet. 2) The largest tech company a decade from now could be a company that's not mentioned in this article (see how quickly Facebook's ascended), but let's focus on the race leaders. Apple As the current king of market cap, Apple has consistently proven to investors its ability to keep growing its business -- even as product segments mature. When Mac sales growth slowed, Apple's growth was fueled by iTunes and the iPod. Following the iPod was iPhone, the App Store, the iPad, Apple Pay, Apple Watch, Apple Music, and more. Just as noteworthy, Apple has maintained steady growth in some product segments years after they mature. Mac revenue, for instance, hit a record high in Apple's fiscal 2017. Apple CEO Tim Cook shakes hands with fans at an Apple store the day of the iPhone 8 launch Apple CEO Tim Cook. Image source: Apple. Story continues In the trailing 12 months, Apple's revenue and operating income rose 9.7% and 8.3% year over year. Though higher iPhone revenue helped during this period, rapid growth in Apple's services and "other products" segments means these segments are contributing to growth as well. While Apple's revenue and operating income growth is notable, it's unlikely that the tech giant will be the biggest of this bunch when it comes to market capitalization in 10 years. As you'll see below, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook, are all growing faster than Apple. Of course, this doesn't mean Apple isn't a good investment. While it has been increasingly difficult for Apple to grow its top- and bottom-line, the tech giant has been able to grow earnings per share and, subsequently, its stock price, at a more rapid rate than it's growing its market capitalization. Apple has been able to pull this off by repurchasing shares in droves. Highlighting the impact of its aggressive share repurchase program, Apple's earnings per share increased 22% year over year in the trailing 12 months, more than doubling its operating income growth during this period. Amazon Amazon is undoubtedly a top contender for becoming the most valuable of these four tech giants by 2028. Though its valuation may appear stretched today, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 327, Amazon's business has not just been growing fast recently, but it's been growing at accelerating rates. Amazon boxes in Amazon fulfillment center Amazon fulfillment center. Image source: Amazon.com. Amazon's net sales in 2017 increased 31% and operating income pulled back 2% year over year as the e-commerce and cloud computing company doubled-down on investing in growth areas like fulfillment centers, Amazon Web Services, original content, and smart speakers. In Amazon's most recent quarter, however, net sales climbed 38% and operating income soared 69% year over year. Though Amazon's operating income growth will likely be volatile since management's appetite for growth seems to be as aggressive as ever, investors should expect more sharp revenue growth in the coming years. Highlighting the momentum in Amazon's business, its growth drivers are broad-based; North America and international net sales rose 33% and 23% year over year in 2017, respectively, while Amazon Web Services net sales jumped 43% during this same period. Of course, when Amazon's heavy investing finally slows, operating income could skyrocket as the company's operating margin expands. This would likely help fuel further strong growth in market capitalization. Alphabet A case can also be made for Alphabet having the largest market cap of these four companies ten years from now. Alphabet offers investors a good balance of business growth, conservative valuation ratios, and continued growth prospects. Executives walking into Google's headquarters entrance Image source: Alphabet. Alphabet's revenue in 2017 increased an impressive 23% year over year to $111 billion while operating income during this period increased 10%. With both revenue and operating income growing by double-digit percentages, and with strong trends in Alphabet's core online search business showing no signs of letting up, Alphabet could grow at similarly robust rates for years to come. Indeed, analysts expect Alphabet's revenue and earnings per share to grow at average annual rates of 25% and 11% over the next five years. And beyond Alphabet's core search business, the company's Google other revenue, which is primarily driven by the Android app store, Google-branded hardware, and cloud services, has been becoming an increasingly important driver for Alphabet's growth. Google other revenue in Q4, for instance, was up 39% year over year. Considering its momentum and Alphabet's massive economic moat as the world leader in online search, its price-to-earnings ratio of just 32 is fairly conservative. Facebook Facebook is the fastest-growing company of these four, but it's also the smallest, with a market capitalization of $456 billion at the time of this writing. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg presents 10-year plan at F8 conference in 2016 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Image source: Facebook. Facebook's financial statements lately look like an investor's dream come true. In 2017, the social network's revenue rose 47% year over year, helped by 49% growth in advertising revenue. Meanwhile, Facebook's operating income grew 63%, thanks to revenue growth that outpaced operating expense growth. Though Facebook is currently the fastest growing business of these four, it's arguably the least likely to be the largest in a decade when measured by market cap. First of all, Apple already has a $412 billion head-start on Facebook, and even Alphabet is worth $264 billion more. In addition, if one of Facebook's key drivers for advertising revenue growth moderates, Facebook's sky-high growth rates could decelerate quickly. One of these drivers -- ad load -- has already slowed meaningfully recently. And if ad pricing growth slows as well, Facebook's growth could begin to look more like digital advertising peer Alphabet. Finally, mounting concerns about Facebook's recent Cambridge Analytica debacle has surfaced valid concerns about the liability risk of Facebook's enormous responsibilities with its users' data. Though this particular issue could turn into a non-event over the long-term, there's no denying that Facebook's growing efforts to curb security threats is going to significantly impact the social network's profitability. The company expects operating expenses in 2018 to increase 45% to 60% year over year, citing "sizable security investments in people and technology to strengthen our systems and prevent abuse" as the primary driver of this increase. My pick: Amazon Considering the dynamics behind all four of these companies, Amazon looks like the most likely company to see its market capitalization keep marching higher until it ultimately passes up Apple and becomes the most valuable company of these game-changing businesses. Of course, this doesn't automatically make Amazon the best investment of these four. Over the long haul, market capitalization and stock price trends don't always move in tandem. Apple, for instance, has been able to grow its stock at a much faster rate than its market capitalization as it continues to boost its capital return program. But Amazon's undeniable growth potential at least makes a case for holding onto Amazon stock over the long haul. For some Foolish fun, here's a prediction on how these companies will rank by market cap in 10 years: Amazon Alphabet Apple Facebook Which company do you think will be the biggest in a decade? Vote in this poll . More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. Daniel Sparks owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Apple, and Facebook. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || Nelson Mandela Golden Hands Collection Goes to Bitcoin Exchange: Nelson Mandela’s hands were immortalized by how he changed the course of history, so maybe it’s destiny that solid gold casts of his hands will go to a bitcoin buyer. Ontario-based cryptocurrency exchange The Board of Arbitrade is buying what’s believed to be the last remaining set of gold artifacts comprised of Mr. Mandela’s hands for $10 million in bitcoin. The set, which weighs 20 pounds of 99.999 pure gold, is comprised of a trio of “life-size impressions” of Mr. Mandela’s hands and a pair with his palm and fist. Malcolm Duncan, a Canadian entrepreneur who knew Mandela, is the seller and reportedly paid 3.6 million South African Rand for the set to Harmony Gold Mining, which cast the items in 2002. Duncan couldn’t turn them over until striking a deal with the cryptocurrency exchange, he seems a little skittish about transacting in cryptocurrencies. The gold artifacts are a treasure for many reasons, not the least of which is because they are one of a series of 27 sets — each one of which reflecting a year that Mr. Mandela was imprisoned. Duncan owned every set of the golden hands for each year between 1964 and 1990, from when Mandela entered the prison cell block to when he was eventually freed before becoming South Africa’s first black president. The other gold pieces are said to no longer exist, at the behest of Mr. Mandela. Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela Tour To understand why the exchange would want the golden hands, it helps to know a little more about the trading platform. They are developing a cryptocurrency mining operation for their own coin as well as support trading of other cryptocurrencies. Their Dignity (DIG) coin will be backed by gold. The golden hands are not yet paid in full, as the exchange has provided a $50,000 deposit in bitcoin that has since been converted to fiat money, according to reports . The buyer and seller agreed to a schedule in which the exchange will make quarterly payments of $2 million per piece in the set. But the exchange doesn’t get the physical items until physical money converted from bitcoin is deposited into the seller’s account. Story continues “At two-and-a-quarter million at a time, they take one hand at a time,” according to Duncan quoted in Bloomberg. The timing of The Board of Arbitrage’s acquisition is serendipitous, as the former owner agreed to part with the gold-cast hands just weeks ahead of the exchange’s upcoming ICO. They are milking the opportunity, launching a Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela Tour in which they plan to teach millennials about the abolition of apartheid that Mr. Mandela led in conjunction with their vision for the exchange. Nelson Mandela died in 2013. We can only wonder how he would have felt about decentralization, but then again, maybe he already told us. "Be ever vigilant, hold governments accountable, struggle for peace and justice" #NelsonMandela #LivingTheLegacy #BeTheLegacy pic.twitter.com/lvjUyy9iRc — NelsonMandela (@NelsonMandela) March 20, 2018 Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Nelson Mandela Golden Hands Collection Goes to Bitcoin Exchange appeared first on CCN . || Nelson Mandela Golden Hands Collection Goes to Bitcoin Exchange: Nelson Mandela’s hands were immortalized by how he changed the course of history, so maybe it’s destiny that solid gold casts of his hands will go to a bitcoin buyer. Ontario-based cryptocurrency exchange The Board of Arbitrade is buying what’s believed to be the last remaining set of gold artifacts comprised of Mr. Mandela’s hands for $10 million in bitcoin. The set, which weighs 20 pounds of 99.999 pure gold, is comprised of a trio of “life-size impressions” of Mr. Mandela’s hands and a pair with his palm and fist. Malcolm Duncan, a Canadian entrepreneur who knew Mandela, is the seller and reportedly paid 3.6 million South African Rand for the set to Harmony Gold Mining, which cast the items in 2002. Duncan couldn’t turn them over until striking a deal with the cryptocurrency exchange, he seems a little skittish about transacting in cryptocurrencies. The gold artifacts are a treasure for many reasons, not the least of which is because they are one of a series of 27 sets — each one of which reflecting a year that Mr. Mandela was imprisoned. Duncan owned every set of the golden hands for each year between 1964 and 1990, from when Mandela entered the prison cell block to when he was eventually freed before becoming South Africa’s first black president. The other gold pieces are said to no longer exist, at the behest of Mr. Mandela. Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela Tour To understand why the exchange would want the golden hands, it helps to know a little more about the trading platform. They are developing a cryptocurrency mining operation for their own coin as well as support trading of other cryptocurrencies. Their Dignity (DIG) coin will be backed by gold. The golden hands are not yet paid in full, as the exchange has provided a $50,000 deposit in bitcoin that has since been converted to fiat money, according to reports . The buyer and seller agreed to a schedule in which the exchange will make quarterly payments of $2 million per piece in the set. But the exchange doesn’t get the physical items until physical money converted from bitcoin is deposited into the seller’s account. Story continues “At two-and-a-quarter million at a time, they take one hand at a time,” according to Duncan quoted in Bloomberg. The timing of The Board of Arbitrage’s acquisition is serendipitous, as the former owner agreed to part with the gold-cast hands just weeks ahead of the exchange’s upcoming ICO. They are milking the opportunity, launching a Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela Tour in which they plan to teach millennials about the abolition of apartheid that Mr. Mandela led in conjunction with their vision for the exchange. Nelson Mandela died in 2013. We can only wonder how he would have felt about decentralization, but then again, maybe he already told us. "Be ever vigilant, hold governments accountable, struggle for peace and justice" #NelsonMandela #LivingTheLegacy #BeTheLegacy pic.twitter.com/lvjUyy9iRc — NelsonMandela (@NelsonMandela) March 20, 2018 Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Nelson Mandela Golden Hands Collection Goes to Bitcoin Exchange appeared first on CCN . || Nelson Mandela Golden Hands Collection Goes to Bitcoin Exchange: Nelson Mandela’s hands were immortalized by how he changed the course of history, so maybe it’s destiny that solid gold casts of his hands will go to a bitcoin buyer. Ontario-based cryptocurrency exchange The Board of Arbitrade is buying what’s believed to be the last remaining set of gold artifacts comprised of Mr. Mandela’s hands for $10 million in bitcoin. The set, which weighs 20 pounds of 99.999 pure gold, is comprised of a trio of “life-size impressions” of Mr. Mandela’s hands and a pair with his palm and fist. Malcolm Duncan, a Canadian entrepreneur who knew Mandela, is the seller and reportedly paid 3.6 million South African Rand for the set to Harmony Gold Mining, which cast the items in 2002. Duncan couldn’t turn them over until striking a deal with the cryptocurrency exchange, he seems a little skittish about transacting in cryptocurrencies. The gold artifacts are a treasure for many reasons, not the least of which is because they are one of a series of 27 sets — each one of which reflecting a year that Mr. Mandela was imprisoned. Duncan owned every set of the golden hands for each year between 1964 and 1990, from when Mandela entered the prison cell block to when he was eventually freed before becoming South Africa’s first black president. The other gold pieces are said to no longer exist, at the behest of Mr. Mandela. Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela Tour To understand why the exchange would want the golden hands, it helps to know a little more about the trading platform. They are developing a cryptocurrency mining operation for their own coin as well as support trading of other cryptocurrencies. Their Dignity (DIG) coin will be backed by gold. The golden hands are not yet paid in full, as the exchange has provided a $50,000 deposit in bitcoin that has since been converted to fiat money, according to reports . The buyer and seller agreed to a schedule in which the exchange will make quarterly payments of $2 million per piece in the set. But the exchange doesn’t get the physical items until physical money converted from bitcoin is deposited into the seller’s account. Story continues “At two-and-a-quarter million at a time, they take one hand at a time,” according to Duncan quoted in Bloomberg. The timing of The Board of Arbitrage’s acquisition is serendipitous, as the former owner agreed to part with the gold-cast hands just weeks ahead of the exchange’s upcoming ICO. They are milking the opportunity, launching a Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela Tour in which they plan to teach millennials about the abolition of apartheid that Mr. Mandela led in conjunction with their vision for the exchange. Nelson Mandela died in 2013. We can only wonder how he would have felt about decentralization, but then again, maybe he already told us. "Be ever vigilant, hold governments accountable, struggle for peace and justice" #NelsonMandela #LivingTheLegacy #BeTheLegacy pic.twitter.com/lvjUyy9iRc — NelsonMandela (@NelsonMandela) March 20, 2018 Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Nelson Mandela Golden Hands Collection Goes to Bitcoin Exchange appeared first on CCN . || AMD will get crushed in the race to be the ultimate chip maker for Ethereum miners, tech analyst says (AMD, NVDA): • AMDhas received up to 20% of its total revenues from selling graphics cards used for Ethereum mining.
• Bitmain will put pressure on AMD, as the Chinese-based chipmaker is said to have developed its own ASIC, a graphics chip used for mining Ethereum, a Susquehanna analyst says.
• The analyst downgraded AMD's shares and lowered its price target.
• You can view AMD's stock price here.
AMD's heyday as the chip of choice forEthereumminers is about to come to an end, warns a Susquehanna analyst.
The advent of a new application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) — a graphics chip used to mine Ethereum — developed by Chinese-based chipmaker Bitmain spells trouble for AMD because the increased competition threatens its market share.
"While this call is likely early (in front of needed GPU channel replenishment), the proliferation of Ethereum mining ASICs have the ability to impact ~20% of AMD's total company revenue," wrote Christopher Rolland, a Susquehanna analyst.
AMD's total revenue exposure to GPU sales makes it especially vulnerable to competition, Rolland notes.
"While Bitmain is likely to be the largest ASIC vendor (currently 70-80% of Bitcoin mining ASICs) and the first to market with this product, we have learned of at least three other companies working on Ethereum ASICs, all at various stages of development," Rolland said.
Though the popularity and price of cryptocurrencies hasfallen since their December highs, demand for graphics cards that help users mine Ethereum,bitcoin, and other digital currencies has risen, sparking a rise in prices for the sought-after chips, as well as shortages.
Rolland still believes that AMD will have a "blow out" first quarter of 2018, bringing in $500 million in revenues. However, he believes as new chips come into market, AMD will feel the pressure.
He downgraded AMD shares to "Negative" and shifted his price target to $7.50 per share from $13.
The analyst also warned thatNvidiais subject to similar pressures, but it does not have the same fate. Nvidia has less revenue exposure to Ethereum-related GPU sales, Rolland said, adding Nvidia has a "stronger more durable gaming franchise which would help it work through this potential Ethereum-related unwind."
Though he did not change his rating on Nvidia, he did lower its price target to $200 a share from $215.
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SEE ALSO:JEFFERIES: AMD and Nvidia are set to benefit from the futuristic headsets in Steven Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' || Bitmain Has Developed an Ethereum ASIC Miner, Wall Street Analyst Claims: A leading Wall Street research firm has slashed price targets for leading chipmakers Nvidia and AMD, claiming that it has received confirmation that cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain has begun producing Ethereum ASIC miners. Writing a Monday note to clients, Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland said that the firm had recently confirmed that the China-based Bitmain by far the largest producer of miners that use Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chips is just months away from shipping the first miners compatible with Ethash , the Proof-of-Work (PoW) hashing algorithm used by Ethereum and a variety of other cryptocurrencies. Rolland added that at least three other manufacturers had begun developing Ethereum ASIC miners. During our travels through Asia last week, we confirmed that Bitmain has already developed an ASIC
for mining Ethereum, and is readying the supply chain for shipments in 2Q18, Rolland wrote in the note, according to a CNBC report. While Bitmain is likely to be the largest ASIC vendor (currently 70-80% of Bitcoin mining ASICs) and the first to market with this product, we have learned of at least three other companies working on Ethereum ASICs, all at various stages of development. Since ASIC chips are application-specific, they maximize the efficiency of cryptocurrency mining but are useful for little else. Until now, Ethash had been ASIC-resistant, allowing Ethereum and other similar cryptocurrencies to be mined using the general purpose GPU chips commonly found in gaming computers. As the leaders in what is effectively a GPU manufacturing duopoly, Nvidia and AMD each benefited greatly from last years cryptocurrency price boom, which had a correlative effect on mining. In fact, many investors treated these two companies as proxy stocks for the cryptocurrency industry. While the release of an Ethereum ASIC miner may not cause mining-related demand for GPUs to evaporate Monero, for instance, has promised to alter its mining algorithm regularly to maintain ASIC-resistance it could have a noticeable effect on AMDs revenue in particular. Story continues In fact, AMD warned in its recently-published annual filing that GPU demand could be materially adversely affected if miners stopped buying. Consequently, Susquehanna has reduced its price target for AMD shares to $7.50 from $13 and Nvidia shares to $200 from $215. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Bitmain Has Developed an Ethereum ASIC Miner, Wall Street Analyst Claims appeared first on CCN . || Bitmain Has Developed an Ethereum ASIC Miner, Wall Street Analyst Claims: A leading Wall Street research firm has slashed price targets for leading chipmakers Nvidia and AMD, claiming that it has received confirmation that cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain has begun producing Ethereum ASIC miners.
Writing a Monday note to clients, Susquehanna analyst Christopher Rolland said that the firm had recently confirmed that the China-based Bitmain — by far the largest producer of miners that use Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chips — is just months away from shipping the first miners compatible withEthash, the Proof-of-Work (PoW) hashing algorithm used by Ethereum and a variety of other cryptocurrencies.
Rolland added that at least three other manufacturers had begun developing Ethereum ASIC miners.
“During our travels through Asia last week, we confirmed that Bitmain has already developed an ASIC…for mining Ethereum, and is readying the supply chain for shipments in 2Q18,” Rolland wrote in the note, according to aCNBCreport. “While Bitmain is likely to be the largest ASIC vendor (currently 70-80% of Bitcoin mining ASICs) and the first to market with this product, we have learned of at least three other companies working on Ethereum ASICs, all at various stages of development.”
Since ASIC chips are application-specific, they maximize the efficiency of cryptocurrency mining but are useful for little else.
Until now, Ethash had been ASIC-resistant, allowing Ethereum and other similar cryptocurrencies to be mined using the general purpose GPU chips commonly found in gaming computers.
As the leaders in what is effectively a GPU manufacturing duopoly, Nvidia and AMD each benefited greatly from last year’s cryptocurrency price boom, which had a correlative effect on mining. In fact, many investors treated these two companies as “proxy stocks” for the cryptocurrency industry.
While the release of an Ethereum ASIC miner may not cause mining-related demand for GPUs to evaporate — Monero, for instance, has promised toalter its mining algorithmregularly to maintain ASIC-resistance — it could have a noticeable effect on AMD’s revenue in particular.
In fact, AMDwarnedin its recently-published annual filing that GPU demand could be “materially adversely affected” if miners stopped buying.
Consequently, Susquehanna has reduced its price target for AMD shares to $7.50 from $13 and Nvidia shares to $200 from $215.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postBitmain Has Developed an Ethereum ASIC Miner, Wall Street Analyst Claimsappeared first onCCN. || Gold Price Prediction for March 27, 2018: Gold prices pushed higher driven by a weakened dollar, which dropped to a 2-week low. Gold surged up to trend line resistance near a downward sloping trend line that comes in near 1,355. Support is seen near the 10-day moving average at 1,327. Momentum has turned positive as the MACD (moving average convergence divergence) index generated a crossover buy signal. This occurs as the MACD line (the 12-day moving average minus the 26-day moving average) crosses above the MACD signal line (the 9-day moving average of the MACD line). The MACD histogram is printing in the black with an upward sloping trajectory which points to higher prices for the yellow metal. The fast-stochastic surged higher reflecting accelerating positive momentum. The current reading of 93, is well above the overbought trigger level of 80 and could foreshadow a correction.
U.S. Chicago Fed National Activity index surged to 0.88 in February after falling to 0.02 in January which was revised from 0.12, and to 0.22 in December which was revised from 0.14 from November’s 0.25 which was revised from 0.24. The current reading is the second highest since December 2006, bested only by December’s 0.90 which was revised from 0.91. Today’s reading boosted the 3-month moving average to 0.37 in February from 0.16 in January which was revised form 0.17. It was 0.46 in December (revised from 0.43), and 0.50 in November which was revised from 0.49. The latter was the highest since May 2010. As for the components, 63 of the 85 made positive contributions, while 22 made negative contributions. Production-related components led the pickup.
After this very noisy week, filled mostly with sound and fury, perversely the relative calm in the storm was Chairman Powell’s debut FOMC policy meeting and press conference. The funds rate was hiked 25 bps, as universally expected. And though the Committee’s boosts to the GDP forecasts were stronger, and the Fed funds trajectory steeper than expected, Powell’s testimony was more pragmatic and suggested there was no urgency to pursue a more aggressive rate stance. While trade issue will continue to headline, the markets can get back to monitoring fundamentals near term to assess the FOMC’s posture as we head into Q2. The last week of the quarter will be crowded with supply, data and political baggage heading into the long Easter weekend for many.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• Crude Oil Price Forecast March 27, 2018, Technical Analysis || China ETFs Rebound on Easing Trade Talk Fears: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. China ETFs were among the best performers Monday as traders jumped on the cheaper market in response to speculation that the U.S. and China are engaging in trade talks. On Monday, the VanEck Vectors ChinaAMC CSI 300 ETF ( CNXT ) jumped 3.9%, SPDR S&P China ETF ( GXC ) advanced 3.0% and iShares MSCI China ETF ( MCHI ) gained 3.0%. Chinese stocks pared losses from last week on news of the U.S. and China going over steps to improve access to Chinese markets, diminishing fears of a trade ware between the two largest economies that recently roiled global markets, Reuters reports. Related: Global Bond ETF Investors Eye China Exposure Chinas foreign ministry said on Monday Beijing is willing to hold talks with the United States to settle trade disputes in what observers perceived to be an attempt to avoid a damaging trade war. The China-U.S trade spat could prompt Beijing to push forward with innovation strategy as it puts more focus on the quality of its economy, Chen Xiaopeng, an analyst with Sealand Securities, told Reuters. Markets Dragged Down by Trade-War Fears Chinese markets have been on a four-day losing streak as investors ditched the emerging market on fears of a full out trade ware between China and the U.S. The United States asked China last week to cut the tariff on U.S. autos, buy more U.S.-made semiconductors and give U.S. firms greater access to the Chinese financial sector, according to the Wall Street Journal . Furthermore, the U.S. is pressing China to cut restrictions on financial businesses, notably Beijing's requirement that they operate as joint ventures under which U.S. companies are limited to 51% ownership. Related: The Outlook for China The U.S. floated plans to enact tariffs, investment restrictions and other measures aimed at addressing the $375 billion merchandise trade deficit with China, which destabilized global markets last week. If they open up their markets, it is an enormous opportunity for U.S. companies, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News Sunday. I am cautiously hopeful we reach an agreement, but if not we are proceeding with these tariffs. Story continues For more information on Chinese markets, visit our China category . POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM Repeal the Second Amendment: Are Investors In? Goldman Sachs Turns Bullish on Gold Saudi Arabia ETF Pops as Investors Wait on FTSE Decision Cboe Continues Push For Bitcoin ETFs Trump Tariff Talk Lifts Gold ETFs READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || China ETFs Rebound on Easing Trade Talk Fears: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
China ETFs were among the best performers Monday as traders jumped on the cheaper market in response to speculation that the U.S. and China are engaging in trade talks.
On Monday, the VanEck Vectors ChinaAMC CSI 300 ETF (CNXT) jumped 3.9%, SPDR S&P China ETF (GXC) advanced 3.0% and iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) gained 3.0%.
Chinese stocks pared losses from last week on news of the U.S. and China going over steps to improve access to Chinese markets, diminishing fears of a trade ware between the two largest economies that recently roiled global markets,Reutersreports.
Related:Global Bond ETF Investors Eye China Exposure
China’s foreign ministry said on Monday Beijing is willing to hold talks with the United States to settle trade disputes in what observers perceived to be an attempt to avoid a damaging trade war.
“The China-U.S trade spat could prompt Beijing to push forward with innovation strategy as it puts more focus on the quality of its economy,” Chen Xiaopeng, an analyst with Sealand Securities, told Reuters.
Markets Dragged Down by Trade-War Fears
Chinese markets have been on a four-day losing streak as investors ditched the emerging market on fears of a full out trade ware between China and the U.S.
The United States asked China last week to cut the tariff on U.S. autos, buy more U.S.-made semiconductors and give U.S. firms greater access to the Chinese financial sector, according to theWall Street Journal.
Furthermore, the U.S. is pressing China to cut restrictions on financial businesses, notably Beijing's requirement that they operate as joint ventures under which U.S. companies are limited to 51% ownership.
Related:The Outlook for China
The U.S. floated plans to enact tariffs, investment restrictions and other measures aimed at addressing the $375 billion merchandise trade deficit with China, which destabilized global markets last week.
“If they open up their markets, it is an enormous opportunity for U.S. companies,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News Sunday. “I am cautiously hopeful we reach an agreement, but if not we are proceeding with these tariffs.”
For more information on Chinese markets, visit ourChina category.
POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM
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• Trump Tariff Talk Lifts Gold ETFs
READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Twitter to ban cryptocurrency ads from Tuesday as online crackdown widens: By Tommy Wilkes and Fanny Potkin LONDON (Reuters) - Twitter Inc will start banning cryptocurrency advertising from Tuesday, joining Facebook and Google in a clampdown that seeks to avoid giving publicity to potential fraud or large investor losses. The prohibition will cover advertising of initial coin offerings (ICOs) - crowdfunding used to raise cash by creating new coins - as well as token sales, the San Francisco-based firm told Reuters on Monday. The new policy, which will be rolled out over the next 30 days, will also ban ads by cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency wallet services, unless they are public companies listed on certain major stock markets. For Japan, these will be limited to crypto exchanges regulated by its national financial regulator, Twitter said. The firm had said this month it was taking measures to prevent crypto-related accounts from "engaging with others in a deceptive manner", but faced calls to go further after bans from Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google. Facebook has restricted crypto-related adverts, while Google announced a ban that comes into force in June. The price of bitcoin, already 4 percent in the red on Monday, fell further after the Twitter announcement. It traded at $7,920 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange at 1740 GMT, down more than 6 percent on the day. REGULATORS' WARNINGS Regulators have stepped up warnings that bitcoin and other virtual currencies are highly speculative and that some could be fraudulent, and that investors should be prepared to lose everything. But last week the G20 group of rich nations failed to reach a consensus on how to supervise them. Adverts for virtual coins or ways to trade them have appeared everywhere from London's transport network to Japanese television as demand for them has soared. "With the increasing number of ICOs coming to market, it is an impossible task for anyone, much less platforms like Twitter or Facebook, to keep on top of which ICOs and cryptocurrencies are genuine versus frauds," said Zennon Kapron, director of the financial consultancy Kapronasia. Story continues "Although certainly ICO advertising must have been a significant source of revenue for Twitter, the repercussions of fraudulent activities just weren't worth the risk." Bitcoin has lost more than half its value from a December peak of almost $20,000 as fears of a regulatory clampdown spooked investors. News of the Facebook and Google bans also knocked the price. Ethereum and Ripple's XRP, the second- and third-biggest digital currencies by market capitalisation, have tumbled this year too. While critics call cryptocurrencies a Ponzi scheme that will end in tears for most investors, supporters say the coins are backed by powerful new technology that can replace traditional fiat currencies and upend the existing banking system. (Reporting by Tommy Wilkes and Fanny Potkin; Editing by Kevin Liffey and John Stonestreet)
[Social Media Buzz]
BTC Price: 7877.04$,
BTC Today High : 8200.00$,
BTC All Time High : 19903.44$
ETH Price: 468.89$ #bitcoin #BTC $BTC #ETH $ETH #cryptopic.twitter.com/3gcusX1Z8V || 2018/03/27 15:00
#Binance 格安コイン
1位 #IOST 0.00000299 BTC(2.52円)
2位 #POE 0.00000399 BTC(3.37円)
3位 #NCASH 0.00000409 BTC(3.45円)
4位 #TNB 0.00000427 BTC(3.6円)
5位 #FUN 0.00000454 BTC(3.83円)
#仮想通貨 #アルトコイン #草コイン || 2018/03/28 07:00
#Binance 格安コイン
1位 #IOST 0.00000308 BTC(2.62円)
2位 #NCASH 0.00000397 BTC(3.38円)
3位 #POE 0.00000415 BTC(3.53円)
...
|
7954.48, 7165.70, 6890.52, 6973.53, 6844.23, 7083.80, 7456.11, 6853.84, 6811.47, 6636.32
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 23241.35, 23735.95, 24664.79, 26437.04, 26272.29, 27084.81, 27362.44, 28840.95, 29001.72, 29374.15, 32127.27, 32782.02, 31971.91, 33992.43, 36824.36, 39371.04, 40797.61, 40254.55, 38356.44, 35566.66, 33922.96, 37316.36, 39187.33, 36825.37, 36178.14, 35791.28, 36630.07, 36069.80, 35547.75, 30825.70, 33005.76, 32067.64, 32289.38, 32366.39, 32569.85, 30432.55, 33466.10, 34316.39, 34269.52, 33114.36, 33537.18, 35510.29, 37472.09, 36926.07, 38144.31, 39266.01, 38903.44, 46196.46, 46481.11, 44918.18, 47909.33, 47504.85, 47105.52, 48717.29, 47945.06, 49199.87, 52149.01, 51679.80, 55888.13, 56099.52, 57539.95, 54207.32, 48824.43, 49705.33, 47093.85, 46339.76, 46188.45, 45137.77, 49631.24, 48378.99, 50538.24, 48561.17, 48927.30, 48912.38, 51206.69, 52246.52, 54824.12, 56008.55, 57805.12, 57332.09, 61243.09, 59302.32, 55907.20, 56804.90, 58870.89, 57858.92, 58346.65, 58313.64, 57523.42, 54529.14.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-03-22]
Volume: 56521454974, RSI (14-day): 51.06, 50-day EMA: 49865.03, 200-day EMA: 32174.02
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1737.80, Gold RSI: 45.53
Oil Price: 61.55, Oil RSI: 49.57
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Crypto Long & Short: Bitpanda’s Raise Is About More Than Market Infrastructure: The pace of startup funding raises in the crypto industry, especially for businesses involved in building or operating crypto market infrastructure, has passed from a gentle canter to what feels like a gallop. I keep note of the raises CoinDesk reports on and did some counting this morning: 14 in January, 24 in February and so far this month – with a week and a half still to go – we’re at 32. That’s acceleration. While most funding raises are under $10 million, so far this year there have been four (that I am aware of) that were greater than $100 million. Two of them were this week. One was crypto custodian Fireblocks, which raised $133 million . The other was a $170 million Series B round for a crypto market-infrastructure player that I confess had not been on my radar as much as it probably should have been. You’re reading Crypto Long & Short , a newsletter that looks closely at the forces driving cryptocurrency markets. Authored by CoinDesk’s head of research, Noelle Acheson, it goes out every Sunday and offers a recap of the week – with insights and analysis – from a professional investor’s point of view. You can subscribe here . Related: California Seeks to Make Blockchain Corporate Records Bill Permanent I’m talking about Bitpanda, a crypto exchange and card issuer headquartered in Vienna that, with this raise, is now valued at $1.2 billion. This makes it one of Europe’s largest crypto platforms and Austria’s first unicorn ever. Let’s take a moment to appreciate that Austria’s first unicorn is a crypto company. This raise is worth looking at a bit more closely in that it embodies some deeper trends that will most likely continue to get noisier as the year progresses. One is the self-reinforcing impact of crypto price movements. Increasing crypto prices lead to increasing revenue at market-infrastructure providers, which leads to more investment, which develops better on-ramps, which leads to more investors coming into the market, which leads to increasing crypto prices. And so on. Story continues This is evident in the amount raised. For context, Revolut’s Series B was roughly one-third the size . What’s more, Bitpanda’s raise came just six months after a $52 million Series A , when the average time between rounds is 18 months. Related: When Currencies Fail: ‘Bitcoin’ Google Searches in Turkey Rise 400% as Lira Crashes Bitpanda has been profitable for four years, according to CEO Eric Demuth, so it doesn’t really need the funds. This raise highlights a notable ambition: “to become ‘the’ investment platform for all of Europe.” But wait, Europe has a slow and fragmented regulatory approach to finance and innovation, right? It doesn’t even yet have full capital markets union , so how can there be a pan-European crypto investment platform? This is the second intriguing development highlighted in the Bitpanda funding round: upcoming European legislation that aims to create a unified approach to crypto industry oversight. This is potentially a very big deal. Opening doors Published in September 2020 , the European Union’s “Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation” (MiCA) aims to implement clear-cut rules and long-term legal certainty in the regulation of crypto assets. As usual in the European Union, however, clear-cut rules are usually anything but, as each member state has some leeway in the interpretation and implementation. And MiCA’s text is not yet finalized. There does seem to be momentum, however, and not just because of the intensifying interest from all types of investors. Just this week the European Securities and Markets Authority issued a reminder about crypto asset risk. The momentum is also propelled by concern over the threat that privately issued cryptocurrencies could pose to financial stability. MiCA would also regulate stablecoins. MiCA will bring a unified policy to crypto asset services, clarifying the regulatory status of crypto assets and their market-infrastructure providers. What’s more, it will enable crypto services in one member country to legally operate in any other. And crypto asset service providers will be subject to requirements regarding capital needs, insurance coverage and more. This will instill greater institutional confidence in service providers’ legality and financial soundness. Greater legal certainty around market development will attract both investors and builders, accelerating the emergence of regulated crypto services. In terms of institutional investment, the U.S. will continue to dominate the global financial stage. It has the world’s largest capital market and the largest funds. But Europe has so far shown itself to be more forward-thinking about the eventual fusion of traditional and crypto markets. A handful of stock exchanges list crypto-backed products . Some are developing entire token ecosystems . Two European crypto asset managers are now listed companies . Traditional banks are offering crypto trading and custody . What’s more, Bitpanda’s sights appear to be on more than just being the biggest crypto exchange in Europe. Demuth told TechCrunch this week that the company was “shifting to become a pan-investment platform, not just a crypto broker.” Its Mifid II license gives it scope to eventually trade other types of assets. According to reports , the company will add fractional trading of traditional shares in April. And, given their new war chest, it’s unlikely the expansion of offerings will stop there. Given the investment and regulatory interest in helping platforms like Bitpanda achieve those goals, it could be that Europe is where the merging of traditional and crypto finance takes shape first. But whether the U.S. or Europe takes the lead in crypto market progress over the next few years really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. What matters is that the progress is accelerating and becoming almost tangible. It’s morphing from vague futuristic ideas to real rules guiding real platforms that offer real products to a changing market. And progress in one hemisphere will support development in the other. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the rapid change in crypto market infrastructure that we’ve seen over the past year was just the warm-up. Momentum and gateways This week, CNBC’s report that Morgan Stanley was allowing its financial advisers to put client funds into bitcoin sent ripples through the wealth management industry. The firm, one of the largest asset managers in the world with over $4 trillion AUM, will give clients access to three bitcoin funds via its platform. Two of these funds are managed by Galaxy Digital, and the third is overseen by FS Investments and NYDIG. For now, the bitcoin funds are only available to clients with accounts that have been active for at least six months and are worth over $2 million ($5 million for investment firms), and there is a limit of 2.5% of a client’s net worth. Nevertheless, the move is significant for the whole market for the signals it sends: Clients are demanding bitcoin exposure. We knew this anyway, but here’s more proof. Bitcoin is now officially investment grade. Morgan Stanley’s acceptance of bitcoin’s liquidity, custody and market integrity is a loud stamp of approval. This signals to financial advisers of all types that this market is worth thinking about with an open mind. These signals won’t just reach investors. They will also reach other investment houses and financial advisers, who will probably scramble to offer similar services rather than be seen as overly conservative in a low-yield market that is pushing investors further along the risk curve. CHAIN LINKS “There are plenty of things that people want and value highly that have no intrinsic value. How about a painting or a diamond or a bar of gold?” – Howard Marks , in a video interview. “For speculative investment opportunities to rise to the level of an investable asset class that can play a role in diversified investment portfolios requires transformational progress on both the supply and demand sides. With cryptocurrency, we think that threshold is being reached.” – Morgan Stanley Wealth Management , in a report released this week. “Importantly, small changes in investors’ overall perceptions about bitcoin can have a large impact on its price, especially because relatively few bitcoins are in circulation. So, if several pension funds or large asset managers with trillions of dollars decide to allocate a few basis points of their portfolios in a cryptocurrency, it can have a very large impact.” – Deutsche Bank Research , in a report released this week. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce gave a speech this week at the British Blockchain Association’s conference in which she discussed her view on the regulator’s inconsistent reasons for rejecting previous bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications: “Rather than applying the fairly straightforward standard that we have typically applied in approving other [exchange-traded product] filings –including for precious metals like palladium and platinum – we have insisted on increasingly sophisticated analyses of the relationship between the underlying spot market and the futures market to determine the susceptibility of these markets to fraud and manipulation. Not only is it unclear whether prior non-crypto ETP filings could have passed muster under this more rigorous approach, the ever-shifting goalposts are unfair to innovators who spend ever-increasing amounts of money on attorneys and quantitative experts only to find that they have failed to hit a target that has moved once again.” She also pointed out the SEC stance has heightened risk for retail investors rather than protected them: “The SEC’s reluctance to permit traditional investment vehicles to hold bitcoin or bitcoin futures has contributed to investors seeking more expensive, less convenient or less direct substitutes, but it also has heightened the stakes of any regulatory approval for a mainstream retail product we might one day grant. By waiting we also have magnified the first-approved advantage in the bitcoin ETP or registered fund space. Moreover, because we have comported ourselves like merit regulators, investors might view any approvals as an official blessing by the Commission about the quality of the products we approve. That would be the wrong inference to draw.” Speaking of ETFs, the SEC acknowledged the ETF application submitted by VanEck , formally kicking off its 45-day window to make an initial decision on the proposal. TAKEAWAY: If approved, the ETF would be the first bitcoin ETF in the U.S., and its approval would send a strong signal to the global investment community that the market has “grown up” and now passes the SEC’s rigorous (albeit contentious) standards. First Trust Advisors and SkyBridge Capital , the hedge fund run by Anthony Scaramucci, have filed an S-1 with the SEC for the “First Trust SkyBridge Bitcoin ETF Trust,” to trade on NYSE Arca. TAKEAWAY: They join WisdomTree, NYDIG, Valkyrie and VanEck in the queue, with Grayscale (a subsidiary of CoinDesk parent DCG) hiring ETF positions. Grayscale Investments (a subsidiary of CoinDesk parent DCG) has launched five new trusts based on decentralized application tokens chainlink ( LINK ), decentraland ( MANA ), Brave’s basic attention token ( BAT ), filecoin (FIL) and livepeer (LPT). TAKEAWAY: This is a meaningful nudge to institutional investors to look a bit further down the market cap rankings for potential – and the inflows this is likely to produce will send not just funding but also more mainstream attention to innovative platforms and use cases. Trading platform eToro will become a publicly traded company via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) FinTech Acquisition Corp. V. The combined entity will have an implied equity value of about $10.4 billion, reflecting an implied enterprise value for eToro of about $9.6 billion, according to the company . TAKEAWAY: This adds to the list of crypto market infrastructure companies to go public, boosting our access to financial statements and a better understanding of the business dynamics of the industry. Kraken could also soon contribute to that list. The crypto exchange, which has been trading since 2011, is reported to be considering a direct stock exchange listing in 2022. TAKEAWAY: Kraken is a key player in the industry, offering not only one of the leading exchanges, but also the first regulated “crypto bank” after receiving a bank charter from the state of Wyoming. While those would be some financial statements I would love to take a look at, it’s possible that an eventual listing, should it materialize, would be for only part of the growing company’s business lines. SBI Crypto – a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate SBI Holdings – is opening access to its mining pool for both institutional and retail customers. TAKEAWAY: This is part of what seems like an emerging trend to bring greater liquidity to bitcoin mining as an investment asset, and follows just one week after North American mining firm Foundry (a subsidiary of CoinDesk parent DCG) opened up its mining pool to institutional customers. The latest survey by Bank of America shows inflation fears have replaced the pandemic impact as fund managers’ biggest worry, and that “long bitcoin” is still the second-most crowded trade , behind “long tech.” TAKEAWAY: “Most crowded” does not mean “unadvisable.” It does warn investors that, should sentiment turn, the stampede toward the exit could be nasty. An Investopedia survey showed 20% of respondents have added bitcoin to their portfolios, while 60% believe it is in bubble territory. TAKEAWAY: The U.S. financial website’s editor in chief, Caleb Silver, said respondents’ concerns were based on good reason because bitcoin’s price has risen without any specific catalyst other than growing institutional demand. I’m perplexed as to why that wouldn’t be considered a catalyst. Hong Kong-listed software firm Meitu has bought another 16,000 ETH valued at around $28.4 million and 386.086 BTC valued at approximately $21.6 million. TAKEAWAY: Could this be another corporation on its way to becoming an ETF-by-proxy? These purchases more than double the previous investment earlier this month. The company’s share price did not noticeably react to the first announcement, but has picked over the past couple of days. I haven’t seen the 2020 balance sheet, nor am I clear on the distribution of the crypto holdings among subsidiaries, but we can probably conclude that $90 million is starting to feel more material for shareholders than the previous investment of $40 million. Also, given that Meitu’s main business line appears to be social media apps, this could end up being part of a strategic business pivot. Related Stories Crypto Long & Short: Bitpanda’s Raise Is About More Than Market Infrastructure Crypto Long & Short: Bitpanda’s Raise Is About More Than Market Infrastructure || Crypto Long & Short: Bitpanda’s Raise Is About More Than Market Infrastructure: The pace of startup funding raises in the crypto industry, especially for businesses involved in building or operating crypto market infrastructure, has passed from a gentle canter to what feels like a gallop. I keep note of the raises CoinDesk reports on and did some counting this morning: 14 in January, 24 in February and so far this month – with a week and a half still to go – we’re at 32. That’s acceleration. While most funding raises are under $10 million, so far this year there have been four (that I am aware of) that were greater than $100 million. Two of them were this week. One was crypto custodian Fireblocks, which raised $133 million . The other was a $170 million Series B round for a crypto market-infrastructure player that I confess had not been on my radar as much as it probably should have been. You’re reading Crypto Long & Short , a newsletter that looks closely at the forces driving cryptocurrency markets. Authored by CoinDesk’s head of research, Noelle Acheson, it goes out every Sunday and offers a recap of the week – with insights and analysis – from a professional investor’s point of view. You can subscribe here . Related: California Seeks to Make Blockchain Corporate Records Bill Permanent I’m talking about Bitpanda, a crypto exchange and card issuer headquartered in Vienna that, with this raise, is now valued at $1.2 billion. This makes it one of Europe’s largest crypto platforms and Austria’s first unicorn ever. Let’s take a moment to appreciate that Austria’s first unicorn is a crypto company. This raise is worth looking at a bit more closely in that it embodies some deeper trends that will most likely continue to get noisier as the year progresses. One is the self-reinforcing impact of crypto price movements. Increasing crypto prices lead to increasing revenue at market-infrastructure providers, which leads to more investment, which develops better on-ramps, which leads to more investors coming into the market, which leads to increasing crypto prices. And so on. Story continues This is evident in the amount raised. For context, Revolut’s Series B was roughly one-third the size . What’s more, Bitpanda’s raise came just six months after a $52 million Series A , when the average time between rounds is 18 months. Related: When Currencies Fail: ‘Bitcoin’ Google Searches in Turkey Rise 400% as Lira Crashes Bitpanda has been profitable for four years, according to CEO Eric Demuth, so it doesn’t really need the funds. This raise highlights a notable ambition: “to become ‘the’ investment platform for all of Europe.” But wait, Europe has a slow and fragmented regulatory approach to finance and innovation, right? It doesn’t even yet have full capital markets union , so how can there be a pan-European crypto investment platform? This is the second intriguing development highlighted in the Bitpanda funding round: upcoming European legislation that aims to create a unified approach to crypto industry oversight. This is potentially a very big deal. Opening doors Published in September 2020 , the European Union’s “Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation” (MiCA) aims to implement clear-cut rules and long-term legal certainty in the regulation of crypto assets. As usual in the European Union, however, clear-cut rules are usually anything but, as each member state has some leeway in the interpretation and implementation. And MiCA’s text is not yet finalized. There does seem to be momentum, however, and not just because of the intensifying interest from all types of investors. Just this week the European Securities and Markets Authority issued a reminder about crypto asset risk. The momentum is also propelled by concern over the threat that privately issued cryptocurrencies could pose to financial stability. MiCA would also regulate stablecoins. MiCA will bring a unified policy to crypto asset services, clarifying the regulatory status of crypto assets and their market-infrastructure providers. What’s more, it will enable crypto services in one member country to legally operate in any other. And crypto asset service providers will be subject to requirements regarding capital needs, insurance coverage and more. This will instill greater institutional confidence in service providers’ legality and financial soundness. Greater legal certainty around market development will attract both investors and builders, accelerating the emergence of regulated crypto services. In terms of institutional investment, the U.S. will continue to dominate the global financial stage. It has the world’s largest capital market and the largest funds. But Europe has so far shown itself to be more forward-thinking about the eventual fusion of traditional and crypto markets. A handful of stock exchanges list crypto-backed products . Some are developing entire token ecosystems . Two European crypto asset managers are now listed companies . Traditional banks are offering crypto trading and custody . What’s more, Bitpanda’s sights appear to be on more than just being the biggest crypto exchange in Europe. Demuth told TechCrunch this week that the company was “shifting to become a pan-investment platform, not just a crypto broker.” Its Mifid II license gives it scope to eventually trade other types of assets. According to reports , the company will add fractional trading of traditional shares in April. And, given their new war chest, it’s unlikely the expansion of offerings will stop there. Given the investment and regulatory interest in helping platforms like Bitpanda achieve those goals, it could be that Europe is where the merging of traditional and crypto finance takes shape first. But whether the U.S. or Europe takes the lead in crypto market progress over the next few years really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. What matters is that the progress is accelerating and becoming almost tangible. It’s morphing from vague futuristic ideas to real rules guiding real platforms that offer real products to a changing market. And progress in one hemisphere will support development in the other. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the rapid change in crypto market infrastructure that we’ve seen over the past year was just the warm-up. Momentum and gateways This week, CNBC’s report that Morgan Stanley was allowing its financial advisers to put client funds into bitcoin sent ripples through the wealth management industry. The firm, one of the largest asset managers in the world with over $4 trillion AUM, will give clients access to three bitcoin funds via its platform. Two of these funds are managed by Galaxy Digital, and the third is overseen by FS Investments and NYDIG. For now, the bitcoin funds are only available to clients with accounts that have been active for at least six months and are worth over $2 million ($5 million for investment firms), and there is a limit of 2.5% of a client’s net worth. Nevertheless, the move is significant for the whole market for the signals it sends: Clients are demanding bitcoin exposure. We knew this anyway, but here’s more proof. Bitcoin is now officially investment grade. Morgan Stanley’s acceptance of bitcoin’s liquidity, custody and market integrity is a loud stamp of approval. This signals to financial advisers of all types that this market is worth thinking about with an open mind. These signals won’t just reach investors. They will also reach other investment houses and financial advisers, who will probably scramble to offer similar services rather than be seen as overly conservative in a low-yield market that is pushing investors further along the risk curve. CHAIN LINKS “There are plenty of things that people want and value highly that have no intrinsic value. How about a painting or a diamond or a bar of gold?” – Howard Marks , in a video interview. “For speculative investment opportunities to rise to the level of an investable asset class that can play a role in diversified investment portfolios requires transformational progress on both the supply and demand sides. With cryptocurrency, we think that threshold is being reached.” – Morgan Stanley Wealth Management , in a report released this week. “Importantly, small changes in investors’ overall perceptions about bitcoin can have a large impact on its price, especially because relatively few bitcoins are in circulation. So, if several pension funds or large asset managers with trillions of dollars decide to allocate a few basis points of their portfolios in a cryptocurrency, it can have a very large impact.” – Deutsche Bank Research , in a report released this week. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce gave a speech this week at the British Blockchain Association’s conference in which she discussed her view on the regulator’s inconsistent reasons for rejecting previous bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications: “Rather than applying the fairly straightforward standard that we have typically applied in approving other [exchange-traded product] filings –including for precious metals like palladium and platinum – we have insisted on increasingly sophisticated analyses of the relationship between the underlying spot market and the futures market to determine the susceptibility of these markets to fraud and manipulation. Not only is it unclear whether prior non-crypto ETP filings could have passed muster under this more rigorous approach, the ever-shifting goalposts are unfair to innovators who spend ever-increasing amounts of money on attorneys and quantitative experts only to find that they have failed to hit a target that has moved once again.” She also pointed out the SEC stance has heightened risk for retail investors rather than protected them: “The SEC’s reluctance to permit traditional investment vehicles to hold bitcoin or bitcoin futures has contributed to investors seeking more expensive, less convenient or less direct substitutes, but it also has heightened the stakes of any regulatory approval for a mainstream retail product we might one day grant. By waiting we also have magnified the first-approved advantage in the bitcoin ETP or registered fund space. Moreover, because we have comported ourselves like merit regulators, investors might view any approvals as an official blessing by the Commission about the quality of the products we approve. That would be the wrong inference to draw.” Speaking of ETFs, the SEC acknowledged the ETF application submitted by VanEck , formally kicking off its 45-day window to make an initial decision on the proposal. TAKEAWAY: If approved, the ETF would be the first bitcoin ETF in the U.S., and its approval would send a strong signal to the global investment community that the market has “grown up” and now passes the SEC’s rigorous (albeit contentious) standards. First Trust Advisors and SkyBridge Capital , the hedge fund run by Anthony Scaramucci, have filed an S-1 with the SEC for the “First Trust SkyBridge Bitcoin ETF Trust,” to trade on NYSE Arca. TAKEAWAY: They join WisdomTree, NYDIG, Valkyrie and VanEck in the queue, with Grayscale (a subsidiary of CoinDesk parent DCG) hiring ETF positions. Grayscale Investments (a subsidiary of CoinDesk parent DCG) has launched five new trusts based on decentralized application tokens chainlink ( LINK ), decentraland ( MANA ), Brave’s basic attention token ( BAT ), filecoin (FIL) and livepeer (LPT). TAKEAWAY: This is a meaningful nudge to institutional investors to look a bit further down the market cap rankings for potential – and the inflows this is likely to produce will send not just funding but also more mainstream attention to innovative platforms and use cases. Trading platform eToro will become a publicly traded company via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) FinTech Acquisition Corp. V. The combined entity will have an implied equity value of about $10.4 billion, reflecting an implied enterprise value for eToro of about $9.6 billion, according to the company . TAKEAWAY: This adds to the list of crypto market infrastructure companies to go public, boosting our access to financial statements and a better understanding of the business dynamics of the industry. Kraken could also soon contribute to that list. The crypto exchange, which has been trading since 2011, is reported to be considering a direct stock exchange listing in 2022. TAKEAWAY: Kraken is a key player in the industry, offering not only one of the leading exchanges, but also the first regulated “crypto bank” after receiving a bank charter from the state of Wyoming. While those would be some financial statements I would love to take a look at, it’s possible that an eventual listing, should it materialize, would be for only part of the growing company’s business lines. SBI Crypto – a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate SBI Holdings – is opening access to its mining pool for both institutional and retail customers. TAKEAWAY: This is part of what seems like an emerging trend to bring greater liquidity to bitcoin mining as an investment asset, and follows just one week after North American mining firm Foundry (a subsidiary of CoinDesk parent DCG) opened up its mining pool to institutional customers. The latest survey by Bank of America shows inflation fears have replaced the pandemic impact as fund managers’ biggest worry, and that “long bitcoin” is still the second-most crowded trade , behind “long tech.” TAKEAWAY: “Most crowded” does not mean “unadvisable.” It does warn investors that, should sentiment turn, the stampede toward the exit could be nasty. An Investopedia survey showed 20% of respondents have added bitcoin to their portfolios, while 60% believe it is in bubble territory. TAKEAWAY: The U.S. financial website’s editor in chief, Caleb Silver, said respondents’ concerns were based on good reason because bitcoin’s price has risen without any specific catalyst other than growing institutional demand. I’m perplexed as to why that wouldn’t be considered a catalyst. Hong Kong-listed software firm Meitu has bought another 16,000 ETH valued at around $28.4 million and 386.086 BTC valued at approximately $21.6 million. TAKEAWAY: Could this be another corporation on its way to becoming an ETF-by-proxy? These purchases more than double the previous investment earlier this month. The company’s share price did not noticeably react to the first announcement, but has picked over the past couple of days. I haven’t seen the 2020 balance sheet, nor am I clear on the distribution of the crypto holdings among subsidiaries, but we can probably conclude that $90 million is starting to feel more material for shareholders than the previous investment of $40 million. Also, given that Meitu’s main business line appears to be social media apps, this could end up being part of a strategic business pivot. Related Stories Crypto Long & Short: Bitpanda’s Raise Is About More Than Market Infrastructure Crypto Long & Short: Bitpanda’s Raise Is About More Than Market Infrastructure || These Red Flags on Your 2020 Tax Return Could Spark Interest From the IRS: Filing your taxes can be an annoyance, but it can become even more of a nuisance if you get audited by the IRS. Find Out: This Is Where Your Tax Dollars Actually Go Fortunately, your chances of being audited are small — only 0.6% of the individual tax returns filed for tax years 2010 through 2018 were audited, according to the latest IRS data. However, that small fraction still amounts to over a quarter million tax filers getting audited, so it can happen if you’re not careful. So that you’re prepared, these are the red flags the IRS looks out for when reviewing your tax returns. Last updated: Jan. 13, 2021 Businesswoman's Hand Signing Cheque On Wooden Desk. Large Charitable Donations “The IRS often identifies red flags through automated computer programs,” said Nate Smith, director in the CBIZ MHM National Tax Office. “Almost all returns submitted to the IRS are analyzed by a computer program to search for an anomaly or a result that deviates from norms. Under this program, each return is assigned a score, which the IRS calls a ‘DIF’ (Discriminate Function) score. The DIF score is used by the IRS to identify returns for examination.” One factor that would negatively impact a DIF score is a charitable contribution deduction that is disproportionate with your overall amount of income, Smith said. Read: The Major Tax Changes for 2021 You Need To Know About Shot of a young woman using a laptop and going through paperwork while working from home. Mismatches Between Reported Income and Data on Your Tax Forms Make sure the income you report matches exactly what it states on your Forms W-2 and 1099. Any mismatches are considered a red flag, Smith said. Take a Look: How To Avoid Paying Taxes Legally — and the 11 Craziest Ways People Have Done It IT guy launching his first mining rig for cryptocurrency. Failure To Report Cryptocurrency Transactions “The IRS sent around 10,000 letters ( in previous years) to taxpayers who participated in virtual currency transactions — Bitcoin, etc. — and who did not report gains or losses involving virtual currency,” Smith said. “These letters offer taxpayers participation in a voluntary disclosure program if they find that virtual currency transactions were omitted from prior tax filings.” Story continues Sales Tax by State: Here’s How Much You’re Really Paying young woman working on her computer at home. Business Income and Expenses That Are Out of Whack “The IRS is always on the lookout for both unreported income and high expenses,” said Dave Du Val, chief customer advocacy officer at TaxAudit. “Self-preparers should be cautious of accidental duplication of employee and business expenses, and of taking losses on activities that might be a hobby rather than a business activity.” Make the Right Moves: What Can I Write Off on My Taxes? Shot of a young woman sitting with her laptop and paperwork at home. Itemized Deductions That Seem High “The IRS loves to pounce on people who report high itemized deductions,” Du Val said. “It’s fine to claim these legally allowable deductions for your actual qualifying expenses, but make sure you have your documentation on-hand to support your position before you file your tax return.” Du Val notes that 2017 was the last year that unreimbursed employee business expenses were allowed to be deducted on federal returns. “(However), many states — such as California — will still allow the deduction, so it’s still important to hold onto receipts,” he said. Host welcoming his guest in the entrance hall. Inflated Rental Property Expenses “Tax returns with what appears to be inflated rental expenses are frequently caught in the IRS net,” Du Val said. “Some of the deductions on the Schedule E for rental income, where the income and expenses for rentals are reported, can be easily misinterpreted. Those who prepare their own tax returns should take the time to understand the deductions they are claiming. Not knowing the difference between a deductible expense and one that must be capitalized over a number of years could result in a disaster in an audit. This is especially true if you rent a room(s) to a roommate, as ‘common-use’ areas are not allowed as rental areas.” happiness family with son in the crib. Dependency Issues When two people claim the same dependent, the IRS gets involved. “Although separated and divorced parents who have custody have the clear advantage, they still have to prove everything by providing birth certificates, school records and more,” Du Val said. Family Returning Home From Shopping Trip Using Plastic Free Bags Unpacking Groceries In Kitchen. Filing Status Confusion Du Val said that those who file using the head of household filing status are often questioned because the way you categorize dependents with this status can be confusing. “The ( most recent) tax reform bill has not made the rules any easier to understand; in fact, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, there is a new $500 credit for what the IRS calls ‘qualifying relatives’ who are not necessarily people who are even related to you, but who meet certain tests and are not eligible for the child tax credit,” he said. Couple at home using a digital tablet. A Tax Return That Suggests the Taxpayers Are Not Reporting Enough Income To Support Their Lifestyle If your expenses are high but the income you are reporting is not, this could be a red flag for the IRS. “For example, a taxpayer who claims a deduction for mortgage interest on a million-dollar mortgage (or the new $750,000 mortgage limit) and personal property taxes on expensive vehicles has a good chance of showing up on the IRS’s radar if their taxable income is not enough to pay these expenses,” Du Val said. Shot of a couple looking at something on a laptop while sitting with their baby. Reporting the Exact Right Ratio of Income and Expenses To Qualify For a Large Earned Income Credit A Schedule C for self-employment that reports just the “right ratio” of income and expenses to qualify the taxpayer for a large earned income credit is a red flag, Du Val said. “The available credit is as high as ($6,660 for 2020) for a taxpayer whose income is below a certain threshold,” he said. “Taxpayers who claim EIC and whose returns include a Schedule C business form should be prepared to show proof of all expenses, and even income listed on the return.” Be Prepared: These Are the Receipts To Keep for Doing Your Taxes Young man fixing a leak under the bathroom sink. 199A Deduction for Real Estate Rentals Some people who claim this deduction don’t actually qualify for it. “To be eligible the owner needs to have a contemporaneously written log showing that they have put in a minimum of 250 hours of non-investor type activity hours into the rentals,” Du Val said. “Examples do not include such activities as commuting to the rental, reviewing the records or preparing a tax return. Meeting this requirement does not automatically qualify a taxpayer to be considered a ‘real estate professional’ for tax purposes, or to exclude this income from the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) calculation.” Businessman withdrawing money from ATM. Overseas Accounts The law requires Americans with foreign financial accounts to report accounts to the U.S. Treasury Department, even if they don’t generate any taxable income. The Bank Secrecy Act requires you to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) if you have financial interest in, signature authority or other authority over one or more accounts in a foreign country and the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year, according to the IRS. Failure to report these accounts could land you in hot water with the IRS. If you don’t disclose overseas accounts, the IRS might find out about them anyway because foreign institutions are required to disclose account holdings by U.S. citizens, CNBC reported. Two professionals in office, one young female and one male, in formal clothing, dealing with finance, financial issues, investments, and market analysis. What To Do If You Get Audited Hopefully being aware of these red flags will prevent you from being audited — but if you do end up hearing from the IRS, here’s what to do to be prepared. Close up of business documents stack on desk , report papers stack. 1. Gather All Necessary Documents To defend yourself during a tax audit, you’ll need documentation to back up what you claimed on your return. The documentation you will need will depend on what it is you’re being audited for but can include receipts, bills, canceled checks, employee documents, legal papers, loan agreements, trip logs, medical or dental records, theft or loss documents, business trip tickets or a Schedule K-1. People around the table. 2. Ask For Help The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization within the IRS that protects taxpayer rights and assists with tax-related problems. If you’re audited, you can contact the service for help. Most audits are conducted via correspondence, but if you do need to meet with an auditor in-person, consider hiring an attorney or another advocate to represent you. “The best thing to do if you’re subject to an IRS audit is to hire someone and authorize them to go to the audit,” said Paul Joseph, an attorney, CPA and president of Joseph & Joseph, LLC. “Never go yourself. In fact, my clients don’t go at all. It is my position that I never let my clients come to an audit because they are expected to know all of the answers immediately. By not having the client attend the audit, they’ll have an opportunity to discuss and fully explain the return with the hired professional prior to giving a response to the IRS.” More From GOBankingRates These Are the Best Banks of 2021 – Did Yours Make the Cut? 36 Ways To Save For Your Emergency Fund and Any Unexpected Situations Top 100 Banks Leading the U.S. in 2021 35 Ways To Slash Your Car Costs This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : These Red Flags on Your 2020 Tax Return Could Spark Interest From the IRS || These Red Flags on Your 2020 Tax Return Could Spark Interest From the IRS: Filing your taxes can be an annoyance, but it can become even more of a nuisance if you get audited by the IRS.
Find Out:This Is Where Your Tax Dollars Actually Go
Fortunately, your chances of being audited are small — only 0.6% of the individual tax returns filed for tax years 2010 through 2018 were audited, according to the latest IRS data. However, that small fraction still amounts to over a quarter million tax filers getting audited, so it can happen if you’re not careful.
So that you’re prepared, these are the red flags the IRS looks out for when reviewing your tax returns.
Last updated: Jan. 13, 2021
“The IRS often identifies red flags through automated computer programs,” said Nate Smith, director in the CBIZ MHM National Tax Office. “Almost all returns submitted to the IRS are analyzed by a computer program to search for an anomaly or a result that deviates from norms. Under this program, each return is assigned a score, which the IRS calls a ‘DIF’ (Discriminate Function) score. The DIF score is used by the IRS to identify returns for examination.”
One factor that would negatively impact a DIF score is a charitable contribution deduction that is disproportionate with your overall amount of income, Smith said.
Read:The Major Tax Changes for 2021 You Need To Know About
Make sure the income you report matches exactly what it states on your Forms W-2 and 1099. Any mismatches are considered a red flag, Smith said.
Take a Look:How To Avoid Paying Taxes Legally — and the 11 Craziest Ways People Have Done It
“The IRS sent around 10,000 letters (in previous years)to taxpayers who participated in virtual currency transactions — Bitcoin, etc. — and who did not report gains or losses involving virtual currency,” Smith said. “These letters offer taxpayers participation in a voluntary disclosure program if they find that virtual currency transactions were omitted from prior tax filings.”
Sales Tax by State:Here’s How Much You’re Really Paying
“The IRS is always on the lookout for both unreported income and high expenses,” said Dave Du Val, chief customer advocacy officer at TaxAudit. “Self-preparers should be cautious of accidental duplication of employee and business expenses, and of taking losses on activities that might be a hobby rather than a business activity.”
Make the Right Moves:What Can I Write Off on My Taxes?
“The IRS loves to pounce on people who report high itemized deductions,” Du Val said. “It’s fine to claim these legally allowable deductions for your actual qualifying expenses, but make sure you have your documentation on-hand to support your position before you file your tax return.”
Du Val notes that 2017 was the last year that unreimbursed employee business expenses were allowed to be deducted on federal returns.
“(However), many states — such as California — will still allow the deduction, so it’s still important to hold onto receipts,” he said.
“Tax returns with what appears to be inflated rental expenses are frequently caught in the IRS net,” Du Val said. “Some of the deductions on the Schedule E for rental income, where the income and expenses for rentals are reported, can be easily misinterpreted. Those who prepare their own tax returns should take the time to understand the deductions they are claiming. Not knowing the difference between a deductible expense and one that must be capitalized over a number of years could result in a disaster in an audit. This is especially true if you rent a room(s) to a roommate, as ‘common-use’ areas are not allowed as rental areas.”
When two people claim the same dependent, the IRS gets involved.
“Although separated and divorced parents who have custody have the clear advantage, they still have to prove everything by providing birth certificates, school records and more,” Du Val said.
Du Val said that those who file using the head of household filing status are often questioned because the way you categorize dependents with this status can be confusing.
“The (most recent)tax reform bill has not made the rules any easier to understand; in fact, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, there is a new $500 credit for what the IRS calls ‘qualifying relatives’ who are not necessarily people who are even related to you, but who meet certain tests and are not eligible for the child tax credit,” he said.
If your expenses are high but the income you are reporting is not, this could be a red flag for the IRS.
“For example, a taxpayer who claims a deduction for mortgage interest on a million-dollar mortgage (or the new $750,000 mortgage limit) and personal property taxes on expensive vehicles has a good chance of showing up on the IRS’s radar if their taxable income is not enough to pay these expenses,” Du Val said.
A Schedule C for self-employment that reports just the “right ratio” of income and expenses to qualify the taxpayer for a large earned income credit is a red flag, Du Val said.
“The available credit is as high as($6,660 for 2020)for a taxpayer whose income is below a certain threshold,” he said. “Taxpayers who claim EIC and whose returns include a Schedule C business form should be prepared to show proof of all expenses, and even income listed on the return.”
Be Prepared:These Are the Receipts To Keep for Doing Your Taxes
Some people who claim this deduction don’t actually qualify for it.
“To be eligible the owner needs to have a contemporaneously written log showing that they have put in a minimum of 250 hours of non-investor type activity hours into the rentals,” Du Val said. “Examples do not include such activities as commuting to the rental, reviewing the records or preparing a tax return. Meeting this requirement does not automatically qualify a taxpayer to be considered a ‘real estate professional’ for tax purposes, or to exclude this income from the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) calculation.”
The law requires Americans with foreign financial accounts to report accounts to the U.S. Treasury Department, even if they don’t generate any taxable income. The Bank Secrecy Act requires you to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) if you have financial interest in, signature authority or other authority over one or more accounts in a foreign country and the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year, according to the IRS.
Failure to report these accounts could land you in hot water with the IRS. If you don’t disclose overseas accounts, the IRS might find out about them anyway because foreign institutions are required to disclose account holdings by U.S. citizens, CNBC reported.
Hopefully being aware of these red flags will prevent you from being audited — but if you do end up hearing from the IRS, here’s what to do to be prepared.
To defend yourself during a tax audit, you’ll need documentation to back up what you claimed on your return. The documentation you will need will depend on what it is you’re being audited for but can include receipts, bills, canceled checks, employee documents, legal papers, loan agreements, trip logs, medical or dental records, theft or loss documents, business trip tickets or a Schedule K-1.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent organization within the IRS that protects taxpayer rights and assists with tax-related problems. If you’re audited, you can contact the service for help.
Most audits are conducted via correspondence, but if you do need to meet with an auditor in-person, consider hiring an attorney or another advocate to represent you.
“The best thing to do if you’re subject to an IRS audit is to hire someone and authorize them to go to the audit,” said Paul Joseph, an attorney, CPA andpresidentof Joseph & Joseph, LLC. “Never go yourself. In fact, my clients don’t go at all. It is my position that I never let my clients come to an audit because they are expected to know all of the answers immediately. By not having the client attend the audit, they’ll have an opportunity to discuss and fully explain the return with the hired professional prior to giving a response to the IRS.”
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This article originally appeared onGOBankingRates.com:These Red Flags on Your 2020 Tax Return Could Spark Interest From the IRS || SPACs Attack Weekly Recap: Looking Back On 7 Deals, Rumors And Headline News: It was another busy week for the SPAC market with numerous deal announcements and rumored deals. Benzinga's " Spacs Attack " covered the deals and news of the week. Here is a look back at the announced deals, rumors and some top headlines. SPAC Deals FinTech Acquisition Corp V (NASDAQ: FTCV ) is taking social investment network eToro public in a SPAC deal valuing the company at $10.4 billion. eToro offers commission-free fractional equity investment, cryptoassets and the ability to replicate other investor’s portfolios. The company launched Bitcoin trading in 2013. eToro added 5 million new registered users in 2020 to hit 17.5 million at the end of the year. The company had over 20 million registered users as of last week. Crypto and social trading were launched in the U.S. in 2019 with plans to launch stock trading in the country later in 2021. Revenue of $650 million for eToro in 2020 was up 147% year-over-year. From 2016 to 2020, eToro had compounded annual growth of 78%. The company sees revenue of $1.02 billion in 2021 and $1.20 billion in 2022. See also: How to Invest in SPACs Other deals announced in the week included: Arbe Robotics, a 4D imaging radar technology company, is going public with Industrial Tech Acquisitions Inc (NASDAQ: ITAC ). The company expects fiscal 2021 revenue of $7.8 million and fiscal 2022 revenue of $13 million. Rockley Photonics, a supplier of integrated silicon photonic chips, is going public with SC Health Corp (NYSE: SCPE ). The company sees fiscal 2021 revenue of $40.5 million and fiscal 2022 revenue of $78.6 million, year-over-year growth of 96% and 94%, respectively. Therapeutics Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: RACA ) is taking Point Biopharma public in a deal valuing the company at $639 million. Point Biopharma is a radiopharmaceutical company building a platform for the clinical development and commercialization of radioligands that fight cancer. Defense and network detection company IronNet Cybersecurity is going public in a SPAC merger with LGL Systems Acquisition Corp (NYSE: DFNS ). IronNet sees revenue hitting $54 million in fiscal 2021 and $111 million in fiscal 2022. A SPAC focused on the cannabis industry announced the acquisitions of four companies to form a new public company. Greenrose Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: GNRS ) is acquiring Shango, The Health Center, Theraplant and True Harvest. The company sees revenue hitting $158 million in fiscal 2021 and $230 million in fiscal 2022. Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ: Z ) founder Spencer Rascoff is taking rival Offerpad public in a SPAC merger with his Supernova Partners Acquisition Co (NYSE: SPNV ). Offerpad offers solutions for homebuyers and sellers. The company offers a free 24-hour cash offer online for sellers. The SPAC merger valued Offerpad at $3 billion. Offerpad expects to generate revenue of $1.4 billion in 2021. Story continues Related Link: SPACs Attack Weekly Recap: Looking Back On 5 Deals, Rumors And Headline News SPAC Rumors Virgin Orbit is in talks to go public via a SPAC, according to Bloomberg . The deal could value the company at $3 billion. Colombian softgel maker Procaps is in talks to go public through a SPAC merger with Union Acquisition Corp II (NASDAQ: LATN ), according to Reuters. StoreDot, which has five-minute battery charging technology, is exploring a SPAC merger. A deal could value StoreDot at $3.5 billion, according to Calcalist . Vivid Seats is in talks to go public with Horizon Acquisition Corp (NYSE: HZAC ), according to Bloomberg . Headlines REE Automotive, which is going public with 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: VCVC ), unveiled its new REECorners platform. The company says the platform will fuse all of the vital parts of an electric vehicle together between the chassis and wheel. CarLotz (NASDAQ: LOTZ ) reported $37 million in fourth quarter sales, a year-over-year increase of 40.2%. The company sees first quarter revenue in a range of $42 million to $46 million. Full fiscal 2021 guidance sees revenue hitting a range of $335 million to $375 million. Stem, going public with Stem Peak Energy Transition Corp (NYSE: STPK ), saw revenue more than double in 2020. The company sees revenue increasing 4x in 2021 with the total fully covered by contracted backlog. A new sports ETF called Roundhill MVP ETF (NYSE: MVP ) holds several sports-themed SPACs. Among the holdings are RedBall Acquisition Corp (NYSE: RBAC ), Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp (NYSE: SEAH ), Goal Acquisitions Corp (NASDAQ: PUCKU ), SportsTek Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: SPTKU ) and Sports Ventures Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: AKIC ). Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment (NASDAQ: HOFV ) shares moved higher throughout the week as the company was mentioned as a potential partner with the NFL on an NFT project. Mp Materials Corp (NYSE: MP ) reported fiscal 2020 revenue of $134 million, which came in well ahead of the company’s original projection of $102 million. Utz Brands (NYSE: UTZ ) reported fourth quarter sales of $268.6 million, compared to a Street estimate of $243 million. The company is guiding for fiscal 2021 sales to hit $1.16 billion. Be sure to tune into "SPACs Attack," Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. EST. Here are the links to the past week’s shows. Monday: Owlet The Smart Baby Care SPAC, SBG Tuesday: SPAC March Madness Bracket Wednesday: Evolv Technology SPAC Interview, NHIC Thursday: 5G SPAC Airspan $NBA Friday: SPAC Opportunities By Daniel Cohen Disclosure: Author is long shares PUCKU. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay . See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga SPAC Deal To Bring eToro Public After Revenue Growth Of 147%, 5 Million New Users In 2020 © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. View comments || SPACs Attack Weekly Recap: Looking Back On 7 Deals, Rumors And Headline News: It was another busy week for the SPAC market with numerous deal announcements and rumored deals. Benzinga's "Spacs Attack" covered the deals and news of the week.
Here is a look back at the announced deals, rumors and some top headlines.
SPAC Deals
FinTech Acquisition Corp V(NASDAQ:FTCV) is taking social investment network eToropublicin a SPAC deal valuing the company at $10.4 billion. eToro offers commission-free fractional equity investment, cryptoassets and the ability to replicate other investor’s portfolios. The company launched Bitcoin trading in 2013.
eToro added 5 million new registered users in 2020 to hit 17.5 million at the end of the year. The company had over 20 million registered users as of last week. Crypto and social trading were launched in the U.S. in 2019 with plans to launch stock trading in the country later in 2021.
Revenue of $650 million for eToro in 2020 was up 147% year-over-year. From 2016 to 2020, eToro had compounded annual growth of 78%. The company sees revenue of $1.02 billion in 2021 and $1.20 billion in 2022.
See also:How to Invest in SPACs
Other deals announced in the week included:
• Arbe Robotics, a 4D imaging radar technology company, is going public withIndustrial Tech Acquisitions Inc(NASDAQ:ITAC). The company expects fiscal 2021 revenue of $7.8 million and fiscal 2022 revenue of $13 million.
• Rockley Photonics, a supplier of integrated silicon photonic chips, is going public withSC Health Corp(NYSE:SCPE). The company sees fiscal 2021 revenue of $40.5 million and fiscal 2022 revenue of $78.6 million, year-over-year growth of 96% and 94%, respectively.
• Therapeutics Acquisition Corp(NASDAQ:RACA) is taking Point Biopharma public in a deal valuing the company at $639 million. Point Biopharma is a radiopharmaceutical company building a platform for the clinical development and commercialization of radioligands that fight cancer.
• Defense and network detection company IronNet Cybersecurity is going public in a SPAC merger withLGL Systems Acquisition Corp(NYSE:DFNS). IronNet sees revenue hitting $54 million in fiscal 2021 and $111 million in fiscal 2022.
• A SPAC focused on the cannabis industry announced the acquisitions of four companies to form a new public company.Greenrose Acquisition Corp(NASDAQ:GNRS) is acquiring Shango, The Health Center, Theraplant and True Harvest. The company sees revenue hitting $158 million in fiscal 2021 and $230 million in fiscal 2022.
• Zillow Group Inc(NASDAQ:Z) founder Spencer Rascoff istaking rivalOfferpad public in a SPAC merger with hisSupernova Partners Acquisition Co(NYSE:SPNV). Offerpad offers solutions for homebuyers and sellers. The company offers a free 24-hour cash offer online for sellers. The SPAC merger valued Offerpad at $3 billion. Offerpad expects to generate revenue of $1.4 billion in 2021.
Related Link:SPACs Attack Weekly Recap: Looking Back On 5 Deals, Rumors And Headline News
SPAC Rumors
• Virgin Orbit is in talks to go public via a SPAC, according toBloomberg. The deal could value the company at $3 billion.
• Colombian softgel maker Procaps is in talks to go public through a SPAC merger withUnion Acquisition Corp II(NASDAQ:LATN), according to Reuters.
• StoreDot, which has five-minute battery charging technology, is exploring a SPAC merger. A deal could value StoreDot at $3.5 billion, according toCalcalist.
• Vivid Seats is in talks to go public withHorizon Acquisition Corp(NYSE:HZAC), according toBloomberg.
Headlines
• REE Automotive, which is going public with10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp(NASDAQ:VCVC),unveiledits new REECorners platform. The company says the platform will fuse all of the vital parts of an electric vehicle together between the chassis and wheel.
• CarLotz(NASDAQ:LOTZ) reported $37 million in fourth quarter sales, a year-over-year increase of 40.2%. The company sees first quarter revenue in a range of $42 million to $46 million. Full fiscal 2021 guidance sees revenue hitting a range of $335 million to $375 million.
• Stem, going public withStem Peak Energy Transition Corp(NYSE:STPK), saw revenue more than double in 2020. The company sees revenue increasing 4x in 2021 with the total fully covered by contracted backlog.
• Anew sports ETFcalledRoundhill MVP ETF(NYSE:MVP) holds several sports-themed SPACs. Among the holdings areRedBall Acquisition Corp(NYSE:RBAC),Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp(NYSE:SEAH),Goal Acquisitions Corp(NASDAQ:PUCKU),SportsTek Acquisition Corp(NASDAQ:SPTKU) andSports Ventures Acquisition Corp(NASDAQ:AKIC).
• Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment(NASDAQ:HOFV) sharesmoved higherthroughout the week as the company was mentioned as a potential partner with the NFL on an NFT project.
• Mp Materials Corp(NYSE:MP) reported fiscal 2020 revenue of $134 million, which came in well ahead of the company’s original projection of $102 million.
• Utz Brands(NYSE:UTZ) reported fourth quarter sales of $268.6 million, compared to a Street estimate of $243 million. The company is guiding for fiscal 2021 sales to hit $1.16 billion.
Be sure to tune into "SPACs Attack," Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. EST. Here are the links to the past week’s shows.
Monday:Owlet The Smart Baby Care SPAC, SBG
Tuesday:SPAC March Madness Bracket
Wednesday:Evolv Technology SPAC Interview, NHIC
Thursday:5G SPAC Airspan $NBA
Friday:SPAC Opportunities By Daniel Cohen
Disclosure: Author is long shares PUCKU.
Image byGerd AltmannfromPixabay.
See more from Benzinga
• Click here for options trades from Benzinga
• SPAC Deal To Bring eToro Public After Revenue Growth Of 147%, 5 Million New Users In 2020
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Coinbase fined $6.5 million over cryptocurrency trading claims: Coinbase is paying the price for its earlier cryptocurrency trading practices. Coindesk and the Wall Street Journal say the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has fined Coinbase $6.5 million for allegedly providing misleading info about its trading volumes. The company's Coinbase Pro exchange ran two programs that sometimes traded Bitcoin and Litecoin with each other between 2015 and 2018, and included those trades in data it shared with outside services — making it look like there was more trading volume than there really was. Coinbase also didn't disclose that it had more than one program or was trading through multiple accounts, the CFTC said. The exchange was liable for its actions, the commission added, as a former Coinbase worker abused the programs between August and September 2016 to buy and sell crypto in "wash trades" that artificially inflated activity. The commission didn't accuse Coinbase of doing anything wrong, and suggested it was more careless than intentional. CFTC Commissioner Dawn Stump was worried the decision implied her organization had more power to regulate crypto exchanges than it did, and stressed that Coinbase's activity was firmly in the past. The activity took place "several years ago," and the employee in question left years before the fine. Coinbase hadn't repeated this behavior since, Stump added. The decision comes at a crucial moment for Coinbase and the industry as a whole. Interest in cryptocurrency has surged in recent months , and Coinbase could play a pivotal role in that spike as one of the best-known exchanges. The fine could eliminate some uncertainty and help Coinbase focus on its future, even if the move also highlights some of the uncertainty about regulations . This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. || Coinbase fined $6.5 million over cryptocurrency trading claims: Coinbaseis paying the price for its earlier cryptocurrency trading practices.Coindeskand theWall Street Journalsay the Commodity Futures Trading Commissionhas finedCoinbase $6.5 million for allegedly providing misleading info about its trading volumes. The company's Coinbase Pro exchange ran two programs that sometimes traded Bitcoin and Litecoin with each other between 2015 and 2018, and included those trades in data it shared with outside services — making it look like there was more trading volume than there really was.
Coinbase also didn't disclose that it had more than one program or was trading through multiple accounts, the CFTC said. The exchange was liable for its actions, the commission added, as a former Coinbase worker abused the programs between August and September 2016 to buy and sell crypto in "wash trades" that artificially inflated activity.
The commission didn't accuse Coinbase of doing anything wrong, and suggested it was more careless than intentional.
CFTC Commissioner Dawn Stump was worried the decision implied her organization had more power to regulate crypto exchanges than it did, and stressed that Coinbase's activity was firmly in the past. The activity took place "several years ago," and the employee in question left years before the fine. Coinbase hadn't repeated this behavior since, Stump added.
The decision comes at a crucial moment for Coinbase and the industry as a whole. Interest in cryptocurrency hassurged in recent months, and Coinbase could play a pivotal role in that spike as one of the best-known exchanges. The fine could eliminate some uncertainty and help Coinbase focus on its future, even if the move also highlights some of theuncertainty about regulations. || Twitter's first ever tweet sells for £2.1m in crypto-art auction: Jack Dorsey, looking fresh-faced with very close-cropped black hair and wearing narrow-legged jeans and a black fleeze, broods on a sofa in a posh hotel lounge, looking away from the camera towards a wall of windows that casts light and shadow across the scene. - Cathal McNaughton/Reuters Clubhouse faces possible UK privacy probe Facebook takes down 12m false Covid-19 claims Shetlands launches tide-powered electric car charge r Deliveroo targets £8.8bn float, London's biggest for 10 years Sign up here for our daily technology newsletter Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey has sold a digital certificate for the first ever tweet for £2,082,160.37 in a hotly contested online auction. The tweet, sent by Mr Dorsey himself on March 21, 2006 and reading simply "just setting up my twttr", was "minted" into a unique non-fungible token (NFT) using blockchain technology to underpin its authenticity. The winning bid came from Sina Estavi, a blockchain entrepreneur based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who forked over 1630.58 Ether, a popular currency that is frequently used in NFT sales. Mr Dorsey pledged to immediately convert the proceeds to Bitcoin and donate them to the African coronavirus relief fund of Give Directly, a charity that sends out direct grants to poor people around the world. This is not just a tweet! I think years later people will realize the true value of this tweet, like the Mona Lisa painting https://t.co/vnA5pz3esQ — Estavi (@sinaEstavi) March 22, 2021 Mr Estavi said: "This is not just a tweet! I think years later people will realise the true value of this tweet, like the Mona Lisa painting." It is another coup for the volatile NFT market, which has enjoyed tens of millions of dollars of new sales since artists began to turn to it in large numbers during the coronavirus pandemic . NFTs are a way of creating a new form of ownership over otherwise public works of online art, since they can be traced directly back to the artist who originally sold them via the same blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrency. Story continues However, the point at which an NFT is attached to an actual artwork has proved vulnerable to fakery, with some artists suffering NFTs minted from their work without permission and sold for hundreds of pounds . Sent to @GiveDirectly Africa fund 🌍Thank you, @sinaEstavi . pic.twitter.com/aEZu07auLV — jack (@jack) March 22, 2021 On Monday Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, a digital artist whose work sold for £50m earlier this month in Christie's first ever NFT sale, told the New York Times that investors should beware a coming NFT crash, saying the market had "assigned insane value to crap". According to Valuables' listing, Mr Dorsey minted his own NFT, giving it a direct link to a piece of internet history. When the tweet was first made, Mr Dorsey was 29 years old (he is now 44), Twitter still relied primarily on text messages, and the service would not launch in public for another three months. Follow below for updates as they happened. 06:40 PM Accept no imitations That's the end of our live blog tonight. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the day's top tech news, and remember: if you see someone trying to sell an NFT of this live blog, it's not us. Good night! 06:20 PM Clubhouse faces UK probe over 'shadow profiles' The fashionable audio chatroom app Clubhouse faces a possible privacy probe in the UK after Britain’s data regulator said it was reviewing complaints, reports James Titcomb . The Information Commissioner’s Office said it was reviewing a complaint into the US app made by US pressure group SumOfUs, which claims that the app collects users’ mobile address books to create “shadow profiles” for people who have not yet signed up. Shadow profiles are a controversial practice because by definition, a person who has not yet signed up to a service cannot consent to data collection. They are most famously associated with Facebook , though Mark Zuckerberg has denied it uses that specific term. You can read James's full story here . 04:59 PM Sold! Jack Dorsey's first tweet goes for £2.1m More crypto-art news: an NFT for Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey's first ever tweet has been sold to blockchain entrepreneur Sina Estavi for 1630.5825601 Ether (or £2,082,160.37 for those of us still hooked on old-hat central bank currency). Mr Estavi, who runs the Malaysian "smart contract" firm Bridge Oracle, emerged the winner from bidding on the NFT auction site Valuables , with all offers made in the cryptocurrency Ether. Mr Dorsey has pledged to immediately convert the proceeds into Bitcoin and send them to Give Directly, a charity that disburses direct grants to people in poverty across the world. just setting up my twttr — jack (@jack) March 21, 2006 04:46 PM Many crypto-artworks 'will go to zero', says Beeple Mike Winkelmann, the online artist behind Christie's historic $69m (£50m) crypto-art sale earlier this month, has warned investors against putting their money into the volatile new market. The artist, best known under his pseudonym Beeple , told a New York Times podcast said that investing in crypto-art is only for those who are "looking to take some risks", as many of the works currently being sold "will absolutely go to zero". Tens of millions of pounds are pouring into the nascent market for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, which are digital deeds of ownership for digital artworks whose exclusivity is guaranteed by blockchain technology. Mr Winkelmann said: “Just making an NFT does not give it any value. There's going to be a moment where we realise we got a little crazy and assigned insane value to crap.” Thinking of buying a few yourself? Before you do, Sam Benstead and Harry Brennan have spoken to various NFT buyers about whether it's working out for them, including a Telegraph reader from Lincolnshire who gambled his new kitchen renovation fund on crypto-art tokens . 04:21 PM 'Poop tech' entrepreneurs charged with $60m fraud scheme Yesterday the US government laid charges against the husband-and-wife founders of uBiome , a San Francisco turd analysis start-up (yes) that promised to glean crucial health information and check your gut bacteria via a fecal sample. Prosecutors claim that Zachary Schulz Apte and Jessica Sunshine Richman “painted a false picture of uBiome as a rapidly growing company with a strong track record of reliable revenue... [this], however, was a sham”. As it happens, my colleague Margi Murphy examined the burgeoning poop test industry back in 2019, and many of the experts she talked to had similar concerns: One biome testing company, uBiome, has already been hit by scandal. Founded in 2012, the FBI opened an investigation into the company in April over its billing practices. In September, it filed for bankruptcy. Insiders had raised questions about the science behind its tests, according to a report in Business Insider. To overcome any doubts, biome testing start-ups have to demonstrate that the science works. Are these tests really able to tell if we are going to fall ill? “Not really,” says Matthew Jackson, scientist at the Oxford University-backed centre for Microbiome studies. “What they will be able to tell is what bacteria is there”. You can read the full feature here . 03:43 PM Competition watchdog moves towards approving StubHub takeover Styles - Chris Pizzello The UK's Competition & Markets Authority has taken a step towards approving the merger between Viagogo and StubHub after the companies agreed to sell part of the business. The CMA said it "proposes to accept" the pledges laid out by the two ticketing companies and allow the deal to go ahead. It had concluded that a £3.2bn merger between the two firms would "lead to a substantial reduction in competition in the secondary ticketing market in the UK" which could result in higher fees for those exchanging tickets online and worse service. The CMA ordered Viagogo to sell the non-US parts of StubHub in order to get the deal approved. The international business will be independently owned and run by a separate company, with no input from Viagogo, the CMA had said. It is one in a number of ongoing competition probes at the CMA, which also include Facebook's takeover of Giphy and a review of Google's advertising practices. 03:07 PM British software firm swooped on amid major tie-up activity Drug discovery British data management company Dotmatics has been snapped up by California's Insightful Science in a deal said to be worth $690m (£500m). Life sciences tech provider Insightful Science said it would be rebranding its entire business using the Dotmatics name after the acquisition completes. Dotmatics was founded by scientists from pharma giant Merck, and is known for providing software support for drug discovery. The move comes amid major tie-up activity in the software sector, with Bloomberg reporting that there have been $120bn deals involving software companies this year, almost two thirds more than there was at this point a year earlier. According to Bloomberg, the deal is worth $690m. 02:35 PM Would you tip your Deliveroo driver? Deliveroo is set to become the largest London listing in a decade - and it's hardly a surprise, thanks to the surge in demand for takeaways during the pandemic. But as more of us opt to get restaurant food delivered straight to our front door, are we starting to change how we feel about tipping those delivering our takeaways? 02:01 PM Revolut applies for US banking licence Revolut Revolut has applied for a US banking licence, James Cook writes, kickstarting a process that could lead to it becoming a fully fledged bank in the country. The London-headquartered challenger bank confirmed today that it has filed a draft application for a US bank charter with the FDIC and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. The application kicks off a process that could take as long as two years as Revolut waits for approval that would allow it to offer all of its services in the US including loans and overdrafts. Currently, Revolut offers a limited set of features in the US. It has also announced that it will offer its business accounts in all 50 US states. Arch rival Monzo announced last year that it had filed its application for a US banking licence on April 20. 01:21 PM Tidal-powered EV charger goes live in Shetland Islands in UK first The UK's first electric vehicle charging point which provides energy through tidal power has been launched in Shetland. Nova Innovation said it launched the point on Bluemull Sound on the island of Yell in Shetland - in a move Scotland's Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said shows how the country "remains at the forefront of developments in zero-emission transport solutions". The charging point will take energy from tidal turbines, which are under the water, meaning vehicles in the country will be able to drive their cars powered entirely by the water. Simon Forrest, chief executive of Nova Innovation, said: "We now have the reality of tidal powered cars, which demonstrates the huge steps forward we are making in tackling the climate emergency and achieving net-zero by working in harmony with our natural environment." Efforts to improve charging infrastructure have been underway across the UK, ahead of a ban on all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030. The UK's competition watchdog is in the middle of a probe into the market. Although the number of charging points across the UK has gone from 1,500 to 20,000 in the last decade, many more will be needed to allow for more people to go electric. 12:44 PM Facebook removes more than 1bn fake accounts Facebook - NurPhoto Facebook said it has taken down 1.3 billion fake accounts and removed more than 12 million posts spreading false claims about Covid-19, in the latest effort to crackdown on misinformation. The social media site made the latest disclosures in a blog post on its site, coming ahead of an inspection by US lawmakers. It took down the 1.3 billion fake accounts between last October and December. The company said: "Despite all of these efforts, there are some who believe that we have a financial interest in turning a blind eye to misinformation. The opposite is true. We have every motivation to keep misinformation off of our apps and we’ve taken many steps to do so at the expense of user growth and engagement." Pressure is ramping up on social media sites to stop fake news from spreading on their sites, amid concerns that it could harm the global response to the pandemic for example, by stopping people from wanting to have a vaccine. Earlier this month, Alan Rusbridger, who sits on Facebook's Oversight Board, said stopping all misinformation was a tricky task for social media firms. "You're not really solving anything by pushing it underground. So, I have some sympathies with Facebook because a blanket ban on Covid misinformation would be an easier thing for moderators and machines to understand." 12:27 PM Ministers to answer questions on music streaming shake-up Ministers will today be facing questions over the music streaming industry, amid growing pressure to kick off a government review into the distribution of streaming revenues. DCMS Minister Caroline Dinenage and BEIS Minister Amanda Solloway are being called before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee today to answer questions on whether more needs to be done over how streaming payments are split and artists’ deals with record labels, as well as questioning the market dominance of major music groups, and copyright law. It comes after Spotify, Apple and Amazon late last month defended their business models to MPs, arguing that a large amount that was generated from each song play went to those representing the artists. Musicians have become increasingly frustrated with how much they are able to make for their work when it is streamed. Gary Numnan, for example, has previously told Sky News his song was streamed one million times, but he made just £37. 11:53 AM Ex-Amazon UK chief advising Health Minister on Covid Doug Gurr - Shutterstock This morning, the Telegraph reported that former Amazon UK boss Doug Gurr had landed a role advising the Government on tackling Covid-19. Mr Gurr had headed up Amazon’s UK operations up until last autumn. He is now working with the Department of Health and Social Care as a non-executive director “with responsibility for the union”. As part of the role Mr Gurr is understood to be providing advice to the Health Secretary as well to other ministers and senior officials on coordinating the approach to the pandemic across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Ties between Big Tech and Westminster have come to the fore during the pandemic, as the Government has turned to companies including Apple, Google and Amazon to help them deliver Covid tests and develop contract tracing technology. The Department for Health declined to comment. Read more about it here. 11:37 AM Mission to tackle space junk crisis launches Two spacecraft have today been launched as part of a UK-led mission to show how debris can be removed from space. The satellites, which can collect the debris, were launched on a Soyuz rocket on Monday, with the launch having been postponed from the weekend due to bad weather. The demonstration is being operated from the UK's Satellite Applications Catapult at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire. It comes amid growing concerns from scientists over the amount of debris that has been released into space, totalling an estimated 9,200 tonnes. Among those are defunct satellites, with around 6,250 satellites in space in total, but only 3,700 which are still functioning. Amanda Solloway, the UK's science minister, said: "The removal of hazardous space debris is not only environmentally important but is also a huge commercial opportunity for the UK, with companies like Astroscale leading the way in demonstrating how we can make space safer for everyone." 10:57 AM Electric scooter firm offers discounts for vaccination appointments Voi Electric scooter company Voi has said it is starting to offer discounts for people travelling to and from vaccination sites across the UK, saying around 97pc of Brits live less than ten miles from their closest site and could easily get there via scooters. Voi said it would be offering the £8 discounts "until the vaccination programme is completed". Normally, the scooters cost £1.00 to unlock, and then 20p for every minute. The company has launched its electric scooters in around 17 UK towns and cities, including Northampton, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cambridge, Bath, and Bristol, as part of a trial being run by the Department for Transport. It comes after Uber began offering free taxi rides to vaccine sites. Voi UK boss Richard Corbett said electric scooters were a "carbon-neutral mode of travel" which also helped to reduce "traffic and pollution". 10:28 AM Huawei extradition hearings 'to focus on Canadian border official' Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou - Darryl Dyck The US extradition hearings for Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou will continue today with focus expected to turn to a former Canadian police officer who is not testifying in the case. On Friday, Meng's lawyer Scott Fenton said he would be asking why Ben Chang, an ex-Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, had not been forced to testify. Canadian border officials had questioned Meng for three hours before she was arrested by federal police in December 2018, with her electronic devices having been seized. The officials later said they had handed passcodes to the devices to police in error. The lawyers allege the officials were carrying out a covert investigation for the FBI in their questioning - something which has been branded a "conspiracy" by lawyers for the Canadian government. Canadian officials say they were following procedures. 09:53 AM 'Winds of change' in gig economy could hit Deliveroo Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, has been speaking about Deliveroo's upcoming IPO today, pointing to the boost from the pandemic as more Brits turn to takeaways. But she says, "although this insatiable demand for takeout food isn’t likely to fully unravel there is inevitably going to be a drop in demand as diners seize the opportunity to book tables at their favourite eateries when restrictions do ease". What's more, there could be an added hit from the Uber Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, which decided that drivers needed to be treated as workers and given rights such as pensions and holiday pay. In response, Uber last week said it would be making this change for its 70,000 UK drivers. Streeter says Deliveroo "has so far seen off challenges in the courts to its self-employment model... but the winds of change are blowing through the sector following Uber’s decision last week to reclassify its UK drivers as workers, although it won’t apply to its Uber Eats model, for now at least". "However it’s clear the challenge to Deliveroo’s contractor model is likely to continue, and the European Commission is set to draw up new legislation governing how the gig economy model works across the bloc. "If it is forced to change the way it classifies its riders in the future, it is likely to puncture its profits prospects, and could even derail the delivery giant." 09:24 AM London fails to convince homegrown tech start-ups to float in Britain Deliveroo may be gearing up for a float in London, but new figures out today have laid bare how difficult it has been to attract other tech leaders to the city. According to advisory firm BDO, less than 4pc of Britain’s fastest growing technology companies have floated on the London Stock exchange in the past 20 years, in a sign that the UK has been losing the battle to compete with New York’s tech heavy Nasdaq for listings. Out of the nation’s 1,200 fastest growing technology businesses, only 43 have gone on to float on the London Stock Exchange in the past two decades, writes Morgan Meaker. The figures come weeks after a review of Britain’s stock market listing regime concluded, recommending the launch of controversial dual class share listings, which would allow founders to retain control even if they only have a minority stake in their business. Rishi Sunak has said the Government will act quickly on the proposals. Read more about it here. 08:53 AM Digital bank Zopa raises £20m as more Brits turn to credit Zopa has raised £20m from its existing investors, in what it said was a "significant vote of confidence" after it launched its digital bank last June. Zopa said it had already become one of the top 10 credit card issuers in the UK in terms of new customers since the launch, and attracted £250m in deposits. It said there was huge demand for its products, as more Brits turned to credit to allow them to "carry out home renovations, buy cars and revive postponed wedding plans" during the pandemic. Across its business, the company has lent more than £5bn to customers in the UK in unsecured loans, car finance products and credit cards. Late last year, chief executive Jaidev Janardana told the Telegraph the plan was for the digital bank to be profitable by the end of 2021. “I expect that by next December we should be profitable, not operating profit, actual P&L, which would be quicker than any other bank.” Rival challenger banks Revolut and Starling had both reached breakeven at the end of last year, whilst Monzo had said it was hoping to become profitable in 2021. 08:19 AM Deliveroo eyes £8.8bn valuation Deliveroo - Aurelien Morissard Takeaway app Deliveroo has said it is targetting a valuation of as much as £8.8bn when it joins the London Stock Exchange, in what would be the biggest new listing in the city for a decade. The company today said it was aiming to sell shares for between 390p and 460p per share, receiving a market capitalisation of £7.6bn to £8.8bn. Deliveroo said it had had a "strong start" to 2021, with the amount customers were spending on its app more than double the level last year. In January and February, the total value of transactions it processed on its app was up 130pc year on year in the UK and Ireland, and up 112pc in other markets. Boss Will Shu said: "We are proud to be listing in London, the city where Deliveroo started." "Becoming a public company will enable us to continue to invest in innovation, developing new tech tools to support restaurants and grocers". 07:54 AM UK ramps up work to track Covid-19 mutations Britain is trialling technology which could halve the amount of time it takes to identify mutations of Covid-19, in a bid to curb the spread of concerning strains across the country. The NHS has kicked off a trial for genotype assay testing, with the hope that eventually all positive Covid-19 sample will be tested for new mutations through this technology - speeding up the process significantly. Currently genome sequencing takes between four and five days. The UK is a world-leader in genome sequencing, and since March, the UK has sequenced around ten times as many Covid-19 genomes as the world’s next best sequencers. Around 50pc of all genome testing of Covid is done in the UK, equal to just over 250,000 genomes. The importance of such work has come to the fore in recent months, amid the emergence of a number of strains of concern. Fears are currently centred around the South Africa strain, which studies suggest may be tougher to tackle with vaccines. Whilst there is no definitive data yet on whether the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines work against the South African strain, experts believe the vaccines will be able to stop severe cases. However, this weekend Oxford's Sir John Bell said the goal was to also reduce transmissions with moderate and mild disease, reducing the R-rate and ultimately leading the virus to die out. "We think the AstraZeneca vaccine is pretty good at reducing transmissions , but not with the South Africa strain. And I think the same will be true with Johnson and Pfizer and everybody else." Read the piece in full here. 07:42 AM Five stories to start your day 1) The post-vaccine reopening is more perilous for some companies than Covid was : The pandemic has boosted internet companies from Zoom to Netflix, but what happens next is unclear 2) MacKenzie Scott: How Jeff Bezos' billionaire ex-wife will spend her fortune : The novelist and philanthropist has given up voting rights in Amazon, but her $53bn wealth still gives her significant power 3) Cyber warfare will grind Britain's economy to a halt : The UK must do more to protect its major industries and privately run infrastructure, which are now on the front line 4) OakNorth profits surge to £77.6m despite pandemic : The SoftBank-backed challenger bank issued more than £1bn in loans last year 5) Former Amazon UK chief lands new Government Covid role : Doug Gurr's latest position draws further scrutiny of a revolving door between tech companies and Westminster Coming up today Ministers will appear before the DCMS Committee for its music streaming inquiry || Twitter's first ever tweet sells for £2.1m in crypto-art auction: • Clubhouse faces possible UK privacy probe
• Facebook takes down 12m false Covid-19 claims
• Shetlands launches tide-powered electric car charger
• Deliveroo targets £8.8bn float, London's biggest for 10 years
• Sign up here for our daily technology newsletter
Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey has sold a digital certificate for the first ever tweet for £2,082,160.37 in a hotly contested online auction.
The tweet, sent by Mr Dorsey himself on March 21, 2006 and reading simply "just setting up my twttr", was "minted" into a unique non-fungible token (NFT) using blockchain technology to underpin its authenticity.
The winning bid came from Sina Estavi, a blockchain entrepreneur based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who forked over 1630.58 Ether, a popular currency that is frequently used in NFT sales.
Mr Dorsey pledged to immediately convert the proceeds to Bitcoin and donate them to the African coronavirus relief fund of Give Directly, a charity that sends out direct grants to poor people around the world.
Mr Estavi said: "This is not just a tweet! I think years later people will realise the true value of this tweet, like the Mona Lisa painting."
It is another coup for the volatile NFT market,which has enjoyed tens of millions of dollars of new sales since artists began to turn to it in large numbers during the coronavirus pandemic.
NFTs are a way of creating a new form of ownership over otherwise public works of online art, since they can be traced directly back to the artist who originally sold them via the same blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrency.
However, the point at which an NFT is attached to an actual artwork has proved vulnerable to fakery, withsome artists suffering NFTs minted from their work without permission and sold for hundreds of pounds.
On Monday Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, a digital artist whose work sold for £50m earlier this month in Christie's first ever NFT sale,told the New York Timesthat investors should beware a coming NFT crash, saying the market had "assigned insane value to crap".
According to Valuables' listing, Mr Dorsey minted his own NFT, giving it a direct link to a piece of internet history. When the tweet was first made, Mr Dorsey was 29 years old (he is now 44), Twitter still relied primarily on text messages, and the service would not launch in public for another three months.
Follow below for updates as they happened.
That's the end of our live blog tonight. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the day's top tech news, and remember: if you see someone trying to sell an NFT of this live blog, it's not us. Good night!
The fashionable audio chatroom app Clubhouse faces a possible privacy probe in the UK after Britain’s data regulator said it was reviewing complaints, reportsJames Titcomb.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said it was reviewing a complaint into the US app made by US pressure group SumOfUs, which claims that the app collects users’ mobile address books to create “shadow profiles” for people who have not yet signed up.
Shadow profiles are a controversial practice because by definition, a person who has not yet signed up to a service cannot consent to data collection. They aremost famously associated with Facebook, though Mark Zuckerberg hasdeniedit uses that specific term.
You can read James's full story here.
More crypto-art news: an NFT for Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey's first ever tweet has been sold to blockchain entrepreneur Sina Estavi for 1630.5825601 Ether (or £2,082,160.37 for those of us still hooked on old-hat central bank currency).
Mr Estavi, who runs the Malaysian "smart contract" firm Bridge Oracle, emerged the winner from biddingon the NFT auction site Valuables, with all offers made in the cryptocurrency Ether.
Mr Dorsey has pledged to immediately convert the proceeds into Bitcoin and send them to Give Directly, a charity that disburses direct grants to people in poverty across the world.
Mike Winkelmann, the online artist behindChristie's historic $69m (£50m) crypto-art saleearlier this month, has warned investors against putting their money into the volatile new market.
The artist, best known under his pseudonymBeeple,told a New York Timespodcast said that investing in crypto-art is only for those who are "looking to take some risks", as many of the works currently being sold "will absolutely go to zero".
Tens of millions of pounds are pouring into the nascent market for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, which are digital deeds of ownership for digital artworks whose exclusivity is guaranteed by blockchain technology.
Mr Winkelmann said:
“Just making an NFT does not give it any value. There's going to be a moment where we realise we got a little crazy and assigned insane value to crap.”
Thinking of buying a few yourself? Before you do,Sam BensteadandHarry Brennanhave spoken to various NFT buyers about whether it's working out for them, includinga Telegraph reader from Lincolnshire who gambled his new kitchen renovation fund on crypto-art tokens.
Yesterday the US government laid charges against the husband-and-wife founders ofuBiome, a San Francisco turd analysis start-up (yes) that promised to glean crucial health information and check your gut bacteria via a fecal sample.
Prosecutors claimthat Zachary Schulz Apte and Jessica Sunshine Richman “painted a false picture of uBiome as a rapidly growing company with a strong track record of reliable revenue... [this], however, was a sham”.
As it happens, my colleagueMargi Murphyexamined the burgeoning poop test industry back in 2019, and many of the experts she talked to had similar concerns:
One biome testing company, uBiome, has already been hit by scandal. Founded in 2012, the FBI opened an investigation into the company in April over its billing practices. In September, it filed for bankruptcy. Insiders had raised questions about the science behind its tests, according to a report in Business Insider.
To overcome any doubts, biome testing start-ups have to demonstrate that the science works. Are these tests really able to tell if we are going to fall ill?
“Not really,” says Matthew Jackson, scientist at the Oxford University-backed centre for Microbiome studies. “What they will be able to tell is what bacteria is there”.
You can read the full feature here.
The UK's Competition & Markets Authority has taken a step towards approving the merger between Viagogo and StubHub after the companies agreed to sell part of the business.
The CMA said it "proposes to accept" the pledges laid out by the two ticketing companies and allow the deal to go ahead.
It had concluded thata £3.2bn merger between the two firms would"lead to a substantial reduction in competition in the secondary ticketing market in the UK" which could result in higher fees for those exchanging tickets online and worse service.
The CMA ordered Viagogo to sell the non-US parts of StubHub in order to get the deal approved. The international business will be independently owned and run by a separate company, with no input from Viagogo, the CMA had said.
It is one in a number of ongoing competition probes at the CMA, which also include Facebook's takeover of Giphy and a review of Google's advertising practices.
British data management company Dotmatics has been snapped up by California's Insightful Science in a deal said to be worth $690m (£500m).
Life sciences tech provider Insightful Science said it would be rebranding its entire business using the Dotmatics name after the acquisition completes.
Dotmatics was founded by scientists from pharma giant Merck, and is known for providing software support for drug discovery.
The move comes amid major tie-up activity in the software sector, with Bloomberg reporting that there have been $120bn deals involving software companies this year, almost two thirds more than there was at this point a year earlier.
According to Bloomberg, the deal is worth $690m.
Deliveroo is set to become the largest London listing in a decade - and it's hardly a surprise, thanks to the surge in demand for takeaways during the pandemic.
But as more of us opt to get restaurant food delivered straight to our front door, are we starting to change how we feel about tipping those delivering our takeaways?
Revolut has applied for a US banking licence,James Cookwrites, kickstarting a process that could lead to it becoming a fully fledged bank in the country.
The London-headquartered challenger bank confirmed today that it has filed a draft application for a US bank charter with the FDIC and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.
The application kicks off a process that could take as long as two years as Revolut waits for approval that would allow it to offer all of its services in the US including loans and overdrafts.
Currently, Revolut offers a limited set of features in the US. It has also announced that it will offer its business accounts in all 50 US states.
Arch rival Monzo announced last yearthat it had filed its application for a US banking licence on April 20.
The UK's first electric vehicle charging point which provides energy through tidal power has been launched in Shetland.
Nova Innovation said it launched the point on Bluemull Sound on the island of Yell in Shetland - in a move Scotland's Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said shows how the country "remains at the forefront of developments in zero-emission transport solutions".
The charging point will take energy from tidal turbines, which are under the water, meaning vehicles in the country will be able to drive their cars powered entirely by the water.
Simon Forrest, chief executive of Nova Innovation, said: "We now have the reality of tidal powered cars, which demonstrates the huge steps forward we are making in tackling the climate emergency and achieving net-zero by working in harmony with our natural environment."
Efforts to improve charging infrastructure have been underway across the UK, ahead of a ban on all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.
The UK's competition watchdog is in the middle of a probe into the market. Although the number of charging points across the UK has gone from 1,500 to 20,000 in the last decade, many more will be needed to allow for more people to go electric.
Facebook said it has taken down 1.3 billion fake accounts and removed more than 12 million posts spreading false claims about Covid-19, in the latest effort to crackdown on misinformation.
The social media site made the latest disclosures in a blog post on its site, coming ahead of an inspection by US lawmakers.
It took down the 1.3 billion fake accounts between last October and December.
The company said: "Despite all of these efforts, there are some who believe that we have a financial interest in turning a blind eye to misinformation. The opposite is true. We have every motivation to keep misinformation off of our apps and we’ve taken many steps to do so at the expense of user growth and engagement."
Pressure is ramping up on social media sites to stop fake news from spreading on their sites, amid concerns that it could harm the global response to the pandemic for example, by stopping people from wanting to have a vaccine.
Earlier this month, Alan Rusbridger,who sits on Facebook's Oversight Board,said stopping all misinformation was a tricky task for social media firms.
"You're not really solving anything by pushing it underground. So, I have some sympathies with Facebook because a blanket ban on Covid misinformation would be an easier thing for moderators and machines to understand."
Ministers will today be facing questions over the music streaming industry, amid growing pressure to kick off a government review into the distribution of streaming revenues.
DCMS Minister Caroline Dinenage and BEIS Minister Amanda Solloway are being called before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee today to answer questions on whether more needs to be done over how streaming payments are split and artists’ deals with record labels, as well as questioning the market dominance of major music groups, and copyright law.
It comes after Spotify, Apple and Amazon late last month defended their business models to MPs, arguing that a large amount that was generated from each song play went to those representing the artists.
Musicians have become increasingly frustrated with how much they are able to make for their work when it is streamed. Gary Numnan, for example, has previously told Sky News his song was streamed one million times, but he made just £37.
This morning, the Telegraph reported that formerAmazon UK boss Doug Gurrhad landed a role advising the Government on tackling Covid-19.
Mr Gurr had headed up Amazon’s UK operations up until last autumn. He is now working with the Department of Health and Social Care as a non-executive director “with responsibility for the union”.
As part of the role Mr Gurr is understood to be providing advice to the Health Secretary as well to other ministers and senior officials on coordinating theapproach to the pandemicacross England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Ties between Big Tech and Westminster have come to the fore during the pandemic, as the Government has turned to companies including Apple, Google and Amazon to help them deliver Covid tests and develop contract tracing technology.
The Department for Health declined to comment.
• Read more about it here.
Two spacecraft have today been launched as part of a UK-led mission to show how debris can be removed from space.
The satellites, which can collect the debris, were launched on a Soyuz rocket on Monday, with the launch having been postponed from the weekend due to bad weather.
The demonstration is being operated from the UK's Satellite Applications Catapult at Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire.
It comes amid growing concerns from scientists over the amount of debris that has been released into space, totalling an estimated 9,200 tonnes. Among those are defunct satellites, with around 6,250 satellites in space in total, but only 3,700 which are still functioning.
Amanda Solloway, the UK's science minister, said: "The removal of hazardous space debris is not only environmentally important but is also a huge commercial opportunity for the UK, with companies like Astroscale leading the way in demonstrating how we can make space safer for everyone."
Electric scooter company Voi has said it is starting to offer discounts for people travelling to and from vaccination sites across the UK, saying around 97pc of Brits live less than ten miles from their closest site and could easily get there via scooters.
Voi said it would be offering the £8 discounts "until the vaccination programme is completed". Normally, the scooters cost £1.00 to unlock, and then 20p for every minute.
The company has launched its electric scooters in around 17 UK towns and cities, including Northampton, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cambridge, Bath, and Bristol, as part of a trial being run by the Department for Transport.
It comes after Uber began offering free taxi rides to vaccine sites.
Voi UK boss Richard Corbett said electric scooters were a "carbon-neutral mode of travel" which also helped to reduce "traffic and pollution".
TheUS extradition hearings for Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhouwill continue today with focus expected to turn to a former Canadian police officer who is not testifying in the case.
On Friday, Meng's lawyer Scott Fenton said he would be asking why Ben Chang, an ex-Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, had not been forced to testify.
Canadian border officials had questioned Meng for three hours before she was arrested by federal police in December 2018, with her electronic devices having been seized. The officials later said they had handed passcodes to the devices to police in error.
The lawyers allege the officials were carrying out a covert investigation for the FBI in their questioning - something which has been branded a "conspiracy" by lawyers for the Canadian government.
Canadian officials say they were following procedures.
Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, has been speaking about Deliveroo's upcoming IPO today, pointing to the boost from the pandemic as more Brits turn to takeaways.
But she says, "although this insatiable demand for takeout food isn’t likely to fully unravel there is inevitably going to be a drop in demand as diners seize the opportunity to book tables at their favourite eateries when restrictions do ease".
What's more, there could be an added hit from the Uber Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, which decided that drivers needed to be treated as workers and given rights such as pensions and holiday pay. In response, Uberlast week said it would be making this change for its 70,000 UK drivers.
Streeter says Deliveroo "has so far seen off challenges in the courts to its self-employment model... but the winds of change are blowing through the sector following Uber’s decision last week to reclassify its UK drivers as workers, although it won’t apply to its Uber Eats model, for now at least".
"However it’s clear the challenge to Deliveroo’s contractor model is likely to continue, and the European Commission is set to draw up new legislation governing how the gig economy model works across the bloc."If it is forced to change the way it classifies its riders in the future, it is likely to puncture its profits prospects, and could even derail the delivery giant."
Deliveroo may be gearing up for a float in London, but new figures out today have laid bare how difficult it has been to attract other tech leaders to the city.
According to advisory firm BDO, less than 4pc of Britain’s fastest growing technology companies have floated on the London Stock exchange in the past 20 years, in a sign that the UK has been losing the battle tocompete with New York’s tech heavy Nasdaq for listings.
Out of the nation’s 1,200 fastest growing technology businesses, only 43 have gone on to float on the London Stock Exchange in the past two decades, writesMorgan Meaker.
The figures come weeks after a review of Britain’s stock market listing regime concluded, recommending the launch of controversial dual class share listings, which would allow founders to retain control even if they only have a minority stake in their business.
Rishi Sunak has said the Government will act quickly on the proposals.
• Read more about it here.
Zopa has raised £20m from its existing investors, in what it said was a "significant vote of confidence" after it launched its digital bank last June.
Zopa said it had already become one of the top 10 credit card issuers in the UK in terms of new customers since the launch, and attracted £250m in deposits.
It said there was huge demand for its products, as more Brits turned to credit to allow them to "carry out home renovations, buy cars and revive postponed wedding plans" during the pandemic.
Across its business, the company has lent more than £5bn to customers in the UK in unsecured loans, car finance products and credit cards.
Late last year, chief executive Jaidev Janardanatold the Telegraph the planwas for the digital bank to be profitable by the end of 2021.
“I expect that by next December we should be profitable, not operating profit, actual P&L, which would be quicker than any other bank.”
Rival challenger banks Revolut and Starling had both reached breakeven at the end of last year, whilst Monzo had said it was hoping to become profitable in 2021.
Takeaway app Deliveroo has said it is targetting a valuation of as much as £8.8bn when it joins the London Stock Exchange, in what would bethe biggest new listing in the city for a decade.
The company today said it was aiming to sell shares for between 390p and 460p per share, receiving a market capitalisation of £7.6bn to £8.8bn.
Deliveroo said it had had a "strong start" to 2021, with the amount customers were spending on its app more than double the level last year.
In January and February, the total value of transactions it processed on its app was up 130pc year on year in the UK and Ireland, and up 112pc in other markets.
Boss Will Shu said: "We are proud to be listing in London, the city where Deliveroo started."
"Becoming a public company will enable us to continue to invest in innovation, developing new tech tools to support restaurants and grocers".
Britain is trialling technology which could halve the amount of time it takes to identify mutations of Covid-19, in a bid to curb the spread of concerning strains across the country.
The NHS has kicked off a trial for genotype assay testing, with the hope that eventually all positive Covid-19 sample will be tested for new mutations through this technology - speeding up the process significantly.
Currently genome sequencing takes between four and five days. The UK isa world-leader in genome sequencing,and since March, the UK has sequenced around ten times as many Covid-19 genomes as the world’s next best sequencers. Around 50pc of all genome testing of Covid is done in the UK, equal to just over 250,000 genomes.
The importance of such work has come to the fore in recent months, amid the emergence of a number of strains of concern.
Fears are currently centred around the South Africa strain, which studies suggest may be tougher to tackle with vaccines. Whilst there is no definitive data yet on whether the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines work against the South African strain, experts believethe vaccines will be able to stop severe cases.
However, this weekend Oxford's Sir John Bell said the goal was to also reduce transmissions with moderate and mild disease, reducing the R-rate and ultimately leading the virus to die out.
"We think the AstraZeneca vaccine ispretty good at reducing transmissions, but not with the South Africa strain. And I think the same will be true with Johnson and Pfizer and everybody else."
• Read the piece in full here.
1)The post-vaccine reopening is more perilous for some companies than Covid was:The pandemic has boosted internet companies from Zoom to Netflix, but what happens next is unclear
2)MacKenzie Scott: How Jeff Bezos' billionaire ex-wife will spend her fortune:The novelist and philanthropist has given up voting rights in Amazon, but her $53bn wealth still gives her significant power
3)Cyber warfare will grind Britain's economy to a halt:The UK must do more to protect its major industries and privately run infrastructure, which are now on the front line
4)OakNorth profits surge to £77.6m despite pandemic:The SoftBank-backed challenger bank issued more than £1bn in loans last year
5)Former Amazon UK chief lands new Government Covid role:Doug Gurr's latest position draws further scrutiny of a revolving door between tech companies and Westminster
Coming up today
Ministers will appear before the DCMS Committee for its music streaming inquiry || Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets: More companies should be holding bitcoin on their balance sheet because of the explosive growth of the U.S. monetary supply, former White House Communications Director and hedge fund founder Anthony Scaramucci said on CoinDesk TV. In a wide-ranging interview, the founder of SkyBridge Capital on Friday called the increase in the money supply a silent tax on American savers. A responsible CFO or responsible treasurer will have to think about other assets to hold as a potential story of value for their companies, he asserted. Also in the interview: The reason hes so bullish on bitcoin is that its a solution to the undercutting of the Bretton Woods agreement in the early 1970s. Bitcoin has the potential to start to standardize money again and that will be better for the working poor and the middle class, he said. Because of this, bitcoin could quite possibly one day be the currency of the world unless the U.S. dollar becomes digitized and is no longer going to be influenced by politicians and policymakers. But that would need to happen quickly, he said. SkyBridge now holds more than $600 million in bitcoin. Asked he if sees SkyBridge having an Ethereum-based product some day, Scaramucci said, Yes, I see that happening. Asked if hes looking at decentralized finance, Scaramucci said, Yes, so stay tuned. Hes even more optimistic about the price of bitcoin than his year-end prediction of $100,000 would indicate, but wont change his forecast to avoid making this clients think hes crazy, even though I think theyve grown to think that I am nuts. Scaramuccis brief time in the Trump Administration has hurt him with both Republicans and Democrats, he said, but if his fund keeps performing his political work will cease to matter, noting his core fund is up almost 40% since last April and up 12 1/2% for the year to date. I think if we continue to perform like that I think people are going to become indifferent to my political views, he said. Scaramucci registered SkyBridgeBitcoin.com the day after he was fired from the White House after 10 days on the job. He likes bitcoin at $20,000 or $30,000, up from when he liked it at $400, because of the scaling nature of it. Hes less worried about former U.S. President Trumps negative views on bitcoin than he is about U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, all of whom have said negative things about bitcoin. Related Stories Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets || Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets: More companies should be holdingbitcoinon their balance sheet because of the explosive growth of the U.S. monetary supply, former White House Communications Director and hedge fund founder Anthony Scaramucci said on CoinDesk TV.
• In a wide-ranging interview, the founder of SkyBridge Capital on Friday called the increase in the money supply a “silent tax on American savers.”
• “A responsible CFO or responsible treasurer will have to think about other assets to hold as a potential story of value for their companies,” he asserted.
Also in the interview:
• The reason he’s so bullish on bitcoin is that it’s a “solution” to theundercuttingof the Bretton Woods agreement in the early 1970s. Bitcoin has the potential to “start to standardize money again and that will be better for the working poor and the middle class,” he said.
• Because of this, bitcoin could quite possibly one day be the currency of the world unless the U.S. dollar becomes digitized and is “no longer going to be influenced by politicians and policymakers.” But that would need to happen quickly, he said.
• SkyBridge now holds more than $600 million in bitcoin.
• Asked he if sees SkyBridge having an Ethereum-based product some day, Scaramucci said, “Yes, I see that happening.
• Asked if he’s looking at decentralized finance, Scaramucci said, “Yes, so stay tuned.”
• He’s even more optimistic about the price of bitcoin than his year-end prediction of $100,000 would indicate, but won’t change his forecast to avoid making this clients think he’s crazy, even though “I think they’ve grown to think that I am nuts.”
• Scaramucci’s brief time in the Trump Administration has hurt him with both Republicans and Democrats, he said, but if his fund keeps performing his political work will cease to matter, noting his core fund is up almost 40% since last April and up 12 1/2% for the year to date. “I think if we continue to perform like that I think people are going to become indifferent to my political views,” he said.
• Scaramucci registered SkyBridgeBitcoin.com the day after he wasfiredfrom the White House after 10 days on the job.
• He likes bitcoin at $20,000 or $30,000, up from when he liked it at $400, “because of the scaling nature of it.”
• He’s less worried about former U.S. President Trump’s negative views on bitcoin than he is about U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, all of whom have said negative things about bitcoin.
• Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets
• Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets
• Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets
• Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets || Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets: More companies should be holdingbitcoinon their balance sheet because of the explosive growth of the U.S. monetary supply, former White House Communications Director and hedge fund founder Anthony Scaramucci said on CoinDesk TV.
• In a wide-ranging interview, the founder of SkyBridge Capital on Friday called the increase in the money supply a “silent tax on American savers.”
• “A responsible CFO or responsible treasurer will have to think about other assets to hold as a potential story of value for their companies,” he asserted.
Also in the interview:
• The reason he’s so bullish on bitcoin is that it’s a “solution” to theundercuttingof the Bretton Woods agreement in the early 1970s. Bitcoin has the potential to “start to standardize money again and that will be better for the working poor and the middle class,” he said.
• Because of this, bitcoin could quite possibly one day be the currency of the world unless the U.S. dollar becomes digitized and is “no longer going to be influenced by politicians and policymakers.” But that would need to happen quickly, he said.
• SkyBridge now holds more than $600 million in bitcoin.
• Asked he if sees SkyBridge having an Ethereum-based product some day, Scaramucci said, “Yes, I see that happening.
• Asked if he’s looking at decentralized finance, Scaramucci said, “Yes, so stay tuned.”
• He’s even more optimistic about the price of bitcoin than his year-end prediction of $100,000 would indicate, but won’t change his forecast to avoid making this clients think he’s crazy, even though “I think they’ve grown to think that I am nuts.”
• Scaramucci’s brief time in the Trump Administration has hurt him with both Republicans and Democrats, he said, but if his fund keeps performing his political work will cease to matter, noting his core fund is up almost 40% since last April and up 12 1/2% for the year to date. “I think if we continue to perform like that I think people are going to become indifferent to my political views,” he said.
• Scaramucci registered SkyBridgeBitcoin.com the day after he wasfiredfrom the White House after 10 days on the job.
• He likes bitcoin at $20,000 or $30,000, up from when he liked it at $400, “because of the scaling nature of it.”
• He’s less worried about former U.S. President Trump’s negative views on bitcoin than he is about U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, all of whom have said negative things about bitcoin.
• Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets
• Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets
• Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets
• Scaramucci Says More Companies Should Be Holding Bitcoin on Their Balance Sheets || Could the ETF Wrapper Democratize Crypto Investing?: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. By Anita Rausch , Head of Capital Markets In the 28 years they’ve been around, ETFs have democratized asset classes that they wrap. It is said that the idea of ETFs was born from an SEC report dissecting the stock market crash of 1987. The SEC concluded that if there was an exchange-listed instrument representing a basket of stocks that could be used as a hedge , a new ecosystem of liquidity would develop and alleviate pressure and volatility on the underlying securities during down drafts. So, ETFs were essentially created as liquidity shock absorbers. The unintended benefits of this great innovation were the transparency and accessibility that ETFs brought to all asset classes and investment strategies. The ETF wrapper has allowed all levels of investors access to the likes of stocks in South Korea, bank loans, gold, and hedge fund strategies, with a brokerage account. In that easy accessibility, ETFs centralize and amplify liquidity as well as bring transparency and efficiency to costs and execution. The ETF wrapper will be no different in the world of cryptocurrencies and bring all these benefits to bear on one of the newest asset classes such as bitcoin . This wrapper of the masses will bring accessibility, transparency, and liquidity to this new world. Before we dive in, our focus in this post is on the structure of investing in cryptocurrencies, not the underlying asset class itself. As we’ve covered in other blogs, bitcoin is a volatile asset and is not suitable for all investors. At minimum, it should be evaluated in the context of a diversified investment strategy. But clearly, investors are interested in gaining exposure to the asset class and the potential returns it can provide. We believe informed investors should be able to access bitcoin in their brokerage accounts in a secure, cost-efficient and user-friendly way, rather than accessing the asset in ways that have higher costs and risks, some of which are hidden. Story continues With that said, let’s look at each benefit a little closer. Accessibility A theoretical investor has a few choices to buy bitcoin directly today. Many of our readers have already done so. Dedicated cryptocurrency ‘exchanges’ like Coinbase and Gemini are popular. Fintech firms, such as Robinhood and Square, have also enabled crypto trading in their apps. A crypto ‘exchange’ is not a technical regulatory term in the U.S., but rather representative of a certain combination of user features and licensed money transfer entities. In most cases, users have a claim to cryptocurrency held by the respective firm, almost analogous to ‘street name’ holdings. While there are important differences, these methods largely feel like a traditional retail brokerage where investors can buy and hold an asset in their account through a digital interface. There are also other ways to buy and hold the asset that feel more different. Unique to crypto, one can hold the asset – technically with their own private keys – themselves away from any institution. As numerous media articles have detailed, self-custody carries its own risk – you lose your ‘password’ (i.e., private key), you lose the ability to access your bitcoin. The blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimates that ~20% of outstanding bitcoin supply are considered lost and unrecoverable. The key point we are making here, no matter which option you choose above, is that buying a cryptocurrency like bitcoin directly in the U.S. will be outside of one’s standard investing account and experience -- new account, new processes, new passwords, new risks. Furthermore, these options are largely closed off from retirement accounts like IRAs and 401Ks. The Investment Company Institute estimates roughly 21% of Americans’ financial assets are held in these accounts. Many Americans are effectively unable to access this asset class with their wealth. This is even more challenging for WisdomTree’s financial advisor clients investing on behalf of investors. Their workflows and policies are built around traditional brokerage accounts, and it is just not possible to deviate from them. Numerous alternative vehicles have stepped in to try to fill this demand. These alternatives include funds or other accounts that invest in bitcoin -- over-the-counter (OTC) -traded trusts, private funds, separately managed accounts -- and even publicly traded corporations that have invested part of their corporate treasury in bitcoin (like MicroStrategy). These options all have their benefits and, we believe, their drawbacks depending on the circumstances of the investor. As ETF true believers, we may be biased, but we believe a well-structured ETF can lessen these costs and risks of investors seeking to gaining exposure to an asset like bitcoin. The ETF fund manager would be responsible for overseeing the custody and security of the bitcoins with, preferably, a regulated third-party custodian. Investors could manage their bitcoin investment in the same brokerage account as all their other stocks, bonds and ETFs. And, as we’ll discuss in greater detail below, ETFs consistently trade in-line with their underlying assets. Transparency The ETF structure not only gives you transparency into what is actually in the fund on a daily basis, but also transparency of trading costs (in the form of bid/ask spreads ), as well as relative costs (in the form of premium / discounts to its net asset value (NAV) ). Transparency into the bid/ask spreads as well as that of premium/discounts will give the investor more information and power to choose the most cost-efficient structure. In mutual funds, you don’t know how much the portfolio manager is paying in spread when money is added and redeemed from the fund, and that bid/ask spread drags down the value of the entirety of the mutual fund for all. When you purchase an ETF, you know exactly how much you have paid to enter and exit the investment, and your transaction does not affect any other shareholders. Perhaps more importantly, ETFs are designed to reduce the likelihood of premium and discounts with its open-ended nature as well as the ability of market makers (called Authorized Participants) to create and redeem on a daily basis. This keeps the ETF trading more in line with its NAV, or value of its holdings. As a case in point, there are a few OTC-traded trusts in the marketplace now offering exposure to bitcoin. These trusts, critically, are effectively close-ended – they only allow subscriptions (i.e., creations) to accredited investors and they do not allow redemptions. Unlike ETFs, they do not trade on a national securities exchange, but they are available to non-accredited investors on the ‘over-the-counter’ markets. Accredited investors may sell their shares ‘over-the-counter’ once they have ‘seasoned’ for a period of 6 or 12 months. Over the past year, the trusts have traded in a range from a discount up to a 40+% premium, with premiums at certain points in an OTC product’s life at over 100% . That means at its height, an investor was paying 100+% more than what bitcoin was worth to gain access. The recent premiums/discounts on various OTC bitcoin products have ranged widely, with some trading at a significant discount and others trading at a significant premium at different points in time. This divergence showcases the idiosyncrasies of the operations and market structure of these products, none of which are to the benefit of retail investors in our view and raise significant investor protection issues that the ETF structure addresses. In the weeks that bitcoin ETFs have begun trading in Canada, we have seen them trade more in line with the value of their underlying holdings which strengthens our view that the benefits of the ETF structure will translate in this new burgeoning asset class Liquidity Considering ETFs were born from a need for extra liquidity, it should come as no surprise that the ETF wrapper provides an extra layer of liquidity for any asset class or strategy it represents. For cryptocurrencies, we believe ETFs will also bring a level of efficiency similar to what we’ve seen in fixed-income products. Like bonds, cryptocurrency liquidity is fragmented and traded on many different exchanges. There isn’t one centralized place to see the best bid or offer or to aggregate liquidity. Because the ETF is exchange listed, centralization happens by default. An ETF investor in crypto will have the benefit of not only the liquidity of the cryptocurrencies on the regional exchanges, but also that of the market makers supporting the ETFs. In the stock and bond world, that new ETF ecosystem of market makers has brought hundreds of billions of dollars of balance sheet in additional liquidity to the asset classes. The listing exchange will also require a centralization of the best bid and offer and a look into centralized liquidity. The ETF wrapper has changed the way we invest. It has dramatically brought down costs to access many different asset classes and investment strategies, as well as made many of these asset classes easily accessible. The additional liquidity has made the investment more secure and now we can easily invest in all manners of asset allocation strategies to individual themes from Apps on our phones and one brokerage account. This ETF wrapper will certainly transform the way we access and use cryptocurrencies in our investment portfolios, and bring costs savings to us all. Originally published by WisdomTree, 3/17/21 Important Risks Related to this Article Please note WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc., does not offer any bitcoin products. Bitcoin operates as a decentralized, peer-to-peer financial exchange and value storage. Bitcoin operates without central authority or banks and is not backed by any government. Bitcoin generally experiences very high volatility. Bitcoin is also not legal tender. Federal, state or foreign governments may restrict the use and exchange of cryptocurrency, and regulation in the U.S. is still developing. Bitcoin exchanges may stop operating or permanently shut down due to fraud, technical glitches, hackers or malware. U.S. investors only: Click here to obtain a WisdomTree ETF prospectus which contains investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other information; read and consider carefully before investing. There are risks involved with investing, including possible loss of principal. Foreign investing involves currency, political and economic risk. Funds focusing on a single country, sector and/or funds that emphasize investments in smaller companies may experience greater price volatility. Investments in emerging markets, currency, fixed income and alternative investments include additional risks. Please see prospectus for discussion of risks. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This material contains the opinions of the author, which are subject to change, and should not to be considered or interpreted as a recommendation to participate in any particular trading strategy, or deemed to be an offer or sale of any investment product and it should not be relied on as such. There is no guarantee that any strategies discussed will work under all market conditions. This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events or a guarantee of future results. This material should not be relied upon as research or investment advice regarding any security in particular. The user of this information assumes the entire risk of any use made of the information provided herein. Neither WisdomTree nor its affiliates, nor Foreside Fund Services, LLC, or its affiliates provide tax or legal advice. Investors seeking tax or legal advice should consult their tax or legal advisor. Unless expressly stated otherwise the opinions, interpretations or findings expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of WisdomTree or any of its affiliates. The MSCI information may only be used for your internal use, may not be reproduced or re-disseminated in any form and may not be used as a basis for or component of any financial instruments or products or indexes. None of the MSCI information is intended to constitute investment advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain from making) any kind of investment decision and may not be relied on as such. Historical data and analysis should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of any future performance analysis, forecast or prediction. The MSCI information is provided on an “as is” basis and the user of this information assumes the entire risk of any use made of this information. MSCI, each of its affiliates and each entity involved in compiling, computing or creating any MSCI information (collectively, the “MSCI Parties”) expressly disclaims all warranties. With respect to this information, in no event shall any MSCI Party have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive, consequential (including loss profits) or any other damages ( www.msci.com ) Jonathan Steinberg, Jeremy Schwartz, Rick Harper, Christopher Gannatti, Bradley Krom, Tripp Zimmerman, Michael Barrer, Anita Rausch, Kevin Flanagan, Brendan Loftus, Joseph Tenaglia, Jeff Weniger, Matt Wagner, Alejandro Saltiel, Ryan Krystopowicz, Kara Marciscano, Jianing Wu and Brian Manby are registered representatives of Foreside Fund Services, LLC. WisdomTree Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC, in the U.S. only. You cannot invest directly in an index. POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Stocks Drop While Inverse Bond ETF Gains after Fed Moves Crude Oil ETFs Plummet amid IEA Report, Russia Tensions ETFs Attempt to Recover after Fed Policies Rattle Markets Index inclusion: chasing profits can lower returns Stock ETFs Still Volatile as Interest Rates Surge Again READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Could the ETF Wrapper Democratize Crypto Investing?: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
ByAnita Rausch, Head of Capital Markets
In the 28 years they’ve been around, ETFs have democratized asset classes that they wrap.
It is said that the idea of ETFs was born from anSECreport dissecting the stock market crash of 1987. The SEC concluded that if there was an exchange-listed instrument representing a basket of stocks that could be used as ahedge, a new ecosystem of liquidity would develop and alleviate pressure andvolatilityon the underlying securities during down drafts. So, ETFs were essentially created as liquidity shock absorbers.
The unintended benefits of this great innovation were the transparency and accessibility that ETFs brought to all asset classes and investment strategies.
The ETF wrapper has allowed all levels of investors access to the likes of stocks in South Korea, bank loans, gold, and hedge fund strategies, with a brokerage account. In that easy accessibility, ETFs centralize and amplify liquidity as well as bring transparency and efficiency to costs and execution.
The ETF wrapper will be no different in the world ofcryptocurrenciesand bring all these benefits to bear on one of the newest asset classes such asbitcoin. This wrapper of the masses will bring accessibility, transparency, and liquidity to this new world.
Before we dive in, our focus in this post is on the structure of investing in cryptocurrencies, not the underlying asset class itself. As we’ve covered in other blogs, bitcoin is a volatile asset and is not suitable for all investors. At minimum, it should be evaluated in the context of a diversified investment strategy.
But clearly, investors are interested in gaining exposure to the asset class and the potential returns it can provide. We believe informed investors should be able to access bitcoin in their brokerage accounts in a secure, cost-efficient and user-friendly way, rather than accessing the asset in ways that have higher costs and risks, some of which are hidden.
With that said, let’s look at each benefit a little closer.
A theoretical investor has a few choices to buy bitcoin directly today. Many of our readers have already done so. Dedicated cryptocurrency ‘exchanges’ like Coinbase and Gemini are popular.Fintechfirms, such as Robinhood and Square, have also enabled crypto trading in their apps.
A crypto ‘exchange’ is not a technical regulatory term in the U.S., but rather representative of a certain combination of user features and licensed money transfer entities. In most cases, users have a claim to cryptocurrency held by the respective firm, almost analogous to ‘street name’ holdings.
While there are important differences, these methods largelyfeellike a traditional retail brokerage where investors can buy and hold an asset in their account through a digital interface.
There are also other ways to buy and hold the asset that feel more different. Unique to crypto, one can hold the asset – technically with their own private keys – themselves away from any institution. As numerous media articles have detailed, self-custody carries its own risk – you lose your ‘password’ (i.e., private key), you lose the ability to access your bitcoin. The blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimates that ~20% of outstanding bitcoin supply are considered lost and unrecoverable.
The key point we are making here, no matter which option you choose above, is that buying a cryptocurrency like bitcoin directly in the U.S. will be outside of one’s standard investing account and experience -- new account, new processes, new passwords, new risks.
Furthermore, these options are largely closed off from retirement accounts like IRAs and 401Ks. The Investment Company Institute estimates roughly 21% of Americans’ financial assets are held in these accounts. Many Americans are effectively unable to access this asset class with their wealth. This is even more challenging for WisdomTree’s financial advisor clients investing on behalf of investors. Their workflows and policies are built around traditional brokerage accounts, and it is just not possible to deviate from them.
Numerous alternative vehicles have stepped in to try to fill this demand. These alternatives include funds or other accounts that invest in bitcoin --over-the-counter (OTC)-traded trusts, private funds, separately managed accounts -- and even publicly traded corporations that have invested part of their corporate treasury in bitcoin (like MicroStrategy). These options all have their benefits and, we believe, their drawbacks depending on the circumstances of the investor.
As ETF true believers, we may be biased, but we believe a well-structured ETF can lessen these costs and risks of investors seeking to gaining exposure to an asset like bitcoin. The ETF fund manager would be responsible for overseeing the custody and security of the bitcoins with, preferably, a regulated third-party custodian. Investors could manage their bitcoin investment in the same brokerage account as all their other stocks, bonds and ETFs. And, as we’ll discuss in greater detail below, ETFs consistently trade in-line with their underlying assets.
The ETF structure not only gives you transparency into what is actually in the fund on a daily basis, but also transparency of trading costs (in the form ofbid/ask spreads), as well as relative costs (in the form ofpremium/discountsto itsnet asset value (NAV)).
Transparency into the bid/ask spreads as well as that of premium/discounts will give the investor more information and power to choose the most cost-efficient structure. In mutual funds, you don’t know how much the portfolio manager is paying in spread when money is added and redeemed from the fund, and that bid/ask spread drags down the value of the entirety of the mutual fund for all. When you purchase an ETF, you know exactly how much you have paid to enter and exit the investment, and your transaction does not affect any other shareholders.
Perhaps more importantly, ETFs are designed to reduce the likelihood of premium and discounts with its open-ended nature as well as the ability ofmarket makers(called Authorized Participants) tocreate and redeemon a daily basis. This keeps the ETF trading more in line with its NAV, or value of its holdings.
As a case in point, there are a few OTC-traded trusts in the marketplace now offering exposure to bitcoin. These trusts, critically, are effectively close-ended – they only allow subscriptions (i.e., creations) to accredited investors and they do not allow redemptions. Unlike ETFs, they do not trade on a national securities exchange, but they are available to non-accredited investors on the ‘over-the-counter’ markets. Accredited investors may sell their shares ‘over-the-counter’ once they have ‘seasoned’ for a period of 6 or 12 months. Over the past year, the trusts have traded in a range from a discount up to a 40+% premium, with premiums at certain points in an OTC product’s lifeat over 100%. That means at its height, an investor was paying 100+% more than what bitcoin was worth to gain access.
The recent premiums/discounts on various OTC bitcoin products have ranged widely, with some trading at a significant discount and others trading at a significant premium at different points in time. This divergence showcases the idiosyncrasies of the operations and market structure of these products, none of which are to the benefit of retail investors in our view and raise significant investor protection issues that the ETF structure addresses. In the weeks that bitcoin ETFs have begun trading in Canada, we have seen them trade more in line with the value of their underlying holdings which strengthens our view that the benefits of the ETF structure will translate in this new burgeoning asset class
Considering ETFs were born from a need for extra liquidity, it should come as no surprise that the ETF wrapper provides an extra layer of liquidity for any asset class or strategy it represents.
For cryptocurrencies, we believe ETFs will also bring a level of efficiency similar to what we’ve seen in fixed-income products.
Like bonds, cryptocurrency liquidity is fragmented and traded on many different exchanges. There isn’t one centralized place to see the best bid or offer or to aggregate liquidity. Because the ETF is exchange listed, centralization happens by default. An ETF investor in crypto will have the benefit of not only the liquidity of the cryptocurrencies on the regional exchanges, but also that of the market makers supporting the ETFs. In the stock and bond world, that new ETF ecosystem of market makers has brought hundreds of billions of dollars of balance sheet in additional liquidity to the asset classes. The listing exchange will also require a centralization of the best bid and offer and a look into centralized liquidity.
The ETF wrapper has changed the way we invest. It has dramatically brought down costs to access many different asset classes and investment strategies, as well as made many of these asset classes easily accessible.
The additional liquidity has made the investment more secure and now we can easily invest in all manners of asset allocation strategies to individual themes from Apps on our phones and one brokerage account. This ETF wrapper will certainly transform the way we access and use cryptocurrencies in our investment portfolios, and bring costs savings to us all.
Originallypublishedby WisdomTree, 3/17/21
Important Risks Related to this Article
Please note WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc., does not offer any bitcoin products.
Bitcoin operates as a decentralized, peer-to-peer financial exchange and value storage. Bitcoin operates without central authority or banks and is not backed by any government. Bitcoin generally experiences very high volatility. Bitcoin is also not legal tender. Federal, state or foreign governments may restrict the use and exchange of cryptocurrency, and regulation in the U.S. is still developing. Bitcoin exchanges may stop operating or permanently shut down due to fraud, technical glitches, hackers or malware.
U.S. investors only: Clickhereto obtain a WisdomTree ETF prospectus which contains investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other information; read and consider carefully before investing.
There are risks involved with investing, including possible loss of principal. Foreign investing involves currency, political and economic risk. Funds focusing on a single country, sector and/or funds that emphasize investments in smaller companies may experience greater price volatility. Investments in emerging markets, currency, fixed income and alternative investments include additional risks. Please see prospectus for discussion of risks.
Past performance is not indicative of future results. This material contains the opinions of the author, which are subject to change, and should not to be considered or interpreted as a recommendation to participate in any particular trading strategy, or deemed to be an offer or sale of any investment product and it should not be relied on as such. There is no guarantee that any strategies discussed will work under all market conditions. This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events or a guarantee of future results. This material should not be relied upon as research or investment advice regarding any security in particular. The user of this information assumes the entire risk of any use made of the information provided herein. Neither WisdomTree nor its affiliates, nor Foreside Fund Services, LLC, or its affiliates provide tax or legal advice. Investors seeking tax or legal advice should consult their tax or legal advisor. Unless expressly stated otherwise the opinions, interpretations or findings expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of WisdomTree or any of its affiliates.
The MSCI information may only be used for your internal use, may not be reproduced or re-disseminated in any form and may not be used as a basis for or component of any financial instruments or products or indexes. None of the MSCI information is intended to constitute investment advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain from making) any kind of investment decision and may not be relied on as such. Historical data and analysis should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of any future performance analysis, forecast or prediction. The MSCI information is provided on an “as is” basis and the user of this information assumes the entire risk of any use made of this information. MSCI, each of its affiliates and each entity involved in compiling, computing or creating any MSCI information (collectively, the “MSCI Parties”) expressly disclaims all warranties. With respect to this information, in no event shall any MSCI Party have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive, consequential (including loss profits) or any other damages (www.msci.com)
Jonathan Steinberg, Jeremy Schwartz, Rick Harper, Christopher Gannatti, Bradley Krom, Tripp Zimmerman, Michael Barrer, Anita Rausch, Kevin Flanagan, Brendan Loftus, Joseph Tenaglia, Jeff Weniger, Matt Wagner, Alejandro Saltiel, Ryan Krystopowicz, Kara Marciscano, Jianing Wu and Brian Manby are registered representatives of Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
WisdomTree Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC, in the U.S. only.
You cannot invest directly in an index.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Bitcoin price slides after last week's rally pushed token to record highs: Bitcoin's (BTC-USD) ascent to record highs came to a halt on Sunday as the cryptocurrency's price fell more than 6% to $56,306 (£40,596). It made several attempts to soar past the all-time high price, peaking at $59,400 on Saturday.
It comes after, the cryptocurrency climbed more than 5% last week to a high of $60,322.60, according to Coindesk, continuing a stellar rally this year. The move passed the previous all-time record of around $58,330 set on 21 February.
So far, Bitcoin has surged more than 65% last month alone, and over 100% this year.
In late February, it saw a retreat to as low as $43,000 amid uncertainty in the traditional markets over stimulus expectations and their positive effects on US bond yields.
Analysts have said that they expect "higher volatility in the stock market" in the coming weeks after US president Joe Biden signed a long-awaited $1.9trn COVID relief package, which gives individual American's their third stimulus checks worth $1,400. This is expected to bolstered optimism in financial markets.
The market value of all bitcoin in circulation hit $1tn for the first time last month, data website CoinMarketCap revealed.
READ MORE:Bitcoin soars to fresh record high of $60,0000
The cryptocurrency has been fuelled of late by acceptance from mainstream investors and companies, such as Tesla (TSLA) and Mastercard (MA).
Tesla invested $1.5bn in bitcoin, in February, and said it may even start accepting it as payment for its products.
In December, it soared past Visa (V) making it the world’s largest financial service.
Bitcoin started 2020 at about $7,000 per coin. Despite its rise in the last year, the cryptocurrency remains extremely volatile and experts continue to remain sceptical about using it as an investment.
According to industry data, about 13% of all bitcoin in the world, some $80bn out of $600bn, belongs to just over 100 individual accounts, the Telegraph reported. The top 40% of all bitcoin, roughly $240bn, is held by just under 2,500 known accounts out of roughly 100 million overall.
Bitcoin started 2020 at around $7,000 per coin. Despite its rise in the last year, the cryptocurrency remains extremely volatile and experts continue to remain sceptical about using it as an investment.
However, a survey published last month showed almost two-thirds of UK investors intend to buy bitcoin in 2021.
According to a Trading Platforms report,the number of Bitcoin ATMs around the world increased by 70% in the last six months, hitting 16,500 in March. A bitcoin ATM is a kiosk that allows a person to purchase bitcoin by using cash or debit card. Some offer both the purchase of bitcoin as well as the sale of bitcoin for cash.
WATCH:What is bitcoin? || Bitcoin price slides after last week's rally pushed token to record highs: Bitcoin's (BTC-USD) ascent to record highs came to a halt on Sunday as the cryptocurrency's price fell more than 6% to $56,306 (£40,596). It made several attempts to soar past the all-time high price, peaking at $59,400 on Saturday.
It comes after, the cryptocurrency climbed more than 5% last week to a high of $60,322.60, according to Coindesk, continuing a stellar rally this year. The move passed the previous all-time record of around $58,330 set on 21 February.
So far, Bitcoin has surged more than 65% last month alone, and over 100% this year.
In late February, it saw a retreat to as low as $43,000 amid uncertainty in the traditional markets over stimulus expectations and their positive effects on US bond yields.
Analysts have said that they expect "higher volatility in the stock market" in the coming weeks after US president Joe Biden signed a long-awaited $1.9trn COVID relief package, which gives individual American's their third stimulus checks worth $1,400. This is expected to bolstered optimism in financial markets.
The market value of all bitcoin in circulation hit $1tn for the first time last month, data website CoinMarketCap revealed.
READ MORE:Bitcoin soars to fresh record high of $60,0000
The cryptocurrency has been fuelled of late by acceptance from mainstream investors and companies, such as Tesla (TSLA) and Mastercard (MA).
Tesla invested $1.5bn in bitcoin, in February, and said it may even start accepting it as payment for its products.
In December, it soared past Visa (V) making it the world’s largest financial service.
Bitcoin started 2020 at about $7,000 per coin. Despite its rise in the last year, the cryptocurrency remains extremely volatile and experts continue to remain sceptical about using it as an investment.
According to industry data, about 13% of all bitcoin in the world, some $80bn out of $600bn, belongs to just over 100 individual accounts, the Telegraph reported. The top 40% of all bitcoin, roughly $240bn, is held by just under 2,500 known accounts out of roughly 100 million overall.
Bitcoin started 2020 at around $7,000 per coin. Despite its rise in the last year, the cryptocurrency remains extremely volatile and experts continue to remain sceptical about using it as an investment.
However, a survey published last month showed almost two-thirds of UK investors intend to buy bitcoin in 2021.
According to a Trading Platforms report,the number of Bitcoin ATMs around the world increased by 70% in the last six months, hitting 16,500 in March. A bitcoin ATM is a kiosk that allows a person to purchase bitcoin by using cash or debit card. Some offer both the purchase of bitcoin as well as the sale of bitcoin for cash.
WATCH:What is bitcoin? || Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin price slides after last week's rally pushed token to record highs: The market value of all bitcoin in circulation hit $1tn for the first time last month, data website CoinMarketCap revealed. Photo: Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images (Barcroft Media via Getty Images) Bitcoin's ( BTC-USD ) ascent to record highs came to a halt on Sunday as the cryptocurrency's price fell more than 6% to $56,306 (£40,596). It made several attempts to soar past the all-time high price, peaking at $59,400 on Saturday. It comes after, the cryptocurrency climbed more than 5% last week to a high of $60,322.60, according to Coindesk, continuing a stellar rally this year. The move passed the previous all-time record of around $58,330 set on 21 February. So far, Bitcoin has surged more than 65% last month alone, and over 100% this year. In late February, it saw a retreat to as low as $43,000 amid uncertainty in the traditional markets over stimulus expectations and their positive effects on US bond yields. Analysts have said that they expect "higher volatility in the stock market" in the coming weeks after US president Joe Biden signed a long-awaited $1.9trn COVID relief package, which gives individual American's their third stimulus checks worth $1,400. This is expected to bolstered optimism in financial markets. The market value of all bitcoin in circulation hit $1tn for the first time last month, data website CoinMarketCap revealed. Chart: Yahoo Finance READ MORE: Bitcoin soars to fresh record high of $60,0000 The cryptocurrency has been fuelled of late by acceptance from mainstream investors and companies, such as Tesla ( TSLA ) and Mastercard ( MA ). Tesla invested $1.5bn in bitcoin, in February, and said it may even start accepting it as payment for its products. In December, it soared past Visa ( V ) making it the worlds largest financial service. Bitcoin started 2020 at about $7,000 per coin. Despite its rise in the last year, the cryptocurrency remains extremely volatile and experts continue to remain sceptical about using it as an investment. According to industry data, about 13% of all bitcoin in the world, some $80bn out of $600bn, belongs to just over 100 individual accounts, the Telegraph reported. The top 40% of all bitcoin, roughly $240bn, is held by just under 2,500 known accounts out of roughly 100 million overall. Story continues Bitcoin started 2020 at around $7,000 per coin. Despite its rise in the last year, the cryptocurrency remains extremely volatile and experts continue to remain sceptical about using it as an investment. However, a survey published last month showed almost two-thirds of UK investors intend to buy bitcoin in 2021. According to a Trading Platforms report, the number of Bitcoin ATMs around the world increased by 70% in the last six months , hitting 16,500 in March. A bitcoin ATM is a kiosk that allows a person to purchase bitcoin by using cash or debit card. Some offer both the purchase of bitcoin as well as the sale of bitcoin for cash. WATCH: What is bitcoin? || The trillion dollar quest to create a virtual universe: Avatars from Roblox, the ubiquitous Lego-like children's video game When Lil Nas X rode in to Roblox, he wasnt there to play. Wearing his trademark pink cowboy hat and boots, the young rapper and TikTok star towered over the audience, throwing shapes pre-recorded by a motion capture suit. Simultaneously, another, littler Nas X was in among his fans, interacting via one of Robloxs ordinary toy-like avatars. With 33m views across four replays in November, it was not a bad start for the popular video game platforms hopes of becoming a hub for virtual concerts. But it also exemplified a 30-year-old idea that is suddenly gripping Silicon Valley investors, engineers and insiders, and pumping up the values of numerous tech companies not least Roblox , whose value has surged from $24.8bn (£17.8bn) to $37bn since its public float this month. We think there is a real chance for Roblox to become the metaverse, explained a partner at the revered venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz when it invested last year. To create a metaverse! said Fortnites creative director when asked about his end goal. Facebook, Snapchat and Chinas Tencent are all said to be building it. There is a Metaverse Ventures, a Metaverse Capital and even a virtual real estate firm called Metaverse Properties. Advocates describe it as a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity, just as disruptive as the internet itself. I dont know what it is, says F Randall Farmer, who co-created the first ever large-scale virtual world at Lucasfilm in 1986 and has been building online communities ever since (as well as possibly the first virtual weapon of mass destruction inside Second Life). Having been through two previous metaverse moments, he sees it as a buzzword used to fan hype around any number of disparate companies that dont sound as cool if one simply says they make video games or social networks. The first metaverse appeared in Neal Stephensons breakout 1992 novel Snow Crash , where characters donned virtual reality (VR) goggles to enter a shared cyberspace where they could chat, buy drugs and appear in any shape they like. Stephenson has been hugely influential, anticipating Bitcoin and inspiring the Kindle with his stories before officially advising Jeff Bezos space company Blue Origin and the augmented reality (AR) firm Magic Leap. Ive seen [Snow Crash] repeatedly in peoples homes, says anthropologist Jan English-Lueck, who has spent the last two years interviewing VR and AR developers. Story continues Matthew Ball, a partner at the venture fund Epyllion Industries and a prominent metaverse hawk, describes it as a grand, unified pool of persistent 3D spaces that users navigate as embodied individuals, not just web browser sessions. Crucially, he says, it must have a fully-functioning economy, be filled with content created by its users and allow data and digital items to be freely ported across its breadth instead of trapped in Apple-style walled gardens. The full vision remains seemingly fantastical and decades away, Ball wrote in January, [but it] has become the newest macro-goal for many of the worlds tech giants. Roblox and Fortnite look closest to that dream . Both span multiple closed gaming platforms, with Fortnite notably wielding its sheer popularity to break Sonys traditional PlayStation iron curtain. Both let users create and sell virtual items and content, which Roblox has nourished into a whole parallel games industry whose developers made $329m last year. Both are also well-established among Generation Z, whose oldest members are only about a decade away from entering middle management and wondering why their back always hurts these days. Crucially, each company has persuaded numerous bands, brands and media empires to join the party, letting their often jealously-guarded intellectual properties jostle together in one world. At the South by Southwest remote conference on Wednesday, Robloxs global head of music John Vlassopulos made artists a tempting offer: We can generally make what you dream about come true
youre literally running around [inside] the music video. Tech giants are also on manoeuvres. While Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has not called it a metaverse, he is open about his belief that VR and AR will be the next computing platform and is spending heavily on research and acquisitions that feed his goal of getting 1bn people in VR. It is heavily marketing its Oculus VR headsets, and its new social VR service Horizon is currently in closed beta. Snapchat is a less obvious contender, given its lack of 3D virtual space. Yet 200m people on average use its AR features every day, layering virtual objects over real people and locations with lenses made by users and advertisers. To some observers, this looks like the start of another type of metaverse, the mirrorworld, where every physical place is interlinked with a digital double. A screenshot from video game Minecraft Other frequently named companies include Niantic, the developer of Pokemon Go, and Improbable, a London-based firm hoping to build online worlds of unprecedented size. Microsoft has a strong footing too, owning not just Minecraft and the Xbox, but also the sprawling bureaucratic bureau-verse of Microsoft Office and Teams, where users navigate a huge range of systems with one persistent identity (though it is not clear how this would link together with Minecraft). While reopening may apply a brake to these ambitions, Farmer sees a more fundamental problem. Avatars, a functioning economy, synchronous presence I think those are all unreasonably narrow, he says. Theyre not the future. Theyre the next of the thing that we had before. Rather than unified 3D spaces similar to video games, he believes online communities will be less immersive, less consuming, with forms of presence and semi-presence woven into everyday life. Science fiction of the past has frequently predicted Zoom calls. Fewer authors imagined how much time we would spend reading and sending written messages, with response times ranging from seconds to a month or more. For many in Silicon Valley, the lure of the metaverse comes from a deeper place. English-Lueck says that some AR and VR builders are enticed by the possibility of worlds that are completely subject to human control, where individuals can exert maximum agency. But she also describes a love of experimentation and a hope that the metaverse could allow people to try out different kinds of places, identities and societies without life-destroying consequences. Thats an extremely appealing idea, she says. There arent many other technologies that offer the same promise. || The trillion dollar quest to create a virtual universe: When Lil Nas X rode in to Roblox, he wasn’t there to play. Wearing his trademark pink cowboy hat and boots, the young rapper and TikTok star towered over the audience, throwing shapes pre-recorded by a motion capture suit. Simultaneously, another, littler Nas X was in among his fans, interacting via one of Roblox’s ordinary toy-like avatars.
With 33m views across four replays in November, it was not a bad start for the popular video game platform’s hopes of becoming a hub for virtual concerts. But it also exemplified a 30-year-old idea that is suddenly gripping Silicon Valley investors, engineers and insiders, and pumping up the values of numerous tech companies – not leastRoblox, whosevalue has surgedfrom $24.8bn (£17.8bn) to $37bn since its public float this month.
“We think there is a real chance for Roblox to become the metaverse,” explained a partner at the revered venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz when it invested last year. “To create a metaverse!” said Fortnite’s creative director when asked about his end goal.Facebook, Snapchat and China’s Tencentare all said to be building it. There is a Metaverse Ventures, a Metaverse Capital and even a virtual real estate firm called Metaverse Properties. Advocates describe it as a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity, just as disruptive as the internet itself.
“I don’t know what it is,” says F Randall Farmer, who co-created the first ever large-scale virtual world at Lucasfilm in 1986 and has been building online communities ever since (as well as possibly the first virtual weapon of mass destruction inside Second Life). Having been through two previous metaverse moments, he sees it as a buzzword used to “fan hype” around any number of disparate companies that don’t sound as cool if one simply says they make video games or social networks.
The first metaverse appeared in Neal Stephenson’s breakout 1992 novelSnow Crash, where characters donned virtual reality (VR) goggles to enter a shared cyberspace where they could chat, buy drugs and appear in any shape they like. Stephenson has been hugely influential, anticipating Bitcoin and inspiring the Kindle with his stories before officially advising Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin and the augmented reality (AR) firm Magic Leap. “I’ve seen [Snow Crash] repeatedly in people’s homes,” says anthropologist Jan English-Lueck, who has spent the last two years interviewing VR and AR developers.
Matthew Ball, a partner at the venture fund Epyllion Industries and a prominent metaverse hawk, describes it as a grand, unified pool of persistent 3D spaces that users navigate as embodied individuals, not just web browser sessions. Crucially, he says, it must have a “fully-functioning economy”, be filled with content created by its users and allow data and digital items to be freely ported across its breadth instead of trapped in Apple-style walled gardens. “The full vision remains seemingly fantastical and decades away,” Ball wrote in January, “[but it] has become the newest macro-goal for many of the world’s tech giants.”
Roblox and Fortnite look closest to that dream. Both span multiple closed gaming platforms, with Fortnite notably wielding its sheer popularity to break Sony’s traditional PlayStation iron curtain. Both let users create and sell virtual items and content, which Roblox has nourished into a whole parallel games industry whose developers made $329m last year. Both are also well-established among Generation Z, whose oldest members are only about a decade away from entering middle management and wondering why their back always hurts these days.
Crucially, each company has persuaded numerous bands, brands and media empires to join the party, letting their often jealously-guarded intellectual properties jostle together in one world. At the South by Southwest remote conference on Wednesday, Roblox’s global head of music John Vlassopulos made artists a tempting offer: “We can generally make what you dream about come true… you’re literally running around [inside] the music video.”
Tech giants are also on manoeuvres. While Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has not called it a “metaverse”, he is open about his belief that VR and AR will be “the next computing platform” and is spending heavily on research and acquisitions that feed his goal of getting 1bn people in VR. It is heavily marketing its Oculus VR headsets, and its new “social VR” service Horizon is currently in closed beta.
Snapchat is a less obvious contender, given its lack of 3D virtual space. Yet 200m people on average use its AR features every day, layering virtual objects over real people and locations with “lenses” made by users and advertisers. To some observers, this looks like the start of another type of metaverse, “the mirrorworld”, where every physical place is interlinked with a digital double.
Other frequently named companies include Niantic, the developer of Pokemon Go, and Improbable, a London-based firm hoping to build online worlds of unprecedented size.
Microsoft has a strong footing too, owning not just Minecraft and the Xbox, but also the sprawling bureaucratic bureau-verse of Microsoft Office and Teams, where users navigate a huge range of systems with one persistent identity (though it is not clear how this would link together with Minecraft).
While reopening may apply a brake to these ambitions, Farmer sees a more fundamental problem. “Avatars, a functioning economy, synchronous presence – I think those are all unreasonably narrow,” he says. “They’re not the future. They’re the next of the thing that we had before.”
Rather than unified 3D spaces similar to video games, he believes online communities will be less immersive, less consuming, with forms of presence and semi-presence woven into everyday life. Science fiction of the past has frequently predicted Zoom calls. Fewer authors imagined how much time we would spend reading and sending written messages, with response times ranging from seconds to a month or more.
For many in Silicon Valley, the lure of the metaverse comes from a deeper place. English-Lueck says that some AR and VR builders are enticed by the possibility of worlds that are completely subject to human control, where individuals can exert maximum agency. But she also describes a “love of experimentation” and a hope that the metaverse could allow people to try out different kinds of places, identities and societies without life-destroying consequences.
“That’s an extremely appealing idea,” she says. “There aren’t many other technologies that offer the same promise.”
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
|
54738.95, 52774.27, 51704.16, 55137.31, 55973.51, 55950.75, 57750.20, 58917.69, 58918.83, 59095.81
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 3792.40, 3682.84, 3926.07, 3892.35, 4200.67, 4174.73, 4163.07, 4338.71, 4403.74, 4409.32, 4317.48, 4229.36, 4328.41, 4370.81, 4426.89, 4610.48, 4772.02, 4781.99, 4826.48, 5446.91, 5647.21, 5831.79, 5678.19, 5725.59, 5605.51, 5590.69, 5708.52, 6011.45, 6031.60, 6008.42, 5930.32, 5526.64, 5750.80, 5904.83, 5780.90, 5753.09, 6153.85, 6130.53, 6468.40, 6767.31, 7078.50, 7207.76, 7379.95, 7407.41, 7022.76, 7144.38, 7459.69, 7143.58, 6618.14, 6357.60, 5950.07, 6559.49, 6635.75, 7315.54, 7871.69, 7708.99, 7790.15, 8036.49, 8200.64, 8071.26, 8253.55, 8038.77, 8253.69, 8790.92, 9330.55, 9818.35, 10058.80, 9888.61, 10233.60, 10975.60, 11074.60, 11323.20, 11657.20, 11916.70, 14291.50, 17899.70, 16569.40, 15178.20, 15455.40, 16936.80, 17415.40, 16408.20, 16564.00, 17706.90, 19497.40, 19140.80, 19114.20, 17776.70, 16624.60, 15802.90.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-12-21]
Volume: 16516599808, RSI (14-day): 54.97, 50-day EMA: 12309.31, 200-day EMA: 6765.10
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1267.30, Gold RSI: 51.04
Oil Price: 58.36, Oil RSI: 60.02
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Coinbase may have given away its own Bitcoin Cash surprise: On Tuesday, when Bitcoin Cash hit Coinbase , the popular user-friendly U.S.-based exchange, cryptocurrency's reputation as the financial wild west was on full display. While anyone following along was well aware that Coinbase planned to add Bitcoin Cash , the currency created in August's Bitcoin hard fork , things still got weird immediately. After some suspicious pre-launch climbing, Bitcoin Cash's Coinbase launch immediately saw prices soar to almost three times those listed on other exchanges. That "significant volatility" led Coinbase to freeze transactions for its newest asset, creating plenty of confusion in the process. Just a few hours later, the company disclosed that the chaos had prompted an insider trading investigation , a surprising concession after some in the cryptocurrency world cried foul (to be fair, they are often crying foul). While it's not yet wholly clear what was going on, many digital currency enthusiasts have pointed to a Reddit thread from three days ago titled " ATTN: Bitcoin Cash added to Coinbase API (EXTREMELY BULLISH) " that claims to have spotted evidence of Bitcoin Cash's addition on a Coinbase API key permissions screen. Given its broad disinterest in regulatory norms and preponderance of first-time investors, doctored screenshots trying to nudge prices one way or another are fairly common within the cryptocurrency community. Still, many Reddit users appeared to lend this particular thread enough credence to check it out for themselves. (Unfortunately, as Bitcoin Cash is now live, we weren't able to verify the listing's early appearance in the API.) reporting myself to SEC for looking at the coinbase API 3 days before bitcoin cash launch its not about winning, its about doing the right thing pic.twitter.com/Tg9v3ZS5Wa — lil spoofy the bripto trader (@Lil_Spoofy) December 20, 2017 Story continues Again, Coinbase users knew that Bitcoin Cash was coming by January 1, 2018 — the deadline Coinbase gave itself in August — but most users assumed that the new coin would be withdrawal-only, letting Coinbase users who stored Bitcoin on the exchange at the time of the fork get their trapped Bitcoin Cash out of the platform. As Coinbase stated in its August 3 blog post : We are planning to have support for bitcoin cash by January 1, 2018, assuming no additional risks emerge during that time. Once supported, customers will be able to withdraw bitcoin cash. We’ll make a determination at a later date about adding trading support. In the meantime, customer bitcoin cash will remain safely stored on Coinbase. Reddit's /r/btc community took the API breadcrumb as a signal that both narrowed Bitcoin Cash's looming Coinbase timeline and provided evidence that Coinbase intended to add trade options for the currency — a significant sign of adoption that would surely influence the altcoin's price across exchanges. "If you're a programmer you know this is a very strong sign that Bitcoin Cash will receive full integration and not just withdrawals," one Redditor stated in the thread's replies. Given its mainstream appeal and extreme ease of use relative to other exchanges, Coinbase is something of a cryptocurrency kingmaker. For any digital currency gaining Coinbase trading support, volume and prices would widely be expected to soar as the news spread. Obviously, anyone paying attention to potential Coinbase API hints or other subtle backend signals is likely doing so with the intent to cash in on such a surge. "We can’t verify the screenshot. But we publicly announced we would be supporting Bitcoin Cash in August, so it would be expected that Bitcoin Cash would appear on the API at some point," a Coinbase spokesperson told TechCrunch in response to questions about the incident. Whatever really went down, the situation demonstrates how Coinbase's decision to add any cryptocurrency makes for a very delicate rollout indeed. The company plans to introduce more altcoins on its platform in the coming year, so it will have ample opportunity to learn from its rocky, semi-surprise introduction of Bitcoin Cash on December 19. Like many things in the digital currency world, cryptocurrency market forces are often even stranger and more inscrutable than their traditional financial counterparts. There might not be one single explanation for Bitcoin Cash's controversial pop on Tuesday, but the situation serves as yet another cautionary tale of the unique chaos of cryptocurrency, a financial realm where the rules are being written as they're broken. Disclosure: The author holds a small position in some cryptocurrencies, mostly because it seemed like a fun idea back in 2013 and then she forgot about it. Regrettably, it is not enough for a Lambo. Related: Watch original series, sports and more on go90. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch . || Coinbase may have given away its own Bitcoin Cash surprise: On Tuesday, whenBitcoin Cash hit Coinbase, the popular user-friendly U.S.-based exchange, cryptocurrency's reputation as the financial wild west was on full display.
While anyone following along was well aware that Coinbaseplanned to add Bitcoin Cash, the currencycreated in August's Bitcoin hard fork, things still got weird immediately. After some suspicious pre-launch climbing, Bitcoin Cash's Coinbase launch immediately saw pricessoar to almost three timesthose listed on other exchanges.
That "significant volatility" led Coinbase to freeze transactions for its newest asset, creating plenty of confusion in the process. Just a few hours later, the company disclosed that the chaos had prompted aninsider trading investigation, a surprising concession after some in the cryptocurrency world cried foul (to be fair, they are often crying foul).
While it's not yet wholly clear what was going on, many digital currency enthusiasts have pointed to a Reddit thread from three days ago titled "ATTN: Bitcoin Cash added to Coinbase API (EXTREMELY BULLISH)" that claims to have spotted evidence of Bitcoin Cash's addition on a Coinbase API key permissions screen.
Given its broad disinterest in regulatory norms and preponderance of first-time investors, doctored screenshots trying to nudge prices one way or another are fairly common within the cryptocurrency community. Still, many Reddit users appeared to lend this particular thread enough credence to check it out for themselves. (Unfortunately, as Bitcoin Cash is now live, we weren't able to verify the listing's early appearance in the API.)
Again, Coinbase users knew that Bitcoin Cash was coming by January 1, 2018 — the deadline Coinbase gave itself in August — but most users assumed that the new coin would be withdrawal-only, letting Coinbase users who stored Bitcoin on the exchange at the time of the fork get their trapped Bitcoin Cash out of the platform. As Coinbase stated in itsAugust 3 blog post:
We are planning to have support for bitcoin cash by January 1, 2018, assuming no additional risks emerge during that time.
Reddit's/r/btc communitytook the API breadcrumb as a signal that both narrowed Bitcoin Cash's looming Coinbase timeline and provided evidence that Coinbase intended to add trade options for the currency — a significant sign of adoption that would surely influence the altcoin's price across exchanges. "If you're a programmer you know this is a very strong sign that Bitcoin Cash will receive full integration and not just withdrawals," one Redditor stated in the thread's replies.
Given its mainstream appeal and extreme ease of use relative to other exchanges, Coinbase is something of a cryptocurrency kingmaker. For any digital currency gaining Coinbase trading support, volume and prices would widely be expected to soar as the news spread. Obviously, anyone paying attention to potential Coinbase API hints or other subtle backend signals is likely doing so with the intent to cash in on such a surge.
"We can’t verify the screenshot. But we publicly announced we would be supporting Bitcoin Cash in August, so it would be expected that Bitcoin Cash would appear on the API at some point," a Coinbase spokesperson told TechCrunch in response to questions about the incident.
Whatever really went down, the situation demonstrates how Coinbase's decision to add any cryptocurrency makes for a very delicate rollout indeed. The company plans to introduce more altcoins on its platform in the coming year, so it will have ample opportunity to learn from its rocky, semi-surprise introduction of Bitcoin Cash on December 19.
Like many things in the digital currency world, cryptocurrency market forces are often even stranger and more inscrutable than their traditional financial counterparts. There might not be one single explanation for Bitcoin Cash's controversial pop on Tuesday, but the situation serves as yet another cautionary tale of the unique chaos of cryptocurrency, a financial realm where the rules are being written as they're broken.
Disclosure: The author holds a small position in some cryptocurrencies, mostly because it seemed like a fun idea back in 2013 and then she forgot about it. Regrettably, it is not enough for a Lambo.
Related:
Watch original series, sports and more ongo90.
• This article originally appeared onTechCrunch. || Coinbase may have given away its own Bitcoin Cash surprise: On Tuesday, whenBitcoin Cash hit Coinbase, the popular user-friendly U.S.-based exchange, cryptocurrency's reputation as the financial wild west was on full display.
While anyone following along was well aware that Coinbaseplanned to add Bitcoin Cash, the currencycreated in August's Bitcoin hard fork, things still got weird immediately. After some suspicious pre-launch climbing, Bitcoin Cash's Coinbase launch immediately saw pricessoar to almost three timesthose listed on other exchanges.
That "significant volatility" led Coinbase to freeze transactions for its newest asset, creating plenty of confusion in the process. Just a few hours later, the company disclosed that the chaos had prompted aninsider trading investigation, a surprising concession after some in the cryptocurrency world cried foul (to be fair, they are often crying foul).
While it's not yet wholly clear what was going on, many digital currency enthusiasts have pointed to a Reddit thread from three days ago titled "ATTN: Bitcoin Cash added to Coinbase API (EXTREMELY BULLISH)" that claims to have spotted evidence of Bitcoin Cash's addition on a Coinbase API key permissions screen.
Given its broad disinterest in regulatory norms and preponderance of first-time investors, doctored screenshots trying to nudge prices one way or another are fairly common within the cryptocurrency community. Still, many Reddit users appeared to lend this particular thread enough credence to check it out for themselves. (Unfortunately, as Bitcoin Cash is now live, we weren't able to verify the listing's early appearance in the API.)
Again, Coinbase users knew that Bitcoin Cash was coming by January 1, 2018 — the deadline Coinbase gave itself in August — but most users assumed that the new coin would be withdrawal-only, letting Coinbase users who stored Bitcoin on the exchange at the time of the fork get their trapped Bitcoin Cash out of the platform. As Coinbase stated in itsAugust 3 blog post:
We are planning to have support for bitcoin cash by January 1, 2018, assuming no additional risks emerge during that time.
Reddit's/r/btc communitytook the API breadcrumb as a signal that both narrowed Bitcoin Cash's looming Coinbase timeline and provided evidence that Coinbase intended to add trade options for the currency — a significant sign of adoption that would surely influence the altcoin's price across exchanges. "If you're a programmer you know this is a very strong sign that Bitcoin Cash will receive full integration and not just withdrawals," one Redditor stated in the thread's replies.
Given its mainstream appeal and extreme ease of use relative to other exchanges, Coinbase is something of a cryptocurrency kingmaker. For any digital currency gaining Coinbase trading support, volume and prices would widely be expected to soar as the news spread. Obviously, anyone paying attention to potential Coinbase API hints or other subtle backend signals is likely doing so with the intent to cash in on such a surge.
"We can’t verify the screenshot. But we publicly announced we would be supporting Bitcoin Cash in August, so it would be expected that Bitcoin Cash would appear on the API at some point," a Coinbase spokesperson told TechCrunch in response to questions about the incident.
Whatever really went down, the situation demonstrates how Coinbase's decision to add any cryptocurrency makes for a very delicate rollout indeed. The company plans to introduce more altcoins on its platform in the coming year, so it will have ample opportunity to learn from its rocky, semi-surprise introduction of Bitcoin Cash on December 19.
Like many things in the digital currency world, cryptocurrency market forces are often even stranger and more inscrutable than their traditional financial counterparts. There might not be one single explanation for Bitcoin Cash's controversial pop on Tuesday, but the situation serves as yet another cautionary tale of the unique chaos of cryptocurrency, a financial realm where the rules are being written as they're broken.
Disclosure: The author holds a small position in some cryptocurrencies, mostly because it seemed like a fun idea back in 2013 and then she forgot about it. Regrettably, it is not enough for a Lambo.
Related:
Watch original series, sports and more ongo90.
• This article originally appeared onTechCrunch. || 2 Leveraged ETFs To Trade The January Effect With: Fans of seasonal trading and investing no doubt know about the “ January Effect .” This is the notion that stocks will rise in January, therefore setting the course for a bullish new year. In recent years, there has been some evidence of the January Effect starting in December. Other, longer-ranging data points suggest the January Effect is more impactful for small-caps than large-caps. In fact, the Russell 2000 Index outperformed the Russell 1000 Index in the first month of the year over the three decades spanning 1972 to 2002. This presents a potential trading opportunity in the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: TNA ). TNA attempts to deliver triple the daily returns of the Russell 2000 Index. Leveraged Lessons By nature, small-caps are volatile, underscoring the point that a leveraged small-cap ETF is bound to be significantly more volatile than a standard small-cap fund. “Leveraged and inverse ETFs pursue daily leveraged investment objectives which means they are riskier than alternatives which do not use leverage,” according to Direxion . “They seek daily goals and should not be expected to track the underlying index over periods longer than one day." TNA has a bearish cousin. The Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: TZA ) attempts to deliver triple the daily inverse returns of the Russell 2000 Index. January Preparation Data suggests that traders are already preparing for the January Effect in a big way with TNA while ditching the bearish TZA. Over the past month, TNA is averaging daily inflows of $3.1 million while TZA is suffering daily outflows $3.5 million, according to issuer data. Related Links: Investors Return To This Staples ETF. Loving Leveraged Tech ETFs. See more from Benzinga Issuers Scramble To Enter The Bitcoin ETF Fray © 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || 2 Leveraged ETFs To Trade The January Effect With: Fans of seasonal trading and investing no doubt know about the “January Effect.” This is the notion that stocks will rise in January, therefore setting the course for a bullish new year.
In recent years, there has been some evidence of the January Effect starting in December. Other, longer-ranging data points suggest the January Effect is more impactful for small-caps than large-caps. In fact, the Russell 2000 Index outperformed the Russell 1000 Index in the first month of the year over the three decades spanning 1972 to 2002.
This presents a potential trading opportunity in theDirexion Daily Small Cap Bull 3X Shares(NYSE:TNA). TNA attempts to deliver triple the daily returns of the Russell 2000 Index.
Leveraged Lessons
By nature, small-caps are volatile, underscoring the point that a leveraged small-cap ETF is bound to be significantly more volatile than a standard small-cap fund.
“Leveraged and inverse ETFs pursue daily leveraged investment objectives which means they are riskier than alternatives which do not use leverage,”according to Direxion. “They seek daily goals and should not be expected to track the underlying index over periods longer than one day."
TNA has a bearish cousin. TheDirexion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares(NYSE:TZA) attempts to deliver triple the daily inverse returns of the Russell 2000 Index.
January Preparation
Data suggests that traders are already preparing for the January Effect in a big way with TNA while ditching the bearish TZA.
Over the past month, TNA is averaging daily inflows of $3.1 million while TZA is suffering daily outflows $3.5 million, according to issuer data.
Related Links:
Investors Return To This Staples ETF.
Loving Leveraged Tech ETFs.
See more from Benzinga
• Issuers Scramble To Enter The Bitcoin ETF Fray
© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || The Most Important Tax Change in the New Reform Law: After months of negotiations, lawmakers in Washington finally succeeded in crafting a tax reform package that Republicans could agree on. New tax laws will take effect in 2018, and investors are excited about the huge decline in the corporate tax rate and its potential impact on business profits. Yet for individual taxpayers, the most important change in the new tax law hasn't gotten a lot of attention. Amid wrangling over tax credits, higher standard deductions, and changes in deduction rules, the biggest change that upper-middle class and high-income taxpayers will see is the elimination of the marriage penalty. That provision by itself will save many married couples thousands in taxes by producing the biggest tax rate drop for individuals in the legislation. Metal gears arranged in nested fashion, with words Tax Reform engraved on one gear. Image source: Getty Images. What the marriage penalty is The marriage penalty has existed for a long time and is a result of the differences among tax brackets for single and joint filers. Under the existing law that will apply to 2017 tax returns, the income thresholds for joint filers in the 10% and 15% brackets are exactly double what the regular single rates are. That ensures that under no circumstances will people in those brackets pay more in tax if they get married than they would if they remained single. However, higher brackets under existing law aren't set up that way. For instance, the upper end of the 25% bracket for single filers is $93,700. That would imply a bracket top at $187,400 for joint filers in the absence of a marriage penalty, but the actual upper end is at $156,150. That means that more than $31,000 of taxable income gets taxed at the next higher tax bracket of 28%, costing those taxpayers nearly an extra $1,000 in taxes. What tax reform did to help upper-middle and high-income married taxpayers The Congressional tax reform package sought to eliminate the marriage penalty for all but the highest-earning taxpayers. Under the proposal, the upper income limits for joint filers in five of the seven tax brackets will be exactly double the limits for single filers. Story continues That yields some particularly big tax benefits for certain taxpayers. Consider the following examples: A couple with $165,000 in taxable income will have a maximum tax rate of 22%. That's down from the 28% that couple would pay under current law on the final $6,850 of income they earned, on top of the tax rate reductions of three percentage points on the income that used to fall in the 15% and 25% tax brackets. The biggest winners are couples making between roughly $240,000 and $315,000 in taxable income, because the extension of lower tax rates in that range is the greatest. For instance, take a couple with $300,000 in taxable income. Under current law, that couple would pay 33% tax on more than $62,000 of their income, with 28% taxes applying to another nearly $82,000. The new law, by contrast, imposes a 24% top rate on $135,000 of that income, with the remaining $9,000 getting an even better 22% rate. The savings of as much as nine percentage points on the tax rate -- the difference between 33% and 24% -- amounts to thousands of dollars of savings for those taxpayers. Those taxpayers with lower incomes won't see a lot of benefit from the new provisions, mostly because they've already had tax brackets that sought to eliminate the marriage penalty. For them, the benefits of tax reform will largely come from the tax rate decreases and higher standard deductions that the legislation provides. The net impact of tax reform Married couples in these higher tax brackets won't necessarily get to reap all the rewards of these favorable tax changes, because other provisions might apply to offset those savings. One example is the limitation on state and local tax deductions , which are likely to result in higher taxable income for many couples at these income levels. Nevertheless, the change could be one of the biggest benefits of tax reform. The savings are big enough that unmarried couples who've held off on tying the knot due to past marriage penalty concerns might want to rethink their life planning in light of the new rules. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || The Most Important Tax Change in the New Reform Law: After months of negotiations,lawmakers in Washington finally succeededin crafting a tax reform package that Republicans could agree on. New tax laws will take effect in 2018, and investors are excited about the huge decline in the corporate tax rate and its potential impact on business profits.
Yet for individual taxpayers, the most important change in the new tax law hasn't gotten a lot of attention. Amid wrangling over tax credits, higher standard deductions, and changes in deduction rules, the biggest change that upper-middle class and high-income taxpayers will see is the elimination of the marriage penalty. That provision by itself will save many married couples thousands in taxes by producing the biggest tax rate drop for individuals in the legislation.
Image source: Getty Images.
Themarriage penaltyhas existed for a long time and is a result of the differences among tax brackets for single and joint filers. Under the existing law that will apply to 2017 tax returns, the income thresholds for joint filers in the 10% and 15% brackets are exactly double what the regular single rates are. That ensures that under no circumstances will people in those brackets pay more in tax if they get married than they would if they remained single.
However, higher brackets under existing law aren't set up that way. For instance, the upper end of the 25% bracket for single filers is $93,700. That would imply a bracket top at $187,400 for joint filers in the absence of a marriage penalty, but the actual upper end is at $156,150. That means that more than $31,000 of taxable income gets taxed at the next higher tax bracket of 28%, costing those taxpayers nearly an extra $1,000 in taxes.
The Congressional tax reform package sought to eliminate the marriage penalty for all but the highest-earning taxpayers. Under the proposal, theupper income limits for joint filers in five of the seven tax bracketswill be exactly double the limits for single filers.
That yields some particularly big tax benefits for certain taxpayers. Consider the following examples:
• A couple with $165,000 in taxable income will have a maximum tax rate of 22%. That's down from the 28% that couple would pay under current law on the final $6,850 of income they earned, on top of the tax rate reductions of three percentage points on the income that used to fall in the 15% and 25% tax brackets.
• The biggest winners are couples making between roughly $240,000 and $315,000 in taxable income, because the extension of lower tax rates in that range is the greatest. For instance, take a couple with $300,000 in taxable income. Under current law, that couple would pay 33% tax on more than $62,000 of their income, with 28% taxes applying to another nearly $82,000. The new law, by contrast, imposes a 24% top rate on $135,000 of that income, with the remaining $9,000 getting an even better 22% rate. The savings of as much as nine percentage points on the tax rate -- the difference between 33% and 24% -- amounts to thousands of dollars of savings for those taxpayers.
Those taxpayers with lower incomes won't see a lot of benefit from the new provisions, mostly because they've already had tax brackets that sought to eliminate the marriage penalty. For them, the benefits of tax reform will largely come from the tax rate decreases and higher standard deductions that the legislation provides.
Married couples in these higher tax brackets won't necessarily get to reap all the rewards of these favorable tax changes, because other provisions might apply to offset those savings. One example is thelimitation on state and local tax deductions, which are likely to result in higher taxable income for many couples at these income levels.
Nevertheless, the change could be one of the biggest benefits of tax reform. The savings are big enough that unmarried couples who've held off on tying the knot due to past marriage penalty concerns might want to rethink their life planning in light of the new rules.
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The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Enterprise Customers Are So Important to T-Mobile: T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) has been pointing to its expansion into the enterprise wireless market as a meaningful growth driver for the better part of a year . Indeed, T-Mobile is well behind its competitors when it comes to enterprise customers. At an investor conference last week, COO Mike Sievert mentioned the company only has a 2% to 3% market share. Enterprise represents yet another way for T-Mobile to steal customers away from AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) . AT&T counts over 87 million wireless connections among its business customers -- 51 million postpaid and nearly 36 million connected devices. For reference, T-Mobile has fewer than 58 million total branded customers. But the real reason T-Mobile is excited about its progress with business customers is because management feels it's a strong leading indicator of consumer behavior. T-Mobile storefront in Times Square Image source: T-Mobile. Businesses spend a lot more on wireless than a family of four Choosing a wireless carrier is a much bigger decision for a business with hundreds of employee phones to service than it is for a consumer household. Not only is the business looking to spend more money, there are significant switching costs to consider. Every employer needs to make the switch. Businesses aren't just going to change carriers to save a few bucks a month because of those significantly higher switching costs. Therefore, they're much more likely to really review what a carrier like T-Mobile has to offer before signing a contract. They want a carrier that can live up to their needs, and if it can save the business a few bucks a month, that's good too. That's why Sievert sees T-Mobile's growing share of the enterprise market as a good sign more consumer customers are still to come. A nationwide network One of the big reasons T-Mobile is starting to attract more enterprise customers is because it only recently completed the rollout of its nationwide network. The network now covers 321 million people, and it boasts average speeds faster than AT&T and Verizon. Story continues That kind of coverage is great for businesses because they don't need to worry about network availability in their offices all over the country. Additionally, employees that travel to worksites or customer offices shouldn't have any problems staying connected either. From a retail perspective, there's a bit more work for T-Mobile. To that end, T-Mobile expects to open nearly 1,500 new retail locations this year. It had already completed 1,000 new stores by midyear, but the pace has slowed considerably. With nationwide marketing campaigns, T-Mobile's new retail locations should scale relatively quickly, but there's still work to do with educating consumers in new markets about T-Mobile's presence and network availability. Businesses signing onto T-Mobile is a sign that the network strength and value is there, and it's just a matter of getting customers in the doors in new markets. Focusing on the big wins Enterprise customers are big wins. Business contracts include thousands of new customers that are less likely to change carriers in the near future. What's more, it establishes a customer base in some of T-Mobile's relatively new markets, and those customers can spread the word about T-Mobile's service. As more customers come on board, it seems likely T-Mobile will be able to attract more retail customers as well. As such, it won't have to make as many promotional offers and it can increase its scale, allowing it to establish significantly greater cash flow. And with plans to grow cash flow nearly 50% per year over the next couple years and a new buyback program in place, the ability to more easily attract retail customers is paramount. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Adam Levy owns shares of Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool recommends T-Mobile US. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Enterprise Customers Are So Important to T-Mobile: T-Mobile(NASDAQ: TMUS)has been pointing to its expansion into the enterprise wireless market as a meaningful growth driver for thebetter part of a year. Indeed, T-Mobile is well behind its competitors when it comes to enterprise customers. At an investor conference last week, COO Mike Sievert mentioned the company only has a 2% to 3% market share.
Enterprise represents yet another way for T-Mobile to steal customers away fromAT&T(NYSE: T)andVerizon Communications(NYSE: VZ). AT&T counts over 87 million wireless connections among its business customers -- 51 million postpaid and nearly 36 million connected devices. For reference, T-Mobile has fewer than 58 million total branded customers.
But the real reason T-Mobile is excited about its progress with business customers is because management feels it's a strong leading indicator of consumer behavior.
Image source: T-Mobile.
Choosing a wireless carrier is a much bigger decision for a business with hundreds of employee phones to service than it is for a consumer household. Not only is the business looking to spend more money, there are significant switching costs to consider. Every employer needs to make the switch.
Businesses aren't just going to change carriers to save a few bucks a month because of those significantly higher switching costs. Therefore, they're much more likely to really review what a carrier like T-Mobile has to offer before signing a contract. They want a carrier that can live up to their needs, and if it can save the business a few bucks a month, that's good too. That's why Sievert sees T-Mobile's growing share of the enterprise market as a good sign more consumer customers are still to come.
One of the big reasons T-Mobile is starting to attract more enterprise customers is because it only recently completed the rollout of its nationwide network. The network now covers 321 million people, and it boasts average speeds faster than AT&T and Verizon.
That kind of coverage is great for businesses because they don't need to worry about network availability in their offices all over the country. Additionally, employees that travel to worksites or customer offices shouldn't have any problems staying connected either.
From a retail perspective, there's a bit more work for T-Mobile. To that end, T-Mobile expects to open nearly 1,500 new retail locations this year. It had already completed1,000 new storesby midyear, but the pace has slowed considerably. With nationwide marketing campaigns, T-Mobile's new retail locations should scale relatively quickly, but there's still work to do with educating consumers in new markets about T-Mobile's presence and network availability. Businesses signing onto T-Mobile is a sign that the network strength and value is there, and it's just a matter of getting customers in the doors in new markets.
Enterprise customers are big wins. Business contracts include thousands of new customers that are less likely to change carriers in the near future. What's more, it establishes a customer base in some of T-Mobile's relatively new markets, and those customers can spread the word about T-Mobile's service.
As more customers come on board, it seems likely T-Mobile will be able to attract more retail customers as well. As such, it won't have to make as many promotional offers and it can increase its scale, allowing it to establish significantly greater cash flow. And with plans to grow cash flow nearly 50% per year over the next couple years and a new buyback program in place, the ability to more easily attract retail customers is paramount.
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Adam Levyowns shares of Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool recommends T-Mobile US. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Apple Has Returned $234 Billion to Shareholders -- and There's Plenty More to Come: WhenApple(NASDAQ: AAPL)announced its three-year capital return program in 2012, the company made it clear that dividends and share repurchases would be a priority in the coming years. Management planned to return $45 billion to shareholders during this period. But this was just the beginning of what would expand into the world's largest capital return program in history.
After repeatedly increasing the scope of its capital return program since it was initiated in 2012, Apple's total cash returned to shareholders through dividends and repurchases by the end of fiscal 2017 amounted to an incredible $234 billion.
Here's what investors should know about Apple's aggressive capital return program.
Apple CEO Tim Cook. Image source: Apple.
Since initiating its capital return program in 2012, capital returned each year has skewed heavily toward repurchases. Of the $234 billion returned to shareholders during this period, about $61 billion went to dividends, and $173 went to share purchases. In other words, about 74% of Apple's capital return program has gone toward share repurchases.
These repurchases have given Apple's earnings-per-share growth a significant boost. Since Apple's capital return program was announced, trailing-12-month net income has increased 25%, while trailing-12-month earnings per share has risen 57%. This has been driven by an approximately 22% decrease in shares outstanding during this period.
AAPL Net Income (TTM)data byYCharts.
While the total authorized amount and the timeline for the authorization for Apple's capital return program has increased significantly since 2012, Apple's annual amount of cash returned to shareholders actually peaked in fiscal 2014. During fiscal 2014, Apple returned more than $57 billion to shareholders through dividends and repurchases. In fiscal 2017, Apple returned nearly $48 billion.
It would be difficult to criticize Apple's capital return program, as the company has executed its share repurchases opportunistically.
Broadly, Apple's decision to focus primarily on share repurchases instead of dividends with its capital return program looks like a smart decision in hindsight. With shares climbing to new highs recently, up 50% in the past 12 months and 132% in the past five years, the bulk of Apple's repurchases arguably took place when the stock was meaningfully undervalued.
But Apple has alsoacted opportunisticallyon more specific buying opportunities when shares were trading at an exceptionally deep discount. When the stock pulled back in fiscal 2014, for example, Apple initiated $21 billion of accelerated repurchases on top of its $24 billion of open market repurchases during the period. This brought total repurchases during the year to a whopping $45 billion -- far higher than repurchases in any other year. For comparison, Apple repurchased $33 billion in fiscal 2017.
AAPLdata byYCharts.
For a more specific example of Apple's good stewardship with repurchases, consider when the tech giant bought $14 billion worth of its own shares during a two-week period following quarterly financial results that disappointed Wall Street in early 2017, sending shares about 8% lower after the report. Cook toldThe Wall Street Journalhe wanted to be "aggressive" and "opportunistic." The stock was trading around $73 at the time, compared to Apple's $174 stock price today.
Investors should expect Apple's aggressive capital return program to continue. In May, Apple expanded its total cumulative authorization from $250 billion to $300 billion, giving the program an expiration date of the end of March 2019.
Further, Apple's record $269 billion of cash plus marketable securities and its $51 billion of free cash flow in fiscal 2017 can easily support more repurchases and dividends. And Apple'sstrong return to growth in fiscal 2017should help, too.
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Daniel Sparksowns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Apple Has Returned $234 Billion to Shareholders -- and There's Plenty More to Come: When Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced its three-year capital return program in 2012, the company made it clear that dividends and share repurchases would be a priority in the coming years. Management planned to return $45 billion to shareholders during this period. But this was just the beginning of what would expand into the world's largest capital return program in history. After repeatedly increasing the scope of its capital return program since it was initiated in 2012, Apple's total cash returned to shareholders through dividends and repurchases by the end of fiscal 2017 amounted to an incredible $234 billion. Here's what investors should know about Apple's aggressive capital return program. CEO Tim Cook at Apple's iPhone 7 launch Apple CEO Tim Cook. Image source: Apple. 1. The program is heavily weighted toward repurchases. Since initiating its capital return program in 2012, capital returned each year has skewed heavily toward repurchases. Of the $234 billion returned to shareholders during this period, about $61 billion went to dividends, and $173 went to share purchases. In other words, about 74% of Apple's capital return program has gone toward share repurchases. These repurchases have given Apple's earnings-per-share growth a significant boost. Since Apple's capital return program was announced, trailing-12-month net income has increased 25%, while trailing-12-month earnings per share has risen 57%. This has been driven by an approximately 22% decrease in shares outstanding during this period. AAPL Net Income (TTM) Chart AAPL Net Income (TTM) data by YCharts . 2. Annual capital returned peaked in 2014. While the total authorized amount and the timeline for the authorization for Apple's capital return program has increased significantly since 2012, Apple's annual amount of cash returned to shareholders actually peaked in fiscal 2014. During fiscal 2014, Apple returned more than $57 billion to shareholders through dividends and repurchases. In fiscal 2017, Apple returned nearly $48 billion. 3. Apple has acted opportunistically. It would be difficult to criticize Apple's capital return program, as the company has executed its share repurchases opportunistically. Broadly, Apple's decision to focus primarily on share repurchases instead of dividends with its capital return program looks like a smart decision in hindsight. With shares climbing to new highs recently, up 50% in the past 12 months and 132% in the past five years, the bulk of Apple's repurchases arguably took place when the stock was meaningfully undervalued. But Apple has also acted opportunistically on more specific buying opportunities when shares were trading at an exceptionally deep discount. When the stock pulled back in fiscal 2014, for example, Apple initiated $21 billion of accelerated repurchases on top of its $24 billion of open market repurchases during the period. This brought total repurchases during the year to a whopping $45 billion -- far higher than repurchases in any other year. For comparison, Apple repurchased $33 billion in fiscal 2017. Story continues AAPL Chart AAPL data by YCharts . For a more specific example of Apple's good stewardship with repurchases, consider when the tech giant bought $14 billion worth of its own shares during a two-week period following quarterly financial results that disappointed Wall Street in early 2017, sending shares about 8% lower after the report. Cook told The Wall Street Journal he wanted to be "aggressive" and "opportunistic." The stock was trading around $73 at the time, compared to Apple's $174 stock price today. 4. Apple's aggressive capital return program is here to stay. Investors should expect Apple's aggressive capital return program to continue. In May, Apple expanded its total cumulative authorization from $250 billion to $300 billion, giving the program an expiration date of the end of March 2019. Further, Apple's record $269 billion of cash plus marketable securities and its $51 billion of free cash flow in fiscal 2017 can easily support more repurchases and dividends. And Apple's strong return to growth in fiscal 2017 should help, too. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Daniel Sparks owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || GDP, Nike, tax aftermath — What you need to know on Thursday: Tax cuts are here.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives joined the Senate inpassing an overhaul of the U.S. tax codethat will substantially cut corporate tax rates and rejigger the individual tax code with cuts that will expire over the next decade.
Following this move, the signature piece of legislation signed during the tenure of President Donald Trump, stocks — which have rallied for most all of 2017 — were little-changed.
In remarks made on the South Lawn of the White House, President Trump said it was “the largest tax cut in the history of our country.” And so with tax cuts coming to fruition, the major market catalysts of 2017 have wrapped up as we near the holiday weekend.
As for whatisleft on the schedule in 2017, on Thursday the economic calendar brings investors a third estimate of third quarter GDP, initial jobless claims, and home prices from the FHFA.
Notable earnings expected for release on Thursday include Nike (NKE), ConAgra (CAG), Cintas (CTAS), CarMax (KMX), and Finish Line (FINL). Both Nike and Finish Line will be tracked for signs of strength or weakness in the athletic apparel space, with Finish Line’s commentary on the mall business, to which it has considerable exposure, could make headlines.
The Republican case for cutting corporate taxes is fairly simple — lower taxes will lead to companies paying employees more, hiring more employees, and investing in their businesses.
Shortly after Trump and other Republican leaders took a victory lap for their tax bill, AT&T (T) became the first company to say that tax reform really had made them want to do those things. In a statement put out Wednesday,AT&T saidit would give its 200,000 employees a $1,000 bonus and would spend “at least” $1 billion to invest in its business, creating about 7,000 jobs.
Later, Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB)announcedit would raise its minimum wage $15 an hour and would distribute a $1,000 bonus to 13,500 employees as a result of the tax bill, while Wells Fargo (WFC)announcedan increase in its minimum wage to $15 million and a $400 million increase in philanthropic initiatives.
And so begins the first debate about whether the Republican tax bill works as intended or not.
Many were quick to point out that AT&T has been seeking Justice Department approval of a deal to acquire Time Warner (TWX), which hasso far been blockedwith the DOJ citing competitive concerns. Speculation around this action, however, has centered on Trump’s known distaste for CNN — one of Time Warner’s most valuable assets — and so the merger has become a political battleground.
CNBC’s David FabernotedWednesday that AT&T thinks it’s unfair for anyone to equate their announcement to a political ploy to win favor with the Trump administration, but I also have a bridge to sell you.
Elsewhere,somehavearguedthat these initial post-tax cut announcements of higher minimum wages at firms that don’t employ great numbers of hourly workers are really just providing companies cover for doing something the labor market has already determined needs to be done — raise wages. In this frame, corporate taxes are being used as an excuse to raise wages because companies don’t like admitting that they are losing leverage in labor negotiations.
And on Wall Street, at least one strategist altered their price target for the S&P 500 on Wednesday, with Citi’s Tobias Levkovich upping his year-end target for the benchmark index to 2,800 from 2,675 as a result of this legislation. But this outlook, in Levkovich’s view, is conservative relative to the earnings per share boost that some analysts could argue is enjoyed under a new tax regime.
So if we spent the last year arguing over whether or not the stock market had priced in tax reform or not — and Wednesday’s non-reaction to the news indicates that tax cuts were indeed priced in throughout the year — then 2018 sets us up for a debate about corporate action and the tax code.
—
Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter@MylesUdland
Read more from Myles here:
• Evidence shows corporate tax cuts don’t work
• Walmart’s strong quarter shows why Amazon had to buy Whole Foods
• Foreign investors might be the key to forecasting a U.S. recession
• It’s been 17 years since U.S. consumers felt this good about the economy
• TOM LEE: Bitcoin is an important asset for investors to own || Stock market preview, December 21: Tax cuts are here. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing an overhaul of the U.S. tax code that will substantially cut corporate tax rates and rejigger the individual tax code with cuts that will expire over the next decade. Following this move, the signature piece of legislation signed during the tenure of President Donald Trump, stocks — which have rallied for most all of 2017 — were little-changed. In remarks made on the South Lawn of the White House, President Trump said it was “the largest tax cut in the history of our country.” And so with tax cuts coming to fruition, the major market catalysts of 2017 have wrapped up as we near the holiday weekend. President Donald Trump arrives at an event after the passage of the “Tax Cut and Jobs Act Bill” on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) As for what is left on the schedule in 2017, on Thursday the economic calendar brings investors a third estimate of third quarter GDP, initial jobless claims, and home prices from the FHFA. Notable earnings expected for release on Thursday include Nike ( NKE ), ConAgra ( CAG ), Cintas ( CTAS ), CarMax ( KMX ), and Finish Line ( FINL ). Both Nike and Finish Line will be tracked for signs of strength or weakness in the athletic apparel space, with Finish Line’s commentary on the mall business, to which it has considerable exposure, could make headlines. The next phase of the tax debate The Republican case for cutting corporate taxes is fairly simple — lower taxes will lead to companies paying employees more, hiring more employees, and investing in their businesses. Shortly after Trump and other Republican leaders took a victory lap for their tax bill, AT&T ( T ) became the first company to say that tax reform really had made them want to do those things. In a statement put out Wednesday, AT&T said it would give its 200,000 employees a $1,000 bonus and would spend “at least” $1 billion to invest in its business, creating about 7,000 jobs. Later, Fifth Third Bancorp ( FITB ) announced it would raise its minimum wage $15 an hour and would distribute a $1,000 bonus to 13,500 employees as a result of the tax bill, while Wells Fargo ( WFC ) announced an increase in its minimum wage to $15 million and a $400 million increase in philanthropic initiatives. Story continues And so begins the first debate about whether the Republican tax bill works as intended or not. Many were quick to point out that AT&T has been seeking Justice Department approval of a deal to acquire Time Warner ( TWX ), which has so far been blocked with the DOJ citing competitive concerns. Speculation around this action, however, has centered on Trump’s known distaste for CNN — one of Time Warner’s most valuable assets — and so the merger has become a political battleground. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. CNBC’s David Faber noted Wednesday that AT&T thinks it’s unfair for anyone to equate their announcement to a political ploy to win favor with the Trump administration, but I also have a bridge to sell you. Elsewhere, some have argued that these initial post-tax cut announcements of higher minimum wages at firms that don’t employ great numbers of hourly workers are really just providing companies cover for doing something the labor market has already determined needs to be done — raise wages. In this frame, corporate taxes are being used as an excuse to raise wages because companies don’t like admitting that they are losing leverage in labor negotiations. And on Wall Street, at least one strategist altered their price target for the S&P 500 on Wednesday, with Citi’s Tobias Levkovich upping his year-end target for the benchmark index to 2,800 from 2,675 as a result of this legislation. But this outlook, in Levkovich’s view, is conservative relative to the earnings per share boost that some analysts could argue is enjoyed under a new tax regime. So if we spent the last year arguing over whether or not the stock market had priced in tax reform or not — and Wednesday’s non-reaction to the news indicates that tax cuts were indeed priced in throughout the year — then 2018 sets us up for a debate about corporate action and the tax code. — Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland Read more from Myles here: Evidence shows corporate tax cuts don’t work Walmart’s strong quarter shows why Amazon had to buy Whole Foods Foreign investors might be the key to forecasting a U.S. recession It’s been 17 years since U.S. consumers felt this good about the economy TOM LEE: Bitcoin is an important asset for investors to own || Apple should replace old batteries instead of slowing down aging phones: For years I told people they were crazy for thinking that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was purposely slowing down older iPhones in an effort to force customers to upgrade to a new device. It turns out I was wrong. Apple admitted on Wednesday that it cuts the processing power of older iPhones with aging batteries in an effort to keep them running as smoothly as possible . In other words, the processors on some phones, including the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and even the iPhone 7, aren't always running at full power as they age. That helps explain why running apps and switching apps can feel much slower than they once did. Apple has a reason for this, but it's the wrong approach. Rather than intentionally slowing devices to keep them from shutting down (as the company explained to TechCrunch in a story on Wednesday), it should do right by its customers who expect their pricey iPhones to last more than a couple of years. Last year Apple had to respond to widespread issues with the iPhone 6s battery. Owners of that device started to report that it would shut down at random times, even if the battery wasn't completely depleted. To mitigate this issue and similar ones, particularly when batteries get old and begin to drain more quickly, Apple has started to algorithmically alter how the phone uses power. The phone feels slower because it actually is slower. Apple says this improves safety. Here's what Apple told CNBC on Wednesday: "Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components." But here's another idea. If Apple is going to drop the performance of a smartphone because of poor battery life, it should replace an iPhone's battery at no charge. Sure it's an expensive undertaking for Apple, but a user should be guaranteed a certain level of performance for the lifetime of a product, until Apple stops supporting it with new software. Apple did this for customers who were hurt by the iPhone 6 battery problems. Consumers will otherwise be encouraged to download new versions of iOS that will only require more processing power, which will slow things down. They'll then see a further deterioration in performance when Apple throttles the processor. Apple is putting its reputation for great customer service and support at risk. One free battery upgrade would help preserve that goodwill.More From CNBC
• Apple is Morgan Stanley's top tech pick for 2018
• Bitcoin is 'gateway drug' to crypto mania, says analyst Nick Colas
• Tom Lee, who called bitcoin's rally, says it is a 'real asset class' || Apple should replace old batteries instead of slowing down aging phones: For years I told people they were crazy for thinking that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was purposely slowing down older iPhones in an effort to force customers to upgrade to a new device. It turns out I was wrong. Apple admitted on Wednesday that it cuts the processing power of older iPhones with aging batteries in an effort to keep them running as smoothly as possible . In other words, the processors on some phones, including the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and even the iPhone 7, aren't always running at full power as they age. That helps explain why running apps and switching apps can feel much slower than they once did. Apple has a reason for this, but it's the wrong approach. Rather than intentionally slowing devices to keep them from shutting down (as the company explained to TechCrunch in a story on Wednesday), it should do right by its customers who expect their pricey iPhones to last more than a couple of years. Last year Apple had to respond to widespread issues with the iPhone 6s battery. Owners of that device started to report that it would shut down at random times, even if the battery wasn't completely depleted. To mitigate this issue and similar ones, particularly when batteries get old and begin to drain more quickly, Apple has started to algorithmically alter how the phone uses power. The phone feels slower because it actually is slower. Apple says this improves safety. Here's what Apple told CNBC on Wednesday: "Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components." But here's another idea. If Apple is going to drop the performance of a smartphone because of poor battery life, it should replace an iPhone's battery at no charge. Sure it's an expensive undertaking for Apple, but a user should be guaranteed a certain level of performance for the lifetime of a product, until Apple stops supporting it with new software. Apple did this for customers who were hurt by the iPhone 6 battery problems. Consumers will otherwise be encouraged to download new versions of iOS that will only require more processing power, which will slow things down. They'll then see a further deterioration in performance when Apple throttles the processor. Apple is putting its reputation for great customer service and support at risk. One free battery upgrade would help preserve that goodwill. More From CNBC Apple is Morgan Stanley's top tech pick for 2018 Bitcoin is 'gateway drug' to crypto mania, says analyst Nick Colas Tom Lee, who called bitcoin's rally, says it is a 'real asset class' || Here’s Why Palo Alto Networks Can Keep Getting Better: Palo Alto Networks(NYSE: PANW)had entered 2017 on a weak footing thanks to anobsolete sales strategy. It looked like the cybersecurity specialist is going to relinquish market share to rivals as it spent too much money to add customers that weren't generating long-term value. Not surprisingly, its outlook had taken a hit and investors lost confidence.
But Palo Alto has steadied the ship remarkably since then, releasinga strong quarterly reportthat beat the higher end of its guidance range by a wide margin. What's more, the company also raised its full-year guidance thanks to strong demand for its endpoint protection and cloud security offerings.
Image Source: Getty Images
Therefore, Palo Alto looks set to close the year on a high after gains of almost 30% in the past three months. But investors who have missed the Palo Alto gravy train so far need not worry, as the company is pressing the right buttons to boost its revenue and earnings in the long run.
Palo Alto reported adjusted net income of $69.8 million in the latest quarter that ended on Oct. 31, up 36% from the prior-year period. Though its GAAP net loss increased over 12% due to an increase in share-based compensation and expenses related to new headquarters, there's no doubt that Palo Alto is making the right moves to reduce its overall cost profile.
For instance, the company spent just over 51% of its revenue on sales and marketing expenses, down around 420 basis points from the prior-year period. By comparison, Palo Alto's revenue increased 27% year over year, which means that its cost of revenue generation has decreased. More specifically, the company's cost of revenue as a percentage of the top line fell from 27.9% to 25.4%. This can be attributed to the growing clout of Palo Alto's subscription business.
Last quarter, the company got 63% of its revenue from the subscription and support business, up from 58.9% in the year-ago period. Now, it costs less to service a subscription-based customer who is bringing in recurring revenue than to spend money to acquire a new one. Moreover, Palo Alto will have stronger opportunities to cross-sell updated products as subscriptions grow, which means that its costs as a percentage of revenue will continue declining.
All this positively impacts its margins, so it wasn't surprising to see Palo Alto's operating margin improve 1% year over year in the latest quarter. Looking ahead, the cybersecurity player can keep expanding its subscription revenue thanks to the improvements in its end-point and cloud security platforms.
Palo Alto expects its fiscal 2018 revenue to increase 23% at the mid-point, up from the prior expectation of 22% growth. The company has been encouraged to raise its revenue guidance as its customers are now spending more money on products and services.
The lifetime value of Palo Alto's top 25 customers jumped an impressive 53% year over year last quarter to $23.2 million. Customer lifetime value denotes the amount of profit a company makes from a particular customer. It is arrived at by deducting the acquisition and servicing costs incurred on that customer from the expected revenue gained.
The massive increase in client lifetime value means that Palo Alto is getting more money from its existing clientele while spending less money on them at the same time. Looking ahead, its current clients can increase their spending on Palo Alto's products as it has added new features to its portfolio.
For instance, it has updated its Traps endpoint protection platform with new features that are designed to prevent malware and ransomware attacks. Palo Alto has paid special attention to providing protection against ransomware attacks following the WannaCry and NotPetya breaches that cost users millions of dollars around the globe.
The ransomware protection market is expected to hit $17 billion in revenue in 2021, more than twice the revenue it generated last year. The updated platform will encourage Palo Alto customers to protect themselves against ransomware attacks, while also bringing new clients into its ecosystem who are looking for such a feature.
On the other hand, Palo Alto has expanded its cloud security offering -- Aperture -- to include protection for several solutions provided byAmazonWeb Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant's cloud computing platform. This includes the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, which is the cornerstone of the company's cloud computing business as it allows users to rent virtual computing power in the cloud.
Palo Alto has made a smart move by adding AWS-specific security features since Amazon leads the cloud computing space with a 35% market share. Therefore, it will now have a better chance at tapping the fast-growing cloud infrastructure security market that's expected to triple in size over the next five years, hitting $12.7 billion in revenue by 2022.
Given these feature additions, it is not surprising to see why Palo Alto's deferred revenue jumped 37% last quarter to $1.9 billion. This is more than the total revenue generated by the company in the past year. More specifically, just over $1 billion of the deferred revenue is short-term in nature, which means that it will be recognized on the books within a year. By comparison, Palo Alto's short-term deferred revenue was $758 million in the prior-year period, representing year over year growth of 34%.
Meanwhile, Palo Alto's long-term deferred revenue grew at a faster pace of 40% year over year in the latest quarter. This means that the company has been successful in securing long-term revenue growth, which will eventually boost its bottom line. Analysts seem to have a similar opinion, as they expect Palo Alto's bottom line to clock an annual growth rate of more than 22% over the next five years.
This is a good sign for Palo Alto investors, portending that its cybersecurity offerings are being well-received by customers and this should set the company up for long-term upside.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Harsh Chauhanhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Palo Alto Networks. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Here’s Why Palo Alto Networks Can Keep Getting Better: Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) had entered 2017 on a weak footing thanks to an obsolete sales strategy . It looked like the cybersecurity specialist is going to relinquish market share to rivals as it spent too much money to add customers that weren't generating long-term value. Not surprisingly, its outlook had taken a hit and investors lost confidence. But Palo Alto has steadied the ship remarkably since then, releasing a strong quarterly report that beat the higher end of its guidance range by a wide margin. What's more, the company also raised its full-year guidance thanks to strong demand for its endpoint protection and cloud security offerings. Shield depicting cybersecurity in abstract. Image Source: Getty Images Therefore, Palo Alto looks set to close the year on a high after gains of almost 30% in the past three months. But investors who have missed the Palo Alto gravy train so far need not worry, as the company is pressing the right buttons to boost its revenue and earnings in the long run. Palo Alto's costs are coming down Palo Alto reported adjusted net income of $69.8 million in the latest quarter that ended on Oct. 31, up 36% from the prior-year period. Though its GAAP net loss increased over 12% due to an increase in share-based compensation and expenses related to new headquarters, there's no doubt that Palo Alto is making the right moves to reduce its overall cost profile. For instance, the company spent just over 51% of its revenue on sales and marketing expenses, down around 420 basis points from the prior-year period. By comparison, Palo Alto's revenue increased 27% year over year, which means that its cost of revenue generation has decreased. More specifically, the company's cost of revenue as a percentage of the top line fell from 27.9% to 25.4%. This can be attributed to the growing clout of Palo Alto's subscription business. Last quarter, the company got 63% of its revenue from the subscription and support business, up from 58.9% in the year-ago period. Now, it costs less to service a subscription-based customer who is bringing in recurring revenue than to spend money to acquire a new one. Moreover, Palo Alto will have stronger opportunities to cross-sell updated products as subscriptions grow, which means that its costs as a percentage of revenue will continue declining. Story continues All this positively impacts its margins, so it wasn't surprising to see Palo Alto's operating margin improve 1% year over year in the latest quarter. Looking ahead, the cybersecurity player can keep expanding its subscription revenue thanks to the improvements in its end-point and cloud security platforms. Palo Alto's revenue growth is secure Palo Alto expects its fiscal 2018 revenue to increase 23% at the mid-point, up from the prior expectation of 22% growth. The company has been encouraged to raise its revenue guidance as its customers are now spending more money on products and services. The lifetime value of Palo Alto's top 25 customers jumped an impressive 53% year over year last quarter to $23.2 million. Customer lifetime value denotes the amount of profit a company makes from a particular customer. It is arrived at by deducting the acquisition and servicing costs incurred on that customer from the expected revenue gained. The massive increase in client lifetime value means that Palo Alto is getting more money from its existing clientele while spending less money on them at the same time. Looking ahead, its current clients can increase their spending on Palo Alto's products as it has added new features to its portfolio. For instance, it has updated its Traps endpoint protection platform with new features that are designed to prevent malware and ransomware attacks. Palo Alto has paid special attention to providing protection against ransomware attacks following the WannaCry and NotPetya breaches that cost users millions of dollars around the globe. The ransomware protection market is expected to hit $17 billion in revenue in 2021, more than twice the revenue it generated last year. The updated platform will encourage Palo Alto customers to protect themselves against ransomware attacks, while also bringing new clients into its ecosystem who are looking for such a feature. On the other hand, Palo Alto has expanded its cloud security offering -- Aperture -- to include protection for several solutions provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant's cloud computing platform. This includes the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, which is the cornerstone of the company's cloud computing business as it allows users to rent virtual computing power in the cloud. Palo Alto has made a smart move by adding AWS-specific security features since Amazon leads the cloud computing space with a 35% market share. Therefore, it will now have a better chance at tapping the fast-growing cloud infrastructure security market that's expected to triple in size over the next five years, hitting $12.7 billion in revenue by 2022. Given these feature additions, it is not surprising to see why Palo Alto's deferred revenue jumped 37% last quarter to $1.9 billion. This is more than the total revenue generated by the company in the past year. More specifically, just over $1 billion of the deferred revenue is short-term in nature, which means that it will be recognized on the books within a year. By comparison, Palo Alto's short-term deferred revenue was $758 million in the prior-year period, representing year over year growth of 34%. Meanwhile, Palo Alto's long-term deferred revenue grew at a faster pace of 40% year over year in the latest quarter. This means that the company has been successful in securing long-term revenue growth, which will eventually boost its bottom line. Analysts seem to have a similar opinion, as they expect Palo Alto's bottom line to clock an annual growth rate of more than 22% over the next five years. This is a good sign for Palo Alto investors, portending that its cybersecurity offerings are being well-received by customers and this should set the company up for long-term upside. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Harsh Chauhan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends Palo Alto Networks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Alcoa, Encana, and Penn National Gaming Jumped Today: The stock market again was relatively calm on Wednesday, failing to react to Tuesday night's Senate vote to approve the tax bill and President Trump's signature Wednesday to enact the measure into law. Tax cuts for corporations could mean big earnings boosts for many companies, but major benchmarks didn't make any abrupt movements, reflecting the widespread belief before the formal vote that passage was almost certain. Although the broader market finished little changed, some companies saw their shares rise on positive news.Alcoa(NYSE: AA),Encana(NYSE: ECA), andPenn National Gaming(NASDAQ: PENN)were among the best performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so well.
Shares of Alcoa climbed 6% after getting a positive review from a major stock analyst. Credit Suisse upgraded shares of the aluminum and light-metals specialist from neutral to outperform, with a $19 boost to its target price on Alcoa to $61 per share. Many see the fundamental characteristics for the aluminum market improving in 2018, with oversupply problems easing and a big uptick in demand likely. A potential infrastructure package could also help to bolster the company's prospects by increasing the use of various lightweight metals in anticipated construction projects.Alcoa has already seen substantial share-price gainsin anticipation of such a move, so it remains to be seen how much more the stock could rise even if those projects materialize.
Image source: Alcoa.
Encana stock jumped 8% on a strong day for the energy market. Crude oil prices rose roughly 1% to move above the $58-per-barrel mark, and many see the potential for greater capital investment following the passage of the tax reform bill possibly adding to energy demand in the long run.Encana has worked hard on a strategic planthat can survive $50-per-barrel oil, and so the prospects for price gains for the commodity only add to the potential profits that the Canadian producer could reap. That sets Encana apart from many producers that are still having trouble finding ways to operate efficiently at current oil-price levels.
Finally, shares of Penn National Gaming picked up 5%. The regional casino operator said earlier this week that it would merge with fellow industry peerPinnacle Entertainment(NASDAQ: PNK)in adeal worth $2.8 billion. Penn National stock initially dropped after the deal was announced, in part because Pinnacle shareholders would receive 0.42 shares of Penn National for every Pinnacle share they own in addition to $20 in cash. Yet investors now seem to see the potential synergies that the merger could produce, and they're being reflected in share prices both for Penn National and Pinnacle, which has seen more consistent gains throughout the week.
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Dan Caplingerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Alcoa, Encana, and Penn National Gaming Jumped Today: The stock market again was relatively calm on Wednesday, failing to react to Tuesday night's Senate vote to approve the tax bill and President Trump's signature Wednesday to enact the measure into law. Tax cuts for corporations could mean big earnings boosts for many companies, but major benchmarks didn't make any abrupt movements, reflecting the widespread belief before the formal vote that passage was almost certain. Although the broader market finished little changed, some companies saw their shares rise on positive news. Alcoa (NYSE: AA) , Encana (NYSE: ECA) , and Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ: PENN) were among the best performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so well. Alcoa looks shinier Shares of Alcoa climbed 6% after getting a positive review from a major stock analyst. Credit Suisse upgraded shares of the aluminum and light-metals specialist from neutral to outperform, with a $19 boost to its target price on Alcoa to $61 per share. Many see the fundamental characteristics for the aluminum market improving in 2018, with oversupply problems easing and a big uptick in demand likely. A potential infrastructure package could also help to bolster the company's prospects by increasing the use of various lightweight metals in anticipated construction projects. Alcoa has already seen substantial share-price gains in anticipation of such a move, so it remains to be seen how much more the stock could rise even if those projects materialize. Conference exhibit showing bundles of recycled aluminum at an Alcoa booth. Image source: Alcoa. Encana gets more energetic Encana stock jumped 8% on a strong day for the energy market. Crude oil prices rose roughly 1% to move above the $58-per-barrel mark, and many see the potential for greater capital investment following the passage of the tax reform bill possibly adding to energy demand in the long run. Encana has worked hard on a strategic plan that can survive $50-per-barrel oil, and so the prospects for price gains for the commodity only add to the potential profits that the Canadian producer could reap. That sets Encana apart from many producers that are still having trouble finding ways to operate efficiently at current oil-price levels. Story continues Penn National makes a winning bet Finally, shares of Penn National Gaming picked up 5%. The regional casino operator said earlier this week that it would merge with fellow industry peer Pinnacle Entertainment (NASDAQ: PNK) in a deal worth $2.8 billion . Penn National stock initially dropped after the deal was announced, in part because Pinnacle shareholders would receive 0.42 shares of Penn National for every Pinnacle share they own in addition to $20 in cash. Yet investors now seem to see the potential synergies that the merger could produce, and they're being reflected in share prices both for Penn National and Pinnacle, which has seen more consistent gains throughout the week. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || The founder of Litecoin no longer owns any of his own cryptocurrency: He won't say how many coins he had, but all of Litecoin founder Charlie Lee's share in the cryptocurrency has been sold or donated. In a Reddit post early Wednesday, Lee explained how his stake in Litecoin is a conflict of interest: "Whenever I tweet about Litecoin price or even just good or bads [sic] news, I get accused of doing it for personal benefit," he wrote. SEE ALSO: 2018 will be the year of Bitcoin's rivals Even though Lee sold all his coin, he's still very much involved in his currency. "I’m not quitting Litecoin," he assured in his note. I still have a lot of skin in the game. Litecoin is my creation. I want it to succeed more than anyone. — Charlie Lee [LTC] (@SatoshiLite) December 20, 2017 Lee's announcement comes just after the exchange Coinbase announced support for Bitcoin Cash , a Bitcoin off-shoot. With that announcement came worries about insider trading within Coinbase. Lee had a busy morning on Twitter correcting misconceptions that he dumped Litecoin and other currencies due to insider trading. To those saying I bought BCH with insider news, please stop. I had no info. I sold all the BCH I can the moment it was tradable on exchanges. And j just sold my 2 stuck BCH on Coinbase at $5000 each. Good riddance! — Charlie Lee [LTC] (@SatoshiLite) December 20, 2017 Lee was particularly incensed by a MarketWatch article that he thought inaccurately made it seem like his Litecoin sale was because of insider trading. The article is about Coinbase potential insider trading. The tweet says I sold because of that. There's no other way to read the tweet other than accusing that I did insider trading and now had to sell all my LTC because of it. 😠 — Charlie Lee [LTC] (@SatoshiLite) December 20, 2017 We reached out to Lee and Litecoin, but haven't heard back yet. Story continues Litecoin dropped nearly $50, or 13.8 percent, since Tuesday. As of Wednesday afternoon it was at $311.26. Here's Lee's whole statement: WATCH: Here's what you need to know before you buy bitcoin Https%3a%2f%2fvdist.aws.mashable.com%2fcms%2f2017%2f12%2f3f47fdca 2b79 7428%2fthumb%2f00001
[Social Media Buzz]
BTC Real Time Price: $15852.00 #GDAX;
$15638.64 #bitstamp;
$15860.00 #gemini;
$15642.33 #hitbtc;
$15232.00 #kraken;
$17524.99 #cex; || Bitcoin heading to $0.00 & many will lose everything when bubble pops – warns investor Peter Schiff https://www.rt.com/business/413835-bitcoin-people-lose-schiff/ …pic.twitter.com/gzFddqWxie || Dec 21, 2017 12:00:00 UTC | 16,642.90$ | 14,019.70€ | 12,445.00£ | #Bitcoin #btc pic.twitter.com/Jr36ekEca0 || Bitcoin/Dollar: 23000,00 is on its Way $BTCUSD http://www.tr...
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13831.80, 14699.20, 13925.80, 14026.60, 16099.80, 15838.50, 14606.50, 14656.20, 12952.20, 14156.40
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 11941.97, 11966.41, 11862.94, 11354.02, 11523.58, 11382.62, 10895.83, 10051.70, 10311.55, 10374.34, 10231.74, 10345.81, 10916.05, 10763.23, 10138.05, 10131.06, 10407.96, 10159.96, 10138.52, 10370.82, 10185.50, 9754.42, 9510.20, 9598.17, 9630.66, 9757.97, 10346.76, 10623.54, 10594.49, 10575.53, 10353.30, 10517.25, 10441.28, 10334.97, 10115.98, 10178.37, 10410.13, 10360.55, 10358.05, 10347.71, 10276.79, 10241.27, 10198.25, 10266.42, 10181.64, 10019.72, 10070.39, 9729.32, 8620.57, 8486.99, 8118.97, 8251.85, 8245.92, 8104.19, 8293.87, 8343.28, 8393.04, 8259.99, 8205.94, 8151.50, 7988.16, 8245.62, 8228.78, 8595.74, 8586.47, 8321.76, 8336.56, 8321.01, 8374.69, 8205.37, 8047.53, 8103.91, 7973.21, 7988.56, 8222.08, 8243.72, 8078.20, 7514.67, 7493.49, 8660.70, 9244.97, 9551.71, 9256.15, 9427.69, 9205.73, 9199.58, 9261.10, 9324.72, 9235.35, 9412.61.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-11-04]
Volume: 26170255634, RSI (14-day): 61.00, 50-day EMA: 8943.51, 200-day EMA: 8700.37
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1508.00, Gold RSI: 55.81
Oil Price: 56.54, Oil RSI: 57.19
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
AUD/USD and NZD/USD Fundamental Weekly Forecast Positive Trade Deal News Could Lead to Further Upside Action: The Australian and New Zealand Dollars finished higher last week after the Fed cut its benchmark rate and investors slashed the chances of further rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. On Friday, stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data helped limit gains, but both currencies quickly recovered after China expressed optimism over the progress of trade negotiations. Last week, the AUD/USD settled at .6913, up 0.0092 or +1.35% and the NZD/USD finished at .6428, up 0.0078 or 1.23%. Australian Dollar In a speech early Tuesday, Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe effectively ruled out the possibility of cutting its official interest rates below zero and urged business to take advantage of the already historically low borrowing costs. It is extraordinarily unlikely that we will see negative interest rates in Australia, Dr. Lowe said in a prepared speech in Canberra. Dr. Lowe said negative interest rates were having a pernicious effect on the financial system and pensions in Europe. He further added that previously unviable big investments were now making economic sense at current historically low interest rates. Finally, Lowe reiterated that interest rates in Australia will still have to be kept low for an extended period to reach the goals of full employment and inflation back within the RBAs 2-to-3 percent target. After the speech, market participants cut back their expectations on further rate cuts from the RBA, a trend that began weeks ago. From a 50/50 bet at the start of the month that the cash rate would be cut again at the RBA boards Cup Day meeting, the chance of a cut next week is now priced at just 10 percent. As well, the 30-day cash rate futures curve no longer has a full 25 basis point cut priced in over the foreseeable future. This represents a change in sentiment that will ease pressure on the RBA to move again quickly. New Zealand Dollar The rally in the NZD/USD last week started to pick up steam after Westpac economists changed their calls on New Zealand interest rates and now expect no cut at the Reserve Bank of New Zealands (RBNZ) policy meeting on November 13. Story continues The bank previously forecast a 25-basis point cut, although it has said it would be a close call. Westpac now expects the cut to 0.75 percent to occur next February. The Reserve Banks forecasts and rhetoric had been 50/50 on whether a cut might be required at some stage, but we thought a rash of downside surprises would prompt the Reserve Bank to cut as soon as November, Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens said in a commentary. That is not the way the dice have fallen. True, economic growth remains subdued and business confidence is very low. But on balance the outlook and employment has actually lifted a little since August, because the exchange rate is well down, inflation has surprised to the upside, and the housing market is stirring, Stephens said. Weekly Forecast The Aussie and Kiwi could see further upside action this week due to improving financial market sentiment, and the interpretation that RBA and RBNZ have taken rates far enough for now. Good news over U.S.-China trade relations could put further pressure on the U.S. Dollar if traders continue to sell out of protective hedges. This week, investors will get the opportunity to react to the latest Australian Retail Sales report early Monday. The RBA Rate Statement on Tuesday and the RBA Monetary Policy Statement on Friday. In New Zealand, investors will be watching the Employment Change and Unemployment Rate reports. In the U.S., the key report is ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI. The big story this week is likely to be U.S.-China trade relations, given the news from Friday. China said Friday it reached a consensus in principle with the U.S. during trade talks this week. The U.S. Trade Representatives office also said Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made progress in a variety of areas and are in the process of resolving outstanding issues. The Chinese Commerce Ministry on Friday said the worlds two largest economies had reached consensus on principles during a serious and constructive telephone call between their main trade negotiators. U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend he hoped to sign an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a U.S. location, perhaps in the farming state of Iowa. China wants to make the deal very much, Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday evening. I dont like to talk about deals until they happen, but were making a lot of progress. AUD/USD and NZD/USD traders will be looking for further developments this week. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: AUD/USD Forex Technical Analysis Weekly Chart Strengthens Over .7914, Weakens Under .6871 NZD/USD Forex Technical Analysis Weekly Chart Strengthens Over .6471, Weakens Under .6404 U.S Mortgage Rates Rise Again Supported by Progress in Trade Talks Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 02/11/19 The Crypto Daily Movers and Shakers -03/11/19 Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast Buoyed by Possible Partial Trade Deal, but OPEC Still Needs to Cut Further || AUD/USD and NZD/USD Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Positive Trade Deal News Could Lead to Further Upside Action: The Australian and New Zealand Dollars finished higher last week after the Fed cut its benchmark rate and investors slashed the chances of further rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. On Friday, stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data helped limit gains, but both currencies quickly recovered after China expressed optimism over the progress of trade negotiations.
Last week, theAUD/USDsettled at .6913, up 0.0092 or +1.35% and theNZD/USDfinished at .6428, up 0.0078 or 1.23%.
In a speech early Tuesday, Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe effectively ruled out the possibility of cutting its official interest rates below zero and urged business to take advantage of the already historically low borrowing costs.
“It is extraordinarily unlikely that we will see negative interest rates in Australia,” Dr. Lowe said in a prepared speech in Canberra.
Dr. Lowe said negative interest rates were having a “pernicious” effect on the financial system and pensions in Europe. He further added that previously unviable big investments were now making economic sense at current historically low interest rates.
Finally, Lowe reiterated that interest rates in Australia will still have to be kept low for an extended period to reach the goals of full employment and inflation back within the RBA’s 2-to-3 percent target.
After the speech, market participants cut back their expectations on further rate cuts from the RBA, a trend that began weeks ago.
From a 50/50 bet at the start of the month that the cash rate would be cut again at the RBA board’s Cup Day meeting, the chance of a cut next week is now priced at just 10 percent.
As well, the 30-day cash rate futures curve no longer has a full 25 basis point cut priced in over the foreseeable future. This represents a change in sentiment that will ease pressure on the RBA to move again quickly.
The rally in the NZD/USD last week started to pick up steam after Westpac economists changed their calls on New Zealand interest rates and now expect no cut at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) policy meeting on November 13.
The bank previously forecast a 25-basis point cut, although it has said it would be a close call. Westpac now expects the cut –to 0.75 percent – to occur next February.
“The Reserve Bank’s forecasts and rhetoric had been 50/50 on whether a cut might be required at some stage, but we thought a rash of downside surprises would prompt the Reserve Bank to cut as soon as November,” Westpac chief economist Dominick Stephens said in a commentary.”
“That is not the way the dice have fallen. True, economic growth remains subdued and business confidence is very low. But on balance the outlook and employment has actually lifted a little since August, because the exchange rate is well down, inflation has surprised to the upside, and the housing market is stirring,” Stephens said.
The Aussie and Kiwi could see further upside action this week due to improving financial market sentiment, and the interpretation that RBA and RBNZ have taken rates far enough for now. Good news over U.S.-China trade relations could put further pressure on the U.S. Dollar if traders continue to sell out of protective hedges.
This week, investors will get the opportunity to react to the latest Australian Retail Sales report early Monday. The RBA Rate Statement on Tuesday and the RBA Monetary Policy Statement on Friday.
In New Zealand, investors will be watching the Employment Change and Unemployment Rate reports.
In the U.S., the key report is ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI.
The big story this week is likely to be U.S.-China trade relations, given the news from Friday.
China said Friday it reached a consensus in principle with the U.S. during trade talks this week. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office also said Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made “progress in a variety of areas and are in the process of resolving outstanding issues.”
The Chinese Commerce Ministry on Friday said the world’s two largest economies had reached “consensus on principles” during a “serious and constructive” telephone call between their main trade negotiators.
U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend he hoped to sign an agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a U.S. location, perhaps in the farming state of Iowa.
“China wants to make the deal very much,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday evening. “I don’t like to talk about deals until they happen, but we’re making a lot of progress.”
AUD/USD and NZD/USD traders will be looking for further developments this week.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• AUD/USD Forex Technical Analysis – Weekly Chart Strengthens Over .7914, Weakens Under .6871
• NZD/USD Forex Technical Analysis – Weekly Chart Strengthens Over .6471, Weakens Under .6404
• U.S Mortgage Rates Rise Again Supported by Progress in Trade Talks
• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 02/11/19
• The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers -03/11/19
• Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Buoyed by Possible Partial Trade Deal, but OPEC Still Needs to Cut Further || Cripto InterCambio offers ease of access in Latin America: Cripto InterCambio is an instant exchange service that streamlines cryptocurrency trading for more than 100 digital coins. The Chile-based start-up looks to provide end-users with a service that is not only simple and fast but also fee-free. Cripto InterCambio claims the service gives easy access to cryptocurrencies in Latin America by adding a layer of safety and convenience to crypto exchanges. How Cripto InterCambio works Cripto InterCambio helps users exchange cryptocurrencies at the best rates in the market. The platform has a user-friendly interface that enables all cryptocurrency owners to make transactions, regardless of their familiarity with technology. The process seems to be fast and straightforward. You start with transferring funds from your wallet to the Cripto InterCambio platform and select the cryptocurrency you’re looking to buy. The platform then searches for the best available rate on the market and processes the exchange. Once the transaction is completed, Cripto InterCambio automatically delivers the funds to your wallet. The service supports over 100 cryptocurrencies. Besides Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), the platform allows users to trade some of the most popular digital assets in Latin America, such as Ripple (XRP), EOS (EOS), Litecoin (LTC), Dash (DASH), Stellar (XLM), and Tron (TRX). Critpo InterCambio has a noncustodial policy in place and doesn’t hold users’ funds. This means that users remain in complete control of their money. At the same time, it also implies that users already have a dedicated wallet where they can deposit their chosen cryptocurrencies. Ensuring anonymity with no registration One of the features that makes Cripto InterCambio appealing to users is its no-registration policy. Cryptocurrency traders can use the platform in complete anonymity as they don’t have to register with email addresses, IDs, or other data that permits identification. According to the developers at Cripto InterCambio, users don’t have to sacrifice security for extra privacy. The platform allows traders to monitor and track each transaction during every stage of the process. Story continues This feature is especially appealing in countries where governments impose capital controls and people have restricted access to their savings. A platform like Cripto InterCambio helps cryptocurrency owners to make transactions and move and store value outside their unstable economy. A platform that supports start-ups Cripto InterCambio isn’t just looking to make access to cryptocurrencies in Latin America easier. The community of developers behind the project is also ready to provide support to all crypto and blockchain-based start-ups in the region. The platform has developed a series of relationships with most of the cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Latin America. This approach enables end-users to exchange cryptocurrency at the best possible rates at any given time. It’s a cost-effective way of remaining in control of your funds. Start-ups that work with Cripto InterCambio can benefit from more than just the best rates on the market. Companies can also remain anonymous on the network and, at the same time, get support from the team of blockchain developers behind InterCambio. Cryptocurrency adoption is high in Latin America Latin America is the perfect market for blockchain-based start-ups. Three of the top five countries by cryptocurrency adoption are located in this region. According to a Statista report , Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina register the highest usage of cryptocurrencies worldwide after Turkey. Brazil has an 18% cryptocurrency adoption rate, while Colombia and Argentina tie at 16%. Mexico and Chile find themselves in leading positions as well, ranking sixth and seventh in the same report, at 12% and 11% respectively. When it comes to cryptocurrency usage, citizens in countries in Latin America seem to be powering ahead over giants like China, Russia, or even Germany (all nations that have taken blockchain technology seriously). Fintech continues to grow in the region Latin America has developed the perfect environment for the growth of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Contrary to popular opinion, this isn’t all caused by weak economies or national currencies that continue to lose their strength against the dollar. Latin America boasts some key factors that allow fintech and cryptocurrencies to thrive. The population in the region is younger, more tech-savvy, has access to information, and is continuously improving their purchasing power. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the median age is 29.5 years old . In addition to that, 82% of the population lives in urban areas, which means they get access to education, information about the latest tech trends, and the internet. With the exception of Bolivia and Ecuador, legislation in the region is either crypto-friendly or crypto-neutral. Colombia is actively promoting fintech and crypto legislation for start-ups, while many blockchain companies such as RSK are thriving in Argentina despite the economic crisis. As the fintech and blockchain scenes continue to grow, the future looks bright for cryptocurrencies in this region. The post Cripto InterCambio offers ease of access in Latin America appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Cripto InterCambio offers ease of access in Latin America: Cripto InterCambio is an instant exchange service that streamlines cryptocurrency trading for more than 100 digital coins. The Chile-based start-up looks to provide end-users with a service that is not only simple and fast but also fee-free. Cripto InterCambio claims the service gives easy access to cryptocurrencies in Latin America by adding a layer of safety and convenience to crypto exchanges. How Cripto InterCambio works Cripto InterCambio helps users exchange cryptocurrencies at the best rates in the market. The platform has a user-friendly interface that enables all cryptocurrency owners to make transactions, regardless of their familiarity with technology. The process seems to be fast and straightforward. You start with transferring funds from your wallet to the Cripto InterCambio platform and select the cryptocurrency you’re looking to buy. The platform then searches for the best available rate on the market and processes the exchange. Once the transaction is completed, Cripto InterCambio automatically delivers the funds to your wallet. The service supports over 100 cryptocurrencies. Besides Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), the platform allows users to trade some of the most popular digital assets in Latin America, such as Ripple (XRP), EOS (EOS), Litecoin (LTC), Dash (DASH), Stellar (XLM), and Tron (TRX). Critpo InterCambio has a noncustodial policy in place and doesn’t hold users’ funds. This means that users remain in complete control of their money. At the same time, it also implies that users already have a dedicated wallet where they can deposit their chosen cryptocurrencies. Ensuring anonymity with no registration One of the features that makes Cripto InterCambio appealing to users is its no-registration policy. Cryptocurrency traders can use the platform in complete anonymity as they don’t have to register with email addresses, IDs, or other data that permits identification. According to the developers at Cripto InterCambio, users don’t have to sacrifice security for extra privacy. The platform allows traders to monitor and track each transaction during every stage of the process. Story continues This feature is especially appealing in countries where governments impose capital controls and people have restricted access to their savings. A platform like Cripto InterCambio helps cryptocurrency owners to make transactions and move and store value outside their unstable economy. A platform that supports start-ups Cripto InterCambio isn’t just looking to make access to cryptocurrencies in Latin America easier. The community of developers behind the project is also ready to provide support to all crypto and blockchain-based start-ups in the region. The platform has developed a series of relationships with most of the cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Latin America. This approach enables end-users to exchange cryptocurrency at the best possible rates at any given time. It’s a cost-effective way of remaining in control of your funds. Start-ups that work with Cripto InterCambio can benefit from more than just the best rates on the market. Companies can also remain anonymous on the network and, at the same time, get support from the team of blockchain developers behind InterCambio. Cryptocurrency adoption is high in Latin America Latin America is the perfect market for blockchain-based start-ups. Three of the top five countries by cryptocurrency adoption are located in this region. According to a Statista report , Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina register the highest usage of cryptocurrencies worldwide after Turkey. Brazil has an 18% cryptocurrency adoption rate, while Colombia and Argentina tie at 16%. Mexico and Chile find themselves in leading positions as well, ranking sixth and seventh in the same report, at 12% and 11% respectively. When it comes to cryptocurrency usage, citizens in countries in Latin America seem to be powering ahead over giants like China, Russia, or even Germany (all nations that have taken blockchain technology seriously). Fintech continues to grow in the region Latin America has developed the perfect environment for the growth of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Contrary to popular opinion, this isn’t all caused by weak economies or national currencies that continue to lose their strength against the dollar. Latin America boasts some key factors that allow fintech and cryptocurrencies to thrive. The population in the region is younger, more tech-savvy, has access to information, and is continuously improving their purchasing power. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the median age is 29.5 years old . In addition to that, 82% of the population lives in urban areas, which means they get access to education, information about the latest tech trends, and the internet. With the exception of Bolivia and Ecuador, legislation in the region is either crypto-friendly or crypto-neutral. Colombia is actively promoting fintech and crypto legislation for start-ups, while many blockchain companies such as RSK are thriving in Argentina despite the economic crisis. As the fintech and blockchain scenes continue to grow, the future looks bright for cryptocurrencies in this region. The post Cripto InterCambio offers ease of access in Latin America appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Wary Italians turn to Bitcoin for online shopping: Bitcoin is the third-most popular payment method for online shopping in Italy – even beating Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. The data from marketing analysis firm SEMRush shows the cryptocurrency comes in at number three after PayPal and national reloadable prepaid card service PostePay. According to Italian news outlet La Stampa, Bitcoin is used more than 215,800 times per month for online purchases in Italy, while American Express is used just 189,000 times per month. PayPal rules the roost with around 1.3 million payment transactions per month, with payment processor PostePay close behind with almost 1.2 million. The month in which the highest number of Bitcoin payments was recorded was June 2019 (368,000 times). Italians are historically wary of virtual payments, preferring to pay cash on delivery or pay in-store. However, with these latest figures, it appears that the country’s mood is changing. bitcoins In 2018, total B2C spending on e-commerce in Italy was over 40 billion euros, with 62% of Italians making at least one online purchase. Last month, PayPal dramatically pulled out of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project . The project was left in the lurch after PayPal headed for the door at the start of October, followed swiftly by Libra Association members Mastercard, Visa, eBay, and Stripe. The worldwide electronic payments giant was one of the linchpins of Mark Zuckerberg’s crypto masterplan. PayPal had been a founder member of the project – which has been peppered with criticism from dozens of financial regulators. The post Wary Italians turn to Bitcoin for online shopping appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Wary Italians turn to Bitcoin for online shopping: Bitcoin is the third-most popular payment method for online shopping in Italy – even beating Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. The data from marketing analysis firm SEMRush shows the cryptocurrency comes in at number three after PayPal and national reloadable prepaid card service PostePay. According to Italian news outlet La Stampa, Bitcoin is used more than 215,800 times per month for online purchases in Italy, while American Express is used just 189,000 times per month. PayPal rules the roost with around 1.3 million payment transactions per month, with payment processor PostePay close behind with almost 1.2 million. The month in which the highest number of Bitcoin payments was recorded was June 2019 (368,000 times). Italians are historically wary of virtual payments, preferring to pay cash on delivery or pay in-store. However, with these latest figures, it appears that the country’s mood is changing. bitcoins In 2018, total B2C spending on e-commerce in Italy was over 40 billion euros, with 62% of Italians making at least one online purchase. Last month, PayPal dramatically pulled out of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project . The project was left in the lurch after PayPal headed for the door at the start of October, followed swiftly by Libra Association members Mastercard, Visa, eBay, and Stripe. The worldwide electronic payments giant was one of the linchpins of Mark Zuckerberg’s crypto masterplan. PayPal had been a founder member of the project – which has been peppered with criticism from dozens of financial regulators. The post Wary Italians turn to Bitcoin for online shopping appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Wary Italians turn to Bitcoin for online shopping: Bitcoin is the third-most popular payment method for online shopping in Italy – even beating Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. The data from marketing analysis firm SEMRush shows the cryptocurrency comes in at number three after PayPal and national reloadable prepaid card service PostePay. According to Italian news outlet La Stampa, Bitcoin is used more than 215,800 times per month for online purchases in Italy, while American Express is used just 189,000 times per month. PayPal rules the roost with around 1.3 million payment transactions per month, with payment processor PostePay close behind with almost 1.2 million. The month in which the highest number of Bitcoin payments was recorded was June 2019 (368,000 times). Italians are historically wary of virtual payments, preferring to pay cash on delivery or pay in-store. However, with these latest figures, it appears that the country’s mood is changing. bitcoins In 2018, total B2C spending on e-commerce in Italy was over 40 billion euros, with 62% of Italians making at least one online purchase. Last month, PayPal dramatically pulled out of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project . The project was left in the lurch after PayPal headed for the door at the start of October, followed swiftly by Libra Association members Mastercard, Visa, eBay, and Stripe. The worldwide electronic payments giant was one of the linchpins of Mark Zuckerberg’s crypto masterplan. PayPal had been a founder member of the project – which has been peppered with criticism from dozens of financial regulators. The post Wary Italians turn to Bitcoin for online shopping appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Trial Back on After Craig Wright Breaks Bitcoin Settlement Agreement: Australian-born technologist Craig Wright has attested that he cannot finance his court settlement negotiated with the Kleiman estate.
According to acourt documentfiled in the Southern District of Florida Oct. 30, Wright pulled out of thesettlement agreementin which he would forfeit half his intellectual property and bitcoin mined prior to 2014. With the agreement broken, trial motions are now back on.
The document was filed by Kleiman’s counsel to set a date to depose an out-of-state witness.
Related:South Korean Court Issues Landmark Decision on Crypto Exchange Hacking
Ira Kleiman brought the charges against Wright in 2018 on behalf of his deceased brother’s estate. Kleiman alleges Wright manipulated business documents, emails and other correspondence to defraud the estate.
Wright was sanctioned in late August, after being found incontempt of courtby Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart for failing to disclose a complete list of his bitcoin addresses, reportedly amounting to 1.1 million bitcoin.
During the hearing, Wright claimed his bitcoin was inaccessible due to his former business partner David Kleiman’s death as well as a complicated encryption scheme. The arguments were found to beinconsistentand in bad faith.
“These discussions began at Craig’s request and due to the fact that Craig represented he had the means to finance a settlement,” Velvel Freedman, member of the prosecution and partner at Roche Freedman, said in the filing.
Related:Longfin Must Pay $6.8 Million After Court Backs SEC Fraud Complaint
Wright allegedly reneged on the non-binding agreement “without notice.”
Earlier, just days after the sanction was levied, Wright requested additional time to challenge the judge’s court order due to the approach ofHurricane Dorian.
Kleiman is represented by Kyle Roche and Velvel Freedman of Roche Freedman LLP, while Wright is represented by Rivero Mestre LLP.
The trial date is set for March 30, 2020.
UPDATE (Nov. 3, 19:00 UTC):The headline of this article has been updated to clarify that a final settlement had not been reached; the parties had simply reached a non-binding agreement that could have led to one.
Lawimage via Shutterstock
• Craig Wright ‘in Discussions’ to Settle Multi-Billion-Dollar Court Case
• Craig Wright Aims to Challenge Court Decision That Cost Half His Bitcoins || Trial Back on After Craig Wright Breaks Bitcoin Settlement Agreement: Australian-born technologist Craig Wright has attested that he cannot finance his court settlement negotiated with the Kleiman estate. According to a court document filed in the Southern District of Florida Oct. 30, Wright pulled out of the settlement agreement in which he would forfeit half his intellectual property and bitcoin mined prior to 2014. With the agreement broken, trial motions are now back on. The document was filed by Kleimans counsel to set a date to depose an out-of-state witness. Related: South Korean Court Issues Landmark Decision on Crypto Exchange Hacking Ira Kleiman brought the charges against Wright in 2018 on behalf of his deceased brothers estate. Kleiman alleges Wright manipulated business documents, emails and other correspondence to defraud the estate. Wright was sanctioned in late August, after being found in contempt of court by Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart for failing to disclose a complete list of his bitcoin addresses, reportedly amounting to 1.1 million bitcoin. During the hearing, Wright claimed his bitcoin was inaccessible due to his former business partner David Kleimans death as well as a complicated encryption scheme. The arguments were found to be inconsistent and in bad faith. These discussions began at Craigs request and due to the fact that Craig represented he had the means to finance a settlement, Velvel Freedman, member of the prosecution and partner at Roche Freedman, said in the filing. Related: Longfin Must Pay $6.8 Million After Court Backs SEC Fraud Complaint Wright allegedly reneged on the non-binding agreement without notice. Earlier, just days after the sanction was levied, Wright requested additional time to challenge the judges court order due to the approach of Hurricane Dorian . Kleiman is represented by Kyle Roche and Velvel Freedman of Roche Freedman LLP, while Wright is represented by Rivero Mestre LLP. The trial date is set for March 30, 2020. UPDATE (Nov. 3, 19:00 UTC): The headline of this article has been updated to clarify that a final settlement had not been reached; the parties had simply reached a non-binding agreement that could have led to one. Story continues Law image via Shutterstock Related Stories Craig Wright in Discussions to Settle Multi-Billion-Dollar Court Case Craig Wright Aims to Challenge Court Decision That Cost Half His Bitcoins || Trial Back on After Craig Wright Breaks Bitcoin Settlement Agreement: Australian-born technologist Craig Wright has attested that he cannot finance his court settlement negotiated with the Kleiman estate.
According to acourt documentfiled in the Southern District of Florida Oct. 30, Wright pulled out of thesettlement agreementin which he would forfeit half his intellectual property and bitcoin mined prior to 2014. With the agreement broken, trial motions are now back on.
The document was filed by Kleiman’s counsel to set a date to depose an out-of-state witness.
Related:South Korean Court Issues Landmark Decision on Crypto Exchange Hacking
Ira Kleiman brought the charges against Wright in 2018 on behalf of his deceased brother’s estate. Kleiman alleges Wright manipulated business documents, emails and other correspondence to defraud the estate.
Wright was sanctioned in late August, after being found incontempt of courtby Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart for failing to disclose a complete list of his bitcoin addresses, reportedly amounting to 1.1 million bitcoin.
During the hearing, Wright claimed his bitcoin was inaccessible due to his former business partner David Kleiman’s death as well as a complicated encryption scheme. The arguments were found to beinconsistentand in bad faith.
“These discussions began at Craig’s request and due to the fact that Craig represented he had the means to finance a settlement,” Velvel Freedman, member of the prosecution and partner at Roche Freedman, said in the filing.
Related:Longfin Must Pay $6.8 Million After Court Backs SEC Fraud Complaint
Wright allegedly reneged on the non-binding agreement “without notice.”
Earlier, just days after the sanction was levied, Wright requested additional time to challenge the judge’s court order due to the approach ofHurricane Dorian.
Kleiman is represented by Kyle Roche and Velvel Freedman of Roche Freedman LLP, while Wright is represented by Rivero Mestre LLP.
The trial date is set for March 30, 2020.
UPDATE (Nov. 3, 19:00 UTC):The headline of this article has been updated to clarify that a final settlement had not been reached; the parties had simply reached a non-binding agreement that could have led to one.
Lawimage via Shutterstock
• Craig Wright ‘in Discussions’ to Settle Multi-Billion-Dollar Court Case
• Craig Wright Aims to Challenge Court Decision That Cost Half His Bitcoins || After Painful 2018, Chinese Blockchain VCs Are Getting Back Into the Market: The Takeaways: After the 2018 crypto crash, up to 90 percent of blockchain-focused Chinese venture capital firms left the market. Now, as China’s central government pushes for greater blockchain adoption, some are returning and deal-flow is increasing. Surviving funds are retooling and diversifying into fields such as secondary trading and bitcoin mining. Chinese venture capital firms are taking another look at blockchain. After the 2018 crypto crash, up to 90 percent of blockchain-focused VCs left the market. Now, as China’s central government pushes for greater blockchain adoption, some are returning. During the first six months in 2019, Chinese blockchain startups raised $368 million via 71 funding deals, according to Chinese financial data tracker 01Caijing . Related: Bitcoin Mining Power Sees Short-Term Drop as Rainy Season Ends in China VCs are finding it easier to raise money. Hong Kong-based Kenetic, which started in 2016 with a few partners trading their own capital, is on track to close an eight-figure fund next month, said managing partner Jehan Chu. NEO Global Capital, a fund backed by the NEO crypto project, has also been raising a second fund of about $50 million since June. It is among numerous funds that are raising new vehicles this year because of a renewed sense of optimism. At the same time, VCs firms are diversifying away from equity plays in startups towards areas such as secondary trading and bitcoin mining. These include Sora Ventures, an early-stage blockchain investment firm that entered the secondary market trading earlier this year. Its trading activities include swap, futures of mostly mainstream cryptocurrencies, which takes up about 20 percent of its asset-under-management, said founder and managing partner Jason Fang. Fundamental Labs, a $500 million-under-management blockchain fund that has backed Coinbase, Canaan Creative and Binance, invested $44 million in bitcoin miners in May that could increase the bitcoin network’s total hash rate by at least 1,000 peta hashes per second (PH/s). Story continues Related: Binance to Open Beijing Office Amid China’s Renewed Blockchain Push And Parallel Ventures, a blockchain VC founded by Yizhou Zhu, a former investment director at FreeS Capital , also invested in bitcoin mining equipment this year via a separate unit. The investment boasts a computing power of about 300 PH/s that’s worth about $15 million. FreeS has backed Chinese and U.S. tech startups including Uber. It also manages assets for other investors who are interested in the crypto space and completed raising a 200 million yuan ($28 million) new blockchain fund in August. Big crash Still, the deal flow is not what it was in 2018. The 71 deals in 2019 represent a drop of 67 percent in deal dollar value compared to 2018, and a 47 percent fall in deal volume. And there are far fewer firms than there used to be. “Probably less than 10 percent of Chinese crypto investment funds have survived today [since early 2018],” estimates Howard Yuan, managing partner of Fundamental Labs. By Yuan’s count, there were probably nearly 1,000 early-stage blockchain investment funds during the peak in 2018, including non-institutionalized individual vehicles and informal cryptocurrency capital pool. Of those, 150 to 200 were of a significant size and focused on early-stage investments, according to research from Frank Li, who was an investment director at blockchain venture firm Node Capital that backed the Huobi exchange. “There are [now] probably around 20 to 30 blockchain venture funds today [in China],” estimates Ren of Consensus Lab, adding: “At blockchain parties in Beijing last year, you could see people from over 50 funds mingling. Now, I can count all the funds in Beijing with less than my two hands.” Fundamental Lab’s Yuan echoed that sentiment, estimating there are only “dozens of funds” left. Bonnie Cheung, a venture partner of 500 Startups, told Coindesk “less than 50” blockchain early stage funds are based in China while Parallel Ventures’ Yizhou Zhu puts the number at “around 20.” Many funds were established by blockchain veterans who made money from mining, trading, and operating exchanges. Their venture vehicles tended to be add-on capabilities. Shifting back to mining, trading and exchanges is natural for them. Other investors are simply staying on the sidelines. Junfei Ren, founding partner of Redbank Capital and formerly founder of Huobi Labs, said her newly established investment fund is just storing value in bitcoin, rather investing in any startups making use of the underlying technology. Blockchain investment firm Consensus Lab is focused on incubating just five to six projects right now. “We don’t think of venture investment as an isolated business any more. It must be combined with other businesses to leverage our unique resources, creating a product matrix that can endure the bear market,” said the firm’s partner Kevin Ren. Funds are struggling to find good investment targets, despite falling valuations for blockchain startups. Simply relying on equity or token investments this year would mean funds are likely in a standstill. “We only invested in a handful of new token projects in the past two months. At the peak last year, we were doing one to two investments per week,” said Kenetic’s Jehan Chu. Deal size is shrinking too as startup valuations nosedived and investors are becoming more cautious. Consensus Lab’s Ren told CoinDesk that the average deal size in China is around $100,000 this year, while deals worth half a million dollars are rarely found. Token deals, on the other hand, have mostly become quiet except a few bright pockets like those issued by exchanges. Age of maturity After the baptism by fire of the last market cycle, Chinese blockchain venture firms are maturing and evolving to find more sustainable paths, investors say. Valuations are becoming more reasonable and speculative players have left the market. Funds are becoming more professional, said Jason Fang, managing partner at Sora Ventures. When his fund started in late 2017, it was among the first institutionalized funds in China with a recognized fund administrator and auditor. Now that practice is more standard. “Before the market crash, investors didn’t evaluate projects carefully because token prices kept going up,” said Xin Jiang, an investment manager at Fenbushi Capital, one of the earliest and biggest venture funds in China established in 2015. “Now investors need to truly find value through more vigorous research and due diligence.” Expectations for returns are becoming more realistic. “Analysts are spending much more time researching and checking with each other about startups,” said Frank Li, who worked at Node Capital previously and recently joined Parallel Ventures. He added: “Investor mentality is also more long-term as nobody [now] expects to realize return in a matter of months. The horizon is more likely years ahead.” Building sustainable future will take time. “We struggle to define a reasonable investment logic and it’s difficult to explain how we should value startups,” said Ren of Consensus Lab. “It’s a deep paradox, because as we invest, we are unsure where future direction lies.” Kenetic’s Chu is more optimistic. “Equity in blockchain startups will never be cheaper than it is right now,” he said. “We are excited about the companies in China, especially in crypto trading platforms, infrastructure, and defi [decentralized finance] space.” Chinese yuan image via Shutterstock Related Stories Bitcoin Dissident Sees Dark Warnings in China’s Blockchain Push Chinese State-Owned Media Try to Dampen Market’s Crypto Enthusiasm || After Painful 2018, Chinese Blockchain VCs Are Getting Back Into the Market: The Takeaways:
• After the 2018 crypto crash, up to 90 percent of blockchain-focused Chinese venture capital firms left the market.
• Now, as China’s central government pushes for greater blockchain adoption, some are returning and deal-flow is increasing.
• Surviving funds are retooling and diversifying into fields such as secondary trading and bitcoin mining.
Chinese venture capital firms are taking another look at blockchain. After the 2018 crypto crash, up to 90 percent of blockchain-focused VCs left the market. Now, as China’s central governmentpushesfor greater blockchain adoption, some are returning.
During the first six months in 2019, Chinese blockchain startups raised $368 million via 71 funding deals, according to Chinese financial data tracker01Caijing.
Related:Bitcoin Mining Power Sees Short-Term Drop as Rainy Season Ends in China
VCs are finding it easier to raise money. Hong Kong-based Kenetic, which started in 2016 with a few partners trading their own capital, is on track to close an eight-figure fund next month, said managing partner Jehan Chu. NEO Global Capital, a fund backed by the NEO crypto project, has also beenraisinga second fund of about $50 million since June.
It is among numerous funds that are raising new vehicles this year because of a renewed sense of optimism.At the same time, VCs firms are diversifying away from equity plays in startups towards areas such as secondary trading and bitcoin mining.
These include Sora Ventures, an early-stage blockchain investment firm that entered the secondary market trading earlier this year. Its trading activities include swap, futures of mostly mainstream cryptocurrencies, which takes up about 20 percent of its asset-under-management, said founder and managing partner Jason Fang.
Fundamental Labs, a $500 million-under-management blockchain fund that has backed Coinbase, Canaan Creative and Binance,invested$44 million in bitcoin miners in May that could increase the bitcoin network’s total hash rate by at least 1,000 peta hashes per second (PH/s).
Related:Binance to Open Beijing Office Amid China’s Renewed Blockchain Push
And Parallel Ventures, a blockchain VC founded by Yizhou Zhu, a former investment director atFreeS Capital, also invested in bitcoin mining equipment this year via a separate unit. The investment boasts a computing power of about 300 PH/s that’s worth about $15 million. FreeS has backed Chinese and U.S. tech startups including Uber. It also manages assets for other investors who are interested in the crypto space and completed raising a 200 million yuan ($28 million) new blockchain fund in August.
Still, the deal flow is not what it was in 2018. The 71 deals in 2019 represent a drop of 67 percent in deal dollar value compared to 2018, and a 47 percent fall in deal volume. And there are far fewer firms than there used to be.
“Probably less than 10 percent of Chinese crypto investment funds have survived today [since early 2018],” estimates Howard Yuan, managing partner of Fundamental Labs.
By Yuan’s count, there were probably nearly 1,000 early-stage blockchain investment funds during the peak in 2018, including non-institutionalized individual vehicles and informal cryptocurrency capital pool. Of those, 150 to 200 were of a significant size and focused on early-stage investments, according to research from Frank Li, who was an investment director at blockchain venture firm Node Capital that backed the Huobi exchange.
“There are [now] probably around 20 to 30 blockchain venture funds today [in China],” estimates Ren of Consensus Lab, adding:
“At blockchain parties in Beijing last year, you could see people from over 50 funds mingling. Now, I can count all the funds in Beijing with less than my two hands.”
Fundamental Lab’s Yuan echoed that sentiment, estimating there are only “dozens of funds” left. Bonnie Cheung, a venture partner of 500 Startups, told Coindesk “less than 50” blockchain early stage funds are based in China while Parallel Ventures’ Yizhou Zhu puts the number at “around 20.”
Many funds were established by blockchain veterans who made money from mining, trading, and operating exchanges. Their venture vehicles tended to be add-on capabilities. Shifting back to mining, trading and exchanges is natural for them.
Other investors are simply staying on the sidelines. Junfei Ren, founding partner of Redbank Capital and formerly founder of Huobi Labs, said her newly established investment fund is just storing value in bitcoin, rather investing in any startups making use of the underlying technology.
Blockchain investment firm Consensus Lab is focused on incubating just five to six projects right now. “We don’t think of venture investment as an isolated business any more. It must be combined with other businesses to leverage our unique resources, creating a product matrix that can endure the bear market,” said the firm’s partner Kevin Ren.
Funds are struggling to find good investment targets, despite falling valuations for blockchain startups. Simply relying on equity or token investments this year would mean funds are likely in a standstill.
“We only invested in a handful of new token projects in the past two months. At the peak last year, we were doing one to two investments per week,” said Kenetic’s Jehan Chu.
Deal size is shrinking too as startup valuations nosedived and investors are becoming more cautious. Consensus Lab’s Ren told CoinDesk that the average deal size in China is around $100,000 this year, while deals worth half a million dollars are rarely found. Token deals, on the other hand, have mostly become quiet except a few bright pockets like those issued by exchanges.
After the baptism by fire of the last market cycle, Chinese blockchain venture firms are maturing and evolving to find more sustainable paths, investors say. Valuations are becoming more reasonable and speculative players have left the market.
Funds are becoming more professional, said Jason Fang, managing partner at Sora Ventures. When his fund started in late 2017, it was among the first institutionalized funds in China with a recognized fund administrator and auditor. Now that practice is more standard.
“Before the market crash, investors didn’t evaluate projects carefully because token prices kept going up,” said Xin Jiang, an investment manager at Fenbushi Capital, one of the earliest and biggest venture funds in China established in 2015. “Now investors need to truly find value through more vigorous research and due diligence.”
Expectations for returns are becoming more realistic. “Analysts are spending much more time researching and checking with each other about startups,” said Frank Li, who worked at Node Capital previously and recently joined Parallel Ventures. He added:
“Investor mentality is also more long-term as nobody [now] expects to realize return in a matter of months. The horizon is more likely years ahead.”
Building sustainable future will take time. “We struggle to define a reasonable investment logic and it’s difficult to explain how we should value startups,” said Ren of Consensus Lab. “It’s a deep paradox, because as we invest, we are unsure where future direction lies.”
Kenetic’s Chu is more optimistic. “Equity in blockchain startups will never be cheaper than it is right now,” he said. “We are excited about the companies in China, especially in crypto trading platforms, infrastructure, and defi [decentralized finance] space.”
Chinese yuanimage via Shutterstock
• Bitcoin Dissident Sees Dark Warnings in China’s Blockchain Push
• Chinese State-Owned Media Try to Dampen Market’s Crypto Enthusiasm || U.S Mortgage Rates Rise Again Supported by Progress in Trade Talks: Mortgage rates rose again in the week ending 31 st October. 30-year fixed rates rose by 3 basis points to 3.78%, following on from a 6 basis point rise in the week prior. In spite of the uptick, 30-year rates remained relatively close to levels last seen in early November of 2016, according to figures released by Freddie Mac . Compared to this time last year, 30-year fixed rates were down by 105 basis points. More significantly, 30-year fixed rates are down by 116 basis points since last Novembers most recent peak of 4.94%. Economic Data from the Week Economic data was on the busier side in the week. Positives supporting an uptick in yields included a narrowing in the U.S trade deficit on Monday, a jump in pending home sales on Tuesday and better than anticipated GDP numbers for the 3 rd quarter on Wednesday. On Tuesday, a slight easing in consumer confidence had a relatively muted impact ahead of the FEDs interest rate decision on Wednesday. While the FED cut rates for a 3 rd consecutive month, the FOMC Rate Statement suggested the FED would hit pause on any further policy easing. The more hawkish statement prevented a pullback in yields, leaving geopolitics to provide support. The EUs approval of the Brexit extension request and Parliamentary vote in favor of a 12 th December General Election was risk positive. Progress towards a phase 1 trade agreement between the U.S and China also supported an uptick in mortgage rates in the week. Things were different in the latter part of the week as negative news on trade hit the wires. News of Beijing casting doubts over the prospects of a longer-term trade agreement weighed. Freddie Mac Rates The weekly average rates for new mortgages as of 31 st October were quoted by Freddie Mac to be : 30-year fixed rates increased by 3 basis points to 3.78% in the week. Rates were down from 4.83% from a year ago. The average fee held steady at 0.5 points. 15-year fixed rates rose by 1 basis point to 3.19% in the week. Rates were down from 4.23% from a year ago. The average fee rose from 0.5 points to 0.6 points. Story continues 5-year fixed rates increased by 3 basis points to 3.43% in the week. Rates were down by 61 basis points from last years 4.04%. The average fee rose from 0.3 points to 0.4 points. According to Freddie Mac, rates rose for a 3 rd consecutive week for the first time since April. While purchase activity remains strong, driven by homebuyer demand, a lack of supply continues to a major barrier to the sector and the overall economy. Mortgage Bankers Association Rates For the week ending 25 th October, rates were quoted to be : Average interest rates for 30-year fixed, backed by the FHA, increased from 3.79% to 3.83%. Points increased from 0.26 to 0.28 (incl. origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. Average interest rates for 30-year fixed with conforming loan balances rose from 4.02% to 4.05%. Points decreased from 0.38 to 0.37 (incl. origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. Average 30-year rates for jumbo loan balances increased from 3.96% to 4.01%. Points remained unchanged at 0.30 (incl. origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. Weekly figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association showed that the Market Composite Index, which is a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased by 0.6% in the week ending 25 th October. In the week ending 18 th October, the Market Composite Index had fallen by 11.9%. The Refinance Index fell by 1% in the week ending 25 th October, leaving the index up by 134% from a year earlier. The Index had fallen by 17% in the week ending 18 th October. The share of refinance mortgage activity declined from 58.5 to 58.0%, in the week, following on from a fall from 62.2% to 58.5% in the week prior. According to the MBA, 10-year Treasury yields rose slightly in the week. Support came from news of progress in trade talks between the U.S and China. A 2 nd consecutive weekly rise in mortgage rates saw 30-year fixed rates hit their highest level since the end of July. Mortgage applications were largely unchanged, with purchase activity rising 2% and refinances decreasing by less than 1%. Year-on-year, purchase applications continued to rise at a stronger pace than in 2018, up by 10%. Expectations are for applications to continue to rise, supported by low mortgage rates relative to last year. For the week ahead Its another relatively busy week on the economic data front. Key stats through the 1 st half of the week include September factory orders and October Service sector PMI numbers. Factory orders are due out on Monday, with PMIs on Tuesday. We would expect the markets preferred ISM non-manufacturing PMI to have the greatest impact. On Wednesday, 3 rd quarter nonfarm productivity and unit labor cost figures will also influence. Barring dire numbers, we would expect September trade data and the weekly initial jobless claims due out on Tuesday and Thursday to have a muted impact on rates. From outside of the U.S, October service sector PMI numbers due out of China on Tuesday will also influence. On the geopolitical front, chatter from Beijing and Washington on trade will need to be monitored. There is also UK politics to consider. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Silver Price Forecast Silver Markets Choppy On Friday Silver Weekly Price Forecast Silver Markets Form Bullish Candle For The Week S&P 500 Price Forecast Stock Markets Make New Highs Gold Price Prediction Gold Slips Following Employment Data Crude Oil Weekly Price Forecast Crude Oil Markets Continue To Grind Sideways Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 02/11/19 || U.S Mortgage Rates Rise Again Supported by Progress in Trade Talks: Mortgage rates rose again in the week ending 31stOctober. 30-year fixed rates rose by 3 basis points to 3.78%, following on from a 6 basis point rise in the week prior.
In spite of the uptick, 30-year rates remained relatively close to levels last seen in early November of 2016, according to figures released byFreddie Mac.
Compared to this time last year, 30-year fixed rates were down by 105 basis points.
More significantly, 30-year fixed rates are down by 116 basis points since last November’s most recent peak of 4.94%.
Economic data was on the busier side in the week.
Positives supporting an uptick in yields included a narrowing in the U.S trade deficit on Monday, a jump in pending home sales on Tuesday and better than anticipated GDP numbers for the 3rdquarter on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a slight easing in consumer confidence had a relatively muted impact ahead of the FED’s interest rate decision on Wednesday.
While the FED cut rates for a 3rdconsecutive month, the FOMC Rate Statement suggested the FED would hit pause on any further policy easing. The more hawkish statement prevented a pullback in yields, leaving geopolitics to provide support.
The EU’s approval of the Brexit extension request and Parliamentary vote in favor of a 12thDecember General Election was risk positive.
Progress towards a phase 1 trade agreement between the U.S and China also supported an uptick in mortgage rates in the week.
Things were different in the latter part of the week as negative news on trade hit the wires. News of Beijing casting doubts over the prospects of a longer-term trade agreement weighed.
The weekly average rates for new mortgages as of 31stOctober were quoted byFreddie Macto be:
• 30-year fixed rates increased by 3 basis points to 3.78% in the week. Rates were down from 4.83% from a year ago. The average fee held steady at 0.5 points.
• 15-year fixed rates rose by 1 basis point to 3.19% in the week. Rates were down from 4.23% from a year ago. The average fee rose from 0.5 points to 0.6 points.
• 5-year fixed rates increased by 3 basis points to 3.43% in the week. Rates were down by 61 basis points from last year’s 4.04%. The average fee rose from 0.3 points to 0.4 points.
According to Freddie Mac, rates rose for a 3rdconsecutive week for the first time since April. While purchase activity remains strong, driven by homebuyer demand, a lack of supply continues to a major barrier to the sector and the overall economy.
For the week ending 25thOctober,rateswere quoted to be:
• Average interest rates for 30-year fixed, backed by the FHA, increased from 3.79% to 3.83%. Points increased from 0.26 to 0.28 (incl. origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.
• Average interest rates for 30-year fixed with conforming loan balances rose from 4.02% to 4.05%. Points decreased from 0.38 to 0.37 (incl. origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.
• Average 30-year rates for jumbo loan balances increased from 3.96% to 4.01%. Points remained unchanged at 0.30 (incl. origination fee) for 80% LTV loans.
Weekly figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association showed that the Market Composite Index, which is a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased by 0.6% in the week ending 25thOctober. In the week ending 18thOctober, the Market Composite Index had fallen by 11.9%.
The Refinance Index fell by 1% in the week ending 25thOctober, leaving the index up by 134% from a year earlier. The Index had fallen by 17% in the week ending 18thOctober.
The share of refinance mortgage activity declined from 58.5 to 58.0%, in the week, following on from a fall from 62.2% to 58.5% in the week prior.
According to the MBA, 10-year Treasury yields rose slightly in the week. Support came from news of progress in trade talks between the U.S and China.
A 2ndconsecutive weekly rise in mortgage rates saw 30-year fixed rates hit their highest level since the end of July.
Mortgage applications were largely unchanged, with purchase activity rising 2% and refinances decreasing by less than 1%.
Year-on-year, purchase applications continued to rise at a stronger pace than in 2018, up by 10%. Expectations are for applications to continue to rise, supported by low mortgage rates relative to last year.
It’s another relatively busy week on the economic data front.
Key stats through the 1sthalf of the week include September factory orders and October Service sector PMI numbers. Factory orders are due out on Monday, with PMIs on Tuesday.
We would expect the market’s preferred ISM non-manufacturing PMI to have the greatest impact.
On Wednesday, 3rdquarter nonfarm productivity and unit labor cost figures will also influence.
Barring dire numbers, we would expect September trade data and the weekly initial jobless claims due out on Tuesday and Thursday to have a muted impact on rates.
From outside of the U.S, October service sector PMI numbers due out of China on Tuesday will also influence.
On the geopolitical front, chatter from Beijing and Washington on trade will need to be monitored. There is also UK politics to consider.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 02/11/19 || Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 03/11/19: Bitcoin Cash ABC rallied by 3.73% on Saturday. Reversing a 1.39% fall from Friday, Bitcoin Cash ABC ended the day at $289.17.
Bullish through much of the day, Bitcoin Cash ABC rallied from an early intraday low $277.81 to a late intraday high $295.03.
Bitcoin Cash ABC broke through the first major resistance level at $283.41 and second major resistance level at $289.21.
Coming up short of $300 levels, Bitcoin Cash ABC slid back through the second major resistance level to $287 levels.
While finding support late in the day, the second major resistance level capped the upside on the day.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin Cash ABC was up by 3.21% to $298.44. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin Cash ABC rally from a morning low $291.16 to a high $304.03.
Steering clear of the major support levels, Bitcoin Cash ABC broke through the first major resistance level at $296.86. Coming up against the second major resistance level at $304.56, Bitcoin Cash ABC fell back to sub-$300 levels.
For the day ahead, Bitcoin Cash ABC would need to hold above the first major resistance level at $296.86 to support another run at $300 levels.
Bitcoin Cash ABC would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from the second major resistance level at $304.56.
Barring an extended rally through the day, the second major resistance level at $304.56 would likely cap any upside.
Failure to hold above the first major resistance level could see Bitcoin Cash ABC give up the morning gains.
A fall through to sub-$288 levels would bring the first major support level at $279.64 into play.
Barring a broad-based crypto reversal, however, we would expect Bitcoin Cash ABC to steer clear of sub-$290 levels.
Litecoin rose by just 0.05% on Saturday. Following a 0.09% fall from Friday, Litecoin ended the day at $58.38.
Bearish through the morning, Litecoin fell to a late morning intraday low $57.86 before finding support.
Steering clear of the first major support level at $57.00, Litecoin rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $59.32.
Coming up against the first major resistance level at $59.34, Litecoin fell back to sub-$58 levels before finding late support.
A late move back through to $58 levels left Litecoin flat on the day.
At the time of writing, Litecoin was up by 0.02% to $58.39. A mixed start to the day saw Litecoin rise from an early morning low $58.13 to a high $58.80 before easing back.
Litecoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
For the day ahead, a move back through to $58.50 levels would support a run at the first major resistance level at $59.18.
Litecoin would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from this morning’s high $58.80.
Barring a broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level at $59.18 and Saturday’s high $59.32 would likely limit any upside.
Failure to move back through to $58.50 levels would bring the first major support level at $57.72 into play.
Barring a crypto meltdown, Litecoin should steer clear of the second major support level at $57.06.
Ripple’s XRP rose by 0.92% on Saturday. Reversing a 0.82% fall from Friday, Ripple’s XRP ended the day at $0.29599.
A mixed start to the day saw Ripple’s XRP fall from an early morning intraday low $0.29329 to a high 0.29613.
Steering clear of the major support and resistance levels early on, Ripple’s XRP eased back to sub-$0.2940 levels before finding support.
An early afternoon rally saw Ripple’s XRP strike a late afternoon intraday high $0.29947 before easing back.
Ripple’s XRP broke through the first major resistance level at $0.2972 before sliding back to sub-$0.2960 levels at the day end.
At the time of writing, Ripple’s XRP was down by 0.33% to $0.29500. A mixed start to the day saw Ripple’s XRP rise to an early morning high $0.29738 before sliding to a low $0.29500.
Ripple’s XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
For the day ahead, a move through to $0.2960 levels would support a run at the first major resistance level at $02992.
Ripple’s XRP would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from the morning high $0.29738.
Barring a broad-based crypto rally, Ripple’s XRP would likely fall short of $0.30 levels for a 4thconsecutive day.
Failure to move through to $0.2960 levels could see Ripple’s XRP fall deeper into the red.
Ripple’s XRP would likely test the first major support level at $0.2930 before any recovery.
In the event of an extended sell-off through the day, the second major support level at $0.2901 would likely limit any downside.
Please let us know what you think in the comments below
Thanks, Bob
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• U.S Mortgage Rates Rise Again Supported by Progress in Trade Talks || Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 03/11/19: Bitcoin Cash ABC On the Move Bitcoin Cash ABC rallied by 3.73% on Saturday. Reversing a 1.39% fall from Friday, Bitcoin Cash ABC ended the day at $289.17. Bullish through much of the day, Bitcoin Cash ABC rallied from an early intraday low $277.81 to a late intraday high $295.03. Bitcoin Cash ABC broke through the first major resistance level at $283.41 and second major resistance level at $289.21. Coming up short of $300 levels, Bitcoin Cash ABC slid back through the second major resistance level to $287 levels. While finding support late in the day, the second major resistance level capped the upside on the day. At the time of writing, Bitcoin Cash ABC was up by 3.21% to $298.44. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin Cash ABC rally from a morning low $291.16 to a high $304.03. Steering clear of the major support levels, Bitcoin Cash ABC broke through the first major resistance level at $296.86. Coming up against the second major resistance level at $304.56, Bitcoin Cash ABC fell back to sub-$300 levels. For the day ahead, Bitcoin Cash ABC would need to hold above the first major resistance level at $296.86 to support another run at $300 levels. Bitcoin Cash ABC would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from the second major resistance level at $304.56. Barring an extended rally through the day, the second major resistance level at $304.56 would likely cap any upside. Failure to hold above the first major resistance level could see Bitcoin Cash ABC give up the morning gains. A fall through to sub-$288 levels would bring the first major support level at $279.64 into play. Barring a broad-based crypto reversal, however, we would expect Bitcoin Cash ABC to steer clear of sub-$290 levels. Litecoin Struggles for Direction Litecoin rose by just 0.05% on Saturday. Following a 0.09% fall from Friday, Litecoin ended the day at $58.38. Bearish through the morning, Litecoin fell to a late morning intraday low $57.86 before finding support. Story continues Steering clear of the first major support level at $57.00, Litecoin rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $59.32. Coming up against the first major resistance level at $59.34, Litecoin fell back to sub-$58 levels before finding late support. A late move back through to $58 levels left Litecoin flat on the day. At the time of writing, Litecoin was up by 0.02% to $58.39. A mixed start to the day saw Litecoin rise from an early morning low $58.13 to a high $58.80 before easing back. Litecoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. For the day ahead, a move back through to $58.50 levels would support a run at the first major resistance level at $59.18. Litecoin would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from this mornings high $58.80. Barring a broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level at $59.18 and Saturdays high $59.32 would likely limit any upside. Failure to move back through to $58.50 levels would bring the first major support level at $57.72 into play. Barring a crypto meltdown, Litecoin should steer clear of the second major support level at $57.06. Ripples XRP Falls Short of $0.30 Ripples XRP rose by 0.92% on Saturday. Reversing a 0.82% fall from Friday, Ripples XRP ended the day at $0.29599. A mixed start to the day saw Ripples XRP fall from an early morning intraday low $0.29329 to a high 0.29613. Steering clear of the major support and resistance levels early on, Ripples XRP eased back to sub-$0.2940 levels before finding support. An early afternoon rally saw Ripples XRP strike a late afternoon intraday high $0.29947 before easing back. Ripples XRP broke through the first major resistance level at $0.2972 before sliding back to sub-$0.2960 levels at the day end. At the time of writing, Ripples XRP was down by 0.33% to $0.29500. A mixed start to the day saw Ripples XRP rise to an early morning high $0.29738 before sliding to a low $0.29500. Ripples XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. For the day ahead, a move through to $0.2960 levels would support a run at the first major resistance level at $02992. Ripples XRP would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from the morning high $0.29738. Barring a broad-based crypto rally, Ripples XRP would likely fall short of $0.30 levels for a 4 th consecutive day. Failure to move through to $0.2960 levels could see Ripples XRP fall deeper into the red. Ripples XRP would likely test the first major support level at $0.2930 before any recovery. In the event of an extended sell-off through the day, the second major support level at $0.2901 would likely limit any downside. Please let us know what you think in the comments below Thanks, Bob This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast Natural Gas Markets Continue To Show Signs Of Bullish Pressure Crude Oil Weekly Price Forecast Crude Oil Markets Continue To Grind Sideways Silver Weekly Price Forecast Silver Markets Form Bullish Candle For The Week Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 02/11/19 Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast Strengthens Over $2.753, Weakens Under $2.674; Watch for Gap in Either Direction U.S Mortgage Rates Rise Again Supported by Progress in Trade Talks || Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 03/11/19: Bitcoin Cash ABC rallied by 3.73% on Saturday. Reversing a 1.39% fall from Friday, Bitcoin Cash ABC ended the day at $289.17.
Bullish through much of the day, Bitcoin Cash ABC rallied from an early intraday low $277.81 to a late intraday high $295.03.
Bitcoin Cash ABC broke through the first major resistance level at $283.41 and second major resistance level at $289.21.
Coming up short of $300 levels, Bitcoin Cash ABC slid back through the second major resistance level to $287 levels.
While finding support late in the day, the second major resistance level capped the upside on the day.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin Cash ABC was up by 3.21% to $298.44. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin Cash ABC rally from a morning low $291.16 to a high $304.03.
Steering clear of the major support levels, Bitcoin Cash ABC broke through the first major resistance level at $296.86. Coming up against the second major resistance level at $304.56, Bitcoin Cash ABC fell back to sub-$300 levels.
For the day ahead, Bitcoin Cash ABC would need to hold above the first major resistance level at $296.86 to support another run at $300 levels.
Bitcoin Cash ABC would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from the second major resistance level at $304.56.
Barring an extended rally through the day, the second major resistance level at $304.56 would likely cap any upside.
Failure to hold above the first major resistance level could see Bitcoin Cash ABC give up the morning gains.
A fall through to sub-$288 levels would bring the first major support level at $279.64 into play.
Barring a broad-based crypto reversal, however, we would expect Bitcoin Cash ABC to steer clear of sub-$290 levels.
Litecoin rose by just 0.05% on Saturday. Following a 0.09% fall from Friday, Litecoin ended the day at $58.38.
Bearish through the morning, Litecoin fell to a late morning intraday low $57.86 before finding support.
Steering clear of the first major support level at $57.00, Litecoin rallied to a late afternoon intraday high $59.32.
Coming up against the first major resistance level at $59.34, Litecoin fell back to sub-$58 levels before finding late support.
A late move back through to $58 levels left Litecoin flat on the day.
At the time of writing, Litecoin was up by 0.02% to $58.39. A mixed start to the day saw Litecoin rise from an early morning low $58.13 to a high $58.80 before easing back.
Litecoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
For the day ahead, a move back through to $58.50 levels would support a run at the first major resistance level at $59.18.
Litecoin would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from this morning’s high $58.80.
Barring a broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level at $59.18 and Saturday’s high $59.32 would likely limit any upside.
Failure to move back through to $58.50 levels would bring the first major support level at $57.72 into play.
Barring a crypto meltdown, Litecoin should steer clear of the second major support level at $57.06.
Ripple’s XRP rose by 0.92% on Saturday. Reversing a 0.82% fall from Friday, Ripple’s XRP ended the day at $0.29599.
A mixed start to the day saw Ripple’s XRP fall from an early morning intraday low $0.29329 to a high 0.29613.
Steering clear of the major support and resistance levels early on, Ripple’s XRP eased back to sub-$0.2940 levels before finding support.
An early afternoon rally saw Ripple’s XRP strike a late afternoon intraday high $0.29947 before easing back.
Ripple’s XRP broke through the first major resistance level at $0.2972 before sliding back to sub-$0.2960 levels at the day end.
At the time of writing, Ripple’s XRP was down by 0.33% to $0.29500. A mixed start to the day saw Ripple’s XRP rise to an early morning high $0.29738 before sliding to a low $0.29500.
Ripple’s XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
For the day ahead, a move through to $0.2960 levels would support a run at the first major resistance level at $02992.
Ripple’s XRP would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from the morning high $0.29738.
Barring a broad-based crypto rally, Ripple’s XRP would likely fall short of $0.30 levels for a 4thconsecutive day.
Failure to move through to $0.2960 levels could see Ripple’s XRP fall deeper into the red.
Ripple’s XRP would likely test the first major support level at $0.2930 before any recovery.
In the event of an extended sell-off through the day, the second major support level at $0.2901 would likely limit any downside.
Please let us know what you think in the comments below
Thanks, Bob
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural Gas Markets Continue To Show Signs Of Bullish Pressure
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• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 02/11/19
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• U.S Mortgage Rates Rise Again Supported by Progress in Trade Talks || The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers -03/11/19: Bitcoin rose by 0.47% on Saturday. Following on from a 1.11% gain from Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $9,332.1. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin fall from an early morning high $9,330.1 to a mid-morning intraday low $9,251.5. Steering clear of the first major support level at $9,138.73, Bitcoin rallied to an early afternoon intraday high $9,429.5. Bitcoin broke through the first major resistance level at $9,386.13 before falling back to $9,300 levels. For the bulls, the extended bullish trend remained intact in spite of failing to break out from the 38.2% FIB of $9,734. Bitcoin has continued to hold above the 62% FIB of 7,245. The Rest of the Pack Across the rest of the top 10 cryptos, it was a mixed day for the majors on Saturday. Bitcoin Cash ABC led the way, rallying by 3.73%, with Bitcoin Cash SV (+1.38%) and Stellar’s Lumen (+1.27%) also seeing solid gains. While Binance Coin (+1.00%) and Ripple’s XRP (+0.92%) found support, EOS saw red on the day, falling by 0.94%. Litecoin (+0.05%), Tron’s TRX (-0.04%), and Ethereum (-0.01%) ended the day flat. For the current week, it was also mixed. Bitcoin Cash ABC (+9.89%) and Stellar’s Lumen (+8.80%) led the way. Binance Coin (+4.55%) and Tron’s TRX (+3.33%) also made solid gains going into this morning. Bitcoin Cash SV joined Bitcoin in the red, sliding by 6.1%. Litecoin (-2.55%), Ripple’s XRP (-1.24%), Ethereum (-0.58%), and EOS (-0.27%) were also in the red. Through the current week, the total crypto market cap rose to a Monday high $257.32 before sliding to a Thursday low $241.47bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $249.98bn. Bitcoin’s dominance held steady 67% levels on the day, while trading volumes eased back from $120bn levels to sub-$80bn levels. This Morning At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.46% to $9,375.2. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin rise from an early morning low $9,332.2 to a high $9,400.6 before easing back. Story continues Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. Elsewhere, Bitcoin Cash ABC led the way, rallying by 3.21%. Tron’s TRX (+1.38%) and Bitcoin Cash SV (+1.15%) also found strong support early on. Stellar’s Lumen bucked the trend, down by 0.44% at the time of writing. For the Bitcoin Day Ahead Bitcoin would need to steer clear of sub-$9,340 levels to support another run at the first major resistance level at $9,423.90. Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break back through to $9,400 levels. Barring a broad-based crypto rally later in the day, Bitcoin will likely fall short of $9,500 levels for a 5 th consecutive day. Failure to steer clear of sub-$9,340 levels could see Bitcoin hit reverse. A fall back through to sub-$9,300 levels would bring the first major support level at $9,245.90 into play. Barring a crypto meltdown, however, Bitcoin should steer clear of the second major support level at $9,159.70. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: US Stock Market Overview – Stocks Surge Following Robust Employment Report European Equities: A Week in Review – 01/11/19 Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 02/11/19 Gold Weekly Price Forecast – Gold Markets Pressing Major Resistance Crude Oil Weekly Price Forecast – Crude Oil Markets Continue To Grind Sideways Gold Price Prediction – Gold Slips Following Employment Data || The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers -03/11/19: Bitcoin rose by 0.47% on Saturday. Following on from a 1.11% gain from Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $9,332.1.
A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin fall from an early morning high $9,330.1 to a mid-morning intraday low $9,251.5.
Steering clear of the first major support level at $9,138.73, Bitcoin rallied to an early afternoon intraday high $9,429.5.
Bitcoin broke through the first major resistance level at $9,386.13 before falling back to $9,300 levels.
For the bulls, the extended bullish trend remained intact in spite of failing to break out from the 38.2% FIB of $9,734. Bitcoin has continued to hold above the 62% FIB of 7,245.
Across the rest of the top 10 cryptos, it was a mixed day for the majors on Saturday.
Bitcoin Cash ABC led the way, rallying by 3.73%, with Bitcoin Cash SV (+1.38%) and Stellar’s Lumen (+1.27%) also seeing solid gains.
While Binance Coin (+1.00%) and Ripple’s XRP (+0.92%) found support, EOS saw red on the day, falling by 0.94%.
Litecoin (+0.05%), Tron’s TRX (-0.04%), and Ethereum (-0.01%) ended the day flat.
For the current week, it was also mixed. Bitcoin Cash ABC (+9.89%) and Stellar’s Lumen (+8.80%) led the way.
Binance Coin (+4.55%) and Tron’s TRX (+3.33%) also made solid gains going into this morning.
Bitcoin Cash SV joined Bitcoin in the red, sliding by 6.1%.
Litecoin (-2.55%), Ripple’s XRP (-1.24%), Ethereum (-0.58%), and EOS (-0.27%) were also in the red.
Through the current week, the total crypto market cap rose to a Monday high $257.32 before sliding to a Thursday low $241.47bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $249.98bn.
Bitcoin’s dominance held steady 67% levels on the day, while trading volumes eased back from $120bn levels to sub-$80bn levels.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.46% to $9,375.2. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin rise from an early morning low $9,332.2 to a high $9,400.6 before easing back.
Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin Cash ABC led the way, rallying by 3.21%.
Tron’s TRX (+1.38%) and Bitcoin Cash SV (+1.15%) also found strong support early on.
Stellar’s Lumen bucked the trend, down by 0.44% at the time of writing.
Bitcoin would need to steer clear of sub-$9,340 levels to support another run at the first major resistance level at $9,423.90.
Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break back through to $9,400 levels.
Barring a broad-based crypto rally later in the day, Bitcoin will likely fall short of $9,500 levels for a 5thconsecutive day.
Failure to steer clear of sub-$9,340 levels could see Bitcoin hit reverse.
A fall back through to sub-$9,300 levels would bring the first major support level at $9,245.90 into play.
Barring a crypto meltdown, however, Bitcoin should steer clear of the second major support level at $9,159.70.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• US Stock Market Overview – Stocks Surge Following Robust Employment Report
• European Equities: A Week in Review – 01/11/19
• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 02/11/19
• Gold Weekly Price Forecast – Gold Markets Pressing Major Resistance
• Crude Oil Weekly Price Forecast – Crude Oil Markets Continue To Grind Sideways
• Gold Price Prediction – Gold Slips Following Employment Data || Germany says Bitcoin is ‘not real money’: The German Federal Parliament has claimed that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are “not real money”. The statement on Monday was essentially a formal response to the growing international concern over the economic effects of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency after the government was questioned on the subject by the Free Democratic Party. The government clarified the basic features of money as a means of payment, a store of value, and a unit of account. The statement also points to the fact that the volume of payments carried out using crypto is limited when compared to fiat currencies. Is Europe against cryptocurrencies? As reported by Coin Rivet last month, a number of EU member states such as Germany, France, and the UK have all hardened their stances against cryptocurrencies. Some governments now seem as though they’re starting to fear the real power of cryptocurrencies, especially as a means to store value. In addition, the topic of cryptocurrencies – mainly stablecoins – was addressed at this year’s G7 summit in France. The G7 member states argued that due to their potentially large size and reach, stablecoins could also pose challenges to fair competition, financial stability, monetary policy, and – in an extreme scenario – the international monetary system. These challenges stem in part from the fact that stablecoins could one day transform from a cross-border payment solution to assets with money-like features. Are stablecoins facing harder regulation? Last month, finance ministers in France declared that they will “block Facebook’s Libra project” as it poses a threat to monetary sovereignty. Portugal’s finance minister Mourinho Félix also underlined his country’s aversion to the project in a recent interview , saying: “Portugal shares the concern of other European countries regarding Facebook’s cryptocurrency.” Moreover, an influential British parliamentary committee wants to “probe” Facebook’s controversial Libra cryptocurrency project amid fears that the social media giant’s move into the financial sector will grant it too much power. Story continues In particular, the UK parliament is concerned about Facebook’s ability to safeguard the personal financial details of billions of users after a string of controversial privacy scandals. Ministers in Germany have also expressed concerns over how Libra may develop within the EU, given it would take power away from monetary and fiscal policies. It’s not only Western countries that are up in arms about stablecoins either. Russia has claimed that it may ban Facebook and Telegram if the US decides to block the launch of Libra. According to President Vladimir Putin’s special representative for IT, Dmitry Peskov, if Libra launches without sufficient control measures, “the likelihood of Facebook being blocked ” will increase in Russia. Will cryptocurrencies eventually be blocked? At the moment, it is still too early to tell what will happen in the long term. From a historical perspective, crypto-enthusiasts should expect harder regulation and a firmer stance on the use of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, or even stablecoins like Facebook’s Libra. Only time will tell how governments in the EU will react to the wider adoption of crypto coins. The post Germany says Bitcoin is ‘not real money’ appeared first on Coin Rivet .
[Social Media Buzz]
#ApolloCurrency is up over 50%
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It's time for an update and video analysis!
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https://t.co/pBsMM38kZC
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$BTC $ETH $XRP $LTC $LINK $TRX $KMD $BAT $BCH $EOS $ADA $NEO $APL $ZRX $ZEC $HOT $RVN $VET $BSV $IOT $BNB $ETC $KCS $WTC $QTUM $DASH $DOGE $DGB $DBC $XTZ $XMR $XVG $BRD $BMX || @SophiaS29057227 Yes, I can connect you to a direct Bitcoin seller if you want to buy bitcoin. It is very fast and easy to get bitcoin with him
Send me a direct message! || @IsPedroLiveira DEFINITIVO: Descubra o Método...
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9342.53, 9360.88, 9267.56, 8804.88, 8813.58, 9055.53, 8757.79, 8815.66, 8808.26, 8708.09
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 225.87, 224.32, 224.95, 225.62, 222.88, 228.49, 229.05, 228.80, 229.71, 229.98, 232.40, 233.54, 236.82, 250.90, 249.28, 249.01, 244.61, 245.21, 243.94, 246.99, 244.30, 240.51, 242.80, 243.59, 250.99, 249.01, 257.06, 263.07, 258.62, 255.41, 256.34, 260.89, 271.91, 269.03, 266.21, 270.79, 269.23, 284.89, 293.11, 310.87, 292.05, 287.46, 285.83, 278.09, 279.47, 274.90, 273.61, 278.98, 275.83, 277.22, 276.05, 288.28, 288.70, 292.69, 293.62, 294.43, 289.59, 287.72, 284.65, 281.60, 282.61, 281.23, 285.22, 281.88, 278.58, 279.58, 261.00, 265.08, 264.47, 270.39, 266.38, 264.08, 265.68, 261.55, 258.51, 257.98, 211.08, 226.68, 235.35, 232.57, 230.39, 228.17, 210.49, 221.61, 225.83, 224.77, 231.40, 229.78, 228.76, 230.06.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-08-31]
Volume: 20710700, RSI (14-day): 41.64, 50-day EMA: 251.16, 200-day EMA: 257.53
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1131.60, Gold RSI: 52.73
Oil Price: 49.20, Oil RSI: 62.28
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Fidelity May Abandon American Express. What's Wrong With AmEx?: This week, Bloomberg reported that Fidelity Investments is considering dropping American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) to search for new partners. The company may bring Visa Inc (NYSE: V ) or MasterCard Inc (NYSE: MA ) onboard instead, something that traders see as a significant threat to American Express' growth model. A Concern For AmEx? American Express' Global Network Services business represents a major growth catalyst for the company, so being abandoned by Fidelity could be a blow to the firm's future plans. The rumors about Fidelity came shortly after AmEx split from partnerships with Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST ) and JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU ), a worrying trend for investors. Facilitating transactions is an important part of American Express' business, and many analysts believe that the recent failed partnerships suggest that the company is facing competitive challenges. Related Link: Baird: Mastercard's Growth 'Is A Little Bit Slower,' Next Year 'Should Have Nice Acceleration' Bigger And Better While the break-up rumors are concerning, things aren't all bad for the credit card company. Earlier this year, American Express revealed a new loyalty program that included partnerships with several big name retailers. Companies like AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: ATT ), Macy's, Inc. (NYSE: M ) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM ) have signed on to AmEx's latest loyalty program, Plenti. Plenti, though managed by American Express, allows members of the loyalty program to use any purchase, whether it's with an AmEx card or not, at a participating partner toward their loyalty points. Points accrued at one retailer can then be spent at another. What's Next For AmEx? While Plenti represents an opportunity for American Express, many wonder if the loyalty program is enough to offset the company's difficult year. Merchant coalitions like Plenti are generally difficult to manage as they require that none of the participating companies are competitors. That will limit the number of vendors who can participate and could make it difficult for the scheme to grow its customer base. Story continues Image credit: Marcus Quigmire, Wikimedia See more from Benzinga What Effect Does Marijuana Have On Your Brain? Bitcoin To Expand In Iran Another Trading Glitch Underscores The Need For Backup Plans © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Fidelity May Abandon American Express. What's Wrong With AmEx?: This week,Bloombergreported that Fidelity Investments is considering droppingAmerican Express Company(NYSE:AXP) to search for new partners. The company may bringVisa Inc(NYSE:V) orMasterCard Inc(NYSE:MA) onboard instead, something that traders see as a significant threat to American Express' growth model.
A Concern For AmEx?
American Express' Global Network Services business represents a major growth catalyst for the company, so being abandoned by Fidelity could be a blow to the firm's future plans.
The rumors about Fidelity came shortly after AmEx split from partnerships withCostco Wholesale Corporation(NASDAQ:COST) andJetBlue Airways Corporation(NASDAQ:JBLU), a worrying trend for investors. Facilitating transactions is an important part of American Express' business, and many analysts believe that the recent failed partnerships suggest that the company is facing competitive challenges.
Related Link:Baird: Mastercard's Growth 'Is A Little Bit Slower,' Next Year 'Should Have Nice Acceleration'
Bigger And Better
While the break-up rumors are concerning, things aren't all bad for the credit card company. Earlier this year, American Express revealed anew loyalty programthat included partnerships with several big name retailers. Companies likeAT&T, Inc.(NYSE:ATT),Macy's, Inc.(NYSE:M) andExxon Mobil Corporation(NYSE:XOM) have signed on to AmEx's latest loyalty program, Plenti.
Plenti, though managed by American Express, allows members of the loyalty program to use any purchase, whether it's with an AmEx card or not, at a participating partner toward their loyalty points. Points accrued at one retailer can then be spent at another.
What's Next For AmEx?
While Plenti represents an opportunity for American Express, many wonder if the loyalty program is enough to offset the company's difficult year. Merchant coalitions like Plenti are generally difficult to manage as they require that none of the participating companies are competitors. That will limit the number of vendors who can participate and could make it difficult for the scheme to grow its customer base.
Image credit: Marcus Quigmire, Wikimedia
See more from Benzinga
• What Effect Does Marijuana Have On Your Brain?
• Bitcoin To Expand In Iran
• Another Trading Glitch Underscores The Need For Backup Plans
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || U.K. Cops Arrest 6 Teens Linked to Sony, Microsoft Cyber-Attacks: British law-enforcement officials have arrested six male teenagers suspected of being members of the Lizard Squad hacking crew that disabled Sony s PlayStation Network and Microsoft s Xbox Live last year. The U.K.s National Crime Agency, the equivalent to the U.S.s Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the suspects used a tool to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to cripple online servers of gaming companies as well as e-retailers, a national British newspaper and a school. The NCA did not identify the targeted companies but reports said the arrests are related to several attacks on the PlayStation and Xbox networks last year . Amazon also was among the sites attacked by the group, Bloomberg reported . The NCAs Operation Vivarium tracked down individuals who bought Lizard Stresser, software for launching DDoS attacks that flood servers with bogus data, using payment services such as Bitcoin to remain anonymous. The suspects detained for questioning this week are all between the ages of 15 and 18. This multiagency operation illustrates the commitment of the NCA and its partners to pursuing people who think they can criminally disrupt important public services or legitimate businesses, Tony Adams, head of investigations for the NCAs National Cyber Crime Unit, said in announcing the arrests Friday. Adams added, One of our key priorities is to engage with those on the fringes of cyber criminality, to help them understand the consequences of cyber crime and how they can channel their abilities into productive and lucrative legitimate careers. Earlier this year, the NCA arrested two other British teens suspected of using Lizard Stresser. In addition, the agency said, officials are investigating approximately 50 addresses linked to individuals registered on the Lizard Stresser website but who are currently not believed to have carried out any attacks. The NCAs arrests this week are unrelated to the devastating hack on Sony Pictures systems last November , which resulted in a massive breach of internal studio documents and leaks of several films to piracy networks . U.S. officials have accused the North Korean regime of facilitating that attack. Story continues Related stories Amazon to Launch Prime Instant Video in Japan, Taking on Netflix Maria Bello to Co-Star Opposite Billy Bob Thornton in Amazon's Legal Drama 'Trial' TV Review: 'Hand of God' Get more from Variety and Variety411 : Follow us on Twitter , Facebook , Newsletter || U.K. Cops Arrest 6 Teens Linked to Sony, Microsoft Cyber-Attacks: British law-enforcement officials have arrested six male teenagers suspected of being members of the Lizard Squad hacking crew that disabled Sony s PlayStation Network and Microsoft s Xbox Live last year. The U.K.s National Crime Agency, the equivalent to the U.S.s Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the suspects used a tool to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks to cripple online servers of gaming companies as well as e-retailers, a national British newspaper and a school. The NCA did not identify the targeted companies but reports said the arrests are related to several attacks on the PlayStation and Xbox networks last year . Amazon also was among the sites attacked by the group, Bloomberg reported . The NCAs Operation Vivarium tracked down individuals who bought Lizard Stresser, software for launching DDoS attacks that flood servers with bogus data, using payment services such as Bitcoin to remain anonymous. The suspects detained for questioning this week are all between the ages of 15 and 18. This multiagency operation illustrates the commitment of the NCA and its partners to pursuing people who think they can criminally disrupt important public services or legitimate businesses, Tony Adams, head of investigations for the NCAs National Cyber Crime Unit, said in announcing the arrests Friday. Adams added, One of our key priorities is to engage with those on the fringes of cyber criminality, to help them understand the consequences of cyber crime and how they can channel their abilities into productive and lucrative legitimate careers. Earlier this year, the NCA arrested two other British teens suspected of using Lizard Stresser. In addition, the agency said, officials are investigating approximately 50 addresses linked to individuals registered on the Lizard Stresser website but who are currently not believed to have carried out any attacks. The NCAs arrests this week are unrelated to the devastating hack on Sony Pictures systems last November , which resulted in a massive breach of internal studio documents and leaks of several films to piracy networks . U.S. officials have accused the North Korean regime of facilitating that attack. Story continues Related stories Amazon to Launch Prime Instant Video in Japan, Taking on Netflix Maria Bello to Co-Star Opposite Billy Bob Thornton in Amazon's Legal Drama 'Trial' TV Review: 'Hand of God' Get more from Variety and Variety411 : Follow us on Twitter , Facebook , Newsletter || Overstock to Buy SpeedRoute for More Transparent Trading: Online retailerOverstock.com, Inc.’s OSTK cryptofinance subsidiary, t0, has signed a deal to acquire SpeedRoute and related group of privately held financial technology companies.Though the terms of the deal have not been disclosed, the total purchase price will be paid in cash and Overstock common stock. The acquisition of certain assets remains subject to regulatory requirements, with the majority of the deal already closed.SpeedRoute LLC, founded in Apr 2000, is a brokerage firm that currently handles approximately 2.5% of U.S. equity order flow.Overstock, a Bitcoin supporter, hopes to reinvent the public stock market using cryptosecurities, or virtual stocks based on bitcoin's blockchain technology. Bitcoin is a digital currency platform with no central regulating authority involved in the transactions. It is also called crypto currency because it utilizes military-grade cryptography to protect users against fraud. Bitcoin and other cryptocurencies operate on blockchain which is a distributed public ledger.Cryptosecurities will likely be the next major change in the stock market. With this deal, Overstock will enter a new financial technology space. SpeedRoute’s infrastructure and its underlying technologies will help the company to connect t0 securities trading platform with the entire U.S. equity market. This will bring in more transparency and efficiency to the existing capital markets, which was the basic idea behind t0.com.The blockchain technology allows investors and buyers to trail down their purchases and ownership of cryptosecurities, ensuring complete transparency. Moreover, the t0.com blockchain technology facilitates same-day settlement of the securities.In June, Overstock offered its first corporate bond, valued at US$25 million, as cryptosecurities to qualified institutional investors. This revolutionary development is part of the company's larger cryptofinance initiative known as Medici.Overstock.com is engaged in selling branded as well as non-branded merchandise through its websites. Customers can bargain before purchase and often get discounts. A major portion of its revenues is generated in the U.S. In the last reported quarter, the company’s earnings of 7 cents missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 46.15%.Currently, Overstock has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the technology sector are Amazon AMZN, Stamps.com STMP and Travelport Worldwide Limited TVPT. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportAMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis ReportOVERSTOCK.COM (OSTK): Free Stock Analysis ReportSTAMPS.COM INC (STMP): Free Stock Analysis ReportTRAVELPORT WWD (TVPT): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research || Overstock to Buy SpeedRoute for More Transparent Trading: Online retailer Overstock.com, Inc. ’s OSTK cryptofinance subsidiary, t0, has signed a deal to acquire SpeedRoute and related group of privately held financial technology companies. Though the terms of the deal have not been disclosed, the total purchase price will be paid in cash and Overstock common stock. The acquisition of certain assets remains subject to regulatory requirements, with the majority of the deal already closed. SpeedRoute LLC, founded in Apr 2000, is a brokerage firm that currently handles approximately 2.5% of U.S. equity order flow. Overstock, a Bitcoin supporter, hopes to reinvent the public stock market using cryptosecurities, or virtual stocks based on bitcoin's blockchain technology. Bitcoin is a digital currency platform with no central regulating authority involved in the transactions. It is also called crypto currency because it utilizes military-grade cryptography to protect users against fraud. Bitcoin and other cryptocurencies operate on blockchain which is a distributed public ledger. Cryptosecurities will likely be the next major change in the stock market. With this deal, Overstock will enter a new financial technology space. SpeedRoute’s infrastructure and its underlying technologies will help the company to connect t0 securities trading platform with the entire U.S. equity market. This will bring in more transparency and efficiency to the existing capital markets, which was the basic idea behind t0.com. The blockchain technology allows investors and buyers to trail down their purchases and ownership of cryptosecurities, ensuring complete transparency. Moreover, the t0.com blockchain technology facilitates same-day settlement of the securities. In June, Overstock offered its first corporate bond, valued at US$25 million, as cryptosecurities to qualified institutional investors. This revolutionary development is part of the company's larger cryptofinance initiative known as Medici. Overstock.com is engaged in selling branded as well as non-branded merchandise through its websites. Customers can bargain before purchase and often get discounts. A major portion of its revenues is generated in the U.S. In the last reported quarter, the company’s earnings of 7 cents missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 46.15%. Currently, Overstock has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the technology sector are Amazon AMZN, Stamps.com STMP and Travelport Worldwide Limited TVPT. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report OVERSTOCK.COM (OSTK): Free Stock Analysis Report STAMPS.COM INC (STMP): Free Stock Analysis Report TRAVELPORT WWD (TVPT): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research || 5 technology stocks to buy at a discount: After a day of relief fromChina-fueled concerns, some CNBC"Fast Money"traders looked to a Chinese company for upside.
Major U.S. averagesjumped sharply Wednesdayin their best day since 2011, as investors shrugged off fears about the world's second-largest economy. U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba(NYSE: BABA), though, closed barely higher and are down 33 percent this year.
"Alibaba is always a play on the Chinese consumer," said trader Brian Kelly, saying it "is the buy here" for the long term.
Trader Tim Seymour-who owns the stock-said he would stick with it. Alibaba makes an appealing play on its current valuation and projected growth, he added.
Read MoreApple stock flashes a warning signal
Big U.S. tech stocks, meanwhile, helped drive the rally. Netflix(NASDAQ: NFLX)-which climbed 8 percent on the day-looks like a buy after a stark drop earlier this month, said trader Guy Adami.
"The market's changed. Netflix hasn't," he said.
Meanwhile, Google(NASDAQ: GOOGL)and Facebook(NASDAQ: FB)jumped 8 and 5 percent, respectively, on Wednesday. Priceline(NASDAQ: PCLN)also climbed 4 percent.
Read MoreThe morning tech rally scares Mark Cuban
Trader Steve Grasso contended that all of those stocks look appealing, even after their surges.
Disclosures:
Tim Seymour
Tim Seymour is long AAPL, T, BAC, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JPM, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX, YHOO.
Steve Grasso
Grasso is long AAPL, BA, BAC, CC, DD, DIS, DECK, EVGN, FIT, KBH, MJNA, MU, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. His kids are long EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. His firm and some of its partners are long DVN, BP, COP, CVX, FCX, NE, NEM, OXY, RIG, VALE
Brian Kelly
Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=; TWTR call spread, U.S. Dollar; he is short Euro, Ruble, Yen, Yuan, US Treasuries.
Guy Adami
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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• Personal Finance || 5 technology stocks to buy at a discount: After a day of relief from China -fueled concerns, some CNBC "Fast Money" traders looked to a Chinese company for upside. Major U.S. averages jumped sharply Wednesday in their best day since 2011, as investors shrugged off fears about the world's second-largest economy. U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) , though, closed barely higher and are down 33 percent this year. "Alibaba is always a play on the Chinese consumer," said trader Brian Kelly, saying it "is the buy here" for the long term. Trader Tim Seymour-who owns the stock-said he would stick with it. Alibaba makes an appealing play on its current valuation and projected growth, he added. Read More Apple stock flashes a warning signal Big U.S. tech stocks, meanwhile, helped drive the rally. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) -which climbed 8 percent on the day-looks like a buy after a stark drop earlier this month, said trader Guy Adami. "The market's changed. Netflix hasn't," he said. Meanwhile, Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) jumped 8 and 5 percent, respectively, on Wednesday. Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) also climbed 4 percent. Read More The morning tech rally scares Mark Cuban Trader Steve Grasso contended that all of those stocks look appealing, even after their surges. Disclosures: Tim Seymour Tim Seymour is long AAPL, T, BAC, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JPM, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX, YHOO. Steve Grasso Grasso is long AAPL, BA, BAC, CC, DD, DIS, DECK, EVGN, FIT, KBH, MJNA, MU, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. His kids are long EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. His firm and some of its partners are long DVN, BP, COP, CVX, FCX, NE, NEM, OXY, RIG, VALE Brian Kelly Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=; TWTR call spread, U.S. Dollar; he is short Euro, Ruble, Yen, Yuan, US Treasuries. Guy Adami Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Digital-Based Markets Ramp Up in 2015, Lead By Under-the-Radar Gems: SALT LAKE CITY, UT / ACCESSWIRE / August 25, 2015 /In 2015, digital-based markets have emerged as standard bearers across the entire financial landscape. Mobile gaming, in particular, has stood out as a front-runner in the digital sector, with mobile games projected to gross between 20 and 30 billion this year alone. These games can be programmed and sold inexpensively allowing mobile gaming companies to thrive thanks to low production costs and budget expenses. Meanwhile, in-app purchases often entice consumers to spend ever-increasing amounts for digital content. When a new, free-to-play mobile game goes viral, but offers numerous in-game purchases, total revenues resulting from a single game can be substantial.
While the viral, swift dominance of the mobile gaming industry isn't news to most, the important thing for investors is the ability to identify which companies have the potential to be the next big thing. One possible candidate isTapinator Inc(TAPM). In the last two trading sessions,TAPMhas experienced big gains, rising over 60% to settle in at .255 per share. The company continues to crack Google Play's lists of the most popularly downloaded mobile games, and Tapinator's recent financial and operating results demonstrated quarterlyrevenues that grew 172%year-over-year and 49% quarter over quarter. Tapinator was also able to eliminate all previously outstanding debt via a financing transaction that improved the company's liquidity.
This is the company's fifth quarter in a row with substantial revenue growth. Coupled with a consistent schedule of newly released games, such as the extremely popularBurn It Down, which became a Top 50 iOS game, Tapinator appears to be on the right track for sustained long term growth. Average new daily downloads are up 268% year-over-year and 139% sequentially. In this industry, that kind of activity can only be achieved through strong word-of-mouth marketing and customer loyalty, which are the keys to producing the next big game to go viral.
Also making waves in the digital sector isAvra, IncDigital Currencies(AVRN). Like Tapinator, Avra is a potential new leader in their field that has also experienced recent gains. The company saw heavy volume on Friday that raised its stock up 27%, even despite downward trends in the Dow and Nasdaq figures for that particular session. Avra aims to be one of the first major players to bring one of the internet's biggest phenomena bitcoin to the masses.
Bitcoin is a digital currency traded online to make payments and buy merchandise. It exists without the regulation of a centralized banking system, which allows for lower fees, faster service, and less hassle. Avra's systems specialize in the use of bitcoin for the purpose of travel-based purchases in popular tourist stops like casinos, hotels, and airports. The locations targeted by the company are frequented by a tech-savvy demographic that falls between the ages of 21 and 35. Using bitcoin for their purchases allows for an easy, quick, and safe method of payment for customers who tend to be pressed for time and seeking an easy payment method.
Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc.(EKSO)is another new player in digital technologies with a product that has potential to break into a number of markets like healthcare, military, and consumer. Trading at 1.10 per share with an average volume of 731K, the company manufactures wearable bionic exoskeletons that increase human strength, endurance, and mobility - a product with multiple purposes such as aiding the disabled or increasing the efficiency of military tactics. The company has gained traction recently with a software upgrade earlier in the summer, and its CEO appearing on FOX Business Network at the beginning of August.
For investors interested in TAPM or EKSO, a company with a similar profile isAnavex Life Sciences Corp(AVXL), a clinical-stage bio pharmaceutical company with a varied portfolio of potential drug candidates to treat CNS disorders such as Alzheimer's. AVXL trades at 1.46 with a market cap of over 175M.
With multiple industries driving toward digital products and services, the tech giants of today could soon be yesterday's news, supplanted by young companies on the rise like Tapinator, Inc. or Avra. Mobile gaming in particular is one of the most exciting, rapidly moving sectors on Wall Street. A stock like TAPM could be the seed that fuels growth for investors.
DISCLAIMER:
Seraphim Strategies is a third party publisher. Not a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may not sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. Market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are not a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is not to be interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. For full disclaimer please readhttp://tomorrowsbluechips.com/disclaimer/This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
"Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may," "future," "plan" or "planned," "will" or "should," "expected," "anticipates," "draft," "eventually," or "projected." You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements.
SOURCE:Seraphim Strategies || Digital-Based Markets Ramp Up in 2015, Lead By Under-the-Radar Gems: SALT LAKE CITY, UT / ACCESSWIRE / August 25, 2015 / In 2015, digital-based markets have emerged as standard bearers across the entire financial landscape. Mobile gaming, in particular, has stood out as a front-runner in the digital sector, with mobile games projected to gross between 20 and 30 billion this year alone. These games can be programmed and sold inexpensively allowing mobile gaming companies to thrive thanks to low production costs and budget expenses. Meanwhile, in-app purchases often entice consumers to spend ever-increasing amounts for digital content. When a new, free-to-play mobile game goes viral, but offers numerous in-game purchases, total revenues resulting from a single game can be substantial. While the viral, swift dominance of the mobile gaming industry isn't news to most, the important thing for investors is the ability to identify which companies have the potential to be the next big thing. One possible candidate is Tapinator Inc (TAPM) . In the last two trading sessions, TAPM has experienced big gains, rising over 60% to settle in at .255 per share. The company continues to crack Google Play's lists of the most popularly downloaded mobile games, and Tapinator's recent financial and operating results demonstrated quarterly revenues that grew 172% year-over-year and 49% quarter over quarter. Tapinator was also able to eliminate all previously outstanding debt via a financing transaction that improved the company's liquidity. This is the company's fifth quarter in a row with substantial revenue growth. Coupled with a consistent schedule of newly released games, such as the extremely popular Burn It Down , which became a Top 50 iOS game, Tapinator appears to be on the right track for sustained long term growth. Average new daily downloads are up 268% year-over-year and 139% sequentially. In this industry, that kind of activity can only be achieved through strong word-of-mouth marketing and customer loyalty, which are the keys to producing the next big game to go viral. Story continues Also making waves in the digital sector is Avra, Inc Digital Currencies (AVRN) . Like Tapinator, Avra is a potential new leader in their field that has also experienced recent gains. The company saw heavy volume on Friday that raised its stock up 27%, even despite downward trends in the Dow and Nasdaq figures for that particular session. Avra aims to be one of the first major players to bring one of the internet's biggest phenomena bitcoin to the masses. Bitcoin is a digital currency traded online to make payments and buy merchandise. It exists without the regulation of a centralized banking system, which allows for lower fees, faster service, and less hassle. Avra's systems specialize in the use of bitcoin for the purpose of travel-based purchases in popular tourist stops like casinos, hotels, and airports. The locations targeted by the company are frequented by a tech-savvy demographic that falls between the ages of 21 and 35. Using bitcoin for their purchases allows for an easy, quick, and safe method of payment for customers who tend to be pressed for time and seeking an easy payment method. Ekso Bionics Holding s, Inc. (EKSO) is another new player in digital technologies with a product that has potential to break into a number of markets like healthcare, military, and consumer. Trading at 1.10 per share with an average volume of 731K, the company manufactures wearable bionic exoskeletons that increase human strength, endurance, and mobility - a product with multiple purposes such as aiding the disabled or increasing the efficiency of military tactics. The company has gained traction recently with a software upgrade earlier in the summer, and its CEO appearing on FOX Business Network at the beginning of August. For investors interested in TAPM or EKSO, a company with a similar profile is Anavex Life Sciences Corp (AVXL) , a clinical-stage bio pharmaceutical company with a varied portfolio of potential drug candidates to treat CNS disorders such as Alzheimer's. AVXL trades at 1.46 with a market cap of over 175M. With multiple industries driving toward digital products and services, the tech giants of today could soon be yesterday's news, supplanted by young companies on the rise like Tapinator, Inc. or Avra. Mobile gaming in particular is one of the most exciting, rapidly moving sectors on Wall Street. A stock like TAPM could be the seed that fuels growth for investors. DISCLAIMER: Seraphim Strategies is a third party publisher. Not a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may not sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. Market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are not a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is not to be interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks. For full disclaimer please read http://tomorrowsbluechips.com/disclaimer/ This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may," "future," "plan" or "planned," "will" or "should," "expected," "anticipates," "draft," "eventually," or "projected." You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. SOURCE: Seraphim Strategies
[Social Media Buzz]
1 #BTC (#Bitcoin) quotes:
$227.51/$227.66 #Bitstamp
$225.00/$225.40 #BTCe
⇢$-2.66/$-2.11
$228.03/$228.14 #Coinbase
⇢$0.37/$0.63 || Current price: 205.45€ $BTCEUR $btc #bitcoin 2015-09-01 00:20:03 CEST || LIVE: Profit = $113.03 (0.31 %). BUY B158.80 @ $225.00 (#BTCe). SELL @ $226.40 (#Bitfinex) #bitcoin #btc - http://www.projectcoin.org || Current price: 146.59£ $BTCGBP $btc #bitcoin 2015-08-31 13:00:02 BST || 1 #BTC (#Bitcoin) quotes:
$228.67/$229.68 #Bitstamp
$224.82/$225.00 #BTCe
⇢$-4.86/$-3....
|
228.12, 229.28, 227.18, 230.30, 235.02, 239.84, 239.85, 243.61, 238.17, 238.48
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 566.35, 578.29, 575.04, 587.78, 592.69, 591.05, 587.80, 592.10, 589.12, 587.56, 585.59, 570.47, 567.24, 577.44, 573.22, 574.32, 575.63, 581.70, 581.31, 586.75, 583.41, 580.18, 577.76, 579.65, 569.95, 573.91, 574.11, 577.50, 575.47, 572.30, 575.54, 598.21, 608.63, 606.59, 610.44, 614.54, 626.32, 622.86, 623.51, 606.72, 608.24, 609.24, 610.68, 607.16, 606.97, 605.98, 609.87, 609.23, 608.31, 597.15, 596.30, 602.84, 602.62, 600.83, 608.04, 606.17, 604.73, 605.69, 609.73, 613.98, 610.89, 612.13, 610.20, 612.51, 613.02, 617.12, 619.11, 616.75, 618.99, 641.07, 636.19, 636.79, 640.38, 638.65, 641.63, 639.19, 637.96, 630.52, 630.86, 632.83, 657.29, 657.07, 653.76, 657.59, 678.30, 688.31, 689.65, 714.48, 701.86, 700.97.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-10-31]
Volume: 97064400, RSI (14-day): 75.11, 50-day EMA: 638.85, 200-day EMA: 579.09
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1271.50, Gold RSI: 45.37
Oil Price: 46.86, Oil RSI: 41.15
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
What traders are buying if Trump wins: The " Fast Money " traders on Friday weighed stocks they would buy if Donald Trump won the election. U.S. markets turned negative earlier in the day after the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it is investigating new emails related to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton . Trader Steve Grasso said investors should be keeping an eye on securities that are interest-rate sensitive like utilities or gold. He said it wouldn't make sense to increase risk exposure in an overall market that is selling off. Trader Brian Kelly said General Electric is the best bet in a selloff because both Clinton and Trump have promised to increase infrastructure spending. Disclosures: TIM SEYMOUR Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, CVX, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM and short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, TCEHY, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, and short EWG, HYG, IWM STEVE GRASSO Steve Grasso is long: BA, CC, CHK, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MON, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. His children own: EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. No short positions. Grasso's firm is long: VIRT, DVN, LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, GE, AIR, FP. BRIAN KELLY Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, long USO, SLV and Silver Futures, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and the Japanese yen. GUY ADAMI Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || What traders are buying if Trump wins: The "Fast Money" traders on Friday weighed stocks they would buy ifDonald Trumpwon the election.
U.S. markets turned negative earlier in the day after theFederal Bureau of Investigationannounced it isinvestigating new emailsrelated to Democratic nomineeHillary Clinton.
Trader Steve Grasso said investors should be keeping an eye on securities that are interest-rate sensitive like utilities or gold. He said it wouldn't make sense to increase risk exposure in an overall market that is selling off.
Trader Brian Kelly said General Electric is the best bet in a selloff because both Clinton and Trump have promised to increase infrastructure spending.
Disclosures:
TIM SEYMOUR
Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, CVX, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM and short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, TCEHY, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, and short EWG, HYG, IWM
STEVE GRASSO
Steve Grasso is long: BA, CC, CHK, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MON, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. His children own: EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. No short positions. Grasso's firm is long: VIRT, DVN, LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, GE, AIR, FP.
BRIAN KELLY
Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, long USO, SLV and Silver Futures, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and the Japanese yen.
GUY ADAMI
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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• Top News and Analysis
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• Personal Finance || Swiss rail operator to sell bitcoins at its ticket machines: ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's national railways firm SBB is branching out next month with the launch of a new service on its ticket machines to sell bitcoins, the web-based digital currency.
Beginning Nov. 11, customers will be able to trade Swiss francs for bitcoins using the ticket machines in a two-year experiment that will test Switzerland's appetite for the cryptocurrency, the state-owned company announced on Friday.
"There have been few possibilities to obtain bitcoins in Switzerland until now," SBB said. "With its 1,000-plus ticket machines, SBB operates a dense, around-the-clock distribution network that's suited for more than just ticket sales."
SBB is working with Zug-based digital payments firm SweePay to allow customers to top up their digital 'bitcoin wallet' accounts by mobile phone. Customers can exchange anywhere between 20 and 500 Swiss francs ($20-503) per transaction.
SBB will act as distributor, while the exchange will be performed by SweePay and require users to hold an account with a wallet service that allows storage of the digital currency.
Bitcoin is known for allowing users to move money across the world quickly and relatively anonymously but, on the Swiss ticket machines, users won't be able to procure it without a trace: customers will need to identify themselves using a Swiss mobile phone.
While bitcoins can be purchased, they won't be accepted as payment at the machines, meaning ticket revenues will be unaffected by changes in the bitcoin exchange rate.
($1 = 0.9943 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Greg Mahlich) || Swiss rail operator to sell bitcoins at its ticket machines: ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's national railways firm SBB is branching out next month with the launch of a new service on its ticket machines to sell bitcoins, the web-based digital currency. Beginning Nov. 11, customers will be able to trade Swiss francs for bitcoins using the ticket machines in a two-year experiment that will test Switzerland's appetite for the cryptocurrency, the state-owned company announced on Friday. "There have been few possibilities to obtain bitcoins in Switzerland until now," SBB said. "With its 1,000-plus ticket machines, SBB operates a dense, around-the-clock distribution network that's suited for more than just ticket sales." SBB is working with Zug-based digital payments firm SweePay to allow customers to top up their digital 'bitcoin wallet' accounts by mobile phone. Customers can exchange anywhere between 20 and 500 Swiss francs ($20-503) per transaction. SBB will act as distributor, while the exchange will be performed by SweePay and require users to hold an account with a wallet service that allows storage of the digital currency. Bitcoin is known for allowing users to move money across the world quickly and relatively anonymously but, on the Swiss ticket machines, users won't be able to procure it without a trace: customers will need to identify themselves using a Swiss mobile phone. While bitcoins can be purchased, they won't be accepted as payment at the machines, meaning ticket revenues will be unaffected by changes in the bitcoin exchange rate. ($1 = 0.9943 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Greg Mahlich) || Swiss rail operator to sell bitcoins at its ticket machines: ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's national railways firm SBB is branching out next month with the launch of a new service on its ticket machines to sell bitcoins, the web-based digital currency. Beginning Nov. 11, customers will be able to trade Swiss francs for bitcoins using the ticket machines in a two-year experiment that will test Switzerland's appetite for the cryptocurrency, the state-owned company announced on Friday. "There have been few possibilities to obtain bitcoins in Switzerland until now," SBB said. "With its 1,000-plus ticket machines, SBB operates a dense, around-the-clock distribution network that's suited for more than just ticket sales." SBB is working with Zug-based digital payments firm SweePay to allow customers to top up their digital 'bitcoin wallet' accounts by mobile phone. Customers can exchange anywhere between 20 and 500 Swiss francs ($20-503) per transaction. SBB will act as distributor, while the exchange will be performed by SweePay and require users to hold an account with a wallet service that allows storage of the digital currency. Bitcoin is known for allowing users to move money across the world quickly and relatively anonymously but, on the Swiss ticket machines, users won't be able to procure it without a trace: customers will need to identify themselves using a Swiss mobile phone. While bitcoins can be purchased, they won't be accepted as payment at the machines, meaning ticket revenues will be unaffected by changes in the bitcoin exchange rate. ($1 = 0.9943 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Greg Mahlich) || Swiss rail operator to sell bitcoins at its ticket machines: ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's national railways firm SBB is branching out next month with the launch of a new service on its ticket machines to sell bitcoins, the web-based digital currency. Beginning Nov. 11, customers will be able to trade Swiss francs for bitcoins using the ticket machines in a two-year experiment that will test Switzerland's appetite for the cryptocurrency, the state-owned company announced on Friday. "There have been few possibilities to obtain bitcoins in Switzerland until now," SBB said. "With its 1,000-plus ticket machines, SBB operates a dense, around-the-clock distribution network that's suited for more than just ticket sales." SBB is working with Zug-based digital payments firm SweePay to allow customers to top up their digital 'bitcoin wallet' accounts by mobile phone. Customers can exchange anywhere between 20 and 500 Swiss francs ($20-503) per transaction. SBB will act as distributor, while the exchange will be performed by SweePay and require users to hold an account with a wallet service that allows storage of the digital currency. Bitcoin is known for allowing users to move money across the world quickly and relatively anonymously but, on the Swiss ticket machines, users won't be able to procure it without a trace: customers will need to identify themselves using a Swiss mobile phone. While bitcoins can be purchased, they won't be accepted as payment at the machines, meaning ticket revenues will be unaffected by changes in the bitcoin exchange rate. ($1 = 0.9943 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Greg Mahlich) || ETF Winners and Losers If Dollar Rally Persists: October is shaping up to be a great month for the U.S. dollar. Month-to-date, the U.S. Dollar Index is up 3.4%, a sizable move for the world's most important currency. October's rally has pushed the buck into positive territory for the year, and to the highest level since February.
A Brexit-fueled slide in the British pound and growing expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike in December are the two biggest drivers of the latest jump in the Dollar Index.
The dollar now finds itself near key levels that could turn out to be extremely meaningful not just for the currency itself, but for broader financial markets. Currently, the Dollar Index is trading at 98.6, less than 2% below the multiyear high of 100 set last year.
US Dollar Index
The Dollar Index ticks into the green for the year after surging 12.8% in 2014 and 9.3% in 2015.
"If it can break above that level in a meaningful fashion, it is going to be incredibly bullish for the dollar on a technical basis," wrote Matt Maley, equity strategist for Miller Tabak, in a recent research note.
Though Maley doesn't consider a Dollar Index "breakout" above 100 his base-case scenario, the fact that the index is so close to this key level means investors should at the very least be prepared for another big increase in the dollar.
Impact On Currency ETFs
In the ETF world, the most obvious impact from a dollar breakout will be oncurrency ETFs. The $863 millionPowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF (UUP)(which tracks the U.S. Dollar Index), and the $217 millionWisdomTree Bloomberg US Dollar Bullish Fund (USDU)(which tracks the broader Bloomberg Dollar Index), both stand to benefit from gains in the greenback.
Certain ETFs tied to single-currency pairs will also benefit, such as theProShares UltraShort Euro ETF (EUO)and theProShares UltraShort Yen ETF (YCS), which provide 2x-leveraged exposure to the dollar against the euro and yen, respectively.
On the flip side, most of the other currency ETFs on the market provide investors with short dollar exposure and would likely get hit hard if the dollar continues to rally.
Currency-Hedged ETFs Back In Focus
A spike in the dollar will also putcurrency-hedged ETFsback in focus for investors. These ETFs were extremely popular in 2014 and 2015, when the dollar was surging, but fell out of favor this year, as the currency stalled.
For example, theWisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (HEDJ)was the most popular ETF of 2015, with inflows of $13.9 billion, according to FactSet. In sharp contrast, the ETF is 2016's least popular ETF, with outflows of $7.4 billion.
When the dollar is rising, vanilla funds with international exposure face pressure as their holdings―which are denominated in foreign currencies―lose value when translated back into dollars. Currency-hedged ETFs offset these losses by shorting the foreign currencies in question. In the case of HEDJ, it shorts the euro to offset the underlying long euro position of its equity holdings.
HEDJ, like other currency-hedged ETFs, tends to outperform its vanilla counterparts in a rising-dollar environment and underperform in a falling-dollar environment.
Pressure On Large-Cap Equity ETFs
Though currency-related exchange-traded funds will be the most impacted, any significant increase in the dollar will reverberate throughout financial markets.
Many U.S. companies will have to deal with a much more challenging export environment as a strong dollar makes them less competitive. Those same companies will see their overseas profits reduced when converted back into dollars.
Stocks of these multinationals tend to be concentrated in large-cap indexes such as the S&P 500 (the percentage of products and services produced or sold by S&P 500 companies outside the U.S. was 44.3% in 2015). Thus, ETFs such as theSPDR S&P 500 (SPY)could face head winds from the dollar's ascent.
In the fixed-income markets, a strong buck makes it more difficult for foreign governments and companies to service their dollar-denominated debt. In turn, ETFs such as theiShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (EMB), which has seen a lot of interest this year, may stumble if the Dollar Index spikes well above 100.
Contact Sumit Roy [email protected].
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Permalink| © Copyright 2016ETF.com.All rights reserved || First Bitcoin Capital Solves Medical Cannabis Dispensary Cash Dilemma Via INNOVATIVE Merchant Credit Card Services: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 27, 2016 /FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP. (BITCF), a leading bitcoin and cryptocurrency developer, specializing in both blockchain and online merchant payment solutions for medical marijuana dispensaries and other high-risk merchant accounts and services, today announced the signing of a merchant account processing agent agreement with a credit card processor for the states of California and Oregon. Under the agreement, BITCF will provide a full suite of financial services for the medical marijuana industry: merchant processing and POS solutions through its alliance network, a fully compliant, user friendly solution to accept Credit and Debit Cards through traditional Merchant Card Processing networks. We intend to add more states as additional legal opinions are provided by our credit card processor provider’s counsel.
First Bitcoin is also developing a system that will enable dispensaries to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of legal payment. Stater of California has already enacted legislation that makes Bitcoin and similar digital currencies legal tender.
BITCF has developed specific programs to meet the unique needs of the medical cannabis industry. Offering merchant services at competitive rates for businesses operating legally under state law of California and Oregon, the company can now provide financial services not typically available from conventional banks.
While legalization of marijuana in many forms – and in many states – garnered over $5 billion dollars in 2016, the sums are expected to grow for 2017. More innovative and unique products are being created, and the stigma that once surrounded cannabis is slowly fading. These changes are helping the medical cannabis industry to prosper now that federal policies allow dispensaries to sell, grow, or possess cannabis while compliant with state laws. BITCF will only provide these services where federal policies allow our business model to proceed for dispensaries that are fully compliant with state and country laws, rules and regulations.
Should your dispensary be interested in these services please contact us by email:[email protected]
According to our merchant processor:
Our processor introduces the first completely sanctioned credit card solution for the Marijuana Industry. Unlike most merchant accounts that are currently being used by many dispensaries, our processor Acquirers approve, accept and fully acknowledge their engagement with State licensed legal Marihuana Dispensaries.
Our processor is an "IaaS". Infrastructure as a Service ("IaaS") and provider of an innovative array of synergistic services that include, advertising, affiliate marketing, consortium of vendors in various markets including the high risk sector and payment processing into a seamless comprehensive solution. Their mission is to utilize IaaS to provide protection and enhanced privacy for online consumers as well as all participating contractual Partners within their Network.
Our processor employs a proprietary method of transacting on behalf of their Partners. Our processor also manages the customer database with its Partners and offers consumer protection services for their registered Users. They also operate through clearance and settlement systems that admit only BSA-regulated financial institutions. Our processor is also fully PCI compliant.
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange-www.CoinQX.comWe see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new type of digital assets. "Being first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies." At this time Company owns and operates the following digital assets.
www.BITCoinCapitalcorp.comcompany website.
www.CoinQX.comCompany operated Cryptocurrency Exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site
www.BITminer.cccompany provides mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES,
$HILL and $GARY coins
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release .Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Solves Medical Cannabis Dispensary Cash Dilemma Via INNOVATIVE Merchant Credit Card Services: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 27, 2016 / FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP. ( BITCF ), a leading bitcoin and cryptocurrency developer, specializing in both blockchain and online merchant payment solutions for medical marijuana dispensaries and other high-risk merchant accounts and services, today announced the signing of a merchant account processing agent agreement with a credit card processor for the states of California and Oregon. Under the agreement, BITCF will provide a full suite of financial services for the medical marijuana industry: merchant processing and POS solutions through its alliance network, a fully compliant, user friendly solution to accept Credit and Debit Cards through traditional Merchant Card Processing networks. We intend to add more states as additional legal opinions are provided by our credit card processor provider’s counsel. First Bitcoin is also developing a system that will enable dispensaries to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of legal payment. Stater of California has already enacted legislation that makes Bitcoin and similar digital currencies legal tender. BITCF has developed specific programs to meet the unique needs of the medical cannabis industry. Offering merchant services at competitive rates for businesses operating legally under state law of California and Oregon, the company can now provide financial services not typically available from conventional banks. While legalization of marijuana in many forms – and in many states – garnered over $5 billion dollars in 2016, the sums are expected to grow for 2017. More innovative and unique products are being created, and the stigma that once surrounded cannabis is slowly fading. These changes are helping the medical cannabis industry to prosper now that federal policies allow dispensaries to sell, grow, or possess cannabis while compliant with state laws. BITCF will only provide these services where federal policies allow our business model to proceed for dispensaries that are fully compliant with state and country laws, rules and regulations. Story continues Should your dispensary be interested in these services please contact us by email: [email protected] According to our merchant processor: Our processor introduces the first completely sanctioned credit card solution for the Marijuana Industry. Unlike most merchant accounts that are currently being used by many dispensaries, our processor Acquirers approve, accept and fully acknowledge their engagement with State licensed legal Marihuana Dispensaries. Our processor is an "IaaS". Infrastructure as a Service ("IaaS") and provider of an innovative array of synergistic services that include, advertising, affiliate marketing, consortium of vendors in various markets including the high risk sector and payment processing into a seamless comprehensive solution. Their mission is to utilize IaaS to provide protection and enhanced privacy for online consumers as well as all participating contractual Partners within their Network. Our processor employs a proprietary method of transacting on behalf of their Partners. Our processor also manages the customer database with its Partners and offers consumer protection services for their registered Users. They also operate through clearance and settlement systems that admit only BSA-regulated financial institutions. Our processor is also fully PCI compliant. About the company: First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new type of digital assets. "Being first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies." At this time Company owns and operates the following digital assets. www.BITCoinCapitalcorp.com company website. www.CoinQX.com Company operated Cryptocurrency Exchange, registered with FINCEN. www.iCoiNEWS.com real time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site www.BITminer.cc company provides mining pool management services. www.2016coin.org online daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL and $GARY coins Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release .Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com . SOURCE: First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Solves Medical Cannabis Dispensary Cash Dilemma Via INNOVATIVE Merchant Credit Card Services: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 27, 2016 /FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP. (BITCF), a leading bitcoin and cryptocurrency developer, specializing in both blockchain and online merchant payment solutions for medical marijuana dispensaries and other high-risk merchant accounts and services, today announced the signing of a merchant account processing agent agreement with a credit card processor for the states of California and Oregon. Under the agreement, BITCF will provide a full suite of financial services for the medical marijuana industry: merchant processing and POS solutions through its alliance network, a fully compliant, user friendly solution to accept Credit and Debit Cards through traditional Merchant Card Processing networks. We intend to add more states as additional legal opinions are provided by our credit card processor provider’s counsel.
First Bitcoin is also developing a system that will enable dispensaries to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of legal payment. Stater of California has already enacted legislation that makes Bitcoin and similar digital currencies legal tender.
BITCF has developed specific programs to meet the unique needs of the medical cannabis industry. Offering merchant services at competitive rates for businesses operating legally under state law of California and Oregon, the company can now provide financial services not typically available from conventional banks.
While legalization of marijuana in many forms – and in many states – garnered over $5 billion dollars in 2016, the sums are expected to grow for 2017. More innovative and unique products are being created, and the stigma that once surrounded cannabis is slowly fading. These changes are helping the medical cannabis industry to prosper now that federal policies allow dispensaries to sell, grow, or possess cannabis while compliant with state laws. BITCF will only provide these services where federal policies allow our business model to proceed for dispensaries that are fully compliant with state and country laws, rules and regulations.
Should your dispensary be interested in these services please contact us by email:[email protected]
According to our merchant processor:
Our processor introduces the first completely sanctioned credit card solution for the Marijuana Industry. Unlike most merchant accounts that are currently being used by many dispensaries, our processor Acquirers approve, accept and fully acknowledge their engagement with State licensed legal Marihuana Dispensaries.
Our processor is an "IaaS". Infrastructure as a Service ("IaaS") and provider of an innovative array of synergistic services that include, advertising, affiliate marketing, consortium of vendors in various markets including the high risk sector and payment processing into a seamless comprehensive solution. Their mission is to utilize IaaS to provide protection and enhanced privacy for online consumers as well as all participating contractual Partners within their Network.
Our processor employs a proprietary method of transacting on behalf of their Partners. Our processor also manages the customer database with its Partners and offers consumer protection services for their registered Users. They also operate through clearance and settlement systems that admit only BSA-regulated financial institutions. Our processor is also fully PCI compliant.
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange-www.CoinQX.comWe see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new type of digital assets. "Being first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies." At this time Company owns and operates the following digital assets.
www.BITCoinCapitalcorp.comcompany website.
www.CoinQX.comCompany operated Cryptocurrency Exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site
www.BITminer.cccompany provides mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES,
$HILL and $GARY coins
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release .Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || Mergers and Acquisitions Surge; MandA Funds Flat: There’s been another wave of headline-making mergers and acquisitions this year following a hot year for deals in 2015, the latest of which was the blockbuster $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner deal announced this week. If you are an ETF investor, does a pickup in M&A activity offer you any investment opportunity? In theory, yes. There are two ETFs in the market today that look to capitalize specifically on these types of corporate deals through long/short hedge-fundlike portfolios. They are: IQ Merger Arbitrage ETF (MNA) , $130 million in AUM ProShares Merger ETF (MRGR) , $5.4 million in AUM But the reality is that the pickup in M&A activity does not necessarily mean an uptick in the performance of these funds. Consider that, other than the AT&T-Time Warner deal, there have been some pretty notable ones recently, as Bloomberg reported : the British American Tobacco-Reynolds American $58 billion deal; the Qualcomm-NXP Semiconductors $46 billion deal; the Anheuser-Busch InBev bid to buy SABMiller for $100 billion; and talks of a “possible” CBS-Viacom $30 billion deal. And yet, here’s how these two ETFs have performed relative to the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) this year—they have practically not gone anywhere: Chart courtesy of Stockcharts.com Flood Of Deals Don’t Boost Performance “Both ETFs seek to benefit from a merger arbitrage situation, where a stock will not trade as high as the terms of the deal, on risks the deal may not close as expected,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of ETF research at S&P Global. “While M&A activity has picked up recently, these ETFs have lagged the S&P 500 index, as their performance is less tied to the traditional catalysts for U.S. equities.” In the case of the AT&T bid to acquire Time Warner, Time Warner stock traded at a “discount to the deal’s value” because investors aren’t sure this deal will actually close, Rosenbluth notes. This is where merger arbitrage opportunity lies, but also the challenge. It’s not easy to predict where the next big deal is going to happen, and when the news is made public, the potential to capture outsized premiums tends to diminish. Story continues How MNA Works MNA tracks an index that takes long positions in firms that are acquisition targets, and shorts broad equity indexes to manage downside risk associated with the deals. Any money left over is tied to short-term bonds. The design is meant to capture any premium associated with the companies being acquired, much like a hedge fund would do. The long side of the portfolio weights deals based on liquidity—on average dollars traded—of a company. The short side of the portfolio can represent as much as 40% at times. One of the main risks associated with this strategy is that a deal can be broken, and when that happens, stock prices of the target companies tend to drop. In the case of MNA, stocks aren’t removed immediately from the portfolio if that happens—they stay on until the next monthly rebalance. That can impact returns. Bonds Top Allocation Right now, the portfolio’s largest single allocation is to short-term bonds in the form of a 19% allocation to the SPDR Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill (BIL ) and a 6.3% allocation to the iShares Short Treasury Bond (SHV) —that’s roughly a quarter of the portfolio. These ETFs are in the black year-to-date, but not by much. They have each returned less than 1% so far in 2016. Leading individual companies with a 9.6% weighting is LinkedIn, followed by St. Jude Medical and Rackspace—all takeover targets. On the short side of the portfolio, the largest weighting is to a few sector ETFs. The Healthcare Select Sector SPDR (XLV) and the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) are at a combined weighting of about -10%. XLV’s share price is down this year, but XLE has rallied more than 16%. MRGR Similar Build MRGR, launched in 2012, goes head to head with MNA and is built in much the same way. The fund is vastly smaller, however, having gathered only about $5.5 million in assets in four years. MRGR longs stocks of companies that are the targets of acquisition, and it shorts the acquiring firms, with the goal of capturing the spread between the two. The fund also has a currency-hedge component given that it’s global in scope. The underlying index in this strategy usually comprises about 40 announced deals. Among the fund’s largest single company holdings right now are names such as Yadkin Financial, Starz and Valspar Corp. Perhaps due to a positive stock market, or to low interest rates, or to companies’ need to grow through acquisition, or to all of the above, M&A deals continue to pop up as the year-end nears. Some even say that the massive AT&T/Time Warner deal “could potentially trigger another M&A wave due to the strategic merits of vertical integration,” according to Rosenbluth. These funds offer a direct vector for ETF investors to tap into the deals themselves, but it’s important to remember that more and bigger M&A deals don’t necessarily translate into more and bigger returns in these hedge-fundlike ETFs. Contact Cinthia Murphy at [email protected] Recommended Stories Top ETF Picks For 2017 Core Stock & Bond Portfolios Need New Look Mergers & Acquisitions Surge; M&A Funds Flat SEC Wants To Hear From You On Bitcoin ETF S&P 500: The Best Crowdsourcing Tool Permalink | © Copyright 2016 ETF.com. All rights reserved || Mergers and Acquisitions Surge; MandA Funds Flat: There’s been another wave of headline-making mergers and acquisitions this year following a hot year for deals in 2015, the latest of which was the blockbuster $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner deal announced this week.
If you are an ETF investor, does a pickup in M&A activity offer you any investment opportunity?
In theory, yes. There are two ETFs in the market today that look to capitalize specifically on these types of corporate deals through long/short hedge-fundlike portfolios. They are:
• IQ Merger Arbitrage ETF (MNA), $130 million in AUM
• ProShares Merger ETF (MRGR), $5.4 million in AUM
But the reality is that the pickup in M&A activity does not necessarily mean an uptick in the performance of these funds.
Consider that, other than the AT&T-Time Warner deal, there have been some pretty notable ones recently, asBloomberg reported: the British American Tobacco-Reynolds American $58 billion deal; the Qualcomm-NXP Semiconductors $46 billion deal; the Anheuser-Busch InBev bid to buy SABMiller for $100 billion; and talks of a “possible” CBS-Viacom $30 billion deal.
And yet, here’s how these two ETFs have performed relative to theSPDR S&P 500 (SPY)this year—they have practically not gone anywhere:
Chart courtesy ofStockcharts.com
Flood Of Deals Don’t Boost Performance
“Both ETFs seek to benefit from a merger arbitrage situation, where a stock will not trade as high as the terms of the deal, on risks the deal may not close as expected,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of ETF research at S&P Global. “While M&A activity has picked up recently, these ETFs have lagged the S&P 500 index, as their performance is less tied to the traditional catalysts for U.S. equities.”
In the case of the AT&T bid to acquire Time Warner, Time Warner stock traded at a “discount to the deal’s value” because investors aren’t sure this deal will actually close, Rosenbluth notes.
This is where merger arbitrage opportunity lies, but also the challenge. It’s not easy to predict where the next big deal is going to happen, and when the news is made public, the potential to capture outsized premiums tends to diminish.
How MNA Works
MNA tracks an index that takes long positions in firms that are acquisition targets, and shorts broad equity indexes to manage downside risk associated with the deals. Any money left over is tied to short-term bonds.
The design is meant to capture any premium associated with the companies being acquired, much like a hedge fund would do.
The long side of the portfolio weights deals based on liquidity—on average dollars traded—of a company. The short side of the portfolio can represent as much as 40% at times.
One of the main risks associated with this strategy is that a deal can be broken, and when that happens, stock prices of the target companies tend to drop. In the case of MNA, stocks aren’t removed immediately from the portfolio if that happens—they stay on until the next monthly rebalance. That can impact returns.
Bonds Top Allocation
Right now, the portfolio’s largest single allocation is to short-term bonds in the form of a 19% allocation to theSPDR Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill (BIL) and a 6.3% allocation to theiShares Short Treasury Bond (SHV)—that’s roughly a quarter of the portfolio. These ETFs are in the black year-to-date, but not by much. They have each returned less than 1% so far in 2016.
Leading individual companies with a 9.6% weighting is LinkedIn, followed by St. Jude Medical and Rackspace—all takeover targets.
On the short side of the portfolio, the largest weighting is to a few sector ETFs. TheHealthcare Select Sector SPDR (XLV)and theEnergy Select Sector SPDR (XLE)are at a combined weighting of about -10%. XLV’s share price is down this year, but XLE has rallied more than 16%.
MRGR Similar Build
MRGR, launched in 2012, goes head to head with MNA and is built in much the same way. The fund is vastly smaller, however, having gathered only about $5.5 million in assets in four years.
MRGR longs stocks of companies that are the targets of acquisition, and it shorts the acquiring firms, with the goal of capturing the spread between the two. The fund also has a currency-hedge component given that it’s global in scope.
The underlying index in this strategy usually comprises about 40 announced deals. Among the fund’s largest single company holdings right now are names such as Yadkin Financial, Starz and Valspar Corp.
Perhaps due to a positive stock market, or to low interest rates, or to companies’ need to grow through acquisition, or to all of the above, M&A deals continue to pop up as the year-end nears. Some even say that the massive AT&T/Time Warner deal “could potentially trigger another M&A wave due to the strategic merits of vertical integration,” according to Rosenbluth.
These funds offer a direct vector for ETF investors to tap into the deals themselves, but it’s important to remember that more and bigger M&A deals don’t necessarily translate into more and bigger returns in these hedge-fundlike ETFs.
Contact Cinthia Murphy [email protected]
Recommended Stories
• Top ETF Picks For 2017
• Core Stock & Bond Portfolios Need New Look
• Mergers & Acquisitions Surge; M&A Funds Flat
• SEC Wants To Hear From You On Bitcoin ETF
• S&P 500: The Best Crowdsourcing Tool
Permalink| © Copyright 2016ETF.com.All rights reserved || PayPal is homing in on high-growth areas: (BII)This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, pleaseclick here.
PayPal postedstrong resultsacross segments in Q3 2016, allowing the firm to increase its growth targets for the year without changing its margins — a good sign for the rest of the year.
PayPal posted strong growth in two key metrics. The firm’s total payment volume (TPV) rose 28% year-over-year (YoY) to $87 billion in Q3 2016. That was likely driven partly by an increase in customers, which grew by 19 million YoY to 192 million during the quarter.
But even as PayPal adds customers, those clients are getting more engaged — average interactions per customer rose to 30, from 27 in the previous year, during Q3. Increased engagement likely means that PayPal’s focus on high-growth areas, like mobile payments and P2P functionality, is helping to drive customers to the service.
Continuing to find ways to grow engagement will likely shape PayPal’s development moving forward. The company is pushing hard into other high-growth areas in order to better become “an everyday essential financial service” for people worldwide. Two such initiatives highlighted in the call stood out:
• Aggressive pursuit of Chinese and cross-border e-commerce:PayPal is expanding its partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba so that Paypal will become a single-click buy button option on AliExpress, one of Alibaba’s largest marketplaces. PayPal customers are already interested in Chinese e-commerce —40 millionof the firm’s customers have made a purchase to China — so this could help them better channel that interest into purchasing. But it also could allow the firm to get a share of China’s fast-growing e-commerce market, and, if successful, could pave the way for more cross-border partnerships in the future.
• Mobile in-store payments:The firm’s recent partnerships with Visa and Mastercard will allow PayPal’s wallet to be accepted in-store anywhere that accepts contactless payments from those cards. And in Europe, PayPal is partnered with Vodafone in markets like the UK, Italy, and Spain, to begin allowing users to pay via NFC. Physical stores present PayPal with a massive volume opportunity, and could help it better monetize some of its mobile and digital platforms through merchant processing fees, for example. These partnerships could also help keep customers loyal to PayPal for a wider variety of financial interactions rather than pushing them to a third-party, which could increase engagement.
PayPal is an important piece of the larger payments ecosystem, but it's still just one piece. The rest of it included merchants, processors, acquirers, gateways, and more.
Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts atBI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, have compileda detailed report on the payments ecosystemthat drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.
In full, the report:
• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:
1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >>START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >>BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.
More From Business Insider
• THE MOBILE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market forecasts, consumer trends, and the barriers and benefits that will influence adoption
• THE CONNECTED DEVICE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market opportunities, top stakeholders, and new use cases for the next frontier in payments
• THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The trends creating new winners and losers in the card-processing ecosystem || PayPal is homing in on high-growth areas: PayPal Bank Chart (BII) This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Payments Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . PayPal posted strong results across segments in Q3 2016, allowing the firm to increase its growth targets for the year without changing its margins — a good sign for the rest of the year. PayPal posted strong growth in two key metrics. The firm’s total payment volume (TPV) rose 28% year-over-year (YoY) to $87 billion in Q3 2016. That was likely driven partly by an increase in customers, which grew by 19 million YoY to 192 million during the quarter. But even as PayPal adds customers, those clients are getting more engaged — average interactions per customer rose to 30, from 27 in the previous year, during Q3. Increased engagement likely means that PayPal’s focus on high-growth areas, like mobile payments and P2P functionality, is helping to drive customers to the service. Continuing to find ways to grow engagement will likely shape PayPal’s development moving forward. The company is pushing hard into other high-growth areas in order to better become “an everyday essential financial service” for people worldwide. Two such initiatives highlighted in the call stood out: Aggressive pursuit of Chinese and cross-border e-commerce: PayPal is expanding its partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba so that Paypal will become a single-click buy button option on AliExpress, one of Alibaba’s largest marketplaces. PayPal customers are already interested in Chinese e-commerce — 40 million of the firm’s customers have made a purchase to China — so this could help them better channel that interest into purchasing. But it also could allow the firm to get a share of China’s fast-growing e-commerce market, and, if successful, could pave the way for more cross-border partnerships in the future. Mobile in-store payments: The firm’s recent partnerships with Visa and Mastercard will allow PayPal’s wallet to be accepted in-store anywhere that accepts contactless payments from those cards. And in Europe, PayPal is partnered with Vodafone in markets like the UK, Italy, and Spain, to begin allowing users to pay via NFC. Physical stores present PayPal with a massive volume opportunity, and could help it better monetize some of its mobile and digital platforms through merchant processing fees, for example. These partnerships could also help keep customers loyal to PayPal for a wider variety of financial interactions rather than pushing them to a third-party, which could increase engagement. Story continues PayPal is an important piece of the larger payments ecosystem, but it's still just one piece. The rest of it included merchants, processors, acquirers, gateways, and more. Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence , Business Insider's premium research service, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends. Here are some key takeaways from the report: 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices. Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play. Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified. In full, the report: Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond. Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers. Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step. Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more. Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem. To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem. More From Business Insider THE MOBILE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market forecasts, consumer trends, and the barriers and benefits that will influence adoption THE CONNECTED DEVICE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market opportunities, top stakeholders, and new use cases for the next frontier in payments THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The trends creating new winners and losers in the card-processing ecosystem
[Social Media Buzz]
1 #bitcoin = $13350.00 MXN | $704.23 USD #BitAPeso 1 USD = 18.96MXN http://www.bitapeso.com || Try fatguyslim at https://LocalBitcoins.com/ad/165494?ch=w7m … only £588.00 per BTC. (BPI +2.61%) #buy #bitcoin #banktrans || #UFOCoin #UFO $0.000007 (-1.18%) 0.00000001 BTC (-0.00%) || 1 #BTC (#Bitcoin) quotes:
$703.06/$704.89 #Bitstamp
$694.00/$694.92 #BTCe
⇢$-10.89/$-8.14
$705.15/$712.28 #Coinbase
⇢$0.26/$9.22 || 1 DOGE Price: Bter 0.00000031 BTC #doge #dogecoin 2016-10-31 00:31 pic.twitter.com/hyD...
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729.79, 740.83, 688.70, 703.23, 703.42, 711.52, 703.13, 709.85, 723.27, 715.53
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 3678.92, 3687.37, 3661.30, 3552.95, 3706.05, 3630.68, 3655.01, 3678.56, 3657.84, 3728.57, 3601.01, 3576.03, 3604.58, 3585.12, 3600.87, 3599.77, 3602.46, 3583.97, 3470.45, 3448.12, 3486.18, 3457.79, 3487.95, 3521.06, 3464.01, 3459.15, 3466.36, 3413.77, 3399.47, 3666.78, 3671.20, 3690.19, 3648.43, 3653.53, 3632.07, 3616.88, 3620.81, 3629.79, 3673.84, 3915.71, 3947.09, 3999.82, 3954.12, 4005.53, 4142.53, 3810.43, 3882.70, 3854.36, 3851.05, 3854.79, 3859.58, 3864.42, 3847.18, 3761.56, 3896.38, 3903.94, 3911.48, 3901.13, 3963.31, 3951.60, 3905.23, 3909.16, 3906.72, 3924.37, 3960.91, 4048.73, 4025.23, 4032.51, 4071.19, 4087.48, 4029.33, 4023.97, 4035.83, 4022.17, 3963.07, 3985.08, 4087.07, 4069.11, 4098.37, 4106.66, 4105.40, 4158.18, 4879.88, 4973.02, 4922.80, 5036.68, 5059.82, 5198.90, 5289.77, 5204.96.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-04-09]
Volume: 14722104361, RSI (14-day): 82.44, 50-day EMA: 4258.59, 200-day EMA: 4686.68
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1303.50, Gold RSI: 52.90
Oil Price: 63.98, Oil RSI: 73.14
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Blockchains Are Not About Privacy: Honest.cash Founder: Honest.cash founder Adrian Barwicki
CCN spoke with Adrian Barwicki, a blockchain developer and IT consultant who moved to Germany from Poland for college years ago and never left. Barwicki and a few others work on Honest.cash part-time. Honest.cash is a project that allows people to earn Bitcoin Cash for contributing good content as well as curating it. The concept isn’t new – it’s based on theYours.org platform, which moved to Bitcoin SV last November. Barwicki says he’d never used Yours.org personally but learned from Twitter that its presence on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain would be missed.
Initially, the idea of “curating” wasn’t evident to him, but Yours.org users made it plain it was a necessity.
“Curator” rewards are earned when someone else upvotes a post you have already upvoted. You get a small amount of the money they spend to upvote, while the creator still gets the majority. The rewards are further split the further down the line they go. If a piece of content becomes popular enough, you can earn your whole upvote cost back.
Barwicki says he doesn’t believe it was a purely technical move in the case of Yours.org – his website proves that Bitcoin Cash is still handy for the intent.
“Not sure they only had technical reasons to move to SV.”
Yours.org moving to Bitcoin SV left the Bitcoin Cash community without a monetized blogging platform, so Barwicki decided to take the opportunity to build one. He says he had long wanted to get involved in blockchain development but hadn’t seen a real chance until Yours.org created a vacuum.
Read the full story on CCN.com. || Blockchains Are Not About Privacy: Honest.cash Founder: Yours.org moving to Bitcoin SV left the Bitcoin Cash community without a monetized blogging platform, so Adrian Barwicki decided to take the opportunity to build one in the form of Honest.cash. Image from Shutterstock. Honest.cash founder Adrian Barwicki CCN spoke with Adrian Barwicki, a blockchain developer and IT consultant who moved to Germany from Poland for college years ago and never left. Barwicki and a few others work on Honest.cash part-time. Honest.cash is a project that allows people to earn Bitcoin Cash for contributing good content as well as curating it. The concept isn’t new – it’s based on the Yours.org platform , which moved to Bitcoin SV last November. Barwicki says he’d never used Yours.org personally but learned from Twitter that its presence on the Bitcoin Cash blockchain would be missed. Initially, the idea of “curating” wasn’t evident to him, but Yours.org users made it plain it was a necessity. “Curator” rewards are earned when someone else upvotes a post you have already upvoted. You get a small amount of the money they spend to upvote, while the creator still gets the majority. The rewards are further split the further down the line they go. If a piece of content becomes popular enough, you can earn your whole upvote cost back. Bitcoin Cash Has Plenty of Block Space for Honest.cash Barwicki says he doesn’t believe it was a purely technical move in the case of Yours.org – his website proves that Bitcoin Cash is still handy for the intent. “Not sure they only had technical reasons to move to SV.” Yours.org moving to Bitcoin SV left the Bitcoin Cash community without a monetized blogging platform, so Barwicki decided to take the opportunity to build one. He says he had long wanted to get involved in blockchain development but hadn’t seen a real chance until Yours.org created a vacuum. Read the full story on CCN.com . || Why the Smallest Pot Stocks Pack the Biggest Wallop: There’s no denying it: The legal marijuana trend is here to stay. And pot stocks are only gaining more momentum as legalization sweeps the nation ( and the world ). So then the question becomes, how do I invest? Do I buy the growers of “legal weed”? Financiers? How about the folks selling hemp? Or turning it into CBD oil? Do I invest here in the United States? Or abroad? The fact is, I see compelling investments in ALL of those areas – if done properly. I’ve made no secret of that. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips So, how do we narrow it down? Let’s start by simply comparing the valuations. Take Canopy Growth (NYSE: CGC ) stock, for example, which just enjoyed its fifth birthday. From that humble IPO as “Tweed Inc.,” it’s now become one of the premier marijuana stocks since Canada legalized last year. Canopy is also enjoying a major influx of cash from a big investment by Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ ), and it’s honing its brand by signing splashy deals with the likes of Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg. 7 High-Risk Stocks With Big Potential Rewards CGC stock has a current market cap of $14.9 billion on just $184 million in projected sales for 2019. That equates to a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 81. For context, even the likes of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX ) have a forward P/S more like 9 . That’s something to consider before jumping on the bandwagon. Now, I realize that some investors are willing to pay up like this, to own the biggest names in an industry. But when it comes to marijuana stocks, some of them will actually make MORE in sales…yet are still “flying under the radar.” That’s where we can really make money. The Green Organic Dutchman (OTCMKTS: TGODF ) certainly fits that bill. It’s much newer than Canopy Growth, having just IPOed last May. It’s smaller, too, at $890 million in market cap. From two facilities it’s building in Ontario and Quebec, it will grow 255,700 pounds of cannabis per year. Story continues Those two facilities are strategically located to serve two-thirds of the Canadian population, and TGODF has some key partnerships with power generation firms. Both of which allow it to produce more cheaply than competitors. And by the time its product is extracted, purified, and made into oils, creams, edibles, foods, and more — in addition to the marijuana flower itself — TGODF is expected to turn in $280 million in sales for 2019. That comes out to a forward P/S of just 3.2. You can see how, if it gets even to half or a quarter of Canopy Growth’s valuation, those of us who buy TGODF stock will find ourselves richly rewarded for investing in future production. What I especially like about this company is that it’s uniquely positioned — at the intersection of “legal weed” and the high demand (among millennials, in particular) for organic products . But I’m even more excited about Charlotte’s Web (OTCMKTS: CWBHF ), another small-cap cannabis stock with room for big upside. This one, in fact, was my pick for the InvestorPlace Best Stocks for 2019 contest. CWBHF is certainly not one of your typical “pot stocks.” This one is a pure play on cannabidiol (CBD), an extract of hemp that is non-psychoactive. So, while it doesn’t get you high, it does have the anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties that folks are looking for in medical marijuana products. I’ve talked at length about CWBHF stock and its origins in dramatically reducing a little girl’s debilitating seizures . It’s such a cool story. And the numbers are quite solid, too. As one of the first reputable CBD producers — and the number-one brand, by market share, of hemp-based CBD — Charlotte’s Web is expected to generate $176 million in sales this year. With its current $2 billion market cap, that puts CWBHF stock at just an 11.3 forward P/S…even after a 124% climb in 2019 to date. And that’s before it gets onto the shelves of a major retailer. Once it signs a distribution deal with Walmart (NYSE: WMT ), CVS Health (NYSE: CVS ), or Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA ) — and the latter two are already on the prowl — Charlotte’s Web will soar even higher. Given that this is one of the only CBD companies with the ability to supply a large retailer, I see this as inevitable. There’s another event on the horizon that will make CWBHF stock go parabolic: Charlotte’s Web CEO Hesaam Moallem has already made it clear that he’s ready to go from the minor leagues to the major leagues… …in a move that will open up the floodgates to mutual funds, ETFs, and institutional cash. And he’s not the only one. I’m hard at work on my next presentation to investors like you — all about this particular market anomaly…one that’s sending certain cannabis stocks up over 1,000%. With so many of them still so cheap, as we just saw, I’m confident in making that call. And those gains will not involve options or any unnecessary risk. I’ll be holding this Cannabis Stock Summit at 7 p.m. ET tomorrow (Tuesday, April 9). Click here to reserve your spot by visiting my event site . My team and I have been working on the strategy behind it for the last year…and could not believe what we discovered. It is now time to share this with you. I’ll show why you haven’t missed out on the cannabis boom and how the biggest gains are still ahead of us… I’ll reveal how some of our readers have been able to see over 1,000% gains in cannabis stocks, without any use of options or any unnecessary risk. And you’ll walk away with a free stock name and symbol that my research shows could jump 1,000% in the near future. To reserve your seat and get up to speed on everything, simply click here . Matthew McCall is the founder and president of Penn Financial Group, an investment advisory firm, as well as the editor of Investment Opportunities and Early Stage Investor. He has dedicated his career to getting investors into the world’s biggest, most revolutionary trends BEFORE anyone else. The power of being “first” gave Matt’s readers the chance to bank +2,438% in Stamps.com (STMP), +1,523% in Ulta Beauty (ULTA), +1,044% in Tesla (TSLA), +611% in Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (LNGLY), +324% in Bitcoin Services (BTSC), just to name a few. If you’re interested in making triple-digit gains from the world’s biggest investment trends BEFORE anyone else, click here to learn more about Matt McCall and his investments strategy today . More From InvestorPlace 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid 5 Data Center Buys That Deliver Sizable Income 7 High-Risk Stocks With Big Potential Rewards 3 Marijuana Stocks to Watch as New York, New Jersey Delay Legalization Compare Brokers The post Why the Smallest Pot Stocks Pack the Biggest Wallop appeared first on InvestorPlace . || Why the Smallest Pot Stocks Pack the Biggest Wallop: There’s no denying it: The legal marijuana trend is here to stay. And pot stocks are only gaining more momentum aslegalizationsweeps the nation (and the world).
So then the question becomes,how do I invest?Do I buy the growers of “legal weed”? Financiers? How about the folks selling hemp? Or turning it into CBD oil? Do I invest here in the United States? Or abroad?
The fact is, I see compelling investments in ALL of those areas – if done properly.I’ve made no secret of that.
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
So, how do we narrow it down? Let’s start by simply comparing the valuations.
TakeCanopy Growth(NYSE:CGC) stock, for example, which just enjoyed its fifth birthday. From that humble IPO as “Tweed Inc.,” it’s now become one of the premier marijuana stocks since Canada legalized last year. Canopy is also enjoying a major influx of cash from a big investment byConstellation Brands(NYSE:STZ), and it’s honing its brand by signing splashy deals with the likes of Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg.
• 7 High-Risk Stocks With Big Potential Rewards
CGC stock has a current market cap of $14.9 billion on just $184 million in projected sales for 2019. That equates to a forward price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 81.
For context, even the likes ofFacebook(NASDAQ:FB) andNetflix(NASDAQ:NFLX) have a forward P/S more like9.
That’s something to consider before jumping on the bandwagon.
Now, I realize that some investors are willing to pay up like this, to own the biggest names in an industry. But when it comes to marijuana stocks, some of them will actually make MORE in sales…yet are still “flying under the radar.” That’s where we can really make money.
The Green Organic Dutchman(OTCMKTS:TGODF) certainly fits that bill. It’s much newer than Canopy Growth, having just IPOed last May. It’s smaller, too, at $890 million in market cap. From two facilities it’s building in Ontario and Quebec, it will grow 255,700 pounds of cannabis per year.
Those two facilities are strategically located to serve two-thirds of the Canadian population, and TGODF has some key partnerships with power generation firms. Both of which allow it to produce more cheaply than competitors. And by the time its product is extracted, purified, and made into oils, creams, edibles, foods, and more — in addition to the marijuana flower itself — TGODF is expected to turn in $280 million in sales for 2019.
That comes out to a forward P/S of just 3.2.
You can see how, if it gets even to half or a quarter of Canopy Growth’s valuation, those of us who buy TGODF stock will find ourselves richly rewarded for investing in future production.
What I especially like about this company is that it’s uniquely positioned — at the intersection of “legal weed” and the high demand (among millennials, in particular) fororganic products.
But I’m even more excited aboutCharlotte’s Web(OTCMKTS:CWBHF), another small-cap cannabis stock with room for big upside. This one, in fact, was my pick for theInvestorPlaceBest Stocks for 2019contest.
CWBHF is certainly not one of your typical “pot stocks.” This one is a pure play on cannabidiol (CBD), an extract of hemp that is non-psychoactive. So, while it doesn’t get you high, itdoeshave the anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties that folks are looking for in medical marijuana products.
I’ve talked at length about CWBHF stock and its origins indramatically reducing a little girl’s debilitating seizures. It’s such a cool story.
And the numbers are quite solid, too.
As one of the first reputable CBD producers — and the number-one brand, by market share, of hemp-based CBD — Charlotte’s Web is expected to generate $176 million in sales this year.
With its current $2 billion market cap, that puts CWBHF stock at just an 11.3 forward P/S…even after a 124% climb in 2019 to date.
And that’sbeforeit gets onto the shelves of a major retailer.
Once it signs a distribution deal withWalmart(NYSE:WMT),CVS Health(NYSE:CVS), orWalgreens(NASDAQ:WBA) — and the latter two arealready on the prowl— Charlotte’s Web will soar even higher. Given that this is one of the only CBD companies with the ability to supply a large retailer, I see this as inevitable.
There’s another event on the horizon that will make CWBHF stock go parabolic:
Charlotte’s Web CEO Hesaam Moallem has already made it clear that he’s ready to go from the minor leagues to the major leagues…
…in a move that will open up the floodgates to mutual funds, ETFs, and institutional cash.
And he’s not the only one.
I’m hard at work on my next presentation to investors like you — all about this particular market anomaly…one that’s sending certain cannabis stocks up over 1,000%.
With so many of them still so cheap, as we just saw, I’m confident in making that call. And those gains will not involve options or any unnecessary risk.
I’ll be holding thisCannabis Stock Summitat 7 p.m. ET tomorrow (Tuesday, April 9).Click here to reserve your spot by visiting my event site.
My team and I have been working on the strategy behind it for the last year…and could not believe what we discovered. It is now time to share this with you.
• I’ll show why you haven’t missed out on the cannabis boom and how the biggest gains are still ahead of us…
• I’ll reveal how some of our readers have been able to see over 1,000% gains in cannabis stocks, without any use of options or any unnecessary risk.
• And you’ll walk away with afree stock name and symbolthat my research shows could jump 1,000% in the near future.
To reserve your seat and get up to speed on everything,simply click here.
Matthew McCall is the founder and president of Penn Financial Group, an investment advisory firm, as well as the editor of Investment Opportunities and Early Stage Investor. He has dedicated his career to getting investors into the world’s biggest, most revolutionary trends BEFORE anyone else. The power of being “first” gave Matt’s readers the chance to bank +2,438% in Stamps.com (STMP), +1,523% in Ulta Beauty (ULTA), +1,044% in Tesla (TSLA), +611% in Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (LNGLY), +324% in Bitcoin Services (BTSC), just to name a few. If you’re interested in making triple-digit gains from the world’s biggest investment trends BEFORE anyone else,click here to learn more about Matt McCall and his investments strategy today.
• 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid
• 5 Data Center Buys That Deliver Sizable Income
• 7 High-Risk Stocks With Big Potential Rewards
• 3 Marijuana Stocks to Watch as New York, New Jersey Delay Legalization
Compare Brokers
The postWhy the Smallest Pot Stocks Pack the Biggest Wallopappeared first onInvestorPlace. || Walmart’s Pressure on Suppliers Helps Mexico ETF Break Out: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. The Mexico country-specific ETF broke out and was leading markets Monday, with Walmart's Mexico unit providing a nice boost as it takes on Amazon south of the border. The iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF ( EWW ) was among the best performing non-leveraged ETFs of Monday, rising 1.5% and trading back above its long-term trend line at the 200-day simple moving average. Bolstering the Mexico country-specific ETF, Walmart De Mexico is gaining a competitive edge against rival Amazon after it forced some food companies supplying groceries to pull products from the world's largest online retailer. Walmart De Mexico makes up 8.5% of EWW's underlying holdings. Walmart last year demanded discounts from food businesses whose products were lowered on the Mexico's Amazon.com Inc. webpage, despite suppliers' claims that they had no say in the e-commerce giant's decision to undercut Walmart on pricing. Two suppliers told Reuters they moved to pull their products from Amazon on concerns of jeopardizing their relationship with Walmart de Mexico, adding that Walmart makes up more than half of their supermarket sales in Mexico. Have you signed up for the ETF Trends Virtual Summit on Wednesday, April 17? It's complimentary for financial advisors (earn up to 5 CE Credits)! Register now to learn about international markets, specifically weighting value, opportunity and risks . Walmart stated it does not dictate whom suppliers can do business with, but it acknowledged that they strived to achieve the lowest price possible, especially if competitors are giving shoppers a better deal. “We could never tell anybody that they can’t sell to someone else,” Ignacio Caride, Walmart Mexico’s e-commerce head, told Reuters. “If we think there’s an opportunity to lower our prices, because we see better prices at other retailers, we’re going to negotiate for that access.” Supermarket analyst Bill Bishop argued that Walmart is trying to stop a repeat of what happened in the U.S. where Amazon is a dominant force. Story continues “They’re worried that Amazon will grow in Mexico,” Bishop, co-founder of retail advisory firm Brick Meets Click, told Reuters. “They’re saying: Be aware of the fact that we’re not going to make it easy for you to grow here.” For more information on the Mexican markets, visit our Mexico category . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Using Merger Arbitrage as a Hedge Against Market Volatility A Better Way to Determine Risk Exposure for Growth ETF Investors Report Findings Highlight Fake Bitcoin Trading on Unregulated Exchanges How to Manage A Mature Bull Market With Macro-Themed ETF Strategies In the Know: Building a Low Cost, Defensive Portfolio READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Walmart’s Pressure on Suppliers Helps Mexico ETF Break Out: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
The Mexico country-specific ETF broke out and was leading markets Monday, with Walmart's Mexico unit providing a nice boost as it takes on Amazon south of the border.
TheiShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF (EWW) was among the best performing non-leveraged ETFs of Monday, rising 1.5% and trading back above its long-term trend line at the 200-day simple moving average.
Bolstering the Mexico country-specific ETF, Walmart De Mexico is gaining a competitive edge against rival Amazon after it forced some food companies supplying groceries to pull products from the world's largest online retailer.
Walmart De Mexico makes up 8.5% of EWW's underlying holdings.
Walmart last year demanded discounts from food businesses whose products were lowered on the Mexico's Amazon.com Inc. webpage, despite suppliers' claims that they had no say in the e-commerce giant's decision to undercut Walmart on pricing.
Two suppliers told Reuters they moved to pull their products from Amazon on concerns of jeopardizing their relationship with Walmart de Mexico, adding that Walmart makes up more than half of their supermarket sales in Mexico.
Have you signed up for the ETF Trends Virtual Summit on Wednesday, April 17? It's complimentary for financial advisors (earn up to 5 CE Credits)!Register now to learn about international markets, specifically weighting value, opportunity and risks.
Walmart stated it does not dictate whom suppliers can do business with, but it acknowledged that they strived to achieve the lowest price possible, especially if competitors are giving shoppers a better deal.
“We could never tell anybody that they can’t sell to someone else,” Ignacio Caride, Walmart Mexico’s e-commerce head, told Reuters. “If we think there’s an opportunity to lower our prices, because we see better prices at other retailers, we’re going to negotiate for that access.”
Supermarket analyst Bill Bishop argued that Walmart is trying to stop a repeat of what happened in the U.S. where Amazon is a dominant force.
“They’re worried that Amazon will grow in Mexico,” Bishop, co-founder of retail advisory firm Brick Meets Click, told Reuters. “They’re saying: Be aware of the fact that we’re not going to make it easy for you to grow here.”
For more information on the Mexican markets, visit ourMexico category.
POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM
• SPY ETF Quote
• VOO ETF Quote
• QQQ ETF Quote
• VTI ETF Quote
• JNUG ETF Quote
• Top 34 Gold ETFs
• Top 34 Oil ETFs
• Top 57 Financials ETFs
• Using Merger Arbitrage as a Hedge Against Market Volatility
• A Better Way to Determine Risk Exposure for Growth ETF Investors
• Report Findings Highlight Fake Bitcoin Trading on Unregulated Exchanges
• How to Manage A Mature Bull Market With Macro-Themed ETF Strategies
• In the Know: Building a Low Cost, Defensive Portfolio
READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Zcash Exercises Restraint as the Antminer Z11 Release Approaches: Bitmain, the largest manufacturer ofminingequipment, recently revealed the Antminer Z11 device for miningZcashand other cryptocurrencies based on the Equihash algorithm, asreportedby Cointelegraph on March 19. The company claims that the new chip is three times more powerful than its predecessor, the Antminer Z9, which was released nine months ago.
Despite the fact that the Zcash team declined to comment on this news, the release of the Z11 produced mixed reactions among community members. Some of them believe that this is a new threat to network security, while others see the release as a potential for the growth of the coin’s price.
In 2017, after Bitmain's dominance of the ASIC marketreacheda peak with the release ofBitcoin(BTC) mining equipment, the Chinese giant set about developing specialized chips for mining other coins with large market capitalizations, such asEthereum(ETH),SiaCoin(SIA),Monero(XMR) andZcash(ZEC).
High-performance miners allowed their operators to quickly gain a significant amount of coins, while the owners of such farms could also launch 51 percent attacks that allow one to usurp control of the network and manipulate transactions.
Some developers decided to go along the path of changing their algorithms in order to make the network ASIC-resistant. Take, for example, Monero, whichhard forkedtheir network on April 6, 2018, after Bitmainannouncedthe release of Antminer X3. The same path was chosen byBitcoin Gold(BTG), whichforkedits network on July 3 after the Antminer Z9was released.
After a lengthy debate, the Ethereum teammadepartial modifications to the network on the way to its transition fromproof-of-work(PoW) toprogrammatic proof-of-work(ProgPoW). The hard fork was implemented on Feb. 28 this year.
Other projects abandoned the idea of ASIC resistance, and among them was Zcash. On May 3, 2018, Bitmainannouncedthe release of the Z9 mini model for mining Zcash and other coins based on the Equihash algorithm.
Zooko Wilcox, co-founder and CEO of the company,tooka neutral position on the issue of ASIC resistance, saying that no changes to the network were planned.
Later, a survey wasconductedamong members of the Zcash community, and the results showed that the majority of respondents voted against prioritizing ASIC resistance policy.
Typically, Bitmain announces its new models shortly before the start of sales, and this is exactly what they did with the Antminer Z11. On March 19, Bitmainannouncedthe release of a new model for mining Equihash-powered coins, and the firm explained that the chip would be three times more powerful than the previous generation Z9 device.
This time, Bitmain decided not to limit itself to the technical description of the product andmadea special announcement paying specific attention to the Zcash community. The company promised to provide real-time updates on the volumes of supplies and its own equipment stocks, as well as to fight "hidden" mining:
“To preserve the Zcash community’s values around security, reliability and accessibility, Bitmain had previouslyTweetedreal-time updates to ensure more transparency and will continue to provide shipping updates of the first batch of the Antminer Z11. Thesecommitmentsto transparency will continue to provide the Zcash foundation and community with the security, reliability and accessibility they desire of manufacturers.”
According to the manufacturer, the computing power of Antminer Z11 is 135 kilo solutions (135,000) per second (KSol/s). At the same time, energy efficiency of the device reaches 10.50 joules per kilo solutions J/KSol. The miner is based on a 12-nanometer chip developed using Bare Die casting technology for the best heat dissipation. This allows for a decrease in the cost of electricity by 60 percent in comparison with the Antminer Z9.
According to the manufacturer, the first batch of new miners was sold out just 20 minutes after the presale started, and some usersbelievethis could be an orchestrated strategy designed to increase the price.
It is noteworthy that, even after the tag “Sold Out” appeared, the price continued to increase. On the official forum, Zcash moderatorsraisedan entire discussion to find out who managed to buy new ASICs and for how much. Usersrepliedwith numbers ranging from $1,048 to $1,366, and at the moment, Bitmain’s website has the Antminer Z11 listed for $1,384.
Buyers will receive their first devices between April 20 and 30, asstatedon Bitmain’s site. Despite the fact that the main sales are oriented to those who want to mine Zcash — the most liquid coin using the Equihash algorithm — it will be possible to use the Antminer Z11 to get other assets working on the same principle. According toWhatToMine, miners will be able to switch powers for mining coins such as Komodo (KMD), Zcash Classic (ZCL) or Horizen (ZEN), although the solution will not be as profitable.
While some users arecalculatingthe return generated by the new model and rejoicing at the coin’s price growth, others arestill concernedabout the “fact” that the first batch sold out so quickly. Somesuggestthat this could be a specific group of people — or even a country — in whose hands the network’s hash rate could now be concentrated. In general, in the community, as well as in the Zcash headquarters, few seem to be concerned about the potential threat from Bitmain.
However, there are those who areworriedabout the possibility of centralization, and users are perplexed by the fact that, from their point of view, developers have been inactive.
“why do devs keep on with asics? earlier it was a disaster. what have changed? why noone doing nothing, while zcash being destroyed?”
Some users suggested a variety of solutions, includingswitchingtoproof-of-stake(PoS) andincorporatingnew modifications.
“Maybe devs should include a new attack vector, (mass) infected Asics ...”
There are also users whoreferto the recent hard fork Moneroimplementedon March 9 as part of the roadmap for preventing manipulations associated with ASIC miners.
This is the second time the Monero developers forked the network to fight new Antminers by Bitmain. The first fork washeldon April 6, 2018 after thereleaseof Antminer A3. At the same time, in both cases, immediately after the network upgrade, the network’s hash ratefellby 80 percent.
Despite the lack of drastic action on the part of Zcash developers, the team began to explore the potential and possible danger of new ASIC devices immediately after the release of Antminer Z9.
On May 8, 2018, Zcash CEO Josh Cincinnatiannounceda plan for prioritizing ASIC resistance, and he indicated that the team considered the implementation of these measures as one of the methods in combating ASIC hardware. One of the factors complicating such work, as stated by Cincinnati, was Wilcox’s ambivalence to ASIC resistance. To decide which side to take on the issue of ASIC devices, users were offered a vote. The results showed that community members put other areas of the company's development above the fight against ASICs.
However, Zcash creators announced the beginning of a study to examine the possibilities of new miners, as well as the development of a strategy to combat them.
Among the measures discussed were independent, consensus-compatible implementation of full-node software, and hiring developers to work on Zcash Improvement Proposals (ZIPs) in order to minimize the impact of such devices on the network.
Another ASIC resistance strategy appeared in the course of the annual grant program for Zcash developers. As a result, foundersselectedprojects that offered a modification of the current Equihash algorithm or a transition to more ASIC-stable ProgPoW. In particular, one of the teamsbeganto work on the transition to a more ASIC-resistant, but GPU-friendly ProgPoW algorithm.
How soon the results of such work will appear is so far unknown.
After the announcement of the Antminer Z11’s release, ZEC’s pricesurgedfrom $49.03 by 5 percent in 24 hours and by 20 percent in 11 days.
In addition, over the past two weeks, the coin hasappearedon new exchanges, andBinancehasaddednew currencies paired with ZEC.
Some of the userssuggestedthat the coin owes its popularity to Bitmain and its high-performance ASICs.
In addition, launching a 51 percent attack on the Zcash network, which in January would havecost$12,000, nowcostsa potential attacker $28,920.
Earlier, Equihash wasconsideredone of the most robust algorithms for ASIC miners. However, the release of the Antminer Z9 and Z11 are proof that blockchain is not an obstacle to the development of such devices.
Accordingto Ethereum developer David Vorik, the implementation of ProgPoW can contribute to the distinct advantage for particular major manufacturers of mining equipment, as the need for more complex devices will exacerbate the effect of scale. At the same time, a tough fight against ASIC devices may force producers to carry out hidden manufacturing, which can lead to an even greater concentration of power in one hand.
Another Ethereum developer, Alexey Akhunov,saidin a reply message:
“If we want to obsolete the current EtHash mining devices, but at the same time not to induce more secretive behaviour on the part of ASIC manufacturers, we need to ‘embrace’ it and switch to an ASIC-friendly algorithm now instead of an ASIC-unfriendly algorithm. Which [is] the opposite of what we are doing.”
He added that the best method forward might be a diplomatic strategy and transparent dialogue for dealing with manufacturers of ASIC equipment.
• Bitmain Eyes 2020 Bitcoin Block Halving as Pivotal Moment for Mining Fortunes
• ‘Free’ Money: How Students Mine Cryptocurrency in Their Dorm Rooms
• Bitmain Says Now-Lapsed IPO Made Firm More Transparent, Reveals Appointment of New CEO
• Major Web Browser Firefox by Mozilla Now Blocks Web-Based Cryptojacking || Gold Miners ETFs Pop as Precious Metals Strengthen Off a Weaker Dollar: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Gold miner stocks and sector-related ETFs strengthened Monday as gold prices climbed to a more-than-one-week high on a weakening U.S. dollar in response to data showing U.S. wage growth slowed last month. Among the top performing non-leveraged ETFs of Monday, the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF ( GDX ) rose 1.1%, U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF ( GOAU ) increased 1.7%, Sprott Gold Miners ETF ( SGDM ) added 0.9% and iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners Fund ( RING ) gained 1.5%. Meanwhile, Comex gold futures advanced 0.5% to $1,302 per ounce. Gold strengthened off the weak U.S. dollar. Commodities typically exhibit an inverse relationship to the greenback as raw materials and precious metals become more attractive to foreign buyers when the USD is weaker. “The dollar index is pulling back from multi-week highs and gold prices are riding this tailwind of softer dollar,” Margaret Yang, a market analyst with CMC Markets, told Reuters . The Dollar Index, which tracks the USD against a basket of developed market currencies, slipped 0.4% to 97.05. Have you signed up for the ETF Trends Virtual Summit on Wednesday, April 17? It's complimentary for financial advisors (earn up to 5 CE Credits)! Register now to learn about alternative and thematic tools to better diversify client portfolios . Furthermore, investors were looking into precious metals as a way to hedge against potential risks ahead, especially in light of softening economic data. “Though the non-farm payrolls data was better than expected, the manufacturing jobs fell which is a bad signal for the sector and doesn’t show a very bright picture of the economic outlook,” Yang added. Market volatility has also been closely tied to developments in the U.S.-China trade negotiations. “But ultimately the wild card remains the U.S.-China trade negotiations,” Stephen Innes, head of trading and market strategy at SPI Asset Management, told Reuters, adding that the equity markets will spike on news of an agreement, denting the near-term appeal of gold. Story continues For more information on the precious metals market, visit our precious metals category . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Using Merger Arbitrage as a Hedge Against Market Volatility A Better Way to Determine Risk Exposure for Growth ETF Investors Report Findings Highlight Fake Bitcoin Trading on Unregulated Exchanges How to Manage A Mature Bull Market With Macro-Themed ETF Strategies In the Know: Building a Low Cost, Defensive Portfolio READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Gold Miners ETFs Pop as Precious Metals Strengthen Off a Weaker Dollar: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Gold miner stocks and sector-related ETFs strengthened Monday as gold prices climbed to a more-than-one-week high on a weakening U.S. dollar in response to data showing U.S. wage growth slowed last month.
Among the top performing non-leveraged ETFs of Monday, theVanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) rose 1.1%,U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (GOAU) increased 1.7%,Sprott Gold Miners ETF (SGDM) added 0.9% andiShares MSCI Global Gold Miners Fund (RING) gained 1.5%.
Meanwhile, Comex gold futures advanced 0.5% to $1,302 per ounce.
Gold strengthened off the weak U.S. dollar. Commodities typically exhibit an inverse relationship to the greenback as raw materials and precious metals become more attractive to foreign buyers when the USD is weaker.
“The dollar index is pulling back from multi-week highs and gold prices are riding this tailwind of softer dollar,” Margaret Yang, a market analyst with CMC Markets, toldReuters.
The Dollar Index, which tracks the USD against a basket of developed market currencies, slipped 0.4% to 97.05.
Have you signed up for the ETF Trends Virtual Summit on Wednesday, April 17? It's complimentary for financial advisors (earn up to 5 CE Credits)!Register now to learn about alternative and thematic tools to better diversify client portfolios.
Furthermore, investors were looking into precious metals as a way to hedge against potential risks ahead, especially in light of softening economic data.
“Though the non-farm payrolls data was better than expected, the manufacturing jobs fell which is a bad signal for the sector and doesn’t show a very bright picture of the economic outlook,” Yang added.
Market volatility has also been closely tied to developments in the U.S.-China trade negotiations.
“But ultimately the wild card remains the U.S.-China trade negotiations,” Stephen Innes, head of trading and market strategy at SPI Asset Management, told Reuters, adding that the equity markets will spike on news of an agreement, denting the near-term appeal of gold.
For more information on the precious metals market, visit ourprecious metals category.
POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM
• SPY ETF Quote
• VOO ETF Quote
• QQQ ETF Quote
• VTI ETF Quote
• JNUG ETF Quote
• Top 34 Gold ETFs
• Top 34 Oil ETFs
• Top 57 Financials ETFs
• Using Merger Arbitrage as a Hedge Against Market Volatility
• A Better Way to Determine Risk Exposure for Growth ETF Investors
• Report Findings Highlight Fake Bitcoin Trading on Unregulated Exchanges
• How to Manage A Mature Bull Market With Macro-Themed ETF Strategies
• In the Know: Building a Low Cost, Defensive Portfolio
READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Danish Man Faces Over 4 Years in Prison for Laundering $450K With Bitcoin: A 33-year old Danish man has been sentenced to four years and three months in jail for laundering over $450,000 in Bitcoin ( BTC ), tech news agency The Next Web reports April 8. Citing a press release from Danish Police, the report says that the criminal pleaded guilty to laundering 3 million Danish kroner that came from criminal activity. The crypto launderer reportedly exchanged the dirty money in Bitcoin and sent the funds to his accomplices via accounts of unspecified foreign crypto exchanges . Danish police reportedly detected the intruder through an investigation of card abuse after they found that one of the criminal’s bank accounts was connected to a blackmail and extortion scam. The police commissioner stated that authorities are well equipped to combat illegal activities associated with crypto industry, claiming that they are “willing to prioritize the resources to investigate complex cases on the Internet.” Criminal use of cryptocurrencies has been a subject of increasing concern to regulators, as some believe that crypto affords criminals a high degree of anonymity. While multiple reports state that cryptocurrencies represent a poor form of money for criminals as compared to fiat money , Anti-Money Laundering ( AML ) and Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF) measures in the crypto space remain highly discussed among regulators globally. As such, G20 member countries will reportedly meet in Fukuoka, Japan in June to discuss the establishment of international crypto AML regulation. In late March, American non-profit think tank RAND Corporation released a report claiming that cryptocurrencies are not well-suited for the needs of terrorist groups. While arguing that crypto poses no sufficient threat as a method of terrorism financing, the think tank stated that the lack of crypto regulations combined with anonymity and improved security could increase the potential use of crypto by terrorists in future. Related Articles: Lithuanian Finance Ministry to Introduce Legal Amendments for Crypto-Related Firms Belgium’s Financial Watchdog Updates Crypto-Related Blacklist to Total of 120 Websites Canadian Police Freezes Assets of FUEL Token Issuers due to Alleged $22 Million Fraud California Sentences Bitcoin Trader to 2 Years in Prison Over AML Compliance Failures || Danish Man Faces Over 4 Years in Prison for Laundering $450K With Bitcoin: A 33-year oldDanishman has been sentenced to four years and three months in jail forlaunderingover $450,000 in Bitcoin (BTC), tech news agencyThe Next Webreports April 8.
Citing apress releasefrom Danish Police, the report says that the criminal pleaded guilty to laundering 3 million Danish kroner that came fromcriminalactivity.
Thecryptolaunderer reportedly exchanged the dirty money in Bitcoin and sent the funds to his accomplices via accounts of unspecified foreigncrypto exchanges.
Danish police reportedly detected the intruder through an investigation of card abuse after they found that one of the criminal’sbankaccounts was connected to a blackmail and extortion scam.
The police commissioner stated that authorities are well equipped to combat illegal activities associated with crypto industry, claiming that they are “willing to prioritize the resources to investigate complex cases on the Internet.”
Criminal use of cryptocurrencies has been a subject of increasing concern to regulators, as somebelievethat crypto affords criminals a high degree of anonymity.
While multiplereportsstate that cryptocurrencies represent a poor form of money for criminals as compared tofiat money, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF) measures in the crypto spaceremainhighly discussed among regulators globally.
As such,G20member countries will reportedlymeetin Fukuoka,Japanin June to discuss the establishment of international crypto AML regulation.
In late March, American non-profit think tank RAND Corporationreleaseda report claiming that cryptocurrencies are not well-suited for the needs of terrorist groups. While arguing that crypto poses no sufficient threat as a method of terrorism financing, the think tank stated that the lack of crypto regulations combined with anonymity and improved security could increase the potential use of crypto by terrorists in future.
• Lithuanian Finance Ministry to Introduce Legal Amendments for Crypto-Related Firms
• Belgium’s Financial Watchdog Updates Crypto-Related Blacklist to Total of 120 Websites
• Canadian Police Freezes Assets of FUEL Token Issuers due to Alleged $22 Million Fraud
• California Sentences Bitcoin Trader to 2 Years in Prison Over AML Compliance Failures || Danish Man Faces Over 4 Years in Prison for Laundering $450K With Bitcoin: A 33-year oldDanishman has been sentenced to four years and three months in jail forlaunderingover $450,000 in Bitcoin (BTC), tech news agencyThe Next Webreports April 8.
Citing apress releasefrom Danish Police, the report says that the criminal pleaded guilty to laundering 3 million Danish kroner that came fromcriminalactivity.
Thecryptolaunderer reportedly exchanged the dirty money in Bitcoin and sent the funds to his accomplices via accounts of unspecified foreigncrypto exchanges.
Danish police reportedly detected the intruder through an investigation of card abuse after they found that one of the criminal’sbankaccounts was connected to a blackmail and extortion scam.
The police commissioner stated that authorities are well equipped to combat illegal activities associated with crypto industry, claiming that they are “willing to prioritize the resources to investigate complex cases on the Internet.”
Criminal use of cryptocurrencies has been a subject of increasing concern to regulators, as somebelievethat crypto affords criminals a high degree of anonymity.
While multiplereportsstate that cryptocurrencies represent a poor form of money for criminals as compared tofiat money, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF) measures in the crypto spaceremainhighly discussed among regulators globally.
As such,G20member countries will reportedlymeetin Fukuoka,Japanin June to discuss the establishment of international crypto AML regulation.
In late March, American non-profit think tank RAND Corporationreleaseda report claiming that cryptocurrencies are not well-suited for the needs of terrorist groups. While arguing that crypto poses no sufficient threat as a method of terrorism financing, the think tank stated that the lack of crypto regulations combined with anonymity and improved security could increase the potential use of crypto by terrorists in future.
• Lithuanian Finance Ministry to Introduce Legal Amendments for Crypto-Related Firms
• Belgium’s Financial Watchdog Updates Crypto-Related Blacklist to Total of 120 Websites
• Canadian Police Freezes Assets of FUEL Token Issuers due to Alleged $22 Million Fraud
• California Sentences Bitcoin Trader to 2 Years in Prison Over AML Compliance Failures || Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 8: The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. After the recent rally from the lows, one indicator has reached overbought levels last seen in Dec. 2017, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone. Historically, such overbought levels have resulted in multi-week downturns and McGlone expects one to start after the recent up-move. Many times, the signals provided by the indicators turn out to be false. More so at the bottom or the top because sentiment takes a long time to change. For the traders to become bullish after a prolonged bear phase is difficult. On numerous occasions, the first rally from the lows can reach overbought levels but this is not similar to the overbought levels as seen following an extended uptrend. Therefore, it is not a foregone conclusion that a similar outcome will follow. While a minor correction or a consolidation is possible, a retest of the yearly lows looks unlikely. More so, after a number of altcoins have risen way above their lows and look to have started a new uptrend. But, as there is a large overhang of supply at every higher level, the rise will be gradual, with intermittent dips. BTC/USD Bitcoin ( BTC ) momentarily ascended above $5,300 but failed to sustain. However, it has been gradually moving up for the past four days even though the RSI is deeply overbought. This is a bullish sign. If the price does not correct within the next few days, the traders waiting to buy the dip will be forced to go long at higher levels or miss out on the opportunity. Hence, a rally to $5,900 looks plausible. The uptrending moving averages show that the bulls are firmly in command. BTC/USD On the other hand, if the BTC/USD pair dips from the current levels, it might find support closer to $4,800 and below it at the 20-day EMA. If both these supports break, a fall to $4,255 is possible. This is a critical support and if it breaks, it will be a negative development and will indicate that the current move was only a rally in the bear market. However, looking at the charts, we give this a low probability of occurring. Story continues As the RSI is deeply overbought, we anticipate a minor correction or a consolidation for a few days, after which the uptrend should continue. Traders can keep the stop loss on the remaining long positions at $4,400. ETH/USD Ethereum ( ETH ) broke out and closed (UTC time frame) above the overhead resistance at $167.32 on April 7. Thus, it completed an ascending triangle pattern that has a target objective of $251.64. However, there is stiff resistance at $220. Depending on the performance near the resistance, we might either suggest booking out of the complete position or trailing the stops very closely. ETH/USD Our bullish view will be invalidated if the ETH/USD pair fails to hold the retest of the breakout levels of $167.32. In such a case, a drop to the 20-day EMA is probable, below which the fall can extend to the 50-day SMA. For now, the traders can retain the stop loss on the remaining long position at $150. We will trail the stops in a couple of days. XRP/USD Ripple ( XRP ) has been trading in a tight range for the past two days. We like the way it has held up above $0.33108, however, the failure to push prices higher shows a lack of demand at higher levels. XRP/USD If the overall sentiment turns negative, a drop to $0.33108 is probable. This is a critical support as the 20-day EMA is also located close by. If the XRP/USD pair rebounds from the support, it will indicate strength. On the other hand, if the pair plummets below the support, it can again correct to the critical support at $0.27795. Contrary to our expectation, if the price scales above $0.37835, it is likely to pick up momentum and quickly move up to $0.45. We do not find any attractive risk to reward trade setups, hence, we are not recommending a trade in it yet. LTC/USD Litecoin ( LTC ) again broke out of the overhead resistance at $91 on April 6 and 7 but could not sustain. Currently, the price is back below $91. The bears will now try to drag the digital currency towards the 20-day EMA, which is a strong support. LTC/USD If the LTC/USD pair bounces off the 20-day EMA or reverses direction from the current levels, it will try to break out and sustain above $100. If successful, it can result in a rally to $159 and above it to $180. As both the moving averages are sloping up and the RSI remains in the overbought zone, the path of least resistance is to the upside. Our bullish view will be invalidated if the bears sink the pair below both the moving averages. In such a case, a large range bound action cannot be ruled out. We shall wait for the digital currency to bounce off a strong support before proposing a long position once again. BCH/USD Attempts to scale above $320 have failed to find buyers at higher levels. Bitcoin Cash ( BCH ) is currently facing profit booking that can drag it towards $265. If this support breaks, a fall to $239 is probable. Both the moving averages are trending up and the RSI is in the overbought zone, which shows that the bulls are in command. BCH/USD If the $265 level holds, the BCH/USD pair will again try to move up toward the recent high of $363.30. Above this a rally to $400 and higher is probable. The pair has a history of vertical rallies, hence, traders can keep the stops on the remaining long positions at $230. We shall watch for a couple of days and raise the stops further. The trend will turn in favor of the bears on a breakdown and close (UTC time frame) below $239. EToros Mati Greenspan breaks down markets recent market movements. Source: Cointelegraph EOS/USD EOS is finding it difficult to sustain above $5.50. It is likely to witness profit booking that can drag it down to the 20-day EMA. However, the uptrend is intact as both moving averages are sloping up and the RSI is in the overbought zone. If the digital currency rebounds from $5 or the 20-day EMA, it will again try to move up to its target objective of $6.8299. EOS/USD The EOS/USD pair has a strong support at $4.4930. If this support breaks down, the trend will turn negative. If the support holds, the pair might remain range-bound between $4.4930 to $6.8299 for a few more days. The traders can keep the stop loss on the remaining long positions at $4.80. BNB/USD Binance Coin ( BNB ) is not finding buying support above $20. Profit booking has dragged the price closer to the critical horizontal support. The 20-day EMA is also placed just below this support. Hence, we expect the bulls to defend it with strength. But if the 20-day EMA breaks down, a drop to the 50-day SMA is probable. Traders can retain the stop loss on the remaining long positions at just below 20-day EMA. BNB/USD Conversely, if the BNB/USD pair rebounds from current levels, it will again attempt to scale above the $20$22 resistance zone. If successful, a retest of the lifetime highs is probable. As both the moving averages are still sloping up and the RSI is in positive territory, the trend remains up. The pair will turn negative on a breakdown below $14. XLM/USD Stellar ( XLM ) continues to face selling close to the resistance line. This shows that the bears are active at higher levels. However, with both the moving averages sloping up and the RSI close to the overbought zone, we anticipate the bulls to again attempt to break out of the resistance line. XLM/USD The first level to watch on the upside is $0.14861760. The long-term downtrend line is also located close to this level; hence, this is likely to act as a major roadblock. If the XLM/USD pair sustains above the downtrend line, it will indicate a probable change in trend. Our bullish assumption will be negated if the pair slides below the 20-day EMA. This might be followed by a drop to the 50-day SMA. The traders can trail the stop loss on the remaining long position to $0.1130. ADA/USD Cardano ( ADA ) is struggling to break out of $0.094256. The failure to scale the overhead resistance is likely to attract profit booking. The first support on the downside is at $0.082952 and below it at the 20-day EMA. We expect one of these support levels to hold up. ADA/USD Both the moving averages are rising and the RSI is in the overbought zone. This shows that the trend is bullish. A breakdown of the 20-day EMA will be the first indication that the uptrend is weakening. On the contrary, if the ADA/USD pair rebounds from $0.082952, it will again attempt to scale $0.094256. Following the breakout, the next level to watch on the upside is $0.112598 and above it $0.20. Traders can keep the stop loss on the remaining long positions at $0.080. TRX/USD Tron ( TRX ) broke out and closed (UTC time frame) above the overhead resistance of $0.02815521 on April 7. This triggered our buy recommendation given in the previous analysis. Traders can keep the stop loss at $0.024. TRX/USD Both the moving averages have again turned up, which shows that the bulls are back in command. If the TRX/USD pair sustains the breakout, a rally to $0.040 and above it to $0.0480 is probable. Our bullish view will be invalidated if the pair slides back below $0.02815521. This will suggest that the current breakout did not find buyers and was a bull trap. Market data is provided by the HitBTC exchange. Charts for analysis are provided by TradingView . Related Articles: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 5 Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, EOS, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 3 Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, EOS, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 1 Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, EOS, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, Tron: Price Analysis, March 29 || Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 8: The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Market data is provided by theHitBTCexchange.
After the recent rally from the lows, one indicator has reached overbought levels last seen in Dec. 2017, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone. Historically, such overbought levels have resulted in multi-weekdownturnsand McGlone expects one to start after the recent up-move.
Many times, the signals provided by the indicators turn out to be false. More so at the bottom or the top because sentiment takes a long time to change. For the traders to become bullish after a prolonged bear phase is difficult. On numerous occasions, the first rally from the lows can reach overbought levels but this is not similar to the overbought levels as seen following an extended uptrend. Therefore, it is not a foregone conclusion that a similar outcome will follow.
While a minor correction or a consolidation is possible, a retest of the yearly lows looks unlikely. More so, after a number of altcoins have risen way above their lows and look to have started a new uptrend. But, as there is a large overhang of supply at every higher level, the rise will be gradual, with intermittent dips.
Bitcoin (BTC) momentarily ascended above $5,300 but failed to sustain. However, it has been gradually moving up for the past four days even though the RSI is deeply overbought. This is a bullish sign. If the price does not correct within the next few days, the traders waiting to buy the dip will be forced to go long at higher levels or miss out on the opportunity. Hence, a rally to $5,900 looks plausible. The uptrending moving averages show that the bulls are firmly in command.
On the other hand, if theBTC/USDpair dips from the current levels, it might find support closer to $4,800 and below it at the 20-day EMA. If both these supports break, a fall to $4,255 is possible. This is a critical support and if it breaks, it will be a negative development and will indicate that the current move was only a rally in the bear market. However, looking at the charts, we give this a low probability of occurring.
As the RSI is deeply overbought, we anticipate a minor correction or a consolidation for a few days, after which the uptrend should continue. Traders can keep the stop loss on the remaininglongpositions at $4,400.
Ethereum (ETH) broke out and closed (UTC time frame) above the overhead resistance at $167.32 on April 7. Thus, it completed an ascending triangle pattern that has a target objective of $251.64. However, there is stiff resistance at $220. Depending on the performance near the resistance, we might either suggest booking out of the complete position or trailing the stops very closely.
Our bullish view will be invalidated if theETH/USDpair fails to hold the retest of the breakout levels of $167.32. In such a case, a drop to the 20-day EMA is probable, below which the fall can extend to the 50-day SMA. For now, the traders can retain the stop loss on the remaininglongposition at $150. We will trail the stops in a couple of days.
Ripple (XRP) has been trading in a tight range for the past two days. We like the way it has held up above $0.33108, however, the failure to push prices higher shows a lack of demand at higher levels.
If the overall sentiment turns negative, a drop to $0.33108 is probable. This is a critical support as the 20-day EMA is also located close by. If theXRP/USDpair rebounds from the support, it will indicate strength. On the other hand, if the pair plummets below the support, it can again correct to the critical support at $0.27795.
Contrary to our expectation, if the price scales above $0.37835, it is likely to pick up momentum and quickly move up to $0.45. We do not find any attractive risk to reward trade setups, hence, we are not recommending a trade in it yet.
Litecoin (LTC) again broke out of the overhead resistance at $91 on April 6 and 7 but could not sustain. Currently, the price is back below $91. The bears will now try to drag the digital currency towards the 20-day EMA, which is a strong support.
If theLTC/USDpair bounces off the 20-day EMA or reverses direction from the current levels, it will try to break out and sustain above $100. If successful, it can result in a rally to $159 and above it to $180. As both the moving averages are sloping up and the RSI remains in the overbought zone, the path of least resistance is to the upside.
Our bullish view will be invalidated if the bears sink the pair below both the moving averages. In such a case, a large range bound action cannot be ruled out. We shall wait for the digital currency to bounce off a strong support before proposing a long position once again.
Attempts to scale above $320 have failed to find buyers at higher levels. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is currently facing profit booking that can drag it towards $265. If this support breaks, a fall to $239 is probable. Both the moving averages are trending up and the RSI is in the overbought zone, which shows that the bulls are in command.
If the $265 level holds, theBCH/USDpair will again try to move up toward the recent high of $363.30. Above this a rally to $400 and higher is probable. The pair has a history of vertical rallies, hence, traders can keep the stops on theremaininglongpositions at $230. We shall watch for a couple of days and raise the stops further. The trend will turn in favor of the bears on a breakdown and close (UTC time frame) below $239.
EToro’s Mati Greenspan breaks down markets recent market movements. Source: Cointelegraph
EOSis finding it difficult to sustain above $5.50. It is likely to witness profit booking that can drag it down to the 20-day EMA. However, the uptrend is intact as both moving averages are sloping up and the RSI is in the overbought zone. If the digital currency rebounds from $5 or the 20-day EMA, it will again try to move up to its target objective of $6.8299.
TheEOS/USDpair has a strong support at $4.4930. If this support breaks down, the trend will turn negative. If the support holds, the pair might remain range-bound between $4.4930 to $6.8299 for a few more days. The traders can keep the stop loss on the remaininglongpositions at $4.80.
Binance Coin (BNB) is not finding buying support above $20. Profit booking has dragged the price closer to the critical horizontal support. The 20-day EMA is also placed just below this support. Hence, we expect the bulls to defend it with strength. But if the 20-day EMA breaks down, a drop to the 50-day SMA is probable. Traders can retain the stop loss on theremaininglongpositions at just below 20-day EMA.
Conversely, if theBNB/USDpair rebounds from current levels, it will again attempt to scale above the $20–$22 resistance zone. If successful, a retest of the lifetime highs is probable. As both the moving averages are still sloping up and the RSI is in positive territory, the trend remains up. The pair will turn negative on a breakdown below $14.
Stellar (XLM) continues to face selling close to the resistance line. This shows that the bears are active at higher levels. However, with both the moving averages sloping up and the RSI close to the overbought zone, we anticipate the bulls to again attempt to break out of the resistance line.
The first level to watch on the upside is $0.14861760. The long-term downtrend line is also located close to this level; hence, this is likely to act as a major roadblock. If theXLM/USDpair sustains above the downtrend line, it will indicate a probable change in trend.
Our bullish assumption will be negated if the pair slides below the 20-day EMA. This might be followed by a drop to the 50-day SMA. The traders can trail the stop loss on theremaininglongposition to $0.1130.
Cardano (ADA) is struggling to break out of $0.094256. The failure to scale the overhead resistance is likely to attract profit booking. The first support on the downside is at $0.082952 and below it at the 20-day EMA. We expect one of these support levels to hold up.
Both the moving averages are rising and the RSI is in the overbought zone. This shows that the trend is bullish. A breakdown of the 20-day EMA will be the first indication that the uptrend is weakening.
On the contrary, if theADA/USDpair rebounds from $0.082952, it will again attempt to scale $0.094256. Following the breakout, the next level to watch on the upside is $0.112598 and above it $0.20. Traders can keep the stop loss on theremaininglongpositions at $0.080.
Tron (TRX) broke out and closed (UTC time frame) above the overhead resistance of $0.02815521 on April 7. This triggered our buy recommendation given in thepreviousanalysis. Traders can keep the stop loss at $0.024.
Both the moving averages have again turned up, which shows that the bulls are back in command. If theTRX/USDpair sustains the breakout, a rally to $0.040 and above it to $0.0480 is probable.
Our bullish view will be invalidated if the pair slides back below $0.02815521. This will suggest that the current breakout did not find buyers and was a bull trap.
Market data is provided by theHitBTCexchange. Charts for analysis are provided byTradingView.
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 5
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, EOS, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 3
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, EOS, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 1
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, EOS, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, Tron: Price Analysis, March 29 || Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 8: The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Market data is provided by theHitBTCexchange.
After the recent rally from the lows, one indicator has reached overbought levels last seen in Dec. 2017, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone. Historically, such overbought levels have resulted in multi-weekdownturnsand McGlone expects one to start after the recent up-move.
Many times, the signals provided by the indicators turn out to be false. More so at the bottom or the top because sentiment takes a long time to change. For the traders to become bullish after a prolonged bear phase is difficult. On numerous occasions, the first rally from the lows can reach overbought levels but this is not similar to the overbought levels as seen following an extended uptrend. Therefore, it is not a foregone conclusion that a similar outcome will follow.
While a minor correction or a consolidation is possible, a retest of the yearly lows looks unlikely. More so, after a number of altcoins have risen way above their lows and look to have started a new uptrend. But, as there is a large overhang of supply at every higher level, the rise will be gradual, with intermittent dips.
Bitcoin (BTC) momentarily ascended above $5,300 but failed to sustain. However, it has been gradually moving up for the past four days even though the RSI is deeply overbought. This is a bullish sign. If the price does not correct within the next few days, the traders waiting to buy the dip will be forced to go long at higher levels or miss out on the opportunity. Hence, a rally to $5,900 looks plausible. The uptrending moving averages show that the bulls are firmly in command.
On the other hand, if theBTC/USDpair dips from the current levels, it might find support closer to $4,800 and below it at the 20-day EMA. If both these supports break, a fall to $4,255 is possible. This is a critical support and if it breaks, it will be a negative development and will indicate that the current move was only a rally in the bear market. However, looking at the charts, we give this a low probability of occurring.
As the RSI is deeply overbought, we anticipate a minor correction or a consolidation for a few days, after which the uptrend should continue. Traders can keep the stop loss on the remaininglongpositions at $4,400.
Ethereum (ETH) broke out and closed (UTC time frame) above the overhead resistance at $167.32 on April 7. Thus, it completed an ascending triangle pattern that has a target objective of $251.64. However, there is stiff resistance at $220. Depending on the performance near the resistance, we might either suggest booking out of the complete position or trailing the stops very closely.
Our bullish view will be invalidated if theETH/USDpair fails to hold the retest of the breakout levels of $167.32. In such a case, a drop to the 20-day EMA is probable, below which the fall can extend to the 50-day SMA. For now, the traders can retain the stop loss on the remaininglongposition at $150. We will trail the stops in a couple of days.
Ripple (XRP) has been trading in a tight range for the past two days. We like the way it has held up above $0.33108, however, the failure to push prices higher shows a lack of demand at higher levels.
If the overall sentiment turns negative, a drop to $0.33108 is probable. This is a critical support as the 20-day EMA is also located close by. If theXRP/USDpair rebounds from the support, it will indicate strength. On the other hand, if the pair plummets below the support, it can again correct to the critical support at $0.27795.
Contrary to our expectation, if the price scales above $0.37835, it is likely to pick up momentum and quickly move up to $0.45. We do not find any attractive risk to reward trade setups, hence, we are not recommending a trade in it yet.
Litecoin (LTC) again broke out of the overhead resistance at $91 on April 6 and 7 but could not sustain. Currently, the price is back below $91. The bears will now try to drag the digital currency towards the 20-day EMA, which is a strong support.
If theLTC/USDpair bounces off the 20-day EMA or reverses direction from the current levels, it will try to break out and sustain above $100. If successful, it can result in a rally to $159 and above it to $180. As both the moving averages are sloping up and the RSI remains in the overbought zone, the path of least resistance is to the upside.
Our bullish view will be invalidated if the bears sink the pair below both the moving averages. In such a case, a large range bound action cannot be ruled out. We shall wait for the digital currency to bounce off a strong support before proposing a long position once again.
Attempts to scale above $320 have failed to find buyers at higher levels. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is currently facing profit booking that can drag it towards $265. If this support breaks, a fall to $239 is probable. Both the moving averages are trending up and the RSI is in the overbought zone, which shows that the bulls are in command.
If the $265 level holds, theBCH/USDpair will again try to move up toward the recent high of $363.30. Above this a rally to $400 and higher is probable. The pair has a history of vertical rallies, hence, traders can keep the stops on theremaininglongpositions at $230. We shall watch for a couple of days and raise the stops further. The trend will turn in favor of the bears on a breakdown and close (UTC time frame) below $239.
EToro’s Mati Greenspan breaks down markets recent market movements. Source: Cointelegraph
EOSis finding it difficult to sustain above $5.50. It is likely to witness profit booking that can drag it down to the 20-day EMA. However, the uptrend is intact as both moving averages are sloping up and the RSI is in the overbought zone. If the digital currency rebounds from $5 or the 20-day EMA, it will again try to move up to its target objective of $6.8299.
TheEOS/USDpair has a strong support at $4.4930. If this support breaks down, the trend will turn negative. If the support holds, the pair might remain range-bound between $4.4930 to $6.8299 for a few more days. The traders can keep the stop loss on the remaininglongpositions at $4.80.
Binance Coin (BNB) is not finding buying support above $20. Profit booking has dragged the price closer to the critical horizontal support. The 20-day EMA is also placed just below this support. Hence, we expect the bulls to defend it with strength. But if the 20-day EMA breaks down, a drop to the 50-day SMA is probable. Traders can retain the stop loss on theremaininglongpositions at just below 20-day EMA.
Conversely, if theBNB/USDpair rebounds from current levels, it will again attempt to scale above the $20–$22 resistance zone. If successful, a retest of the lifetime highs is probable. As both the moving averages are still sloping up and the RSI is in positive territory, the trend remains up. The pair will turn negative on a breakdown below $14.
Stellar (XLM) continues to face selling close to the resistance line. This shows that the bears are active at higher levels. However, with both the moving averages sloping up and the RSI close to the overbought zone, we anticipate the bulls to again attempt to break out of the resistance line.
The first level to watch on the upside is $0.14861760. The long-term downtrend line is also located close to this level; hence, this is likely to act as a major roadblock. If theXLM/USDpair sustains above the downtrend line, it will indicate a probable change in trend.
Our bullish assumption will be negated if the pair slides below the 20-day EMA. This might be followed by a drop to the 50-day SMA. The traders can trail the stop loss on theremaininglongposition to $0.1130.
Cardano (ADA) is struggling to break out of $0.094256. The failure to scale the overhead resistance is likely to attract profit booking. The first support on the downside is at $0.082952 and below it at the 20-day EMA. We expect one of these support levels to hold up.
Both the moving averages are rising and the RSI is in the overbought zone. This shows that the trend is bullish. A breakdown of the 20-day EMA will be the first indication that the uptrend is weakening.
On the contrary, if theADA/USDpair rebounds from $0.082952, it will again attempt to scale $0.094256. Following the breakout, the next level to watch on the upside is $0.112598 and above it $0.20. Traders can keep the stop loss on theremaininglongpositions at $0.080.
Tron (TRX) broke out and closed (UTC time frame) above the overhead resistance of $0.02815521 on April 7. This triggered our buy recommendation given in thepreviousanalysis. Traders can keep the stop loss at $0.024.
Both the moving averages have again turned up, which shows that the bulls are back in command. If theTRX/USDpair sustains the breakout, a rally to $0.040 and above it to $0.0480 is probable.
Our bullish view will be invalidated if the pair slides back below $0.02815521. This will suggest that the current breakout did not find buyers and was a bull trap.
Market data is provided by theHitBTCexchange. Charts for analysis are provided byTradingView.
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, EOS, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 5
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, EOS, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 3
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, EOS, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, TRON: Price Analysis April 1
• Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, EOS, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, Stellar, Cardano, Tron: Price Analysis, March 29 || 3 Precious Metals ETFs To Watch Ahead of Q1 Earnings: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Banks will highlight first-quarter earnings for 2019 on Friday, which could give precious metals a jolt of gains if the weak guidance expected by a number of corporations translates to a move to safe-haven assets.
Of course, the strength of precious metals will be tied to the Fed and their interest rate policy in correlation with the dollar. Increased dovishness by the central bank could continue to feed into safe-haven asset like precious metals.
Following the central bank’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged last month, a recurring theme of “patience” has been mentioned by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. "Patience" with respect to interest rate increases or even rate cuts could translate to dollar weakness.
In move that was widely anticipated by most market experts, the Federal Reserve last month elected to keep rates unchanged, holding its policy rate in a range between 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent. In addition, the central bank alluded to no more rate hikes for the rest of 2019 after initially forecasting two.
Related:A Cost-Efficient ETF for Broad Market Exposure
With the idea that a permanent trade deal is already priced into U.S. equities, news of the actual deal materializing could send equities higher or cause a sell-off as a result of an overbought condition–something that could help boost precious metals. Furthermore, with weaker guidance coming from the corporate world with regard to first-quarter profits, that could also help spur a move to metals.
“Investors are rightly encouraged by the Fed’s reactions, but the Fed easing on policy isn’t going to alleviate margin pressures,”saidMike Wilson, chief equity strategist at Morgan Stanley. “There’s a big risk to profit margins and quality of earnings we see this month and it’s definitely not priced into the market.”
What ETFs can investors take advantage of?
1. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) : seeks to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the operation expenses. The Trust holds gold bars and from time to time, issues Baskets in exchange for deposits of gold and distributes gold in connection with redemptions of Baskets. The investment objective to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion.
2. iShares Silver Trust (SLV): seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of silver.
3. Aberdeen Standard Phys PalladiumShrs ETF (PALL): seeks to reflect the performance of the price of physical palladium. PALL is designed for investors who want a cost-effective and convenient way to invest in palladium with minimal credit risk.
FactSet data extrapolated from profit expectations from various sectors are already showing a slowdown compared to a year ago:
“Companies are finding themselves more pressured on margins. Even if the economy chugs along and the Fed remains on hold, a greater-than-expected deceleration in earnings wouldn’t bode well for stocks,”saidRuss Koesterich, a portfolio manager at BlackRock Inc.’s global allocation team. “The question is whether the market has discounted enough the impact of slowing growth and some margin pressure on earnings.”
For more market trends, visitETF Trends.
Have you signed up for the ETF Trends Virtual Summit on Wednesday, April 17? It’s complimentary for financial advisors (earn up to 5 CE Credits)!Register now to learn about inside the disruptive technology revolution.POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM
• SPY ETF Quote
• VOO ETF Quote
• QQQ ETF Quote
• VTI ETF Quote
• JNUG ETF Quote
• Top 34 Gold ETFs
• Top 34 Oil ETFs
• Top 57 Financials ETFs
• Using Merger Arbitrage as a Hedge Against Market Volatility
• A Better Way to Determine Risk Exposure for Growth ETF Investors
• Report Findings Highlight Fake Bitcoin Trading on Unregulated Exchanges
• How to Manage A Mature Bull Market With Macro-Themed ETF Strategies
• In the Know: Building a Low Cost, Defensive Portfolio
READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || 3 Precious Metals ETFs To Watch Ahead of Q1 Earnings: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Banks will highlight first-quarter earnings for 2019 on Friday, which could give precious metals a jolt of gains if the weak guidance expected by a number of corporations translates to a move to safe-haven assets. Of course, the strength of precious metals will be tied to the Fed and their interest rate policy in correlation with the dollar. Increased dovishness by the central bank could continue to feed into safe-haven asset like precious metals. Following the central bank’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged last month, a recurring theme of “patience” has been mentioned by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. "Patience" with respect to interest rate increases or even rate cuts could translate to dollar weakness. In move that was widely anticipated by most market experts, the Federal Reserve last month elected to keep rates unchanged, holding its policy rate in a range between 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent. In addition, the central bank alluded to no more rate hikes for the rest of 2019 after initially forecasting two. Related: A Cost-Efficient ETF for Broad Market Exposure With the idea that a permanent trade deal is already priced into U.S. equities, news of the actual deal materializing could send equities higher or cause a sell-off as a result of an overbought condition–something that could help boost precious metals. Furthermore, with weaker guidance coming from the corporate world with regard to first-quarter profits, that could also help spur a move to metals. “Investors are rightly encouraged by the Fed’s reactions, but the Fed easing on policy isn’t going to alleviate margin pressures,” said Mike Wilson, chief equity strategist at Morgan Stanley. “There’s a big risk to profit margins and quality of earnings we see this month and it’s definitely not priced into the market.” What ETFs can investors take advantage of? SPDR Gold Shares ( GLD ) : seeks to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the operation expenses. The Trust holds gold bars and from time to time, issues Baskets in exchange for deposits of gold and distributes gold in connection with redemptions of Baskets. The investment objective to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion. iShares Silver Trust ( SLV ) : seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of silver. Aberdeen Standard Phys PalladiumShrs ETF ( PALL ) : seeks to reflect the performance of the price of physical palladium. PALL is designed for investors who want a cost-effective and convenient way to invest in palladium with minimal credit risk. Story continues FactSet data extrapolated from profit expectations from various sectors are already showing a slowdown compared to a year ago: 3 Precious Metals ETFs To Watch Ahead of Q1 Earnings 1 “Companies are finding themselves more pressured on margins. Even if the economy chugs along and the Fed remains on hold, a greater-than-expected deceleration in earnings wouldn’t bode well for stocks,” said Russ Koesterich, a portfolio manager at BlackRock Inc.’s global allocation team. “The question is whether the market has discounted enough the impact of slowing growth and some margin pressure on earnings.” For more market trends, visit ETF Trends . Have you signed up for the ETF Trends Virtual Summit on Wednesday, April 17? It’s complimentary for financial advisors (earn up to 5 CE Credits)! Register now to learn about inside the disruptive technology revolution . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Using Merger Arbitrage as a Hedge Against Market Volatility A Better Way to Determine Risk Exposure for Growth ETF Investors Report Findings Highlight Fake Bitcoin Trading on Unregulated Exchanges How to Manage A Mature Bull Market With Macro-Themed ETF Strategies In the Know: Building a Low Cost, Defensive Portfolio READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || ‘Bitcoin Price’ is a Meaningless Metric: Russian Economist: Vladislav Ginko, semi-famous for making lots of people in the crypto space believe that Russia was going to buy a massive amount ofBitcoin, took to Twitter recently to tell us all that the standard market capitalization metrics and “pricing in fiat” makes no sense. Ginko is a minor media personality in Russia and reportedly works at the “Presidential Putin Academy.”
CCNpreviouslydisputed the claims by Ginko, which led to several articles in the space pronouncing the incoming bull run based on Russian government purchases. Ginko recently stood by a version of his assertions, saying that the trades he knows of have been intentionally under the radar:
We’ve since had a bull run, but no one has attempted to attribute to it expenditures by the Russian government or Russians generally. At least 3.2 million BTC were traded over the past twenty-four hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
The Bitcoin price has made a major push north over the past week (but don’t tell Ginko we told you). | Source: CoinMarketCap
Thereissomespeculationthat some of the demand came from institutions entering the second quarter who had authorized Bitcoin purchases, but this only accounts for a portion of the recent trading.
In any case, Ginko’s stance on Bitcoin and fiat pricing is probably more palatable to most crypto enthusiasts.
Read the full story on CCN.com. || Bitcoin Price is a Meaningless Metric: Russian Economist: Russian economist Vladislav Ginko wants you to stop talking about how valuable Bitcoin is against the dollar. | Source: Shutterstock Vladislav Ginko, semi-famous for making lots of people in the crypto space believe that Russia was going to buy a massive amount of Bitcoin , took to Twitter recently to tell us all that the standard market capitalization metrics and pricing in fiat makes no sense. Ginko is a minor media personality in Russia and reportedly works at the Presidential Putin Academy. CCN previously disputed the claims by Ginko , which led to several articles in the space pronouncing the incoming bull run based on Russian government purchases. Ginko recently stood by a version of his assertions, saying that the trades he knows of have been intentionally under the radar: If you've connections with billionaires & they've given you an assignment to give them an advice how many Bitcoins to buy, how to do this for to go under OFAC radar, & you lead this process, what can you say more besides that you know 1,8 million BTC were bought by some Russians? Vladislav Ginko (@martik) April 7, 2019 Vladislav Ginko: Stop Pricing Bitcoin in Fiat Weve since had a bull run, but no one has attempted to attribute to it expenditures by the Russian government or Russians generally. At least 3.2 million BTC were traded over the past twenty-four hours, according to CoinMarketCap. bitcoin price The Bitcoin price has made a major push north over the past week (but dont tell Ginko we told you). | Source: CoinMarketCap There is some speculation that some of the demand came from institutions entering the second quarter who had authorized Bitcoin purchases, but this only accounts for a portion of the recent trading. In any case, Ginkos stance on Bitcoin and fiat pricing is probably more palatable to most crypto enthusiasts. Read the full story on CCN.com . || ‘Bitcoin Price’ is a Meaningless Metric: Russian Economist: Vladislav Ginko, semi-famous for making lots of people in the crypto space believe that Russia was going to buy a massive amount ofBitcoin, took to Twitter recently to tell us all that the standard market capitalization metrics and “pricing in fiat” makes no sense. Ginko is a minor media personality in Russia and reportedly works at the “Presidential Putin Academy.”
CCNpreviouslydisputed the claims by Ginko, which led to several articles in the space pronouncing the incoming bull run based on Russian government purchases. Ginko recently stood by a version of his assertions, saying that the trades he knows of have been intentionally under the radar:
We’ve since had a bull run, but no one has attempted to attribute to it expenditures by the Russian government or Russians generally. At least 3.2 million BTC were traded over the past twenty-four hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
The Bitcoin price has made a major push north over the past week (but don’t tell Ginko we told you). | Source: CoinMarketCap
Thereissomespeculationthat some of the demand came from institutions entering the second quarter who had authorized Bitcoin purchases, but this only accounts for a portion of the recent trading.
In any case, Ginko’s stance on Bitcoin and fiat pricing is probably more palatable to most crypto enthusiasts.
Read the full story on CCN.com.
[Social Media Buzz]
Apr 09, 2019 08:32:00 UTC | 5,218.70$ | 4,632.40€ | 3,993.20£ | #Bitcoin #btc pic.twitter.com/VDX11sox72 || Apr 09, 2019 14:32:00 UTC | 5,215.60$ | 4,624.00€ | 3,994.10£ | #Bitcoin #btc pic.twitter.com/sHIHuZ8k1W || If Twitter is a social currency, @PeteButtigieg is this year’s Bitcoin. Unlike crypto tho, these numbers don’t drop— they only grow. 🦄 https://t.co/rFgqzK0fDK || #BTCUSD Market #1H timeframe on April 9 at 04:00 (UTC) is #Bullish. #cryptocurrency #bitcoin #btc #crypto #trading #ide...
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5324.55, 5064.49, 5089.54, 5096.59, 5167.72, 5067.11, 5235.56, 5251.94, 5298.39, 5303.81
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 773.87, 758.70, 764.22, 768.13, 770.81, 772.79, 774.65, 769.73, 780.09, 780.56, 781.48, 778.09, 784.91, 790.83, 790.53, 792.71, 800.88, 834.28, 864.54, 921.98, 898.82, 896.18, 907.61, 933.20, 975.92, 973.50, 961.24, 963.74, 998.33, 1021.75, 1043.84, 1154.73, 1013.38, 902.20, 908.59, 911.20, 902.83, 907.68, 777.76, 804.83, 823.98, 818.41, 821.80, 831.53, 907.94, 886.62, 899.07, 895.03, 921.79, 924.67, 921.01, 892.69, 901.54, 917.59, 919.75, 921.59, 919.50, 920.38, 970.40, 989.02, 1011.80, 1029.91, 1042.90, 1027.34, 1038.15, 1061.35, 1063.07, 994.38, 988.67, 1004.45, 999.18, 990.64, 1004.55, 1007.48, 1027.44, 1046.21, 1054.42, 1047.87, 1079.98, 1115.30, 1117.44, 1166.72, 1173.68, 1143.84, 1165.20, 1179.97, 1179.97, 1222.50, 1251.01, 1274.99.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-03-03]
Volume: 315739008, RSI (14-day): 81.53, 50-day EMA: 1041.83, 200-day EMA: 831.55
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1225.50, Gold RSI: 48.30
Oil Price: 53.33, Oil RSI: 50.35
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
STOCKS FALL, SNAPCHAT SURGES: Here's what you need to know: SNAP IPO 21 (Hollis Johnson) The major US equity indexes closed lower on Thursday, retreating after logging the strongest performance of 2017 on Wednesday. Here's the scoreboard: Dow: 21,002.97, -112.58, (-0.53%) S&P 500: 2,381.92, -14.04, (-0.59%) Nasdaq: 5,861.22, -42.81, (-0.73%) US 10-year yield: 2.491%, +0.029 Snap surged in its trading debut . The parent company of Snapchat opened for trading at $24, up about 41% from the IPO price of $17. At the opening price, Snap had a valuation of about $33 billion, surpassing stalwarts like Viacom and HP. There's already a "sell" rating . "Investors in Snap will be exposed to an upstart facing aggressive competition from much larger companies, with a core user base that is not growing by much and which is only relatively elusive," said Pivotal Research Group's Brian Wieser. He has a $10 price target — 58% lower than the opening price. Initial jobless claims are at the lowest level since 1973 . Claims, which count the number of people who applied for unemployment insurance for the first time in the past week, dropped by more than expected to 223,000. Bitcoin climbed above gold for the first time . The cryptocurrency rose to $1,241.30 around 10:20 a.m. ET. Meanwhile, gold was $1,241.25 at the time. Caterpillar facilities in Illinois were searched by law enforcement authorities with a warrant . The Peoria Journal Star newspaper reported that people with Internal Revenue Service jackets were seen entering the headquarters. Caterpillar shares fell 4%. Boeing is planning 1,500 voluntary job cuts . Employees were notified this week that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union said it didn't know if this met Boeing 's target or could still be followed by compulsory layoffs, the WSJ reported . Additionally: This throwback to Facebook's IPO is one reason some investors are nervous about Snapchat Another warning sign is popping up in the stock market The Fed could be on the verge of making a big mistake Story continues A startup led by one of the most senior women on Wall Street decided to troll Trump Twitter is loving Democratic lawmakers' scavenger hunt around the Capitol for the secret room holding the GOP's Obamacare replacement bill JOSH BROWN: Here's why I'm not buying Snapchat NOW WATCH: A body language expert analyzes Trump's unique handshakes More From Business Insider Snap surges 44% in its stock market debut — after an IPO that made its 20-something founders multibillionaires These $10 earbuds have more 5-star reviews on Amazon than any other pair — here's why The White House is considering direct military action to counter North Korea || STOCKS FALL, SNAPCHAT SURGES: Here's what you need to know: (Hollis Johnson)
The major US equity indexes closed lower on Thursday, retreating after logging thestrongest performanceof 2017 on Wednesday.
Here's the scoreboard:
• Dow:21,002.97, -112.58, (-0.53%)
• S&P 500:2,381.92, -14.04, (-0.59%)
• Nasdaq:5,861.22, -42.81, (-0.73%)
• US 10-year yield:2.491%, +0.029
1. Snap surged in its trading debut. The parent company of Snapchatopened for trading at $24, up about 41% from the IPO price of $17. At the opening price, Snap had a valuation of about $33 billion,surpassing stalwartslike Viacom and HP.
2. There's already a "sell" rating."Investors in Snap will be exposed to an upstart facing aggressive competition from much larger companies, with a core user base that is not growing by much and which is only relatively elusive," said Pivotal Research Group'sBrian Wieser. He has a $10 price target — 58% lower than the opening price.
3. Initial jobless claims are at the lowest level since 1973.Claims,which count the number of people who applied for unemployment insurance for the first time in the past week, dropped by more than expected to 223,000.
4. Bitcoin climbed above gold for the first time.The cryptocurrency rose to $1,241.30 around 10:20 a.m. ET. Meanwhile, gold was $1,241.25 at the time.
5. Caterpillar facilities in Illinois were searched by law enforcement authorities with a warrant.The Peoria Journal Star newspaper reported that people with Internal Revenue Service jackets were seen entering the headquarters. Caterpillar shares fell 4%.
6. Boeing is planning 1,500 voluntary job cuts.Employees were notified this week that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union said it didn't know if this metBoeing's target or could still be followed by compulsory layoffs, theWSJ reported.
Additionally:
This throwback to Facebook's IPO is one reason some investors are nervous about Snapchat
Another warning sign is popping up in the stock market
The Fed could be on the verge of making a big mistake
A startup led by one of the most senior women on Wall Street decided to troll Trump
Twitter is loving Democratic lawmakers' scavenger hunt around the Capitol for the secret room holding the GOP's Obamacare replacement bill
JOSH BROWN: Here's why I'm not buying Snapchat
NOW WATCH:A body language expert analyzes Trump's unique handshakes
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• The White House is considering direct military action to counter North Korea || Labor Dept. Seeks 60 Day Delay For New Fiduciary Rule: Washington (Reuters) – The U.S. Labor Department has taken a first step toward possible derailment or dilution of its controversial rule on retirement advice as it begins to re-examine it at the directive of President Donald Trump, according to a notice made public on Wednesday.
The department proposed a 60-day delay of the fiduciary rule, which requires retirement advisers to put the interests of clients ahead of their own. It was slated to take effect on April 10, but Trump asked the department to review the rule one more time for its impact on investors.
Industry analysts and consumer groups agreed it could be the first of multiple delays as the department begins a comprehensive review of the Obama-era regulation, after Trump in February issued an executive order directing the department to review the rule.
‘String Of Delays’ Possible
"A 60-day delay is relatively short to undertake the type of economic and legal analysis that they're contemplating, which suggests to me that this isn't just going to be a 60-day delay, It's likely going to be a string of delays," said Micah Hauptman, with the Consumer Federation of America.
The proposed delay should have a "calming" effect on the marketplace, which had been "hanging in limbo" ahead of the April 10 effective date, said Denise Valentine, a senior analyst with Aite Group, which advises the financial services industry on regulatory issues.
"All along we've kind of known that the rule is very likely to be amended. I don’t think it will be killed," Valentine said.
The public will have 15 days from the publication of the proposed delay in the Federal Register on Thursday to comment on the delay itself before the Labor Department can formalize it. There will also be a 45-day window to submit comments or information related to other aspects of Trump's memorandum.
US Chamber Of Commerce Praises Delay
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has sued to kill the rule, on Wednesday praised the proposed delay.
When former President Barack Obama's administration finalized the rule last year, it said it was a move to help Americans saving for their retirement.
But critics in the financial services industry say the rule would limit the ability of advisers to service clients who cannot afford to pay for financial advice and must use products that carry commissions or other indirect costs.
When Trump issued the executive order, White House spokesman Sean Spicer called the rule "a solution in search of the problem" at a briefing ahead of the signing.
The move drew fire from Democrats and other critics, who said it showed the Republican White House was aligned with Wall Street, not middle-income Americans.
Industry groups, however, praised the delay proposed on Wednesday. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said it would "allow the new administration an opportunity to review the rule’s impact on investors and the market."
UBS Wealth Management Americas, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo declined to comment. Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Permalink| © Copyright 2017ETF.com.All rights reserved || Labor Dept. Seeks 60 Day Delay For New Fiduciary Rule: Washington (Reuters) – The U.S. Labor Department has taken a first step toward possible derailment or dilution of its controversial rule on retirement advice as it begins to re-examine it at the directive of President Donald Trump, according to a notice made public on Wednesday. The department proposed a 60-day delay of the fiduciary rule, which requires retirement advisers to put the interests of clients ahead of their own. It was slated to take effect on April 10, but Trump asked the department to review the rule one more time for its impact on investors. Industry analysts and consumer groups agreed it could be the first of multiple delays as the department begins a comprehensive review of the Obama-era regulation, after Trump in February issued an executive order directing the department to review the rule. ‘String Of Delays’ Possible "A 60-day delay is relatively short to undertake the type of economic and legal analysis that they're contemplating, which suggests to me that this isn't just going to be a 60-day delay, It's likely going to be a string of delays," said Micah Hauptman, with the Consumer Federation of America. The proposed delay should have a "calming" effect on the marketplace, which had been "hanging in limbo" ahead of the April 10 effective date, said Denise Valentine, a senior analyst with Aite Group, which advises the financial services industry on regulatory issues. "All along we've kind of known that the rule is very likely to be amended. I don’t think it will be killed," Valentine said. The public will have 15 days from the publication of the proposed delay in the Federal Register on Thursday to comment on the delay itself before the Labor Department can formalize it. There will also be a 45-day window to submit comments or information related to other aspects of Trump's memorandum. US Chamber Of Commerce Praises Delay The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has sued to kill the rule, on Wednesday praised the proposed delay. Story continues When former President Barack Obama's administration finalized the rule last year, it said it was a move to help Americans saving for their retirement. But critics in the financial services industry say the rule would limit the ability of advisers to service clients who cannot afford to pay for financial advice and must use products that carry commissions or other indirect costs. When Trump issued the executive order, White House spokesman Sean Spicer called the rule "a solution in search of the problem" at a briefing ahead of the signing. The move drew fire from Democrats and other critics, who said it showed the Republican White House was aligned with Wall Street, not middle-income Americans. Industry groups, however, praised the delay proposed on Wednesday. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said it would "allow the new administration an opportunity to review the rule’s impact on investors and the market." UBS Wealth Management Americas, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo declined to comment. Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Recommended Stories Tuesday Hot Reads: Dividends Pile Up With This High Yield ETF Monday Hot Reads: The Future Of ETFs SEC Rejects Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF Big Bitcoin ETF Decision Coming Today, Or Maybe Not This Fallen Angel ETF Really A Rising Star Permalink | © Copyright 2017 ETF.com. All rights reserved || Feb. ETF Inflows Push 2017's Record Start To $88B: Total ETF inflows for February were $46 billion, bringing the year-to-date total to a record-breaking $87.9 billion, a record start to any year for new assets. U.S. equity pulled in more than any other asset class, at $20.4 billion. U.S. fixed income and international equity were neck-and-neck, with inflows of $10.2 billion and $10.5 billion, respectively. Only currency saw outflows, losing $59.8 million. The top gainer for the month out of the entire field of U.S.-listed ETFs was the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) , which pulled in $2.5 billion. The iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) was in second place, pulling in just $20 million less than IEMG during the month. A Story Of Costs IEMG’s inflows capture a rather fascinating development in the ETF space—the inexorable tide of low-cost victories. With an expense ratio of 0.14%, the fund is basically a broader, lower-cost version of its older brother, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) , which comes with an expense ratio of 0.72%. While IEMG was among the top gainers in February, the more expensive EEM actually saw zero inflows for the month and is down $33 million for the year. IEMG also holds the top spot for year-to-date inflows, pulling in a total of $4.2 billion in the first two months of the year, almost 22% of its total assets under management. LQD is again in second place, with $3.7 billion in inflows year-to-date. The No. 3 spot for February inflows was claimed by the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) , which pulled in some $1.7 billion, a notable reversal from its outflows of $866 million in January. Commodities as a whole pulled in $2 billion during the month, after more than $600 million in outflows in January, boosted no doubt in part by the upswing in the yellow metal. Outflows The ETFs with the biggest outflows included the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) , which saw its assets fall by $1.6 billion during the month, or more than 4% of its assets under management. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was the second-biggest loser, with outflows of $986.2 million, a reduction in AUM of just 0.42%. Story continues However, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) was hot on its heels, with outflows of $981.1 million, or nearly 6% of its AUM. SPY and IWM were also the two biggest losers year-to-date, with outflows of $2.6 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively. Top Gainers (February 2017) Ticker Name Issuer Net Flows ($,mm) AUM ($M) % of AUM YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M) IEMG iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF BlackRock 2,485.09 23,824.90 11.65% 4,226.25 LQD iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF BlackRock 2,465.40 31,078.62 8.62% 3,706.91 GLD SPDR Gold Trust State Street Global Advisors 1,664.66 33,990.50 5.15% 798.19 XLV Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund State Street Global Advisors 1,438.89 16,038.75 9.86% 1,266.81 IJH iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF BlackRock 1,385.37 39,375.52 3.65% 2,719.32 IVV iShares Core S&P 500 ETF BlackRock 1,303.89 98,093.81 1.35% 1,836.45 VEA Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF Vanguard 1,279.82 44,338.13 2.97% 2,191.94 XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund State Street Global Advisors 1,252.81 25,097.97 5.25% 1,356.12 VCSH Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund Vanguard 1,076.98 17,426.28 6.18% 1,505.68 VOO Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund Vanguard 1,046.41 63,313.08 1.65% 3204.42 Top Gainers (Year-to-Date) Ticker Name Issuer Net Flows ($,mm) AUM ($M) % of AUM February 2017 Net Flows($,M) IEMG iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF BlackRock 4,226.25 23,824.90 21.56% 2,485.09 LQD iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF BlackRock 3,706.91 31,078.62 13.54% 2,465.40 VOO Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund Vanguard 3,204.42 63,313.08 5.06% 1,078.92 IJR iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF BlackRock 2,959.25 30,138.29 10.89% 995.93 IJH iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF BlackRock 2,719.32 39,375.52 7.42% 1,385.37 VEA Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF Vanguard 2,191.94 44,338.13 5.20% 1,279.82 BSV Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Vanguard 2,164.93 21,815.36 11.02% 700.83 IEFA iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF BlackRock 2,136.43 18,639.54 12.95% 387.53 VCIT Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund Vanguard 2,127.69 12,576.56 20.36% 524.11 VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Vanguard 2,054.91 75,952.49 2.80% 1,058.11 Biggest Losers (February 2017) Ticker Name Issuer Net Flows ($,mm) AUM ($M) % of AUM YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M) IWM iShares Russell 2000 ETF BlackRock -1,585.66 37,422.69 -4.06% -2,325.13 SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust State Street Global Advisors -986.21 235,826.66 -0.42% -2,619.20 DIA SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust State Street Global Advisors -981.15 16,281.10 -5.68% 673.31 SPHD PowerShares S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility Portfolio Invesco PowerShares -557.35 3,088.85 -15.29% 165.39 HYG iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF BlackRock -399.83 18,573.36 -2.11% -688.22 EWJ iShares MSCI Japan ETF BlackRock -346.94 16,292.41 -2.09% 358.70 ACWV iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol Global ETF BlackRock -309.61 2,954.38 -9.49% -338.99 USMV iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA ETF BlackRock -284.32 12,365.36 -2.25% -702.94 MUB iShares National Muni Bond ETF BlackRock -238.66 7,893.11 -2.93% -327.02 EWW iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF BlackRock -236.60 1,667.35 -14.19% -240.35 Biggest Losers (Year-to-Date) Ticker Name Issuer Net Flows ($,mm) AUM ($M) % of AUM February 2017 Net Flows($,M) SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust State Street Global Advisors -2,619.20 235,826.66 -1.10% -986.21 IWM iShares Russell 2000 ETF BlackRock -2,325.13 37,422.69 -5.85% -1,585.66 IWF iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF BlackRock -1,244.82 33,669.24 -3.57% 229.67 USMV iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA ETF BlackRock -702.94 12,365.36 -5.38% -284.32 HYG iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF BlackRock -688.22 18,573.36 -3.57% -399.83 SCPB SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Corporate Bond ETF State Street Global Advisors -559.13 2,966.49 -15.86% -88.64 HEDJ WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund WisdomTree -518.06 9,030.54 -5.43% -191.09 IEF iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF BlackRock -504.70 7,099.91 -7.11% -293.71 QQQ PowerShares QQQ Trust PowerShares -481.54 45,443.80 -1.06% 967.66 XLU Utilities Sector SPDR Fund SSGA -396.38 6,943.23 -5.71% 324.44 Asset Classes (February 2017) Net Flows ($, mm) AUM ($, mm) % of AUM U.S. Equity 20,371.81 1,601,910.98 1.27% International Equity 10,581.49 562,765.18 1.83% U.S. Fixed Income 10,211.31 437,402.33 2.38% International Fixed Income 1,880.84 43,560.34 4.20% Commodities 1,991.80 65,610.03 3.04% Currency -59.82 3,052.32 -1.96% Leveraged 116.42 25,933.54 0.49% Inverse 641.13 17,008.62 3.73% Asset Allocation 64.72 6,681.04 0.90% Alternatives 200.43 4,090.25 4.86% Total: 46,000.02 2,768,014.63 1.62% Asset Classes (Year-to-Date) Net Flows ($, mm) AUM ($, mm) % of AUM U.S. Equity 36,498.38 1,601,910.98 2.28% International Equity 23,089.67 562,765.18 4.30% U.S. Fixed Income 23,422.48 437,402.33 5.35% International Fixed Income 2,796.38 43,560.34 6.31% Commodities 1,322.83 65,610.03 1.80% Currency -25.10 3,052.32 -3.34% Leveraged -29.83 25,933.54 -0.12% Inverse 847.96 17,008.62 4.99% Asset Allocation -346.80 6,681.04 -5.19% Alternatives 453.19 4,090.25 11.08% Total: 87,910.92 2,768,014.63 3.18% February 2017 League Table Issuer Net Flows ($,M) AUM ($,M) % of AUM YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M) BlackRock 15,618.06 1,059,680.52 1.47% 30,356.60 Vanguard 12,589.60 669,923.53 1.88% 27,186.12 State Street Global Advisors 6,977.44 537,381.47 1.30% 8,309.33 Invesco PowerShares 656.29 120,079.65 0.55% 2,043.32 Charles Schwab 2,249.63 67,119.66 3.35% 4,405.53 First Trust 687.12 44,800.01 1.53% 1,478.78 WisdomTree 174.60 41,915.35 0.42% 404.40 VanEck 1,511.88 34,758.08 4.35% 2,889.57 Guggenheim 363.49 34,304.06 1.06% 1,339.46 ProShares 377.18 26,888.91 1.40% 789.83 ALPS 571.39 14,389.27 3.97% 1,009.97 Deutsche Bank -14.83 14,160.27 -0.10% 162.25 Northern Trust 516.48 13,077.98 3.95% 873.73 PIMCO 260.78 12,878.40 2.02% 160.65 Direxion 179.48 11,186.53 1.60% -128.99 Barclays Capital 243.49 7,134.14 3.41% 529.31 UBS -17.21 6,977.94 -0.25% -16.76 Fidelity 356.05 5,984.57 5.95% 503.64 JPMorgan 80.54 5,214.85 1.54% 159.07 Global X 244.20 4,521.77 5.40% 537.66 US Commodity Funds 45.82 4,251.90 1.08% -134.01 Credit Suisse 346.62 3,497.50 9.91% 507.68 Goldman Sachs 24.76 3,181.04 0.78% 155.71 Exchange Traded Concepts 73.12 2,488.80 2.94% 159.75 ETF Securities 47.65 2,468.74 1.93% 66.31 IndexIQ -2.98 2,255.02 -0.13% -42.01 OppenheimerFunds 167.31 1,979.78 8.45% 316.60 ETF Managers Group 101.46 1,172.38 8.65% 114.60 Victory Capital Management 81.29 1,131.86 7.18% 181.87 AdvisorShares 16.60 1,098.32 1.51% 10.49 Millington Securities Inc -22.93 1,040.81 -2.20% -26.53 Columbia -9.30 1,000.29 -0.93% -9.83 Pacer Financial 18.51 828.38 2.23% 47.83 Virtus 19.88 787.28 2.52% 143.06 John Hancock 34.71 742.61 4.67% 45.23 CitiGroup 62.09 626.95 9.90% 154.55 Franklin ETF Trust 44.99 605.92 7.43% 50.41 The Principal Financial Group 0.00 565.63 0.00% 2.04 Highland Capital Management -9.43 485.43 -1.94% 7.49 FQF Trust -8.02 450.38 -1.78% -4.42 Swedish Export Credit 2.01 395.25 0.51% 0.42 Cambria 24.47 383.36 6.38% 35.92 KraneShares 9.98 289.38 3.45% 10.49 Janus 6.59 181.35 3.63% 36.08 Northern Lights 18.91 179.58 10.53% 18.91 Alpha Architect 1.26 168.73 0.75% 25.93 Elkhorn 1.52 165.71 0.92% 27.41 Teucrium 0.82 159.51 0.51% 0.21 Legg Mason -2.81 148.25 -1.90% 6.94 Merk 2.44 130.42 1.87% 7.18 Hartford 1.70 116.62 1.46% 6.47 Arrow Investment Advisors -1.19 112.61 -1.06% -1.19 Morgan Stanley 0.00 97.25 0.00% 0.00 Nuveen 0.00 93.30 0.00% 3.79 ARK 5.90 86.52 6.82% 12.88 Recon Capital 2.00 86.51 2.31% 5.42 Montage Managers 6.09 68.95 8.84% 10.92 US Global Investors -1.39 65.63 -2.11% -2.80 Davis 14.34 61.17 23.44% 14.34 Reality Shares 0.65 57.19 1.13% 8.30 Academy Funds 0.00 37.89 0.00% 0.00 Aptus Capital Advisors 1.35 29.80 4.52% 2.67 AlphaMark Advisors 0.00 26.39 0.00% 0.00 Validea Capital Management 0.00 22.90 0.00% 0.00 OSI ETF Trust 11.33 22.02 51.45% 18.92 Diamond Hill 1.33 19.30 6.90% 1.33 ACSI Funds 2.76 16.88 16.35% 4.12 Amplify 2.73 16.77 16.30% 5.38 Renaissance Capital 0.00 15.60 0.00% 0.00 Natixis 0.00 14.05 0.00% 0.00 TrimTabs Asset Management 0.70 11.36 6.19% 4.79 Strategy Shares 0.00 10.91 0.00% 0.00 LocalShares 0.00 8.83 0.01% -0.00 CSOP 0.00 8.35 0.00% -0.67 Premise Capital 1.34 8.03 16.64% 2.63 USCF Advisers 0.00 5.70 0.00% 0.00 AlphaClone 0.00 2.09 0.00% -0.99 BMO 0.00 0.00 0.00% 0.00 Royal Bank of Canada 0.00 0.00 0.00% 0.00 Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges. Recommended Stories SEC Rejects Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF Swedroe: Political Biases Can Impact Your Investing Big Bitcoin ETF Decision Coming Today, Or Maybe Not This Fallen Angel ETF Really A Rising Star What Snap’s Pop & Drop IPO Means For ETFs Permalink | © Copyright 2017 ETF.com. All rights reserved || Feb. ETF Inflows Push 2017's Record Start To $88B: Total ETF inflows for February were $46 billion, bringing the year-to-date total to a record-breaking $87.9 billion, a record start to any year for new assets.
U.S. equity pulled in more than any other asset class, at $20.4 billion. U.S. fixed income and international equity were neck-and-neck, with inflows of $10.2 billion and $10.5 billion, respectively. Only currency saw outflows, losing $59.8 million.
The top gainer for the month out of the entire field of U.S.-listed ETFs was theiShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG), which pulled in $2.5 billion. TheiShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD)was in second place, pulling in just $20 million less than IEMG during the month.
A Story Of CostsIEMG’s inflows capture a rather fascinating development in the ETF space—the inexorable tide of low-cost victories. With an expense ratio of 0.14%, the fund is basically a broader, lower-cost version of its older brother, theiShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM), which comes with an expense ratio of 0.72%.
While IEMG was among the top gainers in February, the more expensive EEM actually saw zero inflows for the month and is down $33 million for the year. IEMG also holds the top spot for year-to-date inflows, pulling in a total of $4.2 billion in the first two months of the year, almost 22% of its total assets under management. LQD is again in second place, with $3.7 billion in inflows year-to-date.
The No. 3 spot for February inflows was claimed by theSPDR Gold Trust (GLD), which pulled in some $1.7 billion, a notable reversal from its outflows of $866 million in January. Commodities as a whole pulled in $2 billion during the month, after more than $600 million in outflows in January, boosted no doubt in part by the upswing in the yellow metal.
OutflowsThe ETFs with the biggest outflows included theiShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), which saw its assets fall by $1.6 billion during the month, or more than 4% of its assets under management. TheSPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)was the second-biggest loser, with outflows of $986.2 million, a reduction in AUM of just 0.42%.
However, theSPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA)was hot on its heels, with outflows of $981.1 million, or nearly 6% of its AUM. SPY and IWM were also the two biggest losers year-to-date, with outflows of $2.6 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively.
Top Gainers (February 2017)
[{"Ticker": "IEMG", "Name": "iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "2,485.09", "AUM ($M)": "23,824.90", "% of AUM": "11.65%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "4,226.25"}, {"Ticker": "LQD", "Name": "iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "2,465.40", "AUM ($M)": "31,078.62", "% of AUM": "8.62%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "3,706.91"}, {"Ticker": "GLD", "Name": "SPDR Gold Trust", "Issuer": "State Street Global Advisors", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "1,664.66", "AUM ($M)": "33,990.50", "% of AUM": "5.15%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "798.19"}, {"Ticker": "XLV", "Name": "Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund", "Issuer": "State Street Global Advisors", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "1,438.89", "AUM ($M)": "16,038.75", "% of AUM": "9.86%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,266.81"}, {"Ticker": "IJH", "Name": "iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "1,385.37", "AUM ($M)": "39,375.52", "% of AUM": "3.65%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "2,719.32"}, {"Ticker": "IVV", "Name": "iShares Core S&P 500 ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "1,303.89", "AUM ($M)": "98,093.81", "% of AUM": "1.35%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,836.45"}, {"Ticker": "VEA", "Name": "Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF", "Issuer": "Vanguard", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "1,279.82", "AUM ($M)": "44,338.13", "% of AUM": "2.97%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "2,191.94"}, {"Ticker": "XLF", "Name": "Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund", "Issuer": "State Street Global Advisors", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "1,252.81", "AUM ($M)": "25,097.97", "% of AUM": "5.25%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,356.12"}, {"Ticker": "VCSH", "Name": "Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund", "Issuer": "Vanguard", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "1,076.98", "AUM ($M)": "17,426.28", "% of AUM": "6.18%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,505.68"}, {"Ticker": "VOO", "Name": "Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund", "Issuer": "Vanguard", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "1,046.41", "AUM ($M)": "63,313.08", "% of AUM": "1.65%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "3204.42"}]
Top Gainers (Year-to-Date)
[{"Ticker": "IEMG", "Name": "iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "4,226.25", "AUM ($M)": "23,824.90", "% of AUM": "21.56%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "2,485.09"}, {"Ticker": "LQD", "Name": "iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "3,706.91", "AUM ($M)": "31,078.62", "% of AUM": "13.54%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "2,465.40"}, {"Ticker": "VOO", "Name": "Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund", "Issuer": "Vanguard", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "3,204.42", "AUM ($M)": "63,313.08", "% of AUM": "5.06%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,078.92"}, {"Ticker": "IJR", "Name": "iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "2,959.25", "AUM ($M)": "30,138.29", "% of AUM": "10.89%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "995.93"}, {"Ticker": "IJH", "Name": "iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "2,719.32", "AUM ($M)": "39,375.52", "% of AUM": "7.42%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,385.37"}, {"Ticker": "VEA", "Name": "Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF", "Issuer": "Vanguard", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "2,191.94", "AUM ($M)": "44,338.13", "% of AUM": "5.20%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,279.82"}, {"Ticker": "BSV", "Name": "Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund", "Issuer": "Vanguard", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "2,164.93", "AUM ($M)": "21,815.36", "% of AUM": "11.02%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "700.83"}, {"Ticker": "IEFA", "Name": "iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "2,136.43", "AUM ($M)": "18,639.54", "% of AUM": "12.95%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "387.53"}, {"Ticker": "VCIT", "Name": "Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund", "Issuer": "Vanguard", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "2,127.69", "AUM ($M)": "12,576.56", "% of AUM": "20.36%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "524.11"}, {"Ticker": "VTI", "Name": "Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund", "Issuer": "Vanguard", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "2,054.91", "AUM ($M)": "75,952.49", "% of AUM": "2.80%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,058.11"}]
Biggest Losers (February 2017)
[{"Ticker": "IWM", "Name": "iShares Russell 2000 ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-1,585.66", "AUM ($M)": "37,422.69", "% of AUM": "-4.06%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-2,325.13"}, {"Ticker": "SPY", "Name": "SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust", "Issuer": "State Street Global Advisors", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-986.21", "AUM ($M)": "235,826.66", "% of AUM": "-0.42%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-2,619.20"}, {"Ticker": "DIA", "Name": "SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust", "Issuer": "State Street Global Advisors", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-981.15", "AUM ($M)": "16,281.10", "% of AUM": "-5.68%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "673.31"}, {"Ticker": "SPHD", "Name": "PowerShares S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility Portfolio", "Issuer": "Invesco PowerShares", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-557.35", "AUM ($M)": "3,088.85", "% of AUM": "-15.29%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "165.39"}, {"Ticker": "HYG", "Name": "iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-399.83", "AUM ($M)": "18,573.36", "% of AUM": "-2.11%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-688.22"}, {"Ticker": "EWJ", "Name": "iShares MSCI Japan ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-346.94", "AUM ($M)": "16,292.41", "% of AUM": "-2.09%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "358.70"}, {"Ticker": "ACWV", "Name": "iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol Global ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-309.61", "AUM ($M)": "2,954.38", "% of AUM": "-9.49%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-338.99"}, {"Ticker": "USMV", "Name": "iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-284.32", "AUM ($M)": "12,365.36", "% of AUM": "-2.25%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-702.94"}, {"Ticker": "MUB", "Name": "iShares National Muni Bond ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-238.66", "AUM ($M)": "7,893.11", "% of AUM": "-2.93%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-327.02"}, {"Ticker": "EWW", "Name": "iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-236.60", "AUM ($M)": "1,667.35", "% of AUM": "-14.19%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-240.35"}]
Biggest Losers (Year-to-Date)
[{"Ticker": "SPY", "Name": "SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust", "Issuer": "State Street Global Advisors", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-2,619.20", "AUM ($M)": "235,826.66", "% of AUM": "-1.10%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-986.21"}, {"Ticker": "IWM", "Name": "iShares Russell 2000 ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-2,325.13", "AUM ($M)": "37,422.69", "% of AUM": "-5.85%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-1,585.66"}, {"Ticker": "IWF", "Name": "iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-1,244.82", "AUM ($M)": "33,669.24", "% of AUM": "-3.57%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "229.67"}, {"Ticker": "USMV", "Name": "iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-702.94", "AUM ($M)": "12,365.36", "% of AUM": "-5.38%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-284.32"}, {"Ticker": "HYG", "Name": "iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-688.22", "AUM ($M)": "18,573.36", "% of AUM": "-3.57%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-399.83"}, {"Ticker": "SCPB", "Name": "SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Short Term Corporate Bond ETF", "Issuer": "State Street Global Advisors", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-559.13", "AUM ($M)": "2,966.49", "% of AUM": "-15.86%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-88.64"}, {"Ticker": "HEDJ", "Name": "WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund", "Issuer": "WisdomTree", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-518.06", "AUM ($M)": "9,030.54", "% of AUM": "-5.43%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-191.09"}, {"Ticker": "IEF", "Name": "iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF", "Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-504.70", "AUM ($M)": "7,099.91", "% of AUM": "-7.11%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-293.71"}, {"Ticker": "QQQ", "Name": "PowerShares QQQ Trust", "Issuer": "PowerShares", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-481.54", "AUM ($M)": "45,443.80", "% of AUM": "-1.06%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "967.66"}, {"Ticker": "XLU", "Name": "Utilities Sector SPDR Fund", "Issuer": "SSGA", "Net Flows ($,mm)": "-396.38", "AUM ($M)": "6,943.23", "% of AUM": "-5.71%", "February 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "324.44"}]
Asset Classes (February 2017)
[{"": "U.S. Equity", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "20,371.81", "AUM ($, mm)": "1,601,910.98", "% of AUM": "1.27%"}, {"": "International Equity", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "10,581.49", "AUM ($, mm)": "562,765.18", "% of AUM": "1.83%"}, {"": "U.S. Fixed Income", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "10,211.31", "AUM ($, mm)": "437,402.33", "% of AUM": "2.38%"}, {"": "International Fixed Income", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "1,880.84", "AUM ($, mm)": "43,560.34", "% of AUM": "4.20%"}, {"": "Commodities", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "1,991.80", "AUM ($, mm)": "65,610.03", "% of AUM": "3.04%"}, {"": "Currency", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "-59.82", "AUM ($, mm)": "3,052.32", "% of AUM": "-1.96%"}, {"": "Leveraged", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "116.42", "AUM ($, mm)": "25,933.54", "% of AUM": "0.49%"}, {"": "Inverse", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "641.13", "AUM ($, mm)": "17,008.62", "% of AUM": "3.73%"}, {"": "Asset Allocation", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "64.72", "AUM ($, mm)": "6,681.04", "% of AUM": "0.90%"}, {"": "Alternatives", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "200.43", "AUM ($, mm)": "4,090.25", "% of AUM": "4.86%"}, {"": "Total:", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "46,000.02", "AUM ($, mm)": "2,768,014.63", "% of AUM": "1.62%"}]
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
[{"": "U.S. Equity", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "36,498.38", "AUM ($, mm)": "1,601,910.98", "% of AUM": "2.28%"}, {"": "International Equity", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "23,089.67", "AUM ($, mm)": "562,765.18", "% of AUM": "4.30%"}, {"": "U.S. Fixed Income", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "23,422.48", "AUM ($, mm)": "437,402.33", "% of AUM": "5.35%"}, {"": "International Fixed Income", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "2,796.38", "AUM ($, mm)": "43,560.34", "% of AUM": "6.31%"}, {"": "Commodities", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "1,322.83", "AUM ($, mm)": "65,610.03", "% of AUM": "1.80%"}, {"": "Currency", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "-25.10", "AUM ($, mm)": "3,052.32", "% of AUM": "-3.34%"}, {"": "Leveraged", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "-29.83", "AUM ($, mm)": "25,933.54", "% of AUM": "-0.12%"}, {"": "Inverse", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "847.96", "AUM ($, mm)": "17,008.62", "% of AUM": "4.99%"}, {"": "Asset Allocation", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "-346.80", "AUM ($, mm)": "6,681.04", "% of AUM": "-5.19%"}, {"": "Alternatives", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "453.19", "AUM ($, mm)": "4,090.25", "% of AUM": "11.08%"}, {"": "Total:", "Net Flows ($, mm)": "87,910.92", "AUM ($, mm)": "2,768,014.63", "% of AUM": "3.18%"}]
February 2017 League Table
[{"Issuer": "BlackRock", "Net Flows ($,M)": "15,618.06", "AUM ($,M)": "1,059,680.52", "% of AUM": "1.47%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "30,356.60"}, {"Issuer": "Vanguard", "Net Flows ($,M)": "12,589.60", "AUM ($,M)": "669,923.53", "% of AUM": "1.88%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "27,186.12"}, {"Issuer": "State Street Global Advisors", "Net Flows ($,M)": "6,977.44", "AUM ($,M)": "537,381.47", "% of AUM": "1.30%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "8,309.33"}, {"Issuer": "Invesco PowerShares", "Net Flows ($,M)": "656.29", "AUM ($,M)": "120,079.65", "% of AUM": "0.55%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "2,043.32"}, {"Issuer": "Charles Schwab", "Net Flows ($,M)": "2,249.63", "AUM ($,M)": "67,119.66", "% of AUM": "3.35%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "4,405.53"}, {"Issuer": "First Trust", "Net Flows ($,M)": "687.12", "AUM ($,M)": "44,800.01", "% of AUM": "1.53%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,478.78"}, {"Issuer": "WisdomTree", "Net Flows ($,M)": "174.60", "AUM ($,M)": "41,915.35", "% of AUM": "0.42%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "404.40"}, {"Issuer": "VanEck", "Net Flows ($,M)": "1,511.88", "AUM ($,M)": "34,758.08", "% of AUM": "4.35%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "2,889.57"}, {"Issuer": "Guggenheim", "Net Flows ($,M)": "363.49", "AUM ($,M)": "34,304.06", "% of AUM": "1.06%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,339.46"}, {"Issuer": "ProShares", "Net Flows ($,M)": "377.18", "AUM ($,M)": "26,888.91", "% of AUM": "1.40%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "789.83"}, {"Issuer": "ALPS", "Net Flows ($,M)": "571.39", "AUM ($,M)": "14,389.27", "% of AUM": "3.97%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1,009.97"}, {"Issuer": "Deutsche Bank", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-14.83", "AUM ($,M)": "14,160.27", "% of AUM": "-0.10%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "162.25"}, {"Issuer": "Northern Trust", "Net Flows ($,M)": "516.48", "AUM ($,M)": "13,077.98", "% of AUM": "3.95%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "873.73"}, {"Issuer": "PIMCO", "Net Flows ($,M)": "260.78", "AUM ($,M)": "12,878.40", "% of AUM": "2.02%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "160.65"}, {"Issuer": "Direxion", "Net Flows ($,M)": "179.48", "AUM ($,M)": "11,186.53", "% of AUM": "1.60%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-128.99"}, {"Issuer": "Barclays Capital", "Net Flows ($,M)": "243.49", "AUM ($,M)": "7,134.14", "% of AUM": "3.41%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "529.31"}, {"Issuer": "UBS", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-17.21", "AUM ($,M)": "6,977.94", "% of AUM": "-0.25%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-16.76"}, {"Issuer": "Fidelity", "Net Flows ($,M)": "356.05", "AUM ($,M)": "5,984.57", "% of AUM": "5.95%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "503.64"}, {"Issuer": "JPMorgan", "Net Flows ($,M)": "80.54", "AUM ($,M)": "5,214.85", "% of AUM": "1.54%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "159.07"}, {"Issuer": "Global X", "Net Flows ($,M)": "244.20", "AUM ($,M)": "4,521.77", "% of AUM": "5.40%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "537.66"}, {"Issuer": "US Commodity Funds", "Net Flows ($,M)": "45.82", "AUM ($,M)": "4,251.90", "% of AUM": "1.08%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-134.01"}, {"Issuer": "Credit Suisse", "Net Flows ($,M)": "346.62", "AUM ($,M)": "3,497.50", "% of AUM": "9.91%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "507.68"}, {"Issuer": "Goldman Sachs", "Net Flows ($,M)": "24.76", "AUM ($,M)": "3,181.04", "% of AUM": "0.78%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "155.71"}, {"Issuer": "Exchange Traded Concepts", "Net Flows ($,M)": "73.12", "AUM ($,M)": "2,488.80", "% of AUM": "2.94%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "159.75"}, {"Issuer": "ETF Securities", "Net Flows ($,M)": "47.65", "AUM ($,M)": "2,468.74", "% of AUM": "1.93%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "66.31"}, {"Issuer": "IndexIQ", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-2.98", "AUM ($,M)": "2,255.02", "% of AUM": "-0.13%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-42.01"}, {"Issuer": "OppenheimerFunds", "Net Flows ($,M)": "167.31", "AUM ($,M)": "1,979.78", "% of AUM": "8.45%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "316.60"}, {"Issuer": "ETF Managers Group", "Net Flows ($,M)": "101.46", "AUM ($,M)": "1,172.38", "% of AUM": "8.65%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "114.60"}, {"Issuer": "Victory Capital Management", "Net Flows ($,M)": "81.29", "AUM ($,M)": "1,131.86", "% of AUM": "7.18%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "181.87"}, {"Issuer": "AdvisorShares", "Net Flows ($,M)": "16.60", "AUM ($,M)": "1,098.32", "% of AUM": "1.51%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "10.49"}, {"Issuer": "Millington Securities Inc", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-22.93", "AUM ($,M)": "1,040.81", "% of AUM": "-2.20%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-26.53"}, {"Issuer": "Columbia", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-9.30", "AUM ($,M)": "1,000.29", "% of AUM": "-0.93%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-9.83"}, {"Issuer": "Pacer Financial", "Net Flows ($,M)": "18.51", "AUM ($,M)": "828.38", "% of AUM": "2.23%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "47.83"}, {"Issuer": "Virtus", "Net Flows ($,M)": "19.88", "AUM ($,M)": "787.28", "% of AUM": "2.52%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "143.06"}, {"Issuer": "John Hancock", "Net Flows ($,M)": "34.71", "AUM ($,M)": "742.61", "% of AUM": "4.67%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "45.23"}, {"Issuer": "CitiGroup", "Net Flows ($,M)": "62.09", "AUM ($,M)": "626.95", "% of AUM": "9.90%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "154.55"}, {"Issuer": "Franklin ETF Trust", "Net Flows ($,M)": "44.99", "AUM ($,M)": "605.92", "% of AUM": "7.43%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "50.41"}, {"Issuer": "The Principal Financial Group", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "565.63", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "2.04"}, {"Issuer": "Highland Capital Management", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-9.43", "AUM ($,M)": "485.43", "% of AUM": "-1.94%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "7.49"}, {"Issuer": "FQF Trust", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-8.02", "AUM ($,M)": "450.38", "% of AUM": "-1.78%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-4.42"}, {"Issuer": "Swedish Export Credit", "Net Flows ($,M)": "2.01", "AUM ($,M)": "395.25", "% of AUM": "0.51%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.42"}, {"Issuer": "Cambria", "Net Flows ($,M)": "24.47", "AUM ($,M)": "383.36", "% of AUM": "6.38%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "35.92"}, {"Issuer": "KraneShares", "Net Flows ($,M)": "9.98", "AUM ($,M)": "289.38", "% of AUM": "3.45%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "10.49"}, {"Issuer": "Janus", "Net Flows ($,M)": "6.59", "AUM ($,M)": "181.35", "% of AUM": "3.63%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "36.08"}, {"Issuer": "Northern Lights", "Net Flows ($,M)": "18.91", "AUM ($,M)": "179.58", "% of AUM": "10.53%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "18.91"}, {"Issuer": "Alpha Architect", "Net Flows ($,M)": "1.26", "AUM ($,M)": "168.73", "% of AUM": "0.75%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "25.93"}, {"Issuer": "Elkhorn", "Net Flows ($,M)": "1.52", "AUM ($,M)": "165.71", "% of AUM": "0.92%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "27.41"}, {"Issuer": "Teucrium", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.82", "AUM ($,M)": "159.51", "% of AUM": "0.51%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.21"}, {"Issuer": "Legg Mason", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-2.81", "AUM ($,M)": "148.25", "% of AUM": "-1.90%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "6.94"}, {"Issuer": "Merk", "Net Flows ($,M)": "2.44", "AUM ($,M)": "130.42", "% of AUM": "1.87%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "7.18"}, {"Issuer": "Hartford", "Net Flows ($,M)": "1.70", "AUM ($,M)": "116.62", "% of AUM": "1.46%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "6.47"}, {"Issuer": "Arrow Investment Advisors", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-1.19", "AUM ($,M)": "112.61", "% of AUM": "-1.06%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-1.19"}, {"Issuer": "Morgan Stanley", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "97.25", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}, {"Issuer": "Nuveen", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "93.30", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "3.79"}, {"Issuer": "ARK", "Net Flows ($,M)": "5.90", "AUM ($,M)": "86.52", "% of AUM": "6.82%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "12.88"}, {"Issuer": "Recon Capital", "Net Flows ($,M)": "2.00", "AUM ($,M)": "86.51", "% of AUM": "2.31%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "5.42"}, {"Issuer": "Montage Managers", "Net Flows ($,M)": "6.09", "AUM ($,M)": "68.95", "% of AUM": "8.84%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "10.92"}, {"Issuer": "US Global Investors", "Net Flows ($,M)": "-1.39", "AUM ($,M)": "65.63", "% of AUM": "-2.11%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-2.80"}, {"Issuer": "Davis", "Net Flows ($,M)": "14.34", "AUM ($,M)": "61.17", "% of AUM": "23.44%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "14.34"}, {"Issuer": "Reality Shares", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.65", "AUM ($,M)": "57.19", "% of AUM": "1.13%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "8.30"}, {"Issuer": "Academy Funds", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "37.89", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}, {"Issuer": "Aptus Capital Advisors", "Net Flows ($,M)": "1.35", "AUM ($,M)": "29.80", "% of AUM": "4.52%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "2.67"}, {"Issuer": "AlphaMark Advisors", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "26.39", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}, {"Issuer": "Validea Capital Management", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "22.90", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}, {"Issuer": "OSI ETF Trust", "Net Flows ($,M)": "11.33", "AUM ($,M)": "22.02", "% of AUM": "51.45%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "18.92"}, {"Issuer": "Diamond Hill", "Net Flows ($,M)": "1.33", "AUM ($,M)": "19.30", "% of AUM": "6.90%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "1.33"}, {"Issuer": "ACSI Funds", "Net Flows ($,M)": "2.76", "AUM ($,M)": "16.88", "% of AUM": "16.35%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "4.12"}, {"Issuer": "Amplify", "Net Flows ($,M)": "2.73", "AUM ($,M)": "16.77", "% of AUM": "16.30%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "5.38"}, {"Issuer": "Renaissance Capital", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "15.60", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}, {"Issuer": "Natixis", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "14.05", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}, {"Issuer": "TrimTabs Asset Management", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.70", "AUM ($,M)": "11.36", "% of AUM": "6.19%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "4.79"}, {"Issuer": "Strategy Shares", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "10.91", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}, {"Issuer": "LocalShares", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "8.83", "% of AUM": "0.01%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-0.00"}, {"Issuer": "CSOP", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "8.35", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-0.67"}, {"Issuer": "Premise Capital", "Net Flows ($,M)": "1.34", "AUM ($,M)": "8.03", "% of AUM": "16.64%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "2.63"}, {"Issuer": "USCF Advisers", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "5.70", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}, {"Issuer": "AlphaClone", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "2.09", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "-0.99"}, {"Issuer": "BMO", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "0.00", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}, {"Issuer": "Royal Bank of Canada", "Net Flows ($,M)": "0.00", "AUM ($,M)": "0.00", "% of AUM": "0.00%", "YTD 2017 Net Flows($,M)": "0.00"}]
Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
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Permalink| © Copyright 2017ETF.com.All rights reserved || Bitcoin site CoinDesk poaches Bloomberg exec as new CEO: CoinDesk, the leading trade publication covering bitcoin and blockchain news, has a new CEO, its first: Kevin Worth, former CFO of Bloomberg Digital Media.
While digital currency may be a non-traditional coverage area, the job otherwise looks like an obvious fit with Worth’s background in managing digital content businesses.
In the late 90s, Worth worked in corporate strategic planning at the New York Times. Then he was founding CEO of The Deal, the financial data and news site funded by investment banker Bruce Wasserstein. Worth stayed on for a year after The Deal sold to The Street. He spent the past couple of years as CFO of Bloomberg’s digital and television businesses.
Just over 12 months ago, in January 2016,CoinDesk sold to Digital Currency Group, the biggest investment firm in bitcoin and blockchain startups (withinvestments in over 90), led by Barry Silbert, the founder of SecondMarket. DCG placed its own Ryan Selkis in charge of CoinDesk on the business side, but pledged that Selkis and DCG would have no involvement in editorial decisions at the site.
Selkis was never CoinDesk’s CEO; Worth is its first. He will run business and editorial, the way that a typical magazine publisher would; the site’s editor is Pete Rizzo.
CoinDesk has 13 full-time employees.Last month, the site made its first acquisition:the bitcoin data app Lawnmower. Lawnmower’s historical price data and charts, as well as its staff, got folded into CoinDesk’s in-house research arm (which produces reports such as a new one on blockchains for insurance), a sign it is serious about the information-selling side of its business.
DCG’s main interest in CoinDesk was always for Consensus, its live bitcoin conference in May, first held in 2015. Last year, the event attracted 1,5000 attendees. Worth, from his time at Bloomberg, has seen the growth of live events as a money-maker for publishers. These days, live programming is a vital arm of the business for news organizations like Time Inc, Business Insider, and Re/code.
Under Worth, expect CoinDesk to place further emphasis on two pillars: live events like Consensus, and research reports for a fee. “To me, if you look at where the value in the content marketplace is being created,” Worth says, “it’s live events and business information products. I see an opportunity for CoinDesk to gain a pole position in becoming the must-have, go-to resource for the industry.”
Worth sounds more fired up about events and information than the news side, which is what CoinDesk is for many of its readers: a vital news outlet. He confirms that Consensus, for now, is his “main focus.”
So, moving forward, will CoinDesk look more like a data resource, or a news blog?
“I think it’s a little all-of-the-above,” Worth says. “I can tell you that the playbooks I have had in the past think about having many different audiences, and how to serve all of them. What got me so excited about coming is that it’s pretty much a whiteboard.”
In terms of news coverage, it sounds like CoinDesk may soon see itself less as a mainstream news site covering bitcoin and blockchain news for the masses. When asked if other business news outlets that cover bitcoin news are competitors, Worth says, “If they are serving a broad, general interest community, then no. We are keeping our eye on serving industry professionals.”
Just a few months ago, Worth knew very little about the digital currency bitcoin, and the blockchain technology that underpins it. (What exactly is blockchain?Watch this video.) After Barry Silbert called, “I did a lot of research and started to learn a lot more, and I drank the kool-aid, if you will,” says Worth.
He hasn’t bought any bitcoin as an investment just yet.
Digital currency, Worth says, “feels a little bit to me like when the first Internet hype came. There is a tremendous need to understand all the potential implications, people trying to understand it and make sense of it. From my time at Bloomberg I’m close to the world of institutional finance, and that’s an industry that hasn’t really had the amount of transformation that has gone on in, say, the media business. So, let’s see where the opportunity is for those businesses to transform, which are much more fundamental to the global economy.”
As the interest in blockchain technology (especially from banks) has grown, CoinDesk has grown and expanded its purview from bitcoin, to additional digital assets like Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum, to blockchain news. In the near future, Worth sees the challenge and competition coming from data providers, not necessarily media outlets.
“I see this as a wide open field,” he says. “What I’m focused on, to be honest with you, it’s not other media or content companies that are the competition, but other information providers who might move into the space, whether that’s consulting firms or other information providers. But we ought to be smarter than them, because they may just have two or three people looking at it and we have a whole team.”
Other information providers that might move into the bitcoin and blockchain space? That sounds like it could include… Bloomberg, his old employer. And that’s fine for Worth, who says he learned a great deal while there. “I understand what their business model is about. It’s really the only company I can think of where they have scale but it’s still dominated by the owner, who is still the CEO and it’s his capital and you follow his lead,” Worth says. After his years there, he’s ready for something “entrepreneurial.”
And that’s why Silbert tapped Worth, he says: corporate experience that can help turn a modest-sized blog into a full-scale information seller.
“I believe digital currency is a transformational asset class that will attract meaningful amounts of capital over time,” Silbert says. (It’s a sound bite he likes to repeat.) “And then there’s a lot of interest in blockchain, and distributed ledger technology, to make processes more efficient… We’re obviously super bullish on bitcoin, blockchain technology, and all the applications that are going to come. All we needed was an experienced operator like Kevin to come in and help scale the business.”
CoinDesk expects to become profitable this year.
—
Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering technology and media. Follow him on Twitter at@readDanwrite.
Read more:
Bitcoin is becoming the new gold
Expect more blockchain hype in 2017
Here’s where big banks stand on blockchain
Why 21.co is the most exciting bitcoin company right now || Bitcoin site CoinDesk poaches Bloomberg exec as new CEO: Bitcoin price over the last 3 months, via CoinDesk price index CoinDesk, the leading trade publication covering bitcoin and blockchain news, has a new CEO, its first: Kevin Worth, former CFO of Bloomberg Digital Media. While digital currency may be a non-traditional coverage area, the job otherwise looks like an obvious fit with Worths background in managing digital content businesses. In the late 90s, Worth worked in corporate strategic planning at the New York Times. Then he was founding CEO of The Deal, the financial data and news site funded by investment banker Bruce Wasserstein. Worth stayed on for a year after The Deal sold to The Street. He spent the past couple of years as CFO of Bloombergs digital and television businesses. Many recent changes at CoinDesk Just over 12 months ago, in January 2016, CoinDesk sold to Digital Currency Group , the biggest investment firm in bitcoin and blockchain startups (with investments in over 90 ), led by Barry Silbert, the founder of SecondMarket. DCG placed its own Ryan Selkis in charge of CoinDesk on the business side, but pledged that Selkis and DCG would have no involvement in editorial decisions at the site. Selkis was never CoinDesks CEO; Worth is its first. He will run business and editorial, the way that a typical magazine publisher would; the sites editor is Pete Rizzo. Kevin Worth, new CEO of CoinDesk CoinDesk has 13 full-time employees. Last month, the site made its first acquisition: the bitcoin data app Lawnmower . Lawnmowers historical price data and charts, as well as its staff, got folded into CoinDesks in-house research arm (which produces reports such as a new one on blockchains for insurance), a sign it is serious about the information-selling side of its business. DCGs main interest in CoinDesk was always for Consensus, its live bitcoin conference in May, first held in 2015. Last year, the event attracted 1,5000 attendees. Worth, from his time at Bloomberg, has seen the growth of live events as a money-maker for publishers. These days, live programming is a vital arm of the business for news organizations like Time Inc, Business Insider, and Re/code. Story continues Under Worth, expect CoinDesk to place further emphasis on two pillars: live events like Consensus, and research reports for a fee. To me, if you look at where the value in the content marketplace is being created, Worth says, its live events and business information products. I see an opportunity for CoinDesk to gain a pole position in becoming the must-have, go-to resource for the industry. Worth sounds more fired up about events and information than the news side, which is what CoinDesk is for many of its readers: a vital news outlet. He confirms that Consensus, for now, is his main focus. So, moving forward, will CoinDesk look more like a data resource, or a news blog? I think its a little all-of-the-above, Worth says. I can tell you that the playbooks I have had in the past think about having many different audiences, and how to serve all of them. What got me so excited about coming is that its pretty much a whiteboard. A look at CoinDesks homepage on Feb. 28, 2017 In terms of news coverage, it sounds like CoinDesk may soon see itself less as a mainstream news site covering bitcoin and blockchain news for the masses. When asked if other business news outlets that cover bitcoin news are competitors, Worth says, If they are serving a broad, general interest community, then no. We are keeping our eye on serving industry professionals. New to bitcoin Just a few months ago, Worth knew very little about the digital currency bitcoin, and the blockchain technology that underpins it. (What exactly is blockchain? Watch this video .) After Barry Silbert called, I did a lot of research and started to learn a lot more, and I drank the kool-aid, if you will, says Worth. He hasnt bought any bitcoin as an investment just yet. Digital currency, Worth says, feels a little bit to me like when the first Internet hype came. There is a tremendous need to understand all the potential implications, people trying to understand it and make sense of it. From my time at Bloomberg Im close to the world of institutional finance, and thats an industry that hasnt really had the amount of transformation that has gone on in, say, the media business. So, lets see where the opportunity is for those businesses to transform, which are much more fundamental to the global economy. As the interest in blockchain technology ( especially from banks ) has grown, CoinDesk has grown and expanded its purview from bitcoin, to additional digital assets like Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum, to blockchain news. In the near future, Worth sees the challenge and competition coming from data providers, not necessarily media outlets. I see this as a wide open field, he says. What Im focused on, to be honest with you, its not other media or content companies that are the competition, but other information providers who might move into the space, whether thats consulting firms or other information providers. But we ought to be smarter than them, because they may just have two or three people looking at it and we have a whole team. Other information providers that might move into the bitcoin and blockchain space? That sounds like it could include
Bloomberg, his old employer. And thats fine for Worth, who says he learned a great deal while there. I understand what their business model is about. Its really the only company I can think of where they have scale but its still dominated by the owner, who is still the CEO and its his capital and you follow his lead, Worth says. After his years there, hes ready for something entrepreneurial. And thats why Silbert tapped Worth, he says: corporate experience that can help turn a modest-sized blog into a full-scale information seller. I believe digital currency is a transformational asset class that will attract meaningful amounts of capital over time, Silbert says. (Its a sound bite he likes to repeat.) And then theres a lot of interest in blockchain, and distributed ledger technology, to make processes more efficient
Were obviously super bullish on bitcoin, blockchain technology, and all the applications that are going to come. All we needed was an experienced operator like Kevin to come in and help scale the business. CoinDesk expects to become profitable this year. Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering technology and media. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite . Read more: Bitcoin is becoming the new gold Expect more blockchain hype in 2017 Heres where big banks stand on blockchain Why 21.co is the most exciting bitcoin company right now || Bitcoin site CoinDesk poaches Bloomberg exec as new CEO: CoinDesk, the leading trade publication covering bitcoin and blockchain news, has a new CEO, its first: Kevin Worth, former CFO of Bloomberg Digital Media.
While digital currency may be a non-traditional coverage area, the job otherwise looks like an obvious fit with Worth’s background in managing digital content businesses.
In the late 90s, Worth worked in corporate strategic planning at the New York Times. Then he was founding CEO of The Deal, the financial data and news site funded by investment banker Bruce Wasserstein. Worth stayed on for a year after The Deal sold to The Street. He spent the past couple of years as CFO of Bloomberg’s digital and television businesses.
Just over 12 months ago, in January 2016,CoinDesk sold to Digital Currency Group, the biggest investment firm in bitcoin and blockchain startups (withinvestments in over 90), led by Barry Silbert, the founder of SecondMarket. DCG placed its own Ryan Selkis in charge of CoinDesk on the business side, but pledged that Selkis and DCG would have no involvement in editorial decisions at the site.
Selkis was never CoinDesk’s CEO; Worth is its first. He will run business and editorial, the way that a typical magazine publisher would; the site’s editor is Pete Rizzo.
CoinDesk has 13 full-time employees.Last month, the site made its first acquisition:the bitcoin data app Lawnmower. Lawnmower’s historical price data and charts, as well as its staff, got folded into CoinDesk’s in-house research arm (which produces reports such as a new one on blockchains for insurance), a sign it is serious about the information-selling side of its business.
DCG’s main interest in CoinDesk was always for Consensus, its live bitcoin conference in May, first held in 2015. Last year, the event attracted 1,5000 attendees. Worth, from his time at Bloomberg, has seen the growth of live events as a money-maker for publishers. These days, live programming is a vital arm of the business for news organizations like Time Inc, Business Insider, and Re/code.
Under Worth, expect CoinDesk to place further emphasis on two pillars: live events like Consensus, and research reports for a fee. “To me, if you look at where the value in the content marketplace is being created,” Worth says, “it’s live events and business information products. I see an opportunity for CoinDesk to gain a pole position in becoming the must-have, go-to resource for the industry.”
Worth sounds more fired up about events and information than the news side, which is what CoinDesk is for many of its readers: a vital news outlet. He confirms that Consensus, for now, is his “main focus.”
So, moving forward, will CoinDesk look more like a data resource, or a news blog?
“I think it’s a little all-of-the-above,” Worth says. “I can tell you that the playbooks I have had in the past think about having many different audiences, and how to serve all of them. What got me so excited about coming is that it’s pretty much a whiteboard.”
In terms of news coverage, it sounds like CoinDesk may soon see itself less as a mainstream news site covering bitcoin and blockchain news for the masses. When asked if other business news outlets that cover bitcoin news are competitors, Worth says, “If they are serving a broad, general interest community, then no. We are keeping our eye on serving industry professionals.”
Just a few months ago, Worth knew very little about the digital currency bitcoin, and the blockchain technology that underpins it. (What exactly is blockchain?Watch this video.) After Barry Silbert called, “I did a lot of research and started to learn a lot more, and I drank the kool-aid, if you will,” says Worth.
He hasn’t bought any bitcoin as an investment just yet.
Digital currency, Worth says, “feels a little bit to me like when the first Internet hype came. There is a tremendous need to understand all the potential implications, people trying to understand it and make sense of it. From my time at Bloomberg I’m close to the world of institutional finance, and that’s an industry that hasn’t really had the amount of transformation that has gone on in, say, the media business. So, let’s see where the opportunity is for those businesses to transform, which are much more fundamental to the global economy.”
As the interest in blockchain technology (especially from banks) has grown, CoinDesk has grown and expanded its purview from bitcoin, to additional digital assets like Litecoin, Ripple, and Ethereum, to blockchain news. In the near future, Worth sees the challenge and competition coming from data providers, not necessarily media outlets.
“I see this as a wide open field,” he says. “What I’m focused on, to be honest with you, it’s not other media or content companies that are the competition, but other information providers who might move into the space, whether that’s consulting firms or other information providers. But we ought to be smarter than them, because they may just have two or three people looking at it and we have a whole team.”
Other information providers that might move into the bitcoin and blockchain space? That sounds like it could include… Bloomberg, his old employer. And that’s fine for Worth, who says he learned a great deal while there. “I understand what their business model is about. It’s really the only company I can think of where they have scale but it’s still dominated by the owner, who is still the CEO and it’s his capital and you follow his lead,” Worth says. After his years there, he’s ready for something “entrepreneurial.”
And that’s why Silbert tapped Worth, he says: corporate experience that can help turn a modest-sized blog into a full-scale information seller.
“I believe digital currency is a transformational asset class that will attract meaningful amounts of capital over time,” Silbert says. (It’s a sound bite he likes to repeat.) “And then there’s a lot of interest in blockchain, and distributed ledger technology, to make processes more efficient… We’re obviously super bullish on bitcoin, blockchain technology, and all the applications that are going to come. All we needed was an experienced operator like Kevin to come in and help scale the business.”
CoinDesk expects to become profitable this year.
—
Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering technology and media. Follow him on Twitter at@readDanwrite.
Read more:
Bitcoin is becoming the new gold
Expect more blockchain hype in 2017
Here’s where big banks stand on blockchain
Why 21.co is the most exciting bitcoin company right now || Maple syrup water tapped from trees is the next coconut water: (Melia Robinson/Business Insider)
In 2016, coconut water generated$2.3 billionin sales worldwide.
The makers of a new designer brew — a subtly sweet water tapped from maple trees — want to ride the coattails of coconut water's success all the way to the bank.
Maple water has captured a modest following since it debuted in 2013. While coconut water still commands98%of the global "alternative waters" market (which includes water harvested from bamboo,cactus, and artichokes),maple water has made gains. A recentreport from food and drink market researcher Zenithpredicts the maple water market will triple in size by 2020. It's unclear how much revenue the category currently drives.
"It's not coconut water, yet, from a category-size. We all like to hope that it gets to be that big at some point in time," Mike Roberts, vice president of sales atSap on Tap, tells Business Insider. The company, founded in 2015, sources water tapped from maple trees on farms across the Northeast.
Arbeau, a luxury line of maple waters available in tap and sparkling, launched in 2016 in Canada. The brand's creator, Leanne Pawluk, likens the product to wine. Each batch will take on a slightly different flavor profile, just as wines change season to season.
("We wanted it to be the champagne of waters," Leanne Pawluk, creator of Arbeau, told Business Insider.Melia Robinson/Business Insider)
When I first tried maple water, I expected to taste a sugary syrup similar to what I pour over pancakes. Instead, sipping from a Dixie cup of Sap on Tap water was refreshing. The clear liquid tasted like normal water with a spot of honey — sweet, but not as sugary as a Coca Cola.
Each spring, maple tree farmers tap their trees to catch the maple water, which is also known as sap. That liquid —made up of about 98% water and 2% sugar— gets boiled down until it becomes the sticky-sweet staple of breakfast foods, according toMichael Farrell, a maple specialist at Cornell University.It takes 40 gallons of sap to yield one gallon of maple syrup.
Maple water may be a more sustainable commercial product than syrup. The trees only give about three gallons of sap per year, and farmers could stretch that supply further in its raw form. In order to be sold, the sap must be filtered to separate out bugs and bacteria. Most products have a shelf life of less than one year.
(A Parker's Maple Barn employee pours maple tree sap into a larger bucket in Brookline, New Hampshire.Elise Amendola/AP)
The future of maple water is ambiguous, however, asclimate change threatens sap production. Some predict that fewer freeze-thaw cycles during the late winter and early spring could throw the brakes on sap production. Others worry maple trees will die out due to climate change.
Farrell, who directs amaple syrup research station in Lake Placid, New York, has a more optimistic view. In his book, "The Sugarmaker's Companion," he outlines several workarounds, including moving up the harvest as temperatures rise and relocating the industry to mid-Atlantic states.
And if a warm winter leads to a low sap yield, the product becomes more exclusive.
"It's sustainable, it's renewable," Pawluk says. "And it's super cool because it's water from a tree."
NOW WATCH:Here's why maple syrup jugs have teeny tiny handles
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• Bitcoin just hit an all-time high — here's how you buy and sell it || Maple syrup water tapped from trees is the next coconut water: san francisco fancy food show 2186 (Melia Robinson/Business Insider) In 2016, coconut water generated $2.3 billion in sales worldwide. The makers of a new designer brew — a subtly sweet water tapped from maple trees — want to ride the coattails of coconut water's success all the way to the bank. Maple water has captured a modest following since it debuted in 2013. While coconut water still commands 98% of the global "alternative waters" market (which includes water harvested from bamboo, cactus, and artichokes) , maple water has made gains. A recent report from food and drink market researcher Zenith predicts the maple water market will triple in size by 2020. It's unclear how much revenue the category currently drives. "It's not coconut water, yet, from a category-size. We all like to hope that it gets to be that big at some point in time," Mike Roberts, vice president of sales at Sap on Tap , tells Business Insider. The company, founded in 2015, sources water tapped from maple trees on farms across the Northeast. Arbeau , a luxury line of maple waters available in tap and sparkling, launched in 2016 in Canada. The brand's creator, Leanne Pawluk, likens the product to wine. Each batch will take on a slightly different flavor profile, just as wines change season to season. san francisco fancy food show 2197 ("We wanted it to be the champagne of waters," Leanne Pawluk, creator of Arbeau, told Business Insider.Melia Robinson/Business Insider) When I first tried maple water, I expected to taste a sugary syrup similar to what I pour over pancakes. Instead, sipping from a Dixie cup of Sap on Tap water was refreshing. The clear liquid tasted like normal water with a spot of honey — sweet, but not as sugary as a Coca Cola. Each spring, maple tree farmers tap their trees to catch the maple water, which is also known as sap. That liquid — made up of about 98% water and 2% sugar — gets boiled down until it becomes the sticky-sweet staple of breakfast foods, according to Michael Farrell, a maple specialist at Cornell University. It takes 40 gallons of sap to yield one gallon of maple syrup. Maple water may be a more sustainable commercial product than syrup. The trees only give about three gallons of sap per year, and farmers could stretch that supply further in its raw form. In order to be sold, the sap must be filtered to separate out bugs and bacteria. Most products have a shelf life of less than one year. Maple tree sap syrup barn new hampshire (A Parker's Maple Barn employee pours maple tree sap into a larger bucket in Brookline, New Hampshire.Elise Amendola/AP) The future of maple water is ambiguous, however, as climate change threatens sap production . Some predict that fewer freeze-thaw cycles during the late winter and early spring could throw the brakes on sap production. Others worry maple trees will die out due to climate change. Story continues Farrell, who directs a maple syrup research station in Lake Placid, New York, has a more optimistic view. In his book, " The Sugarmaker's Companion ," he outlines several workarounds, including moving up the harvest as temperatures rise and relocating the industry to mid-Atlantic states. And if a warm winter leads to a low sap yield, the product becomes more exclusive. "It's sustainable, it's renewable," Pawluk says. "And it's super cool because it's water from a tree." NOW WATCH: Here's why maple syrup jugs have teeny tiny handles More From Business Insider A Swedish town could give employees paid time off to have sex CEOs love the corner office, but research says it's overrated Bitcoin just hit an all-time high — here's how you buy and sell it View comments || The Fintech World Series: Canada: By: Kurtosys Harvest Exchange February 28, 2017 The Fintech World Series: Canada Canada featured image Fintech is exploding. It is a global industry, striving to change the future of finance. …And the future is now. At Kurtosys, we’ve set out to cover exactly what’s happening in the financial industry the world over, one country at a time. With so many places contributing to the advancement of our digital world, each deserves their own time in the spotlight. This time, heading away from Europe, we’re travelling to Canada . Whilst neighbouring the fintech giant that is the United States, this North American behemoth is steadily boosting its reputation of having one of the most secure banking systems in the world. Read on to discover how this affects their up-and-coming fintech landscape. With a country boasting such incredible musical talent as Justin Bieber, Nickelback and Avril Lavigne, it was naturally going to be on our fintech radar, eh? But seriously, Alexisonfire are awesome, and Canada was actually named by accident, when French Explorer Jacques Cartier mistook a native term for village – ‘kanata’ – for the country’s name as we see it today. It is a land that has birthed such funny people as Jim Carrey, Mike Myers and Leslie Nielsen, and big-time serious actors such as Malin Åkerman and Ryan Gosling*, with the latter achieving early stardom in Canadian cult-classic TV show Goosebumps . The less said about that the better. More should be said, however, about Canada’s rise to fintech prominence. <html><body><img alt="Canada fintech infographic" class="alignnone wp-image-50082 size-full" height="1000" sizes="(max-width: 1424px) 100vw, 1424px" src="http://hvst.co/2lutK7T" srcset="http://hvst.co/2lutK7T 1424w, http://hvst.co/2luyvhF 300w, http://hvst.co/2luESRW 768w, http://hvst.co/2mp0pzB 1024w, http://hvst.co/2luD7nP 225w" width="1424"/></body></html> Story continues According to a post in the Canadian publication The Globe and Mail, outside the technology life-blood of Silicon Valley, Canada’s province of Ontario (home to cities including Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton) has among the highest concentrations of technological firms. The reason for this being its low costs, and the universities in the Toronto and Waterloo area being abound with graduate engineers and developers. Deloitte awarded Canada a global financial centre rank of 21 in 2016. There has recently been investment from both the financial and technological industries. Of note, Goldman Sachs invested in Financeit (based in Toronto, offering businesses a platform for customer payment plans) in 2015, as well as nanoPay in 2016, a “frictionless payments” service, also based in Toronto. Elsewhere, one of Japan’s world leading tech services companies NTT Data Corp has announced a partnership with MaRS Innovation lab (more about them later on), promising to support Canadian startups whose technologies can be used by NTT. Two notable startups from Canada that have achieved success are Shopify – a cloud-based e-commerce company that designs software for online stores for SMEs, founded in 2004 – and Hootsuite, a social media management platform used by over 15 million people, founded in 2008 in Vancouver, which similarly has a thriving fintech ecosystem like the cities in the East. Benevolent Banking Despite the global financial crisis of 2007/08, Canadian banks remained unscathed according to the Canadian Bankers Association; none were in danger of failure or were bailed out. In fact, Canada’s banks have been rated amongst the soundest in the world for the past 10 years, rated highly due to them being well capitalised, managed and regulated. Should a similar crash occur in the future, each bank has developed “recovery and resolution plans” already – ahead of the curve. Plus, the development of regulatory frameworks for banks and insurers is being handled by both domestic and global organisations, so Canadians are clearly remaining resolute to keep their well-earned ‘sound banking’ tag. The largest banks in Canada are referred to as the ‘Big Six’ by a report from PWC, and are as follows: Bank of Montreal (BMO) Scotiabank Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) National Bank of Canada (NBC) Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) As well as these established financial institutions, there is also the presence of online disruptor banks, which include Tangerine, PC Financial and Canadian Tire Bank. However, in 2014 it is noted that these banks only accounted for 3% of Canadians’ total deposits. Are digital financial companies still very much in the shadow of major banks, who retain brand recognition and consumer trust? Peter Aceto, CEO of Tangerine, believes that there is a social revolution occurring within the financial industry, with consumers losing trust in major banks and “expecting experiences that simplify their lives, that makes things easy”. Tangerine was the original disruptor bank that launched its first branchless bank in Canada. Truly, banks are responding to this revolution that Aceto outlines, and it turns out that many are making heavy investments in technology to “transform their customer experience, automate processes, comply with regulatory demands and enhance digital capabilities”, with many beginning the enablement and implementation of APIs. Despite the regulators’ tendency to aim for stability (thus halting market innovation), Canadian fintech is still pushing to gain momentum. There are already more than 80 fintech firms in Canada, with the GTA (Greater Toronto Area)-Waterloo and Vancouver areas being the sites for a concentrated ecosystem of major banks, universities and tech startups. Whilst pension plans have recently attracted the most significant fintech investments, more is needed from the government, private investors and banks. To put things into perspective, since 2010 the Canadian fintech community attracted C$1 billion in capital since 2010. In 2014 alone, US fintech had US$9 billion. One Canadian dollar is roughly equivalent to 70 cents. Canada-Moose Friend or Foe? There is evidence from the Digital Finance Institute that Canadian banks are developing their own fintech solutions in-house. The Royal Bank of Canada is one example, but it also works externally as part of the US-based R3CEV-blockchain tech consortium. Additionally, the Big Six are in fact co-operating with fintech startups, accelerators and incubators to further their digital re-invention. Here are the most prolific examples of internal and external fintech stories: BMO In 1996, it launched Mbanx, the first direct-to-customer bank. On January 16 2016, it launched SmartFolio, a digital portfolio management service, competing with traditional players and robo-advisers, built in-house with assets of $20 billion. It introduced Touch ID log-in (fingerprint recognition) to its BMO mobile banking app in Canada and the US. In the US, Mobile Cash was made available, allowing the withdrawal of money via smartphone. The BMO Banking and InvestorLine portal makes BMO the first Canadian bank to give customers access to personal banking and investments accounts in one place. BMO DepositEdge in Canada allows businesses to deposit cheques remotely. BMO Spend Dynamics gives corporate card clients access to transaction data. Scotiabank Invested in Kabbage, a US-based online small business lender. Has an internal Digital Factory focused on tech and mobile banking. Supposedly looking to partner with more external fintech startups. CIBC Partnered with MaRS in 2015. Partnered with Thinking Capital, another online small business lender. NBC Developed a new marketing model, with segmented marketing campaigns with more personalised offerings, supported by data analytics teams, tech and tools to enhance tailored services for sales teams. Developed an Android and iPad tablet app, the latter ranking #1 in the financial services category. Planning to develop optimised tools for access to products and services and to implement a customer relationship management platform. RBC Partnering with Nymi Wristband Technologies. Partnered with mobile-app-giant Uber for loyalty rewards. TD Established an innovation lab at Communitech. Partnered with Moven, a mobile personal financial management platform. Looking to collaborate on a tech solution for improved customer and employee experience in Cisco’s Toronto Innovation Centre. Gosling-painting To Vancouver & Beyond In the Digital Finance Institute (DFI) report, there is a further stress on fintech development in the province of British Columbia, so much so call that it is hashtag-worthy (much like in Estonia) – #BCTECH. The city of Vancouver is the main focus, as it houses some of the leading tech companies (Microsoft, EA, Amazon), as well as important fintechs, including Samsung Pay and SAP. Unsurprisingly, it is also the home of the DFI, which organises workshops, conferences and institutional education to bring Canadian fintech to the world, is a think tank for fintech and AI, encourages investment and partners for balanced regulation of digital payments and remittances. Vancouver was actually home to the world’s first Bitcoin ATM in 2013, and by June 15 2015, there were 60 Bitcoin ATMs across the whole of Canada. What else? Vancouver-based Central 1 Credit Union provides fintech services to financial institutions such as payments and mobile banking services. The DFI notes that “the geographical position of Vancouver gives it an unparalleled advantage for trade and importantly, for FinTech to scale and exit not only to Asia but increasingly, to the Middle East.” In British Columbia as a whole, the tech industry generated over $23 billion in revenue in 2013 and the Government of British Columbia recently launched the #BCTECH Strategy, investing $100m as part of a BC Tech Fund for early tech startups, and a Knowledge Development Fund to enable research projects. As a whole, the FinServ industry in Canada only represents 27% of the Internet of Everything market, but 60% of Canadians are prepared to move money to access one or more IoE capabilities. All Canadian provinces have adopted regulations to facilitate e-commerce and protect e-payments, with the Bank of Canada having “responsibility for regulatory oversight of clearing, settling and recording of financial transactions.” Additionally, the Large Value Transfer System and Automated Clearing Settlement System are national systems for clearing and settlement of payments, operated by Payments Canada, based in Ottawa. This, and the DFI, have launched national startup challenges. “The FinTech Cup”, for example, awards its winners with a $25,000 prize, and are provided a national startup platform to support their development. The private sector launched the annual Fintech Awards in 2015 to recognise key fintechs, innovators, advisors, and stakeholders that have contributed to the fintech ecosystem. In 2016, the Fintech Association of Canada was launched to engage the government with fintech to attract further investment and innovation. Vancouver To get an idea of just how expansive Canada’s fintech ecosystem is, here’s a comprehensive list for your viewing pleasure: Investors & Accelerators Business Development of Canada (BDC) – Offers financing advisory services and venture capital, dubbing itself the “only financial institution dedicated exclusively to entrepreneurs”. Omers Ventures – Omers is one of Canada’s leading pension funds with $65billion + in net assets. It provides resources and expertise to tech, media and telecommunications startups. Power Financial Corporation – A management and holding company. MaRS Innovation lab – Based in Toronto, it supports over 1700 startups, with 300 being fintech-based. It has raised over $700m in venture capital funding. Communitech – Based in the Waterloo area, it is an industry-led innovation centre and a private-public partnership, founded in 1997. Ryerson DMZ – In Toronto, this is the top university business incubator, with entrepreneurs-in-residence, industry mentors, and 250+ startups and industry connections. OneEleven – A Toronto-based, data-driven tech startup scale-up hub, founded in 2013. Thinkubator – A collaboration between Ryerson University and Tangerine, it is an incubation space for fintech startups, founded in 2016. Startups Wealth management solutions & Robo-advisors Nest Wealth – Founded in Toronto in 2014, it is Canada’s first online wealth manager. Smart Money Invest – Also founded in 2014, it offers portfolio management services in equity and bond ETFs. Wealthsimple – An online investment startup, which expects over a billion dollars in AUM this year. It has 15,000 clients in Canada. It also offers “an affordable, millennial-focused, automated investing service”. Power Financial Corporation invested $10m in Wealthsimple. ModernAdvisor – an online financial advisor. If you would like to read more about Canadian robo-advisors, you can read our interview with ModernAdvisor’s Krysten Merriman here. Payments In 2014, 21% of Canadians made at least one online payment in the past six months (compared to 83% in China and 33% in the US). In 2015, the Canadian mobile payment transaction market grew 210%. Moneris – Founded in 2000 in Toronto, it offers payment solutions and processes credit and debit card transactions (more than 3 billion a year). VersaPay – With its HQ in Vancouver and founded in 2006, it is a cloud-based payment processing service. TIO Networks – Founded 1997 in Vancouver, it was acquired by PayPal very recently in Feb 17. It offers a bill payment service. Payfirma – Based in Vancouver, and founded in 2011, it is a multi-channel payment platform (mobile, in-store, online and e-commerce). Investment & Asset Management Voleo – A social trading app, allowing the user to build an investment team with peers and collaboratively manage a portfolio. FrontFundr – Founded in Vancouver in 2013, it is a registered financial services firm which connects investors and entrepreneurs Here are Canadian startups that made it into the KPMG Fintech100 2016… #36 – League – Toronto-based, founded in 2014, it lets employers enable employees with health spending accounts and group insurance plans on a mobile app platform, plus you can find health professionals. It uses a digital wallet for payments. #42 – SecureKey – Founded 2008 in Toronto, it is an identity and authentication platform for online consumer services. …And the ‘Emerging stars’: Grow – Founded in 2014, it is a “complete fintech toolkit” for financial institutions, mainly focused on consumer and SME lending. North Side Inc. – A financial AI solution, letting you talk directly to your financial institution, a “personalised virtual telephone banker”. Overbond – Founded in 2015, this Toronto-based startup brings bond market participants together, making bond issuance secure and transparent. You’ve made it – a list as extensive as Canada itself (did you know that it spans 6 time zones? Crazy). Seemingly, if Canadian banks and financial institution are willing to allow for innovation besides their stringent (albeit successful) regulations, then the pre-existing fintech ecosystems in the GTA and British Columbia combined will be able to move ahead with full force. A fintech revolution to match the size of its home. *Credit to a good friend of mine for the incredible painting of Ryan. If you have any thoughts about Canadian fintech, let us know in the comments below, or you can tweet us. Check back soon for more instalments of The Fintech World Series! The post The Fintech World Series: Canada appeared first on Kurtosys Blog. http://hvst.co/2luINyh Originally Published at: The Fintech World Series: Canada || The Fintech World Series: Canada: By:KurtosysHarvest ExchangeFebruary 28, 2017
Fintech is exploding.
It is a global industry, striving to change the future of finance.
…And the future is now. At Kurtosys, we’ve set out to cover exactly what’s happening in the financial industry the world over, one country at a time. With so many places contributing to the advancement of our digital world, each deserves their own time in the spotlight.
This time, heading away from Europe, we’re travelling toCanada. Whilst neighbouring the fintech giant that is the United States, this North American behemoth is steadily boosting its reputation of having one of the most secure banking systems in the world. Read on to discover how this affects their up-and-coming fintech landscape.
With a country boasting such incredible musical talent as Justin Bieber, Nickelback and Avril Lavigne, it was naturally going to be on our fintech radar, eh? But seriously, Alexisonfire are awesome, and Canada was actually named by accident, when French Explorer Jacques Cartier mistook a native term for village – ‘kanata’ – for the country’s name as we see it today. It is a land that has birthed such funny people as Jim Carrey, Mike Myers and Leslie Nielsen, and big-time serious actors such as Malin Åkerman and Ryan Gosling*, with the latter achieving early stardom in Canadian cult-classic TV showGoosebumps. The less said about that the better. More should be said, however, about Canada’s rise to fintech prominence.
<html><body><img alt="Canada fintech infographic" class="alignnone wp-image-50082 size-full" height="1000" sizes="(max-width: 1424px) 100vw, 1424px" src="http://hvst.co/2lutK7T" srcset="http://hvst.co/2lutK7T 1424w, http://hvst.co/2luyvhF 300w, http://hvst.co/2luESRW 768w, http://hvst.co/2mp0pzB 1024w, http://hvst.co/2luD7nP 225w" width="1424"/></body></html>
According to a post in the Canadian publication The Globe and Mail, outside the technology life-blood of Silicon Valley, Canada’s province of Ontario (home to cities including Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton) has among the highest concentrations of technological firms. The reason for this being its low costs, and the universities in the Toronto and Waterloo area being abound with graduate engineers and developers. Deloitte awarded Canada a global financial centre rank of 21 in 2016.
There has recently been investment from both the financial and technological industries. Of note, Goldman Sachs invested in Financeit (based in Toronto, offering businesses a platform for customer payment plans) in 2015, as well as nanoPay in 2016, a “frictionless payments” service, also based in Toronto. Elsewhere, one of Japan’s world leading tech services companies NTT Data Corp has announced a partnership with MaRS Innovation lab (more about them later on), promising to support Canadian startups whose technologies can be used by NTT. Two notable startups from Canada that have achieved success are Shopify – a cloud-based e-commerce company that designs software for online stores for SMEs, founded in 2004 – and Hootsuite, a social media management platform used by over 15 million people, founded in 2008 in Vancouver, which similarly has a thriving fintech ecosystem like the cities in the East.
Despite the global financial crisis of 2007/08, Canadian banks remained unscathed according to the Canadian Bankers Association; none were in danger of failure or were bailed out. In fact, Canada’s banks have been rated amongst the soundest in the world for the past 10 years, rated highly due to them being well capitalised, managed and regulated. Should a similar crash occur in the future, each bank has developed “recovery and resolution plans” already – ahead of the curve. Plus, the development of regulatory frameworks for banks and insurers is being handled by both domestic and global organisations, so Canadians are clearly remaining resolute to keep their well-earned ‘sound banking’ tag.
The largest banks in Canada are referred to as the ‘Big Six’ by a report from PWC, and are as follows:
• Bank of Montreal (BMO)
• Scotiabank
• Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)
• National Bank of Canada (NBC)
• Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
• Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD)
As well as these established financial institutions, there is also the presence of online disruptor banks, which include Tangerine, PC Financial and Canadian Tire Bank. However, in 2014 it is noted that these banks only accounted for 3% of Canadians’ total deposits. Are digital financial companies still very much in the shadow of major banks, who retain brand recognition and consumer trust? Peter Aceto, CEO of Tangerine, believes that there is a social revolution occurring within the financial industry, with consumers losing trust in major banks and “expecting experiences that simplify their lives, that makes things easy”. Tangerine was the original disruptor bank that launched its first branchless bank in Canada. Truly, banks are responding to this revolution that Aceto outlines, and it turns out that many are making heavy investments in technology to “transform their customer experience, automate processes, comply with regulatory demands and enhance digital capabilities”, with many beginning the enablement and implementation of APIs.
Despite the regulators’ tendency to aim for stability (thus halting market innovation), Canadian fintech is still pushing to gain momentum. There are already more than 80 fintech firms in Canada, with the GTA (Greater Toronto Area)-Waterloo and Vancouver areas being the sites for a concentrated ecosystem of major banks, universities and tech startups. Whilst pension plans have recently attracted the most significant fintech investments, more is needed from the government, private investors and banks. To put things into perspective, since 2010 the Canadian fintech community attracted C$1 billion in capital since 2010. In 2014 alone, US fintech had US$9 billion. One Canadian dollar is roughly equivalent to 70 cents.
There is evidence from the Digital Finance Institute that Canadian banks are developing their own fintech solutions in-house. The Royal Bank of Canada is one example, but it also works externally as part of the US-based R3CEV-blockchain tech consortium. Additionally, the Big Six are in fact co-operating with fintech startups, accelerators and incubators to further their digital re-invention. Here are the most prolific examples of internal and external fintech stories:
• In 1996, it launched Mbanx, the first direct-to-customer bank.
• On January 16 2016, it launched SmartFolio, a digital portfolio management service, competing with traditional players and robo-advisers, built in-house with assets of $20 billion.
• It introduced Touch ID log-in (fingerprint recognition) to its BMO mobile banking app in Canada and the US.
• In the US, Mobile Cash was made available, allowing the withdrawal of money via smartphone.
• The BMO Banking and InvestorLine portal makes BMO the first Canadian bank to give customers access to personal banking and investments accounts in one place.
• BMO DepositEdge in Canada allows businesses to deposit cheques remotely.
• BMO Spend Dynamics gives corporate card clients access to transaction data.
• Invested in Kabbage, a US-based online small business lender.
• Has an internal Digital Factory focused on tech and mobile banking.
• Supposedly looking to partner with more external fintech startups.
• Partnered with MaRS in 2015.
• Partnered with Thinking Capital, another online small business lender.
• Developed a new marketing model, with segmented marketing campaigns with more personalised offerings, supported by data analytics teams, tech and tools to enhance tailored services for sales teams.
• Developed an Android and iPad tablet app, the latter ranking #1 in the financial services category.
• Planning to develop optimised tools for access to products and services and to implement a customer relationship management platform.
• Partnering with Nymi Wristband Technologies.
• Partnered with mobile-app-giant Uber for loyalty rewards.
• Established an innovation lab at Communitech.
• Partnered with Moven, a mobile personal financial management platform.
• Looking to collaborate on a tech solution for improved customerandemployee experience in Cisco’s Toronto Innovation Centre.
In the Digital Finance Institute (DFI) report, there is a further stress on fintech development in the province of British Columbia, so much so call that it is hashtag-worthy (much like in Estonia) – #BCTECH. The city of Vancouver is the main focus, as it houses some of the leading tech companies (Microsoft, EA, Amazon), as well as important fintechs, including Samsung Pay and SAP. Unsurprisingly, it is also the home of the DFI, which organises workshops, conferences and institutional education to bring Canadian fintech to the world, is a think tank for fintech and AI, encourages investment and partners for balanced regulation of digital payments and remittances.
Vancouver was actually home to the world’s first Bitcoin ATM in 2013, and by June 15 2015, there were 60 Bitcoin ATMs across the whole of Canada. What else? Vancouver-based Central 1 Credit Union provides fintech services to financial institutions such as payments and mobile banking services. The DFI notes that “the geographical position of Vancouver gives it an unparalleled advantage for trade and importantly, for FinTech to scale and exit not only to Asia but increasingly, to the Middle East.”
In British Columbia as a whole, the tech industry generated over $23 billion in revenue in 2013 and the Government of British Columbia recently launched the #BCTECH Strategy, investing $100m as part of a BC Tech Fund for early tech startups, and a Knowledge Development Fund to enable research projects.
As a whole, the FinServ industry in Canada only represents 27% of the Internet of Everything market, but 60% of Canadians are prepared to move money to access one or more IoE capabilities. All Canadian provinces have adopted regulations to facilitate e-commerce and protect e-payments, with the Bank of Canada having “responsibility for regulatory oversight of clearing, settling and recording of financial transactions.” Additionally, the Large Value Transfer System and Automated Clearing Settlement System are national systems for clearing and settlement of payments, operated by Payments Canada, based in Ottawa.
This, and the DFI, have launched national startup challenges. “The FinTech Cup”, for example, awards its winners with a $25,000 prize, and are provided a national startup platform to support their development. The private sector launched the annual Fintech Awards in 2015 to recognise key fintechs, innovators, advisors, and stakeholders that have contributed to the fintech ecosystem. In 2016, the Fintech Association of Canada was launched to engage the government with fintech to attract further investment and innovation.
To get an idea of just how expansive Canada’s fintech ecosystem is, here’s a comprehensive list for your viewing pleasure:
• Business Development of Canada (BDC) – Offers financing advisory services and venture capital, dubbing itself the “only financial institution dedicated exclusively to entrepreneurs”.
• Omers Ventures – Omers is one of Canada’s leading pension funds with $65billion + in net assets. It provides resources and expertise to tech, media and telecommunications startups.
• Power Financial Corporation – A management and holding company.
• MaRS Innovation lab – Based in Toronto, it supports over 1700 startups, with 300 being fintech-based. It has raised over $700m in venture capital funding.
• Communitech – Based in the Waterloo area, it is an industry-led innovation centre and a private-public partnership, founded in 1997.
• Ryerson DMZ – In Toronto, this is the top university business incubator, with entrepreneurs-in-residence, industry mentors, and 250+ startups and industry connections.
• OneEleven – A Toronto-based, data-driven tech startup scale-up hub, founded in 2013.
• Thinkubator – A collaboration between Ryerson University and Tangerine, it is an incubation space for fintech startups, founded in 2016.
Wealth management solutions & Robo-advisors
• Nest Wealth – Founded in Toronto in 2014, it is Canada’s first online wealth manager.
• Smart Money Invest – Also founded in 2014, it offers portfolio management services in equity and bond ETFs.
• Wealthsimple – An online investment startup, which expects over a billion dollars in AUM this year. It has 15,000 clients in Canada. It also offers “an affordable, millennial-focused, automated investing service”. Power Financial Corporation invested $10m in Wealthsimple.
• ModernAdvisor – an online financial advisor. If you would like to read more about Canadian robo-advisors, you can read our interview with ModernAdvisor’s Krysten Merriman here.
Payments
In 2014, 21% of Canadians made at least one online payment in the past six months (compared to 83% in China and 33% in the US). In 2015, the Canadian mobile payment transaction market grew 210%.
• Moneris – Founded in 2000 in Toronto, it offers payment solutions and processes credit and debit card transactions (more than 3 billion a year).
• VersaPay – With its HQ in Vancouver and founded in 2006, it is a cloud-based payment processing service.
• TIO Networks – Founded 1997 in Vancouver, it was acquired by PayPal very recently in Feb 17. It offers a bill payment service.
• Payfirma – Based in Vancouver, and founded in 2011, it is a multi-channel payment platform (mobile, in-store, online and e-commerce).
Investment & Asset Management
• Voleo – A social trading app, allowing the user to build an investment team with peers and collaboratively manage a portfolio.
• FrontFundr – Founded in Vancouver in 2013, it is a registered financial services firm which connects investors and entrepreneurs
Here are Canadian startups that made it into the KPMG Fintech100 2016…
#36 – League – Toronto-based, founded in 2014, it lets employers enable employees with health spending accounts and group insurance plans on a mobile app platform, plus you can find health professionals. It uses a digital wallet for payments.
#42 – SecureKey – Founded 2008 in Toronto, it is an identity and authentication platform for online consumer services.
…And the ‘Emerging stars’:
• Grow – Founded in 2014, it is a “complete fintech toolkit” for financial institutions, mainly focused on consumer and SME lending.
• North Side Inc. – A financial AI solution, letting you talk directly to your financial institution, a “personalised virtual telephone banker”.
• Overbond – Founded in 2015, this Toronto-based startup brings bond market participants together, making bond issuance secure and transparent.
You’ve made it – a list as extensive as Canada itself (did you know that it spans 6 time zones? Crazy). Seemingly, if Canadian banks and financial institution are willing to allow for innovation besides their stringent (albeit successful) regulations, then the pre-existing fintech ecosystems in the GTA and British Columbia combined will be able to move ahead with full force. A fintech revolution to match the size of its home.
*Credit to a good friend of mine for the incredible painting of Ryan.
If you have any thoughts about Canadian fintech, let us know in the comments below, or you can tweet us.
Check back soon for more instalments of The Fintech World Series!
The post The Fintech World Series: Canada appeared first on Kurtosys Blog.
http://hvst.co/2luINyhOriginally Published at:The Fintech World Series: Canada || Sony launches phone with world's first 4K HDR screen and superfast download speeds: Sony (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6758.T-JP) launched a smartphone with the world's first 4K high dynamic range (HDR) screen, improved camera, and the ability to download large files at super-fast speeds, as it looks to stabilise profits in its once-struggling mobile division. The Xperia XZ Premium was unveiled on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and marks Sony's continued bid to play in the premium end of the market against the likes of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) , Samsung (Korea Stock Exchange: 593-KR) and Huawei. Key features include: The world's first 4K resolution high dynamic range (HDR) screen. This means the resolution is four times better than high definition displays. HDR is a way of making the blacks blacker and whites whiter on screens to create an image with more depth Capable of downloading at 1 gigabit per second. This means films can be downloaded in a matter of seconds Broadcast-quality camera allowing for super slow motion video at 960 frames per second 5.5 inch display 19 megapixel rear camera and 13 megapixel front-facing selfie camera Mirror finish in a range of colors The Xperia XZ focuses on Sony's strengths including display technology and camera in a bid to boost profits. Sony has been on a path to stabilize the loss-making smartphone division which finally saw profits in the last two quarters. Under CEO Kazuo Hirai, Sony has slimmed down its smartphone portfolio and focused on key markets to return to profitability. But this has come at the expense of sales and market share. Analysts hailed this as another solid device from Sony but said the key features it is marketing are limited. For example, super slow motion video capture requires the user to press the button at the exact moment the action is taking place making it difficult to capture the correct part of a motion. CNBC tested the XZ Premium ahead of MWC. In the demo, a skateboard topped with glitter was used by the skateboarder to perform a jump. CNBC captured the video and it was impressive, but required the capture button to be hit at the right moment. Story continues There is also a very small amount of content that can be viewed on a 4K HDR screen. So far, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Prime Video, the e-commerce giant's streaming service, have a handful of shows in 4K HDR. Sony said it is working with Amazon to optimize some of its 4K HDR shows for mobile to work on the Xperia XZ Premium. Daniel Gleeson, an analyst at Ovum, told CNBC by phone ahead of the launch event that the Sony Xperia XZ Premium's key features are limited because people have to buy a subscription service to watch 4K content and the slow motion camera can only capture a tiny snippet of action. "Those key features leave me wanting more than what they are promising. That's one thing that could lead to a lot of customer disappointment for those who purchase this phones on the basis of those feature," Gleeson said. The Sony Xperia XZ Premium ships in late Spring with pricing to be announced in local markets. CORRECTION: This story was updated to show that the Sony Xperia XZ Premium is capable of downloading at 1 gigabit per second. More From CNBC Bitcoin price rises higher than gold, but dont read too much into it Morgan Stanley and Goldman should hang heads in shame over Snap IPO: Analyst Samsung to Nokia: The hottest gadgets unveiled this week || Sony launches phone with world's first 4K HDR screen and superfast download speeds: Sony(Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6758.T-JP)launched a smartphone with the world's first 4K high dynamic range (HDR) screen, improved camera, and the ability to download large files at super-fast speeds, as it looks to stabilise profits in its once-struggling mobile division.
The Xperia XZ Premium was unveiled on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and marks Sony's continued bid to play in the premium end of the market against the likes of Apple(NASDAQ: AAPL), Samsung(Korea Stock Exchange: 593-KR)and Huawei.
Key features include:
• The world's first 4K resolution high dynamic range (HDR) screen. This means the resolution is four times better than high definition displays. HDR is a way of making the blacks blacker and whites whiter on screens to create an image with more depth
• Capable of downloading at 1 gigabit per second. This means films can be downloaded in a matter of seconds
• Broadcast-quality camera allowing for super slow motion video at 960 frames per second
• 5.5 inch display
• 19 megapixel rear camera and 13 megapixel front-facing selfie camera
• Mirror finish in a range of colors
The Xperia XZ focuses on Sony's strengths including display technology and camera in a bid to boost profits. Sony has been on a path to stabilize the loss-making smartphone division which finally saw profits in the last two quarters.
Under CEO Kazuo Hirai, Sony has slimmed down its smartphone portfolio and focused on key markets to return to profitability. But this has come at the expense of sales and market share.
Analysts hailed this as another solid device from Sony but said the key features it is marketing are limited. For example, super slow motion video capture requires the user to press the button at the exact moment the action is taking place making it difficult to capture the correct part of a motion. CNBC tested the XZ Premium ahead of MWC. In the demo, a skateboard topped with glitter was used by the skateboarder to perform a jump. CNBC captured the video and it was impressive, but required the capture button to be hit at the right moment.
There is also a very small amount of content that can be viewed on a 4K HDR screen. So far, Netflix(NASDAQ: NFLX)and Amazon(NASDAQ: AMZN)Prime Video, the e-commerce giant's streaming service, have a handful of shows in 4K HDR. Sony said it is working with Amazon to optimize some of its 4K HDR shows for mobile to work on the Xperia XZ Premium.
Daniel Gleeson, an analyst at Ovum, told CNBC by phone ahead of the launch event that the Sony Xperia XZ Premium's key features are limited because people have to buy a subscription service to watch 4K content and the slow motion camera can only capture a tiny snippet of action.
"Those key features leave me wanting more than what they are promising. That's one thing that could lead to a lot of customer disappointment for those who purchase this phones on the basis of those feature," Gleeson said.
The Sony Xperia XZ Premium ships in late Spring with pricing to be announced in local markets.
CORRECTION: This story was updated to show that the Sony Xperia XZ Premium is capable of downloading at 1 gigabit per second.
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• Samsung to Nokia: The hottest gadgets unveiled this week || Flow and Manchester United Team up to deliver the Ultimate Football Experience to Caribbean Footballers: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Feb 27, 2017) - Up-and-coming Caribbean footballers between the ages of 13 and 16 will not be able to contain their excitement, as news breaks that Flow and Manchester United will host The Ultimate Football Experience , a skills-based competition, supported by the Caribbean Football Union . The programme seeks to give youngsters, the chance-of-a-lifetime to participate in a talent development football camp; and even earn a trip to Old Trafford, Manchester to see Man Utd vs Crystal Palace on May 21 st 2017. The good news gets even better as registration opens this week for the football competition which runs from March through to May 2017. Here's how it works: skilled boys and girls can register online at https://discoverflow.co/flowmanutd . Registered participants will then be instructed to appear at designated football festivals across all Caribbean markets in which Flow operates. The participants will engage in a Manchester United Soccer School's international programme, which has been specially devised for the campaign and will be delivered by CFU coaches. Throughout the competition Manchester United legends will also be making an appearance at the festivals to offer their tips and advice. This is a proven Manchester United Soccer School programme designed to build and test the skills of young footballers across the globe. As the competition evolves, two participants from each market, along with their respective coach, will advance to a two-day skills session in Trinidad and Tobago to experience one-on-one training with CFU and Manchester United Soccer School Coaches. There, they will participate in a series of drills designed by the coaches and compete for the chance for two finalists and their coach to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Old Trafford in Manchester, England. Considered to be the highlight of the development initiative the two winners along with their coaches will travel to the world-famous football stadium to witness first hand Manchester United's final Premier League game of the season against Crystal Palace. This VIP experience will also include a visit to the Manchester United Museum and Tour, taking in the history of the club followed by a tour of the iconic stadium. Story continues Manchester United's Group Managing Director, Richard Arnold said, "Youth development is at the heart of this Club's traditions and success. The Manchester United Soccer Schools were developed to help spread this spirit to as many children as possible. In recent years our partners have been instrumental in helping the great work of our Soccer Schools coaches reach young people around the world. We're proud to work with Flow on this project." "Like Manchester United, Flow also has a deep sense of commitment to youth development as can be seen by our support of several programmes throughout the region that help to hone the skills of young footballers," said Garfield Sinclair, Flow's newly appointed President of the Caribbean . Sinclair also said, "We're therefore proud to work in partnership with Manchester United to offer this once in a lifetime experience to our talented youngsters across the region." The Caribbean Football Union's ( CFU ) President Gordon Derrick gave a ringing endorsement of The Ultimate Football Experience, as he added: "The CFU is proud to be a partner with Flow on this exhilarating and beneficial initiative. Hundreds of young footballers in 15 countries -- half of the CFU's membership -- will have the opportunity to compete, hone their skills, and, for the finalists, live the dream. I am confident that this partnership will bode well for the future of football in the region." The Ultimate Football Experience is one of several Manchester United and Flow partnership initiatives. In January, Flow hosted the FA Cup Caribbean Tour during which the Company gave football fans up-close and unprecedented access to football's most coveted trophy. The final leg of the tour culminated in the Cayman Islands, where Manchester United ambassador Dwight Yorke made an appearance . Cable and Wireless is Manchester United's telecommunications partner in the Caribbean . About C&W Communications C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 5 million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYB ) and ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) and ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com . || Flow and Manchester United Team up to deliver the Ultimate Football Experience to Caribbean Footballers: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Feb 27, 2017) - Up-and-coming Caribbean footballers between the ages of 13 and 16 will not be able to contain their excitement, as news breaks thatFlowandManchester Unitedwill hostThe Ultimate Football Experience, a skills-based competition, supported by theCaribbean Football Union. The programme seeks to give youngsters, the chance-of-a-lifetime to participate in a talent development football camp; and even earn a trip to Old Trafford, Manchester to seeMan Utd vs Crystal Palaceon May 21st2017.
The good news gets even better as registration opens this week for the football competition which runs from March through to May 2017. Here's how it works: skilled boys and girls can register online athttps://discoverflow.co/flowmanutd. Registered participants will then be instructed to appear at designated football festivals across all Caribbean markets in which Flow operates. The participants will engage in a Manchester United Soccer School's international programme, which has been specially devised for the campaign and will be delivered by CFU coaches. Throughout the competition Manchester United legends will also be making an appearance at the festivals to offer their tips and advice. This is a proven Manchester United Soccer School programme designed to build and test the skills of young footballers across the globe.
As the competition evolves, two participants from each market, along with their respective coach, will advance to a two-day skills session in Trinidad and Tobago to experience one-on-one training with CFU and Manchester United Soccer School Coaches. There, they will participate in a series of drills designed by the coaches and competefor the chance for two finalists and their coach to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Old Trafford in Manchester, England.
Considered to be the highlight of the development initiative the two winners along with their coaches will travel to the world-famous football stadium to witness first hand Manchester United's final Premier League game of the season against Crystal Palace. This VIP experience will also include a visit to the Manchester United Museum and Tour, taking in the history of the club followed by a tour of the iconic stadium.
Manchester United'sGroup Managing Director, Richard Arnoldsaid, "Youth development is at the heart of this Club's traditions and success. TheManchester United Soccer Schoolswere developed to help spread this spirit to as many children as possible. In recent years our partners have been instrumental in helping the great work of our Soccer Schools coaches reach young people around the world. We're proud to work withFlowon this project."
"Like Manchester United, Flow also has a deep sense of commitment to youth development as can be seen by our support of several programmes throughout the region that help to hone the skills of young footballers," saidGarfield Sinclair, Flow's newly appointed President of the Caribbean. Sinclair also said, "We're therefore proud to work in partnership with Manchester United to offer this once in a lifetime experience to our talented youngsters across the region."
The Caribbean Football Union's(CFU) President Gordon Derrick gave a ringing endorsement ofTheUltimate Football Experience,as he added: "The CFU is proud to be a partner with Flow on this exhilarating and beneficial initiative. Hundreds of young footballers in 15 countries -- half of the CFU's membership -- will have the opportunity to compete, hone their skills, and, for the finalists, live the dream. I am confident that this partnership will bode well for the future of football in the region."
The Ultimate Football Experienceis one of several Manchester United and Flow partnership initiatives. In January, Flowhosted the FA Cup Caribbean Tourduring which the Company gave football fans up-close and unprecedented access to football's most coveted trophy. The final leg of the tour culminated in the Cayman Islands, where Manchester United ambassadorDwight Yorke made an appearance.
Cable and Wirelessis Manchester United'stelecommunications partner in the Caribbean.
About C&W Communications
C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 5 million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) and (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) and (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com. || Gartman: Don't Buy Stocks, Consider Gold: Dennis Gartman is the man behind The Gartman Letter, a daily newsletter discussing global capital markets. For almost 30 years, The Gartman Letter has tackled the political, economic and social trends shaping the world's markets. ETF.com recently caught up with Gartman to discuss the latest developments in the financial markets.
ETF.com: The stock market continues to hit record highs on a daily basis, with the Dow up 11-straight sessions through Friday [Feb. 24]. You characterized this rally as a "melt-up." Should investors be happy about it, or should they be concerned?Dennis Gartman:They should be egregiously concerned, because they have to ask themselves if they honestly believe all of the benefits that have been put forth by the Trump administration are going to absolutely come to fruition.
Will there be tax cuts as consequential as Mr. Trump has indicated? There'll be tax cuts, but will they be as consequential? Probably not. Will there be infrastructure spending? Not a question. But will there be as much infrastructure spending as the markets seem to anticipate? Probably not.
Those things make it difficult to remain bullish of stocks at these levels. The market can go higher, but it is at levels I find to be nosebleed territory. People should be very careful up here. New purchases are to be avoided; old purchases should be hedged up in some fashion using derivatives or options; and bring stop orders up close behind the market.
ETF.com: From what I gather, you think Trump's agenda is going to be bullish for stocks, but not as bullish as the market is anticipating.
Gartman:Mr. Trump's agenda is bullish for the economy, but not necessarily bullish for stocks. That sounds illogical, but it's not illogical at all.
Why do stocks go up before economies come out of a recession? Because at the bottoms—when the monetary authorities become expansionary—that money finds its way into the capital markets, because it isn't needed in plants, equipment and labor.
You get that period of time that stocks take off on the upside and the economy continues to dwindle, and everybody wonders how stocks can continue to go up. That's what happens at bottoms.
On the other hand, at the tops of economic expansions, when there’s demand for plants and equipment and labor, money has to come from somewhere―especially if the monetary authorities are starting to err on the side of being restrictive rather than expansionary, as the Fed currently is. At that point, money comes out of the capital markets and goes into plants and equipment and labor.
Trump's proposals and his agenda are very bullish for the economy. By definition, therefore, it's somewhat bearish for equity prices after this sort of extended rally.
ETF.com: Do you think we're close to the end of this bull market we've been in for eight years?
Gartman:We are; I would counsel people not to be a buyer of equities up here. If you’re an owner of equities, I would counsel strongly to bring stops up behind your positions, buy puts to protect those positions, sell futures to protect those positions, or write covered calls to protect those positions. I would tell you not to be a buyer of new equities. And anything that you had in the past, do something to protect those profits.
ETF.com: Another bull market that seemed to come to an end recently was in the bond market. Bonds sold off sharply last year and interest rates spiked up. Do you think the 30-year run in bonds is over, and will rates continue to head higher?
Gartman:Yes, I do. That 30-plus-year bull market, which began in August 1982, is over. It's hard to believe, but I was there at the beginning. I was there at the end of the previous bear market, and I was there at the beginning of this long, protracted bull market in bonds (or the long, protracted decline in interest rates). It's hard for me to make people remember, but in 1982, the 30-year bond had a coupon of 14.75%, and you couldn't give them away at the time. It was astonishing how bad the psychology was.
But since 1982, we've been in a 30-plus-year bull market; that bull market has ended. The trend is for higher interest rates, not lower. But you must also remember the bond market tends to move in multidecade, long-term trends. If we're in for 20, 30 or 40 years of higher rates, for the first 15 or 20 years, we'll see rates go up very slowly, and very marginally.
It's at the end of this next bear market―the last quarter―that rates will go up the fastest and prices of bonds will fall the most dramatically. So while interest rates are going higher, there's no reason to be panicky about that right now.
ETF.com: In this environment, where stocks are overvalued and bonds go down slowly, are there any assets you like right now?
Gartman:For the first time in a while, I think you should own commodities in general. You should own gold in dollar terms; you should own gold in euro terms; you should own gold in yen-denominated terms. Gold has started to be a bull market.
Also, for the first time in almost four or five years, I'm actually bullish of the crude oil market. Because the term structure had shifted and crude oil prices don't break on bearish news any longer, I'm starting to find myself turning bullish on that commodity.
Contact Sumit Roy [email protected].
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Permalink| © Copyright 2017ETF.com.All rights reserved || Gartman: Don't Buy Stocks, Consider Gold: Dennis Gartman is the man behind The Gartman Letter, a daily newsletter discussing global capital markets. For almost 30 years, The Gartman Letter has tackled the political, economic and social trends shaping the world's markets. ETF.com recently caught up with Gartman to discuss the latest developments in the financial markets. ETF.com: The stock market continues to hit record highs on a daily basis, with the Dow up 11-straight sessions through Friday [Feb. 24]. You characterized this rally as a "melt-up." Should investors be happy about it, or should they be concerned? Dennis Gartman: They should be egregiously concerned, because they have to ask themselves if they honestly believe all of the benefits that have been put forth by the Trump administration are going to absolutely come to fruition. Will there be tax cuts as consequential as Mr. Trump has indicated? There'll be tax cuts, but will they be as consequential? Probably not. Will there be infrastructure spending? Not a question. But will there be as much infrastructure spending as the markets seem to anticipate? Probably not. Those things make it difficult to remain bullish of stocks at these levels. The market can go higher, but it is at levels I find to be nosebleed territory. People should be very careful up here. New purchases are to be avoided; old purchases should be hedged up in some fashion using derivatives or options; and bring stop orders up close behind the market. ETF.com: From what I gather, you think Trump's agenda is going to be bullish for stocks, but not as bullish as the market is anticipating. Gartman: Mr. Trump's agenda is bullish for the economy, but not necessarily bullish for stocks. That sounds illogical, but it's not illogical at all. Why do stocks go up before economies come out of a recession? Because at the bottoms—when the monetary authorities become expansionary—that money finds its way into the capital markets, because it isn't needed in plants, equipment and labor. Story continues You get that period of time that stocks take off on the upside and the economy continues to dwindle, and everybody wonders how stocks can continue to go up. That's what happens at bottoms. On the other hand, at the tops of economic expansions, when there’s demand for plants and equipment and labor, money has to come from somewhere―especially if the monetary authorities are starting to err on the side of being restrictive rather than expansionary, as the Fed currently is. At that point, money comes out of the capital markets and goes into plants and equipment and labor. Trump's proposals and his agenda are very bullish for the economy. By definition, therefore, it's somewhat bearish for equity prices after this sort of extended rally. ETF.com: Do you think we're close to the end of this bull market we've been in for eight years? Gartman: We are; I would counsel people not to be a buyer of equities up here. If you’re an owner of equities, I would counsel strongly to bring stops up behind your positions, buy puts to protect those positions, sell futures to protect those positions, or write covered calls to protect those positions. I would tell you not to be a buyer of new equities. And anything that you had in the past, do something to protect those profits. ETF.com: Another bull market that seemed to come to an end recently was in the bond market. Bonds sold off sharply last year and interest rates spiked up. Do you think the 30-year run in bonds is over, and will rates continue to head higher? Gartman: Yes, I do. That 30-plus-year bull market, which began in August 1982, is over. It's hard to believe, but I was there at the beginning. I was there at the end of the previous bear market, and I was there at the beginning of this long, protracted bull market in bonds (or the long, protracted decline in interest rates). It's hard for me to make people remember, but in 1982, the 30-year bond had a coupon of 14.75%, and you couldn't give them away at the time. It was astonishing how bad the psychology was. But since 1982, we've been in a 30-plus-year bull market; that bull market has ended. The trend is for higher interest rates, not lower. But you must also remember the bond market tends to move in multidecade, long-term trends. If we're in for 20, 30 or 40 years of higher rates, for the first 15 or 20 years, we'll see rates go up very slowly, and very marginally. It's at the end of this next bear market―the last quarter―that rates will go up the fastest and prices of bonds will fall the most dramatically. So while interest rates are going higher, there's no reason to be panicky about that right now. ETF.com: In this environment, where stocks are overvalued and bonds go down slowly, are there any assets you like right now? Gartman: For the first time in a while, I think you should own commodities in general. You should own gold in dollar terms; you should own gold in euro terms; you should own gold in yen-denominated terms. Gold has started to be a bull market. Also, for the first time in almost four or five years, I'm actually bullish of the crude oil market. Because the term structure had shifted and crude oil prices don't break on bearish news any longer, I'm starting to find myself turning bullish on that commodity. Contact Sumit Roy at [email protected] . Recommended Stories SEC Rejects Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF Swedroe: Political Biases Can Impact Your Investing Big Bitcoin ETF Decision Coming Today, Or Maybe Not This Fallen Angel ETF Really A Rising Star What Snap’s Pop & Drop IPO Means For ETFs Permalink | © Copyright 2017 ETF.com. All rights reserved || Trump's education secretary supports school vouchers but studies suggest they don't help students: betsy devos (Yuri Gripas/Reuters) Earlier this month, by the narrowest of margins, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as President Donald Trump's secretary of education. Her confirmation marked a win for parents looking for greater school choice the ability to pluck a child from his or her public school and get a subsidy to place the child in a private, charter, or home school instead. One of the chief means by which parents make that switch is a system both DeVos and Trump have long supported: school vouchers. Vouchers act as a kind of gift certificate. They are worth a specific dollar amount and can be used only to pay for schooling. But with these programs in the spotlight, a roiling debate has developed as to whether vouchers actually help kids or if, as critics suggest, the programs could lead to the downfall of public schools. Does it work? Voucher programs today are generally small in nature, with about 400,000 US kids participating in them. Indiana, which has the most students who use vouchers of any state, still sees only about 3% of its students rely on those programs. Studies on voucher programs in states such as Ohio , Louisiana , and Indiana have not found much evidence that they move the needle on student outcomes. With the exception of a couple of outlier programs, which have found either great success or notable declines in outcomes, American voucher programs seem to have a negligible effect on how students fare. "These are very well-done studies," Mark Dynarski, an education researcher and voucher expert, tells Business Insider. "And what they're showing is incontrovertible evidence that no, those kids did not learn more." private school kindergarten graduation (A private kindergarten graduation ceremony.Flickr/Santa Catalina School) In 2016, researchers from the University of Arkansas published a meta-analysis essentially a study of multiple prior studies evaluating 11 programs around the world. Danish Shakeel, one of the study's coauthors, says the team saw slight gains in students' reading abilities but primarily in programs outside the US. Story continues "If you are focusing only within the US, the effects for reading were null," Shakeel tells Business Insider. Fears about the future Much of the debate around vouchers concerns what might happen if DeVos expands vouchers in the US. Skeptics fear the programs could gut public schools by drawing away students and draining their funding. Research suggests vouchers haven't had much impact on schools at least not yet. Because voucher programs are small, it's difficult to determine whether this means they don't harm public schools or whether they just aren't yet big enough to do damage. In Indiana, only 3% of students get vouchers, while about 10 to 15% of kids nationwide move in and out of a school over a typical year. "Given the kinds of waves happening inside schools," Dynarski says, "it's hard to see how vouchers actually cause the school to stop what they're doing and say, 'We need a plan to respond.'" tudents work during a lesson at The Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School on September 4, 2003 in London. Students across the United Kingdom are returning to school for the start of the 2003/4 academic year. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images) Patrick Wolf, a University of Arkansas voucher researcher, adds that the 53 school-choice programs around the US "haven't thrown any traditional public school system into a doomsday death spiral" but have forced some low-performing schools to take a hard look in the mirror. His research indicates voucher programs can lead principals to improve their school's education programs to stay competitive. This tends to violate the assumption that public schools are defenseless against student loss. Church and state One fear about vouchers that does seem supported by evidence, however, is that the programs can prop up religious schools. A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research on February 13 found that the majority of Catholic schools that accept vouchers in Milwaukee rely on those taxpayer funds to stay afloat. The study included data from 1999 to 2013 from 71 parishes across the city. Dynarski says that situation could lead the Catholic church to become an advocacy group for voucher programs, regardless of whether the programs help kids perform better in school. "Now you would have the Catholic dioceses arguing on behalf of vouchers, because it's now become intrinsic to their business operations," he says. "And that just seems a little strange to me." Shakeel says that overall the results of voucher programs are too modest to support arguments in favor of giving all district their own programs. As for whether to expand some voucher programs and how to do so, he says he'd like policymakers to take a more empirical approach to decision-making. "If the public is aware of the evidence," he says, "we can make decisions based on evidence and not based on news that's not backed by data." NOW WATCH: 'Shame! Shame! Shame!': Watch Betsy DeVos get physically blocked by protesters from entering a school More From Business Insider A Swedish town could give employees paid time off to have sex CEOs love the corner office, but research says it's overrated Bitcoin just hit an all-time high here's how you buy and sell it
[Social Media Buzz]
One Bitcoin now worth $1266.99@bitstamp. High $1298.00. Low $1239.38. Market Cap $20.517 Billion #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/2e4t5KaNab || $1269.50 at 08:00 UTC [24h Range: $1224.10 - $1283.25 Volume: 7811 BTC] || $1276.04 at 22:30 UTC [24h Range: $1254.16 - $1298.00 Volume: 7496 BTC] || WHO Likes to Earn 2,338.00 BTC!!!
Cost to join only 0.0002 BTC ( 0.25 cents only.)
http://2x9bitmax.com/ref/ce8cfddbf1 pic.twitter.com/mbgJDMSpEz || 750.00 BTC (~951K USD) was traded @ $1267.750 in today's 4p...
|
1255.15, 1267.12, 1272.83, 1223.54, 1150.00, 1188.49, 1116.72, 1175.83, 1221.38, 1231.92
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 8987.05, 9348.48, 9419.08, 9240.55, 9119.01, 9235.92, 9743.86, 9700.76, 9858.15, 9654.80, 9373.01, 9234.82, 9325.18, 9043.94, 8441.49, 8504.89, 8723.94, 8716.79, 8510.38, 8368.83, 8094.32, 8250.97, 8247.18, 8513.25, 8418.99, 8041.78, 7557.82, 7587.34, 7480.14, 7355.88, 7368.22, 7135.99, 7472.59, 7406.52, 7494.17, 7541.45, 7643.45, 7720.25, 7514.47, 7633.76, 7653.98, 7678.24, 7624.92, 7531.98, 6786.02, 6906.92, 6582.36, 6349.90, 6675.35, 6456.58, 6550.16, 6499.27, 6734.82, 6769.94, 6776.55, 6729.74, 6083.69, 6162.48, 6173.23, 6249.18, 6093.67, 6157.13, 5903.44, 6218.30, 6404.00, 6385.82, 6614.18, 6529.59, 6597.55, 6639.14, 6673.50, 6856.93, 6773.88, 6741.75, 6329.95, 6394.71, 6228.81, 6238.05, 6276.12, 6359.64, 6741.75, 7321.04, 7370.78, 7466.86, 7354.13, 7419.29, 7418.49, 7711.11, 8424.27, 8181.39.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-07-25]
Volume: 5845400064, RSI (14-day): 71.20, 50-day EMA: 7086.60, 200-day EMA: 7916.73
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1231.40, Gold RSI: 37.56
Oil Price: 69.30, Oil RSI: 48.35
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitwise Files With SEC for Cryptocurrency ETF: Bitwise Files With SEC for Cryptocurrency ETF Bitwise Asset Management is the latest venture to apply for a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF). Called the Bitwise HOLD 10 Cryptocurrency Index Fund, the ETF will track the returns of the companys HOLD 10 Index, a market-cap-weighted index of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies that captures roughly 80 percent of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization. A registration statement has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) but has not yet become effective. Until the SEC decides on whether to approve the ETF, related shares may not be sold, and offers to purchase the shares cannot be accepted by any of the companys executives. Bitwise is not the first company to try and register a cryptocurrency ETF application. Earlier this month, waves were made when an application for a Bitcoin ETF from the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust was not rejected as it had been in 2017, and was instead consulted upon with industry professionals. Following this period, the SEC posted the application for public comment to see if general consumers and traders showed interest. The application received positive feedback, and the SEC later announced that it was working on an outline for newer, less-restrictive legislation regarding open-ended ETFs to increase innovation in the financial space. John Hyland, the global head of exchange-traded products at Bitwise, stated, We are aware that other investment firms have filed for cryptocurrency ETFs under the Securities Act of 1933, and that there continues to be interest in filing under the Investment Company Act of 1940. As best we know, all of these funds plan to offer exposure to a single coin such as bitcoin or ether. That is fine, but our proposed offering is obviously different. Matt Hougan, global head of research, explained that while Bitwise will offer single-currency opportunities to investors like other funds do, multiple-coin baskets behave very differently and thus warrant just as much study and exposure. He says the company plans to offer both to its clients. Story continues Hyland went on to say, We know that the current crypto ETF filings have generated a great deal of discussion and analysis within the SEC about this emerging asset class, and the SEC and its staff, to their credit, have asked for public comment on a wide range of issues relating to these products. We expect the staff of the SEC has had ongoing discussions with the investment firms making the crypto filings to date, and we look forward to having our own discussions with the SEC about the nature of our proposed offering. Bitwise Asset Management was founded in San Francisco in 2017. It launched the first cryptocurrency index fund in November of that year as a means of providing accredited investors with weekly liquidity through an open-ended private placement system. Thus far, the business has garnered institutional backing from companies like General Catalyst, Blockchain Capital and Khosla Ventures. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine . || Bitwise Files With SEC for Cryptocurrency ETF: Bitwise Asset Managementis the latest venture to apply for a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF). Called the Bitwise HOLD 10 Cryptocurrency Index Fund, the ETF will track the returns of the company’s HOLD 10 Index, a “market-cap-weighted index of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies” that captures roughly 80 percent of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization.
A registration statement has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) but has not yet become effective. Until the SEC decides on whether to approve the ETF, related shares may not be sold, and offers to purchase the shares cannot be accepted by any of the company’s executives.
Bitwise is not the first company to try and register a cryptocurrency ETF application. Earlier this month,waves were madewhen an application for a Bitcoin ETF from the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust was not rejected as it had been in 2017, and was instead consulted upon with industry professionals. Following this period, the SEC posted the application for public comment to see if general consumers and traders showed interest.
The application received positive feedback, and the SEC later announced that it was working on an outline for newer, less-restrictive legislation regarding open-ended ETFs to increase innovation in the financial space.
John Hyland, the global head of exchange-traded products at Bitwise, stated, “We are aware that other investment firms have filed for cryptocurrency ETFs under the Securities Act of 1933, and that there continues to be interest in filing under the Investment Company Act of 1940. As best we know, all of these funds plan to offer exposure to a single coin such as bitcoin or ether. That is fine, but our proposed offering is obviously different.”
Matt Hougan, global head of research, explained that while Bitwise will offer single-currency opportunities to investors like other funds do, multiple-coin baskets behave very differently and thus warrant just as much study and exposure. He says the company plans to offer both to its clients.
Hyland went on to say, “We know that the current crypto ETF filings have generated a great deal of discussion and analysis within the SEC about this emerging asset class, and the SEC and its staff, to their credit, have asked for public comment on a wide range of issues relating to these products. We expect the staff of the SEC has had ongoing discussions with the investment firms making the crypto filings to date, and we look forward to having our own discussions with the SEC about the nature of our proposed offering.”
Bitwise Asset Management was founded in San Francisco in 2017. It launched the first cryptocurrency index fund in November of that year as a means of providing accredited investors with weekly liquidity through an open-ended private placement system. Thus far, the business has garnered institutional backing from companies like General Catalyst, Blockchain Capital and Khosla Ventures.
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || ASAMACURA(TM) Cryptocurrency Hard Wallet Available for Purchase on Amazon: DORAL, FL / ACCESSWIRE / July 24, 2018 /Santo Mining Corp. (the "Company"), (OTC PINK: SANP) today announces that the ASAMACURA™ Near Field Communications ("NFC") cryptocurrency hard wallet is now available for purchase on Amazon.
The ASAMACURA™ is an NFC card-typed cryptocurrency hardware wallet, which contains a smartcard chip that can support multiple cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Litecoin, PO8, all ERC-20 tokens and SHA256 coins. Since ASAMACURA™ fully complies with BIP32 (HD Wallet) specifications, it can manage customers' crypto assets with a single seed (Master Key). Therefore, even if a wallet is lost, stolen or misplaced, the cardholder's assets can be restored with a 24-paraphrase word security sequence. ASAMACURA™ protects users' crypto assets from security breaches by storing their private keys in a secure, physical tamper-resistant security chip. Having proven safety, reliability and durability, ASAMACURA™ fully complies with ISO7816 and ISO14443 specifications. In addition, ASAMACURA™ does not require a battery and therefore can be used semi-permanently. Furthermore, since it is a FIDO U2F certification product, it can be utilized as a two-factor-authentication (2FA) device, as well as on a website.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FKWKBJ2
Mr. Franjose Yglesias, President, commented, "With more than 75% of the American online consumers purchasing products on Amazon, it was only natural to offer our product in the world's largest online retailer. With cryptocurrency reaching a market cap of over $300 billion, our product helps assure security, safety, and reliability in storing and managing multiple cryptocurrencies. ASAMACURA™ will benefit with Amazon's built-in back-end solution for managing inventory, sales and logistics, which allows for added focus on blockchain development and growth."
About Santo Mining Corp.
Santo Mining Corp, a publicly traded company in the Over-the-Counter (OTC) market, trading under the ticker symbol SANP. Formerly an analog mining company in the gold and copper sector, it has now focused on the global blockchain technology industry and the application of blockchain solutions to real-world environments. The company has interest in various hardware and software blockchain solutions. It has developed a security-focused blockchain hardware wallet, and it is aggressively finding opportunities to invest or acquire blockchain software development projects worldwide. SANP is developing the use of third generation cryptocurrency proof-of-stake/proof-of-work smart contracts for commercial applications throughout various industries.
Media contacts:
Mr. Franjose [email protected]://www.asamacorp.comhttps://twitter.com/asamacorphttps://t.me/asamacura
Forward Looking Statements and Disclaimer
Statements made in this press release that express the Company or management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or predictions of future events, are forward-looking statements. The words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "will" and similar expressions are intended to further identify such forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Those statements are based on many assumptions and are subject to many known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's actual activities, results or performance to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in such forward-looking statements. The Company cannot guarantee future financial results; levels of activity, performance or achievements and investors should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. No information contained in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Company's future financial performance, future revenues or its future stock price. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgment of the Company as of the date of this press release, and the Company expressly disclaims any intent, obligation or undertaking to update or revise such forward-looking statements to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. No information in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Company's future revenues or results of operations.
SOURCE:Santo Mining Corp. || ASAMACURA(TM) Cryptocurrency Hard Wallet Available for Purchase on Amazon: DORAL, FL / ACCESSWIRE / July 24, 2018 / Santo Mining Corp. (the "Company"), (OTC PINK: SANP) today announces that the ASAMACURA™ Near Field Communications ("NFC") cryptocurrency hard wallet is now available for purchase on Amazon. The ASAMACURA™ is an NFC card-typed cryptocurrency hardware wallet, which contains a smartcard chip that can support multiple cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Litecoin, PO8, all ERC-20 tokens and SHA256 coins. Since ASAMACURA™ fully complies with BIP32 (HD Wallet) specifications, it can manage customers' crypto assets with a single seed (Master Key). Therefore, even if a wallet is lost, stolen or misplaced, the cardholder's assets can be restored with a 24-paraphrase word security sequence. ASAMACURA™ protects users' crypto assets from security breaches by storing their private keys in a secure, physical tamper-resistant security chip. Having proven safety, reliability and durability, ASAMACURA™ fully complies with ISO7816 and ISO14443 specifications. In addition, ASAMACURA™ does not require a battery and therefore can be used semi-permanently. Furthermore, since it is a FIDO U2F certification product, it can be utilized as a two-factor-authentication (2FA) device, as well as on a website. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FKWKBJ2 Mr. Franjose Yglesias, President, commented, "With more than 75% of the American online consumers purchasing products on Amazon, it was only natural to offer our product in the world's largest online retailer. With cryptocurrency reaching a market cap of over $300 billion, our product helps assure security, safety, and reliability in storing and managing multiple cryptocurrencies. ASAMACURA™ will benefit with Amazon's built-in back-end solution for managing inventory, sales and logistics, which allows for added focus on blockchain development and growth." About Santo Mining Corp. Santo Mining Corp, a publicly traded company in the Over-the-Counter (OTC) market, trading under the ticker symbol SANP. Formerly an analog mining company in the gold and copper sector, it has now focused on the global blockchain technology industry and the application of blockchain solutions to real-world environments. The company has interest in various hardware and software blockchain solutions. It has developed a security-focused blockchain hardware wallet, and it is aggressively finding opportunities to invest or acquire blockchain software development projects worldwide. SANP is developing the use of third generation cryptocurrency proof-of-stake/proof-of-work smart contracts for commercial applications throughout various industries. Story continues Media contacts: Mr. Franjose Yglesias 833.33.ASAMA [email protected] http://www.asamacorp.com https://twitter.com/asamacorp https://t.me/asamacura Forward Looking Statements and Disclaimer Statements made in this press release that express the Company or management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or predictions of future events, are forward-looking statements. The words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "will" and similar expressions are intended to further identify such forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Those statements are based on many assumptions and are subject to many known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the Company's actual activities, results or performance to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in such forward-looking statements. The Company cannot guarantee future financial results; levels of activity, performance or achievements and investors should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. No information contained in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Company's future financial performance, future revenues or its future stock price. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgment of the Company as of the date of this press release, and the Company expressly disclaims any intent, obligation or undertaking to update or revise such forward-looking statements to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. No information in this press release should be construed as any indication whatsoever of the Company's future revenues or results of operations. SOURCE: Santo Mining Corp. || Here's Why Bitcoin Has Gained 15% This Week: Bitcoin on Tuesday surged above the $8,000 mark for the first time since May, giving renewed hope to cryptocurrency bulls looking for strength from the market’s bellwether coin.
Bitcoin’s latest surge comes shortly after a positive stretch of trading which was inspired by encouraging regulatory development around the world, as well as news that established financial industry behemoths were looking to develop crypto businesses.
This week, bitcoin bulls are getting excited about the expected approval of a bitcoin ETF sponsored by VanEck and blockchain platform SolidX. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is currently reviewing the application of this fund, and a source cited by ICO Journal said its chances of approval were “90% at this point.”
“The crypto markets have moderated and regulators have watched the lack of drama surrounding bitcoin futures across several global exchanges,” the unnamed source said. “In January we were justifiably concerned about a bubble and the harm a quickly approved product could attract speculators and create losses that led to significant lawsuits. Now, those factors seem to be mitigated significantly.”
A bitcoin ETF would make it easier for traditional investors to participate in the cryptocurrency market by reducing certain barriers to entry—namely, inefficient and unfamiliar exchanges—associated with purchasing coins directly.
It is also worth noting that the optimism displayed by ICO Journal’s source is based on evidence that should be uplifting for those who believe in the future of the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin and its peers needed some risk mitigation, and if the SEC can recognize that this has indeed happened, investors should be interested as well.
Also within the past week, crypto enthusiasts celebrated the appointment of David Solomon as the new CEO of Goldman Sachs GS. Solomon has proven to be a proponent of big financial firms like Goldman adding cryptocurrency services to their businesses, saying as recently as last month that his company is looking to expand its offering of such services right now.
According to CoinMarketCap.com, the bitcoin price was up more than 15% over the trailing week as of 5:00 pm EST on Tuesday. This surge has not, however, been matched by all of bitcoin’s peers, as just three of the other 9-largest coins by way of market cap were in the green within the same time period.
Nevertheless, investors might also recognize that renewed bullishness surrounding bitcoin has resulted in gains for certain “proxy stocks” which exploded in popularity late last year as traders scrambled for ways to gain crypto exposure in their regular portfolios.
Riot Blockchain RIOT, for instance, has soared more than 40% over the past five trading periods. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC has gained nearly 12% since Friday’s close.
The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All
Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.
See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBioptix, Inc. (RIOT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBITCOIN INVT TR (GBTC): ETF Research ReportsTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research || Here's Why Bitcoin Has Gained 15% This Week: Bitcoin on Tuesday surged above the $8,000 mark for the first time since May, giving renewed hope to cryptocurrency bulls looking for strength from the market’s bellwether coin.
Bitcoin’s latest surge comes shortly after a positive stretch of trading which was inspired by encouraging regulatory development around the world, as well as news that established financial industry behemoths were looking to develop crypto businesses.
This week, bitcoin bulls are getting excited about the expected approval of a bitcoin ETF sponsored by VanEck and blockchain platform SolidX. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is currently reviewing the application of this fund, and a source cited by ICO Journal said its chances of approval were “90% at this point.”
“The crypto markets have moderated and regulators have watched the lack of drama surrounding bitcoin futures across several global exchanges,” the unnamed source said. “In January we were justifiably concerned about a bubble and the harm a quickly approved product could attract speculators and create losses that led to significant lawsuits. Now, those factors seem to be mitigated significantly.”
A bitcoin ETF would make it easier for traditional investors to participate in the cryptocurrency market by reducing certain barriers to entry—namely, inefficient and unfamiliar exchanges—associated with purchasing coins directly.
It is also worth noting that the optimism displayed by ICO Journal’s source is based on evidence that should be uplifting for those who believe in the future of the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin and its peers needed some risk mitigation, and if the SEC can recognize that this has indeed happened, investors should be interested as well.
Also within the past week, crypto enthusiasts celebrated the appointment of David Solomon as the new CEO of Goldman Sachs GS. Solomon has proven to be a proponent of big financial firms like Goldman adding cryptocurrency services to their businesses, saying as recently as last month that his company is looking to expand its offering of such services right now.
According to CoinMarketCap.com, the bitcoin price was up more than 15% over the trailing week as of 5:00 pm EST on Tuesday. This surge has not, however, been matched by all of bitcoin’s peers, as just three of the other 9-largest coins by way of market cap were in the green within the same time period.
Nevertheless, investors might also recognize that renewed bullishness surrounding bitcoin has resulted in gains for certain “proxy stocks” which exploded in popularity late last year as traders scrambled for ways to gain crypto exposure in their regular portfolios.
Riot Blockchain RIOT, for instance, has soared more than 40% over the past five trading periods. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC has gained nearly 12% since Friday’s close.
The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All
Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.
See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportThe Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBioptix, Inc. (RIOT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBITCOIN INVT TR (GBTC): ETF Research ReportsTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research || Here's Why Bitcoin Has Gained 15% This Week: Bitcoin on Tuesday surged above the $8,000 mark for the first time since May, giving renewed hope to cryptocurrency bulls looking for strength from the markets bellwether coin. Bitcoins latest surge comes shortly after a positive stretch of trading which was inspired by encouraging regulatory development around the world, as well as news that established financial industry behemoths were looking to develop crypto businesses. This week, bitcoin bulls are getting excited about the expected approval of a bitcoin ETF sponsored by VanEck and blockchain platform SolidX. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is currently reviewing the application of this fund, and a source cited by ICO Journal said its chances of approval were 90% at this point. The crypto markets have moderated and regulators have watched the lack of drama surrounding bitcoin futures across several global exchanges, the unnamed source said. In January we were justifiably concerned about a bubble and the harm a quickly approved product could attract speculators and create losses that led to significant lawsuits. Now, those factors seem to be mitigated significantly. A bitcoin ETF would make it easier for traditional investors to participate in the cryptocurrency market by reducing certain barriers to entrynamely, inefficient and unfamiliar exchangesassociated with purchasing coins directly. It is also worth noting that the optimism displayed by ICO Journals source is based on evidence that should be uplifting for those who believe in the future of the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin and its peers needed some risk mitigation, and if the SEC can recognize that this has indeed happened, investors should be interested as well. Also within the past week, crypto enthusiasts celebrated the appointment of David Solomon as the new CEO of Goldman Sachs GS. Solomon has proven to be a proponent of big financial firms like Goldman adding cryptocurrency services to their businesses, saying as recently as last month that his company is looking to expand its offering of such services right now. Story continues According to CoinMarketCap.com, the bitcoin price was up more than 15% over the trailing week as of 5:00 pm EST on Tuesday. This surge has not, however, been matched by all of bitcoins peers, as just three of the other 9-largest coins by way of market cap were in the green within the same time period. Nevertheless, investors might also recognize that renewed bullishness surrounding bitcoin has resulted in gains for certain proxy stocks which exploded in popularity late last year as traders scrambled for ways to gain crypto exposure in their regular portfolios. Riot Blockchain RIOT, for instance, has soared more than 40% over the past five trading periods. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC has gained nearly 12% since Fridays close. The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early. See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Bioptix, Inc. (RIOT) : Free Stock Analysis Report BITCOIN INVT TR (GBTC): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research || Institutional Investors Swap Bitcoin Futures for Physical BTC in Wall Street First: Bitcoin took a significant step toward becoming a mainstream financial instrument this week, as two institutional investors completed the first-ever exchange for physical (EFP) transaction involving bitcoin futures.
The CME EFP Bitcoin transaction, facilitated by E D & F Man Capital Markets, a registered futures commission merchant, anditBit, an institutional-grade cryptocurrency exchange, saw two institutional traders swap a position inCME’s bitcoin futures marketfor an equivalent amount of the “physical” asset itself.
Wall Street traders use EFPs to hedge their futures positions and diversify their exposure to specific assets. They may also provide firms with leverage, capital, tax, and liquidity benefits. EFP transactions are negotiated off-exchange, often with the assistance of a broker, and then reported to the exchange for settlement.
While common in commodities trading, itBit and E D F & Man said that this transaction marked the first time that an EFP has been reported to a U.S. futures exchange where the underlying physical asset was a cryptocurrency.
Commenting on the trade, Brooks Dudley, of E D & F Man Capital Markets Inc., said that it marked an important step in the maturation of bitcoin as a regulated asset:
“Every day we facilitate EFPs for our clients in physical assets such as soybeans, wheat and treasuries. EFPs on CME Bitcoin futures mark an important step forward in the maturity of the regulated derivatives market for digital currencies.”
Paul Ciavardini, director of itBit’s over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trading desk, added that institutional solutions such as EFP trades will “continue to reduce the friction” in the cryptocurrency marketplace.
The trade is also noteworthy because, as CCN reported, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has thus far only approved bitcoin futures products that are cash-settled, meaning that investors receive the cash value of bitcoin when a contract expires, rather than the physical asset itself. With the availability of EFPs, they will have more flexibility in how they interact with this nascent asset class.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
The postInstitutional Investors Swap Bitcoin Futures for Physical BTC in Wall Street Firstappeared first onCCN. || Institutional Investors Swap Bitcoin Futures for Physical BTC in Wall Street First: Bitcoin took a significant step toward becoming a mainstream financial instrument this week, as two institutional investors completed the first-ever exchange for physical (EFP) transaction involving bitcoin futures.
The CME EFP Bitcoin transaction, facilitated by E D & F Man Capital Markets, a registered futures commission merchant, anditBit, an institutional-grade cryptocurrency exchange, saw two institutional traders swap a position inCME’s bitcoin futures marketfor an equivalent amount of the “physical” asset itself.
Wall Street traders use EFPs to hedge their futures positions and diversify their exposure to specific assets. They may also provide firms with leverage, capital, tax, and liquidity benefits. EFP transactions are negotiated off-exchange, often with the assistance of a broker, and then reported to the exchange for settlement.
While common in commodities trading, itBit and E D F & Man said that this transaction marked the first time that an EFP has been reported to a U.S. futures exchange where the underlying physical asset was a cryptocurrency.
Commenting on the trade, Brooks Dudley, of E D & F Man Capital Markets Inc., said that it marked an important step in the maturation of bitcoin as a regulated asset:
“Every day we facilitate EFPs for our clients in physical assets such as soybeans, wheat and treasuries. EFPs on CME Bitcoin futures mark an important step forward in the maturity of the regulated derivatives market for digital currencies.”
Paul Ciavardini, director of itBit’s over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trading desk, added that institutional solutions such as EFP trades will “continue to reduce the friction” in the cryptocurrency marketplace.
The trade is also noteworthy because, as CCN reported, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has thus far only approved bitcoin futures products that are cash-settled, meaning that investors receive the cash value of bitcoin when a contract expires, rather than the physical asset itself. With the availability of EFPs, they will have more flexibility in how they interact with this nascent asset class.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
The postInstitutional Investors Swap Bitcoin Futures for Physical BTC in Wall Street Firstappeared first onCCN. || Institutional Investors Swap Bitcoin Futures for Physical BTC in Wall Street First: Wall Street Bitcoin took a significant step toward becoming a mainstream financial instrument this week, as two institutional investors completed the first-ever exchange for physical (EFP) transaction involving bitcoin futures. The CME EFP Bitcoin transaction, facilitated by E D & F Man Capital Markets, a registered futures commission merchant, and itBit , an institutional-grade cryptocurrency exchange, saw two institutional traders swap a position in CME’s bitcoin futures market for an equivalent amount of the “physical” asset itself. Wall Street traders use EFPs to hedge their futures positions and diversify their exposure to specific assets. They may also provide firms with leverage, capital, tax, and liquidity benefits. EFP transactions are negotiated off-exchange, often with the assistance of a broker, and then reported to the exchange for settlement. While common in commodities trading, itBit and E D F & Man said that this transaction marked the first time that an EFP has been reported to a U.S. futures exchange where the underlying physical asset was a cryptocurrency. Commenting on the trade, Brooks Dudley, of E D & F Man Capital Markets Inc., said that it marked an important step in the maturation of bitcoin as a regulated asset: “Every day we facilitate EFPs for our clients in physical assets such as soybeans, wheat and treasuries. EFPs on CME Bitcoin futures mark an important step forward in the maturity of the regulated derivatives market for digital currencies.” Paul Ciavardini, director of itBit’s over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trading desk, added that institutional solutions such as EFP trades will “continue to reduce the friction” in the cryptocurrency marketplace. The trade is also noteworthy because, as CCN reported, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has thus far only approved bitcoin futures products that are cash-settled, meaning that investors receive the cash value of bitcoin when a contract expires, rather than the physical asset itself. With the availability of EFPs, they will have more flexibility in how they interact with this nascent asset class. Featured Image from Shutterstock The post Institutional Investors Swap Bitcoin Futures for Physical BTC in Wall Street First appeared first on CCN . || Coinbase Finds No Insider Trading of Bitcoin Cash: Coinbase, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, launched an inquiry last December into whether its employees engaged in improper trading related to the digital currency known as Bitcoin Cash. Now, Fortune has learned, the company has wrapped up the investigation and concluded no wrongdoing took place. Coinbase launched the investigation in the wake of a sudden surge in the price of Bitcoin Cash hours before the company announced the addition of the asset, which is an offshoot of original cryptocurrency Bitcoin, to its exchange for the first time. The move made Bitcoin Cash accessible to millions of customers who previously had no way to purchase it, pushing up its value as has happened historically when Coinbase has listed other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin on its exchange. But the price jump preceding the official announcement prompted questions about whether Coinbase employees acted on inside knowledge to buy Bitcoin Cash ahead of the rest of the market. In response to an inquiry from Fortune , Coinbase stated the the investigation concluded last week following a months-long probe by two well-known national law firms. “We would not hesitate to terminate an employee or contractor and/or take appropriate legal action if evidence showed our policies were violated,” a company spokesperson said. “We can report that the voluntary, independent internal investigation has come to a close, and we have determined to take no disciplinary action.” A person close to Coinbase, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a staff lawyer discussed the outcome of the investigation with employees during a company-wide meeting last week. Bitcoin Cash first arrived last August when a group of developers created a so-called fork of the original Bitcoin blockchain, and distributed the new currency on a one-to-one basis to those who held Bitcoin. Coinbase initially took the position that it would not allocate or support trading of Bitcoin Cash, and advised those who wished to obtain it to move their Bitcoin elsewhere. Story continues The company soon changed its position , however, and told Coinbase customers it would distribute Bitcoin Cash by January 1, 2018. Then, in an unexpected move, the company handed out the currency earlier than anticipated in mid-December. In the hours before the unexpected announcement, the price of Bitcoin Cash climbed significantly, which led to speculation that Coinbase insiders expected the price to jump on news, and sought to profit on the information. Meanwhile, a flood in trading volume forced Coinbase to temporarily suspend trading of Bitcoin Cash altogether. All of this produced an uproar on social media. In response to the outcry, the company’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, published a strongly worded blog post about its employee trading policy and warned Coinbase would terminate and commence legal action against anyone who broke it. The absence of a wrongdoing finding by two major law firms is good news for Coinbase, though it doesn’t put the company in the clear on the legal front. A class action lawsuit filed by Coinbase customers is ongoing, and seeks damage from the company for negligence and violating consumer protection laws. Lynda Grant, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the suit, told Fortune the case is still in procedural stages. Grant also said she believes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating Coinbase over the Bitcoin Cash trading, but did not provide further specifics. The CFTC did not respond to a request for comment about whether it is looking into the matter. More broadly, the controversy over Bitcoin Cash highlights the so-called “Coinbase effect,” which has resulted in higher prices for any digital tokens the company chooses to list on its exchanges. The most recent example came in mid-June when Coinbase added the token known as Ethereum Classic to its portfolio. The price immediately jumped significantly after the announcement but remained largely unchanged prior to the news. This story has been corrected to say Coinbase told customers it would issue Bitcoin Cash by January 1, 2018. An earlier version said this would occur after that date. || Coinbase Finds No Insider Trading of Bitcoin Cash: Coinbase, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange,launched an inquirylast December into whether its employees engaged in improper trading related to the digital currency known as Bitcoin Cash. Now,Fortunehas learned, the company has wrapped up the investigation and concluded no wrongdoing took place.
Coinbase launched the investigation in the wake of a sudden surge in the price of Bitcoin Cash hours before the company announced the addition of the asset, which is an offshoot of original cryptocurrency Bitcoin, to its exchange for the first time. The move made Bitcoin Cash accessible to millions of customers who previously had no way to purchase it, pushing up its value as has happened historically when Coinbase haslisted other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoinon its exchange. But the price jump preceding the official announcement prompted questions about whether Coinbase employees acted on inside knowledge to buy Bitcoin Cash ahead of the rest of the market.
In response to an inquiry fromFortune, Coinbase stated the the investigation concluded last week following a months-long probe by two well-known national law firms.
“We would not hesitate to terminate an employee or contractor and/or take appropriate legal action if evidence showed our policies were violated,” a company spokesperson said. “We can report that the voluntary, independent internal investigation has come to a close, and we have determined to take no disciplinary action.”
A person close to Coinbase, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a staff lawyer discussed the outcome of the investigation with employees during a company-wide meeting last week.
Bitcoin Cash first arrived last August when a group of developers created a so-called fork of the original Bitcoin blockchain, and distributed the new currency on a one-to-one basis to those who held Bitcoin. Coinbase initially took the position that it would not allocate or support trading of Bitcoin Cash, and advised those who wished to obtain it to move their Bitcoin elsewhere.
The company soonchanged its position, however, and told Coinbase customers it would distribute Bitcoin Cash by January 1, 2018. Then, in an unexpected move, the companyhanded out the currencyearlier than anticipated in mid-December.
In the hours before the unexpected announcement, the price of Bitcoin Cash climbed significantly, which led to speculation that Coinbase insiders expected the price to jump on news, and sought to profit on the information. Meanwhile, a flood in trading volume forced Coinbase to temporarily suspend trading of Bitcoin Cash altogether. All of this produced an uproar on social media.
In response to the outcry, the company’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, published a strongly wordedblog postabout its employee trading policy and warned Coinbase would terminate and commence legal action against anyone who broke it.
The absence of a wrongdoing finding by two major law firms is good news for Coinbase, though it doesn’t put the company in the clear on the legal front.
Aclass actionlawsuit filed by Coinbase customers is ongoing, and seeks damage from the company for negligence and violating consumer protection laws. Lynda Grant, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the suit, toldFortunethe case is still in procedural stages.
Grant also said she believes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating Coinbase over the Bitcoin Cash trading, but did not provide further specifics. The CFTC did not respond to a request for comment about whether it is looking into the matter.
More broadly, the controversy over Bitcoin Cash highlights the so-called “Coinbase effect,” which has resulted in higher prices for any digital tokens the company chooses to list on its exchanges. The most recent example came in mid-June when Coinbase added the token known as Ethereum Classic to its portfolio. The price immediately jumped significantly after the announcement but remained largely unchanged prior to the news.
This story has been corrected to say Coinbase told customers it would issue Bitcoin Cash by January 1, 2018. An earlier version said this would occur after that date. || Coinbase Finds No Insider Trading of Bitcoin Cash: Coinbase, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange,launched an inquirylast December into whether its employees engaged in improper trading related to the digital currency known as Bitcoin Cash. Now,Fortunehas learned, the company has wrapped up the investigation and concluded no wrongdoing took place.
Coinbase launched the investigation in the wake of a sudden surge in the price of Bitcoin Cash hours before the company announced the addition of the asset, which is an offshoot of original cryptocurrency Bitcoin, to its exchange for the first time. The move made Bitcoin Cash accessible to millions of customers who previously had no way to purchase it, pushing up its value as has happened historically when Coinbase haslisted other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoinon its exchange. But the price jump preceding the official announcement prompted questions about whether Coinbase employees acted on inside knowledge to buy Bitcoin Cash ahead of the rest of the market.
In response to an inquiry fromFortune, Coinbase stated the the investigation concluded last week following a months-long probe by two well-known national law firms.
“We would not hesitate to terminate an employee or contractor and/or take appropriate legal action if evidence showed our policies were violated,” a company spokesperson said. “We can report that the voluntary, independent internal investigation has come to a close, and we have determined to take no disciplinary action.”
A person close to Coinbase, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a staff lawyer discussed the outcome of the investigation with employees during a company-wide meeting last week.
Bitcoin Cash first arrived last August when a group of developers created a so-called fork of the original Bitcoin blockchain, and distributed the new currency on a one-to-one basis to those who held Bitcoin. Coinbase initially took the position that it would not allocate or support trading of Bitcoin Cash, and advised those who wished to obtain it to move their Bitcoin elsewhere.
The company soonchanged its position, however, and told Coinbase customers it would distribute Bitcoin Cash by January 1, 2018. Then, in an unexpected move, the companyhanded out the currencyearlier than anticipated in mid-December.
In the hours before the unexpected announcement, the price of Bitcoin Cash climbed significantly, which led to speculation that Coinbase insiders expected the price to jump on news, and sought to profit on the information. Meanwhile, a flood in trading volume forced Coinbase to temporarily suspend trading of Bitcoin Cash altogether. All of this produced an uproar on social media.
In response to the outcry, the company’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, published a strongly wordedblog postabout its employee trading policy and warned Coinbase would terminate and commence legal action against anyone who broke it.
The absence of a wrongdoing finding by two major law firms is good news for Coinbase, though it doesn’t put the company in the clear on the legal front.
Aclass actionlawsuit filed by Coinbase customers is ongoing, and seeks damage from the company for negligence and violating consumer protection laws. Lynda Grant, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the suit, toldFortunethe case is still in procedural stages.
Grant also said she believes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating Coinbase over the Bitcoin Cash trading, but did not provide further specifics. The CFTC did not respond to a request for comment about whether it is looking into the matter.
More broadly, the controversy over Bitcoin Cash highlights the so-called “Coinbase effect,” which has resulted in higher prices for any digital tokens the company chooses to list on its exchanges. The most recent example came in mid-June when Coinbase added the token known as Ethereum Classic to its portfolio. The price immediately jumped significantly after the announcement but remained largely unchanged prior to the news.
This story has been corrected to say Coinbase told customers it would issue Bitcoin Cash by January 1, 2018. An earlier version said this would occur after that date. || This Technical Indicator Suggests Bitcoin's Rally May Be Overbought: Bitcoin rallied another 6.2 percent on Tuesday, breaching the $8,000 level for the first time in two months. The cryptocurrency is now up 17.4 percent in the past week, but at least one technical indicator is suggesting the bitcoin rally may be overbought. What To Know According to CoinDesk , bitcoins RSI reached 74.56 on Tuesday, its highest level since it reached its all-time high near $20,000 back in December. Any RSI reading above 70 is considered overbought. RSI is an abbreviation for relative strength index, a technical metric that measures short-term momentum. RSI is a measure of how strong recent gains have been compared to recent losses. The equation for calculating RSI is as follows: RSI = 100 - 100 / (1 + RS) Why It's Important Where RS is the average gain of up periods divided by the average loss of down periods. The typical period for RSI calculation is 14 trading days. RSI ranges from 0 to 100, with readings over 70 considered overbought and readings below 30 considered oversold. Technical traders often see these extreme overbought and oversold levels as opportunities for a correction, something bitcoin traders should be prepared for in coming days. What's Next The good news for long-term bitcoin investors is that these short-term RSI corrections often have nothing to do with the longer-term trend. Bitcoin investors are hoping the recent strength is a sign the cryptocurrency is finally back on the right track after losing more than half its value in the first half of the year. Even after the recent rally, the Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC: GBTC ) is down more than 45 percent overall in 2018. Related Links: This Week In Cryptocurrency: Bannon Bullish, BlackRock Curious, MLB And Ethereum Bitcoin's Technicals Look Strong, But Should Bulls Celebrate Just Yet? See more from Benzinga This Week In Cryptocurrency: Bannon Bullish, BlackRock Curious, MLB And Ethereum Bitcoin's Technicals Look Strong, But Should Bulls Celebrate Just Yet? Crypto Crime In 2018 By The Numbers © 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || This Technical Indicator Suggests Bitcoin's Rally May Be Overbought: Bitcoin rallied another 6.2 percent on Tuesday, breaching the $8,000 level for the first time in two months. The cryptocurrency is now up 17.4 percent in the past week, but at least one technical indicator is suggesting the bitcoin rally may be overbought.
What To Know
Accordingto CoinDesk, bitcoin’s RSI reached 74.56 on Tuesday, its highest level since it reached its all-time high near $20,000 back in December. Any RSI reading above 70 is considered overbought.
RSI is an abbreviation for relative strength index, a technical metric that measures short-term momentum. RSI is a measure of how strong recent gains have been compared to recent losses. The equation for calculating RSI is as follows:
RSI = 100 - 100 / (1 + RS)
Why It's Important
Where RS is the average gain of up periods divided by the average loss of down periods. The typical period for RSI calculation is 14 trading days.
RSI ranges from 0 to 100, with readings over 70 considered overbought and readings below 30 considered oversold. Technical traders often see these extreme overbought and oversold levels as opportunities for a correction, something bitcoin traders should be prepared for in coming days.
What's Next
The good news for long-term bitcoin investors is that these short-term RSI corrections often have nothing to do with the longer-term trend. Bitcoin investors are hoping the recent strength is a sign the cryptocurrency is finally back on the right track after losing more than half its value in the first half of the year.
Even after the recent rally, theBitcoin Investment Trust(OTC:GBTC) is down more than 45 percent overall in 2018.
Related Links:
This Week In Cryptocurrency: Bannon Bullish, BlackRock Curious, MLB And Ethereum
Bitcoin's Technicals Look Strong, But Should Bulls Celebrate Just Yet?
See more from Benzinga
• This Week In Cryptocurrency: Bannon Bullish, BlackRock Curious, MLB And Ethereum
• Bitcoin's Technicals Look Strong, But Should Bulls Celebrate Just Yet?
• Crypto Crime In 2018 By The Numbers
© 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || This Technical Indicator Suggests Bitcoin's Rally May Be Overbought: Bitcoin rallied another 6.2 percent on Tuesday, breaching the $8,000 level for the first time in two months. The cryptocurrency is now up 17.4 percent in the past week, but at least one technical indicator is suggesting the bitcoin rally may be overbought.
What To Know
Accordingto CoinDesk, bitcoin’s RSI reached 74.56 on Tuesday, its highest level since it reached its all-time high near $20,000 back in December. Any RSI reading above 70 is considered overbought.
RSI is an abbreviation for relative strength index, a technical metric that measures short-term momentum. RSI is a measure of how strong recent gains have been compared to recent losses. The equation for calculating RSI is as follows:
RSI = 100 - 100 / (1 + RS)
Why It's Important
Where RS is the average gain of up periods divided by the average loss of down periods. The typical period for RSI calculation is 14 trading days.
RSI ranges from 0 to 100, with readings over 70 considered overbought and readings below 30 considered oversold. Technical traders often see these extreme overbought and oversold levels as opportunities for a correction, something bitcoin traders should be prepared for in coming days.
What's Next
The good news for long-term bitcoin investors is that these short-term RSI corrections often have nothing to do with the longer-term trend. Bitcoin investors are hoping the recent strength is a sign the cryptocurrency is finally back on the right track after losing more than half its value in the first half of the year.
Even after the recent rally, theBitcoin Investment Trust(OTC:GBTC) is down more than 45 percent overall in 2018.
Related Links:
This Week In Cryptocurrency: Bannon Bullish, BlackRock Curious, MLB And Ethereum
Bitcoin's Technicals Look Strong, But Should Bulls Celebrate Just Yet?
See more from Benzinga
• This Week In Cryptocurrency: Bannon Bullish, BlackRock Curious, MLB And Ethereum
• Bitcoin's Technicals Look Strong, But Should Bulls Celebrate Just Yet?
• Crypto Crime In 2018 By The Numbers
© 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin's Price Is Nearing $10K On a Single, Troubled Exchange: Cryptocurrency exchange WEX continues to see prices well out of step with the broader market amid a near-total freeze on customer withdrawals.
As CoinDeskreported, customers of WEX â a kind of successor to the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e â have been on tenterhooks since July 12, as they've largely been unable to get outbound payments processed.
The only exceptions have been for the crypto assets tether and zcash (along with lower-volume, lesser-known alternatives like namecoin and novacoin) and the price disparities suggest that some WEX users are utilizing these tokens as a way out. The normally dollar-tied tether, also known as USDT, is currentlyabove$2 andWEX's price forzcash (against the US dollar) is $440, orÂmore than doublethe prevailing rate on the broader market.
Indicator Suggests Bitcoin's $8K Price Rally Could Be Overstretched
Those looking to convert their money held on WEX to zcash or tether just to get it out of the exchange must pay a steep price, according to one customer.
"If you buy zcash on WEX, you will have to sell it somewhere else much cheaper, losing up to 50 percent, as the USDT rate is now $2.195 on WEX," Grigory, a systems administrator from a town in Russia called Ivanovo, told CoinDesk. Further, the ability to make withdrawals has become unavailable again from time to time, he added.
In the absence of word from WEX staff, users have taken to social media and the exchange's chat box to wonder aloud about the story behind the delay.
Cryptocurrency prices have risen on the site as well, with the value of bitcoinexceeding $9,600as of press time, or more than $1,400 above the price recorded on CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). Prior to the withdrawal issues, prices on the exchangehad notably spikedabove $9,000.
Ponzi Games Are Breaking Out on the Ethereum Blockchain
WEX representatives have not responded to multiple requests for comment.
The situation on WEX has been brewing for more than a week, the exchange's own statements show.
On July 12, WEXannouncedon Twitter that withdrawals of fiat and cryptocurrencies were blocked due to the "database migration and other maintenance."
Later that day, it was said that maintenance had been completed, and some coins, including zcash and tether (as well as lower-volume coins like namecoin and peercoin), were available for withdrawal. But larger crypto assets like bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, litecoin and dash were to remain unavailable until July 22,accordingto a post on July 16.
The last public message via Twitter waspostedon July 19, saying, "Maintenance has finished successfully."
However, when July 23 came, exchange customers kept complaining that withdrawals were still blocked.
"No Withdraw is working. It is 23rd now. Maintenance fail can happen, but no information is worst. After BTCe now WEX?"saiduser @Pete11240362.
"Administrators, if you can't resolve the problem right now, say: maintenance works in process. Get smart, give some feedback,"demandedRussian-speaking user Sergey Ionkin, who goes by the handle @dear_enman.
Some of the affected users took to Telegram to discuss the situation. One of the groups was promoted and possibly created by Dmitry Vassiliev, an official owner and CEO of WEX, who previously told CoinDesk that he lost control over the exchange due to the intervention of some people he declined to identify.
On Monday, a user in one of the channels claiming he is Dmitry Vassiliev â using two similar usernames, (Dmitry Vasiliev and Dmitry wex.nz) â wrote that he had agreed to register the exchange in the name of the new beneficiaries who are already de facto managing WEX.
The user claimed that the deal is going to take place on Thursday, and promised to reveal the names of those beneficiaries if they don't fix the situation on that day. Vassiliev stopped answering CoinDesk's inquiries after a brief exchange on July 12.
According to Grigori, avenues for actually taking money off the exchange exist â but at a price.
Grigory told CoinDesk he has had 0.1 BTC waiting in limbo on WEX since July 12. He said he started using WEX in the end of 2017 because he liked that the exchange didn't require ID verification.
For the most of time everything had worked fine, he explained: he had been able to withdraw coins within an hour or less, and fiat-denominated funds would appear in his e-payment account in several hours after the withdrawal transaction.
But that changed earlier this month, he told CoinDesk. The tech support on WEX has provided no reasonable explanation and only recommended waiting until the maintenance is over, Grigory contended.
Fiat withdrawals were ceased in that period, too, though the ability to withdraw funds via so-called WEX codes remained for a time. Users would generate a special code with their accounts and then exchange those codes for fiat currency on specialized websites, which would sent a corresponding amount of dollars or rubles to users' accounts at Russian payment services like Yandex.Money or Qiwi.
But this is no longer a viable solution, according to Grigory.
"At some point, the offers to buy WEX codes disappeared from those exchange websites as there were enormous numbers of people who wanted to sell them," he told CoinDesk, adding:
"Now people who wanted to quit at any price have already quit, but the exchange rate is still bad."
Imagevia Shutterstock
• Bitcoin Price Climbs Back Above $8K to Reach 60-Day High
• Bitcoin Price Hits Two-Month High as Dominance Rate Spikes || Bitcoin's Price Is Nearing $10K On a Single, Troubled Exchange: Cryptocurrency exchange WEX continues to see prices well out of step with the broader market amid a near-total freeze on customer withdrawals.
As CoinDeskreported, customers of WEX â a kind of successor to the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e â have been on tenterhooks since July 12, as they've largely been unable to get outbound payments processed.
The only exceptions have been for the crypto assets tether and zcash (along with lower-volume, lesser-known alternatives like namecoin and novacoin) and the price disparities suggest that some WEX users are utilizing these tokens as a way out. The normally dollar-tied tether, also known as USDT, is currentlyabove$2 andWEX's price forzcash (against the US dollar) is $440, orÂmore than doublethe prevailing rate on the broader market.
Indicator Suggests Bitcoin's $8K Price Rally Could Be Overstretched
Those looking to convert their money held on WEX to zcash or tether just to get it out of the exchange must pay a steep price, according to one customer.
"If you buy zcash on WEX, you will have to sell it somewhere else much cheaper, losing up to 50 percent, as the USDT rate is now $2.195 on WEX," Grigory, a systems administrator from a town in Russia called Ivanovo, told CoinDesk. Further, the ability to make withdrawals has become unavailable again from time to time, he added.
In the absence of word from WEX staff, users have taken to social media and the exchange's chat box to wonder aloud about the story behind the delay.
Cryptocurrency prices have risen on the site as well, with the value of bitcoinexceeding $9,600as of press time, or more than $1,400 above the price recorded on CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). Prior to the withdrawal issues, prices on the exchangehad notably spikedabove $9,000.
Ponzi Games Are Breaking Out on the Ethereum Blockchain
WEX representatives have not responded to multiple requests for comment.
The situation on WEX has been brewing for more than a week, the exchange's own statements show.
On July 12, WEXannouncedon Twitter that withdrawals of fiat and cryptocurrencies were blocked due to the "database migration and other maintenance."
Later that day, it was said that maintenance had been completed, and some coins, including zcash and tether (as well as lower-volume coins like namecoin and peercoin), were available for withdrawal. But larger crypto assets like bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ether, litecoin and dash were to remain unavailable until July 22,accordingto a post on July 16.
The last public message via Twitter waspostedon July 19, saying, "Maintenance has finished successfully."
However, when July 23 came, exchange customers kept complaining that withdrawals were still blocked.
"No Withdraw is working. It is 23rd now. Maintenance fail can happen, but no information is worst. After BTCe now WEX?"saiduser @Pete11240362.
"Administrators, if you can't resolve the problem right now, say: maintenance works in process. Get smart, give some feedback,"demandedRussian-speaking user Sergey Ionkin, who goes by the handle @dear_enman.
Some of the affected users took to Telegram to discuss the situation. One of the groups was promoted and possibly created by Dmitry Vassiliev, an official owner and CEO of WEX, who previously told CoinDesk that he lost control over the exchange due to the intervention of some people he declined to identify.
On Monday, a user in one of the channels claiming he is Dmitry Vassiliev â using two similar usernames, (Dmitry Vasiliev and Dmitry wex.nz) â wrote that he had agreed to register the exchange in the name of the new beneficiaries who are already de facto managing WEX.
The user claimed that the deal is going to take place on Thursday, and promised to reveal the names of those beneficiaries if they don't fix the situation on that day. Vassiliev stopped answering CoinDesk's inquiries after a brief exchange on July 12.
According to Grigori, avenues for actually taking money off the exchange exist â but at a price.
Grigory told CoinDesk he has had 0.1 BTC waiting in limbo on WEX since July 12. He said he started using WEX in the end of 2017 because he liked that the exchange didn't require ID verification.
For the most of time everything had worked fine, he explained: he had been able to withdraw coins within an hour or less, and fiat-denominated funds would appear in his e-payment account in several hours after the withdrawal transaction.
But that changed earlier this month, he told CoinDesk. The tech support on WEX has provided no reasonable explanation and only recommended waiting until the maintenance is over, Grigory contended.
Fiat withdrawals were ceased in that period, too, though the ability to withdraw funds via so-called WEX codes remained for a time. Users would generate a special code with their accounts and then exchange those codes for fiat currency on specialized websites, which would sent a corresponding amount of dollars or rubles to users' accounts at Russian payment services like Yandex.Money or Qiwi.
But this is no longer a viable solution, according to Grigory.
"At some point, the offers to buy WEX codes disappeared from those exchange websites as there were enormous numbers of people who wanted to sell them," he told CoinDesk, adding:
"Now people who wanted to quit at any price have already quit, but the exchange rate is still bad."
Imagevia Shutterstock
• Bitcoin Price Climbs Back Above $8K to Reach 60-Day High
• Bitcoin Price Hits Two-Month High as Dominance Rate Spikes || 3M Company (MMM) Q2 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript: Image source: The Motley Fool.
3M Company(NYSE: MMM)Q2 2018 Earnings Conference CallJuly 24, 2018,9:00 a.m. ET
• Prepared Remarks
• Questions and Answers
• Call Participants
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the 3M second quarter earnings conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone keypad. It is recommended that you use a landline phone if you're going to register for a question.
As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Tuesday, July 24th, 2018. I would now like to turn the call over to Bruce Jermeland, Director of Investor Relations at 3M.
Bruce Jermeland--Director of Investor Relations
Thank you and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter 2018 business review. On the call today are Inge Thulin, 3M's Executive Chairman; Mike Roman, our Chief Executive Officer; and Nick Gangestad, our Chief Financial Officer. Inge, Mike, and Nick will make some formal comments and then we'll take your questions.
Please note that today's earnings release and slide presentation accompanying this call are posted on our investor relations website at 3M.com under the heading "Quarterly Earnings."
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Before we begin, let me remind you of the dates for our upcoming investor events in 2018, found on Slide 2. Please mark our calendars for our Q3 earnings call on October 23rd. Also, our next investor day, which will be held at our headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a welcome reception the evening of Wednesday, November 14th, and a formal presentation program on Thursday, November 15th. More details will be available as we get closer to the event.
Please take a moment to read the forward-looking statement on Slide 3. During today's conference call, we will make certain predictive statements that reflect our current views about 3M's future performance and financial results. These statements are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Item 1A of our most recent form 10-K lists some of the most important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from our predictions.
Please note that throughout today's presentation, we'll be making references to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures can be found in the appendices of today's presentation and press release.
Please turn to Slide 4 and I'll hand off to Inge. Inge?
Inge G. Thulin--Executive Chairman of the Board
Thank you, Bruce. Good morning, everyone. As you all are aware, Q2 was my last quarter as the CEO and I have now moved on to my new role at Executive Chairman of the 3M Board. Mike Roman is our new CEO and I am pleased with the orderly transition between me and Mike, which we have worked on for the last year. In a moment, I'll turn the call over to Mike and our CFO, Nick Gangestad, and you will se that once again, we had a very strong quarter with robust, organic growth, margin expansion, EPS growth, and good cash flow.
But before doing that, I would like to make a few comments. First, I would like to recognize all of you who have covered, analyzed, and invested in 3M. I have enjoyed our many interactions and I have always appreciated your input, along with your integrity and professionalism. I would also like to take all of our 91,000 3Mers around the world for your contributions and support. Working together, I'm pleased at what we have accomplished over the last 6 years.
We've enhanced and focused our portfolio and as a result, today we are far more relevant to our customers and the marketplace. We have strengthened our innovation engine and improved our cost structure and begun to transform 3M for the future. We have reached for our vision of advancing every company, enhancing every home, and improving every life.
All of this is reflected in our financial results and in the premium value we have created for our customers and premium returns for our shareholders. At the same time, I'm equally confident in our future. The Board of Directors and I have no doubt that Mike is the right person to lead our company as CEO and continuing building strengths on strengths. As I look across our enterprise, it is clear that we have the leadership, market position and capabilities to continue to build on the fundamental strength of 3M.
With that, I will turn the call over to Mike for a summary of our second quarter. Mike.
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Inge. Good morning, everyone. Let me begin by saying that I am honored to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of this incredible enterprise and lead our team into the future. I would like to express my gratitude to Inge for his vision, leadership, and ongoing partnership in his new role as Executive Chairman.
Over the last 6 years, we've made great progress in building out the 3M playbook, which has created a tremendous foundation for us. Moving ahead, we are focused on continuing our momentum, generating extraordinary value for our customers, and premium returns for our shareholders.
Now, let's review our second quarter results, starting on Slide 5. We had a strong quarter, highlighted by broad-based organic growth and a double-digit increase in earnings per share, along with record sales and rising margins. Looking at the numbers, total sales were $8.4 billion, an all-time high for 3M. We delivered strong, organic growth of 6%, with positive growth across all business groups and all geographic areas.
Please note that we have an upcoming ERP rollout in the United States. In anticipation of that deployment, some of our customers decided to accelerate their purchases. We estimate that this added approximately 50 to 100 basis points of growth in the second quarter. All of it in the U.S. results.
Moving on to earnings, we posted GAAP earnings of $3.07 per share, up 19% year-on-year. Adjusted earnings were $2.59 per share compared to $2.25 a year ago. This demonstrates that our teams around the world continue to execute well. Underlying margins were strong at 24%, with all business groups above 21%.
Beyond financial results, we are committed to building 3M for the long run, while returning cash to our shareholders. In the second quarter, we invested $468 million in research and development and another $365 million in capex. We also returned $2.4 billion to shareholders, including both dividends and share repurchases.
Please turn to Slide 6. There is a lot to like this quarter across our entire portfolio. Our industrial team posted good organic growth of 6%, a nice pick-up from the first quarter. Growth was broad-based, with particular strength in our filtration platform, where we are leveraging our Membrana acquisition to accelerate penetration in biopharma and life sciences.
Safety and Graphics delivered another outstanding quarter of 9% organic growth, along with robust margins. For the fourth consecutive quarter, our Personal Safety business grew double digits, as we continue to build and extend our industry leading portfolio in this market. In Healthcare, we continued to expand worldwide with organic growth of 4%, led by our Medical Solutions business with mid single-digit growth. Healthcare also posted double-digit growth in developing markets, as investments in those areas are paying off. This is a great business for 3M and we will continue to invest to strengthen it for the future.
Organic growth in Electronics and Energy was 5%, on top of 10% growth in last year's second quarter. Within this business group, we have done a lot of portfolio work over the last several years to improve our relevance to customers in the marketplace. This has led to improved growth and a sustained improvement in margins.
Last month, we continued to build on this portfolio work with the sale of our Communication Markets business. After a thorough review, we decided that selling this business would result in the greatest value creation for 3M and our shareholders. This is a good example of how we are actively managing our portfolio to best utilize the 3M model. Going forward, we will continue to prioritize high-growth opportunities in Electronics and Energy, such as automotive electrification, data centers, and semi-conductor fabrication.
Finally, organic growth in Consumer was 4%, which included good performances across our leading brands. We saw continued strength in Home Improvement, along with a strong start to the back-to-school season. In summary, I'm pleased with our performance in the second quarter and I thank our teams for their many contributions. Our playbook is working and we are just getting started. We are well positioned to grow into an even stronger and more successful company.
Looking ahead, we'll continue to optimize our portfolio, strengthen our innovation, and accelerate our transformation, while developing our people. Nick will now take you through the details of the quarter. Nick.
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Mike. Good morning, everyone. Please turn to Slide 7. Sales grew 5.6% organically in the second quarter. Increases in selling prices contributed 110 basis points to sales growth in the quarter, and were positive across all geographic areas. The net impact of acquisitions and divestitures contributed 80 basis points to sales growth in the quarter. Foreign currency translation increased sales by 1 percentage point. All in, second quarter sales in U.S. dollars increased 7.4% versus last year.
In the U.S., organic growth was 5.6%, led by Electronics and Energy, Safety and Graphics, and Consumer. EMEA increased 5.8% in Q2, driven by strong growth in West Europe, that was led by Electronics and Energy, Industrial, and Safety and Graphics. Asia Pacific delivered 5.5% organic growth, led by Healthcare and Safety and Graphics. Organic growth was 12% in both China/Hong Kong and India, while Japan was down 2%. Finally, Q2 organic growth in Latin America/Canada was 6%, led by Healthcare and Safety and Graphics. At a country level, Canada was up high single digits, while Mexico and Brazil both delivered mid single-digit organic growth.
Please turn to Slide 8 for the second quarter P&L highlights. Companywide, second quarter sales were $8.4 billion. Operating income in the second quarter was $2.4 billion, which included a $400 million benefit from the Communication Markets divestiture gain net of related actions. Second quarter underlying operating margins were 24%, excluding the net benefit from the Communication Markets divestiture.
Let's take a closer look at the components of our margin performance in the second quarter. Leverage on organic growth improved productivity and lower year-on-year portfolio and footprint actions contributed a combined 290 basis points to margins. Selling price benefits more than offset raw material inflation, adding 30 basis points to operating margins. Foreign currency net of hedging impacts, reduced margins by 20 basis points.
Lastly, during the second quarter, we settled several respiratory and oral care-related lawsuits, which decreased margins by 70 basis points.
Let's now turn to Slide 9 for a closer look at earnings per share. Second quarter GAAP earnings were $3.07 per share, up 19% year-over-year. Underlying earnings were $2.59 per share when adjusting for the Communication Markets divestiture gains, net of related actions.
Let me now discuss the primary drivers of the year-on-year increase in Q2 earnings per share. The benefits of organic growth, productivity, and lower year-on-year portfolio and footprint actions added a combined $0.47 to per-share earnings in the quarter. The previously mentioned legal settlements reduced Q2 earnings by $0.07 per share. Higher year-on-year net interest expense and retirement benefit expense decreased earnings by $0.06 per share.
Our underlying Q2 tax rate was 19.8%, which increased earnings by $0.16 per share. The lower tax rate was driven primarily by U.S. tax reform and the continued benefits from our supply chain centers of expertise. Lastly, lower shares outstanding added $0.04 to per-share earnings.
Please turn to Slide 10 for a look at our cash flow performance. Second quarter free cash flow was $1.5 billion, up 14.5% year-on-year. Free cash flow conversion was 83% in the quarter. This includes a 16 percentage point headwind from the divestiture gain of the Communication Markets business and related actions.
Second quarter capital expenditures were $365 million, up $63 million year-on-year. For the full year, we continue to anticipate capex investments in the range of to $1.5 to $1.8 billion. During the quarter, we paid $802 million in cash dividends to shareholders and returned $1.6 billion to shareholders through gross share repurchases. Through the first half of the year, we repurchased $2.5 billion of stock and now expect full-year repurchases to be in the range of $4 to $5 billion versus $3 to $5 billion previously.
Let's now review our business group performance starting with Industrial on Slide 11. The Industrial business group delivered second quarter sales of $3.1 billion, up 5.7% organically. Industrial's growth was broad-based across all geographic areas and businesses. Our Advanced Materials, Abrasives, and Separation and Purification businesses led the way with high single-digit growth in the quarter.
Looking at the rest of the Industrial portfolio, our industrial adhesives and tapes, auto and aerospace, and automotive after-market businesses all delivered mid single-digit growth in the quarter. On a geographic basis, Industrial's organic growth was led by a 7% increase in EMEA, followed by mid single-digit growth in each of the other areas. Industrial delivered second quarter operating income of $724 million. Operating margins were 23%, with underlying margins up 180 basis points, excluding the impact of last year's second quarter portfolio and footprint actions.
Please turn to Slide 12. Second quarter Safety and Graphics sales were $1.8 billion, up 8.5% organically, with strong growth across all businesses and geographies. As Mike mentioned, our Personal Safety business continued to post excellent growth, up double digits in the quarter. The integration of our Scott Safety business is performing well and we are pleased with the performance of the business.
Commercial Solutions was up high single digits, while the Transportation Safety and Roofing Granules businesses were both up mid single digits. Geographically, organic growth was led by 10% growth in EMEA, with high single-digit increases in both the U.S. and Asia Pacific. Latin America/Canada grew 6% organically in the quarter. Operating income was $480 million with operating margins of 26.4%.
Please turn to Slide 13. Our Healthcare business generated second quarter sales of $1.5 billion, up 3.8% organically. Our Medical Solutions business, which is our largest segment in Healthcare, grew mid single digits in Q2. Oral care was up 3%, with continued good growth internationally, particularly in developing markets. Food Safety grew high single digits while Health Information Systems grew mid single digits.
Finally, our project-based drug delivery business declined low single digits year-over-year. On a geographic basis, Asia Pacific and Latin America/Canada led the way, both up high single digits. EMEA grew 5%, followed by 1% in the U.S. We saw continued strength in developing markets up double digits led by China/Hong Kong growing in the high teens.
Healthcare's second quarter operating income increased 7% to $435 million. And underlying operating margins were just over 30%, adjusting for the impacts of a legal settlement and the commercialization investments for our new Clarity aligners.
Next, let's cover Electronics and Energy on Slide 14. Electronics and Energy organic sales growth was 5.2% in the second quarter. Sales were $1.3 billion. The electronics side of the business grew 4% organically, led by mid-single-digit growth in electronics material solutions. Our Energy-related businesses were up 9% organically, led by electrical markets up double digits. As mentioned, we closed on the sale of substantially all of the Communication Markets business in the quarter and expect to close the remaining portion by the end of the year.
On a geographic basis, the U.S. led with high single-digit organic growth followed by mid single-digit growth in both EMEA and Asia Pacific. Latin America/Canada was up low single digits. Second quarter operating income for Electronics and Energy was $865 million, with underlying operating margins of nearly 28%.
Please turn to Slide 15. Second quarter sales in Consumer were $1.2 billion and organic growth was 4.3% year-on-year. Our Home Improvement business grew double digits organically, continuing its track record of strong performance. Our leading brands continue to win in the marketplace, particularly Command and Filtrete, both up double digits. The Home Care business and Stationery and Office Supply business each delivered low single-digit growth in the quarter, while Consumer Healthcare declined.
Looking at Consumer geographically, growth was led by a 7% increase in the U.S., followed by mid single-digit growth in Latin America/Canada. In the second quarter, we continued to see strong consumer demand for our products in the U.S., particularly in the e-commerce channel. Finally, operating income was $261 million, with operating margins of 21.4%. That wraps up our review of the second quarter results.
Please turn to Slide 16 and I'll cover our updated 2018 guidance. Our full-year organic growth expectations remain unchanged, in the range of 3% to 4%. With respect to earnings, we now expect full-year adjusted EPS to be in the range of $10.20 to $10.45, versus a prior range of $10.20 to $10.55. The update to the range reflects the impact of the divested income associated with the Communication Markets business.
Finally, please note that we now expect that foreign currency translation will add approximately 1% to full-year sales growth, versus a prior expectation of 2%. With that, we thank you for your attention and we'll now take your questions.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to register a question using a landline phone, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone keypad. You will hear a 3-tone prompt to acknowledge your request. If your question has been answered and you would like to withdraw your registration, please press the 1 followed by the 3. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before entering your request. Please limit your participation to one question and one follow-up. One moment please, while we compile the Q&A roster.
Our first question comes from the line of Scott Davis of Melius Research. Please proceed with your question.
Scott Davis--Melius Research--Analyst
Good morning, guys.
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Scott.
Scott Davis--Melius Research--Analyst
Inge, you will be missed. You did a fantastic job, as you know. Mike, big shoes to fill, but I'm sure you'll do great as well.
Inge G. Thulin--Executive Chairman of the Board
Thank you, Scott.
Scott Davis--Melius Research--Analyst
You're quite welcome. Guys, one thing that caught my eye just in the prepared remarks was your ERP rollout comments. Can you tell us, is that in every segment? How big of a deal is this? What's your confidence level that the pull-forward was just 50 to 100 and not something greater than that. Is it possible to have that kind of precision?
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Scott, we've been working on deploying our business transformation, our ERP rollout globally, for a number of years. We have largely completed our deployment in Europe, West Europe, in particular. Now, as we came in 2018, we are focused on the U.S. It is a very well laid-out plan of deployments by region, by business, by supply chain operations. So, we are, over the next 18 months now, deploying in the U.S. with a very specific deployment by business.
We did deploy our Healthcare business at the end of last year, so we have experience with that business in the deployment already complete. And now we're deploying the rest of the businesses in the U.S. as we go through the next 18 months. So, we have a pretty clear view on which customers are impacted with the deployment at which periods of time and so we have very good, I think, a pretty clear view of how much of the accelerated sales are in line with the deployment now that's taking place in the U.S.
Scott Davis--Melius Research--Analyst
Okay, fair enough. Then as a follow-up, we've seen some pretty big moves in EM currency over the last quarter. What's the playbook? Do you have to go in there and raise prices? Do you realign some supply chains? What's the playbook to manage that volatility?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Scott, the playbook there really isn't really changing. We seek to have natural hedges against currency risk and how we set up the supply chain. And then we layer on top of that some financial hedges. Those financial hedges don't ultimately change the underlying financials over a longer period of time, but we have hedges that we enter into going out 1, 2, 3 years to buy time for us to adjust our cost structure, our supply chain, in order to end up with a competitive supply chain in a revised FX environment.
So, in the short term, what we often do, especially in emerging markets, we will adjust prices to partially offset the FX impact. Then we will adjust our supply chain, adjusting where we're manufacturing based on FX movements. That tends to take a little longer time though, Scott. Not in a short term, but we often have to change and requalify sources of supply to make that happen.
For the year, Scott, I will say we started the year guiding that FX with rates as they stood at the end of the year. We thought that they would positively impact our earnings by about $0.10. Through the first months of the year, the dollar weakened more and that pushed our EPS benefit that we were expecting slightly above that $0.10. In the last few months, we've seen the dollar strengthen. We now see ourselves slightly below that $0.10. Through the first half of the year, we have seen a $0.06 EPS benefit from FX. If we see meaningful changes to that $0.10 we originally guided, we'll provide updates on that accordingly.
Scott Davis--Melius Research--Analyst
Fair enough, OK. Good luck, guys. Thank you.
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thanks, Scott.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Obin of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please proceed with your question.
Andrew Obin--Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Good morning.
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Good morning, Andrew.
Andrew Obin--Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Inge, congratulations. Thanks, Mike. Look forward to working with you on the team.
Inge G. Thulin--Executive Chairman of the Board
Thank you.
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Same here, Andrew.
Andrew Obin--Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Just a question on guidance, if I look at income before taxes, as you guys have on Slide 22, basically I think prior outlook was $7.7 billion to $8.2 billion. Now it's $7.8 billion to $7.9 billion. I think the press release indicates that most of it is just adjusting for missing revenue and earnings from the divestiture, but the composition sort of doesn't make sense. Can you tell us what the big moving pieces are as we move from $7.7 to $8.2 billion range to $7.8 to $7.9 billion?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Andrew, there's a few moving pieces there. First of all, as you noted, now that we have divested of our Communication Markets division, there's some income that would've been generating in the last 7 months of the year that will no longer be generating. That's what's encompassed in our adjustment to our EPS guidance for the year. In particular, what you're talking about there, there's also an impact from net interest expense. So, in terms of our earnings bridge that we laid out at the beginning of the year, there's a couple moving parts in addition to this Communication Markets adjusted that we announced today.
First is we are buying back more shares. We originally guided that would be $0.10 to $0.15 of benefit. We now see ourselves at the high end of that range. So, that's on the positive. We also are borrowing more money, so our net interest expense is going up. We started the year guiding that net interest expense would be a benefit to our EPS of $0.05 to $0.10. We now think that will be approximately flat for the year.
Andrew Obin--Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Okay, gotcha. So, these are the three moving pieces. Then just a question going back to the ERP question, I assume your guidance sort of incorporated, did you guys anticipate this pre-buy in the second quarter? And the second, how do you guys think about sort of managing disruptions from ERP implementations in North America because Western Europe, and I do appreciate that Western Europe was a much more significant undertaking in terms of shutting down facilities, moving stuff around, but you did have negative top line comps there for a while. So, going to the second half, as you have to manage ERP disruptions in North America, what gives you confidence that there will not be hits to organic growth? How are you going to manage it? Sorry for the lengthy question.
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
I would maybe start with, as we've talked a lot about with our business transformation, it really starts and ends with the customer for us. In our deployments, that's where we start. We focus on how to do the best of our customers. Minimize impact and provide benefits with where we're going with business transformation. I would say, as we deployed in Europe, that was true. You are asking the customers to significantly change how they interact with us, but on the other side of that change process is a lot of benefit for how we work together. So, I think we saw that in Europe.
We had the deployment and some of the same things we're seeing now in the U.S., where we had some accelerated purchases. I don't think I would characterize it the way you did, that we saw growth impacted by that business transformation. That was other dynamics in the marketplace and even some of the things that we're doing around portfolio and maybe, to a degree, maybe some of the things we're doing about some of the strategic investments there.
But the layout with the focus on customers and how we manage that, that's part of what we're doing in the U.S. now. We're engaging them day in and day out, communicating with them early about how this is progressing. Working with them very closely about managing through any disruption as we scale down the legacy systems and scale up the new ERP and surrounding capabilities.
So, that process, we are managing supply all the way through the calendar of those steps. This accelerated buy -- we expected some accelerated buy. We were working with our customers as we got closer, how much interruption would they see? How much accelerated buy makes sense? It's really up to them, ultimately. They're making the decision on what they buy based on the information we're communicating with them. I would say it's in line with what we've seen as we've deployed through West Europe and I think it's projecting that we're doing a good job with deployments. They're on track and progressing well.
Andrew Obin--Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
So to your perspective, there is a high degree of visibility on organic growth in second half?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yes. Related to the ERP deployment? Absolutely.
Andrew Obin--Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Kaplowitz of Citi. Please proceed with your question.
Andrew Kaplowitz--Citigroup-- Analyst
Good morning, guys. Inge, congrats. Good luck again.
Inge G. Thulin--Executive Chairman of the Board
Thank you.
Andrew Kaplowitz--Citigroup-- Analyst
So, there's obviously been a little more noise here with the ERP rollout, but can you give us a little more color in how we should think about our organic sales growth guidance by segment? If we look at your annual guidance, and you guys talk about Healthcare, you know, it's 4% to 6%. Maybe you're trending a little below there, but Safety and Graphics is trending way above. So, is there a bit of a trade-off there and then are the other segments generally in line for the year? Is that how we should think about it?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Andy, thanks for the question. Just a few things. As far as the impact of this ERP Go Live impact and the way it's impacting different segments in the U.S., we see these impacts primarily in our Industrial, Safety and Graphics, and Electronics and Energy business groups. It's not really having a material impact on Consumer and really no impact on our Healthcare business. So, in terms of how you think about that impact in the second quarter and third quarter and fourth quarter, it's really those three businesses that were impacted.
In terms of our guidance for the year, we continue to see Industrial globally. We had originally guided 3% to 5%. We see that most likely in the bottom half of that range. That aligns with the updated total company guidance that we provided in April. We do see Healthcare probably closer to the 4% growth for the total year. And Safety and Graphics, which we'd originally guided at 4% to 6%, we see that at the high end or possibly higher than the high end of our original guidance.
The others are Consumer and Electronics and Energy. We see those solidly in the ranges that we first put out.
Andrew Kaplowitz--Citigroup-- Analyst
Nick, that's helpful. Maybe I could ask you about pricing. Obviously, very strong pricing in the quarter. When you look at price versus raws, it actually accelerated or was better in Q2 than Q1. We know you said it was going to be an elevated year for pricing, but is there any particular end markets where pricing is particularly strong and then do you think the headwind on price versus raw material costs could be less than the $0.05 to $0.10 for the year that you updated us on last quarter?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, the $0.05 to $0.10, Andy, just to be clear. That's just the raw material headwind that we updated that. As far as price growth, it's actually, Andy, quite broad. I won't point out one business or one geography as driving these results. It's really quite broad and deep where the price growth is. In terms of impact on margin, I think I said earlier that we continue to see that as being positive for the year. And halfway through the year, we continue to see that, highly confident that our price increases will more than offset whatever we see for raw materials headwinds for the year.
Andrew Kaplowitz--Citigroup-- Analyst
Thanks, Nick. Appreciate it.
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thanks.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Julian Mitchell of Barclays. Please proceed with your question.
Julian Mitchell--Barclays -- Analyst
Hi, good morning. I'll echo the comments on thanks to Inge and welcome to Mike. In terms of I guess maybe a first question on a couple of the end markets, any update of sorts on the automotive outlook in your Industrial business? Also, within Electronics and Energy, there had been this bifurcation earlier in the year where device sell-through was soft but the sort of capex or electronics materials business was very strong. Just wondered how you've seen that playing out more recently. I know you worried about the capex portion or EMS decelerating, given what's happening with device sell-through.
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Julian. Starting with the automotive, we continued, at year-to-date through the first half, we continue to see strong growth relative to the build rates globally. Remember, we're managing a global automotive business focused around key account relationships with the OEMs globally. We're seeing continued good performance on spec ends and penetration into the marketplace. So, good growth year-to-date relative to the build rates.
Some improvement in the build rates in the second quarter. Still looking at IHS projections up over 4%, slightly over 4% second quarter. Again, total year still in line with that 2.2% kind of number. Always watching quarter-to-quarter the ups and downs there. But performing well and when you bring together our automotive electrification capabilities and what we're doing in our technology and the applications around that, we continue to see a very robust outlook for outgrowing the build rates.
If you turn to Electronics and Energy, we continue to see I would say strong growth in what we've been talking about as high-growth electronic segments, around automotive electrification, around data centers, semi-conductor fabrication. That continues to move forward. Semi-conductor fabrication, behind maybe part of question there with where capex is being spent, still seeing significant growth opportunities for us.
The rest of the Electronics, I would say Electronics in general is playing out in line with the way we laid it out at the beginning of the year. That was more, I would say, modest growth in the Consumer Electronics part of our portfolio and stronger growth in those higher growth segments. There's some, I would say, some shifts here or there in the quarter, but pretty much as we expected in our Electronics and Energy business, pretty much right down the middle of the range that we had laid out at the beginning of the year as well.
Julian Mitchell--Barclays -- Analyst
Thanks. Then my second question would just be around if you look back to your EPS roadmap from Slide 8, way back at the December outlook meeting from Nick's presentation, I think you've given a very thorough update on sort of two of the main chunks in that. But maybe any color on the productivity piece? How that's trending in terms of footprint optimization, business transformation, and the manufacturing productivity in terms of I guess what are the saving, how are the savings from those various programs tracking in the first half versus what you expected and any gyrations in the sales line causing you to accelerate some of the productivity plans?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Julian, in terms of the 2018 roadmap that I provided last December and then we updated it in January after Tax Reform, the other components are staying where we expected. But let me give a little color on it. Even organic growth with the roll-down that we had in our total year organic growth expectation for the year, we see more of our growth coming from price, which is accretive to EPS. So, our organic growth impact on earnings remain unchanged.
Footprint optimization, much of that, Julian, was just not repeating the charges that we took in 2017. There was some incremental and some charges and some benefit. Those largely washed in 2018. We are expecting the majority of that true benefit to be coming in 2019 and 2020. So, that is progressing exactly as we expected. Raw materials, as I noted, we adjusted that down from that original guidance. Business transformation and productivity, both of those are tracking to the ranges that we put in. They're performing exactly as we expected.
Julian Mitchell--Barclays -- Analyst
Great. Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from the line of Deane Dray with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.
Deane Dray--RBC Capital Markets-- Analyst
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Inge, wish you all the best and congrats again to Mike.
Inge G. Thulin--Executive Chairman of the Board
Thanks, Deane.
Deane Dray--RBC Capital Markets-- Analyst
I'd like to follow up on some of the business line specific questions that Julian started there. Mike, can you address how auto after-market did in the quarter versus some of the fall-off we saw in the first quarter? Then, in oral care, we saw the total growth. How did the U.S. market do specifically as the distribution channel calmed down? And maybe talk a bit more about this launch. It looks like Clarity will compete directly with Invisalign. What are the competitive dynamics there?
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Sounds good to me. Starting with the industrial automotive after-market kind of question. Industrial, we saw broad-based growth across all geographic areas, all businesses. We highlighted some of the leading growth there. We saw mid single-digit growth in our automotive after-market business in Q2.
Coming out of Q1, we were really looking hard at the market. We saw end demand soften as we came out of Q1, but the total year was projecting nominal growth for that marketplace that we expected to improve as we move through the year. We saw that start in Q2. We saw the demand pick up. We saw our opportunity in the marketplace pick up across developed economies, in particular and the U.S. leading that. So, we saw the kind of improvement we expected with automotive after-market and we're projecting the total year in line with what we started at the beginning.
Turning to oral care, oral care is an important business for us. We're recognized as a leader in a number of positions, leveraging our material science. We continue to innovate and look to invest and grow this business as we move ahead. It really does leverage our strengths. If you look at the overall growth in second quarter, 3% for worldwide growth, down slightly in the U.S., improving over Q1 and, again, what we're expecting is to see is some improvement globally, and led again by developing markets, but improving as we go through the year. Still some room to go in improvement in the U.S. as we move ahead.
We did announce and introduce our Clarity aligners at the American Association of Orthodontists show in May. We believe that this now positions us to have the broadest set of solutions across orthodontic platforms. We're actively onboarding orthodontists right now. It's really a play for us to help have a broad-based suite of solutions for the orthodontists in the global market. We're so far getting good and very positive feedback.
Deane Dray--RBC Capital Markets-- Analyst
Got it. Just as a follow-up on tariffs, maybe Nick can clarify the point that you expect to be positive in price cost? Does that include the tariffs that have been announced and enacted? What's the look forward on potential risk as this may get escalated?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Deane, the guidance that I said is inclusive of tariffs that have been enacted. When we're talking tariffs, there's a number of tariffs. First, the steel and aluminum under the National Security Act. That impact, as well as the Section 301, List 1, those two that have already been enacted, we see having a fairly immaterial impact on us. We estimate that to be approximately $10 million or $0.01 a share on an annualized basis. The direct and indirect impact of those tariffs. We are actively monitoring and assessing the potential impact from Section 301, List 2 and 3, if those were implemented, and any potential retaliation that could with those.
We're prepared to act with sourcing changes, supply changes, and pricing changes if enacted. My initial statement stands that we think pricing will offset raw material impacts there and if tariffs expand, we continue to see that happening. We're not quantifying the impact of those latter two since they haven't been enacted yet, but we are prepared with actions to minimize the actions of that.
Deane Dray--RBC Capital Markets-- Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
Our next question comes from the line of Laurence Alexander of Jefferies. Please proceed.
Laurence Alexander--Jefferies -- Analyst
Good morning. Two quick ones. First on the price versus raws dynamic, if raw material pressures peak out, do you think you can maintain the same pace of price or is a certain amount of the price mix just the raw material offset?
Secondly, on Asia, specifically in China, can you parse out a little bit the trends driving the pick-up in Chinese growth, the acceleration from Q1 to Q2? Is that just Consumer and Health or is there something else going on there?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Laurence, on the price raw materials, we are likely seeing that our commodity prices and the increases we're seeing there likely at a peak level. Our pricing projections, our selling price projections are consistent with that. That's part of our anticipation that in a more stable world going forward with commodities, we'll continue to have our selling price increases more than offset what we're estimating now for commodity price increases. We really don't see that changing. If the commodity prices start to change again, we will be prepared to act.
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Laurence, just taking a look at China. We had strong growth in second quarter. Electronics performed very well as we continue to, I would say, win business with the companies based there, including the China OEMs. We also saw strong growth in our domestic-facing businesses, kind of the domestic economy-facing businesses. We've had a strategy to prioritize growth here in line with what China is doing to develop their economy.
As you noted, healthcare is a strong leader of that growth in the first half of the year. A big part of our Consumer business is performing very well. Safety & Graphics, also, really with a domestic-facing portfolio doing well. And even if you look at our Industrial business, we have platform businesses in our Industrial business group that are performing well too. That would be a good example. Our industrial adhesive and tapes business doing very well in China. SO, it's broader than Healthcare and Consumer, really centered around where the growth is occurring in the broader China market.
Laurence Alexander--Jefferies -- Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nigel Coe of Wolfe Research. Please proceed. Hello, Mr. Coe? Your line is open. Please proceed with your question.
We will proceed with --
Nigel Coe--Wolfe Research -- Analyst
Sorry, hey, guys. Am I live?
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, you're live, Nigel.
Nigel Coe--Wolfe Research -- Analyst
Sorry about that. Some technical issues here. Apologies if it's been addressed already, I was a little bit late joining the call, but the $0.15 probably[inaudible]associated with the gain on the Comms business, is that just split to the E&E Comms segments or is it broader? And maybe just some color in terms of what actions you're taking with the $0.15.
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Nigel, the actions we're taking are to address stranded costs that are left after the divestiture of our CMD business. So, they're addressing structural costs that this divestiture is leaving. We started those actions in Q2 and we expect to take more in the second half of the year to offset what could've been a negative impact if we had left those stranded costs in the company going forward.
Nigel Coe--Wolfe Research -- Analyst
Okay. Would that be a relatively quick payback? A 12-month payback or a little bit longer?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
We expect that will be paying back for us next year. Some of those actions will trail into next year in terms of when the cost savings start to happen. But we'll be starting to see that benefit in 2019. Nigel, one other thing. I'm not sure if you were asking this earlier. This charge is almost entirely being taken at a corporate level and not in our Electronics and Energy business.
Nigel Coe--Wolfe Research -- Analyst
Got it, OK. Then just a follow-on question on the guidance, the way the guidance is set up, first half versus second half. We're getting questions in terms of it's still somewhat back-ended loaded, particularly when we think about the FX is coming through the P&L and, of course, comms comes out first half or second half. What's best in the second half versus the first half to get us to the mid-point of the guidance range?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
For the second half of the year, we do expect that we'll be seeing more benefit from share repurchases than we saw in the first half. We do think productivity will be better in the second half than what we saw in the first half. Then, in terms of commodity prices from a year-on-year basis, we expect that'll be fairly neutral between the first half and the second half. Pricing will likely be better in the second half than in the first half.
Nigel Coe--Wolfe Research -- Analyst
Pricing for sure. Okay. Thanks, Nick.
Operator
Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Sprague of Vertical Research. Please proceed with your question.
Jeffrey Sprague--Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Just a quick clean-up for me on Healthcare and then maybe a bigger picture question for Mike. Healthcare U.S. growth has been a little on the soft side year-to-date and in the quarter. Perhaps it's dental. But are we observing some hangover from pull-forward on sales there from ERP last year in the Healthcare business?
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Jeff, healthcare in the U.S., where you're seeing the impact, broadly we had strong growth. Our Medical Solutions business is leading the way there. Maybe just a note about that too. We've been talking about this as our medical consumables business in the past. But it really is focused on value-based care, and health economics. It's a much more integrated portfolio around that, so I'm going to be talking about it as Medical Solutions. So, leading the way, we saw good growth in the U.S., also in food safety and health information. Oral care was down slightly. The bigger drag in second quarter was our drug delivery business. Again, we've talked about project-based business. We saw a decline in Q2 from that business and that was the bigger impact. So, broader base, stronger growth as we move ahead.
Jeffrey Sprague--Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst
Just, Mike, on the portfolio, obviously you've been working closely with Inge all along and I guess things will always be kind of under review, but with CMD out of the way here now, do you view the portfolio as relatively stable or there's more than you're working on internally and want to reevaluate?
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
If you look at where we are focused as we move ahead, the playbook is working. Our playbook is working. But there are opportunities in each of those three levers, including portfolio management. We are now an active portfolio manager. We do have a robust pipeline of how we look at our portfolio and we'll be working to best utilize the 3M model and optimize a portfolio around our model for value creation. So, we're going to continue being an active portfolio manager as we move ahead. It's about prioritizing resources. It's about targeting where we go with M&A. It's also about reviewing our businesses as we go. I see that as very much part of our future for value creation opportunity and it's a priority for me as I step into the role.
Jeffrey Sprague--Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst
Thanks and best wishes to Inge.
Inge G. Thulin--Executive Chairman of the Board
Thanks, Jeff.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steven Winoker of UBS. Please proceed with your question.
Steven Winoker--UBS--Analyst
I'll echo everybody's comments here. A lot of ground. I just want to dig a little more into that important price point, the 1.1% in the quarter. You mentioned it was quite broad. But you usually also talk about sort of setting our currency impacts and other impacts versus underlying business year-on-year relative to taking pricing on existing items and new products sometimes driving a big part of it. I'm just trying to get a sense for the kind of operating robustness of that number and the repeatability of it as we're looking through not only implied in the rest of the year, but later into next year, too.
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Steven, as I said, it's broad based. 100 basis points up in the U.S. EMEA was up 180 basis points. Latin America/Canada 210 basis points and APAC up 40 basis points. That 110 basis points is inclusive of our Electronics business, which is normally a price-down model. If we pull Electronics out, our underlying price growth was up 130 basis points.
As far as geographies and what we see as potential there, we don't see that going down. Part of your question, Steve, was also on FX impact. Right now, we estimate there is only about 20 of that 110 or 130, depending on how you look at it, of price growth that was coming from FX. The vast majority of it is coming from core underlying price growth. It's really a reflection of the value we create for our customers. And, this is a new point I'm making here, it's partially being driven by improvements in our global price management that our business transformation initiative is enabling. The ability to have better governance and better control over that pricing, we are starting to see that benefit. That's part of what you're seeing change here.
Steven Winoker--UBS--Analyst
Okay, that's helpful. Mike, Jeff just referred to it on the divestiture side of the portfolio, change side. But as I'm looking at acquisitions, Scott Safety was a great strategic play for you guys. What do you see in terms of the pipeline right now? Should we be expecting anything in the bigger size range soon or are things on hold at all as you're going through the transition? What should the expectations be on the acquisition?
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Steven. For me coming in, as always, organic growth remains our first priority. So, we're going to continue to prioritize investments in R&D, capex, and product commercialization. With that in mind though, in managing our portfolio, we're looking at M&A as an opportunity to create value. We're going to maintain the flexibility to pursue additional strategic acquisition opportunities like Scott Safety.
We have been very clearly focused on strategies that leverage our fundamental strengths, unique value creators to 3M. Our ability to integrate successfully these acquisitions and to create market leadership positions like we've been doing in personal safety. So, we are active. Our top priorities as I look ahead are Healthcare and Industrial. Safety and Graphics continues to be a priority, although they are very much focused on integrating Scott Safety at this time.
With that said, All five businesses are active. We have strong overall pipelines for us to work with. So, for me, it's about really moving ahead and identifying those opportunities that are clearly linked to those strategies where we can create differentiated value.
Steven Winoker--UBS--Analyst
Great. That's helpful. Thanks and good luck.
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Thanks.
Operator
Our next question comes from the line of Steve Tusa of JP Morgan. Please proceed with your question.
Stephen Tusa--J.P. Morgan--Analyst
Good morning.
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, Steve.
Stephen Tusa--J.P. Morgan--Analyst
Just a better understanding some of the moving parts here, back to Nigel's question on the kind of seasonality. You pulled forward a bit of sales here in the second quarter. You've got a pretty tough comp in the third quarter. Anything on that kind of comp that we should be aware of? Is it kind of like successful looks like first half, whereas first quarter was lower than second quarter kind of a 3% range? Is that kind of how we're thinking about the second half split between 3Q and 4Q on organic?
Then also on EPS, you had a low tax rate. The tax rate kind of the low end of the range this quarter. Maybe that steps up a little bit in the third quarter? Will you grow earnings here sequentially in the third quarter?
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Steve, in terms of growth, let me give some guidance of how we're seeing growth between the third and fourth quarter. Mike talked earlier about the impact of our U.S. Go Live with our ERP system and the amount of the revenue. So, that impact, as we expect us to be giving back some of those sales in the second half of the year, we expect that to disproportionally impact the third quarter. As you noted, between the two quarters, Q3 in the tougher of the two comps between the third and the fourth quarter.
That all in, we are looking at the third quarter being lower growth than the fourth quarter. Both of them aligned with our expectation of 3% to 4% for the total year. But I'm not going to be surprised if we have a lower number in third quarter given what we're seeing so far for the year and it's in line with our 3% to 4% guidance. Then in terms of EPS for each quarter, I try to avoid giving EPS guidance on a quarter-by-quarter basis, buy we continue to see ourselves very firmly delivering on an adjusted basis the $10.20 to the $10.45 for the total year.
Stephen Tusa--J.P. Morgan--Analyst
Okay, great. Thanks a lot.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Joshua Aguilar with Morningstar. Please proceed with your question.
Joshua Aguilar--Morningstar -- Analyst
Hey, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. So, drug delivery kind of down, low single digits year-over-year. I think last quarter kind of was the same case off of tough comps. Obviously, this is more project-based business, as you guys said. I remember in your investor day in 2016, you were talking about some of the advantages from drug delivery, like analytics, patient compliance. More long-term, are you guys still optimistic about the future trends there generally with drug delivery and can you give us an update about what you're excited about?
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Josh, you're referring to some of the opportunities that we see for growth in that business. We still, we see opportunities to take that business to a positive growth business as we move ahead. It will continue to be a project-based business, so quarter-to-quarter it can be lumpy and up and down. But we do see opportunities. We have some unique capabilities and technology there that we can apply as we move ahead.
Joshua Aguilar--Morningstar -- Analyst
Okay, great. Thanks.
Operator
That concludes the question-and-answer portion of our conference call. I will now turn the call back over to Mike Roman for some closing comments.
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
To wrap up, we had a strong performance in the second quarter led by broad-based organic growth, expanded margins, and a double-digit increase in our earnings per share. We executing our playbook and are positioned to deliver a successful 2018. Thank you again for joining us this morning and have a good day.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines.
Duration: 66 minutes
Michael F. Roman--Chief Executive Officer
Nicholas C. Gangestad --Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Bruce Jermeland--Director, Investor Relations
Scott Davis--Melius Research--Analyst
Andrew Obin--Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Julian Mitchell--Barclays -- Analyst
Andrew Kaplowitz--Citigroup-- Analyst
Deane Dray--RBC Capital Markets-- Analyst
Laurence Alexander--Jefferies -- Analyst
Nigel Coe--Wolfe Research -- Analyst
Jeffrey Sprague--Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst
Steven Winoker--UBS--Analyst
Stephen Tusa--J.P. Morgan--Analyst
Joshua Aguilar--Morningstar -- Analyst
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Motley Fool Transcriptionhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends 3M. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 3M Company (MMM) Q2 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript: Logo of jester cap with thought bubble with words 'Fool Transcripts' below it Image source: The Motley Fool. 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) Q2 2018 Earnings Conference Call July 24, 2018, 9:00 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the 3M second quarter earnings conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone keypad. It is recommended that you use a landline phone if you're going to register for a question. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Tuesday, July 24th, 2018. I would now like to turn the call over to Bruce Jermeland, Director of Investor Relations at 3M. Bruce Jermeland -- Director of Investor Relations Thank you and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter 2018 business review. On the call today are Inge Thulin, 3M's Executive Chairman; Mike Roman, our Chief Executive Officer; and Nick Gangestad, our Chief Financial Officer. Inge, Mike, and Nick will make some formal comments and then we'll take your questions. Please note that today's earnings release and slide presentation accompanying this call are posted on our investor relations website at 3M.com under the heading "Quarterly Earnings." More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Before we begin, let me remind you of the dates for our upcoming investor events in 2018, found on Slide 2. Please mark our calendars for our Q3 earnings call on October 23rd. Also, our next investor day, which will be held at our headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a welcome reception the evening of Wednesday, November 14th, and a formal presentation program on Thursday, November 15th. More details will be available as we get closer to the event. Story continues Please take a moment to read the forward-looking statement on Slide 3. During today's conference call, we will make certain predictive statements that reflect our current views about 3M's future performance and financial results. These statements are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Item 1A of our most recent form 10-K lists some of the most important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from our predictions. Please note that throughout today's presentation, we'll be making references to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures can be found in the appendices of today's presentation and press release. Please turn to Slide 4 and I'll hand off to Inge. Inge? Inge G. Thulin -- Executive Chairman of the Board Thank you, Bruce. Good morning, everyone. As you all are aware, Q2 was my last quarter as the CEO and I have now moved on to my new role at Executive Chairman of the 3M Board. Mike Roman is our new CEO and I am pleased with the orderly transition between me and Mike, which we have worked on for the last year. In a moment, I'll turn the call over to Mike and our CFO, Nick Gangestad, and you will se that once again, we had a very strong quarter with robust, organic growth, margin expansion, EPS growth, and good cash flow. But before doing that, I would like to make a few comments. First, I would like to recognize all of you who have covered, analyzed, and invested in 3M. I have enjoyed our many interactions and I have always appreciated your input, along with your integrity and professionalism. I would also like to take all of our 91,000 3Mers around the world for your contributions and support. Working together, I'm pleased at what we have accomplished over the last 6 years. We've enhanced and focused our portfolio and as a result, today we are far more relevant to our customers and the marketplace. We have strengthened our innovation engine and improved our cost structure and begun to transform 3M for the future. We have reached for our vision of advancing every company, enhancing every home, and improving every life. All of this is reflected in our financial results and in the premium value we have created for our customers and premium returns for our shareholders. At the same time, I'm equally confident in our future. The Board of Directors and I have no doubt that Mike is the right person to lead our company as CEO and continuing building strengths on strengths. As I look across our enterprise, it is clear that we have the leadership, market position and capabilities to continue to build on the fundamental strength of 3M. With that, I will turn the call over to Mike for a summary of our second quarter. Mike. Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Inge. Good morning, everyone. Let me begin by saying that I am honored to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of this incredible enterprise and lead our team into the future. I would like to express my gratitude to Inge for his vision, leadership, and ongoing partnership in his new role as Executive Chairman. Over the last 6 years, we've made great progress in building out the 3M playbook, which has created a tremendous foundation for us. Moving ahead, we are focused on continuing our momentum, generating extraordinary value for our customers, and premium returns for our shareholders. Now, let's review our second quarter results, starting on Slide 5. We had a strong quarter, highlighted by broad-based organic growth and a double-digit increase in earnings per share, along with record sales and rising margins. Looking at the numbers, total sales were $8.4 billion, an all-time high for 3M. We delivered strong, organic growth of 6%, with positive growth across all business groups and all geographic areas. Please note that we have an upcoming ERP rollout in the United States. In anticipation of that deployment, some of our customers decided to accelerate their purchases. We estimate that this added approximately 50 to 100 basis points of growth in the second quarter. All of it in the U.S. results. Moving on to earnings, we posted GAAP earnings of $3.07 per share, up 19% year-on-year. Adjusted earnings were $2.59 per share compared to $2.25 a year ago. This demonstrates that our teams around the world continue to execute well. Underlying margins were strong at 24%, with all business groups above 21%. Beyond financial results, we are committed to building 3M for the long run, while returning cash to our shareholders. In the second quarter, we invested $468 million in research and development and another $365 million in capex. We also returned $2.4 billion to shareholders, including both dividends and share repurchases. Please turn to Slide 6. There is a lot to like this quarter across our entire portfolio. Our industrial team posted good organic growth of 6%, a nice pick-up from the first quarter. Growth was broad-based, with particular strength in our filtration platform, where we are leveraging our Membrana acquisition to accelerate penetration in biopharma and life sciences. Safety and Graphics delivered another outstanding quarter of 9% organic growth, along with robust margins. For the fourth consecutive quarter, our Personal Safety business grew double digits, as we continue to build and extend our industry leading portfolio in this market. In Healthcare, we continued to expand worldwide with organic growth of 4%, led by our Medical Solutions business with mid single-digit growth. Healthcare also posted double-digit growth in developing markets, as investments in those areas are paying off. This is a great business for 3M and we will continue to invest to strengthen it for the future. Organic growth in Electronics and Energy was 5%, on top of 10% growth in last year's second quarter. Within this business group, we have done a lot of portfolio work over the last several years to improve our relevance to customers in the marketplace. This has led to improved growth and a sustained improvement in margins. Last month, we continued to build on this portfolio work with the sale of our Communication Markets business. After a thorough review, we decided that selling this business would result in the greatest value creation for 3M and our shareholders. This is a good example of how we are actively managing our portfolio to best utilize the 3M model. Going forward, we will continue to prioritize high-growth opportunities in Electronics and Energy, such as automotive electrification, data centers, and semi-conductor fabrication. Finally, organic growth in Consumer was 4%, which included good performances across our leading brands. We saw continued strength in Home Improvement, along with a strong start to the back-to-school season. In summary, I'm pleased with our performance in the second quarter and I thank our teams for their many contributions. Our playbook is working and we are just getting started. We are well positioned to grow into an even stronger and more successful company. Looking ahead, we'll continue to optimize our portfolio, strengthen our innovation, and accelerate our transformation, while developing our people. Nick will now take you through the details of the quarter. Nick. Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thank you, Mike. Good morning, everyone. Please turn to Slide 7. Sales grew 5.6% organically in the second quarter. Increases in selling prices contributed 110 basis points to sales growth in the quarter, and were positive across all geographic areas. The net impact of acquisitions and divestitures contributed 80 basis points to sales growth in the quarter. Foreign currency translation increased sales by 1 percentage point. All in, second quarter sales in U.S. dollars increased 7.4% versus last year. In the U.S., organic growth was 5.6%, led by Electronics and Energy, Safety and Graphics, and Consumer. EMEA increased 5.8% in Q2, driven by strong growth in West Europe, that was led by Electronics and Energy, Industrial, and Safety and Graphics. Asia Pacific delivered 5.5% organic growth, led by Healthcare and Safety and Graphics. Organic growth was 12% in both China/Hong Kong and India, while Japan was down 2%. Finally, Q2 organic growth in Latin America/Canada was 6%, led by Healthcare and Safety and Graphics. At a country level, Canada was up high single digits, while Mexico and Brazil both delivered mid single-digit organic growth. Please turn to Slide 8 for the second quarter P&L highlights. Companywide, second quarter sales were $8.4 billion. Operating income in the second quarter was $2.4 billion, which included a $400 million benefit from the Communication Markets divestiture gain net of related actions. Second quarter underlying operating margins were 24%, excluding the net benefit from the Communication Markets divestiture. Let's take a closer look at the components of our margin performance in the second quarter. Leverage on organic growth improved productivity and lower year-on-year portfolio and footprint actions contributed a combined 290 basis points to margins. Selling price benefits more than offset raw material inflation, adding 30 basis points to operating margins. Foreign currency net of hedging impacts, reduced margins by 20 basis points. Lastly, during the second quarter, we settled several respiratory and oral care-related lawsuits, which decreased margins by 70 basis points. Let's now turn to Slide 9 for a closer look at earnings per share. Second quarter GAAP earnings were $3.07 per share, up 19% year-over-year. Underlying earnings were $2.59 per share when adjusting for the Communication Markets divestiture gains, net of related actions. Let me now discuss the primary drivers of the year-on-year increase in Q2 earnings per share. The benefits of organic growth, productivity, and lower year-on-year portfolio and footprint actions added a combined $0.47 to per-share earnings in the quarter. The previously mentioned legal settlements reduced Q2 earnings by $0.07 per share. Higher year-on-year net interest expense and retirement benefit expense decreased earnings by $0.06 per share. Our underlying Q2 tax rate was 19.8%, which increased earnings by $0.16 per share. The lower tax rate was driven primarily by U.S. tax reform and the continued benefits from our supply chain centers of expertise. Lastly, lower shares outstanding added $0.04 to per-share earnings. Please turn to Slide 10 for a look at our cash flow performance. Second quarter free cash flow was $1.5 billion, up 14.5% year-on-year. Free cash flow conversion was 83% in the quarter. This includes a 16 percentage point headwind from the divestiture gain of the Communication Markets business and related actions. Second quarter capital expenditures were $365 million, up $63 million year-on-year. For the full year, we continue to anticipate capex investments in the range of to $1.5 to $1.8 billion. During the quarter, we paid $802 million in cash dividends to shareholders and returned $1.6 billion to shareholders through gross share repurchases. Through the first half of the year, we repurchased $2.5 billion of stock and now expect full-year repurchases to be in the range of $4 to $5 billion versus $3 to $5 billion previously. Let's now review our business group performance starting with Industrial on Slide 11. The Industrial business group delivered second quarter sales of $3.1 billion, up 5.7% organically. Industrial's growth was broad-based across all geographic areas and businesses. Our Advanced Materials, Abrasives, and Separation and Purification businesses led the way with high single-digit growth in the quarter. Looking at the rest of the Industrial portfolio, our industrial adhesives and tapes, auto and aerospace, and automotive after-market businesses all delivered mid single-digit growth in the quarter. On a geographic basis, Industrial's organic growth was led by a 7% increase in EMEA, followed by mid single-digit growth in each of the other areas. Industrial delivered second quarter operating income of $724 million. Operating margins were 23%, with underlying margins up 180 basis points, excluding the impact of last year's second quarter portfolio and footprint actions. Please turn to Slide 12. Second quarter Safety and Graphics sales were $1.8 billion, up 8.5% organically, with strong growth across all businesses and geographies. As Mike mentioned, our Personal Safety business continued to post excellent growth, up double digits in the quarter. The integration of our Scott Safety business is performing well and we are pleased with the performance of the business. Commercial Solutions was up high single digits, while the Transportation Safety and Roofing Granules businesses were both up mid single digits. Geographically, organic growth was led by 10% growth in EMEA, with high single-digit increases in both the U.S. and Asia Pacific. Latin America/Canada grew 6% organically in the quarter. Operating income was $480 million with operating margins of 26.4%. Please turn to Slide 13. Our Healthcare business generated second quarter sales of $1.5 billion, up 3.8% organically. Our Medical Solutions business, which is our largest segment in Healthcare, grew mid single digits in Q2. Oral care was up 3%, with continued good growth internationally, particularly in developing markets. Food Safety grew high single digits while Health Information Systems grew mid single digits. Finally, our project-based drug delivery business declined low single digits year-over-year. On a geographic basis, Asia Pacific and Latin America/Canada led the way, both up high single digits. EMEA grew 5%, followed by 1% in the U.S. We saw continued strength in developing markets up double digits led by China/Hong Kong growing in the high teens. Healthcare's second quarter operating income increased 7% to $435 million. And underlying operating margins were just over 30%, adjusting for the impacts of a legal settlement and the commercialization investments for our new Clarity aligners. Next, let's cover Electronics and Energy on Slide 14. Electronics and Energy organic sales growth was 5.2% in the second quarter. Sales were $1.3 billion. The electronics side of the business grew 4% organically, led by mid-single-digit growth in electronics material solutions. Our Energy-related businesses were up 9% organically, led by electrical markets up double digits. As mentioned, we closed on the sale of substantially all of the Communication Markets business in the quarter and expect to close the remaining portion by the end of the year. On a geographic basis, the U.S. led with high single-digit organic growth followed by mid single-digit growth in both EMEA and Asia Pacific. Latin America/Canada was up low single digits. Second quarter operating income for Electronics and Energy was $865 million, with underlying operating margins of nearly 28%. Please turn to Slide 15. Second quarter sales in Consumer were $1.2 billion and organic growth was 4.3% year-on-year. Our Home Improvement business grew double digits organically, continuing its track record of strong performance. Our leading brands continue to win in the marketplace, particularly Command and Filtrete, both up double digits. The Home Care business and Stationery and Office Supply business each delivered low single-digit growth in the quarter, while Consumer Healthcare declined. Looking at Consumer geographically, growth was led by a 7% increase in the U.S., followed by mid single-digit growth in Latin America/Canada. In the second quarter, we continued to see strong consumer demand for our products in the U.S., particularly in the e-commerce channel. Finally, operating income was $261 million, with operating margins of 21.4%. That wraps up our review of the second quarter results. Please turn to Slide 16 and I'll cover our updated 2018 guidance. Our full-year organic growth expectations remain unchanged, in the range of 3% to 4%. With respect to earnings, we now expect full-year adjusted EPS to be in the range of $10.20 to $10.45, versus a prior range of $10.20 to $10.55. The update to the range reflects the impact of the divested income associated with the Communication Markets business. Finally, please note that we now expect that foreign currency translation will add approximately 1% to full-year sales growth, versus a prior expectation of 2%. With that, we thank you for your attention and we'll now take your questions. Questions and Answers: Operator Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to register a question using a landline phone, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone keypad. You will hear a 3-tone prompt to acknowledge your request. If your question has been answered and you would like to withdraw your registration, please press the 1 followed by the 3. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift your handset before entering your request. Please limit your participation to one question and one follow-up. One moment please, while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Scott Davis of Melius Research. Please proceed with your question. Scott Davis -- Melius Research -- Analyst Good morning, guys. Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Good morning, Scott. Scott Davis -- Melius Research -- Analyst Inge, you will be missed. You did a fantastic job, as you know. Mike, big shoes to fill, but I'm sure you'll do great as well. Inge G. Thulin -- Executive Chairman of the Board Thank you, Scott. Scott Davis -- Melius Research -- Analyst You're quite welcome. Guys, one thing that caught my eye just in the prepared remarks was your ERP rollout comments. Can you tell us, is that in every segment? How big of a deal is this? What's your confidence level that the pull-forward was just 50 to 100 and not something greater than that. Is it possible to have that kind of precision? Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Scott, we've been working on deploying our business transformation, our ERP rollout globally, for a number of years. We have largely completed our deployment in Europe, West Europe, in particular. Now, as we came in 2018, we are focused on the U.S. It is a very well laid-out plan of deployments by region, by business, by supply chain operations. So, we are, over the next 18 months now, deploying in the U.S. with a very specific deployment by business. We did deploy our Healthcare business at the end of last year, so we have experience with that business in the deployment already complete. And now we're deploying the rest of the businesses in the U.S. as we go through the next 18 months. So, we have a pretty clear view on which customers are impacted with the deployment at which periods of time and so we have very good, I think, a pretty clear view of how much of the accelerated sales are in line with the deployment now that's taking place in the U.S. Scott Davis -- Melius Research -- Analyst Okay, fair enough. Then as a follow-up, we've seen some pretty big moves in EM currency over the last quarter. What's the playbook? Do you have to go in there and raise prices? Do you realign some supply chains? What's the playbook to manage that volatility? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Scott, the playbook there really isn't really changing. We seek to have natural hedges against currency risk and how we set up the supply chain. And then we layer on top of that some financial hedges. Those financial hedges don't ultimately change the underlying financials over a longer period of time, but we have hedges that we enter into going out 1, 2, 3 years to buy time for us to adjust our cost structure, our supply chain, in order to end up with a competitive supply chain in a revised FX environment. So, in the short term, what we often do, especially in emerging markets, we will adjust prices to partially offset the FX impact. Then we will adjust our supply chain, adjusting where we're manufacturing based on FX movements. That tends to take a little longer time though, Scott. Not in a short term, but we often have to change and requalify sources of supply to make that happen. For the year, Scott, I will say we started the year guiding that FX with rates as they stood at the end of the year. We thought that they would positively impact our earnings by about $0.10. Through the first months of the year, the dollar weakened more and that pushed our EPS benefit that we were expecting slightly above that $0.10. In the last few months, we've seen the dollar strengthen. We now see ourselves slightly below that $0.10. Through the first half of the year, we have seen a $0.06 EPS benefit from FX. If we see meaningful changes to that $0.10 we originally guided, we'll provide updates on that accordingly. Scott Davis -- Melius Research -- Analyst Fair enough, OK. Good luck, guys. Thank you. Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Scott. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Obin of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please proceed with your question. Andrew Obin -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Good morning. Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Good morning, Andrew. Andrew Obin -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Inge, congratulations. Thanks, Mike. Look forward to working with you on the team. Inge G. Thulin -- Executive Chairman of the Board Thank you. Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Same here, Andrew. Andrew Obin -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Just a question on guidance, if I look at income before taxes, as you guys have on Slide 22, basically I think prior outlook was $7.7 billion to $8.2 billion. Now it's $7.8 billion to $7.9 billion. I think the press release indicates that most of it is just adjusting for missing revenue and earnings from the divestiture, but the composition sort of doesn't make sense. Can you tell us what the big moving pieces are as we move from $7.7 to $8.2 billion range to $7.8 to $7.9 billion? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Andrew, there's a few moving pieces there. First of all, as you noted, now that we have divested of our Communication Markets division, there's some income that would've been generating in the last 7 months of the year that will no longer be generating. That's what's encompassed in our adjustment to our EPS guidance for the year. In particular, what you're talking about there, there's also an impact from net interest expense. So, in terms of our earnings bridge that we laid out at the beginning of the year, there's a couple moving parts in addition to this Communication Markets adjusted that we announced today. First is we are buying back more shares. We originally guided that would be $0.10 to $0.15 of benefit. We now see ourselves at the high end of that range. So, that's on the positive. We also are borrowing more money, so our net interest expense is going up. We started the year guiding that net interest expense would be a benefit to our EPS of $0.05 to $0.10. We now think that will be approximately flat for the year. Andrew Obin -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Okay, gotcha. So, these are the three moving pieces. Then just a question going back to the ERP question, I assume your guidance sort of incorporated, did you guys anticipate this pre-buy in the second quarter? And the second, how do you guys think about sort of managing disruptions from ERP implementations in North America because Western Europe, and I do appreciate that Western Europe was a much more significant undertaking in terms of shutting down facilities, moving stuff around, but you did have negative top line comps there for a while. So, going to the second half, as you have to manage ERP disruptions in North America, what gives you confidence that there will not be hits to organic growth? How are you going to manage it? Sorry for the lengthy question. Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer I would maybe start with, as we've talked a lot about with our business transformation, it really starts and ends with the customer for us. In our deployments, that's where we start. We focus on how to do the best of our customers. Minimize impact and provide benefits with where we're going with business transformation. I would say, as we deployed in Europe, that was true. You are asking the customers to significantly change how they interact with us, but on the other side of that change process is a lot of benefit for how we work together. So, I think we saw that in Europe. We had the deployment and some of the same things we're seeing now in the U.S., where we had some accelerated purchases. I don't think I would characterize it the way you did, that we saw growth impacted by that business transformation. That was other dynamics in the marketplace and even some of the things that we're doing around portfolio and maybe, to a degree, maybe some of the things we're doing about some of the strategic investments there. But the layout with the focus on customers and how we manage that, that's part of what we're doing in the U.S. now. We're engaging them day in and day out, communicating with them early about how this is progressing. Working with them very closely about managing through any disruption as we scale down the legacy systems and scale up the new ERP and surrounding capabilities. So, that process, we are managing supply all the way through the calendar of those steps. This accelerated buy -- we expected some accelerated buy. We were working with our customers as we got closer, how much interruption would they see? How much accelerated buy makes sense? It's really up to them, ultimately. They're making the decision on what they buy based on the information we're communicating with them. I would say it's in line with what we've seen as we've deployed through West Europe and I think it's projecting that we're doing a good job with deployments. They're on track and progressing well. Andrew Obin -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst So to your perspective, there is a high degree of visibility on organic growth in second half? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Yes. Related to the ERP deployment? Absolutely. Andrew Obin -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Thank you. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Kaplowitz of Citi. Please proceed with your question. Andrew Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst Good morning, guys. Inge, congrats. Good luck again. Inge G. Thulin -- Executive Chairman of the Board Thank you. Andrew Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst So, there's obviously been a little more noise here with the ERP rollout, but can you give us a little more color in how we should think about our organic sales growth guidance by segment? If we look at your annual guidance, and you guys talk about Healthcare, you know, it's 4% to 6%. Maybe you're trending a little below there, but Safety and Graphics is trending way above. So, is there a bit of a trade-off there and then are the other segments generally in line for the year? Is that how we should think about it? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Andy, thanks for the question. Just a few things. As far as the impact of this ERP Go Live impact and the way it's impacting different segments in the U.S., we see these impacts primarily in our Industrial, Safety and Graphics, and Electronics and Energy business groups. It's not really having a material impact on Consumer and really no impact on our Healthcare business. So, in terms of how you think about that impact in the second quarter and third quarter and fourth quarter, it's really those three businesses that were impacted. In terms of our guidance for the year, we continue to see Industrial globally. We had originally guided 3% to 5%. We see that most likely in the bottom half of that range. That aligns with the updated total company guidance that we provided in April. We do see Healthcare probably closer to the 4% growth for the total year. And Safety and Graphics, which we'd originally guided at 4% to 6%, we see that at the high end or possibly higher than the high end of our original guidance. The others are Consumer and Electronics and Energy. We see those solidly in the ranges that we first put out. Andrew Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst Nick, that's helpful. Maybe I could ask you about pricing. Obviously, very strong pricing in the quarter. When you look at price versus raws, it actually accelerated or was better in Q2 than Q1. We know you said it was going to be an elevated year for pricing, but is there any particular end markets where pricing is particularly strong and then do you think the headwind on price versus raw material costs could be less than the $0.05 to $0.10 for the year that you updated us on last quarter? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Yeah, the $0.05 to $0.10, Andy, just to be clear. That's just the raw material headwind that we updated that. As far as price growth, it's actually, Andy, quite broad. I won't point out one business or one geography as driving these results. It's really quite broad and deep where the price growth is. In terms of impact on margin, I think I said earlier that we continue to see that as being positive for the year. And halfway through the year, we continue to see that, highly confident that our price increases will more than offset whatever we see for raw materials headwinds for the year. Andrew Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst Thanks, Nick. Appreciate it. Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Thanks. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Julian Mitchell of Barclays. Please proceed with your question. Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst Hi, good morning. I'll echo the comments on thanks to Inge and welcome to Mike. In terms of I guess maybe a first question on a couple of the end markets, any update of sorts on the automotive outlook in your Industrial business? Also, within Electronics and Energy, there had been this bifurcation earlier in the year where device sell-through was soft but the sort of capex or electronics materials business was very strong. Just wondered how you've seen that playing out more recently. I know you worried about the capex portion or EMS decelerating, given what's happening with device sell-through. Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Julian. Starting with the automotive, we continued, at year-to-date through the first half, we continue to see strong growth relative to the build rates globally. Remember, we're managing a global automotive business focused around key account relationships with the OEMs globally. We're seeing continued good performance on spec ends and penetration into the marketplace. So, good growth year-to-date relative to the build rates. Some improvement in the build rates in the second quarter. Still looking at IHS projections up over 4%, slightly over 4% second quarter. Again, total year still in line with that 2.2% kind of number. Always watching quarter-to-quarter the ups and downs there. But performing well and when you bring together our automotive electrification capabilities and what we're doing in our technology and the applications around that, we continue to see a very robust outlook for outgrowing the build rates. If you turn to Electronics and Energy, we continue to see I would say strong growth in what we've been talking about as high-growth electronic segments, around automotive electrification, around data centers, semi-conductor fabrication. That continues to move forward. Semi-conductor fabrication, behind maybe part of question there with where capex is being spent, still seeing significant growth opportunities for us. The rest of the Electronics, I would say Electronics in general is playing out in line with the way we laid it out at the beginning of the year. That was more, I would say, modest growth in the Consumer Electronics part of our portfolio and stronger growth in those higher growth segments. There's some, I would say, some shifts here or there in the quarter, but pretty much as we expected in our Electronics and Energy business, pretty much right down the middle of the range that we had laid out at the beginning of the year as well. Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst Thanks. Then my second question would just be around if you look back to your EPS roadmap from Slide 8, way back at the December outlook meeting from Nick's presentation, I think you've given a very thorough update on sort of two of the main chunks in that. But maybe any color on the productivity piece? How that's trending in terms of footprint optimization, business transformation, and the manufacturing productivity in terms of I guess what are the saving, how are the savings from those various programs tracking in the first half versus what you expected and any gyrations in the sales line causing you to accelerate some of the productivity plans? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Julian, in terms of the 2018 roadmap that I provided last December and then we updated it in January after Tax Reform, the other components are staying where we expected. But let me give a little color on it. Even organic growth with the roll-down that we had in our total year organic growth expectation for the year, we see more of our growth coming from price, which is accretive to EPS. So, our organic growth impact on earnings remain unchanged. Footprint optimization, much of that, Julian, was just not repeating the charges that we took in 2017. There was some incremental and some charges and some benefit. Those largely washed in 2018. We are expecting the majority of that true benefit to be coming in 2019 and 2020. So, that is progressing exactly as we expected. Raw materials, as I noted, we adjusted that down from that original guidance. Business transformation and productivity, both of those are tracking to the ranges that we put in. They're performing exactly as we expected. Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst Great. Thank you. Operator Our next question comes from the line of Deane Dray with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question. Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Inge, wish you all the best and congrats again to Mike. Inge G. Thulin -- Executive Chairman of the Board Thanks, Deane. Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst I'd like to follow up on some of the business line specific questions that Julian started there. Mike, can you address how auto after-market did in the quarter versus some of the fall-off we saw in the first quarter? Then, in oral care, we saw the total growth. How did the U.S. market do specifically as the distribution channel calmed down? And maybe talk a bit more about this launch. It looks like Clarity will compete directly with Invisalign. What are the competitive dynamics there? Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Sounds good to me. Starting with the industrial automotive after-market kind of question. Industrial, we saw broad-based growth across all geographic areas, all businesses. We highlighted some of the leading growth there. We saw mid single-digit growth in our automotive after-market business in Q2. Coming out of Q1, we were really looking hard at the market. We saw end demand soften as we came out of Q1, but the total year was projecting nominal growth for that marketplace that we expected to improve as we move through the year. We saw that start in Q2. We saw the demand pick up. We saw our opportunity in the marketplace pick up across developed economies, in particular and the U.S. leading that. So, we saw the kind of improvement we expected with automotive after-market and we're projecting the total year in line with what we started at the beginning. Turning to oral care, oral care is an important business for us. We're recognized as a leader in a number of positions, leveraging our material science. We continue to innovate and look to invest and grow this business as we move ahead. It really does leverage our strengths. If you look at the overall growth in second quarter, 3% for worldwide growth, down slightly in the U.S., improving over Q1 and, again, what we're expecting is to see is some improvement globally, and led again by developing markets, but improving as we go through the year. Still some room to go in improvement in the U.S. as we move ahead. We did announce and introduce our Clarity aligners at the American Association of Orthodontists show in May. We believe that this now positions us to have the broadest set of solutions across orthodontic platforms. We're actively onboarding orthodontists right now. It's really a play for us to help have a broad-based suite of solutions for the orthodontists in the global market. We're so far getting good and very positive feedback. Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst Got it. Just as a follow-up on tariffs, maybe Nick can clarify the point that you expect to be positive in price cost? Does that include the tariffs that have been announced and enacted? What's the look forward on potential risk as this may get escalated? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Deane, the guidance that I said is inclusive of tariffs that have been enacted. When we're talking tariffs, there's a number of tariffs. First, the steel and aluminum under the National Security Act. That impact, as well as the Section 301, List 1, those two that have already been enacted, we see having a fairly immaterial impact on us. We estimate that to be approximately $10 million or $0.01 a share on an annualized basis. The direct and indirect impact of those tariffs. We are actively monitoring and assessing the potential impact from Section 301, List 2 and 3, if those were implemented, and any potential retaliation that could with those. We're prepared to act with sourcing changes, supply changes, and pricing changes if enacted. My initial statement stands that we think pricing will offset raw material impacts there and if tariffs expand, we continue to see that happening. We're not quantifying the impact of those latter two since they haven't been enacted yet, but we are prepared with actions to minimize the actions of that. Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst Thank you. Operator Our next question comes from the line of Laurence Alexander of Jefferies. Please proceed. Laurence Alexander -- Jefferies -- Analyst Good morning. Two quick ones. First on the price versus raws dynamic, if raw material pressures peak out, do you think you can maintain the same pace of price or is a certain amount of the price mix just the raw material offset? Secondly, on Asia, specifically in China, can you parse out a little bit the trends driving the pick-up in Chinese growth, the acceleration from Q1 to Q2? Is that just Consumer and Health or is there something else going on there? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Laurence, on the price raw materials, we are likely seeing that our commodity prices and the increases we're seeing there likely at a peak level. Our pricing projections, our selling price projections are consistent with that. That's part of our anticipation that in a more stable world going forward with commodities, we'll continue to have our selling price increases more than offset what we're estimating now for commodity price increases. We really don't see that changing. If the commodity prices start to change again, we will be prepared to act. Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Laurence, just taking a look at China. We had strong growth in second quarter. Electronics performed very well as we continue to, I would say, win business with the companies based there, including the China OEMs. We also saw strong growth in our domestic-facing businesses, kind of the domestic economy-facing businesses. We've had a strategy to prioritize growth here in line with what China is doing to develop their economy. As you noted, healthcare is a strong leader of that growth in the first half of the year. A big part of our Consumer business is performing very well. Safety & Graphics, also, really with a domestic-facing portfolio doing well. And even if you look at our Industrial business, we have platform businesses in our Industrial business group that are performing well too. That would be a good example. Our industrial adhesive and tapes business doing very well in China. SO, it's broader than Healthcare and Consumer, really centered around where the growth is occurring in the broader China market. Laurence Alexander -- Jefferies -- Analyst Thank you. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nigel Coe of Wolfe Research. Please proceed. Hello, Mr. Coe? Your line is open. Please proceed with your question. We will proceed with -- Nigel Coe -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst Sorry, hey, guys. Am I live? Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Yeah, you're live, Nigel. Nigel Coe -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst Sorry about that. Some technical issues here. Apologies if it's been addressed already, I was a little bit late joining the call, but the $0.15 probably [inaudible] associated with the gain on the Comms business, is that just split to the E&E Comms segments or is it broader? And maybe just some color in terms of what actions you're taking with the $0.15. Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Nigel, the actions we're taking are to address stranded costs that are left after the divestiture of our CMD business. So, they're addressing structural costs that this divestiture is leaving. We started those actions in Q2 and we expect to take more in the second half of the year to offset what could've been a negative impact if we had left those stranded costs in the company going forward. Nigel Coe -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst Okay. Would that be a relatively quick payback? A 12-month payback or a little bit longer? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer We expect that will be paying back for us next year. Some of those actions will trail into next year in terms of when the cost savings start to happen. But we'll be starting to see that benefit in 2019. Nigel, one other thing. I'm not sure if you were asking this earlier. This charge is almost entirely being taken at a corporate level and not in our Electronics and Energy business. Nigel Coe -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst Got it, OK. Then just a follow-on question on the guidance, the way the guidance is set up, first half versus second half. We're getting questions in terms of it's still somewhat back-ended loaded, particularly when we think about the FX is coming through the P&L and, of course, comms comes out first half or second half. What's best in the second half versus the first half to get us to the mid-point of the guidance range? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer For the second half of the year, we do expect that we'll be seeing more benefit from share repurchases than we saw in the first half. We do think productivity will be better in the second half than what we saw in the first half. Then, in terms of commodity prices from a year-on-year basis, we expect that'll be fairly neutral between the first half and the second half. Pricing will likely be better in the second half than in the first half. Nigel Coe -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst Pricing for sure. Okay. Thanks, Nick. Operator Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Sprague of Vertical Research. Please proceed with your question. Jeffrey Sprague -- Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Just a quick clean-up for me on Healthcare and then maybe a bigger picture question for Mike. Healthcare U.S. growth has been a little on the soft side year-to-date and in the quarter. Perhaps it's dental. But are we observing some hangover from pull-forward on sales there from ERP last year in the Healthcare business? Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Jeff, healthcare in the U.S., where you're seeing the impact, broadly we had strong growth. Our Medical Solutions business is leading the way there. Maybe just a note about that too. We've been talking about this as our medical consumables business in the past. But it really is focused on value-based care, and health economics. It's a much more integrated portfolio around that, so I'm going to be talking about it as Medical Solutions. So, leading the way, we saw good growth in the U.S., also in food safety and health information. Oral care was down slightly. The bigger drag in second quarter was our drug delivery business. Again, we've talked about project-based business. We saw a decline in Q2 from that business and that was the bigger impact. So, broader base, stronger growth as we move ahead. Jeffrey Sprague -- Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst Just, Mike, on the portfolio, obviously you've been working closely with Inge all along and I guess things will always be kind of under review, but with CMD out of the way here now, do you view the portfolio as relatively stable or there's more than you're working on internally and want to reevaluate? Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer If you look at where we are focused as we move ahead, the playbook is working. Our playbook is working. But there are opportunities in each of those three levers, including portfolio management. We are now an active portfolio manager. We do have a robust pipeline of how we look at our portfolio and we'll be working to best utilize the 3M model and optimize a portfolio around our model for value creation. So, we're going to continue being an active portfolio manager as we move ahead. It's about prioritizing resources. It's about targeting where we go with M&A. It's also about reviewing our businesses as we go. I see that as very much part of our future for value creation opportunity and it's a priority for me as I step into the role. Jeffrey Sprague -- Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst Thanks and best wishes to Inge. Inge G. Thulin -- Executive Chairman of the Board Thanks, Jeff. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steven Winoker of UBS. Please proceed with your question. Steven Winoker -- UBS -- Analyst I'll echo everybody's comments here. A lot of ground. I just want to dig a little more into that important price point, the 1.1% in the quarter. You mentioned it was quite broad. But you usually also talk about sort of setting our currency impacts and other impacts versus underlying business year-on-year relative to taking pricing on existing items and new products sometimes driving a big part of it. I'm just trying to get a sense for the kind of operating robustness of that number and the repeatability of it as we're looking through not only implied in the rest of the year, but later into next year, too. Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Steven, as I said, it's broad based. 100 basis points up in the U.S. EMEA was up 180 basis points. Latin America/Canada 210 basis points and APAC up 40 basis points. That 110 basis points is inclusive of our Electronics business, which is normally a price-down model. If we pull Electronics out, our underlying price growth was up 130 basis points. As far as geographies and what we see as potential there, we don't see that going down. Part of your question, Steve, was also on FX impact. Right now, we estimate there is only about 20 of that 110 or 130, depending on how you look at it, of price growth that was coming from FX. The vast majority of it is coming from core underlying price growth. It's really a reflection of the value we create for our customers. And, this is a new point I'm making here, it's partially being driven by improvements in our global price management that our business transformation initiative is enabling. The ability to have better governance and better control over that pricing, we are starting to see that benefit. That's part of what you're seeing change here. Steven Winoker -- UBS -- Analyst Okay, that's helpful. Mike, Jeff just referred to it on the divestiture side of the portfolio, change side. But as I'm looking at acquisitions, Scott Safety was a great strategic play for you guys. What do you see in terms of the pipeline right now? Should we be expecting anything in the bigger size range soon or are things on hold at all as you're going through the transition? What should the expectations be on the acquisition? Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Thanks, Steven. For me coming in, as always, organic growth remains our first priority. So, we're going to continue to prioritize investments in R&D, capex, and product commercialization. With that in mind though, in managing our portfolio, we're looking at M&A as an opportunity to create value. We're going to maintain the flexibility to pursue additional strategic acquisition opportunities like Scott Safety. We have been very clearly focused on strategies that leverage our fundamental strengths, unique value creators to 3M. Our ability to integrate successfully these acquisitions and to create market leadership positions like we've been doing in personal safety. So, we are active. Our top priorities as I look ahead are Healthcare and Industrial. Safety and Graphics continues to be a priority, although they are very much focused on integrating Scott Safety at this time. With that said, All five businesses are active. We have strong overall pipelines for us to work with. So, for me, it's about really moving ahead and identifying those opportunities that are clearly linked to those strategies where we can create differentiated value. Steven Winoker -- UBS -- Analyst Great. That's helpful. Thanks and good luck. Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Thanks. Operator Our next question comes from the line of Steve Tusa of JP Morgan. Please proceed with your question. Stephen Tusa -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Good morning. Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Good morning, Steve. Stephen Tusa -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Just a better understanding some of the moving parts here, back to Nigel's question on the kind of seasonality. You pulled forward a bit of sales here in the second quarter. You've got a pretty tough comp in the third quarter. Anything on that kind of comp that we should be aware of? Is it kind of like successful looks like first half, whereas first quarter was lower than second quarter kind of a 3% range? Is that kind of how we're thinking about the second half split between 3Q and 4Q on organic? Then also on EPS, you had a low tax rate. The tax rate kind of the low end of the range this quarter. Maybe that steps up a little bit in the third quarter? Will you grow earnings here sequentially in the third quarter? Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Steve, in terms of growth, let me give some guidance of how we're seeing growth between the third and fourth quarter. Mike talked earlier about the impact of our U.S. Go Live with our ERP system and the amount of the revenue. So, that impact, as we expect us to be giving back some of those sales in the second half of the year, we expect that to disproportionally impact the third quarter. As you noted, between the two quarters, Q3 in the tougher of the two comps between the third and the fourth quarter. That all in, we are looking at the third quarter being lower growth than the fourth quarter. Both of them aligned with our expectation of 3% to 4% for the total year. But I'm not going to be surprised if we have a lower number in third quarter given what we're seeing so far for the year and it's in line with our 3% to 4% guidance. Then in terms of EPS for each quarter, I try to avoid giving EPS guidance on a quarter-by-quarter basis, buy we continue to see ourselves very firmly delivering on an adjusted basis the $10.20 to the $10.45 for the total year. Stephen Tusa -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Okay, great. Thanks a lot. Operator Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Joshua Aguilar with Morningstar. Please proceed with your question. Joshua Aguilar -- Morningstar -- Analyst Hey, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. So, drug delivery kind of down, low single digits year-over-year. I think last quarter kind of was the same case off of tough comps. Obviously, this is more project-based business, as you guys said. I remember in your investor day in 2016, you were talking about some of the advantages from drug delivery, like analytics, patient compliance. More long-term, are you guys still optimistic about the future trends there generally with drug delivery and can you give us an update about what you're excited about? Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Josh, you're referring to some of the opportunities that we see for growth in that business. We still, we see opportunities to take that business to a positive growth business as we move ahead. It will continue to be a project-based business, so quarter-to-quarter it can be lumpy and up and down. But we do see opportunities. We have some unique capabilities and technology there that we can apply as we move ahead. Joshua Aguilar -- Morningstar -- Analyst Okay, great. Thanks. Operator That concludes the question-and-answer portion of our conference call. I will now turn the call back over to Mike Roman for some closing comments. Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer To wrap up, we had a strong performance in the second quarter led by broad-based organic growth, expanded margins, and a double-digit increase in our earnings per share. We executing our playbook and are positioned to deliver a successful 2018. Thank you again for joining us this morning and have a good day. Operator Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Duration: 66 minutes Call participants: Michael F. Roman -- Chief Executive Officer Nicholas C. Gangestad -- Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Bruce Jermeland -- Director, Investor Relations Scott Davis -- Melius Research -- Analyst Andrew Obin -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst Julian Mitchell -- Barclays -- Analyst Andrew Kaplowitz -- Citigroup -- Analyst Deane Dray -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst Laurence Alexander -- Jefferies -- Analyst Nigel Coe -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst Jeffrey Sprague -- Vertical Research Partners -- Analyst Steven Winoker -- UBS -- Analyst Stephen Tusa -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst Joshua Aguilar -- Morningstar -- Analyst More MMM analysis This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Motley Fool Transcription has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends 3M. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .
[Social Media Buzz]
Current price of Bitcoin is $8200.00. || $899.00 Brand New Antminer S9i 14.0TH/s Bitcoin Miner **Including APW7++ PSU** #Bitcoin #Mining #Cryptocurrency http://bit.ly/2JTB4Fv pic.twitter.com/U8RsDkoykb || Current price of Bitcoin is $8345.00 || 1H
2018/07/25 15:00 (2018/07/25 14:00)
LONG : 27574.57 BTC (+376.75 BTC)
SHORT : 20987 BTC (+74 BTC)
LS比 : 56% vs 43% (56% vs 43%) || بلغ حجم سوق العملات الرقمية 297.46 مليار دولار
هذا وقد وصل حجم التداولات مبلغ 17.82 مليار دولار
وقد إستحوذ بتكوين B...
|
7951.58, 8165.01, 8192.15, 8218.46, 8180.48, 7780.44, 7624.91, 7567.15, 7434.39, 7032.85
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 2464.58, 2518.56, 2655.88, 2548.29, 2589.60, 2721.79, 2689.10, 2705.41, 2744.91, 2608.72, 2589.41, 2478.45, 2552.45, 2574.79, 2539.32, 2480.84, 2434.55, 2506.47, 2564.06, 2601.64, 2601.99, 2608.56, 2518.66, 2571.34, 2518.44, 2372.56, 2337.79, 2398.84, 2357.90, 2233.34, 1998.86, 1929.82, 2228.41, 2318.88, 2273.43, 2817.60, 2667.76, 2810.12, 2730.40, 2754.86, 2576.48, 2529.45, 2671.78, 2809.01, 2726.45, 2757.18, 2875.34, 2718.26, 2710.67, 2804.73, 2895.89, 3252.91, 3213.94, 3378.94, 3419.94, 3342.47, 3381.28, 3650.62, 3884.71, 4073.26, 4325.13, 4181.93, 4376.63, 4331.69, 4160.62, 4193.70, 4087.66, 4001.74, 4100.52, 4151.52, 4334.68, 4371.60, 4352.40, 4382.88, 4382.66, 4579.02, 4565.30, 4703.39, 4892.01, 4578.77, 4582.96, 4236.31, 4376.53, 4597.12, 4599.88, 4228.75, 4226.06, 4122.94, 4161.27, 4130.81.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-09-12]
Volume: 1864530048, RSI (14-day): 47.31, 50-day EMA: 3898.59, 200-day EMA: 2623.88
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1328.00, Gold RSI: 63.34
Oil Price: 48.23, Oil RSI: 52.38
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
CREDIT SUISSE: GrubHub’s recent acquisition may take time to pay off: GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney (C) applauds after ringing the opening bell before the company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York April 4, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney applauds after ringing the opening bell before the company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock ExchangeThomson Reuters) Fresh on the heels of the company’s $287.5 million Eat24 acquisition , Credit Suisse analyst Paul Bieber has downgraded GrubHub, citing “uncertainty on acquisition accretion.” “We are lowering our rating as we believe shares reflect an optimistic scenario for accretion from recent acquisitions,” he wrote in a note published Monday morning. In short, Credit Suisse believes any growth from the Eat24 buyout will be slow, and could take a full year to materialize. Specifically, Credit Suisse points to four reasons GrubHub's growth from the Eat24 acquisition is likely to take a while: Eat24 integration costs. "We expect the integration of Eat24 to take 6-12 months upon closing the deal and anticipate technology expense synergies to be realized once the integration is complete (ie. late 2018 or 2019)," the bank wrote, noting that integrating Seamless and GrubHub onto a common platform in 2015 and 2016 ran into unexpected delays. Delivery mix shift. Online ordering still only accounts for a small percentage of what Americans spend at restaurants each year. The company's wide range for EBITDA guidance has Credit Suisse analysts looking at the pace of growth with caution. Potential investment in marketing to drive growth. "Investing in marketing to drive active diner growth in 2nd and 3rd tier cities is a big priority for Grubhub," writes the bank. "And it's possible that Grubhub will elect to invest acquisition accretion in marketing to drive faster gross food sales (GFS) growth in 2018." Management conservatism. The bank expects management to act conservatively in its annual guidance, which could have a chilling effect on the stock price. The bank’s new price target for GrubHub is $53 — just a few cents shy of Wall Street consensus, according to Bloomberg, and 6.2% below Monday’s closing price. Story continues Shares of GrubHub are up 52% so far this year. The company declined to immediately comment for this story. GrubHub stock price (Markets Insider) NOW WATCH: Bitcoin's bubble swells with a new record high More From Business Insider Irma is finally leaving Florida and now hammering Georgia — here's the latest Here are all the areas still in Hurricane Irma's path and when the storm could arrive A former US Navy SEAL tweeted his solution to the North Korean crisis — and it just might work || CREDIT SUISSE: GrubHub’s recent acquisition may take time to pay off: (GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney applauds after ringing the opening bell before the company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock ExchangeThomson Reuters)
Fresh on the heels of the company’s $287.5 millionEat24 acquisition, Credit Suisse analyst Paul Bieber has downgraded GrubHub, citing “uncertainty on acquisition accretion.”
“We are lowering our rating as we believe shares reflect an optimistic scenario for accretion from recent acquisitions,” he wrote in a note published Monday morning.
In short, Credit Suisse believes any growth from the Eat24 buyout will be slow, and could take a full year to materialize.
Specifically, Credit Suisse points to four reasons GrubHub's growth from the Eat24 acquisition is likely to take a while:
• Eat24 integration costs."We expect the integration of Eat24 to take 6-12 months upon closing the deal and anticipate technology expense synergies to be realized once the integration is complete (ie. late 2018 or 2019)," the bank wrote, noting that integrating Seamless and GrubHub onto a common platform in 2015 and 2016 ran into unexpected delays.
• Delivery mix shift.Online ordering still only accounts for a small percentage of what Americans spend at restaurants each year. The company's wide range for EBITDA guidance has Credit Suisse analysts looking at the pace of growth with caution.
• Potential investment in marketing to drive growth."Investing in marketing to drive active diner growth in 2nd and 3rd tier cities is a big priority for Grubhub," writes the bank. "And it's possible that Grubhub will elect to invest acquisition accretion in marketing to drive faster gross food sales (GFS) growth in 2018."
• Management conservatism.The bank expects management to act conservatively in its annual guidance, which could have a chilling effect on the stock price.
The bank’s new price target for GrubHub is $53 — just a few cents shy of Wall Street consensus, according to Bloomberg, and 6.2% below Monday’s closing price.
Shares of GrubHub are up 52% so far this year. The company declined to immediately comment for this story.
(Markets Insider)
NOW WATCH:Bitcoin's bubble swells with a new record high
More From Business Insider
• Irma is finally leaving Florida and now hammering Georgia — here's the latest
• Here are all the areas still in Hurricane Irma's path and when the storm could arrive
• A former US Navy SEAL tweeted his solution to the North Korean crisis — and it just might work || Gold And Bitcoin Surge On North Korea Fears (GOAU): If you’re familiar with ABC’s popular reality showShark Tank,you should already be familiar with the concept behind theSan Antonio Angel Network (SAAN).Select entrepreneurs and innovators pitch their startup ideas to accredited investors, who can choose to make early-stage investments in a potentially successful company.
I attended an SAAN meeting last week at Ferrari of San Antonio, and what struck me the most was how fluid and seamless the whole thing is. Other professionals in attendance, including lawyers and CPAs, had a similar opinion, with some of them saying it was because there wasn’t any bureaucracy or red tape to hamstring the presenters.
This is unlike the world of mutual funds, which I believe has become excessively regulated.
As I’ve said numerous times before, regulation is essential, just as referees are essential to a basketball game. No one disputes that, because otherwise there would be chaos.
Similarly, the new and very unregulated world of cryptocurrencies has grown dramatically, beyond bitcoin and ethereum. Did you know there are over 800 cryptocurrencies? These new initial coin offerings, called ICOs, are like initial public offerings (IPOs) but with little regulation or accountability. As I’ve commented before, if the refs get too powerful or too numerous, and the rules too complex, the game becomes nearly unplayable.
Cryptocurrencies Still Draw Investor Attention Following China Crackdown
Bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have had a meteoric year, with more than $2 billion raised in ICOs so far in 2017, according to Bloomberg. Approximately $155 billion in cryptocurrencies are in circulation around the world right now. Bitcoin by itself is at $78 billion, which is close to the $90 billion invested in all gold ETFs.
Like gold, cryptos are favored by those who have a deep distrust of fiat currency, or paper money. Money, after all, is built on trust, and the blockchain technology that bitcoin is built on top of automates trust through an electronic ledger that cannot be altered. Every transaction is anonymous and peer-to-peer. The system is entirely decentralized and democratic. No monetary authority can see who owns what and where money is flowing.
This, of course, is a huge reason why some world governments want to crack down on the Wild West of virtual currencies, especially with bitcoin surging close to $5,000 this month.
China did just that last week, putting a halt to new ICOs and crypto transactions. In response, ethereum tumbled as much as 15.8 percent last Monday, or $55 a unit. Bitcoin lost $394 a unit.
China’s decision comes a little more than a month afterthe SEC said cryptocurrencies are securitiesand therefore should probably be regulated as such. At this point, though, the implications are unclear.
What’s clear to me–after seeing firsthand how easily and quickly transactions are made–is that there’s no going back. It’s possible cryptocurrencies will one day be regulated. But I’m confident bitcoin, ethereum and some other virtual currencies offer enough value to weather such a potential roadblock.
I also believe there has to be a happy medium between the excessively regulated fund industry and the potential chaos of the cryptocurrency. This is what I witnessed at the SAAN event I mentioned, which allowed the professionals in attendance to gain information, ask questions and make informed decisions.
Gold Trading Above $1,350 an Ounce
Speaking on cryptocurrencies last week, Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said gold could be a beneficiary of China’s decision to clamp down on ICOs. As more governments and central banks turn their attention to virtual currencies, investors could move back into the yellow metal as a store of value.
That’s a possibility, but I think gold’s price action right now is being driven by negative real Treasury yields and fears over a potential conflict with North Korea. Adjusted for inflation, the two-year and five-year Treasuries are both currently yielding negative amounts, and the 10-year continues to fall closer to 0 percent.
As I’ve explained numerous times before, gold and real interest rates share an inverse relationship. It makes little sense to invest in an asset that’s guaranteed to cost you money–which is the case with the two-year and five-year government bond right now. Investors seeking a “safe haven” might therefore add to their weighting in gold, especially with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un raising tensions.
The yellow metal closed above $1,350 an ounce, more than a one-year high.
Despite Efforts to Control Spending, National Debt Expected to Continue Growing: CBO
Similarly driving the gold Fear Trade are concerns over the national debt. Last week President Donald Trump sided with Congressional Democrats in raising the federal borrowing limit to allow Hurricane Harvey recovery aid to pass. An initial package of $7.85 billion for Harvey victims was agreed upon, but with total costsexpected to be as high as $190 billion–more than the combined costs of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy–and with Hurricane Irma yet to make landfall in Florida, the federal aid amount could eventually run even higher.
Trump partially ran on reigning in government spending, which I and many others would like to see. Even so, this might not be enough to control our runaway debt. According to an August report by theCongressional Budget Office (CBO),debt will likely continue to grow as spending for large federal benefit programs–Social Security, Medicare and the like–outpaces revenue. Interest payments on the debt will only continue to accelerate as well.
Below is a chart showing national debt as a percentage of GDP going back to the founding of the U.S. Although we’ve seen periodic spikes in response to national crises, the debt could soar to unprecedented levels within the next 10 years.
Financial writer Alex Green, the Oxford Club’s chief strategist, told me during my recent interview with him that he thought out-of-control spendingposed a greater threat to our countrythan even North Korea.
I tend to agree with him, and that’s why I believe that investors should have a 10 percent allocation in gold, with 5 percent in bullion and 5 percent in gold stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.
I urge you to watch this brief video on investing opportunities in gold miners!
Watch the video!
All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor. By clicking the link(s) above, you will be directed to a third-party website(s). U.S. Global Investors does not endorse all information supplied by this/these website(s) and is not responsible for its/their content.
Gold, precious metals, and precious minerals funds may be susceptible to adverse economic, political or regulatory developments due to concentrating in a single theme. The prices of gold, precious metals, and precious minerals are subject to substantial price fluctuations over short periods of time and may be affected by unpredicted international monetary and political policies. We suggest investing no more than 5% to 10% of your portfolio in these sectors.
Holdings may change daily. Holdings are reported as of the most recent quarter-end. None of the securities mentioned in the article were held by any accounts managed by U.S. Global Investors as of 6/30/2017.
U.S. Global Investors, Inc. is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). This does not mean that we are sponsored, recommended, or approved by the SEC, or that our abilities or qualifications in any respect have been passed upon by the SEC or any officer of the SEC.
This commentary should not be considered a solicitation or offering of any investment product.
Certain materials in this commentary may contain dated information. The information provided was current at the time of publication.
If you’re familiar with ABC’s popular reality showShark Tank,you should already be familiar with the concept behind theSan Antonio Angel Network (SAAN).Select entrepreneurs and innovators pitch their startup ideas to accredited investors, who can choose to make early-stage investments in a potentially successful company.
I attended an SAAN meeting last week at Ferrari of San Antonio, and what struck me the most was how fluid and seamless the whole thing is. Other professionals in attendance, including lawyers and CPAs, had a similar opinion, with some of them saying it was because there wasn’t any bureaucracy or red tape to hamstring the presenters.
This is unlike the world of mutual funds, which I believe has become excessively regulated.
As I’ve said numerous times before, regulation is essential, just as referees are essential to a basketball game. No one disputes that, because otherwise there would be chaos.
Similarly, the new and very unregulated world of cryptocurrencies has grown dramatically, beyond bitcoin and ethereum. Did you know there are over 800 cryptocurrencies? These new initial coin offerings, called ICOs, are like initial public offerings (IPOs) but with little regulation or accountability. As I’ve commented before, if the refs get too powerful or too numerous, and the rules too complex, the game becomes nearly unplayable.
Cryptocurrencies Still Draw Investor Attention Following China Crackdown
Bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have had a meteoric year, with more than $2 billion raised in ICOs so far in 2017, according to Bloomberg. Approximately $155 billion in cryptocurrencies are in circulation around the world right now. Bitcoin by itself is at $78 billion, which is close to the $90 billion invested in all gold ETFs.
Like gold, cryptos are favored by those who have a deep distrust of fiat currency, or paper money. Money, after all, is built on trust, and the blockchain technology that bitcoin is built on top of automates trust through an electronic ledger that cannot be altered. Every transaction is anonymous and peer-to-peer. The system is entirely decentralized and democratic. No monetary authority can see who owns what and where money is flowing.
This, of course, is a huge reason why some world governments want to crack down on the Wild West of virtual currencies, especially with bitcoin surging close to $5,000 this month.
China did just that last week, putting a halt to new ICOs and crypto transactions. In response, ethereum tumbled as much as 15.8 percent last Monday, or $55 a unit. Bitcoin lost $394 a unit.
China’s decision comes a little more than a month afterthe SEC said cryptocurrencies are securitiesand therefore should probably be regulated as such. At this point, though, the implications are unclear.
What’s clear to me–after seeing firsthand how easily and quickly transactions are made–is that there’s no going back. It’s possible cryptocurrencies will one day be regulated. But I’m confident bitcoin, ethereum and some other virtual currencies offer enough value to weather such a potential roadblock.
I also believe there has to be a happy medium between the excessively regulated fund industry and the potential chaos of the cryptocurrency. This is what I witnessed at the SAAN event I mentioned, which allowed the professionals in attendance to gain information, ask questions and make informed decisions.
Gold Trading Above $1,350 an Ounce
Speaking on cryptocurrencies last week, Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said gold could be a beneficiary of China’s decision to clamp down on ICOs. As more governments and central banks turn their attention to virtual currencies, investors could move back into the yellow metal as a store of value.
That’s a possibility, but I think gold’s price action right now is being driven by negative real Treasury yields and fears over a potential conflict with North Korea. Adjusted for inflation, the two-year and five-year Treasuries are both currently yielding negative amounts, and the 10-year continues to fall closer to 0 percent.
As I’ve explained numerous times before, gold and real interest rates share an inverse relationship. It makes little sense to invest in an asset that’s guaranteed to cost you money–which is the case with the two-year and five-year government bond right now. Investors seeking a “safe haven” might therefore add to their weighting in gold, especially with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un raising tensions.
The yellow metal closed above $1,350 an ounce, more than a one-year high.
Despite Efforts to Control Spending, National Debt Expected to Continue Growing: CBO
Similarly driving the gold Fear Trade are concerns over the national debt. Last week President Donald Trump sided with Congressional Democrats in raising the federal borrowing limit to allow Hurricane Harvey recovery aid to pass. An initial package of $7.85 billion for Harvey victims was agreed upon, but with total costsexpected to be as high as $190 billion–more than the combined costs of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy–and with Hurricane Irma yet to make landfall in Florida, the federal aid amount could eventually run even higher.
Trump partially ran on reigning in government spending, which I and many others would like to see. Even so, this might not be enough to control our runaway debt. According to an August report by theCongressional Budget Office (CBO),debt will likely continue to grow as spending for large federal benefit programs–Social Security, Medicare and the like–outpaces revenue. Interest payments on the debt will only continue to accelerate as well.
Below is a chart showing national debt as a percentage of GDP going back to the founding of the U.S. Although we’ve seen periodic spikes in response to national crises, the debt could soar to unprecedented levels within the next 10 years.
Financial writer Alex Green, the Oxford Club’s chief strategist, told me during my recent interview with him that he thought out-of-control spendingposed a greater threat to our countrythan even North Korea.
I tend to agree with him, and that’s why I believe that investors should have a 10 percent allocation in gold, with 5 percent in bullion and 5 percent in gold stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.
I urge you to watch this brief video on investing opportunities in gold miners!
Watch the video!
All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor. By clicking the link(s) above, you will be directed to a third-party website(s). U.S. Global Investors does not endorse all information supplied by this/these website(s) and is not responsible for its/their content.
Gold, precious metals, and precious minerals funds may be susceptible to adverse economic, political or regulatory developments due to concentrating in a single theme. The prices of gold, precious metals, and precious minerals are subject to substantial price fluctuations over short periods of time and may be affected by unpredicted international monetary and political policies. We suggest investing no more than 5% to 10% of your portfolio in these sectors.
Holdings may change daily. Holdings are reported as of the most recent quarter-end. None of the securities mentioned in the article were held by any accounts managed by U.S. Global Investors as of 6/30/2017.
U.S. Global Investors, Inc. is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). This does not mean that we are sponsored, recommended, or approved by the SEC, or that our abilities or qualifications in any respect have been passed upon by the SEC or any officer of the SEC.
This commentary should not be considered a solicitation or offering of any investment product.
Certain materials in this commentary may contain dated information. The information provided was current at the time of publication.
TheU.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (NYSE:GOAU)was trading at $13.46 per share on Monday afternoon, down $0.27 (-1.97%). Year-to-date, GOAU has gained 11.33%, versus a 12.52% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
GOAUcurrently has anETF Daily News SMART GradeofNR (Not Rated), and is unranked among 35 ETFs in thePrecious Metals ETFscategory.
Frank Holmesis the CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors. Mr. Holmes purchased a controlling interest in U.S. Global Investors in 1989 and became the firm’s chief investment officer in 1999. In 2006, Mr. Holmes was selected mining fund manager of the year by the Mining Journal, and in 2011 he was named a U.S. Metals and Mining “TopGun” by Brendan Wood International. He is also the co-author of The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing. More than 30,000 subscribers follow his weekly commentary in the award-winning Investor Alert newsletter which is read in over 180 countries. || Gold And Bitcoin Surge On North Korea Fears (GOAU): If you’re familiar with ABC’s popular reality showShark Tank,you should already be familiar with the concept behind theSan Antonio Angel Network (SAAN).Select entrepreneurs and innovators pitch their startup ideas to accredited investors, who can choose to make early-stage investments in a potentially successful company.
I attended an SAAN meeting last week at Ferrari of San Antonio, and what struck me the most was how fluid and seamless the whole thing is. Other professionals in attendance, including lawyers and CPAs, had a similar opinion, with some of them saying it was because there wasn’t any bureaucracy or red tape to hamstring the presenters.
This is unlike the world of mutual funds, which I believe has become excessively regulated.
As I’ve said numerous times before, regulation is essential, just as referees are essential to a basketball game. No one disputes that, because otherwise there would be chaos.
Similarly, the new and very unregulated world of cryptocurrencies has grown dramatically, beyond bitcoin and ethereum. Did you know there are over 800 cryptocurrencies? These new initial coin offerings, called ICOs, are like initial public offerings (IPOs) but with little regulation or accountability. As I’ve commented before, if the refs get too powerful or too numerous, and the rules too complex, the game becomes nearly unplayable.
Cryptocurrencies Still Draw Investor Attention Following China Crackdown
Bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have had a meteoric year, with more than $2 billion raised in ICOs so far in 2017, according to Bloomberg. Approximately $155 billion in cryptocurrencies are in circulation around the world right now. Bitcoin by itself is at $78 billion, which is close to the $90 billion invested in all gold ETFs.
Like gold, cryptos are favored by those who have a deep distrust of fiat currency, or paper money. Money, after all, is built on trust, and the blockchain technology that bitcoin is built on top of automates trust through an electronic ledger that cannot be altered. Every transaction is anonymous and peer-to-peer. The system is entirely decentralized and democratic. No monetary authority can see who owns what and where money is flowing.
This, of course, is a huge reason why some world governments want to crack down on the Wild West of virtual currencies, especially with bitcoin surging close to $5,000 this month.
China did just that last week, putting a halt to new ICOs and crypto transactions. In response, ethereum tumbled as much as 15.8 percent last Monday, or $55 a unit. Bitcoin lost $394 a unit.
China’s decision comes a little more than a month afterthe SEC said cryptocurrencies are securitiesand therefore should probably be regulated as such. At this point, though, the implications are unclear.
What’s clear to me–after seeing firsthand how easily and quickly transactions are made–is that there’s no going back. It’s possible cryptocurrencies will one day be regulated. But I’m confident bitcoin, ethereum and some other virtual currencies offer enough value to weather such a potential roadblock.
I also believe there has to be a happy medium between the excessively regulated fund industry and the potential chaos of the cryptocurrency. This is what I witnessed at the SAAN event I mentioned, which allowed the professionals in attendance to gain information, ask questions and make informed decisions.
Gold Trading Above $1,350 an Ounce
Speaking on cryptocurrencies last week, Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said gold could be a beneficiary of China’s decision to clamp down on ICOs. As more governments and central banks turn their attention to virtual currencies, investors could move back into the yellow metal as a store of value.
That’s a possibility, but I think gold’s price action right now is being driven by negative real Treasury yields and fears over a potential conflict with North Korea. Adjusted for inflation, the two-year and five-year Treasuries are both currently yielding negative amounts, and the 10-year continues to fall closer to 0 percent.
As I’ve explained numerous times before, gold and real interest rates share an inverse relationship. It makes little sense to invest in an asset that’s guaranteed to cost you money–which is the case with the two-year and five-year government bond right now. Investors seeking a “safe haven” might therefore add to their weighting in gold, especially with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un raising tensions.
The yellow metal closed above $1,350 an ounce, more than a one-year high.
Despite Efforts to Control Spending, National Debt Expected to Continue Growing: CBO
Similarly driving the gold Fear Trade are concerns over the national debt. Last week President Donald Trump sided with Congressional Democrats in raising the federal borrowing limit to allow Hurricane Harvey recovery aid to pass. An initial package of $7.85 billion for Harvey victims was agreed upon, but with total costsexpected to be as high as $190 billion–more than the combined costs of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy–and with Hurricane Irma yet to make landfall in Florida, the federal aid amount could eventually run even higher.
Trump partially ran on reigning in government spending, which I and many others would like to see. Even so, this might not be enough to control our runaway debt. According to an August report by theCongressional Budget Office (CBO),debt will likely continue to grow as spending for large federal benefit programs–Social Security, Medicare and the like–outpaces revenue. Interest payments on the debt will only continue to accelerate as well.
Below is a chart showing national debt as a percentage of GDP going back to the founding of the U.S. Although we’ve seen periodic spikes in response to national crises, the debt could soar to unprecedented levels within the next 10 years.
Financial writer Alex Green, the Oxford Club’s chief strategist, told me during my recent interview with him that he thought out-of-control spendingposed a greater threat to our countrythan even North Korea.
I tend to agree with him, and that’s why I believe that investors should have a 10 percent allocation in gold, with 5 percent in bullion and 5 percent in gold stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.
I urge you to watch this brief video on investing opportunities in gold miners!
Watch the video!
All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor. By clicking the link(s) above, you will be directed to a third-party website(s). U.S. Global Investors does not endorse all information supplied by this/these website(s) and is not responsible for its/their content.
Gold, precious metals, and precious minerals funds may be susceptible to adverse economic, political or regulatory developments due to concentrating in a single theme. The prices of gold, precious metals, and precious minerals are subject to substantial price fluctuations over short periods of time and may be affected by unpredicted international monetary and political policies. We suggest investing no more than 5% to 10% of your portfolio in these sectors.
Holdings may change daily. Holdings are reported as of the most recent quarter-end. None of the securities mentioned in the article were held by any accounts managed by U.S. Global Investors as of 6/30/2017.
U.S. Global Investors, Inc. is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). This does not mean that we are sponsored, recommended, or approved by the SEC, or that our abilities or qualifications in any respect have been passed upon by the SEC or any officer of the SEC.
This commentary should not be considered a solicitation or offering of any investment product.
Certain materials in this commentary may contain dated information. The information provided was current at the time of publication.
If you’re familiar with ABC’s popular reality showShark Tank,you should already be familiar with the concept behind theSan Antonio Angel Network (SAAN).Select entrepreneurs and innovators pitch their startup ideas to accredited investors, who can choose to make early-stage investments in a potentially successful company.
I attended an SAAN meeting last week at Ferrari of San Antonio, and what struck me the most was how fluid and seamless the whole thing is. Other professionals in attendance, including lawyers and CPAs, had a similar opinion, with some of them saying it was because there wasn’t any bureaucracy or red tape to hamstring the presenters.
This is unlike the world of mutual funds, which I believe has become excessively regulated.
As I’ve said numerous times before, regulation is essential, just as referees are essential to a basketball game. No one disputes that, because otherwise there would be chaos.
Similarly, the new and very unregulated world of cryptocurrencies has grown dramatically, beyond bitcoin and ethereum. Did you know there are over 800 cryptocurrencies? These new initial coin offerings, called ICOs, are like initial public offerings (IPOs) but with little regulation or accountability. As I’ve commented before, if the refs get too powerful or too numerous, and the rules too complex, the game becomes nearly unplayable.
Cryptocurrencies Still Draw Investor Attention Following China Crackdown
Bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have had a meteoric year, with more than $2 billion raised in ICOs so far in 2017, according to Bloomberg. Approximately $155 billion in cryptocurrencies are in circulation around the world right now. Bitcoin by itself is at $78 billion, which is close to the $90 billion invested in all gold ETFs.
Like gold, cryptos are favored by those who have a deep distrust of fiat currency, or paper money. Money, after all, is built on trust, and the blockchain technology that bitcoin is built on top of automates trust through an electronic ledger that cannot be altered. Every transaction is anonymous and peer-to-peer. The system is entirely decentralized and democratic. No monetary authority can see who owns what and where money is flowing.
This, of course, is a huge reason why some world governments want to crack down on the Wild West of virtual currencies, especially with bitcoin surging close to $5,000 this month.
China did just that last week, putting a halt to new ICOs and crypto transactions. In response, ethereum tumbled as much as 15.8 percent last Monday, or $55 a unit. Bitcoin lost $394 a unit.
China’s decision comes a little more than a month afterthe SEC said cryptocurrencies are securitiesand therefore should probably be regulated as such. At this point, though, the implications are unclear.
What’s clear to me–after seeing firsthand how easily and quickly transactions are made–is that there’s no going back. It’s possible cryptocurrencies will one day be regulated. But I’m confident bitcoin, ethereum and some other virtual currencies offer enough value to weather such a potential roadblock.
I also believe there has to be a happy medium between the excessively regulated fund industry and the potential chaos of the cryptocurrency. This is what I witnessed at the SAAN event I mentioned, which allowed the professionals in attendance to gain information, ask questions and make informed decisions.
Gold Trading Above $1,350 an Ounce
Speaking on cryptocurrencies last week, Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said gold could be a beneficiary of China’s decision to clamp down on ICOs. As more governments and central banks turn their attention to virtual currencies, investors could move back into the yellow metal as a store of value.
That’s a possibility, but I think gold’s price action right now is being driven by negative real Treasury yields and fears over a potential conflict with North Korea. Adjusted for inflation, the two-year and five-year Treasuries are both currently yielding negative amounts, and the 10-year continues to fall closer to 0 percent.
As I’ve explained numerous times before, gold and real interest rates share an inverse relationship. It makes little sense to invest in an asset that’s guaranteed to cost you money–which is the case with the two-year and five-year government bond right now. Investors seeking a “safe haven” might therefore add to their weighting in gold, especially with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un raising tensions.
The yellow metal closed above $1,350 an ounce, more than a one-year high.
Despite Efforts to Control Spending, National Debt Expected to Continue Growing: CBO
Similarly driving the gold Fear Trade are concerns over the national debt. Last week President Donald Trump sided with Congressional Democrats in raising the federal borrowing limit to allow Hurricane Harvey recovery aid to pass. An initial package of $7.85 billion for Harvey victims was agreed upon, but with total costsexpected to be as high as $190 billion–more than the combined costs of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy–and with Hurricane Irma yet to make landfall in Florida, the federal aid amount could eventually run even higher.
Trump partially ran on reigning in government spending, which I and many others would like to see. Even so, this might not be enough to control our runaway debt. According to an August report by theCongressional Budget Office (CBO),debt will likely continue to grow as spending for large federal benefit programs–Social Security, Medicare and the like–outpaces revenue. Interest payments on the debt will only continue to accelerate as well.
Below is a chart showing national debt as a percentage of GDP going back to the founding of the U.S. Although we’ve seen periodic spikes in response to national crises, the debt could soar to unprecedented levels within the next 10 years.
Financial writer Alex Green, the Oxford Club’s chief strategist, told me during my recent interview with him that he thought out-of-control spendingposed a greater threat to our countrythan even North Korea.
I tend to agree with him, and that’s why I believe that investors should have a 10 percent allocation in gold, with 5 percent in bullion and 5 percent in gold stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.
I urge you to watch this brief video on investing opportunities in gold miners!
Watch the video!
All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor. By clicking the link(s) above, you will be directed to a third-party website(s). U.S. Global Investors does not endorse all information supplied by this/these website(s) and is not responsible for its/their content.
Gold, precious metals, and precious minerals funds may be susceptible to adverse economic, political or regulatory developments due to concentrating in a single theme. The prices of gold, precious metals, and precious minerals are subject to substantial price fluctuations over short periods of time and may be affected by unpredicted international monetary and political policies. We suggest investing no more than 5% to 10% of your portfolio in these sectors.
Holdings may change daily. Holdings are reported as of the most recent quarter-end. None of the securities mentioned in the article were held by any accounts managed by U.S. Global Investors as of 6/30/2017.
U.S. Global Investors, Inc. is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). This does not mean that we are sponsored, recommended, or approved by the SEC, or that our abilities or qualifications in any respect have been passed upon by the SEC or any officer of the SEC.
This commentary should not be considered a solicitation or offering of any investment product.
Certain materials in this commentary may contain dated information. The information provided was current at the time of publication.
TheU.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (NYSE:GOAU)was trading at $13.46 per share on Monday afternoon, down $0.27 (-1.97%). Year-to-date, GOAU has gained 11.33%, versus a 12.52% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
GOAUcurrently has anETF Daily News SMART GradeofNR (Not Rated), and is unranked among 35 ETFs in thePrecious Metals ETFscategory.
Frank Holmesis the CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors. Mr. Holmes purchased a controlling interest in U.S. Global Investors in 1989 and became the firm’s chief investment officer in 1999. In 2006, Mr. Holmes was selected mining fund manager of the year by the Mining Journal, and in 2011 he was named a U.S. Metals and Mining “TopGun” by Brendan Wood International. He is also the co-author of The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing. More than 30,000 subscribers follow his weekly commentary in the award-winning Investor Alert newsletter which is read in over 180 countries. || Gene Munster predicts an 8% drop in Apple's stock after the iPhone event: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 's stock will likely see a significant drop after the company's highly anticipated iPhone event Tuesday, Loup Ventures' Gene Munster told CNBC on Monday. "We're probably expecting more like ... a 7 or 8 percent drop," Munster said on " Halftime Report ." Munster didn't specify a time frame for that fall, but last week he predicted a 10 percent pullback in Apple's stock over the next one to three months. Munster said while investors will be excited about the launch of new products on Monday and Tuesday, they will quickly look toward the company's next few quarters."Fast forward to a few weeks from now — there's going to be some wringing of hands as people start to think about what the March and June quarters of next year look like," he said.The closely followed venture capitalist spoke as shares of Apple were higher Monday, one day before the company is expected to unveil three new iPhones and an Apple Watch, among other products. But an unreleased build of iOS 11 that was leaked to the press over the weekend spilled almost all of the secrets on Apple's big announcement. Munster said one leak, in particular, caused him to believe the stock wouldn't fall as much as he originally predicted: "The idea of an LTE watch.""The watch is 3 percent of Apple's business today and if they allowed it to be untethered to the phone ... it creates a bigger opportunity. We think it will essentially double the size of that business," Munster said.Regarding Apple's anticipated high-end iPhone, Munster said: "I believe this phone will deliver on a much higher growth rate for the iPhone." Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 's stock will likely see a significant drop after the company's highly anticipated iPhone event Tuesday, Loup Ventures' Gene Munster told CNBC on Monday. "We're probably expecting more like ... a 7 or 8 percent drop," Munster said on " Halftime Report ." Munster didn't specify a time frame for that fall, but last week he predicted a 10 percent pullback in Apple's stock over the next one to three months. Munster said while investors will be excited about the launch of new products on Monday and Tuesday, they will quickly look toward the company's next few quarters. "Fast forward to a few weeks from now — there's going to be some wringing of hands as people start to think about what the March and June quarters of next year look like," he said. The closely followed venture capitalist spoke as shares of Apple were higher Monday, one day before the company is expected to unveil three new iPhones and an Apple Watch, among other products. But an unreleased build of iOS 11 that was leaked to the press over the weekend spilled almost all of the secrets on Apple's big announcement. Munster said one leak, in particular, caused him to believe the stock wouldn't fall as much as he originally predicted: "The idea of an LTE watch." "The watch is 3 percent of Apple's business today and if they allowed it to be untethered to the phone ... it creates a bigger opportunity. We think it will essentially double the size of that business," Munster said. Regarding Apple's anticipated high-end iPhone, Munster said: "I believe this phone will deliver on a much higher growth rate for the iPhone."More From CNBC
• Almost everything Apple is set to announce Tuesday was leaked this weekend
• Bitcoin price falls again on reports that China is shutting down local exchanges
• Apple iPhone X will be in 'severe short supply,' KGI says || Gene Munster predicts an 8% drop in Apple's stock after the iPhone event: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 's stock will likely see a significant drop after the company's highly anticipated iPhone event Tuesday, Loup Ventures' Gene Munster told CNBC on Monday. "We're probably expecting more like ... a 7 or 8 percent drop," Munster said on " Halftime Report ." Munster didn't specify a time frame for that fall, but last week he predicted a 10 percent pullback in Apple's stock over the next one to three months. Munster said while investors will be excited about the launch of new products on Monday and Tuesday, they will quickly look toward the company's next few quarters."Fast forward to a few weeks from now — there's going to be some wringing of hands as people start to think about what the March and June quarters of next year look like," he said.The closely followed venture capitalist spoke as shares of Apple were higher Monday, one day before the company is expected to unveil three new iPhones and an Apple Watch, among other products. But an unreleased build of iOS 11 that was leaked to the press over the weekend spilled almost all of the secrets on Apple's big announcement. Munster said one leak, in particular, caused him to believe the stock wouldn't fall as much as he originally predicted: "The idea of an LTE watch.""The watch is 3 percent of Apple's business today and if they allowed it to be untethered to the phone ... it creates a bigger opportunity. We think it will essentially double the size of that business," Munster said.Regarding Apple's anticipated high-end iPhone, Munster said: "I believe this phone will deliver on a much higher growth rate for the iPhone." Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 's stock will likely see a significant drop after the company's highly anticipated iPhone event Tuesday, Loup Ventures' Gene Munster told CNBC on Monday. "We're probably expecting more like ... a 7 or 8 percent drop," Munster said on " Halftime Report ." Munster didn't specify a time frame for that fall, but last week he predicted a 10 percent pullback in Apple's stock over the next one to three months. Munster said while investors will be excited about the launch of new products on Monday and Tuesday, they will quickly look toward the company's next few quarters. "Fast forward to a few weeks from now — there's going to be some wringing of hands as people start to think about what the March and June quarters of next year look like," he said. The closely followed venture capitalist spoke as shares of Apple were higher Monday, one day before the company is expected to unveil three new iPhones and an Apple Watch, among other products. But an unreleased build of iOS 11 that was leaked to the press over the weekend spilled almost all of the secrets on Apple's big announcement. Munster said one leak, in particular, caused him to believe the stock wouldn't fall as much as he originally predicted: "The idea of an LTE watch." "The watch is 3 percent of Apple's business today and if they allowed it to be untethered to the phone ... it creates a bigger opportunity. We think it will essentially double the size of that business," Munster said. Regarding Apple's anticipated high-end iPhone, Munster said: "I believe this phone will deliver on a much higher growth rate for the iPhone." More From CNBC Almost everything Apple is set to announce Tuesday was leaked this weekend Bitcoin price falls again on reports that China is shutting down local exchanges Apple iPhone X will be in 'severe short supply,' KGI says || Global relief rally continues on US stock markets; insurers jump on receding Hurricane Irma fears: Relief swept across Lloyd’s of London insurers exposed to the trail of destruction left by Hurricane Irma yesterday as the worst-case scenario in the US was averted.
Investors feared that the one-two punch of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma would severely dent the pockets of UK insurers, sending the sector’s shares sliding, but Irma took a less chaotic path and weakened in strength over the weekend.
Barclays analyst Ivan Bokhmat said that in terms of insurance costs the “shift west away from downtown Miami likely prevents the worse case scenario” with catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimating insured losses from the hurricane of up to $65bn, considerably less than the $150bn predictions mooted by analysts prior to it reaching Florida.
The two hurricanes combined will still “be a major event for the industry and will erode catastrophe budgets across the reinsurance industry”, Peel Hunt warned clients, however.
Lancashire Holdings, which was singled out by analysts as one of the most exposed UK stocks, rebounded 63p to 674p, a 10.3pc jump, while less exposedBeazleyandHiscoxclimbed 19.2p to 470.2p and 41p to £12.65, respectively.
Elsewhere, pharma giantAstraZenecajumped 100p to £48.90 after unveiling data from two successful lung cancer drug trials over the weekend. The first trial, Pacific, used the same Imfinzi drug which caused shares to crash over 15pc in July but its use in a less advanced form of lung cancer in this trial proved more fruitful.
Yesterday’s rally now leaves it just 4.4pc short of its value just before MYSTIC trial results disappointed earlier this summer with Liberum commenting that the data beat “already high expectations”.
The pound shrugged off pre-match nerves on the currency markets ahead of key UK economics data due later this week to stop theFTSE 100keeping up with its counterparts in Paris and Frankfurt.
North Korea failing to mark its founding day with a fresh nuclear test and the waning strength of Hurricane Irma helped lift the gloomy mood on stock markets with the UK’s blue-chip index closing 35.99 points higher at 7413.59.
On the FTSE 250,Petra Diamondsplummeted 5.1p to 84.85p after a package of the company’s diamonds was seized by the Tanzanian Government and it suspended operations at its mine there.
The prospect of further hostilities between the authorities in the East African country and foreign companies dragged down gold producerAcacia Mining, another firm that has faced the heavy hand of the Tanzanian Government.
Acacia, which slipped 9p to 183p yesterday, has been in a bitter dispute with local authorities since Tanzania banned exporting gold and copper ore in March, sending its shares crashing 66pc in just over six months.
Finally on the junior AIM market, smart home innovatorLightwaveRFpopped 3.3p to 28.8p after securing a minimum £2m worth of orders in the first year of a distribution agreement with Deta Electrical.
5:57PM
North Korea's nuclear no-show and the worst of Hurricane Irma passing brought risk appetite back to global stock markets today but the FTSE 100 lagged its stronger peers on the Continent and across the Atlantic, finishing just 0.5pc higher.
Insurers jumped higher as the hurricane causing chaos across the Caribbean proved less destructive in the US than initially feared with Lancashire Holdings, one of the most exposed stocks in London, soaring over 10pc on the FTSE 250. Investors piled back into insurance stocks as the less destructive path taken by the hurricane slashed estimated costs for the Lloyd's of London firms.
Elsewhere, Associated British Foods finished the biggest loser on the FTSE 100, retreating 5pc, despite its Primark business enjoying strong sales growth in this morning's update amid a grim consumer backdrop while previous metal miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillo dipped as gold prices came off last week's highs.
On the currency markets, the pound showed no pre-match nerves ahead of inflation data due tomorrow but has pared its morning gains against the dollar, trading close to flat territory at $1.3177.
IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp commented:
"Today’s price action marks a step change from a week ago, when fears of conflict on the Korean peninsula drove equities lower. Now normal service has apparently resumed, with triple digit gains on the Dow and the Dax.
4:29PM
The dual effect of just fireworks being the most explosive part of North Korea's founding date celebrations on Saturday and Hurricane Irma weakening means equity traders' computers are all lighting up green this afternoon.
David Madden said this on the return to risk-on mode:
"The lack of hostilities in relation to North Korea and the downgrading of Hurricane Irma to a category one storm has prompted traders to buy back into the market. North Korea celebrated the founding of the state over the weekend, and investors were worried the event could have prompted Pyongyang to mark the occasion by testing a missile. Seeing as the North Korean regime didn’t show off its military might over the weekend, traders were encouraged to take on more risk.
4:03PM
Petra Diamonds has become the latest miner to fall foul of the Tanzanian government as a parcel of diamonds worth tens of millions of pounds was seized and blocked from export.
The mining company’s share price plunged as much as 28pc in early trading as it stopped operations at the Williamson mine following the seizure of the 72,000-carat parcel.
The move follows criticism of the mining industry by Tanzania president John Magufuli, who has accused companies of not giving the government a fair share of profits. Mr Magufuli last week ordered a review of the Petra contract.
It comes after an export ban on gold and copper orelast week prompted mining giant Acacia Mining to slow down its operations in its flagship Tanzanian mine.
Read Sam Dean's full report here
3:50PM
Cryptocurrency Bitcoin has steadied the ship today after shedding 7pc of its value on Friday on reports that Chinese authorities are planning to shut down local digital currency exchanges.
Its exchange rate with the dollar reached $5000 early this month but fears of tightening regulation in China has knocked its price back down to around $4250.
The cryptocurrency's value has risen by an incredible 320pc just this year from $1000 but remains in flat territory today. Does this have bubble written all over it?
3:14PM
British businesses that export to Europe could collectively face a multi-billion pound Brexit bill if the UK and the European Union are unable to agree a transitional customs deal, a think-tank has warned.
TheInstitute for Government(IFG) says that should the UK leave the EU without a negotiated agreement on customs, controls at borders "could be introduced overnight”.
It calculates that there are 180,000 business - most of them SMEs - trading with Europe who will need to make customs declarations following Brexit, landing them with a combined bill of at least £4bn in the first year alone.
Read Alan Tovey's full report here
2:56PM
The global relief rally has extended into the US session with the Dow Jones opening 0.8pc higher as Hurricane Irma and North Korea fears subside.
Travelers Companies, an insurance firm, has followed its peers in Europe and jumped over 5pc on the index as concerns over the impact of Hurricane Irma on the sector fade.
Meanwhile back in Europe, the FTSE 100 has given up some of its morning gains with the handful of stocks that started the day in the red steadily growing.
On the FTSE 250, Tanzania's latest hostilities with foreign mining companies have pulled down Petra Diamonds and Acacia Mining. Petra Diamonds shares have shed nearly 9pc of their value today after the Government seized a package of diamonds it said had been undervalued, leading to the company suspending operations at its mine there.
2:26PM
Google has launched an appeal against the European Commission's record £2.2bn monopoly abuse fine, it has been confirmed in the last half hour.
As reported inThe Sunday Telegraph,the company will extend the seven-year dispute between the company and the EU over allegations that it exploited the dominance of its search engine to push its own online shopping service.
Q&A | Why is Google being fined?
2:11PM
Shoppers flocked to Primark stores over the summer to snap up pink flamingo pool inflatables alongside their holiday wardrobe essentials, helping to boost parent group Associated British Food's full-year forecasts.
John Bason, ABF finance boss, said that the huge demand for its ornithological-inspired inflatables was one of the suprise big-sellers which helped the high street retailer smash its sales predictions for the summer and avoid heavy discounting.
The trend for over the top swimming accessories has been driven by celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Kourtney Kardashian and fuelled by social media posers. During the summer Primark was selling £9 flamingo inflatables as well as blow-up unicorns and £1 doughtnut-shaped floating cupholders.
Shares fell by 3pc this morning following the results.
Read Ashley Armstrong's full report here
ABF
1:49PM
With no economics data for the markets to pore over today, let's have a quick look at the key trio of macro releases due later this week.
Tomorrow inflation is expected to pick-up to 2.8pc, tightening the squeeze on households, while on Wednesday wage growth figures will show whether the gap between pay and rising prices in the UK has continued to widen again.
A day later we'll get the latest interest rate decision from the Bank of England on a 'Super Thursday' that might not quite live up to its name.
The markets are currently pricing in just a 5.1pc chance of a hike in Thursday's meeting with patchy economics figures and cooling inflation in the last few months diminishing the clamour for a rise.
Are the markets underestimating the chance of a hike?
ETX analyst Neil Wilson gave this prediction for Thursday's decision:
"The MPC is all but certain to leave everything well alone, with interest rates to be held at 0.25% and the size of the asset purchase programme unaltered at £435bn. At present there are simply too many unknowns for the Bank to hike to rates. However policymakers are likely to continue to stress that their tolerance for above- target inflation is not unlimited and that the market is underestimating their willingness to act.
1:19PM
Facebook has been hit with a €1.2m (£1.1m) fine in Spain after the country's data watchdog found it broke privacy laws.
The social network breached laws designed to protect citizens' information and privacy on three occasions, according to the Spanish authorities.
The regulator found Facebook had failed to inform users how their data would be used as it hoovered up the details of millions of people in Spain.
It said Facebook had failed to educate users on how their personal information - including ideology, sex, religious beliefs, personal interests and browsing habits - would be used for advertising. It added that Facebook had illegally tracked visitors to its pages who had not signed up to the social network using cookies.
Read Cara McGoogan's full report here
12:43PM
North Korea's nuclear no-show over the weekend has lifted the mood on global stock markets this morning with the FTSE 100 rebounding back into positive territory.
The pound rising to over $1.32 against the dollar ahead of a big week of UK economics data couldn't dampen spirits in London with insurers enjoying a relief rally as the fears of eye-watering costs from Hurricane Irma recede.
ABF has retreated despite its Primark business enjoying strong sales growth while pharma giant AstraZeneca has jumped towards the top of the blue-chip index after positive lung cancer drug trials.
Accendo Markets analyst Mike Van Dulken said this on today's play:
"Traders have started the new week hungry for risk, pushing equities and base metals higher on reduced concerns about North Korea and Hurricane Irma (although both very much still in play) and supportive China inflation data. As usual, bullishness has proved detrimental to safe havens like Gold, Bonds and the Yen & Swiss Franc.
12:24PM
Tesco has been criticised for deducting millions of pounds from charity donations generated by the plastic bag tax in order to cover "administration costs".
New government data shows that Britain's biggest supermarket sold 637m carrier bags in the year to March 2017, raising almost £32m in proceeds.
But it withdrew £3.4m of this to cover the “cost of administering donations”, equivalent to more than 10pc of the total.
The government figures show that no other major supermarket – including Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Waitrose – made any such deductions from plastic bag sales, and instead passed on all proceeds to charities.
Read Sophie Christie's full report here
12:08PM
The pound has risen to a six-week high against the dollar, just over $1.32, ahead of a crucial week of economics data for the UK.
Key inflation data is due tomorrow and on Wednesday we'll find out if wage growth has eased the pressure on households suffering from rising prices.
Stronger economics figures last week have helped to lift the pound from its August lows, according to MUFG currency analyst Lee Hardman.
He said:
"With growth in manufacturing output expanding solidly by 0.5% in July, there is some encouragement that the sharp improvement in business confidence driven in part by the weaker pound and stronger global growth is beginning to feed through into hard economic data.
Plenty of tests are coming up for the currency, however.
In addition to the inflation and wage data, we have Bank of England 'Super Thursday' later this week and the Repeal Bill vote in parliament later today.
11:40AM
On the markets no North Korea news is good news.
The rogue state's unexpectedly quiet weekend has prompted a strong rally on European stock markets this morning with the FTSE 100 now 0.7pc up and the DAX in Germany enjoying a 1.1pc rise.
Investors were worried that the country's founding day on Saturday would be marked by another show of military muscle but it passed uneventfully.
The lack of any major economics releases means that Kim Jong-Un is the "unlikely source of bullish sentiment" on global stock markets, according to IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.
He commented:
"Markets have started the week in a positive fashion, with risk assets firmly in the driving seat at the expense of the commonly perceived havens such as gold, treasuries, and the yen.
With the UN Security Council due to meet later today over whether to implement oil sanctions on the rogue state, a renewed flare-up in tensions seems only round the corner, however.
11:10AM
While Hurricane Irma will undoubtedly have a short-term impact on the economy in Florida, the rebuilding process could actually support growth figures in the future, some analysts have suggested this morning.
The hurricane season will pull down third quarter GDP figures but a boost to the US construction industry will lift GDP figures in the final quarter of 2017 and first quarter of next year, according to head of investment at Interactive Investor Rebecca O'Keeffe.
She said:
"Rebuilding and reconstruction are likely to be a central theme over coming weeks with the DIY and construction industries likely to be beneficiaries. Demand for new automobiles could be affected substantially by their growing susceptibility to damage from floodwater.
10:47AM
The UK’s offshore wind sector could power a £17.5bn investment inthe UK economy over the next four years after faster than expected cost-cutting slashed subsidies for the technology by half.
The Government’s latest auction for support contracts, released this morning, shows that offshore wind costs have halved in the last five years to under £58 for every megawatt-hour of electricity produced, even lower than the estimates given by experts in the run-up to the results.
The lower costs mean more wind farms will be able to apply for the £294m funding pot, bringing an investment surge of £17.5bn into the UK. The boom is even greater than the £11bn predicted by Renewable UK as recently as last week.
“We knew today’s results would be impressive, but these are astounding," said Hugh McNeal, chief executive of Renewable UK.
"Record-breaking cost reductions like the ones achieved by offshore wind are unprecedented for large energy infrastructure."
Read Jillian Ambrose's full report here
10:39AM
Hopes that the damage caused by Hurricane Irma will be less severe than expected has lifted the Lloyd's of London insurers heavily exposed to events in the US this morning.
European insurers retreated last week on fears of huge payouts in the aftermath of the two hurricanes that have left a trail of destruction in the Caribbean and southern US.
The damages could, however, come in at less than $50bn compared to a previous estimate of around $192bn, according to LCG analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya.
On the FTSE 250, Lancashire Holdings and Beazley have jumped 7.5pc and 5.7pc, respectively, while the Stoxx 600 insurance index, which tracks the performance of all the large insurance companies in Europe, has enjoyed its best day since April, rising 2pc.
10:10AM
Pharma giant AstraZeneca leads the blue-chip stocks in London this morning after reporting positive results from two phase III lung cancer drug trials.
The Flaura Tagrisso and Pacific trials data beat "already high expectations", commented Liberum analyst Roger Franklin.
He said:
"The Flaura Tagrisso data delivered almost exactly what was expected at progression-free survival but with the kicker of positive early overall survival trends. More importantly, in Pacific, the magnitude of the progression-free survival benefit over placebo was truly impressive "
AstraZeneca's shares crashed 15pc in July following poor results in its MYSTIC lung cancer drug trial. However, it has slowly clawed back value since and today's 1.9pc rise leaves it just 4.6pc short of its share price just before the MYSTIC trials disappointed.
Its chief executive Pascal Soriot was rumoured to be on the verge of jumping ship to rival Teva earlier this summer but the Israeli company finally filled its vacancy this morning with Kaare Schultz from H. Lundbeck A/S.
9:48AM
Troubled support services firm Carillion has confirmed the departure of its finance director as it announces a string of changes to its management team.
It wasreported over the weekendthat finance boss Zafar Khan was due to step down from the business, which has lost almost £800m from its market capitalisation in recent weeks.
In a statement to the stock market, Carillion said Mr Khan had left the company with immediate effect.
He has been replaced by Emma Mercer, who has previously served as finance director of Carillion's UK construction business, as well as chief financial officer and senior vice president of Carillion Canada.
Carillion shares have fallen 4.3pc this morning.
Read Sam Dean's full report here
Carillion
9:25AM
Associated British Foods is the biggest laggard on the FTSE 100 this morning, dipping 2.1pc, despite lifting its full-year guidance as sales and margins improve at its key Primark business.
ABF said that the discount fashion retailer will enjoy a 13pc rise in sales on a constant currency basis despite the bleak consumer backdrop.
The company is "well ahead of last year", according to Hargreaves Lansdown analyst George Salmon.
He added on what the results mean for the rest of the struggling high street:
"The UK has been singled out as performing particularly strongly, which would normally have positive read-across for the rest of the clothing sector. However, this probably isn’t the case this time.
9:12AM
North Korea's nuclear no-show over the weekend has lifted the mood on European stock markets this morning with all the major indices rebounding after a gloomy week of trading last week.
There were fears that the rogue state would conduct its latest round of tests on Saturday, the nation's founding day, with tensions rising on the UN Security Council over whether to ban the country's oil imports.
Gold has been pulled off its 13-week high, bringing down shares in FTSE 100 precious metal miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources, while safe haven the Japanese yen is the biggest laggard on the currency markets, slipping 0.5pc against the dollar.
The mood has also been helped by Hurricane Irma's strength waning, according to Accendo Markets analyst Mike Van Dulken.
He said:
"This helpful combo has seen a return of risk appetite and corresponding fall in demand for safe havens. Equities and base metals thus called higher at the expense of Gold, Silver, bonds, the Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc."
8:38AM
Welcome to our live markets coverage.
Rising risk appetite on the markets has lifted the FTSE 100 back into positive territory this morning with pharma giant AstraZeneca leading the index after jumping just under 3pc on successful lung cancer drug trial results.
Four negative sessions last week pulled the UK's blue-chip index lower but the mood on European stock markets has improved over the weekend with the DAX and CAC 40 enjoying strong rebounds.
Gold's retreat this morning as risk-on mood returns to the markets has wounded precious metal miners Randgold Resources and Fresnillo while ABF has nudged down despite raising its full-year outlook thanks to strong results in its Primark business.
The economics calendar has a very light look to it but any wobbles in passing the Repeal Bill in parliament later today could stoke some movement on currency markets.
With inflation and wage growth data due in the coming days, you couldn't blame traders for sitting on their hands until they get hold of this week's highlight economics figures. This morning, the pound has held onto its six-week high against the dollar from Friday, trading flat at $1.3190.
Interim results:Restore, Luceco, Deltex Medical Group, EKF Diagnostics Holdings, Cloudcall Group, John Laing Infrastructure Fund, XLMedia, Pennant International Group, Crossrider
Full-year results:Abcam, K3 Capital Group, 1pm
Trading statement:Associated British Foods
AGM:Real Estate Credit Investments, CH Bailey, Empyrean Energy || China's bitcoin exchanges await clarification, markets subdued for now: By Brenda Goh and Elias Glenn SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's largest bitcoin exchanges are awaiting clarification from the government following more media reports that Beijing is planning to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, but markets were largely subdued on Monday. Spokeswomen for the OkCoin and Huobi platforms told Reuters they had no information to share following a report by Chinese financial publication Caixin that sent the price of bitcoin down 6.6 percent on Friday. A source with knowledge of the policy confirmed to Reuters that China planned to ban exchanges that allowed virtual currency trading. BTC China, also one of China's three largest exchanges, and China's central bank did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Bitcoin was trading lower by around 1.3 percent at $4,170 on the Bitstamp platform on Monday. On Sept 2, it hit a record high of nearly $5,000. "People are still waiting for official word from the regulator," said Arthur Hayes, chief executive of crypto-currency trading platform BitMEX, adding that the relatively subdued fall in the bitcoin price illustrated how opinion in the community towards the Caixin article was divided. "I would assume that if China shuts down trading on continuous order books of the large exchanges, the price would drop below $4,000, or the price of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin would catch up to where it's trading equivalently in China," he said. China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading venue in recent years as its domestic exchanges had previously allowed users to conduct trades for free, attracting investors and speculators who boosted demand and encouraging volumes. However, regulators started taking a closer look at the industry in January this year and have since rolled out a series of rules for the industry including forcing exchanges to slap on trading fees and requiring them to strengthen oversight of customers' identities. Last week, the central bank moved to ban so-called "initial coin offerings", or the practice of creating and selling digital currencies or tokens to investors in order to finance start-up projects. Bitcoin is currently trading at a discount on Chinese exchanges compared with their U.S.-based counterparts. On Monday, bitcoin was up by 6.5 percent at 25,253 yuan ($3,871.67) on the Huobi platform. However, on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, some users said they were withdrawing some of their bitcoin investments, while others fretted over how long some platforms were taking to return their cash after requesting withdrawals. Aurélien Menant, founder of Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin, said that the platform had experienced a surge in the number of registrations from mainland Chinese clients over the weekend and also received a "massive number" of inquiries from Chinese token founders looking to list on Gatecoin following reports of China's ban. A China-based cryptocurrency investor, however, said he was doubtful that Chinese authorities could completely suppress cryptocurrency trading. "I think there is too much money to actually stop people from trading...The best they could do is ban exchanges but people will just use VPN or find another way" (Additional Repoorting by Bi Xiaowen in BEIJING and SHANGHAI Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) || China's bitcoin exchanges await clarification, markets subdued for now: By Brenda Goh and Elias Glenn
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's largest bitcoin exchanges are awaiting clarification from the government following more media reports that Beijing is planning to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, but markets were largely subdued on Monday.
Spokeswomen for the OkCoin and Huobi platforms told Reuters they had no information to share following a report by Chinese financial publication Caixin that sent the price of bitcoin down 6.6 percent on Friday.
A source with knowledge of the policy confirmed to Reuters that China planned to ban exchanges that allowed virtual currency trading. BTC China, also one of China's three largest exchanges, and China's central bank did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Bitcoin was trading lower by around 1.3 percent at $4,170 (BTC=BTSP) on the Bitstamp platform on Monday. On Sept 2, it hit a record high of nearly $5,000.
"People are still waiting for official word from the regulator," said Arthur Hayes, chief executive of crypto-currency trading platform BitMEX, adding that the relatively subdued fall in the bitcoin price illustrated how opinion in the community towards the Caixin article was divided.
"I would assume that if China shuts down trading on continuous order books of the large exchanges, the price would drop below $4,000, or the price of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin would catch up to where it's trading equivalently in China," he said.
China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading venue in recent years as its domestic exchanges had previously allowed users to conduct trades for free, attracting investors and speculators who boosted demand and encouraging volumes.
However, regulators started taking a closer look at the industry in January this year and have since rolled out a series of rules for the industry including forcing exchanges to slap on trading fees and requiring them to strengthen oversight of customers' identities.
Last week, the central bank moved to ban so-called "initial coin offerings", or the practice of creating and selling digital currencies or tokens to investors in order to finance start-up projects.
Bitcoin is currently trading at a discount on Chinese exchanges compared with their U.S.-based counterparts. On Monday, bitcoin was up by 6.5 percent at 25,253 yuan ($3,871.67) on the Huobi platform.
However, on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, some users said they were withdrawing some of their bitcoin investments, while others fretted over how long some platforms were taking to return their cash after requesting withdrawals.
Aurélien Menant, founder of Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin, said that the platform had experienced a surge in the number of registrations from mainland Chinese clients over the weekend and also received a "massive number" of inquiries from Chinese token founders looking to list on Gatecoin following reports of China's ban.
A China-based cryptocurrency investor, however, said he was doubtful that Chinese authorities could completely suppress cryptocurrency trading.
"I think there is too much money to actually stop people from trading...The best they could do is ban exchanges but people will just use VPN or find another way"
(Additional Repoorting by Bi Xiaowen in BEIJING and SHANGHAI Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) || China's bitcoin exchanges await clarification, markets subdued for now: By Brenda Goh and Elias Glenn SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's largest bitcoin exchanges are awaiting clarification from the government following more media reports that Beijing is planning to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, but markets were largely subdued on Monday. Spokeswomen for the OkCoin and Huobi platforms told Reuters they had no information to share following a report by Chinese financial publication Caixin that sent the price of bitcoin down 6.6 percent on Friday. A source with knowledge of the policy confirmed to Reuters that China planned to ban exchanges that allowed virtual currency trading. BTC China, also one of China's three largest exchanges, and China's central bank did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Bitcoin was trading lower by around 1.3 percent at $4,170 (BTC=BTSP) on the Bitstamp platform on Monday. On Sept 2, it hit a record high of nearly $5,000. "People are still waiting for official word from the regulator," said Arthur Hayes, chief executive of crypto-currency trading platform BitMEX, adding that the relatively subdued fall in the bitcoin price illustrated how opinion in the community towards the Caixin article was divided. "I would assume that if China shuts down trading on continuous order books of the large exchanges, the price would drop below $4,000, or the price of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin would catch up to where it's trading equivalently in China," he said. China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading venue in recent years as its domestic exchanges had previously allowed users to conduct trades for free, attracting investors and speculators who boosted demand and encouraging volumes. However, regulators started taking a closer look at the industry in January this year and have since rolled out a series of rules for the industry including forcing exchanges to slap on trading fees and requiring them to strengthen oversight of customers' identities. Story continues Last week, the central bank moved to ban so-called "initial coin offerings", or the practice of creating and selling digital currencies or tokens to investors in order to finance start-up projects. Bitcoin is currently trading at a discount on Chinese exchanges compared with their U.S.-based counterparts. On Monday, bitcoin was up by 6.5 percent at 25,253 yuan ($3,871.67) on the Huobi platform. However, on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, some users said they were withdrawing some of their bitcoin investments, while others fretted over how long some platforms were taking to return their cash after requesting withdrawals. Aurélien Menant, founder of Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin, said that the platform had experienced a surge in the number of registrations from mainland Chinese clients over the weekend and also received a "massive number" of inquiries from Chinese token founders looking to list on Gatecoin following reports of China's ban. A China-based cryptocurrency investor, however, said he was doubtful that Chinese authorities could completely suppress cryptocurrency trading. "I think there is too much money to actually stop people from trading...The best they could do is ban exchanges but people will just use VPN or find another way" (Additional Repoorting by Bi Xiaowen in BEIJING and SHANGHAI Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) || China's bitcoin exchanges await clarification, markets subdued for now: By Brenda Goh and Elias Glenn SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's largest bitcoin exchanges are awaiting clarification from the government following more media reports that Beijing is planning to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, but markets were largely subdued on Monday. Spokeswomen for the OkCoin and Huobi platforms told Reuters they had no information to share following a report by Chinese financial publication Caixin that sent the price of bitcoin down 6.6 percent on Friday. A source with knowledge of the policy confirmed to Reuters that China planned to ban exchanges that allowed virtual currency trading. BTC China, also one of China's three largest exchanges, and China's central bank did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Bitcoin was trading lower by around 1.3 percent at $4,170 (BTC=BTSP) on the Bitstamp platform on Monday. On Sept 2, it hit a record high of nearly $5,000. "People are still waiting for official word from the regulator," said Arthur Hayes, chief executive of crypto-currency trading platform BitMEX, adding that the relatively subdued fall in the bitcoin price illustrated how opinion in the community towards the Caixin article was divided. "I would assume that if China shuts down trading on continuous order books of the large exchanges, the price would drop below $4,000, or the price of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin would catch up to where it's trading equivalently in China," he said. China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading venue in recent years as its domestic exchanges had previously allowed users to conduct trades for free, attracting investors and speculators who boosted demand and encouraging volumes. However, regulators started taking a closer look at the industry in January this year and have since rolled out a series of rules for the industry including forcing exchanges to slap on trading fees and requiring them to strengthen oversight of customers' identities. Story continues Last week, the central bank moved to ban so-called "initial coin offerings", or the practice of creating and selling digital currencies or tokens to investors in order to finance start-up projects. Bitcoin is currently trading at a discount on Chinese exchanges compared with their U.S.-based counterparts. On Monday, bitcoin was up by 6.5 percent at 25,253 yuan ($3,871.67) on the Huobi platform. However, on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, some users said they were withdrawing some of their bitcoin investments, while others fretted over how long some platforms were taking to return their cash after requesting withdrawals. Aurélien Menant, founder of Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin, said that the platform had experienced a surge in the number of registrations from mainland Chinese clients over the weekend and also received a "massive number" of inquiries from Chinese token founders looking to list on Gatecoin following reports of China's ban. A China-based cryptocurrency investor, however, said he was doubtful that Chinese authorities could completely suppress cryptocurrency trading. "I think there is too much money to actually stop people from trading...The best they could do is ban exchanges but people will just use VPN or find another way" (Additional Repoorting by Bi Xiaowen in BEIJING and SHANGHAI Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) || China's bitcoin exchanges await clarification, markets subdued for now: By Brenda Goh and Elias Glenn SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's largest bitcoin exchanges are awaiting clarification from the government following more media reports that Beijing is planning to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, but markets were largely subdued on Monday. Spokeswomen for the OkCoin and Huobi platforms told Reuters they had no information to share following a report by Chinese financial publication Caixin that sent the price of bitcoin down 6.6 percent on Friday. A source with knowledge of the policy confirmed to Reuters that China planned to ban exchanges that allowed virtual currency trading. BTC China, also one of China's three largest exchanges, and China's central bank did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Bitcoin was trading lower by around 1.3 percent at $4,170 on the Bitstamp platform on Monday. On Sept 2, it hit a record high of nearly $5,000. "People are still waiting for official word from the regulator," said Arthur Hayes, chief executive of crypto-currency trading platform BitMEX, adding that the relatively subdued fall in the bitcoin price illustrated how opinion in the community towards the Caixin article was divided. "I would assume that if China shuts down trading on continuous order books of the large exchanges, the price would drop below $4,000, or the price of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin would catch up to where it's trading equivalently in China," he said. China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading venue in recent years as its domestic exchanges had previously allowed users to conduct trades for free, attracting investors and speculators who boosted demand and encouraging volumes. However, regulators started taking a closer look at the industry in January this year and have since rolled out a series of rules for the industry including forcing exchanges to slap on trading fees and requiring them to strengthen oversight of customers' identities. Last week, the central bank moved to ban so-called "initial coin offerings", or the practice of creating and selling digital currencies or tokens to investors in order to finance start-up projects. Bitcoin is currently trading at a discount on Chinese exchanges compared with their U.S.-based counterparts. On Monday, bitcoin was up by 6.5 percent at 25,253 yuan ($3,871.67) on the Huobi platform. However, on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, some users said they were withdrawing some of their bitcoin investments, while others fretted over how long some platforms were taking to return their cash after requesting withdrawals. Aurélien Menant, founder of Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin, said that the platform had experienced a surge in the number of registrations from mainland Chinese clients over the weekend and also received a "massive number" of inquiries from Chinese token founders looking to list on Gatecoin following reports of China's ban. A China-based cryptocurrency investor, however, said he was doubtful that Chinese authorities could completely suppress cryptocurrency trading. "I think there is too much money to actually stop people from trading...The best they could do is ban exchanges but people will just use VPN or find another way" (Additional Repoorting by Bi Xiaowen in BEIJING and SHANGHAI Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) || China's bitcoin exchanges await clarification, markets subdued for now: By Brenda Goh and Elias Glenn SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's largest bitcoin exchanges are awaiting clarification from the government following more media reports that Beijing is planning to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, but markets were largely subdued on Monday. Spokeswomen for the OkCoin and Huobi platforms told Reuters they had no information to share following a report by Chinese financial publication Caixin that sent the price of bitcoin down 6.6 percent on Friday. A source with knowledge of the policy confirmed to Reuters that China planned to ban exchanges that allowed virtual currency trading. BTC China, also one of China's three largest exchanges, and China's central bank did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Bitcoin was trading lower by around 1.3 percent at $4,170 (BTC=BTSP) on the Bitstamp platform on Monday. On Sept 2, it hit a record high of nearly $5,000. "People are still waiting for official word from the regulator," said Arthur Hayes, chief executive of crypto-currency trading platform BitMEX, adding that the relatively subdued fall in the bitcoin price illustrated how opinion in the community towards the Caixin article was divided. "I would assume that if China shuts down trading on continuous order books of the large exchanges, the price would drop below $4,000, or the price of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin would catch up to where it's trading equivalently in China," he said. China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading venue in recent years as its domestic exchanges had previously allowed users to conduct trades for free, attracting investors and speculators who boosted demand and encouraging volumes. However, regulators started taking a closer look at the industry in January this year and have since rolled out a series of rules for the industry including forcing exchanges to slap on trading fees and requiring them to strengthen oversight of customers' identities. Story continues Last week, the central bank moved to ban so-called "initial coin offerings", or the practice of creating and selling digital currencies or tokens to investors in order to finance start-up projects. Bitcoin is currently trading at a discount on Chinese exchanges compared with their U.S.-based counterparts. On Monday, bitcoin was up by 6.5 percent at 25,253 yuan ($3,871.67) on the Huobi platform. However, on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform, some users said they were withdrawing some of their bitcoin investments, while others fretted over how long some platforms were taking to return their cash after requesting withdrawals. Aurélien Menant, founder of Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin, said that the platform had experienced a surge in the number of registrations from mainland Chinese clients over the weekend and also received a "massive number" of inquiries from Chinese token founders looking to list on Gatecoin following reports of China's ban. A China-based cryptocurrency investor, however, said he was doubtful that Chinese authorities could completely suppress cryptocurrency trading. "I think there is too much money to actually stop people from trading...The best they could do is ban exchanges but people will just use VPN or find another way" (Additional Repoorting by Bi Xiaowen in BEIJING and SHANGHAI Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) || Apple is rising ahead of Tuesday's 'game changing' iPhone X launch event: iPhone 8 iPhone 10 iPhone X Concept (YouTube/ConceptsiPhone) Apple is expected to announce the details of the new iPhone on Tuesday and investors are driving the stock price higher in anticipation. Apple is trading 2.0% higher on Monday ahead of the launch event. Last year, the iPhone maker slipped slightly lower on the day before the event and gained 0.46% as investors watched the iPhone 7 launch event day-of. The iPhone X is expected to be much more exciting than its predecessor, however. Amit Daryanani, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, predicts the event will be "game changing." Daryanani is bullish on the slate of features expected from the new phone and has a price target for the company's stock of $180, which is 11.57% higher than Apple's current price. Daryanani, and others, are bullish on the new model because it will be the first update to the phone's form factor in several generations. The last major update to the look of the devices came when the phone was updated from the square and boxy iPhone 5 to the current curved look of the larger iPhone 6 and 7. The iPhone X is expected to have a glass back for wireless charging , while the current phones are aluminum backed. It is also expected to have a bezel-less screen in the same vein as Samsung's Galaxy S8. Despite all the leaks around the new phone, Daryanani still thinks the device has the capacity to surprise investors and customers. Some analysts are expecting a "supercycle" thanks to the new form factor of the next phone, but others say that customers don't actually care about the fancy new screen , and instead care about less-hyped features like wireless charging more. The higher price of the next iPhone may give pause to those looking to upgrade, as it's expected to be around $1,000 or more . But Daryanani thinks that even if customers upgrade to the lower-priced, iterative devices likely to be launched alongside the iPhone X, the average selling price of the iPhone device line will be boosted by the new phones. Story continues Apple is also expected to launch updates to other products along with the new iPhones. The Apple watch is likely to get a new LTE radio which would allow it to connect to the internet independently of a paired iPhone. The Apple TV is expected to get an upgrade to be 4K-capable. Apple is up 39.50% this year, including Monday's move. Click here to watch Apple's stock price move in real time... Apple stock price (Markets Insider) NOW WATCH: Bitcoin's bubble swells with a new record high More From Business Insider Here are all the areas in Hurricane Irma's path and when the storm could arrive Irma is hammering Florida and headed to Georgia here's the latest Hurricane Jose, a major Category 4 storm, is moving through the Caribbean with 130-mph winds || Apple is rising ahead of Tuesday's 'game changing' iPhone X launch event: (YouTube/ConceptsiPhone)
Appleis expected to announce the details of the new iPhone on Tuesday and investors are driving the stock price higher in anticipation.
Apple is trading 2.0% higher on Monday ahead of the launch event.
Last year, the iPhone maker slipped slightly lower on the day before the event and gained 0.46% as investors watched the iPhone 7 launch event day-of. TheiPhone Xis expected to be much more exciting than its predecessor, however.
Amit Daryanani, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, predicts the event will be "game changing." Daryanani is bullish on the slate of features expected from the new phone and has a price target for the company's stock of $180, which is 11.57% higher than Apple's current price.
Daryanani, and others, are bullish on the new model because it will be the first update to the phone's form factor in several generations. The last major update to the look of the devices came when the phone was updated from the square and boxy iPhone 5 to the current curved look of the larger iPhone 6 and 7.The iPhone X is expected to have a glass back for wireless charging, while the current phones are aluminum backed. It is also expected to have a bezel-less screen in the same vein as Samsung's Galaxy S8.
Despite all the leaks around the new phone, Daryanani still thinks the device has the capacity to surprise investors and customers.Some analysts are expecting a "supercycle" thanks to the new form factorof the next phone, but others say that customersdon't actually care about the fancy new screen, and instead care about less-hyped features like wireless charging more.
The higher price of the next iPhone may give pause to those looking to upgrade, asit's expected to be around $1,000 or more. But Daryanani thinks that even if customers upgrade to the lower-priced, iterative devices likely to be launched alongside the iPhone X, the average selling price of the iPhone device line will be boosted by the new phones.
Apple is also expected to launch updates to other products along with the new iPhones. TheApple watch is likely to get a new LTE radiowhich would allow it to connect to the internet independently of a paired iPhone. The Apple TV is expected to get an upgrade to be 4K-capable.
Apple is up 39.50% this year, including Monday's move.
(Markets Insider)
NOW WATCH:Bitcoin's bubble swells with a new record high
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• Irma is hammering Florida and headed to Georgia — here's the latest
• Hurricane Jose, a major Category 4 storm, is moving through the Caribbean with 130-mph winds || Apple iPhone X will be in 'severe short supply,' KGI says: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 's next high-end iPhone, which is expected to be introduced on Tuesday and called the iPhone X , according to leaks, may be very difficult to buy. According to a note from widely followed KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that was obtained by MacRumors , Apple's suppliers are only able to build 10,000 iPhone X units per day. Kuo said this "means the model will remain in severe short supply for a while." This aligns with earlier reports, including from Kuo, that suggested Apple was having a difficult time manufacturing the phones. One constraint might be OLED panels, which are in short supply. UBS said in August that the high-end iPhone would be delayed until September, so it sounds like Apple has managed to work out some kinks.Kuo added that the "gold version of the OLED iPhone will encounter some production problems and will initially be available in extremely low volume," noting that it might even launch after the other iPhone X colors.The takeaway? Set your alarm to preorder the iPhone X right when it goes on sale — at least if you want to be the first on your block with one.CNBC reached out to Apple for comment but a spokesperson was not immediately available.Read more at MacRumors . Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 's next high-end iPhone, which is expected to be introduced on Tuesday and called the iPhone X , according to leaks, may be very difficult to buy. According to a note from widely followed KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that was obtained by MacRumors , Apple's suppliers are only able to build 10,000 iPhone X units per day. Kuo said this "means the model will remain in severe short supply for a while." This aligns with earlier reports, including from Kuo, that suggested Apple was having a difficult time manufacturing the phones. One constraint might be OLED panels, which are in short supply. UBS said in August that the high-end iPhone would be delayed until September, so it sounds like Apple has managed to work out some kinks. Kuo added that the "gold version of the OLED iPhone will encounter some production problems and will initially be available in extremely low volume," noting that it might even launch after the other iPhone X colors. The takeaway? Set your alarm to preorder the iPhone X right when it goes on sale — at least if you want to be the first on your block with one. CNBC reached out to Apple for comment but a spokesperson was not immediately available. Read more at MacRumors .More From CNBC
• Almost everything Apple is set to announce Tuesday was leaked this weekend
• Bitcoin price falls again on reports that China is shutting down local exchanges
• Here's everything to expect from Apple's iPhone event on Tuesday || Apple iPhone X will be in 'severe short supply,' KGI says: Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 's next high-end iPhone, which is expected to be introduced on Tuesday and called the iPhone X , according to leaks, may be very difficult to buy. According to a note from widely followed KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that was obtained by MacRumors , Apple's suppliers are only able to build 10,000 iPhone X units per day. Kuo said this "means the model will remain in severe short supply for a while." This aligns with earlier reports, including from Kuo, that suggested Apple was having a difficult time manufacturing the phones. One constraint might be OLED panels, which are in short supply. UBS said in August that the high-end iPhone would be delayed until September, so it sounds like Apple has managed to work out some kinks.Kuo added that the "gold version of the OLED iPhone will encounter some production problems and will initially be available in extremely low volume," noting that it might even launch after the other iPhone X colors.The takeaway? Set your alarm to preorder the iPhone X right when it goes on sale at least if you want to be the first on your block with one.CNBC reached out to Apple for comment but a spokesperson was not immediately available.Read more at MacRumors . Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 's next high-end iPhone, which is expected to be introduced on Tuesday and called the iPhone X , according to leaks, may be very difficult to buy. According to a note from widely followed KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that was obtained by MacRumors , Apple's suppliers are only able to build 10,000 iPhone X units per day. Kuo said this "means the model will remain in severe short supply for a while." This aligns with earlier reports, including from Kuo, that suggested Apple was having a difficult time manufacturing the phones. One constraint might be OLED panels, which are in short supply. UBS said in August that the high-end iPhone would be delayed until September, so it sounds like Apple has managed to work out some kinks. Kuo added that the "gold version of the OLED iPhone will encounter some production problems and will initially be available in extremely low volume," noting that it might even launch after the other iPhone X colors. The takeaway? Set your alarm to preorder the iPhone X right when it goes on sale at least if you want to be the first on your block with one. CNBC reached out to Apple for comment but a spokesperson was not immediately available. Read more at MacRumors . More From CNBC Almost everything Apple is set to announce Tuesday was leaked this weekend Bitcoin price falls again on reports that China is shutting down local exchanges Here's everything to expect from Apple's iPhone event on Tuesday || Here's Why Bitcoin's Value Dropped Over the Weekend: Bitcoin prices have tumbled over $1,000 over the past month as China clamps down on cryptocurrency. Chinese authorities have reportedly decided to ban the trading of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on domestic exchanges, the Wall Street Journal reports . That has pushed Bitcoin as low as $3,978 over the weekend. It has since ticked upward to about $4,177 as of early Monday. Thats a 20% drop since the start of September, when Chinas central bank said it would ban initial coin offeringstipping the cryptocurrency from its all-time high of above $5,000. Prior to Chinas most recent clampdown on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin had been soaring as investors grew more optimistic about the future cost and speed of transactions . But news of Chinas potential exchange ban has likely spooked investors. The country accounts for a hefty portion of the Bitcoin market, with about 18% of trades being conducted in Chinese yuan, according to CryptoCompare . Investors in China have been using Bitcoin as a way to protect themselves should the yuan fall in value. Trading their yuan in for Bitcoin can allow Chinese investors to move funds outside of the country. Traditionally, Chinas government has set a $50,000 annual limit on how much its citizens can move outside of the country. Buying Bitcoin was a way to bypass those rules. Still, the ban is not exactly a ban on trading Bitcoin entirely. It still will allow for over-the-counter transactions. While existing users will likely still trade, according to Zhou Shuoji, a founding partner at FBG Capital interviewed by Bloomberg , it will make it more difficult for new users to start trading Bitcointhereby limiting Bitcoins potential growth. Notably, the ban has yet to be officially announced in China, according to the Wall Street Journal. The price of Ethereum also ticked upward slightly to about $290 early Monday, up from $283 over the weekend as investors continued to digest reports of the ban in China. This is part of Fortunes new initiative, The Ledger, a trusted news source at the intersection of tech and finance. For more on The Ledger, click here . || Here's Why Bitcoin's Value Dropped Over the Weekend: Bitcoin prices have tumbled over $1,000 over the past month as China clamps down on cryptocurrency.
Chinese authorities have reportedly decided to ban the trading of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on domestic exchanges, theWall Street Journalreports. That has pushed Bitcoin as low as $3,978 over the weekend. It has since ticked upward to about $4,177 as of early Monday.
That’s a 20% drop since the start of September, whenChina’s central banksaid it would ban initial coin offerings—tipping the cryptocurrency from its all-time high of above $5,000.
Prior to China’s most recent clampdown on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin had been soaring as investors grew more optimistic about thefuture cost and speed of transactions.
But news of China’s potential exchange ban has likely spooked investors. The country accounts for a hefty portion of the Bitcoin market, with about 18% of trades being conducted in Chinese yuan, according toCryptoCompare.
Investors in China have been using Bitcoin as a way to protect themselves should the yuan fall in value. Trading their yuan in for Bitcoin can allow Chinese investors to move funds outside of the country. Traditionally, China’s government has set a $50,000 annual limit on how much its citizens can move outside of the country. Buying Bitcoin was a way to bypass those rules.
Still, the ban is not exactly a ban on trading Bitcoin entirely. It still will allow for over-the-counter transactions. While existing users will likely still trade, according to Zhou Shuoji, a founding partner atFBG Capital interviewed by Bloomberg, it will make it more difficult for new users to start trading Bitcoin—thereby limiting Bitcoin’s potential growth.
Notably, the ban has yet to be officially announced in China, according tothe Wall Street Journal.
The price of Ethereum also ticked upward slightly to about $290 early Monday, up from $283 over the weekend as investors continued to digest reports of the ban in China.
This is part ofFortune’snew initiative,The Ledger,a trusted news source at the intersection of tech and finance. For more onThe Ledger,click here. || Here's Why Bitcoin's Value Dropped Over the Weekend: Bitcoin prices have tumbled over $1,000 over the past month as China clamps down on cryptocurrency.
Chinese authorities have reportedly decided to ban the trading of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on domestic exchanges, theWall Street Journalreports. That has pushed Bitcoin as low as $3,978 over the weekend. It has since ticked upward to about $4,177 as of early Monday.
That’s a 20% drop since the start of September, whenChina’s central banksaid it would ban initial coin offerings—tipping the cryptocurrency from its all-time high of above $5,000.
Prior to China’s most recent clampdown on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin had been soaring as investors grew more optimistic about thefuture cost and speed of transactions.
But news of China’s potential exchange ban has likely spooked investors. The country accounts for a hefty portion of the Bitcoin market, with about 18% of trades being conducted in Chinese yuan, according toCryptoCompare.
Investors in China have been using Bitcoin as a way to protect themselves should the yuan fall in value. Trading their yuan in for Bitcoin can allow Chinese investors to move funds outside of the country. Traditionally, China’s government has set a $50,000 annual limit on how much its citizens can move outside of the country. Buying Bitcoin was a way to bypass those rules.
Still, the ban is not exactly a ban on trading Bitcoin entirely. It still will allow for over-the-counter transactions. While existing users will likely still trade, according to Zhou Shuoji, a founding partner atFBG Capital interviewed by Bloomberg, it will make it more difficult for new users to start trading Bitcoin—thereby limiting Bitcoin’s potential growth.
Notably, the ban has yet to be officially announced in China, according tothe Wall Street Journal.
The price of Ethereum also ticked upward slightly to about $290 early Monday, up from $283 over the weekend as investors continued to digest reports of the ban in China.
This is part ofFortune’snew initiative,The Ledger,a trusted news source at the intersection of tech and finance. For more onThe Ledger,click here.
[Social Media Buzz]
1 DOGE Price: Bter 0.00000035 BTC #doge #dogecoin 2017-09-12 00:31 pic.twitter.com/6hOAMKO3bF || 1 BTC Price: BTC-e USD Bitstamp 4340.00 USD Coinbase 4342.00 USD #btc #bitcoin 2017-09-12 03:30 pic.twitter.com/C804BEstw9 || BTC Real Time Price: ThePriceOfBTC: $4144.42 #bitstamp;
$4142.41 #GDAX;
$4134.45 #gemini;
$4160.00 #kraken;
$4135.80 #hitbtc;
$4375.00 #cex; || #BTC 24hr Summary:
Last: $4268.69
High: $4375.37
Low: $4175.00
Change: 0.50% | $21.42
Volume: $36,082,615.47
$BTC #Bitcoin #Pricebot...
|
3882.59, 3154.95, 3637.52, 3625.04, 3582.88, 4065.20, 3924.97, 3905.95, 3631.04, 3630.70
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 444.67, 450.30, 446.72, 447.98, 459.60, 458.54, 458.55, 460.48, 450.89, 452.73, 454.77, 455.67, 455.67, 457.57, 454.16, 453.78, 454.62, 438.71, 442.68, 443.19, 439.32, 444.15, 445.98, 449.60, 453.38, 473.46, 530.04, 526.23, 533.86, 531.39, 536.92, 537.97, 569.19, 572.73, 574.98, 585.54, 576.60, 581.65, 574.63, 577.47, 606.73, 672.78, 704.38, 685.56, 694.47, 766.31, 748.91, 756.23, 763.78, 737.23, 666.65, 596.12, 623.98, 665.30, 665.12, 629.37, 655.28, 647.00, 639.89, 673.34, 676.30, 703.70, 658.66, 683.66, 670.63, 677.33, 640.56, 666.52, 650.96, 649.36, 647.66, 664.55, 654.47, 658.08, 663.26, 660.77, 679.46, 673.11, 672.86, 665.68, 665.01, 650.62, 655.56, 661.28, 654.10, 651.78, 654.35, 655.03, 656.99, 655.05.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-07-30]
Volume: 38456100, RSI (14-day): 48.98, 50-day EMA: 640.83, 200-day EMA: 520.40
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Gold Consolidation Continues Ahead Of Fed Meeting: At 2 p.m. ET, the Federal Reserve is set to release its decision following this month’s meeting, but the market doesn’t seem to be expecting much. “In another era, there would be massive pressure on the FOMC to raise rates but no-one expects anything from today’s meeting,” Societe Generale analyst Kit Juckes explained. “Still, some acknowledgement of the improved economic backdrop is likely in the statement and the market will go on slowly raising the odds of a 2016 rate hike.” Related Link: Oil & Stocks Have Decoupled, But Daily Returns Remain Correlated Since breaking out to new highs in late June, the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD ) has been drifting downward throughout the month of July. Since July 1, GLD is now down 1.4 percent, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY ) is up 2.9 percent. GLD’s trading range has been particularly narrow over the last 10 sessions, having not traded higher than $127.50 or lower than $125.11 during that stretch. GLD investors are hoping that the Fed’s policy announcement will be the catalyst that will propel GLD out of its consolidation phase and into the next leg up of its rally. GLD is up more than 25 percent-plus since December when the ETF found support at the $100 level. Do you have ideas for articles/interviews you'd like to see more of on Benzinga? Please email [email protected] with your best article ideas. One person will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon gift card! Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned. See more from Benzinga What Does The Blowout June Jobs Report Mean For Investors? Citi Research Sees Safety In Small Caps Looking For Safe Havens? Buy Gold! Buy Treasuries! Buy...Bitcoin? © 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Gold Consolidation Continues Ahead Of Fed Meeting: At 2 p.m. ET, the Federal Reserve is set to release its decision following this month’s meeting, but the market doesn’t seem to be expecting much.
“In another era, there would be massive pressure on the FOMC to raise rates but no-one expects anything from today’s meeting,” Societe Generale analystKit Juckesexplained. “Still, some acknowledgement of the improved economic backdrop is likely in the statement and the market will go on slowly raising the odds of a 2016 rate hike.”
Related Link:Oil & Stocks Have Decoupled, But Daily Returns Remain Correlated
Since breaking out to new highs in late June, theSPDR Gold Trust (ETF)(NYSE:GLD) has been drifting downward throughout the month of July. Since July 1, GLD is now down 1.4 percent, while theSPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust(NYSE:SPY) is up 2.9 percent.
GLD’s trading range has been particularly narrow over the last 10 sessions, having not traded higher than $127.50 or lower than $125.11 during that stretch.
GLD investors are hoping that the Fed’s policy announcement will be the catalyst that will propel GLD out of its consolidation phase and into the next leg up of its rally. GLD is up more than 25 percent-plus since December when the ETF found support at the $100 level.
Do you have ideas for articles/interviews you'd like to see more of on Benzinga? Please email [email protected] with your best article ideas. One person will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon gift card!
Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.
See more from Benzinga
• What Does The Blowout June Jobs Report Mean For Investors?
• Citi Research Sees Safety In Small Caps
• Looking For Safe Havens? Buy Gold! Buy Treasuries! Buy...Bitcoin?
© 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Direxion Adds News ETFs, Reverse Splits 4 ETFs, Forward Splits 5 ETFs: Direxion, the second-largest issuer of inverse and leveraged exchange traded funds, announced Wednesday it has added two new ETFs to its existing lineup of leveraged and inverse ETFs. The Direxion Daily European Financials Bull 2X Shares (Ticker: EUFL) seeks to achieve 200% of the daily performance of the MSCI Europe Financials Index. Meanwhile, The Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bear 1X Shares (Ticker: MELT) seeks to achieve 100% of the inverse of the daily performance of the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index. Direxion_Daily Sylvia Jablonski, Managing Director at Direxion, said the company had recently seen instability in European markets, with the post-Brexit effect yet to subside as political and economic uncertainties remain. The launch of the European Financials leveraged ETF is timely, as market reaction to the EU situation presents the chance for bullish traders to magnify their short-term perspective, Jablonski said. Our new Gold Miners bear ETF will complement the existing suite of ETFs tracking that space, to give traders another option for taking advantage of short-term opportunities. Direxion Announces Reverse and Forward Share Splits of Nine Leveraged ETFs Direxion also announced it will execute reverse share splits for four of its leveraged exchange-traded funds, as well as forward share splits for another five leveraged ETFs. The total market value of the shares outstanding will not be affected as a result of these splits, except with respect to the redemption of fractional shares, as outlined below. Four Reverse Splits Direxion will execute a 1-for-4 reverse split of the Direxion Daily Natural Gas Related Bear 3X Shares (GASX) . The firm will also execute a 1-for-5 reverse split of the Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exp. & Prod. Bear 3X Shares (DRIP) , Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bear 3X Shares (DUST) and Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3X Shares (JDST) . The splits are effective at the open of the market on Aug. 25, 2016. Story continues A summary of the four ETFs undergoing reverse splits is as follows (please note the CUSIP changes, effective Aug. 25, 2016): Direxion_Reverse_Splits As a result of this reverse split, every four or five shares of a Fund will be exchanged for one share as indicated in the table above. Accordingly, the total number of the issued and outstanding shares for the Funds will decrease by the approximate percentage indicated above. In addition, the per share net asset value (NAV) and next days opening market price will be approximately four- or five-times higher for the Funds. Shares of the Funds will begin trading on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the NYSE Arca) on a split-adjusted basis on Aug. 25, 2016. The next days opening market value of the Funds issued and outstanding shares, and thus a shareholders investment value, will not be affected by the reverse split. Trending on ETF Trends Nasdaq Adds Big Q2 Haul of New ETP Listings, Switches ARK Launches ETF Solely Focused on 3D Printing SolidX Reveals Plan to Launch a Bitcoin ETF A Big Day for ETFs as 5 Sponsors Launch New Products OLearys OShares Seeks Big Additions to its ETF Lineup Five Forward Splits Additionally, Direxion will execute forward splits of the Direxion Daily Brazil Bull 3X Shares (BRZU) , Direxion Daily Real Estate Bull 3X Shares (DRN) , Direxion Daily 20+ Treasury Bull 3X Shares (TMF) , Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 3X Shares (NUGT) and the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3X Shares (JNUG) . After the close of the markets on Aug. 24, 2016 (the Payable Date), each Fund will affect a split of its issued and outstanding shares as follows: Direxion_Daily_Markets As a result of these share splits, shareholders of each Fund will receive an additional four, five or 10 shares for each share held of the applicable Fund as indicated in the table above. Accordingly, the number of each Funds issued and outstanding shares will increase by the approximate percentage indicated above. All share splits will apply to shareholders of record as of the close of NYSE Arca, Inc. (the NYSE Arca) on Aug. 23, 2016 (the Record Date), payable after the close of the NYSE Arca on the Payable Date. Shares of the Funds will begin trading on the NYSE Arca on a split-adjusted basis on Aug. 25. 2016 (the Ex-Date). Related: Direxions New Bearish Junk Bond ETF to Hedge Market Risks On the Ex-Date, the opening market value of each Funds issued and outstanding shares, and thus a shareholders investment value, will not be affected by the share split. However, the per share net asset value (NAV) and opening market price on the Ex-Date will be approximately one-fourth, one-fifth or one-tenth for the Funds. The tables below illustrate the effect of a hypothetical 4-for-1, 5-for-1 and 10-for-1 split on a shareholders investment. Click here to read the full story on ETF Trends. The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product. || Direxion Adds News ETFs, Reverse Splits 4 ETFs, Forward Splits 5 ETFs: Direxion, the second-largest issuer of inverse and leveraged exchange traded funds, announced Wednesday it has added two new ETFs to its existing lineup of leveraged and inverse ETFs.
The Direxion Daily European Financials Bull 2X Shares (Ticker: EUFL) seeks to achieve 200% of the daily performance of the MSCI Europe Financials Index.
Meanwhile, The Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bear 1X Shares (Ticker: MELT) seeks to achieve 100% of the inverse of the daily performance of the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index.
Sylvia Jablonski, Managing Director at Direxion, said the company had recently seen instability in European markets, with the post-Brexit effect yet to subside as political and economic uncertainties remain.
“The launch of the European Financials leveraged ETF is timely, as market reaction to the EU situation presents the chance for bullish traders to magnify their short-term perspective,” Jablonski said. “Our new Gold Miners bear ETF will complement the existing suite of ETFs tracking that space, to give traders another option for taking advantage of short-term opportunities.”
Direxion Announces Reverse and Forward Share Splits of Nine Leveraged ETFs
Direxion also announced it will execute reverse share splits for four of its leveraged exchange-traded funds, as well as forward share splits for another five leveraged ETFs. The total market value of the shares outstanding will not be affected as a result of these splits, except with respect to the redemption of fractional shares, as outlined below.
Four Reverse Splits
Direxion will execute a 1-for-4 reverse split of the Direxion Daily Natural Gas Related Bear 3X Shares (GASX) . The firm will also execute a 1-for-5 reverse split of the Direxion Daily S&P Oil & Gas Exp. & Prod. Bear 3X Shares (DRIP) , Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bear 3X Shares (DUST) and Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3X Shares (JDST) . The splits are effective at the open of the market on Aug. 25, 2016.
A summary of the four ETFs undergoing reverse splits is as follows (please note the CUSIP changes, effective Aug. 25, 2016):
As a result of this reverse split, every four or five shares of a Fund will be exchanged for one share as indicated in the table above. Accordingly, the total number of the issued and outstanding shares for the Funds will decrease by the approximate percentage indicated above. In addition, the per share net asset value (“NAV”) and next day’s opening market price will be approximately four- or five-times higher for the Funds. Shares of the Funds will begin trading on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE Arca”) on a split-adjusted basis on Aug. 25, 2016.
The next day’s opening market value of the Funds’ issued and outstanding shares, and thus a shareholder’s investment value, will not be affected by the reverse split.
Trending on ETF Trends
Nasdaq Adds Big Q2 Haul of New ETP Listings, Switches
ARK Launches ETF Solely Focused on 3D Printing
SolidX Reveals Plan to Launch a Bitcoin ETF
A Big Day for ETFs as 5 Sponsors Launch New Products
O’Leary’s O’Shares Seeks Big Additions to its ETF Lineup
Five Forward Splits
Additionally, Direxion will execute forward splits of the Direxion Daily Brazil Bull 3X Shares (BRZU) , Direxion Daily Real Estate Bull 3X Shares (DRN) , Direxion Daily 20+ Treasury Bull 3X Shares (TMF) , Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 3X Shares (NUGT) and the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3X Shares (JNUG) .
After the close of the markets on Aug. 24, 2016 (the “Payable Date”), each Fund will affect a split of its issued and outstanding shares as follows:
As a result of these share splits, shareholders of each Fund will receive an additional four, five or 10 shares for each share held of the applicable Fund as indicated in the table above. Accordingly, the number of each Fund’s issued and outstanding shares will increase by the approximate percentage indicated above.
All share splits will apply to shareholders of record as of the close of NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE Arca”) on Aug. 23, 2016 (the “Record Date”), payable after the close of the NYSE Arca on the Payable Date. Shares of the Funds will begin trading on the NYSE Arca on a split-adjusted basis on Aug. 25. 2016 (the “Ex-Date”).
Related:Direxion’s New Bearish Junk Bond ETF to Hedge Market Risks
On the Ex-Date, the opening market value of each Fund’s issued and outstanding shares, and thus a shareholder’s investment value, will not be affected by the share split. However, the per share net asset value (“NAV”) and opening market price on the Ex-Date will be approximately one-fourth, one-fifth or one-tenth for the Funds. The tables below illustrate the effect of a hypothetical 4-for-1, 5-for-1 and 10-for-1 split on a shareholder’s investment.
Click hereto read the full story on ETF Trends.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product. || After mass shooting, German police focus on 'dark net' crime: By Frank Siebelt WIESBADEN, Germany (Reuters) - German police will do more to fight crime committed on the "dark net", they said on Wednesday, days after a gunman killed nine people with a weapon bought on that hidden part of the internet. "We see that the dark net is a growing trading place and therefore we need to prioritise our investigations here," Holger Muench, head of Germany's Federal Police (BKA), told journalists as he presented the latest annual report on cyber crime. The dark net, which is only accessible via special web browsers, is increasingly used to procure drugs, weapons and counterfeit money, allowing users to trade anonymously and pay with digital currencies such as Bitcoin, the BKA said. The man who killed nine people at a shopping mall in Munich on Friday was a local 18-year-old obsessed with mass killings who had bought his reactivated 9mm Glock 17 pistol on the dark web, Bavarian officials said. The BKA said it had taken five market places in the dark net out of circulation last year. Muench said the BKA did not just want to take the sites offline but also catch criminals using them. Cyber crime cost Germany 40.5 million euros ($44.5 million) last year, the BKA's report said, a rise of 2.8 percent. Most of the more than 45,000 cases involved computer fraud. Muench said the figures only represented a small part of the true size of cyber crime. "If we look ahead we see little relief," he said. "Cyber crime is still a growing phenomenon - you could say almost a growing business, even a growing industry." Police solved 32.8 percent of cyber crime last year, Muench said, adding that many crimes do not get past the exploratory phase and others go unnoticed or are not reported. ($1 = 0.9098 euros) (Writing and additional reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) || After mass shooting, German police focus on 'dark net' crime: By Frank Siebelt WIESBADEN, Germany (Reuters) - German police will do more to fight crime committed on the "dark net", they said on Wednesday, days after a gunman killed nine people with a weapon bought on that hidden part of the internet. "We see that the dark net is a growing trading place and therefore we need to prioritise our investigations here," Holger Muench, head of Germany's Federal Police (BKA), told journalists as he presented the latest annual report on cyber crime. The dark net, which is only accessible via special web browsers, is increasingly used to procure drugs, weapons and counterfeit money, allowing users to trade anonymously and pay with digital currencies such as Bitcoin, the BKA said. The man who killed nine people at a shopping mall in Munich on Friday was a local 18-year-old obsessed with mass killings who had bought his reactivated 9mm Glock 17 pistol on the dark web, Bavarian officials said. The BKA said it had taken five market places in the dark net out of circulation last year. Muench said the BKA did not just want to take the sites offline but also catch criminals using them. Cyber crime cost Germany 40.5 million euros ($44.5 million) last year, the BKA's report said, a rise of 2.8 percent. Most of the more than 45,000 cases involved computer fraud. Muench said the figures only represented a small part of the true size of cyber crime. "If we look ahead we see little relief," he said. "Cyber crime is still a growing phenomenon - you could say almost a growing business, even a growing industry." Police solved 32.8 percent of cyber crime last year, Muench said, adding that many crimes do not get past the exploratory phase and others go unnoticed or are not reported. ($1 = 0.9098 euros) (Writing and additional reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) || Your first trade for Wednesday, July 27: The "Fast Money" traders shared their first moves for the market open.
Dan Nathan was a seller of Apple(NASDAQ: AAPL). The iPhone maker had reported an earnings beat after Tuesday's close.
Brian Kelly was a seller of the SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF(NYSE Arca: XME).
Karen Finerman was a buyer of Facebook(NASDAQ: FB)which is due to report quarterly numbers after Wednesday's close.
Guy Adami was a buyer of Valero(NYSE: VLO).
Trader disclosure: On July 26, 2016, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, DXJ, GLD, MOS, POT, SLV, US Dollar UUP; he is short CHF=, EUR=, JPY=. Karen Finerman is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, DRII, DRII calls, FB, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, DRII, DRII calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI, her firm is short IWM, MDY. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. Dan Nathan is Long JD Aug call spread, Long TWTR, IWM long Sept put, XLF long Aug put spread, XLK long Sept Put spread, FXI long Aug put spread, SMH long Aug put spread, long PYPL call calendar, long C Aug put spread, XOP Sept put spread, TGT long Aug calls, TSLA long Aug put, BAC long Sept put, Long FEZ Nov put spread.Guy Adamiis long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
BGC Financial's Colin Gillis: No disclosures.
SunTrust's Robert Peck:An affiliate of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. has received compensation for non-securities servicesfrom Twitter (TWTR) within the last 12 months.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || Your first trade for Wednesday, July 27: The " Fast Money " traders shared their first moves for the market open. Dan Nathan was a seller of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) . The iPhone maker had reported an earnings beat after Tuesday's close. Brian Kelly was a seller of the SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (NYSE Arca: XME) . Karen Finerman was a buyer of Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) which is due to report quarterly numbers after Wednesday's close. Guy Adami was a buyer of Valero (NYSE: VLO) . Trader disclosure: On July 26, 2016, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, DXJ, GLD, MOS, POT, SLV, US Dollar UUP; he is short CHF=, EUR=, JPY=. Karen Finerman is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, DRII, DRII calls, FB, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, DRII, DRII calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI, her firm is short IWM, MDY. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. Dan Nathan is Long JD Aug call spread, Long TWTR, IWM long Sept put, XLF long Aug put spread, XLK long Sept Put spread, FXI long Aug put spread, SMH long Aug put spread, long PYPL call calendar, long C Aug put spread, XOP Sept put spread, TGT long Aug calls, TSLA long Aug put, BAC long Sept put, Long FEZ Nov put spread. Guy Adamiis long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. BGC Financial's Colin Gillis: No disclosures. SunTrust's Robert Peck: An affiliate of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. has received compensation for non-securities services from Twitter (TWTR) within the last 12 months. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Europe's first regulated asset-backed bitcoin product launches in Gibraltar: (Corrects headline and lead to make clear is Europe's first regulated asset-backed bitcoin product, not first regulated bitcoin product. Adds detail on regulated derivative product in 5th paragraph)
By Jemima Kelly
LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - Europe's first regulated asset-backed bitcoin product - an exchange-traded instrument that will invest exclusively in the digital currency - begins trading this week on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Boerse.
The Web-based currency can be used to send money instantly around the world, free of charge and with no need for third-party checks. It is accepted by several major online retailers and is used in more than 200,000 daily transactions.
Its value has been highly volatile, peaking at more than$1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. It has since stabilised somewhat, trading at around $655 on Monday, up more than 50 percent this year.
BitcoinETI will be available through regulated brokerages across Europe, and settlement will be handled through Clearstream and Euroclear, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange said, rather than via bitcoin's shared ledger system - the blockchain.
One regulated bitcoin exchange-traded product already exists in Europe, though it is a derivative rather than asset-backed: XBT Provider's exchange-traded note tracks the price of bitcoin and is traded on the Nasdaq OMX in Stockholm.
In the United States, where regulation of bitcoin and financial technology more broadly tends to be more onerous, twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss - entrepreneurs who famously sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea - have been waiting for approval for a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund for three years.
Their proposed Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust would be the first ETF issued by a U.S. entity that invests solely in bitcoin.
Another ETF issued by New York-based ARK Investment Management last year became the first ETF to invest in bitcoin, but it also invests in other fintech companies.
The new European ETI, issued by Gibraltar-based iStructure PCC and sponsored by one of its subsidies, Revoltura, comes as a result of talks between stakeholders, including the Financial Services Commission - Gibraltar's regulator - and the British Overseas Territory's government.
"By listing the ETI on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, which is an EU-regulated market, we are able to bring a high level of transparency and liquidity to investors," said Revoltura CEO Ransu Salovaara.
(Editing by Hugh Lawson) || Europe's first regulated asset-backed bitcoin product launches in Gibraltar: (Corrects headline and lead to make clear is Europe's first regulated asset-backed bitcoin product, not first regulated bitcoin product. Adds detail on regulated derivative product in 5th paragraph) By Jemima Kelly LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - Europe's first regulated asset-backed bitcoin product - an exchange-traded instrument that will invest exclusively in the digital currency - begins trading this week on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Boerse. The Web-based currency can be used to send money instantly around the world, free of charge and with no need for third-party checks. It is accepted by several major online retailers and is used in more than 200,000 daily transactions. Its value has been highly volatile, peaking at more than$1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. It has since stabilised somewhat, trading at around $655 on Monday, up more than 50 percent this year. BitcoinETI will be available through regulated brokerages across Europe, and settlement will be handled through Clearstream and Euroclear, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange said, rather than via bitcoin's shared ledger system - the blockchain. One regulated bitcoin exchange-traded product already exists in Europe, though it is a derivative rather than asset-backed: XBT Provider's exchange-traded note tracks the price of bitcoin and is traded on the Nasdaq OMX in Stockholm. In the United States, where regulation of bitcoin and financial technology more broadly tends to be more onerous, twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss - entrepreneurs who famously sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea - have been waiting for approval for a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund for three years. Their proposed Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust would be the first ETF issued by a U.S. entity that invests solely in bitcoin. Another ETF issued by New York-based ARK Investment Management last year became the first ETF to invest in bitcoin, but it also invests in other fintech companies. Story continues The new European ETI, issued by Gibraltar-based iStructure PCC and sponsored by one of its subsidies, Revoltura, comes as a result of talks between stakeholders, including the Financial Services Commission - Gibraltar's regulator - and the British Overseas Territory's government. "By listing the ETI on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, which is an EU-regulated market, we are able to bring a high level of transparency and liquidity to investors," said Revoltura CEO Ransu Salovaara. (Editing by Hugh Lawson) || Meet the Reddit-like social network that rewards bloggers in bitcoin: In the digital currency world, people love to talk about the “killer app,” a use for the technology that would bring it truly mainstream and compel the people who are dubious about Bitcoin to buy in. Many are still waiting for it, and say bitcoin needs it to succeed in the long run. Ned Scott believes he’s got it. Scott is the cofounder and CEO of Steemit , a social network that runs on a new cryptocurrency called steem. Scott, a former analyst at food-industry private equity firm Gellert Group, and Dan Larimer, founder of BitShares, launched the network and the currency in April. Since that time, its market cap has ballooned from $2,000 to $300 million. The platform is very young, and has its problems, but it shows impressive potential. Steemit works like Reddit, which Scott cites as an overt influence but says he hasn’t used. Steemit users publish a blog post—it could be any length, any topic at all—and other users can “upvote” it. The twist: Every upvote represents a small amount of steem power. Think of steem power as a representation of influence, because the more you have, the more power your upvote has to move someone else’s post up when you upvote it. Steem power can be converted to steem dollars, which at the moment trade for about $3.25 USD each. That’s tiny, sure, but more steem is created from more activity on Steemit, and the $300 million market cap of steem is enough to rank it No. 3 among all cryptocurrencies , according to CoinMarketCap, behind only bitcoin and ether, the currency of the Ethereum network . Steemit’s ‘trending’ forum “It’s internet points, like you have on Reddit, but now those points have real market value,” says Scott. “People are earning money for doing the things they were doing for free before. People spend all this time creating free content for social media companies, and now they can be rewarded.” That sounds pretty good. And indeed, multiple Steemit users say they have cashed out more than $10,000 from posting on Steemit. The site pays you 24 hours after a post; 75% of the steem power goes to the writer, 25% to the curators—that is, those who upvoted the post, in different amounts according to their influence. Steemit made its first cumulative payout on July 4, amounting to $1.3 million USD. Steemit says it has seen more than 700 new signups every day for the past week. Heidi Chakos, a travel blogger, says she paid off her credit card bill this month entirely with money she made on Steemit. The Indiana resident is currently traveling around the world in two-week spurts, and she posts about her adventures; one recent post about Tahiti earned 660 upvotes, or $8,930 in steem power . Chakos previously used a Squarespace blog for her posts, but now posts solely on Steemit. “For others, it all might seem farfetched at first,” she says, “but in my experience, once you explain ceryptocurrency to people, they get exited about it. I think Steemit is going to blow Facebook out of the water.” Story continues At this point, that’s likely a stretch. But as a test, I posted on Steemit. It was nothing special: I wrote that I’m a Yahoo Finance writer and I was exploring Steemit to write a news story about it. My post quickly amassed 61 votes , which translates to $75.04 in steem power. The system cashed that out to me in half steem power, half steem, so I have 37.5 steem dollars in my wallet, which translates to $120. Not bad. If all of that sounds rather complicated, Scott insists that users don’t need to worry about how the system works to use it and make money. It is an argument many have made about the bitcoin blockchain, comparing it to the HTTP technology that powers web pages, or the SMTP protocol that makes e-mail work. “You don’t need a high level of understanding to sign up,” he says. “Digital currency is moving into a stage similar to the automobile: it gets you from point A to point B. People post, they get money, and their lives are better. They don’t need to know the way it works or worry too much about the specifics in order to post, enjoy it, and get rewarded.” The problem is that withdrawing money isn’t such an easy process to learn for a bitcoin layperson: First you must convert your steem dollars to bitcoin, then, if you want fiat currency, convert your bitcoin to US dollars. Chakos says that wasn’t so hard. She used the exchange web site Bittrex to convert steem dollars to bitcoin, then sent that bitcoin from Bittrex to her Coinbase account, then transferred bitcoin from Coinbase to US dollars in her bank account. “It took like 30 minutes,” she says. In addition to the learning curve, Steem suffered a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack earlier this month, resulting in the theft of $85,000 worth of steem. It was, on a much smaller scale, not unlike a hack of the DAO network last month, which runs on the Ethereum blockchain; that theft amounted to $50 million worth of the cryptocurrency ether. Along with security concerns are the usual fears about Ponzi schemes or pump-and-dumps that come with cryptocurrency engines. Steemit has high hopes it will become so ubiquitous it can serve as the de facto content-creation system, even on other platforms as a plug-in, through a steem widget for WordPress (coming soon) and other blogs. “And then bloggers don’t have to change their habits or leave their blog,” he says. The ambition matches what another bitcoin reward company, ChangeTip, wants to do; it calls itself a “love button for the Internet.” The social tool lets you send someone a tip, in bitcoin, for a blog post you enjoyed. But Scott says, “Tipping comes with friction” such as how much to tip, and when it’s appropriate for the writer to accept. Steem, he argues, makes more sense for the internet because, “It’s more like someone’s influence. And the more someone has, the more they can promote their own posts up the blockchain, and the more they can promote other people. It’s something that eventually publishers and brands will want to use to promote their own content.” But is it the “killer app?” — Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports business and technology. Follow him on Twitter at @ readDanwrite . Read more: Why Ethereum is the hottest new thing in digital currency The latest Bitcoin price hike is not all about Brexit British bitcoin market sent incredible signals ahead of Brexit Here’s why 21 Inc. is the most exciting bitcoin company right now View comments || Meet the Reddit-like social network that rewards bloggers in bitcoin: In the digital currency world, people love to talk about the “killer app,” a use for the technology that would bring it truly mainstream and compel the people who are dubious about Bitcoin to buy in. Many are still waiting for it, and say bitcoin needs it to succeed in the long run. Ned Scott believes he’s got it.
Scott is the cofounder and CEO ofSteemit, a social network that runs on a new cryptocurrency called steem. Scott, a former analyst at food-industry private equity firm Gellert Group, and Dan Larimer, founder of BitShares, launched the network and the currency in April. Since that time, its market cap has ballooned from $2,000 to $300 million. The platform is very young, and has its problems, but it shows impressive potential.
Steemit works like Reddit, which Scott cites as an overt influence but says he hasn’t used. Steemit users publish a blog post—it could be any length, any topic at all—and other users can “upvote” it. The twist: Every upvote represents a small amount of steem power. Think of steem power as a representation of influence, because the more you have, the more power your upvote has to move someone else’s post up when you upvote it. Steem power can be converted to steem dollars, which at the moment trade for about $3.25 USD each.
That’s tiny, sure, but more steem is created from more activity on Steemit, and the $300 million market cap of steem is enough to rank itNo. 3 among all cryptocurrencies, according to CoinMarketCap, behind only bitcoin andether, the currency of the Ethereum network.
“It’s internet points, like you have on Reddit, but now those points have real market value,” says Scott. “People are earning money for doing the things they were doing for free before. People spend all this time creating free content for social media companies, and now they can be rewarded.”
That sounds pretty good. And indeed, multiple Steemit users say they have cashed out more than $10,000 from posting on Steemit. The site pays you 24 hours after a post; 75% of the steem power goes to the writer, 25% to the curators—that is, those who upvoted the post, in different amounts according to their influence. Steemit made its first cumulative payout on July 4, amounting to $1.3 million USD. Steemit says it has seen more than 700 new signups every day for the past week.
Heidi Chakos, a travel blogger, says she paid off her credit card bill this month entirely with money she made on Steemit. The Indiana resident is currently traveling around the world in two-week spurts, and she posts about her adventures; one recent post about Tahitiearned 660 upvotes, or $8,930 in steem power. Chakos previously used a Squarespace blog for her posts, but now posts solely on Steemit. “For others, it all might seem farfetched at first,” she says, “but in my experience, once you explain ceryptocurrency to people, they get exited about it. I think Steemit is going to blow Facebook out of the water.”
At this point, that’s likely a stretch. But as a test, I posted on Steemit. It was nothing special: I wrote that I’m a Yahoo Finance writer and I was exploring Steemit to write a news story about it.My post quickly amassed 61 votes, which translates to $75.04 in steem power. The system cashed that out to me in half steem power, half steem, so I have 37.5 steem dollars in my wallet, which translates to $120. Not bad.
If all of that sounds rather complicated, Scott insists that users don’t need to worry about how the system works to use it and make money. It is an argument many have made about the bitcoin blockchain, comparing it to the HTTP technology that powers web pages, or the SMTP protocol that makes e-mail work. “You don’t need a high level of understanding to sign up,” he says. “Digital currency is moving into a stage similar to the automobile: it gets you from point A to point B. People post, they get money, and their lives are better. They don’t need to know the way it works or worry too much about the specifics in order to post, enjoy it, and get rewarded.”
The problem is that withdrawing money isn’t such an easy process to learn for a bitcoin layperson: First you must convert your steem dollars to bitcoin, then, if you want fiat currency, convert your bitcoin to US dollars.
Chakos says that wasn’t so hard. She used the exchange web site Bittrex to convert steem dollars to bitcoin, then sent that bitcoin from Bittrex to her Coinbase account, then transferred bitcoin from Coinbase to US dollars in her bank account. “It took like 30 minutes,” she says.
In addition to the learning curve, Steem suffered a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack earlier this month, resulting in the theft of $85,000 worth of steem. It was, on a much smaller scale, not unlike a hack of the DAO network last month, which runs on the Ethereum blockchain; that theft amounted to $50 million worth of the cryptocurrency ether. Along with security concerns arethe usual fears about Ponzi schemesor pump-and-dumps that come with cryptocurrency engines.
Steemit has high hopes it will become so ubiquitous it can serve as the de facto content-creation system, even on other platforms as a plug-in, through a steem widget for WordPress (coming soon) and other blogs. “And then bloggers don’t have to change their habits or leave their blog,” he says.
The ambition matches what another bitcoin reward company, ChangeTip, wants to do; it calls itself a “love button for the Internet.” The social tool lets you send someone a tip, in bitcoin, for a blog post you enjoyed. But Scott says, “Tipping comes with friction” such as how much to tip, and when it’s appropriate for the writer to accept.
Steem, he argues, makes more sense for the internet because, “It’s more like someone’s influence. And the more someone has, the more they can promote their own posts up the blockchain, and the more they can promote other people. It’s something that eventually publishers and brands will want to use to promote their own content.”
But is it the “killer app?”
—
Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports business and technology. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
Read more:
Why Ethereum is the hottest new thing in digital currency
The latest Bitcoin price hike is not all about Brexit
British bitcoin market sent incredible signals ahead of Brexit
Here’s why 21 Inc. is the most exciting bitcoin company right now || Europe's first regulated bitcoin product launches in Gibraltar: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's first regulated bitcoin product - an asset-backed exchange-traded instrument that will invest exclusively in the digital currency - begins trading this week on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Boerse. The Web-based currency can be used to send money instantly around the world, free of charge and with no need for third-party checks. It is accepted by several major online retailers and is used in more than 200,000 daily transactions. Its value has been highly volatile, peaking at more than$1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. It has since stabilised somewhat, trading at around $655 on Monday, up more than 50 percent this year. BitcoinETI will be available through regulated brokerages across Europe, and settlement will be handled through Clearstream and Euroclear, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange said, rather than via bitcoin's shared ledger system - the blockchain. In the United States, where regulation of bitcoin and financial technology more broadly tends to be more onerous, twins Cameron and Tyles Winklevoss - entrepreneurs who famously sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea - have been waiting for approval for a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund for three years. Their proposed Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust would be the first ETF issued by a U.S. entity that invests solely in bitcoin. Another ETF issued by New York-based ARK Investment Management last year became the first ETF to invest in bitcoin, but it also invests in other fintech companies. The new European ETI, issued by Gibraltar-based iStructure PCC and sponsored by one of its subsidies, Revoltura, comes as a result of talks between stakeholders, including the Financial Services Commission - Gibraltar's regulator - and the British Overseas Territory's government. "By listing the ETI on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, which is an EU-regulated market, we are able to bring a high level of transparency and liquidity to investors," said Revoltura CEO Ransu Salovaara. (Editing by Hugh Lawson) || Europe's first regulated bitcoin product launches in Gibraltar: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's first regulated bitcoin product - an asset-backed exchange-traded instrument that will invest exclusively in the digital currency - begins trading this week on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Boerse. The Web-based currency can be used to send money instantly around the world, free of charge and with no need for third-party checks. It is accepted by several major online retailers and is used in more than 200,000 daily transactions. Its value has been highly volatile, peaking at more than$1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. It has since stabilised somewhat, trading at around $655 on Monday, up more than 50 percent this year. BitcoinETI will be available through regulated brokerages across Europe, and settlement will be handled through Clearstream and Euroclear, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange said, rather than via bitcoin's shared ledger system - the blockchain. In the United States, where regulation of bitcoin and financial technology more broadly tends to be more onerous, twins Cameron and Tyles Winklevoss - entrepreneurs who famously sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea - have been waiting for approval for a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund for three years. Their proposed Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust would be the first ETF issued by a U.S. entity that invests solely in bitcoin. Another ETF issued by New York-based ARK Investment Management last year became the first ETF to invest in bitcoin, but it also invests in other fintech companies. The new European ETI, issued by Gibraltar-based iStructure PCC and sponsored by one of its subsidies, Revoltura, comes as a result of talks between stakeholders, including the Financial Services Commission - Gibraltar's regulator - and the British Overseas Territory's government. "By listing the ETI on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, which is an EU-regulated market, we are able to bring a high level of transparency and liquidity to investors," said Revoltura CEO Ransu Salovaara. (Editing by Hugh Lawson) || Europe's first regulated bitcoin product launches in Gibraltar: By Jemima Kelly
LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - Europe's first regulated bitcoin product - an asset-backed exchange-traded instrument that will invest exclusively in the digital currency - begins trading this week on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Boerse.
The Web-based currency can be used to send money instantly around the world, free of charge and with no need for third-party checks. It is accepted by several major online retailers and is used in more than 200,000 daily transactions.
Its value has been highly volatile, peaking at more than$1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. It has since stabilised somewhat, trading at around $655 on Monday, up more than 50 percent this year.
BitcoinETI will be available through regulated brokerages across Europe, and settlement will be handled through Clearstream and Euroclear, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange said, rather than via bitcoin's shared ledger system - the blockchain.
In the United States, where regulation of bitcoin and financial technology more broadly tends to be more onerous, twins Cameron and Tyles Winklevoss - entrepreneurs who famously sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea - have been waiting for approval for a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund for three years.
Their proposed Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust would be the first ETF issued by a U.S. entity that invests solely in bitcoin.
Another ETF issued by New York-based ARK Investment Management last year became the first ETF to invest in bitcoin, but it also invests in other fintech companies.
The new European ETI, issued by Gibraltar-based iStructure PCC and sponsored by one of its subsidies, Revoltura, comes as a result of talks between stakeholders, including the Financial Services Commission - Gibraltar's regulator - and the British Overseas Territory's government.
"By listing the ETI on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, which is an EU-regulated market, we are able to bring a high level of transparency and liquidity to investors," said Revoltura CEO Ransu Salovaara.
(Editing by Hugh Lawson) || Europe's first regulated bitcoin product launches in Gibraltar: By Jemima Kelly LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - Europe's first regulated bitcoin product - an asset-backed exchange-traded instrument that will invest exclusively in the digital currency - begins trading this week on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Boerse. The Web-based currency can be used to send money instantly around the world, free of charge and with no need for third-party checks. It is accepted by several major online retailers and is used in more than 200,000 daily transactions. Its value has been highly volatile, peaking at more than$1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. It has since stabilised somewhat, trading at around $655 on Monday, up more than 50 percent this year. BitcoinETI will be available through regulated brokerages across Europe, and settlement will be handled through Clearstream and Euroclear, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange said, rather than via bitcoin's shared ledger system - the blockchain. In the United States, where regulation of bitcoin and financial technology more broadly tends to be more onerous, twins Cameron and Tyles Winklevoss - entrepreneurs who famously sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea - have been waiting for approval for a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund for three years. Their proposed Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust would be the first ETF issued by a U.S. entity that invests solely in bitcoin. Another ETF issued by New York-based ARK Investment Management last year became the first ETF to invest in bitcoin, but it also invests in other fintech companies. The new European ETI, issued by Gibraltar-based iStructure PCC and sponsored by one of its subsidies, Revoltura, comes as a result of talks between stakeholders, including the Financial Services Commission - Gibraltar's regulator - and the British Overseas Territory's government. "By listing the ETI on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, which is an EU-regulated market, we are able to bring a high level of transparency and liquidity to investors," said Revoltura CEO Ransu Salovaara. (Editing by Hugh Lawson) View comments
[Social Media Buzz]
1 KOBO = 0.00000212 BTC
= 0.0014 USD
= 0.4470 NGN
= 0.0195 ZAR
= 0.1418 KES
#Kobocoin 2016-07-30 23:00 pic.twitter.com/tpvZHoh0lB || 1 KOBO = 0.00001347 BTC
= 0.0088 USD
= 2.8094 NGN
= 0.1226 ZAR
= 0.8913 KES
#Kobocoin 2016-07-30 14:00 pic.twitter.com/WgLQpRyRZP || [Bitcoin] Bitcoin and United States Dollar: 0.0010 BTC = 0.65 USD
1.00 USD = 0.0015 BTCConverter #YAF || BTCTurk 1949.6 TL BTCe 647.313 $ CampBx $ BitStamp 655.00 $ Cavirtex $ CEXIO 660.48 $ Bitcoin.de 594.19 € ...
|
624.68, 606.27, 547.47, 566.35, 578.29, 575.04, 587.78, 592.69, 591.05, 587.80
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 654.47, 658.08, 663.26, 660.77, 679.46, 673.11, 672.86, 665.68, 665.01, 650.62, 655.56, 661.28, 654.10, 651.78, 654.35, 655.03, 656.99, 655.05, 624.68, 606.27, 547.47, 566.35, 578.29, 575.04, 587.78, 592.69, 591.05, 587.80, 592.10, 589.12, 587.56, 585.59, 570.47, 567.24, 577.44, 573.22, 574.32, 575.63, 581.70, 581.31, 586.75, 583.41, 580.18, 577.76, 579.65, 569.95, 573.91, 574.11, 577.50, 575.47, 572.30, 575.54, 598.21, 608.63, 606.59, 610.44, 614.54, 626.32, 622.86, 623.51, 606.72, 608.24, 609.24, 610.68, 607.16, 606.97, 605.98, 609.87, 609.23, 608.31, 597.15, 596.30, 602.84, 602.62, 600.83, 608.04, 606.17, 604.73, 605.69, 609.73, 613.98, 610.89, 612.13, 610.20, 612.51, 613.02, 617.12, 619.11, 616.75, 618.99.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-10-10]
Volume: 67481104, RSI (14-day): 61.95, 50-day EMA: 607.03, 200-day EMA: 560.48
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Traders weigh opportunity in Deutsche Bank as European banks gain: The " Fast Money " traders debated whether it's time to buy Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBK-DE) after the European banks (Mexico Stock Exchange: SX7P-MX) saw their best weekly performance in a month . Trader Karen Finerman said "the leverage and potential volatility in [Deutsche Bank] is enormous." She said she bought some call options in the stock. Trader Steve Grasso agreed and said he was tempted to buy the stock on Friday. Grasso said he feels Deutsche will be able to resolve its issues and that he sees positive headlines for the bank rolling in. Trader Guy Adami wasn't confident that was the case. He said the $14-billion opening position levied by the Justice Department in September came well after the stock had begun to decline. U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche have declined more than 52 percent in the past year. Disclosures: STEVE GRASSO Grasso is long: BA, CC, CHK, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MON, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. Grasso's children own: EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY NO SHORTS. His firm is long VIRT, DVN, LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, VALE, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, NXTD, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, JCP, GE, AIR, FP BRIAN KELLY Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and Japanese yen. KAREN FINERMAN Karen is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, long DB calls, short DB preferred, FB, FL, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI. Her firm is short IWM, MDY. Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. GUY ADAMI Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Traders weigh opportunity in Deutsche Bank as European banks gain: The "Fast Money" traders debated whether it's time to buy Deutsche Bank(XETRA:DBK-DE)after the European banks(Mexico Stock Exchange: SX7P-MX)saw theirbest weekly performance in a month.
Trader Karen Finerman said "the leverage and potential volatility in [Deutsche Bank] is enormous." She said she bought some call options in the stock.
Trader Steve Grasso agreed and said he was tempted to buy the stock on Friday. Grasso said he feels Deutsche will be able to resolve its issues and that he sees positive headlines for the bank rolling in.
Trader Guy Adami wasn't confident that was the case. He said the $14-billion opening position levied by the Justice Department in September came well after the stock had begun to decline. U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche have declined more than 52 percent in the past year.
Disclosures:
STEVE GRASSO
Grasso is long: BA, CC, CHK, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MON, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. Grasso's children own: EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY NO SHORTS. His firm is long VIRT, DVN, LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, VALE, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, NXTD, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, JCP, GE, AIR, FP
BRIAN KELLY
Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and Japanese yen.
KAREN FINERMAN
Karen is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, long DB calls, short DB preferred, FB, FL, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI. Her firm is short IWM, MDY. Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.
GUY ADAMI
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || Your first trade for Friday, October 7: The "Fast Money" traders shared their first moves for the market open.
Tim Seymour was a buyer of Total S.A.(Euronext Paris: FP-FR).
Brian Kelly was a seller of UnitedHealth(NYSE: UNH).
Dan Nathan was a buyer of Twitter(NYSE: TWTR).
Guy Adami was a buyer of CME Group(NASDAQ: CME).
Trader disclosure: On October 6, 2016, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM. short: SPY, XRT; Tim's firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, short EWG, HYG, IWM. Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, DXJ, TLT, XOP, WTI, US Dollar UUP; he is short EUR=, JPY=, GBP=. Dan Nathan is long TWTR, long PYPL oct call, Long FEZ Nov put spread, long EEM Nov put spread, long XHB jan put spread, long XLK Jan put spread, long XLU Dec call spread, SMH Nov Put Spread. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || Your first trade for Friday, October 7: The " Fast Money " traders shared their first moves for the market open. Tim Seymour was a buyer of Total S.A. (Euronext Paris: FP-FR) . Brian Kelly was a seller of UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) . Dan Nathan was a buyer of Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) . Guy Adami was a buyer of CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) . Trader disclosure: On October 6, 2016, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM. short: SPY, XRT; Tim's firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, short EWG, HYG, IWM. Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, DXJ, TLT, XOP, WTI, US Dollar UUP; he is short EUR=, JPY=, GBP=. Dan Nathan is long TWTR, long PYPL oct call, Long FEZ Nov put spread, long EEM Nov put spread, long XHB jan put spread, long XLK Jan put spread, long XLU Dec call spread, SMH Nov Put Spread. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || These Two Charts Show How Much Damage Hurricane Matthew Could Cause: Hurricane Matthew could end up being a disaster well into the nine figures in the U.S.
As the storm, which has already been linked to more than 100 deaths in Haiti, bears down on the coast of Miami, the primary concernfor elected officials and everyone else on the southeastern coast of the United States is protecting human life.
But a secondary concern--and one that will be on people's minds in the coming days--is the likely very costly property damage thatwill ensue as the storm makes landfall. Analysts at CoreLogic, the global property information and analytics firm, has put together estimates of "number of properties at risk of storm surge damage for each of the five hurricane categories as well as the accompanyingreconstruction cost value for these properties."
The estimate: As much as $326 billion dollars.
That would certainly make Matthew a Mega story. It's highly unlikely, though, that damage would reach thatlevel. First of all, this would require Matthew to remain a category four hurricane as itbarreledthrough 4 states: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Matthew does look likely to make landfall as a category four, but it is likely that only one of these states faces the maximum damages, and that the hurricane loses strength as it passes through others. The worst hurricane, in terms of damage in the U.S.--Katrina--which decimated New Orleans, topped out at just over $50 billion in damage.
Still, if Matthew ends up to doing anywhere nears as much damage as some estimate it could easily make the top 10 of worst storms.
See original article on Fortune.com
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• Risk of Bitcoin Hacks and Losses Is Very Real || These Two Charts Show How Much Damage Hurricane Matthew Could Cause: Hurricane Matthew could end up being a disaster well into the nine figures in the U.S. As the storm, which has already been linked to more than 100 deaths in Haiti, bears down on the coast of Miami, the primary concern for elected officials and everyone else on the southeastern coast of the United States is protecting human life. But a secondary concern--and one that will be on people's minds in the coming days--is the likely very costly property damage that will ensue as the storm makes landfall. Analysts at CoreLogic, the global property information and analytics firm, has put together estimates of "number of properties at risk of storm surge damage for each of the five hurricane categories as well as the accompanying reconstruction cost value for these properties." The estimate: As much as $326 billion dollars. recon_matthew_480 That would certainly make Matthew a Mega story. It's highly unlikely, though, that damage would reach that level. First of all, this would require Matthew to remain a category four hurricane as it barreled through 4 states: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Matthew does look likely to make landfall as a category four, but it is likely that only one of these states faces the maximum damages, and that the hurricane loses strength as it passes through others. The worst hurricane, in terms of damage in the U.S.--Katrina--which decimated New Orleans, topped out at just over $50 billion in damage. costliest_hurricanes_480 Still, if Matthew ends up to doing anywhere nears as much damage as some estimate it could easily make the top 10 of worst storms. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com This Insurance Giant Is Getting Ready to Acquire Its Rivals Google Looks to Partner With Insurance Companies in France Giant Insurance Firm Pays $120 Million for Mini-Madoff Allstate Just Used Drones to Inspect Homes in Texas Risk of Bitcoin Hacks and Losses Is Very Real View comments || JPMorgan is developing a new blockchain project: Blockchain (BII) This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Fintech Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . JPMorgan Chase is working with Ethereum startup EthLab on a new blockchain project called Quorum, the Wall Street Journal and CoinDesk report. The two parties will develop a private, permissioned blockchain built off of the public Ethereum network's code. This is the latest project to come out of JPMorgan Chase's working group, the Blockchain Center of Excellence. Unlike other banks, JPMorgan is not building an entirely new blockchain system from scratch — it is using the concept of a permissioned blockchain. The bank is utilizing a publically accessible code to develop its solution. But unlike public blockchains such as the one used by Bitcoin, JPMorgan's will be private and permissioned, meaning the bank will be able to limit access to transactions to selected parties, such as parties in a trade or a regulator. This will make it private and secure enough for traders to use for transactions, and accessible enough for regulators to provide oversight. Such functionality is considered a vital element needed before banks will adopt blockchain technology widely. This approach stands to give JPMorgan significant advantages over its rivals. Using existing code to build a blockchain solution is significantly cheaper than developing its own network. Moreover, by using a publically accessible network, JPMorgan can build a blockchain that could theoretically be plugged into other systems built on the same network. For context, institutions building their own networks may find their end solutions to be incompatible with each other. This ease-of-use could potentially give JPMorgan an edge over other banks experimenting with blockchain, as its solution may be more likely to be widely adopted. However, JPMorgan has not addressed concern over Ethereum's security flaws. The network has suffered significant security breaches recently — in its most severe hack, the equivalent of $80 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen, and the most recent attack occurred just last month. The bank will need to address these concerns before it moves into any live testing phase that involves customers' money. Story continues Blockchain technology, which is best known for powering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is gaining steam among finance firms because of its potential to streamline processes and increase efficiency. The technology could cut costs by up to $20 billion annually by 2022, according to Santander . That's because blockchain, which operates as a distributed ledger, has the ability to allow multiple parties to transfer and store sensitive information in a space that’s secure, permanent, anonymous, and easily accessible. That could simplify paper-heavy, expensive, or logistically complicated financial systems, like remittances and cross-border transfer, shareholder management and ownership exchange, and securities trading, to name a few. And outside of finance, governments and the music industry are investigating the technology’s potential to simplify record-keeping. As a result, venture capital firms and financial institutions alike are pouring investment into finding, developing, and testing blockchain use cases. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, have begun researching the technology in-house, or have helped fund startups with products rooted in blockchain. Jaime Toplin, research associate for BI Intelligence , Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on blockchain technology that explains how blockchain works, why it has the potential to provide a watershed moment for the financial industry, and the different ways it could be put into practice in the coming years. Here are some key takeaways from the report: Spending on capital markets applications of blockchain is expected to grow at a 52% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2019, according to Aite Group, to reach $400 million that year. Banks and major financial institutions are working both collaboratively and independently to develop blockchain tech. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, like R3 CEV or Chain. And many are investing in the technology on their own as well. Putting blockchain to use for real-world transactions is likely not that far off. If working groups' tests are successful, firms could be using it to transact real value as early as the end of this year and we could see widespread industry application within the next few years. In full, the report: Examines the funding increases that are pouring into blockchain Assesses why blockchain is becoming so popular and what factors are driving up increased research and development Explains in full how blockchain technology work and what assets make it valuable and vulnerable Identifies pain points in the financial industry and profiles how various firms are using blockchain to solve them Demonstrates the challenges to mainstream adoption and their potential solutions To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of blockchain technology. More From Business Insider THE FINTECH REGULATION REPORT: How European regulators are creating fertile ground for fintech growth THE CORPORATE TREASURY FINTECH REPORT: The emerging firms that help companies manage their cash Fully understand the Fintech Ecosystem with this report || JPMorgan is developing a new blockchain project: (BII)This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, pleaseclick here.
JPMorgan Chase is working with Ethereum startup EthLab on a new blockchain project called Quorum, theWall Street JournalandCoinDeskreport.
The two parties will develop a private, permissioned blockchain built off of the public Ethereum network's code. This is the latest project to come out of JPMorgan Chase's working group, the Blockchain Center of Excellence.
Unlike other banks, JPMorgan is not building an entirely new blockchain system from scratch — it is using the concept of a permissioned blockchain. The bank is utilizing a publically accessible code to develop its solution. But unlike public blockchains such as the one used by Bitcoin, JPMorgan's will be private and permissioned, meaning the bank will be able to limit access to transactions to selected parties, such as parties in a trade or a regulator. This will make it private and secure enough for traders to use for transactions, and accessible enough for regulators to provide oversight. Such functionality is considered a vital element needed before banks will adopt blockchain technology widely.
This approach stands to give JPMorgan significant advantages over its rivals. Using existing code to build a blockchain solution is significantly cheaper than developing its own network. Moreover, by using a publically accessible network, JPMorgan can build a blockchain that could theoretically be plugged into other systems built on the same network. For context, institutions building their own networks may find their end solutions to be incompatible with each other. This ease-of-use could potentially give JPMorgan an edge over other banks experimenting with blockchain, as its solution may be more likely to be widely adopted.
However, JPMorgan has not addressed concern over Ethereum's security flaws. The network has suffered significant securitybreachesrecently — in its most severe hack, the equivalent of $80 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen, and the mostrecentattack occurred just last month. The bank will need to address these concerns before it moves into any live testing phase that involves customers' money.
Blockchain technology, which is best known for powering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is gaining steam among finance firms because of its potential to streamline processes and increase efficiency. The technology could cut costs by up to $20 billion annually by 2022, according toSantander.
That's because blockchain, which operates as a distributed ledger, has the ability to allow multiple parties to transfer and store sensitive information in a space that’s secure, permanent, anonymous, and easily accessible. That could simplify paper-heavy, expensive, or logistically complicated financial systems, like remittances and cross-border transfer, shareholder management and ownership exchange, and securities trading, to name a few. And outside of finance, governments and the music industry are investigating the technology’s potential to simplify record-keeping.
As a result, venture capital firms and financial institutions alike are pouring investment into finding, developing, and testing blockchain use cases. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, have begun researching the technology in-house, or have helped fund startups with products rooted in blockchain.
Jaime Toplin, research associate forBI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compileda detailed report on blockchain technologythat explains how blockchain works, why it has the potential to provide a watershed moment for the financial industry, and the different ways it could be put into practice in the coming years.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
• Spending on capital markets applications of blockchain is expected to grow at a 52% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2019, according to Aite Group, to reach $400 million that year.
• Banks and major financial institutions are working both collaboratively and independently to develop blockchain tech. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, like R3 CEV or Chain. And many are investing in the technology on their own as well.
• Putting blockchain to use for real-world transactions is likely not that far off. If working groups' tests are successful, firms could be using it to transact real value as early as the end of this year and we could see widespread industry application within the next few years.
In full, the report:
• Examines the funding increases that are pouring into blockchain
• Assesses why blockchain is becoming so popular and what factors are driving up increased research and development
• Explains in full how blockchain technology work and what assets make it valuable and vulnerable
• Identifies pain points in the financial industry and profiles how various firms are using blockchain to solve them
• Demonstrates the challenges to mainstream adoption and their potential solutions
To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:
1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >>START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >>BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of blockchain technology.
More From Business Insider
• THE FINTECH REGULATION REPORT: How European regulators are creating fertile ground for fintech growth
• THE CORPORATE TREASURY FINTECH REPORT: The emerging firms that help companies manage their cash
• Fully understand the Fintech Ecosystem with this report || Bill Gross of Janus warns financial markets have become 'a Vegas casino': By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global central bank policy makers have turned world financial markets into a casino, thanks to their unprecedented monetary policies, bond investor Bill Gross of Janus Capital Group (JNS.N) warned on Tuesday. Our financial markets have become a Vegas/Macau/Monte Carlo casino, wagering that an unlimited supply of credit generated by central banks can successfully reflate global economies and reinvigorate nominal GDP growth to lower but acceptable norms in today's highly levered world, Gross said in his latest Investment Outlook titled Doubling Down. Gross, who oversees the $1.5 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, recommended Bitcoin and gold for investors who are looking for places to preserve capital. "At some point investors leery and indeed weary of receiving negative or near zero returns on their money, may at the margin desert the standard financial complex, for higher returning or better yet, less risky alternatives," Gross said. Gross has been lambasting ultra-loose central bank policies for hindering global economies by keeping so-called "zombie" corporations alive and inhibiting "creative destruction." For several years, Gross and others have warned that zero and negative interest rates not only fail to provide an easing cushion should recession occur, but they destroy capitalism's business models. "A commonsensical observation made by yours truly and increasing numbers of economists, Fed members, and corporate CEOs (Jamie Dimon amongst them) would be that low/negative yields erode and in some cases destroy historical business models which foster savings/investment and ultimately economic growth," Gross said. He added: "Our argument is that NIMs (net interest margins) for banks, and the solvency of insurance companies and pension funds with long dated and underfunded liabilities, have been negatively affected and that ultimately, the continuation of current monetary policies will lead to capital destruction as opposed to capital creation." Story continues All told, Gross said central bankers have fostered a casino-like atmosphere that present "a Hobson's Choice, or perhaps a more damaging Sophie's Choice of participating (or not) in markets previously beyond prior imagination. Investors/savers are now scrappin like mongrel dogs for tidbits of return at the zero bound. This cannot end well." The Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, which saw outflows of $87.7 million in 2015, has seen inflows of $221 million year-to-date as of Aug. 31. So far this year, the fund has returned 4.956 percent, putting it in the 33rd percentile, beating 67 percent of its peers, according to Morningstar data. Janus Capital announced Monday that it was merging with London-based Henderson Group Plc to form a $320 billion asset manager. In an emailed statement, Gross said: "Henderson obviously bought a great performing fund with Janus Global Unconstrained. Growth has far exceeded industry trends and absolute and relative performance is typical of my historical standards, at 400 basis points above the benchmark for the year, far better than Pimco. With the greater global scale of the combined Janus Henderson, investors who followed me to Janus would have benefited on multiple levels." (Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Chris Reese) || Bill Gross of Janus warns financial markets have become 'a Vegas casino': By Jennifer Ablan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global central bank policy makers have turned world financial markets into a casino, thanks to their unprecedented monetary policies, bond investor Bill Gross of Janus Capital Group (JNS.N) warned on Tuesday.
“Our financial markets have become a Vegas/Macau/Monte Carlo casino, wagering that an unlimited supply of credit generated by central banks can successfully reflate global economies and reinvigorate nominal GDP growth to lower but acceptable norms in today's highly levered world,” Gross said in his latest Investment Outlook titled “Doubling Down.”
Gross, who oversees the $1.5 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, recommended Bitcoin and gold for investors who are looking for places to preserve capital.
"At some point investors – leery and indeed weary of receiving negative or near zero returns on their money, may at the margin desert the standard financial complex, for higher returning or better yet, less risky alternatives," Gross said.
Gross has been lambasting ultra-loose central bank policies for hindering global economies by keeping so-called "zombie" corporations alive and inhibiting "creative destruction."
For several years, Gross and others have warned that zero and negative interest rates not only fail to provide an easing cushion should recession occur, but they destroy capitalism's business models.
"A commonsensical observation made by yours truly and increasing numbers of economists, Fed members, and corporate CEOs (Jamie Dimon amongst them) would be that low/negative yields erode and in some cases destroy historical business models which foster savings/investment and ultimately economic growth," Gross said.
He added: "Our argument is that NIMs (net interest margins) for banks, and the solvency of insurance companies and pension funds with long dated and underfunded liabilities, have been negatively affected and that ultimately, the continuation of current monetary policies will lead to capital destruction as opposed to capital creation."
All told, Gross said central bankers have fostered a casino-like atmosphere that present "a Hobson's Choice, or perhaps a more damaging Sophie's Choice of participating (or not) in markets previously beyond prior imagination. Investors/savers are now scrappin’ like mongrel dogs for tidbits of return at the zero bound. This cannot end well."
The Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, which saw outflows of $87.7 million in 2015, has seen inflows of $221 million year-to-date as of Aug. 31. So far this year, the fund has returned 4.956 percent, putting it in the 33rd percentile, beating 67 percent of its peers, according to Morningstar data.
Janus Capital announced Monday that it was merging with London-based Henderson Group Plc to form a $320 billion asset manager.
In an emailed statement, Gross said: "Henderson obviously bought a great performing fund with Janus Global Unconstrained. Growth has far exceeded industry trends and absolute and relative performance is typical of my historical standards, at 400 basis points above the benchmark for the year, far better than Pimco. With the greater global scale of the combined Janus Henderson, investors who followed me to Janus would have benefited on multiple levels."
(Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Chris Reese) || Bill Gross of Janus warns financial markets have become 'a Vegas casino': (Adds flow and performance data on Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, Janus-Henderson merger)
By Jennifer Ablan
NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Global central bank policy makers have turned world financial markets into a casino, thanks to their unprecedented monetary policies, bond investor Bill Gross of Janus Capital Group warned on Tuesday.
"Our financial markets have become a Vegas/Macau/Monte Carlo casino, wagering that an unlimited supply of credit generated by central banks can successfully reflate global economies and reinvigorate nominal GDP growth to lower but acceptable norms in today's highly levered world," Gross said in his latest Investment Outlook titled "Doubling Down."
Gross, who oversees the $1.5 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, recommended Bitcoin and gold for investors who are looking for places to preserve capital.
"At some point investors - leery and indeed weary of receiving negative or near zero returns on their money, may at the margin desert the standard financial complex, for higher returning or better yet, less risky alternatives," Gross said.
Gross has been lambasting ultra-loose central bank policies for hindering global economies by keeping so-called "zombie" corporations alive and inhibiting "creative destruction."
For several years, Gross and others have warned that zero and negative interest rates not only fail to provide an easing cushion should recession occur, but they destroy capitalism's business models.
"A commonsensical observation made by yours truly and increasing numbers of economists, Fed members, and corporate CEOs (Jamie Dimon amongst them) would be that low/negative yields erode and in some cases destroy historical business models which foster savings/investment and ultimately economic growth," Gross said.
He added: "Our argument is that NIMs (net interest margins) for banks, and the solvency of insurance companies and pension funds with long dated and underfunded liabilities, have been negatively affected and that ultimately, the continuation of current monetary policies will lead to capital destruction as opposed to capital creation."
All told, Gross said central bankers have fostered a casino-like atmosphere that present "a Hobson's Choice, or perhaps a more damaging Sophie's Choice of participating (or not) in markets previously beyond prior imagination. Investors/savers are now scrappin' like mongrel dogs for tidbits of return at the zero bound. This cannot end well."
The Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, which saw outflows of $87.7 million in 2015, has seen inflows of $221 million year-to-date as of Aug. 31. So far this year, the fund has returned 4.956 percent, putting it in the 33rd percentile, beating 67 percent of its peers, according to Morningstar data.
Janus Capital announced Monday that it was merging with London-based Henderson Group Plc to form a $320 billion asset manager.
In an emailed statement, Gross said: "Henderson obviously bought a great performing fund with Janus Global Unconstrained. Growth has far exceeded industry trends and absolute and relative performance is typical of my historical standards, at 400 basis points above the benchmark for the year, far better than Pimco. With the greater global scale of the combined Janus Henderson, investors who followed me to Janus would have benefited on multiple levels." (Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Chris Reese) || Bill Gross of Janus warns financial markets have become 'a Vegas casino': (Adds flow and performance data on Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, Janus-Henderson merger) By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Global central bank policy makers have turned world financial markets into a casino, thanks to their unprecedented monetary policies, bond investor Bill Gross of Janus Capital Group warned on Tuesday. "Our financial markets have become a Vegas/Macau/Monte Carlo casino, wagering that an unlimited supply of credit generated by central banks can successfully reflate global economies and reinvigorate nominal GDP growth to lower but acceptable norms in today's highly levered world," Gross said in his latest Investment Outlook titled "Doubling Down." Gross, who oversees the $1.5 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, recommended Bitcoin and gold for investors who are looking for places to preserve capital. "At some point investors - leery and indeed weary of receiving negative or near zero returns on their money, may at the margin desert the standard financial complex, for higher returning or better yet, less risky alternatives," Gross said. Gross has been lambasting ultra-loose central bank policies for hindering global economies by keeping so-called "zombie" corporations alive and inhibiting "creative destruction." For several years, Gross and others have warned that zero and negative interest rates not only fail to provide an easing cushion should recession occur, but they destroy capitalism's business models. "A commonsensical observation made by yours truly and increasing numbers of economists, Fed members, and corporate CEOs (Jamie Dimon amongst them) would be that low/negative yields erode and in some cases destroy historical business models which foster savings/investment and ultimately economic growth," Gross said. He added: "Our argument is that NIMs (net interest margins) for banks, and the solvency of insurance companies and pension funds with long dated and underfunded liabilities, have been negatively affected and that ultimately, the continuation of current monetary policies will lead to capital destruction as opposed to capital creation." Story continues All told, Gross said central bankers have fostered a casino-like atmosphere that present "a Hobson's Choice, or perhaps a more damaging Sophie's Choice of participating (or not) in markets previously beyond prior imagination. Investors/savers are now scrappin' like mongrel dogs for tidbits of return at the zero bound. This cannot end well." The Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, which saw outflows of $87.7 million in 2015, has seen inflows of $221 million year-to-date as of Aug. 31. So far this year, the fund has returned 4.956 percent, putting it in the 33rd percentile, beating 67 percent of its peers, according to Morningstar data. Janus Capital announced Monday that it was merging with London-based Henderson Group Plc to form a $320 billion asset manager. In an emailed statement, Gross said: "Henderson obviously bought a great performing fund with Janus Global Unconstrained. Growth has far exceeded industry trends and absolute and relative performance is typical of my historical standards, at 400 basis points above the benchmark for the year, far better than Pimco. With the greater global scale of the combined Janus Henderson, investors who followed me to Janus would have benefited on multiple levels." (Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Chris Reese) || BILL GROSS: Central bankers have turned the economy into a 'casino' that threatens capitalism: south korea casino (A poker game at the Paradise Walker-hill casino in Seoul in 2007.Reuters) Bill Gross is going after central bankers ... again. The famed bond investor at Janus Capital released his monthly outlook for October on Tuesday and again compared the world's central banks to a dangerous game, this time blackjack. Gross noted the theory of a martingale system, in which a gambler in a casino will eventually win if he or she continually increases the size of his or her bets with each loss. Gross then compared the world's largest central banks the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, and the European Central Bank to such a gambler, calling them "martingale gamblers without a purse." "Our financial markets have become a Vegas/Macau/Monte Carlo casino, wagering that an unlimited supply of credit generated by central banks can successfully reflate global economies and reinvigorate nominal GDP growth to lower but acceptable norms in today's highly levered world," Gross wrote in the outlook . Gross noted that central banks theoretically could continue to print money, purchase assets, and drive down bond yields until they hit their goals, just as a martingale gambler with enough money could keep raising bets amid a series of losses. "An interesting counter to my martingale characterization of central bankers is in fact that they do have an unlimited bankroll and that they can bet on the 31st, 32nd, or 'whatever it takes' roll of the dice," Gross said . "After all, their cumulative balance sheets have increased by $15 trillion+ since the Great Recession. Why not $16 trillion more and then 20 or 30?" The issue, in Gross' opinion, is that these central banks do not work in a theoretical world and that the savings erosion from negative yields will eventually cause pain for investors and damage the world's financial markets. Here's Gross (emphasis added): "I think that the latter contention is true, but central bankers cannot continue to double down bets without risking a 'black' or perhaps 'grey' swan moment in global financial markets. At some point investors leery and indeed weary of receiving negative or near zero returns on their money, may at the margin desert the standard financial complex, for higher returning or better yet, less risky alternatives . Bitcoin and privately agreed upon block chain technologies amongst a small set of global banks, are just a few examples of attempts to stabilize the value of their current assets in future purchasing power terms. Gold would be another example historic relic that it is. In any case, the current system is beginning to be challenged. " Story continues All of this is to say that central banks cannot keep rates this low forever. But given that the Fed is already hiking and the ECB has recently signaled it may bring its asset purchases to an end, many central banks have already recognized this. Gross goes on to say low-interest-rate policies threaten "capitalism itself" because capital can no longer be efficiently allocated. "Central bankers have fostered a casino like atmosphere where savers/investors are presented with a Hobson's Choice, or perhaps a more damaging Sophie's Choice of participating (or not) in markets previously beyond prior imagination," Gross concluded . "Investors/savers are now scrappin' like mongrel dogs for tidbits of return at the zero bound. This cannot end well." NOW WATCH: KRUGMAN: Obamacare was done 'on the cheap' and now it is struggling More From Business Insider Here's why Janet Yellen might quit if Donald Trump wins Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen forgot a key measure of the job market during testimony to Congress A GOP congressman attacked Janet Yellen for looking 'cozy' with Obama and Democrats || BILL GROSS: Central bankers have turned the economy into a 'casino' that threatens capitalism: (A poker game at the Paradise Walker-hill casino in Seoul in 2007.Reuters)
Bill Gross is going after central bankers ... again.
The famed bond investor at Janus Capital releasedhis monthly outlook for Octoberon Tuesday and again compared the world's central banks to a dangerous game, this time blackjack.
Gross noted the theory of a martingale system, in which a gambler in a casino will eventually win if he or she continually increases the size of his or her bets with each loss.
Grossthen comparedthe world's largest central banks — the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, and the European Central Bank — to such a gambler, calling them "martingale gamblers without a purse."
"Our financial markets have become a Vegas/Macau/Monte Carlo casino, wagering that an unlimited supply of credit generated by central banks can successfully reflate global economies and reinvigorate nominal GDP growth to lower but acceptable norms in today's highly levered world,"Gross wrote in the outlook.
Gross noted that central banks theoretically could continue to print money, purchase assets, and drive down bond yields until they hit their goals, just as a martingale gambler with enough money could keep raising bets amid a series of losses.
"An interesting counter to my martingale characterization of central bankers is in fact that they do have an unlimited bankroll and that they can bet on the 31st, 32nd, or 'whatever it takes' roll of the dice,"Gross said. "After all, their cumulative balance sheets have increased by $15 trillion+ since the Great Recession. Why not $16 trillion more and then 20 or 30?"
The issue, in Gross' opinion, is that these central banks do not work in a theoretical world and that the savings erosion from negative yields will eventually cause pain for investors and damage the world's financial markets.Here's Gross(emphasis added):
"I think that the latter contention is true, but central bankers cannot continue to double down bets without risking a 'black' or perhaps 'grey' swan moment in global financial markets.At some point investors – leery and indeed weary of receiving negative or near zero returns on their money, may at the margin desert the standard financial complex, for higher returning or better yet, less risky alternatives. Bitcoin and privately agreed upon block chain technologies amongst a small set of global banks, are just a few examples of attempts to stabilize the value of their current assets in future purchasing power terms. Gold would be another example — historic relic that it is.In any case, the current system is beginning to be challenged."
All of this is to say that central banks cannot keep rates this low forever. But given that the Fed is already hiking and the ECB has recently signaled it may bring its asset purchases to an end, many central banks have already recognized this.
Gross goes on to say low-interest-rate policies threaten "capitalism itself" because capital can no longer be efficiently allocated.
"Central bankers have fostered a casino like atmosphere where savers/investors are presented with a Hobson's Choice, or perhaps a more damaging Sophie's Choice of participating (or not) in markets previously beyond prior imagination,"Gross concluded. "Investors/savers are now scrappin' like mongrel dogs for tidbits of return at the zero bound. This cannot end well."
NOW WATCH:KRUGMAN: Obamacare was done 'on the cheap' and now it is struggling
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• A GOP congressman attacked Janet Yellen for looking 'cozy' with Obama and Democrats || Bill Gross of Janus warns financial markets have become 'a Vegas casino': By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Global central bank policy makers have turned world financial markets into a casino, thanks to their unprecedented monetary policies, warned bond investor Bill Gross of Janus Capital Group on Tuesday. "Our financial markets have become a Vegas/Macau/Monte Carlo casino, wagering that an unlimited supply of credit generated by central banks can successfully reflate global economies and reinvigorate nominal GDP growth to lower but acceptable norms in today's highly levered world," Gross said in his latest Investment Outlook titled "Doubling Down." Gross, who oversees the $1.5 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, recommended Bitcoin and gold for investors who are looking for places to preserve capital. "At some point investors - leery and indeed weary of receiving negative or near zero returns on their money, may at the margin desert the standard financial complex, for higher returning or better yet, less risky alternatives," Gross said. Gross has been lambasting ultra-loose central bank policies for hindering global economies by keeping so-called "zombie" corporations alive and inhibiting "creative destruction." For several years, Gross and others have warned that zero and negative interest rates not only fail to provide an easing cushion should recession occur, but they destroy capitalism's business models. "A commonsensical observation made by yours truly and increasing numbers of economists, Fed members, and corporate CEOs (Jamie Dimon amongst them) would be that low/negative yields erode and in some cases destroy historical business models which foster savings/investment and ultimately economic growth," Gross said. He added: "Our argument is that NIMs (net interest margins) for banks, and the solvency of insurance companies and pension funds with long dated and underfunded liabilities, have been negatively affected and that ultimately, the continuation of current monetary policies will lead to capital destruction as opposed to capital creation." All told, Gross said central bankers have fostered a casino-like atmosphere that present "a Hobson's Choice, or perhaps a more damaging Sophie's Choice of participating (or not) in markets previously beyond prior imagination. Investors/savers are now scrappin' like mongrel dogs for tidbits of return at the zero bound. This cannot end well." (Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) || Bill Gross of Janus warns financial markets have become 'a Vegas casino': By Jennifer Ablan
NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Global central bank policy makers have turned world financial markets into a casino, thanks to their unprecedented monetary policies, warned bond investor Bill Gross of Janus Capital Group on Tuesday.
"Our financial markets have become a Vegas/Macau/Monte Carlo casino, wagering that an unlimited supply of credit generated by central banks can successfully reflate global economies and reinvigorate nominal GDP growth to lower but acceptable norms in today's highly levered world," Gross said in his latest Investment Outlook titled "Doubling Down."
Gross, who oversees the $1.5 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, recommended Bitcoin and gold for investors who are looking for places to preserve capital.
"At some point investors - leery and indeed weary of receiving negative or near zero returns on their money, may at the margin desert the standard financial complex, for higher returning or better yet, less risky alternatives," Gross said.
Gross has been lambasting ultra-loose central bank policies for hindering global economies by keeping so-called "zombie" corporations alive and inhibiting "creative destruction."
For several years, Gross and others have warned that zero and negative interest rates not only fail to provide an easing cushion should recession occur, but they destroy capitalism's business models.
"A commonsensical observation made by yours truly and increasing numbers of economists, Fed members, and corporate CEOs (Jamie Dimon amongst them) would be that low/negative yields erode and in some cases destroy historical business models which foster savings/investment and ultimately economic growth," Gross said.
He added: "Our argument is that NIMs (net interest margins) for banks, and the solvency of insurance companies and pension funds with long dated and underfunded liabilities, have been negatively affected and that ultimately, the continuation of current monetary policies will lead to capital destruction as opposed to capital creation."
All told, Gross said central bankers have fostered a casino-like atmosphere that present "a Hobson's Choice, or perhaps a more damaging Sophie's Choice of participating (or not) in markets previously beyond prior imagination. Investors/savers are now scrappin' like mongrel dogs for tidbits of return at the zero bound. This cannot end well." (Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) || Costco is reaping the benefits of the transition from American Express to Citigroup and Visa: (BII)This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, pleaseclick here.
In its recent earnings report, Costconotedthat its payment card acceptance transition is progressing strongly.
The retailer’s portfolio, which was previously cobranded with American Express, was sold to Citigroup and Visa in June. And though there were some hiccups involved with the transition, Costco noted it’s “past that” and reported strong numbers.
The new card is “beating initial expectations” regarding conversion, new sign-ups, and overall use.
• Most cardholders have transferred their accounts.Of the approximately 11.4 million Amex Costco cards and 7.5 million accounts, nearly 85% of the accounts transferred over have been activated with Costco. That’s about the same amount that were active prior to the transition, which indicates that existing cardholders are receptive to the new card program.
• And the new card continues to grow, which could be a result of the strong rewards program.Since the shift in June, Costco said that 1.1 million members have applied for the new card and 730,000 accounts have been activated. For context, Citi noted that three-and-a-half weeks in, the new card had added 337,000 new accounts, so the Costco numbers mark somewhat slowing, but still strong, growth. This is a strong interest indicator for the new card specifically, especially because Costco now accepts any Visa-branded card, and it’s likely the majority of Costco customers already have one in their wallet. The card’s strong rewards offerings, which include better cash-back options for Costco purchases and have improved by 40-50% overall, could be driving customers to the product.
• It’s likely that spending is high.Costco didn’t provide specific spending numbers, only noting that its gross margin year-over-year (YoY) increased. But in Citi’s earnings call, held three weeks into the card transition, the product saw $5.7 billion in purchases made on Citi Costco cards, slightly beating the estimated $5.4 billion spend that would have been seen on the Amex card. Assuming that trend has continued, it’s likely the product is performing strongly.
The strong performance reported by Costco could be a needed boost for Citigroup. The strong performance is good news for Costco, because the retailer’s somewhat slowing sales could have been exacerbated if transition process frustration drove customers away from the retailer.
But ongoing usage and volume growth will be most beneficial to Citi, which has already seen modest gains in its North American “credit cards” segment as a result of the acquisition of the Costco portfolio, which accounted for $80 billion in 2015. If Costco continues to be a steady customer acquisition channel and volume source, Citi could further establish separation as the third largest US card issuer in 2016.
Costco's growth in this area is just one piece of the larger payments ecosystem, which includes card issuers, merchants, gateways, vendors, and more.
Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts atBI Intelligence, have compileda detailed report on the payments ecosystemthat drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.
In full, the report:
• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:
1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >>START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >>BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.
More From Business Insider
• THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem
• THE CONNECTED DEVICE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market opportunities, top stakeholders, and new use cases for the next frontier in payments
• The top 5 fintech predictions for 2016 || Costco is reaping the benefits of the transition from American Express to Citigroup and Visa: (BII)This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, pleaseclick here.
In its recent earnings report, Costconotedthat its payment card acceptance transition is progressing strongly.
The retailer’s portfolio, which was previously cobranded with American Express, was sold to Citigroup and Visa in June. And though there were some hiccups involved with the transition, Costco noted it’s “past that” and reported strong numbers.
The new card is “beating initial expectations” regarding conversion, new sign-ups, and overall use.
• Most cardholders have transferred their accounts.Of the approximately 11.4 million Amex Costco cards and 7.5 million accounts, nearly 85% of the accounts transferred over have been activated with Costco. That’s about the same amount that were active prior to the transition, which indicates that existing cardholders are receptive to the new card program.
• And the new card continues to grow, which could be a result of the strong rewards program.Since the shift in June, Costco said that 1.1 million members have applied for the new card and 730,000 accounts have been activated. For context, Citi noted that three-and-a-half weeks in, the new card had added 337,000 new accounts, so the Costco numbers mark somewhat slowing, but still strong, growth. This is a strong interest indicator for the new card specifically, especially because Costco now accepts any Visa-branded card, and it’s likely the majority of Costco customers already have one in their wallet. The card’s strong rewards offerings, which include better cash-back options for Costco purchases and have improved by 40-50% overall, could be driving customers to the product.
• It’s likely that spending is high.Costco didn’t provide specific spending numbers, only noting that its gross margin year-over-year (YoY) increased. But in Citi’s earnings call, held three weeks into the card transition, the product saw $5.7 billion in purchases made on Citi Costco cards, slightly beating the estimated $5.4 billion spend that would have been seen on the Amex card. Assuming that trend has continued, it’s likely the product is performing strongly.
The strong performance reported by Costco could be a needed boost for Citigroup. The strong performance is good news for Costco, because the retailer’s somewhat slowing sales could have been exacerbated if transition process frustration drove customers away from the retailer.
But ongoing usage and volume growth will be most beneficial to Citi, which has already seen modest gains in its North American “credit cards” segment as a result of the acquisition of the Costco portfolio, which accounted for $80 billion in 2015. If Costco continues to be a steady customer acquisition channel and volume source, Citi could further establish separation as the third largest US card issuer in 2016.
Costco's growth in this area is just one piece of the larger payments ecosystem, which includes card issuers, merchants, gateways, vendors, and more.
Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts atBI Intelligence, have compileda detailed report on the payments ecosystemthat drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.
In full, the report:
• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:
1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >>START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >>BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.
More From Business Insider
• THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem
• THE CONNECTED DEVICE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market opportunities, top stakeholders, and new use cases for the next frontier in payments
• The top 5 fintech predictions for 2016 || Costco is reaping the benefits of the transition from American Express to Citigroup and Visa: Credit Card Sales (BII) This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Payments Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . In its recent earnings report, Costco noted that its payment card acceptance transition is progressing strongly. The retailer’s portfolio, which was previously cobranded with American Express, was sold to Citigroup and Visa in June. And though there were some hiccups involved with the transition, Costco noted it’s “past that” and reported strong numbers. The new card is “beating initial expectations” regarding conversion, new sign-ups, and overall use. Most cardholders have transferred their accounts. Of the approximately 11.4 million Amex Costco cards and 7.5 million accounts, nearly 85% of the accounts transferred over have been activated with Costco. That’s about the same amount that were active prior to the transition, which indicates that existing cardholders are receptive to the new card program. And the new card continues to grow, which could be a result of the strong rewards program. Since the shift in June, Costco said that 1.1 million members have applied for the new card and 730,000 accounts have been activated. For context, Citi noted that three-and-a-half weeks in, the new card had added 337,000 new accounts, so the Costco numbers mark somewhat slowing, but still strong, growth. This is a strong interest indicator for the new card specifically, especially because Costco now accepts any Visa-branded card, and it’s likely the majority of Costco customers already have one in their wallet. The card’s strong rewards offerings, which include better cash-back options for Costco purchases and have improved by 40-50% overall, could be driving customers to the product. It’s likely that spending is high. Costco didn’t provide specific spending numbers, only noting that its gross margin year-over-year (YoY) increased. But in Citi’s earnings call, held three weeks into the card transition, the product saw $5.7 billion in purchases made on Citi Costco cards, slightly beating the estimated $5.4 billion spend that would have been seen on the Amex card. Assuming that trend has continued, it’s likely the product is performing strongly. Story continues The strong performance reported by Costco could be a needed boost for Citigroup. The strong performance is good news for Costco, because the retailer’s somewhat slowing sales could have been exacerbated if transition process frustration drove customers away from the retailer. But ongoing usage and volume growth will be most beneficial to Citi, which has already seen modest gains in its North American “credit cards” segment as a result of the acquisition of the Costco portfolio, which accounted for $80 billion in 2015. If Costco continues to be a steady customer acquisition channel and volume source, Citi could further establish separation as the third largest US card issuer in 2016. Costco's growth in this area is just one piece of the larger payments ecosystem, which includes card issuers, merchants, gateways, vendors, and more. Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence , have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends. Here are some key takeaways from the report: 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices. Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play. Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified. In full, the report: Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond. Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers. Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step. Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more. Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem. To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem. More From Business Insider THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem THE CONNECTED DEVICE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market opportunities, top stakeholders, and new use cases for the next frontier in payments The top 5 fintech predictions for 2016
[Social Media Buzz]
1 MUE Price: Bittrex 0.00000100 BTC YoBit 0.00000058 BTC Bleutrade 0.00000098 BTC #MUE #MUEprice 2016-10-10 09:00 pic.twitter.com/pHrLCM678L || $614.00 at 09:30 UTC [24h Range: $610.70 - $616.47 Volume: 1512 BTC] || BITSTAMP LAST 615.00$ AVERAGE 613.36$ at 5:01 UTC #Bitcoin #BTCUSD || In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 10 exchange pair(s), yielding profits ranging between $0.00 and $74.99 #bitcoin #btc || $615.65 at 04:15 UTC [24h Range: $610.00 - $615.99 Volume: 1214 BTC] || 1 KO...
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641.07, 636.19, 636.79, 640.38, 638.65, 641.63, 639.19, 637.96, 630.52, 630.86
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 10166.40, 10233.90, 11112.70, 10551.80, 11225.30, 11403.70, 10690.40, 10005.00, 10301.10, 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00, 11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63, 9205.12, 9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35, 7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47, 8879.62, 8668.12, 8495.78, 8209.40, 7833.04, 7954.48, 7165.70, 6890.52, 6973.53, 6844.23, 7083.80, 7456.11, 6853.84, 6811.47, 6636.32, 6911.09, 7023.52, 6770.73, 6834.76, 6968.32, 7889.25, 7895.96, 7986.24, 8329.11, 8058.67, 7902.09, 8163.42, 8294.31, 8845.83, 8895.58, 8802.46, 8930.88, 9697.50, 8845.74, 9281.51, 8987.05, 9348.48, 9419.08, 9240.55, 9119.01, 9235.92, 9743.86, 9700.76, 9858.15, 9654.80, 9373.01, 9234.82, 9325.18, 9043.94, 8441.49, 8504.89, 8723.94, 8716.79, 8510.38.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-05-15]
Volume: 6705710080, RSI (14-day): 43.92, 50-day EMA: 8824.74, 200-day EMA: 8852.24
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1288.90, Gold RSI: 33.42
Oil Price: 71.31, Oil RSI: 64.36
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
A bitcoin believer would bet anything that blockchain tech wont last five years: Sparks glow from broken Bitcoin (virtual currency) coins in this illustration picture Onstage at the blockchain worlds biggest conference, bitcoin developer Jimmy Song said today that hed be willing to take on Joseph Lubins proposed bet that blockchain techthe use of a decentralized ledger without a cryptocurrencywont have any significant users in five years. Lubin, a co-founder of ethereum who is worth between $1 and $5 billion according to Forbes , offered to bet Song any amount of bitcoin that blockchain tech projects by large corporations would have meaningful adoption within the next five years. Song is a blockchain skeptic whose personal wealth is unknown. Did Trump blink on China to help ZTE, or his own business? The details, Lubin said, could be ironed out on Twitter. The two shook on the bet on stage, amid cheers and hoots from the fully packed 2,500-capacity room at CoinDesks Consensus 2018 conference in New York City. The pair were on stage with Amber Baldet, the former head of blockchain projects at JP Morgan. Minutes earlier, she had announced her new project, Clovyr , which she billed as a pragmatic connection between enterprise and public chains. Baldet and Lubin were clearly on one side of the blockchain debate, with Song on the other. When Baldet asked Song what he thought of Clovyr, his reply was acid: I didnt see anything other than buzzwords. Its like, lets play buzzword bingo! The crowd cheered. Song argued that nearly all the uses of a blockchain by big corporations could be achieved more efficiently with other technologies. Youre a hammer-thrower looking for nails at this point, he said. Blockchain is not this magical thing that you sprinkle blockchain dust over it and its okay, he added later. Are ebooks dying or thriving? The answer is yes The speakers represent two camps in an increasingly divided blockchain world. Song is a bitcoin maximalistthose who place huge weight on decentralizationwhile Baldet and Lubin are part of a growing chorus of technologists who believe private blockchains run by corporations and other hybrid systems will gain traction. Although ethereum has a native cryptocurrency, ether, its leading lights have also formed the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, to create versions of the protocol that could be adopted by banks and other big companies. Lubins company ConsenSys is a member of that effort. Bitcoin maximalists see these solutions as a watering down of bitcoins true potential. Lubins retort was that layer two, sidechains, plasma architectures, sharded systems would deliver on blockchain techs promisethe jargon-laden response almost underlining Songs point. Story continues Crypto Twitter will be watching with interest as the bet between ethereum billionaire Lubin and bitcoin maximalist Song takes shape. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief , our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: Trumps foreign policy looks a lot like Rapture Christians plan to welcome the apocalypse Why Adobe is giving designers its UX design software for free || A bitcoin believer would bet anything that blockchain tech wont last five years: Sparks glow from broken Bitcoin (virtual currency) coins in this illustration picture Onstage at the blockchain worlds biggest conference, bitcoin developer Jimmy Song said today that hed be willing to take on Joseph Lubins proposed bet that blockchain techthe use of a decentralized ledger without a cryptocurrencywont have any significant users in five years. Lubin, a co-founder of ethereum who is worth between $1 and $5 billion according to Forbes , offered to bet Song any amount of bitcoin that blockchain tech projects by large corporations would have meaningful adoption within the next five years. Song is a blockchain skeptic whose personal wealth is unknown. Did Trump blink on China to help ZTE, or his own business? The details, Lubin said, could be ironed out on Twitter. The two shook on the bet on stage, amid cheers and hoots from the fully packed 2,500-capacity room at CoinDesks Consensus 2018 conference in New York City. The pair were on stage with Amber Baldet, the former head of blockchain projects at JP Morgan. Minutes earlier, she had announced her new project, Clovyr , which she billed as a pragmatic connection between enterprise and public chains. Baldet and Lubin were clearly on one side of the blockchain debate, with Song on the other. When Baldet asked Song what he thought of Clovyr, his reply was acid: I didnt see anything other than buzzwords. Its like, lets play buzzword bingo! The crowd cheered. Song argued that nearly all the uses of a blockchain by big corporations could be achieved more efficiently with other technologies. Youre a hammer-thrower looking for nails at this point, he said. Blockchain is not this magical thing that you sprinkle blockchain dust over it and its okay, he added later. Are ebooks dying or thriving? The answer is yes The speakers represent two camps in an increasingly divided blockchain world. Song is a bitcoin maximalistthose who place huge weight on decentralizationwhile Baldet and Lubin are part of a growing chorus of technologists who believe private blockchains run by corporations and other hybrid systems will gain traction. Although ethereum has a native cryptocurrency, ether, its leading lights have also formed the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, to create versions of the protocol that could be adopted by banks and other big companies. Lubins company ConsenSys is a member of that effort. Bitcoin maximalists see these solutions as a watering down of bitcoins true potential. Lubins retort was that layer two, sidechains, plasma architectures, sharded systems would deliver on blockchain techs promisethe jargon-laden response almost underlining Songs point. Story continues Crypto Twitter will be watching with interest as the bet between ethereum billionaire Lubin and bitcoin maximalist Song takes shape. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief , our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: Trumps foreign policy looks a lot like Rapture Christians plan to welcome the apocalypse Why Adobe is giving designers its UX design software for free || Takeda and Shire: A Pricey Marriage: A month of back-and-forth has resulted in a Takeda (NASDAQOTH: TKPHF) and Shire Plc (NASDAQ: SHPG) striking a deal to form the eight biggest drugmaker in the world. The merger's $62 billion cost, however, could be a problem, especially if it dings Takeda's credit rating. In this clip from The Motley Fool's Industry Focus: Healthcare , analysts Kristine Harjes and Todd Campbell break down the details of this deal. A full transcript follows the video. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This This video was recorded on May 9, 2018. Kristine Harjes: We have a couple of quick updates for you. For those who have been following along with Industry Focus: Healthcare , you know that we covered previously Takeda potentially buying Shire. This is a Japanese pharmaceutical company, Takeda, looking to buy Dublin-based Shire. We covered it on April 4th. If you missed that episode, now we have the update that, yeah, this is happening. Todd Campbell: Yeah. There was a little bit of back-and-forth here. Takeda went to Shire after they indicated that they have some interest, and Shire rejected one offer and then rejected another offer, and then eventually just sent a team of people to Japan to try to see if they could hammer something out. And in the interim, was it Allergan , Kristine? Another company popped up their head for like a day and a half and said, "Hey, we might kick the tires, too!" And maybe, when that fell apart, Shire's board said, "You know what, our best option is Takeda." They've accepted the deal now. It's a $62 billion deal. It creates a company with $30 billion in annual revenue. It's a very interesting deal, because it's creating a company that really, Kristine, could be one of the fastest-growing of the big pharmas you can invest in worldwide. Story continues Harjes: And it would be big. This would be the world's eighth-largest drug maker. It certainly gives Takeda a lot more international reach, particularly in the U.S. and the E.U. About two-thirds of Shire's sales are in the U.S. market, which is an extremely lucrative market, so I can see why Takeda's interested here. It also adds to their gastro and their neurosciences lineup. But, shareholders have not been happy about this. I think a large part of that is because A, it's expensive, and B, they're borrowing money to finance it. What that does to their ratings and their balance sheet is to be determined. But, I do want to point out that just today, Moody's actually downgraded Takeda, and they stated that the downgrade was reflective of their previous debt levels -- meaning, not even with this news of how they plan on financing an acquisition of Shire -- and that they will need to reevaluate if the deal goes through as proposed. So, a lot of interesting stats in that Moody's downgrade, looking forward to what would actually happen when and if Takeda does go through with this. Of course, even though we still need to see if the shareholders of both companies approve it, it's looking pretty likely that this will close in about early 2019. Campbell: And, just some accounting, Kristine. If you happen to be an owner of Shire and you're like, "OK, the deal got done, and it's worth this many billions, what does that really mean for my shares?" You'll get $33 in cash, and then you can either get 0.839 shares in the merged company, or 1.678 Takeda ADS for every Shire share you own. So, you have to decide whether or not you want the cash, and then, if you want the Takeda shares in the trade in Japan or if you want the ADS and go from there. What's interesting, you mentioned it's the eighth-biggest biopharma after this deal. I'd mention, the other seven before it are probably much more widely owned than Takeda. It will be interesting to see whether or not institutions start adding more shares in Takeda if the deal gets done. Then, of course, like you said, we're going to see what happens with the dividend and the ratings, because with this much of a debt level, it could be that you're not going to get the dividend increases that we've recently seen out of the company. Harjes: That's a great point. Right now, they're paying out a 3.42% dividend, which is pretty meaty, and I'm sure there'd be plenty of shareholders who would be upset if they were to end up cutting that. Kristine Harjes has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Todd Campbell has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Moody's. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Takeda and Shire: A Pricey Marriage: A month of back-and-forth has resulted in aTakeda(NASDAQOTH: TKPHF)andShire Plc(NASDAQ: SHPG)striking a deal to form the eight biggest drugmaker in the world. The merger's $62 billion cost, however, could be a problem, especially if it dings Takeda's credit rating.
In this clip from The Motley Fool'sIndustry Focus: Healthcare, analysts Kristine Harjes and Todd Campbell break down the details of this deal.
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on May 9, 2018.
Kristine Harjes:We have a couple of quick updates for you. For those who have been following along withIndustry Focus: Healthcare, you know that we covered previously Takeda potentially buying Shire. This is a Japanese pharmaceutical company, Takeda, looking to buy Dublin-based Shire. We covered it on April 4th. If you missed that episode, now we have the update that, yeah, this is happening.
Todd Campbell:Yeah. There was a little bit of back-and-forth here. Takeda went to Shire after they indicated that they have some interest, and Shire rejected one offer and then rejected another offer, and then eventually just sent a team of people to Japan to try to see if they could hammer something out. And in the interim, was itAllergan, Kristine? Another company popped up their head for like a day and a half and said, "Hey, we might kick the tires, too!" And maybe, when that fell apart, Shire's board said, "You know what, our best option is Takeda." They've accepted the deal now. It's a $62 billion deal. It creates a company with $30 billion in annual revenue. It's a very interesting deal, because it's creating a company that really, Kristine, could be one of the fastest-growing of the big pharmas you can invest in worldwide.
Harjes:And it would be big. This would be the world's eighth-largest drug maker. It certainly gives Takeda a lot more international reach, particularly in the U.S. and the E.U. About two-thirds of Shire's sales are in the U.S. market, which is an extremely lucrative market, so I can see why Takeda's interested here. It also adds to their gastro and their neurosciences lineup.
But, shareholders have not been happy about this. I think a large part of that is because A, it's expensive, and B, they're borrowing money to finance it. What that does to their ratings and their balance sheet is to be determined. But, I do want to point out that just today,Moody'sactually downgraded Takeda, and they stated that the downgrade was reflective of their previous debt levels -- meaning, not even with this news of how they plan on financing an acquisition of Shire -- and that they will need to reevaluate if the deal goes through as proposed. So, a lot of interesting stats in that Moody's downgrade, looking forward to what would actually happen when and if Takeda does go through with this. Of course, even though we still need to see if the shareholders of both companies approve it, it's looking pretty likely that this will close in about early 2019.
Campbell:And, just some accounting, Kristine. If you happen to be an owner of Shire and you're like, "OK, the deal got done, and it's worth this many billions, what does that really mean for my shares?" You'll get $33 in cash, and then you can either get 0.839 shares in the merged company, or 1.678 Takeda ADS for every Shire share you own. So, you have to decide whether or not you want the cash, and then, if you want the Takeda shares in the trade in Japan or if you want the ADS and go from there.
What's interesting, you mentioned it's the eighth-biggest biopharma after this deal. I'd mention, the other seven before it are probably much more widely owned than Takeda. It will be interesting to see whether or not institutions start adding more shares in Takeda if the deal gets done. Then, of course, like you said, we're going to see what happens with the dividend and the ratings, because with this much of a debt level, it could be that you're not going to get the dividend increases that we've recently seen out of the company.
Harjes:That's a great point. Right now, they're paying out a 3.42% dividend, which is pretty meaty, and I'm sure there'd be plenty of shareholders who would be upset if they were to end up cutting that.
Kristine Harjeshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned.Todd Campbellhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Moody's. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 3 Things Pioneer Natural Resources' CEO Wants You to Know About What's Ahead in 2018 and Beyond: Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) continued its high-octane growth in the first quarter : Production jumped 25%, fueling an increase of more than 50% in cash flow. However, CEO Tim Dove made clear on the accompanying conference call that the company has plenty of growth left in the tank. He also detailed three things he wanted investors to know, showing that the company's best days still lie ahead. 1. Our balance sheet is among the best in the business One of the first points Dove made on the call was that Pioneer "continue[s] to maintain the strongest balance sheet in the energy sector, with about $1.8 billion of cash on hand. And as a result, we continue to have very low debt statistics." The company used some of that money to pay off $450 million in debt in May and currently has just $900 million in net debt, which is minuscule for a $35 billion oil company; CFO Rich Dealy concluded that Pioneer is "still in excellent financial condition." That strong position gives the company the financial flexibility to continue growing even if oil prices tank. A pipeline and an oil pump at sunset Image source: Getty Images. 2. We're making progress on our transition into a pure play on the Permian Basin The company's financial position could grow stronger later this year because it's currently in the process of selling off all its non-Permian assets to become a pure play on that high-return Basin. Pioneer made some progress on that strategy during the quarter by selling a package of land in the Eagle Ford Shale for $103 million, which Dove called "a very positive result for the company." Dove then noted that Pioneer made good progress on selling its other noncore assets, though he did caution that it would likely take the whole year to complete the process. The reason the company is undergoing this transformation, he said, is that it will "enhance our reported returns because ... our reported cash margins will increase ... our operating costs will be reduced per BOE, and our corporate returns will also be significantly improved. So this is important for us to accomplish." Story continues 3. We might hit the accelerator later this year Pioneer Natural Resources, like most of its rivals, based its 2018 budget on the cash flow it could generate at an oil price in the $50s -- although, while many set their budgets for $50 oil, Pioneer's breakeven was $58 a barrel. However, with crude now around $70, the company is generating more cash than expected, and Dove said, "it's likely that our capital budget for this year of $2.9 billion will be increased." The company hasn't yet decided on how much it will increase the budget, as it needs more time to gain a firmer grasp on the market. Dove thought that "probably around midyear we'll have a much better handle on exactly where that number will land. In any case, our intent is to spend within our forecasted cash flow, which is now projected at $3.2 billion." This potential to boost the budget sets Pioneer Natural Resources apart from most rivals, which have made it clear that they have no intention of increasing spending this year even though oil is much higher. Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) was one of those. While that company's CEO did note on Devon's quarterly conference call that capital expenditures would trend toward the high end of its guidance range, that's because Devon was "completing our plan 2018 program quicker than anticipated." As a result, the company would "most likely accelerate some 2019 program into 2018," even as it stays within its initial budget guidelines. Doing so will enable Devon to grow faster while still generating excess cash at current oil prices, which it's returning to shareholders through a $1 billion stock buyback and 33% dividend increase. The best is yet to come That's not to say Pioneer isn't rewarding its investors -- it did authorize a $100 million buyback, and boosted its dividend significantly this year. Additional cash returns could be on the way due to the strength of the company's position in the Permian Basin. That was a key message of the CEO, who stated that the company controls an asset that's "low-risk" and one that it's going to be drilling for "many decades." He went on to say that the company's exceptional Permian position provides "an opportunity to drill not only high-return wells, but also increase our ability to return capital to shareholders." That value-creating growth is what makes Pioneer's stock so compelling for the long term . More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Matthew DiLallo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 3 Things Pioneer Natural Resources' CEO Wants You to Know About What's Ahead in 2018 and Beyond: Pioneer Natural Resources(NYSE: PXD)continued itshigh-octane growth in the first quarter: Production jumped 25%, fueling an increase of more than 50% in cash flow. However, CEO Tim Dove made clear on the accompanying conference call that the company has plenty of growth left in the tank. He also detailed three things he wanted investors to know, showing that the company's best days still lie ahead.
One of the first points Dove made on the call was that Pioneer "continue[s] to maintain the strongest balance sheet in the energy sector, with about $1.8 billion of cash on hand. And as a result, we continue to have very low debt statistics." The company used some of that money to pay off $450 million in debt in May and currently has just $900 million in net debt, which is minuscule for a $35 billion oil company; CFO Rich Dealy concluded that Pioneer is "still in excellent financial condition." That strong position gives the company the financial flexibility to continue growing even if oil prices tank.
Image source: Getty Images.
The company's financial position could grow stronger later this year because it's currently in the process of selling off all its non-Permian assets to become a pure play on that high-return Basin. Pioneer made some progress on that strategy during the quarter by selling a package of land in theEagle Ford Shalefor $103 million, which Dove called "a very positive result for the company."
Dove then noted that Pioneer made good progress on selling its other noncore assets, though he did caution that it would likely take the whole year to complete the process. The reason the company is undergoing this transformation, he said, is that it will "enhance our reported returns because ... our reported cash margins will increase ... our operating costs will be reduced per BOE, and our corporate returns will also be significantly improved. So this is important for us to accomplish."
Pioneer Natural Resources, like most of its rivals, based its 2018 budget on the cash flow it could generate at an oil price in the $50s -- although, while many set their budgets for $50 oil, Pioneer's breakeven was $58 a barrel. However, with crude now around $70, the company is generating more cash than expected, and Dove said, "it's likely that our capital budget for this year of $2.9 billion will be increased." The company hasn't yet decided on how much it will increase the budget, as it needs more time to gain a firmer grasp on the market. Dove thought that "probably around midyear we'll have a much better handle on exactly where that number will land. In any case, our intent is to spend within our forecasted cash flow, which is now projected at $3.2 billion." This potential to boost the budget sets Pioneer Natural Resources apart from most rivals, which have made it clear that they have no intention of increasing spending this year even though oil is much higher.
Devon Energy(NYSE: DVN)was one of those. While that company's CEO did note onDevon's quarterly conference callthat capital expenditures would trend toward the high end of its guidance range, that's because Devon was "completing our plan 2018 program quicker than anticipated." As a result, the company would "most likely accelerate some 2019 program into 2018," even as it stays within its initial budget guidelines. Doing so will enable Devon to grow faster while still generating excess cash at current oil prices, which it's returning to shareholders through a $1 billion stock buyback and 33% dividend increase.
That's not to say Pioneer isn't rewarding its investors -- it did authorize a $100 million buyback, and boosted its dividend significantly this year. Additional cash returns could be on the way due to the strength of the company's position in the Permian Basin. That was a key message of the CEO, who stated that the company controls an asset that's "low-risk" and one that it's going to be drilling for "many decades." He went on to say that the company's exceptional Permian position provides "an opportunity to drill not only high-return wells, but also increase our ability to return capital to shareholders."
That value-creating growth is what makesPioneer's stock so compelling for the long term.
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Matthew DiLallohas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Venezuela’s Oil-Backed Crypto Petro Grows Thanks to a Little-Known Russian Bank: Venezuela’s oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR), has been surviving thanks to a little-known Russian bank, Evrofinance Mosnarbank, which has recently emerged as the only international financial institution willing to defy the US’ sanctions against the South American nation.
According to anAssociated Pressreport, early would-be Petro investors who registered with Venezuela’s government and downloaded the cryptocurrency’s wallet were invited to buy it by wiring a €1,000 (about $1,190) minimum to a government-owned account at Evrofinance. The bank’s involvement seemingly furtherties Russia with the Petro’s launch.
As covered, reports suggest Russia secretly helped Venezuela launch the oil-backed cryptocurrency, while aRussian official refuted the country’s involvement. Notably, Evrofinance’s biggest shareholders are two state-controlled Russian banks – sanctioned after Russia’s annexation of Crimea – and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, as the country’s government purchased a 49% stake in 2011.
As Russia’s involvement was being discussed, the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain awarded the Venezuelan government theSatoshi Nakamoto prize, as covered by CCN. Russia’s involvement, according to the Associated Press, may be linked to its relations with the west.
Per Claiborne W. Porter, the former head of the US Justice Department’s bank integrity unit, the country is increasingly gaining pariah status with the European Union and the US. Porter stated:
“Like kids on the playground, Venezuela and Russia think they are fighting a common bully in U.S. sanctions, so they’re going to try and form a united front.”
Historically, Russia has helped Venezuela with billions in debt relief, and is a major investor in the country’s oil industry. It has been a lifeline for Maduro, who’s currently on the verge of dealing with more sanctions coming from the Trump administration, if it goes ahead with presidential elections this month.
Back in March,Trump bannedUS citizens and residents from buying the oil-backed cryptocurrency, a move that Venezuela claims to have been “free publicity” thatdoubled the number of interested investors.
According to the Associated Press, after it inquired Evrofinance on its association with the Petro, all references to it were removed from the Petro’s wallet, which left interested buyers with no guidance on how to proceed.
While it is unclear how many Petros the Venezuelan government has actually sold, Maduro has touted the cryptocurrency’s pre-saleraked in $5 billion. These numbers, as shown,don’t add up.Moreover, most foreigners agree that the oil-backed cryptocurrency is of little interest to them, and the century-old think tank Brookings Institute has even stated itundermines legitimate cryptocurrencies
Reports suggest popular cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitfinex have been staying away from it, for fear they would be violating sanctions. According to experts, only criminals would be interested in the Petro. Venezuelan-born computer scientist and cryptocurrency startup consultant Alejandro Machado stated:
“An overwhelming majority of ICOs don’t deliver on what they promise because their promoters are outright scammers or fall short on technical expertise. In the case of the Venezuelan government, both reasons apply.”
Speaking to the Associated Press, the two Russians who reportedly signed agreements with Maduro the help the Petro expand globally distanced themselves from the cryptocurrency with one, Fedor Bogorodskiy, claiming his company immediately ceased working with the project as soon as Trump announced his ban.
Despite its status, Maduro keeps moving the Petro forward. He’s given state-owned institutions a 120-day period to start accepting it as legal tender in all transactions, and is set to create 16 local exchanges where Venezuelans will be able to exchange their depreciating fiat currency for the Petro. As covered, heoffered the Indian government a 30% discounton crude oil, if it paid in Petro.
The Venezuelan government has in the past revealed it was working on another cryptocurrency, backed by the country’s gold reserves, thePetro Gold. The move is seen by some as a way to draw in foreign investment and bypass sanctions. Venezuela’s moves were evenslammed by Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver.
Yuri Pripachkin, president of Russia’s blockchain group, noted that the Kremlin is keeping a close eye on the Petro, but isn’t involved in it. Nevertheless, he dismissed the idea that it could be used to fund criminals. He said:
“That’s a fairy tale. The most popular currency for terrorists and criminals the world over is the U.S. dollar, not crypto, and nobody is suggesting we ban dollars. This is just an attempt to stop crypto from expanding.”
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postVenezuela’s Oil-Backed Crypto Petro Grows Thanks to a Little-Known Russian Bankappeared first onCCN. || Venezuelas Oil-Backed Crypto Petro Grows Thanks to a Little-Known Russian Bank: Venezuelas oil-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro (PTR), has been surviving thanks to a little-known Russian bank, Evrofinance Mosnarbank, which has recently emerged as the only international financial institution willing to defy the US sanctions against the South American nation. According to an Associated Press report, early would-be Petro investors who registered with Venezuelas government and downloaded the cryptocurrencys wallet were invited to buy it by wiring a 1,000 (about $1,190) minimum to a government-owned account at Evrofinance. The banks involvement seemingly further ties Russia with the Petros launch. As covered, reports suggest Russia secretly helped Venezuela launch the oil-backed cryptocurrency, while a Russian official refuted the countrys involvement . Notably, Evrofinances biggest shareholders are two state-controlled Russian banks sanctioned after Russias annexation of Crimea and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, as the countrys government purchased a 49% stake in 2011. As Russias involvement was being discussed, the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain awarded the Venezuelan government the Satoshi Nakamoto prize , as covered by CCN. Russias involvement, according to the Associated Press, may be linked to its relations with the west. Per Claiborne W. Porter, the former head of the US Justice Departments bank integrity unit, the country is increasingly gaining pariah status with the European Union and the US. Porter stated: Like kids on the playground, Venezuela and Russia think they are fighting a common bully in U.S. sanctions, so theyre going to try and form a united front. Historically, Russia has helped Venezuela with billions in debt relief, and is a major investor in the countrys oil industry. It has been a lifeline for Maduro, whos currently on the verge of dealing with more sanctions coming from the Trump administration, if it goes ahead with presidential elections this month. Story continues Back in March, Trump banned US citizens and residents from buying the oil-backed cryptocurrency, a move that Venezuela claims to have been free publicity that doubled the number of interested investors. According to the Associated Press, after it inquired Evrofinance on its association with the Petro, all references to it were removed from the Petros wallet, which left interested buyers with no guidance on how to proceed. The Petros development While it is unclear how many Petros the Venezuelan government has actually sold, Maduro has touted the cryptocurrencys pre-sale raked in $5 billion . These numbers, as shown, dont add up. Moreover, most foreigners agree that the oil-backed cryptocurrency is of little interest to them, and the century-old think tank Brookings Institute has even stated it undermines legitimate cryptocurrencies Reports suggest popular cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitfinex have been staying away from it, for fear they would be violating sanctions. According to experts, only criminals would be interested in the Petro. Venezuelan-born computer scientist and cryptocurrency startup consultant Alejandro Machado stated: An overwhelming majority of ICOs dont deliver on what they promise because their promoters are outright scammers or fall short on technical expertise. In the case of the Venezuelan government, both reasons apply. Speaking to the Associated Press, the two Russians who reportedly signed agreements with Maduro the help the Petro expand globally distanced themselves from the cryptocurrency with one, Fedor Bogorodskiy, claiming his company immediately ceased working with the project as soon as Trump announced his ban. Despite its status, Maduro keeps moving the Petro forward. Hes given state-owned institutions a 120-day period to start accepting it as legal tender in all transactions, and is set to create 16 local exchanges where Venezuelans will be able to exchange their depreciating fiat currency for the Petro. As covered, he offered the Indian government a 30% discount on crude oil, if it paid in Petro. The Venezuelan government has in the past revealed it was working on another cryptocurrency, backed by the countrys gold reserves, the Petro Gold . The move is seen by some as a way to draw in foreign investment and bypass sanctions. Venezuelas moves were even slammed by Bitcoin.com CEO Roger Ver . Yuri Pripachkin, president of Russias blockchain group, noted that the Kremlin is keeping a close eye on the Petro, but isnt involved in it. Nevertheless, he dismissed the idea that it could be used to fund criminals. He said: Thats a fairy tale. The most popular currency for terrorists and criminals the world over is the U.S. dollar, not crypto, and nobody is suggesting we ban dollars. This is just an attempt to stop crypto from expanding. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Venezuelas Oil-Backed Crypto Petro Grows Thanks to a Little-Known Russian Bank appeared first on CCN . || Why Caesars Entertainment, NXP Semiconductor, and Symantec Jumped Today: Monday was a mixed day on Wall Street, as gains for major benchmarks contrasted with a decline in indexes tracking smaller companies. Many market participants focused on the White House's support of Chinese mobile device maker ZTE , which lifted several of the biggest stocks of Chinese technology giants that trade on U.S. exchanges. In general, investors seem to be pleased with the health of the global economy, and absent reasons to the contrary, the path of least resistance appears to be a bounce from the recent correction. Some individual companies received especially good news that lifted shares today. Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR) , NXP Semiconductor (NASDAQ: NXPI) , and Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) were among the best performers on the day. Here's why they did so well. Caesars gets some help from the Supreme Court Shares of Caesars Entertainment rose 5% in the wake of good news for the casino industry from the U.S. Supreme Court. The nation's highest court ruled that a more than 25-year-old federal law that had prevented nearly every state other than Nevada from allowing sports-related betting was unconstitutional, opening the door for Caesars and its peers to begin such operations if state legislatures pass laws allowing sports betting. New Jersey, which was the state seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional, appears ready to move quickly, and Caesars praised the decision. The company said it will need to take time to understand the consequences of the legal win before offering specific strategy, but investors think it'll be a big win for Caesars to be able to have sports betting throughout its network rather than only in its Nevada locations . Person falling with a parachute in front of Caesars Palace location at night. Image source: Caesars Entertainment. NXP gets the chip off its shoulder NXP Semiconductors stock gained 12% as investors saw the White House's overture to Chinese smartphone maker ZTE as potentially opening the door to an approval from Chinese officials of Qualcomm 's offer to purchase NXP. Investors had feared that the proposed deal would end up being a casualty of political tensions between China and the U.S., sending NXP stock lower as the odds of the $127.50-per-share buyout appeared to fall. Now, though, conditions seem more favorable, although even with today's jump, the share price is still 12% below what NXP shareholders would get if the deal goes through. Story continues Symantec bounces back Finally, shares of Symantec climbed nearly 10% . The cybersecurity company had seen dramatic losses last week after it announced that it would have to conduct an audit internally in order to address issues that a former employee had raised about accounting practices. Investors last week panicked that Symantec might have to make major restatements to past financial reports, but over the weekend, they seemed to reconsider their initial reaction. Shareholders will need to watch closely to see if anything material comes from the internal audit, but until it reaches a conclusion, you can expect Symantec stock to remain volatile. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm. The Motley Fool recommends NXP Semiconductors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Caesars Entertainment, NXP Semiconductor, and Symantec Jumped Today: Monday was a mixed day on Wall Street, as gains for major benchmarks contrasted with a decline in indexes tracking smaller companies. Many market participants focused on the White House's support of Chinese mobile device maker ZTE , which lifted several of the biggest stocks of Chinese technology giants that trade on U.S. exchanges. In general, investors seem to be pleased with the health of the global economy, and absent reasons to the contrary, the path of least resistance appears to be a bounce from the recent correction. Some individual companies received especially good news that lifted shares today. Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR) , NXP Semiconductor (NASDAQ: NXPI) , and Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) were among the best performers on the day. Here's why they did so well. Caesars gets some help from the Supreme Court Shares of Caesars Entertainment rose 5% in the wake of good news for the casino industry from the U.S. Supreme Court. The nation's highest court ruled that a more than 25-year-old federal law that had prevented nearly every state other than Nevada from allowing sports-related betting was unconstitutional, opening the door for Caesars and its peers to begin such operations if state legislatures pass laws allowing sports betting. New Jersey, which was the state seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional, appears ready to move quickly, and Caesars praised the decision. The company said it will need to take time to understand the consequences of the legal win before offering specific strategy, but investors think it'll be a big win for Caesars to be able to have sports betting throughout its network rather than only in its Nevada locations . Person falling with a parachute in front of Caesars Palace location at night. Image source: Caesars Entertainment. NXP gets the chip off its shoulder NXP Semiconductors stock gained 12% as investors saw the White House's overture to Chinese smartphone maker ZTE as potentially opening the door to an approval from Chinese officials of Qualcomm 's offer to purchase NXP. Investors had feared that the proposed deal would end up being a casualty of political tensions between China and the U.S., sending NXP stock lower as the odds of the $127.50-per-share buyout appeared to fall. Now, though, conditions seem more favorable, although even with today's jump, the share price is still 12% below what NXP shareholders would get if the deal goes through. Story continues Symantec bounces back Finally, shares of Symantec climbed nearly 10% . The cybersecurity company had seen dramatic losses last week after it announced that it would have to conduct an audit internally in order to address issues that a former employee had raised about accounting practices. Investors last week panicked that Symantec might have to make major restatements to past financial reports, but over the weekend, they seemed to reconsider their initial reaction. Shareholders will need to watch closely to see if anything material comes from the internal audit, but until it reaches a conclusion, you can expect Symantec stock to remain volatile. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm. The Motley Fool recommends NXP Semiconductors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Shares of The Stars Group Inc. Popped 14% Today: What happened Shares of online betting company The Stars Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TSG) jumped as much as 14.3% in trading Monday after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a law that banned sports betting in most of the country. The gaming industry cheered the news, and at 3:05 p.m. EDT shares of The Stars Group were still up 9.7% on the day. So what Nevada was the only state in the U.S. where sports betting was legal before the Supreme Court struck down the law known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. This opens up sports betting to states who want to pass their own laws, potentially creating a market that could be worth tens of billions of dollars. Odds at a sportsbook. Image source: Getty Images. The American Gaming Association estimates that Americans illegally wager $150 billion per year on sports, which could make its way to legal sites in The Stars Group family . At least, that's the theory driving shares higher today. Now what The Supreme Court ruling won't have an immediate impact on The Stars Group, but states could decide to allow sports betting in the coming months, so we could see this as a growth market later this year and into 2019. The Stars Group's casino and sportsbook revenue was $134.5 million in the first quarter of 2018, which puts a little of the opportunity into context. We don't know how much U.S. sports betting would add to that, but it could be in excess of $100 million if estimates of the market size are correct. Sports betting may not be core to The Stars Group's business today -- the Canadian company had more revenue from online poker the first quarter -- but it could be a way into U.S. homes, and that's a huge opportunity for the online betting company. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Travis Hoium has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Shares of The Stars Group Inc. Popped 14% Today: Shares of online betting companyThe Stars Group Inc.(NASDAQ: TSG)jumped as much as 14.3% in trading Monday after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a law that banned sports betting in most of the country. The gaming industry cheered the news, and at 3:05 p.m. EDT shares of The Stars Group were still up 9.7% on the day.
Nevada was the only state in the U.S. where sports betting was legal before the Supreme Court struck down the law known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. This opens up sports betting to states who want to pass their own laws, potentially creating a market that could be worth tens of billions of dollars.
Image source: Getty Images.
The American Gaming Association estimates that Americans illegally wager $150 billion per year on sports, which could make its way tolegal sites in The Stars Group family. At least, that's the theory driving shares higher today.
The Supreme Court ruling won't have an immediate impact on The Stars Group, but states could decide to allow sports betting in the coming months, so we could see this as a growth market later this year and into 2019. The Stars Group's casino and sportsbook revenue was $134.5 million in the first quarter of 2018, which puts a little of the opportunity into context. We don't know how much U.S. sports betting would add to that, but it could be in excess of $100 million if estimates of the market size are correct. Sports betting may not be core to The Stars Group's business today -- the Canadian company had more revenue from online poker the first quarter -- but it could be a way into U.S. homes, and that's a huge opportunity for the online betting company.
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Travis Hoiumhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || The Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: My college buddy AC wrote to me after the bitcoin bubble crashed:“You were very right! All the cryptos have CRASHED. Good call!”
Source: Shutterstock
I didn’t address the crypto situation much as it unfolded because I didn’t want readers mistakenly buying into the bubble. Now that the air has come out of the crypto-mania, I hope it’s safe to talk about the real opportunity.
I’m not talking about Bitcoin. I’m talking about the blockchain – and the dividend growth opportunities that will unfold as this “megatrend” plays out in the coming years and decades.
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
The blockchain is the nascent technology that serves as the backbone for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Today, I’m going to introduce you to five pioneering income plays that boast a “blockchain kicker.”
First, a quick primer on blockchain.
• 6 GARP Stocks to Scoop Up for Maximum Returns
The simplest way to describe the technology is to call it a digital ledger of sorts. It’s essentially just a group of encrypted records (“blocks”) that can be used to record transactions and other interactions.
The utilization of blockchain that people are most familiar with are cryptocurrencies – products such as Bitcoin that are meant to serve as digital currencies, but have quickly become extremely speculative investments as they’ve gained thousands of percent in just a few years. But companies are increasingly learning that blockchain can be used for so much more, from tracing medical histories to keeping voting records.
As a result, companies fromAmazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN) andInternational Business Machines(NYSE:IBM) toBank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC) andGoldman Sachs Group Inc(NYSE:GS) are becoming increasingly involved in trying to exploit this technology. That has given rise to a few exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on this space, including one that’s surprisingly rife with dividend growth names.
TheReality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF(NASDAQ:BLCN) is a portfolio of companies expected to benefit from blockchain in some way, with the stocks actually graded by their “potential for increased economic profit, operational efficiencies, and transformational business practices.” In short, it holds “companies working to utilize and incorporate blockchain technologies into their businesses.”
What fascinates me about this fund, however, is the dividend growth potential in some of its component stocks.
Reality Shares’ BLCN is a deviation from its main focus: income. The ETF provider boasts another quartet of funds, all of which hold dividend stocks, and three of which are centered around the company’s proprietary “DIVCON” system.
• Buy These 5 Stocks With Upgraded Broker Ratings Right Away
The DIVCON system essentially measures a stock’s dividend health, assigning a score of 1 to 5, “where DIVCON 5 indicates the highest probability for a dividend increase and DIVCON 1 the highest probability for a dividend cut.”
And right now, this system is flashing a ringing endorsement for five blockchain-linked stocks, which are all at “DIVCON 5.” In other words, they’re in the best position for dividend growth going forward:
Dividend Yield:0.6%BLCN Weight:1.39%
A stock likeVisa Inc(NYSE:V) that yields just 0.6% hardly screams “income opportunity,” but it is. Visa has juiced its payout by 154% in five years. But it’s notjusta prolific dividend grower – it’s a perfect example of the share-price growth you should expect when a company puts its shareholders first via increasingly generous cash payments.
Visa already is elbow-deep in blockchain. The company launched a pilot phase of a blockchain-based B2B payments service called B2B Connect last year in partnership with banks in the U.S., South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines.
• 3 Sector ETFs & Stocks to Play April Inflation Data
The service will allow institutions to make payments to one another directly, and the second phase of the project is expected to go live later this year.
Dividend Yield:0.5%BLCN Weight:1.40%
Visa rivalMasterCard Inc(NYSE:MA) also has its hands in blockchain, making its moves through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In early April, the credit-card processing company filed a patent to help verify and store identity data on a blockchain system.
• 5 Stocks Near 52-Week High With Scope to Perform Better
Later in the month, it filed another patent, this time to create “fast track flags” within the blockchain that would allow nodes (any electronic device that performs a task within the blockchain network) to more quickly verify data, making the system work more efficiently.
MasterCard might be an even more intriguing opportunity. While Visa’s share price and dividend growth have been roughly in line, MA shares – despite more than tripling over the past year – still haven’t caught up with the pace of the dividend, which has quadrupled and then some over the same time frame.
Dividend Yield:2.2%BLCN Weight:2.04%
Texas Instruments Incorporated(NASDAQ:TXN) isn’t exactly known for being the flashiest of chip stocks. Its analog chips and embedded processors, which make up 80%-plus of revenues, are found in some of the simplest of devices, from calculators to alarm clocks. But they have a wide array of uses, from appliances to displays to motors drives and even avionics.
Source:VEX Robotics via Flickr
The company is increasingly delving into more cutting-edge technologies, however, such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
And its position as a chipmaker also puts it square in the world of enabling the devices that make the blockchain possible.
• 5 Top-Ranked Stocks Leading the Market Rally This Year
That said, TXN’s positioning in the less glamorous world of analog chips makes it a cash cow with the few companies that even want to compete with it. And Texas Instruments makes good use of that cash, more than doubling its dividend over the past five years.
Dividend Yield:0.8%BLCN Weight:1.31%
If the blockchain acts as a ledger of sorts, what better company to research its applications thanIntuit Inc.(NASDAQ:INTU) – the well-known purveyor of accounting software such as TurboTax and QuickBooks.
• 5 Stocks With Recent Price Strength to Boost Your Portfolio
Intuit clearly spells out the blockchain opportunity in a post about the technology’s potential:
“Some accounting and auditing firms already embrace blockchain technology. Blockchain transactions are simpler, more visible, and more transparent. Improvements in operational efficiency mean that much of the work accountants do, such as collecting and inputting data, sampling, and proving provenance, takes place automatically. This leaves accountants more time to provide valuable services to their clients.”
Again, this is another prolific dividend grower that has more than doubled its quarterly dole in five years. And its DIVCON rating of 5 implies that INTU is well-armed enough to continue the upward march.
Dividend Yield:0.3%BLCN Weight:2.06%
One of BLCN’s most exciting holdings is also one of the “healthiest” from a dividend perspective.
Nvidia Corporation(NASDAQ:NVDA), maker of high-performance chips, is among the stocks most commonly connected with the booming blockchain technology. That’s because its GPUs are widely used by cryptocurrency “miners,” who need extremely powerful computers to do the processing necessary to generate new digital tokens.
Source: Shutterstock
In fact, demand is so intense that Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang recently said the company needs to crank out more of the GPUs to catch up, as video gamers (Nvidia’s bread-and-butter market) are finding it difficult to procure the graphics chips their advanced games require.
The sky seems the limit, then, for its blockchain potential, and the same goes for NVDA’s income opportunity. Because despite the fact Nvidia has powered up its dividend by 76% since 2014, it currently boasts a mere 11% payout ratio.
• 5 Top Profitable Stocks With Terrific Growth
That’s a large reason why Nvidia boasts DIVCON’s top score of dividend health, and why investors should be licking their chops over this dual-threat stock going forward.
Robust dividend growth separates the winners from the losers.
And I’m not just talking about the stocks.
Low dividend growth goes hand-in-hand with slow and no growth – and even eventual decay. Hitch your wagon to the supposedly “safe” blue chips that most financial pundits shill for, and you’ll quickly be looking for part-time work a few years into your retirement.
If you want to retire fully funded and worry-free, it’ll take more – a lot more. In fact, it’ll take 12% in safe, annual returns.
That sounds impossible, but it’s not. It takes a special kind of portfolio that offers high current yield,anddividend growth,andthe potential for double-digit capital gains in some years. But after months of research and weeding out numerous “ticking yield bombs,” I’ve identified a handful of stocks and funds that check all those boxes.
These stock picks will each reapat least 12% in annual returns– the magic number you need to meet to ensure the worry-free retirement you’ve labored so hard for decades to reach.
• 5 Homebuilding Stocks With Solid Momentum Post Q1 Earnings
My“12% for Life” portfolioditches pundit favorites such as Exxon Mobil, Coca-Cola or General Mills – yes, the same General Mills that has lost a quarter of its value this year! – and relies on these kind of picks instead:
• One stock that has juiced its dividend 800%-plus in just four years, and has at least another decade of double-digit growth ahead of it!
• A high-growth, high-yield “double threat” stock that threw off 252% gains the last time it was this cheap.
• A 9%-plus payer that hikes its payout multiple times a year, and is on track to double its payout by 2021!
Income. Dividend growth. Capital gains. Even nest egg protection. This all-weather portfolio is a diversified powerhouse thatprovides three times more income than most retirement experts say you need, while being built to be more durable against retirement-shattering downturns like in 2007-09.
I don’t want you to ever have to worry about how you’ll pay next month’s bills in retirement. With this portfolio, you won’t have to. In fact, you’ll be able to pay all your monthly expenses from dividend income alone, with enough left over for the convertible, the new master bedroom or the island vacation – all those extras you should be enjoying in retirement.
Let me show you the way to double-digit returns that you can actually depend on.Click here and I’ll GIVE you three special reports that show you how to earn 12% for life. You’ll receive the names, tickers, buy prices and full analysis for seven stocks with wealth-building potential – completely FREE!
Compare Brokers
The postThe Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buysappeared first onInvestorPlace. || The Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: My college buddy AC wrote to me after the bitcoin bubble crashed:“You were very right! All the cryptos have CRASHED. Good call!”
Source: Shutterstock
I didn’t address the crypto situation much as it unfolded because I didn’t want readers mistakenly buying into the bubble. Now that the air has come out of the crypto-mania, I hope it’s safe to talk about the real opportunity.
I’m not talking about Bitcoin. I’m talking about the blockchain – and the dividend growth opportunities that will unfold as this “megatrend” plays out in the coming years and decades.
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
The blockchain is the nascent technology that serves as the backbone for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Today, I’m going to introduce you to five pioneering income plays that boast a “blockchain kicker.”
First, a quick primer on blockchain.
• 6 GARP Stocks to Scoop Up for Maximum Returns
The simplest way to describe the technology is to call it a digital ledger of sorts. It’s essentially just a group of encrypted records (“blocks”) that can be used to record transactions and other interactions.
The utilization of blockchain that people are most familiar with are cryptocurrencies – products such as Bitcoin that are meant to serve as digital currencies, but have quickly become extremely speculative investments as they’ve gained thousands of percent in just a few years. But companies are increasingly learning that blockchain can be used for so much more, from tracing medical histories to keeping voting records.
As a result, companies fromAmazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN) andInternational Business Machines(NYSE:IBM) toBank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC) andGoldman Sachs Group Inc(NYSE:GS) are becoming increasingly involved in trying to exploit this technology. That has given rise to a few exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on this space, including one that’s surprisingly rife with dividend growth names.
TheReality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF(NASDAQ:BLCN) is a portfolio of companies expected to benefit from blockchain in some way, with the stocks actually graded by their “potential for increased economic profit, operational efficiencies, and transformational business practices.” In short, it holds “companies working to utilize and incorporate blockchain technologies into their businesses.”
What fascinates me about this fund, however, is the dividend growth potential in some of its component stocks.
Reality Shares’ BLCN is a deviation from its main focus: income. The ETF provider boasts another quartet of funds, all of which hold dividend stocks, and three of which are centered around the company’s proprietary “DIVCON” system.
• Buy These 5 Stocks With Upgraded Broker Ratings Right Away
The DIVCON system essentially measures a stock’s dividend health, assigning a score of 1 to 5, “where DIVCON 5 indicates the highest probability for a dividend increase and DIVCON 1 the highest probability for a dividend cut.”
And right now, this system is flashing a ringing endorsement for five blockchain-linked stocks, which are all at “DIVCON 5.” In other words, they’re in the best position for dividend growth going forward:
Dividend Yield:0.6%BLCN Weight:1.39%
A stock likeVisa Inc(NYSE:V) that yields just 0.6% hardly screams “income opportunity,” but it is. Visa has juiced its payout by 154% in five years. But it’s notjusta prolific dividend grower – it’s a perfect example of the share-price growth you should expect when a company puts its shareholders first via increasingly generous cash payments.
Visa already is elbow-deep in blockchain. The company launched a pilot phase of a blockchain-based B2B payments service called B2B Connect last year in partnership with banks in the U.S., South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines.
• 3 Sector ETFs & Stocks to Play April Inflation Data
The service will allow institutions to make payments to one another directly, and the second phase of the project is expected to go live later this year.
Dividend Yield:0.5%BLCN Weight:1.40%
Visa rivalMasterCard Inc(NYSE:MA) also has its hands in blockchain, making its moves through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In early April, the credit-card processing company filed a patent to help verify and store identity data on a blockchain system.
• 5 Stocks Near 52-Week High With Scope to Perform Better
Later in the month, it filed another patent, this time to create “fast track flags” within the blockchain that would allow nodes (any electronic device that performs a task within the blockchain network) to more quickly verify data, making the system work more efficiently.
MasterCard might be an even more intriguing opportunity. While Visa’s share price and dividend growth have been roughly in line, MA shares – despite more than tripling over the past year – still haven’t caught up with the pace of the dividend, which has quadrupled and then some over the same time frame.
Dividend Yield:2.2%BLCN Weight:2.04%
Texas Instruments Incorporated(NASDAQ:TXN) isn’t exactly known for being the flashiest of chip stocks. Its analog chips and embedded processors, which make up 80%-plus of revenues, are found in some of the simplest of devices, from calculators to alarm clocks. But they have a wide array of uses, from appliances to displays to motors drives and even avionics.
Source:VEX Robotics via Flickr
The company is increasingly delving into more cutting-edge technologies, however, such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
And its position as a chipmaker also puts it square in the world of enabling the devices that make the blockchain possible.
• 5 Top-Ranked Stocks Leading the Market Rally This Year
That said, TXN’s positioning in the less glamorous world of analog chips makes it a cash cow with the few companies that even want to compete with it. And Texas Instruments makes good use of that cash, more than doubling its dividend over the past five years.
Dividend Yield:0.8%BLCN Weight:1.31%
If the blockchain acts as a ledger of sorts, what better company to research its applications thanIntuit Inc.(NASDAQ:INTU) – the well-known purveyor of accounting software such as TurboTax and QuickBooks.
• 5 Stocks With Recent Price Strength to Boost Your Portfolio
Intuit clearly spells out the blockchain opportunity in a post about the technology’s potential:
“Some accounting and auditing firms already embrace blockchain technology. Blockchain transactions are simpler, more visible, and more transparent. Improvements in operational efficiency mean that much of the work accountants do, such as collecting and inputting data, sampling, and proving provenance, takes place automatically. This leaves accountants more time to provide valuable services to their clients.”
Again, this is another prolific dividend grower that has more than doubled its quarterly dole in five years. And its DIVCON rating of 5 implies that INTU is well-armed enough to continue the upward march.
Dividend Yield:0.3%BLCN Weight:2.06%
One of BLCN’s most exciting holdings is also one of the “healthiest” from a dividend perspective.
Nvidia Corporation(NASDAQ:NVDA), maker of high-performance chips, is among the stocks most commonly connected with the booming blockchain technology. That’s because its GPUs are widely used by cryptocurrency “miners,” who need extremely powerful computers to do the processing necessary to generate new digital tokens.
Source: Shutterstock
In fact, demand is so intense that Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang recently said the company needs to crank out more of the GPUs to catch up, as video gamers (Nvidia’s bread-and-butter market) are finding it difficult to procure the graphics chips their advanced games require.
The sky seems the limit, then, for its blockchain potential, and the same goes for NVDA’s income opportunity. Because despite the fact Nvidia has powered up its dividend by 76% since 2014, it currently boasts a mere 11% payout ratio.
• 5 Top Profitable Stocks With Terrific Growth
That’s a large reason why Nvidia boasts DIVCON’s top score of dividend health, and why investors should be licking their chops over this dual-threat stock going forward.
Robust dividend growth separates the winners from the losers.
And I’m not just talking about the stocks.
Low dividend growth goes hand-in-hand with slow and no growth – and even eventual decay. Hitch your wagon to the supposedly “safe” blue chips that most financial pundits shill for, and you’ll quickly be looking for part-time work a few years into your retirement.
If you want to retire fully funded and worry-free, it’ll take more – a lot more. In fact, it’ll take 12% in safe, annual returns.
That sounds impossible, but it’s not. It takes a special kind of portfolio that offers high current yield,anddividend growth,andthe potential for double-digit capital gains in some years. But after months of research and weeding out numerous “ticking yield bombs,” I’ve identified a handful of stocks and funds that check all those boxes.
These stock picks will each reapat least 12% in annual returns– the magic number you need to meet to ensure the worry-free retirement you’ve labored so hard for decades to reach.
• 5 Homebuilding Stocks With Solid Momentum Post Q1 Earnings
My“12% for Life” portfolioditches pundit favorites such as Exxon Mobil, Coca-Cola or General Mills – yes, the same General Mills that has lost a quarter of its value this year! – and relies on these kind of picks instead:
• One stock that has juiced its dividend 800%-plus in just four years, and has at least another decade of double-digit growth ahead of it!
• A high-growth, high-yield “double threat” stock that threw off 252% gains the last time it was this cheap.
• A 9%-plus payer that hikes its payout multiple times a year, and is on track to double its payout by 2021!
Income. Dividend growth. Capital gains. Even nest egg protection. This all-weather portfolio is a diversified powerhouse thatprovides three times more income than most retirement experts say you need, while being built to be more durable against retirement-shattering downturns like in 2007-09.
I don’t want you to ever have to worry about how you’ll pay next month’s bills in retirement. With this portfolio, you won’t have to. In fact, you’ll be able to pay all your monthly expenses from dividend income alone, with enough left over for the convertible, the new master bedroom or the island vacation – all those extras you should be enjoying in retirement.
Let me show you the way to double-digit returns that you can actually depend on.Click here and I’ll GIVE you three special reports that show you how to earn 12% for life. You’ll receive the names, tickers, buy prices and full analysis for seven stocks with wealth-building potential – completely FREE!
Compare Brokers
The postThe Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buysappeared first onInvestorPlace. || The Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: My college buddy AC wrote to me after the bitcoin bubble crashed: You were very right! All the cryptos have CRASHED. Good call! The Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys Source: Shutterstock I didnt address the crypto situation much as it unfolded because I didnt want readers mistakenly buying into the bubble. Now that the air has come out of the crypto-mania, I hope its safe to talk about the real opportunity. Im not talking about Bitcoin. Im talking about the blockchain and the dividend growth opportunities that will unfold as this megatrend plays out in the coming years and decades. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips The blockchain is the nascent technology that serves as the backbone for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Today, Im going to introduce you to five pioneering income plays that boast a blockchain kicker. First, a quick primer on blockchain. 6 GARP Stocks to Scoop Up for Maximum Returns The simplest way to describe the technology is to call it a digital ledger of sorts. Its essentially just a group of encrypted records (blocks) that can be used to record transactions and other interactions. The utilization of blockchain that people are most familiar with are cryptocurrencies products such as Bitcoin that are meant to serve as digital currencies, but have quickly become extremely speculative investments as theyve gained thousands of percent in just a few years. But companies are increasingly learning that blockchain can be used for so much more, from tracing medical histories to keeping voting records. As a result, companies from Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN ) and International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM ) to Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC ) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ) are becoming increasingly involved in trying to exploit this technology. That has given rise to a few exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on this space, including one thats surprisingly rife with dividend growth names. Story continues Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (BLCN) The Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (NASDAQ: BLCN ) is a portfolio of companies expected to benefit from blockchain in some way, with the stocks actually graded by their potential for increased economic profit, operational efficiencies, and transformational business practices. In short, it holds companies working to utilize and incorporate blockchain technologies into their businesses. What fascinates me about this fund, however, is the dividend growth potential in some of its component stocks. Reality Shares BLCN is a deviation from its main focus: income. The ETF provider boasts another quartet of funds, all of which hold dividend stocks, and three of which are centered around the companys proprietary DIVCON system. Buy These 5 Stocks With Upgraded Broker Ratings Right Away The DIVCON system essentially measures a stocks dividend health, assigning a score of 1 to 5, where DIVCON 5 indicates the highest probability for a dividend increase and DIVCON 1 the highest probability for a dividend cut. And right now, this system is flashing a ringing endorsement for five blockchain-linked stocks, which are all at DIVCON 5. In other words, theyre in the best position for dividend growth going forward: Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: Visa Inc (V) Dividend Yield: 0.6% BLCN Weight: 1.39% A stock like Visa Inc (NYSE: V ) that yields just 0.6% hardly screams income opportunity, but it is. Visa has juiced its payout by 154% in five years. But its not just a prolific dividend grower its a perfect example of the share-price growth you should expect when a company puts its shareholders first via increasingly generous cash payments. As Visas Dividend Goes, So Does Its Price Visa already is elbow-deep in blockchain. The company launched a pilot phase of a blockchain-based B2B payments service called B2B Connect last year in partnership with banks in the U.S., South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines. 3 Sector ETFs & Stocks to Play April Inflation Data The service will allow institutions to make payments to one another directly, and the second phase of the project is expected to go live later this year. Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: MasterCard Inc (MA) Dividend Yield: 0.5% BLCN Weight: 1.40% Visa rival MasterCard Inc (NYSE: MA ) also has its hands in blockchain, making its moves through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In early April, the credit-card processing company filed a patent to help verify and store identity data on a blockchain system. 5 Stocks Near 52-Week High With Scope to Perform Better Later in the month, it filed another patent, this time to create fast track flags within the blockchain that would allow nodes (any electronic device that performs a task within the blockchain network) to more quickly verify data, making the system work more efficiently. MasterCard (MA) Has Some Catching Up to Do in a Good Way Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: MasterCard Inc (MA) MasterCard might be an even more intriguing opportunity. While Visas share price and dividend growth have been roughly in line, MA shares despite more than tripling over the past year still havent caught up with the pace of the dividend, which has quadrupled and then some over the same time frame. Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN) Dividend Yield: 2.2% BLCN Weight: 2.04% Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ: TXN ) isnt exactly known for being the flashiest of chip stocks. Its analog chips and embedded processors, which make up 80%-plus of revenues, are found in some of the simplest of devices, from calculators to alarm clocks. But they have a wide array of uses, from appliances to displays to motors drives and even avionics. Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN) Source: VEX Robotics via Flickr The company is increasingly delving into more cutting-edge technologies, however, such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. And its position as a chipmaker also puts it square in the world of enabling the devices that make the blockchain possible. 5 Top-Ranked Stocks Leading the Market Rally This Year That said, TXNs positioning in the less glamorous world of analog chips makes it a cash cow with the few companies that even want to compete with it. And Texas Instruments makes good use of that cash, more than doubling its dividend over the past five years. Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: Intuit Inc. (INTU) Dividend Yield: 0.8% BLCN Weight: 1.31% If the blockchain acts as a ledger of sorts, what better company to research its applications than Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU ) the well-known purveyor of accounting software such as TurboTax and QuickBooks. 5 Stocks With Recent Price Strength to Boost Your Portfolio Intuit clearly spells out the blockchain opportunity in a post about the technologys potential: Some accounting and auditing firms already embrace blockchain technology. Blockchain transactions are simpler, more visible, and more transparent. Improvements in operational efficiency mean that much of the work accountants do, such as collecting and inputting data, sampling, and proving provenance, takes place automatically. This leaves accountants more time to provide valuable services to their clients. Again, this is another prolific dividend grower that has more than doubled its quarterly dole in five years. And its DIVCON rating of 5 implies that INTU is well-armed enough to continue the upward march. Intuit (INTU): Self-Service Taxes, Full-Service Dividends Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: Intuit Inc. (INTU) Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) Dividend Yield: 0.3% BLCN Weight: 2.06% One of BLCNs most exciting holdings is also one of the healthiest from a dividend perspective. Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA ), maker of high-performance chips, is among the stocks most commonly connected with the booming blockchain technology. Thats because its GPUs are widely used by cryptocurrency miners, who need extremely powerful computers to do the processing necessary to generate new digital tokens. Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys: Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) Source: Shutterstock In fact, demand is so intense that Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang recently said the company needs to crank out more of the GPUs to catch up, as video gamers (Nvidias bread-and-butter market) are finding it difficult to procure the graphics chips their advanced games require. The sky seems the limit, then, for its blockchain potential, and the same goes for NVDAs income opportunity. Because despite the fact Nvidia has powered up its dividend by 76% since 2014, it currently boasts a mere 11% payout ratio. 5 Top Profitable Stocks With Terrific Growth Thats a large reason why Nvidia boasts DIVCONs top score of dividend health, and why investors should be licking their chops over this dual-threat stock going forward. How to Earn 12% Annual Returns For Life! Robust dividend growth separates the winners from the losers. And Im not just talking about the stocks. Low dividend growth goes hand-in-hand with slow and no growth and even eventual decay. Hitch your wagon to the supposedly safe blue chips that most financial pundits shill for, and youll quickly be looking for part-time work a few years into your retirement. If you want to retire fully funded and worry-free, itll take more a lot more. In fact, itll take 12% in safe, annual returns. That sounds impossible, but its not. It takes a special kind of portfolio that offers high current yield, and dividend growth, and the potential for double-digit capital gains in some years. But after months of research and weeding out numerous ticking yield bombs, Ive identified a handful of stocks and funds that check all those boxes. These stock picks will each reap at least 12% in annual returns the magic number you need to meet to ensure the worry-free retirement youve labored so hard for decades to reach. 5 Homebuilding Stocks With Solid Momentum Post Q1 Earnings My 12% for Life portfolio ditches pundit favorites such as Exxon Mobil, Coca-Cola or General Mills yes, the same General Mills that has lost a quarter of its value this year! and relies on these kind of picks instead: One stock that has juiced its dividend 800%-plus in just four years, and has at least another decade of double-digit growth ahead of it! A high-growth, high-yield double threat stock that threw off 252% gains the last time it was this cheap. A 9%-plus payer that hikes its payout multiple times a year, and is on track to double its payout by 2021! Income. Dividend growth. Capital gains. Even nest egg protection. This all-weather portfolio is a diversified powerhouse that provides three times more income than most retirement experts say you need , while being built to be more durable against retirement-shattering downturns like in 2007-09. I dont want you to ever have to worry about how youll pay next months bills in retirement. With this portfolio, you wont have to. In fact, youll be able to pay all your monthly expenses from dividend income alone, with enough left over for the convertible, the new master bedroom or the island vacation all those extras you should be enjoying in retirement. Let me show you the way to double-digit returns that you can actually depend on. Click here and Ill GIVE you three special reports that show you how to earn 12% for life. Youll receive the names, tickers, buy prices and full analysis for seven stocks with wealth-building potential completely FREE! Compare Brokers The post The Bitcoin Bubble Created These 5 Dividend Growth Buys appeared first on InvestorPlace . || Malaysia ETF Surges as Mahathir Takes Office: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Malaysian equities have been on a wild ride, with the Malaysia ETF surging on Monday after the opposition party surprised observers by winning the office for the first time in six decades. The iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF ( EWM ) jumped 5.6% Monday, paring the previous week's losses on the knee-jerk political risk selling in response to the election surprise. The market was shut for three days last week as Mahathir Mohamad led an alliance to unexpectedly beat the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, Bloomberg reports. However, the markets were assuaged by prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir's first remarks that revealed his stance for a business-friendly administration and search for ways to boost the nation’s equity market. For instance, Mahathir’s coalition pledged to abolish the country's current goods and services tax, along with fuel subsidies and minimum wage realignment. Mahathir Could Benefit the Consumer Sector Gan Eng Peng, director of equities strategy and advisory at Affin Hwang Asset Management, argued that Mahathir’s vow to nullify the nation’s current goods and services tax, fuel subsidies and minimum wage realignment could benefit the consumer sector. The rebound in Malaysia was led by government-backed local funds and investment bankers, MarketWatch Reports. State-run funds are key players in Malaysia’s markets and frequently support specific government-backed stocks when there is major selling pressure. “We believe any market selldown may be brief and offer accumulation opportunities,” Bernard Ching, an analyst with Kuala Lumpur-based AllianceDBS Research, told MarketWatch. Market watchers originally expected the equity market to broadly decline, with government-linked companies, benchmark index stocks and infrastructure companies taking the brunt of any selling after Mahathir's government said it would review the projects under the previous administration - the new prime minister previously campaigned on a premise to review all infrastructure projects including the East Coast Rail Link project. Story continues For more information on the developing economies, visit our emerging markets category . POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM An Epic Bitcoin Forecast The Tax Cut Narrative is Losing Its Luster 8 Things Keeping You from a Secure Retirement Robo-Advice Is Here … What Comes Next? Why We’re All a Little Weird Around Money READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Malaysia ETF Surges as Mahathir Takes Office: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Malaysian equities have been on a wild ride, with the Malaysia ETF surging on Monday after the opposition party surprised observers by winning the office for the first time in six decades.
The iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (EWM) jumped 5.6% Monday, paring the previous week's losses on the knee-jerk political risk selling in response to the election surprise.
The market was shut for three days last week as Mahathir Mohamad led an alliance to unexpectedly beat the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition,Bloombergreports.
However, the markets were assuaged by prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir's first remarks that revealed his stance for a business-friendly administration and search for ways to boost the nation’s equity market. For instance, Mahathir’s coalition pledged to abolish the country's current goods and services tax, along with fuel subsidies and minimum wage realignment.
Mahathir Could Benefit the Consumer Sector
Gan Eng Peng, director of equities strategy and advisory at Affin Hwang Asset Management, argued that Mahathir’s vow to nullify the nation’s current goods and services tax, fuel subsidies and minimum wage realignment could benefit the consumer sector.
The rebound in Malaysia was led by government-backed local funds and investment bankers,MarketWatchReports. State-run funds are key players in Malaysia’s markets and frequently support specific government-backed stocks when there is major selling pressure.
“We believe any market selldown may be brief and offer accumulation opportunities,” Bernard Ching, an analyst with Kuala Lumpur-based AllianceDBS Research, told MarketWatch.
Market watchers originally expected the equity market to broadly decline, with government-linked companies, benchmark index stocks and infrastructure companies taking the brunt of any selling after Mahathir's government said it would review the projects under the previous administration - the new prime minister previously campaigned on a premise to review all infrastructure projects including the East Coast Rail Link project.
For more information on the developing economies, visit ouremerging markets category.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Malaysia ETF: Policy Shifts Could be Looming: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. The iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF ( EWM ) experienced some volatility last week, plunging immediately following Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's surprise win in a recent election there. The lone US-listed exchange traded fund dedicated to Malaysian equities would rebound later in the week, but still finished the week with a loss of over 5%. Some ratings agencies are forecasting policy changes in the wake of the surprise election result. “The surprise victory of the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in Malaysia's general elections held on 9 May means a much higher likelihood of fiscal and economic policy change,” says Fitch Ratings . “The PH won 113 of 222 parliamentary seats, resulting in Malaysia's first electoral transfer of power since independence in 1957.” What's Next for Malaysia ETF Mahathir, who previously served as prime minister for 22 years ending in 2003, said he’s seeking an active stock market and an increased overall market capitalization, adding there shouldn’t be any need to devalue the Malaysian ringgit currency. Even with Friday's modest recovery, EWM closed last week below its 200-day moving average. “Fitch affirmed Malaysia's 'A-' rating with a Stable Outlook on 28 March, noting that the election result was unlikely to lead to significant economic policy shift,” said the ratings agency. “The extent to which the new government's agenda will shift major policy is uncertain, but the PH victory and its policy platform indicate a much greater potential for change. In the meantime, Fitch will monitor the new government's policy agenda as it evolves.” Related: Use Country ETFs to Pick, Choose Strong Markets EWM, home to $564.71 million in assets under management, holds 47 stocks. The ETF, which has a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 5.17%, allocates almost 37% of its weight to financial services names. The utilities and consumer staples sectors combine for almost 28% of the fund's weight. Story continues “Other notable PH platform policies include a review of government contingent liabilities and a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate recent corruption scandals. Reviewing contingent liabilities could limit the build-up of risks to broader public finances over the long term, though at the expense of creating some headwinds for domestic demand and growth. An inquiry into scandals could improve governance indicators over time, mitigating a key rating constraint for Malaysia,” according to Fitch. For more information on the developing economies, visit our emerging markets category . POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM An Epic Bitcoin Forecast The Tax Cut Narrative is Losing Its Luster 8 Things Keeping You from a Secure Retirement Robo-Advice Is Here … What Comes Next? Why We’re All a Little Weird Around Money READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Malaysia ETF: Policy Shifts Could be Looming: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
The iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (EWM) experienced some volatility last week, plunging immediately following Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's surprise win in a recent election there. The lone US-listed exchange traded fund dedicated to Malaysian equities would rebound later in the week, but still finished the week with a loss of over 5%.
Some ratings agencies are forecasting policy changes in the wake of the surprise election result.
“The surprise victory of the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in Malaysia's general elections held on 9 May means a much higher likelihood of fiscal and economic policy change,”says Fitch Ratings. “The PH won 113 of 222 parliamentary seats, resulting in Malaysia's first electoral transfer of power since independence in 1957.”
What's Next for Malaysia ETF
Mahathir, who previously served as prime minister for 22 years ending in 2003, said he’s seeking an active stock market and an increased overall market capitalization, adding there shouldn’t be any need to devalue the Malaysian ringgit currency. Even with Friday's modest recovery, EWM closed last week below its 200-day moving average.
“Fitch affirmed Malaysia's 'A-' rating with a Stable Outlook on 28 March, noting that the election result was unlikely to lead to significant economic policy shift,” said the ratings agency. “The extent to which the new government's agenda will shift major policy is uncertain, but the PH victory and its policy platform indicate a much greater potential for change. In the meantime, Fitch will monitor the new government's policy agenda as it evolves.”
Related:Use Country ETFs to Pick, Choose Strong Markets
EWM, home to $564.71 million in assets under management, holds 47 stocks. The ETF, which has a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 5.17%, allocates almost 37% of its weight to financial services names. The utilities and consumer staples sectors combine for almost 28% of the fund's weight.
“Other notable PH platform policies include a review of government contingent liabilities and a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate recent corruption scandals. Reviewing contingent liabilities could limit the build-up of risks to broader public finances over the long term, though at the expense of creating some headwinds for domestic demand and growth. An inquiry into scandals could improve governance indicators over time, mitigating a key rating constraint for Malaysia,” according to Fitch.
For more information on the developing economies, visit ouremerging markets category.
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• The Tax Cut Narrative is Losing Its Luster
• 8 Things Keeping You from a Secure Retirement
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Here's Why Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. Is Surging Today: Shares ofAurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc.(NASDAQ: AUPH), a clinical-stage biotech, are on the rise following the company's first-quarter earnings report. Plans to expand voclosporin, the company's lupus candidate, to a much larger indication inspired investors to push the shares 10.2% higher as of 1:03 p.m. Monday.
A pivotal trial for the treatment of lupus nephritis started a year ago, and the company's on track to send its first application to the FDA in the first half of 2020. Investors perked up today because it looks like they could have a couple of new catalysts to look forward to in the meantime.
Image source: Getty Images.
During its first-quarter report, Aurinia announced plans to begin a study for an extremely rare kidney disorder, plus plans to develop voclosporin drops to treat dry eye syndrome. It seems odd that a drug that appears to limit kidney damage also has a shot as a treatment for an eye condition that affects more than 20 million Americans, but we could find out soon.Merck & Co.'s Animal Health unit licensed rights to develop voclosporin for dogs with dry eye, and Aurinia slated a head-to-headhumanstudy againstAllergan's(NYSE: AGN)Restasis for this June.
Aurinia finished March with a healthy $159.1 million cash balance, which management thinks will see it through the planned filing of voclosporin's lupus application in early 2020 despite the increased clinical trial activity. Success against Restasis could send the stock soaring before phase 3 lupus results are even ready.
Before you gettoo fired upabout a possible expansion to the enormous dry eye indication, it's important to remember that voclosporin solution for dry eye has been on the back burner a long time. Lux Biosciences reported positive results from a phase 1 trial with healthy volunteers and five dry-eye patients all the way back in 2009.
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Cory Renauerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
[Social Media Buzz]
Bitcoin (-0.9): $8,456.45
Ethereum (-1.65): $701.00
Ripple (-1.75): $0.69
Bitcoin Cash (-0.93): $1,328.32
EOS (-2.43): $12.72
Litecoin (-1.12): $138.83
Cardano (-2.48): $0.26
Stellar (-1.49): $0.35
IOTA (0.75): $2.01
TRON (-1.62): $0.07 || $BTCUSD Bitcoin Daily Chart: On this chart we see price continuing to move along the inside of the 1st magenta break-line, just above the 50 dma. I do expect price to make a move lower and fall below the 50 dma and the black 3rd break-line as price makes its w...
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8368.83, 8094.32, 8250.97, 8247.18, 8513.25, 8418.99, 8041.78, 7557.82, 7587.34, 7480.14
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 11359.40, 11259.40, 11171.40, 11440.70, 11786.30, 11296.40, 10106.30, 10221.10, 9170.54, 8830.75, 9174.91, 8277.01, 6955.27, 7754.00, 7621.30, 8265.59, 8736.98, 8621.90, 8129.97, 8926.57, 8598.31, 9494.63, 10166.40, 10233.90, 11112.70, 10551.80, 11225.30, 11403.70, 10690.40, 10005.00, 10301.10, 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00, 11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63, 9205.12, 9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35, 7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47, 8879.62, 8668.12, 8495.78, 8209.40, 7833.04, 7954.48, 7165.70, 6890.52, 6973.53, 6844.23, 7083.80, 7456.11, 6853.84, 6811.47, 6636.32, 6911.09, 7023.52, 6770.73, 6834.76, 6968.32, 7889.25, 7895.96, 7986.24, 8329.11, 8058.67, 7902.09, 8163.42, 8294.31, 8845.83, 8895.58, 8802.46, 8930.88.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-04-23]
Volume: 6925190144, RSI (14-day): 63.27, 50-day EMA: 8402.77, 200-day EMA: 8774.40
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1322.50, Gold RSI: 43.63
Oil Price: 68.64, Oil RSI: 65.76
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Proxeus wants to be the WordPress of blockchain: Can blockchain technology fix the soul sucking tedium and cost of back-and-forth bureaucracy? The Swiss team behind a blockchain-based platform, calledProxeus, believes it can — and that that will be just the tip of what decentralization brings down the pipe, once components such as crypto identities become an accepted (and legal) standard.
Blockchain’s big picture vision is embedded crypto identities opening up all sorts of additional opportunities — from a new wave of share trading and lending, to frictionless identity verification.
But right now the technology remains nascent, with some fundamental challenges -- such as energy efficiency and scalability -- yet to be overcome and thus standing in the way of blockchain's much touted transformative potential.
That’s why the team behind Proxeus has taken what co-founder Antoine Verdon dubs a “very pragmatic, very Swiss” approach to blockchain — aiming to bridge the gap between the old (but real) world of linear workflow processes and the brave but still alternative reality where everything that can be decentralized has been.
So they’re focused on enabling blockchain to be used to optimize single processes and workflows -- as a first step towards greater transformations.
“Blockchain is going to change the whole way we organize ourselves, the whole way we build software, the whole way that even democracy works — and the whole way societies are organized,” says Verdon, laying out his blockchain faith before tempering it with a little local pragmatism. “The impact will be quite deep and eventually really powerful but in the first step it’s just another digital technology bringing efficiency to businesses.”
The team’s aim for their platform is to become ‘the WordPress of blockchain’. The technology is open source, and the platform will be made freely available for anyone to use (people building Proxeus apps can monetize them via charging fees based on usage).
Back in February Proxeus raised $25M, via an ICO for their XES token, to community fund this vision.
“At its coreProxeus isa workflow builder and document generator,” says Verdon. “We have a framework which allows anyone to come and use building blocks to create workflows and at the end blockchain apps. But — just like WordPress is a website creation tool — we don’t intend to go down one level in terms of offering products ourselves and going directly into the market.
“We see ourselves and the Proxeus model as a toolbox and a tool provider.”
“We’re working on APIs on both sides,” he adds. “Both connecting Proxeus to different blockchains — we’re now connecting to Ethereum and Hyperledger — and on the input side, connecting Proxeus with a series of ERPs.”
He says another of of the goals is a connection for SAP systems.
The team has been developing the platform for 2.5 years, at this stage. They're now beta-testing and running their first trials. And Verdon is hopeful the first live applications will be running on the platform by the end of the year, once they come out with a public product.
One interesting use-case for their blockchain technology — which they just last week publicly demoed in a prototype form under test conditions, as an entry in thedigitalswitzerlandchallenge — is a company registration system using a digitized blockchain process to radically shrink how long the necessary administration takes.
The traditional route for registering a company in Switzerland takes an average of 10 days, according to Verdon. He says the process can take as long as six weeks. But the team's proof-of-concept demo delivered a company registration in less than two hours -- though it should be noted they had been working up to that for a year, and collaborating with IBM andSwisscomon the project.
What reducing the time it takes to register a company meant in practice was Proxeus creating a digitized workflow for the entire multi-step process — using blockchain to decentralize the steps (and thus help break down linear bottlenecks), combined with smart contracts to enclose and enforce rules around how to create a company (such as the need for a certain number of shareholders and shares), thereby enabling all involved parties to be on the same page.
“We started with a very traditional digitization project — we digitize the way documents are created and the user can create them, give his input in a much more efficient way," explains Verdon. "But we add the blockchain piece on top of that to make the digitization process even more efficient than it otherwise would be. The main problem slowing down the registration process is there is a complex sequence of partners… The problem is before one party has finished their work the next one cannot start — that’s the thing that we solved with blockchain."
Proxeus built a web interface for the prototype so that all the parties involved in making company registrations happen could log in; contribute their pieces of work; and “give their okay to the process” — all without needing to know how blockchain works.
“The entrepreneur registers their own company [but] the company registration is pending until the other parties come and say yes the money has been paid, yes the conditions are fulfilled… Seeing things like this as a a list of check boxes that need to be checked, instead of a sequence, it’s a much more efficient way to work.”
Another bit of Swiss pragmatism: Proxeus’ system enables even blockchain refuseniks to participate because it still allows for paper documents to be sent. (In that case other parties in the chain can digitize the document and check the necessary confirmation box to keep things moving along.) Though too many blockchain refuseniks/paper-pushers would clearly reintroduce some friction to the process.
For the proof-of-concept Proxeus also pared back the workflow to a most basic case. But it’s an interesting example, nonetheless. And one that Verdon believes illustrates the potential of what can be achieved once lots of organizations start to experiment with -- and see potential in -- decentralizing their processes.
“We have a quite pragmatic way for any company to start connecting the business workflows — maybe in the legal space but we also working with a large Swiss university to digitize their master degrees and use blockchain to verify them," he tells TechCrunch.
"We are in discussion with a car manufacturer, with a commodity trader. We receive almost every day requests from many large companies interested to use Proxeus as a sort of sand box that will allow them to test how blockchain could transform their business value and the way they work."
What is being replaced here? Some purely administrative job roles. “All those job roles that mainly consist of receiving information in one form — for example paper — and inputting it into another format, for example, digitally, they will gradually disappear,” predicts Verdon. Though that's clearly not going to happen overnight. (But once blockchain infrastructure gets widely adopted change could happen suddenly.)
“We know there are really crazy blockchain ideas out there… but it will take several steps before we go into those new business models and ideas. I think what’s lacking — and I hope we’ll be bringing — is this bridge between the traditional world and the workflows up to this blockchain,” he adds.
While Proxeus has worked with partners on the company register example, to showcase how this bridging strategy can work — taking one process and digitizing it in a way that “doesn’t change anything”, and thereby allowing all players to jump into using blockchain — its hope is that it can develop this into an ecosystem of users who pick up the baton and start figuring out how blockchain can work for them.
“We see ourselves as enablers of businesses who want to use Proxeus technology,” says Verdon. “If everything goes well at some point there will be people and for-profit businesses coming and taking the Proxeus technology and charging clients for implementing that in a way that is compatible with company needs. Just like Accenture, for example, is implementing SAP solutions with other companies. We think that our role will be also developing a network of partners that understand Proxeus and can take it and apply it with industry clients.
“We keep the door open for doing part of this ourselves — but we see ourselves more as an enabler than as the ones that will be actually doing the business at the end.”
“It’s a decentralized model where we have our own cryptocurrency now with the ICO, with the XES, and the XES will be used to co-ordinate the different parts provided by the parties of the decentralized ecosystem, so that one party will be able to download Proxeus as a DApp [decentralized app] and make it run on their own server. If they want to create a workflow then they can do it. If they want to — for example, if another country now wants to create a company register and sees our system as a good model then you could buy the workflow created by the other company or country, in that case,” he continues.
“Then if you want to store your documents created on a server which is not yours then other production could be taken by the party in the ecosystem and all those relationships between the IP creators, the storage partners, the DApp holders, using services of others, will be connected through Proxeus in a visible way… and there are ways to allow them also to pay with Euros or Swiss franks, or whatever they want. But the underlying mechanisms will be reviewed by access and there it’s going to be up to the parties to decide whether they want to provide their services for a fee, and if for a fee then they will have to pay it with XES.”
In the case of the Swiss company registry project, Verdon says the hope now is it will be taken forward into an actual deployment. The team is in discussions with the Swiss state which he describes as the “natural” lead partner for that particular use-case.
A first productive version could come as early as this year, he adds. Though he also notes it would be just a beginning — whoever gets involved would need to build on the MVP, adding “more and more complex cases”.
Because of course “there are many exceptions” involved in company registrations. And that’s where the soul-suckiness of bureaucracy starts to creep back in.
But Proxeus’ wider blockchain faith is that by decentralizing business processes it can at very least allow information to flow more freely — unlocking efficiency gains.
“Using blockchain is a very efficient way to make people collaborate better,” argues Verdon. “I think through [the platform] we have a quite pragmatic way for any company to start connecting the business workflows.”
Proxeus' platform also enables users to get their hands dirty playing around with decentralized app building too — which he touts as “much cheaper and faster” than traditional app development, as well.
“If we had built the company register application with a traditional process it would have been a very complex IT project,” he continues. “There are several parties… you would need to create one platform where they all come, and they all receive different permissions — it would be super complex.
“In our case everyone has their own small workflow, their own small decentralized app that we can build individually — and that are connected through a blockchain layer bringing all of them together, so I think it’s a much more efficient way to program applications.”
Beyond those near-term, and fairly tangible benefits, Verdon says businesses taking the blockchain leap of faith now -- and playing around with what the tech can do for them, via the building blocks Proxeus is offering -- are also positioning themselves to be ready for the more transformative “crazy” models coming down the pipe — i.e. as a consequence of mass adoption of blockchain-based decentralization (if/when it comes).
“Just like you have a verified account at Facebook or Twitter for personalities I think at some point you will have, on LinkedIn, the possibility to connect your crypto identities so you can have this small check next to your degrees — that you have verified degrees publicly,” he suggests, giving an example of how blockchain could create a major trust-based shift within existing digital ecosystems.
He won’t be drawn into making any specific predictions for how long it will take for blockchain to scale up to be able to deliver major scale process change. But he is convinced the core tech has the potential to drive some truly seismic shifts — including at a societal level.
“It’s still extremely new,” he argues, pointing to the blockchain ecosystem generally. “I think it’s going to take a few years still until, on the one hand, the protocols develop to a level where they can use less energy, be more efficient, and on the other hand where simply businesses have understood what blockchain will bring, how a decentralized business can be run, how blockchain can allow them to develop new services, new business on top of what they have.
“Just like with the Internet revolution… it took quite some time for businesses to really grasp the impact of that. And for clear models to develop how the different industries could use those technologies — so I think it’s going to be the same here. I expect you’re going to see first movers publishing some small-scale live applications this year but for really large services provided using blockchain we probably need to wait another couple of years.
“The longer term vision, the longer term impact may or may not happen at that scale — it has the potential to transform the whole way society works — but it still has to be proven.”
Verdon’s bio on Proxeus' team page says he’s been involved in the crypto/blockchain space since 2012, including as an investor. He tells us he was an early investor in the YC- and Google Ventures-backed Buttercoin exchange, for instance — too early as it turned out, as the startupwent bankrupt three years ago. So even though the core idea was solid — as the subsequent success of other Bitcoin exchanges, such asCoinbase, underlines — timing is key to any investment.
He claims better success investing in crypto currencies. So is he hodling his Bitcoins -- despiterecent downturns? “Yes, you must,” he replies, though he also cautions he “tries to diversify everything in crypto”.
“If you work in crypto you also have to believe that it’s going further,” he continues. “And sometimes you have a small heart attack but at the end the trend is very positive — if you compare the prices between January 2016, January 2017, January 2018 there is a very clear and a very high upward trend.”
It’s that same unshakeable conviction that Proxeus’ platform is founded on -- and the faith that many more believers will come. || Proxeus wants to be the WordPress of blockchain: Can blockchain technology fix the soul sucking tedium and cost of back-and-forth bureaucracy? The Swiss team behind a blockchain-based platform, called Proxeus , believes it can — and that that will be just the tip of what decentralization brings down the pipe, once components such as crypto identities become an accepted (and legal) standard. Blockchain’s big picture vision is embedded crypto identities opening up all sorts of additional opportunities — from a new wave of share trading and lending, to frictionless identity verification. But right now the technology remains nascent, with some fundamental challenges -- such as energy efficiency and scalability -- yet to be overcome and thus standing in the way of blockchain's much touted transformative potential. That’s why the team behind Proxeus has taken what co-founder Antoine Verdon dubs a “very pragmatic, very Swiss” approach to blockchain — aiming to bridge the gap between the old (but real) world of linear workflow processes and the brave but still alternative reality where everything that can be decentralized has been. So they’re focused on enabling blockchain to be used to optimize single processes and workflows -- as a first step towards greater transformations. “Blockchain is going to change the whole way we organize ourselves, the whole way we build software, the whole way that even democracy works — and the whole way societies are organized,” says Verdon, laying out his blockchain faith before tempering it with a little local pragmatism. “The impact will be quite deep and eventually really powerful but in the first step it’s just another digital technology bringing efficiency to businesses.” The team’s aim for their platform is to become ‘the WordPress of blockchain’. The technology is open source, and the platform will be made freely available for anyone to use (people building Proxeus apps can monetize them via charging fees based on usage). Back in February Proxeus raised $25M, via an ICO for their XES token, to community fund this vision. Story continues “At its core Proxeus is a workflow builder and document generator,” says Verdon. “We have a framework which allows anyone to come and use building blocks to create workflows and at the end blockchain apps. But — just like WordPress is a website creation tool — we don’t intend to go down one level in terms of offering products ourselves and going directly into the market. “We see ourselves and the Proxeus model as a toolbox and a tool provider.” “We’re working on APIs on both sides,” he adds. “Both connecting Proxeus to different blockchains — we’re now connecting to Ethereum and Hyperledger — and on the input side, connecting Proxeus with a series of ERPs.” He says another of of the goals is a connection for SAP systems. The team has been developing the platform for 2.5 years, at this stage. They're now beta-testing and running their first trials. And Verdon is hopeful the first live applications will be running on the platform by the end of the year, once they come out with a public product. One interesting use-case for their blockchain technology — which they just last week publicly demoed in a prototype form under test conditions, as an entry in the digitalswitzerland challenge — is a company registration system using a digitized blockchain process to radically shrink how long the necessary administration takes. The traditional route for registering a company in Switzerland takes an average of 10 days, according to Verdon. He says the process can take as long as six weeks. But the team's proof-of-concept demo delivered a company registration in less than two hours -- though it should be noted they had been working up to that for a year, and collaborating with IBM and Swisscom on the project. What reducing the time it takes to register a company meant in practice was Proxeus creating a digitized workflow for the entire multi-step process — using blockchain to decentralize the steps (and thus help break down linear bottlenecks), combined with smart contracts to enclose and enforce rules around how to create a company (such as the need for a certain number of shareholders and shares), thereby enabling all involved parties to be on the same page. “We started with a very traditional digitization project — we digitize the way documents are created and the user can create them, give his input in a much more efficient way," explains Verdon. "But we add the blockchain piece on top of that to make the digitization process even more efficient than it otherwise would be. The main problem slowing down the registration process is there is a complex sequence of partners… The problem is before one party has finished their work the next one cannot start — that’s the thing that we solved with blockchain." Proxeus built a web interface for the prototype so that all the parties involved in making company registrations happen could log in; contribute their pieces of work; and “give their okay to the process” — all without needing to know how blockchain works. “The entrepreneur registers their own company [but] the company registration is pending until the other parties come and say yes the money has been paid, yes the conditions are fulfilled… Seeing things like this as a a list of check boxes that need to be checked, instead of a sequence, it’s a much more efficient way to work.” Another bit of Swiss pragmatism: Proxeus’ system enables even blockchain refuseniks to participate because it still allows for paper documents to be sent. (In that case other parties in the chain can digitize the document and check the necessary confirmation box to keep things moving along.) Though too many blockchain refuseniks/paper-pushers would clearly reintroduce some friction to the process. For the proof-of-concept Proxeus also pared back the workflow to a most basic case. But it’s an interesting example, nonetheless. And one that Verdon believes illustrates the potential of what can be achieved once lots of organizations start to experiment with -- and see potential in -- decentralizing their processes. “We have a quite pragmatic way for any company to start connecting the business workflows — maybe in the legal space but we also working with a large Swiss university to digitize their master degrees and use blockchain to verify them," he tells TechCrunch. "We are in discussion with a car manufacturer, with a commodity trader. We receive almost every day requests from many large companies interested to use Proxeus as a sort of sand box that will allow them to test how blockchain could transform their business value and the way they work." What is being replaced here? Some purely administrative job roles. “All those job roles that mainly consist of receiving information in one form — for example paper — and inputting it into another format, for example, digitally, they will gradually disappear,” predicts Verdon. Though that's clearly not going to happen overnight. (But once blockchain infrastructure gets widely adopted change could happen suddenly.) “We know there are really crazy blockchain ideas out there… but it will take several steps before we go into those new business models and ideas. I think what’s lacking — and I hope we’ll be bringing — is this bridge between the traditional world and the workflows up to this blockchain,” he adds. While Proxeus has worked with partners on the company register example, to showcase how this bridging strategy can work — taking one process and digitizing it in a way that “doesn’t change anything”, and thereby allowing all players to jump into using blockchain — its hope is that it can develop this into an ecosystem of users who pick up the baton and start figuring out how blockchain can work for them. “We see ourselves as enablers of businesses who want to use Proxeus technology,” says Verdon. “If everything goes well at some point there will be people and for-profit businesses coming and taking the Proxeus technology and charging clients for implementing that in a way that is compatible with company needs. Just like Accenture, for example, is implementing SAP solutions with other companies. We think that our role will be also developing a network of partners that understand Proxeus and can take it and apply it with industry clients. “We keep the door open for doing part of this ourselves — but we see ourselves more as an enabler than as the ones that will be actually doing the business at the end.” “It’s a decentralized model where we have our own cryptocurrency now with the ICO, with the XES, and the XES will be used to co-ordinate the different parts provided by the parties of the decentralized ecosystem, so that one party will be able to download Proxeus as a DApp [decentralized app] and make it run on their own server. If they want to create a workflow then they can do it. If they want to — for example, if another country now wants to create a company register and sees our system as a good model then you could buy the workflow created by the other company or country, in that case,” he continues. “Then if you want to store your documents created on a server which is not yours then other production could be taken by the party in the ecosystem and all those relationships between the IP creators, the storage partners, the DApp holders, using services of others, will be connected through Proxeus in a visible way… and there are ways to allow them also to pay with Euros or Swiss franks, or whatever they want. But the underlying mechanisms will be reviewed by access and there it’s going to be up to the parties to decide whether they want to provide their services for a fee, and if for a fee then they will have to pay it with XES.” In the case of the Swiss company registry project, Verdon says the hope now is it will be taken forward into an actual deployment. The team is in discussions with the Swiss state which he describes as the “natural” lead partner for that particular use-case. A first productive version could come as early as this year, he adds. Though he also notes it would be just a beginning — whoever gets involved would need to build on the MVP, adding “more and more complex cases”. Because of course “there are many exceptions” involved in company registrations. And that’s where the soul-suckiness of bureaucracy starts to creep back in. But Proxeus’ wider blockchain faith is that by decentralizing business processes it can at very least allow information to flow more freely — unlocking efficiency gains. “Using blockchain is a very efficient way to make people collaborate better,” argues Verdon. “I think through [the platform] we have a quite pragmatic way for any company to start connecting the business workflows.” Proxeus' platform also enables users to get their hands dirty playing around with decentralized app building too — which he touts as “much cheaper and faster” than traditional app development, as well. “If we had built the company register application with a traditional process it would have been a very complex IT project,” he continues. “There are several parties… you would need to create one platform where they all come, and they all receive different permissions — it would be super complex. “In our case everyone has their own small workflow, their own small decentralized app that we can build individually — and that are connected through a blockchain layer bringing all of them together, so I think it’s a much more efficient way to program applications.” Beyond those near-term, and fairly tangible benefits, Verdon says businesses taking the blockchain leap of faith now -- and playing around with what the tech can do for them, via the building blocks Proxeus is offering -- are also positioning themselves to be ready for the more transformative “crazy” models coming down the pipe — i.e. as a consequence of mass adoption of blockchain-based decentralization (if/when it comes). “Just like you have a verified account at Facebook or Twitter for personalities I think at some point you will have, on LinkedIn, the possibility to connect your crypto identities so you can have this small check next to your degrees — that you have verified degrees publicly,” he suggests, giving an example of how blockchain could create a major trust-based shift within existing digital ecosystems. He won’t be drawn into making any specific predictions for how long it will take for blockchain to scale up to be able to deliver major scale process change. But he is convinced the core tech has the potential to drive some truly seismic shifts — including at a societal level. “It’s still extremely new,” he argues, pointing to the blockchain ecosystem generally. “I think it’s going to take a few years still until, on the one hand, the protocols develop to a level where they can use less energy, be more efficient, and on the other hand where simply businesses have understood what blockchain will bring, how a decentralized business can be run, how blockchain can allow them to develop new services, new business on top of what they have. “Just like with the Internet revolution… it took quite some time for businesses to really grasp the impact of that. And for clear models to develop how the different industries could use those technologies — so I think it’s going to be the same here. I expect you’re going to see first movers publishing some small-scale live applications this year but for really large services provided using blockchain we probably need to wait another couple of years. “The longer term vision, the longer term impact may or may not happen at that scale — it has the potential to transform the whole way society works — but it still has to be proven.” Verdon’s bio on Proxeus' team page says he’s been involved in the crypto/blockchain space since 2012, including as an investor. He tells us he was an early investor in the YC- and Google Ventures-backed Buttercoin exchange, for instance — too early as it turned out, as the startup went bankrupt three years ago . So even though the core idea was solid — as the subsequent success of other Bitcoin exchanges, such as Coinbase , underlines — timing is key to any investment. He claims better success investing in crypto currencies. So is he hodling his Bitcoins -- despite recent downturns ? “Yes, you must,” he replies, though he also cautions he “tries to diversify everything in crypto”. “If you work in crypto you also have to believe that it’s going further,” he continues. “And sometimes you have a small heart attack but at the end the trend is very positive — if you compare the prices between January 2016, January 2017, January 2018 there is a very clear and a very high upward trend.” It’s that same unshakeable conviction that Proxeus’ platform is founded on -- and the faith that many more believers will come. || Surprise! Tax Reform Didn't Kill These 2 Obama-Era Taxes: Thetax reform billthat became law last December did a lot to reduce tax burdens for many taxpayers. Corporations got a clear benefit from seeing their typical tax rate reduced from 35% to 21%, while reductions in tax rates for most income tax brackets and increases to the standard deduction and the child tax credit helped to offset the loss of key itemized deductions for individual taxpayers.
Yet tax reform didn't do as much to simplify the income tax system as many had hoped, and several more complicated provisions of the tax laws remained in place. One thing that lawmakers chose not to do was to seek to eliminate two taxes that had been put in place during the Obama administration, and so those taxpayers who've gotten hit by those taxes can expect to pay them again in 2018 and beyond.
Image source: Getty Images.
As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, two new taxes took effect in the 2013 tax year: the additional Medicare tax and the net investment income tax. Both of these taxes wereaimed at high-income taxpayers, but they address different types of income and have different tax rates.
The additional Medicare tax is a surtax on earned income, including wages, salaries, and income from self-employment. Those subject to the tax have to pay 0.9% of whatever part of their earned income exceeds the threshold. Those thresholds are $200,000 for single filers, $250,000 for joint filers, and $125,000 for married taxpayers filing separately.
For single filers, the additional Medicare tax is relatively simple to calculate, and most employers take it into account and collect it through payroll withholding if your income rises above the $200,000 threshold amount. Where things get tricky, though, is with joint filers, because the $250,000 threshold is based on total earned income for both spouses. In a two-earner family, it's possible that neither spouse will get close to the limit, but when you combine their income, additional Medicare tax will be due. In that case, you'll likely have to pay the tax when you file your return, as your employer won't have information about what your spouse makes in order to calculate the correct withholding amount.
As its name suggests, thenet investment income taxtargets an entirely different type of income. It uses the same thresholds as the additional Medicare tax, but it imposes a higher 3.8% surtax on any investment income that brings your adjusted gross income above the threshold amount. This tax applies to interest, dividends, and capital gains, as well as rental income from real estate, royalty income from energy assets or intellectual property rights, and passive business income.
Calculating the net investment income tax can be complicated because you're allowed to take some of the expenses you incur in generating that income as a deduction against the taxable amount. Items like investment interest expense and taxes on income at the state and local level will reduce your net investment income, and so you can use them to lower your tax liability under the provision. Moreover, if you're close to the income threshold, only that portion of your investment income that pushes you above the threshold is subject to tax. For instance, if you're a single filer with adjusted gross income of $201,000 with $10,000 in net investment income, you'll pay net investment income only on the $1,000 over the $200,000 threshold.
Many had hoped thattax reform would get rid of these taxes. Even after a failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act earlier in the year, lawmakers could still have eliminated these taxes as a symbolic objection to the legislation.
These taxes, however, are still around, and they're likely to affect an increasing number of people as the years go by. The $200,000 and $250,000 income thresholds aren't indexed for inflation, and so to the extent that inflation raises wages and incomes more broadly, a larger number of people will find their incomes above the thresholds and start having to pay these two taxes. It could take years for that to happen, but as we've seen withother taxes with non-indexed income thresholds, the long run impact can dramatically expand the reach of such taxes.
There's always a chance that lawmakers will take additional steps to cut taxes, but for now, there aren't any plans on the table to eliminate the additional Medicare tax or the net investment income tax. As 2018 continues, you'll want to make sure not to forget about these extra taxes in estimating how much you'll owe next April.
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The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Surprise! Tax Reform Didn't Kill These 2 Obama-Era Taxes: The tax reform bill that became law last December did a lot to reduce tax burdens for many taxpayers. Corporations got a clear benefit from seeing their typical tax rate reduced from 35% to 21%, while reductions in tax rates for most income tax brackets and increases to the standard deduction and the child tax credit helped to offset the loss of key itemized deductions for individual taxpayers. Yet tax reform didn't do as much to simplify the income tax system as many had hoped, and several more complicated provisions of the tax laws remained in place. One thing that lawmakers chose not to do was to seek to eliminate two taxes that had been put in place during the Obama administration, and so those taxpayers who've gotten hit by those taxes can expect to pay them again in 2018 and beyond. Metal gears interlaced with each other, with one engraved Tax Reform on the side. Image source: Getty Images. What you should know about the additional Medicare tax and the net investment income tax As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, two new taxes took effect in the 2013 tax year: the additional Medicare tax and the net investment income tax. Both of these taxes were aimed at high-income taxpayers , but they address different types of income and have different tax rates. The additional Medicare tax is a surtax on earned income, including wages, salaries, and income from self-employment. Those subject to the tax have to pay 0.9% of whatever part of their earned income exceeds the threshold. Those thresholds are $200,000 for single filers, $250,000 for joint filers, and $125,000 for married taxpayers filing separately. For single filers, the additional Medicare tax is relatively simple to calculate, and most employers take it into account and collect it through payroll withholding if your income rises above the $200,000 threshold amount. Where things get tricky, though, is with joint filers, because the $250,000 threshold is based on total earned income for both spouses. In a two-earner family, it's possible that neither spouse will get close to the limit, but when you combine their income, additional Medicare tax will be due. In that case, you'll likely have to pay the tax when you file your return, as your employer won't have information about what your spouse makes in order to calculate the correct withholding amount. Story continues As its name suggests, the net investment income tax targets an entirely different type of income. It uses the same thresholds as the additional Medicare tax, but it imposes a higher 3.8% surtax on any investment income that brings your adjusted gross income above the threshold amount. This tax applies to interest, dividends, and capital gains, as well as rental income from real estate, royalty income from energy assets or intellectual property rights, and passive business income. Calculating the net investment income tax can be complicated because you're allowed to take some of the expenses you incur in generating that income as a deduction against the taxable amount. Items like investment interest expense and taxes on income at the state and local level will reduce your net investment income, and so you can use them to lower your tax liability under the provision. Moreover, if you're close to the income threshold, only that portion of your investment income that pushes you above the threshold is subject to tax. For instance, if you're a single filer with adjusted gross income of $201,000 with $10,000 in net investment income, you'll pay net investment income only on the $1,000 over the $200,000 threshold. Dashed hopes Many had hoped that tax reform would get rid of these taxes . Even after a failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act earlier in the year, lawmakers could still have eliminated these taxes as a symbolic objection to the legislation. These taxes, however, are still around, and they're likely to affect an increasing number of people as the years go by. The $200,000 and $250,000 income thresholds aren't indexed for inflation, and so to the extent that inflation raises wages and incomes more broadly, a larger number of people will find their incomes above the thresholds and start having to pay these two taxes. It could take years for that to happen, but as we've seen with other taxes with non-indexed income thresholds , the long run impact can dramatically expand the reach of such taxes. Don't leave these taxes out of your planning There's always a chance that lawmakers will take additional steps to cut taxes, but for now, there aren't any plans on the table to eliminate the additional Medicare tax or the net investment income tax. As 2018 continues, you'll want to make sure not to forget about these extra taxes in estimating how much you'll owe next April. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 1 Reason to Be Excited About Apple Inc.'s Upcoming Product Cycle: Apple 's (NASDAQ: AAPL) current product cycle got off to a bumpy start. The company announced three new iPhones in mid-September -- iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X -- but it only began shipping the former two in September. Apple didn't even begin taking pre-orders for the iPhone X until late October, and deliveries didn't begin until early November. The fact that Apple's iPhone X was late in coming to market -- at least, later than the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus -- probably hurt its chances in the market . Some potential iPhone buyers might've gone for the iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus rather than wait for the iPhone X, while others might've decided that they'd rather wait for the next iPhone since the iPhone X's life as Apple's flagship device would be shorter than usual. Apple iPhones in a mosaic pattern. Image source: Apple. On top of that, since Apple's iPhone X took so long to come to market, the device had less time as, arguably, the most advanced smartphone available as competitors launched their responses right on cue . For Apple investors, there's one bit of good news for this coming product cycle: Apple is unlikely to stagger the launches of its new devices. What this means for Apple's business During this coming product cycle, Apple is expected to launch three new iPhones: a successor to the iPhone 8/iPhone 8 Plus with a liquid crystal display, a successor to the current iPhone X, and a larger version of the successor to the iPhone X. While these devices should differ in important ways such as display technology, memory capacity, and casing materials, they're all expected to significantly share internals, and they're all expected to incorporate Apple's depth-sensing TrueDepth front-facing cameras. The TrueDepth cameras proved to be a key bottleneck in the production of the iPhone X last year, but Apple seems to have worked hard to ensure that multiple suppliers are ready to supply Apple with large quantities of key components for the TrueDepth cameras this year. Moreover, based on everything that's leaked out about the device, it doesn't seem as though Apple is going to be making any bold or radical changes to its iPhones this year -- it's all about building on the strengths of the iPhone X. Since it doesn't seem likely that Apple is going to face any show-stoppers in trying to build this year's new iPhones, I don't expect we'll see either a delayed announcement or delayed availability of any of the models. If Apple can deliver on that, its latest devices will have more time in the sun as, arguably, the best and most advanced smartphones in the market. The competition will surely respond, as it does every year, but the longer Apple is able to sell its latest phones before competitive responses arrive, the better Apple's total iPhone sales over the course of the product cycle could be. Story continues Considering that iPhones make up more than half of Apple's annual revenue, and considering that the company only releases new flagship devices once a year, it's imperative that Apple maximize its unit shipments and revenue within a given product cycle. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Ashraf Eassa has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || 1 Reason to Be Excited About Apple Inc.'s Upcoming Product Cycle: Apple's(NASDAQ: AAPL)current product cycle got off to a bumpy start. The company announced three new iPhones in mid-September -- iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X -- but it only began shipping the former two in September. Apple didn't even begin taking pre-orders for the iPhone X until late October, and deliveries didn't begin until early November.
The fact that Apple's iPhone X was late in coming to market -- at least, later than the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus --probably hurt its chances in the market. Some potential iPhone buyers might've gone for the iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus rather than wait for the iPhone X, while others might've decided that they'd rather wait for the next iPhone since the iPhone X's life as Apple's flagship device would be shorter than usual.
Image source: Apple.
On top of that, since Apple's iPhone X took so long to come to market, the device had less time as, arguably, the most advanced smartphone available as competitors launched their responsesright on cue.
For Apple investors, there's one bit of good news for this coming product cycle: Apple is unlikely to stagger the launches of its new devices.
During this coming product cycle, Apple is expected to launch three new iPhones: a successor to the iPhone 8/iPhone 8 Plus with a liquid crystal display, a successor to the current iPhone X, and a larger version of the successor to the iPhone X.
While these devices should differ in important ways such as display technology, memory capacity, and casing materials, they're all expected to significantly share internals, and they're all expected to incorporate Apple's depth-sensing TrueDepth front-facing cameras.
The TrueDepth camerasproved to be a key bottleneckin the production of the iPhone X last year, but Apple seems to haveworked hardto ensure that multiple suppliers are ready to supply Apple with large quantities of key components for the TrueDepth cameras this year.
Moreover, based on everything that's leaked out about the device, it doesn't seem as though Apple is going to be making any bold or radical changes to its iPhones this year -- it's all about building on the strengths of the iPhone X.
Since it doesn't seem likely that Apple is going to face any show-stoppers in trying to build this year's new iPhones, I don't expect we'll see either a delayed announcement or delayed availability of any of the models.
If Apple can deliver on that, its latest devices will have more time in the sun as, arguably, the best and most advanced smartphones in the market. The competition will surely respond, as it does every year, but the longer Apple is able to sell its latest phones before competitive responses arrive, the better Apple's total iPhone sales over the course of the product cycle could be.
Considering that iPhones make up more than half of Apple's annual revenue, and considering that the company only releases new flagship devices once a year, it's imperative that Apple maximize its unit shipments and revenue within a given product cycle.
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Ashraf Eassahas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Is Frontier Communications Corporation (FTR) a Buy?: Frontier Communications(NASDAQ: FTR)has been insteady decline. It has lost customers in every quarter since it spent $10.55 billion in April of 2016 to buyVerizon's(NYSE: VZ)wireline business in California, Texas, and Florida.
That deal was supposed to give the company the scale it needed to compete with the bigger players in pay television and broadband. The purchase gave the company approximately 3.3 million voice connections, 2.1 million broadband connections, and 1.2 million FiOS video subscribers.
On the positive side, the Verizon purchase did give Frontier added operational efficiency. The company has created over $1 billion in operational efficiencies due to being bigger. Unfortunately for shareholders, Frontier has not been able to hold onto those customers and that's something it can't seem to fix.
[{"Year": "2012", "Pay TV gains/losses": "170,000", "Internet gains": "2,000,000"}, {"Year": "2013", "Pay TV gains/losses": "-105,000", "Internet gains": "2,600,000"}, {"Year": "2014", "Pay TV gains/losses": "-125,000", "Internet gains": "3,000,000"}, {"Year": "2015", "Pay TV gains/losses": "-385,000", "Internet gains": "3,100,000"}, {"Year": "2016", "Pay TV gains/losses": "-795,000", "Internet gains": "2,700,000"}, {"Year": "2017", "Pay TV gains/losses": "-1,495,000", "Internet gains": "2,100,000"}]
Data source: Leichtman Research Group.
The Verizon purchase happened beforecord cuttinghad become as significant a trend as it has grown to. Still, at the time of the purchase, it was clear that people leaving cable for streaming services was indeed happening.
In addition, Frontier has suffered because it offers telephone line-based DSL broadband service which has proven less popular with consumers compared to cable-based service. That has meant the company has not been able to make up for its cable losses with broadband gains.
The losses -- both in customers and cash -- forced Frontier to cut itsdividendas of the first quarter of its fiscal 2017. It dropped the quarterly payout from $0.105 per share, where it had been for over two years, to $0.04 per share. The company also, at roughly the same time, conducted a 15-1 reverse split of its stock. That move was made to keep shares above the $1 threshold required to maintain its listing.
More recently, the chain has fully suspended its dividend. That's a move needed to conserve cash, but it's not likely to be well-received by investors.
[{"Quarter": "Q3 2106", "Customers Lost": "67,000"}, {"Quarter": "Q4 2016", "Customers Lost": "158,000"}, {"Quarter": "Q1 2017", "Customers Lost": "173,000"}, {"Quarter": "Q2 2017", "Customers Lost": "162,000"}, {"Quarter": "Q3 2017", "Customers Lost": "109,000"}, {"Quarter": "Q4 2017", "Customers Lost": "99,000"}]
Data source: Frontier Communications earnings reports.
CEO Dan McCarthy has remained a relentless cheerleader for his company. His comments in Frontier's fourth-quarter earnings release match his optimism from previous reports.
"Our fourth quarter results highlight the ongoing progress on our key initiatives to improve customer retention, enhance the customer experience, and align our cost structure," he said. "We are pleased with continued improvement in subscriber trends and churn in our California, Texas, and Florida (CTF) markets, and the continued operating efficiencies achieved in the fourth quarter."
Cord cutting is a trend Frontier has no answer for. Image source: Getty Images.
McCarthy has been very good at lowering expenses and manipulating debt to keep the company afloat. Suspending the dividend creates another $250 million in operating capital.
That would all make sense if the company had a clear path toward reversing its subscriber losses. It does not. The company is operating in a market that's shrinking and there's no sign that will reverse itself or even level out any time soon.
Frontier isn't a buy because it has no path to growth. An optimistic view would be that the company can bottom out and find a way to operate profitably at the current level. Even that scenario is unlikely simply because customers are leaving cable in general and that number is likely to increase for years to come.
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Daniel B. Klinehas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Is Frontier Communications Corporation (FTR) a Buy?: Frontier Communications (NASDAQ: FTR) has been in steady decline . It has lost customers in every quarter since it spent $10.55 billion in April of 2016 to buy Verizon 's (NYSE: VZ) wireline business in California, Texas, and Florida. That deal was supposed to give the company the scale it needed to compete with the bigger players in pay television and broadband. The purchase gave the company approximately 3.3 million voice connections, 2.1 million broadband connections, and 1.2 million FiOS video subscribers. On the positive side, the Verizon purchase did give Frontier added operational efficiency. The company has created over $1 billion in operational efficiencies due to being bigger. Unfortunately for shareholders, Frontier has not been able to hold onto those customers and that's something it can't seem to fix. Year Pay TV gains/losses Internet gains 2012 170,000 2,000,000 2013 -105,000 2,600,000 2014 -125,000 3,000,000 2015 -385,000 3,100,000 2016 -795,000 2,700,000 2017 -1,495,000 2,100,000 Data source: Leichtman Research Group. What's happening with Frontier? The Verizon purchase happened before cord cutting had become as significant a trend as it has grown to. Still, at the time of the purchase, it was clear that people leaving cable for streaming services was indeed happening. In addition, Frontier has suffered because it offers telephone line-based DSL broadband service which has proven less popular with consumers compared to cable-based service. That has meant the company has not been able to make up for its cable losses with broadband gains. The losses -- both in customers and cash -- forced Frontier to cut its dividend as of the first quarter of its fiscal 2017. It dropped the quarterly payout from $0.105 per share, where it had been for over two years, to $0.04 per share. The company also, at roughly the same time, conducted a 15-1 reverse split of its stock. That move was made to keep shares above the $1 threshold required to maintain its listing. More recently, the chain has fully suspended its dividend. That's a move needed to conserve cash, but it's not likely to be well-received by investors. Quarter Customers Lost Q3 2106 67,000 Q4 2016 158,000 Q1 2017 173,000 Q2 2017 162,000 Q3 2017 109,000 Q4 2017 99,000 Data source: Frontier Communications earnings reports. What Frontier has to say CEO Dan McCarthy has remained a relentless cheerleader for his company. His comments in Frontier's fourth-quarter earnings release match his optimism from previous reports. Story continues "Our fourth quarter results highlight the ongoing progress on our key initiatives to improve customer retention, enhance the customer experience, and align our cost structure," he said. "We are pleased with continued improvement in subscriber trends and churn in our California, Texas, and Florida (CTF) markets, and the continued operating efficiencies achieved in the fourth quarter." A man takes a scissors to a cable cord. Cord cutting is a trend Frontier has no answer for. Image source: Getty Images. Is Frontier Communications a buy? McCarthy has been very good at lowering expenses and manipulating debt to keep the company afloat. Suspending the dividend creates another $250 million in operating capital. That would all make sense if the company had a clear path toward reversing its subscriber losses. It does not. The company is operating in a market that's shrinking and there's no sign that will reverse itself or even level out any time soon. Frontier isn't a buy because it has no path to growth. An optimistic view would be that the company can bottom out and find a way to operate profitably at the current level. Even that scenario is unlikely simply because customers are leaving cable in general and that number is likely to increase for years to come. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Daniel B. Kline has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || Wikileaks Claims Coinbase Has Shut Down Its Online Store’s Bitcoin Account: Wikileaks' official online merchandise store claims that its account with Coinbase has been suspended by the cryptocurrency exchange. Wikileaks, a leaked documents depository that was central to a long string of international scandals even before the 2016 presidential election, is now calling for a boycott of Coinbase.
The announcement, which has not been confirmed by Coinbase, has roiled the Bitcoin community, highlighting certain inevitable tensions as cryptocurrency becomes increasingly mainstream. In a note posted to Twitter which the Wikileaks Shop claims to have received from Coinbase, the exchange appears to cite U.S. government financial regulations as one reason for the suspension. There's no indication, though, specifically how Wikileaks allegedly violated those rules.
Bitcoin, of course, has gained popularity in part because it can be used to circumvent existing financial regulations and systems, including banks. In fact, as veteran cryptocurrency commentator Andreas Antonopoulos pointed out on Twitter, many politically engaged users were first attracted to Bitcoin as a way to donate to WikiLeaks after it wascut offby more traditional financial services in 2010.
Get Data Sheet,Fortune'stechnology newsletter.
Coinbase has attracted users to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by making them easier to buy and use, but its status as a regulated U.S. business means it must comply with U.S. financial regulations. A substantial portion of longtime Bitcoin advocates remain skeptical of Coinbase and other intermediaries because of that exposure, and because many act as custodians of customers' cryptocurrency, arguably increasing systemic risk in the event of their failure.
Suspension by Coinbase will not prevent Wikileaks from accepting payments or donations via Bitcoin, but the organization may have to devote more resources to handling its accounts directly, and will likely find it much more challenging to convert Bitcoin to currency such as dollars.
In response, Wikileaks is calling for a "global blockade" of Coinbase this week.
Coinbase has not yet confirmed the suspension, but Fortune has reached out and will update this story with any statement from them.
See original article on Fortune.com
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• Ex-CEO of Bankrupt Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Has a New Job in Crypto || Wikileaks Claims Coinbase Has Shut Down Its Online Stores Bitcoin Account: Wikileaks' official online merchandise store claims that its account with Coinbase has been suspended by the cryptocurrency exchange. Wikileaks, a leaked documents depository that was central to a long string of international scandals even before the 2016 presidential election, is now calling for a boycott of Coinbase. The announcement, which has not been confirmed by Coinbase, has roiled the Bitcoin community, highlighting certain inevitable tensions as cryptocurrency becomes increasingly mainstream. In a note posted to Twitter which the Wikileaks Shop claims to have received from Coinbase, the exchange appears to cite U.S. government financial regulations as one reason for the suspension. There's no indication, though, specifically how Wikileaks allegedly violated those rules. ANNOUNCE: Coinbase has blocked the official @WikiLeaks shop from its platform without notice or explanation. You can continue to donate #Bitcoin to WikiLeaks at https://t.co/lvhoyhlqUa . #Coinbase #DefendWL #Cryptocurrency #Ethereum #BitcoinCash #ReconnectJulian pic.twitter.com/4BSS023OOk WikiLeaks Shop (@WikiLeaksShop) April 21, 2018 Bitcoin, of course, has gained popularity in part because it can be used to circumvent existing financial regulations and systems, including banks. In fact, as veteran cryptocurrency commentator Andreas Antonopoulos pointed out on Twitter, many politically engaged users were first attracted to Bitcoin as a way to donate to WikiLeaks after it was cut off by more traditional financial services in 2010. Story continues We have come full circle. Many people's interest in bitcoin started when Wikileaks was out under an extra judicial embargo by VISA, MC, PayPal and banks. Now Coinbase has repeated history. Oops. https://t.co/b8HQkoOwyQ Andreas M. Antonopoulos (@aantonop) April 21, 2018 Get Data Sheet , Fortune's technology newsletter. Coinbase has attracted users to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by making them easier to buy and use, but its status as a regulated U.S. business means it must comply with U.S. financial regulations. A substantial portion of longtime Bitcoin advocates remain skeptical of Coinbase and other intermediaries because of that exposure, and because many act as custodians of customers' cryptocurrency, arguably increasing systemic risk in the event of their failure. At this point, if you're using Bitpay, Coinbase, or https://t.co/Rnvi3ykHRP services, you are an enemy of Bitcoin. BTC?anksy (@BTCBanksy) March 9, 2018 Suspension by Coinbase will not prevent Wikileaks from accepting payments or donations via Bitcoin, but the organization may have to devote more resources to handling its accounts directly, and will likely find it much more challenging to convert Bitcoin to currency such as dollars. In response, Wikileaks is calling for a "global blockade" of Coinbase this week. WikiLeaks will call for a global blockade of Coinbase next week as an unfit member of the crypto community. Coinbase, a large Californian Bitcoin processor, responding to a concealed influence, has blocked the entirely harmless @WikiLeaksShop in a decision approved by management. https://t.co/PAldF8b12P WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 21, 2018 Coinbase has not yet confirmed the suspension, but Fortune has reached out and will update this story with any statement from them. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Can't Replace the Dollar, Says New York Fed Chief Nominee The Case For Owning Bitcoin and a $1 'Stablecoin' Bitcoin Mining May Be Even Less Economically Viable Than We Thought Suspected Mastermind Behind the 'Big Bitcoin Heist' Escapes Prison Through a Window Ex-CEO of Bankrupt Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Has a New Job in Crypto || Wikileaks Claims Coinbase Has Shut Down Its Online Store’s Bitcoin Account: Wikileaks' official online merchandise store claims that its account with Coinbase has been suspended by the cryptocurrency exchange. Wikileaks, a leaked documents depository that was central to a long string of international scandals even before the 2016 presidential election, is now calling for a boycott of Coinbase.
The announcement, which has not been confirmed by Coinbase, has roiled the Bitcoin community, highlighting certain inevitable tensions as cryptocurrency becomes increasingly mainstream. In a note posted to Twitter which the Wikileaks Shop claims to have received from Coinbase, the exchange appears to cite U.S. government financial regulations as one reason for the suspension. There's no indication, though, specifically how Wikileaks allegedly violated those rules.
Bitcoin, of course, has gained popularity in part because it can be used to circumvent existing financial regulations and systems, including banks. In fact, as veteran cryptocurrency commentator Andreas Antonopoulos pointed out on Twitter, many politically engaged users were first attracted to Bitcoin as a way to donate to WikiLeaks after it wascut offby more traditional financial services in 2010.
Get Data Sheet,Fortune'stechnology newsletter.
Coinbase has attracted users to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by making them easier to buy and use, but its status as a regulated U.S. business means it must comply with U.S. financial regulations. A substantial portion of longtime Bitcoin advocates remain skeptical of Coinbase and other intermediaries because of that exposure, and because many act as custodians of customers' cryptocurrency, arguably increasing systemic risk in the event of their failure.
Suspension by Coinbase will not prevent Wikileaks from accepting payments or donations via Bitcoin, but the organization may have to devote more resources to handling its accounts directly, and will likely find it much more challenging to convert Bitcoin to currency such as dollars.
In response, Wikileaks is calling for a "global blockade" of Coinbase this week.
Coinbase has not yet confirmed the suspension, but Fortune has reached out and will update this story with any statement from them.
See original article on Fortune.com
More from Fortune.com
• Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Can't Replace the Dollar, Says New York Fed Chief Nominee
• The Case For Owning Bitcoin and a $1 'Stablecoin'
• Bitcoin Mining May Be Even Less Economically Viable Than We Thought
• Suspected Mastermind Behind the 'Big Bitcoin Heist' Escapes Prison Through a Window
• Ex-CEO of Bankrupt Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Has a New Job in Crypto || What to Watch When Amazon Reports Earnings This Week: Investors in Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) have had plenty to be thankful for. So far this year, the stock has avoided the rout that has claimed a number of its tech brethren. It has gained 33% in 2018, crushing the performance of the S&P 500 , which has been treading water so far this year. Amazon stock had been trading even higher before a very public series of verbal attacks from President Donald Trump. In a barrage of recent tweets, Trump blamed Amazon for the state of the U.S Postal Service and said the company was harming the economy, among other things. Amazon is scheduled to report financial results for the first quarter on April 26 after the market close. Let's look at some of the metrics investors will be watching. A massive solar array atop an Amazon fulfillment center. Can Amazon's massive growth continue? Image source: Amazon. In a word ... growth After last quarter's stunning results, shareholders will be paying close attention to the company's year-over-year growth trajectory. For the fourth quarter of 2017 , Amazon produced total net sales of $60.5 billion, up 38% year over year. This resulted in operating income of $2.1 billion, an increase of 69% over the prior-year quarter. These results blew past analysts' expectations and Amazon's own optimistic forecast for the quarter. For the first quarter 2018, Amazon expects to post net sales between $47.75 billion and $50.75 billion, producing growth in a range of 34% to 42% year over year. This guidance assumes a favorable impact of about $1.2 billion from foreign exchange rates. The company said it expects operating income in a range of $300 million to $1 billion, compared to $1 billion generated during the same period last year. Analysts are also expecting a solid quarter. Consensus estimates are for earnings per share of $1.25 on revenue of $49.88 billion, near the high end of Amazon's own forecast. Amazon has been fairly consistent at meeting or exceeding the high end of its guidance, and there's no reason to think this quarter will be any different. Story continues Keep a close eye on Amazon Web Services The headliner last quarter was Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's cloud computing segment, and its results will be closely watched moving forward. During the fourth quarter, revenue from the unit grew to $5.1 billion, up 45% year over year, while operating income of $1.35 billion grew 46% over the prior-year quarter. Even more impressive were the juicy operating margins of more than 26% -- which is better than both of the company's e-commerce segments combined. Competition in cloud computing has been heating up, and shareholders will be watching for any signs of slowing in AWS, which produced 10% of Amazon's revenue last year and all its operating income. Forecast Investors will also be dissecting Amazon's second-quarter guidance for indications that the growth story is intact. In previous quarters when Amazon missed its own forecast or analysts' consensus estimates, investors have been quick to run for the exits, even when the miss was related to investments in the business and future growth potential. That's just what happened in the second quarter of last year , when Amazon posted earnings of $0.40, missing analysts' estimates, and reported operating income that fell 51% year over year after the company made a number of strategic investments to increase its fulfillment and logistics capability. Amazon has an astronomical valuation, with a trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of about 250, and a forward valuation of roughly 170. Amazon will need to assure investors that its massive growth will continue unabated in order to validate its extravagant price. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Danny Vena owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || What to Watch When Amazon Reports Earnings This Week: Investors inAmazon.com(NASDAQ: AMZN)have had plenty to be thankful for. So far this year, the stock has avoided the rout that has claimed a number of its tech brethren. It has gained 33% in 2018, crushing the performance of theS&P 500, which has been treading water so far this year.
Amazon stock had been trading even higher before a verypublic series of verbal attacksfrom President Donald Trump. In a barrage of recent tweets, Trump blamed Amazon for the state of the U.S Postal Service and said the company was harming the economy, among other things.
Amazon is scheduled to report financial results for the first quarter on April 26 after the market close. Let's look at some of the metrics investors will be watching.
Can Amazon's massive growth continue? Image source: Amazon.
After last quarter's stunning results, shareholders will be paying close attention to the company's year-over-year growth trajectory. For thefourth quarter of 2017, Amazon produced total net sales of $60.5 billion, up 38% year over year. This resulted in operating income of $2.1 billion, an increase of 69% over the prior-year quarter. These results blew past analysts' expectations and Amazon's own optimistic forecast for the quarter.
For the first quarter 2018, Amazon expects to post net sales between $47.75 billion and $50.75 billion, producing growth in a range of 34% to 42% year over year. This guidance assumes a favorable impact of about $1.2 billion from foreign exchange rates. The company said it expects operating income in a range of $300 million to $1 billion, compared to $1 billion generated during the same period last year.
Analysts are also expecting a solid quarter. Consensus estimates are for earnings per share of $1.25 on revenue of $49.88 billion, near the high end of Amazon's own forecast.
Amazon has been fairly consistent at meeting or exceeding the high end of its guidance, and there's no reason to think this quarter will be any different.
The headliner last quarter was Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company'scloud computingsegment, and its results will be closely watched moving forward. During the fourth quarter, revenue from the unit grew to $5.1 billion, up 45% year over year, while operating income of $1.35 billion grew 46% over the prior-year quarter. Even more impressive were the juicy operating margins of more than 26% -- which is better than both of the company's e-commerce segments combined.
Competition in cloud computing has been heating up, and shareholders will be watching for any signs of slowing in AWS, which produced 10% of Amazon's revenue last year and all its operating income.
Investors will also be dissecting Amazon's second-quarter guidance for indications that the growth story is intact.
In previous quarters when Amazon missed its own forecast or analysts' consensus estimates, investors have been quick to run for the exits, even when the miss was related to investments in the business and future growth potential.
That's just what happened in thesecond quarter of last year, when Amazon posted earnings of $0.40, missing analysts' estimates, and reported operating income that fell 51% year over year after the company made a number of strategic investments to increase its fulfillment and logistics capability.
Amazon has an astronomical valuation, with a trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of about 250, and a forward valuation of roughly 170. Amazon will need to assure investors that its massive growth will continue unabated in order to validate its extravagant price.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Danny Venaowns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || There's More to SunPower's U.S. Expansion Than Meets the Eye: We don't know what was said behind closed doors, but it has become clear thatSunPower's(NASDAQ: SPWR)announcedacquisition of SolarWorld Americas earlier this weekwas driven by more than just economics. CEO Tom Werner told me the deal "aligns" SunPower with the Trump administration's desire to have more U.S. manufacturing, and the company's management is clearly trying to appease the administration.
For SunPower, the real payoff from this deal won't derive from gaining SolarWorld's manufacturing plant -- the key benefit will come if it wins an exclusion from tariffs for its high-efficiency solar cells and panels, which are made in Asia. SunPower is the only global manufacturer that produces interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells at scale, and no U.S. manufacturers use the technology today. Based on the uniqueness of its offerings, and the lack of a domestic competitor, the company has argued it ought to be excluded from Trump's tariffs -- which were, as followers of this saga will recall, imposed as based on a trade case brought by Suniva and ...SolarWorld. If SolarWorld's new parent gets an exclusion, it could equate to an approximately $100 million annual windfall for the company -- entirely justifying the (undisclosed) price it's paying for the business.
Image source: SunPower.
SunPower's IBC exclusion applicationhad already led to discussions with the Trump administration. While we don't know exactly what was said in those meetings, we do know the company thinks buying SolarWorld Americas makes getting the exclusion more likely.And just prior to the announcement of the merger deal, SolarWorld told the government it backed SunPower's request.
Certainly it would be hard to argue that the acquisition is being made based on its direct financial value, or to boost SunPower's operations. SolarWorld's products are sold at a premium compared to Chinese-made commodity panels, and they still aren't profitable, which is part of why the business was for sale. SolarWorld Americas' parent company, SolarWorld Industries Gmbh, based in Germany, filed for insolvency last year, and is trying to shed assets. It has been looking for a buyer for its U.S. unit for about a year.
SunPower management has said Trump's tariffs will cost the company $1.5 million to $2 million per week. If we look at its financial guidance for 2018, management expected to be adjusted EBITDA "positive" before an exclusion, so we can now estimate that an exclusion would leave the company with about $50 million in total adjusted EBITDA this year (assuming 6 months of exclusion) and another $100 million of incremental EBITDA next year.
SunPower's management has also said they expect the company to turn the corner to profitability late this year, so a tariff exclusion could push that transition forward.In other words, the IBC exclusion could be worth playing politics for.
Improving its chances of getting a tariff exclusion for its high-efficiency IBC product may be the main driver of SunPower's SolarWorld Americas acquisition, but there could be more to it.
SunPower's P-Series solar panel, which is built using commodity cells in a way that makes it slightly more efficient than traditionally manufactured panels, could factor into a U.S. manufacturing strategy as well. The company plans to convert 25% to 50% of SolarWorld's 550 MW in panel manufacturing capacity to P-Series, but that could be just a start.
Modern solar manufacturing facilities have the capacity to churn out 1,000 MW of product or more annually, so to make it competitive, SunPower will need to expand the Oregon plant, or build a new one. This deal may have laid the groundwork for the company to work with the Trump administration on a subsidy package that would make that U.S. manufacturing expansion more financially feasible.
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Travis Hoiumowns shares of SunPower. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || There's More to SunPower's U.S. Expansion Than Meets the Eye: We don't know what was said behind closed doors, but it has become clear that SunPower's (NASDAQ: SPWR) announced acquisition of SolarWorld Americas earlier this week was driven by more than just economics. CEO Tom Werner told me the deal "aligns" SunPower with the Trump administration's desire to have more U.S. manufacturing, and the company's management is clearly trying to appease the administration. For SunPower, the real payoff from this deal won't derive from gaining SolarWorld's manufacturing plant -- the key benefit will come if it wins an exclusion from tariffs for its high-efficiency solar cells and panels, which are made in Asia. SunPower is the only global manufacturer that produces interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells at scale, and no U.S. manufacturers use the technology today. Based on the uniqueness of its offerings, and the lack of a domestic competitor, the company has argued it ought to be excluded from Trump's tariffs -- which were, as followers of this saga will recall, imposed as based on a trade case brought by Suniva and ... SolarWorld . If SolarWorld's new parent gets an exclusion, it could equate to an approximately $100 million annual windfall for the company -- entirely justifying the (undisclosed) price it's paying for the business. SunPower rooftop solar installation with Washington D.C. in the background. Image source: SunPower. Playing politics SunPower's IBC exclusion application had already led to discussions with the Trump administration. While we don't know exactly what was said in those meetings, we do know the company thinks buying SolarWorld Americas makes getting the exclusion more likely. And just prior to the announcement of the merger deal, SolarWorld told the government it backed SunPower's request. Certainly it would be hard to argue that the acquisition is being made based on its direct financial value, or to boost SunPower's operations. SolarWorld's products are sold at a premium compared to Chinese-made commodity panels, and they still aren't profitable, which is part of why the business was for sale. SolarWorld Americas' parent company, SolarWorld Industries Gmbh, based in Germany, filed for insolvency last year, and is trying to shed assets. It has been looking for a buyer for its U.S. unit for about a year. Story continues The impact of an IBC exclusion SunPower management has said Trump's tariffs will cost the company $1.5 million to $2 million per week. If we look at its financial guidance for 2018, management expected to be adjusted EBITDA "positive" before an exclusion, so we can now estimate that an exclusion would leave the company with about $50 million in total adjusted EBITDA this year (assuming 6 months of exclusion) and another $100 million of incremental EBITDA next year. SunPower's management has also said they expect the company to turn the corner to profitability late this year, so a tariff exclusion could push that transition forward. In other words, the IBC exclusion could be worth playing politics for. Is this part of a bigger move back to the U.S.? Improving its chances of getting a tariff exclusion for its high-efficiency IBC product may be the main driver of SunPower's SolarWorld Americas acquisition, but there could be more to it. SunPower's P-Series solar panel, which is built using commodity cells in a way that makes it slightly more efficient than traditionally manufactured panels, could factor into a U.S. manufacturing strategy as well. The company plans to convert 25% to 50% of SolarWorld's 550 MW in panel manufacturing capacity to P-Series, but that could be just a start. Modern solar manufacturing facilities have the capacity to churn out 1,000 MW of product or more annually, so to make it competitive, SunPower will need to expand the Oregon plant, or build a new one. This deal may have laid the groundwork for the company to work with the Trump administration on a subsidy package that would make that U.S. manufacturing expansion more financially feasible. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Travis Hoium owns shares of SunPower. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Walmart is jumping on the crypto bandwagon with two blockchain patents: While the majority of the world is having fun watching Bitcoin go up and down faster than a yo-yo, companies are scrambling to get in on the craze. In some cases, that just means announcing a “pivot to Bitcoin” and watching your company die; in other instances, it means taking the underlying technology of blockchain and applying it to conventional retail. The blockchain is a “distributed ledger” that powers cryptocurrencies. It’s key to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, as it enables everyone to keep track of who owns what, but you’re not relying on one centralized database or an individual to be the banker. Don't Miss : Amazon’s big one-day Roku sale drops 3 models to their lowest prices of 2018 While the blockchain is most well-known for its application to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Walmart wants to use it for payment systems for vendors and customers. In two patents filed last year and approved on Thursday, Walmart describes the system: “In one aspect, provided is a vendor payment sharing system, [which would] automatically process payment for a total amount due for the products and services related to obtaining and delivering the products; automatically dividing the payment between parties that provided services related to obtaining and delivering the products; and encrypt the payment and the division of the payment with a blockchain.” Of course, Walmart isn’t new to the world of payment processing. It spearheaded a new payment protocol that was being developed a few years ago as a rival to Apple Pay and other mobile wallet systems, called CurrentC. That system relied on users scanning a QR code and then the cashier scanning another QR code off your phone screen, and was undeniably terrible. Luckily, the popularity of Apple Pay and Google Wallet made CurrentC DOA. Based off these two patent filings, it seems that Walmart might have learned something from the CurrentC flop. Rather than designing its own cryptocurrency for use in its stores — which is exactly the kind of dumb thing that crypto speculators are doing right now — the company seems to be using the only good part of the crypto technology, the blockchain, and leaving the rest to die. Story continues BGR Top Deals: Amazon’s big one-day Roku sale drops 3 models to their lowest prices of 2018 Amazon sale drops a popular $200 robot vacuum to just $80 Trending Right Now: There’s no way Apple can convince me to pay $1,000 for a new iPhone X this year The Galaxy S9 is definitely no match for Apple’s latest iPhones AT&T is launching a $15-a-month TV streaming service, but there’s a big catch See the original version of this article on BGR.com || Walmart is jumping on the crypto bandwagon with two blockchain patents: While the majority of the world is having fun watching Bitcoin go up and down faster than a yo-yo, companies are scrambling to get in on the craze. In some cases, that just means announcing a “pivot to Bitcoin” and watching your company die; in other instances, it means taking the underlying technology of blockchain and applying it to conventional retail. The blockchain is a “distributed ledger” that powers cryptocurrencies. It’s key to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, as it enables everyone to keep track of who owns what, but you’re not relying on one centralized database or an individual to be the banker. Don't Miss : Amazon’s big one-day Roku sale drops 3 models to their lowest prices of 2018 While the blockchain is most well-known for its application to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Walmart wants to use it for payment systems for vendors and customers. In two patents filed last year and approved on Thursday, Walmart describes the system: “In one aspect, provided is a vendor payment sharing system, [which would] automatically process payment for a total amount due for the products and services related to obtaining and delivering the products; automatically dividing the payment between parties that provided services related to obtaining and delivering the products; and encrypt the payment and the division of the payment with a blockchain.” Of course, Walmart isn’t new to the world of payment processing. It spearheaded a new payment protocol that was being developed a few years ago as a rival to Apple Pay and other mobile wallet systems, called CurrentC. That system relied on users scanning a QR code and then the cashier scanning another QR code off your phone screen, and was undeniably terrible. Luckily, the popularity of Apple Pay and Google Wallet made CurrentC DOA. Based off these two patent filings, it seems that Walmart might have learned something from the CurrentC flop. Rather than designing its own cryptocurrency for use in its stores — which is exactly the kind of dumb thing that crypto speculators are doing right now — the company seems to be using the only good part of the crypto technology, the blockchain, and leaving the rest to die. Story continues BGR Top Deals: Amazon’s big one-day Roku sale drops 3 models to their lowest prices of 2018 Amazon sale drops a popular $200 robot vacuum to just $80 Trending Right Now: There’s no way Apple can convince me to pay $1,000 for a new iPhone X this year The Galaxy S9 is definitely no match for Apple’s latest iPhones AT&T is launching a $15-a-month TV streaming service, but there’s a big catch See the original version of this article on BGR.com || Walmart is jumping on the crypto bandwagon with two blockchain patents: While the majority of the world is having fun watching Bitcoin go up and down faster than a yo-yo, companies are scrambling to get in on the craze. In some cases, that just means announcing a “pivot to Bitcoin” and watching your company die; in other instances, it means taking the underlying technology of blockchain and applying it to conventional retail. The blockchain is a “distributed ledger” that powers cryptocurrencies. It’s key to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, as it enables everyone to keep track of who owns what, but you’re not relying on one centralized database or an individual to be the banker. Don't Miss : Amazon’s big one-day Roku sale drops 3 models to their lowest prices of 2018 While the blockchain is most well-known for its application to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Walmart wants to use it for payment systems for vendors and customers. In two patents filed last year and approved on Thursday, Walmart describes the system: “In one aspect, provided is a vendor payment sharing system, [which would] automatically process payment for a total amount due for the products and services related to obtaining and delivering the products; automatically dividing the payment between parties that provided services related to obtaining and delivering the products; and encrypt the payment and the division of the payment with a blockchain.” Of course, Walmart isn’t new to the world of payment processing. It spearheaded a new payment protocol that was being developed a few years ago as a rival to Apple Pay and other mobile wallet systems, called CurrentC. That system relied on users scanning a QR code and then the cashier scanning another QR code off your phone screen, and was undeniably terrible. Luckily, the popularity of Apple Pay and Google Wallet made CurrentC DOA. Based off these two patent filings, it seems that Walmart might have learned something from the CurrentC flop. Rather than designing its own cryptocurrency for use in its stores — which is exactly the kind of dumb thing that crypto speculators are doing right now — the company seems to be using the only good part of the crypto technology, the blockchain, and leaving the rest to die. Story continues BGR Top Deals: Amazon’s big one-day Roku sale drops 3 models to their lowest prices of 2018 Amazon sale drops a popular $200 robot vacuum to just $80 Trending Right Now: There’s no way Apple can convince me to pay $1,000 for a new iPhone X this year The Galaxy S9 is definitely no match for Apple’s latest iPhones AT&T is launching a $15-a-month TV streaming service, but there’s a big catch See the original version of this article on BGR.com || Walmart is jumping on the crypto bandwagon with two blockchain patents: While the majority of the world is having fun watching Bitcoin go up and down faster than a yo-yo, companies are scrambling to get in on the craze. In some cases, that just means announcing a “pivot to Bitcoin” and watching your company die; in other instances, it means taking the underlying technology of blockchain and applying it to conventional retail. The blockchain is a “distributed ledger” that powers cryptocurrencies. It’s key to the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies, as it enables everyone to keep track of who owns what, but you’re not relying on one centralized database or an individual to be the banker. Don't Miss : Amazon’s big one-day Roku sale drops 3 models to their lowest prices of 2018 While the blockchain is most well-known for its application to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Walmart wants to use it for payment systems for vendors and customers. In two patents filed last year and approved on Thursday, Walmart describes the system: “In one aspect, provided is a vendor payment sharing system, [which would] automatically process payment for a total amount due for the products and services related to obtaining and delivering the products; automatically dividing the payment between parties that provided services related to obtaining and delivering the products; and encrypt the payment and the division of the payment with a blockchain.” Of course, Walmart isn’t new to the world of payment processing. It spearheaded a new payment protocol that was being developed a few years ago as a rival to Apple Pay and other mobile wallet systems, called CurrentC. That system relied on users scanning a QR code and then the cashier scanning another QR code off your phone screen, and was undeniably terrible. Luckily, the popularity of Apple Pay and Google Wallet made CurrentC DOA. Based off these two patent filings, it seems that Walmart might have learned something from the CurrentC flop. Rather than designing its own cryptocurrency for use in its stores — which is exactly the kind of dumb thing that crypto speculators are doing right now — the company seems to be using the only good part of the crypto technology, the blockchain, and leaving the rest to die. Story continues BGR Top Deals: Amazon’s big one-day Roku sale drops 3 models to their lowest prices of 2018 Amazon sale drops a popular $200 robot vacuum to just $80 Trending Right Now: There’s no way Apple can convince me to pay $1,000 for a new iPhone X this year The Galaxy S9 is definitely no match for Apple’s latest iPhones AT&T is launching a $15-a-month TV streaming service, but there’s a big catch See the original version of this article on BGR.com || TJX Stock Is Set to Soar as Bon-Ton Goes Bust: After several years of making steady market share gains at department stores' expense, off-price giantTJX Companies(NYSE: TJX)stumbled last year. Through the first three quarters of fiscal 2018 (which mainly corresponded to the 2017 calendar year), comp sales rose a little more than 1%, compared to 5% full-year comp sales increases in fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2017. As a result, TJX stock didn't participate in the broader 2017 market rally.
However, TJX got back on track in the fourth quarter, posting asolid 4% comp sales increase. This drove double-digit earnings-per-share growth.
In 2018, TJX will benefit from a lower tax rate and easier year-over-year comparisons. It is also likely to be one of the biggest beneficiaries ofBon-Ton Stores'(NASDAQ: BONT)pending liquidation. This could send TJX stock to new heights later this year.
Bon-Ton never reported full-year results for 2017 due to its early February bankruptcy filing, but it brought in $2.36 billion of revenue in the first 11 months of the fiscal year. This means that full-year revenue probably came in just north of $2.5 billion.
Bon-Ton Stores recently filed for liquidation. Image source: Bon-Ton Stores.
That's just a fraction of TJX's full-year revenue of $35.9 billion or even its domestic revenue of $27.4 billion. Nevertheless, it's a substantial sum -- and it's going to be up for grabs, now that Bon-Ton has beenforced to liquidaterather than restructure in bankruptcy. If TJX can pick up a big chunk of this business, it would have a meaningful positive impact on revenue and earnings growth beginning around mid-year.
Fortunately, TJX is well positioned to capture revenue that would otherwise have gone to Bon-Ton, due to its massive retail footprint. In fact, 42% of Bon-Ton's locations arewithin a mile of a TJX store-- including the T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods chains -- and 74% are within five miles of a TJX store.
By contrast,Ross Stores(NASDAQ: ROST)-- the No. 2 off-price retail company -- has far less store overlap with Bon-Ton. Barely more than a quarter of Bon-Ton's stores are within five miles of a Ross Dress for Less. That's because Ross Stores is still in the middle innings of its growth trajectory in the Midwest and has barely any presence in the Northeast.
TJX also has plenty of merchandise overlap with Bon-Ton. Indeed, TJX stocks high-quality department store merchandise, but sells it at a big discount.
Bon-Ton's bankruptcy will also help TJX on the supply side of its business. Whereas Ross Stores makes extensive use of "packaway" merchandise purchased at the end of a season and held until the beginning of the same season a year later, TJX mainly focuses on buying excess merchandise that becomes available during the season and getting it into stores quickly.
Bon-Ton's liquidation will make more merchandise available for TJX this summer. Image source: Marshalls.
This strategy tends to deliver its best results during periods of disruption. The liquidation of a sizable department store chain would certainly count. Merchandise that would have gone to Bon-Ton will be available at a discount from suppliers over the next several months.
Indeed, the next few quarters could be particularly good for TJX because there will be ample inventory of low-priced merchandise despite a strong economy and a favorable competitive environment. Typically, the best inventory availability comes at times when the economy is struggling and retailers are all offering huge discounts to drive customer traffic and sales.
TJX's forecast for the new 2019 fiscal year calls for adjusted earnings per share of $4.73 to $4.83, up from $3.85 last year. Most of this EPS growth will be driven by tax savings related to corporate tax reform. Based on this guidance range, TJX stock currently trades for about 17 times earnings.
However, this forecast is based on an assumption of 1% to 2% comp sales growth. TJX tends to provide extremely conservative sales forecasts that it can then exceed. Fiscal 2018 was unusual in that the company matched (rather than beating) the high end of its sales guidance.
The combination of easy comparisons and market share gains from the Bon-Ton liquidation should enable TJX to get comp sales growth back to a mid-single-digit pace this year. That could boost EPS to $5 or more and get investors more excited about TJX stock -- potentially pushing the share price into triple-digit territory.
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Adam Levine-Weinbergowns shares of The TJX Companies and is long January 2019 $50 calls on Ross Stores and short January 2019 $90 calls on Ross Stores. The Motley Fool recommends The TJX Companies. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
[Social Media Buzz]
#BTC Average: 8930.12$
#Bitfinex - 8905.00$
#Poloniex - 8906.14$
#Bitstamp - 8906.13$
#Coinbase - 8888.56$
#Binance - 8906.01$
#CEXio - 8923.30$
#Kraken - 8911.90$
#Cryptopia - API DOWN!$
#Bittrex - 8930.00$
#GateCoin - 9094.00$
#Bitcoin #Exchanges #Price || Total Market Cap: $390,887,985,142
1 BTC: $8,809.48
BTC Dominance: 38.3%
Update Time: 23-04-2018 - 05:00:02 (GMT+3) || 2018年04月23日 13:00
[DOGE建]
1XP=0.0204638円
24時間の最高値 0.0231839円
24時間の最安値 0.0183739円
[BTC建]
1XP=0.0287738円
24時間の最高値 0.02...
|
9697.50, 8845.74, 9281.51, 8987.05, 9348.48, 9419.08, 9240.55, 9119.01, 9235.92, 9743.86
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 473.46, 530.04, 526.23, 533.86, 531.39, 536.92, 537.97, 569.19, 572.73, 574.98, 585.54, 576.60, 581.65, 574.63, 577.47, 606.73, 672.78, 704.38, 685.56, 694.47, 766.31, 748.91, 756.23, 763.78, 737.23, 666.65, 596.12, 623.98, 665.30, 665.12, 629.37, 655.28, 647.00, 639.89, 673.34, 676.30, 703.70, 658.66, 683.66, 670.63, 677.33, 640.56, 666.52, 650.96, 649.36, 647.66, 664.55, 654.47, 658.08, 663.26, 660.77, 679.46, 673.11, 672.86, 665.68, 665.01, 650.62, 655.56, 661.28, 654.10, 651.78, 654.35, 655.03, 656.99, 655.05, 624.68, 606.27, 547.47, 566.35, 578.29, 575.04, 587.78, 592.69, 591.05, 587.80, 592.10, 589.12, 587.56, 585.59, 570.47, 567.24, 577.44, 573.22, 574.32, 575.63, 581.70, 581.31, 586.75, 583.41, 580.18.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-08-24]
Volume: 56328200, RSI (14-day): 42.34, 50-day EMA: 603.47, 200-day EMA: 534.09
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1324.40, Gold RSI: 44.00
Oil Price: 46.77, Oil RSI: 56.14
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Traders move into homebuilders and home improvement stocks: The " Fast Money " traders said on Tuesday it might be time to move into the homebuilder stocks. On Tuesday, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE Arca: XHB) gained about 1.8 percent after Toll Brothers ( TOL ) reported better-than-expected results on the back of higher home sales. Trader Tim Seymour said that between recent economic data and Toll Brothers' ( TOL ) upbeat results, the homebuilders and home improvement stocks look attractive. In these sectors, he said he likes PulteGroup ( PHM ) , D.R. Horton ( DHI ) , Restoration Hardware ( RH ) and Sherwin-Williams ( SHW ) . Trader Steve Grasso said KB Home ( KBH ) may benefit from people buying lower-priced homes. Trader Brian Kelly said he isn't as sold on the fundamentals of a rally in the homebuilder stocks. He said that if he had to pick a stock in the space, he would prefer home improvement companies like Lowe's ( LOW ) . Disclosures: TIM SEYMOUR Tim Seymour is long APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DAL, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GRMN, GE, INTC, LQD, M, MCD, MPEL, NKE, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, UA, VALE, VZ, XOM and short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, HD, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, YHOO and short HYG, IWM. DAVID SEABURG Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT. BRIAN KELLY Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, TLT, XLF, XOP, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and Japanese yen. STEVE GRASSO Steve Grasso is long BA, CC, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. Grasso's children own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. No Shorts. Stuart Frankel & Co Inc. and some of its Partners have a financial interest in LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, VALE, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, NXTD, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, JCP, GE, AIR, FP. || Traders move into homebuilders and home improvement stocks: The "Fast Money" traders said on Tuesday it might be time to move into the homebuilder stocks.
On Tuesday, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF(NYSE Arca: XHB)gained about 1.8 percent after Toll Brothers(TOL)reported better-than-expected results on the back of higher home sales.
Trader Tim Seymour said that between recent economic data and Toll Brothers'(TOL)upbeat results, the homebuilders and home improvement stocks look attractive. In these sectors, he said he likes PulteGroup(PHM), D.R. Horton(DHI), Restoration Hardware(RH)and Sherwin-Williams(SHW).
Trader Steve Grasso said KB Home(KBH)may benefit from people buying lower-priced homes.
Trader Brian Kelly said he isn't as sold on the fundamentals of a rally in the homebuilder stocks. He said that if he had to pick a stock in the space, he would prefer home improvement companies like Lowe's(LOW).
Disclosures:
TIM SEYMOUR
Tim Seymour is long APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DAL, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GRMN, GE, INTC, LQD, M, MCD, MPEL, NKE, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, UA, VALE, VZ, XOM and short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, HD, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, YHOO and short HYG, IWM.
DAVID SEABURG
Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT.
BRIAN KELLY
Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, CME, DXJ, GDX, KBE, SLV, TLT, XLF, XOP, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and Japanese yen.
STEVE GRASSO
Steve Grasso is long BA, CC, EVGN, KBH, MJNA, MU, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, GDX. Grasso's children own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. No Shorts. Stuart Frankel & Co Inc. and some of its Partners have a financial interest in LDP, WDR, AVP, CVX, FCX, ICE, KDUS, KO, MAT, MCD, MJNA, NE, NEM, OLN, OXY, RIG, STAG, TAXI, TEX, TITXF, URI, VALE, WDR, WYNN, ZNGA, CUBA, HSPO, ICE, AMZN, MJNA, TITXF, NXTD, SPY, QQQ, DIA, XLI, BGCP, VIRT, JCP, GE, AIR, FP. || Verizon is making a foray into the 'game changer' technology Wall Street is pumped about: verizon (REUTERS/Steve Marcus) Verizon Communications, the largest telecommunications company in the US, is experimenting with blockchain technology. Blockchain technology, which powers Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, depends on a distributed ledger that allows users to verify transactions without an intermediary. Autonomous Research has called the technology a " game changer ," and Goldman Sachs has said that the technology " has the potential to redefine transactions ." Blockchain has tons of applications that are being explored by banks, startups, exchanges, and corporations that want to get in on the action. Business Insider obtained a copy of the US patent, filed on May 10, for a passcode blockchain that Verizon has apparently been working on for three years. The patent relates to digital content think an e-book or a digital-music or video file. Verizon declined to comment. Here is a passage from the filing: "The DRM (digital rights management) system may maintain a list of passcodes in a passcode blockchain . The passcode blockchain may store a sequence of passcodes associated with the particular digital content and may indicate a currently valid passcode. For example, a first passcode may be assigned to a first user and designated as the valid passcode. If the access rights are transferred to a second user, a second passcode may be obtained and added to the blockchain , provided to the second user, and designated as the valid passcode. Thus, the first passcode may no longer be considered valid. If the second user transfers the access rights to a third user, a third passcode may be obtained and added to the blockchain , provided to the third user, and designated as the valid passcode. Thus, the first and second passcodes may no longer be considered valid. "Furthermore, the expiration date associated with the key may continue to be in effect with respect to the second user and/or any subsequent users. Thus, if access rights for a particular digital content are associated with a rental period, or a subscription period, users may continue to transfer the rights to other users during the rental period." There is quite a bit of excitement about having digital rights on a blockchain-type system. It could allow for pay-per-usage, for example, while smart contracts the contractual clauses that form part of a transaction could provide automatic payment distributions, according to a Moody's Investors Service report. A blockchain of digital rights for consumer products music and news articles, among others could ensure that artists or authors are paid immediately once a consumer reads an article or listens to a song, with funds proportionally distributed as per contractual clauses. Story continues Given lower transaction costs on a blockchain, micro-payments through a blockchain would be more feasible, allowing for a pay-per-usage setup each time an article is read or a song is listened to. NOW WATCH: Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam explains why he bought AOL More From Business Insider GARTNER: The blockchain 'hype' has peaked Blockchain and bitcoin companies raised $290 million in the last 6 months World Economic Forum releases blockchain report View comments || Verizon is making a foray into the 'game changer' technology Wall Street is pumped about: (REUTERS/Steve Marcus)
Verizon Communications, the largest telecommunications company in the US, is experimenting with blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology, which powers Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, depends on a distributed ledger that allows users to verify transactions without an intermediary.
Autonomous Research has called the technology a "game changer," and Goldman Sachs has said that the technology "has the potential to redefine transactions."
Blockchain has tons of applications that are beingexplored by banks, startups, exchanges, and corporationsthat want to get in on the action.
Business Insider obtained a copy of the US patent, filed on May 10, for a passcode blockchain that Verizon has apparently been working on for three years.
The patent relates to digital content — think an e-book or a digital-music or video file. Verizon declined to comment.
Here is a passage from the filing:
"The DRM (digital rights management) system may maintain a list of passcodes in a passcodeblockchain. The passcodeblockchainmay store a sequence of passcodes associated with the particular digital content and may indicate a currently valid passcode. For example, a first passcode may be assigned to a first user and designated as the valid passcode. If the access rights are transferred to a second user, a second passcode may be obtained and added to theblockchain,provided to the second user, and designated as the valid passcode. Thus, the first passcode may no longer be considered valid. If the second user transfers the access rights to a third user, a third passcode may be obtained and added to theblockchain,provided to the third user, and designated as the valid passcode. Thus, the first and second passcodes may no longer be considered valid.
"Furthermore, the expiration date associated with the key may continue to be in effect with respect to the second user and/or any subsequent users. Thus, if access rights for a particular digital content are associated with a rental period, or a subscription period, users may continue to transfer the rights to other users during the rental period."
There is quite a bit of excitement about having digital rights on a blockchain-type system. It could allow for pay-per-usage, for example, while smart contracts — the contractual clauses that form part of a transaction — could provide automatic payment distributions, according to a Moody's Investors Service report.
A blockchain of digital rights for consumer products — music and news articles, among others — could ensure that artists or authors are paid immediately once a consumer reads an article or listens to a song, with funds proportionally distributed as per contractual clauses.
Given lower transaction costs on a blockchain, micro-payments through a blockchain would be more feasible, allowing for a pay-per-usage setup each time an article is read or a song is listened to.
NOW WATCH:Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam explains why he bought AOL
More From Business Insider
• GARTNER: The blockchain 'hype' has peaked
• Blockchain and bitcoin companies raised $290 million in the last 6 months
• World Economic Forum releases blockchain report || Aug. 24, 2015 Flash Crash Part Of Wall St. History: August 24, 2015: It's a date that has earned its place in “notable days on Wall Street.” Nearly a year ago today, the S&P 500 dropped as much as 5.3%, capping off a weeklong rout that roiled markets around the world.
While not as devastating as something like Black Monday in 1987―when U.S. stocks dropped 20% in a single session―or when markets reopened after 9/11 on Sept. 17, 2001―the events last Aug. 24were enough to etch that date into the history books.
Fueled by China-related economic fears, the drop in the stock market that day ended a period in which the market was uncharacteristically tranquil. Up until that point, the S&P 500 hadn't seen a correction (unofficially considered a sell-off of 10% or more) in about four years. That was the third-longest such streak in history.
Panic Attack
The drop on Aug. 24 quickly put an end to that, while pushing investors from a state of complacency to panic in one fell swoop.
Chart courtesy ofStockCharts.com
In the ETF world, the panic was especially palpable. Dozens of exchange-traded funds briefly tradedwell below the valueof their underlying assets that day, fueling criticism that regulators and the industry weren't doing enough to protect investors.
Today, nearly a year after the Aug. 24 plunge, investors can now take a step back and look at the bigger picture. What, if anything, has changed since that tumultuous day―both on a macro level and in terms of the ETF industry?
China Still A Wild Card
The correction of August 2015 was the first of two major stock market sell-offs that were spurred on by events in China (the other was this past January:Investors Flood Safe Haven ETFs).
At the time, the prevailing narrative was that China's economy was in a free fall, and that a 1997-style Asian financial crisis was imminent. A year later, it's clear that those fears were unfounded. There has yet to be any financial or economic shock in China, and the country is seldom mentioned in the top financial headlines today.
But while a crisis has yet to hit, there are many open questions regarding the state of China's economy. The Chinese government took a number of measures―including banning short-selling in the country's stock market, halting the trading of more than 1,000 stocks and cutting interest rates six times in a year―to stabilize the situation.
Doubtable Data
Yet even with those measures, China's economy continues to slow, and perhaps more dramatically than the official figures indicate. Many analysts question the veracity of the economic data that comes out of the country, which is troubling for investors.
Hedge fund managers Kyle Bass, Paul Singer and others believe that it's only a matter of time before China faces a severe downturn that will be worse than the U.S. financial crisis. Others envision a rosier "soft landing" scenario for the world's second-largest economy.
In any case, the outlook for China is no clearer today than it was a year ago, despite the recovery in global stock markets.
ETFs Had A Bad DayMeanwhile, the other big story from Aug. 24, 2015—the "mini flash crash" in ETFs—didn't do much, if anything, to derail the exchange-traded fund industry. U.S.-listed ETF assets are at record highs—above $2.4 trillion—and the investment vehicle continuesto flourish at the expense of mutual funds.
Nevertheless, there is a bit of trepidation that another flash crash could hit ETFs again down the line. On Aug. 24, 2015, many ETFs―including those with billions of dollars in assets such as theGuggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP)and theiShares Select Dividend ETF (DVY)―fell significantly below their net asset values during the first hour of trading.
Dave Nadig, director of ETFs for FactSet, wrote shortly after the event that a combination of "market makers stepping away" and high-frequency trading may havecontributed to the unusual price actionthat day.
Has anything been done to prevent this situation from unfolding again in the future?
According to Nadig, change may be coming, but probably not from regulators.
Regulatory Gridlock Persists
"In terms of actual regulatory change, not much has changed since August 24th last year," he told ETF.com. "Senate recalcitrance means the SEC is operating two commissioners down (5 of 7) and the CFTC is effectively stalled from doing any meaningful work (down to 3 of 5)," he said.
Instead, it looks like change may be coming from exchanges, according to Nadig: "Several folks signed a letter to the SEC (myself included) asking for some common sense reforms on how markets open, halt and re-open, and the exchanges have taken it a step further."
"Material improvements to the opening process after halts have already been implemented," said Bryan Harkins, EVP and head of U.S. Markets for Bats Global Markets, the largest exchange for ETF trading by market volume, and owner of ETF.com.
"In addition, exchanges have individually, and collectively, made a number of changes around the start of the day—including revising the limit up limit down (LULD) reference price—to ensure a smoother open. As a result, we’ve seen a marked reduction in the number of LULD pauses,” he added.
While it's impossible to rule out another flash crash and extreme price volatility, Harkins says the U.S. market structure is "materially stronger" as a result of the changes made in the past year.
(For more, read:Exchanges Propose New Unified Trading Rules)
Contact Sumit Roy [email protected].
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• ETF Asset Growth In 2016 Par For The Course
Permalink| © Copyright 2016ETF.com.All rights reserved || The fintech ecosystem explained: FintechShapingtheFuture (Shutterstock) We’ve entered the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers and ATMs. No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have a strategy to harness the powerful advantages of the new financial technology (“fintech”) revolution. The battle already underway will create surprising winners and stunned losers among some of the most powerful names in the financial world: The most contentious conflicts (and partnerships) will be between startups that are completely reengineering decades-old practices, traditional power players who are furiously trying to adapt with their own innovations, and total disruption of established technology & processes: Traditional Retail Banks vs. Online-Only Banks: Traditional retail banks provide a valuable service, but online-only banks can offer many of the same services with higher rates and lower fees Traditional Lenders vs. Peer-to-Peer Marketplaces : P2P lending marketplaces are growing much faster than traditional lenders—only time will tell if the banks strategy of creating their own small loan networks will be successful Traditional Asset Managers vs. Robo-Advisors : Robo-advisors like Betterment offer lower fees, lower minimums and solid returns to investors, but the much larger traditional asset managers are creating their own robo-products while providing the kind of handholding that high net worth clients are willing to pay handsomely for. As you can see, this very fluid environment is creating winners and losers before your eyes…and it’s also creating the potential for new cost savings or growth opportunities for both you and your company. After months of researching and reporting this important trend, Evan Bakker, research analyst for BI Intelligence , Business Insider's premium research service, has put together an essential briefing that explains the new landscape, identifies the ripest areas for disruption, and highlights the some of the most exciting new companies. These new players have the potential to become the next Visa, Paypal or Charles Schwab because they have the potential to transform important areas of the financial services industry like: Story continues Retail banking Lending and Financing Payments and Transfers Wealth and Asset Management Markets and Exchanges Insurance Blockchain Transactions If you work in any of these sectors, it’s important for you to understand how the fintech revolution will change your business and possibly even your career. And if you’re employed in any part of the digital economy, you’ll want to know how you can exploit these new technologies to make your employer more efficient, flexible and profitable. Among the big picture insights you’ll get from this new report, titled The Fintech Ecosystem Report : Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry : Why financial technology is so disruptive to financial services—it will soon change the nature of almost every financial activity, from banking to payments to wealth management. The basic conflict will be between old firms and new—startups are re-imagining financial services processes from top to bottom, while incumbent financial services firms are trying to keep up with new products of their own. Both sides face serious obstacles—traditional banks and financial services firms are investing heavily in innovation, but leveraging their investments is difficult with so much invested in legacy systems and profit centers. Meanwhile, startups are struggling to navigate a rapidly-changing regulatory landscape and must scale up quickly with limited resources. The blockchain is a wild card that could completely overhaul financial services. Both major banks and startups around the world are exploring the technology behind the blockchain, which stores and records Bitcoin transactions. This technology could lower the cost of many financial activities to near-zero and could wipe away many traditional banking activities completely. This exclusive report also: Explains the main growth drivers of the exploding fintech ecosystem. Frames the challenges and opportunities faced by incumbents and startups. Breaks down global and regional fintech investments, including which regions are the most significant and which are poised for the highest growth. Reveals which two financial services are garnering the most investment, and are therefore likely to be transformed first and fastest by fintech Explains why blockchain technology is critically important to banks and startups, and assesses which players stand to gain the most from it. Explores the financial sectors facing disruption and breaks them down in terms of investments, vulnerabilities and growth opportunities. And much more. The Fintech Ecosystem Report : Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry is how you get the full story on the fintech revolution. To get your copy of this invaluable guide to the fintech revolution, choose one of these options: BEST VALUE : Join our BI Intelligence INSIGHTS service level and gain immediate access to this report PLUS much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the fast-moving world of financial technology. More From Business Insider UK digital bank Mondo lays out plan to get full banking license Goldman Sachs' online bank gains momentum THE REGTECH REPORT: Global regulatory requirements are creating a huge opportunity for regtech firms || The fintech ecosystem explained: (Shutterstock)
We’ve entered the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers and ATMs.
No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have a strategy to harness the powerful advantages of the new financial technology (“fintech”) revolution.
The battle already underway will create surprising winners and stunned losers among some of the most powerful names in the financial world: The most contentious conflicts (and partnerships) will be between startups that are completely reengineering decades-old practices, traditional power players who are furiously trying to adapt with their own innovations, and total disruption of established technology & processes:
• Traditional Retail Banks vs. Online-Only Banks:Traditional retail banks provide a valuable service, but online-only banks can offer many of the same services with higher rates and lower fees
• Traditional Lenders vs. Peer-to-Peer Marketplaces: P2P lending marketplaces are growing much faster than traditional lenders—only time will tell if the banks strategy of creating their own small loan networks will be successful
• Traditional Asset Managers vs. Robo-Advisors: Robo-advisors like Betterment offer lower fees, lower minimums and solid returns to investors, but the much larger traditional asset managers are creating their own robo-products while providing the kind of handholding that high net worth clients are willing to pay handsomely for.
As you can see, this very fluid environment is creating winners and losers before your eyes…and it’s also creating the potential for new cost savings or growth opportunities for both you and your company.
After months of researching and reporting this important trend, Evan Bakker, research analyst forBI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together an essential briefing that explains the new landscape, identifies the ripest areas for disruption, and highlights the some of the most exciting new companies. These new players have the potential to become the next Visa, Paypal or Charles Schwab because they have the potential to transform important areas of the financial services industry like:
• Retail banking
• Lending and Financing
• Payments and Transfers
• Wealth and Asset Management
• Markets and Exchanges
• Insurance
• Blockchain Transactions
If you work in any of these sectors, it’s important for you to understand how the fintech revolution will change your business and possibly even your career. And if you’re employed in any part of the digital economy, you’ll want to know how you can exploit these new technologies to make your employer more efficient, flexible and profitable.
Among the big picture insights you’ll get from this new report, titledThe Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry:
• Why financial technology is so disruptive to financial services—it will soon change the nature of almost every financial activity, from banking to payments to wealth management.
• The basic conflict will be between old firms and new—startups are re-imagining financial services processes from top to bottom, while incumbent financial services firms are trying to keep up with new products of their own.
• Both sides face serious obstacles—traditional banks and financial services firms are investing heavily in innovation, but leveraging their investments is difficult with so much invested in legacy systems and profit centers.
• Meanwhile, startups are struggling to navigate a rapidly-changing regulatory landscape and must scale up quickly with limited resources.
• The blockchain is a wild card that could completely overhaul financial services. Both major banks and startups around the world are exploring the technology behind the blockchain, which stores and records Bitcoin transactions. This technology could lower the cost of many financial activities to near-zero and could wipe away many traditional banking activities completely.
This exclusive report also:
• Explains the main growth drivers of the exploding fintech ecosystem.
• Frames the challenges and opportunities faced by incumbents and startups.
• Breaks down global and regional fintech investments, including which regions are the most significant and which are poised for the highest growth.
• Reveals which two financial services are garnering the most investment, and are therefore likely to be transformed first and fastest by fintech
• Explains why blockchain technology is critically important to banks and startups, and assesses which players stand to gain the most from it.
• Explores the financial sectors facing disruption and breaks them down in terms of investments, vulnerabilities and growth opportunities.
• And much more.
The Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industryis how you get the full story on the fintech revolution.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide to the fintech revolution, choose one of these options:
1. BEST VALUE: Join our BI Intelligence INSIGHTS service level and gain immediate access to this report PLUS much more. >>START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >>BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the fast-moving world of financial technology.
More From Business Insider
• UK digital bank Mondo lays out plan to get full banking license
• Goldman Sachs' online bank gains momentum
• THE REGTECH REPORT: Global regulatory requirements are creating a huge opportunity for regtech firms || The NSA cyber-weapon auction is a total smokescreen — here's what's really going on: NSA spying surveillance (Josh Mayeux, a network defender, works at the US Air Force Space Command Network Operations A group calling itself the "Shadow Brokers" claimed earlier this week that it hacked into the US National Security Agency and stole an apparent treasure trove of exploits and hacking tools that it is now trying to auction off . But experts say that this is all a smokescreen for a not-so-subtle message from Moscow to Washington: Don't mess with us. "It's a smokescreen, there's nothing real about this," John Schindler, a former NSA analyst and counterintelligence officer, told Business Insider. "This is Moscow's way of upping the ante in the spy war, and sending a message no one can miss [which is] 'we have you penetrated, we've got you by the balls, don't push us.'" He added: "The Russians are making a power play because they think they can right now." The previously-unknown Shadow Brokers created a number of social-media accounts earlier this month on Reddit, Github, Twitter, and Imgur, before announcing on August 13 its "cyber weapon auction," which promised bidders a "full state sponsor tool set" from a hacking unit believed to be within the NSA known only as "The Equation Group." It released a 234-megabyte archive on various file-sharing sites with one-half being free to view and use — which numerous experts say is legitimate — while the other half was encrypted. The winner of the auction, the group said, would get the decryption key. But an auction for hacking tools and exploits is not something that ever happens, experts say . Instead, exploits are bought and sold on the black market for hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars, in private. There's something else going on here, and it seems like it has nothing to do with a hacking group looking for cash. nsa (Reuters) Auction files 'better than Stuxnet' In the announcement of its auction, Shadow Brokers seemed to ensure that no one would seriously consider bidding on the other half of its treasure trove, which it claims has within it software that is better than "Stuxnet" — the US-Israeli malware that destroyed Iranian nuclear centrifuges. Story continues Its FAQ tells bidders that they are going to lose their Bitcoin, no matter what they do. If you win the auction, you'll get the files, but if you lose the auction, you don't get the files — and you don't get your Bitcoin back. "Sorry lose bidding war lose bitcoin and files," the group wrote. That's probably why the so-called auction hasn't moved anywhere close to the group's goal of 1 million Bitcoin, or roughly $575 million. The high bid is currently 1.629 Bitcoin, a surprisingly low figure for a software package that, if it were "better than Stuxnet," would contain a number of unknown software exploits called "zero days," each of which can be sold for $100,000 or more on the black market. "This auction is one of the more bizarre things that I've ever seen in this space. People who buy and sell exploits would not just dump money into an auction," a source who used to work for the NSA's elite hacker unit, Tailored Access Operations, told Business Insider on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters. "It kind of makes no sense." "The low Bitcoin offers are pretty amusing though," Dr. Peter Singer, a strategist at the think tank New America and coauthor of " Ghost Fleet ," told Business Insider in an email. Further, the website WikiLeaks apparently has the full archive and says that it will release its own "pristine copy in due course." WikiLeaks did not respond to an email from Business Insider asking when that release would be. This just "shows the fraud of the whole Bitcoin angle," Schindler said. A view through a construction fence shows the Kremlin towers and St. Basil's Cathedral on a hot summer day in central Moscow, Russia, July 1, 2016. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev/File Photo (The Kremlin towers and St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.Thomson Reuters) 'Conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility' Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden offered his opinion on the underlying message behind the "auction" in a series of tweets on Tuesday, notably pointing the finger at Russia as being behind it. After cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that it uncovered two different state-sponsored Russian hacking groups inside the servers of the Democratic National Committee in June , Snowden wrote that "if Russia hacked the DNC, they should be condemned for it," and then chided the US for not releasing evidence that he believed the NSA had that would prove it. That "smoking gun" evidence never came, though a number of US political and intelligence officials have said that the DNC hack was at the Kremlin's direction. "Circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility," wrote Snowden of this latest breach, adding, "This leak looks like somebody sending a message that an escalation in the attribution game could get messy fast." How messy? According to Snowden, the fully-leaked toolkit — from 2013 — could offer insight into previous hacks carried out by the NSA, or it could be reverse-engineered to help adversaries detect them in the future. Even Schindler, the former NSA analyst who's an outspoken critic of Snowden, agrees with Snowden's finding on the overt message, though he doesn't think that leaked tools will have any significant effect on future NSA operations. "This stuff has all been changed," Schindler said. "Three years is a long time in cyber ops, because that's not the point. The point is to show NSA that we've got you by the balls." NOW WATCH: FORMER NSA DIRECTOR: America is ‘really good’ at stealing data from other countries More From Business Insider Experts think Russia has leaked NSA cyberweapons online Here's why the supposed NSA 'hack' is unlike anything we've ever seen before EDWARD SNOWDEN: Russia might have leaked alleged NSA cyberweapons as a 'warning' || The NSA cyber-weapon auction is a total smokescreen — here's what's really going on: (Josh Mayeux, a network defender, works at the US Air Force Space Command Network Operations
A group calling itself the "Shadow Brokers" claimed earlier this week that it hacked into the US National Security Agency and stole an apparent treasure trove of exploits and hacking toolsthat it is now trying to auction off.
But experts say that this is all a smokescreen for a not-so-subtle message from Moscow to Washington: Don't mess with us.
"It's a smokescreen, there's nothing real about this," John Schindler, a former NSA analyst and counterintelligence officer, told Business Insider. "This is Moscow's way of upping the ante in the spy war, and sending a message no one can miss [which is] 'we have you penetrated, we've got you by the balls, don't push us.'"
He added: "The Russians are making a power play because they think they can right now."
The previously-unknown Shadow Brokerscreated a number ofsocial-media accounts earlier this month on Reddit, Github, Twitter, and Imgur, before announcing on August 13 its "cyber weapon auction," which promised bidders a "full state sponsor tool set" from a hacking unit believed to be within the NSA known only as "The Equation Group."
It released a 234-megabyte archive on various file-sharing sites with one-half being free to view and use — which numerous expertssay is legitimate— while the other half was encrypted. The winner of the auction, the group said, would get the decryption key.
But an auction for hacking tools and exploits is not something that ever happens,experts say. Instead, exploits are bought and sold on the black market for hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars, in private.
There's something else going on here, and it seems like it has nothing to do with a hacking group looking for cash.
(Reuters)
In the announcement of its auction, Shadow Brokers seemed to ensure that no one would seriously consider bidding on the other half of its treasure trove, which it claims has within it software that is better than "Stuxnet" — the US-Israeli malware that destroyed Iranian nuclear centrifuges.
Its FAQ tells bidders that they are going to lose their Bitcoin, no matter what they do. If you win the auction, you'll get the files, but if you lose the auction, you don't get the files — and you don't get your Bitcoin back.
"Sorry lose bidding war lose bitcoin and files," the group wrote.
That's probably why the so-called auction hasn't moved anywhere close to the group's goal of 1 million Bitcoin, or roughly $575 million. The high bid iscurrently1.629 Bitcoin, a surprisingly low figure for a software package that, if it were "better than Stuxnet," would contain a number of unknown software exploits called "zero days," each of whichcan be soldfor $100,000 or more on the black market.
"This auction is one of the more bizarre things that I've ever seen in this space. People who buy and sell exploits would not just dump money into an auction," a source who used to work for the NSA's elite hacker unit, Tailored Access Operations, told Business Insider on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters. "It kind of makes no sense."
"The low Bitcoin offers are pretty amusing though,"Dr. Peter Singer, a strategist at the think tank New America and coauthor of "Ghost Fleet," told Business Insider in an email.
Further, the website WikiLeaks apparently has the full archiveand saysthat it will release its own "pristine copy in due course." WikiLeaks did not respond to an email from Business Insider asking when that release would be.
This just "shows the fraud of the whole Bitcoin angle," Schindler said.
(The Kremlin towers and St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.Thomson Reuters)
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden offered his opinion on the underlying message behind the "auction" in a series of tweets on Tuesday,notably pointingthe finger at Russia as being behind it.
After cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that it uncovered two different state-sponsored Russian hacking groups inside the servers ofthe Democratic National Committee in June, Snowden wrote that "if Russia hacked the DNC, they should be condemned for it," and then chided the US for not releasing evidence that he believed the NSA had that would prove it.
That "smoking gun" evidence never came, though a number of US political and intelligence officialshave saidthat the DNC hack was at the Kremlin's direction.
"Circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility,"wroteSnowden of this latest breach, adding, "This leak looks like somebody sending a message that an escalation in the attribution game could get messy fast."
How messy? According to Snowden, the fully-leaked toolkit — from 2013 — could offer insight into previous hacks carried out by the NSA, or it could bereverse-engineeredto help adversaries detect them in the future. Even Schindler, the former NSA analyst who's an outspoken critic of Snowden, agrees with Snowden's finding on the overt message, though he doesn't think that leaked tools will have any significant effect on future NSA operations.
"This stuff has all been changed," Schindler said. "Three years is a long time in cyber ops, because that's not the point. The point is to show NSA that we've got you by the balls."
NOW WATCH:FORMER NSA DIRECTOR: America is ‘really good’ at stealing data from other countries
More From Business Insider
• Experts think Russia has leaked NSA cyberweapons online
• Here's why the supposed NSA 'hack' is unlike anything we've ever seen before
• EDWARD SNOWDEN: Russia might have leaked alleged NSA cyberweapons as a 'warning'
[Social Media Buzz]
Poloniex: XMR/BTC Vol.:$ 16,148,800(48.00 %) Price:$ 4.48 | LTC/BTC Vol.:$ 3,410,660(10.14 %) Price:$ 3.93 | FCT/BTC Vol.:$ 3,219,690... || #Anoncoin/#ANC price now: $ 0.158097, that's -0.00 % change in 1hour. -1.77 % past day, and -1.62 % in the past week! #Bitcoin is $ 582.29 || #bitcoin #miner New Bitmain Antminer S9 miner 16nm 11.85Th in-hand $1695.00 http://ift.tt/2bo6ynX pic.twitter.com/8UOGCMHHIO || Nueva PTC Cjbux - $0.005 por clic - minimo $1.00 - Pago por Perfect money, Payeer, Bitcoin...
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577.76, 579.65, 569.95, 573.91, 574.11, 577.50, 575.47, 572.30, 575.54, 598.21
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 600.83, 608.04, 606.17, 604.73, 605.69, 609.73, 613.98, 610.89, 612.13, 610.20, 612.51, 613.02, 617.12, 619.11, 616.75, 618.99, 641.07, 636.19, 636.79, 640.38, 638.65, 641.63, 639.19, 637.96, 630.52, 630.86, 632.83, 657.29, 657.07, 653.76, 657.59, 678.30, 688.31, 689.65, 714.48, 701.86, 700.97, 729.79, 740.83, 688.70, 703.23, 703.42, 711.52, 703.13, 709.85, 723.27, 715.53, 716.41, 705.05, 702.03, 705.02, 711.62, 744.20, 740.98, 751.59, 751.62, 731.03, 739.25, 751.35, 744.59, 740.29, 741.65, 735.38, 732.03, 735.81, 735.60, 745.69, 756.77, 777.94, 771.16, 773.87, 758.70, 764.22, 768.13, 770.81, 772.79, 774.65, 769.73, 780.09, 780.56, 781.48, 778.09, 784.91, 790.83, 790.53, 792.71, 800.88, 834.28, 864.54, 921.98.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-12-23]
Volume: 275564000, RSI (14-day): 90.23, 50-day EMA: 759.52, 200-day EMA: 653.24
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1131.90, Gold RSI: 30.01
Oil Price: 53.02, Oil RSI: 62.75
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
10 things you need to know before the opening bell: (A view of a firing contest among multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) batteries selected from large combined units of the KPA, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang.Reuters/KCNA)
Here is what you need to know.
Dow 20,000 remains elusive.The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.16% on Wednesday to finish at 19,941.96. It's set to open Thursday's session near 19,935.
Wednesday was the most boring day for stocks since 1992.Wednesday's intraday range of 1.9 basis points was the tightest since Christmas Eve 1992, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
The world's oldest bank is moving closer to a bailout.Monte Paschi failed to secure a key investor for its new share offering, and Reuters reports that caused other investors to balk at the deal. Aside from failing, the only realistic option at this point is a state bailout by the Italian government.
Bitcoin is at its best level in 3 years.The cryptocurrency trades higher by more than 5% on Thursday at $874.04, its best level since December 2013.
Carl Icahn will have a role in the Trump Administration.Icahn will serve as a special adviser to Trump on regulation. "His help on the strangling regulations that our country is faced with will be invaluable," Trump said in a release.
Air Force One will cost less than previously expected.After meeting with Trump, Boeing CEODennis Muilenburg said the president's plane will cost less than previous estimate of near $4 billion. "We work on Air Force One because it's important to our country and we're going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that it's done affordably," Muilenburg said.
Hershey has a new CEO.Michele Buck has been named president and CEO, effective March 1, 2017. Currently, Buck is the company's executive vice president and COO.
Stock markets around the world are lower.Hong Kong's Hang Seng (-0.8%) lagged in Asia and Spain's IBEX (-0.4%) trails in Europe.
Earnings reporting remains light.Rite Aid and ConAgra Brands will release their quarterly results ahead of the opening bell while Cintas reports after markets close.
US economic data picks up.GDP, durable goods, and initial jobless claims will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before the FHFA House Price Index crosses the wires at 9 a.m. ET and personal income and spending are announced at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 2 bps at 2.55%.
More From Business Insider
• I’ve tested over 100 headphones in the past year, and I keep coming back to this $26 pair
• Here's a super-quick guide to what traders are talking about right now
• 'The global bond rout deepens:' Here's a quick guide to what traders are talking about right now || 10 things you need to know before the opening bell: Firing contest (A view of a firing contest among multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) batteries selected from large combined units of the KPA, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang.Reuters/KCNA) Here is what you need to know. Dow 20,000 remains elusive . The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.16% on Wednesday to finish at 19,941.96. It's set to open Thursday's session near 19,935. Wednesday was the most boring day for stocks since 1992 . Wednesday's intraday range of 1.9 basis points was the tightest since Christmas Eve 1992, according to Bespoke Investment Group. The world's oldest bank is moving closer to a bailout . Monte Paschi failed to secure a key investor for its new share offering, and Reuters reports that caused other investors to balk at the deal. Aside from failing, the only realistic option at this point is a state bailout by the Italian government. Bitcoin is at its best level in 3 years . The cryptocurrency trades higher by more than 5% on Thursday at $874.04, its best level since December 2013. Carl Icahn will have a role in the Trump Administration . Icahn will serve as a special adviser to Trump on regulation. " His help on the strangling regulations that our country is faced with will be invaluable," Trump said in a release. Air Force One will cost less than previously expected . After meeting with Trump, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the president's plane will cost less than previous estimate of near $4 billion. " We work on Air Force One because it's important to our country and we're going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that it's done affordably," Muilenburg said. Hershey has a new CEO . Michele Buck has been named president and CEO, effective March 1, 2017. Currently, Buck is the company's executive vice president and COO. Stock markets around the world are lower . Hong Kong's Hang Seng (-0.8%) lagged in Asia and Spain's IBEX (-0.4%) trails in Europe. Earnings reporting remains light. Rite Aid and ConAgra Brands will release their quarterly results ahead of the opening bell while Cintas reports after markets close. US economic data picks up. GDP, durable goods, and initial jobless claims will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before the FHFA House Price Index crosses the wires at 9 a.m. ET and personal income and spending are announced at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 2 bps at 2.55%. More From Business Insider I’ve tested over 100 headphones in the past year, and I keep coming back to this $26 pair Here's a super-quick guide to what traders are talking about right now 'The global bond rout deepens:' Here's a quick guide to what traders are talking about right now View comments || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetisation in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetisation in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetisation in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly
LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year.
The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months.
That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year.
Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price.
Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's.
The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange.
But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company.
Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty.
"If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said.
(Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly
LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year.
The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months.
That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year.
Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price.
Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's.
The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange.
But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company.
Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty.
"If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said.
(Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Flow Sports Celebrates One Year as 'the Home of Sports in the Caribbean': MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Dec 21, 2016) - One year ago,Flowunveiled its newFlow Sports Network, giving fans an exciting and innovative viewing experience, forever changing the game in sports broadcasting in the Caribbean.
In its first year, Flow Sports beamed over 4,000 hours of live and original sports programming in crystal-clear high definition straight from a state-of-the-art 4k-ready broadcast facility in Trinidad. Built around the sports Caribbean fans love -- football, athletics and cricket -- the network aired the biggest events in local, regional and international sports, including last year's FA Cup Final, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Flow CARIFTA Games, the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, the 2016-17 Premier League season and much more.
Not long after the network was launched, Flow also unveiled theFlow Sports appto give fans anytime/anywhere access to its premier sports content. Live and on-demand programming, up-to-date news, statistics, behind-the-scenes footage and more is now available 'on the go' via the app or the website,www.flowsports.co, along with the regular Flow TV options, so fans can take the action with them wherever they go.
"Giving fans unmatched sports content tailored to their specific preference with the ability to watch it all at their leisure, on their device of choice -- that's what Flow Sports is all about," said James Tooke, SVP of Media and Content at Cable & Wireless, operator of Flow. "And in just one year we have become the Caribbean's leading sports network setting the bar for future sports programming across the region. We've given fans what they've always wanted -- a one-stop shop for the contenttheywant to watch."
Indeed, Flow Sports' inaugural year was jammed pack with exciting action for viewers. Looking back on some of the milestones, Tooke said: "We became theOfficial Broadcast Partner and Sponsorof the Flow CARIFTA Games, broadcasting the competition in HD for the first time ever -- not just across the Caribbean, but also to more than 20 million households worldwide. We were theOfficial Broadcast Partner of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, too, and enabled fans to stream over4.4 million minutes of actionacross our FlowtoRio2016Extra app andmicrosite, with 4.6 million people also tuning into our 3 dedicated Olympic channels. We became home to the Indian Premier League; brought behind-the-scenes coverage of the Super Bowl to fans of American football; hosted watch parties for Manchester United fans; and the list goes on. It was a truly exceptional first year - one we'll always remember."
And while Flow Sports made sure to broadcast the big-name events, it also focused on the development of its own original programs. A case in point isFlow Sports Premier Weekly, an in-house production dedicated to all things Premier League, where three world-class hosts (Nadine Liverpool, Jason Roberts and Terry Fenwick) discuss the league's hottest stories trending in Caribbean circles. The show has gotten such a positive response that Tooke says it has become "football central for Caribbean fans." And it's also an excellent example of Flow's commitment to shape a true Caribbean viewing experience.
That commitment can be further seen in Flow Sports' coverage of local and regional sports, including the Barbados Rally, Cayman Invitational, Schoolboy Football from Jamaica, Flow CARIFTA Games and the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers and so much more. "Supporting our athletesand giving fans the chance to watch their hometown heroes compete in these significant regional events has been a privilege for us," explained Tooke. "We'll continue to do what we can to develop sports across the region and give fans relevant, local content."
In recognizing the accomplishments of the network, Cable & Wireless CEO, John Reid, said, "Flow Sports is a celebration of innovation and improvement in sports broadcasting across the region and has been changing the game since it was launched. We've invested in the content, the technology, the athletes, the fans and the people behind the network. And it's paying off. Flow Sports is now available in 24 countries in the Caribbean, and aside from Flow is carried by 34 other operators -- and growing."
Reid also said, "In November, our family of sports networks had the highest cumulative audience of any sports network on the Flow TV platform. But this is just the beginning. We are even more confident that we will continue to raise the bar now that we are powered by our new parent company Liberty Global's size, scale and access to content. We will ensure that Flow Sports evolves with the sports and with the fans, and we'll keep investing to develop across the region to demonstrate for years to come why we truly are 'the Home of Sports in the Caribbean.'"
About C&W CommunicationsCWC is a full-service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, CWC provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
CWC also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty GlobalLiberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 29 million customers who subscribe to over 59 million television, broadband, internet, and telephony services. We also serve 11 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across seven million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) and (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) and (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com.
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093704Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093710Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093712Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093714Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093718 || Flow Sports Celebrates One Year as 'the Home of Sports in the Caribbean': MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Dec 21, 2016) - One year ago, Flow unveiled its new Flow Sports Network , giving fans an exciting and innovative viewing experience, forever changing the game in sports broadcasting in the Caribbean. In its first year , Flow Sports beamed over 4,000 hours of live and original sports programming in crystal-clear high definition straight from a state-of-the-art 4k-ready broadcast facility in Trinidad. Built around the sports Caribbean fans love -- football, athletics and cricket -- the network aired the biggest events in local, regional and international sports, including last year's FA Cup Final, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Flow CARIFTA Games, the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, the 2016-17 Premier League season and much more. Not long after the network was launched, Flow also unveiled the Flow Sports app to give fans anytime/anywhere access to its premier sports content. Live and on-demand programming, up-to-date news, statistics, behind-the-scenes footage and more is now available 'on the go' via the app or the website, www.flowsports.co , along with the regular Flow TV options, so fans can take the action with them wherever they go. "Giving fans unmatched sports content tailored to their specific preference with the ability to watch it all at their leisure, on their device of choice -- that's what Flow Sports is all about," said James Tooke, SVP of Media and Content at Cable & Wireless, operator of Flow. "And in just one year we have become the Caribbean's leading sports network setting the bar for future sports programming across the region. We've given fans what they've always wanted -- a one-stop shop for the content they want to watch." Indeed, Flow Sports' inaugural year was jammed pack with exciting action for viewers. Looking back on some of the milestones, Tooke said: "We became the Official Broadcast Partner and Sponsor of the Flow CARIFTA Games, broadcasting the competition in HD for the first time ever -- not just across the Caribbean, but also to more than 20 million households worldwide. We were the Official Broadcast Partner of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games , too, and enabled fans to stream over 4.4 million minutes of action across our FlowtoRio2016Extra app and microsite , with 4.6 million people also tuning into our 3 dedicated Olympic channels. We became home to the Indian Premier League; brought behind-the-scenes coverage of the Super Bowl to fans of American football; hosted watch parties for Manchester United fans; and the list goes on. It was a truly exceptional first year - one we'll always remember." Story continues And while Flow Sports made sure to broadcast the big-name events, it also focused on the development of its own original programs. A case in point is Flow Sports Premier Weekly , an in-house production dedicated to all things Premier League, where three world-class hosts (Nadine Liverpool, Jason Roberts and Terry Fenwick) discuss the league's hottest stories trending in Caribbean circles. The show has gotten such a positive response that Tooke says it has become "football central for Caribbean fans." And it's also an excellent example of Flow's commitment to shape a true Caribbean viewing experience. That commitment can be further seen in Flow Sports' coverage of local and regional sports, including the Barbados Rally, Cayman Invitational, Schoolboy Football from Jamaica, Flow CARIFTA Games and the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers and so much more. " Supporting our athletes and giving fans the chance to watch their hometown heroes compete in these significant regional events has been a privilege for us," explained Tooke. "We'll continue to do what we can to develop sports across the region and give fans relevant, local content." In recognizing the accomplishments of the network, Cable & Wireless CEO, John Reid, said, "Flow Sports is a celebration of innovation and improvement in sports broadcasting across the region and has been changing the game since it was launched. We've invested in the content, the technology, the athletes, the fans and the people behind the network. And it's paying off. Flow Sports is now available in 24 countries in the Caribbean, and aside from Flow is carried by 34 other operators -- and growing." Reid also said, "In November, our family of sports networks had the highest cumulative audience of any sports network on the Flow TV platform. But this is just the beginning. We are even more confident that we will continue to raise the bar now that we are powered by our new parent company Liberty Global's size, scale and access to content. We will ensure that Flow Sports evolves with the sports and with the fans, and we'll keep investing to develop across the region to demonstrate for years to come why we truly are ' the Home of Sports in the Caribbean .'" About C&W Communications CWC is a full-service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, CWC provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. CWC also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 29 million customers who subscribe to over 59 million television, broadband, internet, and telephony services. We also serve 11 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across seven million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYB ) and ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) and ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com . Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093704 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093710 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093712 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093714 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093718 || KRUGMAN: The 'America we knew and loved is gone': american flag rocks iran (Reuters) Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist and liberal New York Times columnist, said Monday that he has lost faith in the future of the United States. In a series of tweets following President-elect Donald Trump's expected triumph in the Electoral College vote , Krugman seemed to be despondent with the state of the US. "So it's official, and it's vile: the loser of the popular vote installed by Russian intervention, a rogue FBI, and epic media malfunction," Krugman tweeted. "We should never accept this as OK. It may be the new normal, but that's a new normal in which the America we knew and loved is gone." The economist has for weeks expressed his concern about a Trump administration, calling into question the president-elect's choices for Cabinet positions, Trump's business conflicts of interests, and the influence of the FBI and Russian hackers on the election. Krugman also followed up with a series of tweets Tuesday morning attacking Trump's nominees for various economic posts such as the Office of Management and Budget, Treasury secretary, and the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. "Are people noticing that the Trump economic team is shaping up as a gathering of gold bugs?" tweeted Krugman. Krugman said Rep. Mick Mulvaney , Trump's nominee for budget chief at the OMB, is a "conspiracy theorist." The economist pointed to a speech from Mulvaney in which he praised bitcoin as "not manipulable by any government" and attacked the Federal Reserve. Related: For more news videos visit Yahoo View , available now on iOS and Android . Krugman also attacked Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury pick, for his connections to hedge fund manager John Paulson, who has incorrectly predicted massive inflation in recent years. The highest praise was given to Larry Kudlow, who is expected to be named the head of the Council of Economic Advisers. "In this crew, Kudlow who thinks it's always the 1970s, but doesn't seem to see hyperinflation under his bed is the most reasonable," Krugman said. Story continues View Krugman's tweets below: So it's official, and it's vile: the loser of the popular vote installed by Russian intervention, a rogue FBI, and epic media malfunction. Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 20, 2016 We should never accept this as OK. It may be the new normal, but that's a new normal in which the America we knew and loved is gone Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 20, 2016 Are people noticing that the Trump economic team is shaping up as a gathering of gold bugs? 1/ Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 20, 2016 Treasury goes to a guy with little public profile, but hangs out with John Paulson (who is also close to Trump) https://t.co/GSiJOfuiOq 2/ Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 20, 2016 And Paulson has been predicting inflation -- sometimes double-digit -- from Fed policy for years 3/ https://t.co/cIocJFsh7P Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 20, 2016 Budget director appears to be John Bircher and conspiracy theorist (but aren't they all? But note economic views 4/ https://t.co/d8M15ztSXm Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 20, 2016 Birchers want return to gold and silver, Mulvaney seems to agree 5/ pic.twitter.com/hTyHc3JbB6 Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 20, 2016 In this crew, Kudlow -- who thinks it's always the 1970s, but doesn't seem to see hyperinflation under his bed -- is the most reasonable 6/ Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 20, 2016 Whoops -- forgot Mulvaney's Bitcoin derp: "He praised bitcoin as a currency that is "not manipulatable by any government."" 7/ Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 20, 2016 NOW WATCH: Donald Trump's 'strange' morning habit tells you everything you need to know about him More From Business Insider Trump calls Paul Krugman 'demented' for suggesting he has an 'incentive' to benefit from a 9/11-style attack 'I'm asking you a simple question': Fox News host confronts RNC chair over Trump's denial of Russia hacks POLL: A majority of Republicans think Trump won the popular vote || Award Winning Flow Lend Issues Over US$1M in Mobile Credit in Less than Six Months: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Dec 20, 2016) - Flow has been keeping its prepaid mobile customers connected with its cashless mobile top-up app, Flow Lend , which advanced more than US$1Million in less than six months in mobile credit -- and, in partnership with JUVO , won the Mondato Innovation Award for Digital Finance and Commerce (DFC) earlier this month. James McElvanna, VP Products, Cable and Wireless , operator of Flow said, "We are proud to have partnered with JUVO to develop an app that addresses the needs of our customers, which in this case is anytime, anywhere access. Since many of our prepaid customers don't use credit cards, and usually rely on in-store cash top ups, Flow Lend gives them the assurance that they can always stay connected, even when they are out of cash and can't make it to a top-up station. We're happy to provide this convenient option to our customers, and we're honoured to be recognized for our efforts and investment in technology that has transformed our customers' experience." Steve Polsky, Founder and CEO of JUVO said, "C&W is a true partner and we are thrilled to be working with their team to offer Flow customers real time access to credit to help them stay connected. Receiving the Mondato Innovation Award, along with the high volume of credit advances issued via Flow Lend, reaffirms the real need for this solution -- and we're excited to provide the Identity Scoring technology that powers it." All prepaid mobile customers who top up regularly are eligible for credit advance from Flow Lend. The app tracks the frequency of top ups and other usage patterns to determine which customers have met the requirements for an advance. Once approved, customers can use Flow Lend to request instant, interest-free credit when they're running low. The loan amount must be repaid within 30 days via any regular Flow top up method. By consistently paying back on time, they can gradually borrow more and never have to worry about running out of credit. Story continues "We are addressing a real need for many of our customers who may have little or no credit and may be caught in a situation where they desperately need to be in contact," said McElvanna, highlighting the app's benefits. "For example, the mother who needs to call the doctor's office to make an appointment for her sick child no longer has to wait until she has the cash to go buy credit; the teenager who's nearing a low balance late at night doesn't have to leave the comfort and security of his/her home to visit a top up centre. Regardless of the circumstance, Flow Lend is available to our customers, anytime, anywhere." Flow Lend is available in all Flow's mobile markets across the region for both Android and iOS smartphones. EDITORS NOTE: About Mondato Innovation Award for Digital Finance and Commerce (DFC) The Mondato Awards were created to recognize excellence and innovation in Digital Finance and Commerce (MFC) and Digital Finance Plus (DF+) . The winners represent some of the most innovative DFC and DF+ solutions from emerging startups, as well as established companies paving new paths in the industry. C&W Communications in partnership with Juvo received the 2016 award. Juvo was founded with an overarching vision: to establish financial identities for the billions of people worldwide who are creditworthy, yet financially excluded. In partnership with mobile network operators, Juvo's proprietary Identity Scoring technology uses data science, machine learning and game mechanics to create an identity-based relationship with anonymous prepaid users, opening up access to otherwise unattainable mobile financial services. Juvo is a privately held company backed by global business leaders and luminaries in the world of tech, mobile and finance. Its executive team comprises accomplished industry leaders across the data science, consumer internet, financial services and mobile telecom fields. Headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Miami, London, Buenos Aires, Manila, Jakarta and Hanoi, Juvo has a reach of over 100 million subscribers across four continents and is deployed in 23 countries. For more information, follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn , or find us at www.juvo.com All trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. About C&W Communications CWC is a full-service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, CWC provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. CWC also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 29 million customers who subscribe to over 59 million television, broadband, internet, and telephony services. We also serve 11 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across seven million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYB ) and ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) and ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com . Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093327 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093322 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093330 || Award Winning Flow Lend Issues Over US$1M in Mobile Credit in Less than Six Months: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Dec 20, 2016) -Flowhas been keeping its prepaid mobile customers connected with its cashless mobile top-up app,Flow Lend, which advanced more than US$1Million in less than six months in mobile credit -- and, in partnership withJUVO, won theMondato Innovation Award for Digital Finance and Commerce (DFC)earlier this month.
James McElvanna, VP Products,Cable and Wireless, operator of Flow said, "We are proud to have partnered with JUVO to develop an app that addresses the needs of our customers, which in this case is anytime, anywhere access. Since many of our prepaid customers don't use credit cards, and usually rely on in-store cash top ups, Flow Lend gives them the assurance that they can always stay connected, even when they are out of cash and can't make it to a top-up station. We're happy to provide this convenient option to our customers, and we're honoured to be recognized for our efforts and investment in technology that has transformed our customers' experience."
Steve Polsky, Founder and CEO of JUVO said, "C&W is a true partner and we are thrilled to be working with their team to offer Flow customers real time access to credit to help them stay connected. Receiving the Mondato Innovation Award, along with the high volume of credit advances issued via Flow Lend, reaffirms the real need for this solution -- and we're excited to provide the Identity Scoring technology that powers it."
All prepaid mobile customers who top up regularly are eligible for credit advance from Flow Lend. The app tracks the frequency of top ups and other usage patterns to determine which customers have met the requirements for an advance. Once approved, customers can use Flow Lend to request instant, interest-free credit when they're running low. The loan amount must be repaid within 30 days via any regular Flow top up method. By consistently paying back on time, they can gradually borrow more and never have to worry about running out of credit.
"We are addressing a real need for many of our customers who may have little or no credit and may be caught in a situation where they desperately need to be in contact," said McElvanna, highlighting the app's benefits. "For example, the mother who needs to call the doctor's office to make an appointment for her sick child no longer has to wait until she has the cash to go buy credit; the teenager who's nearing a low balance late at night doesn't have to leave the comfort and security of his/her home to visit a top up centre. Regardless of the circumstance, Flow Lend is available to our customers, anytime, anywhere."
Flow Lend isavailable in all Flow's mobile markets across the regionfor bothAndroidandiOSsmartphones.
EDITORS NOTE:About Mondato Innovation Award for Digital Finance and Commerce (DFC)The Mondato Awardswere created to recognize excellence and innovation in Digital Finance and Commerce (MFC) andDigital Finance Plus (DF+). The winners represent some of the most innovative DFC and DF+ solutions from emerging startups, as well as established companies paving new paths in the industry. C&W Communications in partnership with Juvo received the 2016 award.
Juvo was founded with an overarching vision: to establish financial identities for the billions of people worldwide who are creditworthy, yet financially excluded. In partnership with mobile network operators, Juvo's proprietary Identity Scoring technology uses data science, machine learning and game mechanics to create an identity-based relationship with anonymous prepaid users, opening up access to otherwise unattainable mobile financial services.
Juvo is a privately held company backed by global business leaders and luminaries in the world of tech, mobile and finance. Its executive team comprises accomplished industry leaders across the data science, consumer internet, financial services and mobile telecom fields.
Headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Miami, London, Buenos Aires, Manila, Jakarta and Hanoi, Juvo has a reach of over 100 million subscribers across four continents and is deployed in 23 countries. For more information, follow us onTwitterorLinkedIn, or find us atwww.juvo.com
All trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
About C&W CommunicationsCWC is a full-service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, CWC provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
CWC also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty GlobalLiberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 29 million customers who subscribe to over 59 million television, broadband, internet, and telephony services. We also serve 11 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across seven million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) and (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) and (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com.
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093327Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093322Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093330 || Traders look at housing trades that are building up for the new year: With the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF(NYSE Arca: XHB)climbing about half a percent Monday, the "Fast Money" traders weighed in on housing stocks building up for 2017.
Trader Brian Kelly noted that even though housing starts fell below estimates last week, 2017 could be the year for homebuilders to break out. The sector's climb reminded him of another big performer from 2016.
"The homebuilder is set up similar to how the financials did last year where this could be a big breakout trade if you have that economic growth that's going to push people in homes," he said.
Trader Karen Finerman said she's not concerned about the move in the homebuilders ETF. She attributed it to the end of the election and the end of uncertainty.
As the low-end buyer in the sector, KB Home(NYSE: KBH)has the potential to be a strong stock next year in the face of regulation rollbacks from the Trump administration, trader David Seaburg said. Even thought the stock is up 33 percent year to date, Seaburg said it still has room to grow, while the high-end Wall Street banks are going to continue to have problems with regulation.
"I like the KBH. Even though it's up strong, I think it continues," he said.
Disclosures:
GUY ADAMI
long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
KAREN FINERMAN
long AAL, BAC, BAC short calls, C, DAL, FB, FL, GLMP,, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, TACO, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI, her firm is short IWM, MDY. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.
BRIAN KELLY
long Bitcoin, TLT, US30Y. He is short EUR=.,AUD,GPB
DAVID SEABURG
Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT.Diamond Offshore: an employee of Cowen and Company, LLC serves on the Board of Directors of Diamond Offshore
More From CNBC
• Traders weigh oil stocks amid pullback
• Stress boom to boost drug sales?
• Rumor visits the Nasdaq, fresh off her Westminster win || Traders look at housing trades that are building up for the new year: With the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE Arca: XHB) climbing about half a percent Monday, the " Fast Money " traders weighed in on housing stocks building up for 2017. Trader Brian Kelly noted that even though housing starts fell below estimates last week, 2017 could be the year for homebuilders to break out. The sector's climb reminded him of another big performer from 2016. "The homebuilder is set up similar to how the financials did last year where this could be a big breakout trade if you have that economic growth that's going to push people in homes," he said. Trader Karen Finerman said she's not concerned about the move in the homebuilders ETF. She attributed it to the end of the election and the end of uncertainty. As the low-end buyer in the sector, KB Home (NYSE: KBH) has the potential to be a strong stock next year in the face of regulation rollbacks from the Trump administration, trader David Seaburg said. Even thought the stock is up 33 percent year to date, Seaburg said it still has room to grow, while the high-end Wall Street banks are going to continue to have problems with regulation. "I like the KBH. Even though it's up strong, I think it continues," he said. Disclosures: GUY ADAMI long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. KAREN FINERMAN long AAL, BAC, BAC short calls, C, DAL, FB, FL, GLMP,, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, TACO, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI, her firm is short IWM, MDY. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. BRIAN KELLY long Bitcoin, TLT, US30Y. He is short EUR=.,AUD,GPB DAVID SEABURG Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT.Diamond Offshore: an employee of Cowen and Company, LLC serves on the Board of Directors of Diamond Offshore More From CNBC Traders weigh oil stocks amid pullback Stress boom to boost drug sales? Rumor visits the Nasdaq, fresh off her Westminster win || Here's how Walmart and Green Dot could incentivize prepaid use: (BI Intelligence)
This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, pleaseclick here.
New gamification features are coming to Walmart MoneyCard, the retailer's prepaid card issued by Green Dot.
The program, called Prize Savings, is an effort to encourage holders to keep more money in savings.
The firms believe there’s a “savings crisis” in the US, which reportedly prompted the launch of the program, but it could also indirectly increase engagement with Walmart MoneyCard, which ultimately helps both the retailer and the issuer.
The program uses cash prizes to incentivize savings. The program enters MoneyCard customers into a monthly sweepstakes for saving funds. Users can use the MoneyCard app or website to transfer money from their card balance into the MoneyCard Vault, a free savings feature. For every dollar they enter into their Vault, they receive one entry in a sweepstakes, which draws 500 winners for cash prizes per month.
Indirectly, the program incentivizes users to engage more with their prepaid card, which could indirectly encourage usage.
• The program pushes users to engage with their MoneyCards more often. Thus far, the program is working. Prize Savings soft-launched in August, and since then has seen a 35% increase in the average Vault savings balance. To transfer, customers are forced to log into their MoneyCard online — something they might not do otherwise — which could help them discover other available features, like reload or transfer options — that they might use down the line. In addition, the cash prizes are distributed directly into users' MoneyCard accounts, which means customers are forced to engage with and use their cards in order to redeem their winnings.
• This could help users better form habits around the card, which could increase usage of the MoneyCard product. Customers are beginning to use their prepaid card accounts much more like traditional bank accounts than ever before, a move that Prize Savings encourages. That could ultimately improve engagement with MoneyCard, which might ultimately benefit both Walmart and Green Dot in the form of fees. In addition, Green Dot has been looking for ways to improve digital engagement with its offerings, and it’s plausible it could apply a similar model if Prize Savings continues to be effective.
Prepaid cards such as this are just one piece of the much larger payments ecosystem, which has grown more complex in the last several years and now includes issuers, merchants, processors, and more.
John Heggestuen, senior research analyst atBI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has compileda detailed report on the payments ecosystemthat drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.
In full, the report:
• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:
1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >>START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >>BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.
More From Business Insider
• THE MOBILE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market forecasts, consumer trends, and the barriers and benefits that will influence adoption
• You won’t recognize the new world of digital payments without this report
• THE MOBILE PAYMENTS IN CHINA REPORT: What the US can learn from China's enormous success in mobile payments || Here's how Walmart and Green Dot could incentivize prepaid use: How unbanked consumers use prepaid cards (BI Intelligence) This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Payments Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . New gamification features are coming to Walmart MoneyCard, the retailer's prepaid card issued by Green Dot. The program, called Prize Savings, is an effort to encourage holders to keep more money in savings. The firms believe there’s a “savings crisis” in the US, which reportedly prompted the launch of the program, but it could also indirectly increase engagement with Walmart MoneyCard, which ultimately helps both the retailer and the issuer. The program uses cash prizes to incentivize savings. The program enters MoneyCard customers into a monthly sweepstakes for saving funds. Users can use the MoneyCard app or website to transfer money from their card balance into the MoneyCard Vault, a free savings feature. For every dollar they enter into their Vault, they receive one entry in a sweepstakes, which draws 500 winners for cash prizes per month. Indirectly, the program incentivizes users to engage more with their prepaid card, which could indirectly encourage usage. The program pushes users to engage with their MoneyCards more often. Thus far, the program is working. Prize Savings soft-launched in August, and since then has seen a 35% increase in the average Vault savings balance. To transfer, customers are forced to log into their MoneyCard online — something they might not do otherwise — which could help them discover other available features, like reload or transfer options — that they might use down the line. In addition, the cash prizes are distributed directly into users' MoneyCard accounts, which means customers are forced to engage with and use their cards in order to redeem their winnings. This could help users better form habits around the card, which could increase usage of the MoneyCard product. Customers are beginning to use their prepaid card accounts much more like traditional bank accounts than ever before, a move that Prize Savings encourages. That could ultimately improve engagement with MoneyCard, which might ultimately benefit both Walmart and Green Dot in the form of fees. In addition, Green Dot has been looking for ways to improve digital engagement with its offerings, and it’s plausible it could apply a similar model if Prize Savings continues to be effective. Story continues Prepaid cards such as this are just one piece of the much larger payments ecosystem, which has grown more complex in the last several years and now includes issuers, merchants, processors, and more. John Heggestuen, senior research analyst at BI Intelligence , Business Insider’s premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends. Here are some key takeaways from the report: 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices. Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play. Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified. In full, the report: Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond. Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers. Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step. Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more. Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem. To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem. More From Business Insider THE MOBILE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market forecasts, consumer trends, and the barriers and benefits that will influence adoption You won’t recognize the new world of digital payments without this report THE MOBILE PAYMENTS IN CHINA REPORT: What the US can learn from China's enormous success in mobile payments
[Social Media Buzz]
$913.96 at 00:15 UTC [24h Range: $858.94 - $920.00 Volume: 16604 BTC] || 1 BTC Price: BTC-e 897.578 USD Bitstamp 916.00 USD Coinbase 915.50 USD #btc #bitcoin 2016-12-23 18:30 pic.twitter.com/sgBGXT35zI || DEC 21/HUGE RUN ON GOLD AT THE COMEX/PREMIUMS AVERAGE $33.00 BETWEEN SHANGHAI GOLD http://goo.gl/ht0hpH http://ohiobitcoin.com/buybitcoin #bitcoin || $908.78 at 13:15 UTC [24h Range: $858.00 - $913.41 Volume: 14726 BTC] || One Bitcoin now worth $910.01@bitstamp. High $915.00. Low $858.93. Mar...
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898.82, 896.18, 907.61, 933.20, 975.92, 973.50, 961.24, 963.74, 998.33, 1021.75
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 11384.18, 11555.36, 11425.90, 11429.51, 11495.35, 11322.12, 11358.10, 11483.36, 11742.04, 11916.33, 12823.69, 12965.89, 12931.54, 13108.06, 13031.17, 13075.25, 13654.22, 13271.29, 13437.88, 13546.52, 13781.00, 13737.11, 13550.49, 13950.30, 14133.71, 15579.85, 15565.88, 14833.75, 15479.57, 15332.32, 15290.90, 15701.34, 16276.34, 16317.81, 16068.14, 15955.59, 16716.11, 17645.41, 17804.01, 17817.09, 18621.31, 18642.23, 18370.00, 18364.12, 19107.46, 18732.12, 17150.62, 17108.40, 17717.41, 18177.48, 19625.84, 18803.00, 19201.09, 19445.40, 18699.77, 19154.23, 19345.12, 19191.63, 18321.14, 18553.92, 18264.99, 18058.90, 18803.66, 19142.38, 19246.64, 19417.08, 21310.60, 22805.16, 23137.96, 23869.83, 23477.29, 22803.08, 23783.03, 23241.35, 23735.95, 24664.79, 26437.04, 26272.29, 27084.81, 27362.44, 28840.95, 29001.72, 29374.15, 32127.27, 32782.02, 31971.91, 33992.43, 36824.36, 39371.04, 40797.61.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-01-08]
Volume: 88107519480, RSI (14-day): 90.72, 50-day EMA: 24783.36, 200-day EMA: 16330.14
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1834.10, Gold RSI: 41.23
Oil Price: 52.24, Oil RSI: 74.03
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Kwasi Kwarteng appointed as new Business Secretary: • US non-farm payrolls fell 140,000 last month
• America’s unemployment rate holds at 6.7pc
• FTSE 100 underperforms, flat after four-day rally
• No Christmas joy for Marks & Spencer as sales slide
• German industrial production rises more than expected
• House price growth slows to six-month low
• Pets at Home jumps after profit upgrade
• Ben Marlow:All Bar One owner starts 2021 with mother of hangovers
• Sign up here for our daily business briefing newsletter
Boris Johnson has appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as the new business secretary, replacing Alok Sharma.
Mr Sharma will become the full-time president of the COP26 United Nations climate summit, where he "will solely focus on driving forward coordinated global action to tackle climate change", according to a statement from the Prime Minister's office.
Mr Sharma had been performing both roles, but the Government has come under increasing pressure to show its commitment to tackling climate change by making his new job a full time role.
Mr Kwarteng - MP for Spelthorne since 2010 - will be only black politician in the Cabinet.
His career has spanned roles across the Government. From 2010-2013 he worked as a member of the Transport Select Committee, before joining the Work and Pensions Select Committee until 2015.
From 2016-2017, Mr Kwarteng joined the Public Accounts Committee and in 2017 was appointed as parliamentary private secretary to the Chancellor.
Before becoming an MP, he worked as an analyst in financial services. He read classics and history at Trinity College, Cambridge.
That's all from us today. As I leave you, US benchmark S&P 500 has rebounded from earlier losses - now up 0.3pc - after Joe Biden said he'll lay out details of a stimulus package in trillions of dollars next week.
Here are some of our top stories today to keep you going through the evening. As always, there is more to be found on thebusiness page.
• Exclusive:Late tax return fines may be waived to help small firms and freelancers
• Deutsche Bank to pay over $100m to settle bribery charges
• Resilient German economy leaves France in the shade
• Google's privacy changes to Chrome browser probed by watchdog
• Moonpig poised for £1bn London listing
Thank you for following along - Louis will be back with you bright and early on Monday morning!
Plane maker Airbus said had just 268 net new orders last year, a 65p year-on-year drop as fears persist over the future prospects for air travel amid the pandemic.
The figure takes 115 cancellations into account as airlines scaled back due to uncertainty about how long international travel restrictions will remain in place.
Deliveries of completed Airbus planes last year also suffered, falling 34pc to 566 planes.
The company scaled back its factory production by 40pc last spring, and Faury said in October that no uptick was expected before the third quarter of this year.
In November, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned are facing their worst year ever, with coronavirus likely to have slashed industry revenue by 60pc in 2020.
Even though airlines have reduced costs by $1bn a day, grounded fleets and cut jobs, they are still racking up huge and "unprecedented" losses, the IATA said.
The chief executive of a small Chicago area marketing technology firm was arrested after breaching the US Capitol in riots this week, one of multiple executives to have participated, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Bradley Rukstales, chief executive of Cogensia, was placed on a leave of absence as the firm assesses the situation, the company said. Mr Rukstales was arrested Wednesday for unlawful entry, according to US Capitol police.
In astatement, Mr Rukstales said he regretted his participation, saying he exercised “extremely poor judgement” in following others into the Capitol, and apologised for the embarrassment caused to his family, colleagues and friends.
“It was the single worst personal decision of my life; I have no excuse for my actions and wish that I could take them back," he said.
On Twitter Thursday evening,the company posted: “Our CEO, Brad Rukstales' participated in the recent Washington DC protests. Those actions were his own and not acting on behalf [of] Cogensia nor do his actions in any way reflect the policies or values of our firm.”
Mr. Rukstales didn't respond to the Wall Street Journal's request for further comment, nor did his company.
Our CEO, Brad Rukstales' participated in the recent Washington DC protests. Those actions were his own and not acting on behalf Cogensia nor do his actions in any way reflect the policies or values of our firm. He has been placed on leave of absence while we assess further.
Deutsche Bank is to pay more than $100m to resolve bribery charges linked to an alleged attempt to win business in countries such as China.
My colleagueLucy Burtonreports:
US stocks are mostly edging down after a report that West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin will oppose further direct aid payments, denting earlier hopes for more stimulus.
By mid-afternoon in New York:
• The benchmark S&P 500 had lost 0.2pc to 3,796.05, as financial shares outweighed an advance in retailers.
• The Dow Jones was down 0.5pc to 30,872.58, dragged by the investment banks Goldman Sachs.
• The tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed, up 0.3pc to 13,105.35, as Tesla surged for an 11th straight session.
The Government may waive fines for late tax returns, helping to ease some burden on struggling taxpayers, but has ruled out an official extension to the filing deadline at the end of January.
My colleagueHarry Brennanreports:
• Read more:Late tax return fines may be waived to help small firms and freelancers
Goldman Sach's commodities traders doubled their revenue haul in 2020, generated more than $2bn billion in revenue for the its best annual showing in about a decade, reported Bloomberg citing sources.
Thenews agencyhas more:
Rentokil - the FTSE 100-listed ratcatcher - has announced a takeover of the 15th biggest pest control firm in America, called Environmental Pest Service.
The US business employs over 600 staff and had a revenue of about $82m (£60m) last year.
Rentokil spent about £180m on acquisitions in 2020, including eight others in the US in the fourth quarter which have combined revenues of about $62m (£48m). The region is its largest market, accounting for about 40pc of revenues in 2019.
Last year it bought a total of 23 businesses, with around 2,000 staff and annualised revenues of £150m.
It raised its profit guidance on Thursday after sales were boosted by demand for disinfection services during coronavirus. It expects full-year adjusted pre-tax profit to be slightly above the top end of market expectations of between £292m and £337m.
Shares rose 2.8pc by close today, taking gains since the beginning of 2020 to around 20pc.
The main shareholder of AIM-listed oil firm Lekoil - mining firm Metallon - has withdrawn its demand for the removal of its chairman Mark Simmonds, from the board.
Shareholders will, however, still vote on three people Metallon wants nominated to the board, in a dispute over the valuation of an offshore oil field.
Early last year the Nigeria-focused oil producer paid $600,000 in fees for a $184m (£135 million) loan, having been conned into thinking it had secured the funding from the Qatar Investment Authority. Its share price slammed over 70pc in response.
At the time, Lekoil said it had not secured the cash and might have been tricked by people “masquerading” as representatives from the Qatar Investment Authority.
Boris Johnson has appointed Kwasi Kwarteng as the new business secretary, replacing Alok Sharma.
Mr Sharma will become the full-time president of the COP26 United Nations climate summit, where he "will solely focus on driving forward coordinated global action to tackle climate change", according to a statement from the Prime Minister's office.
Mr Sharma had been performing both roles, but the Government has come under increasing pressure to show its commitment to tackling climate change by making his new job a full time role.
Mr Kwarteng - MP for Spelthorne since 2010 - will be only black politician in the Cabinet.
American firm Roku - which makes digital players to stream media content from various online services - is buying the content library of Quibi, the streaming service.
Roku hasn't revealed how much it paid for the 5-10 minute shows from the likes of Idris Elba, Chrissy Teigen and Liam Hemsworth.
Quibi was founded in 2018 launched in April 2020, banking on strong demand from people wanting content during "in-between" moments like commuting or queuing.
In October it announced it was shutting down, after the pandemic flipped daily life on the head. The start upburned $1.75bn from investorsincluding Disney.
The treasury has been warned that hundreds of thousands of small businesses, as well as millions of jobs could be at risk with the self-employed urgently needing Government support to get through the new lockdown.
My colleagueTim Wallacereports:
• Read more:Self-employed directors ramp up plea for Treasury support
It’s time for me hand over to my colleagueLouise Moon, who will steer the blog into the evening. Thanks for following along today!
The UKreported the highest-ever number of daily deaths from Covid-19, with 1,325 fatalities – topping the previous record from April 21st. There were 68,053 new cases, well above the seven-day average of 57,234.
Moonpig, the online store for greeting cards and gifts, is expected to go ahead with a £1bn listing on the stock market as early as next week.
My colleagueLaura Onitareports:
• Read more:Moonpig poised for £1bn London listing
My colleagueRussell Lynchhas a full report on today’s US labour market figures. He writes:
• Read more:US jobs recovery swings into reverse
Gold has dropped almost 3pc today, extending a broad downwards shift that has continued over recent weeks. The precious yellow metal is usually seen as a go-to asset when markets are nervous, and its fall comes alongside a decline the Japanese yen, another ‘safe haven’ asset.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is in talks with one of the world’s largest private-equity firms to launch a £3bn takeover bid for Signature Aviation, a London-listed private jet provider.
My colleagueMichael Cogleyreports:
• Read more:Bill Gates and Blackstone join forces for £3bn Signature Aviation bid
US stocks have opened higher despite a big miss on payroll figures and soaring Covid deaths.
A grim figure just before markets open. The US has recorded more than 4,000 daily deaths for the first time.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. has recorded more than 4,000 daily deaths from COVID-19 for the first time.
Some reaction to the non-farm payrolls. Ayush Ansal, chief investment officer at hedge fund Crimson Black Capital, says:
Jobs losses during December were hugely concentrated in the services and hospitality sector, as this chart displaying monthly payroll changes by industry shows:
As Capital Economics’ Michael Pearce explains, that is a reassuring sign for other parts of the economy:
There’s be little reaction to that big miss on payrolls figures from markets: the FTSE 100 remains the only faller on a broadly higher set of European indices, while Wall Street is set to open moderately higher in just over half an hour.
Meanwhile, MSCI’s broadest index of emerging markets stocks has just hit a record high, having climbing 1.7pc today. Investors seem to be reading through the ongoing economic turmoil and focusing on vaccine hopes.
The chart from Heather Long of the Washington Post highlights just bad job losses have been under the administration of Donald Trump, with the pandemic as the major factor.
Bottom line: Trump is set to leave office with the worst job losses of any president in decades.9.8 million jobs that were lost in March & April have not returned.(chart via the great@andrewvandam)pic.twitter.com/CElVUqdC5m
Here’s a longer-term look at total payrolls, which are languishing at a level last seen in 2015 after December’s drop.
The US unemployment rate remained unchanged despite the drop in payrolls, holding at an elevated 6.7pc.
Just in: US non-farm payrolls fell by 140,000 last month, a major miss to expectations of a 50,000 gain.
The drop comes after seven months of continuous gains, and brings the net job losses through the pandemic back above 10m.
A blast-from-the-past financial release: JCB reported sliding profits for 2019 after sales of its diggers fell by 2.5pc during the period.
My colleagueSimon Foyreports:
In just under half an hour, we’ll get the latest US labour market report, including the closely-watched change in non-farm payrolls count, and the overall unemployment rates.
Economists expect a very small uptick in overall jobs of just 50,000 in December, with the unemployment rate climbing from 6.7pc to 6.8pc.
But figures released by ADP earlier this week have produced some cause for concern – the company’s data pointed to net private sector job losses of about 123,000 last month, reversing the gain expected. and breaking a seven-month streak of gains.
The competition watchdog has launched an investigation into spirits giant Diageo's purchase of Chase Distillery.
My colleagueHannah Uttleyreports:
The Moderna Covid-19 vaccine has been authorised for use by the medicines regulator.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has accepted the recommendation of the Commission on Human Medicines and authorised the Moderna vaccine following months of rigorous clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people and an extensive analysis of the vaccine’s safety, quality and effectiveness.
BREAKING: UK regulator approves Moderna coronavirus vaccine, which is 94% effective in preventing disease.Govt has ordered an additional 10m doses of the jab, taking its total to 17 million.Doses available to UK "from Spring".
• Follow live:Moderna vaccine approved for UK use
Complex and confusing new processes introduced as a result of Brexit are beginning to take their toll, with firms struggling to get goods across borders, forcing some to pause operations.
My colleagueCat Neilanreports:
• Follow live:Brexit border problems stop deliveries as M&S warns of disruption for expats
The activist group behind last summer’s massive Facebook advertising boycott has said it will resume its push on major companies to freeze their spending in the wake of this week’s chaos in Washington, DC.
My colleagueLaurence Doddsreports:
• Read more:Major Facebook advertisers will be pressured to resume boycott after Capitol chaos
Poundland has put 44 shops into hibernation following a slump in footfall in shopping centres and high streets due to the new lockdown.
My colleagueLaura Onitareports:
• Read more:Poundland mothballs 44 stores as shoppers stay home
Brent crude oil has topped the $55 a barrel mark for the first time since February 2020 amid a recovery in oil prices spurred by rising demand and new production cuts.
• Read more:Oil set to stay above $50 as Saudis slash output
Shares in German travel group TUI have jumped as much as 50pc this morning, after it announced a fully-underwritten offering to raise €544.6m through a sale of stock.
The group initially announced the planned raise at the start of December, and it was cleared by investors on Tuesday.
Its goal is to pay down debts to improve liquidity. Chiefly, this will be buy paying the €300m principal attached to a batch of notes from 2016, with most of the rest aimed at strengthening its balance sheet in other ways.
After about two and a half hours of trading, the FTSE 100 is up by the skin of its teeth, having briefly dipped into the red earlier. A rise in the pound is putting some pressure on London’s top stocks.
Unemployment in the eurozone fell top 8.3pc in November, continuing a downwards trajectory despite heightened restrictions across much of the bloc during the month.
Here are some of the day’s top stories from the Telegraph Money team:
• Homeowners ‘should demand early leasehold extension discounts’ ahead of sweeping property reforms:Some owners may be forced to extend their leases before new rules take effect.
• Investors pile into funds as stock markets surge:British investors pour a record £8.3bn into funds but experts are warning of a bubble.
• How to add Bitcoin to your Isa and profit tax-free:Crypto investors can end up with large capital gains tax bills eating into returns.
Shares in newspaper publisher Reach has soared as much as 30pc today after it said profits would beat market expectations.
The group, which owns titles such as the Mirror and Express, said its underlying operating profit would be “in the range of £130 m to £135m” following a record digital revenue performance.
Its digital revenues jumped 24.9pc in its fourth financial quarter, accelerating from 13.4pc growth the prior quarter. Print circulation sales were down 11.7pc during the quarter.
Reach said it had passed the milestone of 5m online customer registrations, which it said was crucial to its business development plans.
Chief executive Jim Mullen said:
Barratt Developments shares have pushed higher after the group said its first-half sales rate rose 11.6pc in the six months to the end of December.
The FTSE 100 housebuilder’s sales rate rose to a level of 0.77pc net private reservations per active outlook, per week, compared to 0.69 in the same period last year.
It said “strong underlying demand” was supplemented by pent-up demand from the first lockdown and the introduction of the stamp duty holiday. It added:
The group said wholly owned home completions to stand between 15,250 and 15,750 across its 2021 full year (to the end of June).
Barratt’s board announced plans to implement a new dividend policy alongside its interim results on February 4th.
Goodbody’s Shane Carberry said the update was “very strong”, adding it would probably drive upgrades to earnings estimates.
UK house prices ended 2020 at record highs, but the pace of growth slowed in the final months of the year, according to Halifax.
Its house price index found an average price of £253,374 for properties in December, 0.2pc higher than the prior month and up 6pc in a year.
Russell Galley, Halifax’s managing director, said:
Pub chain Marston’s expects its sites to remain closed until “March at the earliest”, with its trading “materially disrupted” by the latest wave of restrictions.
The group made revenues of just £54m during the 13 weeks to January 2nd, with all its pubs now closed due to the latest range of restrictions.
It struck a positive note on the post-lockdown world, adding:
The group said it had “significantly strengthened” its balance sheet after striking a joint venture with brewer Carlsberg, and “the financial headroom to weather the extended period of current trading restrictions”. It added:
Online fashion retailer Asos has announced plans to create 2,000 jobs at a new warehouse in Lichfield, Staffordshire, as part of a £90m investment.
PA reports:
Pets at Home shares have jumped at the open after the group raised its profit forecast following strong trading over the Christmas period.
The FTSE 250 company said its performance had remained resilient, with momentum accelerating across all channel and putting it on course for “high teens” like-for-like sales growth during December.
It anticipated a full-year underlying pre-tax profit of “at least £77m”, even while taking into account the £28.9m in business rates it plans to repay.
Pets at Home said its balance sheet and liquidity has been reinforced by the £80m in cash proceeds from the disposal of its specialist group at the end of last year.
The FTSE 100 is rising for a fifth session as a broad rally across European equities continues.
German industrial production climbed 0.9pc in November, narrowly beating expectations as the country’s factories continued to perform strongly.
The rise beat expectations of a 0.8pc gain, but left output 2.6pc lower than at the same point last year.
ING’s Carsten Brzeski said the positive figures keep hopes alive that Germany may avoid a double-dip recession during the fourth quarter of 2020. He added:
Sales at Marks & Spencer slumped in the run-up to Christmas as November's lockdown took a heavy toll.
My colleagueSimon Foyreports:
• Read more:No Christmas joy for Marks & Spencer as sales slide
Good morning. The FTSE 100 is set to rise, continuing its stellar week, after Donald Trump finally conceded defeat late on Thursday.
The US president condemned the "mayhem" at Capitol Hill as he committed to a "smooth transfer of power".
1)Elon Musk overtakes Jeff Bezos to become world's richest person:Tesla's 8pc surge in share price on Thursday put Mr Musk, who was worth just $27bn at the start of 2020, above Mr Bezos by around $9.5bn.
2)£150m of PPE bought from China's firms linked to Uighur abuses:Ministers handed almost £150m to Chinese firms with links to alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang amid a race for PPE after Covid hit.
3)US set for stimulus growth surge after Democrats capture the Senate:The victory in Georgia puts the Senate at 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, making near-term Covid relief much more likely.
4)British Gas engineers begin five-day strike: Nearly 90pc of 9,000 GMB members at the company's parent firm Centrica voted for a walkout last month.
5)Boeing pays $2.5bn to settle US charges over 737 Max crashes:The charge will include a $500m fund to compensate relatives and legal beneficiaries of the almost 350 who died in two fatal crashes.
Asian shares rose to record highs on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei hitting a three-decade peak as investors looked beyond rising coronavirus cases and political unrest in the United States to focus on hopes for an economic recovery later in the year.
The upbeat mood came after Wall Street hit record highs on Thursday while bond prices fell as markets bet a new Democratic-controlled government would lead to heavy spending and borrowing to support the U.S. economic recovery.
Corporate:Intermediate Capital Group(Finals)Marks and Spencer, Barratt Developments(Trading statements)
Economics:US employment report; Halifax UK house price index || Put Streaming Music Investing on Play with This ARK ETF: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Music was one of the first frontiers of streaming entertainment, and it's still an important part of the streaming investment thesis, which is accessible with select exchange traded funds, including the vaunted ARK Web x.0 ETF (NYSEArca: ARKW) . ARKW aims to capture long-term growth with a low correlation of relative returns to traditional growth strategies and a negative correlation to value strategies. It serves as a tool for diversification due to little overlap with traditional indices. The actively managed strategy combines top-down and bottom-up research in its portfolio management to identify innovative companies and convergence across markets. While the fund features ample exposure to streaming television and movie names, such as Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU), it's a credible play on streaming music trends, too. “Music streaming has exploded over the last few years, and because of that, record labels have moved from a declining business in terms of revenue to a growth business over the last five years,” notes Morningstar analyst Neil Macker . Dreaming of Streaming with ARKW Be it cord-cutting, online retail, or social commerce, ARKW has a legacy of allocating to disruptive corners of the internet segment. ARKW components “are focused on and expected to benefit from shifting the bases of technology infrastructure to the cloud, enabling mobile, new and local services, such as companies that rely on or benefit from the increased use of shared technology, infrastructure and services, internet-based products and services, new payment methods, big data, the internet of things, and social distribution and media,” according to ARK Invest . ARKW, which holds streaming music plays Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) , is likely a better option for investors than pure-play record labels. “From the recording label side of it, the way they make a profit is, they're basically taking that money and then splitting it with the artists themselves. From the streaming side, they do only give away a set percentage of their revenue here. Now, having said that, most of these companies are losing money on the streaming side from an operating income basis. And for companies like Apple and Google, that's fine because it's a way to sort of keeping you in the ecosystem. For Spotify, that's something they're looking at and one of the reasons they're moving into areas like podcasting,” according to Macker. Story continues For more on disruptive technologies, visit our Disruptive Technology Channel . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Stock ETFs Climb Again Friday Despite Lackluster Jobs Data SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia New York Plans Sport Bets, But It May Not All Be Good for Gambling ETF Bitcoin Surges Past $40,000, Sustaining Bitcoin ETF Optimism Stock Index ETFs Gain For Third Day As Political Tensions Abate READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Put Streaming Music Investing on Play with This ARK ETF: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Music was one of the first frontiers of streaming entertainment, and it's still an important part of the streaming investment thesis, which is accessible with select exchange traded funds, including the vauntedARK Web x.0 ETF (NYSEArca: ARKW).
ARKW aims to capture long-term growth with a low correlation of relative returns to traditional growth strategies and a negative correlation to value strategies. It serves as a tool for diversification due to little overlap with traditional indices. The actively managed strategy combines top-down and bottom-up research in its portfolio management to identify innovative companies and convergence across markets.
While the fund features ample exposure to streaming television and movie names, such as Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU), it's a credible play on streaming music trends, too.
“Music streaming has exploded over the last few years, and because of that, record labels have moved from a declining business in terms of revenue to a growth business over the last five years,” notesMorningstar analyst Neil Macker.
Be it cord-cutting, online retail, or social commerce, ARKW has a legacy of allocating to disruptive corners of the internet segment.
ARKW components “are focused on and expected to benefit from shifting the bases of technology infrastructure to the cloud, enabling mobile, new and local services, such as companies that rely on or benefit from the increased use of shared technology, infrastructure and services, internet-based products and services, new payment methods, big data, the internet of things, and social distribution and media,”according to ARK Invest.
ARKW, which holds streaming music playsSpotify (NYSE: SPOT)andApple (NASDAQ: AAPL), is likely a better option for investors than pure-play record labels.
“From the recording label side of it, the way they make a profit is, they're basically taking that money and then splitting it with the artists themselves. From the streaming side, they do only give away a set percentage of their revenue here. Now, having said that, most of these companies are losing money on the streaming side from an operating income basis. And for companies like Apple and Google, that's fine because it's a way to sort of keeping you in the ecosystem. For Spotify, that's something they're looking at and one of the reasons they're moving into areas like podcasting,” according to Macker.
For more on disruptive technologies, visit ourDisruptive Technology Channel.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Robotics Ready for Its Moment as Pandemic Headwinds Abate: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Disruptive technologies can encounter headwinds over the course of their evolutions, but that doesn't always mean long-term negativity. Take the case of robotics investments. The coronavirus pandemic could have been a problem for the group, but theGlobal X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF (NasdaqGM: BOTZ)was a stellar performer last year.
BOTZ, which is one of the dominant funds in this category, seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Global Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic Index. The index itself captures large and mid-cap representation across 23 Developed Markets (DM) and 24 Emerging Markets (EM) countries.
“Over the course of the pandemic, businesses increasingly turned to robotics as a viable solution to protect consumers and employees – delivering goods and essentials, disinfecting high-touch areas, or providing concierge-like services – to limit human-to-human interactions,”writes Global X analyst Pedro Palandrani.
ASeeking Alpha articleby Michael Fitzsimmons referenced aMarketsandMarkets researchreport that said:
“The global artificial intelligence market size was valued at the US $39.9 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (‘CAGR’) of 42.2% from 2020 to 2027. The continuous research and innovation directed by the tech giants are driving the adoption of advanced technologies in industry verticals, such as automotive, healthcare, retail, finance, and manufacturing.”
The Googles and Amazons of the world are already locked in a battle of who can utilize disruptive tech like A.I. to the fullest extent in their business models, which can only boost the space even further.
Integral to the long-term BOTZ thesis is that demand for robotics aside from industrial robots, such as those working in warehouses, is booming.
“Yet robotics goes beyond the industrial segment today, with penetration increasing in multiple segments. In fact, professional service robots in areas such as logistics, cleaning, medical, inspection, maintenance, and others are expected to grow to 240,000 units by the end of 2020, up 38% from 2019,” according to Palandrani.
The robotics industry has proven its mettle amid the Covid-19 pandemic with machines taking the place of humans in order to stave off further infections from the virus. That said, a recentRobotics & Automation News articleidentified additional trends that can only further the expansion of the robotics industry–good news for ETFs like BOTZ.
For more on innovative portfolio ideas, visit ourNasdaq Portfolio Solutions Channel.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Robotics Ready for Its Moment as Pandemic Headwinds Abate: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Disruptive technologies can encounter headwinds over the course of their evolutions, but that doesn't always mean long-term negativity. Take the case of robotics investments. The coronavirus pandemic could have been a problem for the group, but the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF (NasdaqGM: BOTZ) was a stellar performer last year. BOTZ, which is one of the dominant funds in this category, seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Global Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic Index. The index itself captures large and mid-cap representation across 23 Developed Markets (DM) and 24 Emerging Markets (EM) countries. “Over the course of the pandemic, businesses increasingly turned to robotics as a viable solution to protect consumers and employees – delivering goods and essentials, disinfecting high-touch areas, or providing concierge-like services – to limit human-to-human interactions,” writes Global X analyst Pedro Palandrani . BOTZ Bets Merited in 2021 A Seeking Alpha article by Michael Fitzsimmons referenced a MarketsandMarkets research report that said: “The global artificial intelligence market size was valued at the US $39.9 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (‘CAGR’) of 42.2% from 2020 to 2027. The continuous research and innovation directed by the tech giants are driving the adoption of advanced technologies in industry verticals, such as automotive, healthcare, retail, finance, and manufacturing.” The Googles and Amazons of the world are already locked in a battle of who can utilize disruptive tech like A.I. to the fullest extent in their business models, which can only boost the space even further. Integral to the long-term BOTZ thesis is that demand for robotics aside from industrial robots, such as those working in warehouses, is booming. Story continues “Yet robotics goes beyond the industrial segment today, with penetration increasing in multiple segments. In fact, professional service robots in areas such as logistics, cleaning, medical, inspection, maintenance, and others are expected to grow to 240,000 units by the end of 2020, up 38% from 2019,” according to Palandrani. The robotics industry has proven its mettle amid the Covid-19 pandemic with machines taking the place of humans in order to stave off further infections from the virus. That said, a recent Robotics & Automation News article identified additional trends that can only further the expansion of the robotics industry–good news for ETFs like BOTZ. For more on innovative portfolio ideas, visit our Nasdaq Portfolio Solutions Channel. POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Stock ETFs Climb Again Friday Despite Lackluster Jobs Data SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia New York Plans Sport Bets, But It May Not All Be Good for Gambling ETF Bitcoin Surges Past $40,000, Sustaining Bitcoin ETF Optimism Stock Index ETFs Gain For Third Day As Political Tensions Abate READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Small-Cap ETFs Could Derive Blue Wave Benefits: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. With a sweep of the Senate runoff races in Georgia Tuesday, Democrats control the White House and both houses of Congress. That scenario could be beneficial to small-cap stocks and the related exchange traded funds, including the ERShares International Equity ETF (NYSEARCA: ERSX) . ERSX selects the most entrepreneurial, primarily Non-US Small Cap companies, that meet the thresholds embedded in their proprietary Entrepreneur Factor (EF). ERShares’ ETF delivers strong performance across a variety of investment strategies without disrupting investors’ underlying risk profile metrics. Their geographic diversity enables them to harness global advantages through additional returns associated with currency fluctuations, strategic geographic allocations, comparative trade imbalances, and relative supply/demand strengths. Some market participants believe small caps will extend gains built late last year as Democrats uncork the spending spigot. “Investors are betting a possible Democratic majority means more stimulus is coming and small-cap stocks will benefit because they are seen as more reliant on the pace of the economy than bigger shares,” reports Maggie Fitzgerald for CNBC . Bet on Stimmy with ERSX Small-cap stocks typically outperform increases in GDP, potentially setting the stage for more upside for ERSX as the U.S. economy shakes off the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. “Small caps are more economically sensitive so the faster GDP grows, the more earnings growth we’re going to get in small caps,” said Steven DeSanctis, small- and mid-cap strategist at Jefferies . Exchange traded funds that track value and small-capitalization stocks stood out Wednesday as investors raised bets on a more aggressive fiscal stimulus that would help generate greater economic growth. Goldman Sachs analysts projected a Georgia win would allow the Democrats to add another $600 billion in stimulus spending on top of the $900 billion already in play. Story continues “We’re looking for an additional $1 trillion of stimulus which translates to about one additional percentage point of GDP,” said DeSanctis. “Small outperforms large, value outperforms growth. Cyclicals over secular growth and bond proxies.” The ERShares ETF selects the most entrepreneurial, primarily Non-US Small Cap companies, that meet the thresholds embedded in their proprietary Entrepreneur Factor (EF). ERShares’ ETF delivers strong performance across a variety of investment strategies without disrupting investors’ underlying risk profile metrics. Their geographic diversity enables them to harness global advantages through additional returns associated with currency fluctuations, strategic geographic allocations, comparative trade imbalances, and relative supply/demand strengths. For more on entrepreneurial strategies, visit our Entrepreneur ETF Channel. POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Stock ETFs Climb Again Friday Despite Lackluster Jobs Data SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia New York Plans Sport Bets, But It May Not All Be Good for Gambling ETF Bitcoin Surges Past $40,000, Sustaining Bitcoin ETF Optimism Stock Index ETFs Gain For Third Day As Political Tensions Abate READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Small-Cap ETFs Could Derive Blue Wave Benefits: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
With a sweep of the Senate runoff races in Georgia Tuesday, Democrats control the White House and both houses of Congress. That scenario could be beneficial to small-cap stocks and the related exchange traded funds, including theERShares International Equity ETF (NYSEARCA: ERSX).
ERSX selects the most entrepreneurial, primarily Non-US Small Cap companies, that meet the thresholds embedded in their proprietary Entrepreneur Factor (EF). ERShares’ ETF delivers strong performance across a variety of investment strategies without disrupting investors’ underlying risk profile metrics. Their geographic diversity enables them to harness global advantages through additional returns associated with currency fluctuations, strategic geographic allocations, comparative trade imbalances, and relative supply/demand strengths.
Some market participants believe small caps will extend gains built late last year as Democrats uncork the spending spigot.
“Investors are betting a possible Democratic majority means more stimulus is coming and small-cap stocks will benefit because they are seen as more reliant on the pace of the economy than bigger shares,” reportsMaggie Fitzgerald for CNBC.
Small-cap stocks typically outperform increases in GDP, potentially setting the stage for more upside for ERSX as the U.S. economy shakes off the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Small caps are more economically sensitive so the faster GDP grows, the more earnings growth we’re going to get in small caps,” said Steven DeSanctis, small- and mid-cap strategist at Jefferies.
Exchange traded funds that track value and small-capitalization stocks stood out Wednesday as investors raised bets on a more aggressive fiscal stimulus that would help generate greater economic growth.
Goldman Sachs analysts projected a Georgia win would allow the Democrats to add another $600 billion in stimulus spending on top of the $900 billion already in play.
“We’re looking for an additional $1 trillion of stimulus which translates to about one additional percentage point of GDP,” said DeSanctis. “Small outperforms large, value outperforms growth. Cyclicals over secular growth and bond proxies.”
The ERShares ETF selects the most entrepreneurial, primarily Non-US Small Cap companies, that meet the thresholds embedded in their proprietary Entrepreneur Factor (EF). ERShares’ ETF delivers strong performance across a variety of investment strategies without disrupting investors’ underlying risk profile metrics. Their geographic diversity enables them to harness global advantages through additional returns associated with currency fluctuations, strategic geographic allocations, comparative trade imbalances, and relative supply/demand strengths.
For more on entrepreneurial strategies, visit ourEntrepreneur ETF Channel.
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• Stock ETFs Climb Again Friday Despite Lackluster Jobs Data
• SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia
• New York Plans Sport Bets, But It May Not All Be Good for Gambling ETF
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Income Void With a 401(k)? Use NUSI to Fill the Gap: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Employer-sponsored retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, are important parts of the retirement planning equation, and workers with access to those plans should take advantage of them, but they don't complete the retirement income puzzle. Investors can tap the Nationwide Risk-Managed Income ETF (NYSEArca: NUSI) to fill in those holes. NUSI can act as a complement to traditional equity and fixed income allocations or as the ideal protective hedge for investors with heavy exposure to technology and growth stocks because the fund is a “rules-based options trading strategy that seeks to produce high income using the Nasdaq-100 Index,” according to Nationwide . “If you share that worry, you might be thrilled to hear that more employers are showing interest in providing annuity-based lifetime income options within their 401(k)s. This would allow you to convert your 401(k) savings into a stream of retirement income that will last as long as you do,” reports USA Today . That's one option, but it's not a free lunch as it comes with risks and fees not found with NUSI. Consider NUSI Instead of Cumbersome Conversions The Nationwide Risk-Managed Income ETF incorporates options exposure to help generate income and mitigate risk as a way to enhance total returns. Investors have long capitalized on covered call options strategies for income generation, or protective put options strategies to protect against and limit losses. The Nationwide Risk-Managed Income ETF uses an options trading strategy called a protective net-credit collar to generate income. The options strategy sells an upside call option and uses a portion of the proceeds received to buy a put option to hedge downside risk on an underlying portfolio of securities. NUSI is an actively managed portfolio of stocks included in the Nasdaq-100 Index and an options collar. Per index rules, the fund only invests in the top 100 largest (by market cap) nonfinancial stocks listed on NASDAQ. A collar strategy involves selling or writing call options and buying put options, thus generating income to hedge some downside risk. The strategy seeks to generate high current income monthly from any dividends received from the underlying stock and the option premiums retained. However, in unprecedented times of panic, when people are scrambling to do anything to make ends meet, investors have shown the tendency to take on more risk or make less prudent investment choices. NUSI can even out this scenario, too, because it offers a blend of growth and income rarely found with income-generating funds. Story continues For more on income strategies, visit our Retirement Income Channel . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs Stock ETFs Climb Again Friday Despite Lackluster Jobs Data SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia New York Plans Sport Bets, But It May Not All Be Good for Gambling ETF Bitcoin Surges Past $40,000, Sustaining Bitcoin ETF Optimism Stock Index ETFs Gain For Third Day As Political Tensions Abate READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > View comments || Income Void With a 401(k)? Use NUSI to Fill the Gap: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Employer-sponsored retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, are important parts of the retirement planning equation, and workers with access to those plans should take advantage of them, but they don't complete the retirement income puzzle. Investors can tap theNationwide Risk-Managed Income ETF (NYSEArca: NUSI)to fill in those holes.
NUSI can act as a complement to traditional equity and fixed income allocations or as the ideal protective hedge for investors with heavy exposure to technology and growth stocks because the fund is a “rules-based options trading strategy that seeks to produce high income using the Nasdaq-100 Index,”according to Nationwide.
“If you share that worry, you might be thrilled to hear that more employers are showing interest in providing annuity-based lifetime income options within their 401(k)s. This would allow you to convert your401(k)savings into a stream of retirement income that will last as long as you do,”reportsUSA Today.
That's one option, but it's not a free lunch as it comes with risks and fees not found with NUSI.
The Nationwide Risk-Managed Income ETF incorporates options exposure to help generate income and mitigate risk as a way to enhance total returns. Investors have long capitalized on covered call options strategies for income generation, or protective put options strategies to protect against and limit losses.
The Nationwide Risk-Managed Income ETF uses an options trading strategy called a protective net-credit collar to generate income. The options strategy sells an upside call option and uses a portion of the proceeds received to buy a put option to hedge downside risk on an underlying portfolio of securities.
NUSI is an actively managed portfolio of stocks included in the Nasdaq-100 Index and an options collar. Per index rules, the fund only invests in the top 100 largest (by market cap) nonfinancial stocks listed on NASDAQ. A collar strategy involves selling or writing call options and buying put options, thus generating income to hedge some downside risk. The strategy seeks to generate high current income monthly from any dividends received from the underlying stock and the option premiums retained.
However, in unprecedented times of panic, when people are scrambling to do anything to make ends meet, investors have shown the tendency to take on more risk or make less prudent investment choices. NUSI can even out this scenario, too, because it offers a blend of growth and income rarely found with income-generating funds.
For more on income strategies, visit ourRetirement Income Channel.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Active Management Opportunity Abounds in 2021: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. With the value factor, international equities, and other assets that have previously been out of favor expected to come back into style this year, opportunities are plentiful for active managers to add value for investors. Active management could be particularly useful at a time when a small number of mega-cap tech stocks are dominating traditional index funds. Meanwhile, traditional index investments have exhibited a higher concentration to growth and tech, with the combined weight of the 5 largest S&P 500 components now at 22.2% of the benchmark, compared to about 12% back in 1991. Aggressive stimulus measures, such as the ongoing near zero-rate environment and government aid package, both of which are supporting the ongoing bull run. More stimulus, which could come to pass now that Democrats run the show in the nation's capital, could be another opportunity for active managers. Given the great spread in valuations we're seeing in the market at the moment, we think there are really good opportunities for active managers, whether they're selecting individual companies or managing entire portfolios to add value in the coming few years in a way they've really struggled to do over the last few years, according to Morningstar . Issuers believe the new active ETFs offers the best of both traditional active equity and ETF worlds, highlighting value add through the alpha potential of active management, access to a growing array of active equity strategies, the advantages of the more efficient ETF structure, and the additional choice of structures that meet investor needs. Active management can help investors identify dominant, growing businesses around the world today that may be overlooked by those unwilling to look beyond the index and think long-term. Again, cost is incredibly important. You need to access an active management with the most talented investors as cheaply as you possibly can. But we can see that coming back into the fore over the next few years as these active managers are able to select companies or select assets that are out of favor with the possibility of much higher return, according to Morningstar. For more on active strategies, visit our Active ETFs Channel . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia New York Plans Sport Bets, But It May Not All Be Good for Gambling ETF Bitcoin Surges Past $40,000, Sustaining Bitcoin ETF Optimism Stock Index ETFs Gain For Third Day As Political Tensions Abate Small-Cap, Value ETFs Rally on More Stimulus Bets READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > View comments || Active Management Opportunity Abounds in 2021: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
With the value factor, international equities, and other assets that have previously been out of favor expected to come back into style this year, opportunities are plentiful for active managers to add value for investors.
Active management could be particularly useful at a time when a small number of mega-cap tech stocks are dominating traditional index funds.
Meanwhile, traditional index investments have exhibited a higher concentration to growth and tech, with the combined weight of the 5 largest S&P 500 components now at 22.2% of the benchmark, compared to about 12% back in 1991.
Aggressive stimulus measures, such as the ongoing near zero-rate environment and government aid package, both of which are supporting the ongoing bull run. More stimulus, which could come to pass now that Democrats run the show in the nation's capital, could be another opportunity for active managers.
“Given the great spread in valuations we're seeing in the market at the moment, we think there are really good opportunities for active managers, whether they're selecting individual companies or managing entire portfolios to add value in the coming few years in a way they've really struggled to do over the last few years,”according to Morningstar.
Issuers believe the new active ETFs offers the best of both traditional active equity and ETF worlds, highlighting value add through the alpha potential of active management, access to a growing array of active equity strategies, the advantages of the more efficient ETF structure, and the additional choice of structures that meet investor needs.
Active management can help investors identify dominant, growing businesses around the world today that may be overlooked by those unwilling to look beyond the index and think long-term.
“Again, cost is incredibly important. You need to access an active management with the most talented investors as cheaply as you possibly can. But we can see that coming back into the fore over the next few years as these active managers are able to select companies or select assets that are out of favor with the possibility of much higher return,” according to Morningstar.
For more on active strategies, visit ourActive ETFs Channel.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Can a Weaker Dollar Provide Momentum For This Emerging Markets ETF?: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. If the Federal Reserve holds fast to its commitment to keep rates low, that could keep on fueling a weaker dollar. This, in turn, will help translate into more strength for the local currencies of emerging markets and help funds like the momentum-based Invesco S&P Emerging Markets Momentum ETF (EEMO) . EEMO seeks to track the investment results of the S&P Momentum Emerging Plus LargeMidCap Index. The fund will invest at least 90% of its total assets in the securities of companies that comprise the underlying index, as well as ADRs and GDRs that represent securities in the underlying index. Strictly in accordance with its guidelines and mandated procedures, the index provider compiles, maintains and calculates the underlying index, which is composed of constituents of the S&P Emerging Plus LargeMidCap that have the highest "momentum score." ETF investors get this factor-based strategy and EM exposure with just a 0.31% expense ratio. In the past year, the fund gained 9%. Much of 2020 was retracing back to its pre-pandemic levels, but now EEMO could be poised for a strong 2021 as global markets heal and risk-on returns. EEMO Chart EEMO data by YCharts If we pare down the chart to its 6-month timeframe and use technical analysis, we can see some buy signals forming. Using a relative strength index (RSI), EEMO just recently dipped below overbought levels. Furthermore, using a moving average convergence divergence (MACD) filter, the exponential moving average (EMA) line is above its signal line so a buying opportunity could be presenting itself should the price move lower to an area of value. EEMO hasn't crossed below its 50-day moving average since late September. EEMO Chart EEMO data by YCharts Looser EM Financial Conditions Due to Weaker Dollar As mentioned, the Fed will play a hand in how EM will respond in 2021. A Yahoo! Finance article discussed investment themes to watch in 2021 with emerging markets being one of them. Story continues 'Because emerging markets have lots of exposure of credit denominated in dollars, a weaker dollar should loosen EM financial conditions, lifting activity across emerging markets,” said Renaissance Macro Research’s head of economics Neil Dutta. “We know it sounds odd to be upbeat banks and energy with a Democratic sweep, but here we are. Usually, cyclical dynamics dominate political considerations. Capital spending has been quite sluggish in recent years and a return to normal should also provide a boost for EM,” wrote Dutta. For more news and information, visit the Innovative ETFs Channel . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia New York Plans Sport Bets, But It May Not All Be Good for Gambling ETF Bitcoin Surges Past $40,000, Sustaining Bitcoin ETF Optimism Stock Index ETFs Gain For Third Day As Political Tensions Abate Small-Cap, Value ETFs Rally on More Stimulus Bets READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Can a Weaker Dollar Provide Momentum For This Emerging Markets ETF?: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
If the Federal Reserve holds fast to its commitment to keep rates low, that could keep on fueling a weaker dollar. This, in turn, will help translate into more strength for the local currencies of emerging markets and help funds like the momentum-basedInvesco S&P Emerging Markets Momentum ETF (EEMO).
EEMO seeks to track the investment results of the S&P Momentum Emerging Plus LargeMidCap Index. The fund will invest at least 90% of its total assets in the securities of companies that comprise the underlying index, as well as ADRs and GDRs that represent securities in the underlying index.
Strictly in accordance with its guidelines and mandated procedures, the index provider compiles, maintains and calculates the underlying index, which is composed of constituents of the S&P Emerging Plus LargeMidCap that have the highest "momentum score." ETF investors get this factor-based strategy and EM exposure with just a 0.31% expense ratio.
In the past year, the fund gained 9%. Much of 2020 was retracing back to its pre-pandemic levels, but now EEMO could be poised for a strong 2021 as global markets heal and risk-on returns.
EEMOdata byYCharts
If we pare down the chart to its 6-month timeframe and use technical analysis, we can see some buy signals forming. Using a relative strength index (RSI), EEMO just recently dipped below overbought levels.
Furthermore, using a moving average convergence divergence (MACD) filter, the exponential moving average (EMA) line is above its signal line so a buying opportunity could be presenting itself should the price move lower to an area of value. EEMO hasn't crossed below its 50-day moving average since late September.
EEMOdata byYCharts
As mentioned, the Fed will play a hand in how EM will respond in 2021. AYahoo! Finance articlediscussed investment themes to watch in 2021 with emerging markets being one of them.
'Because emerging markets have lots of exposure of credit denominated in dollars, a weaker dollar should loosen EM financial conditions, lifting activity across emerging markets,” said Renaissance Macro Research’s head of economics Neil Dutta.
“We know it sounds odd to be upbeat banks and energy with a Democratic sweep, but here we are. Usually, cyclical dynamics dominate political considerations. Capital spending has been quite sluggish in recent years and a return to normal should also provide a boost for EM,” wrote Dutta.
For more news and information, visit theInnovative ETFs Channel.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
On Thursday, Social Finance, Inc. (“SoFi”), a leading next-generation financial services platform, entered into a definitive agreement withSocial Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. V (“SCH”) (NYSE: IPOE), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, to bring a major consumer-focused financial technology business to the public markets. The transaction values the Company at an equity value of $8.65 billion post-money.
SoFi’s one-stop-shop, multi-product strategy, and leading technology platform, Galileo, place the company at the epicenter of the digital revolution in financial services.
As Anthony Noto, Chief Executive Officer of SoFi, explains, “SoFi is on a mission to help people achieve financial independence to realize their ambitions. Our ecosystem of products, rewards, and membership benefits all work together to help our members get their money right.
He continues, "With the secular acceleration in digital-first financial services offerings, SoFi is the only company providing a comprehensive solution all in one app. The new investments and our partnership with Social Capital Hedosophia signify the confidence in our strategy, the momentum in our business, as well as the significant growth opportunity ahead of us. We look forward to helping more people get their money right in the years to come.”
The transaction is expected to deliver up to $2.4 billion of gross proceeds to the combined company, including the contribution of up to $805 million of cash held in SCH’s trust account from its initial public offering in October 2020. The combination is further supported by a $1.2 billion PIPE at $10 per share led by Palihapitiya, with commitments from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Altimeter Capital Management, Baron Capital Group, Coatue Management, Durable Capital Partners LP, and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP). SoFi also received a previous anchor investment from funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
“SoFi’s innovative, member-first platform has demystified financial services for millions of Americans and simplified the process for those looking to apply for loans, invest their money, obtain insurance and refinance their debt, among many other tasks that were previously arcane and needlessly complicated," states Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and CEO of Social Capital Hedosophia V.
He continues, "Additionally, the acceleration of cross-buying by existing SoFi members has created a virtuous cycle of compounding growth, diversified revenue, and high profitability. We look forward to partnering with Anthony and his team as they help even more members to achieve financial independence.”
Existing SoFi shareholders will roll 100 percent of their equity into the combined company. Concurrent with closing, $150 million of the transaction proceeds will be used for strategic secondary transactions that will help structure SoFi’s pro forma capitalization table in a way that is more conducive to obtaining an OCC national bank charter. All references to available cash from the trust account and retained transaction proceeds are subject to any redemptions by the public shareholders of SCH and payment of transaction expenses.
The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by SCH’s board of directors and the independent directors of SoFi’s board of directors, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021 and is subject to approval by SCH's shareholders and other customary closing conditions, including any applicable regulatory approvals. SoFi’s world-class management team, led by Noto, will continue to lead SoFi following the transaction.
To learn more about Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, visitwww.socialcapitalhedosophiaholdings.com.
For more information, visitwww.SoFi.comor download our iOS and Android apps.
For more market trends, visitETF Trends.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. On Thursday, Social Finance, Inc. (SoFi), a leading next-generation financial services platform, entered into a definitive agreement with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. V (SCH) (NYSE: IPOE) , a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, to bring a major consumer-focused financial technology business to the public markets. The transaction values the Company at an equity value of $8.65 billion post-money. SoFis one-stop-shop, multi-product strategy, and leading technology platform, Galileo, place the company at the epicenter of the digital revolution in financial services. As Anthony Noto, Chief Executive Officer of SoFi, explains, SoFi is on a mission to help people achieve financial independence to realize their ambitions. Our ecosystem of products, rewards, and membership benefits all work together to help our members get their money right. He continues, "With the secular acceleration in digital-first financial services offerings, SoFi is the only company providing a comprehensive solution all in one app. The new investments and our partnership with Social Capital Hedosophia signify the confidence in our strategy, the momentum in our business, as well as the significant growth opportunity ahead of us. We look forward to helping more people get their money right in the years to come. A Major Transaction The transaction is expected to deliver up to $2.4 billion of gross proceeds to the combined company, including the contribution of up to $805 million of cash held in SCHs trust account from its initial public offering in October 2020. The combination is further supported by a $1.2 billion PIPE at $10 per share led by Palihapitiya, with commitments from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Altimeter Capital Management, Baron Capital Group, Coatue Management, Durable Capital Partners LP, and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP). SoFi also received a previous anchor investment from funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. Story continues SoFis innovative, member-first platform has demystified financial services for millions of Americans and simplified the process for those looking to apply for loans, invest their money, obtain insurance and refinance their debt, among many other tasks that were previously arcane and needlessly complicated," states Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and CEO of Social Capital Hedosophia V. He continues, "Additionally, the acceleration of cross-buying by existing SoFi members has created a virtuous cycle of compounding growth, diversified revenue, and high profitability. We look forward to partnering with Anthony and his team as they help even more members to achieve financial independence. Existing SoFi shareholders will roll 100 percent of their equity into the combined company. Concurrent with closing, $150 million of the transaction proceeds will be used for strategic secondary transactions that will help structure SoFis pro forma capitalization table in a way that is more conducive to obtaining an OCC national bank charter. All references to available cash from the trust account and retained transaction proceeds are subject to any redemptions by the public shareholders of SCH and payment of transaction expenses. The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by SCHs board of directors and the independent directors of SoFis board of directors, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021 and is subject to approval by SCH's shareholders and other customary closing conditions, including any applicable regulatory approvals. SoFis world-class management team, led by Noto, will continue to lead SoFi following the transaction. To learn more about Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, visit www.socialcapitalhedosophiaholdings.com . For more information, visit www.SoFi.com or download our iOS and Android apps. For more market trends, visit ETF Trends . POPULAR ARTICLES AND RESOURCES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM SPY ETF Quote VOO ETF Quote QQQ ETF Quote VTI ETF Quote JNUG ETF Quote Top 34 Gold ETFs Top 34 Oil ETFs Top 57 Financials ETFs SoFi Becoming Publicly-Traded via Merger with Social Capital Hedosophia New York Plans Sport Bets, But It May Not All Be Good for Gambling ETF Bitcoin Surges Past $40,000, Sustaining Bitcoin ETF Optimism Stock Index ETFs Gain For Third Day As Political Tensions Abate Small-Cap, Value ETFs Rally on More Stimulus Bets READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, U.S. yields climb after Democrats win control of the Senate: * Treasury benchmark yield hits 10-month high * Dollar bounces after touching near 3-year low * U.S., global equity indexes hit record highs (Updates to U.S. stock market close) By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Bond prices dropped and stocks hit record highs on Thursday as investors bet Democratic control of the U.S. Congress would enable President-elect Joe Biden to borrow and spend heavily, while higher yields helped a bruised dollar recover from near three-year lows. The bullish sentiment remained throughout the day even as the top two Democrats in Congress called for President Donald Trump to be removed from office, one day after his supporters stormed and vandalized the U.S. Capitol in a rampage that left four people dead. U.S. Treasuries prices extended their steepest sell-off in months, with the benchmark yield at its highest in 10 months. Victories in two Georgia races handed the Democratic Party narrow control of the U.S. Senate, bolstering Biden's power to pass his agenda with his party controlling both chambers. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in almost 50 countries, rose more than 1% to hit a record high for the third session this week. After a shaken Congress formally certified Biden's election victory in the early hours of Thursday, Wall Street focused on the implications of the Democrats' control of Congress. Major indexes hit record highs on bets that more pandemic stimulus will help the economy ride out the downturn. "The market is now looking past Trump and it's looking forward to a Biden presidency, more structure and stimulus," said Dennis Dick, a trader at Bright Trading LLC. "A Democratic Congress is going to obviously be more concerned about the small businesses, and the Main Street." The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 211.73 points, or 0.69%, to 31,041.13, the S&P 500 gained 55.65 points, or 1.48%, to 3,803.79 and the Nasdaq Composite added 326.69 points, or 2.56%, to 13,067.48. Story continues The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.51% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.18%. Emerging market stocks rose 0.53%. Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan had risen 0.35% and Japan's Nikkei hit its intraday highest since 1990 before ending up 1.6%. The prospect for future stimulus spending sent bond prices lower, with the yield on the benchmark hitting its highest since March. It rose as high as 1.088% on Thursday. "The Georgia Senate elections just added a tailwind to existing trends of reflation and upward pressure on Treasury yields," said Bill Merz, head of fixed income research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis. Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 12/32 in price to yield 1.0812%, from 1.042% late on Wednesday. The 30-year bond last fell 27/32 in price to yield 1.859%, from 1.821%. BRUISED DOLLAR The Democrats' victory also reverberated in currency markets. The dollar had sunk to a near three-year low against a basket of six major currencies, with traders betting growing U.S. trade and budget deficits would further weigh on the greenback. On Thursday, it rose 0.549%, on track for its strongest session since at least late October, with the euro down 0.02% to $1.2268. The Japanese yen strengthened 0.01% versus the greenback at 103.78 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.3564, up 0.01% on the day. "Once (Treasury yields) start to move, as they did yesterday, it wasn’t a big move but it was in the right direction, that is the direction of the future," said Joseph Trevisani, senior analyst at FXStreet.com. Oil prices touched their highest since late February as markets remained focused on Saudi Arabia's unexpected pledge to deepen its oil cuts. U.S. crude recently rose 0.57% to $50.92 per barrel and Brent was at $54.57, up 0.5% on the day. Spot gold % to $1,913.07 an ounce. Silver gained 0.19% to $27.16. Bitcoin hit a record high that breached the $40,000 mark, and was last up 7.05% at $39,446.75. (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by Tom Wilson and Noah Browning in London, Laura Sanicola, Herbert Lash and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York and Karen Pierog in Chicago; Editing by Alistair Bell, Nick Zieminski and Dan Grebler) || GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, U.S. yields climb after Democrats win control of the Senate: * Treasury benchmark yield hits 10-month high
* Dollar bounces after touching near 3-year low
* U.S., global equity indexes hit record highs (Updates to U.S. stock market close)
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Bond prices dropped and stocks hit record highs on Thursday as investors bet Democratic control of the U.S. Congress would enable President-elect Joe Biden to borrow and spend heavily, while higher yields helped a bruised dollar recover from near three-year lows.
The bullish sentiment remained throughout the day even as the top two Democrats in Congress called for President Donald Trump to be removed from office, one day after his supporters stormed and vandalized the U.S. Capitol in a rampage that left four people dead.
U.S. Treasuries prices extended their steepest sell-off in months, with the benchmark yield at its highest in 10 months. Victories in two Georgia races handed the Democratic Party narrow control of the U.S. Senate, bolstering Biden's power to pass his agenda with his party controlling both chambers.
The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in almost 50 countries, rose more than 1% to hit a record high for the third session this week.
After a shaken Congress formally certified Biden's election victory in the early hours of Thursday, Wall Street focused on the implications of the Democrats' control of Congress. Major indexes hit record highs on bets that more pandemic stimulus will help the economy ride out the downturn.
"The market is now looking past Trump and it's looking forward to a Biden presidency, more structure and stimulus," said Dennis Dick, a trader at Bright Trading LLC.
"A Democratic Congress is going to obviously be more concerned about the small businesses, and the Main Street."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 211.73 points, or 0.69%, to 31,041.13, the S&P 500 gained 55.65 points, or 1.48%, to 3,803.79 and the Nasdaq Composite added 326.69 points, or 2.56%, to 13,067.48.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.51% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.18%. Emerging market stocks rose 0.53%.
Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan had risen 0.35% and Japan's Nikkei hit its intraday highest since 1990 before ending up 1.6%.
The prospect for future stimulus spending sent bond prices lower, with the yield on the benchmark hitting its highest since March. It rose as high as 1.088% on Thursday.
"The Georgia Senate elections just added a tailwind to existing trends of reflation and upward pressure on Treasury yields," said Bill Merz, head of fixed income research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.
Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 12/32 in price to yield 1.0812%, from 1.042% late on Wednesday.
The 30-year bond last fell 27/32 in price to yield 1.859%, from 1.821%.
BRUISED DOLLAR
The Democrats' victory also reverberated in currency markets.
The dollar had sunk to a near three-year low against a basket of six major currencies, with traders betting growing U.S. trade and budget deficits would further weigh on the greenback.
On Thursday, it rose 0.549%, on track for its strongest session since at least late October, with the euro down 0.02% to $1.2268.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.01% versus the greenback at 103.78 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.3564, up 0.01% on the day.
"Once (Treasury yields) start to move, as they did yesterday, it wasn’t a big move but it was in the right direction, that is the direction of the future," said Joseph Trevisani, senior analyst at FXStreet.com.
Oil prices touched their highest since late February as markets remained focused on Saudi Arabia's unexpected pledge to deepen its oil cuts.
U.S. crude recently rose 0.57% to $50.92 per barrel and Brent was at $54.57, up 0.5% on the day.
Spot gold % to $1,913.07 an ounce. Silver gained 0.19% to $27.16.
Bitcoin hit a record high that breached the $40,000 mark, and was last up 7.05% at $39,446.75.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by Tom Wilson and Noah Browning in London, Laura Sanicola, Herbert Lash and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York and Karen Pierog in Chicago; Editing by Alistair Bell, Nick Zieminski and Dan Grebler) || Bitcoin Goes Institutional, Ethereum Spreads Its Wings: CoinDesk Q4 2020 Review: If the 2020 Q1 was the quarter of market turmoil, Q2 the bitcoin halving and Q3 the explosion of stablecoins and decentralized finance applications, Q4 was the quarter of institutional FOMO for bitcoin and of Ethereum launching the first phase of its ambitious migration to a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. The latest CoinDesk Quarterly Review looks at the data and timelines behind these two strong narratives, and what they mean for asset prices. Bitcoin goes institutional While the 2017 bitcoin rally was largely driven by retail frenzy, the 2020 rally was driven mainly by institutions. The accelerating rhythm of large institutional investors publicly talking about and investing in bitcoin as a portfolio asset has not only lent validation to bitcoins role in portfolios, it has also attracted the attention of other investors. This self-reinforcing loop is likely to continue into 2021, especially given the mounting uncertainty around currencies and inflation. Related: BRRR: Biden Readies a New $3T Stimulus Package Bitcoins strong rally in the last few days of December crowned an already strong year and produced an annual performance of 300%, way ahead of most macro assets, although behind ETHs spectacular 470%. One metric that hints at growing institutional involvement is the number of addresses that hold large balances. The number of addresses with over 1000 BTC, known as whales , is over 30% higher than at the end of 2017, the height of the last crypto bull run, indicating the growing presence of deeper pockets in the market. Another indicator that institutional involvement in the bitcoin markets is growing is the volumes on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), an institution-focused derivatives exchange that offers bitcoin futures and options. The CMEs bitcoin futures open interest in U.S. dollars grew almost 300% over the quarter to become the largest in the industry (as of Dec. 30), having started the quarter in fifth position. Ethereum spreads its wings The Ethereum ecosystem saw strong progress in market infrastructure growth in the fourth quarter, and the long-awaited launch on Dec. 1 of Ethereum 2.0 was a major step on the way to migrating the ecosystem to a proof-of-stake blockchain. Related: Square Crypto Funds Bitcoin Developer to Improve Mining Pool Software Now that launch is successfully out of the way and Ethereum 2.0 developers are focusing their efforts on the task of onboarding several tens of thousands more validators onto the network. The goal is to have a minimum number of 262,144 validators securing Eth 2.0 before advancing to the next phase of development, phase 1. As of Wednesday, Jan. 6, 20% of this number have been onboarded. Story continues Historically, peaks in the number of active accounts on Ethereum have coincided with market tops, but the latest price surge that tipped ETH past $1,100 for the first time since January 2018 was not mirrored by a surge in the number of active accounts. The number of active accounts has been trending upwards but is still roughly 33% lower than its peak of 714,225 reached back in 2018, when ETH price was nearing $1,400. This indicates the latest ETH price bull run may be fueled more by market speculation and less by a growth in real user activity and adoption. Not all Ethereum transactions involve transfers of ETH. They could involve transfers of ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens, which are crypto assets created for unique applications and use cases on top of Ethereum. Whats more, not all Ethereum transactions are initiated by users. Some are initiated automatically by a smart contract, which is the code dictating the functionality behind all decentralized applications (dapps). This year, the total amount of ETH transferred by smart contracts as opposed to users doubled from its previous all-time high reached in 2016. This is a bullish indicator of Ethereums growing use case as a dapp platform rather than as a network for transfers of value. For more charts and insights on developments in crypto asset markets in Q4 2020, download our free report here . Related Stories Bitcoin Goes Institutional, Ethereum Spreads Its Wings: CoinDesk Q4 2020 Review Bitcoin Goes Institutional, Ethereum Spreads Its Wings: CoinDesk Q4 2020 Review View comments || Bitcoin Goes Institutional, Ethereum Spreads Its Wings: CoinDesk Q4 2020 Review: If the 2020 Q1 was the quarter of market turmoil, Q2 the bitcoin halving and Q3 the explosion of stablecoins and decentralized finance applications, Q4 was the quarter of institutionalFOMOfor bitcoin and of Ethereum launching the first phase of its ambitious migration to a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain.
The latest CoinDesk Quarterly Review looks at the data and timelines behind these two strong narratives, and what they mean for asset prices.
While the 2017bitcoinrally was largely driven by retail frenzy, the 2020 rally was driven mainly by institutions. The accelerating rhythm oflarge institutional investorspublicly talking about and investing in bitcoin as a portfolio asset has not only lent validation to bitcoin’s role in portfolios, it has also attracted the attention of other investors. This self-reinforcing loop is likely to continue into 2021, especially given the mounting uncertainty around currencies and inflation.
Related:BRRR: Biden Readies a New $3T Stimulus Package
Bitcoin’s strong rally in the last few days of December crowned an already strong year and produced an annual performance of 300%, way ahead of most macro assets, although behind ETH’s spectacular 470%.
One metric that hints at growing institutional involvement is the number of addresses that hold large balances. The number of addresses with over 1000 BTC, known as “whales,” is over 30% higher than at the end of 2017, the height of the last crypto bull run, indicating the growing presence of deeper pockets in the market.
Another indicator that institutional involvement in the bitcoin markets is growing is the volumes on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), an institution-focused derivatives exchange that offersbitcoin futuresand options. The CME’s bitcoin futures open interest in U.S. dollars grew almost 300% over the quarter to become the largest in the industry (as of Dec. 30), having started the quarter in fifth position.
The Ethereum ecosystem saw strong progress in market infrastructure growth in the fourth quarter, and the long-awaited launch on Dec. 1 ofEthereum 2.0was a major step on the way to migrating the ecosystem to a proof-of-stake blockchain.
Related:Square Crypto Funds Bitcoin Developer to Improve Mining Pool Software
Now that launch is successfully out of the way and Ethereum 2.0 developers are focusing their efforts on the task of onboarding several tens of thousands more validators onto the network. The goal is to have a minimum number of 262,144 validators securing Eth 2.0 before advancing to the next phase of development, phase 1. As of Wednesday, Jan. 6, 20% of this number have been onboarded.
Historically, peaks in the number of active accounts on Ethereum have coincided with market tops, but the latest price surge that tippedETHpast $1,100 for the first time since January 2018 was not mirrored by a surge in the number of active accounts. The number of active accounts has been trending upwards but is still roughly 33% lower than its peak of 714,225 reached back in 2018, when ETH price was nearing $1,400. This indicates the latest ETH price bull run may be fueled more by market speculation and less by a growth in real user activity and adoption.
Not all Ethereum transactions involve transfers of ETH. They could involve transfers of ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens, which are crypto assets created for unique applications and use cases on top of Ethereum. What’s more, not all Ethereum transactions are initiated by users. Some are initiated automatically by a smart contract, which is the code dictating the functionality behind all decentralized applications (dapps). This year, the total amount of ETH transferred by smart contracts as opposed to users doubled from its previous all-time high reached in 2016. This is a bullish indicator of Ethereum’s growing use case as a dapp platform rather than as a network for transfers of value.
For more charts and insights on developments in crypto asset markets in Q4 2020,download our free report here.
• Bitcoin Goes Institutional, Ethereum Spreads Its Wings: CoinDesk Q4 2020 Review
• Bitcoin Goes Institutional, Ethereum Spreads Its Wings: CoinDesk Q4 2020 Review || Bitcoin Goes Institutional, Ethereum Spreads Its Wings: CoinDesk Q4 2020 Review: If the 2020 Q1 was the quarter of market turmoil, Q2 the bitcoin halving and Q3 the explosion of stablecoins and decentralized finance applications, Q4 was the quarter of institutionalFOMOfor bitcoin and of Ethereum launching the first phase of its ambitious migration to a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain.
The latest CoinDesk Quarterly Review looks at the data and timelines behind these two strong narratives, and what they mean for asset prices.
While the 2017bitcoinrally was largely driven by retail frenzy, the 2020 rally was driven mainly by institutions. The accelerating rhythm oflarge institutional investorspublicly talking about and investing in bitcoin as a portfolio asset has not only lent validation to bitcoin’s role in portfolios, it has also attracted the attention of other investors. This self-reinforcing loop is likely to continue into 2021, especially given the mounting uncertainty around currencies and inflation.
Related:BRRR: Biden Readies a New $3T Stimulus Package
Bitcoin’s strong rally in the last few days of December crowned an already strong year and produced an annual performance of 300%, way ahead of most macro assets, although behind ETH’s spectacular 470%.
One metric that hints at growing institutional involvement is the number of addresses that hold large balances. The number of addresses with over 1000 BTC, known as “whales,” is over 30% higher than at the end of 2017, the height of the last crypto bull run, indicating the growing presence of deeper pockets in the market.
Another indicator that institutional involvement in the bitcoin markets is growing is the volumes on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), an institution-focused derivatives exchange that offersbitcoin futuresand options. The CME’s bitcoin futures open interest in U.S. dollars grew almost 300% over the quarter to become the largest in the industry (as of Dec. 30), having started the quarter in fifth position.
The Ethereum ecosystem saw strong progress in market infrastructure growth in the fourth quarter, and the long-awaited launch on Dec. 1 ofEthereum 2.0was a major step on the way to migrating the ecosystem to a proof-of-stake blockchain.
Related:Square Crypto Funds Bitcoin Developer to Improve Mining Pool Software
Now that launch is successfully out of the way and Ethereum 2.0 developers are focusing their efforts on the task of onboarding several tens of thousands more validators onto the network. The goal is to have a minimum number of 262,144 validators securing Eth 2.0 before advancing to the next phase of development, phase 1. As of Wednesday, Jan. 6, 20% of this number have been onboarded.
Historically, peaks in the number of active accounts on Ethereum have coincided with market tops, but the latest price surge that tippedETHpast $1,100 for the first time since January 2018 was not mirrored by a surge in the number of active accounts. The number of active accounts has been trending upwards but is still roughly 33% lower than its peak of 714,225 reached back in 2018, when ETH price was nearing $1,400. This indicates the latest ETH price bull run may be fueled more by market speculation and less by a growth in real user activity and adoption.
Not all Ethereum transactions involve transfers of ETH. They could involve transfers of ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens, which are crypto assets created for unique applications and use cases on top of Ethereum. What’s more, not all Ethereum transactions are initiated by users. Some are initiated automatically by a smart contract, which is the code dictating the functionality behind all decentralized applications (dapps). This year, the total amount of ETH transferred by smart contracts as opposed to users doubled from its previous all-time high reached in 2016. This is a bullish indicator of Ethereum’s growing use case as a dapp platform rather than as a network for transfers of value.
For more charts and insights on developments in crypto asset markets in Q4 2020,download our free report here.
• Bitcoin Goes Institutional, Ethereum Spreads Its Wings: CoinDesk Q4 2020 Review
• Bitcoin Goes Institutional, Ethereum Spreads Its Wings: CoinDesk Q4 2020 Review
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
|
40254.55, 38356.44, 35566.66, 33922.96, 37316.36, 39187.33, 36825.37, 36178.14, 35791.28, 36630.07
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 9900.77, 9811.93, 9911.84, 9870.30, 9477.68, 9552.86, 9519.15, 9607.42, 10085.63, 10399.67, 10518.17, 10821.73, 10970.18, 11805.65, 11478.17, 11941.97, 11966.41, 11862.94, 11354.02, 11523.58, 11382.62, 10895.83, 10051.70, 10311.55, 10374.34, 10231.74, 10345.81, 10916.05, 10763.23, 10138.05, 10131.06, 10407.96, 10159.96, 10138.52, 10370.82, 10185.50, 9754.42, 9510.20, 9598.17, 9630.66, 9757.97, 10346.76, 10623.54, 10594.49, 10575.53, 10353.30, 10517.25, 10441.28, 10334.97, 10115.98, 10178.37, 10410.13, 10360.55, 10358.05, 10347.71, 10276.79, 10241.27, 10198.25, 10266.42, 10181.64, 10019.72, 10070.39, 9729.32, 8620.57, 8486.99, 8118.97, 8251.85, 8245.92, 8104.19, 8293.87, 8343.28, 8393.04, 8259.99, 8205.94, 8151.50, 7988.16, 8245.62, 8228.78, 8595.74, 8586.47, 8321.76, 8336.56, 8321.01, 8374.69, 8205.37, 8047.53, 8103.91, 7973.21, 7988.56, 8222.08.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-10-20]
Volume: 15504249442, RSI (14-day): 42.17, 50-day EMA: 8931.83, 200-day EMA: 8668.77
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
The Magnificent Seven! Influencers you should be following on Twitter: Like it or not, social media has taken greater protagonism in our lives lately. Once just a place to manage our friends and acquaintances, it’s now giving everyday people a voice–and many of these voices end up making their way into the news or even shaping it. Not so long ago, it would have been unthinkable to have the world’s most powerful man tweeting incessantly about political matters and world leaders. Our record Economy would CRASH, just like in 1929, if any of those clowns became President! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2019 And, let’s be honest, many of us are still somewhat bemused by Mr Tump’s ability to whack out so many tweets and still run a country. However, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, Reddit… love them or hate them, they can be goldmines of information. This is especially true in the cryptocurrency space that moves at such a fast pace. Rather than wait to open up a broadsheet over a coffee, we often find out the latest developments with key companies and players off the back of a tweet. So with that in mind, here are six crypto personalities that you should be following on Twitter if you want to stay in the loop. 1. Erik Voorhees CEO and Co-founder of ShapeShift exchange, Libertarian Erik Voorhees has been making moves in the cryptocurrency space since the early days. Throughout his career, he’s had run-ins with US regulators, been forced to set his company up in crypto-friendly Switzerland , and had his fair share of battles to overcome. Many criticised his move to implement KYC to his notoriously anonymous exchange in which you could trade crypto to crypto without passing verification checks. However, Voorhees recognises that if you want to stay in business, you have to make some compromises along the way. A fountain of knowledge about Bitcoin and a staunch believer in the eventual collapse of the fiat system Voorhees is active and vocal on Twitter. Story continues Obvious trend is obvious… crypto, by increments, is taking over the financial world. This process will take 1-3 decades and its final form is the collapse and abandonment of fiat currency. https://t.co/VVhH8qqwXB — Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) October 16, 2019 You can learn a lot from him about the importance of financial sovereignty and removing the power from governments. He’s not the kind to descend into petty battles, either. You’ll find high-quality thought-provoking tweets from him that aren’t afraid to ask the hard questions. 2. Nick Szabo Many people new to cryptocurrency incorrectly believe that it was the Ethereum blockchain that invented smart contracts. In fact, Nick Szabo first proposed the idea back in 1994. As an American computer scientist, he invented a virtual currency called ‘Bit Gold’ a full 10 years before Bitcoin came out. This has lead to many a rumour in the industry that Szabo is the real Satoshi Nakamoto . He’s repeatedly denied this. He is, however, a blockchain and cryptocurrency pioneer, a Bitcoin maximalist, and an extremely knowledgeable (and outspoken) person. Multitudes and charlatans have entered the cryptocurrency and smart contract spaces who not only lack cypherpunk sensibilities, but hate cypherpunk values, including the values such as trust minimization that give cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin their market values. — Nick Szabo 🔑 (@NickSzabo4) October 16, 2019 He’s also very active on Twitter. Hop on over to his page on any given day and Szabo is usually involved in an active debate on how blockchain technology should be developed – and giving out his heated opinions. The consensus protocol which caused the Bitcoin revolution happens inside thousands of computers. "Social consensus" is completely different and is as much of a mess as it ever was. Bitcoin wins by maximizing the role of the former and ruthlessly minimizing the latter. — Nick Szabo 🔑 (@NickSzabo4) October 16, 2019 3. Changpeng Zhao (CZ) Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has come from humble beginnings to be one of the most influential (and likeable) people in the cryptocurrency space. As the CEO of Binance and orchestrator of its many innovations, you can expect to find CZ shamelessly shilling his own BNB coin and promoting Binance endeavours. However, it’s the best place to go if you want to keep tabs on the biggest and fastest-growing player in the space. Once the most popular spot trading exchange, Binance is now killing it in crypto derivatives as well. Apart from self-promotion, CZ puts out plenty of gems. From central banks joining the cryptocurrency race to the fact that a US Democratic presidential candidate follows him on Twitter. There’s always something there either to entertain or provide food for thought. Central banks joining the race. Most will probably issue a blockchain-based "mostly-centralized" digital currency first. But the more decentralized/freedom-driven ones will win over time, pushing the race towards the end goal. Freedom of money! https://t.co/CDILgKD0LM — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 7, 2019 If @AndrewYang wins, we will have a US President following a #crypto guy on Twitter. Just saying, pretty cool, right? It's a new world. I am not political or anything, but I do admire hustlers. https://t.co/QkPwiKsfCi pic.twitter.com/aB548yxfUE — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 3, 2019 4. Vitalik Buterin Without doubt, Ethereum’s creator Vitalik Buterin needs to be in your Twitter feed. Whatever your views on the current state of Ethereum, kudos to this extremely young and slightly oddly-dressed Russian-Canadian computer genius. Well-known for his strong opinions and penchant for unicorns and rainbows, Vitalik is one of the most important crypto personalities of all. On his page, you can keep track of Ethereum goings-on from the move to proof of stake and Ethereum 2.0 to the firestorm surrounding ETH DevCon earlier this month. There’s a lot of technical information here from scaling techniques to programming languages. But you’ll also see how idealistic he is and how he genuinely wants to change the world. Rich lists should include all money you ever donated to charity (excluding political contributions) as part of net worth. It's stupid that we give rich people free extra status just for being rich and take their status away the moment they use their money to do good. https://t.co/43Kot61hM7 — Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) September 25, 2019 Vitalik never shies away from an accusation or fight either and always responds with poise and grace. 5. Meltem Demirors Bitcoin is a male-dominated industry . Less than 5% of the industry is comprised of women. However, there are still enough intelligent and vocal female crypto personalities to be heard. One of these is Meltem Demirors, Chief Strategy Officer at Coinshares.co.uk. She’s also a cypherpunk and hardline Bitcoin bull. bitcoin fixes this 🚀 https://t.co/YgENg15sUQ — Meltem Demirors (@Melt_Dem) October 12, 2019 On her page, you’ll find Meltem educating people and pushing for adoption. You’ll also see her asking some weighty questions that may make some people uncomfortable. what is the most dystopian thing about bitcoin? what keeps you up at night? — Meltem Demirors (@Melt_Dem) October 16, 2019 6. Peter Todd As a former Bitcoin Core developer, Peter Todd is one of the most knowledgeable cryptographers in the space. He’s also one of the most vocal crypto personalities, regularly purporting the values of financial privacy. The simple reality is surveillance by those with power is a much greater danger to all of us – children and adults – than it can be used for good. We need encryption. We need financial privacy. It _will_ be used for bad things. But absolute power is used for _much_ worse. — Peter Todd (@peterktodd) October 16, 2019 He’s not an uncontroversial figure, though. You’ll frequently find Todd involved in some kind of argument on his Twitter account. Most notably, calling Ethereum a “scam” recently for being dishonest about the capabilities of blockchain. Ethereum is *worse* than Fenton's definition of a scam. Pure scams that just take money and run are less dangerous to society than ETH style dishonesty. The former are obviously bad; the latter corrode the morals of those around it. ETH makes neutral people turn bad. https://t.co/tFsmO4yKoy — Peter Todd (@peterktodd) October 10, 2019 7. Anthony Pompliano Co-founder & Partner at Morgan Creek Digital and an outspoken Bitcoin bull, Anthony Pompliano (Pomp) is one of the most influential crypto personalities today. His Twitter account almost seems manned around the clock. Pomp provides knowledge and a constant source of hopeful tweets to inspire and encourage Bitcoin enthusiasts. This Friday the 18 millionth Bitcoin will be mined. There are only #3MillionLeft Let’s make this hashtag trend so the world can learn about Bitcoin 🔥 — Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) October 15, 2019 He also hosts his own podcast called Off the Chain in which he continues the dialogue with key people in the space. Wrapping it up Of course, this is just a handful of the many crypto personalities that you should follow on Twitter. Who you decide to follow will depend on what coins you’re interested in, what projects you like, and whether you want to engage in the drama of frenzied tweetstorms or prefer to learn from more serious mentors. The post The Magnificent Seven! Influencers you should be following on Twitter appeared first on Coin Rivet . || The Magnificent Seven! Influencers you should be following on Twitter: Like it or not, social media has taken greater protagonism in our lives lately. Once just a place to manage our friends and acquaintances, it’s now giving everyday people a voice–and many of these voices end up making their way into the news or even shaping it. Not so long ago, it would have been unthinkable to have the world’s most powerful man tweeting incessantly about political matters and world leaders. Our record Economy would CRASH, just like in 1929, if any of those clowns became President! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2019 And, let’s be honest, many of us are still somewhat bemused by Mr Tump’s ability to whack out so many tweets and still run a country. However, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, Reddit… love them or hate them, they can be goldmines of information. This is especially true in the cryptocurrency space that moves at such a fast pace. Rather than wait to open up a broadsheet over a coffee, we often find out the latest developments with key companies and players off the back of a tweet. So with that in mind, here are six crypto personalities that you should be following on Twitter if you want to stay in the loop. 1. Erik Voorhees CEO and Co-founder of ShapeShift exchange, Libertarian Erik Voorhees has been making moves in the cryptocurrency space since the early days. Throughout his career, he’s had run-ins with US regulators, been forced to set his company up in crypto-friendly Switzerland , and had his fair share of battles to overcome. Many criticised his move to implement KYC to his notoriously anonymous exchange in which you could trade crypto to crypto without passing verification checks. However, Voorhees recognises that if you want to stay in business, you have to make some compromises along the way. A fountain of knowledge about Bitcoin and a staunch believer in the eventual collapse of the fiat system Voorhees is active and vocal on Twitter. Story continues Obvious trend is obvious… crypto, by increments, is taking over the financial world. This process will take 1-3 decades and its final form is the collapse and abandonment of fiat currency. https://t.co/VVhH8qqwXB — Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) October 16, 2019 You can learn a lot from him about the importance of financial sovereignty and removing the power from governments. He’s not the kind to descend into petty battles, either. You’ll find high-quality thought-provoking tweets from him that aren’t afraid to ask the hard questions. 2. Nick Szabo Many people new to cryptocurrency incorrectly believe that it was the Ethereum blockchain that invented smart contracts. In fact, Nick Szabo first proposed the idea back in 1994. As an American computer scientist, he invented a virtual currency called ‘Bit Gold’ a full 10 years before Bitcoin came out. This has lead to many a rumour in the industry that Szabo is the real Satoshi Nakamoto . He’s repeatedly denied this. He is, however, a blockchain and cryptocurrency pioneer, a Bitcoin maximalist, and an extremely knowledgeable (and outspoken) person. Multitudes and charlatans have entered the cryptocurrency and smart contract spaces who not only lack cypherpunk sensibilities, but hate cypherpunk values, including the values such as trust minimization that give cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin their market values. — Nick Szabo 🔑 (@NickSzabo4) October 16, 2019 He’s also very active on Twitter. Hop on over to his page on any given day and Szabo is usually involved in an active debate on how blockchain technology should be developed – and giving out his heated opinions. The consensus protocol which caused the Bitcoin revolution happens inside thousands of computers. "Social consensus" is completely different and is as much of a mess as it ever was. Bitcoin wins by maximizing the role of the former and ruthlessly minimizing the latter. — Nick Szabo 🔑 (@NickSzabo4) October 16, 2019 3. Changpeng Zhao (CZ) Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has come from humble beginnings to be one of the most influential (and likeable) people in the cryptocurrency space. As the CEO of Binance and orchestrator of its many innovations, you can expect to find CZ shamelessly shilling his own BNB coin and promoting Binance endeavours. However, it’s the best place to go if you want to keep tabs on the biggest and fastest-growing player in the space. Once the most popular spot trading exchange, Binance is now killing it in crypto derivatives as well. Apart from self-promotion, CZ puts out plenty of gems. From central banks joining the cryptocurrency race to the fact that a US Democratic presidential candidate follows him on Twitter. There’s always something there either to entertain or provide food for thought. Central banks joining the race. Most will probably issue a blockchain-based "mostly-centralized" digital currency first. But the more decentralized/freedom-driven ones will win over time, pushing the race towards the end goal. Freedom of money! https://t.co/CDILgKD0LM — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 7, 2019 If @AndrewYang wins, we will have a US President following a #crypto guy on Twitter. Just saying, pretty cool, right? It's a new world. I am not political or anything, but I do admire hustlers. https://t.co/QkPwiKsfCi pic.twitter.com/aB548yxfUE — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 3, 2019 4. Vitalik Buterin Without doubt, Ethereum’s creator Vitalik Buterin needs to be in your Twitter feed. Whatever your views on the current state of Ethereum, kudos to this extremely young and slightly oddly-dressed Russian-Canadian computer genius. Well-known for his strong opinions and penchant for unicorns and rainbows, Vitalik is one of the most important crypto personalities of all. On his page, you can keep track of Ethereum goings-on from the move to proof of stake and Ethereum 2.0 to the firestorm surrounding ETH DevCon earlier this month. There’s a lot of technical information here from scaling techniques to programming languages. But you’ll also see how idealistic he is and how he genuinely wants to change the world. Rich lists should include all money you ever donated to charity (excluding political contributions) as part of net worth. It's stupid that we give rich people free extra status just for being rich and take their status away the moment they use their money to do good. https://t.co/43Kot61hM7 — Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) September 25, 2019 Vitalik never shies away from an accusation or fight either and always responds with poise and grace. 5. Meltem Demirors Bitcoin is a male-dominated industry . Less than 5% of the industry is comprised of women. However, there are still enough intelligent and vocal female crypto personalities to be heard. One of these is Meltem Demirors, Chief Strategy Officer at Coinshares.co.uk. She’s also a cypherpunk and hardline Bitcoin bull. bitcoin fixes this 🚀 https://t.co/YgENg15sUQ — Meltem Demirors (@Melt_Dem) October 12, 2019 On her page, you’ll find Meltem educating people and pushing for adoption. You’ll also see her asking some weighty questions that may make some people uncomfortable. what is the most dystopian thing about bitcoin? what keeps you up at night? — Meltem Demirors (@Melt_Dem) October 16, 2019 6. Peter Todd As a former Bitcoin Core developer, Peter Todd is one of the most knowledgeable cryptographers in the space. He’s also one of the most vocal crypto personalities, regularly purporting the values of financial privacy. The simple reality is surveillance by those with power is a much greater danger to all of us – children and adults – than it can be used for good. We need encryption. We need financial privacy. It _will_ be used for bad things. But absolute power is used for _much_ worse. — Peter Todd (@peterktodd) October 16, 2019 He’s not an uncontroversial figure, though. You’ll frequently find Todd involved in some kind of argument on his Twitter account. Most notably, calling Ethereum a “scam” recently for being dishonest about the capabilities of blockchain. Ethereum is *worse* than Fenton's definition of a scam. Pure scams that just take money and run are less dangerous to society than ETH style dishonesty. The former are obviously bad; the latter corrode the morals of those around it. ETH makes neutral people turn bad. https://t.co/tFsmO4yKoy — Peter Todd (@peterktodd) October 10, 2019 7. Anthony Pompliano Co-founder & Partner at Morgan Creek Digital and an outspoken Bitcoin bull, Anthony Pompliano (Pomp) is one of the most influential crypto personalities today. His Twitter account almost seems manned around the clock. Pomp provides knowledge and a constant source of hopeful tweets to inspire and encourage Bitcoin enthusiasts. This Friday the 18 millionth Bitcoin will be mined. There are only #3MillionLeft Let’s make this hashtag trend so the world can learn about Bitcoin 🔥 — Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) October 15, 2019 He also hosts his own podcast called Off the Chain in which he continues the dialogue with key people in the space. Wrapping it up Of course, this is just a handful of the many crypto personalities that you should follow on Twitter. Who you decide to follow will depend on what coins you’re interested in, what projects you like, and whether you want to engage in the drama of frenzied tweetstorms or prefer to learn from more serious mentors. The post The Magnificent Seven! Influencers you should be following on Twitter appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Wave and Vertalo start by tokenizing yield, with race horses and whiskey as long term possibilities: Asset management firm Wave Financial launched its first bitcoin yield fund last month with the help of Vertalo, the tokenization solution company that helped PrimeTrust put cap tables on blockchain earlier this year. Wave touts the fund as the first crypto derivatives-based yield fund on the market, but the partnership is planning to expand to legacy markets. The fund itself generates yield by selling call options on bitcoin held in the fund, generating premiums from the high volatility. The income pays out monthly by distributing a dividend of 1.5% of the native asset value each month. Wave said it expects an 18% annual target yield. Fidelity Digital Assets custodies the fund’s BTC. On the tokenization front, Wave is issuing Fund Tokens related tot he yield fund that aren’t registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, meaning U.S. investors will have to stay on the bench. In order to execute a tokenized fund, Wave said Vertalo had all the right connections. Dave Hendricks, CEO of Vertalo, said they’re the only player in the industry that could get this tokenization effort off the ground. “There was no other provider on the market that could work with all of the other providers needed to make this fund happen,” he said. “We were already partners with the other participants they were working with, and we were the missing piece.” Benjamin Tsai, managing partner and president at Wave, said that while there are a number of players in the space, Vertalo gives the fund flexibility to be more integrated with shared partners. Hendricks explained that Vertalo’s role is essentially a stakeholder in data management or on-chain investor relations for the fund. In 2018, Vertalo began lining up partnerships. One such player in Wave’s fund is PrimeTrust, which Vertalo worked with to put cap tables on a blockchain. Hendricks previously called this the first step to the coming tokenization revolution. Now, he said a lot of problems are being quietly solved. Story continues “They’re not all announced because it takes a while, like the stuff we’re doing with Wave and the stuff we’re doing with PrimeTrust, it takes a while to bring these things to market,” he said. Contrasted from an initial coin offering or tokenizing shares, tokenization of a fund or other ventures has more risk, according to Hendricks. In fact, a tokenized bitcoin fund is just the start of the Wave/Vertalo partnership, according to both Hendricks and Tsai. Other ventures in the works are focusing on tokenizing indices and fractionalizing a variety of physical assets, like fine art, in addition to the tokenization of yield ventures, like the recent bitcoin derivatives fund. Fractionalizing things people want to buy is at the heart of these ventures, according to Hendricks – not creating value through tokens but rather fractionalizing existing value. “We bring the blockchain and tokenization revolution to come to the old stodgy legacy markets,” he said. One of these legacy markets that some tokenization ventures have pursued is real estate has been the common entry point for tokenization, but Wave and Vertalo are widening their gaze to a variety of places, like whiskey barrel futures, clean water and racehorses. “The boring way of saying it is we’re providing balance sheets to distillers and to participate in the upside of aging of whiskey,” said Tsai. “The exciting stuff to say is you can fractionally own an inventory of whiskey and as an agent it’s a great investment product because it has an attractive increase in value with a great investment curve or increase in value curve.” While neither option is currently offered, teams are in place looking into possibilities in these areas and others, according to Vertalo and Wave. Vertalo and Wave teased tokenization ventures to come going forward that will reach beyond yield products. Fractional ownership could become more accessible in the near future. || Wave and Vertalo start by tokenizing yield, with race horses and whiskey as long term possibilities: Asset management firm Wave Financial launched its first bitcoin yield fund last month with the help of Vertalo, the tokenization solution company that helped PrimeTrust put cap tables on blockchain earlier this year. Wave touts the fund as the first crypto derivatives-based yield fund on the market, but the partnership is planning to expand to legacy markets.
The fund itself generates yield by selling call options on bitcoin held in the fund, generating premiums from the high volatility. The income pays out monthly by distributing a dividend of 1.5% of the native asset value each month. Wave said it expects an 18% annual target yield. Fidelity Digital Assets custodies the fund’s BTC.
On the tokenization front, Wave is issuing Fund Tokens related tot he yield fund that aren’t registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, meaning U.S. investors will have to stay on the bench. In order to execute a tokenized fund, Wave said Vertalo had all the right connections. Dave Hendricks, CEO of Vertalo, said they’re the only player in the industry that could get this tokenization effort off the ground.
“There was no other provider on the market that could work with all of the other providers needed to make this fund happen,” he said. “We were already partners with the other participants they were working with, and we were the missing piece.”
Benjamin Tsai, managing partner and president at Wave, said that while there are a number of players in the space, Vertalo gives the fund flexibility to be more integrated with shared partners.
Hendricks explained that Vertalo’s role is essentially a stakeholder in data management or on-chain investor relations for the fund. In 2018, Vertalo began lining up partnerships.
One such player in Wave’s fund is PrimeTrust, which Vertalo worked with to put cap tables on a blockchain. Hendricks previously called this the first step to the coming tokenization revolution. Now, he said a lot of problems are being quietly solved.
“They’re not all announced because it takes a while, like the stuff we’re doing with Wave and the stuff we’re doing with PrimeTrust, it takes a while to bring these things to market,” he said.
Contrasted from an initial coin offering or tokenizing shares, tokenization of a fund or other ventures has more risk, according to Hendricks.
In fact, a tokenized bitcoin fund is just the start of the Wave/Vertalo partnership, according to both Hendricks and Tsai. Other ventures in the works are focusing on tokenizing indices and fractionalizing a variety of physical assets, like fine art, in addition to the tokenization of yield ventures, like the recent bitcoin derivatives fund.
Fractionalizing things people want to buy is at the heart of these ventures, according to Hendricks – not creating value through tokens but rather fractionalizing existing value.
“We bring the blockchain and tokenization revolution to come to the old stodgy legacy markets,” he said.
One of these legacy markets that some tokenization ventures have pursued is real estate has been the common entry point for tokenization, but Wave and Vertalo are widening their gaze to a variety of places, like whiskey barrel futures, clean water and racehorses.
“The boring way of saying it is we’re providing balance sheets to distillers and to participate in the upside of aging of whiskey,” said Tsai. “The exciting stuff to say is you can fractionally own an inventory of whiskey and as an agent it’s a great investment product because it has an attractive increase in value with a great investment curve or increase in value curve.”
While neither option is currently offered, teams are in place looking into possibilities in these areas and others, according to Vertalo and Wave.Vertalo and Wave teased tokenization ventures to come going forward that will reach beyond yield products. Fractional ownership could become more accessible in the near future. || HTC launches smartphone with Bitcoin full node capabilities: Six months after firstannouncingits new crypto-friendly smartphone, Taiwanese electronics company HTC has officially launched theEDOXUS 1s. The EXODUS 1s is a lower-cost version of HTC's flagship HTC EXODUS 1 device, which was firstannouncedlast October.
Unlike traditional smartphone devices, the EXODUS 1s will have a built-in cryptocurrency wallet and will have the capability to run a Bitcoin full node. The device will initially be available for order in Europe, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
“EXODUS is about empowering the user. We gave users the ability to own their own keys, and now we’ve gone one step further to allow users to run their own full Bitcoin node. We are providing the tools for access to universal basic finance; the tools to have a metaphorical Swiss bank in your pocket." Phil Chen, Decentralized Chief Officer at HTC, says. "Full nodes are the most important ingredient in the resilience of the Bitcoin network and we have lowered the barrier to entry for any person to run a node, which is simply a computer, mobile in our case, participating in the global Bitcoin network that propagates transactions and blocks everywhere, which is the foundation and fundamental definition of a peer-to-peer cash system.” || HTC launches smartphone with Bitcoin full node capabilities: Six months after first announcing its new crypto-friendly smartphone, Taiwanese electronics company HTC has officially launched the EDOXUS 1s . The EXODUS 1s is a lower-cost version of HTC's flagship HTC EXODUS 1 device, which was first announced last October. Unlike traditional smartphone devices, the EXODUS 1s will have a built-in cryptocurrency wallet and will have the capability to run a Bitcoin full node. The device will initially be available for order in Europe, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. “EXODUS is about empowering the user. We gave users the ability to own their own keys, and now we’ve gone one step further to allow users to run their own full Bitcoin node. We are providing the tools for access to universal basic finance; the tools to have a metaphorical Swiss bank in your pocket." Phil Chen, Decentralized Chief Officer at HTC, says. "Full nodes are the most important ingredient in the resilience of the Bitcoin network and we have lowered the barrier to entry for any person to run a node, which is simply a computer, mobile in our case, participating in the global Bitcoin network that propagates transactions and blocks everywhere, which is the foundation and fundamental definition of a peer-to-peer cash system.” || HTC launches smartphone with Bitcoin full node capabilities: Six months after firstannouncingits new crypto-friendly smartphone, Taiwanese electronics company HTC has officially launched theEDOXUS 1s. The EXODUS 1s is a lower-cost version of HTC's flagship HTC EXODUS 1 device, which was firstannouncedlast October.
Unlike traditional smartphone devices, the EXODUS 1s will have a built-in cryptocurrency wallet and will have the capability to run a Bitcoin full node. The device will initially be available for order in Europe, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
“EXODUS is about empowering the user. We gave users the ability to own their own keys, and now we’ve gone one step further to allow users to run their own full Bitcoin node. We are providing the tools for access to universal basic finance; the tools to have a metaphorical Swiss bank in your pocket." Phil Chen, Decentralized Chief Officer at HTC, says. "Full nodes are the most important ingredient in the resilience of the Bitcoin network and we have lowered the barrier to entry for any person to run a node, which is simply a computer, mobile in our case, participating in the global Bitcoin network that propagates transactions and blocks everywhere, which is the foundation and fundamental definition of a peer-to-peer cash system.” || Ripple sales of XRP decreased 74% to $66.2 million in Q3; Ripple claims of “FUD” increased significantly: Ripple sold $66.2 million of XRP in Q3 2019, an amount that is 74% lower than the $251.5 million that the company sold in Q2, which was a record quarterly sale. The sales figures were disclosed in Ripple's Q3 2019 XRP Markets Report which claimed that the company chooses to "voluntarily provide unparalleled transparency" while urging "others in the industry to follow its lead to build trust, foster open communication, and raise the bar industry-wide." According to Ripple's report, "Ripple was gifted a portion of [the 100 billion units of] XRP and periodically sells a small amount of that into the market." The price of XRP declined by 35.4% in Q3, while the overall market capitalization of digital assets decreased by 30.4% during the same period, per the report. During the same period, XRP volume decreased by 53% from $39.1 billion to $18.2 billion. 3 billion XRP was released from escrow during Q3, while 2.3 billion were returned and put into new escrow contracts. The report stated that XRP is ideal "for global payments because it is faster, less costly and far more scalable than other digital assets." In a comparison of XRP vs Bitcoin as of mid-October, Ripple claimed the following advantages for XRP Speed: 3.80 seconds ( XRP ) vs. 9.2 minutes ( BTC ) TPS: 1500+ ( XRP ) vs. 7 ( BTC ) Fee: $0.0003 ( XRP ) vs. $0.758 ( BTC ) Ripple dedicated a significant portion of the report to address an "uptick in FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and the spread of misinformation about XRP." Ripple claimed that "bots" pushed narratives including 1) "dumping XRP" and "flooding the market" via sales and 2) Price Manipulation, to which the company claimed that "Ripple plays a very limited role" in an "independent digital asset market." According to Ripple, "It’s on all of us to rise above the FUD and the tone-deaf who treat digital assets like a religion instead of technologies that can solve real world problems." The company closed its report by stating that "Ripple will continue to take proactive steps to address misinformation and FUD while being a responsible and transparent stakeholder of XRP." || Ripple sales of XRP decreased 74% to $66.2 million in Q3; Ripple claims of “FUD” increased significantly: Ripple sold $66.2 million of XRP in Q3 2019, an amount that is 74% lower than the $251.5 million that the company sold in Q2, which was a record quarterly sale.
The sales figures were disclosed in Ripple'sQ3 2019 XRP Markets Reportwhich claimed that the company chooses to "voluntarily provide unparalleled transparency" while urging "others in the industry to follow its lead to build trust, foster open communication, and raise the bar industry-wide." According to Ripple's report, "Ripple was gifted a portion of [the 100 billion units of] XRP and periodically sells a small amount of that into the market."
The price of XRP declined by 35.4% in Q3, while the overall market capitalization of digital assets decreased by 30.4% during the same period, per the report. During the same period, XRP volume decreased by 53% from $39.1 billion to $18.2 billion. 3 billion XRP was released from escrow during Q3, while 2.3 billion were returned and put into new escrow contracts.
The report stated that XRP is ideal "for global payments because it is faster, less costly and far more scalable than other digital assets." In a comparison of XRP vs Bitcoin as of mid-October, Ripple claimed the following advantages for XRP
• Speed: 3.80 seconds (XRP) vs. 9.2 minutes (BTC)
• TPS: 1500+ (XRP) vs. 7 (BTC)
• Fee: $0.0003 (XRP) vs. $0.758 (BTC)
Ripple dedicated a significant portion of the report to address an "uptick in FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and the spread of misinformation about XRP." Ripple claimed that "bots" pushed narratives including 1) "dumping XRP" and "flooding the market" via sales and 2) Price Manipulation, to which the company claimed that "Ripple plays a very limited role" in an "independent digital asset market."
According to Ripple, "It’s on all of us to rise above the FUD and the tone-deaf who treat digital assets like a religion instead of technologies that can solve real world problems." The company closed its report by stating that "Ripple will continue to take proactive steps to address misinformation and FUD while being a responsible and transparent stakeholder of XRP." || BitMax.io (BTMX.com), FTX.com, Alameda Research Announce Strategic Collaboration to List BTMX and Leveraged ERC20 Tokens: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2019 /BitMax.io (BTMX.com), FTX.com, and Alameda Research have announced a strategic collaboration that includes the listing of BTMX on FTX.com and listing of the Leveraged ERC20 Tokens on BitMax.io. FTX.com will offer spot market trading of BTMX token, as well as futures trading on perpetual and quarterly settled markets. Additionally, FTX.com will offer access to BTMX via its over-the-counter ("OTC") trading portal. At the same time, BitMax.io will list four 3x Leveraged ERC20 tokens: BTCBULL, BTCBEAR, XRPBULL, XRPBEAR on USDT order books.
Leveraged ERC20 tokens are assets that can be traded on cash or spot markets that grant holders leveraged exposure to the respective token's underlying crypto assets. BTMX is the native utility token to the BitMax.io platform that grants users eligibility for a variety of platform services and benefits.
BitMax.io, FTX.com and Alameda Research are thrilled to establish this strategic collaboration in order to further expand their respective ecosystems and enhance the liquidity and trading efficiency of BTMX and Leveraged ERC20 tokens.
What are Leveraged ERC20 Tokens?
Leveraged ERC20 Tokens were initially created by the team at FTX, one of the fastest growing cryptocurrency spot and derivatives trading platforms. Leveraged ERC20 tokens are assets that can be traded on cash or spot markets that grant holders leveraged exposure to the respective token's underlying crypto assets. For example, BTCBULL, a 3x long BTC token, tracks the price of BTC - for every 1% BTC goes up in a day, BTCBULL goes up 3%; for every 1% BTC goes down, BTCBULL goes down 3%.
Leveraged ERC20 tokens provide a viable alternative to margin trading and offer traders distinct advantages regarding: (1) risk mitigation, (2) margin management, and (3) transferability.
Risk Mitigation:Leveraged tokens automatically reinvest profits into the underlying asset. Accordingly, if a leveraged token position appreciates in value, the tokens automatically apply a leveraged position to the profits. Conversely, leveraged tokens automatically reduce risk if they depreciate in value. For example, if a margin trader put on a 3x long BTC position and BTC falls 33% over the course of a month, the trader's position will be liquidated. If the trader instead purchased the leveraged ERC20 BTCBULL Token, the token would automatically sell off some of its BTC as the markets go down - likely avoiding liquidation so that the trader retains a position even after a 33% market movement.
Managing Margin:Leveraged ERC20 tokens can be bought or sold on cash or "spot" markets just like any other ERC20 asset. This eliminates the need to manage collateral, margin, or liquidation prices.
Transferability:Leveraged ERC20 tokens can be withdrawn from an exchange directly to an external wallet just like any other ERC20 asset. This allows traders the ability to custody their own assets or transfer them from BitMax.io to other platforms that offer trading, such as FTX.com.
FTX.com & Alameda Research
FTX.com is one of the industry's fastest growing derivatives exchanges that offers traders access to an innovative margin system, simplified collateral, deep liquidity, crypto's first index futures, and leveraged ERC20 tokens. Backed by Alameda Research, an industry-leading quantitative trading firm, FTX.com is a strong, dynamic exchange that fixes the largest problems with existing leveraged products.
What isBitMax.io(BTMX.com)?
Founded by a group of Wall Street quant trading veterans in July 2018,BitMax.io(BTMX.com) is a leading digital asset trading platform with a broad range of financial products and services for both retail and institutional clients. The platform services sophisticated buy-side & sell-side institutions in both Eastern & Western demographics who are seeking highly liquid digital asset markets.
With its core values of efficiency, resilience, and transparency,BitMax.iohas successfully set itself as a leader in the digital asset trading space with its distinguished token economics and rigorous product design from innovative volatility card to margin trading.
Collaboration between Industry-leading Blockchain Institutions
BitMax.io, FTX.com, and Alameda Research have forged a strategic relationship since BitMax.io first listed FTT, the FTX.com derivatives exchange ecosystem token, in July of 2019. Since listing, BitMax.io has consistently been amongst the most liquid and active trading marketplaces for FTT. Alameda Research has also since onboarded with BitMax.io and rapidly emerged as one of the platform's highest-volume trading institutions. With regards to the strategic collaboration, Shane Molidor, Head of Business Development at BitMax.io states:
"Strategic alignment between BitMax.io, FTX, and Alameda Research was evident from the start. The team is comprised of some of the most innovative minds in the space, and their professional institutional backgrounds align with the Wall Street DNA of the BitMax.io leadership team."
In further support of collaboration, Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX.com and Alameda Research notes:
"BitMax.io's infrastructure and connectivity compliment Alameda's sophisticated trading systems well. We've been consistently impressed by the platform's innovative products as well as the institutional client servicing, which is all too often overlooked amongst many crypto-to-crypto trading platforms."
The collaboration betweenBitMax.io, FTX.com, and Alameda Research represents a strategic milestone for each institution in their efforts to support the advancement of blockchain technology and the trading infrastructure that underpins the industry.
For more information, follow BitMax.io on:
Website:http://www.BitMax.ioTwitter:https://twitter.com/BitMax_OfficialReddit:https://www.reddit.com/r/BitMax/Telegram:https://t.me/BitMaxioEnglishOfficialMedium:https://medium.com/bitmax-io
CONTACT:[email protected] Long+1 (917) 379-8248
SOURCE:BitMax
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/563569/BitMaxio-BTMXcom-FTXcom-Alameda-Research-Announce-Strategic-Collaboration-to-List-BTMX-and-Leveraged-ERC20-Tokens || BitMax.io (BTMX.com), FTX.com, Alameda Research Announce Strategic Collaboration to List BTMX and Leveraged ERC20 Tokens: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 19, 2019 / BitMax.io (BTMX.com) , FTX.com, and Alameda Research have announced a strategic collaboration that includes the listing of BTMX on FTX.com and listing of the Leveraged ERC20 Tokens on BitMax.io. FTX.com will offer spot market trading of BTMX token, as well as futures trading on perpetual and quarterly settled markets. Additionally, FTX.com will offer access to BTMX via its over-the-counter ("OTC") trading portal. At the same time, BitMax.io will list four 3x Leveraged ERC20 tokens: BTCBULL, BTCBEAR, XRPBULL, XRPBEAR on USDT order books. Leveraged ERC20 tokens are assets that can be traded on cash or spot markets that grant holders leveraged exposure to the respective token's underlying crypto assets. BTMX is the native utility token to the BitMax.io platform that grants users eligibility for a variety of platform services and benefits. BitMax.io, FTX.com and Alameda Research are thrilled to establish this strategic collaboration in order to further expand their respective ecosystems and enhance the liquidity and trading efficiency of BTMX and Leveraged ERC20 tokens. What are Leveraged ERC20 Tokens? Leveraged ERC20 Tokens were initially created by the team at FTX, one of the fastest growing cryptocurrency spot and derivatives trading platforms. Leveraged ERC20 tokens are assets that can be traded on cash or spot markets that grant holders leveraged exposure to the respective token's underlying crypto assets. For example, BTCBULL, a 3x long BTC token, tracks the price of BTC - for every 1% BTC goes up in a day, BTCBULL goes up 3%; for every 1% BTC goes down, BTCBULL goes down 3%. Leveraged ERC20 tokens provide a viable alternative to margin trading and offer traders distinct advantages regarding: (1) risk mitigation, (2) margin management, and (3) transferability. Risk Mitigation: Leveraged tokens automatically reinvest profits into the underlying asset. Accordingly, if a leveraged token position appreciates in value, the tokens automatically apply a leveraged position to the profits. Conversely, leveraged tokens automatically reduce risk if they depreciate in value. For example, if a margin trader put on a 3x long BTC position and BTC falls 33% over the course of a month, the trader's position will be liquidated. If the trader instead purchased the leveraged ERC20 BTCBULL Token, the token would automatically sell off some of its BTC as the markets go down - likely avoiding liquidation so that the trader retains a position even after a 33% market movement. Story continues Managing Margin: Leveraged ERC20 tokens can be bought or sold on cash or "spot" markets just like any other ERC20 asset. This eliminates the need to manage collateral, margin, or liquidation prices. Transferability: Leveraged ERC20 tokens can be withdrawn from an exchange directly to an external wallet just like any other ERC20 asset. This allows traders the ability to custody their own assets or transfer them from BitMax.io to other platforms that offer trading, such as FTX.com. FTX.com & Alameda Research FTX.com is one of the industry's fastest growing derivatives exchanges that offers traders access to an innovative margin system, simplified collateral, deep liquidity, crypto's first index futures, and leveraged ERC20 tokens. Backed by Alameda Research, an industry-leading quantitative trading firm, FTX.com is a strong, dynamic exchange that fixes the largest problems with existing leveraged products. What is BitMax.io (BTMX.com)? Founded by a group of Wall Street quant trading veterans in July 2018, BitMax.io ( BTMX.com ) is a leading digital asset trading platform with a broad range of financial products and services for both retail and institutional clients. The platform services sophisticated buy-side & sell-side institutions in both Eastern & Western demographics who are seeking highly liquid digital asset markets. With its core values of efficiency, resilience, and transparency, BitMax.io has successfully set itself as a leader in the digital asset trading space with its distinguished token economics and rigorous product design from innovative volatility card to margin trading. Collaboration between Industry-leading Blockchain Institutions BitMax.io, FTX.com, and Alameda Research have forged a strategic relationship since BitMax.io first listed FTT, the FTX.com derivatives exchange ecosystem token, in July of 2019. Since listing, BitMax.io has consistently been amongst the most liquid and active trading marketplaces for FTT. Alameda Research has also since onboarded with BitMax.io and rapidly emerged as one of the platform's highest-volume trading institutions. With regards to the strategic collaboration, Shane Molidor, Head of Business Development at BitMax.io states: "Strategic alignment between BitMax.io, FTX, and Alameda Research was evident from the start. The team is comprised of some of the most innovative minds in the space, and their professional institutional backgrounds align with the Wall Street DNA of the BitMax.io leadership team." In further support of collaboration, Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX.com and Alameda Research notes: "BitMax.io's infrastructure and connectivity compliment Alameda's sophisticated trading systems well. We've been consistently impressed by the platform's innovative products as well as the institutional client servicing, which is all too often overlooked amongst many crypto-to-crypto trading platforms." The collaboration between BitMax.io , FTX.com, and Alameda Research represents a strategic milestone for each institution in their efforts to support the advancement of blockchain technology and the trading infrastructure that underpins the industry. For more information, follow BitMax.io on: Website: http://www.BitMax.io Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitMax_Official Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BitMax/ Telegram: https://t.me/BitMaxioEnglishOfficial Medium: https://medium.com/bitmax-io CONTACT: [email protected] Bella Long +1 (917) 379-8248 SOURCE: BitMax View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/563569/BitMaxio-BTMXcom-FTXcom-Alameda-Research-Announce-Strategic-Collaboration-to-List-BTMX-and-Leveraged-ERC20-Tokens || Kingdom Trust’s Bitcoin IRA lawsuit dismissed in federal court for lack of jurisdiction: My Ret. Account Servs. v. Alternative Ira Servs., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180327 (W.D. Kentucky, NO. 5:19-CV-122-TBR, 10/18/2019) [SDP]
Link to case
For all of you crypto civil procedure mavens, this opinion offers a nice primer on personal jurisdiction and happens to involve an underlying dispute involving cryptocurrencies held by a trust custodian for individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”.)
The plaintiff Kingdom Services owns a company called Kingdom Trust, a South Dakota company with its principal place of business in Kentucky which is the trust custodian you read about just words away in the preceding paragraph. The defendant is a Delaware LLC with its principal place of business in California. It does business under a bunch of different names including Bitcoin IRA. BitGo Inc., also a defendant, is a Delaware corporation, and it has an affiliate named BitGo trust which is a South Dakota corporation.
Back in early 2018, plaintiff entered into a contract with Bitcoin IRA for use of a technology platform so customers could buy and sell crypto in their IRA. Things went south, and as often ensues when things go south, there was a lawsuit. Here’s the gist:
Before transferring its clients’ assets, Kingdom Trust claims it was required by federal and state law to perform due diligence on BitGo Trust and its relationships with service providers. In response to Kingdom Trust’s delay in executing the transfers, Defendant Concha sent Kingdom Trust a cease and desist letter demanding Kingdom Trust execute the transfers immediately. Kingdom Trust also claims that BitGo Trust encouraged clients to contact South Dakota banking regulators and complain about the delay. According to the Complaint, Defendants continued to contact Kingdom Trust clients and encourage them to transfer their assets to BitGo Trust until the current action was filed in August 2019.
(The lawsuit was previously coveredhere, if you’re interested in further reading about the allegations.)
Anyway, these allegations are all well and good, but as regular readers of CCM will recall, a Court can’t entertain a lawsuit when it doesn’t have jurisdiction over the parties. And therein, friends, lies the rub. No personal jurisdiction.
The defendants said they had nothing to do with Kentucky, which is where this lawsuit was filed and so moved to dismiss on those grounds. Most states (it may be all, and probably is, but I haven’t done a survey) have statutes that cover personal jurisdiction over non-resident defendants. They are called “long arm” statutes. A federal court in this kind of case — diversity jurisdiction, to be technical — uses the long arm statute of the state where they are located.
That’s what this court did, holding that there just wasn’t enough connection with Kentucky for the lawsuit to be adjudicated there. For example:
1. No torts were allegedly committed by defendants in Kentucky Defendants didn’t regularly do business in Kentucky or solicit business there
2. There wasn’t an allegation or evidence that Defendants “derive substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered” in Kentucky.
3. The fact that defendants communicated with plaintiffs who were in Kentucky via letters, phone calls and emails wasn’t enough either
Bottom line, this Bitcoin IRA lawsuit didn’t have enough to do with Kentucky to be heard in a Kentucky federal court. Result = case dismissed.
Disclaimer: Crypto Caselaw Minute is provided for educational purposes only by Stephen Palley (@stephendpalley) and Nelson Rosario (@nelsonmrosario). These summaries are not legal advice. They are our opinions only, aren’t authorized by any past, present or future client or employer. Also, we might change our minds. We contain multitudes.As always, Rosario summaries are “NMR” and Palley summaries are “SDP”. || Kingdom Trust’s Bitcoin IRA lawsuit dismissed in federal court for lack of jurisdiction: My Ret. Account Servs. v. Alternative Ira Servs., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180327 (W.D. Kentucky, NO. 5:19-CV-122-TBR, 10/18/2019) [SDP]
Link to case
For all of you crypto civil procedure mavens, this opinion offers a nice primer on personal jurisdiction and happens to involve an underlying dispute involving cryptocurrencies held by a trust custodian for individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”.)
The plaintiff Kingdom Services owns a company called Kingdom Trust, a South Dakota company with its principal place of business in Kentucky which is the trust custodian you read about just words away in the preceding paragraph. The defendant is a Delaware LLC with its principal place of business in California. It does business under a bunch of different names including Bitcoin IRA. BitGo Inc., also a defendant, is a Delaware corporation, and it has an affiliate named BitGo trust which is a South Dakota corporation.
Back in early 2018, plaintiff entered into a contract with Bitcoin IRA for use of a technology platform so customers could buy and sell crypto in their IRA. Things went south, and as often ensues when things go south, there was a lawsuit. Here’s the gist:
Before transferring its clients’ assets, Kingdom Trust claims it was required by federal and state law to perform due diligence on BitGo Trust and its relationships with service providers. In response to Kingdom Trust’s delay in executing the transfers, Defendant Concha sent Kingdom Trust a cease and desist letter demanding Kingdom Trust execute the transfers immediately. Kingdom Trust also claims that BitGo Trust encouraged clients to contact South Dakota banking regulators and complain about the delay. According to the Complaint, Defendants continued to contact Kingdom Trust clients and encourage them to transfer their assets to BitGo Trust until the current action was filed in August 2019.
(The lawsuit was previously coveredhere, if you’re interested in further reading about the allegations.)
Anyway, these allegations are all well and good, but as regular readers of CCM will recall, a Court can’t entertain a lawsuit when it doesn’t have jurisdiction over the parties. And therein, friends, lies the rub. No personal jurisdiction.
The defendants said they had nothing to do with Kentucky, which is where this lawsuit was filed and so moved to dismiss on those grounds. Most states (it may be all, and probably is, but I haven’t done a survey) have statutes that cover personal jurisdiction over non-resident defendants. They are called “long arm” statutes. A federal court in this kind of case — diversity jurisdiction, to be technical — uses the long arm statute of the state where they are located.
That’s what this court did, holding that there just wasn’t enough connection with Kentucky for the lawsuit to be adjudicated there. For example:
1. No torts were allegedly committed by defendants in Kentucky Defendants didn’t regularly do business in Kentucky or solicit business there
2. There wasn’t an allegation or evidence that Defendants “derive substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered” in Kentucky.
3. The fact that defendants communicated with plaintiffs who were in Kentucky via letters, phone calls and emails wasn’t enough either
Bottom line, this Bitcoin IRA lawsuit didn’t have enough to do with Kentucky to be heard in a Kentucky federal court. Result = case dismissed.
Disclaimer: Crypto Caselaw Minute is provided for educational purposes only by Stephen Palley (@stephendpalley) and Nelson Rosario (@nelsonmrosario). These summaries are not legal advice. They are our opinions only, aren’t authorized by any past, present or future client or employer. Also, we might change our minds. We contain multitudes.As always, Rosario summaries are “NMR” and Palley summaries are “SDP”. || Kingdom Trusts Bitcoin IRA lawsuit dismissed in federal court for lack of jurisdiction: My Ret. Account Servs. v. Alternative Ira Servs., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180327 (W.D. Kentucky, NO. 5:19-CV-122-TBR, 10/18/2019) [SDP] Link to case For all of you crypto civil procedure mavens, this opinion offers a nice primer on personal jurisdiction and happens to involve an underlying dispute involving cryptocurrencies held by a trust custodian for individual retirement accounts (IRAs.) The plaintiff Kingdom Services owns a company called Kingdom Trust, a South Dakota company with its principal place of business in Kentucky which is the trust custodian you read about just words away in the preceding paragraph. The defendant is a Delaware LLC with its principal place of business in California. It does business under a bunch of different names including Bitcoin IRA. BitGo Inc., also a defendant, is a Delaware corporation, and it has an affiliate named BitGo trust which is a South Dakota corporation. Back in early 2018, plaintiff entered into a contract with Bitcoin IRA for use of a technology platform so customers could buy and sell crypto in their IRA. Things went south, and as often ensues when things go south, there was a lawsuit. Heres the gist: Before transferring its clients assets, Kingdom Trust claims it was required by federal and state law to perform due diligence on BitGo Trust and its relationships with service providers. In response to Kingdom Trusts delay in executing the transfers, Defendant Concha sent Kingdom Trust a cease and desist letter demanding Kingdom Trust execute the transfers immediately. Kingdom Trust also claims that BitGo Trust encouraged clients to contact South Dakota banking regulators and complain about the delay. According to the Complaint, Defendants continued to contact Kingdom Trust clients and encourage them to transfer their assets to BitGo Trust until the current action was filed in August 2019. (The lawsuit was previously covered here , if youre interested in further reading about the allegations.) Story continues Anyway, these allegations are all well and good, but as regular readers of CCM will recall, a Court cant entertain a lawsuit when it doesnt have jurisdiction over the parties. And therein, friends, lies the rub. No personal jurisdiction. The defendants said they had nothing to do with Kentucky, which is where this lawsuit was filed and so moved to dismiss on those grounds. Most states (it may be all, and probably is, but I havent done a survey) have statutes that cover personal jurisdiction over non-resident defendants. They are called long arm statutes. A federal court in this kind of case diversity jurisdiction, to be technical uses the long arm statute of the state where they are located. Thats what this court did, holding that there just wasnt enough connection with Kentucky for the lawsuit to be adjudicated there. For example: No torts were allegedly committed by defendants in Kentucky Defendants didnt regularly do business in Kentucky or solicit business there There wasnt an allegation or evidence that Defendants derive substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered in Kentucky. The fact that defendants communicated with plaintiffs who were in Kentucky via letters, phone calls and emails wasnt enough either Bottom line, this Bitcoin IRA lawsuit didnt have enough to do with Kentucky to be heard in a Kentucky federal court. Result = case dismissed. Disclaimer: Crypto Caselaw Minute is provided for educational purposes only by Stephen Palley ( @stephendpalley ) and Nelson Rosario ( @nelsonmrosario ). These summaries are not legal advice. They are our opinions only, arent authorized by any past, present or future client or employer. Also, we might change our minds. We contain multitudes. As always, Rosario summaries are NMR and Palley summaries are SDP. || HTC’s Latest Blockchain Phone Can Run a Full Bitcoin Node: Taiwanese electronics manufacturer HTC has launched its latest blockchain phone, the Exodus 1s, which enables users to support the bitcoin network.
Unveiling the device Saturday at the Lightning Conference in Berlin, the company claimed the new product is the first smartphone to be able to run a full bitcoin node, allowing it to propagate transactions and blocks anywhere.
“Full nodes are the most important ingredient in the resilience of the Bitcoin network and we have lowered the barrier to entry for any person to run a node,” Phil Chen, chief decentralized officer at HTC, said in a statement.
Related:Samsung to Release Crypto-Friendly Edition of Galaxy Note 10 Smartphone
The new smartphone comes to the market at a price of €219 ($244), which is about a third of the cost of its predecessor, the Exodus 1. HTC will sell the new version at the Berlin conference using the Lightening payment network.
The device allows users to install a 400+GB SD card to expand its memory, allowing it to cope with the increasing data capacity required to store the full bitcoin ledger. The current size of the full ledger is closing on 250 GB, according toBlockchain.
The company recommended users to connect to WiFi and plug into a power source while running the full node, though it can also be used on the go.
The smartphone also has a built-in hardware wallet to help users securely store cryptocurrencies. By default it comes with 4 GB of RAM and 63 GB of storage, and runs on Android Oreo 8.1
Related:HTC Leads $3 Million Round for Digital Property Rights Startup Bitmark
“We are providing the tools for access to universal basic finance; the tools to have a metaphorical Swiss bank in your pocket,” Chen said.
The smartphone will be available in 27 countries across Europe and the Middle East, including Germany, Greece, Saudi Arabia and UAE. It is currently not planned for sale in the U.S.
HTC’s device is joining a nascent but increasingly busy field of blockchain-dedicated smartphones. Blockchain startup Sirin Labs recentlyteamed upwith electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn to launch the blockchain mobile phone Finney, while Samsung launched itsGalaxy S10in the spring. Others such as LG arerumored to bemoving into the blockchain space with upcoming devices.
Outside of buying and selling cryptos, smartphone markers are increasingly eyeing blockchain technologies as as a way to reassure users concerned about the security of their private information.
“We really care about this portable identity and users owning their identity and data, and we believe that the phone is the best place to do that,” Chen said.
HTCimage via Shutterstock
• 200-Year-Old Passport Printing Firm Launches Hardware Crypto Wallet
• Daimler to Produce Crypto Hard Wallet for Automotive Industry || HTC’s Latest Blockchain Phone Can Run a Full Bitcoin Node: Taiwanese electronics manufacturer HTC has launched its latest blockchain phone, the Exodus 1s, which enables users to support the bitcoin network.
Unveiling the device Saturday at the Lightning Conference in Berlin, the company claimed the new product is the first smartphone to be able to run a full bitcoin node, allowing it to propagate transactions and blocks anywhere.
“Full nodes are the most important ingredient in the resilience of the Bitcoin network and we have lowered the barrier to entry for any person to run a node,” Phil Chen, chief decentralized officer at HTC, said in a statement.
Related:Samsung to Release Crypto-Friendly Edition of Galaxy Note 10 Smartphone
The new smartphone comes to the market at a price of €219 ($244), which is about a third of the cost of its predecessor, the Exodus 1. HTC will sell the new version at the Berlin conference using the Lightening payment network.
The device allows users to install a 400+GB SD card to expand its memory, allowing it to cope with the increasing data capacity required to store the full bitcoin ledger. The current size of the full ledger is closing on 250 GB, according toBlockchain.
The company recommended users to connect to WiFi and plug into a power source while running the full node, though it can also be used on the go.
The smartphone also has a built-in hardware wallet to help users securely store cryptocurrencies. By default it comes with 4 GB of RAM and 63 GB of storage, and runs on Android Oreo 8.1
Related:HTC Leads $3 Million Round for Digital Property Rights Startup Bitmark
“We are providing the tools for access to universal basic finance; the tools to have a metaphorical Swiss bank in your pocket,” Chen said.
The smartphone will be available in 27 countries across Europe and the Middle East, including Germany, Greece, Saudi Arabia and UAE. It is currently not planned for sale in the U.S.
HTC’s device is joining a nascent but increasingly busy field of blockchain-dedicated smartphones. Blockchain startup Sirin Labs recentlyteamed upwith electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn to launch the blockchain mobile phone Finney, while Samsung launched itsGalaxy S10in the spring. Others such as LG arerumored to bemoving into the blockchain space with upcoming devices.
Outside of buying and selling cryptos, smartphone markers are increasingly eyeing blockchain technologies as as a way to reassure users concerned about the security of their private information.
“We really care about this portable identity and users owning their identity and data, and we believe that the phone is the best place to do that,” Chen said.
HTCimage via Shutterstock
• 200-Year-Old Passport Printing Firm Launches Hardware Crypto Wallet
• Daimler to Produce Crypto Hard Wallet for Automotive Industry || HTC’s Latest Blockchain Phone Can Run a Full Bitcoin Node: Taiwanese electronics manufacturer HTC has launched its latest blockchain phone, the Exodus 1s, which enables users to support the bitcoin network. Unveiling the device Saturday at the Lightning Conference in Berlin, the company claimed the new product is the first smartphone to be able to run a full bitcoin node, allowing it to propagate transactions and blocks anywhere. “Full nodes are the most important ingredient in the resilience of the Bitcoin network and we have lowered the barrier to entry for any person to run a node,” Phil Chen, chief decentralized officer at HTC, said in a statement. Related: Samsung to Release Crypto-Friendly Edition of Galaxy Note 10 Smartphone The new smartphone comes to the market at a price of €219 ($244), which is about a third of the cost of its predecessor, the Exodus 1. HTC will sell the new version at the Berlin conference using the Lightening payment network. The device allows users to install a 400+GB SD card to expand its memory, allowing it to cope with the increasing data capacity required to store the full bitcoin ledger. The current size of the full ledger is closing on 250 GB, according to Blockchain . The company recommended users to connect to WiFi and plug into a power source while running the full node, though it can also be used on the go. The smartphone also has a built-in hardware wallet to help users securely store cryptocurrencies. By default it comes with 4 GB of RAM and 63 GB of storage, and runs on Android Oreo 8.1 Related: HTC Leads $3 Million Round for Digital Property Rights Startup Bitmark “We are providing the tools for access to universal basic finance; the tools to have a metaphorical Swiss bank in your pocket,” Chen said. The smartphone will be available in 27 countries across Europe and the Middle East, including Germany, Greece, Saudi Arabia and UAE. It is currently not planned for sale in the U.S. HTC’s device is joining a nascent but increasingly busy field of blockchain-dedicated smartphones. Blockchain startup Sirin Labs recently teamed up with electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn to launch the blockchain mobile phone Finney, while Samsung launched its Galaxy S10 in the spring. Others such as LG are rumored to be moving into the blockchain space with upcoming devices. Story continues Outside of buying and selling cryptos, smartphone markers are increasingly eyeing blockchain technologies as as a way to reassure users concerned about the security of their private information. “We really care about this portable identity and users owning their identity and data, and we believe that the phone is the best place to do that,” Chen said. HTC image via Shutterstock Related Stories 200-Year-Old Passport Printing Firm Launches Hardware Crypto Wallet Daimler to Produce Crypto Hard Wallet for Automotive Industry || HTC's Exodus 1s can run a full Bitcoin node for under $250: After first teasing the device earlier this year , HTC has detailed its new, more affordable Exodus 1s blockchain smartphone . The highlight feature of the device is that it can function as a full node. This means the phone is able to validate and transmit Bitcoin transactions independent of a centralized third-party. In this way, you don't need to go through an exchange to buy and sell Bitcoin. Likewise, the phone can also be used to trade, lend and borrow the cryptocurrency. The way HTC puts it, what separates the 1s from other smartphones is that you can operate your own decentralized bank out of your pocket. At least that's the idea. While it's not as intensive as mining Bitcoin, running a full node still requires a lot of computing power. In fact, HTC recommends only using the feature while the phone is connected to WiFi and plugged into its power adapter. The company also plans to roll out full node support to the original Exodus 1 , as well. The 1s can also store the entire Bitcoin ledger. To take advantage of this aspect of the phone, you'll need a microSD card with at least 400GB of storage (sold separately). At the moment, the ledger takes up approximately 260GB, and it's currently growing at a rate of 60GB per year. You need the entire ledger to verify and relay transactions without a third-party. HTC Exodus 1S Like its predecessor, the 1s supports HTC's Zion wallet. The software allows the 1s to store, send and receive a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Steller, as well as Etherum-based ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens. Besides its crypto-related capabilities, not much stands out about the Exodus 1s from a hardware perspective. Internally, the phone features a Snapdragon 435 processor, a chip that's now more than three years old . Complementing the processor is 4GB of RAM and 64GB of built-in internal storage. The display measures in at 5.7 inches and features an 18:9 aspect ratio with 720p resolution. There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a (shudders) MicroUSB port for charging and a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. For taking pictures, the 1s includes a single main 13-megapixel camera and a 13-megapixel selfie camera. The phone will ship with Android Oreo 8.1, software that is about two years old now. In Europe, the Exodus 1s will cost €219 (approximately $244). The company also plans to sell the device in Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with more countries to come at a later date. Naturally, you can also pay for the phone using cryptocurrency, with HTC accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Binance or Bitcoin Cash. As a daily driver, the Exodus 1s won't make sense for most people, even for die-hard crypto-enthusiasts. But it might find some runway as a secondary phone for those that want to dip their toes in the ecosystem. It's just hard to imagine how that's enough to move the needle for HTC. || HTC's Exodus 1s can run a full Bitcoin node for under $250: After first teasing the device earlier this year , HTC has detailed its new, more affordable Exodus 1s blockchain smartphone . The highlight feature of the device is that it can function as a full node. This means the phone is able to validate and transmit Bitcoin transactions independent of a centralized third-party. In this way, you don't need to go through an exchange to buy and sell Bitcoin. Likewise, the phone can also be used to trade, lend and borrow the cryptocurrency. The way HTC puts it, what separates the 1s from other smartphones is that you can operate your own decentralized bank out of your pocket. At least that's the idea. While it's not as intensive as mining Bitcoin, running a full node still requires a lot of computing power. In fact, HTC recommends only using the feature while the phone is connected to WiFi and plugged into its power adapter. The company also plans to roll out full node support to the original Exodus 1 , as well. The 1s can also store the entire Bitcoin ledger. To take advantage of this aspect of the phone, you'll need a microSD card with at least 400GB of storage (sold separately). At the moment, the ledger takes up approximately 260GB, and it's currently growing at a rate of 60GB per year. You need the entire ledger to verify and relay transactions without a third-party. HTC Exodus 1S Like its predecessor, the 1s supports HTC's Zion wallet. The software allows the 1s to store, send and receive a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Steller, as well as Etherum-based ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens. Besides its crypto-related capabilities, not much stands out about the Exodus 1s from a hardware perspective. Internally, the phone features a Snapdragon 435 processor, a chip that's now more than three years old . Complementing the processor is 4GB of RAM and 64GB of built-in internal storage. The display measures in at 5.7 inches and features an 18:9 aspect ratio with 720p resolution. There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a (shudders) MicroUSB port for charging and a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. For taking pictures, the 1s includes a single main 13-megapixel camera and a 13-megapixel selfie camera. The phone will ship with Android Oreo 8.1, software that is about two years old now. In Europe, the Exodus 1s will cost €219 (approximately $244). The company also plans to sell the device in Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with more countries to come at a later date. Naturally, you can also pay for the phone using cryptocurrency, with HTC accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Binance or Bitcoin Cash. As a daily driver, the Exodus 1s won't make sense for most people, even for die-hard crypto-enthusiasts. But it might find some runway as a secondary phone for those that want to dip their toes in the ecosystem. It's just hard to imagine how that's enough to move the needle for HTC. || HTC's Exodus 1s can run a full Bitcoin node for under $250: After first teasing the device earlier this year , HTC has detailed its new, more affordable Exodus 1s blockchain smartphone . The highlight feature of the device is that it can function as a full node. This means the phone is able to validate and transmit Bitcoin transactions independent of a centralized third-party. In this way, you don't need to go through an exchange to buy and sell Bitcoin. Likewise, the phone can also be used to trade, lend and borrow the cryptocurrency. The way HTC puts it, what separates the 1s from other smartphones is that you can operate your own decentralized bank out of your pocket. At least that's the idea. While it's not as intensive as mining Bitcoin, running a full node still requires a lot of computing power. In fact, HTC recommends only using the feature while the phone is connected to WiFi and plugged into its power adapter. The company also plans to roll out full node support to the original Exodus 1 , as well. The 1s can also store the entire Bitcoin ledger. To take advantage of this aspect of the phone, you'll need a microSD card with at least 400GB of storage (sold separately). At the moment, the ledger takes up approximately 260GB, and it's currently growing at a rate of 60GB per year. You need the entire ledger to verify and relay transactions without a third-party. HTC Exodus 1S Like its predecessor, the 1s supports HTC's Zion wallet. The software allows the 1s to store, send and receive a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Steller, as well as Etherum-based ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens. Besides its crypto-related capabilities, not much stands out about the Exodus 1s from a hardware perspective. Internally, the phone features a Snapdragon 435 processor, a chip that's now more than three years old . Complementing the processor is 4GB of RAM and 64GB of built-in internal storage. The display measures in at 5.7 inches and features an 18:9 aspect ratio with 720p resolution. There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a (shudders) MicroUSB port for charging and a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. For taking pictures, the 1s includes a single main 13-megapixel camera and a 13-megapixel selfie camera. The phone will ship with Android Oreo 8.1, software that is about two years old now. In Europe, the Exodus 1s will cost €219 (approximately $244). The company also plans to sell the device in Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with more countries to come at a later date. Naturally, you can also pay for the phone using cryptocurrency, with HTC accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Binance or Bitcoin Cash. As a daily driver, the Exodus 1s won't make sense for most people, even for die-hard crypto-enthusiasts. But it might find some runway as a secondary phone for those that want to dip their toes in the ecosystem. It's just hard to imagine how that's enough to move the needle for HTC.
[Social Media Buzz]
@io_xbt @Thrillmex 100 USD will be 25,000 USD with a price of 2 million bitcoin. || #kappi #network #bitcoin #blockchain #KAPP || Bitcoin (BTC) Price Weekly Forecast: Vulnerable Below $8K-$8.2K https://t.co/CaqNaXSuvT https://t.co/8xVWx1joo2 || وزراء و شيوخ والمؤمنين
بالنسبة لي إعانة مالية
مرحبا بک
تبرعات من شيخك
من فضلك أعطني الهدايا بيتكوين
عنوان حساب بيتكوين از
14wVj5GJB5yNi6inQwYittpmKWdrmYgUpV
💐💐💐
المیزان ? Bitcoin || @01surge @EDadoun @MacalonzoMHA671 @KimDotcom i know they...
|
8243.72, 8078.20, 7514.67, 7493.49, 8660.70, 9244.97, 9551.71, 9256.15, 9427.69, 9205.73
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 4772.02, 4781.99, 4826.48, 5446.91, 5647.21, 5831.79, 5678.19, 5725.59, 5605.51, 5590.69, 5708.52, 6011.45, 6031.60, 6008.42, 5930.32, 5526.64, 5750.80, 5904.83, 5780.90, 5753.09, 6153.85, 6130.53, 6468.40, 6767.31, 7078.50, 7207.76, 7379.95, 7407.41, 7022.76, 7144.38, 7459.69, 7143.58, 6618.14, 6357.60, 5950.07, 6559.49, 6635.75, 7315.54, 7871.69, 7708.99, 7790.15, 8036.49, 8200.64, 8071.26, 8253.55, 8038.77, 8253.69, 8790.92, 9330.55, 9818.35, 10058.80, 9888.61, 10233.60, 10975.60, 11074.60, 11323.20, 11657.20, 11916.70, 14291.50, 17899.70, 16569.40, 15178.20, 15455.40, 16936.80, 17415.40, 16408.20, 16564.00, 17706.90, 19497.40, 19140.80, 19114.20, 17776.70, 16624.60, 15802.90, 13831.80, 14699.20, 13925.80, 14026.60, 16099.80, 15838.50, 14606.50, 14656.20, 12952.20, 14156.40, 13657.20, 14982.10, 15201.00, 15599.20, 17429.50, 17527.00.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-01-06]
Volume: 18314600448, RSI (14-day): 61.13, 50-day EMA: 13618.96, 200-day EMA: 7979.80
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Top 5 Things That Moved Markets This Past Week: Investing.com - Take a peek at the top 5 things that rocked U.S. markets this week.
US Stocks Sidestep Weak Jobs Report to End Week at All-Time Highs
The US jobs market ended 2017 on a sour note after data showed the US economy created just148,000 jobsin December, below the 190,000 jobs forecasted by economists, while wage growth, was in line with expectations,rising 0.3%.
Some participants said the soft jobs report would dampen the case for Fed rate hikes as the central bank would need further evidence of inflationary pressures to hike rates in March.
While others said the report would have limited impact on monetary policy amid a transitionary phase for the Fed as current Fed chair Janet Yellen is expected to make way for incoming Jerome Powell in a few months.
That said, however, falling expectations for a faster pace of rate hikes weighed on interest-rate-sensitive sectors such as financials which fell heavily Friday.
In sharp contrast, however, technology stocks appeared to be picking up from where they left off in 2017, rounding off the week with solid gains driving the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite to close at all-time highs.
WTI Crude Oil Extends Weekly Winning Steak
Despite closing nearly 1% lower on Friday, crude oil prices notched a fourth straight weekly gain as investors weighed rising US production against the prospect of supply disruptions in Iran and tightening US supplies.
U.S. production rose 28,000 barrels a day (bpd) to nearly 9.8 million barrels a day, Energy Information Administration reported Thursday, sparking fears that US crude production could rise above 10 million bpd.
Investor optimism rose for a faster pace of rebalancing in markets after a Reuters survey underscored OPEC’s commitment to ridding the market of excess supplies as its compliance with the deal to trim output rose to 128% in December from 125% in the previous month.
Crude oil futures settled at $61.44, down 0.92%, on Friday.
Dollar Down in the Doldrums
It was miserable week for the dollar as it struggled to rebound from three-month lows against its major rivals despite a less dovish-than-expected Federal Reserve Open Market Committee minutes released Wednesday.
The central bank cited the possibility of a steeper path of rate hikes should fiscal stimulus boost output beyond its maximum sustainable level.
Gold Shakes off Prospect of Global Monetary Policy Tightening
Gold prices have remained steady in recent weeks despite expectation for tightening global monetary as both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada are expected to follow the Fed’s lead and raise rates again this year.
The Bank of Canada could raise rates as soon as the end of the January, CIBC’s Nick Exarhos said, as Friday’sbullish labor marketreport strengthened the central bank’s case to raise rates.
Nomura’s George Buckley – who correctly predicted that the Bank of England would hike interest rates in November – said recently that there is room for more rate hikes, estimating the central would raise rates four times by the end of 2019 to curb inflation, which is running well above target.
Bitcoin Makes Stand Against Small Cap Cryptocurrencies
After days of getting pummeled, Bitcoin rose sharply on Friday above a psychological $16,000 barrier as the popular digital currency attempted to recover recent losses.
On the Bitfinex exchange, bitcoin rose to $16,765, up $1173.5, or 11.83%, as it looks to test its recent all time high of $19,891 set in December.
Bitcoin’s hold over the cryptocurrency market has waned in recent months as investors rotate from large cap cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin to small cap cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin’s market cap accounts for just 36% of the overall cryptocurrency market, compared to about 80% in early 2017.
Ripple XRP was one of the beneficiaries of the “great rotation” after it rose above $3 on the poloniex exchange Thursday amid bullish expectations that RippleNet, the technology behind the cryptocurrency, would continue to garner support from major financial institutions.
XRP fell more than 30% on Friday, however, as Coinbase quashed rumours that it was working on a plan to launch support of Ripple.
There was a shakeup in the top 10 cryptocurrency standings by market cap as Stellar, Cardano, and Tron moved up the ranks. While Ethereum lost its place as the second most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap as it struggled to hold gains after hitting an all-time high above $1,000 on Thursday.
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Former Toyota chief Tatsuro Toyoda dies at 88 || Top 5 Things That Moved Markets This Past Week: What will next week bring? Investing.com - Take a peek at the top 5 things that rocked U.S. markets this week. US Stocks Sidestep Weak Jobs Report to End Week at All-Time Highs The US jobs market ended 2017 on a sour note after data showed the US economy created just 148,000 jobs in December, below the 190,000 jobs forecasted by economists, while wage growth, was in line with expectations, rising 0.3%. Some participants said the soft jobs report would dampen the case for Fed rate hikes as the central bank would need further evidence of inflationary pressures to hike rates in March. While others said the report would have limited impact on monetary policy amid a transitionary phase for the Fed as current Fed chair Janet Yellen is expected to make way for incoming Jerome Powell in a few months. That said, however, falling expectations for a faster pace of rate hikes weighed on interest-rate-sensitive sectors such as financials which fell heavily Friday. In sharp contrast, however, technology stocks appeared to be picking up from where they left off in 2017, rounding off the week with solid gains driving the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite to close at all-time highs. WTI Crude Oil Extends Weekly Winning Steak Despite closing nearly 1% lower on Friday, crude oil prices notched a fourth straight weekly gain as investors weighed rising US production against the prospect of supply disruptions in Iran and tightening US supplies. U.S. production rose 28,000 barrels a day (bpd) to nearly 9.8 million barrels a day, Energy Information Administration reported Thursday, sparking fears that US crude production could rise above 10 million bpd. Investor optimism rose for a faster pace of rebalancing in markets after a Reuters survey underscored OPEC’s commitment to ridding the market of excess supplies as its compliance with the deal to trim output rose to 128% in December from 125% in the previous month. Crude oil futures settled at $61.44, down 0.92%, on Friday. Dollar Down in the Doldrums Story continues It was miserable week for the dollar as it struggled to rebound from three-month lows against its major rivals despite a less dovish-than-expected Federal Reserve Open Market Committee minutes released Wednesday. The central bank cited the possibility of a steeper path of rate hikes should fiscal stimulus boost output beyond its maximum sustainable level. Gold Shakes off Prospect of Global Monetary Policy Tightening Gold prices have remained steady in recent weeks despite expectation for tightening global monetary as both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada are expected to follow the Fed’s lead and raise rates again this year. The Bank of Canada could raise rates as soon as the end of the January, CIBC’s Nick Exarhos said, as Friday’s bullish labor market report strengthened the central bank’s case to raise rates. Nomura’s George Buckley – who correctly predicted that the Bank of England would hike interest rates in November – said recently that there is room for more rate hikes, estimating the central would raise rates four times by the end of 2019 to curb inflation, which is running well above target. Bitcoin Makes Stand Against Small Cap Cryptocurrencies After days of getting pummeled, Bitcoin rose sharply on Friday above a psychological $16,000 barrier as the popular digital currency attempted to recover recent losses. On the Bitfinex exchange, bitcoin rose to $16,765, up $1173.5, or 11.83%, as it looks to test its recent all time high of $19,891 set in December. Bitcoin’s hold over the cryptocurrency market has waned in recent months as investors rotate from large cap cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin to small cap cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin’s market cap accounts for just 36% of the overall cryptocurrency market, compared to about 80% in early 2017. Ripple XRP was one of the beneficiaries of the “great rotation” after it rose above $3 on the poloniex exchange Thursday amid bullish expectations that RippleNet, the technology behind the cryptocurrency, would continue to garner support from major financial institutions. XRP fell more than 30% on Friday, however, as Coinbase quashed rumours that it was working on a plan to launch support of Ripple. There was a shakeup in the top 10 cryptocurrency standings by market cap as Stellar, Cardano, and Tron moved up the ranks. While Ethereum lost its place as the second most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap as it struggled to hold gains after hitting an all-time high above $1,000 on Thursday. Related Articles Trump rejects author's accusations, calls self 'stable genius' SEC probing Kushner Cos use of wealthy investor visas: WSJ Former Toyota chief Tatsuro Toyoda dies at 88 || Why Glu Mobile Inc. Stock Popped 87.6% in 2017: What happened Shares of Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU) soared 87.6% in 2017, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence , thanks to a combination of the free-to-play game specialist's optimistic financial guidance and positive commentary from Wall Street regarding its potential future bookings. That's not to say it was a smooth ride up. Glu Mobile tends to be prone to volatility given the hit-based nature of its "freemium" gaming niche, and the stock started the year by falling as much as 15% following its weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter 2016 report in February. At the time, it had marked the company's sixth straight quarter of year-over-year revenue declines. But keeping in mind that plunge followed drops of nearly 19% and more than 37% in 2016 and 2015, respectively, Glu Mobile shares began to surge in March as investors placed their bets that it had found a bottom and could take advantage of the continued proliferation of mobile games. Young woman smiling as she looks at a smartphone IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES. So what Glu Mobile's best gains came late in the year, including a more than 33% pop in the month of August as the company announced better-than-expected second-quarter bookings (up 62% year over year to $82.5 million) and increased its full-year financial guidance. For that relative strength, Glu Mobile credited the outperformance its Design Home app -- which it acquired in late 2016 -- as well as its MLB Tap Sports Baseball 2017 and Covet Fashion titles. Perhaps most importantly, Glu Mobile had begun to embrace new rapid prototyping and efficient greenlight processes that, according to CEO Nick Earl, are "designed to produce potential hits." All the while, Wall Street began to fall in love with Glu Mobile's potential. Shares accelerated their gains in October as Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey argued he was "cautiously optimistic" for the prospects of The Swift Life , a new social app that Glu Mobile developed by working closely with Taylor Swift. Story continues Now what Finally in December, Glu Mobile popped again after Roth Capital analyst Darren Aftahi increased his price target on the stock. Aftahi cited meetings with Glu Mobile management that left him encouraged by the potential for new augmented reality features within Design Home , as well as Glu Mobile's plans to enter new geographies in 2018 by creating localized versions of existing games. As it stands, investors will need to wait until early next month before Glu Mobile management provides more color on its most recent financial performance, as well as its growth plans for the coming year. Given Glu Mobile's history of volatility, however, and with shares already up so much over the past year, I'm content to continue watching Glu Mobile's story unfold from the sidelines. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Steve Symington has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Glu Mobile Inc. Stock Popped 87.6% in 2017: Shares ofGlu Mobile(NASDAQ: GLUU)soared 87.6% in 2017, according to data fromS&P Global Market Intelligence, thanks to a combination of the free-to-play game specialist's optimistic financial guidance and positive commentary from Wall Street regarding its potential future bookings.
That's not to say it was a smooth ride up. Glu Mobile tends to be prone to volatility given the hit-based nature of its "freemium" gaming niche, and the stock started the year byfalling as much as 15%following its weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter 2016 report in February. At the time, it had marked the company's sixth straight quarter of year-over-year revenue declines.
But keeping in mind that plunge followed drops ofnearly 19%andmore than 37%in 2016 and 2015, respectively, Glu Mobile sharesbegan to surge in Marchas investors placed their bets that it had found a bottom and could take advantage of the continued proliferation of mobile games.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
Glu Mobile's best gains came late in the year, including a more than33% pop in the month of Augustas the company announced better-than-expected second-quarter bookings (up 62% year over year to $82.5 million) and increased its full-year financial guidance. For that relative strength, Glu Mobile credited the outperformance itsDesign Homeapp -- which itacquired in late 2016-- as well as itsMLB Tap Sports Baseball 2017andCovet Fashiontitles.
Perhaps most importantly, Glu Mobile had begun to embrace new rapid prototyping and efficient greenlight processes that, according to CEO Nick Earl, are "designed to produce potential hits."
All the while, Wall Street began to fall in love with Glu Mobile's potential. Sharesaccelerated their gainsin October as Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey argued he was "cautiously optimistic" for the prospects ofThe Swift Life, a new social app that Glu Mobile developed by working closely with Taylor Swift.
Finally in December, Glu Mobilepopped againafter Roth Capital analyst Darren Aftahi increased his price target on the stock. Aftahi cited meetings with Glu Mobile management that left him encouraged by the potential for new augmented reality features withinDesign Home, as well as Glu Mobile's plans to enter new geographies in 2018 by creating localized versions of existing games.
As it stands, investors will need to wait until early next month before Glu Mobile management provides more color on its most recent financial performance, as well as its growth plans for the coming year. Given Glu Mobile's history of volatility, however, and with shares already up so much over the past year, I'm content to continue watching Glu Mobile's story unfold from the sidelines.
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Steve Symingtonhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || What You Should Know About Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF: The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (TSX: HMMJ) (NASDAQOTH: HMLSF) is often said to be the "better" marijuana ETF, since it focuses on companies that make their money largely from medicinal uses of marijuana. At first glance, it's a big improvement over the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSEMKT: MJX) , which inexplicably includes large tobacco companies in its portfolio. But a deeper dive reveals that while Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF may be more focused, it isn't necessarily a clear-cut "set and forget" weed ETF. 1. How it picks marijuana stocks The single most important thing to know about any index ETF is which index it is designed to track, and how that index decides which stocks are allowed in. The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF seeks to replicate the returns of the North American Medical Marijuana Index, an index that generally includes companies located in Canada (74% of the fund), the United States (16%), and Great Britain (10%). To be eligible for the index, companies must generally have a market cap in excess of $75 million Canadian (CAD) and meet some practical liquidity requirements. To make the cut, stocks need to have monthly daily trading volume in excess of 75,000 shares daily and top CA$250,000 in average daily trading value. This may seem like a low bar (and it is!) but with so few stocks to choose from, marijuana ETFs can't afford to be too picky, lest they limit themselves to only a handful of stocks to put in their portfolios. To be fair, this is a problem that plagues most sector ETFs. Hand holding up a marijuana leaf in a weed farm. Image source: Getty Images. 2. What it owns The ETF currently owns 28 different stocks, but the majority of the ETF's value comes from just the top five largest holdings. Here's a look at the largest companies in the fund as of Jan. 4, 2018. Marijuana Stock % of Fund's Assets Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACBFF) 16.6% Canopy Growth Corp. (TWMJF) 14.8% Aphria Inc. (APHQF) 11.6% MedReleaf Corp. (MEDFF) 11.6% Scotts Miracle-Gro. (SMG) 7.5% GW Pharmaceuticals. (GWPH) 7.4% Cronos Group (PRMCF) 5.9% CannTrust Holdings (TRST) 3.8% I NSYS Therapeutics (INSY) 3.3% Supreme Cannabis (SPRWF) 3.1% Total in the top 10 85.5% data source: ETF sponsor. Story continues Notably, roughly 62% of the fund's value is derived from the top five holdings. More than 85% of the fund's value is invested in the top 10 holdings. The fund has limits on how large a position can be (only 10% of the fund on adjustment day), but the rebalancing only happens on the third Friday in March, June, September, and December. Because marijuana stocks are so volatile, companies that start at 10% of the fund on adjustment day can easily grow to become a much bigger part of the fund by the time of the next adjustment. Frankly, there's a case to be made that you really don't need this fund to invest in marijuana stocks. Realistically, a portfolio of its five or 10 largest stocks will probably approximate the returns of the ETF, given how concentrated the fund is. 3. What it costs The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF isn't necessarily cheap, as it carries an annual management fee of 0.75% on assets. That's nearly three times as much as investors pay to invest in sector ETFs on average, though it's comparable to the annual expense ratio on ETFMG Alternative Harvest , an ETF listed in the United States. That said, fund fees aren't the only cost of holding a fund. People who live in the U.S. may find that commissions, not fund fees, make this ETF cost prohibitive. Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF is only available over the counter (OTC) in the United States or on Canadian stock exchanges. OTC and international stock trades may be subject to higher commissions at some online discount brokers. 4. Some weaknesses in the portfolio As a whole, today's pure-play marijuana stocks are, at best, start-ups, and at worst, companies that spend more time promoting their stock than their products. There are some glaring weak spots in this ETF. For example, it has roughly 7.5% of its portfolio invested in Scotts Miracle-Gro, a company that generated only about 11% of revenue and pre-tax segment profits from its hydroponic business unit, Hawthorne, in 2017. It's fair to say that Scotts Miracle-Gro makes far more money selling products to kill and prevent weeds than products designed for growing the other kind of weed. On the opposite side of the spectrum, this ETF also has about 3.1% of its assets tied up in Supreme Cannabis, a company that until mid-December went by the name Supreme Pharmaceuticals before capitalizing in the boom in pot stocks with a name change. Supreme has a rather complex capital structure with warrants, options, and other convertible securities in place that could dilute shareholders of any gains , making it something of a "heads you lose, tails you lose" marijuana stock. To be sure, this isn't a failure of the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF, per se; the ETF is doing what index funds are supposed to do, which is to invest in everything in a defined universe of stocks, the good and the bad. Sector ETFs give you exposure to a particular theme; they don't promise good returns. Keep that in mind. 5. You're probably too late to the party Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF now ranks in the top 10% of ETFs by size in Canada, with $528 million in assets, according to ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. Together with the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF, these two ETFs could soon have more than $1 billion of assets invested in a small industry largely made up of companies with microscopic valuations. Already, it appears that marijuana ETFs are large enough to move the market in pot stocks. As ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF ramped up over a seven-day trading period, I calculate that approximately 40% of the trading volume in one of its holdings could be attributed to the fund's asset growth. This leads to a really interesting thought: With so much speculative money flowing into marijuana ETFs, the companies that aren't large enough to be included in marijuana ETFs may be better bargains than the companies that are already in. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Jordan Wathen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || What You Should Know About Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF: TheHorizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF(TSX: HMMJ)(NASDAQOTH: HMLSF)is often said to be the "better" marijuana ETF, since it focuses on companies that make their money largely from medicinal uses of marijuana.
At first glance, it's a big improvement over theETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF(NYSEMKT: MJX), which inexplicably includes large tobacco companies in its portfolio. But a deeper dive reveals that while Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF may be more focused, it isn't necessarily a clear-cut "set and forget" weed ETF.
The single most important thing to know about any index ETF is which index it is designed to track, and how that index decides which stocks are allowed in. The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF seeks to replicate the returns of the North American Medical Marijuana Index, an index that generally includes companies located in Canada (74% of the fund), the United States (16%), and Great Britain (10%).
To be eligible for the index, companies must generally have a market cap in excess of $75 million Canadian (CAD) and meet some practical liquidity requirements. To make the cut, stocks need to have monthly daily trading volume in excess of 75,000 shares daily and top CA$250,000 in average daily trading value.
This may seem like a low bar (and it is!) but with so few stocks to choose from, marijuana ETFs can't afford to be too picky, lest they limit themselves to only a handful of stocks to put in their portfolios. To be fair, this is a problem that plagues most sector ETFs.
Image source: Getty Images.
The ETF currently owns 28 different stocks, but the majority of the ETF's value comes from just the top five largest holdings. Here's a look at the largest companies in the fund as of Jan. 4, 2018.
[{"Marijuana Stock": "Aurora Cannabis Inc.(ACBFF)", "% of Fund's Assets": "16.6%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "Canopy Growth Corp.(TWMJF)", "% of Fund's Assets": "14.8%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "Aphria Inc.(APHQF)", "% of Fund's Assets": "11.6%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "MedReleaf Corp.(MEDFF)", "% of Fund's Assets": "11.6%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "Scotts Miracle-Gro.(SMG)", "% of Fund's Assets": "7.5%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "GW Pharmaceuticals.(GWPH)", "% of Fund's Assets": "7.4%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "Cronos Group(PRMCF)", "% of Fund's Assets": "5.9%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "CannTrust Holdings(TRST)", "% of Fund's Assets": "3.8%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "INSYS Therapeutics(INSY)", "% of Fund's Assets": "3.3%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "Supreme Cannabis(SPRWF)", "% of Fund's Assets": "3.1%"}, {"Marijuana Stock": "Total in the top 10", "% of Fund's Assets": "85.5%"}]
data source: ETF sponsor.
Notably, roughly 62% of the fund's value is derived from the top five holdings. More than 85% of the fund's value is invested in the top 10 holdings.
The fund has limits on how large a position can be (only 10% of the fund on adjustment day), but the rebalancing only happens on the third Friday in March, June, September, and December. Because marijuana stocks are so volatile, companies that start at 10% of the fund on adjustment day can easily grow to become a much bigger part of the fund by the time of the next adjustment.
Frankly, there's a case to be made that you really don'tneedthis fund to invest in marijuana stocks. Realistically, a portfolio of its five or 10 largest stocks will probably approximate the returns of the ETF, given how concentrated the fund is.
The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF isn't necessarily cheap, as it carries an annual management fee of 0.75% on assets. That's nearly three times as much as investors pay to invest in sector ETFs on average, though it's comparable to the annual expense ratio onETFMG Alternative Harvest, an ETF listed in the United States.
That said, fund fees aren't the only cost of holding a fund. People who live in the U.S. may find that commissions, not fund fees, make this ETF cost prohibitive. Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF is only availableover the counter(OTC) in the United States or on Canadian stock exchanges. OTC and international stock trades may be subject to higher commissions at some online discount brokers.
As a whole, today's pure-play marijuana stocks are, at best, start-ups, and at worst, companies that spend more time promoting their stock than their products.
There are some glaring weak spots in this ETF. For example, it has roughly 7.5% of its portfolio invested in Scotts Miracle-Gro, a company that generated only about 11% of revenue and pre-tax segment profits from its hydroponic business unit, Hawthorne, in 2017. It's fair to say that Scotts Miracle-Gro makes far more money selling products to kill and prevent weeds than products designed for growing the other kind of weed.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, this ETF also has about 3.1% of its assets tied up in Supreme Cannabis, a company that until mid-December went by the name Supreme Pharmaceuticals before capitalizing in the boom in pot stocks with a name change. Supreme has a rather complex capital structure with warrants, options, and other convertible securities in place that coulddilute shareholders of any gains, making it something of a "heads you lose, tails you lose" marijuana stock.
To be sure, this isn't a failure of the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF, per se; the ETF is doing what index funds are supposed to do, which is to invest in everything in a defined universe of stocks, the goodandthe bad. Sector ETFs give you exposure to a particular theme; they don't promise good returns. Keep that in mind.
Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF now ranks in the top 10% of ETFs by size in Canada, with $528 million in assets, according toETF analystEric Balchunas. Together with the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF, these two ETFs could soon have more than $1 billion of assets invested in a small industry largely made up of companies with microscopic valuations.
Already, it appears that marijuana ETFsarelarge enough to move the market in pot stocks. As ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETFramped upover a seven-day trading period, I calculate that approximately 40% of the trading volume in one of its holdings could be attributed to the fund's asset growth.
This leads to a really interesting thought: With so much speculative money flowing into marijuana ETFs, the companies that aren't large enough to be included in marijuana ETFs may be better bargains than the companies that are already in.
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Jordan Wathenhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Innovative Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitmora Launched Crowdfunding Campaign Last December: Bitmora is Building a Service that will Allow Users to Globally Exchange Cryptocurrency and Vote on the Framework upon which the Exchange is Built SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2018 / Cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitmora is set to revolutionize the way the digital currency exchange world operates. The company aims to build a one of a kind trading platform that will offer low fees, enterprise-grade security, and a unique voting system designed to put the future of cryptocurrency exchanges in the hands of activists and users alike. Instead of an ICO, Bitmora launched a crowdfunding campaign on Dec. 1. Bitmora's cryptocurrency exchange is on schedule to launch in Feb. 2018. Bitmora aims to raise $600,000 during the two months of the campaign. Participants who invest as little as $10 will be guaranteed a monthly payout in accordance to the exchange's volume during its first 18 months. Participant tiers and voting power are dependent on how much they invest into the campaign. Bitmora executives will put aside 30 percent of the monthly revenue in each of the 18 months for participants investing during the funding campaign. An article released on Coin Desk in late November noted that the total market capitalization for the cryptocurrency market has exceeded $300 billion for the first time. The article referenced data from CoinMarketCap.com that showed that the market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies is currently at roughly $300.5 billion. Cryptocurrency exchanges are currently a $100 billion market. “As the demand for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins skyrockets to an all-time high, the majority of exchanges have made little to no improvements,” says Colton Brister, chairman and CEO for Bitmora. “Forced to trade on dated engines with poor security and slow customer support systems, the users of these exchanges have come to recognize a need for improvement. Bitmora is being built to revamp the exchange sector in a way that nobody has ever seen before. Everything from our engine to our interface will set new standards in what is already an out-of-touch market.” Story continues Bitmora will host a fully-functional mobile application, around-the-clock phone support staff, and an established user voting system to provide users an exceptional trading experience. More than 40 cryptocurrency pairs will be able to be traded on the platform, with margin trading available on the first day. Bitmora's network and servers will be scalable and will have multiple failover engines in the event of a DDoS attack. Those interested in learning more about Bitmora should visit the company's website at Bitmora.com and to invest, visit the crowdfunding campaign . About Bitmora Based in San Diego, California, Bitmora is building a service that will allow users to globally exchange cryptocurrency and vote on the framework upon which the exchange will be built. To learn more, visit www.Bitmora.com . More information and to follow Bitmora: Whitepaper: https://bitmora.com/whitepaper.pdf Twitter: https://twitter.com/bitmora_inc Slack: https://bitmora.herokuapp.com SOURCE: Bitmora Inc. || Innovative Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitmora Launched Crowdfunding Campaign Last December: Bitmora is Building a Service that will Allow Users to Globally Exchange Cryptocurrency and Vote on the Framework upon which the Exchange is Built
SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2018 /Cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitmora is set to revolutionize the way the digital currency exchange world operates. The company aims to build a one of a kind trading platform that will offer low fees, enterprise-grade security, and a unique voting system designed to put the future of cryptocurrency exchanges in the hands of activists and users alike. Instead of an ICO, Bitmora launched acrowdfunding campaignon Dec. 1. Bitmora's cryptocurrency exchange is on schedule to launch in Feb. 2018.
Bitmora aims to raise $600,000 during the two months of the campaign. Participants who invest as little as $10 will be guaranteed a monthly payout in accordance to the exchange's volume during its first 18 months. Participant tiers and voting power are dependent on how much they invest into the campaign. Bitmora executives will put aside 30 percent of the monthly revenue in each of the 18 months for participants investing during the funding campaign.
An article released onCoin Deskin late November noted that the total market capitalization for the cryptocurrency market has exceeded $300 billion for the first time. The article referenced data from CoinMarketCap.com that showed that the market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies is currently at roughly $300.5 billion. Cryptocurrency exchanges are currently a $100 billion market.
“As the demand for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and altcoins skyrockets to an all-time high, the majority of exchanges have made little to no improvements,” says Colton Brister, chairman and CEO for Bitmora. “Forced to trade on dated engines with poor security and slow customer support systems, the users of these exchanges have come to recognize a need for improvement. Bitmora is being built to revamp the exchange sector in a way that nobody has ever seen before. Everything from our engine to our interface will set new standards in what is already an out-of-touch market.”
Bitmora will host a fully-functional mobile application, around-the-clock phone support staff, and an established user voting system to provide users an exceptional trading experience. More than 40 cryptocurrency pairs will be able to be traded on the platform, with margin trading available on the first day. Bitmora's network and servers will be scalable and will have multiple failover engines in the event of a DDoS attack.
Those interested in learning more about Bitmora should visit the company's website atBitmora.comand to invest, visit thecrowdfunding campaign.
About Bitmora
Based in San Diego, California, Bitmora is building a service that will allow users to globally exchange cryptocurrency and vote on the framework upon which the exchange will be built.
To learn more, visitwww.Bitmora.com.
More information and to follow Bitmora:Whitepaper:https://bitmora.com/whitepaper.pdfTwitter:https://twitter.com/bitmora_incSlack:https://bitmora.herokuapp.com
SOURCE:Bitmora Inc. || These Jaw-Dropping Facts Will Change Your Mind About the Internet of Things: It's easy to be skeptical about new technology trends. There's always something new that tech companies are peddling, and their devices sometimes fall short of expectations. But when it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT) -- where formerly unconnected things are connected to the internet to track and analyze data -- there are plenty of reasons why investors should fight the urge to be skeptical. The IoT is already prevalent, and it's transforming how many business keep track of their equipment, it's creating new products for major tech companies, and it's transforming how we interact with our homes. If you're still skeptical that the IoT is worth investing in, take a look at some the facts below. Image of city with icons of connectivity. Image source: Getty Images. 1. You've already seen IoT devices in action. If you've ever seen a smartwatch like the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Watch or seen a commercial for Alphabet 's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google Home smart speaker, then you've seen the Internet of Things. These are just two examples of consumer products that were formerly unconnected devices and are now firmly part of the connected IoT. 2. The industrial sector will benefit the most from the Internet of Things. While consumer IoT devices grab all of the headlines, the industrial sector is expected to be a big part of the IoT as well, with a market size of $195 billion by 2022. Many companies are already building equipment for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), and there will be 100 billion industrial IoT devices by 2021, according to research by PWC. 3. The IoT will generate massive revenues. Global spending on the Internet of Things will reach $1.29 trillion in 2020, according to IDC research. 4. It's going to save lives. Driverless cars, which are part of the broader Internet of Things market, will reduce accidents and make driving (or riding) much safer. When these vehicles become prevalent in the coming decades they'll likely save thousands of lives each year. Story continues 5. The planes you fly on are more efficient because of the IoT. General Electric (NYSE: GE) uses sensors to report how its airplane engines are performing and then sends data to its analytics software to figure out how the engines can be optimized for better efficiency, and to find small problems before they become big ones. 6. Entire wireless networks are being set up specifically for the Internet of Things. Most IoT devices only require a small amount of data to be sent through the Internet, and some telecom companies , including Verizon Communications , have already set up networks specifically for handling IoT data. 7. Farmers may know more about the IoT than you. Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) already equips some of its tractors with sensors, Wi-Fi, and cellular connections to keep track of where seeds have been planted, the pressure at which they were put in the ground, and how far the seeds are spaced apart. Some tractors can even follow a pre-planned planting route all on their own. 8. It's breathing new life into old tech stalwarts. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) bought a key player in the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) market back in 2016, called Mobileye. ADAS helps form some of the necessary technologies (like automatic breaking) for semi-autonomous driving systems, and it means that Intel could become a key player in this growing IoT market. It was revealed last year that Intel is also a key chip supplier for Alphabet's self-driving vehicle company , Waymo, all of which means Intel is betting the IoT could spur on new chips sales. 9. The IoT will improve our healthcare. A company called Propeller Health has an inhaler for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that's equipped with sensors and wireless connectivity to send data to a smartphone about when it was used and what the weather conditions were, and keeps track of how often the medication was needed to help people understand what might be triggering their attacks. The IoT healthcare market is expected to grow from $41 billion in 2017 to $158 billion by 2022, according to MarketsandMarkets. There's much more to come Investors looking for Internet of Things stocks may want to get started here and remember that the IoT is spread across so many industries that you virtually have your pick of sectors to invest in. Just keep in mind that, as with any investment, you should be looking for companies that are well positioned to benefit from the Internet of Things over the long term. And remember to be patient as these companies build out their IoT products and services. There aren't many IoT pure-plays out there, which means that any company investing in the IoT now will take some time to earn significant revenues from the market. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Apple, and Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || These Jaw-Dropping Facts Will Change Your Mind About the Internet of Things: It's easy to be skeptical about new technology trends. There's always something new that tech companies are peddling, and their devices sometimes fall short of expectations. But when it comes to theInternet of Things(IoT) -- where formerly unconnected things are connected to the internet to track and analyze data -- there are plenty of reasons why investors should fight the urge to be skeptical.
The IoT is already prevalent, and it's transforming how many business keep track of their equipment, it's creating new products for major tech companies, and it's transforming how we interact with our homes. If you're still skeptical that the IoT is worth investing in, take a look at some the facts below.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. You've already seen IoT devices in action.If you've ever seen a smartwatch like theApple(NASDAQ: AAPL)Watchor seen a commercial forAlphabet's(NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL)Google Home smart speaker, then you've seen the Internet of Things. These are just two examples of consumer products that were formerly unconnected devices and are now firmly part of the connected IoT.
2. The industrial sector will benefit the most from the Internet of Things.While consumer IoT devices grab all of the headlines, the industrial sector is expected to be a big part of the IoT as well, with a market size of $195 billion by 2022. Many companies are already building equipment for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), and there will be 100 billion industrial IoT devices by 2021, according to research by PWC.
3. The IoT will generate massive revenues.Global spending on the Internet of Things will reach $1.29 trillion in 2020, according to IDC research.
4. It's going to save lives.Driverless cars, which are part of the broader Internet of Things market, will reduce accidents and make driving (or riding) much safer. When these vehicles become prevalent in thecoming decadesthey'll likely save thousands of lives each year.
5.The planes you fly on are more efficient because of the IoT.General Electric(NYSE: GE)uses sensors to report how its airplane engines are performing and then sends data to its analytics software to figure out how the engines can be optimized for better efficiency, and to find small problems before they become big ones.
6. Entire wireless networks are being set up specifically for the Internet of Things.Most IoT devices only require a small amount of data to be sent through the Internet, and sometelecom companies, includingVerizon Communications, have already set up networks specifically for handling IoT data.
7. Farmers may know more about the IoT than you. Deere & Company(NYSE: DE)already equips some of its tractors with sensors, Wi-Fi, and cellular connections to keep track of where seeds have been planted, the pressure at which they were put in the ground, and how far the seeds are spaced apart. Some tractors can even follow a pre-planned planting route all on their own.
8. It's breathing new life into old tech stalwarts.Intel(NASDAQ: INTC)bought a key player in the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) market back in 2016, called Mobileye. ADAS helps form some of the necessary technologies (like automatic breaking) for semi-autonomous driving systems, and it means that Intel could become a key player in this growing IoT market. It was revealed last year that Intel is also a key chip supplierfor Alphabet's self-driving vehicle company, Waymo, all of which means Intel is betting the IoT could spur on new chips sales.
9. The IoT will improve our healthcare.A company called Propeller Health has an inhaler for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that's equipped with sensors and wireless connectivity to send data to a smartphone about when it was used and what the weather conditions were, and keeps track of how often the medication was needed to help people understand what might be triggering their attacks. The IoT healthcare market is expected to grow from $41 billion in 2017 to $158 billion by 2022, according to MarketsandMarkets.
Investors looking for Internet of Things stocks may want to get startedhereand remember that the IoT is spread across so many industries that you virtually have your pick of sectors to invest in. Just keep in mind that, as with any investment, you should be looking for companies that are well positioned to benefit from the Internet of Things over the long term. And remember to be patient as these companies build out their IoT products and services. There aren't many IoT pure-plays out there, which means that any company investing in the IoT now will take some time to earn significant revenues from the market.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Chris Neigerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Apple, and Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Micron Technology, Inc. Shares Rose 88% in 2017: What happened Shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) gained 87.6% in 2017, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence . Stock prices have more than tripled since the summer of 2016 as the memory-chip giant enjoyed a huge bounce back from the latest round of price wars in that industry. So what Over the same period, Micron's trailing top-line sales grew 33% to $23.2 billion. Due to stable fixed costs, that seemingly modest revenue increase led to adjusted earnings nearly tripling while free cash flows increased more than tenfold. This surge was made possible by extraordinarily stable chip prices, even rising at times. In early 2018, the industry has reverted to the normal long-term trend of falling chip prices and even faster reductions in production costs per memory chip. Along the way, Micron beat analyst estimates in all four of last year's quarterly reports, often by a wide margin. Every shock to the Street's expectations brought another sudden surge in Micron's share prices, including a 6% jump on December's large earnings surprise . A black NAND memory chip, sporting Micron's logo in gray ink Image source: Micron Technology. Now what The memory-chip industry has been monstrously cyclical. Every period of strong chip prices has been followed by brutal supply-and-demand imbalances and plunging chip prices. Many Micron investors clearly expect another sudden downturn to break the current upturn, as the stock is trading at just 7 times trailing earnings today. But this time may, in fact, be different. Analysts, market watchers, and industry experts have been on the lookout for signs of another downturn in the memory industry's cyclical history, but none have been found. The remaining handful of large suppliers are operating with a level of fiscal discipline unseen in earlier cycles. So Micron's good times should keep rolling higher, extending last year's surging share prices even further. Simply getting back to more reasonable price-to-earnings ratios could double or triple its share prices from here, even if you don't expect any further increases in the actual earnings. Story continues Bottom line: You didn't miss the boat quite yet. Micron is a buy today . More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Anders Bylund owns shares of Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Micron Technology, Inc. Shares Rose 88% in 2017: Shares ofMicron Technology(NASDAQ: MU)gained 87.6% in 2017, according to data fromS&P Global Market Intelligence. Stock prices have more than tripled since the summer of 2016 as the memory-chip giant enjoyed a huge bounce back from the latest round of price wars in that industry.
Over the same period, Micron's trailing top-line sales grew 33% to $23.2 billion. Due to stable fixed costs, that seemingly modest revenue increase led to adjusted earnings nearly tripling while free cash flows increased more than tenfold.
This surge was made possible by extraordinarily stable chip prices, even rising at times. In early 2018, the industry has reverted to the normal long-term trend of falling chip prices and even faster reductions in production costs per memory chip. Along the way, Micron beat analyst estimates in all four of last year's quarterly reports, often by a wide margin. Every shock to the Street's expectations brought another sudden surge in Micron's share prices, includinga 6% jump on December's large earnings surprise.
Image source: Micron Technology.
The memory-chip industry has been monstrously cyclical. Every period of strong chip prices has been followed by brutal supply-and-demand imbalances and plunging chip prices. Many Micron investors clearly expect another sudden downturn to break the current upturn, as the stock is trading at just 7 times trailing earnings today.
But this time may, in fact, be different. Analysts, market watchers, and industry experts have been on the lookout for signs of another downturn in the memory industry's cyclical history, but none have been found. The remaining handful of large suppliers are operating with a level of fiscal discipline unseen in earlier cycles.
So Micron's good times should keep rolling higher, extending last year's surging share prices even further. Simply getting back to more reasonable price-to-earnings ratios could double or triple its share prices from here, even if you don't expect any further increases in the actual earnings.
Bottom line: You didn't miss the boat quite yet.Micron is a buy today.
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Anders Bylundowns shares of Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Bitcoin Rises to Break Above $16,000, and Another Alt-Coin Is Soaring: Bitcoin rose by about 9% on Friday and is trading firmly above $16,000 again, although it's well shy of its all-time high of nearly $20,000. However, the real story of the week has been the alternative cryptocurrency, or alt-coin market. Several major alt-coins have made big moves this week, and Tron is the latest to rocket higher.
Here's a look at the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, and how much each has changed over the past 24 hours.
[{"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Bitcoin (BTC)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$16,404", "Day's Change": "8.8%"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Ripple (XRP)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$2.65", "Day's Change": "(4.9%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Ethereum (ETH)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$976.33", "Day's Change": "3.9%"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Bitcoin cash (BCH)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$2,371.10", "Day's Change": "(1.6%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Cardano (ADA)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$1.07", "Day's Change": "(6.1%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "NEM (XEM)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$1.65", "Day's Change": "(0.8%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Tron (TRX)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.22", "Day's Change": "46.6%"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Litecoin (LTC)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$246.45", "Day's Change": "4%"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Stellar (XLM)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.67", "Day's Change": "(7.6%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Iota (MIOTA)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$3.85", "Day's Change": "(6.2%)"}]
Data source: www.investing.com. Prices and daily changes as of Jan. 5, 2018, at 3:30pm EST, and prices are rounded to the nearest cent where appropriate.
Ethereum's price movement in the chart is somewhat misleading, as the third largest cryptocurrency had quite a volatile day on Friday. At its peak, Ethereum rose to a peak of $1,075.39 -- a new all-time high -- before pulling back later in the day. Before this week, Ethereum had been the second largest cryptocurrency for some time, but Ripple's recent surge has catapulted it ahead, by about $22.5 billion in market cap as of this writing.
Tron is the latest altcoin to rocket higher. Image source: Getty Images.
Lesser-known cryptocurrency Tron, whose currency is known as TRX, gained 47% Friday, adding to a monster 112% gain on Thursday. The latest move gives Tron a market cap of $14.5 billion, which makes it the seventh largest cryptocurrency.
Tron's aim is to create a platform for monetizing digital entertainment through blockchain technology, and the recent price moves came after a Thursday-morning tweet from Tron founder Justin Sun that the company "will announce our partnership with a very prestigious public company this week."https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/another-tiny-digital-coin-leaps-into-the-top-10-cryptocurrencies.html
This week has been full of major cryptocurrency moves, especially some of the alt-coins. Speculators seem especially optimistic on the cryptocurrencies, like Tron, that have formed partnerships with major corporations that could result in mainstream and widespread usage of the blockchain technologies these currencies use.
In addition to Tron, which is up a total of 500% over the past seven days, here are some other notable movers this week:
• Ripple, which has partnerships withAmerican ExpressandSantander,soared over last weekendand is now the second largest cryptocurrency, ranking only behind bitcoin. Over the past seven days, Ripple is up 48%.
• Although it's a laggard today, Cardano has gained 112% for the week on investor interest in its scalable and secure blockchain network.
• Stellar, which has a partnership withIBMto develop an international payments system, is up 131% over the past week.
• Finally, NEM's digital currency isup 62%over the past week. The company also focuses on enterprise clients, specifically in regard to peer-to-peer payments and real-time money transfers.
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Matthew Frankelowns shares of American Express. The Motley Fool recommends American Express. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Bitcoin Rises to Break Above $16,000, and Another Alt-Coin Is Soaring: Bitcoin rose by about 9% on Friday and is trading firmly above $16,000 again, although it's well shy of its all-time high of nearly $20,000. However, the real story of the week has been the alternative cryptocurrency, or alt-coin market. Several major alt-coins have made big moves this week, and Tron is the latest to rocket higher. Today's cryptocurrency prices Here's a look at the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, and how much each has changed over the past 24 hours. Cryptocurrency Name (Code) Price in U.S. Dollars Day's Change Bitcoin (BTC) $16,404 8.8% Ripple (XRP) $2.65 (4.9%) Ethereum (ETH) $976.33 3.9% Bitcoin cash (BCH) $2,371.10 (1.6%) Cardano (ADA) $1.07 (6.1%) NEM (XEM) $1.65 (0.8%) Tron (TRX) $0.22 46.6% Litecoin (LTC) $246.45 4% Stellar (XLM) $0.67 (7.6%) Iota (MIOTA) $3.85 (6.2%) Data source: www.investing.com. Prices and daily changes as of Jan. 5, 2018, at 3:30pm EST, and prices are rounded to the nearest cent where appropriate. Ethereum's price movement in the chart is somewhat misleading, as the third largest cryptocurrency had quite a volatile day on Friday. At its peak, Ethereum rose to a peak of $1,075.39 -- a new all-time high -- before pulling back later in the day. Before this week, Ethereum had been the second largest cryptocurrency for some time, but Ripple's recent surge has catapulted it ahead, by about $22.5 billion in market cap as of this writing. Financial chart showing upward price movement. Tron is the latest altcoin to rocket higher. Image source: Getty Images. Tron jumps another 47% Lesser-known cryptocurrency Tron, whose currency is known as TRX, gained 47% Friday, adding to a monster 112% gain on Thursday. The latest move gives Tron a market cap of $14.5 billion, which makes it the seventh largest cryptocurrency. Tron's aim is to create a platform for monetizing digital entertainment through blockchain technology, and the recent price moves came after a Thursday-morning tweet from Tron founder Justin Sun that the company "will announce our partnership with a very prestigious public company this week." https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/another-tiny-digital-coin-leaps-into-the-top-10-cryptocurrencies.html Story continues A week of big alt-coin moves This week has been full of major cryptocurrency moves, especially some of the alt-coins. Speculators seem especially optimistic on the cryptocurrencies, like Tron, that have formed partnerships with major corporations that could result in mainstream and widespread usage of the blockchain technologies these currencies use. In addition to Tron, which is up a total of 500% over the past seven days, here are some other notable movers this week: Ripple, which has partnerships with American Express and Santander , soared over last weekend and is now the second largest cryptocurrency, ranking only behind bitcoin. Over the past seven days, Ripple is up 48%. Although it's a laggard today, Cardano has gained 112% for the week on investor interest in its scalable and secure blockchain network. Stellar , which has a partnership with IBM to develop an international payments system, is up 131% over the past week. Finally, NEM's digital currency is up 62% over the past week. The company also focuses on enterprise clients, specifically in regard to peer-to-peer payments and real-time money transfers. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Matthew Frankel owns shares of American Express. The Motley Fool recommends American Express. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Bitcoin Rises to Break Above $16,000, and Another Alt-Coin Is Soaring: Bitcoin rose by about 9% on Friday and is trading firmly above $16,000 again, although it's well shy of its all-time high of nearly $20,000. However, the real story of the week has been the alternative cryptocurrency, or alt-coin market. Several major alt-coins have made big moves this week, and Tron is the latest to rocket higher.
Here's a look at the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, and how much each has changed over the past 24 hours.
[{"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Bitcoin (BTC)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$16,404", "Day's Change": "8.8%"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Ripple (XRP)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$2.65", "Day's Change": "(4.9%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Ethereum (ETH)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$976.33", "Day's Change": "3.9%"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Bitcoin cash (BCH)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$2,371.10", "Day's Change": "(1.6%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Cardano (ADA)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$1.07", "Day's Change": "(6.1%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "NEM (XEM)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$1.65", "Day's Change": "(0.8%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Tron (TRX)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.22", "Day's Change": "46.6%"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Litecoin (LTC)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$246.45", "Day's Change": "4%"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Stellar (XLM)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.67", "Day's Change": "(7.6%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Iota (MIOTA)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$3.85", "Day's Change": "(6.2%)"}]
Data source: www.investing.com. Prices and daily changes as of Jan. 5, 2018, at 3:30pm EST, and prices are rounded to the nearest cent where appropriate.
Ethereum's price movement in the chart is somewhat misleading, as the third largest cryptocurrency had quite a volatile day on Friday. At its peak, Ethereum rose to a peak of $1,075.39 -- a new all-time high -- before pulling back later in the day. Before this week, Ethereum had been the second largest cryptocurrency for some time, but Ripple's recent surge has catapulted it ahead, by about $22.5 billion in market cap as of this writing.
Tron is the latest altcoin to rocket higher. Image source: Getty Images.
Lesser-known cryptocurrency Tron, whose currency is known as TRX, gained 47% Friday, adding to a monster 112% gain on Thursday. The latest move gives Tron a market cap of $14.5 billion, which makes it the seventh largest cryptocurrency.
Tron's aim is to create a platform for monetizing digital entertainment through blockchain technology, and the recent price moves came after a Thursday-morning tweet from Tron founder Justin Sun that the company "will announce our partnership with a very prestigious public company this week."https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/another-tiny-digital-coin-leaps-into-the-top-10-cryptocurrencies.html
This week has been full of major cryptocurrency moves, especially some of the alt-coins. Speculators seem especially optimistic on the cryptocurrencies, like Tron, that have formed partnerships with major corporations that could result in mainstream and widespread usage of the blockchain technologies these currencies use.
In addition to Tron, which is up a total of 500% over the past seven days, here are some other notable movers this week:
• Ripple, which has partnerships withAmerican ExpressandSantander,soared over last weekendand is now the second largest cryptocurrency, ranking only behind bitcoin. Over the past seven days, Ripple is up 48%.
• Although it's a laggard today, Cardano has gained 112% for the week on investor interest in its scalable and secure blockchain network.
• Stellar, which has a partnership withIBMto develop an international payments system, is up 131% over the past week.
• Finally, NEM's digital currency isup 62%over the past week. The company also focuses on enterprise clients, specifically in regard to peer-to-peer payments and real-time money transfers.
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Matthew Frankelowns shares of American Express. The Motley Fool recommends American Express. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Cal-Maine Foods, Roku, and Core-Mark Holding Slumped Today: Friday closed out a highly successful week for investors on Wall Street, making the case for 2018 to become the 10th straight year of bull-market gains for major benchmarks. Record highs for theDow,S&P 500, andNasdaq Compositeshowed the breadth of upward momentum that stocks have right now, and market participants are generally quite optimistic about the prospects for corporate earnings once companies start reporting their fourth-quarter financial results in the next couple of weeks. Nevertheless, some stocks gave up considerable ground today, with bad news weighing on shares.Cal-Maine Foods(NASDAQ: CALM),Roku(NASDAQ: ROKU), andCore-Mark Holding(NASDAQ: CORE)were among the worst performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly.
Shares of Cal-Maine Foods fell 7% after the company reported its fiscal second-quarter results early Friday morning. The egg producer said that revenue for the period was up more than 40% from year-earlier levels, but net losses widened due to charges related to the settlement of antitrust allegations against it. CEO Dolph Baker was upbeat about the results, noting that the settlement "eliminates the substantial risk, uncertainty, expense, and distraction" of the litigation, and better conditions in the egg market reflect stronger demand from retail and institutional customers alike. Still, investors have beenreluctant to get excited about Cal-Maine's prospectsuntil they actually show up in financial statements, and it might take a while longer for the stock to get traction even if market conditions keep improving.
Image source: Getty Images.
Roku stock declined nearly 10%in the wake of its second analyst downgrade in two days. Analysts at Citi cut their rating on the streaming entertainment company from neutral to sell, largely pointing to the huge advance that the stock has seen since its IPO just a few months ago and the corresponding inflation of its valuation to overextended levels. Analysts set a $28 price target on the stock, implying another 40% of downside from here. Roku certainly has plenty of potential from cable-weary viewers seeking to cut the cord, but some wonder whether the stock is getting too far ahead of itself.
Finally, shares of Core-Mark Holding finished down 23%. The convenience-store retail distribution specialist had to cut its earnings guidance for the full 2017 year, citingdeclines in sales of cigarette cartonsand singling out the California market for its woes. Despite same-store sales growth of 7% in categories other than cigarettes, Core-Mark said it would have to mark down its adjusted earnings by 20% to 25%, with a new range of $0.94 to $1.01 per share for the full year. CEO Thomas Perkins assured investors that he is "confident that our two troubled divisions are on a path to profitability in 2018," but shareholders didn't seem ready to accept that assessment without data to back it up.
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Dan Caplingerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Cal-Maine Foods, Roku, and Core-Mark Holding Slumped Today: Friday closed out a highly successful week for investors on Wall Street, making the case for 2018 to become the 10th straight year of bull-market gains for major benchmarks. Record highs for the Dow , S&P 500 , and Nasdaq Composite showed the breadth of upward momentum that stocks have right now, and market participants are generally quite optimistic about the prospects for corporate earnings once companies start reporting their fourth-quarter financial results in the next couple of weeks. Nevertheless, some stocks gave up considerable ground today, with bad news weighing on shares. Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ: CALM) , Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) , and Core-Mark Holding (NASDAQ: CORE) were among the worst performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly. Cal-Maine lays an egg Shares of Cal-Maine Foods fell 7% after the company reported its fiscal second-quarter results early Friday morning. The egg producer said that revenue for the period was up more than 40% from year-earlier levels, but net losses widened due to charges related to the settlement of antitrust allegations against it. CEO Dolph Baker was upbeat about the results, noting that the settlement "eliminates the substantial risk, uncertainty, expense, and distraction" of the litigation, and better conditions in the egg market reflect stronger demand from retail and institutional customers alike. Still, investors have been reluctant to get excited about Cal-Maine's prospects until they actually show up in financial statements, and it might take a while longer for the stock to get traction even if market conditions keep improving. Dozen white eggs in a blue carton. Image source: Getty Images. Roku gets another thumbs-down Roku stock declined nearly 10% in the wake of its second analyst downgrade in two days. Analysts at Citi cut their rating on the streaming entertainment company from neutral to sell, largely pointing to the huge advance that the stock has seen since its IPO just a few months ago and the corresponding inflation of its valuation to overextended levels. Analysts set a $28 price target on the stock, implying another 40% of downside from here. Roku certainly has plenty of potential from cable-weary viewers seeking to cut the cord, but some wonder whether the stock is getting too far ahead of itself. Story continues Core-Mark leaves investors hungry Finally, shares of Core-Mark Holding finished down 23%. The convenience-store retail distribution specialist had to cut its earnings guidance for the full 2017 year, citing declines in sales of cigarette cartons and singling out the California market for its woes. Despite same-store sales growth of 7% in categories other than cigarettes, Core-Mark said it would have to mark down its adjusted earnings by 20% to 25%, with a new range of $0.94 to $1.01 per share for the full year. CEO Thomas Perkins assured investors that he is "confident that our two troubled divisions are on a path to profitability in 2018," but shareholders didn't seem ready to accept that assessment without data to back it up. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Square, USG, and Overstock.com Jumped Today: Many investors believe that how the beginning of January goes for the stock market is a sign of how the entire year will be. If that's the case, then this week's moves augur well, as Friday completed what has been an extremely strong week for major benchmarks. TheDowclimbed over 200 points to hit a record high, and theS&P 500andNasdaq Compositefollowed suit with gains of a similar percent. And that's despite some disappointment about the pace of job growth in the U.S., but bulls seem to believe that the economy is growing at a perfect speed to post long-term gains without overheating and creating problems. Certain companies also had high-profile success, andSquare(NYSE: SQ),USG(NYSE: USG), andOverstock.com(NASDAQ: OSTK)were among the best performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so well.
Shares of Square jumped 8%, extending its momentum from what was anamazing performance from the payment processing companyin 2017. Market expansion, new service offerings to customers, and even the prospect of tapping into the cryptocurrency craze have all lifted Square's reputation in investors' eyes recently, and even a brief pullback during December wasn't enough to sour most shareholders' views of the company. The need to move money isn't going away anytime soon, and investors seem to acknowledge the disruptive power that Square could have in breaking more deeply into a huge potential global market that its larger rivals currently dominate.
Image source: Square.
USG stock picked up almost 7% after the construction materials specialist got favorable comments from several stock analyst companies. Baird, JPMorgan, and Barclays all upgraded their ratings on USG, with Baird moving its rating from neutral to outperform and raising its price target by $10 to $45 per share. Baird believes that USG's valuation is low for the sector, and wallboard pricing could improve in the near future. JPMorgan cited similar catalysts in boosting its rating to overweight and setting a new $46-per-share price target, while Barclays expects tax reform to justify its move from equal weight to overweight. If anticipated infrastructure and construction spending initiatives from the federal government actually happen this year, then thefavored Warren Buffett stockcould get another boost.
Finally, shares of Overstock.com climbed over 8%. The internet retailer has become heavily engaged in the cryptocurrency craze, with its month-long initial coin offering from its tZERO subsidiary to strategically identified accredited investors expected to remain open until Jan. 18. Today's gains for the stock likely come amid a strong day for bitcoin, and a rising number of institutional investors have started to pile into the cryptocurrency market. Given the challenges that its retail business has faced, it's easy to understand why Overstock might prefer the initial publicity from its crypto-related moves. Nevertheless, the company will still have to demonstrate to investors that its new business focus can pay off in the long run in order to justifyOverstock shares tripling in 2017.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
Dan Caplingerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Square. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Square, USG, and Overstock.com Jumped Today: Many investors believe that how the beginning of January goes for the stock market is a sign of how the entire year will be. If that's the case, then this week's moves augur well, as Friday completed what has been an extremely strong week for major benchmarks. The Dow climbed over 200 points to hit a record high, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite followed suit with gains of a similar percent. And that's despite some disappointment about the pace of job growth in the U.S., but bulls seem to believe that the economy is growing at a perfect speed to post long-term gains without overheating and creating problems. Certain companies also had high-profile success, and Square (NYSE: SQ) , USG (NYSE: USG) , and Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) were among the best performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so well. Square keeps up the pace Shares of Square jumped 8%, extending its momentum from what was an amazing performance from the payment processing company in 2017. Market expansion, new service offerings to customers, and even the prospect of tapping into the cryptocurrency craze have all lifted Square's reputation in investors' eyes recently, and even a brief pullback during December wasn't enough to sour most shareholders' views of the company. The need to move money isn't going away anytime soon, and investors seem to acknowledge the disruptive power that Square could have in breaking more deeply into a huge potential global market that its larger rivals currently dominate. Square logo. Image source: Square. USG gets positive reviews USG stock picked up almost 7% after the construction materials specialist got favorable comments from several stock analyst companies. Baird, JPMorgan, and Barclays all upgraded their ratings on USG, with Baird moving its rating from neutral to outperform and raising its price target by $10 to $45 per share. Baird believes that USG's valuation is low for the sector, and wallboard pricing could improve in the near future. JPMorgan cited similar catalysts in boosting its rating to overweight and setting a new $46-per-share price target, while Barclays expects tax reform to justify its move from equal weight to overweight. If anticipated infrastructure and construction spending initiatives from the federal government actually happen this year, then the favored Warren Buffett stock could get another boost. Story continues Overstock.com goes coin crazy Finally, shares of Overstock.com climbed over 8%. The internet retailer has become heavily engaged in the cryptocurrency craze, with its month-long initial coin offering from its tZERO subsidiary to strategically identified accredited investors expected to remain open until Jan. 18. Today's gains for the stock likely come amid a strong day for bitcoin, and a rising number of institutional investors have started to pile into the cryptocurrency market. Given the challenges that its retail business has faced, it's easy to understand why Overstock might prefer the initial publicity from its crypto-related moves. Nevertheless, the company will still have to demonstrate to investors that its new business focus can pay off in the long run in order to justify Overstock shares tripling in 2017 . More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Square. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 5 Surprising Ways to Profit from Cryptocurrencies: Whether Bitcoin goes to $1 or $1 million, it's already made an indelible impact on the financial markets. The word of the day here is "Blockchain." We've seen the mania surrounding cryptocurrencies but on the equity side it's bordered on insanity. There have been some very famous cases of companies simply adding the word "Blockchain" to their names and then rallying 500% the next trading day. This sort of insanity has created a huge buzz in the investment community, sparking debate on both sides of the view. Unfortunately, plenty of investors intrigued by the prospects of the blockchain could be sucked into scam stocks. In this article, I'm going to make sure you don't get hurt chasing these fake blockchain companies and instead, steer you towards investment ideas that are still fundamentally sound and built around real, sustainable businesses. When looking at the cryptocurrency ecosystem, you find that there are plenty of ways to invest in the blockchain. We can break down these stocks into a number of different categories. 1) The "Picks and Axes" and Miners During the gold rush, the ones who really got rich were the ones selling the picks and axes. That is, the companies which provided the tools for the speculators to go out and try to find their fortunes. In the cryptocurrency world, this refers to the companies that make the chips and hardware used for mining operations. Examples would include a host of semiconductor companies. Then there are the miners themselves. Miners confirm transactions from node to node by solving the cryptographic problem and are then rewarded in units of the cryptocurrency. Already we are seeing publicly traded companies that "mine" cryptocurrency. These companies mine the currency then immediately sell them on the open market and pass through the gains to shareholders. Think of them as you would a pipeline company in the energy sector. These companies are small now, but could become much larger in time. Story continues 2) Cloud Infrastructure No other industry has been as dependent on the cloud for its development as blockchain has. The need to distribute a ledger across the world, with no centralized ownership or authority overseeing transactions plays into the strengths of the cloud. However, the cloud is still at risk here, as blockchain technology can distribute storage across the globe, fighting the centralized nature of traditional cloud services. Still, this industry can adapt the technology to benefit. More . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't Buy Bitcoin Until You Read This The most popular cryptocurrency skyrocketed last year, giving some investors the chance to bank 20X returns or even more. Those gains, however, came with serious volatility and risk. Bitcoin sank 25% or more 3 times in 2017. Zacks' new Special Report can help readers capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin with significantly less volatility than buying it directly. Cashing In on Crypto: 4 Stocks for Safer Returns reveals 4 crypto-related stocks with promising upside and less risk. The report is available for download until Sunday, January 7. See the stocks now >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3) Payment Processing and Lending Among the most disruptive industries for blockchain is payment processing. Rather than your traditional financial intermediary, blockchain technology allows for a distributed, open, public ledger where transactions are confirmed by other nodes in the chain for a fee that's much smaller than your typical fees coming from more traditional processors. Blockchain tech is also perfect for lending, allowing a lender to spread their risk across thousands of loans in an instant, no matter the size of the lender. We are just at the tip of the iceberg in this arena. 4) Investors, Business Development Companies and Consulting There will be a wave of companies looking for ways to incorporate blockchain technology into their existing businesses. Already, large consulting companies are beginning to offer services helping companies to integrate the new tech. Gartner has even developed a site dedicated to this purpose. Some publicly traded companies are acting as incubators for other budding cryptocurrencies. There are currently over 1,300 other cryptocurrencies in the world. These investors and business development companies invest in promising crypto companies before they hit the mainstream. 5) Futures and ETFs The legitimization of Bitcoin continues as futures contracts have started trading on two large exchanges in the US. Soon there will also be officially regulated ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum. In the meantime, investors have been using GBTC as proxy. Bottom Line It's too early in the game to understand what the impact of cryptocurrency will be on the global economy. Some think it's a flash in the pan, others believe it will revolutionize the world. I suspect that the truth lies somewhere in between. But if you would like to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies and the blockchain via the stock market and the categories I discussed, Zacks has released a new Special Report to help. Cashing In on Crypto: 4 Stocks for Safer Returns reveals 4 picks with impressive profit potential. Each stock is closely linked to the crypto craze and is likely to climb higher as blockchain technology continues to expand. Please note that the deadline to download this report is midnight Sunday, January 7. I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity today. Check out these stocks right now >> Wishing you great financial success, David Bartosiak David Bartosiak is Zacks' resident technical and momentum expert. He selects stocks and delivers exclusive commentary for two private Zacks Ultimate portfolios. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research
[Social Media Buzz]
Cotización del Bitcoin Cash: 1,982 20.€ | -0.94% | Kraken | 06/01/18 03:00 #BitcoinCash #Kraken #BCHEUR || 2018/01/07（日）07:00
ビットコインの価格は1,994,534円だよ
https://crypto-currency-widgets.com/link/crypto.html …
#ビットコイン #bitcoin #btc $btc #価格pic.twitter.com/qzjOFsHKso || Update:
Current price of 3 bitcoin = $50,399.88
Current amount of $$$ in bitcoin bowl entries (37,338 entrants x $3 entry) = $112,014.00 || Sign up for Luno and get NGN 100.00 worth of Bitcoin when you buy or sell NGN 5,000.00 (exch...
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16477.60, 15170.10, 14595.40, 14973.30, 13405.80, 13980.60, 14360.20, 13772.00, 13819.80, 11490.50
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 6642.11, 7116.80, 7096.18, 7257.67, 7189.42, 6881.96, 6880.32, 7117.21, 7429.72, 7550.90, 7569.94, 7679.87, 7795.60, 7807.06, 8801.04, 8658.55, 8864.77, 8988.60, 8897.47, 8912.65, 9003.07, 9268.76, 9951.52, 9842.67, 9593.90, 8756.43, 8601.80, 8804.48, 9269.99, 9733.72, 9328.20, 9377.01, 9670.74, 9726.58, 9729.04, 9522.98, 9081.76, 9182.58, 9209.29, 8790.37, 8906.93, 8835.05, 9181.02, 9525.75, 9439.12, 9700.41, 9461.06, 10167.27, 9529.80, 9656.72, 9800.64, 9665.53, 9653.68, 9758.85, 9771.49, 9795.70, 9870.09, 9321.78, 9480.84, 9475.28, 9386.79, 9450.70, 9538.02, 9480.25, 9411.84, 9288.02, 9332.34, 9303.63, 9648.72, 9629.66, 9313.61, 9264.81, 9162.92, 9045.39, 9143.58, 9190.85, 9137.99, 9228.33, 9123.41, 9087.30, 9132.49, 9073.94, 9375.47, 9252.28, 9428.33, 9277.97, 9278.81, 9240.35, 9276.50, 9243.61.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-07-13]
Volume: 17519821266, RSI (14-day): 48.61, 50-day EMA: 9222.82, 200-day EMA: 8661.76
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1811.00, Gold RSI: 64.49
Oil Price: 40.10, Oil RSI: 57.97
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
European Equities: A Lack of Stats Leaves COVID-19 and Geopolitics in Focus: Economic Calendar : Tuesday, 14 th July German CPI (MoM) (Jun) Final Spanish CPI (YoY) (Jun) Final Spanish HICP (YoY) (Jun) Final German ZEW Current Conditions (Jul) German ZEW Economic Sentiment (Jul) Eurozone ZEW Economic Sentiment (Jul) Eurozone Industrial Production (MoM) (May) Wednesday, 15 th July Italian CPI (MoM) (Jun) Final Thursday, 16 th July French CPI (MoM) (Jun) Final French HICP (MoM) (Jun) Final Eurozone Trade Balance (May) Deposit Facility Rate (Jul) ECB Interest Rate Decision (Jul) ECB Press Conference Friday, 17 th July Eurozone Core CPI (YoY) (Jun) Final Eurozone CPI (MoM) (Jun) Final Eurozone CPI (YoY) (Jun) Final The Majors A run of 3 consecutive days in the red came to an end on Friday. The DAX30 and CAC40 rose by 1.15% and by 1.01% respectively, with the EuroStoxx600 gaining 0.88%. While market concerns over the rise in new COVID-19 cases across the U.S lingered, economic data delivered support on Friday. Industrial production figures out of France and Italy delivered the majors with a boost. Earlier in the week, Germany’s industrial production figures had disappointed and weighed on the majors. The Stats It was a relatively quiet day on the Eurozone economic calendar on Friday. With no major stats out on the day, 2 nd tier industrial production figures for France and Italy drew attention. Month-on-month, industrial production surged by 42.1% in Italy in May, reversing a 20.5% slide from April with interest. French industrial production jumped by 19.6%, reversing a 20.6% slide from April. From the U.S Economic data included wholesale inflation figures for June that had a muted impact on the European majors. Earlier in the day, new loan figures out of China were also upbeat, reflecting China’s economic rebound. In June, new loans rose from CNY1,480bn to CNY1,810bn. The rise in loans was aligned with recent pickup in private sector activity in May and June. The Market Movers For the DAX: It was a bullish day for the auto sector on Friday. Continental and Volkswagen rose by 1.83% and by 2.86% to lead the way. BMW and Daimler saw more modest gains of 1.26% and 1.06% respectively. Story continues It was also a bullish day for the banks. Deutsche Bank rose by 3.35%, with Commerzbank rallying by 4.69%. WIRECARD AG eked out a 1.62% gain following Thursday’s 9.19% slide. From the CAC , it was a bullish day for the banks. Credit Agricole and Soc Gen rallied by 3.46% and 3.40% respectively with BNP Paribas gaining 3.29%. The French auto sector fund much-needed support, with Peugeot and Renault gaining 2.37% and 3.77% respectively. Air France-KLM and Airbus SE ended the day with gains of 1.26% and 3.53% respectively. On the VIX Index It was back into the red for the VIX on Friday. Reversing a 4.20% gain from Thursday, the VIX slid by 6.73% to end the day at 27.29. While new COVID-19 cases continued to test market risk sentiment, news of progress towards a successful treatment delivered support. The S&P500 and Dow rose by 1.05% and by 1.44% respectively, while the NASDAQ saw a more modest 0.66% gain. The Day Ahead It’s a particularly quiet day ahead on the Eurozone economic calendar . There are no material stats to provide the European majors with direction. A lack of stats will leave the majors in the hands of geopolitics and COVID-19 news from the weekend. Hopes of progress towards a successful treatment drug supported the U.S majors on Friday In reality, however, a treatment drug would do little to slow the continued spread that may ultimately hit the U.S economy for a 2 nd time… As ever, however, the markets are likely to see the glass half full. Expect the Asian majors to give direction going into the European session. From the U.S It’s also a particularly quiet day on the economic calendar, with no material stats due out of the U.S later today. The Latest Coronavirus Figures On Sunday, the number of new coronavirus cases rose by 180,207 to 13,022,319. On Saturday, the number of new cases had risen by 237,217. The daily increase was lower than Saturday’s rise while higher than 156,610 new cases from the previous Sunday. Germany, Italy, and Spain reported 372 new cases on Sunday, which was down from 412 new cases on Saturday. On the previous Sunday, 407 new cases had been reported. From the U.S, the total number of cases rose by 55,683 to 3,411,329 on Sunday. On Saturday, the total number of cases had increased by 70,096. On Saturday, 4 th July, a total of 107.457 new cases had been reported. The Futures In the futures markets, at the time of writing, the Dow was up by 150 points. For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar . This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: S&P 500 to Hit 3400 By End-2020 and 3600 Next Year; Earnings to Rebound in 2021: Mizuho Bitcoin and Cardano’s ADA Weekly Technical Analysis – July 13th, 2020 AUD/USD and NZD/USD Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Up on Risk Sentiment, but COVID-19 Worries Linger Bearish Case for Dollar Thickens, but Bulls are Tough to Find Commodities Weekly: Gold Pops, Oil Drops as Covid-19 Maintain its Grip EOS, Ethereum and Ripple’s XRP – Daily Tech Analysis – July 13th, 2020 || European Equities: A Lack of Stats Leaves COVID-19 and Geopolitics in Focus: German CPI (MoM) (Jun) Final
Spanish CPI (YoY) (Jun) Final
Spanish HICP (YoY) (Jun) Final
German ZEW Current Conditions (Jul)
German ZEW Economic Sentiment (Jul)
Eurozone ZEW Economic Sentiment (Jul)
Eurozone Industrial Production (MoM) (May)
Italian CPI (MoM) (Jun) Final
French CPI (MoM) (Jun) Final
French HICP (MoM) (Jun) Final
Eurozone Trade Balance (May)
Deposit Facility Rate (Jul)
ECB Interest Rate Decision (Jul)
ECB Press Conference
Eurozone Core CPI (YoY) (Jun) Final
Eurozone CPI (MoM) (Jun) Final
Eurozone CPI (YoY) (Jun) Final
A run of 3 consecutive days in the red came to an end on Friday. The DAX30 and CAC40 rose by 1.15% and by 1.01% respectively, with the EuroStoxx600 gaining 0.88%.
While market concerns over the rise in new COVID-19 cases across the U.S lingered, economic data delivered support on Friday.
Industrial production figures out of France and Italy delivered the majors with a boost. Earlier in the week, Germany’s industrial production figures had disappointed and weighed on the majors.
It was a relatively quiet day on theEurozone economic calendaron Friday. With no major stats out on the day, 2ndtier industrial production figures for France and Italy drew attention.
Month-on-month, industrial production surged by 42.1% in Italy in May, reversing a 20.5% slide from April with interest.
French industrial production jumped by 19.6%, reversing a 20.6% slide from April.
Economic data included wholesale inflation figures for June that had a muted impact on the European majors.
Earlier in the day, new loan figures out of China were also upbeat, reflecting China’s economic rebound. In June, new loans rose from CNY1,480bn to CNY1,810bn. The rise in loans was aligned with recent pickup in private sector activity in May and June.
For the DAX:It was a bullish day for the auto sector on Friday.ContinentalandVolkswagenrose by 1.83% and by 2.86% to lead the way.BMWandDaimlersaw more modest gains of 1.26% and 1.06% respectively.
It was also a bullish day for the banks.Deutsche Bankrose by 3.35%, withCommerzbankrallying by 4.69%.
WIRECARD AGeked out a 1.62% gain following Thursday’s 9.19% slide.
From the CAC, it was a bullish day for the banks.Credit AgricoleandSoc Genrallied by 3.46% and 3.40% respectively withBNP Paribasgaining 3.29%.
The French auto sector fund much-needed support, withPeugeotandRenaultgaining 2.37% and 3.77% respectively.
Air France-KLMandAirbus SEended the day with gains of 1.26% and 3.53% respectively.
It was back into the red for the VIX on Friday. Reversing a 4.20% gain from Thursday, the VIX slid by 6.73% to end the day at 27.29.
While new COVID-19 cases continued to test market risk sentiment, news of progress towards a successful treatment delivered support.
The S&P500 and Dow rose by 1.05% and by 1.44% respectively, while the NASDAQ saw a more modest 0.66% gain.
It’s a particularly quiet day ahead on theEurozone economic calendar. There are no material stats to provide the European majors with direction.
A lack of stats will leave the majors in the hands of geopolitics and COVID-19 news from the weekend. Hopes of progress towards a successful treatment drug supported the U.S majors on Friday In reality, however, a treatment drug would do little to slow the continued spread that may ultimately hit the U.S economy for a 2ndtime…
As ever, however, the markets are likely to see the glass half full. Expect the Asian majors to give direction going into the European session.
It’s also a particularly quiet day on the economic calendar, with no material stats due out of the U.S later today.
On Sunday, thenumber of new coronavirus casesrose by 180,207 to 13,022,319. On Saturday, the number of new cases had risen by 237,217. The daily increase was lower than Saturday’s rise while higher than 156,610 new cases from the previous Sunday.
Germany, Italy, and Spain reported 372 new cases on Sunday, which was down from 412 new cases on Saturday. On the previous Sunday, 407 new cases had been reported.
From the U.S, the total number of cases rose by 55,683 to 3,411,329 on Sunday. On Saturday, the total number of cases had increased by 70,096. On Saturday, 4thJuly, a total of 107.457 new cases had been reported.
In the futures markets, at the time of writing, the Dow was up by 150 points.
For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out oureconomic calendar.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• S&P 500 to Hit 3400 By End-2020 and 3600 Next Year; Earnings to Rebound in 2021: Mizuho
• Bitcoin and Cardano’s ADA Weekly Technical Analysis – July 13th, 2020
• AUD/USD and NZD/USD Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Up on Risk Sentiment, but COVID-19 Worries Linger
• Bearish Case for Dollar Thickens, but Bulls are Tough to Find
• Commodities Weekly: Gold Pops, Oil Drops as Covid-19 Maintain its Grip
• EOS, Ethereum and Ripple’s XRP – Daily Tech Analysis – July 13th, 2020 || Crypto Long & Short: Dogecoin, Market Manipulation and the Downside of a Coinbase IPO: This week saw a 125% rise in the price of dogecoin, a cryptocurrency based on a popular 2013 internet meme, created in the same year as both a parody and a “let’s see if this sticks” experiment. Much to even the founder’s surprise, it has not only survived, it has accumulated a loyal following. Clearly. A group of teenagers on the extremely popular but recently beleaguered social platform TikTok decided to use their voice and audience to move the price of dogecoin up. It has nothing to do with fundamentals, potential or even government handouts – most participants probably don’t even understand what cryptocurrency is (many of the videos refer to DOGE as a “stock”). It’s about manipulation, just because. Why is this relevant? Because it is an irresistibly fluffy yet alarming symptom that trust is fundamentally broken in markets. Related: First Mover: Twelve-Fold Gains for Aave's LEND Token Might Be More Than DeFi Hype You’re reading Crypto Long & Short , a newsletter that looks closely at the forces driving cryptocurrency markets. Authored by CoinDesk’s head of research, Noelle Acheson, it goes out every Sunday and offers a recap of the week – with insights and analysis – from a professional investor’s point of view. You can subscribe here . When you have the next generation of investors blatantly flaunting that markets are a meaningless casino, when you have them advertising that markets can be manipulated, then you do have to wonder what role markets will have in their lives as they get older. And much like the day traders picking stocks from a bag of Scrabble tiles, this does raise questions about the role of facts in our interpretation of value. When markets don’t make any sense, when fundamentals no longer seem to matter, it becomes clear the rules are being rewritten or even thrown out the window. We could be in the creative destruction phase that will give way to a new wave of innovation. And in that wave, new types of assets could have a respectable place in new types of portfolios. Story continues Related: Money Reimagined: COVID-19's Crash Course in Exponential Math Meanwhile, however, the untethered nature of current price logic is disconcerting, and a reminder that creative destruction can be vicious to those caught in the transition. Uncertainty is not good for trust, and a lack of trust is not good for progress. So, while I can chuckle with glee at the adorable takes that I can’t resist sharing with you here… …I’m also wondering what will have changed most in markets two to three years from now. Maybe sanity will have been restored. Or maybe this is sane in comparison to what’s coming. A Coinbase listing would not necessarily be good for the market We can’t not talk about the unconfirmed rumors that Coinbase is planning a stock market listing. These rumors are not new, but they have suddenly taken on a renewed relevance. Earlier this week, Reuters reported on the plans, citing sources familiar with the matter. And Coinbase has called an investor meeting, sparking speculation as to why. Should this happen, it would be a big deal for the cryptocurrency industry, but not necessarily the boost many seem to think. It would be a big deal for three main reasons: 1) It would focus a lot of mainstream attention on the industry as a whole, as financial reporters throw around the word “crytpo,” as equity analysts scramble to produce reports and as investors are taken aback by the sheer numbers at play in these relatively overlooked markets. 2) We the public would finally get detailed insight into the inner workings and accounts of one of the industry’s most prominent businesses (as an analyst, I’m really looking forward to that). 3) It would provide a listed and liquid opportunity for investors to get exposure to the cryptocurrencies. This could put crypto, albeit indirectly, within reach of any investor, retail or institutional, and possibly give it a home in pension funds, exchange-traded funds, 401(k)s, etc. How would this boost the cryptocurrency markets? Increased mainstream attention could encourage more people to learn about cryptocurrency fundamentals, and possibly trigger a wave of new investment. Also, new funding from an initial public offering could mean further growth for Coinbase through a broader reach or a more extensive service. Now here is where the “buts” come in. Rather than an IPO, the move could merely represent a handsome exit for the initial investors through a direct listing. Even if so, however, it would set up a pipeline for further financing, which could influence growth further down the road. And, this is even more important, a public listing of a significant company such as Coinbase would not necessarily encourage mainstream crypto exposure. Investment would be going into a company, not the cryptocurrency market. True, the investment in that private company could encourage more investment in the cryptocurrency market further down the line, but the effect would not be linear. It could even be a self-defeating proposition. Investors en masse could choose to buy shares in Coinbase instead of buying cryptocurrency directly, which ironically could end up hurting Coinbase’s prospects. Ok, that’s an extreme extension of the theory, but it’s not totally out of the question. The net effect of a Coinbase listing, or any other significant cryptocurrency business heading to the frothy stock markets, could be net positive for crypto assets. But it may not be the investment trigger many are hoping for. Hashrate highs Bitcoin ’s hashrate has hit an all-time seven-day moving average high, less than two months after a miner reward halving led to a 40% drop as unprofitable mining equipment was switched off. The hashrate metric is significant in that it is a proxy for network security – the higher the hashrate, the more computational power is spent on validating transactions and maintaining the network. So, the hashrate reaching all-time seven-day average highs is being taken as a bullish signal by some. But the numbers don’t bear that theory out. As we can see, usually after a hashrate peak, both price and hashrate fall over a seven-day and 30-day timeframe. But not always. So, hashrate is worth keeping an eye on, because a growing hashrate indicates growing confidence in the cryptocurrency’s outlook. But it should not be used as a trading signal without a lot of caution and additional information. Anyone know what’s going on yet? You’re probably all aware of how previously underused and reconfigured words and phrases have been given a new life with the current crisis. “Lockdown,” “social distancing,” not to mention “unprecedented”… And some new words are emerging. Here’s one: coronacoaster. I kid you not. The market has been alternating between fits of euphoria and depression. With the highs higher than the lows, the net effect is up. The main new factor that impacted the market over the last week was the sharp rise and fall in the Chinese market. While not a large market by U.S. standards, this rally underlines a significant difference in market influences. In the case of the U.S., part of the rally has been encouraged by likes of Davy Day Trader, pushing the retail frenzy to new highs. Whilst, in China, the stock market moves were largely from the government telling retail investors to buy. And then, to not buy. The bitcoin market, meanwhile, has been … well … uninteresting in terms of price and volumes. Maybe a strong breakout is building, maybe not, and either way, who knows in which direction. Meanwhile the developments in the sector are galloping forward as you will see below in CHAIN LINKS, so the lack of notable market trends does not mean that we get to put down our pencils for a bit and take a breather. Unfortunately. CHAIN LINKS Los Angeles-based fund manager Arca has launched its Arca U.S. Treasury Fund, an SEC-registered closed-end fund that invests in U.S. T-bills and notes, and whose digital shares – ArCoins – move on the ethereum blockchain. TAKEAWAY: This is the first time the SEC has allowed a fund represented by blockchain-based tokens to trade under the 40 Act. Technically the fund’s shares will be crypto asset investments, although their value will be based on one of the most stable securities available: short-term U.S. government debt. This is fascinating because it could change the perception that markets and regulators have of crypto assets in general, and it could start to wake general capital markets up to alternative trading mechanisms. Whether this fund takes off or not, it is a pioneering step towards what could be the capital markets of tomorrow. Kraken Futures, previously known as Crypto Facilities, has been granted a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) license from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority. TAKEAWAY: This makes Crypto Facilities the first licensed crypto derivatives platform for the European market, and we could soon see the launch of EUR-denominated crypto products. The London Stock Exchange Group has added 169 digital assets to its SEDOL Masterfile service, a global database that assigns unique identifiers to financial instruments. This helps LSEG customers keep track of traded assets from execution to settlement. TAKEAWAY: This is not an official seal of “approval,” but it’s worth asking why they would do this if it’s not to include digital assets in their offering at some point in the future. The CFTC , which regulates the U.S. bitcoin and ether derivatives markets, plans to develop a digital asset innovation blueprint by 2024. TAKEAWAY: That may sound like a long time in the future, but in terms of new regulatory frameworks, it’s actually not, and it does strongly suggest the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is already working on it. So, we can expect more investigation, communication and events from the world’s principal derivatives regulator over the coming months, which should hint at the stance global derivatives regulators around the world could take. The CENTRE Consortium, which issues the dollar-pegged USDC on top of the ethereum blockchain, blacklisted a USDC address in response to a law enforcement request, freezing $100,000 worth of the stablecoin. TAKEAWAY: That this is even possible – the freezing of a cryptocurrency account – highlights the centralized nature of most fiat-backed stablecoins circulating today, and should reassure regulators that they are not necessarily going to lead to greater money laundering and financial crime. CENTRE’s cooperation with law enforcement, while anathema to original crypto libertarians, could also position it as a complement to the eventual digital dollar, should that come about. There will always be demand for monetary transfer systems with no seizure risk; but institutional participants need to stick to the regulated space, in which the seizure option is likely to be a requirement. My colleague David Pan outlines the potential impact on crypto market infrastructure of Hong Kong’s national security law. TAKEAWAY: For instance, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act passed by the U.S. Senate this week in retaliation stipulates that the U.S. government should restrict foreign banks and subsidiaries of U.S. banks in Hong Kong from accessing the U.S. dollar system if they conduct significant transactions with China. That could increase market friction as it becomes harder for Hong Kong-based companies to access U.S. dollars. Hong Kong is a significant crypto market hub, so it remains to be seen if this will affect trading volumes. It’s also worth keeping an eye on stablecoin flows, as they could be a short-term workaround. Ten-day realized volatility is at a two-year low, according to data from skew.com. The last time it was this low, it preceded a sharp price drop. This time, investors point to increased call buying as a sign the breakout might be on the upside. TAKEAWAY: That feeling when an absence of activity is news. Continuing on the theme that not much is happening in the crypto markets, CryptoCompare’s monthly Exchange Report highlights the relative lack of spot and derivative volumes. Switzerland-based crypto lender Nexo is preparing to become a prime broker with help from oracle provider Chainlink, which will power audits to bring more transparency to Nexo’s operations. TAKEAWAY: Audited lending and borrowing would be good news for the industry, enhancing trust in the collateral and the yields. I am, however, beginning to sense the emergence of a buzzword (“prime broker”) that is starting to lose its original meaning. Nic Carter and Matt Walsh of Castle Island Ventures wrote a compelling overview of the evolution of digital dollars, worth a read for anyone trying to keep up with what’s happening in stablecoins (fiat-backed as well as synthetic) and central bank digital currencies. Podcasts worth listening to: Central Banks Cannot Print Jobs: Understanding Real Economic Recovery, Feat. Daniel Lacalle – The Breakdown, Nathaniel Whittemore Inequality, Social Chaos, Bankruptcy Rallies: The Best Insights From FinTwit June 2020 – The Breakdown, Nathaniel Whittemore Raghuram Rajan On Why MMT, Authoritarianism And Bailouts Won’t Work – Macro Hive, Bilal Hafeez Rafael Schultze-Kraft – How Many Bitcoins Are Being HODLed? – Stephan Livera Podcast, Stephan Livera Outraged: Why Everyone is Shouting and No One is Talking, with Ashley ‘Dotty’ Charles and Ash Sarkar – Intelligence Squared Related Stories Crypto Long & Short: Dogecoin, Market Manipulation and the Downside of a Coinbase IPO Crypto Long & Short: Dogecoin, Market Manipulation and the Downside of a Coinbase IPO || Crypto Long & Short: Dogecoin, Market Manipulation and the Downside of a Coinbase IPO: This week saw a 125% rise in the price of dogecoin, a cryptocurrency based on a popular 2013 internet meme, created in the same year as both a parody and a “let’s see if this sticks” experiment. Much to even the founder’s surprise, it has not only survived, it has accumulated a loyal following. Clearly. A group of teenagers on the extremely popular but recently beleaguered social platform TikTok decided to use their voice and audience to move the price of dogecoin up. It has nothing to do with fundamentals, potential or even government handouts – most participants probably don’t even understand what cryptocurrency is (many of the videos refer to DOGE as a “stock”). It’s about manipulation, just because. Why is this relevant? Because it is an irresistibly fluffy yet alarming symptom that trust is fundamentally broken in markets. Related: First Mover: Twelve-Fold Gains for Aave's LEND Token Might Be More Than DeFi Hype You’re reading Crypto Long & Short , a newsletter that looks closely at the forces driving cryptocurrency markets. Authored by CoinDesk’s head of research, Noelle Acheson, it goes out every Sunday and offers a recap of the week – with insights and analysis – from a professional investor’s point of view. You can subscribe here . When you have the next generation of investors blatantly flaunting that markets are a meaningless casino, when you have them advertising that markets can be manipulated, then you do have to wonder what role markets will have in their lives as they get older. And much like the day traders picking stocks from a bag of Scrabble tiles, this does raise questions about the role of facts in our interpretation of value. When markets don’t make any sense, when fundamentals no longer seem to matter, it becomes clear the rules are being rewritten or even thrown out the window. We could be in the creative destruction phase that will give way to a new wave of innovation. And in that wave, new types of assets could have a respectable place in new types of portfolios. Story continues Related: Money Reimagined: COVID-19's Crash Course in Exponential Math Meanwhile, however, the untethered nature of current price logic is disconcerting, and a reminder that creative destruction can be vicious to those caught in the transition. Uncertainty is not good for trust, and a lack of trust is not good for progress. So, while I can chuckle with glee at the adorable takes that I can’t resist sharing with you here… …I’m also wondering what will have changed most in markets two to three years from now. Maybe sanity will have been restored. Or maybe this is sane in comparison to what’s coming. A Coinbase listing would not necessarily be good for the market We can’t not talk about the unconfirmed rumors that Coinbase is planning a stock market listing. These rumors are not new, but they have suddenly taken on a renewed relevance. Earlier this week, Reuters reported on the plans, citing sources familiar with the matter. And Coinbase has called an investor meeting, sparking speculation as to why. Should this happen, it would be a big deal for the cryptocurrency industry, but not necessarily the boost many seem to think. It would be a big deal for three main reasons: 1) It would focus a lot of mainstream attention on the industry as a whole, as financial reporters throw around the word “crytpo,” as equity analysts scramble to produce reports and as investors are taken aback by the sheer numbers at play in these relatively overlooked markets. 2) We the public would finally get detailed insight into the inner workings and accounts of one of the industry’s most prominent businesses (as an analyst, I’m really looking forward to that). 3) It would provide a listed and liquid opportunity for investors to get exposure to the cryptocurrencies. This could put crypto, albeit indirectly, within reach of any investor, retail or institutional, and possibly give it a home in pension funds, exchange-traded funds, 401(k)s, etc. How would this boost the cryptocurrency markets? Increased mainstream attention could encourage more people to learn about cryptocurrency fundamentals, and possibly trigger a wave of new investment. Also, new funding from an initial public offering could mean further growth for Coinbase through a broader reach or a more extensive service. Now here is where the “buts” come in. Rather than an IPO, the move could merely represent a handsome exit for the initial investors through a direct listing. Even if so, however, it would set up a pipeline for further financing, which could influence growth further down the road. And, this is even more important, a public listing of a significant company such as Coinbase would not necessarily encourage mainstream crypto exposure. Investment would be going into a company, not the cryptocurrency market. True, the investment in that private company could encourage more investment in the cryptocurrency market further down the line, but the effect would not be linear. It could even be a self-defeating proposition. Investors en masse could choose to buy shares in Coinbase instead of buying cryptocurrency directly, which ironically could end up hurting Coinbase’s prospects. Ok, that’s an extreme extension of the theory, but it’s not totally out of the question. The net effect of a Coinbase listing, or any other significant cryptocurrency business heading to the frothy stock markets, could be net positive for crypto assets. But it may not be the investment trigger many are hoping for. Hashrate highs Bitcoin ’s hashrate has hit an all-time seven-day moving average high, less than two months after a miner reward halving led to a 40% drop as unprofitable mining equipment was switched off. The hashrate metric is significant in that it is a proxy for network security – the higher the hashrate, the more computational power is spent on validating transactions and maintaining the network. So, the hashrate reaching all-time seven-day average highs is being taken as a bullish signal by some. But the numbers don’t bear that theory out. As we can see, usually after a hashrate peak, both price and hashrate fall over a seven-day and 30-day timeframe. But not always. So, hashrate is worth keeping an eye on, because a growing hashrate indicates growing confidence in the cryptocurrency’s outlook. But it should not be used as a trading signal without a lot of caution and additional information. Anyone know what’s going on yet? You’re probably all aware of how previously underused and reconfigured words and phrases have been given a new life with the current crisis. “Lockdown,” “social distancing,” not to mention “unprecedented”… And some new words are emerging. Here’s one: coronacoaster. I kid you not. The market has been alternating between fits of euphoria and depression. With the highs higher than the lows, the net effect is up. The main new factor that impacted the market over the last week was the sharp rise and fall in the Chinese market. While not a large market by U.S. standards, this rally underlines a significant difference in market influences. In the case of the U.S., part of the rally has been encouraged by likes of Davy Day Trader, pushing the retail frenzy to new highs. Whilst, in China, the stock market moves were largely from the government telling retail investors to buy. And then, to not buy. The bitcoin market, meanwhile, has been … well … uninteresting in terms of price and volumes. Maybe a strong breakout is building, maybe not, and either way, who knows in which direction. Meanwhile the developments in the sector are galloping forward as you will see below in CHAIN LINKS, so the lack of notable market trends does not mean that we get to put down our pencils for a bit and take a breather. Unfortunately. CHAIN LINKS Los Angeles-based fund manager Arca has launched its Arca U.S. Treasury Fund, an SEC-registered closed-end fund that invests in U.S. T-bills and notes, and whose digital shares – ArCoins – move on the ethereum blockchain. TAKEAWAY: This is the first time the SEC has allowed a fund represented by blockchain-based tokens to trade under the 40 Act. Technically the fund’s shares will be crypto asset investments, although their value will be based on one of the most stable securities available: short-term U.S. government debt. This is fascinating because it could change the perception that markets and regulators have of crypto assets in general, and it could start to wake general capital markets up to alternative trading mechanisms. Whether this fund takes off or not, it is a pioneering step towards what could be the capital markets of tomorrow. Kraken Futures, previously known as Crypto Facilities, has been granted a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) license from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority. TAKEAWAY: This makes Crypto Facilities the first licensed crypto derivatives platform for the European market, and we could soon see the launch of EUR-denominated crypto products. The London Stock Exchange Group has added 169 digital assets to its SEDOL Masterfile service, a global database that assigns unique identifiers to financial instruments. This helps LSEG customers keep track of traded assets from execution to settlement. TAKEAWAY: This is not an official seal of “approval,” but it’s worth asking why they would do this if it’s not to include digital assets in their offering at some point in the future. The CFTC , which regulates the U.S. bitcoin and ether derivatives markets, plans to develop a digital asset innovation blueprint by 2024. TAKEAWAY: That may sound like a long time in the future, but in terms of new regulatory frameworks, it’s actually not, and it does strongly suggest the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is already working on it. So, we can expect more investigation, communication and events from the world’s principal derivatives regulator over the coming months, which should hint at the stance global derivatives regulators around the world could take. The CENTRE Consortium, which issues the dollar-pegged USDC on top of the ethereum blockchain, blacklisted a USDC address in response to a law enforcement request, freezing $100,000 worth of the stablecoin. TAKEAWAY: That this is even possible – the freezing of a cryptocurrency account – highlights the centralized nature of most fiat-backed stablecoins circulating today, and should reassure regulators that they are not necessarily going to lead to greater money laundering and financial crime. CENTRE’s cooperation with law enforcement, while anathema to original crypto libertarians, could also position it as a complement to the eventual digital dollar, should that come about. There will always be demand for monetary transfer systems with no seizure risk; but institutional participants need to stick to the regulated space, in which the seizure option is likely to be a requirement. My colleague David Pan outlines the potential impact on crypto market infrastructure of Hong Kong’s national security law. TAKEAWAY: For instance, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act passed by the U.S. Senate this week in retaliation stipulates that the U.S. government should restrict foreign banks and subsidiaries of U.S. banks in Hong Kong from accessing the U.S. dollar system if they conduct significant transactions with China. That could increase market friction as it becomes harder for Hong Kong-based companies to access U.S. dollars. Hong Kong is a significant crypto market hub, so it remains to be seen if this will affect trading volumes. It’s also worth keeping an eye on stablecoin flows, as they could be a short-term workaround. Ten-day realized volatility is at a two-year low, according to data from skew.com. The last time it was this low, it preceded a sharp price drop. This time, investors point to increased call buying as a sign the breakout might be on the upside. TAKEAWAY: That feeling when an absence of activity is news. Continuing on the theme that not much is happening in the crypto markets, CryptoCompare’s monthly Exchange Report highlights the relative lack of spot and derivative volumes. Switzerland-based crypto lender Nexo is preparing to become a prime broker with help from oracle provider Chainlink, which will power audits to bring more transparency to Nexo’s operations. TAKEAWAY: Audited lending and borrowing would be good news for the industry, enhancing trust in the collateral and the yields. I am, however, beginning to sense the emergence of a buzzword (“prime broker”) that is starting to lose its original meaning. Nic Carter and Matt Walsh of Castle Island Ventures wrote a compelling overview of the evolution of digital dollars, worth a read for anyone trying to keep up with what’s happening in stablecoins (fiat-backed as well as synthetic) and central bank digital currencies. Podcasts worth listening to: Central Banks Cannot Print Jobs: Understanding Real Economic Recovery, Feat. Daniel Lacalle – The Breakdown, Nathaniel Whittemore Inequality, Social Chaos, Bankruptcy Rallies: The Best Insights From FinTwit June 2020 – The Breakdown, Nathaniel Whittemore Raghuram Rajan On Why MMT, Authoritarianism And Bailouts Won’t Work – Macro Hive, Bilal Hafeez Rafael Schultze-Kraft – How Many Bitcoins Are Being HODLed? – Stephan Livera Podcast, Stephan Livera Outraged: Why Everyone is Shouting and No One is Talking, with Ashley ‘Dotty’ Charles and Ash Sarkar – Intelligence Squared Related Stories Crypto Long & Short: Dogecoin, Market Manipulation and the Downside of a Coinbase IPO Crypto Long & Short: Dogecoin, Market Manipulation and the Downside of a Coinbase IPO || Hyper-Stablecoinization: From Eurodollars to Crypto-Dollars: Pascal Hügli is the Chief Research Officer at Schlossberg&Co , in Switzerland, and author of the book “ Ignore at Your Own Risk: The New Decentralized World of Bitcoin and Blockchain .” Tribal fighting between Bitcoiners and Ethereans is unabated. Bitcoin is understood as “money crypto,” while Ethereum is labeled “tech crypto.” Bitcoin is sound money that will make all other monies obsolete . Ethereum, on the other hand, is seen as better tech that will update Wall Street’s settlement layer . The conflict is incomprehensible to outsiders, and each community says the other has not understood the crypto world’s actual goal and ethos. You could imagine this conflict going on for years, a sort of “Game of Thrones” for blockchain. But there’s another, more hopeful, way of imagining the future. Conceivably, the future will be one where Bitcoin and Ethereum gain greater relevance alongside each other (as Michael Casey argued in his recent column ). Both “money crypto” and “tech crypto” will play their roles. It might just not be in the pure sense envisioned by either of the two maximalist groups. Dollar shackles Related: Version Control Can Help the Media Win Back Reader Trust We are currently under a crushing dollar yoke. Back in the 19th century, many parts of the world had free banking . Banks were granted unrestricted competitive issuance of currency and deposit money on a convertible basis. But gradually the paradigm of free banking faded away and state-orchestrated fiat currency took hold. See also: In Race for 2030 Currency Supremacy, the Dollar Is Its Own Worst Enemy After World War II, much of the world started trading in dollars, making it into a reserve currency . To this day, U.S. Treasurys provide a safe haven in times of financial turmoil, tightening the dollar’s grip on global finance . Greater dependence on the dollar means greater dependence on the Federal Reserve. As a national bank, the Fed puts national interests first. These oftentimes contradict with other countries’ concerns, leaving them in a tight spot. Story continues Related: Money Reimagined: COVID-19's Crash Course in Exponential Math As the world has been dollarizing, a paradox has emerged: Although the U.S. central bank is often criticized for inflating its currency, global markets deem the available amount of dollar liquidity to be insufficient. This lack of liquidity has caused financial actors all around the world to start helping themselves. Eurodollars needed The world, especially emerging market economies, really needs dollars. The emergence of the eurodollar system in the 1960s was a direct consequence of the Fed not being able to supply the world’s relentless need for extra dollars. Eurodollars are U.S. dollar accounting entries that are used to settle cash flows between numerous players outside the banking system supervised by the Fed. As such, eurodollars are not subject to U.S. banking regulations. As the economist Milton Friedman pointed out in 1969, eurodollars are created by the bookkeeper’s pen. Corporations, banks and other international actors are dependent on dealer markets providing enough eurodollar funding to uphold market liquidity and service debt. These private dealers are acting primarily through the shadow banking system. Because the dollar has ascended to become the world’s number one currency with the deepest and most liquid capital market, people all around the globe have been going into dollar debt. There is nearly $60 trillion in dollar-denominated debt globally and immense demand to service dollar debt. The crypto-dollar system is more transparent than the old euro dollar system based on shadow banking (so named for a reason). Eurodollars are the world’s way to grapple with recurring short squeezes in the dollar, a global dollar shortage that manifests itself each time with ever greater severity. See also: Michael Casey – Central Banks, Stablecoins and the Looming War of Currencies But eurodollars are not actual dollars. They are offshore dollars or could be seen as dollar approximations. In times of crises this becomes evident as financial market actors strive to acquire actual dollars. With every crisis, the Fed also has to pump more dollars into the system, only to nourish the ground for a future crisis. As ongoing turbulence in the repo market and the broader shadow banking system show, the Fed’s actions seem only temporarily to soothe appetite for more and more dollars. Higher demand for dollars will also imply further depreciation of local currencies against the greenback, especially in emerging markets. The most current example of this is Lebanon, where the local currency has lost at least 50% of its value against the dollar this year. Greater capital controls in these types of markets could well be in store, which would make it harder for debtors to obtain dollars or eurodollars for that matter. Enter public blockchains In times like these, public blockchains with a liability-free native asset can act as neutral settlement networks independent of the financial system. The stage is set for Bitcoin and Ethereum to be used as vehicles to alleviate the world’s global dollar shortage. For example, U.S. dollar stablecoins – so-called crypto dollars running on Bitcoin and Ethereum – are a way to get dollar exposure or dollar proxies. As natively digital bearer instruments with transparent and efficient auditability capacities, crypto dollars are easy to accept and can be traded 24/7/365 with virtually no downtime. They also help circumvent emerging capital controls on traditional finance and eurodollar paths. See also: Nic Carter – Policymakers Shouldn’t Fear Digital Money: So Far It’s Maintaining the Dollar’s Status The eurodollar approach was an attempt by private actors to create a dollar funding system outside the U.S., but still within the traditional financial system. Crypto dollars mainly reside outside of the traditional, U.S.-led financial system. Because of its inherent auditability, the crypto-dollar system is more transparent than the old euro dollar system based on shadow banking (so named for a reason). Upgrade for the Eurodollar We’re beginning to see the dollarization of public blockchains. Since March, the value of USD-pegged stablecoins has passed $11 billion. Tether could surpass the market cap of Ethereum or even Bitcoin due to growing demand for synthetic dollars and its approximations. Hyper-stablecoinization will be the upgrade for eurodollar banking. It will once again be private individuals using the innovative tools at their hands to make sure they can get the dollar exposure they need. But this time the tools are public blockchains and cryptographic tokens. See also: Hasu – USD Stablecoins Are Surging, but Zero Interest Rates Complicate Business Model The shadow banking system is a way for private actors to pledge collateral to create synthetic dollar funds and approximations. But the crypto world in conjunction with the programmability of public blockchains will take this one step further. Bitcoin and ETH already serve as collateral to create dollar deposits and dollar credit instruments. A new type of free banking on public blockchain networks is at the horizon. While crypto dollars will be its big driver, bitcoin and ether could play their part as well. As high-powered, non-state collateral these crypto assets could be used to back these future crypto dollars making them even more resilient. It is very likely that we will see more of the following in the future: Crypto-backed stablecoins like Dai , Bitcoin-backed financial services like Valiu or stable crypto dollars redeemable for bitcoin that, for example, Chinese blockchain wallet provider Bixin is planning to launch . Also, exchanges and crypto-banks issuing crypto dollars against liability-free synthetic crypto assets seem only a matter of time until realization. Related Stories Hyper-Stablecoinization: From Eurodollars to Crypto-Dollars Hyper-Stablecoinization: From Eurodollars to Crypto-Dollars || Hyper-Stablecoinization: From Eurodollars to Crypto-Dollars: Pascal Hügli is the Chief Research Officer atSchlossberg&Co, in Switzerland, and author of the book “Ignore at Your Own Risk: The New Decentralized World of Bitcoin and Blockchain.”
Tribal fighting between Bitcoiners and Ethereans is unabated. Bitcoin is understood as “money crypto,” while Ethereum islabeled“tech crypto.” Bitcoin is sound money that willmake all other monies obsolete. Ethereum, on the other hand, is seen as better tech that willupdate Wall Street’s settlement layer. The conflict is incomprehensible to outsiders, and each community says the other has not understood the crypto world’sactualgoal and ethos.
You could imagine this conflict going on for years, a sort of “Game of Thrones” for blockchain. But there’s another, more hopeful, way of imagining the future. Conceivably, the future will be one where Bitcoin and Ethereum gain greater relevance alongside each other (as Michael Casey argued in hisrecent column). Both “money crypto” and “tech crypto” will play their roles. It might just not be in the pure sense envisioned by either of the two maximalist groups.
Related:Version Control Can Help the Media Win Back Reader Trust
We are currently under a crushing dollar yoke. Back in the 19th century, many parts of the world hadfree banking. Banks weregrantedunrestricted competitive issuance of currency and deposit money on a convertible basis. But gradually the paradigm of free banking faded away and state-orchestrated fiat currency took hold.
See also:In Race for 2030 Currency Supremacy, the Dollar Is Its Own Worst Enemy
After World War II, much of the world started trading in dollars, making it into areserve currency. To this day, U.S. Treasurys provide a safe haven in times of financial turmoil, tightening the dollar’sgrip on global finance.
Greater dependence on the dollar means greater dependence on the Federal Reserve. As a national bank, the Fed puts national interests first. These oftentimes contradict with other countries’ concerns, leaving them in a tight spot.
Related:Money Reimagined: COVID-19's Crash Course in Exponential Math
As the world has been dollarizing, a paradox has emerged: Although the U.S. central bank is often criticized for inflating its currency, global markets deem the available amount of dollar liquidity to be insufficient. This lack of liquidity has caused financial actors all around the world to start helping themselves.
The world, especially emerging market economies, really needs dollars. Theemergence of the eurodollarsystem in the 1960s was a direct consequence of the Fed not being able to supply the world’s relentless need for extra dollars.
Eurodollars are U.S. dollar accounting entries that are used to settle cash flows between numerous players outside the banking system supervised by the Fed. As such, eurodollars are not subject to U.S. banking regulations. As the economist Milton Friedmanpointed outin 1969, eurodollars are created by the bookkeeper’s pen.
Corporations, banks and other international actors are dependent on dealer marketsproviding enougheurodollar funding to uphold market liquidity and service debt. These private dealers are acting primarily through the shadow banking system. Because the dollar has ascended to become the world’s number one currency with the deepest and most liquid capital market, people all around the globe have been going into dollar debt. There isnearly $60 trillionin dollar-denominated debt globally and immense demand to service dollar debt.
The crypto-dollar system is more transparent than the old euro dollar system based on shadow banking (so named for a reason).
Eurodollars are the world’s way to grapple with recurring short squeezes in the dollar, a global dollar shortage that manifests itself each time with ever greater severity.
See also: Michael Casey –Central Banks, Stablecoins and the Looming War of Currencies
But eurodollars are not actual dollars. They are offshore dollars or could be seen as dollar approximations. In times of crises this becomes evident as financial market actors strive to acquire actual dollars. With every crisis, the Fed also has to pump more dollars into the system, only to nourish the ground for a future crisis. As ongoingturbulencein the repo market and the broader shadow banking system show, the Fed’s actions seem only temporarily to soothe appetite for more and more dollars.
Higher demand for dollars will also imply further depreciation of local currencies against the greenback, especially in emerging markets. The most current example of this is Lebanon, where the local currencyhas lostat least 50% of its value against the dollar this year. Greater capital controls in these types of markets could well be in store, which would make it harder for debtors to obtain dollars or eurodollars for that matter.
In times like these, public blockchains with a liability-free native asset can act as neutral settlement networks independent of the financial system. The stage is set for Bitcoin and Ethereum to be used as vehicles to alleviate the world’s global dollar shortage.
For example, U.S. dollar stablecoins – so-calledcrypto dollarsrunning on Bitcoin and Ethereum – are a way to get dollar exposure or dollar proxies. As natively digital bearer instruments with transparent and efficient auditability capacities, crypto dollars are easy to accept and can be traded 24/7/365 with virtually no downtime. They also helpcircumventemerging capital controls on traditional finance and eurodollar paths.
See also: Nic Carter –Policymakers Shouldn’t Fear Digital Money: So Far It’s Maintaining the Dollar’s Status
The eurodollar approach was an attempt by private actors to create a dollar funding system outside the U.S., but still within the traditional financial system. Crypto dollars mainly reside outside of the traditional, U.S.-led financial system. Because of its inherent auditability, the crypto-dollar system is more transparent than the old euro dollar system based on shadow banking (so named for a reason).
We’re beginning to see thedollarizationof public blockchains. Since March, the value of USD-pegged stablecoins has passed $11 billion. Tether could surpass the market cap of Ethereum or even Bitcoin due to growing demand for synthetic dollars and its approximations.
Hyper-stablecoinization will be the upgrade for eurodollar banking. It will once again be private individuals using the innovative tools at their hands to make sure they can get the dollar exposure they need. But this time the tools are public blockchains and cryptographic tokens.
See also: Hasu –USD Stablecoins Are Surging, but Zero Interest Rates Complicate Business Model
The shadow banking system is a way for private actors to pledge collateral to create synthetic dollar funds and approximations. But the crypto world in conjunction with the programmability of public blockchains will take this one step further.BitcoinandETHalready serve as collateral to create dollar deposits and dollar credit instruments.
A new type of free banking on public blockchain networks is at the horizon. While crypto dollars will be its big driver, bitcoin and ether could play their part as well. As high-powered, non-state collateral these crypto assets could be used to back these future crypto dollars making them even more resilient. It is very likely that we will see more of the following in the future: Crypto-backed stablecoins likeDai, Bitcoin-backed financial services likeValiuor stable crypto dollars redeemable for bitcoin that, for example, Chinese blockchain wallet providerBixinis planning tolaunch. Also, exchanges and crypto-banks issuing crypto dollars against liability-free synthetic crypto assets seem only a matter of time until realization.
• Hyper-Stablecoinization: From Eurodollars to Crypto-Dollars
• Hyper-Stablecoinization: From Eurodollars to Crypto-Dollars || The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – July 12th, 2020: Bitcoin, BTC to USD, fell by 0.63% on Saturday. Reversing a 0.60% gain from Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $9,246.3. It was a bearish start to the day for Bitcoin. Bitcoin fell from an early morning intraday high $9,311.8 to a late morning intraday low $9,200.1 before finding support. Steering clear of the first major support level at $9,193.6, Bitcoin moved back to a late high $9,263.0 before easing back. The near-term bullish trend remained intact in spite of the early July pullback to sub-$9,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend. The Rest of the Pack Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day on Saturday. Cardano’s ADA (+5.67%), Tezos (+5.61%), and Tron’s TRX (+5.11%) led the way. Binance Coin (+1.85%), Litecoin (+0.92%) Monero’s XMR (+2.10%), Ripple’s XRP (+0.86%), and Stellar’s Lumen (+1.27%) also found support. It was a bearish day for the rest of the majors, however. Ethereum led the way down, with a loss of 0.87%. Bitcoin Cash ABC (-0.48%), Bitcoin Cash SV (-0.21%), and EOS (-0.10%) saw relatively modest losses on the day. In the current week, the crypto total market cap rose from a Monday low $254.55bn to a Wednesday high $274.58bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $267.71bn. Bitcoin’s dominance fell from a Monday high 65.58% to a Thursday low 63.55%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s dominance stood at 63.79%. This Morning At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.44% to $9,287.2. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin rise from an early morning low $9,244.3 to a high $9,299.7. Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day. At the time of writing, Cardano’s ADA was down by 0.36% to buck the trend early on. It was a bullish start for the rest of the majors, with Bitcoin Cash SV up by 3.27% to lead the way. Story continues For the Bitcoin Day Ahead Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall back through the $9,253 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $9,305.37. Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break back through to $9,300 levels. Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside. In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin should break through the second major resistance level at $9,364.43 before any pullback. Failure to avoid a fall back through the $9,253 pivot level would bring the first major support level at $9,193.67 into play. Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should avoid sub-$9,100 levels. The second major resistance level at $9,141.03 should limit any downside. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Technical Analysis – Blue Chips Jump on Bank Stocks Surge European Equities: A Week in Review – 11/07/20 The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – July 11th, 2020 AUD/USD Forex Technical Analysis – Strengthens Over .6921, Weakens Under .6889 EOS, Ethereum and Ripple’s XRP – Daily Tech Analysis – July 11th, 2020 US Stock Market Overview – Stocks Rise Led by Financials; the Nasdaq Hits a Fresh All-time High || The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – July 12th, 2020: Bitcoin, BTC to USD, fell by 0.63% on Saturday. Reversing a 0.60% gain from Friday, Bitcoin ended the day at $9,246.3. It was a bearish start to the day for Bitcoin. Bitcoin fell from an early morning intraday high $9,311.8 to a late morning intraday low $9,200.1 before finding support. Steering clear of the first major support level at $9,193.6, Bitcoin moved back to a late high $9,263.0 before easing back. The near-term bullish trend remained intact in spite of the early July pullback to sub-$9,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend. The Rest of the Pack Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day on Saturday. Cardano’s ADA (+5.67%), Tezos (+5.61%), and Tron’s TRX (+5.11%) led the way. Binance Coin (+1.85%), Litecoin (+0.92%) Monero’s XMR (+2.10%), Ripple’s XRP (+0.86%), and Stellar’s Lumen (+1.27%) also found support. It was a bearish day for the rest of the majors, however. Ethereum led the way down, with a loss of 0.87%. Bitcoin Cash ABC (-0.48%), Bitcoin Cash SV (-0.21%), and EOS (-0.10%) saw relatively modest losses on the day. In the current week, the crypto total market cap rose from a Monday low $254.55bn to a Wednesday high $274.58bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $267.71bn. Bitcoin’s dominance fell from a Monday high 65.58% to a Thursday low 63.55%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s dominance stood at 63.79%. This Morning At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up by 0.44% to $9,287.2. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin rise from an early morning low $9,244.3 to a high $9,299.7. Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day. At the time of writing, Cardano’s ADA was down by 0.36% to buck the trend early on. It was a bullish start for the rest of the majors, with Bitcoin Cash SV up by 3.27% to lead the way. Story continues For the Bitcoin Day Ahead Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall back through the $9,253 pivot to support a run at the first major resistance level at $9,305.37. Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break back through to $9,300 levels. Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside. In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin should break through the second major resistance level at $9,364.43 before any pullback. Failure to avoid a fall back through the $9,253 pivot level would bring the first major support level at $9,193.67 into play. Barring an extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should avoid sub-$9,100 levels. The second major resistance level at $9,141.03 should limit any downside. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Technical Analysis – Blue Chips Jump on Bank Stocks Surge European Equities: A Week in Review – 11/07/20 The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – July 11th, 2020 AUD/USD Forex Technical Analysis – Strengthens Over .6921, Weakens Under .6889 EOS, Ethereum and Ripple’s XRP – Daily Tech Analysis – July 11th, 2020 US Stock Market Overview – Stocks Rise Led by Financials; the Nasdaq Hits a Fresh All-time High || Bitcoin Gold devs say they stopped an ‘extremely long’ block reorganization attack: Bitcoin Gold's developer team has prevented an "extremely long attack chain" against the network according to a Friday announcement.
According to the development team, an attacker rented hash power from mining service provider NiceHash on July 1 and secretly mined an alternative chain — essentially creating a new transaction history for the network — for nearly ten days, mining over 1,300 blocks in the process. On July 10, the attacker released thesecret chainin an attempt to collect over 8,000 bitcoin gold, worth more than $75K at press time.
The attacker was thwarted, however, as the Bitcoin Gold teamdetectedthe attack early on and alerted mining pools and exchanges about the potential attack. The team also privately supplied these entities with a new updated version of the Bitcoin Gold network, which implemented a checkpoint at block 640,650—the most recent "honest block" before the attack. This new code, run by pools and exchanges, automatically rejected the attacker's chain when it was released on July 10.
Bitcoin Gold has a history of reorg attacks. The network faced a $70,000 attack in January 2020 and an $18M attack in May 2018.
© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. || Bitcoin Gold devs say they stopped an ‘extremely long’ block reorganization attack: Bitcoin Gold's developer team has prevented an "extremely long attack chain" against the network according to a Friday announcement.
According to the development team, an attacker rented hash power from mining service provider NiceHash on July 1 and secretly mined an alternative chain — essentially creating a new transaction history for the network — for nearly ten days, mining over 1,300 blocks in the process. On July 10, the attacker released thesecret chainin an attempt to collect over 8,000 bitcoin gold, worth more than $75K at press time.
The attacker was thwarted, however, as the Bitcoin Gold teamdetectedthe attack early on and alerted mining pools and exchanges about the potential attack. The team also privately supplied these entities with a new updated version of the Bitcoin Gold network, which implemented a checkpoint at block 640,650—the most recent "honest block" before the attack. This new code, run by pools and exchanges, automatically rejected the attacker's chain when it was released on July 10.
Bitcoin Gold has a history of reorg attacks. The network faced a $70,000 attack in January 2020 and an $18M attack in May 2018.
© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. || Bitcoin Gold devs say they stopped an extremely long block reorganization attack: Bitcoin Gold's developer team has prevented an "extremely long attack chain" against the network according to a Friday announcement. According to the development team, an attacker rented hash power from mining service provider NiceHash on July 1 and secretly mined an alternative chain essentially creating a new transaction history for the network for nearly ten days, mining over 1,300 blocks in the process. On July 10, the attacker released the secret chain in an attempt to collect over 8,000 bitcoin gold, worth more than $75K at press time. The attacker was thwarted, however, as the Bitcoin Gold team detected the attack early on and alerted mining pools and exchanges about the potential attack. The team also privately supplied these entities with a new updated version of the Bitcoin Gold network, which implemented a checkpoint at block 640,650the most recent "honest block" before the attack. This new code, run by pools and exchanges, automatically rejected the attacker's chain when it was released on July 10. Bitcoin Gold has a history of reorg attacks. The network faced a $70,000 attack in January 2020 and an $18M attack in May 2018. © 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. || The Mixed Signals Economy: The Breakdown Weekly Recap: Jobless claims are down, coronavirus cases are up and the markets simply don’t know what to do.
Formore episodesand free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublica,iHeartRadioorRSS.
This episode is sponsored byBitstampandCiphertrace.
Related:Bitcoin News Roundup for July 13, 2020
On The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap, NLW explores:
• The final tally on the TikTok Doge viral campaign
• The growing geopolitical tension between China and the U.S. and where it’s manifesting
• Positive economic indicators in reduced jobless claims
• Negative economic indicators in growing COVID-19 casesanddeaths
• Whybitcoinis moving sideways
• Why Treasury yields are down
• Why gold is up
Monday |China Stocks Surge and NYC Real Estate Craters: 5 Stories Shaping Markets Today
Tuesday |Central Banks Cannot Print Jobs: Understanding Real Economic Recovery, Feat. Daniel Lacalle
Wednesday |TikTok Let the Doge Out: Why TikTok Doge Is Everything About 2020 Finance in One Story
Related:Does COVID-19 Have the World Rethinking Dollar Supremacy?
Thursday |Inequality, Social Chaos, Bankruptcy Rallies: The Best Insights From FinTwit June 2020
Friday |You Can’t Fight Outrage Culture With More Outrage, Feat. Michael Krieger
Formore episodesand free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublica,iHeartRadioorRSS.
• The Mixed Signals Economy: The Breakdown Weekly Recap
• The Mixed Signals Economy: The Breakdown Weekly Recap || The Mixed Signals Economy: The Breakdown Weekly Recap: Jobless claims are down, coronavirus cases are up and the markets simply don’t know what to do. For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Pocketcasts , Google Podcasts , Castbox , Stitcher , RadioPublica , iHeartRadio or RSS . This episode is sponsored by Bitstamp and Ciphertrace . Related: Bitcoin News Roundup for July 13, 2020 On The Breakdown’s Weekly Recap, NLW explores: The final tally on the TikTok Doge viral campaign The growing geopolitical tension between China and the U.S. and where it’s manifesting Positive economic indicators in reduced jobless claims Negative economic indicators in growing COVID-19 cases and deaths Why bitcoin is moving sideways Why Treasury yields are down Why gold is up This week on The Breakdown: Monday | China Stocks Surge and NYC Real Estate Craters: 5 Stories Shaping Markets Today Tuesday | Central Banks Cannot Print Jobs: Understanding Real Economic Recovery, Feat. Daniel Lacalle Wednesday | TikTok Let the Doge Out: Why TikTok Doge Is Everything About 2020 Finance in One Story Related: Does COVID-19 Have the World Rethinking Dollar Supremacy? Thursday | Inequality, Social Chaos, Bankruptcy Rallies: The Best Insights From FinTwit June 2020 Friday | You Can’t Fight Outrage Culture With More Outrage, Feat. Michael Krieger For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Pocketcasts , Google Podcasts , Castbox , Stitcher , RadioPublica , iHeartRadio or RSS . Related Stories The Mixed Signals Economy: The Breakdown Weekly Recap The Mixed Signals Economy: The Breakdown Weekly Recap View comments || Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of Ethereum’s 2014 Premine: The following is excerpted from Camila Russo’s“The Infinite Machine,”an in-depth history of Ethereum, which goes on sale July 14.
The sale started on July 22 at midnight in Switzerland. The website they put together for the sale had a real-time counter of the amount ofethersold, and the team watched with relief as the numbers ticked up. More than 7 million ether, or about $2.2 million, were sold just in the first 12 hours. It had been a long, hard wait since December and January, when most of them started working for the project. Everyone was worn out, and most were broke.
“We have been promising that the sale would arise in two weeks for six months, and many team members have endured substantial hardships because of expectations that we set regarding when we would be able to provide funding,” Vitalik [Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder] wrote in a blog post announcing the sale. “We certainly miscalculated the sheer difficulty of navigating the relevant legal processes in the United States and Switzerland, as well as the surprisingly intricate technical issues surrounding setting up a secure sale website and cold wallet system.”
Related:Marlin Releases Open-Source ‘Layer 0’ Transaction Relayer for Ethereum
See also:What is Ethereum?
At the start of the sale and for fourteen days the price was set so that one bitcoin bought 2,000 ether. At the end of the 14-day period the amount would decline linearly to a final rate of 1,337 ether, which meant that one ether was worth 0.0007479bitcoinor about 30 cents at bitcoin prices in September 2014.
While prices for the sale were fixed, the amount that would be issued was not, so purchasers could buy as much ether as they wanted to. When investors sent their bitcoin to the EthSuisse wallet address, though, they didn’t immediately get ether in return. They got an Ethereum wallet and password that would allow them to access their ether when the platform launched. It was a way to reduce the speculative nature of the sale, and have the token be traded only once it could be actually used.
The Ethereum network launch was targeted for the (Northern Hemisphere) winter of 2014-15. The Ethereum team would create ether according to the amount raised in the sale when the first block in the Ethereum blockchain was mined. There was a second pool of ether that would be issued for the cofounders and other early team members, which would be 9.9 percent of the amount raised, and a third pool of ether of the same size would be created for the Ethereum Foundation.
Related:Introducing the CoinDesk 20: The Assets That Matter Most in Crypto
This type of cryptocurrency issuance is known as a “premine,” as the coins are created before the network is generating tokens on its own, like Bitcoin does to reward its miners. The concept is controversial, as some enthusiasts will argue Satoshi Nakamoto gave anyone who was interested the same opportunity to gain bitcoin when the network was launched, as he announced when mining would begin and published the software beforehand. In the case of Bitcoin, the total supply of coins is created by miners. Ethereum and other projects that premine their coins are criticized because control of the cryptocurrency’s supply is potentially more centralized among “insiders” who participated in the presale and could manipulate the price or influence governance decisions. Before Ethereum, almost any cryptocurrency project that had a premine would be quickly written off as a scam. Ethereum didn’t entirely change that, and it’s still criticized because of it, but it did help legitimize the concept.
Podcast host and Bitcoin enthusiast Matt Odell brought up these criticisms in October 2018 and Vitalik responded on Twitter, “I personally am really proud to have helped set the precedent of small premines being legitimate. It’s an appalling idea that people operating boxes burning huge piles of electricity are somehow the only ones who should be allowed to gain from crypto seignorage revenue.”
See also: Osho Jha –Staking Will Turn Ethereum Into a Functional Store of Value
The sale documents said that once the Ethereum blockchain launched and the premined ether was issued, miners would generate new ether initially at an annual rate of 26% of the amount of ether issued in the crowdsale – the issuance rate isn’t fixed and is capped at 18 million ETH minted per year. That means the supply of ether would grow over time but at a decreasing rate. The increasing supply means that large holders’ stakes will gradually decline relative to the total supply and ownership will tend to be more decentralized, while a declining growth rate avoids flooding the market with ether and pushing down its price. An uncapped supply for Ethereum also ensures that those supporting the network will always be rewarded with new ether. That’s another difference with Bitcoin, which is designed to have a fixed supply of 21 million.
The Ethereum documents and Vitalik’s blog posts said they give no guarantees of ether’s future value but the chart they showed in the terms-and-conditions document, with a downward sloping line to represent the ether supply growth rate, surely gave prospective buyers reason to be hopeful.
Bitcoin continued to trickle in, and on the seventh day of the crowdsale, Tuesday, July 29, Ken [Seiff] decided to make the plunge. He had moved back to New York from San Francisco just four days earlier. He and his wife were staying at the Ludlow Hotel in the East Village while the moving trucks were on their way from the West Coast with their belongings, and their children were staying at their grandparents’ in Florida to avoid the majority of the move.
He was working at one of his venture fund’s investor’s offices until he got his own place. It had been a fairly typical day. He had been in meetings with investors and portfolio companies since the early morning and had come back to his borrowed desk in the evening to return calls and get to his outstanding emails.
Bitcoin was about $580 that day, and each bitcoin purchased 2,000 ether, making the cost of 1 ether about $0.29, Ken calculated. Used to thinking in venture capital terms, Ken equated Bitcoin to a later stage, Series D investment, while Ethereum was a seed investment. That meant ether had more room to grow, but also a higher likelihood of failure. Ethereum, with its ability to support all kinds of blockchain applications, also had the potential of being even bigger than Bitcoin, Ken thought.
He had gone through these arguments many times in his head, but he revisited them as he went to the Ethereum.org white and gray website. At the center was the amount of ether sold so far. To the left of that number was the amount of days left in the sale and to the right was the amount of days left at the current price, an interface that not so subtly said “hurry up and give us your bitcoin.” Below those numbers was a black button that said, “Buy Ether,” along with links to the terms and conditions, the purchase agreement, the white paper, and the intended use of revenue. He had already gone over those documents but he skimmed through them once more. “Ownership of ETH carries no rights . . . purchases are non-refundable . . . cryptofuel . . . distributed applications,” he read and took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”
His heart beat faster, and he had no idea what to expect when he clicked the “Buy Ether” button. A new page with a three-step process appeared. Step 1, the website told him, “Enter the amount to purchase in either Bitcoin or Ether.” The minimum was 0.01 bitcoin and the maximum was 500,000 bitcoin. The cap was in place to prevent buyers from owning a disproportionately large stake of the total ether sold and the terms and conditions said “EthSuisse will restrict any single entity, person, corporation, or group from controlling more than 12.5% of the total ETH sold by the end of the Genesis Sale” – but it’s unclear from the documentation exactly how they’d be able to keep track, since all that was needed to buy ether was an email address. Also, EthSuisse would be dissolved right after the sale.
Ken wasn’t planning on giving up 500,000 bitcoin, but it was a substantial amount of his personal wealth that he had decided to bet on Ethereum. He typed in the amount. Step 2 was to type in his email address, and Step 3 was to create a passphrase that would be used to encrypt and access his wallet. He checked everything a million times and clicked on “Continue.” Step 4 told him to “move his mouse around the screen to generate a random wallet, and once you’re done you will be moved on to the next screen.” “This is so weird,” he thought, as he complied, his anxiety surging when he realized there was no back button. Next, he clicked on a button that downloaded an Ethereum wallet to his computer, and then there was a Bitcoin wallet address and QR code for him to send his bitcoin to. He went to his Bitcoin wallet, copied the address – a jumbled-up string of numbers and letters – and letting out a muffled scream, “Aaaahhh!” he clicked send.
And just like that, he had parted with half of his perfectly good bitcoin, which were now traveling into some cryptographic maze. “Into the ether!” he couldn’t help thinking. This was one of the scariest moments of his life. There were no charge-backs in blockchain. If he copied the wrong address, or messed up one of the steps, there would be no way of getting his bitcoin back. In the world of crypto, there was no arbiter (that was the whole point), and when the roughly 10 minutes it takes to confirm transactions in the Bitcoin network were up, the transfer would be permanent and virtually immutable. He sat back, and just stared at his laptop screen for a while. It was done.
See also:Money Reimagined: Bitcoin and Ethereum Are a DeFi Double Act
Thousands of other people must have been thinking the same thing as they sent their bitcoin into what seemed like the dark void of the Ethereum sale. It’s hard to say exactly how many, but the blockchain shows more than 6,600 transactions going into EthSuisse’s Bitcoin address. The total number of people who participated is likely much smaller, though, as big buyers probably split their purchases into several different wallets.
By the end of the sale, people behind those jumbled addresses had bought more than 60 million ether, which at around 30 cents per coin amounted to $18.3 million. It was a huge success. There had been only five similar crowdsales done by cryptocurrency projects before Ethereum’s Genesis Sale and the second-largest raise had been by Maidsafe for $6 million. It was also a success compared with crowdsales in general. Seven months later, Mihai [Alisie] would publish a blog post that said, “according to Wikipedia, Ethereum is rated as the second-biggest crowdfunded project in the history of the internet, sitting proudly next to the first occupant that raised over $70 [million], but over the course of years, not 42 days.”
Mihai had turned 27 during the sale on July 25, and the Ethereum team that was still in Zug [Switzerland] decorated the house with colorful banners and took the chance to celebrate both Mihai growing older and the bitcoin that was flowing in. All the laptops in the house had the website permanently open, so that as they had their drinks and ate birthday cake, the big number at the center of the page that showed the pile of ether they had sold was quietly and steadily ticking up.
Now anyone could be an investor in one of the most cutting-edge technology companies out there. All they needed was an internet connection and at least 0.01 bitcoin.
“I have to admit that we all had high hopes, but no one was anticipating that in 24 hours we would surpass any previous initiative in the space. In any case, it was one of the most fulfilling birthday presents ever and proof that we weren’t crazy, or that there are many other crazy people out there and we’d found each other,” Mihai wrote.
The Ethereum team had actually written down what those high hopes were. In a document called “Intended Use of Revenue,” they included three scenarios: one in case they got $9 million or less in the sale, $9 million to $22.5 million was the second one, and more than $22.5 million was the third. The very worst case for them already meant beating all other previous cryptocurrency crowdsales. In all cases, $1.8 million was allocated to expenses incurred before the sale and $1 million was to be set aside for a legal contingency fund. Of the rest, 76.5 percent went to the developers, 13.5 percent went to communications and community outreach, and 10 percent went to research.
The total supply of ETH started out at 72 million as 5.9 million (the stipulated 9.9 percent of the 60 million raised) was created for 83 early contributors and an equal amount was issued for the foundation. Vitalik got the biggest share of the contributors’ endowment at about 553,000 ether. Stephan Tual, who was leading communications in London, would later make a big stink with an angry post on Reddit, leaking information about how much specific people had gotten, especially when he didn’t think they’d contributed much to the effort.
Vitalik had designed a whole system for calculating allocations based on the date individuals had joined the project and the hours they contributed to it. The foundation wasn’t allowed to invest in the crowdsale, so that it wouldn’t get a disproportionate stake and raise the centralization red flag, and it could only withdraw 5,000 bitcoin while the presale was running to speed up development. The limit was put in place to avoid any suggestion that the foundation was reinvesting the bitcoin it got to inflate volume.
See also:Ethereum Has Become Bitcoin’s Top Off-Chain Destination
But there was no rule about the endowment recipients buying up more ETH in the sale, as long as they didn’t break the rule of owning more than 12.5 percent of the total supply. Still, there was no way of enforcing that limit. There was a big incentive for cofounders to buy more in the sale, as the amount they would get as part of the endowment depended on the total raised. Put simply, whatever money they put in they’d essentially get more free money back. Those who had lent money to Ethereum also got paid back their loans plus 25 to 50 percent of interest, depending on when they were made. Vitalik had lent more than half the money he had to the foundation and didn’t have many funds left to put in. Joe Lubin is rumored to be the biggest holder of ETH to come out of the crowdsale, though he says that’s not the case.
Critics in the BitcoinTalk forum and elsewhere didn’t go quiet when they saw Ethereum’s success. With no proof to support their claims, they posited that volume was being manipulated by the foundation and the Ethereum team to draw in more buyers. How else to explain why Ethereum’s volume was so much higher than other crowdsales?
Preston Byrne, an attorney focusing on early-stage companies and cryptocurrency businesses, published an April 2018 blog post stating that “most of the ether sold in the 2014 token pre-sale in exchange for bitcoin may have been paid out to one person or, more likely, a handful of close associates working in concert,” because the chart showing the flow of bitcoin was unnaturally even, and almost exactly the same as the chart of a mathematical power function. Something so perfect, he suggested, signaled the work of a bot. Byrne said it was highly suspicious that “the initial two week-period of the Ethereum pre-sale looks more than merely typical, there’s very little randomness in it – it looksperfect,” and, “unless Vitalik subtly managed to telepathically hack everyone’s brains so buyers would participate in the pre-sale in an organized fashion,” it’s likely that enough ether to move markets is concentrated in not a lot of people. Research firm Chainalysis later confirmed the suspicion that ether distribution is concentrated. Only 376 holders control 33 percent of the circulating ether supply, a May 2019 report found.
One anonymous cryptocurrency researcher who goes by the online name of Hasu did further analysis of the sale after Byrne’s post. He found the two bumps in demand during the sale, one at the beginning and one at the end of the 42-week period, are an expected consequence of people buying right before the ether price increased. Still, like Byrne, he didn’t find an explanation for “why the graph looks so damn smooth.”
While Vitalik hopes there was no manipulation by insiders, and says he didn’t engage in such practices, he says ultimately he has no way of knowing whether some may have done it. As for himself, he barely had enough money to invest as he had spent most of it bootstrapping Ethereum.
See also:Why This Dev Built a ‘Centralized Ethereum’ on Top of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network
Incentives for early contributors to participate in the sale and get others to do so, and the unnaturally even chart patterns, point to possible manipulation during the ether sale. But the amount of money raised was also a reflection of an intensely anticipated project led by a teenager hailed as a genius coder, building the next-generation blockchain.
A whole new financing model had been tested. One where a ragtag group of feuding hackers with no business plan and no live product, let alone users or revenue, could raise millions of dollars from thousands of people from all over the world. Before, anyone who wanted to buy stock in big tech firms like Facebook or Google would need a U.S. bank account; things got even more complicated for those who wanted to invest in startups that hadn’t gone to the public markets to raise funds. Now anyone could be an investor in one of the most cutting-edge technology companies out there. All they needed was an internet connection and at least 0.01 bitcoin.
Ken followed up with Gavin in January to see how the launch was coming along. They had promised the platform (and therefore Ken’s ether) would be live around that time.
On January 3, 2015, Ken Seiff <[redacted]> wrote:
Hey Gav,Happy new year! Hope you have an amazing year.
On January 6, 2015, Gav Wood <[redacted]> wrote:
Hey Ken,yeah you too! Was a fairly amazing year as far as they go:) Going fairly well, looking forward to a release more or less on schedule, depending on the outcome of our external security audit, which is beginning right now. We’re looking at an incremental roll-out rather than a big-bang release as originally planned, so there should be various news and improvements coming out over the year.Gav—Never put down to incompetence that which can be adequately explained by self-interest.
On January 6, 2015, Ken Seiff <[redacted]> wrote:
Haha. Can’t tell you how many times I have seen that exact change in plans. Welcome to startup hell. That which doesn’t break you makes you stronger.Very excited to see what you guys deliver over the coming few years.It’s going to be massively disruptive.
From “THE INFINITE MACHINE” by Camila Russo.Copyright © 2020 by Camila Russo. Reprinted courtesy of Harper Business, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
• Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of Ethereum’s 2014 Premine
• Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of Ethereum’s 2014 Premine || Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of Ethereum’s 2014 Premine: The following is excerpted from Camila Russo’s “The Infinite Machine,” an in-depth history of Ethereum, which goes on sale July 14. The sale started on July 22 at midnight in Switzerland. The website they put together for the sale had a real-time counter of the amount of ether sold, and the team watched with relief as the numbers ticked up. More than 7 million ether, or about $2.2 million, were sold just in the first 12 hours. It had been a long, hard wait since December and January, when most of them started working for the project. Everyone was worn out, and most were broke. “We have been promising that the sale would arise in two weeks for six months, and many team members have endured substantial hardships because of expectations that we set regarding when we would be able to provide funding,” Vitalik [Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder] wrote in a blog post announcing the sale. “We certainly miscalculated the sheer difficulty of navigating the relevant legal processes in the United States and Switzerland, as well as the surprisingly intricate technical issues surrounding setting up a secure sale website and cold wallet system.” Related: Marlin Releases Open-Source ‘Layer 0’ Transaction Relayer for Ethereum See also: What is Ethereum? At the start of the sale and for fourteen days the price was set so that one bitcoin bought 2,000 ether. At the end of the 14-day period the amount would decline linearly to a final rate of 1,337 ether, which meant that one ether was worth 0.0007479 bitcoin or about 30 cents at bitcoin prices in September 2014. While prices for the sale were fixed, the amount that would be issued was not, so purchasers could buy as much ether as they wanted to. When investors sent their bitcoin to the EthSuisse wallet address, though, they didn’t immediately get ether in return. They got an Ethereum wallet and password that would allow them to access their ether when the platform launched. It was a way to reduce the speculative nature of the sale, and have the token be traded only once it could be actually used. Story continues The Ethereum network launch was targeted for the (Northern Hemisphere) winter of 2014-15. The Ethereum team would create ether according to the amount raised in the sale when the first block in the Ethereum blockchain was mined. There was a second pool of ether that would be issued for the cofounders and other early team members, which would be 9.9 percent of the amount raised, and a third pool of ether of the same size would be created for the Ethereum Foundation. Related: Introducing the CoinDesk 20: The Assets That Matter Most in Crypto This type of cryptocurrency issuance is known as a “premine,” as the coins are created before the network is generating tokens on its own, like Bitcoin does to reward its miners. The concept is controversial, as some enthusiasts will argue Satoshi Nakamoto gave anyone who was interested the same opportunity to gain bitcoin when the network was launched, as he announced when mining would begin and published the software beforehand. In the case of Bitcoin, the total supply of coins is created by miners. Ethereum and other projects that premine their coins are criticized because control of the cryptocurrency’s supply is potentially more centralized among “insiders” who participated in the presale and could manipulate the price or influence governance decisions. Before Ethereum, almost any cryptocurrency project that had a premine would be quickly written off as a scam. Ethereum didn’t entirely change that, and it’s still criticized because of it, but it did help legitimize the concept. Podcast host and Bitcoin enthusiast Matt Odell brought up these criticisms in October 2018 and Vitalik responded on Twitter, “I personally am really proud to have helped set the precedent of small premines being legitimate. It’s an appalling idea that people operating boxes burning huge piles of electricity are somehow the only ones who should be allowed to gain from crypto seignorage revenue.” See also: Osho Jha – Staking Will Turn Ethereum Into a Functional Store of Value The sale documents said that once the Ethereum blockchain launched and the premined ether was issued, miners would generate new ether initially at an annual rate of 26% of the amount of ether issued in the crowdsale – the issuance rate isn’t fixed and is capped at 18 million ETH minted per year. That means the supply of ether would grow over time but at a decreasing rate. The increasing supply means that large holders’ stakes will gradually decline relative to the total supply and ownership will tend to be more decentralized, while a declining growth rate avoids flooding the market with ether and pushing down its price. An uncapped supply for Ethereum also ensures that those supporting the network will always be rewarded with new ether. That’s another difference with Bitcoin, which is designed to have a fixed supply of 21 million. The Ethereum documents and Vitalik’s blog posts said they give no guarantees of ether’s future value but the chart they showed in the terms-and-conditions document, with a downward sloping line to represent the ether supply growth rate, surely gave prospective buyers reason to be hopeful. Bitcoin continued to trickle in, and on the seventh day of the crowdsale, Tuesday, July 29, Ken [Seiff] decided to make the plunge. He had moved back to New York from San Francisco just four days earlier. He and his wife were staying at the Ludlow Hotel in the East Village while the moving trucks were on their way from the West Coast with their belongings, and their children were staying at their grandparents’ in Florida to avoid the majority of the move. He was working at one of his venture fund’s investor’s offices until he got his own place. It had been a fairly typical day. He had been in meetings with investors and portfolio companies since the early morning and had come back to his borrowed desk in the evening to return calls and get to his outstanding emails. Bitcoin was about $580 that day, and each bitcoin purchased 2,000 ether, making the cost of 1 ether about $0.29, Ken calculated. Used to thinking in venture capital terms, Ken equated Bitcoin to a later stage, Series D investment, while Ethereum was a seed investment. That meant ether had more room to grow, but also a higher likelihood of failure. Ethereum, with its ability to support all kinds of blockchain applications, also had the potential of being even bigger than Bitcoin, Ken thought. He had gone through these arguments many times in his head, but he revisited them as he went to the Ethereum.org white and gray website. At the center was the amount of ether sold so far. To the left of that number was the amount of days left in the sale and to the right was the amount of days left at the current price, an interface that not so subtly said “hurry up and give us your bitcoin.” Below those numbers was a black button that said, “Buy Ether,” along with links to the terms and conditions, the purchase agreement, the white paper, and the intended use of revenue. He had already gone over those documents but he skimmed through them once more. “Ownership of ETH carries no rights . . . purchases are non-refundable . . . cryptofuel . . . distributed applications,” he read and took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.” His heart beat faster, and he had no idea what to expect when he clicked the “Buy Ether” button. A new page with a three-step process appeared. Step 1, the website told him, “Enter the amount to purchase in either Bitcoin or Ether.” The minimum was 0.01 bitcoin and the maximum was 500,000 bitcoin. The cap was in place to prevent buyers from owning a disproportionately large stake of the total ether sold and the terms and conditions said “EthSuisse will restrict any single entity, person, corporation, or group from controlling more than 12.5% of the total ETH sold by the end of the Genesis Sale” – but it’s unclear from the documentation exactly how they’d be able to keep track, since all that was needed to buy ether was an email address. Also, EthSuisse would be dissolved right after the sale. Ken wasn’t planning on giving up 500,000 bitcoin, but it was a substantial amount of his personal wealth that he had decided to bet on Ethereum. He typed in the amount. Step 2 was to type in his email address, and Step 3 was to create a passphrase that would be used to encrypt and access his wallet. He checked everything a million times and clicked on “Continue.” Step 4 told him to “move his mouse around the screen to generate a random wallet, and once you’re done you will be moved on to the next screen.” “This is so weird,” he thought, as he complied, his anxiety surging when he realized there was no back button. Next, he clicked on a button that downloaded an Ethereum wallet to his computer, and then there was a Bitcoin wallet address and QR code for him to send his bitcoin to. He went to his Bitcoin wallet, copied the address – a jumbled-up string of numbers and letters – and letting out a muffled scream, “Aaaahhh!” he clicked send. And just like that, he had parted with half of his perfectly good bitcoin, which were now traveling into some cryptographic maze. “Into the ether!” he couldn’t help thinking. This was one of the scariest moments of his life. There were no charge-backs in blockchain. If he copied the wrong address, or messed up one of the steps, there would be no way of getting his bitcoin back. In the world of crypto, there was no arbiter (that was the whole point), and when the roughly 10 minutes it takes to confirm transactions in the Bitcoin network were up, the transfer would be permanent and virtually immutable. He sat back, and just stared at his laptop screen for a while. It was done. See also: Money Reimagined: Bitcoin and Ethereum Are a DeFi Double Act Thousands of other people must have been thinking the same thing as they sent their bitcoin into what seemed like the dark void of the Ethereum sale. It’s hard to say exactly how many, but the blockchain shows more than 6,600 transactions going into EthSuisse’s Bitcoin address. The total number of people who participated is likely much smaller, though, as big buyers probably split their purchases into several different wallets. By the end of the sale, people behind those jumbled addresses had bought more than 60 million ether, which at around 30 cents per coin amounted to $18.3 million. It was a huge success. There had been only five similar crowdsales done by cryptocurrency projects before Ethereum’s Genesis Sale and the second-largest raise had been by Maidsafe for $6 million. It was also a success compared with crowdsales in general. Seven months later, Mihai [Alisie] would publish a blog post that said, “according to Wikipedia, Ethereum is rated as the second-biggest crowdfunded project in the history of the internet, sitting proudly next to the first occupant that raised over $70 [million], but over the course of years, not 42 days.” Mihai had turned 27 during the sale on July 25, and the Ethereum team that was still in Zug [Switzerland] decorated the house with colorful banners and took the chance to celebrate both Mihai growing older and the bitcoin that was flowing in. All the laptops in the house had the website permanently open, so that as they had their drinks and ate birthday cake, the big number at the center of the page that showed the pile of ether they had sold was quietly and steadily ticking up. Now anyone could be an investor in one of the most cutting-edge technology companies out there. All they needed was an internet connection and at least 0.01 bitcoin. “I have to admit that we all had high hopes, but no one was anticipating that in 24 hours we would surpass any previous initiative in the space. In any case, it was one of the most fulfilling birthday presents ever and proof that we weren’t crazy, or that there are many other crazy people out there and we’d found each other,” Mihai wrote. The Ethereum team had actually written down what those high hopes were. In a document called “Intended Use of Revenue,” they included three scenarios: one in case they got $9 million or less in the sale, $9 million to $22.5 million was the second one, and more than $22.5 million was the third. The very worst case for them already meant beating all other previous cryptocurrency crowdsales. In all cases, $1.8 million was allocated to expenses incurred before the sale and $1 million was to be set aside for a legal contingency fund. Of the rest, 76.5 percent went to the developers, 13.5 percent went to communications and community outreach, and 10 percent went to research. The total supply of ETH started out at 72 million as 5.9 million (the stipulated 9.9 percent of the 60 million raised) was created for 83 early contributors and an equal amount was issued for the foundation. Vitalik got the biggest share of the contributors’ endowment at about 553,000 ether. Stephan Tual, who was leading communications in London, would later make a big stink with an angry post on Reddit, leaking information about how much specific people had gotten, especially when he didn’t think they’d contributed much to the effort. Vitalik had designed a whole system for calculating allocations based on the date individuals had joined the project and the hours they contributed to it. The foundation wasn’t allowed to invest in the crowdsale, so that it wouldn’t get a disproportionate stake and raise the centralization red flag, and it could only withdraw 5,000 bitcoin while the presale was running to speed up development. The limit was put in place to avoid any suggestion that the foundation was reinvesting the bitcoin it got to inflate volume. See also: Ethereum Has Become Bitcoin’s Top Off-Chain Destination But there was no rule about the endowment recipients buying up more ETH in the sale, as long as they didn’t break the rule of owning more than 12.5 percent of the total supply. Still, there was no way of enforcing that limit. There was a big incentive for cofounders to buy more in the sale, as the amount they would get as part of the endowment depended on the total raised. Put simply, whatever money they put in they’d essentially get more free money back. Those who had lent money to Ethereum also got paid back their loans plus 25 to 50 percent of interest, depending on when they were made. Vitalik had lent more than half the money he had to the foundation and didn’t have many funds left to put in. Joe Lubin is rumored to be the biggest holder of ETH to come out of the crowdsale, though he says that’s not the case. Critics in the BitcoinTalk forum and elsewhere didn’t go quiet when they saw Ethereum’s success. With no proof to support their claims, they posited that volume was being manipulated by the foundation and the Ethereum team to draw in more buyers. How else to explain why Ethereum’s volume was so much higher than other crowdsales? Preston Byrne, an attorney focusing on early-stage companies and cryptocurrency businesses, published an April 2018 blog post stating that “most of the ether sold in the 2014 token pre-sale in exchange for bitcoin may have been paid out to one person or, more likely, a handful of close associates working in concert,” because the chart showing the flow of bitcoin was unnaturally even, and almost exactly the same as the chart of a mathematical power function. Something so perfect, he suggested, signaled the work of a bot. Byrne said it was highly suspicious that “the initial two week-period of the Ethereum pre-sale looks more than merely typical, there’s very little randomness in it – it looks perfect, ” and, “unless Vitalik subtly managed to telepathically hack everyone’s brains so buyers would participate in the pre-sale in an organized fashion,” it’s likely that enough ether to move markets is concentrated in not a lot of people. Research firm Chainalysis later confirmed the suspicion that ether distribution is concentrated. Only 376 holders control 33 percent of the circulating ether supply, a May 2019 report found. One anonymous cryptocurrency researcher who goes by the online name of Hasu did further analysis of the sale after Byrne’s post. He found the two bumps in demand during the sale, one at the beginning and one at the end of the 42-week period, are an expected consequence of people buying right before the ether price increased. Still, like Byrne, he didn’t find an explanation for “why the graph looks so damn smooth.” While Vitalik hopes there was no manipulation by insiders, and says he didn’t engage in such practices, he says ultimately he has no way of knowing whether some may have done it. As for himself, he barely had enough money to invest as he had spent most of it bootstrapping Ethereum. See also: Why This Dev Built a ‘Centralized Ethereum’ on Top of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Incentives for early contributors to participate in the sale and get others to do so, and the unnaturally even chart patterns, point to possible manipulation during the ether sale. But the amount of money raised was also a reflection of an intensely anticipated project led by a teenager hailed as a genius coder, building the next-generation blockchain. A whole new financing model had been tested. One where a ragtag group of feuding hackers with no business plan and no live product, let alone users or revenue, could raise millions of dollars from thousands of people from all over the world. Before, anyone who wanted to buy stock in big tech firms like Facebook or Google would need a U.S. bank account; things got even more complicated for those who wanted to invest in startups that hadn’t gone to the public markets to raise funds. Now anyone could be an investor in one of the most cutting-edge technology companies out there. All they needed was an internet connection and at least 0.01 bitcoin. Ken followed up with Gavin in January to see how the launch was coming along. They had promised the platform (and therefore Ken’s ether) would be live around that time. On January 3, 2015, Ken Seiff <[redacted]> wrote: Hey Gav, Happy new year! Hope you have an amazing year. How is it going? Still planning for a Q1 Launch? Best regards, Ken Seiff On January 6, 2015, Gav Wood <[redacted]> wrote: Hey Ken, yeah you too! Was a fairly amazing year as far as they go:) Going fairly well, looking forward to a release more or less on schedule, depending on the outcome of our external security audit, which is beginning right now. We’re looking at an incremental roll-out rather than a big-bang release as originally planned, so there should be various news and improvements coming out over the year. Gav —Never put down to incompetence that which can be adequately explained by self-interest. On January 6, 2015, Ken Seiff <[redacted]> wrote: Haha. Can’t tell you how many times I have seen that exact change in plans. Welcome to startup hell. That which doesn’t break you makes you stronger. Very excited to see what you guys deliver over the coming few years. It’s going to be massively disruptive. From “THE INFINITE MACHINE” by Camila Russo. Copyright © 2020 by Camila Russo. Reprinted courtesy of Harper Business, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Related Stories Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of Ethereum’s 2014 Premine Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of Ethereum’s 2014 Premine || Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say: Bitcoin gold’s developer team announced Friday night that it foiled a 51 percent attack that it had known was coming for over a week.
• Bitcoin gold alerted exchanges and mining pools of the attack on July 2, and posted a notice to the community on July 10 noting that it was time for “everyone else to upgrade their nodes.”
• The team only revealed the attempted network takeover to the public after the unknown attacker, which had been mining blocks since July 1, released 1300 blocks late Friday night.
• Developers had circulated an update that featured a checkpoint at block 640650 on July 2. That checkpoint prevented the attacker’s chain from taking over the honest chain, they said Friday.
• “The majority of honest pool hashpower continues to mine on the honest chain,” website maintainer CryptoDJ saidin the post.
• According to the cryptocurrency’sofficial website, there are only 108 bitcoin gold nodes which are in the world. Nearly 30% of them are in Germany. Bitcoin Gold communications director Edward Iskra told CoinDesk that these only represent immediately responsive nodes, and not ones that don’t allow incoming connections.
• The price seems to have been unaffected by the attempted attack, trading between $9 and $10 since Tuesday, according to Bitfinex
UPDATE (July 11, 2020, 04:23 UTC):This article has been updated with additional information.
• Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say
• Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say
• Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say
• Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say || Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say: Bitcoin gold’s developer team announced Friday night that it foiled a 51 percent attack that it had known was coming for over a week.
• Bitcoin gold alerted exchanges and mining pools of the attack on July 2, and posted a notice to the community on July 10 noting that it was time for “everyone else to upgrade their nodes.”
• The team only revealed the attempted network takeover to the public after the unknown attacker, which had been mining blocks since July 1, released 1300 blocks late Friday night.
• Developers had circulated an update that featured a checkpoint at block 640650 on July 2. That checkpoint prevented the attacker’s chain from taking over the honest chain, they said Friday.
• “The majority of honest pool hashpower continues to mine on the honest chain,” website maintainer CryptoDJ saidin the post.
• According to the cryptocurrency’sofficial website, there are only 108 bitcoin gold nodes which are in the world. Nearly 30% of them are in Germany. Bitcoin Gold communications director Edward Iskra told CoinDesk that these only represent immediately responsive nodes, and not ones that don’t allow incoming connections.
• The price seems to have been unaffected by the attempted attack, trading between $9 and $10 since Tuesday, according to Bitfinex
UPDATE (July 11, 2020, 04:23 UTC):This article has been updated with additional information.
• Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say
• Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say
• Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say
• Attempted 51% Attack on Bitcoin Gold Was Thwarted, Developers Say || The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – July 11th, 2020: Bitcoin, BTC to USD, rose by 0.60% on Friday. Following a 2.32% slide on Thursday, Bitcoin ended the day at $9,304.6. It was a bearish start to the day for Bitcoin. Bitcoin fell to an early morning intraday low $9,133.1 before finding support. Finding support at the first major support level at $9,132.03, Bitcoin rallied to a late intraday high $9,324.6. In spite of the late recovery, Bitcoin fell well short of the first major resistance level at $9,407.73. The late recovery, however, saw Bitcoin wrap up the day in positive territory. The near-term bullish trend remained intact in spite of the early July pullback to sub-$9,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend. The Rest of the Pack Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day on Friday. Binance Coin (+2.73%), Bitcoin Cash ABC (+1.00%), Monero’s XMR (+0.25%), and Tezos (+0.34%) bucked the trend on the day. It was a bearish day for the rest of the majors. Cardano’s ADA led the way down, with a loss of 4.63%. Bitcoin Cash SV (-2.00%), XRP (-1.69%) Stellar’s Lumen (-0.99%), and Tron’s TRX (-2.02%) also struggled. EOS (-0.72%), Ethereum (-0.33%), and Litecoin (-0.02%) saw relatively modest losses on the day. In the current week, the crypto total market cap rose from a Monday low $254.55bn to a Wednesday high $274.58bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $267.03bn. Bitcoin’s dominance fell from a Monday high 65.58% to a Thursday low 63.55%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s dominance stood at 64.05%. This Morning At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down by 0.06% to $9,299.0. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to an early morning high $9,311.8 before falling to a low $9,294.0. Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day. Bitcoin Cash SV (-0.19%), Ethereum (-0.02%), and Litecoin (-0.02%) joined Bitcoin in the red. Story continues It was a bullish start for the rest of the majors, with Stellar’s Lumen up by 3.53% to lead the way. For the Bitcoin Day Ahead Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall through the $9,254 pivot level to support a run at the first major resistance level at $9,375.6. Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break out from Friday’s high $9,324.6. Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside. In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin should break out from the second major resistance level at $9,445.6 before any pullback. Failure to avoid a fall through the $9,254 pivot level would bring the first major support level at $9,183.6 into play. Barring another extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should avoid sub-$9,000 levels. The second major resistance level at $9,062.6 should limit any downside. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: USD/CAD Daily Forecast – Oil Price Rebound Supports Canadian Dollar Crude Oil Weekly Price Forecast – Crude Oil Markets Stabilize Gold Weekly Price Forecast – Gold Markets Finally Pierced Major Level The Weekly Wrap – Economic Data and COVID-19 Continued to Girate the Markets E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Technical Analysis – Blue Chips Jump on Bank Stocks Surge Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural Gas Markets Rally Again || The Crypto Daily – Movers and Shakers – July 11th, 2020: Bitcoin, BTC to USD, rose by 0.60% on Friday. Following a 2.32% slide on Thursday, Bitcoin ended the day at $9,304.6.
It was a bearish start to the day for Bitcoin. Bitcoin fell to an early morning intraday low $9,133.1 before finding support.
Finding support at the first major support level at $9,132.03, Bitcoin rallied to a late intraday high $9,324.6.
In spite of the late recovery, Bitcoin fell well short of the first major resistance level at $9,407.73.
The late recovery, however, saw Bitcoin wrap up the day in positive territory.
The near-term bullish trend remained intact in spite of the early July pullback to sub-$9,000 levels. For the bears, Bitcoin would need to slide through the 62% FIB of $6,400 to form a near-term bearish trend.
Across the rest of the majors, it was a mixed day on Friday.
Binance Coin (+2.73%), Bitcoin Cash ABC (+1.00%), Monero’s XMR (+0.25%), and Tezos (+0.34%) bucked the trend on the day.
It was a bearish day for the rest of the majors.
Cardano’s ADA led the way down, with a loss of 4.63%.
Bitcoin Cash SV (-2.00%), XRP (-1.69%) Stellar’s Lumen (-0.99%), and Tron’s TRX (-2.02%) also struggled.
EOS (-0.72%), Ethereum (-0.33%), and Litecoin (-0.02%) saw relatively modest losses on the day.
In the current week, the crypto total market cap rose from a Monday low $254.55bn to a Wednesday high $274.58bn. At the time of writing, the total market cap stood at $267.03bn.
Bitcoin’s dominance fell from a Monday high 65.58% to a Thursday low 63.55%. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s dominance stood at 64.05%.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down by 0.06% to $9,299.0. A mixed start to the day saw Bitcoin rise to an early morning high $9,311.8 before falling to a low $9,294.0.
Bitcoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
Elsewhere, it was a mixed start to the day.
Bitcoin Cash SV (-0.19%), Ethereum (-0.02%), and Litecoin (-0.02%) joined Bitcoin in the red.
It was a bullish start for the rest of the majors, with Stellar’s Lumen up by 3.53% to lead the way.
Bitcoin would need to avoid a fall through the $9,254 pivot level to support a run at the first major resistance level at $9,375.6.
Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Bitcoin to break out from Friday’s high $9,324.6.
Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level would likely cap any upside.
In the event of a crypto breakout, Bitcoin should break out from the second major resistance level at $9,445.6 before any pullback.
Failure to avoid a fall through the $9,254 pivot level would bring the first major support level at $9,183.6 into play.
Barring another extended crypto sell-off, however, Bitcoin should avoid sub-$9,000 levels. The second major resistance level at $9,062.6 should limit any downside.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• The Weekly Wrap – Economic Data and COVID-19 Continued to Girate the Markets
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Technical Analysis – Blue Chips Jump on Bank Stocks Surge
• Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural Gas Markets Rally Again || Market Wrap: Traders Buy the Dip and Bitcoin Holds at $9,200: A small bitcoin dip down to $9,100 recovered, but traders are unsure about further price appreciation. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $9,240 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET), gaining 0.25% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $9,118-$9,245 BTC below 10-day and 50-day moving average, a bearish signal for market technicians. The market at $9,200 per bitcoin erased gains earlier in the week when the world’s oldest cryptocurrency popped to $9,400 Wednesday. “Two days ago, bitcoin rallied 1.9% then dropped 2.1% and is now flat. Just another failed breakout,” said Elie Le Rest, partner at quantitative trading firm ExoAlpha. Still, traders buying when prices dip isn’t providing enough momentum to significantly move the market higher, Le Rest added. “There’s less and less amplitude to move, so we should see in the next couple of days how this resolves.” Several traders pointed to $9,400, where momentum might turn into a bullish market. “The price of bitcoin again returned to the range of $9,000-$9,200 after the asset again failed to pass a key level at $9,392,” said Constatin Kogan, a partner at cryptocurrency fund BitBull Capital. Indeed, since the start of July bitcoin has struggled to break out of $9,000-$9,200 territory. Related: Compound Tops $1B in Crypto Loans as DeFi Farmers Keep Digging for Yield Josh Rager, a trader and adviser of crypto brokerage LevelInvest , says it will be hard to get back to Wednesday’s $9,400 price range for the time being. “I think bitcoin drops short of $9,400 to make another lower high on the trend,” he said. However, bets in the options market overwhelmingly favor bitcoin higher than $9,200, with options on $11,250 per BTC especially popular. Nonetheless, options volumes continued to trend down, changing the trader profile, noted Vishal Shah, founder of Alpha5. “This is only traders that play options on the high-end of the risk spectrum,” Shah said. Story continues Read More: Exchanges See Drop in Volumes as Bitcoin Volatility Approaches 2020 Low Related: Drop in Bitcoin 'Whale' Addresses Suggests Market May Be Decentralizing ExoAlpha’s Le Rest predicted a wide range where price might head into the weekend and beyond. “We’re pretty neutral as it could really go both ways – up to $9,450 on way to tackle $10,000 once again, or down to $8,200,” he said. Bitcoin locked in DeFi up 200% The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ether (ETH), was flat Friday, trading around $239 and in the red 0.10% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). Ether is up 84% in 2020, outperforming bitcoin’s 28% year-to-date gains. The amount of bitcoin on DeFi, which mostly runs on the Ethereum network, has risen from 5,000 to 15,000 BTC in the past month. That is a 200% increase, according to data aggregator DeFi Pulse. By locking bitcoin in DeFi, investors are able to earn a reward, or “yield,” without having to trade into another asset such as ether. In July’s low spot exchange volume environment, traders might be increasingly locking crypto rather than trading it. Read more: Nearly $60M in Bitcoin Moved to Ethereum in June Other markets Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are mixed Friday. Notable winners as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): decred (DCR)+ 6% monero (XMR) + 3% lisk (LSK) + 0.55% Read More: Kyber Token’s Eightfold Increase Reveals Bet on Future Notable losers as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): dogecoin (DOGE) – 14% cardano (ADA) – 3% stellar (XLM) – 2.5% Read More: What Is Yield Farming? The Rocket Fuel of DeFi, Explained Equities: In Asia the Nikkei 225 ended the day down 1.06% as losses in the transportation and real estate sectors dragged the index lower. Europe’s FTSE 100 index closed in the green 0.80% as financial sector stocks led gains for the day . The U.S. S&P 500 index gained 1%, with record highs in tech stocks and optimistic news on a possible coronavirus treatment . Read More: Coinbase Plans First-Ever Investor Day Amid Talk It May Go Public Commodities: Oil is up 2.2%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $40.49. Gold is still around $1,800 Friday, flat in the red 0.10% at $1,799 per ounce. Read More: A Rare Glimpse Into How Crypto Is Really Used in Venezuela Treasurys: U.S. Treasury bonds were mixed Friday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were up most on the two-year, in the green 2.9%. Read More: The Fed’s Declining Balance Sheet Is Bearish for Bitcoin. Or Is It? Related Stories Market Wrap: Traders Buy the Dip and Bitcoin Holds at $9,200 Market Wrap: Traders Buy the Dip and Bitcoin Holds at $9,200
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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9243.21, 9192.84, 9132.23, 9151.39, 9159.04, 9185.82, 9164.23, 9374.89, 9525.36, 9581.07
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00, 11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63, 9205.12, 9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35, 7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47, 8879.62, 8668.12, 8495.78, 8209.40, 7833.04, 7954.48, 7165.70, 6890.52, 6973.53, 6844.23, 7083.80, 7456.11, 6853.84, 6811.47, 6636.32, 6911.09, 7023.52, 6770.73, 6834.76, 6968.32, 7889.25, 7895.96, 7986.24, 8329.11, 8058.67, 7902.09, 8163.42, 8294.31, 8845.83, 8895.58, 8802.46, 8930.88, 9697.50, 8845.74, 9281.51, 8987.05, 9348.48, 9419.08, 9240.55, 9119.01, 9235.92, 9743.86, 9700.76, 9858.15, 9654.80, 9373.01, 9234.82, 9325.18, 9043.94, 8441.49, 8504.89, 8723.94, 8716.79, 8510.38, 8368.83, 8094.32, 8250.97, 8247.18, 8513.25, 8418.99, 8041.78, 7557.82, 7587.34.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-05-24]
Volume: 6049220096, RSI (14-day): 34.34, 50-day EMA: 8604.74, 200-day EMA: 8788.74
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1303.70, Gold RSI: 46.79
Oil Price: 70.71, Oil RSI: 56.01
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Why Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. Stock Plunged Today: Shares ofHewlett-Packard Enterprise Co.(NYSE: HPE)were down 10.7% on Wednesday after the enterprise computing and technology company announced solid fiscal second-quarter 2018 results, but followed with cautious forward guidance.
More specifically on the former, HPE's quarterly net revenue climbed 9.7% year over year to $7.47 billion, which translated to adjusted (non-GAAP) net income of $536 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, down slightly from $0.35 per share in the same year-ago period. That said, last year's fiscal Q2 included earnings from since-discontinued operations of $0.18 per share. As such, HPE's earnings fromcontinuing operationsdoubled on a per-share basis.
Analysts, on average, were only looking for earnings of $0.31 per share on revenue of $7.38 billion.
Image source: Getty Images.
"I am very pleased with our strong performance in Q2," stated HPE CEO Antonio Neri. "We delivered revenue growth in all business segments, expanded overall profitability, completed important milestones in our HPE Next initiative and continued to invest in innovation."
To be sure, HPE returned $1 billion during the quarter to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Neri also added that HPE is on track to meet its goal of returning $7 billion to shareholders by the end of fiscal 2019.
HPE also said it expects adjusted net earnings in the current fiscal third quarter to be in the range of $0.35 to $0.39, compared to consensus estimates for $0.36 per share.
As such, HPE now expects adjusted earnings for the full fiscal year to be in the range of $1.40 to $1.50, up from its previous guidance range for full-year earnings of $1.35 to $1.45 per sahre. Analysts, on average, were looking for adjusted earnings near the low end of HPE's new range.
So why the decline? During the subsequent conference call -- and with the caveat that HPE has "great momentum" working in its favor -- Neri also told investors to expect a "more challenging second half" with growth rates moderating given more difficult year-over-year comparisons.
To be fair, that's not exactly indicative of deeper problems with HPE's underlying business. But with HPE stock up nearly 30% from its 52-week lows set last June, it shouldn't be terribly surprising to see the stock pulling back given these words of caution.Editor's note: This article has been updated to include earnings from discontinued operations and to reflect correct figures for HPE's quarterly capital returns and forward earnings guidance.
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Steve Symingtonhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. Stock Plunged Today: What happened Shares of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE) were down 10.7% on Wednesday after the enterprise computing and technology company announced solid fiscal second-quarter 2018 results, but followed with cautious forward guidance. More specifically on the former, HPE's quarterly net revenue climbed 9.7% year over year to $7.47 billion, which translated to adjusted (non- GAAP ) net income of $536 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, down slightly from $0.35 per share in the same year-ago period. That said, last year's fiscal Q2 included earnings from since-discontinued operations of $0.18 per share. As such, HPE's earnings from continuing operations doubled on a per-share basis. Analysts, on average, were only looking for earnings of $0.31 per share on revenue of $7.38 billion. Stock market data and charts on a colorful LED display. Image source: Getty Images. So what "I am very pleased with our strong performance in Q2," stated HPE CEO Antonio Neri. "We delivered revenue growth in all business segments, expanded overall profitability, completed important milestones in our HPE Next initiative and continued to invest in innovation." To be sure, HPE returned $1 billion during the quarter to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Neri also added that HPE is on track to meet its goal of returning $7 billion to shareholders by the end of fiscal 2019. Now what HPE also said it expects adjusted net earnings in the current fiscal third quarter to be in the range of $0.35 to $0.39, compared to consensus estimates for $0.36 per share. As such, HPE now expects adjusted earnings for the full fiscal year to be in the range of $1.40 to $1.50, up from its previous guidance range for full-year earnings of $1.35 to $1.45 per sahre. Analysts, on average, were looking for adjusted earnings near the low end of HPE's new range. So why the decline? During the subsequent conference call -- and with the caveat that HPE has "great momentum" working in its favor -- Neri also told investors to expect a "more challenging second half" with growth rates moderating given more difficult year-over-year comparisons. Story continues To be fair, that's not exactly indicative of deeper problems with HPE's underlying business. But with HPE stock up nearly 30% from its 52-week lows set last June, it shouldn't be terribly surprising to see the stock pulling back given these words of caution. Editor's note: This article has been updated to include earnings from discontinued operations and to reflect correct figures for HPE's quarterly capital returns and forward earnings guidance. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Steve Symington has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Banking app Revolut extends cryptocurrency push with Ripple and Bitcoin Cash investments: The Revolut app already allowed purchases of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin - Revolut British banking app Revolut is is extending a push into cryptocurrencies, despite the Bitcoin boom subsiding and traditional lenders distancing themselves from the market. The company, which last year became the first banking app to let customers invest in Bitcoin , said it would add both Ripple and Bitcoin Cash , which are the third and fourth-most popular cryptocurrencies by market value. It says “hundreds of thousands” of its 1.8m customers have chosen to invest in virtual currencies since December, when it launched the service. The price of Bitcoin has slumped by 60pc since its high in December, with other virtual coins such as Ethereum and Litecoin also dropping significantly. Banks including Lloyds and Virgin Money have restricted cryptocurrency purchases, banning customers from using credit cards to buy them, amid fears about their volatile prices and uncertain legal status. Revolut is one of a handful of app-only banking services that allow customers to transfer money instantly and into different currencies without heavy fees. The company, founded four years ago by former Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse trader Nikolay Storonsky, recently raised $250m (£187m) at a $1.7bn valuation . Vlad Yatsenko, its chief technology officer, said demand for both the Ripple and Bitcoin Cash currencies had been “overwhelming” despite the cryptocurrency boom waning. Ripple, a previously obscure digital currency, saw its price increase 37,000pc in 2017, leading its value to close in on Bitcoin and briefly making its founder Chris Larsen the fifth-richest man in the world. Its value has fallen by 85pc since. Bitcoin Cash was created last year when Bitcoin itself was split in two amid disagreements between the cryptocurrency's users. Supporters claim it allows faster transaction times, making it more valuable as a payment method. Technology intelligence - newsletter promo - EOA Revolut does not allow customers to own cryptocurrency outright, but buys and holds them on their behalf, which allows people to invest without the technical know-how and slow transaction times often associated with Bitcoin. Mr Yatsenko said it was “a simple way for consumers to get exposure”. || Banking app Revolut extends cryptocurrency push with Ripple and Bitcoin Cash investments: The Revolut app already allowed purchases of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin - Revolut British banking app Revolut is is extending a push into cryptocurrencies, despite the Bitcoin boom subsiding and traditional lenders distancing themselves from the market. The company, which last year became the first banking app to let customers invest in Bitcoin , said it would add both Ripple and Bitcoin Cash , which are the third and fourth-most popular cryptocurrencies by market value. It says “hundreds of thousands” of its 1.8m customers have chosen to invest in virtual currencies since December, when it launched the service. The price of Bitcoin has slumped by 60pc since its high in December, with other virtual coins such as Ethereum and Litecoin also dropping significantly. Banks including Lloyds and Virgin Money have restricted cryptocurrency purchases, banning customers from using credit cards to buy them, amid fears about their volatile prices and uncertain legal status. Revolut is one of a handful of app-only banking services that allow customers to transfer money instantly and into different currencies without heavy fees. The company, founded four years ago by former Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse trader Nikolay Storonsky, recently raised $250m (£187m) at a $1.7bn valuation . Vlad Yatsenko, its chief technology officer, said demand for both the Ripple and Bitcoin Cash currencies had been “overwhelming” despite the cryptocurrency boom waning. Ripple, a previously obscure digital currency, saw its price increase 37,000pc in 2017, leading its value to close in on Bitcoin and briefly making its founder Chris Larsen the fifth-richest man in the world. Its value has fallen by 85pc since. Bitcoin Cash was created last year when Bitcoin itself was split in two amid disagreements between the cryptocurrency's users. Supporters claim it allows faster transaction times, making it more valuable as a payment method. Technology intelligence - newsletter promo - EOA Revolut does not allow customers to own cryptocurrency outright, but buys and holds them on their behalf, which allows people to invest without the technical know-how and slow transaction times often associated with Bitcoin. Mr Yatsenko said it was “a simple way for consumers to get exposure”. || Banking app Revolut extends cryptocurrency push with Ripple and Bitcoin Cash investments: The Revolut app already allowed purchases of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin - Revolut British banking app Revolut is is extending a push into cryptocurrencies, despite the Bitcoin boom subsiding and traditional lenders distancing themselves from the market. The company, which last year became the first banking app to let customers invest in Bitcoin , said it would add both Ripple and Bitcoin Cash , which are the third and fourth-most popular cryptocurrencies by market value. It says “hundreds of thousands” of its 1.8m customers have chosen to invest in virtual currencies since December, when it launched the service. The price of Bitcoin has slumped by 60pc since its high in December, with other virtual coins such as Ethereum and Litecoin also dropping significantly. Banks including Lloyds and Virgin Money have restricted cryptocurrency purchases, banning customers from using credit cards to buy them, amid fears about their volatile prices and uncertain legal status. Revolut is one of a handful of app-only banking services that allow customers to transfer money instantly and into different currencies without heavy fees. The company, founded four years ago by former Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse trader Nikolay Storonsky, recently raised $250m (£187m) at a $1.7bn valuation . Vlad Yatsenko, its chief technology officer, said demand for both the Ripple and Bitcoin Cash currencies had been “overwhelming” despite the cryptocurrency boom waning. Ripple, a previously obscure digital currency, saw its price increase 37,000pc in 2017, leading its value to close in on Bitcoin and briefly making its founder Chris Larsen the fifth-richest man in the world. Its value has fallen by 85pc since. Bitcoin Cash was created last year when Bitcoin itself was split in two amid disagreements between the cryptocurrency's users. Supporters claim it allows faster transaction times, making it more valuable as a payment method. Technology intelligence - newsletter promo - EOA Revolut does not allow customers to own cryptocurrency outright, but buys and holds them on their behalf, which allows people to invest without the technical know-how and slow transaction times often associated with Bitcoin. Mr Yatsenko said it was “a simple way for consumers to get exposure”. || Why Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA Stock Dropped 12% Today: What happened Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (NYSE: EBR) stock crashed 11.6% in Wednesday trading, closing at $4.43 per share after Reuters reported that the Brazilian government has removed from its 2018 budget any mention of revenue anticipated to come from the privatization of the government's stake in the power utility. The government had reportedly hoped to reap $3.3 billion from the sale of its stake. Lightning strike against a purple sky Investors in electric utility Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras just got zapped. Image source: Getty Images. So what Why would this push the stock price down? That's a bit difficult to parse. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence , the Brazilian government currently owns more than 44% of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras shares outstanding, with the balance publicly traded by institutions and pension, venture capital, and private equity funds. Putting those state-owned shares on the market, one imagines, would ordinarily push the share price down (by increasing supply on presumably static demand). On the other hand, freeing up those shares for trading would also boost liquidity of the stock, potentially making Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras more attractive to investors. Getting the state out of the business might also be expected to encourage Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras to focus more on earning profits and less on keeping the citizenry happy with low utility rates. (Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras is currently unprofitable, and has lost money in four of the past five years). Now what Privatization could still happen, of course. Removing the expected revenue from privatization from the 2018 budget doesn't mean that it is off the table -- if not this year, then perhaps it could happen next year, or even the year after that. For the time being, however, and for whatever reason, investors are viewing this expected delay as a negative for the stock. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA Stock Dropped 12% Today: What happened Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (NYSE: EBR) stock crashed 11.6% in Wednesday trading, closing at $4.43 per share after Reuters reported that the Brazilian government has removed from its 2018 budget any mention of revenue anticipated to come from the privatization of the government's stake in the power utility. The government had reportedly hoped to reap $3.3 billion from the sale of its stake. Lightning strike against a purple sky Investors in electric utility Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras just got zapped. Image source: Getty Images. So what Why would this push the stock price down? That's a bit difficult to parse. According to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence , the Brazilian government currently owns more than 44% of Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras shares outstanding, with the balance publicly traded by institutions and pension, venture capital, and private equity funds. Putting those state-owned shares on the market, one imagines, would ordinarily push the share price down (by increasing supply on presumably static demand). On the other hand, freeing up those shares for trading would also boost liquidity of the stock, potentially making Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras more attractive to investors. Getting the state out of the business might also be expected to encourage Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras to focus more on earning profits and less on keeping the citizenry happy with low utility rates. (Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras is currently unprofitable, and has lost money in four of the past five years). Now what Privatization could still happen, of course. Removing the expected revenue from privatization from the 2018 budget doesn't mean that it is off the table -- if not this year, then perhaps it could happen next year, or even the year after that. For the time being, however, and for whatever reason, investors are viewing this expected delay as a negative for the stock. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Bitcoin Falls 7% -- Why Are Cryptocurrencies Plunging?: Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and most other major cryptocurrencies are deep in the red on Wednesday -- the latest in a two-week decline. In fact, all of the 25 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap (excluding Tether, which is based on the U.S. dollar) are down today.
Here's a look at the latest cryptocurrency prices and what might be behind this massive drop.
Image source: Getty Images.
Here's a look at the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and how much each has changed over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is down by more than 7% over the last 24 hours, and is actually thebest-performingof the 10 largest cryptocurrencies. Six of the top 10 are down by double digits, and only three of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are positive on Wednesday. In short, this is about as broad of a sell-off as you can get.
[{"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Bitcoin (BTC)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$7,594.90", "Day's Change": "(7.2%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Ethereum (ETH)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$588.48", "Day's Change": "(11.8%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Ripple (XRP)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.61", "Day's Change": "(8.4%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Bitcoin Cash (BCH)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$1,027.70", "Day's Change": "(11.7%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "EOS (EOS)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$10.81", "Day's Change": "(16.7%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Litecoin (LTC)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$120.66", "Day's Change": "(7.6%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Cardano (ADA)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.21", "Day's Change": "(13.5%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Stellar (XLM)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.28", "Day's Change": "(9.4%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "TRON (TRX)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.07", "Day's Change": "(10.8%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "IOTA (MIOTA)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$1.48", "Day's Change": "(14.5%)"}]
Data source: www.investing.com. Prices and daily changes as of May 23, 2018, at 5:00 p.m. EDT, and prices are rounded to the nearest cent where appropriate.
There are a few possible negative catalysts. For example, some of the hype surrounding the well-publicized "Blockchain Week" in New York City may have bolstered prices, and now that it's over, we could be seeing lower investor interest.
Perhaps the biggest catalyst driving down cryptocurrency prices is regulatory fears.
Fears of increased global regulation have been the culprit in several big cryptocurrency sell-offs this year. The South Korean cryptocurrency saga in particular caused quite a bit of volatility.
This time, it's closer to home. On Monday, regulators in the U.S. and Canada announced "Operation Crypto-Sweep," which is being led by the North American Securities Administrators Association and has more than 40 states and provinces participating.
To be clear, the crackdown is focused on cryptocurrency investment schemes, particularly initial coin offerings, or ICOs. It is not targeting major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC-USD) or legitimate businesses such as cryptocurrency exchanges. Even so, it seems to have the market on edge.
This comes on the heels of increased cryptocurrency scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whose chairman has issuedstrongly worded warningsto cryptocurrency and ICO investors in recent months.
As I've written before, cryptocurrency regulationisn't necessarily a bad thing. Rather, it is theuncertaintysurrounding regulation that drives the market crazy.
Regulation could be a good thing over the long term for cryptocurrencies. A regulated market would likely attract more institutional investors, and I don't think any legitimate cryptocurrency believer thinks that getting rid of scams is a bad thing for the industry. And, the implementation of global cryptocurrency regulation could help provide much-needed stability to the market, which could solve one of thebiggest obstaclesstanding in the way of mainstream cryptocurrency adoption -- volatility.
In the meantime, however, it remains to be seen whether the current sell-off is nearing its end or if investor jitters will continue to send cryptocurrencies downward.
More From The Motley Fool
• 16 Cryptocurrency Facts You Should Know
• Experts Warned – The Crypto ‘Bloodbath’ Is Here
• How to Buy Bitcoin
Matt Frankelhas no position in any cryptocurrencies mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any cryptocurrencies mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Bitcoin Falls 7% -- Why Are Cryptocurrencies Plunging?: Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and most other major cryptocurrencies are deep in the red on Wednesday -- the latest in a two-week decline. In fact, all of the 25 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap (excluding Tether, which is based on the U.S. dollar) are down today.
Here's a look at the latest cryptocurrency prices and what might be behind this massive drop.
Image source: Getty Images.
Here's a look at the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and how much each has changed over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is down by more than 7% over the last 24 hours, and is actually thebest-performingof the 10 largest cryptocurrencies. Six of the top 10 are down by double digits, and only three of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are positive on Wednesday. In short, this is about as broad of a sell-off as you can get.
[{"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Bitcoin (BTC)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$7,594.90", "Day's Change": "(7.2%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Ethereum (ETH)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$588.48", "Day's Change": "(11.8%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Ripple (XRP)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.61", "Day's Change": "(8.4%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Bitcoin Cash (BCH)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$1,027.70", "Day's Change": "(11.7%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "EOS (EOS)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$10.81", "Day's Change": "(16.7%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Litecoin (LTC)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$120.66", "Day's Change": "(7.6%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Cardano (ADA)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.21", "Day's Change": "(13.5%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "Stellar (XLM)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.28", "Day's Change": "(9.4%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "TRON (TRX)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$0.07", "Day's Change": "(10.8%)"}, {"Cryptocurrency Name (Code)": "IOTA (MIOTA)", "Price in U.S. Dollars": "$1.48", "Day's Change": "(14.5%)"}]
Data source: www.investing.com. Prices and daily changes as of May 23, 2018, at 5:00 p.m. EDT, and prices are rounded to the nearest cent where appropriate.
There are a few possible negative catalysts. For example, some of the hype surrounding the well-publicized "Blockchain Week" in New York City may have bolstered prices, and now that it's over, we could be seeing lower investor interest.
Perhaps the biggest catalyst driving down cryptocurrency prices is regulatory fears.
Fears of increased global regulation have been the culprit in several big cryptocurrency sell-offs this year. The South Korean cryptocurrency saga in particular caused quite a bit of volatility.
This time, it's closer to home. On Monday, regulators in the U.S. and Canada announced "Operation Crypto-Sweep," which is being led by the North American Securities Administrators Association and has more than 40 states and provinces participating.
To be clear, the crackdown is focused on cryptocurrency investment schemes, particularly initial coin offerings, or ICOs. It is not targeting major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC-USD) or legitimate businesses such as cryptocurrency exchanges. Even so, it seems to have the market on edge.
This comes on the heels of increased cryptocurrency scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whose chairman has issuedstrongly worded warningsto cryptocurrency and ICO investors in recent months.
As I've written before, cryptocurrency regulationisn't necessarily a bad thing. Rather, it is theuncertaintysurrounding regulation that drives the market crazy.
Regulation could be a good thing over the long term for cryptocurrencies. A regulated market would likely attract more institutional investors, and I don't think any legitimate cryptocurrency believer thinks that getting rid of scams is a bad thing for the industry. And, the implementation of global cryptocurrency regulation could help provide much-needed stability to the market, which could solve one of thebiggest obstaclesstanding in the way of mainstream cryptocurrency adoption -- volatility.
In the meantime, however, it remains to be seen whether the current sell-off is nearing its end or if investor jitters will continue to send cryptocurrencies downward.
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Matt Frankelhas no position in any cryptocurrencies mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any cryptocurrencies mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Bitcoin Falls 7% -- Why Are Cryptocurrencies Plunging?: Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and most other major cryptocurrencies are deep in the red on Wednesday -- the latest in a two-week decline. In fact, all of the 25 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap (excluding Tether, which is based on the U.S. dollar) are down today. Here's a look at the latest cryptocurrency prices and what might be behind this massive drop. Gold coin with bitcoin symbols. Image source: Getty Images. Today's cryptocurrency prices Here's a look at the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and how much each has changed over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is down by more than 7% over the last 24 hours, and is actually the best-performing of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies. Six of the top 10 are down by double digits, and only three of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are positive on Wednesday. In short, this is about as broad of a sell-off as you can get. Cryptocurrency Name (Code) Price in U.S. Dollars Day's Change Bitcoin (BTC) $7,594.90 (7.2%) Ethereum (ETH) $588.48 (11.8%) Ripple (XRP) $0.61 (8.4%) Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $1,027.70 (11.7%) EOS (EOS) $10.81 (16.7%) Litecoin (LTC) $120.66 (7.6%) Cardano (ADA) $0.21 (13.5%) Stellar (XLM) $0.28 (9.4%) TRON (TRX) $0.07 (10.8%) IOTA (MIOTA) $1.48 (14.5%) Data source: www.investing.com. Prices and daily changes as of May 23, 2018, at 5:00 p.m. EDT, and prices are rounded to the nearest cent where appropriate. Why are cryptocurrencies plunging? There are a few possible negative catalysts. For example, some of the hype surrounding the well-publicized "Blockchain Week" in New York City may have bolstered prices, and now that it's over, we could be seeing lower investor interest. Perhaps the biggest catalyst driving down cryptocurrency prices is regulatory fears. Fears of increased global regulation have been the culprit in several big cryptocurrency sell-offs this year. The South Korean cryptocurrency saga in particular caused quite a bit of volatility. Story continues This time, it's closer to home. On Monday, regulators in the U.S. and Canada announced "Operation Crypto-Sweep," which is being led by the North American Securities Administrators Association and has more than 40 states and provinces participating. To be clear, the crackdown is focused on cryptocurrency investment schemes, particularly initial coin offerings, or ICOs. It is not targeting major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC-USD) or legitimate businesses such as cryptocurrency exchanges. Even so, it seems to have the market on edge. This comes on the heels of increased cryptocurrency scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whose chairman has issued strongly worded warnings to cryptocurrency and ICO investors in recent months. A good thing? As I've written before, cryptocurrency regulation isn't necessarily a bad thing . Rather, it is the uncertainty surrounding regulation that drives the market crazy. Regulation could be a good thing over the long term for cryptocurrencies. A regulated market would likely attract more institutional investors, and I don't think any legitimate cryptocurrency believer thinks that getting rid of scams is a bad thing for the industry. And, the implementation of global cryptocurrency regulation could help provide much-needed stability to the market, which could solve one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of mainstream cryptocurrency adoption -- volatility. In the meantime, however, it remains to be seen whether the current sell-off is nearing its end or if investor jitters will continue to send cryptocurrencies downward. More From The Motley Fool 16 Cryptocurrency Facts You Should Know Experts Warned The Crypto Bloodbath Is Here How to Buy Bitcoin Matt Frankel has no position in any cryptocurrencies mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any cryptocurrencies mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why General Electric Company Stock Tumbled Today: What happened Shares of General Electric (NYSE: GE) took a dive today after CEO John Flannery cooled off hopes of a speedy turnaround at the struggling conglomerate. He warned that the industrial giant's power division wouldn't see profit growth until 2020, and also said he couldn't guarantee the company would be able to keep paying a dividend. As a result, the stock finished down 7.3%. A GE gas turbine. Image source: General Electric. So what Speaking at the Electrical Products Group conference, Flannery cautioned on the two accounts above, and lowered the company's profit margin target in the power division to 10% in the near term from the low- to mid-teens, which could affect the company's credit ratings. The power business is GE's biggest segment in terms of profits and revenue, and Flannery blamed the disappointing guidance on weak demand for the company's gas turbines. Meanwhile, he responded to a question about the dividend by saying that it would be dependent on free cash flow, notably passing on the opportunity to reassure investors that it wouldn't be slashed after the company already cut it in half last November. As GE prepares to sell off assets in order to simplify the company and pay down debt, free cash flow is expected to shrink, which could lead to a lower dividend payout. Now what Flannery inherited a wreck of a company last year as former CEO Jeffery Immelt relied on financial engineering and debt financing to produce growth. Immelt also made misguided acquisitions like the $9.5 billion purchase of Alstom that has turned into a bust as coal demand has fallen. Since Flannery took over last August, calls for a breakup of the company have increased and the stock price has continued to spiral. The company made its first major asset sale since he took over earlier this week, merging its transportation division with Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies in a deal that will generate $12.3 billion for GE. Story continues However, the CEO's statement today made it clear that any potential turnaround for the conglomerate is going to be slow and plodding. At this point, things may get worse before they get better for GE investors as stagnating profits and a dividend cut could hammer the stock again. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why General Electric Company Stock Tumbled Today: Shares ofGeneral Electric(NYSE: GE)took a dive today after CEO John Flannery cooled off hopes of a speedy turnaround at the struggling conglomerate. He warned that the industrial giant's power division wouldn't see profit growth until 2020, and also said he couldn't guarantee the company would be able to keep paying a dividend.
As a result, the stock finished down 7.3%.
Image source: General Electric.
Speaking at the Electrical Products Group conference, Flannery cautioned on the two accounts above, and lowered the company's profit margin target in the power division to 10% in the near term from the low- to mid-teens, which could affect the company's credit ratings.
The power business is GE's biggest segment in terms of profits and revenue, and Flannery blamed the disappointing guidance on weak demand for the company's gas turbines. Meanwhile, he responded to a question about the dividend by saying that it would be dependent on free cash flow, notably passing on the opportunity to reassure investors that it wouldn't be slashed after the company already cut it in half last November.
As GE prepares to sell off assets in order to simplify the company and pay down debt, free cash flow is expected to shrink, which could lead to a lower dividend payout.
Flannery inherited a wreck of a company last year as former CEO Jeffery Immelt relied on financial engineering and debt financing to produce growth. Immelt also made misguided acquisitions like the $9.5 billion purchase of Alstom that has turned into a bust as coal demand has fallen.
Since Flannery took over last August, calls for a breakup of the company have increased and the stock price has continued to spiral. The company made its first major asset sale since he took over earlier this week,merging itstransportation division withWestinghouse Air Brake Technologiesin a deal that will generate $12.3 billion for GE.
However, the CEO's statement today made it clear that any potential turnaround for the conglomerate is going to be slow and plodding. At this point, things may get worse before they get better for GE investors as stagnating profits and a dividend cut could hammer the stock again.
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Jeremy Bowmanhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Canalys: Apple Shipped 3.8 Million Watches in Q1: Smartwatches are taking over the wearables market. That product category continues to cannibalize other types of wearable devices like basic fitness trackers, a trend that is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is now the top dog in wearables thanks to the strength of Apple Watch. In fact, the company beat out all competing smartwatch vendors combined in 2017, after excluding other wearables categories. As Apple obfuscates Watch results, investors still have to rely on third-party estimates to gauge how the device is faring. Man wearing Apple Watch Image source: Apple. Still on top Canalys estimates that Apple again grabbed the top spot in the wearables market in the first quarter, shipping 3.8 million units. That was good enough to grab 18% of the market, which saw overall unit volumes jump 35% to 20.5 million. China's Xiaomi, which is preparing to go public, came in a close second with 3.7 million units. However, Xiaomi's unit volumes predominantly consist of Mi Bands, the company's low-cost basic fitness trackers. Thanks to the relatively higher prices of smartwatches, they now comprise 80% of global wearables revenue, despite only representing 43% of unit volumes. Much like other analysts have found, the recent inclusion of cellular connectivity is helping drive demand. "Key to Apple's success with its latest Apple Watch Series 3 is the number of LTE-enabled watches it has been able to push into the hands of consumers," Canalys analyst Jason Low said in the release. "Operators welcome the additional revenue from device sales and the added subscription revenue for data on the Apple Watch, and the list of operators that sell the LTE Apple Watch worldwide is increasing each month." For the cellular-equipped subset of the smartwatch market, the Mac maker now enjoys market share of 59%. However, that could be more related to the fact that there simply aren't many other smartwatches out there that feature cellular connectivity. Alphabet subsidiary Google is reportedly working on a Pixel-branded smartwatch that could include cellular connectivity, which has the potential to jump-start competition, as third-party Android Wear manufacturers are shifting their focus away from the platform. Story continues Fitbit (NYSE: FIT) came in No. 3, with 11% market share (2.2 million devices sold) as that company continues to try navigating the transition to smartwatches, most recently with the Versa , which Fitbit hopes will appeal to mainstream consumers. Fitbit's first smartwatch, the Ionic, fell flat, which Fitbit attributed to it being "more of a performance product." Note that Canalys includes Fitbit's Blaze as a smartwatch, even as Fitbit itself does not consider the Blaze to be a full-fledged smartwatch. In many ways, Apple Watch is following in the footsteps of the iPod. The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but quickly became the most popular product and defined the category. Apple Watch is now doing likewise. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Evan Niu, CFA owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends GOOG, GOOGL, Apple, and Fitbit. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Canalys: Apple Shipped 3.8 Million Watches in Q1: Smartwatches are taking over the wearables market. That product categorycontinues to cannibalizeother types of wearable devices like basic fitness trackers, a trend that is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.Apple(NASDAQ: AAPL)is now the top dog in wearables thanks to the strength of Apple Watch. In fact, the company beat out all competing smartwatch vendorscombinedin 2017, after excluding other wearables categories.
As Apple obfuscates Watch results, investors still have to rely on third-party estimates to gauge how the device is faring.
Image source: Apple.
Canalysestimates that Apple again grabbed the top spot in the wearables market in the first quarter, shipping 3.8 million units. That was good enough to grab 18% of the market, which saw overall unit volumes jump 35% to 20.5 million. China's Xiaomi, which is preparing to go public, came in a close second with 3.7 million units. However, Xiaomi's unit volumes predominantly consist of Mi Bands, the company's low-cost basic fitness trackers. Thanks to the relatively higher prices of smartwatches, they now comprise 80% of global wearables revenue, despite only representing 43% of unit volumes.
Much likeother analystshave found, the recent inclusion of cellular connectivity is helping drive demand. "Key to Apple's success with its latest Apple Watch Series 3 is the number of LTE-enabled watches it has been able to push into the hands of consumers," Canalys analyst Jason Low said in the release. "Operators welcome the additional revenue from device sales and the added subscription revenue for data on the Apple Watch, and the list of operators that sell the LTE Apple Watch worldwide is increasing each month."
For the cellular-equipped subset of the smartwatch market, the Mac maker now enjoys market share of 59%. However, that could be more related to the fact that there simply aren't many other smartwatches out there that feature cellular connectivity.Alphabetsubsidiary Google is reportedly working on a Pixel-branded smartwatch that could include cellular connectivity, which has the potential to jump-start competition, as third-party Android Wear manufacturers are shifting their focus away from the platform.
Fitbit(NYSE: FIT)came in No. 3, with 11% market share (2.2 million devices sold) as that company continues to try navigating the transition to smartwatches, most recently withthe Versa, which Fitbit hopes will appeal to mainstream consumers. Fitbit's first smartwatch, the Ionic, fell flat, which Fitbit attributed to it being "more of a performance product." Note that Canalys includes Fitbit's Blaze as a smartwatch, even as Fitbit itself does not consider the Blaze to be a full-fledged smartwatch.
In many ways, Apple Watch is following in the footsteps of the iPod. The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but quickly became the most popular product and defined the category. Apple Watch is now doing likewise.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Evan Niu, CFAowns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends GOOG, GOOGL, Apple, and Fitbit. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || What Happened in the Stock Market Today: Stocks opened lower but reversed course after the Federal Reserve released notes from its last meeting that eased concerns about rising interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) and the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) closed up modestly. Today's stock market Index Percentage Change Point Change Dow 0.21% 52.40 S&P 500 0.32% 8.85 Data source: Yahoo! Finance. Rate-sensitive stocks in the utility and real estate sectors led the market. The Utilities Select SPDR ETF (NYSEMKT: XLU) gained 0.9% and the Vanguard REIT ETF (NYSEMKT: VNQ) added 1%. As for individual stocks, Lowe's Companies (NYSE: LOW) jumped despite reporting disappointing earnings results, and Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) tumbled on a profit miss. Cartoon figures holding arrows headed upward. Image source: Getty Images. Lowe's misses expectations but gets a vote of confidence Home improvement retailer Lowe's reported first-quarter results that missed expectations, but shares soared 10.4% on a report that activist investor Bill Ackman has taken a $1 billion position in the stock. Sales increased 3% to $17.4 billion, short of the analyst consensus of $17.6 billion. Earnings per share came in at $1.19, 15.5% more than last year's adjusted EPS, but below Wall Street's estimate of $1.25 per share. Comparable-store sales grew 0.6%, far below the 3.5% increase Lowe's expects for the full year. The company blamed a cold April for slower sales of outdoor products, saying that weather knocked 3 percentage points off comparable sales for the quarter. Comps in May so far have been double-digit positive, according to outgoing CEO Robert Niblock in the conference call. Gross margin increased 23 basis points from Q1 last year to 34.63%, but would have declined were it not for adoption of a new accounting standard. Looking forward, Lowe's maintained full-year EPS guidance of $5.40 to $5.50, while bumping the outlook for sales growth from 4% to 5% due to the accounting change. Story continues Lowe's results pale in comparison to last week's report from rival Home Depot . That company also saw a negative impact on sales of outdoors goods due to the weather, but managed to grow sales of indoor products enough to have a 4.2% jump in overall comparable sales. News of a new CEO failed to lift shares yesterday, but the report of Ackman jumping in reversed the sentiment today, and investors seem to be looking ahead to a brighter future for the company. Target increases traffic but misses on profit Shares of Target slumped 5.7% after the retailer announced better-than-expected sales on strong traffic gains, but missed profit expectations. Sales increased 3.4% to $16.8 billion while adjusted EPS grew 9.4% to $1.32. Analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.38 per share on revenue of $16.5 billion. Comparable sales grew 3%, compared with a decline of 1.3% in the period a year earlier, thanks mostly to a 3.7% gain in traffic, the strongest quarterly traffic performance in more than 10 years. Comparable digital channel sales increased 28% and contributed 1.1 percentage points to the overall comp metric. Gross margin fell from 30% in Q1 last year to 29.8%, which the company said in the conference call was below expectations due to a weather-related impact on sales mix. CEO Brian Cornell was optimistic about Target's outlook. "[O]ur team is delivering excellent execution and guest service every day, and momentum in our traffic has accelerated in the second quarter," he said in the press release. "As a result, we expect Target's second quarter comparable sales growth will move into the low to mid single-digit range, and the midpoint of our second quarter EPS guidance represents approximately 15 percent growth over last year." Target is seeing the benefit of store remodels and investments in its digital strategy , and while today's sell-off may seem discouraging, the stock had run up 9.6% in the last two weeks, and only gave up part of that gain today. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Jim Crumly has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has the following options: short September 2018 $180 calls on HD and long January 2020 $110 calls on HD. The Motley Fool recommends HD. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || What Happened in the Stock Market Today: Stocks opened lower but reversed course after the Federal Reserve released notes from its last meeting that eased concerns about rising interest rates. TheDow Jones Industrial Average(DJINDICES: ^DJI)and theS&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC)closed up modestly.
[{"Index": "Dow", "Percentage Change": "0.21%", "Point Change": "52.40"}, {"Index": "S&P 500", "Percentage Change": "0.32%", "Point Change": "8.85"}]
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Rate-sensitive stocks in the utility and real estate sectors led the market. TheUtilities Select SPDR ETF(NYSEMKT: XLU)gained 0.9% and theVanguard REIT ETF(NYSEMKT: VNQ)added 1%.
As for individual stocks,Lowe's Companies(NYSE: LOW)jumped despite reporting disappointing earnings results, andTarget Corporation(NYSE: TGT)tumbled on a profit miss.
Image source: Getty Images.
Home improvement retailer Lowe's reported first-quarter results that missed expectations, but sharessoared 10.4%on a report that activist investor Bill Ackman has taken a $1 billion position in the stock. Sales increased 3% to $17.4 billion, short of the analyst consensus of $17.6 billion. Earnings per share came in at $1.19, 15.5% more than last year's adjusted EPS, but below Wall Street's estimate of $1.25 per share.
Comparable-store sales grew 0.6%, far below the 3.5% increase Lowe's expects for the full year. The company blamed a cold April for slower sales of outdoor products, saying that weather knocked 3 percentage points off comparable sales for the quarter. Comps in May so far have been double-digit positive, according to outgoing CEO Robert Niblock in the conference call.
Gross margin increased 23 basis points from Q1 last year to 34.63%, but would have declined were it not for adoption of a new accounting standard. Looking forward, Lowe's maintained full-year EPS guidance of $5.40 to $5.50, while bumping the outlook for sales growth from 4% to 5% due to the accounting change.
Lowe's results pale in comparison to last week's report from rivalHome Depot. That company also saw a negative impact on sales of outdoors goods due to the weather, but managed to grow sales of indoor products enough to have a 4.2% jump in overall comparable sales.
News ofa new CEOfailed to lift shares yesterday, but the report of Ackman jumping in reversed the sentiment today, and investors seem to be looking ahead to a brighter future for the company.
Shares of Targetslumped 5.7%after the retailer announced better-than-expected sales on strong traffic gains, but missed profit expectations. Sales increased 3.4% to $16.8 billion while adjusted EPS grew 9.4% to $1.32. Analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.38 per share on revenue of $16.5 billion.
Comparable sales grew 3%, compared with a decline of 1.3% in the period a year earlier, thanks mostly to a 3.7% gain in traffic, the strongest quarterly traffic performance in more than 10 years. Comparable digital channel sales increased 28% and contributed 1.1 percentage points to the overall comp metric. Gross margin fell from 30% in Q1 last year to 29.8%, which the company said in theconference callwas below expectations due to a weather-related impact on sales mix.
CEO Brian Cornell was optimistic about Target's outlook. "[O]ur team is delivering excellent execution and guest service every day, and momentum in our traffic has accelerated in the second quarter," he said in the press release. "As a result, we expect Target's second quarter comparable sales growth will move into the low to mid single-digit range, and the midpoint of our second quarter EPS guidance represents approximately 15 percent growth over last year."
Target is seeing the benefit of store remodels and investments in itsdigital strategy, and while today's sell-off may seem discouraging, the stock had run up 9.6% in the last two weeks, and only gave up part of that gain today.
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Jim Crumlyhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has the following options: short September 2018 $180 calls on HD and long January 2020 $110 calls on HD. The Motley Fool recommends HD. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || How ETF Investors Can Play a Stronger USD: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. With the U.S. dollar appreciating against foreign currencies, currency traders and international investors can ride the wave or hedge against weakness in other areas through exchange traded funds. The Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks dollar moves against a basket of widely observed developed market currencies, was hovering around 94.0 Wednesday, its highest level since late 2017. The U.S. dollar has been strengthening on a tightening monetary policy out of the Federal Reserve - higher rates typically attract investors to a currency because of the prospect for greater returns. U.S. Dollar ETF Plays for ETF Investors ETF traders can also gain exposure to an appreciating greenback through targeted ETF strategies. For instance, the PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund ( UUP ) tracks the price movement of the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies, including the euro 57.6%, Japanese yen 13.6%, British pound 11.9%, Canadian dollar 9.1%, Swedish krona 4.2% and Swiss franc 3.6%. Additionally, the actively managed WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund ( USDU ) tracks the USD against a broader basket of developed and emerging market currencies, including China, India, South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Europe. Alternatively, ETF traders may take on a more focused approach through currency-specific ETFs. For instance, the ProShares Short Euro ( EUFX ) is designed to provide 100% of the inverse, or opposite, return of the U.S. dollar price of the euro, on a daily basis and the ProShares UltraShort Euro ( EUO ) provides 200% of the inverse return of the U.S. dollar price of the euro on a daily basis. The Market Vectors Double Short Euro ETN ( DRR ) tracks the Double Short Euro Index, which also provides a -200% exposure to the euro. Consequently, these types of inverse ETFs may be used to capitalize on a stronger USD or weakening EUR. Story continues Traders can also utilize the ProShares UltraShort Yen ( YCS ) , which tries to reflect the daily -2x or -200% daily return of the USD/JPY currency pair, to hedge further price depreciation in the yen currency. For more information on the foreign exchange markets, visit our currency ETFs category . POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM Will Right to Try Bill Boost Biotech ETFs? Why Bitcoin Technicals are Getting Ugly Europe ETFs Play Second Fiddle to U.S. Markets There Are Still Reasons to Consider Emerging Markets ETFs Bank Consolidation Could Lift This ETF READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || How ETF Investors Can Play a Stronger USD: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
With the U.S. dollar appreciating against foreign currencies, currency traders and international investors can ride the wave or hedge against weakness in other areas through exchange traded funds.
The Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks dollar moves against a basket of widely observed developed market currencies, was hovering around 94.0 Wednesday, its highest level since late 2017.
The U.S. dollar has been strengthening on a tightening monetary policy out of the Federal Reserve - higher rates typically attract investors to a currency because of the prospect for greater returns.
U.S. Dollar ETF Plays for ETF Investors
ETF traders can also gain exposure to an appreciating greenback through targeted ETF strategies. For instance, the PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP) tracks the price movement of the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies, including the euro 57.6%, Japanese yen 13.6%, British pound 11.9%, Canadian dollar 9.1%, Swedish krona 4.2% and Swiss franc 3.6%.
Additionally, the actively managed WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (USDU) tracks the USD against a broader basket of developed and emerging market currencies, including China, India, South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Europe.
Alternatively, ETF traders may take on a more focused approach through currency-specific ETFs. For instance, the ProShares Short Euro (EUFX) is designed to provide 100% of the inverse, or opposite, return of the U.S. dollar price of the euro, on a daily basis and the ProShares UltraShort Euro (EUO) provides 200% of the inverse return of the U.S. dollar price of the euro on a daily basis. The Market Vectors Double Short Euro ETN (DRR) tracks the Double Short Euro Index, which also provides a -200% exposure to the euro. Consequently, these types of inverse ETFs may be used to capitalize on a stronger USD or weakening EUR.
Traders can also utilize the ProShares UltraShort Yen (YCS) , which tries to reflect the daily -2x or -200% daily return of the USD/JPY currency pair, to hedge further price depreciation in the yen currency.
For more information on the foreign exchange markets, visit ourcurrency ETFs category.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Why General Electric, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Slumped Today: Wednesday was an interesting day on Wall Street, with most major benchmarks finishing the session in the green even after having seen early declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had been down triple digits at various points, but favorable news from the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee suggested that future interest rate increases will continue to come at a slow and manageable pace. Yet even though investors in general were pleased with that overall message, some companies missed out on the gains. General Electric (NYSE: GE) , Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) , and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (NASDAQ: RRGB) were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly. GE promises nothing Shares of General Electric dropped 7%, giving back all of their gains from earlier in the week and then some. The industrial conglomerate had generated some enthusiasm on news that it would merge its transportation business with industry peer Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies . But today, CEO John Flannery failed to give investors the reassurances they wanted, instead saying that the prospects for its key power unit remain challenged and even refusing to guarantee that the company will be able to sustain its already reduced dividend payout through next year. Without good follow-through from the industrial giant and its leadership, General Electric shareholders have to find it difficult to sustain their confidence in the company's future. Jet engine production in a well-lit hangar with workers and equipment nearby. Image source: General Electric. HP Enterprise sees tough times ahead Hewlett-Packard Enterprise stock fell 10.5% after the company released its fiscal second-quarter financial report . The company's results were solid, including a 10% rise in revenue and adjusted earnings that were above the range that HP Enterprise had provided in its past earnings report. It also boosted its dividend by 50% and increased its guidance for the full fiscal 2018 year by $0.30 to a new range of $1.70 to $1.80 per share. Yet CEO Antonio Neri was somewhat vague on his views about HP Enterprise's prospects for the rest of the year, saying he remains confident about meeting its outlook but pointing toward a potentially difficult second half of the fiscal year. Even with the decline, HP Enterprise shares remain up from where they started 2018. Story continues Red Robin disappoints investors Finally, shares of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers plunged 18% . The casual-dining burger chain reported fiscal first-quarter results that included flat revenue and a 0.9% drop in comparable-restaurant sales. The company said that average check size was down from year-earlier figures on a comparable basis, offsetting a minimal gain in guest traffic, and adjusted earnings fell more than 20% compared to the fiscal first quarter of 2017. CEO Denny Marie Post tried to make the point that Red Robin is still outpacing many of its casual-dining peers, picking up market share, and efforts to boost delivery and take-out traffic have led to 40% gains in sales from those channels year over year. Yet with the company anticipating less optimistic results for the current quarter than investors had hoped, downward pressure on Red Robin stock looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why General Electric, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Slumped Today: Wednesday was an interesting day on Wall Street, with most major benchmarks finishing the session in the green even after having seen early declines. TheDow Jones Industrial Averagehad been down triple digits at various points, but favorable news from the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee suggested that future interest rate increases will continue to come at a slow and manageable pace. Yet even though investors in general were pleased with that overall message, some companies missed out on the gains.General Electric(NYSE: GE),Hewlett-Packard Enterprise(NYSE: HPE), andRed Robin Gourmet Burgers(NASDAQ: RRGB)were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly.
Shares of General Electric dropped 7%, giving back all of their gains from earlier in the week and then some. The industrial conglomerate had generated some enthusiasm on news that it wouldmerge its transportation businesswith industry peerWestinghouse Air Brake Technologies. But today, CEO John Flannery failed to give investors the reassurances they wanted, instead saying that the prospects for its key power unit remain challenged and even refusing to guarantee that the company will be able to sustain its already reduced dividend payout through next year. Without good follow-through from the industrial giant and its leadership, General Electric shareholders have to find it difficult to sustain their confidence in the company's future.
Image source: General Electric.
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise stock fell 10.5% after the company released itsfiscal second-quarter financial report. The company's results were solid, including a 10% rise in revenue and adjusted earnings that were above the range that HP Enterprise had provided in its past earnings report. It also boosted its dividend by 50% and increased its guidance for the full fiscal 2018 year by $0.30 to a new range of $1.70 to $1.80 per share. Yet CEO Antonio Neri was somewhat vague on his views about HP Enterprise's prospects for the rest of the year, saying he remains confident about meeting its outlook but pointing toward a potentially difficult second half of the fiscal year. Even with the decline, HP Enterprise shares remain up from where they started 2018.
Finally,shares of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers plunged 18%. The casual-dining burger chain reported fiscal first-quarter results that included flat revenue and a 0.9% drop in comparable-restaurant sales. The company said that average check size was down from year-earlier figures on a comparable basis, offsetting a minimal gain in guest traffic, and adjusted earnings fell more than 20% compared to the fiscal first quarter of 2017. CEO Denny Marie Post tried to make the point that Red Robin is still outpacing many of its casual-dining peers, picking up market share, and efforts to boost delivery and take-out traffic have led to 40% gains in sales from those channels year over year. Yet with the company anticipating less optimistic results for the current quarter than investors had hoped, downward pressure on Red Robin stock looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
Dan Caplingerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
[Social Media Buzz]
Cotización del Bitcoin Cash: 902 30.€ | -0.74% | Kraken | 24/05/18 23:00 #BitcoinCash #Kraken #BCHEUR || 05/25 00:00現在(Zaif調べ)
#Bitcoin : 827,505円↑0.12%
#NEM #XEM : 29円↑0%
#Monacoin : 371円↓0.54%
#Ethereum : 64,780円↓1.54%
#Zaif : 1円↑0% || Total Market Cap: $337,322,161,179
1 BTC: $7,677.88
BTC Dominance: 38.8%
Update Time: 24-05-2018 - 10:00:03 (GMT+3) || 1hr Report : 00:07:30 UTC Top 10 Mentions
$BTC, $TRX, $ETH, $XRP, $LTC, $ZRX, $XVG, $EOS, $ADA, $NEOpic.twitter.com/zt5oc0joVn || 3hours...
|
7480.14, 7355.88, 7368.22, 7135.99, 7472.59, 7406.52, 7494.17, 7541.45, 7643.45, 7720.25
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 61572.79, 60683.82, 56216.18, 55724.27, 56473.03, 53906.09, 51762.27, 51093.65, 50050.87, 49004.25, 54021.75, 55033.12, 54824.70, 53555.11, 57750.18, 57828.05, 56631.08, 57200.29, 53333.54, 57424.01, 56396.52, 57356.40, 58803.78, 58232.32, 55859.80, 56704.57, 49150.54, 49716.19, 49880.54, 46760.19, 46456.06, 43537.51, 42909.40, 37002.44, 40782.74, 37304.69, 37536.63, 34770.58, 38705.98, 38402.22, 39294.20, 38436.97, 35697.61, 34616.07, 35678.13, 37332.86, 36684.93, 37575.18, 39208.77, 36894.41, 35551.96, 35862.38, 33560.71, 33472.63, 37345.12, 36702.60, 37334.40, 35552.52, 39097.86, 40218.48, 40406.27, 38347.06, 38053.50, 35787.25, 35615.87, 35698.30, 31676.69, 32505.66, 33723.03, 34662.44, 31637.78, 32186.28, 34649.64, 34434.34, 35867.78, 35040.84, 33572.12, 33897.05, 34668.55, 35287.78, 33746.00, 34235.20, 33855.33, 32877.37, 33798.01, 33520.52, 34240.19, 33155.85, 32702.03, 32822.35.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-07-14]
Volume: 21376531210, RSI (14-day): 43.30, 50-day EMA: 36666.00, 200-day EMA: 39260.77
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1824.30, Gold RSI: 55.72
Oil Price: 73.13, Oil RSI: 53.58
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
PARSIQ's IQ Protocol Provides Benefits for E-Commerce Platforms: TALLINN, ESTONIA / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2021 / Subscription-based business models are nothing new in the eCommerce industry. Several big companies have been using it successfully, such as Amazon Prime and HelloFresh. Compared to traditional eCommerce platforms that are based on ad-hoc purchase and total revenues, subscription-based eCommerce platforms rely on preplanned purchasing and recurring revenue. When implemented right, eCommerce subscriptions have the potential to drive optimized growth for all sorts of online and offline businesses. However, not all eCommerce businesses have the knowledge and means to implement well-designed subscription models. For businesses, customer retention is difficult to maintain as customers expect newer and better features. Stronger and cost-efficient incentive models need to be carefully designed and iterated to stay competitive. Easier said than done, these are critical challenges facing eCommerce platforms including food, retail, personal care, digital goods and more. PARSIQ's IQ Protocol is designed from the ground up to solve these fundamental challenges for eCommerce businesses. It is a subscription-based service model that lowers cost, increases incentives for customers and creates a strong circular business model for all eCommerce businesses. All using the latest smart contract technologies secured on blockchain technology. Here's how IQ Protocol can help eCommerce businesses succeed: Offer a Life-Time-Value token for subscriptions. Instead of asking customers to pay for a monthly subscription or annual subscription, eCommerce platforms can offer a Life-Time-Value token that will allow customers to use your services as long as they hold the token . Basically, the more tokens they have, the bigger volume of services they can consume. Offering Life-Time-value tokens can make eCommerce businesses stand out from the competition in terms of better value and flexibility for customers. Immutable transaction records. IQ Protocol enables businesses to reliably track subscription payments, payment profiles, and detailed transaction history through a trustless smart contract design, which is immutable and secured using blockchain technology. This means significantly reduced threats of data loss or hacks for the business, ultimately reducing expensive IT and security costs. Customizable business models. IQ Protocol offers program-specific business model logics that are highly customizable. All models in the protocol are optimized to efficiently process transactions, whether small or large in volume. Need to implement cancellation or product return logic? What about prorated payments? All of these can be baked straight into the protocol and executed via smart contracts. Story continues For eCommerce customers, here are the benefits of IQ Protocol: Wide variety of payment methods. Customers who subscribe to eCommerce platforms using IQ Protocol can choose to pay in flexible methods accepted by the platform, including cash payments and cryptocurrencies. With digital payments on the rise, having this flexibility creates convenience whether customers pay with credit cards, Bitcoin or the eCommerce's native crypto. Earn rewards. If a customer chooses to hold the eCommerce platform's token, they can receive rewards sourced from platform fees paid by subscribers and other revenue sources shared back to the lenders, with no hidden fees. This works by customers "lending" their funds to IQ Protocol risk-free, which helps to create liquidity within the system. The capital liquidity is used to generate smart ROI, where rewards are paid back to the "stakers'. Customers can withdraw their initial earnings and investments at any time. IQ Protocol offers many more benefits to eCommerce platforms, their customers, and even crypto holders. This protocol can benefit all parties involved in the business, so it will always be a win-win situation for everyone. As blockchain technology grows, more and more eCommerce businesses will understand its advantages, which means that they will need efficient and sustainable tokenomics. Thankfully, IQ Protocol is designed to answer these challenges. Media Contact Company: PARSIQ LTD Email: [email protected] Website: https://parsiq.net/en/ City/Country: Tallinn, Estonia SOURCE: PARSIQ LTD View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/655445/PARSIQs-IQ-Protocol-Provides-Benefits-for-E-Commerce-Platforms || PARSIQ's IQ Protocol Provides Benefits for E-Commerce Platforms: TALLINN, ESTONIA / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2021 /Subscription-based business models are nothing new in the eCommerce industry. Several big companies have been using it successfully, such as Amazon Prime and HelloFresh. Compared to traditional eCommerce platforms that are based on ad-hoc purchase and total revenues, subscription-based eCommerce platforms rely on preplanned purchasing and recurring revenue. When implemented right, eCommerce subscriptions have the potential to drive optimized growth for all sorts of online and offline businesses.
However, not all eCommerce businesses have the knowledge and means to implement well-designed subscription models. For businesses, customer retention is difficult to maintain as customers expect newer and better features. Stronger and cost-efficient incentive models need to be carefully designed and iterated to stay competitive. Easier said than done, these are critical challenges facing eCommerce platforms including food, retail, personal care, digital goods and more.
PARSIQ's IQ Protocolis designed from the ground up to solve these fundamental challenges for eCommerce businesses. It is a subscription-based service model that lowers cost, increases incentives for customers and creates a strong circular business model for all eCommerce businesses. All using the latest smart contract technologies secured on blockchain technology.
Here's how IQ Protocol can help eCommerce businesses succeed:
• Offer a Life-Time-Value token for subscriptions. Instead of asking customers to pay for a monthly subscription or annual subscription, eCommerce platforms can offer a Life-Time-Value token that willallow customers to use your services as long as they hold the token. Basically, the more tokens they have, the bigger volume of services they can consume. Offering Life-Time-value tokens can make eCommerce businesses stand out from the competition in terms of better value and flexibility for customers.
• Immutable transaction records. IQ Protocol enables businesses to reliably track subscription payments, payment profiles, and detailed transaction history through a trustless smart contract design, which is immutable and secured using blockchain technology. This means significantlyreduced threats of data loss or hacksfor the business, ultimately reducing expensive IT and security costs.
• Customizable business models. IQ Protocol offersprogram-specific business model logicsthat are highly customizable. All models in the protocol are optimized to efficiently process transactions, whether small or large in volume. Need to implement cancellation or product return logic? What about prorated payments? All of these can be baked straight into the protocol and executed via smart contracts.
For eCommerce customers, here are the benefits of IQ Protocol:
• Wide variety of payment methods. Customers who subscribe to eCommerce platforms using IQ Protocol can choose to pay in flexible methods accepted by the platform, including cash payments and cryptocurrencies. With digital payments on the rise, having this flexibility creates convenience whether customers pay with credit cards, Bitcoin or the eCommerce's native crypto.
• Earn rewards. If a customer chooses to hold the eCommerce platform's token, they can receive rewards sourced from platform fees paid by subscribers and other revenue sources shared back to the lenders, with no hidden fees. This works by customers "lending" their funds to IQ Protocol risk-free, which helps to create liquidity within the system. The capital liquidity is used to generate smart ROI, where rewards are paid back to the "stakers'. Customers can withdraw their initial earnings and investments at any time.
IQ Protocol offers many more benefits to eCommerce platforms, their customers, and even crypto holders. This protocol can benefit all parties involved in the business, so it will always be a win-win situation for everyone. As blockchain technology grows, more and more eCommerce businesses will understand its advantages, which means that they will need efficient and sustainable tokenomics. Thankfully, IQ Protocol is designed to answer these challenges.
Media Contact
Company: PARSIQ LTDEmail:[email protected]:https://parsiq.net/en/City/Country: Tallinn, Estonia
SOURCE:PARSIQ LTD
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/655445/PARSIQs-IQ-Protocol-Provides-Benefits-for-E-Commerce-Platforms || Hashdex to Launch Bitcoin ETF Seeking to Offset Mining Emissions: Brazil-based asset manager Hashdex will launch a fully bitcoin -based exchange-traded fund (ETF) that seeks to neutralize carbon emissions, the company announced Tuesday. The ETF will use a portion of the management fee to buy carbon credits and offset the carbon produced by the bitcoin held in the fund, Roberta Antunes, chief of growth at Hashdex, told CoinDesk. The product will be listed on Brazilian stock exchange B3 as of Aug. 4, Antunes said. Investors have until July 30 to secure the first shares of the Hashdex Nasdaq Bitcoin Reference Price Index Fund (BITH11). Related: Ethereum ETF to List on Brazil’s Stock Exchange We understand that bitcoin can contribute greatly to encouraging the use of clean energy around the world. We want to anticipate this movement and offer investors a product that stimulates the sustainable potential of this asset, said Antunes. She added that the company has the support of the Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI). According to Hashdex, CCRI will produce annual reports containing calculations and estimates of energy consumption and carbon emissions relating to the mining process of all bitcoins acquired by BITH11. Based on the calculations, the ETF will reduce its carbon footprint and seek to invest in stocks that make it feasible to maintain the environment, said Antunes. She said Hashdex will rely on CCRIs assistance in selecting potential partners and projects that aim to reduce the environmental impact in Brazil and worldwide. XP, Itaú BBA and Banco Genial will be the coordinators of the new ETF offering, according to Hashdex. Related Stories Brazilian Securities Commission Should Pay Special Attention to Crypto Assets, Director Nominee Says Brazils Bitcoin Banco Group and Leader Arrested for Alleged Embezzlement of $300M in Crypto SoftBank Invests $200M in Brazil Crypto Exchange Mercado Bitcoin || Hashdex to Launch Bitcoin ETF Seeking to Offset Mining Emissions: Brazil-based asset manager Hashdex will launch a fullybitcoin-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) that seeks to neutralize carbon emissions, the company announced Tuesday.
The ETF will use a portion of the management fee to buy carbon credits and offset the carbon produced by thebitcoinheld in the fund, Roberta Antunes, chief of growth at Hashdex, told CoinDesk.
The product will be listed on Brazilian stock exchange B3 as of Aug. 4, Antunes said. Investors have until July 30 to secure the first shares of the Hashdex Nasdaq Bitcoin Reference Price Index Fund (BITH11).
Related:Ethereum ETF to List on Brazil’s Stock Exchange
“We understand that bitcoin can contribute greatly to encouraging the use of clean energy around the world. We want to anticipate this movement and offer investors a product that stimulates the sustainable potential of this asset,” said Antunes. She added that the company has the support of theCrypto Carbon Ratings Institute(CCRI).
According to Hashdex, CCRI will produce annual reports containing calculations and estimates of energy consumption and carbon emissions relating to the mining process of all bitcoins acquired by BITH11.
Based on the calculations, the ETF will reduce its carbon footprint and seek to invest in stocks that make it feasible to maintain the environment, said Antunes. She said Hashdex will rely on CCRI’s assistance in selecting potential partners and projects that aim to reduce the environmental impact in Brazil and worldwide.
XP, Itaú BBA and Banco Genial will be the coordinators of the new ETF offering, according to Hashdex.
• Brazilian Securities Commission Should Pay ‘Special Attention’ to Crypto Assets, Director Nominee Says
• Brazil’s Bitcoin Banco Group and Leader Arrested for Alleged Embezzlement of $300M in Crypto
• SoftBank Invests $200M in Brazil Crypto Exchange Mercado Bitcoin || Hashdex to Launch Bitcoin ETF Seeking to Offset Mining Emissions: Brazil-based asset manager Hashdex will launch a fullybitcoin-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) that seeks to neutralize carbon emissions, the company announced Tuesday.
The ETF will use a portion of the management fee to buy carbon credits and offset the carbon produced by thebitcoinheld in the fund, Roberta Antunes, chief of growth at Hashdex, told CoinDesk.
The product will be listed on Brazilian stock exchange B3 as of Aug. 4, Antunes said. Investors have until July 30 to secure the first shares of the Hashdex Nasdaq Bitcoin Reference Price Index Fund (BITH11).
Related:Ethereum ETF to List on Brazil’s Stock Exchange
“We understand that bitcoin can contribute greatly to encouraging the use of clean energy around the world. We want to anticipate this movement and offer investors a product that stimulates the sustainable potential of this asset,” said Antunes. She added that the company has the support of theCrypto Carbon Ratings Institute(CCRI).
According to Hashdex, CCRI will produce annual reports containing calculations and estimates of energy consumption and carbon emissions relating to the mining process of all bitcoins acquired by BITH11.
Based on the calculations, the ETF will reduce its carbon footprint and seek to invest in stocks that make it feasible to maintain the environment, said Antunes. She said Hashdex will rely on CCRI’s assistance in selecting potential partners and projects that aim to reduce the environmental impact in Brazil and worldwide.
XP, Itaú BBA and Banco Genial will be the coordinators of the new ETF offering, according to Hashdex.
• Brazilian Securities Commission Should Pay ‘Special Attention’ to Crypto Assets, Director Nominee Says
• Brazil’s Bitcoin Banco Group and Leader Arrested for Alleged Embezzlement of $300M in Crypto
• SoftBank Invests $200M in Brazil Crypto Exchange Mercado Bitcoin || Some older Americans turn to crypto to make up for retirement shortfalls: As retirement age approaches for baby boomers and Gen Xers, the reality of under-saving is setting in and some are looking toward cryptocurrency to make up for lost time, according to data from a platform that allows crypto investments for retirement accounts. “There's the growth and return rates that are appealing to older folks who are looking to catch up,” said Chris Kline, co-founder and chief operating office of Bitcoin IRA. “Or, grow out and scale their retirement planning.” Read more: Bitcoin and crypto: 14 terms you should know Half of Bitcoin IRA’s user base is 55 and up, according to data exclusively shared with Yahoo Money, while over three-quarters of its 100,000 users are over age 45 — upending the stereotype that digital currency is a young person’s game. “There's the growth and return rates that are appealing to older folks who are looking to catch up,” said Chris Kline, co-founder and chief operating office of Bitcoin IRA. “Or grow out and scale their retirement planning.” (Photo: Getty) (dulezidar via Getty Images) Given crypto’s ability to capture headlines as prices boom and bust, these investors are looking for “sizzle and excitement” that old guard investment vehicles like 401(k)s, IRAs, and stocks don't offer, Kline said. They also want a more hands-on approach with their investments, instead of simply selecting mutual funds or index funds from an employer's retirement plan menu. “They're looking for something a little bit more individualistic,” he said. “They're looking to have a little bit more control and do different things.” Many also are looking for ways to fill in short gaps in their retirement savings. The median retirement savings for those between 45 to 55 is $82,600, while it’s $120,000 for those closest to retirement between 55 and 64, according to PwC’s Retirement in America report . YF Plus “What they have saved will afford them like $1,000 a month of actual cash while they're in retirement,” said Bernadette Geis, PwC’s U.S. asset and wealth management leader, who noted that’s not enough. That's where crypto comes in, especially in a year when bitcoin's value jumped 120% from the first of the year to mid-April and other digital coins enjoyed similarly meteoric rises. Story continues Read more: Here's how to incorporate Bitcoin into your retirement investments Vikas Agarwal, PwC’s financial crime unit leader, cautions against seeing cryptocurrency as “easy money” solely based on its “explosive growth,” he said. Risk is associated with every investment, and an investment in crypto is far from a sure-fire win. For instance, bitcoin's value has fallen 50% since mid-April. For that reason, financial professionals discourage going all in on one particular investment — especially one so volatile. Among the rising asset classes, Agarwalcompared crypto’s hype to a “fast-moving stock [that’s] quickly gaining momentum in the market.” Representations of the virtual currency Dogecoin are seen in this illustration taken June 16, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration (Dado Ruvic / reuters) Some investors are “probably going a little bit too far,” he said, with regard to looking at crypto as a way to “make up for having more money in my retirement plan.” Allocation should ultimately come down to a portfolio’s risk before the introduction of crypto. Investors with portfolios with a lot of high-risk assets should keep a smaller investment in crypto. Those with a lower-risk portfolio could likely withstand a higher percentage of the asset, Agarwal explained. Even ForUsAll Inc. — a 401(k) provider which recently allowed its retirement savers to invest in crypto — caps the allocation to crypto at 5% of portfolio balances to shield investors from taking on too much risk. A common misconception for the average investor is conflating stocks—especially those in IRA portfolios—and cryptos, Agarwal explained. (Photo: Getty) (Yuichiro Chino via Getty Images) For those interested in crypto, Agarwal recommended sticking with “coins that are well-known and well-established” like bitcoin or ethereum. “On the other side, I think there are investors that probably aren't as educated on the risks,” he said, mentioning hefty transaction fees, federal income taxes levied on gains, and extreme price volatility. Read more: Experts: Here's what you should consider if you want to get into bitcoin now Another misconception for the average investor is conflating stocks with cryptos, Agarwal said. For a passive investor, the daily market and volume movement of crypto isn’t the right fit. “If the wild price swings happen outside of market hours, it could get challenging to trade them, and it can be challenging to divest them,” he said. “Retirement accounts aren't usually things that people are day-trading against and cryptos are." Yahoo Money sister site Cashay has a weekly newsletter. Stephanie is a reporter for Yahoo Money and Cashay , a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter @SJAsymkos . Surge in national park visitors drives costs up and leads to reservation requirements Retirement expert: Crypto investing 'can make the 401(k) more engaging and relevant' Here are the companies requiring employees to get vaccinated 'What’s really important?' Pandemic spurs quest for change for some workers Retirement expert: Here's a 'neat thing you can do' if you take Social Security early Click here for more personal finance tips, guides and news Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , Flipboard , SmartNews , LinkedIn , YouTube , and reddit . || Some older Americans turn to crypto to make up for retirement shortfalls: As retirement age approaches for baby boomers and Gen Xers, the reality of under-saving is setting in and some are looking toward cryptocurrency to make up for lost time, according to data from a platform that allows crypto investments for retirement accounts.
“There's the growth and return rates that are appealing to older folks who are looking to catch up,” said Chris Kline, co-founder and chief operating office of Bitcoin IRA. “Or, grow out and scale their retirement planning.”
Read more:Bitcoin and crypto: 14 terms you should know
Half of Bitcoin IRA’s user base is 55 and up, according to data exclusively shared with Yahoo Money, while over three-quarters of its100,000 usersare over age 45 — upending the stereotype that digital currency is a young person’s game.
Given crypto’s ability to capture headlines as prices boom and bust, these investors are looking for “sizzle and excitement” that old guard investment vehicles like 401(k)s, IRAs, and stocks don't offer, Kline said. They also want a more hands-on approach with their investments, instead of simply selecting mutual funds or index funds from an employer's retirement plan menu.
“They're looking for something a little bit more individualistic,” he said. “They're looking to have a little bit more control and do different things.”
Many also are looking for ways to fill in short gaps in their retirement savings. The median retirement savings for those between 45 to 55 is $82,600, while it’s $120,000 for those closest to retirement between 55 and 64, according toPwC’s Retirement in America report.
“What they have saved will afford them like $1,000 a month of actual cash while they're in retirement,” said Bernadette Geis, PwC’s U.S. asset and wealth management leader, who noted that’s not enough.
That's where crypto comes in, especially in a year when bitcoin's value jumped 120% from the first of the year to mid-April and other digital coins enjoyed similarly meteoric rises.
Read more:Here's how to incorporate Bitcoin into your retirement investments
Vikas Agarwal, PwC’s financial crime unit leader, cautions against seeing cryptocurrency as “easy money” solely based on its “explosive growth,” he said. Risk is associated with every investment, and an investment in crypto is far from a sure-fire win. For instance, bitcoin's value has fallen 50% since mid-April.
For that reason, financial professionals discourage going all in on one particular investment — especially one so volatile. Among the rising asset classes, Agarwalcompared crypto’s hype to a “fast-moving stock [that’s] quickly gaining momentum in the market.”
Some investors are “probably going a little bit too far,” he said, with regard to looking at crypto as a way to “make up for having more money in my retirement plan.”
Allocation should ultimately come down to a portfolio’s risk before the introduction of crypto. Investors with portfolios with a lot of high-risk assets should keep a smaller investment in crypto. Those with a lower-risk portfolio could likely withstand a higher percentage of the asset, Agarwal explained.
Even ForUsAll Inc. — a 401(k) provider whichrecently allowed its retirement savers to invest in crypto— caps the allocation to crypto at 5% of portfolio balances to shield investors from taking on too much risk.
For those interested in crypto, Agarwal recommended sticking with “coins that are well-known and well-established” like bitcoin or ethereum.
“On the other side, I think there are investors that probably aren't as educated on the risks,” he said, mentioning hefty transaction fees, federal income taxes levied on gains, and extreme price volatility.
Read more:Experts: Here's what you should consider if you want to get into bitcoin now
Another misconception for the average investor is conflating stocks with cryptos, Agarwal said. For a passive investor, the daily market and volume movement of crypto isn’t the right fit.
“If the wild price swings happen outside of market hours, it could get challenging to trade them, and it can be challenging to divest them,” he said. “Retirement accounts aren't usually things that people are day-trading against and cryptos are."
Stephanie is a reporter for Yahoo Money andCashay, a new personal finance website. Follow her on Twitter@SJAsymkos.
• Surge in national park visitors drives costs up and leads to reservation requirements
• Retirement expert: Crypto investing 'can make the 401(k) more engaging and relevant'
• Here are the companies requiring employees to get vaccinated
• 'What’s really important?' Pandemic spurs quest for change for some workers
• Retirement expert: Here's a 'neat thing you can do' if you take Social Security early
• Click here for more personal finance tips, guides and news
Follow Yahoo Finance onTwitter,Facebook,Instagram,Flipboard,SmartNews,LinkedIn,YouTube, andreddit. || Fintech Focus For July 14, 2021: Fintech Header Quote To Start The Day: “Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.” Source: Stephen Covey One Big Thing In Fintech: Banks want the Federal Reserve to create tough standards for evaluating whether fintech firms with narrow-purpose banking charters should be given access to the payments system and other central bank services. Source: American Banker Other Key Fintech Developments: Citi debuted no-fee stock trading. Marco Financial adds $82M seed. AI influence on fintech innovation. Tiffin adds Cathie Wood to board. Chime taps lawyers ahead of IPO. LendingHome hires new leaders. Round lot reform can reduce cost. Marqeta, Payfare add partnership . Gupshup added a bill-pay service. Prove, Binance sign agreements. Warburg led Quantexa fundraise. BBVA debuts biometric card tech. BNP closes on Exane acquisition . Capital Group buys MSTR stake. MX launches a new insights API. Augmentum, Tikehau eye growth . HelloFlow raises a funding round. Brazil’s B3, Totvs add agreement . Novus planning launch of an app. Melio hires JPM Chase executive. Grayscale taps BNY for BTC ETF. DTCC teams Ebix on compliance. UK police seize $250M in cryptos. Apple, Goldman partner on BNPL. Quantexa adds $153M for AI tech. Watch Out For This: The U.S. government is drawing on the expertise of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space venture, General Electric Hitachi Nuclear Energy and other companies to develop nuclear-powered spacecraft that can travel faster and farther -- to Mars and beyond. Source: Bloomberg Interesting Reads: WebOps Pantheon raises $100M. Warner Bros, Nifty’s launch NFTs. Earnings spotlight on loan growth. Lumber wipes out gain; transitory? Startup funding to not slow down. Funding to black founders grows . Goldman raises pay close to 50%. Market Moving Headline: The correlation of stock moves, versus option activity, has become more pronounced over the past few years, and even more so after the pandemic sell-off. This comes as the demand for options is transmitted to underlying stocks via the risk management of market makers who, during outlier events, are short so-called gamma or convexity, the sensitivity of an options risk to the direction, given underlying price changes. Story continues With option volumes now comparable to stock volumes, related hedging flows can represent an increased share of volume in underlying stocks. The reflexive response by the opposing side of options trades — a result of regulatory frameworks, the low-interest-rate environment, as well as growth of the derivatives complex — causes a cascading reaction that exacerbates underlying price movements. In a move to understand who is capitalizing on the aforementioned volatility dislocations, as well as how, Benzinga spoke with Kris Sidial, a former institutional trader and the co-chief investment officer of the Ambrus Group, a volatility arbitrage fund that looks to exploit changing market structure dynamics. Source: Benzinga See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga 'A Free Put On The Market': Ambrus Group CIO On Taking Advantage Of Volatility Dislocations Fintech Focus For July 13, 2021 © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Fintech Focus For July 14, 2021: Quote To Start The Day:“Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.”
Source:Stephen Covey
One Big Thing In Fintech:Banks want the Federal Reserve to create tough standards for evaluating whether fintech firms with narrow-purpose banking charters should be given access to the payments system and other central bank services.
Source:American Banker
Other Key Fintech Developments:
• Citidebutedno-fee stock trading.
• Marco Financialadds$82M seed.
• AIinfluenceon fintech innovation.
• TiffinaddsCathie Wood to board.
• Chimetapslawyers ahead of IPO.
• LendingHomehiresnew leaders.
• Round lot reform canreducecost.
• Marqeta, Payfare addpartnership.
• Gupshupaddeda bill-pay service.
• Prove, Binancesignagreements.
• WarburgledQuantexa fundraise.
• BBVAdebutsbiometric card tech.
• BNP closes on Exaneacquisition.
• Capital GroupbuysMSTR stake.
• MXlaunchesa new insights API.
• Augmentum, Tikehau eyegrowth.
• HelloFlowraisesa funding round.
• Brazil’s B3, Totvs addagreement.
• Novus planninglaunchof an app.
• MeliohiresJPM Chase executive.
• GrayscaletapsBNY for BTC ETF.
• DTCCteamsEbix on compliance.
• UK policeseize$250M in cryptos.
• Apple, Goldmanpartneron BNPL.
• Quantexaadds$153M for AI tech.
Watch Out For This:The U.S. government is drawing on the expertise of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space venture, General Electric Hitachi Nuclear Energy and other companies to develop nuclear-powered spacecraft that can travel faster and farther -- to Mars and beyond.
Source:Bloomberg
Interesting Reads:
• WebOps Pantheonraises$100M.
• Warner Bros, Nifty’slaunchNFTs.
• Earningsspotlighton loan growth.
• Lumberwipesout gain; transitory?
• Startupfundingto not slow down.
• Funding to black foundersgrows.
• Goldmanraisespay close to 50%.
Market Moving Headline:The correlation of stock moves, versus option activity, has become more pronounced over the past few years, and even more so after the pandemic sell-off.
This comes as the demand for options is transmitted to underlying stocks via the risk management of market makers who, during outlier events, are short so-called gamma or convexity, the sensitivity of an options risk to the direction, given underlying price changes.
With option volumes now comparable to stock volumes, related hedging flows can represent an increased share of volume in underlying stocks.
The reflexive response by the opposing side of options trades — a result of regulatory frameworks, the low-interest-rate environment, as well as growth of the derivatives complex — causes a cascading reaction that exacerbates underlying price movements.
In a move to understand who is capitalizing on the aforementioned volatility dislocations, as well as how, Benzinga spoke with Kris Sidial, a former institutional trader and the co-chief investment officer of the Ambrus Group, a volatility arbitrage fund that looks to exploit changing market structure dynamics.
Source:Benzinga
See more from Benzinga
• Click here for options trades from Benzinga
• 'A Free Put On The Market': Ambrus Group CIO On Taking Advantage Of Volatility Dislocations
• Fintech Focus For July 13, 2021
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Steal These Money Secrets From 25 Millionaires Under 25: andersphoto / Shutterstock.com Unless you’re independently wealthy, you’ve probably entertained the idea of being a millionaire. As you read about the latest celebrity splurge, you might wonder what a normal person can do to make that kind of money. Related: 31 Dumb Things That Are Keeping You From Becoming Wealthy Celeb Money: 24 Celebrity Couples Worth Hundreds of Millions The rich often know the secrets to financial success, and now you can, too. By knowing how these 25 millionaires under 25 amassed their fortunes, you can get some personal finance and budgeting tips that apply to your own life and growing bank account. Last updated: July 13, 2021 Charles Sykes/AP Automate Your Finances In 2016, when Mikaila Ulmer landed an $11 million deal with Whole Foods to sell her Me & the Bees Lemonade in 55 of its stores in four states, that was just the beginning of her financial success. Today, the 14-year-old entrepreneur's beverage is now also being sold by restaurants, food trailers and natural food delivery companies. In a 2017 interview with CNBC, Mikaila said her best money advice is to automate your finances. What the teenage millionaire means is to use online technology to track numbers and share data to keep financial information easily accessible and in check. Check Out: Celebrities Who Are Richer Than You Think Chelsea Lauren / Shutterstock.com Diversify Income Streams People who are looking to become rich can take a cue from stars who know how to diversify their income streams — like Camila Cabello. The 23-year-old singer got her start on "The X Factor" television show in 2012 as a member of the group Fifth Harmony, which she left to become a solo act in 2016. Since becoming a solo act, Cabello has collaborated with other artists, released a No. 1 album, toured solo, done a modeling campaign for Guess and took a role in a film adaptation of "Cinderella." According to Celebrity Net Worth, Cabello has a net worth of $14 million. Liza Koshy, who cut her digital teeth on the now-extinct Vine, is another star who knows how to earn income from various ventures. She made Forbes' 2019 30 under 30 list. Story continues Koshy has two successful YouTube channels with millions of subscribers. She's had her share of sponsored content opportunities and has been hired for commercial ads. She snagged a role in Hulu's "Freakish" and played a part in Tyler Perry's "Boo! A Madea Halloween" movie. Plus, Nickelodeon hired her as the face of its "Double Dare" reboot. JoJo Siwa is another famous female who rakes in the money from many angles. This 17-year-old is known as a dancer, singer, reality television star, model and actress. Her net worth is $12 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. In addition to gaining income from her many talents, the teen's YouTube channel has more than 10 million followers. She also has lucrative licensing deals with Nickelodeon and J.C. Penney. Read: 17 Surprising Ways Penny-Pinching Costs You More Shutterstock.com Get Started In Your Career Early The earlier you start making money, the more time you have to build your wealth. Even if you don't know exactly what you want to do, the sooner you get going, the more time you have to grow your income. These under-25 Hollywood actresses — and one model — have reached millionaire status by starting on their careers between the ages of 2 and 8. Chloe Grace Moretz, age 23, got her start as a Hollywood actress in 2005 when she was around 8 years old. Moretz currently has a net worth of $12 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Gigi Hadid, 25 years old, already has a net worth of $29 million. She started her modeling career at the tender age of 2 when she was discovered by fashion brand Guess. Twenty-two-year-old Elle Fanning got her start making movies for the big screen at age 3. She currently has a net worth of $6 million. Elle's big sister, Dakota Fanning, age 26, has double the net worth of her little sis, at $12 million. Dakota got her start in movies in 2001, around age 7. Stop Now: Old-School Money Advice You Shouldn’t Follow Anymore Broadimage / Shutterstock.com Invest In Real Estate Even though 23-year-old Kylie Jenner is well-known for her Instagram presence, her cosmetics company and her famous family, her place on this list isn't about any of those. Instead, it's all about her real estate savvy and knowing a good investment when she sees one. Jenner has owned five houses, making her first purchase at 17, according to Insider. In 2015, she bought her starter house in Calabasas, California, for $2.7 million. She renovated it and sold it for $3.15 million in 2017. In 2016, while she owned the Calabasas home, she purchased a mini-mansion in Hidden Hills, California, for $6.03 million. Jenner sold the property for $6.7 million in 2018. A few months after Jenner purchased the Hidden Hills mini-mansion in 2016, she added a $4.5 million home to her real estate portfolio — one that was located right next door. She originally planned to use it as an office but flipped and sold the property a mere five months later for $5.26 million. In September 2016, Jenner bought another mansion, spanning 13,000 square feet for $12 million. She currently owns that property. In 2017, Jenner purchased a vacant lot next to her home for $5 million. About 10 months later, she sold it for $5.35 million. Last, but not least, Jenner is co-owner of a $13.45 million Beverly Hills mansion with her daughter's father, Travis Scott. Fin d Out: 65 Splurges of the Filthy Rich Matt Baron / Shutterstock.com Don't Relax Once You've Made It For all his crazy antics, 23-year-old Jake Paul certainly knows how to leverage the power of YouTube to gain millions of followers, billions of views and millions of dollars. He ranked No. 2 on Forbes' 2018 list of highest-paid YouTubers , with earnings of $21.5 million. It might seem like Jake Paul has arrived in the financial sense, but his advice is to keep working hard even once you've made it. This is especially true in his industry because digital stars have to churn out new content to stay relevant. Churning out new content is something pint-sized YouTube star Ryan, of Ryan ToysReview, knows a lot about, too. Ryan makes videos every day, according to Heavy. Ryan topped Forbes' 2018 list of highest-paid YouTubers, raking in $22 million. Michael Hurcomb / Shutterstock.com Snag Some Lucrative Endorsement Deals and Sponsorships Endorsement deals can pay out handsomely, and they're not just for the celebrity set. With a great brand, hard work and perseverance, you can also get paid for sponsored posts on Instagram. Fashion model Bella Hadid, age 24, earns $86,300 per sponsored Instagram post. Twenty-three-year-old Eleonora "Lele" Pons, a lifestyle Instagram influencer, makes $144,000 per Instagram post. And then from Instagram, you might be able to work your way up to even better deals. Singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes earns his millions from his world tours and music sales. But he also takes advantage of lucrative endorsement deals to increase his bottom line. The famous 22-year-old has deals with Armani, SmileDirect and Calvin Klein. Other under-25 millionaire celebrities who have netted lucrative endorsement deals are Kendall Jenner, who's a fashion model and TV reality star on her famous family's series, "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." Calvin Klein is just one of the high-paying endorsement deals 24-year-old Jenner has scored. Da Bomb Reinvest In Your Business It all started in 2011 with a $25 bath bomb experiment the sisters took on for an upcoming science fair. The experiment snowballed into a business, where, at one point, the sisters were making 20,000 bath bombs a month out of their parents' basement. Now Caroline, 18, and Isabel, 19, have a thriving business, Da Bomb, which generates $20 million in annual revenue. Besides bath bombs, the company makes and sells bath salts, body scrubs and bath shots. The products are sold at stores like Ulta, CVS and Target, and the sisters even have a licensing deal with Mattel that allows them to sell Barbie-branded bath items. From the beginning, the sisters have wisely reinvested the money they earned back into their business — after paying their debts and themselves first. By reinvesting the money you earn back into a company, you can help it grow without having to seek out new capital. Are You Kidding Socks Don't Be Afraid To Delegate To be able to really break out and start making some serious cash, you won't be able to do everything yourself. Instead, you'll need to delegate some of your responsibilities to people you can trust. And that's exactly what brothers Brandon Martinez, director of sales, age 14, and Sebastian Martinez, CEO, age 12, do to experience more success with the sock company their mom helped them found: Are You Kidding Socks. They defer to and look to their mom for guidance — in essence, they delegate the more difficult decisions and actions to her. It all started when mom, Rachel Martinez, watched a story about another kid entrepreneur who created her own product. The savvy mom knew Sebastian had a love for socks, so she asked him if he wanted to start designing socks for sale. Sebastian accepted, and the business took off. Two years ago, in 2017, the boys' mom reported the company made $250,000 in sales, doubling their profit from the previous year. If things have been progressing at the same pace, these two youngsters are likely gaining on millionaire status, if they're not already there. Anchiy / Getty Images/iStockphoto Be Involved In Your Finances by Knowing How To Prioritize From a young age, Moziah Bridges had a love for fashion and enjoyed dressing well. When he decided he wanted to start making his own bow ties, his grandmother taught him how to cut and sew fabric. From there, his mother, Tramica Morris, helped him build a business around his passion — designing, making and selling the bow ties for profit. And Mo's Bows was born. In 2013, Mo and his mother were guests on the popular TV show "Shark Tank," where he gained Daymond John as a mentor. John's advice helped him make hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales. In 2017, when Mo was 15, Business Insider reported that he signed a seven-figure, one-year deal with the NBA to produce ties for all 30 of its basketball teams. Mo's mother taught the young entrepreneur to be smart with his money by involving him in the bookkeeping process. Even if you are making a ton of money, it's important to be wise with how you budget and spend it. Photo Disclaimer: Please note photo is for representational purposes only. Shutterstock.com Stay Focused on Your Goals Langston Whitlock, 18, co-founder and CIO of the company that created ride-sharing app SafeTrip, knows what it takes to keep being successful: Stay focused. SafeTrip, which caters to the homeless and the elderly, allows individuals, caregivers and medical personnel to book medical transportation via the app. The company earned $3.4 million in revenue last year, according to Entrepreneur. Whitlock, who will graduate from high school in 2020, puts in full-time hours at the company. His goal is to take care of his mom and provide her with everything she needs, which means he needs to keep making his company a success. To that end, he is committed to staying focused and doing whatever it takes. A couple of other young entrepreneur millionaires, Matt Salsamendi, 22, and James Boehm, 24, also believe that staying focused can lead to financial success. The two met by way of the popular game Minecraft. Matt was hosting servers for his friends so they could have their own gaming server and their own version of the game. James became a customer and then asked Matt if he could help his business grow. The two partnered up, moved away from hosting to a video game streaming service, and grew their company Beam into a venture worth almost $5 million. Matt even dropped out of high school in the ninth grade to keep the rapidly growing company going. If the two hadn't stayed focused on their goals, they never would have grown a multimillion-dollar company, which ultimately was acquired by Microsoft and is now renamed Mixer. Photo Disclaimer: Please note photo is for representational purposes only. pinglabel / Getty Images Invest In Bitcoin According to 21-year-old Erik Finman, if you're willing to invest in the digital asset bitcoin and stick it out through volatile price swings, you can become very, very wealthy in the next 10 years. He likens a bitcoin investment to early investments in companies like the now multibillion-dollar empire known as Amazon. However, seasoned investor and billionaire Warren Buffett is a big opponent of the cryptocurrency. Finman earned his money by investing in bitcoin and other digital assets starting in his tween years, which allowed him to become a millionaire in his late teens. His current wealth from bitcoin holdings was estimated at $3.6 million in May 2019. Photo Disclaimer: Please note photo is for representational purposes only. Shutterstock.com When Reselling, Go For High Profit Margins Benjamin Kapelushnik, aka Benjamin Kickz, is a 21-year-old entrepreneur who sells rare sneakers to celebrities, such as DJ Khaled, Drake and P. Diddy. Known as the Sneaker Don, Benjamin claims everything he does in his business is a secret. Somehow, he's able to get his hands on the rarest of sneakers before they're even released. He buys the sneakers in bulk and sells them for a minimum 40% profit margin. In some cases, the Sneaker Don can snag shoes for such a great price that profit margins might be much higher — more than 1,000%. When selling or reselling goods, going for the highest profit margin possible can really increase your bottom line. Just don't price your offer so high that you drive away current and potential customers. Photo Disclaimer: Please note photo is for representational purposes only. jacoblund / Getty Images/iStockphoto Additional Money Secrets: How To Reach $1 Million Before You Turn 30 Now that you've learned the financial secrets of 25 millionaires under 25, here are some additional tips to help you reach $1 million in net worth before you turn 30 — or whatever your next milestone age happens to be. Save Up: Americans’ Savings Drop to Lowest Point in Years simonapilolla / Getty Images/iStockphoto Be Frugal Even When You Don't Have To Be When you start making headway on your financial goals or strike the jackpot on an investment, resist the urge to splurge. Instead, opt to be frugal. When you celebrate, scale it back — way back. The less you spend now on things that won't give you a financial return — like new cars and fancy vacations — the more you'll have to invest later. DGLimages / Getty Images/iStockphoto Pick Up a Side Gig If you can find something to do on the side that's worth your time, why not do it? Think of earning $1,000 extra per month for a few extra hours per week of your time. In a year, that could really add up. Plus, the great thing about side hustles is that they can turn into a full-time income or even more than what you're currently making. Cecilie_Arcurs / Getty Images Educate Yourself It's true that knowledge is power, but it's also true that knowledge can help you earn wealth. The opportunities for online learning are abundant. Consider looking for classes focused on solid wealth-building strategies. Plus, there's no shortage of valuable reading material on the subject — available either digitally or by sitting down with an old-fashioned book. MStudioImages / Getty Images Use Wealth Management Tools Unless you've found a way to passively earn unlimited amounts of income, it's smart to incorporate wealth management tools into your routine. Look for tools that can help you analyze, calculate and track your money. Plenty of great free options exist online. Without these helpful tools, you might find it harder to make true financial progress or gain the maximum benefit from your money. Get Started: 14 Completely Free, Easy-To-Use Budget Templates FG Trade / Getty Images Surround Yourself With Successful People If you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, then it's time to surround yourself with people who are already doing what you aspire to do — make lots of money. Having powerful and rich people as your friends can benefit you in all sorts of ways — from asking for advice to getting an introduction. pixdeluxe / Getty Images Be Willing To Take More Risk If You're Younger If you're in your 20s, you can afford to be more aggressive with investments because you have time to recoup your losses if things don't turn out as you'd hoped. Don't risk it all, but do consider investing a portion of your money in a higher-risk stock that you've done the research on. The payoff could be well worth it and put you years ahead financially. Neustockimages / Getty Images/iStockphoto Set a Savings Goal and Raise It Periodically If you set a savings goal of 10% of your net income each month, increase it over time. When you get a raise, increase your savings contributions accordingly. When you pay off a debt, don't acquire more debt. Instead, start putting the old payment toward savings or investments. You might be surprised how much more you can sock away when you make it a priority. CasarsaGuru / Getty Images Don't Let Obstacles Get In Your Way No matter what, you'll experience a financial challenge at one time or another. Perhaps you're doing great with your savings goals, but then you have a financial emergency that wipes out one-third of your account balance. Instead of giving up or just going forward from there, make it a goal to pay yourself back as soon as possible. One of the keys to financial success is to be willing to overcome obstacles no matter the sacrifice. Mikolette / Getty Images Eat Healthy, Exercise and Get Enough Sleep Although it might seem trite, eating healthy, exercising and getting enough rest is important to your financial success. A well-functioning body and mind will help you stay on track and committed to working tirelessly toward your goals. bortnikau / Getty Images/iStockphoto Strive To Be Positive Many studies show that a positive outlook can benefit your mood and your motivation — even when you're feeling anything but. On the flip side, if you choose to focus on negative thoughts and feelings, you risk feeling pessimistic and unmotivated, which might hinder your financial success. FG Trade / Getty Images Set and Work Toward Achieving Big Goals Daily You should always have at least one big goal you work toward each day, even if there's no way you can reach it that same day. Without goals, it's nearly impossible to navigate toward financial success. Focus on the goal and keep working toward it until you achieve it. Once you complete a goal, set another one and work consistently toward achieving it. Eventually, achieving these big goals can help you reach the financial success you've been dreaming of. simonkr / iStock.com Strive To Exceed Expectations Hold yourself to a higher standard than what's expected of you and you'll gain the trust and respect of others. Trust and respect can translate into positive benefits, such as more clients or higher-paying opportunities — and ultimately, more money. More From GOBankingRates Follow Along With 31 Days of Living Richer Read About the Best Small Businesses in Your State What It Means To Live a Truly Rich Life and How To Achieve It Big Personal Goals That You Should Put Your Money Toward This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : Steal These Money Secrets From 25 Millionaires Under 25 || DeFi Lending: 3 Major Risks to Know: As with most things in the financial world, when something promises extremely high rates of return there’s usually a catch. DeFi lending is no exception.
To put it simply, DeFi, shorthand fordecentralized finance, is an ecosystem of blockchain-based applications that offer a range of financial services similar to those provided by traditional banks, insurance brokers, and other financial intermediaries. The main difference being, these decentralized applications, known as dapps, run autonomously without any third party acting in the middle. That’s because each dapp is powered by a smart contract – a special computer program that automatically performs a function when certain predefined conditions are met.
Crypto lending is just one type of traditional financial service that is now accessible through these peer-to-peer operated dapps. Similar to depositing funds into a savings account to receive interest payments, crypto investors can now lock up their funds or use them to provide liquidity across a range of decentralized platforms and receive regular interest payments.
Related:Blockchain Auditing Firm CertiK Raises $37M in Series B Fundraising
Many of the interest rates offered on these dapps are significantly greater than anything currently available in the traditional financial space, making it a highly attractive passive income stream for crypto holders. But before lending any assets, there are a number of associated risks everyone should be made aware of.
When you commit your assets to a liquidity pool, you risk something known as “impermanent loss.”
Impermanent lossis when the price of assets locked up in a liquidity pool changes after being deposited and creates an unrealized loss (in dollar terms) versus if the liquidity provider had simply held the assets in a crypto wallet.
The change occurs for two reasons and has to do with theAutomated Market Makersystem DeFi liquidity pools use.
• DeFi pools maintain a ratio of assets in the pool. For example, anETH/LINKpool might fix the ratio of ether and link tokens in the pool at 1:50 (respectively). Meaning anyone wishing to provide liquidity would have to deposit both ether and link into the pool at that ratio.
• DeFi pools rely on arbitrage traders to align pool asset prices with the current market value, i.e., if the market price of link is $35 but the value of link in an ETH/LINK pool is $34.50, arbitrage traders will spot the discrepancy and be financially incentivized to add ETH to the pool and remove the discounted LINK.
Related:Market Wrap: Bitcoin Weakens as US Inflation Hits 13-Year High
When arbitrage traders flood the pool with one token in order to remove the discounted token – in this example, adding ether to take out link – the ratio of coins changes. In order to regain balance, the liquidity pool automatically increases the price of the token in higher supply (link) and reduces the price of the token in lower supply (ether) to encourage arbitrage traders to rebalance the pool.
Once the pool rebalances, the rise in the value of the liquidity pool is often less than the value of the assets if held by the lending protocol. That’s an impermanent loss.
Here’s a summary of the graph’s data and the relationship between price change and percentage loss:
• 1.25x price change = 0.6% loss
• 1.50x price change = 2.0% loss
• 1.75x price change = 3.8% loss
• 2x price change = 5.7% loss
• 3x price change = 13.4% loss
• 4x price change = 20.0% loss
• 5x price change = 25.5% loss
In defense of these protocols, liquidity providers (LPs) are rewarded with a proportionate amount of trading fees for adding assets to the pool, which can often offset impermanent losses. Uniswap, for example, charges a flat trading fee of 0.3% which is distributed to LPs.
Top tip:The best way to mitigate impermanent losses is to provide liquidity to pools containing less volatile assets such asstablecoins.
Impermanent loss shouldn’t be something that scares you away from the DeFi space, but rather a calculated risk to understand before lending your assets.
Flash loansare a type of uncollateralized lending unique to the DeFi space. In the traditional, centralized model of banking, there are two types of loans:
• Unsecured loans: These require no collateral because they are typically smaller amounts of money, think a few thousand dollars.
• Secured loans:These are larger and require collateral like a property, car, investment, etc. Throughout the entire loan process, banks have tools to assess the credibility of clients, like credit scores, reports, and so on.
Flash loans are a type of unsecured loan that usessmart contractsto mitigate all the risks associated with traditional banking. The concept is simple: A borrower can receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto assets without putting up any collateral but the catch is they have to pay the full amount back within the same transaction it was sent (usually a few seconds).
If the loan isn’t paid back, the lender can simplyroll back the transaction, like it never happened. Because there’s zero risk involved in issuing these types of loans, there is no limit to the amount a person can borrow. And because the entire process is decentralized, there are no credit scores or reports preventing a person from qualifying for a flash loan.
Flash loan attacks are when bad actors borrow huge sums of money using these special types of loans and use them to manipulate the market or exploit vulnerable DeFi protocols for their own personal gain.
Arecent flash loan attackagainst the yield-farming aggregator PancakeBunny made headlines when the attackers caused the price of PancakeBunny’s token, BUNNY, to drop 95%. They did this by borrowing large amounts of BNB through the PancakeSwap lending protocol, manipulating the price of BUNNY in off-market lending pools, and then dumping that BUNNY on the open market, causing its price to crash.
As is the case with almost all flash loan attacks, the thieves escaped without repercussion. It’s estimated the attackers netted $3 million in total.
Once a liquidity pool is drained of a particular token, liquidity providers can become exposed to impermanent loss. Not to mention, lesser-known tokens hit by these attacks – such asBUNNY– cause investors to lose all confidence in the projects and they rarely recover in price.
Without traditional forms of regulation in the DeFi space, users have to develop a certain degree of trust with the platforms they’re willing to lend their assets to or buy tokens from. Unfortunately, that trust is often breached in the form of rug pulls.
Rug pullsare a new type of exit scam where DeFi developers create a new token, pair it to a leading cryptocurrency such as tether or ether and set up a liquidity pool.
They then market the newly created token and encourage people to deposit into the pool, often promising extremely high yields. Once the pool has a substantial amount of the leading cryptocurrency in it, the DeFi developers then useback doorsintentionally coded into the token’s smart contract to mint millions of new coins that they use to sell for the popular cryptocurrency. This completely drains the popular cryptocurrency from the pool and leaves millions of worthless coins in it. The founders then disappear without a trace.
A famed “billion-dollar rug pull” came in 2020, when SushiSwap developer Chef Nomiunexpectedly liquidated his SUSHI tokensafter raising over a billion dollars in collateral. The price of the Uniswap competitor’s token fell to near zero in what is remembered as one of “the most dramatic moments in DeFi.”
DeFi fraud is a billion-dollar industry and, despite efforts to mitigate risks by developers, remains a prevalent aspect of the growing space. During the second half of 2020, it wasreportedDeFi related rug pulls and exit scams accounted for 99% of all blockchain-based fraud.
Despite the rampant increase in this type of malicious activity, there are methods to vet a company for potential exit scams before investing. These include:
• Verifying the team’s credibility on other projects
• Diligently reading through a project’s white paper
• Checking to see if the project’s code has been audited by a third party
• Being acute to potential red flags – like unrealistic projected returns and overspending on promotions and marketing
Ultimately, the same permissionless designs that make DeFi protocols vulnerable to theft are its source of potential to disrupt the finance industry. Limited regulatory oversight paired with the open-source nature of blockchain means there will always be vulnerabilities for lending protocols dealing with large sums of money. As is true with almost all sectors of the blockchain industry, the goal is that these risks will be mitigated over time.
• DeFi Gets Proactive About Policy Thanks to a $20M Grant From the Uniswap Community
• Polychain Leads $21M Round for Retail-Oriented DEX || DeFi Lending: 3 Major Risks to Know: As with most things in the financial world, when something promises extremely high rates of return there’s usually a catch. DeFi lending is no exception. To put it simply, DeFi, shorthand for decentralized finance , is an ecosystem of blockchain-based applications that offer a range of financial services similar to those provided by traditional banks, insurance brokers, and other financial intermediaries. The main difference being, these decentralized applications, known as dapps, run autonomously without any third party acting in the middle. That’s because each dapp is powered by a smart contract – a special computer program that automatically performs a function when certain predefined conditions are met. Crypto lending is just one type of traditional financial service that is now accessible through these peer-to-peer operated dapps. Similar to depositing funds into a savings account to receive interest payments, crypto investors can now lock up their funds or use them to provide liquidity across a range of decentralized platforms and receive regular interest payments. Related: Blockchain Auditing Firm CertiK Raises $37M in Series B Fundraising Many of the interest rates offered on these dapps are significantly greater than anything currently available in the traditional financial space, making it a highly attractive passive income stream for crypto holders. But before lending any assets, there are a number of associated risks everyone should be made aware of. Impermanent loss When you commit your assets to a liquidity pool, you risk something known as “impermanent loss.” Impermanent loss is when the price of assets locked up in a liquidity pool changes after being deposited and creates an unrealized loss (in dollar terms) versus if the liquidity provider had simply held the assets in a crypto wallet. The change occurs for two reasons and has to do with the Automated Market Maker system DeFi liquidity pools use. Story continues DeFi pools maintain a ratio of assets in the pool. For example, an ETH / LINK pool might fix the ratio of ether and link tokens in the pool at 1:50 (respectively). Meaning anyone wishing to provide liquidity would have to deposit both ether and link into the pool at that ratio. DeFi pools rely on arbitrage traders to align pool asset prices with the current market value, i.e., if the market price of link is $35 but the value of link in an ETH/LINK pool is $34.50, arbitrage traders will spot the discrepancy and be financially incentivized to add ETH to the pool and remove the discounted LINK. Related: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Weakens as US Inflation Hits 13-Year High When arbitrage traders flood the pool with one token in order to remove the discounted token – in this example, adding ether to take out link – the ratio of coins changes. In order to regain balance, the liquidity pool automatically increases the price of the token in higher supply (link) and reduces the price of the token in lower supply (ether) to encourage arbitrage traders to rebalance the pool. Once the pool rebalances, the rise in the value of the liquidity pool is often less than the value of the assets if held by the lending protocol. That’s an impermanent loss. Here’s a summary of the graph’s data and the relationship between price change and percentage loss: 1.25x price change = 0.6% loss 1.50x price change = 2.0% loss 1.75x price change = 3.8% loss 2x price change = 5.7% loss 3x price change = 13.4% loss 4x price change = 20.0% loss 5x price change = 25.5% loss In defense of these protocols, liquidity providers (LPs) are rewarded with a proportionate amount of trading fees for adding assets to the pool, which can often offset impermanent losses. Uniswap, for example, charges a flat trading fee of 0.3% which is distributed to LPs. Top tip: The best way to mitigate impermanent losses is to provide liquidity to pools containing less volatile assets such as stablecoins . Impermanent loss shouldn’t be something that scares you away from the DeFi space, but rather a calculated risk to understand before lending your assets. Flash loan attacks Flash loans are a type of uncollateralized lending unique to the DeFi space. In the traditional, centralized model of banking, there are two types of loans: Unsecured loans : These require no collateral because they are typically smaller amounts of money, think a few thousand dollars. Secured loans: These are larger and require collateral like a property, car, investment, etc. Throughout the entire loan process, banks have tools to assess the credibility of clients, like credit scores, reports, and so on. Flash loans are a type of unsecured loan that uses smart contracts to mitigate all the risks associated with traditional banking. The concept is simple: A borrower can receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto assets without putting up any collateral but the catch is they have to pay the full amount back within the same transaction it was sent (usually a few seconds). If the loan isn’t paid back, the lender can simply roll back the transaction , like it never happened. Because there’s zero risk involved in issuing these types of loans, there is no limit to the amount a person can borrow. And because the entire process is decentralized, there are no credit scores or reports preventing a person from qualifying for a flash loan. Flash loan attacks are when bad actors borrow huge sums of money using these special types of loans and use them to manipulate the market or exploit vulnerable DeFi protocols for their own personal gain. A recent flash loan attack against the yield-farming aggregator PancakeBunny made headlines when the attackers caused the price of PancakeBunny’s token, BUNNY, to drop 95%. They did this by borrowing large amounts of BNB through the PancakeSwap lending protocol, manipulating the price of BUNNY in off-market lending pools, and then dumping that BUNNY on the open market, causing its price to crash. As is the case with almost all flash loan attacks, the thieves escaped without repercussion. It’s estimated the attackers netted $3 million in total. Once a liquidity pool is drained of a particular token, liquidity providers can become exposed to impermanent loss. Not to mention, lesser-known tokens hit by these attacks – such as BUNNY – cause investors to lose all confidence in the projects and they rarely recover in price. DeFi rug pulls Without traditional forms of regulation in the DeFi space, users have to develop a certain degree of trust with the platforms they’re willing to lend their assets to or buy tokens from. Unfortunately, that trust is often breached in the form of rug pulls. Rug pulls are a new type of exit scam where DeFi developers create a new token, pair it to a leading cryptocurrency such as tether or ether and set up a liquidity pool. They then market the newly created token and encourage people to deposit into the pool, often promising extremely high yields. Once the pool has a substantial amount of the leading cryptocurrency in it, the DeFi developers then use back doors intentionally coded into the token’s smart contract to mint millions of new coins that they use to sell for the popular cryptocurrency. This completely drains the popular cryptocurrency from the pool and leaves millions of worthless coins in it. The founders then disappear without a trace. A famed “billion-dollar rug pull” came in 2020, when SushiSwap developer Chef Nomi unexpectedly liquidated his SUSHI tokens after raising over a billion dollars in collateral. The price of the Uniswap competitor’s token fell to near zero in what is remembered as one of “the most dramatic moments in DeFi.” DeFi fraud is a billion-dollar industry and, despite efforts to mitigate risks by developers, remains a prevalent aspect of the growing space. During the second half of 2020, it was reported DeFi related rug pulls and exit scams accounted for 99% of all blockchain-based fraud. How to avoid these DeFi lending threats Despite the rampant increase in this type of malicious activity, there are methods to vet a company for potential exit scams before investing. These include: Verifying the team’s credibility on other projects Diligently reading through a project’s white paper Checking to see if the project’s code has been audited by a third party Being acute to potential red flags – like unrealistic projected returns and overspending on promotions and marketing Ultimately, the same permissionless designs that make DeFi protocols vulnerable to theft are its source of potential to disrupt the finance industry. Limited regulatory oversight paired with the open-source nature of blockchain means there will always be vulnerabilities for lending protocols dealing with large sums of money. As is true with almost all sectors of the blockchain industry, the goal is that these risks will be mitigated over time. Related Stories DeFi Gets Proactive About Policy Thanks to a $20M Grant From the Uniswap Community Polychain Leads $21M Round for Retail-Oriented DEX || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Weakens as US Inflation Hits 13-Year High: Bitcoin was lower for a second day in a row, further decoupling from the stock market after a report showing U.S. consumer prices rose last month at their fastest pace since 2008.
The largest cryptocurrency is seen by many digital-asset investors as a hedge against inflation, and so the price reaction led to some head-scratching among Wall Street analysts. That’s been the case for the past couple months as the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s consumer price index (CPI) accelerated, with the price ofbitcointumbling to about $32,800 now from an all-time high near $65,000 in April.
“Interesting that as CPI inflation has climbed from +1.4% y/y in January to 5.4% in June, bitcoin has essentially been cut in half,” Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab,tweeted.
Related:Blockchain Auditing Firm CertiK Raises $37M in Series B Fundraising
Cryptocurrencies:
• Bitcoin(BTC) $32259, -1.68%
• Ether(ETH) $1919.8, -4.59%
Traditional markets:
• S&P 500: 4369.22, -0.35%
• Gold: $1809.1, +0.13%
• 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.41%, compared with 1.369% on Monday
Looking at the larger macroeconomic picture puts bitcoin’s price action into perspective: Bitcoin prices quadrupled last year as the U.S. Federal Reserve pumped trillions of freshly printed dollars into financial markets, nearly doubling in one year the amount of money it had created over the prior 107 years.
But bitcoin’s market reaction to faster-than-expected inflation also might reflect the topsy-turvy nature of financial markets, where the data points matter far less than what the Federal Reserve might do in response to them.
Related:Almost All Chinese Provinces Have Blockchain-Boosting Policies
In this case, many economists say that the pace of inflation still appears to be “transitory,” as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has put it.
“Fed officials are still telling everyone that `inflation is transitory,’ while they pour an unjustifiable $120 billion into the market each month,” Mati Greenspan, founder of the cryptocurrency analysis firm Quantum Economics, wrote Tuesday.
But there’s an increased chance that some of those higher prices might last longer and thus push the U.S. central bank to curtail its easy-money policies sooner than previously expected. That might help explain bitcoin’s weakness – if a “looser-for-longer” monetary policy starts to look less likely.
“A hot inflation report unnerved some investors as expectations grow that the Fed will have to acknowledge that higher inflation will stick around,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst for the brokerage Oanda, wrote in a daily note. “This inflation shock might not be a strong enough catalyst to break bitcoin’s recent trading range.”
Bitcoin is in its eighth week stuck in a range of between roughly $30,000 and $40,000, and the sideways trading is reflected in the anemic cryptocurrency trading volumes of late.
The fast-moving gains witnessed earlier this year are nowhere to be seen at the moment. According to Alternative.me’s “Crypto Fear & Greed Index,” cryptocurrency markets are currently gripped by “extreme fear,” as noted Tuesday in a report by the Norwegian firm Arcane Research.
Even so, plenty of buyers have proven ready to pounce whenever bitcoin dips into the $30,000 range.
“Bitcoin’s consolidation range is getting tighter,” Arcane Research noted. According to the firm, the market is showing healthy signs, with future prices trading at a premium to the spot market. “A more aligned futures market is overall a healthy sign,” the firm said.
The largest cryptocurrency’s price volatility has declined recently, and a look at the historical chart (below) shows just how lackadaisical the market got during last year’s summer months in the Northern Hemisphere.
Ironically given bitcoin’s reputation as an extremely risky financial asset, the largest cryptocurrency might be considered the safest play for now, with some analysts declaring digital assets to be in a bear market.
Over the past seven days, bitcoin is down 4.3%, while ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, has lost 14%.
“In a downward trending crypto market, bitcoin is the safest bet,” Arcane Research wrote. “This has led bitcoin’s market dominance to increase.”
“Market dominance” represents bitcoin’s market capitalization as a percentage of all cryptocurrency markets. The gauge started off 2021 at around 70% but fell to about 40% as bitcoin’s price retreated and alternative cryptocurrencies, or “altcoins,” rallied. Lately, it’s rebounded to about 45%.
CoinDesk Research’sjust-published second-quarter reviewincludes a chart comparing the returns from staking ether in Ethereum 2.0 with the returns available from depositing ether into decentralized lending apps like Compound, dYdX and Fulcrum.
“The rates on Eth 2.0 are significantly more attractive,” with an annualized rate of 6.72% versus “at most 2%” from the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, the report concluded.
The drawback is that “staking on Eth 2.0 does not offer users liquidity on their ether and requires a minimum of 32 ETH, worth $72,832 at the close of the quarter,” according to the report. “Over the long term, as transfers are enabled on Eth 2.0 and a greater number of users trust the protocol with their ether holdings, the return for running a validator is expected to decrease and increasingly take on the role of a risk-free interest rate on Ethereum.
The U.S. consumer price indexjumpedby 5.4% in the 12 months through June, exceeding the 4.9% increase expected by economists.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 4.5% year over year, also higher than economists’ expectations of a 4% increase. On a month-to-month basis, consumer prices rose 0.9%, higher than the expected 0.5%, and accelerating from May’s 0.6% pace. Excluding food and energy, the index also rose 0.9% from the previous month.
The CPI report, released Tuesday, shows an economy that’s working through supply constraints while trying to meet increasing demand as the country reopens, with business lockdowns ending and coronavirus vaccines reaching more people.
“Many of the same indexes continued to increase, including used cars and trucks, new vehicles, airline fares and apparel,” the Labor Department wrote.
The CPI report is particularly important for some cryptocurrency investors who view bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement.
According to Eqonex: “A break below $32,000 will allow the bears to push for a return to support at $29,800, with $28,700 being the key level the bulls must protect. On the upside, the bulls will need to close the market above $33,600 to prevent further downside price action. Above $33,600, we look for $34,600 to limit gains as the market continues to trade is a tight sideways pattern.”
• DeFi Education Fund TurnsUNIintoUSDC:The freshly funded DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a new policy organization supported through Uniswap,turnedhalf of the assets allocated to it by Uniswap governance, 500,000 UNI (around $10 million) into USDC via a trade facilitated by Genesis, it announced on Monday.
• S&P Dow Jones Crypto Indexes:S&P Dow Jones Indices on Tuesdayrolledout five new cryptocurrency index products, the first major expansion of its digital assets benchmarking tools since entering the market in May. Headlining the tranche is a “broad digital market,” or BDM, index that includes more than 240 coins, a press release said. “The new sub-indices also provide different slices and dices of the BDM by market cap so that investors can track different segments of the market,” an S&P spokesperson told CoinDesk.
• Retail-Oriented DEX Raises $21M:Clipper, a new decentralized exchange (DEX) that caters to retail traders,closeda $21 million funding round on Tuesday. Olaf Carlson-Wee’s Polychain Capital led the $4 million equity round and participated in the $17 million liquidity round. Other investors included0xLabs, DeFi Alliance and MetaCartel DAO.
• India’s ICICI Bank Stops Customers From Making Overseas Crypto Investments
• State of Crypto: Binance Is Firmly in the Regulatory Crosshairs
• Bank of England Warns of Crypto Spillover to Mainstream Markets
• 3 Firms Vie to Develop South Korea’s CBDC Pilot
Most digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 ended up lower on Tuesday.
Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
algorand(ALGO) +2.71%
tezos(XTZ) +0.33%
USD Coin(USDC) +0.03%
Notable losers:
eos(EOS) -7.49%
Aave(AAVE) -7.09%
uniswap(UNI) -5.73%
• Bitcoin Dips Below $32K as Fed Rate-Hike Bets Rise; Gold Remains Resilient
• 3 More Chinese Provinces Shutter Crypto Mines as Clampdown Continues || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Weakens as US Inflation Hits 13-Year High: Bitcoin was lower for a second day in a row, further decoupling from the stock market after a report showing U.S. consumer prices rose last month at their fastest pace since 2008.
The largest cryptocurrency is seen by many digital-asset investors as a hedge against inflation, and so the price reaction led to some head-scratching among Wall Street analysts. That’s been the case for the past couple months as the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s consumer price index (CPI) accelerated, with the price ofbitcointumbling to about $32,800 now from an all-time high near $65,000 in April.
“Interesting that as CPI inflation has climbed from +1.4% y/y in January to 5.4% in June, bitcoin has essentially been cut in half,” Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab,tweeted.
Related:Blockchain Auditing Firm CertiK Raises $37M in Series B Fundraising
Cryptocurrencies:
• Bitcoin(BTC) $32259, -1.68%
• Ether(ETH) $1919.8, -4.59%
Traditional markets:
• S&P 500: 4369.22, -0.35%
• Gold: $1809.1, +0.13%
• 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.41%, compared with 1.369% on Monday
Looking at the larger macroeconomic picture puts bitcoin’s price action into perspective: Bitcoin prices quadrupled last year as the U.S. Federal Reserve pumped trillions of freshly printed dollars into financial markets, nearly doubling in one year the amount of money it had created over the prior 107 years.
But bitcoin’s market reaction to faster-than-expected inflation also might reflect the topsy-turvy nature of financial markets, where the data points matter far less than what the Federal Reserve might do in response to them.
Related:Almost All Chinese Provinces Have Blockchain-Boosting Policies
In this case, many economists say that the pace of inflation still appears to be “transitory,” as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has put it.
“Fed officials are still telling everyone that `inflation is transitory,’ while they pour an unjustifiable $120 billion into the market each month,” Mati Greenspan, founder of the cryptocurrency analysis firm Quantum Economics, wrote Tuesday.
But there’s an increased chance that some of those higher prices might last longer and thus push the U.S. central bank to curtail its easy-money policies sooner than previously expected. That might help explain bitcoin’s weakness – if a “looser-for-longer” monetary policy starts to look less likely.
“A hot inflation report unnerved some investors as expectations grow that the Fed will have to acknowledge that higher inflation will stick around,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst for the brokerage Oanda, wrote in a daily note. “This inflation shock might not be a strong enough catalyst to break bitcoin’s recent trading range.”
Bitcoin is in its eighth week stuck in a range of between roughly $30,000 and $40,000, and the sideways trading is reflected in the anemic cryptocurrency trading volumes of late.
The fast-moving gains witnessed earlier this year are nowhere to be seen at the moment. According to Alternative.me’s “Crypto Fear & Greed Index,” cryptocurrency markets are currently gripped by “extreme fear,” as noted Tuesday in a report by the Norwegian firm Arcane Research.
Even so, plenty of buyers have proven ready to pounce whenever bitcoin dips into the $30,000 range.
“Bitcoin’s consolidation range is getting tighter,” Arcane Research noted. According to the firm, the market is showing healthy signs, with future prices trading at a premium to the spot market. “A more aligned futures market is overall a healthy sign,” the firm said.
The largest cryptocurrency’s price volatility has declined recently, and a look at the historical chart (below) shows just how lackadaisical the market got during last year’s summer months in the Northern Hemisphere.
Ironically given bitcoin’s reputation as an extremely risky financial asset, the largest cryptocurrency might be considered the safest play for now, with some analysts declaring digital assets to be in a bear market.
Over the past seven days, bitcoin is down 4.3%, while ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, has lost 14%.
“In a downward trending crypto market, bitcoin is the safest bet,” Arcane Research wrote. “This has led bitcoin’s market dominance to increase.”
“Market dominance” represents bitcoin’s market capitalization as a percentage of all cryptocurrency markets. The gauge started off 2021 at around 70% but fell to about 40% as bitcoin’s price retreated and alternative cryptocurrencies, or “altcoins,” rallied. Lately, it’s rebounded to about 45%.
CoinDesk Research’sjust-published second-quarter reviewincludes a chart comparing the returns from staking ether in Ethereum 2.0 with the returns available from depositing ether into decentralized lending apps like Compound, dYdX and Fulcrum.
“The rates on Eth 2.0 are significantly more attractive,” with an annualized rate of 6.72% versus “at most 2%” from the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, the report concluded.
The drawback is that “staking on Eth 2.0 does not offer users liquidity on their ether and requires a minimum of 32 ETH, worth $72,832 at the close of the quarter,” according to the report. “Over the long term, as transfers are enabled on Eth 2.0 and a greater number of users trust the protocol with their ether holdings, the return for running a validator is expected to decrease and increasingly take on the role of a risk-free interest rate on Ethereum.
The U.S. consumer price indexjumpedby 5.4% in the 12 months through June, exceeding the 4.9% increase expected by economists.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 4.5% year over year, also higher than economists’ expectations of a 4% increase. On a month-to-month basis, consumer prices rose 0.9%, higher than the expected 0.5%, and accelerating from May’s 0.6% pace. Excluding food and energy, the index also rose 0.9% from the previous month.
The CPI report, released Tuesday, shows an economy that’s working through supply constraints while trying to meet increasing demand as the country reopens, with business lockdowns ending and coronavirus vaccines reaching more people.
“Many of the same indexes continued to increase, including used cars and trucks, new vehicles, airline fares and apparel,” the Labor Department wrote.
The CPI report is particularly important for some cryptocurrency investors who view bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement.
According to Eqonex: “A break below $32,000 will allow the bears to push for a return to support at $29,800, with $28,700 being the key level the bulls must protect. On the upside, the bulls will need to close the market above $33,600 to prevent further downside price action. Above $33,600, we look for $34,600 to limit gains as the market continues to trade is a tight sideways pattern.”
• DeFi Education Fund TurnsUNIintoUSDC:The freshly funded DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a new policy organization supported through Uniswap,turnedhalf of the assets allocated to it by Uniswap governance, 500,000 UNI (around $10 million) into USDC via a trade facilitated by Genesis, it announced on Monday.
• S&P Dow Jones Crypto Indexes:S&P Dow Jones Indices on Tuesdayrolledout five new cryptocurrency index products, the first major expansion of its digital assets benchmarking tools since entering the market in May. Headlining the tranche is a “broad digital market,” or BDM, index that includes more than 240 coins, a press release said. “The new sub-indices also provide different slices and dices of the BDM by market cap so that investors can track different segments of the market,” an S&P spokesperson told CoinDesk.
• Retail-Oriented DEX Raises $21M:Clipper, a new decentralized exchange (DEX) that caters to retail traders,closeda $21 million funding round on Tuesday. Olaf Carlson-Wee’s Polychain Capital led the $4 million equity round and participated in the $17 million liquidity round. Other investors included0xLabs, DeFi Alliance and MetaCartel DAO.
• India’s ICICI Bank Stops Customers From Making Overseas Crypto Investments
• State of Crypto: Binance Is Firmly in the Regulatory Crosshairs
• Bank of England Warns of Crypto Spillover to Mainstream Markets
• 3 Firms Vie to Develop South Korea’s CBDC Pilot
Most digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 ended up lower on Tuesday.
Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
algorand(ALGO) +2.71%
tezos(XTZ) +0.33%
USD Coin(USDC) +0.03%
Notable losers:
eos(EOS) -7.49%
Aave(AAVE) -7.09%
uniswap(UNI) -5.73%
• Bitcoin Dips Below $32K as Fed Rate-Hike Bets Rise; Gold Remains Resilient
• 3 More Chinese Provinces Shutter Crypto Mines as Clampdown Continues || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Weakens as US Inflation Hits 13-Year High: Bitcoin was lower for a second day in a row, further decoupling from the stock market after a report showing U.S. consumer prices rose last month at their fastest pace since 2008. The largest cryptocurrency is seen by many digital-asset investors as a hedge against inflation, and so the price reaction led to some head-scratching among Wall Street analysts. That’s been the case for the past couple months as the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s consumer price index (CPI) accelerated, with the price of bitcoin tumbling to about $32,800 now from an all-time high near $65,000 in April. “Interesting that as CPI inflation has climbed from +1.4% y/y in January to 5.4% in June, bitcoin has essentially been cut in half,” Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, tweeted . Latest prices Related: Blockchain Auditing Firm CertiK Raises $37M in Series B Fundraising Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC) $32259, -1.68% Ether ( ETH ) $1919.8, -4.59% Traditional markets: S&P 500: 4369.22, -0.35% Gold: $1809.1, +0.13% 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.41%, compared with 1.369% on Monday Looking at the larger macroeconomic picture puts bitcoin’s price action into perspective: Bitcoin prices quadrupled last year as the U.S. Federal Reserve pumped trillions of freshly printed dollars into financial markets, nearly doubling in one year the amount of money it had created over the prior 107 years. But bitcoin’s market reaction to faster-than-expected inflation also might reflect the topsy-turvy nature of financial markets, where the data points matter far less than what the Federal Reserve might do in response to them. Related: Almost All Chinese Provinces Have Blockchain-Boosting Policies In this case, many economists say that the pace of inflation still appears to be “transitory,” as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has put it. “Fed officials are still telling everyone that `inflation is transitory,’ while they pour an unjustifiable $120 billion into the market each month,” Mati Greenspan, founder of the cryptocurrency analysis firm Quantum Economics, wrote Tuesday. Story continues But there’s an increased chance that some of those higher prices might last longer and thus push the U.S. central bank to curtail its easy-money policies sooner than previously expected. That might help explain bitcoin’s weakness – if a “looser-for-longer” monetary policy starts to look less likely. “A hot inflation report unnerved some investors as expectations grow that the Fed will have to acknowledge that higher inflation will stick around,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst for the brokerage Oanda, wrote in a daily note. “This inflation shock might not be a strong enough catalyst to break bitcoin’s recent trading range.” Bitcoin’s range gets tighter Bitcoin is in its eighth week stuck in a range of between roughly $30,000 and $40,000, and the sideways trading is reflected in the anemic cryptocurrency trading volumes of late. The fast-moving gains witnessed earlier this year are nowhere to be seen at the moment. According to Alternative.me’s “ Crypto Fear & Greed Index ,” cryptocurrency markets are currently gripped by “extreme fear,” as noted Tuesday in a report by the Norwegian firm Arcane Research. Even so, plenty of buyers have proven ready to pounce whenever bitcoin dips into the $30,000 range. “Bitcoin’s consolidation range is getting tighter,” Arcane Research noted. According to the firm, the market is showing healthy signs, with future prices trading at a premium to the spot market. “A more aligned futures market is overall a healthy sign,” the firm said. The largest cryptocurrency’s price volatility has declined recently, and a look at the historical chart (below) shows just how lackadaisical the market got during last year’s summer months in the Northern Hemisphere. Bitcoin dominance inches back up Ironically given bitcoin’s reputation as an extremely risky financial asset, the largest cryptocurrency might be considered the safest play for now, with some analysts declaring digital assets to be in a bear market. Over the past seven days, bitcoin is down 4.3%, while ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, has lost 14%. “In a downward trending crypto market, bitcoin is the safest bet,” Arcane Research wrote. “This has led bitcoin’s market dominance to increase.” “Market dominance” represents bitcoin’s market capitalization as a percentage of all cryptocurrency markets. The gauge started off 2021 at around 70% but fell to about 40% as bitcoin’s price retreated and alternative cryptocurrencies, or “altcoins,” rallied. Lately, it’s rebounded to about 45%. Ether staking rewards – for the committed CoinDesk Research’s just-published second-quarter review includes a chart comparing the returns from staking ether in Ethereum 2.0 with the returns available from depositing ether into decentralized lending apps like Compound, dYdX and Fulcrum. “The rates on Eth 2.0 are significantly more attractive,” with an annualized rate of 6.72% versus “at most 2%” from the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, the report concluded. The drawback is that “staking on Eth 2.0 does not offer users liquidity on their ether and requires a minimum of 32 ETH, worth $72,832 at the close of the quarter,” according to the report. “Over the long term, as transfers are enabled on Eth 2.0 and a greater number of users trust the protocol with their ether holdings, the return for running a validator is expected to decrease and increasingly take on the role of a risk-free interest rate on Ethereum. CPI shows big (transitory?) jump in used-auto prices The U.S. consumer price index jumped by 5.4% in the 12 months through June, exceeding the 4.9% increase expected by economists. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 4.5% year over year, also higher than economists’ expectations of a 4% increase. On a month-to-month basis, consumer prices rose 0.9%, higher than the expected 0.5%, and accelerating from May’s 0.6% pace. Excluding food and energy, the index also rose 0.9% from the previous month. The CPI report, released Tuesday, shows an economy that’s working through supply constraints while trying to meet increasing demand as the country reopens, with business lockdowns ending and coronavirus vaccines reaching more people. “Many of the same indexes continued to increase, including used cars and trucks, new vehicles, airline fares and apparel,” the Labor Department wrote. The CPI report is particularly important for some cryptocurrency investors who view bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement. Bitcoin technical analysis According to Eqonex: “A break below $32,000 will allow the bears to push for a return to support at $29,800, with $28,700 being the key level the bulls must protect. On the upside, the bulls will need to close the market above $33,600 to prevent further downside price action. Above $33,600, we look for $34,600 to limit gains as the market continues to trade is a tight sideways pattern.” Altcoin roundup DeFi Education Fund Turns UNI into USDC : The freshly funded DeFi Education Fund (DEF), a new policy organization supported through Uniswap, turned half of the assets allocated to it by Uniswap governance, 500,000 UNI (around $10 million) into USDC via a trade facilitated by Genesis, it announced on Monday. S&P Dow Jones Crypto Indexes: S&P Dow Jones Indices on Tuesday rolled out five new cryptocurrency index products, the first major expansion of its digital assets benchmarking tools since entering the market in May. Headlining the tranche is a “broad digital market,” or BDM, index that includes more than 240 coins, a press release said. “The new sub-indices also provide different slices and dices of the BDM by market cap so that investors can track different segments of the market,” an S&P spokesperson told CoinDesk. Retail-Oriented DEX Raises $21M: Clipper, a new decentralized exchange (DEX) that caters to retail traders, closed a $21 million funding round on Tuesday. Olaf Carlson-Wee’s Polychain Capital led the $4 million equity round and participated in the $17 million liquidity round. Other investors included 0x Labs, DeFi Alliance and MetaCartel DAO. Relevant news India’s ICICI Bank Stops Customers From Making Overseas Crypto Investments State of Crypto: Binance Is Firmly in the Regulatory Crosshairs Bank of England Warns of Crypto Spillover to Mainstream Markets 3 Firms Vie to Develop South Korea’s CBDC Pilot Other markets Most digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 ended up lower on Tuesday. Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): algorand ( ALGO ) +2.71% tezos ( XTZ ) +0.33% USD Coin (USDC) +0.03% Notable losers: eos ( EOS ) -7.49% Aave ( AAVE ) -7.09% uniswap (UNI) -5.73% Related Stories Bitcoin Dips Below $32K as Fed Rate-Hike Bets Rise; Gold Remains Resilient 3 More Chinese Provinces Shutter Crypto Mines as Clampdown Continues || Stock Market Today: Red-Hot June CPI Cools Off Stocks: A burning dollar bill Getty Images Investors on Tuesday received the latest update on America's inflation situation, and a wobbly day for stocks indicated they were having issues with it. U.S. consumer prices in June easily outstripped expectations by jumping 0.9% month-over-month and 5.4% year-over-year – both the largest such moves since 2008. A 0.9% MoM rise in the so-called core consumer price index was even headier. SEE MORE 11 Best Growth Stocks for the Rest of 2021 "Stripping away food and energy, it was the highest print since November 1991 on a year-over-year basis," says Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth. "However, moving forward, we expect these inflation numbers to begin to cool. June 2020 was the absolute low for core CPI during the pandemic shutdown, so the comparisons get tougher from here." But just how much of this inflation is truly transitory is still up for debate. "Businesses are currently passing along their higher input costs (for supplies, products, labor) down to their customers," says Jennifer Lee, senior economist for BMO Capital Markets. "Earlier this morning, the NFIB's latest survey for June showed that 44% of businesses were planning to raise their selling prices, the biggest share since 1979. Producer prices for May were up over 5% from 2019's levels, while import prices are 4% higher." "The transitory debate is far from over," she adds. "In fact, it got a little hotter." Sign up for Kiplinger's FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice. The major indexes swung between small gains and losses before finishing in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Tuesday off 0.3% to 34,888, the S&P 500 finished 0.4% lower to 4,369, and the Nasdaq Composite closed with a 0.4% decline to 14,677. Other action in the stock market today: The small-cap Russell 2000 lurched 1.8% lower to 2,240. Second-quarter earnings season kicked off with a bang for soft drink specialist PepsiCo ( PEP , +2.3%). The company brought in adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.72 on $19.2 billion in revenues over the three-month period, handily outstripping analysts' consensus expectations. PEP also raised its full-year adjusted EPS forecast, citing rising demand as many restaurants and venues reopen. Several big banks also reported earnings today. Goldman Sachs ( GS ) reported EPS of $15.02 on $15.4 billion in revenue, well above expectations, as revenues in its investment banking unit soared amid a surging initial public offering (IPO) market. JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) also beat estimates in its second quarter, unveiling earnings of $3.78 per share on $31.4 billion in revenues, due in part to the financial firm releasing $3 billion in loan loss reserves. The results failed to impress investors, though, with GS slipping 1.0% and JPM ending the day down 1.4%. U.S. crude oil futures rose 1.6% to end at $75.25 per barrel – their highest settlement since October 2018. Gold futures edged up 0.2% to $1,809.90 an ounce. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) gained 6.3% to 17.18. Bitcoin declined 1.7% to $32,302.97. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day. Story continues stock chart for 071321 YCharts All Eyes on Healthcare While certain inflationary pressures, such as sky-high used car prices, do seem destined to retreat, some rising prices are expected to persist for years – such as in healthcare. SEE MORE 20 Dividend Stocks to Fund 20 Years of Retirement Back in 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services projected healthcare spending would grow by 5.3% annually through 2028, which includes expectations for 2.4% annual growth in healthcare prices – higher than the 2.2% five-year rate of overall inflation expected by the bond market, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data. "Although the pandemic caused people to defer care throughout much of 2020, a rebound and then continuation of the trends beyond 2021 would drive health care spending to historic levels in the coming years," says consulting and advisory firm Deloitte. Investors have numerous options at their disposal for leveraging this long-term spending trend to their advantage. Income hunters will often flock to blue-chip pharma stocks that throw off ample cash . Those with a nose for growth will naturally gravitate toward often-explosive biotech stocks , but remember: You can still reap the benefits of this cutting-edge industry while paring back risk through the use of these nine exchange-traded funds (ETFs) . Importantly, a rising tide in healthcare spending should lift numerous boats. And investors looking to put their money to work both for the rest of the year, as well as the rest of the decade, can find a starting point with this list of healthcare opportunities . SEE MORE The 21 Best Stocks to Buy for 2021 You may also like Your Guide to Roth Conversions The Most-Overlooked Tax Breaks for Retirees How to Beat Inflation and Reduce Risk at the Same Time View comments || Stock Market Today: Red-Hot June CPI Cools Off Stocks: A burning dollar bill Getty Images Investors on Tuesday received the latest update on America's inflation situation, and a wobbly day for stocks indicated they were having issues with it. U.S. consumer prices in June easily outstripped expectations by jumping 0.9% month-over-month and 5.4% year-over-year – both the largest such moves since 2008. A 0.9% MoM rise in the so-called core consumer price index was even headier. SEE MORE 11 Best Growth Stocks for the Rest of 2021 "Stripping away food and energy, it was the highest print since November 1991 on a year-over-year basis," says Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth. "However, moving forward, we expect these inflation numbers to begin to cool. June 2020 was the absolute low for core CPI during the pandemic shutdown, so the comparisons get tougher from here." But just how much of this inflation is truly transitory is still up for debate. "Businesses are currently passing along their higher input costs (for supplies, products, labor) down to their customers," says Jennifer Lee, senior economist for BMO Capital Markets. "Earlier this morning, the NFIB's latest survey for June showed that 44% of businesses were planning to raise their selling prices, the biggest share since 1979. Producer prices for May were up over 5% from 2019's levels, while import prices are 4% higher." "The transitory debate is far from over," she adds. "In fact, it got a little hotter." Sign up for Kiplinger's FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice. The major indexes swung between small gains and losses before finishing in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Tuesday off 0.3% to 34,888, the S&P 500 finished 0.4% lower to 4,369, and the Nasdaq Composite closed with a 0.4% decline to 14,677. Other action in the stock market today: The small-cap Russell 2000 lurched 1.8% lower to 2,240. Second-quarter earnings season kicked off with a bang for soft drink specialist PepsiCo ( PEP , +2.3%). The company brought in adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.72 on $19.2 billion in revenues over the three-month period, handily outstripping analysts' consensus expectations. PEP also raised its full-year adjusted EPS forecast, citing rising demand as many restaurants and venues reopen. Several big banks also reported earnings today. Goldman Sachs ( GS ) reported EPS of $15.02 on $15.4 billion in revenue, well above expectations, as revenues in its investment banking unit soared amid a surging initial public offering (IPO) market. JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) also beat estimates in its second quarter, unveiling earnings of $3.78 per share on $31.4 billion in revenues, due in part to the financial firm releasing $3 billion in loan loss reserves. The results failed to impress investors, though, with GS slipping 1.0% and JPM ending the day down 1.4%. U.S. crude oil futures rose 1.6% to end at $75.25 per barrel – their highest settlement since October 2018. Gold futures edged up 0.2% to $1,809.90 an ounce. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) gained 6.3% to 17.18. Bitcoin declined 1.7% to $32,302.97. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day. Story continues stock chart for 071321 YCharts All Eyes on Healthcare While certain inflationary pressures, such as sky-high used car prices, do seem destined to retreat, some rising prices are expected to persist for years – such as in healthcare. SEE MORE 20 Dividend Stocks to Fund 20 Years of Retirement Back in 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services projected healthcare spending would grow by 5.3% annually through 2028, which includes expectations for 2.4% annual growth in healthcare prices – higher than the 2.2% five-year rate of overall inflation expected by the bond market, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data. "Although the pandemic caused people to defer care throughout much of 2020, a rebound and then continuation of the trends beyond 2021 would drive health care spending to historic levels in the coming years," says consulting and advisory firm Deloitte. Investors have numerous options at their disposal for leveraging this long-term spending trend to their advantage. Income hunters will often flock to blue-chip pharma stocks that throw off ample cash . Those with a nose for growth will naturally gravitate toward often-explosive biotech stocks , but remember: You can still reap the benefits of this cutting-edge industry while paring back risk through the use of these nine exchange-traded funds (ETFs) . Importantly, a rising tide in healthcare spending should lift numerous boats. And investors looking to put their money to work both for the rest of the year, as well as the rest of the decade, can find a starting point with this list of healthcare opportunities . SEE MORE The 21 Best Stocks to Buy for 2021 You may also like Your Guide to Roth Conversions The Most-Overlooked Tax Breaks for Retirees How to Beat Inflation and Reduce Risk at the Same Time View comments || S&P Dow Jones Indices Adds Five New Cryptocurrency Indexes: S&P Dow Jones Indices announced Tuesday the debut of five new cryptocurrencies indeed to bring its total to eight.
One of the world’s leading index providers, the S&P Dow Jones,has announced the launch of five new cryptocurrency indexesdesigned to track the performance of the digital asset market more effectively. The main addition, the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index (BDM), is able to keep track of nearly 250 digital assets from day one of launch. The BDM represents the next step in the S&P Dow Jones’ previously launched crypto benchmarks.
While the Broad Digital Market Index is the party piece of this most recent launch, a quartet of other crypto-focused indexes were launched on Tuesday as well. Each of these is meant to keep track of different components of the broad digital market benchmark.
The four additional indexesare: S&P Cryptocurrency BDM-Ex-LargeCap Index, S&P Cryptocurrency BDM Ex-MegaCap Index, S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Index, and S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Ex-MegaCap Index. Each of the new additions relies on crypto-data provider Lukka to determine the composition of each benchmark.
Peter Roffman, the Global Head of Innovation and Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices stated, that “For more than a century, our indices have offered insight into how the markets are performing. Now, with the introduction of the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index, we’re providing that answer to cryptocurrency investors.”
Roffman goes on to say that the most recent expansion “gives one of the broadest snapshots yet of this rapidly growing asset class, with the ability to slice and dice by market cap.”
Diving in a bit deeper to the new indexes announced today, they are each part of the expansion of the company’s digital asset benchmarks, the S&P Digital Market Indices.According to the press release, each index serves a different yet important function. The LargeCap Index functions as a subset of the BDM that measures the performance of users with the largest market cap. The BDM Ex-MegaCap Index is also a subset of the BDM, but it excludes the constituents of the MegaCap index (BTC and ETH). The Ex-LargeCap Index excludes constituents of the LargeCap Index whole the Ex-MegaCap Index measures the performance of the constituents of the LargeCap index but excludes the constituents of the MegaCap index.
Each of thenew indicesjoins the exiting benchmarks that currently make up theDigital Market Indicesthat are the S&P Bitcoin Index, S&P Ethereum Index, and the S&P Cryptocurrency MegaCap Index. || S&P Dow Jones Indices Adds Five New Cryptocurrency Indexes: S&P Dow Jones Indices announced Tuesday the debut of five new cryptocurrencies indeed to bring its total to eight. One of the world’s leading index providers, the S&P Dow Jones, has announced the launch of five new cryptocurrency indexes designed to track the performance of the digital asset market more effectively. The main addition, the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index (BDM), is able to keep track of nearly 250 digital assets from day one of launch. The BDM represents the next step in the S&P Dow Jones’ previously launched crypto benchmarks. While the Broad Digital Market Index is the party piece of this most recent launch, a quartet of other crypto-focused indexes were launched on Tuesday as well. Each of these is meant to keep track of different components of the broad digital market benchmark. The four additional indexes are: S&P Cryptocurrency BDM-Ex-LargeCap Index, S&P Cryptocurrency BDM Ex-MegaCap Index, S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Index, and S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Ex-MegaCap Index. Each of the new additions relies on crypto-data provider Lukka to determine the composition of each benchmark. Peter Roffman, the Global Head of Innovation and Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices stated, that “For more than a century, our indices have offered insight into how the markets are performing. Now, with the introduction of the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index, we’re providing that answer to cryptocurrency investors.” Roffman goes on to say that the most recent expansion “gives one of the broadest snapshots yet of this rapidly growing asset class, with the ability to slice and dice by market cap.” S&P Dow Jones’ new Indexes Diving in a bit deeper to the new indexes announced today, they are each part of the expansion of the company’s digital asset benchmarks, the S&P Digital Market Indices. According to the press release , each index serves a different yet important function. The LargeCap Index functions as a subset of the BDM that measures the performance of users with the largest market cap. The BDM Ex-MegaCap Index is also a subset of the BDM, but it excludes the constituents of the MegaCap index (BTC and ETH). The Ex-LargeCap Index excludes constituents of the LargeCap Index whole the Ex-MegaCap Index measures the performance of the constituents of the LargeCap index but excludes the constituents of the MegaCap index. Each of the new indices joins the exiting benchmarks that currently make up the Digital Market Indices that are the S&P Bitcoin Index, S&P Ethereum Index, and the S&P Cryptocurrency MegaCap Index. || CAKE’s Double Bottom Leads to Breakout: PancakeSwap (CAKE) has completed adouble bottom patterninside the $9.80 horizontal support area.
Afterwards, it proceeded to break out from a descending resistance line and has been moving upwards since.
CAKE has been decreasing since April 30, when it reached an all-time high price of $44.27. The token decreased until a low of $9.44 was reached on May 23.
After a bounce, the token returned to the same level on June 22, creating a double bottom pattern, in which both lows had long lower wicks.
In addition, the pattern was combined with significant bullish divergence in the RSI, MACD & Stochastic oscillator. The latter made a bullish cross, afterwards while the RSI moved above 50.
After its completion, CAKE managed to break out from a descending resistance line, and has been moving upwards since.
The closest resistances are at $22.8 and $26.8, the 0.382 and 0.5 Fib retracement resistance levels.
In the short-term, it seems that CAKE is trading inside an ascending parallel channel. Such patterns often containcorrective movements.
Therefore, an eventual breakdown from the pattern would be likely, before CAKE resumes its upward movement towards the outlined target.
If one occurs, the main support areas would be at $12.2 and $12.98, the 0.5 and 0.618 Fib retracement support levels.
Cryptocurrency trader@CryptoNTezoutlined a CAKE/BTC chart, which shows a breakout from a descending resistance line
The resistance line had been in place since April 30, while the token managed to break out on July 2.
Technical indicators are bullish, supporting the continuation of the upward movement. The RSI is above 50, the Stochastic oscillator has made a bullish cross and the MACD is nearly positive.
The closest resistances are between 56,160 and 62,333, the 0.5-0.618 Fib retracement resistance levels.
For BeInCrypto’s latestbitcoin(BTC) analysis,click here.
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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31780.73, 31421.54, 31533.07, 31796.81, 30817.83, 29807.35, 32110.69, 32313.11, 33581.55, 34292.45
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 229.29, 225.85, 225.81, 236.15, 232.08, 234.93, 240.36, 239.02, 236.12, 229.78, 237.33, 243.86, 241.83, 240.30, 242.16, 241.11, 236.38, 236.93, 237.60, 236.15, 236.80, 233.13, 231.95, 234.02, 235.34, 240.35, 238.87, 240.95, 237.11, 237.12, 237.28, 237.41, 237.10, 233.35, 230.19, 222.93, 225.80, 225.87, 224.32, 224.95, 225.62, 222.88, 228.49, 229.05, 228.80, 229.71, 229.98, 232.40, 233.54, 236.82, 250.90, 249.28, 249.01, 244.61, 245.21, 243.94, 246.99, 244.30, 240.51, 242.80, 243.59, 250.99, 249.01, 257.06, 263.07, 258.62, 255.41, 256.34, 260.89, 271.91, 269.03, 266.21, 270.79, 269.23, 284.89, 293.11, 310.87, 292.05, 287.46, 285.83, 278.09, 279.47, 274.90, 273.61, 278.98, 275.83, 277.22, 276.05, 288.28, 288.70.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-07-25]
Volume: 20662200, RSI (14-day): 61.43, 50-day EMA: 264.59, 200-day EMA: 258.85
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Your first trade for Monday: The "Fast Money" traders delivered final trades that were out of this world after NASA astronaut Scott Kelly asked for a stock tip from aboard the International Space Station.
Tim Seymour recommended playing the frontier markets by buying the iShares MSCI Frontier 100 ETF(NYSE Arca: FM).
David Seaburg's play was Starbucks(SBUX), alluding to the strength of brand loyalty and new products.
Brian Kelly suggested shorting the Market Vectors Russia ETF(NYSE Arca: RSX)as a heavenly oil play.
Guy Adami went intergalactic as a buyer of Constellation Brands(STZ).
Trader disclosure: On July 24, 2015 the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:Tim Seymour is long AAPL, T, BAC, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JPM, SUNE, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX, YHOO. Today he sold C. Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=; ITB, TAN, TLT, TSL, US dollar; he is short Oil, Ruble, Yuan and Yen. Today he shorted the Ruble. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. David Seaburg: No disclosures.
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• Personal Finance || Your first trade for Monday: The " Fast Money " traders delivered final trades that were out of this world after NASA astronaut Scott Kelly asked for a stock tip from aboard the International Space Station. Tim Seymour recommended playing the frontier markets by buying the iShares MSCI Frontier 100 ETF (NYSE Arca: FM) . David Seaburg's play was Starbucks ( SBUX ) , alluding to the strength of brand loyalty and new products. Brian Kelly suggested shorting the Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSE Arca: RSX) as a heavenly oil play. Guy Adami went intergalactic as a buyer of Constellation Brands ( STZ ) . Trader disclosure: On July 24, 2015 the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Tim Seymour is long AAPL, T, BAC, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JPM, SUNE, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX, YHOO. Today he sold C. Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=; ITB, TAN, TLT, TSL, US dollar; he is short Oil, Ruble, Yuan and Yen. Today he shorted the Ruble. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. David Seaburg: No disclosures. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Winklevoss twins file paperwork to operate Gemini bitcoin exchange: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss earlier this week filed paperwork to operate a bitcoin exchange called Gemini for both individual and institutional investors in New York state, a spokeswoman said on Friday. The twins, best known for accusing Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea, want to make the digital currency mainstream in the United States. Unlike conventional money, bitcoin is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of central control. Bitcoin is not backed by a government or central bank and its value fluctuates according to demand by users. The Winklevoss brothers filed an application on July 21 with the New York State Department of Financial Services to operate as a trust company. ItBit also filed a trust application in New York in February. In May, it became the first virtual currency company to receive a charter in the state. A trust company is a type of financial institution technically different from a bank, according to a blog by Houman Shadab, an expert on bitcoin regulations and a professor at the New York Law School. Under New York state's banking law, a trust company has all the powers of a bank to take deposits and make loans, alongside certain fiduciary powers such as acting as an agent for governmental bodies, he wrote. Examples of trust companies in New York include securities custodian the Depository Trust Company, the wealth and asset manager Northern Trust, and the Bank of New York Mellon. Last year Mt. Gox, a Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange, was forced to file for bankruptcy after hackers stole an estimated $650 million worth of customer bitcoins. Bitcoin's value has been highly volatile, having peaked at over $1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the Mt. Gox attack. One bitcoin is currently worth around $289 on the BitStamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Winklevoss twins file paperwork to operate Gemini bitcoin exchange: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss earlier this week filed paperwork to operate a bitcoin exchange called Gemini for both individual and institutional investors in New York state, a spokeswoman said on Friday. The twins, best known for accusing Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea, want to make the digital currency mainstream in the United States. Unlike conventional money, bitcoin is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of central control. Bitcoin is not backed by a government or central bank and its value fluctuates according to demand by users. The Winklevoss brothers filed an application on July 21 with the New York State Department of Financial Services to operate as a trust company. ItBit also filed a trust application in New York in February. In May, it became the first virtual currency company to receive a charter in the state. A trust company is a type of financial institution technically different from a bank, according to a blog by Houman Shadab, an expert on bitcoin regulations and a professor at the New York Law School. Under New York state's banking law, a trust company has all the powers of a bank to take deposits and make loans, alongside certain fiduciary powers such as acting as an agent for governmental bodies, he wrote. Examples of trust companies in New York include securities custodian the Depository Trust Company, the wealth and asset manager Northern Trust, and the Bank of New York Mellon. Last year Mt. Gox, a Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange, was forced to file for bankruptcy after hackers stole an estimated $650 million worth of customer bitcoins. Bitcoin's value has been highly volatile, having peaked at over $1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the Mt. Gox attack. One bitcoin is currently worth around $289 on the BitStamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI.QB) Announces Plans to Enter Multi-Billion Dollar Remittance Market Using Bitcoin to Effect Transfers: HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / July 24, 2015 / MarilynJean Media Interactive ( MJMI ) announced today its plans to enter the multi-billion dollar remittance market using Bitcoin to effect transfers. According to the World Bank, sending money internationally, or remittance transactions, were valued at over $580 Billion in 2014 and are expected to exceed $608 Billion in 2015. The World Bank estimates transaction fees to average 7.99% of money sent, making for a staggering $50 Billion in potential fees for participants in this year's remittance business. Most remittance transfers are from developed countries to developing ones, sent primarily by migrant workers. Currently, most transactions are done through brick and mortar institutions like Western Union (NYSE:WU) and Moneygram (NASDAQ:MGI). These type of companies make money by charging an often invisible fee on the currency exchange portion of the transaction and high transfer fees to send and receive the money. Within the existing financial system, Bitcoin's most disrupting feature is its decentralized architecture. A vaster international network of P2P computers provides multiple layers of verification for each transaction using cryptography. All transactions are registered in the publicly viewable blockchain so that users can’t transact with bitcoins they don’t own. This final level of security previously required a third party, typically a bank. In a Bitcoin remittance transaction, a user would purchase Bitcoins via a Bitcoin exchange then send the Bitcoins to a Bitcoin remittance company who would then send the money to the receiver. Each step would be completed electronically within minutes. The bitcoin network has the potential to effectively replace financial institutions and banks in the remittance market. Transfers are virtually in real time, often completing in less than 10 minutes, with ultra-low costs, typically limited to the fee for using a Bitcoin exchange, which averages 2%. In addition, Bitcoin remittance transactions can be easily completed using mobile devices which are now widely available in developing countries. Story continues Challenges for Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies in the remittance market include the differing ways such currencies are regulated internationally and the costs associated with compliance in multiple jurisdictions. As a fully reporting, publicly traded company, management believes both regulators and users will be comparatively more confident with MJMI's participation in any regulated markets. MJMI is currently exploring partnering with several existing Bitcoin exchanges as well as manufacturers and operators of Bitcoin ATMs. Such a combination would place the company in an exciting position to offer an end to end solution and potentially capture a share of this lucrative market just as it is poised to undergo a massive shift into the digital realm. Peter Janosi, MJMI's president said: "With legacy remittance companies and traditional banks continuing to charge high fees while hiding other fees via poor exchange rates, it's hard to see a future where they will continue to be relevant." About Bitcoin and Crypto-Currencies Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Bitcoin became the first decentralized crypto-currency in 2009. Crypto-currency is produced at a rate which is defined when the system is created and publicly known. By contrast, in centralized banking and economic systems, such as the Federal Reserve System, corporate boards or governments control the supply of currency by printing units or demanding additions to digital banking ledgers. However, neither companies nor governments can produce units of crypto-currency and as such the value of crypto-currencies are completely based on supply and demand, free from any governmental control. Many people believe crypto-currencies, and in particular bitcoin, hold the promise of being the most significant advancement in global finance in modern history. The advent of bitcoin creates a secure, easily accessible and transferable transnational currency that is completely liberated from political influence. Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, is quoted on his company's website as saying: "I have invested in Bitcoin because I believe in its potential, the capacity it has to transform global payments is very exciting." Heavyweight investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), announced on April 30th 2015 that it had partnered with Chinese investment firm IDG Capital partners to invest $50 million in a Bitcoin start-up. Numerous high-profile firms have begun accepting Bitcoin as a payment method including: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE), and Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK). MarilynJean Media Interactive is among the first publicly traded companies focussed on bitcoin and the crypto-currency space. The company's trading symbol is MJMI.QB. Website: www.marilynjeancom Press Contact: [email protected] SOURCE : MarilynJean Media Interactive || MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI.QB) Announces Plans to Enter Multi-Billion Dollar Remittance Market Using Bitcoin to Effect Transfers: HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / July 24, 2015 /MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI) announced today its plans to enter the multi-billion dollar remittance market using Bitcoin to effect transfers.
According to the World Bank, sending money internationally, or remittance transactions, were valued at over $580 Billion in 2014 and are expected to exceed $608 Billion in 2015. The World Bank estimates transaction fees to average 7.99% of money sent, making for a staggering $50 Billion in potential fees for participants in this year's remittance business.
Most remittance transfers are from developed countries to developing ones, sent primarily by migrant workers. Currently, most transactions are done through brick and mortar institutions like Western Union (NYSE:WU) and Moneygram (NASDAQ:MGI). These type of companies make money by charging an often invisible fee on the currency exchange portion of the transaction and high transfer fees to send and receive the money.
Within the existing financial system, Bitcoin's most disrupting feature is its decentralized architecture. A vaster international network of P2P computers provides multiple layers of verification for each transaction using cryptography. All transactions are registered in the publicly viewable blockchain so that users can’t transact with bitcoins they don’t own. This final level of security previously required a third party, typically a bank.
In a Bitcoin remittance transaction, a user would purchase Bitcoins via a Bitcoin exchange then send the Bitcoins to a Bitcoin remittance company who would then send the money to the receiver. Each step would be completed electronically within minutes.
The bitcoin network has the potential to effectively replace financial institutions and banks in the remittance market. Transfers are virtually in real time, often completing in less than 10 minutes, with ultra-low costs, typically limited to the fee for using a Bitcoin exchange, which averages 2%. In addition, Bitcoin remittance transactions can be easily completed using mobile devices which are now widely available in developing countries.
Challenges for Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies in the remittance market include the differing ways such currencies are regulated internationally and the costs associated with compliance in multiple jurisdictions. As a fully reporting, publicly traded company, management believes both regulators and users will be comparatively more confident with MJMI's participation in any regulated markets.
MJMI is currently exploring partnering with several existing Bitcoin exchanges as well as manufacturers and operators of Bitcoin ATMs. Such a combination would place the company in an exciting position to offer an end to end solution and potentially capture a share of this lucrative market just as it is poised to undergo a massive shift into the digital realm.
Peter Janosi, MJMI's president said: "With legacy remittance companies and traditional banks continuing to charge high fees while hiding other fees via poor exchange rates, it's hard to see a future where they will continue to be relevant."
About Bitcoin and Crypto-Currencies
Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Bitcoin became the first decentralized crypto-currency in 2009. Crypto-currency is produced at a rate which is defined when the system is created and publicly known. By contrast, in centralized banking and economic systems, such as the Federal Reserve System, corporate boards or governments control the supply of currency by printing units or demanding additions to digital banking ledgers. However, neither companies nor governments can produce units of crypto-currency and as such the value of crypto-currencies are completely based on supply and demand, free from any governmental control. Many people believe crypto-currencies, and in particular bitcoin, hold the promise of being the most significant advancement in global finance in modern history. The advent of bitcoin creates a secure, easily accessible and transferable transnational currency that is completely liberated from political influence.
Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, is quoted on his company's website as saying: "I have invested in Bitcoin because I believe in its potential, the capacity it has to transform global payments is very exciting."
Heavyweight investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), announced on April 30th 2015 that it had partnered with Chinese investment firm IDG Capital partners to invest $50 million in a Bitcoin start-up. Numerous high-profile firms have begun accepting Bitcoin as a payment method including: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE), and Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK).
MarilynJean Media Interactive is among the first publicly traded companies focussed on bitcoin and the crypto-currency space. The company's trading symbol is MJMI.QB.
Website:www.marilynjeancom
Press Contact:[email protected]
SOURCE: MarilynJean Media Interactive || MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI.QB) Announces Plans to Enter Multi-Billion Dollar Remittance Market Using Bitcoin to Effect Transfers: HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / July 24, 2015 /MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI) announced today its plans to enter the multi-billion dollar remittance market using Bitcoin to effect transfers.
According to the World Bank, sending money internationally, or remittance transactions, were valued at over $580 Billion in 2014 and are expected to exceed $608 Billion in 2015. The World Bank estimates transaction fees to average 7.99% of money sent, making for a staggering $50 Billion in potential fees for participants in this year's remittance business.
Most remittance transfers are from developed countries to developing ones, sent primarily by migrant workers. Currently, most transactions are done through brick and mortar institutions like Western Union (NYSE:WU) and Moneygram (NASDAQ:MGI). These type of companies make money by charging an often invisible fee on the currency exchange portion of the transaction and high transfer fees to send and receive the money.
Within the existing financial system, Bitcoin's most disrupting feature is its decentralized architecture. A vaster international network of P2P computers provides multiple layers of verification for each transaction using cryptography. All transactions are registered in the publicly viewable blockchain so that users can’t transact with bitcoins they don’t own. This final level of security previously required a third party, typically a bank.
In a Bitcoin remittance transaction, a user would purchase Bitcoins via a Bitcoin exchange then send the Bitcoins to a Bitcoin remittance company who would then send the money to the receiver. Each step would be completed electronically within minutes.
The bitcoin network has the potential to effectively replace financial institutions and banks in the remittance market. Transfers are virtually in real time, often completing in less than 10 minutes, with ultra-low costs, typically limited to the fee for using a Bitcoin exchange, which averages 2%. In addition, Bitcoin remittance transactions can be easily completed using mobile devices which are now widely available in developing countries.
Challenges for Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies in the remittance market include the differing ways such currencies are regulated internationally and the costs associated with compliance in multiple jurisdictions. As a fully reporting, publicly traded company, management believes both regulators and users will be comparatively more confident with MJMI's participation in any regulated markets.
MJMI is currently exploring partnering with several existing Bitcoin exchanges as well as manufacturers and operators of Bitcoin ATMs. Such a combination would place the company in an exciting position to offer an end to end solution and potentially capture a share of this lucrative market just as it is poised to undergo a massive shift into the digital realm.
Peter Janosi, MJMI's president said: "With legacy remittance companies and traditional banks continuing to charge high fees while hiding other fees via poor exchange rates, it's hard to see a future where they will continue to be relevant."
About Bitcoin and Crypto-Currencies
Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Bitcoin became the first decentralized crypto-currency in 2009. Crypto-currency is produced at a rate which is defined when the system is created and publicly known. By contrast, in centralized banking and economic systems, such as the Federal Reserve System, corporate boards or governments control the supply of currency by printing units or demanding additions to digital banking ledgers. However, neither companies nor governments can produce units of crypto-currency and as such the value of crypto-currencies are completely based on supply and demand, free from any governmental control. Many people believe crypto-currencies, and in particular bitcoin, hold the promise of being the most significant advancement in global finance in modern history. The advent of bitcoin creates a secure, easily accessible and transferable transnational currency that is completely liberated from political influence.
Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, is quoted on his company's website as saying: "I have invested in Bitcoin because I believe in its potential, the capacity it has to transform global payments is very exciting."
Heavyweight investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), announced on April 30th 2015 that it had partnered with Chinese investment firm IDG Capital partners to invest $50 million in a Bitcoin start-up. Numerous high-profile firms have begun accepting Bitcoin as a payment method including: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE), and Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK).
MarilynJean Media Interactive is among the first publicly traded companies focussed on bitcoin and the crypto-currency space. The company's trading symbol is MJMI.QB.
Website:www.marilynjeancom
Press Contact:[email protected]
SOURCE: MarilynJean Media Interactive || Bitcoin's 'war' could threaten its survival: Bitcoin , the digital currency technology with an ecosystem attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, is struggling through an existential crisis. And what may to outsiders seem like petty squabbling about a single number actually has major financial implications and could even threaten the very survival of the cryptocurrency. The argument-which is pitting Chinese constituencies against largely Western developers, the business community against the often ideological early adopters, and programmer against programmer-centers on a simple number in the global bitcoin system. But if the various parties can't come to an agreement, the whole network could splinter, wrecking its major selling points of security and decentralization. "There is literally a war going on right now in the bitcoin world," Marco Streng, CEO of Genesis Mining, told CNBC last month. There are two major questions facing the technology: Who is bitcoin for? And who gets to decide? Most of the early adopters saw appeal in bitcoin as a decentralized digital currency (: BTC=) -(to over-simplify the promise) a sort of virtual gold that could not be touched by governments, banks or corporations. But in seeking to create the perfect system for such a currency, bitcoin's early creators also created a technology that has wide-ranging applications. That technology is called the "blockchain" (CNBC has gone in depth into how it works) , and this is basically what it does: It can record any information in a secure way, and make that information both public and unchangeable-doing this without relying on any central authority. Banks, stock exchanges, payment companies and others have already begun exploring how this can be used in their own businesses. The issue at hand is about the structure of bitcoin's blockchain (which is composed of "blocks" of data with each block referring back to the preceding chunk of information-thereby creating a chain). The community is arguing about how big the maximum block size should be: The current max is one megabyte, which only allows for about seven transactions per second-far too few for most businesses currently investing in the technology. Story continues This speed is a "roadblock to bitcoin growth," Jeff Garzik, one of five bitcoin core developers who have taken over maintenance of the technology, wrote in a recent paper . (Visa, for comparison, says its network can handle more than 24,000 transactions per second.) Read More Why is it called the 'blockchain?' "Any responsible business projecting capacity usage into the future sees the system reaching an absolute maximum capacity, with this speed limit in place," he wrote. "Increasing or removing this limit will encourage businesses to view bitcoin as scalable and capable of supporting millions of new users." The block size limit may also negatively impact bitcoin's original currency use-case: As the number of transaction requests exceed the limit, the user experience degrades: The pools of "miners" who help inscribe data onto the global network will begin charging ever-higher fees for processing, eliminating some of the appeal over other payment methods. But there are reasons for limiting the size of a block. For one, it provides security for the system by constraining available space, and therefore making it costly to maliciously flood the network with spam. Miners are generally against increasing the size too much: They would have to do more work on each block, but they'd still reap the same benefit per block (while transaction fees remain negligibly low), said Pete Rizzo, the U.S. editor for cryptocurrency site CoinDesk. Also, some early adopters who plan to hold bitcoin for extended periods of time as an investment may prefer to keep the block size limit low-unbothered by transaction fees or business prospects, Garzik explained to CNBC. But even if more interests seem to point to increasing the block size, there's no agreement what size is ideal-balancing present-day security and future promise-or how a change should be made. Gavin Andresen, one of the most important developers of the technology, proposed increasing the max size to 20 megabytes. (He did not respond to request for comment.) A powerful constituency of Chinese miners-who also object to increasing the size of the block, saying their nation's Internet connection to the rest of the world would not allow it-made a counter proposal suggesting an eight-megabyte maximum. Andresen has since backed a version of this plan. Read More Why financial firms are investigating bitcoin tech For his part, Garzik proposed a sliding cap with a change to the bitcoin code allowing for periodic block increases (or even decreases) based on global miners' votes. Different sources told CNBC that the most important parts of the community were variously leaning toward Garzik's proposal, an 8-megabyte increase, or just a small "can-kicking" measure to wait for technologies that might allow them to bypass the question. But as a totally decentralized system, bitcoin has no clear way to weigh these disparate opinions and interests-in other words, no way to make a definitive decision. Garzik called the block size debate the first major alteration to bitcoin policy since it began in January 2009. When other changes have been made, the core software has been changed, and the players on the network have quickly updated (anyone who doesn't follow the current protocol gets booted from the network until they comply). But with a contentious issue like this, the developers risk splitting the network into those who want to follow one set of rules, and those who want another. If someone were to push out a global update without ensuring near-total consensus, a split could occur. Read More Bitcoin firm raises $116M, including Qualcomm investment "That would be the worst of all possible options," Garzik said. Bitcoin runs on a blockchain that is more secure and decentralized than any of its competitors because of its large user base and its comparatively lengthy history. If those users were to splinter, then the entire enterprise could be compromised. So what's at stake? Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in bitcoin and blockchain-related companies, and the current value of all the bitcoin in existence is currently about $4 billion . The risks of a network split are low but not negligible, experts told CNBC. "You're dealing with consensus among a community of people who aren't communicating very well-and haven't for some time," Rizzo said, explaining that making any change to the code risks breaking a technology that already works pretty well. "At what point does that risk become untenable? At this point it's still within the realm of 'danger Will Robinson'-level risk," he added. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Bitcoin's 'war' could threaten its survival: Bitcoin, the digital currency technology with an ecosystem attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, is struggling through an existential crisis.
And what may to outsiders seem like petty squabbling about a single number actually has major financial implications and could even threaten the very survival of the cryptocurrency.
The argument-which is pitting Chinese constituencies against largely Western developers, the business community against the often ideological early adopters, and programmer against programmer-centers on a simple number in the global bitcoin system. But if the various parties can't come to an agreement, the whole network could splinter, wrecking its major selling points of security and decentralization.
"There is literally a war going on right now in the bitcoin world," Marco Streng, CEO of Genesis Mining, told CNBC last month.
There are two major questions facing the technology: Who is bitcoin for? And who gets to decide?
Most of the early adopters saw appeal in bitcoin as a decentralized digital currency(: BTC=)-(to over-simplify the promise) a sort of virtual gold that could not be touched by governments, banks or corporations. But in seeking to create the perfect system for such a currency, bitcoin's early creators also created a technology that has wide-ranging applications.
That technology is called the "blockchain"(CNBC has gone in depth into how it works), and this is basically what it does: It can record any information in a secure way, and make that information both public and unchangeable-doing this without relying on any central authority. Banks, stock exchanges, payment companies and othershave already begun exploringhow this can be used in their own businesses.
The issue at hand is about the structure of bitcoin's blockchain (which is composed of "blocks" of data with each block referring back to the preceding chunk of information-thereby creating a chain). The community is arguing about how big the maximum block size should be: The current max is one megabyte, which only allows for about seven transactions per second-far too few for most businesses currently investing in the technology.
This speed is a "roadblock to bitcoin growth," Jeff Garzik, one of five bitcoin core developers who have taken over maintenance of the technology,wrote in a recent paper. (Visa, for comparison, says its network can handle more than 24,000 transactions per second.)
Read MoreWhy is it called the 'blockchain?'
"Any responsible business projecting capacity usage into the future sees the system reaching an absolute maximum capacity, with this speed limit in place," he wrote. "Increasing or removing this limit will encourage businesses to view bitcoin as scalable and capable of supporting millions of new users."
The block size limit may also negatively impact bitcoin's original currency use-case: As the number of transaction requests exceed the limit, the user experience degrades: The pools of "miners" who help inscribe data onto the global network will begin charging ever-higher fees for processing, eliminating some of the appeal over other payment methods.
But there are reasons for limiting the size of a block. For one, it provides security for the system by constraining available space, and therefore making it costly to maliciously flood the network with spam.
Miners are generally against increasing the size too much: They would have to do more work on each block, but they'd still reap the same benefit per block (while transaction fees remain negligibly low), said Pete Rizzo, the U.S. editor for cryptocurrency site CoinDesk.
Also, some early adopters who plan to hold bitcoin for extended periods of time as an investment may prefer to keep the block size limit low-unbothered by transaction fees or business prospects, Garzik explained to CNBC.
But even if more interests seem to point to increasing the block size, there's no agreement what size is ideal-balancing present-day security and future promise-or how a change should be made.
Gavin Andresen, one of the most important developers of the technology,proposedincreasing the max size to 20 megabytes. (He did not respond to request for comment.)
A powerful constituency of Chinese miners-who also object to increasing the size of the block, saying their nation's Internet connection to the rest of the world would not allow it-made a counter proposalsuggestingan eight-megabyte maximum. Andresen has since backed a version of this plan.
Read MoreWhy financial firms are investigating bitcoin tech
For his part, Garzik proposed a sliding cap with a change to the bitcoin code allowing for periodic block increases (or even decreases) based on global miners' votes.
Different sources told CNBC that the most important parts of the community were variously leaning toward Garzik's proposal, an 8-megabyte increase, or just a small "can-kicking" measure to wait for technologies that might allow them to bypass the question.
But as a totally decentralized system, bitcoin has no clear way to weigh these disparate opinions and interests-in other words, no way to make a definitive decision.
Garzik called the block size debate the first major alteration to bitcoin policy since it began in January 2009. When other changes have been made, the core software has been changed, and the players on the network have quickly updated (anyone who doesn't follow the current protocol gets booted from the network until they comply).
But with a contentious issue like this, the developers risk splitting the network into those who want to follow one set of rules, and those who want another. If someone were to push out a global update without ensuring near-total consensus, a split could occur.
Read MoreBitcoin firm raises $116M, including Qualcomm investment
"That would be the worst of all possible options," Garzik said.
Bitcoin runs on a blockchain that is more secure and decentralized than any of its competitors because of its large user base and its comparatively lengthy history. If those users were to splinter, then the entire enterprise could be compromised.
So what's at stake? Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in bitcoin and blockchain-related companies, and the current value of all the bitcoin in existence is currentlyabout $4 billion.
The risks of a network split are low but not negligible, experts told CNBC.
"You're dealing with consensus among a community of people who aren't communicating very well-and haven't for some time," Rizzo said, explaining that making any change to the code risks breaking a technology that already works pretty well.
"At what point does that risk become untenable? At this point it's still within the realm of 'danger Will Robinson'-level risk," he added.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || Bitcoin's 'war' could threaten its survival: Bitcoin, the digital currency technology with an ecosystem attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, is struggling through an existential crisis.
And what may to outsiders seem like petty squabbling about a single number actually has major financial implications and could even threaten the very survival of the cryptocurrency.
The argument-which is pitting Chinese constituencies against largely Western developers, the business community against the often ideological early adopters, and programmer against programmer-centers on a simple number in the global bitcoin system. But if the various parties can't come to an agreement, the whole network could splinter, wrecking its major selling points of security and decentralization.
"There is literally a war going on right now in the bitcoin world," Marco Streng, CEO of Genesis Mining, told CNBC last month.
There are two major questions facing the technology: Who is bitcoin for? And who gets to decide?
Most of the early adopters saw appeal in bitcoin as a decentralized digital currency(: BTC=)-(to over-simplify the promise) a sort of virtual gold that could not be touched by governments, banks or corporations. But in seeking to create the perfect system for such a currency, bitcoin's early creators also created a technology that has wide-ranging applications.
That technology is called the "blockchain"(CNBC has gone in depth into how it works), and this is basically what it does: It can record any information in a secure way, and make that information both public and unchangeable-doing this without relying on any central authority. Banks, stock exchanges, payment companies and othershave already begun exploringhow this can be used in their own businesses.
The issue at hand is about the structure of bitcoin's blockchain (which is composed of "blocks" of data with each block referring back to the preceding chunk of information-thereby creating a chain). The community is arguing about how big the maximum block size should be: The current max is one megabyte, which only allows for about seven transactions per second-far too few for most businesses currently investing in the technology.
This speed is a "roadblock to bitcoin growth," Jeff Garzik, one of five bitcoin core developers who have taken over maintenance of the technology,wrote in a recent paper. (Visa, for comparison, says its network can handle more than 24,000 transactions per second.)
Read MoreWhy is it called the 'blockchain?'
"Any responsible business projecting capacity usage into the future sees the system reaching an absolute maximum capacity, with this speed limit in place," he wrote. "Increasing or removing this limit will encourage businesses to view bitcoin as scalable and capable of supporting millions of new users."
The block size limit may also negatively impact bitcoin's original currency use-case: As the number of transaction requests exceed the limit, the user experience degrades: The pools of "miners" who help inscribe data onto the global network will begin charging ever-higher fees for processing, eliminating some of the appeal over other payment methods.
But there are reasons for limiting the size of a block. For one, it provides security for the system by constraining available space, and therefore making it costly to maliciously flood the network with spam.
Miners are generally against increasing the size too much: They would have to do more work on each block, but they'd still reap the same benefit per block (while transaction fees remain negligibly low), said Pete Rizzo, the U.S. editor for cryptocurrency site CoinDesk.
Also, some early adopters who plan to hold bitcoin for extended periods of time as an investment may prefer to keep the block size limit low-unbothered by transaction fees or business prospects, Garzik explained to CNBC.
But even if more interests seem to point to increasing the block size, there's no agreement what size is ideal-balancing present-day security and future promise-or how a change should be made.
Gavin Andresen, one of the most important developers of the technology,proposedincreasing the max size to 20 megabytes. (He did not respond to request for comment.)
A powerful constituency of Chinese miners-who also object to increasing the size of the block, saying their nation's Internet connection to the rest of the world would not allow it-made a counter proposalsuggestingan eight-megabyte maximum. Andresen has since backed a version of this plan.
Read MoreWhy financial firms are investigating bitcoin tech
For his part, Garzik proposed a sliding cap with a change to the bitcoin code allowing for periodic block increases (or even decreases) based on global miners' votes.
Different sources told CNBC that the most important parts of the community were variously leaning toward Garzik's proposal, an 8-megabyte increase, or just a small "can-kicking" measure to wait for technologies that might allow them to bypass the question.
But as a totally decentralized system, bitcoin has no clear way to weigh these disparate opinions and interests-in other words, no way to make a definitive decision.
Garzik called the block size debate the first major alteration to bitcoin policy since it began in January 2009. When other changes have been made, the core software has been changed, and the players on the network have quickly updated (anyone who doesn't follow the current protocol gets booted from the network until they comply).
But with a contentious issue like this, the developers risk splitting the network into those who want to follow one set of rules, and those who want another. If someone were to push out a global update without ensuring near-total consensus, a split could occur.
Read MoreBitcoin firm raises $116M, including Qualcomm investment
"That would be the worst of all possible options," Garzik said.
Bitcoin runs on a blockchain that is more secure and decentralized than any of its competitors because of its large user base and its comparatively lengthy history. If those users were to splinter, then the entire enterprise could be compromised.
So what's at stake? Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in bitcoin and blockchain-related companies, and the current value of all the bitcoin in existence is currentlyabout $4 billion.
The risks of a network split are low but not negligible, experts told CNBC.
"You're dealing with consensus among a community of people who aren't communicating very well-and haven't for some time," Rizzo said, explaining that making any change to the code risks breaking a technology that already works pretty well.
"At what point does that risk become untenable? At this point it's still within the realm of 'danger Will Robinson'-level risk," he added.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || The Future of Money; Bitcoin and Ether Shake It Up With Crypto-Currencies That Disrupt and Innovate: POINT ROBERTS, WA and NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - July 23, 2015) -Investorideas.com, a global news source covering leading sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology, release commentary about new crypto-currencies including Bitcoin and Ether. Experts from both sectors talk about the future of money as we know it and how to prepare for this new future.
Brad Moynes of Bit-X Financial(BITXF), Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale, ANX, Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)and Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project talk about disruption, opportunity and crypto-currencies.
Wedbush's recent bullish prediction of $400 Bitcoin prices has created buzz in the space and the industry is full of headlines -- with new entries from traditional financial institutions. Two pure public plays in the sector share insight from their perspectives and experience in Bitcoin.
Brad Moynes, CEO of Bit-X Financial(BITXF), recently launched a new Bitcoin exchange branded under the name Digatrade (https://digatrade.com/) and discussed how he sees Bitcoin as a disruptive currency with a long term future.
Brad's financial markets background that includes investment banking and corporate finance makes him pay attention to the recent entries into the Bitcoin market from key players on Wall Street, he told us. He sees regulation shaping the future of Bitcoin as it moves forward but his regulatory compliance background makes him comfortable with the process.
Digatrade (powered by ANX Technology) just launched at the end of June with Canadian currency and is working on multi-currency payment processing including USD, GBP & EUR next. It also recently announced it has enabled Canadian-based customer deposits via eCheck; "a significant milestone," Brad said, "Bitcoin is transforming the way consumers and businesses operate. Whether for cost-savings, speed, security or opening new market opportunities, visionary companies all over the world are turning to Bitcoin for their next phase of growth."
Brad also stated, "The evolution of finance is here for institutions. DigaTrade works with financial institutions across the world to enable them to harness the power of digital-currency. We provide a range of institutional storage and liquidity tools for accredited clients and provide access to advanced crypto-fiat transfer protocols and solutions."
He went on to say, "We believe we are creating an exchange that will give traders, businesses and institutions a world-class platform that is secure and user-friendly, creating an even playing field for anyone wanting to trade Bitcoin and participate in the future of money."
Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale ANX, a Hong Kong-based company that is one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platforms worldwide, said, "It should come as no surprise that the consistently intensifying attraction to Bitcoin in China is very real. Transaction volumes out of China have been leading the way from a global perspective even prior to us experiencing peak prices in December 2013 and today is no different. With market prices and general trading interest recently being revived, a drive towards steady trading activity has been viewed here in Asia, on and off exchange."
He also said, "This, of course, has much deeper implications than the daily price of Bitcoin. We are seeing a real interest from a payments and funds transfer perspective as well. The interest for sizeable foreign investment has long been a stumbling block for Chinese citizens and Bitcoin offers that potential gateway."
Investorideas.com also talked to Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)to explain to investors the direct relationship of the Bitcoin pricing to the estimated share price of the recent 'outperform rating' on the stock from Wedbush.
Terrence explained, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust was created to give investors the ability to gain exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin without the challenges of buying and storing Bitcoin on their own and providing this exposure through a traditional titled security. As such, the Net Asset Value of the Trust is a direct representation of the price of Bitcoin. Each share of The Bitcoin Investment Trust represents approximately 0.1 Bitcoin and the Trust's Net Asset Value is set each business day using a 24-hour volume weighted price of Bitcoin based on TradeBlock's XBX Index."
He went on to explain, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a passive investment vehicle that only adds Bitcoin based on new investments and does not engage in the forecasting of prices or rely on any external research."
He also said, "Traditional payment providers or processers are likely going to need to innovate by either incorporating Bitcoin or another form of digital payments to increase efficiency and reduce costs in order to survive. We believe that many of these firms are actively looking at Bitcoin as a potential solution."
In talking about the future he noted, "In the short-term, Bitcoin has the opportunity to disrupt and innovate the payment space, particularly in global remittances and micro-payments. The ease of transacting and reduced costs when using Bitcoin compared to alternatives makes it a compelling choice. Further, with the influx of interest and investment from Wall Street in Bitcoin and Bitcoin related start-ups, it has the opportunity to overhaul the existing financial system making for more efficient trading and settlement of assets."
Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project told Investorideas.com, "It exists as platform for managing the core 'business logic' of decentralised applications; the component typically managed by a server, databases and so forth for traditional, centralised applications. Through using blockchain technology, Ethereum provides unprecedented guarantees of security, auditability, availability and interoperability for all kinds of applications. To avoid potential 'spamming' problems, the Ethereum platform has an internal token ('Ether') allowing users of the platform to pay the validators ('miners') for their contribution in doing the computation and securing the network.
In some ways, Ether could be considered similar to the crypto-currency Bitcoin, however it differs in so much as Ether is not intended to be used as a general means of payment.
In simple terms, the notion of a decentralised web is a web without web servers. At present all web applications, such as eBay and Facebook, are 100% dependent on centralised servers, operated by specific for-profit corporations. Being centralised, they slurp up as much information on their users in an effort to boost their power and future profits.
Such corporations, we have painfully learnt, care very little about the privacy of their users or the integrity of their users' data. All too often important data (e.g. buying habits, payment information) is sold by, leaked by or stolen from the corporation. Punishment is rare and insignificant. Users are becoming increasingly savvy but as yet, few reasonable options exist for those displeased with the present state of affairs.
The decentralised web, or 'Web 3.0,' is a collection of technologies that utilise modern peer-based network designs to decentralise all aspects of data publication, application logic and signaling. Through protocols such as Whisper, Ethereum and Swarm we can start to imagine how rich web and mobile applications like eBay, Facebook, and Uber could be realized, without the need of centralised servers or an expensive intermediary. Users would share the maintenance of all infrastructure and consolidate the application logic such a reputation systems and payment mechanisms themselves. Well understood mathematical principles, similar to those on which Bitcoin is based, would guard users from disreputable operators or insecure payments.
A vastly simplified software infrastructure and smooth interoperation would allow services to be 'mashed-up' (combined) to unleash exciting potential business opportunities previously possible only through cumbersome cross-industry partnerships (e.g. imagine AirBnB with a simple checkbox for an Uber-based airport pickup). Through all of this, users would be safe in the knowledge that they share only as much data as is strictly required for the application to function; never giving away sensitive payment information and never having to trust one faceless organization over another. While this is an inconvenient truth now, it will become even more important as the data that our device manufacturers own begins to include information of a decidedly private and personal nature never before collected; how we sleep, how much we exercise, who we sleep with, our passing interests and so on.
Ethereum, or more accurately, the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland tasked with the initial development of the Ethereum Protocol and its subsequent advocacy and education, has developed the first piece of the puzzle. The efforts over the past 18-or-so months of myself, Vitalik and Jeff, together with our many developers and support staff, are nearly at a culmination with the release of the so-called 'Frontier' software, the first version of Ethereum capable of forming a secure network. However, decentralising the web is a lofty goal and is unlikely achievable by the foundation's efforts alone. I think it will take the cooperation of a number of projects such as IPFS, Telehash and well-aligned profit-orientated enterprises before we really begin to see the bigger picture. Once the foundation bows out from its tenure as a software developer, I fully expect to see many from the Ethereum Project move to develop within the ecosystem under a more entrepreneurial venture."
For investors considering investing in crypto-currency opportunities, be prepared for a fast and furious ride as the future of money races ahead of all us.
Bit-X Financial Corp.(BITXF)is a Vancouver, British Columbia based Company listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. The Company owns and operates a digital currency exchange and internet financial services company: DIGATRADE™. BITXF is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC."https://digatrade.com/
ANX - Your Crypto Connectionwww.anxbtc.com- Easy, Secure, and Affordablewww.anxpro.com- Altcoins, Algos, and Performance
About The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a private, open-ended trust that is invested exclusively in Bitcoin and derives its value solely from the price of Bitcoin. It enables investors to gain exposure to the price movement of Bitcoin without the challenge of buying, storing, and safekeeping Bitcoins. The BIT's sponsor is Grayscale Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group.
About Investorideas.comInvestorIdeas.com newswire is a global investor news source covering multiple sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology.
Follow Investorideas.com on Twitterhttp://twitter.com/#!/InvestorideasFollow Investorideas.com on Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/Investorideas
Sign up for free news alerts at Investorideas.comhttp://www.investorideas.com/Resources/Newsletter.asp
Disclaimer/ Disclosure: The Investorideas.com newswire is a third party publisher of news and research as well as creates original content as a news source. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Investorideas is a news source on Google news syndication partners. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated by featured companies, news submissions, content marketing and online advertising. Contact each company directly for press release questions. Disclosure is posted on each release if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and is published for the sole interest of our readers. Disclosure: BITXF is a PR client of Investorideas.com and compensates us for news publication, PR and media. (two thousand five hundred per month and 144 shares) More info:http://www.investorideas.com/About/News/Clientspecifics.aspandhttp://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp
BC Residents and Investor Disclaimer : Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info:http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894. Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. || The Future of Money; Bitcoin and Ether Shake It Up With Crypto-Currencies That Disrupt and Innovate: POINT ROBERTS, WA and NEW YORK, NY --(Marketwired - July 23, 2015) - Investorideas.com, a global news source covering leading sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology, release commentary about new crypto-currencies including Bitcoin and Ether. Experts from both sectors talk about the future of money as we know it and how to prepare for this new future. Brad Moynes of Bit-X Financial ( BITXF ) , Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale, ANX, Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ) and Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project talk about disruption, opportunity and crypto-currencies. Wedbush's recent bullish prediction of $400 Bitcoin prices has created buzz in the space and the industry is full of headlines -- with new entries from traditional financial institutions. Two pure public plays in the sector share insight from their perspectives and experience in Bitcoin. Brad Moynes, CEO of Bit-X Financial ( BITXF ) , recently launched a new Bitcoin exchange branded under the name Digatrade ( https://digatrade.com/ ) and discussed how he sees Bitcoin as a disruptive currency with a long term future. Brad's financial markets background that includes investment banking and corporate finance makes him pay attention to the recent entries into the Bitcoin market from key players on Wall Street, he told us. He sees regulation shaping the future of Bitcoin as it moves forward but his regulatory compliance background makes him comfortable with the process. Digatrade (powered by ANX Technology) just launched at the end of June with Canadian currency and is working on multi-currency payment processing including USD, GBP & EUR next. It also recently announced it has enabled Canadian-based customer deposits via eCheck; "a significant milestone," Brad said, "Bitcoin is transforming the way consumers and businesses operate. Whether for cost-savings, speed, security or opening new market opportunities, visionary companies all over the world are turning to Bitcoin for their next phase of growth." Story continues Brad also stated, "The evolution of finance is here for institutions. DigaTrade works with financial institutions across the world to enable them to harness the power of digital-currency. We provide a range of institutional storage and liquidity tools for accredited clients and provide access to advanced crypto-fiat transfer protocols and solutions." He went on to say, "We believe we are creating an exchange that will give traders, businesses and institutions a world-class platform that is secure and user-friendly, creating an even playing field for anyone wanting to trade Bitcoin and participate in the future of money." Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale ANX, a Hong Kong-based company that is one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platforms worldwide, said, "It should come as no surprise that the consistently intensifying attraction to Bitcoin in China is very real. Transaction volumes out of China have been leading the way from a global perspective even prior to us experiencing peak prices in December 2013 and today is no different. With market prices and general trading interest recently being revived, a drive towards steady trading activity has been viewed here in Asia, on and off exchange." He also said, "This, of course, has much deeper implications than the daily price of Bitcoin. We are seeing a real interest from a payments and funds transfer perspective as well. The interest for sizeable foreign investment has long been a stumbling block for Chinese citizens and Bitcoin offers that potential gateway." Investorideas.com also talked to Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ) to explain to investors the direct relationship of the Bitcoin pricing to the estimated share price of the recent 'outperform rating' on the stock from Wedbush. Terrence explained, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust was created to give investors the ability to gain exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin without the challenges of buying and storing Bitcoin on their own and providing this exposure through a traditional titled security. As such, the Net Asset Value of the Trust is a direct representation of the price of Bitcoin. Each share of The Bitcoin Investment Trust represents approximately 0.1 Bitcoin and the Trust's Net Asset Value is set each business day using a 24-hour volume weighted price of Bitcoin based on TradeBlock's XBX Index." He went on to explain, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a passive investment vehicle that only adds Bitcoin based on new investments and does not engage in the forecasting of prices or rely on any external research." He also said, "Traditional payment providers or processers are likely going to need to innovate by either incorporating Bitcoin or another form of digital payments to increase efficiency and reduce costs in order to survive. We believe that many of these firms are actively looking at Bitcoin as a potential solution." In talking about the future he noted, "In the short-term, Bitcoin has the opportunity to disrupt and innovate the payment space, particularly in global remittances and micro-payments. The ease of transacting and reduced costs when using Bitcoin compared to alternatives makes it a compelling choice. Further, with the influx of interest and investment from Wall Street in Bitcoin and Bitcoin related start-ups, it has the opportunity to overhaul the existing financial system making for more efficient trading and settlement of assets." Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project told Investorideas.com, "It exists as platform for managing the core 'business logic' of decentralised applications; the component typically managed by a server, databases and so forth for traditional, centralised applications. Through using blockchain technology, Ethereum provides unprecedented guarantees of security, auditability, availability and interoperability for all kinds of applications. To avoid potential 'spamming' problems, the Ethereum platform has an internal token ('Ether') allowing users of the platform to pay the validators ('miners') for their contribution in doing the computation and securing the network. In some ways, Ether could be considered similar to the crypto-currency Bitcoin, however it differs in so much as Ether is not intended to be used as a general means of payment. In simple terms, the notion of a decentralised web is a web without web servers. At present all web applications, such as eBay and Facebook, are 100% dependent on centralised servers, operated by specific for-profit corporations. Being centralised, they slurp up as much information on their users in an effort to boost their power and future profits. Such corporations, we have painfully learnt, care very little about the privacy of their users or the integrity of their users' data. All too often important data (e.g. buying habits, payment information) is sold by, leaked by or stolen from the corporation. Punishment is rare and insignificant. Users are becoming increasingly savvy but as yet, few reasonable options exist for those displeased with the present state of affairs. The decentralised web, or 'Web 3.0,' is a collection of technologies that utilise modern peer-based network designs to decentralise all aspects of data publication, application logic and signaling. Through protocols such as Whisper, Ethereum and Swarm we can start to imagine how rich web and mobile applications like eBay, Facebook, and Uber could be realized, without the need of centralised servers or an expensive intermediary. Users would share the maintenance of all infrastructure and consolidate the application logic such a reputation systems and payment mechanisms themselves. Well understood mathematical principles, similar to those on which Bitcoin is based, would guard users from disreputable operators or insecure payments. A vastly simplified software infrastructure and smooth interoperation would allow services to be 'mashed-up' (combined) to unleash exciting potential business opportunities previously possible only through cumbersome cross-industry partnerships (e.g. imagine AirBnB with a simple checkbox for an Uber-based airport pickup). Through all of this, users would be safe in the knowledge that they share only as much data as is strictly required for the application to function; never giving away sensitive payment information and never having to trust one faceless organization over another. While this is an inconvenient truth now, it will become even more important as the data that our device manufacturers own begins to include information of a decidedly private and personal nature never before collected; how we sleep, how much we exercise, who we sleep with, our passing interests and so on. Ethereum, or more accurately, the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland tasked with the initial development of the Ethereum Protocol and its subsequent advocacy and education, has developed the first piece of the puzzle. The efforts over the past 18-or-so months of myself, Vitalik and Jeff, together with our many developers and support staff, are nearly at a culmination with the release of the so-called 'Frontier' software, the first version of Ethereum capable of forming a secure network. However, decentralising the web is a lofty goal and is unlikely achievable by the foundation's efforts alone. I think it will take the cooperation of a number of projects such as IPFS, Telehash and well-aligned profit-orientated enterprises before we really begin to see the bigger picture. Once the foundation bows out from its tenure as a software developer, I fully expect to see many from the Ethereum Project move to develop within the ecosystem under a more entrepreneurial venture." For investors considering investing in crypto-currency opportunities, be prepared for a fast and furious ride as the future of money races ahead of all us. Bit-X Financial Corp. ( BITXF ) is a Vancouver, British Columbia based Company listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. The Company owns and operates a digital currency exchange and internet financial services company: DIGATRADE™. BITXF is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC." https://digatrade.com/ ANX - Your Crypto Connection www.anxbtc.com - Easy, Secure, and Affordable www.anxpro.com - Altcoins, Algos, and Performance About The Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ) The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a private, open-ended trust that is invested exclusively in Bitcoin and derives its value solely from the price of Bitcoin. It enables investors to gain exposure to the price movement of Bitcoin without the challenge of buying, storing, and safekeeping Bitcoins. The BIT's sponsor is Grayscale Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group. About Investorideas.com InvestorIdeas.com newswire is a global investor news source covering multiple sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology. Follow Investorideas.com on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/Investorideas Follow Investorideas.com on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Investorideas Sign up for free news alerts at Investorideas.com http://www.investorideas.com/Resources/Newsletter.asp Disclaimer/ Disclosure: The Investorideas.com newswire is a third party publisher of news and research as well as creates original content as a news source. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Investorideas is a news source on Google news syndication partners. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated by featured companies, news submissions, content marketing and online advertising. Contact each company directly for press release questions. Disclosure is posted on each release if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and is published for the sole interest of our readers. Disclosure: BITXF is a PR client of Investorideas.com and compensates us for news publication, PR and media. (two thousand five hundred per month and 144 shares) More info: http://www.investorideas.com/About/News/Clientspecifics.asp and http://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp BC Residents and Investor Disclaimer : Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info: http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894 . Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. || The Future of Money; Bitcoin and Ether Shake It Up With Crypto-Currencies That Disrupt and Innovate: POINT ROBERTS, WA and NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - July 23, 2015) -Investorideas.com, a global news source covering leading sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology, release commentary about new crypto-currencies including Bitcoin and Ether. Experts from both sectors talk about the future of money as we know it and how to prepare for this new future.
Brad Moynes of Bit-X Financial(BITXF), Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale, ANX, Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)and Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project talk about disruption, opportunity and crypto-currencies.
Wedbush's recent bullish prediction of $400 Bitcoin prices has created buzz in the space and the industry is full of headlines -- with new entries from traditional financial institutions. Two pure public plays in the sector share insight from their perspectives and experience in Bitcoin.
Brad Moynes, CEO of Bit-X Financial(BITXF), recently launched a new Bitcoin exchange branded under the name Digatrade (https://digatrade.com/) and discussed how he sees Bitcoin as a disruptive currency with a long term future.
Brad's financial markets background that includes investment banking and corporate finance makes him pay attention to the recent entries into the Bitcoin market from key players on Wall Street, he told us. He sees regulation shaping the future of Bitcoin as it moves forward but his regulatory compliance background makes him comfortable with the process.
Digatrade (powered by ANX Technology) just launched at the end of June with Canadian currency and is working on multi-currency payment processing including USD, GBP & EUR next. It also recently announced it has enabled Canadian-based customer deposits via eCheck; "a significant milestone," Brad said, "Bitcoin is transforming the way consumers and businesses operate. Whether for cost-savings, speed, security or opening new market opportunities, visionary companies all over the world are turning to Bitcoin for their next phase of growth."
Brad also stated, "The evolution of finance is here for institutions. DigaTrade works with financial institutions across the world to enable them to harness the power of digital-currency. We provide a range of institutional storage and liquidity tools for accredited clients and provide access to advanced crypto-fiat transfer protocols and solutions."
He went on to say, "We believe we are creating an exchange that will give traders, businesses and institutions a world-class platform that is secure and user-friendly, creating an even playing field for anyone wanting to trade Bitcoin and participate in the future of money."
Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale ANX, a Hong Kong-based company that is one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platforms worldwide, said, "It should come as no surprise that the consistently intensifying attraction to Bitcoin in China is very real. Transaction volumes out of China have been leading the way from a global perspective even prior to us experiencing peak prices in December 2013 and today is no different. With market prices and general trading interest recently being revived, a drive towards steady trading activity has been viewed here in Asia, on and off exchange."
He also said, "This, of course, has much deeper implications than the daily price of Bitcoin. We are seeing a real interest from a payments and funds transfer perspective as well. The interest for sizeable foreign investment has long been a stumbling block for Chinese citizens and Bitcoin offers that potential gateway."
Investorideas.com also talked to Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)to explain to investors the direct relationship of the Bitcoin pricing to the estimated share price of the recent 'outperform rating' on the stock from Wedbush.
Terrence explained, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust was created to give investors the ability to gain exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin without the challenges of buying and storing Bitcoin on their own and providing this exposure through a traditional titled security. As such, the Net Asset Value of the Trust is a direct representation of the price of Bitcoin. Each share of The Bitcoin Investment Trust represents approximately 0.1 Bitcoin and the Trust's Net Asset Value is set each business day using a 24-hour volume weighted price of Bitcoin based on TradeBlock's XBX Index."
He went on to explain, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a passive investment vehicle that only adds Bitcoin based on new investments and does not engage in the forecasting of prices or rely on any external research."
He also said, "Traditional payment providers or processers are likely going to need to innovate by either incorporating Bitcoin or another form of digital payments to increase efficiency and reduce costs in order to survive. We believe that many of these firms are actively looking at Bitcoin as a potential solution."
In talking about the future he noted, "In the short-term, Bitcoin has the opportunity to disrupt and innovate the payment space, particularly in global remittances and micro-payments. The ease of transacting and reduced costs when using Bitcoin compared to alternatives makes it a compelling choice. Further, with the influx of interest and investment from Wall Street in Bitcoin and Bitcoin related start-ups, it has the opportunity to overhaul the existing financial system making for more efficient trading and settlement of assets."
Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project told Investorideas.com, "It exists as platform for managing the core 'business logic' of decentralised applications; the component typically managed by a server, databases and so forth for traditional, centralised applications. Through using blockchain technology, Ethereum provides unprecedented guarantees of security, auditability, availability and interoperability for all kinds of applications. To avoid potential 'spamming' problems, the Ethereum platform has an internal token ('Ether') allowing users of the platform to pay the validators ('miners') for their contribution in doing the computation and securing the network.
In some ways, Ether could be considered similar to the crypto-currency Bitcoin, however it differs in so much as Ether is not intended to be used as a general means of payment.
In simple terms, the notion of a decentralised web is a web without web servers. At present all web applications, such as eBay and Facebook, are 100% dependent on centralised servers, operated by specific for-profit corporations. Being centralised, they slurp up as much information on their users in an effort to boost their power and future profits.
Such corporations, we have painfully learnt, care very little about the privacy of their users or the integrity of their users' data. All too often important data (e.g. buying habits, payment information) is sold by, leaked by or stolen from the corporation. Punishment is rare and insignificant. Users are becoming increasingly savvy but as yet, few reasonable options exist for those displeased with the present state of affairs.
The decentralised web, or 'Web 3.0,' is a collection of technologies that utilise modern peer-based network designs to decentralise all aspects of data publication, application logic and signaling. Through protocols such as Whisper, Ethereum and Swarm we can start to imagine how rich web and mobile applications like eBay, Facebook, and Uber could be realized, without the need of centralised servers or an expensive intermediary. Users would share the maintenance of all infrastructure and consolidate the application logic such a reputation systems and payment mechanisms themselves. Well understood mathematical principles, similar to those on which Bitcoin is based, would guard users from disreputable operators or insecure payments.
A vastly simplified software infrastructure and smooth interoperation would allow services to be 'mashed-up' (combined) to unleash exciting potential business opportunities previously possible only through cumbersome cross-industry partnerships (e.g. imagine AirBnB with a simple checkbox for an Uber-based airport pickup). Through all of this, users would be safe in the knowledge that they share only as much data as is strictly required for the application to function; never giving away sensitive payment information and never having to trust one faceless organization over another. While this is an inconvenient truth now, it will become even more important as the data that our device manufacturers own begins to include information of a decidedly private and personal nature never before collected; how we sleep, how much we exercise, who we sleep with, our passing interests and so on.
Ethereum, or more accurately, the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland tasked with the initial development of the Ethereum Protocol and its subsequent advocacy and education, has developed the first piece of the puzzle. The efforts over the past 18-or-so months of myself, Vitalik and Jeff, together with our many developers and support staff, are nearly at a culmination with the release of the so-called 'Frontier' software, the first version of Ethereum capable of forming a secure network. However, decentralising the web is a lofty goal and is unlikely achievable by the foundation's efforts alone. I think it will take the cooperation of a number of projects such as IPFS, Telehash and well-aligned profit-orientated enterprises before we really begin to see the bigger picture. Once the foundation bows out from its tenure as a software developer, I fully expect to see many from the Ethereum Project move to develop within the ecosystem under a more entrepreneurial venture."
For investors considering investing in crypto-currency opportunities, be prepared for a fast and furious ride as the future of money races ahead of all us.
Bit-X Financial Corp.(BITXF)is a Vancouver, British Columbia based Company listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. The Company owns and operates a digital currency exchange and internet financial services company: DIGATRADE™. BITXF is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC."https://digatrade.com/
ANX - Your Crypto Connectionwww.anxbtc.com- Easy, Secure, and Affordablewww.anxpro.com- Altcoins, Algos, and Performance
About The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a private, open-ended trust that is invested exclusively in Bitcoin and derives its value solely from the price of Bitcoin. It enables investors to gain exposure to the price movement of Bitcoin without the challenge of buying, storing, and safekeeping Bitcoins. The BIT's sponsor is Grayscale Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group.
About Investorideas.comInvestorIdeas.com newswire is a global investor news source covering multiple sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology.
Follow Investorideas.com on Twitterhttp://twitter.com/#!/InvestorideasFollow Investorideas.com on Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/Investorideas
Sign up for free news alerts at Investorideas.comhttp://www.investorideas.com/Resources/Newsletter.asp
Disclaimer/ Disclosure: The Investorideas.com newswire is a third party publisher of news and research as well as creates original content as a news source. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Investorideas is a news source on Google news syndication partners. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated by featured companies, news submissions, content marketing and online advertising. Contact each company directly for press release questions. Disclosure is posted on each release if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and is published for the sole interest of our readers. Disclosure: BITXF is a PR client of Investorideas.com and compensates us for news publication, PR and media. (two thousand five hundred per month and 144 shares) More info:http://www.investorideas.com/About/News/Clientspecifics.aspandhttp://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp
BC Residents and Investor Disclaimer : Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info:http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894. Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. || Retirees Represent Major Marijuana Market: As marijuana legalization spreads across the U.S., the public perception of a marijuana user is slowly changing from a young, unambitious kid to an elderly person with a cup of tea.
That's right, marijuana use isbecoming more and more commonamong retirees who say the drug helps them deal with some of the ailments associated with growing older.
Forget Florida
Retirees have long flocked to states with sunshine and great healthcare in order to live out their golden years, but marijuana legalization is becoming a top priority for many seniors who use the drug to cope with things like chronic pain or insomnia. Oregon has seen an influx of new residents over the past year as its relaxed marijuana laws drew in people who want to get high without worrying about legal consequences.
Many dispensaries say at least 50 percent of their clientele is made up of elderly people suffering from varying illnesses and looking for relief.
Related Link:California Plans For Pot Expansion
Boomers
The aging population of baby boomers has also contributed to increased marijuana use among seniors. As that generation lived through the 1960's and 1970's when drug use was common among teenagers, the decision to use marijuana as a retiree is often more comfortable.
Pushing For Legalization
The growing popularity of medical marijuana among retirees has created a powerful voice in the campaign to legalize marijuana in the U.S. Groups like Grannies for Grass paint marijuana use as a safe, effective way for the elderly to manage their pain in lieu of traditional medicine.
Many believe that as more and more retirees adopt medical marijuana, states like Florida with large elderly populations will be pushed to legalize the drug.
See more from Benzinga
• Bitcoin Payments Decline Significantly At Expedia
• EU In Favor Of Iran Deal
• Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination?
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Retirees Represent Major Marijuana Market: As marijuana legalization spreads across the U.S., the public perception of a marijuana user is slowly changing from a young, unambitious kid to an elderly person with a cup of tea. That's right, marijuana use is becoming more and more common among retirees who say the drug helps them deal with some of the ailments associated with growing older. Forget Florida Retirees have long flocked to states with sunshine and great healthcare in order to live out their golden years, but marijuana legalization is becoming a top priority for many seniors who use the drug to cope with things like chronic pain or insomnia. Oregon has seen an influx of new residents over the past year as its relaxed marijuana laws drew in people who want to get high without worrying about legal consequences. Many dispensaries say at least 50 percent of their clientele is made up of elderly people suffering from varying illnesses and looking for relief. Related Link: California Plans For Pot Expansion Boomers The aging population of baby boomers has also contributed to increased marijuana use among seniors. As that generation lived through the 1960's and 1970's when drug use was common among teenagers, the decision to use marijuana as a retiree is often more comfortable. Pushing For Legalization The growing popularity of medical marijuana among retirees has created a powerful voice in the campaign to legalize marijuana in the U.S. Groups like Grannies for Grass paint marijuana use as a safe, effective way for the elderly to manage their pain in lieu of traditional medicine. Many believe that as more and more retirees adopt medical marijuana, states like Florida with large elderly populations will be pushed to legalize the drug. See more from Benzinga Bitcoin Payments Decline Significantly At Expedia EU In Favor Of Iran Deal Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination? © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Payments Decline Significantly At Expedia: Expedia Inc (NASDAQ: EXPE ) introduced bitcoin as a payment option about a year ago. The company hoped to reach new users and meet the growing demand for digital payments by adding a bitcoin option. However over the past 12 months, the travel website said it has seen a significant decline in the number of payments made using bitcoin, something which could be attributed to the cryptocurrency's marked decline. Loss Of Value Expedia's Senior Payments Product Manger Connie Chung told CoinDesk that bitcoin purchases on the site have declined by 40 percent over the past year. Chung said that drop makes sense when you look at how much value bitcoin has lost over the past 12 months. When bitcoin was added to Expedia's service in June last year, it was worth more than $600. Now, the currency is trading at just over $270 following a price rally earlier in the month. Related Link: Venture Capitalists Pouring Money Into Bitcoin Bitcoin To Stay Put While the decline in bitcoin payments suggests that consumers aren't as willing to use the cryptocurrency as merchants had predicted, Chung said Expedia plans to continue offering bitcoin as a payment choice for as long as there is some demand for it. She said the company's decision to incorporate bitcoin had little to do with the firm's stance on digital currencies and that it has simply been a way to meet customer needs. See more from Benzinga EU In Favor Of Iran Deal Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination? Deloitte Expresses Interest In Cryptocurrencies By Joining Australian Industry Group © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Payments Decline Significantly At Expedia: Expedia Inc(NASDAQ:EXPE) introduced bitcoin as a payment option about a year ago. The company hoped to reach new users and meet the growing demand for digital payments by adding a bitcoin option.
However over the past 12 months, the travel website said it has seen a significant decline in the number of payments made using bitcoin, something which could be attributed to the cryptocurrency's marked decline.
Loss Of Value
Expedia's Senior Payments Product Manger Connie Chung toldCoinDeskthat bitcoin purchases on the site have declined by 40 percent over the past year. Chung said that drop makes sense when you look at how much value bitcoin has lost over the past 12 months. When bitcoin was added to Expedia's service in June last year, it was worth more than $600. Now, the currency is trading at just over $270 following a price rally earlier in the month.
Related Link:Venture Capitalists Pouring Money Into Bitcoin
Bitcoin To Stay Put
While the decline in bitcoin payments suggests that consumers aren't as willing to use the cryptocurrency as merchants had predicted, Chung said Expedia plans to continue offering bitcoin as a payment choice for as long as there is some demand for it. She said the company's decision to incorporate bitcoin had little to do with the firm's stance on digital currencies and that it has simply been a way to meet customer needs.
See more from Benzinga
• EU In Favor Of Iran Deal
• Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination?
• Deloitte Expresses Interest In Cryptocurrencies By Joining Australian Industry Group
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Payments Decline Significantly At Expedia: Expedia Inc(NASDAQ:EXPE) introduced bitcoin as a payment option about a year ago. The company hoped to reach new users and meet the growing demand for digital payments by adding a bitcoin option.
However over the past 12 months, the travel website said it has seen a significant decline in the number of payments made using bitcoin, something which could be attributed to the cryptocurrency's marked decline.
Loss Of Value
Expedia's Senior Payments Product Manger Connie Chung toldCoinDeskthat bitcoin purchases on the site have declined by 40 percent over the past year. Chung said that drop makes sense when you look at how much value bitcoin has lost over the past 12 months. When bitcoin was added to Expedia's service in June last year, it was worth more than $600. Now, the currency is trading at just over $270 following a price rally earlier in the month.
Related Link:Venture Capitalists Pouring Money Into Bitcoin
Bitcoin To Stay Put
While the decline in bitcoin payments suggests that consumers aren't as willing to use the cryptocurrency as merchants had predicted, Chung said Expedia plans to continue offering bitcoin as a payment choice for as long as there is some demand for it. She said the company's decision to incorporate bitcoin had little to do with the firm's stance on digital currencies and that it has simply been a way to meet customer needs.
See more from Benzinga
• EU In Favor Of Iran Deal
• Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination?
• Deloitte Expresses Interest In Cryptocurrencies By Joining Australian Industry Group
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination?: Earlier this month, The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO ) removed its logo from cans of coke in the Middle East and replaced it with a message that read "Labels are for cans, not people." The campaign ran during Ramadan, an Islamic festival that takes place from June 17 to July 17. Overall, Coke's decision to pair marketing with social activism appeared to be a success, as the campaign quickly made its way through social media. Smart Marketing Or Soap Box? Many big corporations have used a global issue to drive their marketing campaigns much like Coca-Cola did, but the results haven't always been so positive. Trying to drive social change can have big rewards as it gets consumers to associate a company's brand with positive influence. However, firms also run the risk of seeming insincere, hypocritical and even uninformed if their campaign is a failure. Related Link: Bitcoin In The Middle East Race Together When racial tensions were at an all-time high earlier this year in the U.S., Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX ) inserted itself into the cross fire with its " Race Together " campaign. Soon after asking baristas to write the phrase "race together" and encourage open dialogue about race relations, the company disassembled much of the campaign. Social media lit up with accusations that the coffee-chain was overstepping its boundaries and using the issue as a marketing ploy and ultimately, the "Race Together" initiative was considered a flop. Real Beauty On the other hand, Unilever plc (ADR) (NYSE: UL )'s Dove brand used its far-reaching popularity to send a message about female self-esteem through its "Real Beauty Sketches" campaign. The company released a video in which women received two portraits of themselves from a forensic artist. The first was drawn based on their own description of themselves and the second was from a stranger's point of view. The video drove home the point that many women are critical of their own appearance and that they are more beautiful than they perceive. Soon after its release, the video went viral. Story continues Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Starbucks Hopes To Blend In With The Locals Starbucks Hits Its Stride In The Digital Age Beverage Makers Hope To Ride The Craft Beer Wave © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination?: Earlier this month, The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO ) removed its logo from cans of coke in the Middle East and replaced it with a message that read "Labels are for cans, not people." The campaign ran during Ramadan, an Islamic festival that takes place from June 17 to July 17. Overall, Coke's decision to pair marketing with social activism appeared to be a success, as the campaign quickly made its way through social media. Smart Marketing Or Soap Box? Many big corporations have used a global issue to drive their marketing campaigns much like Coca-Cola did, but the results haven't always been so positive. Trying to drive social change can have big rewards as it gets consumers to associate a company's brand with positive influence. However, firms also run the risk of seeming insincere, hypocritical and even uninformed if their campaign is a failure. Related Link: Bitcoin In The Middle East Race Together When racial tensions were at an all-time high earlier this year in the U.S., Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX ) inserted itself into the cross fire with its " Race Together " campaign. Soon after asking baristas to write the phrase "race together" and encourage open dialogue about race relations, the company disassembled much of the campaign. Social media lit up with accusations that the coffee-chain was overstepping its boundaries and using the issue as a marketing ploy and ultimately, the "Race Together" initiative was considered a flop. Real Beauty On the other hand, Unilever plc (ADR) (NYSE: UL )'s Dove brand used its far-reaching popularity to send a message about female self-esteem through its "Real Beauty Sketches" campaign. The company released a video in which women received two portraits of themselves from a forensic artist. The first was drawn based on their own description of themselves and the second was from a stranger's point of view. The video drove home the point that many women are critical of their own appearance and that they are more beautiful than they perceive. Soon after its release, the video went viral. Story continues Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Starbucks Hopes To Blend In With The Locals Starbucks Hits Its Stride In The Digital Age Beverage Makers Hope To Ride The Craft Beer Wave © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
[Social Media Buzz]
Current price: 186.2£ $BTCGBP $btc #bitcoin 2015-07-26 01:00:04 BST || One Bitcoin now worth $288.49@bitstamp. High $292.00. Low $286.50. Market Cap $ 4.106 Billion #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/Z3buYIZ3f3 || Current price: 265.48€ $BTCEUR $btc #bitcoin 2015-07-25 16:00:05 CEST || #RDD / #BTC on the exchanges:
Cryptsy: 0.00000005
Bittrex: 0.00000005
Average $1.4E-5 per #reddcoin
00:45:01 || buysellbitco.in #bitcoin price in INR, Buy : 18768.00 INR Sell : 18182.00 INR. Buy and sell bitcoin in #India u...
|
292.69, 293.62, 294.43, 289.59, 287.72, 284.65, 281.60, 282.61, 281.23, 285.22
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 907.68, 777.76, 804.83, 823.98, 818.41, 821.80, 831.53, 907.94, 886.62, 899.07, 895.03, 921.79, 924.67, 921.01, 892.69, 901.54, 917.59, 919.75, 921.59, 919.50, 920.38, 970.40, 989.02, 1011.80, 1029.91, 1042.90, 1027.34, 1038.15, 1061.35, 1063.07, 994.38, 988.67, 1004.45, 999.18, 990.64, 1004.55, 1007.48, 1027.44, 1046.21, 1054.42, 1047.87, 1079.98, 1115.30, 1117.44, 1166.72, 1173.68, 1143.84, 1165.20, 1179.97, 1179.97, 1222.50, 1251.01, 1274.99, 1255.15, 1267.12, 1272.83, 1223.54, 1150.00, 1188.49, 1116.72, 1175.83, 1221.38, 1231.92, 1240.00, 1249.61, 1187.81, 1100.23, 973.82, 1036.74, 1054.23, 1120.54, 1049.14, 1038.59, 937.52, 972.78, 966.72, 1045.77, 1047.15, 1039.97, 1026.43, 1071.79, 1080.50, 1102.17, 1143.81, 1133.25, 1124.78, 1182.68, 1176.90, 1175.95, 1187.87.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-04-09]
Volume: 242343008, RSI (14-day): 60.07, 50-day EMA: 1097.39, 200-day EMA: 920.76
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
The first investor in Snapchat thinks each bitcoin could realistically be worth $500,000 by 2030 — Here's how: (Jeremy Liew.Getty)
Bitcoin has been thetop-performing currencyin the world in six of the past seven years, climbing from zero to a value of about $1,190.
But the cryptocurrency isn't anywhere close to its potential, according toJeremy Liew,the first investor in Snapchat, and Blockchain CEO and cofounder Peter Smith.In a presentation sent to Business Insider, the duo laid out their case for why it's reasonable for bitcoin to explode to $500,000 by 2030.
Their argument is based on increased interest in bitcoin, thanks to:
Bitcoin-based remittances
Remittance transfers, or electronic money transfers to foreign countries, havealmost doubled over the past 15 yearsto 0.76% of GDP, data from The World Bank shows.
"Expats sending money home have found in Bitcoin an inexpensive alternative, and we assume that the percentage of Bitcoin-based remittances will sharply increase with greater Bitcoin awareness," the two say.
Uncertainty
Liew and Smith said increased political uncertainty in the UK, US and in developing nations would help elevate the level of interest in bitcoin.
"We believe Bitcoin awareness, high liquidity, ease of transport and continued market outperformance as geopolitical risks mount, will make Bitcoin a strong contender for investment at a consumer and investor level," the two said.
Mobile penetration
Liew and Smith believe the percentage of non-cash transactions will climb from 15% to 30% in the next 10 years as the world becomes more connected through smartphones. There's only a 63% global smartphone penetration and the total number of smartphone users is expected to soar by 1 billion by 2020. GSMA,a trade body that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, believes90% of these userswill come from developing countries.
This will make it possible for nearly everyone to have a bank in their pocket, and that should provide a boost for bitcoin as well. Liew and Smith say bitcoin could account for 50% of all of these transactions.
Here are the basic model drivers that Liew and Smith used:
1. A bitcoin price of $1,000 in 2017.
2. That network users will grow 61x from now until 2030."Put another way, we need a population of bitcoin users around a quarter of the Chinese population (or 5% of the global population) in 2030 to see bitcoin at $500k," Liew and Smith told Business Insider. Bitcoin's user network grew from 120,000 users in 2013 to 6.5 million users in 2017, or about 54x, and this could be just the beginning. Growth of that magnitude would produce 400 million users in 2030.
3. The average value of bitcoin held per user hits $25,000. "As institutional investor cash in Bitcoin, sophisticated investors trading Bitcoin, and Bitcoin-based ETFs proliferate, we think the average Bitcoin value held will increase to around $25k per Bitcoin holder," Liew and Smith said. Currently, with a market cap of $16.4 billion, and 6.5 million user count, the average user holds $2,515 worth of bitcoin.
4. Bitcoin's 2030 market capis decided by number of bitcoin holders multiplied by average bitcoin value held.
5. Bitcoin's 2030 supply will be about 20 million.
6. Bitcoin's 2030 price and user count total $500,000 and 400 million, respectively.The price is found by taking the $10 trillion market cap and dividing it by the fixed supply of 20 million bitcoin.
It's important to note that a lot could go wrong, too. News surrounding bitcoin has been rather negative as of a late.
China, which is responsible for nearly 100% of trading in bitcoin, has beencracking downon trading. The three biggest exchanges recently announced a 0.2% fee on all transactions, in addition toblocking withdrawalsfrom trading accounts.
Additionally, the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected two bitcoin exchange-traded funds, and will make a ruling on another one in the future. It's not expected to be approved. However, Smith thinks bitcoin is still in its early stages.
"The SEC’s ruling wasn't a surprise to us," he told Business Insider. "We know that getting this sort of approval is going to take (a potentially long) time," Smith said. "In the meantime, bitcoin is already simple to buy and hold and, as the asset continues to mature,we'll continue to see an increase in the development and deployment of surrounding products."
(Markets Insider)
And while bitcoin hasn't been granted regulatory approval here in the US, it is catching on elsewhere. On April 1, the cryptocurrency became alegal payment method in Japan.
Another threat to the future of the cryptocurrency is that developers arethreatening to set up a "hard fork," or alternative marketplace for bitcoin. This would result in the split of bitcoin into bitcoin and bitcoin unlimited. However, Smith says not to worry.
"Bitcoin has strong economic incentives to prevent this," he said. "If the last two years of healthy contention and debate lead to a conclusion, it's that Bitcoin is incredibly resilient and stable. In fact, the bitcoin Blockchain has operated for 7+ years with no downtime, a feat no other back-end system operating at this scale can claim."
Anyone interested in bitcoin should also know that the cryptocurrency sees violent price swings that are uncommon among the more traditional currencies. Bitcoin rallied 20% in the first week of 2017 before crashing 35% on word China was cracking down on trading.
The cryptocurrency has regained those losses, and trades up about 25% so far this year.
NOW WATCH:Warner Bros. might have to pay $900 million if it can't prove ghosts are real
More From Business Insider
• HBO just unveiled a peek at 15 new character looks for 'Game of Thrones' season 7
• If you're new to coding, this is the programming language you should learn first
• Bitcoin spikes after Japan says it's a legal payment method || The first investor in Snapchat thinks each bitcoin could realistically be worth $500,000 by 2030 — Here's how: Jeremy Liew (Jeremy Liew.Getty) Bitcoin has been the top-performing currency in the world in six of the past seven years, climbing from zero to a value of about $1,190. But the cryptocurrency isn't anywhere close to its potential, according to Jeremy Liew, the first investor in Snapchat , and Blockchain CEO and cofounder Peter Smith. In a presentation sent to Business Insider, the duo laid out their case for why it's reasonable for bitcoin to explode to $500,000 by 2030. Their argument is based on increased interest in bitcoin, thanks to: Bitcoin-based remittances Remittance transfers, or electronic money transfers to foreign countries, have almost doubled over the past 15 years to 0.76% of GDP, data from The World Bank shows. "Expats sending money home have found in Bitcoin an inexpensive alternative, and we assume that the percentage of Bitcoin-based remittances will sharply increase with greater Bitcoin awareness," the two say. Uncertainty Liew and Smith said increased political uncertainty in the UK, US and in developing nations would help elevate the level of interest in bitcoin. "We believe Bitcoin awareness, high liquidity, ease of transport and continued market outperformance as geopolitical risks mount, will make Bitcoin a strong contender for investment at a consumer and investor level," the two said. Mobile penetration Liew and Smith believe the percentage of non-cash transactions will climb from 15% to 30% in the next 10 years as the world becomes more connected through smartphones. There's only a 63% global smartphone penetration and the total number of smartphone users is expected to soar by 1 billion by 2020. GSMA, a trade body that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, believes 90% of these users will come from developing countries. This will make it possible for nearly everyone to have a bank in their pocket, and that should provide a boost for bitcoin as well. Liew and Smith say bitcoin could account for 50% of all of these transactions. Story continues Here are the basic model drivers that Liew and Smith used: A bitcoin price of $1,000 in 2017. That network users will grow 61x from now until 2030. "Put another way, we need a population of bitcoin users around a quarter of the Chinese population (or 5% of the global population) in 2030 to see bitcoin at $500k," Liew and Smith told Business Insider. Bitcoin's user network grew from 120,000 users in 2013 to 6.5 million users in 2017, or about 54x, and this could be just the beginning. Growth of that magnitude would produce 400 million users in 2030. The average value of bitcoin held per user hits $25,000. " As institutional investor cash in Bitcoin, sophisticated investors trading Bitcoin, and Bitcoin-based ETFs proliferate, we think the average Bitcoin value held will increase to around $25k per Bitcoin holder," Liew and Smith said. Currently, with a market cap of $16.4 billion, and 6.5 million user count, the average user holds $2,515 worth of bitcoin. Bitcoin's 2030 market cap is decided by number of bitcoin holders multiplied by average bitcoin value held. Bitcoin's 2030 supply will be about 20 million. Bitcoin's 2030 price and user count total $500,000 and 400 million, respectively. The price is found by taking the $10 trillion market cap and dividing it by the fixed supply of 20 million bitcoin. It's important to note that a lot could go wrong, too. News surrounding bitcoin has been rather negative as of a late. China, which is responsible for nearly 100% of trading in bitcoin, has been cracking down on trading. The three biggest exchanges recently announced a 0.2% fee on all transactions, in addition to blocking withdrawals from trading accounts. Additionally, the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected two bitcoin exchange-traded funds, and will make a ruling on another one in the future. It's not expected to be approved. However, Smith thinks bitcoin is still in its early stages. "The SEC’s ruling wasn't a surprise to us," he told Business Insider. "We know that getting this sort of approval is going to take (a potentially long) time," Smith said. "In the meantime, bitcoin is already simple to buy and hold a nd, as the asset continues to mature, we'll continue to see an increase in the development and deployment of surrounding products." Bitcoin (Markets Insider) And while bitcoin hasn't been granted regulatory approval here in the US, it is catching on elsewhere. On April 1, the cryptocurrency became a legal payment method in Japan . Another threat to the future of the cryptocurrency is that developers are threatening to set up a " hard fork ," or alternative marketplace for bitcoin. This would result in the split of bitcoin into b itcoin and bitcoin unlimited. However, Smith says not to worry. " Bitcoin has strong economic incentives to prevent this," he said. "If the last two years of healthy contention and debate lead to a conclusion, it's that Bitcoin is incredibly resilient and stable. In fact, the bitcoin Blockchain has operated for 7+ years with no downtime, a feat no other back-end system operating at this scale can claim." Anyone interested in bitcoin should also know that the cryptocurrency sees violent price swings that are uncommon among the more traditional currencies. Bitcoin rallied 20% in the first week of 2017 before crashing 35% on word China was cracking down on trading. The cryptocurrency has regained those losses, and trades up about 25% so far this year. NOW WATCH: Warner Bros. might have to pay $900 million if it can't prove ghosts are real More From Business Insider HBO just unveiled a peek at 15 new character looks for 'Game of Thrones' season 7 If you're new to coding, this is the programming language you should learn first Bitcoin spikes after Japan says it's a legal payment method || Trades to make after the US airstrike in Syria fails to shake investors: The "Fast Money" traders break down their market moves Friday after a flurry of political headlines during the week, including a Thursday U.S. airstrike on Syria , failed to shake investors. Trader Steve Grasso said he's stepping away from the market because he is "waiting for this [it] to crack." He said he sold Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) , but he is still invested in housing stocks and positioned for impending mergers and acquisitions across the market. Grasso said he will return to the market if the S&P 500 (INDEX: .SPX) jumps over 2400 points on substantial data that's more than just sentiment. The S&P closed at 2355.54 points on Friday, down 0.08 percent. Trader David Seaburg said he was impressed by the resilience of the market following the U.S. airstrike on Syria. He said he likes the healthcare (NYSE Arca: XLV) and technology (NYSE Arca: XLK) sectors. He said merger and acquisitions should accumulate in the technology space. Trader Brian Kelly said he will continue to ride high with Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) . The retailer was upgraded by a Telsey Advisory Group analyst on Friday and saw the company's shares saw a 2 percent gain. He said he got into Wal-Mart because he continues to believe the possible border adjustment tax will not become law. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ: IBB) sector earned favor from Guy Adami with its consistent move higher. The exchange-traded fund is up over 3 percent in the last 3 months. Adami also said he likes Wal-Mart. He said the stock should continue its climb and outperform Target (NYSE: TGT) . Disclosures: Steve Grasso's firm is long AON, BX, CUBA, DIA, F, HES, ICE, KDUS, MAT, MFIN, MJNA, MSFT, NE, RIG, SNAP, SPY, SQBG, TITXF, UA, WDR, WPX, ZNGA. Grasso is long CHK, EEM, EVGN, GDX, KBH, MJNA, MON, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, VRX. Grasso's kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. No shorts. "Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT. Diamond Offshore: an employee of Cowen and Company, LLC serves on the Board of Directors of Diamond Offshore" Story continues Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, FXI, HLF, TSLA, WMT, XBI. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC Newsmax CEO: Might be appropriate for Trump to take military action against Syria Trades to make in an uncertain market How to trade the French election || Trades to make after the US airstrike in Syria fails to shake investors: The"Fast Money"traders break down their market moves Friday after a flurry of political headlines during the week, including a ThursdayU.S. airstrike on Syria, failed to shake investors.
Trader Steve Grasso said he's stepping away from the market because he is "waiting for this [it] to crack." He said he sold Qualcomm(NASDAQ: QCOM)and Micron Technology(NASDAQ: MU), but he is still invested in housing stocks and positioned for impending mergers and acquisitions across the market.
Grasso said he will return to the market if the S&P 500(INDEX: .SPX)jumps over 2400 points on substantial data that's more than just sentiment. The S&P closed at 2355.54 points on Friday, down 0.08 percent.
Trader David Seaburg said he was impressed by the resilience of the market following the U.S. airstrike on Syria. He said he likes the healthcare(NYSE Arca: XLV)and technology(NYSE Arca: XLK)sectors. He said merger and acquisitions should accumulate in the technology space.
Trader Brian Kelly said he will continue to ride high with Wal-Mart(NYSE: WMT). The retailerwas upgraded by a Telsey Advisory Group analyst on Fridayand saw the company's shares saw a 2 percent gain. He said he got into Wal-Mart because he continues to believe the possible border adjustment tax will not become law.
The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF(NASDAQ: IBB)sector earned favor from Guy Adami with its consistent move higher. The exchange-traded fund is up over 3 percent in the last 3 months.
Adami also said he likes Wal-Mart. He said the stock should continue its climb and outperform Target(NYSE: TGT).
Disclosures:
Steve Grasso's firm is long AON, BX, CUBA, DIA, F, HES, ICE, KDUS, MAT, MFIN, MJNA, MSFT, NE, RIG, SNAP, SPY, SQBG, TITXF, UA, WDR, WPX, ZNGA. Grasso is long CHK, EEM, EVGN, GDX, KBH, MJNA, MON, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, VRX. Grasso's kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. No shorts.
"Opinions expressed by David Seaburg are solely his own and do not reflect the views and opinions of Cowen Group, Inc. David Seaburg and Cowen have a financial interest in EDIT. Diamond Offshore: an employee of Cowen and Company, LLC serves on the Board of Directors of Diamond Offshore"
Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, FXI, HLF, TSLA, WMT, XBI.
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
More From CNBC
• Newsmax CEO: Might be appropriate for Trump to take military action against Syria
• Trades to make in an uncertain market
• How to trade the French election || C&W's Garry Sinclair Showcased Innovative Flow Lend App at the CTU's ICT Symposium: ST. JOHN'S ANTIGUA--(Marketwired - Apr 7, 2017) - At the recently held Caribbean Telecommunications Union ICT Week & Symposium held on March 20 - 24 in Antigua, C&W 's Caribbean President, Garry Sinclair delivered an interactive presentation during which he showcased the Company's newest award-winning, customer-focused app - Flow Lend - to more than 100 delegates. He also seized the opportunity to provide an update on his Company, highlighting the fact that C&W is now a part of the world's largest Broadband and Entertainment Company, Liberty Global. Sinclair said that C&W is in transition on its way to becoming the best telecoms company in the region. Sinclair also said, "We are refocusing and will continue to put the customer at the heart of what we do. To do so we will leverage the size and scale of our parent company, develop more innovative apps, products and services that provide anytime, anywhere connectivity to give our customers more flexibility and convenience to suit their lifestyle needs. In addition, we will continue to make investments and improvements in our network." Flow Lend provides credit advance at 'zero interest and no fees' to loyal prepaid mobile customers keeping them connected even when they are out of cash, until their next top up. The app addresses a real need particularly for prepaid customers who don't use credit cards, and usually rely on in-store cash top ups. In his presentation the Caribbean President shared a testimonial of how this latest technology has enhanced and transformed customers' lives. This new convenient option has gotten a resounding endorsement from customers and won the Mondato Innovation Award for Digital Finance and Commerce (DFC) in December 2016. The ICT Symposium was held under the theme "ICT - Driving 21st Century Intelligent Services" and highlighted topics such as ICT-Enabled Financial Solutions; Financing Operations for ICT-enabled Development; Security matters and 21st Century Financial Services for all. Government officials and telecommunications executives from over 20 countries throughout the Caribbean attended the weeklong event, which is the largest gathering of ICT and Telecommunication Executives in the region. Antigua and Barbuda's Minister of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Information Technology , the Hon. Melford Nicholas expressed his delight that Antigua was host country. The activities during ICT week also included the 34th Executive Council Statutory Meeting and the 15 th Caribbean Ministerial Strategic ICT Seminar. The ICT Week Symposium presented another unique opportunity to showcase the practical and user-friendly customer focused solutions developed by Flow that demonstrates its commitment to connecting communities and transforming lives. Story continues Editor's Note: Flow has been keeping its prepaid mobile customers connected with its cashless mobile top-up app, Flow Lend , which advanced more than US$1Million in less than six months in mobile credit - and, in partnership with JUVO , won the Mondato Innovation Award for Digital Finance and Commerce (DFC) in December 2016. About C&W Communications C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network - the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 5 million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYB ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) and ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com . Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3127626 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3127629 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3127639 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3127637 View comments || C&W's Garry Sinclair Showcased Innovative Flow Lend App at the CTU's ICT Symposium: ST. JOHN'S ANTIGUA--(Marketwired - Apr 7, 2017) - At the recently heldCaribbean Telecommunications UnionICT Week & Symposium held on March 20 - 24 in Antigua,C&W's Caribbean President, Garry Sinclair delivered an interactive presentation during which he showcased the Company's newest award-winning, customer-focused app -Flow Lend- to more than 100 delegates.
He also seized the opportunity to provide an update on his Company, highlighting the fact that C&W is now a part of the world's largest Broadband and Entertainment Company, Liberty Global. Sinclair said that C&W is in transition on its way to becoming the best telecoms company in the region. Sinclair also said, "We are refocusing and will continue to put the customer at the heart of what we do. To do so we will leverage the size and scale of our parent company, develop more innovative apps, products and services that provide anytime, anywhere connectivity to give our customers more flexibility and convenience to suit their lifestyle needs. In addition, we will continue to make investments and improvements in our network."
Flow Lend provides credit advance at 'zero interest and no fees' to loyal prepaid mobile customers keeping them connected even when they are out of cash, until their next top up. The app addresses a real need particularly for prepaid customers who don't use credit cards, and usually rely on in-store cash top ups. In his presentation the Caribbean President shared a testimonial of how this latest technology has enhanced and transformed customers' lives. This new convenient option has gotten a resounding endorsement from customers and won theMondato Innovation Award for Digital Finance and Commerce (DFC)in December 2016.
The ICT Symposium was held under the theme "ICT - Driving 21st Century Intelligent Services" and highlighted topics such as ICT-Enabled Financial Solutions; Financing Operations for ICT-enabled Development; Security matters and 21st Century Financial Services for all. Government officials and telecommunications executives from over 20 countries throughout the Caribbean attended the weeklong event, which is the largest gathering of ICT and Telecommunication Executives in the region.
Antigua and Barbuda's Minister ofInformation, Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Information Technology, the Hon. Melford Nicholas expressed his delight that Antigua was host country. The activities during ICT week also included the 34th Executive Council Statutory Meeting and the 15thCaribbean Ministerial Strategic ICT Seminar.
The ICT Week Symposium presented another unique opportunity to showcase the practical and user-friendly customer focused solutions developed by Flow that demonstrates its commitment to connecting communities and transforming lives.
Editor's Note:Flowhas been keeping its prepaid mobile customers connected with its cashless mobile top-up app,Flow Lend, which advanced more than US$1Million in less than six months in mobile credit - and, in partnership withJUVO, won theMondato Innovation Award for Digital Finance and Commerce (DFC)in December 2016.
About C&W Communications
C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network - the most extensive in the region.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 5 million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) and (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com.
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3127626Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3127629Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3127639Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3127637 || How to Invest in Bitcoin and Digital Currency: In the years since the Great Recession, you've probably heard about the electronic payment system and so-called cryptocurrency called bitcoin . But you're perhaps less likely to have heard of the underlying technology that powers it. It's called blockchain. Blockchain technology is a digital ledger distributed across a network of computers that keeps track of transactions. But beyond payments, it can be used for a wide variety of applications such as contracts, documents and basic record keeping. "Wall Street is going to eventually move into this in a big way," says Alan Friedland, founder of Compcoin, a blockchain-based public currency trading platform. "In the meantime, it's a great opportunity to get into early." [See: 9 Under-the-Radar Ways to Buy Financial Stocks .] Just like the internet democratized the dissemination of information, blockchain technology democratizes the securitization of information, says Chris Burniske, head of blockchain products with Ark Investment Management. "It's probably the most impactful general purpose technology that's been invented in the 21st century," he says. While bitcoin decentralizes payments, another major blockchain technology called Ethereum enables decentralized applications. Another, Storj, is involved in decentralized computer storage. Each issues its own value token or coin -- bitcoin issues bitcoins, Ethereum issues ether, and Storj issues Storjcoin X -- that can be bought and traded. There are now many different digital currencies. Blockchain assets have a very low correlation to other assets, and so they can be used to diversify portolios , Burniske says. Some use them as a risk hedge similar to how they use gold, he says. Stan Miroshnik, managing director with the Argon Group, an investment bank focusing on the blockchain sector, adds that bitcoin is uncorrelated to bonds, gold, real estate, commodities and emerging market currencies. It only has a very small correlation to U.S. equities, he says. Story continues Blockchain is "an important enough technology that people should try to invest a little bit," Miroshnik says. There are different schools of thought about the best way to invest in this nascent, but growing, industry. On the one hand, you can stockpile tokens , such as bitcoin or another digital currency, and hope the demand for them will increase, their value will rise and you can sell them later at a profit. Or, you can invest in the companies that are creating different blockchain-based products. Morningstar analyst Jim Sinegal falls into the latter camp, saying investors should focus on companies that stand to make money if they find useful applications for blockchain technology. He suggests investors go after the companies because the coins don't generate any cash flow. So the only way you'll make money off it is if a token's price goes up and you can then sell it, Sinegal says. However, because the industry is so new, it can be tough to invest in companies with exposure to blockchain technology, Sinegal says. He compares it to the early stages of internet stocks in the 1990s. A few were successful, but investors lost money on others. "It's very tough to make a direct investment," he says. [See: 6 ETFs That Let You Buy Micro-Cap Stocks .] Still, Sinegal says companies such as Goldman Sachs Group (ticker: NYSE: GS ) and CME Group ( CME ) eventually stand to significantly benefit from the lower costs blockchain technology makes possible. While more than 70 of the world's largest financial institutions have joined a blockchain-development consortium, and large technology firms like International Business Machines Corp. ( IBM ) and Microsoft Corp. ( MSFT ) have blockchain solutions, Miroshnik says it remains difficult to get true exposure to the technology through public companies. The blockchain penny stock universe includes BTCS, Global Arena Holding, HashingSpace Corp. and First Bitcoin Capital Corp. But penny stock companies are very young and may not be the best investment now as their business models are evolving, Miroshnik says. Miroshnik says investing in coins is the way to go because blockchain assets appreciate for two reasons. First, there is a real cost to producing each transactional ledger of the blockchain. It takes computer equipment and energy. These so-called miners compete to produce the next block in the chain and are rewarded with coins. This cost of production keeps going up over time, creating a fundamental driver of higher value, Miroshnik says. Additionally, there is transactional value created as demand rises for a blockchain coin, Miroshnik says. For investors wanting to buy into this emerging asset class, they can go to places such as Coinbase, Bitstamp or Kraken, Burniske says. It's similar to a foreign exchange trade, where investors exchange the value of one asset with another based on exchange rates, he says. His company runs two exchange-traded funds -- the Web x.0 ETF ( ARKW ) and Ark Innovation ETF ( ARKK ) -- that each have exposure to bitcoin though Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ), he says. Uninitiated consumers should stick with bitcoin or ether to get comfortable with the language of this emerging capital market, Miroshnik says. For other coins, investing means doing research into what project they are supporting and what value the investor thinks it represents, he says. [See: The 9 Best Municipal Bond Funds for Tax-Free Income .] "That process is very similar to how you would think about investing in small-cap stocks," he says. More From US News & World Report The 10 Best Financial ETFs You Can Buy Avoid These 8 Rookie Investing Mistakes 10 Tips for Couples and Young Families to Build Wealth || How to Invest in Bitcoin and Digital Currency: In the years since the Great Recession, you've probably heard about the electronic payment system and so-called cryptocurrency called bitcoin . But you're perhaps less likely to have heard of the underlying technology that powers it. It's called blockchain. Blockchain technology is a digital ledger distributed across a network of computers that keeps track of transactions. But beyond payments, it can be used for a wide variety of applications such as contracts, documents and basic record keeping. "Wall Street is going to eventually move into this in a big way," says Alan Friedland, founder of Compcoin, a blockchain-based public currency trading platform. "In the meantime, it's a great opportunity to get into early." [See: 9 Under-the-Radar Ways to Buy Financial Stocks .] Just like the internet democratized the dissemination of information, blockchain technology democratizes the securitization of information, says Chris Burniske, head of blockchain products with Ark Investment Management. "It's probably the most impactful general purpose technology that's been invented in the 21st century," he says. While bitcoin decentralizes payments, another major blockchain technology called Ethereum enables decentralized applications. Another, Storj, is involved in decentralized computer storage. Each issues its own value token or coin -- bitcoin issues bitcoins, Ethereum issues ether, and Storj issues Storjcoin X -- that can be bought and traded. There are now many different digital currencies. Blockchain assets have a very low correlation to other assets, and so they can be used to diversify portolios , Burniske says. Some use them as a risk hedge similar to how they use gold, he says. Stan Miroshnik, managing director with the Argon Group, an investment bank focusing on the blockchain sector, adds that bitcoin is uncorrelated to bonds, gold, real estate, commodities and emerging market currencies. It only has a very small correlation to U.S. equities, he says. Story continues Blockchain is "an important enough technology that people should try to invest a little bit," Miroshnik says. There are different schools of thought about the best way to invest in this nascent, but growing, industry. On the one hand, you can stockpile tokens , such as bitcoin or another digital currency, and hope the demand for them will increase, their value will rise and you can sell them later at a profit. Or, you can invest in the companies that are creating different blockchain-based products. Morningstar analyst Jim Sinegal falls into the latter camp, saying investors should focus on companies that stand to make money if they find useful applications for blockchain technology. He suggests investors go after the companies because the coins don't generate any cash flow. So the only way you'll make money off it is if a token's price goes up and you can then sell it, Sinegal says. However, because the industry is so new, it can be tough to invest in companies with exposure to blockchain technology, Sinegal says. He compares it to the early stages of internet stocks in the 1990s. A few were successful, but investors lost money on others. "It's very tough to make a direct investment," he says. [See: 6 ETFs That Let You Buy Micro-Cap Stocks .] Still, Sinegal says companies such as Goldman Sachs Group (ticker: NYSE: GS ) and CME Group ( CME ) eventually stand to significantly benefit from the lower costs blockchain technology makes possible. While more than 70 of the world's largest financial institutions have joined a blockchain-development consortium, and large technology firms like International Business Machines Corp. ( IBM ) and Microsoft Corp. ( MSFT ) have blockchain solutions, Miroshnik says it remains difficult to get true exposure to the technology through public companies. The blockchain penny stock universe includes BTCS, Global Arena Holding, HashingSpace Corp. and First Bitcoin Capital Corp. But penny stock companies are very young and may not be the best investment now as their business models are evolving, Miroshnik says. Miroshnik says investing in coins is the way to go because blockchain assets appreciate for two reasons. First, there is a real cost to producing each transactional ledger of the blockchain. It takes computer equipment and energy. These so-called miners compete to produce the next block in the chain and are rewarded with coins. This cost of production keeps going up over time, creating a fundamental driver of higher value, Miroshnik says. Additionally, there is transactional value created as demand rises for a blockchain coin, Miroshnik says. For investors wanting to buy into this emerging asset class, they can go to places such as Coinbase, Bitstamp or Kraken, Burniske says. It's similar to a foreign exchange trade, where investors exchange the value of one asset with another based on exchange rates, he says. His company runs two exchange-traded funds -- the Web x.0 ETF ( ARKW ) and Ark Innovation ETF ( ARKK ) -- that each have exposure to bitcoin though Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ), he says. Uninitiated consumers should stick with bitcoin or ether to get comfortable with the language of this emerging capital market, Miroshnik says. For other coins, investing means doing research into what project they are supporting and what value the investor thinks it represents, he says. [See: The 9 Best Municipal Bond Funds for Tax-Free Income .] "That process is very similar to how you would think about investing in small-cap stocks," he says. More From US News & World Report The 10 Best Financial ETFs You Can Buy Avoid These 8 Rookie Investing Mistakes 10 Tips for Couples and Young Families to Build Wealth || How to Invest in Bitcoin and Digital Currency: In the years since the Great Recession, you've probably heard about the electronic payment system and so-called cryptocurrency called bitcoin . But you're perhaps less likely to have heard of the underlying technology that powers it. It's called blockchain. Blockchain technology is a digital ledger distributed across a network of computers that keeps track of transactions. But beyond payments, it can be used for a wide variety of applications such as contracts, documents and basic record keeping. "Wall Street is going to eventually move into this in a big way," says Alan Friedland, founder of Compcoin, a blockchain-based public currency trading platform. "In the meantime, it's a great opportunity to get into early." [See: 9 Under-the-Radar Ways to Buy Financial Stocks .] Just like the internet democratized the dissemination of information, blockchain technology democratizes the securitization of information, says Chris Burniske, head of blockchain products with Ark Investment Management. "It's probably the most impactful general purpose technology that's been invented in the 21st century," he says. While bitcoin decentralizes payments, another major blockchain technology called Ethereum enables decentralized applications. Another, Storj, is involved in decentralized computer storage. Each issues its own value token or coin -- bitcoin issues bitcoins, Ethereum issues ether, and Storj issues Storjcoin X -- that can be bought and traded. There are now many different digital currencies. Blockchain assets have a very low correlation to other assets, and so they can be used to diversify portolios , Burniske says. Some use them as a risk hedge similar to how they use gold, he says. Stan Miroshnik, managing director with the Argon Group, an investment bank focusing on the blockchain sector, adds that bitcoin is uncorrelated to bonds, gold, real estate, commodities and emerging market currencies. It only has a very small correlation to U.S. equities, he says. Story continues Blockchain is "an important enough technology that people should try to invest a little bit," Miroshnik says. There are different schools of thought about the best way to invest in this nascent, but growing, industry. On the one hand, you can stockpile tokens , such as bitcoin or another digital currency, and hope the demand for them will increase, their value will rise and you can sell them later at a profit. Or, you can invest in the companies that are creating different blockchain-based products. Morningstar analyst Jim Sinegal falls into the latter camp, saying investors should focus on companies that stand to make money if they find useful applications for blockchain technology. He suggests investors go after the companies because the coins don't generate any cash flow. So the only way you'll make money off it is if a token's price goes up and you can then sell it, Sinegal says. However, because the industry is so new, it can be tough to invest in companies with exposure to blockchain technology, Sinegal says. He compares it to the early stages of internet stocks in the 1990s. A few were successful, but investors lost money on others. "It's very tough to make a direct investment," he says. [See: 6 ETFs That Let You Buy Micro-Cap Stocks .] Still, Sinegal says companies such as Goldman Sachs Group (ticker: NYSE: GS ) and CME Group ( CME ) eventually stand to significantly benefit from the lower costs blockchain technology makes possible. While more than 70 of the world's largest financial institutions have joined a blockchain-development consortium, and large technology firms like International Business Machines Corp. ( IBM ) and Microsoft Corp. ( MSFT ) have blockchain solutions, Miroshnik says it remains difficult to get true exposure to the technology through public companies. The blockchain penny stock universe includes BTCS, Global Arena Holding, HashingSpace Corp. and First Bitcoin Capital Corp. But penny stock companies are very young and may not be the best investment now as their business models are evolving, Miroshnik says. Miroshnik says investing in coins is the way to go because blockchain assets appreciate for two reasons. First, there is a real cost to producing each transactional ledger of the blockchain. It takes computer equipment and energy. These so-called miners compete to produce the next block in the chain and are rewarded with coins. This cost of production keeps going up over time, creating a fundamental driver of higher value, Miroshnik says. Additionally, there is transactional value created as demand rises for a blockchain coin, Miroshnik says. For investors wanting to buy into this emerging asset class, they can go to places such as Coinbase, Bitstamp or Kraken, Burniske says. It's similar to a foreign exchange trade, where investors exchange the value of one asset with another based on exchange rates, he says. His company runs two exchange-traded funds -- the Web x.0 ETF ( ARKW ) and Ark Innovation ETF ( ARKK ) -- that each have exposure to bitcoin though Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ), he says. Uninitiated consumers should stick with bitcoin or ether to get comfortable with the language of this emerging capital market, Miroshnik says. For other coins, investing means doing research into what project they are supporting and what value the investor thinks it represents, he says. [See: The 9 Best Municipal Bond Funds for Tax-Free Income .] "That process is very similar to how you would think about investing in small-cap stocks," he says. More From US News & World Report The 10 Best Financial ETFs You Can Buy Avoid These 8 Rookie Investing Mistakes 10 Tips for Couples and Young Families to Build Wealth || Flow airs Library of Caribbean Focused Content: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Apr 6, 2017) - For the first time, Flow TV customers across the Caribbean will be able to see Caribbean themed content at their convenience via Flow's on Demand platform. Through a partnership with CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD), customers will be able to access a variety of Caribbean films, from an extensive library every month on Flow On Demand in eight (8) Flow TV markets. John Reid, CEO of Cable & Wireless, the operator of the consumer brand Flow , said: "This is certainly a historic moment for Cable & Wireless /Flow and our partners CaribbeanTales, as together we will deliver high quality, relevant Caribbean content that gives audience a refreshing perspective on Caribbean life." CEO and Founder of CaribbeanTales , Frances-Anne Solomon, said, "We are delighted to extend our relationship with Flow to a wide regional audience who will now enjoy the best films from the greatest filmmakers across the Caribbean." In 2013, CTWD launched its own VOD platform, CaribbeanTales-TV, with ongoing global streaming of its Catalogue. Now, with Flow's extensive VOD reach across eight (8) countries, this new partnership makes the Catalogue's content more widely accessible to Caribbean audiences. The VOD partnership was launched in February with four compelling films celebrating Trinidad's iconic Carnival. In March the spotlight was on International Women's Day (March 8 th ), with four award-winning films by and about Caribbean women. There were two feature films: What My Mother Told Me , the ground-breaking, multi-award winning, dramatic narrative by CaribbeanTales CEO Frances-Anne Solomon -- one of the few films directed by a Trinidadian woman that deals with the survival strategies of middle-class Caribbean women. The other feature is Bahamian filmmaker Maria Govan's Rain , a young woman's coming-of-age story. The two documentaries are: The Solitary Alchemist , directed by Mariel Brown, chronicling the life and work of Trinidadian artist Barbara Jardine; and Candice Lela-Rolingson's Positive and Pregnant , a seminal film about a woman who becomes pregnant and is HIV positive. Story continues April's theme centers on the iconic Caribbean instrument developed in the backyard and streets of Port of Spain -- the steel pan. This month's titles are: Atiba Williams - Pan Prodigy , Trinidad and Tobagonian director Christopher Laird's film about the youngest person ever to arrange for a steelband; Panomundo Part 1 - The Evolution of Steel Pan , the first of a two-part documentary by Charysse Tia Harper about the history of the steelpan and its global influence; Let's Play Pan by Canadian director Ian Jones , which explores the evolution from the skin drum to the steel drum and its introduction to Toronto; and also the Frances-Anne Solomon-directed Heartbeat Season 1 Episode 9 - Ian Jones , where Jones talks about "How The Steel Pan Is Changing Lives." Each month, Flow plans to release more CaribbeanTales films via Flow on Demand -- including one film for free! About C&W Communications C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network - the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 5 million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYB ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com . || Flow airs Library of Caribbean Focused Content: MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Apr 6, 2017) - For the first time, Flow TV customers across the Caribbean will be able to see Caribbean themed content at their convenience via Flow's on Demand platform. Through a partnership with CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD), customers will be able to access a variety of Caribbean films, from an extensive library every month onFlow On Demandin eight (8) Flow TV markets.
John Reid, CEO of Cable & Wireless, the operator of the consumer brandFlow, said: "This is certainly a historic moment forCable & Wireless/Flow and our partners CaribbeanTales, as together we will deliver high quality, relevant Caribbean content that gives audience a refreshing perspective on Caribbean life."
CEO and Founder ofCaribbeanTales, Frances-Anne Solomon, said, "We are delighted to extend our relationship with Flow to a wide regional audience who will now enjoy the best films from the greatest filmmakers across the Caribbean."
In 2013, CTWD launched its own VOD platform, CaribbeanTales-TV, with ongoing global streaming of its Catalogue. Now, with Flow's extensive VOD reach across eight (8) countries, this new partnership makes the Catalogue's content more widely accessible to Caribbean audiences.
The VOD partnership was launched in February with four compelling films celebrating Trinidad's iconic Carnival. In March the spotlight was on International Women's Day (March 8th), with four award-winning films by and about Caribbean women. There were two feature films:What My Mother Told Me,the ground-breaking, multi-award winning, dramatic narrative by CaribbeanTales CEO Frances-Anne Solomon -- one of the few films directed by a Trinidadian woman that deals with the survival strategies of middle-class Caribbean women. The other feature is Bahamian filmmaker Maria Govan'sRain,a young woman's coming-of-age story. The two documentaries are:The Solitary Alchemist, directed by Mariel Brown, chronicling the life and work of Trinidadian artist Barbara Jardine; and Candice Lela-Rolingson'sPositive and Pregnant, a seminal film about a woman who becomes pregnant and is HIV positive.
April's theme centers on the iconic Caribbean instrument developed in the backyard and streets of Port of Spain -- the steel pan. This month's titles are:Atiba Williams - Pan Prodigy, Trinidad and Tobagonian director Christopher Laird's film about the youngest person ever to arrange for a steelband;Panomundo Part 1 - The Evolution of Steel Pan, the first of a two-part documentary by Charysse Tia Harper about the history of the steelpan and its global influence;Let's Play Panby Canadian director Ian Jones,which explores the evolution from the skin drum to the steel drum and its introduction to Toronto; and also the Frances-Anne Solomon-directedHeartbeat Season 1 Episode 9 - Ian Jones, where Jones talks about "How The Steel Pan Is Changing Lives."
Each month, Flow plans to release more CaribbeanTales films via Flow on Demand -- including one film for free!
About C&W Communications
C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network - the most extensive in the region.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 5 million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com. || How to handle bitcoin gains on your taxes: When you file your taxes this year, your accountant might ask if you own any bitcoin. The popular digital currency recently hit an all-time high of $1,327 per coin, and while there arguably still hasnt been a killer app (a mainstream purpose for a layperson to use bitcoin), its main use right now is as a speculative investmentand it has been a good investment . And if youve bought something using bitcoin, or sold something for bitcoin, or traded bitcoin for fiat currency, you should consider making that clear on your taxes. This is the first year Ive asked about it, says Mark Stafford, a CPA in Maryland. I had one client try to be a miner last year and I realized it was possible that clients were involved and might not think to tell me. Believe it or not, the IRS posted official language on digital currency back in 2014; it considers bitcoin to be property . For federal tax purposes, the IRS says in no uncertain terms, virtual currency is treated as property. General tax principles applicable to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency. If youve bought bitcoin simply to hold it as a speculative investment, you dont need to disclose anything. But as with stocks, income from the sale of bitcoin would be taxed as capital gains, based on the value of bitcoin at the time you sold it. The same goes for if you receive bitcoin as payment, the IRS says: A taxpayer who receives virtual currency as payment for goods or services must, in computing gross income, include the fair market value of the virtual currency, measured in US dollars. There were a number of ways the IRS could have classified bitcoin. It could have labeled it as currency, or a commodity, or a security or debt instrument, as corporate tax attorney Bob Derber has written at the web site of digital currency research group Coin Center . Bitcoin has qualities resembling all of these property forms, yet it does not neatly fit any of them, Derber wrote. Had the IRS treated bitcoin as a currency, special tax rules would have applied to its use and ownership. Story continues By labeling it property, a bitcoin-for-goods transaction is almost like bartering. If you sell your car for bitcoin, the IRS is saying, its property for property, rather than currency for property, which is treated differently. By not labeling it a currency, bitcoin does not generate a foreign currency gain or loss for tax purposes. Thats surprising, since so much bitcoin is purchased from international exchanges. On the other hand, you cant physically hold bitcoins, so as Derber puts it, W ere still not exactly sure how to define where the bitcoin exists. Labeling it as property may not be a fully adequate description of what bitcoin is and does, but for now, Derber tells Yahoo Finance, Its the best one can do. What it really comes down to is, Who knows what it is yet? Certainly the IRS doesnt. Cameron Arterton, a tax attorney in Washington who worked in the Treasury Departments tax policy office, helped work on the 2014 IRS notice on bitcoin. I dont think there was another way they could have done it at that point, she says, but that was 2014, and we havent seen anything else. I think taxpayers need more. The guidance they put out was a good start, but it left so many questions unanswered. Bitcoin is still a nascent technology, still misunderstood by many, and still something regulators are puzzling over. In fact, last year the IRS demanded user transaction records from Coinbase, the leading US bitcoin wallet provider, from 2013 to 2015. The investigation is ongoing, but so far it has yielded the fact that only 800 people, over those three years, filed a Form 8949 to disclose property related to bitcoin . Form 8949 is for reporting sales of capital assets. It has no language specific to bitcoin, but it follows that if bitcoin is property, thats the form youd use to disclose gains from receiving or selling it. Its a good idea to disclose every possible financial gain on your taxes. The fact that the IRS even has official language on bitcoin is a sign that it recognizes bitcoin has staying power. But the Coinbase summons, Arterton says, is less encouraging, because it shows the IRS is taking an enforcement route toward bitcoin. It suggests that theyre thinking of this like offshore bank accounts, where they dont really know whats going on but they think that theres tax evasion, she says. Of course, just because the IRS has guidelines doesnt mean people will comply. The irony of bitcoin guidelines for tax purposes is that the entire appeal of bitcoin, originally, was that it is anonymous and unregulated. Many of the earliest bitcoin believers were libertarians who want the currency to exist outside of government reach, untouched by regulators . No one really knows exactly how many people own bitcoin. There are 7 million unique addresses (or payment destinations) that own more than $1 in bitcoin , but many people have multiple addresses, so most estimates suggest that its only between 2 million and 4 million unique holders. When the SEC harshly rejected a proposal from the Winklevoss brothers for a bitcoin ETF , it did say that fewer than 1,000 people own more than 50% of all bitcoins. Clearly, the 800 people who disclosed bitcoin gains from 2013 to 2015 represent just a fraction of all bitcoin owners. That might make you think that even if you have had gains from bitcoin, you dont need to bother disclosing it on your taxes. And you might be rightunless the IRS decides to more actively pursue taxation of the cryptocurrency. The best course, says Derber, who is also a (non-active) CPA, is to disclose it. And if your personal tax professional didnt ask this year, they will likely start asking soon enough. Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering fintech and digital currency. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite . Read more: Bitcoin crashes after SEC rejects Winklevoss ETF Bitcoin is becoming the new gold Expect more blockchain hype in 2017 Why 21.co is the most exciting bitcoin company right now || How to handle bitcoin gains on your taxes: When you file your taxes this year, your accountant might ask if you own any bitcoin.
The popular digital currency recently hit an all-time high of $1,327 per coin, and while there arguablystill hasn’t been a “killer app”(a mainstream purpose for a layperson to use bitcoin), its main use right now is as a speculative investment—andit has been a good investment.
And if you’ve bought something using bitcoin, or sold something for bitcoin, or traded bitcoin for fiat currency, you should consider making that clear on your taxes.
“This is the first year I’ve asked about it,” says Mark Stafford, a CPA in Maryland. “I had one client try to be a miner last year and I realized it was possible that clients were involved and might not think to tell me.”
Believe it or not, the IRS posted official language on digital currency back in 2014; itconsiders bitcoin to be property. “For federal tax purposes,” the IRS says in no uncertain terms, “virtual currency is treated as property. General tax principles applicable to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency.”
If you’ve bought bitcoin simply to hold it as a speculative investment, you don’t need to disclose anything. But as with stocks, income from the sale of bitcoin would be taxed as capital gains, based on the value of bitcoin at the time you sold it. The same goes for if you receive bitcoin as payment, the IRS says: “A taxpayer who receives virtual currency as payment for goods or services must, in computing gross income, include the fair market value of the virtual currency, measured in US dollars.”
There were a number of ways the IRS could have classified bitcoin. It could have labeled it as currency, or a commodity, or a security or debt instrument, as corporate tax attorney Bob Derber has written at the web site ofdigital currency research group Coin Center. “Bitcoin has qualities resembling all of these property forms, yet it does not neatly fit any of them,” Derber wrote. “Had the IRS treated bitcoin as a currency, special tax rules would have applied to its use and ownership.”
By labeling it property, a bitcoin-for-goods transaction is almost like bartering. If you sell your car for bitcoin, the IRS is saying, it’s property for property, rather than currency for property, which is treated differently.
By not labeling it a currency, bitcoin does not generate a foreign currency gain or loss for tax purposes. That’s surprising, since so much bitcoin is purchased from international exchanges. On the other hand, you can’t physically hold bitcoins, so as Derber puts it, “We’re still not exactly sure how to define where the bitcoin exists.”
Labeling it as property may not be a fully adequate description of what bitcoin is and does, but for now, Derber tells Yahoo Finance, “It’s the best one can do. What it really comes down to is, Who knows what it is yet?”
Certainly the IRS doesn’t. Cameron Arterton, a tax attorney in Washington who worked in the Treasury Department’s tax policy office, helped work on the 2014 IRS notice on bitcoin. “I don’t think there was another way they could have done it at that point,” she says, “but that was 2014, and we haven’t seen anything else. I think taxpayers need more. The guidance they put out was a good start, but it left so many questions unanswered.”
Bitcoin is still a nascent technology, still misunderstood by many, and still something regulators are puzzling over. In fact, last year the IRS demanded user transaction records from Coinbase, the leading US bitcoin wallet provider, from 2013 to 2015. The investigation is ongoing, but so far it has yielded the fact that only 800 people, over those three years,filed a Form 8949 to disclose property “related to bitcoin.”
Form 8949is for reporting sales of capital assets. It has no language specific to bitcoin, but it follows that if bitcoin is property, that’s the form you’d use to disclose gains from receiving or selling it.
The fact that the IRS even has official language on bitcoin is a sign that it recognizes bitcoin has staying power. But the Coinbase summons, Arterton says, is less encouraging, because it shows the IRS is taking an enforcement route toward bitcoin. “Itsuggests that they’re thinking of this like offshore bank accounts, where they don’t really know what’s going on but they think that there’s tax evasion,” she says.
Of course, just because the IRS has guidelines doesn’t mean people will comply. The irony of bitcoin guidelines for tax purposes is that the entire appeal of bitcoin, originally, was that it is anonymous and unregulated. Many of the earliest bitcoin believers were libertarians who want the currency to existoutside of government reach, untouched by regulators.
No one really knows exactly how many people own bitcoin. There are7 million unique addresses (or payment destinations) that own more than $1 in bitcoin, but many people have multiple addresses, so most estimates suggest that it’s only between 2 million and 4 million unique holders. When theSEC harshly rejected a proposal from the Winklevoss brothers for a bitcoin ETF, it did say that fewer than 1,000 people own more than 50% of all bitcoins.
Clearly, the 800 people who disclosed bitcoin gains from 2013 to 2015 represent just a fraction of all bitcoin owners. That might make you think that even if you have had gains from bitcoin, you don’t need to bother disclosing it on your taxes. And you might be right—unless the IRS decides to more actively pursue taxation of the cryptocurrency.
The best course, says Derber, who is also a (non-active) CPA, is to disclose it. And if your personal tax professional didn’t ask this year, they will likely start asking soon enough.
—
Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering fintech and digital currency. Follow him on Twitter at@readDanwrite.
Read more:
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Bitcoin is becoming the new gold
Expect more blockchain hype in 2017
Why 21.co is the most exciting bitcoin company right now || NCR Expands its Silver Point-of-Sale System in Australia: NCR CorporationNCR recently announced that its cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) system, NCR Silver, has been implemented on Australian shores (retail, service and restaurant merchants).
NCR Silver provides merchants with a complete cloud-based POS system compatible with mobile devices. NCR Silver is now available on Apple AAPL iOS and closed Android devices.
Moreover, the system now supports various payment options including Bitcoin and PayPal, to name a few. An increasing number of people are now opting for this mode of payment as it does not require middlemen, transaction fee or the need to disclose identity to complete a transaction.
NCR Silver will be useful for Australia-based merchants as they can turn their tablet into a complete POS system that can run on numerous devices. According to, Adam McArdle, regional director Asia Pacific, NCR, “We’ve developed NCR Silver specifically with the small business market in mind,” He further added, “We understand the challenges small businesses face, and what’s going to make an impact on their bottom line and the value they place on customers. We’re confident that this new offering will help them manage and grow their business.”
Price
Subscription of NCR Silver core app and NCR Silver Pro Restaurant Edition app starts from AU$109 plus GST for a single location running the app on one device. Further, customers will be charged extra for add-on services which will be available soon.
NCR Grows in POS
The demand for NCR’s POS solution is growing among retailers and hospitality industries as it facilitates the automation of bill payment and accounting. As a result, managers get ample time for customer interaction, leading to increased productivity. NCR strengthened its position in the POS market through the acquisition of Radiant Systems in Aug 2011.
According to Global Market Insights, the global market size of POS terminals will reach $103.52 billion by 2023. The report also says that market size of POS terminals, which at the end of 2015 was 32 million units, will reach 126 million units by 2023, reflecting a CAGR of 18.3% through the period.
Another research firm stated that the global POS terminal market, valued at $42.14 billion in 2015, is expected to reach $113.27 billion by 2024. Thus, NCR with its varied offerings of POS terminals and solutions should be able to capitalize on these growth opportunities.
Last Words
In the last one year, the company’s shares surged a whopping 47.8%, crushing the Zacks categorized Computer-Integrated Systems industry’s gain of 16%.
The company has also been the global leader in self-service ATMs for several years in terms of market share. NCR remains the largest supplier of ATM machines in Asia-Pacific and North America while maintaining its leadership in the Asian and European markets. By 2020, RBR Research expects India to install base similar to the size of the U.S., trailing only China. Currently, India is the world’s fourth-largest ATM market, with China, the U.S. and Japan holding the first three spots. This creates huge opportunities for companies like NCR.
Going forward, continuous product launches, growing popularity of its self-service offerings and synergies from acquisitions are the catalysts. Continuous deal wins also drive growth.
However, similar offerings from the likes of Diebold Corp. DBD and International Business Machines Corp. IBM and a high debt burden remain concerns.
Currently, NCR carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Zacks’ Best Private Investment Ideas
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Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportInternational Business Machines Corporation (IBM): Free Stock Analysis ReportNCR Corporation (NCR): Free Stock Analysis ReportDiebold, Incorporated (DBD): Free Stock Analysis ReportApple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research || NCR Expands its Silver Point-of-Sale System in Australia: NCR Corporation NCR recently announced that its cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) system, NCR Silver, has been implemented on Australian shores (retail, service and restaurant merchants). NCR Silver provides merchants with a complete cloud-based POS system compatible with mobile devices. NCR Silver is now available on Apple AAPL iOS and closed Android devices. Moreover, the system now supports various payment options including Bitcoin and PayPal, to name a few. An increasing number of people are now opting for this mode of payment as it does not require middlemen, transaction fee or the need to disclose identity to complete a transaction. NCR Silver will be useful for Australia-based merchants as they can turn their tablet into a complete POS system that can run on numerous devices. According to, Adam McArdle, regional director Asia Pacific, NCR, “We’ve developed NCR Silver specifically with the small business market in mind,” He further added, “We understand the challenges small businesses face, and what’s going to make an impact on their bottom line and the value they place on customers. We’re confident that this new offering will help them manage and grow their business.” Price Subscription of NCR Silver core app and NCR Silver Pro Restaurant Edition app starts from AU$109 plus GST for a single location running the app on one device. Further, customers will be charged extra for add-on services which will be available soon. NCR Grows in POS The demand for NCR’s POS solution is growing among retailers and hospitality industries as it facilitates the automation of bill payment and accounting. As a result, managers get ample time for customer interaction, leading to increased productivity. NCR strengthened its position in the POS market through the acquisition of Radiant Systems in Aug 2011. According to Global Market Insights, the global market size of POS terminals will reach $103.52 billion by 2023. The report also says that market size of POS terminals, which at the end of 2015 was 32 million units, will reach 126 million units by 2023, reflecting a CAGR of 18.3% through the period. Story continues Another research firm stated that the global POS terminal market, valued at $42.14 billion in 2015, is expected to reach $113.27 billion by 2024. Thus, NCR with its varied offerings of POS terminals and solutions should be able to capitalize on these growth opportunities. Last Words In the last one year, the company’s shares surged a whopping 47.8%, crushing the Zacks categorized Computer-Integrated Systems industry’s gain of 16%. The company has also been the global leader in self-service ATMs for several years in terms of market share. NCR remains the largest supplier of ATM machines in Asia-Pacific and North America while maintaining its leadership in the Asian and European markets. By 2020, RBR Research expects India to install base similar to the size of the U.S., trailing only China. Currently, India is the world’s fourth-largest ATM market, with China, the U.S. and Japan holding the first three spots. This creates huge opportunities for companies like NCR. Going forward, continuous product launches, growing popularity of its self-service offerings and synergies from acquisitions are the catalysts. Continuous deal wins also drive growth. However, similar offerings from the likes of Diebold Corp. DBD and International Business Machines Corp. IBM and a high debt burden remain concerns. Currently, NCR carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here . Zacks’ Best Private Investment Ideas In addition to the recommendations that are available to the public on our website, how would you like to follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time? Our experts cover all kinds of trades… from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors. Starting today, for the next month, you can have unrestricted access. Click here for Zacks' private trades >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report International Business Machines Corporation (IBM): Free Stock Analysis Report NCR Corporation (NCR): Free Stock Analysis Report Diebold, Incorporated (DBD): Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research || Bitcoin Unlimited Futures Used to Extinguish Debt of Leading Bitcoin Public Company: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 6, 2017 /First Bitcoin Capital Corp (OTC PINK: BITCF), in a related party transaction paid off approximately $200,000 in debt utilizing Bitcoin Unlimited Futures, making the Company 100% debt free.
Bitcoin Unlimited Futures is one of the latest cryptographic creations of the company and rides on the rails of the Bitcoin Blockchain. Released by the Company as a means of allowing speculators to predict the outcome of the forthcoming hard fork of Bitcoin Core into two distinct assets, Bitcoin Unlimited Futures trades under the symbols XBU on the decentralized OMNIDEX and the Company's subsidiary, COINQX.com as well as XB on the CCEX.com exchanges.
XBU or XB is not to be confused with competing efforts to presale actual Bitcoin Unlimited (BTU) prior to the hard fork, whereas in the case of XBU/XB our coin will not become BTU, instead, it will trade independently as a third currency. There is no relation of XBU or XB to the actual Bitcoin other than that it was created on and moves along the rails of the Bitcoin Blockchain using the Omni Layer Protocols.
BTU is trading at about half of the trading value of XBU/XB. Efforts by two competing exchanges to capitalize on the pending hard fork can be found here:http://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin-unlimited/
Due to the ephemeral nature of XBU/XB, the Company's creditor agreed to accept XBU at a discount from current illiquid market rates so that the company has paid 2,000 XBU/XT to settle this related party debt from its growing inventory of altcoins.
"Becoming debt free not only strengthens our balance sheet but is an important milestone for a development stage company which positions the company for a more rapid path to profitability."
The company is also conducting its first ICO (Initial Coin Offering) which is actively offered at a bonus to "early bird" participants. In order to participate in the company's recently announced AltCoin ICO, kindly review further details athttp://www.AltCoinMarketCap.com
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company is developing several cryptocurrency related businesses and owns and operates the following digital assets.
www.CoinQX.comcryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins.
www.bitcannpay.comOpen Loop merchant services for dispensaries.
List of Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain owned by the Company:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS
Follow us on Twitter @First_Bitcoin $BITCF
About BITCOIN UNLIMITED
The Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) project seeks to provide a voice to all stakeholders in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Every node operator or miner can currently choose their own block size limit by modifying their client. Bitcoin Unlimited makes the process easier by providing a configurable option for the accepted and generated block size via a GUI menu. Bitcoin Unlimited further provides a user-configurable failsafe setting allowing you to accept a block larger than your maximum accepted block size if it reaches a certain number of blocks deep in the chain.
By moving the block size limit from the protocol layer to the transport layer, Bitcoin Unlimited removes the only point of central control in the Bitcoin economy - the block size limit - and returns it to the nodes and the miners. An emergent consensus will thus arise based on free-market economics as the nodes/miners converge on consensus focal points, creating in the process a living, breathing entity that responds to changing real-world conditions in a free and decentralized manner.
This approach is supported by the evidence accumulated over the past six years. The miners and node operators have until now been free to choose a soft limit which, as demand grew, has always been increased in a responsive and organic manner to meet the needs of the market. We expect miners to continue in this tested and proven free-market way by, for instance, coordinating to set a new generated block size limit of 2MB and reject any blocks larger than 2MB unless they reach 4 blocks deep in the longest chain. As demand increases, the limit can easily be increased to 3MB, 4MB, and so on, thus removing central control over the process of finding the equilibrium block size by allowing the free market to arrive at the correct choice in a decentralized fashion.
As a foundational principle, we assert that Bitcoin is and should be whatever its users define by the code they run, and the rules they vote for with their hash power.
Bitcoin Unlimited seeks to remove existing practical barriers to stakeholders expressing their views in these ways.
For more information, please visitwww.bitcoinunlimited.info
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us [email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || Bitcoin Unlimited Futures Used to Extinguish Debt of Leading Bitcoin Public Company: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 6, 2017 / First Bitcoin Capital Corp (OTC PINK: BITCF), in a related party transaction paid off approximately $200,000 in debt utilizing Bitcoin Unlimited Futures, making the Company 100% debt free. Bitcoin Unlimited Futures is one of the latest cryptographic creations of the company and rides on the rails of the Bitcoin Blockchain. Released by the Company as a means of allowing speculators to predict the outcome of the forthcoming hard fork of Bitcoin Core into two distinct assets, Bitcoin Unlimited Futures trades under the symbols XBU on the decentralized OMNIDEX and the Company's subsidiary, COINQX.com as well as XB on the CCEX.com exchanges. XBU or XB is not to be confused with competing efforts to presale actual Bitcoin Unlimited (BTU) prior to the hard fork, whereas in the case of XBU/XB our coin will not become BTU, instead, it will trade independently as a third currency. There is no relation of XBU or XB to the actual Bitcoin other than that it was created on and moves along the rails of the Bitcoin Blockchain using the Omni Layer Protocols. BTU is trading at about half of the trading value of XBU/XB. Efforts by two competing exchanges to capitalize on the pending hard fork can be found here: http://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin-unlimited/ Due to the ephemeral nature of XBU/XB, the Company's creditor agreed to accept XBU at a discount from current illiquid market rates so that the company has paid 2,000 XBU/XT to settle this related party debt from its growing inventory of altcoins. "Becoming debt free not only strengthens our balance sheet but is an important milestone for a development stage company which positions the company for a more rapid path to profitability." The company is also conducting its first ICO (Initial Coin Offering) which is actively offered at a bonus to "early bird" participants. In order to participate in the company's recently announced AltCoin ICO, kindly review further details at http://www.AltCoinMarketCap.com Story continues About the company: First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company is developing several cryptocurrency related businesses and owns and operates the following digital assets. www.CoinQX.com cryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN. www.iCoiNEWS.com real time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site. www.BITminer.cc providing mining pool management services. www.2016coin.org online daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins. www.bitcannpay.com Open Loop merchant services for dispensaries. List of Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain owned by the Company: http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS Follow us on Twitter @First_Bitcoin $BITCF About BITCOIN UNLIMITED The Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) project seeks to provide a voice to all stakeholders in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Every node operator or miner can currently choose their own block size limit by modifying their client. Bitcoin Unlimited makes the process easier by providing a configurable option for the accepted and generated block size via a GUI menu. Bitcoin Unlimited further provides a user-configurable failsafe setting allowing you to accept a block larger than your maximum accepted block size if it reaches a certain number of blocks deep in the chain. By moving the block size limit from the protocol layer to the transport layer, Bitcoin Unlimited removes the only point of central control in the Bitcoin economy - the block size limit - and returns it to the nodes and the miners. An emergent consensus will thus arise based on free-market economics as the nodes/miners converge on consensus focal points, creating in the process a living, breathing entity that responds to changing real-world conditions in a free and decentralized manner. This approach is supported by the evidence accumulated over the past six years. The miners and node operators have until now been free to choose a soft limit which, as demand grew, has always been increased in a responsive and organic manner to meet the needs of the market. We expect miners to continue in this tested and proven free-market way by, for instance, coordinating to set a new generated block size limit of 2MB and reject any blocks larger than 2MB unless they reach 4 blocks deep in the longest chain. As demand increases, the limit can easily be increased to 3MB, 4MB, and so on, thus removing central control over the process of finding the equilibrium block size by allowing the free market to arrive at the correct choice in a decentralized fashion. As a foundational principle, we assert that Bitcoin is and should be whatever its users define by the code they run, and the rules they vote for with their hash power. Bitcoin Unlimited seeks to remove existing practical barriers to stakeholders expressing their views in these ways. For more information, please visit www.bitcoinunlimited.info Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com . Contact us via [email protected] or visit http://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com SOURCE: First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || Bitcoin Unlimited Futures Used to Extinguish Debt of Leading Bitcoin Public Company: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 6, 2017 /First Bitcoin Capital Corp (OTC PINK: BITCF), in a related party transaction paid off approximately $200,000 in debt utilizing Bitcoin Unlimited Futures, making the Company 100% debt free.
Bitcoin Unlimited Futures is one of the latest cryptographic creations of the company and rides on the rails of the Bitcoin Blockchain. Released by the Company as a means of allowing speculators to predict the outcome of the forthcoming hard fork of Bitcoin Core into two distinct assets, Bitcoin Unlimited Futures trades under the symbols XBU on the decentralized OMNIDEX and the Company's subsidiary, COINQX.com as well as XB on the CCEX.com exchanges.
XBU or XB is not to be confused with competing efforts to presale actual Bitcoin Unlimited (BTU) prior to the hard fork, whereas in the case of XBU/XB our coin will not become BTU, instead, it will trade independently as a third currency. There is no relation of XBU or XB to the actual Bitcoin other than that it was created on and moves along the rails of the Bitcoin Blockchain using the Omni Layer Protocols.
BTU is trading at about half of the trading value of XBU/XB. Efforts by two competing exchanges to capitalize on the pending hard fork can be found here:http://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin-unlimited/
Due to the ephemeral nature of XBU/XB, the Company's creditor agreed to accept XBU at a discount from current illiquid market rates so that the company has paid 2,000 XBU/XT to settle this related party debt from its growing inventory of altcoins.
"Becoming debt free not only strengthens our balance sheet but is an important milestone for a development stage company which positions the company for a more rapid path to profitability."
The company is also conducting its first ICO (Initial Coin Offering) which is actively offered at a bonus to "early bird" participants. In order to participate in the company's recently announced AltCoin ICO, kindly review further details athttp://www.AltCoinMarketCap.com
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company is developing several cryptocurrency related businesses and owns and operates the following digital assets.
www.CoinQX.comcryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins.
www.bitcannpay.comOpen Loop merchant services for dispensaries.
List of Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain owned by the Company:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS
Follow us on Twitter @First_Bitcoin $BITCF
About BITCOIN UNLIMITED
The Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) project seeks to provide a voice to all stakeholders in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Every node operator or miner can currently choose their own block size limit by modifying their client. Bitcoin Unlimited makes the process easier by providing a configurable option for the accepted and generated block size via a GUI menu. Bitcoin Unlimited further provides a user-configurable failsafe setting allowing you to accept a block larger than your maximum accepted block size if it reaches a certain number of blocks deep in the chain.
By moving the block size limit from the protocol layer to the transport layer, Bitcoin Unlimited removes the only point of central control in the Bitcoin economy - the block size limit - and returns it to the nodes and the miners. An emergent consensus will thus arise based on free-market economics as the nodes/miners converge on consensus focal points, creating in the process a living, breathing entity that responds to changing real-world conditions in a free and decentralized manner.
This approach is supported by the evidence accumulated over the past six years. The miners and node operators have until now been free to choose a soft limit which, as demand grew, has always been increased in a responsive and organic manner to meet the needs of the market. We expect miners to continue in this tested and proven free-market way by, for instance, coordinating to set a new generated block size limit of 2MB and reject any blocks larger than 2MB unless they reach 4 blocks deep in the longest chain. As demand increases, the limit can easily be increased to 3MB, 4MB, and so on, thus removing central control over the process of finding the equilibrium block size by allowing the free market to arrive at the correct choice in a decentralized fashion.
As a foundational principle, we assert that Bitcoin is and should be whatever its users define by the code they run, and the rules they vote for with their hash power.
Bitcoin Unlimited seeks to remove existing practical barriers to stakeholders expressing their views in these ways.
For more information, please visitwww.bitcoinunlimited.info
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us [email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || Kim Dotcom announces new Bitcoin venture for content uploaders to earn money: WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Controversial New Zealand-based internet mogul Kim Dotcom plans to launch a Bitcoin payments system for users to sell files and video streaming as he fights extradition to the United States for criminal copyright charges. The German-born entrepreneur, who is wanted by U.S. law enforcement on copyright and money laundering allegations related to his now-defunct streaming site Megaupload, announced his new venture called 'Bitcontent' in a video posted on Youtube this week. "You can create a payment for any content that you put on the internet...you can share that with your customers, with the interest community and, boom, you are basically in business and can sell your content," Dotcom said in the video. He added that Bitcontent would eventually allow businesses, such as news organizations, to earn money from their entire websites. He did not provide a launch date. Dotcom did not provide details on how Bitcontent would differ from existing Bitcoin operations or how it would help news organizations make money beyond existing subscription payment options. Bitcoin is a virtual currency that can be used to move money around the world quickly and with relative anonymity, without the need for a central authority, such as a bank or government. The currency's anonymity has however made it popular with drug dealers, money launderers and organized crime groups, meaning governments and the financial establishment have been slow to embrace it since the first trade in 2009. The currencys value hit record levels in 2017, trading at $1,145 on Wednesday, a fivefold increase in a year, amid growing interest globally. A New Zealand court ruled in February that Dotcom could be extradited to the United States to face charges relating to his Megaupload website, which was shutdown in 2012 following an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion, a decision he was appealing. Dotcom, who has New Zealand residency, became well known for his lavish lifestyle as much as his computer skills. He used to post photographs of himself with cars having vanity plates such as "GOD" and "GUILTY", shooting an assault rifle and flying around the world in his private jet. (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Michael Perry) || Kim Dotcom announces new Bitcoin venture for content uploaders to earn money: WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Controversial New Zealand-based internet mogul Kim Dotcom plans to launch a Bitcoin payments system for users to sell files and video streaming as he fights extradition to the United States for criminal copyright charges. The German-born entrepreneur, who is wanted by U.S. law enforcement on copyright and money laundering allegations related to his now-defunct streaming site Megaupload, announced his new venture called 'Bitcontent' in a video posted on Youtube this week. "You can create a payment for any content that you put on the internet...you can share that with your customers, with the interest community and, boom, you are basically in business and can sell your content," Dotcom said in the video. He added that Bitcontent would eventually allow businesses, such as news organizations, to earn money from their entire websites. He did not provide a launch date. Dotcom did not provide details on how Bitcontent would differ from existing Bitcoin operations or how it would help news organizations make money beyond existing subscription payment options. Bitcoin is a virtual currency that can be used to move money around the world quickly and with relative anonymity, without the need for a central authority, such as a bank or government. The currency's anonymity has however made it popular with drug dealers, money launderers and organized crime groups, meaning governments and the financial establishment have been slow to embrace it since the first trade in 2009. The currencys value hit record levels in 2017, trading at $1,145 on Wednesday, a fivefold increase in a year, amid growing interest globally. A New Zealand court ruled in February that Dotcom could be extradited to the United States to face charges relating to his Megaupload website, which was shutdown in 2012 following an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion, a decision he was appealing. Dotcom, who has New Zealand residency, became well known for his lavish lifestyle as much as his computer skills. He used to post photographs of himself with cars having vanity plates such as "GOD" and "GUILTY", shooting an assault rifle and flying around the world in his private jet. (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Michael Perry)
[Social Media Buzz]
#Bitcoin last trade
@bitfinex $1220.00
@btcecom $1197.90
Set #crypto #price #alerts at http://AlertCo.in || 1 KOBO = 0.00000638 BTC
= 0.0075 USD
= 2.3550 NGN
= 0.1031 ZAR
= 0.7744 KES
#Kobocoin 2017-04-09 06:00 || 現在の価格は 134161円(http://blockchain.info )です。前回比は0円(0.00%)です。http://konvert.in/currency/1-bitcoin-to-japanese-yen … #ビットコイン #bitcoin via @konvertin || #UFOCoin #UFO $0.000012 (1.40%) 0.00000001 BTC (0.00%) || Winkdex Bitcoin price changed +0.50% to $1212.00 #bitcoin || #Bitco...
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1187.13, 1205.01, 1200.37, 1169.28, 1167.54, 1172.52, 1182.94, 1193.91, 1211.67, 1210.29
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 57332.09, 61243.09, 59302.32, 55907.20, 56804.90, 58870.89, 57858.92, 58346.65, 58313.64, 57523.42, 54529.14, 54738.95, 52774.27, 51704.16, 55137.31, 55973.51, 55950.75, 57750.20, 58917.69, 58918.83, 59095.81, 59384.31, 57603.89, 58758.55, 59057.88, 58192.36, 56048.94, 58323.95, 58245.00, 59793.23, 60204.96, 59893.45, 63503.46, 63109.70, 63314.01, 61572.79, 60683.82, 56216.18, 55724.27, 56473.03, 53906.09, 51762.27, 51093.65, 50050.87, 49004.25, 54021.75, 55033.12, 54824.70, 53555.11, 57750.18, 57828.05, 56631.08, 57200.29, 53333.54, 57424.01, 56396.52, 57356.40, 58803.78, 58232.32, 55859.80, 56704.57, 49150.54, 49716.19, 49880.54, 46760.19, 46456.06, 43537.51, 42909.40, 37002.44, 40782.74, 37304.69, 37536.63, 34770.58, 38705.98, 38402.22, 39294.20, 38436.97, 35697.61, 34616.07, 35678.13, 37332.86, 36684.93, 37575.18, 39208.77, 36894.41, 35551.96, 35862.38, 33560.71, 33472.63, 37345.12.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-06-09]
Volume: 53972919008, RSI (14-day): 44.96, 50-day EMA: 43655.77, 200-day EMA: 41146.93
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1893.20, Gold RSI: 62.25
Oil Price: 69.96, Oil RSI: 66.37
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
There’s no evidence of watermelons on Mars, even if The New York Times says so: Watermelons have not been discovered on Mars, even if The New York Times says so (Getty/iStock) Watermelons have probably not been discovered on Mars , even if The New York Times bizarrely, and briefly, claimed they had been. The prestigious newspaper published – then quickly deleted – an article on Tuesday describing the amazing find, according to reports. “Authorities say rise of fruit aliens is to blame for glut of outer space watermelons,” the story read, according to Futurism . “The FBI declined to comment on reports of watermelons raining down, but confirmed that kiwis have been intercepted.” The article, which was attributed to a “Joe Schmoe”, stayed live on The New York Times website for less than an hour before being deleted and replaced with a message that read “This article was published in error.” What's happening at the NYT pic.twitter.com/Ff5L24zZNk — Jon Christian (@Jon_Christian) June 8, 2021 The newspaper confirmed that it had been caused by a simple mistake made in the newspaper’s content management system. “Earlier today, a mock article intended for a testing system was published on our site in error. The article has since been removed,” the newspaper confirmed in a statement to The Independent . NASA says that there is currently no evidence of life on Mars, and it has had the Perseverance Rover working on the surface of the planet since February. Can someone smarter than me find the cached version please pic.twitter.com/G9dyzola2d — Silvia Killingsworth (@silviakillings) June 8, 2021 It has sent back to Earth more than 75,000 photos in its 100 days on Mars, which saw it make the first ever sound recording there, but has not reported back any fruit or vegetable discoveries. China landed its own rover on Mars last month and has this week published its first pictures from the planet’s surface. Story continues Its Zhurong rover is a solar-powered vehicle designed to last at least 90 days on the surface of Mars. The Independent has reached out to The New York Times for comment. Read More Rishi Sunak announces ‘historic’ deal to force tech giants to pay more tax Bitcoin sinks as US recovers $2.3m in ransom paid to Colonial Pipeline hackers The backstreet San Francisco tech firm that triggered a worldwide internet freakout || There’s no evidence of watermelons on Mars, even if The New York Times says so: Watermelons have not been discovered on Mars, even if The New York Times says so (Getty/iStock) Watermelons have probably not been discovered on Mars , even if The New York Times bizarrely, and briefly, claimed they had been. The prestigious newspaper published – then quickly deleted – an article on Tuesday describing the amazing find, according to reports. “Authorities say rise of fruit aliens is to blame for glut of outer space watermelons,” the story read, according to Futurism . “The FBI declined to comment on reports of watermelons raining down, but confirmed that kiwis have been intercepted.” The article, which was attributed to a “Joe Schmoe”, stayed live on The New York Times website for less than an hour before being deleted and replaced with a message that read “This article was published in error.” What's happening at the NYT pic.twitter.com/Ff5L24zZNk — Jon Christian (@Jon_Christian) June 8, 2021 The newspaper confirmed that it had been caused by a simple mistake made in the newspaper’s content management system. “Earlier today, a mock article intended for a testing system was published on our site in error. The article has since been removed,” the newspaper confirmed in a statement to The Independent . NASA says that there is currently no evidence of life on Mars, and it has had the Perseverance Rover working on the surface of the planet since February. Can someone smarter than me find the cached version please pic.twitter.com/G9dyzola2d — Silvia Killingsworth (@silviakillings) June 8, 2021 It has sent back to Earth more than 75,000 photos in its 100 days on Mars, which saw it make the first ever sound recording there, but has not reported back any fruit or vegetable discoveries. China landed its own rover on Mars last month and has this week published its first pictures from the planet’s surface. Story continues Its Zhurong rover is a solar-powered vehicle designed to last at least 90 days on the surface of Mars. The Independent has reached out to The New York Times for comment. Read More Rishi Sunak announces ‘historic’ deal to force tech giants to pay more tax Bitcoin sinks as US recovers $2.3m in ransom paid to Colonial Pipeline hackers The backstreet San Francisco tech firm that triggered a worldwide internet freakout || Florida's largest county OKs plan after spike in gun deaths: MIAMI (AP) — Florida's largest county is moving forward after a recent spike in shootings with a nearly $8 million plan to reduce gun violence, seeking to focus on jobs for troubled teens and added funding for law enforcement. Miami-Dade commissioners unanimously approved Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's proposal at a meeting Tuesday, which followed an uptick in gun violence that began Memorial Day weekend. “This recent wave of tragic violence is absolutely unacceptable," Levine Cava said after the meeting. “This community has demanded an immediate response to protect public safety, and we are responding.” The "Peace and Prosperity Plan" is being funded by a naming-rights deal made earlier this year with FTX, a trading platform for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, for the county-owned arena where the Miami Heat play. FTX Arena had previously been called American Airlines Arena. Most of the money is to go to a program that focuses on teenagers already in the juvenile-justice system by providing summer camps, counseling and paying jobs. Funds are also going toward surveillance cameras, license-plate readers and additional police to monitor social media for threats that could lead to shootings. Last week, Miami-Dade police launched “Operation Summer Heat” as an effort to crack down on gun violence. The 12-week program involves an increased police presence, with 17 strike teams tasked with shutting down illegally run businesses, which officials say attract violent crime. Early Tuesday morning, a man and woman riding in a car were killed in a drive-by shooting in Miami-Dade. A drive-by shooting early Sunday at a graduation party left three dead. Another shooting on Friday in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood killed one person and injured six others. A bloody Memorial Day weekend saw three people killed and 20 wounded in a still-unsolved mass shooting at a banquet hall. || Florida's largest county OKs plan after spike in gun deaths: MIAMI (AP) — Florida's largest county is moving forward after a recent spike in shootings with a nearly $8 million plan to reduce gun violence, seeking to focus on jobs for troubled teens and added funding for law enforcement. Miami-Dade commissioners unanimously approved Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's proposal at a meeting Tuesday, which followed an uptick in gun violence that began Memorial Day weekend. “This recent wave of tragic violence is absolutely unacceptable," Levine Cava said after the meeting. “This community has demanded an immediate response to protect public safety, and we are responding.” The "Peace and Prosperity Plan" is being funded by a naming-rights deal made earlier this year with FTX, a trading platform for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, for the county-owned arena where the Miami Heat play. FTX Arena had previously been called American Airlines Arena. Most of the money is to go to a program that focuses on teenagers already in the juvenile-justice system by providing summer camps, counseling and paying jobs. Funds are also going toward surveillance cameras, license-plate readers and additional police to monitor social media for threats that could lead to shootings. Last week, Miami-Dade police launched “Operation Summer Heat” as an effort to crack down on gun violence. The 12-week program involves an increased police presence, with 17 strike teams tasked with shutting down illegally run businesses, which officials say attract violent crime. Early Tuesday morning, a man and woman riding in a car were killed in a drive-by shooting in Miami-Dade. A drive-by shooting early Sunday at a graduation party left three dead. Another shooting on Friday in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood killed one person and injured six others. A bloody Memorial Day weekend saw three people killed and 20 wounded in a still-unsolved mass shooting at a banquet hall. || DeFi Derivatives May Be Illegal: CFTC Commissioner: Related:Amazon Looks to Hire Blockchain Staffers With Experience of DeFi
• World Economic Forum Hopes to Explain DeFi for Regulators With White Paper
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin in Tight $35K-$36K Range; Ether Volumes Still Beating BTC || DeFi Derivatives May Be Illegal: CFTC Commissioner: Related: Amazon Looks to Hire Blockchain Staffers With Experience of DeFi “A system without intermediaries is a Hobbesian marketplace with each person looking out for themselves. Caveat emptor – ‘let the buyer beware.'” Related Stories World Economic Forum Hopes to Explain DeFi for Regulators With White Paper Market Wrap: Bitcoin in Tight $35K-$36K Range; Ether Volumes Still Beating BTC || Paraguay May Be Next to Court Crypto Businesses With July Bill: Next month, Paraguayan congressman Carlos Rejala plans to present a bill to attract international mining companies and other crypto businesses. The project allows cryptocurrency companies — whether in mining or another segment, such as exchanges — to finance their Paraguayan operations with cryptocurrencies, remit dividends abroad and capitalize their cryptocurrency profits in local banks, Rejala told CoinDesk. Rejala, a 36-year-old entrepreneur, discovered bitcoin in 2017 and began trading in 2019, a year after taking a deputy seat for the independent Hagamos party, he said. Related: Distributed Ledgers Included in Tech ‘Focus’ Bill Passed by US Senate On Monday, following the announcement that El Salvador would introduce a bill to allow bitcoin to be treated as legal tender, Rejala tweeted a photo of himself with laser eyes and a sentence about the project. “The announcement prompted me not to be afraid and to think that this can be real in my country,” he said. The project seeks to position Paraguay as the crypto hub for Latin America and a model for other countries in the region, he said, adding that if the bill is approved, he will seek to present a second one promoting the use of bitcoin as legal tender. It’s been a longtime goal for local business leaders, who touted Paraguay’s cheap energy as far back as 2018 . Related: World Economic Forum Hopes to Explain DeFi for Regulators With White Paper “However, first we want to give Paraguay a blockchain-friendly status,” he said. According to Rejala, one of the most attractive conditions for mining companies is the cost of electricity in Paraguay, which is around $0.05 per kilowatt-hour and is the lowest in the region . Almost 100% of production comes from hydroelectric sources. “It is renewable energy, non-polluting, which is extremely important for the mining companies,” he said. In a dialogue with First Mover on CoinDesk TV, Juanjo Benitez Rickmann, CEO of local mining company Bitcoin.com.py, said that mining in Paraguay only requires registration and payment of taxes, which he classified as lower than in the rest of the region. At present, the country has a system known as triple 10, which consists of 10% income tax, 10% VAT, and 10% personal income tax, Rejala added. Story continues The country offers no restrictions on foreign capital flows and the payment of dividends abroad, Rejala added. “That also makes it an attractive country to crypto investors,” he said. Paraguay does not use all the energy it produces, Rejala said. At the Itati hydroelectric plant, which Paraguay shares with Brazil, the country only takes 26% of the 6,067 megawatts it is entitled to monthly, submitting the rest to the neighboring country, he added. “We have a lot of energy that we sell to Argentina and Brazil almost for free because we can only sell to our neighbors,” Benitez Rickmann said. Next steps A draft bill, supported by different players in the crypto sector, was presented to several Paraguayan government offices, such as the anti-money laundering office, Benitez Rickmann said. Rejala is currently seeking to attract support to achieve the required majority of 41 votes in the chamber of deputies and pass the bill to the Senate chamber, he said. If approved in both chambers, it will then have to be enacted by the country’s President, who has the power to issue a veto. During the Bitcoin 2021 conference held in Miami, Benitez Rickmann said he spoke to a number of mining pool operators from China who asked for 100 megawatts of space. “Maybe it is an opportunity for us to get involved with them and develop,” he said. Related Stories New OCC Head Doesn’t Rule Anything Out in Digital Asset Guidance Review State of Crypto: What Regulators Said at Consensus 2021 || Paraguay May Be Next to Court Crypto Businesses With July Bill: Next month, Paraguayan congressman Carlos Rejala plans to present a bill to attract international mining companies and other crypto businesses.
The project allows cryptocurrency companies — whether in mining or another segment, such as exchanges — to finance their Paraguayan operations with cryptocurrencies, remit dividends abroad and capitalize their cryptocurrency profits in local banks, Rejala told CoinDesk.
Rejala, a 36-year-old entrepreneur, discoveredbitcoinin 2017 and began trading in 2019, a year after taking a deputy seat for the independent Hagamos party, he said.
Related:Distributed Ledgers Included in Tech ‘Focus’ Bill Passed by US Senate
On Monday, following the announcement that El Salvador wouldintroduce a billto allow bitcoin to be treated as legal tender, Rejala tweeted a photo of himself with laser eyes and a sentence about the project.
“The announcement prompted me not to be afraid and to think that this can be real in my country,” he said.
The project seeks to position Paraguay as the crypto hub for Latin America and a model for other countries in the region, he said, adding that if the bill is approved, he will seek to present a second one promoting the use of bitcoin as legal tender.
It’s been a longtime goal for local business leaders, who touted Paraguay’s cheap energyas far back as 2018.
Related:World Economic Forum Hopes to Explain DeFi for Regulators With White Paper
“However, first we want to give Paraguay a blockchain-friendly status,” he said.
According to Rejala, one of the most attractive conditions for mining companies is the cost of electricity in Paraguay, which is around $0.05 per kilowatt-hour and is thelowest in the region. Almost 100% of production comes from hydroelectric sources.
“It is renewable energy, non-polluting, which is extremely important for the mining companies,” he said.
In a dialogue with First Mover on CoinDesk TV, Juanjo Benitez Rickmann, CEO of local mining company Bitcoin.com.py, said that mining in Paraguay only requires registration and payment of taxes, which he classified as lower than in the rest of the region. At present, the country has a system known as triple 10, which consists of 10% income tax, 10% VAT, and 10% personal income tax, Rejala added.
The country offers no restrictions on foreign capital flows and the payment of dividends abroad, Rejala added. “That also makes it an attractive country to crypto investors,” he said.
Paraguay does not use all the energy it produces, Rejala said. At the Itati hydroelectric plant, which Paraguay shares with Brazil, the country only takes 26% of the 6,067 megawatts it is entitled to monthly, submitting the rest to the neighboring country, he added.
“We have a lot of energy that we sell to Argentina and Brazil almost for free because we can only sell to our neighbors,” Benitez Rickmann said.
A draft bill, supported by different players in the crypto sector, was presented to several Paraguayan government offices, such as the anti-money laundering office, Benitez Rickmann said.
Rejala is currently seeking to attract support to achieve the required majority of 41 votes in the chamber of deputies and pass the bill to the Senate chamber, he said. If approved in both chambers, it will then have to be enacted by the country’s President, who has the power to issue a veto.
During the Bitcoin 2021 conference held in Miami, Benitez Rickmann said he spoke to a number of mining pool operators from China who asked for 100 megawatts of space.
“Maybe it is an opportunity for us to get involved with them and develop,” he said.
• New OCC Head Doesn’t Rule Anything Out in Digital Asset Guidance Review
• State of Crypto: What Regulators Said at Consensus 2021 || El Salvador Residents Are Split on Bitcoin Adoption Bill: Mario Valle, 39, an El Salvadoranbitcoininvestor and manager of a popular local bitcoinFacebook page, is thrilled that President Nayib Bukele announced bitcoin could soon become legal tender in the Central American nation alongside its present official currency, the U.S. dollar.
“This is very good because bitcoin is decentralized and nobody has control of bitcoin and the dollar is in the hands of the governments,” Valle said in Spanish.
But not everyone shares his enthusiasm. Among six locals interviewed by CoinDesk, from the capital of San Salvador and beyond, the mood ran from elation for the move to suspicion of Bukele’s motives. Bukele’s government has areputation for corruption, leading some to wonder if bitcoin will end up just enriching and strengthening a government that showsauthoritarian tendencies.
Related:Iranian President Wants to Regulate Crypto ‘as Soon as Possible’
On Saturday, Bukeleannouncedthat he will submit a bill to make bitcoin a legal tender to parliament this week, though he said in a tweet Monday that the bill had not been made final yet. If passed, the bill would put El Salvador on the path to becoming the first nation in the world to adopt bitcoin as an official currency.
On Monday, Secretary of Commerce Miguel Kattánsaidthat although bitcoin would be integrated into the local economy, its use wouldn’t be mandatory and it wouldn’t replace the U.S. dollar.
Bukele’s announcement was met with great enthusiasm from the international crypto community, with bitcoin proponents such as MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor showingsupportandTRONfounder Justin Suntweetingthat his organization would be the first to “establish an office” in El Salvador.
Bukele – a populist whose New Ideas party won the legislative elections in February ina landslide– has strong support in El Salvador, and so the bitcoin bill will likely pass without much opposition. But some Salvadorans are concerned that Bukele has other motives for the legalization of bitcoin.
Related:Bitcoin Holds Short-Term Support; Faces Resistance at $36K
“In my personal view, without a doubt, [this] has something to do with possible sanctions that the U.S. might impose on [Bukele] and many of his associates,” said Isaac, 27, a student at Universidad de El Salvador and crypto investor who asked to withhold his full identity so that he could speak freely.
Since Bukele, 39, took office in 2019, U.S. allegations of corruption against his administration have beenmountingand El Salvador’s economy has suffered during the pandemic. But Bukele’s move to legalize bitcoin may distract the world from the country’s struggles.
In 2019, Bukele won the presidential election in a landslide on ananti-corruption platformwith the slogan “There’s enough money when no one steals.”
But as the country went under pandemic lockdown in 2020, astring of investigationsby local journalists looked into the government’s alleged corruption in the management of public resources and with the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Allegations of corruption have resurfaced after Bukele fired El Salvador’s attorney general and five supreme court justices last month, followingclashesover the constitutionality of his lockdown orders. Shortly after the dismissals, Bukele addressed the world in atweet: “We are cleaning our house… and that’s none of your business.”
Three weeks ago, five Salvadoran officials with ties to Bukele were named in a U.S. State Departmentlistof senior government officials from Central America credibly alleged to have committed or facilitated corruption. Meanwhile, the outgoing attorney general was promptly replaced with Rodolfo Delgado, an ally of Bukele’s who has announced that El Salvador will beexitingits anti-corruption accord with the Organization of American States (OAS). The accord is part of an initiative to mitigate corruption in the region, which the U.S. sees as “one of the root causes of undocumented immigration,” according toReuters.
Since announcing the new bill, Bukele has been busyre-tweetingmessages of support from the crypto community, including aForbes articlethat said “El Salvador could become one of the most significant monetary centers in the world” if Bukele’s bill is passed.
“[Bukele] wants to distract the press from the chaos,” said Roberto Pineda, a Salvadoran chef and entrepreneur.
On June 4, the day before Bukele announced the bitcoin bill, Ernesto Muyshondt, a former mayor of San Salvador and adviser to the OAS, was arrested on multiple charges (though the specific charges were changed by local officials multiple times), one of which came directly from the attorney general’s office, according tolocal reports.
The national civil police (PNC)chargedMuyshondt with improper appropriations of tax withholdings, and he is alreadyunder investigationfor negotiating with gangs.
“Today, I’m a political prisoner,” Muyshondttweetedon June 4.
Meanwhile, the country is in deep economic trouble. This year’s budget, which passed congress and was ratified by Bukele in January, showed a substantial deficit amid “limited financing options” according toFitch Ratings.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, the country lost 36.6% of its net international reserves (RIN) or U.S. dollar reserves, while neighboring countries Guatemala and Honduras boosted their reserves, according to a report byEl Economista.
“It is from April 2020 that the decrease begins to be seen and shows the use of the resources of the reserves that the Salvadoran government has been making to meet the expenses of the emergency,” the report said.
Foreign currency reserves can be depleted as governments make withdrawals without enough money coming in through direct investments or remittances to replenish them.
Meanwhile, the country’snational debtas a percentage of its gross domestic product amounted to almost 71% in 2019, and the total central government debtrose15.9% in the first quarter of 2021, compared with the same period in 2020.
“The real truth is that [Bukele] has no place where to get more money to run the country,” Pineda, the chef and entrepreneur, said.
But Valle, the bitcoin investor who claims to have 90% of his savings in the cryptocurrency, says Bukele has worked to make El Salvador better and the legalization of bitcoin will help the country’s ailing economy.
“He has been president for two years, and he has been working for the Salvadoran people since he has been in office. He has helped and is helping to improve El Salvador,” Valle said, adding that Bukele has done more than previous presidents who didn’t support tourism or create employment opportunities.
With the economic and political chaos, there’s a strong case for the use of bitcoin. El Salvador has some of the characteristics that have made bitcoin appealing to large crypto emerging markets likeNigeriaandVenezuela, such as a large unbanked population and lots of migrant workers. In Nigeria, for instance, bitcoin is used to process remittances cheaply and quickly, while providing a way for people without the means of opening bank accounts to access financial services with a cellphone.
According to the World Bank’s 2017indexon financial inclusion, only 30% of adults in El Salvador had access to a local bank account, compared with 45% in neighboring Honduras. Meanwhile, roughly one-fifth of the nation’s GDP comes fromremittancesfrom immigrants living abroad. In 2020, even with the pandemic, El Salvadorreceiveda record $5.92 billion in remittances.
For the more than one million Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S. who sent remittances back home to their families, bitcoin can be a game changer, said Carlos Miguel Rivas Carrillo, a lawyer and founding board member of a fintech association in San Salvador.
“That part is going to be a huge improvement because they’re going to pay lower fees, and they’re not going to use Western Union or MoneyGram,” Carrillo said.
But Carrillo is cautious about the announcement of a bill he has yet to see and about the technical feasibility of a bitcoin economy.
Although Carrillo is thrilled that legalization might prompt merchants to start accepting bitcoin as payment, he doesn’t believe that all savings and loans will be in bitcoin or that government workers will be paid in cryptocurrency.
“There’s so much volatility in bitcoin so that’s insane,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo is also concerned about the degree to which bitcoin will be accessible to the public.
“We have a big challenge as a country because we don’t have all the requirements to make this technologically feasible for everybody,” Carrillo said.
For instance, although there are just over 6 million people in the country, there are about 9.5 millionmobile connections. But only about34%of the population has access to the internet, and only a small minority use new technology, according to Isaac.
“Many – and I mean many – are afraid to use a laptop or have problems using their smartphones. So if one of the first things to do when you enter the world of crypto is to become very savvy about it, how on earth is that going to happen here on a big scale?” Isaac said.
Isaac is also concerned about the crypto community’s enthusiasm surrounding Bukele and El Salvador. For instance, some cryptoinfluencersandfirmshave beentweetingabout moving to El Salvador, tagging luxurious villas and beaches, along with Bukelehimself.
“My objections to this is, why do all these crypto enthusiasts have so much hype for this guy? Aren’t crypto people against Big Government, big regulations, taxation? It seems that they don’t have a problem with a wannabe tyrant as long as he supports crypto,” Isaac said.
But Valle and Carrillo are hopeful that making bitcoin a legal tender will spark a new beginning for the country and economy.
“From a vision in the future of the Salvadoran economy, he knows that by accepting bitcoin, he is anticipating and preparing for a new monetary system,” Valle said of Bukele’s decision to adopt bitcoin.
Despite the reports of corruption, Carrillo believes bitcoin could be an opportunity for Bukele to change the narrative and change the future of El Salvador.
“I think this is our right moment to make a turn,” Carrillo said.
• Bitcoin Bounces From Two-Week Low as China Inflation Surges, El Salvador Passes Currency Law
• It’s Official: El Salvador’s Legislature Votes to Adopt Bitcoin as Legal Tender || El Salvador Residents Are Split on Bitcoin Adoption Bill: Mario Valle, 39, an El Salvadoran bitcoin investor and manager of a popular local bitcoin Facebook page , is thrilled that President Nayib Bukele announced bitcoin could soon become legal tender in the Central American nation alongside its present official currency, the U.S. dollar. This is very good because bitcoin is decentralized and nobody has control of bitcoin and the dollar is in the hands of the governments, Valle said in Spanish. But not everyone shares his enthusiasm. Among six locals interviewed by CoinDesk, from the capital of San Salvador and beyond, the mood ran from elation for the move to suspicion of Bukeles motives. Bukeles government has a reputation for corruption , leading some to wonder if bitcoin will end up just enriching and strengthening a government that shows authoritarian tendencies . Related: Iranian President Wants to Regulate Crypto ‘as Soon as Possible’ On Saturday, Bukele announced that he will submit a bill to make bitcoin a legal tender to parliament this week, though he said in a tweet Monday that the bill had not been made final yet. If passed, the bill would put El Salvador on the path to becoming the first nation in the world to adopt bitcoin as an official currency. On Monday, Secretary of Commerce Miguel Kattán said that although bitcoin would be integrated into the local economy, its use wouldnt be mandatory and it wouldnt replace the U.S. dollar. Bukeles announcement was met with great enthusiasm from the international crypto community, with bitcoin proponents such as MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor showing support and TRON founder Justin Sun tweeting that his organization would be the first to establish an office in El Salvador. Bukele a populist whose New Ideas party won the legislative elections in February in a landslide has strong support in El Salvador, and so the bitcoin bill will likely pass without much opposition. But some Salvadorans are concerned that Bukele has other motives for the legalization of bitcoin. Story continues Related: Bitcoin Holds Short-Term Support; Faces Resistance at $36K In my personal view, without a doubt, [this] has something to do with possible sanctions that the U.S. might impose on [Bukele] and many of his associates, said Isaac, 27, a student at Universidad de El Salvador and crypto investor who asked to withhold his full identity so that he could speak freely. Since Bukele, 39, took office in 2019, U.S. allegations of corruption against his administration have been mounting and El Salvadors economy has suffered during the pandemic. But Bukeles move to legalize bitcoin may distract the world from the countrys struggles. Corruption In 2019, Bukele won the presidential election in a landslide on an anti-corruption platform with the slogan Theres enough money when no one steals. But as the country went under pandemic lockdown in 2020, a string of investigations by local journalists looked into the governments alleged corruption in the management of public resources and with the administrations response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Allegations of corruption have resurfaced after Bukele fired El Salvadors attorney general and five supreme court justices last month, following clashes over the constitutionality of his lockdown orders. Shortly after the dismissals, Bukele addressed the world in a tweet : We are cleaning our house
and thats none of your business. Three weeks ago, five Salvadoran officials with ties to Bukele were named in a U.S. State Department list of senior government officials from Central America credibly alleged to have committed or facilitated corruption. Meanwhile, the outgoing attorney general was promptly replaced with Rodolfo Delgado, an ally of Bukeles who has announced that El Salvador will be exiting its anti-corruption accord with the Organization of American States (OAS). The accord is part of an initiative to mitigate corruption in the region, which the U.S. sees as one of the root causes of undocumented immigration, according to Reuters . Since announcing the new bill, Bukele has been busy re-tweeting messages of support from the crypto community, including a Forbes article that said El Salvador could become one of the most significant monetary centers in the world if Bukeles bill is passed. [Bukele] wants to distract the press from the chaos, said Roberto Pineda, a Salvadoran chef and entrepreneur. Chaos On June 4, the day before Bukele announced the bitcoin bill, Ernesto Muyshondt, a former mayor of San Salvador and adviser to the OAS, was arrested on multiple charges (though the specific charges were changed by local officials multiple times), one of which came directly from the attorney generals office, according to local reports . The national civil police (PNC) charged Muyshondt with improper appropriations of tax withholdings, and he is already under investigation for negotiating with gangs. Today, Im a political prisoner, Muyshondt tweeted on June 4. Meanwhile, the country is in deep economic trouble. This years budget, which passed congress and was ratified by Bukele in January, showed a substantial deficit amid limited financing options according to Fitch Ratings . Between March 2020 and March 2021, the country lost 36.6% of its net international reserves (RIN) or U.S. dollar reserves, while neighboring countries Guatemala and Honduras boosted their reserves, according to a report by El Economista . It is from April 2020 that the decrease begins to be seen and shows the use of the resources of the reserves that the Salvadoran government has been making to meet the expenses of the emergency, the report said. Foreign currency reserves can be depleted as governments make withdrawals without enough money coming in through direct investments or remittances to replenish them. Meanwhile, the countrys national debt as a percentage of its gross domestic product amounted to almost 71% in 2019, and the total central government debt rose 15.9% in the first quarter of 2021, compared with the same period in 2020. The real truth is that [Bukele] has no place where to get more money to run the country, Pineda, the chef and entrepreneur, said. But Valle, the bitcoin investor who claims to have 90% of his savings in the cryptocurrency, says Bukele has worked to make El Salvador better and the legalization of bitcoin will help the countrys ailing economy. He has been president for two years, and he has been working for the Salvadoran people since he has been in office. He has helped and is helping to improve El Salvador, Valle said, adding that Bukele has done more than previous presidents who didnt support tourism or create employment opportunities. Crypto With the economic and political chaos, theres a strong case for the use of bitcoin. El Salvador has some of the characteristics that have made bitcoin appealing to large crypto emerging markets like Nigeria and Venezuela , such as a large unbanked population and lots of migrant workers. In Nigeria, for instance, bitcoin is used to process remittances cheaply and quickly, while providing a way for people without the means of opening bank accounts to access financial services with a cellphone. According to the World Banks 2017 index on financial inclusion, only 30% of adults in El Salvador had access to a local bank account, compared with 45% in neighboring Honduras. Meanwhile, roughly one-fifth of the nations GDP comes from remittances from immigrants living abroad. In 2020, even with the pandemic, El Salvador received a record $5.92 billion in remittances. For the more than one million Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S. who sent remittances back home to their families, bitcoin can be a game changer, said Carlos Miguel Rivas Carrillo, a lawyer and founding board member of a fintech association in San Salvador. That part is going to be a huge improvement because theyre going to pay lower fees, and theyre not going to use Western Union or MoneyGram, Carrillo said. But Carrillo is cautious about the announcement of a bill he has yet to see and about the technical feasibility of a bitcoin economy. Caution Although Carrillo is thrilled that legalization might prompt merchants to start accepting bitcoin as payment, he doesnt believe that all savings and loans will be in bitcoin or that government workers will be paid in cryptocurrency. Theres so much volatility in bitcoin so thats insane, Carrillo said. Carrillo is also concerned about the degree to which bitcoin will be accessible to the public. We have a big challenge as a country because we dont have all the requirements to make this technologically feasible for everybody, Carrillo said. For instance, although there are just over 6 million people in the country, there are about 9.5 million mobile connections . But only about 34% of the population has access to the internet, and only a small minority use new technology, according to Isaac. Many and I mean many are afraid to use a laptop or have problems using their smartphones. So if one of the first things to do when you enter the world of crypto is to become very savvy about it, how on earth is that going to happen here on a big scale? Isaac said. Isaac is also concerned about the crypto communitys enthusiasm surrounding Bukele and El Salvador. For instance, some crypto influencers and firms have been tweeting about moving to El Salvador, tagging luxurious villas and beaches, along with Bukele himself . My objections to this is, why do all these crypto enthusiasts have so much hype for this guy? Arent crypto people against Big Government, big regulations, taxation? It seems that they dont have a problem with a wannabe tyrant as long as he supports crypto, Isaac said. But Valle and Carrillo are hopeful that making bitcoin a legal tender will spark a new beginning for the country and economy. From a vision in the future of the Salvadoran economy, he knows that by accepting bitcoin, he is anticipating and preparing for a new monetary system, Valle said of Bukeles decision to adopt bitcoin. Despite the reports of corruption, Carrillo believes bitcoin could be an opportunity for Bukele to change the narrative and change the future of El Salvador. I think this is our right moment to make a turn, Carrillo said. Related Stories Bitcoin Bounces From Two-Week Low as China Inflation Surges, El Salvador Passes Currency Law Its Official: El Salvadors Legislature Votes to Adopt Bitcoin as Legal Tender || El Salvador Residents Are Split on Bitcoin Adoption Bill: Mario Valle, 39, an El Salvadoranbitcoininvestor and manager of a popular local bitcoinFacebook page, is thrilled that President Nayib Bukele announced bitcoin could soon become legal tender in the Central American nation alongside its present official currency, the U.S. dollar.
“This is very good because bitcoin is decentralized and nobody has control of bitcoin and the dollar is in the hands of the governments,” Valle said in Spanish.
But not everyone shares his enthusiasm. Among six locals interviewed by CoinDesk, from the capital of San Salvador and beyond, the mood ran from elation for the move to suspicion of Bukele’s motives. Bukele’s government has areputation for corruption, leading some to wonder if bitcoin will end up just enriching and strengthening a government that showsauthoritarian tendencies.
Related:Iranian President Wants to Regulate Crypto ‘as Soon as Possible’
On Saturday, Bukeleannouncedthat he will submit a bill to make bitcoin a legal tender to parliament this week, though he said in a tweet Monday that the bill had not been made final yet. If passed, the bill would put El Salvador on the path to becoming the first nation in the world to adopt bitcoin as an official currency.
On Monday, Secretary of Commerce Miguel Kattánsaidthat although bitcoin would be integrated into the local economy, its use wouldn’t be mandatory and it wouldn’t replace the U.S. dollar.
Bukele’s announcement was met with great enthusiasm from the international crypto community, with bitcoin proponents such as MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor showingsupportandTRONfounder Justin Suntweetingthat his organization would be the first to “establish an office” in El Salvador.
Bukele – a populist whose New Ideas party won the legislative elections in February ina landslide– has strong support in El Salvador, and so the bitcoin bill will likely pass without much opposition. But some Salvadorans are concerned that Bukele has other motives for the legalization of bitcoin.
Related:Bitcoin Holds Short-Term Support; Faces Resistance at $36K
“In my personal view, without a doubt, [this] has something to do with possible sanctions that the U.S. might impose on [Bukele] and many of his associates,” said Isaac, 27, a student at Universidad de El Salvador and crypto investor who asked to withhold his full identity so that he could speak freely.
Since Bukele, 39, took office in 2019, U.S. allegations of corruption against his administration have beenmountingand El Salvador’s economy has suffered during the pandemic. But Bukele’s move to legalize bitcoin may distract the world from the country’s struggles.
In 2019, Bukele won the presidential election in a landslide on ananti-corruption platformwith the slogan “There’s enough money when no one steals.”
But as the country went under pandemic lockdown in 2020, astring of investigationsby local journalists looked into the government’s alleged corruption in the management of public resources and with the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Allegations of corruption have resurfaced after Bukele fired El Salvador’s attorney general and five supreme court justices last month, followingclashesover the constitutionality of his lockdown orders. Shortly after the dismissals, Bukele addressed the world in atweet: “We are cleaning our house… and that’s none of your business.”
Three weeks ago, five Salvadoran officials with ties to Bukele were named in a U.S. State Departmentlistof senior government officials from Central America credibly alleged to have committed or facilitated corruption. Meanwhile, the outgoing attorney general was promptly replaced with Rodolfo Delgado, an ally of Bukele’s who has announced that El Salvador will beexitingits anti-corruption accord with the Organization of American States (OAS). The accord is part of an initiative to mitigate corruption in the region, which the U.S. sees as “one of the root causes of undocumented immigration,” according toReuters.
Since announcing the new bill, Bukele has been busyre-tweetingmessages of support from the crypto community, including aForbes articlethat said “El Salvador could become one of the most significant monetary centers in the world” if Bukele’s bill is passed.
“[Bukele] wants to distract the press from the chaos,” said Roberto Pineda, a Salvadoran chef and entrepreneur.
On June 4, the day before Bukele announced the bitcoin bill, Ernesto Muyshondt, a former mayor of San Salvador and adviser to the OAS, was arrested on multiple charges (though the specific charges were changed by local officials multiple times), one of which came directly from the attorney general’s office, according tolocal reports.
The national civil police (PNC)chargedMuyshondt with improper appropriations of tax withholdings, and he is alreadyunder investigationfor negotiating with gangs.
“Today, I’m a political prisoner,” Muyshondttweetedon June 4.
Meanwhile, the country is in deep economic trouble. This year’s budget, which passed congress and was ratified by Bukele in January, showed a substantial deficit amid “limited financing options” according toFitch Ratings.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, the country lost 36.6% of its net international reserves (RIN) or U.S. dollar reserves, while neighboring countries Guatemala and Honduras boosted their reserves, according to a report byEl Economista.
“It is from April 2020 that the decrease begins to be seen and shows the use of the resources of the reserves that the Salvadoran government has been making to meet the expenses of the emergency,” the report said.
Foreign currency reserves can be depleted as governments make withdrawals without enough money coming in through direct investments or remittances to replenish them.
Meanwhile, the country’snational debtas a percentage of its gross domestic product amounted to almost 71% in 2019, and the total central government debtrose15.9% in the first quarter of 2021, compared with the same period in 2020.
“The real truth is that [Bukele] has no place where to get more money to run the country,” Pineda, the chef and entrepreneur, said.
But Valle, the bitcoin investor who claims to have 90% of his savings in the cryptocurrency, says Bukele has worked to make El Salvador better and the legalization of bitcoin will help the country’s ailing economy.
“He has been president for two years, and he has been working for the Salvadoran people since he has been in office. He has helped and is helping to improve El Salvador,” Valle said, adding that Bukele has done more than previous presidents who didn’t support tourism or create employment opportunities.
With the economic and political chaos, there’s a strong case for the use of bitcoin. El Salvador has some of the characteristics that have made bitcoin appealing to large crypto emerging markets likeNigeriaandVenezuela, such as a large unbanked population and lots of migrant workers. In Nigeria, for instance, bitcoin is used to process remittances cheaply and quickly, while providing a way for people without the means of opening bank accounts to access financial services with a cellphone.
According to the World Bank’s 2017indexon financial inclusion, only 30% of adults in El Salvador had access to a local bank account, compared with 45% in neighboring Honduras. Meanwhile, roughly one-fifth of the nation’s GDP comes fromremittancesfrom immigrants living abroad. In 2020, even with the pandemic, El Salvadorreceiveda record $5.92 billion in remittances.
For the more than one million Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S. who sent remittances back home to their families, bitcoin can be a game changer, said Carlos Miguel Rivas Carrillo, a lawyer and founding board member of a fintech association in San Salvador.
“That part is going to be a huge improvement because they’re going to pay lower fees, and they’re not going to use Western Union or MoneyGram,” Carrillo said.
But Carrillo is cautious about the announcement of a bill he has yet to see and about the technical feasibility of a bitcoin economy.
Although Carrillo is thrilled that legalization might prompt merchants to start accepting bitcoin as payment, he doesn’t believe that all savings and loans will be in bitcoin or that government workers will be paid in cryptocurrency.
“There’s so much volatility in bitcoin so that’s insane,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo is also concerned about the degree to which bitcoin will be accessible to the public.
“We have a big challenge as a country because we don’t have all the requirements to make this technologically feasible for everybody,” Carrillo said.
For instance, although there are just over 6 million people in the country, there are about 9.5 millionmobile connections. But only about34%of the population has access to the internet, and only a small minority use new technology, according to Isaac.
“Many – and I mean many – are afraid to use a laptop or have problems using their smartphones. So if one of the first things to do when you enter the world of crypto is to become very savvy about it, how on earth is that going to happen here on a big scale?” Isaac said.
Isaac is also concerned about the crypto community’s enthusiasm surrounding Bukele and El Salvador. For instance, some cryptoinfluencersandfirmshave beentweetingabout moving to El Salvador, tagging luxurious villas and beaches, along with Bukelehimself.
“My objections to this is, why do all these crypto enthusiasts have so much hype for this guy? Aren’t crypto people against Big Government, big regulations, taxation? It seems that they don’t have a problem with a wannabe tyrant as long as he supports crypto,” Isaac said.
But Valle and Carrillo are hopeful that making bitcoin a legal tender will spark a new beginning for the country and economy.
“From a vision in the future of the Salvadoran economy, he knows that by accepting bitcoin, he is anticipating and preparing for a new monetary system,” Valle said of Bukele’s decision to adopt bitcoin.
Despite the reports of corruption, Carrillo believes bitcoin could be an opportunity for Bukele to change the narrative and change the future of El Salvador.
“I think this is our right moment to make a turn,” Carrillo said.
• Bitcoin Bounces From Two-Week Low as China Inflation Surges, El Salvador Passes Currency Law
• It’s Official: El Salvador’s Legislature Votes to Adopt Bitcoin as Legal Tender || Modern Monetary Theory and a Basic Income for All: Related:Miami Coin and Voting With Your Tokens
The advent of distributed autonomous organizations, rather than extractive ones, opens up the possibility to reorganize society
• El Salvador Adopts Bitcoin: Hype or History in the Making?
• Bitcoin as Legal Tender? Why El Salvador’s Plan Isn’t as Crazy as You Think || Modern Monetary Theory and a Basic Income for All: Related: Miami Coin and Voting With Your Tokens The advent of distributed autonomous organizations, rather than extractive ones, opens up the possibility to reorganize society Related Stories El Salvador Adopts Bitcoin: Hype or History in the Making? Bitcoin as Legal Tender? Why El Salvador’s Plan Isn’t as Crazy as You Think || Market Wrap: Possible Stimulus Tapering, China Continue Fueling Big Bitcoin, Crypto Dump: A double-digit cryptocurrency market capitalization drop is being attributed to a major shift to bearish sentiment. Bitcoin volumes and volatility are still lower than ether’s but Ethereum-based opportunities have analysts optimistic for the future.
• Bitcoin(BTC) trading around $32,938 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Losing 7.6% over the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $31,277-$35,614 (CoinDesk 20)
• Ether(ETH) trading around $2,502 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). In the red 8.2% over the previous 24 hours.
• Ether’s 24-hour range: $2,328-$2,721 (CoinDesk 20)
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was down Tuesday by 7.6% as of press time. The price was above the 10-hour moving average and the 50-hour, a sideways signal for market technicians.
BTC fell from $35,614 at 20:15 UTC (1:15 p.m. ET) Monday to $31,277 by 18:30 UTC (11:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday, a 12% drop based on CoinDesk 20 data. Bitcoin then regained some of those losses, at $32,938 as of press time.
Related:Bitcoin Holds Short-Term Support; Faces Resistance At $36K
Continued concerns about the regulatory regimefor crypto in China were among the reasons for many investors to turn bearish on bitcoin. Some traders are also worried aboutthe possibility of tighter monetary policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which might put downward pressure on risky assets, including cryptocurrencies.
As the price of BTC fell over the past 24 hours the trading volume rose, reaching $2.9 billion as of press time on Tuesday, the most since May 28. For 2021 so far, daily averages have been at a much loftier level, around $4.9 billion, based on spot markets tracked by the CoinDesk 20.
“Bitcoin has found its footing since becoming oversold from an intermediate-term perspective within its long-term uptrend,” said technical analyst Katie Stockton of Fairlead Strategies. “As it stands, we would look for bitcoin to establish a lower high versus April without damaging the long-term uptrend.”
Read More:Exchanges See Biggest Bitcoin Outflow in 7 Months. Reason to Cheer?
Related:Bitcoin Bounces From Two-Week Low as China Inflation Surges, El Salvador Passes Currency Law
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ether, was trading around $2,502 as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET), slipping 8.2% over the prior 24 hours. The asset is above the 10-hour moving average and the 50-hour, a flat signal for market technicians.
Ether dropped from $2,721 at 23:15 UTC (4:15 p.m. ET) Monday to $2,328 by 16:15 UTC (11:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday, a 14% fall based on CoinDesk 20 data. ETH has climbed a bit since, at $2,502 as of press time.
“Ether’s short-term momentum has improved with the rebound, but intermediate-term momentum has deteriorated, supporting a lower high versus the May peak near $4,380,” noted Fairlead’s Stockton.
Ether’s momentum, in the form of volume, continues to beat bitcoin’s. For 10 straight days , the number of ETH changing hands has exceeded BTC volumes. Analysts are beginning to think this may be a longer-term trend, especially considering how much higher bitcoin volumes had been for most of the year.
Constantine Kogan, a crypto investor and founder of investment community BullPerks, thinks ether’s upstart rise in 2021 as an institutional asset is just beginning.
“Long term, I think Ethereum will grow, as proof-of-stake is proving to be a more scalable consensus mechanism,” Kogan said of the blockchain.
“Price action right now has been stronger for ETH than for BTC, and it’s shown up in the BTC/ETH correlation as well as in the derivative markets,” added Nathan Cox, chief investment officer of crypto fund Two Prime.
Read More:Ether Price Indicator Turns Bearish for First Time Since October
In the ether options market, strikes below the $2,560 price level are heavily favoring puts because traders are preparing for any possible scenario, including over 64,000 ETH total open interest at the ludicrously low $400 strike.
“The recent volatility has left traders a little spooked and willing to pay up for downside protection,” said Two Prime’s Cox. “But volatility levels all around have basically collapsed at this point, with BTC [volume] trading back to the low end of the range.”
Indeed, after jumping to over 170% in 30-day annualized volatility in late May, ETH’s price gyrations are declining, to 162% as of Monday, based on the most recent data from CoinDesk Research. Also, bitcoin’s price volatility has flattened as of late, to 89%.
“I expect some rangebound trading from here as new hands are hesitant to commit new capital, and long-term HODLers are deciding if this is the right price to continue accumulating,” said Cox. “Short term, I think you see ETH continue to outperform.”
The total crypto market cap declined on Tuesday by over 7%, according to data aggregator CoinGecko. In the market for alternative cryptocurrencies, or altcoins, Fairlead’s Stockton sees a mostly flat-to-bullish outlook for the week ahead.
“Most cryptocurrencies have crossed bullish thresholds versus bitcoin, excludingstellarandcardano, which have neutral relative strength outlooks, andtether, which should remain out of favor while the oversold bounce persists in the space,” noted Stockton. “The cryptocurrencies pointing up and to the right should outperform, whereas downturns inuniswapandchainlinksuggest they may lag.”
Digital assets on theCoinDesk 20are all down Tuesday. Notable losers as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• filecoin(FIL) – 16%
• uniswap(UNI) – 11.8%
• chainlink(LINK) – 11.8%
Equities:
• The S&P 500 in the United States closed up 0.20% asstocks in the airline sector eked out some gains Tuesday.
Commodities:
• Gold was down 0.30% and at $1,893 as of press time.
Read More:Hamas Tapped Binance, LocalBitcoins to Launder Bitcoin Donations
Treasurys:
• The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield fell Tuesday to 1.530, down 2.4%.
• El Salvador Residents Are Split on Bitcoin Adoption Bill
• Bitcoin Futures Market in Capitulation Mode as Traders Turn Bearish || Market Wrap: Possible Stimulus Tapering, China Continue Fueling Big Bitcoin, Crypto Dump: A double-digit cryptocurrency market capitalization drop is being attributed to a major shift to bearish sentiment. Bitcoin volumes and volatility are still lower than ether’s but Ethereum-based opportunities have analysts optimistic for the future. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $32,938 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Losing 7.6% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $31,277-$35,614 (CoinDesk 20) Ether (ETH) trading around $2,502 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). In the red 8.2% over the previous 24 hours. Ether’s 24-hour range: $2,328-$2,721 (CoinDesk 20) Bitcoin’s volume the highest in over a week Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was down Tuesday by 7.6% as of press time. The price was above the 10-hour moving average and the 50-hour, a sideways signal for market technicians. BTC fell from $35,614 at 20:15 UTC (1:15 p.m. ET) Monday to $31,277 by 18:30 UTC (11:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday, a 12% drop based on CoinDesk 20 data. Bitcoin then regained some of those losses, at $32,938 as of press time. Related: Bitcoin Holds Short-Term Support; Faces Resistance At $36K Continued concerns about the regulatory regime for crypto in China were among the reasons for many investors to turn bearish on bitcoin. Some traders are also worried about the possibility of tighter monetary policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve , which might put downward pressure on risky assets, including cryptocurrencies. As the price of BTC fell over the past 24 hours the trading volume rose, reaching $2.9 billion as of press time on Tuesday, the most since May 28. For 2021 so far, daily averages have been at a much loftier level, around $4.9 billion, based on spot markets tracked by the CoinDesk 20. “Bitcoin has found its footing since becoming oversold from an intermediate-term perspective within its long-term uptrend,” said technical analyst Katie Stockton of Fairlead Strategies. “As it stands, we would look for bitcoin to establish a lower high versus April without damaging the long-term uptrend.” Story continues Read More: Exchanges See Biggest Bitcoin Outflow in 7 Months. Reason to Cheer? When will ether volumes drop below bitcoin’s? Related: Bitcoin Bounces From Two-Week Low as China Inflation Surges, El Salvador Passes Currency Law The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ether, was trading around $2,502 as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET), slipping 8.2% over the prior 24 hours. The asset is above the 10-hour moving average and the 50-hour, a flat signal for market technicians. Ether dropped from $2,721 at 23:15 UTC (4:15 p.m. ET) Monday to $2,328 by 16:15 UTC (11:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday, a 14% fall based on CoinDesk 20 data. ETH has climbed a bit since, at $2,502 as of press time. “Ether’s short-term momentum has improved with the rebound, but intermediate-term momentum has deteriorated, supporting a lower high versus the May peak near $4,380,” noted Fairlead’s Stockton. Ether’s momentum, in the form of volume, continues to beat bitcoin’s. For 10 straight days , the number of ETH changing hands has exceeded BTC volumes. Analysts are beginning to think this may be a longer-term trend, especially considering how much higher bitcoin volumes had been for most of the year. Constantine Kogan, a crypto investor and founder of investment community BullPerks, thinks ether’s upstart rise in 2021 as an institutional asset is just beginning. “Long term, I think Ethereum will grow, as proof-of-stake is proving to be a more scalable consensus mechanism,” Kogan said of the blockchain. “Price action right now has been stronger for ETH than for BTC, and it’s shown up in the BTC/ETH correlation as well as in the derivative markets,” added Nathan Cox, chief investment officer of crypto fund Two Prime. Read More: Ether Price Indicator Turns Bearish for First Time Since October Hedgers paying a premium In the ether options market, strikes below the $2,560 price level are heavily favoring puts because traders are preparing for any possible scenario, including over 64,000 ETH total open interest at the ludicrously low $400 strike. “The recent volatility has left traders a little spooked and willing to pay up for downside protection,” said Two Prime’s Cox. “But volatility levels all around have basically collapsed at this point, with BTC [volume] trading back to the low end of the range.” Indeed, after jumping to over 170% in 30-day annualized volatility in late May, ETH’s price gyrations are declining, to 162% as of Monday, based on the most recent data from CoinDesk Research. Also, bitcoin’s price volatility has flattened as of late, to 89%. “I expect some rangebound trading from here as new hands are hesitant to commit new capital, and long-term HODLers are deciding if this is the right price to continue accumulating,” said Cox. “Short term, I think you see ETH continue to outperform.” Other markets The total crypto market cap declined on Tuesday by over 7%, according to data aggregator CoinGecko. In the market for alternative cryptocurrencies, or altcoins, Fairlead’s Stockton sees a mostly flat-to-bullish outlook for the week ahead. “Most cryptocurrencies have crossed bullish thresholds versus bitcoin, excluding stellar and cardano , which have neutral relative strength outlooks, and tether , which should remain out of favor while the oversold bounce persists in the space,” noted Stockton. “The cryptocurrencies pointing up and to the right should outperform, whereas downturns in uniswap and chainlink suggest they may lag.” Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are all down Tuesday. Notable losers as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): filecoin (FIL) – 16% uniswap (UNI) – 11.8% chainlink (LINK) – 11.8% Equities: The S&P 500 in the United States closed up 0.20% as stocks in the airline sector eked out some gains Tuesday . Commodities: Gold was down 0.30% and at $1,893 as of press time. Read More: Hamas Tapped Binance, LocalBitcoins to Launder Bitcoin Donations Treasurys: The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield fell Tuesday to 1.530, down 2.4%. Related Stories El Salvador Residents Are Split on Bitcoin Adoption Bill Bitcoin Futures Market in Capitulation Mode as Traders Turn Bearish || Market Wrap: Possible Stimulus Tapering, China Continue Fueling Big Bitcoin, Crypto Dump: A double-digit cryptocurrency market capitalization drop is being attributed to a major shift to bearish sentiment. Bitcoin volumes and volatility are still lower than ether’s but Ethereum-based opportunities have analysts optimistic for the future.
• Bitcoin(BTC) trading around $32,938 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Losing 7.6% over the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $31,277-$35,614 (CoinDesk 20)
• Ether(ETH) trading around $2,502 as of 21:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). In the red 8.2% over the previous 24 hours.
• Ether’s 24-hour range: $2,328-$2,721 (CoinDesk 20)
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was down Tuesday by 7.6% as of press time. The price was above the 10-hour moving average and the 50-hour, a sideways signal for market technicians.
BTC fell from $35,614 at 20:15 UTC (1:15 p.m. ET) Monday to $31,277 by 18:30 UTC (11:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday, a 12% drop based on CoinDesk 20 data. Bitcoin then regained some of those losses, at $32,938 as of press time.
Related:Bitcoin Holds Short-Term Support; Faces Resistance At $36K
Continued concerns about the regulatory regimefor crypto in China were among the reasons for many investors to turn bearish on bitcoin. Some traders are also worried aboutthe possibility of tighter monetary policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which might put downward pressure on risky assets, including cryptocurrencies.
As the price of BTC fell over the past 24 hours the trading volume rose, reaching $2.9 billion as of press time on Tuesday, the most since May 28. For 2021 so far, daily averages have been at a much loftier level, around $4.9 billion, based on spot markets tracked by the CoinDesk 20.
“Bitcoin has found its footing since becoming oversold from an intermediate-term perspective within its long-term uptrend,” said technical analyst Katie Stockton of Fairlead Strategies. “As it stands, we would look for bitcoin to establish a lower high versus April without damaging the long-term uptrend.”
Read More:Exchanges See Biggest Bitcoin Outflow in 7 Months. Reason to Cheer?
Related:Bitcoin Bounces From Two-Week Low as China Inflation Surges, El Salvador Passes Currency Law
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ether, was trading around $2,502 as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET), slipping 8.2% over the prior 24 hours. The asset is above the 10-hour moving average and the 50-hour, a flat signal for market technicians.
Ether dropped from $2,721 at 23:15 UTC (4:15 p.m. ET) Monday to $2,328 by 16:15 UTC (11:30 a.m. ET) Tuesday, a 14% fall based on CoinDesk 20 data. ETH has climbed a bit since, at $2,502 as of press time.
“Ether’s short-term momentum has improved with the rebound, but intermediate-term momentum has deteriorated, supporting a lower high versus the May peak near $4,380,” noted Fairlead’s Stockton.
Ether’s momentum, in the form of volume, continues to beat bitcoin’s. For 10 straight days , the number of ETH changing hands has exceeded BTC volumes. Analysts are beginning to think this may be a longer-term trend, especially considering how much higher bitcoin volumes had been for most of the year.
Constantine Kogan, a crypto investor and founder of investment community BullPerks, thinks ether’s upstart rise in 2021 as an institutional asset is just beginning.
“Long term, I think Ethereum will grow, as proof-of-stake is proving to be a more scalable consensus mechanism,” Kogan said of the blockchain.
“Price action right now has been stronger for ETH than for BTC, and it’s shown up in the BTC/ETH correlation as well as in the derivative markets,” added Nathan Cox, chief investment officer of crypto fund Two Prime.
Read More:Ether Price Indicator Turns Bearish for First Time Since October
In the ether options market, strikes below the $2,560 price level are heavily favoring puts because traders are preparing for any possible scenario, including over 64,000 ETH total open interest at the ludicrously low $400 strike.
“The recent volatility has left traders a little spooked and willing to pay up for downside protection,” said Two Prime’s Cox. “But volatility levels all around have basically collapsed at this point, with BTC [volume] trading back to the low end of the range.”
Indeed, after jumping to over 170% in 30-day annualized volatility in late May, ETH’s price gyrations are declining, to 162% as of Monday, based on the most recent data from CoinDesk Research. Also, bitcoin’s price volatility has flattened as of late, to 89%.
“I expect some rangebound trading from here as new hands are hesitant to commit new capital, and long-term HODLers are deciding if this is the right price to continue accumulating,” said Cox. “Short term, I think you see ETH continue to outperform.”
The total crypto market cap declined on Tuesday by over 7%, according to data aggregator CoinGecko. In the market for alternative cryptocurrencies, or altcoins, Fairlead’s Stockton sees a mostly flat-to-bullish outlook for the week ahead.
“Most cryptocurrencies have crossed bullish thresholds versus bitcoin, excludingstellarandcardano, which have neutral relative strength outlooks, andtether, which should remain out of favor while the oversold bounce persists in the space,” noted Stockton. “The cryptocurrencies pointing up and to the right should outperform, whereas downturns inuniswapandchainlinksuggest they may lag.”
Digital assets on theCoinDesk 20are all down Tuesday. Notable losers as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• filecoin(FIL) – 16%
• uniswap(UNI) – 11.8%
• chainlink(LINK) – 11.8%
Equities:
• The S&P 500 in the United States closed up 0.20% asstocks in the airline sector eked out some gains Tuesday.
Commodities:
• Gold was down 0.30% and at $1,893 as of press time.
Read More:Hamas Tapped Binance, LocalBitcoins to Launder Bitcoin Donations
Treasurys:
• The 10-year U.S. Treasury bond yield fell Tuesday to 1.530, down 2.4%.
• El Salvador Residents Are Split on Bitcoin Adoption Bill
• Bitcoin Futures Market in Capitulation Mode as Traders Turn Bearish || Should You Invest in Cardano?: Cardano has long been hailed as the potential "Ethereum-killer." That's quite the claim. After all, Ethereum -- the name of the blockchain platform itself is often used interchangeably with its native cryptocurrency token, Ether (ETH) -- is the second most valuable cryptocurrency project out there, only trailing Bitcoin (BTC). Yet, even as Ethereum seeks to overtake Bitcoin, it has a newer rival coming up to try to take its place. Bitcoin is still entrenched as the biggest crypto asset largely because it is the oldest and most well-known of the bunch. However, Ethereum has taken market share in cryptocurrency due to its compelling integrated applications. That's an area where Bitcoin is lacking. Cardano seeks to top them both, as it offers the best of both worlds. It solves Bitcoin's excessive energy usage problem while also challenging Ethereum's captivating smart contracts. Here's what investors should know: -- What is Cardano? -- Cardano's mission for greater efficiency. -- The advantages of Ethereum. -- How to invest in Cardano. [ Sign up for stock news with our Invested newsletter. ] What Is Cardano? Cardano is a blockchain platform centered around Ouroboros. Ouroboros is a pioneering proof-of-stake protocol that immediately distinguished Cardano from previously invented cryptocurrencies that instead relied on proof-of-work protocols. This difference is key to Cardano's value proposition. Also, for clarity's sake, it's important to note that Cardano is the name of the blockchain platform, while ADA is the name of its native cryptocurrency token. Cardano's ADA token, in turn, takes its name from mathematician Ada Lovelace. Cardano earns all its comparisons to Ethereum. For one thing, Cardano's founder Charles Hoskinson was a co-founder of Ethereum. However, he had a falling out with Ethereum's key person, Vitalik Buterin. Hoskinson wanted to lead Ethereum in a more commercial direction and accept venture capital. Other Ethereum founders wanted to take a less business-centered approach. Story continues After leaving Ethereum, Hoskinson decided to improve on Ethereum with his own cryptocurrency project. Hoskinson's invention would keep many of the attractive features of Ethereum but shore up some of its weaknesses. Cardano seeks to offer many of Ethereum's most compelling capabilities, such as robust smart contracts. Meanwhile, Hoskinson designed Cardano from day one to be energy-efficient and support fast transactions with minimal transaction fees. Additionally, for the hard money enthusiasts, Cardano has one other big perk. It has a strict cap of 45 billion coins outstanding, as compared to Ethereum , which has no absolute limit to its total eventual supply. Cardano has been quite successful. It's currently the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The programming community for Cardano is active, and the project has drawn particular interest in 2021 as crypto's environmental impact has come to dominate the discussion. [ READ: Investing In Stocks for Beginners. ] Cardano's Mission: Greater Efficiency The big edge for Cardano is its claim to energy efficiency. According to Marie Tatibouet, chief marketing officer for leading cryptocurrecy exchange Gate.io, Cardano's Ouroboros proof-of-stake algorithm is 20,000 times more efficient than Bitcoin's mining system. In energy usage, Cardano's bigger competitor is Ethereum. Ethereum is not wildly energy-efficient as things stand now. That said, Ethereum plans to move to a proof-of-stake algorithm, like Cardano, that would vastly improve its own position. Bitcoin and many other traditional cryptocurrencies use a proof-of-work protocol. This is where miners use high-powered graphics cards or specialized computing rigs to guess at complicated mathematical puzzles. Those with more computing power win more of the puzzles, and thus receive more of the mining reward. What makes proof-of-stake different? Howard Poston, an author for cybersecurity education company Infosec, explains that, for one, proof-of-stake bypasses the computing-intensive mining process. "Proof-of-stake uses its cryptocurrency as a scarce asset. Like putting money into a CD or stocks, stakers promise not to spend their money in exchange for the opportunity to create blocks and earn block rewards. The probability of being selected to create a certain block is roughly proportional to the percentage of the total stake that the user controls," Poston says. Instead of having to spend huge amounts of computing power and ecological resources to maintain the blockchain, proof-of-stake protocols can use a miner's tokens as the collateral that makes the system function. Cardano's Ouroboros was novel in being one of the first successful proof-of-stake protocols that created a realistic alternative to proof-of-work tokens. Proof-of-stake has become so intriguing that even Ethereum may switch to it in coming months. So why don't all cryptocurrencies adopt a proof-of-stake model? One issue is that these systems can concentrate ownership excessively. "Proof-of-stake has issues like the proof-of-stake time bomb. The user with the most staked cryptocurrency will build the most blocks and receive the most block reward. If they constantly reinvest these winnings, they will have an ever-growing percentage of the stake and could eventually control the entire stake," Poston says. This runs contrary to the cryptocurrency community's ethos around distributed authority. Another issue is the so-called "nothing at stake" problem. This makes it easier for users to pollute the blockchain with double votes and other such inaccurate information since there is less penalty for doing so than there would be in a traditional proof-of-work ecosystem such as the one Bitcoin uses. Some purists insist that without proof-of-work, cryptocurrency doesn't solve many of the decentralization problems it was intended to address. However, with figures such as Tesla (ticker: TSLA ) CEO Elon Musk pushing energy usage concerns to the forefront, proof-of-stake just gained a major round of free publicity. And Cardano's Ouroboros looks like one of the most compelling proof-of-stake options available. [ READ: The 5 Best Cryptocurrency Trading Sites. ] Ethereum's Remaining Advantages While Cardano has numerous technical benefits, it may still lose out overall. That's because Ethereum has several key advantages, according to Sarson Funds co-founder and chief marketing officer, Jahon Jamali. "Ethereum enjoys a sizable first-mover advantage against Cardano. While Cardano's focus on academia and non-profits has become its hallmark, the argument can be made that lack of private sector engagement has limited the scope of market driven use-cases. There isn't a major decentralized app of significance building on ADA," Jamali said. Several experts pointed to the technical difficulty of programming for Cardano as opposed to Ethereum. Ethereum's simplicity has allowed it to gain true mass-market adoption. "Cardano may possess some technological advantages, but Ethereum is the only blockchain that is truly enterprise-ready, boasting supporters that include Accenture, FedEx, JP Morgan Chase and Microsoft -- all members of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance," Jamali said. Cardano promises to have a robust smart contract environment that will compete with Ethereum's decentralized finance , or DeFi, platform. However, Cardano isn't in Ethereum's league yet. "When it comes to smart contracts, Ethereum obviously has the edge, for now. Ethereum has an enviable developer community and has built the multi-billion dollar DeFi and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystems. Cardano, on the other hand, still hasn't completely integrated smart contracts. With the Alonzo Blue upgrade, they have initiated the process of smart contract integration. It still remains to be seen if these contracts can be properly implemented in the real world," Tatibouet says. Overall, while Cardano may have superior technical specifications, it will need to gain more real-world utility and adoption before it can overtake Ethereum. [ Read: How to Buy SafeMoon. ] How to Invest in Cardano For people that believe in Cardano's technological advantages, it's not hard to invest in it. The ADA token is listed on many major crypto exchanges and has a huge amount of liquidity and trading volume. Coinbase Global ( COIN ) added support for Cardano in March of this year, giving high-profile validation to the project. In addition to Coinbase, Cardano is heavily traded on Binance, Kraken and Gate.io, among other popular exchanges. Cardano's price has been volatile, both this year, and historically. So potential investors should be aware of that and consider Cardano as part of a broader diversified cryptocurrency portfolio . However, a Cardano investment could make a lot of sense, as it has a real chance to take a chunk of business away from Ethereum. "Cardano can take advantage of Ethereum's bloated gas fees to eventually carve a niche for itself," Tatibouet says. Cardano may not be an overnight success, but it has enough merit to remain a top-tier competitor in crypto. || Should You Invest in Cardano?: Cardano has long been hailed as the potential "Ethereum-killer." That's quite the claim. After all, Ethereum -- the name of the blockchain platform itself is often used interchangeably with its native cryptocurrency token, Ether (ETH) -- is the second most valuable cryptocurrency project out there, only trailing Bitcoin (BTC). Yet, even as Ethereum seeks to overtake Bitcoin, it has a newer rival coming up to try to take its place. Bitcoin is still entrenched as the biggest crypto asset largely because it is the oldest and most well-known of the bunch. However, Ethereum has taken market share in cryptocurrency due to its compelling integrated applications. That's an area where Bitcoin is lacking. Cardano seeks to top them both, as it offers the best of both worlds. It solves Bitcoin's excessive energy usage problem while also challenging Ethereum's captivating smart contracts. Here's what investors should know: -- What is Cardano? -- Cardano's mission for greater efficiency. -- The advantages of Ethereum. -- How to invest in Cardano. [ Sign up for stock news with our Invested newsletter. ] What Is Cardano? Cardano is a blockchain platform centered around Ouroboros. Ouroboros is a pioneering proof-of-stake protocol that immediately distinguished Cardano from previously invented cryptocurrencies that instead relied on proof-of-work protocols. This difference is key to Cardano's value proposition. Also, for clarity's sake, it's important to note that Cardano is the name of the blockchain platform, while ADA is the name of its native cryptocurrency token. Cardano's ADA token, in turn, takes its name from mathematician Ada Lovelace. Cardano earns all its comparisons to Ethereum. For one thing, Cardano's founder Charles Hoskinson was a co-founder of Ethereum. However, he had a falling out with Ethereum's key person, Vitalik Buterin. Hoskinson wanted to lead Ethereum in a more commercial direction and accept venture capital. Other Ethereum founders wanted to take a less business-centered approach. Story continues After leaving Ethereum, Hoskinson decided to improve on Ethereum with his own cryptocurrency project. Hoskinson's invention would keep many of the attractive features of Ethereum but shore up some of its weaknesses. Cardano seeks to offer many of Ethereum's most compelling capabilities, such as robust smart contracts. Meanwhile, Hoskinson designed Cardano from day one to be energy-efficient and support fast transactions with minimal transaction fees. Additionally, for the hard money enthusiasts, Cardano has one other big perk. It has a strict cap of 45 billion coins outstanding, as compared to Ethereum , which has no absolute limit to its total eventual supply. Cardano has been quite successful. It's currently the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The programming community for Cardano is active, and the project has drawn particular interest in 2021 as crypto's environmental impact has come to dominate the discussion. [ READ: Investing In Stocks for Beginners. ] Cardano's Mission: Greater Efficiency The big edge for Cardano is its claim to energy efficiency. According to Marie Tatibouet, chief marketing officer for leading cryptocurrecy exchange Gate.io, Cardano's Ouroboros proof-of-stake algorithm is 20,000 times more efficient than Bitcoin's mining system. In energy usage, Cardano's bigger competitor is Ethereum. Ethereum is not wildly energy-efficient as things stand now. That said, Ethereum plans to move to a proof-of-stake algorithm, like Cardano, that would vastly improve its own position. Bitcoin and many other traditional cryptocurrencies use a proof-of-work protocol. This is where miners use high-powered graphics cards or specialized computing rigs to guess at complicated mathematical puzzles. Those with more computing power win more of the puzzles, and thus receive more of the mining reward. What makes proof-of-stake different? Howard Poston, an author for cybersecurity education company Infosec, explains that, for one, proof-of-stake bypasses the computing-intensive mining process. "Proof-of-stake uses its cryptocurrency as a scarce asset. Like putting money into a CD or stocks, stakers promise not to spend their money in exchange for the opportunity to create blocks and earn block rewards. The probability of being selected to create a certain block is roughly proportional to the percentage of the total stake that the user controls," Poston says. Instead of having to spend huge amounts of computing power and ecological resources to maintain the blockchain, proof-of-stake protocols can use a miner's tokens as the collateral that makes the system function. Cardano's Ouroboros was novel in being one of the first successful proof-of-stake protocols that created a realistic alternative to proof-of-work tokens. Proof-of-stake has become so intriguing that even Ethereum may switch to it in coming months. So why don't all cryptocurrencies adopt a proof-of-stake model? One issue is that these systems can concentrate ownership excessively. "Proof-of-stake has issues like the proof-of-stake time bomb. The user with the most staked cryptocurrency will build the most blocks and receive the most block reward. If they constantly reinvest these winnings, they will have an ever-growing percentage of the stake and could eventually control the entire stake," Poston says. This runs contrary to the cryptocurrency community's ethos around distributed authority. Another issue is the so-called "nothing at stake" problem. This makes it easier for users to pollute the blockchain with double votes and other such inaccurate information since there is less penalty for doing so than there would be in a traditional proof-of-work ecosystem such as the one Bitcoin uses. Some purists insist that without proof-of-work, cryptocurrency doesn't solve many of the decentralization problems it was intended to address. However, with figures such as Tesla (ticker: TSLA ) CEO Elon Musk pushing energy usage concerns to the forefront, proof-of-stake just gained a major round of free publicity. And Cardano's Ouroboros looks like one of the most compelling proof-of-stake options available. [ READ: The 5 Best Cryptocurrency Trading Sites. ] Ethereum's Remaining Advantages While Cardano has numerous technical benefits, it may still lose out overall. That's because Ethereum has several key advantages, according to Sarson Funds co-founder and chief marketing officer, Jahon Jamali. "Ethereum enjoys a sizable first-mover advantage against Cardano. While Cardano's focus on academia and non-profits has become its hallmark, the argument can be made that lack of private sector engagement has limited the scope of market driven use-cases. There isn't a major decentralized app of significance building on ADA," Jamali said. Several experts pointed to the technical difficulty of programming for Cardano as opposed to Ethereum. Ethereum's simplicity has allowed it to gain true mass-market adoption. "Cardano may possess some technological advantages, but Ethereum is the only blockchain that is truly enterprise-ready, boasting supporters that include Accenture, FedEx, JP Morgan Chase and Microsoft -- all members of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance," Jamali said. Cardano promises to have a robust smart contract environment that will compete with Ethereum's decentralized finance , or DeFi, platform. However, Cardano isn't in Ethereum's league yet. "When it comes to smart contracts, Ethereum obviously has the edge, for now. Ethereum has an enviable developer community and has built the multi-billion dollar DeFi and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystems. Cardano, on the other hand, still hasn't completely integrated smart contracts. With the Alonzo Blue upgrade, they have initiated the process of smart contract integration. It still remains to be seen if these contracts can be properly implemented in the real world," Tatibouet says. Overall, while Cardano may have superior technical specifications, it will need to gain more real-world utility and adoption before it can overtake Ethereum. [ Read: How to Buy SafeMoon. ] How to Invest in Cardano For people that believe in Cardano's technological advantages, it's not hard to invest in it. The ADA token is listed on many major crypto exchanges and has a huge amount of liquidity and trading volume. Coinbase Global ( COIN ) added support for Cardano in March of this year, giving high-profile validation to the project. In addition to Coinbase, Cardano is heavily traded on Binance, Kraken and Gate.io, among other popular exchanges. Cardano's price has been volatile, both this year, and historically. So potential investors should be aware of that and consider Cardano as part of a broader diversified cryptocurrency portfolio . However, a Cardano investment could make a lot of sense, as it has a real chance to take a chunk of business away from Ethereum. "Cardano can take advantage of Ethereum's bloated gas fees to eventually carve a niche for itself," Tatibouet says. Cardano may not be an overnight success, but it has enough merit to remain a top-tier competitor in crypto. || Coinbase: Decline in Crypto Trading Activity Necessitates a Conservative Outlook: Are the winter clouds gathering in the crypto sphere? While not long ago, Bitcoin and its fellow cryptocurrencies’ hot streak appeared all set to last a while, the rally appears to have lost momentum for now.
The surge’s pause could have a big impact on crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN). At least this is what a recent survey indicates to Mizuho analystDan Dolev.
“Our survey of Bitcoin traders on Coinbase (COIN) reinforces our notion & recent data that 2H21 could see more muted Bitcoin trading activity, with prices remaining below peak levels. As such, we remain cautious on the company's near- to medium-term outlook,” Dolev wrote.
Coinbase’ main revenue driver, says Dolev, is “elevated crypto retail volatility.” And after 1H21’s turbulence, the survey indicates 50% of users intend to hold on to their Bitcoin rather than trade it, which means that the coming months will possibly see volatility levels drop. Recent Coinbase volume data appears to support such a notion.
Looking at the daily trailing 10-day average volumes, the data shows trading activity is currently “trending 35-40% below peak levels.”
The drop in volume goes hand in hand with, if not a bearish, then a less exuberant outlook on where the Bitcoin price is heading, which the survey suggests has “limited near-term upside potential.”
By December, on average, the survey’s respondents put the price of 1 BTC at $42,000, implying upside of 27% from current levels. That’s a solid return but is far below previous assumptions which called for a $100,000 price per Bitcoin by the end of the year. Only 5% now see the price exceeding that figure, while 55% see Bitcoin seeing out the year lower than $40,000. In the meantime, 32% intend on adding to their BTC stack, while 17% are looking to sell theirs.
“In other words,” Dolev summed up, “The survey points to a positive up / down ratio spread of about 15% points in favor of buying.”
As far as COIN stock is concerned, Dolev recommends staying on the sidelines for now. The analyst reiterated a Neutral (i.e. Hold) rating, backed by a $225 price target. The figure suggests the shares will remain range bound for the foreseeable future. (To watch Dolev’s track record,click here)
The rest of the Street, however, appears to believe there’s plenty more upside in store. The $388.86 average price target implies one-year gains of ~76%. The stock currently has a Moderate Buy consensus rating, based on 10 Buys, 4 Holds, and 1 Sell. (See Coinbase stock analysis on TipRanks)
To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment. || Coinbase: Decline in Crypto Trading Activity Necessitates a Conservative Outlook: Are the winter clouds gathering in the crypto sphere? While not long ago, Bitcoin and its fellow cryptocurrencies’ hot streak appeared all set to last a while, the rally appears to have lost momentum for now. The surge’s pause could have a big impact on crypto exchange Coinbase ( COIN ). At least this is what a recent survey indicates to Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev . “Our survey of Bitcoin traders on Coinbase (COIN) reinforces our notion & recent data that 2H21 could see more muted Bitcoin trading activity, with prices remaining below peak levels. As such, we remain cautious on the company's near- to medium-term outlook,” Dolev wrote. Coinbase’ main revenue driver, says Dolev, is “elevated crypto retail volatility.” And after 1H21’s turbulence, the survey indicates 50% of users intend to hold on to their Bitcoin rather than trade it, which means that the coming months will possibly see volatility levels drop. Recent Coinbase volume data appears to support such a notion. Looking at the daily trailing 10-day average volumes, the data shows trading activity is currently “trending 35-40% below peak levels.” The drop in volume goes hand in hand with, if not a bearish, then a less exuberant outlook on where the Bitcoin price is heading, which the survey suggests has “limited near-term upside potential.” By December, on average, the survey’s respondents put the price of 1 BTC at $42,000, implying upside of 27% from current levels. That’s a solid return but is far below previous assumptions which called for a $100,000 price per Bitcoin by the end of the year. Only 5% now see the price exceeding that figure, while 55% see Bitcoin seeing out the year lower than $40,000. In the meantime, 32% intend on adding to their BTC stack, while 17% are looking to sell theirs. “In other words,” Dolev summed up, “The survey points to a positive up / down ratio spread of about 15% points in favor of buying.” As far as COIN stock is concerned, Dolev recommends staying on the sidelines for now. The analyst reiterated a Neutral (i.e. Hold) rating, backed by a $225 price target. The figure suggests the shares will remain range bound for the foreseeable future. (To watch Dolev’s track record, click here ) Story continues The rest of the Street, however, appears to believe there’s plenty more upside in store. The $388.86 average price target implies one-year gains of ~76%. The stock currently has a Moderate Buy consensus rating, based on 10 Buys, 4 Holds, and 1 Sell. ( See Coinbase stock analysis on TipRanks ) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy , a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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36702.60, 37334.40, 35552.52, 39097.86, 40218.48, 40406.27, 38347.06, 38053.50, 35787.25, 35615.87
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 9525.75, 9439.12, 9700.41, 9461.06, 10167.27, 9529.80, 9656.72, 9800.64, 9665.53, 9653.68, 9758.85, 9771.49, 9795.70, 9870.09, 9321.78, 9480.84, 9475.28, 9386.79, 9450.70, 9538.02, 9480.25, 9411.84, 9288.02, 9332.34, 9303.63, 9648.72, 9629.66, 9313.61, 9264.81, 9162.92, 9045.39, 9143.58, 9190.85, 9137.99, 9228.33, 9123.41, 9087.30, 9132.49, 9073.94, 9375.47, 9252.28, 9428.33, 9277.97, 9278.81, 9240.35, 9276.50, 9243.61, 9243.21, 9192.84, 9132.23, 9151.39, 9159.04, 9185.82, 9164.23, 9374.89, 9525.36, 9581.07, 9536.89, 9677.11, 9905.17, 10990.87, 10912.82, 11100.47, 11111.21, 11323.47, 11759.59, 11053.61, 11246.35, 11205.89, 11747.02, 11779.77, 11601.47, 11754.05, 11675.74, 11878.11, 11410.53, 11584.93, 11784.14, 11768.87, 11865.70, 11892.80, 12254.40, 11991.23, 11758.28, 11878.37, 11592.49, 11681.83, 11664.85, 11774.60, 11366.13.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-08-25]
Volume: 26301509932, RSI (14-day): 48.77, 50-day EMA: 10936.02, 200-day EMA: 9487.57
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1911.80, Gold RSI: 46.89
Oil Price: 43.35, Oil RSI: 62.33
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $11.8K; Ethereum Gas at All-Time High: The bitcoin market is experiencing low volume Monday but ether continues to fuel DeFi’s growth.
• Bitcoin(BTC) trading around $11,737 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 0.34% over the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,592-$11,823.
• BTC above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish signal for market technicians.
Read More:Leveraged Funds Take Record Bearish Positions in Bitcoin Futures
Bitcoin’s price opened the week heading higher, hitting $11,823 on Monday before dipping lower. “Bitcoin has settled into a consolidation position at $11,700,” said Daniel Koehler, liquidity manager at cryptocurrency exchanges OKCoin. “It appears that traders are waiting for better fills at $11,000,” he added.
Related:First Mover: Ether Price Swings Make Bitcoin Look Tame as DeFi Speculation Spreads
Darius Sit, managing partner of quantitative trading firm QCP Capital, expects the final full week of August to be quieter than earlier in the month, when the world’s oldest cryptocurrency hit a 2020 high of $12,485 on spot exchanges like Coinbase.
Read More:Bitcoin Surges Past $12,000 to New 2020 High
“One thing we were looking at is that August tends to be a weak month for both BTC and ETH,” said Sit. “So if that seasonality plays out, this last week of August might see some weakness.”
Spot volumes on major BTC/USD exchanges Monday are low. For Luxembourg-based Bitstamp, for example, it was just $27 million, well below its $91 million daily average.
Related:Blockchain Project Qtum Moves to Boost Network Participation With Offline Staking
Interestingly, there are more addresses now with 1,000 or more bitcoin than ever before. The count of those onthe “Bitcoin Rich List” has reached a high of 2,190. Those addresses hold nearly 7.87 million BTC, the equivalent of $92.2 billion.
Nonetheless, many stakeholders who are usually bullish are expecting some retrenchment from bitcoin’s price gains, including Rupert Douglas, head of institutional trading for digital asset broker Koine. “We’ve come a long way quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised by a pause or a pullback,” Douglas said. OKcoin’s Koehler echoed that sentiment. “Momentum is still signaling bullish, but it’s unclear if we should test the $10,000 breakout area before moving higher,” said.
Douglas also notedether(ETH) continues to steal bitcoin’s spotlight. “Overall, ETH is stronger and I think will continue to outperform BTC,” he said.
Read More:Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up Monday, trading around $401 and climbing 2.1% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).
Read More:Ether Volatility Now Highest in Six Months Compared With Bitcoin’s
The amount of “gas” used, denoted in gwei, worth 0.000000001 ether on the Ethereum network, hit an all-time high Sunday, reaching 79,294,213,632 gwei, according to aggregator Glassnode. A unit of measure to execute operations on the network, gas is used within Ethereum to conduct transactions or use smart contracts. The record amount of gas used is viewed as a sign that Ethereum’s utility for decentralized finance, or DeFi, is higher than ever.
However, George Clayton, managing partner of Cryptanalysis CapitaI, has concerns whether Ethereum’s heavy usage can be sustained given that average fees for using the network have gone as high as $6.68 in August. “I think the gas issue is leaving Ethereum vulnerable,” he said, “vulnerable to competing smart contract public blockchains. Something has to give.”
Digital assets on theCoinDesk 20are mostly green Monday. Notable winners as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• tezos(XYT) + 5.5%
• bitcoin sv(BSV) + 3.7%
• monero(XMR) + 2.4%
Read More:Binance Taps DeFi Excitement to ‘Fuel’ Expansion Strategy in India
Notable losers as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• qtum(QTUM) – 5.3%
• basic attention token(BAT) – 4.2%
• decred(DCR) – 3.1%
Read More:Anything-Goes Token Market Repudiates Rich-Only Venture Capital Club
Equities:
• Asia’s Nikkei 225 ended the day up 0.28%,led by Nintendo, which rose 4.79%. Concerns over the health of Japan’s prime minister damped sentiment.
• Europe’s FTSE 100 closed in the green 1.7% asoptimism for a coronavirus vaccine treatment boosted the index.
• The United States’ S&P 500 gained 0.80%,hitting an all-time high thanks to stocks in the tech and travel sectors.
Read More:No Collateral Required: How Aave Brought Unsecured Borrowing to DeFi
Commodities:
• Oil is up 0.29%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $42.39.
• Gold was in the red 0.64% and at $1,926 as of press time.
Read More:Leveraged Funds Take Record Bearish Positions in Bitcoin Futures
Treasurys:
• U.S. Treasury bonds all climbed Monday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were up most on the two-year, in the green 8.4%.
Read More:Over $1M in Ryuk Ransomware Bitcoin Was ‘Cashed Out’ on Binance: Report
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $11.8K; Ethereum Gas at All-Time High
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $11.8K; Ethereum Gas at All-Time High || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $11.8K; Ethereum Gas at All-Time High: The bitcoin market is experiencing low volume Monday but ether continues to fuel DeFi’s growth.
• Bitcoin(BTC) trading around $11,737 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 0.34% over the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,592-$11,823.
• BTC above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish signal for market technicians.
Read More:Leveraged Funds Take Record Bearish Positions in Bitcoin Futures
Bitcoin’s price opened the week heading higher, hitting $11,823 on Monday before dipping lower. “Bitcoin has settled into a consolidation position at $11,700,” said Daniel Koehler, liquidity manager at cryptocurrency exchanges OKCoin. “It appears that traders are waiting for better fills at $11,000,” he added.
Related:First Mover: Ether Price Swings Make Bitcoin Look Tame as DeFi Speculation Spreads
Darius Sit, managing partner of quantitative trading firm QCP Capital, expects the final full week of August to be quieter than earlier in the month, when the world’s oldest cryptocurrency hit a 2020 high of $12,485 on spot exchanges like Coinbase.
Read More:Bitcoin Surges Past $12,000 to New 2020 High
“One thing we were looking at is that August tends to be a weak month for both BTC and ETH,” said Sit. “So if that seasonality plays out, this last week of August might see some weakness.”
Spot volumes on major BTC/USD exchanges Monday are low. For Luxembourg-based Bitstamp, for example, it was just $27 million, well below its $91 million daily average.
Related:Blockchain Project Qtum Moves to Boost Network Participation With Offline Staking
Interestingly, there are more addresses now with 1,000 or more bitcoin than ever before. The count of those onthe “Bitcoin Rich List” has reached a high of 2,190. Those addresses hold nearly 7.87 million BTC, the equivalent of $92.2 billion.
Nonetheless, many stakeholders who are usually bullish are expecting some retrenchment from bitcoin’s price gains, including Rupert Douglas, head of institutional trading for digital asset broker Koine. “We’ve come a long way quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised by a pause or a pullback,” Douglas said. OKcoin’s Koehler echoed that sentiment. “Momentum is still signaling bullish, but it’s unclear if we should test the $10,000 breakout area before moving higher,” said.
Douglas also notedether(ETH) continues to steal bitcoin’s spotlight. “Overall, ETH is stronger and I think will continue to outperform BTC,” he said.
Read More:Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up Monday, trading around $401 and climbing 2.1% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).
Read More:Ether Volatility Now Highest in Six Months Compared With Bitcoin’s
The amount of “gas” used, denoted in gwei, worth 0.000000001 ether on the Ethereum network, hit an all-time high Sunday, reaching 79,294,213,632 gwei, according to aggregator Glassnode. A unit of measure to execute operations on the network, gas is used within Ethereum to conduct transactions or use smart contracts. The record amount of gas used is viewed as a sign that Ethereum’s utility for decentralized finance, or DeFi, is higher than ever.
However, George Clayton, managing partner of Cryptanalysis CapitaI, has concerns whether Ethereum’s heavy usage can be sustained given that average fees for using the network have gone as high as $6.68 in August. “I think the gas issue is leaving Ethereum vulnerable,” he said, “vulnerable to competing smart contract public blockchains. Something has to give.”
Digital assets on theCoinDesk 20are mostly green Monday. Notable winners as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• tezos(XYT) + 5.5%
• bitcoin sv(BSV) + 3.7%
• monero(XMR) + 2.4%
Read More:Binance Taps DeFi Excitement to ‘Fuel’ Expansion Strategy in India
Notable losers as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• qtum(QTUM) – 5.3%
• basic attention token(BAT) – 4.2%
• decred(DCR) – 3.1%
Read More:Anything-Goes Token Market Repudiates Rich-Only Venture Capital Club
Equities:
• Asia’s Nikkei 225 ended the day up 0.28%,led by Nintendo, which rose 4.79%. Concerns over the health of Japan’s prime minister damped sentiment.
• Europe’s FTSE 100 closed in the green 1.7% asoptimism for a coronavirus vaccine treatment boosted the index.
• The United States’ S&P 500 gained 0.80%,hitting an all-time high thanks to stocks in the tech and travel sectors.
Read More:No Collateral Required: How Aave Brought Unsecured Borrowing to DeFi
Commodities:
• Oil is up 0.29%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $42.39.
• Gold was in the red 0.64% and at $1,926 as of press time.
Read More:Leveraged Funds Take Record Bearish Positions in Bitcoin Futures
Treasurys:
• U.S. Treasury bonds all climbed Monday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were up most on the two-year, in the green 8.4%.
Read More:Over $1M in Ryuk Ransomware Bitcoin Was ‘Cashed Out’ on Binance: Report
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $11.8K; Ethereum Gas at All-Time High
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $11.8K; Ethereum Gas at All-Time High || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $11.8K; Ethereum Gas at All-Time High: The bitcoin market is experiencing low volume Monday but ether continues to fuel DeFi’s growth. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $11,737 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 0.34% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,592-$11,823. BTC above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish signal for market technicians. Read More: Leveraged Funds Take Record Bearish Positions in Bitcoin Futures Bitcoin’s price opened the week heading higher, hitting $11,823 on Monday before dipping lower. “Bitcoin has settled into a consolidation position at $11,700,” said Daniel Koehler, liquidity manager at cryptocurrency exchanges OKCoin. “It appears that traders are waiting for better fills at $11,000,” he added. Related: First Mover: Ether Price Swings Make Bitcoin Look Tame as DeFi Speculation Spreads Darius Sit, managing partner of quantitative trading firm QCP Capital, expects the final full week of August to be quieter than earlier in the month, when the world’s oldest cryptocurrency hit a 2020 high of $12,485 on spot exchanges like Coinbase. Read More: Bitcoin Surges Past $12,000 to New 2020 High “One thing we were looking at is that August tends to be a weak month for both BTC and ETH,” said Sit. “So if that seasonality plays out, this last week of August might see some weakness.” Spot volumes on major BTC/USD exchanges Monday are low. For Luxembourg-based Bitstamp, for example, it was just $27 million, well below its $91 million daily average. Related: Blockchain Project Qtum Moves to Boost Network Participation With Offline Staking Interestingly, there are more addresses now with 1,000 or more bitcoin than ever before. The count of those on the “Bitcoin Rich List” has reached a high of 2,190 . Those addresses hold nearly 7.87 million BTC, the equivalent of $92.2 billion. Nonetheless, many stakeholders who are usually bullish are expecting some retrenchment from bitcoin’s price gains, including Rupert Douglas, head of institutional trading for digital asset broker Koine. “We’ve come a long way quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised by a pause or a pullback,” Douglas said. OKcoin’s Koehler echoed that sentiment. “Momentum is still signaling bullish, but it’s unclear if we should test the $10,000 breakout area before moving higher,” said. Story continues Douglas also noted ether (ETH) continues to steal bitcoin’s spotlight. “Overall, ETH is stronger and I think will continue to outperform BTC,” he said. Read More: Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online Into the ether Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was up Monday, trading around $401 and climbing 2.1% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). Read More: Ether Volatility Now Highest in Six Months Compared With Bitcoin’s The amount of “gas” used, denoted in gwei, worth 0.000000001 ether on the Ethereum network, hit an all-time high Sunday, reaching 79,294,213,632 gwei, according to aggregator Glassnode. A unit of measure to execute operations on the network, gas is used within Ethereum to conduct transactions or use smart contracts. The record amount of gas used is viewed as a sign that Ethereum’s utility for decentralized finance, or DeFi, is higher than ever. However, George Clayton, managing partner of Cryptanalysis CapitaI, has concerns whether Ethereum’s heavy usage can be sustained given that average fees for using the network have gone as high as $6.68 in August. “I think the gas issue is leaving Ethereum vulnerable,” he said, “vulnerable to competing smart contract public blockchains. Something has to give.” Other markets Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are mostly green Monday. Notable winners as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): tezos (XYT) + 5.5% bitcoin sv (BSV) + 3.7% monero (XMR) + 2.4% Read More: Binance Taps DeFi Excitement to ‘Fuel’ Expansion Strategy in India Notable losers as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): qtum (QTUM) – 5.3% basic attention token (BAT) – 4.2% decred (DCR) – 3.1% Read More: Anything-Goes Token Market Repudiates Rich-Only Venture Capital Club Equities: Asia’s Nikkei 225 ended the day up 0.28%, led by Nintendo, which rose 4.79%. Concerns over the health of Japan’s prime minister damped sentiment . Europe’s FTSE 100 closed in the green 1.7% as optimism for a coronavirus vaccine treatment boosted the index . The United States’ S&P 500 gained 0.80%, hitting an all-time high thanks to stocks in the tech and travel sectors . Read More: No Collateral Required: How Aave Brought Unsecured Borrowing to DeFi Commodities: Oil is up 0.29%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $42.39. Gold was in the red 0.64% and at $1,926 as of press time. Read More: Leveraged Funds Take Record Bearish Positions in Bitcoin Futures Treasurys: U.S. Treasury bonds all climbed Monday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were up most on the two-year, in the green 8.4%. Read More: Over $1M in Ryuk Ransomware Bitcoin Was ‘Cashed Out’ on Binance: Report Related Stories Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $11.8K; Ethereum Gas at All-Time High Market Wrap: Bitcoin Hits $11.8K; Ethereum Gas at All-Time High || Top-Performing ETFs of Last Week: Wall Street was moderate last week with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gaining about 0.7% and 2.7%, respectively, and the Dow Jones witnessing no movement. While the reopening of economies boosted risk-on sentiments,the Fed’s somber outlook on the coronavirus-stricken economy gave it a boost.
On policy matters, the Fed committee members expressed skepticism over using bond purchases to control the government bond yield curve, per CNBC. As a result, post meeting, the benchmark 10-year U.S. treasury yield gained by one bps to 0.68% on Aug 19 from a day earlier. The yield on two-year treasuries was steady at 0.14%. Overall, the yield curve slightly steepened on Aug 19.
Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few ETF areas that won big time last week.
Barclays Inverse U.S. Treasury Aggregate ETN (TAPR)– Up 17.4%
TAPR’s index uses an equal-weighting scheme for short positions in a variety of U.S. Treasury futures contracts: 2 year, 5 year, 10 year, long bond and ultra long. The note will gain in value if prices of Treasuries fall (and rates rise) across the yield curve. The Fed’s reluctance toward yield curve control steepened it slightly and boosted the fund.
MicroSectors FANG+ ETN (FNGS)– Up 7.8%
MicroSectors ETNs provide efficient and cost-effective access to concentrated sectors of the market. The FANG+ lineup provides +3x leveraged exposure to -3x inverse leveraged exposure to NYSE FANG+ Index performance. The fund has considerable exposure to Tesla. The stock gained 11.7% last week and hence the gains in GNGS are self-explanatory.
Consumer Cyclicals ETFPEZ – Up 7.7%
The underlying DWA Consumer Cyclicals Technical Leaders Index identifies companies that are showing relative strength and are composed of at least 30 common stocks from a universe of approximately 3,000 common stocks traded on U.S. exchanges. PEZ charges investors 60 basis points in fee per year.
The consumer cyclical sector has been performing well lately on economic reopening hopes. A potential vaccine, a decline in virus-related hospitalizations in Texas and California, a likely recovery in 2021 and better-than-expected earnings have been driving the space.
ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector ETFARKG – Up 7.5%
Companies within ARKG benefit from enhancing the quality of human and other life by incorporating technological and scientific developments, and advancements in genomics into their business. Development in the area of antibody treatment and vaccine has been encouraging. So, the combination of technology, healthcare and genomics made this fund a winner amid COVID-19 outbreak.
Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETFBLCN – Up 6.3%
The underlying Reality Shares Nasdaq Blockchain Economy Index was created through a partnership between Reality Shares and Nasdaq, and constitutes the joint research, analysis and investigation of both groups on the emerging development of blockchain technology. The crypto market as a whole has enjoyed tremendous momentum.
Per a market source, “the blockchain in Bitcoin literally acts [as] a ledger; it keeps track of the balances for all users and updates them as money changes hands.” So, an improvement in the bitcoin market has helped blockchain too (read: Will Blockbuster Rally Of Bitcoin Last? ETFs In Focus).
Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportInvesco DWA Consumer Cyclicals Momentum ETF (PEZ): ETF Research ReportsBarclays Inverse US Treasury Composite ETN (TAPR): ETF Research ReportsReality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (BLCN): ETF Research ReportsARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG): ETF Research ReportsMICRSFANG (FNGS): ETF Research ReportsTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report || Top-Performing ETFs of Last Week: Wall Street was moderate last week with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gaining about 0.7% and 2.7%, respectively, and the Dow Jones witnessing no movement. While the reopening of economies boosted risk-on sentiments,the Fed’s somber outlook on the coronavirus-stricken economy gave it a boost. On policy matters, the Fed committee members expressed skepticism over using bond purchases to control the government bond yield curve, per CNBC. As a result, post meeting, the benchmark 10-year U.S. treasury yield gained by one bps to 0.68% on Aug 19 from a day earlier. The yield on two-year treasuries was steady at 0.14%. Overall, the yield curve slightly steepened on Aug 19. Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few ETF areas that won big time last week. Barclays Inverse U.S. Treasury Aggregate ETN ( TAPR ) – Up 17.4% TAPR’s index uses an equal-weighting scheme for short positions in a variety of U.S. Treasury futures contracts: 2 year, 5 year, 10 year, long bond and ultra long. The note will gain in value if prices of Treasuries fall (and rates rise) across the yield curve. The Fed’s reluctance toward yield curve control steepened it slightly and boosted the fund. MicroSectors FANG+ ETN ( FNGS ) – Up 7.8% MicroSectors ETNs provide efficient and cost-effective access to concentrated sectors of the market. The FANG+ lineup provides +3x leveraged exposure to -3x inverse leveraged exposure to NYSE FANG+ Index performance. The fund has considerable exposure to Tesla. The stock gained 11.7% last week and hence the gains in GNGS are self-explanatory. Consumer Cyclicals ETF PEZ – Up 7.7% The underlying DWA Consumer Cyclicals Technical Leaders Index identifies companies that are showing relative strength and are composed of at least 30 common stocks from a universe of approximately 3,000 common stocks traded on U.S. exchanges. PEZ charges investors 60 basis points in fee per year. The consumer cyclical sector has been performing well lately on economic reopening hopes. A potential vaccine, a decline in virus-related hospitalizations in Texas and California, a likely recovery in 2021 and better-than-expected earnings have been driving the space. Story continues ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector ETF ARKG – Up 7.5% Companies within ARKG benefit from enhancing the quality of human and other life by incorporating technological and scientific developments, and advancements in genomics into their business. Development in the area of antibody treatment and vaccine has been encouraging. So, the combination of technology, healthcare and genomics made this fund a winner amid COVID-19 outbreak. Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF BLCN – Up 6.3% The underlying Reality Shares Nasdaq Blockchain Economy Index was created through a partnership between Reality Shares and Nasdaq, and constitutes the joint research, analysis and investigation of both groups on the emerging development of blockchain technology. The crypto market as a whole has enjoyed tremendous momentum. Per a market source, “the blockchain in Bitcoin literally acts [as] a ledger; it keeps track of the balances for all users and updates them as money changes hands.” So, an improvement in the bitcoin market has helped blockchain too (read: Will Blockbuster Rally Of Bitcoin Last? ETFs In Focus). Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox? Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Invesco DWA Consumer Cyclicals Momentum ETF (PEZ): ETF Research Reports Barclays Inverse US Treasury Composite ETN (TAPR): ETF Research Reports Reality Shares Nasdaq NexGen Economy ETF (BLCN): ETF Research Reports ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG): ETF Research Reports MICRSFANG (FNGS): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report || Why bitcoin and altcoins are hot again this summer: In cryptocurrency markets, it feels like 2017 again. Bitcoin ( BTC ) is up 35% since Memorial Day, and 133% since March 15, the date when widespread U.S. closures of schools and businesses began. That has helped bitcoin rebound to 64% up for the year so far, after crashing in March along with stocks . Thats better than double the gains of the Nasdaq, which is up 26% for the year. The S&P 500 is up only 5% for the year, and the Dow is still negative (down 1.2%) in 2020. Bitcoin was around $6,500 on March 24. Five months later, its near $12,000. The gains by so-called altcoins have been even more impressiveor alarming. Ether ( ETH ), the token of the Ethereum network and the No. 2 cryptocurrency by market cap, is up 210% in 2020. Stellar Lumens ( XLM ), token of the Stellar network , is up 130%. Cardano ( ADA ) is up 274%. Algorand ( ALGO ) is up 200%. Dogecoin ( DOGE ), a meme-based cryptocurrency with no business purpose, is up 68%. Youd be excused for not having heard of many of those tokens, even if you follow bitcoin prices. Some crypto onlookers fear that the huge gains for no-name coins signal another risky bubble akin to 2017. Coin Telegraph is calling this summer a new altseason. CoinDesk on Monday called it an anything-goes token market. Andy Bromberg, president of Coinlist, which vets and lists new token sales, sees glimmers of 2017, but thinks this period might be different. Near, a new token that offered its initial sale through Coinlist, had so much demand it crashed the site. Theres some great stuff happening, and things that are compelling and have legitimate long term promise, but also there are a lot of people who just see an opportunity to grab cash, says Bromberg. Just like in 2017, its really hard to vet these things. Some are obviously idiotic. The noise comes along with the signal. So as an investor in the space, you should be cautious, because the more good things that come out, the more scammy things come out too. But you should also be excited. Story continues An Uber Eats courier wearing a protective mask passes in front of a Bitcoin exchange shop in Krakow's city center on April 18, 2020, in Krakow, Poland. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Now to the obvious question: Is the rise in crypto prices thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic? Cryptocurrency investors are saying yesin part. Most of them point to the actions of the Federal Reserve, and of other central banks globally, as fuel for the appeal of bitcoin as a hedge. (Gold, a more mainstream hedge, is up 29% in 2020.) Theres so many uncertainties in this pandemic, but one thing that seems almost assured is when you print trillions of dollars more paper money, its going to drive up bitcoin and other cyptocurrencies, says Dan Morehead, CEO of crypto investment firm Pantera Capital. Golds going to go up, bitcoins going to go up. It is a hedge to paper currency being debased. Panteras digital asset fund is up 130% in 2020, and Morehead believes that in the next year, The non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies will outperform bitcoin. In the same spirit, Pantera still believes in ICOs (initial coin offerings), the token sales that exploded in 2017 , then shrunk after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018 made clear it saw most ICOs as unregistered securities offerings . We have a fund that invests in pre-auction ICOs, and instead of seeing 50 white papers a week like we were doing at the peak in 2017, we invest in one or two every quarter. So the market is still there, its just much more selective. It also helps bitcoin when mainstream Wall Street names voice public support. In May, Paul Tudor Jones surprised skeptics when he said that he sees bitcoin as a great speculation and has moved 2% of his hedge funds money into bitcoin. That stands in direct contrast to Warren Buffetts staunch view of bitcoin speculation: That is not investing . Daniel Roberts is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance and closely covers bitcoin and blockchain. Follow him on Twitter at @ readDanwrite . Read more: Bitcoin scams on Twitter are nothing newand they work Former CFTC chair says Ripple's XRP token is not a securitybut Ripple is his client What the third bitcoin halving means for crypto investors Fed Chair Jay Powell grilled on Chinas cryptocurrency plans and U.S. response Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian: We are entering a 'crypto spring' || Why bitcoin and altcoins are hot again this summer: In cryptocurrency markets, it feels like 2017 again.
Bitcoin (BTC) is up 35% since Memorial Day, and 133% since March 15, the date when widespread U.S. closures of schools and businesses began. That has helped bitcoin rebound to 64% up for the year so far, aftercrashing in March along with stocks. That’s better than double the gains of the Nasdaq, which is up 26% for the year. The S&P 500 is up only 5% for the year, and the Dow is still negative (down 1.2%) in 2020. Bitcoin was around $6,500 on March 24. Five months later, it’s near $12,000.
The gains by so-called “altcoins” have been even more impressive—or alarming. Ether (ETH), the token of the Ethereum network and the No. 2 cryptocurrency by market cap, is up 210% in 2020. Stellar Lumens (XLM), token of theStellar network, is up 130%. Cardano (ADA) is up 274%. Algorand (ALGO) is up 200%. Dogecoin (DOGE), ameme-based cryptocurrencywith no business purpose, is up 68%.
You’d be excused for not having heard of many of those tokens, even if you follow bitcoin prices. Some crypto onlookers fear that the huge gains for no-name coins signal another risky bubble akin to 2017.Coin Telegraphis calling this summer a new “altseason.”CoinDeskon Monday called it an “anything-goes token market.”
Andy Bromberg, president of Coinlist, which vets and lists new token sales, sees glimmers of 2017, but thinks this period might be different. Near, a new token that offered its initial sale through Coinlist, had so much demand it crashed the site.
“There’s some great stuff happening, and things that are compelling and have legitimate long term promise, but also there are a lot of people who just see an opportunity to grab cash,” says Bromberg. “Just like in 2017, it’s really hard to vet these things. Some are obviously idiotic. The noise comes along with the signal. So as an investor in the space, you should be cautious, because the more good things that come out, the more scammy things come out too. But you should also be excited.”
Now to the obvious question: Is the rise in crypto prices thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Cryptocurrency investors are saying yes—in part. Most of them point to the actions of the Federal Reserve, and of other central banks globally, as fuel for the appeal of bitcoin as a hedge. (Gold, a more mainstream hedge, is up 29% in 2020.)
“There’s so many uncertainties in this pandemic, but one thing that seems almost assured is when you print trillions of dollars more paper money, it’s going to drive up bitcoin and other cyptocurrencies,” says Dan Morehead, CEO of crypto investment firm Pantera Capital. “Gold’s going to go up, bitcoin’s going to go up. It is a hedge to paper currency being debased.”
Pantera’s digital asset fund is up 130% in 2020, and Morehead believes that in the next year, “The non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies will outperform bitcoin.”
In the same spirit, Pantera still believes in ICOs (initial coin offerings), the token sales thatexploded in 2017, then shrunk after theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2018 made clear it saw most ICOs as unregistered securities offerings. “We have a fund that invests in pre-auction ICOs, and instead of seeing 50 white papers a week like we were doing at the peak in 2017, we invest in one or two every quarter. So the market is still there, it’s just much more selective.”
It also helps bitcoin when mainstream Wall Street names voice public support. In May, Paul Tudor Jones surprised skeptics when he said that he sees bitcoin as “a great speculation” and has moved 2% of his hedge fund’s money into bitcoin. That stands in direct contrast to Warren Buffett’s staunch view of bitcoin speculation: “That is not investing.”
—
Daniel Roberts is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance and closely covers bitcoin and blockchain. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
Read more:
Bitcoin scams on Twitter are nothing new—and they work
Former CFTC chair says Ripple's XRP token is not a security—but Ripple is his client
What the third bitcoin halving means for crypto investors
Fed Chair Jay Powell grilled on China’s cryptocurrency plans and U.S. response
Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian: We are entering a 'crypto spring' || Blockchain Bites: Aave’s Advance, BitMEX’s Block, Turkey’s Bitcoin Trot: A branch of the Fed is looking at 30 blockchain networks to possibly support a “digital dollar,” Turkey is experiencing abitcoinbull run and the Aave protocol has taken a leap forward for DeFi.
You’re readingBlockchain Bites, the daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news, and why they’re significant. You can subscribe to this and all of CoinDesk’snewsletters here.
“Can’t stop the nodl”Turkey is experiencing a dollarization crisis anda bitcoin bull run, exchange volume data reveals. BTCTurk, the largest crypto exchange in Istanbul, has seen volumes roughly quadrupled over the past year, attracting roughly 100,000 active monthly users by July 2020 out of nearly one million accounts, CoinDesk’s Leigh Cuen reports. “August might be the highest volume ever and the highest level of registrations in any month this year,” CEO Ozgur Güneri said. “This also correlates to the volatility in prices.”
Related:First Mover: Anything-Goes Token Market Repudiates Rich-Only Venture Capital Club
Digital dollarsThe Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, one of 12 regional Federal Reserve banks operating under the U.S. central bank, isevaluating more than 30 different blockchain networksto determine if they would support a digital dollar, CoinDesk’s Nikhilesh De reports. This follows on news from earlier this month the Boston Fed is actively testing a tokenized version of the U.S. dollar with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Digital Currency Initiative, looking at how it might complement the existing greenback.
BitMEX blockedCrypto derivatives exchangeBitMEX will block users in the Canadian province of Ontariobeginning in September. Without going into detail, the exchange said it was “mandated” by the state’s securities regulator, the Ontario Securities Commission. Existing positions may run till Jan. 4, 2021, but no new contracts will be filled. The news comes as the sometimes controversial exchange moves to become more compliant with regulators, having brought in compulsory “know-your-customer” verification procedures earlier this month, CoinDesk News Editor Daniel Palmer reports.
Wandering yuan?China’s central bank said experiments of its digital yuan projectonly involve small retail transactions. The statement, from a People’s Bank of China employee, came after rumors of a Shenzhen house sale conducted through the DCEP (digital currency, electronic payment). The seller had been paid with a large amount of the digital currency, but was unable to convert it into the traditional version of the currency, Chinese news source Global Times reported. The PBoC employee later told news source Sina scenarios involving larger-sized transactions during the pilot period are not yet being addressed.
Mining newsEnegix may become one of the largestbitcoinmining facilities in the world if it opens in September. The 180 megawatt (MW) data center will be able to support 50,000 mining rigs, according to sales director Dmitriy Ivanov. Assuming full capacity with Bitmain’s AntMiner S19 series or MicroBT’s WhatsMiner M30, they could produce mining power of about 5-6 EH/s –approximately 4% of bitcoin’s current hashrate, CoinDesk’s Paddy Baker reports. The $23 million project would draw as much electricity as 180,000 U.S. homes and employ about 160 people in Kazakhstan. Separately, Nasdaq-listed Marathon Patent Group has deployedtwo shipments of mining machines, increasing the company’s hashrate by 130 petahash per second to 186 petahash per second.
• Barstool’s Dave Portnoy IsBad at TradingCryptocurrency (Zack Voell/CoinDesk)
• Money Reimagined:DeFi-ing History(Michael Casey/CoinDesk)
• People Aren’t Buying the “Great American Recovery” Narrative (Nathaniel Whittemore/The Breakdown)
• “Yield farming”is flashy, but in some ways it resembles what’s happening in traditional markets (Frank Chaparro/The Block)
• BinanceTaps DeFi Excitementto “Fuel” Expansion Strategy in India (Leigh Cuen/CoinDesk)
Related:Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Weary Bulls, ETC's Action Plan, INX's IPO
Aave advancesAave, a DeFi money market protocol,has brought unsecured borrowing to decentralized finance(DeFi). CoinDesk’s Brady Dale reports the protocol’s credit delegation function is live, allowing users with collateral on Aave to delegate their credit line to a third party they trust, earning a cut of the interest. Aave, like most other DeFi protocols, had allowed users to earn interest on cryptocurrency and borrow against it. Unsecured borrowing represents “a significant shift for DeFi lending, which until now has been predicated on only one of the traditional “four C’s” of credit: collateral,” he writes, (“capacity,” “capital” and “character” were the remaining three).
What people are saying:“I think it’s healthy and natural to experiment around these models. But they do have a lot of risks around them, for obvious reasons, if the assets can’t be recovered in time for the primary owner,” Joseph Kelly, CEO of Unchained Capital, a company that writes loans against bitcoin collateral.
Bitcoin up, dollar downBitcoin wasup slightly at about $11,776 early Monday, rising along with European equities, stock futures, gold, copper and oil amid market optimism, CoinDesk’s First Mover reports. The dollar weakened. Prices have now spent 27 straight days above $10,000, the third-longest period in the five-digit zone in bitcoin’s 11-year history. According to Cryptoslate, the streak suggests “$10,000 as strong support, which typically is a positive medium-term sign.”
Bearish betsBearish bets inbitcoin futures from leveraged funds hit record highson the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole said. Last week, leveraged funds increased their short positions by 110% to a record high of 14,100 contracts, according to a Commitment of Traders (COT) report published by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday. Crypto derivatives research firm Skew suggests these short positions are “a function of attractive cash and carry levels,” an arbitrage strategy.
Crypto Long & ShortIt wasn’t just Coinbase alum Brian Brooks, now head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), who wanted to open the possibility for banks to custody crypto – the OCC had been looking at this for some time. CoinDesk Head of Research Noelle Acheson looks at the growing number of regulators and politicians – including from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Congress – trying to “support crypto innovation while protecting investors for longer than many realize.” Thus, “the OCC’s recent bold move is probably not the only welcome surprise we’ll see from an official body this year,” she writes.
Yielding curvesOn the latest Long Reads Sunday podcast, Nathaniel Whittemore looks at markets’ reaction to Federal Reserveminutes suggesting yield curve control is off the table.
• Blockchain Bites: Aave’s Advance, BitMEX’s Block, Turkey’s Bitcoin Trot
• Blockchain Bites: Aave’s Advance, BitMEX’s Block, Turkey’s Bitcoin Trot || Blockchain Bites: Aave’s Advance, BitMEX’s Block, Turkey’s Bitcoin Trot: A branch of the Fed is looking at 30 blockchain networks to possibly support a “digital dollar,” Turkey is experiencing abitcoinbull run and the Aave protocol has taken a leap forward for DeFi.
You’re readingBlockchain Bites, the daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news, and why they’re significant. You can subscribe to this and all of CoinDesk’snewsletters here.
“Can’t stop the nodl”Turkey is experiencing a dollarization crisis anda bitcoin bull run, exchange volume data reveals. BTCTurk, the largest crypto exchange in Istanbul, has seen volumes roughly quadrupled over the past year, attracting roughly 100,000 active monthly users by July 2020 out of nearly one million accounts, CoinDesk’s Leigh Cuen reports. “August might be the highest volume ever and the highest level of registrations in any month this year,” CEO Ozgur Güneri said. “This also correlates to the volatility in prices.”
Related:First Mover: Anything-Goes Token Market Repudiates Rich-Only Venture Capital Club
Digital dollarsThe Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, one of 12 regional Federal Reserve banks operating under the U.S. central bank, isevaluating more than 30 different blockchain networksto determine if they would support a digital dollar, CoinDesk’s Nikhilesh De reports. This follows on news from earlier this month the Boston Fed is actively testing a tokenized version of the U.S. dollar with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Digital Currency Initiative, looking at how it might complement the existing greenback.
BitMEX blockedCrypto derivatives exchangeBitMEX will block users in the Canadian province of Ontariobeginning in September. Without going into detail, the exchange said it was “mandated” by the state’s securities regulator, the Ontario Securities Commission. Existing positions may run till Jan. 4, 2021, but no new contracts will be filled. The news comes as the sometimes controversial exchange moves to become more compliant with regulators, having brought in compulsory “know-your-customer” verification procedures earlier this month, CoinDesk News Editor Daniel Palmer reports.
Wandering yuan?China’s central bank said experiments of its digital yuan projectonly involve small retail transactions. The statement, from a People’s Bank of China employee, came after rumors of a Shenzhen house sale conducted through the DCEP (digital currency, electronic payment). The seller had been paid with a large amount of the digital currency, but was unable to convert it into the traditional version of the currency, Chinese news source Global Times reported. The PBoC employee later told news source Sina scenarios involving larger-sized transactions during the pilot period are not yet being addressed.
Mining newsEnegix may become one of the largestbitcoinmining facilities in the world if it opens in September. The 180 megawatt (MW) data center will be able to support 50,000 mining rigs, according to sales director Dmitriy Ivanov. Assuming full capacity with Bitmain’s AntMiner S19 series or MicroBT’s WhatsMiner M30, they could produce mining power of about 5-6 EH/s –approximately 4% of bitcoin’s current hashrate, CoinDesk’s Paddy Baker reports. The $23 million project would draw as much electricity as 180,000 U.S. homes and employ about 160 people in Kazakhstan. Separately, Nasdaq-listed Marathon Patent Group has deployedtwo shipments of mining machines, increasing the company’s hashrate by 130 petahash per second to 186 petahash per second.
• Barstool’s Dave Portnoy IsBad at TradingCryptocurrency (Zack Voell/CoinDesk)
• Money Reimagined:DeFi-ing History(Michael Casey/CoinDesk)
• People Aren’t Buying the “Great American Recovery” Narrative (Nathaniel Whittemore/The Breakdown)
• “Yield farming”is flashy, but in some ways it resembles what’s happening in traditional markets (Frank Chaparro/The Block)
• BinanceTaps DeFi Excitementto “Fuel” Expansion Strategy in India (Leigh Cuen/CoinDesk)
Related:Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Weary Bulls, ETC's Action Plan, INX's IPO
Aave advancesAave, a DeFi money market protocol,has brought unsecured borrowing to decentralized finance(DeFi). CoinDesk’s Brady Dale reports the protocol’s credit delegation function is live, allowing users with collateral on Aave to delegate their credit line to a third party they trust, earning a cut of the interest. Aave, like most other DeFi protocols, had allowed users to earn interest on cryptocurrency and borrow against it. Unsecured borrowing represents “a significant shift for DeFi lending, which until now has been predicated on only one of the traditional “four C’s” of credit: collateral,” he writes, (“capacity,” “capital” and “character” were the remaining three).
What people are saying:“I think it’s healthy and natural to experiment around these models. But they do have a lot of risks around them, for obvious reasons, if the assets can’t be recovered in time for the primary owner,” Joseph Kelly, CEO of Unchained Capital, a company that writes loans against bitcoin collateral.
Bitcoin up, dollar downBitcoin wasup slightly at about $11,776 early Monday, rising along with European equities, stock futures, gold, copper and oil amid market optimism, CoinDesk’s First Mover reports. The dollar weakened. Prices have now spent 27 straight days above $10,000, the third-longest period in the five-digit zone in bitcoin’s 11-year history. According to Cryptoslate, the streak suggests “$10,000 as strong support, which typically is a positive medium-term sign.”
Bearish betsBearish bets inbitcoin futures from leveraged funds hit record highson the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole said. Last week, leveraged funds increased their short positions by 110% to a record high of 14,100 contracts, according to a Commitment of Traders (COT) report published by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday. Crypto derivatives research firm Skew suggests these short positions are “a function of attractive cash and carry levels,” an arbitrage strategy.
Crypto Long & ShortIt wasn’t just Coinbase alum Brian Brooks, now head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), who wanted to open the possibility for banks to custody crypto – the OCC had been looking at this for some time. CoinDesk Head of Research Noelle Acheson looks at the growing number of regulators and politicians – including from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Congress – trying to “support crypto innovation while protecting investors for longer than many realize.” Thus, “the OCC’s recent bold move is probably not the only welcome surprise we’ll see from an official body this year,” she writes.
Yielding curvesOn the latest Long Reads Sunday podcast, Nathaniel Whittemore looks at markets’ reaction to Federal Reserveminutes suggesting yield curve control is off the table.
• Blockchain Bites: Aave’s Advance, BitMEX’s Block, Turkey’s Bitcoin Trot
• Blockchain Bites: Aave’s Advance, BitMEX’s Block, Turkey’s Bitcoin Trot || Blockchain Bites: Aave’s Advance, BitMEX’s Block, Turkey’s Bitcoin Trot: A branch of the Fed is looking at 30 blockchain networks to possibly support a “digital dollar,” Turkey is experiencing a bitcoin bull run and the Aave protocol has taken a leap forward for DeFi. You’re reading Blockchain Bites , the daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news, and why they’re significant. You can subscribe to this and all of CoinDesk’s newsletters here . Top shelf “Can’t stop the nodl” Turkey is experiencing a dollarization crisis and a bitcoin bull run , exchange volume data reveals. BTCTurk, the largest crypto exchange in Istanbul, has seen volumes roughly quadrupled over the past year, attracting roughly 100,000 active monthly users by July 2020 out of nearly one million accounts, CoinDesk’s Leigh Cuen reports. “August might be the highest volume ever and the highest level of registrations in any month this year,” CEO Ozgur Güneri said. “This also correlates to the volatility in prices.” Related: First Mover: Anything-Goes Token Market Repudiates Rich-Only Venture Capital Club Digital dollars The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, one of 12 regional Federal Reserve banks operating under the U.S. central bank, is evaluating more than 30 different blockchain networks to determine if they would support a digital dollar, CoinDesk’s Nikhilesh De reports. This follows on news from earlier this month the Boston Fed is actively testing a tokenized version of the U.S. dollar with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Digital Currency Initiative, looking at how it might complement the existing greenback. BitMEX blocked Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX will block users in the Canadian province of Ontario beginning in September. Without going into detail, the exchange said it was “mandated” by the state’s securities regulator, the Ontario Securities Commission. Existing positions may run till Jan. 4, 2021, but no new contracts will be filled. The news comes as the sometimes controversial exchange moves to become more compliant with regulators, having brought in compulsory “know-your-customer” verification procedures earlier this month, CoinDesk News Editor Daniel Palmer reports. Story continues Wandering yuan? China’s central bank said experiments of its digital yuan project only involve small retail transactions . The statement, from a People’s Bank of China employee, came after rumors of a Shenzhen house sale conducted through the DCEP (digital currency, electronic payment). The seller had been paid with a large amount of the digital currency, but was unable to convert it into the traditional version of the currency, Chinese news source Global Times reported. The PBoC employee later told news source Sina scenarios involving larger-sized transactions during the pilot period are not yet being addressed. Mining news Enegix may become one of the largest bitcoin mining facilities in the world if it opens in September. The 180 megawatt (MW) data center will be able to support 50,000 mining rigs, according to sales director Dmitriy Ivanov. Assuming full capacity with Bitmain’s AntMiner S19 series or MicroBT’s WhatsMiner M30, they could produce mining power of about 5-6 EH/s – approximately 4% of bitcoin’s current hashrate , CoinDesk’s Paddy Baker reports. The $23 million project would draw as much electricity as 180,000 U.S. homes and employ about 160 people in Kazakhstan. Separately, Nasdaq-listed Marathon Patent Group has deployed two shipments of mining machines , increasing the company’s hashrate by 130 petahash per second to 186 petahash per second. Quick bites Barstool’s Dave Portnoy Is Bad at Trading Cryptocurrency (Zack Voell/CoinDesk) Money Reimagined: DeFi-ing History (Michael Casey/CoinDesk) People Aren’t Buying the “ Great American Recovery ” Narrative (Nathaniel Whittemore/The Breakdown) “Yield farming” is flashy , but in some ways it resembles what’s happening in traditional markets (Frank Chaparro/The Block) Binance Taps DeFi Excitement to “Fuel” Expansion Strategy in India (Leigh Cuen/CoinDesk) At stake Related: Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Weary Bulls, ETC's Action Plan, INX's IPO Aave advances Aave, a DeFi money market protocol, has brought unsecured borrowing to decentralized finance (DeFi). CoinDesk’s Brady Dale reports the protocol’s credit delegation function is live, allowing users with collateral on Aave to delegate their credit line to a third party they trust, earning a cut of the interest. Aave, like most other DeFi protocols, had allowed users to earn interest on cryptocurrency and borrow against it. Unsecured borrowing represents “a significant shift for DeFi lending, which until now has been predicated on only one of the traditional “four C’s” of credit: collateral,” he writes, (“capacity,” “capital” and “character” were the remaining three). What people are saying: “I think it’s healthy and natural to experiment around these models. But they do have a lot of risks around them, for obvious reasons, if the assets can’t be recovered in time for the primary owner,” Joseph Kelly, CEO of Unchained Capital, a company that writes loans against bitcoin collateral. Market intel Bitcoin up, dollar down Bitcoin was up slightly at about $11,776 early Monday , rising along with European equities, stock futures, gold, copper and oil amid market optimism, CoinDesk’s First Mover reports. The dollar weakened. Prices have now spent 27 straight days above $10,000, the third-longest period in the five-digit zone in bitcoin’s 11-year history. According to Cryptoslate, the streak suggests “$10,000 as strong support, which typically is a positive medium-term sign.” Bearish bets Bearish bets in bitcoin futures from leveraged funds hit record highs on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole said. Last week, leveraged funds increased their short positions by 110% to a record high of 14,100 contracts, according to a Commitment of Traders (COT) report published by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday. Crypto derivatives research firm Skew suggests these short positions are “a function of attractive cash and carry levels,” an arbitrage strategy. Op-ed Crypto Long & Short It wasn’t just Coinbase alum Brian Brooks, now head of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), who wanted to open the possibility for banks to custody crypto – the OCC had been looking at this for some time. CoinDesk Head of Research Noelle Acheson looks at the growing number of regulators and politicians – including from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Congress – trying to “support crypto innovation while protecting investors for longer than many realize.” Thus, “ the OCC’s recent bold move is probably not the only welcome surprise we’ll see from an official body this year ,” she writes. Podcast corner Yielding curves On the latest Long Reads Sunday podcast, Nathaniel Whittemore looks at markets’ reaction to Federal Reserve minutes suggesting yield curve control is off the table . Who won #CryptoTwitter? Related Stories Blockchain Bites: Aave’s Advance, BitMEX’s Block, Turkey’s Bitcoin Trot Blockchain Bites: Aave’s Advance, BitMEX’s Block, Turkey’s Bitcoin Trot || Bitmain inks $17.7 million dollar deal with Riot Blockchain for next-gen bitcoin mining hardware: Bitcoin mining hardware giant Bitmain said Monday that it signed a $17.7 million deal with Riot Blockchain, a publicly-traded company that mines bitcoin, to purchase "8,000 next generation Bitmain Antminer S19 Pros."
According to a press statement published by Bitmain, the agreement entails " a defined delivery schedule of 2,000 S19 Pros per month starting in January 2021 and continuing through April 2021 until the order is complete." A previous statement from Riot estimated that the new batch of miners wouldarrivesometime in November.
"The newly announced order of 8,000 S19 Pro (TH/s) miners are expected to be received and deployed during the first four months of 2021 and are expected to raise Riot's total operational hash rate capacity to 1.45 EH/s (1,446 PH/s). Riot expects to then have a fully deployed fleet totaling approximately 15,040 miners," the firm said.
© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. || Bitmain inks $17.7 million dollar deal with Riot Blockchain for next-gen bitcoin mining hardware: Bitcoin mining hardware giant Bitmain said Monday that it signed a $17.7 million deal with Riot Blockchain, a publicly-traded company that mines bitcoin, to purchase "8,000 next generation Bitmain Antminer S19 Pros." According to a press statement published by Bitmain, the agreement entails " a defined delivery schedule of 2,000 S19 Pros per month starting in January 2021 and continuing through April 2021 until the order is complete." A previous statement from Riot estimated that the new batch of miners would arrive sometime in November. "The newly announced order of 8,000 S19 Pro (TH/s) miners are expected to be received and deployed during the first four months of 2021 and are expected to raise Riot's total operational hash rate capacity to 1.45 EH/s (1,446 PH/s). Riot expects to then have a fully deployed fleet totaling approximately 15,040 miners," the firm said. © 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. || Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive: Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency mining company Marathon Patent Group received and deployed two shipments of new mining machines, which increased the company’s hashrate by 130 petahash per second to 186 petahash per second. According to an announcement Monday, the company received 700 WhatsMiner M31S+ Miners from MicroBT and 600 S19 Pro Antminers from Bitmain. 1,000 additional S19 Pro Antminers are expected to arrive between September and December this year leading to an expected additional hashrate increase of 153.4 petahash per second. “We believe that the increased hashrate production will mean the company will become cash-flow positive on a go forward basis for the first time since we embarked on this pivot to become a bitcoin mining company,” said CEO Merrick Okamoto. Marathon shares, which were already down about 50% from their yearly high set earlier in August, are down 10% from their Monday open, trading around $2.52 at last check. Related Stories Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive || Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive: Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency mining company Marathon Patent Group received and deployed two shipments of new mining machines, which increased the company’s hashrate by 130 petahash per second to 186 petahash per second.
• According to anannouncementMonday, the company received 700 WhatsMiner M31S+ Miners from MicroBT and 600 S19 Pro Antminers from Bitmain.
• 1,000 additional S19 Pro Antminers are expected to arrive between September and December this year leading to an expected additional hashrate increase of 153.4 petahash per second.
• “We believe that the increased hashrate production will mean the company will become cash-flow positive on a go forward basis for the first time since we embarked on this pivot to become a bitcoin mining company,” said CEO Merrick Okamoto.
• Marathon shares, which were already down about 50% from their yearly high set earlier in August, are down 10% from their Monday open, trading around $2.52 at last check.
• Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive
• Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive
• Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive
• Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive || Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive: Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency mining company Marathon Patent Group received and deployed two shipments of new mining machines, which increased the company’s hashrate by 130 petahash per second to 186 petahash per second.
• According to anannouncementMonday, the company received 700 WhatsMiner M31S+ Miners from MicroBT and 600 S19 Pro Antminers from Bitmain.
• 1,000 additional S19 Pro Antminers are expected to arrive between September and December this year leading to an expected additional hashrate increase of 153.4 petahash per second.
• “We believe that the increased hashrate production will mean the company will become cash-flow positive on a go forward basis for the first time since we embarked on this pivot to become a bitcoin mining company,” said CEO Merrick Okamoto.
• Marathon shares, which were already down about 50% from their yearly high set earlier in August, are down 10% from their Monday open, trading around $2.52 at last check.
• Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive
• Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive
• Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive
• Marathon Brings New Bitcoin Mining Rigs Online, Sees Itself Becoming Cash-Flow Positive || Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Above $11,500, Ethereum Above $380: Bitcoinhas not broken the uptrend, though, and is continuing its ascension. On Saturday, 22 August, Bitcoin slightly rebounded off the weekly support level at $11,574 thus keeping it intact. Despite falling sharply,Ethereumhas not breached its daily $378 support level either, allowing us to consider the ETH uptrend still running on.
Last week started for Bitcoin with a sharp surge on Monday in one 4-hour candlestick. Then the weekly high was made and the cryptocurrency began slowly slipping down henceforth. The first significant hurdle to that downslide was found on Wednesday, 19 August, when the price ofBitcoinreached the supporting trendline for Bitcoin’s local ascension move that began on 27 July.
The market leader rebounded slightly off this trend line, reaching above the 50-period SMA on the 4-hour chart and daily level at $11,862. But the upside move was small and short-lived, as a result BTC/USD slumped below the supporting trendline on Friday, 21 August.
On Friday, the pair finished below the $11,574 resistance level at $11,503, but rebounded back above it on Saturday. We thus may state that the fact the $11,574 resistance is keeping up Bitcoin’s upside trade, and the uptrend has not yet been reversed, judging by the graphic pattern formed. However, the dip below the 20-period and 50-period SMAs increases potential downside risks.
Ethereumstarted off this week with a moderately paced downside move that continued through Wednesday. There was a modest rebound on Thursday, however accompanied by a downside convergence of the 20-period SMA over the 50-perod SMA on the 4-hour chart. The pair was trending down until it almost touched the $370 daily support level on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday ETH/USD basically traded flat, staying above $390 most of the time.
The week has been negatively marked for Ethereum by a failure on the testnet Medalla built for Ethereum 2.0 proof-of-work on 18 August. One of the six servers on which Medalla runs reported the time as being one day ahead of actual time. The system averaged out the time discrepancy by shifting the time on all servers by 4 hours ahead of the present. As a result, “validators incorrectly proposed blocks and attestations for future slots,” as per Prysmatic Labs’ official report. The glitch in the system took most of the network’s validators offline.
On that day Raul Jordan – Prysmatic Labs’ editor – wrote in hisblogthat Prysmatic Labs believed, ‘this incident does not inherently affect the launch date.’ On August 19, the testnet was running again though not yet in a stable manner on a number of accounts. Still, the incident produced a notable effect on the trade of ETH/USD with the week’s biggest losses registered on the 18thand 19thAugust.
Bitcoin’s uptrend is under the threat of a downside reversal. The key support level of $11,574 is in the market’s focus. The space between the weekly support and the daily resistance levels is very small for a week’s time, and the price of the BTC/USD pair is unlikely to remain within its boundaries this week, however, there may be false breakthroughs that will ultimately let it stay within the corridor by the end of the week. Still, either a downside or upside exits are the more likely options.
Bitcoin’s uptrend so far looks intact with the weekly resistance holding on. However, the continuation of the uptrend looks questionable. The most reasonable decision for position traders now would be to wait and see until the situation clears. As for the odds of the direction Bitcoin continues, the likelier option is up, given its position around the weekly $11,574 support level. Shorting Bitcoin in the current situation might be a higher risk move.
For Ethereum, the situation also appears rather mixed. Approaching trading Ethereum versus dollar this week, one should closely monitor the news concerning Medalla testnet. The Ethereum 2.0 project is expected to increase the scalability of Ethereum and thus gives substantial fundamental input to its market valuation. However the project’s realisation will have the ultimate impact on the market’s reaction to it.
Ethereum was in a downtrend through last week and slowed down its descent, nearing daily support. A further upside move looks a technically plausible option and a buying order at $380 may be not a bad option. Nevertheless any negative news may create a threat for this scenario. However, a mid-term short order for ETH/USD looks a much riskier option in the current situation.
Konstantin Anissimov, Executive Director at CEX.IO
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• AUD/USD Price Forecast – Australian Dollar Continues Sideways Attitude || Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Above $11,500, Ethereum Above $380: Bitcoinhas not broken the uptrend, though, and is continuing its ascension. On Saturday, 22 August, Bitcoin slightly rebounded off the weekly support level at $11,574 thus keeping it intact. Despite falling sharply,Ethereumhas not breached its daily $378 support level either, allowing us to consider the ETH uptrend still running on.
Last week started for Bitcoin with a sharp surge on Monday in one 4-hour candlestick. Then the weekly high was made and the cryptocurrency began slowly slipping down henceforth. The first significant hurdle to that downslide was found on Wednesday, 19 August, when the price ofBitcoinreached the supporting trendline for Bitcoin’s local ascension move that began on 27 July.
The market leader rebounded slightly off this trend line, reaching above the 50-period SMA on the 4-hour chart and daily level at $11,862. But the upside move was small and short-lived, as a result BTC/USD slumped below the supporting trendline on Friday, 21 August.
On Friday, the pair finished below the $11,574 resistance level at $11,503, but rebounded back above it on Saturday. We thus may state that the fact the $11,574 resistance is keeping up Bitcoin’s upside trade, and the uptrend has not yet been reversed, judging by the graphic pattern formed. However, the dip below the 20-period and 50-period SMAs increases potential downside risks.
Ethereumstarted off this week with a moderately paced downside move that continued through Wednesday. There was a modest rebound on Thursday, however accompanied by a downside convergence of the 20-period SMA over the 50-perod SMA on the 4-hour chart. The pair was trending down until it almost touched the $370 daily support level on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday ETH/USD basically traded flat, staying above $390 most of the time.
The week has been negatively marked for Ethereum by a failure on the testnet Medalla built for Ethereum 2.0 proof-of-work on 18 August. One of the six servers on which Medalla runs reported the time as being one day ahead of actual time. The system averaged out the time discrepancy by shifting the time on all servers by 4 hours ahead of the present. As a result, “validators incorrectly proposed blocks and attestations for future slots,” as per Prysmatic Labs’ official report. The glitch in the system took most of the network’s validators offline.
On that day Raul Jordan – Prysmatic Labs’ editor – wrote in hisblogthat Prysmatic Labs believed, ‘this incident does not inherently affect the launch date.’ On August 19, the testnet was running again though not yet in a stable manner on a number of accounts. Still, the incident produced a notable effect on the trade of ETH/USD with the week’s biggest losses registered on the 18thand 19thAugust.
Bitcoin’s uptrend is under the threat of a downside reversal. The key support level of $11,574 is in the market’s focus. The space between the weekly support and the daily resistance levels is very small for a week’s time, and the price of the BTC/USD pair is unlikely to remain within its boundaries this week, however, there may be false breakthroughs that will ultimately let it stay within the corridor by the end of the week. Still, either a downside or upside exits are the more likely options.
Bitcoin’s uptrend so far looks intact with the weekly resistance holding on. However, the continuation of the uptrend looks questionable. The most reasonable decision for position traders now would be to wait and see until the situation clears. As for the odds of the direction Bitcoin continues, the likelier option is up, given its position around the weekly $11,574 support level. Shorting Bitcoin in the current situation might be a higher risk move.
For Ethereum, the situation also appears rather mixed. Approaching trading Ethereum versus dollar this week, one should closely monitor the news concerning Medalla testnet. The Ethereum 2.0 project is expected to increase the scalability of Ethereum and thus gives substantial fundamental input to its market valuation. However the project’s realisation will have the ultimate impact on the market’s reaction to it.
Ethereum was in a downtrend through last week and slowed down its descent, nearing daily support. A further upside move looks a technically plausible option and a buying order at $380 may be not a bad option. Nevertheless any negative news may create a threat for this scenario. However, a mid-term short order for ETH/USD looks a much riskier option in the current situation.
Konstantin Anissimov, Executive Director at CEX.IO
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• AUD/USD Price Forecast – Australian Dollar Continues Sideways Attitude || Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Above $11,500, Ethereum Above $380: Bitcoin has not broken the uptrend, though, and is continuing its ascension. On Saturday, 22 August, Bitcoin slightly rebounded off the weekly support level at $11,574 thus keeping it intact. Despite falling sharply, Ethereum has not breached its daily $378 support level either, allowing us to consider the ETH uptrend still running on. How the week went for Bitcoin Last week started for Bitcoin with a sharp surge on Monday in one 4-hour candlestick. Then the weekly high was made and the cryptocurrency began slowly slipping down henceforth. The first significant hurdle to that downslide was found on Wednesday, 19 August, when the price of Bitcoin reached the supporting trendline for Bitcoin’s local ascension move that began on 27 July. The market leader rebounded slightly off this trend line, reaching above the 50-period SMA on the 4-hour chart and daily level at $11,862. But the upside move was small and short-lived, as a result BTC/USD slumped below the supporting trendline on Friday, 21 August. On Friday, the pair finished below the $11,574 resistance level at $11,503, but rebounded back above it on Saturday. We thus may state that the fact the $11,574 resistance is keeping up Bitcoin’s upside trade, and the uptrend has not yet been reversed, judging by the graphic pattern formed. However, the dip below the 20-period and 50-period SMAs increases potential downside risks. How the week went for Ethereum Ethereum started off this week with a moderately paced downside move that continued through Wednesday. There was a modest rebound on Thursday, however accompanied by a downside convergence of the 20-period SMA over the 50-perod SMA on the 4-hour chart. The pair was trending down until it almost touched the $370 daily support level on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday ETH/USD basically traded flat, staying above $390 most of the time. The week has been negatively marked for Ethereum by a failure on the testnet Medalla built for Ethereum 2.0 proof-of-work on 18 August. One of the six servers on which Medalla runs reported the time as being one day ahead of actual time. The system averaged out the time discrepancy by shifting the time on all servers by 4 hours ahead of the present. As a result, “validators incorrectly proposed blocks and attestations for future slots,” as per Prysmatic Labs’ official report. The glitch in the system took most of the network’s validators offline. Story continues On that day Raul Jordan – Prysmatic Labs’ editor – wrote in his blog that Prysmatic Labs believed, ‘this incident does not inherently affect the launch date.’ On August 19, the testnet was running again though not yet in a stable manner on a number of accounts. Still, the incident produced a notable effect on the trade of ETH/USD with the week’s biggest losses registered on the 18 th and 19 th August. Forecast for this week Bitcoin’s uptrend is under the threat of a downside reversal. The key support level of $11,574 is in the market’s focus. The space between the weekly support and the daily resistance levels is very small for a week’s time, and the price of the BTC/USD pair is unlikely to remain within its boundaries this week, however, there may be false breakthroughs that will ultimately let it stay within the corridor by the end of the week. Still, either a downside or upside exits are the more likely options. Bitcoin’s uptrend so far looks intact with the weekly resistance holding on. However, the continuation of the uptrend looks questionable. The most reasonable decision for position traders now would be to wait and see until the situation clears. As for the odds of the direction Bitcoin continues, the likelier option is up, given its position around the weekly $11,574 support level. Shorting Bitcoin in the current situation might be a higher risk move. For Ethereum, the situation also appears rather mixed. Approaching trading Ethereum versus dollar this week, one should closely monitor the news concerning Medalla testnet. The Ethereum 2.0 project is expected to increase the scalability of Ethereum and thus gives substantial fundamental input to its market valuation. However the project’s realisation will have the ultimate impact on the market’s reaction to it. Ethereum was in a downtrend through last week and slowed down its descent, nearing daily support. A further upside move looks a technically plausible option and a buying order at $380 may be not a bad option. Nevertheless any negative news may create a threat for this scenario. However, a mid-term short order for ETH/USD looks a much riskier option in the current situation. Konstantin Anissimov, Executive Director at CEX.IO This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Natural Gas Price Forecast – Natural Gas Markets Take Off Again S&P 500 Price Forecast – Stock Markets Break Out Again E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Technical Analysis – Looking for Clean Breakout Over 28069 E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index (NQ) Futures Technical Analysis – Needs to Stay Above 11562.00 to Sustain Rally European Indices Coming Back From Dead AUD/USD Price Forecast – Australian Dollar Continues Sideways Attitude || Bluesky Digital Assets Corp., Announces Membership in the Crypto Valley Association: Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 24, 2020) - Bluesky Digital Assets Corp., (CSE: BTC), (CSE: BTC.PR.A), (OTC Pink: BTCWF), ("Bluesky" or the "Corporation") announced today it's membership in the Crypto Valley Association ("CVA")www.cryptovalley.swiss
The CVA is an independent, government-supported organization located in the Swiss canton of Zug. The CVA's mission is to build the world's leading ecosystem for blockchain and cryptographic technologies in Switzerland. The CVA's main focus is developing and executing a community-driven program targeted at establishing and growing it's ecosystem. This includes supporting start-ups and established businesses, making policy recommendations, initiating research projects, and hosting conferences, hackathons, and other industry events. The CVA is also working to be a bridge between Crypto Valley and the global cryptographic technologies community - building on our already active connections to international centers of blockchain innovation in London, Singapore, Silicon Valley and New York.
Bluesky is intending contribute to the CVA and to leverage the contacts and expertise of the Crypto Valley Association to assist with projects and where possible, fundraising.
Bluesky's CEO Ben Gelfand commented:"We wanted to be part of one of the world leading blockchain ecosystems that welcomes individuals, small and large companies from all over the world who are interested in the long term global economic and transformational benefits coming from blockchain and cryptographic technology innovation."
About Bluesky Digital Assets Corp.
Bluesky Digital Assets Corp, is building a high value digital currency enterprise. Bluesky mines digital currencies, such as Bitcoin and Ether, and is developing value-added technology services for the digital currency market, such as digital mining proprietary software. Offering a complete ecosystem of value-creation, Bluesky is targeting reinvesting appropriate portions of its digital currency mining profits back into its operations. A percentage of the profit will be invested in the development of a proprietary Artificial Intelligence ("AI") based technology. Overall, Bluesky takes an approach that enables the Corporation to scale, and respond to changing conditions, within the still-emerging digital currency industry. The Corporation is poised to capture value in successive phases as this industry continues to scale. For more information please visitwww.blueskydigitalassets.com
For further information please contact:
Mr. Ben GelfandCEO & DirectorBluesky Digital Assets Corp.T: (416) 363-3833E:[email protected]
Mr. Frank KordySecretary & DirectorBluesky Digital Assets Corp.T: (647) 466-4037E:[email protected]
Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward- looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. We seek safe harbor.
- 30 -
THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES.
To view the source version of this press release, please visithttps://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/62390 || Bluesky Digital Assets Corp., Announces Membership in the Crypto Valley Association: Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 24, 2020) - Bluesky Digital Assets Corp., (CSE: BTC), (CSE: BTC.PR.A), (OTC Pink: BTCWF), ("Bluesky" or the "Corporation") announced today it's membership in the Crypto Valley Association ("CVA") www.cryptovalley.swiss The CVA is an independent, government-supported organization located in the Swiss canton of Zug. The CVA's mission is to build the world's leading ecosystem for blockchain and cryptographic technologies in Switzerland. The CVA's main focus is developing and executing a community-driven program targeted at establishing and growing it's ecosystem. This includes supporting start-ups and established businesses, making policy recommendations, initiating research projects, and hosting conferences, hackathons, and other industry events. The CVA is also working to be a bridge between Crypto Valley and the global cryptographic technologies community - building on our already active connections to international centers of blockchain innovation in London, Singapore, Silicon Valley and New York. Bluesky is intending contribute to the CVA and to leverage the contacts and expertise of the Crypto Valley Association to assist with projects and where possible, fundraising. Bluesky's CEO Ben Gelfand commented: "We wanted to be part of one of the world leading blockchain ecosystems that welcomes individuals, small and large companies from all over the world who are interested in the long term global economic and transformational benefits coming from blockchain and cryptographic technology innovation." About Bluesky Digital Assets Corp. Bluesky Digital Assets Corp, is building a high value digital currency enterprise. Bluesky mines digital currencies, such as Bitcoin and Ether, and is developing value-added technology services for the digital currency market, such as digital mining proprietary software. Offering a complete ecosystem of value-creation, Bluesky is targeting reinvesting appropriate portions of its digital currency mining profits back into its operations. A percentage of the profit will be invested in the development of a proprietary Artificial Intelligence ("AI") based technology. Overall, Bluesky takes an approach that enables the Corporation to scale, and respond to changing conditions, within the still-emerging digital currency industry. The Corporation is poised to capture value in successive phases as this industry continues to scale. For more information please visit www.blueskydigitalassets.com Story continues For further information please contact: Mr. Ben Gelfand CEO & Director Bluesky Digital Assets Corp. T: (416) 363-3833 E: [email protected] Mr. Frank Kordy Secretary & Director Bluesky Digital Assets Corp. T: (647) 466-4037 E: [email protected] Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward- looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such. Neither CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. We seek safe harbor. - 30 - THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/62390
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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11488.36, 11323.40, 11542.50, 11506.87, 11711.51, 11680.82, 11970.48, 11414.03, 10245.30, 10511.81
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 19140.80, 19114.20, 17776.70, 16624.60, 15802.90, 13831.80, 14699.20, 13925.80, 14026.60, 16099.80, 15838.50, 14606.50, 14656.20, 12952.20, 14156.40, 13657.20, 14982.10, 15201.00, 15599.20, 17429.50, 17527.00, 16477.60, 15170.10, 14595.40, 14973.30, 13405.80, 13980.60, 14360.20, 13772.00, 13819.80, 11490.50, 11188.60, 11474.90, 11607.40, 12899.20, 11600.10, 10931.40, 10868.40, 11359.40, 11259.40, 11171.40, 11440.70, 11786.30, 11296.40, 10106.30, 10221.10, 9170.54, 8830.75, 9174.91, 8277.01, 6955.27, 7754.00, 7621.30, 8265.59, 8736.98, 8621.90, 8129.97, 8926.57, 8598.31, 9494.63, 10166.40, 10233.90, 11112.70, 10551.80, 11225.30, 11403.70, 10690.40, 10005.00, 10301.10, 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00, 11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63, 9205.12, 9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-03-16]
Volume: 5289379840, RSI (14-day): 36.88, 50-day EMA: 10202.05, 200-day EMA: 9197.87
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1311.30, Gold RSI: 43.42
Oil Price: 62.34, Oil RSI: 52.74
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Peter Thiel thinks that bitcoin will be the one cryptocurrency to rule them all: YouTube.com/CNBC
• Tech investor Peter Thiel talked cryptocurrencies, the potential outcome of the 2020 election, and Silicon Valley's insulated culture during a fireside chat at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday.
• Thiel, an early bitcoin investor, predicted there will be one leading future cryptocurrency that will be the digital equivalent of gold.
• Thiel suggested that, if President Donald Trump runs again, he'd see a positive outcome in the 2020 election.
• Thiel also chatted candidly about his negative opinions of Silicon Valley, which he described as having a "lemming-like" quality.
Tech investor and Facebook board member Peter Thiel chatted on Thursday withFox Business Network anchorMaria Bartiromo during a fireside chat at the Economic Club of New York. Thiel talked about a variety of things, including the viability of cryptocurrencies, the results of the 2020 election if President Donald Trump were to run again, and Silicon Valley's insulated culture.
Thiel,who has invested more than $15 million in bitcoin alongwith his investment firm, said he's "long bitcoin, neutral to skeptical on everything else." "I’m not exactly sure whether or not I would encourage people to turn out and buy these cryptocurrencies right now," he said.
In the future, Thiel predicted that there will be one prevailing cryptocurrency that will be viewed as the digital equivalent of gold. "It will most likely be bitcoin," Thiel said, although he hinted at the possibility of ethereum.
Thiel seemed unswayed by the increasing speculation regarding what many feel to be the cryptocurrency bubble.
"Any of the objections most people would have to bitcoin are the same objections people would have had to gold," he said. "But money is a bubble that never pops ... and there is this bubble-like aspect to money that can be quite stable."
Thiel,who recently announced he intends to move from his longtime home of Silicon Valley to Los Angeles, reiterated his thoughts that the tech hub has become the home of pervasively hermetic ideologies. More than once Thiel described the valley's tech community as having a "lemming-like" quality that lacked diversity of thought.
"I thought it would be healthier to be somewhere outside [Silicon Valley]," Thiel said.
Thiel stressed the importance of investors considering the geographic expansion of the tech community, not only within the US but globally as well.
"This geographic question is something we should be thinking about super hard," Thiel said. He added: "We're living in a very different world where we have to think about how we get American companies to compete globally."
Drew Angerer/Getty
Thiel said his stance on global economics was a contributing factor in his political backing of Trump, a move that was controversial within the left-leaning community of Silicon Valley.
"I thought that supporting Trump was one of the least contrarian things I've ever done," Thiel said, citing the president's popularity among voters and his victory.
Thiel, while initially hesitant to speculate on the 2020 election, predicted a positive outcome for Trump.
"I’m not trying to speculate on this," Thiel said. "I think if he runs again he will get reelected."
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• Here are the most popular Google auto-complete results for Silicon Valley’s biggest names || Peter Thiel thinks that bitcoin will be the one cryptocurrency to rule them all: Peter Thiel interview Economic Club of New York YouTube.com/CNBC Tech investor Peter Thiel talked cryptocurrencies, the potential outcome of the 2020 election, and Silicon Valley's insulated culture during a fireside chat at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday. Thiel, an early bitcoin investor, predicted there will be one leading future cryptocurrency that will be the digital equivalent of gold. Thiel suggested that, if President Donald Trump runs again, he'd see a positive outcome in the 2020 election. Thiel also chatted candidly about his negative opinions of Silicon Valley, which he described as having a "lemming-like" quality. Tech investor and Facebook board member Peter Thiel chatted on Thursday with Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo during a fireside chat at the Economic Club of New York. Thiel talked about a variety of things, including the viability of cryptocurrencies, the results of the 2020 election if President Donald Trump were to run again, and Silicon Valley's insulated culture. Thiel, who has invested more than $15 million in bitcoin along with his investment firm, said he's "long bitcoin, neutral to skeptical on everything else." "I’m not exactly sure whether or not I would encourage people to turn out and buy these cryptocurrencies right now," he said. In the future, Thiel predicted that there will be one prevailing cryptocurrency that will be viewed as the digital equivalent of gold. "It will most likely be bitcoin," Thiel said, although he hinted at the possibility of ethereum. Thiel seemed unswayed by the increasing speculation regarding what many feel to be the cryptocurrency bubble. "Any of the objections most people would have to bitcoin are the same objections people would have had to gold," he said. "But money is a bubble that never pops ... and there is this bubble-like aspect to money that can be quite stable." Thiel, who recently announced he intends to move from his longtime home of Silicon Valley to Los Angeles , reiterated his thoughts that the tech hub has become the home of pervasively hermetic ideologies. More than once Thiel described the valley's tech community as having a "lemming-like" quality that lacked diversity of thought. Story continues "I thought it would be healthier to be somewhere outside [Silicon Valley]," Thiel said. Thiel stressed the importance of investors considering the geographic expansion of the tech community, not only within the US but globally as well. "This geographic question is something we should be thinking about super hard," Thiel said. He added: "We're living in a very different world where we have to think about how we get American companies to compete globally." donald trump peter thiel handshake Drew Angerer/Getty Thiel said his stance on global economics was a contributing factor in his political backing of Trump, a move that was controversial within the left-leaning community of Silicon Valley. "I thought that supporting Trump was one of the least contrarian things I've ever done," Thiel said, citing the president's popularity among voters and his victory. Thiel, while initially hesitant to speculate on the 2020 election, predicted a positive outcome for Trump. "I’m not trying to speculate on this," Thiel said. "I think if he runs again he will get reelected." NOW WATCH: Why does Bluetooth still suck? See Also: Bitcoin boosters partied hard at SXSW as the currency sinks — here's what it was like A popular San Francisco coffee shop that raised $75 million could be the next Blue Bottle Here are the most popular Google auto-complete results for Silicon Valley’s biggest names || Blue Apron Wants to Partner With Its Biggest Competitors: Blue Apron(NYSE: APRN)is starting to think outside the box.
The company said it will start distributing its meal kits through supermarkets later this year. The news comes about a week afterWalmart(NYSE: WMT)announcedplans to sell its own meal kitsin 250 stores this month and 2,000 stores by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Blue Apron faces growing competition from grocery store owners experimenting with selling their own meal kits, includingKroger(NYSE: KR), Albertsons, andAmazon(NASDAQ: AMZN).
But with companies already selling their own meal kits, is Blue Apron's next step too little, too late?
Image source: Blue Apron.
One of Blue Apron's biggest challenges is improving its gross margin. Gross margin shrank to 29% in 2017, down from 33% in 2016.
Last month, Blue Apron CEO Brad Dickerson outlined three areas the company can improve in order toincrease its gross margin: reducing food waste, increasing labor efficiency with automation, and saving money on packaging and delivery.
Wholesaling to supermarkets will help cut down on shipping expenses, but it will cut into Blue Apron's top line. Blue Apron sells its meal kits online for about $20 for each two-serving kit.
Walmart, Kroger, and Amazon have all shown a willingness to undercut that price point. Walmart's meal kits cost between $8 and $15 for two servings. Blue Apron can rely on its brand strength for premium pricing, but investors shouldn't expect a significant markup over its subscription pricing for one-off in-store purchases.
Even if it can offset some of the wholesale pricing with more efficient shipping, it seems very likely Blue Apron's partnerships with supermarkets will eat into gross margin due to the lower revenue per kit.
Blue Apron didn't give any details about which stores it plans to partner with. It might have trouble getting into stores that already offer in-house meal kits, which also happen to be the largest national grocery chains.
Walmart is historically a tough negotiator on pricing, but it does offer unparalleled distribution. Walmart accounts for nearly 15% of grocery sales in the United States. That's more than Kroger and Albertsons combined.
Importantly, though, even if Blue Apron does get its meal kits into Walmart stores, the big-box retailer caters to an entirely different demographic than Blue Apron. Premium meal kits might not sell well at Walmart.
Blue Apron kits would fit in much better at a grocery store like Whole Foods. But Amazon is ruthless when it comes toselling competitors' products. If Amazon is serious about the meal kit space, there's practically no chance it will sell Blue Apron kits short ofacquiringthe entire operation.
With strong competition in stores already, Blue Apron may have a tough time finding shelf space. That means higher marketing expenses and bigger sacrifices on the top line.
Blue Apron investors might want to consider the company's move to sell its meal kits in stores as a marketing expense on top of a way to increase distribution. Selling kits in stores at the very least gets the Blue Apron brand in front of more people.
"The access to consumers is much broader in this avenue than the avenue we've been operating in the past," Dickerson toldThe Wall Street Journal.
To that end, stocking grocery store shelves could be an efficient marketing method. It will notably shift the expense higher in the income statement into cost of goods sold instead of operating expenses, but the payoff could be just the same.
That said, Blue Apron will have to convince customers who try its product from supermarkets to subscribe online. And considering its track record in customer retention, I wouldn't bet on a significant payoff.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors.Adam Levyowns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Blue Apron Wants to Partner With Its Biggest Competitors: Blue Apron (NYSE: APRN) is starting to think outside the box. The company said it will start distributing its meal kits through supermarkets later this year. The news comes about a week after Walmart (NYSE: WMT) announced plans to sell its own meal kits in 250 stores this month and 2,000 stores by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Blue Apron faces growing competition from grocery store owners experimenting with selling their own meal kits, including Kroger (NYSE: KR) , Albertsons, and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) . But with companies already selling their own meal kits, is Blue Apron's next step too little, too late? A Blue Apron meal kit. Image source: Blue Apron. Eating into margins One of Blue Apron's biggest challenges is improving its gross margin. Gross margin shrank to 29% in 2017, down from 33% in 2016. Last month, Blue Apron CEO Brad Dickerson outlined three areas the company can improve in order to increase its gross margin : reducing food waste, increasing labor efficiency with automation, and saving money on packaging and delivery. Wholesaling to supermarkets will help cut down on shipping expenses, but it will cut into Blue Apron's top line. Blue Apron sells its meal kits online for about $20 for each two-serving kit. Walmart, Kroger, and Amazon have all shown a willingness to undercut that price point. Walmart's meal kits cost between $8 and $15 for two servings. Blue Apron can rely on its brand strength for premium pricing, but investors shouldn't expect a significant markup over its subscription pricing for one-off in-store purchases. Even if it can offset some of the wholesale pricing with more efficient shipping, it seems very likely Blue Apron's partnerships with supermarkets will eat into gross margin due to the lower revenue per kit. Getting into stores Blue Apron didn't give any details about which stores it plans to partner with. It might have trouble getting into stores that already offer in-house meal kits, which also happen to be the largest national grocery chains. Walmart is historically a tough negotiator on pricing, but it does offer unparalleled distribution. Walmart accounts for nearly 15% of grocery sales in the United States. That's more than Kroger and Albertsons combined. Importantly, though, even if Blue Apron does get its meal kits into Walmart stores, the big-box retailer caters to an entirely different demographic than Blue Apron. Premium meal kits might not sell well at Walmart. Blue Apron kits would fit in much better at a grocery store like Whole Foods. But Amazon is ruthless when it comes to selling competitors' products . If Amazon is serious about the meal kit space, there's practically no chance it will sell Blue Apron kits short of acquiring the entire operation. Story continues With strong competition in stores already, Blue Apron may have a tough time finding shelf space. That means higher marketing expenses and bigger sacrifices on the top line. A marketing expense in cost of goods sold Blue Apron investors might want to consider the company's move to sell its meal kits in stores as a marketing expense on top of a way to increase distribution. Selling kits in stores at the very least gets the Blue Apron brand in front of more people. "The access to consumers is much broader in this avenue than the avenue we've been operating in the past," Dickerson told The Wall Street Journal . To that end, stocking grocery store shelves could be an efficient marketing method. It will notably shift the expense higher in the income statement into cost of goods sold instead of operating expenses, but the payoff could be just the same. That said, Blue Apron will have to convince customers who try its product from supermarkets to subscribe online. And considering its track record in customer retention, I wouldn't bet on a significant payoff. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Adam Levy owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || Billionaire Tom Benson, Longtime Owner of the New Orleans Saints, Dead at 90: Tom Benson, the billionaire who bought the New Orleans Saints football team and New Orleans Pelicans basketball team and kept them in the city of his birth, has died. He was 90.
He died on Thursday at Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson, Louisiana, outside New Orleans, according to the Saints website. He entered the hospital on Feb. 16 with the flu.
Benson built his net worth of about $1.7 billion through automobile dealerships, banking concerns and real estate. At its peak, his automotive empire encompassed 27 dealerships in Texas, Louisiana and South Carolina, according to a biography on the websites of some of his dealerships. He sold brands including Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Chevrolet.
His other holdings included San Antonio-based Lone Star Capital Bank and New Orleans television station WVUE-TV. In 1996, he sold Benson Financial Corp., a collection of banks located in the southern U.S., to Norwest Corp. for $78 million in stock.
In 1985 he led the group that paid about $70 million to buy the Saints from founding owner John Mecom Jr., who was weighing whether to move the franchise. Benson became sole owner in 1992.
The high point of his tenure came in February 2010, when the Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl for the franchise's first title since its founding in 1967. The victory, which came almost five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, was a milestone in the city's recovery.
"Louisiana, by way of New Orleans, is back, and this shows the whole world," Benson exulted upon receiving the championship Lombardi Trophy. "We're back, we're back, the whole world, we're back."
As a Mercedes-Benz dealer, Benson helped drive the talks that led Mercedes-Benz USA in 2011 to buy naming rights to the Saints' home, the Superdome in New Orleans.
He was known earlier in his tenure for a dance, nicknamed the Benson Boogie, he would do on the field to celebrate victories.
In 2012, Benson purchased professional basketball's New Orleans-based team, then called the Hornets, for about $338 million from the National Basketball Association, which had taken temporary custodianship of the team in 2010. The team adopted the name Pelicans in 2013, after Louisiana's state bird, the Brown Pelican.
Thomas Milton Benson Jr. was born on July 12, 1927, in New Orleans to Thomas and Carmelite Benson and raised near the city's historic French Quarter.
He cut short his studies at Loyola University New Orleans to join the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving on the USS South Dakota, a battleship, during preparations for an invasion of Japan that never came to pass. After the war, he went to work. Loyola gave him an honorary degree in 1987.
At 19, he joined the accounting division of Cathey Chevrolet in New Orleans. After eight years of work, he was asked to take over an ailing dealership in San Antonio, according to a 1987 Los Angeles Times profile. He became the owner of that dealership, which he called Tom Benson Chevrolet. Others followed.
In 1966 he borrowed $1 million to buy 25 acres in north San Antonio, betting correctly that it was next in line for a spurt of commercial growth.
See original article on Fortune.com
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• YouTube Teams With Kevin Durant to Add Athlete Channels, Sports Programming || Billionaire Tom Benson, Longtime Owner of the New Orleans Saints, Dead at 90: Tom Benson, the billionaire who bought the New Orleans Saints football team and New Orleans Pelicans basketball team and kept them in the city of his birth, has died. He was 90. He died on Thursday at Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson, Louisiana, outside New Orleans, according to the Saints website. He entered the hospital on Feb. 16 with the flu. Benson built his net worth of about $1.7 billion through automobile dealerships, banking concerns and real estate. At its peak, his automotive empire encompassed 27 dealerships in Texas, Louisiana and South Carolina, according to a biography on the websites of some of his dealerships. He sold brands including Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Chevrolet. His other holdings included San Antonio-based Lone Star Capital Bank and New Orleans television station WVUE-TV. In 1996, he sold Benson Financial Corp., a collection of banks located in the southern U.S., to Norwest Corp. for $78 million in stock. In 1985 he led the group that paid about $70 million to buy the Saints from founding owner John Mecom Jr., who was weighing whether to move the franchise. Benson became sole owner in 1992. The high point of his tenure came in February 2010, when the Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl for the franchise's first title since its founding in 1967. The victory, which came almost five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, was a milestone in the city's recovery. 'We're Back' "Louisiana, by way of New Orleans, is back, and this shows the whole world," Benson exulted upon receiving the championship Lombardi Trophy. "We're back, we're back, the whole world, we're back." As a Mercedes-Benz dealer, Benson helped drive the talks that led Mercedes-Benz USA in 2011 to buy naming rights to the Saints' home, the Superdome in New Orleans. He was known earlier in his tenure for a dance, nicknamed the Benson Boogie, he would do on the field to celebrate victories. Story continues In 2012, Benson purchased professional basketball's New Orleans-based team, then called the Hornets, for about $338 million from the National Basketball Association, which had taken temporary custodianship of the team in 2010. The team adopted the name Pelicans in 2013, after Louisiana's state bird, the Brown Pelican. Thomas Milton Benson Jr. was born on July 12, 1927, in New Orleans to Thomas and Carmelite Benson and raised near the city's historic French Quarter. Auto Dealer He cut short his studies at Loyola University New Orleans to join the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving on the USS South Dakota, a battleship, during preparations for an invasion of Japan that never came to pass. After the war, he went to work. Loyola gave him an honorary degree in 1987. At 19, he joined the accounting division of Cathey Chevrolet in New Orleans. After eight years of work, he was asked to take over an ailing dealership in San Antonio, according to a 1987 Los Angeles Times profile. He became the owner of that dealership, which he called Tom Benson Chevrolet. Others followed. In 1966 he borrowed $1 million to buy 25 acres in north San Antonio, betting correctly that it was next in line for a spurt of commercial growth. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Mark Cuban Denies Sexual Assault Allegation U.S. Olympians Request Bitcoin to Fund Gold Medal Dreams How to Watch the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics on TV and Online How to Watch the 2018 Super Bowl Online for Free YouTube Teams With Kevin Durant to Add Athlete Channels, Sports Programming || General Motors Takes Another Step Toward Mass-Produced Self-Driving Cars: The future is getting closer:General Motors(NYSE: GM)said that it's investing $100 million to upgrade two of its Michigan factories to begin mass producing self-driving cars.
GM has previously said that it will begin deploying its first self-driving vehicle at scale in 2019 as an automated taxi in dense urban environments. The vehicle in question, called the Cruise AV, is an extensively reworked version of GM's well-regarded battery-electric Chevrolet Bolt EV.
Thursday's announcement is another sign that GM is on course to that 2019 goal. Here's what we know.
GM's first self-driving vehicle is a heavily modified Chevy Bolt called the Cruise AV. GM plans to begin mass production of the Cruise AV by 2019. Image source: General Motors.
GM's announcement on Thursday confirmed something that has been obvious for a while: The Cruise AV will be built at GM's Orion Assembly Plant in Orion Township, Michigan. That's where the Bolt is built, and GM said that the Cruise AV will be built on the Bolt's assembly line -- once GM completes a few upgrades and changes, funded by part of that $100 million investment.
The rest of that money will be spent on upgrades and changes at a lesser-known GM factory, the Brownstown Battery Assembly Plant located just south of Detroit. Brownstown is a small factory that assembles the lithium-ion battery packs for GM's hybrid models. It's getting another product: Brownstown has started building the rooftop sensor arrays used on the Cruise AVs.
GM calls this assembly a "roof module." It includes many of the sensors required for self-driving. This one has been installed on the latest version of the self-driving Cruise AV. Image source: General Motors.
Brownstown soon will begin mass producing those roof modules on a new, dedicated assembly line.
GM is far from the only company racing to deploy a self-driving vehicle, of course. Its stiffest competition probably comes from Waymo LLC, theAlphabet(NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL)subsidiary that grew out of the old Google Self-Driving Car Project.
Waymo's self-driving system is thought to be at least as advanced as GM's, and the company has already begun to deploy it in avery limited way in Arizona. But Waymo isn't an automaker, though it has a close relationship withFiat Chrysler Automobiles, among others. The fact that GM has its self-driving car -- the hardware -- ready for mass production right nowmightgive GM an advantage in the race to large-scale deployment.
GM's competition isn't standing still: Slowly but surely, Waymo is deploying its own self-driving taxi fleet. Image source: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Here's why it's important: None of these self-driving systems are close to being finished products. The systems "learn" and improve over time; the more vehicles a manufacturer has on the road, the faster the system will learn.
That's why GM president Dan Ammann has argued that there will bea "first-mover" advantagein deploying self-driving vehicles at scale. Ammann's argument is that the first to deploy at scale will be the first to realize rapid improvements, which, in turn, will deliver a better customer experience -- which, in turn, will lead customers to choose ride-hailing services that use that company's vehicles.
In truth, if Waymo beats GM by a few months, it probably won't matter much five years from now. But GM very badly wants to be in that first tier, the small group of companies that will have viable self-driving taxis in the not-very-distant future.
Thursday's news is a sign that GM's hardware nearly is ready to go. But it may be a while before we know when its software will be ready for prime time.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.John Rosevearowns shares of General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares) and Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || General Motors Takes Another Step Toward Mass-Produced Self-Driving Cars: The future is getting closer: General Motors (NYSE: GM) said that it's investing $100 million to upgrade two of its Michigan factories to begin mass producing self-driving cars. GM has previously said that it will begin deploying its first self-driving vehicle at scale in 2019 as an automated taxi in dense urban environments. The vehicle in question, called the Cruise AV, is an extensively reworked version of GM's well-regarded battery-electric Chevrolet Bolt EV. Thursday's announcement is another sign that GM is on course to that 2019 goal. Here's what we know. The GM Cruise AV, a small white hatchback with visible self-driving hardware. GM's first self-driving vehicle is a heavily modified Chevy Bolt called the Cruise AV. GM plans to begin mass production of the Cruise AV by 2019. Image source: General Motors. How and where GM will build the Cruise AV GM's announcement on Thursday confirmed something that has been obvious for a while: The Cruise AV will be built at GM's Orion Assembly Plant in Orion Township, Michigan. That's where the Bolt is built, and GM said that the Cruise AV will be built on the Bolt's assembly line -- once GM completes a few upgrades and changes, funded by part of that $100 million investment. The rest of that money will be spent on upgrades and changes at a lesser-known GM factory, the Brownstown Battery Assembly Plant located just south of Detroit. Brownstown is a small factory that assembles the lithium-ion battery packs for GM's hybrid models. It's getting another product: Brownstown has started building the rooftop sensor arrays used on the Cruise AVs. A close up of the Cruise AV's rooftop sensor array, showing several LIDAR sensors and an enclosed radar module. GM calls this assembly a "roof module." It includes many of the sensors required for self-driving. This one has been installed on the latest version of the self-driving Cruise AV. Image source: General Motors. Brownstown soon will begin mass producing those roof modules on a new, dedicated assembly line. What it means: GM is racing to an important finish line GM is far from the only company racing to deploy a self-driving vehicle, of course. Its stiffest competition probably comes from Waymo LLC, the Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) subsidiary that grew out of the old Google Self-Driving Car Project. Story continues Waymo's self-driving system is thought to be at least as advanced as GM's, and the company has already begun to deploy it in a very limited way in Arizona . But Waymo isn't an automaker, though it has a close relationship with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles , among others. The fact that GM has its self-driving car -- the hardware -- ready for mass production right now might give GM an advantage in the race to large-scale deployment. A white Chrysler Pacifica minivan with Waymo logos and visible self-driving sensor hardware. GM's competition isn't standing still: Slowly but surely, Waymo is deploying its own self-driving taxi fleet. Image source: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Here's why it's important: None of these self-driving systems are close to being finished products. The systems "learn" and improve over time; the more vehicles a manufacturer has on the road, the faster the system will learn. That's why GM president Dan Ammann has argued that there will be a "first-mover" advantage in deploying self-driving vehicles at scale. Ammann's argument is that the first to deploy at scale will be the first to realize rapid improvements, which, in turn, will deliver a better customer experience -- which, in turn, will lead customers to choose ride-hailing services that use that company's vehicles. In truth, if Waymo beats GM by a few months, it probably won't matter much five years from now. But GM very badly wants to be in that first tier, the small group of companies that will have viable self-driving taxis in the not-very-distant future. Thursday's news is a sign that GM's hardware nearly is ready to go. But it may be a while before we know when its software will be ready for prime time. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Rosevear owns shares of General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares) and Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why CRISPR Therapeutics Slipped 10% on Thursday: What happened CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CRSP) reported no news of its own today, so 9.6% of its shares selling off may have been sparked by the revelation that gene-editing pioneer Feng Zhang is launching a new CRISPR company, Arbor Biotechnologies. So what CRISPR Therapeutics is already facing off against Feng Zhang's Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ: EDIT) in the area of CRISPR/Cas9, a gene-editing approach pioneered by Zhang at MIT. A man clasping his hands to his cheeks with a horrified expression. IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES. CRISPR gene editing is based on a mechanism used by bacteria to edit an invading virus' DNA to disable it. Specifically, bacteria memorize bits of an attacking virus' DNA in repeating spaces called clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, or CRISPR. If the virus reappears, bacteria then use a CRISPR-associated protein, Cas9, to cut the virus' DNA and prevent it from replicating. Although human trials of CRISPR/Cas9 therapeutics haven't yet begun, plans are to bring the concept into human trials soon. A collaboration between CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) , for example, hopes to begin early-stage trials in blood diseases, including sickle cell disease, this year. While there's a lot of excitement surrounding CRISPR/Cas9, some researchers have raised concerns that CRISPR/Cas9 therapeutics could risk making unplanned off-target cuts in human DNA. Perhaps Zhang's new approach, CRISPR/Cas13d, offers a better approach. Unlike CRISPR/Cas9, CRISPR/Cas13d would target RNA, the messengers sent out by DNA to create proteins. Zhang's new company, Arbor Biotechnologies, plans to use next-generation technology, including artificial intelligence, to expedite the discovery of targets amenable to Cas13d. Now what The potential to reshape treatment by editing DNA -- and now RNA -- is significant, but until these approaches are proven to be effective and safe in scientifically controlled human clinical trials, investors might want to temper their enthusiasm. Story continues It remains to be seen what targets Arbor Biotechnologies will go after initially, so CRISPR/Cas9, and thus CRISPR Therapeutics, has a sizable head start. Nevertheless, today's news of the discovery and the potential of Cas13d and its impact on gene-editing drug developers is a good reminder that biotech moves fast, and as a result, biotech investing can be risky. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Todd Campbell has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. His clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Editas Medicine and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why CRISPR Therapeutics Slipped 10% on Thursday: CRISPR Therapeutics(NASDAQ: CRSP)reported no news of its own today, so 9.6% of its shares selling off may have been sparked by the revelation that gene-editing pioneer Feng Zhang is launching a new CRISPR company, Arbor Biotechnologies.
CRISPR Therapeutics is already facing off against Feng Zhang'sEditas Medicine, Inc.(NASDAQ: EDIT)in the area of CRISPR/Cas9, a gene-editing approach pioneered by Zhang at MIT.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
CRISPR gene editing is based on a mechanism used by bacteria to edit an invading virus' DNA to disable it. Specifically, bacteria memorize bits of an attacking virus' DNA in repeating spaces called clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, or CRISPR. If the virus reappears, bacteria then use a CRISPR-associated protein, Cas9, to cut the virus' DNA and prevent it from replicating.
Although human trials of CRISPR/Cas9 therapeutics haven't yet begun, plans are to bring the concept into human trials soon. A collaboration between CRISPR Therapeutics andVertex Pharmaceuticals(NASDAQ: VRTX), for example, hopes tobegin early-stage trialsin blood diseases, including sickle cell disease, this year.
While there's a lot of excitement surrounding CRISPR/Cas9, some researchers have raised concerns that CRISPR/Cas9 therapeutics could risk making unplanned off-target cuts in human DNA.
Perhaps Zhang's new approach, CRISPR/Cas13d, offers a better approach. Unlike CRISPR/Cas9, CRISPR/Cas13d would target RNA, the messengers sent out by DNA to create proteins. Zhang's new company, Arbor Biotechnologies, plans to use next-generation technology, including artificial intelligence, to expedite the discovery of targets amenable to Cas13d.
The potential to reshape treatment by editing DNA -- and now RNA -- is significant, but until these approaches are proven to be effective and safe in scientifically controlled human clinical trials, investors might want to temper their enthusiasm.
It remains to be seen what targets Arbor Biotechnologies will go after initially, so CRISPR/Cas9, and thus CRISPR Therapeutics, has a sizable head start. Nevertheless, today's news of the discovery and the potential of Cas13d and its impact on gene-editing drug developers is a good reminder that biotech moves fast, and as a result, biotech investing can be risky.
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Todd Campbellhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. His clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Editas Medicine and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || What Happened in the Stock Market Today: Stocks were mixed on Thursday, with major indexes attempting to recoupyesterday's lossesas the White House downplayed concerns over an impending trade war.
Speaking to CNBC this morning, Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council,arguedthat the U.S. is not trying to provoke other countries into a global trade war with President Trump's planned steel and aluminum tariffs. Rather, he says, the Trump administration is "simply defending [the nation] against what's been an unfair relationship for many, many years."
To be fair, the assertion appears to contradict Trump's own words onTwitterearlier this month, when heinsisted"trade wars are good, and easy to win."
TheDow Jones Industrial Average(DJINDICES: ^DJI)gained about a half percent, while theS&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC)edged ever so slightly into negative territory at the close.
[{"Index": "Dow", "Percentage Change": "0.47%", "Point Change": "115.54"}, {"Index": "S&P 500", "Percentage Change": "0.08%", "Point Change": "(2.15)"}]
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Consumer staples set the pace for today's losers, and theConsumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF(NYSEMKT: XLP)fell 0.7%. But industrials stocks rebounded today, with theIndustrial Select Sector SPDR Fund(NYSEMKT: XLI)up 0.3%.
As for individual stocks, encouraging announcements fromBarnes & Noble(NYSE: BKS)and3D Systems(NYSE: DDD)sent shares of both companies soaring.
Image source: Getty Images.
Shares of Barnes & Noble climbed 6.3% today after the bookseller confirmed its dividend and issued selected financial guidance for next fiscal year.
Late yesterday, Barnes & Noble announced that its board has voted to maintain the company's quarterly dividend at $0.15 per share. Given the stock's recent declines, that equates to a juicy annual yield of roughly 11.7%.
In addition, Barnes & Noble told investors to expect fiscal 2019EBITDAin the range of $175 million to $200 million. Year-over-year growth would be driven by "improved sales trends and expense reductions," Barnes & Noble says -- assuming it meets its current guidance for fiscal 2018 adjusted EBITDA in the range of $140 million to $160 million.
Barnes & Noble promised more details when it announces fiscal 2018 year-end results in late June. But in the meantime, with shares trading near an all-time low just prior to the announcement, it's no surprise to see the stock climbing higher today.
Shares of 3D Systems climbed 5.8% today after the additive manufacturing specialist announcedstrong fourth-quarter 2017 results. Quarterly revenue grew 6.9% year over year to $177.3 million, and translated to adjusted earnings of $5.3 million, or $0.05 per share. But analysts, on average, were only expecting adjusted earnings of $0.01 per share on revenue of $156.4 million.
CEO Vyomesh Joshi credited growth to the healthcare, materials, software, and on-demand manufacturing markets, and to the company's "more balanced regional execution" during the quarter. 3D Systems also saw sales of its 3D printers arrive roughly flat from the same year-ago period -- a particularly encouraging development considering 3D printer sales have endured steady declines for the past three years.
"We made progress in many areas this year, from better analytics, processes and operational cadence to IT infrastructure and supply chain optimization," added CFO John McMullen. "We continue to be focused on the decisions and actions needed to drive appropriate cost structure, while at the same time, positioning the company for long-term growth."
It's worth noting the company opted not to provide specific guidance for 2018. But I think investors are right to celebrate what appears to be a stabilization of 3D Systems' business. If it can sustain this momentum in the coming quarters, I suspect today's gains are just the beginning of a longer-term trend.
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Steve Symingtonhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends TWTR. The Motley Fool recommends 3D Systems. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || What Happened in the Stock Market Today: Stocks were mixed on Thursday, with major indexes attempting to recoup yesterday's losses as the White House downplayed concerns over an impending trade war. Speaking to CNBC this morning, Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council, argued that the U.S. is not trying to provoke other countries into a global trade war with President Trump's planned steel and aluminum tariffs. Rather, he says, the Trump administration is "simply defending [the nation] against what's been an unfair relationship for many, many years." To be fair, the assertion appears to contradict Trump's own words on Twitter earlier this month, when he insisted "trade wars are good, and easy to win." The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) gained about a half percent, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) edged ever so slightly into negative territory at the close. Today's stock market Index Percentage Change Point Change Dow 0.47% 115.54 S&P 500 0.08% (2.15) Data source: Yahoo! Finance. Consumer staples set the pace for today's losers, and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEMKT: XLP) fell 0.7%. But industrials stocks rebounded today, with the Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEMKT: XLI) up 0.3%. As for individual stocks, encouraging announcements from Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) and 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) sent shares of both companies soaring. Stock market charts on a digital display indicating gains and overlaying a world map. Image source: Getty Images. Barnes & Noble's dividend, impending growth Shares of Barnes & Noble climbed 6.3% today after the bookseller confirmed its dividend and issued selected financial guidance for next fiscal year. Late yesterday, Barnes & Noble announced that its board has voted to maintain the company's quarterly dividend at $0.15 per share. Given the stock's recent declines, that equates to a juicy annual yield of roughly 11.7%. In addition, Barnes & Noble told investors to expect fiscal 2019 EBITDA in the range of $175 million to $200 million. Year-over-year growth would be driven by "improved sales trends and expense reductions," Barnes & Noble says -- assuming it meets its current guidance for fiscal 2018 adjusted EBITDA in the range of $140 million to $160 million. Story continues Barnes & Noble promised more details when it announces fiscal 2018 year-end results in late June. But in the meantime, with shares trading near an all-time low just prior to the announcement, it's no surprise to see the stock climbing higher today. 3D Systems prints a fantastic quarter Shares of 3D Systems climbed 5.8% today after the additive manufacturing specialist announced strong fourth-quarter 2017 results . Quarterly revenue grew 6.9% year over year to $177.3 million, and translated to adjusted earnings of $5.3 million, or $0.05 per share. But analysts, on average, were only expecting adjusted earnings of $0.01 per share on revenue of $156.4 million. CEO Vyomesh Joshi credited growth to the healthcare, materials, software, and on-demand manufacturing markets, and to the company's "more balanced regional execution" during the quarter. 3D Systems also saw sales of its 3D printers arrive roughly flat from the same year-ago period -- a particularly encouraging development considering 3D printer sales have endured steady declines for the past three years. "We made progress in many areas this year, from better analytics, processes and operational cadence to IT infrastructure and supply chain optimization," added CFO John McMullen. "We continue to be focused on the decisions and actions needed to drive appropriate cost structure, while at the same time, positioning the company for long-term growth." It's worth noting the company opted not to provide specific guidance for 2018. But I think investors are right to celebrate what appears to be a stabilization of 3D Systems' business. If it can sustain this momentum in the coming quarters, I suspect today's gains are just the beginning of a longer-term trend. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Steve Symington has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends TWTR. The Motley Fool recommends 3D Systems. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Brazilian Prison System Officials Caught in $22.4 Million Bitcoin Fraud: According to Brazilian news outletAgência Brasil, authorities in Rio de Janeiro recently uncovered a money laundering scheme in which state officials misstate the budget spent on food for state-run prisons. Bitcoin was reportedly used to exchange some of the scheme’s proceeds, which totaled roughly $22.4 million.
After the scheme was discovered, search warrants were issued to 28 different sites, with seven people having been arrested so far. Among those arrested are Rio de Janeiro’s former state secretary of Prison Administration, coronel Cesar Rubens Monteiro, and delegate Marcelo Martins, director of the Department of Specialized Police of the Civil Police.
Luíz Henrique Casemiro, Superintendent of the Internal Revenue Service in Rio, revealed this was the first time cryptocurrencies were used in such an operation. He stated (roughly translated):
“We drew attention, in the Federal Revenue, regarding this specific operation, because for the first time appear operations involving bitcoin. That’s a novelty, it shows that people are trying to improve in some way, maybe fly below the Central Bank and the IRS’ radar.”
At least one state official claimed the scheme was spearheaded by Sérgio Cabral, a former Rio de Janeiro Governor who was sentenced to 14 years in prison last year over money laundering and corruption charges.
The money laundering scheme has reportedly been going on since 2001 after a company headed by entrepreneur Filipe Paiva, Induspan, was hired to supply snacks to state-run prisons. An initial contract with the company ended after being analyzed in 2010, as Induspan was charging above market prices, despite employing prisoners at very low rates.
After Induspan stopped supplying the prisons, Paiva created a non-profit organization dubbed Primus Initiative. Primus started supplying Rio de Janeiro’s prisons with snacks using Induspan’s rates.
According to a prosecutor of the state’s Anti-Corruption Action Group, Silvio Ferreira de Carvalho Neto, the price being charged for bread surged every time the contract was renewed, and in 13 years grew by nearly 1,000 percent. Moreover, the number of supplied snacks supposedly went from 55,600 to 83,600 per day, although the number of prisoners that needed to be fed remained the same.
The scheme, according to Carvalho Neto, netted Primus a total of $22.4 million between 2010 and 2015. At least $13.7 million were reportedly laundered through fake tourism and exchange companies. The official stated:
“They were set up or, above all, reactivate to receive the money. In that period, none of them had employees, bank or a service rendered. In fact, receiving amounts for shortly after withdrawing from the cash and transferring to foreign exchanges is a very clear signal that the appeal was paid without any consideration. “
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postBrazilian Prison System Officials Caught in $22.4 Million Bitcoin Fraudappeared first onCCN. || Brazilian Prison System Officials Caught in $22.4 Million Bitcoin Fraud: According to Brazilian news outlet Agência Brasil , authorities in Rio de Janeiro recently uncovered a money laundering scheme in which state officials misstate the budget spent on food for state-run prisons. Bitcoin was reportedly used to exchange some of the schemes proceeds, which totaled roughly $22.4 million. After the scheme was discovered, search warrants were issued to 28 different sites, with seven people having been arrested so far. Among those arrested are Rio de Janeiros former state secretary of Prison Administration, coronel Cesar Rubens Monteiro, and delegate Marcelo Martins, director of the Department of Specialized Police of the Civil Police. Luíz Henrique Casemiro, Superintendent of the Internal Revenue Service in Rio, revealed this was the first time cryptocurrencies were used in such an operation. He stated (roughly translated): We drew attention, in the Federal Revenue, regarding this specific operation, because for the first time appear operations involving bitcoin. Thats a novelty, it shows that people are trying to improve in some way, maybe fly below the Central Bank and the IRS radar. At least one state official claimed the scheme was spearheaded by Sérgio Cabral, a former Rio de Janeiro Governor who was sentenced to 14 years in prison last year over money laundering and corruption charges. The money-laundering scheme The money laundering scheme has reportedly been going on since 2001 after a company headed by entrepreneur Filipe Paiva, Induspan, was hired to supply snacks to state-run prisons. An initial contract with the company ended after being analyzed in 2010, as Induspan was charging above market prices, despite employing prisoners at very low rates. After Induspan stopped supplying the prisons, Paiva created a non-profit organization dubbed Primus Initiative. Primus started supplying Rio de Janeiros prisons with snacks using Induspans rates. According to a prosecutor of the states Anti-Corruption Action Group, Silvio Ferreira de Carvalho Neto, the price being charged for bread surged every time the contract was renewed, and in 13 years grew by nearly 1,000 percent. Moreover, the number of supplied snacks supposedly went from 55,600 to 83,600 per day, although the number of prisoners that needed to be fed remained the same. Story continues The scheme, according to Carvalho Neto, netted Primus a total of $22.4 million between 2010 and 2015. At least $13.7 million were reportedly laundered through fake tourism and exchange companies. The official stated: They were set up or, above all, reactivate to receive the money. In that period, none of them had employees, bank or a service rendered. In fact, receiving amounts for shortly after withdrawing from the cash and transferring to foreign exchanges is a very clear signal that the appeal was paid without any consideration. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Brazilian Prison System Officials Caught in $22.4 Million Bitcoin Fraud appeared first on CCN . || Brazilian Prison System Officials Caught in $22.4 Million Bitcoin Fraud: According to Brazilian news outletAgência Brasil, authorities in Rio de Janeiro recently uncovered a money laundering scheme in which state officials misstate the budget spent on food for state-run prisons. Bitcoin was reportedly used to exchange some of the scheme’s proceeds, which totaled roughly $22.4 million.
After the scheme was discovered, search warrants were issued to 28 different sites, with seven people having been arrested so far. Among those arrested are Rio de Janeiro’s former state secretary of Prison Administration, coronel Cesar Rubens Monteiro, and delegate Marcelo Martins, director of the Department of Specialized Police of the Civil Police.
Luíz Henrique Casemiro, Superintendent of the Internal Revenue Service in Rio, revealed this was the first time cryptocurrencies were used in such an operation. He stated (roughly translated):
“We drew attention, in the Federal Revenue, regarding this specific operation, because for the first time appear operations involving bitcoin. That’s a novelty, it shows that people are trying to improve in some way, maybe fly below the Central Bank and the IRS’ radar.”
At least one state official claimed the scheme was spearheaded by Sérgio Cabral, a former Rio de Janeiro Governor who was sentenced to 14 years in prison last year over money laundering and corruption charges.
The money laundering scheme has reportedly been going on since 2001 after a company headed by entrepreneur Filipe Paiva, Induspan, was hired to supply snacks to state-run prisons. An initial contract with the company ended after being analyzed in 2010, as Induspan was charging above market prices, despite employing prisoners at very low rates.
After Induspan stopped supplying the prisons, Paiva created a non-profit organization dubbed Primus Initiative. Primus started supplying Rio de Janeiro’s prisons with snacks using Induspan’s rates.
According to a prosecutor of the state’s Anti-Corruption Action Group, Silvio Ferreira de Carvalho Neto, the price being charged for bread surged every time the contract was renewed, and in 13 years grew by nearly 1,000 percent. Moreover, the number of supplied snacks supposedly went from 55,600 to 83,600 per day, although the number of prisoners that needed to be fed remained the same.
The scheme, according to Carvalho Neto, netted Primus a total of $22.4 million between 2010 and 2015. At least $13.7 million were reportedly laundered through fake tourism and exchange companies. The official stated:
“They were set up or, above all, reactivate to receive the money. In that period, none of them had employees, bank or a service rendered. In fact, receiving amounts for shortly after withdrawing from the cash and transferring to foreign exchanges is a very clear signal that the appeal was paid without any consideration. “
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postBrazilian Prison System Officials Caught in $22.4 Million Bitcoin Fraudappeared first onCCN. || Why MLPs Are Getting Pummeled Today: Oil and gas pipelinemaster limited partnershipssold off on Thursday, with several dropping by double digits. Leading the downdraft wereEnergy Transfer Partners(NYSE: ETP),Spectra Energy Partners(NYSE: SEP), andEnbridge Energy Partners(NYSE: EEP), which were all down at least 10% by the mid-afternoon. Fueling the sell-off was a policy change by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which will no longer allow oil and gas pipeline MLPs to recover an income tax allowance as part of their cost-of-service rates.
FERC's policy revision came in response to a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals that it "failed to demonstrate there was no double recovery of income tax costs" when it permitted an MLP to "to recover both an income tax allowance and a return on equity" in setting pipeline rates. Because of that, FERC has revised its earlier policy that allowed MLPs to recover an income tax allowance in their cost-of-service fees.
Image source: Getty Images.
The net effect of this ruling is that the tariffs that pipeline companies charge on regulated oil and gas pipelines will fall, likely cutting into their cash flow. The decision is weighing heaviest on MLPs that make most of their money by operating regulated pipelines. The additional cash flow from this allowance had been substantial in some cases. For example, Enbridge Energy Partners noted earlier this year that the tax cuts enacted last year would result in the company earning less money on its Lakehead system because it had to reduce the income tax allowance component of the tolls charged to reflect the reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. Consequently, the company's forecast for distributable cash flow declined from a range of $775 million-$825 million down to $720 million-$770 million. However, since it will no longer be allowed to include any tax allowance as part of its tolls, cash flow will likely fall further this year. That's the same concern weighing on Spectra Energy Partners and Energy Transfer Partners since both operate vast FERC-regulated pipeline systems.
That said, not all MLPs will face the same impact.Enterprise Products Partners(NYSE: EPD), for example, had fallen as much as 9% on the day due to the FERC ruling. However, the company said, "We do not expect the revisions to the FERC's policy on the recovery of income taxes to materially impact our earnings and cash flow. The cost-based tariff rates that are in effect for all of our interstate pipelines are based on a cost of service for those pipelines whereby the disallowance for the recovery of an income tax allowance will not have a material effect, if any, to the posted tariffs.
It's also worth noting that Enterprise Products Partners, which is one of the country's largest MLPs, isn't as reliant as others on FERC-regulated oil and gas pipelines. In Enterprise's case, it makes a significant portion of its money operating oil and gas processing plants and storage terminals, which would experience no impact from this change. That statement seemed to put investors' minds at ease, enabling units of the MLP to recover most of its losses by the end of the day.
Meanwhile, natural gas pipeline companyKinder Morgan(NYSE: KMI)also said that it shouldn't see any impact to cash flow as a result of this ruling because it's not an MLP. While investors initially sold off shares of the natural gas pipeline giant -- falling more than 7.5% at one point today -- they have recovered their earlier losses.
It could take a while before the dust settles on this new FERC ruling, which appears to have hit some MLPs harder than others. Clearly, though, investors are taking a "sell first and ask questions later" approach to the severity of the impact. While that could create bargains down the road, we don't yet know the full impact this change will have on harder-hit MLPs like Enbridge Energy Partners, Energy Transfer Partners, and Spectra Energy Partners. As a result, investors might want to wait until these companies have had a chance to review their impact and release new guidance before making any investment decisions.
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Matthew DiLalloowns shares of Enbridge Energy Partners, Enterprise Products Partners, and Kinder Morgan and has the following options: short March 2018 $17 puts on Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners and Spectra Energy Partners. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why MLPs Are Getting Pummeled Today: What happened Oil and gas pipeline master limited partnerships sold off on Thursday, with several dropping by double digits. Leading the downdraft were Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP) , Spectra Energy Partners (NYSE: SEP) , and Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE: EEP) , which were all down at least 10% by the mid-afternoon. Fueling the sell-off was a policy change by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which will no longer allow oil and gas pipeline MLPs to recover an income tax allowance as part of their cost-of-service rates. So what FERC's policy revision came in response to a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals that it "failed to demonstrate there was no double recovery of income tax costs" when it permitted an MLP to "to recover both an income tax allowance and a return on equity" in setting pipeline rates. Because of that, FERC has revised its earlier policy that allowed MLPs to recover an income tax allowance in their cost-of-service fees. A bright red arrow going down. Image source: Getty Images. The net effect of this ruling is that the tariffs that pipeline companies charge on regulated oil and gas pipelines will fall, likely cutting into their cash flow. The decision is weighing heaviest on MLPs that make most of their money by operating regulated pipelines. The additional cash flow from this allowance had been substantial in some cases. For example, Enbridge Energy Partners noted earlier this year that the tax cuts enacted last year would result in the company earning less money on its Lakehead system because it had to reduce the income tax allowance component of the tolls charged to reflect the reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. Consequently, the company's forecast for distributable cash flow declined from a range of $775 million-$825 million down to $720 million-$770 million. However, since it will no longer be allowed to include any tax allowance as part of its tolls, cash flow will likely fall further this year. That's the same concern weighing on Spectra Energy Partners and Energy Transfer Partners since both operate vast FERC-regulated pipeline systems. Story continues That said, not all MLPs will face the same impact. Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) , for example, had fallen as much as 9% on the day due to the FERC ruling. However, the company said, "We do not expect the revisions to the FERC's policy on the recovery of income taxes to materially impact our earnings and cash flow. The cost-based tariff rates that are in effect for all of our interstate pipelines are based on a cost of service for those pipelines whereby the disallowance for the recovery of an income tax allowance will not have a material effect, if any, to the posted tariffs. It's also worth noting that Enterprise Products Partners, which is one of the country's largest MLPs, isn't as reliant as others on FERC-regulated oil and gas pipelines. In Enterprise's case, it makes a significant portion of its money operating oil and gas processing plants and storage terminals, which would experience no impact from this change. That statement seemed to put investors' minds at ease, enabling units of the MLP to recover most of its losses by the end of the day. Meanwhile, natural gas pipeline company Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) also said that it shouldn't see any impact to cash flow as a result of this ruling because it's not an MLP. While investors initially sold off shares of the natural gas pipeline giant -- falling more than 7.5% at one point today -- they have recovered their earlier losses. Now what It could take a while before the dust settles on this new FERC ruling, which appears to have hit some MLPs harder than others. Clearly, though, investors are taking a "sell first and ask questions later" approach to the severity of the impact. While that could create bargains down the road, we don't yet know the full impact this change will have on harder-hit MLPs like Enbridge Energy Partners, Energy Transfer Partners, and Spectra Energy Partners. As a result, investors might want to wait until these companies have had a chance to review their impact and release new guidance before making any investment decisions. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Matthew DiLallo owns shares of Enbridge Energy Partners, Enterprise Products Partners, and Kinder Morgan and has the following options: short March 2018 $17 puts on Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners and Spectra Energy Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Disney World's Greedy Move Is Brilliant: It's going to cost a bit more to stay in the heart of the action atDisney's(NYSE: DIS)Florida resort starting next week. Disney World will start charging overnight guests with cars parking fees for bookings on or after March 21.
The amounts may not seem like much, proportionally speaking. The nightly rates -- $13 for the resort's value-priced properties, $19 for the moderate ones, and $24 for the high-end deluxe hotels -- will be a small piece of the far more expensive on-site Disney World vacation. However, as you can probably imagine, social media is ablaze with park fans arguing that the theme park giant has finally gone too far. Regulars naturally hate whenever Mickey Mouse digs deeper into their pockets, but shareholders may see things differently.
Image source: Disney.
The argument here is that charging guests for overnight resort parking is a sign of the times. Disney World's nearest rival -- Universal Orlando -- has been demanding parking fees for years. There are plenty of budget lodging options around town with free paved lots, but most of the area's better establishments have historically charged guests for their parked vehicles.
Disney stood out because of its free parking as well as its complimentary Disney Magical Express motorcoach transportation to and from Orlando International Airport. It feels that now is the right time to introduce a new line item to guest bills, and there could be more to this move than simply increasing its revenue per available room.
There's momentum in Disney's theme parks business. Domestic theme park attendance rose 6% in Disney's latest quarter with per-capita spending up another 7%. This is the only Disney segmentgrowing these days, and the near-term outlook is just as impressive. Disney revealed during last month's earnings call that reservation bookings were running 3% higher than at the same pace last year with guests paying 13% more in the process. There may never be a right time to introduce a new fee, but if you're going to do so, you may as well do it when things are going well.
The neat thing about this move is that it may encourage more guests to leave their cars at home or to not bother renting vehicles at the airport. Disney Magical Express is a free benefit, complete with free luggage delivery and resort-side check-in on the way out. There's a method to the madness if that's the case, as families with their own cars will likely venture outside of the resort to find cheaper meals elsewhere, buy groceries off-site, and -- more importantly -- hit up rival attractions. Charging guests to park is essentially a car tax, and that's one more way to keep its overnight guests close.
Many hotel guests will turn to Uber or Lyft to venture outside of Disney World's clutches, but the vast majority of visitors will settle for letting the resort's growing transportation options shuttle them from place to place within Disney World. One way or another, Disney will find a way to milk more money out of its park guests, and while2018 may be a hard sellin terms of new attractions, this is just one more masterful chess move for the media giant to claim checkmate next year when Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge comes online.
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Rick Munarrizowns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Disney World's Greedy Move Is Brilliant: It's going to cost a bit more to stay in the heart of the action at Disney 's (NYSE: DIS) Florida resort starting next week. Disney World will start charging overnight guests with cars parking fees for bookings on or after March 21. The amounts may not seem like much, proportionally speaking. The nightly rates -- $13 for the resort's value-priced properties, $19 for the moderate ones, and $24 for the high-end deluxe hotels -- will be a small piece of the far more expensive on-site Disney World vacation. However, as you can probably imagine, social media is ablaze with park fans arguing that the theme park giant has finally gone too far. Regulars naturally hate whenever Mickey Mouse digs deeper into their pockets, but shareholders may see things differently. Alice, Mad Hatter, and Rabit at Disney World's Mad Tea Party ride. Image source: Disney. 1900 Park Fare The argument here is that charging guests for overnight resort parking is a sign of the times. Disney World's nearest rival -- Universal Orlando -- has been demanding parking fees for years. There are plenty of budget lodging options around town with free paved lots, but most of the area's better establishments have historically charged guests for their parked vehicles. Disney stood out because of its free parking as well as its complimentary Disney Magical Express motorcoach transportation to and from Orlando International Airport. It feels that now is the right time to introduce a new line item to guest bills, and there could be more to this move than simply increasing its revenue per available room. There's momentum in Disney's theme parks business. Domestic theme park attendance rose 6% in Disney's latest quarter with per-capita spending up another 7%. This is the only Disney segment growing these days , and the near-term outlook is just as impressive. Disney revealed during last month's earnings call that reservation bookings were running 3% higher than at the same pace last year with guests paying 13% more in the process. There may never be a right time to introduce a new fee, but if you're going to do so, you may as well do it when things are going well. Story continues The neat thing about this move is that it may encourage more guests to leave their cars at home or to not bother renting vehicles at the airport. Disney Magical Express is a free benefit, complete with free luggage delivery and resort-side check-in on the way out. There's a method to the madness if that's the case, as families with their own cars will likely venture outside of the resort to find cheaper meals elsewhere, buy groceries off-site, and -- more importantly -- hit up rival attractions. Charging guests to park is essentially a car tax, and that's one more way to keep its overnight guests close. Many hotel guests will turn to Uber or Lyft to venture outside of Disney World's clutches, but the vast majority of visitors will settle for letting the resort's growing transportation options shuttle them from place to place within Disney World. One way or another, Disney will find a way to milk more money out of its park guests, and while 2018 may be a hard sell in terms of new attractions, this is just one more masterful chess move for the media giant to claim checkmate next year when Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge comes online. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Rick Munarriz owns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || United Natural Foods' $75 Million Problem: There's a whole class of temporary business problems that reflect not the troubles of an organization, but its competitive strengths. I was reminded of this last week when reading through the results of the largest natural-foods distributor in North America, United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: UNFI) . The company released its second-quarter fiscal 2018 earnings report on March 8, which covered the three months ended Jan. 27, 2018. Revenue expanded 10.6% during the quarter to $2.3 billion, in line with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 11%, which the company has achieved over the last three fiscal years. Executives confidently predict that 2018 will mark the first year in which annual revenue exceeds $10 billion. Yet United Natural Foods failed to capture all sales available to it during the quarter. CEO Steven Spinner discussed an issue with United Natural's top line on the company's earnings conference call: Service levels continued to be challenged during the quarter. Supplier out-of-stocks in the second quarter of fiscal 2018 were approximately 250 basis points unfavorable versus the same quarter in the prior year, equating to approximately $50 million in lost sales. We continue to work across supply-chain teams closely with our suppliers, to ensure that we are aligned on the demand signals, and improve service level going forward. This occurrence of out-of-stock items among suppliers comes on top of $25 million in lost sales due to out-of-stocks in the first quarter of the fiscal year. While $75 million of foregone opportunity isn't monstrous for United Natural Foods, it still represents about 1.5% of year-to-date sales of nearly $5 billion. Demand left unfulfilled is never fun to calculate, and it's typically a problem of missed execution. But among possible problems, this is a good one to have. At the moment, United Natural Foods' resources are stretched to provide enough product to the natural foods and conventional grocers it counts as end users. And United Natural struggles from time to time to align readily available product within its supply network with marketplace demand, as Spinner suggests above. The upside? Both issues stem from unabated growth. Story continues Fresh tomatoes in a wooden bowl Image source: Getty Images. Positive initial results on a new twist to an old partnership Supply constraints are one sign that United Natural Foods is enjoying a lift from the purchase of its largest customer, Whole Foods Market, by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) last year. Whole Foods remains by far United Natural's largest buyer, responsible for 33% of total revenue in 2017. United Natural's relationship with Whole Foods goes back decades, and its current distribution with the natural and organic grocer runs through September of 2025. As you might expect, while Amazon's broadening of Whole Foods' discounts and promotions is reflected in United Natural's top line, we can deduce that Amazon is likely to wring more price concessions from the distributor over the long term. Year to date, gross margin has decreased a slight 39 basis points to 14.8%. The company attributes the drop to sales mix within its customer base, as well as higher shipping costs. Thus, for now, significant margin pressure from Amazon hasn't materialized on United Natural's books. With its margin relatively safe for now, United Natural can focus on the execution I mentioned above. Over the years, as it's serviced not only Whole Foods but also a growing book of other natural and organic food retailers (a group United Natural charmingly refers to as "supernatural" grocers), it has made a plethora of manufacturer, supplier, and distributor acquisitions. According to its most recent annual report, the company has completed nineteen such acquisitions since 2000. And yet, United Natural Foods hasn't overborrowed to add this capacity. The company's total long-term debt of $156.1 million (as of its most recent quarter end) comprises just a fraction of current working capital of more than $1.1 billion. Prepping to meet demand in fiscal 2018 During the earnings conference call, Spinner addressed capacity issues, noting that the company saw a bit of recovery during the second quarter as most distribution centers adjusted to higher demand. Management intends to further address capacity shortcomings with capital investment in fiscal 2018, by leasing space contiguous to existing manufacturing and distribution locations. It's clear that United Natural's double-digit growth is being propelled by a growing customer base within a briskly expanding sector of the grocery industry. Now the company just needs to solve "good" problems, such as executing to capture that last 1.5% of available revenue during a given quarter. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Asit Sharma has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .
[Social Media Buzz]
CMC指数:3.10955
CC指数:2784
BTC
860984.61
+0.59%
ETH
63428.07
+0.18%
XRP
75.05
+6.36%
BCH
97002.92
+0.45%
LTC
17060.00
+1.97% || 2018-03-16 20:00:04 UTC
BTC: $8557.11
BCH: $1031.72
ETH: $620.96
ZEC: $244.26
LTC: $171.2
ETC: $18.34
XRP: $0.6979 || Zaifを使うメリットは指値出しておけばシステムのバグで１００万円のビットコインがたまに４０万円で買えたり１６０万で売れたりすることかな
まともに取引したいならbitcoin売買高世界一のmex http://goo.gl/otgm9p を選ぶといいよ
葉加瀬太郎
01:00
0 || #BTC Average: 8555.87$
#Bitfinex - 8489.00$
#Poloniex - 8481.86$
#Bitstamp - 8480.68$
#Coinbase - 8500.0...
|
7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47, 8879.62, 8668.12, 8495.78, 8209.40
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 6932.48, 6640.52, 7276.80, 7202.84, 7218.82, 7191.16, 7511.59, 7355.63, 7322.53, 7275.16, 7238.97, 7290.09, 7317.99, 7422.65, 7293.00, 7193.60, 7200.17, 6985.47, 7344.88, 7410.66, 7411.32, 7769.22, 8163.69, 8079.86, 7879.07, 8166.55, 8037.54, 8192.49, 8144.19, 8827.76, 8807.01, 8723.79, 8929.04, 8942.81, 8706.25, 8657.64, 8745.89, 8680.88, 8406.52, 8445.43, 8367.85, 8596.83, 8909.82, 9358.59, 9316.63, 9508.99, 9350.53, 9392.88, 9344.37, 9293.52, 9180.96, 9613.42, 9729.80, 9795.94, 9865.12, 10116.67, 9856.61, 10208.24, 10326.05, 10214.38, 10312.12, 9889.42, 9934.43, 9690.14, 10142.00, 9633.39, 9608.48, 9686.44, 9663.18, 9924.52, 9650.17, 9341.71, 8820.52, 8784.49, 8672.46, 8599.51, 8562.45, 8869.67, 8787.79, 8755.25, 9078.76, 9122.55, 8909.95, 8108.12, 7923.64, 7909.73, 7911.43, 4970.79, 5563.71, 5200.37.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-03-14]
Volume: 36154506008, RSI (14-day): 21.64, 50-day EMA: 8508.85, 200-day EMA: 8513.89
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
$100M+ in Margin Calls: Crypto Lenders Demand Collateral as Market Buckles: The budding market for cryptocurrency-backed loans met its first big stress test this week as bitcoin (BTC) dropped 40 percent and lenders demanded additional collateral from borrowers. In the last day, Genesis Capital called an additional $100 million of collateral from its selective pool of about 40 clients, CEO Michael Moro said Friday afternoon. Rival Celsius Network–which lends to 225 institutions, making up up a loan book of $400 million to $600 million at any given time–has seen margin calls in the hundreds of millions, according to CEO Alex Mashinsky. Meanwhile, Nexo’s co-founder Antoni Trenchev said some customers have repaid loans while it has liquidated other clients’ collateral, the equivalent of foreclosing on a home mortgage. And BlockFi reported in a blog post that it made margin calls on its dollar-denominated loan book, with some liquidations, but declined to comment further. Related: Previously Crypto-Only BlockFi Adds Cash On-Ramp Through Silvergate Partnership “As of five minutes ago, everyone who needed to post collateral has,” Moro said. “We’ve had zero liquidation events … What we have done to augment our lending is we have not made any additional loans in the last few days.” In the past year, crypto lending activity has mushroomed , as some holders sought to earn a yield on their assets , others sought to raise cash without selling their coins and market makers borrowed to fill orders quickly. The phenomenon could potentially improve liquidity and price discovery for crypto assets but it also has introduced systemic risks. Read More: Crypto Lending 101 Wait and see Now, Genesis doesn’t plan to make any loans that are collateralized less than 100 percent until the market calms down, Moro said. Related: You Call That Volatility? Bitcoin Traders Scoff at Wall Street’s Gyrations While Genesis is still trying to figure out what interest rates should look like in the volatile environment, the unit of Digital Currency Group is raising collateral requirements on loans from around 105 percent to between 110 and 120 percent for loans backed by bitcoin, which make up the majority of its loan book. If volatility doesn’t subside, collateral levels could rise further, to anywhere between 130 and 150 percent, as underwriting standards continue to tighten. Story continues As the market dropped, Moro said demand shifted from fiat loans to bitcoin loans as traders looked to arbitrage the difference between bitcoin’s spot and futures prices. At sister company Genesis Trading, Moro said, only about 60 percent of clients were selling while 40 percent were still buying. Given the turmoil, “I would have expected it to be 80/20 or 90/10,” he said. ‘Best day ever’ Celsius also raised collateral standards after Thursday’s rout, but Mashinsky claimed it was the “best day ever” for the company as it “loaned more than ever and charged the most interest” than it ever has. For example, loans on ether now carry an eye-popping interest rate of around 260 percent compared to 15 to 20 percent under normal circumstances and 4 or 5 percent in the calmest of times, Mashinsky said. As Celsius grows, however, it plans to tighten the limits on credit lines it offers, Mashinsky said. Product delay Nexo is holding the launch of a product that would allow users to earn interest on their crypto, Trenchev said. (The company only offers crypto-collateralized fiat loans and interest on fiat and stablecoins). “We were going to launch two weeks from now,” Trenchev said. “But we have to wait for this to play out, before we feel confident to launch.” Trenchev said he’s confident that demand for fiat loans will hold steady as bitcoin seems to have bottomed around $3,867 and he does not plan to change interest rates. Nexo’s loans are typically collateralized between 200 and 500 percent, he added. “The beauty of collateralized loans is you don’t have to worry about the underwriting process that much,” Trenchev said. “I would argue that digital assets are the best collateral–better than a penthouse on Fifth Avenue. You might have a steady price situation, but with digital assets you have instant liquidity.” Related Stories BitGo Reveals Bitcoin Lending Push; $150M Booked So Far Crypto Lender Babel Hits $380M in Outstanding Loans || $100M+ in Margin Calls: Crypto Lenders Demand Collateral as Market Buckles: The budding market for cryptocurrency-backed loans met its first big stress test this week asbitcoin(BTC)dropped 40 percentand lenders demanded additional collateral from borrowers.
In the last day, Genesis Capital called an additional $100 million of collateral from its selective pool of about 40 clients, CEO Michael Moro said Friday afternoon. Rival Celsius Network–which lends to 225 institutions, making up up a loan book of $400 million to $600 million at any given time–has seen margin calls in the hundreds of millions, according to CEO Alex Mashinsky.
Meanwhile, Nexo’s co-founder Antoni Trenchev said some customers have repaid loans while it has liquidated other clients’ collateral, the equivalent of foreclosing on a home mortgage. And BlockFi reported in ablog postthat it made margin calls on its dollar-denominated loan book, with some liquidations, but declined to comment further.
Related:Previously Crypto-Only BlockFi Adds Cash On-Ramp Through Silvergate Partnership
“As of five minutes ago, everyone who needed to post collateral has,” Moro said. “We’ve had zero liquidation events … What we have done to augment our lending is we have not made any additional loans in the last few days.”
In the past year, crypto lending activity hasmushroomed, as some holders sought toearn a yield on their assets, others sought to raise cash without selling their coins and market makers borrowed to fill orders quickly. The phenomenon could potentially improve liquidity andprice discoveryfor crypto assets but it also has introduced systemic risks.
Read More: Crypto Lending 101
Now, Genesis doesn’t plan to make any loans that are collateralized less than 100 percent until the market calms down, Moro said.
Related:You Call That Volatility? Bitcoin Traders Scoff at Wall Street’s Gyrations
While Genesis is still trying to figure out what interest rates should look like in the volatile environment, the unit of Digital Currency Group is raising collateral requirements on loans from around 105 percent to between 110 and 120 percent for loans backed by bitcoin, which make up the majority of its loan book. If volatility doesn’t subside, collateral levels could rise further, to anywhere between 130 and 150 percent, as underwriting standards continue to tighten.
As the market dropped, Moro said demand shifted from fiat loans to bitcoin loans as traders looked to arbitrage the difference between bitcoin’s spot and futures prices. At sister company Genesis Trading, Moro said, only about 60 percent of clients were selling while 40 percent were still buying.
Given the turmoil, “I would have expected it to be 80/20 or 90/10,” he said.
Celsius also raised collateral standards after Thursday’s rout, but Mashinsky claimed it was the “best day ever” for the company as it “loaned more than ever and charged the most interest” than it ever has.
For example, loans on ether now carry an eye-popping interest rate of around 260 percent compared to 15 to 20 percent under normal circumstances and 4 or 5 percent in the calmest of times, Mashinsky said.
As Celsius grows, however, it plans to tighten the limits on credit lines it offers, Mashinsky said.
Nexo is holding the launch of a product that would allow users to earn interest on their crypto, Trenchev said. (The company only offers crypto-collateralized fiat loans and interest on fiat and stablecoins).
“We were going to launch two weeks from now,” Trenchev said. “But we have to wait for this to play out, before we feel confident to launch.”
Trenchev said he’s confident that demand for fiat loans will hold steady as bitcoin seems to have bottomed around $3,867 and he does not plan to change interest rates. Nexo’s loans are typically collateralized between 200 and 500 percent, he added.
“The beauty of collateralized loans is you don’t have to worry about the underwriting process that much,” Trenchev said. “I would argue that digital assets are the best collateral–better than a penthouse on Fifth Avenue. You might have a steady price situation, but with digital assets you have instant liquidity.”
• BitGo Reveals Bitcoin Lending Push; $150M Booked So Far
• Crypto Lender Babel Hits $380M in Outstanding Loans || Thursdays Market Madness Strained Ethereums Killer App: DeFi: So many people were trying to use the Ethereum blockchain during Thursdays market meltdown that many applications simply stopped working as intended. The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector was hit particularly hard. The decentralized services that feed price information into these headless lending platforms known as oracles in the industry simply couldnt keep up. Related: Bitcoin Ekes Out Gains but Remains in Red Amid Broader Market Rebound Oracles could not send accurate price data and traders could not execute trades without paying horrendous fees to record transactions onto the blockchain. In a throwback to 2017, the Ethereum network became too crowded to execute transactions for many projects. In 2017, it was NFT gaming app CryptoKitties that overloaded Ethereum by issuing too many transactions during a bull market. At one point, 30,000 transactions were stuck in the queue waiting to be processed by the network. Thursdays mass transaction action was caused by the precarious plummet of ethers price, which shed 30 percent in 24 hours in a network first . Pricing oracles typically Chainlink or Makers V2 oracle were the main victims Thursday. Related: MakerDAO Debts Grow as DeFi Leader Moves to Stabilize Protocol Several of Chainlinks 21 oracles were down during prime trading hours, according to bZx co-founder and CEO Tom Bean. Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of DeFi platform Aave, said he saw a Maker oracle throw a 20 percent price deviation between the actual market price and Makers generated feed. Oracles query data from on- or off-chain sources. Contracts pulling from on-chain sources had their requests crowded out by other transactions on the ethereum network, leading to oracle failures for both V2 and Chainlink. Orders were also backlogged on the Ethereum mainnet and traders were forced to pay outlandish gas fees to settle. For example, users were not able to perform trades on exchange dYdX or lending platform Nuo Network . Both DeFi platforms changed their fee structures (including dYdX multiple times) to execute a slew of backlogged trades Thursday and early Friday. Story continues The network condition is affecting everyone, Aaves Kulechov said. People need to just pay the 160 gwei [gas fee] to keep prices up to date. MakerDAO was undoubtedly the biggest loser on Thursday. An infrastructure error led to over $4 million being swooped up by a lurking bot-maker, leaving investors high and dry as their collateral was taken away. In response, the Maker community voted Friday to restructure certain risk measures. DeFi exchange bZx also halted opening new trades and loans and will leave these features offline until an audit is conducted, said Bean. bZx recently switched to Chainlink following a flash loan attack that relied on manipulated pricing data. All Chainlink oracles are reporting as of press time. The issue is that data providers cant provide timely updates. I can query the current rate, but its way off from [the] actual market rate, Bean said. In an email, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov told CoinDesk that unique market conditions created temporary congestion on the ethereum mainnet. He said the congestion has been reduced, and all Chainlink oracles, which pull from multiple pricing feeds themselves, are now reporting accurately. Still, other DeFi applications handled the surge of transactions without heavy-handed measures. Decentralized exchange Uniswap saw its all-time trade volume double to over $53 million, according to a tweet from Uniswap founder Hayden Adams . Kyber Network also set an all time high with some $30 million in 24-hour trade volume, according to CoinGecko . What does this all mean? DeFi didnt die, but it didnt thrive either. If we want crypto to become a global asset class, we need better DeFi [infrastructure], Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle Samani tweeted Friday. The status quo is not sufficient by orders of magnitude. Related Stories DeFi Leader MakerDAO Weighs Emergency Shutdown Following ETH Price Drop In Defense of Blockchain Voting || Thursday’s Market Madness Strained Ethereum’s Killer App: DeFi: So many people were trying to use the Ethereum blockchain during Thursday’s market meltdown that many applications simply stopped working as intended.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector was hit particularly hard.
The decentralized services that feed price information into these headless lending platforms – known as “oracles” in the industry – simply couldn’t keep up.
Related:Bitcoin Ekes Out Gains but Remains in Red Amid Broader Market Rebound
Oracles could not send accurate price data and traders could not execute trades without paying horrendous fees to record transactions onto the blockchain.
In a throwback to 2017, the Ethereum network became too crowded to execute transactions for many projects. In 2017, it was NFT gaming app CryptoKitties that overloaded Ethereum by issuing too many transactions during a bull market. At one point,30,000 transactions were stuckin the queue waiting to be processed by the network.
Thursday’s mass transaction action was caused by the precarious plummet of ether’s price, which shed 30 percent in 24 hours in anetwork first.
Pricing oracles – typically Chainlink or Maker’sV2oracle – were the main victims Thursday.
Related:MakerDAO Debts Grow as DeFi Leader Moves to Stabilize Protocol
Several of Chainlink’s 21 oracles were down during prime trading hours, according to bZx co-founder and CEO Tom Bean.
Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of DeFi platform Aave, said he saw a Maker oracle throw a “20 percent price deviation” between the actual market price and Maker’s generated feed.
Oracles query data from on- or off-chain sources. Contracts pulling from on-chain sources had their requests crowded out by other transactions on the ethereum network, leading to oracle failures for both V2 and Chainlink.
Orders were also backlogged on the Ethereum mainnet and traders were forced to pay outlandish gas fees to settle.
For example, users were not able to perform trades on exchange dYdX or lending platformNuo Network. Both DeFi platforms changed their fee structures (including dYdX multiple times) to execute a slew of backlogged trades Thursday and early Friday.
“The network condition is affecting everyone,” Aave’s Kulechov said. “People need to just pay the 160 gwei [gas fee] to keep prices up to date.”
MakerDAO was undoubtedly the biggest loser on Thursday. An infrastructure error led to over$4 millionbeing swooped up by a lurking bot-maker, leaving investors high and dry as their collateral was taken away. In response, theMaker community votedFriday to restructure certain risk measures.
DeFi exchange bZx also halted opening new trades and loans and will leave these features offline until an audit is conducted, said Bean. bZx recently switched to Chainlink followinga flash loan attackthat relied on manipulated pricing data. All Chainlink oracles are reporting as of press time.
“The issue is that data providers can’t provide timely updates. I can query the current rate, but it’s way off from [the] actual market rate,” Bean said.
In an email, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov told CoinDesk that “unique market conditions created temporary congestion” on the ethereum mainnet. He said the congestion has been reduced, and all Chainlink oracles, which pull from multiple pricing feeds themselves, are now reporting accurately.
Still, other DeFi applications handled the surge of transactions without heavy-handed measures.
Decentralized exchange Uniswap saw its all-time trade volume double to over $53 million,according to a tweet from Uniswap founder Hayden Adams.
Kyber Network also set an all time high with some $30 million in 24-hour trade volume, according toCoinGecko.
What does this all mean? DeFi didn’t die, but it didn’t thrive either.
“If we want crypto to become a global asset class, we need better DeFi [infrastructure],” Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle SamanitweetedFriday. “The status quo is not sufficient by orders of magnitude.”
• DeFi Leader MakerDAO Weighs Emergency Shutdown Following ETH Price Drop
• In Defense of Blockchain Voting || Hut 8 Responds to Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Concerns and Drop in Bitcoin Price: Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 13, 2020) -Hut 8 Mining Corp.(TSX: HUT) (OTCQX: HUTMF) ("Hut 8" or "theCompany"), one of the world's largest publicly listed bitcoin mining companies by operating capacity and market capitalization, provides an update to shareholders regarding risks due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the significant drop in the price of bitcoin.
To combat the significant drop in the price of bitcoin over the last 48 hours, Hut 8 is optimizing its mining operations by running its mining equipment in cost-efficient modes. This has the ability to reduce its electricity consumption and costs by approximitely 50% while only reducing the hashrate output by approximitely 35%. While this optimization reduces total output, the overall overall margin is maximized and our costs are reduced. This is being performed in real-time on a 24/7 basis. Management is monitoring the movement in the price of bitcoin relative to operating costs to either further curtail production or increase production. This is a unique advantage of Hut 8 that its electricity supply agreements and equipment allow for this reduction in consumption.
Several new policies have been put in place for employees working at the sites with respect to keeping work environments clean to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Employees are prohibited from non-essential work travel and urged to stay home if feeling ill. Employees that have traveled outside of Canada have been asked to report this and monitor their health. Management has been carefully monitoring the work environment to prevent any potential disruption to operations as a result of the virus.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant negative impact on most asset and commodity values around the world, including bitcoin which has dropped as much as 46% in the last 48 hours. As a result of lower selling prices for bitcoin, Hut 8 will have to sell bitcoin at lower bitcoin prices to cover ongoing fiat currency based costs.
Hut 8's relationship with its lender, Genesis Global Capital LLC ("Genesis"), remains positive. However, the volatility in the price of bitcoin may have an adverse effect on the value of the bitcoin collateral held with Genesis that may cause a margin call that Hut 8 is unable to meet. Management continues to monitor the situation and the bitcoin price to mitigate and adverse consequences to what the Company believes is temporary extreme volatility.
The Company also notes the bitcoin SHA-256 algorithm halving, which occurs approximately every four years, is set to occur across the entire bitcoin network in mid-May 2020. The impact will be that the compensation paid to miners for mining a block will be cut in half. The desired impact is to limit the number of bitcoin in circulation and create scarcity. However, the impact on all bitcoin miners could be negative if there isn't a corresponding increase in the price of bitcoin or a decrease in the network hashrate. This could have the effect of making much of Hut 8's operations uneconomical if the bitcoin price doesn't appreciate or the network hashrate doesn't fall.
ABOUT HUT 8 MINING CORP.
Hut 8 is a bitcoin mining company with industrial scale operations in Canada. In total, Hut 8 owns and operates two sites in Alberta, Canada utilizing 94 BlockBox AC data centers with current maximum operating capacity of 107 MW and 952 PH/s.
Hut 8 creates value for investors through low production costs and appreciation of its bitcoin inventory. The company provides investors with direct exposure to bitcoin, without the technical complexity or constraints of purchasing the underlying cryptocurrency. Investors avoid the need to create online wallets, wire money offshore, and safely store their bitcoin.
The Company's common shares are listed under the symbol "HUT" on the TSX and as "HUTMF" on the OTCQX Exchange.
Key investment highlights and FAQ's:https://www.hut8mining.com/investors.
Keep up-to-date on Hut 8 events and developments and join our online communities atFacebook,Twitter,InstagramandLinkedIn.
Hut 8 Corporate Contact:
Andrew KiguelChief Executive OfficerTel: (647) 256-1992Email:[email protected]
Jimmy VaiopoulosChief Financial OfficerTel: (647) 256-1992Email:[email protected]
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain information in this press release constitutes forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts, but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.
Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Hut 8 as of the date of this press release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of the Filing Statement dated March 1, 2018 relating to the Qualifying Transaction of Oriana Resources Corporation and Hut 8, which is available atwww.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Hut 8; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Hut 8 expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
To view the source version of this press release, please visithttps://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/53427 || Hut 8 Responds to Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Concerns and Drop in Bitcoin Price: Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 13, 2020) -Hut 8 Mining Corp.(TSX: HUT) (OTCQX: HUTMF) ("Hut 8" or "theCompany"), one of the world's largest publicly listed bitcoin mining companies by operating capacity and market capitalization, provides an update to shareholders regarding risks due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the significant drop in the price of bitcoin.
To combat the significant drop in the price of bitcoin over the last 48 hours, Hut 8 is optimizing its mining operations by running its mining equipment in cost-efficient modes. This has the ability to reduce its electricity consumption and costs by approximitely 50% while only reducing the hashrate output by approximitely 35%. While this optimization reduces total output, the overall overall margin is maximized and our costs are reduced. This is being performed in real-time on a 24/7 basis. Management is monitoring the movement in the price of bitcoin relative to operating costs to either further curtail production or increase production. This is a unique advantage of Hut 8 that its electricity supply agreements and equipment allow for this reduction in consumption.
Several new policies have been put in place for employees working at the sites with respect to keeping work environments clean to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Employees are prohibited from non-essential work travel and urged to stay home if feeling ill. Employees that have traveled outside of Canada have been asked to report this and monitor their health. Management has been carefully monitoring the work environment to prevent any potential disruption to operations as a result of the virus.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant negative impact on most asset and commodity values around the world, including bitcoin which has dropped as much as 46% in the last 48 hours. As a result of lower selling prices for bitcoin, Hut 8 will have to sell bitcoin at lower bitcoin prices to cover ongoing fiat currency based costs.
Hut 8's relationship with its lender, Genesis Global Capital LLC ("Genesis"), remains positive. However, the volatility in the price of bitcoin may have an adverse effect on the value of the bitcoin collateral held with Genesis that may cause a margin call that Hut 8 is unable to meet. Management continues to monitor the situation and the bitcoin price to mitigate and adverse consequences to what the Company believes is temporary extreme volatility.
The Company also notes the bitcoin SHA-256 algorithm halving, which occurs approximately every four years, is set to occur across the entire bitcoin network in mid-May 2020. The impact will be that the compensation paid to miners for mining a block will be cut in half. The desired impact is to limit the number of bitcoin in circulation and create scarcity. However, the impact on all bitcoin miners could be negative if there isn't a corresponding increase in the price of bitcoin or a decrease in the network hashrate. This could have the effect of making much of Hut 8's operations uneconomical if the bitcoin price doesn't appreciate or the network hashrate doesn't fall.
ABOUT HUT 8 MINING CORP.
Hut 8 is a bitcoin mining company with industrial scale operations in Canada. In total, Hut 8 owns and operates two sites in Alberta, Canada utilizing 94 BlockBox AC data centers with current maximum operating capacity of 107 MW and 952 PH/s.
Hut 8 creates value for investors through low production costs and appreciation of its bitcoin inventory. The company provides investors with direct exposure to bitcoin, without the technical complexity or constraints of purchasing the underlying cryptocurrency. Investors avoid the need to create online wallets, wire money offshore, and safely store their bitcoin.
The Company's common shares are listed under the symbol "HUT" on the TSX and as "HUTMF" on the OTCQX Exchange.
Key investment highlights and FAQ's:https://www.hut8mining.com/investors.
Keep up-to-date on Hut 8 events and developments and join our online communities atFacebook,Twitter,InstagramandLinkedIn.
Hut 8 Corporate Contact:
Andrew KiguelChief Executive OfficerTel: (647) 256-1992Email:[email protected]
Jimmy VaiopoulosChief Financial OfficerTel: (647) 256-1992Email:[email protected]
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain information in this press release constitutes forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts, but instead represent management's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.
Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Hut 8 as of the date of this press release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of the Filing Statement dated March 1, 2018 relating to the Qualifying Transaction of Oriana Resources Corporation and Hut 8, which is available atwww.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Hut 8; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Hut 8 expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
To view the source version of this press release, please visithttps://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/53427 || Derivatives market liquidations push BitMEX’s insurance fund to all-time high, cut Deribit’s by almost half: Two major crypto derivatives markets have seen significant liquidations this week – but while one saw its insurance fund hit an all-time high, the other experienced a dramatic decline.
Such market occurrences have led BitMEX's Insurance fund to hit an all-time high of 36,493 BTC. At the same time, the insurance fund maintained by Deribit has been slashed almost by half.
The two crypto derivatives exchanges both have insurance funds to pay out the winning party of a trade when its gains cannot be fully covered by the liquidated side.
Due to the decline, Deribitannounced that it had injected 500 BTCof the company's own funds into the insurance fund, which dropped from 392 BTC on Wednesday to 198 BTC as of Friday.
According to the announcement, this move is to prevent liquidation losses from draining the insurance fund and eventually being socialized among users.
"Due to extreme volatility, we have seen a significant impact on our BTC insurance fund. In order to prevent socialized losses we have decided to support the insurance fund and strengthen it by injecting 500 BTC of company funds. This has paid off and has protected clients from further losses as the current balance is below that amount," stated the announcement.
While Deribit grows its insurance fund by charging fees on executing liquidation orders, BitMEX's fund increases when liquidations are "executed at a price better than the bankruptcy price." This means that when traders are liquidated before hitting the theoretical maximum of their positions, the fund pockets the difference between the two positions.
As of the time of writing, a staggering $1.6 billion had been liquidated on BitMEX, boosting the exchange's insurance fund in the last 24 hours. As The Blockreported earlier today, the fund lost only 1,627 bitcoins from March 11 to March 12 and saw its balancesurged7.7% since then. || Derivatives market liquidations push BitMEX’s insurance fund to all-time high, cut Deribit’s by almost half: Two major crypto derivatives markets have seen significant liquidations this week – but while one saw its insurance fund hit an all-time high, the other experienced a dramatic decline. Such market occurrences have led BitMEX's Insurance fund to hit an all-time high of 36,493 BTC. At the same time, the insurance fund maintained by Deribit has been slashed almost by half. The two crypto derivatives exchanges both have insurance funds to pay out the winning party of a trade when its gains cannot be fully covered by the liquidated side. Due to the decline, Deribit announced that it had injected 500 BTC of the company's own funds into the insurance fund, which dropped from 392 BTC on Wednesday to 198 BTC as of Friday. According to the announcement, this move is to prevent liquidation losses from draining the insurance fund and eventually being socialized among users. "Due to extreme volatility, we have seen a significant impact on our BTC insurance fund. In order to prevent socialized losses we have decided to support the insurance fund and strengthen it by injecting 500 BTC of company funds. This has paid off and has protected clients from further losses as the current balance is below that amount," stated the announcement. While Deribit grows its insurance fund by charging fees on executing liquidation orders, BitMEX's fund increases when liquidations are "executed at a price better than the bankruptcy price." This means that when traders are liquidated before hitting the theoretical maximum of their positions, the fund pockets the difference between the two positions. As of the time of writing, a staggering $1.6 billion had been liquidated on BitMEX, boosting the exchange's insurance fund in the last 24 hours. As The Block reported earlier today , the fund lost only 1,627 bitcoins from March 11 to March 12 and saw its balance surged 7.7% since then. View comments || Despite Bitcoin Price Dips, Crypto Is a Safe Haven in the Middle East: Although it’s difficult to quantify demand forbitcoin(BTC) in informal markets across the Middle East, small-scale traders from Lebanon to Yemen say interest in bitcoin as a safe-haven asset, not a speculative asset, is stronger than ever.
Rami Mohammad Ali, a bitcoin miner and trader based in the Palestinian area of East Jerusalem, said the sell side of the local peer-to-peer market dried up and the buy side exploded in March.
So far, he’s sold a cumulative total of 30 bitcoin to 90 customers. That’s a significant increase fromSeptember 2019, when he said he sold roughly 20 bitcoin a month to 50 customers.
Related:Bitcoin Sinks Below $5K Despite Fed Reserve’s Slashing of Interest Rates
The appeal of holding value in bitcoin, he said, is that people can access “the money any time they need it.”
This appears to be true across the region. One anonymous Syrian trader with family in Lebanon said small Lebanese business owners are struggling to pay their invoices abroad. So, among the few Lebanese with family abroadandthe necessary computer skills, some now “buy [bitcoin] locally with cash and liquidate it abroad through friends and family to pay their invoices.”
In fact, some Middle Eastern bitcoin traders reported relative newbies are learning quickly and looking to buy bitcoin this week, as global prices dip.
Read more:Why Energy Experts Are Watching Crypto as Oil Wars Emerge
Related:Bitcoin Ekes Out Gains but Remains in Red Amid Broader Market Rebound
Meanwhile, in Tehran, an anonymous Iranian bitcoiner said people now “tend to keep their assets in gold, dollars and housing, plus a little bitcoin.” Due to thecoronavirus outbreakin Iran, the economic situation has gotten progressively worse. This means fewer public bitcoin meetups and quieter trades among a population with even less faith in national institutions. Small-scale bitcoin mining is now commonplace, locals say, despite the challenges faced byindustrial operations.
“Bitcoin is a revolutionary product but it needs a few more revolutions,” the Tehran-based bitcoiner said. “In the past, people thought bitcoin was a new type of scam. Now bitcoin is more trusted.”
The analytics firmGate Tradeestimated there are now more than 30 Iranian companies using bitcoin, instead of fiat, for cross-border deals. But a Gate Trade spokesperson declined to specify which companies because the greatest barrier to bitcoin adoption in the Middle East appears to be international sanctions. That challenge isn’t limited to Iran.
Read more:How Lebanon’s Economic Crisis Highlights Bitcoin’s Limitations
Yemeni bitcoin trader Mohammed Alsobhi said roughly five civilians continue to buy a small amount of bitcoin each month. The bitcoin market in Yemen is muchsmaller and quieterthan most in the region due to the widespreadcensorshipof telecommunication networks. But there is interest among locals knowledgeable about computer science.
“If I had the capabilities available in developed countries, I would have made great progress in this field,” Alsobhi said of selling bitcoin in his war-torn nation. “Most companies that deal globally … are excluding Yemen.”
He said he hopes people in Yemen will gain access to crypto markets for trading opportunities. But, he added, war is the biggest barrier to bitcoin adoption in his country because of sanctions. For example, due to compliance concerns, he said people in Yemen cannot download wallets viaGoogle Play.
Crypto-curious civilians are barred from the system as the sanction’s collateral damage.
Yemen offers a microcosm of the global challenges civilians face using decentralized monetary networks.
Stepping back, acurrency waremerged from Yemen’s civil war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which conquered the former capital city ofSana’a, and theSaudi-alignedCentral Bank of Yemen, now in Aden. Yemenites don’t trust either side. Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman recentlyaccusedPresident Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi of being just another pawn under “the Saudi occupation.”
As such, sanctions have ripple effects for civilians trapped between failing banks and warring parties. Yemen’s United Nations representative, Abdullah Al-Saadi, accused the Houthi militants of consorting with the ultimate target of U.S. sanctions, the armed forces of Iran.
“The militias continue to welcome Iranian experts and receive military support and weapons from Iran,” Al-Saadisaidin a U.N. Security Council meeting in February.
With widespread reports ofHouthi lootingand the ongoinghumanitariancrisis, the idea of digital cash appeals to some tech-savvy Yemenites in urban areas.
“Most of the population of Yemen is in [Houthi]-controlled areas, and are engaged in the bulk of economic activity in the country,” said Hassan Al-Haifi, an ex-banker based in Sana’a. “Cryptocurrency or e-money could help Yemenites under a formidable siege and blockade. … Sana’a would be favorable to a more autonomous currency regime.”
Read more:Notes From the WEF: Oil-Producing Nations Want Dollar Alternatives, Just Not Bitcoin
Ben Freeman, a former Goldman Sachs oil trader and CEO of Creo Commodities, said cryptocurrency’s value in the region relies on being decentralized and censorship-resistant. He doesn’t believe bitcoin’s current volatility has any impact on that value proposition, especially in light of the risk Yemen’s civil war presents forSaudi Arabian oilproduction.
“Extreme market sell-offs generally hit most asset classes as assets are sold to generate collateral for losing positions,” Freeman said. “If institutions break down, and bitcoin is independent to any institution or government oversight, then we’ll start to see more flight to bitcoin as an asset class.”
The hurdles preventing local adoption in the Middle East aren’t the lack of opportunity or demand; they are primarily the byproduct of political conditions. In Yemen andIran, bitcoiners may need to avoid both domestic and international compliance risks. Most fintech companies overlook Lebanon and thePalestinian territories, even without sanctions. As such, there are few comprehensive or clear datasets related to usage beyond global (and heavily regulated) crypto exchanges.
This makes local markets hard to quantify. Still, it doesn’t appear that broader market dips reduced demand on the ground for over-the-counter (OTC) trades. Institutional players fleeing bitcoin have little impact on demand from grassroots Middle Eastern networks. To the contrary, lower prices present an opportunity for buyers in emerging markets.
“Bitcoin transactions in Iran increased [in 2020], compared to previous years,” the Tehran-based bitcoiner said. “But the slope seems gentle.”
• Crypto Prepped Before Coronavirus Went Global
• Whale Watching: Exchange Data Contained Early Warning of Thursday’s Bitcoin Dump || Despite Bitcoin Price Dips, Crypto Is a Safe Haven in the Middle East: Although it’s difficult to quantify demand for bitcoin (BTC) in informal markets across the Middle East, small-scale traders from Lebanon to Yemen say interest in bitcoin as a safe-haven asset, not a speculative asset, is stronger than ever. Rami Mohammad Ali, a bitcoin miner and trader based in the Palestinian area of East Jerusalem, said the sell side of the local peer-to-peer market dried up and the buy side exploded in March. So far, he’s sold a cumulative total of 30 bitcoin to 90 customers. That’s a significant increase from September 2019 , when he said he sold roughly 20 bitcoin a month to 50 customers. Related: Bitcoin Sinks Below $5K Despite Fed Reserve’s Slashing of Interest Rates The appeal of holding value in bitcoin, he said, is that people can access “the money any time they need it.” This appears to be true across the region. One anonymous Syrian trader with family in Lebanon said small Lebanese business owners are struggling to pay their invoices abroad. So, among the few Lebanese with family abroad and the necessary computer skills, some now “buy [bitcoin] locally with cash and liquidate it abroad through friends and family to pay their invoices.” In fact, some Middle Eastern bitcoin traders reported relative newbies are learning quickly and looking to buy bitcoin this week, as global prices dip. Read more: Why Energy Experts Are Watching Crypto as Oil Wars Emerge Related: Bitcoin Ekes Out Gains but Remains in Red Amid Broader Market Rebound Meanwhile, in Tehran, an anonymous Iranian bitcoiner said people now “tend to keep their assets in gold, dollars and housing, plus a little bitcoin.” Due to the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, the economic situation has gotten progressively worse. This means fewer public bitcoin meetups and quieter trades among a population with even less faith in national institutions. Small-scale bitcoin mining is now commonplace, locals say, despite the challenges faced by industrial operations . “Bitcoin is a revolutionary product but it needs a few more revolutions,” the Tehran-based bitcoiner said. “In the past, people thought bitcoin was a new type of scam. Now bitcoin is more trusted.” The analytics firm Gate Trade estimated there are now more than 30 Iranian companies using bitcoin, instead of fiat, for cross-border deals. But a Gate Trade spokesperson declined to specify which companies because the greatest barrier to bitcoin adoption in the Middle East appears to be international sanctions. That challenge isn’t limited to Iran. Read more: How Lebanon’s Economic Crisis Highlights Bitcoin’s Limitations Yemeni bitcoin trader Mohammed Alsobhi said roughly five civilians continue to buy a small amount of bitcoin each month. The bitcoin market in Yemen is much smaller and quieter than most in the region due to the widespread censorship of telecommunication networks. But there is interest among locals knowledgeable about computer science. Story continues “If I had the capabilities available in developed countries, I would have made great progress in this field,” Alsobhi said of selling bitcoin in his war-torn nation. “Most companies that deal globally … are excluding Yemen.” He said he hopes people in Yemen will gain access to crypto markets for trading opportunities. But, he added, war is the biggest barrier to bitcoin adoption in his country because of sanctions. For example, due to compliance concerns, he said people in Yemen cannot download wallets via Google Play . Crypto-curious civilians are barred from the system as the sanction’s collateral damage. Sanctions’ impact Yemen offers a microcosm of the global challenges civilians face using decentralized monetary networks. Stepping back, a currency war emerged from Yemen’s civil war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which conquered the former capital city of Sana’a , and the Saudi-aligned Central Bank of Yemen, now in Aden. Yemenites don’t trust either side. Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman recently accused President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi of being just another pawn under “the Saudi occupation.” As such, sanctions have ripple effects for civilians trapped between failing banks and warring parties. Yemen’s United Nations representative, Abdullah Al-Saadi, accused the Houthi militants of consorting with the ultimate target of U.S. sanctions, the armed forces of Iran. “The militias continue to welcome Iranian experts and receive military support and weapons from Iran,” Al-Saadi said in a U.N. Security Council meeting in February. With widespread reports of Houthi looting and the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the idea of digital cash appeals to some tech-savvy Yemenites in urban areas. “Most of the population of Yemen is in [Houthi]-controlled areas, and are engaged in the bulk of economic activity in the country,” said Hassan Al-Haifi, an ex-banker based in Sana’a. “Cryptocurrency or e-money could help Yemenites under a formidable siege and blockade. … Sana’a would be favorable to a more autonomous currency regime.” Read more: Notes From the WEF: Oil-Producing Nations Want Dollar Alternatives, Just Not Bitcoin Ben Freeman, a former Goldman Sachs oil trader and CEO of Creo Commodities, said cryptocurrency’s value in the region relies on being decentralized and censorship-resistant. He doesn’t believe bitcoin’s current volatility has any impact on that value proposition, especially in light of the risk Yemen’s civil war presents for Saudi Arabian oil production. “Extreme market sell-offs generally hit most asset classes as assets are sold to generate collateral for losing positions,” Freeman said. “If institutions break down, and bitcoin is independent to any institution or government oversight, then we’ll start to see more flight to bitcoin as an asset class.” The hurdles preventing local adoption in the Middle East aren’t the lack of opportunity or demand; they are primarily the byproduct of political conditions. In Yemen and Iran , bitcoiners may need to avoid both domestic and international compliance risks. Most fintech companies overlook Lebanon and the Palestinian territories , even without sanctions. As such, there are few comprehensive or clear datasets related to usage beyond global (and heavily regulated) crypto exchanges. This makes local markets hard to quantify. Still, it doesn’t appear that broader market dips reduced demand on the ground for over-the-counter (OTC) trades. Institutional players fleeing bitcoin have little impact on demand from grassroots Middle Eastern networks. To the contrary, lower prices present an opportunity for buyers in emerging markets. “Bitcoin transactions in Iran increased [in 2020], compared to previous years,” the Tehran-based bitcoiner said. “But the slope seems gentle.” Related Stories Crypto Prepped Before Coronavirus Went Global Whale Watching: Exchange Data Contained Early Warning of Thursday’s Bitcoin Dump View comments || Despite Bitcoin Price Dips, Crypto Is a Safe Haven in the Middle East: Although it’s difficult to quantify demand forbitcoin(BTC) in informal markets across the Middle East, small-scale traders from Lebanon to Yemen say interest in bitcoin as a safe-haven asset, not a speculative asset, is stronger than ever.
Rami Mohammad Ali, a bitcoin miner and trader based in the Palestinian area of East Jerusalem, said the sell side of the local peer-to-peer market dried up and the buy side exploded in March.
So far, he’s sold a cumulative total of 30 bitcoin to 90 customers. That’s a significant increase fromSeptember 2019, when he said he sold roughly 20 bitcoin a month to 50 customers.
Related:Bitcoin Sinks Below $5K Despite Fed Reserve’s Slashing of Interest Rates
The appeal of holding value in bitcoin, he said, is that people can access “the money any time they need it.”
This appears to be true across the region. One anonymous Syrian trader with family in Lebanon said small Lebanese business owners are struggling to pay their invoices abroad. So, among the few Lebanese with family abroadandthe necessary computer skills, some now “buy [bitcoin] locally with cash and liquidate it abroad through friends and family to pay their invoices.”
In fact, some Middle Eastern bitcoin traders reported relative newbies are learning quickly and looking to buy bitcoin this week, as global prices dip.
Read more:Why Energy Experts Are Watching Crypto as Oil Wars Emerge
Related:Bitcoin Ekes Out Gains but Remains in Red Amid Broader Market Rebound
Meanwhile, in Tehran, an anonymous Iranian bitcoiner said people now “tend to keep their assets in gold, dollars and housing, plus a little bitcoin.” Due to thecoronavirus outbreakin Iran, the economic situation has gotten progressively worse. This means fewer public bitcoin meetups and quieter trades among a population with even less faith in national institutions. Small-scale bitcoin mining is now commonplace, locals say, despite the challenges faced byindustrial operations.
“Bitcoin is a revolutionary product but it needs a few more revolutions,” the Tehran-based bitcoiner said. “In the past, people thought bitcoin was a new type of scam. Now bitcoin is more trusted.”
The analytics firmGate Tradeestimated there are now more than 30 Iranian companies using bitcoin, instead of fiat, for cross-border deals. But a Gate Trade spokesperson declined to specify which companies because the greatest barrier to bitcoin adoption in the Middle East appears to be international sanctions. That challenge isn’t limited to Iran.
Read more:How Lebanon’s Economic Crisis Highlights Bitcoin’s Limitations
Yemeni bitcoin trader Mohammed Alsobhi said roughly five civilians continue to buy a small amount of bitcoin each month. The bitcoin market in Yemen is muchsmaller and quieterthan most in the region due to the widespreadcensorshipof telecommunication networks. But there is interest among locals knowledgeable about computer science.
“If I had the capabilities available in developed countries, I would have made great progress in this field,” Alsobhi said of selling bitcoin in his war-torn nation. “Most companies that deal globally … are excluding Yemen.”
He said he hopes people in Yemen will gain access to crypto markets for trading opportunities. But, he added, war is the biggest barrier to bitcoin adoption in his country because of sanctions. For example, due to compliance concerns, he said people in Yemen cannot download wallets viaGoogle Play.
Crypto-curious civilians are barred from the system as the sanction’s collateral damage.
Yemen offers a microcosm of the global challenges civilians face using decentralized monetary networks.
Stepping back, acurrency waremerged from Yemen’s civil war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which conquered the former capital city ofSana’a, and theSaudi-alignedCentral Bank of Yemen, now in Aden. Yemenites don’t trust either side. Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman recentlyaccusedPresident Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi of being just another pawn under “the Saudi occupation.”
As such, sanctions have ripple effects for civilians trapped between failing banks and warring parties. Yemen’s United Nations representative, Abdullah Al-Saadi, accused the Houthi militants of consorting with the ultimate target of U.S. sanctions, the armed forces of Iran.
“The militias continue to welcome Iranian experts and receive military support and weapons from Iran,” Al-Saadisaidin a U.N. Security Council meeting in February.
With widespread reports ofHouthi lootingand the ongoinghumanitariancrisis, the idea of digital cash appeals to some tech-savvy Yemenites in urban areas.
“Most of the population of Yemen is in [Houthi]-controlled areas, and are engaged in the bulk of economic activity in the country,” said Hassan Al-Haifi, an ex-banker based in Sana’a. “Cryptocurrency or e-money could help Yemenites under a formidable siege and blockade. … Sana’a would be favorable to a more autonomous currency regime.”
Read more:Notes From the WEF: Oil-Producing Nations Want Dollar Alternatives, Just Not Bitcoin
Ben Freeman, a former Goldman Sachs oil trader and CEO of Creo Commodities, said cryptocurrency’s value in the region relies on being decentralized and censorship-resistant. He doesn’t believe bitcoin’s current volatility has any impact on that value proposition, especially in light of the risk Yemen’s civil war presents forSaudi Arabian oilproduction.
“Extreme market sell-offs generally hit most asset classes as assets are sold to generate collateral for losing positions,” Freeman said. “If institutions break down, and bitcoin is independent to any institution or government oversight, then we’ll start to see more flight to bitcoin as an asset class.”
The hurdles preventing local adoption in the Middle East aren’t the lack of opportunity or demand; they are primarily the byproduct of political conditions. In Yemen andIran, bitcoiners may need to avoid both domestic and international compliance risks. Most fintech companies overlook Lebanon and thePalestinian territories, even without sanctions. As such, there are few comprehensive or clear datasets related to usage beyond global (and heavily regulated) crypto exchanges.
This makes local markets hard to quantify. Still, it doesn’t appear that broader market dips reduced demand on the ground for over-the-counter (OTC) trades. Institutional players fleeing bitcoin have little impact on demand from grassroots Middle Eastern networks. To the contrary, lower prices present an opportunity for buyers in emerging markets.
“Bitcoin transactions in Iran increased [in 2020], compared to previous years,” the Tehran-based bitcoiner said. “But the slope seems gentle.”
• Crypto Prepped Before Coronavirus Went Global
• Whale Watching: Exchange Data Contained Early Warning of Thursday’s Bitcoin Dump || 4 Top Stock Trades for Monday: FB, GE, Gold: Stocks put together a mild bounce on Friday, following Thursday’s beating. Here’s a few top stock trades for Monday. Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Facebook (FB) Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Facebook (FB) Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) has been hammered, as shares have fallen from almost $225 in January to a recent low of $155. The stock wasted little time breaking below uptrend support (blue line) and its major moving averages. The hard thing about both Facebook and the market? The speed in which these declines have taken place. It’s trapped a lot of bulls at higher prices, as they are unable to get out of their positions without incurring massive losses. These big gaps make it so that stop-losses can be inefficient too. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips 9 Gold Stocks to Stave Off Coronavirus-Induced Volatility In the case of Facebook, we have a well-defined low down near $155. Holding up above $160 now, bulls want to see if we can hurdle Thursday’s high, putting $170 to $175 back on the table. Above that and perhaps a move to $185 is possible, with the 200-day moving average in play above that. Below Thursday’s low and a gap-fill into the low-$150’s is possible. If that level gives out, more selling pressure can ensue. Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: General Electric (GE) Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: General Electric (GE) Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com Things have gotten ugly for General Electric (NYSE: GE ). Worries about the aerospace sector have investors concerned, on top of the volatility and market selling pressure weighing on stocks. Shares dipped below the $7 mark briefly this week. A move back over $8 could send the stock back toward prior uptrend support (blue line) around $9.50. However, investors’ concern here is a break of the 2018 lows. Below the mid-$6’s could cause a further flush in the stock, particularly if there’s more selling in the broader market. GE is slowly but surely turning things around, but it’s not in the best of positions yet. Let’s see if the lows hold. Story continues Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Gold ETF (GLD) Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Gold ETF (GLD) Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com People call gold a safe haven. That could be said about multiple assets, many of which have come under pressure over the past week as investors and institutions sell what they can, not necessarily what they want. I think that’s the case with gold, depicted above via the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSEARCA: GLD ). For now, the uptrend (blue line) and the 200-day moving average are holding as support. From a fundamental perspective, there are a lot of reasons to own gold at this point. But currently, the technicals are mixed. Traders who go long can use the 200-day as a point of reference on the downside. If that fails as support, sellers can likely drive GLD down to the $136 to $137 area. Back over $145 puts $150-plus on the table. Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Bitcoin Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Bitcoin Source: Chart courtesy of TradingView.com Like gold, so much for bitcoin acting as a safe haven during times of duress. However, the digital currency’s performance has been much worse than the yellow metal. Bitcoin has plunged almost 40% so far for the week. At Thursday’s low, bitcoin was down 50% for the week. That is not indicative of a healthy safe haven. Some use the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCMKTS: GBTC ) to trade bitcoin, but it doesn’t matter. Both are under fire. Bitcoin is below its 200-week moving average, as depicted above. It’s also below uptrend support (blue line). Reclaiming those marks would require a move north of $5,500. That would put the November low near $6,500 on the table. Below this week’s low and the 2018 low is on the table, meaning a drop to the $3,200 to $3,500 area. Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell . As of this writing, Bret Kenwell did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace America’s Richest ZIP Code Holds Wealth Gap Secret 7 Stocks to Sell as We Enter a Bear Market 4 Energy Stocks Paying Jaw-Dropping Dividends 3 Stocks to Buy That Will Dodge Any Volatile Market The post 4 Top Stock Trades for Monday: FB, GE, Gold appeared first on InvestorPlace . || 4 Top Stock Trades for Monday: FB, GE, Gold: Stocks put together a mild bounce on Friday, following Thursday’s beating. Here’s a few top stock trades for Monday. Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Facebook (FB) Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Facebook (FB) Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) has been hammered, as shares have fallen from almost $225 in January to a recent low of $155. The stock wasted little time breaking below uptrend support (blue line) and its major moving averages. The hard thing about both Facebook and the market? The speed in which these declines have taken place. It’s trapped a lot of bulls at higher prices, as they are unable to get out of their positions without incurring massive losses. These big gaps make it so that stop-losses can be inefficient too. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips 9 Gold Stocks to Stave Off Coronavirus-Induced Volatility In the case of Facebook, we have a well-defined low down near $155. Holding up above $160 now, bulls want to see if we can hurdle Thursday’s high, putting $170 to $175 back on the table. Above that and perhaps a move to $185 is possible, with the 200-day moving average in play above that. Below Thursday’s low and a gap-fill into the low-$150’s is possible. If that level gives out, more selling pressure can ensue. Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: General Electric (GE) Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: General Electric (GE) Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com Things have gotten ugly for General Electric (NYSE: GE ). Worries about the aerospace sector have investors concerned, on top of the volatility and market selling pressure weighing on stocks. Shares dipped below the $7 mark briefly this week. A move back over $8 could send the stock back toward prior uptrend support (blue line) around $9.50. However, investors’ concern here is a break of the 2018 lows. Below the mid-$6’s could cause a further flush in the stock, particularly if there’s more selling in the broader market. GE is slowly but surely turning things around, but it’s not in the best of positions yet. Let’s see if the lows hold. Story continues Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Gold ETF (GLD) Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Gold ETF (GLD) Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com People call gold a safe haven. That could be said about multiple assets, many of which have come under pressure over the past week as investors and institutions sell what they can, not necessarily what they want. I think that’s the case with gold, depicted above via the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSEARCA: GLD ). For now, the uptrend (blue line) and the 200-day moving average are holding as support. From a fundamental perspective, there are a lot of reasons to own gold at this point. But currently, the technicals are mixed. Traders who go long can use the 200-day as a point of reference on the downside. If that fails as support, sellers can likely drive GLD down to the $136 to $137 area. Back over $145 puts $150-plus on the table. Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Bitcoin Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow: Bitcoin Source: Chart courtesy of TradingView.com Like gold, so much for bitcoin acting as a safe haven during times of duress. However, the digital currency’s performance has been much worse than the yellow metal. Bitcoin has plunged almost 40% so far for the week. At Thursday’s low, bitcoin was down 50% for the week. That is not indicative of a healthy safe haven. Some use the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTCMKTS: GBTC ) to trade bitcoin, but it doesn’t matter. Both are under fire. Bitcoin is below its 200-week moving average, as depicted above. It’s also below uptrend support (blue line). Reclaiming those marks would require a move north of $5,500. That would put the November low near $6,500 on the table. Below this week’s low and the 2018 low is on the table, meaning a drop to the $3,200 to $3,500 area. Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell . As of this writing, Bret Kenwell did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace America’s Richest ZIP Code Holds Wealth Gap Secret 7 Stocks to Sell as We Enter a Bear Market 4 Energy Stocks Paying Jaw-Dropping Dividends 3 Stocks to Buy That Will Dodge Any Volatile Market The post 4 Top Stock Trades for Monday: FB, GE, Gold appeared first on InvestorPlace . || Crypto Prepped Before Coronavirus Went Global: Market meltdowns, a failure of leadership at both the state and corporate level and a disruption to human civility are all built into the crypto mindset following the recession of 2007-2008. It explains why the relatively small enclave of Crypto Twitter was weeks ahead of the global pandemic, with crypto’s thought leaders urging people to prepare for the worst. Now that the worst is here, these harbingers of doom feel vindicated. “The word you’re looking for to describe those tech Twitter personalities who you spent the last month mocking and who have been proven right on CV-19 is ‘Cassandra,’” Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures and lover of the classics , tweeted yesterday . Related: Extreme Social Distancing: Self-Quarantine Diary, Day 1 Once-trusted sources of information, from media to presidents and prime ministers as well as international health organizations, have all failed in preparing the world for Coronavirus. And now, the call to “ decentralize or die ” has never taken on a more literal meaning. “Most companies in the [crypto] space have become relatively quicker to react and prepare for the virus than some other industries,” said Anil Lulla, a founder of Delphi Digital, said in a direct message. Twitter, crypto’s public square, has helped reinforce the need for decisive action ahead of the pandemic, with prominent voices like Ryan Selkis of Messari sounding the alarm early and often. Selkis wrote on Feb 8 about why the virus could be a big deal, and set company work from home policies March 3, well before most businesses, crypto or otherwise, had taken that step. To some extent, this skepticism of centralized systems has better prepared crypto firms and proponents for what lies ahead. Despite the anxiety rampant on social media, when queried individuals in the crypto sphere are treating the coronavirus pandemic as a “ Life Changes! Be Ready ” event. Related: Bitcoin Sinks Below $5K Despite Fed Reserve’s Slashing of Interest Rates Story continues See also: How to Survive the Coronavirus and Keep Your Startup Alive “Bitcoiners don’t seem fazed much,” said Christian Langalis, who works for Urbit but gained prominence as Bitcoin Sign Guy . The preparedness mindset and crypto have long had close ideological associations, said John Ramey, former Innovation Adviser to the Obama White House and founder of The Prepared , a site with a full-on guide to getting ready for the worst. The Prepared is a likely onramp for people looking for information on how to wait-out a crisis. “People drawn to crypto don’t believe in central government fiat currencies, and recognize the risks in our institutions and systems,” he said. “That spirit is alive in the preparedness community. It’s two sides of the same coin.” Ramey has a three-point set of guidelines to prepare for any contingency. First, and most important, is for people to get their personal finances in order. Stocking up on food and essential goods and learning how to medicate yourself are secondary and tertiary (though still essential) concerns. That spirit is alive in the preparedness community. It’s two sides of the same coin. “Even if you have to move quickly in an acute event, there is value in keeping cash aside if you have a choice to do so,” Ramey said. “You have to be ready for the cascading economic effects.” Personal finance is a key concern for coiners; in fact, it’s the bedrock of the industry. “What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party,” Satoshi, bitcoin’s unknown creator, said when introducing the idea of the first trustless digital currency. Norwegian bitcoiner Hodlonaut said, “I have done very little really [to prepare for the coronavirus.] Norwegian society is pretty robust, it’s hard to see that food supply will become an issue and we have very high quality tap water in unlimited supply.” See also: Bitcoiners Are Biohacking a DIY Coronavirus Vaccine “I just hodl my bitcoin (BTC) like always,” he added. Likewise, Ramey said that people rushing out to buy toilet paper and hand sanitizers “aren’t preparing, they’re reacting.” “People can come into preparedness from different angles, but it all boils down to understanding the world is fragile and the responsibility is on you,” Ramey said. Financial sovereignty Hector Rosekrans, client advisor for bitcoin software firm Casa, is building systems that allow people to maintain control over their money in times of financial crisis. “While COVID-19 can impact operations at centralized custodians, self custody is not impacted,” he said. “With certain multisig setups you can safely keep a key at home, without risk losing funds in a physical attack.” Concentration risk is something Anil Lulla is facing head on, as he lives with two of his Delphi Digital business partners. “Our apartment has severe concentration risk as far as our business goes,” he said. “We’re all trying to social distance from other people to the best of our abilities and have stocked up on a month of food supplies as well as medicine.” He also said they’re taking measures to self-medicate in the event one of them gets sick, to not take up hospital space or medical attention that could better serve someone else. Likewise, Amber Baldet, CEO of Clovyr, said she’s taking precautions to limit the spread of the coronavirus in her Brooklyn, NY community. “I work with financial risk, and my family works with technical risk. We’re generally risk-averse people,” she said. As a young and healthy adult she said she will likely be spared the worst of the coronavirus’ effects, though she’s staying home and cancelling a trip to New York in order to mitigate the spread of the virus. See also: Bitcoiners in Europe Reflect on Economic Shocks as Coronavirus Spreads Many, like Jake Chervinsky, counsel for decentralized finance startup Compound, have seen little disruption to their daily habits – except more frequent handwashing. “Luckily, I often work from home since our office is in [San Francisco] and I’m based in [Washington] D.C.,” Chervinksy said. “I wouldn’t say I’m exactly self-quarantining at this point, but I’m prepared to do so if necessary.” Compound instituted a “remote-encouraged” policy and has begun cancelling non-essential in-person meetings this week, he said. Flatten the curve! The phrase “flattening the curve” has also had viral spread. The idea is to slow transmission rates through quarantining and social distancing, Ramey said, thereby limiting the chance the healthcare system gets overloaded. “I’ve been self-quarantined for basically a week [and] told everyone I knew to stock up over a month ago,” Nic Carter said over Telegram. “The U.S. is on a trajectory to become Lombardy/Wuhan within a couple weeks so it’ll happen regardless.” Still, Carter questions the assumption that the economy’s health should come before public health, as some in traditional finance have been arguing. “The economy is downstream from the virus, which could kill millions – a down economy probably wouldn’t.” Carter thinks the virus is a “ black swan ” event that was due to disrupt debt-bloated markets, probably for the better. It’s what attracted him to the currency in the first place. “Bitcoin’s primary critique is against phony markets,” Christian Langalis said. “That it was a virus which served as the pin seems fitting given our highly internationalized economy.” “When one blows up spectacularly, it really just confirms the thesis,” he said. Related Stories Bitcoin Ekes Out Gains but Remains in Red Amid Broader Market Rebound Despite Bitcoin Price Dips, Crypto Is a Safe Haven in the Middle East || Crypto Prepped Before Coronavirus Went Global: Market meltdowns, a failure of leadership at both the state and corporate level and a disruption to human civility are all built into the crypto mindset following the recession of 2007-2008. It explains why the relatively small enclave of Crypto Twitter was weeks ahead of the global pandemic, with crypto’s thought leaders urging people to prepare for the worst.
Now that the worst is here, these harbingers of doom feel vindicated.
“The word you’re looking for to describe those tech Twitter personalities who you spent the last month mocking and who have been proven right on CV-19 is ‘Cassandra,’” Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures and lover ofthe classics,tweeted yesterday.
Related:Extreme Social Distancing: Self-Quarantine Diary, Day 1
Once-trusted sources of information, from media to presidents and prime ministers as well as international health organizations, have allfailedin preparing the world for Coronavirus. And now, the call to “decentralize or die” has never taken on a more literal meaning.
“Most companies in the [crypto] space have become relatively quicker to react and prepare for the virus than some other industries,” said Anil Lulla, a founder of Delphi Digital, said in a direct message.
Twitter, crypto’s public square, has helped reinforce the need for decisive action ahead of the pandemic, with prominent voices like Ryan Selkis of Messari sounding the alarm early and often. Selkis wrote on Feb 8 about why the virus could be a big deal, and set company work from home policies March 3, well before most businesses, crypto or otherwise, had taken that step.
To some extent, this skepticism of centralized systems has better prepared crypto firms and proponents for what lies ahead. Despite the anxiety rampant on social media, when queried individuals in the crypto sphere are treating the coronavirus pandemic as a “Life Changes! Be Ready” event.
Related:Bitcoin Sinks Below $5K Despite Fed Reserve’s Slashing of Interest Rates
See also:How to Survive the Coronavirus and Keep Your Startup Alive
“Bitcoiners don’t seem fazed much,” said Christian Langalis, who works for Urbit but gained prominence asBitcoin Sign Guy.
The preparedness mindset and crypto have long had close ideological associations, said John Ramey, former Innovation Adviser to the Obama White House and founder ofThe Prepared, a site with a full-on guide to getting ready for the worst. The Prepared is a likely onramp for people looking for information on how to wait-out a crisis.
“People drawn to crypto don’t believe in central government fiat currencies, and recognize the risks in our institutions and systems,” he said. “That spirit is alive in the preparedness community. It’s two sides of the same coin.”
Ramey has a three-point set of guidelines to prepare for any contingency. First, and most important, is for people to get their personal finances in order. Stocking up on food and essential goods and learning how to medicate yourself are secondary and tertiary (though still essential) concerns.
That spirit is alive in the preparedness community. It’s two sides of the same coin.
“Even if you have to move quickly in an acute event, there is value in keeping cash aside if you have a choice to do so,” Ramey said. “You have to be ready for the cascading economic effects.”
Personal finance is a key concern for coiners; in fact, it’s the bedrock of the industry. “What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party,” Satoshi, bitcoin’s unknown creator, said whenintroducing the ideaof the first trustless digital currency.
Norwegian bitcoiner Hodlonaut said, “I have done very little really [to prepare for the coronavirus.] Norwegian society is pretty robust, it’s hard to see that food supply will become an issue and we have very high quality tap water in unlimited supply.”
See also:Bitcoiners Are Biohacking a DIY Coronavirus Vaccine
“I just hodl mybitcoin(BTC) like always,” he added.
Likewise, Ramey said that people rushing out to buytoilet paperand hand sanitizers “aren’t preparing, they’re reacting.”
“People can come into preparedness from different angles, but it all boils down to understanding the world is fragile and the responsibility is on you,” Ramey said.
Hector Rosekrans, client advisor for bitcoin software firm Casa, is building systems that allow people to maintaincontrol over their moneyin times of financial crisis.
“While COVID-19 can impact operations at centralized custodians, self custody is not impacted,” he said. “With certain multisig setups you can safely keep a key at home, without risk losing funds in a physical attack.”
Concentration risk is something Anil Lulla is facing head on, as he lives with two of his Delphi Digital business partners. “Our apartment has severe concentration risk as far as our business goes,” he said. “We’re all trying to social distance from other people to the best of our abilities and have stocked up on a month of food supplies as well as medicine.”
He also said they’re taking measures to self-medicate in the event one of them gets sick, to not take up hospital space or medical attention that could better serve someone else.
Likewise, Amber Baldet, CEO of Clovyr, said she’s taking precautions to limit the spread of the coronavirus in her Brooklyn, NY community. “I work with financial risk, and my family works with technical risk. We’re generally risk-averse people,” she said. As a young and healthy adult she said she will likely be spared the worst of the coronavirus’ effects, though she’s staying home and cancelling a trip to New York in order to mitigate the spread of the virus.
See also:Bitcoiners in Europe Reflect on Economic Shocks as Coronavirus Spreads
Many, like Jake Chervinsky, counsel for decentralized finance startup Compound, have seen little disruption to their daily habits – except more frequent handwashing.
“Luckily, I often work from home since our office is in [San Francisco] and I’m based in [Washington] D.C.,” Chervinksy said. “I wouldn’t say I’m exactly self-quarantining at this point, but I’m prepared to do so if necessary.”
Compound instituted a “remote-encouraged” policy and has begun cancelling non-essential in-person meetings this week, he said.
The phrase “flattening the curve” has also had viral spread. The idea is to slow transmission rates through quarantining and social distancing, Ramey said, thereby limiting the chance the healthcare system gets overloaded.
“I’ve been self-quarantined for basically a week [and] told everyone I knew to stock up over a month ago,” Nic Carter said over Telegram. “The U.S. is on a trajectory to become Lombardy/Wuhan within a couple weeks so it’ll happen regardless.”
Still, Carter questions the assumption that the economy’s health should come before public health, as some in traditional finance have been arguing. “The economy is downstream from the virus, which could kill millions – a down economy probably wouldn’t.”
Carter thinks the virus is a “black swan” event that was due to disrupt debt-bloated markets, probably for the better. It’s what attracted him to the currency in the first place.
“Bitcoin’s primary critique is against phony markets,” Christian Langalis said. “That it was a virus which served as the pin seems fitting given our highly internationalized economy.”
“When one blows up spectacularly, it really just confirms the thesis,” he said.
• Bitcoin Ekes Out Gains but Remains in Red Amid Broader Market Rebound
• Despite Bitcoin Price Dips, Crypto Is a Safe Haven in the Middle East || MakerDAO Debts Grow as DeFi Leader Moves to Stabilize Protocol: MakerDAO’s emergency shutdown option – which wasweighed by community members following the appearance of a $4 million debt bubbleon the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform – will not pass at this time. If a shutdown was triggered by the Maker team, all dai stablecoins in circulation would convert to the underlying asset,ether(ETH).
A flaw in Maker’s system for generating collateralized debt positions (CDPs) caused some $4 million in ether to be swiped up for free. This was caused by network congestion on the Ethereum network and Maker’s pricing oracles failing to update quickly enough.
The amount of debt on the Maker platform continues to rise, however,hitting nearly $5.7 millionas of press time Friday.
Related:Thursday’s Market Madness Strained Ethereum’s Killer App: DeFi
This is likely caused by high chain congestion on Ethereum and the inability to add collateral to positions on Maker. Gas prices on the Ethereum mainnet continued to increase in the early UTC hours Friday, with prices hitting 200 Gwei, according to data siteEth Gas Station.
Read more:DeFi Leader MakerDAO Weighs Emergency Shutdown Following ETH Price Drop
In an executive vote Friday, the Maker team is expected to address three pressing issues following Thursday’s turmoil: the dai peg, system debt and debt auctions. The 12 listed proposals MKR holders voted on were intended to normalize the platform’s operations.
Regardless of chain congestion, people with dai loans have poured ETH into the Maker protocol to shore up positions that could be undercollateralized if another drop in ETH’s value were to hit.
Related:Bitcoin Ekes Out Gains but Remains in Red Amid Broader Market Rebound
Those not able to get collateral into the system to cover their loans were forcefully liquidated by the protocol, however.
In an earlier vote Friday, the MakerDAO community voted to adjust the system’s risk parameters. Though the move comes in the wake of a dramatic 30 percent drop in ETH’s price, the changes were first discussed during aMarch 5 governance call.
The voting ballot was first issued Friday at 4:30 UTC and passed three hours later, according to theMaker Foundation. The vote can be executed 24 hours after passage, or 7:30 UTC on March 14.
The ballot’s content includes measures to increase the supply of dai on the market, which experienced a squeeze given market demand. Indeed, the demand for dai was reflected in the stablecoin’s interest rate reaching 22 percent Thursday on the second-largest DeFi platform, Compound.
Maker will also print new MKR governance tokens to refund CDPs that lost funds Thursday with the stated goal of returning dai to its dollar peg, according to aMaker Foundation blog post.
DeFi entrepreneur Ryan Berckmans described the action as a “haircut” for MKR holders in the spirit of the DeFi platform’s white paper.
“During a Debt Auction, MKR is minted by the system (increasing the amount of MKR in circulation), and then sold to bidders for Dai,” the white paper states.
Both investment firm Paradigm and venture-backed DeFi startup Dharma have announced intentions to help Maker through the debt crisis by purchasing the newly printed MKR.
“MKR buyers should prepare for sustained high gas prices, and downward pressure on ETH and MKR,” Berckmans said in a summary of the March 12 call. “We should plan for global markets to potentially crash further, which may correlate with further crypto drops.”
Overall, MakerDAO stakeholders are now focused on returning dai to its 1:1 peg with the U.S. dollar after investors rushed to the stablecoin as a safe haven.
The stablecoin shot as high as $1.22 per token yesterday and has since fallen to $0.98,according to CoinGecko. Data providers CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko and Messari all show dai’s price hitting an all-time high Thursday.
The peg was last discussed in theMarch 5 governance call.
“Major swings in ETH price are what is going to determine a lot of what happens with migration and with dai price,” Maker community member Vishesh said during the March 5 call.
• DeFi Leader MakerDAO Weighs Emergency Shutdown Following ETH Price Drop
• In Defense of Blockchain Voting || MakerDAO Debts Grow as DeFi Leader Moves to Stabilize Protocol: MakerDAO’s emergency shutdown option – which was weighed by community members following the appearance of a $4 million debt bubble on the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform – will not pass at this time. If a shutdown was triggered by the Maker team, all dai stablecoins in circulation would convert to the underlying asset, ether (ETH). A flaw in Maker’s system for generating collateralized debt positions (CDPs) caused some $4 million in ether to be swiped up for free. This was caused by network congestion on the Ethereum network and Maker’s pricing oracles failing to update quickly enough. The amount of debt on the Maker platform continues to rise, however, hitting nearly $5.7 million as of press time Friday. Related: Thursday’s Market Madness Strained Ethereum’s Killer App: DeFi This is likely caused by high chain congestion on Ethereum and the inability to add collateral to positions on Maker. Gas prices on the Ethereum mainnet continued to increase in the early UTC hours Friday, with prices hitting 200 Gwei, according to data site Eth Gas Station . Read more: DeFi Leader MakerDAO Weighs Emergency Shutdown Following ETH Price Drop In an executive vote Friday, the Maker team is expected to address three pressing issues following Thursday’s turmoil: the dai peg, system debt and debt auctions. The 12 listed proposals MKR holders voted on were intended to normalize the platform’s operations. Regardless of chain congestion, people with dai loans have poured ETH into the Maker protocol to shore up positions that could be undercollateralized if another drop in ETH’s value were to hit. Related: Bitcoin Ekes Out Gains but Remains in Red Amid Broader Market Rebound Those not able to get collateral into the system to cover their loans were forcefully liquidated by the protocol, however. In an earlier vote Friday, the MakerDAO community voted to adjust the system’s risk parameters. Though the move comes in the wake of a dramatic 30 percent drop in ETH’s price, the changes were first discussed during a March 5 governance call . Story continues The voting ballot was first issued Friday at 4:30 UTC and passed three hours later, according to the Maker Foundation . The vote can be executed 24 hours after passage, or 7:30 UTC on March 14. The ballot’s content includes measures to increase the supply of dai on the market, which experienced a squeeze given market demand. Indeed, the demand for dai was reflected in the stablecoin’s interest rate reaching 22 percent Thursday on the second-largest DeFi platform, Compound. Maker will also print new MKR governance tokens to refund CDPs that lost funds Thursday with the stated goal of returning dai to its dollar peg, according to a Maker Foundation blog post . DeFi entrepreneur Ryan Berckmans described the action as a “haircut” for MKR holders in the spirit of the DeFi platform’s white paper. “During a Debt Auction, MKR is minted by the system (increasing the amount of MKR in circulation), and then sold to bidders for Dai,” the white paper states. Both investment firm Paradigm and venture-backed DeFi startup Dharma have announced intentions to help Maker through the debt crisis by purchasing the newly printed MKR. “MKR buyers should prepare for sustained high gas prices, and downward pressure on ETH and MKR,” Berckmans said in a summary of the March 12 call. “We should plan for global markets to potentially crash further, which may correlate with further crypto drops.” Overall, MakerDAO stakeholders are now focused on returning dai to its 1:1 peg with the U.S. dollar after investors rushed to the stablecoin as a safe haven. The stablecoin shot as high as $1.22 per token yesterday and has since fallen to $0.98, according to CoinGecko . Data providers CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko and Messari all show dai’s price hitting an all-time high Thursday. The peg was last discussed in the March 5 governance call . “Major swings in ETH price are what is going to determine a lot of what happens with migration and with dai price,” Maker community member Vishesh said during the March 5 call. Related Stories DeFi Leader MakerDAO Weighs Emergency Shutdown Following ETH Price Drop In Defense of Blockchain Voting || Daily Crunch: FDA approves speedier coronavirus test: A just-approved test could speed up the rate of coronavirus testing, the stock market had a historically bad day yesterday and Russian trolls shift to outsourcing. Here's your Daily Crunch for March 13, 2020.
PS: Hope you're allstaying safe!
1.FDA approves new coronavirus test that could speed rate of testing up to tenfold
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency approval for use of a new test that can increase the rate of testing patients by up to 10 times compared to methods in use currently,Bloomberg reports.
That speed improvement refers specifically to the technical capabilities of the testing process, meaning access to testing is still a separate issue, but it's still the first commercially available test that has received emergency approval and for which equipment exists in fairly high volume across the United States.
2.Stocks dive on Dow’s worst day since 1987, tech crashes and Bitcoin is no haven
Yesterday was a terrible day for the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping by just under 10% — the largest single-day percentage decline since the stock market crash of 1987.
3.Russian trolls are outsourcing to Africa to stoke US racial tensions
According to a pair of reports out from Facebook and Twitter, a disinformation campaign run by individuals linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency is back and focused on the U.S., but this time it’s being run out of Africa.
4.Slack shares plummet 20% after its growth forecast fails to excite investors
Slack’s current-quarter revenue guidance is a tiny bit light, while its full-year revenue guidance is in the middle of expectations. Why is the company being punished, then? Because the world has changed in the last two weeks, and Slack had a very rich valuation.
5.Maintain data security when staff is working from home
Remote work policies are increasingly popular across the tech industry as companies push flexible working arrangements. In doing so, these companies have to prepare their IT infrastructure to accommodate remote working. (Extra Crunch membership required.)
6.Verizon increases network infrastructure investment by $500M
Verizon (which owns TechCrunch) said Thursday it will boost investment in network infrastructure to prepare for the rise in telecommuting and online learning amid the coronavirus outbreak.
7.Reporters Without Borders uses Minecraft to sneak censored works across borders
The organization — collaborating with reporters, Minecraft pros and, of course, a creative agency — has produced an enormous in-game “Uncensored Library” that hosts a variety of suppressed reportage from places like Saudi Arabia, Russia and Vietnam.
The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch's roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you'd like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you cansubscribe here. || Daily Crunch: FDA approves speedier coronavirus test: A just-approved test could speed up the rate of coronavirus testing, the stock market had a historically bad day yesterday and Russian trolls shift to outsourcing. Here's your Daily Crunch for March 13, 2020. PS: Hope you're all staying safe ! 1. FDA approves new coronavirus test that could speed rate of testing up to tenfold The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency approval for use of a new test that can increase the rate of testing patients by up to 10 times compared to methods in use currently, Bloomberg reports . That speed improvement refers specifically to the technical capabilities of the testing process, meaning access to testing is still a separate issue, but it's still the first commercially available test that has received emergency approval and for which equipment exists in fairly high volume across the United States. 2. Stocks dive on Dow’s worst day since 1987, tech crashes and Bitcoin is no haven Yesterday was a terrible day for the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping by just under 10% — the largest single-day percentage decline since the stock market crash of 1987. 3. Russian trolls are outsourcing to Africa to stoke US racial tensions According to a pair of reports out from Facebook and Twitter, a disinformation campaign run by individuals linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency is back and focused on the U.S., but this time it’s being run out of Africa. 4. Slack shares plummet 20% after its growth forecast fails to excite investors Slack’s current-quarter revenue guidance is a tiny bit light, while its full-year revenue guidance is in the middle of expectations. Why is the company being punished, then? Because the world has changed in the last two weeks, and Slack had a very rich valuation. 5. Maintain data security when staff is working from home Remote work policies are increasingly popular across the tech industry as companies push flexible working arrangements. In doing so, these companies have to prepare their IT infrastructure to accommodate remote working. (Extra Crunch membership required.) Story continues 6. Verizon increases network infrastructure investment by $500M Verizon (which owns TechCrunch) said Thursday it will boost investment in network infrastructure to prepare for the rise in telecommuting and online learning amid the coronavirus outbreak. 7. Reporters Without Borders uses Minecraft to sneak censored works across borders The organization — collaborating with reporters, Minecraft pros and, of course, a creative agency — has produced an enormous in-game “Uncensored Library” that hosts a variety of suppressed reportage from places like Saudi Arabia, Russia and Vietnam. The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch's roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you'd like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here . || The Gross Law Firm Announces Class Actions on Behalf of Shareholders of GERN, CAN and TLRY: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 13, 2020 /The securities litigation law firm of The Gross Law Firm issues the following notice on behalf of shareholders in the following publicly traded companies. Shareholders who purchased shares in the following companies during the dates listed are encouraged to contact the firm regarding possible Lead Plaintiff appointment. Appointment as Lead Plaintiff is not required to partake in any recovery.
Geron Corporation (GERN)
Investors Affected : March 19, 2018 - September 26, 2018
A class action has commenced on behalf of certain shareholders in Geron Corporation. The filed complaint alleges that defendants misled investors regarding a drug called imetelstat, which was intended to treat certain cancers that occur in bone marrow. Specifically, defendants misled investors about the results of a clinical drug study of imetelstat called IMbark. That study was designed to ascertain whether imetelstat helped patients with a cancer called myelofibrosis.
Shareholders may find more information athttps://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/geron-corporation-et-al-loss-submission-form/?id=5686&from=1
Canaan Inc. (CAN)
Investors Affected : publicly traded securities of Canaan, including its American Depository Shares pursuant and/or traceable to the Company's registration statement and related prospectus issued in connection with the Company's November 20, 2019 initial public offering.
A class action has commenced on behalf of certain shareholders in Canaan Inc. The filed complaint alleges that defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the purported "strategic cooperation" was actually a transaction with a related party; (2) the company's financial health was worse than what was actually reported; (3) the company had recently removed numerous distributors from its website just prior to the initial public offering, many of which were small or suspicious businesses; and (4) several of the Company's largest Chinese clients in prior years were clients who were not in the Bitcoin mining industry and, thus, would likely not be repeat customers.
Shareholders may find more information athttps://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/canaan-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=5686&from=1
Tilray, Inc. (TLRY)
Investors Affected : January 15, 2019 - March 2, 2020
A class action has commenced on behalf of certain shareholders in Tilray, Inc. The filed complaint alleges that defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the purported advantages of the marketing and revenue sharing agreement with Authentic Brands Group (the "ABG Agreement")were significantly overstated; (ii) the under performance of the ABG Agreement would foreseeably have a significant impact on the Company's financial results; and (iii) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
Shareholders may find more information athttps://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/tilray-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=5686&from=1
The Gross Law Firm is committed to ensuring that companies adhere to responsible business practices and engage in good corporate citizenship. The firm seeks recovery on behalf of investors who incurred losses when false and/or misleading statements or the omission of material information by a Company lead to artificial inflation of the Company's stock. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
The Gross Law Firm15 West 38th Street, 12th floorNew York, NY, 10018Email:[email protected]: (212) 537-9430Fax: (833) 862-7770
SOURCE:The Gross Law Firm
View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/580581/The-Gross-Law-Firm-Announces-Class-Actions-on-Behalf-of-Shareholders-of-GERN-CAN-and-TLRY
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
|
5392.31, 5014.48, 5225.63, 5238.44, 6191.19, 6198.78, 6185.07, 5830.25, 6416.31, 6734.80
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 1187.13, 1205.01, 1200.37, 1169.28, 1167.54, 1172.52, 1182.94, 1193.91, 1211.67, 1210.29, 1229.08, 1222.05, 1231.71, 1207.21, 1250.15, 1265.49, 1281.08, 1317.73, 1316.48, 1321.79, 1347.89, 1421.60, 1452.82, 1490.09, 1537.67, 1555.45, 1578.80, 1596.71, 1723.35, 1755.36, 1787.13, 1848.57, 1724.24, 1804.91, 1808.91, 1738.43, 1734.45, 1839.09, 1888.65, 1987.71, 2084.73, 2041.20, 2173.40, 2320.42, 2443.64, 2304.98, 2202.42, 2038.87, 2155.80, 2255.61, 2175.47, 2286.41, 2407.88, 2488.55, 2515.35, 2511.81, 2686.81, 2863.20, 2732.16, 2805.62, 2823.81, 2947.71, 2958.11, 2659.63, 2717.02, 2506.37, 2464.58, 2518.56, 2655.88, 2548.29, 2589.60, 2721.79, 2689.10, 2705.41, 2744.91, 2608.72, 2589.41, 2478.45, 2552.45, 2574.79, 2539.32, 2480.84, 2434.55, 2506.47, 2564.06, 2601.64, 2601.99, 2608.56, 2518.66, 2571.34.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-07-08]
Volume: 733329984, RSI (14-day): 51.44, 50-day EMA: 2414.47, 200-day EMA: 1667.88
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
USA Made Organic CBD Oil Named Best Value CBD Brand: NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / July 7, 2017 /An organic CBD oil product from a US company has been named as the Best Value CBD by CBDReVu.com, a popular international destination for news and reviews of CBD oil products. For more information about the selection, go herehttps://cbdrevu.com/.
According to CBDReVu.com, the retail market for CBD oil products is growing rapidly. Some industry estimates indicate that the CBD market should grow to a $2.1 billion in retail sales by 2020. That would represent a huge 700% increase from 2016. In 2015, retail sales of industrial hemp-sourced CBD oils were about $90 million, plus an additional $112 million in cannabis-sourced CBD oils marketed via dispensaries, bringing total CBD oil sales to $202 million in 2016.
Cannabidiol, also known as CBD, is a compound in hemp and cannabis plants that has no psychoactive effect. In order words, CBD, unlike the better-known THC, does not have any intoxicating effects. There is growing evidence that traditional recreational marijuana smokers are increasingly interested in CBD. One large licensed cultivator on the west coast says they have calculated that 38% of marijuana users, as well as non-users, have indicated they want to learn more about CBD oil.
So, the CBD oil market projected to grow dramatically. Entrepreneurs and Wall Street have taken notice and jumped on the bandwagon in an attempt to get a piece of this potentially huge market. According to industry research data, in the state of Washington, alone, there are over 800 CBD products available. This diversity of products, some good and some bad, put consumers in a difficult position as they try to sort out the authentic quality products from the pretenders. Like any other food or nutritional item, consumers want thebest CBD oil, but in order to find the high-quality products, consumers must do some homework. All companies market their products as the best, but very few products live up to the hype. Even though many credible commentators, like CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, have said positive things about the potential of CBD and medical marijuana, companies marketing these products often cross an ethics line when they make unproven medical claims. One of the first red flags for consumers that should be a signal to stay away from any product in the nutritional space is when the company makes any medical claims about diseases or conditions that CBD or medical marijuana will help or cure. That's because the evidence to support such claims does not exist. There are other caveats consumers should be alert to.
In addition to the difficulty of sorting through the various products, the regulatory picture for the substance is another minefield. Some saypure CBD oilis perfectly legal, and some say it is not. Most companies ship the product anywhere in the USA, but others do not. Some companies let consumers buy with their credit cards, while others only take cash or Bitcoin payments. The bottom line is that, from a legal standpoint, the whole scenario is very confusing and controversial. But, in the meantime, CBD product sales are strong and growing.
About CBDReVu.com
CBDReVu.com is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, and writes about the emerging legal cannabis industry.
SOURCE:CBDReVu.com || USA Made Organic CBD Oil Named Best Value CBD Brand: NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / July 7, 2017 / An organic CBD oil product from a US company has been named as the Best Value CBD by CBDReVu.com, a popular international destination for news and reviews of CBD oil products. For more information about the selection, go here https://cbdrevu.com/ . According to CBDReVu.com, the retail market for CBD oil products is growing rapidly. Some industry estimates indicate that the CBD market should grow to a $2.1 billion in retail sales by 2020. That would represent a huge 700% increase from 2016. In 2015, retail sales of industrial hemp-sourced CBD oils were about $90 million, plus an additional $112 million in cannabis-sourced CBD oils marketed via dispensaries, bringing total CBD oil sales to $202 million in 2016. Cannabidiol, also known as CBD, is a compound in hemp and cannabis plants that has no psychoactive effect. In order words, CBD, unlike the better-known THC, does not have any intoxicating effects. There is growing evidence that traditional recreational marijuana smokers are increasingly interested in CBD. One large licensed cultivator on the west coast says they have calculated that 38% of marijuana users, as well as non-users, have indicated they want to learn more about CBD oil. So, the CBD oil market projected to grow dramatically. Entrepreneurs and Wall Street have taken notice and jumped on the bandwagon in an attempt to get a piece of this potentially huge market. According to industry research data, in the state of Washington, alone, there are over 800 CBD products available. This diversity of products, some good and some bad, put consumers in a difficult position as they try to sort out the authentic quality products from the pretenders. Like any other food or nutritional item, consumers want the best CBD oil , but in order to find the high-quality products, consumers must do some homework. All companies market their products as the best, but very few products live up to the hype. Even though many credible commentators, like CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, have said positive things about the potential of CBD and medical marijuana, companies marketing these products often cross an ethics line when they make unproven medical claims. One of the first red flags for consumers that should be a signal to stay away from any product in the nutritional space is when the company makes any medical claims about diseases or conditions that CBD or medical marijuana will help or cure. That's because the evidence to support such claims does not exist. There are other caveats consumers should be alert to. Story continues In addition to the difficulty of sorting through the various products, the regulatory picture for the substance is another minefield. Some say pure CBD oil is perfectly legal, and some say it is not. Most companies ship the product anywhere in the USA, but others do not. Some companies let consumers buy with their credit cards, while others only take cash or Bitcoin payments. The bottom line is that, from a legal standpoint, the whole scenario is very confusing and controversial. But, in the meantime, CBD product sales are strong and growing. About CBDReVu.com CBDReVu.com is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, and writes about the emerging legal cannabis industry. SOURCE: CBDReVu.com || Your first trade for Friday, July 7: The " Fast Money " traders gave their final trades of the day. Pete Najarian is a buyer of Google (GOOGL (NASDAQ: GOOGL) ). Steve Grasso is a buyer of Avis (CAR (NASDAQ: CAR) ). Brian Kelly is a buyer of Nvidia (NVDA (NASDAQ: NVDA) ). Tim Seymour is a buyer of iShares Transportation ETF (IYT (NYSE Arca: IYT) ). Trader disclosure: On July 6 the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Tim Seymour is long ABX, AAPL, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, C, CLF, CVX, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWN, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LOW, LQD, MAT, MOS, MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, SQ,T, TWTR, VALE, VRX, VZ, XOM. short: EEM, SPY, XRT. Pete Najarian is long calls AMD, AVGO, BAC, BUD, C, CHK, CMCSA, CPN, EOG, LNG, LULU, MDLZ, MU, RF, SFM, TECK, UNP, X. Pete Najarian is long stock AAP, AAPL, BAC, BKE, CELG, DIS, DLTR, FSLR, GILD, GIS, GE, GM, IBM, K, KMX, KO, KORS, KR, KSU, LEN, MRK, MSFT, PEP, PFE, SCSS, UAL, UNP, V, WDC, WFT, WYNN. Pete owns LOW puts. Pete bought AMD calls. BK is long AMD, Bitcoin, Ethereum, IWM, KRE, TBT. Steve Grasso's firm is long stock AMD, AON, APC, CTL, CUBA, DIA, DVN, F, HES, HPQ, ICE, KDUS, MAT, MFIN, MJNA, MSFT, NE, RIG, SNAP, SPY, SNGX, SQBG, TIME, TITXF, UA, VEON, WDR, WPX, ZNGA. Grasso is long stock AAPL, BABA, CAR, CHK, EVGN, HTZ, JCP, KBH, MJNA, MON, PHM, SQ, T, TWTR, VRX. Grasso owns Callable Trigger contingent yield note linked to SPX RTY and MXEA. Grasso's kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. NO SHORTS. Grasso's firm bought HPQ. More From CNBC High dividend stocks to own: 5 trades Box Office Bust? 5 media trades Trading Nike earnings: 3 plays || Your first trade for Friday, July 7: The "Fast Money" traders gave their final trades of the day.
Pete Najarian is a buyer of Google (GOOGL(NASDAQ: GOOGL)).
Steve Grasso is a buyer of Avis (CAR(NASDAQ: CAR)).
Brian Kelly is a buyer of Nvidia (NVDA(NASDAQ: NVDA)).
Tim Seymour is a buyer of iShares Transportation ETF (IYT(NYSE Arca: IYT)).
Trader disclosure: OnJuly 6the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:
Tim Seymour is long ABX, AAPL, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, C, CLF, CVX, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWN, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LOW, LQD, MAT, MOS, MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, SQ,T, TWTR, VALE, VRX, VZ, XOM. short: EEM, SPY, XRT.
Pete Najarian is long calls AMD, AVGO, BAC, BUD, C, CHK, CMCSA, CPN, EOG, LNG, LULU, MDLZ, MU, RF, SFM, TECK, UNP, X. Pete Najarian is long stock AAP, AAPL, BAC, BKE, CELG, DIS, DLTR, FSLR, GILD, GIS, GE, GM, IBM, K, KMX, KO, KORS, KR, KSU, LEN, MRK, MSFT, PEP, PFE, SCSS, UAL, UNP, V, WDC, WFT, WYNN. Pete owns LOW puts. Pete bought AMD calls.
BK is long AMD, Bitcoin, Ethereum, IWM, KRE, TBT.
Steve Grasso's firm is long stock AMD, AON, APC, CTL, CUBA, DIA, DVN, F, HES, HPQ, ICE, KDUS, MAT, MFIN, MJNA, MSFT, NE, RIG, SNAP, SPY, SNGX, SQBG, TIME, TITXF, UA, VEON, WDR, WPX, ZNGA. Grasso is long stock AAPL, BABA, CAR, CHK, EVGN, HTZ, JCP, KBH, MJNA, MON, PHM, SQ, T, TWTR, VRX. Grasso owns Callable Trigger contingent yield note linked to SPX RTY and MXEA. Grasso's kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. NO SHORTS. Grasso's firm bought HPQ.
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• Trading Nike earnings: 3 plays || Raytheon among stocks that may benefit from bigger missile defense spending because of North Korea: Jefferies is optimistic toward companies such as Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) , Orbital ATK (: OA'WI) , and Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) as tensions with North Korea escalate, leading to greater missile defense spending. "The aggressive nature of the North Korean acts may cause Japan, South Korea, the U.S. Congress and the Administration to fund missile defense at an above average rate," wrote Jefferies equity analyst Howard Rubel in Wednesday's note. The U.S. confirmed that a missile launched by the North Korean government on Tuesday was an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, which has the potential to reach the United States. After numerous attempts to goad the Chinese government into applying more economic pressure against Pyongyang, President Donald Trump is running out of diplomatic options. While the U.S. continues to build its immature Ground Based Missile Defense system, radar and rocket manufacturers such as Raytheon are poised for federal funding, with geospatial imagery companies like DigitalGlobe also positioned for bumps, according to the Jefferies report. "The Japanese have considered another program which would help defend their territory. If we go forward with some form of defense of Hawaii, that's a multi-billion dollar program," added Rubel on CNBC's "Power Lunch" earlier today. "The answer is: it's undecided how large the opportunity is for these contractors." "Language in the House Armed Services Report for the FY18 DoD budget calls out the need for a plan to enhance the sharing of commercial imagery and national technical means with South Korea and Japan," added Rubel. The increased expenditure on weapons and defense, as well as the potential for further international partnership would bode well for American arms manufacturers. On Wednesday afternoon, Raytheon traded approximately 1.60 percent higher while Orbital ATK was up 2.14 percent. Story continues Earlier today, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill told CNBC that he believes Americans will pay close attention to the U.S. response following this latest North Korean missile launch. "In the short run, what they're very concerned about is the possibility that North Korea could have an ICBM that could hit the U.S. with a nuclear weapon," Hill told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "I think the American people will indeed ask the question you're asking, which is what is [Trump] going to do about it?" Thus far, China has regarded the uptick in U.S. missile defense activity with disdain. Plans for new modern defense weapons sales to Taiwan angered China last week as the U.S. State Department announced the $1.42 billion agreement. Prior to the arms sale, the U.S. shocked both South Korea and China by secretly deploying four more THAAD rocket launchers in South Korea. More From CNBC Bitcoin could nearly double and reach $5,000 soon, says Standpoint Research TipRanks: Here are the favorite tech stocks of top analysts for the second half Some recent tech IPOs are cratering || Raytheon among stocks that may benefit from bigger missile defense spending because of North Korea: Jefferies is optimistic toward companies such as Raytheon(NYSE: RTN), Orbital ATK(: OA'WI), and Aerojet Rocketdyne(NYSE: AJRD)as tensions with North Korea escalate, leading to greater missile defense spending.
"The aggressive nature of the North Korean acts may cause Japan, South Korea, the U.S. Congress and the Administration to fund missile defense at an above average rate," wrote Jefferies equity analyst Howard Rubel in Wednesday's note.
The U.S. confirmed that a missile launched by the North Korean government on Tuesday was an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, which has the potential to reach the United States. After numerous attempts to goad the Chinese government into applying more economic pressure against Pyongyang, President Donald Trump is running out of diplomatic options.
While the U.S. continues to build its immature Ground Based Missile Defense system, radar and rocket manufacturers such as Raytheon are poised for federal funding, with geospatial imagery companies like DigitalGlobe also positioned for bumps, according to the Jefferies report.
"The Japanese have considered another program which would help defend their territory. If we go forward with some form of defense of Hawaii, that's a multi-billion dollar program," added Rubel on CNBC's "Power Lunch" earlier today. "The answer is: it's undecided how large the opportunity is for these contractors."
"Language in the House Armed Services Report for the FY18 DoD budget calls out the need for a plan to enhance the sharing of commercial imagery and national technical means with South Korea and Japan," added Rubel. The increased expenditure on weapons and defense, as well as the potential for further international partnership would bode well for American arms manufacturers.
On Wednesday afternoon, Raytheon traded approximately 1.60 percent higher while Orbital ATK was up 2.14 percent.
Earlier today,former U.S. ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill told CNBCthat he believes Americans will pay close attention to the U.S. response following this latest North Korean missile launch.
"In the short run, what they're very concerned about is the possibility that North Korea could have an ICBM that could hit the U.S. with a nuclear weapon," Hill told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "I think the American people will indeed ask the question you're asking, which is what is [Trump] going to do about it?"
Thus far, China has regarded the uptick in U.S. missile defense activity with disdain.
Plans fornew modern defense weapons sales to Taiwan angered Chinalast week as the U.S. State Department announced the $1.42 billion agreement. Prior to the arms sale,the U.S. shocked both South Korea and Chinaby secretly deploying four more THAAD rocket launchers in South Korea.
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• Some recent tech IPOs are cratering || Alleged hackers behind NotPetya cyberattack demand $260,000 bitcoin ransom: The ransom is on the move. The Bitcoin wallet controlled by the NotPetya attackers showed surprising signs of life over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, with approximately $10,000 in paid ransom disappearing from the account. Around the same time, a message purporting to be from the culprits behind the maybe-ransomware attack surfaced — demanding 100 bitcoin in exchange for a key they say can unlock encrypted files. SEE ALSO: It won't be easy for WannaCry hackers to get their cash At the time of writing, 100 bitcoin is worth approximately $260,000. "Send me 100 Bitcoins and you will get my private key to decrypt any harddisk (except boot disks)," read the message posted to Pastebin . "See the attached file signed with the key." As NotPetya, which first surfaced in Ukraine on June 27, has been shown to damage an infected computer's master boot record, the person behind the message is only claiming to be able to decrypt specific files — not entire systems. Still, that ability could be a godsend for companies struggling to restore lost data, assuming the ransomer is telling the truth. The new demand was posted on July 4, the same day ransom payments made in the hopes of obtaining decryption keys were moved from the Bitcoin address listed in the initial NotPetya attack to another wallet. The message displayed by NotPetya. Image: SYMANTEC No new Bitcoin address was listed for payments should anyone decide to actually fork over the 100 bitcoin. However, a link was provided to a chatroom for the purpose of getting in touch with the hackers and presumably arranging payment. Motherboard exchanged messages with someone claiming to be one of the hackers, who told the publication the key for sale would "decrypt all computers." So, should organizations desperate for their data pay up? It's a tough question. Security researchers have more or less reached a consensus that the intention behind NotPetya was to damage cyber-infrastructure, not to make money. As such, the calculus for victims is different than it would be with a more traditional form of ransomware. Either way, this latest series of developments — the transfer of funds between Bitcoin wallets and the new demand — serves to further muddy the waters behind the NotPetya attack. It also makes one thing clear: The story of the latest ransomware scourge to sweep the globe is not over yet. WATCH: Step inside the secretive class that turns people into hackers Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint api production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fvideo uploaders%2fdistribution thumb%2fimage%2f80316%2ff500b367 c74e 4fa7 97cd cde8f19f3003 View comments || Alleged hackers behind NotPetya cyberattack demand $260,000 bitcoin ransom: The ransom is on the move. The Bitcoin wallet controlled by the NotPetya attackers showed surprising signs of life over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, with approximately $10,000 in paid ransom disappearing from the account. Around the same time, a message purporting to be from the culprits behind the maybe-ransomware attack surfaced — demanding 100 bitcoin in exchange for a key they say can unlock encrypted files. SEE ALSO: It won't be easy for WannaCry hackers to get their cash At the time of writing, 100 bitcoin is worth approximately $260,000. "Send me 100 Bitcoins and you will get my private key to decrypt any harddisk (except boot disks)," read the message posted to Pastebin . "See the attached file signed with the key." As NotPetya, which first surfaced in Ukraine on June 27, has been shown to damage an infected computer's master boot record, the person behind the message is only claiming to be able to decrypt specific files — not entire systems. Still, that ability could be a godsend for companies struggling to restore lost data, assuming the ransomer is telling the truth. The new demand was posted on July 4, the same day ransom payments made in the hopes of obtaining decryption keys were moved from the Bitcoin address listed in the initial NotPetya attack to another wallet. The message displayed by NotPetya. Image: SYMANTEC No new Bitcoin address was listed for payments should anyone decide to actually fork over the 100 bitcoin. However, a link was provided to a chatroom for the purpose of getting in touch with the hackers and presumably arranging payment. Motherboard exchanged messages with someone claiming to be one of the hackers, who told the publication the key for sale would "decrypt all computers." So, should organizations desperate for their data pay up? It's a tough question. Security researchers have more or less reached a consensus that the intention behind NotPetya was to damage cyber-infrastructure, not to make money. As such, the calculus for victims is different than it would be with a more traditional form of ransomware. Either way, this latest series of developments — the transfer of funds between Bitcoin wallets and the new demand — serves to further muddy the waters behind the NotPetya attack. It also makes one thing clear: The story of the latest ransomware scourge to sweep the globe is not over yet. WATCH: Step inside the secretive class that turns people into hackers Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint api production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fvideo uploaders%2fdistribution thumb%2fimage%2f80316%2ff500b367 c74e 4fa7 97cd cde8f19f3003 View comments || Tesla sinks after getting downgraded by Goldman Sachs: Tesla is sinking on Wednesday after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock based on what it thinks is plateauing demand. The drop of 5%, or $17.84 a share, is the biggest drop by dollar amount this year. Shares had been on a tear, up 55.59% in 2017, leading up to the release of Tesla's Model 3. Goldman has been bearish on Tesla in the past. The firm had a price target of $190, before lowering its target to $180 on Wednesday. The new target is 46% lower than Tesla's current price of $334.64. Deliveries are one of the most important metrics for Tesla, and the company fell short of Wall Street estimates in the second quarter. It is set to start delivering its Model 3 sedan, targeted at mass-market consumers, later this month. The company hopes its new Gigafactory will help with the production of the new vehicles and plans to be producing 20,000 a month by the end of the year. Click here to read more about Tesla ... Tesla Stock Price (Markets Insider) NOW WATCH: An economist explains the key issues that Trump needs to address to boost the economy More From Business Insider GOLDMAN: It looks like demand for Teslas has peaked GOLDMAN SACHS: Bitcoin could see a big drop then surge to almost $4,000 The best Amazon Prime Day deals members can get starting today || Tesla sinks after getting downgraded by Goldman Sachs: Teslais sinking on Wednesday afterGoldman Sachs downgraded the stockbased on what it thinks is plateauing demand.
The drop of 5%, or $17.84 a share, is the biggest drop by dollar amount this year. Shares had been on a tear, up 55.59% in 2017, leading up to the release of Tesla's Model 3.
Goldman has been bearish on Tesla in the past. The firm had a price target of $190, before lowering its target to $180 on Wednesday. The new target is 46% lower than Tesla's current price of $334.64.
Deliveries are one of the most important metrics for Tesla, and the company fell short of Wall Street estimates in the second quarter. It is set to start delivering its Model 3 sedan, targeted at mass-market consumers, later this month. The company hopes its new Gigafactory will help with the production of the new vehicles andplans to be producing 20,000 a monthby the end of the year.
(Markets Insider)
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• GOLDMAN: It looks like demand for Teslas has peaked
• GOLDMAN SACHS: Bitcoin could see a big drop then surge to almost $4,000
• The best Amazon Prime Day deals members can get starting today || Goldman predicts Tesla shares will get cut in half on ‘plateauing’ Model S sales: While some investors may be optimistic on Tesla's(TSLA)Model 3 production plans, Goldman Sachs is concerned over slowing sales growth of the company's current electric cars.
The report helped send Tesla's stock down about 5 percent in the first hour of trading.
Goldman analyst David Tamberrino lowered his six-month price target for Tesla to $180 from $190, representing 49 percent downside from Monday's close."We remain sell rated on shares of TSLA where we see potential for downside as the Model 3 launch curve undershoots the company's production targets and as 2H17 margins likely disappoint," Tamberrino wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. "This comes as demand for TSLA's established products (Model S and Model X) appear to be plateauing slightly below a 100k annual run rate."
The analyst cited how Tesla's second quarter deliveries number of approximately 22,000 carsmissedhis forecast of 23,500 and the Wall Street consensus of 24,200. As a result, he lowered his annual growth estimate for the Model S and Model X cars to 5 percent through 2021 from his previous forecast of 13 percent per year.
Teslablameda production issue with its 100 kilowatt-hour battery packs for the second quarter deliveries shortfall."Further, cash burn should intensify as we progress through 2017 –though we forecast the next capital raise in 1H18," he wrote.
Multiple Wall Street firms including Bernstein, KeyBanc Capital and Cowen also expressed disappointment over Tesla's second quarter deliveries result in notes to clients Wednesday and Tuesday."Tesla's Q2 production and deliveries report raised more questions than answers, particularly about Model S and X demand," Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi wrote.Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. Its shares are up 65 percent this year versus the S&P 500's 8.5 percent return through Monday.
—CNBC'sMichael Bloomcontributed to this story.
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• Some recent tech IPOs are cratering || Goldman predicts Tesla shares will get cut in half on ‘plateauing’ Model S sales: While some investors may be optimistic on Tesla's ( TSLA ) Model 3 production plans, Goldman Sachs is concerned over slowing sales growth of the company's current electric cars. The report helped send Tesla's stock down about 5 percent in the first hour of trading. Goldman analyst David Tamberrino lowered his six-month price target for Tesla to $180 from $190, representing 49 percent downside from Monday's close. "We remain sell rated on shares of TSLA where we see potential for downside as the Model 3 launch curve undershoots the company's production targets and as 2H17 margins likely disappoint," Tamberrino wrote in a note to clients Wednesday. "This comes as demand for TSLA's established products (Model S and Model X) appear to be plateauing slightly below a 100k annual run rate." The analyst cited how Tesla's second quarter deliveries number of approximately 22,000 cars missed his forecast of 23,500 and the Wall Street consensus of 24,200. As a result, he lowered his annual growth estimate for the Model S and Model X cars to 5 percent through 2021 from his previous forecast of 13 percent per year. Tesla blamed a production issue with its 100 kilowatt-hour battery packs for the second quarter deliveries shortfall. "Further, cash burn should intensify as we progress through 2017 –though we forecast the next capital raise in 1H18," he wrote. Multiple Wall Street firms including Bernstein, KeyBanc Capital and Cowen also expressed disappointment over Tesla's second quarter deliveries result in notes to clients Wednesday and Tuesday. "Tesla's Q2 production and deliveries report raised more questions than answers, particularly about Model S and X demand," Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi wrote. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. Its shares are up 65 percent this year versus the S&P 500's 8.5 percent return through Monday. —CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this story. WATCH: Elon Musk announces release date for Tesla's mass-market Model 3 More From CNBC Bitcoin could nearly double and reach $5,000 soon, says Standpoint Research TipRanks: Here are the favorite tech stocks of top analysts for the second half Some recent tech IPOs are cratering || GOLDMAN SACHS: It looks like demand for Teslas has peaked: Tesla Model 3 (Goldman Sachs said Tesla was likely to miss its production targets for the $35,000 Model 3.AP Photo/Justin Pritchard) Demand for Tesla's Model S sedan and its Model X SUV appears to have peaked, Goldman Sachs analysts said as they downgraded their outlook for the company. Tesla on Monday said it delivered 22,000 vehicles in the second quarter, fewer than analysts including Goldman's David Tamberrino had expected. Deliveries slowed from a record of 25,000 cars in the first quarter amid issues with the largest battery pack for Tesla's electric cars. "We believe the excess production above deliveries, the discontinued 'order rate' metrics, and the company’s 2H17 guidance (Model S and Model X deliveries to likely exceed) in combination with the past four quarters of delivery results point to a plateauing of demand for its current products," Tamberrino and his colleagues wrote in a note released Wednesday. Goldman slightly reduced its forecast for vehicle deliveries this year and forecast "moderate growth" from 2018 through 2021: a 5% compound annual growth rate versus 13% prior. It lowered its six-month target price on the stock to $180 from $190, implying a 49% decline from Monday's closing price of $352.62. Tesla shares were down by about 1.5% in premarket trading on Wednesday. Tesla is preparing for the first deliveries of its Model 3 vehicles on July 28. Tamberrino forecast that the company would miss its production targets for the $35,000 sedan in the second half of the year. Though the Model 3 is going out two months earlier than Goldman had forecast, Tamberrino remained cautious since Tesla has historically missed delivery and production targets. "We still harbor supply chain concerns and believe a more prudent curve is warranted given historical operational execution," he said. NOW WATCH: An economist explains the key issues that Trump needs to address to boost the economy More From Business Insider One of the best tech upgrades I've made to my car cost me less than $30 The best Amazon Prime Day deals members can get starting today GOLDMAN SACHS: Bitcoin could see a big drop then surge to almost $4,000 || GOLDMAN SACHS: It looks like demand for Teslas has peaked: (Goldman Sachs said Tesla was likely to miss its production targets for the $35,000 Model 3.AP Photo/Justin Pritchard)
Demand forTesla'sModel S sedan and its Model X SUV appears to have peaked, Goldman Sachs analysts said as they downgraded their outlook for the company.
Tesla on Monday said itdelivered 22,000 vehiclesin the second quarter, fewer than analysts including Goldman's David Tamberrino had expected. Deliveries slowed from a record of 25,000 cars in the first quarter amid issues with the largest battery pack for Tesla's electric cars.
"We believe the excess production above deliveries, the discontinued 'order rate' metrics, and the company’s 2H17 guidance (Model S and Model X deliveries to likely exceed) in combination with the past four quarters of delivery results point to a plateauing of demand for its current products," Tamberrino and his colleagues wrote in a note released Wednesday.
Goldman slightly reduced its forecast for vehicle deliveries this year and forecast "moderate growth" from 2018 through 2021: a 5% compound annual growth rate versus 13% prior.
It lowered its six-month target price on the stock to $180 from $190, implying a 49% decline from Monday's closing price of $352.62. Tesla shares were down by about 1.5% in premarket trading on Wednesday.
Tesla is preparing for the first deliveries of itsModel 3vehicles on July 28. Tamberrino forecast that the company would miss its production targets for the $35,000 sedan in the second half of the year.
Though the Model 3 is going out two months earlier than Goldman had forecast, Tamberrino remained cautious since Tesla has historically missed delivery and production targets. "We still harbor supply chain concerns and believe a more prudent curve is warranted given historical operational execution," he said.
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• GOLDMAN SACHS: Bitcoin could see a big drop then surge to almost $4,000 || Freed by the Fed, JPMorgan Is Back in the Acquisition Business: Less than a week after theFederal Reserve declared it well enough capitalized to do pretty much as it pleased, JP Morgan Chase returned to the dealmaking business, with a move on U.K. payments company Worldpay.
Shares in the company soared 27% Tuesday in anticipation of a bidding war, after Worldpay announced it had received preliminary approaches from both JP Morgan and credit card processor Vantiv. Market participants sense that there could be more interested parties out there, since France’s Ingenico had also expressed interest in the company in 2015. The share price action added $2.5 billion to Worldpay’s value Tuesday, giving it a market capitalisation of over $10.5 billion.
Read:For PayPal, Mobile Continues To Drive Growth
A move on Worldpay would be JP Morgan’s biggest deal since it agreed to buy Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual during the 2008 financial crisis. Since those deals, its main priority has been to ease concerns about it being ‘too-big-to-fail’ . The news comes only days after the Fed ruled that the house of Jamie Dimon, and the U.S.’s largest banks, now had more than enough capital to deal with any realistic risk scenarios and cleared them to return billions of dollars to shareholders in the form of dividends or buybacks.
Worldpay was spun out of Royal Bank of Scotland in 2010, as part of the EU’s conditions for approving the U.K.’s 43 billion pound bailout of RBS during the financial crisis. It was first bought by private equity groups Bain Capital and Advent International, before being listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2015.
Read:Why Mastercard Bought VocaLink for $920 Million
Payments has long been seen as one of the areas of banking most ripe for disruption by technology from companies such as Stripe and Square. It’s also a highly fragmented market and one begging for consolidation.
Worldpay has profited from the worldwide migration by consumers towards cashless transactions. It processed nearly 15 billion transactions last year, a number that has doubled since 2012. It covers 126 currencies in 146 countries. However, it is seen as relatively weak in the U.S., making it a good strategic fit for any of the three big U.S. payments players (Global Payments Inc. is JP Morgan and Vantiv’s biggest rival in the domestic market).
Under U.K. takeover rules, Worldpay’s announcement means that Vantiv and JP Morgan now have until August 1 to confirm their intentions or walk away.
See original article on Fortune.com
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• Bitcoin Hits New All-Time High || Freed by the Fed, JPMorgan Is Back in the Acquisition Business: Less than a week after the Federal Reserve declared it well enough capitalized to do pretty much as it pleased , JP Morgan Chase returned to the dealmaking business, with a move on U.K. payments company Worldpay. Shares in the company soared 27% Tuesday in anticipation of a bidding war, after Worldpay announced it had received preliminary approaches from both JP Morgan and credit card processor Vantiv. Market participants sense that there could be more interested parties out there, since France’s Ingenico had also expressed interest in the company in 2015. The share price action added $2.5 billion to Worldpay’s value Tuesday, giving it a market capitalisation of over $10.5 billion. Read: For PayPal, Mobile Continues To Drive Growth A move on Worldpay would be JP Morgan’s biggest deal since it agreed to buy Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual during the 2008 financial crisis. Since those deals, its main priority has been to ease concerns about it being ‘too-big-to-fail’ . The news comes only days after the Fed ruled that the house of Jamie Dimon, and the U.S.’s largest banks, now had more than enough capital to deal with any realistic risk scenarios and cleared them to return billions of dollars to shareholders in the form of dividends or buybacks. Worldpay was spun out of Royal Bank of Scotland in 2010, as part of the EU’s conditions for approving the U.K.’s 43 billion pound bailout of RBS during the financial crisis. It was first bought by private equity groups Bain Capital and Advent International, before being listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2015. Read : Why Mastercard Bought VocaLink for $920 Million Payments has long been seen as one of the areas of banking most ripe for disruption by technology from companies such as Stripe and Square. It’s also a highly fragmented market and one begging for consolidation. Worldpay has profited from the worldwide migration by consumers towards cashless transactions. It processed nearly 15 billion transactions last year, a number that has doubled since 2012. It covers 126 currencies in 146 countries. However, it is seen as relatively weak in the U.S., making it a good strategic fit for any of the three big U.S. payments players (Global Payments Inc. is JP Morgan and Vantiv’s biggest rival in the domestic market). Under U.K. takeover rules, Worldpay’s announcement means that Vantiv and JP Morgan now have until August 1 to confirm their intentions or walk away. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Airbnb Is Testing a Feature That Would Let You Split the Cost With Friends New 'Borderless' Accounts From TransferWise Make It Easier To Bank Overseas Why Bitcoin's Price Has Been Surging and Where It Could Go From Here Tencent and Alibaba Are Engaged in a Massive Battle in China Bitcoin Hits New All-Time High View comments || Goldman Sachs: This is Bitcoin’s Sweet Spot: Even thoughBitcoin has been called a bubble, investors who have hungrily watched Bitcoin’s price soar 290% over the past year from the sidelines still have a chance to win big. Or at least that’s according to analyst Sheba Jafari.
On Sunday, the banking giant sent a note seen byCNBCthat said Bitcoin, now priced at $2,568 a piece, could fall as low as $1,857 before bouncing to a much higher valuation between $3,212 to $3,915. That means if an investor watches the cryptocurrency carefully and times it perfectly, they could gain as much as 110% on their initial investment. Granted, that would take quite a bit of patience, with Goldman acknowledging that “it might take time” to hit $3,915.
Read:Can Bitcoin's First Felon Help Make Cryptocurrency a Trillion-Dollar Market?
If Bitcoin were to hit $3,915, then that would add another $22 billion in market capitalization to cryptocurrency, which is up 53% from Bitcoin’s current market capitalization of $42 billion.
That comes as the cryptocurrency has fallen from a high of just over $3,000 in mid-June, with investors, includingMark Cuban,warning thatBitcoin’s price has already peaked.
See original article on Fortune.com
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• Bitcoin Exchange Hacker Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years in Prison || Goldman Sachs: This is Bitcoin's Sweet Spot: Even thoughBitcoin has been called a bubble, investors who have hungrily watched Bitcoin’s price soar 290% over the past year from the sidelines still have a chance to win big. Or at least that’s according toGoldman Sachsanalyst Sheba Jafari.
On Sunday, the banking giant sent a note seen byCNBCthat said Bitcoin, now priced at $2,568 a piece, could fall as low as $1,857 before bouncing to a much higher valuation between $3,212 to $3,915. That means if an investor watches the cryptocurrency carefully and times it perfectly, they could gain as much as 110% on their initial investment. Granted, that would take quite a bit of patience, with Goldman acknowledging that “it might take time” to hit $3,915.
Read:Can Bitcoin’s First Felon Help Make Cryptocurrency a Trillion-Dollar Market?
If Bitcoin were to hit $3,915, then that would add another $22 billion in market capitalization to cryptocurrency, which is up 53% from Bitcoin’s current market capitalization of $42 billion.
That comes as the cryptocurrency has fallen from a high of just over $3,000 in mid-June, with investors, includingMark Cuban,warning thatBitcoin’s price has already peaked. || Goldman Sachs: This is Bitcoin's Sweet Spot: Even though Bitcoin has been called a bubble , investors who have hungrily watched Bitcoin’s price soar 290% over the past year from the sidelines still have a chance to win big. Or at least that’s according to Goldman Sachs analyst Sheba Jafari. On Sunday, the banking giant sent a note seen by CNBC that said Bitcoin, now priced at $2,568 a piece, could fall as low as $1,857 before bouncing to a much higher valuation between $3,212 to $3,915. That means if an investor watches the cryptocurrency carefully and times it perfectly, they could gain as much as 110% on their initial investment. Granted, that would take quite a bit of patience, with Goldman acknowledging that “it might take time” to hit $3,915. Read: Can Bitcoin’s First Felon Help Make Cryptocurrency a Trillion-Dollar Market? If Bitcoin were to hit $3,915, then that would add another $22 billion in market capitalization to cryptocurrency, which is up 53% from Bitcoin’s current market capitalization of $42 billion. That comes as the cryptocurrency has fallen from a high of just over $3,000 in mid-June, with investors, including Mark Cuban, warning that Bitcoin’s price has already peaked . || Goldman Sachs: This is Bitcoin’s Sweet Spot: Even thoughBitcoin has been called a bubble, investors who have hungrily watched Bitcoin’s price soar 290% over the past year from the sidelines still have a chance to win big. Or at least that’s according to analyst Sheba Jafari.
On Sunday, the banking giant sent a note seen byCNBCthat said Bitcoin, now priced at $2,568 a piece, could fall as low as $1,857 before bouncing to a much higher valuation between $3,212 to $3,915. That means if an investor watches the cryptocurrency carefully and times it perfectly, they could gain as much as 110% on their initial investment. Granted, that would take quite a bit of patience, with Goldman acknowledging that “it might take time” to hit $3,915.
Read:Can Bitcoin's First Felon Help Make Cryptocurrency a Trillion-Dollar Market?
If Bitcoin were to hit $3,915, then that would add another $22 billion in market capitalization to cryptocurrency, which is up 53% from Bitcoin’s current market capitalization of $42 billion.
That comes as the cryptocurrency has fallen from a high of just over $3,000 in mid-June, with investors, includingMark Cuban,warning thatBitcoin’s price has already peaked.
See original article on Fortune.com
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直近の市場の平均Bitcoinの価格は289309.0円
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#Bitcoin #BTC || Jul 08, 2017 09:40:00 UTC | 2,532.50$ | 2,221.70€ | 1,965...
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2518.44, 2372.56, 2337.79, 2398.84, 2357.90, 2233.34, 1998.86, 1929.82, 2228.41, 2318.88
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 236.15, 232.08, 234.93, 240.36, 239.02, 236.12, 229.78, 237.33, 243.86, 241.83, 240.30, 242.16, 241.11, 236.38, 236.93, 237.60, 236.15, 236.80, 233.13, 231.95, 234.02, 235.34, 240.35, 238.87, 240.95, 237.11, 237.12, 237.28, 237.41, 237.10, 233.35, 230.19, 222.93, 225.80, 225.87, 224.32, 224.95, 225.62, 222.88, 228.49, 229.05, 228.80, 229.71, 229.98, 232.40, 233.54, 236.82, 250.90, 249.28, 249.01, 244.61, 245.21, 243.94, 246.99, 244.30, 240.51, 242.80, 243.59, 250.99, 249.01, 257.06, 263.07, 258.62, 255.41, 256.34, 260.89, 271.91, 269.03, 266.21, 270.79, 269.23, 284.89, 293.11, 310.87, 292.05, 287.46, 285.83, 278.09, 279.47, 274.90, 273.61, 278.98, 275.83, 277.22, 276.05, 288.28, 288.70, 292.69, 293.62, 294.43.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-07-28]
Volume: 25453600, RSI (14-day): 64.69, 50-day EMA: 267.87, 200-day EMA: 259.88
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1096.30, Gold RSI: 28.33
Oil Price: 47.98, Oil RSI: 27.37
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitcoin Focused HashingSpace Corporation Announces New Ticker Symbol "HSHS", Files 8-K, and Completes Reverse Merger: US based HashingSpace Corporation ( HSHS ) is pleased to announce it has completed a reverse merger, and a ticker change from the old ticker MLSOD to HSHS. HashingSpace provides a wide range of services to the Bitcoin and blockchain communities including hosted ASIC mining and Bitcoin ATM's WENATCHEE, WA / ACCESSWIRE / July 27, 2015 / HashingSpace Corporation ( HSHS ), a Bitcoin ASIC mining and hosting company, announced today that it has completed a reverse merger transaction with Milestone International Corporation. HashingSpace completed its 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. HashingSpace will be traded on the OTC Markets with the symbol HSHS. The reverse merger was completed on July 10, 2015. HashingSpace Corporation merged with Milestone International Corporation as part of a reverse merger agreement for 120,000,000 shares of common stock, and 600,000 shares of Series A Preferred Stock. US based HashingSpace Corporation's new ticker symbol (HSHS) reflects the company's growth strategy and brings value to our shareholders. HashingSpace provides hosted Bitcoin ASIC mining, Bitcoin cloud mining solutions, and Bitcoin ATM's, among other essential services, to the Bitcoin ecosystem. "This transaction enables HashingSpace to fully capitalize on our fast growth as a Bitcoin and blockchain services and hosting operation. The merger we completed helps our company position itself as a leader in the Bitcoin/blockchain services revolution," shared Timothy Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of HashingSpace Corporation. "This is another major step in the implementation of our business plan to become a major provider of crypto currency and transactional verification mining solutions." "We are pleased to receive approval from FINRA on our name and ticker change. We believe this ticker symbol change will foster a stronger and more recognizable brand for the company. The new symbol more accurately reflects who we are as a company. These changes reflect our expectations for future growth of the company and our desire to provide our shareholders with maximum value. It also helps our investors to see our strategic focus and long-term goals to become an industry leader in the Bitcoin services industry. We will continue to offer new Bitcoin innovations as we further build our brand and robust suite of services." Story continues All company information, including stock trading, filings, and market data related to the company, will be reported under the new ticker symbol, HSHS. HashingSpace Corporation's business will provide a wide range of services to include: - HASHHOSTING: Servers fully managed and specifically set-up for ASIC MINING - CLOUDHASH: Cloud mining servers that can be rented with full hashing power - HASHMINING: Our own Mining Farm - HASHATM: Owner and operator of Bitcoin ATM machines - HASHWALLET: Bitcoin consumer wallet for bitcoin banking and transactions - HASHPOOL: Public Stratum and P2Pool (Web/IOS/Droid) - HASHTICKER: Free Ticker for tracking Bitcoin Value (Screen Saver/Web/IOS/Droid) - HASHVAR: A wholesaler of Bitcoin servers and Bitcoin ATM machines About HashingSpace Corporation HashingSpace Corporation is a Bitcoin ASIC mining company, hosting provider, and service provider of blockchain transactional services. HashingSpace's high density datacenters are designed to meet the demanding power and cooling needs of client hosted Bitcoin mining gear with unparalleled pricing, cooling and green energy. The Corporation is continuing to expand its datacenters to satisfy the shortage of low cost hosting facilities catering to the Bitcoin and blockchain mining and transactional verification services industry specifically. HashingSpace Corporation manages HashWallet, a Bitcoin wallet; HashPool, a Bitcoin mining pool; and HashATM, the owner and operator of Bitcoin ATM machines. The company is a wholesaler of Bitcoin mining servers and Bitcoin ATM machines. Bitcoin businesses interested in reselling HashingSpace products and services are invited to reach out to HashingSpace Corporation for more information. HashingSpace Corporation is headquartered in Wenatchee, Washington. For more information, visit www.hashingspace.com . Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements may not be currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase HashingSpace services should make their purchase decisions based upon features currently available. For more information please visit http://www.hashingspace.com or call 1-855-HASHING (427-4464). Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the Company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For more information please visit: http://www.hashingspace.com/ Company Contact: HashingSpace Corporation 5042 Wilshire Blvd. #26900 Los Angeles, CA, 90036 855 HASHING (427-4464) Investor Relations: Email: [email protected] SOURCE: HashingSpace Corporation || Bitcoin Focused HashingSpace Corporation Announces New Ticker Symbol "HSHS", Files 8-K, and Completes Reverse Merger: US based HashingSpace Corporation (HSHS) is pleased to announce it has completed a reverse merger, and a ticker change from the old ticker MLSOD to HSHS. HashingSpace provides a wide range of services to the Bitcoin and blockchain communities including hosted ASIC mining and Bitcoin ATM's
WENATCHEE, WA / ACCESSWIRE / July 27, 2015 /HashingSpace Corporation (HSHS), a Bitcoin ASIC mining and hosting company, announced today that it has completed a reverse merger transaction with Milestone International Corporation. HashingSpace completed its 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. HashingSpace will be traded on the OTC Markets with the symbol HSHS. The reverse merger was completed on July 10, 2015.
HashingSpace Corporation merged with Milestone International Corporation as part of a reverse merger agreement for 120,000,000 shares of common stock, and 600,000 shares of Series A Preferred Stock.
US based HashingSpace Corporation's new ticker symbol (HSHS) reflects the company's growth strategy and brings value to our shareholders. HashingSpace provides hosted Bitcoin ASIC mining, Bitcoin cloud mining solutions, and Bitcoin ATM's, among other essential services, to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
"This transaction enables HashingSpace to fully capitalize on our fast growth as a Bitcoin and blockchain services and hosting operation. The merger we completed helps our company position itself as a leader in the Bitcoin/blockchain services revolution," shared Timothy Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of HashingSpace Corporation. "This is another major step in the implementation of our business plan to become a major provider of crypto currency and transactional verification mining solutions."
"We are pleased to receive approval from FINRA on our name and ticker change. We believe this ticker symbol change will foster a stronger and more recognizable brand for the company. The new symbol more accurately reflects who we are as a company. These changes reflect our expectations for future growth of the company and our desire to provide our shareholders with maximum value. It also helps our investors to see our strategic focus and long-term goals to become an industry leader in the Bitcoin services industry. We will continue to offer new Bitcoin innovations as we further build our brand and robust suite of services."
All company information, including stock trading, filings, and market data related to the company, will be reported under the new ticker symbol, HSHS.
HashingSpace Corporation's business will provide a wide range of services to include:
- HASHHOSTING:Servers fully managed and specifically set-up for ASIC MINING- CLOUDHASH:Cloud mining servers that can be rented with full hashing power- HASHMINING:Our own Mining Farm- HASHATM:Owner and operator of Bitcoin ATM machines- HASHWALLET:Bitcoin consumer wallet for bitcoin banking and transactions- HASHPOOL:Public Stratum and P2Pool (Web/IOS/Droid)- HASHTICKER:Free Ticker for tracking Bitcoin Value (Screen Saver/Web/IOS/Droid)- HASHVAR:A wholesaler of Bitcoin servers and Bitcoin ATM machines
About HashingSpace Corporation
HashingSpace Corporation is a Bitcoin ASIC mining company, hosting provider, and service provider of blockchain transactional services. HashingSpace's high density datacenters are designed to meet the demanding power and cooling needs of client hosted Bitcoin mining gear with unparalleled pricing, cooling and green energy. The Corporation is continuing to expand its datacenters to satisfy the shortage of low cost hosting facilities catering to the Bitcoin and blockchain mining and transactional verification services industry specifically.
HashingSpace Corporation manages HashWallet, a Bitcoin wallet; HashPool, a Bitcoin mining pool; and HashATM, the owner and operator of Bitcoin ATM machines. The company is a wholesaler of Bitcoin mining servers and Bitcoin ATM machines. Bitcoin businesses interested in reselling HashingSpace products and services are invited to reach out to HashingSpace Corporation for more information.
HashingSpace Corporation is headquartered in Wenatchee, Washington. For more information, visitwww.hashingspace.com.
Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements may not be currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase HashingSpace services should make their purchase decisions based upon features currently available. For more information please visithttp://www.hashingspace.comor call 1-855-HASHING (427-4464).
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the Company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For more information please visit:http://www.hashingspace.com/
Company Contact:
HashingSpace Corporation5042 Wilshire Blvd. #26900Los Angeles, CA, 90036855 – HASHING (427-4464)
Investor Relations:
Email:[email protected]
SOURCE:HashingSpace Corporation || Bitcoin Focused HashingSpace Corporation Announces New Ticker Symbol "HSHS", Files 8-K, and Completes Reverse Merger: US based HashingSpace Corporation (HSHS) is pleased to announce it has completed a reverse merger, and a ticker change from the old ticker MLSOD to HSHS. HashingSpace provides a wide range of services to the Bitcoin and blockchain communities including hosted ASIC mining and Bitcoin ATM's
WENATCHEE, WA / ACCESSWIRE / July 27, 2015 /HashingSpace Corporation (HSHS), a Bitcoin ASIC mining and hosting company, announced today that it has completed a reverse merger transaction with Milestone International Corporation. HashingSpace completed its 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. HashingSpace will be traded on the OTC Markets with the symbol HSHS. The reverse merger was completed on July 10, 2015.
HashingSpace Corporation merged with Milestone International Corporation as part of a reverse merger agreement for 120,000,000 shares of common stock, and 600,000 shares of Series A Preferred Stock.
US based HashingSpace Corporation's new ticker symbol (HSHS) reflects the company's growth strategy and brings value to our shareholders. HashingSpace provides hosted Bitcoin ASIC mining, Bitcoin cloud mining solutions, and Bitcoin ATM's, among other essential services, to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
"This transaction enables HashingSpace to fully capitalize on our fast growth as a Bitcoin and blockchain services and hosting operation. The merger we completed helps our company position itself as a leader in the Bitcoin/blockchain services revolution," shared Timothy Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of HashingSpace Corporation. "This is another major step in the implementation of our business plan to become a major provider of crypto currency and transactional verification mining solutions."
"We are pleased to receive approval from FINRA on our name and ticker change. We believe this ticker symbol change will foster a stronger and more recognizable brand for the company. The new symbol more accurately reflects who we are as a company. These changes reflect our expectations for future growth of the company and our desire to provide our shareholders with maximum value. It also helps our investors to see our strategic focus and long-term goals to become an industry leader in the Bitcoin services industry. We will continue to offer new Bitcoin innovations as we further build our brand and robust suite of services."
All company information, including stock trading, filings, and market data related to the company, will be reported under the new ticker symbol, HSHS.
HashingSpace Corporation's business will provide a wide range of services to include:
- HASHHOSTING:Servers fully managed and specifically set-up for ASIC MINING- CLOUDHASH:Cloud mining servers that can be rented with full hashing power- HASHMINING:Our own Mining Farm- HASHATM:Owner and operator of Bitcoin ATM machines- HASHWALLET:Bitcoin consumer wallet for bitcoin banking and transactions- HASHPOOL:Public Stratum and P2Pool (Web/IOS/Droid)- HASHTICKER:Free Ticker for tracking Bitcoin Value (Screen Saver/Web/IOS/Droid)- HASHVAR:A wholesaler of Bitcoin servers and Bitcoin ATM machines
About HashingSpace Corporation
HashingSpace Corporation is a Bitcoin ASIC mining company, hosting provider, and service provider of blockchain transactional services. HashingSpace's high density datacenters are designed to meet the demanding power and cooling needs of client hosted Bitcoin mining gear with unparalleled pricing, cooling and green energy. The Corporation is continuing to expand its datacenters to satisfy the shortage of low cost hosting facilities catering to the Bitcoin and blockchain mining and transactional verification services industry specifically.
HashingSpace Corporation manages HashWallet, a Bitcoin wallet; HashPool, a Bitcoin mining pool; and HashATM, the owner and operator of Bitcoin ATM machines. The company is a wholesaler of Bitcoin mining servers and Bitcoin ATM machines. Bitcoin businesses interested in reselling HashingSpace products and services are invited to reach out to HashingSpace Corporation for more information.
HashingSpace Corporation is headquartered in Wenatchee, Washington. For more information, visitwww.hashingspace.com.
Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements may not be currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase HashingSpace services should make their purchase decisions based upon features currently available. For more information please visithttp://www.hashingspace.comor call 1-855-HASHING (427-4464).
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the Company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For more information please visit:http://www.hashingspace.com/
Company Contact:
HashingSpace Corporation5042 Wilshire Blvd. #26900Los Angeles, CA, 90036855 – HASHING (427-4464)
Investor Relations:
Email:[email protected]
SOURCE:HashingSpace Corporation || Your first trade for Monday: The "Fast Money" traders delivered final trades that were out of this world after NASA astronaut Scott Kelly asked for a stock tip from aboard the International Space Station.
Tim Seymour recommended playing the frontier markets by buying the iShares MSCI Frontier 100 ETF(NYSE Arca: FM).
David Seaburg's play was Starbucks(SBUX), alluding to the strength of brand loyalty and new products.
Brian Kelly suggested shorting the Market Vectors Russia ETF(NYSE Arca: RSX)as a heavenly oil play.
Guy Adami went intergalactic as a buyer of Constellation Brands(STZ).
Trader disclosure: On July 24, 2015 the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:Tim Seymour is long AAPL, T, BAC, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JPM, SUNE, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX, YHOO. Today he sold C. Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=; ITB, TAN, TLT, TSL, US dollar; he is short Oil, Ruble, Yuan and Yen. Today he shorted the Ruble. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. David Seaburg: No disclosures.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || Your first trade for Monday: The " Fast Money " traders delivered final trades that were out of this world after NASA astronaut Scott Kelly asked for a stock tip from aboard the International Space Station. Tim Seymour recommended playing the frontier markets by buying the iShares MSCI Frontier 100 ETF (NYSE Arca: FM) . David Seaburg's play was Starbucks ( SBUX ) , alluding to the strength of brand loyalty and new products. Brian Kelly suggested shorting the Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSE Arca: RSX) as a heavenly oil play. Guy Adami went intergalactic as a buyer of Constellation Brands ( STZ ) . Trader disclosure: On July 24, 2015 the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Tim Seymour is long AAPL, T, BAC, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JPM, SUNE, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX, YHOO. Today he sold C. Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=; ITB, TAN, TLT, TSL, US dollar; he is short Oil, Ruble, Yuan and Yen. Today he shorted the Ruble. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. David Seaburg: No disclosures. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Winklevoss twins file paperwork to operate Gemini bitcoin exchange: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss earlier this week filed paperwork to operate a bitcoin exchange called Gemini for both individual and institutional investors in New York state, a spokeswoman said on Friday. The twins, best known for accusing Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea, want to make the digital currency mainstream in the United States. Unlike conventional money, bitcoin is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of central control. Bitcoin is not backed by a government or central bank and its value fluctuates according to demand by users. The Winklevoss brothers filed an application on July 21 with the New York State Department of Financial Services to operate as a trust company. ItBit also filed a trust application in New York in February. In May, it became the first virtual currency company to receive a charter in the state. A trust company is a type of financial institution technically different from a bank, according to a blog by Houman Shadab, an expert on bitcoin regulations and a professor at the New York Law School. Under New York state's banking law, a trust company has all the powers of a bank to take deposits and make loans, alongside certain fiduciary powers such as acting as an agent for governmental bodies, he wrote. Examples of trust companies in New York include securities custodian the Depository Trust Company, the wealth and asset manager Northern Trust, and the Bank of New York Mellon. Last year Mt. Gox, a Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange, was forced to file for bankruptcy after hackers stole an estimated $650 million worth of customer bitcoins. Bitcoin's value has been highly volatile, having peaked at over $1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the Mt. Gox attack. One bitcoin is currently worth around $289 on the BitStamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || Winklevoss twins file paperwork to operate Gemini bitcoin exchange: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss earlier this week filed paperwork to operate a bitcoin exchange called Gemini for both individual and institutional investors in New York state, a spokeswoman said on Friday. The twins, best known for accusing Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea, want to make the digital currency mainstream in the United States. Unlike conventional money, bitcoin is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of central control. Bitcoin is not backed by a government or central bank and its value fluctuates according to demand by users. The Winklevoss brothers filed an application on July 21 with the New York State Department of Financial Services to operate as a trust company. ItBit also filed a trust application in New York in February. In May, it became the first virtual currency company to receive a charter in the state. A trust company is a type of financial institution technically different from a bank, according to a blog by Houman Shadab, an expert on bitcoin regulations and a professor at the New York Law School. Under New York state's banking law, a trust company has all the powers of a bank to take deposits and make loans, alongside certain fiduciary powers such as acting as an agent for governmental bodies, he wrote. Examples of trust companies in New York include securities custodian the Depository Trust Company, the wealth and asset manager Northern Trust, and the Bank of New York Mellon. Last year Mt. Gox, a Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange, was forced to file for bankruptcy after hackers stole an estimated $650 million worth of customer bitcoins. Bitcoin's value has been highly volatile, having peaked at over $1,200 in late 2013 before crashing after the Mt. Gox attack. One bitcoin is currently worth around $289 on the BitStamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) || MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI.QB) Announces Plans to Enter Multi-Billion Dollar Remittance Market Using Bitcoin to Effect Transfers: HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / July 24, 2015 / MarilynJean Media Interactive ( MJMI ) announced today its plans to enter the multi-billion dollar remittance market using Bitcoin to effect transfers. According to the World Bank, sending money internationally, or remittance transactions, were valued at over $580 Billion in 2014 and are expected to exceed $608 Billion in 2015. The World Bank estimates transaction fees to average 7.99% of money sent, making for a staggering $50 Billion in potential fees for participants in this year's remittance business. Most remittance transfers are from developed countries to developing ones, sent primarily by migrant workers. Currently, most transactions are done through brick and mortar institutions like Western Union (NYSE:WU) and Moneygram (NASDAQ:MGI). These type of companies make money by charging an often invisible fee on the currency exchange portion of the transaction and high transfer fees to send and receive the money. Within the existing financial system, Bitcoin's most disrupting feature is its decentralized architecture. A vaster international network of P2P computers provides multiple layers of verification for each transaction using cryptography. All transactions are registered in the publicly viewable blockchain so that users can’t transact with bitcoins they don’t own. This final level of security previously required a third party, typically a bank. In a Bitcoin remittance transaction, a user would purchase Bitcoins via a Bitcoin exchange then send the Bitcoins to a Bitcoin remittance company who would then send the money to the receiver. Each step would be completed electronically within minutes. The bitcoin network has the potential to effectively replace financial institutions and banks in the remittance market. Transfers are virtually in real time, often completing in less than 10 minutes, with ultra-low costs, typically limited to the fee for using a Bitcoin exchange, which averages 2%. In addition, Bitcoin remittance transactions can be easily completed using mobile devices which are now widely available in developing countries. Story continues Challenges for Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies in the remittance market include the differing ways such currencies are regulated internationally and the costs associated with compliance in multiple jurisdictions. As a fully reporting, publicly traded company, management believes both regulators and users will be comparatively more confident with MJMI's participation in any regulated markets. MJMI is currently exploring partnering with several existing Bitcoin exchanges as well as manufacturers and operators of Bitcoin ATMs. Such a combination would place the company in an exciting position to offer an end to end solution and potentially capture a share of this lucrative market just as it is poised to undergo a massive shift into the digital realm. Peter Janosi, MJMI's president said: "With legacy remittance companies and traditional banks continuing to charge high fees while hiding other fees via poor exchange rates, it's hard to see a future where they will continue to be relevant." About Bitcoin and Crypto-Currencies Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Bitcoin became the first decentralized crypto-currency in 2009. Crypto-currency is produced at a rate which is defined when the system is created and publicly known. By contrast, in centralized banking and economic systems, such as the Federal Reserve System, corporate boards or governments control the supply of currency by printing units or demanding additions to digital banking ledgers. However, neither companies nor governments can produce units of crypto-currency and as such the value of crypto-currencies are completely based on supply and demand, free from any governmental control. Many people believe crypto-currencies, and in particular bitcoin, hold the promise of being the most significant advancement in global finance in modern history. The advent of bitcoin creates a secure, easily accessible and transferable transnational currency that is completely liberated from political influence. Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, is quoted on his company's website as saying: "I have invested in Bitcoin because I believe in its potential, the capacity it has to transform global payments is very exciting." Heavyweight investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), announced on April 30th 2015 that it had partnered with Chinese investment firm IDG Capital partners to invest $50 million in a Bitcoin start-up. Numerous high-profile firms have begun accepting Bitcoin as a payment method including: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE), and Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK). MarilynJean Media Interactive is among the first publicly traded companies focussed on bitcoin and the crypto-currency space. The company's trading symbol is MJMI.QB. Website: www.marilynjeancom Press Contact: [email protected] SOURCE : MarilynJean Media Interactive || MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI.QB) Announces Plans to Enter Multi-Billion Dollar Remittance Market Using Bitcoin to Effect Transfers: HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / July 24, 2015 /MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI) announced today its plans to enter the multi-billion dollar remittance market using Bitcoin to effect transfers.
According to the World Bank, sending money internationally, or remittance transactions, were valued at over $580 Billion in 2014 and are expected to exceed $608 Billion in 2015. The World Bank estimates transaction fees to average 7.99% of money sent, making for a staggering $50 Billion in potential fees for participants in this year's remittance business.
Most remittance transfers are from developed countries to developing ones, sent primarily by migrant workers. Currently, most transactions are done through brick and mortar institutions like Western Union (NYSE:WU) and Moneygram (NASDAQ:MGI). These type of companies make money by charging an often invisible fee on the currency exchange portion of the transaction and high transfer fees to send and receive the money.
Within the existing financial system, Bitcoin's most disrupting feature is its decentralized architecture. A vaster international network of P2P computers provides multiple layers of verification for each transaction using cryptography. All transactions are registered in the publicly viewable blockchain so that users can’t transact with bitcoins they don’t own. This final level of security previously required a third party, typically a bank.
In a Bitcoin remittance transaction, a user would purchase Bitcoins via a Bitcoin exchange then send the Bitcoins to a Bitcoin remittance company who would then send the money to the receiver. Each step would be completed electronically within minutes.
The bitcoin network has the potential to effectively replace financial institutions and banks in the remittance market. Transfers are virtually in real time, often completing in less than 10 minutes, with ultra-low costs, typically limited to the fee for using a Bitcoin exchange, which averages 2%. In addition, Bitcoin remittance transactions can be easily completed using mobile devices which are now widely available in developing countries.
Challenges for Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies in the remittance market include the differing ways such currencies are regulated internationally and the costs associated with compliance in multiple jurisdictions. As a fully reporting, publicly traded company, management believes both regulators and users will be comparatively more confident with MJMI's participation in any regulated markets.
MJMI is currently exploring partnering with several existing Bitcoin exchanges as well as manufacturers and operators of Bitcoin ATMs. Such a combination would place the company in an exciting position to offer an end to end solution and potentially capture a share of this lucrative market just as it is poised to undergo a massive shift into the digital realm.
Peter Janosi, MJMI's president said: "With legacy remittance companies and traditional banks continuing to charge high fees while hiding other fees via poor exchange rates, it's hard to see a future where they will continue to be relevant."
About Bitcoin and Crypto-Currencies
Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Bitcoin became the first decentralized crypto-currency in 2009. Crypto-currency is produced at a rate which is defined when the system is created and publicly known. By contrast, in centralized banking and economic systems, such as the Federal Reserve System, corporate boards or governments control the supply of currency by printing units or demanding additions to digital banking ledgers. However, neither companies nor governments can produce units of crypto-currency and as such the value of crypto-currencies are completely based on supply and demand, free from any governmental control. Many people believe crypto-currencies, and in particular bitcoin, hold the promise of being the most significant advancement in global finance in modern history. The advent of bitcoin creates a secure, easily accessible and transferable transnational currency that is completely liberated from political influence.
Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, is quoted on his company's website as saying: "I have invested in Bitcoin because I believe in its potential, the capacity it has to transform global payments is very exciting."
Heavyweight investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), announced on April 30th 2015 that it had partnered with Chinese investment firm IDG Capital partners to invest $50 million in a Bitcoin start-up. Numerous high-profile firms have begun accepting Bitcoin as a payment method including: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE), and Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK).
MarilynJean Media Interactive is among the first publicly traded companies focussed on bitcoin and the crypto-currency space. The company's trading symbol is MJMI.QB.
Website:www.marilynjeancom
Press Contact:[email protected]
SOURCE: MarilynJean Media Interactive || MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI.QB) Announces Plans to Enter Multi-Billion Dollar Remittance Market Using Bitcoin to Effect Transfers: HENDERSON, NV / ACCESSWIRE / July 24, 2015 /MarilynJean Media Interactive (MJMI) announced today its plans to enter the multi-billion dollar remittance market using Bitcoin to effect transfers.
According to the World Bank, sending money internationally, or remittance transactions, were valued at over $580 Billion in 2014 and are expected to exceed $608 Billion in 2015. The World Bank estimates transaction fees to average 7.99% of money sent, making for a staggering $50 Billion in potential fees for participants in this year's remittance business.
Most remittance transfers are from developed countries to developing ones, sent primarily by migrant workers. Currently, most transactions are done through brick and mortar institutions like Western Union (NYSE:WU) and Moneygram (NASDAQ:MGI). These type of companies make money by charging an often invisible fee on the currency exchange portion of the transaction and high transfer fees to send and receive the money.
Within the existing financial system, Bitcoin's most disrupting feature is its decentralized architecture. A vaster international network of P2P computers provides multiple layers of verification for each transaction using cryptography. All transactions are registered in the publicly viewable blockchain so that users can’t transact with bitcoins they don’t own. This final level of security previously required a third party, typically a bank.
In a Bitcoin remittance transaction, a user would purchase Bitcoins via a Bitcoin exchange then send the Bitcoins to a Bitcoin remittance company who would then send the money to the receiver. Each step would be completed electronically within minutes.
The bitcoin network has the potential to effectively replace financial institutions and banks in the remittance market. Transfers are virtually in real time, often completing in less than 10 minutes, with ultra-low costs, typically limited to the fee for using a Bitcoin exchange, which averages 2%. In addition, Bitcoin remittance transactions can be easily completed using mobile devices which are now widely available in developing countries.
Challenges for Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies in the remittance market include the differing ways such currencies are regulated internationally and the costs associated with compliance in multiple jurisdictions. As a fully reporting, publicly traded company, management believes both regulators and users will be comparatively more confident with MJMI's participation in any regulated markets.
MJMI is currently exploring partnering with several existing Bitcoin exchanges as well as manufacturers and operators of Bitcoin ATMs. Such a combination would place the company in an exciting position to offer an end to end solution and potentially capture a share of this lucrative market just as it is poised to undergo a massive shift into the digital realm.
Peter Janosi, MJMI's president said: "With legacy remittance companies and traditional banks continuing to charge high fees while hiding other fees via poor exchange rates, it's hard to see a future where they will continue to be relevant."
About Bitcoin and Crypto-Currencies
Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Bitcoin became the first decentralized crypto-currency in 2009. Crypto-currency is produced at a rate which is defined when the system is created and publicly known. By contrast, in centralized banking and economic systems, such as the Federal Reserve System, corporate boards or governments control the supply of currency by printing units or demanding additions to digital banking ledgers. However, neither companies nor governments can produce units of crypto-currency and as such the value of crypto-currencies are completely based on supply and demand, free from any governmental control. Many people believe crypto-currencies, and in particular bitcoin, hold the promise of being the most significant advancement in global finance in modern history. The advent of bitcoin creates a secure, easily accessible and transferable transnational currency that is completely liberated from political influence.
Richard Branson, head of the Virgin Group, is quoted on his company's website as saying: "I have invested in Bitcoin because I believe in its potential, the capacity it has to transform global payments is very exciting."
Heavyweight investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), announced on April 30th 2015 that it had partnered with Chinese investment firm IDG Capital partners to invest $50 million in a Bitcoin start-up. Numerous high-profile firms have begun accepting Bitcoin as a payment method including: Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE), and Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK).
MarilynJean Media Interactive is among the first publicly traded companies focussed on bitcoin and the crypto-currency space. The company's trading symbol is MJMI.QB.
Website:www.marilynjeancom
Press Contact:[email protected]
SOURCE: MarilynJean Media Interactive || Bitcoin's 'war' could threaten its survival: Bitcoin , the digital currency technology with an ecosystem attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, is struggling through an existential crisis. And what may to outsiders seem like petty squabbling about a single number actually has major financial implications and could even threaten the very survival of the cryptocurrency. The argument-which is pitting Chinese constituencies against largely Western developers, the business community against the often ideological early adopters, and programmer against programmer-centers on a simple number in the global bitcoin system. But if the various parties can't come to an agreement, the whole network could splinter, wrecking its major selling points of security and decentralization. "There is literally a war going on right now in the bitcoin world," Marco Streng, CEO of Genesis Mining, told CNBC last month. There are two major questions facing the technology: Who is bitcoin for? And who gets to decide? Most of the early adopters saw appeal in bitcoin as a decentralized digital currency (: BTC=) -(to over-simplify the promise) a sort of virtual gold that could not be touched by governments, banks or corporations. But in seeking to create the perfect system for such a currency, bitcoin's early creators also created a technology that has wide-ranging applications. That technology is called the "blockchain" (CNBC has gone in depth into how it works) , and this is basically what it does: It can record any information in a secure way, and make that information both public and unchangeable-doing this without relying on any central authority. Banks, stock exchanges, payment companies and others have already begun exploring how this can be used in their own businesses. The issue at hand is about the structure of bitcoin's blockchain (which is composed of "blocks" of data with each block referring back to the preceding chunk of information-thereby creating a chain). The community is arguing about how big the maximum block size should be: The current max is one megabyte, which only allows for about seven transactions per second-far too few for most businesses currently investing in the technology. Story continues This speed is a "roadblock to bitcoin growth," Jeff Garzik, one of five bitcoin core developers who have taken over maintenance of the technology, wrote in a recent paper . (Visa, for comparison, says its network can handle more than 24,000 transactions per second.) Read More Why is it called the 'blockchain?' "Any responsible business projecting capacity usage into the future sees the system reaching an absolute maximum capacity, with this speed limit in place," he wrote. "Increasing or removing this limit will encourage businesses to view bitcoin as scalable and capable of supporting millions of new users." The block size limit may also negatively impact bitcoin's original currency use-case: As the number of transaction requests exceed the limit, the user experience degrades: The pools of "miners" who help inscribe data onto the global network will begin charging ever-higher fees for processing, eliminating some of the appeal over other payment methods. But there are reasons for limiting the size of a block. For one, it provides security for the system by constraining available space, and therefore making it costly to maliciously flood the network with spam. Miners are generally against increasing the size too much: They would have to do more work on each block, but they'd still reap the same benefit per block (while transaction fees remain negligibly low), said Pete Rizzo, the U.S. editor for cryptocurrency site CoinDesk. Also, some early adopters who plan to hold bitcoin for extended periods of time as an investment may prefer to keep the block size limit low-unbothered by transaction fees or business prospects, Garzik explained to CNBC. But even if more interests seem to point to increasing the block size, there's no agreement what size is ideal-balancing present-day security and future promise-or how a change should be made. Gavin Andresen, one of the most important developers of the technology, proposed increasing the max size to 20 megabytes. (He did not respond to request for comment.) A powerful constituency of Chinese miners-who also object to increasing the size of the block, saying their nation's Internet connection to the rest of the world would not allow it-made a counter proposal suggesting an eight-megabyte maximum. Andresen has since backed a version of this plan. Read More Why financial firms are investigating bitcoin tech For his part, Garzik proposed a sliding cap with a change to the bitcoin code allowing for periodic block increases (or even decreases) based on global miners' votes. Different sources told CNBC that the most important parts of the community were variously leaning toward Garzik's proposal, an 8-megabyte increase, or just a small "can-kicking" measure to wait for technologies that might allow them to bypass the question. But as a totally decentralized system, bitcoin has no clear way to weigh these disparate opinions and interests-in other words, no way to make a definitive decision. Garzik called the block size debate the first major alteration to bitcoin policy since it began in January 2009. When other changes have been made, the core software has been changed, and the players on the network have quickly updated (anyone who doesn't follow the current protocol gets booted from the network until they comply). But with a contentious issue like this, the developers risk splitting the network into those who want to follow one set of rules, and those who want another. If someone were to push out a global update without ensuring near-total consensus, a split could occur. Read More Bitcoin firm raises $116M, including Qualcomm investment "That would be the worst of all possible options," Garzik said. Bitcoin runs on a blockchain that is more secure and decentralized than any of its competitors because of its large user base and its comparatively lengthy history. If those users were to splinter, then the entire enterprise could be compromised. So what's at stake? Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in bitcoin and blockchain-related companies, and the current value of all the bitcoin in existence is currently about $4 billion . The risks of a network split are low but not negligible, experts told CNBC. "You're dealing with consensus among a community of people who aren't communicating very well-and haven't for some time," Rizzo said, explaining that making any change to the code risks breaking a technology that already works pretty well. "At what point does that risk become untenable? At this point it's still within the realm of 'danger Will Robinson'-level risk," he added. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Bitcoin's 'war' could threaten its survival: Bitcoin, the digital currency technology with an ecosystem attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, is struggling through an existential crisis.
And what may to outsiders seem like petty squabbling about a single number actually has major financial implications and could even threaten the very survival of the cryptocurrency.
The argument-which is pitting Chinese constituencies against largely Western developers, the business community against the often ideological early adopters, and programmer against programmer-centers on a simple number in the global bitcoin system. But if the various parties can't come to an agreement, the whole network could splinter, wrecking its major selling points of security and decentralization.
"There is literally a war going on right now in the bitcoin world," Marco Streng, CEO of Genesis Mining, told CNBC last month.
There are two major questions facing the technology: Who is bitcoin for? And who gets to decide?
Most of the early adopters saw appeal in bitcoin as a decentralized digital currency(: BTC=)-(to over-simplify the promise) a sort of virtual gold that could not be touched by governments, banks or corporations. But in seeking to create the perfect system for such a currency, bitcoin's early creators also created a technology that has wide-ranging applications.
That technology is called the "blockchain"(CNBC has gone in depth into how it works), and this is basically what it does: It can record any information in a secure way, and make that information both public and unchangeable-doing this without relying on any central authority. Banks, stock exchanges, payment companies and othershave already begun exploringhow this can be used in their own businesses.
The issue at hand is about the structure of bitcoin's blockchain (which is composed of "blocks" of data with each block referring back to the preceding chunk of information-thereby creating a chain). The community is arguing about how big the maximum block size should be: The current max is one megabyte, which only allows for about seven transactions per second-far too few for most businesses currently investing in the technology.
This speed is a "roadblock to bitcoin growth," Jeff Garzik, one of five bitcoin core developers who have taken over maintenance of the technology,wrote in a recent paper. (Visa, for comparison, says its network can handle more than 24,000 transactions per second.)
Read MoreWhy is it called the 'blockchain?'
"Any responsible business projecting capacity usage into the future sees the system reaching an absolute maximum capacity, with this speed limit in place," he wrote. "Increasing or removing this limit will encourage businesses to view bitcoin as scalable and capable of supporting millions of new users."
The block size limit may also negatively impact bitcoin's original currency use-case: As the number of transaction requests exceed the limit, the user experience degrades: The pools of "miners" who help inscribe data onto the global network will begin charging ever-higher fees for processing, eliminating some of the appeal over other payment methods.
But there are reasons for limiting the size of a block. For one, it provides security for the system by constraining available space, and therefore making it costly to maliciously flood the network with spam.
Miners are generally against increasing the size too much: They would have to do more work on each block, but they'd still reap the same benefit per block (while transaction fees remain negligibly low), said Pete Rizzo, the U.S. editor for cryptocurrency site CoinDesk.
Also, some early adopters who plan to hold bitcoin for extended periods of time as an investment may prefer to keep the block size limit low-unbothered by transaction fees or business prospects, Garzik explained to CNBC.
But even if more interests seem to point to increasing the block size, there's no agreement what size is ideal-balancing present-day security and future promise-or how a change should be made.
Gavin Andresen, one of the most important developers of the technology,proposedincreasing the max size to 20 megabytes. (He did not respond to request for comment.)
A powerful constituency of Chinese miners-who also object to increasing the size of the block, saying their nation's Internet connection to the rest of the world would not allow it-made a counter proposalsuggestingan eight-megabyte maximum. Andresen has since backed a version of this plan.
Read MoreWhy financial firms are investigating bitcoin tech
For his part, Garzik proposed a sliding cap with a change to the bitcoin code allowing for periodic block increases (or even decreases) based on global miners' votes.
Different sources told CNBC that the most important parts of the community were variously leaning toward Garzik's proposal, an 8-megabyte increase, or just a small "can-kicking" measure to wait for technologies that might allow them to bypass the question.
But as a totally decentralized system, bitcoin has no clear way to weigh these disparate opinions and interests-in other words, no way to make a definitive decision.
Garzik called the block size debate the first major alteration to bitcoin policy since it began in January 2009. When other changes have been made, the core software has been changed, and the players on the network have quickly updated (anyone who doesn't follow the current protocol gets booted from the network until they comply).
But with a contentious issue like this, the developers risk splitting the network into those who want to follow one set of rules, and those who want another. If someone were to push out a global update without ensuring near-total consensus, a split could occur.
Read MoreBitcoin firm raises $116M, including Qualcomm investment
"That would be the worst of all possible options," Garzik said.
Bitcoin runs on a blockchain that is more secure and decentralized than any of its competitors because of its large user base and its comparatively lengthy history. If those users were to splinter, then the entire enterprise could be compromised.
So what's at stake? Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in bitcoin and blockchain-related companies, and the current value of all the bitcoin in existence is currentlyabout $4 billion.
The risks of a network split are low but not negligible, experts told CNBC.
"You're dealing with consensus among a community of people who aren't communicating very well-and haven't for some time," Rizzo said, explaining that making any change to the code risks breaking a technology that already works pretty well.
"At what point does that risk become untenable? At this point it's still within the realm of 'danger Will Robinson'-level risk," he added.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || Bitcoin's 'war' could threaten its survival: Bitcoin, the digital currency technology with an ecosystem attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, is struggling through an existential crisis.
And what may to outsiders seem like petty squabbling about a single number actually has major financial implications and could even threaten the very survival of the cryptocurrency.
The argument-which is pitting Chinese constituencies against largely Western developers, the business community against the often ideological early adopters, and programmer against programmer-centers on a simple number in the global bitcoin system. But if the various parties can't come to an agreement, the whole network could splinter, wrecking its major selling points of security and decentralization.
"There is literally a war going on right now in the bitcoin world," Marco Streng, CEO of Genesis Mining, told CNBC last month.
There are two major questions facing the technology: Who is bitcoin for? And who gets to decide?
Most of the early adopters saw appeal in bitcoin as a decentralized digital currency(: BTC=)-(to over-simplify the promise) a sort of virtual gold that could not be touched by governments, banks or corporations. But in seeking to create the perfect system for such a currency, bitcoin's early creators also created a technology that has wide-ranging applications.
That technology is called the "blockchain"(CNBC has gone in depth into how it works), and this is basically what it does: It can record any information in a secure way, and make that information both public and unchangeable-doing this without relying on any central authority. Banks, stock exchanges, payment companies and othershave already begun exploringhow this can be used in their own businesses.
The issue at hand is about the structure of bitcoin's blockchain (which is composed of "blocks" of data with each block referring back to the preceding chunk of information-thereby creating a chain). The community is arguing about how big the maximum block size should be: The current max is one megabyte, which only allows for about seven transactions per second-far too few for most businesses currently investing in the technology.
This speed is a "roadblock to bitcoin growth," Jeff Garzik, one of five bitcoin core developers who have taken over maintenance of the technology,wrote in a recent paper. (Visa, for comparison, says its network can handle more than 24,000 transactions per second.)
Read MoreWhy is it called the 'blockchain?'
"Any responsible business projecting capacity usage into the future sees the system reaching an absolute maximum capacity, with this speed limit in place," he wrote. "Increasing or removing this limit will encourage businesses to view bitcoin as scalable and capable of supporting millions of new users."
The block size limit may also negatively impact bitcoin's original currency use-case: As the number of transaction requests exceed the limit, the user experience degrades: The pools of "miners" who help inscribe data onto the global network will begin charging ever-higher fees for processing, eliminating some of the appeal over other payment methods.
But there are reasons for limiting the size of a block. For one, it provides security for the system by constraining available space, and therefore making it costly to maliciously flood the network with spam.
Miners are generally against increasing the size too much: They would have to do more work on each block, but they'd still reap the same benefit per block (while transaction fees remain negligibly low), said Pete Rizzo, the U.S. editor for cryptocurrency site CoinDesk.
Also, some early adopters who plan to hold bitcoin for extended periods of time as an investment may prefer to keep the block size limit low-unbothered by transaction fees or business prospects, Garzik explained to CNBC.
But even if more interests seem to point to increasing the block size, there's no agreement what size is ideal-balancing present-day security and future promise-or how a change should be made.
Gavin Andresen, one of the most important developers of the technology,proposedincreasing the max size to 20 megabytes. (He did not respond to request for comment.)
A powerful constituency of Chinese miners-who also object to increasing the size of the block, saying their nation's Internet connection to the rest of the world would not allow it-made a counter proposalsuggestingan eight-megabyte maximum. Andresen has since backed a version of this plan.
Read MoreWhy financial firms are investigating bitcoin tech
For his part, Garzik proposed a sliding cap with a change to the bitcoin code allowing for periodic block increases (or even decreases) based on global miners' votes.
Different sources told CNBC that the most important parts of the community were variously leaning toward Garzik's proposal, an 8-megabyte increase, or just a small "can-kicking" measure to wait for technologies that might allow them to bypass the question.
But as a totally decentralized system, bitcoin has no clear way to weigh these disparate opinions and interests-in other words, no way to make a definitive decision.
Garzik called the block size debate the first major alteration to bitcoin policy since it began in January 2009. When other changes have been made, the core software has been changed, and the players on the network have quickly updated (anyone who doesn't follow the current protocol gets booted from the network until they comply).
But with a contentious issue like this, the developers risk splitting the network into those who want to follow one set of rules, and those who want another. If someone were to push out a global update without ensuring near-total consensus, a split could occur.
Read MoreBitcoin firm raises $116M, including Qualcomm investment
"That would be the worst of all possible options," Garzik said.
Bitcoin runs on a blockchain that is more secure and decentralized than any of its competitors because of its large user base and its comparatively lengthy history. If those users were to splinter, then the entire enterprise could be compromised.
So what's at stake? Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in bitcoin and blockchain-related companies, and the current value of all the bitcoin in existence is currentlyabout $4 billion.
The risks of a network split are low but not negligible, experts told CNBC.
"You're dealing with consensus among a community of people who aren't communicating very well-and haven't for some time," Rizzo said, explaining that making any change to the code risks breaking a technology that already works pretty well.
"At what point does that risk become untenable? At this point it's still within the realm of 'danger Will Robinson'-level risk," he added.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || The Future of Money; Bitcoin and Ether Shake It Up With Crypto-Currencies That Disrupt and Innovate: POINT ROBERTS, WA and NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - July 23, 2015) -Investorideas.com, a global news source covering leading sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology, release commentary about new crypto-currencies including Bitcoin and Ether. Experts from both sectors talk about the future of money as we know it and how to prepare for this new future.
Brad Moynes of Bit-X Financial(BITXF), Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale, ANX, Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)and Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project talk about disruption, opportunity and crypto-currencies.
Wedbush's recent bullish prediction of $400 Bitcoin prices has created buzz in the space and the industry is full of headlines -- with new entries from traditional financial institutions. Two pure public plays in the sector share insight from their perspectives and experience in Bitcoin.
Brad Moynes, CEO of Bit-X Financial(BITXF), recently launched a new Bitcoin exchange branded under the name Digatrade (https://digatrade.com/) and discussed how he sees Bitcoin as a disruptive currency with a long term future.
Brad's financial markets background that includes investment banking and corporate finance makes him pay attention to the recent entries into the Bitcoin market from key players on Wall Street, he told us. He sees regulation shaping the future of Bitcoin as it moves forward but his regulatory compliance background makes him comfortable with the process.
Digatrade (powered by ANX Technology) just launched at the end of June with Canadian currency and is working on multi-currency payment processing including USD, GBP & EUR next. It also recently announced it has enabled Canadian-based customer deposits via eCheck; "a significant milestone," Brad said, "Bitcoin is transforming the way consumers and businesses operate. Whether for cost-savings, speed, security or opening new market opportunities, visionary companies all over the world are turning to Bitcoin for their next phase of growth."
Brad also stated, "The evolution of finance is here for institutions. DigaTrade works with financial institutions across the world to enable them to harness the power of digital-currency. We provide a range of institutional storage and liquidity tools for accredited clients and provide access to advanced crypto-fiat transfer protocols and solutions."
He went on to say, "We believe we are creating an exchange that will give traders, businesses and institutions a world-class platform that is secure and user-friendly, creating an even playing field for anyone wanting to trade Bitcoin and participate in the future of money."
Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale ANX, a Hong Kong-based company that is one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platforms worldwide, said, "It should come as no surprise that the consistently intensifying attraction to Bitcoin in China is very real. Transaction volumes out of China have been leading the way from a global perspective even prior to us experiencing peak prices in December 2013 and today is no different. With market prices and general trading interest recently being revived, a drive towards steady trading activity has been viewed here in Asia, on and off exchange."
He also said, "This, of course, has much deeper implications than the daily price of Bitcoin. We are seeing a real interest from a payments and funds transfer perspective as well. The interest for sizeable foreign investment has long been a stumbling block for Chinese citizens and Bitcoin offers that potential gateway."
Investorideas.com also talked to Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)to explain to investors the direct relationship of the Bitcoin pricing to the estimated share price of the recent 'outperform rating' on the stock from Wedbush.
Terrence explained, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust was created to give investors the ability to gain exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin without the challenges of buying and storing Bitcoin on their own and providing this exposure through a traditional titled security. As such, the Net Asset Value of the Trust is a direct representation of the price of Bitcoin. Each share of The Bitcoin Investment Trust represents approximately 0.1 Bitcoin and the Trust's Net Asset Value is set each business day using a 24-hour volume weighted price of Bitcoin based on TradeBlock's XBX Index."
He went on to explain, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a passive investment vehicle that only adds Bitcoin based on new investments and does not engage in the forecasting of prices or rely on any external research."
He also said, "Traditional payment providers or processers are likely going to need to innovate by either incorporating Bitcoin or another form of digital payments to increase efficiency and reduce costs in order to survive. We believe that many of these firms are actively looking at Bitcoin as a potential solution."
In talking about the future he noted, "In the short-term, Bitcoin has the opportunity to disrupt and innovate the payment space, particularly in global remittances and micro-payments. The ease of transacting and reduced costs when using Bitcoin compared to alternatives makes it a compelling choice. Further, with the influx of interest and investment from Wall Street in Bitcoin and Bitcoin related start-ups, it has the opportunity to overhaul the existing financial system making for more efficient trading and settlement of assets."
Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project told Investorideas.com, "It exists as platform for managing the core 'business logic' of decentralised applications; the component typically managed by a server, databases and so forth for traditional, centralised applications. Through using blockchain technology, Ethereum provides unprecedented guarantees of security, auditability, availability and interoperability for all kinds of applications. To avoid potential 'spamming' problems, the Ethereum platform has an internal token ('Ether') allowing users of the platform to pay the validators ('miners') for their contribution in doing the computation and securing the network.
In some ways, Ether could be considered similar to the crypto-currency Bitcoin, however it differs in so much as Ether is not intended to be used as a general means of payment.
In simple terms, the notion of a decentralised web is a web without web servers. At present all web applications, such as eBay and Facebook, are 100% dependent on centralised servers, operated by specific for-profit corporations. Being centralised, they slurp up as much information on their users in an effort to boost their power and future profits.
Such corporations, we have painfully learnt, care very little about the privacy of their users or the integrity of their users' data. All too often important data (e.g. buying habits, payment information) is sold by, leaked by or stolen from the corporation. Punishment is rare and insignificant. Users are becoming increasingly savvy but as yet, few reasonable options exist for those displeased with the present state of affairs.
The decentralised web, or 'Web 3.0,' is a collection of technologies that utilise modern peer-based network designs to decentralise all aspects of data publication, application logic and signaling. Through protocols such as Whisper, Ethereum and Swarm we can start to imagine how rich web and mobile applications like eBay, Facebook, and Uber could be realized, without the need of centralised servers or an expensive intermediary. Users would share the maintenance of all infrastructure and consolidate the application logic such a reputation systems and payment mechanisms themselves. Well understood mathematical principles, similar to those on which Bitcoin is based, would guard users from disreputable operators or insecure payments.
A vastly simplified software infrastructure and smooth interoperation would allow services to be 'mashed-up' (combined) to unleash exciting potential business opportunities previously possible only through cumbersome cross-industry partnerships (e.g. imagine AirBnB with a simple checkbox for an Uber-based airport pickup). Through all of this, users would be safe in the knowledge that they share only as much data as is strictly required for the application to function; never giving away sensitive payment information and never having to trust one faceless organization over another. While this is an inconvenient truth now, it will become even more important as the data that our device manufacturers own begins to include information of a decidedly private and personal nature never before collected; how we sleep, how much we exercise, who we sleep with, our passing interests and so on.
Ethereum, or more accurately, the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland tasked with the initial development of the Ethereum Protocol and its subsequent advocacy and education, has developed the first piece of the puzzle. The efforts over the past 18-or-so months of myself, Vitalik and Jeff, together with our many developers and support staff, are nearly at a culmination with the release of the so-called 'Frontier' software, the first version of Ethereum capable of forming a secure network. However, decentralising the web is a lofty goal and is unlikely achievable by the foundation's efforts alone. I think it will take the cooperation of a number of projects such as IPFS, Telehash and well-aligned profit-orientated enterprises before we really begin to see the bigger picture. Once the foundation bows out from its tenure as a software developer, I fully expect to see many from the Ethereum Project move to develop within the ecosystem under a more entrepreneurial venture."
For investors considering investing in crypto-currency opportunities, be prepared for a fast and furious ride as the future of money races ahead of all us.
Bit-X Financial Corp.(BITXF)is a Vancouver, British Columbia based Company listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. The Company owns and operates a digital currency exchange and internet financial services company: DIGATRADE™. BITXF is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC."https://digatrade.com/
ANX - Your Crypto Connectionwww.anxbtc.com- Easy, Secure, and Affordablewww.anxpro.com- Altcoins, Algos, and Performance
About The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a private, open-ended trust that is invested exclusively in Bitcoin and derives its value solely from the price of Bitcoin. It enables investors to gain exposure to the price movement of Bitcoin without the challenge of buying, storing, and safekeeping Bitcoins. The BIT's sponsor is Grayscale Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group.
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BC Residents and Investor Disclaimer : Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info:http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894. Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. || The Future of Money; Bitcoin and Ether Shake It Up With Crypto-Currencies That Disrupt and Innovate: POINT ROBERTS, WA and NEW YORK, NY --(Marketwired - July 23, 2015) - Investorideas.com, a global news source covering leading sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology, release commentary about new crypto-currencies including Bitcoin and Ether. Experts from both sectors talk about the future of money as we know it and how to prepare for this new future. Brad Moynes of Bit-X Financial ( BITXF ) , Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale, ANX, Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ) and Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project talk about disruption, opportunity and crypto-currencies. Wedbush's recent bullish prediction of $400 Bitcoin prices has created buzz in the space and the industry is full of headlines -- with new entries from traditional financial institutions. Two pure public plays in the sector share insight from their perspectives and experience in Bitcoin. Brad Moynes, CEO of Bit-X Financial ( BITXF ) , recently launched a new Bitcoin exchange branded under the name Digatrade ( https://digatrade.com/ ) and discussed how he sees Bitcoin as a disruptive currency with a long term future. Brad's financial markets background that includes investment banking and corporate finance makes him pay attention to the recent entries into the Bitcoin market from key players on Wall Street, he told us. He sees regulation shaping the future of Bitcoin as it moves forward but his regulatory compliance background makes him comfortable with the process. Digatrade (powered by ANX Technology) just launched at the end of June with Canadian currency and is working on multi-currency payment processing including USD, GBP & EUR next. It also recently announced it has enabled Canadian-based customer deposits via eCheck; "a significant milestone," Brad said, "Bitcoin is transforming the way consumers and businesses operate. Whether for cost-savings, speed, security or opening new market opportunities, visionary companies all over the world are turning to Bitcoin for their next phase of growth." Story continues Brad also stated, "The evolution of finance is here for institutions. DigaTrade works with financial institutions across the world to enable them to harness the power of digital-currency. We provide a range of institutional storage and liquidity tools for accredited clients and provide access to advanced crypto-fiat transfer protocols and solutions." He went on to say, "We believe we are creating an exchange that will give traders, businesses and institutions a world-class platform that is secure and user-friendly, creating an even playing field for anyone wanting to trade Bitcoin and participate in the future of money." Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale ANX, a Hong Kong-based company that is one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platforms worldwide, said, "It should come as no surprise that the consistently intensifying attraction to Bitcoin in China is very real. Transaction volumes out of China have been leading the way from a global perspective even prior to us experiencing peak prices in December 2013 and today is no different. With market prices and general trading interest recently being revived, a drive towards steady trading activity has been viewed here in Asia, on and off exchange." He also said, "This, of course, has much deeper implications than the daily price of Bitcoin. We are seeing a real interest from a payments and funds transfer perspective as well. The interest for sizeable foreign investment has long been a stumbling block for Chinese citizens and Bitcoin offers that potential gateway." Investorideas.com also talked to Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ) to explain to investors the direct relationship of the Bitcoin pricing to the estimated share price of the recent 'outperform rating' on the stock from Wedbush. Terrence explained, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust was created to give investors the ability to gain exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin without the challenges of buying and storing Bitcoin on their own and providing this exposure through a traditional titled security. As such, the Net Asset Value of the Trust is a direct representation of the price of Bitcoin. Each share of The Bitcoin Investment Trust represents approximately 0.1 Bitcoin and the Trust's Net Asset Value is set each business day using a 24-hour volume weighted price of Bitcoin based on TradeBlock's XBX Index." He went on to explain, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a passive investment vehicle that only adds Bitcoin based on new investments and does not engage in the forecasting of prices or rely on any external research." He also said, "Traditional payment providers or processers are likely going to need to innovate by either incorporating Bitcoin or another form of digital payments to increase efficiency and reduce costs in order to survive. We believe that many of these firms are actively looking at Bitcoin as a potential solution." In talking about the future he noted, "In the short-term, Bitcoin has the opportunity to disrupt and innovate the payment space, particularly in global remittances and micro-payments. The ease of transacting and reduced costs when using Bitcoin compared to alternatives makes it a compelling choice. Further, with the influx of interest and investment from Wall Street in Bitcoin and Bitcoin related start-ups, it has the opportunity to overhaul the existing financial system making for more efficient trading and settlement of assets." Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project told Investorideas.com, "It exists as platform for managing the core 'business logic' of decentralised applications; the component typically managed by a server, databases and so forth for traditional, centralised applications. Through using blockchain technology, Ethereum provides unprecedented guarantees of security, auditability, availability and interoperability for all kinds of applications. To avoid potential 'spamming' problems, the Ethereum platform has an internal token ('Ether') allowing users of the platform to pay the validators ('miners') for their contribution in doing the computation and securing the network. In some ways, Ether could be considered similar to the crypto-currency Bitcoin, however it differs in so much as Ether is not intended to be used as a general means of payment. In simple terms, the notion of a decentralised web is a web without web servers. At present all web applications, such as eBay and Facebook, are 100% dependent on centralised servers, operated by specific for-profit corporations. Being centralised, they slurp up as much information on their users in an effort to boost their power and future profits. Such corporations, we have painfully learnt, care very little about the privacy of their users or the integrity of their users' data. All too often important data (e.g. buying habits, payment information) is sold by, leaked by or stolen from the corporation. Punishment is rare and insignificant. Users are becoming increasingly savvy but as yet, few reasonable options exist for those displeased with the present state of affairs. The decentralised web, or 'Web 3.0,' is a collection of technologies that utilise modern peer-based network designs to decentralise all aspects of data publication, application logic and signaling. Through protocols such as Whisper, Ethereum and Swarm we can start to imagine how rich web and mobile applications like eBay, Facebook, and Uber could be realized, without the need of centralised servers or an expensive intermediary. Users would share the maintenance of all infrastructure and consolidate the application logic such a reputation systems and payment mechanisms themselves. Well understood mathematical principles, similar to those on which Bitcoin is based, would guard users from disreputable operators or insecure payments. A vastly simplified software infrastructure and smooth interoperation would allow services to be 'mashed-up' (combined) to unleash exciting potential business opportunities previously possible only through cumbersome cross-industry partnerships (e.g. imagine AirBnB with a simple checkbox for an Uber-based airport pickup). Through all of this, users would be safe in the knowledge that they share only as much data as is strictly required for the application to function; never giving away sensitive payment information and never having to trust one faceless organization over another. While this is an inconvenient truth now, it will become even more important as the data that our device manufacturers own begins to include information of a decidedly private and personal nature never before collected; how we sleep, how much we exercise, who we sleep with, our passing interests and so on. Ethereum, or more accurately, the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland tasked with the initial development of the Ethereum Protocol and its subsequent advocacy and education, has developed the first piece of the puzzle. The efforts over the past 18-or-so months of myself, Vitalik and Jeff, together with our many developers and support staff, are nearly at a culmination with the release of the so-called 'Frontier' software, the first version of Ethereum capable of forming a secure network. However, decentralising the web is a lofty goal and is unlikely achievable by the foundation's efforts alone. I think it will take the cooperation of a number of projects such as IPFS, Telehash and well-aligned profit-orientated enterprises before we really begin to see the bigger picture. Once the foundation bows out from its tenure as a software developer, I fully expect to see many from the Ethereum Project move to develop within the ecosystem under a more entrepreneurial venture." For investors considering investing in crypto-currency opportunities, be prepared for a fast and furious ride as the future of money races ahead of all us. Bit-X Financial Corp. ( BITXF ) is a Vancouver, British Columbia based Company listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. The Company owns and operates a digital currency exchange and internet financial services company: DIGATRADE™. BITXF is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC." https://digatrade.com/ ANX - Your Crypto Connection www.anxbtc.com - Easy, Secure, and Affordable www.anxpro.com - Altcoins, Algos, and Performance About The Bitcoin Investment Trust ( GBTC ) The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a private, open-ended trust that is invested exclusively in Bitcoin and derives its value solely from the price of Bitcoin. It enables investors to gain exposure to the price movement of Bitcoin without the challenge of buying, storing, and safekeeping Bitcoins. The BIT's sponsor is Grayscale Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group. About Investorideas.com InvestorIdeas.com newswire is a global investor news source covering multiple sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology. Follow Investorideas.com on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/Investorideas Follow Investorideas.com on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Investorideas Sign up for free news alerts at Investorideas.com http://www.investorideas.com/Resources/Newsletter.asp Disclaimer/ Disclosure: The Investorideas.com newswire is a third party publisher of news and research as well as creates original content as a news source. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Investorideas is a news source on Google news syndication partners. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated by featured companies, news submissions, content marketing and online advertising. Contact each company directly for press release questions. Disclosure is posted on each release if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and is published for the sole interest of our readers. Disclosure: BITXF is a PR client of Investorideas.com and compensates us for news publication, PR and media. (two thousand five hundred per month and 144 shares) More info: http://www.investorideas.com/About/News/Clientspecifics.asp and http://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp BC Residents and Investor Disclaimer : Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info: http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894 . Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. || The Future of Money; Bitcoin and Ether Shake It Up With Crypto-Currencies That Disrupt and Innovate: POINT ROBERTS, WA and NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - July 23, 2015) -Investorideas.com, a global news source covering leading sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology, release commentary about new crypto-currencies including Bitcoin and Ether. Experts from both sectors talk about the future of money as we know it and how to prepare for this new future.
Brad Moynes of Bit-X Financial(BITXF), Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale, ANX, Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)and Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project talk about disruption, opportunity and crypto-currencies.
Wedbush's recent bullish prediction of $400 Bitcoin prices has created buzz in the space and the industry is full of headlines -- with new entries from traditional financial institutions. Two pure public plays in the sector share insight from their perspectives and experience in Bitcoin.
Brad Moynes, CEO of Bit-X Financial(BITXF), recently launched a new Bitcoin exchange branded under the name Digatrade (https://digatrade.com/) and discussed how he sees Bitcoin as a disruptive currency with a long term future.
Brad's financial markets background that includes investment banking and corporate finance makes him pay attention to the recent entries into the Bitcoin market from key players on Wall Street, he told us. He sees regulation shaping the future of Bitcoin as it moves forward but his regulatory compliance background makes him comfortable with the process.
Digatrade (powered by ANX Technology) just launched at the end of June with Canadian currency and is working on multi-currency payment processing including USD, GBP & EUR next. It also recently announced it has enabled Canadian-based customer deposits via eCheck; "a significant milestone," Brad said, "Bitcoin is transforming the way consumers and businesses operate. Whether for cost-savings, speed, security or opening new market opportunities, visionary companies all over the world are turning to Bitcoin for their next phase of growth."
Brad also stated, "The evolution of finance is here for institutions. DigaTrade works with financial institutions across the world to enable them to harness the power of digital-currency. We provide a range of institutional storage and liquidity tools for accredited clients and provide access to advanced crypto-fiat transfer protocols and solutions."
He went on to say, "We believe we are creating an exchange that will give traders, businesses and institutions a world-class platform that is secure and user-friendly, creating an even playing field for anyone wanting to trade Bitcoin and participate in the future of money."
Ryan Rabaglia, head of Wholesale ANX, a Hong Kong-based company that is one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platforms worldwide, said, "It should come as no surprise that the consistently intensifying attraction to Bitcoin in China is very real. Transaction volumes out of China have been leading the way from a global perspective even prior to us experiencing peak prices in December 2013 and today is no different. With market prices and general trading interest recently being revived, a drive towards steady trading activity has been viewed here in Asia, on and off exchange."
He also said, "This, of course, has much deeper implications than the daily price of Bitcoin. We are seeing a real interest from a payments and funds transfer perspective as well. The interest for sizeable foreign investment has long been a stumbling block for Chinese citizens and Bitcoin offers that potential gateway."
Investorideas.com also talked to Terrence Dempsey of The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)to explain to investors the direct relationship of the Bitcoin pricing to the estimated share price of the recent 'outperform rating' on the stock from Wedbush.
Terrence explained, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust was created to give investors the ability to gain exposure to the price movements of Bitcoin without the challenges of buying and storing Bitcoin on their own and providing this exposure through a traditional titled security. As such, the Net Asset Value of the Trust is a direct representation of the price of Bitcoin. Each share of The Bitcoin Investment Trust represents approximately 0.1 Bitcoin and the Trust's Net Asset Value is set each business day using a 24-hour volume weighted price of Bitcoin based on TradeBlock's XBX Index."
He went on to explain, "The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a passive investment vehicle that only adds Bitcoin based on new investments and does not engage in the forecasting of prices or rely on any external research."
He also said, "Traditional payment providers or processers are likely going to need to innovate by either incorporating Bitcoin or another form of digital payments to increase efficiency and reduce costs in order to survive. We believe that many of these firms are actively looking at Bitcoin as a potential solution."
In talking about the future he noted, "In the short-term, Bitcoin has the opportunity to disrupt and innovate the payment space, particularly in global remittances and micro-payments. The ease of transacting and reduced costs when using Bitcoin compared to alternatives makes it a compelling choice. Further, with the influx of interest and investment from Wall Street in Bitcoin and Bitcoin related start-ups, it has the opportunity to overhaul the existing financial system making for more efficient trading and settlement of assets."
Gavin Wood of The Ethereum Project told Investorideas.com, "It exists as platform for managing the core 'business logic' of decentralised applications; the component typically managed by a server, databases and so forth for traditional, centralised applications. Through using blockchain technology, Ethereum provides unprecedented guarantees of security, auditability, availability and interoperability for all kinds of applications. To avoid potential 'spamming' problems, the Ethereum platform has an internal token ('Ether') allowing users of the platform to pay the validators ('miners') for their contribution in doing the computation and securing the network.
In some ways, Ether could be considered similar to the crypto-currency Bitcoin, however it differs in so much as Ether is not intended to be used as a general means of payment.
In simple terms, the notion of a decentralised web is a web without web servers. At present all web applications, such as eBay and Facebook, are 100% dependent on centralised servers, operated by specific for-profit corporations. Being centralised, they slurp up as much information on their users in an effort to boost their power and future profits.
Such corporations, we have painfully learnt, care very little about the privacy of their users or the integrity of their users' data. All too often important data (e.g. buying habits, payment information) is sold by, leaked by or stolen from the corporation. Punishment is rare and insignificant. Users are becoming increasingly savvy but as yet, few reasonable options exist for those displeased with the present state of affairs.
The decentralised web, or 'Web 3.0,' is a collection of technologies that utilise modern peer-based network designs to decentralise all aspects of data publication, application logic and signaling. Through protocols such as Whisper, Ethereum and Swarm we can start to imagine how rich web and mobile applications like eBay, Facebook, and Uber could be realized, without the need of centralised servers or an expensive intermediary. Users would share the maintenance of all infrastructure and consolidate the application logic such a reputation systems and payment mechanisms themselves. Well understood mathematical principles, similar to those on which Bitcoin is based, would guard users from disreputable operators or insecure payments.
A vastly simplified software infrastructure and smooth interoperation would allow services to be 'mashed-up' (combined) to unleash exciting potential business opportunities previously possible only through cumbersome cross-industry partnerships (e.g. imagine AirBnB with a simple checkbox for an Uber-based airport pickup). Through all of this, users would be safe in the knowledge that they share only as much data as is strictly required for the application to function; never giving away sensitive payment information and never having to trust one faceless organization over another. While this is an inconvenient truth now, it will become even more important as the data that our device manufacturers own begins to include information of a decidedly private and personal nature never before collected; how we sleep, how much we exercise, who we sleep with, our passing interests and so on.
Ethereum, or more accurately, the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland tasked with the initial development of the Ethereum Protocol and its subsequent advocacy and education, has developed the first piece of the puzzle. The efforts over the past 18-or-so months of myself, Vitalik and Jeff, together with our many developers and support staff, are nearly at a culmination with the release of the so-called 'Frontier' software, the first version of Ethereum capable of forming a secure network. However, decentralising the web is a lofty goal and is unlikely achievable by the foundation's efforts alone. I think it will take the cooperation of a number of projects such as IPFS, Telehash and well-aligned profit-orientated enterprises before we really begin to see the bigger picture. Once the foundation bows out from its tenure as a software developer, I fully expect to see many from the Ethereum Project move to develop within the ecosystem under a more entrepreneurial venture."
For investors considering investing in crypto-currency opportunities, be prepared for a fast and furious ride as the future of money races ahead of all us.
Bit-X Financial Corp.(BITXF)is a Vancouver, British Columbia based Company listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. The Company owns and operates a digital currency exchange and internet financial services company: DIGATRADE™. BITXF is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC."https://digatrade.com/
ANX - Your Crypto Connectionwww.anxbtc.com- Easy, Secure, and Affordablewww.anxpro.com- Altcoins, Algos, and Performance
About The Bitcoin Investment Trust(GBTC)The Bitcoin Investment Trust is a private, open-ended trust that is invested exclusively in Bitcoin and derives its value solely from the price of Bitcoin. It enables investors to gain exposure to the price movement of Bitcoin without the challenge of buying, storing, and safekeeping Bitcoins. The BIT's sponsor is Grayscale Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group.
About Investorideas.comInvestorIdeas.com newswire is a global investor news source covering multiple sectors including Bitcoin and payment technology.
Follow Investorideas.com on Twitterhttp://twitter.com/#!/InvestorideasFollow Investorideas.com on Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/Investorideas
Sign up for free news alerts at Investorideas.comhttp://www.investorideas.com/Resources/Newsletter.asp
Disclaimer/ Disclosure: The Investorideas.com newswire is a third party publisher of news and research as well as creates original content as a news source. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Investorideas is a news source on Google news syndication partners. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated by featured companies, news submissions, content marketing and online advertising. Contact each company directly for press release questions. Disclosure is posted on each release if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and is published for the sole interest of our readers. Disclosure: BITXF is a PR client of Investorideas.com and compensates us for news publication, PR and media. (two thousand five hundred per month and 144 shares) More info:http://www.investorideas.com/About/News/Clientspecifics.aspandhttp://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp
BC Residents and Investor Disclaimer : Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info:http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894. Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. || Retirees Represent Major Marijuana Market: As marijuana legalization spreads across the U.S., the public perception of a marijuana user is slowly changing from a young, unambitious kid to an elderly person with a cup of tea.
That's right, marijuana use isbecoming more and more commonamong retirees who say the drug helps them deal with some of the ailments associated with growing older.
Forget Florida
Retirees have long flocked to states with sunshine and great healthcare in order to live out their golden years, but marijuana legalization is becoming a top priority for many seniors who use the drug to cope with things like chronic pain or insomnia. Oregon has seen an influx of new residents over the past year as its relaxed marijuana laws drew in people who want to get high without worrying about legal consequences.
Many dispensaries say at least 50 percent of their clientele is made up of elderly people suffering from varying illnesses and looking for relief.
Related Link:California Plans For Pot Expansion
Boomers
The aging population of baby boomers has also contributed to increased marijuana use among seniors. As that generation lived through the 1960's and 1970's when drug use was common among teenagers, the decision to use marijuana as a retiree is often more comfortable.
Pushing For Legalization
The growing popularity of medical marijuana among retirees has created a powerful voice in the campaign to legalize marijuana in the U.S. Groups like Grannies for Grass paint marijuana use as a safe, effective way for the elderly to manage their pain in lieu of traditional medicine.
Many believe that as more and more retirees adopt medical marijuana, states like Florida with large elderly populations will be pushed to legalize the drug.
See more from Benzinga
• Bitcoin Payments Decline Significantly At Expedia
• EU In Favor Of Iran Deal
• Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination?
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Retirees Represent Major Marijuana Market: As marijuana legalization spreads across the U.S., the public perception of a marijuana user is slowly changing from a young, unambitious kid to an elderly person with a cup of tea. That's right, marijuana use is becoming more and more common among retirees who say the drug helps them deal with some of the ailments associated with growing older. Forget Florida Retirees have long flocked to states with sunshine and great healthcare in order to live out their golden years, but marijuana legalization is becoming a top priority for many seniors who use the drug to cope with things like chronic pain or insomnia. Oregon has seen an influx of new residents over the past year as its relaxed marijuana laws drew in people who want to get high without worrying about legal consequences. Many dispensaries say at least 50 percent of their clientele is made up of elderly people suffering from varying illnesses and looking for relief. Related Link: California Plans For Pot Expansion Boomers The aging population of baby boomers has also contributed to increased marijuana use among seniors. As that generation lived through the 1960's and 1970's when drug use was common among teenagers, the decision to use marijuana as a retiree is often more comfortable. Pushing For Legalization The growing popularity of medical marijuana among retirees has created a powerful voice in the campaign to legalize marijuana in the U.S. Groups like Grannies for Grass paint marijuana use as a safe, effective way for the elderly to manage their pain in lieu of traditional medicine. Many believe that as more and more retirees adopt medical marijuana, states like Florida with large elderly populations will be pushed to legalize the drug. See more from Benzinga Bitcoin Payments Decline Significantly At Expedia EU In Favor Of Iran Deal Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination? © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Payments Decline Significantly At Expedia: Expedia Inc (NASDAQ: EXPE ) introduced bitcoin as a payment option about a year ago. The company hoped to reach new users and meet the growing demand for digital payments by adding a bitcoin option. However over the past 12 months, the travel website said it has seen a significant decline in the number of payments made using bitcoin, something which could be attributed to the cryptocurrency's marked decline. Loss Of Value Expedia's Senior Payments Product Manger Connie Chung told CoinDesk that bitcoin purchases on the site have declined by 40 percent over the past year. Chung said that drop makes sense when you look at how much value bitcoin has lost over the past 12 months. When bitcoin was added to Expedia's service in June last year, it was worth more than $600. Now, the currency is trading at just over $270 following a price rally earlier in the month. Related Link: Venture Capitalists Pouring Money Into Bitcoin Bitcoin To Stay Put While the decline in bitcoin payments suggests that consumers aren't as willing to use the cryptocurrency as merchants had predicted, Chung said Expedia plans to continue offering bitcoin as a payment choice for as long as there is some demand for it. She said the company's decision to incorporate bitcoin had little to do with the firm's stance on digital currencies and that it has simply been a way to meet customer needs. See more from Benzinga EU In Favor Of Iran Deal Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination? Deloitte Expresses Interest In Cryptocurrencies By Joining Australian Industry Group © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Payments Decline Significantly At Expedia: Expedia Inc(NASDAQ:EXPE) introduced bitcoin as a payment option about a year ago. The company hoped to reach new users and meet the growing demand for digital payments by adding a bitcoin option.
However over the past 12 months, the travel website said it has seen a significant decline in the number of payments made using bitcoin, something which could be attributed to the cryptocurrency's marked decline.
Loss Of Value
Expedia's Senior Payments Product Manger Connie Chung toldCoinDeskthat bitcoin purchases on the site have declined by 40 percent over the past year. Chung said that drop makes sense when you look at how much value bitcoin has lost over the past 12 months. When bitcoin was added to Expedia's service in June last year, it was worth more than $600. Now, the currency is trading at just over $270 following a price rally earlier in the month.
Related Link:Venture Capitalists Pouring Money Into Bitcoin
Bitcoin To Stay Put
While the decline in bitcoin payments suggests that consumers aren't as willing to use the cryptocurrency as merchants had predicted, Chung said Expedia plans to continue offering bitcoin as a payment choice for as long as there is some demand for it. She said the company's decision to incorporate bitcoin had little to do with the firm's stance on digital currencies and that it has simply been a way to meet customer needs.
See more from Benzinga
• EU In Favor Of Iran Deal
• Is Social Activism And Marketing A Good Combination?
• Deloitte Expresses Interest In Cryptocurrencies By Joining Australian Industry Group
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
[Social Media Buzz]
In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 22 exchange pair(s), yielding profits ranging between $0.00 and $2,395.56 #bitcoin #btc || In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 20 exchange pair(s), yielding profits ranging between $0.00 and $2,063.22 #bitcoin #btc || In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 19 exchange pair(s), yielding profits ranging between $0.00 and $2,123.79 #bitcoin #btc || In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 16 exchange pair(s), yieldi...
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289.59, 287.72, 284.65, 281.60, 282.61, 281.23, 285.22, 281.88, 278.58, 279.58
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 637.96, 630.52, 630.86, 632.83, 657.29, 657.07, 653.76, 657.59, 678.30, 688.31, 689.65, 714.48, 701.86, 700.97, 729.79, 740.83, 688.70, 703.23, 703.42, 711.52, 703.13, 709.85, 723.27, 715.53, 716.41, 705.05, 702.03, 705.02, 711.62, 744.20, 740.98, 751.59, 751.62, 731.03, 739.25, 751.35, 744.59, 740.29, 741.65, 735.38, 732.03, 735.81, 735.60, 745.69, 756.77, 777.94, 771.16, 773.87, 758.70, 764.22, 768.13, 770.81, 772.79, 774.65, 769.73, 780.09, 780.56, 781.48, 778.09, 784.91, 790.83, 790.53, 792.71, 800.88, 834.28, 864.54, 921.98, 898.82, 896.18, 907.61, 933.20, 975.92, 973.50, 961.24, 963.74, 998.33, 1021.75, 1043.84, 1154.73, 1013.38, 902.20, 908.59, 911.20, 902.83, 907.68, 777.76, 804.83, 823.98, 818.41, 821.80.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-01-15]
Volume: 71013600, RSI (14-day): 42.34, 50-day EMA: 852.86, 200-day EMA: 708.91
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Yuan Eyes on China 4Q GDP, Davos Forum: DailyFX.com - Yuan Eyes on China 4Q GDP, Davos Forum Fundamental Forecast for the Yuan: Neutral Yuan, FX Policy Force Major Bitcoin Volatility USD/CNH: Is a New Trend Setting In? Check out DailyFX analysts' top trading ideas for 2017 This week, the offshore Yuan remained stronger than the onshore Yuan and the PBOC’s guidance. On Friday, the USD/CNY closed at 6.8984, slightly weaker than the Yuan fix set on Friday of 6.8909; the USD/CNH traded at 6.8419 as of 3:30pm EST, 0.8% stronger than the onshore pair. Looking forward, the headline event on China’s economic calendar will be the 2016-4Q Gross Domestic Product (GDP) print that is scheduled to release at 21:00 EST on January 19th. China’s Deputy Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told a week ago that he is confident that the economy will maintain a 6.7% growth, as in the previous three quarters, or above this level. A consensus forecast from Bloomberg agreed with a 6.7% increase. The GDP print itself seems less likely to turn into a surprise on Thursday. More importantly, traders will want to take a close look at the breakdown of China’s major sectors, in the effort to find out more clues on the economic outlook in 2017. Also, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos next Tuesday, which is expected to attract global attention. China’s industrial sector has shown improvements in the third quarter with multiple enhanced indicators: Both the official PMI and Caixin PMI reads in the fourth quarter stayed above 50, in the expansion territory. In specific, the Caixin PMI in December 2016 hit 53.5, the highest level in 45 months. Electricity consumption by the industrial sector, a major component in Keqiang Index , grew from October to November (December read is not available yet). In terms of investment, total investment picked up from a 16-year low of 8.1% reached in July 2016 to 8.3% in both October and November. Also, companies began to increase borrowing according to the December New Yuan Loans report: newly issued corporate medium-term to long-term loans increased to $695.4 trillion, rising +71% month-over-month or +50% year-over-year; this indicates that companies may have started to expand their businesses. In 2017, the Chinese government will maintain proactive fiscal policy with increasing expenditures and tax cuts, which are expected to further support domestic industries. Story continues On the other hand, China has been facing growing challenges in international trade, including the weak global demand as well as rising trade disputes with major partners. In December 2016, China’s exports plunged -6.1% in Dollar terms, not only worse than a -3.8% forecast from Bloomberg but also marking the largest fall since 2009. Based on the breakdown of trading figures provided by China’s Customs, the growth of China’s exports to U.S. slowed down by -2.1% in December in Yuan terms and the growth of imports from U.S. slowed down by -13.5%. Trump’s pick on trade could put China on an even more difficult spot. This is one of the major risks that may impact the country’s growth. According to China Academy of Social Science, a leading Chinese think tank, the economic expansion is expected to drop to 6.5% in 2017 , which means it may provide limited support to the Chinese Yuan. Next week, Chinese President Xi will attend Davos’ Forum as the first Chinese president. When there is a major national event for China, Yuan volatility tends to drop, such as what was seen during the G20 meetings in China last September. Also, at the Davos’ meeting, President Xi may address major Chinese policies as well as comment on China’s global role, both worth keeping an eye on. Currently, the USD/CNH is waiting for justifications for a new trend ; China’s economic outlook and policy in 2017 may provide more clues. original source DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets. Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from IG . || Yuan Eyes on China 4Q GDP, Davos Forum: DailyFX.com -
Fundamental Forecast for the Yuan:Neutral
• Yuan, FX Policy Force Major Bitcoin Volatility
• USD/CNH: Is a New Trend Setting In?
• Check outDailyFX analysts' top trading ideas for 2017
This week, the offshore Yuan remained stronger than the onshore Yuan and the PBOC’s guidance. On Friday, the USD/CNY closed at 6.8984, slightly weaker than the Yuan fix set on Friday of 6.8909; the USD/CNH traded at 6.8419 as of 3:30pm EST, 0.8% stronger than the onshore pair.
Looking forward, the headline event on China’s economic calendar will be the 2016-4Q Gross Domestic Product (GDP) print that is scheduled to release at 21:00 EST on January 19th. China’s Deputy Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told a week ago that he is confident that the economy will maintain a 6.7% growth, as in the previous three quarters, or above this level. A consensus forecast from Bloomberg agreed with a 6.7% increase. The GDP print itself seems less likely to turn into a surprise on Thursday. More importantly, traders will want to take a close look at the breakdown of China’s major sectors, in the effort to find out more clues on the economic outlook in 2017. Also, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos next Tuesday, which is expected to attract global attention.
China’s industrial sector has shown improvements in the third quarter with multiple enhanced indicators: Both the official PMI and Caixin PMI reads in the fourth quarter stayed above 50, in the expansion territory. In specific, the Caixin PMI in December 2016 hit 53.5, the highest level in 45 months. Electricity consumption by the industrial sector,a major component in Keqiang Index, grew from October to November (December read is not available yet). In terms of investment, total investment picked up from a 16-year low of 8.1% reached in July 2016 to 8.3% in both October and November. Also, companies began to increase borrowing according to the December New Yuan Loans report: newly issued corporate medium-term to long-term loans increased to $695.4 trillion, rising +71% month-over-month or +50% year-over-year; this indicates that companies may have started to expand their businesses. In 2017, the Chinese government will maintain proactive fiscal policy with increasing expenditures and tax cuts, which are expected to further support domestic industries.
On the other hand, China has been facing growing challenges in international trade, including the weak global demand as well as rising trade disputes with major partners. In December 2016, China’s exports plunged -6.1% in Dollar terms, not only worse than a -3.8% forecast from Bloomberg but also marking the largest fall since 2009. Based on the breakdown of trading figures provided by China’s Customs, the growth of China’s exports to U.S. slowed down by -2.1% in December in Yuan terms and the growth of imports from U.S. slowed down by -13.5%. Trump’s pick on trade could put China on an even more difficult spot. This is one of the major risks that may impact the country’s growth. According to China Academy of Social Science, a leading Chinese think tank,the economic expansion is expected to drop to 6.5% in 2017, which means it may provide limited support to the Chinese Yuan.
Next week, Chinese President Xi will attend Davos’ Forum as the first Chinese president. When there is a major national event for China, Yuan volatility tends to drop, such as what was seen during the G20 meetings in China last September. Also, at the Davos’ meeting, President Xi may address major Chinese policies as well as comment on China’s global role, both worth keeping an eye on. Currently,the USD/CNH is waiting for justifications for a new trend; China’s economic outlook and policy in 2017 may provide more clues.
original source
DailyFXprovides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts fromIG. || Bitcoin is making a comeback: Overnight selling pushed bitcoin down by more than 6% to a low of $776.95, but buying on Friday has wiped away those losses. The cryptocurrency was up 2.06%, or $16.60, at $817.34 a coin as of 12:36 p.m. ET. The early selling still did not pass Thursday's low of $752.46, a sign that bitcoin could be putting in a near-term bottom. The cryptocurrency has had a wild start to the year, climbing by more than 20% in the first four trading days, reaching a 2017 high of $1,161.88 a coin, before tumbling by more than 35% as China began investigating bitcoin exchanges in Beijing and Shanghai on suspicion of market manipulation, money laundering, unauthorized financing, and other issues. Bitcoin (Investing.com) NOW WATCH: Watch Yellen explain why the Federal Reserve decided to raise rates More From Business Insider Bitcoin is charging higher Why you should take advantage of this widely ignored part of Amazon to save money Bitcoin is getting demolished || Bitcoin is making a comeback: Overnight selling pushed bitcoin down by more than 6% to a low of $776.95, but buying on Friday has wiped away those losses. The cryptocurrency was up 2.06%, or $16.60, at $817.34 a coin as of 12:36 p.m. ET.
The early selling still did not pass Thursday's low of $752.46, a sign that bitcoin could be putting in a near-term bottom. The cryptocurrency has had a wild start to the year, climbing by more than 20% in the first four trading days, reaching a 2017 high of $1,161.88 a coin, before tumbling by more than 35% as China beganinvestigating bitcoin exchangesin Beijing and Shanghai on suspicion of market manipulation, money laundering, unauthorized financing, and other issues.
(Investing.com)
NOW WATCH:Watch Yellen explain why the Federal Reserve decided to raise rates
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• Bitcoin is charging higher
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• Bitcoin is getting demolished || Bitcoin is making a comeback: Overnight selling pushed bitcoin down by more than 6% to a low of $776.95, but buying on Friday has wiped away those losses. The cryptocurrency was up 2.06%, or $16.60, at $817.34 a coin as of 12:36 p.m. ET.
The early selling still did not pass Thursday's low of $752.46, a sign that bitcoin could be putting in a near-term bottom. The cryptocurrency has had a wild start to the year, climbing by more than 20% in the first four trading days, reaching a 2017 high of $1,161.88 a coin, before tumbling by more than 35% as China beganinvestigating bitcoin exchangesin Beijing and Shanghai on suspicion of market manipulation, money laundering, unauthorized financing, and other issues.
(Investing.com)
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• Bitcoin is charging higher
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• Bitcoin is getting demolished || China's media is about to go to 'war' Russia style: (Reuters)
China is consolidating its overseas news network, CCTV, and giving it a makeover,according to the Associated Press.The network will be called CGTN.
At the same time, Xinhua, China's official state news network, will consolidate a bunch of outlets under a new umbrella to focus itsfinancial-reportingefforts. China Securities Journal, Shanghai Securities News, Economic Information Daily and Xinhua Publishing House will all now be housed underChina Fortune Media Corporation Group.
Xinhua says this is an effort to deepen "the central authority's reforms of the cultural system" and "increasing mainstream media's influence in the area of financial information."
This move shows China following the example of Russia's state-backed international network, RT. China wants more control over its story — specifically the story of its economy — being told around the world, in similar fashion to how RT acts to spread Russia's viewpoint across the globe.
Chinese media has always been tightly controlled by the state, but under Xi Jinping that has taken on a whole new meaning. Around this last time last year, Xiwas visiting newsroomsensuring that journalists and executives had sworn their loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party.
"All news media run by the Party must work to speak for the Party's will and its propositions and protect the Party's authority and unity," Xi was quoted as saying. Xi has called for this ideological uniformity when it comes to all kinds of thought from education at all levels to Chinese think tanks.
CCTV has been around since 1958 and has been available globally and available in English, Arabic, French, Spanish, and Russian for years, and it has a bureau in DC.
In 2011, I toured their DC facilities as part of a Columbia Journalism project researching global media networks — Iran's Press TV, France's France 24, Qatar's Al Jazeera, Russia's Russia Today (RT), and China's CCTV. The Columbia group found CCTV's content mostly boring but inoffensive: Officials doing ribbon-cutting ceremonies at new infrastructure projects and Chinese cultural content.
Of course until 2008 RT operated in much the same way. It was meant to be a friendly introduction to Russia. After President George W. Bush became vocal about his opposition to Russia's incursion into neighboring former Soviet state Georgia, however, things changed. RT's directive then morphed into challenging the US as a superpower and questioning the legitimacy of its government.
In an interview withGermany's Der Spiegel in 2013,RT'sEditor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, said that during the Georgia conflict Western media "acted as if they were Georgia's ministry of defense."
A year later she referred to what her network does as fighting in"a media war."
With China's focus on the financial world, it appears its aims will not be exactly like Russia's: China could be seeking to spread its economic message, while RT tends more toward the geopolitical. The Chinese economy is under strain thanks to years of exploding debt (now approaching 280% of GDP) and currency leaving the country at an eye-popping rate ($82 billion in December). This move will shore up China's economic messaging not just at home but also abroad.
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• Bitcoin is still dropping || China's media is about to go to 'war' Russia style: xi jinping screen (Reuters) China is consolidating its overseas news network, CCTV, and giving it a makeover, according to the Associated Press. The network will be called CGTN. At the same time, Xinhua, China's official state news network, will consolidate a bunch of outlets under a new umbrella to focus its financial-reporting efforts. China Securities Journal, Shanghai Securities News, Economic Information Daily and Xinhua Publishing House will all now be housed under China Fortune Media Corporation Group. Xinhua says this is an effort to deepen "the central authority's reforms of the cultural system" and "increasing mainstream media's influence in the area of financial information." This move shows China following the example of Russia's state-backed international network, RT. China wants more control over its story specifically the story of its economy being told around the world, in similar fashion to how RT acts to spread Russia's viewpoint across the globe. Chinese media has always been tightly controlled by the state, but under Xi Jinping that has taken on a whole new meaning. Around this last time last year, Xi was visiting newsrooms ensuring that journalists and executives had sworn their loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. "All news media run by the Party must work to speak for the Party's will and its propositions and protect the Party's authority and unity," Xi was quoted as saying. Xi has called for this ideological uniformity when it comes to all kinds of thought from education at all levels to Chinese think tanks. CCTV has been around since 1958 and has been available globally and available in English, Arabic, French, Spanish, and Russian for years, and it has a bureau in DC. In 2011, I toured their DC facilities as part of a Columbia Journalism project researching global media networks Iran's Press TV, France's France 24, Qatar's Al Jazeera, Russia's Russia Today (RT), and China's CCTV. T he Columbia group found CCTV's content mostly boring but inoffensive: Officials doing ribbon-cutting ceremonies at new infrastructure projects and Chinese cultural content. Story continues Of course until 2008 RT operated in much the same way. It was meant to be a friendly introduction to Russia. After President George W. Bush became vocal about his opposition to Russia's incursion into neighboring former Soviet state Georgia, however, things changed. RT's directive then morphed into challenging the US as a superpower and questioning the legitimacy of its government. In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel in 2013, RT's Editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, said that during the Georgia conflict Western media " acted as if they were Georgia's ministry of defense." A year later she referred to what her network does as fighting in "a media war." With China's focus on the financial world, it appears its aims will not be exactly like Russia's: China could be seeking to spread its economic message, while RT tends more toward the geopolitical. The Chinese economy is under strain thanks to years of exploding debt (now approaching 280% of GDP) and currency leaving the country at an eye-popping rate ($82 billion in December). This move will shore up China's economic messaging not just at home but also abroad. NOW WATCH: Here's the massive gap in average income between the top 1% and the bottom 99% in every state More From Business Insider Bitcoin plunged again Lincoln is outperforming the luxury auto market Bitcoin is still dropping || COLUMN-Trump border tax to pile on China capital flight pressure: James Saft: (The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters) By James Saft Jan 12 (Reuters) - The 'border tax' Donald Trump and Republicans are considering will spur capital flight from China, with potentially large repercussions. House Republicans back a plan for a border tax adjustment, discussed at 20 percent, which would impose a levy on imports while granting rebates to exports. While the Republican and Trump plans call for a border tax on all imports as a means to favor domestic production, Trump has also used the term to describe a punitive tax he threatens to levy directly on imports of companies which move production abroad. As ever with Trump, it is highly unclear what he intends or will attempt. Trump has in the past floated the idea of a 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports to the U.S., a higher rate than is being discussed for the border tax adjustment. For China, and for financial markets, this is going to cause trouble, and not just because it would make Chinese and other foreign imports to the U.S. less competitive. A border tax implies a strengthening of the dollar, prompting former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers to warn this week of a "spike" in the greenback. All else being equal, which it seldom is, a 20 percent border tax should prompt a similarly large appreciation in the dollar. That won't likely happen, in part because other countries will pile in with their own border taxes or other measures, but the dollar would get a sizable boost. That poses a complex set of problems for China. Global dollar borrowing conditions would become more expensive and, importantly, pressure would intensify on the yuan to weaken in response. "The threat to Chinese stability at a time when it is already having trouble trying to limit capital flight from a new disruption of trade is a legitimate concern," David Levy of the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center said in an interview. "This is not a great time from a Chinese point of view or global stability point of view to have anything that is disruptive to the flow of trade." Story continues One fear is that Chinese yuan owners, anticipating a dollar spike, will try to front-run the effects on the yuan, seeking to move money into other currencies or stores of value, either by following Chinese rules or by skirting them. The yuan, which trades in a band set by China, fell by 6.6 percent against the dollar in 2016 in a self-reinforcing downdraft. CAPITAL FLOATS, USUALLY To be sure, China is not the nation most vulnerable to dollar strength. That honor belongs to emerging market countries which run a current account deficit and must attract dollars for financing. Yet two years of strong capital outflows have depleted China's once, and arguably still, massive foreign currency reserves. China's reserves fell by about $320 billion to $3.011 trillion in 2016, less than the $513 billion decline of 2015 but also despite wide-ranging efforts by China to make capital flight more difficult. Seeking to circumvent capital controls, owners of yuan in China have turned to cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which more than doubled in value between September and Jan. 4. "Spot checks" on Bitcoin exchanges in China by state authorities this week sent Bitcoin down by 12 percent. At any rate, money is eager to leave by any route possible. China still has huge FX reserves, but an IMF adequacy framework implies it needs to keep about $2.7 trillion on hand. At last year's depletion rate we will soon be there, and if a border tax accelerates matters the issue could soon become urgent. Asset management behemoth PIMCO said on Thursday China might float its currency in 2017. Yu Yongding, an influential former advisor to the People's Bank of China, said on Thursday the central bank should set a "bottom line" depreciation level for the yuan in 2017 of 25 percent. Floating the yuan would certainly be a taste of his own medicine for Trump, who has threatened to brand the country a currency manipulator. It would also, however, potentially cause a very strong outflow of capital. Foreign exchange reserves would be preserved but capital flight could become a problem, and a limit on other policies. China is notable in that, with a semi-closed economy and great central control, it has been able to stimulate its way out of various upsets during and after the financial crisis. China may find it has less room to maneuver if capital is leaving, or if the yuan depreciates greatly, with or without a float. Remember too, all of this would be happening in and to China while most of the other emerging markets go through a crisis of similar origin. Regardless of its impact on U.S. exports, a border tax could easily cause massive turbulence in global markets. (Editing by James Dalgleish) || COLUMN-Trump border tax to pile on China capital flight pressure: James Saft: (The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters)
By James Saft
Jan 12 (Reuters) - The 'border tax' Donald Trump and Republicans are considering will spur capital flight from China, with potentially large repercussions.
House Republicans back a plan for a border tax adjustment, discussed at 20 percent, which would impose a levy on imports while granting rebates to exports.
While the Republican and Trump plans call for a border tax on all imports as a means to favor domestic production, Trump has also used the term to describe a punitive tax he threatens to levy directly on imports of companies which move production abroad. As ever with Trump, it is highly unclear what he intends or will attempt.
Trump has in the past floated the idea of a 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports to the U.S., a higher rate than is being discussed for the border tax adjustment.
For China, and for financial markets, this is going to cause trouble, and not just because it would make Chinese and other foreign imports to the U.S. less competitive.
A border tax implies a strengthening of the dollar, prompting former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers to warn this week of a "spike" in the greenback. All else being equal, which it seldom is, a 20 percent border tax should prompt a similarly large appreciation in the dollar. That won't likely happen, in part because other countries will pile in with their own border taxes or other measures, but the dollar would get a sizable boost.
That poses a complex set of problems for China. Global dollar borrowing conditions would become more expensive and, importantly, pressure would intensify on the yuan to weaken in response.
"The threat to Chinese stability at a time when it is already having trouble trying to limit capital flight from a new disruption of trade is a legitimate concern," David Levy of the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center said in an interview.
"This is not a great time from a Chinese point of view or global stability point of view to have anything that is disruptive to the flow of trade."
One fear is that Chinese yuan owners, anticipating a dollar spike, will try to front-run the effects on the yuan, seeking to move money into other currencies or stores of value, either by following Chinese rules or by skirting them.
The yuan, which trades in a band set by China, fell by 6.6 percent against the dollar in 2016 in a self-reinforcing downdraft.
CAPITAL FLOATS, USUALLY
To be sure, China is not the nation most vulnerable to dollar strength. That honor belongs to emerging market countries which run a current account deficit and must attract dollars for financing.
Yet two years of strong capital outflows have depleted China's once, and arguably still, massive foreign currency reserves. China's reserves fell by about $320 billion to $3.011 trillion in 2016, less than the $513 billion decline of 2015 but also despite wide-ranging efforts by China to make capital flight more difficult. Seeking to circumvent capital controls, owners of yuan in China have turned to cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which more than doubled in value between September and Jan. 4. "Spot checks" on Bitcoin exchanges in China by state authorities this week sent Bitcoin down by 12 percent. At any rate, money is eager to leave by any route possible.
China still has huge FX reserves, but an IMF adequacy framework implies it needs to keep about $2.7 trillion on hand. At last year's depletion rate we will soon be there, and if a border tax accelerates matters the issue could soon become urgent.
Asset management behemoth PIMCO said on Thursday China might float its currency in 2017. Yu Yongding, an influential former advisor to the People's Bank of China, said on Thursday the central bank should set a "bottom line" depreciation level for the yuan in 2017 of 25 percent.
Floating the yuan would certainly be a taste of his own medicine for Trump, who has threatened to brand the country a currency manipulator. It would also, however, potentially cause a very strong outflow of capital. Foreign exchange reserves would be preserved but capital flight could become a problem, and a limit on other policies.
China is notable in that, with a semi-closed economy and great central control, it has been able to stimulate its way out of various upsets during and after the financial crisis. China may find it has less room to maneuver if capital is leaving, or if the yuan depreciates greatly, with or without a float.
Remember too, all of this would be happening in and to China while most of the other emerging markets go through a crisis of similar origin.
Regardless of its impact on U.S. exports, a border tax could easily cause massive turbulence in global markets.
(Editing by James Dalgleish) || Why China’s central bank fears bitcoin: It was only one week ago that the price of the digital currency bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $1,130. Now the price has fallen precipitously, and was hovering around $800 on Thursday afternoon. The reason is China. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said on Wednesday that it plans regular on-site inspections of the leading Chinese bitcoin exchanges, including BTCChina, Huobi, and OKCoin. This came after PBOC officers in Beijing visited the offices of Huobi and OKCoin, and PBOC officers in Shanghai visited the offices of BTCC, for checkups that, “focused on whether the firm was operating out of its business scope, whether it was launching unauthorized financing, payment, forex business or other related businesses, whether it was involved in market manipulation, anti-money laundering or (carried) fund security risks,” as Reuters translated the PBOC statement. The price of bitcoin fell sharply on the news. Bitcoin price so far in 2017. (via Coindesk) Five days earlier, the PBOC issued press releases, in Beijing and Shanghai, that contained a more general warning about bitcoin. The releases recirculated a government statement from back in 2013 stating that the Chinese government does not recognize bitcoin as a currency, and that it carries investment risk. The price of bitcoin fell 12% in the aftermath, but then recovered. It was climbing back when the PBOC announced its inspections on January 11, sending the price down again, as much as 15% at one point. The PBOC did not say bitcoin is illegal, or expressly tell Chinese citizens they cannot buy bitcoin. But clearly, China’s central bank is stepping up its public war on bitcoin. Why? Bitcoin is frequently thought to be an uncorrelated asset to the broader global market—that is, its trading price is not tied to stocks. (In that way it has been compared to gold .) Speculators see bitcoin as a “safe haven” investment for two scenarios: tightened capital controls, and general market uncertainty. At the moment, investors in China see both of those happening: The PBOC cracked down with stricter capital controls in 2016, and the price of the yuan has fallen 5% against the dollar over the past 12 months. Story continues Chinese authorities have taken note of the move toward bitcoin, and they are trying to throw cold water on the coin in order to tamp down capital outflows and help the yuan. Will it work? It clearly affected prices, but bitcoin has regular price hikes and falls, and it has fallen much farther than this before—usually after a reported hack of a major bitcoin exchange, like the bitcoin “flash crash” in 2013 after the fall of Mt. Gox. The price already appeared to be climbing back on Thursday, after hitting a low around $760. And the price is still up 87% in the past 12 months, and 246% in the past two years. The latest two actions by the PBOC aren’t the damaging blow that some news outlets are making them out to be. The first was simply a warning that bitcoin is volatile. That’s true (though it has been less volatile over the past two years), as one of the targeted exchanges, BTCC, acknowledged in a muted public response to the PBOC release: “The press release put forth from the PBOC today outlines that there is significant volatility in bitcoin trading… bitcoin is a virtual good and doesn’t have legal tender status.” The second was just an indication China will watch bitcoin companies more closely. In fact, BTCC CEO Bobby Lee t old Coindesk , “We’re now working closely with the government about what makes a healthy market… We’ve been trying to get their attention for years.” Make no mistake: China is the most important market for bitcoin prices. During the price ride at the end of 2016 and in the first week of 2017, more than 90% of trading volume was coming from China. Positive sentiment toward bitcoin among Chinese investors is crucial to a high bitcoin price. And while China’s central bank succeeded this week in bringing bitcoin back down to earth, it is very unlikely that Chinese bitcoin buyers have been turned off for good. Here’s what to expect next, although it could take a few years: the Chinese government will likely begin regulating the major bitcoin companies there, and making them go through licensing hurdles. That may turn out to be good for the price. That’s what happened in the U.S. in 2013, when the government began to regulate and license bitcoin companies as “money transmitters”: the price rallied thanks to regulatory clarity. “If the end result is there’s actually kind of some legitimacy around regulation of this in China, then I actually think the market rallies,” says Jeremy Allaire, CEO of the peer-to-peer payments company Circle . “It will be very interesting to see if the outcome of the People’s Bank of China examining [bitcoin exchanges] leads to new guidance, new rules. Even if there’s enforcement actions, the result and output might actually be more legitimacy.” — Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering technology and sports business. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite . Read more: Bitcoin is becoming the new gold Expect more blockchain hype in 2017 Here’s where big banks stand on blockchain Why 21.co is the most exciting bitcoin company right now Coinbase is more bullish on bitcoin than ever || Why China’s central bank fears bitcoin: It was only one week ago that the price of the digital currency bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $1,130. Now the price has fallen precipitously, and was hovering around $800 on Thursday afternoon. The reason is China. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said on Wednesday that it plans regular on-site inspections of the leading Chinese bitcoin exchanges, including BTCChina, Huobi, and OKCoin. This came after PBOC officers in Beijing visited the offices of Huobi and OKCoin, and PBOC officers in Shanghai visited the offices of BTCC, for checkups that, “focused on whether the firm was operating out of its business scope, whether it was launching unauthorized financing, payment, forex business or other related businesses, whether it was involved in market manipulation, anti-money laundering or (carried) fund security risks,” as Reuters translated the PBOC statement. The price of bitcoin fell sharply on the news. Bitcoin price so far in 2017. (via Coindesk) Five days earlier, the PBOC issued press releases, in Beijing and Shanghai, that contained a more general warning about bitcoin. The releases recirculated a government statement from back in 2013 stating that the Chinese government does not recognize bitcoin as a currency, and that it carries investment risk. The price of bitcoin fell 12% in the aftermath, but then recovered. It was climbing back when the PBOC announced its inspections on January 11, sending the price down again, as much as 15% at one point. The PBOC did not say bitcoin is illegal, or expressly tell Chinese citizens they cannot buy bitcoin. But clearly, China’s central bank is stepping up its public war on bitcoin. Why? Bitcoin is frequently thought to be an uncorrelated asset to the broader global market—that is, its trading price is not tied to stocks. (In that way it has been compared to gold .) Speculators see bitcoin as a “safe haven” investment for two scenarios: tightened capital controls, and general market uncertainty. At the moment, investors in China see both of those happening: The PBOC cracked down with stricter capital controls in 2016, and the price of the yuan has fallen 5% against the dollar over the past 12 months. Story continues Chinese authorities have taken note of the move toward bitcoin, and they are trying to throw cold water on the coin in order to tamp down capital outflows and help the yuan. Will it work? It clearly affected prices, but bitcoin has regular price hikes and falls, and it has fallen much farther than this before—usually after a reported hack of a major bitcoin exchange, like the bitcoin “flash crash” in 2013 after the fall of Mt. Gox. The price already appeared to be climbing back on Thursday, after hitting a low around $760. And the price is still up 87% in the past 12 months, and 246% in the past two years. The latest two actions by the PBOC aren’t the damaging blow that some news outlets are making them out to be. The first was simply a warning that bitcoin is volatile. That’s true (though it has been less volatile over the past two years), as one of the targeted exchanges, BTCC, acknowledged in a muted public response to the PBOC release: “The press release put forth from the PBOC today outlines that there is significant volatility in bitcoin trading… bitcoin is a virtual good and doesn’t have legal tender status.” The second was just an indication China will watch bitcoin companies more closely. In fact, BTCC CEO Bobby Lee t old Coindesk , “We’re now working closely with the government about what makes a healthy market… We’ve been trying to get their attention for years.” Make no mistake: China is the most important market for bitcoin prices. During the price ride at the end of 2016 and in the first week of 2017, more than 90% of trading volume was coming from China. Positive sentiment toward bitcoin among Chinese investors is crucial to a high bitcoin price. And while China’s central bank succeeded this week in bringing bitcoin back down to earth, it is very unlikely that Chinese bitcoin buyers have been turned off for good. Here’s what to expect next, although it could take a few years: the Chinese government will likely begin regulating the major bitcoin companies there, and making them go through licensing hurdles. That may turn out to be good for the price. That’s what happened in the U.S. in 2013, when the government began to regulate and license bitcoin companies as “money transmitters”: the price rallied thanks to regulatory clarity. “If the end result is there’s actually kind of some legitimacy around regulation of this in China, then I actually think the market rallies,” says Jeremy Allaire, CEO of the peer-to-peer payments company Circle . “It will be very interesting to see if the outcome of the People’s Bank of China examining [bitcoin exchanges] leads to new guidance, new rules. Even if there’s enforcement actions, the result and output might actually be more legitimacy.” — Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering technology and sports business. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite . Read more: Bitcoin is becoming the new gold Expect more blockchain hype in 2017 Here’s where big banks stand on blockchain Why 21.co is the most exciting bitcoin company right now Coinbase is more bullish on bitcoin than ever || First Bitcoin Capital Adds Innovative Automated Check Cashing ATM Solution for Cannabis Dispensaries’ Clientele: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 12, 2017 / FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP. (OTC PINK: BITCF), a leading bitcoin and cryptocurrency developer, specializing in both blockchain and online merchant payment solutions for medical marijuana dispensaries and other high-risk merchant accounts and services, today announced the signing of an Exclusive Master Distributor Agreement to distribute a new type of fully automated check cashing ATM designed for use in medical cannabis dispensaries for the State of California. BITCF will add this check cashing ATM service to complete a full suite of financial services for the medical marijuana industry: merchant processing and POS solutions through its alliance network, a fully compliant, user friendly solution to accept Credit and Debit Cards through traditional Merchant Card Processing networks. The check cashing ATMs marketing efforts will be focused toward larger established medical marijuana dispensaries. Fees for the check cashing services will be competitive. Dispensary customers using the service will be able to cash all types of checks: government issued checks, payroll checks and other types. Cannabis dispensaries service all kinds of customers. Many of those are unbanked and may need to cash checks before purchasing. Offering check cashing services on premises to this group of customers will be a very attractive way to increase revenues, as dispensary owners are looking for new ways to draw more customers because of check cashing convenience. According to FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) recent 2015 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, indicates that more than 7 percent of households in the United States were unbanked in 2015. This proportion represents approximately 9.0 million households. An additional 19.9 percent of U.S. households (24.5 million) were underbanked, meaning that the household had a checking or savings account but also obtained financial products and services outside of the banking system. By offering check cashing, our ATM Division expects that dispensaries will increase their customer base by 18%. Story continues BITCF uses sophisticated fully automated risk analysis algorithms and underwriting procedures, resulting in 100% guarantee to the dispensary owners. Summary of benefits of our services for the cannabis dispensaries and their customers: Any types of checks can be cashed, including Payroll checks, Insurance checks, Personal checks, business checks, money orders, government issued checks and the funds can be credited to the Dispensaries bank account instead of their client pulling out and paying in cash. Regulatory Compliance: The check cashing ATM will be installed pre-programmed to comply with all state, local federal regulations in California. First Bitcoin is also developing a system that will enable dispensaries to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of legal payment. Stater of California has already enacted legislation that makes Bitcoin and similar digital currencies legal tender. BITCF has developed specific programs to meet the unique needs of the medical cannabis industry. Offering merchant services at competitive rates for businesses operating legally under state law of California and Oregon, the company can now provide financial services not typically available from conventional banks. While legalization of marijuana in many forms – and in many states – garnered over $5 billion dollars in 2016, the sums are expected to grow for 2017. More innovative and unique products are being created, and the stigma that once surrounded cannabis is slowly fading. These changes are helping the medical cannabis industry to prosper now that federal policies allow dispensaries to sell, grow, or possess cannabis while compliant with state laws. BITCF will only provide these services where federal policies allow our business model to proceed for dispensaries that are fully compliant with state and country laws, rules and regulations. Should your dispensary be interested in these services please contact us by email: [email protected] About the company: First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, financial processing services and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company owns and operates the following digital assets. www.CoinQX.com cryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN. www.iCoiNEWS.com real time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site. www.BITminer.cc providing mining pool management services. www.2016coin.org online daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins. www.bitcannpay.com Financial and merchant services for medical cannabis dispensaries. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com. Contact us via: [email protected] or visit http://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com SOURCE: First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Adds Innovative Automated Check Cashing ATM Solution for Cannabis Dispensaries’ Clientele: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 12, 2017 /FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP. (OTC PINK: BITCF), a leading bitcoin and cryptocurrency developer, specializing in both blockchain and online merchant payment solutions for medical marijuana dispensaries and other high-risk merchant accounts and services, today announced the signing of an Exclusive Master Distributor Agreement to distribute a new type of fully automated check cashing ATM designed for use in medical cannabis dispensaries for the State of California. BITCF will add this check cashing ATM service to complete a full suite of financial services for the medical marijuana industry: merchant processing and POS solutions through its alliance network, a fully compliant, user friendly solution to accept Credit and Debit Cards through traditional Merchant Card Processing networks. The check cashing ATMs marketing efforts will be focused toward larger established medical marijuana dispensaries.
Fees for the check cashing services will be competitive. Dispensary customers using the service will be able to cash all types of checks: government issued checks, payroll checks and other types. Cannabis dispensaries service all kinds of customers. Many of those are unbanked and may need to cash checks before purchasing. Offering check cashing services on premises to this group of customers will be a very attractive way to increase revenues, as dispensary owners are looking for new ways to draw more customers because of check cashing convenience.
According to FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) recent 2015 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, indicates that more than 7 percent of households in the United States were unbanked in 2015. This proportion represents approximately 9.0 million households. An additional 19.9 percent of U.S. households (24.5 million) were underbanked, meaning that the household had a checking or savings account but also obtained financial products and services outside of the banking system. By offering check cashing, our ATM Division expects that dispensaries will increase their customer base by 18%.
BITCF uses sophisticated fully automated risk analysis algorithms and underwriting procedures, resulting in 100% guarantee to the dispensary owners.
Summary of benefits of our services for the cannabis dispensaries and their customers:
Any types of checks can be cashed, including Payroll checks, Insurance checks, Personal checks, business checks, money orders, government issued checks and the funds can be credited to the Dispensaries bank account instead of their client pulling out and paying in cash.
Regulatory Compliance: The check cashing ATM will be installed pre-programmed to comply with all state, local federal regulations in California.
First Bitcoin is also developing a system that will enable dispensaries to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of legal payment. Stater of California has already enacted legislation that makes Bitcoin and similar digital currencies legal tender.
BITCF has developed specific programs to meet the unique needs of the medical cannabis industry. Offering merchant services at competitive rates for businesses operating legally under state law of California and Oregon, the company can now provide financial services not typically available from conventional banks.
While legalization of marijuana in many forms – and in many states – garnered over $5 billion dollars in 2016, the sums are expected to grow for 2017. More innovative and unique products are being created, and the stigma that once surrounded cannabis is slowly fading. These changes are helping the medical cannabis industry to prosper now that federal policies allow dispensaries to sell, grow, or possess cannabis while compliant with state laws. BITCF will only provide these services where federal policies allow our business model to proceed for dispensaries that are fully compliant with state and country laws, rules and regulations.
Should your dispensary be interested in these services please contact us by email:[email protected]
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, financial processing services and the digital currency exchange-www.CoinQX.com.We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company owns and operates the following digital assets.
www.CoinQX.comcryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins.
www.bitcannpay.comFinancial and merchant services for medical cannabis dispensaries.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Adds Innovative Automated Check Cashing ATM Solution for Cannabis Dispensaries’ Clientele: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 12, 2017 /FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP. (OTC PINK: BITCF), a leading bitcoin and cryptocurrency developer, specializing in both blockchain and online merchant payment solutions for medical marijuana dispensaries and other high-risk merchant accounts and services, today announced the signing of an Exclusive Master Distributor Agreement to distribute a new type of fully automated check cashing ATM designed for use in medical cannabis dispensaries for the State of California. BITCF will add this check cashing ATM service to complete a full suite of financial services for the medical marijuana industry: merchant processing and POS solutions through its alliance network, a fully compliant, user friendly solution to accept Credit and Debit Cards through traditional Merchant Card Processing networks. The check cashing ATMs marketing efforts will be focused toward larger established medical marijuana dispensaries.
Fees for the check cashing services will be competitive. Dispensary customers using the service will be able to cash all types of checks: government issued checks, payroll checks and other types. Cannabis dispensaries service all kinds of customers. Many of those are unbanked and may need to cash checks before purchasing. Offering check cashing services on premises to this group of customers will be a very attractive way to increase revenues, as dispensary owners are looking for new ways to draw more customers because of check cashing convenience.
According to FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) recent 2015 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, indicates that more than 7 percent of households in the United States were unbanked in 2015. This proportion represents approximately 9.0 million households. An additional 19.9 percent of U.S. households (24.5 million) were underbanked, meaning that the household had a checking or savings account but also obtained financial products and services outside of the banking system. By offering check cashing, our ATM Division expects that dispensaries will increase their customer base by 18%.
BITCF uses sophisticated fully automated risk analysis algorithms and underwriting procedures, resulting in 100% guarantee to the dispensary owners.
Summary of benefits of our services for the cannabis dispensaries and their customers:
Any types of checks can be cashed, including Payroll checks, Insurance checks, Personal checks, business checks, money orders, government issued checks and the funds can be credited to the Dispensaries bank account instead of their client pulling out and paying in cash.
Regulatory Compliance: The check cashing ATM will be installed pre-programmed to comply with all state, local federal regulations in California.
First Bitcoin is also developing a system that will enable dispensaries to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of legal payment. Stater of California has already enacted legislation that makes Bitcoin and similar digital currencies legal tender.
BITCF has developed specific programs to meet the unique needs of the medical cannabis industry. Offering merchant services at competitive rates for businesses operating legally under state law of California and Oregon, the company can now provide financial services not typically available from conventional banks.
While legalization of marijuana in many forms – and in many states – garnered over $5 billion dollars in 2016, the sums are expected to grow for 2017. More innovative and unique products are being created, and the stigma that once surrounded cannabis is slowly fading. These changes are helping the medical cannabis industry to prosper now that federal policies allow dispensaries to sell, grow, or possess cannabis while compliant with state laws. BITCF will only provide these services where federal policies allow our business model to proceed for dispensaries that are fully compliant with state and country laws, rules and regulations.
Should your dispensary be interested in these services please contact us by email:[email protected]
About the company:
First Bitcoin Capital is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, financial processing services and the digital currency exchange-www.CoinQX.com.We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company owns and operates the following digital assets.
www.CoinQX.comcryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins.
www.bitcannpay.comFinancial and merchant services for medical cannabis dispensaries.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || Why Small Businesses Should Consider Bitcoin: In 2015 bitcoin finally made its mark: More than 100,000 businesses , including industry giants like Microsoft, Overstock.com and Dell, accepted it. But, what exactly is this mysterious "cryptocurrency" everyone has been talking about for years? And, is it time your small business accepted it, too? Related: 5 Ways to Participate in the Bitcoin Revolution Here's what you need to know about what bitcoin is, its advantages and potential drawbacks. What is bitcoin? Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency or an entirely digital form of money, invented in 2009. While that might not sound interesting, what sets bitcoin apart is that it's purely person-to-person , with virtually no banks, financial institutions or government bodies standing in the way between you and your money. Bitcoin relies on a technology system called blockchain that keeps your bitcoin wallet safe and secure from fraud. The currency's digital format also makes for faster, cheaper, easier exchanges of cash, from which many small businesses may benefit. Overall, Bitcoin's assets stem from its decentralization. Blockchain, the technology bitcoin was built on, allows you to not have to rely on a bank to process your financial transactions. Here are other reasons to consider bitcoin: 1. No fees If your 2 to 3 percent merchant transaction fees are a drain on your cash flow, then bitcoin has you covered. Bitcoin transactions typically cost between 1 percent and zero. That's no typo. You can send or accept bitcoins as payments with no fees attached. Since bitcoin doesn't require a bank to verify each transaction, you don't have to sacrifice your own revenue to the financial institutions that own your business loans or credit cards . However, you'll often have the option to pay an extremely small transaction fee, which can speed up your processing. 2. No wait Maybe those fees aren't bothering you, but waiting around for your money to arrive in your bank account does. Because there's no centralized institution that checks every bitcoin transaction -- its underlying technology, blockchain, does it for you -- there's no need to wait nearly as long to receive your payment. Bitcoin transactions are processed quickly, usually in a fraction of the time credit card transactions do. Story continues You can charge a customer, go for a walk around the block and receive your money. Bitcoin is that fast . 3. No borders If you export your goods and services or purchase supplies or materials from abroad, then bitcoin is a great solution for dealing with foreign transaction fees, exchange rates or currencies. Why? Because bitcoin is a global currency, not tied to a single government or company , it ignores border restrictions. As long as your customers or suppliers accept bitcoin, you're good to go. 4. No payment disputes Even though bitcoin is digital, it works more like cash than credit. Bitcoin transactions are final and can't be contested by a customer on the basis that he or she, for example, didn't enjoy the service you provided. If you have trouble with customers disputing their credit card payments, then accepting bitcoin could help. 5. An investment opportunity Like other currencies, bitcoin fluctuates in value. However, it's generally less stable than the payments in cash, gold or other commodities you're used to. Related: The Strange Positive Effect Political Uncertainly Has on Bitcoin While this fluctuation can be a drawback to accepting bitcoin, as we'll discuss below, it can also have a large upside. You can look at bitcoin as an investment: By accepting bitcoins, then waiting to cash them in, you're taking a chance on their value increasing. Bitcoin makes investing in a currency seem much less absurd or boring. From 2011 to 2013, the value of a single bitcoin rose from $2 to $1,242. Although it has since fallen back to around $800 today, there's still much potential for growth. Challenges of accepting bitcoin It's always important to be aware of the potential dangers, as well. Here are the three largest obstacles to running a business with bitcoin. 1. It's unregulated. Although its decentralization is a plus, bitcoin's lack of government support may scare some away. The U.S. government recognizes bitcoin as a valid commodity and possibly even a positive influence on financial regulation, but some other countries have restricted or banned the use of bitcoin. 2. It's unstable. Although bitcoin has become increasingly more stable over time, even recently beating out gold , it's still fundamentally a currency that isn't overseen by a single financial institution. If the economy requires it, the Federal Reserve can raise or lower interest rates, but no such option exists with bitcoin. Some observers point to this "unstable" quality as a good thing, since the bitcoin market has no interference, but it could also make things difficult for your small business if that market suffers. You'll want to figure out your aversion to risk before investing big in bitcoin. 3. It's tough to plan for. With a decentralized, volatile, purely digital currency, it can be difficult to plan financial statements, figure out taxes and determine your prices . How can you make projections that account for large fluctuations or changing government regulations? This is not an easy task, although it is do-able. You'll definitely need to speak with your bookkeeper and accountant before accepting bitcoin at your small business. Related: Bitcoin Is Money, U.S. Judge Says in Case Tied to JPMorgan Hack Overall, there's a lot that bitcoin can help your small business with, but also plenty of question marks involved in accepting the currency. If you're considering accepting bitcoin, sit down and determine why it can help your business and how you will deal with the challenges it may bring. || Why Small Businesses Should Consider Bitcoin: In 2015 bitcoin finally made its mark: More than 100,000 businesses , including industry giants like Microsoft, Overstock.com and Dell, accepted it. But, what exactly is this mysterious "cryptocurrency" everyone has been talking about for years? And, is it time your small business accepted it, too? Related: 5 Ways to Participate in the Bitcoin Revolution Here's what you need to know about what bitcoin is, its advantages and potential drawbacks. What is bitcoin? Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency or an entirely digital form of money, invented in 2009. While that might not sound interesting, what sets bitcoin apart is that it's purely person-to-person , with virtually no banks, financial institutions or government bodies standing in the way between you and your money. Bitcoin relies on a technology system called blockchain that keeps your bitcoin wallet safe and secure from fraud. The currency's digital format also makes for faster, cheaper, easier exchanges of cash, from which many small businesses may benefit. Overall, Bitcoin's assets stem from its decentralization. Blockchain, the technology bitcoin was built on, allows you to not have to rely on a bank to process your financial transactions. Here are other reasons to consider bitcoin: 1. No fees If your 2 to 3 percent merchant transaction fees are a drain on your cash flow, then bitcoin has you covered. Bitcoin transactions typically cost between 1 percent and zero. That's no typo. You can send or accept bitcoins as payments with no fees attached. Since bitcoin doesn't require a bank to verify each transaction, you don't have to sacrifice your own revenue to the financial institutions that own your business loans or credit cards . However, you'll often have the option to pay an extremely small transaction fee, which can speed up your processing. 2. No wait Maybe those fees aren't bothering you, but waiting around for your money to arrive in your bank account does. Because there's no centralized institution that checks every bitcoin transaction -- its underlying technology, blockchain, does it for you -- there's no need to wait nearly as long to receive your payment. Bitcoin transactions are processed quickly, usually in a fraction of the time credit card transactions do. Story continues You can charge a customer, go for a walk around the block and receive your money. Bitcoin is that fast . 3. No borders If you export your goods and services or purchase supplies or materials from abroad, then bitcoin is a great solution for dealing with foreign transaction fees, exchange rates or currencies. Why? Because bitcoin is a global currency, not tied to a single government or company , it ignores border restrictions. As long as your customers or suppliers accept bitcoin, you're good to go. 4. No payment disputes Even though bitcoin is digital, it works more like cash than credit. Bitcoin transactions are final and can't be contested by a customer on the basis that he or she, for example, didn't enjoy the service you provided. If you have trouble with customers disputing their credit card payments, then accepting bitcoin could help. 5. An investment opportunity Like other currencies, bitcoin fluctuates in value. However, it's generally less stable than the payments in cash, gold or other commodities you're used to. Related: The Strange Positive Effect Political Uncertainly Has on Bitcoin While this fluctuation can be a drawback to accepting bitcoin, as we'll discuss below, it can also have a large upside. You can look at bitcoin as an investment: By accepting bitcoins, then waiting to cash them in, you're taking a chance on their value increasing. Bitcoin makes investing in a currency seem much less absurd or boring. From 2011 to 2013, the value of a single bitcoin rose from $2 to $1,242. Although it has since fallen back to around $800 today, there's still much potential for growth. Challenges of accepting bitcoin It's always important to be aware of the potential dangers, as well. Here are the three largest obstacles to running a business with bitcoin. 1. It's unregulated. Although its decentralization is a plus, bitcoin's lack of government support may scare some away. The U.S. government recognizes bitcoin as a valid commodity and possibly even a positive influence on financial regulation, but some other countries have restricted or banned the use of bitcoin. 2. It's unstable. Although bitcoin has become increasingly more stable over time, even recently beating out gold , it's still fundamentally a currency that isn't overseen by a single financial institution. If the economy requires it, the Federal Reserve can raise or lower interest rates, but no such option exists with bitcoin. Some observers point to this "unstable" quality as a good thing, since the bitcoin market has no interference, but it could also make things difficult for your small business if that market suffers. You'll want to figure out your aversion to risk before investing big in bitcoin. 3. It's tough to plan for. With a decentralized, volatile, purely digital currency, it can be difficult to plan financial statements, figure out taxes and determine your prices . How can you make projections that account for large fluctuations or changing government regulations? This is not an easy task, although it is do-able. You'll definitely need to speak with your bookkeeper and accountant before accepting bitcoin at your small business. Related: Bitcoin Is Money, U.S. Judge Says in Case Tied to JPMorgan Hack Overall, there's a lot that bitcoin can help your small business with, but also plenty of question marks involved in accepting the currency. If you're considering accepting bitcoin, sit down and determine why it can help your business and how you will deal with the challenges it may bring. || Why Small Businesses Should Consider Bitcoin: In 2015 bitcoin finally made its mark: More than 100,000 businesses , including industry giants like Microsoft, Overstock.com and Dell, accepted it. But, what exactly is this mysterious "cryptocurrency" everyone has been talking about for years? And, is it time your small business accepted it, too? Related: 5 Ways to Participate in the Bitcoin Revolution Here's what you need to know about what bitcoin is, its advantages and potential drawbacks. What is bitcoin? Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency or an entirely digital form of money, invented in 2009. While that might not sound interesting, what sets bitcoin apart is that it's purely person-to-person , with virtually no banks, financial institutions or government bodies standing in the way between you and your money. Bitcoin relies on a technology system called blockchain that keeps your bitcoin wallet safe and secure from fraud. The currency's digital format also makes for faster, cheaper, easier exchanges of cash, from which many small businesses may benefit. Overall, Bitcoin's assets stem from its decentralization. Blockchain, the technology bitcoin was built on, allows you to not have to rely on a bank to process your financial transactions. Here are other reasons to consider bitcoin: 1. No fees If your 2 to 3 percent merchant transaction fees are a drain on your cash flow, then bitcoin has you covered. Bitcoin transactions typically cost between 1 percent and zero. That's no typo. You can send or accept bitcoins as payments with no fees attached. Since bitcoin doesn't require a bank to verify each transaction, you don't have to sacrifice your own revenue to the financial institutions that own your business loans or credit cards . However, you'll often have the option to pay an extremely small transaction fee, which can speed up your processing. 2. No wait Maybe those fees aren't bothering you, but waiting around for your money to arrive in your bank account does. Because there's no centralized institution that checks every bitcoin transaction -- its underlying technology, blockchain, does it for you -- there's no need to wait nearly as long to receive your payment. Bitcoin transactions are processed quickly, usually in a fraction of the time credit card transactions do. Story continues You can charge a customer, go for a walk around the block and receive your money. Bitcoin is that fast . 3. No borders If you export your goods and services or purchase supplies or materials from abroad, then bitcoin is a great solution for dealing with foreign transaction fees, exchange rates or currencies. Why? Because bitcoin is a global currency, not tied to a single government or company , it ignores border restrictions. As long as your customers or suppliers accept bitcoin, you're good to go. 4. No payment disputes Even though bitcoin is digital, it works more like cash than credit. Bitcoin transactions are final and can't be contested by a customer on the basis that he or she, for example, didn't enjoy the service you provided. If you have trouble with customers disputing their credit card payments, then accepting bitcoin could help. 5. An investment opportunity Like other currencies, bitcoin fluctuates in value. However, it's generally less stable than the payments in cash, gold or other commodities you're used to. Related: The Strange Positive Effect Political Uncertainly Has on Bitcoin While this fluctuation can be a drawback to accepting bitcoin, as we'll discuss below, it can also have a large upside. You can look at bitcoin as an investment: By accepting bitcoins, then waiting to cash them in, you're taking a chance on their value increasing. Bitcoin makes investing in a currency seem much less absurd or boring. From 2011 to 2013, the value of a single bitcoin rose from $2 to $1,242. Although it has since fallen back to around $800 today, there's still much potential for growth. Challenges of accepting bitcoin It's always important to be aware of the potential dangers, as well. Here are the three largest obstacles to running a business with bitcoin. 1. It's unregulated. Although its decentralization is a plus, bitcoin's lack of government support may scare some away. The U.S. government recognizes bitcoin as a valid commodity and possibly even a positive influence on financial regulation, but some other countries have restricted or banned the use of bitcoin. 2. It's unstable. Although bitcoin has become increasingly more stable over time, even recently beating out gold , it's still fundamentally a currency that isn't overseen by a single financial institution. If the economy requires it, the Federal Reserve can raise or lower interest rates, but no such option exists with bitcoin. Some observers point to this "unstable" quality as a good thing, since the bitcoin market has no interference, but it could also make things difficult for your small business if that market suffers. You'll want to figure out your aversion to risk before investing big in bitcoin. 3. It's tough to plan for. With a decentralized, volatile, purely digital currency, it can be difficult to plan financial statements, figure out taxes and determine your prices . How can you make projections that account for large fluctuations or changing government regulations? This is not an easy task, although it is do-able. You'll definitely need to speak with your bookkeeper and accountant before accepting bitcoin at your small business. Related: Bitcoin Is Money, U.S. Judge Says in Case Tied to JPMorgan Hack Overall, there's a lot that bitcoin can help your small business with, but also plenty of question marks involved in accepting the currency. If you're considering accepting bitcoin, sit down and determine why it can help your business and how you will deal with the challenges it may bring. || Bitcoin is getting demolished: (Flickr / Bart Everson)
Bitcoin is getting demolished, trading down 15.1% at $768 a coin, a drop of $136 a coin, as of 1:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The fall comes after China announced it had beguninvestigating bitcoin exchangesin Beijing and Shanghai on suspicion of market manipulation, money laundering, unauthorized financing, and other issues, Reuters reports.
Wednesday's selling comes following three days in which the cryptocurrency appeared to be stabilizing, holding in a range of $880 to $920, as traders digested the news that thePeople's Bank of Chinawarned investorsto exercise caution when investing in virtual currencies.
The cryptocurrency has had a wild start to 2017 after booking a 120% gain in 2016, when it was theworld's best performing currencyfor the second year in a row. Bitcoin rallied by more than 20% in the first three-plus trading days of 2017, crossing the $1,000 mark for the first time since November 2013 and coming within $46 of an all-time high.
But worries surrounding a crackdown on trading in China have punished bitcoin over the past four-plus sessions, erasing more than 30% of its value.
Bitcoin is now down more than 17% in 2017.
(Investing.com)
NOW WATCH:Watch Yellen explain why the Federal Reserve decided to raise rates
More From Business Insider
• We bought and sold bitcoin — here's how it works
• Bitcoin is trying to make a comeback
• Bitcoin is going bananas || Bitcoin is getting demolished: (Flickr / Bart Everson)
Bitcoin is getting demolished, trading down 15.1% at $768 a coin, a drop of $136 a coin, as of 1:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The fall comes after China announced it had beguninvestigating bitcoin exchangesin Beijing and Shanghai on suspicion of market manipulation, money laundering, unauthorized financing, and other issues, Reuters reports.
Wednesday's selling comes following three days in which the cryptocurrency appeared to be stabilizing, holding in a range of $880 to $920, as traders digested the news that thePeople's Bank of Chinawarned investorsto exercise caution when investing in virtual currencies.
The cryptocurrency has had a wild start to 2017 after booking a 120% gain in 2016, when it was theworld's best performing currencyfor the second year in a row. Bitcoin rallied by more than 20% in the first three-plus trading days of 2017, crossing the $1,000 mark for the first time since November 2013 and coming within $46 of an all-time high.
But worries surrounding a crackdown on trading in China have punished bitcoin over the past four-plus sessions, erasing more than 30% of its value.
Bitcoin is now down more than 17% in 2017.
(Investing.com)
NOW WATCH:Watch Yellen explain why the Federal Reserve decided to raise rates
More From Business Insider
• We bought and sold bitcoin — here's how it works
• Bitcoin is trying to make a comeback
• Bitcoin is going bananas || Bitcoin is getting demolished: Wrecking Ball (Flickr / Bart Everson) Bitcoin is getting demolished, trading down 15.1% at $768 a coin, a drop of $136 a coin, as of 1:05 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The fall comes after China announced it had begun investigating bitcoin exchanges in Beijing and Shanghai on suspicion of market manipulation, money laundering, unauthorized financing, and other issues, Reuters reports. Wednesday's selling comes following three days in which the cryptocurrency appeared to be stabilizing, holding in a range of $880 to $920, as traders digested the news that the People's Bank of China warned investors to exercise caution when investing in virtual currencies. The cryptocurrency has had a wild start to 2017 after booking a 120% gain in 2016, when it was the world's best performing currency for the second year in a row. Bitcoin rallied by more than 20% in the first three-plus trading days of 2017, crossing the $1,000 mark for the first time since November 2013 and coming within $46 of an all-time high. But worries surrounding a crackdown on trading in China have punished bitcoin over the past four-plus sessions, erasing more than 30% of its value. Bitcoin is now down more than 17% in 2017. Bitcoin (Investing.com) NOW WATCH: Watch Yellen explain why the Federal Reserve decided to raise rates More From Business Insider We bought and sold bitcoin here's how it works Bitcoin is trying to make a comeback Bitcoin is going bananas
[Social Media Buzz]
$816.26 at 06:15 UTC [24h Range: $810.00 - $837.01 Volume: 5596 BTC] || $816.25 at 21:30 UTC [24h Range: $808.00 - $828.76 Volume: 5110 BTC] || 1 KOBO = 0.00000192 BTC
= 0.0016 USD
= 0.5040 NGN
= 0.0216 ZAR
= 0.1658 KES
#Kobocoin 2017-01-15 12:00 || $815.87 at 22:00 UTC [24h Range: $808.00 - $823.45 Volume: 4603 BTC] || #HamRadioCoin #HAM $0.000912 (-0.44%) 0.00000110 BTC (0.00%) || Today's #Bitcoin price is $819.00 as of January 15, 2017 at 12:00PM || Average Bitcoin market price is: ...
|
831.53, 907.94, 886.62, 899.07, 895.03, 921.79, 924.67, 921.01, 892.69, 901.54
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 48717.29, 47945.06, 49199.87, 52149.01, 51679.80, 55888.13, 56099.52, 57539.95, 54207.32, 48824.43, 49705.33, 47093.85, 46339.76, 46188.45, 45137.77, 49631.24, 48378.99, 50538.24, 48561.17, 48927.30, 48912.38, 51206.69, 52246.52, 54824.12, 56008.55, 57805.12, 57332.09, 61243.09, 59302.32, 55907.20, 56804.90, 58870.89, 57858.92, 58346.65, 58313.64, 57523.42, 54529.14, 54738.95, 52774.27, 51704.16, 55137.31, 55973.51, 55950.75, 57750.20, 58917.69, 58918.83, 59095.81, 59384.31, 57603.89, 58758.55, 59057.88, 58192.36, 56048.94, 58323.95, 58245.00, 59793.23, 60204.96, 59893.45, 63503.46, 63109.70, 63314.01, 61572.79, 60683.82, 56216.18, 55724.27, 56473.03, 53906.09, 51762.27, 51093.65, 50050.87, 49004.25, 54021.75, 55033.12, 54824.70, 53555.11, 57750.18, 57828.05, 56631.08, 57200.29, 53333.54, 57424.01, 56396.52, 57356.40, 58803.78, 58232.32, 55859.80, 56704.57, 49150.54, 49716.19, 49880.54.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-05-14]
Volume: 55737497453, RSI (14-day): 38.86, 50-day EMA: 55003.77, 200-day EMA: 42096.45
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1837.90, Gold RSI: 66.61
Oil Price: 65.37, Oil RSI: 57.12
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Elon Musk efficiency tweet pushes Dogecoin prices up again: Last weekend the price of Dogecoin (a meme-inspired cryptocurrency that was developed "in about two hours" in 2013) fell sharply after Elon Musk said on Saturday Night Live that cryptocurrency is a "hustle." Now, possibly confirming that statement, Musk has followed up his announcement that Tesla is "suspending" accepting payments in Bitcoin because of its inefficiency, by tweeting about "potentially promising" improvements in Dogecoin. Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2021 Naturally, his tweets have increased speculation that Dogecoin could have a future use and Coinbase reports its value shot up 18 percent, before falling again. The Tesla reveal indicated the company would look for more energy efficient options than the "insane" usage trend shown by Bitcoin, although Musk's apparent surprise at this widely known fact made the whole thing feel like a stunt. Like Bitcoin, Dogecoin relies on less efficient "proof of work" blockchain technology, and more efficient cryptocurrencies are already available, but that hasn't stopped speculators from chasing the dream of Tesla, SpaceX and Doge. This article contains affilate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. || Elon Musk efficiency tweet pushes Dogecoin prices up again: Last weekend the price of Dogecoin (a meme-inspired cryptocurrencythat was developed "in about two hours"in 2013) fell sharply after Elon Musk said on Saturday Night Livethat cryptocurrency is a "hustle."Now, possibly confirming that statement, Musk has followed up his announcement that Tesla is"suspending" accepting payments in Bitcoinbecause of its inefficiency, by tweeting about "potentially promising" improvements in Dogecoin.
Naturally, his tweets have increased speculation that Dogecoin could have a future use andCoinbasereports its value shot up 18 percent, before falling again. The Tesla reveal indicated the company would look for more energy efficient options than the "insane" usage trend shown by Bitcoin, although Musk's apparent surprise at this widely known fact made the whole thing feel like a stunt. Like Bitcoin, Dogecoin relies on less efficient "proof of work" blockchain technology, and more efficient cryptocurrencies are already available, but that hasn't stopped speculators from chasing the dream of Tesla,SpaceXand Doge. || Musk tweets, dogecoin leaps and bitcoin retreats: By Tom Wilson and Tom Westbrook LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Bitcoin was heading on Friday for its worst week since February, while dogecoin leapt by a quarter, as the latest tweets on cryptocurrencies from Tesla boss Elon Musk sent the digital coins on a wild ride. Bitcoin is down about 13% this week, and was last up 1.6% at $50,503. It has slumped over a fifth from its record of just under $65,000 hit last month. Cryptocurrency markets have gyrated to Musk tweets for months, with his comments on dogecoin - a token started as a joke that has scant practical use - fuelling a hundred-fold rally this year. Musk knocked bitcoin this week after tweeting that Tesla would stop accepting it for payment owing to environmental concerns. "Toppy markets (are) looking for an excuse to breathe," said Ben Sebley of crypto firm BCB Group. "Long money doesn't care about Elon's tweets. Fast money trades around that stuff now." $68 BILLION MARKET CAP Dogecoin has climbed about 25% after Musk's latest tweet, according to CoinGecko, and was last at $0.52, down from its record $0.73 hit last week. "Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising," Musk wrote on Thursday. He called it a "hustle" last week, knocking its price. It was unclear if Musk was referring to efficiency in terms of energy, ease of use or suitability as a currency, said Mark Humphery-Jenner, associate professor of finance at the University of New South Wales. Dogecoin consumes 0.12 kilowatt hours of electricity per transaction compared with 707 for bitcoin, according to data centre provider TRG. The token, whose logo features a Shiba Inu dog, has surged this year to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency with a total value of $68 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Few major companies accept Dogecoin for payment, and its supply is unlimited. In contrast, bitcoin's gains this year have been fuelled by growing mainstream adoption for payment, as well as a store of value given its limited supply. "Dogecoin remains a lesson in greater fool theory," said David Kimberley, analyst at investing app Freetrade, which posits that buying overpriced assets can be profitable, so long as there is a "greater fool" to buy them. (Reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Tom Westbrook in Singapore Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San FranciscoEditing by Tom Hogue, Shri Navaratnam and Frances Kerry) || Musk tweets, dogecoin leaps and bitcoin retreats: By Tom Wilson and Tom Westbrook
LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Bitcoin was heading on Friday for its worst week since February, while dogecoin leapt by a quarter, as the latest tweets on cryptocurrencies from Tesla boss Elon Musk sent the digital coins on a wild ride.
Bitcoin is down about 13% this week, and was last up 1.6% at $50,503. It has slumped over a fifth from its record of just under $65,000 hit last month.
Cryptocurrency markets have gyrated to Musk tweets for months, with his comments on dogecoin - a token started as a joke that has scant practical use - fuelling a hundred-fold rally this year.
Musk knocked bitcoin this week after tweeting that Tesla would stop accepting it for payment owing to environmental concerns.
"Toppy markets (are) looking for an excuse to breathe," said Ben Sebley of crypto firm BCB Group. "Long money doesn't care about Elon's tweets. Fast money trades around that stuff now."
$68 BILLION MARKET CAP
Dogecoin has climbed about 25% after Musk's latest tweet, according to CoinGecko, and was last at $0.52, down from its record $0.73 hit last week.
"Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising," Musk wrote on Thursday. He called it a "hustle" last week, knocking its price.
It was unclear if Musk was referring to efficiency in terms of energy, ease of use or suitability as a currency, said Mark Humphery-Jenner, associate professor of finance at the University of New South Wales.
Dogecoin consumes 0.12 kilowatt hours of electricity per transaction compared with 707 for bitcoin, according to data centre provider TRG.
The token, whose logo features a Shiba Inu dog, has surged this year to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency with a total value of $68 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Few major companies accept Dogecoin for payment, and its supply is unlimited.
In contrast, bitcoin's gains this year have been fuelled by growing mainstream adoption for payment, as well as a store of value given its limited supply.
"Dogecoin remains a lesson in greater fool theory," said David Kimberley, analyst at investing app Freetrade, which posits that buying overpriced assets can be profitable, so long as there is a "greater fool" to buy them.
(Reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Tom Westbrook in Singapore Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San FranciscoEditing by Tom Hogue, Shri Navaratnam and Frances Kerry) || Musk tweets, dogecoin leaps and bitcoin retreats: By Tom Wilson and Tom Westbrook LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Bitcoin was heading on Friday for its worst week since February, while dogecoin leapt by a quarter, as the latest tweets on cryptocurrencies from Tesla boss Elon Musk sent the digital coins on a wild ride. Bitcoin is down about 13% this week, and was last up 1.6% at $50,503. It has slumped over a fifth from its record of just under $65,000 hit last month. Cryptocurrency markets have gyrated to Musk tweets for months, with his comments on dogecoin - a token started as a joke that has scant practical use - fuelling a hundred-fold rally this year. Musk knocked bitcoin this week after tweeting that Tesla would stop accepting it for payment owing to environmental concerns. "Toppy markets (are) looking for an excuse to breathe," said Ben Sebley of crypto firm BCB Group. "Long money doesn't care about Elon's tweets. Fast money trades around that stuff now." $68 BILLION MARKET CAP Dogecoin has climbed about 25% after Musk's latest tweet, according to CoinGecko, and was last at $0.52, down from its record $0.73 hit last week. "Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising," Musk wrote on Thursday. He called it a "hustle" last week, knocking its price. It was unclear if Musk was referring to efficiency in terms of energy, ease of use or suitability as a currency, said Mark Humphery-Jenner, associate professor of finance at the University of New South Wales. Dogecoin consumes 0.12 kilowatt hours of electricity per transaction compared with 707 for bitcoin, according to data centre provider TRG. The token, whose logo features a Shiba Inu dog, has surged this year to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency with a total value of $68 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Few major companies accept Dogecoin for payment, and its supply is unlimited. In contrast, bitcoin's gains this year have been fuelled by growing mainstream adoption for payment, as well as a store of value given its limited supply. "Dogecoin remains a lesson in greater fool theory," said David Kimberley, analyst at investing app Freetrade, which posits that buying overpriced assets can be profitable, so long as there is a "greater fool" to buy them. (Reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Tom Westbrook in Singapore Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San FranciscoEditing by Tom Hogue, Shri Navaratnam and Frances Kerry) || Musk tweets, dogecoin leaps and bitcoin retreats: By Tom Wilson and Tom Westbrook LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Bitcoin was heading on Friday for its worst week since February, while dogecoin leapt by a quarter, as the latest tweets on cryptocurrencies from Tesla boss Elon Musk sent the digital coins on a wild ride. Bitcoin is down about 13% this week, and was last up 1.6% at $50,503. It has slumped over a fifth from its record of just under $65,000 hit last month. Cryptocurrency markets have gyrated to Musk tweets for months, with his comments on dogecoin - a token started as a joke that has scant practical use - fuelling a hundred-fold rally this year. Musk knocked bitcoin this week after tweeting that Tesla would stop accepting it for payment owing to environmental concerns. "Toppy markets (are) looking for an excuse to breathe," said Ben Sebley of crypto firm BCB Group. "Long money doesn't care about Elon's tweets. Fast money trades around that stuff now." $68 BILLION MARKET CAP Dogecoin has climbed about 25% after Musk's latest tweet, according to CoinGecko, and was last at $0.52, down from its record $0.73 hit last week. "Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising," Musk wrote on Thursday. He called it a "hustle" last week, knocking its price. It was unclear if Musk was referring to efficiency in terms of energy, ease of use or suitability as a currency, said Mark Humphery-Jenner, associate professor of finance at the University of New South Wales. Dogecoin consumes 0.12 kilowatt hours of electricity per transaction compared with 707 for bitcoin, according to data centre provider TRG. The token, whose logo features a Shiba Inu dog, has surged this year to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency with a total value of $68 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Few major companies accept Dogecoin for payment, and its supply is unlimited. In contrast, bitcoin's gains this year have been fuelled by growing mainstream adoption for payment, as well as a store of value given its limited supply. "Dogecoin remains a lesson in greater fool theory," said David Kimberley, analyst at investing app Freetrade, which posits that buying overpriced assets can be profitable, so long as there is a "greater fool" to buy them. (Reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Tom Westbrook in Singapore Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San FranciscoEditing by Tom Hogue, Shri Navaratnam and Frances Kerry) || Coinbase Just Tripled Revenue in First Post-IPO Earnings – Here’s Why You (Probably) Shouldn’t Invest: Avishek Das/SOPA Images/Shutterstock / Avishek Das/SOPA Images/Shutterstock Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange which had a blockbuster IPO last month, reported its first earnings ever today as a public company. The company tripled its revenue in the quarter, which was in line with analysts’ expectations. But is investing in cryptocurrency – let alone a major crypto platform – really a good idea? See: Coinbase, the Largest US Cryptocurrency Exchange, Goes Public – ‘It Will Infect the Financial Universe with a Bad Case of FOMO’ Find: What Are IPOs and Are They Worth Investing In? Coinbase has been one of the most anticipated initial public offerings of 2021, as this is the first crypto exchange to go public. Many described the listing as a “watershed” moment. Coinbase’s total revenue was $1.8 billion for the first quarter of 2021. Net revenue was $1.6 billion, of which $1.5 billion was transaction revenue and $56.4 million was subscription and services revenue, according to a letter to shareholders. In addition earnings per share are at $3.05. Thie compares to the $585 million in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020. The consensus EPS estimate was $3.06 and the consensus revenue estimate was $1.81 billion, according to Seeking Alpha. The stock appeals to investors who want to get involved in bitcoin, and have exposure to the crypto, but without holding the asset and hence being subjected to wild swings. However, following the announcement, the stock was down 7% a at $265 after hours. Nasdaq had set a reference price of $250 per share for Coinbase on the eve of its opening day on the stock exchange, projecting a value for the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange at $49.19 billion “ahead of its landmark stock market debut on Wednesday,” according to a statement. The stock opened at $342 that day. See: Six Best Blockchain Stocks to Buy Right Now Find: Coinbase’s IPO Made a Lot of People Rich(er) The company said there is a continued momentum in crypto adoption and that they’re seeing unprecedented levels of interest in the cryptoeconomy. “A May 2021 survey by Mastercard and The Harris Poll reveals 40% of people around the world plan to use crypto assets in the next year, with 67% of millennials reporting interest in the technology. We are encouraged by this appetite as we welcome more people into the cryptoeconomy and expand access to the financial system around the world,” according to the letter. Story continues Coinbase added that they also benefited from institutional momentum, as it has won mandates from a diverse group of institutional customers, ranging from hedge funds and corporate treasuries to pension funds and insurance companies, “via our secure and trusted range of trading and storage solutions. In addition to owning crypto assets in their treasuries, both public and private corporations are coming to us and expressing interest in commerce, payroll, and custom white label solutions.” Despite its strong results, Coinbase said that the rapid expansion of the cryptoeconomy also creates challenges for Coinbase, especially with competition increasing as new market entrants join the cryptoeconomy every month. “Our competitors are supporting certain crypto assets that are experiencing large trading volume and growth in market capitalization that we do not currently support, as well as offering new products and services that we do not offer. We welcome these challenges as they indicate that the market we serve is growing rapidly, but we also have to continue to move quickly to address them, and that inspires us towards action and growth,” according to the letter. Peter Cohan, a lecturer of strategy and entrepreneurship at Babson College’s MBA program and author of “Goliath Strikes Back,” tells GOBankingRates that since going public about a month ago, Coinbase stock has lost 22% of its value. “Despite tripling its revenue in the first quarter, its shares are falling after the announcement. It declined to offer specific guidance and it does not bode well that Bitcoin trades down 30% since Coinbase’s IPO. There is no objective way to determine what Bitcoin is worth or whether Coinbase can grow into its valuation. But with its dependence on high transaction fees and competition from rivals that charge nothing for trading virtual currencies, now does not seem to be an attractive point at which to buy,” Cohan adds. In its letter, Coinbase warns investors that it’s important to remember that its business is inherently unpredictable. “MTUs, Trading Volume, and therefore transaction revenue currently fluctuate, potentially materially, with Bitcoin price and crypto asset volatility. As a result, revenue is difficult to forecast. In the interest of transparency, our approach to sharing information relative to future performance will be consistent with how we operate the business. That includes assessing and planning for a wide range of potential outcomes.” See: Banks Might Treat Bitcoin Like ‘Real Money’ – These Experts Weigh the Pros and Cons Find: Peter Thiel Backs New Blockchain-Based Crypto Exchange that Some View as Coinbase Competitor “The wind is in our sails right now, and it feels good. But crypto is a young volatile industry and there will come a day when times are harder. We know this because we’ve experienced major crypto winters where financing was difficult to get, partners cut us off, and we lost large parts of our employee base. Tension gets high during these times. We’ve sustained by enduring, and not over-reacting. It’s never as good as it seems, and it’s never as bad as it seems ,” the company said in the letter. More From GOBankingRates Housing Breaks That Are Available to Military Members and Their Families Everything You Need To Know About Taxes This Year 4 Tips for Saving Money While in the Military Big Personal Goals That You Should Put Your Money Toward This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : Coinbase Just Tripled Revenue in First Post-IPO Earnings – Here’s Why You (Probably) Shouldn’t Invest || Coinbase Just Tripled Revenue in First Post-IPO Earnings – Here’s Why You (Probably) Shouldn’t Invest: Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange which had a blockbuster IPO last month, reported its first earnings ever today as a public company. The company tripled its revenue in the quarter, which was in line with analysts’ expectations.But is investing in cryptocurrency – let alone a major crypto platform – really a good idea?
See:Coinbase, the Largest US Cryptocurrency Exchange, Goes Public – ‘It Will Infect the Financial Universe with a Bad Case of FOMO’Find:What Are IPOs and Are They Worth Investing In?
Coinbase has been one of the most anticipated initial public offerings of 2021, as this is the first crypto exchange to go public. Many described the listing as a “watershed” moment.
Coinbase’s total revenue was $1.8 billion for the first quarter of 2021. Net revenue was $1.6 billion, of which $1.5 billion was transaction revenue and $56.4 million was subscription and services revenue, according to a letter to shareholders. In addition earnings per share are at $3.05. Thie compares to the $585 million in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020. The consensus EPS estimate was $3.06 and the consensus revenue estimate was $1.81 billion, according to Seeking Alpha.
The stock appeals to investors who want to get involved in bitcoin, and have exposure to the crypto, but without holding the asset and hence being subjected to wild swings. However, following the announcement, the stock was down 7% a at $265 after hours.
Nasdaq had set a reference price of $250 per share for Coinbase on the eve of its opening day on the stock exchange, projecting a value for the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange at $49.19 billion “ahead of its landmark stock market debut on Wednesday,” according to a statement. The stock opened at $342 that day.
See:Six Best Blockchain Stocks to Buy Right NowFind:Coinbase’s IPO Made a Lot of People Rich(er)
The company said there is a continued momentum in crypto adoption and that they’re seeing unprecedented levels of interest in the cryptoeconomy. “A May 2021 survey by Mastercard and The Harris Poll reveals 40% of people around the world plan to use crypto assets in the next year, with 67% of millennials reporting interest in the technology. We are encouraged by this appetite as we welcome more people into the cryptoeconomy and expand access to the financial system around the world,” according to the letter.
Coinbase added that they also benefited from institutional momentum, as it has won mandates from a diverse group of institutional customers, ranging from hedge funds and corporate treasuries to pension funds and insurance companies, “via our secure and trusted range of trading and storage solutions. In addition to owning crypto assets in their treasuries, both public and private corporations are coming to us and expressing interest in commerce, payroll, and custom white label solutions.”
Despite its strong results, Coinbase said that the rapid expansion of the cryptoeconomy also creates challenges for Coinbase, especially with competition increasing as new market entrants join the cryptoeconomy every month. “Our competitors are supporting certain crypto assets that are experiencing large trading volume and growth in market capitalization that we do not currently support, as well as offering new products and services that we do not offer. We welcome these challenges as they indicate that the market we serve is growing rapidly, but we also have to continue to move quickly to address them, and that inspires us towards action and growth,” according to the letter.
Peter Cohan, a lecturer of strategy and entrepreneurship at Babson College’s MBA program and author of “Goliath Strikes Back,” tells GOBankingRates that since going public about a month ago, Coinbase stock has lost 22% of its value.
“Despite tripling its revenue in the first quarter, its shares are falling after the announcement. It declined to offer specific guidance and it does not bode well that Bitcoin trades down 30% since Coinbase’s IPO. There is no objective way to determine what Bitcoin is worth or whether Coinbase can grow into its valuation. But with its dependence on high transaction fees and competition from rivals that charge nothing for trading virtual currencies, now does not seem to be an attractive point at which to buy,” Cohan adds.
In its letter, Coinbase warns investors that it’s important to remember that its business is inherently unpredictable. “MTUs, Trading Volume, and therefore transaction revenue currently fluctuate, potentially materially, with Bitcoin price and crypto asset volatility. As a result, revenue is difficult to forecast. In the interest of transparency, our approach to sharing information relative to future performance will be consistent with how we operate the business. That includes assessing and planning for a wide range of potential outcomes.”
See:Banks Might Treat Bitcoin Like ‘Real Money’ – These Experts Weigh the Pros and ConsFind:Peter Thiel Backs New Blockchain-Based Crypto Exchange that Some View as Coinbase Competitor
“The wind is in our sails right now, and it feels good. But crypto is a young volatile industry and there will come a day when times are harder. We know this because we’ve experienced major crypto winters where financing was difficult to get, partners cut us off, and we lost large parts of our employee base. Tension gets high during these times. We’ve sustained by enduring, and not over-reacting.It’s never as good as it seems, and it’s never as bad as it seems,” the company said in the letter.
More From GOBankingRates
• Housing Breaks That Are Available to Military Members and Their Families
• Everything You Need To Know About Taxes This Year
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This article originally appeared onGOBankingRates.com:Coinbase Just Tripled Revenue in First Post-IPO Earnings – Here’s Why You (Probably) Shouldn’t Invest || Renaissance Technologies Amassed $140M Position in Mining Stocks In Q1: Renaissance Technologies cranked up its exposure to the cryptocurrency ecosystem last quarter, amassing its largest-ever positions in mining stocks, worth over $140 million in total at the end of March. The storied quant fund manager of $115 billion ended Q1 with 1.16 million Riot Blockchain shares ($61.8 million), 1.56 million Marathon shares ($75 million) and 203,672 Canaan shares ($4.2 million), according to Thursday disclosures . Renaissance Technologies has chased crypto mining’s upside since at least 2017 with occasional bets on MARA, RIOT and CAN. But those positions had never eclipsed $1 million, and the hedge fund ended 2020 with no exposure to the crypto mining sector at all. Related: Argo and DMG Join Group Working to Lower Bitcoin Miners’ Carbon Emissions Crypto mining stocks rallied to new heights during the recent bull run, giving U.S. investors a sideways route to speculate on crypto without actually owning any. RIOT and MARA actually outperformed bitcoin at times. The combined positions far outstrip RenTech’s 2020 positions in MicroStrategy, another crypto bellwether stock that raced upward with bitcoin’s rise. In fact, RenTech, which at one point held over $40 million in MSTR, according to The Block, appears to have closed out its MSTR holdings, ending Q1 2021 with no MSTR on the books. In April 2020 RenTech gave its Medallion funds the green light to invest in cash-settled bitcoin futures. Related Stories Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Hits New High; Taproot Begins Its Second Signaling Attempt ECB’s Panetta Claims Bitcoin Threatens Global Sustainability Efforts The Virgin Bitcoin Fallacy || Renaissance Technologies Amassed $140M Position in Mining Stocks In Q1: Renaissance Technologies cranked up its exposure to the cryptocurrency ecosystem last quarter, amassing its largest-ever positions in mining stocks, worth over $140 million in total at the end of March.
The storied quant fund manager of $115 billion ended Q1 with 1.16 million Riot Blockchain shares ($61.8 million), 1.56 million Marathon shares ($75 million) and 203,672 Canaan shares ($4.2 million), according to Thursdaydisclosures.
Renaissance Technologies has chased crypto mining’s upside since at least 2017 with occasional bets on MARA, RIOT and CAN. But those positions had never eclipsed $1 million, and the hedge fund ended 2020 with no exposure to the crypto mining sector at all.
Related:Argo and DMG Join Group Working to Lower Bitcoin Miners’ Carbon Emissions
Crypto mining stocks rallied to new heights during the recent bull run, giving U.S. investors a sideways route to speculate on crypto without actually owning any. RIOT and MARA actuallyoutperformed bitcoinat times.
The combined positions far outstrip RenTech’s 2020 positions in MicroStrategy, another crypto bellwether stock that raced upward with bitcoin’s rise. In fact, RenTech, which at one point held over $40 million in MSTR, according to The Block, appears to have closed out its MSTR holdings, ending Q1 2021 with no MSTR on the books.
In April 2020 RenTech gave its Medallion funds thegreen lightto invest in cash-settledbitcoinfutures.
• Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Hits New High; Taproot Begins Its Second Signaling Attempt
• ECB’s Panetta Claims Bitcoin Threatens Global Sustainability Efforts
• The Virgin Bitcoin Fallacy || Crypto Mogul Vitalik Buterin’s $1B Donation of ‘Petcoins’ to Charity Backfires: Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photo Getty The world’s youngest crypto billionaire donated approximately $1.5 billion to a COVID relief fund and other charities—paid out almost entirely in a selection of meme cryptocurrencies named for different dog breeds that then tanked in value. Vitalik Buterin , whose personal fortune first surpassed $1 billion early last week, donated several kinds of cryptocurrencies, three of which are dog-themed and created largely as jokes: Shiba Inu (SHIB), Akita Inu (AKITA), and Dogelon (ELON). The gifts were collectively valued around $1.5 billion at the time they were made. But within hours of the transactions, the meme coins’ prices plunged—in no small part due to the billionaire’s massive transfers. In a neat illustration of crypto’s volatility, Buterin’s donations effectively depreciated themselves. Meet the World’s Youngest Crypto Billionaire Buterin, 27, is the founder of Ethereum, an open source blockchain whose native token, Ether (ETH), is the second-most valuable cryptocurrency and only legitimate rival of Bitcoin. The founder’s wealth is mostly vested in his creation, but over the past year, he has also been gifted so-called “ petcoins ” as part of a hokey marketing stunt. The canine-related tokens are knockoffs of the meme currency Dogecoin (DOGE), which spiked to record-breaking highs over the past month, thanks in part to repeated promotion from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Dogecoin, which has fallen in price since Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live , is now the sixth-most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to Crypto Slate . The copycat coins tried to capitalize on the Doge frenzy—in SHIB’s “woofpaper,” or whitepaper, the creators dubbed it the “Dogecoin killer”—with some success. SHIB, which boasted a market cap of $0 on May 7, spiked to nearly $14 billion on May 10, according to Coin Market Cap . In an apparent bid to publicize their coins, the creators of SHIB, AKITA, ELON, as well as some other petcoins like HuskyToken (HUSKY) and Bulldog (BDOG), gifted Buterin large quantities: in each case, 50 percent of the total coin supply. SHIB’s creators claimed this had “burned” the coins—or taken them out of circulation to create scarcity. Story continues But Buterin retained control of the funds. Because he held such large quantities of the coins’ total supply, some thought that attempts to offload them could have a drastic impact on their value. Even before the donation, critics mused that an exchange could prove fatal to the petcoins’ creators. “To be perfectly clear,” crypto Twitter account @Waronrugs wrote back in January, “Vitalik can rug you.” ℹ️ We got a lot of requests to look into it, so we looked into it. Of course, the price volatility is currently extremely high so think twice before going in. This tweet isn’t an endorsement or financial advice of any kind. We’re only publishing the results of our findings. — #WARONRUGS❌ (@WARONRUGS) January 30, 2021 On Wednesday, according to data collected by the blockchain tracker Etherscan, Buterin doled out massive quantities of petcoins to a smattering of nonprofits and foundations, including the India Crypto Covid Relief Fund, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, the open source bounties platform Gitcoin, the charity evaluator GiveWell, and the Methuselah Foundation, a lifespan-extension research group focused, according to their website , on “making 90 the new 50 by 2030.” Within hours, the petcoins’ prices sank. Dogelon Mars fell by nearly 95 percent , before recovering some of the loss. Buterin’s largest contribution, 50 trillion SHIB to the India Crypto Covid Relief Fund, had been worth just over $1 billion at the time of the transaction, according to Etherscan estimates . Within an hour, SHIB’s price had dropped by 30 percent. In spite of the slump, Shiba Token’s creators released a statement of support for the gesture, insisting that Buterin was not “dumping” the token. Instead, they wrote on Twitter, he had “just brought invaluable legitimacy” to the token, illustrating that it was more than a memecoin. The India Crypto Covid Relief Fund added that it plans to execute a “thoughtful liquidation,” converting the donation in a slow, staggered manner, to ensure that the price does not sink further and eliminate its value. (Transparency Update) We thank @VitalikButerin for his donation of 50,693,552,078,053 SHIBA to @CryptoRelief_ . We plan to do a thoughtful liquidation to ensure we meet our COVID relief goals. We have decided to convert the donation slowly over a period of time. (1/x) — India's Crypto Covid Relief Fund 🇮🇳 (@CryptoRelief_) May 12, 2021 The India Crypto Covid Relief Fund was the primary beneficiary of Buterin’s donations. The fund was set up by Sandeep Nailwal, founder of the Ethereum-affiliate Polygon, to help direct donations to COVID-19 relief in India, where case numbers have spiked to heights rivaled only by the United States. Buterin had donated to the fund before; when Nailwal first set it up back in April, the Ethereum founder contributed about $600,000 in Ether and another cryptocurrency called Maker (MKR). According to Etherscan records , Buterin also donated approximately $375 million in AKITA to Gitcoin, an Ethereum-based “bounties” platform that helps open source developers get paid for their work. At the time of the transactions, the value of Buterin’s meme coin donations rivaled that of his personal Ether fortune. Early last week, he became the latest entry to the billionaire club, when Ether’s price surpassed $3,000, putting his holdings of some 335,000 ETH at a value of approximately $1.3 billion. Buterin’s donations on Wednesday largely did not come from that sum, but he did move it. Shortly before his petcoin contributions, the founder transferred $1.3 billion in Ether from his public address—which he disclosed back in 2018—to a new contract separate address created just hours before. The exchange amounted to nearly all of his ETH holdings; by early afternoon, Buterin’s public address held just $10,000 in Ether. Some crypto strategists suggested to Forbes that the new address provides greater security and privacy, but the motivation for the transfer remains unclear. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. || Crypto Mogul Vitalik Buterin’s $1B Donation of ‘Petcoins’ to Charity Backfires: Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photo Getty The world’s youngest crypto billionaire donated approximately $1.5 billion to a COVID relief fund and other charities—paid out almost entirely in a selection of meme cryptocurrencies named for different dog breeds that then tanked in value. Vitalik Buterin , whose personal fortune first surpassed $1 billion early last week, donated several kinds of cryptocurrencies, three of which are dog-themed and created largely as jokes: Shiba Inu (SHIB), Akita Inu (AKITA), and Dogelon (ELON). The gifts were collectively valued around $1.5 billion at the time they were made. But within hours of the transactions, the meme coins’ prices plunged—in no small part due to the billionaire’s massive transfers. In a neat illustration of crypto’s volatility, Buterin’s donations effectively depreciated themselves. Meet the World’s Youngest Crypto Billionaire Buterin, 27, is the founder of Ethereum, an open source blockchain whose native token, Ether (ETH), is the second-most valuable cryptocurrency and only legitimate rival of Bitcoin. The founder’s wealth is mostly vested in his creation, but over the past year, he has also been gifted so-called “ petcoins ” as part of a hokey marketing stunt. The canine-related tokens are knockoffs of the meme currency Dogecoin (DOGE), which spiked to record-breaking highs over the past month, thanks in part to repeated promotion from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Dogecoin, which has fallen in price since Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live , is now the sixth-most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to Crypto Slate . The copycat coins tried to capitalize on the Doge frenzy—in SHIB’s “woofpaper,” or whitepaper, the creators dubbed it the “Dogecoin killer”—with some success. SHIB, which boasted a market cap of $0 on May 7, spiked to nearly $14 billion on May 10, according to Coin Market Cap . In an apparent bid to publicize their coins, the creators of SHIB, AKITA, ELON, as well as some other petcoins like HuskyToken (HUSKY) and Bulldog (BDOG), gifted Buterin large quantities: in each case, 50 percent of the total coin supply. SHIB’s creators claimed this had “burned” the coins—or taken them out of circulation to create scarcity. Story continues But Buterin retained control of the funds. Because he held such large quantities of the coins’ total supply, some thought that attempts to offload them could have a drastic impact on their value. Even before the donation, critics mused that an exchange could prove fatal to the petcoins’ creators. “To be perfectly clear,” crypto Twitter account @Waronrugs wrote back in January, “Vitalik can rug you.” ℹ️ We got a lot of requests to look into it, so we looked into it. Of course, the price volatility is currently extremely high so think twice before going in. This tweet isn’t an endorsement or financial advice of any kind. We’re only publishing the results of our findings. — #WARONRUGS❌ (@WARONRUGS) January 30, 2021 On Wednesday, according to data collected by the blockchain tracker Etherscan, Buterin doled out massive quantities of petcoins to a smattering of nonprofits and foundations, including the India Crypto Covid Relief Fund, the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, the open source bounties platform Gitcoin, the charity evaluator GiveWell, and the Methuselah Foundation, a lifespan-extension research group focused, according to their website , on “making 90 the new 50 by 2030.” Within hours, the petcoins’ prices sank. Dogelon Mars fell by nearly 95 percent , before recovering some of the loss. Buterin’s largest contribution, 50 trillion SHIB to the India Crypto Covid Relief Fund, had been worth just over $1 billion at the time of the transaction, according to Etherscan estimates . Within an hour, SHIB’s price had dropped by 30 percent. In spite of the slump, Shiba Token’s creators released a statement of support for the gesture, insisting that Buterin was not “dumping” the token. Instead, they wrote on Twitter, he had “just brought invaluable legitimacy” to the token, illustrating that it was more than a memecoin. The India Crypto Covid Relief Fund added that it plans to execute a “thoughtful liquidation,” converting the donation in a slow, staggered manner, to ensure that the price does not sink further and eliminate its value. (Transparency Update) We thank @VitalikButerin for his donation of 50,693,552,078,053 SHIBA to @CryptoRelief_ . We plan to do a thoughtful liquidation to ensure we meet our COVID relief goals. We have decided to convert the donation slowly over a period of time. (1/x) — India's Crypto Covid Relief Fund 🇮🇳 (@CryptoRelief_) May 12, 2021 The India Crypto Covid Relief Fund was the primary beneficiary of Buterin’s donations. The fund was set up by Sandeep Nailwal, founder of the Ethereum-affiliate Polygon, to help direct donations to COVID-19 relief in India, where case numbers have spiked to heights rivaled only by the United States. Buterin had donated to the fund before; when Nailwal first set it up back in April, the Ethereum founder contributed about $600,000 in Ether and another cryptocurrency called Maker (MKR). According to Etherscan records , Buterin also donated approximately $375 million in AKITA to Gitcoin, an Ethereum-based “bounties” platform that helps open source developers get paid for their work. At the time of the transactions, the value of Buterin’s meme coin donations rivaled that of his personal Ether fortune. Early last week, he became the latest entry to the billionaire club, when Ether’s price surpassed $3,000, putting his holdings of some 335,000 ETH at a value of approximately $1.3 billion. Buterin’s donations on Wednesday largely did not come from that sum, but he did move it. Shortly before his petcoin contributions, the founder transferred $1.3 billion in Ether from his public address—which he disclosed back in 2018—to a new contract separate address created just hours before. The exchange amounted to nearly all of his ETH holdings; by early afternoon, Buterin’s public address held just $10,000 in Ether. Some crypto strategists suggested to Forbes that the new address provides greater security and privacy, but the motivation for the transfer remains unclear. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. || 4 Top Stock Trades for Friday: TSLA, AMD, GOOS, SONO: After falling in three-straight sessions despite new all-time highs on Monday, equities found their footing and rallied on Thursday. Will the momentum last into the weekend or is it just a dead-cat bounce? With all of that in mind, let’s look at some top stock trades for Friday. Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow No. 1: Tesla (TSLA) Top stock trades for TSLA Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of TrendSpider Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA ) has been stalling lately, working on its fourth-straight daily decline and its eighth decline in the past nine trading sessions. CEO Elon Musk’s comments toward Bitcoin (CCC: BTC-USD ) don’t seem to be helping either. In any regard, shares are breaking below this week’s low, as well as the 200-day moving average. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips This would be a natural spot for bulls to push for a reversal and given the bounce we’re seeing from the lows, it’s clear that’s what they’re trying to do. If they can, look for Tesla to reclaim the 200-day moving average. Confirmation would come on a daily-up reversal over Thursday’s high. 7 Great Growth Stocks to Consider for Your Short List If they can’t trigger a reversal, Tesla may need to go lower. In that case, let’s see if we get a test of the March lows near $539 and a test of the 50-week moving average. If that doesn’t provide a bounce, the $500 breakout area may be in play. Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow No. 2: AMD (AMD) Top stock trades for AMD Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of TrendSpider Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD ) continues to do well from a business standpoint, but unfortunately, nobody really cares about that right now. AMD is considered a growth stock, and growth stocks are getting slammed. Shares are testing into — and are actually breaking below — range support near $74. I would love to see the stock hold this mark by the end of the week. If it doesn’t, it runs the risk of becoming resistance. A notable move lower could put the 21-week moving average in play. On a rebound back over $74, look for AMD stock to test into the 10-week moving average, then challenge $80. Story continues Above all of these marks puts $87 on the table. Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow No. 3: Canada Goose (GOOS) Top stock trades for GOOS Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of TrendSpider Canada Goose (NYSE: GOOS ) is getting hit hard on Thursday, down almost 9% after reporting earnings. The stock has faded below a number of key moving averages and knifed right through its 21-week moving average on the day. However, it’s finding buyers at the April lows. If this area ends up holding, I want to see GOOS stock reclaim its 21-week moving average. If it can do that, buyers can consider a long position against the post-earnings low. Back above $40 and its 10-week and 50-day moving averages are some reasonable upside targets. 7 Safe Stocks to Buy as Janet Yellen Talks Rate Hikes However, if Canada Goose fails to hold the April low and pushes lower, the gap-fill near $36 and the 200-day moving average may be in the cards. Stay nimble and remain open-minded here. Top Trades for Tomorrow No. 4: Sonos (SONO) Top stock trades for SONO Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of TrendSpider Sonos (NASDAQ: SONO ) is also on the move after earnings, up more than 7% on the day. However, it’s been a wild mover on Thursday. There’s good and bad with this chart. For instance, the stock filled its gap at $32.88 earlier this week. However, it then broke below that low with Wednesday’s decline. But then on Thursday shares went daily-up and undid a lot of damage. Then the stock faded from the highs, though. Like I said, it’s a mixed bag here. On the plus side, the stock is well off the lows. Unfortunately, though, Thursday’s fade came from a notable area. Specifically, the $35 area continues to act as resistance, while the 21-week moving average didn’t do SONO stock any favors. This area was also strong support earlier this year and it was the breakdown spot this week. I want to see Sonos reclaim $35 before trusting on the long side. If it does, we have a nice low to measure against. If the stock doesn’t reclaim $35 and breaks that low, it could put another gap-fill in play near $28, followed by the 200-day moving average. On the date of publication, Bret Kenwell held a long position in AMD. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines . Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell . More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential 500% Winner Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now The post 4 Top Stock Trades for Friday: TSLA, AMD, GOOS, SONO appeared first on InvestorPlace . || 4 Top Stock Trades for Friday: TSLA, AMD, GOOS, SONO: After falling in three-straight sessions despite new all-time highs on Monday, equities found their footing and rallied on Thursday. Will the momentum last into the weekend or is it just a dead-cat bounce? With all of that in mind, let’s look at some top stock trades for Friday.
Click to Enlarge
Source: Chart courtesy ofTrendSpider
Tesla(NASDAQ:TSLA) has been stalling lately, working on its fourth-straight daily decline and its eighth decline in the past nine trading sessions. CEO Elon Musk’s comments towardBitcoin(CCC:BTC-USD) don’t seem to be helping either.
In any regard, shares are breaking below this week’s low, as well as the 200-day moving average.
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
This would be a natural spot for bulls to push for a reversal and given the bounce we’re seeing from the lows, it’s clear that’s what they’re trying to do. If they can, look for Tesla to reclaim the 200-day moving average.
Confirmation would come on a daily-up reversal over Thursday’s high.
• 7 Great Growth Stocks to Consider for Your Short List
If they can’t trigger a reversal, Tesla may need to go lower. In that case, let’s see if we get a test of the March lows near $539 and a test of the 50-week moving average. If that doesn’t provide a bounce, the $500 breakout area may be in play.
Click to Enlarge
Source: Chart courtesy ofTrendSpider
Advanced Micro Devices(NASDAQ:AMD) continues to do well from a business standpoint, but unfortunately, nobody really cares about that right now. AMD is considered a growth stock, and growth stocks are getting slammed.
Shares are testing into — and are actually breaking below — range support near $74. I would love to see the stock hold this mark by the end of the week. If it doesn’t, it runs the risk of becoming resistance.
A notable move lower could put the 21-week moving average in play. On a rebound back over $74, look for AMD stock to test into the 10-week moving average, then challenge $80.
Above all of these marks puts $87 on the table.
Click to Enlarge
Source: Chart courtesy ofTrendSpider
Canada Goose(NYSE:GOOS) is getting hit hard on Thursday, down almost 9% after reporting earnings. The stock has faded below a number of key moving averages and knifed right through its 21-week moving average on the day.
However, it’s finding buyers at the April lows. If this area ends up holding, I want to see GOOS stock reclaim its 21-week moving average. If it can do that, buyers can consider a long position against the post-earnings low.
Back above $40 and its 10-week and 50-day moving averages are some reasonable upside targets.
• 7 Safe Stocks to Buy as Janet Yellen Talks Rate Hikes
However, if Canada Goose fails to hold the April low and pushes lower, the gap-fill near $36 and the 200-day moving average may be in the cards. Stay nimble and remain open-minded here.
Click to Enlarge
Source: Chart courtesy ofTrendSpider
Sonos(NASDAQ:SONO) is also on the move after earnings, up more than 7% on the day. However, it’s been a wild mover on Thursday.
There’s good and bad with this chart. For instance, the stock filled its gap at $32.88 earlier this week. However, it then broke below that low with Wednesday’s decline.
But then on Thursday shares went daily-up and undid a lot of damage. Then the stock faded from the highs, though.
Like I said, it’s a mixed bag here.
On the plus side, the stock is well off the lows. Unfortunately, though, Thursday’s fade came from a notable area. Specifically, the $35 area continues to act as resistance, while the 21-week moving average didn’t do SONO stock any favors. This area was also strong support earlier this year and it was the breakdown spot this week.
I want to see Sonos reclaim $35 before trusting on the long side. If it does, we have a nice low to measure against.
If the stock doesn’t reclaim $35 and breaks that low, it could put another gap-fill in play near $28, followed by the 200-day moving average.
On the date of publication, Bret Kenwell held a long position in AMD. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.comPublishing Guidelines.
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author ofFuture Blue Chipsand is on Twitter@BretKenwell.
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The post4 Top Stock Trades for Friday: TSLA, AMD, GOOS, SONOappeared first onInvestorPlace. || Coinbase to Add Dogecoin in the Next 6-8 Weeks: Coinbase will add meme-based cryptocurrency dogecoin to its list of tradable assets, CEO Brian Armstrong said on the company’s Q1 earnings call Thursday. “We plan to list DOGE in the next six to eight weeks,” Armstrong said in response to an analyst question. “And then more broadly, we’re going to be focused on how we can accelerate asset addition in the future.” Software engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus launched dogecoin in 2013 as a joke to mock cryptocurrencies’ speculative nature and engage a wider audience than bitcoin . Featuring a cheery looking Shiba Inu, a small Japanese hunting dog, the coin initially drew a small but loyal following, although its price languished at under a penny until earlier this year. Related: Coinbase Rated ‘Overweight’ in Initial Coverage by Piper Sandler: Report Over the past six weeks, retail investor interest plus DOGE-friendly tweets by billionaire Elon Musk have sent the coin’s price soaring as high as $0.71 on May 5, although it fell under $0.40 shortly after, amid a cryptocurrency pricing freefall. Related Stories Dogecoin Jumps 22% as Elon Musk Hints at Improving Network’s Transaction Efficiency Coinbase to Speed Up Process for Approving New Coins, Add DOGE: CEO Market Wrap: Bitcoin Falls for Second Straight Day After Tesla Action; Ether Follows || Coinbase to Add Dogecoin in the Next 6-8 Weeks: Coinbase will add meme-based cryptocurrencydogecointo its list of tradable assets, CEO Brian Armstrong said on the company’sQ1 earningscall Thursday.
“We plan to list DOGE in the next six to eight weeks,” Armstrongsaidin response to an analyst question. “And then more broadly, we’re going to be focused on how we can accelerate asset addition in the future.”
Software engineers Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus launched dogecoin in 2013 as a joke to mock cryptocurrencies’ speculative nature and engage a wider audience thanbitcoin. Featuring a cheery looking Shiba Inu, a small Japanese hunting dog, the coin initially drew a small but loyal following, although its price languished at under a penny until earlier this year.
Related:Coinbase Rated ‘Overweight’ in Initial Coverage by Piper Sandler: Report
Over the past six weeks, retail investor interest plus DOGE-friendly tweets by billionaire Elon Musk have sent the coin’s price soaring as high as $0.71 on May 5, although it fell under $0.40 shortly after, amid a cryptocurrency pricing freefall.
• Dogecoin Jumps 22% as Elon Musk Hints at Improving Network’s Transaction Efficiency
• Coinbase to Speed Up Process for Approving New Coins, Add DOGE: CEO
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Falls for Second Straight Day After Tesla Action; Ether Follows || Fintech Focus For May 14, 2021: Fintech Header Quote To Start The Day: “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” Source: Walt Disney One Big Thing In Fintech: An activist short seller has written a letter to the chief executive of insurance giant Lemonade with details of an “accidentally discovered” security flaw that exposes customers’ account data. Source: TechCrunch Other Key Fintech Developments: BTC energy consumption analysis . More startups, VCs target lending. Modern Treasury adds partnership. Rho intros flexible corporate card. Steve Cohen to enter into crypto. MovoCash launches banking app. Atom is looking to add know-how. US Bank, Plaid dealing over data. PayPal expands Google relations. LendingClub, FinTron teamed up. Miami rolls out red carpet for BTC. Top fintech VC portfolios revealed . TransFICC, SoftSolutions add tech. Treasury Prime adds $20M round. Cedar eyeing a move to insurance. How Apex is driving the digital shift. Binance faces IRS investigations. PayPal has bought Happy Returns. Triterras appoints new leadership. BoE governor says CBDC is likely . Fanbase is raising on StartEngine. MoneyLion, NFP have teamed up. Watch Out For This: United States President Joe Biden said on Thursday the cyberattack that shut down the US’s largest gasoline pipeline early this week had originated from Russia. Source: Al Jazeera Interesting Reads: Spatial launched a VR/AR platform. Canada’s housing market is hotter ? Fund managers worry over inflation. Junk food ads infringe your privacy. Market Moving Headline: After months of cheerleading for Bitcoin, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told his 54.3 million Twitter followers on Wednesday that the electric vehicle maker is hitting the brakes on allowing customers to use Bitcoin as payment. “We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Musk wrote on Wednesday. Source: Al Jazeera See more from Benzinga Click here for options trades from Benzinga Fintech Focus For May 13, 2021 MedTech Spotlight: BIOHM Health Launches Interactive Gut Assessment Tool © 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Fintech Focus For May 14, 2021: Quote To Start The Day:“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
Source:Walt Disney
One Big Thing In Fintech:An activist short seller has written a letter to the chief executive of insurance giant Lemonade with details of an “accidentally discovered” security flaw that exposes customers’ account data.
Source:TechCrunch
Other Key Fintech Developments:
• BTC energy consumptionanalysis.
• More startups, VCstargetlending.
• Modern Treasuryaddspartnership.
• Rhointrosflexible corporate card.
• Steve Cohen toenterinto crypto.
• MovoCashlaunchesbanking app.
• Atom is looking toaddknow-how.
• US Bank, Plaiddealingover data.
• PayPalexpandsGoogle relations.
• LendingClub, FinTronteamedup.
• Miamirollsout red carpet for BTC.
• Top fintech VC portfoliosrevealed.
• TransFICC, SoftSolutionsaddtech.
• Treasury Primeadds$20M round.
• Cedareyeinga move to insurance.
• HowApex is driving the digital shift.
• BinancefacesIRS investigations.
• PayPal hasboughtHappy Returns.
• Triterrasappointsnew leadership.
• BoE governor says CBDC islikely.
• Fanbase israisingon StartEngine.
• MoneyLion, NFP haveteamedup.
Watch Out For This:United States President Joe Biden said on Thursday the cyberattack that shut down the US’s largest gasoline pipeline early this week had originated from Russia.
Source:Al Jazeera
Interesting Reads:
• Spatiallauncheda VR/AR platform.
• Canada’s housing market ishotter?
• Fund managersworryover inflation.
• Junk food adsinfringeyour privacy.
Market Moving Headline:After months of cheerleading for Bitcoin, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told his 54.3 million Twitter followers on Wednesday that the electric vehicle maker is hitting the brakes on allowing customers to use Bitcoin as payment.
“We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” Musk wrote on Wednesday.
Source:Al Jazeera
See more from Benzinga
• Click here for options trades from Benzinga
• Fintech Focus For May 13, 2021
• MedTech Spotlight: BIOHM Health Launches Interactive Gut Assessment Tool
© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || VanEck, Waiting for Verdict on Bitcoin ETF, Starts Taking Private Crypto Bets: Mutual fund manager VanEck has begun stashing selectbitcoinbets in a private crypto fund, courting well-heeled investors while the firm waits for a verdict on its latest bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) bid.
The debut adds another investment firm to the list of banks and firms with private bitcoin fund offerings on their books.JPMorganandMorgan Stanley, two Wall Street heavyweights, both entered crypto through private funds.
“VanEck Bitcoin Tracker Fund, LP” held one $10 million investment Thursday, according to regulatorydocumentsfiled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Gemini Trust Co. is providing custody services for the fund, which charges a 1% fee and is open only to accredited investors and certain offshore accounts, according to offeringdocumentsreviewed by CoinDesk. The $10 million appears to be seeded by VanEck and its affiliates, according to one of the documents.
Related:Bitwise Launches ETF of 30 ‘Pure-Play’ Crypto Firms Like Coinbase, MicroStrategy
VanEck is hardly a newcomer to crypto. A specialist firm for mutual funds and ETFs, the New York company has tried (and failed) for many years to launch a bitcoin ETF in the U.S.
Such a product would be widely available to U.S. investors, as opposed to far more limited private funds. An ETF would give mom-and-pop investors exposure to bitcoin without those investors having to hold bitcoin itself.
VanEck did not immediately return CoinDesk’s calls for comment.
• SEC Staff Calls Bitcoin ‘Highly Speculative,’ Hints at ETF Skepticism
• Bloomberg Analyst ‘Optimistic’ on US Bitcoin ETF This Year
• Cboe Kicks Fidelity-Linked Bitcoin ETF Application to SEC || VanEck, Waiting for Verdict on Bitcoin ETF, Starts Taking Private Crypto Bets: Mutual fund manager VanEck has begun stashing selectbitcoinbets in a private crypto fund, courting well-heeled investors while the firm waits for a verdict on its latest bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) bid.
The debut adds another investment firm to the list of banks and firms with private bitcoin fund offerings on their books.JPMorganandMorgan Stanley, two Wall Street heavyweights, both entered crypto through private funds.
“VanEck Bitcoin Tracker Fund, LP” held one $10 million investment Thursday, according to regulatorydocumentsfiled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Gemini Trust Co. is providing custody services for the fund, which charges a 1% fee and is open only to accredited investors and certain offshore accounts, according to offeringdocumentsreviewed by CoinDesk. The $10 million appears to be seeded by VanEck and its affiliates, according to one of the documents.
Related:Bitwise Launches ETF of 30 ‘Pure-Play’ Crypto Firms Like Coinbase, MicroStrategy
VanEck is hardly a newcomer to crypto. A specialist firm for mutual funds and ETFs, the New York company has tried (and failed) for many years to launch a bitcoin ETF in the U.S.
Such a product would be widely available to U.S. investors, as opposed to far more limited private funds. An ETF would give mom-and-pop investors exposure to bitcoin without those investors having to hold bitcoin itself.
VanEck did not immediately return CoinDesk’s calls for comment.
• SEC Staff Calls Bitcoin ‘Highly Speculative,’ Hints at ETF Skepticism
• Bloomberg Analyst ‘Optimistic’ on US Bitcoin ETF This Year
• Cboe Kicks Fidelity-Linked Bitcoin ETF Application to SEC
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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46760.19, 46456.06, 43537.51, 42909.40, 37002.44, 40782.74, 37304.69, 37536.63, 34770.58, 38705.98
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 45137.77, 49631.24, 48378.99, 50538.24, 48561.17, 48927.30, 48912.38, 51206.69, 52246.52, 54824.12, 56008.55, 57805.12, 57332.09, 61243.09, 59302.32, 55907.20, 56804.90, 58870.89, 57858.92, 58346.65, 58313.64, 57523.42, 54529.14, 54738.95, 52774.27, 51704.16, 55137.31, 55973.51, 55950.75, 57750.20, 58917.69, 58918.83, 59095.81, 59384.31, 57603.89, 58758.55, 59057.88, 58192.36, 56048.94, 58323.95, 58245.00, 59793.23, 60204.96, 59893.45, 63503.46, 63109.70, 63314.01, 61572.79, 60683.82, 56216.18, 55724.27, 56473.03, 53906.09, 51762.27, 51093.65, 50050.87, 49004.25, 54021.75, 55033.12, 54824.70, 53555.11, 57750.18, 57828.05, 56631.08, 57200.29, 53333.54, 57424.01, 56396.52, 57356.40, 58803.78, 58232.32, 55859.80, 56704.57, 49150.54, 49716.19, 49880.54, 46760.19, 46456.06, 43537.51, 42909.40, 37002.44, 40782.74, 37304.69, 37536.63, 34770.58, 38705.98, 38402.22, 39294.20, 38436.97, 35697.61.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-05-28]
Volume: 55200191952, RSI (14-day): 32.91, 50-day EMA: 48314.25, 200-day EMA: 41785.78
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1902.50, Gold RSI: 74.89
Oil Price: 66.32, Oil RSI: 57.11
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Ark's Wood says bitcoin ESG push makes solar more appealing: By David Randall
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A push toward relying more on renewable energy for bitcoin mining could make the underperforming solar industry more attractive, star fund manager Cathie Wood said at a cryptocurrency conference Thursday.
The value of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, has dropped approximately 30% this month due in part to concerns that its negative environmental impacts will discourage companies from adopting it on their balance sheets. Billionaire and Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a May 13 tweet that the electric car maker will no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment due to the "insane" amount of energy used to produce it.
Ark Invest CEO Wood said in an appearance at Coindesk's Consensus 2021 conference that bitcoin miners switching to renewable energy sources "will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place."
That could make the solar industry more attractive, Wood said. Ark does not currently invest in solar stocks because it is not clear that the industry could be profitable within five years without subsidies, she said.
"We have not really been able to say that in a big way about solar, this dynamic might change that. So I'm actually quite excited about it," Wood said.
Solar stocks are badly underperforming the broad stock market after rallying last year. The Invesco Solar ETF, for example, is down nearly 23% for the year to date, while the benchmark S&P 500 index is up nearly 12%.
Wood, whose Ark Innovation ETF was the best-performing U.S. equity fund in 2020, became a household name last year through her outsized bets on stocks that thrived during the pandemic such as Zoom Video Communications Inc and Tesla.
Yet her performance has stagnated since the beginning of the year as value stocks, which tend to be in cyclical sectors of the economy like financials and energy, have outperformed.
Wood’s flagship fund is down nearly 30% from its peak in early February and is down slightly more than 10% for the year.
Wood, one of Wall Street's most noted cryptocurrency bulls, has said that she expects bitcoin to eventually reach $500,000. The cryptocurrency traded around $39,500 Thursday.
Ark has hired an ether miner on its analyst team as part of an expanding focus on cryptocurrencies, Wood said on Thursday, while predicting that deflation will lift the value of bitcoin by putting pressure on the currencies of commodity-dependent emerging market countries.
"I wouldn't be surprised if some of these emerging market central banks start accumulating Bitcoin and other currencies because they if they know their currencies are going down ... they will be under attack as reserves go down," she said.
(Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Marguerita Choy) || Ark's Wood says bitcoin ESG push makes solar more appealing: By David Randall NEW YORK (Reuters) - A push toward relying more on renewable energy for bitcoin mining could make the underperforming solar industry more attractive, star fund manager Cathie Wood said at a cryptocurrency conference Thursday. The value of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, has dropped approximately 30% this month due in part to concerns that its negative environmental impacts will discourage companies from adopting it on their balance sheets. Billionaire and Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a May 13 tweet that the electric car maker will no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment due to the "insane" amount of energy used to produce it. Ark Invest CEO Wood said in an appearance at Coindesk's Consensus 2021 conference that bitcoin miners switching to renewable energy sources "will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place." That could make the solar industry more attractive, Wood said. Ark does not currently invest in solar stocks because it is not clear that the industry could be profitable within five years without subsidies, she said. "We have not really been able to say that in a big way about solar, this dynamic might change that. So I'm actually quite excited about it," Wood said. Solar stocks are badly underperforming the broad stock market after rallying last year. The Invesco Solar ETF, for example, is down nearly 23% for the year to date, while the benchmark S&P 500 index is up nearly 12%. Wood, whose Ark Innovation ETF was the best-performing U.S. equity fund in 2020, became a household name last year through her outsized bets on stocks that thrived during the pandemic such as Zoom Video Communications Inc and Tesla. Yet her performance has stagnated since the beginning of the year as value stocks, which tend to be in cyclical sectors of the economy like financials and energy, have outperformed. Story continues Woods flagship fund is down nearly 30% from its peak in early February and is down slightly more than 10% for the year. Wood, one of Wall Street's most noted cryptocurrency bulls, has said that she expects bitcoin to eventually reach $500,000. The cryptocurrency traded around $39,500 Thursday. Ark has hired an ether miner on its analyst team as part of an expanding focus on cryptocurrencies, Wood said on Thursday, while predicting that deflation will lift the value of bitcoin by putting pressure on the currencies of commodity-dependent emerging market countries. "I wouldn't be surprised if some of these emerging market central banks start accumulating Bitcoin and other currencies because they if they know their currencies are going down ... they will be under attack as reserves go down," she said. (Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Marguerita Choy) || Ark's Wood says bitcoin ESG push makes solar more appealing: By David Randall
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A push toward relying more on renewable energy for bitcoin mining could make the underperforming solar industry more attractive, star fund manager Cathie Wood said at a cryptocurrency conference Thursday.
The value of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, has dropped approximately 30% this month due in part to concerns that its negative environmental impacts will discourage companies from adopting it on their balance sheets. Billionaire and Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a May 13 tweet that the electric car maker will no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment due to the "insane" amount of energy used to produce it.
Ark Invest CEO Wood said in an appearance at Coindesk's Consensus 2021 conference that bitcoin miners switching to renewable energy sources "will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place."
That could make the solar industry more attractive, Wood said. Ark does not currently invest in solar stocks because it is not clear that the industry could be profitable within five years without subsidies, she said.
"We have not really been able to say that in a big way about solar, this dynamic might change that. So I'm actually quite excited about it," Wood said.
Solar stocks are badly underperforming the broad stock market after rallying last year. The Invesco Solar ETF, for example, is down nearly 23% for the year to date, while the benchmark S&P 500 index is up nearly 12%.
Wood, whose Ark Innovation ETF was the best-performing U.S. equity fund in 2020, became a household name last year through her outsized bets on stocks that thrived during the pandemic such as Zoom Video Communications Inc and Tesla.
Yet her performance has stagnated since the beginning of the year as value stocks, which tend to be in cyclical sectors of the economy like financials and energy, have outperformed.
Wood’s flagship fund is down nearly 30% from its peak in early February and is down slightly more than 10% for the year.
Wood, one of Wall Street's most noted cryptocurrency bulls, has said that she expects bitcoin to eventually reach $500,000. The cryptocurrency traded around $39,500 Thursday.
Ark has hired an ether miner on its analyst team as part of an expanding focus on cryptocurrencies, Wood said on Thursday, while predicting that deflation will lift the value of bitcoin by putting pressure on the currencies of commodity-dependent emerging market countries.
"I wouldn't be surprised if some of these emerging market central banks start accumulating Bitcoin and other currencies because they if they know their currencies are going down ... they will be under attack as reserves go down," she said.
(Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Marguerita Choy) || Ark's Wood says bitcoin ESG push makes solar more appealing: By David Randall NEW YORK (Reuters) - A push toward relying more on renewable energy for bitcoin mining could make the underperforming solar industry more attractive, star fund manager Cathie Wood said at a cryptocurrency conference Thursday. The value of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, has dropped approximately 30% this month due in part to concerns that its negative environmental impacts will discourage companies from adopting it on their balance sheets. Billionaire and Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a May 13 tweet that the electric car maker will no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment due to the "insane" amount of energy used to produce it. Ark Invest CEO Wood said in an appearance at Coindesk's Consensus 2021 conference that bitcoin miners switching to renewable energy sources "will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place." That could make the solar industry more attractive, Wood said. Ark does not currently invest in solar stocks because it is not clear that the industry could be profitable within five years without subsidies, she said. "We have not really been able to say that in a big way about solar, this dynamic might change that. So I'm actually quite excited about it," Wood said. Solar stocks are badly underperforming the broad stock market after rallying last year. The Invesco Solar ETF, for example, is down nearly 23% for the year to date, while the benchmark S&P 500 index is up nearly 12%. Wood, whose Ark Innovation ETF was the best-performing U.S. equity fund in 2020, became a household name last year through her outsized bets on stocks that thrived during the pandemic such as Zoom Video Communications Inc and Tesla. Yet her performance has stagnated since the beginning of the year as value stocks, which tend to be in cyclical sectors of the economy like financials and energy, have outperformed. Story continues Woods flagship fund is down nearly 30% from its peak in early February and is down slightly more than 10% for the year. Wood, one of Wall Street's most noted cryptocurrency bulls, has said that she expects bitcoin to eventually reach $500,000. The cryptocurrency traded around $39,500 Thursday. Ark has hired an ether miner on its analyst team as part of an expanding focus on cryptocurrencies, Wood said on Thursday, while predicting that deflation will lift the value of bitcoin by putting pressure on the currencies of commodity-dependent emerging market countries. "I wouldn't be surprised if some of these emerging market central banks start accumulating Bitcoin and other currencies because they if they know their currencies are going down ... they will be under attack as reserves go down," she said. (Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Marguerita Choy) || Ark's Wood says bitcoin ESG push makes solar more appealing: By David Randall NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - A push toward relying more on renewable energy for bitcoin mining could make the underperforming solar industry more attractive, star fund manager Cathie Wood said at a cryptocurrency conference Thursday. The value of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, has dropped approximately 30% this month due in part to concerns that its negative environmental impacts will discourage companies from adopting it on their balance sheets. Billionaire and Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a May 13 tweet that the electric car maker will no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment due to the "insane" amount of energy used to produce it. Ark Invest CEO Wood said in an appearance at Coindesk's Consensus 2021 conference that bitcoin miners switching to renewable energy sources "will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place." That could make the solar industry more attractive, Wood said. Ark does not currently invest in solar stocks because it is not clear that the industry could be profitable within five years without subsidies, she said. "We have not really been able to say that in a big way about solar, this dynamic might change that. So I'm actually quite excited about it," Wood said. Solar stocks are badly underperforming the broad stock market after rallying last year. The Invesco Solar ETF, for example, is down nearly 23% for the year to date, while the benchmark S&P 500 index is up nearly 12%. Wood, whose Ark Innovation ETF was the best-performing U.S. equity fund in 2020, became a household name last year through her outsized bets on stocks that thrived during the pandemic such as Zoom Video Communications Inc and Tesla. Yet her performance has stagnated since the beginning of the year as value stocks, which tend to be in cyclical sectors of the economy like financials and energy, have outperformed. Story continues Woods flagship fund is down nearly 30% from its peak in early February and is down slightly more than 10% for the year. Wood, one of Wall Street's most noted cryptocurrency bulls, has said that she expects bitcoin to eventually reach $500,000. The cryptocurrency traded around $39,500 Thursday. Ark has hired an ether miner on its analyst team as part of an expanding focus on cryptocurrencies, Wood said on Thursday, while predicting that deflation will lift the value of bitcoin by putting pressure on the currencies of commodity-dependent emerging market countries. "I wouldn't be surprised if some of these emerging market central banks start accumulating Bitcoin and other currencies because they if they know their currencies are going down ... they will be under attack as reserves go down," she said. (Reporting by David Randall Editing by Marguerita Choy) || Ark's Wood says bitcoin ESG push makes solar more appealing: By David Randall
NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - A push toward relying more on renewable energy for bitcoin mining could make the underperforming solar industry more attractive, star fund manager Cathie Wood said at a cryptocurrency conference Thursday.
The value of bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, has dropped approximately 30% this month due in part to concerns that its negative environmental impacts will discourage companies from adopting it on their balance sheets. Billionaire and Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a May 13 tweet that the electric car maker will no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment due to the "insane" amount of energy used to produce it.
Ark Invest CEO Wood said in an appearance at Coindesk's Consensus 2021 conference that bitcoin miners switching to renewable energy sources "will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place."
That could make the solar industry more attractive, Wood said. Ark does not currently invest in solar stocks because it is not clear that the industry could be profitable within five years without subsidies, she said.
"We have not really been able to say that in a big way about solar, this dynamic might change that. So I'm actually quite excited about it," Wood said.
Solar stocks are badly underperforming the broad stock market after rallying last year. The Invesco Solar ETF, for example, is down nearly 23% for the year to date, while the benchmark S&P 500 index is up nearly 12%.
Wood, whose Ark Innovation ETF was the best-performing U.S. equity fund in 2020, became a household name last year through her outsized bets on stocks that thrived during the pandemic such as Zoom Video Communications Inc and Tesla.
Yet her performance has stagnated since the beginning of the year as value stocks, which tend to be in cyclical sectors of the economy like financials and energy, have outperformed.
Wood’s flagship fund is down nearly 30% from its peak in early February and is down slightly more than 10% for the year.
Wood, one of Wall Street's most noted cryptocurrency bulls, has said that she expects bitcoin to eventually reach $500,000. The cryptocurrency traded around $39,500 Thursday.
Ark has hired an ether miner on its analyst team as part of an expanding focus on cryptocurrencies, Wood said on Thursday, while predicting that deflation will lift the value of bitcoin by putting pressure on the currencies of commodity-dependent emerging market countries.
"I wouldn't be surprised if some of these emerging market central banks start accumulating Bitcoin and other currencies because they if they know their currencies are going down ... they will be under attack as reserves go down," she said. (Reporting by David Randall Editing by Marguerita Choy) || Ark’s Cathie Wood Blames Crypto Crash on ‘ESG Movement’: Elon Musk and the “ESG movement” are responsible for the recent drop in cryptocurrency prices, an influential fund manager told CoinDesk’s Consensus 2021 conference today.
Cathie Wood, the founder of Ark Investment Management, saidbitcoin– which has lost up to 50% of its value in the last few weeks – has come under pressure from institutional investors concerned about its environmental profile.
“It was precipitated by the ESG [environmental, social and governance] movement and this notion, which was exacerbated by Elon Musk, that there are some real environmental problems with the mining of bitcoin. A lot of institutional buying went on pause,” she told Nathaniel Whittemore in a pre-recorded interview broadcast Thursday.
Related:What $DESK Says About Scarcity, Value and Money
Musk, who had buoyed markets by saying Tesla wouldbuy bitcoin for its treasuryand accept it as payment for its cars, reversed course on the latter, sendingprices downwards.
“Elon probably got a few calls from institutions,” Wood said. “I noticed that BlackRock is [Tesla]’s number three shareholder and Larry Fink is the CEO. He is focused on ESG and especially on climate change. I’m sure BlackRock registered some complaints and perhaps there are some very large holders in Europe who are extremely sensitive to this.”
Wood, a storied innovation investor, remains confident in the future of Bitcoin, which she described as the first rules-based “global monetary system in the world.” Recently, speaking to Bloomberg, she forecast the cryptocurrencywill go to $500,000.
In her Consensus appearance Thursday, she predicted central banks will begin buying crypto assets for their balance sheets and that Musk will prove positive for bitcoin in the long term, improving its environmental profile.
Related:Cathie Wood on Where Bitcoin Fits in a World With Deflation Rather Than Inflation
“He has encouraged a lot more conversation, a lot more analytical thinking. And I do believe he’s going to become a part of the process,” she said.
Prominent figures likeLawrence SummersandRay Daliohave recently warned that government and central bank spending could push up inflation this year. But Wood, who is known for bucking conventional wisdom, said deflation is more likely. She predicted a “significant” fall in commodity prices and that technology like artificial intelligence and blockchain will serve to hold down business costs.
“As time goes on here, we are thinking that the much higher probability is deflation. I know most people think that’s crazy, given what’s going on. But we have seen a crack in some commodity prices already,” she said.
That, in turn, could lead some policymakers in emerging markets, or even the eurozone, to adopt hard money, including bitcoin.
“In emerging markets, if commodity prices come down, a lot of them are linked to commodity prices [and] their currencies will come under pressure,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these emerging market central banks start accumulating bitcoin … because they know their currencies are going down, and that they will be under attack as reserves go down.”
In his own appearance at Consensus this week, Daliosaidbitcoin could become a victim of its own success: that governments will try to ban it as it becomes a competitive threat. But Wood said governments have learned that innovation is key to long-term growth and that technology, be it cryptocurrency and the internet before it, can’t really be stopped.
“They’re all trying to say, ‘Let’s have a better regulatory footprint here so that we attract more innovation.’ And I think that is going to happen with, or already is happening with, cryptocurrencies,” she said.
Wood said she was “very happy” to see Gary Gensler, who is known to be open-minded toward cryptocurrency, installed as the new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, alongside Valerie A. Szczepanik, who leads the body’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology.
Wood said bitcoin has proved itself as a store of value and a way to protect against wealth confiscation. She said it had the potential to be a settlement network following the introduction of layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network. But Ark is increasingly focused onethereum, having invested in Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust and hired an Ethereum miner to its fintech analysis team. (Grayscale is a unit of Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk.)“We’re intrigued by stablecoins and [decentralized finance], of course, and [non-fungible tokens]. And we’re also very interested that developers are migrating very, very quickly [to Ethereum]. I always say to our analysts, ‘Follow the developers, let’s see what they’re doing.’ Because that’s a very loud signal,” Wood told Whittemore.
As for Musk, Wood said he would help bitcoin miners to “green” their operations. “This auditing of what miners, certainly in North America, are willing to do around how much of their electricity usage is generated by renewables is going to bring that topic into stark relief. It will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place.”
As described in a recentSquare-Ark white paper, mining and renewables can grow in tandem, with bitcoin acting as a “battery” to soak up excess electricity produced from intermittent sources like solar and wind, Wood said. In effect, mining can help fund renewables and make solar more attractive to innovation investors including Ark.
Previously the firm didn’t see the potential to make big returns from solar and wind, but now that might change. “I’m actually quite excited about it,” she said.
• State of Crypto: What Regulators Said at Consensus 2021
• Liquidity Mining Will Return to Uniswap ‘Very Soon,’ Founder Says || Arks Cathie Wood Blames Crypto Crash on ESG Movement: Elon Musk and the ESG movement are responsible for the recent drop in cryptocurrency prices, an influential fund manager told CoinDesks Consensus 2021 conference today. Cathie Wood, the founder of Ark Investment Management, said bitcoin which has lost up to 50% of its value in the last few weeks has come under pressure from institutional investors concerned about its environmental profile. It was precipitated by the ESG [environmental, social and governance] movement and this notion, which was exacerbated by Elon Musk, that there are some real environmental problems with the mining of bitcoin. A lot of institutional buying went on pause, she told Nathaniel Whittemore in a pre-recorded interview broadcast Thursday. Related: What $DESK Says About Scarcity, Value and Money Musk, who had buoyed markets by saying Tesla would buy bitcoin for its treasury and accept it as payment for its cars, reversed course on the latter, sending prices downwards . Elon probably got a few calls from institutions, Wood said. I noticed that BlackRock is [Tesla]s number three shareholder and Larry Fink is the CEO. He is focused on ESG and especially on climate change. Im sure BlackRock registered some complaints and perhaps there are some very large holders in Europe who are extremely sensitive to this. Wood, a storied innovation investor, remains confident in the future of Bitcoin, which she described as the first rules-based global monetary system in the world. Recently, speaking to Bloomberg, she forecast the cryptocurrency will go to $500,000 . In her Consensus appearance Thursday, she predicted central banks will begin buying crypto assets for their balance sheets and that Musk will prove positive for bitcoin in the long term, improving its environmental profile. Related: Cathie Wood on Where Bitcoin Fits in a World With Deflation Rather Than Inflation Story continues He has encouraged a lot more conversation, a lot more analytical thinking. And I do believe hes going to become a part of the process, she said. Deflationary environment Prominent figures like Lawrence Summers and Ray Dalio have recently warned that government and central bank spending could push up inflation this year. But Wood, who is known for bucking conventional wisdom, said deflation is more likely. She predicted a significant fall in commodity prices and that technology like artificial intelligence and blockchain will serve to hold down business costs. As time goes on here, we are thinking that the much higher probability is deflation. I know most people think thats crazy, given whats going on. But we have seen a crack in some commodity prices already, she said. That, in turn, could lead some policymakers in emerging markets, or even the eurozone, to adopt hard money, including bitcoin. In emerging markets, if commodity prices come down, a lot of them are linked to commodity prices [and] their currencies will come under pressure, she said. I wouldnt be surprised if some of these emerging market central banks start accumulating bitcoin
because they know their currencies are going down, and that they will be under attack as reserves go down. In his own appearance at Consensus this week, Dalio said bitcoin could become a victim of its own success: that governments will try to ban it as it becomes a competitive threat. But Wood said governments have learned that innovation is key to long-term growth and that technology, be it cryptocurrency and the internet before it, cant really be stopped. Theyre all trying to say, Lets have a better regulatory footprint here so that we attract more innovation. And I think that is going to happen with, or already is happening with, cryptocurrencies, she said. Wood said she was very happy to see Gary Gensler, who is known to be open-minded toward cryptocurrency, installed as the new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, alongside Valerie A. Szczepanik, who leads the bodys Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology. Wood said bitcoin has proved itself as a store of value and a way to protect against wealth confiscation. She said it had the potential to be a settlement network following the introduction of layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network. But Ark is increasingly focused on ethereum , having invested in Grayscales Ethereum Trust and hired an Ethereum miner to its fintech analysis team. (Grayscale is a unit of Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk.) Were intrigued by stablecoins and [decentralized finance], of course, and [non-fungible tokens]. And were also very interested that developers are migrating very, very quickly [to Ethereum]. I always say to our analysts, Follow the developers, lets see what theyre doing. Because thats a very loud signal, Wood told Whittemore. As for Musk, Wood said he would help bitcoin miners to green their operations. This auditing of what miners, certainly in North America, are willing to do around how much of their electricity usage is generated by renewables is going to bring that topic into stark relief. It will encourage an acceleration in the adoption of renewables beyond which otherwise would have taken the place. As described in a recent Square-Ark white paper , mining and renewables can grow in tandem, with bitcoin acting as a battery to soak up excess electricity produced from intermittent sources like solar and wind, Wood said. In effect, mining can help fund renewables and make solar more attractive to innovation investors including Ark. Previously the firm didnt see the potential to make big returns from solar and wind, but now that might change. Im actually quite excited about it, she said. Related Stories State of Crypto: What Regulators Said at Consensus 2021 Liquidity Mining Will Return to Uniswap Very Soon, Founder Says || The Node: Regulating Intermediaries in a DeFi World: Crypto is a spilled can of worms for regulators that should have been squished a decade ago. That was the message Jason Furman, a senior economist in the Obama administration, told theWashington Postthis week. It’s now a “$2 trillion monster,” he said.
The pace of innovation in crypto is difficult for regulators to keep up with, especially considering that, until now, there hasn’t been a proactive, cohesive, industry-wide attempt to manage the industry. Despite operating under a hodgepodge of rules, frameworks and recommendations, crypto has ballooned. And regulatory attention with it.
This article is excerpted fromThe Node, CoinDesk’s daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the fullnewsletter here.
Related:State of Crypto: What Regulators Said at Consensus 2021
“The existing framework is simply inapplicable to a system predicated on the absence of intermediaries,” Director of the Blockchain Association Kristin Smith said in an interview following her Consensus 2021 appearance. This is an important point: Decentralized tools exist as the antithesis of a financial system where trusted custodians are needed to manage one’s money.
There’s a strong argument that the technological advances in crypto fulfill the basic consumer, fraud and terrorist financing protections the old system was erected to perform.
Current regulations are designed to regulate intermediaries, Marc Boiron, general counsel for DyDx, said during a Consensus panel. When there is no intermediary to custody your assets, make trades on your behalf or manage your personal information, there’s no point, Boiron asked. “The faults of the old system” aren’t present in non-custodial, open information DeFi systems.
But it seems regulators have had a difficult time coming around to that view.
Related:Soulja Boy Tells ‘Em He Got Paid to Tweet
Smith said regulators are working overtime to try to fill the gaps and integrate novel financial and technological products under existing rules.
For instance, in the waning days of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Trump administration’s Treasury Department floated rules that would extend surveillance over certain transactions and “unhosted” (or non-custodial) wallets. The new head of the agency, Michael Mosier, who joined the public sector from crypto-analytics firm Chainalysis,said, “Nothing’s been decided” there.
Likewise, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said earlier this month that Congress ought to clarify cryptocurrency rules, without giving any specifics. The Treasury Department asked cryptocurrency companies to provide the Internal Revenue Service with more financial information.
Separately, FinCEN wants to better understand how privacy tools likezero-knowledge proofs(ZKP) and homomorphic encryption – popular among certain cryptocurrency protocols –workin fintechs, regtechs, venture capital firms and financial institutions.
In most of these examples, the respective agencies have opened a line of dialogue to industry participants. But it’s not always easy to know what the right course of action is, even for insiders.
In a Consensus panel this morning, some of the top legal minds in decentralized finance (DeFi) discussed whether open systems should or should not be regulated under existing rules. They called it the “new wine in an old wineskin problem.”
These lawyers often don’t know when or how an existing rule applies to the protocols they represent. Aave general counselRebecca Rettigdidn’t have a clear answer, but said when confronted with a difficult puzzle she tries to think through what the rules were set up to accomplish.
Is a rule designed for consumer protections? To eliminate information asymmetries? To mitigate risks? Often, she’s found, the rules are made obsolete by the architecture of open protocols. Still, she always asks, what are the decisions you can make to show you care about compliance?
Compound’s Jake Chervinksy agreed. Just try to be one of the “good guys,” he said. None of the legal scholars recommended that watchdog policies be dismantled, but Chervinsky did note that particular policies could benefit from “disintermediation” in different ways. That is, self-regulating crypto protocols could benefit securities laws in different ways than commodities law.
To comply with rules designed to regulate intermediaries, DeFi “protocols would need to insert a code or human process to intermediate transactions,” Boiron said. None of the panelists think “re-centralization” is a good idea.
Under the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) expanded travel rules recommendation, developers may end up responsible for malfeasance on the system, even if they do a Satoshi and walk away from what they build.
Still, Boiron is level-headed. For as decentralized, well-intentioned or automated as many DeFi protocols are, there could be bad actors.
“[T]he developer of the protocol or any third-party developer around the protocol could lie about the protocol, leading people to believe things that are not true about the protocol. That is where consumer protection would make sense,” he said.
But to apply traditional consumer protections to a protocol is still misguided.
“Regulators and industry should work together to devise a new regulatory paradigm that leverages the many advantages inherent to decentralized finance in order to vindicate the core objectives that traditional regulatory frameworks seek to accomplish,” Blockchain Association’s Smith said.
Despite the uncertainty, there’s pressure to get this right. Consumers can get hurt. Terrorists might get financed. And industries might crumble.
“The existing framework will have to bend to fit new tech. If it does not bend, then development will move outside the U.S. Once protocols are created and released, especially without admin keys, there is no stopping them,” Boiron added over email following his Consensus appearance.
• See Tom Brady Speak at the Last Day of Consensus
• Consensus 2021: 7 Questions for Bitcoin Anarchist Eric Voskuil || The Node: Regulating Intermediaries in a DeFi World: Crypto is a spilled can of worms for regulators that should have been squished a decade ago. That was the message Jason Furman, a senior economist in the Obama administration, told the Washington Post this week. Its now a $2 trillion monster, he said. The pace of innovation in crypto is difficult for regulators to keep up with, especially considering that, until now, there hasnt been a proactive, cohesive, industry-wide attempt to manage the industry. Despite operating under a hodgepodge of rules, frameworks and recommendations, crypto has ballooned. And regulatory attention with it. This article is excerpted from The Node , CoinDesks daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the full newsletter here . Related: State of Crypto: What Regulators Said at Consensus 2021 The existing framework is simply inapplicable to a system predicated on the absence of intermediaries, Director of the Blockchain Association Kristin Smith said in an interview following her Consensus 2021 appearance. This is an important point: Decentralized tools exist as the antithesis of a financial system where trusted custodians are needed to manage ones money. Theres a strong argument that the technological advances in crypto fulfill the basic consumer, fraud and terrorist financing protections the old system was erected to perform. Current regulations are designed to regulate intermediaries, Marc Boiron, general counsel for DyDx, said during a Consensus panel. When there is no intermediary to custody your assets, make trades on your behalf or manage your personal information, theres no point, Boiron asked. The faults of the old system arent present in non-custodial, open information DeFi systems. But it seems regulators have had a difficult time coming around to that view. Related: Soulja Boy Tells ‘Em He Got Paid to Tweet Story continues Smith said regulators are working overtime to try to fill the gaps and integrate novel financial and technological products under existing rules. For instance, in the waning days of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Trump administrations Treasury Department floated rules that would extend surveillance over certain transactions and unhosted (or non-custodial) wallets. The new head of the agency, Michael Mosier, who joined the public sector from crypto-analytics firm Chainalysis, said , Nothings been decided there. Likewise, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said earlier this month that Congress ought to clarify cryptocurrency rules, without giving any specifics. The Treasury Department asked cryptocurrency companies to provide the Internal Revenue Service with more financial information. Separately, FinCEN wants to better understand how privacy tools like zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) and homomorphic encryption popular among certain cryptocurrency protocols work in fintechs, regtechs, venture capital firms and financial institutions. In most of these examples, the respective agencies have opened a line of dialogue to industry participants. But its not always easy to know what the right course of action is, even for insiders. In a Consensus panel this morning, some of the top legal minds in decentralized finance (DeFi) discussed whether open systems should or should not be regulated under existing rules. They called it the new wine in an old wineskin problem. These lawyers often dont know when or how an existing rule applies to the protocols they represent. Aave general counsel Rebecca Rettig didnt have a clear answer, but said when confronted with a difficult puzzle she tries to think through what the rules were set up to accomplish. Is a rule designed for consumer protections? To eliminate information asymmetries? To mitigate risks? Often, shes found, the rules are made obsolete by the architecture of open protocols. Still, she always asks, what are the decisions you can make to show you care about compliance? Compounds Jake Chervinksy agreed. Just try to be one of the good guys, he said. None of the legal scholars recommended that watchdog policies be dismantled, but Chervinsky did note that particular policies could benefit from disintermediation in different ways. That is, self-regulating crypto protocols could benefit securities laws in different ways than commodities law. To comply with rules designed to regulate intermediaries, DeFi protocols would need to insert a code or human process to intermediate transactions, Boiron said. None of the panelists think re-centralization is a good idea. Under the Financial Action Task Forces (FATF) expanded travel rules recommendation, developers may end up responsible for malfeasance on the system, even if they do a Satoshi and walk away from what they build. Still, Boiron is level-headed. For as decentralized, well-intentioned or automated as many DeFi protocols are, there could be bad actors. [T]he developer of the protocol or any third-party developer around the protocol could lie about the protocol, leading people to believe things that are not true about the protocol. That is where consumer protection would make sense, he said. But to apply traditional consumer protections to a protocol is still misguided. Regulators and industry should work together to devise a new regulatory paradigm that leverages the many advantages inherent to decentralized finance in order to vindicate the core objectives that traditional regulatory frameworks seek to accomplish, Blockchain Associations Smith said. Despite the uncertainty, theres pressure to get this right. Consumers can get hurt. Terrorists might get financed. And industries might crumble. The existing framework will have to bend to fit new tech. If it does not bend, then development will move outside the U.S. Once protocols are created and released, especially without admin keys, there is no stopping them, Boiron added over email following his Consensus appearance. Related Stories See Tom Brady Speak at the Last Day of Consensus Consensus 2021: 7 Questions for Bitcoin Anarchist Eric Voskuil || No One Can Shut Down Bitcoin, Says Binance CEO CZ: It is already impossible for a single entity to killbitcoinand its underlying blockchain technology, so state governments and regulators should embrace blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, said the chief executive of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange.
“I don’t think anyone can shut it down now, given that this technology, this concept, is in 500 million people’s heads,” Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said in a pre-recorded interview shown during CoinDesk’sConsensus 2021virtual conference. “You can’t erase that.”
Fighting off bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies now would be similar to refusing to accept Amazon’s internet business model when the e-commerce giant first started in the early 1990s, according to Zhao. Cryptocurrencies are not here to kill traditional finance or government-backed fiat currencies, but to provide more “freedom of money.”
Related:India’s HDFC Bank Calls Bitcoin a Fad as Exchanges Mull Legal Fight Over Restrictions
Cryptocurrency is “just a new tool that can increase the freedom of money all around the world,” Zhao told CoinDesk adviser Nolan Bauerle. “I don’t view them as competing with regulators … and there is a way for us to work together.”
Zhao’s claim comes as Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, faces increased regulatory scrutiny. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are facing their own regulatory hurdles after becoming more popular than ever.
It’s not justregulatorsin the U.S; government entitiesaround the world have raised questionsabout the business operations of Binance, a companythat claims it has no headquartersin a specific country or region.
Zhao said his company does not intend to fight against any governments or countries, adding the doubts about how Binance operates are likely due to a lack of regulatory clarity.
Related:21Shares to List Three Crypto ETPs on Euronext Exchange in Paris
“We are not going against governments,” Zhao said. “There are times where the regulators or rules are not super clear. They are still being established in most parts of the world so there are some gray areas. But [we’ve] just got to experiment and work together and figure that out.”
Zhao does not appear to have a clear strategy for his company, even though Binance is highly involved in almost every trendy crypto innovation, whether it is decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or tokenized real-world assets.
“I’m not smart enough to predict what’s gonna happen, which one’s gonna be hot, which one users [are] gonna adopt,” Zhao said. “The way Binance is organized is that we just have lots of experiments.
Zhao said he has been trying to make fewer “top-down” decisions, especially when it comes to what he called “big” projects such as Binance Smart Chain (BSC), a public blockchain gaining steam as one of the more competitive rivals to the Ethereum blockchain.
“Binance Smart Chain came out of nowhere,” Zhao said. “It wasn’t my idea.”
His clarification seems to be a response to an increasing number of hacks or exploits recently on DeFi protocols built on BSC includingsome of the biggest monetary exploits in DeFi history. With BSC’s name associated with Binance directly, many have criticized Zhao and demanded he and Binance take responsibility for the exploits.
“Binance Smart Chain is an independent blockchain, [and] we don’t have control over it,” Zhao said. “The projects on there are running very independently. If I talk to them, they will talk to me. But I don’t talk to them at all.”
Zhao did, however, say he and his company benefit from BSC’s success because Binance coin (BNB) is the native crypto supporting BSC. Both Zhao and Binance remain large holders of BNB.
Unlike Ethereum, BSC runs on a Proof-Of-Staked-Authority (PoSA) consensus mechanism, which is controlled by 21 node operators that are elected by BNB holders. Some analysts havespeculatedthat BSC’s validators could be in some way connected or tied to Binance.
Zhao haspreviously saidthat BSC had to sacrifice the decentralization element for scalability, which has been a problem for Ethereum.
• Bitcoin Remains in Corrective Phase Below $40K; Further Downside Expected
• Bitcoin Drops, Stocks Rally Ahead of Biden’s Budget Announcement || No One Can Shut Down Bitcoin, Says Binance CEO CZ: It is already impossible for a single entity to kill bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology, so state governments and regulators should embrace blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, said the chief executive of the worlds biggest cryptocurrency exchange. I dont think anyone can shut it down now, given that this technology, this concept, is in 500 million peoples heads, Binance CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao said in a pre-recorded interview shown during CoinDesks Consensus 2021 virtual conference. You cant erase that. Fighting off bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies now would be similar to refusing to accept Amazons internet business model when the e-commerce giant first started in the early 1990s, according to Zhao. Cryptocurrencies are not here to kill traditional finance or government-backed fiat currencies, but to provide more freedom of money. Related: India’s HDFC Bank Calls Bitcoin a Fad as Exchanges Mull Legal Fight Over Restrictions Cryptocurrency is just a new tool that can increase the freedom of money all around the world, Zhao told CoinDesk adviser Nolan Bauerle. I dont view them as competing with regulators
and there is a way for us to work together. Zhaos claim comes as Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, faces increased regulatory scrutiny. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are facing their own regulatory hurdles after becoming more popular than ever. Its not just regulators in the U.S ; government entities around the world have raised questions about the business operations of Binance, a company that claims it has no headquarters in a specific country or region. Zhao said his company does not intend to fight against any governments or countries, adding the doubts about how Binance operates are likely due to a lack of regulatory clarity. Related: 21Shares to List Three Crypto ETPs on Euronext Exchange in Paris We are not going against governments, Zhao said. There are times where the regulators or rules are not super clear. They are still being established in most parts of the world so there are some gray areas. But [weve] just got to experiment and work together and figure that out. The Binance way Zhao does not appear to have a clear strategy for his company, even though Binance is highly involved in almost every trendy crypto innovation, whether it is decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or tokenized real-world assets. Story continues Im not smart enough to predict whats gonna happen, which ones gonna be hot, which one users [are] gonna adopt, Zhao said. The way Binance is organized is that we just have lots of experiments. Zhao said he has been trying to make fewer top-down decisions, especially when it comes to what he called big projects such as Binance Smart Chain (BSC), a public blockchain gaining steam as one of the more competitive rivals to the Ethereum blockchain. Binance Smart Chain came out of nowhere, Zhao said. It wasnt my idea. His clarification seems to be a response to an increasing number of hacks or exploits recently on DeFi protocols built on BSC including some of the biggest monetary exploits in DeFi history . With BSCs name associated with Binance directly, many have criticized Zhao and demanded he and Binance take responsibility for the exploits. Binance Smart Chain is an independent blockchain, [and] we dont have control over it, Zhao said. The projects on there are running very independently. If I talk to them, they will talk to me. But I dont talk to them at all. Zhao did, however, say he and his company benefit from BSCs success because Binance coin (BNB) is the native crypto supporting BSC. Both Zhao and Binance remain large holders of BNB. Unlike Ethereum, BSC runs on a Proof-Of-Staked-Authority (PoSA) consensus mechanism, which is controlled by 21 node operators that are elected by BNB holders. Some analysts have speculated that BSCs validators could be in some way connected or tied to Binance. Zhao has previously said that BSC had to sacrifice the decentralization element for scalability, which has been a problem for Ethereum. Related Stories Bitcoin Remains in Corrective Phase Below $40K; Further Downside Expected Bitcoin Drops, Stocks Rally Ahead of Bidens Budget Announcement View comments || No One Can Shut Down Bitcoin, Says Binance CEO CZ: It is already impossible for a single entity to killbitcoinand its underlying blockchain technology, so state governments and regulators should embrace blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, said the chief executive of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange.
“I don’t think anyone can shut it down now, given that this technology, this concept, is in 500 million people’s heads,” Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said in a pre-recorded interview shown during CoinDesk’sConsensus 2021virtual conference. “You can’t erase that.”
Fighting off bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies now would be similar to refusing to accept Amazon’s internet business model when the e-commerce giant first started in the early 1990s, according to Zhao. Cryptocurrencies are not here to kill traditional finance or government-backed fiat currencies, but to provide more “freedom of money.”
Related:India’s HDFC Bank Calls Bitcoin a Fad as Exchanges Mull Legal Fight Over Restrictions
Cryptocurrency is “just a new tool that can increase the freedom of money all around the world,” Zhao told CoinDesk adviser Nolan Bauerle. “I don’t view them as competing with regulators … and there is a way for us to work together.”
Zhao’s claim comes as Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, faces increased regulatory scrutiny. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are facing their own regulatory hurdles after becoming more popular than ever.
It’s not justregulatorsin the U.S; government entitiesaround the world have raised questionsabout the business operations of Binance, a companythat claims it has no headquartersin a specific country or region.
Zhao said his company does not intend to fight against any governments or countries, adding the doubts about how Binance operates are likely due to a lack of regulatory clarity.
Related:21Shares to List Three Crypto ETPs on Euronext Exchange in Paris
“We are not going against governments,” Zhao said. “There are times where the regulators or rules are not super clear. They are still being established in most parts of the world so there are some gray areas. But [we’ve] just got to experiment and work together and figure that out.”
Zhao does not appear to have a clear strategy for his company, even though Binance is highly involved in almost every trendy crypto innovation, whether it is decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or tokenized real-world assets.
“I’m not smart enough to predict what’s gonna happen, which one’s gonna be hot, which one users [are] gonna adopt,” Zhao said. “The way Binance is organized is that we just have lots of experiments.
Zhao said he has been trying to make fewer “top-down” decisions, especially when it comes to what he called “big” projects such as Binance Smart Chain (BSC), a public blockchain gaining steam as one of the more competitive rivals to the Ethereum blockchain.
“Binance Smart Chain came out of nowhere,” Zhao said. “It wasn’t my idea.”
His clarification seems to be a response to an increasing number of hacks or exploits recently on DeFi protocols built on BSC includingsome of the biggest monetary exploits in DeFi history. With BSC’s name associated with Binance directly, many have criticized Zhao and demanded he and Binance take responsibility for the exploits.
“Binance Smart Chain is an independent blockchain, [and] we don’t have control over it,” Zhao said. “The projects on there are running very independently. If I talk to them, they will talk to me. But I don’t talk to them at all.”
Zhao did, however, say he and his company benefit from BSC’s success because Binance coin (BNB) is the native crypto supporting BSC. Both Zhao and Binance remain large holders of BNB.
Unlike Ethereum, BSC runs on a Proof-Of-Staked-Authority (PoSA) consensus mechanism, which is controlled by 21 node operators that are elected by BNB holders. Some analysts havespeculatedthat BSC’s validators could be in some way connected or tied to Binance.
Zhao haspreviously saidthat BSC had to sacrifice the decentralization element for scalability, which has been a problem for Ethereum.
• Bitcoin Remains in Corrective Phase Below $40K; Further Downside Expected
• Bitcoin Drops, Stocks Rally Ahead of Biden’s Budget Announcement || Buy Zoom (ZM) Stock Down 40% Before Q1 Earnings?: The early superstar of the coronavirus lockdowns and the subsequent remote world has lost its shine. Zoom Video Communications, Inc. ZM has tumbled over 40% since its October highs as Wall Street dumped the stock in anticipation of the economic reopening. Despite the fact that more people are returning to offices amid the successful vaccine rollout, Zoom is still projected to add another billion dollars to its top-line this year. So let’s dive into ZM before its first quarter FY22 financial release on Tuesday, June 1 to help investors decide if they should consider buying the beaten-down cloud video communication company, or at least put it back on their radars. Zoom’s Post-Pandemic Pitch The utility of Zoom’s easy to use cloud-based video communication platform was on full display during the height of the pandemic as people who could work remotely and students all joined seemingly overnight. It’s worth remembering ZM was also growing long before the pandemic and it went public about a year before the initial coronavirus lockdowns, with revenue up roughly 90% in FY20 (period ended Jan. 31, 2020). More people are currently returning to offices and schools will hopefully be completely in-person by the fall. And many family and friend Zoom calls ended a long time ago. This is all part of the reason for the selloff, along with its insane run that took ZM from $70 last January to $275 by July—and that’s before things really heated up. All that said, the end of Zoom happy hours is largely irrelevant since it makes money from its paying business clients. Plus, the remote work world is likely here to stay in some capacity even as major cities reopen amid the impressive vaccine rollout. Big companies throughout the country are slowly bringing back their employees to offices. But many are introducing hybrid environments, where people come in two to three days a week. The company also allows businesses to cut back on travel, which was a pitch it was making before it went public. Even as things return far closer to normal in the U.S., international business travel could take years to recover. Story continues Furthermore, the U.S. economy was already bouncing back before the vaccine, even amid the heart of the pandemic because so much work is done digitally. Countless jobs are done nearly all on computers and the proliferation of business software, SaaS, cloud computing, and more have made the work-from-anywhere world possible. The changing environment is a big reason why Salesforce CRM plans to buy work-focused communication platform Slack WORK for roughly $28 billion, which is the second-largest in software history. Zoom has also expanded its portfolio from a videoconferencing app to a more complete communication platform that includes Zoom Phone. Cloud-based phone solutions are quickly becoming popular in the business world. And the goal is to have a unified place for calls, video, meetings, chat, and more. The company also announced on May 19 its new Zoom Events platform that “combines the reliability and scalability of Zoom Meetings, Chat, and Video Webinars in one comprehensive solution for event organizers, with the ability to produce ticketed, live events for internal or external audiences of any size.” Price Movement Zoom has soared 320% in the last two years, but the tides changed in the fall as Wall Street took a big step back and sold the stock that had gone too far too fast. ZM is down about 40% from its October records of over $550 a share. This lags the broader Zacks Tech sector’s 20% run during that stretch. Other high-flying stocks have come back to Earth since the Nasdaq started its fall into a technical correction in February. In fact, Tesla TSLA is down about 12% in 2021 vs. Zoom’s 3.5% downturn. The pullback has pushed the stock below key technical levels. Luckily, ZM has flashed some signs of life recently, popping above its 50-day moving average, with its shares up 17% since May 13. The stock closed regular trading Thursday at $326 a share. The recement jump has seen it move above neutral RSI levels (50) at 56, up from nearly oversold territory of 30 it hit prior to its recent comeback. Despite the 40% haircut, ZM still trades at 140X forward 12-month earnings, which is sky-high but marks a huge discount to its year-long median of 250X. Meanwhile, Zoom trades at 23.6X forward sales. This represents a 33% discount to its own year-long median and a nearly 70% discount to its own highs. Other Fundamentals Zoom boasts a solid balance sheet and it decided to beef up its cash position through a secondary stock offering back in January. The videoconferencing firm raised $2 billion, selling shares at $340 each, which came in well above its $1.5 billion to $1.75 billion goal. Zoom wanted to maintain what its CFO called “optimal flexibility for our balance sheet.” ZM ended fiscal 2021 (ended Jan. 31) with $4.2 billion in cash and equivalents and $5.4 billion in total assets vs. $1.4 billion in total liabilities. ZM’s fiscal 2021 revenue soared 326% from $622 million to reach $2.65 billion, with its Q4 sales up 370% to $883 million. More specifically, ZM’s customers with more than 10 employees skyrocketed 470% to 467,100, while its users contributing over $100,000 in trailing 12-month revenue surged 156%. The company has also topped our adjusted earnings estimates by an average of 73% in the last four quarters, with its Q4 EPS up from $0.15 to $1.22 a share. Cleary last year’s unprecedented environment helped Zoom post mind-boggling expansion that creates tough comparisons. Nonetheless, Zacks estimates call for ZM’s FY22 revenue to climb another 43% to $3.8 billion, adding another $1.15 billion to the top-line. The firm’s FY23 sales are then projected to jump 20% higher to reach $4.6 billion. The possibility of going from $622 million in sales before the pandemic to $4.6 billion next year is quite impressive. Plus, its adjusted earnings are expected to climb by 10% and 8%, respectively. And its bottom-line outlook has jumped since its Q4 report. Bottom Line Zoom’s positive adjusted EPS revisions help it land a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at the moment, alongside its “A” grade for Growth in our Style Scores system. And eight of the 18 brokerage recommendations Zacks has for the stock are “Strong Buys,” with eight more “Holds” and only one “Sell.” Zoom is set to report after a long holiday weekend and volume has already started to slow down as we enter the summer. And playing any stock for near-term gains around earnings is risky. Yet, investors with longer-term horizons might want to add ZM back to their watchlists, as the beaten-down cloud communication firm stands to grow in our digital world. It’s also worth remembering the S&P 500 has returned near its highs after the recent inflation pullback and the Nasdaq has recovered to pop back above its 50-day moving average. Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change Everything Blockchain and cryptocurrency has sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Amazon did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities. Zacks’ has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly. See 3 crypto-related stocks now >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report salesforce.com, inc. (CRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (ZM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Slack Technologies, Inc. (WORK) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research || Buy Zoom (ZM) Stock Down 40% Before Q1 Earnings?: The early superstar of the coronavirus lockdowns and the subsequent remote world has lost its shine. Zoom Video Communications, Inc. ZM has tumbled over 40% since its October highs as Wall Street dumped the stock in anticipation of the economic reopening. Despite the fact that more people are returning to offices amid the successful vaccine rollout, Zoom is still projected to add another billion dollars to its top-line this year. So let’s dive into ZM before its first quarter FY22 financial release on Tuesday, June 1 to help investors decide if they should consider buying the beaten-down cloud video communication company, or at least put it back on their radars. Zoom’s Post-Pandemic Pitch The utility of Zoom’s easy to use cloud-based video communication platform was on full display during the height of the pandemic as people who could work remotely and students all joined seemingly overnight. It’s worth remembering ZM was also growing long before the pandemic and it went public about a year before the initial coronavirus lockdowns, with revenue up roughly 90% in FY20 (period ended Jan. 31, 2020). More people are currently returning to offices and schools will hopefully be completely in-person by the fall. And many family and friend Zoom calls ended a long time ago. This is all part of the reason for the selloff, along with its insane run that took ZM from $70 last January to $275 by July—and that’s before things really heated up. All that said, the end of Zoom happy hours is largely irrelevant since it makes money from its paying business clients. Plus, the remote work world is likely here to stay in some capacity even as major cities reopen amid the impressive vaccine rollout. Big companies throughout the country are slowly bringing back their employees to offices. But many are introducing hybrid environments, where people come in two to three days a week. The company also allows businesses to cut back on travel, which was a pitch it was making before it went public. Even as things return far closer to normal in the U.S., international business travel could take years to recover. Story continues Furthermore, the U.S. economy was already bouncing back before the vaccine, even amid the heart of the pandemic because so much work is done digitally. Countless jobs are done nearly all on computers and the proliferation of business software, SaaS, cloud computing, and more have made the work-from-anywhere world possible. The changing environment is a big reason why Salesforce CRM plans to buy work-focused communication platform Slack WORK for roughly $28 billion, which is the second-largest in software history. Zoom has also expanded its portfolio from a videoconferencing app to a more complete communication platform that includes Zoom Phone. Cloud-based phone solutions are quickly becoming popular in the business world. And the goal is to have a unified place for calls, video, meetings, chat, and more. The company also announced on May 19 its new Zoom Events platform that “combines the reliability and scalability of Zoom Meetings, Chat, and Video Webinars in one comprehensive solution for event organizers, with the ability to produce ticketed, live events for internal or external audiences of any size.” Price Movement Zoom has soared 320% in the last two years, but the tides changed in the fall as Wall Street took a big step back and sold the stock that had gone too far too fast. ZM is down about 40% from its October records of over $550 a share. This lags the broader Zacks Tech sector’s 20% run during that stretch. Other high-flying stocks have come back to Earth since the Nasdaq started its fall into a technical correction in February. In fact, Tesla TSLA is down about 12% in 2021 vs. Zoom’s 3.5% downturn. The pullback has pushed the stock below key technical levels. Luckily, ZM has flashed some signs of life recently, popping above its 50-day moving average, with its shares up 17% since May 13. The stock closed regular trading Thursday at $326 a share. The recement jump has seen it move above neutral RSI levels (50) at 56, up from nearly oversold territory of 30 it hit prior to its recent comeback. Despite the 40% haircut, ZM still trades at 140X forward 12-month earnings, which is sky-high but marks a huge discount to its year-long median of 250X. Meanwhile, Zoom trades at 23.6X forward sales. This represents a 33% discount to its own year-long median and a nearly 70% discount to its own highs. Other Fundamentals Zoom boasts a solid balance sheet and it decided to beef up its cash position through a secondary stock offering back in January. The videoconferencing firm raised $2 billion, selling shares at $340 each, which came in well above its $1.5 billion to $1.75 billion goal. Zoom wanted to maintain what its CFO called “optimal flexibility for our balance sheet.” ZM ended fiscal 2021 (ended Jan. 31) with $4.2 billion in cash and equivalents and $5.4 billion in total assets vs. $1.4 billion in total liabilities. ZM’s fiscal 2021 revenue soared 326% from $622 million to reach $2.65 billion, with its Q4 sales up 370% to $883 million. More specifically, ZM’s customers with more than 10 employees skyrocketed 470% to 467,100, while its users contributing over $100,000 in trailing 12-month revenue surged 156%. The company has also topped our adjusted earnings estimates by an average of 73% in the last four quarters, with its Q4 EPS up from $0.15 to $1.22 a share. Cleary last year’s unprecedented environment helped Zoom post mind-boggling expansion that creates tough comparisons. Nonetheless, Zacks estimates call for ZM’s FY22 revenue to climb another 43% to $3.8 billion, adding another $1.15 billion to the top-line. The firm’s FY23 sales are then projected to jump 20% higher to reach $4.6 billion. The possibility of going from $622 million in sales before the pandemic to $4.6 billion next year is quite impressive. Plus, its adjusted earnings are expected to climb by 10% and 8%, respectively. And its bottom-line outlook has jumped since its Q4 report. Bottom Line Zoom’s positive adjusted EPS revisions help it land a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at the moment, alongside its “A” grade for Growth in our Style Scores system. And eight of the 18 brokerage recommendations Zacks has for the stock are “Strong Buys,” with eight more “Holds” and only one “Sell.” Zoom is set to report after a long holiday weekend and volume has already started to slow down as we enter the summer. And playing any stock for near-term gains around earnings is risky. Yet, investors with longer-term horizons might want to add ZM back to their watchlists, as the beaten-down cloud communication firm stands to grow in our digital world. It’s also worth remembering the S&P 500 has returned near its highs after the recent inflation pullback and the Nasdaq has recovered to pop back above its 50-day moving average. Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change Everything Blockchain and cryptocurrency has sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Amazon did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities. Zacks’ has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly. See 3 crypto-related stocks now >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report salesforce.com, inc. (CRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (ZM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Slack Technologies, Inc. (WORK) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research || Watch: Elon Musk’s Other Company Tests Its Tesla Tunnel System in Las Vegas With Real Passengers: Looks like the Las Vegas strip has some underground competition. The Boring Company, Elon Musk ’s other brainchild, began offering free rides through its futuristic, neon-lit tunnel system in Sin City this week ahead of the official launch in June. The company sent a few dozen Teslas along the twin tunnels that it’s constructed underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center. The complimentary rides, which were offered to Las Vegas residents last week, were designed to test the traffic capacity of the tunnels prior to rollout. To recap, the Las Vegas Convention Center loop comprises roughly 1.7 miles of tunnels that are 30-feet deep. It has a total of three stops: The two stations at either end are above the ground while the middle stop sits below. Adult Disneyland AF 🎉 #Tesla #VegasLoop #ElonMusk pic.twitter.com/bwpCYiMzXj — Melissa Vegas (@themelissavegas) May 27, 2021 Frustrated with LA traffic, Musk established the Boring Company in 2016 to execute his vision of a fleet of autonomous vehicles that could be easily summoned via an app and soar through the tunnels at 150 mph. As a result, convention-goers will be able to navigate the grounds at speed. In fact, the company claims that eventually, the loop will turn a 45-minute walk into a two-minute ride. Videos of the test runs have surfaced on social media, offering the first real glimpse at the literally groundbreaking infrastructure since the tunnels were opened to the press in April. By the looks of it, there’s still a little fine-tuning required. Story continues For the trial, the company enlisted an array of Tesla vehicles, including a handful of Model 3 sedans plus a few Model Y and Model X SUVs. Passengers didn’t appear to use an app; instead, they just walked up to the next available Tesla. In one video, a test rider said they had to wait three to five minutes for a car, and there definitely appeared to be a little congestion. The Las Vegas Loop is running a capacity test today & will be smashing speed records for A-EVs 😁. The speed to beat is 116 mph 🐌 !!!!! #BoringCompany _ pic.twitter.com/TL1XFwZ6tR — A Boring Revolution (@BoringPrufrock) May 25, 2021 Once aboard, passengers were shuttled between stations and most testers took between seven to 12 rides, as reported by The Verge . What they experienced, though still impressive, was not an autonomous fleet moving at high speeds. Instead, trained drivers piloted the EVs through the tunnels at limited speeds with the majority of clips showing the cars sitting at 40 mph. While this is a far cry from Musk’s end game, one video does appear to show a Tesla hitting 116 mph. The goal of The Boring Company’s $52.5 million project is to eventually transport 4,400 people per hour through the convention center’s loop tunnels. The company has also expressed interest in building underground loops in several other major cities, including Miami. There are, of course, regulatory hurdles that the company must clear first. But if the Vegas trials are any indication, Musk’s dream appears to be at least one step closer to reality. More from Robb Report The Experimental $28 Million Mojave Desert Manse May Be the Most State-of-the-Art Home in the Country In an About Face, Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Stop Accepting Bitcoin for Car Purchases Green Wheels? Matchbox's New Tesla Roadster Model Is Made From 99% Recycled Materials Best of Robb Report The Chevy C8 Corvette: Everything We Know About the Powerful Mid-Engine Beast The World’s Best Superyacht Shipyards The ABCs of Chartering a Yacht || Watch: Elon Musk’s Other Company Tests Its Tesla Tunnel System in Las Vegas With Real Passengers: Looks like theLas Vegasstrip has some underground competition. The Boring Company,Elon Musk’s other brainchild, began offering free rides through its futuristic, neon-lit tunnel system in Sin City this week ahead of the official launch in June.
The company sent a few dozen Teslas along the twin tunnels that it’s constructed underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center. The complimentary rides, which were offered to Las Vegas residents last week, were designed to test the traffic capacity of the tunnels prior to rollout.
To recap, the Las Vegas Convention Center loop comprises roughly 1.7 miles of tunnels that are 30-feet deep. It has a total of three stops: The two stations at either end are above the ground while the middle stop sits below.
Frustrated with LA traffic, Musk established the Boring Company in 2016 to execute his vision of a fleet of autonomous vehicles that could be easily summoned via an app and soar through the tunnels at 150 mph. As a result, convention-goers will be able to navigate the grounds at speed. In fact, the company claims that eventually, the loop will turn a 45-minute walk into a two-minute ride.
Videos of the test runs have surfaced on social media, offering the first real glimpse at the literally groundbreaking infrastructure since the tunnels were opened to the press in April. By the looks of it, there’s still a little fine-tuning required.
For the trial, the company enlisted an array ofTeslavehicles, including a handful of Model 3 sedans plus a few Model Y and Model X SUVs. Passengers didn’t appear to use an app; instead, they just walked up to the next available Tesla. In one video, a test rider said they had to wait three to five minutes for a car, and there definitely appeared to be a little congestion.
Once aboard, passengers were shuttled between stations and most testers took between seven to 12 rides, as reported byThe Verge. What they experienced, though still impressive, was not an autonomous fleet moving at high speeds. Instead, trained drivers piloted the EVs through the tunnels at limited speeds with the majority of clips showing the cars sitting at 40 mph. While this is a far cry from Musk’s end game, one video does appear to show a Tesla hitting 116 mph.
The goal of The Boring Company’s $52.5 million project is to eventually transport 4,400 people per hour through the convention center’s loop tunnels. The company has also expressed interest in building underground loops in several other major cities, including Miami. There are, of course, regulatory hurdles that the company must clear first. But if the Vegas trials are any indication, Musk’s dream appears to be at least one step closer to reality.
More from Robb Report
• The Experimental $28 Million Mojave Desert Manse May Be the Most State-of-the-Art Home in the Country
• In an About Face, Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Stop Accepting Bitcoin for Car Purchases
• Green Wheels? Matchbox's New Tesla Roadster Model Is Made From 99% Recycled Materials
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• The Chevy C8 Corvette: Everything We Know About the Powerful Mid-Engine Beast
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• The ABCs of Chartering a Yacht || Beyond Meat (BYND) Joins the Meme Stock Party: Shares meat alternative producer Beyond Meat BYND spiked sharply in Thursday morning trading as r/WallStreetBets traders turned their attention to BYND. The stock closed up 12.5% after a wild day of trading.
In his “Real Money” column yesterday, Jim Cramer said BYND could be a good candidate for the next meme stock rally due to the company’s near-term potential, expansion of its deal with McDonald’s MCD, and the hefty 22% short interest in the stock.
BYND recently reported a wider-than-expected Q1 loss as expenses ballooned and restaurant sales slowed. But some analysts are still bullish on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Alexia Howard upgraded BYND to outperform, and called the stock a “buy-the-dip” contender during the economic reopening.
Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change Everything
Blockchain and cryptocurrency has sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Amazon did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities.
Zacks’ has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly.
See 3 crypto-related stocks now >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportMcDonalds Corporation (MCD) : Free Stock Analysis ReportBeyond Meat, Inc. (BYND) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research || Beyond Meat (BYND) Joins the Meme Stock Party: Shares meat alternative producer Beyond Meat BYND spiked sharply in Thursday morning trading as r/WallStreetBets traders turned their attention to BYND. The stock closed up 12.5% after a wild day of trading. In his “Real Money” column yesterday, Jim Cramer said BYND could be a good candidate for the next meme stock rally due to the company’s near-term potential, expansion of its deal with McDonald’s MCD, and the hefty 22% short interest in the stock. BYND recently reported a wider-than-expected Q1 loss as expenses ballooned and restaurant sales slowed. But some analysts are still bullish on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Alexia Howard upgraded BYND to outperform, and called the stock a “buy-the-dip” contender during the economic reopening. Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change Everything Blockchain and cryptocurrency has sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Amazon did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities. Zacks’ has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly. See 3 crypto-related stocks now >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report McDonalds Corporation (MCD) : Free Stock Analysis Report Beyond Meat, Inc. (BYND) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research || WisdomTree Files Ethereum ETF Application as Bitcoin Bids Await SEC Decision: WisdomTree hasfiledfor an Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF), according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents.
The ETF specialist firm, which already has a bitcoin ETFbeforethe U.S. regulator, becomes the second U.S. fund shop to also vie for an ether product, afterVanEck. Approval would see Ethereum investments become readily available to U.S. retail traders, who could buy into the ETF without taking ownership of that blockchain’s native token, ether.
WisdomTree Ethereum Trust would list on the Cboe BZX Exchange under a to-be-determined ticker symbol. It does not yet have a crypto custodian lined up, the form shows.
Related:Soulja Boy Tells ‘Em He Got Paid to Tweet
The SEC has not yet approved a single bitcoin ETF, let alone an ETH equivalent, making WisdomTree’s new filing a test case in the latest wave of applicants.
Canadian regulators have moved much more swiftly on both fronts. There, investors can choose between multiple bitcoin and ether ETFs.
WisdomTree did not immediately respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.
• The Need for Centralization in Times of Crisis, Ethereum Dodges a Bullet
• Binance Says ‘Rollback’ Not Possible After DeFi Exploits on Binance Smart Chain
• SEC Starts Official Review of SkyBridge, Fidelity Bitcoin ETF Applications
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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34616.07, 35678.13, 37332.86, 36684.93, 37575.18, 39208.77, 36894.41, 35551.96, 35862.38, 33560.71
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 40008.42, 42235.55, 41626.20, 39974.89, 39201.95, 38152.98, 39747.50, 40869.55, 42816.50, 44555.80, 43798.12, 46365.40, 45585.03, 45593.64, 44428.29, 47793.32, 47096.95, 47047.00, 46004.48, 44695.36, 44801.19, 46717.58, 49339.18, 48905.49, 49321.65, 49546.15, 47706.12, 48960.79, 46942.22, 49058.67, 48902.40, 48829.83, 47054.98, 47166.69, 48847.03, 49327.72, 50025.38, 49944.62, 51753.41, 52633.54, 46811.13, 46091.39, 46391.42, 44883.91, 45201.46, 46063.27, 44963.07, 47092.49, 48176.35, 47783.36, 47267.52, 48278.36, 47260.22, 42843.80, 40693.68, 43574.51, 44895.10, 42839.75, 42716.59, 43208.54, 42235.73, 41034.54, 41564.36, 43790.89, 48116.94, 47711.49, 48199.95, 49112.90, 51514.81, 55361.45, 53805.98, 53967.85, 54968.22, 54771.58, 57484.79, 56041.06, 57401.10, 57321.52, 61593.95, 60892.18, 61553.62, 62026.08, 64261.99, 65992.84, 62210.17, 60692.27, 61393.62, 60930.84, 63039.82, 60363.79.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2021-10-26]
Volume: 34878965587, RSI (14-day): 57.09, 50-day EMA: 53704.41, 200-day EMA: 45522.65
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1792.70, Gold RSI: 55.88
Oil Price: 84.65, Oil RSI: 75.35
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Shiba Inu Cryptocurrency at Record High Sunday Night, Tumbles After Musk Tweets He Doesnt Own Any: Chinnapong / Getty Images Shiba Inu coin reached a record high last night, fueled by several factors, including rumors that the Robinhood crypto wallet would soon list it and a series of tweets from none other than serial crypto tweeter Elon Musk . See: Is the Shiba Inu Coin the Cryptocurrency You Should Be Watching? Find: 15 Mortgage Questions To Ask Your Lender Shiba tumbled rapidly thereafter, when Musk tweeted he did not own any of the crypto. Asked on Twitter how much of the coin he owned, Musk replied, None. Out of curiosity, I acquired some ascii hash strings called Bitcoin, Ethereum & Doge. Thats it. As Ive said before, dont bet the farm on crypto! True value is building products & providing services to your fellow human beings, not money in any form, he then tweeted. LATEST POLL: How Do You Plan To Travel Over the Thanksgiving Holiday? Discover: 10 Cheap Cryptocurrencies To Buy Shiba Inu coin was created anonymously in August 2020 under the pseudonym Ryoshi. Shiba Inu reached an all-time high of $0.000044 on Sunday, according to Coindesk, but has fallen 8.6% to $0.00003827 over the past 24 hours, Barrons reported. CoinMarketCap lists it as the 13th largest crypto, with a market cap of $15.3 billion. The crypto was down 7.5% this morning. Learn: Crypto, Stocks or Real Estate? Where to Put $10,000 Right Now Explore: 8 Best Cryptocurrencies To Invest In for 2021 A petition on Change.org, which amassed 230,00 signatures as of this morning, is asking Robinhood to list Shiba Inu coin to trade. Dogecoin has been a huge success for Robinhood, and its investors. We have all enjoyed the ride. Shiba Inu is a similar meme coin with genuine potential, up 2000% in the last weeks! Gaining new ground by the day. Shiba has just been listed on Binance, and its momentum grows by the hour. Half the questions when we log into trading forums ask How can I buy Shiba!?? Lets encourage Robinhood to be the first traditional brokerage to get on this train! the petition said . Story continues More From GOBankingRates Find Out Who Made GOBankingRates Best Credit Cards Lists and Get Helpful Tips LATEST POLL: How Do You Plan To Travel Over the Thanksgiving Holiday? Navy Federal cashRewards Review: With Great Benefits Come Great Rewards How To Refinance a Mortgage Last updated: October 25, 2021 This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : Shiba Inu Cryptocurrency at Record High Sunday Night, Tumbles After Musk Tweets He Doesnt Own Any || Shiba Inu Cryptocurrency at Record High Sunday Night, Tumbles After Musk Tweets He Doesn’t Own Any: Shiba Inu coin reached a record high last night, fueled by several factors, including rumors that the Robinhood crypto wallet would soon list it — and a series of tweets from none other thanserial crypto tweeter Elon Musk.
See:Is the Shiba Inu Coin the Cryptocurrency You Should Be Watching?Find:15 Mortgage Questions To Ask Your Lender
Shiba tumbled rapidly thereafter, when Musk tweeted he did not own any of the crypto.
Asked on Twitter how much of the coin he owned, Musk replied, “None.”
“Out of curiosity, I acquired some ascii hash strings called ‘Bitcoin, Ethereum & Doge’. That’s it. As I’ve said before, don’t bet the farm on crypto! True value is building products & providing services to your fellow human beings, not money in any form,” he then tweeted.
LATEST POLL:How Do You Plan To Travel Over the Thanksgiving Holiday?Discover:10 Cheap Cryptocurrencies To Buy
Shiba Inu coin was created anonymously in August 2020 under the pseudonym Ryoshi.
Shiba Inu reached an all-time high of $0.000044 on Sunday, according to Coindesk, but has fallen 8.6% to $0.00003827 over the past 24 hours, Barron’s reported.
CoinMarketCap lists it as the 13th largest crypto, with a market cap of $15.3 billion. The crypto was down 7.5% this morning.
Learn:Crypto, Stocks or Real Estate? Where to Put $10,000 Right NowExplore:8 Best Cryptocurrencies To Invest In for 2021
A petition on Change.org, which amassed 230,00 signatures as of this morning, is asking Robinhood to list Shiba Inu coin to trade.
“Dogecoin has been a huge success for Robinhood, and its investors. We have all enjoyed the ride. Shiba Inu is a similar meme coin with genuine potential, up 2000% in the last weeks! Gaining new ground by the day. Shiba has just been listed on Binance, and its momentum grows by the hour. Half the questions when we log into trading forums ask ‘How can I buy Shiba!??’Let’s encourage Robinhood to be the first traditional brokerage to get on this train!” the petition said.
More From GOBankingRates
• Find Out Who Made GOBankingRates’ Best Credit Cards Lists and Get Helpful Tips
• LATEST POLL: How Do You Plan To Travel Over the Thanksgiving Holiday?
• Navy Federal cashRewards Review: With Great Benefits Come Great Rewards
• How To Refinance a Mortgage
Last updated: October 25, 2021
This article originally appeared onGOBankingRates.com:Shiba Inu Cryptocurrency at Record High Sunday Night, Tumbles After Musk Tweets He Doesn’t Own Any || Stock Market Today: Trillion-Dollar Tesla Leads Monday Market Charge: tesla sign and car Getty Images The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index got the ball rolling on the new trading week with record-high closes amid general earnings optimism. But the showstopper today was a single stock – Tesla ( TSLA , +12.7%) – which extended its recent rally with a number of significant milestones. Rental car company Hertz Global Holdings ( HTZZ , +10.0%) on Monday announced the single-biggest order for electric vehicles – 100,000 Tesla vehicles, which should translate into more than $4 billion in revenues. That continued a rally recently built on record third-quarter deliveries and blowout Q3 earnings, sending Tesla above $1,000 per share – and above $1 trillion in market value, putting it in an exclusive club with just four other companies: Apple ( AAPL ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN ). SEE MORE 13 Bitcoin ETFs and Cryptocurrency Funds You Should Know Tesla's booming performance helped lift the Nasdaq Composite 0.9% to 15,226; the index needs a gain of just 1% from here to reach its Sept. 7 high. TSLA also boosted the S&P 500, up 0.5% to a record 4,566. The Dow's modest 0.2% gain to 35,741 was enough to rewrite the record books, too. Sign up for Kiplinger's FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice. stock price chart 102521 YCharts SEE MORE Can AI Beat the Market? 10 Stocks to Watch Other news in the stock market today: The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.9% to 2,312. U.S. crude oil futures settled unchanged on the day at $83.76 per barrel. Gold futures gained 0.6% to finish at $1,806.80 an ounce. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) retreated 1.2% to 15.24. Bakkt Holdings ( BKKT , +234.4%) stock was one of the biggest percentage gainers today after the cryptocurrency asset platform and Intercontinental Exchange ( ICE ) subsidiary unveiled a pair of high-profile partnerships. One is a deal with Mastercard ( MA ), where the two firms will offer cryptocurrency debit and credit cards. This will not only allow businesses to issue branded credit cards backed by crypto, but also offer digital coins as rewards in loyalty programs. BKKT also entered into a strategic partnership with Fiserv ( FISV ) that will allow cryptocurrency to be used more broadly thanks to the fintech's ability to connect consumers and businesses via its digital commerce and mobile payment services. Bitcoin prices jumped 2.9% to $62,716.48. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day.) Looking ahead, earnings season continues , with several massive stocks reporting results over the next few days, including the other members of the trillion-dollar club . Michael Reinking, senior market Strategist for the New York Stock Exchange, says that, as far as an impact on the major indexes is concerned, "mega-cap tech will be the swing factor." Story continues Stock Picking Isn't For Everyone Does that sort of news – even when it's good – give you heartburn? That's okay: Stock picking isn't for everyone. Don't take it just at our word – consider that U.S. investors alone have allocated tens of trillions of dollars to mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds (CEFs) and other pooled investments. And many of those investors want talented stock pickers on their side. SEE MORE The 21 Best Stocks to Buy for the Rest of 2021 Enter Fidelity, which celebrates good stock picking – in fact, its portfolio managers even engage in friendly competitions with each other to see who can develop the best investment ideas. We continue our annual look at the most popular funds in 401(k) plans – which we started with Vanguard – by taking a look at Fidelity's actively managed and target-date funds that make the list . This group of more than a dozen funds largely leans on the expertise of talented stock pickers including Sonu Kalra and Joel Tillinghast, though their gifted bond managers provide some oomph to Fidelity's balanced offerings. Read on as we explore the ins and outs of Fidelity funds that often show up in corporate 401(k) plans. SEE MORE Best Online Brokers, 2021 You may also like Your Guide to Roth Conversions The 25 Cheapest U.S. Cities to Live In "Below-Average" Stocks With Above-Average Potential View comments || Stock Market Today: Trillion-Dollar Tesla Leads Monday Market Charge: tesla sign and car Getty Images The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index got the ball rolling on the new trading week with record-high closes amid general earnings optimism. But the showstopper today was a single stock – Tesla ( TSLA , +12.7%) – which extended its recent rally with a number of significant milestones. Rental car company Hertz Global Holdings ( HTZZ , +10.0%) on Monday announced the single-biggest order for electric vehicles – 100,000 Tesla vehicles, which should translate into more than $4 billion in revenues. That continued a rally recently built on record third-quarter deliveries and blowout Q3 earnings, sending Tesla above $1,000 per share – and above $1 trillion in market value, putting it in an exclusive club with just four other companies: Apple ( AAPL ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet ( GOOGL ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN ). SEE MORE 13 Bitcoin ETFs and Cryptocurrency Funds You Should Know Tesla's booming performance helped lift the Nasdaq Composite 0.9% to 15,226; the index needs a gain of just 1% from here to reach its Sept. 7 high. TSLA also boosted the S&P 500, up 0.5% to a record 4,566. The Dow's modest 0.2% gain to 35,741 was enough to rewrite the record books, too. Sign up for Kiplinger's FREE Investing Weekly e-letter for stock, ETF and mutual fund recommendations, and other investing advice. stock price chart 102521 YCharts SEE MORE Can AI Beat the Market? 10 Stocks to Watch Other news in the stock market today: The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.9% to 2,312. U.S. crude oil futures settled unchanged on the day at $83.76 per barrel. Gold futures gained 0.6% to finish at $1,806.80 an ounce. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) retreated 1.2% to 15.24. Bakkt Holdings ( BKKT , +234.4%) stock was one of the biggest percentage gainers today after the cryptocurrency asset platform and Intercontinental Exchange ( ICE ) subsidiary unveiled a pair of high-profile partnerships. One is a deal with Mastercard ( MA ), where the two firms will offer cryptocurrency debit and credit cards. This will not only allow businesses to issue branded credit cards backed by crypto, but also offer digital coins as rewards in loyalty programs. BKKT also entered into a strategic partnership with Fiserv ( FISV ) that will allow cryptocurrency to be used more broadly thanks to the fintech's ability to connect consumers and businesses via its digital commerce and mobile payment services. Bitcoin prices jumped 2.9% to $62,716.48. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day.) Looking ahead, earnings season continues , with several massive stocks reporting results over the next few days, including the other members of the trillion-dollar club . Michael Reinking, senior market Strategist for the New York Stock Exchange, says that, as far as an impact on the major indexes is concerned, "mega-cap tech will be the swing factor." Story continues Stock Picking Isn't For Everyone Does that sort of news – even when it's good – give you heartburn? That's okay: Stock picking isn't for everyone. Don't take it just at our word – consider that U.S. investors alone have allocated tens of trillions of dollars to mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds (CEFs) and other pooled investments. And many of those investors want talented stock pickers on their side. SEE MORE The 21 Best Stocks to Buy for the Rest of 2021 Enter Fidelity, which celebrates good stock picking – in fact, its portfolio managers even engage in friendly competitions with each other to see who can develop the best investment ideas. We continue our annual look at the most popular funds in 401(k) plans – which we started with Vanguard – by taking a look at Fidelity's actively managed and target-date funds that make the list . This group of more than a dozen funds largely leans on the expertise of talented stock pickers including Sonu Kalra and Joel Tillinghast, though their gifted bond managers provide some oomph to Fidelity's balanced offerings. Read on as we explore the ins and outs of Fidelity funds that often show up in corporate 401(k) plans. SEE MORE Best Online Brokers, 2021 You may also like Your Guide to Roth Conversions The 25 Cheapest U.S. Cities to Live In "Below-Average" Stocks With Above-Average Potential View comments || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises Again as Altcoins Outperform: Bitcoin is recovering from a weekend dip as traders anticipate the third U.S. futures-focused bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) listing. The VanEck Bitcoin Futures ETF is expected to launch on Tuesday and will trade under the ticker symbol XBTF. Analysts continue to expect further upside in bitcoin’s price given strong investor sentiment on ETF approvals. Last week, crypto investment funds saw a record $1.47 billion in inflows as investors positioned themselves ahead of the first U.S. bitcoin-linked ETF launch, by ProShares. Alternative cryptocurrency-focused funds also saw inflows, which coincided with a near 30% rise in Solana’s SOL token over the past week. Analysts are also monitoring the recent rotation to alternative coins (altcoins), which are starting to outperform bitcoin. “The crypto market is turning from being dominated by short-term traders who want to ride the speculative trends to longer-term investors who value the technical capabilities of the different blockchains, challenging bitcoin’s market dominance,” Anders Nysteen, quantitative analyst at Saxo Bank, wrote in a research report . Latest prices Bitcoin (BTC): $62,813.67, +3.3% Ether (ETH): $4,191.45, +3.53% S&P 500: $4,566.48, +0.47% Gold: $1,806.85, +0.69% 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.64% Record $1.5 billion crypto fund inflows Investors pumped a record $1.47 billion in new money into digital asset investment products last week, fueled by a rally in cryptocurrencies and the launch of the ProShares bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund, according to a CoinShares report Monday. Bitcoin-focused funds dominated last week’s inflows, at 99%. During the prior week, inflows into bitcoin-focused funds were at $70 million, CoinDesk’s Lyllah Ledesma reported . Bitcoin dominance declines The bitcoin dominance ratio, or the measure of bitcoin’s market capitalization relative to the total crypto market, declined last week to 45%. The decline in the dominance ratio was due to the recent outperformance of several altcoins such as ETH and SOL. Story continues Some traders are starting to rotate into altcoins, which suggests a greater appetite for risk. “Overall, we are structurally long BTC, ETH and most layer 1s such as ALGO and SOL,” crypto trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a Telegram chat. But is the rotation to altcoins sustainable? The chart below shows the bitcoin dominance ratio, which increased from a recent low of 40% in mid-September. A similar situation occurred in 2018 before the start of a crypto bear market. At that time, the bitcoin dominance ratio rose as investors reduced their exposure to altcoins and sought relative safety in bitcoin. Currently, the bitcoin dominance ratio is declining from a high of 48% in July, which was when crypto prices stabilized from a correction earlier this year. Similar to February-March 2018, traders are returning to buy the dip in altcoins that have lagged behind a sharp recovery in bitcoin over the past month. For now, some analysts expect altcoins to take the lead, because cryptocurrencies typically produce positive returns during the fourth quarter. Altcoin roundup Shiba Inu hits record high: Shiba Inu (SHIB) tapped lifetime highs on Sunday, trading at $0.0000455 at 11:20 UTC, topping the previous record reached on May 10, CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole reported . Prices for the meme token have risen by nearly 50% in the past 24 hours, with a month-to-date gain of almost 500%. SHIB’s latest rise comes amid rumors that Robinhood may soon list the cryptocurrency on its platform. Solana also hit a new record high: Prices for Solana’s SOL tokens hit a record high on early Monday as a majority of tokens representing layer 1 blockchains followed bitcoin, CoinDesk’s Muyao Shen reported . The token, which is backed by FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried, traded at $218.9 on Monday. According to decentralized finance data provider Defi Llama, the total value locked in Solana reached an all-time high of approximately $13.91 billion. Ether hit all-time high last week while seeing continued outflows: Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, hit a record high on Oct. 21 at $4,361, CoinDesk’s Lyllah Ledesma reported . However, despite the price increase, funds focused on the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization saw outflows for a third consecutive week, totaling $1.4 million last week. Other altcoins, including SOL, Cardano’s ADA currency and Binance coin (BNB), all saw inflows. Relevant news ProShares Seeks Waiver From CME for Position Limits on New Bitcoin Futures ETF BlockFi to Develop Crypto Asset Management Products With Neuberger Berman Mastercard Is Integrating Crypto Payments Through a New Partnership With Bakkt FTX Crypto Exchange Finalizes LedgerX Acquisition Other markets Most digital assets in the CoinDesk 20 ended the day higher. Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): Chainlink (LINK): +10.86% The Graph (GRT): +9.89% Algorand (ALGO): +9.71% Notable losers: Tether (USDT): -0.02% USD coin (USDC): -0.01% || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises Again as Altcoins Outperform: Bitcoin is recovering from a weekend dip as traders anticipate the third U.S. futures-focused bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) listing. The VanEck Bitcoin Futures ETF is expected to launch on Tuesday and will trade under the ticker symbol XBTF. Analysts continue to expect further upside in bitcoin’s price given strong investor sentiment on ETF approvals. Last week, crypto investment funds saw a record $1.47 billion in inflows as investors positioned themselves ahead of the first U.S. bitcoin-linked ETF launch, by ProShares. Alternative cryptocurrency-focused funds also saw inflows, which coincided with a near 30% rise in Solana’s SOL token over the past week. Analysts are also monitoring the recent rotation to alternative coins (altcoins), which are starting to outperform bitcoin. “The crypto market is turning from being dominated by short-term traders who want to ride the speculative trends to longer-term investors who value the technical capabilities of the different blockchains, challenging bitcoin’s market dominance,” Anders Nysteen, quantitative analyst at Saxo Bank, wrote in a research report . Latest prices Bitcoin (BTC): $62,813.67, +3.3% Ether (ETH): $4,191.45, +3.53% S&P 500: $4,566.48, +0.47% Gold: $1,806.85, +0.69% 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.64% Record $1.5 billion crypto fund inflows Investors pumped a record $1.47 billion in new money into digital asset investment products last week, fueled by a rally in cryptocurrencies and the launch of the ProShares bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund, according to a CoinShares report Monday. Bitcoin-focused funds dominated last week’s inflows, at 99%. During the prior week, inflows into bitcoin-focused funds were at $70 million, CoinDesk’s Lyllah Ledesma reported . Bitcoin dominance declines The bitcoin dominance ratio, or the measure of bitcoin’s market capitalization relative to the total crypto market, declined last week to 45%. The decline in the dominance ratio was due to the recent outperformance of several altcoins such as ETH and SOL. Story continues Some traders are starting to rotate into altcoins, which suggests a greater appetite for risk. “Overall, we are structurally long BTC, ETH and most layer 1s such as ALGO and SOL,” crypto trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a Telegram chat. But is the rotation to altcoins sustainable? The chart below shows the bitcoin dominance ratio, which increased from a recent low of 40% in mid-September. A similar situation occurred in 2018 before the start of a crypto bear market. At that time, the bitcoin dominance ratio rose as investors reduced their exposure to altcoins and sought relative safety in bitcoin. Currently, the bitcoin dominance ratio is declining from a high of 48% in July, which was when crypto prices stabilized from a correction earlier this year. Similar to February-March 2018, traders are returning to buy the dip in altcoins that have lagged behind a sharp recovery in bitcoin over the past month. For now, some analysts expect altcoins to take the lead, because cryptocurrencies typically produce positive returns during the fourth quarter. Altcoin roundup Shiba Inu hits record high: Shiba Inu (SHIB) tapped lifetime highs on Sunday, trading at $0.0000455 at 11:20 UTC, topping the previous record reached on May 10, CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole reported . Prices for the meme token have risen by nearly 50% in the past 24 hours, with a month-to-date gain of almost 500%. SHIB’s latest rise comes amid rumors that Robinhood may soon list the cryptocurrency on its platform. Solana also hit a new record high: Prices for Solana’s SOL tokens hit a record high on early Monday as a majority of tokens representing layer 1 blockchains followed bitcoin, CoinDesk’s Muyao Shen reported . The token, which is backed by FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried, traded at $218.9 on Monday. According to decentralized finance data provider Defi Llama, the total value locked in Solana reached an all-time high of approximately $13.91 billion. Ether hit all-time high last week while seeing continued outflows: Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, hit a record high on Oct. 21 at $4,361, CoinDesk’s Lyllah Ledesma reported . However, despite the price increase, funds focused on the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization saw outflows for a third consecutive week, totaling $1.4 million last week. Other altcoins, including SOL, Cardano’s ADA currency and Binance coin (BNB), all saw inflows. Relevant news ProShares Seeks Waiver From CME for Position Limits on New Bitcoin Futures ETF BlockFi to Develop Crypto Asset Management Products With Neuberger Berman Mastercard Is Integrating Crypto Payments Through a New Partnership With Bakkt FTX Crypto Exchange Finalizes LedgerX Acquisition Other markets Most digital assets in the CoinDesk 20 ended the day higher. Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): Chainlink (LINK): +10.86% The Graph (GRT): +9.89% Algorand (ALGO): +9.71% Notable losers: Tether (USDT): -0.02% USD coin (USDC): -0.01% || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Rises Again as Altcoins Outperform: Bitcoin is recovering from a weekend dip as traders anticipate the third U.S. futures-focused bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) listing. The VanEck Bitcoin Futures ETF is expected to launch on Tuesday and will trade under the ticker symbol XBTF. Analysts continue to expect further upside in bitcoin’s price given strong investor sentiment on ETF approvals. Last week, crypto investment funds saw a record $1.47 billion in inflows as investors positioned themselves ahead of the first U.S. bitcoin-linked ETF launch, by ProShares. Alternative cryptocurrency-focused funds also saw inflows, which coincided with a near 30% rise in Solana’s SOL token over the past week. Analysts are also monitoring the recent rotation to alternative coins (altcoins), which are starting to outperform bitcoin. “The crypto market is turning from being dominated by short-term traders who want to ride the speculative trends to longer-term investors who value the technical capabilities of the different blockchains, challenging bitcoin’s market dominance,” Anders Nysteen, quantitative analyst at Saxo Bank, wrote in a research report . Latest prices Bitcoin (BTC): $62,813.67, +3.3% Ether (ETH): $4,191.45, +3.53% S&P 500: $4,566.48, +0.47% Gold: $1,806.85, +0.69% 10-year Treasury yield closed at 1.64% Record $1.5 billion crypto fund inflows Investors pumped a record $1.47 billion in new money into digital asset investment products last week, fueled by a rally in cryptocurrencies and the launch of the ProShares bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund, according to a CoinShares report Monday. Bitcoin-focused funds dominated last week’s inflows, at 99%. During the prior week, inflows into bitcoin-focused funds were at $70 million, CoinDesk’s Lyllah Ledesma reported . Bitcoin dominance declines The bitcoin dominance ratio, or the measure of bitcoin’s market capitalization relative to the total crypto market, declined last week to 45%. The decline in the dominance ratio was due to the recent outperformance of several altcoins such as ETH and SOL. Story continues Some traders are starting to rotate into altcoins, which suggests a greater appetite for risk. “Overall, we are structurally long BTC, ETH and most layer 1s such as ALGO and SOL,” crypto trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a Telegram chat. But is the rotation to altcoins sustainable? The chart below shows the bitcoin dominance ratio, which increased from a recent low of 40% in mid-September. A similar situation occurred in 2018 before the start of a crypto bear market. At that time, the bitcoin dominance ratio rose as investors reduced their exposure to altcoins and sought relative safety in bitcoin. Currently, the bitcoin dominance ratio is declining from a high of 48% in July, which was when crypto prices stabilized from a correction earlier this year. Similar to February-March 2018, traders are returning to buy the dip in altcoins that have lagged behind a sharp recovery in bitcoin over the past month. For now, some analysts expect altcoins to take the lead, because cryptocurrencies typically produce positive returns during the fourth quarter. Altcoin roundup Shiba Inu hits record high: Shiba Inu (SHIB) tapped lifetime highs on Sunday, trading at $0.0000455 at 11:20 UTC, topping the previous record reached on May 10, CoinDesk’s Omkar Godbole reported . Prices for the meme token have risen by nearly 50% in the past 24 hours, with a month-to-date gain of almost 500%. SHIB’s latest rise comes amid rumors that Robinhood may soon list the cryptocurrency on its platform. Solana also hit a new record high: Prices for Solana’s SOL tokens hit a record high on early Monday as a majority of tokens representing layer 1 blockchains followed bitcoin, CoinDesk’s Muyao Shen reported . The token, which is backed by FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried, traded at $218.9 on Monday. According to decentralized finance data provider Defi Llama, the total value locked in Solana reached an all-time high of approximately $13.91 billion. Ether hit all-time high last week while seeing continued outflows: Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, hit a record high on Oct. 21 at $4,361, CoinDesk’s Lyllah Ledesma reported . However, despite the price increase, funds focused on the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization saw outflows for a third consecutive week, totaling $1.4 million last week. Other altcoins, including SOL, Cardano’s ADA currency and Binance coin (BNB), all saw inflows. Relevant news ProShares Seeks Waiver From CME for Position Limits on New Bitcoin Futures ETF BlockFi to Develop Crypto Asset Management Products With Neuberger Berman Mastercard Is Integrating Crypto Payments Through a New Partnership With Bakkt FTX Crypto Exchange Finalizes LedgerX Acquisition Other markets Most digital assets in the CoinDesk 20 ended the day higher. Notable winners as of 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): Chainlink (LINK): +10.86% The Graph (GRT): +9.89% Algorand (ALGO): +9.71% Notable losers: Tether (USDT): -0.02% USD coin (USDC): -0.01% || Stock market news live updates: Stocks rise, Dow sets record high ahead of technology earnings: Stocks moved higher on Monday as investors awaited a slew of earnings results from the Big Tech companies, as well as a myriad of other corporations across industries this week. The Dow and S&P 500 set record intraday and closing highs. The Nasdaq gained, and shares of Tesla ( TSLA ) rallied to an all-time high with a market capitalization exceeding $1 trillion for the first time. U.S. West Texas intermediate ( CL=F ) crude oil prices topped $85 per barrel, reaching the highest level since 2014. The move tracked gains in Brent crude ( BZ=F ), the international benchmark, which jumped above $86 per barrel for its highest level since 2018 after Saudi Arabia's energy minister suggested in a Bloomberg interview that oil producers exercise caution in boosting output despite fast-rising prices. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 1.64%, or near its highest level since May, as inflation concerns remained front and center for investors amid rising energy and commodity prices and other price gains across the recovering economy. Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the elevated inflationary pressures spurred by supply chain constraints were "likely to last longer than previously expected, likely well into next year." A number of individual companies have also flagged the impacts of rising costs in their earnings reports over the past couple weeks. Kevin Boone, executive vice president of sales and marketing for freight railroad company CSX Transportation ( CSX ), said during the company's earnings call last week that cost inflation has jumped over the last year, and "expectations have risen and are rising in the next year." And likewise, Whirlpool ( WHRL ) CEO Marc Bitzer said on the appliance company's earnings call he did not "expect that the inflation will quickly fall off" heading into next year. This week's earnings results will center on those from the Big Tech companies including Facebook ( FB ), Apple ( AAPL ), Amazon ( AMZN ) and Alphabet ( GOOGL ). These comprise some of the most heavily weighted components of the S&P 500. Most have underperformed the market this year after significant rallies in 2020 at the height of stay-in-place orders and demand for technology to stay connected. Investors are hoping to see these companies echo the performance of some other earlier reporters and post estimates-topping results despite ongoing supply-side challenges. For the technology companies, these concerns will likely center on the impact of global chip shortages, as well as the impact of rising labor costs given their substantial workforces. Story continues "We continue to strongly believe despite the lingering black cloud chip shortage that 3Q tech earnings will be standouts this week thus helping drive the sector higher into year-end as the Street continues to underestimate the fundamentals of this multi-trillion digital transformation playing out among consumer and enterprise tech names," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note on Sunday. Still, this week overall will be a busy one for earnings season, with a total of about 165 companies in the S&P 500 posting results, according to data from Deutsche Bank. As of Friday, about 23% of S&P 500 companies had reported actual results for the third quarter, and of these, 84% topped Wall Street's expectations for earnings per share (EPS), according to data from FactSet . The estimated earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 was 32.7%, based on actual results and expectations for companies still yet to report as of last week. If maintained through the end of third-quarter earnings season, that would mark the third-highest earnings growth rate posted for the index since 2010. — 4:07 p.m. ET: Stocks end at records: S&P 500 and Dow log all-time highs; Nasdaq gains 0.9% as investors eye Big Tech earnings Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:07 p.m. ET: S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : +21.58 (+0.47%) to 4,566.48 Dow ( ^DJI ) : +64.13 (+0.18%) to 35,741.15 Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) : +136.51 (+0.90%) to 15,226.71 Crude ( CL=F ) : -$0.36 (-0.43%) to $83.40 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$11.50 (+0.64%) to $1,807.80 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : -2 bps to yield 1.6350% — 12:14 p.m. ET: Stocks extend gains, S&P 500 and Dow set record highs Here's where markets were trading Monday afternoon: S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : +21.24 (+0.47%) to 4,566.14 Dow ( ^DJI ) : +91.27 (+0.26%) to 35,768.29 Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) : +103.9 (+0.69%) to 15,194.07 Crude ( CL=F ) : +$0.33 (+0.39%) to $84.09 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$13.60 (+0.76%) to $1,809.90 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : -2.4 bps, yielding 1.631% — 10:31 a.m. ET: 'Consumers are out spending money': BofA's Moynihan Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan struck an upbeat tone on the state of the U.S. consumer, noting that spending has increased across a broad range of methods, and personal savings remain robust. This has in turn led to robust economic activity, he said. “A lot of people focus on credit card and debit card payments, but that's only about 20 to 25% of all the ways consumers spend money,” Moynihan s aid during Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit on Monday. “If you actually look across how consumers spend money – writing checks, taking money out of the ATM, Zelle payments, ACH payments, wires, everything – that's for us so far through October, year-to-date of 2021, is about $2.8 trillion of activity.” He added that that sum was up about 20% over 2020, and by more than 20% compared to the same period in 2019. “That's a very strong growth rate, the strongest we've seen in the last many, many years … So the consumers are out spending money," Moynihan added. "All in all, the simple fact is, the economy is as big as it was in 2019 nominally. It’s growing, predicted to grow at two to three times the rate it was predicted grow then. Consumers are spending at really twice the growth rate. "The question is, is it all because of stimulus and the money? If you actually look at our consumer checking accounts, the last six months, people have average deposits of $10,000, even $15,000 or less. Their deposit balance has grown the last six months in each month," he said. "And then even in the last month of August and September, [it] grew by a couple percent, which means, even after stimulus largely stopped, you're still seeing their accounts grow, which means they're accumulating cash at excess of their spending.” “It's a pretty strong backbone for the economy, which is driven by the consumer,” he added. “It's a fairly good picture, as long as, as long as the COVID virus stays in check.” — 9:41 a.m. ET: 'There's a lot of speculative activity': SEC Chair on cryptocurrency trading Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler restated a cautious tone on cryptocurrencies, suggesting that trading activity in the space needs to come under tighter regulatory oversight. “The concern for the investing public is the crypto asset space [is] $2.5 trillion. Most of it has not come within investor protection remit. And thus, investors aren’t protected the way they are whether they go into the stock or bond markets that we’ve overseen for so long,” Gensler said during Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit on Monday. “Without that I think it really is, as I’ve said to others, a bit of the Wild West. And these markets largely around the globe, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, don’t have the similar protections against fraud and manipulations front-running and other abuses.” Gensler declined to comment on whether the SEC was becoming more amenable to the idea of a fund tracking spot prices of Bitcoin, following the launch of the first-ever U.S.-listed bitcoin futures ETF on the New York Stock Exchange last week, or the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF ( BITO ). This fund — which allows investors to bet on futures contracts, or expected price changes in bitcoin — does not provide investments in bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) directly. Gensler also suggested the SEC could tighten controls over cryptocurrency companies issuing stable coins. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the Biden administration was eyeing such a move, which could include a special-purpose charter for stable-coin issuers. “There’s about $130 billion in stable coins today. That's up nearly 10-fold in the last year, and they are intertwined inside of crypto exchanges, crypto lending platforms, so-called DeFi,” Gensler said. “Those ‘poker chips,’ so to speak, are facilitating 80% of the volume. So they're only 5% of the crypto market but 80% of the volume in this token-to-token, crypto-to-crypto trading. So I think there's a lot of speculative activity. And again, it’s best to bring that inside regulatory investor protection remit.” — 9:31 a.m. ET: Stocks open slightly higher, holding onto overnight gains Here's where markets were trading Monday morning: S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : +9.75 (+0.21%) to 4,554.65 Dow ( ^DJI ) : +49.61 (+0.14%) to 35,726.63 Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) : +64.32 (+0.43%) to 15,156.64 Crude ( CL=F ) : +$1.36 (+1.62%) to $85.12 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$8.50 (+0.47%) to $1,804.80 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : -1.5 bps, yielding 1.64% — 8:51 a.m. ET: Pinterest shares slide after PayPal says it is not considering acquisition of the social media company Shares of Pinterest ( PINS ) slid in early trading after PayPal ( PYPL ) said in a brief statement that it was not considering an acquisition of the company. Shares of Pinterest dropped about 15% ahead of the opening bell. "In response to market rumors regarding a potential acquisition of Pinterest by PayPal, PayPal stated that it is not pursuing an acquisition of Pinterest at this time," PayPal said on Sunday. The announcement came following a report from Bloomberg last week that the financial technology company was contemplating a deal of Pinterest that could have valued it at $45 billion. The report had sent Pinterest's shares soaring and PayPal's sinking, with the former's stock gaining 12.8% on Oct. 20 the day of the report, while the latter's stock dropped 5%. — 8:38 a.m. ET: Tesla shares set to reach record high amid Hertz deal, Morgan Stanley price target increase Tesla ( TSLA ) shares were on track to open at another all-time high, taking out its previous record level from Friday as investors cheered a new deal with car-rental company Hertz and a positive outlook from a major Wall Street firm. Shares were trading above $946 apiece during the pre-market session. Hertz announced on Monday the company had ordered 100,000 Tesla vehicles, with these set to be delivered by the end of 2022. Hertz said it was setting out to "offer the largest EV rental fleet in North America and one of the largest in the world," and it also ordered new electric-vehicle charging infrastructure for use globally. Separately, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas raised his price target on shares of Tesla to $1,200 from the $900 he saw previously, bringing his target to one of the highest on the Street. This came after Tesla posted third-quarter profits that topped Wall Street's estimates, on the heels of record quarterly deliveries for the company despite widespread chip shortages and port congestion. — 7:45 a.m. ET Monday: Stock futures tick up Here's where markets were trading ahead of the opening bell: S&P 500 futures ( ES=F ) : +4.25 points (+0.09%), to 4,540.75 Dow futures ( YM=F ) : +3 points (+0.01%), to 35,560.00 Nasdaq futures ( NQ=F ): +34.75 points (+0.23%) to 15,375.75 Crude ( CL=F ) : +$0.95 (+1.13%) to $84.71 a barrel Gold ( GC=F ) : +$5.90 (+0.33%) to $1,802.20 per ounce 10-year Treasury ( ^TNX ) : +0.4 bps, yielding 1.659% Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 20, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (Brendan McDermid / reuters) — Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter View comments || Stock market news live updates: S&P 500, Dow set record highs ahead of Big Tech earnings: Stocks moved higher on Monday as investors awaited a slew of earnings results from the Big Tech companies, as well as a myriad of other corporations across industries this week.
The Dow and S&P 500 set record intraday and closing highs. The Nasdaq gained, and shares of Tesla (TSLA) rallied to an all-time high with a market capitalization exceeding $1 trillion for the first time.
U.S. West Texas intermediate (CL=F) crude oil prices topped $85 per barrel, reaching the highest level since 2014. The move tracked gains in Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, which jumped above $86 per barrel for its highest level since 2018 afterSaudi Arabia's energy minister suggested in a Bloomberg interviewthat oil producers exercise caution in boosting output despite fast-rising prices.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 1.64%, or near its highest level since May, as inflation concerns remained front and center for investors amid rising energy and commodity prices and other price gains across the recovering economy. Last week,Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell saidthe elevated inflationary pressures spurred by supply chain constraints were "likely to last longer than previously expected, likely well into next year."
A number of individual companies have also flagged the impacts of rising costs in their earnings reports over the past couple weeks. Kevin Boone, executive vice president of sales and marketing for freight railroad company CSX Transportation (CSX), said during the company's earnings call last week that cost inflation has jumped over the last year, and "expectations have risen and are rising in the next year." And likewise, Whirlpool (WHRL) CEO Marc Bitzer said on the appliance company's earnings call he did not "expect that the inflation will quickly fall off" heading into next year.
This week's earnings results willcenter on those from the Big Tech companiesincluding Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL). These comprise some of the most heavily weighted components of the S&P 500. Most have underperformed the market this year after significant rallies in 2020 at the height of stay-in-place orders and demand for technology to stay connected.
Investors are hoping to see these companies echo the performance of some other earlier reporters and post estimates-topping results despite ongoing supply-side challenges. For the technology companies, these concerns will likely center on the impact of global chip shortages, as well as the impact of rising labor costs given their substantial workforces.
"We continue to strongly believe despite the lingering black cloud chip shortage that 3Q tech earnings will be standouts this week thus helping drive the sector higher into year-end as the Street continues to underestimate the fundamentals of this multi-trillion digital transformation playing out among consumer and enterprise tech names," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note on Sunday.
Still, this week overall will be a busy one for earnings season, with a total of about 165 companies in the S&P 500 posting results, according to data from Deutsche Bank.
As of Friday, about 23% of S&P 500 companies had reported actual results for the third quarter, and of these, 84% topped Wall Street's expectations for earnings per share (EPS),according to data from FactSet. The estimated earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 was 32.7%, based on actual results and expectations for companies still yet to report as of last week. If maintained through the end of third-quarter earnings season, that would mark the third-highest earnings growth rate posted for the index since 2010.
—
Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:07 p.m. ET:
• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +21.58 (+0.47%) to 4,566.48
• Dow (^DJI): +64.13 (+0.18%) to 35,741.15
• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +136.51 (+0.90%) to 15,226.71
• Crude (CL=F): -$0.36 (-0.43%) to $83.40 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$11.50 (+0.64%) to $1,807.80 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -2 bps to yield 1.6350%
—
Here's where markets were trading Monday afternoon:
• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +21.24 (+0.47%) to 4,566.14
• Dow (^DJI): +91.27 (+0.26%) to 35,768.29
• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +103.9 (+0.69%) to 15,194.07
• Crude (CL=F): +$0.33 (+0.39%) to $84.09 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$13.60 (+0.76%) to $1,809.90 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -2.4 bps, yielding 1.631%
—
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan struck an upbeat tone on the state of the U.S. consumer, noting that spending has increased across a broad range of methods, and personal savings remain robust. This has in turn led to robust economic activity, he said.
“A lot of people focus on credit card and debit card payments, but that's only about 20 to 25% of all the ways consumers spend money,” Moynihan said during Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit on Monday.“If you actually look across how consumers spend money – writing checks, taking money out of the ATM, Zelle payments, ACH payments, wires, everything – that's for us so far through October, year-to-date of 2021, is about $2.8 trillion of activity.”
He added that that sum was up about 20% over 2020, and by more than 20% compared to the same period in 2019.
“That's a very strong growth rate, the strongest we've seen in the last many, many years … So the consumers are out spending money," Moynihan added. "All in all, the simple fact is, the economy is as big as it was in 2019 nominally. It’s growing, predicted to grow at two to three times the rate it was predicted grow then. Consumers are spending at really twice the growth rate.
"The question is, is it all because of stimulus and the money? If you actually look at our consumer checking accounts, the last six months, people have average deposits of $10,000, even $15,000 or less. Their deposit balance has grown the last six months in each month," he said. "And then even in the last month of August and September, [it] grew by a couple percent, which means, even after stimulus largely stopped, you're still seeing their accounts grow, which means they're accumulating cash at excess of their spending.”
“It's a pretty strong backbone for the economy, which is driven by the consumer,” he added. “It's a fairly good picture, as long as, as long as the COVID virus stays in check.”
—
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler restated a cautious tone on cryptocurrencies, suggesting that trading activity in the space needs to come under tighter regulatory oversight.
“The concern for the investing public is the crypto asset space [is] $2.5 trillion. Most of it has not come within investor protection remit. And thus, investors aren’t protected the way they are whether they go into the stock or bond markets that we’ve overseen for so long,” Genslersaid during Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit on Monday.“Without that I think it really is, as I’ve said to others, a bit of the Wild West. And these markets largely around the globe, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, don’t have the similar protections against fraud and manipulations front-running and other abuses.”
Gensler declined to comment on whether the SEC was becoming more amenable to the idea of a fund tracking spot prices of Bitcoin, following the launch of the first-ever U.S.-listed bitcoin futures ETF on the New York Stock Exchange last week, or the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO). This fund — which allows investors to bet on futures contracts, or expected price changes in bitcoin — does not provide investments in bitcoin (BTC-USD) directly.
Gensler also suggested the SEC could tighten controls over cryptocurrency companies issuing stable coins.The Wall Street Journal reportedearlier this month that the Biden administration was eyeing such a move, which could include a special-purpose charter for stable-coin issuers.
“There’s about $130 billion in stable coins today. That's up nearly 10-fold in the last year, and they are intertwined inside of crypto exchanges, crypto lending platforms, so-called DeFi,” Gensler said. “Those ‘poker chips,’ so to speak, are facilitating 80% of the volume. So they're only 5% of the crypto market but 80% of the volume in this token-to-token, crypto-to-crypto trading. So I think there's a lot of speculative activity. And again, it’s best to bring that inside regulatory investor protection remit.”
—
Here's where markets were trading Monday morning:
• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +9.75 (+0.21%) to 4,554.65
• Dow (^DJI): +49.61 (+0.14%) to 35,726.63
• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +64.32 (+0.43%) to 15,156.64
• Crude (CL=F): +$1.36 (+1.62%) to $85.12 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$8.50 (+0.47%) to $1,804.80 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): -1.5 bps, yielding 1.64%
—
Shares of Pinterest (PINS) slid in early trading after PayPal (PYPL) said in a brief statement that it was not considering an acquisition of the company. Shares of Pinterest dropped about 15% ahead of the opening bell.
"In response to market rumors regarding a potential acquisition of Pinterest by PayPal, PayPal stated that it is not pursuing an acquisition of Pinterest at this time," PayPalsaid on Sunday.
The announcement came following a report from Bloomberg last week that the financial technology company was contemplating a deal of Pinterest that could have valued it at $45 billion. The report had sent Pinterest's shares soaring and PayPal's sinking, with the former's stock gaining 12.8% on Oct. 20 the day of the report, while the latter's stock dropped 5%.
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Tesla (TSLA) shares were on track to open at another all-time high, taking out its previous record level from Friday as investors cheered a new deal with car-rental company Hertz and a positive outlook from a major Wall Street firm. Shares were trading above $946 apiece during the pre-market session.
Hertzannounced on Monday the company had ordered100,000 Tesla vehicles, with these set to be delivered by the end of 2022. Hertz said it was setting out to "offer the largest EV rental fleet in North America and one of the largest in the world," and it also ordered new electric-vehicle charging infrastructure for use globally.
Separately, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas raised his price target on shares of Tesla to $1,200 from the $900 he saw previously, bringing his target to one of the highest on the Street. This came after Teslaposted third-quarter profitsthat topped Wall Street's estimates, on the heels of record quarterly deliveries for the company despite widespread chip shortages and port congestion.
—
Here's where markets were trading ahead of the opening bell:
• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +4.25 points (+0.09%), to 4,540.75
• Dow futures (YM=F): +3 points (+0.01%), to 35,560.00
• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F):+34.75 points (+0.23%) to 15,375.75
• Crude (CL=F): +$0.95 (+1.13%) to $84.71 a barrel
• Gold (GC=F): +$5.90 (+0.33%) to $1,802.20 per ounce
• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +0.4 bps, yielding 1.659%
—
Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.Follow her on Twitter || Stimulus Money Could Cause the Stock Market to Plunge 15% by November: peshkov / Getty Images/iStockphoto Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer for financial firm Guggenheim, predicts that the stock market could drop 15% by November, according to a report by Business Insider. He blames the economic stimulus , noting that the central banks have “no exit plan.” See: Fourth Stimulus Won’t Happen, But These Federal Programs Aid Those In Financial Need Find: Senior Stimulus: Advocacy Group Proposes One-Time, $1,400 Payment for Social Security Recipients Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer for financial firm Guggenheim, predicts that the stock market could drop 15% by November, according to a report by Business Insider. He blames the economic stimulus, noting that the central banks have “no exit plan.” “For the time being, we’re just addicted to this,” he said earlier this week at the Milken Institute’s 2021 Global Conference. He explained that the central banks have lent $2.3 trillion in much-needed support for local businesses, households, financial markets and state and local governments during the pandemic. However, now the central banks are in the position of “running the markets,” he said, without a clear exit strategy to withdraw stimulus. There’s also the concern of inflation, BusinessInsider.com writes. Michael Burry of The Big Short, along with investment experts Leon Cooperman and Carl Icahn have also warned against the Fed overstimulating the economy. The Fed is likely to begin tapering bond purchases in December, according to BusinessInsider.com. A formal announcement may come at November’s Federal Open Markets Committee meeting. Biden’s stimulus package has also been blamed for rapid inflation in 2021, with a tight labor market, an increase in demand for goods and services as lockdowns ended, and supply chain challenges creating “the perfect storm for inflation,” GOBankingRates reported last month . See: Kraft Heinz to Consumers on Inflation-Related Price Hikes: ‘Get Used to It’ Find: Fed Downplaying Inflation? Economists Warn It Could ‘Accelerate Taper Process’ Story continues The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up slightly this morning, hovering just past the $35,550 mark, less than 100 points shy of its 52-week high. The market was bolstered by Apple, Tesla, and the new Bitcoin futures ETF . More From GOBankingRates 5 Things Most Americans Don’t Know About Social Security 8 Ways Homeowners Can Save $1000s Every Year 8 Best Cryptocurrencies To Invest In for 2021 How Long $500K Will Last in Retirement in Each State This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : Stimulus Money Could Cause the Stock Market to Plunge 15% by November || Stimulus Money Could Cause the Stock Market to Plunge 15% by November: Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer for financial firm Guggenheim, predicts that the stock market could drop 15% by November, according to a report by Business Insider.He blames the economic stimulus, noting that the central banks have “no exit plan.”
See:Fourth Stimulus Won’t Happen, But These Federal Programs Aid Those In Financial NeedFind:Senior Stimulus: Advocacy Group Proposes One-Time, $1,400 Payment for Social Security Recipients
Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer for financial firm Guggenheim, predicts that the stock market could drop 15% by November, according to a report by Business Insider. He blames the economic stimulus, noting that the central banks have “no exit plan.”
“For the time being, we’re just addicted to this,” he said earlier this week at the Milken Institute’s 2021 Global Conference. He explained that the central banks have lent $2.3 trillion in much-needed support for local businesses, households, financial markets and state and local governments during the pandemic. However, now the central banks are in the position of “running the markets,” he said, without a clear exit strategy to withdraw stimulus.
There’s also the concern of inflation, BusinessInsider.com writes. Michael Burry of The Big Short, along with investment experts Leon Cooperman and Carl Icahn have also warned against the Fed overstimulating the economy.
The Fed is likely to begin tapering bond purchases in December, according to BusinessInsider.com. A formal announcement may come at November’s Federal Open Markets Committee meeting.
Biden’s stimulus package has also been blamed for rapid inflation in 2021, with a tight labor market, an increase in demand for goods and services as lockdowns ended, and supply chain challenges creating “the perfect storm for inflation,”GOBankingRates reported last month.
See:Kraft Heinz to Consumers on Inflation-Related Price Hikes: ‘Get Used to It’Find:Fed Downplaying Inflation? Economists Warn It Could ‘Accelerate Taper Process’
The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up slightly this morning, hovering just past the $35,550 mark, less than 100 points shy of its 52-week high. The market was bolstered by Apple, Tesla, andthe new Bitcoin futures ETF.
More From GOBankingRates
• 5 Things Most Americans Don’t Know About Social Security
• 8 Ways Homeowners Can Save $1000s Every Year
• 8 Best Cryptocurrencies To Invest In for 2021
• How Long $500K Will Last in Retirement in Each State
This article originally appeared onGOBankingRates.com:Stimulus Money Could Cause the Stock Market to Plunge 15% by November || El Salvador removes bitcoin pricing feature scalpers were exploiting on its Chivo system: • El Salvador yanks a feature on its Chivo network that people were illegally using to profit from bitcoin trades, Bloomberg reported.
• The price-freezing feature gave users time to check bitcoin rates on other exchanges and decide whether to buy or sell.
• Users said the Chivo wallet is now restricting trades to one every three minutes.
• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
El Salvador has taken away a pricing feature on its Chivobitcoinnetwork that people were illegally using to profit quickly from transactions with the cryptocurrency,according to a Bloomberg report.
Chivo no longer freezes bitcoin's price for one minute before confirming a trade. The feature gave users time to check bitcoin pricing on other cryptocurrency exchanges and decide whether to buy or sell, an activity called scalping.
"Unfortunately many of our users used it for scalping, which is legal but without the option of having a frozen rate,"according to a translated Twitter post from Chivo. "Doing it with a frozen rate, comparing it with other exchanges in real time is a type of fraud."
El Salvador in September became the first country in the world to allow bitcoin as a payment option and, with that, rolled out its Chivo crypto wallet.
With last week's change in the pricing feature, users said the wallet is now restricting trades to one every three minutes and that the price at which they sell bitcoin isn't the rate they receive when a transaction is approved, the report published Monday said.
A programmer in El Salvador who has closely tracked the Chivo rollout said it's unclear if the price difference is a fee for using the wallet, a spread charged by Chivo, or the result of price swings during the three-minute delay.
Bitcoin during Monday's session rose 4% to $62,967.52. Last week, the world's most-traded cryptocurrency reached an all-time high of $66,930.39,according to CoinMarketCap, a day after thefirst bitcoin-futures ETFlaunched.
Read the original article onBusiness Insider || El Salvador removes bitcoin pricing feature scalpers were exploiting on its Chivo system: A Chivo sign for El Salvador's bitcoin system is displayed in San Salvador. Camilo Freedman/APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images El Salvador yanks a feature on its Chivo network that people were illegally using to profit from bitcoin trades, Bloomberg reported. The price-freezing feature gave users time to check bitcoin rates on other exchanges and decide whether to buy or sell. Users said the Chivo wallet is now restricting trades to one every three minutes. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell . El Salvador has taken away a pricing feature on its Chivo bitcoin network that people were illegally using to profit quickly from transactions with the cryptocurrency, according to a Bloomberg report . Chivo no longer freezes bitcoin's price for one minute before confirming a trade. The feature gave users time to check bitcoin pricing on other cryptocurrency exchanges and decide whether to buy or sell, an activity called scalping. "Unfortunately many of our users used it for scalping, which is legal but without the option of having a frozen rate," according to a translated Twitter post from Chivo . "Doing it with a frozen rate, comparing it with other exchanges in real time is a type of fraud." El Salvador in September became the first country in the world to allow bitcoin as a payment option and, with that, rolled out its Chivo crypto wallet. With last week's change in the pricing feature, users said the wallet is now restricting trades to one every three minutes and that the price at which they sell bitcoin isn't the rate they receive when a transaction is approved, the report published Monday said. A programmer in El Salvador who has closely tracked the Chivo rollout said it's unclear if the price difference is a fee for using the wallet, a spread charged by Chivo, or the result of price swings during the three-minute delay. Bitcoin during Monday's session rose 4% to $62,967.52. Last week, the world's most-traded cryptocurrency reached an all-time high of $66,930.39, according to CoinMarketCap , a day after the first bitcoin-futures ETF launched. Read the original article on Business Insider || Investors poured a record $1.5 billion into crypto funds last week as the first bitcoin ETFs kicked off trading: • Investors poured a record $1.5 billion into the crypto market last week as the first-ever bitcoin ETF kicked off trading.
• This is the largest-ever weekly inflow, far surpassing the prior record of $640 million set in February, CoinShares said.
• Ether, meanwhile, saw outflows for a third consecutive week to the tune of $1.4 million due to profit-taking.
• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
Investors poured a record $1.5 billion into the cryptocurrency market last week as the first-ever bitcoin ETF kicked off trading with the underlying asset itself hitting an all-time high.
The 10th straight week of inflows was also the largest ever, far surpassing the prior weekly record of $640 million set in February, according to a report by digital asset manager CoinShares on Monday.
Year-to-date, total crypto inflows now total $8 billion, beating the 2020 record of $6.7 billion, according to data for the week ending October 22. Total assets under management also hit a new record of $79.2 billion, although it ended the week at $76.7 billion
"The record inflows were a direct result of the US Securities and Exchange Commission allowing a bitcoin ETF investing in futures and the consequent listing of two bitcoin investment products," the report said.
TheProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETFdebuted on October 19, becoming thesecond-most-traded fund launchof all time, while theValkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETFlaunched on October 21.
Bitcoinsaw 99% of last week's inflows, totaling $1.45 billion. There was, however, some evidence of profit-taking with some older investment products seeing outflows, the report showed.
Bitcoin soared above$66,000at its high point last week, representing a 50% gain in the space of a month while he benchmark S&P 500 has climbed roughly 4%.
"The cryptocurrency industry has waited for what feels like a very long time," Adam James, senior analyst at OKEx Insights, the research arm of crypto exchange OKEx. "Though ProShare's offering is technically a futures-backed ETF, it still represents a milestone in bitcoin's history."
Altcoins also made gains, led by solana,cardano, andbinance coin, which saw total inflows of $8.1 million, $5.3 million, and $1.8 million respectively.
Ether, meanwhile, saw outflows for a third consecutive week to the tune of $1.4 million. CoinShares attributed this to a "minor profit-taking as the price closes-in on all-time-highs."
Read the original article onBusiness Insider || Investors poured a record $1.5 billion into crypto funds last week as the first bitcoin ETFs kicked off trading: Bitcoin. Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images Investors poured a record $1.5 billion into the crypto market last week as the first-ever bitcoin ETF kicked off trading. This is the largest-ever weekly inflow, far surpassing the prior record of $640 million set in February, CoinShares said. Ether, meanwhile, saw outflows for a third consecutive week to the tune of $1.4 million due to profit-taking. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell . Investors poured a record $1.5 billion into the cryptocurrency market last week as the first-ever bitcoin ETF kicked off trading with the underlying asset itself hitting an all-time high. The 10th straight week of inflows was also the largest ever, far surpassing the prior weekly record of $640 million set in February, according to a report by digital asset manager CoinShares on Monday. Year-to-date, total crypto inflows now total $8 billion, beating the 2020 record of $6.7 billion, according to data for the week ending October 22. Total assets under management also hit a new record of $79.2 billion, although it ended the week at $76.7 billion "The record inflows were a direct result of the US Securities and Exchange Commission allowing a bitcoin ETF investing in futures and the consequent listing of two bitcoin investment products," the report said. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF debuted on October 19, becoming the second-most-traded fund launch of all time, while the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF launched on October 21. Bitcoin saw 99% of last week's inflows, totaling $1.45 billion. There was, however, some evidence of profit-taking with some older investment products seeing outflows, the report showed. Bitcoin soared above $66,000 at its high point last week, representing a 50% gain in the space of a month while he benchmark S&P 500 has climbed roughly 4%. "The cryptocurrency industry has waited for what feels like a very long time," Adam James, senior analyst at OKEx Insights, the research arm of crypto exchange OKEx. "Though ProShare's offering is technically a futures-backed ETF, it still represents a milestone in bitcoin's history." Story continues Weekly crypto asset flows by asset Bloomberg, CoinShares. Data available as of close 22 October 2021. Altcoins also made gains, led by solana, cardano , and binance coin , which saw total inflows of $8.1 million, $5.3 million, and $1.8 million respectively. Ether , meanwhile, saw outflows for a third consecutive week to the tune of $1.4 million. CoinShares attributed this to a "minor profit-taking as the price closes-in on all-time-highs." Read the original article on Business Insider || Bakkt's stock surges on Mastercard, Fiserv deal to broaden use of crypto in payments: Cryptocurrency exchange Bakkt stock soared on Monday, after announcing a partnership with Mastercard ( MA ) to offer crypto debit and credit cards, making it easier for consumers to pay using digital coins. Via Mastercard and Bakkt ( BKKT ), businesses and banks will be able to issue their own branded crypto debit and credit cards to consumers who want them. Holders can use bitcoin purchased through Bakkt with the card, or link to a fiat-based funding source, and receive bitcoin rewards. Bakkt’s stock, which publicly listed on the NYSE on October 18, skyrocketed in Monday's session and briefly triggered a halt. With momentum already behind it, Bakkt's announcement of a separate deal with Fiserv ( FISV ) sent its shares up by a staggering 175% intraday. “We want to provide consumer choice. We want to be able to provide the availability to use crypto currency in an everyday transaction,” Gavin Michael, Bakkt's CEO told Yahoo Finance at the All Markets Summit on Monday . With the Mastercard partnership, companies will also be able to offer crypto as part of their loyalty reward programs backed by Bakkt. For instance, hotels or restaurants who offer points for freebies or other perks could also offer customers the option to convert the points into cryptocurrency of their choosing. The partnership comes as more Americans become interested in transacting in digital assets, with businesses and service providers making incremental steps toward making it easier to transact in crypto. “We’re seeing an increased amount of consumer choice in the ability to be able to use their form of payment,” Michael said. “While we’re in the early stages of making this run, we’re showing the ability for people to be able to offer our merchants the ability to offer these new forms of payment as a way to acquire and appeal to new customer segments. We see a demographic that skews somewhat younger," he added. Nearly half of respondents purchased crypto in the first half of 2021, according to a Bakkt survey of 2000 consumers. And, according to the Mastercard New Payments Index, 77% of millennials stated that they are interested in learning more about cryptocurrency, with 75% saying that they would use cryptocurrency if they understood it better. The partnership with Mastercard comes after Bakkt partnered with Google to allow its users to purchase goods and services using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through the Google Pay wallet and payment system. Bakkt, which started as a cryptocurrency exchange for institutional investors, has moved into the consumer space with an app aimed at being a tool to let people manage their digital assets — including cryptocurrencies – similar to Venmo. Bakkt projects the app will amass more than 30 million users in five years. Story continues READ MORE: Read the latest cryptocurrency and bitcoin news from Yahoo Finance For more information about cryptocurrency, check out: Dogecoin, what is it? How to buy it Ethereum: What is it and how do you invest in it? The top 21 crypto leaders to watch in the back half of 2021 Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram , Flipboard , LinkedIn , YouTube , and reddit View comments || Bakkt's stock surges on Mastercard, Fiserv deal to broaden use of crypto in payments: Cryptocurrency exchange Bakkt stock soared on Monday, after announcing a partnership with Mastercard (MA) to offer crypto debit and credit cards, making it easier for consumers to pay using digital coins.
Via Mastercard and Bakkt (BKKT), businesses and banks will be able to issue their own branded crypto debit and credit cards to consumers who want them. Holders can use bitcoin purchased through Bakkt with the card, or link to a fiat-based funding source, and receive bitcoin rewards.
Bakkt’s stock, which publicly listed on the NYSE on October 18, skyrocketed in Monday's session and briefly triggered a halt. With momentum already behind it, Bakkt'sannouncement of a separate dealwith Fiserv (FISV) sent its shares up by a staggering 175% intraday.
“We want to provide consumer choice. We want to be able to provide the availability to use crypto currency in an everyday transaction,” Gavin Michael, Bakkt's CEO told Yahoo Finance at theAll Markets Summit on Monday.
With the Mastercard partnership, companies will also be able to offer crypto as part of their loyalty reward programs backed by Bakkt. For instance, hotels or restaurants who offer points for freebies or other perks could also offer customers the option to convert the points into cryptocurrency of their choosing.
The partnership comes as more Americans become interested in transacting in digital assets, with businesses and service providers making incremental steps toward making it easier to transact in crypto.
“We’re seeing an increased amount of consumer choice in the ability to be able to use their form of payment,” Michael said.
“While we’re in the early stages of making this run, we’re showing the ability for people to be able to offer our merchants the ability to offer these new forms of payment as a way to acquire and appeal to new customer segments. We see a demographic that skews somewhat younger," he added.
Nearly half of respondents purchased crypto in the first half of 2021, according to a Bakkt survey of 2000 consumers. And, according to the Mastercard New Payments Index, 77% of millennials stated that they are interested in learning more about cryptocurrency, with 75% saying that they would use cryptocurrency if they understood it better.
The partnership with Mastercard comes after Bakkt partnered with Google to allow its users to purchase goods and services using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through the Google Pay wallet and payment system.
Bakkt, which started as a cryptocurrency exchange for institutional investors, has moved into the consumer space with an app aimed at being a tool to let people manage their digital assets — including cryptocurrencies – similar to Venmo. Bakkt projects the app will amass more than 30 million users in five years.
READ MORE:
• Read the latest cryptocurrency and bitcoin news from Yahoo Finance
For more information about cryptocurrency, check out:
Dogecoin, what is it? How to buy it
Ethereum: What is it and how do you invest in it?
The top 21 crypto leaders to watch in the back half of 2021
Follow Yahoo Finance onTwitter,Facebook,Instagram,Flipboard,LinkedIn,YouTube, andreddit || DCG’s $1B Pledge and an SEC Filing Kindle Fresh Speculation on ‘Grayscale Discount’: Last week Digital Currency Group, a crypto-industry holding company, opened its wallet to defend its Grayscale subsidiary’s Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), when the fund’s shares traded at a 20.53% discount to its underlying bitcoin holdings – the steepest in five months. Digital Currency Group’s pledge to buy as much as $1 billion worth of GBTC shares might have represented savvy, opportunistic timing. Or it might have been a demonstration of support for the $39.45 billion GBTC, the world’s largest bitcoin fund, in the face of increasing competition. Then, a day later, Grayscale officially filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to convert the trust into a spot-based exchange-traded fund (ETF), even though SEC Chair Gary Gensler has signaled his preference for an ETF investing in bitcoin futures. (In recent days several futures ETFs have been approved in the U.S.) Thanks to these developments, the GBTC discount between the price of the underlying bitcoin asset and the price of the trust’s shares has since narrowed to about 16%, based on data from the crypto derivatives research firm Skew. But will it decrease further? Perhaps, if the futures ETFs already approved by the SEC lead to approval of funds that hold actual bitcoin, Bloomberg commodities analyst Mike McGlone wrote last week. He added that perhaps the GBTC discount would evaporate if the trust was allowed to convert to an ETF. “We see increasing pressure for the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve the GBTC ETF,” McGlone said in the market update shared with CoinDesk on Oct. 20. “Grayscale has said it’s committed to converting GBTC to an ETF. We see that as a matter of time, notably with a new digital divide opening [against] China, which may make bitcoin and crypto success a vested interest of the U.S.” However, other analysts talking to CoinDesk last week disagree, saying the price discrepancy will likely persist for the foreseeable future. Story continues “Any announcements about purchasing GBTC on the open market, or signaling towards an ETF conversion, are just empty promises in an attempt to bring in arbitrageurs and likely will not have much impact,” Jeff Dorman, CIO at Arca Funds, told CoinDesk in an email. “I don’t think the discount will close any time soon and probably should widen.” DCG, which also owns CoinDesk as an independent subsidiary, said it would buy much as $1 billion worth of GBTC, up from a prior authorization of $750 million. As of Oct. 19, DCG had already purchased $388 million worth of shares, according to the press release dated Oct. 20. DCG declined to comment on the issue. Grayscale allows investors to gain exposure to bitcoin through shares in the trust, which currently holds 647,540 BTC , according to bybt.com . That amounts to around 3% of the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply. GBTC shares are derivatives of bitcoin and, in theory, should closely track the cryptocurrency’s price. So a substantial discount or premium is an opportunity for arbitrageurs – traders exploiting price discrepancies – to make money. For example, with shares currently trading at a discount of 16% at press time, an arbitrageur expecting the price discrepancy to narrow would buy GBTC shares in the secondary market and simultaneously sell bitcoin in the spot market. The market-neutral position would yield 16% returns if shares in GBTC converge with the spot price. An arbitrageur can also hedge the long GBTC trade with a short position in the futures market, in which case, the return would be higher as futures usually trade at a premium to the spot price and converge with the spot price on expiry. “The ability to buy GBTC and short futures and get exposure to bitcoin with about a 25% price advantage should continue to attract arbitrage, reduce volatility and narrow spreads,” Bloomberg’s McGlone said on Oct. 20, when the discount was over 20% and the six-month futures contract was drawing a premium of 4%. Grayscale Investments LLC recently filed the regulatory documents to convert the bitcoin trust into a spot-based ETF. A spot-based ETF would allow for more continual creation and redemption of new shares by market makers, so ostensibly it would track bitcoin’s price more closely than the current trust structure. Thus, it could be a big hit on Wall Street. “The trust is desperate to return to par value, and I think they will need to in some manner,” Ben Lilly, a crypto economist at Jarvis Labs, said. “At a 17% discount, I find it attractive.” ‘Arb away’ According to Arca’s Dorman, traders may be less inclined to “arb away” the discount solely on the assumption that Grayscale’s plan to convert the trust into an ETF would win approval; that currently appears to be a low-probability event, in his view. Besides, traders can nearly earn double-digit returns via other strategies that appear relatively less risky. Said Dorman: “Buying GBTC for that 17% discount is the equivalent of buying a 0% coupon, two-year bond at 83 cents on the dollar (not including Grayscale’s 2% management fee, which makes it even less attractive to own). That is a 9.5% annual yield, roughly equivalent to what you can earn lending a stablecoin right now – the ‘risk-free rate’ in digital assets. As such, GBTC is not a very attractive instrument to own.” The prospect of the SEC reversing its stance and approving Grayscale’s plan to convert into a spot-based ETF strikes some observers as unlikely in the near future. “The idea of turning the trust into an ETF was to close the discount in the open market,” said Kevin Kang, founding principal of BKCoin Capital. “However, with the SEC chair only mentioning that he was comfortable with the futures-based ETFs, I am not sure when that will happen.” Says Laurent Kssis, director of CEC Capital and former managing director of exchange-traded products (ETP) at 21Shares: “You just don’t shift a closed-end fund into an open-ended structure overnight in the U.S.” “Just like with European crypto issuers, I see a new ETF program being filed (previously closed-end structure) and introduced, marking a new era for Grayscale,” Ksiss told CoinDesk in a Telegram chat. Dorman said he was skeptical that Grayscale would willingly forgo its management fees from the Grayscale trust, estimated at $800 million a year. “If they convert to an ETF, that guaranteed revenue goes away, and they immediately enter an oversaturated race where fees will trend towards 0%, and they will be competing against companies with bigger, better brands than themselves. That’s a formula for failure,” Dorman said. “They are better off being hated by their investors but generating perpetual fees. Why voluntarily destroy the greatest business model in history?” A ‘PR stunt?’ According to an Oct. 20 Twitter thread by Messari’s Ryan Selkis, DCG’s plans to expand purchases is a “PR stunt to make unwitting investors think DCG can close” the GBTC discount, which is “impossible given the size of the trust.” But he says it may be hard for Gensler, the SEC chair, to argue that preventing GBTC from converting to a spot ETF would fall under the rubric of “investor protection” because it comes at “the expense of of shareholders,” Selkis wrote. If the trust were allowed to convert to an ETF, the fund’s shares would probably trade back close to the value of the underlying bitcoin. In other words, the Grayscale discount would go away. While in ETFs, specialized traders known as authorized participants create and redeem shares to keep their price in line with the net asset value; that process is not available with Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust. The vehicle can only create a basket of shares, offer liquidity under Rule 144 resales, and cannot provide a redemption program – meaning shares can only be created and not destroyed. (In 2016, the SEC slapped Grayscale for offering redemptions.) For several years, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust was the only credible option for institutions to get exposure to bitcoin without buying the digital asset directly. That led to a steep premium on its shares in the secondary market. The persistent premium provided a strong incentive for accredited investors to buy GBTC at its net asset value by depositing bitcoin to capture the spread six months later. The premium reached as high as 40% in December last year. According to the crypto derivatives research firm Skew, the premium was the function of “exposure to bitcoin in a regulated vehicle without having to deal with the challenges of custody, eligibility to some tax-efficient schemes, strong distribution through regular brokerage accounts, lack of alternatives such as an ETF.” However, with the advent of the spot-based ETFs in Europe and Canada early this year, the demand for GBTC weakened, and the premium flipped to discount in the first quarter, killing the so-called Grayscale carry trade. The number of options available to gain exposure to bitcoin has only increased with the launch of ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF and Valkyrie’s ETF last week. Both products invest in the CME-based bitcoin futures contracts in a bid to replicate the cryptocurrency’s performance. “I don’t foresee any improvement in the performance levels of GBTC to its discounted rate as anticipated institutional-grade crypto products are coming to the market,” CEC Capital’s Kssis said. || DCG’s $1B Pledge and an SEC Filing Kindle Fresh Speculation on ‘Grayscale Discount’: Last week Digital Currency Group, a crypto-industry holding company, opened its wallet to defend its Grayscale subsidiary’s Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), when the fund’s shares traded at a 20.53% discount to its underlying bitcoin holdings – the steepest in five months.
Digital Currency Group’spledge to buyas much as $1 billion worth of GBTC shares might have represented savvy, opportunistic timing. Or it might have been a demonstration of support for the $39.45 billion GBTC, the world’s largest bitcoin fund, in the face of increasing competition.
Then, a day later, Grayscaleofficially filedwith the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to convert the trust into a spot-based exchange-traded fund (ETF), even though SEC Chair Gary Gensler has signaled his preference for an ETF investing in bitcoin futures. (In recent days several futures ETFs havebeen approvedin the U.S.)
Thanks to these developments, the GBTC discount between the price of the underlying bitcoin asset and the price of the trust’s shares has since narrowed to about 16%, based on data from the crypto derivatives research firm Skew.
But will it decrease further?
Perhaps, if the futures ETFs already approved by the SEC lead to approval of funds that hold actual bitcoin, Bloomberg commodities analyst Mike McGlone wrote last week. He added that perhaps the GBTC discount would evaporate if the trust was allowed to convert to an ETF.
“We see increasing pressure for the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve the GBTC ETF,” McGlone said in the market update shared with CoinDesk on Oct. 20. “Grayscale has said it’s committed to converting GBTC to an ETF. We see that as a matter of time, notably with a new digital divide opening [against] China, which may make bitcoin and crypto success a vested interest of the U.S.”
However, other analysts talking to CoinDesk last week disagree, saying the price discrepancy will likely persist for the foreseeable future.
“Any announcements about purchasing GBTC on the open market, or signaling towards an ETF conversion, are just empty promises in an attempt to bring in arbitrageurs and likely will not have much impact,” Jeff Dorman, CIO at Arca Funds, told CoinDesk in an email. “I don’t think the discount will close any time soon and probably should widen.”
DCG, which also owns CoinDesk as an independent subsidiary, said it would buy much as $1 billion worth of GBTC, up from a prior authorization of $750 million. As of Oct. 19, DCG had already purchased $388 million worth of shares, according to the press release dated Oct. 20. DCG declined to comment on the issue.
Grayscale allows investors to gain exposure to bitcoin through shares in the trust, which currently holds647,540 BTC, according tobybt.com. That amounts to around 3% of the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply.
GBTC shares are derivatives of bitcoin and, in theory, should closely track the cryptocurrency’s price. So a substantial discount or premium is an opportunity for arbitrageurs – traders exploiting price discrepancies – to make money.
For example, with shares currently trading at a discount of 16% at press time, an arbitrageur expecting the price discrepancy to narrow would buy GBTC shares in the secondary market and simultaneously sell bitcoin in the spot market. The market-neutral position would yield 16% returns if shares in GBTC converge with the spot price. An arbitrageur can also hedge the long GBTC trade with a short position in the futures market, in which case, the return would be higher as futures usually trade at a premium to the spot price and converge with the spot price on expiry.
“The ability to buy GBTC and short futures and get exposure to bitcoin with about a 25% price advantage should continue to attract arbitrage, reduce volatility and narrow spreads,” Bloomberg’s McGlone said on Oct. 20, when the discount was over 20% and the six-month futures contract was drawing a premium of 4%.
Grayscale Investments LLC recentlyfiledthe regulatory documents to convert the bitcoin trust into a spot-based ETF. A spot-based ETF would allow for more continual creation and redemption of new shares by market makers, so ostensibly it would track bitcoin’s price more closely than the current trust structure. Thus, it could be a big hit on Wall Street.
“The trust is desperate to return to par value, and I think they will need to in some manner,” Ben Lilly, a crypto economist at Jarvis Labs, said. “At a 17% discount, I find it attractive.”
According to Arca’s Dorman, traders may be less inclined to “arb away” the discount solely on the assumption that Grayscale’s plan to convert the trust into an ETF would win approval; that currently appears to be a low-probability event, in his view. Besides, traders can nearly earn double-digit returns via other strategies that appear relatively less risky.
Said Dorman: “Buying GBTC for that 17% discount is the equivalent of buying a 0% coupon, two-year bond at 83 cents on the dollar (not including Grayscale’s 2% management fee, which makes it even less attractive to own). That is a 9.5% annual yield, roughly equivalent to what you can earn lending a stablecoin right now – the ‘risk-free rate’ in digital assets. As such, GBTC is not a very attractive instrument to own.”
The prospect of the SEC reversing its stance and approving Grayscale’s plan to convert into a spot-based ETF strikes some observers as unlikely in the near future.
“The idea of turning the trust into an ETF was to close the discount in the open market,” said Kevin Kang, founding principal of BKCoin Capital. “However, with the SEC chair only mentioning that he was comfortable with the futures-based ETFs, I am not sure when that will happen.”
Says Laurent Kssis, director of CEC Capital and former managing director of exchange-traded products (ETP) at 21Shares: “You just don’t shift a closed-end fund into an open-ended structure overnight in the U.S.”
“Just like with European crypto issuers, I see a new ETF program being filed (previously closed-end structure) and introduced, marking a new era for Grayscale,” Ksiss told CoinDesk in a Telegram chat.
Dorman said he was skeptical that Grayscale would willingly forgo its management fees from the Grayscale trust, estimated at $800 million a year.
“If they convert to an ETF, that guaranteed revenue goes away, and they immediately enter an oversaturated race where fees will trend towards 0%, and they will be competing against companies with bigger, better brands than themselves. That’s a formula for failure,” Dorman said. “They are better off being hated by their investors but generating perpetual fees. Why voluntarily destroy the greatest business model in history?”
According toan Oct. 20Twitter threadby Messari’s Ryan Selkis, DCG’s plans to expand purchases is a “PR stunt to make unwitting investors think DCG can close” the GBTC discount, which is “impossible given the size of the trust.”
But he says it may be hard for Gensler, the SEC chair, to argue that preventing GBTC from converting to a spot ETF would fall under the rubric of “investor protection” because it comes at “the expense of of shareholders,” Selkis wrote. If the trust were allowed to convert to an ETF, the fund’s shares would probably trade back close to the value of the underlying bitcoin. In other words, the Grayscale discount would go away.
While in ETFs, specialized traders known as authorized participants create and redeem shares to keep their price in line with the net asset value; that process is not available with Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust.
The vehicle can only create a basket of shares, offer liquidity underRule 144resales, and cannot provide a redemption program – meaning shares can only be created and not destroyed. (In 2016, the SEC slapped Grayscale for offering redemptions.)
For several years, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust was the only credible option for institutions to get exposure to bitcoin without buying the digital asset directly. That led to a steep premium on its shares in the secondary market. The persistent premium provided a strong incentive for accredited investors to buy GBTC at its net asset value by depositing bitcoin to capture the spread six months later. The premium reached as high as 40% in December last year.
According to the crypto derivatives research firm Skew, the premium wasthe function of“exposure to bitcoin in a regulated vehicle without having to deal with the challenges of custody, eligibility to some tax-efficient schemes, strong distribution through regular brokerage accounts, lack of alternatives such as an ETF.”
However, with the advent of the spot-based ETFs in Europe and Canada early this year, the demand for GBTC weakened, and the premium flipped to discount in the first quarter, killing the so-called Grayscale carry trade.
The number of options available to gain exposure to bitcoin has only increased with the launch ofProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETFandValkyrie’s ETFlast week. Both products invest in the CME-based bitcoin futures contracts in a bid to replicate the cryptocurrency’s performance.
“I don’t foresee any improvement in the performance levels of GBTC to its discounted rate as anticipated institutional-grade crypto products are coming to the market,” CEC Capital’s Kssis said. || Apple Among Big-Tech Earnings on Tap This Week: woman looking at smartphone Getty Images It is going to be a busy stretch for corporate earnings. According to Credit Suisse analysts, there are 316 companies representing nearly three-fifths of the S&P 500's market capitalization set to report over the next two weeks. Included in the bunch are Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD , $123.08), Alphabet ( GOOGL , $2,754.31), Twitter ( TWTR , $61.91), Amazon.com ( AMZN , $3,328.86) and Apple ( AAPL , $148.98). "Earnings are coming in better than expected so far," says Savita Subramanian, equity and quant strategist for BofA Securities. "Companies are facing increased cost pressure, but higher sales and operating leverage outweighed cost headwinds." SEE MORE Can AI Beat the Market? 10 Stocks to Watch While the bulk of earnings beats so far have been from the financial and energy sectors, tech companies which take up a lot of space on this week's earnings calendar have been reporting higher margins, she adds. Advanced Micro Devices Stock Stages Pre-Earnings Rally Advanced Micro Devices has been climbing higher since skimming the $100-per-share mark in late-September/early October, with shares of the chipmaker now trading in all-time high territory. Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Christopher Rolland sees even higher highs ahead for AMD stock, as evidenced by his $130 price target. He also has a Positive (Buy) rating on the shares ahead of the company's third-quarter earnings report, due out after Tuesday's close. "Overall, we expect AMD to once again meet/exceed both third-quarter results and fourth-quarter guidance," he says. "A constructive personal computer environment, strong underlying trends, record-high ASPs and well-executed roadmaps have worked in favor of AMD." SEE MORE 13 Bitcoin ETFs and Cryptocurrency Funds You Should Know And while Advanced Micro Devices surrendered modest GPU market share to Nvidia in Q3, "an overall elevated GPU demand environment and recent strength in the cryptocurrency markets should act as offsets to the share loss," he adds. Overall, analysts are projecting consensus third-quarter earnings of 67 cents per share, +63.4% year-over-year (YoY), and revenues of $4.1 billion 13.9% higher than AMD's year-ago results. Analysts Upbeat Ahead of Alphabet Earnings Analysts are anticipating solid year-over-year growth for Alphabet . On the top line, the consensus estimate is for $63.3 billion, up 37.1% from Q3 2020. This will fuel an 18.9% improvement in earnings per share (EPS) to $19.50. Baird analysts Colin Sebastian and Dalton Kern expect to see strength in YouTube advertising and the adoption of the Google Cloud Platform. They have an Outperform rating on the internet search giant, which is the equivalent of a Buy. Story continues Over at Credit Suisse, analysts believe Google's rollout of free product listings on its shopping tab which they call a "top-of-funnel move to onboard more merchants" as well as recently expanded checkout options will increase Q3 conversion rates. They also have an Outperform rating on GOOGL. Alphabet will report third-quarter earnings after the Oct. 26 close. Twitter Earnings in Focus After Snap Shock Twitter's third-quarter results, scheduled for release after the Oct. 26 close, will likely draw a fair share of attention especially after Snapchat parent Snap ( SNAP ) last Thursday reported disappointing third-quarter revenues and unencouraging fourth-quarter guidance. This was in part due to the fallout from Apple's ( AAPL ) new iOS privacy feature, which requires apps to request permission to track users' data, as explained in Friday's free A Step Ahead e-newsletter. BofA Global Research analyst Justin Post sees Snap's results as "cautious for Twitter," but expects "much less relative impact on Twitter given the higher share of brand in its revenue mix." SEE MORE 13 Dividend Aristocrats You Can Buy at a Discount He recently reiterated his Buy rating on the stock "as Twitter has over 80% revenue exposure to brand revenues, revenue growth in the second quarter showed early signs of the brand spend recovery and we think second-half brand advertising strength is possible as events return." Post expects TWTR to report third-quarter revenues of $1.29 billion and earnings of 27 cents per share. By comparison, the consensus estimates among the pros on Wall Street are for revenues of $1.29 billion (+65.5% YoY) and EPS of 15 cents, down 21% from Q3 2020. Amazon.com Stares Down Tough Comps Amazon.com faces another quarter of tough year-over-year comparisons when it reports earnings after the Oct. 28 close. And analysts, on average, expect AMZN to unveil third-quarter earnings of $8.93 per share compared to the $12.37 in EPS it reported in Q3 2020. Revenues, on the other hand, are projected to grow 16.1% YoY to $111.6 billion. However, Wedbush analysts "expect third-quarter results above the high-end of guidance driven by seasonal trends, e-commerce share gains, a recovering economy and robust advertiser demand," even with Prime Day being pulled forward to the second quarter this year (it typically occurs in Q3). Additionally, "Amazon should continue to benefit from Apple's recent privacy changes as advertisers turn to a company that is able to track the behavior of over 200 million Prime customers, including which ads they saw or clicked or purchased from, regardless of whether or not the user chose to opt into being tracked by Apple," they say. The group has higher expectations for Amazon's third-quarter earnings report than the consensus, projecting EPS of $13.43 on $116.0 billion in revenues. Will Supply Chain Issues Weigh on Apple Earnings? When Apple reported fiscal third-quarter earnings last July, it blew estimates out of the water ($1.30 EPS vs. $1.01 estimated; $81.4 billion in revenues vs. $73.3 billion estimated). However, it also warned that fiscal fourth-quarter results expected after Thursday's close will likely not be as strong due in part to supply chain issues. Deutsche Bank's Sidney Ho (Buy) agrees that "recent news on supply constraints will likely pressure AAPL's near-term results. We therefore expect AAPL to report fiscal fourth-quarter results that are below our above-consensus estimates." However, "we do not believe demand is perishable, but rather being pushed into the following quarter," Ho adds. For Apple's fiscal fourth quarter, analysts, on average, are looking for $84.8 billion in revenues, up 31.1% year-over-year, and earnings of $1.24 per share, or a 70% improvement over what the iPhone maker reported this time last year. Karee Venema was long AAPL as of this writing. SEE MORE 10 Dow Dividend Stocks Analysts Love the Most You may also like Your Guide to Roth Conversions The 25 Cheapest U.S. Cities to Live In "Below-Average" Stocks With Above-Average Potential View comments
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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58482.39, 60622.14, 62227.96, 61888.83, 61318.96, 61004.41, 63226.40, 62970.05, 61452.23, 61125.68
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 606.17, 604.73, 605.69, 609.73, 613.98, 610.89, 612.13, 610.20, 612.51, 613.02, 617.12, 619.11, 616.75, 618.99, 641.07, 636.19, 636.79, 640.38, 638.65, 641.63, 639.19, 637.96, 630.52, 630.86, 632.83, 657.29, 657.07, 653.76, 657.59, 678.30, 688.31, 689.65, 714.48, 701.86, 700.97, 729.79, 740.83, 688.70, 703.23, 703.42, 711.52, 703.13, 709.85, 723.27, 715.53, 716.41, 705.05, 702.03, 705.02, 711.62, 744.20, 740.98, 751.59, 751.62, 731.03, 739.25, 751.35, 744.59, 740.29, 741.65, 735.38, 732.03, 735.81, 735.60, 745.69, 756.77, 777.94, 771.16, 773.87, 758.70, 764.22, 768.13, 770.81, 772.79, 774.65, 769.73, 780.09, 780.56, 781.48, 778.09, 784.91, 790.83, 790.53, 792.71, 800.88, 834.28, 864.54, 921.98, 898.82, 896.18.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-12-25]
Volume: 143664992, RSI (14-day): 77.90, 50-day EMA: 770.13, 200-day EMA: 658.07
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
IBM Investing in the Future of Blockchain: - By Cristiano Bellavitis, Ph.D.
Most investors believe that blockchain and Bitcoin (the digital currency) are synonyms. What most people don't know, however, is the fact that the blockchain is an "infrastructure" and Bitcoin is one of many applications.IBM(IBM) is heavily investing in the blockchain to disrupt some large industries.
• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with IBM. Click here to check it out.
• IBM 15-Year Financial Data
• The intrinsic value of IBM
• Peter Lynch Chart of IBM
Blockchain basics
Blockchain is a new technology that enables businesses to work together with trust and transparency. Blockchain is a distributed shared operating system where all parties involved in an exchange have open access to an unchangeable digital record of transactions. Each participant always has an exact copy of the transactions and therefore all parties can confidently rely on this data. In theory, the blockchain guarantees accountability and transparency while streamlining business processes.
The blockchain industry
There aren't definitive numbers on companies using blockchain, but the IBM Institute for Business Value released some figures a few months ago:
• 70% of early adopters are working with blockchain to create new business models and reach new customers.
• 65% of banks expect to have blockchain solutions in production in the next three years.
• 80% of banks identified trade finance, corporate lending and reference data as having the greatest potential to be disrupted by the blockchain technology.
• 15% of banks intend to implement full-scale, commercial blockchain solutions in 2017.
• Companies expect reference data (83%), retail payments (80%) and consumer lending (79%) to be the segments that will be impacted the most by blockchain.
Another recent study from Markets and Markets speculates that the blockchain industry will grow from $210 million in 2016 to $2.3 billion by 2021, for CAGR of 61.5% during the forecast period. Therefore, the blockchain is in the early stages of development but seems to have great potential and medium term economic value.
Numbers about the market and the companies involved are limited, but according to this article IBM andMicrosoft(MSFT) are the market leaders. IBM provided examples of how they are implementing the blockchain. I will get in touch with Microsoft to see whether they would like to contribute.
Blockchain can disrupt large industries
Food safety
Food safety is one of the sectors that is receiving attention. Authenticity has been a challenge in China, andWalmart(WMT) is taking a proactive role in using new technologies to address it. By using blockchain, Walmart is able to build an ecosystem of supply chain partners that is based on trust.
Health care
The need for private, secure and reliable information flow in health care is clear as organizations balance information sharing needs with privacy, security and protecting against ongoing cyber-attacks. The application of blockchain technology can be applied to address a health care workflow and ecosystem from the beginning as it is introduced to this emerging digital industry.
FinTech
Banks and consumers are turning to fintech companies to disrupt the financial industry. FinTechs are moving quickly to create new approaches in payments, lending and new use cases for blockchain. IBM is helping FinTechs envision, build and monetize these new solutions by providing developer tools, technology, training and programs to share financial services expertise. IBM's cloud and blockchain ecosystem is helping FinTechs, start-ups, developers and independent software vendors drive faster design and development.
For example, Eigencat, a Singapore-based startup, is using IBM Bluemix to deliver digital investment solutions for the financial market. The FinTech startup is also using IBM Cloud to develop new cognitive-based investment solutions using Watson APIs and broaden its reach within and outside Singapore. Working with the Singapore BlueMix Garage, start-up FreshTurf is creating an innovative blockchain-based network of storage lockers for shipping and parcel delivery throughout Singapore.
A few examples of IBM applications in the blockchain industry:
• SBI Securities - testing blockchain for a new bond trading platform and for improving securities operations.
• Japan Stock Exchange - testing the potential of blockchain technology for use in trading in low transaction markets.
• Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFG - using blockchain to examine the design, management and execution of contracts among business partners.
• London Stock Exchange Group - exploring blockchain to manage risk and bring additional transparency to global financial markets.
• Kouvola Innovation - using blockchain to transform logistics value chains into a more seamless process that provides a trusted view of every piece of cargo.
• Kenya - The government is utilizing blockchain to develop an immutable and transparent education management system. In order to reduce the issuance of fraudulent academic degrees and limit the market of illicit academic certificates, the Kenyan government is working with IBM to launch an academic certificate issuance platform on a blockchain network.
• BNY Mellon - designing and developing a unique application for securities lending, using a blockchain network to trade and transfer assets.
• Mizuho Financial Group - testing blockchain for settlements using virtual currency.
• Everledger - using blockchain to track diamonds and other valuable assets.
• CLS Group - collaborating with IBM so that its payment netting service using Hyperledger Fabric meets the requirements necessary for delivering a resilient, secure, and scalable service.
IBM investments in the blockchain
IBM recently announced a $200 million investment in the new global headquarters for its Watson Internet of Things business in Munich. IBM is developing a new capability that connects IoT data to Blockchain through the IBM Watson IoT Platform. In addition, IBM opened a Blockchain Innovation Center in Singapore to accelerate blockchain adoption for finance and trade in the first collaboration of its kind with the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
IBM monetization and blockchain performance
IBM is leveraging its Bluemix technology to implement blockchain solutions. IBM offers two price plans: The starter plan is free, but the more secure system costs $10,000 per month. We contacted IBM to ask about some performance and financial data about its blockchain business but they replied that they "can't provide any financial data related to IBM Blockchain at this time." We assume that the main reason for this is that the business is in its early stages and therefore does not materially impact IBM revenues. Considering that the estimates are for a total global industry valued at $210 million in 2016, at the moment this segment is of minor importance to IBM. We estimate that IBM has approximately 50 paying customers, therefore the revenues generated would be in the range of $6 million a year, plus ancillary revenues in the range of $50 million a year.
Disclosure: We are long IBM.
Start a free seven-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus.
This article first appeared onGuruFocus.
• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with IBM. Click here to check it out.
• IBM 15-Year Financial Data
• The intrinsic value of IBM
• Peter Lynch Chart of IBM || IBM Investing in the Future of Blockchain: - By Cristiano Bellavitis, Ph.D. Most investors believe that blockchain and Bitcoin (the digital currency) are synonyms. What most people don't know, however, is the fact that the blockchain is an "infrastructure" and Bitcoin is one of many applications. IBM ( IBM ) is heavily investing in the blockchain to disrupt some large industries. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with IBM. Click here to check it out. IBM 15-Year Financial Data The intrinsic value of IBM Peter Lynch Chart of IBM Blockchain basics Blockchain is a new technology that enables businesses to work together with trust and transparency. Blockchain is a distributed shared operating system where all parties involved in an exchange have open access to an unchangeable digital record of transactions. Each participant always has an exact copy of the transactions and therefore all parties can confidently rely on this data. In theory, the blockchain guarantees accountability and transparency while streamlining business processes. The blockchain industry There aren't definitive numbers on companies using blockchain, but the IBM Institute for Business Value released some figures a few months ago: 70% of early adopters are working with blockchain to create new business models and reach new customers. 65% of banks expect to have blockchain solutions in production in the next three years. 80% of banks identified trade finance, corporate lending and reference data as having the greatest potential to be disrupted by the blockchain technology. 15% of banks intend to implement full-scale, commercial blockchain solutions in 2017. Companies expect reference data (83%), retail payments (80%) and consumer lending (79%) to be the segments that will be impacted the most by blockchain. Another recent study from Markets and Markets speculates that the blockchain industry will grow from $210 million in 2016 to $2.3 billion by 2021, for CAGR of 61.5% during the forecast period. Therefore, the blockchain is in the early stages of development but seems to have great potential and medium term economic value. Story continues Numbers about the market and the companies involved are limited, but according to this article IBM and Microsoft ( MSFT ) are the market leaders. IBM provided examples of how they are implementing the blockchain. I will get in touch with Microsoft to see whether they would like to contribute. Blockchain can disrupt large industries Food safety Food safety is one of the sectors that is receiving attention. Authenticity has been a challenge in China, and Walmart ( WMT ) is taking a proactive role in using new technologies to address it. By using blockchain, Walmart is able to build an ecosystem of supply chain partners that is based on trust. Health care The need for private, secure and reliable information flow in health care is clear as organizations balance information sharing needs with privacy, security and protecting against ongoing cyber-attacks. The application of blockchain technology can be applied to address a health care workflow and ecosystem from the beginning as it is introduced to this emerging digital industry. FinTech Banks and consumers are turning to fintech companies to disrupt the financial industry. FinTechs are moving quickly to create new approaches in payments, lending and new use cases for blockchain. IBM is helping FinTechs envision, build and monetize these new solutions by providing developer tools, technology, training and programs to share financial services expertise. IBM's cloud and blockchain ecosystem is helping FinTechs, start-ups, developers and independent software vendors drive faster design and development. For example, Eigencat, a Singapore-based startup, is using IBM Bluemix to deliver digital investment solutions for the financial market. The FinTech startup is also using IBM Cloud to develop new cognitive-based investment solutions using Watson APIs and broaden its reach within and outside Singapore. Working with the Singapore BlueMix Garage, start-up FreshTurf is creating an innovative blockchain-based network of storage lockers for shipping and parcel delivery throughout Singapore. A few examples of IBM applications in the blockchain industry: SBI Securities - testing blockchain for a new bond trading platform and for improving securities operations. Japan Stock Exchange - testing the potential of blockchain technology for use in trading in low transaction markets. Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFG - using blockchain to examine the design, management and execution of contracts among business partners. London Stock Exchange Group - exploring blockchain to manage risk and bring additional transparency to global financial markets. Kouvola Innovation - using blockchain to transform logistics value chains into a more seamless process that provides a trusted view of every piece of cargo. Kenya - The government is utilizing blockchain to develop an immutable and transparent education management system. In order to reduce the issuance of fraudulent academic degrees and limit the market of illicit academic certificates, the Kenyan government is working with IBM to launch an academic certificate issuance platform on a blockchain network. BNY Mellon - designing and developing a unique application for securities lending, using a blockchain network to trade and transfer assets. Mizuho Financial Group - testing blockchain for settlements using virtual currency. Everledger - using blockchain to track diamonds and other valuable assets. CLS Group - collaborating with IBM so that its payment netting service using Hyperledger Fabric meets the requirements necessary for delivering a resilient, secure, and scalable service. IBM investments in the blockchain IBM recently announced a $200 million investment in the new global headquarters for its Watson Internet of Things business in Munich. IBM is developing a new capability that connects IoT data to Blockchain through the IBM Watson IoT Platform. In addition, IBM opened a Blockchain Innovation Center in Singapore to accelerate blockchain adoption for finance and trade in the first collaboration of its kind with the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. IBM monetization and blockchain performance IBM is leveraging its Bluemix technology to implement blockchain solutions. IBM offers two price plans: The starter plan is free, but the more secure system costs $10,000 per month. We contacted IBM to ask about some performance and financial data about its blockchain business but they replied that they "can't provide any financial data related to IBM Blockchain at this time." We assume that the main reason for this is that the business is in its early stages and therefore does not materially impact IBM revenues. Considering that the estimates are for a total global industry valued at $210 million in 2016, at the moment this segment is of minor importance to IBM. We estimate that IBM has approximately 50 paying customers, therefore the revenues generated would be in the range of $6 million a year, plus ancillary revenues in the range of $50 million a year. Disclosure : We are long IBM. Start a free seven-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus. This article first appeared on GuruFocus . Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Sign with IBM. Click here to check it out. IBM 15-Year Financial Data The intrinsic value of IBM Peter Lynch Chart of IBM || Expect more blockchain hype in 2017: The price of the digital currency bitcoin rose more than 100% this year. At the outset of 2016, the controversial coin was trading around $430. This week, it cleared $900, its best level since 2013. As Bloomberg points out, it “ crushed every other currency .” Bitcoin price in the past year, via Winklevoss Index But the talk this year was all about blockchain. Banks and blockchain Blockchain, the open, tamper-proof, peer-to-peer ledger technology that underlies bitcoin, has captured the excitement of banks and financial institutions who want to apply the technology to a wide range of processes—without bitcoin. (What exactly is blockchain? Watch this video .) This year, IBM announced the creation of a new unit called Watson Financial Services to encompass Watson, cloud, and all blockchain-related offerings and strategy. The computing giant created new jobs specifically devoted to blockchain, with the aim of harnessing blockchain technology for client services. Big banks and payment processors, too, staffed up for blockchain . On job networks like Monster.com, Yahoo Finance found more than 100 posts at companies like American Express, Bank of America, BNY Mellon, Capital One, Citigroup, Fidelity, and JPMorgan. Walmart partnered with IBM on a pilot program to track the pork supply chain in China using an IBM blockchain built through the Hyperledger Project , an open-source group created by the Linux Foundation. IBM was a Hyperledger Project founding member, along with Accenture, Intel, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and others. Jerry Cuomo, IBM’s VP of blockchain technologies, told Yahoo Finance that 2016 began with “ blockchain tourism ,” companies expressing public interest in experimenting with blockchain, but not necessarily doing anything real. Ramesh Gopinath, IBM’s VP of blockchain solutions, now says “there has clearly been a transition from experiments to real deployments.” To be sure, the examples of real deployments are still lacking. The average consumer doesn’t know or care about blockchain, and skeptics dismiss all the “blockchain-without-bitcoin” talk as just talk . Story continues On the bitcoin blockchain, “miners” upload transactions in bundles called “blocks” and are rewarded in bitcoin as an incentive for mining; the transaction records are permanent and immutable. Bitcoin entrepreneurs insist that the entire point of a blockchain is negated if banks try to apply the same technology in a closed, permissioned context, without a digital currency. Some say banks will eventually come around to the uses of bitcoin itself. Balaji Srinavasan, CEO of 21.co , compares it to old narratives around online dating. “It was like, it’s for nerds, it’s for nerds, it’s for nerds,” he says, “and then suddenly, oh, here’s Tinder, and now it’s totally flipped and normal and you’d be crazy not to date that way.” Even if major mainstream applications of blockchain haven’t come along yet, big companies have at least made real investment, demonstrating a faith that all of this will go somewhere. Companies like Chain now offer “blockchain as a service” (BaaS), building specialized blockchains for these high-profile clients. Oliver Bussman, former CIO at UBS, writes on his advisory firm’s blog that 2017 “will be the ‘year of the pilot’ for blockchain in financial services, as it moves from a proof-of-concept technology into production, especially in the cross-border payment and trade finance areas,” but adds that broad adoption of blockchain technology will still “happen more quickly outside of financial services—in areas like supply chain management, in e-government, or health care.” Meanwhile, the membership list continued to grow for R3 CEV, a consortium for banks and financial companies interested in deploying blockchain technology to improve their operations. R3 expects to close a new funding round of $150 million in the first quarter of 2017. Blockchain hype continued to grow in 2016, and in 2017 it will only get louder. Bad for bitcoin The headlines weren’t as kind to bitcoin. In August, hackers stole $54 million worth of bitcoins from Hong Kong bitcoin exchange Bitfinex , the largest bitcoin exchange in the world by US dollar volume. It was the largest bitcoin hack since the infamous hack of Mt. Gox in 2013. In December, the peer-to-peer payment app Circle, which had also offered the ability to buy and sell bitcoin and was one of the earliest prominent bitcoin startups, announced it would no longer allow bitcoin buying on its app. The company said it would still use bitcoin as a settlement token on the back end, and it had already been pivoting away from being bitcoin-only when it added the ability to deposit money via Visa, MasterCard or debit card , but the damage was done: news headlines touted that a prominent bitcoin company “gives up on” bitcoin ( Fortune ), “pulls the plug on” bitcoin ( Wall Street Journal ) or “says bye-bye” to bitcoin ( pymnts.com ). Circle isn’t the first prominent bitcoin startup to move away from bitcoin publicly. Bitreserve, a cloud bank led by former Nike CIO Anthony Watson, changed its name last year to Uphold , dropping the “bit” found in so many bitcoin company names. And there’s more: the IRS subpoenaed the bitcoin company Coinbase , one of the most well-funded bitcoin startups and provider of the most popular US bitcoin wallet, for personal information of its users from the past three years. But blockchain, too, had low points in 2016. This month, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Santander all dropped out of R3 . This comes despite JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon saying in January of this year that bitcoin was “doomed,” but “the blockchain is a technology, which we’ve been studying… and yes, it’s real. If it proves to be cheap and secure it will be adopted for a whole bunch of stuff.” Don and Alex Tapscott, authors of the book “Blockchain Revolution ,” summarize the banks-and-blockchain hype in 2016 this way in an op-ed at Coindesk : “2016 was the year that many bank CEOs woke up to both the threat and the opportunity of the blockchain. At a meeting of 50 CEOs of the 50 largest banks back in January, most were skeptical. Now most are investigating how this technology might transform their companies and industry services.” Expect the “blockchain, not bitcoin” narrative to continue among Wall Street circles in 2017, despite the eye-rolls it garners from bitcoin faithful. But the appeal of bitcoin, as an investment, shouldn’t be underestimated. Bitcoin, like gold, is seen as a safe haven asset, uncorrelated to the mainstream markets . So when there’s uncertainty in the economy, many investors turn to bitcoin, and when there are tightened capital controls in countries like China, many investors turn to bitcoin. With the start of a new US presidential administration, there will be some uncertainty , and that might push bitcoin even higher. — Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering technology and sports business. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite . Read more: Bitcoin price soars, but it isn’t just about Trump and Clinton Here’s where big banks stand on blockchain Why 21.co is the most exciting bitcoin company right now Coinbase is more bullish on bitcoin than ever || Expect more blockchain hype in 2017: The price of the digital currency bitcoin rose more than 100% this year.
At the outset of 2016, the controversial coin was trading around $430. This week, it cleared $900, its best level since 2013. As Bloomberg points out, it “crushed every other currency.”
But the talk this year was all about blockchain.
Blockchain, the open, tamper-proof, peer-to-peer ledger technology that underlies bitcoin, hascaptured the excitement of banks and financial institutionswho want to apply the technology to a wide range of processes—without bitcoin. (What exactly is blockchain?Watch this video.)
This year, IBM announced the creation of a new unit called Watson Financial Services to encompass Watson, cloud, and all blockchain-related offerings and strategy. The computing giant created new jobs specifically devoted to blockchain, with the aim of harnessing blockchain technology for client services.
Big banks and payment processors, too,staffed up for blockchain. On job networks like Monster.com, Yahoo Finance found more than 100 posts at companies like American Express, Bank of America, BNY Mellon, Capital One, Citigroup, Fidelity, and JPMorgan.
Walmart partnered with IBM on a pilot program totrack the pork supply chain in Chinausing an IBM blockchain built through theHyperledger Project, an open-source group created by the Linux Foundation. IBM was a Hyperledger Project founding member, along with Accenture, Intel, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and others.
Jerry Cuomo, IBM’s VP of blockchain technologies,told Yahoo Financethat 2016 began with “blockchain tourism,” companies expressing public interest in experimenting with blockchain, but not necessarily doing anything real. Ramesh Gopinath, IBM’s VP of blockchain solutions, now says “there has clearly been a transition from experiments to real deployments.”
To be sure, the examples of real deployments are still lacking. The average consumer doesn’t know or care about blockchain, and skeptics dismissall the “blockchain-without-bitcoin” talk as just talk.
On the bitcoin blockchain, “miners” upload transactions in bundles called “blocks” and are rewarded in bitcoin as an incentive for mining; the transaction records are permanent and immutable. Bitcoin entrepreneurs insist that the entire point of a blockchain is negated if banks try to apply the same technology in a closed, permissioned context, without a digital currency.
Some say banks will eventually come around to the uses of bitcoin itself.Balaji Srinavasan, CEO of 21.co, compares it to old narratives around online dating. “It was like, it’s for nerds, it’s for nerds, it’s for nerds,” he says, “and then suddenly, oh, here’s Tinder, and now it’s totally flipped and normal and you’d be crazy not to date that way.”
Even if major mainstream applications of blockchain haven’t come along yet, big companies have at least made real investment, demonstrating a faith that all of this will go somewhere. Companies like Chain now offer “blockchain as a service” (BaaS), building specialized blockchains for these high-profile clients.
Oliver Bussman, former CIO at UBS,writes on his advisory firm’s blogthat 2017 “will be the ‘year of the pilot’ for blockchain in financial services, as it moves from a proof-of-concept technology into production, especially in the cross-border payment and trade finance areas,” but adds that broad adoption of blockchain technology will still “happen more quickly outside of financial services—in areas like supply chain management, in e-government, or health care.”
Meanwhile, the membership list continued to grow for R3 CEV, a consortium for banks and financial companies interested in deploying blockchain technology to improve their operations. R3 expects to close a new funding round of $150 million in the first quarter of 2017.
Blockchain hype continued to grow in 2016, and in 2017 it will only get louder.
The headlines weren’t as kind to bitcoin.
In August,hackers stole $54 million worth of bitcoins from Hong Kong bitcoin exchange Bitfinex, the largest bitcoin exchange in the world by US dollar volume. It was the largest bitcoin hack since the infamous hack of Mt. Gox in 2013.
In December, the peer-to-peer payment app Circle, which had also offered the ability to buy and sell bitcoin and was one of the earliest prominent bitcoin startups, announced it would no longer allow bitcoin buying on its app. The company said it would still use bitcoin as a settlement token on the back end, and it had already been pivoting away from being bitcoin-only when itadded the ability to deposit money via Visa, MasterCard or debit card, but the damage was done: news headlines touted that a prominent bitcoin company “gives up on” bitcoin (Fortune), “pulls the plug on” bitcoin (Wall Street Journal) or “says bye-bye” to bitcoin (pymnts.com).
Circle isn’t the first prominent bitcoin startup to move away from bitcoin publicly. Bitreserve, a cloud bank led by former Nike CIO Anthony Watson,changed its name last year to Uphold, dropping the “bit” found in so many bitcoin company names.
And there’s more: theIRS subpoenaed the bitcoin company Coinbase, one of the most well-funded bitcoin startups and provider of the most popular US bitcoin wallet, for personal information of its users from the past three years.
But blockchain, too, had low points in 2016. This month, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Santander alldropped out of R3. This comes despite JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon saying in January of this year that bitcoin was “doomed,” but “the blockchain is a technology, which we’ve been studying… and yes, it’s real. If it proves to be cheap and secure it will be adopted for a whole bunch of stuff.”
Don and Alex Tapscott,authors of the book “Blockchain Revolution,” summarize the banks-and-blockchain hype in 2016 this wayin an op-ed at Coindesk: “2016 was the year that many bank CEOs woke up to both the threat and the opportunity of the blockchain. At a meeting of 50 CEOs of the 50 largest banks back in January, most were skeptical. Now most are investigating how this technology might transform their companies and industry services.”
Expect the “blockchain, not bitcoin” narrative to continue among Wall Street circles in 2017, despite the eye-rolls it garners from bitcoin faithful.
But the appeal of bitcoin, as an investment, shouldn’t be underestimated.
Bitcoin, like gold, isseen as a safe haven asset, uncorrelated to the mainstream markets. So when there’s uncertainty in the economy, many investors turn to bitcoin, and when there are tightened capital controls in countries like China, many investors turn to bitcoin.
With the start of a new US presidential administration,there will be some uncertainty, and that might push bitcoin even higher.
—
Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering technology and sports business. Follow him on Twitter at@readDanwrite.
Read more:
Bitcoin price soars, but it isn’t just about Trump and Clinton
Here’s where big banks stand on blockchain
Why 21.co is the most exciting bitcoin company right now
Coinbase is more bullish on bitcoin than ever || A 27-year-old raised $10 million from venture capitalists for an unusual hedge fund: (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
A 27-year-old has raised $10 million for an unusual hedge fund — with the support of venture capitalists like Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures.
The 27-year-old in question is Olaf Carlson-Wee, and he's launching a strategy that invests in cryptocurrencies.
To be clear, the $10 million managed by Carlson-Wee's Polychain Capital is peanuts in the hedge fund world. But Polychain's strategy is rare, with few other funds trading in cryptocurrencies. Mosthedge fundstrade stocks, bonds, and currencies, with variations of different strategies.
A cryptocurrency is basically a digital, encrypted currency that is decentralized, so no one power oversees its value. Bitcoin is the most famous of cryptocurrencies — nobody knows who created it — and it's divorced from any government. It's considered a secure, private currency, drawing theattention of antigovernment and privacy-minded folks.
But it's not the only one — several other cryptocurrencies exist and are being developed.
Transactions for these currencies are recorded inblockchain, a private and encrypted ledger.
Carlson-Wee is betting that he can choose the cryptocurrencies that will increase in value — and he expects hundreds of them to enter the market.
"The challenge for someone running a hedge fund is how to build a portfolio across that spectrum of risk and how to choose which of the new issues are going to become important and which are not," said Brad Burnham, partner at Union Square Ventures, which is investing in the fund.
(Olaf Carlson-Wee.Courtesy of Olaf Carlson-Wee)
Polychain, based in San Francisco, will be small, hiring only a handful of people. And Carlson-Wee is not looking for traditional Wall Street types.
"An amateur trader in the cryptocurrency market may have a more relevant background than someone who has had a traditional background on Wall Street," Carlson-Wee said.
Carlson-Wee, a Vassar College grad, wrote his undergrad thesis on bitcoin.
"I was immediately enamored and sort of obsessed," he said. "I thought the prospect of [bitcoin] had massive implications."
He then went to Coinbase, a digital asset exchange, and headed risk, overseeing things like fraud prevention and account security, he said.
Not only is his background unusual for hedge funds — so is his strategy. For instance, the normal research avenues for common hedge fund trades are unavailable, though there are some parallels.
Instead of talking with sell-side researchers or looking at credit agencies (there are none), Carlson-Wee spends his time reading through the white papers that describe the protocols, interviewing the lead developers, and looking at a protocol's machinations in the GitHub repository.
"This qualitative research is supplemented by market data such as price and trading volume as well as network data such as transactions per day, dollar value transacted per day, and the estimated cost of a network-scale attack," he said.
He also embeds himself within the groups that are using the protocols to get a sense of how they are interacting with them, he said.
(Patrick Lux/Getty Images)
That model is similar to other funds that have launched in the space. MetaStable, another small hedge fund based in San Francisco, launched in 2014 with a handful of employees. The firm manages a few million, said Lucas Ryan, one of MetaStable's staffers.
Its investors tend to be those who are already sold on blockchain but "aren't necessary sold that bitcoin has solved all the problems," so they are seeking to invest in other cryptocurrencies, Ryan said.
Ryan, who has a programming background, says his job is to evaluate the protocols that people are developing and the problems they are trying to solve.
"The market is so immature and requires a high degree of technical understanding to wade through the stuff that isn't bull----," Ryan said. "A lot of stuff I couldn't do if I wasn't a programmer with a cryptography background. There's not, like, a ratings agency for any of these."
Still, like with Polychain's strategy, there are parallels. Ryan meets with protocol developers and tries to get a sense of how serious they are and whether their source coding is legit.
To be sure, this world of funds is very young. Until recently, Ryan was working on the fund part time, he said.
And it's unlikely these kinds of funds would grow to be large. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, has about a $13.7 billion market cap.
"Bitcoin is like 80% of the total market of coins," Ryan said. "It would give someone pause to start a $50 million fund."
NOW WATCH:A penny costs 1.43 cents to make — here’s what the rest of US currency costs
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• There has been a board shake-up at Chipotle, and Bill Ackman is happy about it || A 27-year-old raised $10 million from venture capitalists for an unusual hedge fund: bitcoin (Andrew Burton/Getty Images) A 27-year-old has raised $10 million for an unusual hedge fund with the support of venture capitalists like Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. The 27-year-old in question is Olaf Carlson-Wee, and he's launching a strategy that invests in cryptocurrencies. To be clear, the $10 million managed by Carlson-Wee's Polychain Capital is peanuts in the hedge fund world. But Polychain's strategy is rare, with few other funds trading in cryptocurrencies. Most hedge funds trade stocks, bonds, and currencies, with variations of different strategies. So what is a cryptocurrency? A cryptocurrency is basically a digital, encrypted currency that is decentralized, so no one power oversees its value. Bitcoin is the most famous of cryptocurrencies nobody knows who created it and it's divorced from any government. It's considered a secure, private currency, drawing the attention of antigovernment and privacy-minded folks . But it's not the only one several other cryptocurrencies exist and are being developed. Transactions for these currencies are recorded in blockchain, a private and encrypted ledger . Carlson-Wee is betting that he can choose the cryptocurrencies that will increase in value and he expects hundreds of them to enter the market. "The challenge for someone running a hedge fund is how to build a portfolio across that spectrum of risk and how to choose which of the new issues are going to become important and which are not," said Brad Burnham, partner at Union Square Ventures, which is investing in the fund. Olaf Carlson-Wee (Olaf Carlson-Wee.Courtesy of Olaf Carlson-Wee) Polychain, based in San Francisco, will be small, hiring only a handful of people. And Carlson-Wee is not looking for traditional Wall Street types. "An amateur trader in the cryptocurrency market may have a more relevant background than someone who has had a traditional background on Wall Street," Carlson-Wee said. Carlson-Wee, a Vassar College grad, wrote his undergrad thesis on bitcoin. Story continues "I was immediately enamored and sort of obsessed," he said. "I thought the prospect of [bitcoin] had massive implications." He then went to Coinbase, a digital asset exchange, and headed risk, overseeing things like fraud prevention and account security, he said. Not only is his background unusual for hedge funds so is his strategy. For instance, the normal research avenues for common hedge fund trades are unavailable, though there are some parallels. Qualitative research Instead of talking with sell-side researchers or looking at credit agencies (there are none), Carlson-Wee spends his time reading through the white papers that describe the protocols, interviewing the lead developers, and looking at a protocol's machinations in the GitHub repository. "This qualitative research is supplemented by market data such as price and trading volume as well as network data such as transactions per day, dollar value transacted per day, and the estimated cost of a network-scale attack," he said. He also embeds himself within the groups that are using the protocols to get a sense of how they are interacting with them, he said. two men computers typing technology digital online internet (Patrick Lux/Getty Images) That model is similar to other funds that have launched in the space. MetaStable, another small hedge fund based in San Francisco, launched in 2014 with a handful of employees. The firm manages a few million, said Lucas Ryan, one of MetaStable's staffers. Its investors tend to be those who are already sold on blockchain but "aren't necessary sold that bitcoin has solved all the problems," so they are seeking to invest in other cryptocurrencies, Ryan said. Ryan, who has a programming background, says his job is to evaluate the protocols that people are developing and the problems they are trying to solve. "The market is so immature and requires a high degree of technical understanding to wade through the stuff that isn't bull----," Ryan said. "A lot of stuff I couldn't do if I wasn't a programmer with a cryptography background. There's not, like, a ratings agency for any of these." Still, like with Polychain's strategy, there are parallels. Ryan meets with protocol developers and tries to get a sense of how serious they are and whether their source coding is legit. To be sure, this world of funds is very young. Until recently, Ryan was working on the fund part time, he said. And it's unlikely these kinds of funds would grow to be large. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, has about a $13.7 billion market cap. "Bitcoin is like 80% of the total market of coins," Ryan said. "It would give someone pause to start a $50 million fund." NOW WATCH: A penny costs 1.43 cents to make heres what the rest of US currency costs More From Business Insider Hedge funds are going to lay out their Brexit wish list to stop the destruction of the city A small hedge fund that says its reports have led to CEO resignations has a new big short There has been a board shake-up at Chipotle, and Bill Ackman is happy about it || 10 things you need to know before the opening bell: Santa surfing (A surfing instructor dressed as Santa Claus gives a lesson to orphans on Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia.Reuters/Antara Foto Agency) Here is what you need to know. Italy has reached a deal to save its banks . The Italian government has agreed to a 20 billion-euro ($20.9 billion) fund to aid its struggling banking system, Reuters reports. Monte Paschi, the world's oldest bank, requested a bailout just moments after a deal was completed. Bitcoin is zooming higher . The cryptocurrency is up 5.1%, or $44, to $905.50, bringing its year-t0-date gain to 117%. Bitcoin trades at its best level in three years. "Fallen angel" debt had its best year since 2003 . B onds issued by companies that were unexpectedly downgraded by credit rating agencies have generated a 37% total return in 2016, more than double the total return for the broader high yield market, according to Goldman Sachs. Putin says the Russian economy is on the mend . Speaking at an annual year-end news conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the economy is slowly healing as the capital flight fades and wages pick up, Reuters, reports. Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse have reached settlements with the US . The two banks have agreed to settlements related to mortgage-backed securities totaling more than $12 billion, Reuters says. The US is suing Barclays over mortgage-backed securities . The Department of Justice is suing the bank and two former executives, saying more than half of the $31 billion worth of packaged mortgage loans defaulted during the financial crisis, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Twitter has had a rough week . The stock has tumbled 12% over the past week after a slew of top executive departures. Stock markets around the world are lower . China's Shanghai Composite (-0.9%) trailed in Asia and Spain's IBEX (-0.4%) lags in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.2% near 2,262. US economic data flows. New home sales and University of Michigan consumer confidence will be released at 10 a.m. ET and the Baker Hughes rig count will cross the wires at 1 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 1 basis point at 2.54%. Story continues US markets are closed on Monday . US stock markets are open a full day on Friday, but the US Treasury market will see an early 2 p.m. ET close. More From Business Insider Apple's newest MacBook Pro is the first MacBook not recommended by Consumer Reports A deep-sea fisherman in Russia has been posting his nightmarish finds on Twitter Here's a super-quick guide to what traders are talking about right now || 10 things you need to know before the opening bell: (A surfing instructor dressed as Santa Claus gives a lesson to orphans on Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia.Reuters/Antara Foto Agency)
Here is what you need to know.
Italy has reached a deal to save its banks.The Italian government has agreed to a20 billion-euro ($20.9 billion) fund to aid its struggling banking system, Reuters reports. Monte Paschi, the world's oldest bank, requested a bailout just moments after a deal was completed.
Bitcoin is zooming higher.The cryptocurrency is up 5.1%, or $44, to $905.50, bringing its year-t0-date gain to 117%. Bitcoin trades at its best level in three years.
"Fallen angel" debt had its best year since 2003.Bonds issued by companies that were unexpectedly downgraded by credit rating agencies have generated a 37% total return in 2016, more than double the total return for the broader high yield market, according to Goldman Sachs.
Putin says the Russian economy is on the mend.Speaking at an annual year-end news conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the economy is slowly healing as the capital flight fades and wages pick up, Reuters, reports.
Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse have reached settlements with the US.The two banks have agreed to settlements related to mortgage-backed securities totaling more than $12 billion, Reuters says.
The US is suing Barclays over mortgage-backed securities.The Department of Justice is suing the bank and two former executives, saying more than half of the $31 billion worth of packaged mortgage loans defaulted during the financial crisis, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Twitter has had a rough week.The stock has tumbled 12% over the past week after a slew of top executive departures.
Stock markets around the world are lower.China's Shanghai Composite (-0.9%) trailed in Asia and Spain's IBEX (-0.4%) lags in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.2% near 2,262.
US economic data flows.New home sales and University of Michigan consumer confidence will be released at 10 a.m. ET and the Baker Hughes rig count will cross the wires at 1 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 1 basis point at 2.54%.
US markets are closed on Monday.US stock markets are open a full day on Friday, but the US Treasury market will see an early 2 p.m. ET close.
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Here is what you need to know.
Dow 20,000 remains elusive.The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.16% on Wednesday to finish at 19,941.96. It's set to open Thursday's session near 19,935.
Wednesday was the most boring day for stocks since 1992.Wednesday's intraday range of 1.9 basis points was the tightest since Christmas Eve 1992, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
The world's oldest bank is moving closer to a bailout.Monte Paschi failed to secure a key investor for its new share offering, and Reuters reports that caused other investors to balk at the deal. Aside from failing, the only realistic option at this point is a state bailout by the Italian government.
Bitcoin is at its best level in 3 years.The cryptocurrency trades higher by more than 5% on Thursday at $874.04, its best level since December 2013.
Carl Icahn will have a role in the Trump Administration.Icahn will serve as a special adviser to Trump on regulation. "His help on the strangling regulations that our country is faced with will be invaluable," Trump said in a release.
Air Force One will cost less than previously expected.After meeting with Trump, Boeing CEODennis Muilenburg said the president's plane will cost less than previous estimate of near $4 billion. "We work on Air Force One because it's important to our country and we're going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that it's done affordably," Muilenburg said.
Hershey has a new CEO.Michele Buck has been named president and CEO, effective March 1, 2017. Currently, Buck is the company's executive vice president and COO.
Stock markets around the world are lower.Hong Kong's Hang Seng (-0.8%) lagged in Asia and Spain's IBEX (-0.4%) trails in Europe.
Earnings reporting remains light.Rite Aid and ConAgra Brands will release their quarterly results ahead of the opening bell while Cintas reports after markets close.
US economic data picks up.GDP, durable goods, and initial jobless claims will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before the FHFA House Price Index crosses the wires at 9 a.m. ET and personal income and spending are announced at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 2 bps at 2.55%.
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• 'The global bond rout deepens:' Here's a quick guide to what traders are talking about right now || 10 things you need to know before the opening bell: Firing contest (A view of a firing contest among multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) batteries selected from large combined units of the KPA, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang.Reuters/KCNA) Here is what you need to know. Dow 20,000 remains elusive . The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.16% on Wednesday to finish at 19,941.96. It's set to open Thursday's session near 19,935. Wednesday was the most boring day for stocks since 1992 . Wednesday's intraday range of 1.9 basis points was the tightest since Christmas Eve 1992, according to Bespoke Investment Group. The world's oldest bank is moving closer to a bailout . Monte Paschi failed to secure a key investor for its new share offering, and Reuters reports that caused other investors to balk at the deal. Aside from failing, the only realistic option at this point is a state bailout by the Italian government. Bitcoin is at its best level in 3 years . The cryptocurrency trades higher by more than 5% on Thursday at $874.04, its best level since December 2013. Carl Icahn will have a role in the Trump Administration . Icahn will serve as a special adviser to Trump on regulation. " His help on the strangling regulations that our country is faced with will be invaluable," Trump said in a release. Air Force One will cost less than previously expected . After meeting with Trump, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the president's plane will cost less than previous estimate of near $4 billion. " We work on Air Force One because it's important to our country and we're going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that it's done affordably," Muilenburg said. Hershey has a new CEO . Michele Buck has been named president and CEO, effective March 1, 2017. Currently, Buck is the company's executive vice president and COO. Stock markets around the world are lower . Hong Kong's Hang Seng (-0.8%) lagged in Asia and Spain's IBEX (-0.4%) trails in Europe. Earnings reporting remains light. Rite Aid and ConAgra Brands will release their quarterly results ahead of the opening bell while Cintas reports after markets close. US economic data picks up. GDP, durable goods, and initial jobless claims will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before the FHFA House Price Index crosses the wires at 9 a.m. ET and personal income and spending are announced at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 2 bps at 2.55%. More From Business Insider I’ve tested over 100 headphones in the past year, and I keep coming back to this $26 pair Here's a super-quick guide to what traders are talking about right now 'The global bond rout deepens:' Here's a quick guide to what traders are talking about right now View comments || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetisation in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetisation in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetisation in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly
LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year.
The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months.
That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year.
Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price.
Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's.
The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange.
But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company.
Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty.
"If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said.
(Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly
LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year.
The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months.
That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year.
Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price.
Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's.
The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange.
But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company.
Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty.
"If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said.
(Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Bitcoin's total value hits record high above $14 billion: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - The total value of all bitcoins in circulation hit a record high above $14 billion on Thursday, as the web-based digital currency jumped 5 percent on the day to its highest levels in three years after more than doubling in price this year. The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin's rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7 percent this year. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" that can move money across the globe quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. That makes it attractive to those wanting to get around capital controls, such as China's. The digital currency is still some way off the peaks it scaled in late 2013, when it traded as high as $1,163 on the Bitstamp exchange. But because more bitcoins continue to be added to the system, currently at a rate of 12.5 every 10 minutes, its total value - or "market cap" - on Thursday surpassed the 2013 peak of around $14.01 billion. That puts its total value at around the same as that of an average FTSE 100 company. Charles Hayter, founder of data analysis website Cryptocompare, said bitcoin had been helped higher by demonetization in India, and by global political uncertainty. "If that trend continues, bitcoin is a good thematic play on the fracturing of our global norms as a flight to safety," he said. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly, editing by Nigel Stephenson) || Flow Sports Celebrates One Year as 'the Home of Sports in the Caribbean': MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - Dec 21, 2016) - One year ago,Flowunveiled its newFlow Sports Network, giving fans an exciting and innovative viewing experience, forever changing the game in sports broadcasting in the Caribbean.
In its first year, Flow Sports beamed over 4,000 hours of live and original sports programming in crystal-clear high definition straight from a state-of-the-art 4k-ready broadcast facility in Trinidad. Built around the sports Caribbean fans love -- football, athletics and cricket -- the network aired the biggest events in local, regional and international sports, including last year's FA Cup Final, the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Flow CARIFTA Games, the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, the 2016-17 Premier League season and much more.
Not long after the network was launched, Flow also unveiled theFlow Sports appto give fans anytime/anywhere access to its premier sports content. Live and on-demand programming, up-to-date news, statistics, behind-the-scenes footage and more is now available 'on the go' via the app or the website,www.flowsports.co, along with the regular Flow TV options, so fans can take the action with them wherever they go.
"Giving fans unmatched sports content tailored to their specific preference with the ability to watch it all at their leisure, on their device of choice -- that's what Flow Sports is all about," said James Tooke, SVP of Media and Content at Cable & Wireless, operator of Flow. "And in just one year we have become the Caribbean's leading sports network setting the bar for future sports programming across the region. We've given fans what they've always wanted -- a one-stop shop for the contenttheywant to watch."
Indeed, Flow Sports' inaugural year was jammed pack with exciting action for viewers. Looking back on some of the milestones, Tooke said: "We became theOfficial Broadcast Partner and Sponsorof the Flow CARIFTA Games, broadcasting the competition in HD for the first time ever -- not just across the Caribbean, but also to more than 20 million households worldwide. We were theOfficial Broadcast Partner of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, too, and enabled fans to stream over4.4 million minutes of actionacross our FlowtoRio2016Extra app andmicrosite, with 4.6 million people also tuning into our 3 dedicated Olympic channels. We became home to the Indian Premier League; brought behind-the-scenes coverage of the Super Bowl to fans of American football; hosted watch parties for Manchester United fans; and the list goes on. It was a truly exceptional first year - one we'll always remember."
And while Flow Sports made sure to broadcast the big-name events, it also focused on the development of its own original programs. A case in point isFlow Sports Premier Weekly, an in-house production dedicated to all things Premier League, where three world-class hosts (Nadine Liverpool, Jason Roberts and Terry Fenwick) discuss the league's hottest stories trending in Caribbean circles. The show has gotten such a positive response that Tooke says it has become "football central for Caribbean fans." And it's also an excellent example of Flow's commitment to shape a true Caribbean viewing experience.
That commitment can be further seen in Flow Sports' coverage of local and regional sports, including the Barbados Rally, Cayman Invitational, Schoolboy Football from Jamaica, Flow CARIFTA Games and the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers and so much more. "Supporting our athletesand giving fans the chance to watch their hometown heroes compete in these significant regional events has been a privilege for us," explained Tooke. "We'll continue to do what we can to develop sports across the region and give fans relevant, local content."
In recognizing the accomplishments of the network, Cable & Wireless CEO, John Reid, said, "Flow Sports is a celebration of innovation and improvement in sports broadcasting across the region and has been changing the game since it was launched. We've invested in the content, the technology, the athletes, the fans and the people behind the network. And it's paying off. Flow Sports is now available in 24 countries in the Caribbean, and aside from Flow is carried by 34 other operators -- and growing."
Reid also said, "In November, our family of sports networks had the highest cumulative audience of any sports network on the Flow TV platform. But this is just the beginning. We are even more confident that we will continue to raise the bar now that we are powered by our new parent company Liberty Global's size, scale and access to content. We will ensure that Flow Sports evolves with the sports and with the fans, and we'll keep investing to develop across the region to demonstrate for years to come why we truly are 'the Home of Sports in the Caribbean.'"
About C&W CommunicationsCWC is a full-service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, CWC provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
CWC also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty GlobalLiberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 29 million customers who subscribe to over 59 million television, broadband, internet, and telephony services. We also serve 11 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across seven million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) and (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) and (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 12 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Ziggo, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Mas Movil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a subsea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com.
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093704Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093710Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093712Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093714Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3093718
[Social Media Buzz]
#ChainCoin #CHC $0.000117 (-2.33%) 0.00000013 BTC (0.00%) || $865.01 at 12:15 UTC [24h Range: $859.00 - $899.73 Volume: 5799 BTC] || Send 5 - 99 BTC today, get 500.00 - 9900.00 BTC in 20-30 hours,#ChristmasEve bitcoin . http://ow.ly/gSGu307qVf4 || $877.41 at 17:15 UTC [24h Range: $859.00 - $899.73 Volume: 5051 BTC] || $871.39 at 03:46 UTC [24h Range: $870.00 - $918.50 Volume: 6211 BTC] || One Bitcoin now worth $886.97@bitstamp. High $895.03. Low $859.00. Market Cap $14.246 Billion #bitcoin pic....
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907.61, 933.20, 975.92, 973.50, 961.24, 963.74, 998.33, 1021.75, 1043.84, 1154.73
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 431.96, 429.11, 458.05, 453.23, 447.61, 447.99, 448.43, 435.69, 432.37, 430.31, 364.33, 387.54, 382.30, 387.17, 380.15, 420.23, 410.26, 382.49, 387.49, 402.97, 391.73, 392.15, 394.97, 380.29, 379.47, 378.26, 368.77, 373.06, 374.45, 369.95, 389.59, 386.55, 376.52, 376.62, 373.45, 376.03, 381.65, 379.65, 384.26, 391.86, 407.23, 400.18, 407.49, 416.32, 422.37, 420.79, 437.16, 438.80, 437.75, 420.74, 424.95, 424.54, 432.15, 432.52, 433.50, 437.70, 435.12, 423.99, 421.65, 410.94, 400.57, 407.71, 414.32, 413.97, 414.86, 417.13, 421.69, 411.62, 414.07, 416.44, 416.83, 417.01, 420.62, 409.55, 410.44, 413.76, 413.31, 418.09, 418.04, 416.39, 417.18, 417.95, 426.77, 424.23, 416.52, 414.82, 416.73, 417.96, 420.87, 420.90.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-04-03]
Volume: 38053700, RSI (14-day): 54.06, 50-day EMA: 415.04, 200-day EMA: 375.46
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Brave will pay you in Bitcoins for browsing the web (updated): Brendan Eich, thecontroversialformer CEO of Mozilla, recently launchedBrave, a privacy-focused browser that blocks ads and trackers. While that concept isn't new, Brave has a twist: You'll have to pay to completely block ads, and if you allow replacement ads (reportedly free of bloat, tracking and malware) you'll actually get paid yourself. Now, the company hasrevealedthe Brave Ledger, a Bitcoin-based payment system for users and publishers. The specifications aren't final, but Brave is now fielding comments and discussion from advertisers and developers.
Here's how it works: Previously, the company said it would allow users to either pay to block ads, or get paid to allow ad replacements from Brave's own network. Those ads, chosen by an ad-matching partner, are supposedly faster, safer and load after the publisher's content, not before it like regular third-party ads. For ad-free mode, you'll pay a monthly fee that will be distributed to publishers based on total traffic to each site. Brave's ad network would take a five percent cut of the total amount collected.
How many publishers will go along with this, since many, like Engadget parent AOL, have their own ad networks?
When users go for replacement ads, Brave will take a 15 percent cut, its ad-matching partner would take 15 percent and publishers would get the biggest chunk, 55 percent. The latter pot would be divvied up based on the same traffic measurements as the ad-free method. Users get 15 percent, but there are some caveats. First of all, you need to have a Brave Bitcoin wallet, and the default option will be to donate money to your preferred publisher. If you want to spend the money yourself, you'll need to verify your identity with a phone number and email address. Publishers will also need to be verified to a higher standard.
All of this creates as many questions as it answers. How much will users get paid (and have to pay) to accept or decline ads, for instance? Since the ad-free method amounts to a subscription, how many users will pay to skip ads? (Not many, if torrent software providers likeuTorrentare any indication.) Which publishers will go along with this, since many, like Engadget parent AOL, have theirown ad networks? These are tricky questions, and if the company doesn't have the right answers, its Brave browser model will be dead on arrival.
Update: Since this article was published, Brave has updated the source blogpostto say that paying for ad-blocking is "optional." In a previous version, it said "for ad-free mode, you pay a monthly fee in Bitcoin (BTC)." The article now states: "For sites in ad-free mode, you can optionally pay the site by drawing from your user wallet, funded by your revenue share from ad-replacement mode sites (see below) plus your own funds if you care to add any." A company spokesperson also confirmed that users do not have to pay to block ads.
There's no word on whether users would opt in or out to pay, and how a free mode would affect publisher revenues. Engadget has reached out for more information, and Brave's comments, in part, are below.
There is no subscription model. With Brave, a user can go ad-free if he wishes -- without paying. Of course we encourage users to support publishers and web sites, but we don't require users to pay to go ad-free. || Brave will pay you in Bitcoins for browsing the web (updated): Brendan Eich, thecontroversialformer CEO of Mozilla, recently launchedBrave, a privacy-focused browser that blocks ads and trackers. While that concept isn't new, Brave has a twist: You'll have to pay to completely block ads, and if you allow replacement ads (reportedly free of bloat, tracking and malware) you'll actually get paid yourself. Now, the company hasrevealedthe Brave Ledger, a Bitcoin-based payment system for users and publishers. The specifications aren't final, but Brave is now fielding comments and discussion from advertisers and developers.
Here's how it works: Previously, the company said it would allow users to either pay to block ads, or get paid to allow ad replacements from Brave's own network. Those ads, chosen by an ad-matching partner, are supposedly faster, safer and load after the publisher's content, not before it like regular third-party ads. For ad-free mode, you'll pay a monthly fee that will be distributed to publishers based on total traffic to each site. Brave's ad network would take a five percent cut of the total amount collected.
How many publishers will go along with this, since many, like Engadget parent AOL, have their own ad networks?
When users go for replacement ads, Brave will take a 15 percent cut, its ad-matching partner would take 15 percent and publishers would get the biggest chunk, 55 percent. The latter pot would be divvied up based on the same traffic measurements as the ad-free method. Users get 15 percent, but there are some caveats. First of all, you need to have a Brave Bitcoin wallet, and the default option will be to donate money to your preferred publisher. If you want to spend the money yourself, you'll need to verify your identity with a phone number and email address. Publishers will also need to be verified to a higher standard.
All of this creates as many questions as it answers. How much will users get paid (and have to pay) to accept or decline ads, for instance? Since the ad-free method amounts to a subscription, how many users will pay to skip ads? (Not many, if torrent software providers likeuTorrentare any indication.) Which publishers will go along with this, since many, like Engadget parent AOL, have theirown ad networks? These are tricky questions, and if the company doesn't have the right answers, its Brave browser model will be dead on arrival.
Update: Since this article was published, Brave has updated the source blogpostto say that paying for ad-blocking is "optional." In a previous version, it said "for ad-free mode, you pay a monthly fee in Bitcoin (BTC)." The article now states: "For sites in ad-free mode, you can optionally pay the site by drawing from your user wallet, funded by your revenue share from ad-replacement mode sites (see below) plus your own funds if you care to add any." A company spokesperson also confirmed that users do not have to pay to block ads.
There's no word on whether users would opt in or out to pay, and how a free mode would affect publisher revenues. Engadget has reached out for more information, and Brave's comments, in part, are below.
There is no subscription model. With Brave, a user can go ad-free if he wishes -- without paying. Of course we encourage users to support publishers and web sites, but we don't require users to pay to go ad-free. || Brave will pay you in Bitcoins for browsing the web (updated): Brendan Eich, the controversial former CEO of Mozilla, recently launched Brave , a privacy-focused browser that blocks ads and trackers. While that concept isn't new, Brave has a twist: You'll have to pay to completely block ads, and if you allow replacement ads (reportedly free of bloat, tracking and malware) you'll actually get paid yourself. Now, the company has revealed the Brave Ledger, a Bitcoin-based payment system for users and publishers. The specifications aren't final, but Brave is now fielding comments and discussion from advertisers and developers. Here's how it works: Previously, the company said it would allow users to either pay to block ads, or get paid to allow ad replacements from Brave's own network. Those ads, chosen by an ad-matching partner, are supposedly faster, safer and load after the publisher's content, not before it like regular third-party ads. For ad-free mode, you'll pay a monthly fee that will be distributed to publishers based on total traffic to each site. Brave's ad network would take a five percent cut of the total amount collected. How many publishers will go along with this, since many, like Engadget parent AOL, have their own ad networks? When users go for replacement ads, Brave will take a 15 percent cut, its ad-matching partner would take 15 percent and publishers would get the biggest chunk, 55 percent. The latter pot would be divvied up based on the same traffic measurements as the ad-free method. Users get 15 percent, but there are some caveats. First of all, you need to have a Brave Bitcoin wallet, and the default option will be to donate money to your preferred publisher. If you want to spend the money yourself, you'll need to verify your identity with a phone number and email address. Publishers will also need to be verified to a higher standard. All of this creates as many questions as it answers. How much will users get paid (and have to pay) to accept or decline ads, for instance? Since the ad-free method amounts to a subscription, how many users will pay to skip ads? (Not many, if torrent software providers like uTorrent are any indication.) Which publishers will go along with this, since many, like Engadget parent AOL, have their own ad networks ? These are tricky questions, and if the company doesn't have the right answers, its Brave browser model will be dead on arrival. Story continues Update : Since this article was published, Brave has updated the source blog post to say that paying for ad-blocking is "optional." In a previous version, it said "for ad-free mode, you pay a monthly fee in Bitcoin (BTC)." The article now states: "For sites in ad-free mode, you can optionally pay the site by drawing from your user wallet, funded by your revenue share from ad-replacement mode sites (see below) plus your own funds if you care to add any." A company spokesperson also confirmed that users do not have to pay to block ads. There's no word on whether users would opt in or out to pay, and how a free mode would affect publisher revenues. Engadget has reached out for more information, and Brave's comments, in part, are below. There is no subscription model. With Brave, a user can go ad-free if he wishes -- without paying. Of course we encourage users to support publishers and web sites, but we don't require users to pay to go ad-free. || Japan looks to kickstart 'fintech' revolution: By Thomas Wilson TOKYO (Reuters) - A laggard in embracing the 'fintech', or financial technology, revolution, Japan is set to ease investment restrictions that could free up the flow of capital in an economy sitting on an estimated $9 trillion in individuals' cash deposits. Strict regulation, easy access to credit due to rock-bottom interest rates, and weak demand for innovative financial services from a risk-averse population that still prefers cash to credit cards, have strangled fintech's advance in Japan. Fintech ventures - usually start-ups leveraging technology from cloud data storage to smartphones to provide loans, insurance and payment services - raised $2.7 billion in China last year, and over $1.5 billion in India, according to CB Insights data. Ventures in the United States attracted investment of around $7.4 billion. In comparison, investment in Japanese ventures reached only around $44 million in the first nine months of 2015. Now, Japan's financial industry regulator hopes relaxed rules on investing in financial ventures, and a new system for regulating virtual currency exchanges will pass through parliament by May - a first step in kickstarting the fintech revolution in the world's third-biggest economy. "The law changes aren't a goal, but a first step," Norio Sato, a senior official at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), told Reuters. "Fintech will have a big impact on financial services." The changes, which will allow banks to buy stakes of up to 100 percent in non-finance-related firms, will free up Japan's three megabanks to enter into tie-ups with fintech ventures developing services including robotic investment advisory and blockchain, the decentralised ledger technology behind the bitcoin digital currency. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group have said they are eyeing such investments, having previously been restricted to holding stakes of only 5-15 percent in start-ups. Story continues Under pressure from weak loan demand, the megabanks see an opportunity to earn money through fintech, but are also aware of its potential to disrupt traditional business models. GAME CHANGER The unpromising fintech environment in Japan - which was blindsided by the high-profile collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in 2014 when hackers stole an estimated $650 million worth of the digital currency - has seen some entrepreneurs go overseas for funding. Junichi Horiguchi, co-founder and CEO of bitcoin service provider Zerobillbank Ltd, established his start-up in Tel Aviv last year to take advantage of Israel's advanced technology industry. Investment in fintech start-ups by global banks and tech giants including Barclays, Google and Facebook is far more common in Israel than in Japan, he said. "It's completely different over there," Horiguchi told Reuters. "Every month there are open innovation contests and (start-up) accelerator programmes." Sales at Japan's fintech start-ups could jump to over half a billion dollars by 2020 as the use of technology such as blockchain increases, Yano Research Institute said in a report. The new rules the FSA is promoting on virtual currency exchanges could make Japan one of the first countries to regulate bitcoin at a national level. "Japan hasn't previously been enthusiastic about fintech," said Sato. "But creating these rules this fast could gain the world's attention." Bitcoin entrepreneurs, often reliant on investment for growth, have called for clearer regulation and will welcome the latest changes, said Yuzo Kano, founder and CEO of bitcoin exchange bitFlyer Inc, and head of the Japan Authority for Digital Assets, a lobbying group. "The establishment of the law is extremely surprising," Kano said, referring to how quickly the FSA had drafted the law. "It's set to be very successful." ($1 = 112.95 yen) (Reporting by Thomas Wilson; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) || Japan looks to kickstart 'fintech' revolution: By Thomas Wilson TOKYO (Reuters) - A laggard in embracing the 'fintech', or financial technology, revolution, Japan is set to ease investment restrictions that could free up the flow of capital in an economy sitting on an estimated $9 trillion in individuals' cash deposits. Strict regulation, easy access to credit due to rock-bottom interest rates, and weak demand for innovative financial services from a risk-averse population that still prefers cash to credit cards, have strangled fintech's advance in Japan. Fintech ventures - usually start-ups leveraging technology from cloud data storage to smartphones to provide loans, insurance and payment services - raised $2.7 billion in China last year, and over $1.5 billion in India, according to CB Insights data. Ventures in the United States attracted investment of around $7.4 billion. In comparison, investment in Japanese ventures reached only around $44 million in the first nine months of 2015. Now, Japan's financial industry regulator hopes relaxed rules on investing in financial ventures, and a new system for regulating virtual currency exchanges will pass through parliament by May - a first step in kickstarting the fintech revolution in the world's third-biggest economy. "The law changes aren't a goal, but a first step," Norio Sato, a senior official at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), told Reuters. "Fintech will have a big impact on financial services." The changes, which will allow banks to buy stakes of up to 100 percent in non-finance-related firms, will free up Japan's three megabanks to enter into tie-ups with fintech ventures developing services including robotic investment advisory and blockchain, the decentralised ledger technology behind the bitcoin digital currency. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group have said they are eyeing such investments, having previously been restricted to holding stakes of only 5-15 percent in start-ups. Under pressure from weak loan demand, the megabanks see an opportunity to earn money through fintech, but are also aware of its potential to disrupt traditional business models. GAME CHANGER The unpromising fintech environment in Japan - which was blindsided by the high-profile collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in 2014 when hackers stole an estimated $650 million worth of the digital currency - has seen some entrepreneurs go overseas for funding. Junichi Horiguchi, co-founder and CEO of bitcoin service provider Zerobillbank Ltd, established his start-up in Tel Aviv last year to take advantage of Israel's advanced technology industry. Investment in fintech start-ups by global banks and tech giants including Barclays, Google and Facebook is far more common in Israel than in Japan, he said. "It's completely different over there," Horiguchi told Reuters. "Every month there are open innovation contests and (start-up) accelerator programmes." Sales at Japan's fintech start-ups could jump to over half a billion dollars by 2020 as the use of technology such as blockchain increases, Yano Research Institute said in a report. The new rules the FSA is promoting on virtual currency exchanges could make Japan one of the first countries to regulate bitcoin at a national level. "Japan hasn't previously been enthusiastic about fintech," said Sato. "But creating these rules this fast could gain the world's attention." Bitcoin entrepreneurs, often reliant on investment for growth, have called for clearer regulation and will welcome the latest changes, said Yuzo Kano, founder and CEO of bitcoin exchange bitFlyer Inc, and head of the Japan Authority for Digital Assets, a lobbying group. "The establishment of the law is extremely surprising," Kano said, referring to how quickly the FSA had drafted the law. "It's set to be very successful." ($1 = 112.95 yen) (Reporting by Thomas Wilson; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) || Japan looks to kickstart 'fintech' revolution: By Thomas Wilson TOKYO (Reuters) - A laggard in embracing the 'fintech', or financial technology, revolution, Japan is set to ease investment restrictions that could free up the flow of capital in an economy sitting on an estimated $9 trillion in individuals' cash deposits. Strict regulation, easy access to credit due to rock-bottom interest rates, and weak demand for innovative financial services from a risk-averse population that still prefers cash to credit cards, have strangled fintech's advance in Japan. Fintech ventures - usually start-ups leveraging technology from cloud data storage to smartphones to provide loans, insurance and payment services - raised $2.7 billion in China last year, and over $1.5 billion in India, according to CB Insights data. Ventures in the United States attracted investment of around $7.4 billion. In comparison, investment in Japanese ventures reached only around $44 million in the first nine months of 2015. Now, Japan's financial industry regulator hopes relaxed rules on investing in financial ventures, and a new system for regulating virtual currency exchanges will pass through parliament by May - a first step in kickstarting the fintech revolution in the world's third-biggest economy. "The law changes aren't a goal, but a first step," Norio Sato, a senior official at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), told Reuters. "Fintech will have a big impact on financial services." The changes, which will allow banks to buy stakes of up to 100 percent in non-finance-related firms, will free up Japan's three megabanks to enter into tie-ups with fintech ventures developing services including robotic investment advisory and blockchain, the decentralised ledger technology behind the bitcoin digital currency. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group have said they are eyeing such investments, having previously been restricted to holding stakes of only 5-15 percent in start-ups. Story continues Under pressure from weak loan demand, the megabanks see an opportunity to earn money through fintech, but are also aware of its potential to disrupt traditional business models. GAME CHANGER The unpromising fintech environment in Japan - which was blindsided by the high-profile collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in 2014 when hackers stole an estimated $650 million worth of the digital currency - has seen some entrepreneurs go overseas for funding. Junichi Horiguchi, co-founder and CEO of bitcoin service provider Zerobillbank Ltd, established his start-up in Tel Aviv last year to take advantage of Israel's advanced technology industry. Investment in fintech start-ups by global banks and tech giants including Barclays, Google and Facebook is far more common in Israel than in Japan, he said. "It's completely different over there," Horiguchi told Reuters. "Every month there are open innovation contests and (start-up) accelerator programmes." Sales at Japan's fintech start-ups could jump to over half a billion dollars by 2020 as the use of technology such as blockchain increases, Yano Research Institute said in a report. The new rules the FSA is promoting on virtual currency exchanges could make Japan one of the first countries to regulate bitcoin at a national level. "Japan hasn't previously been enthusiastic about fintech," said Sato. "But creating these rules this fast could gain the world's attention." Bitcoin entrepreneurs, often reliant on investment for growth, have called for clearer regulation and will welcome the latest changes, said Yuzo Kano, founder and CEO of bitcoin exchange bitFlyer Inc, and head of the Japan Authority for Digital Assets, a lobbying group. "The establishment of the law is extremely surprising," Kano said, referring to how quickly the FSA had drafted the law. "It's set to be very successful." ($1 = 112.95 yen) (Reporting by Thomas Wilson; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) || Japan looks to kickstart 'fintech' revolution: By Thomas Wilson TOKYO (Reuters) - A laggard in embracing the 'fintech', or financial technology, revolution, Japan is set to ease investment restrictions that could free up the flow of capital in an economy sitting on an estimated $9 trillion in individuals' cash deposits. Strict regulation, easy access to credit due to rock-bottom interest rates, and weak demand for innovative financial services from a risk-averse population that still prefers cash to credit cards, have strangled fintech's advance in Japan. Fintech ventures - usually start-ups leveraging technology from cloud data storage to smartphones to provide loans, insurance and payment services - raised $2.7 billion in China last year, and over $1.5 billion in India, according to CB Insights data. Ventures in the United States attracted investment of around $7.4 billion. In comparison, investment in Japanese ventures reached only around $44 million in the first nine months of 2015. Now, Japan's financial industry regulator hopes relaxed rules on investing in financial ventures, and a new system for regulating virtual currency exchanges will pass through parliament by May - a first step in kickstarting the fintech revolution in the world's third-biggest economy. "The law changes aren't a goal, but a first step," Norio Sato, a senior official at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), told Reuters. "Fintech will have a big impact on financial services." The changes, which will allow banks to buy stakes of up to 100 percent in non-finance-related firms, will free up Japan's three megabanks to enter into tie-ups with fintech ventures developing services including robotic investment advisory and blockchain, the decentralised ledger technology behind the bitcoin digital currency. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group have said they are eyeing such investments, having previously been restricted to holding stakes of only 5-15 percent in start-ups. Under pressure from weak loan demand, the megabanks see an opportunity to earn money through fintech, but are also aware of its potential to disrupt traditional business models. GAME CHANGER The unpromising fintech environment in Japan - which was blindsided by the high-profile collapse of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in 2014 when hackers stole an estimated $650 million worth of the digital currency - has seen some entrepreneurs go overseas for funding. Junichi Horiguchi, co-founder and CEO of bitcoin service provider Zerobillbank Ltd, established his start-up in Tel Aviv last year to take advantage of Israel's advanced technology industry. Investment in fintech start-ups by global banks and tech giants including Barclays, Google and Facebook is far more common in Israel than in Japan, he said. "It's completely different over there," Horiguchi told Reuters. "Every month there are open innovation contests and (start-up) accelerator programmes." Sales at Japan's fintech start-ups could jump to over half a billion dollars by 2020 as the use of technology such as blockchain increases, Yano Research Institute said in a report. The new rules the FSA is promoting on virtual currency exchanges could make Japan one of the first countries to regulate bitcoin at a national level. "Japan hasn't previously been enthusiastic about fintech," said Sato. "But creating these rules this fast could gain the world's attention." Bitcoin entrepreneurs, often reliant on investment for growth, have called for clearer regulation and will welcome the latest changes, said Yuzo Kano, founder and CEO of bitcoin exchange bitFlyer Inc, and head of the Japan Authority for Digital Assets, a lobbying group. "The establishment of the law is extremely surprising," Kano said, referring to how quickly the FSA had drafted the law. "It's set to be very successful." ($1 = 112.95 yen) (Reporting by Thomas Wilson; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
[Social Media Buzz]
#RDD / #BTC on the exchanges:
Cryptsy: Error
Bittrex: 0.00000013
Average $5.5E-5 per #reddcoin
03:00:02 || #RDD / #BTC on the exchanges:
Cryptsy: Error
Bittrex: 0.00000014
Average $5.9E-5 per #reddcoin
14:00:02 || 1 KOBO Price: YoBit = 0.00000570 BTC (0.00236952 USD) #KOBO #BTC #KOBOprice #Kobocoin 2016-04-03 22:00 pic.twitter.com/IOM8q09WRF || Current price: 293.64£ $BTCGBP $btc #bitcoin 2016-04-03 22:00:05 BST || In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 16 exchange pair(s), yielding p...
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421.44, 424.03, 423.41, 422.74, 420.35, 419.41, 421.56, 422.48, 425.19, 423.73
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 234.34, 232.76, 239.14, 236.69, 236.06, 237.55, 237.29, 238.73, 238.26, 240.38, 246.06, 242.97, 242.30, 243.93, 244.94, 247.05, 245.31, 249.51, 251.99, 254.32, 262.87, 270.64, 261.64, 263.44, 269.46, 266.27, 274.02, 276.50, 281.65, 283.68, 285.30, 293.79, 304.62, 313.86, 328.02, 314.17, 325.43, 361.19, 403.42, 411.56, 386.35, 374.47, 386.48, 373.37, 380.26, 336.82, 311.08, 338.15, 336.75, 332.91, 320.17, 330.75, 335.09, 334.59, 326.15, 322.02, 326.93, 324.54, 323.05, 320.05, 328.21, 352.68, 358.04, 357.38, 371.29, 377.32, 362.49, 359.19, 361.05, 363.18, 388.95, 388.78, 395.54, 415.56, 417.56, 415.48, 451.94, 435.00, 433.76, 444.18, 465.32, 454.93, 456.08, 463.62, 462.32, 442.68, 438.64, 436.57, 442.40, 454.98.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-12-24]
Volume: 57157200, RSI (14-day): 64.87, 50-day EMA: 388.83, 200-day EMA: 310.54
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1077.20, Gold RSI: 49.88
Oil Price: 38.10, Oil RSI: 47.95
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
How Blockchain Can Reform The Real Estate Industry: Bitcoin has gotten a bad reputation this year after several high profile hacking attacks and scams saw investors lose huge sums of money. The cryptocurrency has also been painted as a tool for criminals after dark web sites like Silk Road revealed illegal transactions using the currency. While the currency itself is unlikely to catch on as a mainstream form of payment in the coming year, many believe that blockchain, the ledger like technology that bitcoin runs on, could explode in 2016. Blockchain Applications Across The Board The potential for blockchain is wide reaching. The technology could benefit everyone from finance firms to the music industry by making transactions easier to follow and more difficult to forge. Several blockchain firms have emerged in order to help companies explore the possibility of using the technology within their industry. Blockchain For Real Estate One space that many believe could get a blockchain makeover in the coming year is real estate. Blockchain would make title transfers safer, faster and more efficient by automating the process and ensuring that legal battles over fraudulent titles were a thing of the past. At the moment, it is relatively easy for a criminal to create false title documents and transfer ownership of a property to themselves. The of fighting such crimes each year is around $1 billion, a sum that could be saved with a blockchain-run system. Better Price Comparison Using blockchain would also make comparing similar properties for house hunters. At the moment owners can keep lease prices private, making it difficult to find comparable sales figures. However, if all of that data was stored on blockchain, it would be easily searchable and available to both buyers and sellers. See more from Benzinga Not All Of Clinton's Policies Are Bad For Pharmaceuticals What's In Store For Apple In 2016 Google Is Developing A Messaging Service To Compete With Rivals © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || How Blockchain Can Reform The Real Estate Industry: Bitcoin has gotten a bad reputation this year after several high profile hacking attacks and scams saw investors lose huge sums of money. The cryptocurrency has also been painted as a tool for criminals after dark web sites like Silk Road revealed illegal transactions using the currency.
While the currency itself is unlikely to catch on as a mainstream form of payment in the coming year, many believe that blockchain, the ledger like technology that bitcoin runs on, could explode in 2016.
Blockchain Applications Across The Board
The potential for blockchain is wide reaching. The technology could benefit everyone from finance firms to the music industry by making transactions easier to follow and more difficult to forge. Several blockchain firms have emerged in order to help companies explore the possibility of using the technology within their industry.
Blockchain For Real Estate
One space that many believe could get a blockchain makeover in the coming year is real estate. Blockchain would make title transfers safer, faster and more efficient by automating the process and ensuring that legal battles over fraudulent titles were a thing of the past.
At the moment, it is relatively easy for a criminal to create false title documents and transfer ownership of a property to themselves. The of fighting such crimes each year is around $1 billion, a sum that could be saved with a blockchain-run system.
Better Price Comparison
Using blockchain would also make comparing similar properties for house hunters. At the moment owners can keep lease prices private, making it difficult to find comparable sales figures.
However, if all of that data was stored on blockchain, it would be easily searchable and available to both buyers and sellers.
See more from Benzinga
• Not All Of Clinton's Policies Are Bad For Pharmaceuticals
• What's In Store For Apple In 2016
• Google Is Developing A Messaging Service To Compete With Rivals
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Record highs predicted for bitcoin in 2016 as new supply halves: By Jemima Kelly
LONDON (Reuters) - 2016 could prove to be the year that the price of bitcoin surges again. Not because of any dark-web drug-dealing or Russian ponzi scheme, but for an altogether less sensational reason - slower growth in the money supply.
Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" used to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. But despite being championed by some as the digital money of the future, it is often dismissed as a currency that is too volatile to invest in.
The reason 2016 looks set to be different is that bitcoin's price is likely to be driven in large part by similar factors to a traditional fiat currency, following the age-old principles of supply and demand.
Instead of being controlled by a central bank, bitcoin relies on so-called "mining" computers that validate blocks of transactions by competing to solve mathematical puzzles every 10 minutes. In return, the first to solve the puzzle and thereby clear the transactions is currently rewarded with 25 new bitcoins, worth around $11,000 (BTC=BTSP).
But when it was invented in 2008 by the mysterious "Satoshi Nakamoto", who has yet to be identified, the bitcoin program was designed so that the reward would be halved roughly every four years, in order to keep a lid on inflation. The next time that is due to happen is July 2016.
Bitcoin was also designed to emulate a commodity by having a finite supply of 21 million bitcoins, which will be reached in around 125 years, up from around 15 million today. Hence, also, the use of the term "mining".
Daniel Masters, co-founder of Jersey-based Global Advisors' multi-million dollar bitcoin hedge fund, started his career as an oil trader at Shell in the mid-1980s and spent 30 years trading commodities before crossing over to bitcoin.
Now he reckons the price of bitcoin could test its 2013 highs of above $1,100 next year and then pick up speed to rise to $4,400 by the end of 2017.
That would be due to a number of factors, Masters said, including an increased acceptance of payments in bitcoin by big companies and authorities, rapidly growing interest and investment in the "blockchain" technology that underpins bitcoin transactions, and also more demand from China as its currency weakens and the economy slows.
But taken in isolation, the halving of the mining reward will increase the price of bitcoin by around 50 percent from where it is now, Masters reckons. That is despite the fact that the halving of the reward has always been inevitable - a factor that would already have been accounted for in pretty much every other market.
"If OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)came out tomorrow and said, 'in six months' time we're going to halve oil production', the oil price would instantaneously react. But the bitcoin market is still in its infancy, and I don't think that factor is discounted into the price fully," he said.
DECENTRALIZED DIGITAL ASSET
Bitcoin's price has already almost doubled in the last three months, putting it on track for its best quarter in two years. It hit $500 last month for the first time since August last year, with Chinese demand for a pyramid scheme set up by a Russian fraudster cited as a reason for the price surge.
But Bobby Lee, the chief executive of one of the leading bitcoin exchanges in China, BTCC, reckons there is scope for the cryptocurrency to go much further. He thinks the price could increase by as much as eight times in the time up to the reward halving, taking it as high as $3,500 by next summer.
"Today the worth of bitcoin is $1 per capita in the world (population)," Lee said, referring to the value of all the bitcoins in circulation, around $6.5 billion. "For such an innovative, decentralized digital asset, I say 'boy, are we undervaluing it'. But it takes a while for people to realize that."
The mining reward has already been halved once before, in November 2012, from 50 to 25 bitcoins. The stakes were much lower then, with one bitcoin worth around $12, but nevertheless the price increased by about 150 percent in the preceding seven months - roughly the time left before the next halving.
"It (the halving) dampens supply so, all other things being equal, that puts upwards pressure on price," said Jeremy Millar, partner at London-based financial technology specialists Magister Advisors, who expects demand to continue to increase.
"No one can argue with that fundamental economic principle."
(Editing by Greg Mahlich) || Record highs predicted for bitcoin in 2016 as new supply halves: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - 2016 could prove to be the year that the price of bitcoin surges again. Not because of any dark-web drug-dealing or Russian ponzi scheme, but for an altogether less sensational reason - slower growth in the money supply. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" used to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. But despite being championed by some as the digital money of the future, it is often dismissed as a currency that is too volatile to invest in. The reason 2016 looks set to be different is that bitcoin's price is likely to be driven in large part by similar factors to a traditional fiat currency, following the age-old principles of supply and demand. Instead of being controlled by a central bank, bitcoin relies on so-called "mining" computers that validate blocks of transactions by competing to solve mathematical puzzles every 10 minutes. In return, the first to solve the puzzle and thereby clear the transactions is currently rewarded with 25 new bitcoins, worth around $11,000 (BTC=BTSP). But when it was invented in 2008 by the mysterious "Satoshi Nakamoto", who has yet to be identified, the bitcoin program was designed so that the reward would be halved roughly every four years, in order to keep a lid on inflation. The next time that is due to happen is July 2016. Bitcoin was also designed to emulate a commodity by having a finite supply of 21 million bitcoins, which will be reached in around 125 years, up from around 15 million today. Hence, also, the use of the term "mining". Daniel Masters, co-founder of Jersey-based Global Advisors' multi-million dollar bitcoin hedge fund, started his career as an oil trader at Shell in the mid-1980s and spent 30 years trading commodities before crossing over to bitcoin. Now he reckons the price of bitcoin could test its 2013 highs of above $1,100 next year and then pick up speed to rise to $4,400 by the end of 2017. Story continues That would be due to a number of factors, Masters said, including an increased acceptance of payments in bitcoin by big companies and authorities, rapidly growing interest and investment in the "blockchain" technology that underpins bitcoin transactions, and also more demand from China as its currency weakens and the economy slows. But taken in isolation, the halving of the mining reward will increase the price of bitcoin by around 50 percent from where it is now, Masters reckons. That is despite the fact that the halving of the reward has always been inevitable - a factor that would already have been accounted for in pretty much every other market. "If OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)came out tomorrow and said, 'in six months' time we're going to halve oil production', the oil price would instantaneously react. But the bitcoin market is still in its infancy, and I don't think that factor is discounted into the price fully," he said. DECENTRALIZED DIGITAL ASSET Bitcoin's price has already almost doubled in the last three months, putting it on track for its best quarter in two years. It hit $500 last month for the first time since August last year, with Chinese demand for a pyramid scheme set up by a Russian fraudster cited as a reason for the price surge. But Bobby Lee, the chief executive of one of the leading bitcoin exchanges in China, BTCC, reckons there is scope for the cryptocurrency to go much further. He thinks the price could increase by as much as eight times in the time up to the reward halving, taking it as high as $3,500 by next summer. "Today the worth of bitcoin is $1 per capita in the world (population)," Lee said, referring to the value of all the bitcoins in circulation, around $6.5 billion. "For such an innovative, decentralized digital asset, I say 'boy, are we undervaluing it'. But it takes a while for people to realize that." The mining reward has already been halved once before, in November 2012, from 50 to 25 bitcoins. The stakes were much lower then, with one bitcoin worth around $12, but nevertheless the price increased by about 150 percent in the preceding seven months - roughly the time left before the next halving. "It (the halving) dampens supply so, all other things being equal, that puts upwards pressure on price," said Jeremy Millar, partner at London-based financial technology specialists Magister Advisors, who expects demand to continue to increase. "No one can argue with that fundamental economic principle." (Editing by Greg Mahlich) || The myth of Mariana's Web, the darkest corner of the internet: Chances are, like me, the first time you heard about the Dark Web it was described as a foul and depraved marketplace, where children, drugs, and pirated movies could be bought for mere Bitcoin. Tabloids paint it as a place where a veritable "Top 10" of our biggest fears resides. Opportunistic security companies sell threat intelligence services that allude to hunting for bad guys in dark dens that deal in organ harvesting, involuntary human experiments, and more. Like most people, I find the siren song of lurid, spooky bullshit to be irresistible. And the Dark Web's boogeyman aura is all about spooky bullshit. That's despite the fact that the Dark Web is host to a lot of communities that aren't doing anything nefarious (unless you think furries are evil; there's a huge Dark Web furry social network that simply wants privacy). But the organ harvesting dramatics are nothing until we get to the "deepest part of the web, where people don't want you to go," the so-called "Mariana's Web." The legend of Mariana's Web appears to get its name from the deepest part of the ocean, Mariana's Trench. It's supposedly the deepest part of the web, a forbidden place of mysterious evil -- or at least, that's the mythos a subset of online believers has cultivated. Depending on where you get your Mariana's Web myths, it's where you'll find "the darkest secrets humanity has in its history," the secret location of Atlantis and "the Vatican secret archives," or a database of archives belonging to the most powerful intelligence agencies on Earth. Many believe that Mariana's is home to an all-powerful, female artificial intelligence entity . Mariana's Web is certainly the definition of spooky BS, especially because it's technically impossible; it's supposedly only accessible through quantum computers -- which currently only exist in science fiction. Story continues Yet to the chagrin of people who love facts, it's slowly starting to be reported as fact. Copy or Embed This Whisper Direct Link Embed Download on the App Store Download on Google Play Get App That's probably not a surprise if you've been watching infosec-challenged traditional media try to cover the finer points of hacking, let alone anything outside Google's reach. But seeing anecdotes and myth start to bubble up into areas that may affect people's actual decisions about risk and safety ... Well it's entertaining, but also worrying when anecdote is substituted for data in an area that often involves law enforcement. That infosec firm clients are asking for threat intel packages to include Mariana's Web is information that is also anecdotal, though it's my anecdote, and one I recently heard first-hand. But that new twist, my friends, isn't just the result of clickbait or security company sales drama -- it's the result of this fake infographic . An epic troll that people have interpreted as fact . I don't know why people don't read things carefully, or avoid fact checking, or want to believe in Atlantis and invisible beings. But I'm glad they do, because it sure makes doing research on dry-as-desert threat intel services way more entertaining. Fingers crossed that the TV take on the very fictional Mariana's Web comes from The X-Files , and not CSI: Cyber -- or CNN. [Image credit: Shutterstock] || The myth of Mariana's Web, the darkest corner of the internet: Chances are, like me, the first time you heard about the Dark Web it was described as a foul and depraved marketplace, where children, drugs, and pirated movies could be bought for mere Bitcoin. Tabloids paint it as a place where a veritable "Top 10" of our biggest fears resides. Opportunistic security companies sell threat intelligence services that allude to hunting for bad guys in dark dens that deal in organ harvesting, involuntary human experiments, and more.
Like most people, I find the siren song of lurid, spooky bullshit to be irresistible.
And the Dark Web's boogeyman aura is all about spooky bullshit. That's despite the fact that the Dark Web is host to a lot of communities that aren't doing anything nefarious (unless you think furries are evil; there's a huge Dark Web furry social network that simply wants privacy).
But the organ harvesting dramatics are nothing until we get tothe"deepest part of the web, where people don't want you to go," the so-called "Mariana's Web."
The legend of Mariana's Web appears to get its name from the deepest part of the ocean, Mariana's Trench. It's supposedly the deepest part of the web, a forbidden place of mysterious evil -- or at least, that's the mythos a subset of online believers has cultivated.
Depending on where you get your Mariana's Web myths, it's where you'll find "thedarkest secretshumanity has in its history," thesecret locationof Atlantis and "the Vatican secret archives," or a database of archives belonging tothe most powerful intelligence agencieson Earth. Many believe that Mariana's is home to an all-powerful,female artificial intelligence entity.
Mariana's Web is certainly the definition of spooky BS, especially because it's technically impossible; it's supposedly only accessible through quantum computers -- which currently only exist in science fiction.
Yet to the chagrin of people who love facts, it's slowly starting to bereportedas fact.
Copy or Embed This Whisper
Direct Link
Embed
Download on theApp Store
Download onGoogle Play
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That's probably not a surprise if you've been watching infosec-challenged traditional media try to cover the finer points of hacking, let alone anything outside Google's reach. But seeing anecdotes and myth start to bubble up into areas that may affect people's actual decisions about risk and safety ... Well it's entertaining, but also worrying when anecdote is substituted for data in an area that often involves law enforcement.
That infosec firm clients are asking for threat intelpackagesto include Mariana's Web is information that is also anecdotal, though it's my anecdote, and one I recently heard first-hand.
But that new twist, my friends, isn't just the result of clickbait or security company sales drama -- it's the result ofthis fake infographic. An epic troll that people haveinterpreted as fact.
I don't know why people don't read things carefully, or avoid fact checking, or want to believe in Atlantis and invisible beings.
But I'm glad they do, because it sure makes doing research on dry-as-desert threat intel services way more entertaining. Fingers crossed that the TV take on the very fictional Mariana's Web comes fromThe X-Files, and notCSI: Cyber-- or CNN.
[Image credit: Shutterstock] || The unofficial Goldman Sachs guide to New Year’s resolutions: new york times square new year confetti (REUTERS/Keith Bedford) Workmen clean up confetti and garbage left from New Year celebrations in Times Square in New York January 1, 2013. Exercise. Read more. Save money. Travel. Those are the staple resolutions. But if it’s not that complicated, why are there so many fat, dumb, poor people who don’t even have passports? So, forget about all of the tired, regurgitated resolutions that you recycle unfulfilled year in and out. Here are twenty practical and realistic goals for 2016 that will fundamentally make your life better: Return your hoverboard. You look like a jackass Martin Shkreli. Write down your goals. Less than 10% of people fulfill their resolutions, but the ones who write them down have a much higher success rate. Take it a step further and make a list of what you want to accomplish each day, week, and month. Forget an app; go old school. Turn off Netflix at midnight. Just chill. Get a comprehensive health exam. If possible, from Donald Trump’s physician . Read more . Hardly an original idea, but it’s seldom accomplished. This year, try being specific. Make a list of 10-15 books - a healthy mix of fiction, non-fiction, and a few classics you should have read in college. I’ll get you started with Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness , Mark Bowden’s Killing Pablo , Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton , or this one. Stop drinking soda. While you are at, give up orange juice too. Instead, drink green tea with fresh ginger and manuka honey. It cancels out the ten drinks you had the night before. Stay in on Friday nights . Your weekend will become infinitely better, and your bank account will benefit too. It’s time to act like an adult; get drunk at brunch on Sundays instead. Invest in a Bitcoin wallet . Because it will be the best-performing currency in 2016 . Come back to Twitter . Sure, engagement is down and relevance has peaked. But there is still no better way to efficiently curate news and information. Spend more time with old people . The Greatest Generation now makes up less than 1% of the US population . Find a World War II veteran and take him to lunch from time to time. Plan regular FBTs (Fake Business Trips). Get away from your life for a few days to relax, and, if need be, let some bad out. It’ll make you a better partner and parent. Get promoted . Forget about LinkedIn; it’s the Match.com for the underemployed. Invite your seniors out, get them into a bar and network the old fashioned way. Freshen up your wardrobe . There’s a reason Michael Jordan wore a brand new pair of shoes every game. While you’re at it, donate your old clothes to Career Gea r or Dress for Succes s - non-profits that provide clothing and career guidance to low-income men and women. Take a class. Sign up with a friend to make it more fun and help you see it through. It could be anything - cooking, coding, or photography. The Nikon D810 SLR even comes with free classes. Forget about unrealistic health pledges. You don’t need some insane diet or detox regime. They don’t actually make you live longer. It just seems longer. Eat sensibly, drink in moderation, and exercise; it’s not rocket science. Laugh more . Socialize. Drink. Throw parties. Host drunken game nights. Upgrade your friends if necessary. It’s the life in your years, not the years in your life. Say no to fitness gimmicks . You don’t need to start taking the stairs or parking as far away from the Whole Foods entrance as possible. And don’t prepay for thirty personal training sessions. Take up a competitive sport instead. Remember that feeling as a kid when you’re on the field, not thinking about anything else? Most of us have forgotten how great that feels. So join a basketball league or find someone to play tennis with. And get some of these. Skip the dramatic savings scheme . Giving up the $5 daily latte? Bringing your lunch to work? That just makes you the office pariah. Don’t go crazy with anti-social or unrealistic goals. Keep it simple; spend less than you make, and save up for the big-ticket items until you can afford them. Declare the bedroom technology free. Does this even need an explanation? It means more time for reading, sleep, and sex. And go ahead and upgrade your mattress . We’re talking about 1/3rd of your life. Stay in on New Years Eve . It’s amateur night and it rarely lives up to your expectations anyhow. This year, stay home with a bottle of something nice. Then start January 1 early and productively. Story continues John LeFevre is the creator of @GSElevator on Twitter, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Straight To Hell: True Tales of Deviance, Debauchery, And Billion-Dollar Deals NOW WATCH: How the buying power of your dollar has changed over the past 60 years More From Business Insider This guy gave up sugar and got 80% of his calories from fat — here's what happened Donald Trump left Joe Scarborough stunned after being asked about Vladimir Putin killing journalists Here's the ISIS message the female San Bernardino shooter posted on Facebook during the attack || The unofficial Goldman Sachs guide to New Year’s resolutions: (REUTERS/Keith Bedford)Workmen clean up confetti and garbage left from New Year celebrations in Times Square in New York January 1, 2013.
Exercise. Read more. Save money. Travel. Those are the staple resolutions.
But if it’s not that complicated, why are there so many fat, dumb, poor people who don’t even have passports?
So, forget about all of the tired, regurgitated resolutions that you recycle unfulfilled year in and out. Here are twenty practical and realistic goals for 2016 that will fundamentally make your life better:
• Return your hoverboard.You look likeajackassMartin Shkreli.
• Write down your goals.Less than 10% of people fulfill their resolutions, but the ones who write them down have a much higher success rate. Take it a step further and make a list of what you want to accomplish each day, week, and month. Forget an app;go old school.
• Turn off Netflix at midnight.Just chill.
• Get a comprehensive health exam.If possible, fromDonald Trump’s physician.
• Read more. Hardly an original idea, but it’s seldom accomplished. This year, try being specific. Make a list of 10-15 books - a healthy mix of fiction, non-fiction, and a few classics you should have read in college. I’ll get you started with Joseph Conrad’sHeart of Darkness, Mark Bowden’sKilling Pablo, Ron Chernow’sAlexander Hamilton, orthis one.
• Stop drinking soda.While you are at, give up orange juice too. Instead, drink green tea with fresh ginger and manuka honey. It cancels out the ten drinks you had the night before.
• Stay in on Friday nights. Your weekend will become infinitely better, and your bank account will benefit too. It’s time to act like an adult; get drunk at brunch on Sundays instead.
• Invest in a Bitcoin wallet. Because it will be the best-performingcurrency in 2016.
• Come back to Twitter. Sure, engagement is down and relevance has peaked. But there is still no better way to efficiently curate news and information.
• Spend more time with old people. The Greatest Generation now makes up less than1% of the US population. Find aWorld War II veteranand take him to lunch from time to time.
• Plan regular FBTs (Fake Business Trips).Get away from your life for a few days to relax, and, if need be, let some bad out. It’ll make you a better partner and parent.
• Get promoted. Forget about LinkedIn; it’s the Match.com for the underemployed. Invite your seniors out, get them into a bar and network the old fashioned way.
• Freshen up your wardrobe. There’s a reason Michael Jordan wore a brand new pair of shoes every game. While you’re at it, donate your old clothes toCareer GearorDress for Success- non-profits that provide clothing and career guidance to low-income men and women.
• Take a class.Sign up with a friend to make it more fun and help you see it through. It could be anything - cooking, coding, or photography. TheNikon D810 SLReven comes with free classes.
• Forget about unrealistic health pledges.You don’t need some insane diet or detox regime. They don’t actually make you live longer. It just seems longer. Eat sensibly, drink in moderation, and exercise; it’s not rocket science.
• Laugh more. Socialize. Drink. Throw parties. Host drunken game nights. Upgrade your friends if necessary. It’s the life in your years, not the years in your life.
• Say no to fitness gimmicks. You don’t need to start taking the stairs or parking as far away from the Whole Foods entrance as possible. And don’t prepay for thirty personal training sessions. Take up a competitive sport instead. Remember that feeling as a kid when you’re on the field, not thinking about anything else? Most of us have forgotten how great that feels. So join a basketball league or find someone to play tennis with. And get some ofthese.
• Skip the dramatic savings scheme. Giving up the $5 daily latte? Bringing your lunch to work? That just makes you the office pariah. Don’t go crazy with anti-social or unrealistic goals. Keep it simple; spend less than you make, and save up for the big-ticket items until you can afford them.
• Declare the bedroom technology free.Does this even need an explanation? It means more time for reading, sleep, and sex. And go ahead andupgrade your mattress. We’re talking about 1/3rd of your life.
• Stay in on New Years Eve. It’s amateur night and it rarely lives up to your expectations anyhow. This year, stay home with a bottle of something nice. Then start January 1 early and productively.
John LeFevreis the creator of@GSElevatoron Twitter, and the author of the New York Times bestselling book,Straight To Hell: True Tales of Deviance, Debauchery, And Billion-Dollar Deals
NOW WATCH:How the buying power of your dollar has changed over the past 60 years
More From Business Insider
• This guy gave up sugar and got 80% of his calories from fat — here's what happened
• Donald Trump left Joe Scarborough stunned after being asked about Vladimir Putin killing journalists
• Here's the ISIS message the female San Bernardino shooter posted on Facebook during the attack || Where do the presidential candidates stand on encryption? A handy guide: Photo: Getty Images In the wake of terrorist attacks here and abroad, candidates in the 2016 presidential race have shifted their attention to issues of national security. Many have proposed aggressive measures to confront ISIS, including bombing it “back to the Stone Age” (Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas) and banning Muslims from entering the country altogether (Donald Trump ) . But very few have articulated a clear position on how to prevent terrorist recruitment and plotting online. CNN’s Tuesday night Republican debate brought many of these issues to the table, raising questions about surveillance, who owns the Internet and — paramount to the tech world — encryption . Encryption — a way to encode information so that only the sender and the intended recipient can read it — has been central to a security versus privacy debate dubbed the Crypto Wars that dates back to the early 1990s. For years, intelligence officials have pointed to the technology as a significant obstacle in tracking nefarious activity online. Those complaints have only grown more insistent since the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. Recently, FBI Director James Comey even suggested that major tech companies reconsider their business structure to intercept and pass on encrypted information when needed. And those pressures are sure to increase after French counterterrorism investigators announced that encrypted apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram may have been used to plot the Nov. 13 Paris attack. Virtually all tech companies and cryptographers argue that building any type of “backdoor” into these secure communications would undermine the purpose of the technology entirely, ultimately compromising public privacy and driving consumers to use unregulated international products. It’s something our next president will most definitely have to weigh in on. And though not every presidential candidate has offered a firm stance on the debate, they’ve definitely dropped hints. Below, a survey of those candidates who have acknowledged the issue of encryption and what they think about it. Story continues Democrats: Hillary Clinton The current Democratic frontrunner has discussed encryption regulation several times, though we still don’t know how she feels about it. In a conversation with Re/code’s Kara Swisher in June, she said Silicon Valley needs to sit down with legislators and have a “real conversation” about ways to get around encryption to combat online terrorist activity. Then she waffled, admitting it was a “hard choice” and that “there are really strong, legitimate arguments on both sides.” During a speech at the Brookings Institution in December, Clinton threw around more vague platitudes, requesting an “urgent dialogue” between industry giants and law enforcement officials about tackling terrorists online, appealing to Silicon Valley to “disrupt ISIS.” Her voting record, however, offers a clearer picture of her stance on privacy tech. As a New York senator in 2001, Clinton supported the Patriot Act , which authorized expanded government surveillance to monitor phone and email communications, collect bank and credit card records and track Internet activity. As provisions under that act were set to expire this year, she endorsed a bill that re-upped and modified that surveillance program, ending the NSA’s bulk metadata collection but maintaining other forms of surveillance. At the same time, she said the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which allows the sharing of Internet traffic information between the government and tech companies, “ doesn’t go far enough ,” in protecting us from foreign hackers. So, it seems Clinton has a history of siding with the surveyors, and not the surveilled. Bernie Sanders Maintaining a steadfast focus on economic and social justice issues during his presidential campaign, Sanders hasn’t spent much time battling mass surveillance. But his record signals that he’s much more concerned than Clinton about protecting citizen’s privacy. Just as he voted against the Patriot Act, he rejected the USA Freedom Act this June, arguing that it didn’t “go far enough in protecting our privacy rights.” “I worry that we are moving toward an Orwellian form of society, where Big Brother — whether in the corporate world, or the government — knows too much information about the private lives of innocent people,” he told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric in June. Though that’s not an outright condemnation of building back doors into encrypted communications for the purpose of government surveillance, it’s very close. Martin O’Malley Photo: Cheryl Senter/AP The Democratic Party’s third wheel addressed encryption, however noncommittally, in an op-ed for the New York Daily News , calling for “greater public-private collaboration on how we can prevent terrorists from exploiting encryption, which has enabled them to ‘go dark’ well before they strike.” Ultimately that concern for security is likely what pushed O’Malley to support the USA Freedom Act . However, he said he “would like to see us go further” when it comes to limiting the government’s ability to conduct surveillance on citizens. So it seems he’s conflicted in this area. Republicans: Jeb Bush: Photo: John Locher/AP Jeb Bush more or less condemned the use of encryption in August: “If you create encryption, it makes it harder for the American government to do its job — while protecting civil liberties — to make sure that evildoers aren’t in our midst,” he said at an event sponsored by a military contractor-affiliated group named Americans for Peace, Prosperity, and Security . Rand Paul Paul has positioned himself as one of the most tech-savvy candidates of the 2016 presidential race, hosting hack-a-thons and accepting donations via Bitcoin . So it’s no surprise that he has a lot to say about the proposal to limit encryption. In an interview with Yahoo News’ Olivier Knox in November, he supported public use of the technology and echoed the security concerns of many cryptographers and activists. “The head of the FBI came out with this recently, he says, ‘Oh, we’re going to ban encryption.’ And it’s like we want to build a backdoor into Facebook and a backdoor into Apple products,” Paul said at the Yahoo Politics Digital Democracy Conference . “A backdoor means that the government can look at your stuff, look at your information, your conversations. … The moment you build an opening — and I’m not an expert on coding or anything, but the moment you give a vulnerability to a code that someone can get into your source code, not only can the government, but so can your enemies, so can foreign governments.” This comes as no surprise, as Paul has challenged the provisions of the Patriot Act in the past, and recently compared banning encryption to banning guns . Carly Fiorina Photo: John Locher/AP During the first GOP debate, Carly Fiorina was asked whether Google and Apple should cooperate with the U.S. government to weaken encryption so criminals can’t hide behind it. In response, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO made up a new word . “We need to tear down cyberwalls,” she said, referring, one can only assume, to encryption. “We could have detected and repelled some of those cyberattacks” if we had passed “a law [that] has been sitting, languishing, sadly, on Capitol Hill.” Just this week, she clarified her stance in an interview with Breitbart News . “You can’t outlaw encryption,” she said. “Encryption protects American consumers from identity theft, and all the rest of it. But we have to be able to work around it when necessary to give our investigators the information they need.” Fiorina reiterated this strategy, which some experts say is wholly infeasible, at the debate on Tuesday, solidifying her willingness to compromise the security of encryption in the wake of terrorist threats. Lindsey Graham Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters Graham followed up on Fiorina’s remarks at the first Republican debate by declaring “if I have to tear down a cyberwall, I’ll tear down a cyberwall.” But the South Carolina senator’s past comments about technology may be reason to question whether he knows what tearing down that cyberwall would entail. In March, Graham said he’d never sent an email . Adding: “I don’t know what that makes me.” In this case, it makes him a person who probably doesn’t know much about the encryption debate. However, those who contribute to his campaign can rest assured that the governor’s website processes each credit card transaction “using encrypted code.” John Kasich Tuesday’s debate gave the Ohio governor an opportunity to blame encryption for our lack of prior intelligence in terrorist attacks. “There is a big problem, it’s called encryption,” he said. “The people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching, but because their phone was encrypted, because intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. … We need to be able to penetrate these people when they’re involved in these plots and these plans, and we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate in this route. Encryption is a major problem and Congress has got to deal with this, and so does the president, to keep us safe.” Kasich’s suggestion that we could not access the San Bernardino shooters’ phone conversations because their phone was encrypted is somewhat misleading. Kasich was referring to a CBS News tweet that quoted a “senior law enforcement official” who said investigators had found “levels of built-in encryption” in Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik’s phones. Virtually all modern phones in the United States come out of the box with “levels of built-in encryption,” otherwise criminals would be able to intercept your calls whenever your phone connected to a cellular tower. Not to mention, if your phone was stolen, anyone would be able to access your sensitive information. Whether Kasich is confused by that point, or simply using it as an example to explain why all encryption is dangerous, is unclear. But there’s no question that he’s willing to significantly downgrade the security of devices to be sure nothing gets past intelligence officials. George Pataki During Tuesday night’s undercard debate, the former New York governor said that, as president, he would pass “a law on tech firms to prevent encryption.” In clarifying his position, he provided suggestions similar to Fiorina’s. “Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence,” he said. “But what we need is a backdoor for law enforcement to be able — when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism — to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entryway for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there’s a sufficient risk, when there’s an attack upon us, that they have the right to look at those messages.” Marco Rubio Photo: John Locher/AP Rubio has made it clear that he wants the federal government and the private sector to share more information as a way to prevent cyber- and terrorist attacks. He’s also publicly supported the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act . And during Tuesday’s debate, he doubled down on his commitment to mass surveillance. “We are now at a time where we need more tools, not less tools,” the Florida senator said , criticizing the limits on metadata collection in the USA Freedom Act. Rubio’s willingness to expand programs that collect the private information of Americans signals an apparent willingness to compromise encryption for the same reasons. Ted Cruz Photo: John Locher/AP The Texas senator has towed a libertarian line when it comes to surveillance legislation in the past. As a candidate whose campaign runs on an explicit distrust of big government, it makes sense that Cruz would vote for the USA Freedom Act — a move that has earned him scorn from Rubio. During Tuesday’s debate, he argued that the bill’s mandate to transfer mass phone data collection from the NSA to phone companies actually gave more tools to pinpoint terror threats. However, cybersecurity activists worry that Cruz is uneducated on the intricacies of these policies, after an Oct. 15 video surfaced of the senator admitting to a crowd in Iowa that he was unfamiliar with CISA — a bill that critics say allows companies to monitor their customers and share their information with the government without warrant. Donald Trump Photo: John Locher/AP Trump has made many a reference to building walls, and some of them even appear to be cyber in nature. Though the Republican presidential frontrunner has not explicitly addressed encryption issues, he has suggested we shut off ISIS’ Internet connection, and expressed concern that the group is “using the Internet better than we are,” despite the fact that it “was our idea.” During the debate, he elaborated as best he could. “I wanted to get our brilliant people from Silicon Valley and other places and figure out a way that ISIS cannot do what they’re doing,” he said . “You talk freedom of speech, you talk freedom of anything you want. I don’t want them using our Internet to take our young impressionable youth.” Trump could be referring to the issue of encryption, or something much simpler. But anyone who’s willing to ban a world religion from the country might be willing to do the same for an essential element of consumer technology. Ben Carson Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters The retired brain surgeon has made virtually no mention of encryption on the campaign trail. But when it comes to assuring potential donors that their credit card information is safe, his website has a whole page on it: “Carson America uses a secure socket layer (SSL) with the highest level of encryption commercially available for www.bencarson.com on pages where online visitors register or make a secure online donation using their credit card.” That being said, Carson has said he’s open to the surveillance of mosques, churches and schools. Who knows whether that would entail the compromise of encryption technology? Chris Christie Photo: John Locher/AP In early 2015, Christie signed a law that required health insurance companies in New Jersey to encrypt client information, signaling he understands its importance. Still, the New Jersey governor has made his support for the NSA and government surveillance very clear, praising the provisions in the Patriot Act, and calling for the extension of intelligence-gathering capabilities. The fact that he’s publicly criticized Edward Snowden, and sparred with Rand Paul about these issues suggests he’d overhaul encryption if that meant even a hint of access to potential terrorist activity. Rick Santorum Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters Though the former senator from Pennsylvania has made no explicit mention of encryption, his voting record speaks for itself. Santorum voted for the Patriot Act in 2001, and said he’d do it again today. He’s also criticized Paul’s stance on the issue, saying “hopefully Rand Paul won’t prevail, that the Senate will do what it must do, which is to keep our defenses up and follow through with a plan that balances the interests,” Santorum replied. “It’s always a [balance] between security and freedom, and that’s in every aspect of our [lives].” That balance would likely mean that he’d prefer the government has access to encrypted communication for the sake of national security. Mike Huckabee Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters Huckabee, though not the race’s expert on online surveillance, has most definitely been vocal about the issue. He’s been known to publicly criticize unregulated monitoring by the NSA , arguing that the Patriot Act has gone too far. The former Arkansas governor has even said he’d repeal “Obama’s warrantless NSA spying program” if he became president. However, his comments about cybersecurity have caused experts to question his technological knowledge of the government’s digital capabilities in general. So, though he’s made no explicit mention of encryption, it’s possible that he, like so many other candidates, might not understand it. Related: Following Paris attacks, encryption services face new scrutiny Here’s the manual ISIS uses to teach its soldiers about encryption How encryption works and why people are so freaked out about it || Where do the presidential candidates stand on encryption? A handy guide: Photo: Getty Images In the wake of terrorist attacks here and abroad, candidates in the 2016 presidential race have shifted their attention to issues of national security. Many have proposed aggressive measures to confront ISIS, including bombing it “back to the Stone Age” (Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas) and banning Muslims from entering the country altogether (Donald Trump ) . But very few have articulated a clear position on how to prevent terrorist recruitment and plotting online. CNN’s Tuesday night Republican debate brought many of these issues to the table, raising questions about surveillance, who owns the Internet and — paramount to the tech world — encryption . Encryption — a way to encode information so that only the sender and the intended recipient can read it — has been central to a security versus privacy debate dubbed the Crypto Wars that dates back to the early 1990s. For years, intelligence officials have pointed to the technology as a significant obstacle in tracking nefarious activity online. Those complaints have only grown more insistent since the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. Recently, FBI Director James Comey even suggested that major tech companies reconsider their business structure to intercept and pass on encrypted information when needed. And those pressures are sure to increase after French counterterrorism investigators announced that encrypted apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram may have been used to plot the Nov. 13 Paris attack. Virtually all tech companies and cryptographers argue that building any type of “backdoor” into these secure communications would undermine the purpose of the technology entirely, ultimately compromising public privacy and driving consumers to use unregulated international products. It’s something our next president will most definitely have to weigh in on. And though not every presidential candidate has offered a firm stance on the debate, they’ve definitely dropped hints. Below, a survey of those candidates who have acknowledged the issue of encryption and what they think about it. Story continues Democrats: Hillary Clinton The current Democratic frontrunner has discussed encryption regulation several times, though we still don’t know how she feels about it. In a conversation with Re/code’s Kara Swisher in June, she said Silicon Valley needs to sit down with legislators and have a “real conversation” about ways to get around encryption to combat online terrorist activity. Then she waffled, admitting it was a “hard choice” and that “there are really strong, legitimate arguments on both sides.” During a speech at the Brookings Institution in December, Clinton threw around more vague platitudes, requesting an “urgent dialogue” between industry giants and law enforcement officials about tackling terrorists online, appealing to Silicon Valley to “disrupt ISIS.” Her voting record, however, offers a clearer picture of her stance on privacy tech. As a New York senator in 2001, Clinton supported the Patriot Act , which authorized expanded government surveillance to monitor phone and email communications, collect bank and credit card records and track Internet activity. As provisions under that act were set to expire this year, she endorsed a bill that re-upped and modified that surveillance program, ending the NSA’s bulk metadata collection but maintaining other forms of surveillance. At the same time, she said the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which allows the sharing of Internet traffic information between the government and tech companies, “ doesn’t go far enough ,” in protecting us from foreign hackers. So, it seems Clinton has a history of siding with the surveyors, and not the surveilled. Bernie Sanders Maintaining a steadfast focus on economic and social justice issues during his presidential campaign, Sanders hasn’t spent much time battling mass surveillance. But his record signals that he’s much more concerned than Clinton about protecting citizen’s privacy. Just as he voted against the Patriot Act, he rejected the USA Freedom Act this June, arguing that it didn’t “go far enough in protecting our privacy rights.” “I worry that we are moving toward an Orwellian form of society, where Big Brother — whether in the corporate world, or the government — knows too much information about the private lives of innocent people,” he told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric in June. Though that’s not an outright condemnation of building back doors into encrypted communications for the purpose of government surveillance, it’s very close. Martin O’Malley Photo: Cheryl Senter/AP The Democratic Party’s third wheel addressed encryption, however noncommittally, in an op-ed for the New York Daily News , calling for “greater public-private collaboration on how we can prevent terrorists from exploiting encryption, which has enabled them to ‘go dark’ well before they strike.” Ultimately that concern for security is likely what pushed O’Malley to support the USA Freedom Act . However, he said he “would like to see us go further” when it comes to limiting the government’s ability to conduct surveillance on citizens. So it seems he’s conflicted in this area. Republicans: Jeb Bush: Photo: John Locher/AP Jeb Bush more or less condemned the use of encryption in August: “If you create encryption, it makes it harder for the American government to do its job — while protecting civil liberties — to make sure that evildoers aren’t in our midst,” he said at an event sponsored by a military contractor-affiliated group named Americans for Peace, Prosperity, and Security . Rand Paul Paul has positioned himself as one of the most tech-savvy candidates of the 2016 presidential race, hosting hack-a-thons and accepting donations via Bitcoin . So it’s no surprise that he has a lot to say about the proposal to limit encryption. In an interview with Yahoo News’ Olivier Knox in November, he supported public use of the technology and echoed the security concerns of many cryptographers and activists. “The head of the FBI came out with this recently, he says, ‘Oh, we’re going to ban encryption.’ And it’s like we want to build a backdoor into Facebook and a backdoor into Apple products,” Paul said at the Yahoo Politics Digital Democracy Conference . “A backdoor means that the government can look at your stuff, look at your information, your conversations. … The moment you build an opening — and I’m not an expert on coding or anything, but the moment you give a vulnerability to a code that someone can get into your source code, not only can the government, but so can your enemies, so can foreign governments.” This comes as no surprise, as Paul has challenged the provisions of the Patriot Act in the past, and recently compared banning encryption to banning guns . Carly Fiorina Photo: John Locher/AP During the first GOP debate, Carly Fiorina was asked whether Google and Apple should cooperate with the U.S. government to weaken encryption so criminals can’t hide behind it. In response, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO made up a new word . “We need to tear down cyberwalls,” she said, referring, one can only assume, to encryption. “We could have detected and repelled some of those cyberattacks” if we had passed “a law [that] has been sitting, languishing, sadly, on Capitol Hill.” Just this week, she clarified her stance in an interview with Breitbart News . “You can’t outlaw encryption,” she said. “Encryption protects American consumers from identity theft, and all the rest of it. But we have to be able to work around it when necessary to give our investigators the information they need.” Fiorina reiterated this strategy, which some experts say is wholly infeasible, at the debate on Tuesday, solidifying her willingness to compromise the security of encryption in the wake of terrorist threats. Lindsey Graham Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters Graham followed up on Fiorina’s remarks at the first Republican debate by declaring “if I have to tear down a cyberwall, I’ll tear down a cyberwall.” But the South Carolina senator’s past comments about technology may be reason to question whether he knows what tearing down that cyberwall would entail. In March, Graham said he’d never sent an email . Adding: “I don’t know what that makes me.” In this case, it makes him a person who probably doesn’t know much about the encryption debate. However, those who contribute to his campaign can rest assured that the governor’s website processes each credit card transaction “using encrypted code.” John Kasich Tuesday’s debate gave the Ohio governor an opportunity to blame encryption for our lack of prior intelligence in terrorist attacks. “There is a big problem, it’s called encryption,” he said. “The people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching, but because their phone was encrypted, because intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. … We need to be able to penetrate these people when they’re involved in these plots and these plans, and we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate in this route. Encryption is a major problem and Congress has got to deal with this, and so does the president, to keep us safe.” Kasich’s suggestion that we could not access the San Bernardino shooters’ phone conversations because their phone was encrypted is somewhat misleading. Kasich was referring to a CBS News tweet that quoted a “senior law enforcement official” who said investigators had found “levels of built-in encryption” in Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik’s phones. Virtually all modern phones in the United States come out of the box with “levels of built-in encryption,” otherwise criminals would be able to intercept your calls whenever your phone connected to a cellular tower. Not to mention, if your phone was stolen, anyone would be able to access your sensitive information. Whether Kasich is confused by that point, or simply using it as an example to explain why all encryption is dangerous, is unclear. But there’s no question that he’s willing to significantly downgrade the security of devices to be sure nothing gets past intelligence officials. George Pataki During Tuesday night’s undercard debate, the former New York governor said that, as president, he would pass “a law on tech firms to prevent encryption.” In clarifying his position, he provided suggestions similar to Fiorina’s. “Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence,” he said. “But what we need is a backdoor for law enforcement to be able — when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism — to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entryway for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there’s a sufficient risk, when there’s an attack upon us, that they have the right to look at those messages.” Marco Rubio Photo: John Locher/AP Rubio has made it clear that he wants the federal government and the private sector to share more information as a way to prevent cyber- and terrorist attacks. He’s also publicly supported the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act . And during Tuesday’s debate, he doubled down on his commitment to mass surveillance. “We are now at a time where we need more tools, not less tools,” the Florida senator said , criticizing the limits on metadata collection in the USA Freedom Act. Rubio’s willingness to expand programs that collect the private information of Americans signals an apparent willingness to compromise encryption for the same reasons. Ted Cruz Photo: John Locher/AP The Texas senator has towed a libertarian line when it comes to surveillance legislation in the past. As a candidate whose campaign runs on an explicit distrust of big government, it makes sense that Cruz would vote for the USA Freedom Act — a move that has earned him scorn from Rubio. During Tuesday’s debate, he argued that the bill’s mandate to transfer mass phone data collection from the NSA to phone companies actually gave more tools to pinpoint terror threats. However, cybersecurity activists worry that Cruz is uneducated on the intricacies of these policies, after an Oct. 15 video surfaced of the senator admitting to a crowd in Iowa that he was unfamiliar with CISA — a bill that critics say allows companies to monitor their customers and share their information with the government without warrant. Donald Trump Photo: John Locher/AP Trump has made many a reference to building walls, and some of them even appear to be cyber in nature. Though the Republican presidential frontrunner has not explicitly addressed encryption issues, he has suggested we shut off ISIS’ Internet connection, and expressed concern that the group is “using the Internet better than we are,” despite the fact that it “was our idea.” During the debate, he elaborated as best he could. “I wanted to get our brilliant people from Silicon Valley and other places and figure out a way that ISIS cannot do what they’re doing,” he said . “You talk freedom of speech, you talk freedom of anything you want. I don’t want them using our Internet to take our young impressionable youth.” Trump could be referring to the issue of encryption, or something much simpler. But anyone who’s willing to ban a world religion from the country might be willing to do the same for an essential element of consumer technology. Ben Carson Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters The retired brain surgeon has made virtually no mention of encryption on the campaign trail. But when it comes to assuring potential donors that their credit card information is safe, his website has a whole page on it: “Carson America uses a secure socket layer (SSL) with the highest level of encryption commercially available for www.bencarson.com on pages where online visitors register or make a secure online donation using their credit card.” That being said, Carson has said he’s open to the surveillance of mosques, churches and schools. Who knows whether that would entail the compromise of encryption technology? Chris Christie Photo: John Locher/AP In early 2015, Christie signed a law that required health insurance companies in New Jersey to encrypt client information, signaling he understands its importance. Still, the New Jersey governor has made his support for the NSA and government surveillance very clear, praising the provisions in the Patriot Act, and calling for the extension of intelligence-gathering capabilities. The fact that he’s publicly criticized Edward Snowden, and sparred with Rand Paul about these issues suggests he’d overhaul encryption if that meant even a hint of access to potential terrorist activity. Rick Santorum Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters Though the former senator from Pennsylvania has made no explicit mention of encryption, his voting record speaks for itself. Santorum voted for the Patriot Act in 2001, and said he’d do it again today. He’s also criticized Paul’s stance on the issue, saying “hopefully Rand Paul won’t prevail, that the Senate will do what it must do, which is to keep our defenses up and follow through with a plan that balances the interests,” Santorum replied. “It’s always a [balance] between security and freedom, and that’s in every aspect of our [lives].” That balance would likely mean that he’d prefer the government has access to encrypted communication for the sake of national security. Mike Huckabee Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters Huckabee, though not the race’s expert on online surveillance, has most definitely been vocal about the issue. He’s been known to publicly criticize unregulated monitoring by the NSA , arguing that the Patriot Act has gone too far. The former Arkansas governor has even said he’d repeal “Obama’s warrantless NSA spying program” if he became president. However, his comments about cybersecurity have caused experts to question his technological knowledge of the government’s digital capabilities in general. So, though he’s made no explicit mention of encryption, it’s possible that he, like so many other candidates, might not understand it. Related: Following Paris attacks, encryption services face new scrutiny Here’s the manual ISIS uses to teach its soldiers about encryption How encryption works and why people are so freaked out about it
[Social Media Buzz]
Current price: 416.71€ $BTCEUR $btc #bitcoin 2015-12-24 20:00:18 CET || $455.04 at 04:00 UTC [24h Range: $435.00 - $455.66 Volume: 8585 BTC] via #btcusdpic.twitter.com/m7C1YVwwhg || BTCTurk 1340.4 TL BTCe 453.01 $ CampBx $ BitStamp 457.00 $ Cavirtex 638.4 $ CEXIO 458.19 $ Bitcoin.de 415.00 € #Bitcoin #btc || LIVE: Profit = $812.05 (8.37 %). BUY B23.31 @ $450.00 (#VirCurex). SELL @ $453.45 (#BitStamp) #bitcoin #btc - http://www.projectcoin.org || BTCTurk 1336 TL BTCe 455.314 $ CampBx $ BitStam...
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455.65, 417.27, 422.82, 422.28, 432.98, 426.62, 430.57, 434.33, 433.44, 430.01
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 233.84, 243.61, 236.33, 240.28, 243.78, 244.53, 235.98, 238.89, 238.74, 237.47, 236.43, 253.83, 254.26, 260.20, 275.67, 281.70, 273.09, 276.18, 272.72, 276.26, 274.35, 289.61, 291.76, 296.38, 294.35, 285.34, 281.89, 286.39, 290.59, 285.51, 256.30, 260.93, 261.75, 260.02, 267.96, 266.74, 245.60, 246.20, 248.53, 247.03, 252.80, 242.71, 247.53, 244.22, 247.27, 253.01, 254.32, 253.70, 260.60, 255.49, 253.18, 245.02, 243.68, 236.07, 236.55, 236.15, 224.59, 219.16, 223.83, 228.57, 222.88, 223.36, 222.60, 224.63, 235.27, 234.18, 236.46, 231.27, 226.39, 219.43, 229.29, 225.85, 225.81, 236.15, 232.08, 234.93, 240.36, 239.02, 236.12, 229.78, 237.33, 243.86, 241.83, 240.30, 242.16, 241.11, 236.38, 236.93, 237.60, 236.15.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-05-16]
Volume: 11089700, RSI (14-day): 49.19, 50-day EMA: 239.42, 200-day EMA: 262.36
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
The FDA's Authority Challenged By Mallinckrodt: The American healthcare system became much more affordable with the advent of generic drugs. Many popular medications have lower-costing, alternative treatments that contain the same active ingredients as their costly brand-name rivals, which has saved the public millions in pharmaceutical costs. However, last year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a look at some generic treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and found that they weren't consistently providing the same results as the brand name drug, leading the FDA to reclassify the generics. What Happened? Last year, generic equivalents of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ )' ADHD treatment Concerta made by Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE: MNK ) and UCB S A (OTC: UCBJF ) were shown to have a different impact on a patient's body despite containing the same active ingredients. Because of this, the FDA changed those drugs' ratings to reflect its findings. Following the ratings change, the FDA gave each drug maker a period of six weeks to prove that their drugs were in fact equivalent to Concerta. If they could not be proven as equal, the companies were asked to voluntarily pull the drugs from the marketplace. Related Link: 5 New Biotech Developments Worth Watching Mallinckrodt Pushes Back This week that six month deadline passed, but with very little movement from Mallinckrodt. UCB officials say they have been working to meet FDA requirements, but Mallinckrodt CEO Mark Trudeau said the company has no plans to remove its drug from pharmacy shelves. Instead, Mallinckrodt filed a lawsuit challenging the FDA ruling that the drugs were not equivalent, saying that the agency encouraged patients to continue taking the generic ADHD medications if they weren't experiencing any issues. Loss Of Trust Only time will tell whether or not Mallinckrodt will be forced to make changes to its drug, but the challenge sets up an obstacle for all generic companies providing treatments in the U.S. Story continues While the FDA's inquiry into the effectiveness of the two drugs reflects the agency's role in protecting the public, some say the results are likely to diminish people's trust in the generic drug market. This is especially true as both of the two drugs deemed inadequate substitutes for Concerta are still being sold as a generic version in pharmacies across the country. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga The Business Of Fertility Finance Nuclear Deal With Iran Still In Limbo Bitcoin Gaining Support Among Do-Gooders © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || The FDA's Authority Challenged By Mallinckrodt: The American healthcare system became much more affordable with the advent of generic drugs. Many popular medications have lower-costing, alternative treatments that contain the same active ingredients as their costly brand-name rivals, which has saved the public millions in pharmaceutical costs.
However,last yearthe U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a look at some generic treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and found that they weren't consistently providing the same results as the brand name drug, leading the FDA to reclassify the generics.
What Happened?
Last year, generic equivalents ofJohnson & Johnson(NYSE:JNJ)' ADHD treatment Concerta made byMallinckrodt PLC(NYSE:MNK) andUCB S A(OTC:UCBJF) were shown to have a different impact on a patient's body despite containing the same active ingredients. Because of this, the FDA changed those drugs' ratings to reflect its findings.
Following the ratings change, the FDA gave each drug maker a period of six weeks to prove that their drugs were in fact equivalent to Concerta. If they could not be proven as equal, the companies were asked to voluntarily pull the drugs from the marketplace.
Related Link:5 New Biotech Developments Worth Watching
Mallinckrodt Pushes Back
This week that six month deadline passed, but with very little movement from Mallinckrodt. UCB officials say they have been working to meet FDA requirements, but Mallinckrodt CEO Mark Trudeausaidthe company has no plans to remove its drug from pharmacy shelves.
Instead, Mallinckrodt filed a lawsuit challenging the FDA ruling that the drugs were not equivalent, saying that the agency encouraged patients to continue taking the generic ADHD medications if they weren't experiencing any issues.
Loss Of Trust
Only time will tell whether or not Mallinckrodt will be forced to make changes to its drug, but the challenge sets up an obstacle for all generic companies providing treatments in the U.S.
While the FDA's inquiry into the effectiveness of the two drugs reflects the agency's role in protecting the public, some say the results are likely to diminish people's trust in the generic drug market. This is especially true as both of the two drugs deemed inadequate substitutes for Concerta are still being sold as a generic version in pharmacies across the country.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• The Business Of Fertility Finance
• Nuclear Deal With Iran Still In Limbo
• Bitcoin Gaining Support Among Do-Gooders
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || The Business Of Fertility Finance: When the U.S. economy was still lagging, lenders were struggling to find new clients as Americans tightened their spending and hunkered down for the remainder of the Financial Crisis. However while the economy slowed, Americans' biological clocks continued ticking, leading to the emergence of a multi-billion dollar industry that continued to thrive long after the recession ended – fertility finance. Fertility Lenders Back in 2012 when money was tight, lenders specializing in fertility treatments began to emerge. Couples who were unable to secure traditional loans or use credit cards to pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments had the option of taking out a loan with a "fertility finance" company. Related Link: OvaScience Shares Quiet After Co. Announces AUGMENT Fertility Treatment Continues To Show Improvement Companies like NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB ) offered hopeful couples the opportunity to take out a loan by partnering with doctors at fertility clinics who could recommend the loan service. Still A Thriving Industry Fast forward to 2015 when economic improvement has been steady and oil prices have given most households a bit of extra spending cash, and the industry is still booming. IVF treatments remain expensive at upwards of $15,000 per attempt and the number of couples requiring treatment has been steadily rising. More Candidates For IVF Women have started to put off their plans for a baby until their late 30s or early 40s, upping the risk that they won't be able to conceive and making IVF an increasingly necessary option. However, with the chances of conception through IVF just 30 percent on any given attempt, many couples require several rounds of treatment. For that reason, companies like IntergaMed Fertility offer a wide range of loan options for couples who need to pay for IVF. Related Link: HRC Fertility In Orange County Announces Outstanding IVF Success Rates Making Fertility Treatment Accessible Most insurance companies don't allow for fertility costs, making IVF an out-of-pocket expense. Fertility finance companies are looking to make fertility treatments available for couples of any income and mitigate some of the risk that the treatments won't work at all. Story continues Some companies even give couples a "money-back guarantee" in case the treatment is unsuccessful. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Nuclear Deal With Iran Still In Limbo Bitcoin Gaining Support Among Do-Gooders McDonald's Back In The Firing Line Over Happy Meal Ad © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || The Business Of Fertility Finance: When the U.S. economy was still lagging, lenders were struggling to find new clients as Americans tightened their spending and hunkered down for the remainder of the Financial Crisis. However while the economy slowed, Americans' biological clocks continued ticking, leading to the emergence of a multi-billion dollar industry that continued to thrive long after the recession ended – fertility finance. Fertility Lenders Back in 2012 when money was tight, lenders specializing in fertility treatments began to emerge. Couples who were unable to secure traditional loans or use credit cards to pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments had the option of taking out a loan with a "fertility finance" company. Related Link: OvaScience Shares Quiet After Co. Announces AUGMENT Fertility Treatment Continues To Show Improvement Companies like NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB ) offered hopeful couples the opportunity to take out a loan by partnering with doctors at fertility clinics who could recommend the loan service. Still A Thriving Industry Fast forward to 2015 when economic improvement has been steady and oil prices have given most households a bit of extra spending cash, and the industry is still booming. IVF treatments remain expensive at upwards of $15,000 per attempt and the number of couples requiring treatment has been steadily rising. More Candidates For IVF Women have started to put off their plans for a baby until their late 30s or early 40s, upping the risk that they won't be able to conceive and making IVF an increasingly necessary option. However, with the chances of conception through IVF just 30 percent on any given attempt, many couples require several rounds of treatment. For that reason, companies like IntergaMed Fertility offer a wide range of loan options for couples who need to pay for IVF. Related Link: HRC Fertility In Orange County Announces Outstanding IVF Success Rates Making Fertility Treatment Accessible Most insurance companies don't allow for fertility costs, making IVF an out-of-pocket expense. Fertility finance companies are looking to make fertility treatments available for couples of any income and mitigate some of the risk that the treatments won't work at all. Story continues Some companies even give couples a "money-back guarantee" in case the treatment is unsuccessful. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Nuclear Deal With Iran Still In Limbo Bitcoin Gaining Support Among Do-Gooders McDonald's Back In The Firing Line Over Happy Meal Ad © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Social Security Depletion Coming Sooner Than Expected: While it comes as no surprise that the health of Social Security as we currently know it is less than ideal, the publicized estimates of when Social Security funds will run out are "grossly overestimated," said Baton Investing's Jim Shahen, referencing recent Dartmouth and Harvard studies. The original prediction for SS depletion has been cited by the Social Security Administration to occur in 2033. Unfortunately, the studies present compelling evidence that the insolvency will happen long before then, with 20 years from now being an unlikely longevity expectation. The studies circulate evidence that not only are the estimates misjudged, but the implications are devastating for Americans particularly baby boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials and the errors performed by the SSA are increasing in severity. Forecasting Errors: SSA Continues To Dig Its Own Grave According to Gary King , Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor at Harvard and researcher on these studies, forecasting errors by the SSA have been around for years, but the prevalence of these errors and their severity has grown exponentially within the last decade and a half. In fact, 90+ percent of the numbers evaluated were found to be "overwhelmed by forecast uncertainty." Related Link: Unanticipated Life Events Cost Americans .5 Trillion In Lost Savings "We show that SSA's forecasting errors were approximately unbiased until about 2000, but then began to grow quickly, with increasingly overconfident uncertainty intervals," King stated. "Moreover, the errors all turn out to be in the same potentially dangerous direction, each making the Social Security Trust Funds look healthier than they actually are." In discussing why such dangerous oversights occur, King revealed that the "SSA's actuaries hunkered down trying hard to insulate themselves from the intense political pressures," which ultimately "led them to also miss important changes in the input data such as retirees living longer lives, and drawing more benefits." Story continues Broad Implications It is important to realize why these circulated overestimates matter. These inaccurately/incompletely calculated figures are used by the SSA's Office of the Chief Actuary to evaluate policy proposals. With less-than-ideal numbers to work with, which King and his fellow researchers have shown to be consistently used as the sole basis for policy evaluations, the assessments are misguided at best and " counterfactual " at worst. "Reliance on such forecasts led policymakers and other uses of the forecasts to conclude that the Social Security Trust Funds were on firmer financial ground than actually turned out to be the case," the initial study revealed . Related Link: 3 Retirement Tips To Consider In "The Era Of Personal Responsibility" Those Who Will Be Hit Hardest Based upon the studies' conclusions, Shahen speculated that "this news hits three groups hard: Millenials [ sic. ], Baby Boomers and Generation X." Due to the minimal funds Millennials are putting aside for retirement, the inadequate savings Baby Boomers have and the unexpected extraneous expenses (taking care of aging parents, astronomical student loans and their own separate retirement funds) Gen Xers are exposed to, these three groups are heading toward practically unavoidable financial hardship. Related Link: 4 Financial Pitfalls Fooling Millennials However, Baton's CEO Phil Ash stated that although "we've all known for some time that we won't be able to count on social security" and the new data compounds the sentiment, he said, "There are three smart things you can do to make sure you have put enough money away, protect yourself, and ensure you are prepared or retirement." According to Ash, these three steps include: 1. Knowing your specific retirement needs. "Eighty-five percent of people underestimate their retirement needs," Ash explained, couple that with the underestimates purported by the SSA and that spells significant financial trouble. 2. Using a safety and growth strategy. 3. Understanding the power of better returns. In light of this recent data, Ash concludes that "while people should be concerned about how much they're saving, the real key to retirement success and what makes hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars of difference is in the actual return you're getting on your investments. Most advisors push the conventional wisdom that an 8 percent return is good'. The fact is it's not good enough and probably won't help you reach your goals." Therefore, invest in yourself by educating yourself, take an interest in the larger financial picture and take the steps necessary to protect your future and the future of your loved ones. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga The Cost Of Cybercrime: .1 Trillion By 2019 There's A New Robo-Advisor In Town Bitcoin 101 © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Social Security Depletion Coming Sooner Than Expected: While it comes as no surprise that the health of Social Security as we currently know it is less than ideal, the publicized estimates of when Social Security funds will run out are "grossly overestimated," said Baton Investing's Jim Shahen, referencing recent Dartmouth and Harvard studies.
The original prediction for SS depletion has been cited by the Social Security Administration to occur in 2033. Unfortunately, thestudiespresent compelling evidence that the insolvency will happen long before then, with 20 years from now being an unlikely longevity expectation.
The studies circulate evidence that not only are the estimates misjudged, but the implications are devastating for Americans – particularly baby boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials – and the errors performed by the SSA are increasing in severity.
Forecasting Errors: SSA Continues To Dig Its Own Grave
According toGary King, Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor at Harvard and researcher on these studies, forecasting errors by the SSA have been around for years, but the prevalence of these errors and their severity has grown exponentially within the last decade and a half. In fact,90+ percentof the numbers evaluated were found to be "overwhelmed by forecast uncertainty."
Related Link:Unanticipated Life Events Cost Americans .5 Trillion In Lost Savings
"We show that SSA's forecasting errors were approximately unbiased until about 2000, but then began to grow quickly, with increasingly overconfident uncertainty intervals," King stated. "Moreover, the errors all turn out to be in the same potentially dangerous direction, each making the Social Security Trust Funds look healthier than they actually are."
In discussing why such dangerous oversights occur, King revealed that the "SSA's actuaries hunkered down trying hard to insulate themselves from the intense political pressures," which ultimately "led them to also miss important changes in the input data such as retirees living longer lives, and drawing more benefits."
Broad Implications
It is important to realize why these circulated overestimates matter. These inaccurately/incompletely calculated figures are used by the SSA's Office of the Chief Actuary to evaluate policy proposals. With less-than-ideal numbers to work with, which King and his fellow researchers have shown to be consistently used as the sole basis for policy evaluations, the assessments are misguided at best and "counterfactual" at worst.
"Reliance on such forecasts led policymakers and other uses of the forecasts to conclude that the Social Security Trust Funds were on firmer financial ground than actually turned out to be the case," the initial studyrevealed.
Related Link: 3 Retirement Tips To Consider In "The Era Of Personal Responsibility"
Those Who Will Be Hit Hardest
Based upon the studies' conclusions, Shahen speculated that "this news hits three groups hard: Millenials [sic.], Baby Boomers and Generation X."
Due to the minimal funds Millennials are putting aside for retirement, the inadequate savings Baby Boomers have and the unexpected extraneous expenses (taking care of aging parents, astronomical student loans and their own separate retirement funds) Gen Xers are exposed to, these three groups are heading toward practically unavoidable financial hardship.
Related Link: 4 Financial Pitfalls Fooling Millennials
However, Baton's CEO Phil Ash stated that although "we've all known for some time that we won't be able to count on social security" and the new data compounds the sentiment, he said, "There are three smart things you can do to make sure you have put enough money away, protect yourself, and ensure you are prepared or retirement."
According to Ash, these three steps include:
• 1. Knowing your specific retirement needs. "Eighty-five percent of people underestimate their retirement needs," Ash explained, couple that with the underestimates purported by the SSA and that spells significant financial trouble.
• 2. Using a safety and growth strategy.
• 3. Understanding the power of better returns.
In light of this recent data, Ash concludes that "while people should be concerned about how much they're saving, the real key to retirement success – and what makes hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars of difference – is in the actual return you're getting on your investments. Most advisors push the conventional wisdom that an 8 percent return is ‘good'. The fact is it's not good enough and probably won't help you reach your goals."
Therefore, invest in yourself by educating yourself, take an interest in the larger financial picture and take the steps necessary to protect your future and the future of your loved ones.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• The Cost Of Cybercrime: .1 Trillion By 2019
• There's A New Robo-Advisor In Town
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© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Nxt: The Original Bitcoin 2.0 Platform With Smart Contracts, Decentralized Crowdfunding, Open Source and 18 Months Development: With over 18 months of development, The non-profit Nxt Foundation is pleased to announce many disruptive business and financial applications of Nxt's blockchain technology: including trustless smart contracts, decentralized crowdfunding, a strong open source ethos and more
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS / ACCESSWIRE / May 14, 2015 /Nxt is different. While there are many players in the cryptocurrency 2.0 field, Nxt has several key elements that set it apart from the others.
First and foremost, Nxt is a self-sufficient system. Many other projects depend on a blockchain implemented and maintained by an external party, usually Bitcoin. Nxt is a complete and self-contained system in itself. As any business owner knows, being dependent on a third party for an essential part of their business model introduces unnecessary risk.
This is why Nxt chose not to piggyback on an external blockchain over which it has no control, but has built all of its features onto its own blockchain. This also means that Nxt developers can quickly and easily create new features while maintaining a coherent system, without needing to consult with an external blockchain provider.
Secondly, Nxt has a solid and secure track record. The Nxt blockchain has been in continuous operation and use for 18 months, proving to be a stable system that can scale to handle an increasing load. Additionally, new features have been added on an incremental release basis after thorough evaluation on Nxt’s testnet. Many applications have already been built on top of Nxt, using its diverse features to create decentralised companies and software and to leverage the benefits of its strong community and network.
Thirdly, Nxt is open source and free! Nxt is not under development by a central authority. This may at first appear to be a weakness, but a glance at the extremely successful operating system Linux shows that central development is not needed to create a valuable and working architecture. Nxt has seen fast and dedicated development since its inception and is continuing to evolve with the input of many talented coders. As there is no barrier to entry to the Nxt ecosystem, it is a perfect environment for blue-sky crypto developments.
Just plug it in
The Nxt Cryptocurrency platform is modular by design. Nxt uses a variety of different transaction types that can be combined to perform more complex functions. In order to take full advantage of Nxt’s versatility,its developers have created a plug-in systemthat allows people to build applications and to share them with other Nxt users.
The plug-in system will go live with the release of version 1.5 of the Nxt Reference Software (NRS), Nxt’s native client. This release will also introduce blockchain Voting and Enhanced Multisignature Transactions (Phasing) to the Nxt core functionality. Developers on the Nxt Testnet are already experimenting with use cases, such as a crowdfunding plug-in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBsKVJYbitY), an e-commerce plug-in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6lcrNh9AuI) and several others.
The plug-in system is an example of the philosophy of flexibility and versatility that is at the heart of Nxt.
What it means for Nxt users
Nxt is eminently suitable for both business and non-commercial use. All of Nxt’s features can be accessed separately or in combination, using a simple but comprehensive API structure (http://85.25.198.120:7876/test).
Nxt is fast, with an average block time of around 90 seconds. It is powerful, giving users access to such diverse features as asset creation and trading, separate currencies, data transfer and storage, blockchain voting and multisignature transactions.
Nxt is easy to build for, and those who want more information about how to use Nxt, or who need support on the more technical aspects of the Nxt systems, can contact the Nxt Foundation.
The Nxt Foundation (http://nxtfoundation.org/) is a non-profit organisation which can answer questions on Nxt, offer support, and connect businesses with the developers and advisors they need to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities offered by the Nxt platform. Contact Nxt Foundation today [email protected].
For more information about us, please visithttp://nxt.org
Contact Info:
Name: Bas Wisselink, Nxt Foundation DirectorEmail:[email protected]: NXTPhone: +31 (0)6 13937762Video URL:https://vimeo.com/127270358
SOURCE:NXT || Nxt: The Original Bitcoin 2.0 Platform With Smart Contracts, Decentralized Crowdfunding, Open Source and 18 Months Development: With over 18 months of development, The non-profit Nxt Foundation is pleased to announce many disruptive business and financial applications of Nxt's blockchain technology: including trustless smart contracts, decentralized crowdfunding, a strong open source ethos and more
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS / ACCESSWIRE / May 14, 2015 /Nxt is different. While there are many players in the cryptocurrency 2.0 field, Nxt has several key elements that set it apart from the others.
First and foremost, Nxt is a self-sufficient system. Many other projects depend on a blockchain implemented and maintained by an external party, usually Bitcoin. Nxt is a complete and self-contained system in itself. As any business owner knows, being dependent on a third party for an essential part of their business model introduces unnecessary risk.
This is why Nxt chose not to piggyback on an external blockchain over which it has no control, but has built all of its features onto its own blockchain. This also means that Nxt developers can quickly and easily create new features while maintaining a coherent system, without needing to consult with an external blockchain provider.
Secondly, Nxt has a solid and secure track record. The Nxt blockchain has been in continuous operation and use for 18 months, proving to be a stable system that can scale to handle an increasing load. Additionally, new features have been added on an incremental release basis after thorough evaluation on Nxt’s testnet. Many applications have already been built on top of Nxt, using its diverse features to create decentralised companies and software and to leverage the benefits of its strong community and network.
Thirdly, Nxt is open source and free! Nxt is not under development by a central authority. This may at first appear to be a weakness, but a glance at the extremely successful operating system Linux shows that central development is not needed to create a valuable and working architecture. Nxt has seen fast and dedicated development since its inception and is continuing to evolve with the input of many talented coders. As there is no barrier to entry to the Nxt ecosystem, it is a perfect environment for blue-sky crypto developments.
Just plug it in
The Nxt Cryptocurrency platform is modular by design. Nxt uses a variety of different transaction types that can be combined to perform more complex functions. In order to take full advantage of Nxt’s versatility,its developers have created a plug-in systemthat allows people to build applications and to share them with other Nxt users.
The plug-in system will go live with the release of version 1.5 of the Nxt Reference Software (NRS), Nxt’s native client. This release will also introduce blockchain Voting and Enhanced Multisignature Transactions (Phasing) to the Nxt core functionality. Developers on the Nxt Testnet are already experimenting with use cases, such as a crowdfunding plug-in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBsKVJYbitY), an e-commerce plug-in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6lcrNh9AuI) and several others.
The plug-in system is an example of the philosophy of flexibility and versatility that is at the heart of Nxt.
What it means for Nxt users
Nxt is eminently suitable for both business and non-commercial use. All of Nxt’s features can be accessed separately or in combination, using a simple but comprehensive API structure (http://85.25.198.120:7876/test).
Nxt is fast, with an average block time of around 90 seconds. It is powerful, giving users access to such diverse features as asset creation and trading, separate currencies, data transfer and storage, blockchain voting and multisignature transactions.
Nxt is easy to build for, and those who want more information about how to use Nxt, or who need support on the more technical aspects of the Nxt systems, can contact the Nxt Foundation.
The Nxt Foundation (http://nxtfoundation.org/) is a non-profit organisation which can answer questions on Nxt, offer support, and connect businesses with the developers and advisors they need to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities offered by the Nxt platform. Contact Nxt Foundation today [email protected].
For more information about us, please visithttp://nxt.org
Contact Info:
Name: Bas Wisselink, Nxt Foundation DirectorEmail:[email protected]: NXTPhone: +31 (0)6 13937762Video URL:https://vimeo.com/127270358
SOURCE:NXT || Nxt: The Original Bitcoin 2.0 Platform With Smart Contracts, Decentralized Crowdfunding, Open Source and 18 Months Development: With over 18 months of development, The non-profit Nxt Foundation is pleased to announce many disruptive business and financial applications of Nxt's blockchain technology: including trustless smart contracts, decentralized crowdfunding, a strong open source ethos and more AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS / ACCESSWIRE / May 14, 2015 / Nxt is different. While there are many players in the cryptocurrency 2.0 field, Nxt has several key elements that set it apart from the others. First and foremost, Nxt is a self-sufficient system. Many other projects depend on a blockchain implemented and maintained by an external party, usually Bitcoin. Nxt is a complete and self-contained system in itself. As any business owner knows, being dependent on a third party for an essential part of their business model introduces unnecessary risk. This is why Nxt chose not to piggyback on an external blockchain over which it has no control, but has built all of its features onto its own blockchain. This also means that Nxt developers can quickly and easily create new features while maintaining a coherent system, without needing to consult with an external blockchain provider. Secondly, Nxt has a solid and secure track record. The Nxt blockchain has been in continuous operation and use for 18 months, proving to be a stable system that can scale to handle an increasing load. Additionally, new features have been added on an incremental release basis after thorough evaluation on Nxts testnet. Many applications have already been built on top of Nxt, using its diverse features to create decentralised companies and software and to leverage the benefits of its strong community and network. Thirdly, Nxt is open source and free! Nxt is not under development by a central authority. This may at first appear to be a weakness, but a glance at the extremely successful operating system Linux shows that central development is not needed to create a valuable and working architecture. Nxt has seen fast and dedicated development since its inception and is continuing to evolve with the input of many talented coders. As there is no barrier to entry to the Nxt ecosystem, it is a perfect environment for blue-sky crypto developments. Story continues Just plug it in The Nxt Cryptocurrency platform is modular by design . Nxt uses a variety of different transaction types that can be combined to perform more complex functions. In order to take full advantage of Nxts versatility, its developers have created a plug-in system that allows people to build applications and to share them with other Nxt users. The plug-in system will go live with the release of version 1.5 of the Nxt Reference Software (NRS), Nxts native client. This release will also introduce blockchain Voting and Enhanced Multisignature Transactions (Phasing) to the Nxt core functionality. Developers on the Nxt Testnet are already experimenting with use cases, such as a crowdfunding plug-in ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBsKVJYbitY ), an e-commerce plug-in ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6lcrNh9AuI ) and several others. The plug-in system is an example of the philosophy of flexibility and versatility that is at the heart of Nxt. What it means for Nxt users Nxt is eminently suitable for both business and non-commercial use. All of Nxts features can be accessed separately or in combination, using a simple but comprehensive API structure ( http://85.25.198.120:7876/test ). Nxt is fast, with an average block time of around 90 seconds. It is powerful, giving users access to such diverse features as asset creation and trading, separate currencies, data transfer and storage, blockchain voting and multisignature transactions. Nxt is easy to build for, and those who want more information about how to use Nxt, or who need support on the more technical aspects of the Nxt systems, can contact the Nxt Foundation. The Nxt Foundation ( http://nxtfoundation.org/ ) is a non-profit organisation which can answer questions on Nxt, offer support, and connect businesses with the developers and advisors they need to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities offered by the Nxt platform. Contact Nxt Foundation today at [email protected] . For more information about us, please visit http://nxt.org Contact Info: Name: Bas Wisselink, Nxt Foundation Director Email: [email protected] Organization: NXT Phone: +31 (0)6 13937762 Video URL: https://vimeo.com/127270358 SOURCE: NXT || UPDATE: CoinCard, The World's First Crypto-based Credit Card Met with Strong Response at Launch: CoinCard is a bitcoin credit card unprecedented in the cryptocurrency space. The first 1 000 customers Receive Limited Edition, No Fee Cards
WALNUT, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 14, 2015 /Cryptocurrencies are evolving as a payment type throughout the world, serving primarily as a peer-to-peer method of conducting financial transactions and as payment device. However, the role and use of cryptocurrencies as mainstream payment for goods or services, whether on- or off-line, has yet to gain widespread adoption. With the help of the Crypto Private Investors Group,CoinCard, the world's first ever crypto-based credit card will be launching in July 2015. Early adopters of cryptocurrencies will be able to pre-order a card and the first 1,000 applicants will be able to take advantage of a limited edition cardwhere all transactions fees, with exception of the annual fee, are waived. The goal of CPIG is to foster adoption of cryptocurrencies worldwide and the launch of CoinCard is a path towards fulfilling that goal.
CoinCard experienced outstanding response with more than 100 cards being reserved within the first hours of being made available.
CoinCard Basic is designed to function as a debit card. CoinCard Elite can work either as a higher utility, lower fee debit or credit card. Whether debit or credit card, both CoinCards can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Like all MasterCard branded products, all insurance, warranty and affinity programs exist on the CoinCard Basic or Elite products. Provision for Visa and American Express version are currently being considered.
What distinguishes CoinCard from all other cards is that cryptocurrencies can be used to either pay down revolving balances or used as a debit card drawing on the cryptocurrency accounts of its user. Annual fees are competitive to traditional cards at $50USD for a CoinCard Basic and $100USD for CoinCard Elite. CoinCard can be used at ATMs worldwide.
If used as a debit card, CoinCard is reloadable from anywhere in the world and the user may load their card using cryptocurrencies or altcoins including Bitcoin, Paycoin and many others. Users of CoinCard Elite that have credit lines extended will be able to use their cryptocurrency to pay down their extended or revolving credit.
To obtain a reservation for a CoinCard Basic or CoinCard Elite, visithttp://ordercoincard.com/. The first 1,000 to reserve a CoinCard (500 CoinCard Basic and 500 CoinCard Elite) will receive one year free of transaction fees, excluding the annual fee.
About the Crypto Private Investor Group:
The Crypto Private Investor Group (CPIG) was formed to create and promote cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies, as a whole, have the ability to create a new payment / financial consideration system. Inherent in a cryptocurrency payment system are features such as lower merchant and consumer costs, significantly greater security and the possibility of creating a single currency…a digital currency that crosses boarders throughout the world creating a global marketplace where commerce flows easily.
The CPIG will seek to quiet the maelstrom swirling around the crypto category. To undo the negative impact, outcome and perception from circumstances like Mt. Gox and those that seek to undermine the category's success through the use of negatively sensationalized press covering the category based upon conjecture versus fact.
The CPIG is impartial and coin agnostic, serving as a guiding light to the future of cryptocurrency and its utility and adoption in a global marketplace.
**CoinCard is the source of this content. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to FDIC and other consumer protections.
For more information about us, please visithttp://ordercoincard.com
Contact Info:
Name: John C. CaceresEmail:[email protected]: CoinCardPhone: 802 359 7569
SOURCE:CoinCard || The semiconductor trade: 4 stocks to watch: Applied Materials(NASDAQ: AMAT)' earnings beat Thursday may provide a reason to buy into the battered semiconductor space, CNBC"Fast Money"trader Brian Kelly said.
The company-which makes technology used to manufacture chips-beat Wall Street's earnings expectations as total orders rose 11 percent year-over-year. Shares rose 2.5 percent in extended trading to more than $20 per share.
Read MoreAfter-hours buzz: El Pollo Loco, King, Party City & more
"I would be a buyer of Applied Materials here," Kelly said.
Big-name stocks in the sector, including Qualcomm(NASDAQ: QCOM)and Micron(NASDAQ: MU), have suffered this year. Trader Jon Najarian looked to stocks that have performed well while some peers struggled.
He pointed to Broadcom(NASDAQ: BRCM), which he called a "monster" as it has climbed more than 50 percent in the last year. Najarian also liked Maxim Integrated Products(NASDAQ: MXIM), which has climbed 7 percent this year.
Maxim jumped more than 4 percent Thursday on reports that Avago(NASDAQ: AVGO)has shown interest in buying it.
NXP Semiconductors(NASDAQ: NXPI)also looks to have upside despite an "incredible rise," said trader Steve Grasso. The company-which has a hand in credit card system components-has soared 34 percent higher this year.
Disclosures:
Jon Najarian
Jon Najarian is long AEP, BBY, CS, CSLT, EXXI, FEYE, GE, HFC, HSBC, HUN, HZNP, JWN, MAS, MCD, MDRX, MRVL, MW, NEE, NRG, NUGT, OAS, OC, PG, PVA, RHT, RRC, RYL, SCTY, SIMO, SIRI, SKX, SOL, SYK, TAP, TEVA, TTWO, TLT, VIX, WMB, UPS, XLI, YPF and ZIOP. He is long calls AKS, BBY, CTXS, EQT, EWJ, FB, GE, GREK, GRPN, GSK, GTI, IDTI, JWN, LNKD, MCD, MDRX, MT, MYL, NTAP, NUAN, OAS, PG, PPC, PRU, RAD, SAP, SIMO, SKX, SNDK, TAP, UPS, VALE, WFM and XLK. He is long LOCO puts. Today, he bought AEP, JWN, NUGT, UPS, JWN calls MT calls, UPS calls and LOCO puts.
Steve Grasso
Steve Grasso is long AAPL, BAC, BTU, DD, EVGN, MJNA, PFE, T, TWTR and GDX. His firm is long MCD, AXP, IBM, KO, TWTR and ZNGA. His kids own EFG, EFA, EWJ, IJR and SPY.
Karen Finerman
Karen is long BABA, BAC, C, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, M and KORS. She is short SPY. Her firm is long AAPL, ANTM, BAC, C, DIS, FBT, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, GPS, IBB, JPM, M, KORS, SUNE, URI and XBI. Her firm is short IWM, SPY, MDY. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.
Brian Kelly
Brian Kelly is long DXGE, BTC=, BBRY, SPY puts and U.S. dollar. He is short Australian dollar, euro, yen and yuan. Today, he bought DXGE and sold short euro.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
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• Personal Finance || The semiconductor trade: 4 stocks to watch: Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) ' earnings beat Thursday may provide a reason to buy into the battered semiconductor space, CNBC "Fast Money" trader Brian Kelly said. The company-which makes technology used to manufacture chips-beat Wall Street's earnings expectations as total orders rose 11 percent year-over-year. Shares rose 2.5 percent in extended trading to more than $20 per share. Read More After-hours buzz: El Pollo Loco, King, Party City & more "I would be a buyer of Applied Materials here," Kelly said. Big-name stocks in the sector, including Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Micron (NASDAQ: MU) , have suffered this year. Trader Jon Najarian looked to stocks that have performed well while some peers struggled. He pointed to Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) , which he called a "monster" as it has climbed more than 50 percent in the last year. Najarian also liked Maxim Integrated Products (NASDAQ: MXIM) , which has climbed 7 percent this year. Maxim jumped more than 4 percent Thursday on reports that Avago (NASDAQ: AVGO) has shown interest in buying it. NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) also looks to have upside despite an "incredible rise," said trader Steve Grasso. The company-which has a hand in credit card system components-has soared 34 percent higher this year. Disclosures: Jon Najarian Jon Najarian is long AEP, BBY, CS, CSLT, EXXI, FEYE, GE, HFC, HSBC, HUN, HZNP, JWN, MAS, MCD, MDRX, MRVL, MW, NEE, NRG, NUGT, OAS, OC, PG, PVA, RHT, RRC, RYL, SCTY, SIMO, SIRI, SKX, SOL, SYK, TAP, TEVA, TTWO, TLT, VIX, WMB, UPS, XLI, YPF and ZIOP. He is long calls AKS, BBY, CTXS, EQT, EWJ, FB, GE, GREK, GRPN, GSK, GTI, IDTI, JWN, LNKD, MCD, MDRX, MT, MYL, NTAP, NUAN, OAS, PG, PPC, PRU, RAD, SAP, SIMO, SKX, SNDK, TAP, UPS, VALE, WFM and XLK. He is long LOCO puts. Today, he bought AEP, JWN, NUGT, UPS, JWN calls MT calls, UPS calls and LOCO puts. Steve Grasso Steve Grasso is long AAPL, BAC, BTU, DD, EVGN, MJNA, PFE, T, TWTR and GDX. His firm is long MCD, AXP, IBM, KO, TWTR and ZNGA. His kids own EFG, EFA, EWJ, IJR and SPY. Karen Finerman Karen is long BABA, BAC, C, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, M and KORS. She is short SPY. Her firm is long AAPL, ANTM, BAC, C, DIS, FBT, FINL, FL, GOOG, GOOGL, GPS, IBB, JPM, M, KORS, SUNE, URI and XBI. Her firm is short IWM, SPY, MDY. Karen Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. Brian Kelly Brian Kelly is long DXGE, BTC=, BBRY, SPY puts and U.S. dollar. He is short Australian dollar, euro, yen and yuan. Today, he bought DXGE and sold short euro. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance View comments || Will Greece's Financial Woes Ever End?: Negotiations between Athens and its creditors continued to drag on this week, despite what most believed would be a bank-breaking loan repayment coming due on Tuesday.
Somehow, Greece continued to scrape by without defaulting, despite having what most expect is a nearly empty vault. Comments from both sides have indicated that a resolution is nowhere in sight, as they remain at odds regarding several fundamental aspects of Greece's bailout agreement.
Out Of Cash?
On Tuesday, Greece wasable to repayits €750 million International Monetary Fund loan, but many believe the tide is quickly rising as more payments loom on the horizon.
This week's payment was meant to put leftist leader, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, in the difficult position of choosing between paying the nation's wages and pensions or repaying the loan, but the Greek prime minister avoided that conundrum by using Greece's own reserve funds at the IMF to make the payment.
Related Link:No Bailout Agreement Expected For Greece, Despite Looming IMF Payments
It remains to be seen whether or not Athens has enough cash in its reserve to pay public sector wages at the end of the month, and the nation is almost surely short the €1.5 billion needed to repay further loans in June.
What Now?
The increasingly dire financial situation in Greece is likely to help move negotiations for its bailout aid forward; however, so far it seems that Tsipras is unwilling to bend to the EU's will, despite his lack of funding.
Tsipras was elected on promises to reverse austerity cuts and get a better bailout deal, and he has remained adamant in his demands for more budgetary freedom. Despite that, Greek officials have said they are optimistic about reaching an agreement to release the next installment of bailout funding by the end of May.
Related Link:UBS Outlines Grexit Scenarios
Then It's Over?
Even if Greek officials and EU policymakers come to an agreement by the end of May, Greece won't be out of hot water.
The nation's bailout program expires at the end of June, meaning that Tsipras and the Syriza government will have to work with EU officials to extend the nation's funding again, bringing on an entirely new round of negotiations.
Image Credit: Public Domain
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© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Will Greece's Financial Woes Ever End?: Negotiations between Athens and its creditors continued to drag on this week, despite what most believed would be a bank-breaking loan repayment coming due on Tuesday. Somehow, Greece continued to scrape by without defaulting, despite having what most expect is a nearly empty vault. Comments from both sides have indicated that a resolution is nowhere in sight, as they remain at odds regarding several fundamental aspects of Greece's bailout agreement. Out Of Cash? On Tuesday, Greece was able to repay its 750 million International Monetary Fund loan, but many believe the tide is quickly rising as more payments loom on the horizon. This week's payment was meant to put leftist leader, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, in the difficult position of choosing between paying the nation's wages and pensions or repaying the loan, but the Greek prime minister avoided that conundrum by using Greece's own reserve funds at the IMF to make the payment. Related Link: No Bailout Agreement Expected For Greece, Despite Looming IMF Payments It remains to be seen whether or not Athens has enough cash in its reserve to pay public sector wages at the end of the month, and the nation is almost surely short the 1.5 billion needed to repay further loans in June. What Now? The increasingly dire financial situation in Greece is likely to help move negotiations for its bailout aid forward; however, so far it seems that Tsipras is unwilling to bend to the EU's will, despite his lack of funding. Tsipras was elected on promises to reverse austerity cuts and get a better bailout deal, and he has remained adamant in his demands for more budgetary freedom. Despite that, Greek officials have said they are optimistic about reaching an agreement to release the next installment of bailout funding by the end of May. Related Link: UBS Outlines Grexit Scenarios Then It's Over? Even if Greek officials and EU policymakers come to an agreement by the end of May, Greece won't be out of hot water. Story continues The nation's bailout program expires at the end of June, meaning that Tsipras and the Syriza government will have to work with EU officials to extend the nation's funding again, bringing on an entirely new round of negotiations. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga The Internet Of Things Getting A Push From Intel And Samsung Marijuana Shortages Point To A Developing Industry Bitcoin Making Progress In Europe © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Making Progress In Europe: Despite several setbacks, thebitcoinindustry is continuing to grow across the world as people in more countries take notice of the digital currency's benefits.
While the cryptocurrency is still far from becoming a mainstream payment method, European regulators are beginning to follow in the footsteps of the Bank of England by planning ahead and evaluating how to integrate the cryptocurrency into the region's financial system.
EBA Review
On Monday, the European Banking Association issued areportdetailing its findings on the use of cryptocurrencies.
The report stated that, although bitcoin still has a long way to go before it can be considered a viable currency, digital currencies are an important issue worth paying attention to in the future.
Related Link:NASDAQ Interested In Blockchain
Blockchain As A Viable Opportunity
The EBA acknowledged that despite bitcoin's volatility and security concerns, the technology that powers it could be applied to several different industries to improve their operations.
The report commended blockchain's ability to make processes faster and simpler, saying that it would be useful in fields like IT and contract law.
More Bitcoin Exposure
Shortly after the EBA's release, bitcoin platform Coinify announced that it was expanding throughout the eurozone to allow 34 European countries to buy and sell bitcoins.
Coinify is using the Single Euro Payments Area, or the bloc's payment integration scheme, in order to carry out the expansion.
Related Link: ItBit Became The First Cryptocurrency Exchange To Receive A Banking License
Making Europe Part Of The Digital Payment Revolution
Coinify's expansion is expected to put Europe in a position to take advantage of the growing popularity of digital currencies. Coinify's Chief Financial Officer Christian Visti Larsen said the company's next round of funding is expected to raise enough money "to make sure that Europe will be playing a leading role in this new payment space."
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• Is The Shale Oil Market Recovering?
• Working From Home Could Become Even Easier
• The Rise Of Cyber Insurance
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Making Progress In Europe: Despite several setbacks, thebitcoinindustry is continuing to grow across the world as people in more countries take notice of the digital currency's benefits.
While the cryptocurrency is still far from becoming a mainstream payment method, European regulators are beginning to follow in the footsteps of the Bank of England by planning ahead and evaluating how to integrate the cryptocurrency into the region's financial system.
EBA Review
On Monday, the European Banking Association issued areportdetailing its findings on the use of cryptocurrencies.
The report stated that, although bitcoin still has a long way to go before it can be considered a viable currency, digital currencies are an important issue worth paying attention to in the future.
Related Link:NASDAQ Interested In Blockchain
Blockchain As A Viable Opportunity
The EBA acknowledged that despite bitcoin's volatility and security concerns, the technology that powers it could be applied to several different industries to improve their operations.
The report commended blockchain's ability to make processes faster and simpler, saying that it would be useful in fields like IT and contract law.
More Bitcoin Exposure
Shortly after the EBA's release, bitcoin platform Coinify announced that it was expanding throughout the eurozone to allow 34 European countries to buy and sell bitcoins.
Coinify is using the Single Euro Payments Area, or the bloc's payment integration scheme, in order to carry out the expansion.
Related Link: ItBit Became The First Cryptocurrency Exchange To Receive A Banking License
Making Europe Part Of The Digital Payment Revolution
Coinify's expansion is expected to put Europe in a position to take advantage of the growing popularity of digital currencies. Coinify's Chief Financial Officer Christian Visti Larsen said the company's next round of funding is expected to raise enough money "to make sure that Europe will be playing a leading role in this new payment space."
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• Is The Shale Oil Market Recovering?
• Working From Home Could Become Even Easier
• The Rise Of Cyber Insurance
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Making Progress In Europe: Despite several setbacks, the bitcoin industry is continuing to grow across the world as people in more countries take notice of the digital currency's benefits. While the cryptocurrency is still far from becoming a mainstream payment method, European regulators are beginning to follow in the footsteps of the Bank of England by planning ahead and evaluating how to integrate the cryptocurrency into the region's financial system. EBA Review On Monday, the European Banking Association issued a report detailing its findings on the use of cryptocurrencies. The report stated that, although bitcoin still has a long way to go before it can be considered a viable currency, digital currencies are an important issue worth paying attention to in the future. Related Link: NASDAQ Interested In Blockchain Blockchain As A Viable Opportunity The EBA acknowledged that despite bitcoin's volatility and security concerns, the technology that powers it could be applied to several different industries to improve their operations. The report commended blockchain's ability to make processes faster and simpler, saying that it would be useful in fields like IT and contract law. More Bitcoin Exposure Shortly after the EBA's release, bitcoin platform Coinify announced that it was expanding throughout the eurozone to allow 34 European countries to buy and sell bitcoins. Coinify is using the Single Euro Payments Area, or the bloc's payment integration scheme, in order to carry out the expansion. Related Link: ItBit Became The First Cryptocurrency Exchange To Receive A Banking License Making Europe Part Of The Digital Payment Revolution Coinify's expansion is expected to put Europe in a position to take advantage of the growing popularity of digital currencies. Coinify's Chief Financial Officer Christian Visti Larsen said the company's next round of funding is expected to raise enough money "to make sure that Europe will be playing a leading role in this new payment space." Story continues Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Is The Shale Oil Market Recovering? Working From Home Could Become Even Easier The Rise Of Cyber Insurance © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Microelectronics Results From the Bitcoins Conference in New York: MONARCH BAY, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2015 /Microelectronics Technology Company (MELY) is pleased to report results after attending and exhibiting at the Bitcoins Conference in New York City.
BTC Pool Party, on behalf of Microelectronics Technology Company, was an active participant in the Bitcoins Conference in New York this past April 27th – 29th. Additionally, BTC Pool Party was a Sponsor for the Event and participated with an exhibit during the Conference.
The attendance for the 2015 conference was approximately 1,300 participants, individuals and companies representing all aspects of the Bitcoin community; this attendance number was similar to the conference held in 2014. Majority of the conference participants stopped at the BTC Pool Party exhibit to learn more about the transparency of the pool, the technology on which it is based, and to learn how the Company is solidifying its position in the Bitcoin community.
Microelectronics increased its recognition throughout the participants of the conference and developed strong alliances with manufacturers and developers of the new chip technology. The Company has entered into active communication with those manufacturers and developers invested in supplying the Company with an increase in mining production.
"The Company is also pleased to be asked to assist in the advancement of 'friends of the pool initiative,' where the goal is to create an alliance of companies working together to support and promote our industry," stated President Brett Everett. "This is a strategic time for Microelectronics and BTC Pool Party growth."
The primary goal of BTC Pool Party was to attract other miners to the pool. Many large miners as well as independent miners expressed interest in BTC Pool Party. There is a significant list of potential miners interested in joining BTC Pool Party. Several have been in communication with the Company to schedule testing of their specific miners on the pool.
The company continues to develop and improve the BTCPOOLPARTY mining pool with the introduction of more detailed stats of the mining operations available as the Company moves forward.https://www.btcpoolparty.com/
https://www.facebook.com/btcpoolparty
Additional photos and videos can be viewed at the company's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/MELYPK.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these statements are made to convey Company progress, business opportunities and growth prospects, readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements represent management's opinion. Whereas management believes such representations to be true and accurate based on information and data available to the Company at this time, actual results may differ materially and are subject to risk and uncertainties. Factors that may cause actual results to differ include without limitation: dependence on key personnel and suppliers; MELY's ability to commercialize its technology; ability to defend intellectual property; material and component costs; competition; economic conditions; consumer demand and product acceptance, and availability of growth capital.
Additional considerations and risk factors are set forth-in reports filed on Form 8-K and 10-K with the SEC and other filings. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon these forward-looking statements; historical information is not an indicator of future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements.
CONTACT:
For further Information:Microelectronics Technology Company
President:Mr. Brett Everett888-681-9777 ext. [email protected]
SOURCE:Microelectronics Technology Company || Microelectronics Results From the Bitcoins Conference in New York: MONARCH BAY, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2015 /Microelectronics Technology Company (MELY) is pleased to report results after attending and exhibiting at the Bitcoins Conference in New York City.
BTC Pool Party, on behalf of Microelectronics Technology Company, was an active participant in the Bitcoins Conference in New York this past April 27th – 29th. Additionally, BTC Pool Party was a Sponsor for the Event and participated with an exhibit during the Conference.
The attendance for the 2015 conference was approximately 1,300 participants, individuals and companies representing all aspects of the Bitcoin community; this attendance number was similar to the conference held in 2014. Majority of the conference participants stopped at the BTC Pool Party exhibit to learn more about the transparency of the pool, the technology on which it is based, and to learn how the Company is solidifying its position in the Bitcoin community.
Microelectronics increased its recognition throughout the participants of the conference and developed strong alliances with manufacturers and developers of the new chip technology. The Company has entered into active communication with those manufacturers and developers invested in supplying the Company with an increase in mining production.
"The Company is also pleased to be asked to assist in the advancement of 'friends of the pool initiative,' where the goal is to create an alliance of companies working together to support and promote our industry," stated President Brett Everett. "This is a strategic time for Microelectronics and BTC Pool Party growth."
The primary goal of BTC Pool Party was to attract other miners to the pool. Many large miners as well as independent miners expressed interest in BTC Pool Party. There is a significant list of potential miners interested in joining BTC Pool Party. Several have been in communication with the Company to schedule testing of their specific miners on the pool.
The company continues to develop and improve the BTCPOOLPARTY mining pool with the introduction of more detailed stats of the mining operations available as the Company moves forward.https://www.btcpoolparty.com/
https://www.facebook.com/btcpoolparty
Additional photos and videos can be viewed at the company's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/MELYPK.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these statements are made to convey Company progress, business opportunities and growth prospects, readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements represent management's opinion. Whereas management believes such representations to be true and accurate based on information and data available to the Company at this time, actual results may differ materially and are subject to risk and uncertainties. Factors that may cause actual results to differ include without limitation: dependence on key personnel and suppliers; MELY's ability to commercialize its technology; ability to defend intellectual property; material and component costs; competition; economic conditions; consumer demand and product acceptance, and availability of growth capital.
Additional considerations and risk factors are set forth-in reports filed on Form 8-K and 10-K with the SEC and other filings. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon these forward-looking statements; historical information is not an indicator of future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements.
CONTACT:
For further Information:Microelectronics Technology Company
President:Mr. Brett Everett888-681-9777 ext. [email protected]
SOURCE:Microelectronics Technology Company || Microelectronics Results From the Bitcoins Conference in New York: MONARCH BAY, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2015 / Microelectronics Technology Company ( MELY ) is pleased to report results after attending and exhibiting at the Bitcoins Conference in New York City. BTC Pool Party, on behalf of Microelectronics Technology Company, was an active participant in the Bitcoins Conference in New York this past April 27th – 29th. Additionally, BTC Pool Party was a Sponsor for the Event and participated with an exhibit during the Conference. The attendance for the 2015 conference was approximately 1,300 participants, individuals and companies representing all aspects of the Bitcoin community; this attendance number was similar to the conference held in 2014. Majority of the conference participants stopped at the BTC Pool Party exhibit to learn more about the transparency of the pool, the technology on which it is based, and to learn how the Company is solidifying its position in the Bitcoin community. Microelectronics increased its recognition throughout the participants of the conference and developed strong alliances with manufacturers and developers of the new chip technology. The Company has entered into active communication with those manufacturers and developers invested in supplying the Company with an increase in mining production. "The Company is also pleased to be asked to assist in the advancement of 'friends of the pool initiative,' where the goal is to create an alliance of companies working together to support and promote our industry," stated President Brett Everett. "This is a strategic time for Microelectronics and BTC Pool Party growth." The primary goal of BTC Pool Party was to attract other miners to the pool. Many large miners as well as independent miners expressed interest in BTC Pool Party. There is a significant list of potential miners interested in joining BTC Pool Party. Several have been in communication with the Company to schedule testing of their specific miners on the pool. The company continues to develop and improve the BTCPOOLPARTY mining pool with the introduction of more detailed stats of the mining operations available as the Company moves forward. https://www.btcpoolparty.com/ https://www.facebook.com/btcpoolparty Additional photos and videos can be viewed at the company's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MELYPK . Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these statements are made to convey Company progress, business opportunities and growth prospects, readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements represent management's opinion. Whereas management believes such representations to be true and accurate based on information and data available to the Company at this time, actual results may differ materially and are subject to risk and uncertainties. Factors that may cause actual results to differ include without limitation: dependence on key personnel and suppliers; MELY's ability to commercialize its technology; ability to defend intellectual property; material and component costs; competition; economic conditions; consumer demand and product acceptance, and availability of growth capital. Story continues Additional considerations and risk factors are set forth-in reports filed on Form 8-K and 10-K with the SEC and other filings. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon these forward-looking statements; historical information is not an indicator of future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements. CONTACT: For further Information: Microelectronics Technology Company President: Mr. Brett Everett 888-681-9777 ext. 5 [email protected] www.melypk.com SOURCE: Microelectronics Technology Company View comments
[Social Media Buzz]
Cotización del #bitcoin a las 00:00hs
Venta: 2886 ARS
Compra: 2779 ARS || buysellbitco.in #bitcoin price in INR, Buy : 15185.00 INR Sell : 14704.00 INR. Buy and sell bitcoin in #India using #buysellbitcoin || Bitcoin Meetup Ciudad de México este Miércoles 10 Junio 2015 a 7:00 P.M.
Aparta tu lugar sin costo en: http://meetu.ps/2JjT5s || In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 19 exchange pair(s), yielding profits ranging between $0.00 and $1,752.49 #bitcoin #btc || $236.31 at 09:...
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236.80, 233.13, 231.95, 234.02, 235.34, 240.35, 238.87, 240.95, 237.11, 237.12
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 4065.20, 3924.97, 3905.95, 3631.04, 3630.70, 3792.40, 3682.84, 3926.07, 3892.35, 4200.67, 4174.73, 4163.07, 4338.71, 4403.74, 4409.32, 4317.48, 4229.36, 4328.41, 4370.81, 4426.89, 4610.48, 4772.02, 4781.99, 4826.48, 5446.91, 5647.21, 5831.79, 5678.19, 5725.59, 5605.51, 5590.69, 5708.52, 6011.45, 6031.60, 6008.42, 5930.32, 5526.64, 5750.80, 5904.83, 5780.90, 5753.09, 6153.85, 6130.53, 6468.40, 6767.31, 7078.50, 7207.76, 7379.95, 7407.41, 7022.76, 7144.38, 7459.69, 7143.58, 6618.14, 6357.60, 5950.07, 6559.49, 6635.75, 7315.54, 7871.69, 7708.99, 7790.15, 8036.49, 8200.64, 8071.26, 8253.55, 8038.77, 8253.69, 8790.92, 9330.55, 9818.35, 10058.80, 9888.61, 10233.60, 10975.60, 11074.60, 11323.20, 11657.20, 11916.70, 14291.50, 17899.70, 16569.40, 15178.20, 15455.40, 16936.80, 17415.40, 16408.20, 16564.00, 17706.90, 19497.40.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-12-16]
Volume: 12740599808, RSI (14-day): 77.51, 50-day EMA: 11133.71, 200-day EMA: 6205.80
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
TD Ameritrade to Start Bitcoin Futures Trading on Monday: Brokerage TD Ameritrade said on Friday it willallow clients to trade bitcoinfutures on the newly minted CBOE Futures Exchange from Dec. 18.
TD Ameritrade’s shares were up 2.4% in extended trading.
Bitcoin prices hit a record high of $17,428 on Friday, amid warnings that itwas a bubble on the verge of bursting.
Cboe Global Markets launched its bitcoin futures contract on Dec. 10, just over a week ahead of rival CME Group, as the exchange operator takes the next step toward launching an exchange-traded fund based on the digital currency.
Bitcoin futures and other derivatives would make it easier for more investors and speculators to trade the new asset class.
The first bitcoin futures trades kicked off on Sunday at 6 p.m. on the CBOE Futures Exchange.
Electronic brokerage firm Interactive Brokers Group earlier this week said it is offering bitcoin futures under the ticker symbol “GXBT” on the CFE and plans to offer the same on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) from Dec. 18. || TD Ameritrade to Start Bitcoin Futures Trading on Monday: Brokerage TD Ameritrade said on Friday it will allow clients to trade bitcoin futures on the newly minted CBOE Futures Exchange from Dec. 18. TD Ameritrades shares were up 2.4% in extended trading. Bitcoin prices hit a record high of $17,428 on Friday, amid warnings that it was a bubble on the verge of bursting . Cboe Global Markets launched its bitcoin futures contract on Dec. 10, just over a week ahead of rival CME Group, as the exchange operator takes the next step toward launching an exchange-traded fund based on the digital currency. Bitcoin futures and other derivatives would make it easier for more investors and speculators to trade the new asset class. The first bitcoin futures trades kicked off on Sunday at 6 p.m. on the CBOE Futures Exchange. Electronic brokerage firm Interactive Brokers Group earlier this week said it is offering bitcoin futures under the ticker symbol GXBT on the CFE and plans to offer the same on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) from Dec. 18. || TD Ameritrade to Start Bitcoin Futures Trading on Monday: Brokerage TD Ameritrade said on Friday it willallow clients to trade bitcoinfutures on the newly minted CBOE Futures Exchange from Dec. 18.
TD Ameritrade’s shares were up 2.4% in extended trading.
Bitcoin prices hit a record high of $17,428 on Friday, amid warnings that itwas a bubble on the verge of bursting.
Cboe Global Markets launched its bitcoin futures contract on Dec. 10, just over a week ahead of rival CME Group, as the exchange operator takes the next step toward launching an exchange-traded fund based on the digital currency.
Bitcoin futures and other derivatives would make it easier for more investors and speculators to trade the new asset class.
The first bitcoin futures trades kicked off on Sunday at 6 p.m. on the CBOE Futures Exchange.
Electronic brokerage firm Interactive Brokers Group earlier this week said it is offering bitcoin futures under the ticker symbol “GXBT” on the CFE and plans to offer the same on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) from Dec. 18. || Bitcoin hits new record high as warnings grow louder: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin blasted to another all-time high of almost $18,000 on the Bitstamp exchange on Friday, up 9 percent on the day, as warnings grew over the risks of investing in the highly volatile and speculative instrument. The cryptocurrency's staggering recent price rises -- more than 1,700 percent since the start of the year -- have driven worries that the market is a bubble that could burst in spectacular fashion. Bitcoin has climbed almost 80 percent so far in December alone, putting it on track for its best month in percentage terms since December 2013. On Friday it reached as high as $17,900 (BTC=BTSP) on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. While bitcoin has added another fifth to its value since Monday, trading has been slightly calmer than the wild price swings the market has seen in recent weeks, with volatility lower since the launch of bitcoin futures from Cboe Global Markets on Sunday. Market-watchers said bitcoin's price was being lifted by the launch of rival CME Group's bitcoin futures contracts on Sunday. "The hope (is) that futures signal the unlocking of institutional money into the digital arena and (that there will be) a rapid demand increase and ratification of the technology and its principles," said Charles Hayter, founder of industry website Cryptocompare. But outside of the crypto market, worries continue to grow about the amount of money piling into the space. A study by Anglia Ruskin University, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University released on Friday said bitcoin could pose a threat to the financial stability of traditional currencies and markets. "Our evidence finds that the price of Bitcoin has been artificially inflated by speculative investment, putting it in a bubble," said Larisa Yarovaya, one of the report's authors and a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. "Although bitcoin is not regulated by governments, it could still have a knock-on effect on traditional markets due to the interconnectedness of cryptocurrency markets with other financial assets." Story continues Others, however, say bitcoin's total market size -- around $300 billion -- mean the impact of any future price collapse would not be large enough to have a knock-on effect on financial stability. The BBC reported late on Thursday that the head of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, had warned that bitcoin buyers should be prepared for the possibility that they could "lose all their money". Outages on some of the world's biggest exchanges this week, which left millions of investors unable to access their funds during periods when trading volumes are high, have also fueled concerns about the fragility of the market's infrastructure. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly; Editing by Tommy Wilkes and Catherine Evans) || Bitcoin hits new record high as warnings grow louder: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin blasted to another all-time high of almost $18,000 on the Bitstamp exchange on Friday, up 9 percent on the day, as warnings grew over the risks of investing in the highly volatile and speculative instrument. The cryptocurrency's staggering recent price rises -- more than 1,700 percent since the start of the year -- have driven worries that the market is a bubble that could burst in spectacular fashion. Bitcoin has climbed almost 80 percent so far in December alone, putting it on track for its best month in percentage terms since December 2013. On Friday it reached as high as $17,900 (BTC=BTSP) on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. While bitcoin has added another fifth to its value since Monday, trading has been slightly calmer than the wild price swings the market has seen in recent weeks, with volatility lower since the launch of bitcoin futures from Cboe Global Markets on Sunday. Market-watchers said bitcoin's price was being lifted by the launch of rival CME Group's bitcoin futures contracts on Sunday. "The hope (is) that futures signal the unlocking of institutional money into the digital arena and (that there will be) a rapid demand increase and ratification of the technology and its principles," said Charles Hayter, founder of industry website Cryptocompare. But outside of the crypto market, worries continue to grow about the amount of money piling into the space. A study by Anglia Ruskin University, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University released on Friday said bitcoin could pose a threat to the financial stability of traditional currencies and markets. "Our evidence finds that the price of Bitcoin has been artificially inflated by speculative investment, putting it in a bubble," said Larisa Yarovaya, one of the report's authors and a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. "Although bitcoin is not regulated by governments, it could still have a knock-on effect on traditional markets due to the interconnectedness of cryptocurrency markets with other financial assets." Story continues Others, however, say bitcoin's total market size -- around $300 billion -- mean the impact of any future price collapse would not be large enough to have a knock-on effect on financial stability. The BBC reported late on Thursday that the head of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, had warned that bitcoin buyers should be prepared for the possibility that they could "lose all their money". Outages on some of the world's biggest exchanges this week, which left millions of investors unable to access their funds during periods when trading volumes are high, have also fueled concerns about the fragility of the market's infrastructure. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly; Editing by Tommy Wilkes and Catherine Evans) || Bitcoin hits new record high as warnings grow louder: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin blasted to another all-time high of almost $18,000 on the Bitstamp exchange on Friday, up 9 percent on the day, as warnings grew over the risks of investing in the highly volatile and speculative instrument. The cryptocurrency's staggering recent price rises -- more than 1,700 percent since the start of the year -- have driven worries that the market is a bubble that could burst in spectacular fashion. Bitcoin has climbed almost 80 percent so far in December alone, putting it on track for its best month in percentage terms since December 2013. On Friday it reached as high as $17,900 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. While bitcoin has added another fifth to its value since Monday, trading has been slightly calmer than the wild price swings the market has seen in recent weeks, with volatility lower since the launch of bitcoin futures from Cboe Global Markets on Sunday. Market-watchers said bitcoin's price was being lifted by the launch of rival CME Group's bitcoin futures contracts on Sunday. "The hope (is) that futures signal the unlocking of institutional money into the digital arena and (that there will be) a rapid demand increase and ratification of the technology and its principles," said Charles Hayter, founder of industry website Cryptocompare. But outside of the crypto market, worries continue to grow about the amount of money piling into the space. A study by Anglia Ruskin University, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University released on Friday said bitcoin could pose a threat to the financial stability of traditional currencies and markets. "Our evidence finds that the price of Bitcoin has been artificially inflated by speculative investment, putting it in a bubble," said Larisa Yarovaya, one of the report's authors and a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. "Although bitcoin is not regulated by governments, it could still have a knock-on effect on traditional markets due to the interconnectedness of cryptocurrency markets with other financial assets." Others, however, say bitcoin's total market size -- around $300 billion -- mean the impact of any future price collapse would not be large enough to have a knock-on effect on financial stability. The BBC reported late on Thursday that the head of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, had warned that bitcoin buyers should be prepared for the possibility that they could "lose all their money". Outages on some of the world's biggest exchanges this week, which left millions of investors unable to access their funds during periods when trading volumes are high, have also fueled concerns about the fragility of the market's infrastructure. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly; Editing by Tommy Wilkes and Catherine Evans) || Bitcoin hits new record high as warnings grow louder: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin blasted to another all-time high of almost $18,000 on the Bitstamp exchange on Friday, up 9 percent on the day, as warnings grew over the risks of investing in the highly volatile and speculative instrument. The cryptocurrency's staggering recent price rises -- more than 1,700 percent since the start of the year -- have driven worries that the market is a bubble that could burst in spectacular fashion. Bitcoin has climbed almost 80 percent so far in December alone, putting it on track for its best month in percentage terms since December 2013. On Friday it reached as high as $17,900 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. While bitcoin has added another fifth to its value since Monday, trading has been slightly calmer than the wild price swings the market has seen in recent weeks, with volatility lower since the launch of bitcoin futures from Cboe Global Markets on Sunday. Market-watchers said bitcoin's price was being lifted by the launch of rival CME Group's bitcoin futures contracts on Sunday. "The hope (is) that futures signal the unlocking of institutional money into the digital arena and (that there will be) a rapid demand increase and ratification of the technology and its principles," said Charles Hayter, founder of industry website Cryptocompare. But outside of the crypto market, worries continue to grow about the amount of money piling into the space. A study by Anglia Ruskin University, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University released on Friday said bitcoin could pose a threat to the financial stability of traditional currencies and markets. "Our evidence finds that the price of Bitcoin has been artificially inflated by speculative investment, putting it in a bubble," said Larisa Yarovaya, one of the report's authors and a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. "Although bitcoin is not regulated by governments, it could still have a knock-on effect on traditional markets due to the interconnectedness of cryptocurrency markets with other financial assets." Others, however, say bitcoin's total market size -- around $300 billion -- mean the impact of any future price collapse would not be large enough to have a knock-on effect on financial stability. The BBC reported late on Thursday that the head of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, had warned that bitcoin buyers should be prepared for the possibility that they could "lose all their money". Outages on some of the world's biggest exchanges this week, which left millions of investors unable to access their funds during periods when trading volumes are high, have also fueled concerns about the fragility of the market's infrastructure. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly; Editing by Tommy Wilkes and Catherine Evans) || Bitcoin hits new record high as warnings grow louder: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin blasted to another all-time high of almost $18,000 on the Bitstamp exchange on Friday, up 9 percent on the day, as warnings grew over the risks of investing in the highly volatile and speculative instrument. The cryptocurrency's staggering recent price rises -- more than 1,700 percent since the start of the year -- have driven worries that the market is a bubble that could burst in spectacular fashion. Bitcoin has climbed almost 80 percent so far in December alone, putting it on track for its best month in percentage terms since December 2013. On Friday it reached as high as $17,900 (BTC=BTSP) on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. While bitcoin has added another fifth to its value since Monday, trading has been slightly calmer than the wild price swings the market has seen in recent weeks, with volatility lower since the launch of bitcoin futures from Cboe Global Markets on Sunday. Market-watchers said bitcoin's price was being lifted by the launch of rival CME Group's bitcoin futures contracts on Sunday. "The hope (is) that futures signal the unlocking of institutional money into the digital arena and (that there will be) a rapid demand increase and ratification of the technology and its principles," said Charles Hayter, founder of industry website Cryptocompare. But outside of the crypto market, worries continue to grow about the amount of money piling into the space. A study by Anglia Ruskin University, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University released on Friday said bitcoin could pose a threat to the financial stability of traditional currencies and markets. "Our evidence finds that the price of Bitcoin has been artificially inflated by speculative investment, putting it in a bubble," said Larisa Yarovaya, one of the report's authors and a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. "Although bitcoin is not regulated by governments, it could still have a knock-on effect on traditional markets due to the interconnectedness of cryptocurrency markets with other financial assets." Story continues Others, however, say bitcoin's total market size -- around $300 billion -- mean the impact of any future price collapse would not be large enough to have a knock-on effect on financial stability. The BBC reported late on Thursday that the head of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, had warned that bitcoin buyers should be prepared for the possibility that they could "lose all their money". Outages on some of the world's biggest exchanges this week, which left millions of investors unable to access their funds during periods when trading volumes are high, have also fueled concerns about the fragility of the market's infrastructure. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly; Editing by Tommy Wilkes and Catherine Evans) || Bitcoin hits new record high as warnings grow louder: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin blasted to another all-time high of almost $18,000 on the Bitstamp exchange on Friday, up 9 percent on the day, as warnings grew over the risks of investing in the highly volatile and speculative instrument. The cryptocurrency's staggering recent price rises -- more than 1,700 percent since the start of the year -- have driven worries that the market is a bubble that could burst in spectacular fashion. Bitcoin has climbed almost 80 percent so far in December alone, putting it on track for its best month in percentage terms since December 2013. On Friday it reached as high as $17,900 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. While bitcoin has added another fifth to its value since Monday, trading has been slightly calmer than the wild price swings the market has seen in recent weeks, with volatility lower since the launch of bitcoin futures from Cboe Global Markets on Sunday. Market-watchers said bitcoin's price was being lifted by the launch of rival CME Group's bitcoin futures contracts on Sunday. "The hope (is) that futures signal the unlocking of institutional money into the digital arena and (that there will be) a rapid demand increase and ratification of the technology and its principles," said Charles Hayter, founder of industry website Cryptocompare. But outside of the crypto market, worries continue to grow about the amount of money piling into the space. A study by Anglia Ruskin University, Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University released on Friday said bitcoin could pose a threat to the financial stability of traditional currencies and markets. "Our evidence finds that the price of Bitcoin has been artificially inflated by speculative investment, putting it in a bubble," said Larisa Yarovaya, one of the report's authors and a lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University. "Although bitcoin is not regulated by governments, it could still have a knock-on effect on traditional markets due to the interconnectedness of cryptocurrency markets with other financial assets." Others, however, say bitcoin's total market size -- around $300 billion -- mean the impact of any future price collapse would not be large enough to have a knock-on effect on financial stability. The BBC reported late on Thursday that the head of Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, had warned that bitcoin buyers should be prepared for the possibility that they could "lose all their money". Outages on some of the world's biggest exchanges this week, which left millions of investors unable to access their funds during periods when trading volumes are high, have also fueled concerns about the fragility of the market's infrastructure. (Reporting by Jemima Kelly; Editing by Tommy Wilkes and Catherine Evans) || Ripple’s XRP has exploded in value this week, propelling it higher on the cryptocurrency leaderboards: Ripple Labs YouTube / Ripple Many cryptocurrencies , even ones smaller than bitcoin, have seen big gains in recent weeks. XRP , founded by Ripple, overtook bitcoin cash as the third-largest digital currency by market cap this week. Check out the live price of Ripple's XRP here. Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has seen a tremendous gain of 202% since December 9, propelling it to a market cap of more than $30 billion and making it the t hird-largest digital currency. It trails just bitcoin and Ethereum , according to CoinMarketCap.com . Founded in 2012 by what was then known as Ripple Labs, XRP aims to use blockchain technology to speed up cross-border money transfers and bank settlements. Currently, most of those transactions are facilitated on Swift, a much older network that can often take days to send money internationally, with high fees. Here's how the rankings stand as of Friday, according to coinmarketcap.com : Screen Shot 2017 12 15 at 2.53.19 PM Coinmarketcap.com "I think a lot of this is simply the market better understanding the realities of digital assets performance (speed, throughput etc)," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Business Insider on Wednesday. "There is - appropriately - a lot of excitement about the potential - but XRP is very uniquely positioned to actually be able to deliver on the promise." XRP is up 2,362% so far this year. You can track the price of XRP in real-time here>> Ripple XRP Price Markets Insider NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment See Also: Bitcoin bull Tom Lee has identified 12 stocks that are perfect if you don’t want to own it Here's what bitcoin futures could mean for the price of bitcoin Betting against bitcoin is about to get a lot more expensive SEE ALSO: Ripple's XRP is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump in market cap this week || Ripple’s XRP has exploded in value this week, propelling it higher on the cryptocurrency leaderboards: Ripple Labs YouTube / Ripple Many cryptocurrencies , even ones smaller than bitcoin, have seen big gains in recent weeks. XRP , founded by Ripple, overtook bitcoin cash as the third-largest digital currency by market cap this week. Check out the live price of Ripple's XRP here. Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has seen a tremendous gain of 202% since December 9, propelling it to a market cap of more than $30 billion and making it the t hird-largest digital currency. It trails just bitcoin and Ethereum , according to CoinMarketCap.com . Founded in 2012 by what was then known as Ripple Labs, XRP aims to use blockchain technology to speed up cross-border money transfers and bank settlements. Currently, most of those transactions are facilitated on Swift, a much older network that can often take days to send money internationally, with high fees. Here's how the rankings stand as of Friday, according to coinmarketcap.com : Screen Shot 2017 12 15 at 2.53.19 PM Coinmarketcap.com "I think a lot of this is simply the market better understanding the realities of digital assets performance (speed, throughput etc)," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Business Insider on Wednesday. "There is - appropriately - a lot of excitement about the potential - but XRP is very uniquely positioned to actually be able to deliver on the promise." XRP is up 2,362% so far this year. You can track the price of XRP in real-time here>> Ripple XRP Price Markets Insider NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment See Also: Bitcoin bull Tom Lee has identified 12 stocks that are perfect if you don’t want to own it Here's what bitcoin futures could mean for the price of bitcoin Betting against bitcoin is about to get a lot more expensive SEE ALSO: Ripple's XRP is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump in market cap this week || Young Multifactor ETFs Lure Investors: Multifactor exchange traded funds are expected to be a future source of growth for the already fast-growing smart beta universe. Data suggest advisors and investors are likely to increase their use of multifactor ETFs in the years ahead. For now, many of the multifactor products on the market are still young, but lack of seasoning should not deter investors. Next year could be significant for some multifactor ETFs when several members of this group will celebrate their three-year anniversaries one of the milestones that's widely followed among fund investors. In 2018, seven differently constructed multifactor ETFs will hit their three-year anniversary, as asset managers begin offering a rules-based transparent approach that combines some of the attributes that historically provided active managers with outperformance, CFRA Research Director of ETF & Mutual Fund Research Todd Rosenbluth said in a recent note. These five attributes, or factors, were quality, momentum, value, low volatility and size. A Fine Start The Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF (NYSE: GSLC ) turns three next September and is already solidifying itself as one of the dominant names among U.S. large-cap multifactor ETFs. Now home to $2.71 billion in assets under management, GSLC is easily one of the most successful ETFs that debuted in 2015. GSCL follows the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity Index, which seeks to capture common sources of active equity returns, including value (i.e., the security's price compared to market value), momentum (i.e., performance history), quality (i.e., profitability relative to total assets) and volatility (i.e., consistency of returns), according to Goldman. Part of the reason GSLC has lured investors is its low fee. The ETF's annual expense ratio is 9 basis points, compared to the industry average for smart beta ETFs of 35 basis points." A Rival The iShares Edge MSCI Multifactor USA ETF (NYSE: LRGF ), which turns three in April 2018, is a rival to GSLC. Home to $766 million in assets under management, LRGF tracks the MSCI USA Diversified Multiple-Factor Index. Story continues In 2017, the two best performers and biggest asset gatherers of this multifactor group were LRGF and GSLC, said Rosenbluth. Both LRGF and GSLC utilize four factors to build their ETFs, with three overlapping ones (quality, value and momentum). LRGF includes size as the fourth factor, while GSLC adds in a low volatility component as the fourth factor. LRGF holds 148 stocks and is pricier than GSLC with an annual fee of 0.2 percent. CFRA rates LRGF Marketweight and GSLC Overweight. Related Links: Begging For Bitcoin ETFs Healthcare ETFs Looking Good See more from Benzinga Different Starts For These New Small-Cap ETFs © 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Young Multifactor ETFs Lure Investors: Multifactor exchange traded funds are expected to be a future source of growth for the already fast-growing smart beta universe. Data suggest advisors and investors are likely to increase their use of multifactor ETFs in the years ahead. For now, many of the multifactor products on the market are still young, but lack of seasoning should not deter investors.
Next year could be significant for some multifactor ETFs when several members of this group will celebrate their three-year anniversaries — one of the milestones that's widely followed among fund investors.
“In 2018, seven differently constructed multifactor ETFs will hit their three-year anniversary, as asset managers begin offering a rules-based transparent approach that combines some of the attributes that historically provided active managers with outperformance,”CFRA ResearchDirector of ETF & Mutual Fund Research Todd Rosenbluth said in a recent note. “These five attributes, or factors, were quality, momentum, value, low volatility and size.”
A Fine Start
TheGoldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF(NYSE:GSLC) turns three next September and is already solidifying itself as one of the dominant names among U.S. large-cap multifactor ETFs. Now home to $2.71 billion in assets under management, GSLC is easily one of the most successful ETFs that debuted in 2015.
GSCL follows the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity Index, which “seeks to capture common sources of active equity returns, including value (i.e., the security's price compared to market value), momentum (i.e., performance history), quality (i.e., profitability relative to total assets) and volatility (i.e., consistency of returns),” according to Goldman.
Part of the reason GSLC has lured investors is its low fee. The ETF's annual expense ratio “is 9 basis points, compared to the industry average for smart beta ETFs of 35 basis points."
A Rival
TheiShares Edge MSCI Multifactor USA ETF(NYSE:LRGF), which turns three in April 2018, is a rival to GSLC. Home to $766 million in assets under management, LRGF tracks the MSCI USA Diversified Multiple-Factor Index.
In 2017, the two best performers and biggest asset gatherers of this multifactor group were LRGF and GSLC,” said Rosenbluth. “Both LRGF and GSLC utilize four factors to build their ETFs, with three overlapping ones (quality, value and momentum). LRGF includes size as the fourth factor, while GSLC adds in a low volatility component as the fourth factor.”
LRGF holds 148 stocks and is pricier than GSLC with an annual fee of 0.2 percent. CFRA rates LRGF Marketweight and GSLC Overweight.
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• Different Starts For These New Small-Cap ETFs
© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || 7 of the Best Blue-Chip Stocks to Buy for 2018: Blue-chip stocks: quality over quantity. Stocks remain the best asset class to invest in for long-term returns, but not every investor can bear the anxiety that comes with bear markets like the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018 can anchor your portfolio and give you some peace of mind. After a nine-year rally, investors can protect their downside potential by buying large, diversified, quality businesses with long track records of excellence, world-renowned brands, and a willingness to pay dividends. Here are seven of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018 . Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL ) Apple is a must-own in most diversified portfolios and is extremely well-positioned to be the world's first $1 trillion company. What's more, it's become obsessed with returning cash to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends and trades at just 14 times forward earnings. The iPhone X, the first smartphone Apple's had the gumption to charge $1,000 for, finally debuted to strong demand in December, so Apple's holiday earnings could be quite impressive. There are only a few no-brainers in the stock market, and at the moment, AAPL is one of them -- which is doubly true should tax reform be passed. Goldman Sachs Group Inc ( GS ) There are 688 companies worth more than $10 billion, but only 30 of them have the following qualities: a price-earnings ratio less than 20, a forward P/E below 15, positive trailing five-year sales growth, revenue growth last quarter and EPS growth expected to exceed 10 percent for the next five years. These 30 high-quality stocks are all reasonably valued, well-managed and still growing -- and Goldman was among them. With rising rates and an opportunity to underwrite some of Saudi Aramco's anticipated record-setting $100 billion initial public offering next year, GS earned its spot among the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018. Bank stocks as a whole are also poised to outperform next year. Story continues Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc ( WBA ) The best time to buy a stock is when a good company gets unfairly sold by Wall Street, which is what happened to WBA in 2017 as rival CVS ( CVS ) agreed to acquire Aetna ( AET ). With WBA off 13 percent, Mr. Market curiously dismissed Walgreen's savvy acquisition of 1,932 Rite-Aid ( RAD ) locations, which strengthened its position in the drugstore oligopoly. Recently, WBA also bought a 40 percent stake in China's biggest retail pharmacy chain for just $418 million. With shares paying a 2.2 percent dividend and a string of recent insider purchases, unnecessarily pessimistic sentiment has made WBA one of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018. Visa Inc ( V ) Visa embodies the ethos of the blue-chip stock. It's one of the 15 most valuable public companies, enjoys huge market share in a consolidated yet growing industry, is highly profitable and enjoys high barriers to entry. Visa is the global market share leader in credit cards and, in the U.S., has 323 million active accounts to MasterCard's ( MA ) 191 million. It's tough to go wrong with a company whose margins increase every time people swipe a little more plastic. Plus, while its 0.8 percent dividend might not be much, it's been growing for eight years; Visa will be free to return more money to shareholders after tax cuts pass . Medtronic PLC Ordinary Shares ( MDT ) While Medtronic likely won't be posting wild growth numbers anytime soon, the sprawling $110 billion medical technology company is still one of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018. That's because MDT prizes the long term over the short term, as illustrated by its $6.1 billion 2017 sale of several business lines to Cardinal Health ( CAH ). The deal will decrease fiscal 2018 EPS but boost long-term revenue growth and margins, and eventually EPS will benefit as well. With MDT using the proceeds to buy back stock and pay down debt as rates rise, investors can also consider this 2.2 percent dividend payer a low-volatility portfolio hedge should recession hit. Texas Instruments Inc ( TXN ) Founded in 1930, TXN is worth $100 billion today. Because the company is still growing at a healthy clip, analysts expect revenue to increase 11.8 percent and EPS to rise 31 percent in fiscal 2017. Not only is TXN a leading supplier to the rapidly transforming automotive and industrial sectors, it also boasts a great track record of dividend growth ; TXN has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years, at a compound annual growth rate of 29 percent. It's also intent on reducing the share count through buybacks, trimming its share count from 1.77 billion in 2004 to 1 billion in 2017. Few other stocks offer a 2.5 percent dividend and such attractive growth. Pfizer Inc. ( PFE ) Last and certainly not least of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018: Pfizer. Founded in 1849, Pfizer is currently worth about $215 billion. PFE stock pays a hard-to-find, sustainable 3.5 percent dividend, which is roughly 50 percent more than rival Johnson & Johnson's ( JNJ ) 2.4 percent yield. While Pfizer doesn't currently look like much of a growth stock (few pharmas this size are), its pipeline is impressive: PFE is waiting for FDA approval on nine drugs and has 28 treatments in late-stage clinical trials. Importantly, the stock is also resilient to market pullbacks, making it unlikely to lose as much as the Standard & Poor's 500 index in a crash. More From US News & World Report 7 of the Best Dividend Stocks to Buy for 2018 The Best Bitcoin Wallet of 2018 7 of the Best Tech Stocks to Buy for 2018 || 7 of the Best Blue-Chip Stocks to Buy for 2018: Blue-chip stocks: quality over quantity. Stocks remain the best asset class to invest in for long-term returns, but not every investor can bear the anxiety that comes with bear markets like the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018 can anchor your portfolio and give you some peace of mind. After a nine-year rally, investors can protect their downside potential by buying large, diversified, quality businesses with long track records of excellence, world-renowned brands, and a willingness to pay dividends. Here are seven of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018 . Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL ) Apple is a must-own in most diversified portfolios and is extremely well-positioned to be the world's first $1 trillion company. What's more, it's become obsessed with returning cash to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends and trades at just 14 times forward earnings. The iPhone X, the first smartphone Apple's had the gumption to charge $1,000 for, finally debuted to strong demand in December, so Apple's holiday earnings could be quite impressive. There are only a few no-brainers in the stock market, and at the moment, AAPL is one of them -- which is doubly true should tax reform be passed. Goldman Sachs Group Inc ( GS ) There are 688 companies worth more than $10 billion, but only 30 of them have the following qualities: a price-earnings ratio less than 20, a forward P/E below 15, positive trailing five-year sales growth, revenue growth last quarter and EPS growth expected to exceed 10 percent for the next five years. These 30 high-quality stocks are all reasonably valued, well-managed and still growing -- and Goldman was among them. With rising rates and an opportunity to underwrite some of Saudi Aramco's anticipated record-setting $100 billion initial public offering next year, GS earned its spot among the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018. Bank stocks as a whole are also poised to outperform next year. Story continues Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc ( WBA ) The best time to buy a stock is when a good company gets unfairly sold by Wall Street, which is what happened to WBA in 2017 as rival CVS ( CVS ) agreed to acquire Aetna ( AET ). With WBA off 13 percent, Mr. Market curiously dismissed Walgreen's savvy acquisition of 1,932 Rite-Aid ( RAD ) locations, which strengthened its position in the drugstore oligopoly. Recently, WBA also bought a 40 percent stake in China's biggest retail pharmacy chain for just $418 million. With shares paying a 2.2 percent dividend and a string of recent insider purchases, unnecessarily pessimistic sentiment has made WBA one of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018. Visa Inc ( V ) Visa embodies the ethos of the blue-chip stock. It's one of the 15 most valuable public companies, enjoys huge market share in a consolidated yet growing industry, is highly profitable and enjoys high barriers to entry. Visa is the global market share leader in credit cards and, in the U.S., has 323 million active accounts to MasterCard's ( MA ) 191 million. It's tough to go wrong with a company whose margins increase every time people swipe a little more plastic. Plus, while its 0.8 percent dividend might not be much, it's been growing for eight years; Visa will be free to return more money to shareholders after tax cuts pass . Medtronic PLC Ordinary Shares ( MDT ) While Medtronic likely won't be posting wild growth numbers anytime soon, the sprawling $110 billion medical technology company is still one of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018. That's because MDT prizes the long term over the short term, as illustrated by its $6.1 billion 2017 sale of several business lines to Cardinal Health ( CAH ). The deal will decrease fiscal 2018 EPS but boost long-term revenue growth and margins, and eventually EPS will benefit as well. With MDT using the proceeds to buy back stock and pay down debt as rates rise, investors can also consider this 2.2 percent dividend payer a low-volatility portfolio hedge should recession hit. Texas Instruments Inc ( TXN ) Founded in 1930, TXN is worth $100 billion today. Because the company is still growing at a healthy clip, analysts expect revenue to increase 11.8 percent and EPS to rise 31 percent in fiscal 2017. Not only is TXN a leading supplier to the rapidly transforming automotive and industrial sectors, it also boasts a great track record of dividend growth ; TXN has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years, at a compound annual growth rate of 29 percent. It's also intent on reducing the share count through buybacks, trimming its share count from 1.77 billion in 2004 to 1 billion in 2017. Few other stocks offer a 2.5 percent dividend and such attractive growth. Pfizer Inc. ( PFE ) Last and certainly not least of the best blue-chip stocks to buy for 2018: Pfizer. Founded in 1849, Pfizer is currently worth about $215 billion. PFE stock pays a hard-to-find, sustainable 3.5 percent dividend, which is roughly 50 percent more than rival Johnson & Johnson's ( JNJ ) 2.4 percent yield. While Pfizer doesn't currently look like much of a growth stock (few pharmas this size are), its pipeline is impressive: PFE is waiting for FDA approval on nine drugs and has 28 treatments in late-stage clinical trials. Importantly, the stock is also resilient to market pullbacks, making it unlikely to lose as much as the Standard & Poor's 500 index in a crash. More From US News & World Report 7 of the Best Dividend Stocks to Buy for 2018 The Best Bitcoin Wallet of 2018 7 of the Best Tech Stocks to Buy for 2018 || New York's wealthiest are threatening a mass exodus because of the GOP tax plan: Wall Street tax expert Robert Willens, president ofRobert Willens LLC, has never heard more discussion from wealthy New Yorkers about relocating to another state with a more favorable tax environment until now because of the GOP tax plan.
“Everybody I speak to brings this up. Every NYC resident I speak to asks about the feasibility involved in doing it,” Willens, who regularly advises hedge fund clients on tax matters as it relates to investing, told Yahoo Finance. “I’ve been doing this more than 40 years, and never heard more discussion about relocating than recently.”
The tax plan Congress seems likely to pass soon would severely curtail the deduction for state and local taxes, known as the SALT provision, which about one-third of all taxpayers claim when they file their federal income taxes. In the 43 states with an income tax, the more you earn, the more this tax break is worth, since it lets you lower your taxable income at the federal level by the amount of taxes you pay to the state. Since it also includes property taxes, it also disproportionately benefits people with expensive real estate.
Some wealthy people in states such as New York can easily use the deduction to lower their federal taxable income by $100,000 or more. Congress, however, is poised to cap the total amount of state and local deductions at a mere $10,000. That would push taxable income, or the amount subject to federal tax, way up for people who typically claim a large SALT deduction.
A recent encounter that former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, a Democrat andsupporter of the “Buffett rule,”had with a hedge fund manager summed up the dismay felt by some in the hedge fund community. Tilson recalled it in an email blast he distributed to his readers.
“I assumed that all of my rich Republican friends would be doing handsprings over this tax ‘plan’ (every study shows that corporations and one-percenters will benefit in a hugely disproportionate way; seehere,hereandhere), especially since the outrageous carried interest loophole (which Trump pledged to close) is maintained, so I was shocked when I ran into an extremely wealthy NYC-based hedge fund manager on Monday and he, unprompted, started railing against it for at least 10 minutes,” Tilson wrote in the email.
Tilson continued: “He believes it will devastate NY (and, to a lesser extent, CA), primarily by ending or severely limiting the deduction of the very high state and local taxes. He estimated that his tax rate (and others [similarly] situated) will go from mid-30% to 56%, which will trigger a massive exodus from NY to places like Florida, which will crush the NYC (and therefore state) economy.”
According to Tilson, this hedge fund manager said that many of his Republican friends are “even more outraged.”
“Interestingly, he blames NY Sen. Chuck Schumer for what’s about to happen to NY because he didn’t cut a deal with Trump, which I think strains credulity given that Republicans are jamming this through despite vociferous, unified opposition from every Democrat in Congress,” Tilson wrote.
New York City is currently home to 82 billionaires, according to a tally onForbes’ annual rich list. New York state has a population of 9,530 people who are classified as ultra-high-net-worth individuals with assets of at least $30 million,according to Wealth-X.
Some might be serious about making a move, though.
Kelly Smallridge, the president and CEO of Palm Beach County’s Business Development Board, has seen an uptick in activity from CEOs looking to explore Florida since there’s no state tax on personal income.
“The vast majority of inquiries are coming from the financial service industry such as hedge funds, private equity, and family offices,” Smallridge told Yahoo Finance.
Smallridge said she noticed the spike in interest in the last two months. She estimated that she has personally received 20 to 30 “very serious” inquiries. The move from the northeast to Florida has been somewhat of a trend in recent years. In the last five years, 60 financial services firms have relocated to the Palm Beach area, Smallridge noted.
In anticipation of possible relocations, Smallridge said that they tailored their services to meet frequently asked questions such as office space with water views, how to legally domicile in Florida, private schools for young children, direct flights to the Northeast, residential communities, and introductions to country clubs.
Willens, however, expects a lot more talk than action.
“I think people definitely entertain that possibility. And I don’t know if we are at the point where they will actually act on that. A lot more talk than actual action, I have to say,” he said, adding, “When you tell people that their effective tax rates all in will be well over 50%, it does tend to get their attention.”
There’s certainly much more favorable tax environments in other states such as Florida. Plus, it’s possible to work remotely without much disruption. The problem, however, is that it’s not so easy to eliminate your New York state residency.
“You have to prove that you’ve actually changed your domicile to wherever it is that you would like to move to. It’s up to you to affirmatively establish that you have done that,” Willens said. “If you maintain ties to New York — we’ve had cases on this through the years involving prominent people who have tried to do this — if you maintain any ties to New York, even though you might have moved to Florida or Texas, it’s going to be hard to prove to New York that you actually changed your domiciles, particularly if your business is centered in New York. It might be almost impossible.”
He added that an individual might wind up physically relocating to Florida, but New York state will continue to argue, and probably successfully, that the person is still a New York resident.
“Even if you take the steps to do it, you still have to confront New York and their need for tax revenues, and their aggressive posture regarding your domiciles,” Willens said. “It’s a tough thing to prove. It probably isn’t going to deter New York from saying that you haven’t abandoned your domiciles. It might help a little. They’re going to look at the fact that you have business ties and business dealings in New York and they are going to rely on that factor.”
For many wealthy New Yorkers, the tax plan is seen as a double-whammy. In addition to capping the SALT deduction, the other issue is not allowing people that conduct a service business through pass-through entities to take advantage of the lower rate. Many businesses in New York such as law firms, architecture firms, health companies, investment management firms are considered pass-through entities, he added.
“[The bill] really favors people in low tax states that conduct business where tangible assets are sold,” Willens said, noting that it’s a great thing to benefit people who manufacture goods. That said, the bill penalizes new economy businesses where services and other intangible assets are sold.
Willens said that the GOP has not been selling the bill very well. It’s still seen as a giveaway to the upper-income group.
Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her onTwitter.
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• An elite pre-school accepts bitcoin for tuition || 16.3 million Americans buy and sell bitcoin frequently: Traders work in a trading pit at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Trading in Bitcoin futures began Sunday (12/10) on the CBOE. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato) Cboe’s bitcoin futures are on track for a stellar first week, the CME will launch its own contract Monday and Nasdaq plans to do the same next year. Still, 74% of adults have never used the digital asset at all, according to a new Morning Consult survey . Meanwhile, 5% of Americans — roughly 16.3 million people — are buying and selling bitcoin frequently. Given bitcoin only hit mainstream mania this year, it’s safe to say we’re far from peak adoption. This number is still small compared to the number of Americans who have traditional investments. Fifty four percent of Americans — a record low — invest in the stock market (including through individual stocks, mutual funds, 401(k)s and pensions). Unsurprisingly, the affluent are more likely to dabble in bitcoin regularly. Fifteen percent of adults who earn over $100,000 annually said they are buying, receiving or sending bitcoin somewhat or very frequently. One could imagine that ultra high networth individuals have the luxury to diversify their earnings even more. In contrast, 7% of those who earn less than $50,000 said they use bitcoin, according to the survey of 2,039 U.S. adults. Lack of knowledge Even though 16.3 million Americans use bitcoin all the time, most people may not be ready for it , particularly given concerns surrounding security and diversification. Overall, Americans remain confused about the cryptocurrency. A 37% plurality say they aren’t familiar at all with bitcoin. Forty-two percent say they’re either somewhat or not too familiar with it while 9% claim they are very familiar. The remaining 12% didn’t know or had no opinion. “I would simply say that bitcoin at this time plays a very small role in the payments system. “[Bitcoin] is not a stable store of value, it doesn’t constitute legal tender, and it is a highly speculative asset,” as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said this week . Perhaps we should heed Warren Buffett’s advice about investing in what you know and trust. He was an early bitcoin bear, dubbing it a mirage in 2014 (the price of bitcoin has increased 35-fold since he first made the call.) If that’s the case, much of America might be better off observing from the sidelines. Melody Hahm is a senior writer at Yahoo Finance, covering entrepreneurship, technology and real estate. Follow her on Twitter @melodyhahm . Read more: Walmart employees should use new early pay policy as last resort Trump administration’s proposed rule raises fear of legal wage theft 74% of parents help their adult children with finances Behavioral economist explains a 3-jar system that teaches kids about money Parents want their teens to be entrepreneurs but teens don’t want to View comments || 16.3 million Americans buy and sell bitcoin frequently: Cboe’s bitcoin futures are on track for a stellar first week, the CME willlaunch its own contract Mondayand Nasdaq plans to do the same next year. Still, 74% of adults have never used the digital asset at all, according to anew Morning Consult survey.
Meanwhile, 5% of Americans — roughly 16.3 million people — are buying and selling bitcoin frequently. Given bitcoin only hit mainstream mania this year, it’s safe to say we’re far from peak adoption.
This number is still small compared to the number of Americans who have traditional investments. Fifty four percent of Americans — a record low — invest in the stock market (including through individual stocks, mutual funds, 401(k)s and pensions).
Unsurprisingly, the affluent are more likely to dabble in bitcoin regularly. Fifteen percent of adults who earn over $100,000 annually said they are buying, receiving or sending bitcoin somewhat or very frequently. One could imagine that ultra high networth individuals have the luxury to diversify their earnings even more. In contrast, 7% of those who earn less than $50,000 said they use bitcoin, according to the survey of 2,039 U.S. adults.
Even though 16.3 million Americans use bitcoin all the time, most peoplemay not be ready for it, particularly given concerns surrounding security and diversification.
Overall, Americans remain confused about the cryptocurrency. A 37% plurality say they aren’t familiar at all with bitcoin. Forty-two percent say they’re either somewhat or not too familiar with it while 9% claim they are very familiar. The remaining 12% didn’t know or had no opinion.
“I would simply say that bitcoin at this time plays a very small role in the payments system. “[Bitcoin] is not a stable store of value, it doesn’t constitute legal tender, and it is a highly speculative asset,” asFederal Reserve ChairJanet Yellen said this week.
Perhaps we should heed Warren Buffett’s advice about investing in what you know and trust. He was an early bitcoin bear, dubbing it a mirage in 2014 (the price of bitcoin has increased 35-fold since he first made the call.) If that’s the case, much of America might be better off observing from the sidelines.
Melody Hahm is a senior writer at Yahoo Finance, covering entrepreneurship, technology and real estate. Follow her on Twitter@melodyhahm.
Read more:
• Walmart employees should use new early pay policy as last resort
• Trump administration’s proposed rule raises fear of legal wage theft
• 74% of parents help their adult children with finances
• Behavioral economist explains a 3-jar system that teaches kids about money
• Parents want their teens to be entrepreneurs but teens don’t want to || When Investors Should Start Buying General Electric Company Stock: It’s a simple question, really: When should investors start buying General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) stock? Unfortunately, the answer is not simple. The industrial giant still has cash flow issues, although leadership is taking command behind new CEO John Flannery. But even with a solid plan now in place, it takes time to execute. All the while, the GE stock price continues to flounder. 10 Strong Buy Stocks That Are Better Than Bitcoin What Do We Make of GE Stock? The 50% dividend cut shouldn’t have been a surprise . Even though management said the dividend was a priority, it never said it was a guarantee. That’s something I have pointed out several times in the past, along with the company’s free-cash flow (FCF) and operating cash flow (OCF) issues. Truth is, free-cash flow has been operating as a deficit for quite some time. Currently, GE’s trailing 12 months of FCF is negative to the tune of $2 billion, a far cry from the FCF it was generating just a few years ago. In fact, its OCF stood at $27.7 billion and $19.9 billion in 2014 and 2015, respectively. In fiscal 2016, it fell to a $244 million deficit. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips It’s improved this year, now standing near $4.2 billion over the past three quarters. But it’s no surprise the dividend had to be reduced and that Flannery is paring down businesses. Truth be told, I think this is the man to lead GE out the massive hole prior management had dug. With a mostly new board of directors and Flannery leading the charge, the company plans to cut jobs and pare off businesses it doesn’t need. This will allow GE’s true cash-flow generators to shine and its margins to increase. GE Earnings The downside to all of this restructuring? It takes time. JPMorgan Chase & Co. ‘s (NYSE: JPM ) Stephen Tusa has been pretty spot on about GE, nailing nearly all of its decline this year. His current price target is $17. Consensus estimates call for earnings of $1.07 this year, down big from the $1.55 that analysts had forecast at the start of October. Story continues But the issue compounds in 2018, where estimates call for earnings per share of $1.03. Only in 2019 — still a ways away and subject to revisions — does Wall Street expect a return to growth, forecasting earnings of $1.24 per share. chart of GE stock price Long-term chart of GE stock price. Click on image to enlarge. In this respect, it’s hard to get excited about GE stock price. Earnings are forecast to fall 28% this year, while flat earnings growth in 2018 would be an achievement. That’s why for as much as GE stock has fallen, I think more downside could exist. There’s a plan in place, but it will take time to execute and there will be hiccups along the way. Trading GE Stock Price General Electric’s fall has been brutal for what’s supposed to be an industrial stalwart. Making matters worse, other industrial and aerospace players — like Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ), Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON ) and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX ) — continue to knock it out of the park. chart of GE stock price Click on image to enlarge. So what do we do with GE? Let’s look at the eight year chart. Some might consider $17.76 close enough to $17 to start buying. After all, they could buy now and use that significant level as a stop-loss. I would actually want to buy GE stock at $17 rather than stop-out at that level, though. The reasoning is simple: GE stock price has blown through significant support level after level. Maybe $17 holds or maybe it gives way to $15. I don’t know yet, but I do know the fundamental outlook isn’t improving much over the next 9 to 15 months. Given that, there could easily be a lack of buyers, allowing shares to drift lower. My plan would be to buy a half-position at $17 and make it a full position at $15. If it never gets to $15, so be it. But I will at least have my toes in the water should GE stock price establish a bottom. 10 Hot IPOs That You Could Buy in 2018 Further, it’s current lows near $17.50 don’t look guaranteed to hold. If we see $17, it’s time to buy. (For reference, at $16, GE stock would yield 3%.) Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell . As of this writing, Bret Kenwell did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace Rite Aid Corporation Stock Is Finally on the Road to Recovery How Apple Inc. Stock Could Benefit by Being More Like IBM Apple Inc.'s Latest Acquisition Says a Lot About Snap Inc Stock Why Best Buy Co Inc Stock Is a Great Buy Thanks to Apple Inc Compare Brokers The post When Investors Should Start Buying General Electric Company Stock appeared first on InvestorPlace . || When Investors Should Start Buying General Electric Company Stock: It’s a simple question, really: When should investors start buyingGeneral Electric Company(NYSE:GE) stock? Unfortunately, the answer isnotsimple. The industrial giant still has cash flow issues, although leadership is taking command behind new CEO John Flannery. But even with a solid plan now in place, it takes time to execute. All the while, the GE stock price continues to flounder.
• 10 Strong Buy Stocks That Are Better Than Bitcoin
The 50% dividend cutshouldn’t have been a surprise. Even though management said the dividend was a priority, it never said it was a guarantee. That’s something I have pointed out several times in the past, along with thecompany’s free-cash flow(FCF) and operating cash flow (OCF) issues.
Truth is, free-cash flow has been operating as a deficit for quite some time. Currently, GE’s trailing 12 months of FCF is negative to the tune of $2 billion, a far cry from the FCF it was generating just a few years ago. In fact, its OCF stood at $27.7 billion and $19.9 billion in 2014 and 2015, respectively. In fiscal 2016, it fell to a $244 million deficit.
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
It’s improved this year, now standing near $4.2 billion over the past three quarters. But it’s no surprise the dividend had to be reduced and that Flannery is paring down businesses. Truth be told, I think this is the man to lead GE out the massive hole prior management had dug. With a mostly new board of directors and Flannery leading the charge, the company plans to cut jobs and pare off businesses it doesn’t need. This will allow GE’s true cash-flow generators to shine and its margins to increase.
The downside to all of this restructuring? It takes time.JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s (NYSE:JPM) Stephen Tusa has been pretty spot on about GE, nailing nearly all of its decline this year. Hiscurrent price targetis $17. Consensus estimates call for earnings of $1.07 this year, down big from the $1.55 that analysts had forecast at the start of October.
But the issue compounds in 2018, where estimates call for earnings per share of $1.03. Only in 2019 — still a ways away and subject to revisions — does Wall Street expect a return to growth, forecasting earnings of $1.24 per share.
Long-term chart of GE stock price. Click on image to enlarge.
In this respect, it’s hard to get excited about GE stock price. Earnings are forecast to fall 28% this year, while flat earnings growth in 2018 would be an achievement. That’s why for as much as GE stock has fallen, I think more downside could exist. There’s a plan in place, but it will take time to execute and there will be hiccups along the way.
General Electric’s fall has been brutal for what’s supposed to be an industrial stalwart. Making matters worse, other industrial and aerospace players — likeBoeing Co(NYSE:BA),Honeywell International Inc.(NYSE:HON) andUnited Technologies Corporation(NYSE:UTX) — continue to knock it out of the park.
Click on image to enlarge.
So what do we do with GE? Let’s look at the eight year chart. Some might consider $17.76 close enough to $17 to start buying. After all, they could buy now and use that significant level as a stop-loss. I would actually want to buy GE stock at $17 rather than stop-out at that level, though.
The reasoning is simple: GE stock price has blown through significant support level after level. Maybe $17 holds or maybe it gives way to $15. I don’t know yet, but I do know the fundamental outlook isn’t improving much over the next 9 to 15 months. Given that, there could easily be a lack of buyers, allowing shares to drift lower. My plan would be to buy a half-position at $17 and make it a full position at $15. If it never gets to $15, so be it. But I will at least have my toes in the water should GE stock price establish a bottom.
• 10 Hot IPOs That You Could Buy in 2018
Further, it’s current lows near $17.50 don’t look guaranteed to hold. If we see $17, it’s time to buy. (For reference, at $16, GE stock would yield 3%.)
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author ofFuture Blue Chipsand is on Twitter@BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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The postWhen Investors Should Start Buying General Electric Company Stockappeared first onInvestorPlace.
[Social Media Buzz]
New all time #bitstamp #bitcoin high of $18700.00 || Cotizaciones al 16/12/2017 12:00 PM
Bitcoin (BTC): 104.398.510
Ethereum (ETH): 3.860.912
Litecoin (LTC): 1.675.985
BTC Cash (BCH): 9.963.727 || Ouch 05:00 bed time. I best be able to trade BitCoin over the weekend whilst hungover. What do you mean there’s a 10102883833 spread? || Current price of Bitcoin is $18990.00 #bitcoin #btc #btcusd || Dec 16, 2017 11:30:00 UTC | 17,993.20$ | 15,305.30€ | 13,504.80£ | #Bitcoin #btc pic.twitter.com/YDjuPY...
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19140.80, 19114.20, 17776.70, 16624.60, 15802.90, 13831.80, 14699.20, 13925.80, 14026.60, 16099.80
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 2202.42, 2038.87, 2155.80, 2255.61, 2175.47, 2286.41, 2407.88, 2488.55, 2515.35, 2511.81, 2686.81, 2863.20, 2732.16, 2805.62, 2823.81, 2947.71, 2958.11, 2659.63, 2717.02, 2506.37, 2464.58, 2518.56, 2655.88, 2548.29, 2589.60, 2721.79, 2689.10, 2705.41, 2744.91, 2608.72, 2589.41, 2478.45, 2552.45, 2574.79, 2539.32, 2480.84, 2434.55, 2506.47, 2564.06, 2601.64, 2601.99, 2608.56, 2518.66, 2571.34, 2518.44, 2372.56, 2337.79, 2398.84, 2357.90, 2233.34, 1998.86, 1929.82, 2228.41, 2318.88, 2273.43, 2817.60, 2667.76, 2810.12, 2730.40, 2754.86, 2576.48, 2529.45, 2671.78, 2809.01, 2726.45, 2757.18, 2875.34, 2718.26, 2710.67, 2804.73, 2895.89, 3252.91, 3213.94, 3378.94, 3419.94, 3342.47, 3381.28, 3650.62, 3884.71, 4073.26, 4325.13, 4181.93, 4376.63, 4331.69, 4160.62, 4193.70, 4087.66, 4001.74, 4100.52, 4151.52.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-08-23]
Volume: 2369819904, RSI (14-day): 65.97, 50-day EMA: 3284.57, 200-day EMA: 2227.18
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1288.90, Gold RSI: 63.21
Oil Price: 48.41, Oil RSI: 53.26
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Mark Cuban Backs Cryptocurrency Fund After Saying Bitcoin Is a Bubble: Billionaire investor and Bitcoin doubter Mark Cuban is coming around on cryptocurrency . Despite saying Bitcoin was a bubble in early June, Cuban has backed venture capital firm 1confirmation, according to Bloomberg . The firm not only has plans to invest some $20 million in companies developing blockchain technologies , but it also wants to invest in early stage companies before they head into an initial coin offering (ICO)—a fundraising effort in which the offering company issues tokens rather than ownership stakes. Founded by Runa Capital principal Nick Tomaino, 1confirmation hopes an early stage investment in a promising albeit unproven company could lead to a discounted token price once young company holds an ICO, according to Bloomberg. 1confirmation also hinted that it hopes to add value to the companies it invests in to bump up its ICO pricing. There's founders in the blockchain ecosystem that aren't spending time marketing & doing an ICO pre-product; they're heads down building — 1confirmation (@1confirmation) August 22, 2017 That approach may not get a lot of attention in the short-term, but it's likely the best way to build for the long-term — 1confirmation (@1confirmation) August 22, 2017 It’s not the first time Cuban has gotten involved in an ICO. Cuban also plans on participating in a fundraising round of sports-betting blockchain platform Unikrn , meaning his latest investment could result in him indirectly owning more than one kind of cryptocurrency. Read: 5 Ways Businesses Are Already Using Blockchains ICOs have caught fire recently , at least among investors like Cuban. One major selling point is that while traditional methods of investing in a young company usually means holding onto the stake for a long period of time, tokens are far more liquid. If an investor wants out of a company, they can usually trade the company’s coins for Bitcoin of Ether, which can in turn be traded for fiat currency, according to the Harvard Business Review . Story continues Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies have surged in recent months , with Wall Street consistently raising Bitcoin’s value higher and higher. This is part of Fortune’s new initiative, The Ledger , a trusted news source at the intersection of tech and finance. || Mark Cuban Backs Cryptocurrency Fund After Saying Bitcoin Is a Bubble: Billionaire investor and Bitcoin doubter Mark Cuban is coming around oncryptocurrency.
Despite saying Bitcoin was a bubble in early June, Cuban has backed venture capital firm 1confirmation, according toBloomberg. The firm not only has plans to invest some$20 millionin companies developingblockchain technologies, but it also wants to invest in early stage companies before they head into aninitial coin offering(ICO)—a fundraising effort in which the offering company issues tokens rather than ownership stakes.
Founded by Runa Capital principal Nick Tomaino, 1confirmation hopes an early stage investment in a promising albeit unproven company could lead to a discounted token price once young company holds an ICO, according to Bloomberg.
1confirmation also hinted that it hopes to add value to the companies it invests in to bump up its ICO pricing.
It’s not the first time Cuban has gotten involved in an ICO. Cuban also plans on participating in a fundraising round of sports-betting blockchain platformUnikrn, meaning his latest investment could result in him indirectly owning more than one kind of cryptocurrency.
Read:5 Ways Businesses Are Already Using Blockchains
ICOs havecaught fire recently, at least among investors like Cuban. One major selling point is that while traditional methods of investing in a young company usually means holding onto the stake for a long period of time, tokens are far more liquid. If an investor wants out of a company, they can usually trade the company’s coins for Bitcoin of Ether, which can in turn be traded for fiat currency, according to theHarvard Business Review.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrencieshave surged in recent months, with Wall Street consistently raisingBitcoin’s valuehigher and higher.
This is part of Fortune’s new initiative,The Ledger, a trusted news source at the intersection of tech and finance. || Mark Cuban Backs Cryptocurrency Fund After Saying Bitcoin Is a Bubble: Billionaire investor and Bitcoin doubter Mark Cuban is coming around oncryptocurrency.
Despite saying Bitcoin was a bubble in early June, Cuban has backed venture capital firm 1confirmation, according toBloomberg. The firm not only has plans to invest some$20 millionin companies developingblockchain technologies, but it also wants to invest in early stage companies before they head into aninitial coin offering(ICO)—a fundraising effort in which the offering company issues tokens rather than ownership stakes.
Founded by Runa Capital principal Nick Tomaino, 1confirmation hopes an early stage investment in a promising albeit unproven company could lead to a discounted token price once young company holds an ICO, according to Bloomberg.
1confirmation also hinted that it hopes to add value to the companies it invests in to bump up its ICO pricing.
It’s not the first time Cuban has gotten involved in an ICO. Cuban also plans on participating in a fundraising round of sports-betting blockchain platformUnikrn, meaning his latest investment could result in him indirectly owning more than one kind of cryptocurrency.
Read:5 Ways Businesses Are Already Using Blockchains
ICOs havecaught fire recently, at least among investors like Cuban. One major selling point is that while traditional methods of investing in a young company usually means holding onto the stake for a long period of time, tokens are far more liquid. If an investor wants out of a company, they can usually trade the company’s coins for Bitcoin of Ether, which can in turn be traded for fiat currency, according to theHarvard Business Review.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrencieshave surged in recent months, with Wall Street consistently raisingBitcoin’s valuehigher and higher.
This is part of Fortune’s new initiative,The Ledger, a trusted news source at the intersection of tech and finance. || Chevron CEO John Watson Expected to Step Down: John Watson, who has led Corp. since 2010, is planning to step down as the oil major seeks a new chief executive officer, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
While the San Ramon, California-based producer has not made a final decision on a successor, Michael Wirth, a 56-year-old Chevron lifer whose elevation was telegraphed in January when the company announced his promotion to vice chairman, has been seen as a leading candidate. An announcement will likely be made next month, the Journal said.
Kent Robertson, a Chevron spokesman, declined to comment on the report.
Watson, 60, was named CEO after he oversaw the integration of Texaco Inc. and Unocal Corp. into Chevron. They were purchased by his acquisitive predecessor and mentor, David O'Reilly. Since the global oil rout began in earnest in 2014, though, Watson has struggled to protect dividend payouts from the ravages of tumbling crude prices and shrinking cash flow.
Watson has resorted to job cuts, project cancellations and billions of dollars in asset sales to cope with an industry downturn that erased $50 billion from Chevron's market value. In 2016, Chevron posted its first annual loss in at least 37 years.
One of Wirth's crowning achievements was the restructuring of Chevron's sprawling refining business by selling off billions of dollars in assets from Africa to Europe.
Under his leadership, the company quit processing crude in Western Europe as that market matured and growth slowed, and sharpened its focus on expanding demand centers in East Asia and Latin America.
Watson later expanded Wirth's portfolio-trimming template to Chevron's worldwide oil and natural gas unit.
Watson was an unlikely oil executive, having majored in agricultural economics at the University of California-Davis, before obtaining his MBA from the University of Chicago. Chevron's mandatory retirement age for employee directors like Watson is 65.
See original article on Fortune.com
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• Blue Apron Fires Recruiting Staff and Implements Hiring Freeze || Chevron CEO John Watson Expected to Step Down: John Watson, who has led Corp. since 2010, is planning to step down as the oil major seeks a new chief executive officer, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. While the San Ramon, California-based producer has not made a final decision on a successor, Michael Wirth, a 56-year-old Chevron lifer whose elevation was telegraphed in January when the company announced his promotion to vice chairman, has been seen as a leading candidate. An announcement will likely be made next month, the Journal said. Kent Robertson, a Chevron spokesman, declined to comment on the report. Watson, 60, was named CEO after he oversaw the integration of Texaco Inc. and Unocal Corp. into Chevron. They were purchased by his acquisitive predecessor and mentor, David O'Reilly. Since the global oil rout began in earnest in 2014, though, Watson has struggled to protect dividend payouts from the ravages of tumbling crude prices and shrinking cash flow. Watson has resorted to job cuts, project cancellations and billions of dollars in asset sales to cope with an industry downturn that erased $50 billion from Chevron's market value. In 2016, Chevron posted its first annual loss in at least 37 years. One of Wirth's crowning achievements was the restructuring of Chevron's sprawling refining business by selling off billions of dollars in assets from Africa to Europe. Under his leadership, the company quit processing crude in Western Europe as that market matured and growth slowed, and sharpened its focus on expanding demand centers in East Asia and Latin America. Watson later expanded Wirth's portfolio-trimming template to Chevron's worldwide oil and natural gas unit. Watson was an unlikely oil executive, having majored in agricultural economics at the University of California-Davis, before obtaining his MBA from the University of Chicago. Chevron's mandatory retirement age for employee directors like Watson is 65. Story continues See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Ray Dalio Warns Markets: 'Death Probably More Likely Than Reconciliation' Mark Cuban Backs Cryptocurrency Fund After Saying Bitcoin Is a Bubble Elon Musk and Bill Gates Share This Daily Routine Habit HSBC Currency Scheme May Have Involved 11 Other Bank Employees Blue Apron Fires Recruiting Staff and Implements Hiring Freeze || The solar eclipse caused a 10% drop in Netflix viewing: (People in Brooklyn, New York watch a partial solar eclipse.Spencer Platt/Getty)
While the solar eclipse drew massive crowds and abare-eyedPresident Trump outside to witness the rare event Monday afternoon, Netflix viewership took a significant hit.
According to the streaming service's U.S. Twitter account, Netflix plays dropped 10 percent during the eclipse.
"Hey, just wondering why 10% of you chose to watch a giant rock cover a giant ball of gas when I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE FOR YOU," Netflixtweeted.The accountadded, "but really, there was a 10% drop in plays during the eclipse today. Well played, Moon."
In addition to losing viewers to the momentary eclipse, Netflix may also have lost some viewers in the long term to eclipse-induced eye damage.
Google searches for"eyes hurt"reportedly spiked following the eclipse, and numerous notable people — including Trump, Tesla CEOElon Musk, and New York Giants wide receiverOdell Beckham Jr.— publicly demonstrated the incorrect, retina-burning technique of viewing the eclipse without special glasses.
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• British scientists have recreated the conditions of a black hole using a giant bathtub and water dye
• Snapchat is using the solar eclipse to show off the real potential of its maps feature
• This teenage Bitcoin millionaire high school dropout is sending a signed Taylor Swift CD into space || Dollar index holds onto gains in subdued trade: Investing.com - The dollar held onto gains against the other major currencies in subdued trade on Tuesday, as investors awaited the Jackson Hole Summit due to begin on Thursday.
Traders were looking ahead to this week's annual meeting of top central bankers and economists in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the heads of the U.S. and European central banks will be making keynote speeches.
Their comments will be closely watched for fresh policy signals from the world’s two most powerful central banks.
Ongoing uncertainty over the economic agenda of U.S. President Donald Trump and doubts that the Federal Reserve will deliver a third rate hike this year have fed into recent dollar weakness.
The yen and Swiss franc were lower, with USD/JPY up 0.36% at 109.35 and with USD/CHF advancing 0.38% to trade at 0.9655.
However, geopolitical tensions persisted after North Korea unveiled a propaganda video of its threat to fire missiles near the U.S. territory of Guam.
Pyongyang threatened the U.S. with “merciless revenge” for ignoring its warnings overannual military drills with South Korea.
Elsewhere, EUR/USD slid 0.47% to 1.1760, while GBP/USD dropped 0.61% to 1.2823.
Data on Tuesday showed that confidence among German investorsdeteriorated for a third consecutive month in August.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.18% at 0.7924 and with NZD/USD retreating 0.42% to 0.7297.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged down 0.16% to trade at a three-week low of 1.2538 after data showed that Canada's retail salesrose less than expected in June, but the core reading was stronger than forecast.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.41% at 93.38 by 10:50 a.m. ET (02:50 p.m. GMT), off the previous session's one-week low of 92.92.
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Forex - Dollar remains broadly higher in quiet trade || Dollar index holds onto gains in subdued trade: Dollar remains on the upside, Jackson Hole in focus Investing.com - The dollar held onto gains against the other major currencies in subdued trade on Tuesday, as investors awaited the Jackson Hole Summit due to begin on Thursday. Traders were looking ahead to this week's annual meeting of top central bankers and economists in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the heads of the U.S. and European central banks will be making keynote speeches. Their comments will be closely watched for fresh policy signals from the world’s two most powerful central banks. Ongoing uncertainty over the economic agenda of U.S. President Donald Trump and doubts that the Federal Reserve will deliver a third rate hike this year have fed into recent dollar weakness. The yen and Swiss franc were lower, with USD/JPY up 0.36% at 109.35 and with USD/CHF advancing 0.38% to trade at 0.9655. However, geopolitical tensions persisted after North Korea unveiled a propaganda video of its threat to fire missiles near the U.S. territory of Guam. Pyongyang threatened the U.S. with “merciless revenge” for ignoring its warnings over annual military drills with South Korea . Elsewhere, EUR/USD slid 0.47% to 1.1760, while GBP/USD dropped 0.61% to 1.2823. Data on Tuesday showed that confidence among German investors deteriorated for a third consecutive month in August . The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.18% at 0.7924 and with NZD/USD retreating 0.42% to 0.7297. Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged down 0.16% to trade at a three-week low of 1.2538 after data showed that Canada's retail sales rose less than expected in June , but the core reading was stronger than forecast. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.41% at 93.38 by 10:50 a.m. ET (02:50 p.m. GMT), off the previous session's one-week low of 92.92. Related Articles Forex - USD/CAD erases gains, hits 3-week lows Bitcoin falls below $4,000 to hit 7-day low Forex - Dollar remains broadly higher in quiet trade View comments || 5 Strong Buy Stocks a Better Bet Than Bitcoin: Feels like a new day after the eclipse here. Gone are the worries of North Korea and tensions following Charlottesville. We got a big bounce in stocks with virtually no pullbacks today and volatility left the building. All this while the Jackson Hole Summit has central bankers listening to Prince and watching Lonesome Dove.
Check out Dave’s Daily Dive video above where I break down the market action today!!!
Each day I, Dave Bartosiak of Zacks.com (Twitter @bartosiastics) dive into the charts, pointing out key price action and levels for you to watch.
But it doesn’t stop there because the highlight of today’s video, which you can see for free by clicking above, is where I uncover five Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks that are breaking out to new 52-week highs today. These stocks have a ton of momentum behind them and are charging higher. The list of stocks I cover today include:
Alibaba BABA
Alibaba Group Holding Limited Price and Consensus | Alibaba Group Holding Limited Quote
Alibaba Group Holding Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as an online and mobile commerce company in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Core Commerce, Cloud Computing, Digital Media and Entertainment, and Innovation Initiatives and Others. It operates Taobao Marketplace, a mobile commerce destination; Tmall, a third-party platform for brands and retailers; Rural Taobao program that enables rural residents and businesses to sell agricultural products to urban consumers; Juhuasuan, a sales and marketing platform for flash sales; Alibaba.com, an online wholesale marketplace; Alitrip, an online travel booking platform; 1688.com, an online wholesale marketplace; and AliExpress, a consumer marketplace.
Getty Realty GTY
Getty Realty Corporation Price and Consensus | Getty Realty Corporation Quote
Getty Realty Corp. operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. The company engages in the ownership and leasing of retail motor fuel and convenience store properties, and petroleum distribution terminals. The company’s properties are leased or sublet to distributors and retailers engaged in the sale of gasoline and various motor fuel products, convenience store products, and automotive repair services.
China Lodging HTHT
China Lodging Group, Limited Price and Consensus | China Lodging Group, Limited Quote
China Lodging Group, Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops leased and owned, manachised, and franchised hotels primarily in the People’s Republic of China. It operates hotels under the Joya Hotel, Manxin Hotels & Resorts, JI Hotel, Starway Hotel, Elan Hotel, HanTing Hotel, Hi Inn, Grand Mercure Hotel, Novotel Hotel, Mercure Hotel, Ibis Styles Hotel, and Ibis Hotel brand names for business and leisure traveler customers.
Telecom Argentina TEO
Telecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. Price and Consensus | Telecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. Quote
Telecom Argentina S.A. provides fixed-line telecommunications and other telephone-related services to residential customers, businesses, and governmental agencies in Argentina and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Fixed Telecommunications Services, Personal Mobile Telecommunications Services, and Núcleo Mobile Telecommunications Services.
Xplore Technologies XPLR
Xplore Technologies Corp Price and Consensus | Xplore Technologies Corp Quote
Xplore Technologies Corp. develops, integrates, and markets rugged mobile personal computer systems in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company’s products enable the extension of traditional computing systems to a range of field personnel, including energy pipeline inspectors, public safety personnel, warehouse workers, and pharmaceutical scientists.
Now See All Our Private Trades
While today's Zacks Rank #1 new additions are being shared with the public, other trades are hidden from everyone but selected members. Would you like to peek behind the curtain and view them? Starting today, for the next month, you can follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from insider trades to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises (we've called them with 80%+ accuracy). You can even look inside portfolios so exclusive that they are normally closed to new investors. Click here for all Zacks trades >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportAlibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportXplore Technologies Corp (XPLR) : Free Stock Analysis ReportChina Lodging Group, Limited (HTHT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTelecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. (TEO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportGetty Realty Corporation (GTY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research || 5 Strong Buy Stocks a Better Bet Than Bitcoin: Feels like a new day after the eclipse here. Gone are the worries of North Korea and tensions following Charlottesville. We got a big bounce in stocks with virtually no pullbacks today and volatility left the building. All this while the Jackson Hole Summit has central bankers listening to Prince and watching Lonesome Dove.
Check out Dave’s Daily Dive video above where I break down the market action today!!!
Each day I, Dave Bartosiak of Zacks.com (Twitter @bartosiastics) dive into the charts, pointing out key price action and levels for you to watch.
But it doesn’t stop there because the highlight of today’s video, which you can see for free by clicking above, is where I uncover five Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks that are breaking out to new 52-week highs today. These stocks have a ton of momentum behind them and are charging higher. The list of stocks I cover today include:
Alibaba BABA
Alibaba Group Holding Limited Price and Consensus | Alibaba Group Holding Limited Quote
Alibaba Group Holding Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as an online and mobile commerce company in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Core Commerce, Cloud Computing, Digital Media and Entertainment, and Innovation Initiatives and Others. It operates Taobao Marketplace, a mobile commerce destination; Tmall, a third-party platform for brands and retailers; Rural Taobao program that enables rural residents and businesses to sell agricultural products to urban consumers; Juhuasuan, a sales and marketing platform for flash sales; Alibaba.com, an online wholesale marketplace; Alitrip, an online travel booking platform; 1688.com, an online wholesale marketplace; and AliExpress, a consumer marketplace.
Getty Realty GTY
Getty Realty Corporation Price and Consensus | Getty Realty Corporation Quote
Getty Realty Corp. operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. The company engages in the ownership and leasing of retail motor fuel and convenience store properties, and petroleum distribution terminals. The company’s properties are leased or sublet to distributors and retailers engaged in the sale of gasoline and various motor fuel products, convenience store products, and automotive repair services.
China Lodging HTHT
China Lodging Group, Limited Price and Consensus | China Lodging Group, Limited Quote
China Lodging Group, Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops leased and owned, manachised, and franchised hotels primarily in the People’s Republic of China. It operates hotels under the Joya Hotel, Manxin Hotels & Resorts, JI Hotel, Starway Hotel, Elan Hotel, HanTing Hotel, Hi Inn, Grand Mercure Hotel, Novotel Hotel, Mercure Hotel, Ibis Styles Hotel, and Ibis Hotel brand names for business and leisure traveler customers.
Telecom Argentina TEO
Telecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. Price and Consensus | Telecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. Quote
Telecom Argentina S.A. provides fixed-line telecommunications and other telephone-related services to residential customers, businesses, and governmental agencies in Argentina and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Fixed Telecommunications Services, Personal Mobile Telecommunications Services, and Núcleo Mobile Telecommunications Services.
Xplore Technologies XPLR
Xplore Technologies Corp Price and Consensus | Xplore Technologies Corp Quote
Xplore Technologies Corp. develops, integrates, and markets rugged mobile personal computer systems in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company’s products enable the extension of traditional computing systems to a range of field personnel, including energy pipeline inspectors, public safety personnel, warehouse workers, and pharmaceutical scientists.
Now See All Our Private Trades
While today's Zacks Rank #1 new additions are being shared with the public, other trades are hidden from everyone but selected members. Would you like to peek behind the curtain and view them? Starting today, for the next month, you can follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from insider trades to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises (we've called them with 80%+ accuracy). You can even look inside portfolios so exclusive that they are normally closed to new investors. Click here for all Zacks trades >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportAlibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) : Free Stock Analysis ReportXplore Technologies Corp (XPLR) : Free Stock Analysis ReportChina Lodging Group, Limited (HTHT) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTelecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. (TEO) : Free Stock Analysis ReportGetty Realty Corporation (GTY) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research || 5 Strong Buy Stocks a Better Bet Than Bitcoin: Feels like a new day after the eclipse here. Gone are the worries of North Korea and tensions following Charlottesville. We got a big bounce in stocks with virtually no pullbacks today and volatility left the building. All this while the Jackson Hole Summit has central bankers listening to Prince and watching Lonesome Dove. Check out Daves Daily Dive video above where I break down the market action today!!! Each day I, Dave Bartosiak of Zacks.com (Twitter @bartosiastics) dive into the charts, pointing out key price action and levels for you to watch. But it doesnt stop there because the highlight of todays video, which you can see for free by clicking above, is where I uncover five Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks that are breaking out to new 52-week highs today. These stocks have a ton of momentum behind them and are charging higher. The list of stocks I cover today include: Alibaba BABA Alibaba Group Holding Limited Price and Consensus Alibaba Group Holding Limited Price and Consensus | Alibaba Group Holding Limited Quote Alibaba Group Holding Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as an online and mobile commerce company in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Core Commerce, Cloud Computing, Digital Media and Entertainment, and Innovation Initiatives and Others. It operates Taobao Marketplace, a mobile commerce destination; Tmall, a third-party platform for brands and retailers; Rural Taobao program that enables rural residents and businesses to sell agricultural products to urban consumers; Juhuasuan, a sales and marketing platform for flash sales; Alibaba.com, an online wholesale marketplace; Alitrip, an online travel booking platform; 1688.com, an online wholesale marketplace; and AliExpress, a consumer marketplace. Getty Realty GTY Getty Realty Corporation Price and Consensus Getty Realty Corporation Price and Consensus | Getty Realty Corporation Quote Story continues Getty Realty Corp. operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. The company engages in the ownership and leasing of retail motor fuel and convenience store properties, and petroleum distribution terminals. The companys properties are leased or sublet to distributors and retailers engaged in the sale of gasoline and various motor fuel products, convenience store products, and automotive repair services. China Lodging HTHT China Lodging Group, Limited Price and Consensus China Lodging Group, Limited Price and Consensus | China Lodging Group, Limited Quote China Lodging Group, Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops leased and owned, manachised, and franchised hotels primarily in the Peoples Republic of China. It operates hotels under the Joya Hotel, Manxin Hotels & Resorts, JI Hotel, Starway Hotel, Elan Hotel, HanTing Hotel, Hi Inn, Grand Mercure Hotel, Novotel Hotel, Mercure Hotel, Ibis Styles Hotel, and Ibis Hotel brand names for business and leisure traveler customers. Telecom Argentina TEO Telecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. Price and Consensus Telecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. Price and Consensus | Telecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. Quote Telecom Argentina S.A. provides fixed-line telecommunications and other telephone-related services to residential customers, businesses, and governmental agencies in Argentina and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Fixed Telecommunications Services, Personal Mobile Telecommunications Services, and Núcleo Mobile Telecommunications Services. Xplore Technologies XPLR Xplore Technologies Corp Price and Consensus Xplore Technologies Corp Price and Consensus | Xplore Technologies Corp Quote Xplore Technologies Corp. develops, integrates, and markets rugged mobile personal computer systems in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The companys products enable the extension of traditional computing systems to a range of field personnel, including energy pipeline inspectors, public safety personnel, warehouse workers, and pharmaceutical scientists. Now See All Our Private Trades While today's Zacks Rank #1 new additions are being shared with the public, other trades are hidden from everyone but selected members. Would you like to peek behind the curtain and view them? Starting today, for the next month, you can follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from insider trades to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises (we've called them with 80%+ accuracy). You can even look inside portfolios so exclusive that they are normally closed to new investors. Click here for all Zacks trades >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Xplore Technologies Corp (XPLR) : Free Stock Analysis Report China Lodging Group, Limited (HTHT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Telecom Argentina Stet - France Telecom S.A. (TEO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Getty Realty Corporation (GTY) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research || Mark Cuban is backing a new cryptocurrency fund months after calling bitcoin a 'bubble': (Mark Cuban speaking at the 2015 Wall Street Journal Digital Live conference.Mike Blake/Reuters)
Mark Cuban is singing a different tune when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
The tech billionaire and "Shark Tank" star is an early backer of a new cryptocurrency fund,according to CoinDesk, which reports on blockchain and cryptocurrency news.
The fund, 1confirmation, launched Tuesday, plans to invest exclusively in cryptocurrency assets, according to a filing withthe Securities and Exchange Commission. Its founder, Nick Tomaino, a principal at the $270 million Palo Alto-based investor Runa Capital, is looking to raise $20 million.
"I think Nick is one of the sharpest minds in the space, and I'm a big believer that there will be transformational apps built on blockchain," Cuban told CoinDesk.
Cuban said in a tweet last week that he was looking to jump on the bitcoin bandwagon:
Cuban's financial interest in the digital-currency world is an about-face for the billionaire, who two months ago called it a "bubble." In early June, soon after bitcoin hit what was then a near record high of $2,900 a coin, Cuban warned of a coming correction:
Cuban then turned his focus to cryptocurrencies as a whole:
Cuban's change of heart represents a pivot across Wall Street. Financial firms and institutional investors are waking up to the profit potential in cryptocurrencies as bitcoin and ether, its rival powered by the Ethereum blockchain, reach new heights — they're up more than 350% and 2,000%, respectively, since the beginning of the year.
For instance, VanEck, the New York-based money manager with $24.7 billion in assets, is seeking to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, according to an August 11 SECpreliminary filing. Additionally, Goldman Sachs is telling clients that cryptocurrencies are worth their attention.
In a recent note to portfolio managers, the Goldman analystRobert Boroujerdi and his teamwrote:
"With the total value nearly $120 billion, it's getting harder for institutional investors to ignore cryptocurrencies. Whether or not you believe in the merit of investing in cryptocurrencies (you know who you are) real dollars are at work here and warrant watching especially in light of the growing world of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and fundraising that now exceeds Internet Angel and Seed investing."
ICOs, a fundraising method powered by blockchain, have raised over $1.8 billion since the beginning of the year, according to Autonomous Next, a fintech-analytics firm.
According to CoinDesk, 1confirmation "will make initial investments in the $100,000 to $500,000 range" in "legal vehicles designed to help investors pre-purchase tokens or equity prior to an ICO."
NOW WATCH:How working at Goldman Sachs is different from a hedge fund job
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• Bitcoin is back above $4,000 || Mark Cuban is backing a new cryptocurrency fund months after calling bitcoin a 'bubble': mark cuban (Mark Cuban speaking at the 2015 Wall Street Journal Digital Live conference.Mike Blake/Reuters) Mark Cuban is singing a different tune when it comes to cryptocurrencies. The tech billionaire and "Shark Tank" star is an early backer of a new cryptocurrency fund, according to CoinDesk , which reports on blockchain and cryptocurrency news. The fund, 1confirmation, launched Tuesday, plans to invest exclusively in cryptocurrency assets, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission . Its founder, Nick Tomaino, a principal at the $270 million Palo Alto-based investor Runa Capital, is looking to raise $20 million. "I think Nick is one of the sharpest minds in the space, and I'm a big believer that there will be transformational apps built on blockchain," Cuban told CoinDesk. Cuban said in a tweet last week that he was looking to jump on the bitcoin bandwagon: I might have to rewrite all these replacing stocks with $btc . Might have to finally buy some https://t.co/ADiPQWUNF6 — Mark Cuban (@mcuban) August 14, 2017 Cuban's financial interest in the digital-currency world is an about-face for the billionaire, who two months ago called it a "bubble." In early June, soon after bitcoin hit what was then a near record high of $2,900 a coin, Cuban warned of a coming correction: I think it's in a bubble. I just don't know when or how much it corrects. When everyone is bragging about how easy they are making $=bubble https://t.co/hTrV5DeWNd — Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 6, 2017 Cuban then turned his focus to cryptocurrencies as a whole: Anyone anywhere can buy a stock. #crypto is like gold. More religion than asset. Except of course gold makes nice jewelry. #crypto notsomuch https://t.co/xp334BCRa2 — Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 6, 2017 Cuban's change of heart represents a pivot across Wall Street. Financial firms and institutional investors are waking up to the profit potential in cryptocurrencies as bitcoin and ether, its rival powered by the Ethereum blockchain, reach new heights — they're up more than 350% and 2,000%, respectively, since the beginning of the year. Story continues For instance, VanEck, the New York-based money manager with $24.7 billion in assets, is seeking to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, according to an August 11 SEC preliminary filing . Additionally, Goldman Sachs is telling clients that cryptocurrencies are worth their attention. In a recent note to portfolio managers, the Goldman analyst Robert Boroujerdi and his team wrote: "With the total value nearly $120 billion, it's getting harder for institutional investors to ignore cryptocurrencies. Whether or not you believe in the merit of investing in cryptocurrencies (you know who you are) real dollars are at work here and warrant watching especially in light of the growing world of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and fundraising that now exceeds Internet Angel and Seed investing." ICOs, a fundraising method powered by blockchain, have raised over $1.8 billion since the beginning of the year, according to Autonomous Next, a fintech-analytics firm. According to CoinDesk, 1confirmation "will make initial investments in the $100,000 to $500,000 range" in "legal vehicles designed to help investors pre-purchase tokens or equity prior to an ICO." NOW WATCH: How working at Goldman Sachs is different from a hedge fund job More From Business Insider Bitcoin's rally is pausing — but Bitcoin Cash is popping Bitcoin is posting new record highs Bitcoin is back above $4,000 || Mark Cuban backs new $20 million cryptocurrency venture fund: Onetime bitcoin skeptic Mark Cuban is warming to the digital currency world. The billionaire is backing a new venture capital fund for cryptocurrency-related investments called 1confirmation. Founded by Nick Tomaino, former business development manager at Coinbase, the fund plans to raise $20 million, according to a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "It's an interesting space that I [want] to get involved with and learn more" about, Cuban said in an email to CNBC Tuesday. He did not specify the size of his investment. Cuban's opinion on digital currencies has changed fairly recently. In an Aug. 14 tweet, the Dallas Mavericks owner admitted he "might have to finally buy some" bitcoin (Exchange:BTC=-USS) , contrasting with a June tweet that said he thought bitcoin was in a "bubble." "Bias should be up because of finite supply. Until crypto or US politics intrude, and they will," he added in another tweet on Aug. 14. Tweet1 Tweet2 In late June, Cuban said he planned to participate in an initial coin offering by Unikrn, an online esports betting site in which he holds a stake. Earlier that month, Cuban tweeted that he didn't know when or by how much the price of bitcoin, which has soared in value this year, would correct. He did acknowledge then that the blockchain technology backing bitcoin had value and that it "will be at the core of most transactions in the future. Healthcare, finance etc all will use it." IBM ( IBM ) announced Tuesday that it will work with major food companies such as Wal-Mart ( WMT ) , Unilever, Tyson Foods ( TSN ) , Dole and Kroger ( KR ) to "identify new areas where the global supply chain can benefit from blockchain." However, bitcoin's surge and a rush of funds into initial coin offerings have attracted more investment attention. Bitcoin has quadrupled in value this year and hit a record last Thursday of $4,522.13 with a market capitalization of about $74 billion, according to CoinDesk. Initial coin offerings, which are fundraising events used by cryptocurrency-related start-ups, have raised $1.37 billion so far this year, CoinDesk data showed. Story continues Source: CoinDesk The launch of the 1confirmation fund comes amid increased fundraising for cryptocurrency-related businesses. On Aug. 10, digital currency storage and exchange company Coinbase announced it raised $100 million in private equity funding led by Dropbox investor IVP. That marks the largest single traditional funding round for a public blockchain or cryptocurrency start-up, according to CoinDesk. Other participants in 1confirmation include Brendan Eich, creator of the JavaScript computer programming language; Balaji Srinivasan, board partner at technology venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and David Vorick, who is building a blockchain-based cloud storage system called Sia. The fund's founder, Tomaino, is also a principal at venture fund Runa Capital. Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank," which features Mark Cuban as a panelist. More From CNBC Tech investor: Under Trump, business leaders have become the moral compass Inside the crumbling relationship between Uber and Benchmark These questions will shape Uber’s financial fate || Mark Cuban backs new $20 million cryptocurrency venture fund: Onetime bitcoin skeptic Mark Cuban is warming to the digital currency world.
The billionaire is backing a new venture capital fund for cryptocurrency-related investments called 1confirmation. Founded by Nick Tomaino, former business development manager at Coinbase, the fund plans to raise $20 million, according to a Mondayfiling with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"It's an interesting space that I [want] to get involved with and learn more" about,Cubansaid in an email to CNBC Tuesday. He did not specify the size of his investment.
Cuban's opinion on digital currencies has changed fairly recently. In an Aug. 14 tweet, the Dallas Mavericks owner admitted he "might have to finally buy some" bitcoin(Exchange:BTC=-USS), contrasting with a June tweet that said he thoughtbitcoin was in a "bubble."
"Bias should be up because of finite supply. Until crypto or US politics intrude, and they will," he added in another tweet on Aug. 14.
In late June, Cuban said heplanned to participate in an initial coin offeringby Unikrn, an online esports betting site in which he holds a stake.
Earlier that month, Cuban tweeted that he didn't know when or by how much the price of bitcoin, which has soared in value this year, would correct. He did acknowledge then that the blockchain technology backing bitcoin had value and that it "will be at the core of most transactions in the future. Healthcare, finance etc all will use it."
IBM(IBM)announced Tuesday that it will work with major food companies such as Wal-Mart(WMT), Unilever, Tyson Foods(TSN), Dole and Kroger(KR)to "identify new areas where the global supply chain can benefit from blockchain."
However, bitcoin's surge and a rush of funds into initial coin offerings have attracted more investment attention.
Bitcoin has quadrupled in value this year and hit a record last Thursday of $4,522.13 with a market capitalization of about $74 billion, according to CoinDesk. Initial coin offerings, which are fundraising events used by cryptocurrency-related start-ups, have raised $1.37 billion so far this year, CoinDesk data showed.
Source: CoinDesk
The launch of the 1confirmation fund comes amid increased fundraising for cryptocurrency-related businesses.
On Aug. 10, digital currency storage and exchange company Coinbase announced it raised $100 million in private equity funding led by Dropbox investor IVP. That marks the largest single traditional funding round for a public blockchain or cryptocurrency start-up, according to CoinDesk.
Other participants in 1confirmation include Brendan Eich, creator of the JavaScript computer programming language; Balaji Srinivasan, board partner at technology venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and David Vorick, who is building a blockchain-based cloud storage system called Sia. The fund's founder, Tomaino, is also a principal at venture fund Runa Capital.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank," which features Mark Cuban as a panelist.
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• These questions will shape Uber’s financial fate || ROBINHOOD COFOUNDER: Millennials are following one of the classic rules of investing: Vlad Tenev, Baiju Bhatt, robinhood, sv100 2015 (Robinhood founders Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt.Robinhood) Sometimes the best opportunity to invest in a stock is when everyone else is selling and its price is declining. On Wall Street, this strategy is known as buying the dip. And it's popular because it allows investors to get into a trade at a discounted price. (It can also backfire of course. Just because a stock drops, doesn't mean it's going to go back up.) That's exactly what investors using smartphone brokerage app, Robinhood, are doing, according to cofounder Baiju Bhatt. During a wide-ranging interview with Business Insider, Bhatt said users of Robinhood, who skew younger, viewed a market downturn in the first quarter of 2016 as a buying opportunity. Anxiety over the Chinese economy sent stocks into a tailspin for a few days, ushering in the worst start of the year for the markets on record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined about 8% between December 31 and January 15. "Those were the days we saw the biggest net deposits we had ever seen," Bhatt said."With this younger generation, when the market takes a slide, they see it as an opportunity to buy." This, according to Bhatt, provides a counter to the argument that investors using pure-play mobile investing apps, which lack the human element of incumbent brokers such as Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade, would pull their money out if the markets were to witness a major downturn. Charles Schwab, the $3 trillion asset manager, released a study showing 75% of millennials reported they would want to talk to a human adviser during "complicated" situations. A note out by a group of analysts at Morgan Stanley , led by Giulia Aurora Miotto, supports the results of the Schwab study. "The financial sector consumer often needs some sort of human contact, especially when abrupt market moves lead to unexpected losses," the analysts wrote. Robinhood's brokerage app launched in March 2015 and quickly became a favorite among younger people looking to invest without paying a commission for buying and selling stocks. Since its launch, Robinhood has amassed over 2 million users who have bought and sold billions of dollars' worth of stocks. Here's the relevant passage from the interview: Frank Chaparro: You mentioned the Great Recession. And that makes me think of this question hanging over the investing space regarding apps like Robinhood and other online investment startups. Without someone to guide them through the bad times, do you think investors are more prone to pull their money out if there's a major correction? Baiju Bhatt: That's an interesting question because we have actually seen a correction since Robinhood launched. Granted, it was not on the same scale as what happened in 2008. Story continues But if you remember, in the beginning of 2016 there was a pretty significant sell-off in Q1. And there were multiple days when the markets witnessed single-digit drops in the S&P, and that was kind of interesting. Because we saw for the first time how people behave when the market is going down. And the behavior we saw was actually pretty interesting. Those were the days we saw the biggest net deposits we had ever seen. With this younger generation, when the market takes a slide, they see it as an opportunity to buy. They view the market as being on sale. It's kind of interesting, because I remember during Brexit, Betterment decided they wouldn't let their customers withdrawal money . I think that stems from this mindset of not thinking people should be in control of their money. It tends to be better to give people control over their money, rather than restricting their access to money during such times, because they're more likely to wait it out. NOW WATCH: Fidelity portfolio manager: Test driving a Tesla was an 'iPhone moment' More From Business Insider The cofounder of $1.3 billion startup Robinhood explains a 'logical fallacy' in investing Bitcoin is posting new record highs Treasury minister: 'Significant appetite' for UK investment as Dutch insurer Aegon signs £160 million Funding Circle deal View comments || ROBINHOOD COFOUNDER: Millennials are following one of the classic rules of investing: (Robinhood founders Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt.Robinhood)Sometimes the best opportunity to invest in a stock is when everyone else is selling and its price is declining.
On Wall Street, this strategy is known as buying the dip. And it's popular because it allows investors to get into a trade at a discounted price. (It can also backfire of course. Just because a stock drops, doesn't mean it's going to go back up.)
That's exactly what investors using smartphone brokerage app, Robinhood, are doing, according to cofounder Baiju Bhatt.
During a wide-ranging interview with Business Insider, Bhatt said users of Robinhood, who skew younger, viewed a market downturn in the first quarter of 2016 as a buying opportunity.
Anxiety over the Chinese economy sent stocks into a tailspin for a few days, ushering in the worst start of the year for the markets on record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined about 8% between December 31 and January 15.
"Those were the days we saw the biggest net deposits we had ever seen," Bhatt said."With this younger generation, when the market takes a slide, they see it as an opportunity to buy."
This, according to Bhatt, provides a counter to the argument that investors using pure-play mobile investing apps, which lack the human element of incumbent brokers such as Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade, would pull their money out if the markets were to witness a major downturn.
Charles Schwab, the $3 trillion asset manager, released a study showing 75% ofmillennials reported they would want to talk to a human adviser during "complicated" situations. Anote out by a group of analysts at Morgan Stanley, led by Giulia Aurora Miotto, supports the results of the Schwab study.
"The financial sector consumer often needs some sort of human contact, especially when abrupt market moves lead to unexpected losses," the analysts wrote.
Robinhood's brokerage app launched in March 2015 and quickly became a favorite among younger people looking to invest without paying a commission for buying and selling stocks.
Since its launch, Robinhood has amassed over 2 million users who have bought and sold billions of dollars' worth of stocks.
Here's the relevant passage from the interview:
Frank Chaparro:You mentioned the Great Recession. And that makes me think of thisquestion hanging over the investing spaceregarding apps like Robinhood and other online investment startups. Without someone to guide them through the bad times, do you think investors are more prone to pull their money out if there's a major correction?
Baiju Bhatt:That's an interesting question because we have actually seen a correction since Robinhood launched. Granted, it was not on the same scale as what happened in 2008.
But if you remember, in the beginning of 2016 there was a pretty significant sell-off in Q1. And there were multiple days when the markets witnessed single-digit drops in the S&P, and that was kind of interesting. Because we saw for the first time how people behave when the market is going down. And the behavior we saw was actually pretty interesting. Those were the days we saw the biggest net deposits we had ever seen.
With this younger generation, when the market takes a slide, they see it as an opportunity to buy. They view the market as being on sale. It's kind of interesting, because I remember during Brexit,Betterment decided they wouldn't let their customers withdrawal money. I think that stems from this mindset of not thinking people should be in control of their money. It tends to be better to give people control over their money, rather than restricting their access to money during such times, because they're more likely to wait it out.
NOW WATCH:Fidelity portfolio manager: Test driving a Tesla was an 'iPhone moment'
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• The cofounder of $1.3 billion startup Robinhood explains a 'logical fallacy' in investing
• Bitcoin is posting new record highs
• Treasury minister: 'Significant appetite' for UK investment as Dutch insurer Aegon signs £160 million Funding Circle deal || Walmart, others turn to blockchain for food safety: IBM (IBM) has convinced a slew of big-name grocers and consumer brands to try blockchain, the technology that originated with the digital currency Bitcoin in 2009 but is now being applied in a number of business contexts that have nothing to with Bitcoin.
Walmart (WMT), Kroger (KR), Unilever (UN), Nestlé, Dole (DOLE), Tyson Foods (TSN), Golden State Foods, and McCormick (MKC) have all joined the collaboration to use IBM blockchain to track food shipments and monitor food safety, IBM announced on Tuesday.
This is the second blockchain trial Walmart has done with IBM; the first, nearly a year ago,was to track shipments of pork in China. This time, many more companies have signed on, and the scope is much larger. “I think the fun has begun,” says IBM’s blockchain exec Jerry Cuomo.
Why does this matter? Skeptics of Bitcoin, and of blockchain, have dismissed these burgeoning technologies on the argument that the average person doesn’t understand how they work (and in the case of Bitcoin, many people think it exists mainly for crime). Bitcoin and blockchain believers have long retorted thatnon-techies don’t need to understand them in order to use them. They reason that people could end up using these technologies without knowing how they work, a la HTTP, the protocol on which the internet runs, or SMTP, the e-mail protocol.
This IBM trial backs up that argument.
Customers of Walmart (or Kroger, or Nestle, and so on) won’t know that a blockchain had anything to do with the papayas, or mangoes, or pork chops they buy at the market. But if IBM is to be believed, shoppers will benefit from it, because the use of a blockchain to track the shipment and supply chain can “trace contaminated product to its source in a short amount of time and ensure safe removal from store shelves,” according to a press release.
In other words: the success of blockchain tech (whichWall Street is also embracing for faster back-end trade settlements) does not rely on consumers understanding what it is.
Still, you may wonder, what is blockchain? It’s a distributed, immutable ledger for recording data or executing smart contracts. The Bitcoin blockchain is a peer-to-peer, permission-less, anonymous ledger that records every transaction done in Bitcoin; “miners” upload records of transactions in bundles called “blocks” and receive a small reward in Bitcoin for their work. (For more,watch this video.) But the IBM blockchain, and theblockchains that many financial institutions are building, are slightly different: permissioned, closed, and usually minus cryptocurrency.
“There is a new style of blockchain, and it’s permissioned, and it’s good, and it works,” says Cuomo. “Each of these members, while they are permitted to transact privately, their identity is known through a sort of digital membership card that is given to each member when they onboard the network. And this allows for audit scenarios.” (And sothe hype around “blockchain without bitcoin” continues, even asthe price of Bitcoin as a speculative investment soars.)
IBM’s blockchain is built on top of theHyperledger Project, an open-source group created by the non-profit Linux Foundation in which IBM, Accenture, Intel, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo were founding members. Hyperledger now has more than 40 member institutions.
To be sure, this is all a bit of “look at what we’re doing” PR for IBM and these clients. “Tracking food safety” is a broad and vague purview. For a specific example of what this trial will actually do, Cuomo gives papaya. “Say there is a salmonella outbreak on papaya. Right now, you run the risk of regions shutting down papaya whether they are affected or not.” From tracking shipments and supplier records closely on a shared blockchain, grocers can pinpoint issues and prevent importing from certain areas, cut down on spoilage, and target demand.
But wait a minute. In many markets, Walmart is a competitor of Kroger. Aren’t they hesitant to share information with each other? Yes, Cuomo says: “There is hesitation almost across the board. It’s only human that when you’re sharing, you step back and think, am I going too far in sharing unique corporation information here? And there is a chance that you might lose some edge in the small. But you’ll get greater gain in the end.”
The members of this blockchain trial pay to be a member, so they are beginning to demonstrate a belief in the power of the tech. “There’s legitimate framework and substance in terms of the product,” Walmart VP of food safety Frank Yiannastold Coindesk. “It’s substantial and real.”
Of course, all of this is still in the trial phase.
The pork chain trial with Walmart “showed the art of the possible,” Cuomo says. “And as soon as we opened up the invitation to others, they wanted to come in for the good of food safety.”
—
Daniel Roberts closely covers bitcoin and blockchain at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about initial coin offerings
Why Ethereum is the hottest new thing in digital currency
More than 75 banks are now on Ripple’s blockchain network
Expect more blockchain hype in 2017 || Walmart, Kroger, Unilever try IBM blockchain for food data: IBM ( IBM ) has convinced a slew of big-name grocers and consumer brands to try blockchain, the technology that originated with the digital currency Bitcoin in 2009 but is now being applied in a number of business contexts that have nothing to with Bitcoin. Walmart ( WMT ), Kroger ( KR ), Unilever ( UN ), Nestlé, Dole ( DOLE ), Tyson Foods ( TSN ), Golden State Foods, and McCormick ( MKC ) have all joined the collaboration to use IBM blockchain to track food shipments and monitor food safety, IBM announced on Tuesday. This is the second blockchain trial Walmart has done with IBM; the first, nearly a year ago, was to track shipments of pork in China . This time, many more companies have signed on, and the scope is much larger. “I think the fun has begun,” says IBM’s blockchain exec Jerry Cuomo. Why does this matter? Skeptics of Bitcoin, and of blockchain, have dismissed these burgeoning technologies on the argument that the average person doesn’t understand how they work (and in the case of Bitcoin, many people think it exists mainly for crime). Bitcoin and blockchain believers have long retorted that non-techies don’t need to understand them in order to use them . They reason that people could end up using these technologies without knowing how they work, a la HTTP, the protocol on which the internet runs, or SMTP, the e-mail protocol. This IBM trial backs up that argument. Customers of Walmart (or Kroger, or Nestle, and so on) won’t know that a blockchain had anything to do with the papayas, or mangoes, or pork chops they buy at the market. But if IBM is to be believed, shoppers will benefit from it, because the use of a blockchain to track the shipment and supply chain can “t race contaminated product to its source in a short amount of time and ensure safe removal from store shelves,” according to a press release. In other words: the success of blockchain tech (which Wall Street is also embracing for faster back-end trade settlements ) does not rely on consumers understanding what it is. Story continues ‘There is a new style of blockchain’ Still, you may wonder, what is blockchain? It’s a distributed, immutable ledger for recording data or executing smart contracts. The Bitcoin blockchain is a peer-to-peer, permission-less, anonymous ledger that records every transaction done in Bitcoin; “miners” upload records of transactions in bundles called “blocks” and receive a small reward in Bitcoin for their work. (For more, watch this video .) But the IBM blockchain, and the blockchains that many financial institutions are building , are slightly different: permissioned, closed, and usually minus cryptocurrency. “There is a new style of blockchain, and it’s permissioned, and it’s good, and it works,” says Cuomo. “Each of these members, while they are permitted to transact privately, their identity is known through a sort of digital membership card that is given to each member when they onboard the network. And this allows for audit scenarios.” (And so the hype around “blockchain without bitcoin” continues , even as the price of Bitcoin as a speculative investment soars .) IBM’s blockchain is built on top of the Hyperledger Project , an open-source group created by the non-profit Linux Foundation in which IBM, Accenture, Intel, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo were founding members. Hyperledger now has more than 40 member institutions. To be sure, this is all a bit of “look at what we’re doing” PR for IBM and these clients. “Tracking food safety” is a broad and vague purview. For a specific example of what this trial will actually do, Cuomo gives papaya. “Say there is a salmonella outbreak on papaya. Right now, you run the risk of regions shutting down papaya whether they are affected or not.” From tracking shipments and supplier records closely on a shared blockchain, grocers can pinpoint issues and prevent importing from certain areas, cut down on spoilage, and target demand. But wait a minute. In many markets, Walmart is a competitor of Kroger. Aren’t they hesitant to share information with each other? Yes, Cuomo says: “ There is hesitation almost across the board. It’s only human that when you’re sharing, you step back and think, am I going too far in sharing unique corporation information here? And there is a chance that you might lose some edge in the small. But you’ll get greater gain in the end.” The members of this blockchain trial pay to be a member, so they are beginning to demonstrate a belief in the power of the tech. “There’s legitimate framework and substance in terms of the product,” Walmart VP of food safety Frank Yiannas told Coindesk . “It’s substantial and real.” Of course, all of this is still in the trial phase. The pork chain trial with Walmart “showed the art of the possible,” Cuomo says. “And as soon as we opened up the invitation to others, they wanted to come in for the good of food safety.” — Daniel Roberts closely covers bitcoin and blockchain at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ readDanwrite . Read more: Everything you need to know about initial coin offerings Why Ethereum is the hottest new thing in digital currency More than 75 banks are now on Ripple’s blockchain network Expect more blockchain hype in 2017 || Why Big Business Is Racing to Build Blockchains: One summer morning in a coffee shop on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, I sit behind my MacBook Pro as tens of thousands of machines around the globe prepare to indelibly inscribe a record of my tinkering into their collective consciousness. I am in the midst of creating my own digital tokens—essentially online currency—on a sprawling, decentralized network known as Ethereum.
Mike Goldin, a software developer at ConsenSys, an Ethereum development studio based in Bushwick, walks me through the coding process. Goldin is my Sherpa today, graciously attending, with utmost patience, to my every query. (The 10-plus hours I spent downloading software the day prior was unnecessary, he tells me; we’re going to employ some work-arounds that will achieve my goal in a matter of minutes.)
After considering a variety of names for my token—“fortunecoin,” “hackettoken,” “neither”—I settle on a cheeky one that evokes a spectacular flameout of the great ’90s Internet bubble: “Petsdotcoin.” I click “create.”
Transaction hash
0xc14d13893bd0f0ff997a8a701c0c8844661a6ddb921a42f2f61c8c7adb0d158c
(Pending) … (Pending) … (Pending) …
Twenty-seven seconds and one block confirmation later, I am the proud owner of 500 newly minted “petsdotcoin” tokens. Their creation cost me $1.57 in Ether, the cryptocurrency that fuels the Ethereum network. Despite that expense, my tokens are valued at 0 Ether, or $0.00, as the program reminds me. They are worthless. But if I had tied those bits to some worthwhile business idea, petsdotcoin might have offered investors a radical new way to fund me, track their stake, and participate in a miniature, virtualized, in-app economy. In that respect, my funny-money vanity project is a tiny part of a movement of profound economic significance.
In case you haven’t been keeping track, digital tokens are a new asset class, powered by cryptocurrency networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The sector has attracted maniacal investor interest this year, giving these e-coins absurdly inflated valuations that have inspired endlesscomparisons to the “dotcom” era. (Hence, petsdotcoin.) At press time, the total market value of all virtual currencies had rocketed past $135 billion, up from just under $20 billion at the beginning of the year.
Hundreds of projects have collectively raised more than a billion dollars through “initial coin offerings” (ICOs). There are now tokens funding every conceivable endeavor: Decentralized cloud storage (FileCoin, Storj). Digital advertising (Basic Attention Token, adToken). A gentlemen’s club in Las Vegas (Legends Room). Marijuana (Potcoin). Satire (PonzICO). There’s even one for dentists (DentaCoin). In a photo recently posted to Instagram,Floyd Mayweather, the boxer, sits on a private jet surrounded by stacks of dollar bills, touting the sale of tokens for a prediction market called Stox—a moment some saw as proof that ICO hype had reached peak zaniness.
The smart money is also playing in this pool. Established venture capital firms like Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures arepouring millionsof dollars intocryptocurrency hedge funds. The topic is all the rage on Wall Street. But notably, the long-betting investors in this space see today’s numismatic delirium as a distraction. “Right now it’s much easier to get more focused on the short-term ICO money stuff,” says Chris Dixon, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “I think this unfortunately overshadows the more important technology story.”
That story goes like this: Underneath the crypto-hysteria is a grand innovation in the humble realm of accounting. The most bullish acolytes of this electronic book-balancing breakthrough, Dixon included, hold that token-based projects will anchor the web’s next revolution, spawning crowdfunded businesses and services that deliver more value to their users while being less dependent on advertisers or rent-seeking middlemen.
Facebook, meet Tokenbook.
Look beyond theICO frenzy, and you can glimpse another paradigmatic shift inspired by that same accounting innovation. Incumbent businesses in countless industries, from finance to energy to health care to food, are peeling back the layers on this budding technology, seeing the potential to trim costs, share and secure information more efficiently, and unleash new products at unprecedented speed. And they’re doing so knowing that one day their survival may be at stake: Having witnessed what the advent of digital, cloud, and mobile did to laggard companies, no one wants to be the sucker left behind.
The technology in question: that choreographic marvel called a blockchain.
No term at present is more hyped, and more poorly understood. During a discussion atFortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference this summer,Peter Smith, CEO of Blockchain, a London-based cryptocurrency wallet provider, half-jokingly defined “blockchain” as a marketing term exploited by salespeople to ink deals.
A less cynical definition might go as follows: A blockchain is a kind of ledger, a table that businesses use to track credits and debits. But it’s not just any run-of-the-mill financial database. One of a blockchain’s distinguishing features is that it concatenates (or “chains”) cryptographically verified transactions into sequences of lists (or “blocks”). The system uses complex mathematical functions to arrive at a definitive record of who owns what, when. Properly applied, a blockchain can help assure data integrity, maintain auditable records, and even, in its latest iterations, render financial contracts into programmable software. It’s a ledger, but on the bleeding edge.
Blockchain boosters say its development is one that rivals, in significance, the invention of double-entry bookkeeping. That’s the revolutionary method of tabulating assets and liabilities that emerged in Renaissance Italy and that, according to some historians, put wind in the sails of capitalism, allowing investors and entrepreneurs to team up in corporations and launch merchant ships beyond the horizon in search of commercial success. Blockchains, in this analogy, are triple-entry bookkeeping, where the third entry is a verifiable cryptographic receipt of any transaction.
Perhaps most spectacularly, a blockchain can get rivals to cooperate in creating a common record that is accessible to everyone and controlled by no one. This was the genius of Satoshi Nakamoto, the alias for the as-yet-unidentified creator (or creators) of the first blockchain, Bitcoin, which debuted in 2009. (Since then, the value of a single Bitcoin has reach a high ofmore than $4,300.) Part of Bitcoin’s secret sauce is its consensus mechanism, which allows people to agree on a canonical order of transactions, thereby preventing double-spending and fraud, through a combination of cryptography and economic incentives based on game theory—all without needing a third party or middleman, like a bank. Even if participants don’t trust one another, they can rely on the shared ledger they create through the transactional dance of their software. You don’t need honor among thieves—you just need a blockchain.
See also:Hacking Coinbase: The Great Bitcoin Bank Robbery
If Bitcoin proved what was possible, Ethereum, a rival system, took its ingenuity to a logical extreme.Vitalik Buterin, a twentysomething Russia-born programmer (No. 10onFortune’s 40 Under 40 list this year), created a blockchain that aims to be anything to anyone: His Ethereum can create representations of any asset, which has made it the primary fuel of the digital-token boom.
But by showcasing blockchain’s fundamental flexibility, Ethereum’s rise has also accelerated a deluge of research and development in corporate America. Scores of companies are adapting and advancing the core technology to suit their needs. While some are exploring digital currency and the open-source, free-for-all ecosystem of public blockchains (of which Bitcoin and Ethereum are prime examples), far more are concentrating on how the technology underpinning those systems can add value to their businesses—by helping them with everything from corralling medical records to tracking the provenance of a pork loin. Many are concocting “permissioned” or “private” blockchains, designed for a more centralized architecture where only authorized operators can join.
See the full Fortune 201740 Under 40list here.
To some stalwarts, this corporate appropriation runs counter to the original, idealized blockchain as introduced by Nakamoto. “The word was hijacked to sell enterprise software, basically,” says Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder of Polychain Capital, perhaps the most high-profile of the cryptocurrency hedge funds. Some entrepreneurs, like Chain CEO Adam Ludwin, argue that new ledger technology isn’t really a blockchain if the items it tracks aren’t financial.R3 CEV, a New York–based consortium of financial firms that began as a blockchain startup, now avoids the word, calling itself a “distributed ledger technology” company.
But this schism over terminology isn’t hampering the science. Ultimately, anyone working on next-generation data structures with cryptographic signatures and joint-stakeholder elements might now be said to fall under the “blockchain” umbrella. “It’s entered the vernacular like Kleenex,” says Matt Higginson, partner in McKinsey’s global banking practice. And whatever you want to call it, more and more businesses are gathering there.
One day last December, Frank Yiannas went to aWalmartstore near company headquarters in Fayetteville, Ark., and picked up a package of sliced mangoes. Yiannas is Walmart’s vice president of food safety, and the fruit was part of a crucial experiment. He brought the mangoes back to his office, placed the container on a conference table, and gave his team a mission. “Find out where those mangoes came from,” he ordered, setting a timer.
It took six days, 18 hours, and 26 minutes to get an answer. That’s better than the weeks it can sometimes take companies, Yiannas says. Still, a near-week is a long time. In the event of an outbreak of foodborne illness—one in which a suspected pathogen is tied to mangoes somewhere—a lag that long could be painfully costly. By that point, Walmart might have had to pull every package of every mango product off its shelves, as a precaution; farmers, distributors, and Walmart itself would take the hit.
Yiannas has for years searched without success for what he calls the “Holy Grail of food traceability,” a technology that could track and catalog aproduct’s status across his supply chain. He admits he was “very skeptical” that a blockchain could fill the gap, but he gave it a try. Walmartwmtpartnered withIBMibmfor atrial runonHyperledger Fabric, a blockchain built under the purview of the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger group, where companies collaborate on blockchain R&D.
In the Walmart test, food shipments were tracked and digitally recorded via a blockchain. (Yiannas’s team’s manual search was the “control.”) From the start of their journey at the farm, pallets of mangoes were tagged with numeric identifiers. Every time they crossed another checkpoint—from farm to broker to distributor to store—their status was signed and logged.
A few months after the fact, Yiannas repeats a version of the IBM demo for me. He enters a six-digit “lot” number on a web portal. In an instant, the mangoes’ identifying details appear on-screen: Mango spears, 10 ounces, “Tommy” variety (a cultivar optimized for transport). The fruit was harvested April 24 from orchards in Oaxaca, in southern Mexico. A day later, the fruit underwent hot-water treatment to exterminate the eggs of potentially invasive insects. On April 27, an importer received the shipment; after a few more days, it passed through Customs and Border Protection, entering a U.S. processing plant where they were sliced on May 1. From there, the mangoes moved to a cold storage facility in Los Angeles (you can pull up a safety inspection certificate with a click of a mouse). Finally, the lot arrived at a Walmart store.
The time it took to compile and present all this information: about two seconds. (It clocked a similar time when Yiannas demonstrated it at Walmart’s annual shareholder meeting this summer.) In the event of anE. colior salmonella outbreak, the difference between two seconds and six-plus days can be decisive, even lifesaving. But in the context of a supply chain, a blockchain is far more than an emergency measure: The granular, secure records in the system could help prevent fraud, and provide an easy-to-use interface for executives to keep tabs on the flow of goods, as well as for regulators to peek under the hood when necessary.
“This was not about chasing the shiny coin,” Yiannas says. “There were business challenges we were trying to solve.”
For more, read “5 Ways Businesses Are Already Using Blockchains.”
Other companies are now exploring blockchains’ potential for their logistics. Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, has started testing a blockchain to track its shipments and coordinate with customs officials. Airbus, the French aircraft maker, is looking to use blockchains to monitor the many complex parts that come together to make a jet plane. Daimler, the German automaker, is investigating similar possibilities for its vehicles.
The potential doesn’t stop with tangible goods like windshield wipers or watermelons: Many companies and governments think blockchains could help them assemble tamper-resistant systems for storing virtually any kind of data. BAE Systems, the British defense contractor, is exploring sharing cybersecurity threat data on a blockchain. Pokitdok and Gem are looking to revamp electronic medical record management. And Accentureacnhas teamed up withMicrosoftmsftand a United Nations group to build a blockchain for digital identity, especially useful for refugees who lack official documents.
Even with all these potential applications, there’s arguably no industry where the promise of blockchain tech—or its peril—is more apparent than in finance.
Taped up to a glass dry-erase board behindAmber Baldet’s desk is an unassuming sketch. It displays the black outline of four circles, four rectangles, a few conjoining lines, and a few acronyms of academic institutions such as SRI, UTAH, and UCLA.
The image is an early depiction of Arpanet, the forerunner of today’s Internet. Baldet, who heads up the blockchain group atJ.P. Morgan(and isNo. 31on our 40 Under 40 list), views her work as very much in a similar phase of development. For enterprises, she says, it’s 1969, and they’re tinkering with a technology that could, in time, be as important as the Internet.
For more, read “Why Delaware Made It Easier for Businesses to Use Blockchains.”
Finance is the most obvious extension of blockchain tech, given the monetary roots of Bitcoin. Trade finance, security clearance and settlements, cross-border payments, and insurance are all areas that could be overhauled and made more seamless. Microsoft is collaborating withBank of Americabacon a blockchain to digitize and automate the money flow around trades. HSBC, ING, U.S. Bank, and eight other banks recently completed a prototype application for the same purpose on R3’s Corda ledger. Northern Trust, the asset management firm, is using Hyperledger Fabric for private-equity deal record keeping. And Ripple built a system to rival the SWIFT interbank money-transferring service. In a hotly competitive sector where customers demand faster transactions and lower costs, the rewards of building the best blockchain mousetrap could be vast—the penalties for missing out, proportionately painful.
To help stake J.P. Morgan’sjpmclaim, Baldet’s team has created a so-called permissioned variant of the Ethereum blockchain. The bank open-sourced the code late last year, under a “general public license” that allows anyone to draw from or contribute to the design. This retooled blockchain, dubbed Quorum, is the first software ever released by J.P. Morgan this way. It’s an unusual move by the bank, which certainly had the resources to work in-house and in secret. But J.P. Morgan sees a benefit to rallying all parties to work on a common platform that could reduce costs. “We spend a whole lot of money trying to transact with our counterparties and our clients,” Baldet explained at a recentMIT Technology Reviewevent in Cambridge, Mass. “The more free that sort of thing is, the better for us.”
The J.P. Morgan team is already breaking ground—and, in the process, underscoring key differences between private and public blockchains. In March, Quorum began adding support for “zero knowledge proofs,” advanced cryptography commercialized by the Zerocoin Electric Coin Co., makers of the Zcash cryptocurrency. That cryptography enables state-of-the-art privacy features—something the Ethereum Foundation, the Swiss nonprofit that maintains the public Ethereum blockchain, has yet to do, though it plans to. J.P. Morgan, after all, is designing Quorum to prioritize the needs of corporations, especially in data confidentiality and scalability—areas where private blockchains excel and, for now, public blockchains struggle.
Still, many industry insiders believe that public and private will eventually intersect—just as internal networks came to coexist with and feed the public Internet decades ago. “I think we’re going to see the distinction between public chain and private chain eradicated in the next two to three years,” says Jeremy Millar, chief of staff atConsenSys, and a founding board member of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, a group of financial and tech firms that includes J.P. Morgan and is pushing Ethereum-basedblockchains for business. “We’ll be talking about global chains vs. industry and company chains.”
At a recent blockchain event hosted by Microsoft in Manhattan, I ask a group of executives whether they’re similarly bullish. The responses span the gamut from “absolutely” to “I have no idea.” Patrick Nielsen, lead engineer of Quorum, overhears my line of questioning. He can barely conceal his amusement beneath an impressively leonine beard. We’ve got some academic institutions and military research agencies, he says with a wry smile, referencing the topology of the Internet in its early days. “Just have to add a few more nodes to the network.”
If and when all those nodes are in place, it could presage a major shift in the way humans, companies, and their data organize. Of all the analogies that come up in discussing blockchains, perhaps the most frequently cited is the design, in the 1970s, of TCP/IP—the watershed networking protocol that enabled computers to talk to one another and swap data and info. This technology helped upend the point-to-point telephone lines that predominated during the Bell era, paving the way for a network of networks—the Internet.
If the Internet is a supranetwork, then a blockchain, in its purest form, is a way to turn these networks into decentralized marketplaces. Ronald Coase, a 20th-century economist, won a Nobel Prize for formulating an explanation for why corporations existed. Their raison d’être, he said, was to maximize efficiencies in business and market negotiations: Dealmaking is more productive when done collectively. Blockchains could take that principle and multiply it exponentially.
Granted, there are many technical and cultural challenges standing between that vision and reality. The cryptocurrency boom has drawn attention to some of the drawbacks and limitations of blockchains—including the paucity of present demand for cryptocurrency in actual business dealings and transactions outside of pure speculation (lots of people invest in it, few use it) and the potential for security lapses. (For more on the latter, see “The 21st-Century Bank Robbery.”)
Vint Cerf, one of the coauthors of TCP/IP and now vice president and “chief Internet evangelist” atGoogle, has reservations. “I think that the claims that blockchains will change the world are hyperbolic for the most part,” he zapped in an email toFortune. “It has become a kind of magic pixie dust for some proponents.” Still, even Cerf sees potential in blockchains, where “the parties involved in the system are known and can be evaluated for reliability and trustworthiness.”
If Cerf’s cautious hunches pan out, businesses could be innovating and growing with the help of blockchains, even if the digital token craze proves to be a fad. Maybe petsdotcoin won’t be the next big hit. But it’s no exaggeration to believe that blockchains could, in the long term, revamp business, government, and even society itself, just as surely as the Internet did last century, and double-entry bookkeeping did centuries earlier. Someday, you may literally be able to count on it.
This is part ofFortune’snew initiative,The Ledger,a trusted news source at the intersection of tech and finance. For more onThe Ledger,click here.
A version of this article appears in the Sept. 1, 2017 issue of Fortune with the headline “Blockchain Mania.”
[Social Media Buzz]
#bitcoin #miner Bitcoin 0.01 BTC to your Bitcoin Wallet $85.00 http://ift.tt/2vdu1AI pic.twitter.com/RyvZx0uwR9 || 2017-08-23 20:00~21:00のBitcoin市場はしっかりだったみたいだね。
変化率は-0.1097%
22:00までは反騰になる?
直近の市場の平均Bitcoinの価格は463697.0円
#ビットコイン
#bitcoin
#AI || 2017-08-24 2:00~3:00のBitcoin市場は下落だったのかな。
変化率は-0.8442%
4:00までは反騰になる?
直近の市場の平均Bitcoinの価格は459249.0円
#ビットコイン
#bitcoin
#AI || #bitcoin #miner Used Bitmain AntMiner S3 441GH/s SHA-256 Bitcoin miner / No PSU $120.00 http://ift.tt/2wwsbiR pic.twitter.com/ewBkrmht...
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4334.68, 4371.60, 4352.40, 4382.88, 4382.66, 4579.02, 4565.30, 4703.39, 4892.01, 4578.77
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 999.18, 990.64, 1004.55, 1007.48, 1027.44, 1046.21, 1054.42, 1047.87, 1079.98, 1115.30, 1117.44, 1166.72, 1173.68, 1143.84, 1165.20, 1179.97, 1179.97, 1222.50, 1251.01, 1274.99, 1255.15, 1267.12, 1272.83, 1223.54, 1150.00, 1188.49, 1116.72, 1175.83, 1221.38, 1231.92, 1240.00, 1249.61, 1187.81, 1100.23, 973.82, 1036.74, 1054.23, 1120.54, 1049.14, 1038.59, 937.52, 972.78, 966.72, 1045.77, 1047.15, 1039.97, 1026.43, 1071.79, 1080.50, 1102.17, 1143.81, 1133.25, 1124.78, 1182.68, 1176.90, 1175.95, 1187.87, 1187.13, 1205.01, 1200.37, 1169.28, 1167.54, 1172.52, 1182.94, 1193.91, 1211.67, 1210.29, 1229.08, 1222.05, 1231.71, 1207.21, 1250.15, 1265.49, 1281.08, 1317.73, 1316.48, 1321.79, 1347.89, 1421.60, 1452.82, 1490.09, 1537.67, 1555.45, 1578.80, 1596.71, 1723.35, 1755.36, 1787.13, 1848.57, 1724.24.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-05-12]
Volume: 740984000, RSI (14-day): 73.39, 50-day EMA: 1356.21, 200-day EMA: 1053.57
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1226.20, Gold RSI: 38.29
Oil Price: 47.84, Oil RSI: 44.37
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Young Footballers from Antigua and Trinidad emerge as winners of Flow Ultimate Football Experience: PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD--(Marketwired - May 11, 2017) - Thirteen-year-old Ronaldo Flowers of Antigua and 16-year-old Che Benny of Trinidad and Tobago will gain the ultimate football experience as they head to Old Trafford in Manchester, UK to see Manchester United play against Crystal Palace on May 21. The young footballers won the trip after reaching the final round of the Flow Ultimate Football Experience which was hosted by Flow and the Manchester United Football Club in Trinidad.
The event, which took place recently, was the culmination of a series of competitions across Flow's 15 markets throughout the Caribbean. The finals at President's Grounds, St Ann's saw two young footballers from each country vying for the coveted prize. Among the 30 participants, 15 countries were represented -- Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks & Caicos. The players were also each accompanied by a parent or guardian and their coach.
They participated in a two-day skills session with one-on-one training with Manchester United Soccer School Coaches (MUSS), Head Coach Mike Neary and Billy Miller. This is the second year of collaboration between Flow and MUSS. Through the Flow Ultimate Football Experience, the two partners gave the young athletes a greater opportunity at success and brought the region closer to one of their favourite sports.
Ronaldo Flowers has been given the nickname 'Flower Power' on the field. Originally from Jamaica but lives in Antigua, Flowers was named after the famous footballer. The youngster has been playing the game for the past four years and has in his vision to become a professional player. He plays central attack and midfield positions, which allow him to do what he likes best, score goals.
"It felt like a dream coming true," Flowers said following the announcement. "The challenge was very difficult because there were other talented players but I played hard."
Che Benny has been playing football since the age of five when his uncle took him to see St Ann's Rangers -- the team with which he still plays. Team coach Everett Williams, who was also present at the weekend challenge, says Benny was born with a natural talent. He was happy Benny received the exposure playing with other footballers in the Caribbean.
"I stepped up to the plate," Benny said after winning the award. He also hopes to meet his favourite footballer, the Red Devils' midfielder Juan Mata when he visits Manchester. Young Benny also said "football is my passion, I eat, sleep and dream about football and playing the sport professionally."
Flowers and Benny, along with their coaches, will travel to the world-famous football stadium to see Manchester United's final Premier League game of the season against Crystal Palace. This VIP experience will also include a visit to the Manchester United Museum and Tour, taking in the history of the club followed by a tour of the iconic stadium.
The two winners received their trophies from top officials present on the stage including Trinidad and Tobago Sports Ambassador and former Manchester United player, Dwight Yorke and Trinidad's Minister of Sport, Hon. Daryll Williams. Minister Williams thanked Flow in his remarks for providing this kind of opportunity for young footballers in the region. Minister Williams reflected "I looked up to Dwight Yorke when I was a young footballer as being an inspiration for Caribbean players however there were no such opportunities like this one from Flow and Manchester United. Through this Flow Ultimate Football Experience you youngsters now have access to some of the best coaches and players in the world of football."
"I am pleased for them both!" said a very proud Wendy McDonald, Flow's Senior Director of Communications for the Caribbean, "This is a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and definitely the "ultimate football experience" that these two young footballers have been given through Flow's partnership with Manchester United. We will continue to follow their journey to Manchester and we hope this will encourage even more aspiring footballers from the Caribbean to be ready for opportunities like this."
About C&W CommunicationsC&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty GlobalLiberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 6 million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) and (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138743Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138746Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138749Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138752Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138755 || Young Footballers from Antigua and Trinidad emerge as winners of Flow Ultimate Football Experience: PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD--(Marketwired - May 11, 2017) - Thirteen-year-old Ronaldo Flowers of Antigua and 16-year-old Che Benny of Trinidad and Tobago will gain the ultimate football experience as they head to Old Trafford in Manchester, UK to see Manchester United play against Crystal Palace on May 21. The young footballers won the trip after reaching the final round of the Flow Ultimate Football Experience which was hosted by Flow and the Manchester United Football Club in Trinidad. The event, which took place recently, was the culmination of a series of competitions across Flow's 15 markets throughout the Caribbean. The finals at President's Grounds, St Ann's saw two young footballers from each country vying for the coveted prize. Among the 30 participants, 15 countries were represented -- Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Curacao, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks & Caicos. The players were also each accompanied by a parent or guardian and their coach. They participated in a two-day skills session with one-on-one training with Manchester United Soccer School Coaches (MUSS), Head Coach Mike Neary and Billy Miller. This is the second year of collaboration between Flow and MUSS. Through the Flow Ultimate Football Experience, the two partners gave the young athletes a greater opportunity at success and brought the region closer to one of their favourite sports. Ronaldo Flowers has been given the nickname 'Flower Power' on the field. Originally from Jamaica but lives in Antigua, Flowers was named after the famous footballer. The youngster has been playing the game for the past four years and has in his vision to become a professional player. He plays central attack and midfield positions, which allow him to do what he likes best, score goals. "It felt like a dream coming true," Flowers said following the announcement. "The challenge was very difficult because there were other talented players but I played hard." Story continues Che Benny has been playing football since the age of five when his uncle took him to see St Ann's Rangers -- the team with which he still plays. Team coach Everett Williams, who was also present at the weekend challenge, says Benny was born with a natural talent. He was happy Benny received the exposure playing with other footballers in the Caribbean. "I stepped up to the plate," Benny said after winning the award. He also hopes to meet his favourite footballer, the Red Devils' midfielder Juan Mata when he visits Manchester. Young Benny also said "football is my passion, I eat, sleep and dream about football and playing the sport professionally." Flowers and Benny, along with their coaches, will travel to the world-famous football stadium to see Manchester United's final Premier League game of the season against Crystal Palace. This VIP experience will also include a visit to the Manchester United Museum and Tour, taking in the history of the club followed by a tour of the iconic stadium. The two winners received their trophies from top officials present on the stage including Trinidad and Tobago Sports Ambassador and former Manchester United player, Dwight Yorke and Trinidad's Minister of Sport, Hon. Daryll Williams. Minister Williams thanked Flow in his remarks for providing this kind of opportunity for young footballers in the region. Minister Williams reflected "I looked up to Dwight Yorke when I was a young footballer as being an inspiration for Caribbean players however there were no such opportunities like this one from Flow and Manchester United. Through this Flow Ultimate Football Experience you youngsters now have access to some of the best coaches and players in the world of football." "I am pleased for them both!" said a very proud Wendy McDonald, Flow's Senior Director of Communications for the Caribbean, "This is a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and definitely the "ultimate football experience" that these two young footballers have been given through Flow's partnership with Manchester United. We will continue to follow their journey to Manchester and we hope this will encourage even more aspiring footballers from the Caribbean to be ready for opportunities like this." About C&W Communications C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 6 million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYB ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) and ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138743 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138746 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138749 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138752 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138755 || Pogue's rant: No, VR films won't replace regular movies: There’s been a lot of shuffling in the realm of virtual-reality movie companies this week. Facebook (FB), for example,shut down its Oculus Studio completely. Google (GOOG,GOOGL)bought Owlchemy, a VR films company. Meanwhile, Fox (FOXA), Disney (DIS) and Lionsgate have committed millions to producing 360-degree movies.
There’s only one problem: Nobody’s figured out how to make a dramatic film in VR.
I don’t just mean the technical aspects, which are considerable. (Even when you’re making a traditional movie, it’s really hard to keep lights, crew, and vehicles out of the shot. Where are you supposed to put all that stuff when the camera films 360 degrees around it?)
No, I mean the audience-attention problem. Movie directors direct your attention, so that every audience member experiences the same dramatic moments, the same emotional “beats,” because we’re all seeing the same events. How is that supposed to work when different people are looking off in different directions?
VR will find its place as a novelty experience, like Imax or those hydraulic “4-D” rides at shopping malls.
VR is fantastic for games, concerts, realtors, and non-plotted news scenes. But will VR movies replace today’s big-screen productions—90-minute stories told through characters, dialogue, and events?
Nah.
More from David Pogue:
Inside the World’s Greatest Scavenger Hunt: Part I
Inside the World’s Greatest Scavenger Hunt: Part 2
Insider the World’s Greatest Scavenger Hunt: Part 3
How to win the World’s Greatest Scavenger Hunt
The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update
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David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’sdavidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s@pogue. On email, he’s [email protected]. You canread all his articles here, or you can sign up toget his columns by email. || Bitcoin shoots past $1,800 for the first time: Bitcoinis trading at another record high on Thursday. The cryptocurrency is up 4.59% at $1853.55 a coin after Ulmart, Russia's largest online retailer, said it would begin accepting bitcoin,Cryptocoin Newssays.
The announcement from Ulmart comes despite Russia's central bank saying it would wait until 2018 to consider allowing the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. At the beginning of April, Japan's regulators announced bitcoin is now alegal payment methodin the country.
Bitcoin's has gained in 18 of the past 20 sesssions, a streak that has added nearly 60% to the cryptocurrency's price. It began the run trading at about $1,170 a coin.
Bitcoin has shrugged offChina restricting trade, the SEC's rejection of two bitcoin ETFs, and threats from developers to create a "hard fork" that would split the cryptocurrency in two, on its way to a gain of more than 95% so far this year.
It has been the top performing currency every year since 2010, aside from 2014.
Traders are currently on the lookout for the US Securities and Exchange Commission's ruling on whether it willreverse its decision to reject the Winklevoss twins' exchange-traded fund.
Back in March, the SEC rejected two bitcoin ETFs, saying it "is disapproving this proposed rule change because it does not find the proposal to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest."
The SEC will accept public comment on its previous decision untilMay 15.
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• Bitcoin soars past $1,700 for the first time
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• People are so excited about this wallet that it’s become the biggest one in Kickstarter history || Bitcoin shoots past $1,800 for the first time: Bitcoinis trading at another record high on Thursday. The cryptocurrency is up 4.59% at $1853.55 a coin after Ulmart, Russia's largest online retailer, said it would begin accepting bitcoin,Cryptocoin Newssays.
The announcement from Ulmart comes despite Russia's central bank saying it would wait until 2018 to consider allowing the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. At the beginning of April, Japan's regulators announced bitcoin is now alegal payment methodin the country.
Bitcoin's has gained in 18 of the past 20 sesssions, a streak that has added nearly 60% to the cryptocurrency's price. It began the run trading at about $1,170 a coin.
Bitcoin has shrugged offChina restricting trade, the SEC's rejection of two bitcoin ETFs, and threats from developers to create a "hard fork" that would split the cryptocurrency in two, on its way to a gain of more than 95% so far this year.
It has been the top performing currency every year since 2010, aside from 2014.
Traders are currently on the lookout for the US Securities and Exchange Commission's ruling on whether it willreverse its decision to reject the Winklevoss twins' exchange-traded fund.
Back in March, the SEC rejected two bitcoin ETFs, saying it "is disapproving this proposed rule change because it does not find the proposal to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest."
The SEC will accept public comment on its previous decision untilMay 15.
More From Business Insider
• Bitcoin soars past $1,700 for the first time
• 42 TV shows that have been canceled
• People are so excited about this wallet that it’s become the biggest one in Kickstarter history || Bitcoin shoots past $1,800 for the first time: Bitcoin Bitcoin is trading at another record high on Thursday. The cryptocurrency is up 4.59% at $1853.55 a coin after Ulmart, Russia's largest online retailer, said it would begin accepting bitcoin, Cryptocoin News says. The announcement from Ulmart comes despite Russia's central bank saying it would wait until 2018 to consider allowing the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. At the beginning of April, Japan's regulators announced bitcoin is now a legal payment method in the country. Bitcoin's has gained in 18 of the past 20 sesssions, a streak that has added nearly 60% to the cryptocurrency's price. It began the run trading at about $1,170 a coin. Bitcoin has shrugged off China restricting trade , the SEC's rejection of two bitcoin ETFs, and threats from developers to create a " hard fork " that would split the cryptocurrency in two, on its way to a gain of more than 95% so far this year. It has been the top performing currency every year since 2010, aside from 2014. Traders are currently on the lookout for the US Securities and Exchange Commission's ruling on whether it will reverse its decision to reject the Winklevoss twins' exchange-traded fund . Back in March, the SEC rejected two bitcoin ETFs, saying it "is disapproving this proposed rule change because it does not find the proposal to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest." The SEC will accept public comment on its previous decision until May 15. More From Business Insider Bitcoin soars past $1,700 for the first time 42 TV shows that have been canceled People are so excited about this wallet that its become the biggest one in Kickstarter history || Flow Connects with the Caribbean Diaspora at the YOWronto Music Festival in Canada: TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - May 11, 2017) -Flowhas joined forces with FreshKut Productions Inc. as a telecommunications sponsor for the inaugural staging of Canada'sYOWronto Music Festival, as the Company and organizers seek to forge stronger ties between Canada and the Caribbean.
With a strong Caribbean Diaspora population in Toronto (and throughout Canada), the YOWronto Music Festival provides Flow with the perfect opportunity to connect with Caribbean people living abroad. The Company is using its mobile top-up platformhttp://www.topupflow.com/topup/orderas the main technology connector for the festival. The platform enables Caribbean people living abroad to send mobile credit back home quickly and conveniently, to ensure they are always connected.
Karl Haughton, a Director of FreshKut Productions, Inc. said, "I am really excited that Flow has agreed to come on board as a sponsor. It is a testament to the company's commitment to support Caribbean people, culture and content and the YOWronto Music Festival provides such a great opportunity for that."
The YOWronto Music Festival features international and Caribbean recording artistes includingAlison Hinds,Baby Cham,Romain Virgo,Lieutenant Stitchie,Eric Donaldson,Professor NutsandTessanne Chin. An exciting line up of Canadian artistes includingMichie Mee,Jay Harmony,Carlos Morgan,Blessed,Kim Davis,Ammoye Evans, andJimmy Reidwill also perform.
"We're excited by this opportunity to support this unique festival that celebrates Caribbean culture in Canada," said James McElvanna, VP Products atCable & Wireless,operator of Flow. "The festival gives us an opportunity to showcase our convenient top-up platform developed especially for the diaspora to help keep them connected with friends and family in the region." McElvanna says the online top-up platform is easy to use; people living Toronto, for example, simply need to go to the website, add the local Flow phone number of a friend or relative and send credit to them to stay connected.
The YOWronto Music Festivalis a musical extravaganza geared towards Caribbean people living in Toronto, and this year's event is intended to coincide with the celebration of Canada's 150th year of Confederation. This Festival will be held at Woodbine Mall on Saturday July 1, and Sunday, July 2, 2017, and will boast a variety of activities for all ages. The Festival will commence at 11:00 am and end at 11:00 pm on both days.
About C&W Communications
C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers.
C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region.
Learn more atwww.cwc.com, or follow C&W onLinkedIn,FacebookorTwitter.
About Liberty Global
Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 6 million access points.
Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group (NASDAQ:LBTYA) (NASDAQ:LBTYB) and (NASDAQ:LBTYK) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group (NASDAQ:LILA) and (NASDAQ:LILAK) (OTC PINK:LILAB), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets.
For more information, please visitwww.libertyglobal.com
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138493 || Flow Connects with the Caribbean Diaspora at the YOWronto Music Festival in Canada: TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - May 11, 2017) - Flow has joined forces with FreshKut Productions Inc. as a telecommunications sponsor for the inaugural staging of Canada's YOWronto Music Festival , as the Company and organizers seek to forge stronger ties between Canada and the Caribbean. With a strong Caribbean Diaspora population in Toronto (and throughout Canada), the YOWronto Music Festival provides Flow with the perfect opportunity to connect with Caribbean people living abroad. The Company is using its mobile top-up platform http://www.topupflow.com/topup/order as the main technology connector for the festival. The platform enables Caribbean people living abroad to send mobile credit back home quickly and conveniently, to ensure they are always connected. Karl Haughton, a Director of FreshKut Productions, Inc. said, "I am really excited that Flow has agreed to come on board as a sponsor. It is a testament to the company's commitment to support Caribbean people, culture and content and the YOWronto Music Festival provides such a great opportunity for that." The YOWronto Music Festival features international and Caribbean recording artistes including Alison Hinds , Baby Cham , Romain Virgo , Lieutenant Stitchie , Eric Donaldson , Professor Nuts and Tessanne Chin . An exciting line up of Canadian artistes including Michie Mee , Jay Harmony , Carlos Morgan , Blessed , Kim Davis , Ammoye Evans , and Jimmy Reid will also perform. "We're excited by this opportunity to support this unique festival that celebrates Caribbean culture in Canada," said James McElvanna, VP Products at Cable & Wireless , operator of Flow . "The festival gives us an opportunity to showcase our convenient top-up platform developed especially for the diaspora to help keep them connected with friends and family in the region." McElvanna says the online top-up platform is easy to use; people living Toronto, for example, simply need to go to the website, add the local Flow phone number of a friend or relative and send credit to them to stay connected. Story continues The YOWronto Music Festival is a musical extravaganza geared towards Caribbean people living in Toronto, and this year's event is intended to coincide with the celebration of Canada's 150th year of Confederation. This Festival will be held at Woodbine Mall on Saturday July 1, and Sunday, July 2, 2017, and will boast a variety of activities for all ages. The Festival will commence at 11:00 am and end at 11:00 pm on both days. About C&W Communications C&W is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network -- the most extensive in the region. Learn more at www.cwc.com , or follow C&W on LinkedIn , Facebook or Twitter . About Liberty Global Liberty Global is the world's largest international TV and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. We invest in the infrastructure that empowers our customers to make the most of the digital revolution. Our scale and commitment to innovation enable us to develop market-leading products delivered through next-generation networks that connect our 25 million customers who subscribe to over 50 million television, broadband internet and telephony services. We also serve over 10 million mobile subscribers and offer WiFi service across 6 million access points. Liberty Global's businesses are comprised of two stocks: the Liberty Global Group ( NASDAQ : LBTYA ) ( NASDAQ : LBTYB ) and ( NASDAQ : LBTYK ) for our European operations, and the LiLAC Group ( NASDAQ : LILA ) and ( NASDAQ : LILAK ) ( OTC PINK : LILAB ), which consists of our operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Liberty Global Group operates in 11 European countries under the consumer brands Virgin Media, Unitymedia, Telenet and UPC. The Liberty Global Group also owns 50% of VodafoneZiggo, a Dutch joint venture, which has 4 million customers, 10 million fixed-line subscribers and 5 million mobile subscribers. The LiLAC Group operates in over 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC. In addition, the LiLAC Group operates a sub-sea fiber network throughout the region in over 30 markets. For more information, please visit www.libertyglobal.com Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3138493 || Hertz shares plunge 18% after first-quarter loss nearly doubles Wall Street estimate: Hertz Global(HTZ)stock tumbled Tuesday, a day after the car rental company reported a bigger-than-expected earnings loss and revenue that fell below analysts' estimates.
Lower rental prices and lower resale value for its used vehicles crimped the earnings report.
Shares of the stock closed down more than 14 percent during Tuesday, as investors digested the weak quarterly report and lack of future guidance from management.
After the bell on Monday the company reported a first quarter earnings loss, excluding items, of $1.61 per share on sales of $1.92 billion. The Street was anticipating Hertz to post a much smaller loss for the quarter of 91 cents on better sales of $1.94 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
The company's net loss from continuing operations widened to $223 million during the period, from just $52 million a year ago. Hertz also booked an impairment charge of $30 million in the quarter.
Hertz will likely continue to struggle to get better resale values for its cars so long as U.S. used-car prices continue to fall, as more and more vehicles return to the market following their leases' end.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Hertz's vehicle sales volume was up 21 percent year over year, but the value is dropping. The company noted that net depreciation per vehicle was up by 15 percent.
"We are placing significant emphasis on fleet quality, the customer experience, brand development and systems transformation," CEO Kathryn Marinello said, attributing the wider losses to increased investments being made in a "turnaround" effort.
With the blessing of billionaire investorCarl Icahn, Hertz's biggest shareholder, Marinello recently replaced CEO John Tague.
The company has performed more poorly than competitors because Hertz's fleet is particularly outdated with fewer SUVs. And competition is stiffer than ever in the age of Uber and Lyft.
As of Tuesday's close, shares of Hertz have fallen more than 63 percent over the past 12 months and are down about 40 percent this year.
Source: FactSet
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• Bet on 'repatriation stocks,' UBS says || Hertz shares plunge 18% after first-quarter loss nearly doubles Wall Street estimate: Hertz Global ( HTZ ) stock tumbled Tuesday, a day after the car rental company reported a bigger-than-expected earnings loss and revenue that fell below analysts' estimates. Lower rental prices and lower resale value for its used vehicles crimped the earnings report. Shares of the stock closed down more than 14 percent during Tuesday, as investors digested the weak quarterly report and lack of future guidance from management. After the bell on Monday the company reported a first quarter earnings loss, excluding items, of $1.61 per share on sales of $1.92 billion. The Street was anticipating Hertz to post a much smaller loss for the quarter of 91 cents on better sales of $1.94 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. The company's net loss from continuing operations widened to $223 million during the period, from just $52 million a year ago. Hertz also booked an impairment charge of $30 million in the quarter. Hertz will likely continue to struggle to get better resale values for its cars so long as U.S. used-car prices continue to fall, as more and more vehicles return to the market following their leases' end. Used cars and trucks price index Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Hertz's vehicle sales volume was up 21 percent year over year, but the value is dropping. The company noted that net depreciation per vehicle was up by 15 percent. "We are placing significant emphasis on fleet quality, the customer experience, brand development and systems transformation," CEO Kathryn Marinello said, attributing the wider losses to increased investments being made in a "turnaround" effort. With the blessing of billionaire investor Carl Icahn , Hertz's biggest shareholder, Marinello recently replaced CEO John Tague. The company has performed more poorly than competitors because Hertz's fleet is particularly outdated with fewer SUVs. And competition is stiffer than ever in the age of Uber and Lyft. As of Tuesday's close, shares of Hertz have fallen more than 63 percent over the past 12 months and are down about 40 percent this year. Story continues HTZ 12-month performance Source: FactSet More From CNBC Apple's former CEO shares the one iPhone feature he'd like to see next Bitcoin spikes to fresh record after Fed's Kashkari speaks about blockchain Bet on 'repatriation stocks,' UBS says || This is not normal Lloyd Blankfein on the sleepy state of markets: The U.S. stock market may be a bit too calm right now, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein said Tuesday. "Every time I get accustomed to low volatility, like we were towards the end of the Greenspan era, and we think we have all the levers under the control ... something erupts to remind us that the idea that anybody is in control of everything is hubris," Blankfein told CNBC's " Power Lunch " from the sidelines of the company's director symposium in Chicago. "I don't know what brings us out of the doldrums, but I do know this is not a normal resting state," he said. The CBOE Volatility Index (STOXX: .VIX) , widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market hit its lowest intraday level since December 2006 on Tuesday. Equities have been on a tear lately. Earlier on Tuesday, the S&P 500 (INDEX: .SPX) and the Nasdaq composite set new all-time highs. That said, stocks have traded in a narrow range for most of 2017. The S&P has only posted moves greater than 1 percent twice this year. "The low volatility may be a bit of a bubble of confidence, but we won't know until we know," Blankfein said. "My own expectation, which I never rely on ... is that we're muddling through. A lot can go wrong, but the base case is that things are going right," he said. Nevertheless, Blankfein believes the banking sector is equipped to deal with any trouble ahead, saying U.S. banks are overcapitalized. Banks have been some of the best-performing stocks over the past year, with the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) (NYSE Arca: KBE) rising 38 percent in that period. Also watch: Blankfein: US banks are overcapitalized now More From CNBC Bitcoin spikes to fresh record after Fed's Kashkari speaks about blockchain Bet on 'repatriation stocks,' UBS says Fed's George says balance sheet should be trimmed this year || This is not normal — Lloyd Blankfein on the sleepy state of markets: The U.S. stock market may be a bit too calm right now, Goldman Sachs(NYSE: GS)CEOLloyd Blankfeinsaid Tuesday.
"Every time I get accustomed to low volatility, like we were towards the end of the Greenspan era, and we think we have all the levers under the control ... something erupts to remind us that the idea that anybody is in control of everything is hubris," Blankfein told CNBC's "Power Lunch" from the sidelines of the company's director symposium in Chicago.
"I don't know what brings us out of the doldrums, but I do know this is not a normal resting state," he said.
The CBOE Volatility Index(STOXX: .VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market hit its lowest intraday level since December 2006 on Tuesday.
Equities have been on a tear lately. Earlier on Tuesday, the S&P 500(INDEX: .SPX)and the Nasdaq composite set new all-time highs.
That said, stocks have traded in a narrow range for most of 2017. The S&P has only posted moves greater than 1 percent twice this year.
"The low volatility may be a bit of a bubble of confidence, but we won't know until we know," Blankfein said. "My own expectation, which I never rely on ... is that we're muddling through. A lot can go wrong, but the base case is that things are going right," he said.
Nevertheless, Blankfein believes the banking sector is equipped to deal with any trouble ahead, saying U.S. banks are overcapitalized.
Banks have been some of the best-performing stocks over the past year, with the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE)(NYSE Arca: KBE)rising 38 percent in that period.
Also watch: Blankfein: US banks are overcapitalized now
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• Fed's George says balance sheet should be trimmed this year || Bitcoin soars past $1,700 for the first time: Bitcoinseems unstoppable, topping $1,700 for the first time on Tuesday.
The cryptocurrency is up 5.71% at $1,758.45 a coin, as trade grinds higher for the 16th time in 18 sessions. It has gained nearly 50% during its run.
Tuesday's gain comes without any obvious catalyst as traders await the US Securities and Exchange Commission's ruling on whether it willreverse its decision to reject the Winklevoss twins' exchange-traded fund.
The SEC rejected two bitcoin ETFs back in March, saying it "is disapproving this proposed rule change because it does not find the proposal to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest."
Bitcoin recently has shrugged offChina restricting trade, the SEC's rejecting of the two bitcoin ETFs, and threats from developers to create a "hard fork" that would split the cryptocurrency in two.
But there has also been some good news for bitcoin, which has posted an 85% gain this year.
At the beginning of April, Japan's financial regulators saidbitcoin would be considered a legal payment methodin the country, and days later Russia said it would consider bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018.
Aside from 2014, bitcoin has been the top-performing currency every year since 2010.
NOW WATCH:Animated map of what Earth would look like if all the ice melted
More From Business Insider
• Bitcoin just soared to a new $1,600 high — but the first investor in Snapchat thinks it could hit $500,000 by 2030
• The price of Bitcoin just hit an all new high — here's how easy it is to buy your first one
• Bitcoin is closing in on $1,500 || Bitcoin soars past $1,700 for the first time: Bitcoinseems unstoppable, topping $1,700 for the first time on Tuesday.
The cryptocurrency is up 5.71% at $1,758.45 a coin, as trade grinds higher for the 16th time in 18 sessions. It has gained nearly 50% during its run.
Tuesday's gain comes without any obvious catalyst as traders await the US Securities and Exchange Commission's ruling on whether it willreverse its decision to reject the Winklevoss twins' exchange-traded fund.
The SEC rejected two bitcoin ETFs back in March, saying it "is disapproving this proposed rule change because it does not find the proposal to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest."
Bitcoin recently has shrugged offChina restricting trade, the SEC's rejecting of the two bitcoin ETFs, and threats from developers to create a "hard fork" that would split the cryptocurrency in two.
But there has also been some good news for bitcoin, which has posted an 85% gain this year.
At the beginning of April, Japan's financial regulators saidbitcoin would be considered a legal payment methodin the country, and days later Russia said it would consider bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018.
Aside from 2014, bitcoin has been the top-performing currency every year since 2010.
NOW WATCH:Animated map of what Earth would look like if all the ice melted
More From Business Insider
• Bitcoin just soared to a new $1,600 high — but the first investor in Snapchat thinks it could hit $500,000 by 2030
• The price of Bitcoin just hit an all new high — here's how easy it is to buy your first one
• Bitcoin is closing in on $1,500 || Bitcoin soars past $1,700 for the first time: Bitcoin seems unstoppable, topping $1,700 for the first time on Tuesday. The cryptocurrency is up 5.71% at $1,758.45 a coin, as trade grinds higher for the 16th time in 18 sessions. It has gained nearly 50% during its run. Tuesday's gain comes without any obvious catalyst as traders await the US Securities and Exchange Commission's ruling on whether it will reverse its decision to reject the Winklevoss twins' exchange-traded fund . The SEC rejected two bitcoin ETFs back in March, saying it "is disapproving this proposed rule change because it does not find the proposal to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest." Bitcoin recently has shrugged off China restricting trade , the SEC's rejecting of the two bitcoin ETFs, and threats from developers to create a " hard fork " that would split the cryptocurrency in two. But there has also been some good news for bitcoin, which has posted an 85% gain this year. At the beginning of April, Japan's financial regulators said bitcoin would be considered a legal payment method in the country, and days later Russia said it would consider bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018. Aside from 2014, bitcoin has been the top-performing currency every year since 2010. NOW WATCH: Animated map of what Earth would look like if all the ice melted More From Business Insider Bitcoin just soared to a new $1,600 high but the first investor in Snapchat thinks it could hit $500,000 by 2030 The price of Bitcoin just hit an all new high here's how easy it is to buy your first one Bitcoin is closing in on $1,500 || 3 Market Surprises Impacting ETFs: Predicting market action is fraught with challenges. Often the market takes unexpected turns, delivering investors with surprising ETF performances. So far this year, there have been a few “surprises” worth noting.
Volatility Is Very, Very Low
So far in 2017, market volatility has been historically low any way you measure it. The CBOE VIX Index is sitting below the 10 mark—a level that’s lower than 99%-plus of all its closing prices since 1990, according to ConvergEx’s Nick Colas. That it’s so low has people wondering whether it could actually go to zero. CBOE’s head Ed Tilly says it cannot, by the way. (CBOE owns ETF.com’s parent company, Bats Global Markets.)
If you measure volatility from the perspective of the S&P 500, we should have already seen at least 19 days of 1%-or-wider moves so far in 2017, based on historical norms, Colas says. But year-to-date, the S&P 500 has only moved 1% or more in just three days.
“It’s not your imagination. U.S. equity markets are much calmer than usual,” Colas said. These are definitely strange days.
From an ETF perspective, there are19 volatility exchange-traded productson the market today. Most of them are either leveraged or inverse, but the biggest of these strategies is not. TheiPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX), with $820 million in assets, tracks an index with exposure to futures contracts on the VIX with average one-month maturity, and exposure resets daily.
VXX is down more than 45% year-to-date, bringing its one-year results to a loss of more than 77% in 12 months. Despite the decline, investors have poured $163 million in fresh net assets into thisexchange-traded noteso far in 2017.
“The upshot is that actual U.S. equity market volatility should begin to rise (at least modesty) in the coming weeks,” Colas said. “If you buy our construct that volatility follows cycles, then we should be at the trough of one right now. That should cause a pullback in stocks, but it does not portend a subsequent meltdown or melt-up, for that matter.”
10-Year Treasury Yields Are Falling, Not Rising
Following the U.S. presidential election last fall, many market pundits were calling for higher U.S. Treasury yields, and at least through March of this year, that seemed to be the trajectory we were on.
J.P. Morgan, for example, projected 10-year Treasury yields to hit 2.85% by the end of 2017 amid two or three Federal Reserve rate hikes, “less accommodative” bank policy and a deteriorating fiscal balance. That would amount to a 16% increase in yields from levels seen at the end of 2016.
And for a while, that forecast—similar to many others—was spot-on, as 10-year yields rose as high as 2.60% by mid-March. The Federal Reserve’s decision to raise rates and the twists and turns of the new administration were helping push yields higher.
But since then, yields plummeted to a low of 2.18% in April, and are now hovering around 2.40%, at levels lower than at the end of 2016.
In the ETF space, a look at the performance of theiShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF)and theiShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT)show just how much the Treasury market has turned course in recent weeks (see chart below). Investors have not bailed on TLT, but have instead poured more than $1.2 billion into the fund so far this year, and nearly $150 million in IEF.
Bitcoin Prices At Record Highs Despite ETF Rejection
Everyone was waiting for the Securities and Exchange Commission to decide whether to approve the market’s first bitcoin ETF, the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust (COIN). The idea was that a “yes” from regulators would translate into massive bitcoin demand, bringing retail and institutional investors into the bitcoin fold for the first time. Prices would rise.
But the SEC said no,rejecting COIN. Those massive inflows never materialized because the ETF never launched. So bitcoin prices, everyone thought, should drop as a result. And prices did fall initially—but only initially. They have since rallied to a record highs, hitting $1,700, and climbing about 90% year-to-date. That rally has been picking up pace in recent weeks.
ETF investors don’t have a clear vector into bitcoins yet, except for very small allocations in theWeb X.0 ETF (ARKW)and theArk Innovation ETF (ARKK). Each ETF accesses bitcoin through the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC), with an allocation of about 4% each.
GBTC is up 82% so far in 2017, helping drive gains in both these technology funds, which have had a stellar run so far this year.
Chart courtesy ofStockCharts.com
Contact Cinthia Murphy [email protected]
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Permalink| © Copyright 2017ETF.com.All rights reserved || 3 Market Surprises Impacting ETFs: Predicting market action is fraught with challenges. Often the market takes unexpected turns, delivering investors with surprising ETF performances. So far this year, there have been a few “surprises” worth noting. Volatility Is Very, Very Low So far in 2017, market volatility has been historically low any way you measure it. The CBOE VIX Index is sitting below the 10 mark—a level that’s lower than 99%-plus of all its closing prices since 1990, according to ConvergEx’s Nick Colas. That it’s so low has people wondering whether it could actually go to zero. CBOE’s head Ed Tilly says it cannot, by the way. (CBOE owns ETF.com’s parent company, Bats Global Markets.) If you measure volatility from the perspective of the S&P 500, we should have already seen at least 19 days of 1%-or-wider moves so far in 2017, based on historical norms, Colas says. But year-to-date, the S&P 500 has only moved 1% or more in just three days. “It’s not your imagination. U.S. equity markets are much calmer than usual,” Colas said. These are definitely strange days. From an ETF perspective, there are 19 volatility exchange-traded products on the market today. Most of them are either leveraged or inverse, but the biggest of these strategies is not. The iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) , with $820 million in assets, tracks an index with exposure to futures contracts on the VIX with average one-month maturity, and exposure resets daily. VXX is down more than 45% year-to-date, bringing its one-year results to a loss of more than 77% in 12 months. Despite the decline, investors have poured $163 million in fresh net assets into this exchange-traded note so far in 2017. “The upshot is that actual U.S. equity market volatility should begin to rise (at least modesty) in the coming weeks,” Colas said. “If you buy our construct that volatility follows cycles, then we should be at the trough of one right now. That should cause a pullback in stocks, but it does not portend a subsequent meltdown or melt-up, for that matter.” Story continues 10-Year Treasury Yields Are Falling, Not Rising Following the U.S. presidential election last fall, many market pundits were calling for higher U.S. Treasury yields, and at least through March of this year, that seemed to be the trajectory we were on. J.P. Morgan , for example, projected 10-year Treasury yields to hit 2.85% by the end of 2017 amid two or three Federal Reserve rate hikes, “less accommodative” bank policy and a deteriorating fiscal balance. That would amount to a 16% increase in yields from levels seen at the end of 2016. And for a while, that forecast—similar to many others—was spot-on, as 10-year yields rose as high as 2.60% by mid-March. The Federal Reserve’s decision to raise rates and the twists and turns of the new administration were helping push yields higher. But since then, yields plummeted to a low of 2.18% in April, and are now hovering around 2.40%, at levels lower than at the end of 2016. In the ETF space, a look at the performance of the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) show just how much the Treasury market has turned course in recent weeks (see chart below). Investors have not bailed on TLT, but have instead poured more than $1.2 billion into the fund so far this year, and nearly $150 million in IEF. Bitcoin Prices At Record Highs Despite ETF Rejection Everyone was waiting for the Securities and Exchange Commission to decide whether to approve the market’s first bitcoin ETF, the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust (COIN). The idea was that a “yes” from regulators would translate into massive bitcoin demand, bringing retail and institutional investors into the bitcoin fold for the first time. Prices would rise. But the SEC said no, rejecting COIN . Those massive inflows never materialized because the ETF never launched. So bitcoin prices, everyone thought, should drop as a result. And prices did fall initially—but only initially. They have since rallied to a record highs, hitting $1,700, and climbing about 90% year-to-date. That rally has been picking up pace in recent weeks. ETF investors don’t have a clear vector into bitcoins yet, except for very small allocations in the Web X.0 ETF (ARKW) and the Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) . Each ETF accesses bitcoin through the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC), with an allocation of about 4% each. GBTC is up 82% so far in 2017, helping drive gains in both these technology funds, which have had a stellar run so far this year. Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com Contact Cinthia Murphy at [email protected] Recommended Stories Brazil ETFs Crumble Under Latest Scandal New Giant Among Emerging Market ETFs 3 Market Surprises Impacting ETFs Measuring Smart Beta ETF Performance First US Listed European Volatility ETNs Launch Permalink | © Copyright 2017 ETF.com. All rights reserved || Stocks cling to gains as investors dump bonds, gold: Stocks ( ^DJI , ^GSPC , ^IXIC ) are flat to up at the midday mark, with the consumer discretionary ( XLY ) sector leading the way up and energy ( XLE ) the most in the red. Alan Valdes, director of floor operations at Silverbear , joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange. To discuss the other big stories of the day , Alexis Christoforous is joined by Yahoo Finance’s Rick Newman and Dan Roberts. Today’s Midday Movers topics: Making sense of market moves after the French election Disney, Nvidia, Priceline earnings after the bell What President Trump’s secret visitor log reveals Bitcoin surges to record, now trades above $1,700 Snoop Dogg wants to create music festival in dad’s hometown || Stocks cling to gains as investors dump bonds, gold: Stocks (^DJI,^GSPC,^IXIC) are flat to up at the midday mark, with the consumer discretionary(XLY) sector leading the way up and energy(XLE) the most in the red.Alan Valdes, director of floor operations at Silverbear,joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange. To discuss the other big stories of theday, Alexis Christoforous is joined by Yahoo Finance’s Rick Newman and Dan Roberts.
• Making sense of market moves after the French election
• Disney, Nvidia, Priceline earnings after the bell
• What President Trump’s secret visitor log reveals
• Bitcoin surges to record, now trades above $1,700
• Snoop Dogg wants to create music festival in dad’s hometown || 10 things you need to know today: AH-64D Apache attack helicopter (An AH-64D Apache attack helicopter at the South Carolina National Guard Air and Ground Expo at McEntire Joint National Guard Base in South Carolina.Reuters/Jorge Intriago/Courtesy Air National Guard/Handout) Here is what you need to know. South Korea goes to the polls . Barring a major upset, liberal Moon Jae-in, who is open to dialogue with North Korea, is expected to win, Reuters says. UK retail sales bounce back . Data released by the Retail Sales Monitor from the British Retail Consortium on Tuesday showed that retail sales in April surged 5.6% versus a year ago after slipping 1% in March. Bitcoin tops $1,700. The cryptocurrency trades up by 4.3% at $1,728 a coin. It's up 81% this year. Jeff Gundlach doesn't like US stocks . Speaking at the Sohn Investment conference, Gundlach, the founder of DoubleLine Capital, told attendees to go long the iShares Emerging Markets ETF and short the S&P 500. Hertz tanks after missing big on earnings . The rental-car company lost an adjusted $1.61 a share, missing the $0.84 loss that Wall Street was anticipating by a wide margin. Share tumbled by as much as 15% in extended trading on Monday. SPONSOR CONTENT BY ORACLE CFOs can transform their organization into an analytics powerhouse with the right talent, tools, and strategy. Learn more. Sturm Ruger says gun demand slowed . The gunmaker said sell-through of its products from independent distributors to retailers fell by 7% after seeing a strong run-up to the 2016 presidential election. The CEO of Qantas Airways took a pie to the face while giving a speech . CEO Alan Joyce was talking about his airline's recent decision to begin nonstop flights from London to Perth, Australia, when a man ran up to the podium and pied him in the face, City AM says. "If there are any more pies, can you get it over with now?" Joyce asked. Stock markets are higher . Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+1.3%) led the gains in Asia, and Germany's DAX (+0.5%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open little changed near 2,400. Earnings reporting remains heavy. Allergan, Office Depot, and Valeant report ahead of the opening bell, while Disney, Priceline, and Yelp are among the names releasing their quarterly results after markets close. US economic is light. Jolts Job Openings will be released at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is unchanged at 2.39%, its highest since the end of March. More From Business Insider 26 TV shows that were just canceled United Airlines apologizes after sending woman to San Francisco instead of Paris 10 things you need to know before the opening bell View comments
[Social Media Buzz]
$1778.57 at 15:30 UTC [24h Range: $1733.00 - $1868.00 Volume: 13873 BTC] || Average Bitcoin market price is: USD 1,730.00, EUR 1,584.40 || 16:00~17:00のBitcoin市場はしっかりだったのかな。
直近の市場の平均Bitcoinの価格は212128.0円
変化率は-0.346%
18:00まではしっかり?
【AIコメントです:テスト中@パターンB】
#bitcoin
#AI || $1818.00 at 10:45 UTC [24h Range: $1733.00 - $1868.00 Volume: 14004 BTC] || #BITCOIN ahora:
$1,719.00 USD
€1,580.54 EUR
$32,247.38 MXN
@Bitso $34,455.90 MXN
@Volabit $33,832.30 MXNpic.twitter.com/tEyVVNZUBH || $LGD MEMBERSHIP TOKEN SA...
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1804.91, 1808.91, 1738.43, 1734.45, 1839.09, 1888.65, 1987.71, 2084.73, 2041.20, 2173.40
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 9700.76, 9858.15, 9654.80, 9373.01, 9234.82, 9325.18, 9043.94, 8441.49, 8504.89, 8723.94, 8716.79, 8510.38, 8368.83, 8094.32, 8250.97, 8247.18, 8513.25, 8418.99, 8041.78, 7557.82, 7587.34, 7480.14, 7355.88, 7368.22, 7135.99, 7472.59, 7406.52, 7494.17, 7541.45, 7643.45, 7720.25, 7514.47, 7633.76, 7653.98, 7678.24, 7624.92, 7531.98, 6786.02, 6906.92, 6582.36, 6349.90, 6675.35, 6456.58, 6550.16, 6499.27, 6734.82, 6769.94, 6776.55, 6729.74, 6083.69, 6162.48, 6173.23, 6249.18, 6093.67, 6157.13, 5903.44, 6218.30, 6404.00, 6385.82, 6614.18, 6529.59, 6597.55, 6639.14, 6673.50, 6856.93, 6773.88, 6741.75, 6329.95, 6394.71, 6228.81, 6238.05, 6276.12, 6359.64, 6741.75, 7321.04, 7370.78, 7466.86, 7354.13, 7419.29, 7418.49, 7711.11, 8424.27, 8181.39, 7951.58, 8165.01, 8192.15, 8218.46, 8180.48, 7780.44, 7624.91.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-08-01]
Volume: 4797620000, RSI (14-day): 53.39, 50-day EMA: 7311.07, 200-day EMA: 7923.28
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1217.90, Gold RSI: 31.86
Oil Price: 67.66, Oil RSI: 43.28
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
OTC is Much Larger Than Bitcoin Exchange Volume: Where Real Whales Trade: bitcoin whale TABB Group, an international research company, has disclosed in its extensive analytical report that the over-the-counter (OTC) market of bitcoin is significantly larger than the global bitcoin exchange market. OTC Versus Exchanges: Whales Against Retail Traders For many years, the majority of bitcoin analysts predicted billions of dollars to be traded on a regular basis in the OTC market, by billionaire investors, institutions, and miners. While cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, Huobi, OKEx, and UPbit process hundreds of millions of dollars worth of trades every day, the liquidity on these platforms are not sufficient to process multi-billion dollar buy and sell orders. The lack of liquidity on major exchanges is the first amongst many other issues that could emerge in processing large trades for high profile investors. Selling hundreds of millions of dollars of bitcoin on a public exchange in a short period of time could crash the market, especially if there are not enough buy orders set in place to liquidate large sell orders. bitcoin price As such, billionaire traders and institutions have relied on the OTC market to buy and sell batches of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like ether, mostly from miners and other major investors. This week, TABB Group claimed that the OTC market of bitcoin is at least two to three times larger than exchange market. Given that the bitcoin exchange market processes around $4 billion worth of trades per day, if the TABB’s assessment is accurate, the OTC market of bitcoin is processing more than $12 billion worth of trades on a daily basis. Eric Wall, a cryptocurrency researcher, said : “Just read an estimate from the TABB Group (in a $5,000 report) that OTC crypto markets exceed exchange volumes by 2-3x. That would mean 1 to 1.5 million BTC is traded OTC daily. Strange it’s not visible on the blockchain, which shows a meager 100,000 a day.” Monica Summerville, a senior FinTech analyst at Tabb Group, explained further that the research firm was able to obtain the $12 billion number based on interviews and evaluation of the market. Story continues “Our reports are based on interviews and with participants in markets, cover more than BTC and keep in mind that not all transactions show up on public blockchains as many venues omnibus accounts so only net changes to their positions will be written to public blockchain,” she said. What Does This All Mean? The movement of the cryptocurrency exchange market is unpredictable and the market often demonstrates an extreme rate of volatility. Even major digital assets like bitcoin and ether tend to move 3 to 10 percent on a daily basis on both the upside and downside. If the bitcoin exchange market only accounts for 25 percent of the actual volume of the dominant cryptocurrency, it is that much more difficult to find the cause of the movements of BTC and other cryptocurrencies. For instance, on July 17, many analysts attributed to the fall in the price of bitcoin from $8,300 to $7,800 to the rejection of the Winklevoss bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). However, it is entirely possible, given the sheer size of the OTC market, that the drop was caused by a sell-off of a major investor outside of the bitcoin exchange market. Featured Image from Shutterstock The post OTC is Much Larger Than Bitcoin Exchange Volume: Where Real Whales Trade appeared first on CCN . || OTC is Much Larger Than Bitcoin Exchange Volume: Where Real Whales Trade: TABB Group, an international research company, has disclosed in its extensive analytical report that the over-the-counter (OTC) market of bitcoin is significantly larger than the global bitcoin exchange market.
For many years, the majority of bitcoin analysts predicted billions of dollars to be traded on a regular basis in the OTC market, by billionaire investors, institutions, and miners. Whilecryptocurrency exchangeslike Coinbase, Binance, Huobi, OKEx, and UPbit process hundreds of millions of dollars worth of trades every day, the liquidity on these platforms are not sufficient to process multi-billion dollar buy and sell orders.
The lack of liquidity on major exchanges is the first amongst many other issues that could emerge in processing large trades for high profile investors. Selling hundreds of millions of dollars of bitcoin on a public exchange in a short period of time could crash the market, especially if there are not enough buy orders set in place to liquidate large sell orders.
As such, billionaire traders and institutions have relied on the OTC market to buy and sell batches of bitcoin and othercryptocurrencieslike ether, mostly from miners and other major investors.
This week, TABB Group claimed that the OTC market of bitcoin is at least two to three times larger than exchange market. Given that the bitcoin exchange market processes around $4 billion worth of trades per day, if the TABB’s assessment is accurate, the OTC market of bitcoin is processing more than $12 billion worth of trades on a daily basis.
Eric Wall, a cryptocurrency researcher,said:
“Just read an estimate from the TABB Group (in a $5,000 report) that OTC crypto markets exceed exchange volumes by 2-3x. That would mean 1 to 1.5 million BTC is traded OTC daily. Strange it’s not visible on the blockchain, which shows a meager 100,000 a day.”
Monica Summerville, a senior FinTech analyst at Tabb Group, explained further that the research firm was able to obtain the $12 billion number based on interviews and evaluation of the market.
“Our reports are based on interviews and with participants in markets, cover more than BTC and keep in mind that not all transactions show up on public blockchains as many venues omnibus accounts so only net changes to their positions will be written to public blockchain,” she said.
The movement of the cryptocurrency exchange market is unpredictable and the market often demonstrates an extreme rate of volatility. Even major digital assets like bitcoin and ether tend to move 3 to 10 percent on a daily basis on both the upside and downside.
If the bitcoin exchange market only accounts for 25 percent of the actual volume of the dominant cryptocurrency, it is that much more difficult to find the cause of the movements of BTC and other cryptocurrencies.
For instance, on July 17, many analysts attributed to the fall in the price of bitcoin from $8,300 to $7,800 to the rejection of the Winklevossbitcoin exchange-traded fund(ETF). However, it is entirely possible, given the sheer size of the OTC market, that the drop was caused by a sell-off of a major investor outside of the bitcoin exchange market.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
The postOTC is Much Larger Than Bitcoin Exchange Volume: Where Real Whales Tradeappeared first onCCN. || OTC is Much Larger Than Bitcoin Exchange Volume: Where Real Whales Trade: TABB Group, an international research company, has disclosed in its extensive analytical report that the over-the-counter (OTC) market of bitcoin is significantly larger than the global bitcoin exchange market.
For many years, the majority of bitcoin analysts predicted billions of dollars to be traded on a regular basis in the OTC market, by billionaire investors, institutions, and miners. Whilecryptocurrency exchangeslike Coinbase, Binance, Huobi, OKEx, and UPbit process hundreds of millions of dollars worth of trades every day, the liquidity on these platforms are not sufficient to process multi-billion dollar buy and sell orders.
The lack of liquidity on major exchanges is the first amongst many other issues that could emerge in processing large trades for high profile investors. Selling hundreds of millions of dollars of bitcoin on a public exchange in a short period of time could crash the market, especially if there are not enough buy orders set in place to liquidate large sell orders.
As such, billionaire traders and institutions have relied on the OTC market to buy and sell batches of bitcoin and othercryptocurrencieslike ether, mostly from miners and other major investors.
This week, TABB Group claimed that the OTC market of bitcoin is at least two to three times larger than exchange market. Given that the bitcoin exchange market processes around $4 billion worth of trades per day, if the TABB’s assessment is accurate, the OTC market of bitcoin is processing more than $12 billion worth of trades on a daily basis.
Eric Wall, a cryptocurrency researcher,said:
“Just read an estimate from the TABB Group (in a $5,000 report) that OTC crypto markets exceed exchange volumes by 2-3x. That would mean 1 to 1.5 million BTC is traded OTC daily. Strange it’s not visible on the blockchain, which shows a meager 100,000 a day.”
Monica Summerville, a senior FinTech analyst at Tabb Group, explained further that the research firm was able to obtain the $12 billion number based on interviews and evaluation of the market.
“Our reports are based on interviews and with participants in markets, cover more than BTC and keep in mind that not all transactions show up on public blockchains as many venues omnibus accounts so only net changes to their positions will be written to public blockchain,” she said.
The movement of the cryptocurrency exchange market is unpredictable and the market often demonstrates an extreme rate of volatility. Even major digital assets like bitcoin and ether tend to move 3 to 10 percent on a daily basis on both the upside and downside.
If the bitcoin exchange market only accounts for 25 percent of the actual volume of the dominant cryptocurrency, it is that much more difficult to find the cause of the movements of BTC and other cryptocurrencies.
For instance, on July 17, many analysts attributed to the fall in the price of bitcoin from $8,300 to $7,800 to the rejection of the Winklevossbitcoin exchange-traded fund(ETF). However, it is entirely possible, given the sheer size of the OTC market, that the drop was caused by a sell-off of a major investor outside of the bitcoin exchange market.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
The postOTC is Much Larger Than Bitcoin Exchange Volume: Where Real Whales Tradeappeared first onCCN. || 88% Of Crypto Exchanges Want Industry Regulation, New Study Reveals: cryptocurrency exchange regulations Lithuania-based crypto payment company Mistertango has released a study which reveals that 88% of cryptocurrency exchanges want industry regulation. The study was based on responses from 24 crypto exchanges across the world with a total daily trading volume of over $100 million. The responses show an industry that wants to be part of the formal system, not outside of it — contrary to public perception. Cryptocurrency Exchanges Want Regulation The study reveals that 88% of crypto exchanges want regulation, as they believe it could stabilize prices and create a level of certainty that the market has not experienced for a while. Mistertango Business Manager Gabrielius Bilkštys said the market needs regulation more than ever as it would create the required level of stability investors crave. “The industry is crying out for regulation, and the response from partners has shown this. Uncertainty is the biggest fear, and regulation is critical to provide the stability we need. Unfortunately, there is no regulatory consensus – worldwide or otherwise. For cryptocurrencies to move towards the scale and ubiquity possessed by fiat currency, it needs cohesive, considered and comprehensive regulation. Thus, regulation will be a catalyst, not an inhibitor to the crypto market development.” Regulation could solve some of the threats that have plagued the market in the past, but some fear that too heavy a hand could also destroy the market. Seventeen percent of respondents said that they believe “overly strict regulation is the biggest threat to the cryptocurrency.” We’ve witnessed scenarios where regulators came down hard on exchanges. This has become quite popular in Asia, where trading has been shut down in the past, which led to extreme price volatility. Oleksandr Lutskevych, CEO of CEX.IO — one of the top crypto exchanges based on market volume — believes the market will mature better when it’s regulated. He said: Story continues “Until now, the industry has not had its say on regulation. It has been widely supposed that crypto companies want to avoid a regulated environment, but this is far from the truth. The industry is all too aware that regulation will lead to the maturity of the market and ensure businesses remain free from suspicion of involvement with illegitimate uses of cryptocurrency.” Banking Merrill Lynch Bitcoin Fund While anonymity — or in the case of most cryptocurrencys, pseudonymity — has been one of the biggest allures of the market, 55% of respondents are willing to beam the light on customers trading on their platforms using KYC/AML checks, as is done with traditional financial services, in a bid to make crypto free from illegal uses. Some of the respondents believe the banks hold the aces when it comes to crypto adoption. About 40% of crypto exchanges in the study think “reducing barriers to funding crypto activity by banks will improve acceptance.” This is one of the factors driving adoption in South Korea, known as one of the largest markets for cryptocurrency trading. Shinhan Bank , the second largest bank in the country, provides local exchanges with virtual bank accounts, which traders can also use to withdraw and deposit without having to use their actual bank account. The respondents believe a change in the attitude of banks will have a massive impact on the global acceptance of cryptocurrency but that this can only be achieved if the industry is regulated. Images from Shutterstock The post 88% Of Crypto Exchanges Want Industry Regulation, New Study Reveals appeared first on CCN . || Biotech ETFs Rally as Illumina Tops Q2 Expectations: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Biotechnology sector ETFs were among the best performers Tuesday, with Illumina (ILMN) shares surging after the genomics firm beat second-quarter expectations and raised its year-end outlook.
Among the best performing ETFs of Tuesday, the Invesco Dynamic Biotech & Genome (PBE) increased 3.0%, ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector ETF (ARKG) advanced 2.5% and iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) rose 2.0%.
Meanwhile, ILMN shares jumped 11.2% Monday. ILMN makes up 4.8% of PBE, 7.6% of ARKG and 5.2% of IBB.
Evercore analyst Ross Muken said in that the Illumina stock story is "far too compelling to ignore," reports Allison Gatlin forInvestor's Business Daily.
"The breadth/scope of portfolio strength in this quarter was truly remarkable," Muken said in a report. "We haven't barely even scratched the surface on many areas driving the notable inflection (such as oncology)."
Illumina is a genomics firm that produces systems and non-reusable tools to sequence the genome to help researchers learn more about the genetic variations that sometimes lead to disease.
"It is quite an exciting time in genomics/sequencing," Muken added. "Kudos to management as well for the superb execution as it is one thing to have a sizable opportunity in front of you and another thing to make it a reality in the consistent fashion they have. The sum of all this makes (Illumina) challenging to not own despite the current growth tantrum."
Fueling the surge on Tuesday, Illumina revealed second quarter sales that were $42 million above expectations. The firm's service revenue was topped by 18% and sales of new-generation sequencing consumable tools came in ahead of forecasts by 4%.
Genomic sequencing is also becoming a booming business in the health care industry. Deutsche Bank analyst Dan Leonard noted robust growth in the quarter, with demand for consumable tools for sequencing rising 35% year over year, including $13 million of stocking orders from China. Even excluding stocking orders, a growth of 31% beat out expectations for 25% growth.
For more information on the healthcare industry, visit ourhealthcare category.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Biotech ETFs Rally as Illumina Tops Q2 Expectations: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Biotechnology sector ETFs were among the best performers Tuesday, with Illumina ( ILMN ) shares surging after the genomics firm beat second-quarter expectations and raised its year-end outlook. Among the best performing ETFs of Tuesday, the Invesco Dynamic Biotech & Genome ( PBE ) increased 3.0%, ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector ETF ( ARKG ) advanced 2.5% and iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF ( IBB ) rose 2.0%. Meanwhile, ILMN shares jumped 11.2% Monday. ILMN makes up 4.8% of PBE, 7.6% of ARKG and 5.2% of IBB. Evercore analyst Ross Muken said in that the Illumina stock story is "far too compelling to ignore," reports Allison Gatlin for Investor's Business Daily . "The breadth/scope of portfolio strength in this quarter was truly remarkable," Muken said in a report. "We haven't barely even scratched the surface on many areas driving the notable inflection (such as oncology)." Illumina is a genomics firm that produces systems and non-reusable tools to sequence the genome to help researchers learn more about the genetic variations that sometimes lead to disease. "It is quite an exciting time in genomics/sequencing," Muken added. "Kudos to management as well for the superb execution as it is one thing to have a sizable opportunity in front of you and another thing to make it a reality in the consistent fashion they have. The sum of all this makes (Illumina) challenging to not own despite the current growth tantrum." Fueling the surge on Tuesday, Illumina revealed second quarter sales that were $42 million above expectations. The firm's service revenue was topped by 18% and sales of new-generation sequencing consumable tools came in ahead of forecasts by 4%. Genomic sequencing is also becoming a booming business in the health care industry. Deutsche Bank analyst Dan Leonard noted robust growth in the quarter, with demand for consumable tools for sequencing rising 35% year over year, including $13 million of stocking orders from China. Even excluding stocking orders, a growth of 31% beat out expectations for 25% growth. Story continues For more information on the healthcare industry, visit our healthcare category . POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM Apple Jumps 4 Percent After Earnings Beat T-Mobile Makes $3.5B Deal with Nokia for 5G Networks MoviePass Owner Helios & Matheson Accelerates Plans to Reduce Cash Burn Crescent Crypto CEO on Passive Management of Bitcoin Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair Talks Tariffs READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || $10.7 Trillion Custodian Northern Trust Helping Hedge Funds Invest in Bitcoin: Financial services giant Northern Trust, which ranks 486th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. companies, has begun to wade into the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Forbesreports that the 129-year-old Chicago-based firm, which caters to institutional investors, corporations, and high net worth individuals, has begun to open up some of its services to cryptocurrency hedge funds while also exploring how to integrate blockchain technology into its private equity division.
According to the publication,Northern Trusthas for months also been working with three “mainstream hedge funds” that have begun stealthily adding cryptocurrency investments to their portfolios as they seek to gain exposure to the nascent but burgeoning crypto marketplace.
Northern Trust has an estimated $10.7 trillion in assets under custody and administration, according to its website. At present, Northern Trust is not custodying cryptoassets directly, but the firm is providing crypto-curious hedge funds and institutions with administrative services such as helping them assign values to their investments, assisting in anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, and verifying that the firms’ third-party custodians are holding the cryptoassets the funds report on their balance sheets.
That revelation, along with the recent news that “Big Four” accounting firm PwC hadagreed to audit the Tezos Foundation, which oversees the assets raised during the cryptocurrency’s then-record initial coin offering (ICO), is the latest sign that established financial services firms are recognizing that the cryptocurrency industry is a market that they can no longer dismiss.
Pete Cherecwich, Northern Trust’s president of corporate and institutional services, told Forbes that while the firm is on record stating that it is “cautious” about blockchain technology, it is also preparing for a future in which governments themselves may issue their state-backed currencies on a blockchain.
“I do believe that governments will ultimately look at digitizing their currencies, and having them trade kind of like a digital token — a token of the U.S. dollar — but the U.S. dollar is still in a vault somewhere, or backed by the government,” he said. “How are they going to do that? I don’t know. But I do believe they are going to get there.”
Cherecwich further said that the firm has a team of more than a dozen technology and private equity specialists who are working to produce a suite of services built on the enterprise version of permissioned blockchain softwareHyperledger Fabric.
Last year, a Northern Trust executive called for “careful” regulation of blockchain technology, cautioning that a “database has never been regulated” and that there is “potential danger” from moving too quickly to place new rules on the industry.
Images from Shutterstock
The post$10.7 Trillion Custodian Northern Trust Helping Hedge Funds Invest in Bitcoinappeared first onCCN. || $10.7 Trillion Custodian Northern Trust Helping Hedge Funds Invest in Bitcoin: northern trust bitcoin cryptocurrency blockchain Financial services giant Northern Trust, which ranks 486th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. companies, has begun to wade into the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Northern Trust Offers Services to Crypto-Curious Hedge Funds Forbes reports that the 129-year-old Chicago-based firm, which caters to institutional investors, corporations, and high net worth individuals, has begun to open up some of its services to cryptocurrency hedge funds while also exploring how to integrate blockchain technology into its private equity division. According to the publication, Northern Trust has for months also been working with three “mainstream hedge funds” that have begun stealthily adding cryptocurrency investments to their portfolios as they seek to gain exposure to the nascent but burgeoning crypto marketplace. Northern Trust has an estimated $10.7 trillion in assets under custody and administration, according to its website. At present, Northern Trust is not custodying cryptoassets directly, but the firm is providing crypto-curious hedge funds and institutions with administrative services such as helping them assign values to their investments, assisting in anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, and verifying that the firms’ third-party custodians are holding the cryptoassets the funds report on their balance sheets. Financial Giants Warm to Bitcoin cryptocurrency wall street bitcoin etf That revelation, along with the recent news that “Big Four” accounting firm PwC had agreed to audit the Tezos Foundation , which oversees the assets raised during the cryptocurrency’s then-record initial coin offering (ICO), is the latest sign that established financial services firms are recognizing that the cryptocurrency industry is a market that they can no longer dismiss. Pete Cherecwich, Northern Trust’s president of corporate and institutional services, told Forbes that while the firm is on record stating that it is “cautious” about blockchain technology, it is also preparing for a future in which governments themselves may issue their state-backed currencies on a blockchain. Story continues “I do believe that governments will ultimately look at digitizing their currencies, and having them trade kind of like a digital token — a token of the U.S. dollar — but the U.S. dollar is still in a vault somewhere, or backed by the government,” he said. “How are they going to do that? I don’t know. But I do believe they are going to get there.” Cherecwich further said that the firm has a team of more than a dozen technology and private equity specialists who are working to produce a suite of services built on the enterprise version of permissioned blockchain software Hyperledger Fabric . Last year, a Northern Trust executive called for “ careful ” regulation of blockchain technology, cautioning that a “database has never been regulated” and that there is “potential danger” from moving too quickly to place new rules on the industry. Images from Shutterstock The post $10.7 Trillion Custodian Northern Trust Helping Hedge Funds Invest in Bitcoin appeared first on CCN . || $10.7 Trillion Custodian Northern Trust Helping Hedge Funds Invest in Bitcoin: Financial services giant Northern Trust, which ranks 486th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. companies, has begun to wade into the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Forbesreports that the 129-year-old Chicago-based firm, which caters to institutional investors, corporations, and high net worth individuals, has begun to open up some of its services to cryptocurrency hedge funds while also exploring how to integrate blockchain technology into its private equity division.
According to the publication,Northern Trusthas for months also been working with three “mainstream hedge funds” that have begun stealthily adding cryptocurrency investments to their portfolios as they seek to gain exposure to the nascent but burgeoning crypto marketplace.
Northern Trust has an estimated $10.7 trillion in assets under custody and administration, according to its website. At present, Northern Trust is not custodying cryptoassets directly, but the firm is providing crypto-curious hedge funds and institutions with administrative services such as helping them assign values to their investments, assisting in anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, and verifying that the firms’ third-party custodians are holding the cryptoassets the funds report on their balance sheets.
That revelation, along with the recent news that “Big Four” accounting firm PwC hadagreed to audit the Tezos Foundation, which oversees the assets raised during the cryptocurrency’s then-record initial coin offering (ICO), is the latest sign that established financial services firms are recognizing that the cryptocurrency industry is a market that they can no longer dismiss.
Pete Cherecwich, Northern Trust’s president of corporate and institutional services, told Forbes that while the firm is on record stating that it is “cautious” about blockchain technology, it is also preparing for a future in which governments themselves may issue their state-backed currencies on a blockchain.
“I do believe that governments will ultimately look at digitizing their currencies, and having them trade kind of like a digital token — a token of the U.S. dollar — but the U.S. dollar is still in a vault somewhere, or backed by the government,” he said. “How are they going to do that? I don’t know. But I do believe they are going to get there.”
Cherecwich further said that the firm has a team of more than a dozen technology and private equity specialists who are working to produce a suite of services built on the enterprise version of permissioned blockchain softwareHyperledger Fabric.
Last year, a Northern Trust executive called for “careful” regulation of blockchain technology, cautioning that a “database has never been regulated” and that there is “potential danger” from moving too quickly to place new rules on the industry.
Images from Shutterstock
The post$10.7 Trillion Custodian Northern Trust Helping Hedge Funds Invest in Bitcoinappeared first onCCN. || Thematic ETFs to Enhance Your Investment Portfolio: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. When creating a diversified investment portfolio, ETF investors should consider how thematics can help differentiate a balanced portfolio and leverage disruptors that are upending traditional equity paradigms. On the recent webcast (available On Demand for CE Credit), How Thematic Equity Can Energize a Portfolio , Jon Maier, SVP and Chief Investment Officer at Global X Funds, explained that given the goings-on in a market of tariffs, appreciating U.S. dollar and strong corporate earnings, many are taking a more inward or U.S. bias approach, which also reflects Global X's U.S. oriented approach within the Core Series portfolios. In developing a diversified investment portfolio, Maier outlined the traditional and tactical asset allocation methodologies, but he also added that security selection and exposure to structurally disruptive thematic trends may potentially augment returns over the long haul. "Over the past 10 years the markets have been more correlated across assets classes, we are looking to position a portfolio so as to take advantage of markets under certain conditions," Maier said. Maier argued that themes are relevant to the current environment. A thematic approach includes nvestments that stand to benefit from structural change driven by demographic and technological changes. For example, the consumer discretionary firms have traditionally targeted the spending preferences of baby boomers and Gen Xers, appealing to suburban lifestyles and material wants. However, Millennials are set to see their incomes rise and inherit trillions from the baby boomer generation. Their unique spending preferences, such as living in cities and favoring experiences, are expected to radically alter what types of products are sold and how they are bought. A Look at Disruptive Industries Other industry disruptors include advances in lithium battery technologies where falling costs and rising production of Lithium-ion batteries are leading the shift to renewable energy and electric vehicles. Story continues FinTech allows financial firms to leverage cutting edge technology to reduce costs, improve decision making and risk controls, remove middlemen and enhance customer experiences. Increasing lifespans and rising health care costs are driving people to proactively improve their health through physical activity, healthy eating and greater mindfulness of their well-being. Robotics and artificial intelligence are making machines smarter and more capable than ever before, allowing robots to take on increasingly sophisticated tasks for faster and more accurate production. Declining computer chip costs and improving connectivity allows for virtually any object to connect to internet-enabled networks, effectively turning anything into a connected device. Additionally, people around the world are communicating and sharing information at a rapidly growing pace via new social media channels such as mobile video, chat, photos, podcasts and blogs. Investors interested in a thematic approach to capitalize on these industry disruptors should think of thematic investing as a satellite position or an equity sleeve in a growth-oriented portfolio, Maier advised. Thematic strategies tend to be alpha-seeking, have a long time horizon and are growth oriented. The thematic investments also transcend classic sector, industry and geographic classifications as many overlap. "This section of the equity allocation has the potential to differentiate a portfolio and provide exposure to themes with long-term growth potential," Maier said. "The thematic bucket adds a growth and momentum tilt, but the allocations toward the positions are relatively small in relation to the other positions." For example, Maier highlighted some of Global X's ETFs to help investors find growth opportunities outside of a traditional sector strategy, including the Global X China Consumer ETF ( CHIQ ) , Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF ( LIT ) , Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF ( BOTZ ) , Global X Internet of Things Thematic ETF ( SNSR ) and Global X FinTech Thematic ETF ( FINX ) help investors focus towards thematic growth funds, incorporating ideas of sector disruption across info tech, health care, consumer discretionary, materials, industrials, consumer staples and financials. Financial advisors who are interested in learning more about equity thematic disruptors can watch the webcast here on demand . POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM Apple Jumps 4 Percent After Earnings Beat T-Mobile Makes $3.5B Deal with Nokia for 5G Networks MoviePass Owner Helios & Matheson Accelerates Plans to Reduce Cash Burn Crescent Crypto CEO on Passive Management of Bitcoin Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair Talks Tariffs READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Thematic ETFs to Enhance Your Investment Portfolio: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
When creating a diversified investment portfolio, ETF investors should consider how thematics can help differentiate a balanced portfolio and leverage disruptors that are upending traditional equity paradigms.
On the recent webcast (available On Demand for CE Credit),How Thematic Equity Can Energize a Portfolio, Jon Maier, SVP and Chief Investment Officer at Global X Funds, explained that given the goings-on in a market of tariffs, appreciating U.S. dollar and strong corporate earnings, many are taking a more inward or U.S. bias approach, which also reflects Global X's U.S. oriented approach within the Core Series portfolios.
In developing a diversified investment portfolio, Maier outlined the traditional and tactical asset allocation methodologies, but he also added that security selection and exposure to structurally disruptive thematic trends may potentially augment returns over the long haul.
"Over the past 10 years the markets have been more correlated across assets classes, we are looking to position a portfolio so as to take advantage of markets under certain conditions," Maier said.
Maier argued that themes are relevant to the current environment. A thematic approach includes nvestments that stand to benefit from structural change driven by demographic and technological changes.
For example, the consumer discretionary firms have traditionally targeted the spending preferences of baby boomers and Gen Xers, appealing to suburban lifestyles and material wants. However, Millennials are set to see their incomes rise and inherit trillions from the baby boomer generation. Their unique spending preferences, such as living in cities and favoring experiences, are expected to radically alter what types of products are sold and how they are bought.
A Look at Disruptive Industries
Other industry disruptors include advances in lithium battery technologies where falling costs and rising production of Lithium-ion batteries are leading the shift to renewable energy and electric vehicles.
FinTech allows financial firms to leverage cutting edge technology to reduce costs, improve decision making and risk controls, remove middlemen and enhance customer experiences.
Increasing lifespans and rising health care costs are driving people to proactively improve their health through physical activity, healthy eating and greater mindfulness of their well-being.
Robotics and artificial intelligence are making machines smarter and more capable than ever before, allowing robots to take on increasingly sophisticated tasks for faster and more accurate production. Declining computer chip costs and improving connectivity allows for virtually any object to connect to internet-enabled networks, effectively turning anything into a connected device.
Additionally, people around the world are communicating and sharing information at a rapidly growing pace via new social media channels such as mobile video, chat, photos, podcasts and blogs.
Investors interested in a thematic approach to capitalize on these industry disruptors should think of thematic investing as a satellite position or an equity sleeve in a growth-oriented portfolio, Maier advised. Thematic strategies tend to be alpha-seeking, have a long time horizon and are growth oriented. The thematic investments also transcend classic sector, industry and geographic classifications as many overlap.
"This section of the equity allocation has the potential to differentiate a portfolio and provide exposure to themes with long-term growth potential," Maier said. "The thematic bucket adds a growth and momentum tilt, but the allocations toward the positions are relatively small in relation to the other positions."
For example, Maier highlighted some of Global X's ETFs to help investors find growth opportunities outside of a traditional sector strategy, including the Global X China Consumer ETF (CHIQ) , Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LIT) , Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF (BOTZ) , Global X Internet of Things Thematic ETF (SNSR) and Global X FinTech Thematic ETF (FINX) help investors focus towards thematic growth funds, incorporating ideas of sector disruption across info tech, health care, consumer discretionary, materials, industrials, consumer staples and financials.
Financial advisors who are interested in learning more about equity thematic disruptors canwatch the webcast here on demand.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Apple Earnings: 5 ETFs to Watch Today: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. Apple will announce its fiscal third-quarter earnings results later today, which could give technology stocks and tech-focused ETFs a much-needed shot in the arm after companies like Facebook, Twitter and Netflix stumbled on their earnings. Five ETFs to watch with the heaviest weightings in Apple stock include iShares U.S. Technology ETF Technology Equities ( IYW ) , Vanguard Information Technology ETF Technology Equities ( VGT ) , Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund Technology Equities ( XLK ) , Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF Technology Equities ( FTEC ) , and iShares Edge MSCI Multifactor Technology ETF Technology Equities (BATS: TCHF). A rise in Apple could effectively tow all these ETFs out of what analysts are already dubbing the "tech wreck." Consensus estimates for Apple: Earnings per share: $2.18, based on a Thomson Reuters estimate Revenue: $52.34 billion, based on a Thomson Reuters estimate iPhone sales: 41.79 million, based on a Factset estimate The tech sector has already lost 5.4% in the aggregate over the last three trading sessions, but a number of analysts are predicting that Apple will be a top performer amongst its other FANG peers--Facebook, Amazon and Google. "Our view is that Apple is positioned to break to the upside," said Ari Wald , Head of Technical Analysis at Oppenheimer & Co. "That it's going to break through this resistance level based on the rising trend going into this test. Now, if we were to get that breakout, we would see that as a resumption of the stock's longer term trend of outperformance." Related: Tech Earnings: Apple, Tesla, Baidu Report This Week As of 2:45 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up over 150 points ahead of the earnings announcement, which is set to take place after the closing bell. Fueling the rise in the Dow was also the announcement that the United States and China are seeking negotiations that would effectively defuse the trade war between both economic superpowers. Meanwhile, Apple's stock was up 0.77% and the ETF with the heaviest weighting of Apple, IYW, was up 0.62%. For more market trends, visit ETFTrends.com . POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM Apple Jumps 4 Percent After Earnings Beat T-Mobile Makes $3.5B Deal with Nokia for 5G Networks MoviePass Owner Helios & Matheson Accelerates Plans to Reduce Cash Burn Crescent Crypto CEO on Passive Management of Bitcoin Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair Talks Tariffs READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > View comments || Apple Earnings: 5 ETFs to Watch Today: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
Apple will announce its fiscal third-quarter earnings results later today, which could give technology stocks and tech-focused ETFs a much-needed shot in the arm after companies like Facebook, Twitter and Netflix stumbled on their earnings.
Five ETFs to watch with the heaviest weightings in Apple stock include iShares U.S. Technology ETF Technology Equities (IYW) , Vanguard Information Technology ETF Technology Equities (VGT) , Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund Technology Equities (XLK) , Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETF Technology Equities (FTEC) , and iShares Edge MSCI Multifactor Technology ETF Technology Equities (BATS:TCHF).A rise in Apple could effectively tow all these ETFs out of what analysts are already dubbing the "tech wreck."
Consensus estimates for Apple:
• Earnings per share: $2.18, based on a Thomson Reuters estimate
• Revenue: $52.34 billion, based on a Thomson Reuters estimate
• iPhone sales: 41.79 million, based on a Factset estimate
The tech sector has already lost 5.4% in the aggregate over the last three trading sessions, but a number of analysts are predicting that Apple will be a top performer amongst its other FANG peers--Facebook, Amazon and Google.
"Our view is that Apple is positioned to break to the upside,"said Ari Wald, Head of Technical Analysis at Oppenheimer & Co. "That it's going to break through this resistance level based on the rising trend going into this test. Now, if we were to get that breakout, we would see that as a resumption of the stock's longer term trend of outperformance."
Related:Tech Earnings: Apple, Tesla, Baidu Report This Week
As of 2:45 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up over 150 points ahead of the earnings announcement, which is set to take place after the closing bell. Fueling the rise in the Dow was also the announcement that the United States and China are seeking negotiations that would effectively defuse the trade war between both economic superpowers.
Meanwhile, Apple's stock was up 0.77% and the ETF with the heaviest weighting of Apple, IYW, was up 0.62%.
For more market trends, visitETFTrends.com.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || 10 Fixed-Income ETFs to Watch Ahead of FOMC Policy Decision: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
The Federal Open Market Committee is in the midst of a two-day meeting to discuss their next moves on monetary policy, which will include a policy decision announcement set to take place on Wednesday.
The latest data from the Department of Commerce shows that gross domestic product rose 4.1% in June, which will weigh heavily on the minds of the FOMC with respect to determining monetary policy. With this latest figure regarding GDP, the economic sentiment seems to corroborate with the data as it has entered into greed territory based on theCNN Money's Fear & Greed Index, which measures the emotions driving the markets.
The bond markets will certainly be wary of what the FOMC will announce and fixed-income investors should keep an eye on these ten fixed-income ETFs ahead of the policy decision.
Related:An ETF That Taps Into Closed-End Funds for High Yields
1. Vanguard Interm-Term Corp Bd ETF (VCIT)
With the market uncertainty ahead of the policy decision, fixed-income investors should hold investment-grade debt if they plan to approach the bond markets with a long-term view. VCIT seeks to track the performance of a market-weighted corporate bond index with an intermediate-term dollar-weighted average maturity, namely the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 5-10 Year Corporate Bond Index. While VCIT holds debt issues with maturities between 5 and 10 years, they are all investment-grade holdings to minimize default risk.
2. iShares 1-3 Year Credit Bond ETF (CSJ)
For fixed-income investors with a short-term horizon, CSJ is a viable option. CSJ tracks the investment results of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Credit Bond Index so CSJ will invest at least 90% of its assets in investment-grade corporate debt and sovereign, supranational, local authority and non-U.S. agency bonds that are U.S. dollar-denominated. CSJ invests in debt issues with a remaining maturity of greater than one year and less than or equal to three years to minimize credit risk.
3. SPDR Blmbg Barclays Inv Grd Flt Rt ETF (FLRN)
A floating rate component will be beneficial if the FOMC makes a hawkish policy decision on Wednesday. FLRN seeks to provide investment results that correlate with the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Note < 5 Years Index. Like SHYG, FLRN limits duration exposure with investments in debt securities with maturities that don’t exceed five years. In addition, at least 80% of its assets will be allocated towards securities comprising the index, such as U.S. dollar-denominated, investment grade floating rate notes. The floating rate allows investors to capitalize on any short-term interest rate adjustments in accordance with monetary policy.
4. ProShares High Yield—Interest Rate Hdgd (BATS: HYHG)
HYHG tracks the performance of the Citi High Yield (Treasury Rate-Hedged) Index and allocates 80% of its total assets in high-yield bonds and short positions in Treasury Securities in order hedge against rising rates. Because HYHG invests in high-yield bonds, there is credit risk associated with the higher yield since the fund invests in corporate issues that are less than investment-grade. By targeting a duration of zero, HYHG offers less interest rate sensitivity versus its short-term bond peers.
5. iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corp Bd ETF (SHYG)
SHYG seeks to track the investment results of the Markit iBoxx® USD Liquid High Yield 0-5 Index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds with maturities of less than five years–the shorter durations help to decrease exposure, helping to mitigate credit risk. SHYG invests at least 90% of its total assets in the component securities of the index, primarily high yield corporate debt, and may invest up to 10% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents.
6. iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corp Bd ETF (HYG)
For investors who are willing to take on more risk in order to attain higher yields, HYG tracks the investment results of the Markit iBoxx® USD Liquid High Yield Index, which is comprised of high yield U.S. corporate bonds that have less than investment-grade quality. Investors who have been able to stomach the credit risk have seen total returns of 3.95% the last three years and 1.22% the past year based onYahoo! Finance performance figures.
7. Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCSH)
VCSH tracks the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index–a market-weighted corporate bond index with a short-term dollar-weighted average maturity. In addition to VCSH allocating capital towards debt issues that are investment-grade, fixed-income investors will like the reduced exposure to duration with maturities between 1 and 5 years.
8. SPDR Blmbg BarclaysST HY Bd ETF (SJNK)
For risk-hungry investors, junk bonds are worth a look for a high-yield component to a fixed-income portfolio. SJNK seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg Barclays US High Yield 350mn Cash Pay 0-5 Yr 2% Capped Index. SJNK invests its total assets in the securities comprising the index, which is designed to measure the performance of short-term publicly issued U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds. The short-term maturities will help hedge some credit risk due to the lesser exposure, but holdings are still less than investment-grade. SJNKhas returned1.20% year-to-date, 2.94% the past year and 3.76% the last three years.
9. SPDR Portfolio Short Term Corp Bd ETF (SPSB)
SPSB seeks investment results that correlate with the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index, which is designed to measure the performance of the short term U.S. corporate bond market. Like VCSH and CSJ, SPSB focuses on investment-grade holdings with short durations to hedge against credit risk. Based onYahoo! Finance, SPSB has been able to generate a 1.28% return for investors within the last three years.
10. iShares iBoxx $ Invmt Grade Corp Bd ETF (LQD)
LQD seeks to track the investment results of the Markit iBoxx® USD Liquid Investment Grade Index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds. LQD allocates 95 percent of its total assets in investment-grade corporate bonds to mitigate credit risk.
For more trends in fixed income, visit theFixed Income Channel.
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READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || 10 Fixed-Income ETFs to Watch Ahead of FOMC Policy Decision: This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com. The Federal Open Market Committee is in the midst of a two-day meeting to discuss their next moves on monetary policy, which will include a policy decision announcement set to take place on Wednesday. The latest data from the Department of Commerce shows that gross domestic product rose 4.1% in June, which will weigh heavily on the minds of the FOMC with respect to determining monetary policy. With this latest figure regarding GDP, the economic sentiment seems to corroborate with the data as it has entered into greed territory based on the CNN Money's Fear & Greed Index , which measures the emotions driving the markets. 10 Fixed-Income ETFs to Watch Ahead of FOMC Policy Decision 1 The bond markets will certainly be wary of what the FOMC will announce and fixed-income investors should keep an eye on these ten fixed-income ETFs ahead of the policy decision. Related: An ETF That Taps Into Closed-End Funds for High Yields 1. Vanguard Interm-Term Corp Bd ETF ( VCIT ) With the market uncertainty ahead of the policy decision, fixed-income investors should hold investment-grade debt if they plan to approach the bond markets with a long-term view. VCIT seeks to track the performance of a market-weighted corporate bond index with an intermediate-term dollar-weighted average maturity, namely the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 5-10 Year Corporate Bond Index. While VCIT holds debt issues with maturities between 5 and 10 years, they are all investment-grade holdings to minimize default risk. 2. iShares 1-3 Year Credit Bond ETF ( CSJ ) For fixed-income investors with a short-term horizon, CSJ is a viable option. CSJ tracks the investment results of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Credit Bond Index so CSJ will invest at least 90% of its assets in investment-grade corporate debt and sovereign, supranational, local authority and non-U.S. agency bonds that are U.S. dollar-denominated. CSJ invests in debt issues with a remaining maturity of greater than one year and less than or equal to three years to minimize credit risk. Story continues 3. SPDR Blmbg Barclays Inv Grd Flt Rt ETF ( FLRN ) A floating rate component will be beneficial if the FOMC makes a hawkish policy decision on Wednesday. FLRN seeks to provide investment results that correlate with the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Dollar Floating Rate Note < 5 Years Index. Like SHYG, FLRN limits duration exposure with investments in debt securities with maturities that don’t exceed five years. In addition, at least 80% of its assets will be allocated towards securities comprising the index, such as U.S. dollar-denominated, investment grade floating rate notes. The floating rate allows investors to capitalize on any short-term interest rate adjustments in accordance with monetary policy. 4. ProShares High Yield—Interest Rate Hdgd (BATS: HYHG) HYHG tracks the performance of the Citi High Yield (Treasury Rate-Hedged) Index and allocates 80% of its total assets in high-yield bonds and short positions in Treasury Securities in order hedge against rising rates. Because HYHG invests in high-yield bonds, there is credit risk associated with the higher yield since the fund invests in corporate issues that are less than investment-grade. By targeting a duration of zero, HYHG offers less interest rate sensitivity versus its short-term bond peers. 5. iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corp Bd ETF ( SHYG ) SHYG seeks to track the investment results of the Markit iBoxx® USD Liquid High Yield 0-5 Index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds with maturities of less than five years–the shorter durations help to decrease exposure, helping to mitigate credit risk. SHYG invests at least 90% of its total assets in the component securities of the index, primarily high yield corporate debt, and may invest up to 10% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents. 6. iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corp Bd ETF ( HYG ) For investors who are willing to take on more risk in order to attain higher yields, HYG tracks the investment results of the Markit iBoxx® USD Liquid High Yield Index, which is comprised of high yield U.S. corporate bonds that have less than investment-grade quality. Investors who have been able to stomach the credit risk have seen total returns of 3.95% the last three years and 1.22% the past year based on Yahoo! Finance performance figures . 7. Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF ( VCSH ) VCSH tracks the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 1-5 Year Corporate Bond Index–a market-weighted corporate bond index with a short-term dollar-weighted average maturity. In addition to VCSH allocating capital towards debt issues that are investment-grade, fixed-income investors will like the reduced exposure to duration with maturities between 1 and 5 years. 8. SPDR Blmbg BarclaysST HY Bd ETF ( SJNK ) For risk-hungry investors, junk bonds are worth a look for a high-yield component to a fixed-income portfolio. SJNK seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg Barclays US High Yield 350mn Cash Pay 0-5 Yr 2% Capped Index. SJNK invests its total assets in the securities comprising the index, which is designed to measure the performance of short-term publicly issued U.S. dollar-denominated high yield corporate bonds. The short-term maturities will help hedge some credit risk due to the lesser exposure, but holdings are still less than investment-grade. SJNK has returned 1.20% year-to-date, 2.94% the past year and 3.76% the last three years. 9. SPDR Portfolio Short Term Corp Bd ETF ( SPSB ) SPSB seeks investment results that correlate with the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Corporate Bond Index, which is designed to measure the performance of the short term U.S. corporate bond market. Like VCSH and CSJ, SPSB focuses on investment-grade holdings with short durations to hedge against credit risk. Based on Yahoo! Finance , SPSB has been able to generate a 1.28% return for investors within the last three years. 10. iShares iBoxx $ Invmt Grade Corp Bd ETF ( LQD ) LQD seeks to track the investment results of the Markit iBoxx® USD Liquid Investment Grade Index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds. LQD allocates 95 percent of its total assets in investment-grade corporate bonds to mitigate credit risk. For more trends in fixed income, visit the Fixed Income Channel. POPULAR ARTICLES FROM ETFTRENDS.COM Apple Jumps 4 Percent After Earnings Beat T-Mobile Makes $3.5B Deal with Nokia for 5G Networks MoviePass Owner Helios & Matheson Accelerates Plans to Reduce Cash Burn Crescent Crypto CEO on Passive Management of Bitcoin Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair Talks Tariffs READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || Top ETF Stories of July: The month of July was all about trade, tech and corporate earnings. Trade war tensions seem to have peaked between the United States and China. U.S. tech stocks had a spectacular journey before falling after Jul 25 on acute pain in the social media and semiconductor space (read: Semiconductor ETFs to Tap Intel's Dip Post Q2 Earnings).
Overall, the month of July was decent for Wall Street. Overall, the top three ETFs, SPY, DIA and QQQ added about 3%, 4.2% and 1.3%, respectively, in the past month (as of Jul 30, 2018).
Below we highlight a few ETF events that pulled the strings of market movement in July.
China Tariff Enacted
The United States and China first targeted $50 billion worth of goods for import tariffs, out of which tariffs of $34 billion of goods were enacted on Jul 6. Then the Trump administration disclosed another list of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. And in late July, President Trump intends to enact tariffs on all $505 billion of Chinese goods imported into the United States – the dollar value of U.S. imports from China in 2017.
The world has started speculating that China might be considering a deliberate devaluation in yuan. The People’s Bank of China weakened the yuan-greenback reference rate the most in two years.WisdomTree Chinese Yuan Strategy ETF CYBlost about 1.6% past month (as of Jul 30, 2018) (read: China's Likely Retaliation to US Tariffs & Its Impact on ETFs).
US-EU Trade Relations Better Off
In late July, the United States and European Union agreed to reconcile on trade and lower trade barriers. The duo would now work toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto goods, if we go by an article published on BBC.
Per the source, both parties also agreed to increasing trade in services and agriculture, including liquefied natural gas and U.S. soy bean exports to the EU.Vanguard FTSE Europe ETFVGK gained about 4% in the past month (read: Tariffs Likely to Dent US Earnings: ETFs in Focus).
Steep Social Media Selloff & Tech Seesaw
Investors dumped social media stocks and ETFs afterFacebook Inc. FBandTwitter Inc. TWTRcame up with a poor earnings show. Facebook missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the first time in nine quarters for earnings and in 13 quarters for revenues.
And what punished Twitter shares badly was an unexpected decline in monthly average users (MAU) and weak guidance amid overvaluation concerns.Global X Social Media ETFSOCL lost about 7.5% in the month (read: Social Media Dives: Time to Buy the Dip With ETFs?).
Large-Caps Outshine Small Caps
A 4.1% uptick in U.S. GDP growth in Q2, upbeat corporate earnings and receding fear in the nagging five-month long trade talks took large-cap growth ETFs to a 52-week high in July. Plus cheaper valuation worked well for large caps as these have been subdued this year on trade concerns.Russell 1000 Growth Vanguard VONGgained 1.6% in July whileiShares Russell 2000 ETF IWMlost about 0.4% (read: Trade Fear Oversold? Large-Cap Growth ETFs at 52-Week High).
SEC Disapproves Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF: What Next?
In late July, the Securities and Exchange Commission has forbidden an application by the Winklevoss brothers to come up with a bitcoin ETF, finding the product not safe enough for investors. This is the second time the SEC is rejecting a bitcoin ETF proposed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (read: SEC Disapproves Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF: What Next?).
Bitcoin prices gathered steam in July on rumors that the SEC could give a nod to a bitcoin ETF as early as August. Among the latest expectants, Bitwise Asset Management filed (this July) for an index fund that intends to follow the performance of a basket of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies. Prices hit a high of $8,397.63 on Jul 24, rising about 27.8%. However, the SEC’s denial news took a beating on the commodity.
BoJ to Take a More Flexible Stance
Bank of Japan (BoJ) was deemed to be looking for ways to tweak its yield curve control policy and stock-buying techniques. And the news pushed up the Japanese benchmark 10-year yield to about a six-month high, sweeping U.S. and European bond yields upward as well in late July.
However, on Jul 31, BOJ kept its rates unchanged but maintained that it would make its policy framework more flexible for the long-term yield target. The BOJ also noted that the economy would take "more time than expected" to attain the inflation target. Following the meeting, yen dropped and the Nikkei went green, per CNBC. Investors can targetWisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity ETFDXJ after this announcement.
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Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free reportFacebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis ReportTwitter, Inc. (TWTR) : Free Stock Analysis ReportISHARS-R 2000 (IWM): ETF Research ReportsWISDMTR-J HEF (DXJ): ETF Research ReportsGLBL-X SOCL MDA (SOCL): ETF Research ReportsWISDMTR-CH YUAN (CYB): ETF Research ReportsVANGD-RUS 1000G (VONG): ETF Research ReportsVANGD-FTSE EUR (VGK): ETF Research ReportsTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report || Top ETF Stories of July: The month of July was all about trade, tech and corporate earnings. Trade war tensions seem to have peaked between the United States and China. U.S. tech stocks had a spectacular journey before falling after Jul 25 on acute pain in the social media and semiconductor space (read: Semiconductor ETFs to Tap Intel's Dip Post Q2 Earnings). Overall, the month of July was decent for Wall Street. Overall, the top three ETFs, SPY, DIA and QQQ added about 3%, 4.2% and 1.3%, respectively, in the past month (as of Jul 30, 2018). Below we highlight a few ETF events that pulled the strings of market movement in July. China Tariff Enacted The United States and China first targeted $50 billion worth of goods for import tariffs, out of which tariffs of $34 billion of goods were enacted on Jul 6. Then the Trump administration disclosed another list of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. And in late July, President Trump intends to enact tariffs on all $505 billion of Chinese goods imported into the United States – the dollar value of U.S. imports from China in 2017. The world has started speculating that China might be considering a deliberate devaluation in yuan. The People’s Bank of China weakened the yuan-greenback reference rate the most in two years. WisdomTree Chinese Yuan Strategy ETF CYB lost about 1.6% past month (as of Jul 30, 2018) (read: China's Likely Retaliation to US Tariffs & Its Impact on ETFs). US-EU Trade Relations Better Off In late July, the United States and European Union agreed to reconcile on trade and lower trade barriers. The duo would now work toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto goods, if we go by an article published on BBC. Per the source, both parties also agreed to increasing trade in services and agriculture, including liquefied natural gas and U.S. soy bean exports to the EU. Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF VGK gained about 4% in the past month (read: Tariffs Likely to Dent US Earnings: ETFs in Focus). Story continues Steep Social Media Selloff & Tech Seesaw Investors dumped social media stocks and ETFs after Facebook Inc. FB and Twitter Inc. TWTR came up with a poor earnings show. Facebook missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the first time in nine quarters for earnings and in 13 quarters for revenues. And what punished Twitter shares badly was an unexpected decline in monthly average users (MAU) and weak guidance amid overvaluation concerns. Global X Social Media ETF SOCL lost about 7.5% in the month (read: Social Media Dives: Time to Buy the Dip With ETFs?). Large-Caps Outshine Small Caps A 4.1% uptick in U.S. GDP growth in Q2, upbeat corporate earnings and receding fear in the nagging five-month long trade talks took large-cap growth ETFs to a 52-week high in July. Plus cheaper valuation worked well for large caps as these have been subdued this year on trade concerns. Russell 1000 Growth Vanguard VONG gained 1.6% in July while iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM lost about 0.4% (read: Trade Fear Oversold? Large-Cap Growth ETFs at 52-Week High). SEC Disapproves Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF: What Next? In late July, the Securities and Exchange Commission has forbidden an application by the Winklevoss brothers to come up with a bitcoin ETF, finding the product not safe enough for investors. This is the second time the SEC is rejecting a bitcoin ETF proposed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (read: SEC Disapproves Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF: What Next?). Bitcoin prices gathered steam in July on rumors that the SEC could give a nod to a bitcoin ETF as early as August. Among the latest expectants, Bitwise Asset Management filed (this July) for an index fund that intends to follow the performance of a basket of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies. Prices hit a high of $8,397.63 on Jul 24, rising about 27.8%. However, the SEC’s denial news took a beating on the commodity. BoJ to Take a More Flexible Stance Bank of Japan (BoJ) was deemed to be looking for ways to tweak its yield curve control policy and stock-buying techniques. And the news pushed up the Japanese benchmark 10-year yield to about a six-month high, sweeping U.S. and European bond yields upward as well in late July. However, on Jul 31, BOJ kept its rates unchanged but maintained that it would make its policy framework more flexible for the long-term yield target. The BOJ also noted that the economy would take "more time than expected" to attain the inflation target. Following the meeting, yen dropped and the Nikkei went green, per CNBC. Investors can target WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity ETF DXJ after this announcement. Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox? Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) : Free Stock Analysis Report ISHARS-R 2000 (IWM): ETF Research Reports WISDMTR-J HEF (DXJ): ETF Research Reports GLBL-X SOCL MDA (SOCL): ETF Research Reports WISDMTR-CH YUAN (CYB): ETF Research Reports VANGD-RUS 1000G (VONG): ETF Research Reports VANGD-FTSE EUR (VGK): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report || Howard Marks Blames ETFs for Overpriced FANG Stocks: This article was originally published onETFTrends.com.
American investor and co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management Howard Marks cited the flow of money stemming from exchange-traded funds into FANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) as the reason for their soaring prices.
"Yes. They are great companies. But the ETFs probably have accentuated the flow of capital into those stocks,"Marks saidat the Delivering Alpha Conference on July 18. "Nothing works forever. Things that are most hyped and usually the things that are most loved produce the most disappointment and the most pain."
ETFs heavy with the FANG stocks like the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) and First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF (FDN) have seen their prices grow since the start of 2018--QQQ is up 10.62% YTD while FDN is up exponentially at 25.27%.
The recent earnings reports from Facebook took a toll when the company experienced its worst trading day ever last Thursday. As such, QQQ and FDN saw their prices drop--QQQ lost 3.27% and FDN lost 7.4% that day.
Furthermore, Facebook shares have plunged 18.5%, Amazon 3.5% and Netflix 11.7% since Marks made his comments. Google has been the sole gainer thus far, rising 1.4 percent.
Related:The Impending Sector Reconfiguration to S&P 500 Index
The FANG stocks have been major beneficiaries of the bull market run, but Marks said that could be coming to a close.
"Ever since the global crisis, people have been asking me, 'What inning are we in?,'"said Marks. "Now I would say we're in the eight inning."
Nonetheless, he did leave the door open for a tie game with extra innings.
"However, we have to notice that this isn't baseball and we don't know how many innings there will be,"Marks added.
For more market trends, visitETFTrends.com.
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• Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair Talks Tariffs
READ MORE AT ETFTRENDS.COM > || San Francisco Firm Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange with XRP as ‘Base Currency’: San Francisco-based marketplace DCEX will become the first cryptocurrency exchange to use XRP as its ‘base currency’, available for both retail and institutional investors.
DCEX will function as a crypto-to-crypto marketplace wherein all digital currencies will be trading against the XRP – the native token powering the Ripple Consensus Ledger (RCL) developed by San Francisco-based Ripple – as the platform’s “base currency”, the exchange operator said in anannouncement.
The exchange and trading platform will be powered by industry services firm AlphaPoint, DCEX added. While registrations are currently open for users, the exchange will commence trading at an undetermined time over the coming weeks.
“XRP blockchain transactions typically settle in under four seconds, allowing for faster multi-exchange strategies and providing a speed advantage over other money movement options,” read an excerpt from the announcement, explaining the operator’s marked choice to use XRP as the exchange’s base currency.
Further, AlphaPoint CEO Salil Donde claimed investors will see low network transaction costs when moving XRP between DCEX and other marketplaces.
The exchange will include a total of 15 trading pairs with support for coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin among others including privacy-centric coins like Monero and Dash alongside stable-coin TrueUSD. The operator also revealed plans to add Neo and Cardano (ADA) in the coming months while adding it will offer access to all ten cryptocurrencies listed in theBloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index(BGCI).
The entire exchange will be powered by AlphaPoint’s proprietary distributed ledger, which DCEX says is “secure, scalable and customizable” for operations with a processing capacity of “nearly one million transactions per second.”
New York-based AlphaPoint received $1.35 million in funding as early as 2014, CCNreportedat the time, boasting its ability to handle a million trades per second while offering its services to crypto exchange platforms. Last month, the company raised another$15 millionin a successful round of funding led by Galaxy Digital, the crypto merchant bank owned by Wall Street-mogul turned crypto bull Mike Novogratz.
Editor’s note: The article has been amended to reflect that XRP is the native token of the Ripple Consensus Ledger.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postSan Francisco Firm Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange with XRP as ‘Base Currency’appeared first onCCN. || San Francisco Firm Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange with XRP as ‘Base Currency’: San Francisco-based marketplace DCEX will become the first cryptocurrency exchange to use XRP as its ‘base currency’, available for both retail and institutional investors. DCEX will function as a crypto-to-crypto marketplace wherein all digital currencies will be trading against the XRP – the native token powering the Ripple Consensus Ledger (RCL) developed by San Francisco-based Ripple – as the platform’s “base currency”, the exchange operator said in an announcement . The exchange and trading platform will be powered by industry services firm AlphaPoint, DCEX added. While registrations are currently open for users, the exchange will commence trading at an undetermined time over the coming weeks. “XRP blockchain transactions typically settle in under four seconds, allowing for faster multi-exchange strategies and providing a speed advantage over other money movement options,” read an excerpt from the announcement, explaining the operator’s marked choice to use XRP as the exchange’s base currency. Further, AlphaPoint CEO Salil Donde claimed investors will see low network transaction costs when moving XRP between DCEX and other marketplaces. The exchange will include a total of 15 trading pairs with support for coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin among others including privacy-centric coins like Monero and Dash alongside stable-coin TrueUSD. The operator also revealed plans to add Neo and Cardano (ADA) in the coming months while adding it will offer access to all ten cryptocurrencies listed in the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index (BGCI). The entire exchange will be powered by AlphaPoint’s proprietary distributed ledger, which DCEX says is “secure, scalable and customizable” for operations with a processing capacity of “nearly one million transactions per second.” New York-based AlphaPoint received $1.35 million in funding as early as 2014, CCN reported at the time, boasting its ability to handle a million trades per second while offering its services to crypto exchange platforms. Last month, the company raised another $15 million in a successful round of funding led by Galaxy Digital, the crypto merchant bank owned by Wall Street-mogul turned crypto bull Mike Novogratz. Story continues Editor’s note: The article has been amended to reflect that XRP is the native token of the Ripple Consensus Ledger. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post San Francisco Firm Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange with XRP as ‘Base Currency’ appeared first on CCN .
[Social Media Buzz]
Bitcoin triggered equities correction
http://www.stanleysuen.com/2018/02/bitcoin-triggered-equities-correction.html … || Minage de BTC : 3% de réduction sur Genesis Mining . Code : 40D6rN || В РАКИБ рассказали, как определить правовой статус крипторынка https://probitcoin.ru/2018/08/01/v-rakib-rasskazali-kak-opredelit-pravovoj-status-kriptorynka/ …pic.twitter.com/SL7OF0qY5i || NTQ Airdrop 50 token ! #airdrop #bounty #BTC #NEO #ETH #freetoken #Crypto #xrp #Blockchain #ripple #trx #tron #trx #bin...
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7567.15, 7434.39, 7032.85, 7068.48, 6951.80, 6753.12, 6305.80, 6568.23, 6184.71, 6295.73
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 10221.10, 9170.54, 8830.75, 9174.91, 8277.01, 6955.27, 7754.00, 7621.30, 8265.59, 8736.98, 8621.90, 8129.97, 8926.57, 8598.31, 9494.63, 10166.40, 10233.90, 11112.70, 10551.80, 11225.30, 11403.70, 10690.40, 10005.00, 10301.10, 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00, 11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63, 9205.12, 9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35, 7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47, 8879.62, 8668.12, 8495.78, 8209.40, 7833.04, 7954.48, 7165.70, 6890.52, 6973.53, 6844.23, 7083.80, 7456.11, 6853.84, 6811.47, 6636.32, 6911.09, 7023.52, 6770.73, 6834.76, 6968.32, 7889.25, 7895.96, 7986.24, 8329.11, 8058.67, 7902.09, 8163.42, 8294.31, 8845.83, 8895.58, 8802.46, 8930.88, 9697.50, 8845.74, 9281.51, 8987.05, 9348.48, 9419.08, 9240.55.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-04-30]
Volume: 8673920000, RSI (14-day): 58.59, 50-day EMA: 8612.00, 200-day EMA: 8807.21
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1316.20, Gold RSI: 42.34
Oil Price: 68.57, Oil RSI: 63.41
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
The Top 6 Value ETFs for Smart Investors: Everyone likes a bargain, and value investors understand that they can take advantage of mispriced stocks in the market to reap big profits. You can findpromising value stocksin every corner of the market, but even though the stocks themselves can look a lot different, they share fundamentally strong prospects that aren't fully reflected in their share prices.
Many investors use exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, to invest in value stocks. Below, we'll look at six value ETFs that investors turn to the most. First, though, let's look at exactly what value investing is and how it can meet your investing needs.
Value investinggenerally refers to the idea that the best investments are those that the market isn't pricing properly. Most value investors look at companies whose stocks have suffered dramatic losses, figuring that in many cases, the market's reaction to bad news is overblown and punishes a company too much. The idea is that once the company recovers from whatever setback made its shares fall, investors will realize the true value of the underlying business, and the stock will recover, producing substantial returns for those who were willing to invest during the most uncertain time for the company.
In addition to the prospect for solid returns, another advantage of value investing is that it tends to focus on mature, stable companies that are fairly reliable in their business models. In contrast to unproven high-growth stocks that can flame out quickly, value investors typically pick more defensive stocks that are less volatile, making them more comfortable choices for those who prefer safer investments.
But it's important to understand that value investing has its risks. Hidden dangers can lurk beneath the surface at companies, trapping would-be bargain hunters into making what turn out to be ill-fated investments. Some top value investors go through each individual stock to ensure that they can separate out the best prospects from the value traps. But as you'll learn below, the advantage of ETF investing is that you can invest in a broad range of value stocks, diversifying your portfolio so that if there happens to be a bad apple among the bunch, it won't have a devastating impact on your overall holdings.
Exchange-traded funds have been around for about 25 years, and they are a simple way for investors to own shares of multiple stocks using a single investment. Most ETFs track an index made up of multiple stocks, and the ETF buys shares of all of the stocks in its particular target index. Advantages include the ability to buy and sell at any time during the trading day, and for those who have only small amounts of money to invest, ETFs let you get exposure to many different stocks rather than only being able to afford one or two individual stocks to buy.
To compensate the operator of the ETF for the work it does to buy and sell stocks, set up the ETF, and deal with regulatory and compliance issues, investors have to pay an expense ratio. This is a specific percentage of assets that go to cover the annual expenses of the ETF. For instance, if a fund has an expense ratio of 0.20%, then an investor who owns $1,000 worth of shares can expect to have $2 of the fund's assets taken out of the ETF each year to pay for the operating costs of the fund. Nevertheless, if you want to track a common benchmark closely, it's hard to find cheaper alternatives than ETFs.
With all that in mind, here are six value ETFs that you can turn to in order to get the particular stocks that match up with your investing principles as a value investor.
[{"Value ETF": "iShares Russell 1000 Value(NYSEMKT: IWD)", "Assets Under Management": "$36.9 billion", "Expense Ratio": "0.20%", "5-Year Total Cumulative Return": "71%"}, {"Value ETF": "Vanguard Value(NYSEMKT: VTV)", "Assets Under Management": "$36.7 billion", "Expense Ratio": "0.06%", "5-Year Total Cumulative Return": "84%"}, {"Value ETF": "Vanguard Small-Cap Value(NYSEMKT: VBR)", "Assets Under Management": "$12.9 billion", "Expense Ratio": "0.07%", "5-Year Total Cumulative Return": "86%"}, {"Value ETF": "iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value(NYSEMKT: IWS)", "Assets Under Management": "$10.6 billion", "Expense Ratio": "0.24%", "5-Year Total Cumulative Return": "73%"}, {"Value ETF": "iShares Russell 2000 Value(NYSEMKT: IWN)", "Assets Under Management": "$9.27 billion", "Expense Ratio": "0.24%", "5-Year Total Cumulative Return": "73%"}, {"Value ETF": "Vanguard Mid-Cap Value(NYSEMKT: VOE)", "Assets Under Management": "$8.58 billion", "Expense Ratio": "0.07%", "5-Year Total Cumulative Return": "87%"}]
Data source: Fund providers.
iSharesandVanguardare the biggest players in the ETF universe, so it makes sense that their respective value ETFs would do such a good job of getting investors to buy shares of their funds. As you can see above, Vanguard puts more emphasis on reducing costs to the absolute maximum, with expense ratios that are less than a third what iShares typically charges. iShares tends to stress ease of tradability of its ETF shares, and its funds tend to be among the most liquid in daily trading. For long-term investors, that factor isn't quite as important, but for those who trade ETF shares frequently, the resulting reduction in trade-related expenses can make a material difference in long-term performance.
You'll see below that each of the three funds that iShares and Vanguard put up on this list addresses different sizes of companies. Their recent returns don't necessarily reflect much difference across large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap value stocks, but your investment strategy might still call for allocations across stocks of different market capitalizations in order to be better diversified when their relative returns diverge in the future.
Image source: Getty Images.
The iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF is the largest value ETF available, edging out its Vanguard counterpart. TheRussell 1000 indexincludes the top 1,000 large-cap and mid-cap stocks in the U.S. stock market, and the iShares ETF invests in a subset of that list, with the Russell 1000 Value index focusing on the companies with relatively lower price-to-book ratios, or how share price relates to a company'sbook value, and lower forecast growth than their peers in the broader Russell 1000. The ETF holds about 700 stocks currently.
The ETF's performance has been solid, with the ETF producing average annual returns of 7.6% over the past decade. Because many of the stocks that the ETF owns pay dividends, investors currently enjoy a yield of about 2.25% on their investment, which can provide much-needed income for those who need to draw cash from their portfolios.
The ETF's portfolio has definite areas of concentration, with more than a quarter of its assets invested in the financial sector. Healthcare and energy stocks make up another quarter of the fund's assets under management, and the remaining half is split fairly evenly across the remaining sectors of the market.
The Vanguard Value ETF falls just short of its iShares counterpart's assets under management. It tracks a different index, the CRSP U.S. Large Cap Value index, which includes more than 300 stocks among its component companies. In developing the index, CRSP looks at relationships between share price and book value, forward and historicalearnings multiples,dividend yields, andprice-to-sales ratios, or how the stock price relates to annual revenue. The result is a narrower portfolio than the Russell 1000 Value Index that puts more emphasis on truly large-cap companies.
That methodology has led to slightly better performance over the long run. Over the past decade, the Vanguard ETF has returned an average of 8.4% each year. The ETF also sports a slightly higher income yield than its iShares counterpart, with a current yield of almost 2.5%.
You'll find the same concentration in financial stocks within the Vanguard ETF that the iShares ETF has, but the big difference is in the sizable 15% allocation totechnology stocksthat the Vanguard fund holds. That's been a large contributor to relative performance in recent years, and similar allocations to most other sectors make tech the standout for the ETF.
Small companies can be good values, too, and the Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF seeks to identify those stocks. The CRSP U.S. Small Cap Value index looks at a much larger universe of potential candidates, and the Vanguard fund ends up selecting almost 900 different small-cap stocks for its portfolio. That added diversification is helpful, given the higher risk that small companies have compared to more well-established large companies.
Small caps have outperformed their larger counterparts over the past decade as well. The Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF has produced average annual returns of 10.3% over the past decade. Small-cap stocks don't tend to have as much capacity to pay dividends, however, and that's a big part of why the ETF has a yield of below 2%.
From an industry standpoint, the ETF's holdings are even more concentrated than what you'll see in the large-cap realm. Financials and industrial stocks make up more than half of the ETF's assets, and consumer stocks and technology together add another 25%. Again, Vanguard's willingness to embrace tech stocks has helped performance, and that shows up even more clearly in the small-cap space.
The iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF looks to split the difference between small and large stocks, focusing instead on thosecompanies in the middle of the size spectrum. Russell looks at the 1,000 largest stocks in the market, which make up its Russell 1000 Index, and then cuts out the top 200. That leaves 800 stocks that it considers midcaps, and Russell then applies the same tests to determine which stocks meet its value criteria. The iShares ETF invests in nearly 600 of those stocks.
Performance has been superior to the broader large-cap offering from iShares, with average annual returns of 9.6% over the past 10 years representing a big boost. Mid-caps also have a reasonable capacity to pay out dividends, and the ETF's current yield is right around the 2% mark.
One interesting aspect of the ETF is that its portfolio isn't quite as concentrated as in other iShares value ETFs. Financials make up just 20% of the fund, with real estate, industrials, consumer discretionary stocks, and utilities all getting 10% to 13% allocations of fund assets. That arguably gives the fund greater diversification, and it also reflects the greater number of places where investors can find value in the mid-cap realm right now.
iShares gets its small-cap value stock exposure by tracking the Russell 2000 Value Index, which includes that portion of the 2,000 next-smaller companies beyond the Russell 1000 that meet the same value characteristics that Russell looks for in all of its value-based benchmarks. That gives the ETF exposure to almost 1,400 small-cap value stocks, dwarfing the holdings of its Vanguard counterpart.
Performance has been solid, but it doesn't match up to what Vanguard has achieved. Average annual returns have been about 8.4% over the past decade. Yields of 1.75% reflect the lower payout capacity that many smaller companies have to make dividend distributions to their shareholders.
The iShares ETF has about 30% of its assets in financial stocks, but beyond that, its portfolio is slightly more balanced than its Vanguard counterpart's holdings. Industrials, consumer discretionary, real estate, and technology each have close to 10% allocations of fund assets, and you'll also find modest exposure of roughly 5% to 7% in energy, healthcare, utilities, and materials stocks.
Finally, Vanguard weighs in with a mid-cap offering of its own. It tracks the CRSP U.S. Mid Cap Value index, which includes 200 mid-sized companies that meet the same value characteristics that CRSP uses in the large-cap space as described above.
Performance for the fund has been extremely strong. Over the past decade, average annual returns have been about 10.6%, outperforming small- and large-cap stocks in the space. An income yield of 2.2% also give the Vanguard ETF a slight advantage over its iShares Mid-Cap Value counterpart.
Financials carry the same overweight as you'll see in other Vanguard funds, with consumer stocks also getting about a 25% allocation within the fund. Industrials, tech stocks, utilities, and energy companies also have substantial presence within the ETF.
Most investors should look for adiversified approach in their investing, and that extends even to the ETF level. Choosing any one of these ETFs is a reasonable option, but the better choice is to allocate percentages to each market-cap range in order to balance greater opportunities from smaller companies against the higher risk they can sometimes pose. With their cost and recent performance advantages, the Vanguard value ETFs on this list could offer better long-term results for investors than their iShares rivals.
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Dan Caplingerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || The Top 6 Value ETFs for Smart Investors: Everyone likes a bargain, and value investors understand that they can take advantage of mispriced stocks in the market to reap big profits. You can find promising value stocks in every corner of the market, but even though the stocks themselves can look a lot different, they share fundamentally strong prospects that aren't fully reflected in their share prices. Many investors use exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, to invest in value stocks. Below, we'll look at six value ETFs that investors turn to the most. First, though, let's look at exactly what value investing is and how it can meet your investing needs. What is value investing? Value investing generally refers to the idea that the best investments are those that the market isn't pricing properly. Most value investors look at companies whose stocks have suffered dramatic losses, figuring that in many cases, the market's reaction to bad news is overblown and punishes a company too much. The idea is that once the company recovers from whatever setback made its shares fall, investors will realize the true value of the underlying business, and the stock will recover, producing substantial returns for those who were willing to invest during the most uncertain time for the company. In addition to the prospect for solid returns, another advantage of value investing is that it tends to focus on mature, stable companies that are fairly reliable in their business models. In contrast to unproven high-growth stocks that can flame out quickly, value investors typically pick more defensive stocks that are less volatile, making them more comfortable choices for those who prefer safer investments. But it's important to understand that value investing has its risks. Hidden dangers can lurk beneath the surface at companies, trapping would-be bargain hunters into making what turn out to be ill-fated investments. Some top value investors go through each individual stock to ensure that they can separate out the best prospects from the value traps. But as you'll learn below, the advantage of ETF investing is that you can invest in a broad range of value stocks, diversifying your portfolio so that if there happens to be a bad apple among the bunch, it won't have a devastating impact on your overall holdings. Story continues What is an ETF? Exchange-traded funds have been around for about 25 years, and they are a simple way for investors to own shares of multiple stocks using a single investment. Most ETFs track an index made up of multiple stocks, and the ETF buys shares of all of the stocks in its particular target index. Advantages include the ability to buy and sell at any time during the trading day, and for those who have only small amounts of money to invest, ETFs let you get exposure to many different stocks rather than only being able to afford one or two individual stocks to buy. To compensate the operator of the ETF for the work it does to buy and sell stocks, set up the ETF, and deal with regulatory and compliance issues, investors have to pay an expense ratio. This is a specific percentage of assets that go to cover the annual expenses of the ETF. For instance, if a fund has an expense ratio of 0.20%, then an investor who owns $1,000 worth of shares can expect to have $2 of the fund's assets taken out of the ETF each year to pay for the operating costs of the fund. Nevertheless, if you want to track a common benchmark closely, it's hard to find cheaper alternatives than ETFs. With all that in mind, here are six value ETFs that you can turn to in order to get the particular stocks that match up with your investing principles as a value investor. Value ETF Assets Under Management Expense Ratio 5-Year Total Cumulative Return iShares Russell 1000 Value (NYSEMKT: IWD) $36.9 billion 0.20% 71% Vanguard Value (NYSEMKT: VTV) $36.7 billion 0.06% 84% Vanguard Small-Cap Value (NYSEMKT: VBR) $12.9 billion 0.07% 86% iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value (NYSEMKT: IWS) $10.6 billion 0.24% 73% iShares Russell 2000 Value (NYSEMKT: IWN) $9.27 billion 0.24% 73% Vanguard Mid-Cap Value (NYSEMKT: VOE) $8.58 billion 0.07% 87% Data source: Fund providers. 2 ETF leaders go head-to-head iShares and Vanguard are the biggest players in the ETF universe, so it makes sense that their respective value ETFs would do such a good job of getting investors to buy shares of their funds. As you can see above, Vanguard puts more emphasis on reducing costs to the absolute maximum, with expense ratios that are less than a third what iShares typically charges. iShares tends to stress ease of tradability of its ETF shares, and its funds tend to be among the most liquid in daily trading. For long-term investors, that factor isn't quite as important, but for those who trade ETF shares frequently, the resulting reduction in trade-related expenses can make a material difference in long-term performance. You'll see below that each of the three funds that iShares and Vanguard put up on this list addresses different sizes of companies. Their recent returns don't necessarily reflect much difference across large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap value stocks, but your investment strategy might still call for allocations across stocks of different market capitalizations in order to be better diversified when their relative returns diverge in the future. White mosaic tiles spelling ETF against a yellow mosaic background. Image source: Getty Images. 1. iShares Russell 1000 Value The iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF is the largest value ETF available, edging out its Vanguard counterpart. The Russell 1000 index includes the top 1,000 large-cap and mid-cap stocks in the U.S. stock market, and the iShares ETF invests in a subset of that list, with the Russell 1000 Value index focusing on the companies with relatively lower price-to-book ratios, or how share price relates to a company's book value , and lower forecast growth than their peers in the broader Russell 1000. The ETF holds about 700 stocks currently. The ETF's performance has been solid, with the ETF producing average annual returns of 7.6% over the past decade. Because many of the stocks that the ETF owns pay dividends, investors currently enjoy a yield of about 2.25% on their investment, which can provide much-needed income for those who need to draw cash from their portfolios. The ETF's portfolio has definite areas of concentration, with more than a quarter of its assets invested in the financial sector. Healthcare and energy stocks make up another quarter of the fund's assets under management, and the remaining half is split fairly evenly across the remaining sectors of the market. 2. Vanguard Value The Vanguard Value ETF falls just short of its iShares counterpart's assets under management. It tracks a different index, the CRSP U.S. Large Cap Value index, which includes more than 300 stocks among its component companies. In developing the index, CRSP looks at relationships between share price and book value, forward and historical earnings multiples , dividend yields , and price-to-sales ratios , or how the stock price relates to annual revenue. The result is a narrower portfolio than the Russell 1000 Value Index that puts more emphasis on truly large-cap companies. That methodology has led to slightly better performance over the long run. Over the past decade, the Vanguard ETF has returned an average of 8.4% each year. The ETF also sports a slightly higher income yield than its iShares counterpart, with a current yield of almost 2.5%. You'll find the same concentration in financial stocks within the Vanguard ETF that the iShares ETF has, but the big difference is in the sizable 15% allocation to technology stocks that the Vanguard fund holds. That's been a large contributor to relative performance in recent years, and similar allocations to most other sectors make tech the standout for the ETF. 3. Vanguard Small-Cap Value Small companies can be good values , too, and the Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF seeks to identify those stocks. The CRSP U.S. Small Cap Value index looks at a much larger universe of potential candidates, and the Vanguard fund ends up selecting almost 900 different small-cap stocks for its portfolio. That added diversification is helpful, given the higher risk that small companies have compared to more well-established large companies. Small caps have outperformed their larger counterparts over the past decade as well. The Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF has produced average annual returns of 10.3% over the past decade. Small-cap stocks don't tend to have as much capacity to pay dividends, however, and that's a big part of why the ETF has a yield of below 2%. From an industry standpoint, the ETF's holdings are even more concentrated than what you'll see in the large-cap realm. Financials and industrial stocks make up more than half of the ETF's assets, and consumer stocks and technology together add another 25%. Again, Vanguard's willingness to embrace tech stocks has helped performance, and that shows up even more clearly in the small-cap space. 4. iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value The iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF looks to split the difference between small and large stocks, focusing instead on those companies in the middle of the size spectrum . Russell looks at the 1,000 largest stocks in the market, which make up its Russell 1000 Index, and then cuts out the top 200. That leaves 800 stocks that it considers midcaps, and Russell then applies the same tests to determine which stocks meet its value criteria. The iShares ETF invests in nearly 600 of those stocks. Performance has been superior to the broader large-cap offering from iShares, with average annual returns of 9.6% over the past 10 years representing a big boost. Mid-caps also have a reasonable capacity to pay out dividends, and the ETF's current yield is right around the 2% mark. One interesting aspect of the ETF is that its portfolio isn't quite as concentrated as in other iShares value ETFs. Financials make up just 20% of the fund, with real estate, industrials, consumer discretionary stocks, and utilities all getting 10% to 13% allocations of fund assets. That arguably gives the fund greater diversification, and it also reflects the greater number of places where investors can find value in the mid-cap realm right now. 5. iShares Russell 2000 Value iShares gets its small-cap value stock exposure by tracking the Russell 2000 Value Index, which includes that portion of the 2,000 next-smaller companies beyond the Russell 1000 that meet the same value characteristics that Russell looks for in all of its value-based benchmarks. That gives the ETF exposure to almost 1,400 small-cap value stocks, dwarfing the holdings of its Vanguard counterpart. Performance has been solid, but it doesn't match up to what Vanguard has achieved. Average annual returns have been about 8.4% over the past decade. Yields of 1.75% reflect the lower payout capacity that many smaller companies have to make dividend distributions to their shareholders. The iShares ETF has about 30% of its assets in financial stocks, but beyond that, its portfolio is slightly more balanced than its Vanguard counterpart's holdings. Industrials, consumer discretionary, real estate, and technology each have close to 10% allocations of fund assets, and you'll also find modest exposure of roughly 5% to 7% in energy, healthcare, utilities, and materials stocks. 6. Vanguard Mid-Cap Value Finally, Vanguard weighs in with a mid-cap offering of its own. It tracks the CRSP U.S. Mid Cap Value index, which includes 200 mid-sized companies that meet the same value characteristics that CRSP uses in the large-cap space as described above. Performance for the fund has been extremely strong. Over the past decade, average annual returns have been about 10.6%, outperforming small- and large-cap stocks in the space. An income yield of 2.2% also give the Vanguard ETF a slight advantage over its iShares Mid-Cap Value counterpart. Financials carry the same overweight as you'll see in other Vanguard funds, with consumer stocks also getting about a 25% allocation within the fund. Industrials, tech stocks, utilities, and energy companies also have substantial presence within the ETF. Picking the right value ETF Most investors should look for a diversified approach in their investing , and that extends even to the ETF level. Choosing any one of these ETFs is a reasonable option, but the better choice is to allocate percentages to each market-cap range in order to balance greater opportunities from smaller companies against the higher risk they can sometimes pose. With their cost and recent performance advantages, the Vanguard value ETFs on this list could offer better long-term results for investors than their iShares rivals. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Apple, Inc. Earnings: 5 Key Metrics to Watch: Tech giant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is scheduled to report its financial results for its fiscal second quarter after market close on Tuesday, May 1. Given Apple's accelerating year-over-year revenue growth rates recently, investors will be looking to see if the iPhone maker has been able to keep up this momentum. In addition to checking on total revenue, investors may want take a look at other key metrics like gross profit margin, growth in services and other products revenue, and more. Here's a preview of what to expect from five key metrics. An iPhone X being splashed by water. iPhone X. Image source: Apple. 1. Revenue growth Ever since returning to growth in its first quarter of fiscal 2018, Apple's growth has been picking up steam. In Apple's most recent quarter, the company posted record revenue of $88.3 billion -- up 13% from revenue of $78.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. This year-over-year growth was up from 7% and 12% year-over-year revenue growth in Apple's third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2017, respectively. For Apple's second quarter, management guided for revenue to be between $60 billion and $62 billion. The midpoint of this guidance range implies 15% year-over-year revenue growth, suggesting Apple's growth could accelerate yet again. 2. Gross margin Guiding for a gross profit margin of 38% to 38.5% in its second quarter, compared to a gross profit margin of 38.9% in the year-ago quarter, Apple anticipates a slight year-over-year decline in profitability. The expected pressure on its gross margin likely reflects higher costs associated with Apple's latest iPhone models, particularly its iPhone X, which sports a redesigned form factor. In addition, management said in its second-quarter earnings call that higher memory prices are expected to be a headwind for costs during the period. 3. Services Apple's services business has been an increasingly important catalyst for the tech company. Indeed, the segment is now Apple's second largest. iPhone accounts for 62% of Apple's trailing-12-month revenue, while its services segment represents 13% of revenue. Apple's Mac segment comes in third at 11% of revenue. Story continues Apple's services revenue is growing rapidly , rising 18% year over year in Q2, or up 27% when adjusting to exclude the impact of an extra week in the year-ago quarter. Investors should look for similarly strong growth from the segment in Q2. 4. Other products Though Apple's other products segment is much smaller than services, accounting for just 6% of trailing-12-month revenue, it's growing even faster than services. In Apple's most recent quarter, other products revenue increased 36% year over year, or 47% when excluding the impact of an extra week in the year-ago quarter. Apple's other products segment was helped by notable strength in wearables, or revenue from Apple Watch, AirPods, and Beats products. Total revenue from wearables during the period was up 70% year over year in Q2, Apple said in its first-quarter earnings call. Investors should look for this momentum to continue in Q2. 5. Revenue guidance Finally, investors will want to look to see what sort of revenue guidance Apple provides for its third quarter. This will give investors insight into how well its latest iPhone cycle is performing. Since the iPhone accounts for well over half of Apple's revenue, management's outlook for total revenue can give investors an idea of the trajectory Apple is expecting for iPhone sales. For Apple to keep up its year-over-year revenue growth, it will need to guide for third-quarter revenue above the $45.4 billion in revenue the company reported in its fiscal third quarter of 2017. Guidance below this level could suggest Apple's latest iPhones aren't performing well. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Daniel Sparks owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Apple, Inc. Earnings: 5 Key Metrics to Watch: Tech giantApple(NASDAQ: AAPL)is scheduled to report its financial results for its fiscal second quarter after market close on Tuesday, May 1. Given Apple's accelerating year-over-year revenue growth rates recently, investors will be looking to see if the iPhone maker has been able to keep up this momentum. In addition to checking on total revenue, investors may want take a look at other key metrics like gross profit margin, growth in services and other products revenue, and more.
Here's a preview of what to expect from five key metrics.
iPhone X. Image source: Apple.
Ever sincereturning to growthin its first quarter of fiscal 2018, Apple's growth has been picking up steam. In Apple's most recent quarter, the company posted record revenue of $88.3 billion -- up 13% from revenue of $78.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. This year-over-year growth was up from 7% and 12% year-over-year revenue growth in Apple's third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2017, respectively.
For Apple's second quarter, management guided for revenue to be between $60 billion and $62 billion. The midpoint of this guidance range implies 15% year-over-year revenue growth, suggesting Apple's growth could accelerate yet again.
Guiding for a gross profit margin of 38% to 38.5% in its second quarter, compared to a gross profit margin of 38.9% in the year-ago quarter, Apple anticipates a slight year-over-year decline in profitability. The expected pressure on its gross margin likely reflects higher costs associated with Apple's latest iPhone models, particularly its iPhone X, which sports a redesigned form factor. In addition, management said in its second-quarter earnings call that higher memory prices are expected to be a headwind for costs during the period.
Apple's services business has been an increasingly important catalyst for the tech company. Indeed, the segment is now Apple's second largest. iPhone accounts for 62% of Apple's trailing-12-month revenue, while its services segment represents 13% of revenue. Apple's Mac segment comes in third at 11% of revenue.
Apple's services revenue isgrowing rapidly, rising 18% year over year in Q2, or up 27% when adjusting to exclude the impact of an extra week in the year-ago quarter.
Investors should look for similarly strong growth from the segment in Q2.
Though Apple's other products segment is much smaller than services, accounting for just 6% of trailing-12-month revenue, it's growing even faster than services. In Apple's most recent quarter, other products revenue increased 36% year over year, or 47% when excluding the impact of an extra week in the year-ago quarter.
Apple's other products segment was helped by notable strength in wearables, or revenue from Apple Watch, AirPods, and Beats products. Total revenue from wearables during the period was up 70% year over year in Q2, Apple said in its first-quarter earnings call.
Investors should look for this momentum to continue in Q2.
Finally, investors will want to look to see what sort of revenue guidance Apple provides for its third quarter. This will give investors insight into how well its latest iPhone cycle is performing. Since the iPhone accounts for well over half of Apple's revenue, management's outlook for total revenue can give investors an idea of the trajectory Apple is expecting for iPhone sales.
For Apple to keep up its year-over-year revenue growth, it will need to guide for third-quarter revenue above the $45.4 billion in revenue the company reported in its fiscal third quarter of 2017. Guidance below this level could suggest Apple's latest iPhones aren't performing well.
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Daniel Sparksowns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Disruptor Alert: These 2 Companies Are Changing the Oil Sector: For years, the focus of the oil industry was on growing production no matter the cost. Drillers would spend everything that came in -- and then some -- to drill new wells. This approach had disastrous consequences because it ultimately drove oil supplies well past demand, causing prices to crash, which made it hard for oil companies to keep up with the debt they incurred to juice growth.
However, thanks to a small handful of oil companies led byEOG Resources(NYSE: EOG)andConocoPhillips(NYSE: COP), those days of growing just to grow are long gone. That's because they've disrupted the industry's long-held way of thinking and have shifted the focus from increasing production to growing shareholder value. It's an approach that's now spreading like wildfire, making the oil sector a much more appealing option for investors.
Image source: Getty Images.
Through the years, most oil companies drilled new wells to produce more oil and gas. While they wanted to earn a return on their investments, many drilled countless money-losing wells. In fact,Chesapeake Energy's CEOadmitteda few years ago that at one point, 54% of its wells lost money.
EOG Resources, however, has started disrupting this mindset by making it clear that it sees the production of oil as a byproduct of its aim of earning a lucrative return on the capital it invests in new wells. While the company always has focused on drilling for returns, it cemented that view in early 2016 when it unveiled its premium drilling inventory, which are locations that can earn a minimum 30% after-tax return at $40 oil. By setting the bar that high, the company would ensure that its wells still would make money, even if crude plunged below $30 a barrel. One of the many benefits of drilling high-return wells is that EOG can produce more oil for less money, enabling it to grow faster than most rivals.
EOG's focus on drilling to earn premium returns has already started changing the way competitors operate.Encana(NYSE: ECA)was one of the first to latch on to the idea when it unveiled its premium-return inventory in late 2016 along with a new five-year growth plan. The only difference was that Encana set a lower-return hurdle of 35% after tax at $50 oil. Meanwhile, many other drillers have started focusing their attention on identifying their highest-return locations, even if they don't use the premium label.
In some ways, Encana has taken EOG's focus on returns even further since the company no longer draws attention to how much it can grow production. Instead, it highlights its ability to increase cash flow. That change happened last year when it unveiled an update to its five-year plan.
Instead of targeting a production growth rate, Encana pointed out that it could increase cash flow at a 25% compound annual rate through 2022. Further, it could deliver that robust growth rate while generating $1.5 billion in free cash at $50 oil. Several other drillers have followed its lead by highlighting how much they can increase cash flow instead of trumpeting production growth.
Image source: Getty Images.
ConocoPhillips, meanwhile, has disrupted how the industry measures production growth. Instead of aiming to increase output by an absolute rate, such as from 100,000 to 110,000 barrels of oil per day, or by 10%, the company strives to grow production on a debt-adjusted-share basis. This metric considers the difference in the production rate, as well as the change in debt and the share count. The goal is to increase production per debt adjusted share because that should create more value for investors than by targeting an absolute growth rate.
The strategy also focuses on investing in the highest-return opportunities, while also giving the company flexibility to allocate capital toward paying down debt and buying back stock. It has been awildly successful approach. In the first quarter, ConocoPhillips increased output 26% on a debt-adjusted share basis, which was significantly higher than its absolute growth rate of 4%, thanks in part to $3.5 billion in share repurchases over the past year and a nearly $10 billion reduction in debt.
Several producershave followed ConocoPhillips' lead and started allocating more cash toward buying back stock and retiring debt to fuel higher debt-adjusted production-per-share growth rates.Anadarko Petroleum(NYSE: APC)was one of the first to follow its lead late last year when itunveiled a $2.5 billion share buyback. That repurchase program, when combined with some debt reduction, has Anadarko on pace to increase its oil production at a debt-adjusted rate of 15% this year, which is better than its anticipated 13% absolute increase.
EOG Resources and ConocoPhillips have disrupted the way the oil industry values and measures growth. Their trailblazing ways have been wildly successful so far since both stocks are up 40% over the past two years versus 30% for theS&P 500and less than 10% for the average energy stock. Given that outperformance, more oil companies likely will follow their lead in the coming years, which could fuel big-time gains for investors as the oil market continues recovering.
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Matthew DiLalloowns shares of ConocoPhillips. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Disruptor Alert: These 2 Companies Are Changing the Oil Sector: For years, the focus of the oil industry was on growing production no matter the cost. Drillers would spend everything that came in -- and then some -- to drill new wells. This approach had disastrous consequences because it ultimately drove oil supplies well past demand, causing prices to crash, which made it hard for oil companies to keep up with the debt they incurred to juice growth. However, thanks to a small handful of oil companies led by EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) , those days of growing just to grow are long gone. That's because they've disrupted the industry's long-held way of thinking and have shifted the focus from increasing production to growing shareholder value. It's an approach that's now spreading like wildfire, making the oil sector a much more appealing option for investors. Oil drilling rigs and an oil pump jack with the sun setting in the background. Image source: Getty Images. Drilling for returns, not oil Through the years, most oil companies drilled new wells to produce more oil and gas. While they wanted to earn a return on their investments, many drilled countless money-losing wells. In fact, Chesapeake Energy 's CEO admitted a few years ago that at one point, 54% of its wells lost money. EOG Resources, however, has started disrupting this mindset by making it clear that it sees the production of oil as a byproduct of its aim of earning a lucrative return on the capital it invests in new wells. While the company always has focused on drilling for returns, it cemented that view in early 2016 when it unveiled its premium drilling inventory, which are locations that can earn a minimum 30% after-tax return at $40 oil. By setting the bar that high, the company would ensure that its wells still would make money, even if crude plunged below $30 a barrel. One of the many benefits of drilling high-return wells is that EOG can produce more oil for less money, enabling it to grow faster than most rivals. EOG's focus on drilling to earn premium returns has already started changing the way competitors operate. Encana (NYSE: ECA) was one of the first to latch on to the idea when it unveiled its premium-return inventory in late 2016 along with a new five-year growth plan. The only difference was that Encana set a lower-return hurdle of 35% after tax at $50 oil. Meanwhile, many other drillers have started focusing their attention on identifying their highest-return locations, even if they don't use the premium label. Story continues In some ways, Encana has taken EOG's focus on returns even further since the company no longer draws attention to how much it can grow production. Instead, it highlights its ability to increase cash flow. That change happened last year when it unveiled an update to its five-year plan. Instead of targeting a production growth rate, Encana pointed out that it could increase cash flow at a 25% compound annual rate through 2022. Further, it could deliver that robust growth rate while generating $1.5 billion in free cash at $50 oil. Several other drillers have followed its lead by highlighting how much they can increase cash flow instead of trumpeting production growth. The sun setting behind an oil pump. Image source: Getty Images. Growing the value of each share ConocoPhillips, meanwhile, has disrupted how the industry measures production growth. Instead of aiming to increase output by an absolute rate, such as from 100,000 to 110,000 barrels of oil per day, or by 10%, the company strives to grow production on a debt-adjusted-share basis. This metric considers the difference in the production rate, as well as the change in debt and the share count. The goal is to increase production per debt adjusted share because that should create more value for investors than by targeting an absolute growth rate. The strategy also focuses on investing in the highest-return opportunities, while also giving the company flexibility to allocate capital toward paying down debt and buying back stock. It has been a wildly successful approach . In the first quarter, ConocoPhillips increased output 26% on a debt-adjusted share basis, which was significantly higher than its absolute growth rate of 4%, thanks in part to $3.5 billion in share repurchases over the past year and a nearly $10 billion reduction in debt. Several producers have followed ConocoPhillips' lead and started allocating more cash toward buying back stock and retiring debt to fuel higher debt-adjusted production-per-share growth rates. Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) was one of the first to follow its lead late last year when it unveiled a $2.5 billion share buyback . That repurchase program, when combined with some debt reduction, has Anadarko on pace to increase its oil production at a debt-adjusted rate of 15% this year, which is better than its anticipated 13% absolute increase. The proof is in the outperformance EOG Resources and ConocoPhillips have disrupted the way the oil industry values and measures growth. Their trailblazing ways have been wildly successful so far since both stocks are up 40% over the past two years versus 30% for the S&P 500 and less than 10% for the average energy stock. Given that outperformance, more oil companies likely will follow their lead in the coming years, which could fuel big-time gains for investors as the oil market continues recovering. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Matthew DiLallo owns shares of ConocoPhillips. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Kimberly-Clark Talks About Its Cost and Pricing Struggles: Consumer staples giant Kimberly Clark (NYSE: KMB) recently posted an encouraging return to organic sales growth that kept the company on track with its modest expansion plans for the year. However, the maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues endured weaker profitability as it struggled to pass on higher costs to its customers. Executives held a conference call with Wall Street analysts to put those mixed results into perspective. Below are a few highlights from that presentation. A box of tissues. Image source: Getty Images. Growth and market share Organic sales grew 2% in the quarter, which is a good start to the year. Performance included benefits from targeted growth initiatives, innovations launched over the past 12 months, and increased investments in our brands. -- Chief Operating Officer Michael Hsu Kimberly Clark returned to modest sales growth following three consecutive quarterly declines. The 2% boost included healthy volume gains in the Huggies diaper franchise thanks mainly to lower prices. An unusually strong cold and flu season, meanwhile, combined with price cuts to generate big volume gains in the tissue segment. Broadly speaking, executives said they were happy with Kimberly Clark's market share positions, which stayed even or improved slightly in each of its eight core product categories. Costs are rising faster than prices Commodities were a drag of $175 million in the quarter. We're now expecting that full-year cost inflation will be between $400 and $550 million. That's $100 to $150 million more than we assumed in January. -- CFO Maria Henry The company endured higher costs on raw materials like pulp. However, given the sluggish sales environment, management declined to pass those costs on to its customers. Instead, net selling prices were flat or negative in each of Kimberly Clark's three core divisions. Overall, prices fell 1%. The poor pricing trends translated into reduced profitability. Adjusted gross margin fell by 3 percentage points to 33.8% of sales and operating margin dropped to 17.4% of sales from 18.8% a year ago. Thus, while reported earnings rose 9%, that improvement was mainly driven by a lower tax rate. Profit gains were 2% after stripping out that benefit. Story continues Restructuring update We continue to expect $50 to $70 million of restructuring savings in 2018 with the vast majority of these savings occurring in the second half of the year as our workforce reductions ramp up. -- Henry Kimberly Clark is implementing two major cost-cutting initiatives right now, but neither of them affected costs dramatically during the quarter. Its efficiency program delivered $90 million of savings, which only partly offset the nearly $200 million drag from increased commodity costs. Its recently announced restructuring plan , meanwhile, is just getting started as the company offered voluntary severance packages to most of its salaried employees during the quarter. Executives expect most of the benefits from these cost programs to occur in the second half of the fiscal year. The 2018 outlook We know we have more work to do because we continue to operate in a competitive environment. That said, our first quarter results and our plans going forward give me further confidence in our 1% organic growth target for the year. -- Hsu Kimberly Clark affirmed the full-year growth target that calls for sales to inch higher by 1% to mark a tiny improvement over last year's flat result. Innovative product launches across the Huggies, Kleenex, and Depend franchises should help defend market share in the core U.S. segment, while prices are slated to rise in emerging markets like Eastern Europe and Latin America, where sales growth is stronger. The extra commodity costs weren't in their original 2018 plan, but management said they built enough flexibility into their forecast to cover that surprise. As a result, Kimberly Clark is still projecting earnings per share of between $6.90 and $7.20, for growth of between 11% and 16%. That outlook assumes profitability will improve over the next few quarters, mainly thanks to the company's cost-cutting initiatives. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Kimberly-Clark Talks About Its Cost and Pricing Struggles: Consumer staples giantKimberly Clark(NYSE: KMB)recently posted an encouraging return to organic sales growth that kept the company on track with its modest expansion plans for the year. However, the maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues endured weaker profitability as it struggled to pass on higher costs to its customers.
Executives held aconference call with Wall Street analyststo put those mixed results into perspective. Below are a few highlights from that presentation.
Image source: Getty Images.
Organic sales grew 2% in the quarter, which is a good start to the year. Performance included benefits from targeted growth initiatives, innovations launched over the past 12 months, and increased investments in our brands. -- Chief Operating Officer Michael Hsu
Kimberly Clarkreturned to modest sales growthfollowing three consecutive quarterly declines. The 2% boost included healthy volume gains in the Huggies diaper franchise thanks mainly to lower prices. An unusually strong cold and flu season, meanwhile, combined with price cuts to generate big volume gains in the tissue segment.
Broadly speaking, executives said they were happy with Kimberly Clark's market share positions, which stayed even or improved slightly in each of its eight core product categories.
Commodities were a drag of $175 million in the quarter. We're now expecting that full-year cost inflation will be between $400 and $550 million. That's $100 to $150 million more than we assumed in January. -- CFO Maria Henry
The company endured higher costs on raw materials like pulp. However, given the sluggish sales environment, management declined to pass those costs on to its customers. Instead, net selling prices were flat or negative in each of Kimberly Clark's three core divisions. Overall, prices fell 1%.
The poor pricing trends translated into reduced profitability. Adjusted gross margin fell by 3 percentage points to 33.8% of sales and operating margin dropped to 17.4% of sales from 18.8% a year ago. Thus, while reported earnings rose 9%, that improvement was mainly driven by a lower tax rate. Profit gains were 2% after stripping out that benefit.
We continue to expect $50 to $70 million of restructuring savings in 2018 with the vast majority of these savings occurring in the second half of the year as our workforce reductions ramp up. -- Henry
Kimberly Clark is implementing two major cost-cutting initiatives right now, but neither of them affected costs dramatically during the quarter. Its efficiency program delivered $90 million of savings, which only partly offset the nearly $200 million drag from increased commodity costs. Its recently announcedrestructuring plan, meanwhile, is just getting started as the company offered voluntary severance packages to most of its salaried employees during the quarter. Executives expect most of the benefits from these cost programs to occur in the second half of the fiscal year.
We know we have more work to do because we continue to operate in a competitive environment. That said, our first quarter results and our plans going forward give me further confidence in our 1% organic growth target for the year. -- Hsu
Kimberly Clark affirmed the full-year growth target that calls for sales to inch higher by 1% to mark a tiny improvement over last year's flat result. Innovative product launches across the Huggies, Kleenex, and Depend franchises should help defend market share in the core U.S. segment, while prices are slated to rise in emerging markets like Eastern Europe and Latin America, where sales growth is stronger.
The extra commodity costs weren't in their original 2018 plan, but management said they built enough flexibility into their forecast to cover that surprise.
As a result, Kimberly Clark is still projecting earnings per share of between $6.90 and $7.20, for growth of between 11% and 16%. That outlook assumes profitability will improve over the next few quarters, mainly thanks to the company's cost-cutting initiatives.
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Demitrios Kalogeropouloshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Snap, Inc. Earnings: What to Watch: Snap(NYSE: SNAP)reports its first-quarter earnings results on Tuesday.
The company surprised investors with a strong fourth-quarter performance, beating expectations for revenue, earnings, and user growth. Shares spiked following the report, but the stock has given up those gains in the months since after severalhigh-profileuser complaints about the redesign and an offensive advertisement.
Analysts are looking for Snap to report a loss of $0.17 per share on revenue of $243.55 million for the first quarter. But investors will want to look beyond just the headline numbers and dig deeper into Snap's results. Here's what to watch.
Image source: Snap.
Snapchat's user count is always top of mind when Snap reports earnings, but there should be a particular focus on the number this quarter after Snap rolled out its redesigned Snapchat app to all of its users in February.
Snap said itsearly testsresulted in higher engagement, particularly among older users, and it resulted in better ad performance. But after the rollout, users complained about the new design, and Snap recently relented by tweaking it a bit more (a redesign of the redesign).
Snap continues to face pressure fromFacebook's(NASDAQ: FB)Instagram, which blatantly copied Snapchat's Stories format a couple of years ago. Instagram Stories now has 300 million daily active users, and WhatsApp Status (the WhatsApp version of Stories) has even more. As Facebook's Stories products grow in popularity, users have fewer reasons to try Snapchat.
Snap added 8 million net new users in the first quarter last year. DAU growth accelerated in the fourth quarter, though, so investors should look to see if Snap can maintain that momentum despite concerns over the redesign.
Another focus for investors should be on the company's profit margins.
Snap's biggest costs of goods sold are its infrastructure costs and its revenue share payouts for ads it runs in the Discover section. Snap has shown progress on improving both of those costs.
After restructuring its contracts with Google andAmazonfor cloud-computing services, Snap saw a big improvement in its infrastructure expenses. It spent just $457 million on cloud computing last year, up 30% year over year. Still, Snap was saving money on a per-user basis.
Ultimately, relying on third-party infrastructure will prevent Snap from producing margins at the level of Facebook or other big social media companies. Still, Evan Spiegel believes its contracts with Amazon and Googleprovide it an advantage.
Regarding revenue share, there are two opposing forces in play. The first force is the redesign's supposed impact on Discover viewership. If it does in fact increase the amount of third-party content users are watching, as Snap management indicated in its fourth-quarter earnings call, it should increase revenue sharing.
On the other hand, Snap continues to open up more owned inventory in places like Stories. If the mix of ads shifts to more owned ad inventory, the gross margin on Snap's ad revenue will improve (all else being equal).
Moving a bit lower on the income statement, investors should look for lower operating expenses since Snap went throughseveral rounds of layoffsduring the quarter. During the fourth-quarter earnings call, CFO Drew Vollero said, "the primary driver for operating expenses remains people cost," so getting rid of a whole bunch of people should improve operating margin. It may cost Snap in the long run, though.
The last thing to pay attention to is management's commentary on average ad price. This isn't an official metric, and management might not provide exact details, but it has provided relative numbers in the past. Snap's Snap Ad pricing fell 70% year over year in the fourth quarter.
The decline in price is due to the shift in the Snapchat self-serve ad platform. Marketers bought 90% of Snap Ads through the self-serve platform last quarter. The self-serve platform uses an auction format, so Snap doesn't have as much control over ad pricing. Over time, the company expects an increase in bidders on the platform to result in increased average ad prices.
Meanwhile, the company is rapidly expanding ad inventory. Ad impressions increased nearly seven-fold in the fourth quarter. Management says it still sees opportunities to increase ad load in the app, so investors shouldn't expect that to slow down.
While the transition to the self-serve platform is largely behind Snap, it won't improve ad prices until it slows the expansion of its ad inventory. Still, investors should look for an improvement in the year-over-year decline in ad prices to gauge the demand side of Snap's ad business.
Snap investors won't want to overlook the details when Snap reports its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Aside from the headline numbers, investors should really dig into the income statement and listen for management's comments on user growth, the app redesign, and the self-serve platform's impact on ad pricing.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Adam Levyowns shares of Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, and Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A and C shares), Amazon, and Facebook. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Forget Penny Stocks, Your Money Is Better Off in These 3 Companies: It's easy to see why novice investors get wrapped up in penny stocks. We tend to hear a lot about the amazing turnaround stories like General Growth Properties and Pier 1 Imports . And the ultra-rare companies that go from penny stock to billion-dollar buyout, such as Kuerig maker Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, stand as evidence that at least some penny stocks do actually survive and thrive. But for every company that goes from $0.10 per share to $10, there are perhaps thousands of other penny stocks that go to zero -- companies you'll never hear about because failure is the normal outcome for the vast majority of penny stock issuers. Rather than try to pick the rare winners from a sea of losers, investors would be better off investing in companies that have already proven their mettle as businesses worth owning for the long haul. In the article below, three Motley Fool investors lay the case for investing in Visa (NYSE: V) , Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) , and Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) as stocks worth buying, even if their shares cost more than pocket change. Giving credit where credit is due Sean Williams (Visa): Though penny stocks might appear alluring at times, I believe your money would be better spent buying into a time-tested megacap like Visa. Despite having virtually no downtrends since 2010, Visa remains a top-tier financial services company thanks to a host of competitive advantages . To begin with, it's a monster in the United States. WalletHub data from 2016 showed that Visa controlled close to 51% of all network purchasing volume in the U.S., which was almost 28 percentage points higher than American Express , the next-closest competitor. It also had 328 million credit cards in circulation in 2016, which was more than MasterCard , American Express, and Discover Financial Services combined ! To boot, the barrier to entry in the payment processing industry is exceptionally high. Not only does it take a small fortune to set up the infrastructure to process payments, but it also takes a long time for payment facilitators like Visa to build rapport with merchants and consumers. These intangibles are tough to quantify, but it makes Visa a name that's very difficult to supplant. Story continues Looking abroad, Visa expanded its geographic reach in June 2016 when it acquired Visa Europe. This deal was an immediate boost to its merchant network, and adds to its global plans to move beyond the U.S. borders in order to drive purchase volume growth. Years ago, MasterCard CFO Martina Hund-Mejean noted that 85% of global transactions are still conducted in cash, leaving Visa and its peers with a massive moat to grow in places like Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. But my favorite thing about Visa is that it's relatively unaffected by economic swings. Though the company does rely on purchasing to drive the processing fees it collects, it's not a lender, which means it doesn't have to worry about credit delinquencies. With geographic diversification and a currently low-yielding, but nonetheless quick growing, dividend, Visa looks to be a much smarter investment idea than a penny stock. Pennies spilled in a pile. Image source: Getty Images. Invest with the best Dan Caplinger (Berkshire Hathaway): If there's one stock that's just about the complete opposite of a penny stock, it's Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The company's Class A shares are the most expensive investment in the stock market, currently fetching in the neighborhood of $300,000 for a single share . Berkshire Hathaway doesn't pretend to offer the outsized get-rich-quick gains that penny stock promoters typically tout, but those who've held onto shares for the long haul have been richly rewarded. Berkshire's own core insurance business has generated strong, reliable profits over the years thanks in large part to the company's underwriting prowess and financial strength, while the conglomerate also has an impressive lineup of wholly owned subsidiaries and substantial positions in publicly traded stocks in its portfolio. Investors of more modest means can use Class B shares to buy Berkshire. At around $200 per share, penny stock investors might initially balk at the idea of betting their money on Warren Buffett. Yet with a long history of success and dozens of profitable businesses under its corporate umbrella, Berkshire Hathaway is the perfect answer for those who are smart enough to avoid penny stocks. A bank with a niche Jordan Wathen (Synchrony Financial): I'm a big believer in the idea that one way individual investors can have an edge is through "time arbitrage," or being able to take the long view with a stock when every professional investor is worried about the next twelve months. Synchrony Financial makes its money by being a financial partner to retailers who are eager to put store-branded credit cards in the hands of their customers. Retailers like store cards because they help them collect valuable data about their customers, avoid costly credit card processing fees, and generate incremental income from interest charges when customers carry a balance. But few retailers have the balance sheet capacity or the skill set necessary to manage a credit card portfolio. That's where Synchrony Financial steps in as an "outsourced" solution for retailers who want to give their loyal customers a credit line. Synchrony Financial is unlikely to have a blowout year in 2018. That's because later this year it will close on a deal to acquire a $6.8 billion credit card portfolio from PayPal , requiring it to set aside more money as a placeholder for expected losses, weighing on its reported earnings. I consider this short-term pain for long-term gain, as Synchrony will have to take charges for more than a year of loan losses in a timeframe that spans roughly six months. At about ten times the consensus earnings estimate in 2018, I think long-term investors could be handsomely rewarded by placing a bet on this private-label card issuer. By 2019, its true earnings power should be evident as its provisions for loan losses fall off, at which point I believe the market will be willing to pay a higher multiple of higher earnings to get in -- a win-win for investors who score their investment performance over years rather than months. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Dan Caplinger owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). Jordan Wathen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), Mastercard, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends American Express and Synchrony Financial. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Forget Penny Stocks, Your Money Is Better Off in These 3 Companies: It's easy to see why novice investors get wrapped up in penny stocks. We tend to hear a lot about the amazing turnaround stories likeGeneral Growth PropertiesandPier 1 Imports. And the ultra-rare companies that go from penny stock to billion-dollar buyout, such as Kuerig maker Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, stand as evidence that at least some penny stocks do actually survive and thrive.
But for every company that goes from $0.10 per share to $10, there are perhaps thousands of other penny stocks that go to zero -- companies you'll never hear about because failure is the normal outcome for the vast majority of penny stock issuers.
Rather than try to pick the rare winners from a sea of losers, investors would be better off investing in companies that have already proven their mettle as businesses worth owning for the long haul. In the article below, three Motley Fool investors lay the case for investing inVisa(NYSE: V),Berkshire Hathaway(NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B), andSynchrony Financial(NYSE: SYF)as stocks worth buying, even if their shares cost more than pocket change.
Sean Williams(Visa):Though penny stocks might appear alluring at times, I believe your money would be better spent buying into a time-tested megacap like Visa. Despite having virtually no downtrends since 2010, Visa remains a top-tier financial services company thanks to ahost of competitive advantages.
To begin with, it's a monster in the United States. WalletHub data from 2016 showed that Visa controlled close to 51% of all network purchasing volume in the U.S., which was almost 28 percentage points higher thanAmerican Express, the next-closest competitor. It also had 328 million credit cards in circulation in 2016, which was more thanMasterCard, American Express, andDiscover Financial Servicescombined!
To boot, the barrier to entry in the payment processing industry is exceptionally high. Not only does it take a small fortune to set up the infrastructure to process payments, but it also takes a long time for payment facilitators like Visa to build rapport with merchants and consumers. These intangibles are tough to quantify, but it makes Visa a name that's very difficult to supplant.
Looking abroad, Visa expanded its geographic reach in June 2016 when it acquired Visa Europe. This deal was an immediate boost to its merchant network, and adds to its global plans to move beyond the U.S. borders in order to drive purchase volume growth. Years ago, MasterCard CFO Martina Hund-Mejean noted that 85% of global transactions are still conducted in cash, leaving Visa and its peers with a massive moat to grow in places like Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
But my favorite thing about Visa is that it's relatively unaffected by economic swings. Though the company does rely on purchasing to drive the processing fees it collects, it's not a lender, which means it doesn't have to worry about credit delinquencies.
With geographic diversification and a currently low-yielding, but nonetheless quick growing, dividend, Visa looks to be a much smarter investment idea than a penny stock.
Image source: Getty Images.
Dan Caplinger(Berkshire Hathaway):If there's one stock that's just about the complete opposite of a penny stock, it's Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The company's Class A shares are the most expensive investment in the stock market, currently fetching in the neighborhood of$300,000 for a single share.
Berkshire Hathaway doesn't pretend to offer the outsized get-rich-quick gains that penny stock promoters typically tout, but those who've held onto shares for the long haul have been richly rewarded. Berkshire's own core insurance business has generated strong, reliable profits over the years thanks in large part to the company's underwriting prowess and financial strength, while the conglomerate also has an impressive lineup of wholly owned subsidiaries and substantial positions in publicly traded stocks in its portfolio.
Investors of more modest means can use Class B shares to buy Berkshire. At around $200 per share, penny stock investors might initially balk at the idea of betting their money on Warren Buffett. Yet with a long history of success and dozens of profitable businesses under its corporate umbrella, Berkshire Hathaway is the perfect answer for those who are smart enough to avoid penny stocks.
Jordan Wathen(Synchrony Financial):I'm a big believer in the idea that one way individual investors can have an edge is through "time arbitrage," or being able to take the long view with a stock when every professional investor is worried about the next twelve months.
Synchrony Financial makes its money by being a financial partner to retailers who are eager to putstore-branded credit cardsin the hands of their customers. Retailers like store cards because they help them collect valuable data about their customers, avoid costly credit card processing fees, and generate incremental income from interest charges when customers carry a balance. But few retailers have the balance sheet capacity or the skill set necessary to manage a credit card portfolio. That's where Synchrony Financial steps in as an "outsourced" solution for retailers who want to give their loyal customers a credit line.
Synchrony Financial is unlikely to have a blowout year in 2018. That's because later this year it will close on a deal to acquire a $6.8 billion credit card portfolio fromPayPal, requiring it to set aside more money as a placeholder for expected losses, weighing on its reported earnings. I consider this short-term pain for long-term gain, as Synchrony will have to take charges for more than a year of loan losses in a timeframe that spans roughly six months.
At about ten times the consensus earnings estimate in 2018, I think long-term investors could be handsomely rewarded by placing a bet on this private-label card issuer. By 2019, its true earnings power should be evident as its provisions for loan losses fall off, at which point I believe the market will be willing to pay a higher multiple of higher earnings to get in -- a win-win for investors who score their investment performance over years rather than months.
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Dan Caplingerowns shares of Berkshire Hathaway (B shares).Jordan Wathenhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned.Sean Williamshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), Mastercard, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends American Express and Synchrony Financial. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || How Netflix Is Stacking the Deck Against the Competition: It's hard to understateNetflix's(NASDAQ: NFLX)accomplishments over the last five years. The company has gone from experimenting with original content to becoming the most disruptive force Hollywood has seen in decades, spending far more on programming than any of its direct competitors. At the same time, Netflix has become a global brand, completing its international expansion in 2016, and it now claims 125 million members worldwide, up from 36 million five years ago. It's no surprise, then, that Netflix shares have surged in that span, up a whopping 885%. Netflix is now worth nearly as much asWaltDisney Co(NYSE: DIS), the company long seen as the gold standard in the entertainment industry.
However, while Netflix has disrupted industries far and wide from the video store to cable, it shows no signs of easing up in its quest to rule video entertainment, and it will continue to put the squeeze on the competition. Here's how Netflix is stacking the deck against its would-be rivals.
Image source: Getty Images.
Netflix is planning to spend $7.5 billion to $8 billion on content this year, which includes both original programming and licensed shows and movies. That's an unprecedented level of spending in Hollywood for a single platform. The traditional entertainment giants likeComcast's(NASDAQ: CMCSA)NBCUniversal, Disney,Fox(NASDAQ: FOXA), andTime Warner(NYSE: TWX), which owns HBO and the Turner group of cable networks, all spent around that much last year for non-sports programming, but that was allocated across multiple networks and platforms.
For example, HBO, the company that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings considers its closest rival, spent just $2 billion on content last year.
In addition to delivering a wide range of appealing content for its members, Netflix's arms race has caused problems for its competitors by coaxing customers away from cable and driving up prices for talent, equipment, programming rights, and other resources.
Entertainment lawyer Darrell Miller toldThe Wall Street Journallast year, "You just can't compete with someone coming in with fresh money, low overhead and a lot less baggage than you," summing up the difficult position that traditional media companies are in.
With Netflix set to increase content spending over the coming years, the pressure on its rivals is only likely to intensify.
Twice in the last year, Netflix has pulled off major coups, swiping some of best-known producers in the television business. Last August, Shonda Rhimes, the creator of hit shows likeGrey's AnatomyandScandal,said she wouldtake her Shondaland production company to Netflix after a 15-year run with Disney-owned ABC. Echoing other creators who had signed with Netflix, Rhimes said the streaming service appealed to her because of its "unique creative freedom and instantaneous global reach."
Netflix followed up its poaching of Rhimes by drawingGleecreator Ryan Murphy away from Fox in February. Murphy, who was also the mind behind series likeAmerican Horror StoryandNip/Tuck, signed a five-year deal with Netflix for a figure rumored to be as much as $300 million, and abandoned Fox in part because he seemed uncomfortable with Disney's proposed acquisition of the his former employer.
Since Netflix doesn't have to pander to advertisers or even fit shows within a pre-scheduled timeframe, it offers creators much more freedom than linear television does. That's why Netflix has had so much success recruiting top comic talents like Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, and David Letterman for a variety of different formats. The stock even popped a few weeks ago on rumors that the streamer could sign the Obamas to a series. With its giant global platform and the accessibility of streaming, Netflix is unique in the entertainment world, and it should continue to attract talent to its deep bench.
Netflix has demonstrated its pricing power twice recently as the streaming service has implemented two price increases in recent years, and its subscriber base barely flinched. In the U.S., subscriber growth has ranged between five and six million since it separated streaming from the DVD-by-mail business in 2011, and in the international market, subscriber growth has accelerated each year as the company seems to be just tapping into the foreign market.
Today, Netflix's standard package costs $11 per month, but that's still cheaper than HBO at $15 per month and commercial-free Hulu, which costs $12 per month, and it's much less than traditional cable packages. The value Netflix offers subscribers is unprecedented in video entertainment. Considering the average subscriber spends about an hour daily with the service, they are paying just $0.35 per hour of entertainment.
Those low prices and appealing value proposition will make it hard for entrants like Disney to break Netflix's grip on the streaming market, especially as Disney is facing a classicinnovator's dilemma. It can't really follow Netflix and underprice its service, because then it would just cannibalize profits from its traditional TV networks. If it prices the service too high, it won't draw customers. Disney's recentESPN Plus launchseems to underscore the dilemma as the company is keeping its best sports content off the streaming platform and charging just $5 per month.
As a disruptor and a first mover, Netflix has several advantages that traditional media companies don't. For instance, it hasn't had to show significant profits throughout its history as investors have been content with its growth and the disruptive opportunity. Disney, Fox, and the others don't have the luxury of sacrificing profits for innovation.
Netflix is also going billions into the red in free cash flow as it spends on content, but again, investors have been willing togive it a pass. That gives it another advantage over its traditional rivals.
Netflix has the momentum, consumer appeal, and value proposition to keep winning the streaming wars. As it prepares to spend even more on content, life will only get more difficult for its competitors.
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Jeremy Bowmanowns shares of Netflix. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Netflix and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast and Time Warner. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Exclusive: An Interview with Sirin Labs CMO on the Blockchain Smartphone ‘Finney’: Sirin Labs Finney Foxconn CCN, in association with Brazilian industry outlet Criptomoedas Fácil , interviewed Nimrod May, CMO of Sirin Labs, to discuss the startup’s development of the world’s first smartphone to integrate blockchain technology. Codenamed ‘Finney’, the $1,000 smartphone will be manufactured by global giant Foxconn and will use Android as the operating system. CCN: Following your partnership with Foxconn, how do you see the world’s largest electronics manufacturing company help drive innovation with blockchain in the smartphone era? N The Go Crypto revolution is growing. By choosing Foxconn to build the FINNEY, we’re demonstrating the public’s desire to have a mass-market smartphone that is able to safely and securely operate within blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The combination of the top-tier manufacturing of Foxconn, and the innovative, agility of SIRIN LABS, who specialize in security, creates an incredibly synergistic relationship which will enable the FINNEY to flourish in a mainstream marketplace. Q: One of the main characteristics of Finney, with plenty of hype, is to be the first cell phone in the world to integrate blockchain technology. What is the big benefit of using this technology? Nimrod May: Currently, there are very few (if any) uses for cryptocurrency or blockchain within a mobile environment. There are 2 major factors preventing bringing cryptocurrency to a mobile environment, and by extension, preventing mass-adoption of the technology: Ease of use. Cryptocurrency is currently incredibly complicated to understand. The learning curve is incredibly steep and most people have very little interest in learning it. Security. Phones are hacked all the time and people are apprehensive to use and utilize cryptocurrencies on such devices. The SIRIN OS will create a simple, secure, and streamlined user experience for both cryptocurrency and blockchain so that anyone can pick up a device and function within the world of crypto without needing to learn any additional information. Additionally, the FINNEY will contain a cold-storage wallet which is separated on both hardware and software levels from the rest of the phone. It will also have significant security built into it, such as a Machine Learning Intrusion Prevention System. Story continues Finally, our proprietary Token Conversion Service (TCS), will be able to securely and automatically exchange between tokens and coins in the background of the phone in order to complete mobile purchases, without the need to visit an exchange to purchase tokens or coins you don’t currently own. Simply put, the TCS will enable users to use the currencies they have to complete transactions that require currencies they don’t. These improvements have the ability to bring the technology to the masses and finally bring mass-adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency. Q: The Finney operating system will be Android, which opens up Google’s entire app ecosystem. Will Finney support all Android apps or will app developers have to make adaptations for your phone? Nimrod May: The SIRIN OS will contain 2 pre-installed app stores. There will be the regular Google Play store and the SIRIN LABS Decentralized App store. The Google Play store will give users the ability to download all of the apps that they are currently using on their device, without the need for the developers to make any changes. Additionally, we will be releasing an SDK so that developers will be able to release apps within the DApp store that will accept cryptocurrency as payment. Q : With the recent scandal involving the Facebook, a debate has resurfaced on data protection and how data is obtained/stored. How will a blockchain cell phone address this issue? Nimrod May: SIRIN LABS will be overseeing the security for the phone and the wallet in order to prevent, in real-time, malicious intrusions. However, any legitimate application’s access to your data is derived through the Android ecosystem. Ultimately, users need to be responsible for their own personal information. Apps can only have as much access as the user provides to them. When an app is downloaded, it requests permissions, and it’s up to the user to grant or deny those permissions. If your flashlight is requesting access to your contacts, maybe that’s not the best app to install. Q : At the beginning of the project, Sirin announced that it would use ITAA’s Tangle in his project. This was reworked with a blockchain implementation announced later. Will the technologies work together or there will be a substitution entirely to blockchain? NM: No final decisions have been made yet. We are currently working with the dev teams for IOTA, Cardano and a number of other blockchain protocol platforms in order to evaluate which would most benefit our users. Q : Recently Lighting Labs has launched Lightning Network, a layering solution 2 that promises to solve the problems of the scale of Bitcoin and to allow Atomic Swaps, among other things. Since Finney, by design, has an integrated cold wallet is it possible to integrate LN in the future? NM: Our development team is already exploring the Lightning Network for both the SIRIN OS and FINNEY. Q : How will P2P transactions work in Finney? For example, I’m out of battery on my cell phone, how, through Token, can I buy power and charge the battery? Nimrod May: The battery sharing was simply a “use case” for the secure P2P protocol. What our team has built within the SIRIN OS is a way to safely and securely monetize your phone’s resources through the blockchain. When activated, you will be able to trade anything from battery power through a direct connection, to processing power through the cloud, to WiFi through a local network, without fear of putting your phone’s data or security at risk, while being paid in SRN tokens through the blockchain. Q : One of the great issues being debated by governments around the world is the regulation of the crypto-coins market. How do you think Finney can be benefited or even harmed by regulation, particularly with efforts in Europe? Nimrod May: As stated on their website: “ The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.” To this extent, we don’t see how this initiative would affect us in any way. We are a growing technology company, focusing on producing mainstream products, and who operate in complete transparency. If there are individuals who are using cryptocurrency for money laundering and terrorism, rooting those individuals out can only help cryptocurrency in general by bringing more validity to those who operate in cryptocurrency legitimately. Q : Much has been speculated, including among governments, that blockchain technology can help reduce social inequalities and empower people and people living today the margin of society, including promoting a revolution among the unbanked population. What do you make of blockchain’s potential for inclusion? Nimrod May: We believe that the FINNEY and SIRIN OS have the ability to aid the unbanked population tremendously. This blockchain revolution is the first time in the modern age where society will be able to safely and securely maintain their own savings without the need for a bank. Further, our proprietary secure P2P protocol has the ability to not only allow individuals within these communities to sell their products without incurring costs from distributors or retailers but will also provide a brand new revenue stream where these individuals can monetize their device’s resources. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Exclusive: An Interview with Sirin Labs CMO on the Blockchain Smartphone ‘Finney’ appeared first on CCN . || Exclusive: An Interview with Sirin Labs CMO on the Blockchain Smartphone ‘Finney’: CCN, in association with Brazilian industry outletCriptomoedas Fácil, interviewed Nimrod May, CMO of Sirin Labs, to discuss the startup’s development of the world’s first smartphone to integrate blockchain technology.
Codenamed ‘Finney’, the $1,000 smartphone will bemanufactured by global giant Foxconnand will use Android as the operating system.
CCN:Following your partnership with Foxconn, how do you see the world’s largest electronics manufacturing company help drive innovation with blockchain in the smartphone era?
N The Go Crypto revolution is growing. By choosing Foxconn to build the FINNEY, we’re demonstrating the public’s desire to have a mass-market smartphone that is able to safely and securely operate within blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
The combination of the top-tier manufacturing of Foxconn, and the innovative, agility of SIRIN LABS, who specialize in security, creates an incredibly synergistic relationship which will enable the FINNEY to flourish in a mainstream marketplace.
Q:One of the main characteristics of Finney, with plenty of hype, is to be the first cell phone in the world to integrate blockchain technology. What is the big benefit of using this technology?
Nimrod May:Currently, there are very few (if any) uses for cryptocurrency or blockchain within a mobile environment. There are 2 major factors preventing bringing cryptocurrency to a mobile environment, and by extension, preventing mass-adoption of the technology:
1. Ease of use. Cryptocurrency is currently incredibly complicated to understand. The learning curve is incredibly steep and most people have very little interest in learning it.
2. Security. Phones are hacked all the time and people are apprehensive to use and utilize cryptocurrencies on such devices.
The SIRIN OS will create a simple, secure, and streamlined user experience for both cryptocurrency and blockchain so that anyone can pick up a device and function within the world of crypto without needing to learn any additional information. Additionally, the FINNEY will contain a cold-storage wallet which is separated on both hardware and software levels from the rest of the phone. It will also have significant security built into it, such as a Machine Learning Intrusion Prevention System.
Finally, our proprietary Token Conversion Service (TCS), will be able to securely and automatically exchange between tokens and coins in the background of the phone in order to complete mobile purchases, without the need to visit an exchange to purchase tokens or coins you don’t currently own. Simply put, the TCS will enable users to use the currencies they have to complete transactions that require currencies they don’t.
These improvements have the ability to bring the technology to the masses and finally bring mass-adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Q:The Finney operating system will be Android, which opens up Google’s entire app ecosystem. Will Finney support all Android apps or will app developers have to make adaptations for your phone?
Nimrod May:The SIRIN OS will contain 2 pre-installed app stores. There will be the regular Google Play store and the SIRIN LABS Decentralized App store. The Google Play store will give users the ability to download all of the apps that they are currently using on their device, without the need for the developers to make any changes. Additionally, we will be releasing an SDK so that developers will be able to release apps within the DApp store that will accept cryptocurrency as payment.
Q: With the recent scandal involving the Facebook, a debate has resurfacedon data protection and how data is obtained/stored. How will a blockchain cell phone address this issue?
Nimrod May:SIRIN LABS will be overseeing the security for the phone and the wallet in order to prevent, in real-time, malicious intrusions. However, any legitimate application’s access to your data is derived through the Android ecosystem. Ultimately, users need to be responsible for their own personal information. Apps can only have as much access as the user provides to them. When an app is downloaded, it requests permissions, and it’s up to the user to grant or deny those permissions. If your flashlight is requesting access to your contacts, maybe that’s not the best app to install.
Q: At the beginning of the project, Sirin announced that it would use ITAA’s Tanglein his project. This was reworked with a blockchain implementation announced later. Will the technologies work together or there will be a substitution entirely to blockchain?
NM: No final decisions have been made yet. We are currently working with the dev teams for IOTA, Cardano and a number of other blockchain protocol platforms in order to evaluate which would most benefit our users.
Q: Recently Lighting Labs has launched Lightning Network, a layering solution2 that promises to solve the problems of the scale of Bitcoin and to allow Atomic Swaps, among other things. Since Finney, by design, has an integrated cold walletis it possible to integrate LN in the future?
NM: Our development team is already exploring the Lightning Network for both the SIRIN OS and FINNEY.
Q:How will P2P transactions work in Finney? For example, I’m out of battery on my cell phone, how, through Token, can I buy power and charge the battery?
Nimrod May:The battery sharing was simply a “use case” for the secure P2P protocol. What our team has built within the SIRIN OS is a way to safely and securely monetize your phone’s resources through the blockchain. When activated, you will be able to trade anything from battery power through a direct connection, to processing power through the cloud, to WiFi through a local network, without fear of putting your phone’s data or security at risk, while being paid in SRN tokens through the blockchain.
Q:One of the great issues being debated by governments around the world is the regulation of the crypto-coins market. How do you think Finney can be benefited or even harmed by regulation, particularly with efforts in Europe?
Nimrod May:As stated on their website: “The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.” To this extent, we don’t see how this initiative would affect us in any way. We are a growing technology company, focusing on producing mainstream products, and who operate in complete transparency. If there are individuals who are using cryptocurrency for money laundering and terrorism, rooting those individuals out can only help cryptocurrency in general by bringing more validity to those who operate in cryptocurrency legitimately.
Q:Much has been speculated, including among governments, that blockchain technology can help reduce social inequalities and empower people and people living today the margin of society, including promoting a revolution among the unbanked population. What do you make of blockchain’s potential for inclusion?
Nimrod May:We believe that the FINNEY and SIRIN OS have the ability to aid the unbanked population tremendously. This blockchain revolution is the first time in the modern age where society will be able to safely and securely maintain their own savings without the need for a bank. Further, our proprietary secure P2P protocol has the ability to not only allow individuals within these communities to sell their products without incurring costs from distributors or retailers but will also provide a brand new revenue stream where these individuals can monetize their device’s resources.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postExclusive: An Interview with Sirin Labs CMO on the Blockchain Smartphone ‘Finney’appeared first onCCN. || Should You Close an Unused Credit Card? The Answer Might Surprise You: If you have an old credit card sitting in the back of your wallet that you haven't swiped in years, you might be tempted to close your account. Conventional wisdom would disagree, however. Unless the card comes with an annual fee, most credit score gurus will say leave it open . Often, they're right. woman holding scissors and cutting up a credit card Image Source: Getty Images But there are few one-size-fits-all answers when it comes to personal finance. If done correctly, closing an unused credit card can actually leave your credit score unaffected -- or even raise it. Why you should usually leave unused credit cards open Your credit score is calculated based on five different factors. Two of those factors are directly affected by your unused credit cards, and those are: Length of credit history Credit utilization rate Length of credit history is basically how long you've been using credit cards, and it makes up 15% of your FICO score . More specifically, it's influenced by the age of your oldest account (the older the better), the age of your newest account (again, older is better), and the average age of all your accounts combined. This is why it's wise to leave unused credit cards open, particularly if you've had them for a while. According to Experian (LSE: EXPN) , "Closing an account with a long positive history may not always be the best action to take for your credit scores." Credit utilization rate is even more important. Your credit utilization ratio is the proportion of your available credit you're currently using, and it's responsible for 30% of your FICO score. It's takes into account both your overall debt-to-credit ratio across all accounts and your individual credit card balances as compared to their limits. Credit-scoring company VantageScore recommends keeping these ratios below 30%, but the lower, the better. Unused credit cards boost your credit score by lowering your credit utilization ratio. Let's look at an example of a person's hypothetical credit utilization ratio before and after closing a credit card with a $5,000 limit. Overall Credit Limit Overall Debt Credit Utilization Rate $20,000 $5,000 25% $15,000 $5,000 33% As you can see, closing that unused credit card would bring your credit utilization rate above the 30% threshold and likely cause a decrease in your credit score. When you should close unused credit cards Your credit utilization ratio and length of credit history explain why it's often best to keep unused credit cards open. Story continues However, there are some circumstances under which closing an unused credit card might not hurt your score and may even help it. If the credit card in question is a newer credit card or your newest credit card, then closing it is unlikely to have a negative impact on your length of credit history. If it has a low credit limit, or if you don't have much debt, then it shouldn't have much of an impact on your credit utilization ratio either. Even if closing a credit card does increase your credit utilization ratio, this number is updated continually. So if you plan to pay off your debt in the next few months, you'll see that rate go right back down. How closing an unused credit card increased my credit score If you have multiple credit cards with the same issuer, they may allow you to transfer your credit balance from a closed card over to your remaining card. I used to hold four credit cards with a single card issuer, but I recently closed one of them because it had an annual fee. That credit card had an $8,000 credit limit. I asked whether my card company could transfer that credit limit to one of my other cards, and they were happy to do so. This meant that even though I had closed a credit card with an $8,000 credit limit, my available credit remained the same. In fact, I actually saw a slight bump in my credit score for two reasons: My credit utilization rate on an individual credit card went down. The credit card that I transferred my credit limit to had a $2,000 balance. Therefore, when I increased its limit from $5,000 to $8,000, my credit utilization rate on that card went from 40% to 15%. Remember, your overall credit utilization rate is important, but so is your credit utilization on each individual account. My length of credit history went up. The average age of all accounts is a major factor in calculating the length of your credit history, and the credit card I closed was my newest one. Let's say you have three credit cards: one that's 10 years old, one that's five years old, and another that's one year old. Your average age of all accounts is 5.33 years. However, if you close the credit card that's only one year old, this figure increases to 7.5 years. If done strategically, closing an unused credit card can help your credit score, rather than hurt it. That being said, if the card is one of your oldest, you should leave it open. The only reason to close an old account that's in good standing is to avoid an annual fee. First, try negotiating with your issuer to waive the annual fee, or see if they can downgrade the card . If you have to close an old credit card, you will probably see a drop in your credit score. However, as your accounts age and you continue to pay your bills on time, your credit score will continually rise. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Elizabeth Aldrich has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Experian. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || Should You Close an Unused Credit Card? The Answer Might Surprise You: If you have an old credit card sitting in the back of your wallet that you haven't swiped in years, you might be tempted to close your account.
Conventional wisdom would disagree, however. Unless the card comes with an annual fee, most credit score gurus will sayleave it open. Often, they're right.
Image Source: Getty Images
But there are few one-size-fits-all answers when it comes to personal finance. If done correctly, closing an unused credit card can actually leave your credit score unaffected -- or even raise it.
Your credit score is calculated based on five different factors. Two of those factors are directly affected by your unused credit cards, and those are:
• Length of credit history
• Credit utilization rate
Length of credit historyis basically how long you've been using credit cards, and it makes up 15% of yourFICO score. More specifically, it's influenced by the age of your oldest account (the older the better), the age of your newest account (again, older is better), and the average age of all your accounts combined.
This is why it's wise to leave unused credit cards open, particularly if you've had them for a while. According toExperian(LSE: EXPN), "Closing an account with a long positive history may not always be the best action to take for your credit scores."
Credit utilization rateis even more important. Yourcredit utilization ratiois the proportion of your available credit you're currently using, and it's responsible for 30% of your FICO score. It's takes into account both your overall debt-to-credit ratio across all accounts and your individual credit card balances as compared to their limits. Credit-scoring company VantageScore recommends keeping these ratios below 30%, but the lower, the better.
Unused credit cards boost your credit score by lowering your credit utilization ratio. Let's look at an example of a person's hypothetical credit utilization ratio before and after closing a credit card with a $5,000 limit.
[["$20,000", "$5,000", "25%"], ["$15,000", "$5,000", "33%"]]
As you can see, closing that unused credit card would bring your credit utilization rate above the 30% threshold and likely cause a decrease in your credit score.
Your credit utilization ratio and length of credit history explain why it's often best to keep unused credit cards open.
However, there are some circumstances under which closing an unused credit card might not hurt your score and may even help it.
If the credit card in question is a newer credit card or your newest credit card, then closing it is unlikely to have a negative impact on your length of credit history. If it has a low credit limit, or if you don't have much debt, then it shouldn't have much of an impact on your credit utilization ratio either.
Even if closing a credit card does increase your credit utilization ratio, this number is updated continually. So if you plan to pay off your debt in the next few months, you'll see that rate go right back down.
If you have multiple credit cards with the same issuer, they may allow you to transfer your credit balance from a closed card over to your remaining card.
I used to hold four credit cards with a single card issuer, but I recently closed one of them because it had an annual fee. That credit card had an $8,000 credit limit. I asked whether my card company could transfer that credit limit to one of my other cards, and they were happy to do so. This meant that even though I had closed a credit card with an $8,000 credit limit, my available credit remained the same.
In fact, I actually saw a slight bump in my credit score for two reasons:
1. My credit utilization rate on an individual credit card went down.The credit card that I transferred my credit limit to had a $2,000 balance. Therefore, when I increased its limit from $5,000 to $8,000, my credit utilization rate on that card went from 40% to 15%. Remember, your overall credit utilization rate is important, but so is your credit utilization on each individual account.
2. My length of credit history went up.The average age of all accounts is a major factor in calculating the length of your credit history, and the credit card I closed was my newest one.
Let's say you have three credit cards: one that's 10 years old, one that's five years old, and another that's one year old. Your average age of all accounts is 5.33 years. However, if you close the credit card that's only one year old, this figure increases to 7.5 years.
If done strategically, closing an unused credit card can help your credit score, rather than hurt it. That being said, if the card is one of your oldest, you should leave it open. The only reason to close an old account that's in good standing is to avoid an annual fee.
First, try negotiating with your issuer to waive the annual fee, or see if they candowngrade the card. If you have to close anoldcredit card, you will probably see a drop in your credit score. However, as your accounts age and you continue to pay your bills on time, your credit score will continually rise.
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Elizabeth Aldrichhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Experian. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Buy These 2 Stocks Before the Market Catches On: BothWalt Disney(NYSE: DIS)andHasbro(NASDAQ: HAS)possess entertainment brands that are beloved by children and families around the world. Yet shares of both companies have fallen out of favor with investors recently. Because families are not likely to stop visiting Disneyworld or buying toys for the little ones, Disney and Hasbro should be solid long-term investments.
Here's why Disney and Hasbro are two top stocks to buy now.
IMAGE SOURCE: WALT DISNEY.
Disney has been pumping out blockbuster after blockbuster at the box office lately. The recent release of Marvel'sBlack Pantherin February has grossed $1.3 billion worldwide, and that's on top of $4.4 billion from previous releases includingThor: Ragnarok,Coco, andStar Wars: The Last Jedi. Since fiscal 2013 (following the acquisitions of Marvel Entertainment in fiscal 2010 and Lucasfilm in fiscal 2013), the Studio segment's revenue and operating profit have surged, as you can see in this table.
[{"Segment": "Media Networks", "TTM Revenue": "$23,520", "% Change Since Fiscal 2013": "(1%)", "TTM Operating Profit": "$6,733"}, {"Segment": "Parks and Resorts", "TTM Revenue": "$19,014", "% Change Since Fiscal 2013": "81%", "TTM Operating Profit": "$4,011"}, {"Segment": "Studio Entertainment", "TTM Revenue": "$8,363", "% Change Since Fiscal 2013": "254%", "TTM Operating Profit": "$2,342"}, {"Segment": "Consumer Products", "TTM Revenue": "$4,807", "% Change Since Fiscal 2013": "68%", "TTM Operating Profit": "$1,719"}, {"Segment": "Total", "TTM Revenue": "$55,704", "% Change Since Fiscal 2013": "38%", "TTM Operating Profit": "$14,805"}]
TTM = trailing-12-month. Amounts in millions. Data source: Walt Disney.
Through fiscal 2017 ending in September, Disney had released approximately 1,000 full-length live-action films and 100 full-length animated films, and the most successful of these ultimately turn into feature attractions at its theme parks. Over time, these attractions grow guest attendance, allowing Disney to raise prices. In the fiscal first quarter, higher prices for tickets, food, merchandise, and hotel rooms drove a 13% increase in revenue and 21% increase in operating profit for the Parks segment.
Disney's theme parks and resorts is the company's second-largest source of revenue, generating $19 billion over the trailing-12-month period. The segment has grown revenue 35% since fiscal 2013 and should be a steadily growing segment for years to come as management opens new parks, expands existing parks, and adds to its Disney cruise line fleet.
Theme parks, movies, and consumer products are the heart and soul of Disney. However, investors are more focused on the recent declines in subscribers to its ESPN and Disney cable channels as the cord-cutting trend takes its toll, but this is giving investors a unique opportunity to buy shares in a timeless brand at a discount.
At atrailing P/E ratioof just 14, you can buy a piece of the Magic Kingdom at a bargain price compared to theS&P; 500P/E ratio of 25. The recent weakness in media networks shouldn't last forever. Management is beginning to shift investments away from cable to focus more on a direct-to-consumer strategy. This ispart of the rationalefor the pending deal withTwenty-First Century Fox, which will enhance Disney's digital capabilities. Additionally, Disney is set to launch a robust mobile experience with its new ESPN app this year and a new Disney app in 2019.
Ultimately, Disney's core brand and pricing power should shine, so don't wait for better performance to send the stock price higher -- consider adding shares now while the House of Mouse is on sale.
IMAGE SOURCE: HASBRO.
Hasbro is home to some of the top toy brands in the world, includingTransformers,Play-Doh,Nerf,My Little Pony, andMonopoly, among many others. Over the last five years, revenue has grown 22% to $5 billion, and operating margin has expanded 210 basis points to 15.6%.
There should be further expansion as management is focusing more on investing in higher-margin products like its digital offerings, including video games and apps, as well as turning its biggest toy brands into movies, most notably withTransformersandMy Little Pony.
Hasbro's entertainment and licensing segment generates about 6% of its revenue, including consumer products licensing, mobile games, and movie releases. As you can see in the table below, this segment is growing much faster than the rest of the business and is where management is focusing more of its investments for long-term growth. Management's goal is to produce one animated film and one or two live action films per year going forward.
[{"Segment": "Entertainment and Licensing", "TTM Revenue": "$297", "% 5-Year Change": "86%", "TTM Operating Profit": "$99"}, {"Segment": "Total", "TTM Revenue": "$5,076", "% 5-Year Change": "18%", "TTM Operating Profit": "$652"}]
TTM = trailing-12-month. Amounts in millions. Data source: Hasbro.
Hasbro gaming brands, includingMagic: The Gathering,Dungeons & Dragons, andMonopoly, make up 17% of revenue and have grown 30% over the last three years.Magic: The Gatheringhas seen a surge in its popularity recently with the rise of esports and the growth of game streaming.
Through board games, video games, movies, merchandise, and toys, Hasbro has different channels to reach consumers wherever they are, and that's why the recent uncertainty caused by the bankruptcy of Toys "R" Us is giving investors such a great opportunity to buy shares of one of the leading toy brands in the world at a discount.
Even after factoring in lower revenue as a result of the void left by Toys "R" Us (which made up only 9% of Hasbro's revenue each of the last three years), Hasbro stock currently sports a forward P/E ratio of 15 times the 2018 consensus analyst estimate. With a modest valuation and an above average dividend yield of about 3%, investors should think about adding Hasbro to their portfolio before the market realizes its mistake.
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John Ballardhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Hasbro and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Buy These 2 Stocks Before the Market Catches On: Both Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) possess entertainment brands that are beloved by children and families around the world. Yet shares of both companies have fallen out of favor with investors recently. Because families are not likely to stop visiting Disneyworld or buying toys for the little ones, Disney and Hasbro should be solid long-term investments. Here's why Disney and Hasbro are two top stocks to buy now. Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse IMAGE SOURCE: WALT DISNEY. Disney's theme parks and movies are on a roll Disney has been pumping out blockbuster after blockbuster at the box office lately. The recent release of Marvel's Black Panther in February has grossed $1.3 billion worldwide, and that's on top of $4.4 billion from previous releases including Thor: Ragnarok , Coco , and Star Wars: The Last Jedi . Since fiscal 2013 (following the acquisitions of Marvel Entertainment in fiscal 2010 and Lucasfilm in fiscal 2013), the Studio segment's revenue and operating profit have surged, as you can see in this table. Segment TTM Revenue % Change Since Fiscal 2013 TTM Operating Profit % Change Since Fiscal 2013 Media Networks $23,520 16% $6,733 (1%) Parks and Resorts $19,014 35% $4,011 81% Studio Entertainment $8,363 40% $2,342 254% Consumer Products $4,807 4% $1,719 68% Total $55,704 24% $14,805 38% TTM = trailing-12-month. Amounts in millions. Data source: Walt Disney. Through fiscal 2017 ending in September, Disney had released approximately 1,000 full-length live-action films and 100 full-length animated films, and the most successful of these ultimately turn into feature attractions at its theme parks. Over time, these attractions grow guest attendance, allowing Disney to raise prices. In the fiscal first quarter, higher prices for tickets, food, merchandise, and hotel rooms drove a 13% increase in revenue and 21% increase in operating profit for the Parks segment. Disney's theme parks and resorts is the company's second-largest source of revenue, generating $19 billion over the trailing-12-month period. The segment has grown revenue 35% since fiscal 2013 and should be a steadily growing segment for years to come as management opens new parks, expands existing parks, and adds to its Disney cruise line fleet. Theme parks, movies, and consumer products are the heart and soul of Disney. However, investors are more focused on the recent declines in subscribers to its ESPN and Disney cable channels as the cord-cutting trend takes its toll, but this is giving investors a unique opportunity to buy shares in a timeless brand at a discount. Story continues At a trailing P/E ratio of just 14, you can buy a piece of the Magic Kingdom at a bargain price compared to the S&P; 500 P/E ratio of 25. The recent weakness in media networks shouldn't last forever. Management is beginning to shift investments away from cable to focus more on a direct-to-consumer strategy. This is part of the rationale for the pending deal with Twenty-First Century Fox , which will enhance Disney's digital capabilities. Additionally, Disney is set to launch a robust mobile experience with its new ESPN app this year and a new Disney app in 2019. Ultimately, Disney's core brand and pricing power should shine, so don't wait for better performance to send the stock price higher -- consider adding shares now while the House of Mouse is on sale. A girl and a boy playing with Play-Doh. IMAGE SOURCE: HASBRO. Kids will still get their toys without Toys "R" Us Hasbro is home to some of the top toy brands in the world, including Transformers , Play-Doh , Nerf , My Little Pony , and Monopoly , among many others. Over the last five years, revenue has grown 22% to $5 billion, and operating margin has expanded 210 basis points to 15.6%. There should be further expansion as management is focusing more on investing in higher-margin products like its digital offerings, including video games and apps, as well as turning its biggest toy brands into movies, most notably with Transformers and My Little Pony . Hasbro's entertainment and licensing segment generates about 6% of its revenue, including consumer products licensing, mobile games, and movie releases. As you can see in the table below, this segment is growing much faster than the rest of the business and is where management is focusing more of its investments for long-term growth. Management's goal is to produce one animated film and one or two live action films per year going forward. Segment TTM Revenue % 5-Year Change TTM Operating Profit % 5-Year Change Entertainment and Licensing $297 64% $99 86% Total $5,076 24% $652 18% TTM = trailing-12-month. Amounts in millions. Data source: Hasbro. Hasbro gaming brands, including Magic: The Gathering , Dungeons & Dragons , and Monopoly , make up 17% of revenue and have grown 30% over the last three years. Magic: The Gathering has seen a surge in its popularity recently with the rise of esports and the growth of game streaming. Through board games, video games, movies, merchandise, and toys, Hasbro has different channels to reach consumers wherever they are, and that's why the recent uncertainty caused by the bankruptcy of Toys "R" Us is giving investors such a great opportunity to buy shares of one of the leading toy brands in the world at a discount. Even after factoring in lower revenue as a result of the void left by Toys "R" Us (which made up only 9% of Hasbro's revenue each of the last three years), Hasbro stock currently sports a forward P/E ratio of 15 times the 2018 consensus analyst estimate. With a modest valuation and an above average dividend yield of about 3%, investors should think about adding Hasbro to their portfolio before the market realizes its mistake. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Ballard has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Hasbro and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || Benzinga's Bulls & Bears Of The Week: Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla And More: • Benzinga has featured looks at many investorfavorite stocksover the past week.
• Bullish calls included two tech giants and some investor conference picks.
• Bearish calls included semiconductor makers and REITs.
The broader equity markets are around 2 percent higher over the past month, thanks in part to the largely solid first-quarter results that have been posted thus far. And Benzinga has continued to feature looks at the prospects for many investor favorite stocks.
Here are just a few of this past week's most bullish and bearish posts that may be worth another look.
Bulls
"Alphabet Isn't Facebook, Stifel Says In Upgrade" by Jayson Derrick shows why one analyst turned bullish onAlphabet Inc(NASDAQ:GOOGL) after its quarterly results, citing its privacy efforts in relation to other tech giants.
In "WhyA Tesla-SpaceX PartnershipMakes Sense, According To Morgan Stanley," Elizabeth Balboa examines howTesla Inc(NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX are expected to offer mutually beneficial services to one another.
Jayson Derrick's "Bulls On Parade: Wall Street Reacts To Microsoft's Q3" presents the responses from a number of analysts to the latestMicrosoft Corporation(NASDAQ:MSFT) quarterly results and stock rally.
Walmart Inc(NYSE:WMT) has an edge in its efforts to fend off competitors in the grocery space, says Wayne Duggan's "Analyst: Walmart's Personal Shoppers Are A Key Advantage In Grocery Delivery."
In Elizabeth Balboa's "Top Ideas From The 2018 Sohn Conference: Box, Bitcoin, Facebook, Palo Alto And More," see top investor picks such asGrubHub Inc(NYSE:GRUB) andBox Inc(NYSE:BOX).
Also have a look at 19 Companies Google Could Buy With Its 2 Billion In Cash.
Bears
"Bernstein's Sacconaghi Cuts Apple Estimates On Projections Of Weaker iPhone Sales" by Jayson Derrick looks at why one notable analyst lowered expectations onApple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) ahead of earnings.
In Shanthi Rexaline's "Analyst: 5 Headwinds Facing Skyworks Solutions," see why its reliance on Apple could serve as a negative catalyst for semiconductor makerSkyworks Solutions Inc(NASDAQ:SWKS).
Some analysts say investors should approachAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMD) with caution, according to "Bernstein Still Cautious On AMD Despite Big Quarter" by Wayne Duggan. Has AMD reached an inflection point?
In "Jim Chanos Reveals Short Thesis On A Couple Of Fast-Food Stocks," Jayson Derrick takes a look at some positions of a renowned short-seller, includingRestaurant Brands International Inc(NYSE:QSR) andEnvision Healthcare Corp(NYSE:EVHC).
Shanthi Rexaline's "Stifel Downgrades 3 Medical Office REITs As Rising Rates Pressure Cost Of Capital, Investment Spreads" examines the prospects forPhysicians Realty Trust(NYSE:DOC) and others.
Be sure to check out 9 Lessons From Sam Zell as well.
See more from Benzinga
• Barron's Picks And Pans: Value Stocks, Disney, Chipotle And More
• Benzinga's Bulls & Bears Of The Week: Dropbox, GE, Microsoft, Twitter And More
• Barron's Picks And Pans: General Electric, General Mills, MLPs And More
© 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Benzinga's Bulls & Bears Of The Week: Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla And More: Benzinga has featured looks at many investor favorite stocks over the past week. Bullish calls included two tech giants and some investor conference picks. Bearish calls included semiconductor makers and REITs. The broader equity markets are around 2 percent higher over the past month, thanks in part to the largely solid first-quarter results that have been posted thus far. And Benzinga has continued to feature looks at the prospects for many investor favorite stocks. Here are just a few of this past week's most bullish and bearish posts that may be worth another look. Bulls " Alphabet Isn't Facebook , Stifel Says In Upgrade" by Jayson Derrick shows why one analyst turned bullish on Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) after its quarterly results, citing its privacy efforts in relation to other tech giants. In "Why A Tesla-SpaceX Partnership Makes Sense, According To Morgan Stanley," Elizabeth Balboa examines how Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA ) and SpaceX are expected to offer mutually beneficial services to one another. Jayson Derrick's " Bulls On Parade : Wall Street Reacts To Microsoft's Q3" presents the responses from a number of analysts to the latest Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) quarterly results and stock rally. Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) has an edge in its efforts to fend off competitors in the grocery space, says Wayne Duggan's "Analyst: Walmart's Personal Shoppers Are A Key Advantage In Grocery Delivery." In Elizabeth Balboa's "Top Ideas From The 2018 Sohn Conference: Box, Bitcoin, Facebook, Palo Alto And More," see top investor picks such as GrubHub Inc (NYSE: GRUB ) and Box Inc (NYSE: BOX ). Also have a look at 19 Companies Google Could Buy With Its 2 Billion In Cash. Bears "Bernstein's Sacconaghi Cuts Apple Estimates On Projections Of Weaker iPhone Sales" by Jayson Derrick looks at why one notable analyst lowered expectations on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL ) ahead of earnings. In Shanthi Rexaline's "Analyst: 5 Headwinds Facing Skyworks Solutions," see why its reliance on Apple could serve as a negative catalyst for semiconductor maker Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: SWKS ). Story continues Some analysts say investors should approach Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD ) with caution, according to "Bernstein Still Cautious On AMD Despite Big Quarter" by Wayne Duggan. Has AMD reached an inflection point? In "Jim Chanos Reveals Short Thesis On A Couple Of Fast-Food Stocks," Jayson Derrick takes a look at some positions of a renowned short-seller, including Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE: QSR ) and Envision Healthcare Corp (NYSE: EVHC ). Shanthi Rexaline's "Stifel Downgrades 3 Medical Office REITs As Rising Rates Pressure Cost Of Capital, Investment Spreads" examines the prospects for Physicians Realty Trust (NYSE: DOC ) and others. Be sure to check out 9 Lessons From Sam Zell as well. See more from Benzinga Barron's Picks And Pans: Value Stocks, Disney, Chipotle And More Benzinga's Bulls & Bears Of The Week: Dropbox, GE, Microsoft, Twitter And More Barron's Picks And Pans: General Electric, General Mills, MLPs And More © 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
[Social Media Buzz]
USD: 109.290
EUR: 132.330
GBP: 150.230
AUD: 82.481
NZD: 77.093
CNY: 17.255
CHF: 110.461
BTC: 1,004,689
ETH: 74,950
Mon Apr 30 18:00 JST || #Cryptos:
#BTC 9351.95$ | 7710.29€
#XRP 0.86$ | 0.71€
#ETH 687.21$ | 566.58€
#LTC 151.76$ | 125.12€
#DASH 489.77$ | 403.79€
#XEM 0.42$ | 0.34€
#IOTA 2.00$ | 1.65€
#EOS 19.58$ | 16.14€
#ETN 0.03$ | 0.02€
#TRX 0.09$ | 0.08€
#Cryptocurrency || 2018-04-30 17:00:04 UTC
BTC: $9284.73
BCH: $1383.06
ETH: $678.81
ZEC: $287.25
LTC: $150.57
ETC: $22.1
XRP: $0.83...
|
9119.01, 9235.92, 9743.86, 9700.76, 9858.15, 9654.80, 9373.01, 9234.82, 9325.18, 9043.94
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 274.47, 286.19, 294.34, 283.35, 290.41, 274.80, 265.66, 267.80, 225.86, 178.10, 209.84, 208.10, 199.26, 210.34, 214.86, 211.32, 226.90, 233.41, 232.88, 247.85, 253.72, 273.47, 263.48, 233.91, 233.51, 226.43, 217.46, 226.97, 238.23, 227.27, 226.85, 217.11, 222.27, 227.75, 223.41, 220.11, 219.84, 219.18, 221.76, 235.43, 257.32, 234.82, 233.84, 243.61, 236.33, 240.28, 243.78, 244.53, 235.98, 238.89, 238.74, 237.47, 236.43, 253.83, 254.26, 260.20, 275.67, 281.70, 273.09, 276.18, 272.72, 276.26, 274.35, 289.61, 291.76, 296.38, 294.35, 285.34, 281.89, 286.39, 290.59, 285.51, 256.30, 260.93, 261.75, 260.02, 267.96, 266.74, 245.60, 246.20, 248.53, 247.03, 252.80, 242.71, 247.53, 244.22, 247.27, 253.01, 254.32, 253.70.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-04-04]
Volume: 12493500, RSI (14-day): 47.52, 50-day EMA: 258.01, 200-day EMA: 276.74
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Ribbit.me Forms Strategic Alliance With Card Capture International, LLC to Integrate Blockchain-Based RibbitRewards Into Its Expansive Merchant Services Platform: NEW YORK, NY --(Marketwired - April 03, 2015) - Key Facts RibbitRewards™ is the first rewards program based on blockchain technology (patent pending), the same technology Bitcoin uses. Card Capture International can now position to seamlessly offer RibbitRewards to both merchants and consumers through its credit and debit processing channels. Ribbit.me is set to launch Marketplace.life™, the first-ever p2p marketplace where buyers and sellers earn RibbitRewards for each transaction, with Card Capture International's merchant services accepting major credit cards. Ribbit.me, the creator of RibbitRewards, the world's first rewards program based on blockchain technology and with its own marketplace, today announced a strategic partnership for Card Capture International DBA Cocard to serve as a merchant processor on Marketplace.life and to incorporate Ribbit.me's blockchain-based RibbitRewards program into its payment processing portfolio. Marketplace.life is an eBay-like, p2p marketplace where merchants and shoppers benefit from the convenience of using one rewards program for all of their purchases, while earning RibbitRewards for each transaction. The marketplace is easy and free for all to use, accepting all major currencies, both fiat and digital. A percentage of RibbitRewards go to buyers, sellers and to charity. " Card Capture's expansive merchant base is an ideal entry point for mainstreaming our rewards program built on blockchain technology," said Sean Dennis, Ribbit.me CEO. "The RibbitRewards program has the potential to save billions of dollars a year across the rewards industry from operating efficiencies, consolidating rewards onto one platform and taking it off balance sheet. We are excited for Card Capture International to be among the first to realize these benefits." "We are pleased to embark down this innovative path with Ribbit.me and believe our investment in their success will have long term financial benefits for our merchants," said Elan Bennett, Card Capture International Owner. "The team at Ribbit.me is comprised of progressive and forward thinkers with sound financial backgrounds in payments, banking and technology. Taking this step with them puts us on the forefront of what is now almost certain to become the future underpinning of all rewards programs." Story continues Ribbit.me is developing a retail plug-in and mobile app so that RibbitRewards can be earned on any merchant platform. Watch for signs that say "Earn RibbitRewards Here" to appear in retail shopping outlets soon. About Ribbit.me Ribbit.me! USA is a U.S.-based Delaware C Corp. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 1817, NY, NY 10159. For more information about RibbitRewards, visit www.ribbit.me . You can also follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/Ribbit.me and facebook.com/Marketplace.life) and Twitter (@RibbitRewards). Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_09gwWKfvk || Ribbit.me Forms Strategic Alliance With Card Capture International, LLC to Integrate Blockchain-Based RibbitRewards Into Its Expansive Merchant Services Platform: NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - April 03, 2015) -
Key Facts
• RibbitRewards™ is the first rewards program based on blockchain technology (patent pending), the same technology Bitcoin uses.
• Card Capture International can now position to seamlessly offer RibbitRewards to both merchants and consumers through its credit and debit processing channels.
• Ribbit.me is set to launch Marketplace.life™, the first-ever p2p marketplace where buyers and sellers earn RibbitRewards for each transaction, with Card Capture International's merchant services accepting major credit cards.
Ribbit.me, the creator of RibbitRewards, the world's first rewards program based on blockchain technologyandwith its own marketplace, today announced a strategic partnership for Card Capture International DBA Cocard to serve as a merchant processor on Marketplace.life and to incorporate Ribbit.me's blockchain-based RibbitRewards program into its payment processing portfolio.
Marketplace.life is an eBay-like, p2p marketplace where merchants and shoppers benefit from the convenience of using one rewards program for all of their purchases, while earning RibbitRewards for each transaction. The marketplace is easy and free for all to use, accepting all major currencies, both fiat and digital. A percentage of RibbitRewards go to buyers, sellers and to charity.
"Card Capture's expansive merchant base is an ideal entry point for mainstreaming our rewards program built on blockchain technology," said Sean Dennis, Ribbit.me CEO. "The RibbitRewards program has the potential to save billions of dollars a year across the rewards industry from operating efficiencies, consolidating rewards onto one platform and taking it off balance sheet. We are excited for Card Capture International to be among the first to realize these benefits."
"We are pleased to embark down this innovative path with Ribbit.me and believe our investment in their success will have long term financial benefits for our merchants," said Elan Bennett, Card Capture International Owner. "The team at Ribbit.me is comprised of progressive and forward thinkers with sound financial backgrounds in payments, banking and technology. Taking this step with them puts us on the forefront of what is now almost certain to become the future underpinning of all rewards programs."
Ribbit.me is developing a retail plug-in and mobile app so that RibbitRewards can be earned on any merchant platform. Watch for signs that say "Earn RibbitRewards Here" to appear in retail shopping outlets soon.
About Ribbit.meRibbit.me! USA is a U.S.-based Delaware C Corp. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 1817, NY, NY 10159. For more information about RibbitRewards, visitwww.ribbit.me. You can also follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/Ribbit.me and facebook.com/Marketplace.life) and Twitter (@RibbitRewards).
Embedded Video Available:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_09gwWKfvk || Tired of bitcoin? Try marijuana, mulch-backed coin: Frustrated by bitcoin's booms and busts but not happy that Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard? Incensed that central bankers continue to meddle with the macroeconomy? Good news: There are more concepts in the works to create currency standards backed by physical commodities than ever before, thanks to the creative crypto-thinkers behind the digital currency revolution. Anthem Vault plans to launch a gold-backed crypto-coin in May. The bet is that the coin-which is redeemable for 1 gram of gold at the market price-will be a big hit with investors who are tired of bitcoin's wild ways. Bitcoin has been on a roller-coaster ride, losing more than half its value last year. Anthem Blanchard, CEO and founder of physical gold and silver broker Anthem Vault , thinks that his cryptocurrency, called the Hayek, will bring more stability to the Wild West digital currency marketplace. Matching the ancient currency of gold with a new medium of exchange makes sense, Blanchard said, adding, "Seeing bitcoin combined with gold is exciting. Crypto-gold is more secure and spendable." Read More Finally, a bitcoin ETF! Anthem Vault is no stranger to gold-backed cryptocurrencies. Last year the firm tested investors' taste for a gold-backed coin with its Independence offering, but that was linked to only a small amount of gold. So far, 700,000 Independence coins have been redeemed. George Soros' son, Alexander Soros, has even invested in the Canadian start-up BitGold -which lets you redeem bitcoin for gold-through Soros Brothers Investments. The gold-backed currencies are not the only ones to emerge since bitcoin's fall from grace. Another one is backed by fertilizer and yet another by medical-grade cannabis. Each is a small part of the more than $4 billion cryptocurrency marketplace mostly dominated by bitcoin, according to the website coinmarketcap . Gold-backed cryptocurrencies look the most promising, according to some experts. Story continues For example, Nofiatcoin , a gold- and silver-backed digital currency launched last year, has managed to be strong-despite the bitcoin crash. Nofiatcoin, which is actively traded, has already risen from its launch price of $1 to near-$18 on April 1. Other commodity-backed cryptocurrencies are more esoteric. Consider the Uro Foundation's UroCoin , also launched last year, which is supposedly backed by 1 metric ton of a widely used fertilizer called urea. It's meant to track the rise in energy and food prices. CannabisCoin , one of the more actively traded commodity-backed currencies on the cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex , has been gaining traction. The coin is backed by 1 gram of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis. Read More Profiting from the booming pot business There are already 500 different cryptocurrency offerings. Picking winners is, at this point, a difficult proposition. "We may end up with over 2,000 cryptocurrencies," said Carol Van Cleef, co-chair of the global payments practice at the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. "And some will be commodity-backed." How far have the creative crytpo-thinkers taken the idea already? Even beyond physical commodity backing for currency. Van Cleef pointed to a cryptocurrency coin backed by babysitting services issued at a co-op in Israel. For now, though, more stable cryptocurrencies, like gold-backed versions, are receiving the most attention. "Bitcoin is too volatile," said Campbell Harvey, a professor of finance at Duke University. "This is why alternatives are springing up." Redeemable gold-backed cryptocurrencies may help solve that problem by being pegged to volatility of the bullion, which has been used for centuries to back currencies. "That's an advantage," Harvey said. Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies backed by commodities such as fertilizer or rice can be driven by less-predictable events, like blight or famine, and wild swings in commodities, Harvey said. In theory, anyone can create a cryptocurrency, because it's based on an open-source code that anyone can copy. "It only costs $40," said Carl Mullan, author of "The Digital Currency Challenge." But he added, "People may not even buy them. They're like penny stocks." Mullan favors redeemable gold cryptocurrencies. "I would buy them first," he said. Read More How you can make money off hackers Van Cleef said the redeemable gold concept only works if investors can trust the provider to actually back up their promise-no sure thing in a period of market experimentation. Mullan pointed to the gold-backed cryptocurrency Minacoin, which he said has disappeared. A lot of other digital currencies have come and gone, too, and once they fail, there hasn't been a way for investors to get their money back, Mullan said. "How do you know the cryptocurrency's value is really there? What happens if something goes wrong? Can it be sold or redeemed?" Van Cleef said. "The value of these cryptocurrencies is only as good as what backs them." Not all cryptocurrency concepts will be well-structured as market offerings. So the key to buying these crypto-coins is knowing where the gold-or any commodity-is being held. "Any good company should be audited," Anthem Vault's Blanchard said. "And you should know who the operators are." In Anthem Vault's case, gold bricks are housed in Salt Lake City. More From CNBC CNBC.com News Page CNBC.com Blogs Page CNBC.com Earnings Central || Tired of bitcoin? Try marijuana, mulch-backed coin: Frustrated by bitcoin's booms and busts but not happy that Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard? Incensed that central bankers continue to meddle with the macroeconomy?
Good news: There are more concepts in the works to create currency standards backed by physical commodities than ever before, thanks to the creative crypto-thinkers behind the digital currency revolution.
Anthem Vault plans to launch a gold-backed crypto-coin in May. The bet is that the coin-which is redeemable for 1 gram of gold at the market price-will be a big hit with investors who are tired of bitcoin's wild ways.
Bitcoin has been on a roller-coaster ride, losing more than half its value last year.
Anthem Blanchard, CEO and founder of physical gold and silver brokerAnthem Vault, thinks that his cryptocurrency, called the Hayek, will bring more stability to the Wild West digital currency marketplace. Matching the ancient currency of gold with a new medium of exchange makes sense, Blanchard said, adding, "Seeing bitcoin combined with gold is exciting. Crypto-gold is more secure and spendable."
Read MoreFinally, a bitcoin ETF!
Anthem Vault is no stranger to gold-backed cryptocurrencies. Last year the firm tested investors' taste for a gold-backed coin with its Independence offering, but that was linked to only a small amount of gold. So far, 700,000 Independence coins have been redeemed.
George Soros' son, Alexander Soros, has even invested in the Canadian start-upBitGold-which lets you redeem bitcoin for gold-through Soros Brothers Investments.
The gold-backed currencies are not the only ones to emerge since bitcoin's fall from grace. Another one is backed by fertilizer and yet another by medical-grade cannabis. Each is a small part of the more than $4 billion cryptocurrency marketplace mostly dominated by bitcoin, according to the websitecoinmarketcap.
Gold-backed cryptocurrencies look the most promising, according to some experts.
For example,Nofiatcoin, a gold- and silver-backed digital currency launched last year, has managed to be strong-despite the bitcoin crash. Nofiatcoin, which is actively traded, has already risen from its launch price of $1 to near-$18 on April 1.
Other commodity-backed cryptocurrencies are more esoteric. Consider the Uro Foundation'sUroCoin, also launched last year, which is supposedly backed by 1 metric ton of a widely used fertilizer called urea. It's meant to track the rise in energy and food prices.
CannabisCoin, one of the more actively traded commodity-backed currencies on the cryptocurrency exchangeBittrex, has been gaining traction. The coin is backed by 1 gram of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis.
Read MoreProfiting from the booming pot business
There are already 500 different cryptocurrency offerings. Picking winners is, at this point, a difficult proposition.
"We may end up with over 2,000 cryptocurrencies," said Carol Van Cleef, co-chair of the global payments practice at the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. "And some will be commodity-backed."
How far have the creative crytpo-thinkers taken the idea already? Even beyond physical commodity backing for currency. Van Cleef pointed to a cryptocurrency coin backed by babysitting services issued at a co-op in Israel.
For now, though, more stable cryptocurrencies, like gold-backed versions, are receiving the most attention.
"Bitcoin is too volatile," said Campbell Harvey, a professor of finance at Duke University. "This is why alternatives are springing up." Redeemable gold-backed cryptocurrencies may help solve that problem by being pegged to volatility of the bullion, which has been used for centuries to back currencies. "That's an advantage," Harvey said. Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies backed by commodities such as fertilizer or rice can be driven by less-predictable events, like blight or famine, and wild swings in commodities, Harvey said.
In theory, anyone can create a cryptocurrency, because it's based on an open-source code that anyone can copy. "It only costs $40," said Carl Mullan, author of "The Digital Currency Challenge." But he added, "People may not even buy them. They're like penny stocks."
Mullan favors redeemable gold cryptocurrencies. "I would buy them first," he said.
Read MoreHow you can make money off hackers
Van Cleef said the redeemable gold concept only works if investors can trust the provider to actually back up their promise-no sure thing in a period of market experimentation. Mullan pointed to the gold-backed cryptocurrency Minacoin, which he said has disappeared. A lot of other digital currencies have come and gone, too, and once they fail, there hasn't been a way for investors to get their money back, Mullan said.
"How do you know the cryptocurrency's value is really there? What happens if something goes wrong? Can it be sold or redeemed?" Van Cleef said. "The value of these cryptocurrencies is only as good as what backs them."
Not all cryptocurrency concepts will be well-structured as market offerings. So the key to buying these crypto-coins is knowing where the gold-or any commodity-is being held.
"Any good company should be audited," Anthem Vault's Blanchard said. "And you should know who the operators are." In Anthem Vault's case, gold bricks are housed in Salt Lake City.
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• CNBC.com Earnings Central || Bitcoin's Jail Stint Creates New Currency Offering: Dubbed "Bitcoin's First Felon" by the press, Charlie Shrem was locked up this week to complete a two year sentence for his involvement in the Silk Road online black market. Shem landed himself in prison for knowingly selling bitcoins to users of the site, but he says his sentence has done little to take his mind off of his bitcoin obsession. The Charges Shrem was arrested on January 26 in the JFK airport, where he was charged with selling more than $1 million worth of the digital currency to people he knew were using it to break the law. Shrem admitted to his part in Silk Road and plead guilty to all charges. However he has remained passionate about bitcoin saying, "Bitcoin is my baby. It's my whole life. It's what I was put on this Earth to do." Bitcoin In Jail It seems he will be taking that hobby behind bars on March 30, the day he reported to the Lewisburg Federal Prison Camp in Pennsylvania, Shrem wrote a blog post titled "Bitcoin For Prison." In the post, he details how bitcoin would be a viable currency system for prisoners, even without an internet connection. Related Link: Rakuten Brings Bitcoin On Board Mackerekcoin Shrem noted that although part of what makes bitcoin so exciting is the fact that it can be used online, an offline version would prove an interesting experiment and would be a great way to demonstrate how the technology actually works. In the prison version, inmates would keep a physical ledger book that would act as blockchain. All of the transactions recorded there would be available for review by users. Because cans of mackerel tend to be a commonly traded item in prison, Shrem has dubbed his prison currency Mackerelcoin, or MAK. See more from Benzinga Marijuana Becomes A Religion At Indiana's 'First Church Of Cannabis' Google Could Be Facing Antitrust Charges In The EU Cats, Selfies & Nostalgia: April Fools' Ad Campaign Round-Up © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin's Jail Stint Creates New Currency Offering: Dubbed "Bitcoin's First Felon" by the press, Charlie Shrem was locked up this week to complete a two year sentence for his involvement in the Silk Road online black market.
Shem landed himself in prison for knowingly selling bitcoins to users of the site, but he says his sentence has done little to take his mind off of his bitcoin obsession.
The Charges
Shrem was arrested on January 26 in the JFK airport, where he was charged with selling more than $1 million worth of the digital currency to people he knew were using it to break the law.
Shrem admitted to his part in Silk Road and plead guilty to all charges. However he has remained passionate about bitcoin saying, "Bitcoin is my baby. It's my whole life. It's what I was put on this Earth to do."
Bitcoin In Jail
It seems he will be taking that hobby behind bars— on March 30, the day he reported to the Lewisburg Federal Prison Camp in Pennsylvania, Shrem wrote ablog posttitled "Bitcoin For Prison."
In the post, he details how bitcoin would be a viable currency system for prisoners, even without an internet connection.
Related Link:Rakuten Brings Bitcoin On Board
Mackerekcoin
Shrem noted that although part of what makes bitcoin so exciting is the fact that it can be used online, an offline version would prove an interesting experiment and would be a great way to demonstrate how the technology actually works.
In the prison version, inmates would keep a physical ledger book that would act as blockchain. All of the transactions recorded there would be available for review by users.
Because cans of mackerel tend to be a commonly traded item in prison, Shrem has dubbed his prison currency Mackerelcoin, or MAK.
See more from Benzinga
• Marijuana Becomes A Religion At Indiana's 'First Church Of Cannabis'
• Google Could Be Facing Antitrust Charges In The EU
• Cats, Selfies & Nostalgia: April Fools' Ad Campaign Round-Up
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin's Jail Stint Creates New Currency Offering: Dubbed "Bitcoin's First Felon" by the press, Charlie Shrem was locked up this week to complete a two year sentence for his involvement in the Silk Road online black market.
Shem landed himself in prison for knowingly selling bitcoins to users of the site, but he says his sentence has done little to take his mind off of his bitcoin obsession.
The Charges
Shrem was arrested on January 26 in the JFK airport, where he was charged with selling more than $1 million worth of the digital currency to people he knew were using it to break the law.
Shrem admitted to his part in Silk Road and plead guilty to all charges. However he has remained passionate about bitcoin saying, "Bitcoin is my baby. It's my whole life. It's what I was put on this Earth to do."
Bitcoin In Jail
It seems he will be taking that hobby behind bars— on March 30, the day he reported to the Lewisburg Federal Prison Camp in Pennsylvania, Shrem wrote ablog posttitled "Bitcoin For Prison."
In the post, he details how bitcoin would be a viable currency system for prisoners, even without an internet connection.
Related Link:Rakuten Brings Bitcoin On Board
Mackerekcoin
Shrem noted that although part of what makes bitcoin so exciting is the fact that it can be used online, an offline version would prove an interesting experiment and would be a great way to demonstrate how the technology actually works.
In the prison version, inmates would keep a physical ledger book that would act as blockchain. All of the transactions recorded there would be available for review by users.
Because cans of mackerel tend to be a commonly traded item in prison, Shrem has dubbed his prison currency Mackerelcoin, or MAK.
See more from Benzinga
• Marijuana Becomes A Religion At Indiana's 'First Church Of Cannabis'
• Google Could Be Facing Antitrust Charges In The EU
• Cats, Selfies & Nostalgia: April Fools' Ad Campaign Round-Up
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bit-X Financial Announces Exclusive Bitcoin Exchange & Services Agreement with Hong Kong Based ANX: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 1, 2015 /Bit-X Financial Corp.(OTCQB: BITXF) today announced that it has executed an Exclusive Bitcoin Exchange and Services Agreement with Hong Kong based ANX. The proprietary ANXPRO trading and matching engine manages high volume, high throughput, and low latency trading and was modeled on the same technology recently leveraged by the worlds largest Investment Banks. It also features blended multi-currency settlement in addition to real time FX pricing and risk management.
Under terms of the agreement, ANX will develop a white-label crypto-currency exchange utilizing ANXPRO's world-class proprietary trading platform. The agreement includes technical, development and support services to Bit-X and its registered users worldwide.
"The ANXPRO proprietary trading engine is a critical component to our business," said Brad Moynes, President of Bit-X Exchange. "This agreement with ANX enables us to instantly offer crypto-currency services to our customers utilizing a proven technology platform and relying on the operations of a well-established brand and a very experienced team."
Functionality of the Bit-X Exchange will include deposit and withdrawal services for multiple fiat currencies, payment processing via Vogogo Inc. services, trading exposure to Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Stellar while leveraging the established global liquidity order book; developed and managed by ANX.
"This is a win-win for crypto-currency exchanges and the eco-system as a whole," said Dave Chapman, COO of ANX. "We are delighted that Bit-X has selected ANX as their preferred white-label provider by surpassing their technology and operational requirements."
In addition to the development and management of the Bit-X Exchange, ANX will notify its19,750+ existing North American users to instantly migrate to the new Bit-X Exchange which has a go live date within 60 days.
ABOUT BIT-X:
Bit-X Financial Corp is a Vancouver based Company listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. The Company has announced an exclusive agreement with Hong Kong based ANX to develop a crypto-currency exchange and to provide ongoing technical, development and support services to registered users worldwide. Bit-X Financial Corp is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC".
ABOUT ANX:
Founded in June 2013, ANX has grown into one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platforms worldwide. ANX is one of the largest and most diverse Bitcoin exchanges in the world. It is a pioneer and leader in the crypto-currencies industry. ANX's achievements to date include introducing the world's first multi-currency online Bitcoin exchange platforms (ANXPRO.COM & ANXBTC.COM), the world's 3rd Bitcoin ATM machine, and a full-featured ANX Vault mobile app for crypto-currencies. ANX recently acquired troubled Bitcoin exchanges Norwegian based JUSTCOIN.COM and US based COINMKT.COM to expand into the European and North American markets. ANX was one of the first firms specializing in crypto-currencies to be issued with a Money Service Operator (MSO) license and prides itself on its transparency and regulatory compliance. The founding partners have financial markets, management consulting, banking technology and compliance backgrounds.
CORPORATE CONTACT INFORMATION:
Bit-X Financial Corp838 West Hastings Street, Suite 300Vancouver, BC V6C-0A6CanadaTel: +1(604) 200-0071Fax: +1(604) 200-0072www.bitxfin.com
Media inquiries:
Bit-X Financial CorpBrad [email protected]
ANXJess [email protected]
To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/Bit-XApr12015.pdf
SOURCE:Bit-X Financial Corp. || Bit-X Financial Announces Exclusive Bitcoin Exchange & Services Agreement with Hong Kong Based ANX: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 1, 2015 /Bit-X Financial Corp.(OTCQB: BITXF) today announced that it has executed an Exclusive Bitcoin Exchange and Services Agreement with Hong Kong based ANX. The proprietary ANXPRO trading and matching engine manages high volume, high throughput, and low latency trading and was modeled on the same technology recently leveraged by the worlds largest Investment Banks. It also features blended multi-currency settlement in addition to real time FX pricing and risk management.
Under terms of the agreement, ANX will develop a white-label crypto-currency exchange utilizing ANXPRO's world-class proprietary trading platform. The agreement includes technical, development and support services to Bit-X and its registered users worldwide.
"The ANXPRO proprietary trading engine is a critical component to our business," said Brad Moynes, President of Bit-X Exchange. "This agreement with ANX enables us to instantly offer crypto-currency services to our customers utilizing a proven technology platform and relying on the operations of a well-established brand and a very experienced team."
Functionality of the Bit-X Exchange will include deposit and withdrawal services for multiple fiat currencies, payment processing via Vogogo Inc. services, trading exposure to Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Stellar while leveraging the established global liquidity order book; developed and managed by ANX.
"This is a win-win for crypto-currency exchanges and the eco-system as a whole," said Dave Chapman, COO of ANX. "We are delighted that Bit-X has selected ANX as their preferred white-label provider by surpassing their technology and operational requirements."
In addition to the development and management of the Bit-X Exchange, ANX will notify its19,750+ existing North American users to instantly migrate to the new Bit-X Exchange which has a go live date within 60 days.
ABOUT BIT-X:
Bit-X Financial Corp is a Vancouver based Company listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. The Company has announced an exclusive agreement with Hong Kong based ANX to develop a crypto-currency exchange and to provide ongoing technical, development and support services to registered users worldwide. Bit-X Financial Corp is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC".
ABOUT ANX:
Founded in June 2013, ANX has grown into one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platforms worldwide. ANX is one of the largest and most diverse Bitcoin exchanges in the world. It is a pioneer and leader in the crypto-currencies industry. ANX's achievements to date include introducing the world's first multi-currency online Bitcoin exchange platforms (ANXPRO.COM & ANXBTC.COM), the world's 3rd Bitcoin ATM machine, and a full-featured ANX Vault mobile app for crypto-currencies. ANX recently acquired troubled Bitcoin exchanges Norwegian based JUSTCOIN.COM and US based COINMKT.COM to expand into the European and North American markets. ANX was one of the first firms specializing in crypto-currencies to be issued with a Money Service Operator (MSO) license and prides itself on its transparency and regulatory compliance. The founding partners have financial markets, management consulting, banking technology and compliance backgrounds.
CORPORATE CONTACT INFORMATION:
Bit-X Financial Corp838 West Hastings Street, Suite 300Vancouver, BC V6C-0A6CanadaTel: +1(604) 200-0071Fax: +1(604) 200-0072www.bitxfin.com
Media inquiries:
Bit-X Financial CorpBrad [email protected]
ANXJess [email protected]
To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/Bit-XApr12015.pdf
SOURCE:Bit-X Financial Corp. || Bit-X Financial Announces Exclusive Bitcoin Exchange & Services Agreement with Hong Kong Based ANX: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 1, 2015 / Bit-X Financial Corp. (OTCQB: BITXF) today announced that it has executed an Exclusive Bitcoin Exchange and Services Agreement with Hong Kong based ANX. The proprietary ANXPRO trading and matching engine manages high volume, high throughput, and low latency trading and was modeled on the same technology recently leveraged by the worlds largest Investment Banks. It also features blended multi-currency settlement in addition to real time FX pricing and risk management. Under terms of the agreement, ANX will develop a white-label crypto-currency exchange utilizing ANXPRO's world-class proprietary trading platform. The agreement includes technical, development and support services to Bit-X and its registered users worldwide. "The ANXPRO proprietary trading engine is a critical component to our business," said Brad Moynes, President of Bit-X Exchange. "This agreement with ANX enables us to instantly offer crypto-currency services to our customers utilizing a proven technology platform and relying on the operations of a well-established brand and a very experienced team." Functionality of the Bit-X Exchange will include deposit and withdrawal services for multiple fiat currencies, payment processing via Vogogo Inc. services, trading exposure to Bitcoin, Ripple, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Stellar while leveraging the established global liquidity order book; developed and managed by ANX. "This is a win-win for crypto-currency exchanges and the eco-system as a whole," said Dave Chapman, COO of ANX. "We are delighted that Bit-X has selected ANX as their preferred white-label provider by surpassing their technology and operational requirements." In addition to the development and management of the Bit-X Exchange, ANX will notify its19,750+ existing North American users to instantly migrate to the new Bit-X Exchange which has a go live date within 60 days. ABOUT BIT-X: Bit-X Financial Corp is a Vancouver based Company listed on the OTC.QB under the trading symbol BITXF. The Company has announced an exclusive agreement with Hong Kong based ANX to develop a crypto-currency exchange and to provide ongoing technical, development and support services to registered users worldwide. Bit-X Financial Corp is a reporting issuer in the Province of British Columbia with the British Columbia Securities Commission "BCSC" and in the United States with the Securities Exchange Commission "SEC". Story continues ABOUT ANX: Founded in June 2013, ANX has grown into one of the most used Bitcoin exchange platforms worldwide. ANX is one of the largest and most diverse Bitcoin exchanges in the world. It is a pioneer and leader in the crypto-currencies industry. ANX's achievements to date include introducing the world's first multi-currency online Bitcoin exchange platforms (ANXPRO.COM & ANXBTC.COM), the world's 3rd Bitcoin ATM machine, and a full-featured ANX Vault mobile app for crypto-currencies. ANX recently acquired troubled Bitcoin exchanges Norwegian based JUSTCOIN.COM and US based COINMKT.COM to expand into the European and North American markets. ANX was one of the first firms specializing in crypto-currencies to be issued with a Money Service Operator (MSO) license and prides itself on its transparency and regulatory compliance. The founding partners have financial markets, management consulting, banking technology and compliance backgrounds. CORPORATE CONTACT INFORMATION: Bit-X Financial Corp 838 West Hastings Street, Suite 300 Vancouver, BC V6C-0A6 Canada Tel: +1(604) 200-0071 Fax: +1(604) 200-0072 www.bitxfin.com Media inquiries: Bit-X Financial Corp Brad Moynes [email protected] ANX Jess Chan [email protected] To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link: public://news_release_pdf/Bit-XApr12015.pdf SOURCE: Bit-X Financial Corp. || Greek Debt Talks Nearing An End: After months of negotiations between the EU and Greek officials, it seems that the talks regarding Greece's bailout package are nearing their end, for better or worse. Although it has been a bumpy road, most believe that the two sides will reach an agreement before April 20, when Athens is expected to run out of cash. Strained Relationship Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Monday that he was looking to compromise with the EU and the IMF on the terms of Greece's bailout cash, but that the nation would not agree to an "unconditional" deal. Greek creditors have been reluctant to accept Tsipras' proposals as they are said to lack detail and don't show enough commitment to economic reform. Since taking office, Tsipras has reversed several of the austerity measures that Athens agreed to in order to get bailout money in the past, making his relationship with Germany, which has footed most of the bill, rocky. Grexit Still On The Table? If the two sides don't agree in the coming days, a Greek exit from the eurozone could still be a possibility. While most don't expect such an extreme outcome, some believe a Grexit wouldn't spell disaster for the bloc. Warren Buffett commented on Tuesday that a Grexit might be a step forward for the eurozone. In his view, the region's fiscal policies have become somewhat of a joke and refusing Athens money if it doesn't comply with its bailout terms could draw a line in the sand. Related Link: ECB QE Seems To Be Working... Deal Likely However, most are expecting that the two sides will reach an agreement as it would be in both the EU and Athens' best interest to keep Greece afloat. Greece's Minister of Economy George Stathakis said Wednesday that he sees a deal being announced next week. He said the nation is working to amend some of its austerity measures, but is still willing to make necessary changes in order to satisfy its creditors. See more from Benzinga Rakuten Brings Bitcoin On Board Marijuana Bill Gains Momentum In Congress Yoox Merger With Net-a-Porter Creates A Force To Be Reckoned With © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Greek Debt Talks Nearing An End: After months of negotiations between the EU and Greek officials, it seems that the talks regarding Greece's bailout package are nearing their end, for better or worse.
Although it has been a bumpy road, most believe that the two sides will reach an agreement before April 20, when Athens is expected to run out of cash.
Strained Relationship
Greek Prime MinisterAlexis Tsiprassaid Monday that he was looking to compromise with the EU and the IMF on the terms of Greece's bailout cash, but that the nation would not agree to an "unconditional" deal.
Greek creditors have been reluctant to accept Tsipras' proposals as they are said to lack detail and don't show enough commitment to economic reform.
Since taking office, Tsipras has reversed several of the austerity measures that Athens agreed to in order to get bailout money in the past, making his relationship with Germany, which has footed most of the bill, rocky.
Grexit Still On The Table?
If the two sides don't agree in the coming days, a Greek exit from the eurozone could still be a possibility. While most don't expect such an extreme outcome, some believe a Grexit wouldn't spell disaster for the bloc.
Warren Buffettcommentedon Tuesday that a Grexit might be a step forward for the eurozone. In his view, the region's fiscal policies have become somewhat of a joke and refusing Athens money if it doesn't comply with its bailout terms could draw a line in the sand.
Related Link:ECB QE Seems To Be Working...
Deal Likely
However, most are expecting that the two sides will reach an agreement as it would be in both the EU and Athens' best interest to keep Greece afloat.
Greece's Minister of Economy George Stathakis said Wednesday that he sees a deal being announced next week. He said the nation is working to amend some of its austerity measures, but is still willing to make necessary changes in order to satisfy its creditors.
See more from Benzinga
• Rakuten Brings Bitcoin On Board
• Marijuana Bill Gains Momentum In Congress
• Yoox Merger With Net-a-Porter Creates A Force To Be Reckoned With
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Yoox Merger With Net-a-Porter Creates A Force To Be Reckoned With: Online retail has traditionally been associated with low cost, but Italy'sYoox SpA(OTC:YXOXF) and fashion websiteNet-a-Porterhave proven that there is also a market out there for online luxury retail.
Now the two have decided to join forces and cement their position as a major player in the quickly growing industry.
On Tuesday, Yoox announced its plans to buy high-end fashion website Net-a-Porter in an all stock deal that will create Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, estimated to be worth around $2.86 billion.
The new company is expected to generate over $1.4 billion worth of revenue per year.
Luxury Moves Online
The merger comes at a time when online retail is taking off and luxury goods consumers are beginning to turn to the web rather than visiting brick and mortar stores.
Its estimated that about 40 percent of the world's luxury brands can't be found online, but that statistic is slowly changing as high-end department stores likeNeiman Marcus GroupandSaks Incestablish more of an online presence.
Related Link:Can Tidal Compete With Existing Music Streaming Services?
The Best Of Both Worlds
Retailers likeAmazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN) andAlibaba Group Holding Ltd(NYSE:BABA) have become increasingly interested in the fast growing luxury market, but Yoox and Net-a-Porter have the advantage of experience on their side.
Yoox is responsible for the technology behind several high-end designers' websites and runs three designer clothing retail sites of its own, while Net-a-Porter's business focuses exclusively on selling designer clothing and footwear.
Yoox founder and CEO Federico Marchetti told theNew York Timesthat the merger will allow both companies to benefit from the other's strengths.
Net-a-Porter is well known for its editorial content and ability to engage customers, something that Marchetti said Yoox is lacking.
See more from Benzinga
• TV For Babies Expanding Despite Controversy
• Meet The 3 Companies Goldman Sachs Says Are Leading The Bitcoin Revolution
• Verizon To Offer Original Programming
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Yoox Merger With Net-a-Porter Creates A Force To Be Reckoned With: Online retail has traditionally been associated with low cost, but Italy's Yoox SpA (OTC: YXOXF ) and fashion website Net-a-Porter have proven that there is also a market out there for online luxury retail. Now the two have decided to join forces and cement their position as a major player in the quickly growing industry. On Tuesday, Yoox announced its plans to buy high-end fashion website Net-a-Porter in an all stock deal that will create Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, estimated to be worth around $2.86 billion. The new company is expected to generate over $1.4 billion worth of revenue per year. Luxury Moves Online The merger comes at a time when online retail is taking off and luxury goods consumers are beginning to turn to the web rather than visiting brick and mortar stores. Its estimated that about 40 percent of the world's luxury brands can't be found online, but that statistic is slowly changing as high-end department stores like Neiman Marcus Group and Saks Inc establish more of an online presence. Related Link: Can Tidal Compete With Existing Music Streaming Services? The Best Of Both Worlds Retailers like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN ) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA ) have become increasingly interested in the fast growing luxury market, but Yoox and Net-a-Porter have the advantage of experience on their side. Yoox is responsible for the technology behind several high-end designers' websites and runs three designer clothing retail sites of its own, while Net-a-Porter's business focuses exclusively on selling designer clothing and footwear. Yoox founder and CEO Federico Marchetti told the New York Times that the merger will allow both companies to benefit from the other's strengths. Net-a-Porter is well known for its editorial content and ability to engage customers, something that Marchetti said Yoox is lacking. See more from Benzinga TV For Babies Expanding Despite Controversy Meet The 3 Companies Goldman Sachs Says Are Leading The Bitcoin Revolution Verizon To Offer Original Programming © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Trading the oil pullback: 5 plays on volatility: As uncertainty reigns in oil trading, investors should look to profit on up-and-down movement in the commodity, CNBC "Fast Money" trader Pete Najarian said.
The CBOE Crude Oil Volatility Index(INDEX: .OVX)jumped more than 3 percent on Tuesday and is up 179 percent in the last year. It sat just below $54 on Tuesday and if it falls below $50, options in the index could be a profitable play, Najarian said.
"It gives you an opportunity to play some of that upside with all this volatility," he said.
Benchmark U.S. WTI crude oil(New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1)dropped 2 percent on Tuesday while global standard Brent(Intercontinental Exchange Europe: @LCO.1)fell more than 1 percent. Refiners including Tesoro(NYSE: TSO)and Valero(NYSE: VLO)"still work" amid the choppy trading, said trader Guy Adami.
Read MoreIran's nuclear deal and how it could affect oil
Both stocks have jumped more than 20 percent this year. American refiners have taken advantage of the spread between WTI and Brent, trader Brian Kelly said.
Brent sat more than $7 per barrel higher on Wednesday, so investors should watch the gap between the two, he added.
Though most have struggled, some "conventional production" companies have shown promise, trader Tim Seymour said. He looked at names including Hess(NYSE: HES)and EOG Resources(NYSE: EOG), which he said had strong balance sheets and could have upside on an industry downtrend.
Read MoreThe other biggest loser in oil's slide: Angola
Hess and EOG have fallen 18 and 6 percent, respectively, in the last year.
Disclosures:
Tim Seymour
Tim Seymour is long T, BAC, C, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JCP and SUNE. Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK and SBUX.
Pete Najarian
Pete Najarian is long AMAT, AAPL, BABA, BAC, BMY, BP, CSX, DISCA, FOXA, GE, KKR, KO, LLY, MRK, PEP, PFE and SAP. He is long calls BK, CNX, COP, EBAY, EXXI, F, FCX, FL, GE, GM, GT, JD, KO, LYB, NEE, PBR, PEP, RAD, RAI, TEVA, TWTR, UA, UAL, UFS and ZIOP. Today he bought RAI calls and UA calls.
Brian Kelly
Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=, U.S. dollar, EEM, GLD, GSG and TLT. He is long calls CTRL. He is long puts SPY. He is short yuan.
Guy Adami
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS and INTC. Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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• CNBC.com Earnings Central || Trading the oil pullback: 5 plays on volatility: As uncertainty reigns in oil trading, investors should look to profit on up-and-down movement in the commodity, CNBC "Fast Money" trader Pete Najarian said. The CBOE Crude Oil Volatility Index (INDEX: .OVX) jumped more than 3 percent on Tuesday and is up 179 percent in the last year. It sat just below $54 on Tuesday and if it falls below $50, options in the index could be a profitable play, Najarian said. "It gives you an opportunity to play some of that upside with all this volatility," he said. Benchmark U.S. WTI crude oil (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1) dropped 2 percent on Tuesday while global standard Brent (Intercontinental Exchange Europe: @LCO.1) fell more than 1 percent. Refiners including Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) and Valero (NYSE: VLO) "still work" amid the choppy trading, said trader Guy Adami. Read More Iran's nuclear deal and how it could affect oil Both stocks have jumped more than 20 percent this year. American refiners have taken advantage of the spread between WTI and Brent, trader Brian Kelly said. Brent sat more than $7 per barrel higher on Wednesday, so investors should watch the gap between the two, he added. Though most have struggled, some "conventional production" companies have shown promise, trader Tim Seymour said. He looked at names including Hess (NYSE: HES) and EOG Resources (NYSE: EOG) , which he said had strong balance sheets and could have upside on an industry downtrend. Read More The other biggest loser in oil's slide: Angola Hess and EOG have fallen 18 and 6 percent, respectively, in the last year. Disclosures: Tim Seymour Tim Seymour is long T, BAC, C, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JCP and SUNE. Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK and SBUX. Pete Najarian Pete Najarian is long AMAT, AAPL, BABA, BAC, BMY, BP, CSX, DISCA, FOXA, GE, KKR, KO, LLY, MRK, PEP, PFE and SAP. He is long calls BK, CNX, COP, EBAY, EXXI, F, FCX, FL, GE, GM, GT, JD, KO, LYB, NEE, PBR, PEP, RAD, RAI, TEVA, TWTR, UA, UAL, UFS and ZIOP. Today he bought RAI calls and UA calls. Story continues Brian Kelly Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=, U.S. dollar, EEM, GLD, GSG and TLT. He is long calls CTRL. He is long puts SPY. He is short yuan. Guy Adami Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS and INTC. Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC CNBC.com News Page CNBC.com Blogs Page CNBC.com Earnings Central || Your first trade for Wednesday: The "Fast Money" traders delivered their final trades for the quarter.
Tim Seymour was a buyer of TEF(Mercado Continuo: TEF-ES).
Pete Najarian was a buyer of TWTR(: THEGQ).
Brian Kelly was a buyer of TLT(NYSE Arca: TLT).
Guy Adami was a buyer of BX.(NYSE: BX)
Trader disclosure: On March 31, 2015 , the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:Tim Seymour is long T, BAC, C, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JCP, SUNE, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX. Pete Najarian is long AMAT, AAPL, BABA, BAC, BMY, BP, CSX, DISCA, FOXA, GE, KKR, KO, LLY, MRK, PEP, PFE, SAP, he is long calls BK, CNX, COP, EBAY, EXXI, F, FCX, FL, GE, GM, GT, JD, KO, LYB, NEE, PBR, PEP, RAD, RAI, TEVA, TWTR, UA, UAL, UFS, ZIOP, today he bought RAI calls, UA calls. Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=, U.S. Dollar, EEM, GLD, GSG, TLT, he is long calls CTRL, he is long puts SPY, he is short Yuan. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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• CNBC.com Earnings Central || Your first trade for Wednesday: The " Fast Money " traders delivered their final trades for the quarter. Tim Seymour was a buyer of TEF (Mercado Continuo: TEF-ES) . Pete Najarian was a buyer of TWTR (: THEGQ) . Brian Kelly was a buyer of TLT (NYSE Arca: TLT) . Guy Adami was a buyer of BX. (NYSE: BX) Trader disclosure: On March 31, 2015 , the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Tim Seymour is long T, BAC, C, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, JCP, SUNE, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX. Pete Najarian is long AMAT, AAPL, BABA, BAC, BMY, BP, CSX, DISCA, FOXA, GE, KKR, KO, LLY, MRK, PEP, PFE, SAP, he is long calls BK, CNX, COP, EBAY, EXXI, F, FCX, FL, GE, GM, GT, JD, KO, LYB, NEE, PBR, PEP, RAD, RAI, TEVA, TWTR, UA, UAL, UFS, ZIOP, today he bought RAI calls, UA calls. Brian Kelly is long BBRY, BTC=, U.S. Dollar, EEM, GLD, GSG, TLT, he is long calls CTRL, he is long puts SPY, he is short Yuan. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC CNBC.com News Page CNBC.com Blogs Page CNBC.com Earnings Central || Columbus International Inc. Closes Upon Its Acquisition by CWC: BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS--(Marketwired - Mar 31, 2015) - Columbus International Inc. ("Columbus") is pleased to announce that it has received the requisite approvals, satisfied all necessary conditions and has closed upon its transaction to be acquired by Cable & Wireless Communications PLC ("CWC") as previously announced on November 6, 2014. The acquisition, valued at US$3.025bn, will enable the combined company to significantly accelerate growth, improve service delivery to customers in the region, offer customers a more comprehensive portfolio of high-quality products and services, and strengthen its position against larger competitors. The increased scale and capabilities of the combined company will provide the technical platform and financial capacity to help enable the combined company to drive greater innovation and expand its geographic footprint.
The combination of the two companies is consistent with global industry trends, where convergence of fixed and mobile networks, increasing content consumption growth, and continuing development of online applications are driving requirements for high bandwidth, fixed line networks and TV capabilities. Operators in Europe and North America, as well as regional competitors, are acquiring and constructing networks that are capable of supporting ever-growing data needs along with new video capabilities.
Columbus believes that the combined strengths of both companies will accelerate growth, provide the necessary scale to enhance the customer experience, and help to allow Columbus to achieve its goal to become the "Best service provider" and "Employer of Choice" in the region. Similarly, the combination of the two businesses supports CWC's new strategy and its four primary areas of focus: Drive Mobile Leadership; Accelerate Fixed-Mobile Convergence; Reinforce TV Offer; and Grow Business to Business and Business to Government sectors. This strategy is underpinned by their announced US$1.05billion Project Marlin capital investment program. Additionally, CWC believes that the combination of the two businesses will generate material operating cost and capital expenditure synergies.
The combination of Columbus' pay TV capabilities and next-generation, state-of-the-art fibre networks with CWC's region-leading mobile footprint and existing fixed line infrastructure will significantly expand product and service offerings for customers and also advance CWC's quad play ambitions. The combined business will also deliver the benefits of superior quality network infrastructure, fixed-mobile products and bundles, superior TV content at competitive rates, and a more attractive portfolio of products and services in the B2B and B2G segments.
For both companies, the combination transaction will enable greater focus on the Caribbean, Andean and Latin American markets, a region that offers attractive growth.
Cox & Palmer acted as lead legal counsel to Columbus, supported by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer together with Mills & Reeve (UK corporate and securities), Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler (bond and financing) and Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP (USA regulatory)
Citigroup Global Markets Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as financial advisors to Columbus.
About Columbus International Inc.Columbus International Inc.is a privately held diversified telecommunications company based in Barbados. The Company provides digital cable television, broadband Internet and digital landline telephony in Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Curacao under the brand nameFlowand in Antigua under the brand nameKarib Cable. Columbus also provides next generation connectivity and IT solutions, managed networking and cloud-based services under the brandColumbus Business Solutions. Through its subsidiary,Columbus Networks, the Company provides capacity and IP services, corporate data solutions and data centre services throughout 42 countries in the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean region. Through its fully protected, ringed submarine fibre optic network spanning more than 42,300 km and its 38,000 km terrestrial fibre and coaxial network, Columbus' 3,150 plus professionals provide advanced telecom services to a diverse residential and corporate client base of approximately 720,000 customers.
For more information visit:www.columbus.co
About Cable & Wireless CommunicationsCable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC) is a full-service communications provider operating in 16 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. With four leading brands: Mas Movil (Cable and Wireless Panama), LIME (the Caribbean excluding The Bahamas), BTC (The Bahamas) and Cable and Wireless Seychelles, CWC offers mobile, broadband, TV, domestic and international fixed line services and serves over 5.5m customers. CWC also provides premium data centre hosting, domestic and international managed data network services and customised IT Service Solutions to businesses and governments through our Cable & Wireless Business Solutions division.
We are the market leader in most of the products we offer and the territories we serve.
For more information visit:www.cwc.com. || Columbus International Inc. Closes Upon Its Acquisition by CWC: BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS--(Marketwired - Mar 31, 2015) - Columbus International Inc. ("Columbus") is pleased to announce that it has received the requisite approvals, satisfied all necessary conditions and has closed upon its transaction to be acquired by Cable & Wireless Communications PLC ("CWC") as previously announced on November 6, 2014. The acquisition, valued at US$3.025bn, will enable the combined company to significantly accelerate growth, improve service delivery to customers in the region, offer customers a more comprehensive portfolio of high-quality products and services, and strengthen its position against larger competitors. The increased scale and capabilities of the combined company will provide the technical platform and financial capacity to help enable the combined company to drive greater innovation and expand its geographic footprint. The combination of the two companies is consistent with global industry trends, where convergence of fixed and mobile networks, increasing content consumption growth, and continuing development of online applications are driving requirements for high bandwidth, fixed line networks and TV capabilities. Operators in Europe and North America, as well as regional competitors, are acquiring and constructing networks that are capable of supporting ever-growing data needs along with new video capabilities. Columbus believes that the combined strengths of both companies will accelerate growth, provide the necessary scale to enhance the customer experience, and help to allow Columbus to achieve its goal to become the "Best service provider" and "Employer of Choice" in the region. Similarly, the combination of the two businesses supports CWC's new strategy and its four primary areas of focus: Drive Mobile Leadership; Accelerate Fixed-Mobile Convergence; Reinforce TV Offer; and Grow Business to Business and Business to Government sectors. This strategy is underpinned by their announced US$1.05billion Project Marlin capital investment program. Additionally, CWC believes that the combination of the two businesses will generate material operating cost and capital expenditure synergies. Story continues The combination of Columbus' pay TV capabilities and next-generation, state-of-the-art fibre networks with CWC's region-leading mobile footprint and existing fixed line infrastructure will significantly expand product and service offerings for customers and also advance CWC's quad play ambitions. The combined business will also deliver the benefits of superior quality network infrastructure, fixed-mobile products and bundles, superior TV content at competitive rates, and a more attractive portfolio of products and services in the B2B and B2G segments. For both companies, the combination transaction will enable greater focus on the Caribbean, Andean and Latin American markets, a region that offers attractive growth. Cox & Palmer acted as lead legal counsel to Columbus, supported by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer together with Mills & Reeve (UK corporate and securities), Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler (bond and financing) and Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP (USA regulatory) Citigroup Global Markets Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as financial advisors to Columbus. About Columbus International Inc. Columbus International Inc. is a privately held diversified telecommunications company based in Barbados. The Company provides digital cable television, broadband Internet and digital landline telephony in Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Curacao under the brand name Flow and in Antigua under the brand name Karib Cable . Columbus also provides next generation connectivity and IT solutions, managed networking and cloud-based services under the brand Columbus Business Solutions . Through its subsidiary, Columbus Networks , the Company provides capacity and IP services, corporate data solutions and data centre services throughout 42 countries in the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean region. Through its fully protected, ringed submarine fibre optic network spanning more than 42,300 km and its 38,000 km terrestrial fibre and coaxial network, Columbus' 3,150 plus professionals provide advanced telecom services to a diverse residential and corporate client base of approximately 720,000 customers. For more information visit: www.columbus.co About Cable & Wireless Communications Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (CWC) is a full-service communications provider operating in 16 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. With four leading brands: Mas Movil (Cable and Wireless Panama), LIME (the Caribbean excluding The Bahamas), BTC (The Bahamas) and Cable and Wireless Seychelles, CWC offers mobile, broadband, TV, domestic and international fixed line services and serves over 5.5m customers. CWC also provides premium data centre hosting, domestic and international managed data network services and customised IT Service Solutions to businesses and governments through our Cable & Wireless Business Solutions division. We are the market leader in most of the products we offer and the territories we serve. For more information visit: www.cwc.com .
[Social Media Buzz]
The current bitcoin price (USD) at Sat, 04 Apr 2015 07:18:21 GMT according to bitstamp is: 252.00 || SOMETHING BETTER has a show on 2015-04-05 at 20:00 @ BTC in Bekasi http://www.reverbnation.com/q/5q594t #concert || #RDD / #BTC on the exchanges:
Cryptsy: 0.00000007
Bittrex: 0.00000008
Average $1.8E-5 per #reddcoin
23:15:00 || #RDD / #BTC on the exchanges:
Cryptsy: 0.00000007
Bittrex: 0.00000007
Average $1.8E-5 per #reddcoin
16:00:01 || LIVE: Profit = $1,187.23 (32.71 %). BUY B14.42 @ $250.64 (...
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260.60, 255.49, 253.18, 245.02, 243.68, 236.07, 236.55, 236.15, 224.59, 219.16
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 8205.17, 7884.91, 7343.90, 7271.21, 8197.69, 7978.31, 7963.33, 7680.07, 7881.85, 7987.37, 8052.54, 8673.22, 8805.78, 8719.96, 8659.49, 8319.47, 8574.50, 8564.02, 8742.96, 8209.00, 7707.77, 7824.23, 7822.02, 8043.95, 7954.13, 7688.08, 8000.33, 7927.71, 8145.86, 8230.92, 8693.83, 8838.38, 8994.49, 9320.35, 9081.76, 9273.52, 9527.16, 10144.56, 10701.69, 10855.37, 11011.10, 11790.92, 13016.23, 11182.81, 12407.33, 11959.37, 10817.16, 10583.13, 10801.68, 11961.27, 11215.44, 10978.46, 11208.55, 11450.85, 12285.96, 12573.81, 12156.51, 11358.66, 11815.99, 11392.38, 10256.06, 10895.09, 9477.64, 9693.80, 10666.48, 10530.73, 10767.14, 10599.11, 10343.11, 9900.77, 9811.93, 9911.84, 9870.30, 9477.68, 9552.86, 9519.15, 9607.42, 10085.63, 10399.67, 10518.17, 10821.73, 10970.18, 11805.65, 11478.17, 11941.97, 11966.41, 11862.94, 11354.02, 11523.58, 11382.62.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-08-12]
Volume: 13647198229, RSI (14-day): 55.61, 50-day EMA: 10535.25, 200-day EMA: 8045.64
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1505.30, Gold RSI: 77.21
Oil Price: 54.93, Oil RSI: 47.50
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Some Heat in Forecast, but Not Enough to Dent Supply: Natural gas hit a multi-month low last week, but traders were able to claw back most of the loss. Last week’s two-sided trade was driven by forecasts showing building heat in long-range weather forecasts, a surprisingly large drop in feed gas deliveries to liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, an above-average storage injection and record production.
For the week, September natural gas settled at $2.119, down 0.002 or -0.09%.
The low volume and volatility last week has traders guessing if accumulation is taking place for one last late summer blow-off rally, or if distribution is taking place before a drive to another low.
At 09:57 GMT,September natural gasis trading $2.100, down $0.028 or -1.32%.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said U.S. natural gas in storage rose 55 billion cubic feet (Bcf) during the week-ended August 2. That was below the 59 Bcf build forecast by Reuters. Bloomberg called for a range of 55 Bcf to 63 Bcf with a median of 59 Bcf. Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) estimated a 59 Bcf injection. Last year, the EIA reported a 46 Bcf injection and the five-year average stands at 43 Bcf.
NatGasWeather said, “Today’s EIA weekly storage report is expected to show a build in supplies of 58-59 Bcf by the most notable surveys, larger than the 5-year average of 43 Bcf. It was hotter than normal over the Northeast and most of the West and Texas, while cooler than normal across the east-central and southeastern US. Our algorithm predicts a build of 59 Bcf, in line with expectations.”
According to NatGasWeather for August 9 to August 15, “Hot high pressure will rule the western and southern US with highs of upper 80s to 100s, hottest over the Southwest. The exception will be over the cooler Northwest as a weather system brings showers. A strong cool front will sweep across the Midwest and Northeast the next couple days with highs of only 70s to mid-80s for light demand.”
“Temperatures will warm across the northern US early next week as high pressure briefly builds in, followed by another bout of cooling during the middle of next week. Overall, demand will be moderate-low across the northern US and high across the western and southern US, but not quite strong enough overall.”
There is nothing in the forecasts to support the start of a long-term rally, conversely, there is not a lot in the forecast to spike price sharply lower either. This leads me to believe we’re likely to see another week of two-sided trading.
At the start of the week, traders are estimating the next EIA report on Thursday will show an injection in the upper 50 Bcf range for the week-ending August 9. This would put it well above last year’s 35 Bcf build and the 49 Bcf five-year average.
NatGasWeather says, “We believe widespread heat needs to last at least a week if weather sentiment is to be considered bullish, and the data needs more evidence of it.”
Finally, if the heat forecast for late August doesn’t last then storage inventories would continue to rise rapidly, and this would put a cap on gains and probably lead to lower prices.
The weekly chart shows retracement zone resistance at $2.253 to $2.305. Taking out $2.333 could trigger an even further rally into $2.385 to $2.469. However, we really can’t get excited about a rally unless buyers can take out $2.476.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Natural Gas Price Prediction – Prices Remained Buoyed as Demand Rises
• The Bitcoin Bulls Look Set for Another Weekly Gain. But It Isn’t Plane Sailing…
• USD/JPY Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Yuan, Global Bond Yields Controlling Price Action
• U.S Mortgage Rates Tumble as Trade War Angst Bites
• Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Some Heat in Forecast, but Not Enough to Dent Supply
• U.S. Dollar Index Futures (DX) Technical Analysis – Setting Up for Volatile Breakout || Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Some Heat in Forecast, but Not Enough to Dent Supply: Natural gas hit a multi-month low last week, but traders were able to claw back most of the loss. Last week’s two-sided trade was driven by forecasts showing building heat in long-range weather forecasts, a surprisingly large drop in feed gas deliveries to liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, an above-average storage injection and record production. For the week, September natural gas settled at $2.119, down 0.002 or -0.09%. The low volume and volatility last week has traders guessing if accumulation is taking place for one last late summer blow-off rally, or if distribution is taking place before a drive to another low. At 09:57 GMT, September natural gas is trading $2.100, down $0.028 or -1.32%. Weekly September Natural Gas U.S. Energy Information Administration Weekly Storage Report The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said U.S. natural gas in storage rose 55 billion cubic feet (Bcf) during the week-ended August 2. That was below the 59 Bcf build forecast by Reuters. Bloomberg called for a range of 55 Bcf to 63 Bcf with a median of 59 Bcf. Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) estimated a 59 Bcf injection. Last year, the EIA reported a 46 Bcf injection and the five-year average stands at 43 Bcf. NatGasWeather said, “Today’s EIA weekly storage report is expected to show a build in supplies of 58-59 Bcf by the most notable surveys, larger than the 5-year average of 43 Bcf. It was hotter than normal over the Northeast and most of the West and Texas, while cooler than normal across the east-central and southeastern US. Our algorithm predicts a build of 59 Bcf, in line with expectations.” Short-term Weather Outlook According to NatGasWeather for August 9 to August 15, “Hot high pressure will rule the western and southern US with highs of upper 80s to 100s, hottest over the Southwest. The exception will be over the cooler Northwest as a weather system brings showers. A strong cool front will sweep across the Midwest and Northeast the next couple days with highs of only 70s to mid-80s for light demand.” Story continues “Temperatures will warm across the northern US early next week as high pressure briefly builds in, followed by another bout of cooling during the middle of next week. Overall, demand will be moderate-low across the northern US and high across the western and southern US, but not quite strong enough overall.” Weekly Forecast There is nothing in the forecasts to support the start of a long-term rally, conversely, there is not a lot in the forecast to spike price sharply lower either. This leads me to believe we’re likely to see another week of two-sided trading. At the start of the week, traders are estimating the next EIA report on Thursday will show an injection in the upper 50 Bcf range for the week-ending August 9. This would put it well above last year’s 35 Bcf build and the 49 Bcf five-year average. NatGasWeather says, “We believe widespread heat needs to last at least a week if weather sentiment is to be considered bullish, and the data needs more evidence of it.” Finally, if the heat forecast for late August doesn’t last then storage inventories would continue to rise rapidly, and this would put a cap on gains and probably lead to lower prices. The weekly chart shows retracement zone resistance at $2.253 to $2.305. Taking out $2.333 could trigger an even further rally into $2.385 to $2.469. However, we really can’t get excited about a rally unless buyers can take out $2.476. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Natural Gas Price Prediction – Prices Remained Buoyed as Demand Rises The Bitcoin Bulls Look Set for Another Weekly Gain. But It Isn’t Plane Sailing… USD/JPY Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Yuan, Global Bond Yields Controlling Price Action U.S Mortgage Rates Tumble as Trade War Angst Bites Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Some Heat in Forecast, but Not Enough to Dent Supply U.S. Dollar Index Futures (DX) Technical Analysis – Setting Up for Volatile Breakout || The blockchain/crypto week in quotes: “Bitcoin’s price will reach $250,000 by 2022, and I’m hedging a little, maybe Q1 2023. It may be Q1 2023, but it will be [$250,000] before that.” Tim Draper “Bitcoin has been excessively volatile, especially the last couple of years. It’s the sexy kind of thing to go to now. I don’t base my investments on sex appeal. I base my investment on longer-term perspective. And from a longer-term perspective, in terms of Bitcoin being that safe haven, I think it’s way too soon to call that.” Brian Belski, Chief Investment Strategist, BMO Capital Markets “We know that the Libra network has already opened dialogue with many financial regulators on how it intends to comply with financial services product rules. However, given the rapid plans for Libra and Calibra, we are concerned that there is little detail available about the information handling practices that will be in place to secure and protect personal information.” The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) “The regulatory hammer has officially dropped in Germany (crypto businesses will need to hold a Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) licence starting next year) and Bitpay’s recent exit could be a sign that other crypto payment service providers will also leave in the coming months. We believe decentralised marketplaces are a stellar, alternative solution for businesses whose revenue stream could be lost due to the BaFin regulation. Decentralised marketplaces are highly secure, deliver more value at lower cost to buyers and sellers without middlemen like Amazon, and can be user-owned, meaning in theory no central authority like BaFin can take them down.” Paul Schmitzer, Head of Communications, Particl With the yuan over 7.0, an FX war, instability in HKG and the beginnings of capital flight, $Btc rally could have real legs. — Michael Novogratz (@novogratz) August 5, 2019 “It’s no coincidence Bitcoin’s surge over the weekend has coincided with Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. The yuan has fallen against the dollar to levels not seen since the 2008 financial crisis, and Chinese investors are casting around for alternative assets for their wealth. Gold, the traditional haven asset, has been a beneficiary of some of this investor uncertainty. Yet Bitcoin also seems to have served a similar purpose. Given that Chinese investors make up a large proportion of crypto investors, there’s a strong possibility some are backing Bitcoin’s chances against the yuan. Story continues Bitcoin’s status as a haven asset will be made or broken in the coming months, as global market uncertainty is set to increase further. Interest rate cuts from the Fed last week and expected cuts from the ECB in the autumn lay bare central bankers’ worries over the state of global economies. The pound has taken a significant hit in the past couple of weeks as investors fret about the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. The fact that these events are concurrent with Bitcoin’s block reward halving means the stars could align for it to become a safe port in a storm. If demand for Bitcoin soars just as supply falls due to a halving in the block reward, we could see prices increase significantly in the long term. In the short term, the next major resistance level we’re keeping an eye on is $14,000 – if we see Bitcoin break through that level, the cryptoasset will be at prices last seen in the market highs of January 2018.” Simon Peters, Analyst at eToro CNBC is trying its best to dupe its audience into buying Bitcoin. Despite gold being a much larger market, CNBC devotes far more airtime to Bitcoin. The Chinese aren't buying Bitcoin as a safe haven. Speculators are buying, betting that the Chinese will buy it as a safe haven! — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) August 5, 2019 “Bitcoin has rediscovered its mojo this year with multiple mini-surges but a no-deal Brexit could see a massive and unprecedented breakout. Not only will a no-deal departure from the EU create turmoil and volatility across two major fiat currencies, it will also trigger an identity crisis for the global system as the contingency and vulnerability of major global fiat currencies is laid bare. Come 2020, we expect an increasingly populist and politically unstable world to cement the safe haven status of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies more generally. And if central banks revert to ramping up the money printing all over again, the case for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin whose supply is capped will be further reinforced. Each time a central bank increases the money supply, it’s another nail in the coffin of fiat.” Nicholas Gregory, CEO, CommerceBlock I’m sensing #Bitcoin will cross $15,000 this week. Confidence in central governments, central banks, and centralized, fiat money is at a multi-decade low. — Max Keiser, tweet poet. (@maxkeiser) August 3, 2019 The post The blockchain/crypto week in quotes appeared first on Coin Rivet . View comments || The blockchain/crypto week in quotes: “Bitcoin’s price will reach $250,000 by 2022, and I’m hedging a little, maybe Q1 2023. It may be Q1 2023, but it will be [$250,000] before that.” Tim Draper “Bitcoin has been excessively volatile, especially the last couple of years. It’s the sexy kind of thing to go to now. I don’t base my investments on sex appeal. I base my investment on longer-term perspective. And from a longer-term perspective, in terms of Bitcoin being that safe haven, I think it’s way too soon to call that.” Brian Belski, Chief Investment Strategist, BMO Capital Markets “We know that the Libra network has already opened dialogue with many financial regulators on how it intends to comply with financial services product rules. However, given the rapid plans for Libra and Calibra, we are concerned that there is little detail available about the information handling practices that will be in place to secure and protect personal information.” The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) “The regulatory hammer has officially dropped in Germany (crypto businesses will need to hold a Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) licence starting next year) and Bitpay’s recent exit could be a sign that other crypto payment service providers will also leave in the coming months. We believe decentralised marketplaces are a stellar, alternative solution for businesses whose revenue stream could be lost due to the BaFin regulation. Decentralised marketplaces are highly secure, deliver more value at lower cost to buyers and sellers without middlemen like Amazon, and can be user-owned, meaning in theory no central authority like BaFin can take them down.” Paul Schmitzer, Head of Communications, Particl With the yuan over 7.0, an FX war, instability in HKG and the beginnings of capital flight, $Btc rally could have real legs. — Michael Novogratz (@novogratz) August 5, 2019 “It’s no coincidence Bitcoin’s surge over the weekend has coincided with Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. The yuan has fallen against the dollar to levels not seen since the 2008 financial crisis, and Chinese investors are casting around for alternative assets for their wealth. Gold, the traditional haven asset, has been a beneficiary of some of this investor uncertainty. Yet Bitcoin also seems to have served a similar purpose. Given that Chinese investors make up a large proportion of crypto investors, there’s a strong possibility some are backing Bitcoin’s chances against the yuan. Story continues Bitcoin’s status as a haven asset will be made or broken in the coming months, as global market uncertainty is set to increase further. Interest rate cuts from the Fed last week and expected cuts from the ECB in the autumn lay bare central bankers’ worries over the state of global economies. The pound has taken a significant hit in the past couple of weeks as investors fret about the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. The fact that these events are concurrent with Bitcoin’s block reward halving means the stars could align for it to become a safe port in a storm. If demand for Bitcoin soars just as supply falls due to a halving in the block reward, we could see prices increase significantly in the long term. In the short term, the next major resistance level we’re keeping an eye on is $14,000 – if we see Bitcoin break through that level, the cryptoasset will be at prices last seen in the market highs of January 2018.” Simon Peters, Analyst at eToro CNBC is trying its best to dupe its audience into buying Bitcoin. Despite gold being a much larger market, CNBC devotes far more airtime to Bitcoin. The Chinese aren't buying Bitcoin as a safe haven. Speculators are buying, betting that the Chinese will buy it as a safe haven! — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) August 5, 2019 “Bitcoin has rediscovered its mojo this year with multiple mini-surges but a no-deal Brexit could see a massive and unprecedented breakout. Not only will a no-deal departure from the EU create turmoil and volatility across two major fiat currencies, it will also trigger an identity crisis for the global system as the contingency and vulnerability of major global fiat currencies is laid bare. Come 2020, we expect an increasingly populist and politically unstable world to cement the safe haven status of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies more generally. And if central banks revert to ramping up the money printing all over again, the case for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin whose supply is capped will be further reinforced. Each time a central bank increases the money supply, it’s another nail in the coffin of fiat.” Nicholas Gregory, CEO, CommerceBlock I’m sensing #Bitcoin will cross $15,000 this week. Confidence in central governments, central banks, and centralized, fiat money is at a multi-decade low. — Max Keiser, tweet poet. (@maxkeiser) August 3, 2019 The post The blockchain/crypto week in quotes appeared first on Coin Rivet . View comments || Global Central Banks Move To Keep The Party Rolling Onward – Part I: This was a time when the economy was much slower than current levels and when central banks were doing everything possible to attempt to raise consumer and business activity related to capital.
The world’s governments and banks operate on a very simple premise – transactions and economic activity must continue to operate within a fairly standard range of consistency in order for tax revenues and transactional fees to drive profits/income. If extended periods of economic contraction persist, the capacity to function within standard operating parameters diminishes very quickly for these institutions. A -5% to -10% contraction in asset values, transactional business, tax revenues and/or consumer activity over an extended period of time could result in a catastrophic set of events taking place.
All the credit issues and interest rate changes recently allowed us to profit from collapse in the stock market and rally in metals for a quick 24.16% profit last week.
In the 2008-09 global credit market collapse, we witnessed an event that accelerated well beyond this -10% contraction very quickly. We believe the reason the US Fed and Global Central Banks are engaging in stimulus that is designed to attempt to spark further lending, borrowing and increased consumer activities to prompt another round of expansion within the global economy. We believe these efforts to support global asset prices and transactional processes and fees may end up supporting a process where many central banks and governments may end up paying consumers to borrow (negative interest rates) and pay consumers to continue engaging in economic activities.
Historically,central bank rateshave never been this low in recent history and recent news that global central banks may continue to lower interest rates, ease monetary policy and introduce new stimulus programs suggests that concerns of a global market recession are real and that concerns the global consumer may contract economic activity and spending are real. Yet, is the answer to this problem related to real lending rates or something else?
It appears from our research that the only countries that are capable of operating at rates that are closer to normal are countries where risks are excessive and rates are higher because they need to attract investment into their debt/bonds. Established markets appear to be operating in a mode where lending rates are not conducive to traditional economic mechanisms of spending, saving, investing and rational accounting fundamental. The closest example we can use to attempt to explain this process is to state that we believe the credit markets never fully recovered after the 2008-09 credit market collapse and the new debt created from that event has, as of yet, failed to prompt any real economic expansion.
We believe the global economy is within a transitional process that will result in a longer-term economic expansion – yet we believe the process of achieving this expansion may require the destruction of certain aspects of the current economic system. The chart below highlights the efforts from 2003 through early 2019 of global banks to stimulate and stabilize the global economy with every tool available.
As difficult as it is to see in this image, global central banks have engaged in various efforts, at various times, to enact a concerted effort to stimulated the global economy, then back away from stimulus to evaluate the individual processes of the global economy and its ability to support itself. Each rise in QE activity is marked with new challenges and new efforts to spark economic activity. We believe one of the main challenges of this policy is that QE efforts may have benefited the wrong segment of the global population at the time and further eroded the intended outcome of these efforts.
Throughout this incredible global effort to stimulate and stabilize the global economy, certain facets of the global economy have reacted positively while others have reacted negatively. Obviously, the benefits and failures of this continuing effort to transition through the recent economic malaise have resulted in a number of various advancements and declines over the years. It is rather interesting how capital has shifted into and out of various markets, segments, commodities and other forms in an effort to chase opportunity and returns while it appears the fundamental components of the global economy are still somewhat weak.
Next, in Part II of this article, we’ll take a look at some of the winners and losers over the past 10 to 20+ years as a series of global economic events continue to roil the global markets and we’ll discuss what we believe may become the final transitional phase of this global event.
In early June I posted a detailed video explaining in showing the bottoming formation and gold and where to spot the breakout level, I also talked about crude oil reaching it upside target after a double bottom, and I called short term top in the SP 500 index. This was one of my premarket videos for members it gives you a good taste of what you can expect each and every morning before the Opening Bell.Watch Video Here.
I then posted a detailed report talking about where the next bull and bear markets are and how to identify them. This report focused mainly on the SP 500 index and the gold miners index. My charts compared the 2008 market top and bear market along with the 2019 market prices today. See Comparison Charts Here.
On June 26thI posted that silver was likely to pause for a week or two before it took another run up on June 26. This played out perfectly as well and silver is now head up to our first key price target of $17. See Silver Price Cycle and Analysis.
More recently on July 16th,I warned that the next financial crisis (bear market) was scary close, possibly just a couple weeks away. The charts I posted will make you really start to worry.See Scary Bear Market Setup Charts.
Chris Vermeulen
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 10/08/19
• Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural gas markets rallied slightly after gapping lower
• Brent Crude Oil Price Update – Daily Direction Controlled by Fibonacci Level at $59.07
• U.S Mortgage Rates Tumble as Trade War Angst Bites
• Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Weak Price Action Leaves Gold Vulnerable on Monday
• Natural Gas Price Prediction – Prices Remained Buoyed as Demand Rises || Global Central Banks Move To Keep The Party Rolling Onward – Part I: This was a time when the economy was much slower than current levels and when central banks were doing everything possible to attempt to raise consumer and business activity related to capital. The world’s governments and banks operate on a very simple premise – transactions and economic activity must continue to operate within a fairly standard range of consistency in order for tax revenues and transactional fees to drive profits/income. If extended periods of economic contraction persist, the capacity to function within standard operating parameters diminishes very quickly for these institutions. A -5% to -10% contraction in asset values, transactional business, tax revenues and/or consumer activity over an extended period of time could result in a catastrophic set of events taking place. All the credit issues and interest rate changes recently allowed us to profit from collapse in the stock market and rally in metals for a quick 24.16% profit last week. THE 2008-09 GLOBAL CREDIT MARKET COLLAPSE In the 2008-09 global credit market collapse, we witnessed an event that accelerated well beyond this -10% contraction very quickly. We believe the reason the US Fed and Global Central Banks are engaging in stimulus that is designed to attempt to spark further lending, borrowing and increased consumer activities to prompt another round of expansion within the global economy. We believe these efforts to support global asset prices and transactional processes and fees may end up supporting a process where many central banks and governments may end up paying consumers to borrow (negative interest rates) and pay consumers to continue engaging in economic activities. Historically, central bank rates have never been this low in recent history and recent news that global central banks may continue to lower interest rates, ease monetary policy and introduce new stimulus programs suggests that concerns of a global market recession are real and that concerns the global consumer may contract economic activity and spending are real. Yet, is the answer to this problem related to real lending rates or something else? Story continues Source: Global-Rates.com COUNTRIES WHERE RISKS ARE EXCESSIVELY HIGHER RATES It appears from our research that the only countries that are capable of operating at rates that are closer to normal are countries where risks are excessive and rates are higher because they need to attract investment into their debt/bonds. Established markets appear to be operating in a mode where lending rates are not conducive to traditional economic mechanisms of spending, saving, investing and rational accounting fundamental. The closest example we can use to attempt to explain this process is to state that we believe the credit markets never fully recovered after the 2008-09 credit market collapse and the new debt created from that event has, as of yet, failed to prompt any real economic expansion. We believe the global economy is within a transitional process that will result in a longer-term economic expansion – yet we believe the process of achieving this expansion may require the destruction of certain aspects of the current economic system. The chart below highlights the efforts from 2003 through early 2019 of global banks to stimulate and stabilize the global economy with every tool available. As difficult as it is to see in this image, global central banks have engaged in various efforts, at various times, to enact a concerted effort to stimulated the global economy, then back away from stimulus to evaluate the individual processes of the global economy and its ability to support itself. Each rise in QE activity is marked with new challenges and new efforts to spark economic activity. We believe one of the main challenges of this policy is that QE efforts may have benefited the wrong segment of the global population at the time and further eroded the intended outcome of these efforts. Source: zerohedge.com CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: Throughout this incredible global effort to stimulate and stabilize the global economy, certain facets of the global economy have reacted positively while others have reacted negatively. Obviously, the benefits and failures of this continuing effort to transition through the recent economic malaise have resulted in a number of various advancements and declines over the years. It is rather interesting how capital has shifted into and out of various markets, segments, commodities and other forms in an effort to chase opportunity and returns while it appears the fundamental components of the global economy are still somewhat weak. Next, in Part II of this article, we’ll take a look at some of the winners and losers over the past 10 to 20+ years as a series of global economic events continue to roil the global markets and we’ll discuss what we believe may become the final transitional phase of this global event. MORE WARNING SIGNS AND TRADES TO BE AWARE OF – GOLD, SILVER, MINERS, AND S&P 500 In early June I posted a detailed video explaining in showing the bottoming formation and gold and where to spot the breakout level, I also talked about crude oil reaching it upside target after a double bottom, and I called short term top in the SP 500 index. This was one of my premarket videos for members it gives you a good taste of what you can expect each and every morning before the Opening Bell. Watch Video Here . I then posted a detailed report talking about where the next bull and bear markets are and how to identify them. This report focused mainly on the SP 500 index and the gold miners index. My charts compared the 2008 market top and bear market along with the 2019 market prices today. See Comparison Charts Here. On June 26 th I posted that silver was likely to pause for a week or two before it took another run up on June 26. This played out perfectly as well and silver is now head up to our first key price target of $17. See Silver Price Cycle and Analysis. More recently on July 16 th, I warned that the next financial crisis (bear market) was scary close, possibly just a couple weeks away. The charts I posted will make you really start to worry. See Scary Bear Market Setup Charts. Chris Vermeulen This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 10/08/19 Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural gas markets rallied slightly after gapping lower Brent Crude Oil Price Update – Daily Direction Controlled by Fibonacci Level at $59.07 U.S Mortgage Rates Tumble as Trade War Angst Bites Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Weak Price Action Leaves Gold Vulnerable on Monday Natural Gas Price Prediction – Prices Remained Buoyed as Demand Rises || Walmart mulls centralized stablecoin: Retail giant Walmart is mulling a digital dollar-pegged currency similar to Facebook’s own would-be currency,Libra.
According to a patentfilingsubmitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Thursday, Walmart’s currency would serve low-income households by offering a “fee-free, or fee-minimal place to store wealth that can be spent, for example, at retailers and, if needed, easily converted to cash.”
Walmart also notes that“credit can be a problem and carrying cash can be problematic” for the communities it’s targeting, the so-called “unbanked,”for whom the cost of holding funds in a bank account often runs as a net loss.
As with many blockchain projects, the latest filing is highly speculative, and every potential use case is sprinkled with cautious conditionals—coulds,shoulds, andmightslitter the page in lieu of concrete information.
For instance: The company says the currency “could” be used at “select partners,” “may” replace debit and credit cards, and thatusers “could” also be able to “earn interest” on tokens purchased, somehow.
The project is considerably more stripped back than that of Facebook’s Libra. The Libra white paper, released last month,describeda system of stablecoins backed by a “basket of currencies” held in a Swiss bank account that would be governed by a consortium of large companies.
By contrast, Walmart’s system more closely resembles a traditional “stablecoin,” akin to tethers, which are sold and redeemable for dollarspartiallyheld in an offshore bank account. Like tethers, Walmart’s stablecoin might be centralized on a core database—the words “decentralized” and “node,” are conspicuous in their absence in yesterday’s filing.
The word “blockchain,” meanwhile, is used only to vaguely refer to a “block” of transactions, but doesn’t bear any obvious relation to the most common blockchains used by Ethereum and Bitcoin. A blockchain on a centralized database, which Walmart appears to be describing, is a technology that dates back to 1979, and is known as a Merkle Tree structure. || Grayscale to store its $2.8 billion funds with Coinbase: Coinbase will serve as custodian for digital asset-fund manager Grayscale’s vast portfolio of cryptoassets, according to apress releaseissued today.
Grayscale, one of the world’s largest crypto fund managers, will entrust Coinbase with its holdings in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Stellar, XRP and Zcash.
According to aquarterly reportput out last month, the fund manages upwards of $2.8 billion worth of assets, mostly from the above coins.
Coinbase says that, prior to settling on Coinbase, Grayscale explored 30 other, possible custodians, evaluating security, regulatory compliance and insurance coverage.
The company joins several other crypto funds including Bitwise Investments, Polychain Capital, Autonomous Partners, and a16z crypto, Andreessen Horowitz’s flagship fund in entrusting its funds to Coinbase.
Grayscale rose to prominence earlier this year in the wake of its “drop gold” ad, which satirized gold investors by portraying them struggling with heavy, gold-laden sacks. || Walmart mulls centralized stablecoin: Retail giant Walmart is mulling a digital dollar-pegged currency similar to Facebook’s own would-be currency, Libra . According to a patent filing submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Thursday, Walmart’s currency would serve low-income households by offering a “ fee-free, or fee-minimal place to store wealth that can be spent, for example, at retailers and, if needed, easily converted to cash.” Walmart also notes that “ credit can be a problem and carrying cash can be problematic” for the communities it’s targeting, the so-called “unbanked,” for whom the cost of holding funds in a bank account often runs as a net loss. As with many blockchain projects, the latest filing is highly speculative, and every potential use case is sprinkled with cautious conditionals— coulds , shoulds , and mights litter the page in lieu of concrete information. For instance: The company says the currency “could” be used at “select partners,” “may” replace debit and credit cards, and that users “could” also be able to “earn interest” on tokens purchased, somehow. The project is considerably more stripped back than that of Facebook’s Libra. The Libra white paper, released last month, described a system of stablecoins backed by a “basket of currencies” held in a Swiss bank account that would be governed by a consortium of large companies. By contrast, Walmart’s system more closely resembles a traditional “stablecoin,” akin to tethers, which are sold and redeemable for dollars partially held in an offshore bank account. Like tethers, Walmart’s stablecoin might be centralized on a core database—the words “decentralized” and “node,” are conspicuous in their absence in yesterday’s filing. The word “blockchain,” meanwhile, is used only to vaguely refer to a “block” of transactions, but doesn’t bear any obvious relation to the most common blockchains used by Ethereum and Bitcoin. A blockchain on a centralized database, which Walmart appears to be describing, is a technology that dates back to 1979, and is known as a Merkle Tree structure. || Grayscale to store its $2.8 billion funds with Coinbase: Coinbase will serve as custodian for digital asset-fund manager Grayscales vast portfolio of cryptoassets, according to a press release issued today. Grayscale, one of the worlds largest crypto fund managers, will entrust Coinbase with its holdings in Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Stellar, XRP and Zcash. According to a quarterly report put out last month, the fund manages upwards of $2.8 billion worth of assets, mostly from the above coins. Coinbase says that, prior to settling on Coinbase, Grayscale explored 30 other, possible custodians, evaluating security, regulatory compliance and insurance coverage. The company joins several other crypto funds including Bitwise Investments, Polychain Capital, Autonomous Partners, and a16z crypto, Andreessen Horowitzs flagship fund in entrusting its funds to Coinbase. Grayscale rose to prominence earlier this year in the wake of its drop gold ad, which satirized gold investors by portraying them struggling with heavy, gold-laden sacks. || Bitcoin to hit $15,000 as consensus grows on safe haven status: The devaluation of Chinas currency, currently rattling global financial markets, shows that Bitcoin is now becoming a safe haven asset. Thats the view of Nigel Green, Chief Executive and Founder of deVere Group. The Chinese renminbi fell to under seven to the US dollar on Monday, the lowest in more than a decade, igniting drops in stocks and emerging market currencies and driving a rally in government bonds. Bitcoin jumped 10% as global stocks were rocked by the devaluation of Chinas yuan, the trade war with the US intensifying. This is not a coincidence. It reveals that consensus is growing that Bitcoin is becoming a flight-to-safety asset during times of market uncertainty. Bitcoin is currently realising its reputation as a form of digital gold, Green comments. Up to now, gold has been known as the ultimate safe haven asset, but Bitcoin, which shares its key characteristics of being a store of value and scarcity, could potentially dethrone gold in the future as the world becomes increasingly digitalised. With the Trump administration now officially labelling China a currency manipulator, Green believes that investors are set to continue to pile in to decentralised, non-sovereign, secure currencies such as Bitcoin to protect them from the turmoil taking place in traditional markets. The legitimate risks posed by the continuing trade dispute, Chinas currency devaluation and other geopolitical issues, such as Brexit and its far-reaching associated challenges, will lead an increasing number of institutional and retail investors to diversify their portfolios and hedge against those risks by investing in crypto assets, he says. This will drive the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies higher. Under the current circumstances, I believe the Bitcoin price could hit $15,000 within weeks, Green concludes. The post Bitcoin to hit $15,000 as consensus grows on safe haven status appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Bitcoin to hit $15,000 as consensus grows on safe haven status: The devaluation of Chinas currency, currently rattling global financial markets, shows that Bitcoin is now becoming a safe haven asset. Thats the view of Nigel Green, Chief Executive and Founder of deVere Group. The Chinese renminbi fell to under seven to the US dollar on Monday, the lowest in more than a decade, igniting drops in stocks and emerging market currencies and driving a rally in government bonds. Bitcoin jumped 10% as global stocks were rocked by the devaluation of Chinas yuan, the trade war with the US intensifying. This is not a coincidence. It reveals that consensus is growing that Bitcoin is becoming a flight-to-safety asset during times of market uncertainty. Bitcoin is currently realising its reputation as a form of digital gold, Green comments. Up to now, gold has been known as the ultimate safe haven asset, but Bitcoin, which shares its key characteristics of being a store of value and scarcity, could potentially dethrone gold in the future as the world becomes increasingly digitalised. With the Trump administration now officially labelling China a currency manipulator, Green believes that investors are set to continue to pile in to decentralised, non-sovereign, secure currencies such as Bitcoin to protect them from the turmoil taking place in traditional markets. The legitimate risks posed by the continuing trade dispute, Chinas currency devaluation and other geopolitical issues, such as Brexit and its far-reaching associated challenges, will lead an increasing number of institutional and retail investors to diversify their portfolios and hedge against those risks by investing in crypto assets, he says. This will drive the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies higher. Under the current circumstances, I believe the Bitcoin price could hit $15,000 within weeks, Green concludes. The post Bitcoin to hit $15,000 as consensus grows on safe haven status appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Bitcoin to hit $15,000 as consensus grows on safe haven status: The devaluation of Chinas currency, currently rattling global financial markets, shows that Bitcoin is now becoming a safe haven asset. Thats the view of Nigel Green, Chief Executive and Founder of deVere Group. The Chinese renminbi fell to under seven to the US dollar on Monday, the lowest in more than a decade, igniting drops in stocks and emerging market currencies and driving a rally in government bonds. Bitcoin jumped 10% as global stocks were rocked by the devaluation of Chinas yuan, the trade war with the US intensifying. This is not a coincidence. It reveals that consensus is growing that Bitcoin is becoming a flight-to-safety asset during times of market uncertainty. Bitcoin is currently realising its reputation as a form of digital gold, Green comments. Up to now, gold has been known as the ultimate safe haven asset, but Bitcoin, which shares its key characteristics of being a store of value and scarcity, could potentially dethrone gold in the future as the world becomes increasingly digitalised. With the Trump administration now officially labelling China a currency manipulator, Green believes that investors are set to continue to pile in to decentralised, non-sovereign, secure currencies such as Bitcoin to protect them from the turmoil taking place in traditional markets. The legitimate risks posed by the continuing trade dispute, Chinas currency devaluation and other geopolitical issues, such as Brexit and its far-reaching associated challenges, will lead an increasing number of institutional and retail investors to diversify their portfolios and hedge against those risks by investing in crypto assets, he says. This will drive the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies higher. Under the current circumstances, I believe the Bitcoin price could hit $15,000 within weeks, Green concludes. The post Bitcoin to hit $15,000 as consensus grows on safe haven status appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Tim Draper hedges $250,000 Bitcoin price call: Billionaire investor Tim Draper once famously said that Bitcoin’s price would reach $250,000 by 2022 and this week he returned to the predictions game, in slightly more cautious mode. During an interview with Yahoo! Finance , he said: “$250,000 by 2022, and I’m hedging a little, maybe Q1 2023. It may be Q1 2023, but it will be [$250,000] before that.” “You know it’s interesting, it (Bitcoin) has consolidated more than I thought it would,” Draper added. “I thought there would be many more competitors at this point that were really relevant, but people have consolidated toward Bitcoin because it’s decentralised and that’s why they get the flack at Facebook for being a centralised currency.” Starbucks By 2022, people will routinely use Bitcoin in everyday transactions such as buying coffee at Starbucks, Draper claimed earlier this year. In a podcast interview on NBC Bay Area’s “Sand Hill Road,” he said: “Bitcoin is one of the greatest technological advances that humanity has ever seen and it can make a bigger change in society than any of us ever imagined.” He added: “I think when you go to Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee, and you try to pay with dollars, they will laugh at you because you are not using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency…It will be like the old lady paying out with pennies.” But if, as predicted by Draper, a single Bitcoin will be worth $250,000, how can it ever hope to cross over to the mainstream? “Is that a problem?” he responded. “That’s a temporary problem. There is a market for Bitcoin right now. People are buying and selling it and they are buying and selling things and services with it. As it spreads, it will go up in value. And it is spreading.” The post Tim Draper hedges $250,000 Bitcoin price call appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Tim Draper hedges $250,000 Bitcoin price call: Billionaire investor Tim Draper once famously said that Bitcoin’s price would reach $250,000 by 2022 and this week he returned to the predictions game, in slightly more cautious mode. During an interview with Yahoo! Finance , he said: “$250,000 by 2022, and I’m hedging a little, maybe Q1 2023. It may be Q1 2023, but it will be [$250,000] before that.” “You know it’s interesting, it (Bitcoin) has consolidated more than I thought it would,” Draper added. “I thought there would be many more competitors at this point that were really relevant, but people have consolidated toward Bitcoin because it’s decentralised and that’s why they get the flack at Facebook for being a centralised currency.” Starbucks By 2022, people will routinely use Bitcoin in everyday transactions such as buying coffee at Starbucks, Draper claimed earlier this year. In a podcast interview on NBC Bay Area’s “Sand Hill Road,” he said: “Bitcoin is one of the greatest technological advances that humanity has ever seen and it can make a bigger change in society than any of us ever imagined.” He added: “I think when you go to Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee, and you try to pay with dollars, they will laugh at you because you are not using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency…It will be like the old lady paying out with pennies.” But if, as predicted by Draper, a single Bitcoin will be worth $250,000, how can it ever hope to cross over to the mainstream? “Is that a problem?” he responded. “That’s a temporary problem. There is a market for Bitcoin right now. People are buying and selling it and they are buying and selling things and services with it. As it spreads, it will go up in value. And it is spreading.” The post Tim Draper hedges $250,000 Bitcoin price call appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Tim Draper hedges $250,000 Bitcoin price call: Billionaire investor Tim Draper once famously said that Bitcoin’s price would reach $250,000 by 2022 and this week he returned to the predictions game, in slightly more cautious mode. During an interview with Yahoo! Finance , he said: “$250,000 by 2022, and I’m hedging a little, maybe Q1 2023. It may be Q1 2023, but it will be [$250,000] before that.” “You know it’s interesting, it (Bitcoin) has consolidated more than I thought it would,” Draper added. “I thought there would be many more competitors at this point that were really relevant, but people have consolidated toward Bitcoin because it’s decentralised and that’s why they get the flack at Facebook for being a centralised currency.” Starbucks By 2022, people will routinely use Bitcoin in everyday transactions such as buying coffee at Starbucks, Draper claimed earlier this year. In a podcast interview on NBC Bay Area’s “Sand Hill Road,” he said: “Bitcoin is one of the greatest technological advances that humanity has ever seen and it can make a bigger change in society than any of us ever imagined.” He added: “I think when you go to Starbucks to buy a cup of coffee, and you try to pay with dollars, they will laugh at you because you are not using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency…It will be like the old lady paying out with pennies.” But if, as predicted by Draper, a single Bitcoin will be worth $250,000, how can it ever hope to cross over to the mainstream? “Is that a problem?” he responded. “That’s a temporary problem. There is a market for Bitcoin right now. People are buying and selling it and they are buying and selling things and services with it. As it spreads, it will go up in value. And it is spreading.” The post Tim Draper hedges $250,000 Bitcoin price call appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Derivatives Drama: The Unintended Consequences of Crypto Regulation: Noelle Acheson is a veteran of company analysis and CoinDesk’s Director of Research. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own.
The following article originally appeared inInstitutional Crypto by CoinDesk, a free weekly newsletter for institutional investors interested in crypto assets.Sign up here.
Last week’s kerfuffle over thelaunch-that-wasn’tof LedgerX’s physically delivered futures platform highlights two very important lessons, one obvious and one less so.
Related:Coinbase UK Dropping Support for Cryptocurrency Zcash
The obvious conclusion is that one needs to tread very carefully when it comes to claiming regulatory approval. LedgerX announced the launch of its retail physically delivered bitcoin futures platform, only to find that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had not yet approved a necessary amendment to its clearing license. Tensions flared and the launch was subsequentlywalked back.
The confusion over the licensing process is a hindrance, but an understandable one given the complexity of the new products (physically settled bitcoin futures have many more moving parts than traditional futures, even beyond the custody issue). And the “ask for forgiveness rather than permission” approach to financial innovation is probably going to end up expensive.
Below I want to focus on the less obvious takeaway: the role of regulations in determining eventual market structure, and the danger of unintended consequences.
Obviously, established rules can encourage or discourage the take-up of new financial products. The LedgerX confusion, though, highlights a different type of barrier, also heavily influenced by regulation, but one based on relative risk rather than investor protection.
Related:Trump’s Currency War With China Could Be Bitcoin’s Do-or-Die Moment
I’m talking about the difference between swaps and futures. In conversation with CoinDesk, Paul Choupointed outthat “the difference between futures and swaps is ridiculous, it’s the same product.” This is not true. While their hedging and speculative properties may be identical and their economic outcomes similar, in the eyes of regulators they are very different.
Before digging into why, let’s pull apart the semantics. A “future” is an agreement to pay a certain price for something at a fixed point in the future. A “swap,” on the other hand, is the commitment to exchange cash flows. In bitcoin, this could mean something as simple as “I’ll send you fixed payments in exchange for variable payments based on the bitcoin price.” Structured a certain way, the net effect could be the same as a futures contract.
But the markets are very different. Futures are standardized products that trade on exchanges. Swaps, on the other hand, evolved as bilateral contracts negotiated between two parties. They traded over-the-counter in opaque markets until the 2008 crisis revealed the size of the outstanding risk and the convoluted web of obligations that had not taken counterparty default into consideration.
The Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, enacted by Congress in 2010, mandated that most swaps move towards a standardized model and be traded on and cleared by centralized intermediaries. The aim was to add transparency and reduce risk, while enhancing liquidity. The result was a bifurcated derivatives system that skews development momentum in the direction of futures.
Why? Because of cost.
Centrally cleared financial swaps require a much** higher margin than futures. In part, this is most likely due to the perceived relative illiquidity in swaps.
It could also be to compensate the additional risk to clearing houses. With futures, a trader will ask her futures commission merchant (FCM) to place a trade on a designated contract market (DCM), where it is executed and passed along to the clearing house. If a trader’s position goes spectacularly wrong, the risk to the clearing house is partially buffered by her funds held at the FCM and the margin deposited at the DCM.
With swaps, FCMscanbe used, but they are optional and a relatively new feature. Often, a trader will enter into a contract directly on a swap execution facility (SEF), which will then pass it on to a clearing house. All else being equal, fewer buffers means greater risk which justifies a higher required margin.
In markets, however, all else is rarely equal, and some swap contracts are more liquid than some futures contracts, so there isconsiderable pressureto amend this rule as it is seen to unjustly favor futures over swaps.
Furthermore, swaps are almost exclusively aninstitutionalproduct, whereas futures are also traded by retail investors. Most other financial regulations operate on the assumption that institutions understand and accept extra risk – asking them to pay more than they deem fair will nudge their business into other product types.
True, as always with financial regulation, there is a matrix of other causes and consequences to consider, and loopholes and exceptions keep lawyers busy.
But the point is that regulatory decisions in financial markets often have unintended consequences which affect capital formation. The higher cost of swaps compared to futures has led to the “futurization of swaps,” in which a swap is wrapped in a future and traded as such, with lower margin requirements. This favors DCMs over SEFs, since the latter cannot trade futures and therefore cannot enter into this type of regulatory arbitrage. Manycomplain thatthis does not mitigate risk, it just redistributes it, to the detriment of sector diversification.
Note that I am talking about non-crypto derivatives here. Bitcoin swaps and futures tend to have a much higher margin requirement than their traditional counterparts (maintenance margin for cash-settled bitcoin futures on the CME is40 percentvsunder 3 percentfor gold futures). Rather than an attempt to dissuade investors from trading crypto products, this extra caution is deemed necessary given the assets’ heightened relative volatility. Fair enough.
As the contention mentioned above shows, we need to keep an eye on regulatory decisions within** an asset class; what’s more, not just on what the regulator is doing today, but on what the unintended consequences could be.
In the LedgerX case, we can glimpse the potential evolution of a sector structure that is probably not what either the regulators or service providers hoped for.
In taking extra care with LedgerX’s clearing license, the CFTC is shining a light on the role clearinghouses will have in the crypto ecosystem. This additional scrutiny, and the hoops and hurdles that are being imposed, could lead to crypto asset clearinghouse concentration further down the line, as scrutiny and hurdles create barriers to entry and add to operating costs. More clearinghouse concentration will increase** risk rather than decrease it, by centralizing the potential for something to go very wrong. In this case, the unintended consequences could be the opposite of the original goal.
An important factor is that LedgerX plans to sell bitcoin derivatives to institutionalandretail investors. That generally makes the regulators sit up even straighter in their chairs, as protecting retail investors is a political imperative. So, we can expect even more care to be taken with settlement operations.
Another consequence of the delay is to give other potential competitors a chance to catch up: ErisX andBakkt, both with bigger backers, are also gearing up to offer physically delivered bitcoin futures. I’m not saying this is the intention, it’s more likely to be another “unintended consequence,” but a greater choice for investors lowers risk overall.
In a fit of frustration, the CEO of LedgerX, Paul Chou,threatened to suethe CFTC over their handling of the approval. While it is generally not a good idea to be anywhere near Twitter when angry, attempting to sue the CFTC has precedent. In 2013, Bloombergdid just thatover the “unfair” additional margin requirements for financial swaps vs futures that I mentioned earlier, which it saw as detrimental to the profit of its SEF. A courtlater threw outthe suit.
I’m neither a lawyer nor a regulator, but it’s likely that the result would be the same should LedgerX press ahead with its stated intention. It would have a hard time arguing – as Bloomberg did – that the CFTC is favoring one product over another, thus putting its business model in jeopardy. The firm already trades swaps for institutional investors. The delay is affecting its intention to broaden its offering to include futures and options, and its target market to include retail investors.
It cannot even argue that the CFTC is anti-crypto. Outgoing Chairman Christopher Giancarlo has long been a thoughtful andinformed advocateof innovation and blockchain technology’s potential.
It’s likely that tempers will calm and the fuss will blow over. The eventual launch of physically delivered bitcoin futures, whoever is first to market, will add a layer of maturity to a rapidly evolving sector by offering an alternative hedging mechanism in a format the market has beenwaiting for. That, plus the lessons learned along the way, will push the sector forward.
Meanwhile, we should all keep an eye on regulators’ actions – not on the obvious reasons, but on potential consequences and hidden messages. What they mask is often revealing.
Newton’s cradle image via Shutterstock
• 15 Nations Plan Global Crypto Monitoring System Under FATF: Report
• Senior CFTC Official Who Set Bitcoin Futures Policy Is Leaving: Report || Derivatives Drama: The Unintended Consequences of Crypto Regulation: Noelle Acheson is a veteran of company analysis and CoinDesk’s Director of Research. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. The following article originally appeared in Institutional Crypto by CoinDesk , a free weekly newsletter for institutional investors interested in crypto assets. Sign up here . Last week’s kerfuffle over the launch-that-wasn’t of LedgerX’s physically delivered futures platform highlights two very important lessons, one obvious and one less so. Related: Coinbase UK Dropping Support for Cryptocurrency Zcash The obvious conclusion is that one needs to tread very carefully when it comes to claiming regulatory approval. LedgerX announced the launch of its retail physically delivered bitcoin futures platform, only to find that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had not yet approved a necessary amendment to its clearing license. Tensions flared and the launch was subsequently walked back . The confusion over the licensing process is a hindrance, but an understandable one given the complexity of the new products (physically settled bitcoin futures have many more moving parts than traditional futures, even beyond the custody issue). And the “ask for forgiveness rather than permission” approach to financial innovation is probably going to end up expensive. Below I want to focus on the less obvious takeaway: the role of regulations in determining eventual market structure, and the danger of unintended consequences. Apples and oranges and fruit Obviously, established rules can encourage or discourage the take-up of new financial products. The LedgerX confusion, though, highlights a different type of barrier, also heavily influenced by regulation, but one based on relative risk rather than investor protection. Related: Trump’s Currency War With China Could Be Bitcoin’s Do-or-Die Moment I’m talking about the difference between swaps and futures. In conversation with CoinDesk, Paul Chou pointed out that “the difference between futures and swaps is ridiculous, it’s the same product.” This is not true. While their hedging and speculative properties may be identical and their economic outcomes similar, in the eyes of regulators they are very different. Story continues Before digging into why, let’s pull apart the semantics. A “future” is an agreement to pay a certain price for something at a fixed point in the future. A “swap,” on the other hand, is the commitment to exchange cash flows. In bitcoin, this could mean something as simple as “I’ll send you fixed payments in exchange for variable payments based on the bitcoin price.” Structured a certain way, the net effect could be the same as a futures contract. But the markets are very different. Futures are standardized products that trade on exchanges. Swaps, on the other hand, evolved as bilateral contracts negotiated between two parties. They traded over-the-counter in opaque markets until the 2008 crisis revealed the size of the outstanding risk and the convoluted web of obligations that had not taken counterparty default into consideration. The Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, enacted by Congress in 2010, mandated that most swaps move towards a standardized model and be traded on and cleared by centralized intermediaries. The aim was to add transparency and reduce risk, while enhancing liquidity. The result was a bifurcated derivatives system that skews development momentum in the direction of futures. Why? Because of cost. Ebb and flow Centrally cleared financial swaps require a much** higher margin than futures. In part, this is most likely due to the perceived relative illiquidity in swaps. It could also be to compensate the additional risk to clearing houses. With futures, a trader will ask her futures commission merchant (FCM) to place a trade on a designated contract market (DCM), where it is executed and passed along to the clearing house. If a trader’s position goes spectacularly wrong, the risk to the clearing house is partially buffered by her funds held at the FCM and the margin deposited at the DCM. With swaps, FCMs can be used, but they are optional and a relatively new feature. Often, a trader will enter into a contract directly on a swap execution facility (SEF), which will then pass it on to a clearing house. All else being equal, fewer buffers means greater risk which justifies a higher required margin. In markets, however, all else is rarely equal, and some swap contracts are more liquid than some futures contracts, so there is considerable pressure to amend this rule as it is seen to unjustly favor futures over swaps. Furthermore, swaps are almost exclusively an institutional product, whereas futures are also traded by retail investors. Most other financial regulations operate on the assumption that institutions understand and accept extra risk – asking them to pay more than they deem fair will nudge their business into other product types. True, as always with financial regulation, there is a matrix of other causes and consequences to consider, and loopholes and exceptions keep lawyers busy. But the point is that regulatory decisions in financial markets often have unintended consequences which affect capital formation. The higher cost of swaps compared to futures has led to the “futurization of swaps,” in which a swap is wrapped in a future and traded as such, with lower margin requirements. This favors DCMs over SEFs, since the latter cannot trade futures and therefore cannot enter into this type of regulatory arbitrage. Many complain that this does not mitigate risk, it just redistributes it, to the detriment of sector diversification. Didn’t see it coming Note that I am talking about non-crypto derivatives here. Bitcoin swaps and futures tend to have a much higher margin requirement than their traditional counterparts (maintenance margin for cash-settled bitcoin futures on the CME is 40 percent vs under 3 percent for gold futures). Rather than an attempt to dissuade investors from trading crypto products, this extra caution is deemed necessary given the assets’ heightened relative volatility. Fair enough. As the contention mentioned above shows, we need to keep an eye on regulatory decisions within** an asset class; what’s more, not just on what the regulator is doing today, but on what the unintended consequences could be. In the LedgerX case, we can glimpse the potential evolution of a sector structure that is probably not what either the regulators or service providers hoped for. In taking extra care with LedgerX’s clearing license, the CFTC is shining a light on the role clearinghouses will have in the crypto ecosystem. This additional scrutiny, and the hoops and hurdles that are being imposed, could lead to crypto asset clearinghouse concentration further down the line, as scrutiny and hurdles create barriers to entry and add to operating costs. More clearinghouse concentration will increase** risk rather than decrease it, by centralizing the potential for something to go very wrong. In this case, the unintended consequences could be the opposite of the original goal. An important factor is that LedgerX plans to sell bitcoin derivatives to institutional and retail investors. That generally makes the regulators sit up even straighter in their chairs, as protecting retail investors is a political imperative. So, we can expect even more care to be taken with settlement operations. Another consequence of the delay is to give other potential competitors a chance to catch up: ErisX and Bakkt , both with bigger backers, are also gearing up to offer physically delivered bitcoin futures. I’m not saying this is the intention, it’s more likely to be another “unintended consequence,” but a greater choice for investors lowers risk overall. The end game In a fit of frustration, the CEO of LedgerX, Paul Chou, threatened to sue the CFTC over their handling of the approval. While it is generally not a good idea to be anywhere near Twitter when angry, attempting to sue the CFTC has precedent. In 2013, Bloomberg did just that over the “unfair” additional margin requirements for financial swaps vs futures that I mentioned earlier, which it saw as detrimental to the profit of its SEF. A court later threw out the suit. I’m neither a lawyer nor a regulator, but it’s likely that the result would be the same should LedgerX press ahead with its stated intention. It would have a hard time arguing – as Bloomberg did – that the CFTC is favoring one product over another, thus putting its business model in jeopardy. The firm already trades swaps for institutional investors. The delay is affecting its intention to broaden its offering to include futures and options, and its target market to include retail investors. It cannot even argue that the CFTC is anti-crypto. Outgoing Chairman Christopher Giancarlo has long been a thoughtful and informed advocate of innovation and blockchain technology’s potential. It’s likely that tempers will calm and the fuss will blow over. The eventual launch of physically delivered bitcoin futures, whoever is first to market, will add a layer of maturity to a rapidly evolving sector by offering an alternative hedging mechanism in a format the market has been waiting for . That, plus the lessons learned along the way, will push the sector forward. Meanwhile, we should all keep an eye on regulators’ actions – not on the obvious reasons, but on potential consequences and hidden messages. What they mask is often revealing. Newton’s cradle image via Shutterstock Related Stories 15 Nations Plan Global Crypto Monitoring System Under FATF: Report Senior CFTC Official Who Set Bitcoin Futures Policy Is Leaving: Report || Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 11/08/19: Bitcoin Cash ABC Holds onto $320 Bitcoin Cash ABC rose by 0.83% on Saturday. Partially reversing a 5.94% slide from Friday, Bitcoin Cash ABC ended the day at $317.63. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin Cash ABC rise to an early morning intraday high $322 before hitting reverse. Falling short of the first major resistance level at $328.48, Bitcoin Cash ABC slid to a late morning intraday low $302.87. Bitcoin Cash ABC fell through the first major support level at $303.06 before finding support. Bitcoin Cash ABC reversed the early losses with a move back through to $316 levels in the 2 nd half of the day. At the time of writing, Bitcoin Cash ABC was up by 1.29% to $321.74. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin Cash ABC rise from a morning low $317.63 to a high $321.74. Bitcoin Cash ABC left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. For the day ahead, a hold onto $320 levels would support a run at the first major resistance level at $325.46. Bitcoin Cash ABC would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from Saturdays high $322. Barring a broad-based crypto rally, Bitcoin Cash ABC would likely come up short of $330 levels for a 2 nd consecutive day. Failure to hold onto $320 levels could see Bitcoin Cash ABC fall through the morning low $317.63 to $315 levels. Bitcoin Cash ABC would need to steer clear of sub-$314 levels, however, to avoid the first major support level at $306.33. Barring a crypto meltdown, Bitcoin Cash ABC should steer clear of sub-$300 levels on the day. Litecoin Finds Early Support Litecoin gained 1.06% on Saturday. Partially reversing a 6.31% tumble from Friday, Litecoin ended the day at $85.17. Tracking the broader market, Litecoin rose to an early morning high $87.17 before sliding into the red. Falling short of the first major resistance level at $88.93, Litecoin slid to a late morning intraday low $81.84. Litecoin steered clear of the first major support level at $81.11 before finding support from the broader market. A late afternoon rally saw Litecoin bounce back to an intraday high $87.33 before easing back. Story continues At the time of writing, Litecoin was up by 1.27% to $86.25. Finding support from the broader market, Litecoin rose from a morning low $85.15 to a high $87.4 before easing back. While steering clear of the major support levels, Litecoin came within range of the first major resistance level at $87.72. For the day ahead, a hold onto $86 levels would support another run at the first major resistance level at $87.72. Litecoin would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from the morning high $87.40. Barring a broad-based crypto rally, Saturdays high $87.33 and the first major resistance level at $87.72 would likely cap any upside. Failure to hold onto $86 levels could see Litecoin hit reverse. A fall through to $84.70 levels would bring the first major support level at $82.23 into play. Barring a crypto meltdown, however, Litecoin should continue to steer clear of sub-$80 levels. Ripples Clings to $0.30 Levels Ripples XRP gained 0.73% on Saturday. Following a 3.9% fall on Friday, Ripples XRP ended the day at $0.29939. A bullish start to the day saw Ripples XRP rally to a mid-morning intraday high $0.30632 before sliding back. Ripples XRP came up short of the first major resistance level at $0.3079 before falling to a late morning intraday low $0.29114. In spite of the reversal, Ripples XRP steered clear of the first major support level at $0.2887. A late afternoon bounce back to $0.3020 levels was short-lived, however. Ripples XRP eased back to sub-$0.30 levels late in the day. At the time of writing, Ripples XRP was up by 0.43% to $0.30068. A particularly bullish start to the day saw Ripples XRP rise from a morning low $0.29879 to a high $0.30291. In spite of the early breakout, Ripples XRP came up short of the first major resistance level at $0.3068. For the day ahead, a hold onto $0.30 levels would support another run at the first major resistance level at $0.3068. Ripples XRP would need the support of the broader market, however, to steer clear of sub-$0.30 levels. Barring a broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level at $0.3068 and Saturdays high $0.30632 should limit any upside. In the event of an extended crypto rally, Ripples XRP could visit $0.31 levels before any pullback. Failure to hold onto $0.30 levels could see Ripples XRP test the first major support level at $0.2916 before any recovery. Barring a crypto meltdown, Ripples XRP should continue to steer clear of sub-$0.29 levels. Please let us know what you think in the comments below Thanks, Bob This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Brent Crude Oil Price Update Daily Direction Controlled by Fibonacci Level at $59.07 Bitcoin Cash ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis 10/08/19 S&P 500 Weekly Price Forecast Stock markets show resiliency during the week Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast Natural gas markets rallied slightly after gapping lower Silver Price Weekly Forecast Silver markets slam into major resistance US Stock Market Overview Stocks Slide and Finish Lower for the Week || Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 11/08/19: Bitcoin Cash ABC rose by 0.83% on Saturday. Partially reversing a 5.94% slide from Friday, Bitcoin Cash ABC ended the day at $317.63.
A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin Cash ABC rise to an early morning intraday high $322 before hitting reverse.
Falling short of the first major resistance level at $328.48, Bitcoin Cash ABC slid to a late morning intraday low $302.87.
Bitcoin Cash ABC fell through the first major support level at $303.06 before finding support. Bitcoin Cash ABC reversed the early losses with a move back through to $316 levels in the 2ndhalf of the day.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin Cash ABC was up by 1.29% to $321.74. A bullish start to the day saw Bitcoin Cash ABC rise from a morning low $317.63 to a high $321.74.
Bitcoin Cash ABC left the major support and resistance levels untested early on. For the day ahead, a hold onto $320 levels would support a run at the first major resistance level at $325.46.
Bitcoin Cash ABC would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from Saturday’s high $322.
Barring a broad-based crypto rally, Bitcoin Cash ABC would likely come up short of $330 levels for a 2ndconsecutive day.
Failure to hold onto $320 levels could see Bitcoin Cash ABC fall through the morning low $317.63 to $315 levels.
Bitcoin Cash ABC would need to steer clear of sub-$314 levels, however, to avoid the first major support level at $306.33.
Barring a crypto meltdown, Bitcoin Cash ABC should steer clear of sub-$300 levels on the day.
Litecoin gained 1.06% on Saturday. Partially reversing a 6.31% tumble from Friday, Litecoin ended the day at $85.17.
Tracking the broader market, Litecoin rose to an early morning high $87.17 before sliding into the red.
Falling short of the first major resistance level at $88.93, Litecoin slid to a late morning intraday low $81.84.
Litecoin steered clear of the first major support level at $81.11 before finding support from the broader market. A late afternoon rally saw Litecoin bounce back to an intraday high $87.33 before easing back.
At the time of writing, Litecoin was up by 1.27% to $86.25. Finding support from the broader market, Litecoin rose from a morning low $85.15 to a high $87.4 before easing back.
While steering clear of the major support levels, Litecoin came within range of the first major resistance level at $87.72.
For the day ahead, a hold onto $86 levels would support another run at the first major resistance level at $87.72.
Litecoin would need the support of the broader market, however, to break out from the morning high $87.40.
Barring a broad-based crypto rally, Saturday’s high $87.33 and the first major resistance level at $87.72 would likely cap any upside.
Failure to hold onto $86 levels could see Litecoin hit reverse. A fall through to $84.70 levels would bring the first major support level at $82.23 into play.
Barring a crypto meltdown, however, Litecoin should continue to steer clear of sub-$80 levels.
Ripple’s XRP gained 0.73% on Saturday. Following a 3.9% fall on Friday, Ripple’s XRP ended the day at $0.29939.
A bullish start to the day saw Ripple’s XRP rally to a mid-morning intraday high $0.30632 before sliding back.
Ripple’s XRP came up short of the first major resistance level at $0.3079 before falling to a late morning intraday low $0.29114.
In spite of the reversal, Ripple’s XRP steered clear of the first major support level at $0.2887. A late afternoon bounce back to $0.3020 levels was short-lived, however. Ripple’s XRP eased back to sub-$0.30 levels late in the day.
At the time of writing, Ripple’s XRP was up by 0.43% to $0.30068. A particularly bullish start to the day saw Ripple’s XRP rise from a morning low $0.29879 to a high $0.30291.
In spite of the early breakout, Ripple’s XRP came up short of the first major resistance level at $0.3068.
For the day ahead, a hold onto $0.30 levels would support another run at the first major resistance level at $0.3068.
Ripple’s XRP would need the support of the broader market, however, to steer clear of sub-$0.30 levels.
Barring a broad-based crypto rally, the first major resistance level at $0.3068 and Saturday’s high $0.30632 should limit any upside.
In the event of an extended crypto rally, Ripple’s XRP could visit $0.31 levels before any pullback.
Failure to hold onto $0.30 levels could see Ripple’s XRP test the first major support level at $0.2916 before any recovery.
Barring a crypto meltdown, Ripple’s XRP should continue to steer clear of sub-$0.29 levels.
Please let us know what you think in the comments below
Thanks, Bob
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Brent Crude Oil Price Update – Daily Direction Controlled by Fibonacci Level at $59.07
• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 10/08/19
• S&P 500 Weekly Price Forecast – Stock markets show resiliency during the week
• Natural Gas Weekly Price Forecast – Natural gas markets rallied slightly after gapping lower
• Silver Price Weekly Forecast – Silver markets slam into major resistance
• US Stock Market Overview – Stocks Slide and Finish Lower for the Week
[Social Media Buzz]
Another one. @BitcoinBrains @BTCsessions @francispouliot_ @hodlonautX @JeffZanini @Koleyayyc https://t.co/cHxLXAVwxO || altn btc business currency currencymarket currencytrading learnforex takeprofit technica... https://t.co/ayj9jet01V || Bitcoin SV 2020 başlarında değerlenecek, şimdiki değerinin yaklaşık 10 katına çıkacak. الله أعلم(En doğrusunu Allah bilir).
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10895.83, 10051.70, 10311.55, 10374.34, 10231.74, 10345.81, 10916.05, 10763.23, 10138.05, 10131.06
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 16408.20, 16564.00, 17706.90, 19497.40, 19140.80, 19114.20, 17776.70, 16624.60, 15802.90, 13831.80, 14699.20, 13925.80, 14026.60, 16099.80, 15838.50, 14606.50, 14656.20, 12952.20, 14156.40, 13657.20, 14982.10, 15201.00, 15599.20, 17429.50, 17527.00, 16477.60, 15170.10, 14595.40, 14973.30, 13405.80, 13980.60, 14360.20, 13772.00, 13819.80, 11490.50, 11188.60, 11474.90, 11607.40, 12899.20, 11600.10, 10931.40, 10868.40, 11359.40, 11259.40, 11171.40, 11440.70, 11786.30, 11296.40, 10106.30, 10221.10, 9170.54, 8830.75, 9174.91, 8277.01, 6955.27, 7754.00, 7621.30, 8265.59, 8736.98, 8621.90, 8129.97, 8926.57, 8598.31, 9494.63, 10166.40, 10233.90, 11112.70, 10551.80, 11225.30, 11403.70, 10690.40, 10005.00, 10301.10, 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00, 11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63, 9205.12.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-03-12]
Volume: 6457399808, RSI (14-day): 42.17, 50-day EMA: 10495.08, 200-day EMA: 9225.42
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1319.40, Gold RSI: 47.39
Oil Price: 61.36, Oil RSI: 47.28
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Netflix's $8 Billion Content Budget to Fund 700 TV Shows and Movies: Netflix(NASDAQ: NFLX)already produced enough content in 2017 for people to rack up50 billion viewing hoursfor the January-to-December period. But the company wants to release even more content in 2018.
To be exact, Netflix plans to release 700 TV, film, and stand-up comedy projects this year. That's according to comments made by Netflix CFO David Wells on Feb. 27 during theMorgan StanleyTechnology, Media & Telecom Conference.
Content rules when it comes to subscribers, because they naturally gravitate toward the streamers with the best content. WithAmazon(NASDAQ: AMZN),Apple, and (soon)Disney(NYSE: DIS)on its heels, Netflix is smart to ramp up its content game, as a way to keep its current subscribers interested while luring in new subscribers.
Netflix is ramping up its content output in 2018 to lure more subscribers to its site. Image source: Netflix.
In 2018, Netflix expects to spend between $7.5 billion and $8 billion on content, Wells said on the latest earnings call. That impressive budget will go toward funding 700 projects Wells later revealed at the Morgan Stanley conference in February.
Of those 700 projects, Wells revealed, 80 will be non-English-language original content geared toward international markets. This will help Netflix continue to expand in the less-saturated markets outside of its home country. In the last quarter, Netflix added 6.36 million international subscribers and 1.98 millionU.S. subscribers.
Netflix is willing to allocate billions for its content budget each year because that'sdirectly leadingto more subscribers. "Let's continue to add content -- it's working, it's driving growth," Wells said to the audience at the conference.
Netflix stunned some investors back in 2016 when it spent $5 billion on content and estimated it would raise that to $6 billion in 2017. However, with the continued growth in subscribers, investors have become less stingy about the company's content budget. In fact, last quarter's figure of 8.33 million subscriber additions was anew recordfor Netflix.
The company ended 2017 with 117.6 million global subscribers, but Wells said there are still more non-Netflix subscribers in the world than there are subscribers. He noted that there are an estimated 700 million broadband users across the world (excluding China), implying that the company has a long runway when it comes to subscriber growth.
Netflix has also found that marketing spend is essential to promote the high-quality content that it's paying billions for each year. The company said in its note to investors last quarter that it's increasing the marketing budget from about $1.3 billion in 2017 to approximately $2 billion for 2018.
In addition to sizable content and marketing budgets, Netflix's golden formula also includes pricey talent. The company has discovered that hiring the best production talent makes its job easy. "Hire great people, give them the resources to make great content and get out of their way," Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said about the company's content strategy on the last earnings call.
Most recently, Netflix signed amultiyear contractwith creator Ryan Murphy, who was previously atTwenty-First Century Foxand is behind hit shows likeFeudandAmerican Horror Story. Murphy is getting paid a stunning $300 million for his five-year contract with Netflix, because he "has been a very successful and prolific producer of television that has been very commercially successful," Wells said.
Such a lucrative deal isn't the new norm. Wells said Murphy is an exception, because he has the track record to prove that he knows how to make content that appeals to large audiences. "We were pleased with the type of content he creates in terms of being popular globally, not just in the U.S. He creates a lot of customer joy, as we like to say," Wells explained.
Prior to Murphy, Netflix had signed a deal with Shonda Rhimes that's said to be worth $100 million. The former ABC Studios creator is known for global hits likeGrey's AnatomyandScandal. Wells said Netflix was willing to do a big deal with Rhimes for the same reason: She has the track record to prove that she knows how to create content that appeals to global audiences.
Netflix also has multiyear deals withOrange is the New Blackcreator andGLOWexecutive producer Jenji Kohan, and withStranger Thingsexecutive producer Shawn Levy. There has also been some talent poaching. In September, Netflix hired Melissa Cobb, head of studio at Oriental DreamWorks (a joint venture of DreamWorks, a subsidiary ofComcast), to be in charge of its series and films for children and families.
While spending $8 billion on content or $300 million on a three-year contract might seem excessive now, it won't be a year from now, when Disney is set to pull its content from Netflix and launch its own competing streaming site. Netflix already has a number of competitors, but Disney may be its biggest one yet, with its blockbuster movie business, extensive intellectual property, and pending acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox.
Netflix is taking some big steps to stay ahead of the increasing competition. That's a good thing, because as we learned when Amazon bought Whole Foods last June, sometimes it just takes one overnight move for an underdog to suddenly come out on top in a market.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors.Natalie Waltershas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, AAPL, Netflix, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on AAPL and short January 2020 $155 calls on AAPL. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || USD/JPY Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Price Action Will Be Dictated by U.S. Consumer Inflation Data: The Dollar/Yen finished higher last week helped by robust U.S. job growth which recorded its best performance in over 1-1/2 years in February
TheUSD/JPYsettled the week at 106.803, up 1.092 or +1.03%.
The Japanese Yen was also pressured after the Bank of Japan stuck to is dovish policy stance. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, while sounding optimistic on growth, stressed there would be no plan to change monetary policy before its 2 percent inflation target is reached.
On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department said non-farm payrolls grew by 313,000 last month, the largest monthly increase since July 2016, but average hourly earnings rose only 0.1 percent, slower than the 0.3 percent increase in January and less than the 0.2 percent forecast by analysts.
Wage gains slowed more than expected, supporting the view the Federal Reserve would not quicken its pace on raising interest rates. This may have helped limit the USD/JPY gains.
The yen also weakened as traders scaled back their safe-haven holdings of the Japanese currency on news that President Trump was prepared to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, marking a potential major breakthrough in nuclear tensions in Pyongyang and easing geopolitical tensions.
While the jobs report may have been good news about the economy, some feel that wages weren’t strong enough to warrant any major changes from the Fed. This likely means that most traders still believe the Fed will stay the course with a forecast for three rate hikes.
At the end of the day, traders likely concluded a tightening labor market would buttress the case for the Fed to raise borrowing costs later this month and possibly two more times later this year, but the pullback in wage gains will likely prevent policymakers from raising rates four time in 2018.
Most investors will be focused on U.S. Consumer Inflation data, Retail Sales and Building Permits due to be released later in the week.
U.S. Consumer Inflation will be a closely watched report because it will likely influence next week’s Federal Open Market Committee Economic projections. Traders are looking for CPI to come in at 0.2%, down from the previously reported 0.5%. Core CPI is also expected to come in at 0.2%, down slightly from 0.3%.
U.S. Producer Inflation is expected to rise slightly by 0.1%, down from the previously reported 0.4%.
U.S. Retail Sales are expected to make a recovery from last month’s disappointing -0.3% performance with a reading of 0.3%.
Finally, Building Permits are expected to come in at 1.33M, down from 1.38M. Rising mortgage rates may weigh on this report.
With Average Hourly Earnings coming in lower than expected in last week’s Non-Farm Payrolls report for February, traders will be glued to the CPI number. A weak performance will likely mean the Fed will only raise rates a total of three times in 2018, instead of the four that some traders have been counting on.
The USD/JPY will likely tumble if the CPI number comes in lower than expected. Most of the selling will be in the U.S. Dollar.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• GBP/USD Fundamental Analysis – week of March 12, 2018 || USD/JPY Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Price Action Will Be Dictated by U.S. Consumer Inflation Data: The Dollar/Yen finished higher last week helped by robust U.S. job growth which recorded its best performance in over 1-1/2 years in February The USD/JPY settled the week at 106.803, up 1.092 or +1.03%. The Japanese Yen was also pressured after the Bank of Japan stuck to is dovish policy stance. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, while sounding optimistic on growth, stressed there would be no plan to change monetary policy before its 2 percent inflation target is reached. On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department said non-farm payrolls grew by 313,000 last month, the largest monthly increase since July 2016, but average hourly earnings rose only 0.1 percent, slower than the 0.3 percent increase in January and less than the 0.2 percent forecast by analysts. Wage gains slowed more than expected, supporting the view the Federal Reserve would not quicken its pace on raising interest rates. This may have helped limit the USD/JPY gains. The yen also weakened as traders scaled back their safe-haven holdings of the Japanese currency on news that President Trump was prepared to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, marking a potential major breakthrough in nuclear tensions in Pyongyang and easing geopolitical tensions. Weekly USD/JPY Forecast While the jobs report may have been good news about the economy, some feel that wages weren’t strong enough to warrant any major changes from the Fed. This likely means that most traders still believe the Fed will stay the course with a forecast for three rate hikes. At the end of the day, traders likely concluded a tightening labor market would buttress the case for the Fed to raise borrowing costs later this month and possibly two more times later this year, but the pullback in wage gains will likely prevent policymakers from raising rates four time in 2018. Most investors will be focused on U.S. Consumer Inflation data, Retail Sales and Building Permits due to be released later in the week. U.S. Consumer Inflation will be a closely watched report because it will likely influence next week’s Federal Open Market Committee Economic projections. Traders are looking for CPI to come in at 0.2%, down from the previously reported 0.5%. Core CPI is also expected to come in at 0.2%, down slightly from 0.3%. Story continues U.S. Producer Inflation is expected to rise slightly by 0.1%, down from the previously reported 0.4%. U.S. Retail Sales are expected to make a recovery from last month’s disappointing -0.3% performance with a reading of 0.3%. Finally, Building Permits are expected to come in at 1.33M, down from 1.38M. Rising mortgage rates may weigh on this report. With Average Hourly Earnings coming in lower than expected in last week’s Non-Farm Payrolls report for February, traders will be glued to the CPI number. A weak performance will likely mean the Fed will only raise rates a total of three times in 2018, instead of the four that some traders have been counting on. The USD/JPY will likely tumble if the CPI number comes in lower than expected. Most of the selling will be in the U.S. Dollar. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: NEM’s XEM Technical Analysis – 11/03/2018 USD/JPY Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Price Action Will Be Dictated by U.S. Consumer Inflation Data Natural Gas Price Fundamental Weekly Forecast – Setting Up for Sideways Trade Bitcoin on the Move, in Search of $10,000 Interview with Dejan Roljic, Eligma CEO GBP/USD Fundamental Analysis – week of March 12, 2018 || Bitcoin Cash is Up 5% on the Day in Contrast to Market Retreat: Bitcoin Cashis gradually trying to maintain its position above $1,000 – at the time of writing, it is valued at 1,068.87. Along with Litecoin and Dash, it is the only cryptocurrency in green in the top 10 list. One certain event can be linked to its increasing price: the Gemini exchange.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevosstalkedabout expanding their exchange to other cryptocurrencies including Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash at the Cboe Risk Management Conference (RMC). Both the Gemini exchange and the Chicage Board Options Exchange (Cboe), have a partnership such that Cboe will only list currencies present on the twins’ platform, as per their deal which allows Cboe to use Gemini’s cryptocurrency data to calculate futures. So, only one of these companies have to decide whether they want to allow new cryptocurrencies, forcing the other to accept the decision.
In this case, both the exchanges share the same belief. CBOE has always wanted toincludeother digital tokens, as stated by presidentChris Concannon, “You look at the entire crypto space and you look at what other products have the liquidity and the notional size, a derivative makes sense.” As noted by Tyler Winklevoss, their wishlist includes tokens that “are from the Satoshi Nakamoto family tree — Bitcoin cash, Litecoin.” Hence, Gemini’s decision to add these new tokens will automatically add their futures on CBOE as well.
Bitcoin’s price soared past$11,000when Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Cboe confirmed that bitcoin futures were given a green signal for Dec. 2017. AsCCN predicteda few days ago, the slightest implication by Gemini and Cboe has given Bitcoin Cash a boost of 5%. This assessment is based on two simple reasons: the price stabilization of bitcoin and the ‘legal’ status it acquired “in the eyes of many Wall Street traders” post the launch of bitcoin futures.
WithMt. Goxtrustee selling $404 million worth BTC and BCH, andUS Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)announcing that cryptocurrency exchanges offering tokens or ICOs must be registered with the federal agency, bitcoin has declined in value this week. But bitcoin cash had a slightly different year as it kept on moving back and forth from$1,550 to $1,457within 24 hours in February. Starting this month at $1,207, the price went as low as 965 on Mar. 9 before jumping back above $1,000 earlier today.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postBitcoin Cash is Up 5% on the Day in Contrast to Market Retreatappeared first onCCN. || Bitcoin Cash is Up 5% on the Day in Contrast to Market Retreat: Bitcoin Cash is gradually trying to maintain its position above $1,000 at the time of writing, it is valued at 1,068.87. Along with Litecoin and Dash, it is the only cryptocurrency in green in the top 10 list. One certain event can be linked to its increasing price: the Gemini exchange. Winklevoss Twins Considering BCH Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss talked about expanding their exchange to other cryptocurrencies including Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash at the Cboe Risk Management Conference (RMC). Both the Gemini exchange and the Chicage Board Options Exchange (Cboe), have a partnership such that Cboe will only list currencies present on the twins platform, as per their deal which allows Cboe to use Geminis cryptocurrency data to calculate futures. So, only one of these companies have to decide whether they want to allow new cryptocurrencies, forcing the other to accept the decision. In this case, both the exchanges share the same belief. CBOE has always wanted to include other digital tokens, as stated by president Chris Concannon , You look at the entire crypto space and you look at what other products have the liquidity and the notional size, a derivative makes sense. As noted by Tyler Winklevoss, their wishlist includes tokens that are from the Satoshi Nakamoto family tree Bitcoin cash, Litecoin. Hence, Geminis decision to add these new tokens will automatically add their futures on CBOE as well. Bitcoins price soared past $11,000 when Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Cboe confirmed that bitcoin futures were given a green signal for Dec. 2017. As CCN predicted a few days ago, the slightest implication by Gemini and Cboe has given Bitcoin Cash a boost of 5%. This assessment is based on two simple reasons: the price stabilization of bitcoin and the legal status it acquired in the eyes of many Wall Street traders post the launch of bitcoin futures. Bitcoin Cash in 2018 With Mt. Gox trustee selling $404 million worth BTC and BCH, and US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcing that cryptocurrency exchanges offering tokens or ICOs must be registered with the federal agency, bitcoin has declined in value this week. But bitcoin cash had a slightly different year as it kept on moving back and forth from $1,550 to $1,457 within 24 hours in February. Starting this month at $1,207, the price went as low as 965 on Mar. 9 before jumping back above $1,000 earlier today. Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Bitcoin Cash is Up 5% on the Day in Contrast to Market Retreat appeared first on CCN . View comments || Bitcoin Cash is Up 5% on the Day in Contrast to Market Retreat: Bitcoin Cashis gradually trying to maintain its position above $1,000 – at the time of writing, it is valued at 1,068.87. Along with Litecoin and Dash, it is the only cryptocurrency in green in the top 10 list. One certain event can be linked to its increasing price: the Gemini exchange.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevosstalkedabout expanding their exchange to other cryptocurrencies including Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash at the Cboe Risk Management Conference (RMC). Both the Gemini exchange and the Chicage Board Options Exchange (Cboe), have a partnership such that Cboe will only list currencies present on the twins’ platform, as per their deal which allows Cboe to use Gemini’s cryptocurrency data to calculate futures. So, only one of these companies have to decide whether they want to allow new cryptocurrencies, forcing the other to accept the decision.
In this case, both the exchanges share the same belief. CBOE has always wanted toincludeother digital tokens, as stated by presidentChris Concannon, “You look at the entire crypto space and you look at what other products have the liquidity and the notional size, a derivative makes sense.” As noted by Tyler Winklevoss, their wishlist includes tokens that “are from the Satoshi Nakamoto family tree — Bitcoin cash, Litecoin.” Hence, Gemini’s decision to add these new tokens will automatically add their futures on CBOE as well.
Bitcoin’s price soared past$11,000when Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Cboe confirmed that bitcoin futures were given a green signal for Dec. 2017. AsCCN predicteda few days ago, the slightest implication by Gemini and Cboe has given Bitcoin Cash a boost of 5%. This assessment is based on two simple reasons: the price stabilization of bitcoin and the ‘legal’ status it acquired “in the eyes of many Wall Street traders” post the launch of bitcoin futures.
WithMt. Goxtrustee selling $404 million worth BTC and BCH, andUS Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)announcing that cryptocurrency exchanges offering tokens or ICOs must be registered with the federal agency, bitcoin has declined in value this week. But bitcoin cash had a slightly different year as it kept on moving back and forth from$1,550 to $1,457within 24 hours in February. Starting this month at $1,207, the price went as low as 965 on Mar. 9 before jumping back above $1,000 earlier today.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postBitcoin Cash is Up 5% on the Day in Contrast to Market Retreatappeared first onCCN. || 5 Things Nintendo Management Wants You to Know: Nintendo(NASDAQOTH: NTDOY)has been on a roll over the last two years, delivering a hit new hardware platform, releasing well-received new games for its consoles, and building its position in the mobile space. The table below shows the company's performance over the trailing nine-month period compared to the same stretch in the prior fiscal year.
[{"Metric": "Revenue", "Nine-Month Period Ended Dec. 31, 2016": "311 billion yen", "Nine-Month Period Ended Dec. 31, 2017": "857 billion yen", "Change": "176%"}, {"Metric": "Gross profit", "Nine-Month Period Ended Dec. 31, 2016": "140 billion yen", "Nine-Month Period Ended Dec. 31, 2017": "326.3 billion yen", "Change": "133%"}, {"Metric": "Operating profit", "Nine-Month Period Ended Dec. 31, 2016": "26.3 billion yen", "Nine-Month Period Ended Dec. 31, 2017": "156.4 billion yen", "Change": "495%"}]
Data source: Nintendo.
The Japanese gaming giant deals in a range of geographic segments, and its results are significantly affected by currency fluctuations, so the comparisons above are a bit imprecise on an American-dollar basis, but the dramatic upswing is still impossible to miss. Read on for a look at five key quotes from Nintendo's February corporate management policy briefing that provide additional insight on what's happening at the company and what investors can expect going forward.
Image source: Getty Images.
Nintendo's entrance into the mobile space has been a big part of the company's turnaround over the last several years. With the near-ubiquity of smartphone and tablet devices and the gaming giant's fantastic collection of intellectual properties, the company is looking to mobile platforms to expand the reach of its franchises and supplement their popularity. So far, the results have been very encouraging. The following section from the company's prepared comments summarized the performance of key titles in the segment:
In our smart-device business, consumers not only continued to enjoySuper Mario RunandFire Emblem Heroes, which became available for download during the previous fiscal year, but also had fun withAnimal Crossing: Pocket Camp, released globally during October and November. Smart devices and IP related income came to 29.1 billion yen.
The December-ended quarter's 29.1 billion yen in sales for the segment represents a 172% increase compared to the prior-year period, and investors can bank on more big growth going forward. The company also announced that it plans to launchMario Kart Touron mobile devices before the end of its next fiscal year -- a title that's likely to be a huge hit.
While the push into the smartphone software space has already proven quite successful and presents a big growth opportunity, Nintendo is still a business that hinges on having successful hardware platforms. Just a few years ago, the commercial failure of its Wii U gaming console cast a shadow over the company's outlook. However, better-than-expected longevity for its 3DS handheld platform and an explosively successful first year for itsSwitch consolehave the business booming again. Here's what Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima highlighted in hardware and software sales performance for the company's platforms:
For Nintendo Switch, the hardware kept selling well and sales volume rose substantially during the holiday season. For the Nintendo Switch software,Super Mario Odysseywas released in October and has been a big hit, with global sales reaching 9.07 million units.Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, released in April, has sold 7.33 million units, andSplatoon 2, released in July, has sold 4.91 million units, bringing to eight the total number of million-seller titles for this fiscal year including the titles of other software publishers. The result is that hardware sales during this period totaled 12.13 million units, and software sales volume totaled 47.10 million units.
As the chart below shows, sales for the Switch console are trending above those for the company's hugely successful Wii system and absolutely trouncing the performance of the Wii U platform.
Image source: Nintendo.
Kimishima also reported that North American 3DS sales are actually trending up in the months following the Switch's launch. Nintendo's newest console also doubles as a portable gaming device, so the fact that sales for its dedicated handheld platform are proving so resilient is impressive and bodes well for the company's near-term earnings results.
Switch owners are currently able to partake in online multiplayer modes for compatible titles, but the console lacks the more robust online services that are available on competing platforms likeSony's PlayStation 4 andMicrosoft's Xbox One. Nintendo is readying its own paid-online service, but it's taking some time for the project to come together. The company's for-pay service was originally due to debut in fall 2017 but was then pushed to a spring 2018 window and has since been scheduled for a September release. Here's what Kimishima had to say when asked about the evolution of the Switch's online platform:
We view the online service as one component of our efforts to diversify how our games are played and to get people to play more of our games. That is why we want to apply substantial resources to the online service, with the thinking that we will devote our energies to making this a for-pay service. As for how we plan to popularize the service, it is less about the mechanism and more a question of what kinds of products we can offer, and the spread of the service will depend on whether consumers want what we offer.
The company has lagged its competitors in the console hardware space when it comes to online functionality, but Sony and Microsoft have proven that paid online services can be hugely profitable, so Nintendo is looking at a big opportunity if it can deliver. The service is also likely to debut alongside an online store for downloading classic Nintendo games onto the Switch platform -- another significant opportunity because the cost of rereleasing these games tends to be very low.
With its massive population and quickly growing middle class, China is a market that many technology and entertainment companies have a keen interest in. However, tight government regulations mean that getting your products into the Middle Kingdom isn't as simple as sending them to retail distributors or putting them up for download. Here's how Kimishima outlined the company's current thinking on expanding its presence in the Chinese market:
We would like to see the people of China also experience Nintendo's forms of play and the games that people in other countries enjoy now. How best to achieve this is a subject we are working through point by point, consulting with various other parties on aspects we cannot tackle alone. I would like to realize this as quickly as possible, but there is nothing I can say at this time about activities that will start within the year. Regarding the expansion of our smart-device business in China, it would be better to collaborate with local carriers rather than go it alone, but as of now there is nothing I can say on this topic either.
Companies likeActivision Blizzard,Electronic Arts, and Sony have already found success in getting their content into the Chinese market by partnering with China-based companies likeNetEaseandTencent Holdings, and it seems likely that Nintendo will pursue a similar route.
Nintendo has the single most valuable cast of characters of any major video game company. After an ill-fated attempt to bring theMariofranchise to the big screen back in 1993 and a string of mostly unsuccessful video game movies based on other company's properties, Nintendo has been hesitant to pursue film adaptations. However, the company has recently been making efforts to build its character-licensing business and has been working withComcastand its Universal divisions to bring famous video game properties to theme parks and the big screen.
Nintendo's creative director, Shigeru Miyamoto, shared his take on working with Universal and Illumination Entertainment on the in-developmentMariomovie:
As a producer, Chris Meledandri (Illumination's CEO) is noted here for movies likeMinionsandSing, but he is a veteran with a ton of experience, including the movieIce Ageand stints at companies like 20th Century Fox Animation. When I talked with Chris, he said he had read a lot of interviews with me and felt we had a similar approach to creation. Talking about our similarities, we clicked and decided maybe we should do some kind of collaboration. We started our conversation over two years ago, and finally reached a the stage where we could make an announcement. Chris is extremely cost-conscious and time-conscious in his quest to make successful movies. We decided to try making a movie together, and distributing the completed movie globally through Universal Pictures.
Miyamoto also noted that Nintendo isn't averse to scrapping theMariomovie project if doesn't seem like it will do justice to the property. That's evidence of an admirable degree of protectiveness and a long-term approach to generating value from its franchises, but there seems to be a good chance that Nintendo and Universal will be able to come up with something that works -- creating big cross-promotional opportunities and paving the way for other film adaptations.
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Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft.Keith Noonanowns shares of ATVI. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends ATVI, NTES, and TCEHY. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast and EA. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 5 Things Nintendo Management Wants You to Know: Nintendo (NASDAQOTH: NTDOY) has been on a roll over the last two years, delivering a hit new hardware platform, releasing well-received new games for its consoles, and building its position in the mobile space. The table below shows the company's performance over the trailing nine-month period compared to the same stretch in the prior fiscal year. Metric Nine-Month Period Ended Dec. 31, 2016 Nine-Month Period Ended Dec. 31, 2017 Change Revenue 311 billion yen 857 billion yen 176% Gross profit 140 billion yen 326.3 billion yen 133% Operating profit 26.3 billion yen 156.4 billion yen 495% Data source: Nintendo. The Japanese gaming giant deals in a range of geographic segments, and its results are significantly affected by currency fluctuations, so the comparisons above are a bit imprecise on an American-dollar basis, but the dramatic upswing is still impossible to miss. Read on for a look at five key quotes from Nintendo's February corporate management policy briefing that provide additional insight on what's happening at the company and what investors can expect going forward. A Nintendo Switch system in handheld mode. Image source: Getty Images. Promising results in mobile Nintendo's entrance into the mobile space has been a big part of the company's turnaround over the last several years. With the near-ubiquity of smartphone and tablet devices and the gaming giant's fantastic collection of intellectual properties, the company is looking to mobile platforms to expand the reach of its franchises and supplement their popularity. So far, the results have been very encouraging. The following section from the company's prepared comments summarized the performance of key titles in the segment: In our smart-device business, consumers not only continued to enjoy Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes , which became available for download during the previous fiscal year, but also had fun with Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp , released globally during October and November. Smart devices and IP related income came to 29.1 billion yen. The December-ended quarter's 29.1 billion yen in sales for the segment represents a 172% increase compared to the prior-year period, and investors can bank on more big growth going forward. The company also announced that it plans to launch Mario Kart Tour on mobile devices before the end of its next fiscal year -- a title that's likely to be a huge hit. Fantastic hardware and software sales While the push into the smartphone software space has already proven quite successful and presents a big growth opportunity, Nintendo is still a business that hinges on having successful hardware platforms. Just a few years ago, the commercial failure of its Wii U gaming console cast a shadow over the company's outlook. However, better-than-expected longevity for its 3DS handheld platform and an explosively successful first year for its Switch console have the business booming again. Here's what Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima highlighted in hardware and software sales performance for the company's platforms: Story continues For Nintendo Switch, the hardware kept selling well and sales volume rose substantially during the holiday season. For the Nintendo Switch software, Super Mario Odyssey was released in October and has been a big hit, with global sales reaching 9.07 million units. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe , released in April, has sold 7.33 million units, and Splatoon 2 , released in July, has sold 4.91 million units, bringing to eight the total number of million-seller titles for this fiscal year including the titles of other software publishers. The result is that hardware sales during this period totaled 12.13 million units, and software sales volume totaled 47.10 million units. As the chart below shows, sales for the Switch console are trending above those for the company's hugely successful Wii system and absolutely trouncing the performance of the Wii U platform. A chart showing sales of Nintendo's Switch console outselling its Wii and Wii U consoles across their respective first 47 weeks on the market. Image source: Nintendo. Kimishima also reported that North American 3DS sales are actually trending up in the months following the Switch's launch. Nintendo's newest console also doubles as a portable gaming device, so the fact that sales for its dedicated handheld platform are proving so resilient is impressive and bodes well for the company's near-term earnings results. Switch's online service still in the works Switch owners are currently able to partake in online multiplayer modes for compatible titles, but the console lacks the more robust online services that are available on competing platforms like Sony 's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft 's Xbox One. Nintendo is readying its own paid-online service, but it's taking some time for the project to come together. The company's for-pay service was originally due to debut in fall 2017 but was then pushed to a spring 2018 window and has since been scheduled for a September release. Here's what Kimishima had to say when asked about the evolution of the Switch's online platform: We view the online service as one component of our efforts to diversify how our games are played and to get people to play more of our games. That is why we want to apply substantial resources to the online service, with the thinking that we will devote our energies to making this a for-pay service. As for how we plan to popularize the service, it is less about the mechanism and more a question of what kinds of products we can offer, and the spread of the service will depend on whether consumers want what we offer. The company has lagged its competitors in the console hardware space when it comes to online functionality, but Sony and Microsoft have proven that paid online services can be hugely profitable, so Nintendo is looking at a big opportunity if it can deliver. The service is also likely to debut alongside an online store for downloading classic Nintendo games onto the Switch platform -- another significant opportunity because the cost of rereleasing these games tends to be very low. Evaluating opportunities in China With its massive population and quickly growing middle class, China is a market that many technology and entertainment companies have a keen interest in. However, tight government regulations mean that getting your products into the Middle Kingdom isn't as simple as sending them to retail distributors or putting them up for download. Here's how Kimishima outlined the company's current thinking on expanding its presence in the Chinese market: We would like to see the people of China also experience Nintendo's forms of play and the games that people in other countries enjoy now. How best to achieve this is a subject we are working through point by point, consulting with various other parties on aspects we cannot tackle alone. I would like to realize this as quickly as possible, but there is nothing I can say at this time about activities that will start within the year. Regarding the expansion of our smart-device business in China, it would be better to collaborate with local carriers rather than go it alone, but as of now there is nothing I can say on this topic either. Companies like Activision Blizzard , Electronic Arts , and Sony have already found success in getting their content into the Chinese market by partnering with China-based companies like NetEase and Tencent Holdings , and it seems likely that Nintendo will pursue a similar route. Moving into movies Nintendo has the single most valuable cast of characters of any major video game company. After an ill-fated attempt to bring the Mario franchise to the big screen back in 1993 and a string of mostly unsuccessful video game movies based on other company's properties, Nintendo has been hesitant to pursue film adaptations. However, the company has recently been making efforts to build its character-licensing business and has been working with Comcast and its Universal divisions to bring famous video game properties to theme parks and the big screen. Nintendo's creative director, Shigeru Miyamoto, shared his take on working with Universal and Illumination Entertainment on the in-development Mario movie : As a producer, Chris Meledandri (Illumination's CEO) is noted here for movies like Minions and Sing , but he is a veteran with a ton of experience, including the movie Ice Age and stints at companies like 20th Century Fox Animation. When I talked with Chris, he said he had read a lot of interviews with me and felt we had a similar approach to creation. Talking about our similarities, we clicked and decided maybe we should do some kind of collaboration. We started our conversation over two years ago, and finally reached a the stage where we could make an announcement. Chris is extremely cost-conscious and time-conscious in his quest to make successful movies. We decided to try making a movie together, and distributing the completed movie globally through Universal Pictures. Miyamoto also noted that Nintendo isn't averse to scrapping the Mario movie project if doesn't seem like it will do justice to the property. That's evidence of an admirable degree of protectiveness and a long-term approach to generating value from its franchises, but there seems to be a good chance that Nintendo and Universal will be able to come up with something that works -- creating big cross-promotional opportunities and paving the way for other film adaptations. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. Keith Noonan owns shares of ATVI. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends ATVI, NTES, and TCEHY. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast and EA. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || Here's Why You Shouldn't Pay Off Your Mortgage Early: More than half of Americans own their homes rather than rent, and if you're one of them, you're probably used to getting a mortgage statement in the mail each month. Now if you take a close at that statement before writing out your check, you'll notice that a chunk of what you're paying is applied to the interest portion of your loan, as opposed to its principal. This especially holds true if you're in the early stages of your mortgage. And if the idea of paying all that interest doesn't sit well with you, you may be inclined to pay off your mortgage early, which will reduce the amount of interest you pay in your lifetime. It's a smart idea in theory. But here's why you're better off holding onto your mortgage and not accelerating your payments. House with large front lawn IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES. You'll have less money available to invest If you signed a mortgage over the past decade or so and had good credit at the time, chances are you snagged a pretty decent interest rate on it. If that's the case, then it pays to hang onto your available cash rather than pump it into a low-cost home loan. That's because you'll then have the option to invest that money, and at a higher return than what your mortgage is charging. Imagine you're 10 years into paying a $200,000, 30-year fixed loan at 4% interest, and that you have the ability to take a lump sum of $20,000 and apply it to your mortgage. Doing so will save you roughly $21,000 in interest over the life of your loan. But if you were to take that $20,000 and put it into the stock market instead, in 20 years from now, you'd be sitting on over $77,000, assuming a 7% average annual return (which is below the market's average). In other words, using your free cash to invest rather than pay down your loan gives you more than $50,000 extra in this scenario. Of course, the extent to which you'll come out ahead by going this route will depend on the specific numbers you're dealing with, but the point here is that if you have a home loan with a favorable interest rate, it doesn't always pay to knock it out sooner. Story continues You'll lose out on a valuable tax break later in life As you progress in your career, you'll ideally start earning more money. And while that's a good thing from a cash flow perspective, it could spell trouble from a tax perspective. That's why it's crucial to keep your tax-saving options open later in life, when your earnings reach their peak. But if you pay off your mortgage ahead of schedule and lose out on the mortgage interest deduction down the line, you could end up suffering from a tax perspective. Currently, you're allowed to deduct your mortgage interest in full on new loans of up to $750,000. However, if you signed your mortgage before 2018, that limit stands at $1 million. If you pay off your mortgage ahead of schedule and lose the interest deduction, your tax bill might go up at the worst possible time. Of course, hanging onto a mortgage isn't the right move for everyone. As colleague and personal-finance expert Dan Caplinger points out , it sometimes pays to get rid of a home loan early if you have the ability to do so. Just remember that carrying a mortgage can be helpful from a tax perspective, and that having more cash on your hands opens the door to different investment opportunities that could be far more lucrative than the savings you'll glean from reducing your lifetime interest costs. Furthermore, you never know when you might need money to pay for a host of expenses, from college to major car repairs. Keeping your money out of your mortgage and in your bank account buys you more options, and that itself is a reason to stick to your regular payment schedule. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Here's Why You Shouldn't Pay Off Your Mortgage Early: More than half of Americans own their homes rather than rent, and if you're one of them, you're probably used to getting a mortgage statement in the mail each month. Now if you take a close at that statement before writing out your check, you'll notice that a chunk of what you're paying is applied to the interest portion of your loan, as opposed to its principal. This especially holds true if you're in the early stages of your mortgage. And if the idea of paying all that interest doesn't sit well with you, you may be inclined to pay off your mortgage early, which will reduce the amount of interest you pay in your lifetime.
It's a smart idea in theory. But here's why you're better off holding onto your mortgage and not accelerating your payments.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
If you signed a mortgage over the past decade or so and hadgood creditat the time, chances are you snagged a pretty decent interest rate on it. If that's the case, then it pays to hang onto your available cash rather than pump it into a low-cost home loan. That's because you'll then have the option to invest that money, and at a higher return than what your mortgage is charging.
Imagine you're 10 years into paying a $200,000, 30-year fixed loan at 4% interest, and that you have the ability to take a lump sum of $20,000 and apply it to your mortgage. Doing so will save you roughly $21,000 in interest over the life of your loan. But if you were to take that $20,000 and put it into the stock market instead, in 20 years from now, you'd be sitting on over $77,000, assuming a 7% average annual return (which is below the market's average).
In other words, using your free cash to invest rather than pay down your loan gives you more than $50,000 extra in this scenario. Of course, the extent to which you'll come out ahead by going this route will depend on the specific numbers you're dealing with, but the point here is that if you have a home loan with a favorable interest rate, it doesn't always pay to knock it out sooner.
As you progress in your career, you'll ideally start earning more money. And while that's a good thing from a cash flow perspective, it could spell trouble from a tax perspective. That's why it's crucial to keep your tax-saving options open later in life, when your earnings reach their peak. But if you pay off your mortgage ahead of schedule and lose out on themortgage interest deductiondown the line, you could end up suffering from a tax perspective.
Currently, you're allowed to deduct your mortgage interest in full on new loans of up to $750,000. However, if you signed your mortgage before 2018, that limit stands at $1 million. If you pay off your mortgage ahead of schedule and lose the interest deduction, your tax bill might go up at the worst possible time.
Of course, hanging onto a mortgage isn't the right move for everyone. As colleague and personal-finance expert Dan Caplingerpoints out, it sometimes pays to get rid of a home loan early if you have the ability to do so.
Just remember that carrying a mortgage can be helpful from a tax perspective, and that having more cash on your hands opens the door to different investment opportunities that could be far more lucrative than the savings you'll glean from reducing your lifetime interest costs. Furthermore, you never know when you might need money to pay for a host of expenses, from college to major car repairs. Keeping your money out of your mortgage and in your bank account buys you more options, and that itself is a reason to stick to your regular payment schedule.
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The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 2 Great Income Stocks That Could Double Their Dividends: All too often, income-seeking investors pass over stocks that have lower current yields in favor of those that pay more right now. That approach, however, can cause investors to miss opportunities to collect a much higher income stream down the road from companies that can quickly grow their payouts. That growth can be quite substantial, with some companies on pace to more than double their dividends in just a couple of years. Two great options that stand out are natural gas pipeline companies Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) and Antero Midstream (NYSE: AM) . On the cusp of becoming a high-yield stock Kinder Morgan currently yields around 3.1%, which, while above the market's average, might not appeal to some yield-seekers. However, what those yield-focused investors might not realize is that Kinder Morgan is a high-yield stock that's hiding in plain sight . That's because the energy infrastructure giant expects to boost its payout 60% this year. That means investors who buy today aren't locking in a 3.1% rate but a 5% forward yield. Driving that increase is the company's strengthening financial position, which allows it to increase the percentage of cash flow it pays out from 25% last year to 40% in 2018. A man in a suit counting cash. Image source: Getty Images. But with nearly $12 billion of high-return expansion projects under way, the company has the fuel to increase its payout by another 25% next year and a further 25% in 2020 while still maintaining a conservative payout ratio of around 50% of cash flow. This forecast implies that those who buy today would collect a 7.8% yield in three years, which is more than double the current dividend rate. That's upside investors will miss if they focus solely on a company's current payout rate and not the growth potential it has coming down the pipeline. High-octane income growth Antero Midstream Partners' current distribution rate is around 5.4%, which might be a bit more attractive to yield-seekers. However, like Kinder Morgan, there's a lot more to this income story. For starters, Antero Midstream expects to raise its distribution by 28% to 30% this year. The company also estimates that it will cover that higher rate with cash flow by a comfortable 1.25 to 1.35 times, well above average for a master limited partnership . But this year's growth rate is only the beginning, since Antero expects to grow its payout at that nearly 30% clip through 2020 and believes it can increase it another 20% annually in 2021 and 2022, while still maintaining conservative coverage above 1.1 five years from now. Fueling Antero Midstream's high-octane growth rate are the $2.7 billion of high-return expansion projects the company expects to complete over the next five years. Story continues This outlook implies that investors who buy Antero Midstream today could see their yield increase to as much as 15% by 2022, nearly triple what they'd earn this year. That means investors could turn a small up-front investment into a lucrative cash flow stream five years from now . A two-for-one special Kinder Morgan and Antero Midstream are great income options for investors because they pay decent yields now that will grow exponentially over the next few years. Even better, their stock prices should rise with those rapidly increasing dividends, potentially enabling investors to earn market-beating returns. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Matthew DiLallo owns shares of Kinder Morgan and has the following options: short March 2018 $17 puts on Kinder Morgan and short June 2018 $25 puts on Antero Midstream Partners. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 2 Great Income Stocks That Could Double Their Dividends: All too often, income-seeking investors pass over stocks that have lower current yields in favor of those that pay more right now. That approach, however, can cause investors to miss opportunities to collect a much higher income stream down the road from companies that can quickly grow their payouts. That growth can be quite substantial, with some companies on pace to more than double their dividends in just a couple of years. Two great options that stand out are natural gas pipeline companiesKinder Morgan(NYSE: KMI)andAntero Midstream(NYSE: AM).
Kinder Morgan currently yields around 3.1%, which, while above the market's average, might not appeal to some yield-seekers. However, what those yield-focused investors might not realize is thatKinder Morgan is a high-yield stock that's hiding in plain sight. That's because the energy infrastructure giant expects to boost its payout 60% this year. That means investors who buy today aren't locking in a 3.1% rate but a 5% forward yield. Driving that increase is the company's strengthening financial position, which allows it to increase the percentage of cash flow it pays out from 25% last year to 40% in 2018.
Image source: Getty Images.
But with nearly $12 billion of high-return expansion projects under way, the company has the fuel to increase its payout by another 25% next year and a further 25% in 2020 while still maintaining a conservative payout ratio of around 50% of cash flow. This forecast implies that those who buy today would collect a 7.8% yield in three years, which is more than double the current dividend rate. That's upside investors will miss if they focus solely on a company's current payout rate and not the growth potential it has coming down the pipeline.
Antero Midstream Partners' current distribution rate is around 5.4%, which might be a bit more attractive to yield-seekers. However, like Kinder Morgan, there's a lot more to this income story. For starters, Antero Midstream expects to raise its distribution by 28% to 30% this year. The company also estimates that it will cover that higher rate with cash flow by a comfortable 1.25 to 1.35 times, well above average for amaster limited partnership. But this year's growth rate is only the beginning, since Antero expects to grow its payout at that nearly 30% clip through 2020 and believes it can increase it another 20% annually in 2021 and 2022, while still maintaining conservative coverage above 1.1 five years from now. Fueling Antero Midstream's high-octane growth rate are the $2.7 billion of high-return expansion projects the company expects to complete over the next five years.
This outlook implies that investors who buy Antero Midstream today could see their yield increase to as much as 15% by 2022, nearly triple what they'd earn this year. That means investors could turn asmall up-front investment into a lucrative cash flow stream five years from now.
Kinder Morgan and Antero Midstream are great income options for investors because they pay decent yields now that will grow exponentially over the next few years. Even better, their stock prices should rise with those rapidly increasing dividends, potentially enabling investors to earn market-beating returns.
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Matthew DiLalloowns shares of Kinder Morgan and has the following options: short March 2018 $17 puts on Kinder Morgan and short June 2018 $25 puts on Antero Midstream Partners. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Retail Earnings Bring Bad News for Wage Growth: Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) reported a decent quarter. Versus analyst expectations of revenue of $22.5 billion, the company posted $22.8 billion on the top line. In the heavily watched same-store sales metric, the company solidly beat expectations of 3.1% year-over-year growth by posting a 3.6% rate. Finally, online sales increased 29% from the prior year, higher than Walmart 's (NYSE: WMT) 23% growth rate. If you think investors were elated that Target finally posted strong year-over-year growth (10% -- although this figure does include an additional week of sales), you'd be wrong. Shares closed down 4.5% on the trading session as investors expressed concerns about the company's narrow adjusted earnings per share miss and guidance. In the long run, the biggest affected stakeholder may be Target's rank-and-file employees, and those betting on stronger wage inflation. That's a trend that's becoming more common in the retail industry. As retailers grapple with how to balance maximizing profit against boosting their employees' compensation, Wall Street is making it quite clear what it would prefer to see. An income statement with a pen and glasses on top of it. Wall Street is keeping a close eye on income-statement margins. Image source: Getty Images. Wall Street hates labor costs, and is voting with its wallet Target is not alone in beating estimates on the top line but still facing a strong sell-off. Last month, CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) beat fourth-quarter analyst estimates by growing its fourth-quarter top line 5% over the prior year to $48.4 billion but still fell 5%. Unlike Target, CVS beat estimates on the bottom line as well by posting adjusted EPS of $1.92 versus analyst expectations of $1.89. Target posted an adjusted-EPS miss of $1.37, a mere penny lower than the $1.38 consensus. Margins across the board decreased as sales, general, and administrative expenses rose a full percentage point; the company specifically noted that investments in employees hampered margins. Story continues Wall Street seemed particularly bothered in light of the guidance for both companies, and wages were at the root of their derision. CVS noted it would boost starting pay for hourly employees from $9 per hour to $11 per hour and offer other employee-friendly benefits, which will total about $425 million annually. Increased investments are expected to drive down CVS' operating profit from earlier projections of 1% to 4% to a new range of -1.5% to 1.5%. Telsey Advisory Group analyst Joe Feldman summed up Wall Street's thoughts: "[Target] may hit the top line, like you saw this quarter, but will we see that fall through to the bottom line?" Wall Street's marching orders: tax-cut benefits should go to shareholders When the tax cuts were signed last year, Council of Economic Advisors chairman Kevin Hassett argued the average family would receive a pre-tax $4,000-per-year pay raise starting in 2021. The theory was, as less cash goes to Uncle Sam, companies would spend more on employees. So far there has been mixed evidence this will occur -- Walmart, Target, and CVS have all increased their starting wages and most, on some level, have credited the GOP tax overhaul for increased salaries. Critics have pointed out many employers have instead chosen to pay one-time bonuses, as high as $1,000 (the actual payouts are often much lower), as a PR-move, but have made no commitment to permanently raise wages. Others, like Walmart, had plans in place to increase salaries before the tax bill and have decided to pair increased salaries with job layoffs to control labor expenses. Target's and CVS' harsh sell-offs point to the fact that Wall Street is likely to keep retailers on a tight string as it relates to compensation, especially if it comes at the expense of margins. Walmart, Target, and CVS are the the first, sixth, and seventh largest retailers in the U.S., respectively, with a combined workforce of approximately 2.8 million people. These three companies help to shape the employment landscape and collectively have an outsized effect of setting the price of retail labor. Right now, Wall Street is signaling margins must remain high even if sales are strong, which portends less wage pressures at the important low end of the income scale. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Jamal Carnette, CFA owns shares of Target. The Motley Fool recommends CVS Health. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Retail Earnings Bring Bad News for Wage Growth: Target Corporation(NYSE: TGT)reported a decent quarter. Versus analyst expectations of revenue of $22.5 billion, the company posted $22.8 billion on the top line. In the heavily watched same-store sales metric, the company solidly beat expectations of 3.1% year-over-year growth by posting a 3.6% rate. Finally, online sales increased 29% from the prior year, higher thanWalmart's(NYSE: WMT)23% growth rate.
If you think investors were elated that Target finally posted strong year-over-year growth (10% -- although this figure does include an additional week of sales), you'd be wrong. Shares closed down 4.5% on the trading session as investors expressed concerns about the company's narrow adjusted earnings per share miss and guidance. In the long run, the biggest affected stakeholder may be Target's rank-and-file employees, and those betting on stronger wage inflation.
That's a trend that's becoming more common in the retail industry. As retailers grapple with how to balance maximizing profit against boosting their employees' compensation, Wall Street is making it quite clear what it would prefer to see.
Wall Street is keeping a close eye on income-statement margins. Image source: Getty Images.
Target is not alone in beating estimates on the top line but still facing a strong sell-off. Last month,CVS Health(NYSE: CVS)beat fourth-quarter analyst estimatesby growing its fourth-quarter top line 5% over the prior year to $48.4 billion but still fell 5%. Unlike Target, CVS beat estimates on the bottom line as well by posting adjusted EPS of $1.92 versus analyst expectations of $1.89.
Target posted an adjusted-EPS miss of $1.37, a mere penny lower than the $1.38 consensus. Margins across the board decreased as sales, general, and administrative expenses rose a full percentage point; the company specifically noted that investments in employees hampered margins.
Wall Street seemed particularly bothered in light of the guidance for both companies, and wages were at the root of their derision. CVS noted it would boost starting pay for hourly employees from $9 per hour to $11 per hour and offer other employee-friendly benefits, which will total about $425 million annually. Increased investments are expected to drive down CVS' operating profit from earlier projections of 1% to 4% to a new range of -1.5% to 1.5%. Telsey Advisory Group analyst Joe Feldman summed up Wall Street's thoughts: "[Target] may hit the top line, like you saw this quarter, but will we see that fall through to the bottom line?"
When the tax cuts were signed last year, Council of Economic Advisors chairman Kevin Hassett argued the average family would receive a pre-tax $4,000-per-year pay raise starting in 2021. The theory was, as less cash goes to Uncle Sam, companies would spend more on employees. So far there has been mixed evidence this will occur -- Walmart, Target, and CVS have all increased their starting wages and most, on some level, have credited the GOP tax overhaul for increased salaries.
Critics have pointed out many employers have instead chosen to pay one-time bonuses, as high as $1,000 (the actual payouts are often much lower), as a PR-move, but have made no commitment to permanently raise wages. Others, like Walmart, had plans in place to increase salaries before the tax bill and havedecided to pair increased salaries with job layoffsto control labor expenses.
Target's and CVS' harsh sell-offs point to the fact that Wall Street is likely to keep retailers on a tight string as it relates to compensation, especially if it comes at the expense of margins. Walmart, Target, and CVS are the the first, sixth, and seventh largest retailers in the U.S., respectively, with a combined workforce of approximately 2.8 million people. These three companies help to shape the employment landscape and collectively have an outsized effect of setting the price of retail labor. Right now, Wall Street is signaling margins must remain high even if sales are strong, which portends less wage pressures at the important low end of the income scale.
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Jamal Carnette, CFAowns shares of Target. The Motley Fool recommends CVS Health. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || The Revolutionary New HIV Drug You've Probably Never Heard Of: Innovative treatments have transformed HIV from a death sentence to a manageable condition for at least 20 million people taking them today. Unfortunately, around 25,000 Americans have infections that resist everything available.
For this underserved group, the FDA recently approved a new drug that breaks a lot of conventions. For starters, Trogarzo isn't fromGilead Sciences, Inc.(NASDAQ: GILD)orGlaxoSmithKline plc(NYSE: GSK). In fact, it's the first newbiologic drugAmericans will buy from a Chinese facility that bears an FDA stamp of approval.
Image source: Getty Images.
Trogarzo is also the first new HIV treatment to attack the virus from a different angle in at least a decade. Although this drug might not be a major threat to industry leaders on its own, investors will want to keep their eyes open for the collaborators' next moves.
Trogarzo treatment will require a trip to a healthcare provider every other week to receive an intravenous infusion. Gilead's Biktarvy and Glaxo's Juluca are easy-to-swallow pills intended for patients with infections still considered treatable. With this in mind, the threat to either of these big drugmakers barely registers.
That doesn't mean Trogarzo isn't a big deal for patients with resistant HIV infections. In trials leading to its approval, 83% of patients given the new treatment showed huge decreases in viral load at 13 days, and 43% were considered "virally suppressed" at 25 weeks. Remember, these were infections that didn't respond to anything available when the patients started treatment.
The drug formerly known as ibalizumab is the first antibody from TaiMed Biologics to reach commercialization. The Taiwanese company has enlisted Quebec'sTheratechnologies Inc.(NASDAQOTH: THERF)to market the drug in the U.S., EU, and Canada. A small yet highly motivated patient population gives it nine-figure peak sales potential.
Image source: Getty Images.
For biopharma stock owners, the most important thing about Trograzo will be where it's made. TaiMed outsourced manufacturing of its drug to WuXi AppTec, a privately held company that runs the first FDA-approved biologics factory in China to manufacture a commercial product.
The rapid ascent of WuXi AppTec, and China's biopharma sector in general, are going to shake up a global prescription drug market expected to reach $1 trillion in just a few years. China recently surpassed Japan as the second largest market for prescription medicines, but it's still one-fourth the size of the U.S. market. The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), China's equivalent of the FDA, has rolled back rules that were holding the sector back.
Selling drugs owned by another company, and perhaps manufactured by a third, is standard practice forWesternbiopharmaceutical companies. Until recently, the Chinese government had regulatory roadblocks in place that made such collaborations nearly impossible, even when all companies were headquartered on the mainland. For example, the Trogarzo that Wuxi manufactures in China would be illegal to sell on the Chinese mainland under the old rules.
The CFDA has also changed its stance on foreign data. In the past, clinical trial programs that had already succeeded globally needed to be repeated on the Chinese mainland. As a result, nearly two-thirds of new drugs the FDA approved between 2001 and 2016, still aren't available.
Years from now we'll probably look back at 2018 as the year China's biopharma industry woke up. Although you can't buy shares of any companies involved with Trogarzo on a major U.S. exchange,BeiGene Ltd.'s(NASDAQ: BGNE)ADRsdo.
The Beijing company recently signed amajor pactwithCelgene(NASDAQ: CELG)that will allow it to market the U.S. biotech's cancer drugs throughout China. Celgene earned a CFDA approval for Revlimid that makes it available for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients just a few weeks ago. This indication helped global sales of the drug reach $8.2 billion last year.
The ability to sell Celgene's drugs isn't the only reason BeiGene stockis soaringlately. It also boasts a deep pipeline of experimental new cancer therapies in late-stage development. Get ready for a flurry of activity from this red-hot biotech, and its peers.
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Cory Renauerowns shares of Celgene and Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene and Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool has the following options: short May 2018 $85 calls on Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || The Revolutionary New HIV Drug You've Probably Never Heard Of: Innovative treatments have transformed HIV from a death sentence to a manageable condition for at least 20 million people taking them today. Unfortunately, around 25,000 Americans have infections that resist everything available. For this underserved group, the FDA recently approved a new drug that breaks a lot of conventions. For starters, Trogarzo isn't from Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) or GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) . In fact, it's the first new biologic drug Americans will buy from a Chinese facility that bears an FDA stamp of approval. HIV-positive sample vials Image source: Getty Images. Trogarzo is also the first new HIV treatment to attack the virus from a different angle in at least a decade. Although this drug might not be a major threat to industry leaders on its own, investors will want to keep their eyes open for the collaborators' next moves. Threat assessment Trogarzo treatment will require a trip to a healthcare provider every other week to receive an intravenous infusion. Gilead's Biktarvy and Glaxo's Juluca are easy-to-swallow pills intended for patients with infections still considered treatable. With this in mind, the threat to either of these big drugmakers barely registers. That doesn't mean Trogarzo isn't a big deal for patients with resistant HIV infections. In trials leading to its approval, 83% of patients given the new treatment showed huge decreases in viral load at 13 days, and 43% were considered "virally suppressed" at 25 weeks. Remember, these were infections that didn't respond to anything available when the patients started treatment. The drug formerly known as ibalizumab is the first antibody from TaiMed Biologics to reach commercialization. The Taiwanese company has enlisted Quebec's Theratechnologies Inc. (NASDAQOTH: THERF) to market the drug in the U.S., EU, and Canada. A small yet highly motivated patient population gives it nine-figure peak sales potential. A Chinese flag and the word progress on a keyboard Image source: Getty Images. On your marks For biopharma stock owners, the most important thing about Trograzo will be where it's made. TaiMed outsourced manufacturing of its drug to WuXi AppTec, a privately held company that runs the first FDA-approved biologics factory in China to manufacture a commercial product. The rapid ascent of WuXi AppTec, and China's biopharma sector in general, are going to shake up a global prescription drug market expected to reach $1 trillion in just a few years. China recently surpassed Japan as the second largest market for prescription medicines, but it's still one-fourth the size of the U.S. market. The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), China's equivalent of the FDA, has rolled back rules that were holding the sector back. Story continues Selling drugs owned by another company, and perhaps manufactured by a third, is standard practice for Western biopharmaceutical companies. Until recently, the Chinese government had regulatory roadblocks in place that made such collaborations nearly impossible, even when all companies were headquartered on the mainland. For example, the Trogarzo that Wuxi manufactures in China would be illegal to sell on the Chinese mainland under the old rules. The CFDA has also changed its stance on foreign data. In the past, clinical trial programs that had already succeeded globally needed to be repeated on the Chinese mainland. As a result, nearly two-thirds of new drugs the FDA approved between 2001 and 2016, still aren't available. How to ride the trend Years from now we'll probably look back at 2018 as the year China's biopharma industry woke up. Although you can't buy shares of any companies involved with Trogarzo on a major U.S. exchange, BeiGene Ltd. 's (NASDAQ: BGNE) ADRs do. The Beijing company recently signed a major pact with Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) that will allow it to market the U.S. biotech's cancer drugs throughout China. Celgene earned a CFDA approval for Revlimid that makes it available for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients just a few weeks ago. This indication helped global sales of the drug reach $8.2 billion last year. The ability to sell Celgene's drugs isn't the only reason BeiGene stock is soaring lately. It also boasts a deep pipeline of experimental new cancer therapies in late-stage development. Get ready for a flurry of activity from this red-hot biotech, and its peers. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Cory Renauer owns shares of Celgene and Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene and Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool has the following options: short May 2018 $85 calls on Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || Warren Buffett Got Rich Using Borrowed Money to Invest, So Why Does He Think You Shouldn't?: Warren Buffett doesn't think it's smart to use debt to buy stocks. He explained in his letter to shareholders this year that Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) shares have plunged by more than 37% on four occasions, movements that he said "offers the strongest argument I can muster against ever using borrowed money to own stocks." Of course, some investors criticized this statement because Buffett's record was built on borrowed money. A well-publicized 2013 study said that "Buffett's returns appear to be neither luck nor magic, but, rather reward for the use of leverage combined with a focus on cheap, safe, quality stocks." The conclusion sure takes the magic out of Berkshire, doesn't it? America, the levered In truth, a lot of investors -- yes, even the nitpickers -- are probably using leverage to boost their returns. If you have a mortgage or car loan and simultaneously invest in a 401(k) plan or IRA , you are effectively using borrowed money to invest. It may not feel that way, but investing instead of paying down debt is the same thing as borrowing money to invest. People who buy homes as their primary residence can use nearly 29-to-1 leverage with FHA mortgages , well above the 1-to-1 leverage most people can get in the stock market. No one bats an eye, but it's a very leveraged bet on seeing home prices (or rents) go up over time. There's nothing wrong with having a mortgage and investing in a 401(k), or making a small down payment on a home you plan to live in for a long time. It generally works out just fine because the loans aren't callable . It's the terms of the debt, not the debt itself, that Buffett is most worried about. Warren Buffett at a Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Image source: The Motley Fool. Good debt, bad debt Some people like to call certain types of debt "good debt" and other types "bad debt." High-interest debt is always bad debt. Low-interest debt can be good debt, but generally only if the rate is fixed, and the bank can't phone you up and demand that you repay it immediately. Story continues This is why Buffett warns common people like you and me not to use borrowed money to invest -- there isn't much "good debt" available to buy stocks. Individual investors have to use margin loans , which carry variable rates of interest, and include terms that allow the lender to force you to repay them at a moment's notice. If you use a margin loan to buy stocks, and those stocks go down in value, your broker can phone you up to say "put more money in your account by tomorrow or we'll start selling your stocks." But they don't even have to do that. The Securities and Exchange Commission explains on its website just how dangerous margin debt can be: Always remember that your broker may not be required to make a margin call or otherwise tell you that your account has fallen below the firm's maintenance requirement. Your broker may be able to sell your securities at any time without consulting you first. Under most margin agreements, even if your firm offers to give you time to increase the equity in your account, it can sell your securities without waiting for you to meet the margin call. The seduction of leverage In an interview with CNBC, Buffett said that "my partner Charlie says there [are] only three ways a smart person can go broke: liquor, ladies, and leverage," adding that "the truth is -- the first two he just added because they started with L -- it's leverage." By 1973, Buffett's earliest investors would have already known he was an incredible investor, and that Berkshire Hathaway owned a portfolio of quality companies, public and private. But had they used margin loans to amplify their returns, they may have well gone broke, given Berkshire shares dropped by 59% from 1973 to 1975, which would easily wipe out the most levered investors. From 1965 to 1973, Buffett turned $1 of market value into more than $6. Imagine being so greedy that you chose to leverage it up, ultimately losing it all in the ensuing downturn, missing out on seeing your wealth multiply several thousand times more from 1974 to 2017. Buffett's issue isn't necessarily with leverage, but how you get it. If you can borrow on the same terms as Berkshire, you'd be quite wise to use leverage. But you can't. I can't. Very few people or companies can, which is why Buffett advises investors to stay away from leverage, even if he uses it himself. It's not hypocritical, it's just simplification. For the 99.999% of people who can't borrow like Buffett, it's very good advice. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Jordan Wathen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Warren Buffett Got Rich Using Borrowed Money to Invest, So Why Does He Think You Shouldn't?: Warren Buffett doesn't think it's smart to use debt to buy stocks. He explained in his letter to shareholders this year thatBerkshire Hathaway(NYSE: BRK-A)(NYSE: BRK-B)shares have plunged by more than 37% on four occasions, movements that he said "offers the strongest argument I can muster against ever using borrowed money to own stocks."
Of course, some investors criticized this statement because Buffett's record was built on borrowed money. A well-publicized 2013studysaid that "Buffett's returns appear to be neither luck nor magic, but, rather reward for the use of leverage combined with a focus on cheap, safe, quality stocks."
The conclusion sure takes the magic out of Berkshire, doesn't it?
In truth, a lot of investors -- yes, even the nitpickers -- are probably using leverage to boost their returns. If you have a mortgage or car loan and simultaneously invest in a401(k) plan or IRA, you are effectively using borrowed money to invest. It may not feel that way, but investing instead of paying down debt is the same thing as borrowing money to invest.
People who buy homes as their primary residence can use nearly 29-to-1 leverage withFHA mortgages, well above the 1-to-1 leverage most people can get in the stock market. No one bats an eye, but it's a very leveraged bet on seeing home prices (or rents) go up over time.
There's nothing wrong with having a mortgage and investing in a 401(k), or making a small down payment on a home you plan to live in for a long time. It generally works out just fine because the loans aren'tcallable. It's the terms of the debt, not the debt itself, that Buffett is most worried about.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Some people like to call certain types of debt "good debt" and other types "bad debt." High-interest debt is always bad debt. Low-interest debt can be good debt, but generally only if the rate is fixed, and the bank can't phone you up and demand that you repay it immediately.
This is why Buffett warns common people like you and me not to use borrowed money to invest -- there isn't much "good debt" available to buy stocks. Individual investors have to usemargin loans, which carry variable rates of interest, and include terms that allow the lender to force you to repay them at a moment's notice.
If you use a margin loan to buy stocks, and those stocks go down in value, your broker can phone you up to say "put more money in your account by tomorrow or we'll start selling your stocks." But they don't even have to do that. The Securities and Exchange Commission explains on itswebsitejust how dangerous margin debt can be:
Always remember that your broker may not be required to make a margin call or otherwise tell you that your account has fallen below the firm's maintenance requirement. Your broker may be able to sell your securities at any time without consulting you first. Under most margin agreements, even if your firm offers to give you time to increase the equity in your account, it can sell your securities without waiting for you to meet the margin call.
In an interview with CNBC, Buffett said that "my partner Charlie says there [are] only three ways a smart person can go broke: liquor, ladies, and leverage," adding that "the truth is -- the first two he just added because they started with L -- it's leverage."
By 1973, Buffett's earliest investors would have already known he was an incredible investor, and that Berkshire Hathaway owned a portfolio of quality companies, public and private. But had they used margin loans to amplify their returns, they may have well gone broke, given Berkshire shares dropped by 59% from 1973 to 1975, which would easily wipe out the most levered investors.
From 1965 to 1973, Buffett turned $1 of market value into more than $6. Imagine being so greedy that you chose to leverage it up, ultimately losing it all in the ensuing downturn, missing out on seeing your wealth multiply several thousand times more from 1974 to 2017.
Buffett's issue isn't necessarily with leverage, but how you get it. If you can borrow on the same terms as Berkshire, you'd be quite wise to use leverage. But you can't. I can't. Very few people or companies can, which is why Buffett advises investors to stay away from leverage, even if he uses it himself.
It's not hypocritical, it's just simplification. For the 99.999% of people who can't borrow like Buffett, it's very good advice.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
Jordan Wathenhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway (B shares). The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Apple's iPhone X vs. Samsung's New Galaxy S9: Apple 's (NASDAQ: AAPL) 10th-anniversary edition of the iPhone, known as the iPhone X, was seen as the best smartphone on the market when it was released in November 2017. Four months later, Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF) is set to release a phone that appears to largely match or exceed the iPhone X -- for $280 less. Smartphone customers will often stick to either Apple or Samsung simply because all their content and information is either on the iOS or Android software system. However, some Apple customers who couldn't bring themselves to spend $999 on Apple's iPhone X may be willing to spend a more reasonable $719 on a similar smartphone from Samsung. The S9 is available to pre-order now and will officially go on sale March 16. If you're in the market for the best smartphone money can buy, keep reading to figure out how the iPhone X and Galaxy S9 compare to each other. An ad shows the iPhoneX with a bright multicolored wallpaper on the screen is seen with splashing water around it against a white background The iPhone X features a retina display. Image source: Apple. Price tag Apple caused some sticker shock last September when it unveiled the iPhone X and said the starting cost was $999 for the 64GB model and $1,149 for the 256GB model. Of course, some iPhone X customers bought the phone through their wireless carrier so they could pay for it through a payment plan or get a deal on the phone. Samsung's S9 has caused a similar stir, but for a different reason. Some people are shocked that such a similar phone can sell for $719.99 for the 64GB model -- about $280 less than the iPhone X. While the S9 doesn't come in the larger 256GB model, it does have a microSD card slot that allows up to 400GB extra storage. Cameras Both devices have enviable cameras -- especially for phones. The iPhone X has a seven-megapixel front-facing TrueDepth camera. The phone also features a dual 12-megapixel rear camera system with dual optical image stabilization. The f-1.8 aperture on the wide-angle camera on the back is paired with an f-2.4 aperture on the telephoto camera. You can take portrait-mode pictures with either the front camera or the back cameras. Story continues Samsung's S9 features an eight-megapixel front-facing camera with an f-1.7 aperture and one 12-megapixel rear camera. The primary camera in back has a mechanical aperture that uses f-1.5 for low light and f-2.4 for brighter conditions. The S9 does not support a form of portrait mode, which is disappointing considering the blurred background effect has been an exciting addition to many phones, including the iPhone X, as well as the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL from Alphabet 's (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google. While the iPhone X trumps the Galaxy S9 because it has a dual camera on the back and features the portrait mode on both the front and back, you could always spring for the larger S9 Plus for $839.99. The S9 Plus features an eight-megapixel front camera and a dual 12-megapixel rear camera. This premium model has a starting price of $839.99, which is still about $159 less than the iPhone X starting price. The S9 does offer live focus, a version of portrait mode, although reviews have been poor so far, according to Forbes . It's also worth noting that while they lack portrait mode, the S9 and S9 Plus both have eight-megapixel front cameras, versus the seven-megapixel iPhone X front camera. Design Both phones feature a nearly bezel-less design with a glass front and back. The phones look nearly identical from the front. However, the iPhone X's dual camera is on the left side of the back of the phone, while Samsung put the S9's single camera and the S9 Plus dual camera in the top center of the back of the phone. Another difference is that while the iPhone X got rid of the fingerprint scanner in favor of facial recognition, the S9 and S9 Plus both have a fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone right below the camera(s). The two Samsung models also support facial recognition. Apple also notably left off a headphone jack on the iPhone X, while Samsung chose to keep the headphone jack on both of its new models. As for size, both the iPhone X and the S9 are 5.8 inches. The S9 Plus screen stands a little taller at 6.2 inches. All three models have OLED displays. The Samsung S9 is pictured with splashing water around it and a white background for an ad The Samsung S9 has the best screen resolution of any smartphone. Image source: Samsung. Battery The S9 has a bigger battery than the iPhone X. But a bigger battery doesn't automatically mean that it will have better battery life. The real test between batteries will happen once the S9 is released and can go through the extensive testing that the iPhone X has undergone since November. In addition, both batteries support wireless charging. Screen resolution Both phones also support OLED displays, but the S9 trumps the iPhone X in terms of resolution and pixel density (2960 x 1440 resolution at 568 ppi for the S9, compared to 2436 x 1125 resolution at 458 ppi for the iPhone X). For this reason, the S9 display was given an A-plus grade and named the best-performing OLED screen available right now, according to test company DisplayMate. Not even Apple's Super HD Retina Display on the iPhone X can top that. The iPhone X, however, does have TrueTone technology, which adjusts the color and intensity displayed on the screen according to the surrounding light. This reduces eyestrain and helps the images on the screen appear natural. Bottom line Although tests for the S9 are limited before its official release date on March 16, particularly in regard to speed, the phone seems to stand up to and even exceed the iPhone X when it comes to basic specs and design. If a dual back camera and portrait mode aren't important to you, then you can pay $719 for the S9 and have a phone that largely resembles the iPhone X. If a dual camera is important to you, then you can always get the S9 Plus for $839.99 and hope the kinks of the live focus mode will get worked out. Both options are still considerably less than the $999 iPhone X. In all other areas besides the camera, the S9 holds its own compared to the iPhone X. If you've ever thought you might want to switch from the iOS system, now might be the time. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Natalie Walters has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares) and Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Apple's iPhone X vs. Samsung's New Galaxy S9: Apple's(NASDAQ: AAPL)10th-anniversary edition of the iPhone, known as the iPhone X, was seen as the best smartphone on the market when it was released in November 2017. Four months later,Samsung(NASDAQOTH: SSNLF)is set to release a phone that appears to largely match or exceed the iPhone X -- for $280 less.
Smartphone customers will often stick to either Apple or Samsung simply because all their content and information is either on the iOS or Android software system. However, some Apple customers who couldn't bring themselves to spend $999 on Apple's iPhone X may be willing to spend a more reasonable $719 on a similar smartphone from Samsung.
The S9 is available to pre-order now and will officially go on sale March 16. If you're in the market for the best smartphone money can buy, keep reading to figure out how the iPhone X and Galaxy S9 compare to each other.
The iPhone X features a retina display. Image source: Apple.
Apple caused some sticker shock last September when it unveiled the iPhone X and said the starting cost was $999 for the 64GB model and $1,149 for the 256GB model.
Of course, some iPhone X customers bought the phonethrough their wireless carrierso they could pay for it through a payment plan or get a deal on the phone.
Samsung's S9 has caused a similar stir, but for a different reason. Some people are shocked that such a similar phone can sell for $719.99 for the 64GB model -- about $280 less than the iPhone X. While the S9 doesn't come in the larger 256GB model, it does have a microSD card slot that allows up to 400GB extra storage.
Both devices haveenviable cameras-- especially for phones.
The iPhone X has a seven-megapixel front-facing TrueDepth camera. The phone also features a dual 12-megapixel rear camera system with dual optical image stabilization. The f-1.8 aperture on the wide-angle camera on the back is paired with an f-2.4 aperture on the telephoto camera. You can take portrait-mode pictures with either the front camera or the back cameras.
Samsung's S9 features an eight-megapixel front-facing camera with an f-1.7 aperture and one 12-megapixel rear camera. The primary camera in back has a mechanical aperture that uses f-1.5 for low light and f-2.4 for brighter conditions. The S9 does not support a form of portrait mode, which is disappointing considering the blurred background effect has been an exciting addition to many phones, including the iPhone X, as well as the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL fromAlphabet's(NASDAQ: GOOGL)Google.
While the iPhone X trumps the Galaxy S9 because it has a dual camera on the back and features the portrait mode on both the front and back, you could always spring for the larger S9 Plus for $839.99.
The S9 Plus features an eight-megapixel front camera and a dual 12-megapixel rear camera. This premium model has a starting price of $839.99, which is still about $159 less than the iPhone X starting price. The S9 does offer live focus, a version of portrait mode, although reviews have been poor so far, according toForbes.
It's also worth noting that while they lack portrait mode, the S9 and S9 Plus both have eight-megapixel front cameras, versus the seven-megapixel iPhone X front camera.
Both phones feature a nearly bezel-less design with a glass front and back. The phones look nearly identical from the front. However, the iPhone X's dual camera is on the left side of the back of the phone, while Samsung put the S9's single camera and the S9 Plus dual camera in the top center of the back of the phone.
Another difference is that while the iPhone X got rid of the fingerprint scanner in favor of facial recognition, the S9 and S9 Plus both have a fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone right below the camera(s). The two Samsung models also support facial recognition.
Apple also notably left off a headphone jack on the iPhone X, while Samsung chose to keep the headphone jack on both of its new models.
As for size, both the iPhone X and the S9 are 5.8 inches. The S9 Plus screen stands a little taller at 6.2 inches. All three models have OLED displays.
The Samsung S9 has the best screen resolution of any smartphone. Image source: Samsung.
The S9 has a bigger battery than the iPhone X. But a bigger battery doesn't automatically mean that it will have better battery life. The real test between batteries will happen once the S9 is released and can go through the extensive testing that the iPhone X has undergone since November. In addition, both batteries support wireless charging.
Both phones also support OLED displays, but the S9 trumps the iPhone X in terms of resolution and pixel density (2960 x 1440 resolution at 568 ppi for the S9, compared to 2436 x 1125 resolution at 458 ppi for the iPhone X).
For this reason, the S9 display was given an A-plus grade and named the best-performing OLED screen available right now, according to test company DisplayMate. Not even Apple's Super HD Retina Display on the iPhone X can top that.
The iPhone X, however, does have TrueTone technology, which adjusts the color and intensity displayed on the screen according to the surrounding light. This reduces eyestrain and helps the images on the screen appear natural.
Although tests for the S9 are limited before its official release date on March 16, particularly in regard to speed, the phone seems to stand up to and even exceed the iPhone X when it comes to basic specs and design.
If a dual back camera and portrait mode aren't important to you, then you can pay $719 for the S9 and have a phone that largely resembles the iPhone X. If a dual camera is important to you, then you can always get the S9 Plus for $839.99 and hope the kinks of the live focus mode will get worked out. Both options are still considerably less than the $999 iPhone X.
In all other areas besides the camera, the S9 holds its own compared to the iPhone X. If you've ever thought you might want to switch from the iOS system, now might be the time.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Natalie Waltershas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares) and Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
[Social Media Buzz]
2018/03/12 23:00
#BTC 1058295.5円
#ETH 78910.5円
#ETC 2317.2円
#BCH 120127.6円
#XRP 88.4円
#XEM 43.7円
#LSK 1612.2円
#MONA 462.1円
#仮想通貨 #ビットコイン #Bitcoin #bitFlyer #Coincheck || BTC Price: 9175.12$,
BTC Today High : 9900.00$,
BTC All Time High : 19903.44$
ETH Price: 697.08$ #bitcoin #BTC $BTC #ETH $ETH #cryptopic.twitter.com/Q7km2ttGiB || Mar 12, 2018 16:00:00 UTC | 9,178.30$ | 7,449.40€ | 6,605.40£ | #Bitcoin #btc pic.twitter.com/MtrQY6zeqC || $499.00 Used Antminer D3 19.3GH/s Dash coin miner in han...
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9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35, 7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 1193.91, 1211.67, 1210.29, 1229.08, 1222.05, 1231.71, 1207.21, 1250.15, 1265.49, 1281.08, 1317.73, 1316.48, 1321.79, 1347.89, 1421.60, 1452.82, 1490.09, 1537.67, 1555.45, 1578.80, 1596.71, 1723.35, 1755.36, 1787.13, 1848.57, 1724.24, 1804.91, 1808.91, 1738.43, 1734.45, 1839.09, 1888.65, 1987.71, 2084.73, 2041.20, 2173.40, 2320.42, 2443.64, 2304.98, 2202.42, 2038.87, 2155.80, 2255.61, 2175.47, 2286.41, 2407.88, 2488.55, 2515.35, 2511.81, 2686.81, 2863.20, 2732.16, 2805.62, 2823.81, 2947.71, 2958.11, 2659.63, 2717.02, 2506.37, 2464.58, 2518.56, 2655.88, 2548.29, 2589.60, 2721.79, 2689.10, 2705.41, 2744.91, 2608.72, 2589.41, 2478.45, 2552.45, 2574.79, 2539.32, 2480.84, 2434.55, 2506.47, 2564.06, 2601.64, 2601.99, 2608.56, 2518.66, 2571.34, 2518.44, 2372.56, 2337.79, 2398.84, 2357.90, 2233.34, 1998.86.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-07-15]
Volume: 993608000, RSI (14-day): 28.34, 50-day EMA: 2388.05, 200-day EMA: 1711.58
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Authorities bust AlphaBay, the dark web's biggest marketplace: After the demise ofSilk Road, the role of the dark web's most notorious black marketplace was assumed by AlphaBay. ButThe Wall Street Journalreports that the site has now been shuttered, thanks to a joint law enforcement operation between the US, Canada and Thailand. One of its operators, Canadian Alexandre Cazes, was arrested in Thailand, but was found dead in his prison cell earlier this week.
AlphaBay was used to sell narcotics, stolen financial data, methods to commit internet fraud and weapons, reportedly earning millions of dollars each week. But questions linger on where exactly all of the profit has gone, with the paper reporting that the site's other founders have absconded with millions in Bitcoin.
AlphaBay was previously in the news after a vulnerability in the site's code enabled people to read private messages on the site. The revelationprompted other black markets, such as Hansa Market, to launch bug bounty programs to protect themselves against similar leaks. It's not clear if AlphaBay's flaw helped the authorities, but the move will likely encourage other sites to get better at security and privacy. || Authorities bust AlphaBay, the dark web's biggest marketplace: After the demise of Silk Road , the role of the dark web's most notorious black marketplace was assumed by AlphaBay. But The Wall Street Journal reports that the site has now been shuttered, thanks to a joint law enforcement operation between the US, Canada and Thailand. One of its operators, Canadian Alexandre Cazes, was arrested in Thailand, but was found dead in his prison cell earlier this week. AlphaBay was used to sell narcotics, stolen financial data, methods to commit internet fraud and weapons, reportedly earning millions of dollars each week. But questions linger on where exactly all of the profit has gone, with the paper reporting that the site's other founders have absconded with millions in Bitcoin. AlphaBay was previously in the news after a vulnerability in the site's code enabled people to read private messages on the site. The revelation prompted other black markets , such as Hansa Market, to launch bug bounty programs to protect themselves against similar leaks. It's not clear if AlphaBay's flaw helped the authorities, but the move will likely encourage other sites to get better at security and privacy. || A Wall Street legend is backing a bitcoin trading startup: John Mack Morgan Stanley (Former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack.AP) Wall Street investors have been slow to embrace bitcoin, even as the cryptocurrency has soared. John Mack, the former CEO of Morgan Stanley who led the bank through the doldrums of the financial crisis, wants to change that. The 72-year-old banker — along with other members of investment fund Venture One — has invested in Omega One, a Brooklyn-based startup that wants to act as a middleman between investors trading volatile cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The news was first reported by Bloomberg News’ Matthew Leising. As an agency broker, Omega One serves as counterparty, allowing clients like Wall Street banks to avoid the risks that come with these emerging assets while still serving clients who are interested in the space. To avoid crashing a single exchange with a large transaction, Omega claims it can split big trades across platforms. “We’re the bridge between the traditional capital markets and the crypto markets,” Omega One CTO Alex Gordon-Bradner told Bloomberg. “We will provide everything from balance sheet intermediation to a trusted counter party.” Banks seem to be more bullish on bitcoin’s underlying technology, blockchain, than they are on actual currency. BNY Mellon , for example, has set up a blockchain ledger that mirror’s the bank’s traditional system. Even Mack's former employer isn’t convinced bitcoin can function as a currency, saying it's more of a value-holding asset. Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed earlier this year to a price of over $3,000 a coin, but has fallen recently to $2,300. “I have been watching and investing in the cryptocurrency market over the last several years, and as a Venture One portfolio company, I find Omega One to be an important next step in the emergence of this new economy,” Mack said in a statement to Bloomberg. NOW WATCH: The world’s tallest single-family home is up for sale — take a look inside More From Business Insider Bitcoin is embroiled in a civil war — here's one way it can unfold MORGAN STANLEY: 'Bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking' Ethereum has found its price floor || A Wall Street legend is backing a bitcoin trading startup: (Former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack.AP)
Wall Street investors have been slow to embrace bitcoin, even as the cryptocurrency has soared.
John Mack, the former CEO of Morgan Stanley who led the bank through the doldrums of the financial crisis, wants to change that.
The 72-year-old banker — along with other members of investment fund Venture One — has invested in Omega One, a Brooklyn-based startup that wants to act as a middleman between investors trading volatile cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The news wasfirst reportedby Bloomberg News’ Matthew Leising.
As an agency broker,Omega Oneserves as counterparty, allowing clients like Wall Street banks to avoid the risks that come with these emerging assets while still serving clients who are interested in the space. To avoid crashing a single exchange with a large transaction, Omegaclaimsit can split big trades across platforms.
“We’re the bridge between the traditional capital markets and the crypto markets,” Omega One CTO Alex Gordon-Bradner told Bloomberg. “We will provide everything from balance sheet intermediation to a trusted counter party.”
Banks seem to be more bullish on bitcoin’s underlying technology, blockchain, than they are on actual currency.BNY Mellon, for example, has set up a blockchain ledger that mirror’s the bank’s traditional system. Even Mack's former employerisn’t convincedbitcoin can function as a currency, saying it's more of a value-holding asset.
Bitcoin’s priceskyrocketed earlier this year to a price of over $3,000 a coin, but has fallen recently to $2,300.
“I have been watching and investing in the cryptocurrency market over the last several years, and as a Venture One portfolio company, I find Omega One to be an important next step in the emergence of this new economy,” Mack said in a statement to Bloomberg.
NOW WATCH:The world’s tallest single-family home is up for sale — take a look inside
More From Business Insider
• Bitcoin is embroiled in a civil war — here's one way it can unfold
• MORGAN STANLEY: 'Bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking'
• Ethereum has found its price floor || DIMON: It's embarrassing to travel the world as an American citizen given 'the stupid s--- we have to deal with': REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo
(JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.Thomson Reuters)
Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, is thinking about a lot more than his bank's earnings these days.
One a pair of calls Friday — ostensibly to discuss the Wall Street firm'sbetter-than-expected results— Dimon went off on the political gridlock in the US.
At one point, Dimon went so far as to say on a call with analysts that it was "almost an embarrassment being an American citizen traveling around the world and listening to this stupid s--- we have to deal with."
He cited recent trips to India, China, Israel, Argentina, and Ireland, saying those countries understood the importance of investing in education and infrastructure and getting tax policy right.
"It's amazing to me that every single one of these countries understands that practical policies that promote business and growth are good for the citizens of these countries for jobs and wages and that somehow, this great American free-enterprise system, we no longer get it," he said.
He was pressed on the political situation in the US on several occasions, with one Wall Street analyst asking whether clients were beginning to worry about dysfunction and a lack of progress in Washington. Dimon flipped the question, saying that the US economy had grown despite years of bad policy and that it would continue to grow regardless of the political climate. It could just grow faster.
Dimon has taken the opportunity onnumerous occasions in recent months to highlight problems in America, including itsfailing education system,stifling bureaucracy, andhigh levels of incarceration and opioid deaths. He has set out somesolutions along the way.
These issues are much bigger than quarterly results, Dimon says, and he urged journalists to see the bigger picture.
"Who cares about fixed-income trading in the last two weeks in June?" he said. "I mean seriously?"
NOW WATCH:TOP STRATEGIST: Bitcoin will soar to over $20,000 by cannibalizing gold
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• 'If the EU determines over time that they want to move a lot more jobs out of London into the EU, they can simply dictate that'
• JPMorgan launched a new tool to help fill 7,500 finance jobs in New York City
• DIMON: Central bankers are facing an unprecedented and potentially 'disruptive' challenge || DIMON: It's embarrassing to travel the world as an American citizen given 'the stupid s--- we have to deal with': FILE PHOTO: JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon speaks at a Remain in the EU campaign event attended by Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (not shown) at JP Morgan's corporate centre in Bournemouth, southern Britain, June 3, 2016. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo (JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.Thomson Reuters) Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, is thinking about a lot more than his bank's earnings these days. One a pair of calls Friday ostensibly to discuss the Wall Street firm's better-than-expected results Dimon went off on the political gridlock in the US. At one point, Dimon went so far as to say on a call with analysts that it was "almost an embarrassment being an American citizen traveling around the world and listening to this stupid s--- we have to deal with." He cited recent trips to India, China, Israel, Argentina, and Ireland, saying those countries understood the importance of investing in education and infrastructure and getting tax policy right. "It's amazing to me that every single one of these countries understands that practical policies that promote business and growth are good for the citizens of these countries for jobs and wages and that somehow, this great American free-enterprise system, we no longer get it," he said. He was pressed on the political situation in the US on several occasions, with one Wall Street analyst asking whether clients were beginning to worry about dysfunction and a lack of progress in Washington. Dimon flipped the question, saying that the US economy had grown despite years of bad policy and that it would continue to grow regardless of the political climate. It could just grow faster. Dimon has taken the opportunity on numerous occasions in recent months to highlight problems in America , including its failing education system , stifling bureaucracy , and high levels of incarceration and opioid deaths . He has set out some solutions along the way . These issues are much bigger than quarterly results, Dimon says, and he urged journalists to see the bigger picture. "Who cares about fixed-income trading in the last two weeks in June?" he said. "I mean seriously?" NOW WATCH: TOP STRATEGIST: Bitcoin will soar to over $20,000 by cannibalizing gold More From Business Insider 'If the EU determines over time that they want to move a lot more jobs out of London into the EU, they can simply dictate that' JPMorgan launched a new tool to help fill 7,500 finance jobs in New York City DIMON: Central bankers are facing an unprecedented and potentially 'disruptive' challenge || PayPal and Apple enter major partnership: bii apple revenue and yoy growth q12017 (BI Intelligence) This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Payments Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . PayPal and Apple have partnered to give users the ability to use PayPal as a payment method when paying for Apple’s services, which includes the App Store, Apple Music, and iTunes, to name a few. The feature will be introduced in 12 markets, including the US and the UK, and it will be integrated with several devices across Apple’s ecosystem, including the iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. For PayPal, this has short-term and long-term implications: The immediate impact for PayPal is getting access to a massive revenue stream. Revenue from Apple services, which is mostly made up from the App Store, reached $7 billion in Q4 2016, up 18% year-over-year (YoY). Although the financial terms of this deal have not been disclosed, we can estimate the potential impact. If PayPal were to charge Apple 1.25% per transaction, which is much lower than the 2.9% fee it often charges merchants, and if PayPal accounts for a third of spend on the App Store in 2017 — which will be based on consumers spending a total of $40 billion on the iOS App Store, according to an App Annie estimate — PayPal would see $166 million in revenue for 2017. In the long run, PayPal’s partnership with Apple could give the firm an opportunity to integrate itself into Apple's future services. Over the last few years, Apple has indicated that it plans to turn its chat app, iMessage, into a robust ecosystem. The app now includes P2P payments, games, and other apps, with even more features coming in the fall with the launch of iOS 11. Although it hasn't been confirmed, it's reasonable to assume that one feature coming down the pipeline is the ability to buy products via iMessage. With PayPal already being a payment option within Apple's ecosystem, users may be more willing to use it going forward. BI Intelligence , Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on payments disruption that: Story continues Identifies the biggest drivers that are upending the payments industries in India, East Africa, Latin America, and Australia. Discusses what pain points digital payment services are solving. Details what specific technologies and services are being introduced that consumers are embracing, which can be leveraged by companies in these regions that are ripe for disruption. Assesses how leaders in the space can leverage these trends to either improve their capabilities or to identify which markets may be ripe for disruption and worth exploring. And much more To get the full report, subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND more than 250 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> Learn More Now You can also purchase and download the report from our research store . More From Business Insider PayPal has a new weapon in the P2P payments battle Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined THE CONVERSATIONAL COMMERCE REPORT: Chatbots' impact on the payments ecosystem and how merchants can capitalize on them || PayPal and Apple enter major partnership: (BI Intelligence)
This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, pleaseclick here.
PayPal and Apple have partnered to give users the ability to use PayPal as a payment method when paying for Apple’s services, which includes the App Store, Apple Music, and iTunes, to name a few.
The feature will be introduced in 12 markets, including the US and the UK, and it will be integrated with several devices across Apple’s ecosystem, including the iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.
For PayPal, this has short-term and long-term implications:
• The immediate impact for PayPal is getting access to a massive revenue stream.Revenue from Apple services, which is mostly made up from the App Store, reached $7 billion in Q4 2016, up 18% year-over-year (YoY). Although the financial terms of this deal have not been disclosed, we can estimate the potential impact. If PayPal were to charge Apple 1.25% per transaction, which is much lower than the 2.9% fee it often charges merchants, and if PayPal accounts for a third of spend on the App Store in 2017 — which will be based on consumers spending a total of $40 billion on the iOS App Store, according to an App Annie estimate — PayPal would see $166 million in revenue for 2017.
• In the long run, PayPal’s partnership with Apple could give the firm an opportunity to integrate itself into Apple's future services.Over the last few years, Apple has indicated that it plans to turn its chat app, iMessage, into a robust ecosystem. The app now includes P2P payments, games, and other apps, with even more features coming in the fall with the launch of iOS 11. Although it hasn't been confirmed, it's reasonable to assume that one feature coming down the pipeline is the ability to buy products via iMessage. With PayPal already being a payment option within Apple's ecosystem, users may be more willing to use it going forward.
BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compileda detailed report on payments disruptionthat:
• Identifies the biggest drivers that are upending the payments industries in India, East Africa, Latin America, and Australia.
• Discusses what pain points digital payment services are solving.
• Details what specific technologies and services are being introduced that consumers are embracing, which can be leveraged by companies in these regions that are ripe for disruption.
• Assesses how leaders in the space can leverage these trends to either improve their capabilities or to identify which markets may be ripe for disruption and worth exploring.
• And much more
To get the full report, subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND more than 250 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >>Learn More Now
You can also purchase and download the report from ourresearch store.
More From Business Insider
• PayPal has a new weapon in the P2P payments battle
• Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined
• THE CONVERSATIONAL COMMERCE REPORT: Chatbots' impact on the payments ecosystem and how merchants can capitalize on them || First Bitcoin Capital Corp Broadens Disruption of Loyalty Industry Placing 110 Token Rewards Points on Blockchain; Launches Loyalty Coin ICO with the Symbol FLY: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2017 /CoinQx Exchange LIMITED, a wholly owned subsidiary of FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP (OTC PINK: BITCF ) or "Company", "We", "Us" or "Our") expanded its blockchain loyalty program to include 100 of the top airlines and 10 of the top Hotel Chains using their industry codes as token symbols on the Bitcoin Blockchain for each.
The company released its 3rdInitial Coin Offering as a master loyalty coin so that all of the above mentioned 110 tokens will be exchangeable to one central coin, naming it Loyalty with the symbol FLY. In order to acquire FLY coin, anyone that sends 1 President Trump (PRES) coin to the Company's Omni Layer Bitcoin Wallet will receive 1 FLY coin into their Omni Wallet via sending PRES to: 1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrSIn order to insure receipt of the FLY coin upon transferring PRES to the company's address, be sure to log into your own personal Omni Wallet address and not an exchange provided wallet as they may not be prepared to credit those FLY to the sender's account. After 6 confirmations, the LOYALTY (FLY) coin will arrive in your personal Omni Wallet. This process is fully automated and requires no manual processing by the issuer of FLY coin. In order to save BTC fees when purchasing LOYALTY (FLY) it is best (when utilizing your personal wallet) to click on Explorer, then look for and click on Active Crowdsales, then look for and click on FLY, then look for and click on PARTICIPATAE and proceed to place the amount of PRES to send and for the fees type in .0001
The creation of FLY coin can be witnessed here:https://omniexplorer.info/lookupsp.aspx?sp=309
In order to track the maturity date of this ICO kindly see further details below, and note that the crowdsale cannot be accessed directly from the below URL rather follow the instructions above:https://www.omniwallet.org/assets/details/309
The early bird bonus of 25% reduces to 20% the second week, 15% the third week, 10% the fourth week and 5% the final, fifth week, when the ICO closes. A bonus of 10% of all coins sold will belong to The Company while the 90% will be held by the participants and the Company intends to participate as well. It is rare to find an ICO that doesn't amass a greater percentage to the issuers and organizers.
Management expects to have FLY listed on several exchanges in the immediate future, including its subsidiary, COINQX.com so that those unable to send PRES to acquire FLY may also participate and so that secondary trading may ensue.
FLY coin utilizes the same Omni protocols as our recently launchedWEEDcoin ICO, which yielded79,959,942.0324852from the Company's participation including the 6,045,726 earned WEED coins adding this asset to the Company's main wallet.
"We chose PRES as a medium of exchange for speculators to invest in FLY since it enjoys a growing popularity and trades on both C-cex.com, Livecoin.net as well as our CoinQX.com."
The reward points business for the travel industry alone is so staggering in size that according to (Maritz)
$48 Billion worth of points and airline miles are classified as unredeemed.
Already trillions of reward points have been issued and redeemed worldwide for all industries.
In order to capitalize on this booming industry, our CEO, Dr. Greg Rubin, an inventor with several patents approved by the USPTO has filed on our behalf a provisional patent that is designed to grant protection from competitors placing rewards points on a blockchain.
We have now issued many more billions of rewards points on the bitcoin blockchain to be redeemed by the future clients of a new travel agency that First Bitcoin is in the process of rolling out soon viawww.BitClassTravel.comhaving already posted a travel agency bond with the State of California.
What makes our reward points unique is that they can be bought and sold in cryptocurrency markets. We anticipate that our competitors will find their travel agencies accepting our rewards tokens in order to compete. A secondary market could emerge for this new form of reward points as digital currencies. Complete details of the usages and crypto miles issued will soon be found athttp://AIRmilesQX.com
In addition to being the first publicly trading company in the blockchain space, First Bitcoin has distinguished itself as a crypto leader capable of moving ahead of its competitors to roll out new endeavors so much so that our crypto reward tokens are already tradeable as altcoins on the OMNIDEX against some of the leading cryptocurrencies such as Tether, MaidSafeCoin, Omni, including all altcoins our subsidiary has issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain, to date. Many of these new mileage coins will be tradeable on our subsidiary cryptocurrency exchange, CoinQX.com, against more than 100 crypto and fiat currencies, including Bitcoin.
A complete list and details of these reward tokens for airline miles and hotel chains covering 110 of the largest airlines and top hotel chains is listed below:
UAE=Emirates QTR=Qatar Airways SIA=Singapore Airlines
CPA=Cathay Pacific ANA=All Nippon ETD=Etihad Airways
THY=Turkish Airlines EVA=EVA Air QFA=Qantas Airways
DLH=Lufthansa GIA=Garuda Indonesia CHH=Hainan Airlines
AXM=AirAsia KLM=Royal Dutch Airlines VRD=Virgin America
BAW=British Airways FIN=Finnair VIR=Virgin Atlantic
CRK=Hong Kong Airlines NAX=Norwegian ACA=Air Canada
CSN=China Southern AEE=Aegean Airlines MAS=Malaysia Airlines
DAL=Delta AirLines KAL=Korean Air XEIN=Aer Lingus
CAL=China Airlines EZY=EasyJet SLK=SilkAir
AFL=Aeroflot SAA=South African Airways OMA=Oman Air
KZR=Air Astana HVN=Vietnam Airlines LAN=LAN Airlines
JST=Jetstar Airways POE=Porter Airlines XAX=AirAsia
WJA=WestJet IGO=Indigo IBE=Iberia
JBU=jetBlue Airways JSA=Jetstar Asia AZU=Azul Airlines
AVA=Avianca TAM=TAM Airlines AZA=Alitalia
DAT=Brussels Airlines ASA=Alaska Airlines SCO=Scoot
SAS=Scandinavian SEY=Air Seychelles
TAP=Air Portugal TOM=Thomson Airways ALK=SriLankan Airlines
CMP=Copa Airlines AHY=Azerbaijan Airlines JAI=Jet Airways
MAU=Air Mauritius BER=Air Berlin EWG=Eurowings
EYH=Ethiopian Airlines APJ=Peach CES=China Eastern
GFA=Gulf Air ICE=Icelandair SVA=Saudi Arabian Airlines
PAL=Philippine Airlines EGF=American Eagle KQA=Kenya Airways
DTA=TAAG Angola CCA=Air China TSC=Air Transat
ANE=Air Nostrum DKH=Juneyao Airlines FJI=Fiji Airways
LOTP=LOT Polish CAW=Kulula
AMX=Aeromexico RBA=Royal Brunei Airlines GCRC=Tianjin Airlines
TGW=Tiger Airways MNO=Mango RJA=Royal Jordanian
SEJ=SpiceJet WOWN=WOW Airlines
HOTEL CHAINS Coins
SW- Starwood Hotels FS- Four Seasons Hotels RT- Accor Hotels
BW- Best Western International JJ- Jing Jiang International MC- Marriott International
HH- Hilton Worldwide IC- Intercontinental Hotels Group
CH- Choice Hotels International WY- Wyndham Hotel Group
AIRmilesQX will change forever frequent travel loyalty programs.
Many airlines offer frequent-flyer loyalty programs to encourage customers to accumulate "miles" which airline customers can redeem to purchase air travel or other rewards. Points, or miles earned though those programs are based on complex rules, like class of fare, distance, season or the amount paid. There are also many other ways to earn points. For example, credit card issuers partner with airlines and award loyalty points or miles based on customer's credit card usage. Points can be redeemed for air travel, ticket upgrades, booking hotels, car rentals, magazine subscriptions etc.
Frequent-flyer program points are in essence a type of virtual currency, but unfortunately, it was a one-way process - people could purchase points with national currencies, but were not able to exchange back into those currencies.
Airline miles programs go back to the early 70's when United Airlines began to reward loyal customers with points that could be accumulated and later could be used to pay for air travel. Their programs have evolved over the last 20 years, but it is not easy to use those programs.
When travelers actually try to book a flight, they encounter major hurdles, like blackout dates (days when award seats are limited or unavailable). Every airline program has its own policies, procedures, restrictions, etc. Also, airlines and credit card issuers are constantly changing the rules and policies. Several Airlines, for example, recently increased the minimum number of miles needed to book some of their flights.
Research published by COLLOQUY, a leading provider of loyalty marketing research in 2015 indicates that U.S. consumers hold 3.3 billion memberships in customer loyalty programs, a 26% increase over the number of memberships reported in COLLOQUY's prior census study in 2013. The 2015 Census shows that specialty store loyalty memberships now total 434 million, exceeding airline frequent flyer memberships (356 million) for the first time, placing second only to credit card reward programs, which account for 578 million memberships.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, year over year air travel increased by 5.5% from 2015 to 2016. COLLOQUY survey found that a little more than half of Americans - 55% - have taken a flight for business or leisure purposes in the past two years. And three-fourths of respondents, 75%, said their most recent flight was within the past six months.
Another noteworthy statistic is that 60% of frequent traveler miles issued today are not earned but instead purchased.
Points accumulating in loyalty programs globally are considered by some as real currencies with increasing value that has attracted the attention of criminals, according to Barry Kirk, vice president of Loyalty Solutions for Maritz Motivation Solutions. In the US alone, 3.3 billion loyalty program memberships have stored points and miles worth an estimated $48 billion, according to the Gartner Group.
BLOCKCHAIN will CHANGE customer loyalty programs forever by giving more control to rewards owners and reducing fraud through the transparency of blockchain technologies.
First Bitcoin Capital Corp trading on the OTC Markets as BITCF has developed a unique Blockchain-based airline miles platform, allowing people to buy/exchange/trade/transfer miles without any restrictions, blackout days or other cumbersome rules that airlines impose on their programs.
The following statistics may be of interest to our loyal shareholders:
2016 Travel Loyalty Statistics
• $48 billion worth of points and airline miles are unredeemed (Maritz)
• 75% of travelers are willing to share personal information, such as gender, age and email address, in exchange for tailored promotions, coupons, priority service or loyalty points (Zebra Technologies)
• 46% of loyalty program members said they like the ability to earn points on everyday spending with their airline loyalty program (Collinson Latitude)
• 47% of loyalty program members said they like the ability to earn points on everyday spending with their hotel loyalty program (Collinson Latitude)
• 29% of men have used an airline rewards program in the last three months vs. 20% of women (Vantiv)
• 75% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it allowed easy itinerary adjustments (Colloquy)
• 83% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it were easy to use (Colloquy)
• 69% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it allows for paying all travel expenses with loyalty points (Colloquy)
• 59% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it had a mobile app (Colloquy)
• Nearly 40% of "digital native" Millennials rely on mobile apps to track and redeem their rewards, while across all age groups, the use of plastic membership cards dropped by 4% during 2016 (Excentus)
• 69% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it provides info about planned travel destinations (Colloquy)
• 64% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it kept track of travel preferences (Colloquy)
• 56% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it provided personalized travel recommendations (Colloquy)
• 53% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it offered customization of in-flight amenities (Colloquy)
• 76% of business travelers said they would extend their business trips for leisure if their hotels offered discounts for additional nights or the chance to have a friend or family member join at a discounted rate (Colloquy)
• 92% of business travelers cited that ease of redemption would get their attention, 84% cited convenience of schedule holding appeal and 73% cited ability to personalize in-flight services (Colloquy)
• 81% of business travelers cited a higher level of service as having an impact on their evaluation of a loyalty program (Colloquy)
• 19% of consumers would skip their plans if they were to encounter added charges when booking with loyalty points (Colloquy)
• 40% of passengers picked their airport based on the airport loyalty program (ICLP)
• When choosing an airport, Generation X (44%) and Millennials (41%) are much more influenced by airport loyalty programs than Baby Boomers (31%) (ICLP)
• 80% of U.S. airline loyalty program members are inactive (Skift)
• 61% of travelers look for loyalty programs with a broad spectrum of rewards (Collinson Latitude)
• Major hotel chains increased loyalty program members in 2015 by 13.1% compared with 2014 (Skift)
• 71% of travelers think the value of a loyalty program decreases if it offers a limited range of rewards (Collinson Latitude)
• 77% of travel loyalty program members continued to spend with a brand and earn further points following a redemption on non-core inventory, compared to just 71% who redeemed on flights and hotels alone (Collinson Latitude)
• 42% of travelers believe that loyalty programs offering only core inventory rewards are "dated and old-fashioned" (Collinson Latitude)
• 40% of travel loyalty program members would tell friends and family about a program following a positive redemption experience (Collinson Latitude)
• 33% of travel loyalty program members would actively encourage family & friends to join the program following a positive redemption experience (Collinson Latitude)
• 48% of Millennials report loyalty programs are important when booking flights and 51% say they use them when booking hotels (Diamond Resorts)
• 39% of Millennials agree: "I don't think it's worthwhile to sign up for loyalty programs" (ADARA)
• 68% of Millennials will remain loyal to a program that offers them the most rewards (Internet Marketing)
• 75% of Millennials will remain loyal to a hotel brand even if they lost all reward points (Internet Marketing)
• 41% of Millennials joined a travel loyalty program because it was easy to use (Internet Marketing)
• Top hotels in terms of customer satisfaction: Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt (ACSI)
• Top hotel loyalty programs based on customer satisfaction: Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, IHG Rewards Club (JD Power)
• 83% of highly satisfied hotel loyalty program members say they "definitely will" recommend the brand (JD Power)
• 77% of hotel loyalty program members say their program is equally as valuable as it was in 2015; 11% say their program is less valuable than the year before (JD Power)
• 40% of customers choose hotel loyalty programs based on convenience of locations (JD Power)
• 55% of the affluent middle class hold frequent flyer memberships, down from 65% in 2014 (Collinson Group)
• InterContinental Hotels Group's IHG Rewards Club is the world's largest hotel loyalty program with more than 92 million members as of December 31, 2015 (Skift)
About The Company
First Bitcoin Capital Corp is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange-www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company owns and operates more than the following digital assets under development:
www.CoinQX.comcryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.altcoinmarketcap.commarket capitalization for all cryptocurrencies with up and down voting by altcoin communities.
www.Alphabitcoinfund.comworld's first crypto ETF.
www.strain.IDcannabis strains genetic information depository on decentralized Blockchain.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins.
www.bitcannpay.comOpen Loop merchant services for dispensaries.
List of most Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain and owned by the Company:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS
Second Omni wallet owned by CoinQX reflecting our airline mileage tokens issued:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1VuF26AgLyQ4tBoGzYTWRqtDG9zCB7QXe
Third (managed) Omni wallet owned by COINQX:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1M18oycUdsXv4pKyLLiASREcRGzPu22MxK
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Corp Broadens Disruption of Loyalty Industry Placing 110 Token Rewards Points on Blockchain; Launches Loyalty Coin ICO with the Symbol FLY: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2017 /CoinQx Exchange LIMITED, a wholly owned subsidiary of FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP (OTC PINK: BITCF ) or "Company", "We", "Us" or "Our") expanded its blockchain loyalty program to include 100 of the top airlines and 10 of the top Hotel Chains using their industry codes as token symbols on the Bitcoin Blockchain for each.
The company released its 3rdInitial Coin Offering as a master loyalty coin so that all of the above mentioned 110 tokens will be exchangeable to one central coin, naming it Loyalty with the symbol FLY. In order to acquire FLY coin, anyone that sends 1 President Trump (PRES) coin to the Company's Omni Layer Bitcoin Wallet will receive 1 FLY coin into their Omni Wallet via sending PRES to: 1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrSIn order to insure receipt of the FLY coin upon transferring PRES to the company's address, be sure to log into your own personal Omni Wallet address and not an exchange provided wallet as they may not be prepared to credit those FLY to the sender's account. After 6 confirmations, the LOYALTY (FLY) coin will arrive in your personal Omni Wallet. This process is fully automated and requires no manual processing by the issuer of FLY coin. In order to save BTC fees when purchasing LOYALTY (FLY) it is best (when utilizing your personal wallet) to click on Explorer, then look for and click on Active Crowdsales, then look for and click on FLY, then look for and click on PARTICIPATAE and proceed to place the amount of PRES to send and for the fees type in .0001
The creation of FLY coin can be witnessed here:https://omniexplorer.info/lookupsp.aspx?sp=309
In order to track the maturity date of this ICO kindly see further details below, and note that the crowdsale cannot be accessed directly from the below URL rather follow the instructions above:https://www.omniwallet.org/assets/details/309
The early bird bonus of 25% reduces to 20% the second week, 15% the third week, 10% the fourth week and 5% the final, fifth week, when the ICO closes. A bonus of 10% of all coins sold will belong to The Company while the 90% will be held by the participants and the Company intends to participate as well. It is rare to find an ICO that doesn't amass a greater percentage to the issuers and organizers.
Management expects to have FLY listed on several exchanges in the immediate future, including its subsidiary, COINQX.com so that those unable to send PRES to acquire FLY may also participate and so that secondary trading may ensue.
FLY coin utilizes the same Omni protocols as our recently launchedWEEDcoin ICO, which yielded79,959,942.0324852from the Company's participation including the 6,045,726 earned WEED coins adding this asset to the Company's main wallet.
"We chose PRES as a medium of exchange for speculators to invest in FLY since it enjoys a growing popularity and trades on both C-cex.com, Livecoin.net as well as our CoinQX.com."
The reward points business for the travel industry alone is so staggering in size that according to (Maritz)
$48 Billion worth of points and airline miles are classified as unredeemed.
Already trillions of reward points have been issued and redeemed worldwide for all industries.
In order to capitalize on this booming industry, our CEO, Dr. Greg Rubin, an inventor with several patents approved by the USPTO has filed on our behalf a provisional patent that is designed to grant protection from competitors placing rewards points on a blockchain.
We have now issued many more billions of rewards points on the bitcoin blockchain to be redeemed by the future clients of a new travel agency that First Bitcoin is in the process of rolling out soon viawww.BitClassTravel.comhaving already posted a travel agency bond with the State of California.
What makes our reward points unique is that they can be bought and sold in cryptocurrency markets. We anticipate that our competitors will find their travel agencies accepting our rewards tokens in order to compete. A secondary market could emerge for this new form of reward points as digital currencies. Complete details of the usages and crypto miles issued will soon be found athttp://AIRmilesQX.com
In addition to being the first publicly trading company in the blockchain space, First Bitcoin has distinguished itself as a crypto leader capable of moving ahead of its competitors to roll out new endeavors so much so that our crypto reward tokens are already tradeable as altcoins on the OMNIDEX against some of the leading cryptocurrencies such as Tether, MaidSafeCoin, Omni, including all altcoins our subsidiary has issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain, to date. Many of these new mileage coins will be tradeable on our subsidiary cryptocurrency exchange, CoinQX.com, against more than 100 crypto and fiat currencies, including Bitcoin.
A complete list and details of these reward tokens for airline miles and hotel chains covering 110 of the largest airlines and top hotel chains is listed below:
UAE=Emirates QTR=Qatar Airways SIA=Singapore Airlines
CPA=Cathay Pacific ANA=All Nippon ETD=Etihad Airways
THY=Turkish Airlines EVA=EVA Air QFA=Qantas Airways
DLH=Lufthansa GIA=Garuda Indonesia CHH=Hainan Airlines
AXM=AirAsia KLM=Royal Dutch Airlines VRD=Virgin America
BAW=British Airways FIN=Finnair VIR=Virgin Atlantic
CRK=Hong Kong Airlines NAX=Norwegian ACA=Air Canada
CSN=China Southern AEE=Aegean Airlines MAS=Malaysia Airlines
DAL=Delta AirLines KAL=Korean Air XEIN=Aer Lingus
CAL=China Airlines EZY=EasyJet SLK=SilkAir
AFL=Aeroflot SAA=South African Airways OMA=Oman Air
KZR=Air Astana HVN=Vietnam Airlines LAN=LAN Airlines
JST=Jetstar Airways POE=Porter Airlines XAX=AirAsia
WJA=WestJet IGO=Indigo IBE=Iberia
JBU=jetBlue Airways JSA=Jetstar Asia AZU=Azul Airlines
AVA=Avianca TAM=TAM Airlines AZA=Alitalia
DAT=Brussels Airlines ASA=Alaska Airlines SCO=Scoot
SAS=Scandinavian SEY=Air Seychelles
TAP=Air Portugal TOM=Thomson Airways ALK=SriLankan Airlines
CMP=Copa Airlines AHY=Azerbaijan Airlines JAI=Jet Airways
MAU=Air Mauritius BER=Air Berlin EWG=Eurowings
EYH=Ethiopian Airlines APJ=Peach CES=China Eastern
GFA=Gulf Air ICE=Icelandair SVA=Saudi Arabian Airlines
PAL=Philippine Airlines EGF=American Eagle KQA=Kenya Airways
DTA=TAAG Angola CCA=Air China TSC=Air Transat
ANE=Air Nostrum DKH=Juneyao Airlines FJI=Fiji Airways
LOTP=LOT Polish CAW=Kulula
AMX=Aeromexico RBA=Royal Brunei Airlines GCRC=Tianjin Airlines
TGW=Tiger Airways MNO=Mango RJA=Royal Jordanian
SEJ=SpiceJet WOWN=WOW Airlines
HOTEL CHAINS Coins
SW- Starwood Hotels FS- Four Seasons Hotels RT- Accor Hotels
BW- Best Western International JJ- Jing Jiang International MC- Marriott International
HH- Hilton Worldwide IC- Intercontinental Hotels Group
CH- Choice Hotels International WY- Wyndham Hotel Group
AIRmilesQX will change forever frequent travel loyalty programs.
Many airlines offer frequent-flyer loyalty programs to encourage customers to accumulate "miles" which airline customers can redeem to purchase air travel or other rewards. Points, or miles earned though those programs are based on complex rules, like class of fare, distance, season or the amount paid. There are also many other ways to earn points. For example, credit card issuers partner with airlines and award loyalty points or miles based on customer's credit card usage. Points can be redeemed for air travel, ticket upgrades, booking hotels, car rentals, magazine subscriptions etc.
Frequent-flyer program points are in essence a type of virtual currency, but unfortunately, it was a one-way process - people could purchase points with national currencies, but were not able to exchange back into those currencies.
Airline miles programs go back to the early 70's when United Airlines began to reward loyal customers with points that could be accumulated and later could be used to pay for air travel. Their programs have evolved over the last 20 years, but it is not easy to use those programs.
When travelers actually try to book a flight, they encounter major hurdles, like blackout dates (days when award seats are limited or unavailable). Every airline program has its own policies, procedures, restrictions, etc. Also, airlines and credit card issuers are constantly changing the rules and policies. Several Airlines, for example, recently increased the minimum number of miles needed to book some of their flights.
Research published by COLLOQUY, a leading provider of loyalty marketing research in 2015 indicates that U.S. consumers hold 3.3 billion memberships in customer loyalty programs, a 26% increase over the number of memberships reported in COLLOQUY's prior census study in 2013. The 2015 Census shows that specialty store loyalty memberships now total 434 million, exceeding airline frequent flyer memberships (356 million) for the first time, placing second only to credit card reward programs, which account for 578 million memberships.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, year over year air travel increased by 5.5% from 2015 to 2016. COLLOQUY survey found that a little more than half of Americans - 55% - have taken a flight for business or leisure purposes in the past two years. And three-fourths of respondents, 75%, said their most recent flight was within the past six months.
Another noteworthy statistic is that 60% of frequent traveler miles issued today are not earned but instead purchased.
Points accumulating in loyalty programs globally are considered by some as real currencies with increasing value that has attracted the attention of criminals, according to Barry Kirk, vice president of Loyalty Solutions for Maritz Motivation Solutions. In the US alone, 3.3 billion loyalty program memberships have stored points and miles worth an estimated $48 billion, according to the Gartner Group.
BLOCKCHAIN will CHANGE customer loyalty programs forever by giving more control to rewards owners and reducing fraud through the transparency of blockchain technologies.
First Bitcoin Capital Corp trading on the OTC Markets as BITCF has developed a unique Blockchain-based airline miles platform, allowing people to buy/exchange/trade/transfer miles without any restrictions, blackout days or other cumbersome rules that airlines impose on their programs.
The following statistics may be of interest to our loyal shareholders:
2016 Travel Loyalty Statistics
• $48 billion worth of points and airline miles are unredeemed (Maritz)
• 75% of travelers are willing to share personal information, such as gender, age and email address, in exchange for tailored promotions, coupons, priority service or loyalty points (Zebra Technologies)
• 46% of loyalty program members said they like the ability to earn points on everyday spending with their airline loyalty program (Collinson Latitude)
• 47% of loyalty program members said they like the ability to earn points on everyday spending with their hotel loyalty program (Collinson Latitude)
• 29% of men have used an airline rewards program in the last three months vs. 20% of women (Vantiv)
• 75% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it allowed easy itinerary adjustments (Colloquy)
• 83% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it were easy to use (Colloquy)
• 69% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it allows for paying all travel expenses with loyalty points (Colloquy)
• 59% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it had a mobile app (Colloquy)
• Nearly 40% of "digital native" Millennials rely on mobile apps to track and redeem their rewards, while across all age groups, the use of plastic membership cards dropped by 4% during 2016 (Excentus)
• 69% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it provides info about planned travel destinations (Colloquy)
• 64% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it kept track of travel preferences (Colloquy)
• 56% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it provided personalized travel recommendations (Colloquy)
• 53% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it offered customization of in-flight amenities (Colloquy)
• 76% of business travelers said they would extend their business trips for leisure if their hotels offered discounts for additional nights or the chance to have a friend or family member join at a discounted rate (Colloquy)
• 92% of business travelers cited that ease of redemption would get their attention, 84% cited convenience of schedule holding appeal and 73% cited ability to personalize in-flight services (Colloquy)
• 81% of business travelers cited a higher level of service as having an impact on their evaluation of a loyalty program (Colloquy)
• 19% of consumers would skip their plans if they were to encounter added charges when booking with loyalty points (Colloquy)
• 40% of passengers picked their airport based on the airport loyalty program (ICLP)
• When choosing an airport, Generation X (44%) and Millennials (41%) are much more influenced by airport loyalty programs than Baby Boomers (31%) (ICLP)
• 80% of U.S. airline loyalty program members are inactive (Skift)
• 61% of travelers look for loyalty programs with a broad spectrum of rewards (Collinson Latitude)
• Major hotel chains increased loyalty program members in 2015 by 13.1% compared with 2014 (Skift)
• 71% of travelers think the value of a loyalty program decreases if it offers a limited range of rewards (Collinson Latitude)
• 77% of travel loyalty program members continued to spend with a brand and earn further points following a redemption on non-core inventory, compared to just 71% who redeemed on flights and hotels alone (Collinson Latitude)
• 42% of travelers believe that loyalty programs offering only core inventory rewards are "dated and old-fashioned" (Collinson Latitude)
• 40% of travel loyalty program members would tell friends and family about a program following a positive redemption experience (Collinson Latitude)
• 33% of travel loyalty program members would actively encourage family & friends to join the program following a positive redemption experience (Collinson Latitude)
• 48% of Millennials report loyalty programs are important when booking flights and 51% say they use them when booking hotels (Diamond Resorts)
• 39% of Millennials agree: "I don't think it's worthwhile to sign up for loyalty programs" (ADARA)
• 68% of Millennials will remain loyal to a program that offers them the most rewards (Internet Marketing)
• 75% of Millennials will remain loyal to a hotel brand even if they lost all reward points (Internet Marketing)
• 41% of Millennials joined a travel loyalty program because it was easy to use (Internet Marketing)
• Top hotels in terms of customer satisfaction: Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt (ACSI)
• Top hotel loyalty programs based on customer satisfaction: Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, IHG Rewards Club (JD Power)
• 83% of highly satisfied hotel loyalty program members say they "definitely will" recommend the brand (JD Power)
• 77% of hotel loyalty program members say their program is equally as valuable as it was in 2015; 11% say their program is less valuable than the year before (JD Power)
• 40% of customers choose hotel loyalty programs based on convenience of locations (JD Power)
• 55% of the affluent middle class hold frequent flyer memberships, down from 65% in 2014 (Collinson Group)
• InterContinental Hotels Group's IHG Rewards Club is the world's largest hotel loyalty program with more than 92 million members as of December 31, 2015 (Skift)
About The Company
First Bitcoin Capital Corp is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange-www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company owns and operates more than the following digital assets under development:
www.CoinQX.comcryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
www.altcoinmarketcap.commarket capitalization for all cryptocurrencies with up and down voting by altcoin communities.
www.Alphabitcoinfund.comworld's first crypto ETF.
www.strain.IDcannabis strains genetic information depository on decentralized Blockchain.
www.iCoiNEWS.comreal time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
www.BITminer.ccproviding mining pool management services.
www.2016coin.orgonline daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins.
www.bitcannpay.comOpen Loop merchant services for dispensaries.
List of most Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain and owned by the Company:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS
Second Omni wallet owned by CoinQX reflecting our airline mileage tokens issued:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1VuF26AgLyQ4tBoGzYTWRqtDG9zCB7QXe
Third (managed) Omni wallet owned by COINQX:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1M18oycUdsXv4pKyLLiASREcRGzPu22MxK
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Corp Broadens Disruption of Loyalty Industry Placing 110 Token Rewards Points on Blockchain; Launches Loyalty Coin ICO with the Symbol FLY: VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2017 / CoinQx Exchange LIMITED, a wholly owned subsidiary of FIRST BITCOIN CAPITAL CORP (OTC PINK: BITCF ) or "Company", "We", "Us" or "Our") expanded its blockchain loyalty program to include 100 of the top airlines and 10 of the top Hotel Chains using their industry codes as token symbols on the Bitcoin Blockchain for each. The company released its 3 rd Initial Coin Offering as a master loyalty coin so that all of the above mentioned 110 tokens will be exchangeable to one central coin, naming it Loyalty with the symbol FLY. In order to acquire FLY coin, anyone that sends 1 President Trump (PRES) coin to the Company's Omni Layer Bitcoin Wallet will receive 1 FLY coin into their Omni Wallet via sending PRES to: 1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrSIn order to insure receipt of the FLY coin upon transferring PRES to the company's address, be sure to log into your own personal Omni Wallet address and not an exchange provided wallet as they may not be prepared to credit those FLY to the sender's account. After 6 confirmations, the LOYALTY (FLY) coin will arrive in your personal Omni Wallet. This process is fully automated and requires no manual processing by the issuer of FLY coin. In order to save BTC fees when purchasing LOYALTY (FLY) it is best (when utilizing your personal wallet) to click on Explorer, then look for and click on Active Crowdsales, then look for and click on FLY, then look for and click on PARTICIPATAE and proceed to place the amount of PRES to send and for the fees type in .0001 The creation of FLY coin can be witnessed here: https://omniexplorer.info/lookupsp.aspx?sp=309 In order to track the maturity date of this ICO kindly see further details below, and note that the crowdsale cannot be accessed directly from the below URL rather follow the instructions above: https://www.omniwallet.org/assets/details/309 The early bird bonus of 25% reduces to 20% the second week, 15% the third week, 10% the fourth week and 5% the final, fifth week, when the ICO closes. A bonus of 10% of all coins sold will belong to The Company while the 90% will be held by the participants and the Company intends to participate as well. It is rare to find an ICO that doesn't amass a greater percentage to the issuers and organizers. Story continues Management expects to have FLY listed on several exchanges in the immediate future, including its subsidiary, COINQX.com so that those unable to send PRES to acquire FLY may also participate and so that secondary trading may ensue. FLY coin utilizes the same Omni protocols as our recently launched WEED coin ICO, which yielded 79,959,942.0324852 from the Company's participation including the 6,045,726 earned WEED coins adding this asset to the Company's main wallet. "We chose PRES as a medium of exchange for speculators to invest in FLY since it enjoys a growing popularity and trades on both C-cex.com, Livecoin.net as well as our CoinQX.com." The reward points business for the travel industry alone is so staggering in size that according to ( Maritz ) $48 Billion worth of points and airline miles are classified as unredeemed. Already trillions of reward points have been issued and redeemed worldwide for all industries. In order to capitalize on this booming industry, our CEO, Dr. Greg Rubin, an inventor with several patents approved by the USPTO has filed on our behalf a provisional patent that is designed to grant protection from competitors placing rewards points on a blockchain. We have now issued many more billions of rewards points on the bitcoin blockchain to be redeemed by the future clients of a new travel agency that First Bitcoin is in the process of rolling out soon via www.BitClassTravel.com having already posted a travel agency bond with the State of California. What makes our reward points unique is that they can be bought and sold in cryptocurrency markets. We anticipate that our competitors will find their travel agencies accepting our rewards tokens in order to compete. A secondary market could emerge for this new form of reward points as digital currencies. Complete details of the usages and crypto miles issued will soon be found at http://AIRmilesQX.com In addition to being the first publicly trading company in the blockchain space, First Bitcoin has distinguished itself as a crypto leader capable of moving ahead of its competitors to roll out new endeavors so much so that our crypto reward tokens are already tradeable as altcoins on the OMNIDEX against some of the leading cryptocurrencies such as Tether, MaidSafeCoin, Omni, including all altcoins our subsidiary has issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain, to date. Many of these new mileage coins will be tradeable on our subsidiary cryptocurrency exchange, CoinQX.com, against more than 100 crypto and fiat currencies, including Bitcoin. A complete list and details of these reward tokens for airline miles and hotel chains covering 110 of the largest airlines and top hotel chains is listed below: UAE=Emirates QTR=Qatar Airways SIA=Singapore Airlines CPA=Cathay Pacific ANA=All Nippon ETD=Etihad Airways THY=Turkish Airlines EVA=EVA Air QFA=Qantas Airways DLH=Lufthansa GIA=Garuda Indonesia CHH=Hainan Airlines AXM=AirAsia KLM=Royal Dutch Airlines VRD=Virgin America BAW=British Airways FIN=Finnair VIR=Virgin Atlantic CRK=Hong Kong Airlines NAX=Norwegian ACA=Air Canada CSN=China Southern AEE=Aegean Airlines MAS=Malaysia Airlines DAL=Delta AirLines KAL=Korean Air XEIN=Aer Lingus CAL=China Airlines EZY=EasyJet SLK=SilkAir AFL=Aeroflot SAA=South African Airways OMA=Oman Air KZR=Air Astana HVN=Vietnam Airlines LAN=LAN Airlines JST=Jetstar Airways POE=Porter Airlines XAX=AirAsia WJA=WestJet IGO=Indigo IBE=Iberia JBU=jetBlue Airways JSA=Jetstar Asia AZU=Azul Airlines AVA=Avianca TAM=TAM Airlines AZA=Alitalia DAT=Brussels Airlines ASA=Alaska Airlines SCO=Scoot SAS=Scandinavian SEY=Air Seychelles TAP=Air Portugal TOM=Thomson Airways ALK=SriLankan Airlines CMP=Copa Airlines AHY=Azerbaijan Airlines JAI=Jet Airways MAU=Air Mauritius BER=Air Berlin EWG=Eurowings EYH=Ethiopian Airlines APJ=Peach CES=China Eastern GFA=Gulf Air ICE=Icelandair SVA=Saudi Arabian Airlines PAL=Philippine Airlines EGF=American Eagle KQA=Kenya Airways DTA=TAAG Angola CCA=Air China TSC=Air Transat ANE=Air Nostrum DKH=Juneyao Airlines FJI=Fiji Airways LOTP=LOT Polish CAW=Kulula AMX=Aeromexico RBA=Royal Brunei Airlines GCRC=Tianjin Airlines TGW=Tiger Airways MNO=Mango RJA=Royal Jordanian SEJ=SpiceJet WOWN=WOW Airlines HOTEL CHAINS Coins SW- Starwood Hotels FS- Four Seasons Hotels RT- Accor Hotels BW- Best Western International JJ- Jing Jiang International MC- Marriott International HH- Hilton Worldwide IC- Intercontinental Hotels Group CH- Choice Hotels International WY- Wyndham Hotel Group AIRmilesQX will change forever frequent travel loyalty programs. Many airlines offer frequent-flyer loyalty programs to encourage customers to accumulate "miles" which airline customers can redeem to purchase air travel or other rewards. Points, or miles earned though those programs are based on complex rules, like class of fare, distance, season or the amount paid. There are also many other ways to earn points. For example, credit card issuers partner with airlines and award loyalty points or miles based on customer's credit card usage. Points can be redeemed for air travel, ticket upgrades, booking hotels, car rentals, magazine subscriptions etc. Frequent-flyer program points are in essence a type of virtual currency, but unfortunately, it was a one-way process - people could purchase points with national currencies, but were not able to exchange back into those currencies. Airline miles programs go back to the early 70's when United Airlines began to reward loyal customers with points that could be accumulated and later could be used to pay for air travel. Their programs have evolved over the last 20 years, but it is not easy to use those programs. When travelers actually try to book a flight, they encounter major hurdles, like blackout dates (days when award seats are limited or unavailable). Every airline program has its own policies, procedures, restrictions, etc. Also, airlines and credit card issuers are constantly changing the rules and policies. Several Airlines, for example, recently increased the minimum number of miles needed to book some of their flights. Research published by COLLOQUY, a leading provider of loyalty marketing research in 2015 indicates that U.S. consumers hold 3.3 billion memberships in customer loyalty programs, a 26% increase over the number of memberships reported in COLLOQUY's prior census study in 2013. The 2015 Census shows that specialty store loyalty memberships now total 434 million, exceeding airline frequent flyer memberships (356 million) for the first time, placing second only to credit card reward programs, which account for 578 million memberships. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, year over year air travel increased by 5.5% from 2015 to 2016. COLLOQUY survey found that a little more than half of Americans - 55% - have taken a flight for business or leisure purposes in the past two years. And three-fourths of respondents, 75%, said their most recent flight was within the past six months. Another noteworthy statistic is that 60% of frequent traveler miles issued today are not earned but instead purchased. Points accumulating in loyalty programs globally are considered by some as real currencies with increasing value that has attracted the attention of criminals, according to Barry Kirk, vice president of Loyalty Solutions for Maritz Motivation Solutions. In the US alone, 3.3 billion loyalty program memberships have stored points and miles worth an estimated $48 billion, according to the Gartner Group. BLOCKCHAIN will CHANGE customer loyalty programs forever by giving more control to rewards owners and reducing fraud through the transparency of blockchain technologies. First Bitcoin Capital Corp trading on the OTC Markets as BITCF has developed a unique Blockchain-based airline miles platform, allowing people to buy/exchange/trade/transfer miles without any restrictions, blackout days or other cumbersome rules that airlines impose on their programs. The following statistics may be of interest to our loyal shareholders: 2016 Travel Loyalty Statistics $48 billion worth of points and airline miles are unredeemed ( Maritz ) 75% of travelers are willing to share personal information, such as gender, age and email address, in exchange for tailored promotions, coupons, priority service or loyalty points ( Zebra Technologies ) 46% of loyalty program members said they like the ability to earn points on everyday spending with their airline loyalty program ( Collinson Latitude ) 47% of loyalty program members said they like the ability to earn points on everyday spending with their hotel loyalty program ( Collinson Latitude ) 29% of men have used an airline rewards program in the last three months vs. 20% of women ( Vantiv ) 75% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it allowed easy itinerary adjustments ( Colloquy ) 83% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it were easy to use ( Colloquy ) 69% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it allows for paying all travel expenses with loyalty points ( Colloquy ) 59% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it had a mobile app ( Colloquy ) Nearly 40% of "digital native" Millennials rely on mobile apps to track and redeem their rewards, while across all age groups, the use of plastic membership cards dropped by 4% during 2016 ( Excentus ) 69% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it provides info about planned travel destinations ( Colloquy ) 64% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it kept track of travel preferences ( Colloquy ) 56% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it provided personalized travel recommendations ( Colloquy ) 53% of U.S. consumers would be open to using a site operated by a loyalty program if it offered customization of in-flight amenities ( Colloquy ) 76% of business travelers said they would extend their business trips for leisure if their hotels offered discounts for additional nights or the chance to have a friend or family member join at a discounted rate (Colloquy) 92% of business travelers cited that ease of redemption would get their attention, 84% cited convenience of schedule holding appeal and 73% cited ability to personalize in-flight services (Colloquy) 81% of business travelers cited a higher level of service as having an impact on their evaluation of a loyalty program (Colloquy) 19% of consumers would skip their plans if they were to encounter added charges when booking with loyalty points (Colloquy) 40% of passengers picked their airport based on the airport loyalty program ( ICLP ) When choosing an airport, Generation X (44%) and Millennials (41%) are much more influenced by airport loyalty programs than Baby Boomers (31%) ( ICLP ) 80% of U.S. airline loyalty program members are inactive ( Skift ) 61% of travelers look for loyalty programs with a broad spectrum of rewards ( Collinson Latitude ) Major hotel chains increased loyalty program members in 2015 by 13.1% compared with 2014 ( Skift ) 71% of travelers think the value of a loyalty program decreases if it offers a limited range of rewards ( Collinson Latitude ) 77% of travel loyalty program members continued to spend with a brand and earn further points following a redemption on non-core inventory, compared to just 71% who redeemed on flights and hotels alone ( Collinson Latitude ) 42% of travelers believe that loyalty programs offering only core inventory rewards are "dated and old-fashioned" ( Collinson Latitude ) 40% of travel loyalty program members would tell friends and family about a program following a positive redemption experience ( Collinson Latitude ) 33% of travel loyalty program members would actively encourage family & friends to join the program following a positive redemption experience ( Collinson Latitude ) 48% of Millennials report loyalty programs are important when booking flights and 51% say they use them when booking hotels ( Diamond Resorts ) 39% of Millennials agree: "I don't think it's worthwhile to sign up for loyalty programs" ( ADARA ) 68% of Millennials will remain loyal to a program that offers them the most rewards ( Internet Marketing ) 75% of Millennials will remain loyal to a hotel brand even if they lost all reward points ( Internet Marketing ) 41% of Millennials joined a travel loyalty program because it was easy to use ( Internet Marketing ) Top hotels in terms of customer satisfaction: Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt ( ACSI ) Top hotel loyalty programs based on customer satisfaction: Hilton HHonors, Marriott Rewards, IHG Rewards Club ( JD Power ) 83% of highly satisfied hotel loyalty program members say they "definitely will" recommend the brand ( JD Power ) 77% of hotel loyalty program members say their program is equally as valuable as it was in 2015; 11% say their program is less valuable than the year before ( JD Power ) 40% of customers choose hotel loyalty programs based on convenience of locations ( JD Power ) 55% of the affluent middle class hold frequent flyer memberships, down from 65% in 2014 ( Collinson Group ) InterContinental Hotels Group's IHG Rewards Club is the world's largest hotel loyalty program with more than 92 million members as of December 31, 2015 ( Skift ) About The Company First Bitcoin Capital Corp is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange- www.CoinQX.com . We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges) we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time the Company owns and operates more than the following digital assets under development: www.CoinQX.com cryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN. www.altcoinmarketcap.com market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies with up and down voting by altcoin communities. www.Alphabitcoinfund.com world's first crypto ETF. www.strain.ID cannabis strains genetic information depository on decentralized Blockchain. www.iCoiNEWS.com real time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site. www.BITminer.cc providing mining pool management services. www.2016coin.org online daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN -commemorative presidential election coins. www.bitcannpay.com Open Loop merchant services for dispensaries. List of most Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain and owned by the Company: http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS Second Omni wallet owned by CoinQX reflecting our airline mileage tokens issued: http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1VuF26AgLyQ4tBoGzYTWRqtDG9zCB7QXe Third (managed) Omni wallet owned by COINQX: http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1M18oycUdsXv4pKyLLiASREcRGzPu22MxK Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com. Contact us via: [email protected] or visit http://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com SOURCE: First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || Morgan Stanley Says Investors Shouldn’t Buy Bitcoin. They Should Spend It: Just hours before two audience members urged viewers to “Buy Bitcoin” during Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony Wednesday, banking giant released a decidedly less glowing recommendation of the cryptocurrency.
The skinny of the Morgan Skinny’s analysis: Rather than buying bitcoin, owners need to be spending it.
“Bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking,” the team of Morgan Stanley analysts led by James Faucette wrote.
The bank notes that while five online merchants out of the top 500 tracked by e-commerce analytics site Internet Retailer accepted Bitcoin last year, that figure has now shrunk to three.
Part of the problem?
“Bitcoin owners are reluctant to use the cryptocurrency given its rate of appreciation,” they wrote.
Still, it’s understandable why investors have been so hesitant about spending the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has been on a winning streakfor the majority of this year. And it is hard to spend something when is has the potential to add $200 in a day or go from say$25 dollars to $22 millionover the course of seven years.
“The [Bitcoin] ecosystem has focused more on value speculation rather than the foot leather-eating work of increasing acceptance,” the team wrote, saying that that focus has made it “way easier to trade speculatively than convince new merchants to accept the cryptocurrency.”
As of now, Bitcoin is facing several challenges in its path toward mainstream usage. In the U.S. at least, the regulatory infrastructure for dealing withthe currency is still bare.
Still, for at least one retailer that accepts Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency is still flowing. Online furniture retailer Overstock.com said earlier this year that it now handles about 100,000 bitcoin transactions a week, up from30,000 a year earlier. And while its not being used by the major retailers noted by Morgan Stanley, it has at the very least been used bymarijuana dispensaries.
Morgan Stanley’s note comes at a time wheninvestors from BlackRock toMark Cubanare crying “bubble” on the cryptocurrency, which has breached severalall-time highs this year.
See original article on Fortune.com
More from Fortune.com
• Bitcoin Photobombers Crashed Janet Yellen's Fed Testimony--and Got Paid $10,000
• Cryptocurrencies Down 23% for July. Is This the Bottom?
• BlackRock's Top Economist Thinks Bitcoin and Ethereum Look Like a Bubble
• Mark Karpeles, CEO of Defunct Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox, Pleads Not Guilty in a Japanese Court
• IRS Blinks in Bitcoin Probe, Exempts Coinbase Transactions Under $20,000 || Morgan Stanley Says Investors Shouldn’t Buy Bitcoin. They Should Spend It: Just hours before two audience members urged viewers to “ Buy Bitcoin ” during Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony Wednesday, banking giant released a decidedly less glowing recommendation of the cryptocurrency. The skinny of the Morgan Skinny’s analysis: Rather than buying bitcoin, owners need to be spending it. “Bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking,” the team of Morgan Stanley analysts led by James Faucette wrote. The bank notes that while five online merchants out of the top 500 tracked by e-commerce analytics site Internet Retailer accepted Bitcoin last year, that figure has now shrunk to three. Part of the problem? “Bitcoin owners are reluctant to use the cryptocurrency given its rate of appreciation,” they wrote. Still, it’s understandable why investors have been so hesitant about spending the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has been on a winning streak for the majority of this year . And it is hard to spend something when is has the potential to add $200 in a day or go from say $25 dollars to $22 million over the course of seven years. “The [Bitcoin] ecosystem has focused more on value speculation rather than the foot leather-eating work of increasing acceptance,” the team wrote, saying that that focus has made it “way easier to trade speculatively than convince new merchants to accept the cryptocurrency.” As of now, Bitcoin is facing several challenges in its path toward mainstream usage. In the U.S. at least, the regulatory infrastructure for dealing with the currency is still bare . Still, for at least one retailer that accepts Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency is still flowing. Online furniture retailer Overstock.com said earlier this year that it now handles about 100,000 bitcoin transactions a week, up from 30,000 a year earlier . And while its not being used by the major retailers noted by Morgan Stanley, it has at the very least been used by marijuana dispensaries . Story continues Morgan Stanley’s note comes at a time when investors from BlackRock to Mark Cuban are crying “ bubble ” on the cryptocurrency, which has breached several all-time highs this year. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Bitcoin Photobombers Crashed Janet Yellen's Fed Testimony--and Got Paid $10,000 Cryptocurrencies Down 23% for July. Is This the Bottom? BlackRock's Top Economist Thinks Bitcoin and Ethereum Look Like a Bubble Mark Karpeles, CEO of Defunct Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox, Pleads Not Guilty in a Japanese Court IRS Blinks in Bitcoin Probe, Exempts Coinbase Transactions Under $20,000 || Morgan Stanley Says Investors Shouldn’t Buy Bitcoin. They Should Spend It: Just hours before two audience members urged viewers to “Buy Bitcoin” during Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony Wednesday, banking giant released a decidedly less glowing recommendation of the cryptocurrency.
The skinny of the Morgan Skinny’s analysis: Rather than buying bitcoin, owners need to be spending it.
“Bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking,” the team of Morgan Stanley analysts led by James Faucette wrote.
The bank notes that while five online merchants out of the top 500 tracked by e-commerce analytics site Internet Retailer accepted Bitcoin last year, that figure has now shrunk to three.
Part of the problem?
“Bitcoin owners are reluctant to use the cryptocurrency given its rate of appreciation,” they wrote.
Still, it’s understandable why investors have been so hesitant about spending the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has been on a winning streakfor the majority of this year. And it is hard to spend something when is has the potential to add $200 in a day or go from say$25 dollars to $22 millionover the course of seven years.
“The [Bitcoin] ecosystem has focused more on value speculation rather than the foot leather-eating work of increasing acceptance,” the team wrote, saying that that focus has made it “way easier to trade speculatively than convince new merchants to accept the cryptocurrency.”
As of now, Bitcoin is facing several challenges in its path toward mainstream usage. In the U.S. at least, the regulatory infrastructure for dealing withthe currency is still bare.
Still, for at least one retailer that accepts Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency is still flowing. Online furniture retailer Overstock.com said earlier this year that it now handles about 100,000 bitcoin transactions a week, up from30,000 a year earlier. And while its not being used by the major retailers noted by Morgan Stanley, it has at the very least been used bymarijuana dispensaries.
Morgan Stanley’s note comes at a time wheninvestors from BlackRock toMark Cubanare crying “bubble” on the cryptocurrency, which has breached severalall-time highs this year.
See original article on Fortune.com
More from Fortune.com
• Bitcoin Photobombers Crashed Janet Yellen's Fed Testimony--and Got Paid $10,000
• Cryptocurrencies Down 23% for July. Is This the Bottom?
• BlackRock's Top Economist Thinks Bitcoin and Ethereum Look Like a Bubble
• Mark Karpeles, CEO of Defunct Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox, Pleads Not Guilty in a Japanese Court
• IRS Blinks in Bitcoin Probe, Exempts Coinbase Transactions Under $20,000 || Alphabet's Nest Cam IQ recognizes burglars' faces—for a steep price: Overall, the Internet of Things revolution has been a bust.
You know—all those coffee makers, garage-door openers, and washer-dryers that we can control with apps on our phones. Only a couple of categories seem even worth messing with: internet-connected thermostats, and home security cameras.
These are tiny WiFi cameras that you can plunk around your house—and then spy from your phone, wherever you go in the world. You can see who’s at the front door, see if the baby’s awake, see if the nanny is overfeeding your kids, or monitor your home for motion when you’re not paying attention.
Two years ago, Nest, which is a part of Google parent Alphabet (GOOG,GOOGL), introduced the Nest Cam ($200), which was a tweaked-up version of the former Dropcam, which Nest had bought for $550 million. Feel free to re-read that sentence.
The Nest Cam was a fine product, soon joined by a weatherproof model, Nest Cam Outdoor. In addition to the usual function—letting you see what’s going on back at home, and alerting you when there’s motion—they also have two-way audio, so that you can yell at the room by remote control when you see something amiss. You know: “Xerxes, DOWN! Off the couch. DOWN!”
Now there’s theNest Cam IQ,which raises the price by 50% to a nose-bleedy $300. (The earlier cameras remain available.) That extra $100 buys you improved picture and sound, plus facial recognition. That is, the camera learns what people in your home look like, using the same facial algorithms found in Google Photos. At that point, it can alert you only when astrangeris poking around your house.
As with the other Nest Cams, this one is super easy to set up. You create a Nest account, plug in the camera’s 10-foot power cord, and then use your phone to scan the barcode on the bottom of the camera. Suddenly, it’s set up. Its current camera view appears right in the same Nest app that you use to control your Nest thermostats and smoke detectors.
As before, you can’t actually make the physical lens move by remote control to pan around the room, as you can on some rival products. But youcanpan and zoom—with your fingers on the screen. Since the camera’s view is 130 degrees, you can actually see the entire room at once, and then zoom and pan to any part of the room.
Better yet, the new camera is actually a 4K camera, meaning that it has four times as many pixels as high definition. That feature doesn’t help with spying on your home or playing back recordings, since all of that still takes place in 1080p hi-def. Itisuseful when you’ve zoomed in with your fingers. A special button (hidden, alas, until you tap the screen) at that point harvests the extra pixels to sharpen up the image. I’m guessing it works best if you shout “Enhance!” as you tap, like they do on TV.
The 4K sensor also makes possible Supersight, a feature that’s supposed to auto-zoom and auto-track a face as it enters the frame, with the original full-room view as an inset.
In practice, it’s more like not-so-Super Sight. Sometimes it doesn’t kick in at all. Sometimes it pans so aggressively in the direction the thief is walking that it pans right past him. Seems like it’s expecting the evildoer to move at just the right speed, or it doesn’t really work.
As before, the picture and sound are delayed by a couple of seconds. Don’t try to practice your comic timing with the folks back at home over the Nest Cam.
The clarity of the image (and the sound), on the other hand, are terrific. Thanks to night vision, you even get 15 feet of incredible clarity in total darkness.
The original Nest Cam used to go off too often, triggered by cats and dogs, cars outside the window, and so on. It became the security camera that cried wolf; you wound up ignoring the notifications, or turning them off.
The IQ still sends a lot of false positives, but the facial recognition really helps.
In the first week of using the new camera, the phone app shows you the faces of people it spots passing through the room. You’re asked, “Do you know this person?” for each one. There will be repetitions during those first days, but eventually, the app will know who’s entitled to be in your home, and who’s not.
And sure enough: the IQ now lets you know only when someoneunauthorized is in your home. It’s a brilliant, important feature.
It is not, however, a Google invention. TheNetatmo Welcomecamera was the first with facial recognition (and, soon, dog and cat recognition)—and it costs $100 less.
The subscription news
All of the spying fun you’ve read about so far is free. Unfortunately, you have to pay a monthly fee to getthe good stuff. It’s $10 a month, or $100 a year.
Here’s what that gets you:
• Continuous, 24/7 recordings of everything that’s happened in your house, going back 10 days. Either on the phone or on the Nest website, you can catch something you missed with the camcorder, like your baby’s first steps or a pet’s funny trick. Freeze the frame on whoever keeps spilling food on the couch. Settle an argument (or prolong one) by proving who brought the subject up first. (Without the subscription, you get only a three-hour rewind window.)
• Share clips of all that, or make time-lapse videos of it
• Notifications of audio events like a dog barking or people talking
• Notifications when familiar faces are spotted
• Activity zones: Up to four parts of the room that you want the camera to ignore or pay particular attention to. (Unfortunately, facial recognition doesn’t respect these zones—it’s always on—so faces on a TV trigger alerts.)
(At least standard “I’ve spotted a face!” notifications are now included. The previous Nest cameras required a subscription even for that feature.)
I’ll just say it: I can’t stand monthly subscriptions. They’re an unnecessary money gouge. Especially when you remember that you need one subscription foreach camera(although additional subscriptions are half price).
Besides, plenty of rival cameras also store your recordings online for free, or onto a memory card. And some of them have cool features that the Nest doesn’t. And none of them cost as much:
• Netgear Arlo Pro ($228):Wireless and battery powered or wired. Weatherproof. Multi-camera discounts. Seven days’ worth of footage storage online for free; 30 days’ worth for $10 a month.
• iControl Piper nv ($270): No subscription plans (records 1,000 motion-triggered clips online for free), but no continuous recording, either. Also tracks outside temp and humidity levels, and issues weather warnings. Acts as a hub for smart-home devices.
• D-Link DCS-2530L Full HD 180-Degree Wi-Fi Camera ($132):Records to a memory card, so no subscription necessary.
• Samsung SmartCam PT ($160):You can pan and tilt the camera from afar, with auto-tracking of a person in the room. Records to a memory card, so no subscription necessary. Privacy mode: When you’re home, camera aims down and shuts off.
• Netatmo Welcome ($200):Face recognition. Stores clips on a memory card (no 24/7 recording).
Make no mistake: The Nest Cam IQ is a fantastic home-security camera. Simple to set up, easy to use, super smart facial recognition, and the best picture and sound on the market. For its core function, it’s among the best home-security cameras you can buy—and buy, and buy, and buy.
Correction: This post originally stated that Nest is owned by Google. In fact, it is owned by Google parent Alphabet. The error has been corrected.
More from David Pogue:
Electrify your existing bike in 2 minutes with these ingenious wheels
Marty Cooper, inventor of the cellphone: The next step is implantables
The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update
Now I get it: Bitcoin
David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app
The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers
David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’sdavidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s@pogue. On email, he’s [email protected]. You canread all his articles here, or you can sign up toget his columns by email. || Alphabet's Nest Cam IQ recognizes burglars' facesfor a steep price: Overall, the Internet of Things revolution has been a bust. You knowall those coffee makers, garage-door openers, and washer-dryers that we can control with apps on our phones. Only a couple of categories seem even worth messing with: internet-connected thermostats, and home security cameras. Meet the WiFi home security cam. These are tiny WiFi cameras that you can plunk around your houseand then spy from your phone, wherever you go in the world. You can see whos at the front door, see if the babys awake, see if the nanny is overfeeding your kids, or monitor your home for motion when youre not paying attention. Two years ago, Nest, which is a part of Google parent Alphabet ( GOOG , GOOGL ), introduced the Nest Cam ($200), which was a tweaked-up version of the former Dropcam, which Nest had bought for $550 million. Feel free to re-read that sentence. The Nest Cam was a fine product, soon joined by a weatherproof model, Nest Cam Outdoor. In addition to the usual functionletting you see whats going on back at home, and alerting you when theres motionthey also have two-way audio, so that you can yell at the room by remote control when you see something amiss. You know: Xerxes, DOWN! Off the couch. DOWN! The Nest Cam IQ has a tilting neck and a speaker on the back. Now theres the Nest Cam IQ, which raises the price by 50% to a nose-bleedy $300. (The earlier cameras remain available.) That extra $100 buys you improved picture and sound, plus facial recognition. That is, the camera learns what people in your home look like, using the same facial algorithms found in Google Photos. At that point, it can alert you only when a stranger is poking around your house. This camera doesnt waste your time when it spots family members. Whats the same As with the other Nest Cams, this one is super easy to set up. You create a Nest account, plug in the cameras 10-foot power cord, and then use your phone to scan the barcode on the bottom of the camera. Suddenly, its set up. Its current camera view appears right in the same Nest app that you use to control your Nest thermostats and smoke detectors. Story continues The cameras image shows up in the same app that controls Nest thermostats and smoke detectors. As before, you cant actually make the physical lens move by remote control to pan around the room, as you can on some rival products. But you can pan and zoomwith your fingers on the screen. Since the cameras view is 130 degrees, you can actually see the entire room at once, and then zoom and pan to any part of the room. Better yet, the new camera is actually a 4K camera, meaning that it has four times as many pixels as high definition. That feature doesnt help with spying on your home or playing back recordings, since all of that still takes place in 1080p hi-def. It is useful when youve zoomed in with your fingers. A special button (hidden, alas, until you tap the screen) at that point harvests the extra pixels to sharpen up the image. Im guessing it works best if you shout Enhance! as you tap, like they do on TV. The 4K camera pays off when you want to zoom-and-enhance. The 4K sensor also makes possible Supersight, a feature thats supposed to auto-zoom and auto-track a face as it enters the frame, with the original full-room view as an inset. SuperSight is supposed to pan and zoom to follow the intruder. In practice, its more like not-so-Super Sight. Sometimes it doesnt kick in at all. Sometimes it pans so aggressively in the direction the thief is walking that it pans right past him. Seems like its expecting the evildoer to move at just the right speed, or it doesnt really work. As before, the picture and sound are delayed by a couple of seconds. Dont try to practice your comic timing with the folks back at home over the Nest Cam. The clarity of the image (and the sound), on the other hand, are terrific. Thanks to night vision, you even get 15 feet of incredible clarity in total darkness. Notifications The original Nest Cam used to go off too often, triggered by cats and dogs, cars outside the window, and so on. It became the security camera that cried wolf; you wound up ignoring the notifications, or turning them off. The IQ still sends a lot of false positives, but the facial recognition really helps. In the first week of using the new camera, the phone app shows you the faces of people it spots passing through the room. Youre asked, Do you know this person? for each one. There will be repetitions during those first days, but eventually, the app will know whos entitled to be in your home, and whos not. During the first week with your Nest, it tries to learn your familys faces. And sure enough: the IQ now lets you know only when someone un authorized is in your home. Its a brilliant, important feature. It is not, however, a Google invention. The Netatmo Welcome camera was the first with facial recognition (and, soon, dog and cat recognition)and it costs $100 less. The subscription news All of the spying fun youve read about so far is free. Unfortunately, you have to pay a monthly fee to get the good stuff . Its $10 a month, or $100 a year. Heres what that gets you: Continuous, 24/7 recordings of everything thats happened in your house, going back 10 days. Either on the phone or on the Nest website, you can catch something you missed with the camcorder, like your babys first steps or a pets funny trick. Freeze the frame on whoever keeps spilling food on the couch. Settle an argument (or prolong one) by proving who brought the subject up first. (Without the subscription, you get only a three-hour rewind window.) Share clips of all that, or make time-lapse videos of it Notifications of audio events like a dog barking or people talking Notifications when familiar faces are spotted Activity zones: Up to four parts of the room that you want the camera to ignore or pay particular attention to. (Unfortunately, facial recognition doesnt respect these zonesits always onso faces on a TV trigger alerts.) (At least standard Ive spotted a face! notifications are now included. The previous Nest cameras required a subscription even for that feature.) Ill just say it: I cant stand monthly subscriptions. Theyre an unnecessary money gouge. Especially when you remember that you need one subscription for each camera (although additional subscriptions are half price). Besides, plenty of rival cameras also store your recordings online for free, or onto a memory card. And some of them have cool features that the Nest doesnt. And none of them cost as much: Netgear Arlo Pro ($228): Wireless and battery powered or wired. Weatherproof. Multi-camera discounts. Seven days worth of footage storage online for free; 30 days worth for $10 a month. iControl Piper nv ($270) : No subscription plans (records 1,000 motion-triggered clips online for free), but no continuous recording, either. Also tracks outside temp and humidity levels, and issues weather warnings. Acts as a hub for smart-home devices. D-Link DCS-2530L Full HD 180-Degree Wi-Fi Camera ($132): Records to a memory card, so no subscription necessary. Samsung SmartCam PT ($160): You can pan and tilt the camera from afar, with auto-tracking of a person in the room. Records to a memory card, so no subscription necessary. Privacy mode: When youre home, camera aims down and shuts off. Netatmo Welcome ($200): Face recognition. Stores clips on a memory card (no 24/7 recording). Make no mistake: The Nest Cam IQ is a fantastic home-security camera. Simple to set up, easy to use, super smart facial recognition, and the best picture and sound on the market. For its core function, its among the best home-security cameras you can buyand buy, and buy, and buy. Correction: This post originally stated that Nest is owned by Google. In fact, it is owned by Google parent Alphabet. The error has been corrected. More from David Pogue: Electrify your existing bike in 2 minutes with these ingenious wheels Marty Cooper, inventor of the cellphone: The next step is implantables The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update Now I get it: Bitcoin David Pogues search for the worlds best air-travel app The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, hes davidpogue.com . On Twitter, hes @pogue . On email, hes [email protected]. You can read all his articles here , or you can sign up to get his columns by email . || Swiss private bank Falcon introduces bitcoin asset management: By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi ZURICH (Reuters) - Wealthy clients of Swiss private bank Falcon will be able to store and trade bitcoins via their cash holdings with the bank from Wednesday, a move that signals the traction the virtual currency is gaining even in slow-changing asset management. The group's new blockchain asset management service is being offered in partnership with cryptocurrency broker Bitcoin Suisse. "We are proud to be the first-mover in the Swiss private banking area to provide blockchain asset management for our clients," Arthur Vayloyan, Falcon's global head of products and services, said in a statement. "Falcon is convinced that the time is right to enter this nascent market and it is our firm belief that this new product will fulfill our clients' future needs," he said. Bitcoin, the primary cryptocurrency, relies on "mining" computers that validate blocks of transactions by competing to solve mathematical puzzles every 10 minutes. The first to solve the puzzle and clear the transaction is rewarded with new bitcoins. While some remain skeptical, investors have begun warming to the technology, wooed by its explosive performance and the potential that the currency can compete with gold and government-issued money as a store of value. Fidelity Investments said in May that clients with bitcoins and other virtual currencies held on digital asset exchange Coinbase would be able to see their holdings on the Fidelity website, making it one of just a handful of large financial services firms to integrate digital currencies into its website. The virtual currency hit a record of almost $3,000 last month but has fallen over 20 percent since then to $2,375 on Wednesday. Its value has still more than tripled in the last year. Falcon, one of the Swiss banks ensnared in the Malaysian corruption scandal surrounding the troubled 1MDB fund, said the new offering was part of its strategic repositioning. The Zurich-based bank said its bitcoin asset management product had regulatory approval from Swiss financial watchdog FINMA, which declined to comment on individual providers or products. "It has been a pleasure assisting Falcon in realising this new product, which is nothing less than a historic milestone for the entire crypto space," Bitcoin Suisse Chief Executive Niklas Nikolajsen said. (Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Edmund Blair) || Swiss private bank Falcon introduces bitcoin asset management: By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi
ZURICH (Reuters) - Wealthy clients of Swiss private bank Falcon will be able to store and trade bitcoins via their cash holdings with the bank from Wednesday, a move that signals the traction the virtual currency is gaining even in slow-changing asset management.
The group's new blockchain asset management service is being offered in partnership with cryptocurrency broker Bitcoin Suisse.
"We are proud to be the first-mover in the Swiss private banking area to provide blockchain asset management for our clients," Arthur Vayloyan, Falcon's global head of products and services, said in a statement.
"Falcon is convinced that the time is right to enter this nascent market and it is our firm belief that this new product will fulfill our clients' future needs," he said.
Bitcoin, the primary cryptocurrency, relies on "mining" computers that validate blocks of transactions by competing to solve mathematical puzzles every 10 minutes. The first to solve the puzzle and clear the transaction is rewarded with new bitcoins.
While some remain skeptical, investors have begun warming to the technology, wooed by its explosive performance and the potential that the currency can compete with gold and government-issued money as a store of value.
Fidelity Investments said in May that clients with bitcoins and other virtual currencies held on digital asset exchange Coinbase would be able to see their holdings on the Fidelity website, making it one of just a handful of large financial services firms to integrate digital currencies into its website.
The virtual currency hit a record of almost $3,000 last month but has fallen over 20 percent since then to $2,375 on Wednesday. Its value has still more than tripled in the last year.
Falcon, one of the Swiss banks ensnared in the Malaysian corruption scandal surrounding the troubled 1MDB fund, said the new offering was part of its strategic repositioning.
The Zurich-based bank said its bitcoin asset management product had regulatory approval from Swiss financial watchdog FINMA, which declined to comment on individual providers or products.
"It has been a pleasure assisting Falcon in realising this new product, which is nothing less than a historic milestone for the entire crypto space," Bitcoin Suisse Chief Executive Niklas Nikolajsen said.
(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Edmund Blair) || MORGAN STANLEY: 'Bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking': (FILE PHOTO - A Bitcoin sign is seen in a window in TorontoThomson Reuters)
Theprice of bitcoinis up over 250% since last year, but acceptance of the cryptocurrency as a form of payment among top merchants has declined.
A research note out Wednesday by a group of analysts at Morgan Stanley led by James E Faucette said "bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking," despite its impressive appreciation.
According to the bank, last year bitcoin was accepted at five of a group of 500 top online merchants. Today, only three of those merchants accept bitcoin as a form of payment.
"The disparity between virtually no merchant acceptance and bitcoin’s rapid appreciation is striking," the analysts wrote.
The investment bank outlined three reasons for the decline in bitcoin acceptance among merchants.
The first reason has to do with the appreciation of bitcoin. Most owners of the cryptocurrency are unwilling to let go of their holdings to pay for goods because they expect the price of bitcoin to go up. This point underpins the bank's thesis thatbitcoin mainly functions as aninvestment vehiclerather than fiat currency that you could spend on goods and services.
Issues with bitcoin's scalability, which has made transactions slow and expensive, is another reason the bank thinks merchants find bitcoin unappealing as a form of payment.
Finally, there has been a lack of pressure from the people who run the bitcoin infrastructure, according to the bank, to push merchants to accept bitcoin as a form of payment.
"The ecosystem has focused more on value speculation rather than the foot leather-eating work of increasing acceptance - way easier to trade speculatively than convince new merchants to accept the cryptocurrency," the bank said.
The bank notes that, while many merchants are uninterested in accepting bitcoin as a form of payment, many find the technology that underpins the cryptocurrency as a tech they could use to improve their infrastructure.
NOW WATCH:This map reveals how much $100 is actually worth in your state
More From Business Insider
• Cryptocurrencies are continuing to fall after China's shock ICO ban
• Here's why China's crypto crackdown is 'bigger than most people think'
• There was a $20 billion cryptocurrency price correction over the weekend || MORGAN STANLEY: 'Bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking': (FILE PHOTO - A Bitcoin sign is seen in a window in TorontoThomson Reuters)
Theprice of bitcoinis up over 250% since last year, but acceptance of the cryptocurrency as a form of payment among top merchants has declined.
A research note out Wednesday by a group of analysts at Morgan Stanley led by James E Faucette said "bitcoin acceptance is virtually zero and shrinking," despite its impressive appreciation.
According to the bank, last year bitcoin was accepted at five of a group of 500 top online merchants. Today, only three of those merchants accept bitcoin as a form of payment.
"The disparity between virtually no merchant acceptance and bitcoin’s rapid appreciation is striking," the analysts wrote.
The investment bank outlined three reasons for the decline in bitcoin acceptance among merchants.
The first reason has to do with the appreciation of bitcoin. Most owners of the cryptocurrency are unwilling to let go of their holdings to pay for goods because they expect the price of bitcoin to go up. This point underpins the bank's thesis thatbitcoin mainly functions as aninvestment vehiclerather than fiat currency that you could spend on goods and services.
Issues with bitcoin's scalability, which has made transactions slow and expensive, is another reason the bank thinks merchants find bitcoin unappealing as a form of payment.
Finally, there has been a lack of pressure from the people who run the bitcoin infrastructure, according to the bank, to push merchants to accept bitcoin as a form of payment.
"The ecosystem has focused more on value speculation rather than the foot leather-eating work of increasing acceptance - way easier to trade speculatively than convince new merchants to accept the cryptocurrency," the bank said.
The bank notes that, while many merchants are uninterested in accepting bitcoin as a form of payment, many find the technology that underpins the cryptocurrency as a tech they could use to improve their infrastructure.
NOW WATCH:This map reveals how much $100 is actually worth in your state
More From Business Insider
• Cryptocurrencies are continuing to fall after China's shock ICO ban
• Here's why China's crypto crackdown is 'bigger than most people think'
• There was a $20 billion cryptocurrency price correction over the weekend
[Social Media Buzz]
#Bitcoin -1.37%
Ultima: R$ 6850.01 Alta: R$ 8105.00 Baixa: R$ 6850.01
Fonte: Foxbit || $#BTCUSD: #BitCoin (2039.00) 1mAccelBandTrap+ (.9xAvg), lo:2019.40, hi:2035.94, bars:10, PrvCLo-, tf:0000001, ch:+1.7%, 1MoLo- || $2125.87 at 05:15 UTC [24h Range: $2069.00 - $2357.84 Volume: 15840 BTC] || $2163.14 at 02:30 UTC [24h Range: $2140.00 - $2357.84 Volume: 13099 BTC] || #Bitcoin 7.30%
Ultima: R$ 6597.97 Alta: R$ 7858.00 Baixa: R$ 6105.02
Fonte: Foxbit || WTI 46.68USD +0.60
Brent 49.06USD +0...
|
1929.82, 2228.41, 2318.88, 2273.43, 2817.60, 2667.76, 2810.12, 2730.40, 2754.86, 2576.48
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 705.05, 702.03, 705.02, 711.62, 744.20, 740.98, 751.59, 751.62, 731.03, 739.25, 751.35, 744.59, 740.29, 741.65, 735.38, 732.03, 735.81, 735.60, 745.69, 756.77, 777.94, 771.16, 773.87, 758.70, 764.22, 768.13, 770.81, 772.79, 774.65, 769.73, 780.09, 780.56, 781.48, 778.09, 784.91, 790.83, 790.53, 792.71, 800.88, 834.28, 864.54, 921.98, 898.82, 896.18, 907.61, 933.20, 975.92, 973.50, 961.24, 963.74, 998.33, 1021.75, 1043.84, 1154.73, 1013.38, 902.20, 908.59, 911.20, 902.83, 907.68, 777.76, 804.83, 823.98, 818.41, 821.80, 831.53, 907.94, 886.62, 899.07, 895.03, 921.79, 924.67, 921.01, 892.69, 901.54, 917.59, 919.75, 921.59, 919.50, 920.38, 970.40, 989.02, 1011.80, 1029.91, 1042.90, 1027.34, 1038.15, 1061.35, 1063.07, 994.38.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-02-09]
Volume: 407220000, RSI (14-day): 55.07, 50-day EMA: 926.13, 200-day EMA: 763.67
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1235.10, Gold RSI: 67.37
Oil Price: 53.00, Oil RSI: 52.17
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Symantec CEO: ‘It’s a new theater of war’ for cybercriminals: If you didn’t think the internet was awretched hive of scum and villainybefore, Symantec(SYMC)CEO Greg Clark might just change your mind. Clark, who sat down for an interview with David Pogue at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit, explained how criminals on the internet are not only incredibly active, but are almost always changing where they live online and how they attack.
“It’s a new theater of war. It’s serious business,” Clark said.
To put a finer point on it, Clark explained that about 60% of hostnames on the internet are open for just 24 hours or less, which suggests they might exist solely for criminal activity. Hostnames are used to point to specific sites on the internet. For instance,www.yahoofinance.comis a hostname for Yahoofinance.com. Now, think about the millions of hostnames on the internet at any given moment, and you begin to understand how truly enormous that 60% figure really is.
One of the most nefarious ways in which cybercriminals attack is through email phishing or spear phishing attacks. Phishing attacks come in the form of emails that trick users into downloading malware-infected software or clicking links that take them to malware-infected websites that automatically install malicious code on a person’s computer.
That software can then turn your PC, smartphone or tablet into a zombie device for a botnet army that can be used to flood targeted websites with requests for information until they can keep up and go offline.
Alternatively, phishing and spear phishing attacks can trick users to download ransomware, which can lock down a person’s computer. The criminals will then keep the computer locked down until the victim pays up, usually in the form of Bitcoin.
Both of these kinds of attacks are caused by people unknowingly infecting their own computers. And as Pogue put it, “There is no antivirus program for human stupidity.”
Clark, however, pointed to Symantec’s own Project Dolphin. The system sees Symantec scour the world’s websites to determine if they appear similar to “known phishing” sites. The idea is to identify phishing websites before they actually take off and prevent victims from visiting them by accident.
So there might just be an antivirus for human stupidity after all. Sign me up.
More from Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit:
• LARRY FINK: I see a lot of ‘dark shadows’ in the market right now
• The 2017 outlook: Political uncertainty does not equal market uncertainty
• Georgia Senator: CFPB is a ‘rogue agency’
• Arconic CEO under attack: ‘Don’t take it personally, it’s just business’
• How Wells Fargo’s CEO is planning on regaining customers’ trust
Email Daniel [email protected]; follow him on Twitter at@DanielHowley. || Symantec CEO: Its a new theater of war for cybercriminals: If you didnt think the internet was a wretched hive of scum and villainy before, Symantec (SYMC) CEO Greg Clark might just change your mind. Clark, who sat down for an interview with David Pogue at Yahoo Finances All Markets Summit, explained how criminals on the internet are not only incredibly active, but are almost always changing where they live online and how they attack. Its a new theater of war. Its serious business, Clark said. To put a finer point on it, Clark explained that about 60% of hostnames on the internet are open for just 24 hours or less, which suggests they might exist solely for criminal activity. Hostnames are used to point to specific sites on the internet. For instance, www.yahoofinance.com is a hostname for Yahoofinance.com. Now, think about the millions of hostnames on the internet at any given moment, and you begin to understand how truly enormous that 60% figure really is. One of the most nefarious ways in which cybercriminals attack is through email phishing or spear phishing attacks. Phishing attacks come in the form of emails that trick users into downloading malware-infected software or clicking links that take them to malware-infected websites that automatically install malicious code on a persons computer. That software can then turn your PC, smartphone or tablet into a zombie device for a botnet army that can be used to flood targeted websites with requests for information until they can keep up and go offline. Alternatively, phishing and spear phishing attacks can trick users to download ransomware, which can lock down a persons computer. The criminals will then keep the computer locked down until the victim pays up, usually in the form of Bitcoin. Both of these kinds of attacks are caused by people unknowingly infecting their own computers. And as Pogue put it, There is no antivirus program for human stupidity. Clark, however, pointed to Symantecs own Project Dolphin. The system sees Symantec scour the worlds websites to determine if they appear similar to known phishing sites. The idea is to identify phishing websites before they actually take off and prevent victims from visiting them by accident. So there might just be an antivirus for human stupidity after all. Sign me up. More from Yahoo Finances All Markets Summit: LARRY FINK: I see a lot of dark shadows in the market right now The 2017 outlook: Political uncertainty does not equal market uncertainty Georgia Senator: CFPB is a rogue agency Arconic CEO under attack: Dont take it personally, its just business How Wells Fargos CEO is planning on regaining customers trust Email Daniel at [email protected] ; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley . View comments || Bitcoin dropped sharply and suddenly on more news out of China: Bitcoin tumbled by more than 4% in a matter of 15 minutes on Wednesday afterBloomberg reportedthat the People's Bank of China was meeting with several local bitcoin exchanges to discuss money-laundering concerns.
Bitcoin has had a wild start to 2017 after gaining 120% in 2016 to become thetop-performing currencyfor the second year in a row. The cryptocurrency raced to a gain of 20% in the opening days of the year as speculators,mainly from China, poured in.
Bitcoin then crashed 35%, however, on fears thatChina would crack downon trading, bottoming near $750 a coin. Then the cryptocurrency managed to grind higher despite news that China's three largest exchanges said they would implement a flat fee of 0.2% on all transactions.
Bitcoin is now trading down 1.5% at $1,036 a coin. It's up almost 9% for 2017.
(Investing.com)
NOW WATCH:Here's how to use one of the many apps to buy and trade bitcoin
More From Business Insider
• Bitcoin is rallying for an 8th straight day
• Bitcoin is back above $1,000
• Bitcoin is busting out || Bitcoin dropped sharply and suddenly on more news out of China: Bitcoin tumbled by more than 4% in a matter of 15 minutes on Wednesday afterBloomberg reportedthat the People's Bank of China was meeting with several local bitcoin exchanges to discuss money-laundering concerns.
Bitcoin has had a wild start to 2017 after gaining 120% in 2016 to become thetop-performing currencyfor the second year in a row. The cryptocurrency raced to a gain of 20% in the opening days of the year as speculators,mainly from China, poured in.
Bitcoin then crashed 35%, however, on fears thatChina would crack downon trading, bottoming near $750 a coin. Then the cryptocurrency managed to grind higher despite news that China's three largest exchanges said they would implement a flat fee of 0.2% on all transactions.
Bitcoin is now trading down 1.5% at $1,036 a coin. It's up almost 9% for 2017.
(Investing.com)
NOW WATCH:Here's how to use one of the many apps to buy and trade bitcoin
More From Business Insider
• Bitcoin is rallying for an 8th straight day
• Bitcoin is back above $1,000
• Bitcoin is busting out || Bitcoin dropped sharply and suddenly on more news out of China: Bitcoin tumbled by more than 4% in a matter of 15 minutes on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported that the People's Bank of China was meeting with several local bitcoin exchanges to discuss money-laundering concerns. Bitcoin has had a wild start to 2017 after gaining 120% in 2016 to become the top-performing currency for the second year in a row. The cryptocurrency raced to a gain of 20% in the opening days of the year as speculators, mainly from China , poured in. Bitcoin then crashed 35%, however, on fears that China would crack down on trading, bottoming near $750 a coin. Then the cryptocurrency managed to grind higher despite news that China's three largest exchanges said they would implement a flat fee of 0.2% on all transactions. Bitcoin is now trading down 1.5% at $1,036 a coin. It's up almost 9% for 2017. Bitcoin (Investing.com) NOW WATCH: Here's how to use one of the many apps to buy and trade bitcoin More From Business Insider Bitcoin is rallying for an 8th straight day Bitcoin is back above $1,000 Bitcoin is busting out || Bitcoin is zooming higher: Bitcoinis zooming higher on Tuesday, up 2.1% at $1,060.76 per coin as 9:43 a.m. ET. Tuesday's bid has the cryptocurrency higher for a ninth straight day and at its best level since January 5, when it put in a multi-year high of $1161.88.
While the catalyst for Tuesday's gain is difficult to decipher, the advance comes after data released by the People's Bank of China showed China's foreign currency reserves in Januaryfell below $3 trillionfor the first time in nearly six years. China's hunger for bitcoin has been well documented withnearly 100% of bitcoin's volumecoming from the country.
Bitcoinhas had a wild start to 2017 after gaining 120% in 2016. The cryptocurrency rallied more than 20% in the opening week of the year before tumbling 35% amid concerns China was going tocrackdown on trading. Bitcoin has recently shrugged off an announcement made by China's three largest bitcoin exchanges that they were going to begin charging a flat fee of 0.2% per transaction.
(Markets Insider)
NOW WATCH:Here's how to use one of the many apps to buy and trade bitcoin
More From Business Insider
• Bitcoin is rallying for an 8th straight day
• Bitcoin is back above $1,000
• Bitcoin is busting out || Bitcoin is zooming higher: Bitcoinis zooming higher on Tuesday, up 2.1% at $1,060.76 per coin as 9:43 a.m. ET. Tuesday's bid has the cryptocurrency higher for a ninth straight day and at its best level since January 5, when it put in a multi-year high of $1161.88.
While the catalyst for Tuesday's gain is difficult to decipher, the advance comes after data released by the People's Bank of China showed China's foreign currency reserves in Januaryfell below $3 trillionfor the first time in nearly six years. China's hunger for bitcoin has been well documented withnearly 100% of bitcoin's volumecoming from the country.
Bitcoinhas had a wild start to 2017 after gaining 120% in 2016. The cryptocurrency rallied more than 20% in the opening week of the year before tumbling 35% amid concerns China was going tocrackdown on trading. Bitcoin has recently shrugged off an announcement made by China's three largest bitcoin exchanges that they were going to begin charging a flat fee of 0.2% per transaction.
(Markets Insider)
NOW WATCH:Here's how to use one of the many apps to buy and trade bitcoin
More From Business Insider
• Bitcoin is rallying for an 8th straight day
• Bitcoin is back above $1,000
• Bitcoin is busting out || Bitcoin is zooming higher: Bitcoin is zooming higher on Tuesday, up 2.1% at $1,060.76 per coin as 9:43 a.m. ET. Tuesday's bid has the cryptocurrency higher for a ninth straight day and at its best level since January 5, when it put in a multi-year high of $1161.88. While the catalyst for Tuesday's gain is difficult to decipher, the advance comes after data released by the People's Bank of China showed China's foreign currency reserves in January fell below $3 trillion for the first time in nearly six years. China's hunger for bitcoin has been well documented with nearly 100% of bitcoin's volume coming from the country. Bitcoin has had a wild start to 2017 after gaining 120% in 2016. The cryptocurrency rallied more than 20% in the opening week of the year before tumbling 35% amid concerns China was going to crackdown on trading . Bitcoin has recently shrugged off an announcement made by China's three largest bitcoin exchanges that they were going to begin charging a flat fee of 0.2% per transaction. Bitcoin (Markets Insider) NOW WATCH: Here's how to use one of the many apps to buy and trade bitcoin More From Business Insider Bitcoin is rallying for an 8th straight day Bitcoin is back above $1,000 Bitcoin is busting out View comments || Here's what's behind Visa's massive Q4 win: VISA GPV (BI Intelligence) This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Payments Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . Visa plans to stick with the approach that delivered exceptionally strong growth in Q4 2016. CEO Alfred Kelly noted that the firm doesn’t foresee making massive changes to its strategy, but will instead remain ready to adapt to industrywide changes and focus on three key areas for growth: global access, partnerships, and digital gains. In order to best understand Visa’s growth in these areas, it’s worth taking a look at two key metrics: Payment volume: In Q4, Visa payment volume hit $1.8 trillion, with $803 billion coming from the US and $998 billion internationally. That’s up 39% year-over-year (YoY) on a constant currency basis. Though gross volume is down slightly sequentially, when accounting for the loss of Visa Europe co-badge volume, which was no longer counted beginning in Q4, it marks a slight acceleration. The acquisition of Visa Europe will help grow the company by adding new markets, but its performance was not the main improvement factor. Transaction growth: Visa processed 40.8 million transactions in Q4, up 41% on a year-over-year basis. Of those, 65% were debit, and 35% credit, indicating the strength of Visa’s massive debit network. That indicates that, though users are spending more on credit than on debit, both in the US and abroad, debit cards are used more often. Though these gains were the product of many factors, there are a few key trends worth calling out. US credit appetite: Visa identified US volume, which increased by 12.4% in Q4, as a “key business driver”. Though the firm is having issues with debit, acquiring the Costco and USAA portfolios helped increase its volume. In addition, strong credit appetite in the US — spending is now at pre-recession levels — has led issuers to bolster rewards offering, which likely leads to increased issuance and rising spend, ultimately benefiting networks in the long run, according to the Wall Street Journal. Improved cross-border volume: For the past several years, Visa had been struggling with cross-border volume. That’s now improving — cross-border volume grew by 12% on a constant currency basis, marking acceleration that Visa calls “broad-based” and considers it a tailwind. The improvements could be a product of strong cross-border volume in Europe, inbound UK commerce rising due to a weak pound, and outbound commerce from Russia and Eastern Europe, according to the firm’s earnings call. India demonetization: India’s demonetization, which removed 86% of the country’s cash from circulation, had a massive and immediate impact on mobile payments. This seems to have extended to card networks as well. Visa saw a 75% increase in volume in India, and more than double the number of transactions, making the country the major driver of international transaction growth. That’s likely a bump due to a major change in policy, but the ongoing shift to cashless could help Visa maintain India as a key growth channel. Story continues John Heggestuen, director of research at BI Intelligence , Business Insider’s premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends. Here are some key takeaways from the report: 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices. Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play. Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified. In full, the report: Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond. Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers. Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step. Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more. Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem. To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem. More From Business Insider Unpacking Visa and Mastercard's tokenization deal Visa and MasterCard are delaying the EMV shift for gas stations Walmart is ramping up its battle with Visa || Here's what's behind Visa's massive Q4 win: (BI Intelligence)
This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, pleaseclick here.
Visa plans to stick with the approach that delivered exceptionally strong growth in Q4 2016. CEO Alfred Kelly noted that the firm doesn’t foresee making massive changes to its strategy, but will instead remain ready to adapt to industrywide changes and focus on three key areas for growth: global access, partnerships, and digital gains.
In order to best understand Visa’s growth in these areas, it’s worth taking a look at two key metrics:
• Payment volume: In Q4, Visa payment volume hit $1.8 trillion, with $803 billion coming from the US and $998 billion internationally. That’s up 39% year-over-year (YoY) on a constant currency basis. Though gross volume is down slightly sequentially, when accounting for the loss of Visa Europe co-badge volume, which was no longer counted beginning in Q4, it marks a slight acceleration. The acquisition of Visa Europe will help grow the company by adding new markets, but its performance was not the main improvement factor.
• Transaction growth: Visa processed 40.8 million transactions in Q4, up 41% on a year-over-year basis. Of those, 65% were debit, and 35% credit, indicating the strength of Visa’s massive debit network. That indicates that, though users are spending more on credit than on debit, both in the US and abroad, debit cards are used more often.
Though these gains were the product of many factors, there are a few key trends worth calling out.
• US credit appetite: Visa identified US volume, which increased by 12.4% in Q4, as a “key business driver”. Though the firm is having issues with debit, acquiring the Costco and USAA portfolios helped increase its volume. In addition, strong credit appetite in the US — spending is now at pre-recession levels — has led issuers to bolster rewards offering, which likely leads to increased issuance and rising spend, ultimately benefiting networks in the long run, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• Improved cross-border volume: For the past several years, Visa had been struggling with cross-border volume. That’s now improving — cross-border volume grew by 12% on a constant currency basis, marking acceleration that Visa calls “broad-based” and considers it a tailwind. The improvements could be a product of strong cross-border volume in Europe, inbound UK commerce rising due to a weak pound, and outbound commerce from Russia and Eastern Europe, according to the firm’s earnings call.
• India demonetization: India’s demonetization, which removed 86% of the country’s cash from circulation, had a massive and immediate impact on mobile payments. This seems to have extended to card networks as well. Visa saw a 75% increase in volume in India, and more than double the number of transactions, making the country the major driver of international transaction growth. That’s likely a bump due to a major change in policy, but the ongoing shift to cashless could help Visa maintain India as a key growth channel.
John Heggestuen, director of research atBI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has compileda detailed report on the payments ecosystemthat drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.
In full, the report:
• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:
1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >>START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >>BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.
More From Business Insider
• Unpacking Visa and Mastercard's tokenization deal
• Visa and MasterCard are delaying the EMV shift for gas stations
• Walmart is ramping up its battle with Visa || Monday Hot Reads: Possible Surprises For Investors In 2017: Compiled by ETF.com Staff Possible Surprises For Investors In 2017 (BlackRock Blog) Nothing is for certain, so don't place too much weight on market expectations. As Bitcoin ETF Nears, Analysts Warn Of Trading Frenzy (Wall Street Journal) An easily accessed ETF that tracks the value of bitcoin could cause money to flood in to the fledgling bitcoin market, analysts say. Which Assets Are Most Likely To Survive The ‘System Reset’? (ZeroHedge) Your skills, knowledge and social capital will emerge unscathed on the other side of the reset wormhole; your financial assets held in centrally controlled institutions won’t. US Bears Are Targeting Euro-Area ETF Like Never Before (Bloomberg) A record 95,350 put options on the SPDR Euro Stoxx 50 ETF ‘FEZ’ changed hands on Friday as a trader bought 45,000 March/May $33 put spreads. Pitting The Bogle Model Against The Yale Model (A Wealth Of Common Sense) The former is likely to outperform the latter in most scenarios and circumstances. When A Blogger Turns Portfolio Manager (InvestorPlace.com) The manager of the AdvisorShares Focused Equity ETF ‘CWS’ receives a fulcrum fee and has "skin in the game." The Value Of Incremental Steps In Your Investment Portfolio (FMD Capital) You never have all the facts to make a perfect decision. You’re only able to see the right answer with the benefit of hindsight. So make portfolio changes in incremental steps to avoid the pitfalls of emotional investing. Recommended Stories 5 Biggest Broad Commodity ETFs Differ In Approach Here’s A Portfolio Based On JP Morgan’s 2017 Outlook Betting On Red: Building A Russian ETF Portfolio Advisors, Due Diligence Crucial To Asset Allocation Swedroe: Tactical Approaches Miss The Mark Permalink | © Copyright 2017 ETF.com. All rights reserved || Monday Hot Reads: Possible Surprises For Investors In 2017: Compiled by ETF.com Staff
Possible Surprises For Investors In 2017(BlackRock Blog)
Nothing is for certain, so don't place too much weight on market expectations.
As Bitcoin ETF Nears, Analysts Warn Of Trading Frenzy(Wall Street Journal)
An easily accessed ETF that tracks the value of bitcoin could cause money to flood in to the fledgling bitcoin market, analysts say.
Which Assets Are Most Likely To Survive The ‘System Reset’?(ZeroHedge)
Your skills, knowledge and social capital will emerge unscathed on the other side of the reset wormhole; your financial assets held in centrally controlled institutions won’t.
US Bears Are Targeting Euro-Area ETF Like Never Before(Bloomberg)
A record 95,350 put options on theSPDR Euro Stoxx 50 ETF ‘FEZ’changed hands on Friday as a trader bought 45,000 March/May $33 put spreads.
Pitting The Bogle Model Against The Yale Model(A Wealth Of Common Sense)
The former is likely to outperform the latter in most scenarios and circumstances.
When A Blogger Turns Portfolio Manager(InvestorPlace.com)
The manager of theAdvisorShares Focused Equity ETF ‘CWS’receives a fulcrum fee and has "skin in the game."
The Value Of Incremental Steps In Your Investment Portfolio(FMD Capital)
You never have all the facts to make a perfect decision. You’re only able to see the right answer with the benefit of hindsight. So make portfolio changes in incremental steps to avoid the pitfalls of emotional investing.
Recommended Stories
• 5 Biggest Broad Commodity ETFs Differ In Approach
• Here’s A Portfolio Based On JP Morgan’s 2017 Outlook
• Betting On Red: Building A Russian ETF Portfolio
• Advisors, Due Diligence Crucial To Asset Allocation
• Swedroe: Tactical Approaches Miss The Mark
Permalink| © Copyright 2017ETF.com.All rights reserved
[Social Media Buzz]
#Bitcoin
Ultima: R$ 3261.07 Alta: R$ 3320.00 Baixa: R$ 3061.03
Fonte: Foxbit || $988.43 at 00:15 UTC [24h Range: $913.73 - $1074.69 Volume: 25198 BTC] || BITCOINMAIS Ganhe Mais de R$ 200,00 POR DIA em Bitcoin: http://youtu.be/91imh1eXJSI?a via @YouTube || Winkdex Bitcoin price changed +0.57% to $964.00 #bitcoin || 2017-02-09 18:00
1 BTC son: 5.622.211Gs. #btc #gs #pyg #bitcoin #paraguay #guaranies || Current price of Bitcoin is $980.00 #bitcoin || 1 #BTC (#Bitcoin) quotes:
$963.93/$967.77 #Bits...
|
988.67, 1004.45, 999.18, 990.64, 1004.55, 1007.48, 1027.44, 1046.21, 1054.42, 1047.87
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 10410.13, 10360.55, 10358.05, 10347.71, 10276.79, 10241.27, 10198.25, 10266.42, 10181.64, 10019.72, 10070.39, 9729.32, 8620.57, 8486.99, 8118.97, 8251.85, 8245.92, 8104.19, 8293.87, 8343.28, 8393.04, 8259.99, 8205.94, 8151.50, 7988.16, 8245.62, 8228.78, 8595.74, 8586.47, 8321.76, 8336.56, 8321.01, 8374.69, 8205.37, 8047.53, 8103.91, 7973.21, 7988.56, 8222.08, 8243.72, 8078.20, 7514.67, 7493.49, 8660.70, 9244.97, 9551.71, 9256.15, 9427.69, 9205.73, 9199.58, 9261.10, 9324.72, 9235.35, 9412.61, 9342.53, 9360.88, 9267.56, 8804.88, 8813.58, 9055.53, 8757.79, 8815.66, 8808.26, 8708.09, 8491.99, 8550.76, 8577.98, 8309.29, 8206.15, 8027.27, 7642.75, 7296.58, 7397.80, 7047.92, 7146.13, 7218.37, 7531.66, 7463.11, 7761.24, 7569.63, 7424.29, 7321.99, 7320.15, 7252.03, 7448.31, 7547.00, 7556.24, 7564.35, 7400.90, 7278.12.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2019-12-10]
Volume: 18249031195, RSI (14-day): 37.94, 50-day EMA: 8045.63, 200-day EMA: 8469.90
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1462.60, Gold RSI: 45.62
Oil Price: 59.24, Oil RSI: 59.64
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Gold Price Prediction – Gold Experiences Dead Cat Bounce: Gold prices made a timid attempt at a rally on Monday, following a sharp decline on Friday in the wake of the better than expected US jobs numbers. Prices traded in a tight range and formed a doji day which is a sign of indecision. US yields edged slightly lower, which the dollar was nearly unchanged, giving gold traders little room to move the yellow metal. Later this week, traders will need to incorporate US retail sales and inflation figures, which will be carefully watched to see how the consumer is fairing. It appears that the US economy is stronger than expected according to the latest Fed models.
Trade gold with FXTM
Gold prices formed a doji day where the open and close were nearly the same. Prices attempted a weak move higher but were unable to pierce through resistance near the 10-day moving average at 1,464. Additional resistance is seen near the 50-day moving average near 1,481. Short term momentum has turned negative as the fast stochastic generated a crossover sell signal reversing the recent rise in the fast stochastic. Medium-term momentum is turning as the MACD histogram prints in the black with a downward sloping trajectory which points to consolidation.
The Atlanta Fed’s model is showing that the US economy is doing better than anticipated in Q4. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model currently estimates Q4 GDP growth at 2.0% up from 1.5% previously. This compares to its low for Q4 of 0.3% back on November 15. The NY Fed’s Nowcast model now has Q4 growth at 0.58% down from 0.77% previously. It also cut its estimate for Q1 growth to 0.66% from 0.98% previously. While there appears to be a divergence with the two models, what is clear is that growth is far from negative and a recession.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Crude Oil Price Forecast – Crude Oil Markets Continue To Press Resistance
• Gold Price Forecast – Gold Markets Quiet On Monday
• GBP/USD Price Forecast – British Pound Continues To Await Election
• Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 10/12/19
• EOS & Ethereum Daily Tech Analysis – 10/12/19
• USD/JPY Price Forecast – US Dollar Testing Support || Gold Price Prediction – Gold Experiences Dead Cat Bounce: Gold prices made a timid attempt at a rally on Monday, following a sharp decline on Friday in the wake of the better than expected US jobs numbers. Prices traded in a tight range and formed a doji day which is a sign of indecision. US yields edged slightly lower, which the dollar was nearly unchanged, giving gold traders little room to move the yellow metal. Later this week, traders will need to incorporate US retail sales and inflation figures, which will be carefully watched to see how the consumer is fairing. It appears that the US economy is stronger than expected according to the latest Fed models. Trade gold with FXTM Technical Analysis Gold prices formed a doji day where the open and close were nearly the same. Prices attempted a weak move higher but were unable to pierce through resistance near the 10-day moving average at 1,464. Additional resistance is seen near the 50-day moving average near 1,481. Short term momentum has turned negative as the fast stochastic generated a crossover sell signal reversing the recent rise in the fast stochastic. Medium-term momentum is turning as the MACD histogram prints in the black with a downward sloping trajectory which points to consolidation. Fed Models Point to Stronger Growth The Atlanta Fed’s model is showing that the US economy is doing better than anticipated in Q4. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model currently estimates Q4 GDP growth at 2.0% up from 1.5% previously. This compares to its low for Q4 of 0.3% back on November 15. The NY Fed’s Nowcast model now has Q4 growth at 0.58% down from 0.77% previously. It also cut its estimate for Q1 growth to 0.66% from 0.98% previously. While there appears to be a divergence with the two models, what is clear is that growth is far from negative and a recession. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Crude Oil Price Forecast – Crude Oil Markets Continue To Press Resistance Gold Price Forecast – Gold Markets Quiet On Monday GBP/USD Price Forecast – British Pound Continues To Await Election Bitcoin Cash – ABC, Litecoin and Ripple Daily Analysis – 10/12/19 EOS & Ethereum Daily Tech Analysis – 10/12/19 USD/JPY Price Forecast – US Dollar Testing Support || BTSE Exchange Plans $50M Token Raise on Blockstream’s Ethereum Rival Liquid: BTSE, a Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange, is looking to raise $50 million in one of the first token offerings on the Liquid Network, the parallel system to bitcoin created by startup Blockstream.
BTSE is looking to sell 50 million tokens at $1 each. The target launch date is March 2020 and there will be a total supply of 200 million tokens, of which the company plans to eventually buy back and burn 100 million of the tokens in circulation, according to a pitch deck for the offering.
“Funds raised will be allocated toward user acquisition to increase overall platform revenue, platform development and liquidity, as well as expansion into lending, OTC and mining markets. The minimum investment size is $150,000 USD,” the deck says.
Related:Statechains, and Trading the Panopticon for Magical Internet Money
If successful, the offering could help put bitcoin sidechains back on the map as an alternative platform to ethereum for launching new crypto assets. With sidechains like Liquid andRSK, an asset can be locked up on the main bitcoin chain and then traded on the parallel network, and vice versa. This allows complex operations like smart-contract creation and token issuance to occur on the sidechain without gumming up the works for bitcoin proper.
The idea was in vogue mid-decade until the emergence of ethereum, which was designed specifically for such use cases, and became the go-to launching pad for initial coin offerings, security tokens, non-fungible collectibles and the like. But Liquid, launched in September 2018, has started to make inroads; last week,BTSE announcedit was integrating Blockstream’s Liquid versions of bitcoin and the dollar-pegged token USDT.
“The Liquid Network provides a reliable platform for token issuance that benefits from bitcoin’s stability and security characteristics,” said Lina Seiche, global marketing director at BTSE. “Issuing tokens on Liquid is further much less complicated than on ethereum, which mitigates the risk of smart contract bugs and makes exchange integrations easier as well.”
While BTSE’s will be the first exchange token on Liquid, it is one of a handful of issuers and possibly the largest to pursue fundraising on the network. Others include gaming startup Pixelmatic (run by Samson Mow, Blockstream’s CSO and Seiche’s beau), which has been seeking to raise $16 million, and Puerto Rican financial institution Zenus Bank, which planned to do aprivate placementof securities.
Related:CoinShares, Blockchain Launch Gold Token Network on a Bitcoin Sidechain
BTSE will use revenue streams derived from platform fees and its OTC desk, as well as a foray into crypto mining planned for early next year, to buy back the tokens until the end of 2021, the company said.
“Starting three months from token launch, we will use 30% of all revenue to buy back and burn tokens. BTSE will eventually destroy one-hundred million BTSE tokens, leaving one-hundred million remaining in circulation,” said BTSE’s slide deck.
The idea is that the scarcity of the token will encourage users to hold it; other incentives for token holders include lower fees, and higher rebates, BTSE said.
BTSE also plans to deploy mining operations hosted by Blockstream in February, billing it as a consistent revenue stream with expected returns of 30% a year.
All told, BTSE (perhaps somewhat optimistically) expects to see revenues of $2.7 million in 2019 growing to $103.5 million in 2020, and reaching $323.4 million in 2021.
BTSE currently supports trading in bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and monero, as well as stablecoins tether, TrueUSD and USD Coin.
• Bull Bitcoin Joins Blockstream’s Liquid Exchange Network
• Liquid Exchange Reveals Escrow Account for Sale of Telegram Tokens || BTSE Exchange Plans $50M Token Raise on Blockstream’s Ethereum Rival Liquid: BTSE, a Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange, is looking to raise $50 million in one of the first token offerings on the Liquid Network, the parallel system to bitcoin created by startup Blockstream. BTSE is looking to sell 50 million tokens at $1 each. The target launch date is March 2020 and there will be a total supply of 200 million tokens, of which the company plans to eventually buy back and burn 100 million of the tokens in circulation, according to a pitch deck for the offering. “Funds raised will be allocated toward user acquisition to increase overall platform revenue, platform development and liquidity, as well as expansion into lending, OTC and mining markets. The minimum investment size is $150,000 USD,” the deck says. Related: Statechains, and Trading the Panopticon for Magical Internet Money If successful, the offering could help put bitcoin sidechains back on the map as an alternative platform to ethereum for launching new crypto assets. With sidechains like Liquid and RSK , an asset can be locked up on the main bitcoin chain and then traded on the parallel network, and vice versa. This allows complex operations like smart-contract creation and token issuance to occur on the sidechain without gumming up the works for bitcoin proper. The idea was in vogue mid-decade until the emergence of ethereum, which was designed specifically for such use cases, and became the go-to launching pad for initial coin offerings, security tokens, non-fungible collectibles and the like. But Liquid, launched in September 2018, has started to make inroads; last week, BTSE announced it was integrating Blockstream’s Liquid versions of bitcoin and the dollar-pegged token USDT. “The Liquid Network provides a reliable platform for token issuance that benefits from bitcoin’s stability and security characteristics,” said Lina Seiche, global marketing director at BTSE. “Issuing tokens on Liquid is further much less complicated than on ethereum, which mitigates the risk of smart contract bugs and makes exchange integrations easier as well.” Story continues While BTSE’s will be the first exchange token on Liquid, it is one of a handful of issuers and possibly the largest to pursue fundraising on the network. Others include gaming startup Pixelmatic (run by Samson Mow, Blockstream’s CSO and Seiche’s beau), which has been seeking to raise $16 million, and Puerto Rican financial institution Zenus Bank, which planned to do a private placement of securities. Buyback plan Related: CoinShares, Blockchain Launch Gold Token Network on a Bitcoin Sidechain BTSE will use revenue streams derived from platform fees and its OTC desk, as well as a foray into crypto mining planned for early next year, to buy back the tokens until the end of 2021, the company said. “Starting three months from token launch, we will use 30% of all revenue to buy back and burn tokens. BTSE will eventually destroy one-hundred million BTSE tokens, leaving one-hundred million remaining in circulation,” said BTSE’s slide deck. The idea is that the scarcity of the token will encourage users to hold it; other incentives for token holders include lower fees, and higher rebates, BTSE said. BTSE also plans to deploy mining operations hosted by Blockstream in February, billing it as a consistent revenue stream with expected returns of 30% a year. All told, BTSE (perhaps somewhat optimistically) expects to see revenues of $2.7 million in 2019 growing to $103.5 million in 2020, and reaching $323.4 million in 2021. BTSE currently supports trading in bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and monero, as well as stablecoins tether, TrueUSD and USD Coin. Related Stories Bull Bitcoin Joins Blockstream’s Liquid Exchange Network Liquid Exchange Reveals Escrow Account for Sale of Telegram Tokens || LedgerX cofounders placed on leave, replaced by 30-year Wall Street veteran: Bitcoin derivatives platform LedgerX announced today that both of its co-founders Paul and Juthica Chou have been placed on administrative leave. Paul Chou was the firm's CEO while Juthica Chou was the president and chief risk officer, per their LinkedIn profiles. They are also husband and wife. As a temporary replacement, Larry E. Thompson will act as interim CEO and lead director of Ledger Holdings. A Wall Street veteran, Thompson was the former vice-chair of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). LedgerX offers bitcoin options contracts to both retail and institutional investors. LedgerX made headlines in August after the announcement of a new physically-delivered futures product soured. After announcing the new product, a source told The Block the firm hit a snag with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Indeed, the firm never secured the proper licensing to offer futures to retail clientele, the agency later confirmed to The Block. A day after the original announcement, LedgerX pulled back on the announcement, which included the launch of a new retail platform Omni. Previously, LedgerX strictly catered to institutional investors. Sources familiar with Chou's thinking told The Block at the time that he was under the impression that the agency was playing favorites, paving an easier path for its better-connected rivals, such as Bakkt and ErisX. Indeed, the former Goldman Sachs trader threatened to sue the regulator following the botched launch. "Also breaking, i've decided to sue the CFTC for anti competitive behavior, breach of duty, going against the regs, etc.," one tweet noted. Since August, Bakkt has launched its market for physically-delivered futures. On Monday, it launched a cash-settled contract on ICE Singapore as well as an option tied to its bitcoin future. || LedgerX cofounders placed on leave, replaced by 30-year Wall Street veteran: Bitcoin derivatives platform LedgerXannouncedtoday that both of its co-founders Paul and Juthica Chou have been placed on administrative leave.
Paul Chou was the firm's CEO while Juthica Chou was the president and chief risk officer, per their LinkedIn profiles. They are also husband and wife. As a temporary replacement, Larry E. Thompson will act as interim CEO and lead director of Ledger Holdings. A Wall Street veteran, Thompson was the former vice-chair of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). LedgerX offers bitcoin options contracts to both retail and institutional investors.
LedgerX made headlines in August after the announcement of a new physically-delivered futures product soured.
After announcing the new product, a source told The Block the firm hit a snag with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Indeed, the firm never secured the proper licensing to offer futures to retail clientele, the agency later confirmed to The Block. A day after the original announcement, LedgerX pulled back on the announcement, which included the launch of a new retail platform Omni. Previously, LedgerX strictly catered to institutional investors.
Sources familiar with Chou's thinking told The Block at the time that he was under the impression that the agency was playing favorites, paving an easier path for its better-connected rivals, such as Bakkt and ErisX.
Indeed, the former Goldman Sachs trader threatened to sue the regulator following the botched launch.
"Also breaking, i've decided to sue the CFTC for anti competitive behavior, breach of duty, going against the regs, etc.," one tweet noted.
Since August, Bakkt has launched its market for physically-delivered futures. On Monday, it launched a cash-settled contract on ICE Singapore as well as an option tied to its bitcoin future. || LedgerX Places Founders on Administrative Leave After Tussle With CFTC: LedgerX CEO and COO Paul and Juthica Chou are no longer running the company they founded.
Apress release Mondayannounced that the couple had been “placed on administrative leave,” effective immediately, with Larry E. Thompson named as interim CEO and lead director of Ledger Holdings, the derivatives provider’s parent company.
“The board composition is tricky,” Juthica Chou told CoinDesk via email. “There is nobody else on the board that knows computer science, bitcoin and derivatives – which makes these conflicts and disagreements often difficult. Paul and I wish the new management team well.”
Related:DTCC Pushes Back Blockchain Project to Avoid Brexit Complications
LedgerX offers bitcoin derivatives products to institutional and retail investors in the U.S., primarily physically-settled options and swaps contracts. The company failed in a bid to launch physically-settled bitcoin futures earlier this year, though its application to modify a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) registration allowing it to do so remains outstanding.
The company has been working with the CFTC to secure its amendment since 2018.
However, according to a pair of letters obtained by CoinDesk through a Freedom of Information request in September, the company’s leadership believed former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo held a “personal animus” towards LedgerX due to a blog post written by Paul Chou.
Paul Chou confirmed that the letters were accurate at the time.
Related:LedgerX Claims ‘Personal Animus’ Drove Ex-CFTC Chair to Stall Approvals
According to Monday’s press release, Thompson comes from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), where he held the role of vice chairman. DTCC Managing Director Mark Wetjen sits on LedgerX’s board (Wetjen did not immediately return a request for comment).
“The board of Ledger Holdings is committed to the Bitcoin ecosystem and all of Ledger Holdings’ stakeholders,” Monday’s press release said.
• Seed CX Begins Testing Swap Contracts Settled in Real Bitcoin
• What Happened: Why the First Physical Bitcoin Futures Haven’t Launched || LedgerX Places Founders on Administrative Leave After Tussle With CFTC: LedgerX CEO and COO Paul and Juthica Chou are no longer running the company they founded. A press release Monday announced that the couple had been “placed on administrative leave,” effective immediately, with Larry E. Thompson named as interim CEO and lead director of Ledger Holdings, the derivatives provider’s parent company. “The board composition is tricky,” Juthica Chou told CoinDesk via email. “There is nobody else on the board that knows computer science, bitcoin and derivatives – which makes these conflicts and disagreements often difficult. Paul and I wish the new management team well.” Related: DTCC Pushes Back Blockchain Project to Avoid Brexit Complications LedgerX offers bitcoin derivatives products to institutional and retail investors in the U.S., primarily physically-settled options and swaps contracts. The company failed in a bid to launch physically-settled bitcoin futures earlier this year, though its application to modify a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) registration allowing it to do so remains outstanding. The company has been working with the CFTC to secure its amendment since 2018. However, according to a pair of letters obtained by CoinDesk through a Freedom of Information request in September, the company’s leadership believed former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo held a “personal animus” towards LedgerX due to a blog post written by Paul Chou. Paul Chou confirmed that the letters were accurate at the time. Related: LedgerX Claims ‘Personal Animus’ Drove Ex-CFTC Chair to Stall Approvals According to Monday’s press release, Thompson comes from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), where he held the role of vice chairman. DTCC Managing Director Mark Wetjen sits on LedgerX’s board (Wetjen did not immediately return a request for comment). “The board of Ledger Holdings is committed to the Bitcoin ecosystem and all of Ledger Holdings’ stakeholders,” Monday’s press release said. Related Stories Seed CX Begins Testing Swap Contracts Settled in Real Bitcoin What Happened: Why the First Physical Bitcoin Futures Haven’t Launched || Brazilian police shut down alleged Bitcoin fraud scheme that netted $360m: Brazilian police have swiftly shut down an organised crime ring that allegedly stole $359 million by promising victims substantial returns on Bitcoin investments. The four-month investigation came to a close on Thursday with police filing charges of fraud, money laundering, criminal association, and forgery against the group of alleged fraudsters. A total of nine individuals were arrested with more than 50 police officers using 20 vehicles and a helicopter to storm premises in Sao Paulo, Curitiba, and other regional cities. According to Paraná state government , the suspects assured victims that they would receive 3% to 4% returns per day, with victims being instructed to send Bitcoin to the groups wallet. However, when it came to withdrawing the funds, the victims received a message to say that they could not cash out within six months. As many as 5,000 victims have been identified across six states including Paraná, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Maranhão, and Amapá. Brazils government has taken a cold view on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the past, with the head of the countrys central bank comparing the digital asset to a pyramid scheme and a bubble . For more news, guides, and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . The post Brazilian police shut down alleged Bitcoin fraud scheme that netted $360m appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Brazilian police shut down alleged Bitcoin fraud scheme that netted $360m: Brazilian police have swiftly shut down an organised crime ring that allegedly stole $359 million by promising victims substantial returns on Bitcoin investments. The four-month investigation came to a close on Thursday with police filing charges of fraud, money laundering, criminal association, and forgery against the group of alleged fraudsters. A total of nine individuals were arrested with more than 50 police officers using 20 vehicles and a helicopter to storm premises in Sao Paulo, Curitiba, and other regional cities. According to Paraná state government , the suspects assured victims that they would receive 3% to 4% returns per day, with victims being instructed to send Bitcoin to the groups wallet. However, when it came to withdrawing the funds, the victims received a message to say that they could not cash out within six months. As many as 5,000 victims have been identified across six states including Paraná, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Maranhão, and Amapá. Brazils government has taken a cold view on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the past, with the head of the countrys central bank comparing the digital asset to a pyramid scheme and a bubble . For more news, guides, and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . The post Brazilian police shut down alleged Bitcoin fraud scheme that netted $360m appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Brazilian police shut down alleged Bitcoin fraud scheme that netted $360m: Brazilian police have swiftly shut down an organised crime ring that allegedly stole $359 million by promising victims substantial returns on Bitcoin investments. The four-month investigation came to a close on Thursday with police filing charges of fraud, money laundering, criminal association, and forgery against the group of alleged fraudsters. A total of nine individuals were arrested with more than 50 police officers using 20 vehicles and a helicopter to storm premises in Sao Paulo, Curitiba, and other regional cities. According to Paraná state government , the suspects assured victims that they would receive 3% to 4% returns per day, with victims being instructed to send Bitcoin to the groups wallet. However, when it came to withdrawing the funds, the victims received a message to say that they could not cash out within six months. As many as 5,000 victims have been identified across six states including Paraná, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Maranhão, and Amapá. Brazils government has taken a cold view on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the past, with the head of the countrys central bank comparing the digital asset to a pyramid scheme and a bubble . For more news, guides, and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . The post Brazilian police shut down alleged Bitcoin fraud scheme that netted $360m appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Cryptojacking Malware Devs Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison: Two members of the prolific Romanian hacker gang Bayrob Group were sentenced to two decades in U.S. prison apiece after their malware mined crypto on 400,000 infected computers.
Group leader Bogdan Nicolescu and co-conspirator Radu Miclaus were sentenced to 20 and 18 years respectively after being found guilty on21 different countsof wire fraud, money laundering aggravated identity theft and other crimes,a press release announcedFriday. The gang was also accused of developing malware which mined bitcoin and monero using their host computers’ processing power.
Tiberiu Danet, a third Bayrob Group member, pleaded guilty in Nov. 2018 to eight charges. His sentencingis scheduledfor Jan. 8.
Related:New Mac Malware Hides in Memory and Masquerades as a Crypto App
From its founding in 2007 to its members’ apprehension and eventual extradition in late 2016, the Bayrob Group, which operated out of Bucharest, Romania, ran a sprawling hacking and malware operation. They deployed trojan malware in seemingly mundane emails from well-known companies and groups, but when victims attempted to download attachments apparently from Norton, the IRS and Western Union, their computers instead became infected with the Bayrob botnet, according to an indictment.
The botnet allowed its Romanian handlers to steal $4 million total, prosecutors claimed.
The botnet also installed crypto mining software, according to theJuly 2016 indictment. And it was not discreet; the Bitcoin and Monero mining operation hogged hosts’ processing power.
“Once a bot was instructed to mine for cryptocurrency, much of its processing speed and power would be unavailable to its legitimate owner.”
Related:North Korean Hacking Group May Be Behind Malware-Laden Fake Crypto Site
Bayrob also scanned for and transferred ownership of victims’ crypto wallets, if they had one.
• New Malware Swaps Out Crypto Wallet Addresses as You Type Them
• ‘Panda’ Crypto Malware Group Has Nabbed $100K in Monero Since 2018 || Blockchain heading for the moon: As 2019 nears its end, the blockchain industry has much to be grateful for. Many governments such as Germany, Liechtenstein, and Bermuda followed Malta’s lead and passed legislation for crypto. News about another big enterprise adopting this technology is now a common occurrence. The biggest global banks are racing to be the first ones to implement this tech. And the acceptance of Bitcoin is now a global phenomenon. As my attention is always fixated on the way blockchain will evolve outdated capital markets, I want to draw your attention to space. Blockchain and space are seemingly unrelated at first glance, but stay with me and the connection will be clarified. As a senior advisor of SpaceFund , I am often asked about the application of blockchain tech and the space industry. Integrity There are obvious solutions that this tech can provide, such as improved supply chains to ensure the integrity of parts to minimise faulty products, payment systems between in-space service providers for direct value transfers, and eventual consensus-based governance methods to allow space settlements. However, I would like to bring your attention today to space as an asset class and explain how its establishment is necessary for the new generation’s global market place. I have written and spoken a lot about the need for a global marketplace that connects investors with enterprises all over the world. In today’s world, capital markets are geographically segregated and the idea of small cap companies is basically dead. And it is understandable. The technology that we used to build exchanges as an enterprise is extremely outdated. It was built on the assumption that stocks have to be sold. There was a strong belief that nobody wants to buy stocks, they MUST be aggressively sold. However, the 2017 ICO boom proved that assumption wrong. One of the biggest points of interest we can take from this is that global investors do have a huge appetite for deal-flow and are willing to do their own research and make their own independent investment decisions. Story continues Inexpensive transfer And it was all finally possible because of blockchain and new communication methods. Blockchain allowed for the inexpensive, immutable transfer of value while communication methods allowed for the fast and inexpensive transfer of information. So, now we have the tech to build a global securities exchange and allow the public offering of small market capitalisation companies to be listed for a fraction of what it costs now (a small market cap company is anywhere between $20m-$2bn). But there is a tiny problem which gets bigger the closer we observe it. Due to the segregation of markets, costs of listing, and regulation, IPOs are now completely broken. People are not eagerly running to invest in public offerings and companies valued under $2bn are not going public. In all minds, IPOs are like old fairy tales where you can invest in a stock like Microsoft and become a wealthy person. Nowadays, IPOs are a joke, and recent fiascos surrounding attempts to go public are simply embarrassing. Just look at WeWork. It does not have to be this way, and it’s time for things to change. With tech under our wings, we can reignite the interest in public offerings. For that, we need a golden key. Wait. What does all this have to do with space? Everything! Relatable industry Space is a globally relatable industry. If you ask anyone in the world if they know what a satellite is, they will know what it is. People get excited when they talk about space. In addition to relatability and excitement, it is also an industry that is screaming for liquidity. The space industry is very interesting because it is a 70-year-old industry that has existed as a free enterprise for about 10 years. A lot of money has been going in and not much money is coming out. This cannot continue for a long time, and without liquidity it is bound to dramatically underperform. Liquidity, relatability, and money is the triple golden key. Using blockchain technology, we can allow space companies to go public and bring much-needed liquidity to the industry. I believe that it is space as an asset class that will reignite the spark and connection between global investors and companies. It will lead other industries by example and revamp the trust and excitement of going public for many enterprises. It will allow us to go back to the moon and explore beyond. Irina S Litchfield The post Blockchain heading for the moon appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Blockchain heading for the moon: As 2019 nears its end, the blockchain industry has much to be grateful for. Many governments such as Germany, Liechtenstein, and Bermuda followed Malta’s lead and passed legislation for crypto. News about another big enterprise adopting this technology is now a common occurrence. The biggest global banks are racing to be the first ones to implement this tech. And the acceptance of Bitcoin is now a global phenomenon. As my attention is always fixated on the way blockchain will evolve outdated capital markets, I want to draw your attention to space. Blockchain and space are seemingly unrelated at first glance, but stay with me and the connection will be clarified. As a senior advisor of SpaceFund , I am often asked about the application of blockchain tech and the space industry. Integrity There are obvious solutions that this tech can provide, such as improved supply chains to ensure the integrity of parts to minimise faulty products, payment systems between in-space service providers for direct value transfers, and eventual consensus-based governance methods to allow space settlements. However, I would like to bring your attention today to space as an asset class and explain how its establishment is necessary for the new generation’s global market place. I have written and spoken a lot about the need for a global marketplace that connects investors with enterprises all over the world. In today’s world, capital markets are geographically segregated and the idea of small cap companies is basically dead. And it is understandable. The technology that we used to build exchanges as an enterprise is extremely outdated. It was built on the assumption that stocks have to be sold. There was a strong belief that nobody wants to buy stocks, they MUST be aggressively sold. However, the 2017 ICO boom proved that assumption wrong. One of the biggest points of interest we can take from this is that global investors do have a huge appetite for deal-flow and are willing to do their own research and make their own independent investment decisions. Story continues Inexpensive transfer And it was all finally possible because of blockchain and new communication methods. Blockchain allowed for the inexpensive, immutable transfer of value while communication methods allowed for the fast and inexpensive transfer of information. So, now we have the tech to build a global securities exchange and allow the public offering of small market capitalisation companies to be listed for a fraction of what it costs now (a small market cap company is anywhere between $20m-$2bn). But there is a tiny problem which gets bigger the closer we observe it. Due to the segregation of markets, costs of listing, and regulation, IPOs are now completely broken. People are not eagerly running to invest in public offerings and companies valued under $2bn are not going public. In all minds, IPOs are like old fairy tales where you can invest in a stock like Microsoft and become a wealthy person. Nowadays, IPOs are a joke, and recent fiascos surrounding attempts to go public are simply embarrassing. Just look at WeWork. It does not have to be this way, and it’s time for things to change. With tech under our wings, we can reignite the interest in public offerings. For that, we need a golden key. Wait. What does all this have to do with space? Everything! Relatable industry Space is a globally relatable industry. If you ask anyone in the world if they know what a satellite is, they will know what it is. People get excited when they talk about space. In addition to relatability and excitement, it is also an industry that is screaming for liquidity. The space industry is very interesting because it is a 70-year-old industry that has existed as a free enterprise for about 10 years. A lot of money has been going in and not much money is coming out. This cannot continue for a long time, and without liquidity it is bound to dramatically underperform. Liquidity, relatability, and money is the triple golden key. Using blockchain technology, we can allow space companies to go public and bring much-needed liquidity to the industry. I believe that it is space as an asset class that will reignite the spark and connection between global investors and companies. It will lead other industries by example and revamp the trust and excitement of going public for many enterprises. It will allow us to go back to the moon and explore beyond. Irina S Litchfield The post Blockchain heading for the moon appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Nvidia Battles Shareholders in Lawsuit Over Crypto Miner Claims: Chip making giant Nvidia has been making its case for why a court should throw out a lawsuit alleging it misled investors over cryptocurrency mining demand for its graphics cards. At a hearing over Nvidias motion to dismiss in Oakland, California, the firm said Friday that shareholders had cherry-picked some company statements in an attempt to show that it had not been transparent over how much of its sales were due to miners, while ignoring others. The case comprises consolidated shareholder lawsuits first brought in December 2018, after its revenues dipped and stock slumped by 29 percent, Law360 reports . Related: MARKETS DAILY: Casualties Ahead in the Cryptocurrency Mining Arms Race The shareholders allege that Nvidia had not been clear that its gaming segment still included a good volume of miner revenue, even after it launched a dedicated mining card, the Crypto SKU. That was only acknowledged by Nvidia in August 2018 after gaming revenue slumped, they claim. Nvidias legal counsel Patrick E. Gibbs of law firm Cooley LLP said the investors case was not valid as they had not provided any evidence that Nvidia had known about the facts as presented in the suit, and had also not shown any connection between the stock price losses and the allegations. Theres not a single piece of data, said Gibbs. The shareholders legal representative argued in response that Nvidia had indicated that crypto-based revenue was low, but was actually so substantial that the company missed its expected earnings when cryptocurrency prices dropped and miner demand fell. Related: Canadian Government-Assisted Bitcoin Miner Files for Bankruptcy Owing Millions During the hearing, District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. queried Nvidia over the fact that a Morgan Stanley analyst and others had appeared surprised when Nvidia stated in November 2018 that it expected revenues to decline over 7 percent. Gibbs responded that some analysts went by the incorrect assumption that demand for gaming cards is static. He also argued that not all analysts responded with same type of surprise at the earnings forecast. Story continues The judge is considering the arguments, according to Law360. Related Stories Litecoins Mining Power Tanks to Lowest in Year Following Price Plunge A Plan to Decentralize Bitcoin Mining Again Is Gaining Ground || Nvidia Battles Shareholders in Lawsuit Over Crypto Miner Claims: Chip making giant Nvidia has been making its case for why a court should throw out a lawsuit alleging it misled investors over cryptocurrency mining demand for its graphics cards.
At a hearing over Nvidia’s motion to dismiss in Oakland, California, the firm said Friday that shareholders had “cherry-picked” some company statements in an attempt to show that it had not been transparent over how much of its sales were due to miners, while ignoring others.
The case comprises consolidated shareholder lawsuits first brought in December 2018, after its revenues dipped and stock slumped by 29 percent, Law360reports.
Related:MARKETS DAILY: Casualties Ahead in the Cryptocurrency Mining Arms Race
The shareholders allege that Nvidia had not been clear that its gaming segment still included a good volume of miner revenue, even after it launched a dedicated mining card, the Crypto SKU. That was only acknowledged by Nvidia in August 2018 after gaming revenue slumped, they claim.
Nvidia’s legal counsel – Patrick E. Gibbs of law firm Cooley LLP – said the investors’ case was not valid as they had not provided any evidence that Nvidia had known about the facts as presented in the suit, and had also not shown any connection between the stock price losses and the allegations.
“There’s not a single piece of data,” said Gibbs.
The shareholders’ legal representative argued in response that Nvidia had indicated that crypto-based revenue was low, but was actually so substantial that the company missed its expected earnings when cryptocurrency prices dropped and miner demand fell.
Related:Canadian Government-Assisted Bitcoin Miner Files for Bankruptcy Owing Millions
During the hearing, District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. queried Nvidia over the fact that a Morgan Stanley analyst and others had appeared surprised when Nvidia stated in November 2018 that it expected revenues to decline over 7 percent.
Gibbs responded that some analysts went by the incorrect assumption that demand for gaming cards is “static.” He also argued that not all analysts responded with “same type of surprise” at the earnings forecast.
The judge is considering the arguments, according to Law360.
• Litecoin’s Mining Power Tanks to Lowest in Year Following Price Plunge
• A Plan to Decentralize Bitcoin Mining Again Is Gaining Ground || SEC lobbies court to reopen case against crypto scammer: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking to reopen the case against Renwick Haddow, who has been banned from selling securities but has so far faced no monetary penalties. Haddow, the fraudster behind Bitcoin Store Inc and Bar Works, has had his case closed by the New York Southern District Court – but the US regulator doesn’t believe justice has been served. As first reported by FinanceFeeds, the regulator claims that Haddow should be forced to repay some of the funds he scammed from unwitting investors. Haddow defrauded investors through his New York company Bar Works, where investors could buy office space for $25,000 and rent it back to the company, and also through Bitcoin Store Inc, which sold Bitcoins from a physical ATM. A UK citizen now living in New York, Haddow was extradited from Morocco to the US in April 2018, where it’s believed he was hiding from previous run-ins with British regulators. It is claimed that Haddow sent more than $4 million from Bar Works bank accounts to private accounts in Mauritius and a further $1 million to accounts he owned in Morocco. Overall, Bar Works raised $37 million from investors who believed that the company was a legitimate remote working business similar to WeWork. In total, through numerous shell companies, Haddow is thought to have defrauded $180 million. Case closed Haddow cooperated with law enforcement during the trial, entering a guilty plea and agreeing to help bring his co-conspirator, Savraj Gata-Aura, to justice. Gata-Aura has since been charged with wire fraud. The guilty plea was unsealed on May 23 2019, with Haddow admitting to hiding his identity through the alias ‘Jonathan Black’ and detailing his involvement in both Bar Works and Bitcoin Store Inc. As a result, the case was closed following a consent judgement proposed by the SEC in September, with the condition that the case may be reopened at a later date. The consent judgement prevents Haddow from having any role in selling financial instruments again or engaging in practices which may defraud investors. Story continues However, the SEC argues that justice against Haddow has been limited and is now seeking monetary relief. SEC representatives have allegedly sent letters to Judge Lorna Schofield requesting that Haddow agrees to reach a restitution agreement with his aggrieved investors. Haddow, having pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, faces a maximum sentence of 80 years in federal custody. You can read more about recent SEC rulings on cryptocurrency issues here . The post SEC lobbies court to reopen case against crypto scammer appeared first on Coin Rivet . || SEC lobbies court to reopen case against crypto scammer: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking to reopen the case against Renwick Haddow, who has been banned from selling securities but has so far faced no monetary penalties. Haddow, the fraudster behind Bitcoin Store Inc and Bar Works, has had his case closed by the New York Southern District Court – but the US regulator doesn’t believe justice has been served. As first reported by FinanceFeeds, the regulator claims that Haddow should be forced to repay some of the funds he scammed from unwitting investors. Haddow defrauded investors through his New York company Bar Works, where investors could buy office space for $25,000 and rent it back to the company, and also through Bitcoin Store Inc, which sold Bitcoins from a physical ATM. A UK citizen now living in New York, Haddow was extradited from Morocco to the US in April 2018, where it’s believed he was hiding from previous run-ins with British regulators. It is claimed that Haddow sent more than $4 million from Bar Works bank accounts to private accounts in Mauritius and a further $1 million to accounts he owned in Morocco. Overall, Bar Works raised $37 million from investors who believed that the company was a legitimate remote working business similar to WeWork. In total, through numerous shell companies, Haddow is thought to have defrauded $180 million. Case closed Haddow cooperated with law enforcement during the trial, entering a guilty plea and agreeing to help bring his co-conspirator, Savraj Gata-Aura, to justice. Gata-Aura has since been charged with wire fraud. The guilty plea was unsealed on May 23 2019, with Haddow admitting to hiding his identity through the alias ‘Jonathan Black’ and detailing his involvement in both Bar Works and Bitcoin Store Inc. As a result, the case was closed following a consent judgement proposed by the SEC in September, with the condition that the case may be reopened at a later date. The consent judgement prevents Haddow from having any role in selling financial instruments again or engaging in practices which may defraud investors. Story continues However, the SEC argues that justice against Haddow has been limited and is now seeking monetary relief. SEC representatives have allegedly sent letters to Judge Lorna Schofield requesting that Haddow agrees to reach a restitution agreement with his aggrieved investors. Haddow, having pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, faces a maximum sentence of 80 years in federal custody. You can read more about recent SEC rulings on cryptocurrency issues here . The post SEC lobbies court to reopen case against crypto scammer appeared first on Coin Rivet . || Bakkt Goes Live With Options, Cash-Settled Futures Products: Barely three months after launching its long-anticipated physically settled bitcoin futures product, the Intercontinental Exchange’s Bakkt has gone live with its bitcoin options and cash-settled futures contracts. The New York Stock Exchange’s sister firm announced in a blog post Monday that it’s using its physically settled bitcoin contracts as a benchmark to support the new products, which were both announced in recent weeks. The blog post compared Intercontinental Exchange’s bitcoin ambitions to those of its Brent Crude Oil Futures. The company launched a number of swaps, options and futures contracts based on the crude oil product, and hopes to follow “a similar playbook” to grow its bitcoin-related products. Related: Crypto Exchange OKEx Launching Options Trading Later This Month “By starting with the physically delivered Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Monthly Futures, we have a benchmark contract which provides the foundation for us to develop complementary products based on the needs of our customers,” the blog post said. While Bakkt’s physical futures contract saw a slow start after it was launched in late September, volume has recently picked up, with the monthly futures product trading more than $120 million three months in. Bakkt’s options contract comes just a month before CME , which already offers cash-settled bitcoin futures in the U.S., launches its own similar product. However, while Bakkt’s pricing will be based around its existing physical product, CME’s is dependent on its bitcoin index. Malta-based OKEx also announced Monday that it would offer options trading later this month. Related: Bitcoin Charts First Weekly Golden Cross in 3.5 Years Bakkt’s monthly options contract has no exposure to spot markets, the firm said. The cash futures, offered through ICE Futures Singapore, seemingly takes aim at potential demand in Asian markets, though any ICE customer can trade the contract. The blog post also included a signup link for individuals interested in being updated on Bakkt’s consumer app, with the link itself asking those signing up to specify whether they are a consumer or a merchant. Story continues Bakkt announced the app in October , saying it would help consumers pay for goods using bitcoin. Starbucks will be a launch partner when the app goes live sometime next year. “At Bakkt, our mission is to bring trust and utility to digital assets,” the blog post says. “These new contracts represent an important milestone in the development of this emerging asset class and our bitcoin product complex.” Bakkt’s new launches come days after CEO Kelly Loeffler was named as Georgia’s next Senator by state Governor Brian Kemp. An ICE statement shared last Wednesday indicated that Loeffler would have to step down from her current role before she is sworn in on Jan. 1. Related Stories Key Bitcoin Price Indicator Turns Bearish, But It May Not Be Bad News Microsoft Collaboration Fuels 50% Rally for Enjin’s Cryptocurrency || Bakkt Goes Live With Options, Cash-Settled Futures Products: Barely three months after launching its long-anticipated physically settled bitcoin futures product, the Intercontinental Exchange’s Bakkt has gone live with its bitcoin options and cash-settled futures contracts. The New York Stock Exchange’s sister firm announced in a blog post Monday that it’s using its physically settled bitcoin contracts as a benchmark to support the new products, which were both announced in recent weeks. The blog post compared Intercontinental Exchange’s bitcoin ambitions to those of its Brent Crude Oil Futures. The company launched a number of swaps, options and futures contracts based on the crude oil product, and hopes to follow “a similar playbook” to grow its bitcoin-related products. Related: Crypto Exchange OKEx Launching Options Trading Later This Month “By starting with the physically delivered Bakkt Bitcoin (USD) Monthly Futures, we have a benchmark contract which provides the foundation for us to develop complementary products based on the needs of our customers,” the blog post said. While Bakkt’s physical futures contract saw a slow start after it was launched in late September, volume has recently picked up, with the monthly futures product trading more than $120 million three months in. Bakkt’s options contract comes just a month before CME , which already offers cash-settled bitcoin futures in the U.S., launches its own similar product. However, while Bakkt’s pricing will be based around its existing physical product, CME’s is dependent on its bitcoin index. Malta-based OKEx also announced Monday that it would offer options trading later this month. Related: Bitcoin Charts First Weekly Golden Cross in 3.5 Years Bakkt’s monthly options contract has no exposure to spot markets, the firm said. The cash futures, offered through ICE Futures Singapore, seemingly takes aim at potential demand in Asian markets, though any ICE customer can trade the contract. The blog post also included a signup link for individuals interested in being updated on Bakkt’s consumer app, with the link itself asking those signing up to specify whether they are a consumer or a merchant. Story continues Bakkt announced the app in October , saying it would help consumers pay for goods using bitcoin. Starbucks will be a launch partner when the app goes live sometime next year. “At Bakkt, our mission is to bring trust and utility to digital assets,” the blog post says. “These new contracts represent an important milestone in the development of this emerging asset class and our bitcoin product complex.” Bakkt’s new launches come days after CEO Kelly Loeffler was named as Georgia’s next Senator by state Governor Brian Kemp. An ICE statement shared last Wednesday indicated that Loeffler would have to step down from her current role before she is sworn in on Jan. 1. Related Stories Key Bitcoin Price Indicator Turns Bearish, But It May Not Be Bad News Microsoft Collaboration Fuels 50% Rally for Enjin’s Cryptocurrency
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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7217.43, 7243.13, 7269.68, 7124.67, 7152.30, 6932.48, 6640.52, 7276.80, 7202.84, 7218.82
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 10005.00, 10301.10, 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00, 11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63, 9205.12, 9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35, 7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47, 8879.62, 8668.12, 8495.78, 8209.40, 7833.04, 7954.48, 7165.70, 6890.52, 6973.53, 6844.23, 7083.80, 7456.11, 6853.84, 6811.47, 6636.32, 6911.09, 7023.52, 6770.73, 6834.76, 6968.32, 7889.25, 7895.96, 7986.24, 8329.11, 8058.67, 7902.09, 8163.42, 8294.31, 8845.83, 8895.58, 8802.46, 8930.88, 9697.50, 8845.74, 9281.51, 8987.05, 9348.48, 9419.08, 9240.55, 9119.01, 9235.92, 9743.86, 9700.76, 9858.15, 9654.80, 9373.01, 9234.82, 9325.18, 9043.94, 8441.49, 8504.89, 8723.94, 8716.79, 8510.38, 8368.83, 8094.32, 8250.97, 8247.18, 8513.25, 8418.99, 8041.78.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-05-22]
Volume: 5137010176, RSI (14-day): 39.49, 50-day EMA: 8690.69, 200-day EMA: 8813.31
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1291.70, Gold RSI: 36.45
Oil Price: 72.13, Oil RSI: 66.39
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitcoin resembles currency experiments that failed: Robert Shiller: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are following a familiar path paved by monetary innovations that failed, economist Robert Shiller warned in an article published Monday.
Cryptocurrency prices have soared amid growing interest in the fledgling market. But some influential investors and business leaders argue that investing in digital currencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) is a dangerous game. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimonhas called bitcoin a “fraud” and later said he isn’t interested in the subject.
Warren Buffett recently told Liz Claman on FOX Business that bitcoin has “produced nothing.” His longtime business partner, Charlie Munger,has called bitcoin “rat poison”and a “turd.”
Shiller, a Nobel-winning economist known for predicting the housing crisis and dot-com bubble, said much of cryptocurrencies’ appeal is driven by the mysteriousness that surrounds them.
“Practically no one, outside of computer science departments, can explain how cryptocurrencies work. That mystery creates an aura of exclusivity, gives the new money glamour, and fills devotees with revolutionary zeal,”Shiller wrotefor Project Syndicate. “None of this is new, and, as with past monetary innovations, a compelling story may not be enough.”
Shiller compared the emergence of cryptocurrencies with past experiments such as “time money.” In the 19th century, Josiah Warner opened the “Cincinnati Time Store,” which sold goods in units of hours of work, using “labor notes” as paper money. The store closed three years after it opened. A similar effort by the “father of socialism,” Robert Owen, also failed.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels pushed for a “communistic abolition of buying and selling,” although no Communist state ever eliminated money, Shiller wrote. In the 1930s, a radical movement aimed to replace the gold-backed dollar with a measure of energy, but the Technocracy fad was short-lived. The economist John Pease Norton argued in 1932 for a dollar backed by electricity. That effort also gained little traction.
Shiller said these monetary innovations were connected to “a deep yearning for some kind of revolution in society.” Likewise, cryptocurrencies “are a statement of faith in a new community of entrepreneurial cosmopolitans who hold themselves above national governments,” he wrote.
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• Stocks mixed amid US-China trade talks, Italian politics
• Kohl's reports higher quarterly profit || Bitcoin resembles currency experiments that failed: Robert Shiller: Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are following a familiar path paved by monetary innovations that failed, economist Robert Shiller warned in an article published Monday.
Cryptocurrency prices have soared amid growing interest in the fledgling market. But some influential investors and business leaders argue that investing in digital currencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) is a dangerous game. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimonhas called bitcoin a “fraud” and later said he isn’t interested in the subject.
Warren Buffett recently told Liz Claman on FOX Business that bitcoin has “produced nothing.” His longtime business partner, Charlie Munger,has called bitcoin “rat poison”and a “turd.”
Shiller, a Nobel-winning economist known for predicting the housing crisis and dot-com bubble, said much of cryptocurrencies’ appeal is driven by the mysteriousness that surrounds them.
“Practically no one, outside of computer science departments, can explain how cryptocurrencies work. That mystery creates an aura of exclusivity, gives the new money glamour, and fills devotees with revolutionary zeal,”Shiller wrotefor Project Syndicate. “None of this is new, and, as with past monetary innovations, a compelling story may not be enough.”
Shiller compared the emergence of cryptocurrencies with past experiments such as “time money.” In the 19th century, Josiah Warner opened the “Cincinnati Time Store,” which sold goods in units of hours of work, using “labor notes” as paper money. The store closed three years after it opened. A similar effort by the “father of socialism,” Robert Owen, also failed.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels pushed for a “communistic abolition of buying and selling,” although no Communist state ever eliminated money, Shiller wrote. In the 1930s, a radical movement aimed to replace the gold-backed dollar with a measure of energy, but the Technocracy fad was short-lived. The economist John Pease Norton argued in 1932 for a dollar backed by electricity. That effort also gained little traction.
Shiller said these monetary innovations were connected to “a deep yearning for some kind of revolution in society.” Likewise, cryptocurrencies “are a statement of faith in a new community of entrepreneurial cosmopolitans who hold themselves above national governments,” he wrote.
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• Stocks mixed amid US-China trade talks, Italian politics
• Kohl's reports higher quarterly profit || 6 Reasons Why Bitcoin and Blockchain Are Here to Stay: The hottest ticket in town this week was in New York City. But unlike any top-tier event, you were invited … if you could afford it. At approximately $2,000, Consensus 2018 was the most expensive edition in the bitcoin conference’s history. Despite that, it was the most heavily attended by a country mile. Founded by CoinDesk, Consensus 2018 drew 8,500 attendees, an all-time record. Last year’s haul topped out at 2,700 people, which was a respectable figure at that time, representing a near-doubling from Consensus 2016. But at a growth rate of 215%, this year’s edition took the bitcoin conference to a whole new level. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Usually, cryptocurrency-related events are self-serving. Nothing new is learned because the people attending don’t have to be sold on anything. Most are already steeped in the bitcoin culture. What made Consensus 2018 stand out was its diversity. Not everyone was a believer, and even among the faithful, not everyone saw eye to eye. 25 Unstoppable Stocks to Buy No Matter What Most importantly, Consensus 2018 proved that the bitcoin ecosystem was far more than just speculators looking to profit. Here’s a deeper look at the bitcoin conference and the issues presented. Reason #1: Bulls Go to Bat for Bitcoin With the way the mainstream media has portrayed bitcoin and the blockchain as a wildly speculative venture, FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX ) chairman and chief executive Fred Smith’s words may come as a surprise . Smith matter-of-factly states, “Blockchain has the potential to completely revolutionize what’s across the border.” He further doubled-down on the blockchain technology and its implications. In front of a packed audience, he stated , “For cross-border shipments, ‘trust’ is legal requirement for every transaction. What blockchain has is a potential for the first time ever to make the information available for everybody.” Story continues In terms of the logistics business, Smith’s support for blockchain is completely understandable. One of the biggest challenges with international shipments is dealing with differences: different regulations, operating protocols, industry-specific terminologies and cultural expectations. Anything that can standardize the logistics platform would go a long way in making the overall process more efficient. Thus, the FedEx CEO praised the blockchain technology’s “chain of custody.” Put another way, the blockchain allows everyone to speak one language. Perhaps the most significant aspect of FedEx’s love affair with the blockchain is that it’s not just lip service. The company joined the Blockchain in Transportation Alliance (BiTA) in an effort to explore how blockchain applications can positively impact the logistics industry. I’m biased, of course, but FedEx is making the right, and necessary, decision. The company’s CIO, Fred Carter, stated: “We move easily 12 million shipments a day and that more than doubles during the peak seasons. While we absolutely believe this technology is going to scale, right now it makes sense for us to do this in our freight world.” Reason #2: Blockchain Has Practical Utility Carter hits upon a critical point. While the general public’s idea about cryptocurrencies centers on speculative financial investments, and 20-year old kids driving Lambos, what gets lost in the discussion is that the blockchain has practical utility. Yes, everyone talks about the soaring bitcoin price, and it’s true that overnight millionaires have sprouted across the world. In its initial launch, the original cryptocurrency could have been purchased for under a buck. But at the end of the day, cryptocurrencies are blockchain reward tokens. Bitcoin’s highly speculative market value is a separate issue from the underlying blockchain technology. That’s why I’m glad Consensus 2018 featured FedEx. Their executives understand what so many fail to see. Regarding Carter’s point, his organization is already operating at the highest level. Yet shipping demand will only increase. The advent of e-commerce, and Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AMZN ) dominance, in particular, will continue to shift consumer behavior. As I mentioned in my recent write-up for Amazon, the company’s Prime membership comprises consumers of all income levels. Furthermore, the difference between Amazon’s affluent and lower-income consumers isn’t nearly as lopsided as you might imagine. I wrote: As expected, the affluent find enormous value in Prime. Approximately 70% of people who earn $150,000 or more, and who shop online, are Prime members. Moreover, over half of online customers who make between $50,000 and $125,000 are also active Prime users. This broad income bracket essentially represents most upscale retailers’ target demographic. Put another way, the vast majority of consumers love shopping at Amazon, and love shopping online in general. Both FedEx and its rival United Parcel Service, Inc . (NYSE: UPS ) should experience a demand boon in upcoming years. And that means both companies need a next-generation innovation to keep up. Reason #3: Blockchain Will Cause Trickle-Down Effect Granted, Amazon is currently experimenting with their own courier system , and that could impinge on FedEx and UPS revenues. While it’s not the greatest thing to happen for couriers, I wouldn’t get too worried. Here’s what I wrote at the time: “However, I think the bearishness is overplayed. While Amazon could theoretically replace UPS and similar services, it would be a massive undertaking. The longer-term benefit for AMZN in terms of reducing shipping costs could be outweighed due to the onerous investment. From an economies of scale perspective, it may make sense for Amazon to continue utilizing UPS.” But the greater point is that no one entity can possibly handle the demand surge. My InvestorPlace colleague Will Ashworth, with regards to Amazon’s proposed internal courier service, stated, “I just don’t think that’s feasible or sensible given Amazon’s real business is selling 100 million Prime members as many things as possible.” Exactly. This isn’t a knock on Amazon, of which I’ve been especially bullish. But as great as they are, they couldn’t possibly cover all the gaps. Next, you have to consider the competition. Big-box retailers Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) and Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT ) have aggressively pushed into the e-commerce market . Their efforts will continue with the same, if not increased, aggression. I admit that Walmart hasn’t demonstrated ideal results late last year, which is why WMT stock has skidded. However, operational issues impeded their progress. Translation: Walmart perhaps bit off more than it can chew. But the challenges of e-commerce make one thing clear. Consumers increasingly prefer online retail, and current solutions aren’t working effectively. This is a perfect opportunity for the blockchain to flex its muscles. Eventually, other companies will have to embrace it, or slowly fade away. Reason # 4: Blockchain Forces Companies to Adapt … or Die FedEx CEO Fred Smith had one final comment at Consensus 2018. He stated: “If you are not operating at the edge of new technologies, you will surely be disrupted. If you are not willing to embrace new technologies like internet of things and blockchain to face those new threats, you are, maybe subtly, at some point … going to extinction.” I find myself marveling at FedEx’s leadership team. Unlike so many other executives and mainstream pundits, Smith discerns the strawman arguments used against bitcoin. As I stated earlier, bitcoin’s speculative trading and its underlying blockchain technology are completely separate issues. That the bitcoin price is as wild as a penny stock has nothing to do with the blockchain’s utilitarian value. What many critics miss is that you don’t have to ever invest in cryptocurrencies to benefit from the blockchain. The price of bitcoin could fall to zero, which I highly doubt. Yet even in that draconian circumstance, I believe that Pandora’s box has already been opened. Once people see what’s possible, there’s no going back. Furthermore, most companies will eventually be forced to adapt to the blockchain, or die. As enterprising businesses advantage the new technology’s utility, they’ll get a head start in their industry. By adopting an irrationally negative attitude toward the blockchain, competitors risk obsolescence. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that the blockchain is a cure-all for any company. If a business is a failing one, a new technology would only decelerate its inevitable demise. But for an organization not to try based on precontrived feelings would be the height of folly. Reason #5: Even Bitcoin Critics Will Turn Around Currently, cryptocurrency critics will note that the bitcoin price has fallen sharply since Consensus 2018 started. If the biggest crypto proponents can’t pump up the digital markets, who can? Fair enough. However, I wouldn’t be too comfortable taking potshots at bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies have proven to be more resilient than people give them credit for. In addition, things will eventually turn around in the right direction. How can I be so sure? Because even the haters realize that their derision toward cryptocurrencies lacks common and business sense. Compare it to tulip bubbles all you want. All the criticisms in the world have been widely disseminated through the internet. Not a single, unique argument against bitcoin exists because we’ve heard every one. Yet in this hate-filled environment, the haters are backing away from their reproach. I’m speaking of course about Facebook, Inc . (NASDAQ: FB ). Earlier this year, the social media giant announced a draconian ban on all cryptocurrency-related advertisements. It was one of the biggest knee-jerk reactions in recent memory. With Facebook, I understood their concerns. Several cryptocurrency-related projects are indeed scams. But I could say the same thing about other projects and businesses, including publicly traded companies. Rather than blame individual con-artists, Facebook took the easy way out and accused the platform. That was a big mistake, and they know it. Now, they’re exploring how the blockchain technology can aid their business. Facebook could’ve saved themselves much embarrassment and at least stayed neutral. Reason #6: More Companies to Get Bitcoin Fever If Consensus 2018 has taught us anything, it’s that bitcoin is no longer for nerds. FedEx executives just went to bat for the blockchain. This is no longer a niche market you can simply ignore. I’m even more bullish on bitcoin, if such a thing is possible. That’s because the immense popularity over Consensus 2018 is just the beginning. More companies will follow FedEx’s lead. But just as importantly, more companies will follow Facebook’s lead. Initially, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG , NASDAQ: GOOGL ) and Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR ) adopted Facebook’s early stance on cryptocurrencies. The former two companies banned crypto-related advertisements I suppose as a show of solidarity. They too will regret their hasty and illogical decisions. I genuinely don’t care what any Alphabet executive personally thinks about bitcoin; by refusing crypto-related advertisements, they’re throwing free money away. Last year, “bitcoin” was one of the top Googled search items . I can virtually guarantee you that it will remain highly popular for years to come. Thus, it makes zero sense to ban advertisements for a subject everyone is talking about. A few months back, I happened to watch CNBC ’s Mad Money. Jim Cramer briefly discussed cryptocurrencies. I normally don’t get my financial advice from Cramer, and this time was no different. But what intrigued me was that his friends called him up to ask about bitcoin. I don’t know Jim Cramer, but he doesn’t strike me as a bitcoin guy. So if Cramer’s friends who are probably stodgy, stocks and bonds type of folks, are bugging him about bitcoin, imagine the conversations occurring on Main Street. And if anyone wants to learn about bitcoin, Google is the first site they’ll go. That means the company will idly watch easily convertible metrics slip by. It’s insane, and they’ll soon recant. Not Everything Was Rosy for Consensus 2018 By almost any reasonable standard, Consensus 2018 was a huge success. Bitcoin received unprecedented attention and credibility. Like I said earlier, this sector is no longer just for computer nerds. It’s hit the big-time in the Big Apple. But not everything about Consensus 2018 was a standout success. In some ways, this bitcoin conference was defined not by who was there, but who wasn’t. And Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin’s absence was especially conspicuous. To get a ticket to the event at the last minute will cost you $3,000. That’s roughly one-third the cost of a single bitcoin. Buterin took exception to this highway robbery, stating simply, “I refuse to personally contribute to that level of rent-seeking.” I can understand why he was upset. As one of the blockchain space’s most prominent and accomplished figures, I appreciated his standing up for the little guys. Consensus 2018 offered valuable content and insights; that, no one will argue against. But the hoopla and extracurricular activities were something the conference could do without. For instance, the parading of the Lamborghinis was tacky. It screams desperation and insecurity. In my opinion, it was a bad look for the cryptocurrency sector’s marquee event. More critically, Buterin may have been concerned that the blockchain was losing its ideological base. What should be celebrated was not crass commercialism, but rather, the blockchain’s ability to open doors. As it has done for the logistics business, cryptocurrencies offer trading based on a neutral platform. In other words, people can finally invest outside the U.S. dollar hegemony. This puts emerging-market investors on the same floor as American or western investors. Yet the Lambo parade suggested that bitcoin proponents could care less about the blockchain’s social impact. Consensus 2018 Lacked Consensus Indeed, one of the ironic characteristics about Consensus 2018 was that it lacked exactly that: consensus. Don’t get me wrong — most people at the conference support bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. But this did not involve folks preaching to the choir. Going back to Buterin, he complained that Consensus 2018 founder CoinDesk lacked integrity. The Ethereum founder claimed that CoinDesk resorts to “gotcha” tactics for its off-the-record policy. Obviously, I can’t corroborate Buterin’s accusation. However, his statements indicate that the blockchain space has substantial room for further maturing. For instance, a CNBC reporter had to wait over an hour to get her entrance badge. Nor was this an isolated case. Several attendees, irrespective of status, also waited an hour to gain admission. In fact, Consensus 2018 had to start the day with an apology for operational inefficiencies. Fireworks also erupted on the panel floor. Prominent blockchain business owners engaged in heated debates over the crypto sector’s direction. One side felt that the sector was hitting a bubble, that too many blockchain projects were speculative. The other side disagreed sharply, ultimately ending the feud with a bitcoin bet. The details of this debate don’t really interest me. Rather, I find it intriguing that wildly successful bitcoin adopters still sharply disagree about bitcoin. I also find this dynamic encouraging. You’ll often hear critics state that cryptocurrencies are the modern-day tulip bubbles. But if that were the case, why the robust debates within the sector? I’d understand if the counterarguments originated from outside the bitcoin love-fest. But they’re not. Some of the biggest bitcoin supporters are also its biggest critics. Last time I checked, bubbles occur because most everyone believes the only direction is up. At Consensus 2018, no such consensus existed. The Bankers Have Their Say For me, the biggest surprise of the bitcoin conference was St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard. He attended Consensus 2018, and it went down how you might imagine it. Bullard stated to the audience: You’ve got this kind of special problem of who’s going to issue the currency and what are those promises about future issuance and can you really maintain the credibility of those promises. If you can’t, the value of your currency is going to zero the same way the Venezuelan bolivar has. Bullard further noted that non-uniform currencies have historically met significant resistance, and later failed. In his view, cryptocurrencies have a challenged road ahead before they can achieve mainstream financial acceptance. “They’ve got to compete just like everybody else…welcome to the currency competition game,” Bullard said. Respectfully, but unfortunately, the Fed banker misses the point. Cryptocurrencies represent a paradigm shift in how we view money. To merely categorize them as “non-uniform currencies” is a grave disservice, if not disinformation. The value of the dollar doesn’t just stem from U.S. economic stability; rather, our military backs our currency. Recall that when Admiral Perry opened Japan’s borders , he did so with battleships. Currencies, particularly western currencies, have always been inked with blood. Bitcoin, on the other hand, doesn’t threaten anyone. It merely encourages through unprecedented opportunities. The value of bitcoin in Nigeria is the same as the value of bitcoin in Norway. All participants operate on the same platform with the same rules. The blockchain doesn’t consider any other factor, such as skin color or national allegiances. Put another way, people want to use bitcoin. In sharp contrast, people are forced to use the dollar. Final Thoughts on Bitcoin and Consensus 2018 Consensus 2018 had its fair share of problems. The organizers clearly didn’t prepare adequately for the popularity surge, and frankly, they have no excuse. Ticket-buyers didn’t just pop up randomly; ample time was in place for proper administration and procedures. I also wasn’t impressed with Consensus 2018 not taking care of its media guests. Again, you can’t excuse organizers not having made prior arrangements for CNBC and other financial/business journalists. These are the folks to fast-track as they will relay their opinions to everyone else. After all, Consensus 2018 is typically the only time in the year that outsiders can glimpse inside the crypto world. For this audience, you want to present the best image possible. Instead, it looked like amateur hour. That said, the annual bitcoin conference achieved what all cryptocurrency proponents have sought: mainstream acceptance and credibility. Bitcoin started off as a get-rich-quick scheme. Now, its underlying technology made the most powerful names in business take notice. Not only that, but the diversity of opinions suggests that we’re still a long way from the dreaded bitcoin bubble. As I stated earlier, Consensus 2018 was marked for the lack of consensus. Moreover, the conference organizers’ clumsy operations has a silver lining. If the conference itself was surprised at the attendee number, imagine what the next year will bring. At time of writing, the bitcoin price is almost 60% lower than its all-time high. In any other asset, such losses would cause severe panic. But not the cryptocurrency sector. This market has seen the worst of times, yet its proponents keep coming back for more. As of this writing, Josh Enomoto is long bitcoin and ethereum. More From InvestorPlace 30 Marijuana Stocks to Buy as the Future Turns Green Rising Gas Prices? Fill Up Your Tank With These 3 Stocks Instead The Bear Case for Apple Inc. Stock: An In-Depth Look 9 In-Depth Reasons Why Facebook, Inc. Is a Must-Own Stock Compare Brokers The post 6 Reasons Why Bitcoin and Blockchain Are Here to Stay appeared first on InvestorPlace . || 6 Reasons Why Bitcoin and Blockchain Are Here to Stay: The hottest ticket in town this week was in New York City. But unlike any top-tier event, you were invited … if you could afford it.
At approximately $2,000, Consensus 2018 was the most expensive edition in the bitcoin conference’s history. Despite that, it was the most heavily attended by a country mile.
Founded by CoinDesk, Consensus 2018 drew 8,500 attendees, an all-time record. Last year’s haul topped out at 2,700 people, which was a respectable figure at that time, representing a near-doubling from Consensus 2016. But at a growth rate of 215%, this year’s edition took the bitcoin conference to a whole new level.
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
Usually, cryptocurrency-related events are self-serving. Nothing new is learned because the people attending don’t have to be sold on anything. Most are already steeped in the bitcoin culture. What made Consensus 2018 stand out was its diversity. Not everyone was a believer, and even among the faithful, not everyone saw eye to eye.
• 25 Unstoppable Stocks to Buy No Matter What
Most importantly, Consensus 2018 proved that the bitcoin ecosystem was far more than just speculators looking to profit. Here’s a deeper look at the bitcoin conference and the issues presented.
With the way the mainstream media has portrayed bitcoin and the blockchain as a wildly speculative venture,FedEx Corporation(NYSE:FDX) chairman and chief executive Fred Smith’s wordsmay come as a surprise. Smith matter-of-factly states, “Blockchain has the potential to completely revolutionize what’s across the border.”
He further doubled-down on the blockchain technology and its implications. In front of a packed audience,he stated, “For cross-border shipments, ‘trust’ is legal requirement for every transaction. What blockchain has is a potential for the first time ever to make the information available for everybody.”
In terms of the logistics business, Smith’s support for blockchain is completely understandable. One of the biggest challenges with international shipments is dealing with differences: different regulations, operating protocols, industry-specific terminologies and cultural expectations.
Anything that can standardize the logistics platform would go a long way in making the overall process more efficient. Thus, the FedEx CEO praised the blockchain technology’s “chain of custody.” Put another way, the blockchain allows everyone to speak one language.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of FedEx’s love affair with the blockchain is that it’s not just lip service. The company joined the Blockchain in Transportation Alliance (BiTA) in an effort to explore how blockchain applications can positively impact the logistics industry.
I’m biased, of course, but FedEx is making the right, and necessary, decision. The company’s CIO, Fred Carter, stated:
“We move easily 12 million shipments a day and that more than doubles during the peak seasons. While we absolutely believe this technology is going to scale, right now it makes sense for us to do this in our freight world.”
Carter hits upon a critical point. While the general public’s idea about cryptocurrencies centers on speculative financial investments, and 20-year old kids driving Lambos, what gets lost in the discussion is that the blockchain has practical utility.
Yes, everyone talks about the soaring bitcoin price, and it’s true that overnight millionaires have sprouted across the world. In its initial launch, the original cryptocurrency could have been purchased for under a buck.
But at the end of the day, cryptocurrencies are blockchain reward tokens. Bitcoin’s highly speculative market value is aseparateissue from the underlying blockchain technology. That’s why I’m glad Consensus 2018 featured FedEx. Their executives understand what so many fail to see.
Regarding Carter’s point, his organization is already operating at the highest level. Yet shipping demand will only increase. The advent of e-commerce, andAmazon.com, Inc.’s(NASDAQ:AMZN) dominance, in particular, will continue to shift consumer behavior.
As I mentioned in myrecent write-upfor Amazon, the company’s Prime membership comprises consumers of all income levels. Furthermore, the difference between Amazon’s affluent and lower-income consumers isn’t nearly as lopsided as you might imagine. I wrote:
As expected, the affluent find enormous value in Prime. Approximately 70% of people who earn $150,000 or more, and who shop online, are Prime members. Moreover, over half of online customers who make between $50,000 and $125,000 are also active Prime users. This broad income bracket essentially represents most upscale retailers’ target demographic.
Put another way, the vast majority of consumers love shopping at Amazon, and love shopping online in general. Both FedEx and its rivalUnited Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) should experience a demand boon in upcoming years.
And that means both companies need a next-generation innovation to keep up.
Granted, Amazon is currently experimenting with theirown courier system, and that could impinge on FedEx and UPS revenues. While it’s not the greatest thing to happen for couriers, I wouldn’t get too worried. Here’s what I wrote at the time:
“However, I think the bearishness is overplayed. While Amazon could theoretically replace UPS and similar services, it would be a massive undertaking. The longer-term benefit for AMZN in terms of reducing shipping costs could be outweighed due to the onerous investment. From an economies of scale perspective, it may make sense for Amazon to continue utilizing UPS.”
But the greater point is that no one entity can possibly handle the demand surge. My InvestorPlace colleague Will Ashworth, with regards to Amazon’s proposed internal courier service, stated, “I just don’t think that’s feasible or sensible given Amazon’s real business is selling100 million Prime membersas many things as possible.”
Exactly. This isn’t a knock on Amazon, of which I’ve been especially bullish. But as great as they are, they couldn’t possibly cover all the gaps.
Next, you have to consider the competition. Big-box retailersWalmart Inc(NYSE:WMT) andTarget Corporation(NYSE:TGT) have aggressively pushed into thee-commerce market. Their efforts will continue with the same, if not increased, aggression.
I admit that Walmart hasn’t demonstrated ideal results late last year, which is why WMT stock has skidded. However, operational issues impeded their progress. Translation: Walmart perhaps bit off more than it can chew.
But the challenges of e-commerce make one thing clear. Consumers increasingly prefer online retail, and current solutions aren’t working effectively.
This is a perfect opportunity for the blockchain to flex its muscles. Eventually, other companies will have to embrace it, or slowly fade away.
FedEx CEO Fred Smith had one final comment at Consensus 2018. He stated:
“If you are not operating at the edge of new technologies, you will surely be disrupted. If you are not willing to embrace new technologies like internet of things and blockchain to face those new threats, you are, maybe subtly, at some point … going to extinction.”
I find myself marveling at FedEx’s leadership team. Unlike so many other executives and mainstream pundits, Smith discerns the strawman arguments used against bitcoin.
As I stated earlier, bitcoin’s speculative trading and its underlying blockchain technology are completely separate issues. That the bitcoin price is as wild as a penny stock has nothing to do with the blockchain’s utilitarian value.
What many critics miss is that you don’t have to ever invest in cryptocurrencies to benefit from the blockchain. The price of bitcoin could fall tozero,which I highly doubt. Yet even in that draconian circumstance, I believe that Pandora’s box has already been opened. Once people see what’s possible, there’s no going back.
Furthermore, most companies will eventually be forced to adapt to the blockchain, or die. As enterprising businesses advantage the new technology’s utility, they’ll get a head start in their industry. By adopting an irrationally negative attitude toward the blockchain, competitors risk obsolescence.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that the blockchain is a cure-all for any company. If a business is a failing one, a new technology would only decelerate its inevitable demise. But for an organization not to try based on precontrived feelings would be the height of folly.
Currently, cryptocurrency critics will note that the bitcoin price has fallen sharply since Consensus 2018 started. If the biggest crypto proponents can’t pump up the digital markets, who can?
Fair enough. However, I wouldn’t be too comfortable taking potshots at bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies have proven to be more resilient than people give them credit for. In addition, things will eventually turn around in the right direction.
How can I be so sure? Because even the haters realize that their derision toward cryptocurrencies lacks common and business sense. Compare it to tulip bubbles all you want. All the criticisms in the world have been widely disseminated through the internet. Not a single, unique argument against bitcoin exists because we’ve heard every one.
Yet in this hate-filled environment, the haters are backing away from their reproach.
I’m speaking of course aboutFacebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB). Earlier this year, the social media giant announced adraconian banon all cryptocurrency-related advertisements. It was one of the biggest knee-jerk reactions in recent memory.
With Facebook, I understood their concerns. Several cryptocurrency-related projects are indeed scams. But I could say the same thing about other projects and businesses, including publicly traded companies. Rather than blame individual con-artists, Facebook took the easy way out and accused the platform.
That was a big mistake, and they know it. Now, they’re exploring how the blockchain technology can aid their business. Facebook could’ve saved themselves much embarrassment and at least stayed neutral.
If Consensus 2018 has taught us anything, it’s that bitcoin is no longer for nerds. FedEx executives just went to bat for the blockchain. This is no longer a niche market you can simply ignore.
I’m even more bullish on bitcoin, if such a thing is possible. That’s because the immense popularity over Consensus 2018 is just the beginning. More companies will follow FedEx’s lead. But just as importantly, more companies will follow Facebook’s lead.
Initially,Alphabet Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) andTwitter Inc(NYSE:TWTR) adopted Facebook’s early stance on cryptocurrencies. The former two companies banned crypto-related advertisements I suppose as a show of solidarity.
They too will regret their hasty and illogical decisions.
I genuinely don’t care what any Alphabet executive personally thinks about bitcoin; by refusing crypto-related advertisements, they’re throwing free money away. Last year, “bitcoin” was one of the topGoogledsearch items. I can virtually guarantee you that it will remain highly popular for years to come. Thus, it makes zero sense to ban advertisements for a subject everyone is talking about.
A few months back, I happened to watchCNBC’s Mad Money. Jim Cramer briefly discussed cryptocurrencies. I normally don’t get my financial advice from Cramer, and this time was no different. But what intrigued me was that his friends called him up to ask about bitcoin.
I don’t know Jim Cramer, but he doesn’t strike me as a bitcoin guy. So if Cramer’s friends who are probably stodgy, stocks and bonds type of folks, are bugging him about bitcoin, imagine the conversations occurring on Main Street.
And if anyone wants to learn about bitcoin, Google is the first site they’ll go. That means the company will idly watch easily convertible metrics slip by. It’s insane, and they’ll soon recant.
By almost any reasonable standard, Consensus 2018 was a huge success. Bitcoin received unprecedented attention and credibility. Like I said earlier, this sector is no longer just for computer nerds. It’s hit the big-time in the Big Apple.
But not everything about Consensus 2018 was a standout success. In some ways, this bitcoin conference was defined not by who was there, but who wasn’t. And Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin’s absence was especially conspicuous.
To get a ticket to the event at the last minute will cost you $3,000. That’s roughly one-third the cost of a single bitcoin. Buterin took exception to this highway robbery, stating simply, “I refuse to personally contribute to that level of rent-seeking.”
I can understand why he was upset. As one of the blockchain space’s most prominent and accomplished figures, I appreciated his standing up for the little guys.
Consensus 2018 offered valuable content and insights; that, no one will argue against. But the hoopla and extracurricular activities were something the conference could do without. For instance, the parading of the Lamborghinis was tacky. It screams desperation and insecurity. In my opinion, it was a bad look for the cryptocurrency sector’s marquee event.
More critically, Buterin may have been concerned that the blockchain was losing its ideological base. What should be celebrated was not crass commercialism, but rather, the blockchain’s ability to open doors. As it has done for the logistics business, cryptocurrencies offer trading based on a neutral platform.
In other words, people can finally invest outside the U.S. dollar hegemony. This puts emerging-market investors on the same floor as American or western investors. Yet the Lambo parade suggested that bitcoin proponents could care less about the blockchain’s social impact.
Indeed, one of the ironic characteristics about Consensus 2018 was that it lacked exactly that: consensus. Don’t get me wrong — most people at the conference support bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. But this did not involve folks preaching to the choir.
Going back to Buterin, he complained that Consensus 2018 founder CoinDesk lacked integrity. The Ethereum founder claimed that CoinDesk resorts to “gotcha” tactics for its off-the-record policy.
Obviously, I can’t corroborate Buterin’s accusation. However, his statements indicate that the blockchain space has substantial room for further maturing. For instance, a CNBC reporter had towait over an hourto get her entrance badge.
Nor was this an isolated case. Several attendees, irrespective of status, also waited an hour to gain admission. In fact, Consensus 2018 had to start the day with an apology for operational inefficiencies.
Fireworks also erupted on the panel floor. Prominent blockchain business owners engaged in heated debates over the crypto sector’s direction. One side felt that the sector was hitting a bubble, that too many blockchain projects were speculative. The other side disagreed sharply, ultimately ending the feud with a bitcoin bet.
The details of this debate don’t really interest me. Rather, I find it intriguing that wildly successful bitcoin adopters still sharply disagree about bitcoin. I also find this dynamic encouraging.
You’ll often hear critics state that cryptocurrencies are the modern-day tulip bubbles. But if that were the case, why the robust debateswithinthe sector? I’d understand if the counterarguments originated from outside the bitcoin love-fest. But they’re not. Some of the biggest bitcoin supporters are also its biggest critics.
Last time I checked, bubbles occur because most everyone believes the only direction is up. At Consensus 2018, no such consensus existed.
For me, the biggest surprise of the bitcoin conference was St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard. He attended Consensus 2018, and it went down how you might imagine it. Bullard stated to the audience:
You’ve got this kind of special problem of who’s going to issue the currency and what are those promises about future issuance and can you really maintain the credibility of those promises. If you can’t, the value of your currency is going to zero the same way the Venezuelan bolivar has.
Bullard further noted thatnon-uniform currencieshave historically met significant resistance, and later failed. In his view, cryptocurrencies have a challenged road ahead before they can achieve mainstream financial acceptance. “They’ve got to compete just like everybody else…welcome to the currency competition game,” Bullard said.
Respectfully, but unfortunately, the Fed banker misses the point. Cryptocurrencies represent a paradigm shift in how we view money. To merely categorize them as “non-uniform currencies” is a grave disservice, if not disinformation.
The value of the dollar doesn’t just stem from U.S. economic stability; rather, our military backs our currency. Recall that when Admiral Perryopened Japan’s borders, he did so with battleships. Currencies, particularly western currencies, have always been inked with blood.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, doesn’t threaten anyone. It merely encourages through unprecedented opportunities. The value of bitcoin in Nigeria is the same as the value of bitcoin in Norway. All participants operate on the same platform with the same rules. The blockchain doesn’t consider any other factor, such as skin color or national allegiances.
Put another way, peoplewantto use bitcoin. In sharp contrast, people are forced to use the dollar.
Consensus 2018 had its fair share of problems. The organizers clearly didn’t prepare adequately for the popularity surge, and frankly, they have no excuse. Ticket-buyers didn’t just pop up randomly; ample time was in place for proper administration and procedures.
I also wasn’t impressed with Consensus 2018 not taking care of its media guests. Again, you can’t excuse organizers not having made prior arrangements forCNBCand other financial/business journalists. These are the folks to fast-track as they will relay their opinions to everyone else.
After all, Consensus 2018 is typically the only time in the year that outsiders can glimpse inside the crypto world. For this audience, you want to present the best image possible. Instead, it looked like amateur hour.
That said, the annual bitcoin conference achieved what all cryptocurrency proponents have sought: mainstream acceptance and credibility. Bitcoin started off as a get-rich-quick scheme. Now, its underlying technology made the most powerful names in business take notice.
Not only that, but the diversity of opinions suggests that we’re still a long way from the dreaded bitcoin bubble. As I stated earlier, Consensus 2018 was marked for the lack of consensus.
Moreover, the conference organizers’ clumsy operations has a silver lining. If the conference itself was surprised at the attendee number, imagine what the next year will bring.
At time of writing, the bitcoin price is almost 60% lower than its all-time high. In any other asset, such losses would cause severe panic. But not the cryptocurrency sector. This market has seen the worst of times, yet its proponents keep coming back for more.
As of this writing, Josh Enomoto is long bitcoin and ethereum.
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The post6 Reasons Why Bitcoin and Blockchain Are Here to Stayappeared first onInvestorPlace. || 6 Reasons Why Bitcoin and Blockchain Are Here to Stay: The hottest ticket in town this week was in New York City. But unlike any top-tier event, you were invited … if you could afford it.
At approximately $2,000, Consensus 2018 was the most expensive edition in the bitcoin conference’s history. Despite that, it was the most heavily attended by a country mile.
Founded by CoinDesk, Consensus 2018 drew 8,500 attendees, an all-time record. Last year’s haul topped out at 2,700 people, which was a respectable figure at that time, representing a near-doubling from Consensus 2016. But at a growth rate of 215%, this year’s edition took the bitcoin conference to a whole new level.
InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips
Usually, cryptocurrency-related events are self-serving. Nothing new is learned because the people attending don’t have to be sold on anything. Most are already steeped in the bitcoin culture. What made Consensus 2018 stand out was its diversity. Not everyone was a believer, and even among the faithful, not everyone saw eye to eye.
• 25 Unstoppable Stocks to Buy No Matter What
Most importantly, Consensus 2018 proved that the bitcoin ecosystem was far more than just speculators looking to profit. Here’s a deeper look at the bitcoin conference and the issues presented.
With the way the mainstream media has portrayed bitcoin and the blockchain as a wildly speculative venture,FedEx Corporation(NYSE:FDX) chairman and chief executive Fred Smith’s wordsmay come as a surprise. Smith matter-of-factly states, “Blockchain has the potential to completely revolutionize what’s across the border.”
He further doubled-down on the blockchain technology and its implications. In front of a packed audience,he stated, “For cross-border shipments, ‘trust’ is legal requirement for every transaction. What blockchain has is a potential for the first time ever to make the information available for everybody.”
In terms of the logistics business, Smith’s support for blockchain is completely understandable. One of the biggest challenges with international shipments is dealing with differences: different regulations, operating protocols, industry-specific terminologies and cultural expectations.
Anything that can standardize the logistics platform would go a long way in making the overall process more efficient. Thus, the FedEx CEO praised the blockchain technology’s “chain of custody.” Put another way, the blockchain allows everyone to speak one language.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of FedEx’s love affair with the blockchain is that it’s not just lip service. The company joined the Blockchain in Transportation Alliance (BiTA) in an effort to explore how blockchain applications can positively impact the logistics industry.
I’m biased, of course, but FedEx is making the right, and necessary, decision. The company’s CIO, Fred Carter, stated:
“We move easily 12 million shipments a day and that more than doubles during the peak seasons. While we absolutely believe this technology is going to scale, right now it makes sense for us to do this in our freight world.”
Carter hits upon a critical point. While the general public’s idea about cryptocurrencies centers on speculative financial investments, and 20-year old kids driving Lambos, what gets lost in the discussion is that the blockchain has practical utility.
Yes, everyone talks about the soaring bitcoin price, and it’s true that overnight millionaires have sprouted across the world. In its initial launch, the original cryptocurrency could have been purchased for under a buck.
But at the end of the day, cryptocurrencies are blockchain reward tokens. Bitcoin’s highly speculative market value is aseparateissue from the underlying blockchain technology. That’s why I’m glad Consensus 2018 featured FedEx. Their executives understand what so many fail to see.
Regarding Carter’s point, his organization is already operating at the highest level. Yet shipping demand will only increase. The advent of e-commerce, andAmazon.com, Inc.’s(NASDAQ:AMZN) dominance, in particular, will continue to shift consumer behavior.
As I mentioned in myrecent write-upfor Amazon, the company’s Prime membership comprises consumers of all income levels. Furthermore, the difference between Amazon’s affluent and lower-income consumers isn’t nearly as lopsided as you might imagine. I wrote:
As expected, the affluent find enormous value in Prime. Approximately 70% of people who earn $150,000 or more, and who shop online, are Prime members. Moreover, over half of online customers who make between $50,000 and $125,000 are also active Prime users. This broad income bracket essentially represents most upscale retailers’ target demographic.
Put another way, the vast majority of consumers love shopping at Amazon, and love shopping online in general. Both FedEx and its rivalUnited Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) should experience a demand boon in upcoming years.
And that means both companies need a next-generation innovation to keep up.
Granted, Amazon is currently experimenting with theirown courier system, and that could impinge on FedEx and UPS revenues. While it’s not the greatest thing to happen for couriers, I wouldn’t get too worried. Here’s what I wrote at the time:
“However, I think the bearishness is overplayed. While Amazon could theoretically replace UPS and similar services, it would be a massive undertaking. The longer-term benefit for AMZN in terms of reducing shipping costs could be outweighed due to the onerous investment. From an economies of scale perspective, it may make sense for Amazon to continue utilizing UPS.”
But the greater point is that no one entity can possibly handle the demand surge. My InvestorPlace colleague Will Ashworth, with regards to Amazon’s proposed internal courier service, stated, “I just don’t think that’s feasible or sensible given Amazon’s real business is selling100 million Prime membersas many things as possible.”
Exactly. This isn’t a knock on Amazon, of which I’ve been especially bullish. But as great as they are, they couldn’t possibly cover all the gaps.
Next, you have to consider the competition. Big-box retailersWalmart Inc(NYSE:WMT) andTarget Corporation(NYSE:TGT) have aggressively pushed into thee-commerce market. Their efforts will continue with the same, if not increased, aggression.
I admit that Walmart hasn’t demonstrated ideal results late last year, which is why WMT stock has skidded. However, operational issues impeded their progress. Translation: Walmart perhaps bit off more than it can chew.
But the challenges of e-commerce make one thing clear. Consumers increasingly prefer online retail, and current solutions aren’t working effectively.
This is a perfect opportunity for the blockchain to flex its muscles. Eventually, other companies will have to embrace it, or slowly fade away.
FedEx CEO Fred Smith had one final comment at Consensus 2018. He stated:
“If you are not operating at the edge of new technologies, you will surely be disrupted. If you are not willing to embrace new technologies like internet of things and blockchain to face those new threats, you are, maybe subtly, at some point … going to extinction.”
I find myself marveling at FedEx’s leadership team. Unlike so many other executives and mainstream pundits, Smith discerns the strawman arguments used against bitcoin.
As I stated earlier, bitcoin’s speculative trading and its underlying blockchain technology are completely separate issues. That the bitcoin price is as wild as a penny stock has nothing to do with the blockchain’s utilitarian value.
What many critics miss is that you don’t have to ever invest in cryptocurrencies to benefit from the blockchain. The price of bitcoin could fall tozero,which I highly doubt. Yet even in that draconian circumstance, I believe that Pandora’s box has already been opened. Once people see what’s possible, there’s no going back.
Furthermore, most companies will eventually be forced to adapt to the blockchain, or die. As enterprising businesses advantage the new technology’s utility, they’ll get a head start in their industry. By adopting an irrationally negative attitude toward the blockchain, competitors risk obsolescence.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that the blockchain is a cure-all for any company. If a business is a failing one, a new technology would only decelerate its inevitable demise. But for an organization not to try based on precontrived feelings would be the height of folly.
Currently, cryptocurrency critics will note that the bitcoin price has fallen sharply since Consensus 2018 started. If the biggest crypto proponents can’t pump up the digital markets, who can?
Fair enough. However, I wouldn’t be too comfortable taking potshots at bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies have proven to be more resilient than people give them credit for. In addition, things will eventually turn around in the right direction.
How can I be so sure? Because even the haters realize that their derision toward cryptocurrencies lacks common and business sense. Compare it to tulip bubbles all you want. All the criticisms in the world have been widely disseminated through the internet. Not a single, unique argument against bitcoin exists because we’ve heard every one.
Yet in this hate-filled environment, the haters are backing away from their reproach.
I’m speaking of course aboutFacebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB). Earlier this year, the social media giant announced adraconian banon all cryptocurrency-related advertisements. It was one of the biggest knee-jerk reactions in recent memory.
With Facebook, I understood their concerns. Several cryptocurrency-related projects are indeed scams. But I could say the same thing about other projects and businesses, including publicly traded companies. Rather than blame individual con-artists, Facebook took the easy way out and accused the platform.
That was a big mistake, and they know it. Now, they’re exploring how the blockchain technology can aid their business. Facebook could’ve saved themselves much embarrassment and at least stayed neutral.
If Consensus 2018 has taught us anything, it’s that bitcoin is no longer for nerds. FedEx executives just went to bat for the blockchain. This is no longer a niche market you can simply ignore.
I’m even more bullish on bitcoin, if such a thing is possible. That’s because the immense popularity over Consensus 2018 is just the beginning. More companies will follow FedEx’s lead. But just as importantly, more companies will follow Facebook’s lead.
Initially,Alphabet Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) andTwitter Inc(NYSE:TWTR) adopted Facebook’s early stance on cryptocurrencies. The former two companies banned crypto-related advertisements I suppose as a show of solidarity.
They too will regret their hasty and illogical decisions.
I genuinely don’t care what any Alphabet executive personally thinks about bitcoin; by refusing crypto-related advertisements, they’re throwing free money away. Last year, “bitcoin” was one of the topGoogledsearch items. I can virtually guarantee you that it will remain highly popular for years to come. Thus, it makes zero sense to ban advertisements for a subject everyone is talking about.
A few months back, I happened to watchCNBC’s Mad Money. Jim Cramer briefly discussed cryptocurrencies. I normally don’t get my financial advice from Cramer, and this time was no different. But what intrigued me was that his friends called him up to ask about bitcoin.
I don’t know Jim Cramer, but he doesn’t strike me as a bitcoin guy. So if Cramer’s friends who are probably stodgy, stocks and bonds type of folks, are bugging him about bitcoin, imagine the conversations occurring on Main Street.
And if anyone wants to learn about bitcoin, Google is the first site they’ll go. That means the company will idly watch easily convertible metrics slip by. It’s insane, and they’ll soon recant.
By almost any reasonable standard, Consensus 2018 was a huge success. Bitcoin received unprecedented attention and credibility. Like I said earlier, this sector is no longer just for computer nerds. It’s hit the big-time in the Big Apple.
But not everything about Consensus 2018 was a standout success. In some ways, this bitcoin conference was defined not by who was there, but who wasn’t. And Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin’s absence was especially conspicuous.
To get a ticket to the event at the last minute will cost you $3,000. That’s roughly one-third the cost of a single bitcoin. Buterin took exception to this highway robbery, stating simply, “I refuse to personally contribute to that level of rent-seeking.”
I can understand why he was upset. As one of the blockchain space’s most prominent and accomplished figures, I appreciated his standing up for the little guys.
Consensus 2018 offered valuable content and insights; that, no one will argue against. But the hoopla and extracurricular activities were something the conference could do without. For instance, the parading of the Lamborghinis was tacky. It screams desperation and insecurity. In my opinion, it was a bad look for the cryptocurrency sector’s marquee event.
More critically, Buterin may have been concerned that the blockchain was losing its ideological base. What should be celebrated was not crass commercialism, but rather, the blockchain’s ability to open doors. As it has done for the logistics business, cryptocurrencies offer trading based on a neutral platform.
In other words, people can finally invest outside the U.S. dollar hegemony. This puts emerging-market investors on the same floor as American or western investors. Yet the Lambo parade suggested that bitcoin proponents could care less about the blockchain’s social impact.
Indeed, one of the ironic characteristics about Consensus 2018 was that it lacked exactly that: consensus. Don’t get me wrong — most people at the conference support bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. But this did not involve folks preaching to the choir.
Going back to Buterin, he complained that Consensus 2018 founder CoinDesk lacked integrity. The Ethereum founder claimed that CoinDesk resorts to “gotcha” tactics for its off-the-record policy.
Obviously, I can’t corroborate Buterin’s accusation. However, his statements indicate that the blockchain space has substantial room for further maturing. For instance, a CNBC reporter had towait over an hourto get her entrance badge.
Nor was this an isolated case. Several attendees, irrespective of status, also waited an hour to gain admission. In fact, Consensus 2018 had to start the day with an apology for operational inefficiencies.
Fireworks also erupted on the panel floor. Prominent blockchain business owners engaged in heated debates over the crypto sector’s direction. One side felt that the sector was hitting a bubble, that too many blockchain projects were speculative. The other side disagreed sharply, ultimately ending the feud with a bitcoin bet.
The details of this debate don’t really interest me. Rather, I find it intriguing that wildly successful bitcoin adopters still sharply disagree about bitcoin. I also find this dynamic encouraging.
You’ll often hear critics state that cryptocurrencies are the modern-day tulip bubbles. But if that were the case, why the robust debateswithinthe sector? I’d understand if the counterarguments originated from outside the bitcoin love-fest. But they’re not. Some of the biggest bitcoin supporters are also its biggest critics.
Last time I checked, bubbles occur because most everyone believes the only direction is up. At Consensus 2018, no such consensus existed.
For me, the biggest surprise of the bitcoin conference was St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard. He attended Consensus 2018, and it went down how you might imagine it. Bullard stated to the audience:
You’ve got this kind of special problem of who’s going to issue the currency and what are those promises about future issuance and can you really maintain the credibility of those promises. If you can’t, the value of your currency is going to zero the same way the Venezuelan bolivar has.
Bullard further noted thatnon-uniform currencieshave historically met significant resistance, and later failed. In his view, cryptocurrencies have a challenged road ahead before they can achieve mainstream financial acceptance. “They’ve got to compete just like everybody else…welcome to the currency competition game,” Bullard said.
Respectfully, but unfortunately, the Fed banker misses the point. Cryptocurrencies represent a paradigm shift in how we view money. To merely categorize them as “non-uniform currencies” is a grave disservice, if not disinformation.
The value of the dollar doesn’t just stem from U.S. economic stability; rather, our military backs our currency. Recall that when Admiral Perryopened Japan’s borders, he did so with battleships. Currencies, particularly western currencies, have always been inked with blood.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, doesn’t threaten anyone. It merely encourages through unprecedented opportunities. The value of bitcoin in Nigeria is the same as the value of bitcoin in Norway. All participants operate on the same platform with the same rules. The blockchain doesn’t consider any other factor, such as skin color or national allegiances.
Put another way, peoplewantto use bitcoin. In sharp contrast, people are forced to use the dollar.
Consensus 2018 had its fair share of problems. The organizers clearly didn’t prepare adequately for the popularity surge, and frankly, they have no excuse. Ticket-buyers didn’t just pop up randomly; ample time was in place for proper administration and procedures.
I also wasn’t impressed with Consensus 2018 not taking care of its media guests. Again, you can’t excuse organizers not having made prior arrangements forCNBCand other financial/business journalists. These are the folks to fast-track as they will relay their opinions to everyone else.
After all, Consensus 2018 is typically the only time in the year that outsiders can glimpse inside the crypto world. For this audience, you want to present the best image possible. Instead, it looked like amateur hour.
That said, the annual bitcoin conference achieved what all cryptocurrency proponents have sought: mainstream acceptance and credibility. Bitcoin started off as a get-rich-quick scheme. Now, its underlying technology made the most powerful names in business take notice.
Not only that, but the diversity of opinions suggests that we’re still a long way from the dreaded bitcoin bubble. As I stated earlier, Consensus 2018 was marked for the lack of consensus.
Moreover, the conference organizers’ clumsy operations has a silver lining. If the conference itself was surprised at the attendee number, imagine what the next year will bring.
At time of writing, the bitcoin price is almost 60% lower than its all-time high. In any other asset, such losses would cause severe panic. But not the cryptocurrency sector. This market has seen the worst of times, yet its proponents keep coming back for more.
As of this writing, Josh Enomoto is long bitcoin and ethereum.
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The post6 Reasons Why Bitcoin and Blockchain Are Here to Stayappeared first onInvestorPlace. || Why TransEnterix, Inc. Stock Bolted Higher Today: Shares of the robotic surgery companyTransEnterix(NYSEMKT: TRXC)ended the day higher by a healthy 12.8%. The catalyst?
The robotic surgery company's shares perked up in response to a bullish note by RBC Capital analyst Glenn Novarro. Specifically, Novarro stated that the commercial launch of TransEnterix's newly approved Senhance system should only continue to gain momentum going forward, and the system's sales should more than double from current levels before year's end.
TransEnterix's stock is now up by an impressive 80.5% this month, thanks in large part to Senhance'sbetter-than-expectedcommercial launch.
Image Source: Getty Images.
When TransEnterix's Senhance system was first approved last October, Wall Street wasn't overly optimistic that the company could effectively compete againstIntuitive Surgical's entrenchedda vincisystem. Intuitive, after all, has an 18-year head start, and robotic surgery platforms require extensive training to operate and maintain.
In other words, it wasn't a given that conservative-minded hospital administrators would be willing to take a chance on a novel robotic surgery platform manufactured by a company with a less-than-stellar balance sheet. However, TransEnterix is so far proving the naysayers wrong, with the company already selling a whoppingfive unitsright out of the gate.
Looking ahead, TransEnterix is working toward broadening Senhance's commercial opportunity via a label expansion that would cover both laparoscopic inguinal hernia and laparoscopic gallbladder surgeries. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make its regulatory decision on this label expansion by midyear.
Before investors get too excited, however, it's important to bear in mind that TransEnterix's shares are now trading at a forward-looking price-to-sales ratio of around 17, implying that most of the stock's near-term upside potential is already baked into the price right now. So, it's probably not a good idea to enter at this point unless you are willing to hold the company's shares for an extended period.
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George Budwellhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why TransEnterix, Inc. Stock Bolted Higher Today: What happened Shares of the robotic surgery company TransEnterix (NYSEMKT: TRXC) ended the day higher by a healthy 12.8%. The catalyst? The robotic surgery company's shares perked up in response to a bullish note by RBC Capital analyst Glenn Novarro. Specifically, Novarro stated that the commercial launch of TransEnterix's newly approved Senhance system should only continue to gain momentum going forward, and the system's sales should more than double from current levels before year's end. TransEnterix's stock is now up by an impressive 80.5% this month, thanks in large part to Senhance's better-than-expected commercial launch. Rocket taking flight. Image Source: Getty Images. So what When TransEnterix's Senhance system was first approved last October, Wall Street wasn't overly optimistic that the company could effectively compete against Intuitive Surgical 's entrenched da vinci system. Intuitive, after all, has an 18-year head start, and robotic surgery platforms require extensive training to operate and maintain. In other words, it wasn't a given that conservative-minded hospital administrators would be willing to take a chance on a novel robotic surgery platform manufactured by a company with a less-than-stellar balance sheet. However, TransEnterix is so far proving the naysayers wrong, with the company already selling a whopping five units right out of the gate. Now what Looking ahead, TransEnterix is working toward broadening Senhance's commercial opportunity via a label expansion that would cover both laparoscopic inguinal hernia and laparoscopic gallbladder surgeries. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make its regulatory decision on this label expansion by midyear. Before investors get too excited, however, it's important to bear in mind that TransEnterix's shares are now trading at a forward-looking price-to-sales ratio of around 17, implying that most of the stock's near-term upside potential is already baked into the price right now. So, it's probably not a good idea to enter at this point unless you are willing to hold the company's shares for an extended period. Story continues More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This George Budwell has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || What Happened in the Stock Market Today: Stocks surged Mondays as fears of a trade war with China eased. TheS&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC)posted a solid gain and theDow Jones Industrial Average(DJINDICES: ^DJI)broke through 25,000 points.
[{"Index": "Dow", "Percentage Change": "1.21%", "Point Change": "298.20"}, {"Index": "S&P 500", "Percentage Change": "0.74%", "Point Change": "20.04"}]
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Industrials led the market, with theIndustrial Select SPDR ETF(NYSEMKT: XLI)rising 1.5%. Biotechnology stocks struggled; theSPDR S&P Biotech ETF(NYSEMKT: XBI)fell 2%.
As for individual stocks,General Electric(NYSE: GE)announced an asset sale toWestinghouse Air Brake Technologies(NYSE: WAB)(Wabtec), andMicron Technology(NASDAQ: MU)raised its outlook for the current quarter.
Image source: Getty Images.
General Electric announced that it is merging its railroad unit with Wabtec in a deal worth $10 billion net of tax benefits. The spin-off, the first of what is likely to be several portfolio moves by GE CEO John Flannery as he works to transform the struggling industrial icon, was welcomed by investors of both companies, with GE stock rising 1.9% and Wabtec up 3.5%.
GE will receive $2.9 billion in cash and the company will retain 9.9% ownership of the merged entity, with GE shareholders getting 40.2%. The remaining 49.9% will be owned by Wabtec shareholders. According to the joint press release, the new Wabtec will have approximately $8 billion in annual revenue, roughly double the company's sales last year.
GE's rail business has been a drag on the company's performance but has shown signs of improvement recently. In 2017, revenue dropped 11% to $4.2 billion and profit plunged 23%, but orders increased 51%. InQ1 this year, orders were up 46% as the company sold 342 locomotives compared with 37 in the period a year earlier. GE believes the unit is ready for a rebound, with estimated adjustedEBITDAgrowing from about $750 million in 2018 to between $900 million and $1 billion in 2019.
Wabtec, for its part, has beenfiring on all cylinders. The company expects the additional scale and cost savings of $250 million per year will lead to faster growth and expanding margins.
Shares of Micron Technology rose 3.9% after the memory specialist raised guidance for its fiscal third quarter in advance of its analyst and investor event later in the day. Revenue for the quarter ending May 31 is now expected to be between $7.7 billion and $7.8 billion, up from the previous forecast of $7.2 billion to $7.6 billion. EPS guidance was raised 11% at the midpoint to a new range of $3.12 to $3.16. Analysts had been expecting the company to earn $2.84 per share on sales of $7.5 billion.
Micron said healthy industry fundamentals were driving demand for the company's DRAM and NAND memory. In presentations in the company's investor event, Micron officials highlighted the long-term trends that are fueling increased demand for computer memory, such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. The latest guidance represents a 39% increase in sales due to strong demand and rising memory prices.
Investors are starting to worry about the computer memory pricing cycle, though, and Micron's lastquarterly reportled to a decline in the stock price the next day despite similarly strong results. Industry observers such asGartnerexpect that additional industry production capacity coming on line will turn the shortage-driven boom cycle into a bust for memory prices by late 2019, leading analysts to forecast a decline in Micron's revenue next year.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra argued in his presentation, however, that accelerating capital expenditure requirements in the industry will keep supply and demand in balance going forward. For today, investors were willing to set aside worries and celebrate this quarter's success.
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Jim Crumlyhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends IT. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || What Happened in the Stock Market Today: Stocks surged Mondays as fears of a trade war with China eased. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) posted a solid gain and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) broke through 25,000 points. Today's stock market Index Percentage Change Point Change Dow 1.21% 298.20 S&P 500 0.74% 20.04 Data source: Yahoo! Finance. Industrials led the market, with the Industrial Select SPDR ETF (NYSEMKT: XLI) rising 1.5%. Biotechnology stocks struggled; the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (NYSEMKT: XBI) fell 2%. As for individual stocks, General Electric (NYSE: GE) announced an asset sale to Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies (NYSE: WAB) (Wabtec), and Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) raised its outlook for the current quarter. Rising stock graph. Image source: Getty Images. GE spins off railroad business General Electric announced that it is merging its railroad unit with Wabtec in a deal worth $10 billion net of tax benefits. The spin-off, the first of what is likely to be several portfolio moves by GE CEO John Flannery as he works to transform the struggling industrial icon, was welcomed by investors of both companies, with GE stock rising 1.9% and Wabtec up 3.5%. GE will receive $2.9 billion in cash and the company will retain 9.9% ownership of the merged entity, with GE shareholders getting 40.2%. The remaining 49.9% will be owned by Wabtec shareholders. According to the joint press release, the new Wabtec will have approximately $8 billion in annual revenue, roughly double the company's sales last year. GE's rail business has been a drag on the company's performance but has shown signs of improvement recently. In 2017, revenue dropped 11% to $4.2 billion and profit plunged 23%, but orders increased 51%. In Q1 this year , orders were up 46% as the company sold 342 locomotives compared with 37 in the period a year earlier. GE believes the unit is ready for a rebound, with estimated adjusted EBITDA growing from about $750 million in 2018 to between $900 million and $1 billion in 2019. Story continues Wabtec, for its part, has been firing on all cylinders . The company expects the additional scale and cost savings of $250 million per year will lead to faster growth and expanding margins. Micron raises guidance Shares of Micron Technology rose 3.9% after the memory specialist raised guidance for its fiscal third quarter in advance of its analyst and investor event later in the day. Revenue for the quarter ending May 31 is now expected to be between $7.7 billion and $7.8 billion, up from the previous forecast of $7.2 billion to $7.6 billion. EPS guidance was raised 11% at the midpoint to a new range of $3.12 to $3.16. Analysts had been expecting the company to earn $2.84 per share on sales of $7.5 billion. Micron said healthy industry fundamentals were driving demand for the company's DRAM and NAND memory. In presentations in the company's investor event, Micron officials highlighted the long-term trends that are fueling increased demand for computer memory, such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. The latest guidance represents a 39% increase in sales due to strong demand and rising memory prices. Investors are starting to worry about the computer memory pricing cycle, though, and Micron's last quarterly report led to a decline in the stock price the next day despite similarly strong results. Industry observers such as Gartner expect that additional industry production capacity coming on line will turn the shortage-driven boom cycle into a bust for memory prices by late 2019, leading analysts to forecast a decline in Micron's revenue next year. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra argued in his presentation, however, that accelerating capital expenditure requirements in the industry will keep supply and demand in balance going forward. For today, investors were willing to set aside worries and celebrate this quarter's success. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Jim Crumly has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends IT. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Japanese Cryptocurrency Monacoin Hit by Selfish Mining Attack: Between May 13th and 15th,Monacoin, a cryptocurrency developed in Japan, appears to have suffered from a network attack that caused roughly $90,000 in damages.
The attack appears to have been a selfish mining attack, where one miner successfully mines a block on the blockchain but does not broadcast the new block to other miners. If the secret miner can then find a second block before the rest of the miners find any new blocks, then the secret miner has now effectively created a branch in the chain that is longer than the chain everyone else is working on.
As is standard in most blockchain protocols, the chain with more blocks is considered by the mining network to be the correct chain, as it has the most “proof of work.” So, when the secret miner makes their longer chain public, it invalidates any and all of the blocks discovered by other miners during the time the secret chain was hidden.
A selfish mining attack can be pure vandalism, destroying blocks that become “orphaned” when the selfish miner broadcasts their chain on the network. Or, it’s possible that someone in possession of a hidden chain could profit from the attack. If the selfish miner makes transactions on the soon to be destroyed chain and receive their purchase in some form or another before the transaction is invalidated, then they have effectively never paid.
In this case, it seems the attacker tried sending Monacoin to exchanges outside of Japan, such asLivecoin, to swap them for other currencies before the hidden chains were revealed. The miner, still unknown at this point, had enough computing power to take as much as 57% of the hashrate at one point in order to execute on this attack.
It appears the attacker had been trying for half a year to attempt to exploit a weakness in the way Monacoin adjusts its difficulty.
On the developer’s official Twitter,they said on May 18th that they “grasped the attack”, but have not posted since then a clear statement on proposed solutions. However other sources indicate that developers are currently working with exchanges on a plan to roll back the Monacoin blockchain to a point before the attack occurred.
As of May 19th, Japan time, the attack is no longer occurring, but most exchanges have halted all deposits while they work on fixes to prevent possible future similar attacks. Monacoin balances held in wallets are considered safe.
Every blockchain, including Bitcoin, is constantly readjusting how difficult it is to mine blocks so that it is neither too easy nor too hard, depending on the amount of miners working on blocks. However, sizable blockchains like Bitcoin may be less vulnerable because of the scale of their blockchain and the networks that work on them.
While Monacoin may be more vulnerable because of either its size or its particular algorithms, in theory many cryptocurrencies could be vulnerable to similar attacks. Many cryptocurrency communities are watching to see how the attack on Monacoin plays out to see what can be learned so as to strengthen their own networks.
Featured Image from Shutterstock
The postJapanese Cryptocurrency Monacoin Hit by Selfish Mining Attackappeared first onCCN. || Could Sirius XM Holdings Inc. Be a Millionaire-Maker Stock?: When satellite radio was launched, it offered a refreshing option for people tired of the rigidity of traditional radio. At the time, most music was still purchased in CD form. The idea of unlimited access to nearly every song ever for around $9.99 a month was in its infancy, as was podcasting. When Sirius and XM merged in 2008 to become Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) , the combined company still filled a need. It offered depth and niche choices in music that conventional radio did not. In addition, the service had talk offerings led by Howard Stern that were unlike anything found on terrestrial radio, and an impressive array of sports broadcasting rights. For many years, the subscription service had a compelling and unique offering that allowed it to steadily grow its subscriber base as well as its stock price. That ride continues, but it may come to an end. SIRI Chart Image source: YCharts . Sirius XM is not a millionaire maker Satellite radio has lost some of the factors that once made it special. Multiple companies including Apple and Amazon offer unlimited music-streaming services, and the proliferation of unlimited-data smartphone plans allows people to use those services in their cars. On top of that, the podcast market has exploded with top-tier talents offering free professional-quality shows. All that has not caused major headaches for Sirius XM so far. In the first quarter, the company topped 33 million subscribers for the first time, and its total revenue grew by 6% to $1.4 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) grew from $0.04 in Q1 2017 to $0.06 in Q1 2018. Sirius XM added 330,000 subscribers in Q1 and expects to add 1 million over the course of the year. Those are solid numbers, but growth has slowed over the past few years, and it's unlikely to pick up. A car wirth Sirius XM built in Sirius XM comes built into many cars. Image source: Sirius XM. Solid, not spectacular Things are not dire for Sirius XM. The company's relationship with car companies gives it prime real estate in nearly every new car sold. That makes it easy for consumers to subscribe to the service, and its radio-like interface makes it familiar for older customers. Story continues Still, satellite radio no longer offers much that's unique beyond Stern, who openly talks about retirement, and live sports. It's still a good, convenient service, but younger customers have no real need for it. Sirius XM faces the same risks that cable companies do with cord-cutting . Who needs better radio stations when unlimited streaming lets you build playlists tailored to your personal desires? Why pay for talk radio when so much of it can be streamed for free? A niche service Like cable, satellite radio won't be going anywhere anytime soon. It's not a dying service or company; it's just one whose biggest growth is behind it. Sirius XM still fills a niche for people who want their car listening experience to be as easy as possible. That's a sizable market (for now). But it's one that will slowly shrink as consumers decide that their phone offers all the entertainment choices they will need. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Daniel B. Kline owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon and Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Could Sirius XM Holdings Inc. Be a Millionaire-Maker Stock?: When satellite radio was launched, it offered a refreshing option for people tired of the rigidity of traditional radio. At the time, most music was still purchased in CD form. The idea of unlimited access to nearly every song ever for around $9.99 a month was in its infancy, as was podcasting.
When Sirius and XM merged in 2008 to becomeSirius XM Holdings Inc.(NASDAQ: SIRI), the combined company still filled a need. It offered depth and niche choices in music that conventional radio did not. In addition, the service had talk offerings led by Howard Stern that were unlike anything found on terrestrial radio, and an impressive array of sports broadcasting rights.
For many years, the subscription service had a compelling and unique offering that allowed it to steadily grow its subscriber base as well as its stock price. That ride continues, but it may come to an end.
Image source:YCharts.
Satellite radio has lost some of the factors that once made it special. Multiple companies includingAppleandAmazonoffer unlimited music-streaming services, and the proliferation of unlimited-data smartphone plans allows people to use those services in their cars. On top of that, the podcast market has exploded with top-tier talents offering free professional-quality shows.
All that has not caused major headaches for Sirius XM so far. In the first quarter, the company topped33 million subscribersfor the first time, and its total revenue grew by 6% to $1.4 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) grew from $0.04 in Q1 2017 to $0.06 in Q1 2018.
Sirius XM added 330,000 subscribers in Q1 and expects to add 1 million over the course of the year. Those are solid numbers, but growth has slowed over the past few years, and it's unlikely to pick up.
Sirius XM comes built into many cars. Image source: Sirius XM.
Things are not dire for Sirius XM. The company's relationship with car companies gives it prime real estate in nearly every new car sold. That makes it easy for consumers to subscribe to the service, and its radio-like interface makes it familiar for older customers.
Still, satellite radio no longer offers much that's unique beyond Stern, who openly talks about retirement, and live sports. It's still a good, convenient service, but younger customers have no real need for it.
Sirius XM faces the same risks that cable companies do withcord-cutting. Who needs better radio stations when unlimited streaming lets you build playlists tailored to your personal desires? Why pay for talk radio when so much of it can be streamed for free?
Like cable, satellite radio won't be going anywhere anytime soon. It's not a dying service or company; it's just one whose biggest growth is behind it.
Sirius XM still fills a niche for people who want their car listening experience to be as easy as possible. That's a sizable market (for now). But it's one that will slowly shrink as consumers decide that their phone offers all the entertainment choices they will need.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Daniel B. Klineowns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon and Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Bitcoin could be just another failed currency experiment, Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller warns: • Cryptocurrencies resemble some of the most famous failed currency experiments throughout history, says Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller.
• Shiller, best-known for warning about the housing and dot-com bubbles, pointed to failed attempts in the early 19th century to issue "time money" to replace a gold standard.
• "None of this is new, and, as with past monetary innovations, a seemingly compelling story may not be enough," Shiller says.
Cryptocurrencies mirror some of the most famous failed currency experiments throughout history, according to Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller.
Enthusiasm around the thousands of existing cryptocurrencies including bitcoin remains strong despite warnings from investors like Warren Buffet that they're worthless. That mania, and attempts to launch new units of money have existed in different forms since the 1800s, Shiller said.
Shiller, best-known for warning about the housing and dot-com bubbles, pointed to the early 19th century when merchants tried to replace the gold standard with "time money." The "Cincinnati Time Store" for example sold merchandise in units of work, and closed just three years after it launched. One hundred years later during the Great Depression, economist John Pease Norton, proposed a dollar by electricity, which also failed to catch on.
"Each of these monetary innovations has been coupled with a unique technological story," Shiller wrote in a blog post Monday. "But, more fundamentally, all are connected with a deep yearning for some kind of revolution in society."
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are no different, he said. They were introduced by a community of entrepreneurs who as Shiller put it, "hold themselves above national governments, which are viewed as the drivers of a long train of inequality and war."
The mania around bitcoin today is also due in part to its mystery, the Yale University professor said.
"Practically no one, outside of computer science departments, can explain how cryptocurrencies work, and that mystery creates an aura of exclusivity, gives the new money glamour, and fills devotees with revolutionary zeal," Shiller said. "None of this is new, and, as with past monetary innovations, a seemingly compelling story may not be enough."
The height of the public's fascination was also undoubtedly tied to bitcoin's meteoric rise in price. The world's first cryptocurrency rose to near $20,000 last year before losing roughly half of its value in the first quarter of 2018.
Here is the full post by Shiller.
More From CNBC
• State regulators launch 'Operation Crypto-Sweep'
• Riot Blockchain’s SEC subpoena part of formal investigation
• Banks will trade crypto sooner than people think, says fmr. JPMorgan blockchain executive || Hasbro Buys the Power Rangers, but Maybe Toys R Us Would Have Been Better: Considering the impact the demise of Toys R Us had onHasbro's(NASDAQ: HAS)earnings, the toy maker might have better spent the half billion dollars it just dropped on buying the Power Rangers to buy the toy store instead.
The Toys R Us liquidation was a big blow to Hasbro because the retailer brought in 9% of total sales, second in importance only toWalmart(NYSE: WMT), which accounts for 19% of sales.Target(NYSE: TGT)accounts for another 9% of sales.
Hasbro's first-quarter revenue tumbled 16% year over year, and adjusted per-share profits plunged 81%, which was blamed on thetoy store's closureand subsequent inventory liquidation. The second quarter is looking rather bleak, too, as a result, though Hasbro says the back half of the year, particularly the important fourth quarter, should be impacted to a lesser degree.
That's because other retailers like Walmart and Target are expected to pick up a lot of the slack, expanding their own toy departments to make up for the anticipated demand they'll see from consumers. While it's possible other stores will offset the hit Hasbro and rivalMatteltook from the situation, it's also quite possible that because toys are a secondary consideration to these chains, the retailers' uptake of excess inventory might not be as great as hoped.
Toys R Us was special because it was the one place kids could go to simply buy toys. Walmart taking up some of this demand is fine, but it makes Hasbro even more dependent on the retailer and further reduces the leverage the toy maker has for negotiating on price. Although this change would give the toy maker more shelf space, it may very well pinch its profits in the end.
Image source: Saban Properties.
Hasbro should have considered using the $522 million it agreed to pay Saban Properties for the rights to the Power Rangers characters to instead help MGA Entertainment executive Isaac Larian buy Toys R Us.
Larian tried to buy the toy store for $890 million, but the bid wasrejected as too lowfor the value of the assets he would be acquiring. He's thought to be trying to mount a second attempt, though he admits the liquidation devalues the business.
The maker of Bratz dolls and Little Tikes toys has said he was disappointed in his fellow toy makers for not backing his efforts. Larian told theLos Angeles Timesthat after giving him initial support for the concept, the other toy companies backed out. He blamed the decision on the short-term thinking of publicly traded companies.
The Power Rangers franchise does have a 25-year history, and the brand's live-action TV shows make up one of the longest-running kids' series in TV history, but its movie-making prowess leaves something to be desired.
The last Power Rangers movie made $142 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, or only slightly more than the $100 million estimated production costs. After a strong $40 million open, the movie lost nearly two-thirds of its audience in the second week, an especially steep drop-off that suggests the Power Rangers' staying power is a bit dubious. It also suggests the amount of money Hasbro spent on acquiring the franchise was rather steep.
Hasbro certainly has the range to handle the many aspects of the characters' merchandising. Thanks to its own TV and movie studios and its action figure capabilities, the toy maker can easily cross-market and expand the reach of the Power Rangers. But with a portfolio of characters already in its possession, some of which will overlap the interests of a few of the other brands included in the Saban deal, it seemingly makes the deal superfluous to Hasbro's future success, at least in comparison to saving Toys R Us.
Image source: Toys R Us.
The toy store would have given Hasbro a dedicated platform from which to sell its toys, arguably one situated to offer a better return on the money invested. As Hasbro had already secured the rights to manufacture and market Power Rangers toys for $22 million (an amount that was applied to the purchase price), spending $500 million to buy the brand might not have been necessary. The toy maker could have had the best of both worlds, particularly as Toys R Us previously had exclusive rights to certain Power Rangers characters, like the Legacy Megazords.
No doubt Hasbro will use its marketing savvy and muscle to try to make the Power Rangers deal pay off; but whether it will ultimately prove to be the best use of shareholder resources in the face of a loss of a major toy outlet like Toys R Us remains to be seen.
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Rich Dupreyhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Hasbro. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Bitcoin could be just another failed currency experiment, Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller warns: • Cryptocurrencies resemble some of the most famous failed currency experiments throughout history, says Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller.
• Shiller, best-known for warning about the housing and dot-com bubbles, pointed to failed attempts in the early 19th century to issue "time money" to replace a gold standard.
• "None of this is new, and, as with past monetary innovations, a seemingly compelling story may not be enough," Shiller says.
Cryptocurrencies mirror some of the most famous failed currency experiments throughout history, according to Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller.
Enthusiasm around the thousands of existing cryptocurrencies including bitcoin remains strong despite warnings from investors like Warren Buffet that they're worthless. That mania, and attempts to launch new units of money have existed in different forms since the 1800s, Shiller said.
Shiller, best-known for warning about the housing and dot-com bubbles, pointed to the early 19th century when merchants tried to replace the gold standard with "time money." The "Cincinnati Time Store" for example sold merchandise in units of work, and closed just three years after it launched. One hundred years later during the Great Depression, economist John Pease Norton, proposed a dollar by electricity, which also failed to catch on.
"Each of these monetary innovations has been coupled with a unique technological story," Shiller wrote in a blog post Monday. "But, more fundamentally, all are connected with a deep yearning for some kind of revolution in society."
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are no different, he said. They were introduced by a community of entrepreneurs who as Shiller put it, "hold themselves above national governments, which are viewed as the drivers of a long train of inequality and war."
The mania around bitcoin today is also due in part to its mystery, the Yale University professor said.
"Practically no one, outside of computer science departments, can explain how cryptocurrencies work, and that mystery creates an aura of exclusivity, gives the new money glamour, and fills devotees with revolutionary zeal," Shiller said. "None of this is new, and, as with past monetary innovations, a seemingly compelling story may not be enough."
The height of the public's fascination was also undoubtedly tied to bitcoin's meteoric rise in price. The world's first cryptocurrency rose to near $20,000 last year before losing roughly half of its value in the first quarter of 2018.
Here is the full post by Shiller.
More From CNBC
• State regulators launch 'Operation Crypto-Sweep'
• Riot Blockchain’s SEC subpoena part of formal investigation
• Banks will trade crypto sooner than people think, says fmr. JPMorgan blockchain executive || Hasbro Buys the Power Rangers, but Maybe Toys R Us Would Have Been Better: Considering the impact the demise of Toys R Us had on Hasbro 's (NASDAQ: HAS) earnings, the toy maker might have better spent the half billion dollars it just dropped on buying the Power Rangers to buy the toy store instead. The Toys R Us liquidation was a big blow to Hasbro because the retailer brought in 9% of total sales, second in importance only to Walmart (NYSE: WMT) , which accounts for 19% of sales. Target (NYSE: TGT) accounts for another 9% of sales. Hasbro's first-quarter revenue tumbled 16% year over year, and adjusted per-share profits plunged 81%, which was blamed on the toy store's closure and subsequent inventory liquidation. The second quarter is looking rather bleak, too, as a result, though Hasbro says the back half of the year, particularly the important fourth quarter, should be impacted to a lesser degree. That's because other retailers like Walmart and Target are expected to pick up a lot of the slack, expanding their own toy departments to make up for the anticipated demand they'll see from consumers. While it's possible other stores will offset the hit Hasbro and rival Mattel took from the situation, it's also quite possible that because toys are a secondary consideration to these chains, the retailers' uptake of excess inventory might not be as great as hoped. The world's biggest toy box Toys R Us was special because it was the one place kids could go to simply buy toys. Walmart taking up some of this demand is fine, but it makes Hasbro even more dependent on the retailer and further reduces the leverage the toy maker has for negotiating on price. Although this change would give the toy maker more shelf space, it may very well pinch its profits in the end. Power Rangers movie cast Image source: Saban Properties. Hasbro should have considered using the $522 million it agreed to pay Saban Properties for the rights to the Power Rangers characters to instead help MGA Entertainment executive Isaac Larian buy Toys R Us. Story continues Larian tried to buy the toy store for $890 million, but the bid was rejected as too low for the value of the assets he would be acquiring. He's thought to be trying to mount a second attempt, though he admits the liquidation devalues the business. The maker of Bratz dolls and Little Tikes toys has said he was disappointed in his fellow toy makers for not backing his efforts. Larian told the Los Angeles Times that after giving him initial support for the concept, the other toy companies backed out. He blamed the decision on the short-term thinking of publicly traded companies. A chance to morph again The Power Rangers franchise does have a 25-year history, and the brand's live-action TV shows make up one of the longest-running kids' series in TV history, but its movie-making prowess leaves something to be desired. The last Power Rangers movie made $142 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, or only slightly more than the $100 million estimated production costs. After a strong $40 million open, the movie lost nearly two-thirds of its audience in the second week, an especially steep drop-off that suggests the Power Rangers' staying power is a bit dubious. It also suggests the amount of money Hasbro spent on acquiring the franchise was rather steep. Hasbro certainly has the range to handle the many aspects of the characters' merchandising. Thanks to its own TV and movie studios and its action figure capabilities, the toy maker can easily cross-market and expand the reach of the Power Rangers. But with a portfolio of characters already in its possession, some of which will overlap the interests of a few of the other brands included in the Saban deal, it seemingly makes the deal superfluous to Hasbro's future success, at least in comparison to saving Toys R Us. Partial view of the outside of a Toys R Us store Image source: Toys R Us. The toy store would have given Hasbro a dedicated platform from which to sell its toys, arguably one situated to offer a better return on the money invested. As Hasbro had already secured the rights to manufacture and market Power Rangers toys for $22 million (an amount that was applied to the purchase price), spending $500 million to buy the brand might not have been necessary. The toy maker could have had the best of both worlds, particularly as Toys R Us previously had exclusive rights to certain Power Rangers characters, like the Legacy Megazords. No doubt Hasbro will use its marketing savvy and muscle to try to make the Power Rangers deal pay off; but whether it will ultimately prove to be the best use of shareholder resources in the face of a loss of a major toy outlet like Toys R Us remains to be seen. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Rich Duprey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Hasbro. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Bitcoin could be just another failed currency experiment, Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller warns: Cryptocurrencies resemble some of the most famous failed currency experiments throughout history, says Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller. Shiller, best-known for warning about the housing and dot-com bubbles, pointed to failed attempts in the early 19th century to issue "time money" to replace a gold standard. "None of this is new, and, as with past monetary innovations, a seemingly compelling story may not be enough," Shiller says. Cryptocurrencies mirror some of the most famous failed currency experiments throughout history, according to Nobel-winning economist Robert Shiller. Enthusiasm around the thousands of existing cryptocurrencies including bitcoin remains strong despite warnings from investors like Warren Buffet that they're worthless. That mania, and attempts to launch new units of money have existed in different forms since the 1800s, Shiller said. Shiller, best-known for warning about the housing and dot-com bubbles, pointed to the early 19th century when merchants tried to replace the gold standard with "time money." The "Cincinnati Time Store" for example sold merchandise in units of work, and closed just three years after it launched. One hundred years later during the Great Depression, economist John Pease Norton, proposed a dollar by electricity, which also failed to catch on. "Each of these monetary innovations has been coupled with a unique technological story," Shiller wrote in a blog post Monday. "But, more fundamentally, all are connected with a deep yearning for some kind of revolution in society." Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are no different, he said. They were introduced by a community of entrepreneurs who as Shiller put it, "hold themselves above national governments, which are viewed as the drivers of a long train of inequality and war." The mania around bitcoin today is also due in part to its mystery, the Yale University professor said. "Practically no one, outside of computer science departments, can explain how cryptocurrencies work, and that mystery creates an aura of exclusivity, gives the new money glamour, and fills devotees with revolutionary zeal," Shiller said. "None of this is new, and, as with past monetary innovations, a seemingly compelling story may not be enough." The height of the public's fascination was also undoubtedly tied to bitcoin's meteoric rise in price. The world's first cryptocurrency rose to near $20,000 last year before losing roughly half of its value in the first quarter of 2018. Story continues Here is the full post by Shiller. More From CNBC State regulators launch 'Operation Crypto-Sweep' Riot Blockchains SEC subpoena part of formal investigation Banks will trade crypto sooner than people think, says fmr. JPMorgan blockchain executive View comments || Kroger Finally Addresses Its Biggest Weakness: If there's been one company that's borne the brunt ofAmazon.com's purchase of Whole Foods, it's beenKroger(NYSE: KR). Since the deal was announced last June, Kroger shares are down 17%, including a 10% decrease the day the deal was announced. The thesis was Whole Foods' name cachet and Amazon's logistical excellence would disrupt the grocery industry.
To date, however, Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods has been less paradigm-changing andmore a continuation of status quo. In fact, in the three reported quarters Kroger has exceeded analyst expectations for revenue and beat or matched adjusted earnings per share estimates.
Still, Amazon's entrance into the industry exposed a key weakness with Kroger: online operations. As more grocers likeWalmartandTargethave invested in online ordering and delivery, Kroger was at risk of falling behind and losing market share. The company's newest announcement addresses its biggest weakness.
Image source: Getty Images.
According to a recent joint announcement, Kroger is partnering with British grocer Ocado to build out its online ordering and delivery operations. Unlike traditional grocers, Ocado is digital-only, eschewing the storefront channel, making it a perfect partner for Kroger and its near-3,000 supermarket footprint. The partnership is designed to bring Kroger up-to-speed with the digital, logistical, and robotic capabilities needed to quickly ramp up online ordering.
Before the partnership Kroger'stechnology could be considered lacking at best. Although the company currently has a digital presence dubbed ClickList, it wasn't fully integrated with its digital coupons and rewards program until the fourth quarter of 2017. Online delivery currently relies fully on third-party providers and is only available at one-third of Kroger's total locations, which would make it hard to improve the experience.
Meanwhile, competitors like Walmart are spending billions of dollars on buying online retailers -- Jet.com -- while improving the delivery experience for both grocery and other consumer goods to compete with Amazon. Kroger's partnership quickly brings the grocer into the digital age, versus an internally developed system that would have taken the company years to develop.
In the long run, it's possible Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods will be a huge blow to Kroger, especially if online grocery shopping becomes massively popular and highly competitive. At its heart, Amazon is a technology company. This obviously gives Amazon an inherent advantage over a grocery store in the race for digital supremacy.
However, it's likely many shoppers will continue to select an in-store experience and remain loyal to their local brands in this highly concentrated industry, at least in the short run. As the largest pure-play grocer by sales, Kroger benefits from its massive customer base alongside the benefit of inertia and an aversion to new grocery experiences.
Still, it was a wise decision by Kroger to build out its online capability to avoid the possible risk associated with a change in consumer behavior. And unlike Amazon and Walmart, Kroger's stock is still priced for a worst-case scenario, trading at 11 times forward earnings, versus 17 times for the greater S&P 500.
A depressed valuation may have been prudent considering Kroger had no cohesive plan to compete in a possibly digitally driven future, but it should be re-evaluated by the market if the Ocado partnership turbocharges its digital operations.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Jamal Carnette, CFAowns shares of Amazon and Target. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Kroger Finally Addresses Its Biggest Weakness: If there's been one company that's borne the brunt of Amazon.com 's purchase of Whole Foods, it's been Kroger (NYSE: KR) . Since the deal was announced last June, Kroger shares are down 17%, including a 10% decrease the day the deal was announced. The thesis was Whole Foods' name cachet and Amazon's logistical excellence would disrupt the grocery industry. To date, however, Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods has been less paradigm-changing and more a continuation of status quo . In fact, in the three reported quarters Kroger has exceeded analyst expectations for revenue and beat or matched adjusted earnings per share estimates. Still, Amazon's entrance into the industry exposed a key weakness with Kroger: online operations. As more grocers like Walmart and Target have invested in online ordering and delivery, Kroger was at risk of falling behind and losing market share. The company's newest announcement addresses its biggest weakness. A person holding a can and a basket of items while shopping in a grocery store. Image source: Getty Images. Kroger may have caught up in the digital arms race According to a recent joint announcement, Kroger is partnering with British grocer Ocado to build out its online ordering and delivery operations. Unlike traditional grocers, Ocado is digital-only, eschewing the storefront channel, making it a perfect partner for Kroger and its near-3,000 supermarket footprint. The partnership is designed to bring Kroger up-to-speed with the digital, logistical, and robotic capabilities needed to quickly ramp up online ordering. Before the partnership Kroger's technology could be considered lacking at best . Although the company currently has a digital presence dubbed ClickList, it wasn't fully integrated with its digital coupons and rewards program until the fourth quarter of 2017. Online delivery currently relies fully on third-party providers and is only available at one-third of Kroger's total locations, which would make it hard to improve the experience. Story continues Meanwhile, competitors like Walmart are spending billions of dollars on buying online retailers -- Jet.com -- while improving the delivery experience for both grocery and other consumer goods to compete with Amazon. Kroger's partnership quickly brings the grocer into the digital age, versus an internally developed system that would have taken the company years to develop. Online will not be a game changer, at least not yet In the long run, it's possible Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods will be a huge blow to Kroger, especially if online grocery shopping becomes massively popular and highly competitive. At its heart, Amazon is a technology company. This obviously gives Amazon an inherent advantage over a grocery store in the race for digital supremacy. However, it's likely many shoppers will continue to select an in-store experience and remain loyal to their local brands in this highly concentrated industry, at least in the short run. As the largest pure-play grocer by sales, Kroger benefits from its massive customer base alongside the benefit of inertia and an aversion to new grocery experiences. Still, it was a wise decision by Kroger to build out its online capability to avoid the possible risk associated with a change in consumer behavior. And unlike Amazon and Walmart, Kroger's stock is still priced for a worst-case scenario, trading at 11 times forward earnings, versus 17 times for the greater S&P 500. A depressed valuation may have been prudent considering Kroger had no cohesive plan to compete in a possibly digitally driven future, but it should be re-evaluated by the market if the Ocado partnership turbocharges its digital operations. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Jamal Carnette, CFA owns shares of Amazon and Target. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 3 Stocks to Hold for the Next 20 Years: Warren Buffett once said that if you're not prepared to own a stock for 10 years, you shouldn't think about owning it for 10 minutes. That's a prescription that might seem a bit daunting. Building a portfolio of stocks worth owning across decadeslong periods is no easy task, and there's no paint-by-numbers approach that guarantees market-beating returns, but history suggests that a long-term approach to investing is the best way to put your money to work for you. With that in mind, we asked three Motley Fool investors to profile a stock that they think is on track to go the distance. Read on to see why they identified Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) , Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) , and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) as investments worth holding onto for the next two decades. A clock next to a bag of gold coins. Image source: Getty Images. Moats and optionality are hard to beat Keith Speights (Alphabet): Twenty years ago, Alphabet didn't even exist as a company. But I think you can count on Google's parent surviving and thriving over the next two decades. There are two criteria that are critical for stocks to enjoy long-term success, and Alphabet has both of them. The first is a moat . The best-fortified castles in the Middle Ages had a wide ditch filled with water circling the entire structure. In a similar way, companies can have competitive advantages that give them the financial equivalent of a moat. Alphabet's moats include a tremendous market share and significant barriers to entry in key markets where the company operates. For example, Google's search engine websites enjoy a market share of 63%. Despite the entrance of a very well-funded rival search engine, Google's market share is actually higher than it was 10 years ago. The second criteria for long-term success that Alphabet has in spades is optionality, or multiple avenues for generating growth. One way for the company to grow sales and earnings is by increasing advertising revenue made from the Google search engine, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Play, and YouTube. Story continues Alphabet's cloud infrastructure services also present a great opportunity for continued growth. The company is beginning to see some of its bets on smart-home products pay off . It's a leader in self-driving car technology. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I've personally invested in the stock and plan to hold it for the long run because Alphabet's moats and optionality are hard to beat. Social media is the future Nicholas Rossolillo (Facebook): Few things have become so ingrained into everyday life as quickly as social media has. And at the top of that young but already massive industry sits Facebook. However, the recent scandal involving Cambridge Analytica and the unauthorized access to 87 million of its users' data sent Facebook into a tailspin. After making changes and pledging to refocus on connecting people, questions still remained for some. Detractors aside, there's no denying the power of Facebook. In the first quarter of 2018 , revenue increased 49% and earnings per share jumped 63% from a year ago. Monthly active users, a key metric in the network's growth, were up only 13% in the first quarter, though. The next quarter will be more telling, as it will have the user count during the height of Facebook's recent scandal. Also, because of its already massive size, Facebook management said revenue should decelerate for the balance of 2018. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives think all will be OK, though. Even if the flagship Facebook network struggles, the company also owns other heavyweights like Instagram , Messenger, and WhatsApp, and is broadening its reach with a new dating feature . It's difficult to be an investor when times are uncertain. Yet, as history shows, such times are when fortunes are made. Facebook is proving it's durable, able to stand the test of time and controversy. I like the stock as a core holding for the indefinite future. A lasting entertainment empire Keith Noonan (Walt Disney): Disney will celebrate its 95th year in operation this October -- a stretch that has seen it leverage the magic of Mickey Mouse and other classic characters to build one of the world's powerful brands and a leadership position in the entertainment industry. Today, Disney's media franchises are stronger than ever -- even if the company once again finds itself needing to adapt to some big changes. Its media networks segment, which includes television channels like ESPN and ABC and accounted for 49% of operating income in the company's recently reported quarter, is facing pressure from cord-cutting. At the same time, the The House of Mouse must now contend with ascendant competitors like Netflix and Amazon in the original-content space. These are big challenges in some regards, but Disney isn't standing still and continues to have substantial advantages working in its favor. The company's list of bankable media properties is unparalleled and too long to list in this write-up, with Star Wars , the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the Pixar catalog representing just a sampling of the company's hit franchises. That's an advantage that should help Disney find success with its own streaming-video services, and the company's wealth of great franchises and knack for creating hit new content will likely continue to bolster its theme parks and merchandising segments as well. Disney also pays a dividend, which makes owning the stock for the long haul even more enticing. Shares yield 1.6% at current prices, and the company's strong cash flows and commitment to payout growth in recent years suggest that shareholders can expect dividend increases down the line. The House of Mouse has delivered world-class returns for shareholders since going public in 1957, proving to be a resilient business that's shaped and adapted to the demands of its industry. That's a legacy that can still get better with time. With a strong core business built around an unrivaled collection of entertainment properties, a growing returned-income component, and shares trading at less than 15 times this year's expected earnings, I think Disney stock is worth buying and holding for 20 years. Video: Here's How to Handle the Stock Market Roller Coaster More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Noonan owns shares of Walt Disney. Keith Speights owns shares of Alphabet (A shares), Facebook, and Walt Disney. Nicholas Rossolillo owns shares of Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Facebook, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), AMZN, Facebook, NFLX, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .
[Social Media Buzz]
05/22 20:00 Crypto currency sentiment analysis.
BTC : Positive
BCC : Negative
ETH : Positive
ETC : Positive
https://goo.gl/5hp6Cz #BTC || #BTC Average: 8276.27$
#Bitfinex - 8255.40$
#Poloniex - 8248.00$
#Bitstamp - 8258.34$
#Coinbase - 8250.00$
#Binance - 8256.03$
#CEXio - 8318.00$
#Kraken - 8257.60$
#Cryptopia - 8272.27$
#Bittrex - 8291.06$
#GateCoin - 8356.00$
#Bitcoin #Exchanges #Price || Cotización del Bitcoin Cash: 960 00.€ | -0.27% | Kraken | 23/05/18 03:00 #BitcoinCash #Kraken #BCHEU...
|
7557.82, 7587.34, 7480.14, 7355.88, 7368.22, 7135.99, 7472.59, 7406.52, 7494.17, 7541.45
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 655.03, 656.99, 655.05, 624.68, 606.27, 547.47, 566.35, 578.29, 575.04, 587.78, 592.69, 591.05, 587.80, 592.10, 589.12, 587.56, 585.59, 570.47, 567.24, 577.44, 573.22, 574.32, 575.63, 581.70, 581.31, 586.75, 583.41, 580.18, 577.76, 579.65, 569.95, 573.91, 574.11, 577.50, 575.47, 572.30, 575.54, 598.21, 608.63, 606.59, 610.44, 614.54, 626.32, 622.86, 623.51, 606.72, 608.24, 609.24, 610.68, 607.16, 606.97, 605.98, 609.87, 609.23, 608.31, 597.15, 596.30, 602.84, 602.62, 600.83, 608.04, 606.17, 604.73, 605.69, 609.73, 613.98, 610.89, 612.13, 610.20, 612.51, 613.02, 617.12, 619.11, 616.75, 618.99, 641.07, 636.19, 636.79, 640.38, 638.65, 641.63, 639.19, 637.96, 630.52, 630.86, 632.83, 657.29, 657.07, 653.76, 657.59.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-10-25]
Volume: 90378800, RSI (14-day): 71.30, 50-day EMA: 623.30, 200-day EMA: 571.88
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1271.90, Gold RSI: 43.95
Oil Price: 49.96, Oil RSI: 55.68
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
PayPal is homing in on high-growth areas: (BII)This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, pleaseclick here.
PayPal postedstrong resultsacross segments in Q3 2016, allowing the firm to increase its growth targets for the year without changing its margins — a good sign for the rest of the year.
PayPal posted strong growth in two key metrics. The firm’s total payment volume (TPV) rose 28% year-over-year (YoY) to $87 billion in Q3 2016. That was likely driven partly by an increase in customers, which grew by 19 million YoY to 192 million during the quarter.
But even as PayPal adds customers, those clients are getting more engaged — average interactions per customer rose to 30, from 27 in the previous year, during Q3. Increased engagement likely means that PayPal’s focus on high-growth areas, like mobile payments and P2P functionality, is helping to drive customers to the service.
Continuing to find ways to grow engagement will likely shape PayPal’s development moving forward. The company is pushing hard into other high-growth areas in order to better become “an everyday essential financial service” for people worldwide. Two such initiatives highlighted in the call stood out:
• Aggressive pursuit of Chinese and cross-border e-commerce:PayPal is expanding its partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba so that Paypal will become a single-click buy button option on AliExpress, one of Alibaba’s largest marketplaces. PayPal customers are already interested in Chinese e-commerce —40 millionof the firm’s customers have made a purchase to China — so this could help them better channel that interest into purchasing. But it also could allow the firm to get a share of China’s fast-growing e-commerce market, and, if successful, could pave the way for more cross-border partnerships in the future.
• Mobile in-store payments:The firm’s recent partnerships with Visa and Mastercard will allow PayPal’s wallet to be accepted in-store anywhere that accepts contactless payments from those cards. And in Europe, PayPal is partnered with Vodafone in markets like the UK, Italy, and Spain, to begin allowing users to pay via NFC. Physical stores present PayPal with a massive volume opportunity, and could help it better monetize some of its mobile and digital platforms through merchant processing fees, for example. These partnerships could also help keep customers loyal to PayPal for a wider variety of financial interactions rather than pushing them to a third-party, which could increase engagement.
PayPal is an important piece of the larger payments ecosystem, but it's still just one piece. The rest of it included merchants, processors, acquirers, gateways, and more.
Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts atBI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, have compileda detailed report on the payments ecosystemthat drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.
In full, the report:
• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:
1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >>START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >>BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.
More From Business Insider
• THE MOBILE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market forecasts, consumer trends, and the barriers and benefits that will influence adoption
• THE CONNECTED DEVICE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market opportunities, top stakeholders, and new use cases for the next frontier in payments
• THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The trends creating new winners and losers in the card-processing ecosystem || PayPal is homing in on high-growth areas: PayPal Bank Chart (BII) This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Payments Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . PayPal posted strong results across segments in Q3 2016, allowing the firm to increase its growth targets for the year without changing its margins — a good sign for the rest of the year. PayPal posted strong growth in two key metrics. The firm’s total payment volume (TPV) rose 28% year-over-year (YoY) to $87 billion in Q3 2016. That was likely driven partly by an increase in customers, which grew by 19 million YoY to 192 million during the quarter. But even as PayPal adds customers, those clients are getting more engaged — average interactions per customer rose to 30, from 27 in the previous year, during Q3. Increased engagement likely means that PayPal’s focus on high-growth areas, like mobile payments and P2P functionality, is helping to drive customers to the service. Continuing to find ways to grow engagement will likely shape PayPal’s development moving forward. The company is pushing hard into other high-growth areas in order to better become “an everyday essential financial service” for people worldwide. Two such initiatives highlighted in the call stood out: Aggressive pursuit of Chinese and cross-border e-commerce: PayPal is expanding its partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba so that Paypal will become a single-click buy button option on AliExpress, one of Alibaba’s largest marketplaces. PayPal customers are already interested in Chinese e-commerce — 40 million of the firm’s customers have made a purchase to China — so this could help them better channel that interest into purchasing. But it also could allow the firm to get a share of China’s fast-growing e-commerce market, and, if successful, could pave the way for more cross-border partnerships in the future. Mobile in-store payments: The firm’s recent partnerships with Visa and Mastercard will allow PayPal’s wallet to be accepted in-store anywhere that accepts contactless payments from those cards. And in Europe, PayPal is partnered with Vodafone in markets like the UK, Italy, and Spain, to begin allowing users to pay via NFC. Physical stores present PayPal with a massive volume opportunity, and could help it better monetize some of its mobile and digital platforms through merchant processing fees, for example. These partnerships could also help keep customers loyal to PayPal for a wider variety of financial interactions rather than pushing them to a third-party, which could increase engagement. Story continues PayPal is an important piece of the larger payments ecosystem, but it's still just one piece. The rest of it included merchants, processors, acquirers, gateways, and more. Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence , Business Insider's premium research service, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends. Here are some key takeaways from the report: 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices. Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play. Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified. In full, the report: Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond. Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers. Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step. Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more. Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem. To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem. More From Business Insider THE MOBILE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market forecasts, consumer trends, and the barriers and benefits that will influence adoption THE CONNECTED DEVICE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market opportunities, top stakeholders, and new use cases for the next frontier in payments THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The trends creating new winners and losers in the card-processing ecosystem || Hackers Apparently Used Internet-Enabled Cameras, Toys in Cyberattacks: (NEW YORK) Could millions of connected cameras, thermostats and kids toys bring the internet to its knees? Its beginning to look that way. On Friday, epic cyberattacks crippled a major internet firm, repeatedly disrupting the availability of popular websites across the United States. The hacker group claiming responsibility says that the days antics were just a dry run and that it has its sights set on a much bigger target. And the attackers now have a secret weapon in the increasing array of internet-enabled household devices they can subvert and use to wreak havoc. MEET THE FIRE HOSE Manchester, New Hampshire-based Dyn Inc. said its server infrastructure was hit by distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks. These work by overwhelming targeted machines with junk data traffic sort of like knocking someone over by blasting them with a fire hose. The attack temporarily blocked some access to popular websites from across America and Europe such as Twitter, Netflix and PayPal . Jason Read, founder of the internet performance monitoring firm CloudHarmony, owned by Gartner Inc., said his company tracked a half-hour-long disruption early Friday affecting access to many sites from the East Coast. A second attack later in the day spread disruption to the West Coast as well as some users in Europe. Members of a shadowy hacker group that calls itself New World Hackers claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter, though that claim could not be verified. They said they organized networks of connected devices to create a massive botnet that threw a monstrous 1.2 trillion bits of data every second at Dyns servers. Dyn officials wouldnt confirm the figure during a conference call later Friday with reporters. MAKE THAT, MANY FIRE HOSES DDoS attacks have been growing in frequency and size in recent months. But if the hackers claims are true, Fridays attacks take DDoS to a new level. According to a report from the cybersecurity firm Verisign, the largest DDoS attack perpetrated during that second quarter of this year peaked at just 256 billion bits per second. Story continues A huge September attack that shut down of security journalist Brian Krebs website clocked in at 620 million bits per second. Research from the cybersecurity firm Flashpoint said Friday that the same kind of malware was used in the attacks against both Krebs and Dyn. Lance Cottrell, chief scientist for the cybersecurity firm Ntrepid, said while DDoS attacks have been used for years, theyve become very popular in recent months, thanks to the proliferation of internet of things devices ranging from connected thermostats to security cameras and smart TVs. Many of those devices feature little in the way of security, making them easy targets for hackers. The power of this kind of cyberattack is limited by the number of devices an attacker can connect to. Just a few years ago, most attackers were limited to infecting and recruiting zombie home PCs. But the popularity of new internet-connected gadgets has vastly increased the pool of potential devices they can weaponize. The average North American home contains 13 internet-connected devices , according to the research firm IHS Markit. Since the attacks usually dont harm the consumer electronics companies that build the devices, or the consumers that unwittingly use them, companies have little incentive to boost security, Cottrell said. WHATS BEHIND THE ATTACKS Like with other online attacks, the motivation behind DDoS attacks is usually mischief or money. Attackers have shut down websites in the past to make political statements. DDoS attacks have also been used in extortion attempts, something thats been made easier by the advent of Bitcoin. For its part, a member of New World Hackers who identified themselves as Prophet told an AP reporter via Twitter direct message exchange that collective isnt motivated by money and doesnt have anything personal against Dyn, Twitter or any of the other sites affected by the attacks. Instead, the hacker said, the attacks were merely a test, and claimed that the next target will be the Russian government for committing alleged cyberattacks against the U.S. earlier this year. Twitter was kind of the main target. It showed people who doubted us what we were capable of doing, plus we got the chance to see our capability, said Prophet. The claims couldnt be verified. The collective has in the past claimed responsibility for similar attacks against sites including ESPNFantasySports.com in September and the BBC on Dec. 31. The attack on the BBC marshalled half the computing power of Fridays attacks. A SHIFTING GLOBAL ASSAULT Dyn said it first became aware of an attack around 7:00 a.m. local time, focused on data centers on the East Coast of the U.S. Services were restored about two hours later. But then attackers shifted to offshore data centers, and the latest wave of problems continued until Friday evening Eastern time. Prophet told the AP that his group actually had stopped its attacks by Friday afternoon, but that others, including members of the hacker collective known as Anonymous, had picked up where they left off. Anonymous didnt respond to a request for comment via Twitter. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is monitoring the situation, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Friday. He said he had no information about who may be behind the disruption. Cottrell noted that there are several firms that offer protection against DDoS attacks, by giving companies a way to divert the bad traffic and remain online in case of an attack. But monthly subscription fees for these services are generally equal to a typical DDoS extortion payment, giving companies little incentive to pay for them. Meanwhile not much is required in the way of resources or skill to mount a botnet attack, he said, adding that would-be attackers can rent botnets for as little as $100. Cottrell said the long-term solution lies in improving the security of all internet-connected devices. || Hackers Apparently Used Internet-Enabled Cameras, Toys in Cyberattacks: (NEW YORK) Could millions of connected cameras, thermostats and kids toys bring the internet to its knees? Its beginning to look that way. On Friday, epic cyberattacks crippled a major internet firm, repeatedly disrupting the availability of popular websites across the United States. The hacker group claiming responsibility says that the days antics were just a dry run and that it has its sights set on a much bigger target. And the attackers now have a secret weapon in the increasing array of internet-enabled household devices they can subvert and use to wreak havoc. MEET THE FIRE HOSE Manchester, New Hampshire-based Dyn Inc. said its server infrastructure was hit by distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks. These work by overwhelming targeted machines with junk data traffic sort of like knocking someone over by blasting them with a fire hose. The attack temporarily blocked some access to popular websites from across America and Europe such as Twitter, Netflix and PayPal . Jason Read, founder of the internet performance monitoring firm CloudHarmony, owned by Gartner Inc., said his company tracked a half-hour-long disruption early Friday affecting access to many sites from the East Coast. A second attack later in the day spread disruption to the West Coast as well as some users in Europe. Members of a shadowy hacker group that calls itself New World Hackers claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter, though that claim could not be verified. They said they organized networks of connected devices to create a massive botnet that threw a monstrous 1.2 trillion bits of data every second at Dyns servers. Dyn officials wouldnt confirm the figure during a conference call later Friday with reporters. MAKE THAT, MANY FIRE HOSES DDoS attacks have been growing in frequency and size in recent months. But if the hackers claims are true, Fridays attacks take DDoS to a new level. According to a report from the cybersecurity firm Verisign, the largest DDoS attack perpetrated during that second quarter of this year peaked at just 256 billion bits per second. Story continues A huge September attack that shut down of security journalist Brian Krebs website clocked in at 620 million bits per second. Research from the cybersecurity firm Flashpoint said Friday that the same kind of malware was used in the attacks against both Krebs and Dyn. Lance Cottrell, chief scientist for the cybersecurity firm Ntrepid, said while DDoS attacks have been used for years, theyve become very popular in recent months, thanks to the proliferation of internet of things devices ranging from connected thermostats to security cameras and smart TVs. Many of those devices feature little in the way of security, making them easy targets for hackers. The power of this kind of cyberattack is limited by the number of devices an attacker can connect to. Just a few years ago, most attackers were limited to infecting and recruiting zombie home PCs. But the popularity of new internet-connected gadgets has vastly increased the pool of potential devices they can weaponize. The average North American home contains 13 internet-connected devices , according to the research firm IHS Markit. Since the attacks usually dont harm the consumer electronics companies that build the devices, or the consumers that unwittingly use them, companies have little incentive to boost security, Cottrell said. WHATS BEHIND THE ATTACKS Like with other online attacks, the motivation behind DDoS attacks is usually mischief or money. Attackers have shut down websites in the past to make political statements. DDoS attacks have also been used in extortion attempts, something thats been made easier by the advent of Bitcoin. For its part, a member of New World Hackers who identified themselves as Prophet told an AP reporter via Twitter direct message exchange that collective isnt motivated by money and doesnt have anything personal against Dyn, Twitter or any of the other sites affected by the attacks. Instead, the hacker said, the attacks were merely a test, and claimed that the next target will be the Russian government for committing alleged cyberattacks against the U.S. earlier this year. Twitter was kind of the main target. It showed people who doubted us what we were capable of doing, plus we got the chance to see our capability, said Prophet. The claims couldnt be verified. The collective has in the past claimed responsibility for similar attacks against sites including ESPNFantasySports.com in September and the BBC on Dec. 31. The attack on the BBC marshalled half the computing power of Fridays attacks. A SHIFTING GLOBAL ASSAULT Dyn said it first became aware of an attack around 7:00 a.m. local time, focused on data centers on the East Coast of the U.S. Services were restored about two hours later. But then attackers shifted to offshore data centers, and the latest wave of problems continued until Friday evening Eastern time. Prophet told the AP that his group actually had stopped its attacks by Friday afternoon, but that others, including members of the hacker collective known as Anonymous, had picked up where they left off. Anonymous didnt respond to a request for comment via Twitter. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is monitoring the situation, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Friday. He said he had no information about who may be behind the disruption. Cottrell noted that there are several firms that offer protection against DDoS attacks, by giving companies a way to divert the bad traffic and remain online in case of an attack. But monthly subscription fees for these services are generally equal to a typical DDoS extortion payment, giving companies little incentive to pay for them. Meanwhile not much is required in the way of resources or skill to mount a botnet attack, he said, adding that would-be attackers can rent botnets for as little as $100. Cottrell said the long-term solution lies in improving the security of all internet-connected devices. || American Express still faces hurdles from Costco: Amex Costco (BII) This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Payments Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . After a series of tough quarters, American Express beat analyst expectations in Q3 . The firm’s success was propelled by “strong operating discipline and credit quality,” according to CEO Ken Chenault. But as Amex looks to cut $1 billion in costs over the course of the next several quarters in the wake of the sale of its Costco business, the firm still has hurdles to overcome. Despite overall gains, Amex saw mediocre results in a few key metrics, largely related to the loss of Costco’s store card portfolio, which Amex sold to Citigroup in June. Costco cardholders represented 8% of the firm’s billed business in 2015. Here are some key results from the quarter: Billed business: Amex’s global billed business in the quarter was down 3% year-over-year. But excluding the Costco portfolio, it grew 7%, which indicates the impact that the Costco loss has had on the company. The firm noted that it’s on track to retain 20% of the out-of-store spend of the previous Costco cardholders that it retained, but that’s still a meager portion of the $80 billion Costco cardholders spent in 2015, In addition, loans, which the Costco portfolio represented 20% of, fell by 12% in Q3. Issued cards: Amex had 108.8 million cards issued globally at the end of Q3 — that’s down by 7 million from the same period in 2015, despite reports of strong new customer acquisition in earlier quarters this year. That’s likely partly due to the loss of the Costco portfolio, which had 11.6 million cardholders. But the firm plans to invest in initiatives that will help it grow through Q4 and into next year.The firm outlined a few key focus areas that the firm will use to grow. Premium cards: Amex plans to focus heavily on its Platinum portfolio, likely as a result of the intense premium rewards card competition in the market right now. This portfolio could be particularly lucrative for the firm because of the high fees associated with it, and because premium cardholders will likely have higher spend. Small businesses: Amex has been working to extend relationships with small businesses through its OptBlue program, which makes it easier for these merchants to accept and use Amex cards. That program has been successful, and the firm has seen growing billed business among small- and medium-sized merchants. In Q4, Amex plans to run a promotion related to Small Business Saturday in order to make it known to cardholders that their acceptance network is growing, which could help encourage customers to spend more on Amex and boost the firm’s billed business. Marketing and outreach: Amex is looking to build on ongoing US customer acquisition success and ramp up in key international markets. The firm will boost digital marketing initiatives and run an extensive advertising campaign, which could help onboard younger customers or groups in key markets that will spend and provide Amex with additional transaction and card fee-related revenue. Story continues American Express and Costco are part of the much broader payments ecosystem, which includes merchants, acquirers, processors, and more. Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence , Business Insider's premium research service, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends. Here are some key takeaways from the report: 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices. Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play. Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified. In full, the report: Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond. Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers. Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step. Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more. Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem. To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem. More From Business Insider THE MOBILE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market forecasts, consumer trends, and the barriers and benefits that will influence adoption THE CONNECTED DEVICE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market opportunities, top stakeholders, and new use cases for the next frontier in payments THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The trends creating new winners and losers in the card-processing ecosystem View comments || American Express still faces hurdles from Costco: Amex Costco (BII) This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Payments Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . After a series of tough quarters, American Express beat analyst expectations in Q3 . The firm’s success was propelled by “strong operating discipline and credit quality,” according to CEO Ken Chenault. But as Amex looks to cut $1 billion in costs over the course of the next several quarters in the wake of the sale of its Costco business, the firm still has hurdles to overcome. Despite overall gains, Amex saw mediocre results in a few key metrics, largely related to the loss of Costco’s store card portfolio, which Amex sold to Citigroup in June. Costco cardholders represented 8% of the firm’s billed business in 2015. Here are some key results from the quarter: Billed business: Amex’s global billed business in the quarter was down 3% year-over-year. But excluding the Costco portfolio, it grew 7%, which indicates the impact that the Costco loss has had on the company. The firm noted that it’s on track to retain 20% of the out-of-store spend of the previous Costco cardholders that it retained, but that’s still a meager portion of the $80 billion Costco cardholders spent in 2015, In addition, loans, which the Costco portfolio represented 20% of, fell by 12% in Q3. Issued cards: Amex had 108.8 million cards issued globally at the end of Q3 — that’s down by 7 million from the same period in 2015, despite reports of strong new customer acquisition in earlier quarters this year. That’s likely partly due to the loss of the Costco portfolio, which had 11.6 million cardholders. But the firm plans to invest in initiatives that will help it grow through Q4 and into next year.The firm outlined a few key focus areas that the firm will use to grow. Premium cards: Amex plans to focus heavily on its Platinum portfolio, likely as a result of the intense premium rewards card competition in the market right now. This portfolio could be particularly lucrative for the firm because of the high fees associated with it, and because premium cardholders will likely have higher spend. Small businesses: Amex has been working to extend relationships with small businesses through its OptBlue program, which makes it easier for these merchants to accept and use Amex cards. That program has been successful, and the firm has seen growing billed business among small- and medium-sized merchants. In Q4, Amex plans to run a promotion related to Small Business Saturday in order to make it known to cardholders that their acceptance network is growing, which could help encourage customers to spend more on Amex and boost the firm’s billed business. Marketing and outreach: Amex is looking to build on ongoing US customer acquisition success and ramp up in key international markets. The firm will boost digital marketing initiatives and run an extensive advertising campaign, which could help onboard younger customers or groups in key markets that will spend and provide Amex with additional transaction and card fee-related revenue. Story continues American Express and Costco are part of the much broader payments ecosystem, which includes merchants, acquirers, processors, and more. Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence , Business Insider's premium research service, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends. Here are some key takeaways from the report: 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices. Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play. Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified. In full, the report: Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond. Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers. Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step. Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more. Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem. To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options: Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem. More From Business Insider THE MOBILE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market forecasts, consumer trends, and the barriers and benefits that will influence adoption THE CONNECTED DEVICE PAYMENTS REPORT: Market opportunities, top stakeholders, and new use cases for the next frontier in payments THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED: The trends creating new winners and losers in the card-processing ecosystem View comments || Traders weigh chasing Microsoft rally after stock passes all-time high in late trading: The "Fast Money" traders debated whether it's worth chasing the rally in Microsoft(NASDAQ: MSFT)after the company posted anearnings beat driven by continued growth in its cloud business.
The stock climbed above its 1999 all-time high of $59.97 in extended trade.
Trader Brian Kelly said he would not chase the rally in Microsoft, but would be interested in it on a pullback.
"Everything that these guys said is exactly what everybody in this market now wants. There's very few stocks out there that have this type of growth, that have a dividend, that have a strong management team ... so Microsoft is going to attract a lot of investment money," Kelly said.
Trader Karen Finerman agreed, but added that Microsoft's current valuation — about a 27 price-to-earnings ratio on a trailing basis — is much more appetizing than it was 17 years ago.
Trader Dan Nathan said that a large portion of Microsoft's revenue still comes from its legacy businesses and that the current valuation is still too rich. He said there's a risk that the growth of the cloud business could slow down.
Trader Tim Seymour disagreed, saying that Microsoft could still increase margins and market share.
Disclosures:
KAREN FINERMAN
Karen Finerman is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, long DB calls, FB, FL, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI. Her firm is short IWM, MDY. Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International.
DAN NATHAN
Dan Nathan is TWTR long, PYPL long Oct calls, XHB long Jan put spread, XLU long Dec call Spread, XLK long Jan put spread, XRT long Jan put spread, PG long Dec put spread, EEM long Nov put spread.
BRIAN KELLY
Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, SLV and Silver Futures, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and Japanese yen.
TIM SEYMOUR
Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM. short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, short EWG, HYG, IWM
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• Personal Finance || Traders weigh chasing Microsoft rally after stock passes all-time high in late trading: The " Fast Money " traders debated whether it's worth chasing the rally in Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) after the company posted an earnings beat driven by continued growth in its cloud business . The stock climbed above its 1999 all-time high of $59.97 in extended trade. Trader Brian Kelly said he would not chase the rally in Microsoft, but would be interested in it on a pullback. "Everything that these guys said is exactly what everybody in this market now wants. There's very few stocks out there that have this type of growth, that have a dividend, that have a strong management team ... so Microsoft is going to attract a lot of investment money," Kelly said. Trader Karen Finerman agreed, but added that Microsoft's current valuation about a 27 price-to-earnings ratio on a trailing basis is much more appetizing than it was 17 years ago. Trader Dan Nathan said that a large portion of Microsoft's revenue still comes from its legacy businesses and that the current valuation is still too rich. He said there's a risk that the growth of the cloud business could slow down. Trader Tim Seymour disagreed, saying that Microsoft could still increase margins and market share. Disclosures: KAREN FINERMAN Karen Finerman is long AAL, BAC, C, DAL, long DB calls, FB, FL, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, M, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, UAL, URI, WIFI long call spreads. Her firm is long ANTM, AAPL, BAC, C, C calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, M, MOH, PLCE, SPY puts, URI, WIFI. Her firm is short IWM, MDY. Finerman is on the board of GrafTech International. DAN NATHAN Dan Nathan is TWTR long, PYPL long Oct calls, XHB long Jan put spread, XLU long Dec call Spread, XLK long Jan put spread, XRT long Jan put spread, PG long Dec put spread, EEM long Nov put spread. BRIAN KELLY Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, SLV and Silver Futures, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and Japanese yen. TIM SEYMOUR Story continues Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM. short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, short EWG, HYG, IWM More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Winklevoss brothers name State Street as bitcoin ETF administrator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss on Tuesday filed amendments to their proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund, naming State Street as administrator, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Winklevoss brothers, identical twins, had filed their first application for a bitcoin ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust three years ago. Investors have shown keen interest in the Winklevoss ETF. If approved by the SEC, this would be the first bitcoin ETF issued by a U.S. entity. According to the amended filing, State Street will provide the fund administration and accounting services, including calculating the bitcoin trust's net asset value (NAV). Another major change involved the ETF's custodian, Gemini Trust Company, doing monthly "proof of control" exercises and publishing the reports on the ETF's website. "Custodian's cold storage system was purpose-built to demonstrate 'proof of control' of the private keys associated with its public bitcoin addresses," the filing said. "The sponsor and the custodian have engaged an independent audit firm to verify that the custodian can demonstrate 'proof of control' of the private keys that control the Trust's bitcoin on a monthly basis." Burr Pilger Mayer, based in San Francisco and known for working with venture-backed digital currency companies, has been named the ETF's auditor, the filing said. In addition, the SEC filing said Gemini's daily auction price at 4 p.m. EDT will now be used to price the NAV of the ETF. The previous pricing mechanism was the Gemini spot price. Gemini runs a digital currency trading venue. Since its launch in September, the Gemini auction has transacted more than 1,900 bitcoin on average per business day, which represents more than 16 percent of all U.S.-based bitcoin exchange volume, according to company data. The daily auction along with Gemini's expansion has increased the company's market share to about 9 percent of all U.S. dollar-denominated exchange-traded bitcoin volume. Story continues The ETF would trade under the ticker symbol COIN. Late on Tuesday, bitcoin traded at $632.88 on the BitStamp platform. (This version of the story adds the dropped word "bitcoin" in the 7th paragraph, fixes a typographical error in the 10th paragraph and corrects source to say 'according to company data' instead of 'Gemini said on Tuesday') (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Tom Brown) || Winklevoss brothers name State Street as bitcoin ETF administrator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss on Tuesday filed amendments to their proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund, naming State Street as administrator, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Winklevoss brothers, identical twins, had filed their first application for a bitcoin ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust three years ago.
Investors have shown keen interest in the Winklevoss ETF. If approved by the SEC, this would be the first bitcoin ETF issued by a U.S. entity.
According to the amended filing, State Street will provide the fund administration and accounting services, including calculating the bitcoin trust's net asset value (NAV).
Another major change involved the ETF's custodian, Gemini Trust Company, doing monthly "proof of control" exercises and publishing the reports on the ETF's website.
"Custodian's cold storage system was purpose-built to demonstrate 'proof of control' of the private keys associated with its public bitcoin addresses," the filing said.
"The sponsor and the custodian have engaged an independent audit firm to verify that the custodian can demonstrate 'proof of control' of the private keys that control the Trust's bitcoin on a monthly basis."
Burr Pilger Mayer, based in San Francisco and known for working with venture-backed digital currency companies, has been named the ETF's auditor, the filing said.
In addition, the SEC filing said Gemini's daily auction price at 4 p.m. EDT will now be used to price the NAV of the ETF. The previous pricing mechanism was the Gemini spot price. Gemini runs a digital currency trading venue.
Since its launch in September, the Gemini auction has transacted more than 1,900 bitcoin on average per business day, which represents more than 16 percent of all U.S.-based bitcoin exchange volume, according to company data.
The daily auction along with Gemini's expansion has increased the company's market share to about 9 percent of all U.S. dollar-denominated exchange-traded bitcoin volume.
The ETF would trade under the ticker symbol COIN.
Late on Tuesday, bitcoin traded at $632.88 on the BitStamp platform.
(This version of the story adds the dropped word "bitcoin" in the 7th paragraph, fixes a typographical error in the 10th paragraph and corrects source to say 'according to company data' instead of 'Gemini said on Tuesday')
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Tom Brown) || Winklevoss brothers name State Street as bitcoin ETF administrator: (Adds dropped word "bitcoin" in 7th paragraph, fixes typographical error in 10th paragraph and corrects source to say ... according to company data ... instead of ... Gemini said on Tuesday) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss on Tuesday filed amendments to their proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund, naming State Street as administrator, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Winklevoss brothers, identical twins, had filed their first application for a bitcoin ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust three years ago. Investors have shown keen interest in the Winklevoss ETF. If approved by the SEC, this would be the first bitcoin ETF issued by a U.S. entity. According to the amended filing, State Street will provide the fund administration and accounting services, including calculating the bitcoin trust's net asset value (NAV). Another major change involved the ETF's custodian, Gemini Trust Company, doing monthly "proof of control" exercises and publishing the reports on the ETF's website. "Custodian's cold storage system was purpose-built to demonstrate 'proof of control' of the private keys associated with its public bitcoin addresses," the filing said. "The sponsor and the custodian have engaged an independent audit firm to verify that the custodian can demonstrate 'proof of control' of the private keys that control the Trust's bitcoin on a monthly basis." Burr Pilger Mayer, based in San Francisco and known for working with venture-backed digital currency companies, has been named the ETF's auditor, the filing said. In addition, the SEC filing said Gemini's daily auction price at 4 p.m. EDT will now be used to price the NAV of the ETF. The previous pricing mechanism was the Gemini spot price. Gemini runs a digital currency trading venue. Since its launch in September, the Gemini auction has transacted more than 1,900 bitcoin on average per business day, which represents more than 16 percent of all U.S.-based bitcoin exchange volume, according to company data. Story continues The daily auction along with Gemini's expansion has increased the company's market share to about 9 percent of all U.S. dollar-denominated exchange-traded bitcoin volume. The ETF would trade under the ticker symbol COIN. Late on Tuesday, bitcoin traded at $632.88 on the BitStamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Tom Brown) || Winklevoss brothers name State Street as bitcoin ETF administrator: (Adds dropped word "bitcoin" in 7th paragraph, fixes typographical error in 10th paragraph and corrects source to say ... according to company data ... instead of ... Gemini said on Tuesday)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss on Tuesday filed amendments to their proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund, naming State Street as administrator, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Winklevoss brothers, identical twins, had filed their first application for a bitcoin ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust three years ago.
Investors have shown keen interest in the Winklevoss ETF. If approved by the SEC, this would be the first bitcoin ETF issued by a U.S. entity.
According to the amended filing, State Street will provide the fund administration and accounting services, including calculating the bitcoin trust's net asset value (NAV).
Another major change involved the ETF's custodian, Gemini Trust Company, doing monthly "proof of control" exercises and publishing the reports on the ETF's website.
"Custodian's cold storage system was purpose-built to demonstrate 'proof of control' of the private keys associated with its public bitcoin addresses," the filing said.
"The sponsor and the custodian have engaged an independent audit firm to verify that the custodian can demonstrate 'proof of control' of the private keys that control the Trust's bitcoin on a monthly basis."
Burr Pilger Mayer, based in San Francisco and known for working with venture-backed digital currency companies, has been named the ETF's auditor, the filing said.
In addition, the SEC filing said Gemini's daily auction price at 4 p.m. EDT will now be used to price the NAV of the ETF. The previous pricing mechanism was the Gemini spot price. Gemini runs a digital currency trading venue.
Since its launch in September, the Gemini auction has transacted more than 1,900 bitcoin on average per business day, which represents more than 16 percent of all U.S.-based bitcoin exchange volume, according to company data.
The daily auction along with Gemini's expansion has increased the company's market share to about 9 percent of all U.S. dollar-denominated exchange-traded bitcoin volume.
The ETF would trade under the ticker symbol COIN.
Late on Tuesday, bitcoin traded at $632.88 on the BitStamp platform.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Tom Brown) || Your first trade for Wednesday, October 19: The "Fast Money" traders gave their final trades of the day.
Pete Najarian is a buyer of Citi (C).
Tim Seymour is a buyer of Avon (AVP).
Brian Kelly is a buyer of Chevron (CVX).
Guy Adami is a buyer of SuperValu (SVU).
Trader disclosure: OnTuesday, October 18the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:
PETE NAJARIAN is long AAPL, BAC, DIS, DISCA, GE, KMI, KMIA, KO, LUX, MRK, PEP, PFE CALLS: AAL, ABT, AMD, ATVI, BABA, BAC, BBY, BHI, BSX, CNX, COP, COTY, CRM, CS, CSCO, CXW, DAL, DISH, ECA, ETP, gm, GS, HAL, INTC, JBLU, JCP, KBE, KGC, KMI, KO, LLY, LOW, M, MOS, MRO, MRVL, MUR, NAV, NBR, P, RIO, SBUX, SLV, TMUS, TTS, TV, TWTR, VRX, WFT, WLL, XLF. Puts: CLF, EEM, MBLY, WFC
Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM. short: SPY, XRT; Tim's firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, short EWG, HYG, IWM
Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, SLV and Silver Futures, US Dollar UUP; he is short EUR=, JPY=
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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• Personal Finance || Your first trade for Wednesday, October 19: The " Fast Money " traders gave their final trades of the day. Pete Najarian is a buyer of Citi (C). Tim Seymour is a buyer of Avon (AVP). Brian Kelly is a buyer of Chevron (CVX). Guy Adami is a buyer of SuperValu (SVU). Trader disclosure: On Tuesday, October 18 the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: PETE NAJARIAN is l ong AAPL, BAC, DIS, DISCA, GE, KMI, KMIA, KO, LUX, MRK, PEP, PFE CALLS: AAL, ABT, AMD, ATVI, BABA, BAC, BBY, BHI, BSX, CNX, COP, COTY, CRM, CS, CSCO, CXW, DAL, DISH, ECA, ETP, gm, GS, HAL, INTC, JBLU, JCP, KBE, KGC, KMI, KO, LLY, LOW, M, MOS, MRO, MRVL, MUR, NAV, NBR, P, RIO, SBUX, SLV, TMUS, TTS, TV, TWTR, VRX, WFT, WLL, XLF. Puts: CLF, EEM, MBLY, WFC Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM. short: SPY, XRT; Tim's firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, short EWG, HYG, IWM Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, SLV and Silver Futures, US Dollar UUP; he is short EUR=, JPY= Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Traders debate buying pullback in Intel after earnings: The "Fast Money" traders debated whether to jump on a dip in Intel(INTC)after the company gavecurrent-quarter guidance that slightly missedWall Street expectations.
Trader Guy Adami said Intel slightly lowered its gross margins guidance, which he found "potentially concerning."
Trader Pete Najarian said he would be a buyer of Intel shares, as the stock fell more than 5 percent in extended trading on Tuesday.
Trader Brian Kelly said he's concerned about Nvidia(NVDA), another semiconductor stock, and would be taking profits off the table in the company. He also said he would buy Intel.
Disclosures:
PETE NAJARIAN
Long stock: AAPL, BAC, DIS, DISCA, GE, KMI, KMIA, KO, LUX, MRK, PEP, PFE CALLS: AAL, ABT, AMD, ATVI, BABA, BAC, BBY, BHI, BSX, CNX, COP, COTY, CRM, CS, CSCO, CXW, DAL, DISH, ECA, ETP, GM, GS, HAL, INTC, JBLU, JCP, KBE, KGC, KMI, KO, LLY, LOW, M, MOS, MRO, MRVL, MUR, NAV, NBR, P, RIO, SBUX, SLV, TMUS, TTS, TV, TWTR, VRX, WFT, WLL, XLF and puts: CLF, EEM, MBLY, WFC
TIM SEYMOUR
Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, short EWG, HYG, IWM
BRIAN KELLY
Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, SLV and Silver Futures, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and Japanese yen.
GUY ADAMI
Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
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• Top News and Analysis
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• Personal Finance || Traders debate buying pullback in Intel after earnings: The " Fast Money " traders debated whether to jump on a dip in Intel ( INTC ) after the company gave current-quarter guidance that slightly missed Wall Street expectations. Trader Guy Adami said Intel slightly lowered its gross margins guidance, which he found "potentially concerning." Trader Pete Najarian said he would be a buyer of Intel shares, as the stock fell more than 5 percent in extended trading on Tuesday. Trader Brian Kelly said he's concerned about Nvidia ( NVDA ) , another semiconductor stock, and would be taking profits off the table in the company. He also said he would buy Intel. Disclosures: PETE NAJARIAN Long stock: AAPL, BAC, DIS, DISCA, GE, KMI, KMIA, KO, LUX, MRK, PEP, PFE CALLS: AAL, ABT, AMD, ATVI, BABA, BAC, BBY, BHI, BSX, CNX, COP, COTY, CRM, CS, CSCO, CXW, DAL, DISH, ECA, ETP, GM, GS, HAL, INTC, JBLU, JCP, KBE, KGC, KMI, KO, LLY, LOW, M, MOS, MRO, MRVL, MUR, NAV, NBR, P, RIO, SBUX, SLV, TMUS, TTS, TV, TWTR, VRX, WFT, WLL, XLF and puts: CLF, EEM, MBLY, WFC TIM SEYMOUR Tim Seymour is long ABX, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, CLF, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD,MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM short: SPY, XRT. His firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, short EWG, HYG, IWM BRIAN KELLY Brian Kelly is long Bitcoin, SLV and Silver Futures, US Dollar UUP. He is short the euro and Japanese yen. GUY ADAMI Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, GDX, INTC. Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Winklevoss brothers name State Street as bitcoin ETF administrator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss on Tuesday filed amendments to their proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund, naming State Street as administrator, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Winklevoss brothers, identical twins, had filed their first application for a bitcoin ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust three years ago. Investors have shown keen interest in the Winklevoss ETF. If approved by the SEC, this would be the first bitcoin ETF issued by a U.S. entity. According to the amended filing, State Street will provide the fund administration and accounting services, including calculating the bitcoin trust's net asset value (NAV). Another major change involved the ETF's custodian, Gemini Trust Company, doing monthly "proof of control" exercises and publishing the reports on the ETF's website. "Custodian's cold storage system was purpose-built to demonstrate "proof of control" of the private keys associated with its public bitcoin addresses," the filing said. "The sponsor and the custodian have engaged an independent audit firm to verify that the custodian can demonstrate "proof of control" of the private keys that control the Trust's on a monthly basis." Burr Pilger Mayer, based in San Francisco and known for working with venture-backed digital currency companies, has been named the ETF's auditor, the filing said. In addition, the SEC filing said Gemini's daily auction price at 4 p.m. EDT will now be used to price the NAV of the ETF. The previous pricing mechanism was the Gemini spot price. Gemini runs a digital currency trading venue. Since its launch in September, the Gemini auction has transacted more than 19,00 bitcoin on average per business day, which represents more than 16 percent of all U.S.-based bitcoin exchange volume during the 4 p.m. period, Gemini said on Tuesday. The daily auction along with Gemini's expansion has increased the company's market share to about 9 percent of all U.S. dollar-denominated exchange-traded bitcoin volume. Story continues The ETF would trade under the ticker symbol COIN. Late on Tuesday, bitcoin traded at $632.88 on the BitStamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss) || Winklevoss brothers name State Street as bitcoin ETF administrator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss on Tuesday filed amendments to their proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund, naming State Street as administrator, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Winklevoss brothers, identical twins, had filed their first application for a bitcoin ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust three years ago. Investors have shown keen interest in the Winklevoss ETF. If approved by the SEC, this would be the first bitcoin ETF issued by a U.S. entity. According to the amended filing, State Street will provide the fund administration and accounting services, including calculating the bitcoin trust's net asset value (NAV). Another major change involved the ETF's custodian, Gemini Trust Company, doing monthly "proof of control" exercises and publishing the reports on the ETF's website. "Custodian's cold storage system was purpose-built to demonstrate "proof of control" of the private keys associated with its public bitcoin addresses," the filing said. "The sponsor and the custodian have engaged an independent audit firm to verify that the custodian can demonstrate "proof of control" of the private keys that control the Trust's on a monthly basis." Burr Pilger Mayer, based in San Francisco and known for working with venture-backed digital currency companies, has been named the ETF's auditor, the filing said. In addition, the SEC filing said Gemini's daily auction price at 4 p.m. EDT will now be used to price the NAV of the ETF. The previous pricing mechanism was the Gemini spot price. Gemini runs a digital currency trading venue. Since its launch in September, the Gemini auction has transacted more than 19,00 bitcoin on average per business day, which represents more than 16 percent of all U.S.-based bitcoin exchange volume during the 4 p.m. period, Gemini said on Tuesday. The daily auction along with Gemini's expansion has increased the company's market share to about 9 percent of all U.S. dollar-denominated exchange-traded bitcoin volume. Story continues The ETF would trade under the ticker symbol COIN. Late on Tuesday, bitcoin traded at $632.88 on the BitStamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss) || Winklevoss brothers name State Street as bitcoin ETF administrator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss on Tuesday filed amendments to their proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund, naming State Street as administrator, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Winklevoss brothers, identical twins, had filed their first application for a bitcoin ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust three years ago. Investors have shown keen interest in the Winklevoss ETF. If approved by the SEC, this would be the first bitcoin ETF issued by a U.S. entity. According to the amended filing, State Street will provide the fund administration and accounting services, including calculating the bitcoin trust's net asset value (NAV). Another major change involved the ETF's custodian, Gemini Trust Company, doing monthly "proof of control" exercises and publishing the reports on the ETF's website. "Custodian's cold storage system was purpose-built to demonstrate "proof of control" of the private keys associated with its public bitcoin addresses," the filing said. "The sponsor and the custodian have engaged an independent audit firm to verify that the custodian can demonstrate "proof of control" of the private keys that control the Trust's on a monthly basis." Burr Pilger Mayer, based in San Francisco and known for working with venture-backed digital currency companies, has been named the ETF's auditor, the filing said. In addition, the SEC filing said Gemini's daily auction price at 4 p.m. EDT will now be used to price the NAV of the ETF. The previous pricing mechanism was the Gemini spot price. Gemini runs a digital currency trading venue. Since its launch in September, the Gemini auction has transacted more than 19,00 bitcoin on average per business day, which represents more than 16 percent of all U.S.-based bitcoin exchange volume during the 4 p.m. period, Gemini said on Tuesday. The daily auction along with Gemini's expansion has increased the company's market share to about 9 percent of all U.S. dollar-denominated exchange-traded bitcoin volume. Story continues The ETF would trade under the ticker symbol COIN. Late on Tuesday, bitcoin traded at $632.88 on the BitStamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss) || Winklevoss brothers name State Street as bitcoin ETF administrator: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss on Tuesday filed amendments to their proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund, naming State Street as administrator, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Winklevoss brothers, identical twins, had filed their first application for a bitcoin ETF called Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust three years ago. Investors have shown keen interest in the Winklevoss ETF. If approved by the SEC, this would be the first bitcoin ETF issued by a U.S. entity. According to the amended filing, State Street will provide the fund administration and accounting services, including calculating the bitcoin trust's net asset value (NAV). Another major change involved the ETF's custodian, Gemini Trust Company, doing monthly "proof of control" exercises and publishing the reports on the ETF's website. "Custodian's cold storage system was purpose-built to demonstrate "proof of control" of the private keys associated with its public bitcoin addresses," the filing said. "The sponsor and the custodian have engaged an independent audit firm to verify that the custodian can demonstrate "proof of control" of the private keys that control the Trust's on a monthly basis." Burr Pilger Mayer, based in San Francisco and known for working with venture-backed digital currency companies, has been named the ETF's auditor, the filing said. In addition, the SEC filing said Gemini's daily auction price at 4 p.m. EDT will now be used to price the NAV of the ETF. The previous pricing mechanism was the Gemini spot price. Gemini runs a digital currency trading venue. Since its launch in September, the Gemini auction has transacted more than 19,00 bitcoin on average per business day, which represents more than 16 percent of all U.S.-based bitcoin exchange volume during the 4 p.m. period, Gemini said on Tuesday. Story continues The daily auction along with Gemini's expansion has increased the company's market share to about 9 percent of all U.S. dollar-denominated exchange-traded bitcoin volume. The ETF would trade under the ticker symbol COIN. Late on Tuesday, bitcoin traded at $632.88 on the BitStamp platform. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss)
[Social Media Buzz]
$659.62 #bitfinex;
$655.20 #btce;
$657.21 #itBit;
$652.00 #bitstamp;
$654.36 #GDAX;
$653.54 #OKCoin;
#bitcoin news: http://bit.ly/1VI6Yse || Mobile recharge with bitcoin Tigo Guatemala at uquid and get 3x bonus
From 29 Oct 2016 00:00 To 31 Oct 2016 https://goo.gl/QAvVtb pic.twitter.com/CTC8IdLyPG || $661.88 #bitfinex;
$650.14 #bitstamp;
$653.53 #btce;
$655.95 #itBit;
$654.99 #GDAX;
$652.00 #OKCoin;
#bitcoin news: http://bit.ly/1VI6Yse || $649.99 at 10:30 UTC [24h Range: $640.00 - $652.70 Vol...
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678.30, 688.31, 689.65, 714.48, 701.86, 700.97, 729.79, 740.83, 688.70, 703.23
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 243.78, 244.53, 235.98, 238.89, 238.74, 237.47, 236.43, 253.83, 254.26, 260.20, 275.67, 281.70, 273.09, 276.18, 272.72, 276.26, 274.35, 289.61, 291.76, 296.38, 294.35, 285.34, 281.89, 286.39, 290.59, 285.51, 256.30, 260.93, 261.75, 260.02, 267.96, 266.74, 245.60, 246.20, 248.53, 247.03, 252.80, 242.71, 247.53, 244.22, 247.27, 253.01, 254.32, 253.70, 260.60, 255.49, 253.18, 245.02, 243.68, 236.07, 236.55, 236.15, 224.59, 219.16, 223.83, 228.57, 222.88, 223.36, 222.60, 224.63, 235.27, 234.18, 236.46, 231.27, 226.39, 219.43, 229.29, 225.85, 225.81, 236.15, 232.08, 234.93, 240.36, 239.02, 236.12, 229.78, 237.33, 243.86, 241.83, 240.30, 242.16, 241.11, 236.38, 236.93, 237.60, 236.15, 236.80, 233.13, 231.95, 234.02.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-05-20]
Volume: 15499400, RSI (14-day): 47.37, 50-day EMA: 238.61, 200-day EMA: 261.25
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1208.90, Gold RSI: 53.01
Oil Price: 58.98, Oil RSI: 55.45
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Conexus Acquires a Majority Interest in Bitcoin Direct LLC: NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 19, 2015) - Conexus Cattle Corp. (OTC PINK:CNXS) announced today the acquisition of a 51% membership interest in Bitcoin Direct LLC, Nevada limited liability company ("Bitcoin" or the "Company"), which provides bitcoin transaction solutions for consumers in what we believe is a rapidly expanding industry, still in its infancy. Bitcoin's initial focus is aimed at installing and servicing its ABMs (Automated Bitcoin Machines) in multiple locations. The ABMs provide consumers with the ability to instantaneously purchase bitcoins through their mobile devices. Currently, the Company has installations serving the major metropolitan centers of New York City and Montreal. The Company anticipates rapidly expanding its network of Company owned ABMs in the coming months.
In addition to operating its own bitcoin ABMs, the Company also anticipates partnering with local operators to create an integrated bitcoin distribution network in high traffic locations across North America. The Company, through its relationships with leading bitcoin miners, plans to supply bitcoins, as well as provide ABM equipment to these local operators.
Bitcoin plans to offer a full range of bitcoin transaction solutions to a wide variety of industries, including remittance and gaming, among others.
Under the terms of the transaction, Conexus, Bitcoin, and all of the members of Bitcoin, entered into a Securities Exchange Agreement, pursuant to which Conexus acquired memberships interests representing 51% of Bitcoin in exchange for 500 shares of the Conexus's Series H Preferred, with an aggregate stated value equal to $500,000 (the "Exchange Agreement"). In accordance with the terms of the Exchange Agreement, Conexus agreed to provide a working capital facility to Bitcoin in an amount up to $300,000 to be utilized by Bitcoin as needed, and to be repaid by Bitcoin from working capital generated from Bitcoin's operations. In addition, the Exchange Agreement provides an option to the members of Bitcoin for a period of five years to repurchase from the Conexus 10% of the Bitcoin membership interests held by Conexus for $250,000. Additional details of the transaction are included in the Conexus' Current Report on Form 8-K filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Conrad Huss, President of Conexus, commented, "We are excited to have acquired the majority interest in Bitcoin Direct LLC, along with its experienced management team. Our strategy is to provide sound, profitable, bitcoin transaction solutions to consumers, and to assist a variety of industries as they grow their markets. The Company is ready to help pioneer and promote the consumer adoption of bitcoin through automated solutions across North America."
About Bitcoin Direct LLCBitcoin Direct LLC provides bitcoin transaction solutions for consumers. Bitcoin's initial focus is aimed at installing and servicing its ABMs (Automated Bitcoin Machines) in multiple locations. The ABMs provide consumers with the ability to instantaneously purchase bitcoins through their mobile devices. Currently, the Company has installations serving the major metropolitan centers of New York City and Montreal.
Safe HarborThis press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections made by management. The Company intends for the forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," or variations of such words are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release include statements regarding the elimination of debt positioning the Company for growth and the vote of confidence in the growth plans. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements other than as required by law. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements and include the Company's ability to complete its intended growth plans in a timely manner and the other factors discussed in Current Reports on Form 8-K. Copies of these filings are available atwww.sec.gov || Conexus Acquires a Majority Interest in Bitcoin Direct LLC: NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 19, 2015) - Conexus Cattle Corp. ( OTC PINK : CNXS ) announced today the acquisition of a 51% membership interest in Bitcoin Direct LLC, Nevada limited liability company ("Bitcoin" or the "Company"), which provides bitcoin transaction solutions for consumers in what we believe is a rapidly expanding industry, still in its infancy. Bitcoin's initial focus is aimed at installing and servicing its ABMs (Automated Bitcoin Machines) in multiple locations. The ABMs provide consumers with the ability to instantaneously purchase bitcoins through their mobile devices. Currently, the Company has installations serving the major metropolitan centers of New York City and Montreal. The Company anticipates rapidly expanding its network of Company owned ABMs in the coming months. In addition to operating its own bitcoin ABMs, the Company also anticipates partnering with local operators to create an integrated bitcoin distribution network in high traffic locations across North America. The Company, through its relationships with leading bitcoin miners, plans to supply bitcoins, as well as provide ABM equipment to these local operators. Bitcoin plans to offer a full range of bitcoin transaction solutions to a wide variety of industries, including remittance and gaming, among others. Under the terms of the transaction, Conexus, Bitcoin, and all of the members of Bitcoin, entered into a Securities Exchange Agreement, pursuant to which Conexus acquired memberships interests representing 51% of Bitcoin in exchange for 500 shares of the Conexus's Series H Preferred, with an aggregate stated value equal to $500,000 (the "Exchange Agreement"). In accordance with the terms of the Exchange Agreement, Conexus agreed to provide a working capital facility to Bitcoin in an amount up to $300,000 to be utilized by Bitcoin as needed, and to be repaid by Bitcoin from working capital generated from Bitcoin's operations. In addition, the Exchange Agreement provides an option to the members of Bitcoin for a period of five years to repurchase from the Conexus 10% of the Bitcoin membership interests held by Conexus for $250,000. Additional details of the transaction are included in the Conexus' Current Report on Form 8-K filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Story continues Conrad Huss, President of Conexus, commented, "We are excited to have acquired the majority interest in Bitcoin Direct LLC, along with its experienced management team. Our strategy is to provide sound, profitable, bitcoin transaction solutions to consumers, and to assist a variety of industries as they grow their markets. The Company is ready to help pioneer and promote the consumer adoption of bitcoin through automated solutions across North America." About Bitcoin Direct LLC Bitcoin Direct LLC provides bitcoin transaction solutions for consumers. Bitcoin's initial focus is aimed at installing and servicing its ABMs (Automated Bitcoin Machines) in multiple locations. The ABMs provide consumers with the ability to instantaneously purchase bitcoins through their mobile devices. Currently, the Company has installations serving the major metropolitan centers of New York City and Montreal. Safe Harbor This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections made by management. The Company intends for the forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," or variations of such words are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release include statements regarding the elimination of debt positioning the Company for growth and the vote of confidence in the growth plans. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements other than as required by law. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements and include the Company's ability to complete its intended growth plans in a timely manner and the other factors discussed in Current Reports on Form 8-K. Copies of these filings are available at www.sec.gov || Conexus Acquires a Majority Interest in Bitcoin Direct LLC: NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 19, 2015) - Conexus Cattle Corp. (OTC PINK:CNXS) announced today the acquisition of a 51% membership interest in Bitcoin Direct LLC, Nevada limited liability company ("Bitcoin" or the "Company"), which provides bitcoin transaction solutions for consumers in what we believe is a rapidly expanding industry, still in its infancy. Bitcoin's initial focus is aimed at installing and servicing its ABMs (Automated Bitcoin Machines) in multiple locations. The ABMs provide consumers with the ability to instantaneously purchase bitcoins through their mobile devices. Currently, the Company has installations serving the major metropolitan centers of New York City and Montreal. The Company anticipates rapidly expanding its network of Company owned ABMs in the coming months.
In addition to operating its own bitcoin ABMs, the Company also anticipates partnering with local operators to create an integrated bitcoin distribution network in high traffic locations across North America. The Company, through its relationships with leading bitcoin miners, plans to supply bitcoins, as well as provide ABM equipment to these local operators.
Bitcoin plans to offer a full range of bitcoin transaction solutions to a wide variety of industries, including remittance and gaming, among others.
Under the terms of the transaction, Conexus, Bitcoin, and all of the members of Bitcoin, entered into a Securities Exchange Agreement, pursuant to which Conexus acquired memberships interests representing 51% of Bitcoin in exchange for 500 shares of the Conexus's Series H Preferred, with an aggregate stated value equal to $500,000 (the "Exchange Agreement"). In accordance with the terms of the Exchange Agreement, Conexus agreed to provide a working capital facility to Bitcoin in an amount up to $300,000 to be utilized by Bitcoin as needed, and to be repaid by Bitcoin from working capital generated from Bitcoin's operations. In addition, the Exchange Agreement provides an option to the members of Bitcoin for a period of five years to repurchase from the Conexus 10% of the Bitcoin membership interests held by Conexus for $250,000. Additional details of the transaction are included in the Conexus' Current Report on Form 8-K filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Conrad Huss, President of Conexus, commented, "We are excited to have acquired the majority interest in Bitcoin Direct LLC, along with its experienced management team. Our strategy is to provide sound, profitable, bitcoin transaction solutions to consumers, and to assist a variety of industries as they grow their markets. The Company is ready to help pioneer and promote the consumer adoption of bitcoin through automated solutions across North America."
About Bitcoin Direct LLCBitcoin Direct LLC provides bitcoin transaction solutions for consumers. Bitcoin's initial focus is aimed at installing and servicing its ABMs (Automated Bitcoin Machines) in multiple locations. The ABMs provide consumers with the ability to instantaneously purchase bitcoins through their mobile devices. Currently, the Company has installations serving the major metropolitan centers of New York City and Montreal.
Safe HarborThis press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections made by management. The Company intends for the forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," or variations of such words are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release include statements regarding the elimination of debt positioning the Company for growth and the vote of confidence in the growth plans. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements other than as required by law. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements and include the Company's ability to complete its intended growth plans in a timely manner and the other factors discussed in Current Reports on Form 8-K. Copies of these filings are available atwww.sec.gov || STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's what you need to know: Car stuck (REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn ) Stocks were all over the place on Tuesday. The S&P 500 and the Dow rallied above the record highs set on Monday, and slid in the final 90 minutes of trading. But the Dow rebounded to make a new record high. First, the scoreboard: Dow: 18,312.39, +13.51, (0.07%) S&P 500: 2,127.83, -1.37, (-0.06%) Nasdaq: 5,070.03, -8.40, (-0.17%) And now, the top stories on Tuesday: In economic data, housing starts surged to the highest level since November 2007 . Starts rose 20.2% in April to an annualized pace of 1.135 million, crushing expectations for a 9.6% rise to an annualized rate of 1.01 million. Building permits rose 10.1% to an annualized pace of 1.143 million, versus forecasts for a 2.1% rise to an annualized pace of 1.06 million. "The uptick in mortgage rates over the last month will be a headwind going forward," wrote Nomura analysts in a note. "However, today's data reinforce our basic view that housing will contribute to stronger growth this year and that we should expect stronger growth in the US going forward." US government bonds sold off. As their prices fell, yields rose; the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed to a year-to-date high of 2.303%, a rise of about 5 basis points. The long 30-year bond yield also rose about 5 basis points to as high as 3.09%. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell more than 3.5% to as low as $57.95 per barre l. The American Petroleum Institute is due to report on US crude stockpiles after the closing bell, and the Energy Information Administration will release its tally on Wednesday. Inventories have declined in the past few weeks. Over the weekend, Goldman Sachs slashed its price forecast for the next five years. The New York Stock Exchange has launched a bitcoin index . NYXBT will reflect data from the Coinbase bitcoin exchange, which the NYSE made a minority investment in earlier this year. The NYSE said in a statement: "NYXBT utilizes a unique methodology that relies on rules-based logic to analyze a dataset of matched transactions and verify the integrity of the data to ultimately produce an objective and fair daily value for one bitcoin in U.S. Dollars as of 16:00 London time." Bitcoin is currently worth $233, down almost $3 from yesterday. Shares of Chinese sports lottery site 500.com surged as much as 30% despite the company announcing a first-quarter loss, the resignation of its CEO and one director, and saying it is currently generating no sales. The company saw an earnings per share loss of 6 cents, much less than the expectation for a profit of 28 cents, and sales of $15.9 million versus $24.7 million expected. It saw a net loss of $8.4 million. Last month, 500.com suspended all online lottery sales in agreement with the Chinese government. And in the earnings report Tuesday, it said it is not generating revenues due to the suspension. TJX Companies beat estimates on earnings and revenues in the first quarter – something that's been unusual for retailers this season. The parent company of TJ Maxx and Marshalls reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.69 (versus $0.66 expected) on sales of $6.9 billion (versus $6.8 billion.) The company saw a 5% year-over-year rise in same-store sales, and raised its full-year guidance based on these results. Its stock rose as much as 3%. Macy's and JCPenney are two of the retailers that reported weaker-than-expected earnings. Urban Outfitters also missed expectations, and its stock tanked by up to 16% . It reported first quarter sales of $0.25 ($0.30 expected,) and record sales of $739 million (still below $757.58 expected.) Analysts at Oppenheimer downgraded the stock to "Perform" from "Outperform," citing several lackluster quarters, and "fashion misses" at Anthropologie in their note. Shake Shack shares rallied by more than 5% , bringing the stock's gains since reporting earnings after the close last Wednesday to around 12%. After the company's initial public offering priced at $21 in January, the stock has more than tripled and was trading at around $76 on Tuesday. There's been no big news since the earnings results that one analyst described as a " historically impressive 'beat and raise quarter.' " Shake Shack's flagship location in Madison Square Park in New York will reopen on Wednesday May 20. Story continues DON'T MISS: This demographic trend will be bullish for stocks for years » NOW WATCH: Here's exactly when you should 'cc' someone on email More From Business Insider STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's what you need to know STOCKS HIT ALL-TIME HIGHS: Here's what you need to know STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's what you need to know || STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's what you need to know: Car stuck (REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn ) Stocks were all over the place on Tuesday. The S&P 500 and the Dow rallied above the record highs set on Monday, and slid in the final 90 minutes of trading. But the Dow rebounded to make a new record high. First, the scoreboard: Dow: 18,312.39, +13.51, (0.07%) S&P 500: 2,127.83, -1.37, (-0.06%) Nasdaq: 5,070.03, -8.40, (-0.17%) And now, the top stories on Tuesday: In economic data, housing starts surged to the highest level since November 2007 . Starts rose 20.2% in April to an annualized pace of 1.135 million, crushing expectations for a 9.6% rise to an annualized rate of 1.01 million. Building permits rose 10.1% to an annualized pace of 1.143 million, versus forecasts for a 2.1% rise to an annualized pace of 1.06 million. "The uptick in mortgage rates over the last month will be a headwind going forward," wrote Nomura analysts in a note. "However, today's data reinforce our basic view that housing will contribute to stronger growth this year and that we should expect stronger growth in the US going forward." US government bonds sold off. As their prices fell, yields rose; the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed to a year-to-date high of 2.303%, a rise of about 5 basis points. The long 30-year bond yield also rose about 5 basis points to as high as 3.09%. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell more than 3.5% to as low as $57.95 per barre l. The American Petroleum Institute is due to report on US crude stockpiles after the closing bell, and the Energy Information Administration will release its tally on Wednesday. Inventories have declined in the past few weeks. Over the weekend, Goldman Sachs slashed its price forecast for the next five years. The New York Stock Exchange has launched a bitcoin index . NYXBT will reflect data from the Coinbase bitcoin exchange, which the NYSE made a minority investment in earlier this year. The NYSE said in a statement: "NYXBT utilizes a unique methodology that relies on rules-based logic to analyze a dataset of matched transactions and verify the integrity of the data to ultimately produce an objective and fair daily value for one bitcoin in U.S. Dollars as of 16:00 London time." Bitcoin is currently worth $233, down almost $3 from yesterday. Shares of Chinese sports lottery site 500.com surged as much as 30% despite the company announcing a first-quarter loss, the resignation of its CEO and one director, and saying it is currently generating no sales. The company saw an earnings per share loss of 6 cents, much less than the expectation for a profit of 28 cents, and sales of $15.9 million versus $24.7 million expected. It saw a net loss of $8.4 million. Last month, 500.com suspended all online lottery sales in agreement with the Chinese government. And in the earnings report Tuesday, it said it is not generating revenues due to the suspension. TJX Companies beat estimates on earnings and revenues in the first quarter – something that's been unusual for retailers this season. The parent company of TJ Maxx and Marshalls reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.69 (versus $0.66 expected) on sales of $6.9 billion (versus $6.8 billion.) The company saw a 5% year-over-year rise in same-store sales, and raised its full-year guidance based on these results. Its stock rose as much as 3%. Macy's and JCPenney are two of the retailers that reported weaker-than-expected earnings. Urban Outfitters also missed expectations, and its stock tanked by up to 16% . It reported first quarter sales of $0.25 ($0.30 expected,) and record sales of $739 million (still below $757.58 expected.) Analysts at Oppenheimer downgraded the stock to "Perform" from "Outperform," citing several lackluster quarters, and "fashion misses" at Anthropologie in their note. Shake Shack shares rallied by more than 5% , bringing the stock's gains since reporting earnings after the close last Wednesday to around 12%. After the company's initial public offering priced at $21 in January, the stock has more than tripled and was trading at around $76 on Tuesday. There's been no big news since the earnings results that one analyst described as a " historically impressive 'beat and raise quarter.' " Shake Shack's flagship location in Madison Square Park in New York will reopen on Wednesday May 20. Story continues DON'T MISS: This demographic trend will be bullish for stocks for years » NOW WATCH: Here's exactly when you should 'cc' someone on email More From Business Insider STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's what you need to know STOCKS HIT ALL-TIME HIGHS: Here's what you need to know STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's what you need to know || Wall Street momentum adds to year of bitcoin legitimacy: A top secret bitcoin startup called 21 Inc. finally disclosed its business plan this week and the strategy points to the many uses of the virtual digital currency beyond the obvious. With $116 million of backing from top tier venture capital firms and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers signed on as a strategic advisor, 21's emergence is also further proof that bitcoin has rapidly moved from fodder for weirdo science fiction to the realm of real business tools. The New York Stock Exchange's announcement on Tuesday of its own bitcoin price index , one that could be used as the basis for all manner of derivative contracts, is yet another signal of bitcoin's usefulness to mainstream businesses. The well-funded startup says it has created a dedicated computer chip that can be added to smartphones, tablets or almost any other type of computing device to allow for the processing of bitcoin transactions and the creation of new bitcoins. The feature could also be incorporated into chips made by other companies to add the same functionality. Currently, that's the realm of high-powered (and high-priced) computer rigs known as bitcoin miners. Every time a bitcoin is traded from one person to another, the transaction is recorded in a digital logbook known as the blockchain. Mining computers crunch the encryption equations needed to verify each transaction and verify the listings in the blockchain. New bitcoins, each really just a unique string of digits, are generated via the same process, providing an economic incentive for the miners to verify all of the transactions. Adding the bitcoin mining capability to any consumer's portable computing device opens an intriguing array of new functionality. Because bitcoin mining generates new bitcoins, 21's chips create a small, new revenue stream for any device. That revenue could go toward subsidizing Internet access or paying for online services. It could also go to a phone manufacturer or mobile carrier. And if the idea catches on, more than a billion smartphone owners could be crunching bitcoin transaction data on the phones in their pockets as they go about their day. [ Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App ] But connecting each device to bitcoin's digital logbook of all transactions adds another set of interesting capabilities. Transactions added to the blockchain can include extra information which can't be altered or removed. That can provide a layer of security and verification that's hard to find on the Internet. It could also allow devices to authenticate themselves without resorting to the kinds of more expensive security networks used by corporations today. Many of these type of features can work no matter how much the price of a bitcoin rises or falls. The often-volatile price climbed over $1,000 in November 2013, only to plummet more than 75% over the next year. Bitcoins traded for about $234 each on Tuesday. 21 CEO Balaji Srinivasan emphasized that separation of price and function in a blog post on Monday . "At 21 we are less concerned with bitcoin as a financial instrument and more interested in bitcoin as a protocol — and particularly in the industrial uses of bitcoin enabled by embedded mining," he wrote. Of course, there's no guarantee that 21 will succeed. Its chips may turn out to be too expensive, too slow or otherwise flawed. And the revenue generated by the chips may turn out to be too meager to support any interesting initiatives. Still, the news of Summers and the New York Stock Exchange's involvement adds to the list of serious Wall Street players already backing bitcoin, including Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and the Nasdaq ( NDAQ ). The NYSE was already one of the backers of bitcoin exchange Coinbase. Goldman is backing digital wallet provider Circle while the Nasdaq recently announced plans to use the blockchain as a secure listing for private stock transactions. Again, all of these ventures could certainly fail or fall short. But it seems more likely that 2015 will be remembered as the year bitcoin got serious. || Wall Street momentum adds to year of bitcoin legitimacy: A top secret bitcoin startup called 21 Inc. finally disclosed its business plan this week and the strategy points to the many uses of the virtual digital currency beyond the obvious. With $116 million of backing from top tier venture capital firms and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers signed on as a strategic advisor, 21's emergence is also further proof that bitcoin has rapidly moved from fodder for weirdo science fiction to the realm of real business tools. The New York Stock Exchange's announcement on Tuesday of its own bitcoin price index , one that could be used as the basis for all manner of derivative contracts, is yet another signal of bitcoin's usefulness to mainstream businesses. The well-funded startup says it has created a dedicated computer chip that can be added to smartphones, tablets or almost any other type of computing device to allow for the processing of bitcoin transactions and the creation of new bitcoins. The feature could also be incorporated into chips made by other companies to add the same functionality. Currently, that's the realm of high-powered (and high-priced) computer rigs known as bitcoin miners. Every time a bitcoin is traded from one person to another, the transaction is recorded in a digital logbook known as the blockchain. Mining computers crunch the encryption equations needed to verify each transaction and verify the listings in the blockchain. New bitcoins, each really just a unique string of digits, are generated via the same process, providing an economic incentive for the miners to verify all of the transactions. Adding the bitcoin mining capability to any consumer's portable computing device opens an intriguing array of new functionality. Because bitcoin mining generates new bitcoins, 21's chips create a small, new revenue stream for any device. That revenue could go toward subsidizing Internet access or paying for online services. It could also go to a phone manufacturer or mobile carrier. And if the idea catches on, more than a billion smartphone owners could be crunching bitcoin transaction data on the phones in their pockets as they go about their day. [ Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App ] But connecting each device to bitcoin's digital logbook of all transactions adds another set of interesting capabilities. Transactions added to the blockchain can include extra information which can't be altered or removed. That can provide a layer of security and verification that's hard to find on the Internet. It could also allow devices to authenticate themselves without resorting to the kinds of more expensive security networks used by corporations today. Many of these type of features can work no matter how much the price of a bitcoin rises or falls. The often-volatile price climbed over $1,000 in November 2013, only to plummet more than 75% over the next year. Bitcoins traded for about $234 each on Tuesday. 21 CEO Balaji Srinivasan emphasized that separation of price and function in a blog post on Monday . "At 21 we are less concerned with bitcoin as a financial instrument and more interested in bitcoin as a protocol — and particularly in the industrial uses of bitcoin enabled by embedded mining," he wrote. Of course, there's no guarantee that 21 will succeed. Its chips may turn out to be too expensive, too slow or otherwise flawed. And the revenue generated by the chips may turn out to be too meager to support any interesting initiatives. Still, the news of Summers and the New York Stock Exchange's involvement adds to the list of serious Wall Street players already backing bitcoin, including Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and the Nasdaq ( NDAQ ). The NYSE was already one of the backers of bitcoin exchange Coinbase. Goldman is backing digital wallet provider Circle while the Nasdaq recently announced plans to use the blockchain as a secure listing for private stock transactions. Again, all of these ventures could certainly fail or fall short. But it seems more likely that 2015 will be remembered as the year bitcoin got serious. || 21 Inc. Finally Reveals Its Secretive Product: A Bitcoin Mining Chip: Back in March,bitcoinenthusiasts were abuzz with speculation about what21 Inc.might be working on.
The cryptocurrency startup was able to secure upwards of $110 million in fundraising from a spate of big name investors likeQUALCOMM, Inc.(NASDAQ:QCOM) and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
However, the company has been secretive about what it had been working on – until now.
A New Kind Of Chip
On Monday, the companyrevealedthat it will roll out an embeddable chip that allows users to mine bitcoins from their wireless devices.
The chip is designed to verify transactions while running as a background process, thus providing the user with a "continuous stream of digital currency."
Related Link: Solving Bitcoins Scalability Problem
Integrating Bitcoin Into The IoT
21 Inc. says its chip wasn't designed as a way to make people rich, but instead the company says it's more focused on integrating the cryptocurrency into the Internet of Things (IoT) and creating a micropayment scheme.
Micropayment Device
The chip, called BitShare, can consolidate, what 21 Inc. expects to be, a large number of micropayments, as the Internet of Things gains traction. Instead of customers paying for each individual service, they can install a BitShare chip and pay for the fees associated with things like connected lightbulbs or automated fire alarms using their mined bitcoin.
The company says it eventually hopes to use the technology to make having a smartphone more attainable in developing countries by subsidizing some of the costs through bitcoin mining.
Related Link: Bitcoin: Making Progress In Europe
Is The Chip Worth It?
The chip marks a big development for the bitcoin community, but it isn't without criticism.
Many worry about the feasibility of such a product, as it is likely to use a great deal of data and could significantly reduce the battery life of a smartphone. Some say consumers will be unwilling to sacrifice those things for the comparatively small reward, which may be just a few cents worth of bitcoin.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• What A Difference A Second Makes: Are Markets Prepared For Leap Second?
• Delivery Services Deal With Growing Volume
• Here's Why U.S. Automakers Fear The Pacific Trade Pact
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || 21 Inc. Finally Reveals Its Secretive Product: A Bitcoin Mining Chip: Back in March, bitcoin enthusiasts were abuzz with speculation about what 21 Inc. might be working on. The cryptocurrency startup was able to secure upwards of $110 million in fundraising from a spate of big name investors like QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM ) and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. However, the company has been secretive about what it had been working on – until now. A New Kind Of Chip On Monday, the company revealed that it will roll out an embeddable chip that allows users to mine bitcoins from their wireless devices. The chip is designed to verify transactions while running as a background process, thus providing the user with a "continuous stream of digital currency." Related Link: Solving Bitcoins Scalability Problem Integrating Bitcoin Into The IoT 21 Inc. says its chip wasn't designed as a way to make people rich, but instead the company says it's more focused on integrating the cryptocurrency into the Internet of Things (IoT) and creating a micropayment scheme. Micropayment Device The chip, called BitShare, can consolidate, what 21 Inc. expects to be, a large number of micropayments, as the Internet of Things gains traction. Instead of customers paying for each individual service, they can install a BitShare chip and pay for the fees associated with things like connected lightbulbs or automated fire alarms using their mined bitcoin. The company says it eventually hopes to use the technology to make having a smartphone more attainable in developing countries by subsidizing some of the costs through bitcoin mining. Related Link: Bitcoin: Making Progress In Europe Is The Chip Worth It? The chip marks a big development for the bitcoin community, but it isn't without criticism. Many worry about the feasibility of such a product, as it is likely to use a great deal of data and could significantly reduce the battery life of a smartphone. Some say consumers will be unwilling to sacrifice those things for the comparatively small reward, which may be just a few cents worth of bitcoin. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga What A Difference A Second Makes: Are Markets Prepared For Leap Second? Delivery Services Deal With Growing Volume Here's Why U.S. Automakers Fear The Pacific Trade Pact © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. View comments || 21 Inc. Finally Reveals Its Secretive Product: A Bitcoin Mining Chip: Back in March,bitcoinenthusiasts were abuzz with speculation about what21 Inc.might be working on.
The cryptocurrency startup was able to secure upwards of $110 million in fundraising from a spate of big name investors likeQUALCOMM, Inc.(NASDAQ:QCOM) and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.
However, the company has been secretive about what it had been working on – until now.
A New Kind Of Chip
On Monday, the companyrevealedthat it will roll out an embeddable chip that allows users to mine bitcoins from their wireless devices.
The chip is designed to verify transactions while running as a background process, thus providing the user with a "continuous stream of digital currency."
Related Link: Solving Bitcoins Scalability Problem
Integrating Bitcoin Into The IoT
21 Inc. says its chip wasn't designed as a way to make people rich, but instead the company says it's more focused on integrating the cryptocurrency into the Internet of Things (IoT) and creating a micropayment scheme.
Micropayment Device
The chip, called BitShare, can consolidate, what 21 Inc. expects to be, a large number of micropayments, as the Internet of Things gains traction. Instead of customers paying for each individual service, they can install a BitShare chip and pay for the fees associated with things like connected lightbulbs or automated fire alarms using their mined bitcoin.
The company says it eventually hopes to use the technology to make having a smartphone more attainable in developing countries by subsidizing some of the costs through bitcoin mining.
Related Link: Bitcoin: Making Progress In Europe
Is The Chip Worth It?
The chip marks a big development for the bitcoin community, but it isn't without criticism.
Many worry about the feasibility of such a product, as it is likely to use a great deal of data and could significantly reduce the battery life of a smartphone. Some say consumers will be unwilling to sacrifice those things for the comparatively small reward, which may be just a few cents worth of bitcoin.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• What A Difference A Second Makes: Are Markets Prepared For Leap Second?
• Delivery Services Deal With Growing Volume
• Here's Why U.S. Automakers Fear The Pacific Trade Pact
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin Shop Makes $1.5m Strategic Investment in Spondoolies-Tech: ARLINGTON, VA--(Marketwired - May 18, 2015) -Bitcoin Shop, Inc.(OTCQB:BTCS) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology company that engages in transaction verification services, announced today that it has invested $1.5m intoSpondoolies-Tech Ltd("Spondoolies"), a transaction verification server manufacturer. BTCS' investment in Spondoolies comes on the heels of the announcement of the intention for BTCS and Spondoolies to merge (April 28, 2015) and is serving as the first integral step of the planned merger. Together, the two companies will create the world's first publicly traded company to produce Bitcoin transaction verification equipment and deploy Bitcoin mining resources.
Under the terms of the definitive investment agreements, BTCS purchased a 6.6 percent equity interest in Spondoolies, and received certain exclusivity rights and pricing for current and future Spondoolies' products as well as a $1m breakup fee, in case the planned merger between BTCS and Spondoolies is not consummated. The investment in Spondoolies was based on a pre-money valuation of approximately $21.2m. Based in Kiryat Gat, Israel, Spondoolies-Tech is the premier developer of Bitcoin transaction verification servers. Launched in August 2013, Spondoolies is Israeli venture backed and has shipped thousands of servers to customers around the world in the past year.
The terms of the planned merger between BTCS and Spondoolies are a merger of equals. Upon closing, the parties will equally share the dilution resulting from BTCS' April 22, 2015 $2.3m financing. Charles Allen will serve as the merged entity's CEO and Chairman and Guy Corem, Spondoolies CEO and cofounder, will serve as a board member and executive officer. Additionally, Yuval Rozen will serve as BTCS' CFO. The merger is subject to a number of conditions, including satisfactory completion of diligence and execution of definitive agreements. There can be no assurance that the conditions to closing will be satisfied or merger will be completed.
BTCS' Chairman and CEO Charles Allen, who will lead the new company, said that the planned combination of the two companies represents a new force in the evolving blockchain industry. "This is a powerful merger as the technologies of the two companies are clearly very complementary and stand to produce immense revenue growth while delivering value to customers, shareholders, and employees."
"We are excited to begin our partnership with BTCS and appreciate their support during a transformative part of our company's growth," said Spondoolies CEO, Guy Corem. "We believe this new relationship will ensure our ability to continue development and production of innovative and high quality products, targeted mainly for internal use of the merged company but also to deliver the highest quality bitcoin mining equipment for our transaction verification services."
About BTCS:BTCS is a blockchain technology company that provides transaction verification services for digital currency. BTCS is building a universal digital currency platform with the goal of enabling users to engage in the digital currency ecosystem through one point of access. BTCS continues to actively partner and integrate with strategic digital currency technology companies who provide products or services that are complementary to its business strategy. BTCS operates its public beta site (www.btcs.com) where consumers can purchase products using digital currency such as bitcoin, litecoin, and dogecoin, by searching through a selection of over 250,000 items. For more information visit:www.btcs.com
About Spondoolies-Tech:Founded in 2013 by a group of Israeli high-tech veterans, Spondoolies is a transaction verification server manufacturer. Spondoolies raised ten million dollars in capital from leading Israeli venture capital firms and assembled a team of leaders in the Israeli Semiconductor industry, with the goal of building the infrastructure on which digital currencies will flourish. Building bitcoin transaction verifying servers from the bottom up, Spondoolies is producing machines that are designed for efficiency and performance. During 2014, Spondoolies successfully launched five different products.
Forward-Looking Statements:Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. || Bitcoin Shop Makes $1.5m Strategic Investment in Spondoolies-Tech: ARLINGTON, VA--(Marketwired - May 18, 2015) -Bitcoin Shop, Inc.(OTCQB:BTCS) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology company that engages in transaction verification services, announced today that it has invested $1.5m intoSpondoolies-Tech Ltd("Spondoolies"), a transaction verification server manufacturer. BTCS' investment in Spondoolies comes on the heels of the announcement of the intention for BTCS and Spondoolies to merge (April 28, 2015) and is serving as the first integral step of the planned merger. Together, the two companies will create the world's first publicly traded company to produce Bitcoin transaction verification equipment and deploy Bitcoin mining resources.
Under the terms of the definitive investment agreements, BTCS purchased a 6.6 percent equity interest in Spondoolies, and received certain exclusivity rights and pricing for current and future Spondoolies' products as well as a $1m breakup fee, in case the planned merger between BTCS and Spondoolies is not consummated. The investment in Spondoolies was based on a pre-money valuation of approximately $21.2m. Based in Kiryat Gat, Israel, Spondoolies-Tech is the premier developer of Bitcoin transaction verification servers. Launched in August 2013, Spondoolies is Israeli venture backed and has shipped thousands of servers to customers around the world in the past year.
The terms of the planned merger between BTCS and Spondoolies are a merger of equals. Upon closing, the parties will equally share the dilution resulting from BTCS' April 22, 2015 $2.3m financing. Charles Allen will serve as the merged entity's CEO and Chairman and Guy Corem, Spondoolies CEO and cofounder, will serve as a board member and executive officer. Additionally, Yuval Rozen will serve as BTCS' CFO. The merger is subject to a number of conditions, including satisfactory completion of diligence and execution of definitive agreements. There can be no assurance that the conditions to closing will be satisfied or merger will be completed.
BTCS' Chairman and CEO Charles Allen, who will lead the new company, said that the planned combination of the two companies represents a new force in the evolving blockchain industry. "This is a powerful merger as the technologies of the two companies are clearly very complementary and stand to produce immense revenue growth while delivering value to customers, shareholders, and employees."
"We are excited to begin our partnership with BTCS and appreciate their support during a transformative part of our company's growth," said Spondoolies CEO, Guy Corem. "We believe this new relationship will ensure our ability to continue development and production of innovative and high quality products, targeted mainly for internal use of the merged company but also to deliver the highest quality bitcoin mining equipment for our transaction verification services."
About BTCS:BTCS is a blockchain technology company that provides transaction verification services for digital currency. BTCS is building a universal digital currency platform with the goal of enabling users to engage in the digital currency ecosystem through one point of access. BTCS continues to actively partner and integrate with strategic digital currency technology companies who provide products or services that are complementary to its business strategy. BTCS operates its public beta site (www.btcs.com) where consumers can purchase products using digital currency such as bitcoin, litecoin, and dogecoin, by searching through a selection of over 250,000 items. For more information visit:www.btcs.com
About Spondoolies-Tech:Founded in 2013 by a group of Israeli high-tech veterans, Spondoolies is a transaction verification server manufacturer. Spondoolies raised ten million dollars in capital from leading Israeli venture capital firms and assembled a team of leaders in the Israeli Semiconductor industry, with the goal of building the infrastructure on which digital currencies will flourish. Building bitcoin transaction verifying servers from the bottom up, Spondoolies is producing machines that are designed for efficiency and performance. During 2014, Spondoolies successfully launched five different products.
Forward-Looking Statements:Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. || Bitcoin Shop Makes $1.5m Strategic Investment in Spondoolies-Tech: ARLINGTON, VA--(Marketwired - May 18, 2015) - Bitcoin Shop, Inc. ( OTCQB : BTCS ) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology company that engages in transaction verification services, announced today that it has invested $1.5m into Spondoolies-Tech Ltd ("Spondoolies"), a transaction verification server manufacturer. BTCS' investment in Spondoolies comes on the heels of the announcement of the intention for BTCS and Spondoolies to merge (April 28, 2015) and is serving as the first integral step of the planned merger. Together, the two companies will create the world's first publicly traded company to produce Bitcoin transaction verification equipment and deploy Bitcoin mining resources. Under the terms of the definitive investment agreements, BTCS purchased a 6.6 percent equity interest in Spondoolies, and received certain exclusivity rights and pricing for current and future Spondoolies' products as well as a $1m breakup fee, in case the planned merger between BTCS and Spondoolies is not consummated. The investment in Spondoolies was based on a pre-money valuation of approximately $21.2m. Based in Kiryat Gat, Israel, Spondoolies-Tech is the premier developer of Bitcoin transaction verification servers. Launched in August 2013, Spondoolies is Israeli venture backed and has shipped thousands of servers to customers around the world in the past year. The terms of the planned merger between BTCS and Spondoolies are a merger of equals. Upon closing, the parties will equally share the dilution resulting from BTCS' April 22, 2015 $2.3m financing. Charles Allen will serve as the merged entity's CEO and Chairman and Guy Corem, Spondoolies CEO and cofounder, will serve as a board member and executive officer. Additionally, Yuval Rozen will serve as BTCS' CFO. The merger is subject to a number of conditions, including satisfactory completion of diligence and execution of definitive agreements. There can be no assurance that the conditions to closing will be satisfied or merger will be completed. Story continues BTCS' Chairman and CEO Charles Allen, who will lead the new company, said that the planned combination of the two companies represents a new force in the evolving blockchain industry. "This is a powerful merger as the technologies of the two companies are clearly very complementary and stand to produce immense revenue growth while delivering value to customers, shareholders, and employees." "We are excited to begin our partnership with BTCS and appreciate their support during a transformative part of our company's growth," said Spondoolies CEO, Guy Corem. "We believe this new relationship will ensure our ability to continue development and production of innovative and high quality products, targeted mainly for internal use of the merged company but also to deliver the highest quality bitcoin mining equipment for our transaction verification services." About BTCS: BTCS is a blockchain technology company that provides transaction verification services for digital currency. BTCS is building a universal digital currency platform with the goal of enabling users to engage in the digital currency ecosystem through one point of access. BTCS continues to actively partner and integrate with strategic digital currency technology companies who provide products or services that are complementary to its business strategy. BTCS operates its public beta site ( www.btcs.com ) where consumers can purchase products using digital currency such as bitcoin, litecoin, and dogecoin, by searching through a selection of over 250,000 items. For more information visit: www.btcs.com About Spondoolies-Tech: Founded in 2013 by a group of Israeli high-tech veterans, Spondoolies is a transaction verification server manufacturer. Spondoolies raised ten million dollars in capital from leading Israeli venture capital firms and assembled a team of leaders in the Israeli Semiconductor industry, with the goal of building the infrastructure on which digital currencies will flourish. Building bitcoin transaction verifying servers from the bottom up, Spondoolies is producing machines that are designed for efficiency and performance. During 2014, Spondoolies successfully launched five different products. Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. || 10 mobile payment systems you need to know: googlewallet.jpg Image: Marguerite Reardon/CNET Nearly every day I am confronted with the fact that I am a rarity, the last of a dying breed. I am someone who still regularly uses cash to make purchases. In today's society, that makes me a dinosaur. Mobile technology has driven advancements in the payments industry that are making it easier and easier to make purchases without ever opening your wallet. The plethora of options doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is on board. According to data collected by 451 Research , many users are still uneasy when it comes to mobile payments due to security concerns. Still, the technology is moving forward and more vendors are accepting mobile payments everyday. If you want to get started with mobile payments, you have to first understand all your options. Here are 12 of the top mobile payment systems available. Google Wallet One of the first major NFC-based payment systems, Google Wallet was released back in September 2011. You can use Google Wallet to make purchases online or in a store, and send money to friends and family. Some have argued that it will be overtaken by Apple Pay, but that may not be the case . In fact, Google recently acquired intellectual property (IP) from Softcard to better compete. Apple Pay Apple Pay debuted alongside the iPhone 6 in late 2014. Users with an iPhone 6 or later, or an Apple Watch, register existing credit or debit cards with the service and use it to make payments with one of those cards. To use Apple Pay, you place your device near a reader and place your finger on the fingerprint scanner to quickly make a purchase. PayPal Known as the go-to payment system for eBay, PayPal also has a pretty useful mobile app. Users can snap a picture of a credit or debit card to add it to their account and make purchases or send money straight from their phone. PayPal has integrations with Uber, Airbnb, and StubHub for convenient payments. Square Cash Square Cash is a mobile payment option that allows users to create a unique username known as a $Cashtag. According to the Square Cash website, users can tweet out their $Cashtag for donations, or use it to pay their rent. You can also use it to pay someone for their services or simply send them some money. Stripe A web and mobile payment system that is "built for developers," Stripe offers a host of tools and APIs to customize it for you or your business. Users can accept Bitcoin through Stripe. Additionally Stripe is integrated with companies such as Lyft, Instacart, and Postmates. Dwolla Dwolla is a payment network for moving money. It doesn't require a credit or debit card, rather, it connects directly to your checking account. Use an email address to transfer money for $0.25 per transaction. Or, if the transaction is $10 or less, it's free. Only one party pays the fee and you can use it to send money to people even if they don't have a Dwolla account. Story continues M-Pesa Vodafone launched M-Pesa back in 2007. It allows users to deposit or withdraw money, transfer money, and make payments with their mobile phone. The actual account for the money is stored on the user's phone, and they use secure SMS messages to send money or make payments. The transactions carry a small fee as well. Very popular in some African markets, M-Pesa is huge in Kenya where the service first launched. Venmo Connect your bank account or debit card to send payments with Venmo. According to the company's website, it's always free to receive money through Venmo and most of the time it is free to send money, depending on what credit card or debit card you're using. Sign up with Facebook or by using an email address. Lifelock Wallet After purchasing Lemon Wallet, Lifelock created the Lifelock Wallet. It acts as a cloud storage system for all the cards you'd normally see in a wallet. Your ID, insurance card, loyalty cards, and payment cards are all stored and accessed through the app. The app touts Lifelock's security protection and users can access their credit score through the app for $.99. Samsung Pay After acquiring the company LoopPay, Samsung will fold its Samsung Wallet to be replaced by Samsung Pay. A technology known as Magnetic Secure Transmission is embedded in Samsung's Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, and it allows users to pay with their phone at a standard magnetic stripe reader. The service was only recently announced and will likely launch this summer. What do you think? Do you use a mobile payment system? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments. Also see What to learn from Apple's new Apple Pay mobile payment platform The liability shift and its impact on mobile payments Are people scared of mobile payments? Why Apple Pay won't be the death of Google Wallet View comments || 10 mobile payment systems you need to know: googlewallet.jpg Image: Marguerite Reardon/CNET Nearly every day I am confronted with the fact that I am a rarity, the last of a dying breed. I am someone who still regularly uses cash to make purchases. In today's society, that makes me a dinosaur. Mobile technology has driven advancements in the payments industry that are making it easier and easier to make purchases without ever opening your wallet. The plethora of options doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is on board. According to data collected by 451 Research , many users are still uneasy when it comes to mobile payments due to security concerns. Still, the technology is moving forward and more vendors are accepting mobile payments everyday. If you want to get started with mobile payments, you have to first understand all your options. Here are 12 of the top mobile payment systems available. Google Wallet One of the first major NFC-based payment systems, Google Wallet was released back in September 2011. You can use Google Wallet to make purchases online or in a store, and send money to friends and family. Some have argued that it will be overtaken by Apple Pay, but that may not be the case . In fact, Google recently acquired intellectual property (IP) from Softcard to better compete. Apple Pay Apple Pay debuted alongside the iPhone 6 in late 2014. Users with an iPhone 6 or later, or an Apple Watch, register existing credit or debit cards with the service and use it to make payments with one of those cards. To use Apple Pay, you place your device near a reader and place your finger on the fingerprint scanner to quickly make a purchase. PayPal Known as the go-to payment system for eBay, PayPal also has a pretty useful mobile app. Users can snap a picture of a credit or debit card to add it to their account and make purchases or send money straight from their phone. PayPal has integrations with Uber, Airbnb, and StubHub for convenient payments. Square Cash Square Cash is a mobile payment option that allows users to create a unique username known as a $Cashtag. According to the Square Cash website, users can tweet out their $Cashtag for donations, or use it to pay their rent. You can also use it to pay someone for their services or simply send them some money. Stripe A web and mobile payment system that is "built for developers," Stripe offers a host of tools and APIs to customize it for you or your business. Users can accept Bitcoin through Stripe. Additionally Stripe is integrated with companies such as Lyft, Instacart, and Postmates. Dwolla Dwolla is a payment network for moving money. It doesn't require a credit or debit card, rather, it connects directly to your checking account. Use an email address to transfer money for $0.25 per transaction. Or, if the transaction is $10 or less, it's free. Only one party pays the fee and you can use it to send money to people even if they don't have a Dwolla account. Story continues M-Pesa Vodafone launched M-Pesa back in 2007. It allows users to deposit or withdraw money, transfer money, and make payments with their mobile phone. The actual account for the money is stored on the user's phone, and they use secure SMS messages to send money or make payments. The transactions carry a small fee as well. Very popular in some African markets, M-Pesa is huge in Kenya where the service first launched. Venmo Connect your bank account or debit card to send payments with Venmo. According to the company's website, it's always free to receive money through Venmo and most of the time it is free to send money, depending on what credit card or debit card you're using. Sign up with Facebook or by using an email address. Lifelock Wallet After purchasing Lemon Wallet, Lifelock created the Lifelock Wallet. It acts as a cloud storage system for all the cards you'd normally see in a wallet. Your ID, insurance card, loyalty cards, and payment cards are all stored and accessed through the app. The app touts Lifelock's security protection and users can access their credit score through the app for $.99. Samsung Pay After acquiring the company LoopPay, Samsung will fold its Samsung Wallet to be replaced by Samsung Pay. A technology known as Magnetic Secure Transmission is embedded in Samsung's Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, and it allows users to pay with their phone at a standard magnetic stripe reader. The service was only recently announced and will likely launch this summer. What do you think? Do you use a mobile payment system? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments. Also see What to learn from Apple's new Apple Pay mobile payment platform The liability shift and its impact on mobile payments Are people scared of mobile payments? Why Apple Pay won't be the death of Google Wallet View comments || 10 things in tech you need to know today: Apple CEO Tim Cook (Getty Images News) Apple CEO Tim Cook Good morning! Here's the tech news you need to know to start off the week. 1. Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a commencement speech to the graduating class of George Washington University. He talked about what it was like to work with Steve Jobs. 2. Apple has acquired GPS mapping company Coherent Navigation. The company's technology is so advanced that it claims to be able to pinpoint a user's location to within a few centimeters. 3. Carl Icahn has invested $100 million in ride-sharing company Lyft. It raised $150 million, which brings its valuation to $2.5 billion. 4. The first trailer for Aaron Sorkin's movie about Steve Jobs has been released. It shows Michael Fassbender wearing a distinctive black turtleneck jumper. 5. Tech billionaires are going to extreme lengths to get their privacy back. They're spending gobs of money for the one thing everyone else has, but probably takes for granted. 6. The New York Times thinks it may know the identity of the man who created of Bitcoin. It says that Nick Szabo could be the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto. 7. Netflix stock hit a record high on the news that it's planning on entering the Chinese market. It was up over 5% on Friday afternoon. 8. A group of employees at payments company Clinkle left the company on Friday. The company was reportedly negotiating with Apple over an acquisition. 9. Microsoft has clarified that pirates won't get Windows 10 for free. It has previously indicated that even illegally downloaded versions of Windows would be eligible for an upgrade. 10. The Chinese army has banned smartwatches. It claimed that the devices could be hacked into. NOW WATCH: Here's what happens when you drop an Apple Watch face down on cement More From Business Insider 10 things in tech you need to know today 10 things in tech you need to know today 10 things in tech you need to know today || 10 things in tech you need to know today: (Getty Images News)Apple CEO Tim Cook
Good morning! Here's the tech news you need to know to start off the week.
1.Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a commencement speechto the graduating class of George Washington University.He talked about what it was like to work with Steve Jobs.
2.Apple has acquired GPS mapping company Coherent Navigation.The company's technology is so advanced that it claims to be able to pinpoint a user's location to within a few centimeters.
3.Carl Icahn has invested $100 million in ride-sharing company Lyft.It raised $150 million, which brings its valuation to $2.5 billion.
4.The first trailer for Aaron Sorkin's movie about Steve Jobs has been released.It shows Michael Fassbender wearing a distinctive black turtleneck jumper.
5.Tech billionaires are going to extreme lengths to get their privacy back.They're spending gobs of money for the one thing everyone else has, but probably takes for granted.
6.The New York Times thinks it may know the identity of the man who created of Bitcoin.It says that Nick Szabo could be the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto.
7.Netflix stock hit a record high on the news that it's planning on entering the Chinese market.It was up over 5% on Friday afternoon.
8.A group of employees at payments company Clinkle left the company on Friday.The company was reportedly negotiating with Apple over an acquisition.
9.Microsoft has clarified that pirates won't get Windows 10 for free.It has previously indicated that even illegally downloaded versions of Windows would be eligible for an upgrade.
10.The Chinese army has banned smartwatches.It claimed that the devices could be hacked into.
NOW WATCH:Here's what happens when you drop an Apple Watch face down on cement
More From Business Insider
• 10 things in tech you need to know today
• 10 things in tech you need to know today
• 10 things in tech you need to know today || The FDA's Authority Challenged By Mallinckrodt: The American healthcare system became much more affordable with the advent of generic drugs. Many popular medications have lower-costing, alternative treatments that contain the same active ingredients as their costly brand-name rivals, which has saved the public millions in pharmaceutical costs. However, last year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a look at some generic treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and found that they weren't consistently providing the same results as the brand name drug, leading the FDA to reclassify the generics. What Happened? Last year, generic equivalents of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ )' ADHD treatment Concerta made by Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE: MNK ) and UCB S A (OTC: UCBJF ) were shown to have a different impact on a patient's body despite containing the same active ingredients. Because of this, the FDA changed those drugs' ratings to reflect its findings. Following the ratings change, the FDA gave each drug maker a period of six weeks to prove that their drugs were in fact equivalent to Concerta. If they could not be proven as equal, the companies were asked to voluntarily pull the drugs from the marketplace. Related Link: 5 New Biotech Developments Worth Watching Mallinckrodt Pushes Back This week that six month deadline passed, but with very little movement from Mallinckrodt. UCB officials say they have been working to meet FDA requirements, but Mallinckrodt CEO Mark Trudeau said the company has no plans to remove its drug from pharmacy shelves. Instead, Mallinckrodt filed a lawsuit challenging the FDA ruling that the drugs were not equivalent, saying that the agency encouraged patients to continue taking the generic ADHD medications if they weren't experiencing any issues. Loss Of Trust Only time will tell whether or not Mallinckrodt will be forced to make changes to its drug, but the challenge sets up an obstacle for all generic companies providing treatments in the U.S. Story continues While the FDA's inquiry into the effectiveness of the two drugs reflects the agency's role in protecting the public, some say the results are likely to diminish people's trust in the generic drug market. This is especially true as both of the two drugs deemed inadequate substitutes for Concerta are still being sold as a generic version in pharmacies across the country. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga The Business Of Fertility Finance Nuclear Deal With Iran Still In Limbo Bitcoin Gaining Support Among Do-Gooders © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || The FDA's Authority Challenged By Mallinckrodt: The American healthcare system became much more affordable with the advent of generic drugs. Many popular medications have lower-costing, alternative treatments that contain the same active ingredients as their costly brand-name rivals, which has saved the public millions in pharmaceutical costs.
However,last yearthe U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a look at some generic treatments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and found that they weren't consistently providing the same results as the brand name drug, leading the FDA to reclassify the generics.
What Happened?
Last year, generic equivalents ofJohnson & Johnson(NYSE:JNJ)' ADHD treatment Concerta made byMallinckrodt PLC(NYSE:MNK) andUCB S A(OTC:UCBJF) were shown to have a different impact on a patient's body despite containing the same active ingredients. Because of this, the FDA changed those drugs' ratings to reflect its findings.
Following the ratings change, the FDA gave each drug maker a period of six weeks to prove that their drugs were in fact equivalent to Concerta. If they could not be proven as equal, the companies were asked to voluntarily pull the drugs from the marketplace.
Related Link:5 New Biotech Developments Worth Watching
Mallinckrodt Pushes Back
This week that six month deadline passed, but with very little movement from Mallinckrodt. UCB officials say they have been working to meet FDA requirements, but Mallinckrodt CEO Mark Trudeausaidthe company has no plans to remove its drug from pharmacy shelves.
Instead, Mallinckrodt filed a lawsuit challenging the FDA ruling that the drugs were not equivalent, saying that the agency encouraged patients to continue taking the generic ADHD medications if they weren't experiencing any issues.
Loss Of Trust
Only time will tell whether or not Mallinckrodt will be forced to make changes to its drug, but the challenge sets up an obstacle for all generic companies providing treatments in the U.S.
While the FDA's inquiry into the effectiveness of the two drugs reflects the agency's role in protecting the public, some say the results are likely to diminish people's trust in the generic drug market. This is especially true as both of the two drugs deemed inadequate substitutes for Concerta are still being sold as a generic version in pharmacies across the country.
Image Credit: Public Domain
See more from Benzinga
• The Business Of Fertility Finance
• Nuclear Deal With Iran Still In Limbo
• Bitcoin Gaining Support Among Do-Gooders
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || The Business Of Fertility Finance: When the U.S. economy was still lagging, lenders were struggling to find new clients as Americans tightened their spending and hunkered down for the remainder of the Financial Crisis. However while the economy slowed, Americans' biological clocks continued ticking, leading to the emergence of a multi-billion dollar industry that continued to thrive long after the recession ended – fertility finance. Fertility Lenders Back in 2012 when money was tight, lenders specializing in fertility treatments began to emerge. Couples who were unable to secure traditional loans or use credit cards to pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments had the option of taking out a loan with a "fertility finance" company. Related Link: OvaScience Shares Quiet After Co. Announces AUGMENT Fertility Treatment Continues To Show Improvement Companies like NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB ) offered hopeful couples the opportunity to take out a loan by partnering with doctors at fertility clinics who could recommend the loan service. Still A Thriving Industry Fast forward to 2015 when economic improvement has been steady and oil prices have given most households a bit of extra spending cash, and the industry is still booming. IVF treatments remain expensive at upwards of $15,000 per attempt and the number of couples requiring treatment has been steadily rising. More Candidates For IVF Women have started to put off their plans for a baby until their late 30s or early 40s, upping the risk that they won't be able to conceive and making IVF an increasingly necessary option. However, with the chances of conception through IVF just 30 percent on any given attempt, many couples require several rounds of treatment. For that reason, companies like IntergaMed Fertility offer a wide range of loan options for couples who need to pay for IVF. Related Link: HRC Fertility In Orange County Announces Outstanding IVF Success Rates Making Fertility Treatment Accessible Most insurance companies don't allow for fertility costs, making IVF an out-of-pocket expense. Fertility finance companies are looking to make fertility treatments available for couples of any income and mitigate some of the risk that the treatments won't work at all. Story continues Some companies even give couples a "money-back guarantee" in case the treatment is unsuccessful. Image Credit: Public Domain See more from Benzinga Nuclear Deal With Iran Still In Limbo Bitcoin Gaining Support Among Do-Gooders McDonald's Back In The Firing Line Over Happy Meal Ad © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
[Social Media Buzz]
1 #bitcoin 618.07 TL, 234.1 $, 209.53 €, 147.57 GBP, 11339.00 RUR, 28649 ¥, 1427 CNH, 286.31 CAD #btc || In the last 10 mins, there were arb opps spanning 18 exchange pair(s), yielding profits ranging between $0.00 and $1,150.70 #bitcoin #btc || Current price: 204.98€ $BTCEUR $btc #bitcoin 2015-05-20 12:00:07 CEST || LIVE: Profit = $841.50 (1.00 %). BUY B356.36 @ $235.09 (#Bitfinex). SELL @ $235.86 (#HitBTC) #bitcoin #btc - http://www.projectcoin.org || LIVE: Profit = $801.81 (0.86 %). BUY B395...
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235.34, 240.35, 238.87, 240.95, 237.11, 237.12, 237.28, 237.41, 237.10, 233.35
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 1490.09, 1537.67, 1555.45, 1578.80, 1596.71, 1723.35, 1755.36, 1787.13, 1848.57, 1724.24, 1804.91, 1808.91, 1738.43, 1734.45, 1839.09, 1888.65, 1987.71, 2084.73, 2041.20, 2173.40, 2320.42, 2443.64, 2304.98, 2202.42, 2038.87, 2155.80, 2255.61, 2175.47, 2286.41, 2407.88, 2488.55, 2515.35, 2511.81, 2686.81, 2863.20, 2732.16, 2805.62, 2823.81, 2947.71, 2958.11, 2659.63, 2717.02, 2506.37, 2464.58, 2518.56, 2655.88, 2548.29, 2589.60, 2721.79, 2689.10, 2705.41, 2744.91, 2608.72, 2589.41, 2478.45, 2552.45, 2574.79, 2539.32, 2480.84, 2434.55, 2506.47, 2564.06, 2601.64, 2601.99, 2608.56, 2518.66, 2571.34, 2518.44, 2372.56, 2337.79, 2398.84, 2357.90, 2233.34, 1998.86, 1929.82, 2228.41, 2318.88, 2273.43, 2817.60, 2667.76, 2810.12, 2730.40, 2754.86, 2576.48, 2529.45, 2671.78, 2809.01, 2726.45, 2757.18, 2875.34.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-07-31]
Volume: 860574976, RSI (14-day): 59.99, 50-day EMA: 2500.33, 200-day EMA: 1843.08
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1266.60, Gold RSI: 64.63
Oil Price: 50.17, Oil RSI: 68.73
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Is Surfing The Dark Web lllegal?: The dark web is a non-mainstream part of the internet. Basically, it shows those search results, which are not indexed by search engines such as Google and Bing. It requires special software to access. Once a user is inside the so-called dark web, he/she can surf websites and other web-based services can be accessed the same way a user access the web usually. The dark web is used for selling illegal drugs and firearms, payment for which is received in cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. An important thing to note is that the dark web, which is also known as the deep web is also used for manipulation and even hacking of cryptocurrency. Users can also purchase fished credit card information. That being said, unless you are using the dark web for illegal purposes, just accessing un-indexed search results is not illegal, but what you view or purchase will determine the legality. Read: Phishing Scam: Man Stole Bitcoins From Dark Web Forums There is also a lot of depraved content available, which might not be illegal but still extremely creepy . Also the dark web has also been used for surfing child porn, for which a person was arrested in the U.K. on Friday. Surfing the dark web in no way means that you are out of the reach of the law. Many U.S. agencies have agents surfing the dark web someone you meet in a dark web chat room might be a cop. In fact, an FBI agent recently revealed that a coordinated international police investigation took down dark net marketplaces such as Alpha Bay and Hansa. Andrei Barysevich, director of advanced collection at threat intel firm Recorded Future, said about the takedown, "The coordinated closure of two of the most popular underground marketplaces shows the level of sophistication and, most importantly, the willingness of international law enforcement agencies to combat cybercrime jointly." "The successful takedown of AlphaBay and Hansa marketplaces the largest police operation since SilkRoad has already significantly disturbed the underground economy, and I expect to see the level of cybercrime go down in the short term. Despite recent news, we don't expect criminals to abandon dark web marketplaces, as the business opportunity of exposure to hundreds of thousands of buyers is too lucrative, and as we have seen before, eventually new market leaders will arise, filling the void." Story continues If you do plan to use the dark, the most important thing would be to proceed with a lot of caution. In the dark web chances of being scammed out of your money are even higher than the regular internet. One thing you should do is to cover your webcam with tape, as you might be secretly recorded. Also, never download any software or plugin from the deep web as it could be used to hack into your system. Also dont access your private documents while surfing the dark web. The ethical status of dark web is also controversial. According to privacy activists such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, users of the dark web are just people concerned about their privacy. With revelations of government snooping by agencies such as the NSA, FBI and CIA, this is not surprising. Read: AlphaBay Offline: Dark Web Market May Have Disappeared In Bitcoin-Stealing Exit Scheme Journalists, to contact whistleblowers and activists including Edward Snowden, have used the dark web in the past. That being said, a cursory glance at any databases of dark web websites will reveal that it is being majorly used for illegal activities. Related Articles Russian Hackers Stole UK Ministers' Emails And Passwords, Sold On Dark Web Welcome To The School Of Hacking || Is Surfing The Dark Web lllegal?: The dark web is a non-mainstream part of the internet. Basically, it shows those search results, which are not indexed by search engines such as Google and Bing. It requires special software to access. Once a user is inside the so-called dark web, he/she can surf websites and other web-based services can be accessed the same way a user access the web usually. The dark web is used for selling illegal drugs and firearms, payment for which is received in cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. An important thing to note is that the dark web, which is also known as the deep web is also used for manipulation and even hacking of cryptocurrency. Users can also purchase fished credit card information. That being said, unless you are using the dark web for illegal purposes, just accessing un-indexed search results is not illegal, but what you view or purchase will determine the legality. Read: Phishing Scam: Man Stole Bitcoins From Dark Web Forums There is also a lot of depraved content available, which might not be illegal but still extremely creepy . Also the dark web has also been used for surfing child porn, for which a person was arrested in the U.K. on Friday. Surfing the dark web in no way means that you are out of the reach of the law. Many U.S. agencies have agents surfing the dark web someone you meet in a dark web chat room might be a cop. In fact, an FBI agent recently revealed that a coordinated international police investigation took down dark net marketplaces such as Alpha Bay and Hansa. Andrei Barysevich, director of advanced collection at threat intel firm Recorded Future, said about the takedown, "The coordinated closure of two of the most popular underground marketplaces shows the level of sophistication and, most importantly, the willingness of international law enforcement agencies to combat cybercrime jointly." "The successful takedown of AlphaBay and Hansa marketplaces the largest police operation since SilkRoad has already significantly disturbed the underground economy, and I expect to see the level of cybercrime go down in the short term. Despite recent news, we don't expect criminals to abandon dark web marketplaces, as the business opportunity of exposure to hundreds of thousands of buyers is too lucrative, and as we have seen before, eventually new market leaders will arise, filling the void." Story continues If you do plan to use the dark, the most important thing would be to proceed with a lot of caution. In the dark web chances of being scammed out of your money are even higher than the regular internet. One thing you should do is to cover your webcam with tape, as you might be secretly recorded. Also, never download any software or plugin from the deep web as it could be used to hack into your system. Also dont access your private documents while surfing the dark web. The ethical status of dark web is also controversial. According to privacy activists such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, users of the dark web are just people concerned about their privacy. With revelations of government snooping by agencies such as the NSA, FBI and CIA, this is not surprising. Read: AlphaBay Offline: Dark Web Market May Have Disappeared In Bitcoin-Stealing Exit Scheme Journalists, to contact whistleblowers and activists including Edward Snowden, have used the dark web in the past. That being said, a cursory glance at any databases of dark web websites will reveal that it is being majorly used for illegal activities. Related Articles Russian Hackers Stole UK Ministers' Emails And Passwords, Sold On Dark Web Welcome To The School Of Hacking || Tech Sector Weakness Drives S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite Lower For Week: U.S. stock equity futures closed mixed for a second day on Friday. The Dow was the sole winner of the day, posting intraday and closing highs. The NASDAQ Composite ended lower with tech giants Facebook, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet a drag on the index. The S&P 500 Index also eased, driven lower by the weak Consumer Staples sector, but supported by the Energy sector.
In the cash market, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 21830.31, up 33.76 or +0.15%. The technology-based NASDAQ Composite settled at 6374.38, down 7.81 or -0.12% and the benchmark S&P 500 Index ended the session at 2472.10, down 3.32 or -0.13%.
The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 were under pressure early in the session, led by a drop in Amazon.com. The on-line retail giant fell as much as 4.3 percent on the back of much weaker-than-expected quarterly results. Sales came in above expectations, but second-quarterly earnings were below expectations, $0.40 vs the $1.42 a share estimate.
The major indexes also posted mixed weekly results, with the S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ Composite Index finishing slightly lower while the Dow rose 1 percent during the time period.
In economic news, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, the second-quarter Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualized rate of 2.6 percent, matching pre-report estimates.
The Employment Cost Index came in at 0.5%, below the 0.6% estimate and 0.8% previous read. A separate report showed the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, increased at a rate of 0.9 percent.
Revised University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment was 93.4, slightly above the 93.2 estimate and 93.1 previous read. This indicates that Americans appear the most optimistic about the current economic situation in the U.S. than they have in 12 years.
In other news, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Friday that the Federal Reserve’s $4.5 trillion balance sheet is not doing a lot to boost the U.S. economy at this time and trimming it gradually is the right thing to do.
“I think the big, big balance sheet isn’t doing a lot to boost the economy right now, but I do think there are costs in terms of public confidence in the Federal Reserve,” Kashkari told a business group in Woodbury, Minnesota.
“I have been in favor of us slowly bringing that balance sheet back down to a more normal size even though I’m still concerned about inflation,” he said. “We can focus on inflation with our short-term interest rate.”
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• The EUR and USD in Focus, with GDP Figures in the Spotlight || Tech Sector Weakness Drives S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite Lower For Week: U.S. stock equity futures closed mixed for a second day on Friday. The Dow was the sole winner of the day, posting intraday and closing highs. The NASDAQ Composite ended lower with tech giants Facebook, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet a drag on the index. The S&P 500 Index also eased, driven lower by the weak Consumer Staples sector, but supported by the Energy sector. In the cash market, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 21830.31, up 33.76 or +0.15%. The technology-based NASDAQ Composite settled at 6374.38, down 7.81 or -0.12% and the benchmark S&P 500 Index ended the session at 2472.10, down 3.32 or -0.13%. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 were under pressure early in the session, led by a drop in Amazon.com. The on-line retail giant fell as much as 4.3 percent on the back of much weaker-than-expected quarterly results. Sales came in above expectations, but second-quarterly earnings were below expectations, $0.40 vs the $1.42 a share estimate. The major indexes also posted mixed weekly results, with the S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ Composite Index finishing slightly lower while the Dow rose 1 percent during the time period. Economic News In economic news, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, the second-quarter Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualized rate of 2.6 percent, matching pre-report estimates. The Employment Cost Index came in at 0.5%, below the 0.6% estimate and 0.8% previous read. A separate report showed the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Feds preferred inflation gauge, increased at a rate of 0.9 percent. Revised University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment was 93.4, slightly above the 93.2 estimate and 93.1 previous read. This indicates that Americans appear the most optimistic about the current economic situation in the U.S. than they have in 12 years. In other news, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Friday that the Federal Reserves $4.5 trillion balance sheet is not doing a lot to boost the U.S. economy at this time and trimming it gradually is the right thing to do. Story continues I think the big, big balance sheet isnt doing a lot to boost the economy right now, but I do think there are costs in terms of public confidence in the Federal Reserve, Kashkari told a business group in Woodbury, Minnesota. I have been in favor of us slowly bringing that balance sheet back down to a more normal size even though Im still concerned about inflation, he said. We can focus on inflation with our short-term interest rate. This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: Will Bitcoin Network Split to Two on August 1st? All the Things You Need to Know About it Tech Sector Weakness Drives S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite Lower For Week Market Snapshot Euro and Dollar in Focus Technology Stocks and Earnings Weigh on European Shares Morning Market Update USD/JPY The EUR and USD in Focus, with GDP Figures in the Spotlight || Alleged bitcoin fraud 'mastermind' sought by U.S. held in Greek prison: By Angeliki Koutantou ATHENS (Reuters) - A Russian national suspected of masterminding a money-laundering operation using bitcoin was transferred to prison in Greece on Friday, while the United States prepares documentation to back an extradition request for him. Russian national Alexander Vinnik, 38, is suspected of operating a digital currency exchange which was the alleged conduit for more than $4 billion in proceeds from illicit transactions. He was arrested in northern Greece on July 25 on the basis of a U.S. warrant for his arrest and extradition. "He has gone to a prosecutor, a jail order was issued, and he was escorted to prison today," a senior police official told Reuters. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that according to regulations the United States has a two-month window in which to submit the relevant documentation to appeals prosecutors regarding Vinnik's extradition. Vinnik was arrested at a hotel in the Chalkidiki region. Police seized five mobile telephones, two laptops, two tablets and a router during the arrest. Local media have reported that Vinnik denies allegations against him. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer. Officials have described Vinnik in a U.S. Justice Department statement as the operator of BTC-e, an exchange used to trade the digital bitcoin currency in operation since 2011. Vinnik, justice officials alleged, committed crimes which went beyond the lack of regulation of the bitcoin exchange he operated. They have alleged Vinnik and his firm received more than $4 billion in bitcoin, and that BTC-e 'obtained' funds from Mt Gox, a Japan-based bitcoin exchange which collapsed in 2014 after being hacked. A 'sizeable portion' of the stolen Mt Gox funds were deposited in accounts controlled, owned and operated by BTC-e and Vinnik, the indictment said. Mt Gox was one of the most prominent examples of how the lightly regulated digital currency could burn investors, after an estimated $450 million worth of bitcoin and $27 million in hard cash vanished when it collapsed. (Reporting By Angeliki Koutantou; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Hugh Lawson) View comments || Alleged bitcoin fraud 'mastermind' sought by U.S. held in Greek prison: By Angeliki Koutantou ATHENS (Reuters) - A Russian national suspected of masterminding a money-laundering operation using bitcoin was transferred to prison in Greece on Friday, while the United States prepares documentation to back an extradition request for him. Russian national Alexander Vinnik, 38, is suspected of operating a digital currency exchange which was the alleged conduit for more than $4 billion in proceeds from illicit transactions. He was arrested in northern Greece on July 25 on the basis of a U.S. warrant for his arrest and extradition. "He has gone to a prosecutor, a jail order was issued, and he was escorted to prison today," a senior police official told Reuters. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that according to regulations the United States has a two-month window in which to submit the relevant documentation to appeals prosecutors regarding Vinnik's extradition. Vinnik was arrested at a hotel in the Chalkidiki region. Police seized five mobile telephones, two laptops, two tablets and a router during the arrest. Local media have reported that Vinnik denies allegations against him. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer. Officials have described Vinnik in a U.S. Justice Department statement as the operator of BTC-e, an exchange used to trade the digital bitcoin currency in operation since 2011. Vinnik, justice officials alleged, committed crimes which went beyond the lack of regulation of the bitcoin exchange he operated. They have alleged Vinnik and his firm received more than $4 billion in bitcoin, and that BTC-e 'obtained' funds from Mt Gox, a Japan-based bitcoin exchange which collapsed in 2014 after being hacked. A 'sizeable portion' of the stolen Mt Gox funds were deposited in accounts controlled, owned and operated by BTC-e and Vinnik, the indictment said. Mt Gox was one of the most prominent examples of how the lightly regulated digital currency could burn investors, after an estimated $450 million worth of bitcoin and $27 million in hard cash vanished when it collapsed. (Reporting By Angeliki Koutantou; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Hugh Lawson) View comments || How a one-of-a-kind business has kept 5,000 kitchens out of landfills: Ordinarily, you’d probably have no interest in my kitchen renovation project. It’s a common story: The kitchen is nearly 20 years old and starting to fall apart, we’re readying the house for an eventual sale, blah blah blah.
What makes it fascinating was how we got rid of it.
Most people throw their old kitchens into dumpsters, which takes all of it to the landfill: cabinets, countertops, appliances. Sometimes your contractor may take pieces off your hands; sometimes you can get Habitat for Humanity to take pieces of it. But mostly, it’s landfill.
But we stumbled onto a much better approach, in the form of a company calledRenovation Angel. There’s only one company like it in the country, and its business model is astonishingly airtight:
• They send a crew to dismantle, wrap, and haul away your old kitchen, piece by piece, for free. You’re saved the cost of the demolition ($5,000 or so), dumpster rental, and disposal fees. Then they then give you a huge tax deduction.Winner:You.
• They set up your kitchen’s components in a 43,000-foot showroom in New Jersey, where they then resell your entire kitchen! Other people who are renovating their kitchens get luxury stuff for a fraction of its usual price—maybe 10% or 20% of its original cost.Winner:The next owner of your kitchen.
• Over 12 years, this operation has saved 5,000 kitchens from the landfill.Winner:The planet.
• The company employs 35 people.Winner:Renovation Angel’s employees.
• The best part: After expenses, Renovation co-founder Steve Feldman donates the rest of the company’s income to charity—$2.2 million so far.Winners:At-risk children, recovering addicts, job trainees.
This is, in other words, a win-win-win-win-win scenario.
I love that that this idea has something for both hard-nosed conservatives (“I’ll take that $25,000 tax deduction, thank you”) and bleeding-heart liberals (“Save the environmentandhelp the less fortunate? Sign me up!”) But I’ll just say it: All of this sounded too good to be true.
So I emailed the company. They sent a guy out to look over the kitchen, measure, take photos, and assess its resale value. The economics of this company work out, Feldman says, only if he resellsupscalekitchens; at the moment, Renovation Angel accepts only about half of the candidate kitchens.
Our kitchen made the cut. So on the appointed day, a crew of four men—insured, background-checked—spent about four nonstop hours taking the old kitchen apart. (Incredibly, this was theirsecondkitchen of the day.)
The term for this process isdemolition, but no destruction was involved. Instead, they carefully unscrewed every piece, wrapped it for protection, and loaded it into a moving truck parked outside. It was amazing to watch, especially in time-lapse (see my video above)
To get the tax deduction, I had to hire an appraiser; but that was my only expense. (I guess that means that somebodyelsewins from all of this.)
A week later, I visited the Renovation Angel showroom to interview Feldman—and there, among all the other kitchens stacked up for sale, were all the pieces of my own beloved kitchen, ready to move on to a new home. I even saw a New Jersey couple checking it out.
That’s the part I didn’t get. How can someone buy a kitchen from a totally different house? What are the odds that it will fittheirkitchen space?
“Everybody has this question,” Feldman says. “The answer is, kitchens are modular. So if you had a 20 by 15-foot space, somebody else might have a 12 by 20 space. They use a few less cabinets. They rearrange them differently. They get different granite. But at the end of the day, they’re saving themselves tens of thousands of dollars.”
Confusingly, at least to me, Renovation Angel is the name of the demolition side of the company; the part that resells the kitchens is called Green Demolition. It’s the Green Demolition site thatlists kitchens for resale.
Feldman, the creator of both halves, has quite a life story. He was an alcohol and drug addict from his teen years right through his career as a radio executive, working for “Imus in the Morning.” He credits a drug-rehab program for saving his life when he was 30. “I’m a recovered addict for 29 years,” he says now.
About 12 years ago, he saw a 10,000-square-foot house in Greenwich, Connecticut, being demolished—and watched all the fine marble, custom cabinetry, and expensive appliances get tossed into a dumpster.
“And I see a sign in the driveway, and it says, ‘Demolition in progress.’ And I think, what’s this? So I drive up to the mansion, and it’s gone. Just a pile of rubble. And I have this ‘Aha!’ moment: Maybe I can earn money by selling kitchens and beautiful fixtures out of mansions.”
When the local Greenwich newspaper wrote an article about this idea, Feldman got 36 phone calls from hedge fund managers, architects, builders, and designers—and the company was on its way.
Today, the company recycles about 500 kitchens a year, and has started to reclaim furniture and fixtures from other rooms of the house. Renovation Angel crews can rescue kitchens from anywhere in the country; eventually, Feldman hopes to open showrooms in California and Florida.
His backstory, by the way, accounts for Feldman’s decision to turn over the company’s profits to charity. “I got my life given back to me [by one of these social programs], and I’m motivated for the rest of my life to give back.”
It’s fun to walk through the enormous Renovation Angel showroom, because Feldman is bursting with the stories behind these kitchens.
“We went into one of the biggest mansions in North Las Vegas,” he says. “The kitchen had only been used 25 times. It was a $400,000 kitchen, but it was forest green. It wasn’t the color that most people want. The kitchen designer told me that kitchen would have been thrown out if we hadn’t reclaimed it.” In the end, Feldman says, “a woman in Johnson City, Tennessee bought it for $62,000, because her house had recently burned down.”
At one point, he says, he acquired a kitchen worth $630,000, although it included 15 rooms’ worth of millwork (doors and trim). “A guy ordered it in LA, his Ponzi scheme got bankrupted, and it all sat in a warehouse. I found a dentist to buy the whole lot for $125,000. It was a good deal for everybody.”
Feldman says he also gets kitchens from manufacturers and designers where parts were mis-ordered. “One designer ordered the wrong color on a kitchen—a $127,000 kitchen. The homeowner said, ‘This is the wrong color—order me the right color!’ So she brought this kitchen here, and we sold it.”
“All right, let me play the role of a viewer,” I finally asked Feldman. “It’s like, oh, OK, so people like Pogue get a huge tax write-off and free removal of the old kitchen. The landfill wins. Charities win. Future buyers win. It sounds a little too good to be true.Somebodyhere is losing.”
“Well, the risk is on our organization,” Feldman replied. “It’s a ton of labor. We do a lot of overtime. And it’s a lot of complicated logistics to coordinate, from the removal to the transportation to the unpacking to the selling to the delivering. That’s why the kitchen industry never had a recycle or trade-in component: because it’s difficult, and it’s space-consuming, time-consuming risk. They want to focus on selling new. So the opportunity is left for us.”
I just couldn’t see who doesn’t come out ahead in Renovation Angel’s system. Feldman insists that the answer is, nobody. “Nobody loses,” he says. “Nobody! You know why? Because it would otherwise go to a landfill. The loser is when you put your kitchen in the dumpster.”
More from David Pogue:
Is through-the-air charging a hoax?
Electrify your existing bike in 2 minutes with these ingenious wheels
Marty Cooper, inventor of the cellphone: The next step is implantables
The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update
Now I get it: Bitcoin
David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app
The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers
David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’sdavidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s@pogue. On email, he’s [email protected]. You canread all his articles here, or you can sign up toget his columns by email. || How a one-of-a-kind business has kept 5,000 kitchens out of landfills: Ordinarily, you’d probably have no interest in my kitchen renovation project. It’s a common story: The kitchen is nearly 20 years old and starting to fall apart, we’re readying the house for an eventual sale, blah blah blah. What makes it fascinating was how we got rid of it. Most people throw their old kitchens into dumpsters, which takes all of it to the landfill: cabinets, countertops, appliances. Sometimes your contractor may take pieces off your hands; sometimes you can get Habitat for Humanity to take pieces of it. But mostly, it’s landfill. But we stumbled onto a much better approach, in the form of a company called Renovation Angel . There’s only one company like it in the country, and its business model is astonishingly airtight: They send a crew to dismantle, wrap, and haul away your old kitchen, piece by piece, for free. You’re saved the cost of the demolition ($5,000 or so), dumpster rental, and disposal fees. Then they then give you a huge tax deduction. Winner: You. They set up your kitchen’s components in a 43,000-foot showroom in New Jersey, where they then resell your entire kitchen! Other people who are renovating their kitchens get luxury stuff for a fraction of its usual price—maybe 10% or 20% of its original cost. Winner: The next owner of your kitchen. The showroom holds about 50 kitchens at a time. Over 12 years, this operation has saved 5,000 kitchens from the landfill. Winner: The planet. The company employs 35 people. Winner: Renovation Angel’s employees. The best part: After expenses, Renovation co-founder Steve Feldman donates the rest of the company’s income to charity—$2.2 million so far. Winners: At-risk children, recovering addicts, job trainees. This is, in other words, a win-win-win-win-win scenario. But does it work? I love that that this idea has something for both hard-nosed conservatives (“I’ll take that $25,000 tax deduction, thank you”) and bleeding-heart liberals (“Save the environment and help the less fortunate? Sign me up!”) But I’ll just say it: All of this sounded too good to be true. Story continues So I emailed the company. They sent a guy out to look over the kitchen, measure, take photos, and assess its resale value. The economics of this company work out, Feldman says, only if he resells upscale kitchens; at the moment, Renovation Angel accepts only about half of the candidate kitchens. Our kitchen made the cut. So on the appointed day, a crew of four men—insured, background-checked—spent about four nonstop hours taking the old kitchen apart. (Incredibly, this was their second kitchen of the day.) The Renovation Angel crew doesn’t demolish the old kitchen; they recycle it. The term for this process is demolition , but no destruction was involved. Instead, they carefully unscrewed every piece, wrapped it for protection, and loaded it into a moving truck parked outside. It was amazing to watch, especially in time-lapse (see my video above) Off it goes to New Jersey! To get the tax deduction, I had to hire an appraiser; but that was my only expense. (I guess that means that somebody else wins from all of this.) A week later, I visited the Renovation Angel showroom to interview Feldman—and there, among all the other kitchens stacked up for sale, were all the pieces of my own beloved kitchen, ready to move on to a new home. I even saw a New Jersey couple checking it out. That’s the part I didn’t get. How can someone buy a kitchen from a totally different house? What are the odds that it will fit their kitchen space? “Everybody has this question,” Feldman says. “The answer is, kitchens are modular. So if you had a 20 by 15-foot space, somebody else might have a 12 by 20 space. They use a few less cabinets. They rearrange them differently. They get different granite. But at the end of the day, they’re saving themselves tens of thousands of dollars.” Founder Steve Feldman shows off a kitchen ready for a new life. Steve’s story Confusingly, at least to me, Renovation Angel is the name of the demolition side of the company; the part that resells the kitchens is called Green Demolition. It’s the Green Demolition site that lists kitchens for resale . Feldman, the creator of both halves, has quite a life story. He was an alcohol and drug addict from his teen years right through his career as a radio executive, working for “Imus in the Morning.” He credits a drug-rehab program for saving his life when he was 30. “I’m a recovered addict for 29 years,” he says now. About 12 years ago, he saw a 10,000-square-foot house in Greenwich, Connecticut, being demolished—and watched all the fine marble, custom cabinetry, and expensive appliances get tossed into a dumpster. “And I see a sign in the driveway, and it says, ‘Demolition in progress.’ And I think, what’s this? So I drive up to the mansion, and it’s gone. Just a pile of rubble. And I have this ‘Aha!’ moment: Maybe I can earn money by selling kitchens and beautiful fixtures out of mansions.” When the local Greenwich newspaper wrote an article about this idea, Feldman got 36 phone calls from hedge fund managers, architects, builders, and designers—and the company was on its way. Today, the company recycles about 500 kitchens a year, and has started to reclaim furniture and fixtures from other rooms of the house. Renovation Angel crews can rescue kitchens from anywhere in the country; eventually, Feldman hopes to open showrooms in California and Florida. His backstory, by the way, accounts for Feldman’s decision to turn over the company’s profits to charity. “I got my life given back to me [by one of these social programs], and I’m motivated for the rest of my life to give back.” Storied kitchens It’s fun to walk through the enormous Renovation Angel showroom, because Feldman is bursting with the stories behind these kitchens. “We went into one of the biggest mansions in North Las Vegas,” he says. “The kitchen had only been used 25 times. It was a $400,000 kitchen, but it was forest green. It wasn’t the color that most people want. The kitchen designer told me that kitchen would have been thrown out if we hadn’t reclaimed it.” In the end, Feldman says, “a woman in Johnson City, Tennessee bought it for $62,000, because her house had recently burned down.” When Feldman says it’s a kitchen store, he means it. At one point, he says, he acquired a kitchen worth $630,000, although it included 15 rooms’ worth of millwork (doors and trim). “A guy ordered it in LA, his Ponzi scheme got bankrupted, and it all sat in a warehouse. I found a dentist to buy the whole lot for $125,000. It was a good deal for everybody.” Feldman says he also gets kitchens from manufacturers and designers where parts were mis-ordered. “One designer ordered the wrong color on a kitchen—a $127,000 kitchen. The homeowner said, ‘This is the wrong color—order me the right color!’ So she brought this kitchen here, and we sold it.” One of a kind “All right, let me play the role of a viewer,” I finally asked Feldman. “It’s like, oh, OK, so people like Pogue get a huge tax write-off and free removal of the old kitchen. The landfill wins. Charities win. Future buyers win. It sounds a little too good to be true. Somebody here is losing.” “Well, the risk is on our organization,” Feldman replied. “It’s a ton of labor. We do a lot of overtime. And it’s a lot of complicated logistics to coordinate, from the removal to the transportation to the unpacking to the selling to the delivering. That’s why the kitchen industry never had a recycle or trade-in component: because it’s difficult, and it’s space-consuming, time-consuming risk. They want to focus on selling new. So the opportunity is left for us.” I just couldn’t see who doesn’t come out ahead in Renovation Angel’s system. Feldman insists that the answer is, nobody. “Nobody loses,” he says. “Nobody! You know why? Because it would otherwise go to a landfill. The loser is when you put your kitchen in the dumpster.” More from David Pogue: Is through-the-air charging a hoax? Electrify your existing bike in 2 minutes with these ingenious wheels Marty Cooper, inventor of the cellphone: The next step is implantables The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update Now I get it: Bitcoin David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’s davidpogue.com . On Twitter, he’s @pogue . On email, he’s [email protected]. You can read all his articles here , or you can sign up to get his columns by email . || Cryptocurrency ICOs Are Making Bitcoin Startups Richer than VCs Ever Did: When initial coin offerings emerged as a new way for startups to raise money a few months ago, there was much speculation—andsome doubt—about whether the cryptocurrency crowdfunding methodcould disrupt or even replace the traditional venture capital industry.
Now, the early numbers are in, and there is no question thatICOs, an unregulated form of fundraising by which companies can sell their own form of digital currency or tokens to investors, are winning this race, at least in the blockchain industry.
ICOs have now raised nearly four times as much money as bitcoin companies raised in venture capital dollars so far this year. That’s according to PitchBook, which tallied up the latest numbers: ICOs have raised almost $1.3 billion in 2017 so far, while only about $358 million in traditional VC money went to blockchain startups over the same period.
And that’s at a time when venture capital is booming among blockchain companies. Last quarter was the best quarter for blockchain and bitcoin VC funding on record, more than doubling the amount raised in the first quarter and up 89% year over year, according to CBInsights.
But ICOs are growing much faster, having already raised almost six times as much this year as they raised in all of 2016.
Now, a fundraising method that you likely had never heard of until a few months ago is on track this year to exceed all prior VC investment in blockchain, which has totaled a cumulative $1.7 billion over the past eight years, PitchBook says.
To underscore just what a whirlwind trend this has become, even entrepreneurs doing their own ICOs are astonished by the craze.
At a panel discussion hosted by BlockchainDriven Thursday night, Morgan Hill, an investor at Attis Capital, announced that he was launching a new cryptocurrency hedge fund called AxionV in August. But unlike thecrypto hedge fund startup MetaStable, which recently received funding from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, AxionV has a different plan. It will do an ICO itself, targeting a $30 million fund, which it will then use to invest in other ICOs, Hill said.
He also told a story of another hedge fund manager in London who was planning to launch an ICO of a company that aims to put the entire Quran online, and use the new cryptocurrency to compensate people who contribute to the digitization of the religious text. Hill’s take: “The first thing I thought was, this is categorically insane.”
He later came around, he said, acknowledging “religion is a very important piece of information” and that the project “actually does provide a huge value.” || Cryptocurrency ICOs Are Making Bitcoin Startups Richer than VCs Ever Did: When initial coin offerings emerged as a new way for startups to raise money a few months ago, there was much speculation—and some doubt —about whether the cryptocurrency crowdfunding method could disrupt or even replace the traditional venture capital industry . Now, the early numbers are in, and there is no question that ICOs , an unregulated form of fundraising by which companies can sell their own form of digital currency or tokens to investors, are winning this race, at least in the blockchain industry. ICOs have now raised nearly four times as much money as bitcoin companies raised in venture capital dollars so far this year. That’s according to PitchBook, which tallied up the latest numbers: ICOs have raised almost $1.3 billion in 2017 so far, while only about $358 million in traditional VC money went to blockchain startups over the same period. And that’s at a time when venture capital is booming among blockchain companies. Last quarter was the best quarter for blockchain and bitcoin VC funding on record, more than doubling the amount raised in the first quarter and up 89% year over year, according to CBInsights. But ICOs are growing much faster, having already raised almost six times as much this year as they raised in all of 2016. Now, a fundraising method that you likely had never heard of until a few months ago is on track this year to exceed all prior VC investment in blockchain, which has totaled a cumulative $1.7 billion over the past eight years, PitchBook says. To underscore just what a whirlwind trend this has become, even entrepreneurs doing their own ICOs are astonished by the craze. At a panel discussion hosted by BlockchainDriven Thursday night, Morgan Hill, an investor at Attis Capital, announced that he was launching a new cryptocurrency hedge fund called AxionV in August. But unlike the crypto hedge fund startup MetaStable , which recently received funding from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, AxionV has a different plan. It will do an ICO itself, targeting a $30 million fund, which it will then use to invest in other ICOs, Hill said. He also told a story of another hedge fund manager in London who was planning to launch an ICO of a company that aims to put the entire Quran online, and use the new cryptocurrency to compensate people who contribute to the digitization of the religious text. Hill’s take: “The first thing I thought was, this is categorically insane.” He later came around, he said, acknowledging “religion is a very important piece of information” and that the project “actually does provide a huge value.” || Cryptocurrency ICOs Are Making Bitcoin Startups Richer than VCs Ever Did: When initial coin offerings emerged as a new way for startups to raise money a few months ago, there was much speculation—andsome doubt—about whether the cryptocurrency crowdfunding methodcould disrupt or even replace the traditional venture capital industry.
Now, the early numbers are in, and there is no question thatICOs, an unregulated form of fundraising by which companies can sell their own form of digital currency or tokens to investors, are winning this race, at least in the blockchain industry.
ICOs have now raised nearly four times as much money as bitcoin companies raised in venture capital dollars so far this year. That’s according to PitchBook, which tallied up the latest numbers: ICOs have raised almost $1.3 billion in 2017 so far, while only about $358 million in traditional VC money went to blockchain startups over the same period.
And that’s at a time when venture capital is booming among blockchain companies. Last quarter was the best quarter for blockchain and bitcoin VC funding on record, more than doubling the amount raised in the first quarter and up 89% year over year, according to CBInsights.
But ICOs are growing much faster, having already raised almost six times as much this year as they raised in all of 2016.
Now, a fundraising method that you likely had never heard of until a few months ago is on track this year to exceed all prior VC investment in blockchain, which has totaled a cumulative $1.7 billion over the past eight years, PitchBook says.
To underscore just what a whirlwind trend this has become, even entrepreneurs doing their own ICOs are astonished by the craze.
At a panel discussion hosted by BlockchainDriven Thursday night, Morgan Hill, an investor at Attis Capital, announced that he was launching a new cryptocurrency hedge fund called AxionV in August. But unlike thecrypto hedge fund startup MetaStable, which recently received funding from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, AxionV has a different plan. It will do an ICO itself, targeting a $30 million fund, which it will then use to invest in other ICOs, Hill said.
He also told a story of another hedge fund manager in London who was planning to launch an ICO of a company that aims to put the entire Quran online, and use the new cryptocurrency to compensate people who contribute to the digitization of the religious text. Hill’s take: “The first thing I thought was, this is categorically insane.”
He later came around, he said, acknowledging “religion is a very important piece of information” and that the project “actually does provide a huge value.” || North Korea hacking increasingly focused on making money more than espionage: South Korea study: By Christine Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is behind an increasingly orchestrated effort at hacking into computers of financial institutions in South Korea and around the world to steal cash for the impoverished country, a South Korean state-backed agency said in a report. In the past, suspected hacking attempts by North Korea appeared intended to cause social disruption or steal classified military or government data, but the focus seems to have shifted in recent years to raising foreign currency, the South's Financial Security Institute (FSI) said. The isolated regime is suspected to be behind a hacking group called Lazarus, which global cybersecurity firms have linked to last year's $81 million cyber heist at the Bangladesh central bank and the 2014 attack on Sony's Hollywood studio. The U.S. government has blamed North Korea for the Sony hack and some U.S. officials have said prosecutors are building a case against Pyongyang in the Bangladesh Bank theft. In April, Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab also identified a hacking group called Bluenoroff, a spin off of Lazarus, as focused on attacking mostly foreign financial institutions. The new report, which analysed suspected cyber attacks between 2015 and 2017 on South Korean government and commercial institutions, identified another Lazarus spinoff named Andariel. "Bluenoroff and Andariel share their common root, but they have different targets and motives," the report said. "Andariel focuses on attacking South Korean businesses and government agencies using methods tailored for the country." Pyongyang has been stepping up its online hacking capabilities as one way of earning hard currency under the chokehold of international sanctions imposed to stop the development of its nuclear weapons programme. Cyber security researchers have also said they have found technical evidence that could link North Korea with the global WannaCry "ransomware" cyber attack that infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries in May. Story continues "We've seen an increasing trend of North Korea using its cyber espionage capabilities for financial gain. With the pressure from sanctions and the price growth in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum - these exchanges likely present an attractive target," said Luke McNamara, senior analyst at FireEye, a cybersecurity company. North Korea has routinely denied involvement in cyber attacks against other countries. The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment. ATM, ONLINE POKER The report said the North Korean hacking group Andariel has been spotted attempting to steal bank card information by hacking into automated teller machines, and then using it to withdraw cash or sell the bank information on the black market. It also created malware to hack into online poker and other gambling sites and steal cash. "South Korea prefers to use local ATM vendors and these attackers managed to analyse and compromise SK ATMs from at least two vendors earlier this year," said Vitaly Kamluk, director of the APAC research centre at Kaspersky. "We believe this subgroup (Andariel) has been active since at least May 2016." The latest report lined up eight different hacking instances spotted within the South in the last few years, which North Korea was suspected to be behind, by tracking down the same code patterns within the malware used for the attacks. One case spotted last September was an attack on the personal computer of South Korea's defence minister as well as the ministry's intranet to extract military operations intelligence. North Korean hackers used IP addresses in Shenyang, China to access the defence ministry's server, the report said. Established in 2015, the FSI was launched by the South Korean government in order to boost information management and protection in the country's financial sector following attacks on major South Korean banks in previous years. The report said some of the content has not been proven fully and is not an official view of the government. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in SINGAPORE; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Michael Perry) || North Korea hacking increasingly focused on making money more than espionage: South Korea study: By Christine Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is behind an increasingly orchestrated effort at hacking into computers of financial institutions in South Korea and around the world to steal cash for the impoverished country, a South Korean state-backed agency said in a report. In the past, suspected hacking attempts by North Korea appeared intended to cause social disruption or steal classified military or government data, but the focus seems to have shifted in recent years to raising foreign currency, the South's Financial Security Institute (FSI) said. The isolated regime is suspected to be behind a hacking group called Lazarus, which global cybersecurity firms have linked to last year's $81 million cyber heist at the Bangladesh central bank and the 2014 attack on Sony's Hollywood studio. The U.S. government has blamed North Korea for the Sony hack and some U.S. officials have said prosecutors are building a case against Pyongyang in the Bangladesh Bank theft. In April, Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab also identified a hacking group called Bluenoroff, a spin off of Lazarus, as focused on attacking mostly foreign financial institutions. The new report, which analysed suspected cyber attacks between 2015 and 2017 on South Korean government and commercial institutions, identified another Lazarus spinoff named Andariel. "Bluenoroff and Andariel share their common root, but they have different targets and motives," the report said. "Andariel focuses on attacking South Korean businesses and government agencies using methods tailored for the country." Pyongyang has been stepping up its online hacking capabilities as one way of earning hard currency under the chokehold of international sanctions imposed to stop the development of its nuclear weapons programme. Cyber security researchers have also said they have found technical evidence that could link North Korea with the global WannaCry "ransomware" cyber attack that infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries in May. Story continues "We've seen an increasing trend of North Korea using its cyber espionage capabilities for financial gain. With the pressure from sanctions and the price growth in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum - these exchanges likely present an attractive target," said Luke McNamara, senior analyst at FireEye, a cybersecurity company. North Korea has routinely denied involvement in cyber attacks against other countries. The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment. ATM, ONLINE POKER The report said the North Korean hacking group Andariel has been spotted attempting to steal bank card information by hacking into automated teller machines, and then using it to withdraw cash or sell the bank information on the black market. It also created malware to hack into online poker and other gambling sites and steal cash. "South Korea prefers to use local ATM vendors and these attackers managed to analyse and compromise SK ATMs from at least two vendors earlier this year," said Vitaly Kamluk, director of the APAC research centre at Kaspersky. "We believe this subgroup (Andariel) has been active since at least May 2016." The latest report lined up eight different hacking instances spotted within the South in the last few years, which North Korea was suspected to be behind, by tracking down the same code patterns within the malware used for the attacks. One case spotted last September was an attack on the personal computer of South Korea's defence minister as well as the ministry's intranet to extract military operations intelligence. North Korean hackers used IP addresses in Shenyang, China to access the defence ministry's server, the report said. Established in 2015, the FSI was launched by the South Korean government in order to boost information management and protection in the country's financial sector following attacks on major South Korean banks in previous years. The report said some of the content has not been proven fully and is not an official view of the government. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in SINGAPORE; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Michael Perry) || Digital currency start-ups shrug off SEC warning on fund raising: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Anna Irrera
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Technology companies looking to raise money by issuing digital coins are moving forward with their plans despite a U.S. regulator's decision that their offerings may be subject to tough securities laws.
Such initial coin offerings, or ICOs, have allowed startups to raise $1 billion so far this year, but until this week it was unclear how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would treat the transactions.
On Tuesday, the SEC decided that tokens issued through the ICOs can be considered securities, meaning they would fall under laws that require disclosures and are subject to regulatory scrutiny to protect investors, unless a "valid exemption" applies.
Some industry participants and analysts had thought such a decision would have a chilling effect on the ICO market. But 20 new ICOs were announced since the SEC's decision, with more than 120 scheduled to launch this year, according to ICO tracker tokendata.io.
Representatives of Rivetz and ICOBox, which plan to launch tokens over the next few weeks, told Reuters they are pushing through with their offerings.
During an ICO, contributors typically send digital currencies like Bitcoin and receive new tokens in return. Those tokens are then listed on cryptocurrency exchanges where they can be traded for other types of tokens. (http://reut.rs/2sFKLAm)
Even as some ICOs have been criticized for failing to disclose information about underlying businesses and the way tokens are distributed, the frenzy surrounding the events has drawn backing from prominent venture capitalists and celebrities.
Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather took to Facebook on Thursday to say he was participating in the ICO of a company called STX technologies Ltd next week.
POTENTIAL EXEMPTIONS
But even with the SEC's warning, it is not clear how much regulatory scrutiny the upcoming offerings will attract. Unlike a regular securities offering, ICOs have had limited disclosures and most participants do not get any equity rights.
The most likely exemption to the SEC rule refers to tokens that would have utility for a specific project. Many tech companies that pursue ICOs say their tokens are just that: "utility tokens," which are necessary to activate their products or accelerate their development.
Both Rivetz Chief Executive Officer Steven Sprague and ICOBox founder Nick Evdokimov told Reuters their ICOs have a utility.
Charley Cooper, managing director of R3, a consortium of banks looking at using the technology behind digital currencies, said companies looking at ICOs needed to be certain the exemption applied to them.
"Anyone is who is contemplating doing an ICO now had better call their general counsel and fully understand securities laws in the U.S. and how they apply in their case," he said.
"This wasn't some vague policy that they floated. This is the division of enforcement of the SEC saying that if you operate in this market you need to follow the regulations."
The SEC ruling also raises questions for digital currency exchanges such as Bittrex that facilitate trading after an ICO.
Crypto-exchanges may be required to register with the SEC if they trade tokens considered securities and are based in the United States or have U.S. customers, said Llew Claasen, managing director, at venture capital firm Newtown Partners.
Bill Shihara, chief executive officer of U.S.-based Bittrex, said he sees no need to register his exchange with the SEC because it does not plan to trade securities on its platform, only utility tokens.
"If the facts and circumstances of a token change and lead us to conclude it is a security, we will delist it from the exchange."
(Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Cynthia Osterman) || Digital currency start-ups shrug off SEC warning on fund raising: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Anna Irrera NEW YORK (Reuters) - Technology companies looking to raise money by issuing digital coins are moving forward with their plans despite a U.S. regulator's decision that their offerings may be subject to tough securities laws. Such initial coin offerings, or ICOs, have allowed startups to raise $1 billion so far this year, but until this week it was unclear how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would treat the transactions. On Tuesday, the SEC decided that tokens issued through the ICOs can be considered securities, meaning they would fall under laws that require disclosures and are subject to regulatory scrutiny to protect investors, unless a "valid exemption" applies. Some industry participants and analysts had thought such a decision would have a chilling effect on the ICO market. But 20 new ICOs were announced since the SEC's decision, with more than 120 scheduled to launch this year, according to ICO tracker tokendata.io. Representatives of Rivetz and ICOBox, which plan to launch tokens over the next few weeks, told Reuters they are pushing through with their offerings. During an ICO, contributors typically send digital currencies like Bitcoin and receive new tokens in return. Those tokens are then listed on cryptocurrency exchanges where they can be traded for other types of tokens. ( http://reut.rs/2sFKLAm ) Even as some ICOs have been criticized for failing to disclose information about underlying businesses and the way tokens are distributed, the frenzy surrounding the events has drawn backing from prominent venture capitalists and celebrities. Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather took to Facebook on Thursday to say he was participating in the ICO of a company called STX technologies Ltd next week. POTENTIAL EXEMPTIONS But even with the SEC's warning, it is not clear how much regulatory scrutiny the upcoming offerings will attract. Unlike a regular securities offering, ICOs have had limited disclosures and most participants do not get any equity rights. Story continues The most likely exemption to the SEC rule refers to tokens that would have utility for a specific project. Many tech companies that pursue ICOs say their tokens are just that: "utility tokens," which are necessary to activate their products or accelerate their development. Both Rivetz Chief Executive Officer Steven Sprague and ICOBox founder Nick Evdokimov told Reuters their ICOs have a utility. Charley Cooper, managing director of R3, a consortium of banks looking at using the technology behind digital currencies, said companies looking at ICOs needed to be certain the exemption applied to them. "Anyone is who is contemplating doing an ICO now had better call their general counsel and fully understand securities laws in the U.S. and how they apply in their case," he said. "This wasn't some vague policy that they floated. This is the division of enforcement of the SEC saying that if you operate in this market you need to follow the regulations." The SEC ruling also raises questions for digital currency exchanges such as Bittrex that facilitate trading after an ICO. Crypto-exchanges may be required to register with the SEC if they trade tokens considered securities and are based in the United States or have U.S. customers, said Llew Claasen, managing director, at venture capital firm Newtown Partners. Bill Shihara, chief executive officer of U.S.-based Bittrex, said he sees no need to register his exchange with the SEC because it does not plan to trade securities on its platform, only utility tokens. "If the facts and circumstances of a token change and lead us to conclude it is a security, we will delist it from the exchange." (Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Cynthia Osterman) || Floyd Mayweather says he's gonna make a 's--- ton of money' from an initial coin offering: (Floyd MayweatherChris Carlson/AP)
Boxing champ Floyd Mayweather has caught the cryptocurrency bug.
On Thursday, the undefeated world champion took to Instagram to promote an initial coin offering byStox,a blockchain prediction company. The ICO will take place on August 2.
According to Mayweather's Instagram post, the boxer thinks he's going to make a "s--- ton of money" from the capital raise. Here's a tweet of the post:
Initial coin offering participants invest money and receive digital "tokens" in return. Thus far, ICOs have been largely unregulated, with some crowdfunding events raising hundreds of millions of dollars. In total, ICOs have raised $1.37 billion, according to Lex Sokolin, a partner at Autonomous NEXT, a fintech analytics firm.
On Tuesday,the SEC saidthat initial coin offerings (ICOs), in some cases, can be considered securities; and as such will be required to subscribe to the necessary regulations.
Mayweather might need that extra money from the ICO.
According to an ESPN report, much of Mayweather's wealth is tied up in assets and not liquid. This prevented him from being able to pay back atax liability of $22.2 millionto the IRS.
"Although the taxpayer has substantial assets, those assets are restricted and primarily illiquid,"Darren Rovell of ESPN said in a recent article, citing Law360. "The taxpayer has a significant liquidity event scheduled in about 60 days from which he intends to pay the balance of the 2015 tax liability due and outstanding."
NOW WATCH:Harvard Business School professor explains the most important problem we have in finance today and how to fix it
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• Here's why Bitcoin is rebounding || Floyd Mayweather says he's gonna make a 's--- ton of money' from an initial coin offering: Floyd Mayweather (Floyd MayweatherChris Carlson/AP) Boxing champ Floyd Mayweather has caught the cryptocurrency bug. On Thursday, the undefeated world champion took to Instagram to promote an initial coin offering by Stox, a blockchain prediction company. The ICO will take place on August 2. According to Mayweather's Instagram post, the boxer thinks he's going to make a "s--- ton of money" from the capital raise. Here's a tweet of the post: He just posted that people. Floyd Mayweather is going all in on ICOs. 😭🤦♂️🤣 $ETH.X $BTC.X https://t.co/XpEmJpaANw pic.twitter.com/YNJI1JVmEK — StockTwits (@StockTwits) July 27, 2017 Initial coin offering participants invest money and receive digital "tokens" in return. Thus far, ICOs have been largely unregulated, with some crowdfunding events raising hundreds of millions of dollars. In total, ICOs have raised $1.37 billion, according to Lex Sokolin, a partner at Autonomous NEXT, a fintech analytics firm. On Tuesday, the SEC said that initial coin offerings (ICOs), in some cases, can be considered securities; and as such will be required to subscribe to the necessary regulations. Mayweather might need that extra money from the ICO. According to an ESPN report, much of Mayweather's wealth is tied up in assets and not liquid. This prevented him from being able to pay back a tax liability of $22.2 million to the IRS. "Although the taxpayer has substantial assets, those assets are restricted and primarily illiquid," Darren Rovell of ESPN said in a recent article, citing Law360 . "The taxpayer has a significant liquidity event scheduled in about 60 days from which he intends to pay the balance of the 2015 tax liability due and outstanding." Story continues NOW WATCH: Harvard Business School professor explains the most important problem we have in finance today and how to fix it More From Business Insider Jeff Bezos is now the world's richest person — and he could redefine philanthropy 5 great tech brands you’ve probably never heard of Here's why Bitcoin is rebounding || Dance The Roomba: iRobot's Sterling Second Quarter Has Pro Bullish On Domestic Robot Space: iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ: IRBT )'s stellar second quarter makes Loup Ventures' Andrew Murphy more bullish on a market that includes robots that clean your floors and cut your lawn. Revenue for the second quarter of 2017 was $183.1 million, compared with $148.7 million for the second quarter of 2016. Revenue for the first half of 2017 was $351.6 million, compared with $279.5 million last year. “We believe the domestic robot market, which includes robotic vacuums, mops, and lawnmowers, is one of the most promising sub-categories within the robotics space.” Murphy wrote in a note. View more earnings on IRBT He said iRobot’s results leads to these takeaways: Legacy Vacuum Companies Not A Big Threat “It’s easier for a robotics company to build a vacuum than it is for a vacuum company to build a robot,” he wrote. “Although a Roomba vacuum cleaner may look simplistic on the outside, the advanced software programming, computer vision systems and engineering acumen that goes into developing a high-performing robot is difficult to replicate.” Related Link: Cornell’s Eccentric Robot Genius Gets Ideas From Infant Daughter The Market Is Bigger Than Anybody Thought “iRobot’s total robot revenues increased 24.2% y/y and the company raised full year 2017 guidance, which now implies 25.0% y/y growth in their robot business.” It’s Not Just Vacuums IRobots wet floor mops were up 80 percent. “And domestic robots is just the beginning of the much larger connected home theme.” Domestic Robots Are A Global Trend “While iRobot saw the strongest growth for robots domestically, the company is also upbeat about the growth they are seeing internationally.” ________ Image Credit: By Nohau - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Latest Ratings for IRBT Jul 2017 Downgrades Buy Neutral May 2017 Canaccord Genuity Downgrades Buy Hold Nov 2016 Dougherty Initiates Coverage On Buy View More Analyst Ratings for IRBT View the Latest Analyst Ratings Story continues See more from Benzinga Stay Tuned For Facebook TV: Ad Sales Will Fund Big Bet On Video Feds Bust Reputed Bitcoin Baron In Billion Scheme To Launder Drug Money, Ransomware, Bribes And Identity Theft Scams The Athletic's New Model For Local Sports Writing: If You Build It, Will They Buy It? © 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Dance The Roomba: iRobot's Sterling Second Quarter Has Pro Bullish On Domestic Robot Space: iRobot Corporation(NASDAQ:IRBT)'s stellar second quarter makes Loup Ventures' Andrew Murphy more bullish on a market that includes robots that clean your floors and cut your lawn.
Revenue for the second quarter of 2017 was $183.1 million, compared with $148.7 million for the second quarter of 2016. Revenue for the first half of 2017 was $351.6 million, compared with $279.5 million last year.
“We believe the domestic robot market, which includes robotic vacuums, mops, and lawnmowers, is one of the most promising sub-categories within the robotics space.” Murphy wrote in a note.
View more earnings on IRBT
He said iRobot’s results leads to these takeaways:
Legacy Vacuum Companies Not A Big Threat
“It’s easier for a robotics company to build a vacuum than it is for a vacuum company to build a robot,” he wrote. “Although a Roomba vacuum cleaner may look simplistic on the outside, the advanced software programming, computer vision systems and engineering acumen that goes into developing a high-performing robot is difficult to replicate.”
Related Link:Cornell’s Eccentric Robot Genius Gets Ideas From Infant Daughter
The Market Is Bigger Than Anybody Thought
“iRobot’s total robot revenues increased 24.2% y/y and the company raised full year 2017 guidance, which now implies 25.0% y/y growth in their robot business.”
It’s Not Just Vacuums
IRobots wet floor mops were up 80 percent. “And domestic robots is just the beginning of the much larger connected home theme.”
Domestic Robots Are A Global Trend
“While iRobot saw the strongest growth for robots domestically, the company is also upbeat about the growth they are seeing internationally.”
________
Image Credit: By Nohau - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,via Wikimedia Commons
Latest Ratings for IRBT
[{"Jul 2017": "May 2017", "": "Canaccord Genuity", "Downgrades": "Downgrades", "Buy": "Buy", "Neutral": "Hold"}, {"Jul 2017": "Nov 2016", "": "Dougherty", "Downgrades": "Initiates Coverage On", "Buy": "", "Neutral": "Buy"}]
View More Analyst Ratings for IRBTView the Latest Analyst Ratings
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© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Here's why some Americans are risking their life savings on a Bitcoin IRA: Investors have been bullish on bitcoin all this year because of its rapid appreciation, but now, mom and pop buyers are also looking for a way to benefit from its price surge, despite the big risks. BitcoinIRA launched in May of 2016 , offering investors the tax-advantage of an Individual Retirement Account (IRA), plus the return of a high-risk, high-reward alternative asset class. It's similar in nature to other IRAs, except that instead of being funded by gold, cash, and bonds, it's backed by bitcoin. And the company isn't just dealing in bitcoin anymore. As of April, it now includes rival cryptocurrency ether, and it plans to add two more coins to its roster by the end of the summer. Chief Operating Officer Chris Kline says business couldn't be better. In its first year, he says BitcoinIRA was averaging around a million dollars of monthly inflows. In the last six months, they started doing that amount of business in a single day, he says. (CNBC did not independently verify the flows.) The popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin, may be highly volatile, but that didn't deter early adopter Roy Trimboli. Roy calls himself '11,' since he's the proud owner of the eleventh-ever BitcoinIRA. He says he's been a conventional guy since 22, always maxing out his 401(k) and investing in blue chip mutual funds, but a year ago, he put 10 bitcoins into a BitcoinIRA. He says he's now up about 300 percent. "It's a couple of generations worth of returns," he says. '11' is now just one of over 700 individual account holders, including clients as young as 20-years-old. But even with these kinds of returns, the fact remains, a speculative asset like bitcoin or ether comes with a certain degree of risk. Cryptocurrencies don't sleep. They're literally always moving, and if recent history is any indication, they're prone to seismic price moves in a very short space of time. Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University, says this kind of volatility is brutal. "We're talking six times the volatility of the S&P 500 or five times the volatility of gold." He says it has to do with the fact that this is new technology, "and it's not easy to think about the fundamental value of a cryptocurrency." Story continues That brutal volatility he's talking about is partly to do with the fact that these cryptocurrencies aren't collateralized. They're valuable, because people believe they're valuable. That's a big part of why Campbell says he's really worried about the BitcoinIRA. "I'm worried that people will put too much of their retirement in an asset like this. It's a very small piece of the market right now and it's extremely volatile. To put this into your savings, you need to be willing to lose everything. If you put your retirement savings into the stock market, there is almost no chance that you're going to lose everything." Risk aside, a BitcoinIRA itself isn't free. If you sink any less than $50,000 into your crypto nest egg, you'll face a hefty 15 percent set-up fee. But clients like Damon Smedley remain undeterred. He invested $330,000 into his BitcoinIRA last November. "You look at where I was one year ago, versus where I'm at today, and it's quite a drastic difference," Smedley said. It's not just the promise of a crazy return that's intrigued savers, it's also the fact that it's a hedge against the inflationary tendencies of mainstream currencies. Central banks in countries around the world have been printing cash to prop up their struggling economies, but that goes hand in hand with inflation. In the U.S., gold, stocks, and bonds have long been the traditional hedge against inflation and the rising dollar. But now, bitcoin and ethereum offer an alternative way to beat inflation, though it's clearly not for the faint of heart. One thing is for sure, despite its volatility, this new cryptocurrency asset class isn't going anywhere. More From CNBC Terror to end bitcoin anonymity? 'Smart' people and Panama Papers Bitcoin mining IPO falls short
[Social Media Buzz]
1 KOBO = 0.00000622 BTC
= 0.0171 USD
= 5.9508 NGN
= 0.2222 ZAR
= 1.7741 KES
#Kobocoin 2017-07-31 12:00 || Bitcoin - BTC
Price: $2,872.31
Change in 1h: +0.16%
Market cap: $47,338,253,879.00
Ranking: 1
#Bitcoin #BTC || BITCOIN Y BLOCKCHAIN » Mundo de oportunidades Entradas, Vie 4 ago. 2017 a las 13:00 | Eventbrite
En San Isidro! https://www.eventbrite.com.ar/e/bitcoin-y-blockchain-mundo-de-oportunidades-tickets-36528182778 … || PSA #Bitcoin community!
@circlepay gonna temporally stop B...
|
2718.26, 2710.67, 2804.73, 2895.89, 3252.91, 3213.94, 3378.94, 3419.94, 3342.47, 3381.28
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 9665.53, 9653.68, 9758.85, 9771.49, 9795.70, 9870.09, 9321.78, 9480.84, 9475.28, 9386.79, 9450.70, 9538.02, 9480.25, 9411.84, 9288.02, 9332.34, 9303.63, 9648.72, 9629.66, 9313.61, 9264.81, 9162.92, 9045.39, 9143.58, 9190.85, 9137.99, 9228.33, 9123.41, 9087.30, 9132.49, 9073.94, 9375.47, 9252.28, 9428.33, 9277.97, 9278.81, 9240.35, 9276.50, 9243.61, 9243.21, 9192.84, 9132.23, 9151.39, 9159.04, 9185.82, 9164.23, 9374.89, 9525.36, 9581.07, 9536.89, 9677.11, 9905.17, 10990.87, 10912.82, 11100.47, 11111.21, 11323.47, 11759.59, 11053.61, 11246.35, 11205.89, 11747.02, 11779.77, 11601.47, 11754.05, 11675.74, 11878.11, 11410.53, 11584.93, 11784.14, 11768.87, 11865.70, 11892.80, 12254.40, 11991.23, 11758.28, 11878.37, 11592.49, 11681.83, 11664.85, 11774.60, 11366.13, 11488.36, 11323.40, 11542.50, 11506.87, 11711.51, 11680.82, 11970.48, 11414.03.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-09-02]
Volume: 28037405299, RSI (14-day): 48.34, 50-day EMA: 11114.54, 200-day EMA: 9648.59
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1934.40, Gold RSI: 49.63
Oil Price: 41.51, Oil RSI: 45.52
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally: Bitcoin’sLightning Networkset a record high Monday as total capacity held in the protocol’s payment channels – sometimes referred to as “total value locked” (TVL) – reached $12.4 million.
• Two weeks ago, Lightning set the prior high of $12.37 million, surpassing the long-standing previous mark of $12.3 million that was reached in early July 2019 and lasted for 405 days.
• Bitcoin’sprice appreciation has certainly helped boost Lightning’s TVL as the bellwether cryptocurrency has gained more than 30% since July.
• The total number of bitcoins held on Lightning sits at 1,060, up 24% so far this year, but still remains below the record high of 1,105 BTC set in early May 2019.
• Compared with the tens of millions of dollars pouring into Ethereum and related protocols because of thedecentralized finance craze, Lightning’s growth may seem slow, but a variety of data underscores the network’s steady increase in activity.
• The number of publicly broadcasting nodes, for example, has steadily increased throughout the entire lifetime of the protocol. Currently more than 7,600 nodes are connected to payment channels, up 55% from January.
• In August, Lightning’s node count grew 26%, adding 1,581 nodes, representing the largest monthly percentage growth since April 2018 and the largest real monthly growth ever.
• Lightning Labs, the company building the most popular implementation of Lightning, LND, further quantified the network’s growth in atweetshared earlier in August. Over 70 companies are currently building on LND, the company said.
Read more:Ready to Wumbo: LND Enables More, Larger Bitcoin Transactions on Lightning
• Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally
• Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally
• Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally
• Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally || Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally: Bitcoin’sLightning Networkset a record high Monday as total capacity held in the protocol’s payment channels – sometimes referred to as “total value locked” (TVL) – reached $12.4 million.
• Two weeks ago, Lightning set the prior high of $12.37 million, surpassing the long-standing previous mark of $12.3 million that was reached in early July 2019 and lasted for 405 days.
• Bitcoin’sprice appreciation has certainly helped boost Lightning’s TVL as the bellwether cryptocurrency has gained more than 30% since July.
• The total number of bitcoins held on Lightning sits at 1,060, up 24% so far this year, but still remains below the record high of 1,105 BTC set in early May 2019.
• Compared with the tens of millions of dollars pouring into Ethereum and related protocols because of thedecentralized finance craze, Lightning’s growth may seem slow, but a variety of data underscores the network’s steady increase in activity.
• The number of publicly broadcasting nodes, for example, has steadily increased throughout the entire lifetime of the protocol. Currently more than 7,600 nodes are connected to payment channels, up 55% from January.
• In August, Lightning’s node count grew 26%, adding 1,581 nodes, representing the largest monthly percentage growth since April 2018 and the largest real monthly growth ever.
• Lightning Labs, the company building the most popular implementation of Lightning, LND, further quantified the network’s growth in atweetshared earlier in August. Over 70 companies are currently building on LND, the company said.
Read more:Ready to Wumbo: LND Enables More, Larger Bitcoin Transactions on Lightning
• Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally
• Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally
• Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally
• Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally || Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally: Bitcoin’s Lightning Network set a record high Monday as total capacity held in the protocol’s payment channels – sometimes referred to as “total value locked” (TVL) – reached $12.4 million. Two weeks ago, Lightning set the prior high of $12.37 million, surpassing the long-standing previous mark of $12.3 million that was reached in early July 2019 and lasted for 405 days. Bitcoin’s price appreciation has certainly helped boost Lightning’s TVL as the bellwether cryptocurrency has gained more than 30% since July. The total number of bitcoins held on Lightning sits at 1,060, up 24% so far this year, but still remains below the record high of 1,105 BTC set in early May 2019. Compared with the tens of millions of dollars pouring into Ethereum and related protocols because of the decentralized finance craze , Lightning’s growth may seem slow, but a variety of data underscores the network’s steady increase in activity. The number of publicly broadcasting nodes, for example, has steadily increased throughout the entire lifetime of the protocol. Currently more than 7,600 nodes are connected to payment channels, up 55% from January. In August, Lightning’s node count grew 26%, adding 1,581 nodes, representing the largest monthly percentage growth since April 2018 and the largest real monthly growth ever. Lightning Labs, the company building the most popular implementation of Lightning, LND, further quantified the network’s growth in a tweet shared earlier in August. Over 70 companies are currently building on LND, the company said. Read more: Ready to Wumbo: LND Enables More, Larger Bitcoin Transactions on Lightning Related Stories Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally Total Value on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network Sets Another Record High Amid Market Rally || Uniswap Rises to Top of DeFi Charts Thanks to Rival Looking to Unseat It: A vampire protocol has driven Uniswap to the top of the decentralized finance (DeFi) charts. As of roughly 21:00 UTC, the automated market maker (AMM) has $1.65 billion in total value locked, according to DeFi Pulse, unseating lending platform Aave . Sources with knowledge of the situation tell CoinDesk this is driven largely by a new Uniswap competitor, SushiSwap . One of the newer members of the Weird DeFi cohort is predicated on giving rewards in perpetuity to holders of its sushi (SUSHI) token. Related: First Mover: Bitcoin Tumbles, Bithumb Reportedly Raided, Uniswap Challenges Coinbase Read more: Yearn, YAM and the Rise of Crypto’s ‘Weird DeFi’ Moment According to an announcement on Medium , for roughly two weeks (100,000 blocks) ahead of launch, Ethereum users who stake liquidity provider (LP) tokens from Uniswap to SushiSwap will get 10X the liquidity mining rewards in the early going (1,000 SUSHI per block now versus 100 sushi after launch). Right now SushiSwap is distributing rewards for LP tokens on ETH pools matched with USDT, USDC, AMPL, DAI, LINK, YFI and others. SUSHI holders will be able to vote-in more pools later. Liquidity mining is when users get a new token for depositing their assets somewhere. What SushiSwap is doing is new. So, by dumping assets into Uniswap now, DeFi degens can amass LP tokens, which they can dump immediately into SUSHI and take advantage of this brief period of extremely generous SUSHI distribution. Related: DeFi Flippening Comes to Exchanges as Uniswap Topples Coinbase in Trading Volume Read more: How DeFi ‘Degens’ Are Gaming Ethereum’s Money Legos Once the bonus period ends, SushiSwap will redeem all the Uniswap LP tokens and move its rival’s assets over to SushiSwap’s own pools, which is why some in the community are calling it “vampire mining.” Whereas Uniswap keeps 0.3% of every trade and distributes it to liquidity providers, Sushi will distribute 0.25% to liquidity providers and the rest to SUSHI holders. Story continues DeFi Pulse always notes the “dominance” of the leading project. Uniswap dominance currently sits at 17.5%. Related Stories Uniswap Rises to Top of DeFi Charts Thanks to Rival Looking to Unseat It Uniswap Rises to Top of DeFi Charts Thanks to Rival Looking to Unseat It || Uniswap Rises to Top of DeFi Charts Thanks to Rival Looking to Unseat It: Avampireprotocol has driven Uniswap to the top of the decentralized finance (DeFi) charts.
As of roughly 21:00 UTC, the automated market maker (AMM) has $1.65 billion in total value locked, according to DeFi Pulse, unseating lending platformAave.
Sources with knowledge of the situation tell CoinDesk this is driven largely by a new Uniswap competitor,SushiSwap. One of the newer members of theWeird DeFicohort is predicated on giving rewards in perpetuity to holders of its sushi (SUSHI) token.
Related:First Mover: Bitcoin Tumbles, Bithumb Reportedly Raided, Uniswap Challenges Coinbase
Read more:Yearn, YAM and the Rise of Crypto’s ‘Weird DeFi’ Moment
According to an announcementon Medium, for roughly two weeks (100,000 blocks) ahead of launch, Ethereum users who stake liquidity provider (LP) tokens from Uniswap to SushiSwap will get 10X the liquidity mining rewards in the early going (1,000 SUSHI per block now versus 100 sushi after launch).
Right now SushiSwap is distributing rewards for LP tokens on ETH pools matched with USDT, USDC, AMPL, DAI, LINK, YFI and others. SUSHI holders will be able to vote-in more pools later.
Liquidity mining is when users get a new token for depositing their assets somewhere. What SushiSwap is doing is new. So, by dumping assets into Uniswap now, DeFi degens can amass LP tokens, which they can dump immediately into SUSHI and take advantage of this brief period of extremely generous SUSHI distribution.
Related:DeFi Flippening Comes to Exchanges as Uniswap Topples Coinbase in Trading Volume
Read more:How DeFi ‘Degens’ Are Gaming Ethereum’s Money Legos
Once the bonus period ends, SushiSwap will redeem all the Uniswap LP tokens and move its rival’s assets over to SushiSwap’s own pools, which is why some in the community are calling it “vampire mining.”
Whereas Uniswap keeps 0.3% of every trade and distributes it to liquidity providers, Sushi will distribute 0.25% to liquidity providers and the rest to SUSHI holders.
DeFi Pulse always notes the “dominance” of the leading project. Uniswap dominance currently sits at 17.5%.
• Uniswap Rises to Top of DeFi Charts Thanks to Rival Looking to Unseat It
• Uniswap Rises to Top of DeFi Charts Thanks to Rival Looking to Unseat It || Exchange Outages Are Going Mainstream: What Robinhood Can Learn From Crypto: Both crypto exchanges and popular online trading platforms including Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Robinhood havea rising number of young investorswho, working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, spend some of their work hours trading for their own personal accounts.
However, these platforms have another thing in common: outages in the midst of high volume.
On Monday, login issues were reported from customers onRobinhood, along with a few other similar tradingplatforms including giants TD Ameritrade and Schwab. The outage was allegedly causedby the stock splits of Apple and Tesla.Silicon Valley-based Robinhood was the subject ofmore than 400 complaintsreported to U.S. regulators during the first half of 2020.
Related:First Mover: Bitcoin Tumbles, Bithumb Reportedly Raided, Uniswap Challenges Coinbase
A spokesperson from TD Ameritrade acknowledged “high levels of slowness” some users experienced on its web and mobile platforms but did not offer an explanation of the cause. As of press time, Robinhood and Schwab did not respond to inquiries from CoinDesk.
Robinhood apparently is not alone during a time whena growing number of new and young investorsare betting their money on different markets, including cryptocurrencies, by using online brokers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more:Robinhood, Other Online Trading Platforms Having Login Issues
Like traditional platforms, crypto exchanges have been troubled by outages for a long time, even after they pledge to take more steps to improve stability and reduce outages. These mainstream companies may be able to learn something from the experience of crypto exchanges.
Related:Huobi Futures to Launch Options Trading This Week, Joining Throng Challenging Deribit
Aftersuffering a severe service outage in late August, Deribit, the most popular cryptocurrency options exchange, told CoinDesk it is working to enhance its platform to avoid this happening again.
“Our platform uses redundant load balancers to connect to multiple nodes, gateways to the platform, connecting to a single master node,” Luuk Strijers, chief commercial officer at Deribit, told CoinDesk via Telegram on Aug. 27. “Today we experienced a hardware failure in this master node.”
Read more:Deribit Suffers Outage Over ‘Hardware Issues,’ May Miss Thursday’s Options Expiry
The problem was resolved when engineers successfully activated one of the regular nodes as the exchange’s new master node. The company will work on speeding up this procedure, Strijers said.
Strijers added that Deribit is in the process of setting up a disaster recovery facility in Zurich to act as immediate failover if multiple nodes were impacted. This, he said, should dispel doubts around the exchange’s redundancy provision.
Setting up a server location in Zurich does not mean the company will have to adopt any new know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements in Switzerland, Strijers clarified. (The Dutch exchange’s infrastructure is hosted in the U.K. but itsoperations are now in Panama as part of DRB Panama Inc.,a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dutch entity, created in early February.)
It is not the first time a crypto exchange has sworn that some fundamental improvement it makes will avert new outages.
Earlier this year, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume,suspended trading for more than six hoursdue to a “system messaging error.” Coinbaseangered its users in Mayafter it was forced to shut down its service due to a traffic spike.
Dave Weisberger, co-founder and CEO of execution provider CoinRoutes, told CoinDesk in a phone interview there are two main causes of technical outages at crypto exchanges.
One is a hardware failure, which was the problem that occurred at Deribit; the solution is to build a redundancy system. By now, most exchanges have built fully redundant systems, according to Weisberger, and as a result any outages caused by hardware failures are usually short-lived.
Read more:Coinbase Outlines Tech Plan to Help Avert Future Outages
The other cause, which is more common, is a change in a new piece of code that was not thoroughly tested. Bugs in the new code can be triggered at a later time by an unplanned situation such as a surge in trading volumes, resulting in an outage.
Derivatives exchange FTX’s support team also told CoinDesk via email that to reduce the risk of outages, their work has been concentrated on making sure enough spare capacity will be available to support the exchange’s operation during busy periods.
Tushar Jain, managing partner at Multicoin Capital, told CoinDesk via Twitter that reducing outages caused by sudden traffic increases on exchanges is “doable,” but it will require time and money.
“Building software which scales to serve so many users is really hard and the operational work to make sure servers stay up and running is quite difficult,” he said. “There are many examples of software companies having trouble scaling to serve extremely high demand. Twitter’s “Fail Whale” is probably the most memorable example.”
Because many of these outages are related to sudden spikes in trading volumes – sometimes resulting from extreme market volatility – some would arguecircuit breakers could help exchanges resolve the problem.
Circuit breakers, which were first implemented on stock exchanges after the “Black Monday” crash in 1987, are automatic stoppages put in place when prices fall below specified levels. They are designed to save the market from a complete meltdown.
Read more:Does Crypto Need Circuit Breakers? Last Week’s Price Crash Ignites a Debate
Deribit alreadyhas an index circuit breaker on its platformwhich is triggered at +/-1.5% index price move per second to “avoid massive sell-offs, and allow market participants to get up to speed with the market during highly volatile periods,” according to Strijers.
“In the past, multiple derivatives exchanges have experienced flash crashes that have caused a cascade of liquidations and massive sell-offs,” he said. “Reasons have been various: an external market manipulation or internal error. To avoid this from happening, Deribit introduced a form of circuit breaker.”
Deribit’s circuit breaker was triggered a few times during the night of March 13 whenbitcoinpricesdipped to a 12-month low.
Read more:Bitcoin Price Briefly Dips to 12-Month Low in Overnight Trading
However, with hundreds of crypto exchanges available, the introduction of circuit breakers could hinder an individual exchange’s performance when its service is down for a period of time. During Binance’s outage earlier this year, for example, rival exchanges including OKEx and Bitstamp saw big jumps in trading orders.
FTX told CoinDesk it is not currently considering what it describes as “hard circuit breakers,” which would limit its users’ abilities to trade at some prices in the long term.
“These make a lot less sense,” the exchange wrote. “Rather than acting as a sanity check, they restrict users’ ability to trade and enforce artificial pricing.”
Jain, whopreviously was an advocateof circuit breakers, told CoinDesk he now doesn’t think this measure would solve exchanges’ outages. While prices for bitcoin andetherhave been “relatively stable” recently, he said, outages still occur on exchanges.
Jain even interprets it as a positive sign: In a more stable market, outages caused by traffic spikes mean that more people are using crypto exchanges.
“I think this goes to demonstrate the level of demand in the crypto markets right now,” he said. “The last time I remember exchanges having problems like this was in early to mid-2017 when their servers just couldn’t keep up with user growth.”
Some of the larger crypto exchanges may implement needed changes but without the threat of penalties from regulators if problems aren’t fixed, fundamental improvements are less likely to occur anytime soon.
“The fact is that when you’re not penalized for these sorts of things, then you don’t spend as much money trying to fix it or prevent it,” Weisberger said.
Weisberger pointed out another similarity between mainstream trading platforms and the crypto exchanges: the ethos of the Silicon Valley or, rather, the whole of the tech industry. The people behind these platforms prioritize issues like liquidity and transaction fees rather than reducing outages simply because the financial cost outweighs the benefit.
“Is an uptime requirement of 99.999% something that the same type of people who invented Robinhood are going to aspire to?” Weisberger said. “The answer is no. They say they aspire to it but that’s very expensive. … As a result, there are outages.”
Robinhood, which is more heavily regulated than the crypto exchanges, isnow reportedly under investigationby the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for its handling of an outage in March.
If it gives them incentive to keep outages from repeating, regulatory oversight may end up being an asset for mainstream online trading.
• Exchange Outages Are Going Mainstream: What Robinhood Can Learn From Crypto
• Exchange Outages Are Going Mainstream: What Robinhood Can Learn From Crypto || Exchange Outages Are Going Mainstream: What Robinhood Can Learn From Crypto: Both crypto exchanges and popular online trading platforms including Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Robinhood have a rising number of young investors who, working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, spend some of their work hours trading for their own personal accounts. However, these platforms have another thing in common: outages in the midst of high volume. On Monday, login issues were reported from customers on Robinhood, along with a few other similar trading platforms including giants TD Ameritrade and Schwab. The outage was allegedly caused by the stock splits of Apple and Tesla. Silicon Valley-based Robinhood was the subject of more than 400 complaints reported to U.S. regulators during the first half of 2020. Related: First Mover: Bitcoin Tumbles, Bithumb Reportedly Raided, Uniswap Challenges Coinbase A spokesperson from TD Ameritrade acknowledged “high levels of slowness” some users experienced on its web and mobile platforms but did not offer an explanation of the cause. As of press time, Robinhood and Schwab did not respond to inquiries from CoinDesk. Robinhood apparently is not alone during a time when a growing number of new and young investors are betting their money on different markets, including cryptocurrencies, by using online brokers amid the coronavirus pandemic. Read more: Robinhood, Other Online Trading Platforms Having Login Issues Like traditional platforms, crypto exchanges have been troubled by outages for a long time, even after they pledge to take more steps to improve stability and reduce outages. These mainstream companies may be able to learn something from the experience of crypto exchanges. The need for redundancy Related: Huobi Futures to Launch Options Trading This Week, Joining Throng Challenging Deribit After suffering a severe service outage in late August , Deribit, the most popular cryptocurrency options exchange, told CoinDesk it is working to enhance its platform to avoid this happening again. “Our platform uses redundant load balancers to connect to multiple nodes, gateways to the platform, connecting to a single master node,” Luuk Strijers, chief commercial officer at Deribit, told CoinDesk via Telegram on Aug. 27. “Today we experienced a hardware failure in this master node.” Read more: Deribit Suffers Outage Over ‘Hardware Issues,’ May Miss Thursday’s Options Expiry The problem was resolved when engineers successfully activated one of the regular nodes as the exchange’s new master node. The company will work on speeding up this procedure, Strijers said. Story continues Strijers added that Deribit is in the process of setting up a disaster recovery facility in Zurich to act as immediate failover if multiple nodes were impacted. This, he said, should dispel doubts around the exchange’s redundancy provision. Setting up a server location in Zurich does not mean the company will have to adopt any new know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements in Switzerland, Strijers clarified. (The Dutch exchange’s infrastructure is hosted in the U.K. but its operations are now in Panama as part of DRB Panama Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dutch entity, created in early February.) When code becomes a problem It is not the first time a crypto exchange has sworn that some fundamental improvement it makes will avert new outages. Earlier this year, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, suspended trading for more than six hours due to a “system messaging error.” Coinbase angered its users in May after it was forced to shut down its service due to a traffic spike. Dave Weisberger, co-founder and CEO of execution provider CoinRoutes, told CoinDesk in a phone interview there are two main causes of technical outages at crypto exchanges. One is a hardware failure, which was the problem that occurred at Deribit; the solution is to build a redundancy system. By now, most exchanges have built fully redundant systems, according to Weisberger, and as a result any outages caused by hardware failures are usually short-lived. Read more: Coinbase Outlines Tech Plan to Help Avert Future Outages The other cause, which is more common, is a change in a new piece of code that was not thoroughly tested. Bugs in the new code can be triggered at a later time by an unplanned situation such as a surge in trading volumes, resulting in an outage. Traffic: When too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing Derivatives exchange FTX’s support team also told CoinDesk via email that to reduce the risk of outages, their work has been concentrated on making sure enough spare capacity will be available to support the exchange’s operation during busy periods. Tushar Jain, managing partner at Multicoin Capital, told CoinDesk via Twitter that reducing outages caused by sudden traffic increases on exchanges is “doable,” but it will require time and money. “Building software which scales to serve so many users is really hard and the operational work to make sure servers stay up and running is quite difficult,” he said. “There are many examples of software companies having trouble scaling to serve extremely high demand. Twitter’s “ Fail Whale ” is probably the most memorable example.” Circuit breakers as a solution? Because many of these outages are related to sudden spikes in trading volumes – sometimes resulting from extreme market volatility – some would argue circuit breakers could help exchanges resolve the problem. Circuit breakers, which were first implemented on stock exchanges after the “Black Monday” crash in 1987, are automatic stoppages put in place when prices fall below specified levels. They are designed to save the market from a complete meltdown. Read more: Does Crypto Need Circuit Breakers? Last Week’s Price Crash Ignites a Debate Deribit already has an index circuit breaker on its platform which is triggered at +/-1.5% index price move per second to “avoid massive sell-offs, and allow market participants to get up to speed with the market during highly volatile periods,” according to Strijers. “In the past, multiple derivatives exchanges have experienced flash crashes that have caused a cascade of liquidations and massive sell-offs,” he said. “Reasons have been various: an external market manipulation or internal error. To avoid this from happening, Deribit introduced a form of circuit breaker.” Deribit’s circuit breaker was triggered a few times during the night of March 13 when bitcoin prices dipped to a 12-month low . Read more: Bitcoin Price Briefly Dips to 12-Month Low in Overnight Trading However, with hundreds of crypto exchanges available, the introduction of circuit breakers could hinder an individual exchange’s performance when its service is down for a period of time. During Binance’s outage earlier this year, for example, rival exchanges including OKEx and Bitstamp saw big jumps in trading orders. FTX told CoinDesk it is not currently considering what it describes as “hard circuit breakers,” which would limit its users’ abilities to trade at some prices in the long term. “These make a lot less sense,” the exchange wrote. “Rather than acting as a sanity check, they restrict users’ ability to trade and enforce artificial pricing.” Jain, who previously was an advocate of circuit breakers, told CoinDesk he now doesn’t think this measure would solve exchanges’ outages. While prices for bitcoin and ether have been “relatively stable” recently, he said, outages still occur on exchanges. Jain even interprets it as a positive sign: In a more stable market, outages caused by traffic spikes mean that more people are using crypto exchanges. “I think this goes to demonstrate the level of demand in the crypto markets right now,” he said. “The last time I remember exchanges having problems like this was in early to mid-2017 when their servers just couldn’t keep up with user growth.” Crypto exchanges’ unregulated downside Some of the larger crypto exchanges may implement needed changes but without the threat of penalties from regulators if problems aren’t fixed, fundamental improvements are less likely to occur anytime soon. “The fact is that when you’re not penalized for these sorts of things, then you don’t spend as much money trying to fix it or prevent it,” Weisberger said. Weisberger pointed out another similarity between mainstream trading platforms and the crypto exchanges: the ethos of the Silicon Valley or, rather, the whole of the tech industry. The people behind these platforms prioritize issues like liquidity and transaction fees rather than reducing outages simply because the financial cost outweighs the benefit. “Is an uptime requirement of 99.999% something that the same type of people who invented Robinhood are going to aspire to?” Weisberger said. “The answer is no. They say they aspire to it but that’s very expensive. … As a result, there are outages.” Robinhood, which is more heavily regulated than the crypto exchanges, is now reportedly under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for its handling of an outage in March. If it gives them incentive to keep outages from repeating, regulatory oversight may end up being an asset for mainstream online trading. Related Stories Exchange Outages Are Going Mainstream: What Robinhood Can Learn From Crypto Exchange Outages Are Going Mainstream: What Robinhood Can Learn From Crypto View comments || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Breaks $12K; Uniswap Crosses $1.5B Locked: Bitcoin breached $12,000 again Tuesday, and traders see bullish crypto signals everywhere on the charts.
• Bitcoin(BTC) trading around $11,970 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 2% over the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,524-$12,085
• BTC above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish signal for market technicians.
Bitcoin broke the $12,000 price barrier Tuesday, hitting $12,085 on spot exchanges such as Coinbase. The last time the price hit that level was back on Aug. 21. While the Tuesday rally lost some steam, analysts are seeing some highly bullish signals in the crypto market.
Read More:Bitcoin Miners Saw 23% Revenue Increase in August
Related:First Mover: Bitcoin Tumbles, Bithumb Reportedly Raided, Uniswap Challenges Coinbase
William Purdy, an options trader and founder of analysis firm PurdyAlerts, says recent weekly closes for bitcoin have been hitting new highs for 2020.
“Bitcoin’s weekly price is now consistently holding above the $11,500 pivot, which it has failed to do since March 2018,” Purdy said. “Four of the past weeks have closed above $11,500, unlike the late May 2019 run-up into $13,900, which continuously faced rejection at that price.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of other currencies, continues to be a fundamental driver for bitcoin, according to some stakeholders.
Read More:BitMEX Launches Mobile Trading App in 140 Countries
Related:Bitcoin Price Drops 4% After Latest Rejection at $12K Resistance
“The weaker the dollar gets, the more positive it becomes for BTC,” said Rupert Douglas, head of institutional sales for crypto brokerage Koine. While the index is up 0.21% Tuesday, it’s still sustaining lows not seen since 2018.
One other bullish sign for crypto: The ETH/BTC trading pair, which highlights the strength ofetherversus bitcoin, is trending way up Tuesday as some traders are selling BTC for ETH.
Read More:Ethereum Transaction Fees Set a Record Again
“I am keeping a close eye on the ETH/BTC pair, as ETH is at a key level not seen since January 2019,” said Jason Lau, chief operating officer for cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin.
“With bitcoin just crossing that $12,000 resistance level and [ether] at dollar price levels not seen since June 2018, there is certainly bullish sentiment across the market,” added OKCoin’s Lau.
As for ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was also up Tuesday, trading around $478 and climbing 8.9% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).
Read More:Ether Price Hits 2-Year High
The amount of value locked in the decentralized exchange Uniswap is now more than $1.5 billion, a whopping 462% from the paltry $280 million of only a week ago.
Why has there been such ridiculous growth of crypto locked in Uniswap? The rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) project SushiSwap protocol, which offers generous incentives to users staking crypto, has caught on with Uniswap pools.
Read More:Decentralized Exchange Volume Rose 160% in August to $11.6B
Essentially, a Uniswap LP (liquidity provider) token holder who gets tokens by depositing on Uniswap can reap more rewards by swapping over to Sushi tokens, driving the growth in value locked.“The Uniswap locked value pump is due to SushiSwap,” said Peter Chan, lead trader at OneBit Quant. “It is simply staking Uniswap LP tokens for Sushi tokens,” he added.
Digital assets on theCoinDesk 20are mostly in the green on Tuesday. Notable winners as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• tron(TRX) + 17%
• nem(XEM) + 17%
• lisk(LSK) + 4.3%
Read More:Rookie YFI Token Jumped 8-Fold in August as DeFi Dominated
Notable losers as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• basic attention token(BAT) – 5.2%
• 0x(ZRX) – 1.9%
• chainlink(LINK) – 1.4%
Read More:US Regulator to Shake Up Banking With Federal Charters for Payment Firms
Equities:
• In Asia the Nikkei 225 closed flat, in the red 0.01%, afterit was announced telco SoftBank Corp. would be added to the index starting in October.
• In Europe, the FTSE 100 ended the day down 1.7% as astrengthened pound sterling is concerning investors about weakened overseas revenue.
• The United States’ S&P 500 gained 0.80% astech stocks, including Zoom Video and Apple, led the index higher.
Read More:Canaan’s Q2 Loss Narrows to $2.4M From Q1 on 160% Revenue Increase
Commodities:
• Oil is up 0.22%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $42.89.
• Gold was flat, in the green 0.10% and at $1,969 as of press time.
Read More:HSBC and Singapore Exchange Execute Successful $300M Digital Bond
Treasurys:
• U.S. Treasury bond yields were mixed Tuesday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were down most on the 10-year, in the red 4.1%.
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Breaks $12K; Uniswap Crosses $1.5B Locked
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Breaks $12K; Uniswap Crosses $1.5B Locked || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Breaks $12K; Uniswap Crosses $1.5B Locked: Bitcoin breached $12,000 again Tuesday, and traders see bullish crypto signals everywhere on the charts.
• Bitcoin(BTC) trading around $11,970 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 2% over the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,524-$12,085
• BTC above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish signal for market technicians.
Bitcoin broke the $12,000 price barrier Tuesday, hitting $12,085 on spot exchanges such as Coinbase. The last time the price hit that level was back on Aug. 21. While the Tuesday rally lost some steam, analysts are seeing some highly bullish signals in the crypto market.
Read More:Bitcoin Miners Saw 23% Revenue Increase in August
Related:First Mover: Bitcoin Tumbles, Bithumb Reportedly Raided, Uniswap Challenges Coinbase
William Purdy, an options trader and founder of analysis firm PurdyAlerts, says recent weekly closes for bitcoin have been hitting new highs for 2020.
“Bitcoin’s weekly price is now consistently holding above the $11,500 pivot, which it has failed to do since March 2018,” Purdy said. “Four of the past weeks have closed above $11,500, unlike the late May 2019 run-up into $13,900, which continuously faced rejection at that price.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of other currencies, continues to be a fundamental driver for bitcoin, according to some stakeholders.
Read More:BitMEX Launches Mobile Trading App in 140 Countries
Related:Bitcoin Price Drops 4% After Latest Rejection at $12K Resistance
“The weaker the dollar gets, the more positive it becomes for BTC,” said Rupert Douglas, head of institutional sales for crypto brokerage Koine. While the index is up 0.21% Tuesday, it’s still sustaining lows not seen since 2018.
One other bullish sign for crypto: The ETH/BTC trading pair, which highlights the strength ofetherversus bitcoin, is trending way up Tuesday as some traders are selling BTC for ETH.
Read More:Ethereum Transaction Fees Set a Record Again
“I am keeping a close eye on the ETH/BTC pair, as ETH is at a key level not seen since January 2019,” said Jason Lau, chief operating officer for cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin.
“With bitcoin just crossing that $12,000 resistance level and [ether] at dollar price levels not seen since June 2018, there is certainly bullish sentiment across the market,” added OKCoin’s Lau.
As for ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was also up Tuesday, trading around $478 and climbing 8.9% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).
Read More:Ether Price Hits 2-Year High
The amount of value locked in the decentralized exchange Uniswap is now more than $1.5 billion, a whopping 462% from the paltry $280 million of only a week ago.
Why has there been such ridiculous growth of crypto locked in Uniswap? The rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) project SushiSwap protocol, which offers generous incentives to users staking crypto, has caught on with Uniswap pools.
Read More:Decentralized Exchange Volume Rose 160% in August to $11.6B
Essentially, a Uniswap LP (liquidity provider) token holder who gets tokens by depositing on Uniswap can reap more rewards by swapping over to Sushi tokens, driving the growth in value locked.“The Uniswap locked value pump is due to SushiSwap,” said Peter Chan, lead trader at OneBit Quant. “It is simply staking Uniswap LP tokens for Sushi tokens,” he added.
Digital assets on theCoinDesk 20are mostly in the green on Tuesday. Notable winners as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• tron(TRX) + 17%
• nem(XEM) + 17%
• lisk(LSK) + 4.3%
Read More:Rookie YFI Token Jumped 8-Fold in August as DeFi Dominated
Notable losers as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET):
• basic attention token(BAT) – 5.2%
• 0x(ZRX) – 1.9%
• chainlink(LINK) – 1.4%
Read More:US Regulator to Shake Up Banking With Federal Charters for Payment Firms
Equities:
• In Asia the Nikkei 225 closed flat, in the red 0.01%, afterit was announced telco SoftBank Corp. would be added to the index starting in October.
• In Europe, the FTSE 100 ended the day down 1.7% as astrengthened pound sterling is concerning investors about weakened overseas revenue.
• The United States’ S&P 500 gained 0.80% astech stocks, including Zoom Video and Apple, led the index higher.
Read More:Canaan’s Q2 Loss Narrows to $2.4M From Q1 on 160% Revenue Increase
Commodities:
• Oil is up 0.22%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $42.89.
• Gold was flat, in the green 0.10% and at $1,969 as of press time.
Read More:HSBC and Singapore Exchange Execute Successful $300M Digital Bond
Treasurys:
• U.S. Treasury bond yields were mixed Tuesday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were down most on the 10-year, in the red 4.1%.
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Breaks $12K; Uniswap Crosses $1.5B Locked
• Market Wrap: Bitcoin Breaks $12K; Uniswap Crosses $1.5B Locked || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Breaks $12K; Uniswap Crosses $1.5B Locked: Bitcoin breached $12,000 again Tuesday, and traders see bullish crypto signals everywhere on the charts. Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $11,970 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET). Gaining 2% over the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $11,524-$12,085 BTC above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish signal for market technicians. Bitcoin broke the $12,000 price barrier Tuesday, hitting $12,085 on spot exchanges such as Coinbase. The last time the price hit that level was back on Aug. 21. While the Tuesday rally lost some steam, analysts are seeing some highly bullish signals in the crypto market. Read More: Bitcoin Miners Saw 23% Revenue Increase in August Related: First Mover: Bitcoin Tumbles, Bithumb Reportedly Raided, Uniswap Challenges Coinbase William Purdy, an options trader and founder of analysis firm PurdyAlerts, says recent weekly closes for bitcoin have been hitting new highs for 2020. “Bitcoin’s weekly price is now consistently holding above the $11,500 pivot, which it has failed to do since March 2018,” Purdy said. “Four of the past weeks have closed above $11,500, unlike the late May 2019 run-up into $13,900, which continuously faced rejection at that price.” Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of other currencies, continues to be a fundamental driver for bitcoin, according to some stakeholders. Read More: BitMEX Launches Mobile Trading App in 140 Countries Related: Bitcoin Price Drops 4% After Latest Rejection at $12K Resistance “The weaker the dollar gets, the more positive it becomes for BTC,” said Rupert Douglas, head of institutional sales for crypto brokerage Koine. While the index is up 0.21% Tuesday, it’s still sustaining lows not seen since 2018. One other bullish sign for crypto: The ETH/BTC trading pair, which highlights the strength of ether versus bitcoin, is trending way up Tuesday as some traders are selling BTC for ETH. Story continues Read More: Ethereum Transaction Fees Set a Record Again “I am keeping a close eye on the ETH/BTC pair, as ETH is at a key level not seen since January 2019,” said Jason Lau, chief operating officer for cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin. “With bitcoin just crossing that $12,000 resistance level and [ether] at dollar price levels not seen since June 2018, there is certainly bullish sentiment across the market,” added OKCoin’s Lau. Over $1.5 billion locked in Uniswap As for ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was also up Tuesday, trading around $478 and climbing 8.9% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). Read More: Ether Price Hits 2-Year High The amount of value locked in the decentralized exchange Uniswap is now more than $1.5 billion, a whopping 462% from the paltry $280 million of only a week ago. Why has there been such ridiculous growth of crypto locked in Uniswap? The rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) project SushiSwap protocol, which offers generous incentives to users staking crypto, has caught on with Uniswap pools. Read More: Decentralized Exchange Volume Rose 160% in August to $11.6B Essentially, a Uniswap LP (liquidity provider) token holder who gets tokens by depositing on Uniswap can reap more rewards by swapping over to Sushi tokens, driving the growth in value locked. “ The Uniswap locked value pump is due to SushiSwap,” said Peter Chan, lead trader at OneBit Quant. “It is simply staking Uniswap LP tokens for Sushi tokens,” he added. Other markets Digital assets on the CoinDesk 20 are mostly in the green on Tuesday. Notable winners as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): tron (TRX) + 17% nem (XEM) + 17% lisk (LSK) + 4.3% Read More: Rookie YFI Token Jumped 8-Fold in August as DeFi Dominated Notable losers as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET): basic attention token (BAT) – 5.2% 0x (ZRX) – 1.9% chainlink (LINK) – 1.4% Read More: US Regulator to Shake Up Banking With Federal Charters for Payment Firms Equities: In Asia the Nikkei 225 closed flat, in the red 0.01%, after it was announced telco SoftBank Corp. would be added to the index starting in October . In Europe, the FTSE 100 ended the day down 1.7% as a strengthened pound sterling is concerning investors about weakened overseas revenue . The United States’ S&P 500 gained 0.80% as tech stocks, including Zoom Video and Apple, led the index higher . Read More: Canaan’s Q2 Loss Narrows to $2.4M From Q1 on 160% Revenue Increase Commodities: Oil is up 0.22%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $42.89. Gold was flat, in the green 0.10% and at $1,969 as of press time. Read More: HSBC and Singapore Exchange Execute Successful $300M Digital Bond Treasurys: U.S. Treasury bond yields were mixed Tuesday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were down most on the 10-year, in the red 4.1%. Related Stories Market Wrap: Bitcoin Breaks $12K; Uniswap Crosses $1.5B Locked Market Wrap: Bitcoin Breaks $12K; Uniswap Crosses $1.5B Locked || Bitcoin Core developer Pieter Wuille departs Blockstream to join Chaincode Labs: Pieter Wuille, a long-time developer for Bitcoin Core and a co-founder of Blockstream, announced Monday that he has joined Chaincode Labs, a cryptocurrency-focused research and development firm. "Very excited to announce I'm joining Chaincode Labs today, where I plan to keep working on protocol improvements to Bitcoin!" Wuille wrote in a post on Twitter. "I'm very thankful for the time I got to spend with the people at [Blockstream], and will keep collaborating with the research team there." Wuille was among a group of Bitcoin Core developers to launch Blockstream in 2014. Wuille is one of the authors of the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) for Segregated Witness , which implemented a change to how information within transaction blocks is stored in order to make them more data-efficient. More recently, Wuille has been involved in an effort to introduce Taproot a privacy-focused technology change and Schnorr signatures to bitcoin. A soft fork proposal to integrate the two technology upgrades was introduced in May 2019. © 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. || Bitcoin Core developer Pieter Wuille departs Blockstream to join Chaincode Labs: Pieter Wuille, a long-time developer for Bitcoin Core and a co-founder of Blockstream, announced Monday that he has joined Chaincode Labs, a cryptocurrency-focused research and development firm.
"Very excited to announce I'm joining Chaincode Labs today, where I plan to keep working on protocol improvements to Bitcoin!" Wuille wrote in aposton Twitter. "I'm very thankful for the time I got to spend with the people at [Blockstream], and will keep collaborating with the research team there." Wuille was among a group of Bitcoin Core developers to launch Blockstream in 2014.
Wuille is one of the authors of the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) forSegregated Witness, which implemented a change to how information within transaction blocks is stored in order to make them more data-efficient.
More recently, Wuille has been involved in an effort to introduceTaproot— a privacy-focused technology change — and Schnorr signatures to bitcoin. A soft fork proposal to integrate the two technology upgrades was introduced in May 2019.
© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. || Bitcoin Core developer Pieter Wuille departs Blockstream to join Chaincode Labs: Pieter Wuille, a long-time developer for Bitcoin Core and a co-founder of Blockstream, announced Monday that he has joined Chaincode Labs, a cryptocurrency-focused research and development firm.
"Very excited to announce I'm joining Chaincode Labs today, where I plan to keep working on protocol improvements to Bitcoin!" Wuille wrote in aposton Twitter. "I'm very thankful for the time I got to spend with the people at [Blockstream], and will keep collaborating with the research team there." Wuille was among a group of Bitcoin Core developers to launch Blockstream in 2014.
Wuille is one of the authors of the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) forSegregated Witness, which implemented a change to how information within transaction blocks is stored in order to make them more data-efficient.
More recently, Wuille has been involved in an effort to introduceTaproot— a privacy-focused technology change — and Schnorr signatures to bitcoin. A soft fork proposal to integrate the two technology upgrades was introduced in May 2019.
© 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. || Russias New Blockchain Voting System Isnt Ready, but Itll Be Used This Month Anyway: Russias new blockchain-based voting system needs more work before it can be used in nationwide elections, according to the nations Central Election Commission. While recent user tests were promising, the commission concluded improvements are still needed regarding how voters are identified, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Tuesday . The e-voting system is built on the enterprise version of the Waves blockchain and was developed under the auspices of the state-backed telecommunications giant Rostelecom, as CoinDesk has reported . The blockchains nodes will be hosted on the companys servers. Related: Russia's Crypto Mining Farms Would Have to Report to Government Under Proposed Bill Despite the issues, the solution will be used for remote voting during by-elections for seats in the national parliament on Sept. 13 in two Russian regions: Kurskaya oblast and Yaroslavskaya oblast. About 15,000 people have already registered to vote electronically, and some 3,500 participated in the test, Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, told Kommersant. See also: Russias New Blockchain Elections Remain Centralized The solution is built with some technologies that have not been battle-tested yet, a source in the election commission told Kommersant. For example, the system uses homomorphic encryption , so votes remain encrypted until the voting is over. Only the final result can be then decrypted, they said. However, the encryption tech poses a challenge for checking the identity of voters, a problem that still needs to be resolved. Encryption approval Related: Russia Is Blocking Bitcoin-Related Websites Again Sergey Prilutsky, cybersecurity expert and co-founder of blockchain startup MixBytes, said homomorphic encryption is indeed better than the type used during electronic voting in Moscow this summer. Even so, it could still potentially allow the authorities to meddle with the results if they control the list of voters, he said. Waves Enterprise Chief Product Officer Artem Kalikhov told CoinDesk the system allows observers to watch how many electronic ballots have been issued in real time, helping prevent possible manipulation. However, this type of encryption algorithm cannot currently be certified in Russia, meaning it cant pass the lengthy and complicated procedure necessary for government blockchain systems, Prilutsky said. It uses elliptic curves that are not considered secure by the FSB, he said. The FSB is the Federal Security Service, a counter-intelligence agency in charge of certifying encryption tools in Russia. Story continues Kalikhov said the solution has yet to be certified, though the company is working on it. Some other components of the system, like the electronic signature, have already been certified by the FSB, he said. While the need to certify the homomorphic encryption aspect of the system could potentially hold up development, Kalikhov said it was unlikely to be an issue. See also: Russias Crypto Mining Farms Would Have to Report to Government Under Proposed Bill The Central Election Commission has already tested the blockchain voting system several times, according to Kalikhov said, but this was the first time real future voters were involved. Previous tests were run by Rostelecom and involved government staff, he added. According to Rostelecom spokesperson Natalia Bakrenko, the system is being constantly enhanced, and the voting in two regions this autumn will be the first step toward a nationwide expansion. Related Stories Russias New Blockchain Voting System Isnt Ready, but Itll Be Used This Month Anyway Russias New Blockchain Voting System Isnt Ready, but Itll Be Used This Month Anyway View comments || Russia’s New Blockchain Voting System Isn’t Ready, but It’ll Be Used This Month Anyway: Russia’s new blockchain-based voting system needs more work before it can be used in nationwide elections, according to the nation’s Central Election Commission.
While recent user tests were promising, the commission concluded improvements are still needed regarding how voters are identified, Russian newspaper Kommersantreported Tuesday.
The e-voting system is built on the enterprise version of the Waves blockchain and was developed under the auspices of the state-backed telecommunications giant Rostelecom, as CoinDesk hasreported. The blockchain’s nodes will be hosted on the company’s servers.
Related:Russia's Crypto Mining Farms Would Have to Report to Government Under Proposed Bill
Despite the issues, the solution will be used for remote voting during by-elections for seats in the national parliament on Sept. 13 in two Russian regions: Kurskaya oblast and Yaroslavskaya oblast. About 15,000 people have already registered to vote electronically, and some 3,500 participated in the test, Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Election Commission, told Kommersant.
See also:Russia’s New Blockchain Elections Remain Centralized
The solution is built with some technologies that have not been battle-tested yet, a source in the election commission told Kommersant. For example, the system useshomomorphic encryption, so votes remain encrypted until the voting is over. Only the final result can be then decrypted, they said.
However, the encryption tech poses a challenge for checking the identity of voters, a problem that still needs to be resolved.
Related:Russia Is Blocking Bitcoin-Related Websites Again
Sergey Prilutsky, cybersecurity expert and co-founder of blockchain startup MixBytes, said homomorphic encryption is indeed better than the type used duringelectronic voting in Moscowthis summer. Even so, it could still potentially allow the authorities to meddle with the results if they control the list of voters, he said.
Waves Enterprise Chief Product Officer Artem Kalikhov told CoinDesk the system allows observers to watch how many electronic ballots have been issued in real time, helping prevent possible manipulation.
However, this type of encryption algorithm cannot currently be certified in Russia, meaning it can’t pass the lengthy and complicatedprocedurenecessary for government blockchain systems, Prilutsky said.
“It uses elliptic curves that are not considered secure by the FSB,” he said. The FSB is the Federal Security Service, a counter-intelligence agency in charge ofcertifying encryption toolsin Russia.
Kalikhov said the solution has yet to be certified, though the company is working on it. Some other components of the system, like the electronic signature, have already been certified by the FSB, he said.
While the need to certify the homomorphic encryption aspect of the system could potentially hold up development, Kalikhov said it was unlikely to be an issue.
See also:Russia’s Crypto Mining Farms Would Have to Report to Government Under Proposed Bill
The Central Election Commission has already tested the blockchain voting system several times, according to Kalikhov said, but this was the first time real future voters were involved. Previous tests were run by Rostelecom and involved government staff, he added.
According to Rostelecom spokesperson Natalia Bakrenko, the system is being constantly enhanced, and the voting in two regions this autumn will be the first step toward a nationwide expansion.
• Russia’s New Blockchain Voting System Isn’t Ready, but It’ll Be Used This Month Anyway
• Russia’s New Blockchain Voting System Isn’t Ready, but It’ll Be Used This Month Anyway || New Malware Spotted in the Wild That Puts Cryptocurrency Wallets at Risk: The Takeaway: Anubis is a new malware that can target cryptocurrency wallets and other sensitive data. It first became available for sale in darkweb markets in June, and Microsoft has now seen limited attack campaigns using it. Experts recommend not visiting sketchy websites or opening strange or suspicious attachments, links or emails. Increasing interest cryptocurrencies, such as we’ve seen in recent months, usually sparks interest in new users who can be particularly susceptible to these kinds of attacks. A new form of malware called Anubis is now out in the world after being circulated for sale on cybercrime dark markets in June, according to Microsoft Security Intelligence. Using forked code from Loki malware, Anubis can steal cryptocurrency wallet IDs, system info, credit card information and other data. Importantly, this malware is distinct from a family of Android banking malware also called Anubis. It joins a growing list of malwares that look for vulnerable cryptocurrency stashes. Related: Thousands of Microsoft Servers Infected by Crypto-Mining Botnet Since 2018, Says Report “The malware is downloaded from certain websites. It steals information and sends stolen information to a C2 (command and control) server via an HTTP POST command,” said Tanmay Ganacharya, partner director of security research at Microsoft. HTTP Post is basically a data request from the internet. It is also used when you’re uploading a file or submitting a completed web form. See also: Hacker Stole 1,000 Traders’ Personal Data From Crypto Tax Reporting Service “When successfully executed it attempts to steal information and sends stolen information to a C2 server via HTTP POST command,” he said. “The post command sends back sensitive information that may include username and passwords, such as credentials saved in browsers, credit card information and cryptocurrency wallet IDs.” Avoiding Anubis: What we know Related: Monero Hacker Group 'Outlaw' Is Back and Targeting American Business: Report Story continues Parham Eftekhari, executive director of the Cybersecurity Collaborative, a forum for security professionals, reviewed the images of code tweeted out by Microsoft and said not much information about the Windows Anubis malware has been released. But the Loki bot (from which the Anubis code was taken) was spread via social engineering emails with attachments with “.iso” extensions. These messages masqueraded as orders and offers from other companies and were sent to publicly available company email addresses, sometimes from a company’s own site. When it comes to avoiding Anubis, Eftekhari said people should not open any attachments or emails that they are not expecting or that seem unfamiliar. “They should deploy antimalware applications on their systems and scan and update frequently,” he said. “Finally, when accessing sensitive accounts such as banking applications, they should employ secure or privacy browsers which may prevent malware from recording keystrokes or screenshots.” Ganacharya said that like many threats, this new malware tries to stay under the radar, so it doesn’t have obvious visual clues. Users can check for the presence of suspicious files and running processes (for example, ASteal.exe, Anubis Stealer.exe) as well as suspicious network traffic. See also: Binance and Oasis Labs Launch Alliance to Combat Crypto Fraud and Hacks For its part, Microsoft has updated its Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Microsoft Defender ATP) to detect Anubis malware and will be monitoring it to see if campaigns begin to spread. Microsoft Defender ATP uses AI-powered cloud-delivered protection to defend against new and unknown threats in real time Other users should be wary of visiting unknown or suspicious websites, or opening suspicious emails, attachments and URLs, Ganacharya said. Additionally, users can turn on unwanted app blocking in Microsoft Edge to get protection against cryptocurrency miners and other software that can affect the performance of devices. But for security professionals there are telltale signs when analyzing a system. One of these are indicators of compromise, which are indicators a system has been breached. These can include unusual outbound network traffic or unusual activity on an account. Malware and cryptocurrency While malware, or software designed to be malicious, isn’t new it’s increasingly being brought to bear on the cryptocurrency community. “Over the past three years we have been seeing an increased number of malwares that target user computers that, aside from trying to record/steal passwords, are specialized in harvesting the victim’s system for cryptocurrencies,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex. Ardoino said tech-savvy holders of cryptocurrency usually use a hardware wallet and store their seed (the information that generates and recovers a wallet) offline. Less-experienced users, though, due to the fear of losing the seed for their wallet, might keep it stored on their computer. Malware is then able to access the password manager or other online storage site while the user is accessing it, and copy and paste passwords. See also: Social Engineering: A Plague on Crypto and Twitter, Unlikely to Stop Another attack that malware can execute, according to Ardoino, is seeing if the computer runs a blockchain node that has an unprotected wallet file. Even if that wallet file has a password, if the malware involves a keystroke recorder (or keylogger) it can capture whatever a user on the computer types. He said there are many nuances, but as cryptocurrency gets closer to mass adoption, sloppy custodial practices could make people’s cryptocurrency wallets easier to target than banks or even credit cards. Upticks in bitcoin ( BTC ) and ether ( ETH ), like those we’ve seen in recent months, could spark interest in new users who can be particularly susceptible to these kinds of attacks. Pandemic poses new vulnerabilities The threat of malware has only increased as people have been pushed toward working and living remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, increasing the amount of time they spend online and the number of systems they use. See also: These Illicit SIM Cards Are Making Hacks Like Twitter’s Easier According to a recent report from Malwarebytes, a company specializing in combating malware, programs such as AveMaria and NetWiredRC, which allow for breaches like remote desktop access and password theft, have seen huge increases in use during the pandemic. They found AveMaria saw a bump of 1,219% from January to April compared to 2019; NetWiredRC observed a 99% increase in detections from January to June, primarily targeting businesses. Is the obvious defense the best defense? Paul Walsh, CEO of the cybersecurity company MetaCert, said that given the attack vectors identified, traditional models for identifying and protecting against these attacks are misguided. The vast majority of malware is delivered via email phishing and malicious URLs, which outnumber dangerous attachments (like Anubis) five to one, according to Walsh. “Most security issues that involve dangerous URLs go undetected and, therefore, [are] not blocked” he said. See also: YouTube’s Whac-a-Mole Approach to Crypto Scam Ads Remains a Problem There are thousands of security vendors in the world, but only a small number own their own “threat intelligence systems” – a fancy term for a big database of threats and potential threats. Those companies license that data to other companies. While Walsh’s company Metacert has a threat intelligence system, they might have URLs that Google, for example, won’t. It’s a patchwork solution at best. And if people are tailoring spear-phishing attacks for a specific company, the damage is usually done quite quickly, before a security database or firm might be aware a tailored website exists. The lifespan, or the time frame within which a phishing attack has accomplished its goal, is about seven minutes, said Walsh. But security companies may take up to two or three days to identify and vet new phishing attacks, particularly if they are tailored for a company or individual. Walsh says strong passwords and two-factor authentication are important. Yubikey, essentially a hardware version of two-factor authentication, is one step up, but it’s not supported by all websites. Related Stories New Malware Spotted in the Wild That Puts Cryptocurrency Wallets at Risk New Malware Spotted in the Wild That Puts Cryptocurrency Wallets at Risk || New Malware Spotted in the Wild That Puts Cryptocurrency Wallets at Risk: The Takeaway: Anubis is a new malware that can target cryptocurrency wallets and other sensitive data. It first became available for sale in darkweb markets in June, and Microsoft has now seen limited attack campaigns using it. Experts recommend not visiting sketchy websites or opening strange or suspicious attachments, links or emails. Increasing interest cryptocurrencies, such as we’ve seen in recent months, usually sparks interest in new users who can be particularly susceptible to these kinds of attacks. A new form of malware called Anubis is now out in the world after being circulated for sale on cybercrime dark markets in June, according to Microsoft Security Intelligence. Using forked code from Loki malware, Anubis can steal cryptocurrency wallet IDs, system info, credit card information and other data. Importantly, this malware is distinct from a family of Android banking malware also called Anubis. It joins a growing list of malwares that look for vulnerable cryptocurrency stashes. Related: Thousands of Microsoft Servers Infected by Crypto-Mining Botnet Since 2018, Says Report “The malware is downloaded from certain websites. It steals information and sends stolen information to a C2 (command and control) server via an HTTP POST command,” said Tanmay Ganacharya, partner director of security research at Microsoft. HTTP Post is basically a data request from the internet. It is also used when you’re uploading a file or submitting a completed web form. See also: Hacker Stole 1,000 Traders’ Personal Data From Crypto Tax Reporting Service “When successfully executed it attempts to steal information and sends stolen information to a C2 server via HTTP POST command,” he said. “The post command sends back sensitive information that may include username and passwords, such as credentials saved in browsers, credit card information and cryptocurrency wallet IDs.” Avoiding Anubis: What we know Related: Monero Hacker Group 'Outlaw' Is Back and Targeting American Business: Report Story continues Parham Eftekhari, executive director of the Cybersecurity Collaborative, a forum for security professionals, reviewed the images of code tweeted out by Microsoft and said not much information about the Windows Anubis malware has been released. But the Loki bot (from which the Anubis code was taken) was spread via social engineering emails with attachments with “.iso” extensions. These messages masqueraded as orders and offers from other companies and were sent to publicly available company email addresses, sometimes from a company’s own site. When it comes to avoiding Anubis, Eftekhari said people should not open any attachments or emails that they are not expecting or that seem unfamiliar. “They should deploy antimalware applications on their systems and scan and update frequently,” he said. “Finally, when accessing sensitive accounts such as banking applications, they should employ secure or privacy browsers which may prevent malware from recording keystrokes or screenshots.” Ganacharya said that like many threats, this new malware tries to stay under the radar, so it doesn’t have obvious visual clues. Users can check for the presence of suspicious files and running processes (for example, ASteal.exe, Anubis Stealer.exe) as well as suspicious network traffic. See also: Binance and Oasis Labs Launch Alliance to Combat Crypto Fraud and Hacks For its part, Microsoft has updated its Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Microsoft Defender ATP) to detect Anubis malware and will be monitoring it to see if campaigns begin to spread. Microsoft Defender ATP uses AI-powered cloud-delivered protection to defend against new and unknown threats in real time Other users should be wary of visiting unknown or suspicious websites, or opening suspicious emails, attachments and URLs, Ganacharya said. Additionally, users can turn on unwanted app blocking in Microsoft Edge to get protection against cryptocurrency miners and other software that can affect the performance of devices. But for security professionals there are telltale signs when analyzing a system. One of these are indicators of compromise, which are indicators a system has been breached. These can include unusual outbound network traffic or unusual activity on an account. Malware and cryptocurrency While malware, or software designed to be malicious, isn’t new it’s increasingly being brought to bear on the cryptocurrency community. “Over the past three years we have been seeing an increased number of malwares that target user computers that, aside from trying to record/steal passwords, are specialized in harvesting the victim’s system for cryptocurrencies,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex. Ardoino said tech-savvy holders of cryptocurrency usually use a hardware wallet and store their seed (the information that generates and recovers a wallet) offline. Less-experienced users, though, due to the fear of losing the seed for their wallet, might keep it stored on their computer. Malware is then able to access the password manager or other online storage site while the user is accessing it, and copy and paste passwords. See also: Social Engineering: A Plague on Crypto and Twitter, Unlikely to Stop Another attack that malware can execute, according to Ardoino, is seeing if the computer runs a blockchain node that has an unprotected wallet file. Even if that wallet file has a password, if the malware involves a keystroke recorder (or keylogger) it can capture whatever a user on the computer types. He said there are many nuances, but as cryptocurrency gets closer to mass adoption, sloppy custodial practices could make people’s cryptocurrency wallets easier to target than banks or even credit cards. Upticks in bitcoin ( BTC ) and ether ( ETH ), like those we’ve seen in recent months, could spark interest in new users who can be particularly susceptible to these kinds of attacks. Pandemic poses new vulnerabilities The threat of malware has only increased as people have been pushed toward working and living remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, increasing the amount of time they spend online and the number of systems they use. See also: These Illicit SIM Cards Are Making Hacks Like Twitter’s Easier According to a recent report from Malwarebytes, a company specializing in combating malware, programs such as AveMaria and NetWiredRC, which allow for breaches like remote desktop access and password theft, have seen huge increases in use during the pandemic. They found AveMaria saw a bump of 1,219% from January to April compared to 2019; NetWiredRC observed a 99% increase in detections from January to June, primarily targeting businesses. Is the obvious defense the best defense? Paul Walsh, CEO of the cybersecurity company MetaCert, said that given the attack vectors identified, traditional models for identifying and protecting against these attacks are misguided. The vast majority of malware is delivered via email phishing and malicious URLs, which outnumber dangerous attachments (like Anubis) five to one, according to Walsh. “Most security issues that involve dangerous URLs go undetected and, therefore, [are] not blocked” he said. See also: YouTube’s Whac-a-Mole Approach to Crypto Scam Ads Remains a Problem There are thousands of security vendors in the world, but only a small number own their own “threat intelligence systems” – a fancy term for a big database of threats and potential threats. Those companies license that data to other companies. While Walsh’s company Metacert has a threat intelligence system, they might have URLs that Google, for example, won’t. It’s a patchwork solution at best. And if people are tailoring spear-phishing attacks for a specific company, the damage is usually done quite quickly, before a security database or firm might be aware a tailored website exists. The lifespan, or the time frame within which a phishing attack has accomplished its goal, is about seven minutes, said Walsh. But security companies may take up to two or three days to identify and vet new phishing attacks, particularly if they are tailored for a company or individual. Walsh says strong passwords and two-factor authentication are important. Yubikey, essentially a hardware version of two-factor authentication, is one step up, but it’s not supported by all websites. Related Stories New Malware Spotted in the Wild That Puts Cryptocurrency Wallets at Risk New Malware Spotted in the Wild That Puts Cryptocurrency Wallets at Risk || Blockchain Bites: Patoshi’s Patterns, Canaan’s Losses, DeFi’s ‘Weird’ Moment: Decentralized exchange volume recorded a third straight monthly high, Coinbase’s boardroom was mixed up ahead of a potential public listing and Tezos settled a class action asserting its $232 million ICO was an unregistered securities sale. You’re reading Blockchain Bites , the daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news, and why they’re significant. You can subscribe to this and all of CoinDesk’s newsletters here . Top shelf DEX wrecks? August trading volume on decentralized exchanges set its third consecutive monthly record high after climbing 160% from July, according to Dune Analytics. Aggregate trading volume on decentralized exchanges reached $11.6 billion in August, up from $4.5 billion in July as the intense enthusiasm for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications continued to spread. Leading decentralized exchange platform Uniswap reported a 283% volume increase in August, reaching $6.7 billion after topping its July record less than two weeks into the month, as CoinDesk previously reported. Along with aggressive volume growth, Uniswap reported an almost 100% increase in the total trading pairs listed on the platform, totaling 6,867 as of Monday. Related: First Mover: Rookie YFI Token Jumped 8-Fold in August as DeFi Dominated Unlicensed action? The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is forging ahead with a plan to offer national banking charters to payment firms that don’t take deposits, easing the way for businesses like Stripe and Coinbase to become licensed. Acting Comptroller of Currency Brian Brooks, a Coinbase alum, is spearheading the move that would empower payment firms to operate across state lines with a single set of consolidated rules, CoinDesk’s Sebastian Sinclair reports. The move is drawing heavy criticism from entrenched interests: “A few months into his service in an acting capacity, a bank regulator (and former cryptocurrency lawyer) pushes ahead with a legally dubious plan to give tech companies banking charters,” tweeted Graham Steele, director of the Corporations and Society Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Boardroom shakeup Coinbase has added legendary investor Marc Andreessen of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Gokul Rajaram, a DoorDash executive, to its board of directors – replacing outgoing board members Chris Dixon and Barry Schuler. Andreessen, whose tech-focused venture firm manages $12 billion in assets, will operate as a board observer while Rajaram, who oversees Caviar, will become a board director, according to a Monday blog post. The high-profile board additions bring major boardroom clout to the one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S. and comes as Coinbase is reportedly considering going public, CoinDesk’s Danny Nelson reports. Story continues Canaan’s quarter Canaan Creative reported a 2Q net loss of $2.38 million, or 10 cents a share. That’s less than half the size of Q1’s $5.64 million loss, as revenue rose more than 160% to $25.2 million. The Hangzhou, China-based company also reported cash and cash equivalents worth $22.2 million, down 40% from $37.3 million at the end of Q1. The company cited an increase in short-term investments for the lower cash on hand, and declined to issue forward guidance due to economic uncertainty. Canaan has traded on the Nasdaq since November 2019 after abandoning plans for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Since its listing, Canaan shares have dropped nearly 85%, CoinDesk’s Zack Voell reports. Tezos settled A long-running lawsuit alleging the $232 million 2017 Tezos initial coin offering (ICO) was an unregistered securities sale has been settled. The Swiss-based Tezos Foundation agreed Friday to pay $25 million in cash to settle the case. (Project founders Arthur and Kathleen Breitman are named as parties but their representative told CoinDesk the nonprofit is footing the entire bill.) The class action will pay out for those who invested in the Tezos ICO but did not make a profit. While the case centered around a securities law violation, the court has not ruled on whether the Tezos ICO was an unregistered securities sale. Quick bites Yearn, YAM and the Rise of Crypto’s ‘Weird DeFi’ Moment (Brady Dale/CoinDesk) Five CoinMarketCap Executives Depart Binance-Owned Firm (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk) Bitsonar Whistleblower Says Law Enforcement Faked His Murder in Attempt to Protect Him (Anna Baydakova/CoinDesk) Government of Bermuda Pilots Stimulus Token in Response to COVID Crisis (Sandali Handagama/CoinDesk) How the Bitcoin Blockchain Is Being Used to Safeguard Nuclear Power Stations (Ian Allison/CoinDesk) At stake Related: Blockchain Bites: Ethereum Classic Attacked, Electrum Wallet Drained and Taxable Microtasks Patoshi pattern New research from IOV Head of Innovation and RSK designer Sergio Demian Lerner reveals that an early miner on the Bitcoin network used a special algorithm to give him/her a leg up. While it cannot be proven, many think this early miner – code-named Patoshi – is Bitcoin’s creator, who went by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Lerner’s research raises questions about Nakamoto’s motivations – often looked to as a beneficent and ideologically driven coder. “If we take for granted that Patoshi is, in fact, Satoshi, then it’s conceivable that Bitcoin’s creator used this advantage to prevent mining attacks on the nascent network,” CoinDesk’s Colin Harper reports. While the “Patoshi pattern” has been known for years, Lerner has discovered the mechanics behind it. He now thinks Patoshi likely used multi-threading, a way to boost a CPU to sweep for multiple nonces at once, at a time when other miners were unaware of this solution. While this means Patoshi mined significantly more blocks than other miners in the early days – the total hoard is estimated to be 1.1 million BTC – Lerner thinks it was a strategy to keep the nascent system alive. Multithreading could pick up the slack when blocks were not being mined on schedule, and dialed down when the system functioned properly. In June, Lerner pointed out that Patoshi “reduced his hashrate in several steps during the first year” and that it’s likely he turned off his miner for five-minute intervals each time he mined a new block. Patoshi took these measures, Lerner posits, to foster healthy competition and to make sure he didn’t hog all the new blocks. “The research on how Patoshi proceeded to decentralize Bitcoin taught me a lot about ideals,” Lerner said. “The first Bitcoiners were believers who cared a lot less about money that we all care now. Most of them mined to help the project see how far it could grow against all odds. Most of them donated bitcoins, received and paid with bitcoin to show its potential and never bother to speculate. Some of them mined just for fun.” Market intel Ether’s gains Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, jumped to two-year highs on Tuesday, taking its year-to-date gains to 260%. The native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, ETH was trading at $470 at press time – a level last seen in July 2018. Prices are up more than 100% this quarter alone, according to CoinDesk’s ether price index. “Ethereum’s price increase shows it is one of the main altcoins leading the market,” Simon Peters, an analyst at multi-asset investment platform eToro, told CoinDesk. Investors may be entering the crypto market via ether and decentralized finance protocols rather than bitcoin, which served as a gateway to crypto markets during the 2017 bull run, Peters said. Derivatives competition Huobi Futures, the crypto derivatives unit of Huobi Group, said Monday it will offer trading in bitcoin options starting Tuesday, aiming to meet a surging demand from traders to hedge against risks in cryptocurrency markets. Options contacts on bitcoin (BTC) will be available for trading, starting from 10:00 UTC on Sept. 1. Currently, Deribit is the largest bitcoin options exchange by open interest and daily trading volume. The exchange accounts for more than 85% of total options trading volume of $136 million, according to data source Skew. Tech pod Do not cry for the onion The Tor Project, the nonprofit group behind the privacy-focused Tor browser, launched the Tor Project Membership Program Monday in a bid to increase the diversity of funds in their budget. The nonprofit laid off a third of its staff in April amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Members of the program gain access to the Tor Project’s “Onion Advisors” group, who can help integrate Tor into their products as well as answer questions about the Tor Project’s areas of expertise, such as privacy or circumventing censorship. Founding members include Avast, DuckDuckGo, Insurgo, Inc., Mullvad VPN and Team Cymru. Live Webinar: What to expect when phase 0 launches Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is expected to undergo a radical system-wide upgrade to improve network scalability and efficiency this by early next year. Join CoinDesk Research on Sept. 10 at 1:30 p.m. ET for a live discussion as we examine the potential market impacts of the launch of what’s known as Ethereum 2.0. Due to its sheer complexity, Ethereum 2.0 will be rolled out in several phases starting with Phase 0. Don’t miss the opportunity to understand the risks, benefits and predictions for the next phase of this technology. Op-ed Crypto dollars Alejandro Machado, co-founder of the Open Money Initiative, has found that Venezuelans are turning to crypto dollars during a prolonged period of economic uncertainty. “Most U.S. banks don’t need Venezuelan customers to thrive, so they have been shutting down their accounts. This places an artificial limit to the growth, and even the maintenance, of digital dollar accounts that depend on traditional financial institutions. Accounts that are powered by cryptocurrency, and that are supported by dedicated firms, can be made to have much fewer user-facing requirements. A smartphone may be the only physical equipment a person needs to get an account,” he writes. Inflation’s effect on stablecoins Alexander Lipton, CTO of Sila, explores what the Federal Reserve’s changing stance on inflation might mean for stablecoins. “[I]n the long term it will have profound implications for the price of equities, oil, gold and cryptos, and, more broadly, to the modus operandi of the entire financial system… [opening] a real possibility for building the new economy based on programmable money and regularly complaint payment rails operating entirely (or mostly) outside of the existing banking system,” he writes. Podcast corner Sustainable commitments? The booming stock market is driven by perception of the Federal Reserve’s commitment to high prices and growing individual trading. Nathaniel Whittemore asks, “How sustainable is this?” in the latest edition of The Breakdown. Who won #CryptoTwitter? UPDATE (Sept. 2, 19:30 UTC): In an earlier version of this article, the passage about Tezos stated that the Breitmans would pay part of the settlement, based on a passage in court documents. The couple’s representative later said the foundation is footing the entire bill. Related Stories Blockchain Bites: Patoshi’s Patterns, Canaan’s Losses, DeFi’s ‘Weird’ Moment Blockchain Bites: Patoshi’s Patterns, Canaan’s Losses, DeFi’s ‘Weird’ Moment View comments || Blockchain Bites: Patoshi’s Patterns, Canaan’s Losses, DeFi’s ‘Weird’ Moment: Decentralized exchange volume recorded a third straight monthly high, Coinbase’s boardroom was mixed up ahead of a potential public listing and Tezos settled a class action asserting its $232 million ICO was an unregistered securities sale.
You’re readingBlockchain Bites, the daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news, and why they’re significant. You can subscribe to this and all of CoinDesk’snewsletters here.
DEX wrecks?August trading volume ondecentralized exchanges set its third consecutive monthly record highafter climbing 160% from July, according to Dune Analytics. Aggregate trading volume on decentralized exchanges reached $11.6 billion in August, up from $4.5 billion in July as the intense enthusiasm for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications continued to spread. Leading decentralized exchange platform Uniswap reported a 283% volume increase in August, reaching $6.7 billion after topping its July record less than two weeks into the month, as CoinDesk previously reported. Along with aggressive volume growth, Uniswap reported an almost 100% increase in the total trading pairs listed on the platform, totaling 6,867 as of Monday.
Related:First Mover: Rookie YFI Token Jumped 8-Fold in August as DeFi Dominated
Unlicensed action?The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is forging ahead witha plan to offer national banking charters to payment firmsthat don’t take deposits, easing the way for businesses like Stripe and Coinbase to become licensed. Acting Comptroller of Currency Brian Brooks, a Coinbase alum, is spearheading the move that would empower payment firms to operate across state lines with a single set of consolidated rules, CoinDesk’s Sebastian Sinclair reports. The move is drawing heavy criticism from entrenched interests: “A few months into his service in an acting capacity, a bank regulator (and former cryptocurrency lawyer) pushes ahead with a legally dubious plan to give tech companies banking charters,” tweeted Graham Steele, director of the Corporations and Society Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Boardroom shakeupCoinbase has addedlegendary investor Marc Andreessen of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Gokul Rajaram, a DoorDash executive, to its boardof directors – replacing outgoing board members Chris Dixon and Barry Schuler. Andreessen, whose tech-focused venture firm manages $12 billion in assets, will operate as a board observer while Rajaram, who oversees Caviar, will become a board director, according to a Monday blog post. The high-profile board additions bring major boardroom clout to the one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S. and comes as Coinbase is reportedly considering going public, CoinDesk’s Danny Nelson reports.
Canaan’s quarterCanaan Creative reported a2Q net loss of $2.38 million, or 10 cents a share.That’s less than half the size of Q1’s $5.64 million loss, as revenue rose more than 160% to $25.2 million. The Hangzhou, China-based company also reported cash and cash equivalents worth $22.2 million, down 40% from $37.3 million at the end of Q1. The company cited an increase in short-term investments for the lower cash on hand, and declined to issue forward guidance due to economic uncertainty. Canaan has traded on the Nasdaq since November 2019 after abandoning plans for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Since its listing, Canaan shares have dropped nearly 85%, CoinDesk’s Zack Voell reports.
Tezos settledA long-runninglawsuit alleging the $232 million 2017 Tezos initial coin offering (ICO) was an unregistered securities salehas been settled. The Swiss-based Tezos Foundation agreed Friday to pay $25 million in cash to settle the case. (Project founders Arthur and Kathleen Breitman are named as parties but their representative told CoinDesk the nonprofit is footing the entire bill.) The class action will pay out for those who invested in the Tezos ICO but did not make a profit. While the case centered around a securities law violation, the court has not ruled on whether the Tezos ICO was an unregistered securities sale.
• Yearn, YAM and the Rise of Crypto’s‘Weird DeFi’Moment (Brady Dale/CoinDesk)
• FiveCoinMarketCap Executives DepartBinance-Owned Firm (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
• Bitsonar Whistleblower SaysLaw Enforcement Faked His Murderin Attempt to Protect Him (Anna Baydakova/CoinDesk)
• Government ofBermuda Pilots Stimulus Tokenin Response to COVID Crisis (Sandali Handagama/CoinDesk)
• How the Bitcoin Blockchain Is Being Used toSafeguard Nuclear PowerStations (Ian Allison/CoinDesk)
Related:Blockchain Bites: Ethereum Classic Attacked, Electrum Wallet Drained and Taxable Microtasks
Patoshi patternNew research from IOV Head of Innovation and RSK designer Sergio Demian Lerner reveals that anearly miner on the Bitcoin network used a special algorithm to give him/her a leg up.
While it cannot be proven, many think this early miner – code-named Patoshi – is Bitcoin’s creator, who went by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Lerner’s research raises questions about Nakamoto’s motivations – often looked to as a beneficent and ideologically driven coder.
“If we take for granted that Patoshi is, in fact, Satoshi, then it’s conceivable that Bitcoin’s creator used this advantage to prevent mining attacks on the nascent network,” CoinDesk’s Colin Harper reports.
While the “Patoshi pattern” has been known for years, Lerner has discovered the mechanics behind it. He now thinks Patoshi likely used multi-threading, a way to boost a CPU to sweep for multiple nonces at once, at a time when other miners were unaware of this solution.
While this means Patoshi mined significantly more blocks than other miners in the early days – the total hoard is estimated to be 1.1 millionBTC– Lerner thinks it was a strategy to keep the nascent system alive.
Multithreading could pick up the slack when blocks were not being mined on schedule, and dialed down when the system functioned properly.
In June, Lerner pointed out that Patoshi “reduced his hashrate in several steps during the first year” and that it’s likely he turned off his miner for five-minute intervals each time he mined a new block.
Patoshi took these measures, Lerner posits, to foster healthy competition and to make sure he didn’t hog all the new blocks.
“The research on how Patoshi proceeded to decentralize Bitcoin taught me a lot about ideals,” Lerner said. “The first Bitcoiners were believers who cared a lot less about money that we all care now. Most of them mined to help the project see how far it could grow against all odds. Most of them donated bitcoins, received and paid with bitcoin to show its potential and never bother to speculate. Some of them mined just for fun.”
Ether’s gainsEther (ETH),the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, jumped to two-year highs on Tuesday,taking its year-to-date gains to 260%. The native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain,ETHwas trading at $470 at press time – a level last seen in July 2018. Prices are up more than 100% this quarter alone, according to CoinDesk’s ether price index. “Ethereum’s price increase shows it is one of the main altcoins leading the market,” Simon Peters, an analyst at multi-asset investment platform eToro, told CoinDesk. Investors may be entering the crypto market via ether and decentralized finance protocols rather than bitcoin, which served as a gateway to crypto markets during the 2017 bull run, Peters said.
Derivatives competitionHuobi Futures, the crypto derivatives unit of Huobi Group, said Monday it will offertrading in bitcoin optionsstarting Tuesday, aiming to meet a surging demand from traders to hedge against risks in cryptocurrency markets. Options contacts on bitcoin (BTC) will be available for trading, starting from 10:00 UTC on Sept. 1. Currently, Deribit is the largest bitcoin options exchange by open interest and daily trading volume. The exchange accounts for more than 85% of total options trading volume of $136 million, according to data source Skew.
Do not cry for the onionThe Tor Project, the nonprofit group behind the privacy-focused Tor browser,launched the Tor Project Membership Program Monday in a bid to increase the diversity of fundsin their budget. The nonprofit laid off a third of its staff in April amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Members of the program gain access to the Tor Project’s “Onion Advisors” group, who can help integrate Tor into their products as well as answer questions about the Tor Project’s areas of expertise, such as privacy or circumventing censorship. Founding members include Avast, DuckDuckGo, Insurgo, Inc., Mullvad VPN and Team Cymru.
Live Webinar: What to expect when phase 0 launchesEthereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is expected to undergo a radical system-wide upgrade to improve network scalability and efficiency this by early next year.Join CoinDesk Research on Sept. 10 at 1:30 p.m. ET for a live discussionas we examine the potential market impacts of the launch of what’s known as Ethereum 2.0.
Due to its sheer complexity, Ethereum 2.0 will be rolled out in several phases starting with Phase 0. Don’t miss the opportunity to understand the risks, benefits and predictions for the next phase of this technology.
Crypto dollarsAlejandro Machado, co-founder of the Open Money Initiative, has found thatVenezuelans are turning to crypto dollars during a prolonged period of economic uncertainty.“Most U.S. banks don’t need Venezuelan customers to thrive, so they have been shutting down their accounts. This places an artificial limit to the growth, and even the maintenance, of digital dollar accounts that depend on traditional financial institutions. Accounts that are powered by cryptocurrency, and that are supported by dedicated firms, can be made to have much fewer user-facing requirements. A smartphone may be the only physical equipment a person needs to get an account,” he writes.
Inflation’s effect on stablecoinsAlexander Lipton, CTO of Sila, explores what the Federal Reserve’schanging stance on inflation might mean for stablecoins.“[I]n the long term it will have profound implications for the price of equities, oil, gold and cryptos, and, more broadly, to the modus operandi of the entire financial system… [opening] a real possibility for building the new economy based on programmable money and regularly complaint payment rails operating entirely (or mostly) outside of the existing banking system,” he writes.
Sustainable commitments?Thebooming stock market is driven by perception of the Federal Reserve’s commitment to high pricesand growing individual trading. Nathaniel Whittemore asks, “How sustainable is this?” in the latest edition of The Breakdown.
UPDATE (Sept. 2, 19:30 UTC):In an earlier version of this article, the passage about Tezos stated that the Breitmans would pay part of the settlement, based on a passage in court documents. The couple’s representative later said the foundation is footing the entire bill.
• Blockchain Bites: Patoshi’s Patterns, Canaan’s Losses, DeFi’s ‘Weird’ Moment
• Blockchain Bites: Patoshi’s Patterns, Canaan’s Losses, DeFi’s ‘Weird’ Moment || Bitcoin Miners Saw 23% Revenue Increase in August: Bitcoin miners enjoyed a 23% increase in revenue during August, driven by higher network fees from increased on-chain transaction volume as bitcoin (BTC) avoided a daily close below $11,000 throughout the entire month.
• Bitcoin miners generated an estimated $368 million in revenue in August, up from $300 million in July, and the third consecutive monthly increase in miner revenue, according to Coin Metrics data analyzed by CoinDesk.
• Revenue estimates assume miners sell theirbitcoinsimmediately.
• Network fees brought in $39 million in August, or 10.7% of total revenue, setting the highest percentage of fee-generated revenue in over 18 months.
• Correspondingly, average daily fees continued July’supward trend, staying above $2 for the entire month of August, according to Coin Metrics data.
• July’s revenue increase coincided with rallies of the shares of publicly traded mining companies, several of which continue tooutperform bitcoin.
• In addition,Riot Blockchain,Marathon Patent Grouphave reported significant revenue increases and mining capacity growth over the past quarter. Even troubled Hangzhou, China-based Canaan Creativereported a 160% revenue increaseover the June period.
• Bitcoin Miners Saw 23% Revenue Increase in August
• Bitcoin Miners Saw 23% Revenue Increase in August
• Bitcoin Miners Saw 23% Revenue Increase in August
• Bitcoin Miners Saw 23% Revenue Increase in August
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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10245.30, 10511.81, 10169.57, 10280.35, 10369.56, 10131.52, 10242.35, 10363.14, 10400.92, 10442.17
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 7422.65, 7293.00, 7193.60, 7200.17, 6985.47, 7344.88, 7410.66, 7411.32, 7769.22, 8163.69, 8079.86, 7879.07, 8166.55, 8037.54, 8192.49, 8144.19, 8827.76, 8807.01, 8723.79, 8929.04, 8942.81, 8706.25, 8657.64, 8745.89, 8680.88, 8406.52, 8445.43, 8367.85, 8596.83, 8909.82, 9358.59, 9316.63, 9508.99, 9350.53, 9392.88, 9344.37, 9293.52, 9180.96, 9613.42, 9729.80, 9795.94, 9865.12, 10116.67, 9856.61, 10208.24, 10326.05, 10214.38, 10312.12, 9889.42, 9934.43, 9690.14, 10142.00, 9633.39, 9608.48, 9686.44, 9663.18, 9924.52, 9650.17, 9341.71, 8820.52, 8784.49, 8672.46, 8599.51, 8562.45, 8869.67, 8787.79, 8755.25, 9078.76, 9122.55, 8909.95, 8108.12, 7923.64, 7909.73, 7911.43, 4970.79, 5563.71, 5200.37, 5392.31, 5014.48, 5225.63, 5238.44, 6191.19, 6198.78, 6185.07, 5830.25, 6416.31, 6734.80, 6681.06, 6716.44, 6469.80.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-03-27]
Volume: 34585598367, RSI (14-day): 44.38, 50-day EMA: 7531.77, 200-day EMA: 8212.57
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1623.90, Gold RSI: 54.41
Oil Price: 21.51, Oil RSI: 26.61
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/26/2020: Bitcoin Price Analysis: 7K Is A Step Too Far.....For Now Bitcoin is trading 0.55% lower on Thursday and the market is strangely quiet. The candles are worryingly small and this can happen before an explosive move. On the chart below the 7K level seems to be the stumbling block for the bulls. It has been tested a couple of times now and whenever the bulls get close the price sells off again. Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH/USD At Risk To Another Deeper Fall Ethereum price is trading in the red by 3.30% in the session on Thursday. ETH/USD continues to move within a very tight range, breakout looming. The price has failed to find any direction since the stabilization from selling some two weeks ago. Litecoin Price Prediction: LTC/USD Bears Have An Opportunity To Force Greater Downside Litecoin price is trading in negative territory by 0.90% in the session on Thursday. LTC/USD has offered little in terms of price action since 13 March. Given the narrow conditions, it suggests a big breakout is in the works for Litecoin. See more from Benzinga Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/25/2020 Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/24/2020 Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/23/2020 © 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/26/2020: Bitcoin Price Analysis: 7K Is A Step Too Far.....For Now
Bitcoin is trading 0.55% lower on Thursday and the market is strangely quiet. The candles are worryingly small and this can happen before an explosive move. On the chart below the 7K level seems to be the stumbling block for the bulls. It has been tested a couple of times now and whenever the bulls get close the price sells off again.
Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH/USD At Risk To Another Deeper Fall
Ethereum price is trading in the red by 3.30% in the session on Thursday.
ETH/USD continues to move within a very tight range, breakout looming.
The price has failed to find any direction since the stabilization from selling some two weeks ago.
Litecoin Price Prediction: LTC/USD Bears Have An Opportunity To Force Greater Downside
Litecoin price is trading in negative territory by 0.90% in the session on Thursday.
LTC/USD has offered little in terms of price action since 13 March.
Given the narrow conditions, it suggests a big breakout is in the works for Litecoin.
See more from Benzinga
• Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/25/2020
• Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/24/2020
• Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/23/2020
© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/26/2020: Bitcoin Price Analysis: 7K Is A Step Too Far.....For Now
Bitcoin is trading 0.55% lower on Thursday and the market is strangely quiet. The candles are worryingly small and this can happen before an explosive move. On the chart below the 7K level seems to be the stumbling block for the bulls. It has been tested a couple of times now and whenever the bulls get close the price sells off again.
Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH/USD At Risk To Another Deeper Fall
Ethereum price is trading in the red by 3.30% in the session on Thursday.
ETH/USD continues to move within a very tight range, breakout looming.
The price has failed to find any direction since the stabilization from selling some two weeks ago.
Litecoin Price Prediction: LTC/USD Bears Have An Opportunity To Force Greater Downside
Litecoin price is trading in negative territory by 0.90% in the session on Thursday.
LTC/USD has offered little in terms of price action since 13 March.
Given the narrow conditions, it suggests a big breakout is in the works for Litecoin.
See more from Benzinga
• Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/25/2020
• Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/24/2020
• Bitcoin, Ethereum & Litecoin - American Wrap: 3/23/2020
© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || US, European Stocks Up but Crypto Traders Remain Cautious: American and European equity markets extended their gains on Thursday while major cryptocurrencies made only slight moves on the day. Bitcoin (BTC) was up 1 percent while ether (ETH) up by less than 1 percent. Notable 24 hour performances on CoinDesk’s digital asset board today as of 20:00 UTC include monero (XMR), up 8 percent; tron (TRX), up 3 percent and IOTA (IOTA) in the green by 2 percent. Assets in the red include bitcoin SV (BSV), down 1 percent; NEO (NEO) lower by less than 1 percent and Zcash (ZEC) down under 1 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index closed its day at 5:00 UTC down 4.5 percent, a reversal for the key Asian equities market after spending the week closing in the green. As for Europe, the FTSE 100 Index was up 2 percent at its session close 17:00 UTC. This comes after the British equity index delivered its second-best percentage gain on record on Tuesday, March 24, climbing 9.1 percent. In the U.S., the S&P 500 Index closed up 6 percent at 20:00 UTC. Related: Bitcoin and Ether Prices Stagnate as Traders Take Wait-and-See Approach “Looks like stimulus is short-term good for all assets, crypto included,” said Kevin Zhou, CEO of algorithmic trading firm Galois Capital. See also: We Won’t Ever Think About the Financial System the Same Way Indeed, while stimulus appears to be keeping markets up, longer-term economic troubles loom. U.S. industrial output has already taken a significant hit as coronavirus and government-mandated business closures hit crucial economic engines. On March 24, IHS Markit released its monthly report on the composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). PMI tracks the overall health of the U.S. manufacturing and service sectors and it came in at 40.5, down from 49.6 in February, the largest drop since 2008. Related: Strange Days: S&P 500 Is More Volatile Than Bitcoin This Month “We may very well be in a recession, but I would point to the difference between this and a normal recession,” U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said March 26 in an interview with NBC. “There is nothing fundamentally wrong with our economy,” he added. Story continues On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said his department will work with Congress on creating financing programs, which he estimated could involve as much as $4 trillion. In addition, the government intends to provide another $2 trillion in stimulus to individual Americans, a measure passed unanimously in the Senate and set for vote in the House Friday. “Pouring $6 trillion artificially creates somewhat of a ‘positive’ effect. But to me it’s like a bomb in slow motion. We will see dramatic consequences of these decisions,” said Constantin Kogan, a partner at cryptocurrency fund-of-funds BitBull Capital. Indeed, cryptocurrency traders are concerned with the direction bitcoin price might go. The market experienced a huge jump around 12:00 UTC on March 23. After that big bounce, bitcoin’s price has been in a range between $6,400 and $6,900 on Coinbase since March 24. See also: Bitcoin Is a Safe Haven for a Worse Storm Than This “I don’t know what to make of this market right now. I am a little confused, to be honest,” said Jack Tan, founding partner of Taiwan-based crypto trading firm Kronos Research. “I don’t hold any particular views of the market at this point. But we did sell some longs,” he added. Related Stories After Coronavirus ‘War,’ Bretton Woods-Style Shakeup Could Dethrone the Dollar Investors Regained Confidence in Bitcoin Amid Price Recovery, Data Suggests || US, European Stocks Up but Crypto Traders Remain Cautious: American and European equity markets extended their gains on Thursday while major cryptocurrencies made only slight moves on the day.Bitcoin(BTC) was up 1 percent whileether(ETH) up by less than 1 percent.
Notable 24 hour performances on CoinDesk’s digital asset board today as of 20:00 UTC includemonero(XMR), up 8 percent;tron(TRX), up 3 percent andIOTA(IOTA) in the green by 2 percent. Assets in the red includebitcoin SV(BSV), down 1 percent;NEO(NEO) lower by less than 1 percent andZcash(ZEC) down under 1 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index closed its day at 5:00 UTC down 4.5 percent, a reversal for the key Asian equities market after spending the week closing in the green. As for Europe, the FTSE 100 Index was up 2 percent at its session close 17:00 UTC. This comes after the British equity index delivered its second-best percentage gain on record on Tuesday, March 24, climbing 9.1 percent. In the U.S., the S&P 500 Index closed up 6 percent at 20:00 UTC.
Related:Bitcoin and Ether Prices Stagnate as Traders Take Wait-and-See Approach
“Looks like stimulus is short-term good for all assets, crypto included,” said Kevin Zhou, CEO of algorithmic trading firm Galois Capital.
See also:We Won’t Ever Think About the Financial System the Same Way
Indeed, while stimulus appears to be keeping markets up, longer-term economic troubles loom. U.S. industrial output has already taken a significant hit as coronavirus and government-mandated business closures hit crucial economic engines.
On March 24, IHS Markit released itsmonthly report on the composite Purchasing Managers’ Index(PMI). PMI tracks the overall health of the U.S. manufacturing and service sectors and it came in at 40.5, down from 49.6 in February, the largest drop since 2008.
Related:Strange Days: S&P 500 Is More Volatile Than Bitcoin This Month
“We may very well be in a recession, but I would point to the difference between this and a normal recession,” U.S.Federal ReserveChairman Jerome Powell said March 26 in an interview with NBC. “There is nothing fundamentally wrong with our economy,” he added.
On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said his department will work with Congress on creating financing programs, which he estimated could involve as much as $4 trillion. In addition, the government intends to provide another $2 trillion in stimulus to individual Americans, a measure passed unanimously in the Senate and set for vote in the House Friday.
“Pouring $6 trillion artificially creates somewhat of a ‘positive’ effect. But to me it’s like a bomb in slow motion. We will see dramatic consequences of these decisions,” said Constantin Kogan, a partner at cryptocurrency fund-of-funds BitBull Capital.
Indeed, cryptocurrency traders are concerned with the direction bitcoin price might go. The market experienced a huge jump around 12:00 UTC on March 23. After that big bounce, bitcoin’s price has been in a range between $6,400 and $6,900 on Coinbase since March 24.
See also:Bitcoin Is a Safe Haven for a Worse Storm Than This
“I don’t know what to make of this market right now. I am a little confused, to be honest,” said Jack Tan, founding partner of Taiwan-based crypto trading firm Kronos Research.
“I don’t hold any particular views of the market at this point. But we did sell some longs,” he added.
• After Coronavirus ‘War,’ Bretton Woods-Style Shakeup Could Dethrone the Dollar
• Investors Regained Confidence in Bitcoin Amid Price Recovery, Data Suggests || Geopolitical Crisis May Benefit Oil, Gold and CBDCs, Not Bitcoin: Demand forgoldis skyrocketing and the clamor for scarce assets in a remote-first world was precisely where bitcoin was supposed to shine.
However, rather than creating a perfect scenario for the supranational money, the coronavirus crisis could instead entrench reliance on traditional institutions. In a world where central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) from major economies are fast approaching, bitcoin settlements may appear less attractive to compliance-focused financial entities.
As for short-term market signals, it’s more common for big traders to turn to oil or gold these days, according to eToro CEO Yoni Assia.
Related:Strange Days: S&P 500 Is More Volatile Than Bitcoin This Month
“TheSaudi-Russia-U.S. competitionon lowering the price of oil has added a lot of fire … some days [oil] is now the most traded asset on eToro,” Assia said. “There’s been a significant squeeze on the ability to purchase dollars. … There are liquidity issues but we’re still not at the point of 2008.”
Assia said overall activity on eToro is up in March, including cryptocurrency trades, with gold purchases in particular at an “all-time high.” These traders bought $7.4 billion worth of gold in the first week of March alone, he said. Whileretail investors have increasingly turned to bitcoin, the volume they’re moving during the downturn is nothing compared to activity associated with other hard assets.
Read more:Retail Investors Are Buying the Bitcoin Institutions Are Selling, Traders Say
“Gold price and flow is determined by the real rate of interest,” Roy Sebag, founder of precious metals custody firm Goldmoney, said, adding that Russian gold markets are impacted differently because they don’t rely on dollars. “The [U.S.] Federal Reserve completely changed the rules – the real rate of interest [including inflation] swung even more into the negative and so we are seeing all that savings flow into gold immediately.”
Related:Bitcoin Price Decline Prompts US Mining Firm to Shut Down ‘Indefinitely’
Rumors abound that institutions are short onphysical assets like gold. Sebag said the coronavirus crisis has shut down precious-metal mints, refineries and mines, leading to high premiums on small units.
“Traders are looking for small denominations of gold, which are becoming more and more difficult to find,” Sebagsaid. Issuers of gold-backed stablecoins, likePaxos, are also seeing increased demand.
Even with bitcoin trading up among retail investors, it hasn’t translated to stronger bitcoin use among retailers. According to BlueWallet co-founder Nuno Coelho,Lightning Networkpayments have been steadily decreasing over the past year. Channel capacitypeakedin May 2019.
This may leave bitcoin languishing, stuck between niche commercial rails and a lack of large-scale users.
“The hype about Lightning is gone,” Coelho said. “It’s time to focus on building the protocol and prove that Lightning can be a payments layer on top of Bitcoin. At the moment that is not clear yet.”
Some critics are questioning whether the grandfather cryptocurrency will eventually be the settlement layer some institutions hoped for – especially if CBDCs gain a foothold.
The U.S. Congress is already in talks about issuing a “Digital Dollar,” which might in some ways be comparable to China’s CBDC plans.
That’s why Michael Sung, a professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, said he expects the coronavirus crisis to “accelerate” Chinese CBDC initiatives.
Read more:US Senate Floats ‘Digital Dollar’ Bill After House Scrubs Term From Coronavirus Relief Plan
“This would be the proper way to deploy the CBDC in China, it would be a stimulus,” Sung said. “The [Chinese] government has already indicated digital currency is not meant to do large settlements.”
The Chinese government’s approach to digital settlements is especially relevant considering it is home to themajorityof bitcoin mining farms and manufacturers. Russia comes in at a distant second, a nation that has also taken a favorable approach towardCBDCsand arestrictiveone toward bitcoin.
Governments could issue digital assets without the restraints of physical shipments or reserves, whichbothEastern superpowers are alsoshoring up. China is, after all,boththe world’stop gold producer and consumer. Some analysts believe the adjustable CBDC would offer a complementary catalyst to tangible reserves.
“There’s a massive shift to fintech,” Sung said. “This will lead to a mass digitization.”
On Tuesday, Chinese news outlet Global Timesreportedthe People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is now drafting laws to pave the way for CBDC circulation. Tony Tong, co-chairman of the Hong Kong Blockchain Association, agreed the current crisis may hasten such efforts and reduce the government’s reliance on physical cash.
Fudan University’s Sung said he expects to see such developments before 2021.
“Bitcoin was supposed to be the digital gold,” Sung said. “But there are all sorts of weird dynamics where it’s now unclear if bitcoin has that privileged status as a flight to safety.”
Will Foxley contributed reporting.
• Investors Regained Confidence in Bitcoin Amid Price Recovery, Data Suggests
• UK Counties Warn of Bitcoin Scams Using Coronavirus as a Hook || Geopolitical Crisis May Benefit Oil, Gold and CBDCs, Not Bitcoin: Demand for gold is skyrocketing and the clamor for scarce assets in a remote-first world was precisely where bitcoin was supposed to shine. However, rather than creating a perfect scenario for the supranational money, the coronavirus crisis could instead entrench reliance on traditional institutions. In a world where central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) from major economies are fast approaching, bitcoin settlements may appear less attractive to compliance-focused financial entities. As for short-term market signals, it’s more common for big traders to turn to oil or gold these days, according to eToro CEO Yoni Assia. Related: Strange Days: S&P 500 Is More Volatile Than Bitcoin This Month “The Saudi-Russia-U.S. competition on lowering the price of oil has added a lot of fire … some days [oil] is now the most traded asset on eToro,” Assia said. “There’s been a significant squeeze on the ability to purchase dollars. … There are liquidity issues but we’re still not at the point of 2008.” Assia said overall activity on eToro is up in March, including cryptocurrency trades, with gold purchases in particular at an “all-time high.” These traders bought $7.4 billion worth of gold in the first week of March alone, he said. While retail investors have increasingly turned to bitcoin , the volume they’re moving during the downturn is nothing compared to activity associated with other hard assets. Read more: Retail Investors Are Buying the Bitcoin Institutions Are Selling, Traders Say “Gold price and flow is determined by the real rate of interest,” Roy Sebag, founder of precious metals custody firm Goldmoney, said, adding that Russian gold markets are impacted differently because they don’t rely on dollars. “The [U.S.] Federal Reserve completely changed the rules – the real rate of interest [including inflation] swung even more into the negative and so we are seeing all that savings flow into gold immediately.” Related: Bitcoin Price Decline Prompts US Mining Firm to Shut Down ‘Indefinitely’ Story continues Rumors abound that institutions are short on physical assets like gold . Sebag said the coronavirus crisis has shut down precious-metal mints, refineries and mines, leading to high premiums on small units. “Traders are looking for small denominations of gold, which are becoming more and more difficult to find,” Sebag said . Issuers of gold-backed stablecoins, like Paxos , are also seeing increased demand. Even with bitcoin trading up among retail investors, it hasn’t translated to stronger bitcoin use among retailers. According to BlueWallet co-founder Nuno Coelho, Lightning Network payments have been steadily decreasing over the past year. Channel capacity peaked in May 2019. This may leave bitcoin languishing, stuck between niche commercial rails and a lack of large-scale users. “The hype about Lightning is gone,” Coelho said. “It’s time to focus on building the protocol and prove that Lightning can be a payments layer on top of Bitcoin. At the moment that is not clear yet.” Some critics are questioning whether the grandfather cryptocurrency will eventually be the settlement layer some institutions hoped for – especially if CBDCs gain a foothold. CBDC stimulus The U.S. Congress is already in talks about issuing a “ Digital Dollar ,” which might in some ways be comparable to China’s CBDC plans. That’s why Michael Sung, a professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, said he expects the coronavirus crisis to “accelerate” Chinese CBDC initiatives. Read more: US Senate Floats ‘Digital Dollar’ Bill After House Scrubs Term From Coronavirus Relief Plan “This would be the proper way to deploy the CBDC in China, it would be a stimulus,” Sung said. “The [Chinese] government has already indicated digital currency is not meant to do large settlements.” The Chinese government’s approach to digital settlements is especially relevant considering it is home to the majority of bitcoin mining farms and manufacturers. Russia comes in at a distant second, a nation that has also taken a favorable approach toward CBDCs and a restrictive one toward bitcoin. Governments could issue digital assets without the restraints of physical shipments or reserves, which both Eastern superpowers are also shoring up . China is, after all, both the world’s top gold producer and consumer . Some analysts believe the adjustable CBDC would offer a complementary catalyst to tangible reserves. “There’s a massive shift to fintech,” Sung said. “This will lead to a mass digitization.” On Tuesday, Chinese news outlet Global Times reported the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is now drafting laws to pave the way for CBDC circulation. Tony Tong, co-chairman of the Hong Kong Blockchain Association, agreed the current crisis may hasten such efforts and reduce the government’s reliance on physical cash. Fudan University’s Sung said he expects to see such developments before 2021. “Bitcoin was supposed to be the digital gold,” Sung said. “But there are all sorts of weird dynamics where it’s now unclear if bitcoin has that privileged status as a flight to safety.” Will Foxley contributed reporting. Related Stories Investors Regained Confidence in Bitcoin Amid Price Recovery, Data Suggests UK Counties Warn of Bitcoin Scams Using Coronavirus as a Hook || Geopolitical Crisis May Benefit Oil, Gold and CBDCs, Not Bitcoin: Demand forgoldis skyrocketing and the clamor for scarce assets in a remote-first world was precisely where bitcoin was supposed to shine.
However, rather than creating a perfect scenario for the supranational money, the coronavirus crisis could instead entrench reliance on traditional institutions. In a world where central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) from major economies are fast approaching, bitcoin settlements may appear less attractive to compliance-focused financial entities.
As for short-term market signals, it’s more common for big traders to turn to oil or gold these days, according to eToro CEO Yoni Assia.
Related:Strange Days: S&P 500 Is More Volatile Than Bitcoin This Month
“TheSaudi-Russia-U.S. competitionon lowering the price of oil has added a lot of fire … some days [oil] is now the most traded asset on eToro,” Assia said. “There’s been a significant squeeze on the ability to purchase dollars. … There are liquidity issues but we’re still not at the point of 2008.”
Assia said overall activity on eToro is up in March, including cryptocurrency trades, with gold purchases in particular at an “all-time high.” These traders bought $7.4 billion worth of gold in the first week of March alone, he said. Whileretail investors have increasingly turned to bitcoin, the volume they’re moving during the downturn is nothing compared to activity associated with other hard assets.
Read more:Retail Investors Are Buying the Bitcoin Institutions Are Selling, Traders Say
“Gold price and flow is determined by the real rate of interest,” Roy Sebag, founder of precious metals custody firm Goldmoney, said, adding that Russian gold markets are impacted differently because they don’t rely on dollars. “The [U.S.] Federal Reserve completely changed the rules – the real rate of interest [including inflation] swung even more into the negative and so we are seeing all that savings flow into gold immediately.”
Related:Bitcoin Price Decline Prompts US Mining Firm to Shut Down ‘Indefinitely’
Rumors abound that institutions are short onphysical assets like gold. Sebag said the coronavirus crisis has shut down precious-metal mints, refineries and mines, leading to high premiums on small units.
“Traders are looking for small denominations of gold, which are becoming more and more difficult to find,” Sebagsaid. Issuers of gold-backed stablecoins, likePaxos, are also seeing increased demand.
Even with bitcoin trading up among retail investors, it hasn’t translated to stronger bitcoin use among retailers. According to BlueWallet co-founder Nuno Coelho,Lightning Networkpayments have been steadily decreasing over the past year. Channel capacitypeakedin May 2019.
This may leave bitcoin languishing, stuck between niche commercial rails and a lack of large-scale users.
“The hype about Lightning is gone,” Coelho said. “It’s time to focus on building the protocol and prove that Lightning can be a payments layer on top of Bitcoin. At the moment that is not clear yet.”
Some critics are questioning whether the grandfather cryptocurrency will eventually be the settlement layer some institutions hoped for – especially if CBDCs gain a foothold.
The U.S. Congress is already in talks about issuing a “Digital Dollar,” which might in some ways be comparable to China’s CBDC plans.
That’s why Michael Sung, a professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, said he expects the coronavirus crisis to “accelerate” Chinese CBDC initiatives.
Read more:US Senate Floats ‘Digital Dollar’ Bill After House Scrubs Term From Coronavirus Relief Plan
“This would be the proper way to deploy the CBDC in China, it would be a stimulus,” Sung said. “The [Chinese] government has already indicated digital currency is not meant to do large settlements.”
The Chinese government’s approach to digital settlements is especially relevant considering it is home to themajorityof bitcoin mining farms and manufacturers. Russia comes in at a distant second, a nation that has also taken a favorable approach towardCBDCsand arestrictiveone toward bitcoin.
Governments could issue digital assets without the restraints of physical shipments or reserves, whichbothEastern superpowers are alsoshoring up. China is, after all,boththe world’stop gold producer and consumer. Some analysts believe the adjustable CBDC would offer a complementary catalyst to tangible reserves.
“There’s a massive shift to fintech,” Sung said. “This will lead to a mass digitization.”
On Tuesday, Chinese news outlet Global Timesreportedthe People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is now drafting laws to pave the way for CBDC circulation. Tony Tong, co-chairman of the Hong Kong Blockchain Association, agreed the current crisis may hasten such efforts and reduce the government’s reliance on physical cash.
Fudan University’s Sung said he expects to see such developments before 2021.
“Bitcoin was supposed to be the digital gold,” Sung said. “But there are all sorts of weird dynamics where it’s now unclear if bitcoin has that privileged status as a flight to safety.”
Will Foxley contributed reporting.
• Investors Regained Confidence in Bitcoin Amid Price Recovery, Data Suggests
• UK Counties Warn of Bitcoin Scams Using Coronavirus as a Hook || Amid coronavirus, Walmart says it's seeing increased sales of tops — but not bottoms: While millions of Americans are working from home amid the spread of coronavirus, remote work applications likeSlack(work chat groups) andZoom(video conferencing) areseeing a huge surgein users.
And that’s boosting clothing sales for Walmart—but mostly of tops. Get it?
That fact comes from Walmart’s EVP of corporate affairsDan Bartlett on Yahoo Finance liveon Thursday. “In one of your previous segments you were talking about people with Zoom, and doing those types of conferencing: We’re seeing increased sales in tops, but not bottoms. So, people who are concerned, obviously, from the waist up,” Bartlett said. “These behaviors are going to continue to change and evolve as people get accustomed to this new lifestyle, if you will. And we’re able to accommodate that, both online and in our stores.”
Bartlett said Walmart (WMT) is seeing “massive volume” right now in U.S. online orders and, in some states, in-store sales as well. “That will probably ebb and flow based on the news” in each state, Bartlett allowed. Walmart,like Target and Kroger, is also taking drastic steps in its stores to sanitize cash registers and keep customers six feet apart from each other in checkout lines.
In addition to tops and cleaning products like Purell, Bartlett says Walmart is seeing a specific sales boost in home entertainment items like DVDs (they’re not dead yet), and crafting items like popsicle sticks.
“I think we’ve sold over 30 million popsicle sticks,” Bartlett says.
While non-essential retail chains like Nike, Adidas, Lululemon, REI, Urban Outfitters, and many morehave closed all their U.S. storesto quell the spread of coronavirus, Walmart is among the chains remaining open, since they sell groceries and medicine. Target, CVS, Walgreens, and many grocery chains also remain open.
While many big companies have been forced tolay off millions of workers, Walmart last weeksaid it planned to hire 150,000 new hourly associatesin the U.S., and announced $550 million in cash bonuses to reward workers amid the coronavirus pandemic that has all but shut down the economy.
Walmart was already considered one of the stocks that might see a boost during coronavirus, along with Costco, Clorox, and “stay-at-home” plays like Peloton, Slack, Zoom, and Netflix.
Nonetheless, Walmart shares are down 10% over the past five trading days, and down 4% in the past month.
—
Daniel Roberts is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
Read more on how coronavirus is hitting a wide range of industries:
Chef Tom Colicchio on coronavirus: Restaurants should stay closed, even for takeout
Coronavirus puts 'extreme pressure' on all three pillars of Disney's business
Movie theaters seek bailout as coronavirus devastates business
Adidas CEO emailed store employees about coronavirus: ‘Closing is easy, staying open requires courage’
Bitcoin is crashing even more than stocks amid coronavirus || Amid coronavirus, Walmart says it's seeing increased sales of tops — but not bottoms: While millions of Americans are working from home amid the spread of coronavirus, remote work applications like Slack (work chat groups) and Zoom (video conferencing) are seeing a huge surge in users. And that’s boosting clothing sales for Walmart—but mostly of tops. Get it? That fact comes from Walmart’s EVP of corporate affairs Dan Bartlett on Yahoo Finance live on Thursday. “In one of your previous segments you were talking about people with Zoom, and doing those types of conferencing: We’re seeing increased sales in tops, but not bottoms. So, people who are concerned, obviously, from the waist up,” Bartlett said. “These behaviors are going to continue to change and evolve as people get accustomed to this new lifestyle, if you will. And we’re able to accommodate that, both online and in our stores.” Video conference. (Zoom) Bartlett said Walmart ( WMT ) is seeing “ massive volume ” right now in U.S. online orders and, in some states, in-store sales as well. “That will probably ebb and flow based on the news” in each state, Bartlett allowed. Walmart, like Target and Kroger , is also taking drastic steps in its stores to sanitize cash registers and keep customers six feet apart from each other in checkout lines. In addition to tops and cleaning products like Purell, Bartlett says Walmart is seeing a specific sales boost in home entertainment items like DVDs (they’re not dead yet), and crafting items like popsicle sticks. “I think we’ve sold over 30 million popsicle sticks,” Bartlett says. COCONUT CREEK, FL - MARCH 12: Shoppers stock up on groceries as they shop at Walmart during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on March 12, 2020 in Coconut Creek , Florida. Credit: mpi04/MediaPunch /IPX While non-essential retail chains like Nike, Adidas, Lululemon, REI, Urban Outfitters, and many more have closed all their U.S. stores to quell the spread of coronavirus, Walmart is among the chains remaining open, since they sell groceries and medicine. Target, CVS, Walgreens, and many grocery chains also remain open. While many big companies have been forced to lay off millions of workers , Walmart last week said it planned to hire 150,000 new hourly associates in the U.S., and announced $550 million in cash bonuses to reward workers amid the coronavirus pandemic that has all but shut down the economy. Walmart was already considered one of the stocks that might see a boost during coronavirus, along with Costco, Clorox, and “stay-at-home” plays like Peloton, Slack, Zoom, and Netflix. Nonetheless, Walmart shares are down 10% over the past five trading days, and down 4% in the past month. — Daniel Roberts is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ readDanwrite . Read more on how coronavirus is hitting a wide range of industries: Chef Tom Colicchio on coronavirus: Restaurants should stay closed, even for takeout Story continues Coronavirus puts 'extreme pressure' on all three pillars of Disney's business Movie theaters seek bailout as coronavirus devastates business Adidas CEO emailed store employees about coronavirus: ‘Closing is easy, staying open requires courage’ Bitcoin is crashing even more than stocks amid coronavirus View comments || US Stimulus Plan Is Steadying Global Markets While Crypto Takes a Dip: The $2 trillion stimulus deal in the U.S. wasn’t enough to keep many cryptocurrencies from taking a dip Wednesday. Bitcoin (BTC) was down a more than 1 percent over the past 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC, and only NEO (NEO) was a gainer, up by less than 1 percent. Ether (ETH) is down 2 percent. Other cryptocurrencies flashing red on the CoinDesk digital asset board include dogecoin (DOGE) in the doghouse by 3 percent and Dash (DASH) also in the red by 3 percent. Global equity markets, however, had a sunnier outlook. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed its trading session up a solid 8 percent. The Tokyo market has been positive all week because the Bank of Japan is purchasing record amounts of debt , injecting cash into the economy. Related: Miners Are Selling More Bitcoin Than They Are Mining See also: Why the US’ $2 Trillion Stimulus, Unlimited QE Will Expose the Monetary System’s Flaws Cash injections were also the topic of the day as U.S. policymakers try to deal with the coronavirus threat to the economy. After working out a deal on where the money will go, the full Senate is expected to vote later Wednesday on the bill to provide $2 trillion in relief to Americans. The S&P 500 index closed over 1 percent at 20:00 UTC. Markets are finally holding steady after panic selling erased years of S&P 500 gains that had topped out on Feb. 20. “In 2008, when Lehman filed for bankruptcy, the immediate impact to financial markets was very similar to the reaction that we have witnessed as a result of COVID-19. Both events caused significant sell-offs in global equity markets and a flight to safety from investors, which was predominantly into USD,” said Jon Deane, CEO of InfiniGold, which has issued a digital gold token on a public blockchain. Related: Craig Wright Challenges Court Order Criticizing His Evidence in $4B Kleiman Case See also : Into the Unknown: No Limit on Fed Money Injections Gold is down slightly on the day as of 20:00 UTC. “A devaluation of global currencies and long-term negative rates are both very positive for gold,” InfiniGold’s Deane noted. Cryptocurrency traders track gold closely, and watching other precious metals such as silver has also becoming a popular activity. Story continues “Goldman came out and said gold was a buy. Yet, if you look at the price of silver it’s telling a very different story. Silver either has to make a massive catchup or gold is headed lower,” said Rupert Douglas, head of Business Development, Institutional Sales at Koine. Silver is making gains, and it is up 1 percent on the day as of 20:00 UTC. Despite markets fairing well, they are still on shaky ground given uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus’ affects on the economy. Worries about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy of limitless quantitative easing (QE) worries traders about the future prospects of the dollar. “Limitless QE makes cash questionable as a haven, when all this calms down,” said Henrik Kugelberg, a Sweden-based over-the-counter crypto trader. Related Stories We Won’t Ever Think About the Financial System the Same Way Bitcoin in Rangebound Trading as Equity Markets Fail to See Stimulus Boost || US Stimulus Plan Is Steadying Global Markets While Crypto Takes a Dip: The $2 trillion stimulus deal in the U.S. wasn’t enough to keep many cryptocurrencies from taking a dip Wednesday.Bitcoin(BTC) was down a more than 1 percent over the past 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC, and onlyNEO(NEO) was a gainer, up by less than 1 percent.
Ether(ETH) is down 2 percent. Other cryptocurrencies flashing red on the CoinDesk digital asset board includedogecoin(DOGE) in the doghouse by 3 percent andDash(DASH) also in the red by 3 percent.
Global equity markets, however, had a sunnier outlook. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed its trading session up a solid 8 percent. The Tokyo market has been positive all week because theBank of Japan is purchasing record amounts of debt, injecting cash into the economy.
Related:Miners Are Selling More Bitcoin Than They Are Mining
See also:Why the US’ $2 Trillion Stimulus, Unlimited QE Will Expose the Monetary System’s Flaws
Cash injections were also the topic of the day as U.S. policymakers try to deal with the coronavirus threat to the economy. After working out a deal on where the money will go, the full Senate is expected to vote later Wednesday on the bill toprovide $2 trillion in reliefto Americans. The S&P 500 index closed over 1 percent at 20:00 UTC.
Markets are finally holding steady after panic selling erased years of S&P 500 gains that had topped out on Feb. 20.
“In 2008, when Lehman filed for bankruptcy, the immediate impact to financial markets was very similar to the reaction that we have witnessed as a result of COVID-19. Both events caused significant sell-offs in global equity markets and a flight to safety from investors, which was predominantly into USD,” said Jon Deane, CEO of InfiniGold, which has issued a digital gold token on a public blockchain.
Related:Craig Wright Challenges Court Order Criticizing His Evidence in $4B Kleiman Case
See also:Into the Unknown: No Limit on Fed Money Injections
Goldis down slightly on the day as of 20:00 UTC. “A devaluation of global currencies and long-term negative rates are both very positive for gold,” InfiniGold’s Deane noted. Cryptocurrency traders track gold closely, and watching other precious metals such as silver has also becoming a popular activity.
“Goldman came out and said gold was a buy. Yet, if you look at the price of silver it’s telling a very different story. Silver either has to make a massive catchup or gold is headed lower,” said Rupert Douglas, head of Business Development, Institutional Sales at Koine.
Silver is making gains, and it is up 1 percent on the day as of 20:00 UTC.
Despite markets fairing well, they are still on shaky ground given uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus’ affects on the economy. Worries about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy of limitless quantitative easing (QE) worries traders about the future prospects of the dollar.
“Limitless QE makes cash questionable as a haven, when all this calms down,” said Henrik Kugelberg, a Sweden-based over-the-counter crypto trader.
• We Won’t Ever Think About the Financial System the Same Way
• Bitcoin in Rangebound Trading as Equity Markets Fail to See Stimulus Boost || Miners Are Selling More Bitcoin Than They Are Mining: While bitcoin (BTC) looks set to prolong its recent bullish moves, those responsible for making new bitcoin have increased their selling. The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value rose from $3,867 to $7,000 in the 13 days to March 25, according to CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index . Yet, throughout the 81 percent recovery rally, miners sold more coins than what they generated, according to the miner’s rolling inventory (MRI) figure, a measure created by crypto data company ByteTree to track the changes in inventory levels held by miners. The 21-day rolling MRI stayed above 100 during the entire duration of the recent recovery from lows below $4,000. An MRI above 100 means miners are selling more than they mine and running down inventory, while a below-100 MRI reading indicates miners are amassing inventory by selling less than they mine. Related: Investors Regained Confidence in Bitcoin Amid Price Recovery, Data Suggests Because prices continued to go up, there was more than enough appetite for the bitcoin the miners fed the market. See also: Bitcoin Is a Safe Haven for a Worse Storm Than This Mining pools account for the highest percentage of bitcoin flowing into exchanges and have significant influence on prices. Yet, some view the market’s reaction as a positive indicator. “When the price of bitcoin can rally sharply from the local lows and buyers can absorb the extra bitcoin sold by the miners with little impact, it is a sign of strength in the overall market,” Connor Abendschein, crypto research analyst at Digital Assets Data told CoinDesk. Related: US, European Stocks Up but Crypto Traders Remain Cautious Miners also ran down inventory on Wednesday, as noted by ByteTree founder and Chairman Charlie Morris. “Miners sold 2,788 against 1,588 mined, slamming the market, yet the market takes it. This is bullish,” Morris tweeted during Wednesday’s European trading hours. The cryptocurrency dropped from $6,700 to $6,500 during the Asian session, possibly on miner selling, but reversed losses later in the day. Story continues Other analysts, however, are of the opinion that one-day variances in net miner sales are often too small to make a valid judgement of the bullishness of the market. “Wednesday’s sell volume of 2,788 wasn’t statistically significant enough to have much meaning on the larger bitcoin price movements.” said Alexander S. Blum, COO at fintech company Two Prime. “Compared to the amount of Bitcoins in the world, the miner sales were less than 1 percent,” Yet because miners on average have sold more coins during the price recovery, it may be indicative of underlying market strength. To put it another way, the price rally looks to have legs. See also: Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Posts Second-Biggest Percentage Drop in Its History Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency remains vulnerable to bouts of risk aversion in traditional markets. Global equities have regained some poise over the past couple of days, mainly due to the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus unveiled by the U.S. The coronavirus outbreak, however, is showing no signs of slowing down and markets are yet to get a true sense of the economic damage, which could be far bigger than what’s widely forecasted. For example, the U.S. initial jobless claims soared past three million in the week ending March 21, double economists’ expectations for 1.5 million new claims. Not surprisingly, that has some expected dire predictions from certain corners of the market. “If you think what’s happening now is the economic crisis, you’re wrong,” renowned gold bug (and crypto skeptic) Peter Schiff tweeted early Thursday. “This is the health crisis. The economic crisis is the one that follows, and will result from the fiscal and monetary cure. The crisis will not just be worse than the Great Recession, but the Great Depression.” “We must remain cautious for another liquidity crisis,” Chris Thomas, head of digital assets at Swissquote Bank told CoinDesk. Related Stories We Won’t Ever Think About the Financial System the Same Way Bitcoin in Rangebound Trading as Equity Markets Fail to See Stimulus Boost || Miners Are Selling More Bitcoin Than They Are Mining: While bitcoin (BTC) looks set to prolong its recent bullish moves, those responsible for making new bitcoin have increased their selling.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value rose from $3,867 to $7,000 in the 13 days to March 25, according to CoinDesk’sBitcoin Price Index. Yet, throughout the 81 percent recovery rally, miners sold more coins than what they generated, according to the miner’s rolling inventory (MRI) figure, a measure created by crypto data company ByteTree to track the changes in inventory levels held by miners.
The 21-day rolling MRI stayed above 100 during the entire duration of the recent recovery from lows below $4,000. An MRI above 100 means miners are selling more than they mine and running down inventory, while a below-100 MRI reading indicates miners are amassing inventory by selling less than they mine.
Related:Investors Regained Confidence in Bitcoin Amid Price Recovery, Data Suggests
Because prices continued to go up, there was more than enough appetite for the bitcoin the miners fed the market.
See also:Bitcoin Is a Safe Haven for a Worse Storm Than This
Mining poolsaccount forthe highest percentage of bitcoin flowing into exchanges and have significant influence on prices. Yet, some view the market’s reaction as a positive indicator.
“When the price of bitcoin can rally sharply from the local lows and buyers can absorb the extra bitcoin sold by the miners with little impact, it is a sign of strength in the overall market,” Connor Abendschein, crypto research analyst at Digital Assets Data told CoinDesk.
Related:US, European Stocks Up but Crypto Traders Remain Cautious
Miners also ran down inventory on Wednesday, asnoted byByteTreefounder and Chairman Charlie Morris.
“Miners sold 2,788 against 1,588 mined, slamming the market, yet the market takes it. This is bullish,” Morris tweeted during Wednesday’s European trading hours. The cryptocurrency dropped from $6,700 to $6,500 during the Asian session, possibly on miner selling, but reversed losses later in the day.
Other analysts, however, are of the opinion that one-day variances in net miner sales are often too small to make a valid judgement of the bullishness of the market.
“Wednesday’s sell volume of 2,788 wasn’t statistically significant enough to have much meaning on the larger bitcoin price movements.” said Alexander S. Blum, COO atfintech companyTwo Prime. “Compared to the amount of Bitcoins in the world, the miner sales were less than 1 percent,”
Yet because miners on average have sold more coins during the price recovery, it may be indicative of underlying market strength. To put it another way, the price rally looks to have legs.
Seealso:Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Posts Second-Biggest Percentage Drop in Its History
Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency remains vulnerable to bouts of risk aversion in traditional markets. Global equities have regained some poise over the past couple of days, mainly due to the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus unveiled by the U.S.
The coronavirus outbreak, however, is showing no signs of slowing down and markets are yet to get a true sense of the economic damage, which could be far bigger than what’s widely forecasted. For example, the U.S. initial jobless claims soared past three million in the week ending March 21, double economists’ expectations for 1.5 million new claims.
Not surprisingly, that has some expected dire predictions from certain corners of the market.
“If you think what’s happening now is the economic crisis, you’re wrong,” renowned gold bug (and crypto skeptic) Peter Schifftweetedearly Thursday. “This is the health crisis. The economic crisis is the one that follows, and will result from the fiscal and monetary cure. The crisis will not just be worse than the Great Recession, but the Great Depression.”
“We must remain cautious for another liquidity crisis,” Chris Thomas, head of digital assets at Swissquote Bank told CoinDesk.
• We Won’t Ever Think About the Financial System the Same Way
• Bitcoin in Rangebound Trading as Equity Markets Fail to See Stimulus Boost || Miners Are Selling More Bitcoin Than They Are Mining: While bitcoin (BTC) looks set to prolong its recent bullish moves, those responsible for making new bitcoin have increased their selling.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value rose from $3,867 to $7,000 in the 13 days to March 25, according to CoinDesk’sBitcoin Price Index. Yet, throughout the 81 percent recovery rally, miners sold more coins than what they generated, according to the miner’s rolling inventory (MRI) figure, a measure created by crypto data company ByteTree to track the changes in inventory levels held by miners.
The 21-day rolling MRI stayed above 100 during the entire duration of the recent recovery from lows below $4,000. An MRI above 100 means miners are selling more than they mine and running down inventory, while a below-100 MRI reading indicates miners are amassing inventory by selling less than they mine.
Related:Investors Regained Confidence in Bitcoin Amid Price Recovery, Data Suggests
Because prices continued to go up, there was more than enough appetite for the bitcoin the miners fed the market.
See also:Bitcoin Is a Safe Haven for a Worse Storm Than This
Mining poolsaccount forthe highest percentage of bitcoin flowing into exchanges and have significant influence on prices. Yet, some view the market’s reaction as a positive indicator.
“When the price of bitcoin can rally sharply from the local lows and buyers can absorb the extra bitcoin sold by the miners with little impact, it is a sign of strength in the overall market,” Connor Abendschein, crypto research analyst at Digital Assets Data told CoinDesk.
Related:US, European Stocks Up but Crypto Traders Remain Cautious
Miners also ran down inventory on Wednesday, asnoted byByteTreefounder and Chairman Charlie Morris.
“Miners sold 2,788 against 1,588 mined, slamming the market, yet the market takes it. This is bullish,” Morris tweeted during Wednesday’s European trading hours. The cryptocurrency dropped from $6,700 to $6,500 during the Asian session, possibly on miner selling, but reversed losses later in the day.
Other analysts, however, are of the opinion that one-day variances in net miner sales are often too small to make a valid judgement of the bullishness of the market.
“Wednesday’s sell volume of 2,788 wasn’t statistically significant enough to have much meaning on the larger bitcoin price movements.” said Alexander S. Blum, COO atfintech companyTwo Prime. “Compared to the amount of Bitcoins in the world, the miner sales were less than 1 percent,”
Yet because miners on average have sold more coins during the price recovery, it may be indicative of underlying market strength. To put it another way, the price rally looks to have legs.
Seealso:Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Posts Second-Biggest Percentage Drop in Its History
Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency remains vulnerable to bouts of risk aversion in traditional markets. Global equities have regained some poise over the past couple of days, mainly due to the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus unveiled by the U.S.
The coronavirus outbreak, however, is showing no signs of slowing down and markets are yet to get a true sense of the economic damage, which could be far bigger than what’s widely forecasted. For example, the U.S. initial jobless claims soared past three million in the week ending March 21, double economists’ expectations for 1.5 million new claims.
Not surprisingly, that has some expected dire predictions from certain corners of the market.
“If you think what’s happening now is the economic crisis, you’re wrong,” renowned gold bug (and crypto skeptic) Peter Schifftweetedearly Thursday. “This is the health crisis. The economic crisis is the one that follows, and will result from the fiscal and monetary cure. The crisis will not just be worse than the Great Recession, but the Great Depression.”
“We must remain cautious for another liquidity crisis,” Chris Thomas, head of digital assets at Swissquote Bank told CoinDesk.
• We Won’t Ever Think About the Financial System the Same Way
• Bitcoin in Rangebound Trading as Equity Markets Fail to See Stimulus Boost || 7 Stock Picks That Analysts Are Actually Upgrading Now: Getty Images The stock market is a mess of bearishness and volatility right now. But despite the carnage, a sizable number of stock picks are starting to look better in the eyes of Wall Street's pros, and they're starting to compile some analyst upgrades as a result. The Federal Reserve has introduced aggressive measures and Congress is finalizing a $2 trillion rescue package. That's at least providing a sense that there might be a backstop in place to prevent a total implosion of GDP over the next two quarters. But the hit to corporate profits still is hard to quantify at this point. We know it will be bad once the first-quarter earnings reports start trickling in next month. We just don't know how bad. "We have zero visibility on the earnings front," says Sonia Joao, a financial advisor based in Houston, Texas. "We're hoping for the best but bracing for the worst and trying to keep our portfolios weighted toward higher-quality names." Nonetheless, Wall Street's pros are starting to see a brighter picture for a few stock picks. Part of this is simply a function of price: No matter how bad the economic picture looks, at some price, most stocks are worth owning. And in some cases, stock prices have fallen far more than even a worst-case scenario would suggest. "We don't necessarily need things to look good," says Doug Robinson, principal of San Francisco-based Robinson Capital Management. "We simply need for the outlook to go from awful to less bad. That's enough to see meaningful improvement in the sentiment toward most stocks." Here are seven stock picks that have earned analyst upgrades amid the market chaos. An analyst upgrade is not holy writ - it's an educated guess. But it's an educated guess by the professionals that study the companies and know their financial situation inside and out. Thus, this list is a great start-off point for investors looking to put some cash to work. Story continues SEE ALSO: Where Is the Stock Market Headed? 14 Wall Street Pros Sound Off Coca-Cola Getty Images Market value: $178.6 billion Dividend yield: 3.9% Analyst ratings: 12 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 4 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell We'll start with an American icon, Coca-Cola ( KO , $41.61). Soft drink sales have been in an inexorable decline for years. Between 2010 and 2018, American per capita soft drink consumption dropped by 15%. As people have become more health-conscious, they've downed less soda. With restaurants essentially shut at this point, people are eating and drinking at home. But they've also been resorting to sugary "comfort foods" to help them deal with the stress of being sequestered. That's a little help in offsetting sales lost to restaurants. Also important: Coca-Cola sells a lot more than its namesake Coke. It also has thriving bottled water, juice, tea and coffee businesses. KO has received a couple analyst upgrades of late. JPMorgan recently promoted Coca-Cola to Overweight (equivalent of Buy), writing that "We acknowledge that we may be early in this call given the uncertainty around when or if the pandemic is contained, limited visibility on the potential uptick in at-home consumption, and the strengthening of the dollar; all of which could drive further negative earnings revisions. However, we believe this represents a unique long term opportunity to own a high quality asset which seems to be pricing in the scenario that volumes will not rebound post the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic." JPMorgan went on to say it saw no risk to Coca-Cola's dividend, which now yields more than 4%. That payout has also been increasing for more than a half-century, putting it among the ranks of the "Dividend Kings." HSBC recently upgraded the stock, too, from Hold to Buy. Most of the analysts covering KO now have it among their bullish stock picks, with 16 recommendations of Buy or better versus just four Holds. SEE ALSO: 64 Dividend Stocks You Can Count On Walmart Getty Images Market value: $309.9 billion Dividend yield: 2.0% Analyst ratings: 10 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 7 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell Walmart ( WMT , $109.40) is almost uniquely positioned to ride out the coronavirus scare. Much of the economic activity that has been lost because of city or state-wide lockdowns will never be recovered. If you go a month without eating in a restaurant, getting your clothes dry cleaned or getting a haircut, you don't immediately go out once the lockdown is lifted and "catch up" on restaurant meals, dry-cleaned shirts or haircuts. Those transactions are lost forever. But in Walmart's case, the company is primarily selling things that get used up fairly quickly and need to be replaced, such as food, medicines and cleaning supplies. There are some purchases being made today that will pull forward future purchases. Think toilet paper. All of the people out there hoarding toilet paper - and yes, you know who you are, and I'm judging you harshly - are not going to buy more toilet paper immediately after this crisis passes. They likely have a year's supply at this point. But most of the rest of what Walmart sells needs to be replaced within a week or two. So, while the company might get a major earnings bump this quarter that might not be sustainable once life returns to normal, it also likely won't see sales dip too far below pre-crisis levels. Credit Suisse recently upgraded Walmart from Neutral (equivalent of Hold) to Outperform (equivalent of Buy), writing, "In our view, Walmart is no longer just an early cycle, defensive, low-price player, as in prior cycles. Its market share growth story and this period should validate the changes it's made." SEE ALSO: Every Warren Buffett Stock Ranked: The Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Nvidia Getty Images Market value: $150.3 billion Dividend yield: 0.3% Analyst ratings: 26 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 5 Hold, 1 Sell, 2 Strong Sell Chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA , $245.62) has been among the most rewarding, albeit sometimes frustrating, stock picks out there. NVDA stock is up more than 1,000% over the past five years, but it occasionally takes nauseating dives. For instance, a couple years ago, its processors were the favorites of Bitcoin miners. When the cryptocurrency bubble burst, it cut Nvidia's stock price by more than half. But earlier this year (before the bear market set in, of course), the stock hit new all-time highs. Nvidia's GPU chips are designed for high-performance video games and other heavy-duty graphics users. While video games still are its bread and butter, the company is expanding into data centers, machine learning and self-driving cars, among other things, and that's what is increasingly driving its gains. Nvidia is very much a play on the future. But the present doesn't look so bad either. A little more than half of its revenues come from gaming. If we're looking at a prolonged period of spending more time indoors, home entertainment options such as gaming consoles look solid. The analysts would seem to agree. Over the past 10 days, seven analysts reaffirmed their bullish ratings and an eighth upgraded the company to a Buy. The banks reiterating include Oppenheimer, Goldman Sachs, Wedbush, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and SunTrust Robinson. Needham's Rajvindra Gill believes that GPUs will be increasingly used in medical applications in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, and he also believes the company's "superior balance sheets remain supreme." SEE ALSO: 11 Best Stocks to Ride Out the Coronavirus Outbreak Hershey Getty Images Market value: $26.5 billion Dividend yield: 2.5% Analyst ratings: 3 Strong Buy, 0 Buy, 16 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell It's not all that difficult to understand the appeal of a chocolate company right about now. With pretty much all of life's little pleasures off limits for the duration of the virus quarantines, buying a chocolate bar at the grocery store is one of the few many of us have left. Furthermore, people are stressed out at the moment, and chocolate is a comfort food. With all of this in mind, Credit Suisse recently upgraded Hershey ( HSY , $126.14) to Outperform with a price target of $160. This move would erase the losses seen since the beginning of March. About a week later, Piper Sandler and Edward Jones analysts also added HSY to their stock picks, doling out analyst upgrades to Buy-equivalent levels. Sometimes an investment thesis really is as simple as it appears on the surface. As the owner of the Hershey's, Reese's, Jolly Rancher, Almond Joy, Cadbury, Kit Kat, Rolo, Twizzlers, Pirate's Booty and a host of other brands, Hershey is well positioned to rake in better-than-usual sales as long as the world is effectively on lockdown. And once this passes, HSY is unlikely to see a major reduction in sales. People aren't hoarding a lot of chocolate. It's not toilet paper, after all. SEE ALSO: 12 Bond Mutual Funds and ETFs to Buy for Protection Callaway Golf Getty Images Market value: $951.6 million Dividend yield: 0.4% Analyst ratings: 9 Strong Buy, 1 Buy, 0 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell An interesting addition to this list of recently upgraded stock picks is Callaway Golf ( ELY , $10.10). With the world on lockdown, sports more or less outlawed until further notice, and the prospect of a nasty recession on the horizon, it might seem odd to see enthusiasm for a company that makes golf equipment and accessories. After all, buying an expensive set of clubs might seem a bit extravagant at a time when millions of Americans may soon be in the unemployment lines. Yet Cowen & Company recently upgraded the stock to Outperform, and Roth Capital recently initiated coverage with a Buy rating. It's worth noting that Cowen's price target was modest at $10 per share, which the stock surpassed the next day. It will be interesting to see whether Cowen revises its target higher given the recent move. However, the average price from analysts who have sounded off over the past three months, at $21.38 per share, implies ELY will more than double from here. Roth Capital's price target is close to that, at $21 per share. SEE ALSO: 8 Best Consumer Stocks to Buy for Income & Growth Dow Inc. Getty Images Market value: $22.6 billion Dividend yield: 9.2% Analyst ratings: 11 Strong Buy, 1 Buy, 10 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell Chemical stocks tend to be cyclical. So, with the world looking at the very real likelihood of a nasty recession on the horizon, it's easy to see why Dow Inc. ( DOW , $30.38) got pulverized along with the rest of the market. Its shares were priced at more than $50 as recently as January. They sank all the way to the low $20s and still only trade around $30. Here's the thing. We might get a recession. It fact, it's all but guaranteed at this point. But life goes on, not all heavy industry grinds to a halt. And if we're looking at a long period of government stimulus and relief, including funding for infrastructure, then demand for Dow's products should remain strong, or at least strong enough to justify a much higher stock price from here. DOW has received several analyst upgrades of late. Citigroup, Jefferies and SunTrust Robinson all recently promoted the stock to Buy. Specifically, Citi's P.J. Juvekar says chemical stocks in general look cheap, and that Dow is priced at just 23% of "replacement value." We'll see what happens. But in the meantime, you can collect a dividend of more than 9% that CEO Jim Fitterling recently defended as "artificially high," stressing a much-improved financial position that makes them "ready to go into a down cycle." SEE ALSO: 25 Dividend Stocks the Analysts Love the Most Kinder Morgan Getty Images Market value: $31.1 billion Dividend yield: 7.3% Analyst ratings: 14 Strong Buy, 2 Buy, 10 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell First, it was the coronavirus outbreak and response. That alone was enough to rattle the market. But then, Saudi Arabia and Russia decided to go to the mattresses, Godfather-style, launching an all-out oil price war the likes of which we haven't seen in decades. This was enough to rattle all energy-related stocks, even those primarily in the midstream transportation business. Even if a company's revenue stream is based on volume of oil and gas moved rather than price, widespread bankruptcies in the oil patch could end up really disrupting business. And it doesn't help that pipeline companies tend to carry a lot of debt. All the same, some blue-chip energy stock picks like Kinder Morgan ( KMI , $13.73) were hit far harder than they should have been. Shares fell from around $22 per share to under $10 before eventually bouncing a little. But a few analyst upgrades started rolling in after that move. Barclays upgraded the stock to Buy with a price target of $16, and SunTrust Robinson reiterated its Buy recommendation with an $18 target. Several other banks have upgraded to or reiterated Buy or Hold recommendations, with price targets ranging from $14 to $20 per share. All of that means the pros see some measure of relief in this stock pick's future. SEE ALSO: 7 Cheap Stocks Under $7 With Massive Upside Potential EDITOR'S PICKS Stimulus Check Calculator 64 Dividend Stocks You Can Count On in 2020 10 Health and Pharmaceutical Companies Fighting the Coronavirus Copyright 2020 The Kiplinger Washington Editors || 7 Stock Picks That Analysts Are Actually Upgrading Now: Getty Images The stock market is a mess of bearishness and volatility right now. But despite the carnage, a sizable number of stock picks are starting to look better in the eyes of Wall Street's pros, and they're starting to compile some analyst upgrades as a result. The Federal Reserve has introduced aggressive measures and Congress is finalizing a $2 trillion rescue package. That's at least providing a sense that there might be a backstop in place to prevent a total implosion of GDP over the next two quarters. But the hit to corporate profits still is hard to quantify at this point. We know it will be bad once the first-quarter earnings reports start trickling in next month. We just don't know how bad. "We have zero visibility on the earnings front," says Sonia Joao, a financial advisor based in Houston, Texas. "We're hoping for the best but bracing for the worst and trying to keep our portfolios weighted toward higher-quality names." Nonetheless, Wall Street's pros are starting to see a brighter picture for a few stock picks. Part of this is simply a function of price: No matter how bad the economic picture looks, at some price, most stocks are worth owning. And in some cases, stock prices have fallen far more than even a worst-case scenario would suggest. "We don't necessarily need things to look good," says Doug Robinson, principal of San Francisco-based Robinson Capital Management. "We simply need for the outlook to go from awful to less bad. That's enough to see meaningful improvement in the sentiment toward most stocks." Here are seven stock picks that have earned analyst upgrades amid the market chaos. An analyst upgrade is not holy writ - it's an educated guess. But it's an educated guess by the professionals that study the companies and know their financial situation inside and out. Thus, this list is a great start-off point for investors looking to put some cash to work. Story continues SEE ALSO: Where Is the Stock Market Headed? 14 Wall Street Pros Sound Off Coca-Cola Getty Images Market value: $178.6 billion Dividend yield: 3.9% Analyst ratings: 12 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 4 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell We'll start with an American icon, Coca-Cola ( KO , $41.61). Soft drink sales have been in an inexorable decline for years. Between 2010 and 2018, American per capita soft drink consumption dropped by 15%. As people have become more health-conscious, they've downed less soda. With restaurants essentially shut at this point, people are eating and drinking at home. But they've also been resorting to sugary "comfort foods" to help them deal with the stress of being sequestered. That's a little help in offsetting sales lost to restaurants. Also important: Coca-Cola sells a lot more than its namesake Coke. It also has thriving bottled water, juice, tea and coffee businesses. KO has received a couple analyst upgrades of late. JPMorgan recently promoted Coca-Cola to Overweight (equivalent of Buy), writing that "We acknowledge that we may be early in this call given the uncertainty around when or if the pandemic is contained, limited visibility on the potential uptick in at-home consumption, and the strengthening of the dollar; all of which could drive further negative earnings revisions. However, we believe this represents a unique long term opportunity to own a high quality asset which seems to be pricing in the scenario that volumes will not rebound post the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic." JPMorgan went on to say it saw no risk to Coca-Cola's dividend, which now yields more than 4%. That payout has also been increasing for more than a half-century, putting it among the ranks of the "Dividend Kings." HSBC recently upgraded the stock, too, from Hold to Buy. Most of the analysts covering KO now have it among their bullish stock picks, with 16 recommendations of Buy or better versus just four Holds. SEE ALSO: 64 Dividend Stocks You Can Count On Walmart Getty Images Market value: $309.9 billion Dividend yield: 2.0% Analyst ratings: 10 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 7 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell Walmart ( WMT , $109.40) is almost uniquely positioned to ride out the coronavirus scare. Much of the economic activity that has been lost because of city or state-wide lockdowns will never be recovered. If you go a month without eating in a restaurant, getting your clothes dry cleaned or getting a haircut, you don't immediately go out once the lockdown is lifted and "catch up" on restaurant meals, dry-cleaned shirts or haircuts. Those transactions are lost forever. But in Walmart's case, the company is primarily selling things that get used up fairly quickly and need to be replaced, such as food, medicines and cleaning supplies. There are some purchases being made today that will pull forward future purchases. Think toilet paper. All of the people out there hoarding toilet paper - and yes, you know who you are, and I'm judging you harshly - are not going to buy more toilet paper immediately after this crisis passes. They likely have a year's supply at this point. But most of the rest of what Walmart sells needs to be replaced within a week or two. So, while the company might get a major earnings bump this quarter that might not be sustainable once life returns to normal, it also likely won't see sales dip too far below pre-crisis levels. Credit Suisse recently upgraded Walmart from Neutral (equivalent of Hold) to Outperform (equivalent of Buy), writing, "In our view, Walmart is no longer just an early cycle, defensive, low-price player, as in prior cycles. Its market share growth story and this period should validate the changes it's made." SEE ALSO: Every Warren Buffett Stock Ranked: The Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Nvidia Getty Images Market value: $150.3 billion Dividend yield: 0.3% Analyst ratings: 26 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 5 Hold, 1 Sell, 2 Strong Sell Chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA , $245.62) has been among the most rewarding, albeit sometimes frustrating, stock picks out there. NVDA stock is up more than 1,000% over the past five years, but it occasionally takes nauseating dives. For instance, a couple years ago, its processors were the favorites of Bitcoin miners. When the cryptocurrency bubble burst, it cut Nvidia's stock price by more than half. But earlier this year (before the bear market set in, of course), the stock hit new all-time highs. Nvidia's GPU chips are designed for high-performance video games and other heavy-duty graphics users. While video games still are its bread and butter, the company is expanding into data centers, machine learning and self-driving cars, among other things, and that's what is increasingly driving its gains. Nvidia is very much a play on the future. But the present doesn't look so bad either. A little more than half of its revenues come from gaming. If we're looking at a prolonged period of spending more time indoors, home entertainment options such as gaming consoles look solid. The analysts would seem to agree. Over the past 10 days, seven analysts reaffirmed their bullish ratings and an eighth upgraded the company to a Buy. The banks reiterating include Oppenheimer, Goldman Sachs, Wedbush, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and SunTrust Robinson. Needham's Rajvindra Gill believes that GPUs will be increasingly used in medical applications in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, and he also believes the company's "superior balance sheets remain supreme." SEE ALSO: 11 Best Stocks to Ride Out the Coronavirus Outbreak Hershey Getty Images Market value: $26.5 billion Dividend yield: 2.5% Analyst ratings: 3 Strong Buy, 0 Buy, 16 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell It's not all that difficult to understand the appeal of a chocolate company right about now. With pretty much all of life's little pleasures off limits for the duration of the virus quarantines, buying a chocolate bar at the grocery store is one of the few many of us have left. Furthermore, people are stressed out at the moment, and chocolate is a comfort food. With all of this in mind, Credit Suisse recently upgraded Hershey ( HSY , $126.14) to Outperform with a price target of $160. This move would erase the losses seen since the beginning of March. About a week later, Piper Sandler and Edward Jones analysts also added HSY to their stock picks, doling out analyst upgrades to Buy-equivalent levels. Sometimes an investment thesis really is as simple as it appears on the surface. As the owner of the Hershey's, Reese's, Jolly Rancher, Almond Joy, Cadbury, Kit Kat, Rolo, Twizzlers, Pirate's Booty and a host of other brands, Hershey is well positioned to rake in better-than-usual sales as long as the world is effectively on lockdown. And once this passes, HSY is unlikely to see a major reduction in sales. People aren't hoarding a lot of chocolate. It's not toilet paper, after all. SEE ALSO: 12 Bond Mutual Funds and ETFs to Buy for Protection Callaway Golf Getty Images Market value: $951.6 million Dividend yield: 0.4% Analyst ratings: 9 Strong Buy, 1 Buy, 0 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell An interesting addition to this list of recently upgraded stock picks is Callaway Golf ( ELY , $10.10). With the world on lockdown, sports more or less outlawed until further notice, and the prospect of a nasty recession on the horizon, it might seem odd to see enthusiasm for a company that makes golf equipment and accessories. After all, buying an expensive set of clubs might seem a bit extravagant at a time when millions of Americans may soon be in the unemployment lines. Yet Cowen & Company recently upgraded the stock to Outperform, and Roth Capital recently initiated coverage with a Buy rating. It's worth noting that Cowen's price target was modest at $10 per share, which the stock surpassed the next day. It will be interesting to see whether Cowen revises its target higher given the recent move. However, the average price from analysts who have sounded off over the past three months, at $21.38 per share, implies ELY will more than double from here. Roth Capital's price target is close to that, at $21 per share. SEE ALSO: 8 Best Consumer Stocks to Buy for Income & Growth Dow Inc. Getty Images Market value: $22.6 billion Dividend yield: 9.2% Analyst ratings: 11 Strong Buy, 1 Buy, 10 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell Chemical stocks tend to be cyclical. So, with the world looking at the very real likelihood of a nasty recession on the horizon, it's easy to see why Dow Inc. ( DOW , $30.38) got pulverized along with the rest of the market. Its shares were priced at more than $50 as recently as January. They sank all the way to the low $20s and still only trade around $30. Here's the thing. We might get a recession. It fact, it's all but guaranteed at this point. But life goes on, not all heavy industry grinds to a halt. And if we're looking at a long period of government stimulus and relief, including funding for infrastructure, then demand for Dow's products should remain strong, or at least strong enough to justify a much higher stock price from here. DOW has received several analyst upgrades of late. Citigroup, Jefferies and SunTrust Robinson all recently promoted the stock to Buy. Specifically, Citi's P.J. Juvekar says chemical stocks in general look cheap, and that Dow is priced at just 23% of "replacement value." We'll see what happens. But in the meantime, you can collect a dividend of more than 9% that CEO Jim Fitterling recently defended as "artificially high," stressing a much-improved financial position that makes them "ready to go into a down cycle." SEE ALSO: 25 Dividend Stocks the Analysts Love the Most Kinder Morgan Getty Images Market value: $31.1 billion Dividend yield: 7.3% Analyst ratings: 14 Strong Buy, 2 Buy, 10 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell First, it was the coronavirus outbreak and response. That alone was enough to rattle the market. But then, Saudi Arabia and Russia decided to go to the mattresses, Godfather-style, launching an all-out oil price war the likes of which we haven't seen in decades. This was enough to rattle all energy-related stocks, even those primarily in the midstream transportation business. Even if a company's revenue stream is based on volume of oil and gas moved rather than price, widespread bankruptcies in the oil patch could end up really disrupting business. And it doesn't help that pipeline companies tend to carry a lot of debt. All the same, some blue-chip energy stock picks like Kinder Morgan ( KMI , $13.73) were hit far harder than they should have been. Shares fell from around $22 per share to under $10 before eventually bouncing a little. But a few analyst upgrades started rolling in after that move. Barclays upgraded the stock to Buy with a price target of $16, and SunTrust Robinson reiterated its Buy recommendation with an $18 target. Several other banks have upgraded to or reiterated Buy or Hold recommendations, with price targets ranging from $14 to $20 per share. All of that means the pros see some measure of relief in this stock pick's future. SEE ALSO: 7 Cheap Stocks Under $7 With Massive Upside Potential EDITOR'S PICKS Stimulus Check Calculator 64 Dividend Stocks You Can Count On in 2020 10 Health and Pharmaceutical Companies Fighting the Coronavirus Copyright 2020 The Kiplinger Washington Editors || Gold-Backed Stablecoins Race to Keep Up With Crisis-Driven Demand: Gold-backed crypto tokens continue to rise in price as sourcing gold itself during the coronavirus-induced downturn is reportedly getting more difficult.
Demand for Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT), two of the most liquid gold-backed token projects, has surged this week. Both blockchain-backed tokens each represent a legal entitlement to one ounce of gold stored in institutional vaults. Both tokens are redeemable for physical gold.
The uptick in demand comes as traditional gold suppliers face shortages and difficulties in bringing physical bullion to the market,according to reports.
Related:Geopolitical Crisis May Benefit Oil, Gold and CBDCs, Not Bitcoin
“The Fed completely changed the rules – the real rate of interest swung even more and so we are seeing all that money flow into gold immediately,” Roy Sebag, founder of metals custodian Goldmoney, said regarding the Federal Reserve in a phone interview with CoinDesk on Tuesday.
Read more:Bitcoin and Gold: Evaluating Hard-Cap Currencies in Times of Financial Crisis
Purchases of new PAXG – which represent one ounce ofLondon Bullion Market Association (LBMA)institutional-grade gold – have nearly doubled day-over-day since Monday, according to Paxos spokesperson Becky McClain. Paxos said Thursday it had enough gold to cover current volumes.
On the other hand, demand for Tether’s offering led to the XAUT market cap hitting $50 million on Wednesday, according to data provider Nomics. Yet supply-chain issues in sourcing the gold itself could hinder further issuance of the token, according toThe Block.
Related:Stocks, Bitcoin Rally on Prospects for US Senate Stimulus Bill
“XAUT simply represents a new and technologically innovative way for people to hold gold without annual fees,” Tether told CoinDesk in a statement, declining to comment on daily market movements. “We have seen strong growth for XAUT and we anticipate XAUT will continue to grow as it establishes itself as the dominant digital token representing gold ownership.”
Trade volume for both tokens has also increased in recent days, according to market data from Nomics and CoinMarketCap.
“We’ve all seen unprecedented volatility in the markets the past few weeks, so naturally people are looking to safe havens like gold,” Paxos executive Walter Hessert told CoinDesk. “As a blockchain-based token, it also offers holders the greatest level of control and accessibility outside the financial system.”
An increase in demand for physical gold paired with supply chain issues for sourcing the precious metal has increased the price per ounce.
Bloomberg reported earlier this weekthe price of gold futures spiked against the price of gold in a premium not seen in over 40 years due to the inability to settle contracts physically in New York City as COVID-19 spreads.
Gold-backed crypto tokens currently hold a premium for traditional trading of both spot and futures gold markets on exchanges such as FTX. However, current prices could be a continuation of past premiums held by gold-backed tokens, according to CoinDesk Research.
Indeed, PAXG and XAUT have consistently held above the spot price of gold since their inceptions. XAUTlaunched in January 2020; PAXG launched inSeptember 2019.
Read more:Bitcoin Is a Safe Haven for a Worse Storm Than This
Still, traders are looking for small denominations of gold, which are becoming more and more difficult to find, Sebag said.
“Something changed in the last few days. Not a lack of physical gold, but denomination problems,” Sebag said. “Definitely a shortage.”
Paxos said the increased demand for PAXG is not leading to the supply constraints reportedly seen by Tether.“We’re only dealing with London LBMA gold, and there is plenty of metal there! Benefits of being a trusted, regulated player – we can get access to that market unlike anyone else,” McClain said.
• Bybit Enables Two-Way Margin Trading With Perpetual Contracts Quoted in Tether
• Bitcoin and Gold: Evaluating Hard-Cap Currencies in Times of Financial Crisis || Gold-Backed Stablecoins Race to Keep Up With Crisis-Driven Demand: Gold-backed crypto tokens continue to rise in price as sourcing gold itself during the coronavirus-induced downturn is reportedly getting more difficult. Demand for Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT), two of the most liquid gold-backed token projects, has surged this week. Both blockchain-backed tokens each represent a legal entitlement to one ounce of gold stored in institutional vaults. Both tokens are redeemable for physical gold. The uptick in demand comes as traditional gold suppliers face shortages and difficulties in bringing physical bullion to the market, according to reports . Related: Geopolitical Crisis May Benefit Oil, Gold and CBDCs, Not Bitcoin “The Fed completely changed the rules – the real rate of interest swung even more and so we are seeing all that money flow into gold immediately,” Roy Sebag, founder of metals custodian Goldmoney, said regarding the Federal Reserve in a phone interview with CoinDesk on Tuesday. Read more: Bitcoin and Gold: Evaluating Hard-Cap Currencies in Times of Financial Crisis Purchases of new PAXG – which represent one ounce of London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) institutional-grade gold – have nearly doubled day-over-day since Monday, according to Paxos spokesperson Becky McClain. Paxos said Thursday it had enough gold to cover current volumes. On the other hand, demand for Tether’s offering led to the XAUT market cap hitting $50 million on Wednesday, according to data provider Nomics. Yet supply-chain issues in sourcing the gold itself could hinder further issuance of the token, according to The Block . Related: Stocks, Bitcoin Rally on Prospects for US Senate Stimulus Bill “XAUT simply represents a new and technologically innovative way for people to hold gold without annual fees,” Tether told CoinDesk in a statement, declining to comment on daily market movements. “We have seen strong growth for XAUT and we anticipate XAUT will continue to grow as it establishes itself as the dominant digital token representing gold ownership.” Story continues Trade volume for both tokens has also increased in recent days, according to market data from Nomics and CoinMarketCap. “We’ve all seen unprecedented volatility in the markets the past few weeks, so naturally people are looking to safe havens like gold,” Paxos executive Walter Hessert told CoinDesk. “As a blockchain-based token, it also offers holders the greatest level of control and accessibility outside the financial system.” Price premium An increase in demand for physical gold paired with supply chain issues for sourcing the precious metal has increased the price per ounce. Bloomberg reported earlier this week the price of gold futures spiked against the price of gold in a premium not seen in over 40 years due to the inability to settle contracts physically in New York City as COVID-19 spreads. Gold-backed crypto tokens currently hold a premium for traditional trading of both spot and futures gold markets on exchanges such as FTX. However, current prices could be a continuation of past premiums held by gold-backed tokens, according to CoinDesk Research. Indeed, PAXG and XAUT have consistently held above the spot price of gold since their inceptions. XAUT launched in January 2020 ; PAXG launched in September 2019 . Read more: Bitcoin Is a Safe Haven for a Worse Storm Than This Still, traders are looking for small denominations of gold, which are becoming more and more difficult to find, Sebag said. “Something changed in the last few days. Not a lack of physical gold, but denomination problems,” Sebag said. “Definitely a shortage.” Paxos said the increased demand for PAXG is not leading to the supply constraints reportedly seen by Tether. “We’re only dealing with London LBMA gold, and there is plenty of metal there! Benefits of being a trusted, regulated player – we can get access to that market unlike anyone else,” McClain said. Related Stories Bybit Enables Two-Way Margin Trading With Perpetual Contracts Quoted in Tether Bitcoin and Gold: Evaluating Hard-Cap Currencies in Times of Financial Crisis || Bitcoin Is a Safe Haven for a Worse Storm Than This: Byrne Hobart, a CoinDesk columnist, is an investor, consultant and writer in New York. His newsletter, The Diff (diff.substack.com) covers inflection points in finance and technology.
Bitcoin(BTC) was designed for many reasons, but one of the most important was to be a safe-haven asset during times of financial distress. From the genesis block’s coinbase parameter (“The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”) to today, bitcoin’s fans have treated it as something worth owning when the market goes crazy.
So it’s disappointing, to say the least, that after the fastest market rout in recent history, an assetbuilt to be a safe haven… dropped 31 percent while the S&P dropped by a quarter. The daily correlation between the S&P and bitcoin went from slightly negative in February to 0.6 in March. Bitcoin barely responded to the Federal Reserve cutting rates to zero, and shrugged off other monetary interventions.
Related:Don’t Apply 2008 Thinking to Today’s Crisis
See also:As This Crisis Worsens, Bitcoin Will Become a Safe Haven Again
This is painful to anyone who owns bitcoin, especially to anyone who bought it as a hedge against exactly this kind of sell-off, and exactly this kind of central bank response. The money printer went brrr, and yet the store-of-value lost value.
What’s going on?
When we talk about safe-haven assets, we’re really talking about three different kinds of assets, for three kinds of scenarios:
Related:We Won’t Ever Think About the Financial System the Same Way
Safer versions of risky bets, of the sort you’d invest in to hedge against a mild recession. These might include less-levered companies in a given industry, high-margin companies, corporate bonds rather than equities or any investment in a consumer staples company. When the economy shrinks, it’s bad news for companies in the champagne and luxury hotel business, but doesn’t really dent sales of toothpaste and canned food.
Assets people borrow during good times: Yen and U.S. Treasurys are classic safe assets, in part because investors borrow them to make other bets. If you buy a 10-year corporate bond, you’re making a bet on the creditworthiness of the company, and a bet on interest rates. Most of the people who are good at credit analysis are not experts in predicting the future course of monetary policy, so many of them buy the corporate bonds and bet against Treasurys of the same maturity to control their interest rate risk.
It’s not the safe haven for this particular kind of crisis.
The yen is a similar case: Since yen rates have been so low for so long, a classic forex trade is to borrow yen and invest in a currency with higher rates. In both cases, when the trade unwinds –when you sell your corporate bond or close out your bet on the Turkish lira or the South African rand, you end up buying the safe asset. Anything boring and borrowable goes up in price in response to bad news.
Things you want to own if the world is about to end.The best way to illustrate this is with a story: The financier Felix Rohatyn grew up in France in the 1930s. When Germany invaded, his family fled — they had enough time to pack their bags, but they lost almost everything. He recalled his parents putting gold coins in tubes of toothpaste before leaving. Everything else they owned, they left behind. If you’re living through a moment that’s going to be in the history books, the only assets you can take with you are the ones in your head or the ones you can smuggle out. (A USB drive, conveniently, fits into a variety of toiletry containers.)
One interpretation of bitcoin’s price performance during the COVID-19 crisis is that it wasn’t such a safe haven after all. But another is that it’s not the safe haven for this particular kind of crisis. The math of epidemics and immunity is such that, however bad they are, they eventually burn themselves out given a low mutation rate. Once the percentage of the population that has been infected is greater than 1 / R0, cases begin to fall even in the absence of countermeasures. With a case fatality rate of 2 percent, that’s an extraordinarily painful process to go through, and it ends up being a disaster for humanity on a historic scale.
See also:Why Bitcoin’s Safe-Haven Narrative Has Flown Out the Window
An intense disaster, but not one that lasts forever. The 1957-58 flu pandemicmay haveled to the sharpest postwar recession in U.S. history (at least as of Q4 2019), but the subsequent recovery was equally swift.
Right now, that’s how most investors are thinking. Whether they think COVID-19 is overblown or underblown, they still think of it as a temporary problem from which we’ll recover in short order. In fact, the very bailouts that Satoshi referenced in the Genesis block point to an argument in favor of the recovery consensus. Conventional wisdom among investors and policymakers today is the government didn’t react fast enough in 2008 to forestall a deflationary spiral. This time around, central banks are moving fast to supply cheap capital to financial institutions. In that scenario, governments and economies don’t collapse, and nobody has to flee their home hours ahead of disaster.
They do, however, need to scramble for dollars to service debts, so they’ll sell anything – stocks, bonds, real estate, crypto – and convert it into an asset they can use to pay the bills.
Bitcoin’s drop doesn’t disprove the safe haven argument. It just shows us bitcoin is designed to be a safe haven from a worse storm.
• This Unstable Moment Is a Chance for Crypto to Go Mainstream
• For DeFi’s Sake, Maker Should Take Blame for Black Thursday Losses
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
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6242.19, 5922.04, 6429.84, 6438.64, 6606.78, 6793.62, 6733.39, 6867.53, 6791.13, 7271.78
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 1169.28, 1167.54, 1172.52, 1182.94, 1193.91, 1211.67, 1210.29, 1229.08, 1222.05, 1231.71, 1207.21, 1250.15, 1265.49, 1281.08, 1317.73, 1316.48, 1321.79, 1347.89, 1421.60, 1452.82, 1490.09, 1537.67, 1555.45, 1578.80, 1596.71, 1723.35, 1755.36, 1787.13, 1848.57, 1724.24, 1804.91, 1808.91, 1738.43, 1734.45, 1839.09, 1888.65, 1987.71, 2084.73, 2041.20, 2173.40, 2320.42, 2443.64, 2304.98, 2202.42, 2038.87, 2155.80, 2255.61, 2175.47, 2286.41, 2407.88, 2488.55, 2515.35, 2511.81, 2686.81, 2863.20, 2732.16, 2805.62, 2823.81, 2947.71, 2958.11, 2659.63, 2717.02, 2506.37, 2464.58, 2518.56, 2655.88, 2548.29, 2589.60, 2721.79, 2689.10, 2705.41, 2744.91, 2608.72, 2589.41, 2478.45, 2552.45, 2574.79, 2539.32, 2480.84, 2434.55, 2506.47, 2564.06, 2601.64, 2601.99, 2608.56, 2518.66, 2571.34, 2518.44, 2372.56, 2337.79.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-07-11]
Volume: 1329760000, RSI (14-day): 39.28, 50-day EMA: 2413.64, 200-day EMA: 1689.78
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1213.60, Gold RSI: 33.73
Oil Price: 45.04, Oil RSI: 47.69
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
First Bitcoin Capital Corp Acquires Control of World's First Crypto ETF Named AlphaBIT (COIN:ABC): VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 10, 2017 /First Bitcoin Capital Corp (OTC PINK: BITCF) today invested its primary wallet (1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS) owning dozens of cryptocurrencies into AlphaBIT in exchange for controlling interest, e.g. 200,000,000 ABCs. AlphaBIT is a closed-end crypto-exchange traded fund (CETF).
This is BITCF's first venture into the Ethereum ecosystem, as ABC runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
Management considers this acquisition significant for many reasons, including providing a vehicle for shareholders to transparently monitor some of the Company's assets. For example, atwww.alphabitcoinfund.com, each wallet address of each asset owned that has been included in coinmarketcap.com can be seen, along with its value and the total current illiquid values of all assets owned in this manner. Also found on this site is the current Net Asset Value (NAV) of each share of the 200,000,000 ABC that BITCF owns in ABC, as well as the market value of each crypto-share of AlphaBIT.
In order to capitalize on the pent-up demand for ETFs in this space, the Company has made this acquisition, the first of its kind ETF and the only vehicle that provides such an opportunity to speculators.
With a total of 210,000,000 ABC current and ever to be in outstanding, AlphaBIT utilizes the newest ERC20 Standard Token Ethereum protocols, which is the same as some of the world's most popular cryptocurrencies - as a smart contract - which was generated by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
This hybrid fund is in the process of utilizing proprietary AI robots to buy and sell many cryptocurrencies as a small part of its business model, which it hopes to increase as proven successful and greater funding allows.
The Company intends to register AlphaBIT with the SEC and subsequently cause its shares to trade on a non-crypto, more traditional stock market, such as NASDAQ, NYSE, or the London Stock Exchange.
About the Company
First Bitcoin Capital Corp is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange -www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges), we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time, the Company owns and operates more than the following digital assets under development:
• www.CoinQX.com- cryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
• www.altcoinmarketcap.com- market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies with up and down voting by altcoin communities.
• www.Alphabitcoinfund.comworld's first crypto ETF.
• www.strain.ID- cannabis strains genetic information depository on decentralized Blockchain.
• www.iCoiNEWS.com- real time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
• www.BITminer.cc- providing mining pool management services.
• www.2016coin.org- online daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN - commemorative presidential election coins.
• www.bitcannpay.com- Open Loop merchant services for dispensaries.
• List of most Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain and owned by the Company:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS
• Second Omni wallet owned by CoinQX reflecting our airline mileage tokens issued:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1VuF26AgLyQ4tBoGzYTWRqtDG9zCB7QXe
• Third (managed) Omni wallet owned by COINQX:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1M18oycUdsXv4pKyLLiASREcRGzPu22MxK
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com.
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Corp Acquires Control of World's First Crypto ETF Named AlphaBIT (COIN:ABC): VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 10, 2017 /First Bitcoin Capital Corp (OTC PINK: BITCF) today invested its primary wallet (1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS) owning dozens of cryptocurrencies into AlphaBIT in exchange for controlling interest, e.g. 200,000,000 ABCs. AlphaBIT is a closed-end crypto-exchange traded fund (CETF).
This is BITCF's first venture into the Ethereum ecosystem, as ABC runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
Management considers this acquisition significant for many reasons, including providing a vehicle for shareholders to transparently monitor some of the Company's assets. For example, atwww.alphabitcoinfund.com, each wallet address of each asset owned that has been included in coinmarketcap.com can be seen, along with its value and the total current illiquid values of all assets owned in this manner. Also found on this site is the current Net Asset Value (NAV) of each share of the 200,000,000 ABC that BITCF owns in ABC, as well as the market value of each crypto-share of AlphaBIT.
In order to capitalize on the pent-up demand for ETFs in this space, the Company has made this acquisition, the first of its kind ETF and the only vehicle that provides such an opportunity to speculators.
With a total of 210,000,000 ABC current and ever to be in outstanding, AlphaBIT utilizes the newest ERC20 Standard Token Ethereum protocols, which is the same as some of the world's most popular cryptocurrencies - as a smart contract - which was generated by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
This hybrid fund is in the process of utilizing proprietary AI robots to buy and sell many cryptocurrencies as a small part of its business model, which it hopes to increase as proven successful and greater funding allows.
The Company intends to register AlphaBIT with the SEC and subsequently cause its shares to trade on a non-crypto, more traditional stock market, such as NASDAQ, NYSE, or the London Stock Exchange.
About the Company
First Bitcoin Capital Corp is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange -www.CoinQX.com. We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges), we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time, the Company owns and operates more than the following digital assets under development:
• www.CoinQX.com- cryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN.
• www.altcoinmarketcap.com- market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies with up and down voting by altcoin communities.
• www.Alphabitcoinfund.comworld's first crypto ETF.
• www.strain.ID- cannabis strains genetic information depository on decentralized Blockchain.
• www.iCoiNEWS.com- real time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site.
• www.BITminer.cc- providing mining pool management services.
• www.2016coin.org- online daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN - commemorative presidential election coins.
• www.bitcannpay.com- Open Loop merchant services for dispensaries.
• List of most Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain and owned by the Company:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS
• Second Omni wallet owned by CoinQX reflecting our airline mileage tokens issued:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1VuF26AgLyQ4tBoGzYTWRqtDG9zCB7QXe
• Third (managed) Omni wallet owned by COINQX:http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1M18oycUdsXv4pKyLLiASREcRGzPu22MxK
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file atwww.OTCMarkets.com.
Contact us via:[email protected] visithttp://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com.
SOURCE:First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || First Bitcoin Capital Corp Acquires Control of World's First Crypto ETF Named AlphaBIT (COIN:ABC): VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 10, 2017 / First Bitcoin Capital Corp (OTC PINK: BITCF) today invested its primary wallet (1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS) owning dozens of cryptocurrencies into AlphaBIT in exchange for controlling interest, e.g. 200,000,000 ABCs. AlphaBIT is a closed-end crypto-exchange traded fund (CETF). This is BITCF's first venture into the Ethereum ecosystem, as ABC runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Management considers this acquisition significant for many reasons, including providing a vehicle for shareholders to transparently monitor some of the Company's assets. For example, at www.alphabitcoinfund.com , each wallet address of each asset owned that has been included in coinmarketcap.com can be seen, along with its value and the total current illiquid values of all assets owned in this manner. Also found on this site is the current Net Asset Value (NAV) of each share of the 200,000,000 ABC that BITCF owns in ABC, as well as the market value of each crypto-share of AlphaBIT. In order to capitalize on the pent-up demand for ETFs in this space, the Company has made this acquisition, the first of its kind ETF and the only vehicle that provides such an opportunity to speculators. With a total of 210,000,000 ABC current and ever to be in outstanding, AlphaBIT utilizes the newest ERC20 Standard Token Ethereum protocols, which is the same as some of the world's most popular cryptocurrencies - as a smart contract - which was generated by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). This hybrid fund is in the process of utilizing proprietary AI robots to buy and sell many cryptocurrencies as a small part of its business model, which it hopes to increase as proven successful and greater funding allows. The Company intends to register AlphaBIT with the SEC and subsequently cause its shares to trade on a non-crypto, more traditional stock market, such as NASDAQ, NYSE, or the London Stock Exchange. About the Company First Bitcoin Capital Corp is engaged in developing digital currencies, proprietary Blockchain technologies, and the digital currency exchange - www.CoinQX.com . We see this step as a tremendous opportunity to create further shareholder value by leveraging management's experience in developing and managing complex Blockchain technologies, developing new types of digital assets. Being the first publicly-traded cryptocurrency and blockchain-centered company (with shares both traded in the US OTC Markets as [BITCF] and as [BIT] in crypto exchanges), we want to provide our shareholders with diversified exposure to digital cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. At this time, the Company owns and operates more than the following digital assets under development: Story continues www.CoinQX.com - cryptocurrency exchange, registered with FINCEN. www.altcoinmarketcap.com - market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies with up and down voting by altcoin communities. www.Alphabitcoinfund.com world's first crypto ETF. www.strain.ID - cannabis strains genetic information depository on decentralized Blockchain. www.iCoiNEWS.com - real time cryptocurrency and bitcoin news site. www.BITminer.cc - providing mining pool management services. www.2016coin.org - online daily election coverage and home page for $PRES, $HILL, $GARY& $BURN - commemorative presidential election coins. www.bitcannpay.com - Open Loop merchant services for dispensaries. List of most Omni protocol coins issued on the Bitcoin Blockchain and owned by the Company: http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1FwADyEvdvaLNxjN1v3q6tNJCgHEBuABrS Second Omni wallet owned by CoinQX reflecting our airline mileage tokens issued: http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1VuF26AgLyQ4tBoGzYTWRqtDG9zCB7QXe Third (managed) Omni wallet owned by COINQX: http://omnichest.info/lookupadd.aspx?address=1M18oycUdsXv4pKyLLiASREcRGzPu22MxK Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as may be disclosed in company's filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release. Such forward-looking statements are risks that are detailed in the Company's filings, which are on file at www.OTCMarkets.com . Contact us via: [email protected] or visit http://www.bitcoincapitalcorp.com . SOURCE: First Bitcoin Capital Corp. || Nvidia is set to dominate the '4th tectonic shift' in computing: (Facebook)
Decades of work have paid off forNvidia. The next computer revolution is here, and the company is set to dominate its competition, according to Jefferies.
"IBM dominated in the 1950's with the mainframe computer, DEC in the mid 1960's with the transition to mini-computers, Microsoft and Intel as PCs ramped, and finally Apple and Google as cell phones became ubiquitous," Mark Lipacis wrote in a note to clients. "We believe the next tectonic shift is happening now and NVDA stands to benefit the way these aforementioned tech giants did in prior transitions."
Nvidia has been working on itsCUDA computing platformand its graphics processing unit (GPU) technology for years. Traditionally, a computer has worked in a linear way, processing one task at a time on the central processing unit (CPU).
Shortly after GPUs were introduced in the 1990s, programmers began using them to break tasks into lots of smaller problems and solving them all at the same time on the GPU. This is called "parallel processing."
For certain types of problems, like rendering lots of graphics elements in a video game, GPUs were far superior to the single-minded CPU. They were slower at single tasks, but could handle lots of problems at the same time. Nvidia developed a programming platform, called CUDA, to take advantage of the way their GPUs could handle these multi-faceted problems. CUDA made it easy to break traditional problems into multiple parts that ran much faster on a GPU than the traditional CPU.
Fast forward to modern times where artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies are the hot trends. Companies like Google, Tesla and Amazon are using artificial intelligence toprogram self-driving cars,conquer ancient board gamesanddevelop smart personal assistants. Luckily for Nvidia, artificial intelligence and deep learning programs are perfectly suited to run on its GPUs and CUDA platform.
Jefferies thinks these two technologies give Nvidia a huge advantage over the competition.
"We see NVDA as a major beneficiary of the 4th Tectonic Shift in Computing, where serial processing (x86) architectures give way to massively parallel processing capabilities as the next wave of connected devices approach 10b units by 2022," Jefferies said.
As tech giants build out new data centers to handle their ballooning artificial intelligence research, they often turn to Nvidia to supply the hundreds or thousands of GPUs they need. MIT recently said Nvidia has spent around $3 billion to develop its current data center chip, and it's a move that has paid off for the company.MIT named Nvidia as the smartest company in the worldin 2017, in part, because of this investment.
Nvidia has beenmaking waves in the autonomous-car business as well.The company recently announced partnerships with Baidu, Volvo and Volkswagen to improve their self-driving car technologies and its technology is already being used in vehicles made by Tesla, Audi and Toyota.
Cryptocurrency mining is another example of a process that runs better on GPUs. Nvidia has been raking in profits in that area too, andone Wall Street bank thinks it will be just another sector that Nvidia will come to dominate.
Investors have been rewarding Nvidia as it takes the computer world by storm. Shares of Nvidia are up 48.55% this year.
While it might take some time before Nvidia's $87.04 billion market cap comes close to the companies that dominated the last computing revolution (Alphabet at $598.61 billion and Apple at $751.88 billion), Jefferies has faith in the company. The investment bank raised its price target to $180, up about 19% from Nvidia's current price.
(Markets Insider)
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• Bitcoin and Ethereum are 'cannibalizing' gold || Nvidia is set to dominate the '4th tectonic shift' in computing: Lulea data center 5 - Facebook data center (Facebook) Decades of work have paid off for Nvidia . The next computer revolution is here, and the company is set to dominate its competition, according to Jefferies. "IBM dominated in the 1950's with the mainframe computer, DEC in the mid 1960's with the transition to mini-computers, Microsoft and Intel as PCs ramped, and finally Apple and Google as cell phones became ubiquitous," Mark Lipacis wrote in a note to clients. "We believe the next tectonic shift is happening now and NVDA stands to benefit the way these aforementioned tech giants did in prior transitions." Nvidia has been working on its CUDA computing platform and its graphics processing unit (GPU) technology for years. Traditionally, a computer has worked in a linear way, processing one task at a time on the central processing unit (CPU). Shortly after GPUs were introduced in the 1990s, programmers began using them to break tasks into lots of smaller problems and solving them all at the same time on the GPU. This is called "parallel processing." For certain types of problems, like rendering lots of graphics elements in a video game, GPUs were far superior to the single-minded CPU. They were slower at single tasks, but could handle lots of problems at the same time. Nvidia developed a programming platform, called CUDA, to take advantage of the way their GPUs could handle these multi-faceted problems. CUDA made it easy to break traditional problems into multiple parts that ran much faster on a GPU than the traditional CPU. Fast forward to modern times where artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies are the hot trends. Companies like Google, Tesla and Amazon are using artificial intelligence to program self-driving cars , conquer ancient board games and develop smart personal assistants . Luckily for Nvidia, artificial intelligence and deep learning programs are perfectly suited to run on its GPUs and CUDA platform. Jefferies thinks these two technologies give Nvidia a huge advantage over the competition. Story continues "We see NVDA as a major beneficiary of the 4th Tectonic Shift in Computing, where serial processing (x86) architectures give way to massively parallel processing capabilities as the next wave of connected devices approach 10b units by 2022," Jefferies said. As tech giants build out new data centers to handle their ballooning artificial intelligence research, they often turn to Nvidia to supply the hundreds or thousands of GPUs they need. MIT recently said Nvidia has spent around $3 billion to develop its current data center chip, and it's a move that has paid off for the company. MIT named Nvidia as the smartest company in the world in 2017, in part, because of this investment. Nvidia has been making waves in the autonomous-car business as well. The company recently announced partnerships with Baidu, Volvo and Volkswagen to improve their self-driving car technologies and its technology is already being used in vehicles made by Tesla, Audi and Toyota. Cryptocurrency mining is another example of a process that runs better on GPUs. Nvidia has been raking in profits in that area too, and one Wall Street bank thinks it will be just another sector that Nvidia will come to dominate . Investors have been rewarding Nvidia as it takes the computer world by storm. Shares of Nvidia are up 48.55% this year. While it might take some time before Nvidia's $87.04 billion market cap comes close to the companies that dominated the last computing revolution (Alphabet at $598.61 billion and Apple at $751.88 billion), Jefferies has faith in the company. The investment bank raised its price target to $180, up about 19% from Nvidia's current price. Click here to follow Nvidia's share price in real time. Nvidia stock price (Markets Insider) NOW WATCH: An economist explains the key issues that Trump needs to address to boost the economy More From Business Insider This upgrade will extend the life of your MacBook Air for years Most people blow 70% of their money on 3 things and cutting back could be the key to retiring much earlier Bitcoin and Ethereum are 'cannibalizing' gold || Nvidia is set to dominate the '4th tectonic shift' in computing: Lulea data center 5 - Facebook data center (Facebook) Decades of work have paid off for Nvidia . The next computer revolution is here, and the company is set to dominate its competition, according to Jefferies. "IBM dominated in the 1950's with the mainframe computer, DEC in the mid 1960's with the transition to mini-computers, Microsoft and Intel as PCs ramped, and finally Apple and Google as cell phones became ubiquitous," Mark Lipacis wrote in a note to clients. "We believe the next tectonic shift is happening now and NVDA stands to benefit the way these aforementioned tech giants did in prior transitions." Nvidia has been working on its CUDA computing platform and its graphics processing unit (GPU) technology for years. Traditionally, a computer has worked in a linear way, processing one task at a time on the central processing unit (CPU). Shortly after GPUs were introduced in the 1990s, programmers began using them to break tasks into lots of smaller problems and solving them all at the same time on the GPU. This is called "parallel processing." For certain types of problems, like rendering lots of graphics elements in a video game, GPUs were far superior to the single-minded CPU. They were slower at single tasks, but could handle lots of problems at the same time. Nvidia developed a programming platform, called CUDA, to take advantage of the way their GPUs could handle these multi-faceted problems. CUDA made it easy to break traditional problems into multiple parts that ran much faster on a GPU than the traditional CPU. Fast forward to modern times where artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies are the hot trends. Companies like Google, Tesla and Amazon are using artificial intelligence to program self-driving cars , conquer ancient board games and develop smart personal assistants . Luckily for Nvidia, artificial intelligence and deep learning programs are perfectly suited to run on its GPUs and CUDA platform. Jefferies thinks these two technologies give Nvidia a huge advantage over the competition. Story continues "We see NVDA as a major beneficiary of the 4th Tectonic Shift in Computing, where serial processing (x86) architectures give way to massively parallel processing capabilities as the next wave of connected devices approach 10b units by 2022," Jefferies said. As tech giants build out new data centers to handle their ballooning artificial intelligence research, they often turn to Nvidia to supply the hundreds or thousands of GPUs they need. MIT recently said Nvidia has spent around $3 billion to develop its current data center chip, and it's a move that has paid off for the company. MIT named Nvidia as the smartest company in the world in 2017, in part, because of this investment. Nvidia has been making waves in the autonomous-car business as well. The company recently announced partnerships with Baidu, Volvo and Volkswagen to improve their self-driving car technologies and its technology is already being used in vehicles made by Tesla, Audi and Toyota. Cryptocurrency mining is another example of a process that runs better on GPUs. Nvidia has been raking in profits in that area too, and one Wall Street bank thinks it will be just another sector that Nvidia will come to dominate . Investors have been rewarding Nvidia as it takes the computer world by storm. Shares of Nvidia are up 48.55% this year. While it might take some time before Nvidia's $87.04 billion market cap comes close to the companies that dominated the last computing revolution (Alphabet at $598.61 billion and Apple at $751.88 billion), Jefferies has faith in the company. The investment bank raised its price target to $180, up about 19% from Nvidia's current price. Click here to follow Nvidia's share price in real time. Nvidia stock price (Markets Insider) NOW WATCH: An economist explains what could happen if Trump pulls the US out of NAFTA More From Business Insider This upgrade will extend the life of your MacBook Air for years Most people blow 70% of their money on 3 things and cutting back could be the key to retiring much earlier Bitcoin and Ethereum are 'cannibalizing' gold || Nvidia is set to dominate the '4th tectonic shift' in computing: (Facebook)
Decades of work have paid off forNvidia. The next computer revolution is here, and the company is set to dominate its competition, according to Jefferies.
"IBM dominated in the 1950's with the mainframe computer, DEC in the mid 1960's with the transition to mini-computers, Microsoft and Intel as PCs ramped, and finally Apple and Google as cell phones became ubiquitous," Mark Lipacis wrote in a note to clients. "We believe the next tectonic shift is happening now and NVDA stands to benefit the way these aforementioned tech giants did in prior transitions."
Nvidia has been working on itsCUDA computing platformand its graphics processing unit (GPU) technology for years. Traditionally, a computer has worked in a linear way, processing one task at a time on the central processing unit (CPU).
Shortly after GPUs were introduced in the 1990s, programmers began using them to break tasks into lots of smaller problems and solving them all at the same time on the GPU. This is called "parallel processing."
For certain types of problems, like rendering lots of graphics elements in a video game, GPUs were far superior to the single-minded CPU. They were slower at single tasks, but could handle lots of problems at the same time. Nvidia developed a programming platform, called CUDA, to take advantage of the way their GPUs could handle these multi-faceted problems. CUDA made it easy to break traditional problems into multiple parts that ran much faster on a GPU than the traditional CPU.
Fast forward to modern times where artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies are the hot trends. Companies like Google, Tesla and Amazon are using artificial intelligence toprogram self-driving cars,conquer ancient board gamesanddevelop smart personal assistants. Luckily for Nvidia, artificial intelligence and deep learning programs are perfectly suited to run on its GPUs and CUDA platform.
Jefferies thinks these two technologies give Nvidia a huge advantage over the competition.
"We see NVDA as a major beneficiary of the 4th Tectonic Shift in Computing, where serial processing (x86) architectures give way to massively parallel processing capabilities as the next wave of connected devices approach 10b units by 2022," Jefferies said.
As tech giants build out new data centers to handle their ballooning artificial intelligence research, they often turn to Nvidia to supply the hundreds or thousands of GPUs they need. MIT recently said Nvidia has spent around $3 billion to develop its current data center chip, and it's a move that has paid off for the company.MIT named Nvidia as the smartest company in the worldin 2017, in part, because of this investment.
Nvidia has beenmaking waves in the autonomous-car business as well.The company recently announced partnerships with Baidu, Volvo and Volkswagen to improve their self-driving car technologies and its technology is already being used in vehicles made by Tesla, Audi and Toyota.
Cryptocurrency mining is another example of a process that runs better on GPUs. Nvidia has been raking in profits in that area too, andone Wall Street bank thinks it will be just another sector that Nvidia will come to dominate.
Investors have been rewarding Nvidia as it takes the computer world by storm. Shares of Nvidia are up 48.55% this year.
While it might take some time before Nvidia's $87.04 billion market cap comes close to the companies that dominated the last computing revolution (Alphabet at $598.61 billion and Apple at $751.88 billion), Jefferies has faith in the company. The investment bank raised its price target to $180, up about 19% from Nvidia's current price.
(Markets Insider)
NOW WATCH:An economist explains what could happen if Trump pulls the US out of NAFTA
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• Bitcoin and Ethereum are 'cannibalizing' gold || BTCS Announces Letter to Shareholders from CEO: SILVER SPRING, MD--(Marketwired - Jul 10, 2017) -BTCS Inc.(OTCQB:BTCS) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology focused company, released a Letter to Shareholders updating current activities and outlining its corporate strategy for 2017, as follows:
Dear Shareholders,
Our decision to focus our business around blockchain technologies in 2015 has proven to be a valid thesis with prescient timing, yet without the ability to secure sufficient capital in 2016, we were unable to realize the potential from this truly disruptive opportunity.
Recognizing that this opportunity is still in its infancy, we spent much of the past year focused on restructuring liabilities to improve our financial position as we seek out acquisition opportunities and execute on our plan to build a portfolio of digital assets. To this end, we successfully exchanged approximately $3.9 million of convertible notes and liquidated damages for fixed-price Series B preferred stock, entered a leak-out agreement with the former note holders, and raised $1 million to settle liabilities and provide working capital.
We have taken these steps because we believe the rise of digital tokens as a new asset class has created a tremendous opportunity for us to leverage our experience in the sector. One of our most significant assets in this regard is our seasoned team of industry leaders who are recognized for their deep relationships with key players in the space. Our team's value is further enhanced by our ability to bridge the gap between public company experience and blockchain expertise, which we believe fills a major talent void in this burgeoning arena.
Over the past year, the price of Bitcoin surged more than 300%, while Ethereum has soared more than 2,000% in the last six months alone. These meteoric rises in value of blockchain technology-based digital assets, combined with the increasing involvement of major organizations, such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and others, demonstrably proves digital assets are now entering mainstream acceptance, shedding the negative perceptions that plagued them in the past.
This shift in acceptance can be seen in the recent successes of initial coin offerings. Block.one, a blockchain startup, raised $185 million in five days, breaking the previous record set just a few weeks earlier by Bancor, which raised nearly $150 million. In total, initial coin offerings raised more than $500 million in the first half of 2017.
Moving forward, subject to the completion of additional financing, we plan to create a portfolio of digital assets, through participation in initial coin offerings, strategic market purchases, and by resuming our transaction verification services business, through outsourced data centers. We are also keenly focused on the potential acquisition of target opportunities across the blockchain space.
We believe our track record of identifying opportunities within blockchain technologies speaks for itself. With your continued support, and the right forward-thinking financial partners, we hope to capitalize on these opportunities while the industry is still in its early days, maximizing the potential for long-term shareholder value improvement.
On behalf of our management team, I want to personally thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,Charles AllenCEO and Chairman
About BTCS:
BTCS is one of the first U.S. publicly traded companies focused on digital assets and blockchain technologies. Subject to additional financing, BTCS plans to create a portfolio of digital assets including bitcoin and other "protocol tokens" to provide investors a diversified pure-play exposure to the blockchain space. The blockchain is a decentralized public ledger and could fundamentally impact all industries on a global basis that rely on or utilize record keeping and require trust. BTCS is keenly focused on growth through acquisition and intends to acquire digital assets through open market purchases and participation in initial digital asset offerings (often referred to as initial coin offerings). Additionally, BTCS may acquire digital assets by resuming our transaction verification services business (often referred to as mining) through outsourced data centers, earning rewards in digital assets by securing their respective blockchains. For more information visit:www.btcs.com
Forward-Looking Statements:Certain statements in this press release, including those related to an anticipated merger, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. || BTCS Announces Letter to Shareholders from CEO: SILVER SPRING, MD--(Marketwired - Jul 10, 2017) - BTCS Inc. ( OTCQB : BTCS ) ("BTCS" or the "Company"), a blockchain technology focused company, released a Letter to Shareholders updating current activities and outlining its corporate strategy for 2017, as follows: Dear Shareholders, Our decision to focus our business around blockchain technologies in 2015 has proven to be a valid thesis with prescient timing, yet without the ability to secure sufficient capital in 2016, we were unable to realize the potential from this truly disruptive opportunity. Recognizing that this opportunity is still in its infancy, we spent much of the past year focused on restructuring liabilities to improve our financial position as we seek out acquisition opportunities and execute on our plan to build a portfolio of digital assets. To this end, we successfully exchanged approximately $3.9 million of convertible notes and liquidated damages for fixed-price Series B preferred stock, entered a leak-out agreement with the former note holders, and raised $1 million to settle liabilities and provide working capital. We have taken these steps because we believe the rise of digital tokens as a new asset class has created a tremendous opportunity for us to leverage our experience in the sector. One of our most significant assets in this regard is our seasoned team of industry leaders who are recognized for their deep relationships with key players in the space. Our team's value is further enhanced by our ability to bridge the gap between public company experience and blockchain expertise, which we believe fills a major talent void in this burgeoning arena. Over the past year, the price of Bitcoin surged more than 300%, while Ethereum has soared more than 2,000% in the last six months alone. These meteoric rises in value of blockchain technology-based digital assets, combined with the increasing involvement of major organizations, such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and others, demonstrably proves digital assets are now entering mainstream acceptance, shedding the negative perceptions that plagued them in the past. Story continues This shift in acceptance can be seen in the recent successes of initial coin offerings. Block.one, a blockchain startup, raised $185 million in five days, breaking the previous record set just a few weeks earlier by Bancor, which raised nearly $150 million. In total, initial coin offerings raised more than $500 million in the first half of 2017. Moving forward, subject to the completion of additional financing, we plan to create a portfolio of digital assets, through participation in initial coin offerings, strategic market purchases, and by resuming our transaction verification services business, through outsourced data centers. We are also keenly focused on the potential acquisition of target opportunities across the blockchain space. We believe our track record of identifying opportunities within blockchain technologies speaks for itself. With your continued support, and the right forward-thinking financial partners, we hope to capitalize on these opportunities while the industry is still in its early days, maximizing the potential for long-term shareholder value improvement. On behalf of our management team, I want to personally thank you for your continued support. Sincerely, Charles Allen CEO and Chairman About BTCS: BTCS is one of the first U.S. publicly traded companies focused on digital assets and blockchain technologies. Subject to additional financing, BTCS plans to create a portfolio of digital assets including bitcoin and other "protocol tokens" to provide investors a diversified pure-play exposure to the blockchain space. The blockchain is a decentralized public ledger and could fundamentally impact all industries on a global basis that rely on or utilize record keeping and require trust. BTCS is keenly focused on growth through acquisition and intends to acquire digital assets through open market purchases and participation in initial digital asset offerings (often referred to as initial coin offerings). Additionally, BTCS may acquire digital assets by resuming our transaction verification services business (often referred to as mining) through outsourced data centers, earning rewards in digital assets by securing their respective blockchains. For more information visit: www.btcs.com Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release, including those related to an anticipated merger, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its digital currency business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. || SinglePoint Signs Deal to Manufacture CBD Hemp Oil Patches -- CFN Media: SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - Jul 10, 2017) - CFN Media Group ("CannabisFN"), the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis, announces publication of an article that will take a look at SinglePoint Inc.'s ( OTC PINK : SING ) recent agreement with Premier Biomedical Inc. to begin manufacturing Premier's newly designed CBD Hemp Oil Patch products in high volume. The cannabis industry is projected to exceed $50 billion by 2026, according to Cowen & Co., driven by the ongoing legalization of medical and recreational marijuana. While recreational marijuana has drawn a lot of attention, tetrahydrocannabinol's (THC) non-psychoactive cousin, cannabidiol (CBD), has been experiencing tremendous growth as researchers continue to unlock its potential across a wide range of medical conditions. Generating Revenue SinglePoint recently announced a deal with Premier Biomedical to mass-manufacture its CBD Hemp Oil Patch and potentially future products. The deal provides the company with a consistent stream of revenue while it continues to execute organic growth initiatives and make strategic acquisitions in the cannabis industry. In addition, the potential to add future products to the mix opens the door to scaling these revenue streams higher. "We have been working very hard on making acquisitions and inside sales to boost revenue," said SinglePoint CEO Greg Lambrecht in a press release announcing the partnership. "This new business will contribute significantly to our revenue goals." Premier Biomedical benefits from the mass manufacture of its topical pain relief products, which will help the company aggressively expand its distribution network through retail outlets, health care facilities, pharmacies, and various online shopping platforms. "We are excited that we found a volume supplier for our products," said Premier Biomedical President & CEO William Hartman in the same press release. "This significantly increases the company's initiatives and enables us to grow revenues through expansion of sales volumes in both domestic and foreign markets. We look forward to working with SinglePoint to continue bringing current and future planned new products [to market]." Story continues Horizontal Market Strategy SinglePoint has evolved from a mobile technology provider to a diversified cannabis holding company with a presence in several industry segments. Management's horizontal market diversification strategy involved acquiring portfolio companies, leveraging economies of scale, and unlocking incremental value through synergies. For example, the company's recent acquisition of 90% of DIGS provided it with an online, retail, and consulting arm. At the center of the so-called "hub-and-spokes" business model, SingleSeed has become a supplier of products and services to the cannabis industry. The company's strong historical presence in the cannabis industry -- cultivated over several years through its payment offerings -- provides a strong base for growth, while SingleSeed is designed to connect various portfolio companies by sharing customers and synergies. The company has also established partnerships designed to enable its entry into other market segments. For instance, the company recently raised $1 million from an institutional investor to close deals in the cryptocurrency market. The company's new funding and partnership with First Bitcoin Capital is designed to expedite the development of effective payment solutions for the cannabis industry. Looking Ahead SinglePoint Inc. ( OTC PINK : SING ) represents a compelling and diversified opportunity within the cannabis industry. While its primary focus is on payments, the company's agreement with Premier Biomedical to manufacture CBD products opens the door to near-term revenue opportunities that could help finance its ongoing growth and future acquisitions. Please follow the link to watch the interview and read the full article: http://www.cannabisfn.com/singlepoint-signs-deal-manufacture-cbd-hemp-oil-patches/ For more information, visit the company's website or CannabisFN's company profile . About CFN Media CFN Media (CannabisFN) is the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis. We help marijuana businesses attract investors, customers (B2B, B2C), capital, and media visibility. Private and public marijuana companies and brands in the US and Canada rely on CFN Media to grow and succeed. Learn how to become a CFN Media client company, brand or entrepreneur: http://www.cannabisfn.com/become-featured-company/ Download the CFN Media iOS mobile app to access the world of cannabis from the palm of your hand: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cannabisfn/id988009247?ls=1&mt=8 Or visit our homepage and enter your mobile number under the Apple App Store logo to receive a download link text on your iPhone: http://www.cannabisfn.com Disclaimer: Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Emerging Growth LLC, which owns CFN Media and CannabisFN.com, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. Emerging Growth LLC may from time to time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and may increase or decrease such positions without notice. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Emerging Growth LLC may be compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation or equity securities in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure please visit: http://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/ || SinglePoint Signs Deal to Manufacture CBD Hemp Oil Patches -- CFN Media: SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - Jul 10, 2017) - CFN Media Group ("CannabisFN"), the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis, announces publication of an article that will take a look at SinglePoint Inc.'s (OTC PINK:SING) recent agreement with Premier Biomedical Inc. to begin manufacturing Premier's newly designed CBD Hemp Oil Patch products in high volume.
The cannabis industry is projected to exceed $50 billion by 2026, according to Cowen & Co., driven by the ongoing legalization of medical and recreational marijuana. While recreational marijuana has drawn a lot of attention, tetrahydrocannabinol's (THC) non-psychoactive cousin, cannabidiol (CBD), has been experiencing tremendous growth as researchers continue to unlock its potential across a wide range of medical conditions.
Generating Revenue
SinglePointrecently announceda deal with Premier Biomedical to mass-manufacture its CBD Hemp Oil Patch and potentially future products. The deal provides the company with a consistent stream of revenue while it continues to execute organic growth initiatives and make strategic acquisitions in the cannabis industry. In addition, the potential to add future products to the mix opens the door to scaling these revenue streams higher.
"We have been working very hard on making acquisitions and inside sales to boost revenue," said SinglePoint CEO Greg Lambrecht in a press release announcing the partnership. "This new business will contribute significantly to our revenue goals."
Premier Biomedical benefits from the mass manufacture of its topical pain relief products, which will help the company aggressively expand its distribution network through retail outlets, health care facilities, pharmacies, and various online shopping platforms.
"We are excited that we found a volume supplier for our products," said Premier Biomedical President & CEO William Hartman in the same press release. "This significantly increases the company's initiatives and enables us to grow revenues through expansion of sales volumes in both domestic and foreign markets. We look forward to working with SinglePoint to continue bringing current and future planned new products [to market]."
Horizontal Market Strategy
SinglePoint has evolved from a mobile technology provider to a diversified cannabis holding company with a presence in several industry segments. Management's horizontal market diversification strategy involved acquiring portfolio companies, leveraging economies of scale, and unlocking incremental value through synergies. For example, thecompany's recent acquisitionof 90% of DIGS provided it with an online, retail, and consulting arm.
At the center of the so-called "hub-and-spokes" business model,SingleSeedhas become a supplier of products and services to the cannabis industry. The company's strong historical presence in the cannabis industry -- cultivated over several years through its payment offerings -- provides a strong base for growth, while SingleSeed is designed to connect various portfolio companies by sharing customers and synergies.
The company has also established partnerships designed to enable its entry into other market segments. For instance, the company recently raised $1 million from an institutional investor to close deals in the cryptocurrency market. The company's new funding and partnership with First Bitcoin Capital is designed to expedite the development of effective payment solutions for the cannabis industry.
Looking Ahead
SinglePoint Inc. (OTC PINK:SING) represents a compelling and diversified opportunity within the cannabis industry. While its primary focus is on payments, the company's agreement with Premier Biomedical to manufacture CBD products opens the door to near-term revenue opportunities that could help finance its ongoing growth and future acquisitions.
Please follow the link to watch the interview and read the full article:http://www.cannabisfn.com/singlepoint-signs-deal-manufacture-cbd-hemp-oil-patches/
For more information, visit thecompany's websiteor CannabisFN'scompany profile.
About CFN MediaCFN Media (CannabisFN) is the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis. We help marijuana businesses attract investors, customers (B2B, B2C), capital, and media visibility. Private and public marijuana companies and brands in the US and Canada rely on CFN Media to grow and succeed.
Learn how to become a CFN Media client company, brand or entrepreneur:http://www.cannabisfn.com/become-featured-company/
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Disclaimer:
Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Emerging Growth LLC, which owns CFN Media and CannabisFN.com, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. Emerging Growth LLC may from time to time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and may increase or decrease such positions without notice. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Emerging Growth LLC may be compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation or equity securities in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure please visit:http://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/ || Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Forecast Bitcoin Consolidates as ETH Crashes: Bitcoin prices continued on their consolidation and ranging phase and as we have pointed out many times over, over the last few days, this is likely to be the trend in the short and medium term as we wait for the next direction in the field of cryptocurrencies. Over the last few weeks, we have seen the interest increase in this field but that has not translated into higher volatility as yet. Bitcoin 4H It is clear that the bitcoin traders are a bit wary at these prices and ideally, they would like to see a correction in the prices before they start buying again. But those who have already bought the bitcoins are in no mood to left the price fall and that is one of the reasons for this consolidation. Also, as mentioned many times before, the number of bitcoins is finite and hence the demand and the prices are likely to continue to remain high despite competition from many such similar currencies. Bitcoin Forecast On the technical front, we see some strong support coming in the bitcoin prices at around the $2400 region and this support should be enough to keep the bulls interested. We expect this consolidation and ranging for some more days to come as the market and the traders prepare themselves for the next move. Ethereum Crashed Through Ethereum prices have broken through the support region at $260 and this has led to the prices pushing lower into the $230 region. We had mentioned the same in our forecast last week where we had said that a break through the tight ranges of last week would lead to a large move and this is what happened over the last few days as the prices crashed by close to 10%. This is just a measure of the volatility that the traders have to deal with and like every other instrument, this volatility has the capability to give or take out a lot from the traders. Get Into Bitcoin Trading Today This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: AUDCAD Leaves no Hope for Buyers E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index (NQ) Futures Technical Analysis July 10, 2017 Forecast E-mini S&P 500 Index (ES) Futures Technical Analysis July 10, 2017 Forecast U.S. Traders Will Be Watched to See If They Can Maintain Momentum E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Analysis July 10, 2017 Forecast European Shares Rise Following Dovish Remarks from ECB Officials || Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Forecast – Bitcoin Consolidates as ETH Crashes: Bitcoin prices continued on their consolidation and ranging phase and as we have pointed out many times over, over the last few days, this is likely to be the trend in the short and medium term as we wait for the next direction in the field of cryptocurrencies. Over the last few weeks, we have seen the interest increase in this field but that has not translated into higher volatility as yet.
It is clear that the bitcoin traders are a bit wary at these prices and ideally, they would like to see a correction in the prices before they start buying again. But those who have already bought the bitcoins are in no mood to left the price fall and that is one of the reasons for this consolidation. Also, as mentioned many times before, the number of bitcoins is finite and hence the demand and the prices are likely to continue to remain high despite competition from many such similar currencies.
On the technical front, we see some strong support coming in the bitcoin prices at around the $2400 region and this support should be enough to keep the bulls interested. We expect this consolidation and ranging for some more days to come as the market and the traders prepare themselves for the next move.
Ethereum prices have broken through the support region at $260 and this has led to the prices pushing lower into the $230 region. We had mentioned the same in our forecast last week where we had said that a break through the tight ranges of last week would lead to a large move and this is what happened over the last few days as the prices crashed by close to 10%. This is just a measure of the volatility that the traders have to deal with and like every other instrument, this volatility has the capability to give or take out a lot from the traders.
Get Into Bitcoin Trading Today
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• AUDCAD Leaves no Hope for Buyers
• E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index (NQ) Futures Technical Analysis – July 10, 2017 Forecast
• E-mini S&P 500 Index (ES) Futures Technical Analysis – July 10, 2017 Forecast
• U.S. Traders Will Be Watched to See If They Can Maintain Momentum
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Analysis – July 10, 2017 Forecast
• European Shares Rise Following Dovish Remarks from ECB Officials || Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Forecast – Bitcoin Consolidates as ETH Crashes: Bitcoin prices continued on their consolidation and ranging phase and as we have pointed out many times over, over the last few days, this is likely to be the trend in the short and medium term as we wait for the next direction in the field of cryptocurrencies. Over the last few weeks, we have seen the interest increase in this field but that has not translated into higher volatility as yet.
It is clear that the bitcoin traders are a bit wary at these prices and ideally, they would like to see a correction in the prices before they start buying again. But those who have already bought the bitcoins are in no mood to left the price fall and that is one of the reasons for this consolidation. Also, as mentioned many times before, the number of bitcoins is finite and hence the demand and the prices are likely to continue to remain high despite competition from many such similar currencies.
On the technical front, we see some strong support coming in the bitcoin prices at around the $2400 region and this support should be enough to keep the bulls interested. We expect this consolidation and ranging for some more days to come as the market and the traders prepare themselves for the next move.
Ethereum prices have broken through the support region at $260 and this has led to the prices pushing lower into the $230 region. We had mentioned the same in our forecast last week where we had said that a break through the tight ranges of last week would lead to a large move and this is what happened over the last few days as the prices crashed by close to 10%. This is just a measure of the volatility that the traders have to deal with and like every other instrument, this volatility has the capability to give or take out a lot from the traders.
Get Into Bitcoin Trading Today
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• AUDCAD Leaves no Hope for Buyers
• E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index (NQ) Futures Technical Analysis – July 10, 2017 Forecast
• E-mini S&P 500 Index (ES) Futures Technical Analysis – July 10, 2017 Forecast
• U.S. Traders Will Be Watched to See If They Can Maintain Momentum
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Analysis – July 10, 2017 Forecast
• European Shares Rise Following Dovish Remarks from ECB Officials || USA Made Organic CBD Oil Named Best Value CBD Brand: NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / July 7, 2017 /An organic CBD oil product from a US company has been named as the Best Value CBD by CBDReVu.com, a popular international destination for news and reviews of CBD oil products. For more information about the selection, go herehttps://cbdrevu.com/.
According to CBDReVu.com, the retail market for CBD oil products is growing rapidly. Some industry estimates indicate that the CBD market should grow to a $2.1 billion in retail sales by 2020. That would represent a huge 700% increase from 2016. In 2015, retail sales of industrial hemp-sourced CBD oils were about $90 million, plus an additional $112 million in cannabis-sourced CBD oils marketed via dispensaries, bringing total CBD oil sales to $202 million in 2016.
Cannabidiol, also known as CBD, is a compound in hemp and cannabis plants that has no psychoactive effect. In order words, CBD, unlike the better-known THC, does not have any intoxicating effects. There is growing evidence that traditional recreational marijuana smokers are increasingly interested in CBD. One large licensed cultivator on the west coast says they have calculated that 38% of marijuana users, as well as non-users, have indicated they want to learn more about CBD oil.
So, the CBD oil market projected to grow dramatically. Entrepreneurs and Wall Street have taken notice and jumped on the bandwagon in an attempt to get a piece of this potentially huge market. According to industry research data, in the state of Washington, alone, there are over 800 CBD products available. This diversity of products, some good and some bad, put consumers in a difficult position as they try to sort out the authentic quality products from the pretenders. Like any other food or nutritional item, consumers want thebest CBD oil, but in order to find the high-quality products, consumers must do some homework. All companies market their products as the best, but very few products live up to the hype. Even though many credible commentators, like CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, have said positive things about the potential of CBD and medical marijuana, companies marketing these products often cross an ethics line when they make unproven medical claims. One of the first red flags for consumers that should be a signal to stay away from any product in the nutritional space is when the company makes any medical claims about diseases or conditions that CBD or medical marijuana will help or cure. That's because the evidence to support such claims does not exist. There are other caveats consumers should be alert to.
In addition to the difficulty of sorting through the various products, the regulatory picture for the substance is another minefield. Some saypure CBD oilis perfectly legal, and some say it is not. Most companies ship the product anywhere in the USA, but others do not. Some companies let consumers buy with their credit cards, while others only take cash or Bitcoin payments. The bottom line is that, from a legal standpoint, the whole scenario is very confusing and controversial. But, in the meantime, CBD product sales are strong and growing.
About CBDReVu.com
CBDReVu.com is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, and writes about the emerging legal cannabis industry.
SOURCE:CBDReVu.com || USA Made Organic CBD Oil Named Best Value CBD Brand: NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ / ACCESSWIRE / July 7, 2017 / An organic CBD oil product from a US company has been named as the Best Value CBD by CBDReVu.com, a popular international destination for news and reviews of CBD oil products. For more information about the selection, go here https://cbdrevu.com/ . According to CBDReVu.com, the retail market for CBD oil products is growing rapidly. Some industry estimates indicate that the CBD market should grow to a $2.1 billion in retail sales by 2020. That would represent a huge 700% increase from 2016. In 2015, retail sales of industrial hemp-sourced CBD oils were about $90 million, plus an additional $112 million in cannabis-sourced CBD oils marketed via dispensaries, bringing total CBD oil sales to $202 million in 2016. Cannabidiol, also known as CBD, is a compound in hemp and cannabis plants that has no psychoactive effect. In order words, CBD, unlike the better-known THC, does not have any intoxicating effects. There is growing evidence that traditional recreational marijuana smokers are increasingly interested in CBD. One large licensed cultivator on the west coast says they have calculated that 38% of marijuana users, as well as non-users, have indicated they want to learn more about CBD oil. So, the CBD oil market projected to grow dramatically. Entrepreneurs and Wall Street have taken notice and jumped on the bandwagon in an attempt to get a piece of this potentially huge market. According to industry research data, in the state of Washington, alone, there are over 800 CBD products available. This diversity of products, some good and some bad, put consumers in a difficult position as they try to sort out the authentic quality products from the pretenders. Like any other food or nutritional item, consumers want the best CBD oil , but in order to find the high-quality products, consumers must do some homework. All companies market their products as the best, but very few products live up to the hype. Even though many credible commentators, like CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, have said positive things about the potential of CBD and medical marijuana, companies marketing these products often cross an ethics line when they make unproven medical claims. One of the first red flags for consumers that should be a signal to stay away from any product in the nutritional space is when the company makes any medical claims about diseases or conditions that CBD or medical marijuana will help or cure. That's because the evidence to support such claims does not exist. There are other caveats consumers should be alert to. Story continues In addition to the difficulty of sorting through the various products, the regulatory picture for the substance is another minefield. Some say pure CBD oil is perfectly legal, and some say it is not. Most companies ship the product anywhere in the USA, but others do not. Some companies let consumers buy with their credit cards, while others only take cash or Bitcoin payments. The bottom line is that, from a legal standpoint, the whole scenario is very confusing and controversial. But, in the meantime, CBD product sales are strong and growing. About CBDReVu.com CBDReVu.com is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA, and writes about the emerging legal cannabis industry. SOURCE: CBDReVu.com || Your first trade for Friday, July 7: The " Fast Money " traders gave their final trades of the day. Pete Najarian is a buyer of Google (GOOGL (NASDAQ: GOOGL) ). Steve Grasso is a buyer of Avis (CAR (NASDAQ: CAR) ). Brian Kelly is a buyer of Nvidia (NVDA (NASDAQ: NVDA) ). Tim Seymour is a buyer of iShares Transportation ETF (IYT (NYSE Arca: IYT) ). Trader disclosure: On July 6 the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Tim Seymour is long ABX, AAPL, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, C, CLF, CVX, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWN, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LOW, LQD, MAT, MOS, MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, SQ,T, TWTR, VALE, VRX, VZ, XOM. short: EEM, SPY, XRT. Pete Najarian is long calls AMD, AVGO, BAC, BUD, C, CHK, CMCSA, CPN, EOG, LNG, LULU, MDLZ, MU, RF, SFM, TECK, UNP, X. Pete Najarian is long stock AAP, AAPL, BAC, BKE, CELG, DIS, DLTR, FSLR, GILD, GIS, GE, GM, IBM, K, KMX, KO, KORS, KR, KSU, LEN, MRK, MSFT, PEP, PFE, SCSS, UAL, UNP, V, WDC, WFT, WYNN. Pete owns LOW puts. Pete bought AMD calls. BK is long AMD, Bitcoin, Ethereum, IWM, KRE, TBT. Steve Grasso's firm is long stock AMD, AON, APC, CTL, CUBA, DIA, DVN, F, HES, HPQ, ICE, KDUS, MAT, MFIN, MJNA, MSFT, NE, RIG, SNAP, SPY, SNGX, SQBG, TIME, TITXF, UA, VEON, WDR, WPX, ZNGA. Grasso is long stock AAPL, BABA, CAR, CHK, EVGN, HTZ, JCP, KBH, MJNA, MON, PHM, SQ, T, TWTR, VRX. Grasso owns Callable Trigger contingent yield note linked to SPX RTY and MXEA. Grasso's kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. NO SHORTS. Grasso's firm bought HPQ. More From CNBC High dividend stocks to own: 5 trades Box Office Bust? 5 media trades Trading Nike earnings: 3 plays || Your first trade for Friday, July 7: The "Fast Money" traders gave their final trades of the day.
Pete Najarian is a buyer of Google (GOOGL(NASDAQ: GOOGL)).
Steve Grasso is a buyer of Avis (CAR(NASDAQ: CAR)).
Brian Kelly is a buyer of Nvidia (NVDA(NASDAQ: NVDA)).
Tim Seymour is a buyer of iShares Transportation ETF (IYT(NYSE Arca: IYT)).
Trader disclosure: OnJuly 6the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:
Tim Seymour is long ABX, AAPL, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, C, CLF, CVX, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWN, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LOW, LQD, MAT, MOS, MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, SQ,T, TWTR, VALE, VRX, VZ, XOM. short: EEM, SPY, XRT.
Pete Najarian is long calls AMD, AVGO, BAC, BUD, C, CHK, CMCSA, CPN, EOG, LNG, LULU, MDLZ, MU, RF, SFM, TECK, UNP, X. Pete Najarian is long stock AAP, AAPL, BAC, BKE, CELG, DIS, DLTR, FSLR, GILD, GIS, GE, GM, IBM, K, KMX, KO, KORS, KR, KSU, LEN, MRK, MSFT, PEP, PFE, SCSS, UAL, UNP, V, WDC, WFT, WYNN. Pete owns LOW puts. Pete bought AMD calls.
BK is long AMD, Bitcoin, Ethereum, IWM, KRE, TBT.
Steve Grasso's firm is long stock AMD, AON, APC, CTL, CUBA, DIA, DVN, F, HES, HPQ, ICE, KDUS, MAT, MFIN, MJNA, MSFT, NE, RIG, SNAP, SPY, SNGX, SQBG, TIME, TITXF, UA, VEON, WDR, WPX, ZNGA. Grasso is long stock AAPL, BABA, CAR, CHK, EVGN, HTZ, JCP, KBH, MJNA, MON, PHM, SQ, T, TWTR, VRX. Grasso owns Callable Trigger contingent yield note linked to SPX RTY and MXEA. Grasso's kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. NO SHORTS. Grasso's firm bought HPQ.
More From CNBC
• High dividend stocks to own: 5 trades
• Box Office Bust? 5 media trades
• Trading Nike earnings: 3 plays || Raytheon among stocks that may benefit from bigger missile defense spending because of North Korea: Jefferies is optimistic toward companies such as Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) , Orbital ATK (: OA'WI) , and Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) as tensions with North Korea escalate, leading to greater missile defense spending. "The aggressive nature of the North Korean acts may cause Japan, South Korea, the U.S. Congress and the Administration to fund missile defense at an above average rate," wrote Jefferies equity analyst Howard Rubel in Wednesday's note. The U.S. confirmed that a missile launched by the North Korean government on Tuesday was an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, which has the potential to reach the United States. After numerous attempts to goad the Chinese government into applying more economic pressure against Pyongyang, President Donald Trump is running out of diplomatic options. While the U.S. continues to build its immature Ground Based Missile Defense system, radar and rocket manufacturers such as Raytheon are poised for federal funding, with geospatial imagery companies like DigitalGlobe also positioned for bumps, according to the Jefferies report. "The Japanese have considered another program which would help defend their territory. If we go forward with some form of defense of Hawaii, that's a multi-billion dollar program," added Rubel on CNBC's "Power Lunch" earlier today. "The answer is: it's undecided how large the opportunity is for these contractors." "Language in the House Armed Services Report for the FY18 DoD budget calls out the need for a plan to enhance the sharing of commercial imagery and national technical means with South Korea and Japan," added Rubel. The increased expenditure on weapons and defense, as well as the potential for further international partnership would bode well for American arms manufacturers. On Wednesday afternoon, Raytheon traded approximately 1.60 percent higher while Orbital ATK was up 2.14 percent. Story continues Earlier today, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill told CNBC that he believes Americans will pay close attention to the U.S. response following this latest North Korean missile launch. "In the short run, what they're very concerned about is the possibility that North Korea could have an ICBM that could hit the U.S. with a nuclear weapon," Hill told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "I think the American people will indeed ask the question you're asking, which is what is [Trump] going to do about it?" Thus far, China has regarded the uptick in U.S. missile defense activity with disdain. Plans for new modern defense weapons sales to Taiwan angered China last week as the U.S. State Department announced the $1.42 billion agreement. Prior to the arms sale, the U.S. shocked both South Korea and China by secretly deploying four more THAAD rocket launchers in South Korea. More From CNBC Bitcoin could nearly double and reach $5,000 soon, says Standpoint Research TipRanks: Here are the favorite tech stocks of top analysts for the second half Some recent tech IPOs are cratering || Raytheon among stocks that may benefit from bigger missile defense spending because of North Korea: Jefferies is optimistic toward companies such as Raytheon(NYSE: RTN), Orbital ATK(: OA'WI), and Aerojet Rocketdyne(NYSE: AJRD)as tensions with North Korea escalate, leading to greater missile defense spending.
"The aggressive nature of the North Korean acts may cause Japan, South Korea, the U.S. Congress and the Administration to fund missile defense at an above average rate," wrote Jefferies equity analyst Howard Rubel in Wednesday's note.
The U.S. confirmed that a missile launched by the North Korean government on Tuesday was an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, which has the potential to reach the United States. After numerous attempts to goad the Chinese government into applying more economic pressure against Pyongyang, President Donald Trump is running out of diplomatic options.
While the U.S. continues to build its immature Ground Based Missile Defense system, radar and rocket manufacturers such as Raytheon are poised for federal funding, with geospatial imagery companies like DigitalGlobe also positioned for bumps, according to the Jefferies report.
"The Japanese have considered another program which would help defend their territory. If we go forward with some form of defense of Hawaii, that's a multi-billion dollar program," added Rubel on CNBC's "Power Lunch" earlier today. "The answer is: it's undecided how large the opportunity is for these contractors."
"Language in the House Armed Services Report for the FY18 DoD budget calls out the need for a plan to enhance the sharing of commercial imagery and national technical means with South Korea and Japan," added Rubel. The increased expenditure on weapons and defense, as well as the potential for further international partnership would bode well for American arms manufacturers.
On Wednesday afternoon, Raytheon traded approximately 1.60 percent higher while Orbital ATK was up 2.14 percent.
Earlier today,former U.S. ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill told CNBCthat he believes Americans will pay close attention to the U.S. response following this latest North Korean missile launch.
"In the short run, what they're very concerned about is the possibility that North Korea could have an ICBM that could hit the U.S. with a nuclear weapon," Hill told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "I think the American people will indeed ask the question you're asking, which is what is [Trump] going to do about it?"
Thus far, China has regarded the uptick in U.S. missile defense activity with disdain.
Plans fornew modern defense weapons sales to Taiwan angered Chinalast week as the U.S. State Department announced the $1.42 billion agreement. Prior to the arms sale,the U.S. shocked both South Korea and Chinaby secretly deploying four more THAAD rocket launchers in South Korea.
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• Bitcoin could nearly double and reach $5,000 soon, says Standpoint Research
• TipRanks: Here are the favorite tech stocks of top analysts for the second half
• Some recent tech IPOs are cratering
[Social Media Buzz]
#BTC 24hr Summary:
Last: $2356.98
High: $2515.14
Low: $2250.00
Change: -6.21% | $-156.11
Volume: $ 20794.51
$BTC #Bitcoin #coinbasepic.twitter.com/4XisCki3Aw || $2356.63 at 22:30 UTC [24h Range: $2242.62 - $2399.00 Volume: 18795 BTC] || One Bitcoin now worth $2332.21@bitstamp. High $2399.00. Low $2242.62. Market Cap $38.342 Billion #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/XxZU9rHLrV || $2355.98 at 11:15 UTC [24h Range: $2242.62 - $2518.00 Volume: 23208 BTC] || Jul 11, 2017 17:00:00 UTC | 2,390.30$ | 2,091.30€ |...
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2398.84, 2357.90, 2233.34, 1998.86, 1929.82, 2228.41, 2318.88, 2273.43, 2817.60, 2667.76
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 12899.20, 11600.10, 10931.40, 10868.40, 11359.40, 11259.40, 11171.40, 11440.70, 11786.30, 11296.40, 10106.30, 10221.10, 9170.54, 8830.75, 9174.91, 8277.01, 6955.27, 7754.00, 7621.30, 8265.59, 8736.98, 8621.90, 8129.97, 8926.57, 8598.31, 9494.63, 10166.40, 10233.90, 11112.70, 10551.80, 11225.30, 11403.70, 10690.40, 10005.00, 10301.10, 9813.07, 9664.73, 10366.70, 10725.60, 10397.90, 10951.00, 11086.40, 11489.70, 11512.60, 11573.30, 10779.90, 9965.57, 9395.01, 9337.55, 8866.00, 9578.63, 9205.12, 9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35, 7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47, 8879.62, 8668.12, 8495.78, 8209.40, 7833.04, 7954.48, 7165.70, 6890.52, 6973.53, 6844.23, 7083.80, 7456.11, 6853.84, 6811.47, 6636.32, 6911.09, 7023.52, 6770.73, 6834.76, 6968.32, 7889.25, 7895.96, 7986.24, 8329.11, 8058.67, 7902.09, 8163.42, 8294.31.
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[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-04-19]
Volume: 7063209984, RSI (14-day): 56.85, 50-day EMA: 8321.78, 200-day EMA: 8770.54
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1346.80, Gold RSI: 54.91
Oil Price: 68.29, Oil RSI: 64.65
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
At Long Last, Amazon's Jeff Bezos Confirms Just How Many Prime Members There Are: For years,Amazon.com(NASDAQ: AMZN)has closely guarded just how many Prime members it has, leading to much speculation. The e-commerce titan has consistently obfuscated this metric with a standard phrase: "tens of millions." Amazon used the same phrase recently when discussinghow many music subscribersit has, the first such time it has given any detail regarding its music business.
Well, CEO Jeff Bezos has just released Amazon's annual shareholder letter, and he has finally disclosed how many Prime members the company has.
Image source: Amazon.
To be clear, Bezos did not provide an exact figure, but instead noted that Amazon has now "exceeded 100 million paid Prime members globally," 13 years after the program was introduced. It's not clear how far above 100 million the member base is. Over the years, Amazon has continued to stuff more and more benefits into Prime, to the point where it's a no-brainer for most e-commerce shoppers, providing incredible value and convenience.
The richest man in history also noted that Amazon shipped over 5 billion items with Prime worldwide last year, and 2017 saw the greatest number of new Prime members than any other year. That includes member additions in the U.S. as well as international markets, although Bezos stopped short of providing any other granular detail regarding the Prime member base, such as a geographical breakdown.
Such a breakdown would be crucial in estimating how much Prime revenue Amazon ultimately brings in, as Prime is priced differently based on geographical market. For example, Prime costs just 999 rupees in India, or $15, compared to the $99 annual fee in the U.S. Prime launched in India in 2016, and Amazon is still in the early stages of building out its infrastructure in the world's second-most-populous nation, and doesn't include as many benefits as the U.S. version (yet).
Prime launched in Mexico during 2017, with an introductory annual fee of 449 pesos (about $25), which jumps to 899 pesos (about $50) after the first year. Earlier this year, Amazonraised the monthly feeof Prime in the U.S. from $11 per month to $13 per month in an apparent effort to encourage annual subscriptions, as the price increase only affected monthly subscribers.
It's fair to say that most of the Prime member base is located in the important U.S. market, but only Bezos and Co. know that breakdown. Inevitably, Street analysts will offer opinions and estimates in the days and weeks ahead. The disclosure is a small but meaningful step for investor transparency, which Amazon has a poor track record with. It took years for Amazon to start sharing detailed financials for its all-important Amazon Web Services (AWS) division, which is now the company's most profitable segmentby far.
Fortunately for investors, it'll be quite a while until Amazon can start hiding behind proclamations of "hundreds of millions" of Prime subscribers.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Evan Niu, CFAhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || At Long Last, Amazon's Jeff Bezos Confirms Just How Many Prime Members There Are: For years, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) has closely guarded just how many Prime members it has, leading to much speculation. The e-commerce titan has consistently obfuscated this metric with a standard phrase: " tens of millions ." Amazon used the same phrase recently when discussing how many music subscribers it has, the first such time it has given any detail regarding its music business. Well, CEO Jeff Bezos has just released Amazon's annual shareholder letter, and he has finally disclosed how many Prime members the company has. Amazon packages on a conveyer belt with a warehouse worker in the background Image source: Amazon. 100 million and counting To be clear, Bezos did not provide an exact figure, but instead noted that Amazon has now "exceeded 100 million paid Prime members globally," 13 years after the program was introduced. It's not clear how far above 100 million the member base is. Over the years, Amazon has continued to stuff more and more benefits into Prime, to the point where it's a no-brainer for most e-commerce shoppers, providing incredible value and convenience. The richest man in history also noted that Amazon shipped over 5 billion items with Prime worldwide last year, and 2017 saw the greatest number of new Prime members than any other year. That includes member additions in the U.S. as well as international markets, although Bezos stopped short of providing any other granular detail regarding the Prime member base, such as a geographical breakdown. Such a breakdown would be crucial in estimating how much Prime revenue Amazon ultimately brings in, as Prime is priced differently based on geographical market. For example, Prime costs just 999 rupees in India, or $15, compared to the $99 annual fee in the U.S. Prime launched in India in 2016, and Amazon is still in the early stages of building out its infrastructure in the world's second-most-populous nation, and doesn't include as many benefits as the U.S. version (yet). Prime launched in Mexico during 2017, with an introductory annual fee of 449 pesos (about $25), which jumps to 899 pesos (about $50) after the first year. Earlier this year, Amazon raised the monthly fee of Prime in the U.S. from $11 per month to $13 per month in an apparent effort to encourage annual subscriptions, as the price increase only affected monthly subscribers. It's fair to say that most of the Prime member base is located in the important U.S. market, but only Bezos and Co. know that breakdown. Inevitably, Street analysts will offer opinions and estimates in the days and weeks ahead. The disclosure is a small but meaningful step for investor transparency, which Amazon has a poor track record with. It took years for Amazon to start sharing detailed financials for its all-important Amazon Web Services (AWS) division, which is now the company's most profitable segment by far . Story continues Fortunately for investors, it'll be quite a while until Amazon can start hiding behind proclamations of "hundreds of millions" of Prime subscribers. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Evan Niu, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . View comments || 3 Reasons Qualcomm Likely Won't Close the NXP Deal in 2018: Qualcomm(NASDAQ: QCOM)initially announced its plans to buy Dutch chipmakerNXP Semiconductors(NASDAQ: NXPI)in Oct. 2016. Qualcomm wanted to buy NXP, the largest automotive chipmaker in the world, to diversify its business away from the mobile market.
Qualcomm is the top mobile chipmaker in the world, but its chipmaking business is being challenged by cheaper rivals and first party chips from OEMs, while its licensing business is besieged by OEMs and regulators, which claim that its fees are unfair.
Image source: Getty Images.
Qualcomm believes that closing the NXP deal could counter both problems, grow its addressable markets by about 40% in 2020, and boost its non-GAAP earnings immediately. Unfortunately, Qualcomm probably can't close the deal this year for three simple reasons.
Under Dutch law, Qualcomm needs to convince NXP's investors to tender at least 80% of their shares for the deal to close. Qualcomm initially offered $110 per share for NXP, but activist investor Elliot Management -- which owns more than 6% of NXP -- rallied against the offer and claimed that the chipmaker was worth more than $135 per share.
NXP investors followed Elliot's lead, and the percentage of tendered shares plunged from nearly 15% last February to 1.5% this February. Meanwhile, pressure mounted for Qualcomm to close the NXP deal as a defense againstBroadcom's(NASDAQ: AVGO)hostile takeover bid.
That's why Qualcomm hiked its offer to $127.50 per share in late February, which boosted the total price to $44 billion. That higher offer satisfied Elliot Management, but other investors still weren't impressed. The percentage of tendered shares jumped to 19% in early March, but slid to 15.1% at the end of the month. As of April 13, only 16.2% of NXP's shares were tendered -- and it's unclear how Qualcomm can get that percentage to hit 80%.
Regulators in the US and Europe have approved the NXP takeover, but China's MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce) -- the last regulator required for the deal to proceed -- stillhasn't clearedthe deal.
Qualcomm already has a rocky history with Chinese regulators. In 2015, the government fined Qualcomm nearly $1 billion over its licensing practices and forced it to lower its licensing fees for Chinese OEMs. Qualcomm subsequently partnered with Chinese tech firms in the development of new chips for connected cars, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and 5G technologies -- likely to curry the favor of Chinese regulators.
However, President Trump's decision to block Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm and levy tariffs against China could cause MOFCOM to postpone the approval of the NXP deal. This wouldn't be the first time MOFCOM delayed a major tech deal -- it sat onWestern Digital's takeover ofHitachi's hard drive unit for over three years before approving it.
Image source: Getty Images.
If trade tensions escalate between the U.S. and China, Qualcomm's planned takeover of NXP could become a bargaining chip between Washington and Beijing.
Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm's former chairman and CEO, was ousted from the board in mid-March after clashing with the board over a plan to take the chipmaker private in a $90 billion deal. However, Jacobs is still talking to strategic investors and sovereign wealth funds to take Qualcomm private.
Jacobs was a big supporter of the NXP bid, but he claimed that Qualcomm's original $110 offer was a "fair" price last September. His thoughts on Qualcomm's higher bid and Broadcom's nixed deal are less clear, but $90 billion isn't much higher than Qualcomm's current market cap of $82.5 billion, and certainly doesn't include NXP.
Jacobs' go-private bid is a long shot. However, Qualcomm's directors nearly lost control of the board to Broadcom's proposed replacements before Trump's eleventh-hour intervention, so investors might be willing to give Jacobs a shot at shaking things up. Whether or not Jacobs will still pursue NXP is anyone's guess.
Earlier this year, Qualcommboldly promisedthat it could grow its fiscal 2019 sales by about 60% andmore than doubleits EPS if the Broadcom bid was blocked. Qualcomm claimed that it could achieve this by settling its litigation withApple, implementing a $1 billion cost reduction plan, and closing the NXP deal.
However, the aforementioned problems could easily push the NXP deal back to fiscal 2019 and beyond. If that happens, Qualcomm's business couldsputter outas its chip sales decelerate and its licensing unit is picked apart by litigation and fines.
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Leo Sunowns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm and has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom Ltd and NXP Semiconductors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 3 Reasons Qualcomm Likely Won't Close the NXP Deal in 2018: Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) initially announced its plans to buy Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) in Oct. 2016. Qualcomm wanted to buy NXP, the largest automotive chipmaker in the world, to diversify its business away from the mobile market. Qualcomm is the top mobile chipmaker in the world, but its chipmaking business is being challenged by cheaper rivals and first party chips from OEMs, while its licensing business is besieged by OEMs and regulators, which claim that its fees are unfair. An illustration of a semiconductor. Image source: Getty Images. Qualcomm believes that closing the NXP deal could counter both problems, grow its addressable markets by about 40% in 2020, and boost its non-GAAP earnings immediately. Unfortunately, Qualcomm probably can't close the deal this year for three simple reasons. 1. NXP investors aren't tendering their shares Under Dutch law, Qualcomm needs to convince NXP's investors to tender at least 80% of their shares for the deal to close. Qualcomm initially offered $110 per share for NXP, but activist investor Elliot Management -- which owns more than 6% of NXP -- rallied against the offer and claimed that the chipmaker was worth more than $135 per share. NXP investors followed Elliot's lead, and the percentage of tendered shares plunged from nearly 15% last February to 1.5% this February. Meanwhile, pressure mounted for Qualcomm to close the NXP deal as a defense against Broadcom 's (NASDAQ: AVGO) hostile takeover bid. That's why Qualcomm hiked its offer to $127.50 per share in late February, which boosted the total price to $44 billion. That higher offer satisfied Elliot Management, but other investors still weren't impressed. The percentage of tendered shares jumped to 19% in early March, but slid to 15.1% at the end of the month. As of April 13, only 16.2% of NXP's shares were tendered -- and it's unclear how Qualcomm can get that percentage to hit 80%. 2. China could delay the deal until Trump settles down Regulators in the US and Europe have approved the NXP takeover, but China's MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce) -- the last regulator required for the deal to proceed -- still hasn't cleared the deal. Story continues Qualcomm already has a rocky history with Chinese regulators. In 2015, the government fined Qualcomm nearly $1 billion over its licensing practices and forced it to lower its licensing fees for Chinese OEMs. Qualcomm subsequently partnered with Chinese tech firms in the development of new chips for connected cars, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and 5G technologies -- likely to curry the favor of Chinese regulators. However, President Trump's decision to block Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm and levy tariffs against China could cause MOFCOM to postpone the approval of the NXP deal. This wouldn't be the first time MOFCOM delayed a major tech deal -- it sat on Western Digital 's takeover of Hitachi 's hard drive unit for over three years before approving it. Two boxing gloves with the American and Chinese flags. Image source: Getty Images. If trade tensions escalate between the U.S. and China, Qualcomm's planned takeover of NXP could become a bargaining chip between Washington and Beijing. 3. Qualcomm could be taken private first Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm's former chairman and CEO, was ousted from the board in mid-March after clashing with the board over a plan to take the chipmaker private in a $90 billion deal. However, Jacobs is still talking to strategic investors and sovereign wealth funds to take Qualcomm private. Jacobs was a big supporter of the NXP bid, but he claimed that Qualcomm's original $110 offer was a "fair" price last September. His thoughts on Qualcomm's higher bid and Broadcom's nixed deal are less clear, but $90 billion isn't much higher than Qualcomm's current market cap of $82.5 billion, and certainly doesn't include NXP. Jacobs' go-private bid is a long shot. However, Qualcomm's directors nearly lost control of the board to Broadcom's proposed replacements before Trump's eleventh-hour intervention, so investors might be willing to give Jacobs a shot at shaking things up. Whether or not Jacobs will still pursue NXP is anyone's guess. The bottom line Earlier this year, Qualcomm boldly promised that it could grow its fiscal 2019 sales by about 60% and more than double its EPS if the Broadcom bid was blocked. Qualcomm claimed that it could achieve this by settling its litigation with Apple , implementing a $1 billion cost reduction plan, and closing the NXP deal. However, the aforementioned problems could easily push the NXP deal back to fiscal 2019 and beyond. If that happens, Qualcomm's business could sputter out as its chip sales decelerate and its licensing unit is picked apart by litigation and fines. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Leo Sun owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm and has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom Ltd and NXP Semiconductors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Price-Stable Cryptocurrency Project ‘Basis’ Raises $133 Million in Funding: Basis, formerly Basecoin, has raised $133 million in a private placement, chief executive Nader Al-Naji revealed today. The Hoboken, N.J.-based project plans to create a stable cryptocurrency with an algorithmic central bank that will keep the price stable, something that has eluded cryptocurrency to date and limited its use as a reliable payment method. Funding for the round comes from a diverse group of backers, including Bain Capital Ventures, GV, Stanley Druckenmiller, Kevin Warsh, Lightspeed , Foundation Capital, Andreessen Horowitz , Wing VC, NFX, Valor Capital, Zhenfund, INBlockchain, Ceyuan Ventures, Sky9 Capital and others. Warsh is a former U.S. Federal Reserve governor. Tackling Volatility Al-Naji, who co-founded the company with former Princeton classmates Lawrence Diao and Josh Chen, said volatility makes cryptocurrency hard to use for regular expenditures. If someone receives a salary of 1 BTC per month, for instance, they may not able to pay the rent if the price falls in value. Bitcoin has proved to be as ineffective as hyperinflating local currency, making it a tool primarily for speculation. Basis’ goal is to marry the benefits of cryptocurrency with centrally controlled fiat currency. Central banks mitigate volatility via monetary policy. They expand and contract the money supply. Cryptocurrencies, by contrast, have a fixed supply, which fosters volatility that makes them an unreliable form of payment. Basis brings the benefits of cryptocurrency without the volatility, Al-Naji said. Newly created Basis will be distributed to those participating in the system, thereby decentralizing monetary expansion. Should it accomplish its goal, Basis will benefit the efficiency of developing nations’ economies, Al-Naji said. Diverse Support Basis, through its private placement, has gained the support of financial institutions such as crypto hedge funds and venture capitalists, in addition to crypto exchanges, application developers, blockchain wallets and economists. Story continues The project’s founders see the developing world as one of its target markets, TechCrunch noted. They also have their eyes on the crowdfunding market since that market will benefit from not having funds subjected to high volatility. They also think cryptocurrency exchanges will be attracted to a cryptocurrency not prone to pricing gyrations. Al-Naji has not revealed a lot of specifics about how Basis will work, however, declining in an interview with TechCrunch to discuss Basis’s tokens will be introduced. Nor did he say when the token could see widespread adoption or to expand on the apps Basis will integrate with. Also read: Hedge fund managers pounce on bitcoin volatility Investor Affirms Benefits A stable crypto store of value enables streamlined trading without incurring volatility risk, investor Salil Deshpande, managing director at Bain Capital Ventures, noted in another Medium blog. A stable coin could bring more accountability to the economies of developing nations. It could also serve a global store of value and medium of exchange, initially in developing countries with unreliable central banks, then globally, Deshpande said. Economists have supported Basis’s thesis that extreme price fluctuations limit their mainstream appeal of cryptocurrencies as a place to store money long-term, according to Bloomberg . Nevertheless, not everyone is sold on Basis. Preston Byrne, a blockchain consultant, criticized the concept, noting that Basis’ implementation has little in common with a central bank. The post Price-Stable Cryptocurrency Project ‘Basis’ Raises $133 Million in Funding appeared first on CCN . || Price-Stable Cryptocurrency Project ‘Basis’ Raises $133 Million in Funding: Basis, formerly Basecoin, has raised $133 million in a private placement, chief executive Nader Al-Najirevealedtoday. The Hoboken, N.J.-based project plans to create a stable cryptocurrency with an algorithmic central bank that will keep the price stable, something that has eluded cryptocurrency to date and limited its use as a reliable payment method.
Funding for the round comes from a diverse group of backers, including Bain Capital Ventures, GV, Stanley Druckenmiller, Kevin Warsh,Lightspeed, Foundation Capital,Andreessen Horowitz, Wing VC, NFX, Valor Capital, Zhenfund, INBlockchain, Ceyuan Ventures, Sky9 Capital and others. Warsh is a former U.S. Federal Reserve governor.
Al-Naji, who co-founded the company with former Princeton classmates Lawrence Diao and Josh Chen, said volatility makes cryptocurrency hard to use for regular expenditures. If someone receives a salary of 1 BTC per month, for instance, they may not able to pay the rent if the price falls in value.
Bitcoinhas proved to be as ineffective as hyperinflating local currency, making it a tool primarily for speculation.
Basis’ goal is to marry the benefits of cryptocurrency with centrally controlled fiat currency. Central banks mitigate volatility via monetary policy. They expand and contract the money supply. Cryptocurrencies, by contrast, have a fixed supply, which fosters volatility that makes them an unreliable form of payment.
Basis brings the benefits of cryptocurrency without the volatility, Al-Naji said. Newly created Basis will be distributed to those participating in the system, thereby decentralizing monetary expansion. Should it accomplish its goal, Basis will benefit the efficiency of developing nations’ economies, Al-Naji said.
Basis, through its private placement, has gained the support of financial institutions such as crypto hedge funds and venture capitalists, in addition to crypto exchanges, application developers, blockchain wallets and economists.
The project’s founders see the developing world as one of its target markets,TechCrunchnoted.
They also have their eyes on the crowdfunding market since that market will benefit from not having funds subjected to high volatility. They also think cryptocurrency exchanges will be attracted to a cryptocurrency not prone to pricing gyrations.
Al-Naji has not revealed a lot of specifics about how Basis will work, however, declining in an interview with TechCrunch to discuss Basis’s tokens will be introduced. Nor did he say when the token could see widespread adoption or to expand on the apps Basis will integrate with.
Also read:Hedge fund managers pounce on bitcoin volatility
A stable crypto store of value enables streamlined trading without incurring volatility risk, investor Salil Deshpande, managing director at Bain Capital Ventures, noted in anotherMediumblog. A stable coin could bring more accountability to the economies of developing nations.
It could also serve a global store of value and medium of exchange, initially in developing countries with unreliable central banks, then globally, Deshpande said. Economists have supported Basis’s thesis that extreme price fluctuations limit their mainstream appeal of cryptocurrencies as a place to store money long-term, according toBloomberg.
Nevertheless, not everyone is sold on Basis. Preston Byrne, a blockchain consultant, criticized the concept, noting that Basis’ implementation has little in common with a central bank.
The postPrice-Stable Cryptocurrency Project ‘Basis’ Raises $133 Million in Fundingappeared first onCCN. || Can Intel Corp. Beat NVIDIA Corp. at Its Own Game?: Tweaktown's Anthony Garreffa, a technology journalist who has posted reliable information about future graphics processor products in the past, recently published aninteresting articlein which he offers some insight into chip giantIntel's(NASDAQ: INTC)ambitions to enter thehigh-performance gaming graphics processor market.
According to Garreffa, citing industry sources, Intel's aim is to "beatNVIDIA(NASDAQ: NVDA)" in the gaming graphics processor market.
Image source: Intel.
For some context, NVIDIA is the market leader in graphics processors. Its products are far and away the best in the industry in terms of performance and power efficiency, and its brand strength among the gaming community is arguably unmatched.
Still, Intel is making some of the right moves. It hired graphics industry veteran Raja Koduri to serve as chief architect of the company's cores and visual computing group and seems to be investing more financial resources into graphics.
So, this leads us to the question: Can Intel beat NVIDIA, the market leader, at its own game?
Right now, NVIDIA has ahugehead start on Intel. While Intel's current graphics processors (which are embedded in its computer processors) are wholly unsuited for modern gaming, NVIDIA offers a large portfolio of high-performance graphics processors spanning a wide range of price points.
Moreover, NVIDIA's graphics architectures today are miles ahead of Intel's, and the former certainly isn't going to sit still as the latter works to improve its own designs.
On top of that, graphics processors are highly dependent on the accompanying driver software to achieve maximum performance and efficiency. NVIDIA has, easily, the best graphics driver team in the industry that's always tuning the company's drivers for each major video game title that comes out.
Intel's graphics drivers, at least in my experience, leave much to be desired with performance inconsistency and game incompatibilities being quite common.
Suffice it to say, simply being in the same league as NVIDIA, let alonebeatingNVIDIA at its own game, is a herculean task.
While I'm skeptical that Intel can ever be the market leader in high-performance gaming graphics, I do think that it has an opportunity to become a strong No. 2 player in the market over time. Today,Advanced Micro Devices(NASDAQ: AMD)is No. 2, but Garreffa doesn't seem to have a bright view of AMD's prospects in graphics going forward, saying that it's in a "downward spiral" and even going so far as to refer to its efforts as "non-direction-no-action-at-all."
AMD's graphics processors are generally less power-efficient than NVIDIA's parts. Moreover, while NVIDIA is reportedly planning to release graphics processors based on its new Turing architecture for gaming later this year, AMD is likely to continue selling its current Vega architecture-based products (which are already inferior to NVIDIA's current Pascal architecture-based products).
If Intel's graphics efforts are well-funded and well-run and if it commits to pursuing this market for the long term instead of tucking tail and running at the first signs of trouble (as it did in themobile applications processor business), then I think Intel will find success as a strong competitor to NVIDIA.
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Ashraf Eassaowns shares of Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Can Intel Corp. Beat NVIDIA Corp. at Its Own Game?: Tweaktown's Anthony Garreffa, a technology journalist who has posted reliable information about future graphics processor products in the past, recently published an interesting article in which he offers some insight into chip giant Intel 's (NASDAQ: INTC) ambitions to enter the high-performance gaming graphics processor market . According to Garreffa, citing industry sources, Intel's aim is to "beat NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) " in the gaming graphics processor market. An Intel processor that integrates AMD graphics on the same package. Image source: Intel. For some context, NVIDIA is the market leader in graphics processors. Its products are far and away the best in the industry in terms of performance and power efficiency, and its brand strength among the gaming community is arguably unmatched. Still, Intel is making some of the right moves. It hired graphics industry veteran Raja Koduri to serve as chief architect of the company's cores and visual computing group and seems to be investing more financial resources into graphics. So, this leads us to the question: Can Intel beat NVIDIA, the market leader, at its own game? It won't be easy Right now, NVIDIA has a huge head start on Intel. While Intel's current graphics processors (which are embedded in its computer processors) are wholly unsuited for modern gaming, NVIDIA offers a large portfolio of high-performance graphics processors spanning a wide range of price points. Moreover, NVIDIA's graphics architectures today are miles ahead of Intel's, and the former certainly isn't going to sit still as the latter works to improve its own designs. On top of that, graphics processors are highly dependent on the accompanying driver software to achieve maximum performance and efficiency. NVIDIA has, easily, the best graphics driver team in the industry that's always tuning the company's drivers for each major video game title that comes out. Intel's graphics drivers, at least in my experience, leave much to be desired with performance inconsistency and game incompatibilities being quite common. Story continues Suffice it to say, simply being in the same league as NVIDIA, let alone beating NVIDIA at its own game, is a herculean task. Intel can be a strong No. 2 While I'm skeptical that Intel can ever be the market leader in high-performance gaming graphics, I do think that it has an opportunity to become a strong No. 2 player in the market over time. Today, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) is No. 2, but Garreffa doesn't seem to have a bright view of AMD's prospects in graphics going forward, saying that it's in a "downward spiral" and even going so far as to refer to its efforts as "non-direction-no-action-at-all." AMD's graphics processors are generally less power-efficient than NVIDIA's parts. Moreover, while NVIDIA is reportedly planning to release graphics processors based on its new Turing architecture for gaming later this year, AMD is likely to continue selling its current Vega architecture-based products (which are already inferior to NVIDIA's current Pascal architecture-based products). If Intel's graphics efforts are well-funded and well-run and if it commits to pursuing this market for the long term instead of tucking tail and running at the first signs of trouble (as it did in the mobile applications processor business ), then I think Intel will find success as a strong competitor to NVIDIA. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Ashraf Eassa owns shares of Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Cryptocurrency funds down nearly 30 percent in March as slump persists: index: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency funds were down 29.2 percent in March amid an ongoing slump caused by increased scrutiny from global regulators of the virtual assets, according to a new index launched by data provider BarclayHedge. The Barclay Cryptocurrency Traders Index was down 43.1 percent in the year to date, after three consecutive monthly losses, BarclayHedge said on Wednesday. The Cryptocurrency Traders Index, started in 2018, is an equal-weighted index of the monthly returns of 19 funds that trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Volatile bitcoin hit an all-time high of just under $20,000 in December 2017 and has since fallen to as low as $5,920. On Wednesday, it was up 4.2 percent on the day at $8,232 (BTC=BTSP) on the BitStamp platform. Cryptocurrencies have been impacted this year by fears of a crackdown from regulators and concerns that they have been in a speculative bubble that is now deflating. "Folks have their opinions, but no one really knows if it's a bubble or a correction," said Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. Data from financial technology data tracker Autonomous NEXT also confirm the bear trend. "There has been a slow-down in ICO (initial coin offering) proceeds that we track ($1 million and over), with a dip in February and a slight pick-up in March in terms of fundraising," Autonomous NEXT said in a report also published this week. ICOs are a fund-raising mechanism in which start-ups create currencies or tokens and sell them to investors. "There is also definitely a slow-down in terms of ICOs starting in March. So it seems that the public crowd-funding part of the equation is indeed getting slower, looking like the summer of last year, rather than the frenzy of the fall/winter," London-based Autonomous NEXT said. The number of new funds in the company's crypto fund tracker has also grown modestly in 2018, it said. Autonomous NEXT said it is tracking 251 crypto funds. "The number is not growing as quickly as we'd expect - partly because it's a more difficult environment to raise, and partly because folks are being less vocal about what they're doing," the company said. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) || Cryptocurrency funds down nearly 30 percent in March as slump persists: index: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency funds were down 29.2 percent in March amid an ongoing slump caused by increased scrutiny from global regulators of the virtual assets, according to a new index launched by data provider BarclayHedge. The Barclay Cryptocurrency Traders Index was down 43.1 percent in the year to date, after three consecutive monthly losses, BarclayHedge said on Wednesday. The Cryptocurrency Traders Index, started in 2018, is an equal-weighted index of the monthly returns of 19 funds that trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Volatile bitcoin hit an all-time high of just under $20,000 in December 2017 and has since fallen to as low as $5,920. On Wednesday, it was up 4.2 percent on the day at $8,232 (BTC=BTSP) on the BitStamp platform. Cryptocurrencies have been impacted this year by fears of a crackdown from regulators and concerns that they have been in a speculative bubble that is now deflating. "Folks have their opinions, but no one really knows if it's a bubble or a correction," said Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. Data from financial technology data tracker Autonomous NEXT also confirm the bear trend. "There has been a slow-down in ICO (initial coin offering) proceeds that we track ($1 million and over), with a dip in February and a slight pick-up in March in terms of fundraising," Autonomous NEXT said in a report also published this week. ICOs are a fund-raising mechanism in which start-ups create currencies or tokens and sell them to investors. "There is also definitely a slow-down in terms of ICOs starting in March. So it seems that the public crowd-funding part of the equation is indeed getting slower, looking like the summer of last year, rather than the frenzy of the fall/winter," London-based Autonomous NEXT said. The number of new funds in the company's crypto fund tracker has also grown modestly in 2018, it said. Autonomous NEXT said it is tracking 251 crypto funds. "The number is not growing as quickly as we'd expect - partly because it's a more difficult environment to raise, and partly because folks are being less vocal about what they're doing," the company said. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) || Crypto Investment Firm Founder Turns Bullish on Bitcoin Cash: Bitcoin price With all of the attention on the movements in the bitcoin price, now could be the time to get your hands on BTC spinoff Bitcoin Cash, one trader says. Brian Kelly, founder of Investment firm BKCM, tells CNBC the technical signs including a possible breakout are pointing to an opportunity in Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Investors apparently taking his advice, with the No. 4 cryptocurrency by market cap trading in the green today alongside other altcoins, up nearly 16% at the time of publication. Kelly points to a trio of reasons why BCH is attractive at these levels, including the following – He says BCH is in the “Monty Python zone”, where like the movie it may have been “left for dead” and even “mostly dead” but despite being “absolutely crushed” it’s “not dead yet.” A “potential breakout” on the horizon Rising volume Kelly used a long-term BCH chart from December 2017 till now to illustrate his point, where the $790 price level “was support” but has since “become resistance.” A breakout would indicate “higher moves.” Meanwhile, based on a shorter time frame reflecting trading in BCH year to date, he points to a couple of “down moves” that have begun to form a “triangle” underpinned by strong volume. “Those are the first things traders look at, that I look at, to say, something might be changing here,” Kelly said. “If we get that breakout, you’re looking at higher moves,” Kelly told CNBC. Kelly has been making calls on the cryptocurrency market left and right, recently telling CNBC that the bitcoin price was likely to set a new record in 2018 and then it would be upward and onward from there. This plays into his call on BCH, because Kelly says “you’re going to need a continuation of the bitcoin rally.” “Buy the Dip” CCN recently reported on the rivalry between BTC and BCH traders, one that may have been responsible for the temporary suspension of the Twitter account with the handle @bitcoin. Kelly is bitcoin/altcoin-agnostic, as evidenced by his advice to “buy the dip” in bitcoin since the price has pulled back from its recent advance. Story continues What was expected to be the start of bitcoin’s next bull run got interrupted after New York’s attorney general revealed he made an information request into more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges. But according to Kelly, it’s just “market action” on the heels of a “big run.” Featured image from Shutterstock. The post Crypto Investment Firm Founder Turns Bullish on Bitcoin Cash appeared first on CCN . || Crypto Investment Firm Founder Turns Bullish on Bitcoin Cash: With all of the attention on the movements in the bitcoin price, now could be the time to get your hands on BTC spinoff Bitcoin Cash, one trader says.
Brian Kelly, founder of Investment firm BKCM,tells CNBCthe technical signs including a possible breakout are pointing to an opportunity in Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Investors apparently taking his advice, with the No. 4 cryptocurrency by market cap trading in the green today alongside other altcoins, up nearly 16% at the time of publication.
Kelly points to a trio of reasons why BCH is attractive at these levels, including the following –
• He says BCH is in the “Monty Python zone”, where like the movie it may have been “left for dead” and even “mostly dead” but despite being “absolutely crushed” it’s “not dead yet.”
• A “potential breakout” on the horizon
• Rising volume
Kelly used a long-term BCH chart from December 2017 till now to illustrate his point, where the $790 price level “was support” but has since “become resistance.” A breakout would indicate “higher moves.”
Meanwhile, based on a shorter time frame reflecting trading in BCH year to date, he points to a couple of “down moves” that have begun to form a “triangle” underpinned by strong volume.
“Those are the first things traders look at, that I look at, to say, something might be changing here,” Kelly said. “If we get that breakout, you’re looking at higher moves,” Kelly told CNBC.
Kelly has been making calls on the cryptocurrency market left and right,recently telling CNBCthat the bitcoin price was likely to set a new record in 2018 and then it would be upward and onward from there. This plays into his call on BCH, because Kelly says “you’re going to need a continuation of the bitcoin rally.”
CCNrecently reportedon the rivalry between BTC and BCH traders, one that may have been responsible for the temporary suspension of the Twitter account with the handle @bitcoin. Kelly is bitcoin/altcoin-agnostic, as evidenced by his advice to “buy the dip” in bitcoin since the price has pulled back from its recent advance.
What was expected to be the start of bitcoin’s next bull run got interrupted after New York’s attorney general revealed hemade an information requestinto more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges. But according to Kelly, it’s just “market action” on the heels of a “big run.”
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postCrypto Investment Firm Founder Turns Bullish on Bitcoin Cashappeared first onCCN. || Crypto Investment Firm Founder Turns Bullish on Bitcoin Cash: With all of the attention on the movements in the bitcoin price, now could be the time to get your hands on BTC spinoff Bitcoin Cash, one trader says.
Brian Kelly, founder of Investment firm BKCM,tells CNBCthe technical signs including a possible breakout are pointing to an opportunity in Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Investors apparently taking his advice, with the No. 4 cryptocurrency by market cap trading in the green today alongside other altcoins, up nearly 16% at the time of publication.
Kelly points to a trio of reasons why BCH is attractive at these levels, including the following –
• He says BCH is in the “Monty Python zone”, where like the movie it may have been “left for dead” and even “mostly dead” but despite being “absolutely crushed” it’s “not dead yet.”
• A “potential breakout” on the horizon
• Rising volume
Kelly used a long-term BCH chart from December 2017 till now to illustrate his point, where the $790 price level “was support” but has since “become resistance.” A breakout would indicate “higher moves.”
Meanwhile, based on a shorter time frame reflecting trading in BCH year to date, he points to a couple of “down moves” that have begun to form a “triangle” underpinned by strong volume.
“Those are the first things traders look at, that I look at, to say, something might be changing here,” Kelly said. “If we get that breakout, you’re looking at higher moves,” Kelly told CNBC.
Kelly has been making calls on the cryptocurrency market left and right,recently telling CNBCthat the bitcoin price was likely to set a new record in 2018 and then it would be upward and onward from there. This plays into his call on BCH, because Kelly says “you’re going to need a continuation of the bitcoin rally.”
CCNrecently reportedon the rivalry between BTC and BCH traders, one that may have been responsible for the temporary suspension of the Twitter account with the handle @bitcoin. Kelly is bitcoin/altcoin-agnostic, as evidenced by his advice to “buy the dip” in bitcoin since the price has pulled back from its recent advance.
What was expected to be the start of bitcoin’s next bull run got interrupted after New York’s attorney general revealed hemade an information requestinto more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges. But according to Kelly, it’s just “market action” on the heels of a “big run.”
Featured image from Shutterstock.
The postCrypto Investment Firm Founder Turns Bullish on Bitcoin Cashappeared first onCCN. || Telegrams Pavel Durov Is Using Bitcoin to Bypass Russian Sanctions: Telegrams Pavel Durov Is Using Bitcoin to Bypass Russian Sanctions Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is battling against Russian security forces , after they implemented a block on Monday, April 16, 2018, on the messaging app when it refused a court order to grant state security services access to its users encrypted messages, according to Reuters . The move was initiated by Alexander Zharov, head of the Russian watchdog organization Roskomnadzor, who has blocked 18 sub-networks and various IP addresses belonging to both Amazon and Google in the process. We have currently informed both companies that a significant number of IP addresses located in the clouds of these two services have fallen under the block due to the court ruling, Zharov commented. He further stated that Telegram has potentially been used by terrorists to coordinate attacks on both Russia and its neighbors. But as the skies darken and defense seems like a lost cause, Durov is refusing to give up, as Telegram customers received the following notification early this morning: For the last 24 hours Telegram has been under a ban by internet providers in Russia. The reason is our refusal to provide encryption keys to Russian security agencies. For us, this was an easy decision. We promised our users 100% privacy and would rather cease to exist than violate this promise. Durov has since taken to his account on VK a Russian social network to explain that he is offering bitcoin grants to both companies and individuals alike that run proxy servers and virtual private networks (VPNs). He says hes happy to donate millions of dollars from his personal stash to illustrate and assist this cause, noting that both VPNs and proxy servers work against the hindrances set in place by Russian authorities. Proxy servers operate by acting as connective tissue between clients and other servers. Normally, these clients seek information or resources from outside servers and thus link to a proxy server, which decides the best way to simplify and control the complexity of their incoming data. In addition, proxy servers offer anonymity to their users, and can be utilized to bypass blocks on certain IP addresses. A VPN extends a private network across a public one and allows users to send and receive information without disclosing their identities. According to Durov, both systems require third-party funding, and hes urging players with money to get in on the game alongside him. As the last 24 hours have shown, in their ongoing war on progress, Russias supervisory authorities are willing to block millions of IP addresses of cloud hosting without regard for losses of extraneous projects. Story continues While Russia only accounts for 7 percent of Telegrams users, Durov called the recent ban unconstitutional and commented that threats to privacy and principles are more important than the numbers. Even if we lose the entire [Russian market], Telegrams organic growth in other regions will compensate for this loss within a couple months, Durov mentioned. However, it is important for me personally to make sure we do everything we can for our Russian users. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine . View comments || Telegram’s Pavel Durov Is Using Bitcoin to Bypass Russian Sanctions: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov isbattling against Russian security forces, after they implemented a block on Monday, April 16, 2018, on the messaging app when it refused a court order to “grant state security services access to its users’ encrypted messages,” according toReuters.
The move was initiated by Alexander Zharov, head of the Russian watchdog organization Roskomnadzor, who has blocked 18 sub-networks and various IP addresses belonging to both Amazon and Google in the process.
“We have currently informed both companies that a significant number of IP addresses located in the clouds of these two services have fallen under the block due to the court ruling,” Zharov commented. He further stated that Telegram haspotentially been used by terroriststo “coordinate attacks” on both Russia and its neighbors.
But as the skies darken and defense seems like a lost cause, Durov is refusing to give up, as Telegram customersreceived the following notificationearly this morning:
“For the last 24 hours Telegram has been under a ban by internet providers in Russia. The reason is our refusal to provide encryption keys to Russian security agencies. For us, this was an easy decision. We promised our users 100% privacy and would rather cease to exist than violate this promise.”
Durov has since taken to his account on VK — a Russian social network — to explain that he is offering bitcoin grants to bothcompanies and individuals alikethat run proxy servers and virtual private networks (VPNs). He says he’s “happy to donate millions of dollars” from his personal stash to illustrate and assist this cause, noting that both VPNs and proxy servers work against the hindrances set in place by Russian authorities.
Proxy servers operate by acting as connective tissue between clients and other servers. Normally, these clients seek information or resources from outside servers and thus link to a proxy server, which decides the best way to simplify and control the complexity of their incoming data. In addition, proxy servers offer anonymity to their users, and can be utilized to bypass blocks on certain IP addresses.
A VPN extends a private network across a public one and allows users to send and receive information without disclosing their identities. According to Durov, both systems require third-party funding, and he’s urging players with money to get in on the game alongside him.
As the last 24 hours have shown, in their ongoing war on progress, Russia’s supervisory authorities are willing to block millions of IP addresses of cloud hosting without regard for losses of extraneous projects.
While Russia only accounts for 7 percent of Telegram’s users, Durov called the recent ban “unconstitutional” and commented that threats to privacy and principles are more important than the numbers.
“Even if we lose the entire [Russian market], Telegram’s organic growth in other regions will compensate for this loss within a couple months,” Durov mentioned. “However, it is important for me personally to make sure we do everything we can for our Russian users.”
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || Telegram’s Pavel Durov Is Using Bitcoin to Bypass Russian Sanctions: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov isbattling against Russian security forces, after they implemented a block on Monday, April 16, 2018, on the messaging app when it refused a court order to “grant state security services access to its users’ encrypted messages,” according toReuters.
The move was initiated by Alexander Zharov, head of the Russian watchdog organization Roskomnadzor, who has blocked 18 sub-networks and various IP addresses belonging to both Amazon and Google in the process.
“We have currently informed both companies that a significant number of IP addresses located in the clouds of these two services have fallen under the block due to the court ruling,” Zharov commented. He further stated that Telegram haspotentially been used by terroriststo “coordinate attacks” on both Russia and its neighbors.
But as the skies darken and defense seems like a lost cause, Durov is refusing to give up, as Telegram customersreceived the following notificationearly this morning:
“For the last 24 hours Telegram has been under a ban by internet providers in Russia. The reason is our refusal to provide encryption keys to Russian security agencies. For us, this was an easy decision. We promised our users 100% privacy and would rather cease to exist than violate this promise.”
Durov has since taken to his account on VK — a Russian social network — to explain that he is offering bitcoin grants to bothcompanies and individuals alikethat run proxy servers and virtual private networks (VPNs). He says he’s “happy to donate millions of dollars” from his personal stash to illustrate and assist this cause, noting that both VPNs and proxy servers work against the hindrances set in place by Russian authorities.
Proxy servers operate by acting as connective tissue between clients and other servers. Normally, these clients seek information or resources from outside servers and thus link to a proxy server, which decides the best way to simplify and control the complexity of their incoming data. In addition, proxy servers offer anonymity to their users, and can be utilized to bypass blocks on certain IP addresses.
A VPN extends a private network across a public one and allows users to send and receive information without disclosing their identities. According to Durov, both systems require third-party funding, and he’s urging players with money to get in on the game alongside him.
As the last 24 hours have shown, in their ongoing war on progress, Russia’s supervisory authorities are willing to block millions of IP addresses of cloud hosting without regard for losses of extraneous projects.
While Russia only accounts for 7 percent of Telegram’s users, Durov called the recent ban “unconstitutional” and commented that threats to privacy and principles are more important than the numbers.
“Even if we lose the entire [Russian market], Telegram’s organic growth in other regions will compensate for this loss within a couple months,” Durov mentioned. “However, it is important for me personally to make sure we do everything we can for our Russian users.”
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || Why IBM, Altria Group, and Lam Research Slumped Today: Earnings season continued to have a big influence on the stock market on Wednesday, with major benchmarks moving in different directions depending on which industries were most dominant among their constituents. Energy stocks did extremely well after crude oil prices jumped to highs not seen in more than three years. Market participants weighed the prospect for stronger economic growth worldwide as well as potential supply disruptions stemming from geopolitical concerns. Elsewhere, though, some stocks weren't able to keep up with their peers. IBM (NYSE: IBM) , Altria Group (NYSE: MO) , and Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX) were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly. IBM looks blue Shares of IBM lost almost 8% despite the company reporting first-quarter financial results that in many ways looked encouraging. After years of falling sales, Big Blue had a 5% rise in revenue, and adjusted earnings were higher by 4% from year-ago levels. Yet most of IBM's sales increase came from foreign currency impacts, leaving the tech giant's top line disappointingly flat on a currency-neutral basis. Moreover, the company chose not to make any changes to its guidance for the full year despite beating earnings expectations, signaling some concerns about its immediate future. IBM's efforts to concentrate on high-growth businesses like the cloud have helped Big Blue make progress, but there's a lot further to go before investors can declare victory. IBM logo on sign outside of an office building. Image source: IBM. Altria gets smoked Altria Group stock dropped 4% after getting negative comments from Wall Street analysts. The cigarette giant got downgraded from buy to neutral at Citi, with analysts there cutting their price target on Altria stock from $84 to $70 per share. Not only is the U.S. cigarette industry likely to continue seeing long-term declines in sales volumes, but competition in the fast-growing e-cigarette market is threatening to eat into Altria's market share. The tobacco giant has made efforts of its own to come up with alternatives to traditional cigarettes, but if the company's earnings report later this week confirms competitive pressures, then investors could start to head for the exits. Story continues Lam Research cuts its guidance Finally, shares of Lam Research fell 4% following the release of the company's fiscal third-quarter financial report. The semiconductor equipment and fabrication specialist said that revenue soared by more than a third, pushing net income higher by 35% and topping the earnings projections that those following the stock had made before the company's report. Yet Lam's outlook for shipments of between $2.85 billion and $3.15 billion for the current quarter was less optimistic than investors had hoped. After seeing huge gains in 2017 , Lam Research stock is responding to fears that typical cyclical pressures will inevitably lead to weaker performance at some point. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool is short shares of IBM. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why IBM, Altria Group, and Lam Research Slumped Today: Earnings season continued to have a big influence on the stock market on Wednesday, with major benchmarks moving in different directions depending on which industries were most dominant among their constituents. Energy stocks did extremely well after crude oil prices jumped to highs not seen in more than three years. Market participants weighed the prospect for stronger economic growth worldwide as well as potential supply disruptions stemming from geopolitical concerns. Elsewhere, though, some stocks weren't able to keep up with their peers.IBM(NYSE: IBM),Altria Group(NYSE: MO), andLam Research(NASDAQ: LRCX)were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly.
Shares of IBM lost almost 8%despite the company reporting first-quarter financial results that in many ways looked encouraging. After years of falling sales, Big Blue had a 5% rise in revenue, and adjusted earnings were higher by 4% from year-ago levels. Yet most of IBM's sales increase came from foreign currency impacts, leaving the tech giant's top line disappointingly flat on a currency-neutral basis. Moreover, the company chose not to make any changes to its guidance for the full year despite beating earnings expectations, signaling some concerns about its immediate future. IBM's efforts to concentrate on high-growth businesses like the cloud have helped Big Blue make progress, but there's a lot further to go before investors can declare victory.
Image source: IBM.
Altria Group stock dropped 4% after getting negative comments from Wall Street analysts. The cigarette giant got downgraded from buy to neutral at Citi, with analysts there cutting their price target on Altria stock from $84 to $70 per share. Not only is the U.S. cigarette industry likely to continue seeing long-term declines in sales volumes, but competition in the fast-growing e-cigarette market is threatening to eat into Altria's market share. The tobacco giant has made efforts of its own to come up with alternatives to traditional cigarettes, but if thecompany's earnings report later this weekconfirms competitive pressures, then investors could start to head for the exits.
Finally, shares of Lam Research fell 4% following the release of the company's fiscal third-quarter financial report. The semiconductor equipment and fabrication specialist said that revenue soared by more than a third, pushing net income higher by 35% and topping the earnings projections that those following the stock had made before the company's report. Yet Lam's outlook for shipments of between $2.85 billion and $3.15 billion for the current quarter was less optimistic than investors had hoped. After seeinghuge gains in 2017, Lam Research stock is responding to fears that typical cyclical pressures will inevitably lead to weaker performance at some point.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
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Dan Caplingerhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool is short shares of IBM. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Why Roku Stock Just Gave Back Its Gains: What happened Easy come, easy go. Yesterday, Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) shares snagged a quick 9% gain on news that Disney 's (NYSE: DIS) ESPN will make itself available on Roku players. One day later, Roku is giving those gains right back. Its stock is down 8.9% as of 1:40 p.m. EDT on news of a partnership between Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) to sell Amazon Fire-enabled television sets -- and Roku stock is now trading back below its Monday close. Movie film scrolling across a TV screen Roku stock is crashing. Film at 11. Image source: Getty Images. So what Here's a quick rundown of what laid Roku low: This morning, Amazon and Best Buy announced a joint initiative to design and sell "Fire TV Edition smart TVs" in Best Buy stores. Best Buy is planning to roll out 11 Insignia- and Toshiba-branded 4K and HD TV sets with Fire built in as early as this summer. Why might this be bad news for Roku? Up until now, Roku had been Best Buy's partner-in-tech for the store's house brand Insignia line. The Wall Street Journal reports that henceforth, that will not be the case -- Best Buy's going exclusive with Amazon, and cutting Roku out. Now what The more interesting story, here, is why this might not be such bad news for Roku. For one thing, just because Amazon and Best Buy have decided to build it doesn't mean customers will necessarily come, as the saying goes. There are at present no details on the pricing of the new sets, their capabilities, or how they will compare to other TVs with similar functionality. There's no guarantee the new product lines will prove popular. There's also the possibility that consumers are starting to wise up to the inadvisability of getting "locked in" to just one technology when it's built into a smart TV. Oftentimes, it's better for buyers to keep their options open -- buying TVs and streaming boxes separately so they can easily and cheaply shift between technologies as they develop. If you decide you prefer Roku over Fire (or vice versa), after all, it's a lot cheaper to buy a new streaming box than to buy an entire new 65-inch flatscreen. Story continues As of today, though, investors' reaction looks more knee-jerk than measured. They're selling off Roku stock, and Amazon and Best Buy are the two reasons for it. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Roku Stock Just Gave Back Its Gains: Easy come, easy go. Yesterday,Roku(NASDAQ: ROKU)shares snaggeda quick 9% gainon news thatDisney's(NYSE: DIS)ESPN will make itself available on Roku players. One day later, Roku is giving those gains right back.
Its stock is down 8.9% as of 1:40 p.m. EDT on news of a partnership betweenAmazon.com(NASDAQ: AMZN)andBest Buy(NYSE: BBY)to sell Amazon Fire-enabled television sets -- and Roku stock is now trading back below its Monday close.
Roku stock is crashing. Film at 11. Image source: Getty Images.
Here's a quick rundown of what laid Roku low: This morning, Amazon and Best Buy announced a joint initiative to design and sell "Fire TV Edition smart TVs" in Best Buy stores. Best Buy is planning to roll out 11 Insignia- and Toshiba-branded 4K and HD TV sets with Fire built in as early as this summer.
Why might this be bad news for Roku? Up until now, Roku had been Best Buy's partner-in-tech for the store's house brand Insignia line.The Wall Street Journalreports that henceforth, that will not be the case -- Best Buy's going exclusive with Amazon, and cutting Roku out.
The more interesting story, here, is why this might not be such bad news for Roku. For one thing, just because Amazon and Best Buy have decided to build it doesn't mean customers will necessarily come, as the saying goes. There are at present no details on the pricing of the new sets, their capabilities, or how they will compare to other TVs with similar functionality. There's no guarantee the new product lines will prove popular.
There's also the possibility that consumers are starting to wise up to the inadvisability of getting "locked in" to just one technology when it's built into a smart TV. Oftentimes, it's better for buyers to keep their options open -- buying TVs and streaming boxes separately so they can easily and cheaply shift between technologies as they develop. If you decide you prefer Roku over Fire (or vice versa), after all, it's a lot cheaper to buy a new streaming box than to buy an entire new 65-inch flatscreen.
As of today, though, investors' reaction looks more knee-jerk than measured. They're selling off Roku stock, and Amazon and Best Buy are the two reasons for it.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Rich Smithhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
[Social Media Buzz]
04/19 12:00現在(Zaif調べ)
#Bitcoin : 880,900円↑0.34%
#NEM #XEM : 42円↑0%
#Monacoin : 406円↑1.25%
#Ethereum : 57,995円↑0%
#Zaif : 1円↑0% || 2018/04/20 06:00
#Binance 格安コイン
1位 #IOST 0.00000467 BTC(4.14円)
2位 #NCASH 0.00000479 BTC(4.24円)
3位 #STORM 0.00000489 BTC(4.33円)
4位 #TNB 0.00000530 BTC(4.7円)
5位 #FUN 0.00000555 BTC(4.92円)
#仮想通貨 #アルトコイン #草コイン || Poland this Friday 13:00 protest against 1000% tax on btc https://ift.tt/2vvdT27 || Apr 19, 2018 10:31:00 UTC | 8,223.40$ | 6,647.80€ | 5,792.20£ | #Bitcoin ...
|
8845.83, 8895.58, 8802.46, 8930.88, 9697.50, 8845.74, 9281.51, 8987.05, 9348.48, 9419.08
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 9205.12, 9194.85, 8269.81, 8300.86, 8338.35, 7916.88, 8223.68, 8630.65, 8913.47, 8929.28, 8728.47, 8879.62, 8668.12, 8495.78, 8209.40, 7833.04, 7954.48, 7165.70, 6890.52, 6973.53, 6844.23, 7083.80, 7456.11, 6853.84, 6811.47, 6636.32, 6911.09, 7023.52, 6770.73, 6834.76, 6968.32, 7889.25, 7895.96, 7986.24, 8329.11, 8058.67, 7902.09, 8163.42, 8294.31, 8845.83, 8895.58, 8802.46, 8930.88, 9697.50, 8845.74, 9281.51, 8987.05, 9348.48, 9419.08, 9240.55, 9119.01, 9235.92, 9743.86, 9700.76, 9858.15, 9654.80, 9373.01, 9234.82, 9325.18, 9043.94, 8441.49, 8504.89, 8723.94, 8716.79, 8510.38, 8368.83, 8094.32, 8250.97, 8247.18, 8513.25, 8418.99, 8041.78, 7557.82, 7587.34, 7480.14, 7355.88, 7368.22, 7135.99, 7472.59, 7406.52, 7494.17, 7541.45, 7643.45, 7720.25, 7514.47, 7633.76, 7653.98, 7678.24, 7624.92, 7531.98.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2018-06-09]
Volume: 3845220096, RSI (14-day): 41.39, 50-day EMA: 8098.53, 200-day EMA: 8601.24
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Norwegian Air CEO Launching Bitcoin Exchange, May Sell Tickets for Crypto: Billionaire Norwegian Air CEO Bjørn Kjos launched the Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) in April, a company executivessay“will explore and exploit potential opportunities that lie in blockade and ledger technology.”
The company raised $250,000 in a first capital round and is owned by a company called Observatoriet Invest, although Stig Kjos-Mathisen, Kjos’ son-in-law and chairman of NBX, says Norwegian will be the main owner of the exchange in time.
NBX is rolling out a cryptocurrency exchange later this year and will also be opening up the airline business for cryptocurrency adoption.
“We’re look at things that are easy to scale. Among other things, having a crypto currency as payment option in the airline,” Kjos-Mathisensaidyesterday. “We see that there is a need for a serious marketplace where you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies.”
NBX has ambitious plans with a goal of rivaling exchanges like GDAX and Kraken.
Norwegian Air Shuttle is the largest airline in Scandinavia, the third-largest low-cost airline in Europe, and the ninth-largest low-cost carrier in the world, having transported 30 million people in 2016. Norwegian operates in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and runs 500 routes to 150 destinations in 35 countries.
“One of the most important thing for us is to build an ecosystem around the solutions we develop. In particular, the ecosystem within the Norwegian group is important, but also ecosystems in the airline industry,” said Kjos-Mathisen.
Norway has not always been hospitable to cryptocurrencies, with small crypto exchangeBitmynt AS losing a lawsuit against Nordea Bankrecently. That said, adoption and integration is on the rise — thenation’s largest bank has adopted bitcoin integrationand the central bank even proposed astate-issued cryptocurrencyas an alternative to cash.
Stig-Mathisen states that he is not concerned with regulation, saying that he met with financial regulators recently.
“It is not long since we met with the Financial supervisory authority. My impression is that they are positive about the technology and do not want to inhibit the adaptation, but they have a cautious approach.”
The relationship between a major airline and a related crypto exchange could be a very interesting one, with Stig-Mathisen citing KYC processes as being much smoother for existing Norwegian customers with registered passports on the system. By looking at both blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption for the airline in conjunction with a new cryptocurrency exchange, the wealthy Norwegian family could be about to make some big moves in the world of air travel business for crypto.
Images from Shutterstock
The postNorwegian Air CEO Launching Bitcoin Exchange, May Sell Tickets for Cryptoappeared first onCCN. || Norwegian Air CEO Launching Bitcoin Exchange, May Sell Tickets for Crypto: Billionaire Norwegian Air CEO Bjørn Kjos launched the Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) in April, a company executivessay“will explore and exploit potential opportunities that lie in blockade and ledger technology.”
The company raised $250,000 in a first capital round and is owned by a company called Observatoriet Invest, although Stig Kjos-Mathisen, Kjos’ son-in-law and chairman of NBX, says Norwegian will be the main owner of the exchange in time.
NBX is rolling out a cryptocurrency exchange later this year and will also be opening up the airline business for cryptocurrency adoption.
“We’re look at things that are easy to scale. Among other things, having a crypto currency as payment option in the airline,” Kjos-Mathisensaidyesterday. “We see that there is a need for a serious marketplace where you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies.”
NBX has ambitious plans with a goal of rivaling exchanges like GDAX and Kraken.
Norwegian Air Shuttle is the largest airline in Scandinavia, the third-largest low-cost airline in Europe, and the ninth-largest low-cost carrier in the world, having transported 30 million people in 2016. Norwegian operates in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and runs 500 routes to 150 destinations in 35 countries.
“One of the most important thing for us is to build an ecosystem around the solutions we develop. In particular, the ecosystem within the Norwegian group is important, but also ecosystems in the airline industry,” said Kjos-Mathisen.
Norway has not always been hospitable to cryptocurrencies, with small crypto exchangeBitmynt AS losing a lawsuit against Nordea Bankrecently. That said, adoption and integration is on the rise — thenation’s largest bank has adopted bitcoin integrationand the central bank even proposed astate-issued cryptocurrencyas an alternative to cash.
Stig-Mathisen states that he is not concerned with regulation, saying that he met with financial regulators recently.
“It is not long since we met with the Financial supervisory authority. My impression is that they are positive about the technology and do not want to inhibit the adaptation, but they have a cautious approach.”
The relationship between a major airline and a related crypto exchange could be a very interesting one, with Stig-Mathisen citing KYC processes as being much smoother for existing Norwegian customers with registered passports on the system. By looking at both blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption for the airline in conjunction with a new cryptocurrency exchange, the wealthy Norwegian family could be about to make some big moves in the world of air travel business for crypto.
Images from Shutterstock
The postNorwegian Air CEO Launching Bitcoin Exchange, May Sell Tickets for Cryptoappeared first onCCN. || Norwegian Air CEO Launching Bitcoin Exchange, May Sell Tickets for Crypto: norwegian air Billionaire Norwegian Air CEO Bjørn Kjos launched the Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) in April, a company executives say will explore and exploit potential opportunities that lie in blockade and ledger technology. The company raised $250,000 in a first capital round and is owned by a company called Observatoriet Invest, although Stig Kjos-Mathisen, Kjos son-in-law and chairman of NBX, says Norwegian will be the main owner of the exchange in time. NBX is rolling out a cryptocurrency exchange later this year and will also be opening up the airline business for cryptocurrency adoption. Were look at things that are easy to scale. Among other things, having a crypto currency as payment option in the airline, Kjos-Mathisen said yesterday. We see that there is a need for a serious marketplace where you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies. NBX has ambitious plans with a goal of rivaling exchanges like GDAX and Kraken. Norwegian Air Shuttle is the largest airline in Scandinavia, the third-largest low-cost airline in Europe, and the ninth-largest low-cost carrier in the world, having transported 30 million people in 2016. Norwegian operates in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and runs 500 routes to 150 destinations in 35 countries. One of the most important thing for us is to build an ecosystem around the solutions we develop. In particular, the ecosystem within the Norwegian group is important, but also ecosystems in the airline industry, said Kjos-Mathisen. norway Norway has not always been hospitable to cryptocurrencies, with small crypto exchange Bitmynt AS losing a lawsuit against Nordea Bank recently. That said, adoption and integration is on the rise the nations largest bank has adopted bitcoin integration and the central bank even proposed a state-issued cryptocurrency as an alternative to cash. Stig-Mathisen states that he is not concerned with regulation, saying that he met with financial regulators recently. Story continues It is not long since we met with the Financial supervisory authority. My impression is that they are positive about the technology and do not want to inhibit the adaptation, but they have a cautious approach. The relationship between a major airline and a related crypto exchange could be a very interesting one, with Stig-Mathisen citing KYC processes as being much smoother for existing Norwegian customers with registered passports on the system. By looking at both blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption for the airline in conjunction with a new cryptocurrency exchange, the wealthy Norwegian family could be about to make some big moves in the world of air travel business for crypto. Images from Shutterstock The post Norwegian Air CEO Launching Bitcoin Exchange, May Sell Tickets for Crypto appeared first on CCN . || Tesla Stock: Headed to $450?: Days after Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shot up nearly 10% in the wake of upbeat news about Model 3 production at the electric-car company's annual shareholder meeting, one analyst is hiking his 12-month price target on the stock from $420 to $450. The analyst making this bullish call is Nomura Instinet analyst Romit Shah. The analyst cites a forecast for higher-than-anticipated average selling prices for the Model 3 and Tesla's plans to build a factory in China as reasons to be optimistic. But with a $450 price target representing about 41% upside from where Tesla stock is trading at the time of this writing, is Shah's rosy outlook a bit excessive? A woman unlocks her Model 3 with a Tesla app on her smartphone Model 3. Image source: Tesla. Getting to $450 With Tesla recently confirming it will begin delivering the all-wheel drive and performance version of its Model 3 as early as next month, the more expensive versions of the new Tesla vehicle should give Model 3's gross profit margin a boost. Not only does adding all-wheel drive cost $5,000, but the performance version of the Model 3 will cost $78,000 without including autopilot -- far more than the starting price of the long-range version of the Model 3 at $44,000 . But Instinet also believes demand for the all-wheel-drive and performance configurations will be higher than expected, driving the vehicle's average selling price even higher. "We now estimate blended Model 3 ASP's approaching $60,000 in [the second half of 2018]," said Shah (via Business Insider ). It's worth noting that Tesla management is optimistic about the Model 3's average selling price, too. "[O]ur average selling price is significantly higher than prior projections," Tesla said in its first-quarter shareholder letter, "so we expect to achieve higher gross profit per vehicle than we previously estimated." In Tesla's first quarter, management said the Model 3's gross margin was negative "due to temporary underutilization" of the vehicle's manufacturing capacity. But management forecast the vehicle's gross margin to improve to "close to breakeven in Q2 and then to highly positive in Q3 and Q4." Longer term, Tesla believes the Model 3's gross margin will rise to 25%. Story continues One analyst disagrees Interestingly, just as Shah is tooting the likely positive impact of high demand for Tesla's all-wheel-drive and performance versions of its Model 3, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi is saying (via Barron's ) that the electric-car company's decision to prioritize deliveries of the more expensive Model 3 versions could be the wrong move. "In attempting to skim its most profitable customers first, we believe that Tesla is walking a fine line between mollifying investors and upsetting enthusiasts who placed deposits believing they would get a $35K car and capture a $7500 US tax credit," said Sacconaghi. Tesla doesn't expect to begin producing the $35,000 version of its Model 3, which has less driving range than the long-range version Tesla is currently producing, until the end of this year. With the $7,500 federal tax credit that applies to buyers of Tesla vehicles in the U.S. set to expire when the automaker sells its 200,000th vehicle, prioritizing deliveries of higher-end versions of Model 3 may mean the federal credit expires before the base model begins shipping. Still, Sacconaghi admits that selling higher-end Model 3s in the near term will be accretive to the important vehicle's gross margin. And since Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said it's physically not possible yet to sell the standard version of Model 3 profitability, Tesla may have no other choice. Even if prioritizing pricier versions of Model 3 makes sense for Tesla, and if a factory in China benefits the company, these factors may not be enough to justify Shah's $450 price target for Tesla stock. Despite Tesla's surging growth and management's optimistic outlook for Model 3 production to hit 5,000 units per week by the end of June, investors should look for Tesla to start hitting its production targets more consistently before they expect Tesla's stock to soar to $450. After all, Tesla has already delayed its production targets for Model 3 twice. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Daniel Sparks owns shares of Tesla. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Tesla Stock: Headed to $450?: Days afterTesla(NASDAQ: TSLA)shot up nearly 10% in the wake of upbeat news about Model 3 production at the electric-car company's annual shareholder meeting, one analyst is hiking his 12-month price target on the stock from $420 to $450. The analyst making this bullish call is Nomura Instinet analyst Romit Shah. The analyst cites a forecast for higher-than-anticipated average selling prices for the Model 3 and Tesla'splans to build a factory in Chinaas reasons to be optimistic.
But with a $450 price target representing about 41% upside from where Tesla stock is trading at the time of this writing, is Shah's rosy outlook a bit excessive?
Model 3. Image source: Tesla.
With Tesla recently confirming it will begin delivering the all-wheel drive and performance version of its Model 3 as early as next month, the more expensive versions of the new Tesla vehicle should give Model 3's gross profit margin a boost. Not only does adding all-wheel drive cost $5,000, but the performance version of the Model 3 will cost $78,000 without including autopilot -- far more than the starting price of thelong-range version of the Model 3 at $44,000.
But Instinet also believes demand for the all-wheel-drive and performance configurations will be higher than expected, driving the vehicle's average selling price even higher. "We now estimate blended Model 3 ASP's approaching $60,000 in [the second half of 2018]," said Shah (viaBusiness Insider).
It's worth noting that Tesla management is optimistic about the Model 3's average selling price, too. "[O]ur average selling price is significantly higher than prior projections," Tesla said in its first-quarter shareholder letter, "so we expect to achieve higher gross profit per vehicle than we previously estimated."
In Tesla's first quarter, management said the Model 3's gross margin was negative "due to temporary underutilization" of the vehicle's manufacturing capacity. But management forecast the vehicle's gross margin to improve to "close to breakeven in Q2 and then to highly positive in Q3 and Q4." Longer term, Tesla believes the Model 3's gross margin will rise to 25%.
Interestingly, just as Shah is tooting the likely positive impact of high demand for Tesla's all-wheel-drive and performance versions of its Model 3, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi is saying (viaBarron's) that the electric-car company's decision to prioritize deliveries of the more expensive Model 3 versions could be the wrong move. "In attempting to skim its most profitable customers first, we believe that Tesla is walking a fine line between mollifying investors and upsetting enthusiasts who placed deposits believing they would get a $35K car and capture a $7500 US tax credit," said Sacconaghi.
Tesla doesn't expect to begin producing the $35,000 version of its Model 3, which has less driving range than the long-range version Tesla is currently producing, until the end of this year. With the $7,500 federal tax credit that applies to buyers of Tesla vehicles in the U.S. set to expire when the automaker sells its 200,000th vehicle, prioritizing deliveries of higher-end versions of Model 3 may mean the federal credit expires before the base model begins shipping.
Still, Sacconaghi admits that selling higher-end Model 3s in the near term will be accretive to the important vehicle's gross margin. And since Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said it's physically not possible yet to sell the standard version of Model 3 profitability, Tesla may have no other choice.
Even if prioritizing pricier versions of Model 3 makes sense for Tesla, and if a factory in China benefits the company, these factors may not be enough to justify Shah's $450 price target for Tesla stock. Despite Tesla's surging growth and management's optimistic outlook for Model 3 production to hit 5,000 units per week by the end of June, investors should look for Tesla to start hitting its production targets more consistently before they expect Tesla's stock to soar to $450. After all, Tesla has already delayed its production targets for Model 3 twice.
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Daniel Sparksowns shares of Tesla. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Chinese Cryptomining Chip Giant Bitmain Is Considering an IPO: Bitmain — the largest and most established manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining chips — is considering an IPO, or initial public offering. This could potentially open the company’s books to the world and allow the stock market to assign the company real-time value.
Bitmain’s 32-year-old founder Jihan Wu says he’s chiefly examining the possibilities of a listing in Hong Kong or “an overseas market with U.S. dollar-denominated shares.” This, he says, would give early investors the chance to cash out.
“Bitmain is trying very hard to maintain its advantage,” he explained,commenting that the companyhas dominated the mining scene since it first came to fruition.
Wu says a public share sale would be a “landmark” for both the company and the cryptocurrency space in general. He comments that miners, venture capitalists and developers alike are trying desperately to appease global regulators and are thus opting for less privacy and more transparency to prove digital assets are not fraudulent but rather legitimate forms of currency.
He continued to say that an IPO would also help push Bitmain’s profile, as the company is eagerly looking for ways to branch out into alternate arenas of technology including artificial intelligence which, unlike cryptocurrencies, has garnered solid support from Chinese officials.
One of Bitmain’s primary competitors, Canaan Inc., hasalready filed for a Hong KongIPO. The offering is slated to raise approximately $1 billion in initial funding, but this is relatively miniscule compared to what Bitmain has managed to accomplish.
Wu explains that Bitmain’s revenue for 2017alone was roughly $3 billion, and that he and co-founder Micree Zhan own more than 60 percent of the business, making them the primary shareholders. He values Bitmain at just under $12 billion, while he, himself, has a net worth of over $5 billion.
A Bitmain spokesperson toldBitcoin Magazinethat Canaan beating Bitmain to the punch is not something executives are overly concerned about.
“There certainly isn’t a race to be the first crypto-mining company to go IPO. Should Bitmain continue on this path towards an IPO, it does so on its own terms and to support its own strategic goals, not as a competitive marketing exercise.”
Per a February report by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Bitmainholds as much as 80 percentof today’s crypto-mining gear, and that units from its most popular mining series — the Antminer — typically sell for anywhere between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars each. Professional mining operators with access to low-cost electricity have been known to purchase these units in bulk.
Despite the positive effects an IPO could have on the company’s reputation and status, Mizuho Securities Asia analyst Kevin Wang was critical of Bitmain’s plans, saying the only reason Hong Kong investors would be drawn to an IPO like this is because there arevery few options to choosefrom in the Chinese mining arena, which Bitmain already dictates.
“They’ll have a premium for their valuation because there are very few stocks like Bitmain in Hong Kong,” he said. “It’s the sustainability of the business that’s the real question mark.”
Bitmain’s spokesperson responded to criticism that it prevents smaller companies and crypto-mining ventures from having a fair amount of space in the market:
“Many assume that Bitmain’s success must mean it possesses a level of power no company really has. This includes the false rumor, which wasaddressed in our blog, that we prevent suppliers in China from working with other companies. On the contrary, there have lately been new competitors, both in China and abroad, who are making competing mining devices. Bitmain has also been more transparent about its operations, such as publishing QA and shipment information.”
This article originally appeared onBitcoin Magazine. || Chinese Cryptomining Chip Giant Bitmain Is Considering an IPO: Chinese Cryptomining Chip Giant Bitmain Is Considering an IPO Bitmain the largest and most established manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining chips is considering an IPO, or initial public offering. This could potentially open the companys books to the world and allow the stock market to assign the company real-time value. Bitmains 32-year-old founder Jihan Wu says hes chiefly examining the possibilities of a listing in Hong Kong or an overseas market with U.S. dollar-denominated shares. This, he says, would give early investors the chance to cash out. Bitmain is trying very hard to maintain its advantage, he explained, commenting that the company has dominated the mining scene since it first came to fruition. Wu says a public share sale would be a landmark for both the company and the cryptocurrency space in general. He comments that miners, venture capitalists and developers alike are trying desperately to appease global regulators and are thus opting for less privacy and more transparency to prove digital assets are not fraudulent but rather legitimate forms of currency. He continued to say that an IPO would also help push Bitmains profile, as the company is eagerly looking for ways to branch out into alternate arenas of technology including artificial intelligence which, unlike cryptocurrencies, has garnered solid support from Chinese officials. One of Bitmains primary competitors, Canaan Inc., has already filed for a Hong Kong IPO. The offering is slated to raise approximately $1 billion in initial funding, but this is relatively miniscule compared to what Bitmain has managed to accomplish. Wu explains that Bitmains revenue for 2017 alone was roughly $3 billion , and that he and co-founder Micree Zhan own more than 60 percent of the business, making them the primary shareholders. He values Bitmain at just under $12 billion, while he, himself, has a net worth of over $5 billion. A Bitmain spokesperson told Bitcoin Magazine that Canaan beating Bitmain to the punch is not something executives are overly concerned about. Story continues There certainly isnt a race to be the first crypto-mining company to go IPO. Should Bitmain continue on this path towards an IPO, it does so on its own terms and to support its own strategic goals, not as a competitive marketing exercise. Per a February report by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Bitmain holds as much as 80 percent of todays crypto-mining gear, and that units from its most popular mining series the Antminer typically sell for anywhere between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars each. Professional mining operators with access to low-cost electricity have been known to purchase these units in bulk. Despite the positive effects an IPO could have on the companys reputation and status, Mizuho Securities Asia analyst Kevin Wang was critical of Bitmains plans, saying the only reason Hong Kong investors would be drawn to an IPO like this is because there are very few options to choose from in the Chinese mining arena, which Bitmain already dictates. Theyll have a premium for their valuation because there are very few stocks like Bitmain in Hong Kong, he said. Its the sustainability of the business thats the real question mark. Bitmains spokesperson responded to criticism that it prevents smaller companies and crypto-mining ventures from having a fair amount of space in the market: Many assume that Bitmains success must mean it possesses a level of power no company really has. This includes the false rumor, which was addressed in our blog , that we prevent suppliers in China from working with other companies. On the contrary, there have lately been new competitors, both in China and abroad, who are making competing mining devices. Bitmain has also been more transparent about its operations, such as publishing QA and shipment information. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine . || Kinder Morgan's Deal With the Canadian Government: Kinder Morgan 's (NYSE: KMI) Trans Mountain pipeline has been long beleaguered by civilian and municipal government opposition. But last week, the Canadian government stepped in to ensure the pipeline would get made, and offered Kinder Morgan's subsidiary a tidy $3.5 billion to take the project off their hands. In this episode of Industry Focus: Energy , host Sarah Priestley and analyst Taylor Muckerman talk about what the deal will mean for Kinder Morgan and the Canadian government. Find out what Kinder Morgan might do with this cash, who the Canadian government might eventually sell these assets to, and more. Also, the two touch on recent developments in OPEC: the effects of the production cuts, President Trump's divisive plea for increased production, and the all-too-quickly forgotten cyclicality of the oil industry. A full transcript follows the video. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This This video was recorded on June 7, 2018. Sarah Priestley: Welcome to Industry Focus , the show that dives into a different sector of the stock market every day. Today, we're talking Energy and Industrials . It's Thursday, the 7th of June, and we are discussing the Trans Mountain pipeline drama and a little bit about OPEC, too. I'm your host, Sarah Priestley, and joining me in the studio is Motley Fool Canada Premium analyst, Taylor Muckerman. Taylor, welcome back to the studio! It's been too long! Taylor Muckerman: I know! A few weeks have gone by since we last joined each other here. Priestley: You've been traveling, you've hiked, you've done all kinds of things. The Caps are in the playoffs. Muckerman: Yeah. It doesn't really matter to me, but I know Austin behind the glass is probably freaking out, not even remembering what happens until tomorrow evening. Story continues Priestley: [laughs] I have to tell you that we had our FoolFest last week, which is our annual festival for all of our members. A lady came up to me. I didn't ask her for her name, which was very rude, I should have asked. But, she did say that you have a lovely voice. So, there you go. Muckerman: That's interesting, because Dan Boyd has told me the exact opposite. [laughs] Priestley: So, you have an expert ... Muckerman: That's right. Priestley: So, big news from Canada. The pipeline company Kinder Morgan, on the planned expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which takes crude oil from Alberta's oil sands to Western British Columbia, the pipeline expansion had faced an awful lot of opposition. We talked about it on the show before. A lot of opposition from indigenous groups and municipal governments, namely those of Vancouver. A lot of federal challenges were mounted against the expansion project. This halted construction on multiple occasions, and it's just caused a huge amount of political upset in Canada. I won't pretend to know about the politics side of it, but Alberta's Premier earlier this year ordered a cease on future imports of wine from British Columbia, as they had imposed a sanction on increasing imports of oil from Alberta. So, you're kind of seeing this whole scenario worsening. Kinder Morgan, the pipeline owner and operator of the Trans Mountain pipeline, suspended all non-essential activity on April 8th of this year. The company stated it didn't want to put shareholders at risk on the remaining project spend. At the end of May, I think it was the 28th or 29th, the company announced that it's made a deal with the government in Canada to buy the project. The Canadian government will buy the existing Trans Mountain pipeline and the planned expansion project from Kinder Morgan's subsidiary, which is Kinder Morgan Canada Limited , for $4.5 billion Canadian dollars, $3.5 billion U.S. dollars. The cash deal should close later this year. So, huge news. Very shocking. Muckerman: It is. They've already invested $1.1 billion. They got that back and then some. A colleague from Motley Fool Pro Canada, Jim Gillies, called this Christmas come early for Kinder Morgan investors, basically removing this multi-year headache and reimbursing them for the money that they basically thought was a sunk cost if they didn't move forward with this project. There are still some question marks as to who buys this, will it eventually still go through. $7.4 billion was the associated cost that was expected for this entire project. That's why they backed out of it, because they'd only spent $1.1 billion, and the horizon was, like you said, very uncertain. They quoted unquantifiable risk based on the ongoing efforts of the British Columbian government to block this project that the rest of the country seems to believe is quite necessary. Priestley: Yes. Some background on the pipeline. It's the only pipeline system in North America that transports both crude oil and refined products to the West Coast, both in Canada and, I think, there's some in Washington state, too, a refinery in Washington state. Muckerman: Yeah, I believe you're right. Priestley: The expansion project has been going on for a long time. I was going to say in the pipeline, but that would just be too much. I think they initially filed the application for it in 2013 with the Canadian National Energy Board. 610 miles of pipe. It runs roughly parallel to the existing one. Then, in November of 2016, the federal government in Canada approved the expansion project. They said it was subject to 157 binding conditions that will address potential various impacts of the project, but it was approved. Then, Kinder Morgan proceeded with a lot of the start-up costs that are associated with getting a project of this magnitude off the ground, only to have repeated interruptions, essentially, for permitting issues and a lot of concerns raised with the federal government that actually halted them. So, as you said, definitely good for Kinder Morgan investors. Really smart move on Kinder Morgan's part. I have no idea how they managed to negotiate that. Muckerman: I think, as Trump would like to say in this situation, it was a matter of national security, almost, for Canada. Priestley: Yes. I know that two of Kinder Morgan's executive, I think the President and Vice President, are getting paid a $1.5 million bonus, paid over two years, for negotiating this. A lot of people were balking at that, but that's not that unusual for something of this scale. Muckerman: No, especially with the scale of this. Jim also did some math, because this has been a recommendation in Motley Fool Pro Canada almost since the beginning of the portfolio. He basically did some math and stripped out the estimated future revenue and earnings from this pipeline if it had been built, along with the $1.1 billion that they had already spent, and he came out to roughly around $800 million of excess capital outside of the discounted cash flows from this pipeline that would have been expected. So, a nice little windfall for this company. If you'd strip out the few million that they paid those executives for negotiating this, you're still left with darn near $800 million in excess compensation. Priestley: Yes. In terms of how this is going to affect Kinder Morgan going forward -- because a lot of people are looking at this and thinking, they had this backlog of about $12 billion in expansion projects, of which this was about $5 billion of that plan -- what's that going to do for their look at their annual revenue? Obviously, they invest a lot of money upfront in these high-cost, capital-intensive projects to get the very safe annual returns. And now, they're going to miss out on those annual returns. So, what's the plan for the company? Muckerman: I think, you look at this company, over the last few years, debt has been a big problem for them. I certainly could foresee some of this being used to pay down that debt, and maybe arrive at a more sustainable level to then start addressing, maybe, a higher dividend payment. This company, that was their longtime story, was the dividend yield that they were able to provide on a relatively stable basis. So, maybe they can accelerate that process. Or maybe, because this project has been a big headache for them, a big attention-grabber for management, so, maybe it frees them up a little bit mentally, and they can go find other areas of either Canada or North America that they can build a similar project or spend some of that cash that they just received on growth. But, they still do have growth opportunities, and I don't think paying down debt would be the worst use of this cash. Priestley: Absolutely. And you're exactly right. CEO Steve Kean, I was just looking at some of his comments, he said they will continue to find investment opportunities. In the past year, the company secured $2.1 billion of new projects. I think they're focused much more on these smaller, higher-return projects. Muckerman: Yes, and for good reason, as you look at an example like this, spending $1.1 billion and still having an uncertain future until the Canadian government essentially bails you out. Priestley: Yeah, absolutely. If we look at some of the ongoing expansion that they have, they still definitely have a lot of growth. The majority of their soft capital expenditure is on natural gas pipeline, which, we've talked about before, seems to be the direction of the industry. Their Elba Island liquid natural gas export facility near Savannah, Georgia, that's a $2 billion project which is partially financed with a joint venture from a private equity firm. That's coming online in the middle of this year, with long-term contracts with Royal Dutch Shell , and then we'll be fully up to speed by mid-next year. So, they're already going to start to get a return on that money. They're growing their oil business, investing $1.3 billion there, and investing in CO2 assets and terminals. Terminals are becoming increasingly important, especially as we talk about fracking, and as the U.S. becomes, for really the first time seriously, a major exporter. Muckerman: Yeah. You've seen the spread between West Texas Intermediate and Permian oil rapidly expand, because there's just so much oil being produced in the Permian, they can't get it out, so the oil, therefore, is being sold at cheaper rates. So, maybe there's some room for growth there. But, I'm sure they'll find a way to spend that money. If not, shareholders might get a special dividend check one of these days. Who knows? Priestley: One expansion project, just to highlight as for these higher returns goal, the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, that they're doing an expansion project with in a joint venture with Brookfield Infrastructure Partners , which we've talked about a ton recently on the show -- Muckerman: Great company. Priestley: -- it's only a $300 million expansion project that could generate $90 million in incremental earnings per year, which is incredibly impressive. Muckerman: Yeah, quick payback period. Priestley: But, as you mentioned, it looks like it could be a lot of shareholder-friendly moves, potentially repurchases, buybacks. I've heard rumors about Enbridge 's Canadian midstream assets being on the chopping block that they might be interested in. But, overall, as you said, for this company, it's just a really good shot in the arm, and their balance sheet is going to look a lot healthier. Muckerman: It should, yeah, if they utilize it properly. Priestley: So, we were talking before we started the show about how surprising this whole thing was, and the fact that the Canadian government, as you said, they still have to sell this to somebody. They're not planning on becoming pipeline operators. I have a question for you. Who do you think they would sell it to? Muckerman: That's a good question, one that's really hard to answer, but it would have to be a big company in order to drop that amount of cash. You would have to expect that, even though it's a government, they're probably reluctant to sell it at a loss. I wouldn't write that off entirely. But, I would say, you're looking at companies of the size of Enbridge or TransCanada , who have also both been burned in terms of pipeline expansions within the country. So, maybe, seeing the visibility of this one now, maybe that encourages them to take a closer look. Maybe partners with the government or a joint venture between some bigger companies. Or, a company along the lines of a Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. It would be outside of something that they've traditionally done, in terms of the size of this deal, but maybe they partner with somebody else in order to make this happen. They've been freeing up a lot of cash on their balance sheet lately. I think they have about $4.2 billion in liquidity. That almost gets them there. But it would surprise me if they took it on entirely themselves, if that was the way that this all shook out. Priestley: It would be a big hit, I'm sure. I mean, it's interesting, because it's quite compelling. If they can get over the risk, in terms of the delays, etc., that will be inevitable navigating the political waters for this. But, I know that it had 15-year contracts all sold out when they first announced it. BP was a big initial investor. The Finance Minister last week, going on what you said, they're not looking to make a profit. He said, "We're not seeking to make a profit, we're seeking to ensure the project gets done. But we will always try and make sure the project represents a fair situation for Canadians." So, yes, as you said. Incredibly interesting. The other point that I wanted to make and get your opinion on, as somebody that's been following the company for a long time, is that for me, Kinder Morgan is this interesting story situation where, a couple of years ago, they were in kind of a similar situation to GE in that they could do nothing right. They had to cut their dividend, they were faced with a seriously poorly weighted balance sheet, and a lot of those other considerations. They've really slimmed down. They're focused on those profitable assets. And now, in this climate, I feel like a decision like this is only going to be seen as a good move. But, it's just such an interesting story from where they have been. Muckerman: Yeah, they were down in the dumps. It was right around the same time that we initially recommended the company in Pro Canada. We've since doubled or tripled down on it and watched the stock price climb back, not entirely, but quite significantly. Definitely some similarities there to GE in terms of the balance sheet and disruption in the business units, especially with GE so heavily involved in oil and gas now, with Baker Hughes acquisition. Having an influx of cash like this, when it was just a huge question mark, and looking at it and saying, "This is going to just continue to drag us down," it has to be a pretty liberating feeling for everyone involved in Kinder Morgan. From the government's side, when they say they're not trying to profit, I believe, on the deal, no. But, it was important enough for them for tax revenue purposes and job purposes that they're definitely profiting in some form or fashion once this pipeline is done, maybe not in terms of a deal price, though. Priestley: Yeah, absolutely. I know Kinder Morgan, another similarity to GE is that the debt is structured in a complex way. I'm not going to pretend to be savvy on it, but I think it's going to be difficult for them to pay down a lot of their debt the way that it's structured, with the funds that they're getting from this, but there may be workarounds with share sales and things like that that they can fund it with. Muckerman: I'm sure they'll figure something out over there. The company emerged from the whole Enron debacle, so I'm sure they'll figure something out. One thing that might be a little different about this is that the founder is still very near and dear to the business. So, maybe a little bit more emotional than a GE situation, where everything is on the table, but maybe you don't know what to do. This was more of a survival of this gentleman's entire livelihood. Priestley: Yeah. Something we really like here at The Fool, founder-led businesses. Muckerman: Yeah, absolutely. Priestley: That finishes up our Kinder Morgan discussion. That really took us by surprise. The next thing I wanted to briefly touch on is that the U.S. government has asked Saudi Arabia and some other OPEC producers to increase production of oil by about one million barrels per day, which would be about a 1% global production increase. The reason for this, we've seen prices at the pump rise -- everybody, I'm sure, noticed this -- a lot, the highest rate for more than three years. President Trump took to Twitter to complain about this. Muckerman: [laughs] Go figure. Priestley: Yeah. OPEC, just in case anybody doesn't know -- we've actually done a show on a deep dive on OPEC before -- OPEC is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. This includes 12 of the world's largest oil exporters. They, along with Russia, have been setting production restrictions to try and improve the price of oil. So, what did you make of this? Muckerman: It's interesting. In a roundabout way, it kind of makes sense. You don't often see a president pleading other countries to increase oil production unless it's going to necessarily benefit us, and this could be one of those situations. Just, not what you typically see, because generally, when we've been asking for higher oil production, it's because we've needed the oil. Now, it's not the case. I would be interested to see if this would have been mentioned if Rex Tillerson was still Secretary of State, given his connections to the oil and gas industry. And just, the way that President Trump really hammered home his approval and support for fossil fuels during his campaign ... Low oil prices are going to hurt the economy. Maybe not individual pocketbooks at the pump, but it's a huge job creator, and it has been ever since the financial crisis. Even considering the latest downturn in the oil and gas markets, you're still looking at incredible job creation. So, you don't want to drive oil prices down too terribly low too quickly, because you could lose out on a lot of that. And these are high-paying jobs. There are certain pockets of this country that are wondering and scratching their heads and questioning why they supported him in the first place, if he's going to come out and try and drive the price of oil down lower. A million barrels a day, that's a big output boost. Priestley: Yes. It's an interesting paradox. I think people have gotten used to such low prices after the 2014, 2015 depression that we saw. Muckerman: And that's representative of people's automotive purchases over the last few years, where light trucks have blown cars out of the water in terms of automotive sales. And it's very similar to what you saw before the financial crisis, before oil spiked. Trucks where the thing to buy, big SUVs, big trucks. And then, all the sudden, gas was $4 a gallon. We're kind of creeping up in that direction now. Don't buy a car based on the current price of gas, is what I'm trying to say. Priestley: My husband has, for the past 14 years, had a Toyota Tundra. [laughs] Muckerman: Well, at least Toyotas generally have a little bit better gas mileage. That's a good truck. Priestley: He loves his truck. Muckerman: It's a good truck. I like the Tacomas and the Tundras. Priestley: He will drive it until it falls apart, I'm sure. But, yes, I think some of the background for this is, the Iran sanctions on crude oil have cut their output by estimated one million, although it's not really known exactly how much -- Muckerman: And Venezuela has run into its own problems, in addition to expected cuts from OPEC. Priestley: Which, on reflection, could be more to do with the rising oil prices than maybe what we've seen from OPEC. OPEC has been very slow and steady, and the oil prices that we've seen could be more as a result of that. One really funny quote, somebody needs a speechwriter. The U.S. Treasury Secretary said, "Various conversations with various parties about different parties that would be willing to increase oil supply to offset the impact of U.S. sanctions on the Iranian oil output," is what he said. I just thought it was a funny quote. Muckerman: It sounds like he might not exactly know what's happening. Just kind of fumbling through an explanation. Priestley: Yeah, that's the impression -- that's probably what people think when they listen to me. [laughs] Muckerman: [laughs] Oh, come on. Priestley: "She's fumbling through this, she doesn't know what she's talking about." Muckerman: Come on, we've been bumbling for 20 minutes. We're good. Priestley: [laughs] So, investors will get more of a clear idea of this OPEC offset production policy for the second half of the year in Vienna. A meeting is on the 22nd and 23rd of this month. I would be surprised to see -- although, you are the expert here -- if they continue the production caps. Muckerman: Yeah. They probably deeply want oil more expensive than it is, so my guess is, there are going to have to be some concessions made on the U.S. side if, indeed, that's the outcome, higher oil output from OPEC. $75 is great, it's better than $30, but it's not $80 or $90 or $100. And that's generally what a lot of these countries need to balance their budgets. Priestley: Yes. And for the everyday consumer, it's such a headline-grabbing thing. " American Airlines will have to put up prices of plane tickets because of oil prices," and things like that. When you actually look at it, it's not a huge increase. Muckerman: Yeah, it's crazy how quickly people forget that these are cyclical industries. They're not going to stay low forever and they're not going to stay high forever. Priestley: The other thing to remember, too, is that the airlines have had it good because they haven't passed on a lot of those cost savings to consumers. Muckerman: Nope. Priestley: I'm kind of on the fence about that. Muckerman: It's good for some airlines, though. You look at Spirit or Southwest and the discount airlines, their main advantage was that they were discounted, but they didn't have any room to the downside to lower prices. These Delta s, the United s, the Continentals of the world, they were milking those high prices. They did have room to lower once fuel costs did. That eroded the advantage of some of these discount airlines like JetBlue , as well. If those prices rise back up, and they can reestablish that advantage, maybe they're worth a look as an investor. Priestley: We started out talking about Kinder Morgan and ended up talking about discount airlines. [laughs] Muckerman: [laughs] That's right. Roundabout way. Priestley: That's what you get on Industry Focus: Energy . Well, that's it from us today. Do you have anything to add, Taylor? Muckerman: No, I think that's a great show. Thanks. Priestley: OK, perfect. If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email us at [email protected] , or tweet us on Twitter @MFIndustryFocus. Thank you to Austin Morgan for producing the show, wearing your Caps attire, is it? [laughs] Austin Morgan: Go Caps! Muckerman: Go Caps! Priestley: As always, people on the program may own companies discussed on the show, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against stocks mentioned, so don't buy or sell anything based solely on what you hear. For Taylor, I'm Sarah Priestley. Thanks for listening and Fool on! Sarah Priestley owns shares of GE. Taylor Muckerman owns shares of ENB, GE, and TWTR. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan and TWTR. The Motley Fool owns shares of ENB and SAVE. The Motley Fool recommends JBLU. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Kinder Morgan's Deal With the Canadian Government: Kinder Morgan's(NYSE: KMI)Trans Mountain pipeline has been long beleaguered by civilian and municipal government opposition. But last week, the Canadian government stepped in to ensure the pipeline would get made, and offered Kinder Morgan's subsidiary a tidy $3.5 billion to take the project off their hands.
In this episode ofIndustry Focus: Energy, host Sarah Priestley and analyst Taylor Muckerman talk about what the deal will mean for Kinder Morgan and the Canadian government. Find out what Kinder Morgan might do with this cash, who the Canadian government might eventually sell these assets to, and more. Also, the two touch on recent developments in OPEC: the effects of the production cuts, President Trump's divisive plea for increased production, and the all-too-quickly forgotten cyclicality of the oil industry.
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on June 7, 2018.
Sarah Priestley:Welcome toIndustry Focus, the show that dives into a different sector of the stock market every day. Today, we're talkingEnergy and Industrials. It's Thursday, the 7th of June, and we are discussing the Trans Mountain pipeline drama and a little bit about OPEC, too. I'm your host, Sarah Priestley, and joining me in the studio is Motley Fool Canada Premium analyst, Taylor Muckerman. Taylor, welcome back to the studio! It's been too long!
Taylor Muckerman:I know! A few weeks have gone by since we last joined each other here.
Priestley:You've been traveling, you've hiked, you've done all kinds of things. The Caps are in the playoffs.
Muckerman:Yeah. It doesn't really matter to me, but I know Austin behind the glass is probably freaking out, not even remembering what happens until tomorrow evening.
Priestley:[laughs] I have to tell you that we had our FoolFest last week, which is our annual festival for all of our members. A lady came up to me. I didn't ask her for her name, which was very rude, I should have asked. But, she did say that you have a lovely voice. So, there you go.
Muckerman:That's interesting, because Dan Boyd has told me the exact opposite. [laughs]
Priestley:So, you have an expert ...
Muckerman:That's right.
Priestley:So, big news from Canada. The pipeline company Kinder Morgan, on the planned expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which takes crude oil from Alberta's oil sands to Western British Columbia, the pipeline expansion had faced an awful lot of opposition. We talked about it on the show before. A lot of opposition from indigenous groups and municipal governments, namely those of Vancouver. A lot of federal challenges were mounted against the expansion project. This halted construction on multiple occasions, and it's just caused a huge amount of political upset in Canada. I won't pretend to know about the politics side of it, but Alberta's Premier earlier this year ordered a cease on future imports of wine from British Columbia, as they had imposed a sanction on increasing imports of oil from Alberta. So, you're kind of seeing this whole scenario worsening.
Kinder Morgan, the pipeline owner and operator of the Trans Mountain pipeline, suspended all non-essential activity on April 8th of this year. The company stated it didn't want to put shareholders at risk on the remaining project spend. At the end of May, I think it was the 28th or 29th, the company announced that it's made a deal with the government in Canada to buy the project. The Canadian government will buy the existing Trans Mountain pipeline and the planned expansion project from Kinder Morgan's subsidiary, which isKinder Morgan Canada Limited, for $4.5 billion Canadian dollars, $3.5 billion U.S. dollars. The cash deal should close later this year. So, huge news. Very shocking.
Muckerman:It is. They've already invested $1.1 billion. They got that back and then some. A colleague from Motley Fool Pro Canada, Jim Gillies, called this Christmas come early for Kinder Morgan investors, basically removing this multi-year headache and reimbursing them for the money that they basically thought was a sunk cost if they didn't move forward with this project.
There are still some question marks as to who buys this, will it eventually still go through. $7.4 billion was the associated cost that was expected for this entire project. That's why they backed out of it, because they'd only spent $1.1 billion, and the horizon was, like you said, very uncertain. They quoted unquantifiable risk based on the ongoing efforts of the British Columbian government to block this project that the rest of the country seems to believe is quite necessary.
Priestley:Yes. Some background on the pipeline. It's the only pipeline system in North America that transports both crude oil and refined products to the West Coast, both in Canada and, I think, there's some in Washington state, too, a refinery in Washington state.
Muckerman:Yeah, I believe you're right.
Priestley:The expansion project has been going on for a long time. I was going to say in the pipeline, but that would just be too much. I think they initially filed the application for it in 2013 with the Canadian National Energy Board. 610 miles of pipe. It runs roughly parallel to the existing one. Then, in November of 2016, the federal government in Canada approved the expansion project. They said it was subject to 157 binding conditions that will address potential various impacts of the project, but it was approved. Then, Kinder Morgan proceeded with a lot of the start-up costs that are associated with getting a project of this magnitude off the ground, only to have repeated interruptions, essentially, for permitting issues and a lot of concerns raised with the federal government that actually halted them.
So, as you said, definitely good for Kinder Morgan investors. Really smart move on Kinder Morgan's part. I have no idea how they managed to negotiate that.
Muckerman:I think, as Trump would like to say in this situation, it was a matter of national security, almost, for Canada.
Priestley:Yes. I know that two of Kinder Morgan's executive, I think the President and Vice President, are getting paid a $1.5 million bonus, paid over two years, for negotiating this. A lot of people were balking at that, but that's not that unusual for something of this scale.
Muckerman:No, especially with the scale of this. Jim also did some math, because this has been a recommendation in Motley Fool Pro Canada almost since the beginning of the portfolio. He basically did some math and stripped out the estimated future revenue and earnings from this pipeline if it had been built, along with the $1.1 billion that they had already spent, and he came out to roughly around $800 million of excess capital outside of the discounted cash flows from this pipeline that would have been expected. So, a nice little windfall for this company. If you'd strip out the few million that they paid those executives for negotiating this, you're still left with darn near $800 million in excess compensation.
Priestley:Yes. In terms of how this is going to affect Kinder Morgan going forward -- because a lot of people are looking at this and thinking, they had this backlog of about $12 billion in expansion projects, of which this was about $5 billion of that plan -- what's that going to do for their look at their annual revenue? Obviously, they invest a lot of money upfront in these high-cost, capital-intensive projects to get the very safe annual returns. And now, they're going to miss out on those annual returns. So, what's the plan for the company?
Muckerman:I think, you look at this company, over the last few years, debt has been a big problem for them. I certainly could foresee some of this being used to pay down that debt, and maybe arrive at a more sustainable level to then start addressing, maybe, a higher dividend payment. This company, that was their longtime story, was the dividend yield that they were able to provide on a relatively stable basis. So, maybe they can accelerate that process. Or maybe, because this project has been a big headache for them, a big attention-grabber for management, so, maybe it frees them up a little bit mentally, and they can go find other areas of either Canada or North America that they can build a similar project or spend some of that cash that they just received on growth. But, they still do have growth opportunities, and I don't think paying down debt would be the worst use of this cash.
Priestley:Absolutely. And you're exactly right. CEO Steve Kean, I was just looking at some of his comments, he said they will continue to find investment opportunities. In the past year, the company secured $2.1 billion of new projects. I think they're focused much more on these smaller, higher-return projects.
Muckerman:Yes, and for good reason, as you look at an example like this, spending $1.1 billion and still having an uncertain future until the Canadian government essentially bails you out.
Priestley:Yeah, absolutely. If we look at some of the ongoing expansion that they have, they still definitely have a lot of growth. The majority of their soft capital expenditure is on natural gas pipeline, which, we've talked about before, seems to be the direction of the industry. Their Elba Island liquid natural gas export facility near Savannah, Georgia, that's a $2 billion project which is partially financed with a joint venture from a private equity firm. That's coming online in the middle of this year, with long-term contracts withRoyal Dutch Shell, and then we'll be fully up to speed by mid-next year. So, they're already going to start to get a return on that money. They're growing their oil business, investing $1.3 billion there, and investing in CO2 assets and terminals. Terminals are becoming increasingly important, especially as we talk about fracking, and as the U.S. becomes, for really the first time seriously, a major exporter.
Muckerman:Yeah. You've seen the spread between West Texas Intermediate and Permian oil rapidly expand, because there's just so much oil being produced in the Permian, they can't get it out, so the oil, therefore, is being sold at cheaper rates. So, maybe there's some room for growth there. But, I'm sure they'll find a way to spend that money. If not, shareholders might get a special dividend check one of these days. Who knows?
Priestley:One expansion project, just to highlight as for these higher returns goal, the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, that they're doing an expansion project with in a joint venture withBrookfield Infrastructure Partners, which we've talked about a ton recently on the show --
Muckerman:Great company.
Priestley:-- it's only a $300 million expansion project that could generate $90 million in incremental earnings per year, which is incredibly impressive.
Muckerman:Yeah, quick payback period.
Priestley:But, as you mentioned, it looks like it could be a lot of shareholder-friendly moves, potentially repurchases, buybacks. I've heard rumors aboutEnbridge's Canadian midstream assets being on the chopping block that they might be interested in. But, overall, as you said, for this company, it's just a really good shot in the arm, and their balance sheet is going to look a lot healthier.
Muckerman:It should, yeah, if they utilize it properly.
Priestley:So, we were talking before we started the show about how surprising this whole thing was, and the fact that the Canadian government, as you said, they still have to sell this to somebody. They're not planning on becoming pipeline operators. I have a question for you. Who do you think they would sell it to?
Muckerman:That's a good question, one that's really hard to answer, but it would have to be a big company in order to drop that amount of cash. You would have to expect that, even though it's a government, they're probably reluctant to sell it at a loss. I wouldn't write that off entirely. But, I would say, you're looking at companies of the size of Enbridge orTransCanada, who have also both been burned in terms of pipeline expansions within the country. So, maybe, seeing the visibility of this one now, maybe that encourages them to take a closer look. Maybe partners with the government or a joint venture between some bigger companies.
Or, a company along the lines of a Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. It would be outside of something that they've traditionally done, in terms of the size of this deal, but maybe they partner with somebody else in order to make this happen. They've been freeing up a lot of cash on their balance sheet lately. I think they have about $4.2 billion in liquidity. That almost gets them there. But it would surprise me if they took it on entirely themselves, if that was the way that this all shook out.
Priestley:It would be a big hit, I'm sure. I mean, it's interesting, because it's quite compelling. If they can get over the risk, in terms of the delays, etc., that will be inevitable navigating the political waters for this. But, I know that it had 15-year contracts all sold out when they first announced it.BPwas a big initial investor. The Finance Minister last week, going on what you said, they're not looking to make a profit. He said, "We're not seeking to make a profit, we're seeking to ensure the project gets done. But we will always try and make sure the project represents a fair situation for Canadians." So, yes, as you said. Incredibly interesting.
The other point that I wanted to make and get your opinion on, as somebody that's been following the company for a long time, is that for me, Kinder Morgan is this interesting story situation where, a couple of years ago, they were in kind of a similar situation toGEin that they could do nothing right. They had to cut their dividend, they were faced with a seriously poorly weighted balance sheet, and a lot of those other considerations. They've really slimmed down. They're focused on those profitable assets. And now, in this climate, I feel like a decision like this is only going to be seen as a good move. But, it's just such an interesting story from where they have been.
Muckerman:Yeah, they were down in the dumps. It was right around the same time that we initially recommended the company in Pro Canada. We've since doubled or tripled down on it and watched the stock price climb back, not entirely, but quite significantly. Definitely some similarities there to GE in terms of the balance sheet and disruption in the business units, especially with GE so heavily involved in oil and gas now, withBaker Hughesacquisition. Having an influx of cash like this, when it was just a huge question mark, and looking at it and saying, "This is going to just continue to drag us down," it has to be a pretty liberating feeling for everyone involved in Kinder Morgan.
From the government's side, when they say they're not trying to profit, I believe, on the deal, no. But, it was important enough for them for tax revenue purposes and job purposes that they're definitely profiting in some form or fashion once this pipeline is done, maybe not in terms of a deal price, though.
Priestley:Yeah, absolutely. I know Kinder Morgan, another similarity to GE is that the debt is structured in a complex way. I'm not going to pretend to be savvy on it, but I think it's going to be difficult for them to pay down a lot of their debt the way that it's structured, with the funds that they're getting from this, but there may be workarounds with share sales and things like that that they can fund it with.
Muckerman:I'm sure they'll figure something out over there. The company emerged from the whole Enron debacle, so I'm sure they'll figure something out. One thing that might be a little different about this is that the founder is still very near and dear to the business. So, maybe a little bit more emotional than a GE situation, where everything is on the table, but maybe you don't know what to do. This was more of a survival of this gentleman's entire livelihood.
Priestley:Yeah. Something we really like here at The Fool, founder-led businesses.
Muckerman:Yeah, absolutely.
Priestley:That finishes up our Kinder Morgan discussion. That really took us by surprise. The next thing I wanted to briefly touch on is that the U.S. government has asked Saudi Arabia and some other OPEC producers to increase production of oil by about one million barrels per day, which would be about a 1% global production increase. The reason for this, we've seen prices at the pump rise -- everybody, I'm sure, noticed this -- a lot, the highest rate for more than three years. President Trump took toTwitterto complain about this.
Muckerman:[laughs] Go figure.
Priestley:Yeah. OPEC, just in case anybody doesn't know -- we've actually done a show on a deep dive on OPEC before -- OPEC is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. This includes 12 of the world's largest oil exporters. They, along with Russia, have been setting production restrictions to try and improve the price of oil. So, what did you make of this?
Muckerman:It's interesting. In a roundabout way, it kind of makes sense. You don't often see a president pleading other countries to increase oil production unless it's going to necessarily benefit us, and this could be one of those situations. Just, not what you typically see, because generally, when we've been asking for higher oil production, it's because we've needed the oil. Now, it's not the case. I would be interested to see if this would have been mentioned if Rex Tillerson was still Secretary of State, given his connections to the oil and gas industry. And just, the way that President Trump really hammered home his approval and support for fossil fuels during his campaign ...
Low oil prices are going to hurt the economy. Maybe not individual pocketbooks at the pump, but it's a huge job creator, and it has been ever since the financial crisis. Even considering the latest downturn in the oil and gas markets, you're still looking at incredible job creation. So, you don't want to drive oil prices down too terribly low too quickly, because you could lose out on a lot of that. And these are high-paying jobs. There are certain pockets of this country that are wondering and scratching their heads and questioning why they supported him in the first place, if he's going to come out and try and drive the price of oil down lower. A million barrels a day, that's a big output boost.
Priestley:Yes. It's an interesting paradox. I think people have gotten used to such low prices after the 2014, 2015 depression that we saw.
Muckerman:And that's representative of people's automotive purchases over the last few years, where light trucks have blown cars out of the water in terms of automotive sales. And it's very similar to what you saw before the financial crisis, before oil spiked. Trucks where the thing to buy, big SUVs, big trucks. And then, all the sudden, gas was $4 a gallon. We're kind of creeping up in that direction now. Don't buy a car based on the current price of gas, is what I'm trying to say.
Priestley:My husband has, for the past 14 years, had aToyotaTundra. [laughs]
Muckerman:Well, at least Toyotas generally have a little bit better gas mileage. That's a good truck.
Priestley:He loves his truck.
Muckerman:It's a good truck. I like the Tacomas and the Tundras.
Priestley:He will drive it until it falls apart, I'm sure. But, yes, I think some of the background for this is, the Iran sanctions on crude oil have cut their output by estimated one million, although it's not really known exactly how much --
Muckerman:And Venezuela has run into its own problems, in addition to expected cuts from OPEC.
Priestley:Which, on reflection, could be more to do with the rising oil prices than maybe what we've seen from OPEC. OPEC has been very slow and steady, and the oil prices that we've seen could be more as a result of that.
One really funny quote, somebody needs a speechwriter. The U.S. Treasury Secretary said, "Various conversations with various parties about different parties that would be willing to increase oil supply to offset the impact of U.S. sanctions on the Iranian oil output," is what he said. I just thought it was a funny quote.
Muckerman:It sounds like he might not exactly know what's happening. Just kind of fumbling through an explanation.
Priestley:Yeah, that's the impression -- that's probably what people think when they listen to me. [laughs]
Muckerman:[laughs] Oh, come on.
Priestley:"She's fumbling through this, she doesn't know what she's talking about."
Muckerman:Come on, we've been bumbling for 20 minutes. We're good.
Priestley:[laughs] So, investors will get more of a clear idea of this OPEC offset production policy for the second half of the year in Vienna. A meeting is on the 22nd and 23rd of this month. I would be surprised to see -- although, you are the expert here -- if they continue the production caps.
Muckerman:Yeah. They probably deeply want oil more expensive than it is, so my guess is, there are going to have to be some concessions made on the U.S. side if, indeed, that's the outcome, higher oil output from OPEC. $75 is great, it's better than $30, but it's not $80 or $90 or $100. And that's generally what a lot of these countries need to balance their budgets.
Priestley:Yes. And for the everyday consumer, it's such a headline-grabbing thing. "American Airlineswill have to put up prices of plane tickets because of oil prices," and things like that. When you actually look at it, it's not a huge increase.
Muckerman:Yeah, it's crazy how quickly people forget that these are cyclical industries. They're not going to stay low forever and they're not going to stay high forever.
Priestley:The other thing to remember, too, is that the airlines have had it good because they haven't passed on a lot of those cost savings to consumers.
Muckerman:Nope.
Priestley:I'm kind of on the fence about that.
Muckerman:It's good for some airlines, though. You look atSpiritorSouthwestand the discount airlines, their main advantage was that they were discounted, but they didn't have any room to the downside to lower prices. TheseDeltas, theUniteds, the Continentals of the world, they were milking those high prices. They did have room to lower once fuel costs did. That eroded the advantage of some of these discount airlines likeJetBlue, as well. If those prices rise back up, and they can reestablish that advantage, maybe they're worth a look as an investor.
Priestley:We started out talking about Kinder Morgan and ended up talking about discount airlines. [laughs]
Muckerman:[laughs] That's right. Roundabout way.
Priestley:That's what you get onIndustry Focus: Energy. Well, that's it from us today. Do you have anything to add, Taylor?
Muckerman:No, I think that's a great show. Thanks.
Priestley:OK, perfect. If you would like to get in touch, please feel free to email us [email protected], or tweet us on Twitter @MFIndustryFocus. Thank you to Austin Morgan for producing the show, wearing your Caps attire, is it? [laughs]
Austin Morgan:Go Caps!
Muckerman:Go Caps!
Priestley:As always, people on the program may own companies discussed on the show, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against stocks mentioned, so don't buy or sell anything based solely on what you hear. For Taylor, I'm Sarah Priestley. Thanks for listening and Fool on!
Sarah Priestleyowns shares of GE.Taylor Muckermanowns shares of ENB, GE, and TWTR. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan and TWTR. The Motley Fool owns shares of ENB and SAVE. The Motley Fool recommends JBLU. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 3 Great Stocks You Can Buy on Sale: The stock market is bouncing around near all-time highs, but that doesn't mean all stocks have shared equally in the market's success. Some stocks are overlooked because they're out of favor or in a weak industry, but that doesn't necessarily make them bad investments long-term. It's in the heap of overlooked stocks where investors can find sales on some premium stocks.
As I looked for sales on the market, some big names popped out. Given a variety of factors, I don't think the market is givingVerizon CommunicationsInc.(NYSE: VZ),Target Corporation(NYSE: TGT), andWalt Disney Co(NYSE: DIS)enough credit for their profit and long-term growth potential, and that's why they're my top stocks on sale today.
Image source: Getty Images.
Cell phone service has become a consumer staple in the developed world, and Verizon Communications is a leader in the U.S. with more customers than any other provider. The company was a leader in 4G LTE technology, which is now an industry standard, and if Verizon's buildout goes as planned it will be a leader innext-generation 5G wirelessas well. Next-generation 5G could enable a new wave of technologies like self-driving vehicles and smart cities, and it could even replace broadband connections in millions of homes across the country, opening new revenue streams for Verizon in people's homes.
Verizon's leadership in wireless telecommunications has led to steadily growing revenue and enough free cash flow to fund a growing dividend that now yields 5% at today's stock price. Free cash flow isn't steady every quarter and will fluctuate as Verizon invests in new capabilities, like its 5G network, but long-term the company has proven the ability to generate around $10 billion in annual free cash flow. As 5G networks are rolled out and Verizon upgrades customers to premium services and more connections, revenue and cash flow generation should grow from their current levels.
VZ Revenue (TTM)data byYCharts
I like that Verizon serves a modern day consumer staple, providing a stable foundation on which it can build a next-generation wireless network that will fuel growth. With that backdrop, I think Verizon's stock is on sale due to its high dividend yield and the stock's price-to-earnings ratio of just 10.5 times 2018 earnings estimates, which is a great value in today's market.
The next stock on sale is Target, a retailer that hasn't gotten much love from a market that prefers high-growth companies likeAmazonorShopify. Target has had its struggles adapting to e-commerce and fewer brick-and-mortar shoppers, but I like Target's stock because I think the company has finally found a niche it can comfortably grow into. Target has expanded its high-quality differentiated retail offerings with lines like Champion, Harry's, and Bevel while adding exclusive brands like Universal Thread, A New Day, and JoyLab. It can provide customers with the prices of a big box retailer with a little bit of a high-end feel, which is unique in the market today.
Shipt worker fills Target cart with groceries. Image source: Target.
Where Target has had to play catch-up to competitors likeWalmartand Amazon is online. Target hasn't had success head-to-head with its bigger online rivals, but it's now found what I think is a winning strategy, using its store infrastructure to its advantage. Deals app Cartwheel is a successful coupon application, same-day shipping from stores was added with recent acquisition Shipt, and Target Restock provides a recurring revenue service to add value to its regular customers who may be moving some of their shopping online. Those apps are great improvements to Target's services, butthe game-changer might be Drive Up, which allows customers to order online and drive up to a front-row parking spot at a Target store, where a worker brings the goods you've ordered and will even load them in your car. If you're in a hurry or have kids in the car, that's an incredibly valuable service and may be more valuable than two-day shipping from competitors.
Target's shares are trading at 14.3 times estimated fiscal 2019 earnings, and investors are getting a 3.5% dividend yield as well. If concepts like Drive Up, Shipt, or Restock catch on, this could be a top-performing retail concept long-term.
Disney is under a lot of pressure from investors and analysts to turn around the declines in ESPN subscribers. The sports media network has long been the leader of the media networks division, which generated $12.4 billion in revenue and $3.3 billion in operating income in the first half of fiscal 2018. What's concerning for investors is that media network revenue only rose 2% in that time frame versus a year ago, and operating income was down 9%. If ESPN is in trouble, many investors worry that cable networks could fall with it.
I think investors may be overlooking that Disney is a leader in media content from the big screen to living rooms around the world. It has some of the best movie studios in Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm, and it owns ABC and its affiliate studios and networks. Those assets will create a base for three streaming services,starting with ESPN Plus later this year. Long-term, Disney will likely replace cable subscriptions with streaming subscriptions that customers will access directly through Disney.
Content is a huge differentiator for Disney, especially if you look at how it has outperformed media competitors over the last two decades then look at Disney's revenue from theme parks. Disney leverages its media assets to build rides and experiences that attract consumers to its theme parks, which have generated $10.0 billion in revenue, or one-third of all revenue, and $2.3 billion of operating income in the first half of 2018.
Disney's shares aren't as cheap as Verizon or Target at 14.6 times 2018 estimates, but the company has great growth prospects with the launch of its streaming service and media assets that will endure for decades to come.
If you're shopping Wall Street's discount aisles, Verizon, Target, and Disney are a great place to start for value, dividends, and businesses that are built to last.
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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors.Travis Hoiumowns shares of Verizon Communications and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Shopify, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || 3 Great Stocks You Can Buy on Sale: The stock market is bouncing around near all-time highs, but that doesn't mean all stocks have shared equally in the market's success. Some stocks are overlooked because they're out of favor or in a weak industry, but that doesn't necessarily make them bad investments long-term. It's in the heap of overlooked stocks where investors can find sales on some premium stocks. As I looked for sales on the market, some big names popped out. Given a variety of factors, I don't think the market is giving Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) , Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) , and Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) enough credit for their profit and long-term growth potential, and that's why they're my top stocks on sale today. Hand with dollar sign graphic above. Image source: Getty Images. The wireless leader with a fat dividend Cell phone service has become a consumer staple in the developed world, and Verizon Communications is a leader in the U.S. with more customers than any other provider. The company was a leader in 4G LTE technology, which is now an industry standard, and if Verizon's buildout goes as planned it will be a leader in next-generation 5G wireless as well. Next-generation 5G could enable a new wave of technologies like self-driving vehicles and smart cities, and it could even replace broadband connections in millions of homes across the country, opening new revenue streams for Verizon in people's homes. Verizon's leadership in wireless telecommunications has led to steadily growing revenue and enough free cash flow to fund a growing dividend that now yields 5% at today's stock price. Free cash flow isn't steady every quarter and will fluctuate as Verizon invests in new capabilities, like its 5G network, but long-term the company has proven the ability to generate around $10 billion in annual free cash flow. As 5G networks are rolled out and Verizon upgrades customers to premium services and more connections, revenue and cash flow generation should grow from their current levels. Story continues VZ Revenue (TTM) Chart VZ Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts I like that Verizon serves a modern day consumer staple, providing a stable foundation on which it can build a next-generation wireless network that will fuel growth. With that backdrop, I think Verizon's stock is on sale due to its high dividend yield and the stock's price-to-earnings ratio of just 10.5 times 2018 earnings estimates, which is a great value in today's market. Retail's comeback kid The next stock on sale is Target, a retailer that hasn't gotten much love from a market that prefers high-growth companies like Amazon or Shopify . Target has had its struggles adapting to e-commerce and fewer brick-and-mortar shoppers, but I like Target's stock because I think the company has finally found a niche it can comfortably grow into. Target has expanded its high-quality differentiated retail offerings with lines like Champion, Harry's, and Bevel while adding exclusive brands like Universal Thread, A New Day, and JoyLab. It can provide customers with the prices of a big box retailer with a little bit of a high-end feel, which is unique in the market today. Shipt worker fills Target cart with groceries. Shipt worker fills Target cart with groceries. Image source: Target. Where Target has had to play catch-up to competitors like Walmart and Amazon is online. Target hasn't had success head-to-head with its bigger online rivals, but it's now found what I think is a winning strategy, using its store infrastructure to its advantage. Deals app Cartwheel is a successful coupon application, same-day shipping from stores was added with recent acquisition Shipt, and Target Restock provides a recurring revenue service to add value to its regular customers who may be moving some of their shopping online. Those apps are great improvements to Target's services, but the game-changer might be Drive Up , which allows customers to order online and drive up to a front-row parking spot at a Target store, where a worker brings the goods you've ordered and will even load them in your car. If you're in a hurry or have kids in the car, that's an incredibly valuable service and may be more valuable than two-day shipping from competitors. Target's shares are trading at 14.3 times estimated fiscal 2019 earnings, and investors are getting a 3.5% dividend yield as well. If concepts like Drive Up, Shipt, or Restock catch on, this could be a top-performing retail concept long-term. Still the king of media Disney is under a lot of pressure from investors and analysts to turn around the declines in ESPN subscribers. The sports media network has long been the leader of the media networks division, which generated $12.4 billion in revenue and $3.3 billion in operating income in the first half of fiscal 2018. What's concerning for investors is that media network revenue only rose 2% in that time frame versus a year ago, and operating income was down 9%. If ESPN is in trouble, many investors worry that cable networks could fall with it. I think investors may be overlooking that Disney is a leader in media content from the big screen to living rooms around the world. It has some of the best movie studios in Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm, and it owns ABC and its affiliate studios and networks. Those assets will create a base for three streaming services, starting with ESPN Plus later this year . Long-term, Disney will likely replace cable subscriptions with streaming subscriptions that customers will access directly through Disney. Content is a huge differentiator for Disney, especially if you look at how it has outperformed media competitors over the last two decades then look at Disney's revenue from theme parks. Disney leverages its media assets to build rides and experiences that attract consumers to its theme parks, which have generated $10.0 billion in revenue, or one-third of all revenue, and $2.3 billion of operating income in the first half of 2018. Disney's shares aren't as cheap as Verizon or Target at 14.6 times 2018 estimates, but the company has great growth prospects with the launch of its streaming service and media assets that will endure for decades to come. If you're shopping Wall Street's discount aisles, Verizon, Target, and Disney are a great place to start for value, dividends, and businesses that are built to last. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Travis Hoium owns shares of Verizon Communications and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Shopify, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || What Happened in the Stock Market Today: After beginning Friday in the red amid tensions between the United States and major allies at the G-7 summit, stocks turned positive to end the week modestly higher. TheDow Jones Industrial Average(DJINDICES: ^DJI)marked its third straight daily gain, while theS&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC)reversedyesterday's minuscule decline.
[{"Index": "Dow", "Percentage Change": "0.30%", "Point Change": "75.12"}, {"Index": "S&P 500", "Percentage Change": "0.31%", "Point Change": "8.66"}]
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Consumer staples stocks led the way higher, with theConsumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF(NYSEMKT: XLP)up 1.2%. Oil stocks pulled back after Thursday's big rally, leaving theSPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration and Production EFT(NYSEMKT: XOP)down 0.4%.
As for individual stocks, fresh earnings and a new product fromStitch Fix(NASDAQ: SFIX)sent shares of the personal styling specialist skyward, while positive comments from management and Wall Street hadMonster Beverage(NASDAQ: MNST)climbing higher.
Image source: Getty Images.
Shares of Stitch Fix jumped 26.5% after the online personal styling service absolutelycrushed expectationswith its fiscal third-quarter 2018 results.
Quarterly revenue jumped 29% year over year to $316.7 million, helped by a 30% increase in active clients to 2.7 million. On the bottom line, that translated to net income of $9.5 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, swinging from a $0.38-per-share loss in the same year-ago period. Analysts, on average, were only expecting earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $306.5 million.
"We continue to balance growth and profitability, demonstrated by our ability to consistently deliver top-line growth of over 20% even as we invest in category expansions, technology talent, and marketing," stated Stitch Fix founder and CEO Katrina Lake. "Our third quarter results demonstrated continued positive momentum for Stitch Fix and the power of our unique ability to deliver personalized service at scale."
If that wasn't enough, the company also announced the impending launch of Stitch Fix Kids, a service Lake says will "provide unique, affordable kids clothing in a wide range of styles, giving our littlest clients the freedom to express themselves in clothing that they love and feel great wearing."
Of course, it remains to be seen whether Stitch Fix Kids will enjoy the same positive reception as its adult-centric counterpart. But after combining this new launch with Stitch Fix's relative outperformance this quarter, it's no surprise the stock popped today.
Monster Beverage shares rose 5% following encouraging comments from management at the energy drink leader's latest annual shareholder meeting. In particular, Monster Beverage leadership told investors that its business in the United States is holding strong, which could enable the company to selectively implement price hikes to combat higher aluminum costs in the coming quarters.
Sure enough, several analyst firms weighed in to offer their respective votes of confidence this morning, including predictions from Stifel Nicolaus and Goldman Sachs that Monster's global sales momentum will allow it to increase prices and gradually expand gross margin. Both firms reiterated their buy ratings for Monster stock. Stifel, for its part, holds a $63-per-share price target on Monster, while Goldman Sachs increased its own from $54 to $57.
Both predictions represent modest premiums from Monster Beverage's close on Friday at $55.48 per share. But thanks to adisappointing quarterly reportin late February, the stock still sits well below its 52-week high at over $70 per share set early this year. If Monster Beverage can sustain this strength, however, I suspect it won't be long before it revisits those levels.
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Steve Symingtonhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Monster Beverage. The Motley Fool owns shares of Stitch Fix. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || What Happened in the Stock Market Today: After beginning Friday in the red amid tensions between the United States and major allies at the G-7 summit, stocks turned positive to end the week modestly higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) marked its third straight daily gain, while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) reversed yesterday's minuscule decline . Today's stock market Index Percentage Change Point Change Dow 0.30% 75.12 S&P 500 0.31% 8.66 Data source: Yahoo! Finance. Consumer staples stocks led the way higher, with the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEMKT: XLP) up 1.2%. Oil stocks pulled back after Thursday's big rally, leaving the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration and Production EFT (NYSEMKT: XOP) down 0.4%. As for individual stocks, fresh earnings and a new product from Stitch Fix (NASDAQ: SFIX) sent shares of the personal styling specialist skyward, while positive comments from management and Wall Street had Monster Beverage (NASDAQ: MNST) climbing higher. Stock market prices on an LED display with green and red arrows indicating direction. Image source: Getty Images. Stitch Fix's stunning quarterly beat Shares of Stitch Fix jumped 26.5% after the online personal styling service absolutely crushed expectations with its fiscal third-quarter 2018 results. Quarterly revenue jumped 29% year over year to $316.7 million, helped by a 30% increase in active clients to 2.7 million. On the bottom line, that translated to net income of $9.5 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, swinging from a $0.38-per-share loss in the same year-ago period. Analysts, on average, were only expecting earnings of $0.03 per share on revenue of $306.5 million. "We continue to balance growth and profitability, demonstrated by our ability to consistently deliver top-line growth of over 20% even as we invest in category expansions, technology talent, and marketing," stated Stitch Fix founder and CEO Katrina Lake. "Our third quarter results demonstrated continued positive momentum for Stitch Fix and the power of our unique ability to deliver personalized service at scale." Story continues If that wasn't enough, the company also announced the impending launch of Stitch Fix Kids, a service Lake says will "provide unique, affordable kids clothing in a wide range of styles, giving our littlest clients the freedom to express themselves in clothing that they love and feel great wearing." Of course, it remains to be seen whether Stitch Fix Kids will enjoy the same positive reception as its adult-centric counterpart. But after combining this new launch with Stitch Fix's relative outperformance this quarter, it's no surprise the stock popped today. Monster Beverage roars higher Monster Beverage shares rose 5% following encouraging comments from management at the energy drink leader's latest annual shareholder meeting. In particular, Monster Beverage leadership told investors that its business in the United States is holding strong, which could enable the company to selectively implement price hikes to combat higher aluminum costs in the coming quarters. Sure enough, several analyst firms weighed in to offer their respective votes of confidence this morning, including predictions from Stifel Nicolaus and Goldman Sachs that Monster's global sales momentum will allow it to increase prices and gradually expand gross margin. Both firms reiterated their buy ratings for Monster stock. Stifel, for its part, holds a $63-per-share price target on Monster, while Goldman Sachs increased its own from $54 to $57. Both predictions represent modest premiums from Monster Beverage's close on Friday at $55.48 per share. But thanks to a disappointing quarterly report in late February, the stock still sits well below its 52-week high at over $70 per share set early this year. If Monster Beverage can sustain this strength, however, I suspect it won't be long before it revisits those levels. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Steve Symington has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Monster Beverage. The Motley Fool owns shares of Stitch Fix. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 3 Dividend Stocks Ideal for Retirees: If you're retired, or getting closer, dividend stocks can be a very appealing investment. Not only can they keep you exposed to the long-term capital growth of stocks, but they will pay you along the way. This extra income can help make ends meet in retirement, while also making it easier to ride out the downturns that make stocks more risky in the short term. After all, there's a lot of evidence that as long as you can ride out the short-term declines in stocks, the long-term rewards can more than make up for the risks. To help you find a few great dividend stocks to add to your diversified portfolio, three Motley Fool investors put together some of their best ideas. Below, they explain what makes Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE: BIP) , Chubb Ltd. (NYSE: CB) , and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) ideal dividend stocks for retirees. Two smiling seniors next to a pool. Dividend stocks can help you meet your retirement income needs today, and grow your nest egg for tomorrow. Image source: Getty Images. Almost perfect for retirees Jason Hall (Brookfield Infrastructure Partners): Retirees have to protect their nest egg for short-term needs, while continuing to grow their assets to provide for long-term needs. And I think Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is a near-perfect investment to help deliver both steady income and long-term growth. To start, it pays a substantial dividend, yielding nearly 5% at recent prices. Furthermore, management has a long-term goal of increasing that distribution by 5% to 9% every year, a goal it has soundly surpassed since early in its dividend history: BIP Dividend Chart BIP Dividend data by YCharts. And it's not just dividend growth that should make Brookfield Infrastructure appealing for retirees. Its business model makes it very resistant to recessions or inflation. Brookfield owns and acquires energy, water, freight, transport, and telecommunications infrastructure assets around the world. These assets often are monopolies where they operate, have very high financial and regulatory barriers to entry, and generate steady cash flows across every economic environment. Brookfield has also structured many of its revenue streams from these assets so that it can adjust prices for inflation. Story continues Maybe the best part is that infrastructure spending is set to grow substantially in coming decades as the global urban population adds billions of people. This will provide a lot of opportunity for Brookfield's excellent management team to allocate capital into new growth opportunities, keeping that dividend growing for years to come. As a master limited partnership (MLP), Brookfield Infrastructure isn't an ideal holding to buy in a retirement account . But it's a perfect investment for retirees to own in a taxable account to generate many years of steady -- and growing -- income. A "chubby" yield Jordan Wathen (Chubb Ltd): Retirees shouldn't cut corners on business quality in the pursuit of yield. As one of the best insurers in the business, Chubb throws off an attractive 2.2% dividend yield that should grow at a respectable single-digit clip for years to come. The hallmark of an extraordinary insurer is a consistent record of taking in more in premiums than it pays out in losses and operating expenses. On that basis, few can match Chubb's performance. Its five-year average combined ratio last stood at 89.1%, nearly 10 percentage points better than its average competitor in North America. Chubb competes primarily in commercial insurance lines, which drives its above-average underwriting performance. Whereas most personal insurance policies use standard forms and contracts, commercial insurance is often custom tailored. That makes it more difficult for commercial clients to shop around for the lowest price, and it explains why specialty insurance companies have historically performed far better than insurers that compete in segments of the market where policies are mere commodities. I see Chubb as a safe, defensive dividend pick for any income portfolio. With shares trading at about 13 times earnings estimates for 2018, the stock trades well below the multiple of the S&P 500 (17 times earnings), and boasts a yield about 20% higher than the average large-cap stock. A lower-than-average valuation and higher-than-average dividend yield set the stage for impressive returns for shareholders. Businesses with inelastic products are a smart choice for income seekers Sean Williams (Pfizer): Ideally, when retirees buy a dividend stock, they want the highest yield possible with the lowest risk imaginable. Trying to balance income and risk can often be a challenge. But that's not something retirees would necessarily have to worry about with big pharma Pfizer. Though the company behind the best-selling drug of all time , cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor, is well past its growth prime, Pfizer still has a few tricks up its sleeve to create value for its shareholders. To begin with, Pfizer is well past its early decade "funk." Or, in layman's terms, it's well past the patent cliff. Earlier this decade, Pfizer ran into serious issues when a number of key therapeutics hit the end of their exclusivity period, causing Pfizer's annual sales and profits to plunge. Years later, while those same legacy products still struggle against generic medicines, Pfizer has a new line of branded medicines ready to pick up the slack. Speaking of these core medicines, perhaps none has been more impressive than advanced breast cancer drug Ibrance. During the first quarter, Ibrance tallied $933 million in global sales, up 35% on a constant-currency basis from the prior-year period. Ibrance -- along with blood-thinner Eliquis, inflammatory drug Xeljanz, and cancer drug Xtandi -- has done the heavy lifting for Pfizer and ensured that its legacy drugs haven't weighed too extensively on sales growth. Pfizer also has an impressive lineup of experimental therapies waiting in the wings. As of Jan. 30, the company had 87 clinical-stage programs, including 10 that were in the registration part of the process (i.e., a new drug application filing, or active review by the Food and Drug Administration). That's more than enough ways for Pfizer to swing for the fences in the years to come. Ultimately, what seniors get with a company like Pfizer is a product that's inelastic. Since we can't choose when we get sick, or what ailment we contract, there's a steady-to-growing level of demand and pricing power for the products that Pfizer offers. Also, with lawmakers unwilling to sink their teeth into drug-pricing reform, Pfizer has little to worry about when it comes to losing its pricing power. This means Pfizer's current yield of 3.8% is very safe , and, if anything, likely to increase over time, keeping long-term shareholders happy. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Jason Hall owns shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. Jordan Wathen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || 3 Dividend Stocks Ideal for Retirees: If you're retired, or getting closer, dividend stocks can be a very appealing investment. Not only can they keep you exposed to the long-term capital growth of stocks, but they will pay you along the way. This extra income can help make ends meet in retirement, while also making it easier to ride out the downturns that make stocks more risky in the short term. After all, there's a lot of evidence that as long as you can ride out the short-term declines in stocks, the long-term rewards can more than make up for the risks.
To help you find a few great dividend stocks to add to your diversified portfolio, three Motley Fool investors put together some of their best ideas. Below, they explain what makesBrookfield Infrastructure Partners LP(NYSE: BIP),Chubb Ltd.(NYSE: CB), andPfizer Inc.(NYSE: PFE)ideal dividend stocks for retirees.
Dividend stocks can help you meet your retirement income needs today, and grow your nest egg for tomorrow. Image source: Getty Images.
Jason Hall(Brookfield Infrastructure Partners):Retirees have to protect their nest egg for short-term needs, while continuing to grow their assets to provide for long-term needs. And I think Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is a near-perfect investment to help deliver both steady income and long-term growth.
To start, it pays a substantial dividend, yielding nearly 5% at recent prices. Furthermore, management has a long-term goal of increasing that distribution by 5% to 9% every year, a goal it has soundly surpassed since early in its dividend history:
BIP Dividenddata byYCharts.
And it's not just dividend growth that should make Brookfield Infrastructure appealing for retirees. Its business model makes it very resistant to recessions or inflation. Brookfield owns and acquires energy, water, freight, transport, and telecommunications infrastructure assets around the world. These assets often are monopolies where they operate, have very high financial and regulatory barriers to entry, and generate steady cash flows across every economic environment. Brookfield has also structured many of its revenue streams from these assets so that it can adjust prices for inflation.
Maybe the best part is that infrastructure spending is set to grow substantially in coming decades as the global urban population adds billions of people. This will provide a lot of opportunity for Brookfield's excellent management team to allocate capital into new growth opportunities, keeping that dividend growing for years to come.
As a master limited partnership (MLP), Brookfield Infrastructureisn't an ideal holding to buy in a retirement account. But it's a perfect investment for retirees to own in a taxable account to generate many years of steady -- and growing -- income.
Jordan Wathen(Chubb Ltd):Retirees shouldn't cut corners on business quality in the pursuit of yield. As one of the best insurers in the business, Chubb throws off an attractive 2.2% dividend yield that should grow at a respectable single-digit clip for years to come.
The hallmark of an extraordinary insurer is a consistent record of taking in more in premiums than it pays out in losses and operating expenses. On that basis, few can match Chubb's performance. Its five-year averagecombined ratiolast stood at 89.1%, nearly 10 percentage points better than its average competitor in North America.
Chubb competes primarily in commercial insurance lines, which drives its above-average underwriting performance. Whereas most personal insurance policies use standard forms and contracts, commercial insurance is often custom tailored. That makes it more difficult for commercial clients to shop around for the lowest price, and it explains why specialty insurance companies have historically performed far better than insurers that compete in segments of the market where policies are mere commodities.
I see Chubb as a safe, defensive dividend pick for any income portfolio. With shares trading at about13 times earningsestimates for 2018, the stock trades well below the multiple of the S&P 500 (17 times earnings), and boasts a yield about 20% higher than the average large-cap stock. A lower-than-average valuation and higher-than-average dividend yield set the stage for impressive returns for shareholders.
Sean Williams(Pfizer):Ideally, when retirees buy a dividend stock, they want the highest yield possible with the lowest risk imaginable. Trying to balance income and risk can often be a challenge. But that's not something retirees would necessarily have to worry about with big pharma Pfizer.
Though the company behind thebest-selling drug of all time, cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor, is well past its growth prime, Pfizer still has a few tricks up its sleeve to create value for its shareholders.
To begin with, Pfizer is well past its early decade "funk." Or, in layman's terms, it's well past the patent cliff. Earlier this decade, Pfizer ran into serious issues when a number of key therapeutics hit the end of their exclusivity period, causing Pfizer's annual sales and profits to plunge. Years later, while those same legacy products still struggle against generic medicines, Pfizer has a new line of branded medicines ready to pick up the slack.
Speaking of these core medicines, perhaps none has been more impressive than advanced breast cancer drug Ibrance. During the first quarter, Ibrance tallied $933 million in global sales, up 35% on a constant-currency basis from the prior-year period. Ibrance -- along with blood-thinner Eliquis, inflammatory drug Xeljanz, and cancer drug Xtandi -- has done the heavy lifting for Pfizer and ensured that its legacy drugs haven't weighed too extensively on sales growth.
Pfizer also has an impressive lineup of experimental therapies waiting in the wings. As of Jan. 30, the company had 87 clinical-stage programs, including 10 that were in the registration part of the process (i.e., a new drug application filing, or active review by the Food and Drug Administration). That's more than enough ways for Pfizer to swing for the fences in the years to come.
Ultimately, what seniors get with a company like Pfizer is a product that's inelastic. Since we can't choose when we get sick, or what ailment we contract, there's a steady-to-growing level of demand and pricing power for the products that Pfizer offers. Also, with lawmakers unwilling to sink their teeth into drug-pricing reform, Pfizer has little to worry about when it comes to losing its pricing power. This means Pfizer's current yield of 3.8%is very safe, and, if anything, likely to increase over time, keeping long-term shareholders happy.
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• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
Jason Hallowns shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners.Jordan Wathenhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned.Sean Williamshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Big News Is Fast Approaching for Celgene: It's been atough yearforCelgene Corp.(NASDAQ: CELG)investors, but upcoming phase 3 dataon luspaterceptfromAcceleron Pharma(NASDAQ: XLRN)could rekindle interest in Celgene's stock price. Acceleron is expected to report trial results for luspatercept in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and beta thalassemia anytime now, and if the results are positive, Celgene thinks luspatercept could be a multibillion-dollar-per-year blockbuster.
Luspatercept is an erythroid maturation agent (EMA) that addresses chronic anemia by promoting the production of healthy red blood cells and regulating TGF-beta proteins involved in the late stages of creating red blood cells.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
The drug's ability to restore the production of healthy red blood cells is important because it may potentially reduce or eliminate the need for blood cell transfusions in tens of thousands of people diagnosed with bone marrow disorders, including MDS and beta thalassemia.
A group of rare, cancer-like, bone marrow disorders affecting 60,000 plus older Americans, MDS is characterized by an inability to produce a sufficient number of healthy red blood cells. Patients with high-risk MDS can develop acute myeloid leukemia (AML) while patients with low- and moderate-risk MDS suffer from anemia and fatigue.
An inherited genetic disorder, beta thalassemia patients are unable to create adequate amounts of the oxygen-carrying protein, hemoglobin, which in turn lowers their red blood cell counts. There are about 1,500 new cases of beta thalassemia diagnosed in the United States every year.
MDS and beta thalassemia patients often rely heavily on red blood cell transfusions. However, these transfusions increase the risk of iron overload, which can damage organs, and they take a toll on patients' quality of life. In a 2011 survey entitled "Perceptions of disease state, treatment outcomes, and prognosis among patients with myelodysplastic syndromes: results from an internet-based survey", over one-third of transfusion dependent MDS patients have said that they "felt they were burdening their family" and almost two-thirds said they would "consider treatment that temporarily made them feel worse if it stopped or reduced the need for transfusions."
MDS patients may also use drugs such asAmgen's Epogen and Procrit, which work like erythropoietin, a protein that stimulates bone marrow to make red blood cells. Not everyone is eligible to take these drugs, though, and the positive response to ESAs is temporary in most patients.
Because ESA's have limitations and frequent transfusions are associated with a higher mortality rate because of iron overload, there's a need for new treatments, such as luspatercept.
Luspatercept's phase 3 trials could flop, but phase 2 trial data is encouraging.
At the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting earlier this month, updated mid-stage data from a trial evaluating luspatercept in lower-risk MDS patients, 55% saw a clinically meaningful erythroid improvement and 44% of transfusion patients became transfusion independent for eight weeks or more. Furthermore, some patients are still benefiting from luspatercept at the 40-month mark.
Data from mid-stage studies reported in 2017 suggests luspatercept works in beta thalassemia, too. In trials, 69% of patients saw a 33% reduction or better reduction in transfusion burden during any 12-week treatment period when compared to their baseline burden and 71% saw a clinically meaningful increase in hemoglobin from baseline.
The phase 3 studies enrolled many more patients than the phase 2 trials, so there's no guarantee that responses in these pivotal trials will mirror those in the mid-stage trials.
According to Clinicaltrials.gov, the primary endpoint these companies hope to achieve in the MDS phase 3 trial is a clinically significant proportion of patients becoming "transfusion free over any consecutive 56-day period within week 1 through week 24."
And in the beta thalassemia trial, the primary endpoint is the "proportion of subjects with hematological improvement from Week 13 to Week 24 compared to 12-week prior to randomization." Hematological improvement is "defined as ≥ 33% reduction from baseline in red blood cell count (RBC) transfusion burden with a reduction of at least 2 units from Week 13 to Week 24 compared to the 12-week."
Celgene and Acceleron Pharma say that data from both the MDS and beta thalassemia trials will be available this summer and that means investors won't have to wait long to find out if these companies have a winner on their hands.
A success would be welcome. Celgene's suffered a number of clinical-stage setbacks in the past year including thefailure of a Crohn's disease triallast fall and aRefusal to File letterfrom the Food and Drug Administration for its application for approval of ozanimod, a multiple sclerosis drug. Acceleron Pharma has the most to gain from a win, though, because luspatercept is its only drug that's in phase 3 trials.
The stakes are undeniably high and that makes these stocks risky. A phase 3 failure would take a big toll on share prices, so investors will want to watch these companies closely over the coming months.
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Todd Campbellowns shares of Celgene. His clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Today In Cryptocurrency: Crypto Crime Rises In India, PotCoin Sends Dennis Rodman To North Korea Summit: The cryptocurrency market finished a positive week on Friday, with most major cryptocurrencies trading down less than 2 percent on the day. Here’s a look at some of the headlines that were moving the cryptocurrency market today — and which currencies were on the move.
Headlines
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman tweetedon Fridaythat Canadian cryptocurrency PotCoin is paying for Rodman to travel to Singapore next week to attend the summit between the U.S. and North Korea. Rodman, who is friends with Kim Jong Un, told reporters he intends to provide “moral support” to both President Donald Trump and Kim.
In anew note, Wall Street bitcoin bull and Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee told clients that Coinbase’s acquisition of securities dealer Keystone Capital and Circle’s application for a federal banking license are positive signs that the cryptocurrency regulatory picture is improving. Lee said the two companies moves serve as an “implicit acknowledgement” that the the regulatory risk associated with cryptocurrencies is dying down. Fundstrat has a $25,000 year-end price target for bitcoin, implying more than 200 percent upside over the next seven months.
Quartz India reports that a rise in the popularity of cryptocurrency in India has led to a surge in crypto-related cybercrime. Threats include phishing and hacking, fake apps and social media accounts, ponzi schemes, extortion and ransom.
Price Action
TheBitcoin Investment Trust(OTC:GBTC) traded at $12.84, down 0.2 percent.
Here’s how several top crypto investments fared Friday. Prices are as of 3:45 p.m. ET and reflect the previous 24 hours.
• Bitcoin declined 0.4 percent to $7,654;
• Ethereum declined 1.1 percent to $600;
• Ripple declined 0.5 percent to 67 cents;
• Bitcoin Cash declined 2.2 percent to $1,116;
• EOS declined 1.5 percent to $14.06.
The three cryptocurrencies with at least $1-million market caps that have made the biggest gains over the past 24 hours are:
• Jiyo: $2.4-million market cap, 125.7-percent gain.
• Version: $2.8-million market cap, 102.2-percent gain.
• IncaKoin: $2.1-million market cap, 87.2-percent gain.
The three cryptocurrencies hit hardest in the past 24 hours were:
• BuzzCoin: $1.5-million market cap, 50-percent decline.
• Elite: $2.0-million market cap, 38.3-percent decline.
• WeAreSatoshi: $1.5-million market cap, 35.4-percent decline.
Related Links:
Today In Cryptocurrencies: Buffett & Dimon Rip Bitcoin, .1 Billion Of Crypto Stolen In 2018
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton: Cryptocurrencies Are Not Securities
Image credit:OPEN Sports [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
See more from Benzinga
• Today In Cryptocurrencies: Buffett & Dimon Rip Bitcoin, .1 Billion Of Crypto Stolen In 2018
• Today In Cryptocurrency: SEC Chairman Says Cryptos Aren't Securities, Report Says Majority Of Exchanges Don't Verify Users
• SEC Chairman Jay Clayton: Cryptocurrencies Are Not Securities
© 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Today In Cryptocurrency: Crypto Crime Rises In India, PotCoin Sends Dennis Rodman To North Korea Summit: The cryptocurrency market finished a positive week on Friday, with most major cryptocurrencies trading down less than 2 percent on the day. Here’s a look at some of the headlines that were moving the cryptocurrency market today — and which currencies were on the move. Headlines Former NBA star Dennis Rodman tweeted on Friday that Canadian cryptocurrency PotCoin is paying for Rodman to travel to Singapore next week to attend the summit between the U.S. and North Korea. Rodman, who is friends with Kim Jong Un, told reporters he intends to provide “moral support” to both President Donald Trump and Kim. In a new note , Wall Street bitcoin bull and Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee told clients that Coinbase’s acquisition of securities dealer Keystone Capital and Circle’s application for a federal banking license are positive signs that the cryptocurrency regulatory picture is improving. Lee said the two companies moves serve as an “implicit acknowledgement” that the the regulatory risk associated with cryptocurrencies is dying down. Fundstrat has a $25,000 year-end price target for bitcoin, implying more than 200 percent upside over the next seven months. Quartz India reports that a rise in the popularity of cryptocurrency in India has led to a surge in crypto-related cybercrime. Threats include phishing and hacking, fake apps and social media accounts, ponzi schemes, extortion and ransom. Price Action The Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC: GBTC ) traded at $12.84, down 0.2 percent. Here’s how several top crypto investments fared Friday. Prices are as of 3:45 p.m. ET and reflect the previous 24 hours. Bitcoin declined 0.4 percent to $7,654; Ethereum declined 1.1 percent to $600; Ripple declined 0.5 percent to 67 cents; Bitcoin Cash declined 2.2 percent to $1,116; EOS declined 1.5 percent to $14.06. The three cryptocurrencies with at least $1-million market caps that have made the biggest gains over the past 24 hours are: Jiyo: $2.4-million market cap, 125.7-percent gain. Version: $2.8-million market cap, 102.2-percent gain. IncaKoin: $2.1-million market cap, 87.2-percent gain. Story continues The three cryptocurrencies hit hardest in the past 24 hours were: BuzzCoin: $1.5-million market cap, 50-percent decline. Elite: $2.0-million market cap, 38.3-percent decline. WeAreSatoshi: $1.5-million market cap, 35.4-percent decline. Related Links: Today In Cryptocurrencies: Buffett & Dimon Rip Bitcoin, .1 Billion Of Crypto Stolen In 2018 SEC Chairman Jay Clayton: Cryptocurrencies Are Not Securities Image credit: OPEN Sports [CC BY 2.0] , via Wikimedia Commons See more from Benzinga Today In Cryptocurrencies: Buffett & Dimon Rip Bitcoin, .1 Billion Of Crypto Stolen In 2018 Today In Cryptocurrency: SEC Chairman Says Cryptos Aren't Securities, Report Says Majority Of Exchanges Don't Verify Users SEC Chairman Jay Clayton: Cryptocurrencies Are Not Securities © 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Why Intel's Share Repurchases Have Been Great for Investors: Chip giant Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has a good capital return program. The company pays a solid (and growing) dividend, and it has been repurchasing significant amounts of stock over the years. Last quarter alone, Intel spent $1.9 billion to repurchase 41 million of its own shares. According to its most recent earnings release, Intel has $11.3 billion remaining on its current stock repurchase program -- though the company's board of directors can always authorize another program or an extension to the current one. An Arm executive holding an Intel wafer. Image source: Intel. A lot of companies use these programs to buy back just enough stock to offset dilution from things like employee stock options and restricted stock units, but Intel's efforts have been more aggressive than that over the last eight years. Since the end of 2010, Intel's diluted share count has come down from 5.698 billion shares to 4.790 billion shares -- a reduction of nearly a billion shares in less than eight years. Let's go over what that share count reduction has meant for Intel stockholders and what the future of Intel's share repurchase program holds. A solid earnings per share boost For the entirety of 2017, Intel generated $16.8 billion in non- GAAP net income. If we divide that figure by Intel's current diluted share count, we get $3.51 in diluted earnings per share. If we take that same $16.8 billion figure but divide it by the number of shares Intel had outstanding at the end of 2010, we'd get a non-GAAP earnings per share value of just $2.95. This means Intel's stock repurchase program, by itself, has led to a 19% boost in earnings per share since the end of 2010. That's a pretty big deal. The future of Intel's stock repurchase program While Intel's stock repurchase activity has helped to dramatically boost its profitability on a per-share basis, I don't think the company will be as aggressive in repurchasing shares going forward as it has in the past. Story continues At the company's analyst day in early 2017, Intel CFO Bob Swan said the company's first priority with its capital is "invest in the business." This means making sure research and development expenses are paid for, capital expenditures are taken care of, and appropriate mergers and acquisitions can be pursued. With the excess, though, Swan indicated that the company hopes to grow its dividend alongside its non-GAAP earnings per share, and it aims to, at a minimum, offset dilution with its stock repurchase program. To me, it seems like stock repurchases -- outside of the bare minimum that's required to keep the share count from ballooning -- aren't that big of a priority for the company. On one hand, this might be disappointing to investors who liked the accretion to earnings that the buyback has delivered over the years. However, I think shareholders overall would prefer large and increasing dividends to share buybacks, and I don't think any Intel stockholder would prefer that the company sacrifice its long-term investments in the business in favor of these repurchases. Intel's ultimate goal is to increase its revenue and earnings per share by as much as possible since that's the best way to deliver a higher stock price. Share buybacks are one way to do it, but generally speaking, if a company can deliver earnings per share growth through stronger business performance, that's usually a better -- and frankly, more sustainable -- way to do things. From where I'm sitting, Intel's capital allocation program makes a lot of sense. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This Ashraf Eassa has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Why Intel's Share Repurchases Have Been Great for Investors: Chip giantIntel(NASDAQ: INTC)has a good capital return program. The company pays a solid (and growing) dividend, and it has been repurchasing significant amounts of stock over the years. Last quarter alone, Intel spent $1.9 billion torepurchase41 million of its own shares.
According to its most recent earnings release, Intel has $11.3 billion remaining on its current stock repurchase program -- though the company's board of directors can always authorize another program or an extension to the current one.
Image source: Intel.
A lot of companies use these programs to buy back just enough stock to offset dilution from things like employee stock options and restricted stock units, but Intel's efforts have been more aggressive than that over the last eight years. Since the end of 2010, Intel's diluted share count has come down from 5.698 billion shares to 4.790 billion shares -- a reduction of nearly a billion shares in less than eight years.
Let's go over what that share count reduction has meant for Intel stockholders and what the future of Intel's share repurchase program holds.
For the entirety of 2017, Intel generated $16.8 billion in non-GAAPnet income. If we divide that figure by Intel's current diluted share count, we get $3.51 in diluted earnings per share.
If we take that same $16.8 billion figure but divide it by the number of shares Intel had outstanding at the end of 2010, we'd get a non-GAAP earnings per share value of just $2.95. This means Intel's stock repurchase program, by itself, has led to a 19% boost in earnings per share since the end of 2010.
That's a pretty big deal.
While Intel's stock repurchase activity has helped to dramatically boost its profitability on a per-share basis, I don't think the company will be as aggressive in repurchasing shares going forward as it has in the past.
At the company's analyst day in early 2017, Intel CFO Bob Swan said the company's first priority with its capital is "invest in the business." This means making sure research and development expenses are paid for, capital expenditures are taken care of, and appropriate mergers and acquisitions can be pursued.
With the excess, though, Swan indicated that the company hopes to grow its dividend alongside its non-GAAP earnings per share, and it aims to, at a minimum, offset dilution with its stock repurchase program.
To me, it seems like stock repurchases -- outside of the bare minimum that's required to keep the share count from ballooning -- aren't that big of a priority for the company.
On one hand, this might be disappointing to investors who liked the accretion to earnings that the buyback has delivered over the years. However, I think shareholders overall would prefer large and increasing dividends to share buybacks, and I don't think any Intel stockholder would prefer that the company sacrifice its long-term investments in the business in favor of these repurchases.
Intel's ultimate goal is to increase its revenue and earnings per share by as much as possible since that's the best way to deliver a higher stock price. Share buybacks are one way to do it, but generally speaking, if a company can deliver earnings per share growth through stronger business performance, that's usually a better -- and frankly, more sustainable -- way to do things. From where I'm sitting, Intel's capital allocation program makes a lot of sense.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
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• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Bitcoin's Biggest Competitor Isn't Ethereum -- It's This
Ashraf Eassahas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
[Social Media Buzz]
El bitcoin cotiza a 7605.00$ https://ift.tt/2JDVA0J || 1 BTC = 29152.10000000 BRL em 09/06/2018 ás 02:00:02. #bitcoin #bitcoinbr #bitcoinexchangebr || #CRYPTO GAINERS
$EXN +50.00% [Volume: 14.03 BTC]
$MTC +34.74% [Volume: 165.62 BTC]
$PCN +23.07% [Volume: 124.89 BTC]
$MER +13.95% [Volume: 38.82 BTC]
$CRPT +13.51% [Volume: 351.10 BTC]
$STQ +13.13% [Volume: 49.92 BTC]
$GAME +12.00% [Volume: 188.53 BTC] || Bitcoin - BTC
Price: $7,671.89
Change in 1h: -0.08%
Market cap: $131,061,582,032.00
Ranking...
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6786.02, 6906.92, 6582.36, 6349.90, 6675.35, 6456.58, 6550.16, 6499.27, 6734.82, 6769.94
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 6185.07, 5830.25, 6416.31, 6734.80, 6681.06, 6716.44, 6469.80, 6242.19, 5922.04, 6429.84, 6438.64, 6606.78, 6793.62, 6733.39, 6867.53, 6791.13, 7271.78, 7176.41, 7334.10, 7302.09, 6865.49, 6859.08, 6971.09, 6845.04, 6842.43, 6642.11, 7116.80, 7096.18, 7257.67, 7189.42, 6881.96, 6880.32, 7117.21, 7429.72, 7550.90, 7569.94, 7679.87, 7795.60, 7807.06, 8801.04, 8658.55, 8864.77, 8988.60, 8897.47, 8912.65, 9003.07, 9268.76, 9951.52, 9842.67, 9593.90, 8756.43, 8601.80, 8804.48, 9269.99, 9733.72, 9328.20, 9377.01, 9670.74, 9726.58, 9729.04, 9522.98, 9081.76, 9182.58, 9209.29, 8790.37, 8906.93, 8835.05, 9181.02, 9525.75, 9439.12, 9700.41, 9461.06, 10167.27, 9529.80, 9656.72, 9800.64, 9665.53, 9653.68, 9758.85, 9771.49, 9795.70, 9870.09, 9321.78, 9480.84, 9475.28, 9386.79, 9450.70, 9538.02, 9480.25, 9411.84.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2020-06-18]
Volume: 17770083003, RSI (14-day): 49.06, 50-day EMA: 9173.25, 200-day EMA: 8492.73
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1724.80, Gold RSI: 52.26
Oil Price: 38.84, Oil RSI: 61.99
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Former CFTC Chair Giancarlo Lays Out Why He Thinks XRP Isn’t a Security: XRP is more like an alternative currency than a security, argues the former chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In an op-ed for the International Financial Law Review, Chris Giancarlo, who was chairman of the CFTC until last year, argued Ripple Labs hadn’t violated any U.S. securities regulations and that the third-largest crypto by market cap should have the same legal status as bitcoin or ether . “ XRP should not be regulated as a security but instead considered a currency or a medium of exchange,” he wrote with Conrad Bahlke of international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. They said XRP doesn’t hit any of the “prongs” of the Howey Test – a landmark case that defines what is considered a security in the U.S. According to Giancarlo and Bahlke, XRP was never marketed as a security, nor were investors promised any returns; the token has a very specific use case for liquidity and settlements; Ripple has never offered holders any rights of ownership or share of the profits. There is, he argues, no investment contract or formal relationship that exists between Ripple Labs and XRP token holders. See also: Ripple Sues YouTube for Allowing ‘Scams’ That Promise Free XRP But the linchpin in his argument appears to be that there’s a divergence between how Ripple has defined XRP and what token holders themselves actually use it for. “Ripple has repeatedly emphasized the functionality of XRP as a liquidity tool and a settlement mechanism,” Bahlke write, but there are plenty of investors who use XRP as a means of payment or just buy it hoping its value will increase. Related: Former CFTC Chair Giancarlo Lays Out Why He Thinks XRP Isn’t a Security There is no “commonality” that exists between investors, they continue. People who hold XRP hold it for multifarious reasons, unlike a security where the reasons for holding it are much more clear-cut. Story continues As such, the fortunes of XRP investors aren’t tied to XRP in quite the same way as they would be with a security token. Some could benefit directly from XRP’s dollar-value staying low, others would want it to always remain high. “[G]iven the juxtaposition between XRP’s intended use as a liquidity tool, its more general use to transfer value and its potential as a speculative asset, XRP holders who utilize the coins for different purposes have divergent interests with respect to XRP,” according to the authors. That makes it very similar to other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, both of which have been classified as definitely not securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Bitcoin is supposed to be used as electronic cash, but many use it as a store of value; ether was intended as “gas” to power a distributed network, but there are scores of investors who also use it as an alternative form of money. “The fact that certain parties may acquire XRP with the hope that it may appreciate in value cannot be dispositive as the same is equally true of a large number of bitcoin and ether speculators,” Giancarlo said. Just like bitcoin and ether, XRP should be classified as a token that comes with utilities, which are both defined in its white paper and have also emerged over time. “The increased adoption of XRP as a medium of exchange and a form of payment in recent years, both by consumers and in the business-to-business setting, further underscores the utility of XRP as a bona fide fiat substitute.” See also: Mysterious Company Files New Lawsuit Over Ripple’s $1.1B XRP Sale The article has raised a few eyebrows For one thing, Giancarlo didn’t head the regulatory authority that determined what did and didn’t count as a security. Others were also quick to point out the law firm where he now works has Ripple as a client. Jake Chervinsky, general counsel at decentralized lender Compound, said the article was pretty much irrelevant. “There are only two opinions about XRP’s security status that matter: those of the courts & the SEC. Everything else at this point is noise,” he tweeted . There are also one or two relatively unsatisfying arguments. Chief among them is how Giancarlo explains away the fact Ripple still controls the vast majority of the XRP supply: the 6 billion tokens it controls directly and the 49 billion held in an escrow account. “Even though Ripple holds a large stake of XRP in escrow and funds its operations through the sale of XRP (as well as the sale and licensing of software), this is no different than bitcoin or ether miners selling mined tokens or the Ethereum Foundation using its ether holdings to develop and support the Ethereum architecture.” On the other hand, there is no miner or other single entity in the Bitcoin or Ethereum ecosystems that controls as much of the total supply as Ripple Labs. There also isn’t just one entity responsible for issuing new bitcoin or ether into circulation, as there is with Ripple, which sticks to its tight schedule of putting one billion tokens up for sale every month. Conflating Ripple’s sale of XRP with that of mining, therefore, feels a bit strong. See also: Ex-CFTC Chair Christopher Giancarlo on Why He Launched Digital Dollar Project As for Ripple not promising XRP investors any return on investment, there’s a court case rumbling on at the moment that accuses Ripple of doing just that. The plaintiff in that case says remarks made by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, where he said he was “very, very long” on XRP, proves Ripple had promoted the tokens as an investment opportunity – more like an unregistered security than a “ bona fire fiat substitute.” Related Stories XRP Ex-CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo Joins Swiss Effort to Fund COVID-19 Relief Projects || Former CFTC Chair Giancarlo Lays Out Why He Thinks XRP Isn’t a Security: XRP is more like an alternative currency than a security, argues the former chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
In anop-edfor the International Financial Law Review, Chris Giancarlo, who was chairman of the CFTC until last year, argued Ripple Labs hadn’t violated any U.S. securities regulations and that the third-largest crypto by market cap should have the same legal status asbitcoinorether.
“XRPshould not be regulated as a security but instead considered a currency or a medium of exchange,” he wrote with Conrad Bahlke of international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. They said XRP doesn’t hit any of the “prongs” of theHowey Test– a landmark case that defines what is considered a security in the U.S.
According to Giancarlo and Bahlke, XRP was never marketed as a security, nor were investors promised any returns; the token has a very specific use case for liquidity and settlements; Ripple has never offered holders any rights of ownership or share of the profits. There is, he argues, no investment contract or formal relationship that exists between Ripple Labs and XRP token holders.
See also:Ripple Sues YouTube for Allowing ‘Scams’ That Promise Free XRP
But the linchpin in his argument appears to be that there’s a divergence between how Ripple has defined XRP and what token holders themselves actually use it for.
“Ripple has repeatedly emphasized the functionality of XRP as a liquidity tool and a settlement mechanism,” Bahlke write, but there are plenty of investors who use XRP as a means of payment or just buy it hoping its value will increase.
Related:Former CFTC Chair Giancarlo Lays Out Why He Thinks XRP Isn’t a Security
There is no “commonality” that exists between investors, they continue. People who hold XRP hold it for multifarious reasons, unlike a security where the reasons for holding it are much more clear-cut.
As such, the fortunes of XRP investors aren’t tied to XRP in quite the same way as they would be with a security token. Some could benefit directly from XRP’s dollar-value staying low, others would want it to always remain high.
“[G]iven the juxtaposition between XRP’s intended use as a liquidity tool, its more general use to transfer value and its potential as a speculative asset, XRP holders who utilize the coins for different purposes have divergent interests with respect to XRP,” according to the authors.
That makes it very similar to other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, both of which have beenclassifiedas definitely not securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Bitcoin is supposed to be used as electronic cash, but many use it as a store of value; ether was intended as “gas” to power a distributed network, but there are scores of investors who also use it as an alternative form of money.
“The fact that certain parties may acquire XRP with the hope that it may appreciate in value cannot be dispositive as the same is equally true of a large number of bitcoin and ether speculators,” Giancarlo said.
Just like bitcoin and ether, XRP should be classified as a token that comes with utilities, which are both defined in its white paper and have also emerged over time. “The increased adoption of XRP as a medium of exchange and a form of payment in recent years, both by consumers and in the business-to-business setting, further underscores the utility of XRP as abona fidefiat substitute.”
See also:Mysterious Company Files New Lawsuit Over Ripple’s $1.1B XRP Sale
The article has raised a few eyebrows For one thing, Giancarlo didn’t head the regulatory authority that determined what did and didn’t count as a security. Others were also quick to point out the law firm where he now works has Ripple as a client.
Jake Chervinsky, general counsel at decentralized lender Compound, said the article was pretty much irrelevant. “There are only two opinions about XRP’s security status that matter: those of the courts & the SEC. Everything else at this point is noise,” hetweeted.
There are also one or two relatively unsatisfying arguments. Chief among them is how Giancarlo explains away the fact Ripple still controls the vast majority of the XRP supply: the 6 billion tokens it controls directly and the 49 billion held in an escrow account.
“Even though Ripple holds a large stake of XRP in escrow and funds its operations through the sale of XRP (as well as the sale and licensing of software), this is no different than bitcoin or ether miners selling mined tokens or the Ethereum Foundation using its ether holdings to develop and support the Ethereum architecture.”
On the other hand, there is no miner or other single entity in the Bitcoin or Ethereum ecosystems that controls as much of the total supply as Ripple Labs. There also isn’t just one entity responsible for issuing new bitcoin or ether into circulation, as there is with Ripple, which sticks to its tight schedule of putting one billion tokens up for sale every month.
Conflating Ripple’s sale of XRP with that of mining, therefore, feels a bit strong.
See also:Ex-CFTC Chair Christopher Giancarlo on Why He Launched Digital Dollar Project
As for Ripple not promising XRP investors any return on investment, there’s acourt caserumbling on at the moment that accuses Ripple of doing just that.
The plaintiff in that case says remarks made by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, where he said he was “very, very long” on XRP, proves Ripple had promoted the tokens as an investment opportunity – more like an unregistered security than a “bona firefiat substitute.”
• XRP
• Ex-CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo Joins Swiss Effort to Fund COVID-19 Relief Projects || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat at $9.4K but Investors Are Holding On: A languid Wednesday in traditional markets affected bitcoin as well although it’s been a steady six weeks where the world’s first cryptocurrency outperformed most traditional assets.
Bitcoin(BTC) was trading around $9,265 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET), slipping 1.3% over the previous 24 hours.
At 00:00 UTC on Wednesday (8:00 p.m. Tuesday ET), bitcoin was changing hands around $9,500 on spot exchanges such as Coinbase. It then dipped 1.6% to as low as $9,348. The price is now below its 10-day and 50-day moving averages — a bearish signal for market technicians who study charts — but with little action, it looks to be going nowhere for the time being.
“The price of bitcoin managed to get only up to $9,600 Tuesday. Now fiat reigns,” said Constantine Kogan, crypto fund-of-funds BitBull Capital.
Read More:Polychain Capital, Square Crypto’s Steve Lee Invest in Bitcoin Broker
In fact, since the start of May the price of bitcoin has only appreciated 5.6% overall. It’s a relatively sleepy performance when compared to the oil market,which has had a wild 2020.A barrel of crude has gained over 90% since the beginning of May.
Oil is flat Wednesday, down 0.39% and priced at $37.71 as of press time.
Related:Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat at $9.4K but Investors Are Holding On
Uncertain economic times still motivate cryptocurrency traders and investors to remain steadfast in their investment thesis on bitcoin. “I am personally not negative on bitcoin and my view is based on several ingredients that have not changed or improved my outlook,” said Henrik Kugelberg, an over-the-counter cryptocurrency trader based in Sweden.
One element Kugelberg points to is the debasing of the U.S. dollar. Since 2000, the number of dollars in circulation has jumped over 240%, from $565 billion to almost $2 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data.
Other cryptocurrency advocates echo the same long-term outlook – that holding bitcoin is much better than owning traditional assets such as equities. Bitcoin is still up over 30% so far this year. Major global stock indices are either lower or just about even in 2020, and have been in negative territory since the middle of February.
George Clayton, managing partner of alternative asset fund Cryptanalysis Capital, says continued fiscal stimulus is just an attempt to push equities above the 0% return level, but with major long-term side effects on the value of U.S. dollar.
Read More:Number of Bitcoin ‘Whales’ Has Risen by 2% Since Halving
“A $1 trillion stimulus plan to build bridges, roads and rural 5G broadband that the Trump Administration is mulling over is perhaps the only piece of major legislation that stands a chance of passing both houses of Congress,” Clayton said. “It would be far more inflationary than the $500 billion in aid funneled to corporations that seems to be propping up stock markets.”
The Nikkei 225 of publicly traded companies in Japan closed the day flat, down 0.56% asreal estate and transportation stocks dragged the index down.
The FTSE 100 index in Europe ended trading up 0.91%as energy stocks made gains.
The U.S. S&P 500 index lost 0.36%,dragged down by the retail and travel sectors.
Digital assets on CoinDesk’s big board are mixed Wednesday.Ether(ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is trading around $228 and slipped 2.1% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).
The rise of tether on Ethereum since 2019 has shifted fee distributions on the network. With$5.7 billion of tether on Ethereum, the stablecoin has taken over fees paid by ERC20 contracts and even the network token itself, ether, according to data aggregator Glassnode.
The biggest cryptocurrency winners on the day includecardano(ADA) up 2.1%,iota(IOTA) in the green 1.3% andnem(XEM) gaining 1%. Significant losers includedogecoin(DOGE) down 3.2%,bitcoin SV(BSV) in the red 2.3% andqtum(QTUM) down 2.2%. All price changes were as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).
Read More:Compound Has Been a DeFi Darling. Its New Token Is Priced Accordingly
Gold is trading flat as the yellow metal climbed 0.16%, trading around $1,728 for the day.
U.S. Treasury bonds slipped Wednesday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were down most on the 10-year, in the red 4.2%.
• Bitcoin Still Undervalued After Q2 Rally, Price Metric Shows
• US Fed Chair Says Private Entities Should Not Help Design Central Bank Digital Currencies || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat at $9.4K but Investors Are Holding On: A languid Wednesday in traditional markets affected bitcoin as well although it’s been a steady six weeks where the world’s first cryptocurrency outperformed most traditional assets.
Bitcoin(BTC) was trading around $9,265 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET), slipping 1.3% over the previous 24 hours.
At 00:00 UTC on Wednesday (8:00 p.m. Tuesday ET), bitcoin was changing hands around $9,500 on spot exchanges such as Coinbase. It then dipped 1.6% to as low as $9,348. The price is now below its 10-day and 50-day moving averages — a bearish signal for market technicians who study charts — but with little action, it looks to be going nowhere for the time being.
“The price of bitcoin managed to get only up to $9,600 Tuesday. Now fiat reigns,” said Constantine Kogan, crypto fund-of-funds BitBull Capital.
Read More:Polychain Capital, Square Crypto’s Steve Lee Invest in Bitcoin Broker
In fact, since the start of May the price of bitcoin has only appreciated 5.6% overall. It’s a relatively sleepy performance when compared to the oil market,which has had a wild 2020.A barrel of crude has gained over 90% since the beginning of May.
Oil is flat Wednesday, down 0.39% and priced at $37.71 as of press time.
Related:Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat at $9.4K but Investors Are Holding On
Uncertain economic times still motivate cryptocurrency traders and investors to remain steadfast in their investment thesis on bitcoin. “I am personally not negative on bitcoin and my view is based on several ingredients that have not changed or improved my outlook,” said Henrik Kugelberg, an over-the-counter cryptocurrency trader based in Sweden.
One element Kugelberg points to is the debasing of the U.S. dollar. Since 2000, the number of dollars in circulation has jumped over 240%, from $565 billion to almost $2 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data.
Other cryptocurrency advocates echo the same long-term outlook – that holding bitcoin is much better than owning traditional assets such as equities. Bitcoin is still up over 30% so far this year. Major global stock indices are either lower or just about even in 2020, and have been in negative territory since the middle of February.
George Clayton, managing partner of alternative asset fund Cryptanalysis Capital, says continued fiscal stimulus is just an attempt to push equities above the 0% return level, but with major long-term side effects on the value of U.S. dollar.
Read More:Number of Bitcoin ‘Whales’ Has Risen by 2% Since Halving
“A $1 trillion stimulus plan to build bridges, roads and rural 5G broadband that the Trump Administration is mulling over is perhaps the only piece of major legislation that stands a chance of passing both houses of Congress,” Clayton said. “It would be far more inflationary than the $500 billion in aid funneled to corporations that seems to be propping up stock markets.”
The Nikkei 225 of publicly traded companies in Japan closed the day flat, down 0.56% asreal estate and transportation stocks dragged the index down.
The FTSE 100 index in Europe ended trading up 0.91%as energy stocks made gains.
The U.S. S&P 500 index lost 0.36%,dragged down by the retail and travel sectors.
Digital assets on CoinDesk’s big board are mixed Wednesday.Ether(ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is trading around $228 and slipped 2.1% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).
The rise of tether on Ethereum since 2019 has shifted fee distributions on the network. With$5.7 billion of tether on Ethereum, the stablecoin has taken over fees paid by ERC20 contracts and even the network token itself, ether, according to data aggregator Glassnode.
The biggest cryptocurrency winners on the day includecardano(ADA) up 2.1%,iota(IOTA) in the green 1.3% andnem(XEM) gaining 1%. Significant losers includedogecoin(DOGE) down 3.2%,bitcoin SV(BSV) in the red 2.3% andqtum(QTUM) down 2.2%. All price changes were as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET).
Read More:Compound Has Been a DeFi Darling. Its New Token Is Priced Accordingly
Gold is trading flat as the yellow metal climbed 0.16%, trading around $1,728 for the day.
U.S. Treasury bonds slipped Wednesday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were down most on the 10-year, in the red 4.2%.
• Bitcoin Still Undervalued After Q2 Rally, Price Metric Shows
• US Fed Chair Says Private Entities Should Not Help Design Central Bank Digital Currencies || Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat at $9.4K but Investors Are Holding On: A languid Wednesday in traditional markets affected bitcoin as well although it’s been a steady six weeks where the world’s first cryptocurrency outperformed most traditional assets. Bitcoin (BTC) was trading around $9,265 as of 20:00 UTC (4 p.m. ET), slipping 1.3% over the previous 24 hours. At 00:00 UTC on Wednesday (8:00 p.m. Tuesday ET), bitcoin was changing hands around $9,500 on spot exchanges such as Coinbase. It then dipped 1.6% to as low as $9,348. The price is now below its 10-day and 50-day moving averages — a bearish signal for market technicians who study charts — but with little action, it looks to be going nowhere for the time being. “The price of bitcoin managed to get only up to $9,600 Tuesday. Now fiat reigns,” said Constantine Kogan, crypto fund-of-funds BitBull Capital. Read More: Polychain Capital, Square Crypto’s Steve Lee Invest in Bitcoin Broker In fact, since the start of May the price of bitcoin has only appreciated 5.6% overall. It’s a relatively sleepy performance when compared to the oil market, which has had a wild 2020. A barrel of crude has gained over 90% since the beginning of May. Oil is flat Wednesday, down 0.39% and priced at $37.71 as of press time. Despite stimulus, bitcoin outpacing equities Related: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat at $9.4K but Investors Are Holding On Uncertain economic times still motivate cryptocurrency traders and investors to remain steadfast in their investment thesis on bitcoin. “I am personally not negative on bitcoin and my view is based on several ingredients that have not changed or improved my outlook,” said Henrik Kugelberg, an over-the-counter cryptocurrency trader based in Sweden. One element Kugelberg points to is the debasing of the U.S. dollar. Since 2000, the number of dollars in circulation has jumped over 240%, from $565 billion to almost $2 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data. Other cryptocurrency advocates echo the same long-term outlook – that holding bitcoin is much better than owning traditional assets such as equities. Bitcoin is still up over 30% so far this year. Major global stock indices are either lower or just about even in 2020, and have been in negative territory since the middle of February. Story continues George Clayton, managing partner of alternative asset fund Cryptanalysis Capital, says continued fiscal stimulus is just an attempt to push equities above the 0% return level, but with major long-term side effects on the value of U.S. dollar. Read More: Number of Bitcoin ‘Whales’ Has Risen by 2% Since Halving “A $1 trillion stimulus plan to build bridges, roads and rural 5G broadband that the Trump Administration is mulling over is perhaps the only piece of major legislation that stands a chance of passing both houses of Congress,” Clayton said. “It would be far more inflationary than the $500 billion in aid funneled to corporations that seems to be propping up stock markets.” The Nikkei 225 of publicly traded companies in Japan closed the day flat, down 0.56% as real estate and transportation stocks dragged the index down . The FTSE 100 index in Europe ended trading up 0.91% as energy stocks made gains. The U.S. S&P 500 index lost 0.36%, dragged down by the retail and travel sectors . Other markets Digital assets on CoinDesk’s big board are mixed Wednesday. Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is trading around $228 and slipped 2.1% in 24 hours as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). The rise of tether on Ethereum since 2019 has shifted fee distributions on the network. With $5.7 billion of tether on Ethereum , the stablecoin has taken over fees paid by ERC20 contracts and even the network token itself, ether, according to data aggregator Glassnode. The biggest cryptocurrency winners on the day include cardano (ADA) up 2.1%, iota (IOTA) in the green 1.3% and nem (XEM) gaining 1%. Significant losers include dogecoin (DOGE) down 3.2%, bitcoin SV (BSV) in the red 2.3% and qtum (QTUM) down 2.2%. All price changes were as of 20:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. ET). Read More: Compound Has Been a DeFi Darling. Its New Token Is Priced Accordingly Gold is trading flat as the yellow metal climbed 0.16%, trading around $1,728 for the day. U.S. Treasury bonds slipped Wednesday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were down most on the 10-year, in the red 4.2%. Related Stories Bitcoin Still Undervalued After Q2 Rally, Price Metric Shows US Fed Chair Says Private Entities Should Not Help Design Central Bank Digital Currencies || US Fed Chair Says Private Entities Should Not Help Design Central Bank Digital Currencies: Private entities aren’t needed to build central bank digital currencies, said the head of the U.S. central bank on Wednesday.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speakingbefore the House Financial Services Committee, said the idea of a digital dollar – a blockchain-based version of the current world reserve currency – is complex, and one that the Fed takes seriously, but also that the idea needs to be studied further before one can be created and implemented. However, in response to a question from Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Powell said he believed private entities did not have a role in designing a digital dollar.
“I do think this is something that the central banks have to design,” he said. “The private sector is not involved in creating the money supply, that’s something the central bank does.”
Emmer was asking specifically about a recommendation from the Digital Dollar Project, which was launched earlier this year by former Commodities Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, Chief Innovation Officer Daniel Gorfine and Accenture Director David Treat. The project suggested a digital dollar be issued by the Fed but designed in partnership with the private sector and accessible througha two-tiered banking systemsimilar to the one in place in the U.S. today.
See also:Digital Dollar? Get Real, Financial Inclusion Advocates Tell Congress
Powell said the general public may not be receptive to the idea of private employees being responsible for the money supply because they’re not accountable to “the public good.”
Still, the idea is apparently being examined. A group of central banks have gotten together to discuss and better understand the concept as well as evaluate the implications on financial inclusion and concerns around cybersecurity, he said.
Related:US Fed Chair Says Private Entities Should Not Help Design Central Bank Digital Currencies
“If this is something that is going to be good for the United States economy and for the world’s reserve currency, which is the dollar, then we need to be there and we need to understand it first and best,” Powell said. “So we’re working hard on it.”
The chairman also briefly addressed concerns around the Fed’s ability to control a hypothetical digital dollar, saying it’s “a very difficult problem” to find a balance between knowing too much about an individual’s transactions and knowing too little. Powell did not have enough time to fully respond to the question.
Powell did acknowledge the concerns around implementing a tokenized version of the dollar and the implications of waiting too long to otherwise modernize the currency.
See also:Digital Dollar Project Calls for 2-Tiered Distribution System in First White Paper for US CBDC
“It’s our obligation to understand it well and not wake up one day and realize that the dollar is no longer the world reserve currency because we just missed a technological change,” he said. “So we’re not going to let that happen but at the same time there’s some very serious questions that have to be answered before we would want to implement a central bank digital currency.”
Bradley Keouncontributed reporting.
• Canada’s Central Bank Is Serious About Designing a CBDC, Job Posting Reveals
• First Mover: Negative Rates or More Money Printing – Bitcoin May Benefit Either Way || US Fed Chair Says Private Entities Should Not Help Design Central Bank Digital Currencies: Private entities aren’t needed to build central bank digital currencies, said the head of the U.S. central bank on Wednesday. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speaking before the House Financial Services Committee , said the idea of a digital dollar – a blockchain-based version of the current world reserve currency – is complex, and one that the Fed takes seriously, but also that the idea needs to be studied further before one can be created and implemented. However, in response to a question from Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Powell said he believed private entities did not have a role in designing a digital dollar. “I do think this is something that the central banks have to design,” he said. “The private sector is not involved in creating the money supply, that’s something the central bank does.” Emmer was asking specifically about a recommendation from the Digital Dollar Project, which was launched earlier this year by former Commodities Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, Chief Innovation Officer Daniel Gorfine and Accenture Director David Treat. The project suggested a digital dollar be issued by the Fed but designed in partnership with the private sector and accessible through a two-tiered banking system similar to the one in place in the U.S. today. See also: Digital Dollar? Get Real, Financial Inclusion Advocates Tell Congress Powell said the general public may not be receptive to the idea of private employees being responsible for the money supply because they’re not accountable to “the public good.” Still, the idea is apparently being examined. A group of central banks have gotten together to discuss and better understand the concept as well as evaluate the implications on financial inclusion and concerns around cybersecurity, he said. Related: US Fed Chair Says Private Entities Should Not Help Design Central Bank Digital Currencies Story continues “If this is something that is going to be good for the United States economy and for the world’s reserve currency, which is the dollar, then we need to be there and we need to understand it first and best,” Powell said. “So we’re working hard on it.” The chairman also briefly addressed concerns around the Fed’s ability to control a hypothetical digital dollar, saying it’s “a very difficult problem” to find a balance between knowing too much about an individual’s transactions and knowing too little. Powell did not have enough time to fully respond to the question. Powell did acknowledge the concerns around implementing a tokenized version of the dollar and the implications of waiting too long to otherwise modernize the currency. See also: Digital Dollar Project Calls for 2-Tiered Distribution System in First White Paper for US CBDC “It’s our obligation to understand it well and not wake up one day and realize that the dollar is no longer the world reserve currency because we just missed a technological change,” he said. “So we’re not going to let that happen but at the same time there’s some very serious questions that have to be answered before we would want to implement a central bank digital currency.” Bradley Keoun contributed reporting . Related Stories Canada’s Central Bank Is Serious About Designing a CBDC, Job Posting Reveals First Mover: Negative Rates or More Money Printing – Bitcoin May Benefit Either Way || Why Facebook's WhatsApp Launched Its Payments Service In Brazil: Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB )-owned WhatsApp has launched its first rollout of payments on the platform in Brazil. What Happened: Facebook says it has built payments with security in mind, and a special six-digit PIN or fingerprint will be required to prevent unauthorized transactions. The service is free for consumers to use. Users will need to link their WhatsApp account with a Visa Inc (NYSE: V ) or Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA ) credit or debit card. The company’s partners include Banco do Brasil, Nubank and Sicredi. Why Target BRIC Markets? Is there a reason why Facebook is targeting the emerging markets? Over the years, countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China - the BRIC markets — have been moving toward adopting digital payments. Adam Traidman, the CEO of BRD, a cryptocurrencies digital wallet company, says the emerging markets in today’s world are technically savvy, yet many have fewer payment options than a country like the U.S., where citizens send payments via Venmo, Zelle and many other avenues. “The lack of options, coupled with a technically ready country, creates for major opportunities in these fast-developing countries. It makes complete sense to deploy new payments technology to these types of markets for these reasons.” says Traidman. What Happened To Libra? Facebook has been struggling to gain regulatory approval in the U.S. for its project Libra, which is a permissioned blockchain digital currency. The currency and network do not exist yet; the Libra Association has been revamping its white paper. “Not only is this [WhatsApp payments service launch] clearly part of Facebook’s larger initiative to push peer-to-peer-like payments, but this is also a social validator for decentralized peer-to-peer payments like Bitcoin and other digital assets,” says Traidman. More people will become accustomed to transacting in this manner using WhatsApp payments: instead of needing to login to a banking website, users can pay merchants by ending a message in the app, he says. Story continues “Similarly in the cryptocurrency space, you don’t need to log in to a bank website. You can send funds straight from your personal wallet.” FB Price Action: Facebook shares were slightly positive at $235.70 at the time of publication Wednesday. The stock has a 52-week range between $241.21 and $137.10. Related Links: Large Facebook Option Trader Betting On Earnings Sell-Off Facebook To Release Q1 Earnings: Focus On Ad Revenue, User Data, Jio Investment See more from Benzinga Why Boeing's Stock Is Trading Higher Today Facebook Reports Q1 Sales Beat, Users Up 10% © 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Why Facebook's WhatsApp Launched Its Payments Service In Brazil: Facebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB)-owned WhatsApp has launched its first rollout of payments on the platform in Brazil.
What Happened:Facebooksaysit has built payments with security in mind, and a special six-digit PIN or fingerprint will be required to prevent unauthorized transactions. The service is free for consumers to use.
Users will need to link their WhatsApp account with aVisa Inc(NYSE:V) orMastercard Inc(NYSE:MA) credit or debit card. The company’s partners include Banco do Brasil, Nubank and Sicredi.
Why Target BRIC Markets?Is there a reason why Facebook is targeting the emerging markets? Over the years, countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China - the BRIC markets — have been moving toward adopting digital payments.
Adam Traidman, the CEO of BRD, a cryptocurrencies digital wallet company, says the emerging markets in today’s world are technically savvy, yet many have fewer payment options than a country like the U.S., where citizens send payments via Venmo, Zelle and many other avenues.
“The lack of options, coupled with a technically ready country, creates for major opportunities in these fast-developing countries. It makes complete sense to deploy new payments technology to these types of markets for these reasons.” says Traidman.
What Happened To Libra?Facebook has been struggling to gain regulatory approval in the U.S. for its project Libra, which is a permissioned blockchain digital currency. The currency and network do not exist yet; the Libra Association has been revamping its white paper.
“Not only is this [WhatsApp payments service launch] clearly part of Facebook’s larger initiative to push peer-to-peer-like payments, but this is also a social validator for decentralized peer-to-peer payments like Bitcoin and other digital assets,” says Traidman.
More people will become accustomed to transacting in this manner using WhatsApp payments: instead of needing to login to a banking website, users can pay merchants by ending a message in the app, he says.
“Similarly in the cryptocurrency space, you don’t need to log in to a bank website. You can send funds straight from your personal wallet.”
FB Price Action:Facebook shares were slightly positive at $235.70 at the time of publication Wednesday. The stock has a 52-week range between $241.21 and $137.10.
Related Links:
Large Facebook Option Trader Betting On Earnings Sell-Off
Facebook To Release Q1 Earnings: Focus On Ad Revenue, User Data, Jio Investment
See more from Benzinga
• Why Boeing's Stock Is Trading Higher Today
• Facebook Reports Q1 Sales Beat, Users Up 10%
© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || What Satoshi Understood: Nobody Knows You’re a Dog on Social Media, Feat. The Crypto Dog: A conversation about pseudo-anonymity, global digital nomadism and the trader’s mindset. For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Pocketcasts , Google Podcasts , Castbox , Stitcher , RadioPublica , iHeartRadio or RSS . This episode is sponsored by Bitstamp and Ciphertrace . On the Brief: Big tech vs. the American political right and left Why TikTok users are pretending to love China for clout Decentralizing venture capital Related: What Satoshi Understood: Nobody Knows You’re a Dog on Social Media, Feat. The Crypto Dog See also: A Vision for Digital Property Rights, Feat. Nic Carter Our main conversation: The Crypto Dog is one of crypto Twitter’s best known characters. In this conversation, he and NLW discuss: Mining bitcoin in 2011 The difficulty of hodling across a decade The emergence of the crypto trader in the Ethereum era Trader agnosticism Pseudo-anonymity and social media Developing the character behind the avatar Global nomadism and the acceleration of “work from anywhere” The vibe and feel of Hong Kong today Find our guest online: Twitter: @TheCryptoDog For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Pocketcasts , Google Podcasts , Castbox , Stitcher , RadioPublica , iHeartRadio or RSS . Related Stories Bitcoin News Roundup for June 17, 2020 From Moral Hazard to Business as Usual, Feat. Jesse Felder Bitcoin News Roundup for June 16, 2020 || What Satoshi Understood: Nobody Knows You’re a Dog on Social Media, Feat. The Crypto Dog: A conversation about pseudo-anonymity, global digital nomadism and the trader’s mindset.
Formore episodesand free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublica,iHeartRadioorRSS.
This episode is sponsored byBitstampandCiphertrace.
• Big tech vs. the American political rightandleft
• Why TikTok users are pretending to love China for clout
• Decentralizing venture capital
Related:What Satoshi Understood: Nobody Knows You’re a Dog on Social Media, Feat. The Crypto Dog
See also:A Vision for Digital Property Rights, Feat. Nic Carter
The Crypto Dog is one of crypto Twitter’s best known characters. In this conversation, he and NLW discuss:
• Miningbitcoinin 2011
• The difficulty of hodling across a decade
• The emergence of the crypto trader in the Ethereum era
• Trader agnosticism
• Pseudo-anonymity and social media
• Developing the character behind the avatar
• Global nomadism and the acceleration of “work from anywhere”
• The vibe and feel of Hong Kong today
Find our guest online:Twitter:@TheCryptoDog
Formore episodesand free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublica,iHeartRadioorRSS.
• Bitcoin News Roundup for June 17, 2020
• From Moral Hazard to Business as Usual, Feat. Jesse Felder
• Bitcoin News Roundup for June 16, 2020 || Singapore Ride-Sharing App Lets Customers Pay With Bitcoin: Ryde , Singapores first carpooling app, will now let customers pay for rides with bitcoin. Starting next week, its users will be able to store and convert bitcoin to the companys RydeCoin with zero transaction costs, the company announced Wednesday. Customers can top up a maximum of S$999 (just over US$700) in bitcoin at a time to pay for rides, and Ryde claims it will be the worlds first and only cryptocurrency wallet that allows users to pay for rides using bitcoin within its own e-wallet. The company is not the first ride-hailing app to accept bitcoin payments. In 2018, Fold , an app that enabled micropayments through bitcoin lightning, welcomed Uber as a partner company . It allowed users to pay for Uber rides with bitcoin through an integration, but Ryde is the first to incorporate cryptocurrency as a payment method natively into its own app by allowing the storage and use of bitcoin through its built-in digital wallet RydePay. Ryde Technologies Founder and CEO Terence Zou told CoinDesk the addition of cryptocurrency as a payment method was always going to be the natural next step as its transaction volume increased. I have been watching the developments of this particular space and increasingly Im sanguine about the prospects of cryptocurrency and its usage, Zou said. According to Zou, the company began working on integrating crypto features to its app in 2019, when 60% of Singaporeans still prefered cash transactions. The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly made cashless transactions more desirable, and the company accelerated development. A 2020 report by Crystal Analytics found Singapore was tied with the U.S. as the country with the third-largest number of bitcoin exchanges, with 25 operating platforms. Related: Singapore Ride-Sharing App Lets Customers Pay With Bitcoin Singaporeans have bitcoin but the use of bitcoin in Singapore is limited. We can purchase bitcoin at some ATMs and through crypto exchanges but not many merchants accept it, Zou said. Story continues Things are changing. The Singapore government formally introduced the Payments Services Act 2019 which went into effect in January this year, and allowed some exchanges, including Coinbase, to operate without a license for a period of six months. Zou believes the act provides regulatory clarity for FinTech companies, and is more accepting of crypto exchanges looking to operate in Singapore. As a technology firm, accepting bitcoin is only the first step in Rydes long-term plan to turn its RydePay wallet into a decentralized electronic ledger and open it to more cryptocurrencies. Ride hailing is a widely used service, and Ryde wants to be the first to facilitate the mass adoption of crypto usage in Singapore. Ryde already offers a range of cashless payment options including debit and credit cards, along with Apple Pay. Zou is confident the addition of bitcoin would create more value for their customers, and target a new constituency. Singapore generally has a more relatively tech-savvy population, Zou said. Related Stories Gemini Plots Singapore Expansion With Appointment of New Asia Director Coca-Cola Distributor Offers Bitcoin Payment Options for Aussie Vending Machines || Singapore Ride-Sharing App Lets Customers Pay With Bitcoin: Ryde, Singapore’s first carpooling app, will now let customers pay for rides with bitcoin.
Starting next week, its users will be able to store and convertbitcointo the company’s RydeCoin with zero transaction costs, the company announced Wednesday. Customers can top up a maximum of S$999 (just over US$700) in bitcoin at a time to pay for rides, and Ryde claims it will be the world’s first and only cryptocurrency wallet that allows users to pay for rides using bitcoin within its own e-wallet.
The company is not the first ride-hailing app to accept bitcoin payments. In 2018,Fold, an app that enabled micropayments through bitcoin lightning,welcomed Uber as a partner company. It allowed users to pay for Uber rides with bitcoin through an integration, but Ryde is the first to incorporate cryptocurrency as a payment method natively into its own app by allowing the storage and use of bitcoin through its built-in digital wallet RydePay.
Ryde Technologies Founder and CEO Terence Zou told CoinDesk the addition of cryptocurrency as a payment method was always going to be the natural next step as its transaction volume increased.
“I have been watching the developments of this particular space and increasingly I’m sanguine about the prospects of cryptocurrency and its usage,” Zou said.
According to Zou, the company began working on integrating crypto features to its app in 2019, when 60% of Singaporeans still prefered cash transactions. The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly made cashless transactions more desirable, and the company accelerated development.
A 2020reportby Crystal Analytics found Singapore was tied with the U.S. as the country with the third-largest number of bitcoin exchanges, with 25 operating platforms.
Related:Singapore Ride-Sharing App Lets Customers Pay With Bitcoin
“Singaporeans have bitcoin but the use of bitcoin in Singapore is limited. We can purchase bitcoin at some ATMs and through crypto exchanges but not many merchants accept it,” Zou said.
Things are changing. The Singapore government formally introduced thePayments Services Act 2019which went into effect in January this year, and allowed some exchanges, including Coinbase, tooperate without a licensefor a period of six months. Zou believes the act provides regulatory clarity for FinTech companies, and is more accepting of crypto exchanges looking to operate in Singapore.
As a technology firm, accepting bitcoin is only the first step in Ryde’s long-term plan to turn its RydePay wallet into a decentralized electronic ledger and open it to more cryptocurrencies. Ride hailing is a widely used service, and Ryde wants to be the first to facilitate the mass adoption of crypto usage in Singapore.
Ryde already offers a range of cashless payment options including debit and credit cards, along with Apple Pay. Zou is confident the addition of bitcoin would create more value for their customers, and target a new constituency.
“Singapore generally has a more relatively tech-savvy population,” Zou said.
• Gemini Plots Singapore Expansion With Appointment of New Asia Director
• Coca-Cola Distributor Offers Bitcoin Payment Options for Aussie Vending Machines || Singapore Ride-Sharing App Lets Customers Pay With Bitcoin: Ryde, Singapore’s first carpooling app, will now let customers pay for rides with bitcoin.
Starting next week, its users will be able to store and convertbitcointo the company’s RydeCoin with zero transaction costs, the company announced Wednesday. Customers can top up a maximum of S$999 (just over US$700) in bitcoin at a time to pay for rides, and Ryde claims it will be the world’s first and only cryptocurrency wallet that allows users to pay for rides using bitcoin within its own e-wallet.
The company is not the first ride-hailing app to accept bitcoin payments. In 2018,Fold, an app that enabled micropayments through bitcoin lightning,welcomed Uber as a partner company. It allowed users to pay for Uber rides with bitcoin through an integration, but Ryde is the first to incorporate cryptocurrency as a payment method natively into its own app by allowing the storage and use of bitcoin through its built-in digital wallet RydePay.
Ryde Technologies Founder and CEO Terence Zou told CoinDesk the addition of cryptocurrency as a payment method was always going to be the natural next step as its transaction volume increased.
“I have been watching the developments of this particular space and increasingly I’m sanguine about the prospects of cryptocurrency and its usage,” Zou said.
According to Zou, the company began working on integrating crypto features to its app in 2019, when 60% of Singaporeans still prefered cash transactions. The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly made cashless transactions more desirable, and the company accelerated development.
A 2020reportby Crystal Analytics found Singapore was tied with the U.S. as the country with the third-largest number of bitcoin exchanges, with 25 operating platforms.
Related:Singapore Ride-Sharing App Lets Customers Pay With Bitcoin
“Singaporeans have bitcoin but the use of bitcoin in Singapore is limited. We can purchase bitcoin at some ATMs and through crypto exchanges but not many merchants accept it,” Zou said.
Things are changing. The Singapore government formally introduced thePayments Services Act 2019which went into effect in January this year, and allowed some exchanges, including Coinbase, tooperate without a licensefor a period of six months. Zou believes the act provides regulatory clarity for FinTech companies, and is more accepting of crypto exchanges looking to operate in Singapore.
As a technology firm, accepting bitcoin is only the first step in Ryde’s long-term plan to turn its RydePay wallet into a decentralized electronic ledger and open it to more cryptocurrencies. Ride hailing is a widely used service, and Ryde wants to be the first to facilitate the mass adoption of crypto usage in Singapore.
Ryde already offers a range of cashless payment options including debit and credit cards, along with Apple Pay. Zou is confident the addition of bitcoin would create more value for their customers, and target a new constituency.
“Singapore generally has a more relatively tech-savvy population,” Zou said.
• Gemini Plots Singapore Expansion With Appointment of New Asia Director
• Coca-Cola Distributor Offers Bitcoin Payment Options for Aussie Vending Machines || The Truth About Bitcoin and Hezbollah in Lebanon: Cryptocurrency does not appear to be a significant trend in terror financing in the Middle East, but a new round of U.S. sanctions aimed at Syria may tip the scales in favor of experimentation. On Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said U.S. sanctions against his Syrian ally President Bashar al-Assad are an attempt to starve both Syria and Lebanon. Local black market activity related to global assets like dollars is surging , with Lebanese banks failing to meet that demand. The Americans are pressuring the Bank of Lebanon to prevent it from putting enough dollars into the market, Nasrallah said . To date, evidence suggests terror groups like Hamas are using only small amounts of bitcoin , at volumes far smaller than what the civilian population in the region is using. In fact, the analytics firm Chainalysis estimates most campaigns by terror groups like ISIS have raised less than $10,000 worth of cryptocurrency, less than a single Palestinian trader typically sells in a week . Read more: Bitcoin in Emerging Markets: The Middle East That said, among the most prominent terrorist organizations in 2020, Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is arguably the most likely to benefit from using crypto. (Hezbollah is classified as a terror group by the U.S. and 17 other nations. A number of EU countries do not classify Hezbollah as a terror group.) Randa Slim, the Lebanese-American director of diplomacy programs at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington D.C., said she believes Hezbollah is interested in bitcoin. Related: The Truth About Bitcoin and Hezbollah in Lebanon No other party in Lebanon has the kind of access to financial resources nor the military infrastructure to be able to maintain its role. Were going to see Hezbollahs dominance over the political life of the country, and increasingly over the economic life of the country, Slim said, referring to Lebanons current economic crisis . Story continues Hezbollahs power may be growing, but bitcoin doesnt appear to be playing a significant role in that so far. Slim said she hasnt seen any focus in Hezbollah-affiliated media and publications on cryptocurrency and the money from Iran mostly comes in cash. Likewise, an anonymous Lebanese bitcoiner said he hasnt seen or heard anything related to both bitcoin and Hezbollah. Iranian government officials have repeatedly made public statements in 2020 that they are interested in using bitcoin, without saying how they plan to deploy that capital. Considering their own economic crisis at home and raging stock market , there isnt any evidence yet to suggest Tehrans crypto strategy includes terror financing. Read more: Iranian President Calls for National Crypto Mining Strategy Nasrallah frequently mentions that his group tries to avoid [cypherpunk] technology, the anonymous Lebanese bitcoiner said, because theres an enormous asymmetry between them and Israel when it comes to such technology. Either way, Iranian funding is only a fraction of Hezbollahs finances. Middle Eastern bitcoin experts, even those with ample reason to fear extremists, are generally less concerned with the risk of terror financing than their North American counterparts. Limited concerns Beyond the fact Hezbollah leadership knows its longtime enemy Israel has more crypto resources, the Lebanese bitcoiner said if terrorists can get missiles they can certainly acquire bitcoin and operate their own systems. In short, the possibility exists regardless of sanctions, which have primarily limited civilian access to global assets. As one Iraqi bitcoin trader, who also commented on the condition of anonymity, said with regards to the extremist threat in his homeland on the opposite side of Syria , the possibility of terror financing is not a convincing reason for us to be afraid of [bitcoin]. Read more: How Bitcoin Fits Into Lebanons Banking Crisis The Iraqi said the only way to deprive extremist groups of financial support is to address the deteriorating economic situation that directly affects peoples living situation. The Lebanese bitcoiner agreed. Hezbollah is able to maintain the majority of its influence by being able to provide for the most disadvantaged individuals in the country, the Lebanese bitcoiner said. In reference to how Hezbollah distributed American dollars to its supporters late last year, earlier in the Lebanese economic crisis , the bitcoiner said: If people had a way to manage their finances in a truly decentralized fashion, what effect would that have on Hezbollahs ability to buy loyalty with dollars? To that end, the Iraqi trader is optimistic about bitcoins potential in the Middle East, especially places with weak nation-state structures like Lebanon and Syrias Rojava region. Lest we forget, American sanctions arent the only compliance issues in the region. Lebanese Christians and various Muslim sects , for example , may also face discriminatory obstacles and be attracted to bitcoin for this reason. I am confident that we are at the beginning of the road and that in the near future there will be a significant improvement, the Iraqi trader said in reference to currency dynamics and free trade across the region. Its estimated hundreds of civilians across the Middle East use bitcoin to sustain themselves, although its not clear how many in total. A lot of people that are salaried employees are now using cryptocurrency, the anonymous Lebanese bitcoiner said. In that sense, I am grateful for cryptocurrency and think it can be very useful in those contexts. Financial crime As of June 2020, there is more evidence to suggest fraud than terror financing in the Middle East. According to the Washington Institute, a pro-Israel think tank, Hezbollah typically uses money laundering schemes, banking fraud and credit card scams to fund its operations . Such financial crimes are on the rise during the recession, more broadly speaking, even in the United States . Any such operations would not be unique to cryptocurrency nor Lebanon. The most obvious illicit use case beyond run-of-the-mill scams would be Iran sending bitcoin to Hezbollah. By the most extreme estimates, such as the one published in 2019 by Israel Hayom , Hezbollah reportedly has a $1 billion military budget, out of which roughly $100 million worth of fiat is estimated to come from the Iranian government. Read more: Despite Bitcoin Price Dips, Crypto Is a Safe Haven in the Middle East Local sources in Tehran said they havent heard of specific crypto exchanges working directly with governments for political transactions. The scale of terror financing, in particular between Iran and Hezbollah, would theoretically create a noticeable data surge in Beiruts and Tehrans comparably small bitcoin markets. If Hezbollah is using bitcoin, it has done so without attracting local or international attention. For broader context, the state of Lebanon , where Hezbollah represents a political party as well as an independent militia, is estimated to have an annual budget of $2.78 billion . Chainalysis estimates crypto terror financing across the region hovers around $1 million (for Hamas and ISIS, theres not yet a comparable estimate for Hezbollah). As such, the blockchain sleuthing firm called this very limited adoption . Such cryptocurrency campaigns appear to be ineffective at best. Based on public data about bitcoin usage in the Middle East, theres no evidence suggesting significant trading volumes are devoted to financing Hezbollah. In short, neo-Nazis may be more likely to use bitcoin than Islamic extremists. Cash flow Meanwhile, the Lebanese banking system is on the verge of collapse. Hezbollah reportedly threatened to storm Lebanese banks in 2019, when the group had trouble accessing funds. Tensions between the terror group and Lebanese central bankers continue to simmer. That sentiment is commonplace. Unaffiliated protests lit a central bank building on fire last week in Tripoli, Lebanons second-largest city. Broadly speaking, bitcoin usage has become more widespread in Lebanon during this economic crisis. Considering most Hezbollah supporters are Lebanese, the Middle East Institutes Slim said the groups supporters are probably not an exception to local fintech trends. People on the ground do not believe regulations deserve credit for the lack of terror financing. The bitcoin traders from Iraq and Lebanon said it is simply a matter of civilians finding bitcoin more useful than extremists these days. It remains to be seen whether cryptocurrencies offer a unique value to Hezbollah. Plus, Lebanons overall electricity infrastructure may not be mature enough for a competitive bitcoin mining industry, not to mention the digital-literacy divide that limits local liquidity. The group faces mounting economic pressure because it also operates hospitals, schools and agricultural programs with dire needs during the coronavirus crisis. Slim said sanctions have not reduced the overall financial support for groups like Hezbollah, merely diversified the ways these budgets are managed and deployed. Despite, or perhaps because of, the perfect storm of economic uncertainty, it appears Lebanons growing bitcoin market is driven organically, among civilians, not by institutions or extremist campaigns. Its not something, in my opinion, the Lebanese government has the technical resources to focus on and monitor, she said of bitcoin. Whatever money Iran has devoted over the years to its regional projection of power, through proxies and alliances like Hezbollah
that pie, I dont think it has expanded. There are now more demands for the money. Related Stories Bitcoin Still Undervalued After Q2 Rally, Price Metric Shows Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat at $9.4K but Investors Are Holding On || The Truth About Bitcoin and Hezbollah in Lebanon: Cryptocurrency does not appear to be a significant trend in terror financing in the Middle East, but a new round of U.S. sanctions aimed at Syria may tip the scales in favor of experimentation. On Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said U.S. sanctions against his Syrian ally President Bashar al-Assad are an attempt to starve both Syria and Lebanon. Local black market activity related to global assets like dollars is surging , with Lebanese banks failing to meet that demand. The Americans are pressuring the Bank of Lebanon to prevent it from putting enough dollars into the market, Nasrallah said . To date, evidence suggests terror groups like Hamas are using only small amounts of bitcoin , at volumes far smaller than what the civilian population in the region is using. In fact, the analytics firm Chainalysis estimates most campaigns by terror groups like ISIS have raised less than $10,000 worth of cryptocurrency, less than a single Palestinian trader typically sells in a week . Read more: Bitcoin in Emerging Markets: The Middle East That said, among the most prominent terrorist organizations in 2020, Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is arguably the most likely to benefit from using crypto. (Hezbollah is classified as a terror group by the U.S. and 17 other nations. A number of EU countries do not classify Hezbollah as a terror group.) Randa Slim, the Lebanese-American director of diplomacy programs at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington D.C., said she believes Hezbollah is interested in bitcoin. Related: The Truth About Bitcoin and Hezbollah in Lebanon No other party in Lebanon has the kind of access to financial resources nor the military infrastructure to be able to maintain its role. Were going to see Hezbollahs dominance over the political life of the country, and increasingly over the economic life of the country, Slim said, referring to Lebanons current economic crisis . Story continues Hezbollahs power may be growing, but bitcoin doesnt appear to be playing a significant role in that so far. Slim said she hasnt seen any focus in Hezbollah-affiliated media and publications on cryptocurrency and the money from Iran mostly comes in cash. Likewise, an anonymous Lebanese bitcoiner said he hasnt seen or heard anything related to both bitcoin and Hezbollah. Iranian government officials have repeatedly made public statements in 2020 that they are interested in using bitcoin, without saying how they plan to deploy that capital. Considering their own economic crisis at home and raging stock market , there isnt any evidence yet to suggest Tehrans crypto strategy includes terror financing. Read more: Iranian President Calls for National Crypto Mining Strategy Nasrallah frequently mentions that his group tries to avoid [cypherpunk] technology, the anonymous Lebanese bitcoiner said, because theres an enormous asymmetry between them and Israel when it comes to such technology. Either way, Iranian funding is only a fraction of Hezbollahs finances. Middle Eastern bitcoin experts, even those with ample reason to fear extremists, are generally less concerned with the risk of terror financing than their North American counterparts. Limited concerns Beyond the fact Hezbollah leadership knows its longtime enemy Israel has more crypto resources, the Lebanese bitcoiner said if terrorists can get missiles they can certainly acquire bitcoin and operate their own systems. In short, the possibility exists regardless of sanctions, which have primarily limited civilian access to global assets. As one Iraqi bitcoin trader, who also commented on the condition of anonymity, said with regards to the extremist threat in his homeland on the opposite side of Syria , the possibility of terror financing is not a convincing reason for us to be afraid of [bitcoin]. Read more: How Bitcoin Fits Into Lebanons Banking Crisis The Iraqi said the only way to deprive extremist groups of financial support is to address the deteriorating economic situation that directly affects peoples living situation. The Lebanese bitcoiner agreed. Hezbollah is able to maintain the majority of its influence by being able to provide for the most disadvantaged individuals in the country, the Lebanese bitcoiner said. In reference to how Hezbollah distributed American dollars to its supporters late last year, earlier in the Lebanese economic crisis , the bitcoiner said: If people had a way to manage their finances in a truly decentralized fashion, what effect would that have on Hezbollahs ability to buy loyalty with dollars? To that end, the Iraqi trader is optimistic about bitcoins potential in the Middle East, especially places with weak nation-state structures like Lebanon and Syrias Rojava region. Lest we forget, American sanctions arent the only compliance issues in the region. Lebanese Christians and various Muslim sects , for example , may also face discriminatory obstacles and be attracted to bitcoin for this reason. I am confident that we are at the beginning of the road and that in the near future there will be a significant improvement, the Iraqi trader said in reference to currency dynamics and free trade across the region. Its estimated hundreds of civilians across the Middle East use bitcoin to sustain themselves, although its not clear how many in total. A lot of people that are salaried employees are now using cryptocurrency, the anonymous Lebanese bitcoiner said. In that sense, I am grateful for cryptocurrency and think it can be very useful in those contexts. Financial crime As of June 2020, there is more evidence to suggest fraud than terror financing in the Middle East. According to the Washington Institute, a pro-Israel think tank, Hezbollah typically uses money laundering schemes, banking fraud and credit card scams to fund its operations . Such financial crimes are on the rise during the recession, more broadly speaking, even in the United States . Any such operations would not be unique to cryptocurrency nor Lebanon. The most obvious illicit use case beyond run-of-the-mill scams would be Iran sending bitcoin to Hezbollah. By the most extreme estimates, such as the one published in 2019 by Israel Hayom , Hezbollah reportedly has a $1 billion military budget, out of which roughly $100 million worth of fiat is estimated to come from the Iranian government. Read more: Despite Bitcoin Price Dips, Crypto Is a Safe Haven in the Middle East Local sources in Tehran said they havent heard of specific crypto exchanges working directly with governments for political transactions. The scale of terror financing, in particular between Iran and Hezbollah, would theoretically create a noticeable data surge in Beiruts and Tehrans comparably small bitcoin markets. If Hezbollah is using bitcoin, it has done so without attracting local or international attention. For broader context, the state of Lebanon , where Hezbollah represents a political party as well as an independent militia, is estimated to have an annual budget of $2.78 billion . Chainalysis estimates crypto terror financing across the region hovers around $1 million (for Hamas and ISIS, theres not yet a comparable estimate for Hezbollah). As such, the blockchain sleuthing firm called this very limited adoption . Such cryptocurrency campaigns appear to be ineffective at best. Based on public data about bitcoin usage in the Middle East, theres no evidence suggesting significant trading volumes are devoted to financing Hezbollah. In short, neo-Nazis may be more likely to use bitcoin than Islamic extremists. Cash flow Meanwhile, the Lebanese banking system is on the verge of collapse. Hezbollah reportedly threatened to storm Lebanese banks in 2019, when the group had trouble accessing funds. Tensions between the terror group and Lebanese central bankers continue to simmer. That sentiment is commonplace. Unaffiliated protests lit a central bank building on fire last week in Tripoli, Lebanons second-largest city. Broadly speaking, bitcoin usage has become more widespread in Lebanon during this economic crisis. Considering most Hezbollah supporters are Lebanese, the Middle East Institutes Slim said the groups supporters are probably not an exception to local fintech trends. People on the ground do not believe regulations deserve credit for the lack of terror financing. The bitcoin traders from Iraq and Lebanon said it is simply a matter of civilians finding bitcoin more useful than extremists these days. It remains to be seen whether cryptocurrencies offer a unique value to Hezbollah. Plus, Lebanons overall electricity infrastructure may not be mature enough for a competitive bitcoin mining industry, not to mention the digital-literacy divide that limits local liquidity. The group faces mounting economic pressure because it also operates hospitals, schools and agricultural programs with dire needs during the coronavirus crisis. Slim said sanctions have not reduced the overall financial support for groups like Hezbollah, merely diversified the ways these budgets are managed and deployed. Despite, or perhaps because of, the perfect storm of economic uncertainty, it appears Lebanons growing bitcoin market is driven organically, among civilians, not by institutions or extremist campaigns. Its not something, in my opinion, the Lebanese government has the technical resources to focus on and monitor, she said of bitcoin. Whatever money Iran has devoted over the years to its regional projection of power, through proxies and alliances like Hezbollah
that pie, I dont think it has expanded. There are now more demands for the money. Related Stories Bitcoin Still Undervalued After Q2 Rally, Price Metric Shows Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat at $9.4K but Investors Are Holding On || The Truth About Bitcoin and Hezbollah in Lebanon: Cryptocurrency does not appear to be a significant trend in terror financing in the Middle East, but a new round of U.S. sanctions aimed at Syria may tip the scales in favor of experimentation. On Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said U.S. sanctions against his Syrian ally President Bashar al-Assad are an attempt to starve both Syria and Lebanon. Local black market activity related to global assets like dollars is surging , with Lebanese banks failing to meet that demand. The Americans are pressuring the Bank of Lebanon to prevent it from putting enough dollars into the market, Nasrallah said . To date, evidence suggests terror groups like Hamas are using only small amounts of bitcoin , at volumes far smaller than what the civilian population in the region is using. In fact, the analytics firm Chainalysis estimates most campaigns by terror groups like ISIS have raised less than $10,000 worth of cryptocurrency, less than a single Palestinian trader typically sells in a week . Read more: Bitcoin in Emerging Markets: The Middle East That said, among the most prominent terrorist organizations in 2020, Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is arguably the most likely to benefit from using crypto. (Hezbollah is classified as a terror group by the U.S. and 17 other nations. A number of EU countries do not classify Hezbollah as a terror group.) Randa Slim, the Lebanese-American director of diplomacy programs at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington D.C., said she believes Hezbollah is interested in bitcoin. Related: The Truth About Bitcoin and Hezbollah in Lebanon No other party in Lebanon has the kind of access to financial resources nor the military infrastructure to be able to maintain its role. Were going to see Hezbollahs dominance over the political life of the country, and increasingly over the economic life of the country, Slim said, referring to Lebanons current economic crisis . Story continues Hezbollahs power may be growing, but bitcoin doesnt appear to be playing a significant role in that so far. Slim said she hasnt seen any focus in Hezbollah-affiliated media and publications on cryptocurrency and the money from Iran mostly comes in cash. Likewise, an anonymous Lebanese bitcoiner said he hasnt seen or heard anything related to both bitcoin and Hezbollah. Iranian government officials have repeatedly made public statements in 2020 that they are interested in using bitcoin, without saying how they plan to deploy that capital. Considering their own economic crisis at home and raging stock market , there isnt any evidence yet to suggest Tehrans crypto strategy includes terror financing. Read more: Iranian President Calls for National Crypto Mining Strategy Nasrallah frequently mentions that his group tries to avoid [cypherpunk] technology, the anonymous Lebanese bitcoiner said, because theres an enormous asymmetry between them and Israel when it comes to such technology. Either way, Iranian funding is only a fraction of Hezbollahs finances. Middle Eastern bitcoin experts, even those with ample reason to fear extremists, are generally less concerned with the risk of terror financing than their North American counterparts. Limited concerns Beyond the fact Hezbollah leadership knows its longtime enemy Israel has more crypto resources, the Lebanese bitcoiner said if terrorists can get missiles they can certainly acquire bitcoin and operate their own systems. In short, the possibility exists regardless of sanctions, which have primarily limited civilian access to global assets. As one Iraqi bitcoin trader, who also commented on the condition of anonymity, said with regards to the extremist threat in his homeland on the opposite side of Syria , the possibility of terror financing is not a convincing reason for us to be afraid of [bitcoin]. Read more: How Bitcoin Fits Into Lebanons Banking Crisis The Iraqi said the only way to deprive extremist groups of financial support is to address the deteriorating economic situation that directly affects peoples living situation. The Lebanese bitcoiner agreed. Hezbollah is able to maintain the majority of its influence by being able to provide for the most disadvantaged individuals in the country, the Lebanese bitcoiner said. In reference to how Hezbollah distributed American dollars to its supporters late last year, earlier in the Lebanese economic crisis , the bitcoiner said: If people had a way to manage their finances in a truly decentralized fashion, what effect would that have on Hezbollahs ability to buy loyalty with dollars? To that end, the Iraqi trader is optimistic about bitcoins potential in the Middle East, especially places with weak nation-state structures like Lebanon and Syrias Rojava region. Lest we forget, American sanctions arent the only compliance issues in the region. Lebanese Christians and various Muslim sects , for example , may also face discriminatory obstacles and be attracted to bitcoin for this reason. I am confident that we are at the beginning of the road and that in the near future there will be a significant improvement, the Iraqi trader said in reference to currency dynamics and free trade across the region. Its estimated hundreds of civilians across the Middle East use bitcoin to sustain themselves, although its not clear how many in total. A lot of people that are salaried employees are now using cryptocurrency, the anonymous Lebanese bitcoiner said. In that sense, I am grateful for cryptocurrency and think it can be very useful in those contexts. Financial crime As of June 2020, there is more evidence to suggest fraud than terror financing in the Middle East. According to the Washington Institute, a pro-Israel think tank, Hezbollah typically uses money laundering schemes, banking fraud and credit card scams to fund its operations . Such financial crimes are on the rise during the recession, more broadly speaking, even in the United States . Any such operations would not be unique to cryptocurrency nor Lebanon. The most obvious illicit use case beyond run-of-the-mill scams would be Iran sending bitcoin to Hezbollah. By the most extreme estimates, such as the one published in 2019 by Israel Hayom , Hezbollah reportedly has a $1 billion military budget, out of which roughly $100 million worth of fiat is estimated to come from the Iranian government. Read more: Despite Bitcoin Price Dips, Crypto Is a Safe Haven in the Middle East Local sources in Tehran said they havent heard of specific crypto exchanges working directly with governments for political transactions. The scale of terror financing, in particular between Iran and Hezbollah, would theoretically create a noticeable data surge in Beiruts and Tehrans comparably small bitcoin markets. If Hezbollah is using bitcoin, it has done so without attracting local or international attention. For broader context, the state of Lebanon , where Hezbollah represents a political party as well as an independent militia, is estimated to have an annual budget of $2.78 billion . Chainalysis estimates crypto terror financing across the region hovers around $1 million (for Hamas and ISIS, theres not yet a comparable estimate for Hezbollah). As such, the blockchain sleuthing firm called this very limited adoption . Such cryptocurrency campaigns appear to be ineffective at best. Based on public data about bitcoin usage in the Middle East, theres no evidence suggesting significant trading volumes are devoted to financing Hezbollah. In short, neo-Nazis may be more likely to use bitcoin than Islamic extremists. Cash flow Meanwhile, the Lebanese banking system is on the verge of collapse. Hezbollah reportedly threatened to storm Lebanese banks in 2019, when the group had trouble accessing funds. Tensions between the terror group and Lebanese central bankers continue to simmer. That sentiment is commonplace. Unaffiliated protests lit a central bank building on fire last week in Tripoli, Lebanons second-largest city. Broadly speaking, bitcoin usage has become more widespread in Lebanon during this economic crisis. Considering most Hezbollah supporters are Lebanese, the Middle East Institutes Slim said the groups supporters are probably not an exception to local fintech trends. People on the ground do not believe regulations deserve credit for the lack of terror financing. The bitcoin traders from Iraq and Lebanon said it is simply a matter of civilians finding bitcoin more useful than extremists these days. It remains to be seen whether cryptocurrencies offer a unique value to Hezbollah. Plus, Lebanons overall electricity infrastructure may not be mature enough for a competitive bitcoin mining industry, not to mention the digital-literacy divide that limits local liquidity. The group faces mounting economic pressure because it also operates hospitals, schools and agricultural programs with dire needs during the coronavirus crisis. Slim said sanctions have not reduced the overall financial support for groups like Hezbollah, merely diversified the ways these budgets are managed and deployed. Despite, or perhaps because of, the perfect storm of economic uncertainty, it appears Lebanons growing bitcoin market is driven organically, among civilians, not by institutions or extremist campaigns. Its not something, in my opinion, the Lebanese government has the technical resources to focus on and monitor, she said of bitcoin. Whatever money Iran has devoted over the years to its regional projection of power, through proxies and alliances like Hezbollah
that pie, I dont think it has expanded. There are now more demands for the money. Related Stories Bitcoin Still Undervalued After Q2 Rally, Price Metric Shows Market Wrap: Bitcoin Flat at $9.4K but Investors Are Holding On || Latest Ripple price and analysis (XRP to USD): As previously noted in Coin Rivet’s analysis XRP remains in bearish territory following a relatively dismal performance over the past six weeks. It is now trading back below the $0.20 level of psychological resistance while $0.1825 remains an important level of support to the downside. In order for XRP to trigger a bullish reversal it needs to break above not only the $0.20 level but also the daily 200 moving average, which is at $0.2125 after sloping to the downside for more than two years. In the past 12 months XRP has spent just three weeks above the 200MA as it continues to struggle due to a lack of bullish momentum. If the $0.1825 level of support eventually falls XRP can be expected to drop to as low as $0.1475, which is around the point it bounced in March. XRP’s notably bearish chart is baffling considering the amount of work the Ripple Foundation has been putting in on a global level, with increasing numbers of significant partnerships being secured. However, one of the main issues that keeps rearing its ugly head in terms of XRP’s price is the over-the-counter token sales that have been commencing. A group of aggrieved XRP investors filed a lawsuit against Ripple over the token sales, although Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse replied by claiming that the sales were “vital to the survival of the company” . For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . Latest Ripple price Current live XRP price information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest Ripple price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar – XRPtoUSD British Pound Sterling – XRPtoGBP Japanese Yen – XRPtoJPY Euro – XRPtoEUR Australian Dollar – XRPtoAUD Russian Rouble – XRPtoRUB Bitcoin – XRPtoBTC About Ripple (XRP) Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) developed by the Ripple company. It is also referred to as the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) or Ripple protocol. It can trace its roots to 2004 when a web developer called Ryan Fugger had the idea to create a monetary system that was decentralised and could effectively allow individuals to create their own money. Story continues Ripple is one of the largest cryptocurrencies and is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. More Ripple news and information If you want to find out more information about Ripple or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s a recent article to get you started: https://coinrivet.com/ripple-ceo-brad-garlinghouse-hits-back-at-critics-xrp-is-not-a-security/ As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. || Latest Ripple price and analysis (XRP to USD): As previously noted in Coin Rivet’s analysis XRP remains in bearish territory following a relatively dismal performance over the past six weeks. It is now trading back below the $0.20 level of psychological resistance while $0.1825 remains an important level of support to the downside. In order for XRP to trigger a bullish reversal it needs to break above not only the $0.20 level but also the daily 200 moving average, which is at $0.2125 after sloping to the downside for more than two years. In the past 12 months XRP has spent just three weeks above the 200MA as it continues to struggle due to a lack of bullish momentum. If the $0.1825 level of support eventually falls XRP can be expected to drop to as low as $0.1475, which is around the point it bounced in March. XRP’s notably bearish chart is baffling considering the amount of work the Ripple Foundation has been putting in on a global level, with increasing numbers of significant partnerships being secured. However, one of the main issues that keeps rearing its ugly head in terms of XRP’s price is the over-the-counter token sales that have been commencing. A group of aggrieved XRP investors filed a lawsuit against Ripple over the token sales, although Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse replied by claiming that the sales were “vital to the survival of the company” . For more news, guides and cryptocurrency analysis, click here . Latest Ripple price Current live XRP price information and interactive charts are available on our site 24 hours a day. The ticker bar at the bottom of every page on our site has the latest Ripple price. Pricing is also available in a range of different currency equivalents: US Dollar – XRPtoUSD British Pound Sterling – XRPtoGBP Japanese Yen – XRPtoJPY Euro – XRPtoEUR Australian Dollar – XRPtoAUD Russian Rouble – XRPtoRUB Bitcoin – XRPtoBTC About Ripple (XRP) Ripple is a real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) developed by the Ripple company. It is also referred to as the Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP) or Ripple protocol. It can trace its roots to 2004 when a web developer called Ryan Fugger had the idea to create a monetary system that was decentralised and could effectively allow individuals to create their own money. Story continues Ripple is one of the largest cryptocurrencies and is one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation. More Ripple news and information If you want to find out more information about Ripple or cryptocurrencies in general, then use the search box at the top of this page. Here’s a recent article to get you started: https://coinrivet.com/ripple-ceo-brad-garlinghouse-hits-back-at-critics-xrp-is-not-a-security/ As with any investment, it pays to do some homework before you part with your money. The prices of cryptocurrencies are volatile and go up and down quickly. This page is not recommending a particular currency or whether you should invest or not. || Bitcoin News Roundup for June 17, 2020: With Ethereum logging its busiest week on record and the number ofbitcoinwhales headed up, CoinDesk’s Markets Daily Bitcoin news roundup is back!
For early access before our regular noon Eastern time releases, subscribe withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublicaorRSS.
This episode is sponsored byBitstampandCiphertrace.
Today’s stories:
Number of Bitcoin ‘Whales’ Has Risen by 2% Since Halving
Ethereum Logged Its Busiest Week on Record
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Posts Biggest Jump In 29 Months
Related:Bitcoin News Roundup for June 17, 2020
Thailand’s Finance Ministry Announces Blockchain Enabled Sale of Cheap Bonds
For early access before our regular noon Eastern time releases, subscribe withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublicaorRSS.
• Bitcoin News Roundup for June 16, 2020
• Sorry, Bloomberg: Here Are 6 Reasons Why 2020 Is a Great Year for Bitcoin
[Social Media Buzz]
None available.
|
9288.02, 9332.34, 9303.63, 9648.72, 9629.66, 9313.61, 9264.81, 9162.92, 9045.39, 9143.58
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 4579.02, 4565.30, 4703.39, 4892.01, 4578.77, 4582.96, 4236.31, 4376.53, 4597.12, 4599.88, 4228.75, 4226.06, 4122.94, 4161.27, 4130.81, 3882.59, 3154.95, 3637.52, 3625.04, 3582.88, 4065.20, 3924.97, 3905.95, 3631.04, 3630.70, 3792.40, 3682.84, 3926.07, 3892.35, 4200.67, 4174.73, 4163.07, 4338.71, 4403.74, 4409.32, 4317.48, 4229.36, 4328.41, 4370.81, 4426.89, 4610.48, 4772.02, 4781.99, 4826.48, 5446.91, 5647.21, 5831.79, 5678.19, 5725.59, 5605.51, 5590.69, 5708.52, 6011.45, 6031.60, 6008.42, 5930.32, 5526.64, 5750.80, 5904.83, 5780.90, 5753.09, 6153.85, 6130.53, 6468.40, 6767.31, 7078.50, 7207.76, 7379.95, 7407.41, 7022.76, 7144.38, 7459.69, 7143.58, 6618.14, 6357.60, 5950.07, 6559.49, 6635.75, 7315.54, 7871.69, 7708.99, 7790.15, 8036.49, 8200.64, 8071.26, 8253.55, 8038.77, 8253.69, 8790.92, 9330.55.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2017-11-26]
Volume: 5475579904, RSI (14-day): 74.89, 50-day EMA: 6744.10, 200-day EMA: 4432.83
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Exclusive: Nearly 4 Million Bitcoins Lost Forever, New Study Says: Just as gold bars are lost at sea or $100 bills can burn, bitcoins can disappear from the Internet forever. When all 21 million bitcoins are mined by the year 2040, the actual amount available to trade or spend will be significantly lower. According to new research from Chainalysis , a digital forensics firm that studies the bitcoin blockchain, 3.79 million bitcoins are already gone for good based on a high estimate--and 2.78 million based on a low one. Those numbers imply 17% to 23% of existing bitcoins, which are today worth around $8,500 each, are lost. While others have speculated about the number of lost bitcoins, the Chainalysis findings are significant because they rely on a detailed empirical analysis of the blockchain, where all bitcoin transactions are recorded. As the graphic above shows, Chainalysis’s conclusions rely on segmenting the existing bitcoin supply based on age and transaction activity. For some segments, the company used statistical sampling to determine the amount lost. The segment “Mined Coins” reflects bitcoins mined in 2017 (which are presumed not to be lost), while “transactional” refers to those that have moved or spent in the last year--very few of which are lost. Likewise, the category of “Strategic Investors,” who have held their bitcoins for 1-2 years represent a very small share of the losses. Here’s the data in another format, which shows how “Out of circulation” bitcoins--those mined 2-7 years ago and belonging to long-time investors known as “hodlers”--and those from the early days of bitcoin in 2009 and 2010 account for the vast majority of the lost coins: These figures reflect bitcoins that are truly lost, and not hacked or otherwise stolen--in these cases, of course, the bitcoin is not lost since the thief has control of them. Note the numbers above are based on the high estimate, and that the low estimate, which is based on only a 30% loss in “hodler” coins, puts the number of lost bitcoins at 2,767,468. Also, both estimates make a critical assumption that coins belonging to bitcoin’s inventor, Satoshi, are gone for good (more on that below). Story continues In the future, more bitcoins will be lost. But the rate at which they disappear will be much lower than in the past since, now that they’re so valuable, people will be more vigilant about keeping track of them (unlike this poor fellow out who threw away a hard drive with the key to 7,500 bitcoins). Meanwhile, there is a question of whether the Chainalysis findings mean bitcoin is more scarce than people assume--or if the market has already priced the missing coins into the currency’s current value. “That is a very complex question. On the one hand, direct calculations about market cap do not take lost coins into consideration. Considering how highly speculative this field is, those market cap calculations may make it into economic models of the market that impact spending activity,” said Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin. “Yet the market has adapted to the actual demand and supply available – just look at exchange behavior. Furthermore, it is well known monetary policy procedure to lower or increase fiat reserves to impact exchange rates. So the answer is yes and no.” Lost Bitcoins and the Secret of Satoshi Chainalysis, whose clients include the IRS and Europol, has made a name for itself in the bitcoin world because of its abundant data and sophisticated study of blockchain wallets. Law enforcement agencies rely on the company to provide detailed insights into who owns the currency and how it moves around. Chainalysis’s overall methodology is confidential, but a spokesperson shared certain details about how the company assesses which bitcoins are lost. An important clue comes when there is a “ fork ” in the blockchain, such as the one this summer which led to the creation of a bitcoin clone known as Bitcoin Cash . Such events can lead to the owners of wallets that have been inactive for years to conduct a transaction, providing an opportunity for statistical analysis. These sort of clues help inform the Chainalysis figure for the “hodler” category--wallets belonging to people who got into bitcoin before it hit the big time, and which represent the biggest source of uncertainty as to whether bitcoins are lost or just being hoarded. As for the 2% of “‘transactional” bitcoins that Chainalysis determined to be gone, Levin says this is based on scraping the Internet for reports of lost coins. He added that the estimate of such losses, which can arise from a misdirected transaction or the loss of a private key through death or carelessness, is not based on statistical extrapolation and will be refined further in coming years. Finally, there’s the question of what became of the bitcoins belonging to Satoshi, the pseudonymous creator of the crypto-currency, who has not been not been heard from since 2011. Chainalysis says wallets associated with Satoshi represent about 1 million bitcoins (the company will provide a more specific figure later this year), and that its model assumes that those coins--which date from a time when it was easy to mine 50 bitcoin with a laptop--are gone forever. This assumption is a big one and, if it proves to be incorrect, the number of circulating bitcoins could suddenly increase significantly and deliver a shock to the market. Fortune asked Levin about what he found most surprising about the lost bitcoin findings. “Firstly, we floated our findings to a few people and they all had different reactions about how surprising the figure was. But what I found most surprising/interesting was how when you unpack what it means to be “lost” things get even more confusing.” he said. The Ledger is Fortune’s focus on the intersection of tech and finance. For more coverage, click here . See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Bitcoin for Beginners: 3 Things to Know Before You Invest Ethereum Price Hits New High as Billionaire Predicts 25% Surge In the Next Month Tesla Is Burning Through a Bitcoin Every Minute Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Take a Hit After Another Cryptocurrency Was Hacked Whether They're Calling It A Fraud, Bubble Or World Changer, A Lot of Companies Are Talking About Cryptocurrency || Exclusive: Nearly 4 Million Bitcoins Lost Forever, New Study Says: Just as gold bars are lost at sea or $100 bills can burn, bitcoins can disappear from the Internet forever. When all 21 million bitcoins are mined by the year 2040, the actual amount available to trade or spend will be significantly lower.
According to new research fromChainalysis, a digital forensics firm that studies the bitcoin blockchain, 3.79 million bitcoins are already gone for good based on a high estimate--and 2.78 million based on a low one. Those numbers imply 17% to 23% of existing bitcoins, which are todaywortharound $8,500 each, are lost.
While others havespeculatedabout the number of lost bitcoins, the Chainalysis findings are significant because they rely on a detailed empirical analysis of the blockchain, where all bitcoin transactions are recorded.
As the graphic above shows, Chainalysis’s conclusions rely on segmenting the existing bitcoin supply based on age and transaction activity. For some segments, the company used statistical sampling to determine the amount lost.
The segment “Mined Coins” reflects bitcoins mined in 2017 (which are presumed not to be lost), while “transactional” refers to those that have moved or spent in the last year--very few of which are lost. Likewise, the category of “Strategic Investors,” who have held their bitcoins for 1-2 years represent a very small share of the losses.
Here’s the data in another format, which shows how “Out of circulation” bitcoins--those mined 2-7 years ago and belonging to long-time investors known as “hodlers”--and those from the early days of bitcoin in 2009 and 2010 account for the vast majority of the lost coins:
These figures reflect bitcoins that are truly lost, and not hacked or otherwise stolen--in these cases, of course, the bitcoin is not lost since the thief has control of them.
Note the numbers above are based on the high estimate, and that the low estimate, which is based on only a 30% loss in “hodler” coins, puts the number of lost bitcoins at 2,767,468. Also, both estimates make a critical assumption that coins belonging to bitcoin’s inventor, Satoshi, are gone for good (more on that below).
In the future, more bitcoins will be lost. But the rate at which they disappear will be much lower than in the past since, now that they’re so valuable, people will be more vigilant about keeping track of them (unlike this poor fellow out whothrew awaya hard drive with the key to 7,500 bitcoins). Meanwhile, there is a question of whether the Chainalysis findings mean bitcoin is more scarce than people assume--or if the market has already priced the missing coins into the currency’s current value.
“That is a very complex question. On the one hand, direct calculations about market cap do not take lost coins into consideration. Considering how highly speculative this field is, those market cap calculations may make it into economic models of the market that impact spending activity,” said Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin. “Yet the market has adapted to the actual demand and supply available – just look at exchange behavior. Furthermore, it is well known monetary policy procedure to lower or increase fiat reserves to impact exchange rates. So the answer is yes and no.”
Chainalysis, whose clients includethe IRSand Europol, has made a name for itself in the bitcoin world because of its abundant data and sophisticated study of blockchain wallets. Law enforcement agencies rely on the company to provide detailed insights into who owns the currency and how it moves around.
Chainalysis’s overall methodology is confidential, but a spokesperson shared certain details about how the company assesses which bitcoins are lost. An important clue comes when there is a “fork” in the blockchain, such as the one this summer which led to the creation of a bitcoin clone known asBitcoin Cash. Such events can lead to the owners of wallets that have been inactive for years to conduct a transaction, providing an opportunity for statistical analysis.
These sort of clues help inform the Chainalysis figure for the “hodler” category--wallets belonging to people who got into bitcoin before it hit the big time, and which represent the biggest source of uncertainty as to whether bitcoins are lost or just being hoarded.
As for the 2% of “‘transactional” bitcoins that Chainalysis determined to be gone, Levin says this is based on scraping the Internet for reports of lost coins. He added that the estimate of such losses, which can arise from a misdirected transaction or theloss of a private key through deathor carelessness, is not based on statistical extrapolation and will be refined further in coming years.
Finally, there’s the question of what became of the bitcoins belonging to Satoshi, the pseudonymous creator of the crypto-currency, who hasnot been not been heard fromsince 2011. Chainalysis says wallets associated with Satoshi represent about 1 million bitcoins (the company will provide a more specific figure later this year), and that its model assumes that those coins--which date from a time when it was easy to mine 50 bitcoin with a laptop--are gone forever. This assumption is a big one and, if it proves to be incorrect, the number of circulating bitcoins could suddenly increase significantly and deliver a shock to the market.
Fortuneasked Levin about what he found most surprising about the lost bitcoin findings.
“Firstly, we floated our findings to a few people and they all had different reactions about how surprising the figure was. But what I found most surprising/interesting was how when you unpack what it means to be “lost” things get even more confusing.” he said.
The Ledger is Fortune’s focus on the intersection of tech and finance. For more coverage,click here.
See original article on Fortune.com
More from Fortune.com
• Bitcoin for Beginners: 3 Things to Know Before You Invest
• Ethereum Price Hits New High as Billionaire Predicts 25% Surge In the Next Month
• Tesla Is Burning Through a Bitcoin Every Minute
• Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Take a Hit After Another Cryptocurrency Was Hacked
• Whether They're Calling It A Fraud, Bubble Or World Changer, A Lot of Companies Are Talking About Cryptocurrency || Exclusive: Nearly 4 Million Bitcoins Lost Forever, New Study Says: Just as gold bars are lost at sea or $100 bills can burn, bitcoins can disappear from the Internet forever. When all 21 million bitcoins are mined by the year 2040, the actual amount available to trade or spend will be significantly lower.
According to new research fromChainalysis, a digital forensics firm that studies the bitcoin blockchain, 3.79 million bitcoins are already gone for good based on a high estimate--and 2.78 million based on a low one. Those numbers imply 17% to 23% of existing bitcoins, which are todaywortharound $8,500 each, are lost.
While others havespeculatedabout the number of lost bitcoins, the Chainalysis findings are significant because they rely on a detailed empirical analysis of the blockchain, where all bitcoin transactions are recorded.
As the graphic above shows, Chainalysis’s conclusions rely on segmenting the existing bitcoin supply based on age and transaction activity. For some segments, the company used statistical sampling to determine the amount lost.
The segment “Mined Coins” reflects bitcoins mined in 2017 (which are presumed not to be lost), while “transactional” refers to those that have moved or spent in the last year--very few of which are lost. Likewise, the category of “Strategic Investors,” who have held their bitcoins for 1-2 years represent a very small share of the losses.
Here’s the data in another format, which shows how “Out of circulation” bitcoins--those mined 2-7 years ago and belonging to long-time investors known as “hodlers”--and those from the early days of bitcoin in 2009 and 2010 account for the vast majority of the lost coins:
These figures reflect bitcoins that are truly lost, and not hacked or otherwise stolen--in these cases, of course, the bitcoin is not lost since the thief has control of them.
Note the numbers above are based on the high estimate, and that the low estimate, which is based on only a 30% loss in “hodler” coins, puts the number of lost bitcoins at 2,767,468. Also, both estimates make a critical assumption that coins belonging to bitcoin’s inventor, Satoshi, are gone for good (more on that below).
In the future, more bitcoins will be lost. But the rate at which they disappear will be much lower than in the past since, now that they’re so valuable, people will be more vigilant about keeping track of them (unlike this poor fellow out whothrew awaya hard drive with the key to 7,500 bitcoins). Meanwhile, there is a question of whether the Chainalysis findings mean bitcoin is more scarce than people assume--or if the market has already priced the missing coins into the currency’s current value.
“That is a very complex question. On the one hand, direct calculations about market cap do not take lost coins into consideration. Considering how highly speculative this field is, those market cap calculations may make it into economic models of the market that impact spending activity,” said Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin. “Yet the market has adapted to the actual demand and supply available – just look at exchange behavior. Furthermore, it is well known monetary policy procedure to lower or increase fiat reserves to impact exchange rates. So the answer is yes and no.”
Chainalysis, whose clients includethe IRSand Europol, has made a name for itself in the bitcoin world because of its abundant data and sophisticated study of blockchain wallets. Law enforcement agencies rely on the company to provide detailed insights into who owns the currency and how it moves around.
Chainalysis’s overall methodology is confidential, but a spokesperson shared certain details about how the company assesses which bitcoins are lost. An important clue comes when there is a “fork” in the blockchain, such as the one this summer which led to the creation of a bitcoin clone known asBitcoin Cash. Such events can lead to the owners of wallets that have been inactive for years to conduct a transaction, providing an opportunity for statistical analysis.
These sort of clues help inform the Chainalysis figure for the “hodler” category--wallets belonging to people who got into bitcoin before it hit the big time, and which represent the biggest source of uncertainty as to whether bitcoins are lost or just being hoarded.
As for the 2% of “‘transactional” bitcoins that Chainalysis determined to be gone, Levin says this is based on scraping the Internet for reports of lost coins. He added that the estimate of such losses, which can arise from a misdirected transaction or theloss of a private key through deathor carelessness, is not based on statistical extrapolation and will be refined further in coming years.
Finally, there’s the question of what became of the bitcoins belonging to Satoshi, the pseudonymous creator of the crypto-currency, who hasnot been not been heard fromsince 2011. Chainalysis says wallets associated with Satoshi represent about 1 million bitcoins (the company will provide a more specific figure later this year), and that its model assumes that those coins--which date from a time when it was easy to mine 50 bitcoin with a laptop--are gone forever. This assumption is a big one and, if it proves to be incorrect, the number of circulating bitcoins could suddenly increase significantly and deliver a shock to the market.
Fortuneasked Levin about what he found most surprising about the lost bitcoin findings.
“Firstly, we floated our findings to a few people and they all had different reactions about how surprising the figure was. But what I found most surprising/interesting was how when you unpack what it means to be “lost” things get even more confusing.” he said.
The Ledger is Fortune’s focus on the intersection of tech and finance. For more coverage,click here.
See original article on Fortune.com
More from Fortune.com
• Bitcoin for Beginners: 3 Things to Know Before You Invest
• Ethereum Price Hits New High as Billionaire Predicts 25% Surge In the Next Month
• Tesla Is Burning Through a Bitcoin Every Minute
• Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Take a Hit After Another Cryptocurrency Was Hacked
• Whether They're Calling It A Fraud, Bubble Or World Changer, A Lot of Companies Are Talking About Cryptocurrency || S&P 500; US Indexes Fundamental Daily Forecast – Speculators Bet on Strong Christmas Shopping Season: U.S. equity indexes finished the shortened trading week with strong weekly gains. Without any fresh economic news on Friday, traders relied on their speculative instincts and placed bets on a strong holiday shopping season.
In the cash market, the benchmark S&P 500 Index settled at 2602.42, up 5.34 or +0.21%. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 23557.99, up 31.81 or +0.14% and the tech-based NASDAQ Composite closed at 6888.58, up 21.22 or +0.31%.
The S&P 500 Index closed above 2600.00 for the first time, led by the information technology sector. Macy shares were among the best-performing stocks in the index despite a nationwide computer glitch at their stores.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed near a record closing high, led by Visa.
Amazon gained 2.6 percent to a record. This helped the NASDAQ Composite rise to intraday and closing records.
Traders were watching closely consumer spending numbers on the first few days of the holiday shopping season. Shares of Macy’s, Nordstrom and Kohl’s all closed higher, helping the SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund (XRT) improve.
Despite the shortened trading week due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the major indexes managed to post solid gains with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average posting 0.9 percent gains last week, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 1.6 percent for the week.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
• Bitcoin Nears $10K, Ethereum Nears $500. What’s Next?
• Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Oversold Conditions Fueling Short-Covering Rally
• Gold Daily Analysis – November 27, 2017
• Strong Consumer Spending Buoys U.S. Futures
• $10,000 – Is Bitcoin Easy Money?
• Broad Markets & Political Impact Considerations || Bitcoin, Ether Prices Surge to Fresh All-Time Highs: The top two cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, have continued their respective rallies, setting fresh record highs today.
Soon before press time, the price of 1 BTC had set a new record of $8,470.73.
Having traded more or less sideways since Monday, prices started to lift at 07:00 UTC, setting the new all-time high at 09:43, according to CoinDesk'sBitcoin Price Index.
Bitcoin started the session today at $8,201, and is up 2.85 percent for the session. According toCoinMarketCap, bitcoin has risen 11.97 percent over 24 hours, and 39.25 percent for the week.
The sharp gains come as the combined market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies also peaks at new highs – currently standing at $267.6 billion. Bitcoin's market cap is now over $141 billion.
Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency markets, ether also continues to set new highs.
The native token of the ethereum project soared to $485.19 around 01:30 UTC this morning. Currently the token stands at $464, up 12 percent for the day and 39 percent for the last 7 days, also according to CoinMarketCap data.
Balloonsimage via Shutterstock
• Investors Taking a Risk Buying Bitcoin, Says ECB Vice President
• Bitcoin Price Falls $1,000 in Minutes to Drop Below $10k
• Getting Started? Ether Sets New High Above $500
• Bitcoin Price on Shaky Ground After 1,000% Gains || Bitcoin, Ether Prices Surge to Fresh All-Time Highs: The top two cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, have continued their respective rallies, setting fresh record highs today. Soon before press time, the price of 1 BTC had set a new record of $8,470.73. Having traded more or less sideways since Monday, prices started to lift at 07:00 UTC, setting the new all-time high at 09:43, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index . Bitcoin started the session today at $8,201, and is up 2.85 percent for the session. According to CoinMarketCap , bitcoin has risen 11.97 percent over 24 hours, and 39.25 percent for the week. The sharp gains come as the combined market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies also peaks at new highs currently standing at $267.6 billion. Bitcoin's market cap is now over $141 billion. Chart via CoinMarketCap Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency markets, ether also continues to set new highs. The native token of the ethereum project soared to $485.19 around 01:30 UTC this morning. Currently the token stands at $464, up 12 percent for the day and 39 percent for the last 7 days, also according to CoinMarketCap data. Balloons image via Shutterstock Related Stories Investors Taking a Risk Buying Bitcoin, Says ECB Vice President Bitcoin Price Falls $1,000 in Minutes to Drop Below $10k Getting Started? Ether Sets New High Above $500 Bitcoin Price on Shaky Ground After 1,000% Gains View comments || Bitcoin, Ether Prices Surge to Fresh All-Time Highs: The top two cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, have continued their respective rallies, setting fresh record highs today.
Soon before press time, the price of 1 BTC had set a new record of $8,470.73.
Having traded more or less sideways since Monday, prices started to lift at 07:00 UTC, setting the new all-time high at 09:43, according to CoinDesk'sBitcoin Price Index.
Bitcoin started the session today at $8,201, and is up 2.85 percent for the session. According toCoinMarketCap, bitcoin has risen 11.97 percent over 24 hours, and 39.25 percent for the week.
The sharp gains come as the combined market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies also peaks at new highs – currently standing at $267.6 billion. Bitcoin's market cap is now over $141 billion.
Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency markets, ether also continues to set new highs.
The native token of the ethereum project soared to $485.19 around 01:30 UTC this morning. Currently the token stands at $464, up 12 percent for the day and 39 percent for the last 7 days, also according to CoinMarketCap data.
Balloonsimage via Shutterstock
• Investors Taking a Risk Buying Bitcoin, Says ECB Vice President
• Bitcoin Price Falls $1,000 in Minutes to Drop Below $10k
• Getting Started? Ether Sets New High Above $500
• Bitcoin Price on Shaky Ground After 1,000% Gains || Dow Jones 30 and NASDAQ 100 Price forecast for the week of November 27, 2017, Technical Analysis: The Dow Jones 30 broke higher during the course of the week, reaching towards a fresh new high. Pullbacks should continue to offer value, and I believe that the 23,250 level should offer support. Longer-term, I believe that if we can stay above the 22,000 level, the market should continue to go higher and remain in a longer-term uptrend. I believe that given enough time, we should go to the 25,000 handle, as the money keeps flowing into this marketplace, and is very likely that algorithmic traders will be attracted to dips. With any luck, the market should reach 25,000 rather quickly, as although the Federal Reserve looks likely to raise interest rates, it’s likely that the market has already priced this in and is not concerned.
The NASDAQ 100 has broken out to a fresh, new high, and looks likely to continue to reach towards the upside. The 6400-level offered a bit of resistance at the end of the week, but it’s probably going to be just a matter of time before we break out to the upside and reach above it. Once we do, I think the next target is 6450, followed very quickly by 6500. The NASDAQ 100, of course, has to lead the way for some time and should continue to be a market that buyers get involved in on dips, as they present a significant amount of value. I believe that there is a massive amount of support for the 6000 handle as well. Because of this, if we can stay above the 6000 handle, it’s likely that the uptrend remains intact, and should continue to be a market that algorithmic traders continue to push to the upside.
Thisarticlewas originally posted on FX Empire
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• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Analysis – November 27, 2017 Forecast || Dow Jones 30 and NASDAQ 100 Price forecast for the week of November 27, 2017, Technical Analysis: Dow Jones 30 The Dow Jones 30 broke higher during the course of the week, reaching towards a fresh new high. Pullbacks should continue to offer value, and I believe that the 23,250 level should offer support. Longer-term, I believe that if we can stay above the 22,000 level, the market should continue to go higher and remain in a longer-term uptrend. I believe that given enough time, we should go to the 25,000 handle, as the money keeps flowing into this marketplace, and is very likely that algorithmic traders will be attracted to dips. With any luck, the market should reach 25,000 rather quickly, as although the Federal Reserve looks likely to raise interest rates, it’s likely that the market has already priced this in and is not concerned. Dow Jones 31 and NASDAQ Index Video 27.11.17 NASDAQ 100 The NASDAQ 100 has broken out to a fresh, new high, and looks likely to continue to reach towards the upside. The 6400-level offered a bit of resistance at the end of the week, but it’s probably going to be just a matter of time before we break out to the upside and reach above it. Once we do, I think the next target is 6450, followed very quickly by 6500. The NASDAQ 100, of course, has to lead the way for some time and should continue to be a market that buyers get involved in on dips, as they present a significant amount of value. I believe that there is a massive amount of support for the 6000 handle as well. Because of this, if we can stay above the 6000 handle, it’s likely that the uptrend remains intact, and should continue to be a market that algorithmic traders continue to push to the upside. NASDAQ weekly chart, November 27, 2017 This article was originally posted on FX Empire More From FXEMPIRE: FBS Obtained CySEC License Gold Daily Analysis – November 27, 2017 EUR/USD Mid-Session Technical Analysis for November 27, 2017 Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – Oversold Conditions Fueling Short-Covering Rally Market Snapshot – Bitcoin Is the Star of the Day E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM) Futures Analysis – November 27, 2017 Forecast || Attention Traders: Blockchainpalooza Continues: A Friday rally inblockchain-relatedstocks revealed enduring interest in the investment theme.
Between cryptocurrencies and the Internet of Things, a number of firms boast exposure to the trend. Here are nine opportunities traders are picking:
Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:UEPS)
The payment processing firm’s subsidiary, Masterpayment, specializes in cryptocurrencies andannouncedTuesday its new role in the digital transactions of Bitstamp. The stock rests up nearly 16 percent on the news.
Social Reality Inc (NASDAQ:SRAX)
Sinceannouncingplans for its BIGtoken initial coin offering in October, the digital marketing and data management platform is trading up 131 percent. A Monday update on the digital currency lent an extra 72-percent boost.
Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT)
Riot announced last week a strategic investment in Verady, a blockchain technology company, which inspired a 201-percent run in the stock. Formerly the biotech firm, Bioptix, Riotbecame a pure-play blockchain companyin October and now engages in the theme through a partnership with Coinsquare and cryptocurrency investments.
Overstock.com Inc (NASDAQ:OSTK)
Overstock subsidiary, t0, announced last week its tZERO token sale to begin in December, prompting a 25-percent Overstock run. The parent launched Medici Ventures in 2014 to manage its investments in blockchain, including stakes in Factom, Ripio and a few blockchain-based startups.
Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC:GBTC)
The trust spiked 7 percent Friday after announcing its distribution of bitcoin gold. Shares of the $1.86 billion trust now trade around $1,024, allowing investors to get in on bitcoin without paying the $8,200 pure-play price.
Marathon Patent Group Inc (NASDAQ:MARA)
The IP licensing and commercialization firm lends secondary exposure to blockchain through its recently acquired cryptocurrency miner, Global Bit Ventures, and its purchased IP rights from other relevant players. The stock traded up 168 percent Friday on peer sympathy.
Qudian Inc - ADR (NYSE:QD)
China’s peer-to-peer lending platform is backed by the blockchain-exposed Ant Financial and partners with Ant’s Alipay. Qudian’s October IPO ranked the fourth largest of 2017, although the stock now trades down 55 percent on the threat of Chinese regulation.
Yandex NV (NASDAQ:YNDX)
The internet services provider and IT firm recently unveiled its new voice assistant, which positions it to penetrate the Internet of Things and the blockchain sequences leveraged in related computing processes.
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© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Is Bitcoin a Good Investment at Today's High Price?: People who invest in bitcoin would be excused for disliking Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO ofJPMorgan Chase(NYSE: JPM), who called the crytocurrency a "fraud" earlier this year and intimated that people who buy it are "stupid."
It wasn't the best choice of words, if for no other reason than that it makes anyone who would benefit from his advice less inclined to listen to it. But if you look at bitcoin's price today, and considerDimon's experienceat the head of one of the world's most revered financial institutions, you would be doing yourself a disservice to ignore his general sentiment.
Image source: Getty Images.
Does this mean that bitcoin isn't a good investment? Not necessarily, but buyers should go into it with their eyes wide open about the risks involved in buying it at today's price.
Since the beginning of this year, bitcoin prices have climbed by a factor of eight, going from $998 per bitcoin at the beginning of January up to $8,255 today. Regardless of what type of asset you're talking about, that's an incredibly rapid ascent that shouldn't be ignored by anyone thinking about buying bitcoin today.
Just on the surface, bitcoin looks like a bubble -- though, of course, the problem with calling anything a bubble, is that you don't know if you're in one until it has popped and it is thus too late. Add in the fact that bitcoin has no intrinsic value, sharing more in common with tulips than real estate, and the volume of one's alarm bells should increase in decibels.
None of this is to say that bitcoin won't climb from here. It could continue in the current direction for another year. Or two years. Or three years. Or it could crash next week. Or it could plateau and stay at its current price, though this option seems the least likely.
Data source: Coindesk. Chart by author.
One way to think about bitcoin is that it is a way to short other currencies. When people buy bitcoin, they buy it with dollars or some other currency. This reduces demand for traditional currencies, shifting it to bitcoin. And because a currency's value operates in a similar fashion to any other type of commodity, when demand falls, so too will the price.
Considerthis analysisfrom Howard Marks, the co-chairman ofOaktree Capital Group(NYSE: OAK)and one of the country's most astute investors:
Specifically, the U.S. money supply is almost $14 trillion, so if people and businesses decide to hold just one-third of their wealth in Bitcoin rather than dollars, (and who wouldn't want to do so given all the advantages described above?), the value of the Bitcoin in circulation will rise to $4.5 trillion, from today's $73 billion, for a gain of roughly 60x.
Marks wasn't citing this as evidence that bitcoin is a good investment. Instead, it is as an example of "'lottery-ticket thinking,' under which it seems smart to bet on an improbable outcome that offers a huge potential payoff."
Again, none of this is to say that bitcoin won't continue heading higher. If you think about what's going on in the world right now, in fact, you may be tempted to short the major world currencies. Politics in the United States and Europe are particularly volatile right now, with other financiers such as the head of JPMorgan Chase's investment bank, speculating that asset markets couldsoon experience a shock, which could hit everything from currencies to stocks, bonds, and real estate.
If that were to happen, it's tempting to think that bitcoin would behave similarly to gold -- to act as a hedge, that is, by gaining in value as turmoil and volatility infects other asset classes. But the fact of the matter is that we don't know how bitcoin would respond in that situation. The data doesn't go back far enough to even determine how it performed in thefinancial crisis of 2008.
The point being, the market for bitcoin is uncharted territory. Anybody who says it will continue to go up, or that it is about to fall, shouldn't be listened to. That's noise, not signal.
But for people with an interest in cryptocurrencies and a high risk tolerance, I have to admit that I understand why they'd be interested in putting some skin in the game, if only to learn more about it.
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John Maxfieldhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Oaktree Capital. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Is Bitcoin a Good Investment at Today's High Price?: People who invest in bitcoin would be excused for disliking Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO ofJPMorgan Chase(NYSE: JPM), who called the crytocurrency a "fraud" earlier this year and intimated that people who buy it are "stupid."
It wasn't the best choice of words, if for no other reason than that it makes anyone who would benefit from his advice less inclined to listen to it. But if you look at bitcoin's price today, and considerDimon's experienceat the head of one of the world's most revered financial institutions, you would be doing yourself a disservice to ignore his general sentiment.
Image source: Getty Images.
Does this mean that bitcoin isn't a good investment? Not necessarily, but buyers should go into it with their eyes wide open about the risks involved in buying it at today's price.
Since the beginning of this year, bitcoin prices have climbed by a factor of eight, going from $998 per bitcoin at the beginning of January up to $8,255 today. Regardless of what type of asset you're talking about, that's an incredibly rapid ascent that shouldn't be ignored by anyone thinking about buying bitcoin today.
Just on the surface, bitcoin looks like a bubble -- though, of course, the problem with calling anything a bubble, is that you don't know if you're in one until it has popped and it is thus too late. Add in the fact that bitcoin has no intrinsic value, sharing more in common with tulips than real estate, and the volume of one's alarm bells should increase in decibels.
None of this is to say that bitcoin won't climb from here. It could continue in the current direction for another year. Or two years. Or three years. Or it could crash next week. Or it could plateau and stay at its current price, though this option seems the least likely.
Data source: Coindesk. Chart by author.
One way to think about bitcoin is that it is a way to short other currencies. When people buy bitcoin, they buy it with dollars or some other currency. This reduces demand for traditional currencies, shifting it to bitcoin. And because a currency's value operates in a similar fashion to any other type of commodity, when demand falls, so too will the price.
Considerthis analysisfrom Howard Marks, the co-chairman ofOaktree Capital Group(NYSE: OAK)and one of the country's most astute investors:
Specifically, the U.S. money supply is almost $14 trillion, so if people and businesses decide to hold just one-third of their wealth in Bitcoin rather than dollars, (and who wouldn't want to do so given all the advantages described above?), the value of the Bitcoin in circulation will rise to $4.5 trillion, from today's $73 billion, for a gain of roughly 60x.
Marks wasn't citing this as evidence that bitcoin is a good investment. Instead, it is as an example of "'lottery-ticket thinking,' under which it seems smart to bet on an improbable outcome that offers a huge potential payoff."
Again, none of this is to say that bitcoin won't continue heading higher. If you think about what's going on in the world right now, in fact, you may be tempted to short the major world currencies. Politics in the United States and Europe are particularly volatile right now, with other financiers such as the head of JPMorgan Chase's investment bank, speculating that asset markets couldsoon experience a shock, which could hit everything from currencies to stocks, bonds, and real estate.
If that were to happen, it's tempting to think that bitcoin would behave similarly to gold -- to act as a hedge, that is, by gaining in value as turmoil and volatility infects other asset classes. But the fact of the matter is that we don't know how bitcoin would respond in that situation. The data doesn't go back far enough to even determine how it performed in thefinancial crisis of 2008.
The point being, the market for bitcoin is uncharted territory. Anybody who says it will continue to go up, or that it is about to fall, shouldn't be listened to. That's noise, not signal.
But for people with an interest in cryptocurrencies and a high risk tolerance, I have to admit that I understand why they'd be interested in putting some skin in the game, if only to learn more about it.
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John Maxfieldhas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Oaktree Capital. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Is Bitcoin a Good Investment at Today's High Price?: People who invest in bitcoin would be excused for disliking Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) , who called the crytocurrency a "fraud" earlier this year and intimated that people who buy it are "stupid." It wasn't the best choice of words, if for no other reason than that it makes anyone who would benefit from his advice less inclined to listen to it. But if you look at bitcoin's price today, and consider Dimon's experience at the head of one of the world's most revered financial institutions, you would be doing yourself a disservice to ignore his general sentiment. A pile of bitcoins. Image source: Getty Images. Does this mean that bitcoin isn't a good investment? Not necessarily, but buyers should go into it with their eyes wide open about the risks involved in buying it at today's price. Since the beginning of this year, bitcoin prices have climbed by a factor of eight, going from $998 per bitcoin at the beginning of January up to $8,255 today. Regardless of what type of asset you're talking about, that's an incredibly rapid ascent that shouldn't be ignored by anyone thinking about buying bitcoin today. Just on the surface, bitcoin looks like a bubble -- though, of course, the problem with calling anything a bubble, is that you don't know if you're in one until it has popped and it is thus too late. Add in the fact that bitcoin has no intrinsic value, sharing more in common with tulips than real estate, and the volume of one's alarm bells should increase in decibels. None of this is to say that bitcoin won't climb from here. It could continue in the current direction for another year. Or two years. Or three years. Or it could crash next week. Or it could plateau and stay at its current price, though this option seems the least likely. A line chart tracking the price of bitcoin. Data source: Coindesk. Chart by author. One way to think about bitcoin is that it is a way to short other currencies. When people buy bitcoin, they buy it with dollars or some other currency. This reduces demand for traditional currencies, shifting it to bitcoin. And because a currency's value operates in a similar fashion to any other type of commodity, when demand falls, so too will the price. Story continues Consider this analysis from Howard Marks, the co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Group (NYSE: OAK) and one of the country's most astute investors: Specifically, the U.S. money supply is almost $14 trillion, so if people and businesses decide to hold just one-third of their wealth in Bitcoin rather than dollars, (and who wouldn't want to do so given all the advantages described above?), the value of the Bitcoin in circulation will rise to $4.5 trillion, from today's $73 billion, for a gain of roughly 60x. Marks wasn't citing this as evidence that bitcoin is a good investment. Instead, it is as an example of "'lottery-ticket thinking,' under which it seems smart to bet on an improbable outcome that offers a huge potential payoff." Again, none of this is to say that bitcoin won't continue heading higher. If you think about what's going on in the world right now, in fact, you may be tempted to short the major world currencies. Politics in the United States and Europe are particularly volatile right now, with other financiers such as the head of JPMorgan Chase's investment bank, speculating that asset markets could soon experience a shock , which could hit everything from currencies to stocks, bonds, and real estate. If that were to happen, it's tempting to think that bitcoin would behave similarly to gold -- to act as a hedge, that is, by gaining in value as turmoil and volatility infects other asset classes. But the fact of the matter is that we don't know how bitcoin would respond in that situation. The data doesn't go back far enough to even determine how it performed in the financial crisis of 2008 . The point being, the market for bitcoin is uncharted territory. Anybody who says it will continue to go up, or that it is about to fall, shouldn't be listened to. That's noise, not signal. But for people with an interest in cryptocurrencies and a high risk tolerance, I have to admit that I understand why they'd be interested in putting some skin in the game, if only to learn more about it. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Why You're Smart to Buy Shopify Inc. (US) -- Despite Citron's Report John Maxfield has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Oaktree Capital. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || A popular cryptocurrency exchange is hiring to build products for Wall Street's fastest traders: Carl Court / Getty Images
• The exploding market for digital assets has caused headaches for some cryptocurrency exchanges.
• Customers of Kraken, one of the largest exchanges in the space, recently experienced connection problems caused by record-level trading volumes.
• Still, the firm is hiring across departments, including one to build products for high-frequency trading firms.
Kraken has not been immune to the problems facing cryptocurrency exchanges as money continues to pour into the scorching-hot market for digital coins such asbitcoin.Cryptocurrency exchanges, which don't have the industrial infrastructure of traditional exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, are under pressure to handle record trading volumes.
Just this month, customers of Kraken, one of the largest crypto-exchanges in the world,experienced delays and connection time-outstriggered by record-high volumes.
Here's one crypto-trader who took to Twitter Friday to lament about server problems on the exchange.
Tweet Embed:https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/934053157424025605?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwTrying to get my money of Kraken, another 502. Sigh. Might come back when they relaunch with a decent platform, but enough is enough.pic.twitter.com/WixTXtWvRI
Kraken is one of the four crypto-exchanges that is set to contribute to the index on which Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the exchange giant, will base itsbitcoin futures markets. Bithumb, another exchange that'll contribute to the index, also experienced a server outage in November.
In a Q&A with Business Insider earlier this week, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell outlined the exchange's strategy in light of recent developments.
Powell said Kraken is actively hiring to build out a number of units, including one to build tools for high-frequency crypto-traders.
A number of high-frequency traders have plunged into the cryptocurrency market. Business Insider previously reported that Chicago-based DRW,Hehmeyer Trading, and DV Tradingare among the firms making markets in cryptocurrencies.
The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Frank Chaparro:You guys appear to be expanding your development team. Was that triggered by the explosive volume in crypto-trading we’ve seen? Has the recent server failure put more pressure on you guys to hire more people/build-out faster?
Jesse Powell:Development team growth has been part of our strategy all along. The increased volume has validated our hunch. The key to hiring though is to ensure we are preserving Kraken's extremely high standards.
Chaparro:You're looking to hire foran active traders product manager. What are some of the products you plan on rolling out in trading?
Powell:The active trader product manager will be focused on our professional cryptocurrency trading tool, Cryptowatch and associated APIs that high-frequency traders need. In addition to market and data depth; we are focused on scaling and performance, too. We are also working on aggregate views across any exchange the trader may be trading across. So, yes, the new product manager will certainly be helping us achieve our vision of the best all around digital asset exchange by working closely with our high-frequency traders to ensure we are bringing them the tools they need to be better traders.
Chaparro:The company acquiredCryptoWatch, the charting site, recently. What are the next steps for that unit? How does that acquisition play into the broader strategy?
Powell:We see an amazing opportunity in the market for a tool that can aggregate market data, allow trading across any exchange and provide actionable content for traders.
Chaparro:What kind of talent are you guys looking for? Do you think Wall Streeters are better equipped to build out a mature cryptocurrency ecosystem?
Powell:We are seeking a variety of backgrounds and experience levels across our open positions. Where a Wall Street vet may not have the most relevant experience (i.e., cryptocurrency gateways), they could certainly help us with trading system technologies.
We are hiring in almost every function. In addition to developers, which we are always actively hiring, we are looking to bring on a VP of engineering, regulatory affairs counsel, trader, compliance manager, product manager, recruiter, and treasurer, just to name a few.
Experienced folks from Wall Street bring tremendous value to certain roles such as traders, while other roles require expertise in crypto and financial technology, and many of these talents are outside of New York, so we keep our recruiting funnel as wide as possible given the various diverse roles that we have open.
Chaparro:Have you recently brought anyone on from a traditional Wall Street firm?
Powell:Several talented individuals who used to work on Wall Street have become part of the Kraken trading desk team, crypto-analyst team, and corporate development team.
Chaparro:What relationships or partnerships are you engaged in with traditional Wall Street firms?
Powell:Kraken has several things going on but nothing that we are at liberty to disclose. We have always been and will continue to be open to strategic partnerships with traditional Wall Street firms.
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See Also:
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• One of Wall Street's biggest bears just doubled his bitcoin forecast to $11,500
• Bitcoin soars to new high above $8,300 after $30 million crypto hack || A popular cryptocurrency exchange is hiring to build products for Wall Street's fastest traders: trading desk Carl Court / Getty Images The exploding market for digital assets has caused headaches for some cryptocurrency exchanges. Customers of Kraken, one of the largest exchanges in the space, recently experienced connection problems caused by record-level trading volumes. Still, the firm is hiring across departments, including one to build products for high-frequency trading firms. Kraken has not been immune to the problems facing cryptocurrency exchanges as money continues to pour into the scorching-hot market for digital coins such as bitcoin . Cryptocurrency exchanges, which don't have the industrial infrastructure of traditional exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, are under pressure to handle record trading volumes. Just this month, customers of Kraken, one of the largest crypto-exchanges in the world, experienced delays and connection time-outs triggered by record-high volumes. Here's one crypto-trader who took to Twitter Friday to lament about server problems on the exchange. Tweet Embed: https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/934053157424025605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Trying to get my money of Kraken, another 502. Sigh. Might come back when they relaunch with a decent platform, but enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/WixTXtWvRI Kraken is one of the four crypto-exchanges that is set to contribute to the index on which Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the exchange giant, will base its bitcoin futures markets . Bithumb, another exchange that'll contribute to the index, also experienced a server outage in November. In a Q&A with Business Insider earlier this week, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell outlined the exchange's strategy in light of recent developments. Powell said Kraken is actively hiring to build out a number of units, including one to build tools for high-frequency crypto-traders. A number of high-frequency traders have plunged into the cryptocurrency market. Business Insider previously reported that Chicago-based DRW, Hehmeyer Trading , and DV Trading are among the firms making markets in cryptocurrencies . Story continues The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Frank Chaparro: You guys appear to be expanding your development team. Was that triggered by the explosive volume in crypto-trading we’ve seen? Has the recent server failure put more pressure on you guys to hire more people/build-out faster? Jesse Powell: Development team growth has been part of our strategy all along. The increased volume has validated our hunch. The key to hiring though is to ensure we are preserving Kraken's extremely high standards. Chaparro: You're looking to hire for an active traders product manager . What are some of the products you plan on rolling out in trading? Powell: The active trader product manager will be focused on our professional cryptocurrency trading tool, Cryptowatch and associated APIs that high-frequency traders need. In addition to market and data depth; we are focused on scaling and performance, too. We are also working on aggregate views across any exchange the trader may be trading across. So, yes, the new product manager will certainly be helping us achieve our vision of the best all around digital asset exchange by working closely with our high-frequency traders to ensure we are bringing them the tools they need to be better traders. Chaparro: The company acquired CryptoWatch , the charting site, recently. What are the next steps for that unit? How does that acquisition play into the broader strategy? Powell: We see an amazing opportunity in the market for a tool that can aggregate market data, allow trading across any exchange and provide actionable content for traders. Chaparro: What kind of talent are you guys looking for? Do you think Wall Streeters are better equipped to build out a mature cryptocurrency ecosystem? Powell: We are seeking a variety of backgrounds and experience levels across our open positions. Where a Wall Street vet may not have the most relevant experience (i.e., cryptocurrency gateways), they could certainly help us with trading system technologies. We are hiring in almost every function. In addition to developers, which we are always actively hiring, we are looking to bring on a VP of engineering, regulatory affairs counsel, trader, compliance manager, product manager, recruiter, and treasurer, just to name a few. Experienced folks from Wall Street bring tremendous value to certain roles such as traders, while other roles require expertise in crypto and financial technology, and many of these talents are outside of New York, so we keep our recruiting funnel as wide as possible given the various diverse roles that we have open. Chaparro: Have you recently brought anyone on from a traditional Wall Street firm? Powell: Several talented individuals who used to work on Wall Street have become part of the Kraken trading desk team, crypto-analyst team, and corporate development team. Chaparro: What relationships or partnerships are you engaged in with traditional Wall Street firms? Powell: Kraken has several things going on but nothing that we are at liberty to disclose. We have always been and will continue to be open to strategic partnerships with traditional Wall Street firms. NOW WATCH: Tesla's biggest problem is one nobody saw coming See Also: Ethereum soars to new all-time high above $440 One of Wall Street's biggest bears just doubled his bitcoin forecast to $11,500 Bitcoin soars to new high above $8,300 after $30 million crypto hack || Ethereum soars to new all-time high above $440: Ethereum
• The price ofetherhit an all-time high of $445 Friday morning, according to data from Markets Insider.
• The digital currency is up more than 5,200% year-to-date.
The price of ether, the scorching-hot rival to bitcoin, soared to an all-time high above $445 Friday morning, up more than 9% against the US dollar.
The new high follows a record-setting day for the cryptocurrency on Thursday when it broke through $400 for the first time since June.
Ether has flown under the radar since June, trading close to $300 until the beginning of November when it began to tick up. It is up more than 5,200% year-to-date.
Friday's record followed a bullish prediction about the digital currency by Michael Novogratz, the famed hedge funder turned crypto-investor.
“Just in the last few days ethereum has started to move, and I actually think it’s going to put a new high soon,” Novogratz toldBloomberg News on Tuesday.
He also predicted the price of ether will hit $500 before the end of the year.
“There’s a lot of positive things happening in the ethereum ecosystem,” Novogratz added.
Hundreds of companies - including JPMorgan, Santander, and UBS - are members of theEnterprise Ethereum Alliance, a collaborative group seeking to leverage ether's ethereum blockchain for purposes outside the world of digital currencies.
Ethereum is also the blockchain on which companies run initial coin offerings, the cryptocurrency-based fundraising method, which this year have raised more than $3 billion for tech startups.
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• I've taken AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and National Geographic genetics tests — here's how to choose one to try
• One of Wall Street's biggest bears just doubled his bitcoin forecast to $11,500
• Bitcoin soars to new high above $8,300 after $30 million crypto hack || Ethereum soars to new all-time high above $440: Capture.PNG Ethereum The price of ether hit an all-time high of $445 Friday morning, according to data from Markets Insider. The digital currency is up more than 5,200% year-to-date. The price of ether, the scorching-hot rival to bitcoin, soared to an all-time high above $445 Friday morning, up more than 9% against the US dollar. The new high follows a record-setting day for the cryptocurrency on Thursday when it broke through $400 for the first time since June. Ether has flown under the radar since June, trading close to $300 until the beginning of November when it began to tick up. It is up more than 5,200% year-to-date. Friday's record followed a bullish prediction about the digital currency by Michael Novogratz, the famed hedge funder turned crypto-investor. Just in the last few days ethereum has started to move, and I actually think its going to put a new high soon, Novogratz told Bloomberg News on Tuesday . He also predicted the price of ether will hit $500 before the end of the year. Theres a lot of positive things happening in the ethereum ecosystem, Novogratz added. Hundreds of companies - including JPMorgan, Santander, and UBS - are members of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance , a collaborative group seeking to leverage ether's ethereum blockchain for purposes outside the world of digital currencies. Ethereum is also the blockchain on which companies run initial coin offerings, the cryptocurrency-based fundraising method, which this year have raised more than $3 billion for tech startups. NOW WATCH: Investors are running out of money and that's bad news for stocks See Also: I've taken AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and National Geographic genetics tests here's how to choose one to try One of Wall Street's biggest bears just doubled his bitcoin forecast to $11,500 Bitcoin soars to new high above $8,300 after $30 million crypto hack || Move Over, Bitcoin and Ethereum -- Make Way for Ripple: Traditionally, the stock market is the greatest creator of long-term wealth. Over time, stocks have returned an average of 7% annually, inclusive of dividend reinvestment and adjusted for inflation. We're talking about the potential to double your invested money about once a decade, which is actually pretty fantastic.
But cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum have donea bitbetter than that. Since the year began, the aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies combined has risen from $17.7 billion to $244 billion as of Nov. 21. That's approaching a 1,300% increase in just under 11 months. It would have taken the stock market decades to deliver the sort of returns virtual currencies have yielded in less than a year.
Image source: Getty Images.
Leading the charge have been bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin, which began the year below $967 per coin, is currently valued at $8,265 per coin, a gain of more than 750%. Bitcoin also comprises about 56% of the aggregate cryptocurrency market cap. Meanwhile, Ethereum is trading at $367.15, up from its $7.98 where it began the year. That's just your run-of-the-mill 4,500% year-to-date gain.
A number of factors have propelled virtual currencies through the roof in 2017, but most of them lead back to the excitement surrounding their blockchain platforms. Underlying most digital currencies, including bitcoin and Ethereum, are digital and decentralized networks that log transactions without the need for a financial intermediary like a bank. These networks are almost always open source, which makes it practically impossible for logged data to be altered without someone else noticing. This is one of the key features that should make blockchain more secure than existing software. Blockchain also has the potential to save businesses money over the long run, too, as the operating expenses behind blockchain are cheaper than existing verification and processing software.
In recent months, bitcoin initiated an upgrade to its blockchain that pulled some information off the network in order to boost capacity, lower transaction costs, and improve settlement times. This was a direct attempt to attract businesses to test its blockchain. As for Ethereum, more than 150 organizations in theEnterprise Ethereum Allianceare currently testing a version of its blockchain in small-scale or pilot programs.
Image source: Getty Images.
But the biggest danger for these leading cryptocurrencies might just be that the barrier to entry in developing blockchain technology and launching a digital currency is relatively low. After all, the number of cryptocurrencies that are currently available to be purchased has exploded higher in 2017 on the heels of bitcoin's and Ethereum's success. It's always possible that bitcoin and/or Ethereum fail to offer what businesses want in a blockchain.
Just over a week ago, financial giantsAmerican Express(NYSE: AXP)andBancoSantander(NYSE: SAN)announced a cross-border partnership that entails utilizing the blockchain network developed by Ripple. Behind bitcoin ($137.4 billion), Ethereum ($35.2 billion), and bitcoin cash ($20.3 billion), Ripple has the fourth-largest market cap ($9.1 billion) of any virtual currency.
Asreported by CNBC, payments made by American Express' business customers on its FX International Payments platform will be routed through Ripple's blockchain network and allow for instant, cross-border non-card payments to U.K. Santander bank accounts. What once took days to complete and settle will now occur instantly thanks to Ripple's blockchain technology. "This blockchain solution opens up a new channel between the U.S. and the U.K. and presents significant opportunity for payments globally," said Jose Luis Calderon, the head of global transaction banking at Banco Santander.
Additionally, the partnership may open the door for Ripple's virtual currency, XRP, to play a role down the road. Ripple has been testing methods to further speed up payments, potentially allowing XRP to become a component of future banking partnerships. According to the global head of strategic accounts at Ripple, Marcus Treacher:
The technology we have developed, it separated a connection from the cryptocurrency or the token. So what that means is that a bank or non-bank like AMEX can use Ripple to connect and just exchange value from one fiat currency to another directly, without the need for any intermediate blockchain currency.
Image source: Getty Images.
And this isn't the only instance of big banking firms going rogue, so to speak, and looking beyond bitcoin's and Ethereum's blockchain. In late August, theFinancial Timesreported thatBarclays,Credit Suisse,CIBC,HSBC,Mitsubishi UFJ, andState Streethave teamed up to create their own form of cryptocurrency (known as the "utility settlement coin") and blockchain.
The point being that while few would deny that blockchain has a place in the future of the financial services industry, and perhaps other sectors, no one has any clue what the true value of blockchain technology is or how quickly it'll be adopted. Yes, we're seeing plenty of small-scale and pilots tests using Ethereum's blockchain and, yes, Ripple just secured a brand-name partnership with American Express and Banco Santander. But these trials don't equate to broad-based use, and it's unlikely that we'll see widespread adoption of blockchain anytime soon.
We also have no real idea what blockchain will be preferred by enterprise customers. Ethereum wouldappear to have an early edgegiven its incorporation of smart contracts. These are protocols that aid in the enforcement, facilitation, and verification of contracts, and it's unique to Ethereum's blockchain. But even then, there's no guarantee that Ethereum, bitcoin, or Ripple will be the preferred blockchain for businesses.
With blockchain weighing so strongly into the current pricing of virtual currencies, any sort of disappointment given already lofty expectations could quickly deflate the cryptocurrency bubble.
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• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
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• Why You're Smart to Buy Shopify Inc. (US) -- Despite Citron's Report
Sean Williamshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends American Express. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. || Move Over, Bitcoin and Ethereum -- Make Way for Ripple: Traditionally, the stock market is the greatest creator of long-term wealth. Over time, stocks have returned an average of 7% annually, inclusive of dividend reinvestment and adjusted for inflation. We're talking about the potential to double your invested money about once a decade, which is actually pretty fantastic. But cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum have done a bit better than that. Since the year began, the aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies combined has risen from $17.7 billion to $244 billion as of Nov. 21. That's approaching a 1,300% increase in just under 11 months. It would have taken the stock market decades to deliver the sort of returns virtual currencies have yielded in less than a year. Bicycle chains with binary code linked together to represent blockchain. Image source: Getty Images. It's all about blockchain Leading the charge have been bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin, which began the year below $967 per coin, is currently valued at $8,265 per coin, a gain of more than 750%. Bitcoin also comprises about 56% of the aggregate cryptocurrency market cap. Meanwhile, Ethereum is trading at $367.15, up from its $7.98 where it began the year. That's just your run-of-the-mill 4,500% year-to-date gain. A number of factors have propelled virtual currencies through the roof in 2017, but most of them lead back to the excitement surrounding their blockchain platforms. Underlying most digital currencies, including bitcoin and Ethereum, are digital and decentralized networks that log transactions without the need for a financial intermediary like a bank. These networks are almost always open source, which makes it practically impossible for logged data to be altered without someone else noticing. This is one of the key features that should make blockchain more secure than existing software. Blockchain also has the potential to save businesses money over the long run, too, as the operating expenses behind blockchain are cheaper than existing verification and processing software. Story continues In recent months, bitcoin initiated an upgrade to its blockchain that pulled some information off the network in order to boost capacity, lower transaction costs, and improve settlement times. This was a direct attempt to attract businesses to test its blockchain. As for Ethereum, more than 150 organizations in the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance are currently testing a version of its blockchain in small-scale or pilot programs. A physical Ripple coin. Image source: Getty Images. Move over, bitcoin and Ethereum But the biggest danger for these leading cryptocurrencies might just be that the barrier to entry in developing blockchain technology and launching a digital currency is relatively low. After all, the number of cryptocurrencies that are currently available to be purchased has exploded higher in 2017 on the heels of bitcoin's and Ethereum's success. It's always possible that bitcoin and/or Ethereum fail to offer what businesses want in a blockchain. Just over a week ago, financial giants American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Banco Santander (NYSE: SAN) announced a cross-border partnership that entails utilizing the blockchain network developed by Ripple. Behind bitcoin ($137.4 billion), Ethereum ($35.2 billion), and bitcoin cash ($20.3 billion), Ripple has the fourth-largest market cap ($9.1 billion) of any virtual currency. As reported by CNBC , payments made by American Express' business customers on its FX International Payments platform will be routed through Ripple's blockchain network and allow for instant, cross-border non-card payments to U.K. Santander bank accounts. What once took days to complete and settle will now occur instantly thanks to Ripple's blockchain technology. "This blockchain solution opens up a new channel between the U.S. and the U.K. and presents significant opportunity for payments globally," said Jose Luis Calderon, the head of global transaction banking at Banco Santander. Additionally, the partnership may open the door for Ripple's virtual currency, XRP, to play a role down the road. Ripple has been testing methods to further speed up payments, potentially allowing XRP to become a component of future banking partnerships. According to the global head of strategic accounts at Ripple, Marcus Treacher: The technology we have developed, it separated a connection from the cryptocurrency or the token. So what that means is that a bank or non-bank like AMEX can use Ripple to connect and just exchange value from one fiat currency to another directly, without the need for any intermediate blockchain currency. A risk dial turned to its maximum setting. Image source: Getty Images. This is a risk for all virtual currencies (and investors) And this isn't the only instance of big banking firms going rogue, so to speak, and looking beyond bitcoin's and Ethereum's blockchain. In late August, the Financial Times reported that Barclays , Credit Suisse , CIBC , HSBC , Mitsubishi UFJ , and State Street have teamed up to create their own form of cryptocurrency (known as the "utility settlement coin") and blockchain. The point being that while few would deny that blockchain has a place in the future of the financial services industry, and perhaps other sectors, no one has any clue what the true value of blockchain technology is or how quickly it'll be adopted. Yes, we're seeing plenty of small-scale and pilots tests using Ethereum's blockchain and, yes, Ripple just secured a brand-name partnership with American Express and Banco Santander. But these trials don't equate to broad-based use, and it's unlikely that we'll see widespread adoption of blockchain anytime soon. We also have no real idea what blockchain will be preferred by enterprise customers. Ethereum would appear to have an early edge given its incorporation of smart contracts. These are protocols that aid in the enforcement, facilitation, and verification of contracts, and it's unique to Ethereum's blockchain. But even then, there's no guarantee that Ethereum, bitcoin, or Ripple will be the preferred blockchain for businesses. With blockchain weighing so strongly into the current pricing of virtual currencies, any sort of disappointment given already lofty expectations could quickly deflate the cryptocurrency bubble. More From The Motley Fool 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss Why You're Smart to Buy Shopify Inc. (US) -- Despite Citron's Report Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends American Express. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy . || Move Over, Bitcoin and Ethereum -- Make Way for Ripple: Traditionally, the stock market is the greatest creator of long-term wealth. Over time, stocks have returned an average of 7% annually, inclusive of dividend reinvestment and adjusted for inflation. We're talking about the potential to double your invested money about once a decade, which is actually pretty fantastic.
But cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum have donea bitbetter than that. Since the year began, the aggregate value of all cryptocurrencies combined has risen from $17.7 billion to $244 billion as of Nov. 21. That's approaching a 1,300% increase in just under 11 months. It would have taken the stock market decades to deliver the sort of returns virtual currencies have yielded in less than a year.
Image source: Getty Images.
Leading the charge have been bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin, which began the year below $967 per coin, is currently valued at $8,265 per coin, a gain of more than 750%. Bitcoin also comprises about 56% of the aggregate cryptocurrency market cap. Meanwhile, Ethereum is trading at $367.15, up from its $7.98 where it began the year. That's just your run-of-the-mill 4,500% year-to-date gain.
A number of factors have propelled virtual currencies through the roof in 2017, but most of them lead back to the excitement surrounding their blockchain platforms. Underlying most digital currencies, including bitcoin and Ethereum, are digital and decentralized networks that log transactions without the need for a financial intermediary like a bank. These networks are almost always open source, which makes it practically impossible for logged data to be altered without someone else noticing. This is one of the key features that should make blockchain more secure than existing software. Blockchain also has the potential to save businesses money over the long run, too, as the operating expenses behind blockchain are cheaper than existing verification and processing software.
In recent months, bitcoin initiated an upgrade to its blockchain that pulled some information off the network in order to boost capacity, lower transaction costs, and improve settlement times. This was a direct attempt to attract businesses to test its blockchain. As for Ethereum, more than 150 organizations in theEnterprise Ethereum Allianceare currently testing a version of its blockchain in small-scale or pilot programs.
Image source: Getty Images.
But the biggest danger for these leading cryptocurrencies might just be that the barrier to entry in developing blockchain technology and launching a digital currency is relatively low. After all, the number of cryptocurrencies that are currently available to be purchased has exploded higher in 2017 on the heels of bitcoin's and Ethereum's success. It's always possible that bitcoin and/or Ethereum fail to offer what businesses want in a blockchain.
Just over a week ago, financial giantsAmerican Express(NYSE: AXP)andBancoSantander(NYSE: SAN)announced a cross-border partnership that entails utilizing the blockchain network developed by Ripple. Behind bitcoin ($137.4 billion), Ethereum ($35.2 billion), and bitcoin cash ($20.3 billion), Ripple has the fourth-largest market cap ($9.1 billion) of any virtual currency.
Asreported by CNBC, payments made by American Express' business customers on its FX International Payments platform will be routed through Ripple's blockchain network and allow for instant, cross-border non-card payments to U.K. Santander bank accounts. What once took days to complete and settle will now occur instantly thanks to Ripple's blockchain technology. "This blockchain solution opens up a new channel between the U.S. and the U.K. and presents significant opportunity for payments globally," said Jose Luis Calderon, the head of global transaction banking at Banco Santander.
Additionally, the partnership may open the door for Ripple's virtual currency, XRP, to play a role down the road. Ripple has been testing methods to further speed up payments, potentially allowing XRP to become a component of future banking partnerships. According to the global head of strategic accounts at Ripple, Marcus Treacher:
The technology we have developed, it separated a connection from the cryptocurrency or the token. So what that means is that a bank or non-bank like AMEX can use Ripple to connect and just exchange value from one fiat currency to another directly, without the need for any intermediate blockchain currency.
Image source: Getty Images.
And this isn't the only instance of big banking firms going rogue, so to speak, and looking beyond bitcoin's and Ethereum's blockchain. In late August, theFinancial Timesreported thatBarclays,Credit Suisse,CIBC,HSBC,Mitsubishi UFJ, andState Streethave teamed up to create their own form of cryptocurrency (known as the "utility settlement coin") and blockchain.
The point being that while few would deny that blockchain has a place in the future of the financial services industry, and perhaps other sectors, no one has any clue what the true value of blockchain technology is or how quickly it'll be adopted. Yes, we're seeing plenty of small-scale and pilots tests using Ethereum's blockchain and, yes, Ripple just secured a brand-name partnership with American Express and Banco Santander. But these trials don't equate to broad-based use, and it's unlikely that we'll see widespread adoption of blockchain anytime soon.
We also have no real idea what blockchain will be preferred by enterprise customers. Ethereum wouldappear to have an early edgegiven its incorporation of smart contracts. These are protocols that aid in the enforcement, facilitation, and verification of contracts, and it's unique to Ethereum's blockchain. But even then, there's no guarantee that Ethereum, bitcoin, or Ripple will be the preferred blockchain for businesses.
With blockchain weighing so strongly into the current pricing of virtual currencies, any sort of disappointment given already lofty expectations could quickly deflate the cryptocurrency bubble.
More From The Motley Fool
• 3 Growth Stocks at Deep-Value Prices
• 5 Expected Social Security Changes in 2018
• 6 Years Later, 6 Charts That Show How Far Apple, Inc. Has Come Since Steve Jobs' Passing
• 10 Best Stocks to Buy Today
• The $16,122 Social Security Bonus You Cannot Afford to Miss
• Why You're Smart to Buy Shopify Inc. (US) -- Despite Citron's Report
Sean Williamshas no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends American Express. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.
[Social Media Buzz]
Bitcoin 9430.00 $ || 1 KOBO = 0.00000245 BTC
= 0.0218 USD
= 7.7608 NGN
= 0.3024 ZAR
= 2.2465 KES
#Kobocoin 2017-11-26 12:00 || 1 KOBO = 0.00000216 BTC
= 0.0201 USD
= 7.1556 NGN
= 0.2788 ZAR
= 2.0713 KES
#Kobocoin 2017-11-26 18:00 || El soporte del precio de bitcoin, cuando entre en corrección, está por debajo de los 7000.00 así que espero esa corrección con ansias. || 1 #BTC (#Bitcoin) quotes:
$8826.33/$8852.03 #Bitstamp
$8873.08/$8875.00 #Kraken
⇢$21.05/$48.67
$8965.21/$9056...
|
9818.35, 10058.80, 9888.61, 10233.60, 10975.60, 11074.60, 11323.20, 11657.20, 11916.70, 14291.50
|
Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 389.59, 386.55, 376.52, 376.62, 373.45, 376.03, 381.65, 379.65, 384.26, 391.86, 407.23, 400.18, 407.49, 416.32, 422.37, 420.79, 437.16, 438.80, 437.75, 420.74, 424.95, 424.54, 432.15, 432.52, 433.50, 437.70, 435.12, 423.99, 421.65, 410.94, 400.57, 407.71, 414.32, 413.97, 414.86, 417.13, 421.69, 411.62, 414.07, 416.44, 416.83, 417.01, 420.62, 409.55, 410.44, 413.76, 413.31, 418.09, 418.04, 416.39, 417.18, 417.95, 426.77, 424.23, 416.52, 414.82, 416.73, 417.96, 420.87, 420.90, 421.44, 424.03, 423.41, 422.74, 420.35, 419.41, 421.56, 422.48, 425.19, 423.73, 424.28, 429.71, 430.57, 427.40, 428.59, 435.51, 441.39, 449.42, 445.74, 450.28, 458.55, 461.43, 466.09, 444.69, 449.01, 455.10, 448.32, 451.88, 444.67, 450.30.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2016-05-03]
Volume: 59366400, RSI (14-day): 56.58, 50-day EMA: 433.42, 200-day EMA: 391.75
[Wider Market Context]
Gold Price: 1290.70, Gold RSI: 65.27
Oil Price: 43.65, Oil RSI: 58.00
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
CME, ICE prepare pricing data that could boost bitcoin: By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) - CME Group Inc (CME.O) and rival Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N) plan to publish new pricing data on bitcoin that they say will increase credibility and transparency for the controversial digital currency. Starting in the fourth quarter, the CME aims to begin publishing bitcoin prices about once a second during trading days and a daily settlement price based on transactions from several bitcoin spot exchanges, the company said on Monday. The owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and other futures markets said the data will add "significant credibility to the nascent digital asset market." Bitcoin is a Web-based "cryptocurrency" used to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. Despite being championed by some as the digital money of the future, it is often dismissed as a currency that is too volatile to invest in. The CME's pricing data "will lower uncertainty among market participants and would very likely reduce bitcoins traditionally high volatility" by aggregating information on transactions from multiple bitcoin markets, said Paul Chao, founder and chief executive officer of Ledger X, an institutional trading and clearing platform for bitcoin options. The New York Stock Exchange, owned by the ICE, is evaluating whether to include data from a number of exchanges for a daily settlement price it has published since May 2015, said Dwijen Gandhi, head of indexes for the NYSE. Currently the settlement price is based only on transaction data from U.S. market Coinbase. The NYSE also will soon launch a real-time pricing index to "provide additional transparency and insight into the bitcoin price," Gandhi said in a statement. The CME is planning to publish its settlement price at 4 p.m. London time (1500 GMT), the same time the NYSE publishes its settlement. The availability of more data from major exchange operators could promote the development of bitcoin derivatives contracts, said Gil Luria, a managing director for Wedbush Securities. Story continues "The more active exchanges like CME or ICE become, the easier, the more liquid it will become for traditional investors" to trade bitcoin, he said. The CME declined to say whether it wants to launch bitcoin futures. The ICE did not respond to a question on the matter. Earlier on Monday, Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself as the creator of bitcoin. Experts were divided over whether he really was the elusive person who has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto until now. (Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York, Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Matthew Lewis and Bernard Orr) || CME, ICE prepare pricing data that could boost bitcoin: By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) - CME Group Inc (CME.O) and rival Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N) plan to publish new pricing data on bitcoin that they say will increase credibility and transparency for the controversial digital currency. Starting in the fourth quarter, the CME aims to begin publishing bitcoin prices about once a second during trading days and a daily settlement price based on transactions from several bitcoin spot exchanges, the company said on Monday. The owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and other futures markets said the data will add "significant credibility to the nascent digital asset market." Bitcoin is a Web-based "cryptocurrency" used to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. Despite being championed by some as the digital money of the future, it is often dismissed as a currency that is too volatile to invest in. The CME's pricing data "will lower uncertainty among market participants and would very likely reduce bitcoins traditionally high volatility" by aggregating information on transactions from multiple bitcoin markets, said Paul Chao, founder and chief executive officer of Ledger X, an institutional trading and clearing platform for bitcoin options. The New York Stock Exchange, owned by the ICE, is evaluating whether to include data from a number of exchanges for a daily settlement price it has published since May 2015, said Dwijen Gandhi, head of indexes for the NYSE. Currently the settlement price is based only on transaction data from U.S. market Coinbase. The NYSE also will soon launch a real-time pricing index to "provide additional transparency and insight into the bitcoin price," Gandhi said in a statement. The CME is planning to publish its settlement price at 4 p.m. London time (1500 GMT), the same time the NYSE publishes its settlement. The availability of more data from major exchange operators could promote the development of bitcoin derivatives contracts, said Gil Luria, a managing director for Wedbush Securities. Story continues "The more active exchanges like CME or ICE become, the easier, the more liquid it will become for traditional investors" to trade bitcoin, he said. The CME declined to say whether it wants to launch bitcoin futures. The ICE did not respond to a question on the matter. Earlier on Monday, Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself as the creator of bitcoin. Experts were divided over whether he really was the elusive person who has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto until now. (Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York, Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Matthew Lewis and Bernard Orr) || Banks, tech companies move on from bitcoin to blockchain: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - As a debate raged across the internet Monday over whether the mysterious founder of the bitcoin digital currency had finally been identified, executives at a major bitcoin conference in New York had a simple message: we've moved on. That's because bitcoin, the digital currency, has largely been supplanted by blockchain, the technology that underlies it, as the main interest of investors, technology companies and financial institutions. "If there is a 100 percent opportunity in the blockchain, bitcoin, or the currency, is only 1 percent of it," said Jerry Cuomo, vice president, Blockchain Technologies at International Business Machines Corp. "So there is a whole 99 percent that has broad applications across the broad industries." Over the past year numerous Wall Street firms, led by Goldman Sachs, have declared their commitment to pursuing blockchain as a potential revolutionary technology for tracking and clearing financial transactions. The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public "ledgers" of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated clearing and settlement systems with one simple ledger. Still, bitcoin is by far the largest implementation of blockchain technology and there is considerable debate as to whether one can truly develop without the other. "Bitcoin is still the only blockchain-enabled, cross-border large scale, provable application that's actually in production," said Joseph Guastella, a principal at Deloitte Consulting in New York. "Bitcoin as a currency may not be as relevant as it was in many ways, but it actually is relevant as a proof case for the blockchain technology." Bitcoins are created through a "mining" process, in which specialized computers solve complex math problems in exchange for bitcoins. One bitcoin is equivalent to $444.75 late on Monday and trade on various exchanges around the world. But bitcoin transaction volume has been in decline over the past six months amid a bitter split over technical changes in the protocol that are needed to increase the capacity of the system that produces them. Because the cryptocurrency has no formal governance, it relies on a core group of developers for direction - and they are sharply divided over the changes. Story continues But that debate was of relatively little concern to the Blockchain enthusiasts gathered in New York. Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself on Monday as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin. "It's irrelevant because his announcement doesn't solve a problem or resolve a conflict," said Bharat Solanki, managing director at Cambrian Consulting in New York. "It probably helps to determine the origins of bitcoin but only for recognition," Solanki said. For Naoki Taniguchi, a global innovation expert at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd in San Francisco, he does not really care about who created bitcoin. "It's all about the blockchain," he said. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Bernard Orr) || Banks, tech companies move on from bitcoin to blockchain: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - As a debate raged across the internet Monday over whether the mysterious founder of the bitcoin digital currency had finally been identified, executives at a major bitcoin conference in New York had a simple message: we've moved on. That's because bitcoin, the digital currency, has largely been supplanted by blockchain, the technology that underlies it, as the main interest of investors, technology companies and financial institutions. "If there is a 100 percent opportunity in the blockchain, bitcoin, or the currency, is only 1 percent of it," said Jerry Cuomo, vice president, Blockchain Technologies at International Business Machines Corp. "So there is a whole 99 percent that has broad applications across the broad industries." Over the past year numerous Wall Street firms, led by Goldman Sachs, have declared their commitment to pursuing blockchain as a potential revolutionary technology for tracking and clearing financial transactions. The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public "ledgers" of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated clearing and settlement systems with one simple ledger. Still, bitcoin is by far the largest implementation of blockchain technology and there is considerable debate as to whether one can truly develop without the other. "Bitcoin is still the only blockchain-enabled, cross-border large scale, provable application that's actually in production," said Joseph Guastella, a principal at Deloitte Consulting in New York. "Bitcoin as a currency may not be as relevant as it was in many ways, but it actually is relevant as a proof case for the blockchain technology." Bitcoins are created through a "mining" process, in which specialized computers solve complex math problems in exchange for bitcoins. One bitcoin is equivalent to $444.75 late on Monday and trade on various exchanges around the world. But bitcoin transaction volume has been in decline over the past six months amid a bitter split over technical changes in the protocol that are needed to increase the capacity of the system that produces them. Because the cryptocurrency has no formal governance, it relies on a core group of developers for direction - and they are sharply divided over the changes. But that debate was of relatively little concern to the Blockchain enthusiasts gathered in New York. Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself on Monday as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin. "It's irrelevant because his announcement doesn't solve a problem or resolve a conflict," said Bharat Solanki, managing director at Cambrian Consulting in New York. Story continues "It probably helps to determine the origins of bitcoin but only for recognition," Solanki said. For Naoki Taniguchi, a global innovation expert at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd in San Francisco, he does not really care about who created bitcoin. "It's all about the blockchain," he said. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Bernard Orr) View comments || Banks, tech companies move on from bitcoin to blockchain: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - As a debate raged across the internet Monday over whether the mysterious founder of the bitcoin digital currency had finally been identified, executives at a major bitcoin conference in New York had a simple message: we've moved on.
That's because bitcoin, the digital currency, has largely been supplanted by blockchain, the technology that underlies it, as the main interest of investors, technology companies and financial institutions.
"If there is a 100 percent opportunity in the blockchain, bitcoin, or the currency, is only 1 percent of it," said Jerry Cuomo, vice president, Blockchain Technologies at International Business Machines Corp. "So there is a whole 99 percent that has broad applications across the broad industries."
Over the past year numerous Wall Street firms, led by Goldman Sachs, have declared their commitment to pursuing blockchain as a potential revolutionary technology for tracking and clearing financial transactions.
The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public "ledgers" of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated clearing and settlement systems with one simple ledger.
Still, bitcoin is by far the largest implementation of blockchain technology and there is considerable debate as to whether one can truly develop without the other.
"Bitcoin is still the only blockchain-enabled, cross-border large scale, provable application that's actually in production," said Joseph Guastella, a principal at Deloitte Consulting in New York. "Bitcoin as a currency may not be as relevant as it was in many ways, but it actually is relevant as a proof case for the blockchain technology."
Bitcoins are created through a "mining" process, in which specialized computers solve complex math problems in exchange for bitcoins. One bitcoin is equivalent to $444.75 late on Monday and trade on various exchanges around the world.
But bitcoin transaction volume has been in decline over the past six months amid a bitter split over technical changes in the protocol that are needed to increase the capacity of the system that produces them. Because the cryptocurrency has no formal governance, it relies on a core group of developers for direction - and they are sharply divided over the changes.
But that debate was of relatively little concern to the Blockchain enthusiasts gathered in New York.
Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself on Monday as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin.
"It's irrelevant because his announcement doesn't solve a problem or resolve a conflict," said Bharat Solanki, managing director at Cambrian Consulting in New York.
"It probably helps to determine the origins of bitcoin but only for recognition," Solanki said.
For Naoki Taniguchi, a global innovation expert at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd in San Francisco, he does not really care about who created bitcoin.
"It's all about the blockchain," he said.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Bernard Orr) || Banks, tech companies move on from bitcoin to blockchain: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - As a debate raged across the internet Monday over whether the mysterious founder of the bitcoin digital currency had finally been identified, executives at a major bitcoin conference in New York had a simple message: we've moved on. That's because bitcoin, the digital currency, has largely been supplanted by blockchain, the technology that underlies it, as the main interest of investors, technology companies and financial institutions. "If there is a 100 percent opportunity in the blockchain, bitcoin, or the currency, is only 1 percent of it," said Jerry Cuomo, vice president, Blockchain Technologies at International Business Machines Corp. "So there is a whole 99 percent that has broad applications across the broad industries." Over the past year numerous Wall Street firms, led by Goldman Sachs, have declared their commitment to pursuing blockchain as a potential revolutionary technology for tracking and clearing financial transactions. The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public "ledgers" of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated clearing and settlement systems with one simple ledger. Still, bitcoin is by far the largest implementation of blockchain technology and there is considerable debate as to whether one can truly develop without the other. "Bitcoin is still the only blockchain-enabled, cross-border large scale, provable application that's actually in production," said Joseph Guastella, a principal at Deloitte Consulting in New York. "Bitcoin as a currency may not be as relevant as it was in many ways, but it actually is relevant as a proof case for the blockchain technology." Bitcoins are created through a "mining" process, in which specialized computers solve complex math problems in exchange for bitcoins. One bitcoin is equivalent to $444.75 late on Monday and trade on various exchanges around the world. But bitcoin transaction volume has been in decline over the past six months amid a bitter split over technical changes in the protocol that are needed to increase the capacity of the system that produces them. Because the cryptocurrency has no formal governance, it relies on a core group of developers for direction - and they are sharply divided over the changes. But that debate was of relatively little concern to the Blockchain enthusiasts gathered in New York. Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself on Monday as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin. "It's irrelevant because his announcement doesn't solve a problem or resolve a conflict," said Bharat Solanki, managing director at Cambrian Consulting in New York. Story continues "It probably helps to determine the origins of bitcoin but only for recognition," Solanki said. For Naoki Taniguchi, a global innovation expert at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd in San Francisco, he does not really care about who created bitcoin. "It's all about the blockchain," he said. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Bernard Orr) View comments || Banks, tech companies move on from bitcoin to blockchain: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - As a debate raged across the internet Monday over whether the mysterious founder of the bitcoin digital currency had finally been identified, executives at a major bitcoin conference in New York had a simple message: we've moved on. That's because bitcoin, the digital currency, has largely been supplanted by blockchain, the technology that underlies it, as the main interest of investors, technology companies and financial institutions. "If there is a 100 percent opportunity in the blockchain, bitcoin, or the currency, is only 1 percent of it," said Jerry Cuomo, vice president, Blockchain Technologies at International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N). "So there is a whole 99 percent that has broad applications across the broad industries." Over the past year numerous Wall Street firms, led by Goldman Sachs (GS.N), have declared their commitment to pursuing blockchain as a potential revolutionary technology for tracking and clearing financial transactions. The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public "ledgers" of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated clearing and settlement systems with one simple ledger. Still, bitcoin is by far the largest implementation of blockchain technology and there is considerable debate as to whether one can truly develop without the other. "Bitcoin is still the only blockchain-enabled, cross-border large scale, provable application that's actually in production," said Joseph Guastella, a principal at Deloitte Consulting in New York. "Bitcoin as a currency may not be as relevant as it was in many ways, but it actually is relevant as a proof case for the blockchain technology." Bitcoins are created through a "mining" process, in which specialized computers solve complex math problems in exchange for bitcoins. One bitcoin (BTC=BTSP) is equivalent to $444.75 late on Monday and trade on various exchanges around the world. Story continues But bitcoin transaction volume has been in decline over the past six months amid a bitter split over technical changes in the protocol that are needed to increase the capacity of the system that produces them. Because the cryptocurrency has no formal governance, it relies on a core group of developers for direction - and they are sharply divided over the changes. But that debate was of relatively little concern to the Blockchain enthusiasts gathered in New York. Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself on Monday as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin. "It's irrelevant because his announcement doesn't solve a problem or resolve a conflict," said Bharat Solanki, managing director at Cambrian Consulting in New York. "It probably helps to determine the origins of bitcoin but only for recognition," Solanki said. For Naoki Taniguchi, a global innovation expert at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd in San Francisco, he does not really care about who created bitcoin. "It's all about the blockchain," he said. || Banks, tech companies move on from bitcoin to blockchain: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK (Reuters) - As a debate raged across the internet Monday over whether the mysterious founder of the bitcoin digital currency had finally been identified, executives at a major bitcoin conference in New York had a simple message: we've moved on. That's because bitcoin, the digital currency, has largely been supplanted by blockchain, the technology that underlies it, as the main interest of investors, technology companies and financial institutions. "If there is a 100 percent opportunity in the blockchain, bitcoin, or the currency, is only 1 percent of it," said Jerry Cuomo, vice president, Blockchain Technologies at International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N). "So there is a whole 99 percent that has broad applications across the broad industries." Over the past year numerous Wall Street firms, led by Goldman Sachs (GS.N), have declared their commitment to pursuing blockchain as a potential revolutionary technology for tracking and clearing financial transactions. The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public "ledgers" of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated clearing and settlement systems with one simple ledger. Still, bitcoin is by far the largest implementation of blockchain technology and there is considerable debate as to whether one can truly develop without the other. "Bitcoin is still the only blockchain-enabled, cross-border large scale, provable application that's actually in production," said Joseph Guastella, a principal at Deloitte Consulting in New York. "Bitcoin as a currency may not be as relevant as it was in many ways, but it actually is relevant as a proof case for the blockchain technology." Bitcoins are created through a "mining" process, in which specialized computers solve complex math problems in exchange for bitcoins. One bitcoin (BTC=BTSP) is equivalent to $444.75 late on Monday and trade on various exchanges around the world. Story continues But bitcoin transaction volume has been in decline over the past six months amid a bitter split over technical changes in the protocol that are needed to increase the capacity of the system that produces them. Because the cryptocurrency has no formal governance, it relies on a core group of developers for direction - and they are sharply divided over the changes. But that debate was of relatively little concern to the Blockchain enthusiasts gathered in New York. Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself on Monday as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin. "It's irrelevant because his announcement doesn't solve a problem or resolve a conflict," said Bharat Solanki, managing director at Cambrian Consulting in New York. "It probably helps to determine the origins of bitcoin but only for recognition," Solanki said. For Naoki Taniguchi, a global innovation expert at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd in San Francisco, he does not really care about who created bitcoin. "It's all about the blockchain," he said. || Banks, tech companies move on from bitcoin to blockchain: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) - As a debate raged across the internet Monday over whether the mysterious founder of the bitcoin digital currency had finally been identified, executives at a major bitcoin conference in New York had a simple message: we've moved on.
That's because bitcoin, the digital currency, has largely been supplanted by blockchain, the technology that underlies it, as the main interest of investors, technology companies and financial institutions.
"If there is a 100 percent opportunity in the blockchain, bitcoin, or the currency, is only 1 percent of it," said Jerry Cuomo, vice president, Blockchain Technologies at International Business Machines Corp. "So there is a whole 99 percent that has broad applications across the broad industries."
Over the past year numerous Wall Street firms, led by Goldman Sachs, have declared their commitment to pursuing blockchain as a potential revolutionary technology for tracking and clearing financial transactions.
The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public "ledgers" of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated clearing and settlement systems with one simple ledger.
Still, bitcoin is by far the largest implementation of blockchain technology and there is considerable debate as to whether one can truly develop without the other.
"Bitcoin is still the only blockchain-enabled, cross-border large scale, provable application that's actually in production," said Joseph Guastella, a principal at Deloitte Consulting in New York. "Bitcoin as a currency may not be as relevant as it was in many ways, but it actually is relevant as a proof case for the blockchain technology."
Bitcoins are created through a "mining" process, in which specialized computers solve complex math problems in exchange for bitcoins. One bitcoin is equivalent to $444.75 late on Monday and trade on various exchanges around the world.
But bitcoin transaction volume has been in decline over the past six months amid a bitter split over technical changes in the protocol that are needed to increase the capacity of the system that produces them. Because the cryptocurrency has no formal governance, it relies on a core group of developers for direction - and they are sharply divided over the changes.
But that debate was of relatively little concern to the Blockchain enthusiasts gathered in New York.
Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself on Monday as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin.
"It's irrelevant because his announcement doesn't solve a problem or resolve a conflict," said Bharat Solanki, managing director at Cambrian Consulting in New York.
"It probably helps to determine the origins of bitcoin but only for recognition," Solanki said.
For Naoki Taniguchi, a global innovation expert at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd in San Francisco, he does not really care about who created bitcoin.
"It's all about the blockchain," he said.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Bernard Orr) || Banks, tech companies move on from bitcoin to blockchain: By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) - As a debate raged across the internet Monday over whether the mysterious founder of the bitcoin digital currency had finally been identified, executives at a major bitcoin conference in New York had a simple message: we've moved on. That's because bitcoin, the digital currency, has largely been supplanted by blockchain, the technology that underlies it, as the main interest of investors, technology companies and financial institutions. "If there is a 100 percent opportunity in the blockchain, bitcoin, or the currency, is only 1 percent of it," said Jerry Cuomo, vice president, Blockchain Technologies at International Business Machines Corp. "So there is a whole 99 percent that has broad applications across the broad industries." Over the past year numerous Wall Street firms, led by Goldman Sachs, have declared their commitment to pursuing blockchain as a potential revolutionary technology for tracking and clearing financial transactions. The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public "ledgers" of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated clearing and settlement systems with one simple ledger. Still, bitcoin is by far the largest implementation of blockchain technology and there is considerable debate as to whether one can truly develop without the other. "Bitcoin is still the only blockchain-enabled, cross-border large scale, provable application that's actually in production," said Joseph Guastella, a principal at Deloitte Consulting in New York. "Bitcoin as a currency may not be as relevant as it was in many ways, but it actually is relevant as a proof case for the blockchain technology." Bitcoins are created through a "mining" process, in which specialized computers solve complex math problems in exchange for bitcoins. One bitcoin is equivalent to $444.75 late on Monday and trade on various exchanges around the world. But bitcoin transaction volume has been in decline over the past six months amid a bitter split over technical changes in the protocol that are needed to increase the capacity of the system that produces them. Because the cryptocurrency has no formal governance, it relies on a core group of developers for direction - and they are sharply divided over the changes. But that debate was of relatively little concern to the Blockchain enthusiasts gathered in New York. Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself on Monday as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin. "It's irrelevant because his announcement doesn't solve a problem or resolve a conflict," said Bharat Solanki, managing director at Cambrian Consulting in New York. Story continues "It probably helps to determine the origins of bitcoin but only for recognition," Solanki said. For Naoki Taniguchi, a global innovation expert at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd in San Francisco, he does not really care about who created bitcoin. "It's all about the blockchain," he said. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Bernard Orr) View comments || CME, ICE prepare pricing data that could boost bitcoin: (Adds comment from chief of Ledger X)
By Tom Polansek
CHICAGO, May 2 (Reuters) - CME Group Inc and rival Intercontinental Exchange Inc plan to publish new pricing data on bitcoin that they say will increase credibility and transparency for the controversial digital currency.
Starting in the fourth quarter, the CME aims to begin publishing bitcoin prices about once a second during trading days and a daily settlement price based on transactions from several bitcoin spot exchanges, the company said on Monday.
The owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and other futures markets said the data will add "significant credibility to the nascent digital asset market."
Bitcoin is a Web-based "cryptocurrency" used to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. Despite being championed by some as the digital money of the future, it is often dismissed as a currency that is too volatile to invest in.
The CME's pricing data "will lower uncertainty among market participants and would very likely reduce bitcoin's traditionally high volatility" by aggregating information on transactions from multiple bitcoin markets, said Paul Chao, founder and chief executive officer of Ledger X, an institutional trading and clearing platform for bitcoin options.
The New York Stock Exchange, owned by the ICE, is evaluating whether to include data from a number of exchanges for a daily settlement price it has published since May 2015, said Dwijen Gandhi, head of indexes for the NYSE. Currently the settlement price is based only on transaction data from U.S. market Coinbase.
The NYSE also will soon launch a real-time pricing index to "provide additional transparency and insight into the bitcoin price," Gandhi said in a statement.
The CME is planning to publish its settlement price at 4 p.m. London time (1500 GMT), the same time the NYSE publishes its settlement.
The availability of more data from major exchange operators could promote the development of bitcoin derivatives contracts, said Gil Luria, a managing director for Wedbush Securities.
"The more active exchanges like CME or ICE become, the easier, the more liquid it will become for traditional investors" to trade bitcoin, he said.
The CME declined to say whether it wants to launch bitcoin futures. The ICE did not respond to a question on the matter.
Earlier on Monday, Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself as the creator of bitcoin. Experts were divided over whether he really was the elusive person who has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto until now.
(Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York, Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Matthew Lewis and Bernard Orr) || CME, ICE prepare pricing data that could boost bitcoin: (Adds comment from chief of Ledger X) By Tom Polansek CHICAGO, May 2 (Reuters) - CME Group Inc and rival Intercontinental Exchange Inc plan to publish new pricing data on bitcoin that they say will increase credibility and transparency for the controversial digital currency. Starting in the fourth quarter, the CME aims to begin publishing bitcoin prices about once a second during trading days and a daily settlement price based on transactions from several bitcoin spot exchanges, the company said on Monday. The owner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and other futures markets said the data will add "significant credibility to the nascent digital asset market." Bitcoin is a Web-based "cryptocurrency" used to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. Despite being championed by some as the digital money of the future, it is often dismissed as a currency that is too volatile to invest in. The CME's pricing data "will lower uncertainty among market participants and would very likely reduce bitcoin's traditionally high volatility" by aggregating information on transactions from multiple bitcoin markets, said Paul Chao, founder and chief executive officer of Ledger X, an institutional trading and clearing platform for bitcoin options. The New York Stock Exchange, owned by the ICE, is evaluating whether to include data from a number of exchanges for a daily settlement price it has published since May 2015, said Dwijen Gandhi, head of indexes for the NYSE. Currently the settlement price is based only on transaction data from U.S. market Coinbase. The NYSE also will soon launch a real-time pricing index to "provide additional transparency and insight into the bitcoin price," Gandhi said in a statement. The CME is planning to publish its settlement price at 4 p.m. London time (1500 GMT), the same time the NYSE publishes its settlement. The availability of more data from major exchange operators could promote the development of bitcoin derivatives contracts, said Gil Luria, a managing director for Wedbush Securities. Story continues "The more active exchanges like CME or ICE become, the easier, the more liquid it will become for traditional investors" to trade bitcoin, he said. The CME declined to say whether it wants to launch bitcoin futures. The ICE did not respond to a question on the matter. Earlier on Monday, Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself as the creator of bitcoin. Experts were divided over whether he really was the elusive person who has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto until now. (Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York, Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Matthew Lewis and Bernard Orr) || Australian says he created bitcoin, but some sceptical: (Repeats story published on Monday, no change to text)
* Unmasking Nakamoto would solve bitcoin mystery
* Some sceptical that Wright is Nakamoto
* Wright's blog mentions development of his "small contribution"
By Byron Kaye and Jemima Kelly
SYDNEY/LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin on Monday but experts were divided over whether he really was the elusive person who has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto until now.
Uncovering Nakamoto's real identity would solve a riddle dating back to the publication of the open source software behind the cryptocurrency in 2008, before its launch a year later.
Bitcoin has since become the world's most commonly used virtual currency, attracting the interest of banks, speculators, criminals and regulators.
Worth a total of $7 billion at current levels, it fell more than 3 percent on Monday -- a normal intraday move for the volatile currency -- after the news, to below $440 from around $455, before recovering slightly.
Some online commentators suggested bitcoin's creator could help resolve a bitter row among the currency's software developers that threatens its future.
But Wright made no reference to the row in a BBC interview identifying himself as Nakamoto, and as the protocol bitcoin runs on is open-source and cannot be controlled by any one person, it is unclear whether he would be able to influence the way it develops.
"I was the main part of it, other people helped me," Wright, who is now living in London, told the BBC. "Some people will believe, Some people won't, and to tell you the truth, I don't really care," he said.
Many bitcoiners said Wright had not done enough to definitively prove that he was Nakamoto, who maintained his anonymity throughout his involvement with bitcoin, which he stepped away from in 2011.
But Gavin Andresen, who Nakamoto chose to succeed him, published a blog post in which he described meeting Wright last month and said he is "convinced beyond a reasonable doubt" that the Australian is Nakamoto.
Jon Matonis, a founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation now works as a bitcoin consultant, wrote a blog post on Monday which, like Andresen's, supported Wright's claims.
"According to me, the proof is conclusive and I have no doubt that Craig Steven Wright is the person behind the Bitcoin technology, Nakamoto consensus, and the Satoshi Nakamoto name," Matonis wrote. He and Andresen also confirmed they had been responsible for their respective blog posts to Reuters directly.
LEGACY
Nakamoto's biggest likely legacy lies well beyond his control. The blockchain technology that underpins the currency could transform the way banks settle transactions, the way that property rights and other vital data are recorded, and provide a way for central banks to issue their own digital currencies.
The BBC reported on Monday that Wright gave some technical proof demonstrating that he had access to blocks of bitcoins known to have been created by bitcoin's creator.
Researchers believe Nakamoto may be holding up to one million of the more than 15 million bitcoins currently in circulation, which would make the creator worth around $440 million.
In a blog post also dated Monday, Wright posted an example of a signature used by Nakamoto and an explanation of how bitcoin transactions are verified and thanked all those who had supported the project from its inception.
"This incredible community's passion and intellect and perseverance have taken my small contribution and nurtured it, enhanced it, breathed life into it," he wrote.
However he did not state directly that he was Nakamoto. "Satoshi is dead," he said. "But this is only the beginning."
Bitcoin expert Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Coin Center, said a new message cryptographically signed using the private key associated with the so-called Genesis block, the first ever "mined" would have been more convincing.
The currency's "miners" are incentivised to process transactions every 10 minutes by a possible reward of bitcoins (25 currently), which is how new bitcoins are created.
Wright also spoke with The Economist, but declined requests from the magazine to provide further proof that he was Nakamoto. His representatives told Reuters he would not be taking part in more media interviews for the time being.
"Our conclusion is that Mr Wright could well be Mr Nakamoto, but that important questions remain," The Economist said. "Indeed, it may never be possible to establish beyond reasonable doubt who really created bitcoin."
Hopes that bitcoin would become broadly used helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalisation was $13 billion compared with today's $7 billion.
Wright told The Economist he would exchange bitcoin he owns slowly to avoid pushing down its price.
HOME RAIDED
In December, police raided Wright's Sydney home and office after Wired magazine named him as the probable creator of bitcoin and holder of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency. At the time he made no comment.
The treatment of bitcoins for tax purposes in Australia has been the subject of considerable debate. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) ruled in December 2014 that cryptocurrency should be considered an asset, rather than a currency, for capital gains tax purposes.
On Monday, the ATO said it had no comment while police were not immediately available for comment.
If Wright is Nakamoto he "is now the leader of a movement", said Roberto Capodieci, a Singapore-based entrepreneur working on the blockchain, the technology underlying the currency.
That movement ranges from libertarian enthusiasts to central banks experimenting with digital currencies, all of which pay homage in some way to Nakamoto's writings.
(Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore, Matt Siegel in Sydney and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Nick Macfie, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Philippa Fletcher) || Australian says he created bitcoin, but some sceptical: (Repeats story published on Monday, no change to text) * Unmasking Nakamoto would solve bitcoin mystery * Some sceptical that Wright is Nakamoto * Wright's blog mentions development of his "small contribution" By Byron Kaye and Jemima Kelly SYDNEY/LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin on Monday but experts were divided over whether he really was the elusive person who has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto until now. Uncovering Nakamoto's real identity would solve a riddle dating back to the publication of the open source software behind the cryptocurrency in 2008, before its launch a year later. Bitcoin has since become the world's most commonly used virtual currency, attracting the interest of banks, speculators, criminals and regulators. Worth a total of $7 billion at current levels, it fell more than 3 percent on Monday -- a normal intraday move for the volatile currency -- after the news, to below $440 from around $455, before recovering slightly. Some online commentators suggested bitcoin's creator could help resolve a bitter row among the currency's software developers that threatens its future. But Wright made no reference to the row in a BBC interview identifying himself as Nakamoto, and as the protocol bitcoin runs on is open-source and cannot be controlled by any one person, it is unclear whether he would be able to influence the way it develops. "I was the main part of it, other people helped me," Wright, who is now living in London, told the BBC. "Some people will believe, Some people won't, and to tell you the truth, I don't really care," he said. Many bitcoiners said Wright had not done enough to definitively prove that he was Nakamoto, who maintained his anonymity throughout his involvement with bitcoin, which he stepped away from in 2011. But Gavin Andresen, who Nakamoto chose to succeed him, published a blog post in which he described meeting Wright last month and said he is "convinced beyond a reasonable doubt" that the Australian is Nakamoto. Jon Matonis, a founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation now works as a bitcoin consultant, wrote a blog post on Monday which, like Andresen's, supported Wright's claims. "According to me, the proof is conclusive and I have no doubt that Craig Steven Wright is the person behind the Bitcoin technology, Nakamoto consensus, and the Satoshi Nakamoto name," Matonis wrote. He and Andresen also confirmed they had been responsible for their respective blog posts to Reuters directly. Story continues LEGACY Nakamoto's biggest likely legacy lies well beyond his control. The blockchain technology that underpins the currency could transform the way banks settle transactions, the way that property rights and other vital data are recorded, and provide a way for central banks to issue their own digital currencies. The BBC reported on Monday that Wright gave some technical proof demonstrating that he had access to blocks of bitcoins known to have been created by bitcoin's creator. Researchers believe Nakamoto may be holding up to one million of the more than 15 million bitcoins currently in circulation, which would make the creator worth around $440 million. In a blog post also dated Monday, Wright posted an example of a signature used by Nakamoto and an explanation of how bitcoin transactions are verified and thanked all those who had supported the project from its inception. "This incredible community's passion and intellect and perseverance have taken my small contribution and nurtured it, enhanced it, breathed life into it," he wrote. However he did not state directly that he was Nakamoto. "Satoshi is dead," he said. "But this is only the beginning." Bitcoin expert Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Coin Center, said a new message cryptographically signed using the private key associated with the so-called Genesis block, the first ever "mined" would have been more convincing. The currency's "miners" are incentivised to process transactions every 10 minutes by a possible reward of bitcoins (25 currently), which is how new bitcoins are created. Wright also spoke with The Economist, but declined requests from the magazine to provide further proof that he was Nakamoto. His representatives told Reuters he would not be taking part in more media interviews for the time being. "Our conclusion is that Mr Wright could well be Mr Nakamoto, but that important questions remain," The Economist said. "Indeed, it may never be possible to establish beyond reasonable doubt who really created bitcoin." Hopes that bitcoin would become broadly used helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalisation was $13 billion compared with today's $7 billion. Wright told The Economist he would exchange bitcoin he owns slowly to avoid pushing down its price. HOME RAIDED In December, police raided Wright's Sydney home and office after Wired magazine named him as the probable creator of bitcoin and holder of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency. At the time he made no comment. The treatment of bitcoins for tax purposes in Australia has been the subject of considerable debate. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) ruled in December 2014 that cryptocurrency should be considered an asset, rather than a currency, for capital gains tax purposes. On Monday, the ATO said it had no comment while police were not immediately available for comment. If Wright is Nakamoto he "is now the leader of a movement", said Roberto Capodieci, a Singapore-based entrepreneur working on the blockchain, the technology underlying the currency. That movement ranges from libertarian enthusiasts to central banks experimenting with digital currencies, all of which pay homage in some way to Nakamoto's writings. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore, Matt Siegel in Sydney and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Nick Macfie, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Philippa Fletcher) View comments || Intel has finally admitted that it failed miserably in the mobile market: (Intel)Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.
Things are rough over at Intel. In addition to ahuge 12,000-person layoff,Intel has finally thrown in the towel in the smartphone and tablet markets, too.
On Saturday, Intel confirmed that it was canceling its upcoming Atom chip, known as "Braxton" for smartphones and tablets, and that it was also ditching a few other related smartphone chips, the company told Ian Cutress and Ryan Smithat the AnandTech news site.
There had been some speculation for the past weekamong Wall Street analyststhat Intel was thinking of severely changing its mobile plans as part of the restructuring, when Intel told them that it was rethinking some projects in the Client Computing Group (CCG),Wells Fargo's David Wong reported.
But with this confirmation, Intel is officially crying uncle and admitting failure after spending billions of dollars investing in smartphone/tablet chips.
It's hard to say exactly how much money Intel lost trying to get some skin in the mobile game, the biggest revolution in the computer industry since the PC — and the cause of Intel's ongoing PC business woes.
Intel reported mobile-product financials for only two years before folding it into a bigger "Client Computing Division." But in those two years, 2013 and 2014, the unit showed losses of $3.1 billion and $4.2 billion, respectively, or $7.3 billion for both years,AnandTechreports.
So if it racked up similar losses in 2015, Intel could be down by maybe $10 billion in three years. And given that Intel's competitor, ARM, has won the market anyway, the white flag seems like the only option left.
The AnandTech report notes that it's possible Intel could try to reenter the market with a different chip or strategy. But for now, Intel appears to be out of the game.
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• Famous programmer who sold his company to Microsoft for about $400 million: 'Microsoft is a different company' || Intel has finally admitted that it failed miserably in the mobile market: Brian Krzanich (Intel) Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. Things are rough over at Intel. In addition to a huge 12,000-person layoff, Intel has finally thrown in the towel in the smartphone and tablet markets, too. On Saturday, Intel confirmed that it was canceling its upcoming Atom chip, known as "Braxton" for smartphones and tablets, and that it was also ditching a few other related smartphone chips, the company told Ian Cutress and Ryan Smith at the AnandTech news site . There had been some speculation for the past week among Wall Street analysts that Intel was thinking of severely changing its mobile plans as part of the restructuring, when Intel told them that it was rethinking some projects in the Client Computing Group (CCG), Wells Fargo's David Wong reported. But with this confirmation, Intel is officially crying uncle and admitting failure after spending billions of dollars investing in smartphone/tablet chips. It's hard to say exactly how much money Intel lost trying to get some skin in the mobile game, the biggest revolution in the computer industry since the PC — and the cause of Intel's ongoing PC business woes. Intel reported mobile-product financials for only two years before folding it into a bigger "Client Computing Division." But in those two years, 2013 and 2014, the unit showed losses of $3.1 billion and $4.2 billion, respectively, or $7.3 billion for both years, AnandTech reports. So if it racked up similar losses in 2015, Intel could be down by maybe $10 billion in three years. And given that Intel's competitor, ARM, has won the market anyway, the white flag seems like the only option left. The AnandTech report notes that it's possible Intel could try to reenter the market with a different chip or strategy. But for now, Intel appears to be out of the game. NOW WATCH: Facebook is teaming up with Samsung to change the way we watch videos More From Business Insider Bitcoin experts are baffled that one of their star scientists thinks he’s solved the Bitcoin mystery Working for a startup is sort of depressing these days, and one essay writer described the change perfectly Famous programmer who sold his company to Microsoft for about $400 million: 'Microsoft is a different company' || STOCKS CLIMB: Here's what you need to know: (Jim Young/Reuters)
Stocks finished higher on the first day of May with the Dow gaining triple-digits.
Many investors will be familiar with the cliche of "sell in May and go away," though asAkin Oyedele noted over the weekend, this is kind of silly.
First, the scoreboard:
• Dow:17,891.2, +117.5, (+0.7%)
• S&P 500:2,081.4, +16.1, (+0.8%)
• Nasdaq:4,817.6, +42.2, (+0.9%)
• WTI crude oil:$44.90, -2.2%
It's a busy week for the US economy and things got kicked off with a couple reports out of the manufacturing sector which showed things got better in April.
TheInstitute for Supply Management's latest PMIcame in at 50.8, indicating expansion in the US manufacturing sector but at a slower pace than in March. This report's prices paid sub-index, however, was a complete blowout, rising to 59.0 in response to higher commodities prices.
Commentary in this report indicated that the auto industry is still going strong while things are still "sluggish overall" but showing some signs of picking up.
Markit Economics' final PMI reading for April hit 50.8, in-line with the report's preliminary reading earlier this month, though Markit's Chris Williamson was a bit more downbeat on how things look in the US manufacturing sector.
"The April PMI data suggest there's no end in sight to the current downturn in manufacturing activity," Williamson said in a release.
Elsewhere in the economy,Bob Bryan notedthat the calls from big names on Wall Street for fiscal stimulus out of Washington are getting louder. However, the current state of the US government doesn't at all suggest we're getting closer to the kinds of big investment folks like Carl Icahn and Larry Fink have hinted at in recent months.
The federal budget has, however, stopped being a drag on GDP and the market has noticed:stocks that benefit from a government tailwind have outperformedover the last several months.
Mohamed El-Erianhad bad news for investorson Monday.
Speaking at the Milken Conference in Los Angeles, El-Erian said, "The growth model for the advanced world is getting exhausted, and for emerging markets it's getting contaminated."
El-Erian, we'd note, is the recent author of "The Only Game In Town," which says that central bank policies are only going to go so far to fix the global economy.
Not unlike the aforementioned Wall Street bigwigs calling for more government spending to boost the economy, El-Erian's argument is a bit less prescriptive but does make clear our current path is not going to be one that leads to prosperity. Bummer!
Linette Lopez, who was in the room for El-Erian's presentation on Monday,notedthat after he told attendees that the road we're going down with the global economy ends it will "stop right there," nervous laughter followed.
It was a mixed day for municipal finance.
Atlantic Citymade a $1.8 million bond paymentto avoid default.
Puerto Rico, in contrast,said Sunday it would not make a $422 million bond paymentdue Monday, thus defaulting on debt owed by its Government Development Bank.
And look, I am by no means an expert on the municipal bond market. Hardly even a tourist! For more on the state of municipal finance in the US you should readKristi Culpepper on MediumorJoe Mysak at Bloomberg.
Speaking of defaults, the high-yield default rate for the energy sector has been pushed up to 13%, topping the 9.7% high seen back in 1999,according to Fitch Ratings. The bankruptcy filing from Ultra Petroleum and Midstate Petroleum over the weekend added $3.1 billion to high-yield energy default volume this year.
Fitch expects the default rate in the high-yield energy space will hit 20% this year.
So,here's an argumentthat passive investing makes markets more efficient and doesn't really — at all — risk markets becoming a "socialist" construct in which we all just get a set return and no one can outperform.
I'm expecting people won't love this one, mostly because people seem to really like the idea that low-cost, passively-managed index funds pose a clear and present danger to financial markets.
But the post,constructed from work done by the great finance blogger "Jesse Livermore" over the weekend, not only argues that there's nothing to worry about with the rise of passive investing, rise but that this increase makes marketsmoreefficient.
Much of the conversation in and around the investing world assumes that if you know some stuff you can find a stock or an investment that will, over time, beat the market. But the average return of active managers, Livermore illustrates, must — for a specific index of securities — equal the market average return. Include fees and your chances of beating the market are very, very slim.
The big event this weekend was theBerkshire Hathaway annual meeting. And while Warren Buffett is perhaps the most famous stock-picker in America, he spent nearly 15 minutes going on about how the only thing an individual investor should be doing with their money is putting it in a low-cost S&P 500 fund.
The fees, in Buffett's view, will almost certainly make performance in actively-managed investments worse, but the bigger problem is in finding a manager than can outperform. Again and again.
If the argument holds up that more passive money creates more efficient markets because only the best managers are left running money, this would make Buffett's argument even stronger.
Of course, as Buffett noted, no one selling investment advice wants to sell advice that says, "Just do this one, easy, cheap thing," because, well, that doesn't pay.
A new ECB paper says that it looks like someone is leaking US economic data.
Warren Buffett's non-answer about Coke on Saturday is exactly what the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting is all about.
Morgan Stanley questioned the dominance of Bloomberg and its clients were nonplussed.
There was some Bitcoin news out Monday and Izzy Kaminska is pretty sure that this is, well, like most Bitcoin news: dodgy.
More From Business Insider
• STOCKS TUMBLE INTO THE CLOSE: Here's what you need to know
• FED DOES NOTHING, STOCKS DO NOTHING: Here's what you need to know
• STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's what you need to know || STOCKS CLIMB: Here's what you need to know: ice climbing (Jim Young/Reuters) Stocks finished higher on the first day of May with the Dow gaining triple-digits. Many investors will be familiar with the cliche of "sell in May and go away," though as Akin Oyedele noted over the weekend , this is kind of silly. First, the scoreboard: Dow: 17,891.2, +117.5, (+0.7%) S&P 500: 2,081.4, +16.1, (+0.8%) Nasdaq: 4,817.6, +42.2, (+0.9%) WTI crude oil: $44.90, -2.2% US Economy It's a busy week for the US economy and things got kicked off with a couple reports out of the manufacturing sector which showed things got better in April. The Institute for Supply Management's latest PMI came in at 50.8, indicating expansion in the US manufacturing sector but at a slower pace than in March. This report's prices paid sub-index, however, was a complete blowout, rising to 59.0 in response to higher commodities prices. Commentary in this report indicated that the auto industry is still going strong while things are still "sluggish overall" but showing some signs of picking up. Markit Economics' final PMI reading for April hit 50.8, in-line with the report's preliminary reading earlier this month, though Markit's Chris Williamson was a bit more downbeat on how things look in the US manufacturing sector. "The April PMI data suggest there's no end in sight to the current downturn in manufacturing activity," Williamson said in a release. Elsewhere in the economy, Bob Bryan noted that the calls from big names on Wall Street for fiscal stimulus out of Washington are getting louder. However, the current state of the US government doesn't at all suggest we're getting closer to the kinds of big investment folks like Carl Icahn and Larry Fink have hinted at in recent months. The federal budget has, however, stopped being a drag on GDP and the market has noticed: stocks that benefit from a government tailwind have outperformed over the last several months. Global Economy Mohamed El-Erian had bad news for investors on Monday. Speaking at the Milken Conference in Los Angeles, El-Erian said, "The growth model for the advanced world is getting exhausted, and for emerging markets it's getting contaminated." Story continues El-Erian, we'd note, is the recent author of "The Only Game In Town," which says that central bank policies are only going to go so far to fix the global economy. Not unlike the aforementioned Wall Street bigwigs calling for more government spending to boost the economy, El-Erian's argument is a bit less prescriptive but does make clear our current path is not going to be one that leads to prosperity. Bummer! Linette Lopez, who was in the room for El-Erian's presentation on Monday, noted that after he told attendees that the road we're going down with the global economy ends it will "stop right there," nervous laughter followed. Debt It was a mixed day for municipal finance. Atlantic City made a $1.8 million bond payment to avoid default. Puerto Rico, in contrast, said Sunday it would not make a $422 million bond payment due Monday, thus defaulting on debt owed by its Government Development Bank. And look, I am by no means an expert on the municipal bond market. Hardly even a tourist! For more on the state of municipal finance in the US you should read Kristi Culpepper on Medium or Joe Mysak at Bloomberg . Speaking of defaults, the high-yield default rate for the energy sector has been pushed up to 13%, topping the 9.7% high seen back in 1999, according to Fitch Ratings . The bankruptcy filing from Ultra Petroleum and Midstate Petroleum over the weekend added $3.1 billion to high-yield energy default volume this year. Fitch expects the default rate in the high-yield energy space will hit 20% this year. Passive Investing So, here's an argument that passive investing makes markets more efficient and doesn't really — at all — risk markets becoming a "socialist" construct in which we all just get a set return and no one can outperform. I'm expecting people won't love this one, mostly because people seem to really like the idea that low-cost, passively-managed index funds pose a clear and present danger to financial markets. But the post, constructed from work done by the great finance blogger "Jesse Livermore" over the weekend , not only argues that there's nothing to worry about with the rise of passive investing, rise but that this increase makes markets more efficient. Much of the conversation in and around the investing world assumes that if you know some stuff you can find a stock or an investment that will, over time, beat the market. But the average return of active managers, Livermore illustrates, must — for a specific index of securities — equal the market average return. Include fees and your chances of beating the market are very, very slim. The big event this weekend was the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting . And while Warren Buffett is perhaps the most famous stock-picker in America, he spent nearly 15 minutes going on about how the only thing an individual investor should be doing with their money is putting it in a low-cost S&P 500 fund. The fees, in Buffett's view, will almost certainly make performance in actively-managed investments worse, but the bigger problem is in finding a manager than can outperform. Again and again. If the argument holds up that more passive money creates more efficient markets because only the best managers are left running money, this would make Buffett's argument even stronger. Of course, as Buffett noted, no one selling investment advice wants to sell advice that says, "Just do this one, easy, cheap thing," because, well, that doesn't pay. Additionally A new ECB paper says that it looks like someone is leaking US economic data . Warren Buffett's non-answer about Coke on Saturday is exactly what the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting is all about . Morgan Stanley questioned the dominance of Bloomberg and its clients were nonplussed . There was some Bitcoin news out Monday and Izzy Kaminska is pretty sure that this is, well, like most Bitcoin news: dodgy . More From Business Insider STOCKS TUMBLE INTO THE CLOSE: Here's what you need to know FED DOES NOTHING, STOCKS DO NOTHING: Here's what you need to know STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's what you need to know || Australian says he created bitcoin, but some sceptical: By Byron Kaye and Jemima Kelly SYDNEY/LONDON (Reuters) - Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin on Monday but experts were divided over whether he really was the elusive person who has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto until now. Uncovering Nakamoto's real identity would solve a riddle dating back to the publication of the open source software behind the cryptocurrency in 2008, before its launch a year later. Bitcoin has since become the world's most commonly used virtual currency, attracting the interest of banks, speculators, criminals and regulators. Worth a total of $7 billion at current levels, it fell more than 3 percent on Monday -- a normal intraday move for the volatile currency -- after the news, to below $440 from around $455, before recovering slightly. Some online commentators suggested bitcoin's creator could help resolve a bitter row among the currency's software developers that threatens its future. But Wright made no reference to the row in a BBC interview identifying himself as Nakamoto, and as the protocol bitcoin runs on is open-source and cannot be controlled by any one person, it is unclear whether he would be able to influence the way it develops. "I was the main part of it, other people helped me," Wright, who is now living in London, told the BBC. "Some people will believe, Some people won't, and to tell you the truth, I don't really care," he said. Many bitcoiners said Wright had not done enough to definitively prove that he was Nakamoto, who maintained his anonymity throughout his involvement with bitcoin, which he stepped away from in 2011. But Gavin Andresen, who Nakamoto chose to succeed him, published a blog post in which he described meeting Wright last month and said he is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the Australian is Nakamoto. Jon Matonis, a founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation now works as a bitcoin consultant, wrote a blog post on Monday which, like Andresens, supported Wrights claims. Story continues According to me, the proof is conclusive and I have no doubt that Craig Steven Wright is the person behind the Bitcoin technology, Nakamoto consensus, and the Satoshi Nakamoto name, Matonis wrote. He and Andresen also confirmed they had been responsible for their respective blog posts to Reuters directly. LEGACY Nakamoto's biggest likely legacy lies well beyond his control. The blockchain technology that underpins the currency could transform the way banks settle transactions, the way that property rights and other vital data are recorded, and provide a way for central banks to issue their own digital currencies. The BBC reported on Monday that Wright gave some technical proof demonstrating that he had access to blocks of bitcoins known to have been created by bitcoin's creator. Researchers believe Nakamoto may be holding up to one million of the more than 15 million bitcoins currently in circulation, which would make the creator worth around $440 million. In a blog post also dated Monday, Wright posted an example of a signature used by Nakamoto and an explanation of how bitcoin transactions are verified and thanked all those who had supported the project from its inception. "This incredible communitys passion and intellect and perseverance have taken my small contribution and nurtured it, enhanced it, breathed life into it," he wrote. However he did not state directly that he was Nakamoto. "Satoshi is dead," he said. "But this is only the beginning." Bitcoin expert Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Coin Center, said a new message cryptographically signed using the private key associated with the so-called Genesis block, the first ever "mined" would have been more convincing. The currency's "miners" are incentivised to process transactions every 10 minutes by a possible reward of bitcoins (25 currently), which is how new bitcoins are created. Wright also spoke with The Economist, but declined requests from the magazine to provide further proof that he was Nakamoto. His representatives told Reuters he would not be taking part in more media interviews for the time being. "Our conclusion is that Mr Wright could well be Mr Nakamoto, but that important questions remain," The Economist said. "Indeed, it may never be possible to establish beyond reasonable doubt who really created bitcoin. Hopes that bitcoin would become broadly used helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalisation was $13 billion compared with today's $7 billion. Wright told The Economist he would exchange bitcoin he owns slowly to avoid pushing down its price. HOME RAIDED In December, police raided Wright's Sydney home and office after Wired magazine named him as the probable creator of bitcoin and holder of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency. At the time he made no comment. The treatment of bitcoins for tax purposes in Australia has been the subject of considerable debate. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) ruled in December 2014 that cryptocurrency should be considered an asset, rather than a currency, for capital gains tax purposes. On Monday, the ATO said it had no comment while police were not immediately available for comment. If Wright is Nakamoto he "is now the leader of a movement", said Roberto Capodieci, a Singapore-based entrepreneur working on the blockchain, the technology underlying the currency. That movement ranges from libertarian enthusiasts to central banks experimenting with digital currencies, all of which pay homage in some way to Nakamoto's writings. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore, Matt Siegel in Sydney and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Nick Macfie, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Philippa Fletcher) || Australian says he created bitcoin, but some sceptical: By Byron Kaye and Jemima Kelly SYDNEY/LONDON (Reuters) - Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright identified himself as the creator of controversial digital currency bitcoin on Monday but experts were divided over whether he really was the elusive person who has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto until now. Uncovering Nakamoto's real identity would solve a riddle dating back to the publication of the open source software behind the cryptocurrency in 2008, before its launch a year later. Bitcoin has since become the world's most commonly used virtual currency, attracting the interest of banks, speculators, criminals and regulators. Worth a total of $7 billion at current levels, it fell more than 3 percent on Monday -- a normal intraday move for the volatile currency -- after the news, to below $440 from around $455, before recovering slightly. Some online commentators suggested bitcoin's creator could help resolve a bitter row among the currency's software developers that threatens its future. But Wright made no reference to the row in a BBC interview identifying himself as Nakamoto, and as the protocol bitcoin runs on is open-source and cannot be controlled by any one person, it is unclear whether he would be able to influence the way it develops. "I was the main part of it, other people helped me," Wright, who is now living in London, told the BBC. "Some people will believe, Some people won't, and to tell you the truth, I don't really care," he said. Many bitcoiners said Wright had not done enough to definitively prove that he was Nakamoto, who maintained his anonymity throughout his involvement with bitcoin, which he stepped away from in 2011. But Gavin Andresen, who Nakamoto chose to succeed him, published a blog post in which he described meeting Wright last month and said he is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the Australian is Nakamoto. Jon Matonis, a founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation now works as a bitcoin consultant, wrote a blog post on Monday which, like Andresens, supported Wrights claims. Story continues According to me, the proof is conclusive and I have no doubt that Craig Steven Wright is the person behind the Bitcoin technology, Nakamoto consensus, and the Satoshi Nakamoto name, Matonis wrote. He and Andresen also confirmed they had been responsible for their respective blog posts to Reuters directly. LEGACY Nakamoto's biggest likely legacy lies well beyond his control. The blockchain technology that underpins the currency could transform the way banks settle transactions, the way that property rights and other vital data are recorded, and provide a way for central banks to issue their own digital currencies. The BBC reported on Monday that Wright gave some technical proof demonstrating that he had access to blocks of bitcoins known to have been created by bitcoin's creator. Researchers believe Nakamoto may be holding up to one million of the more than 15 million bitcoins currently in circulation, which would make the creator worth around $440 million. In a blog post also dated Monday, Wright posted an example of a signature used by Nakamoto and an explanation of how bitcoin transactions are verified and thanked all those who had supported the project from its inception. "This incredible communitys passion and intellect and perseverance have taken my small contribution and nurtured it, enhanced it, breathed life into it," he wrote. However he did not state directly that he was Nakamoto. "Satoshi is dead," he said. "But this is only the beginning." Bitcoin expert Peter Van Valkenburgh, director of research at Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Coin Center, said a new message cryptographically signed using the private key associated with the so-called Genesis block, the first ever "mined" would have been more convincing. The currency's "miners" are incentivised to process transactions every 10 minutes by a possible reward of bitcoins (25 currently), which is how new bitcoins are created. Wright also spoke with The Economist, but declined requests from the magazine to provide further proof that he was Nakamoto. His representatives told Reuters he would not be taking part in more media interviews for the time being. "Our conclusion is that Mr Wright could well be Mr Nakamoto, but that important questions remain," The Economist said. "Indeed, it may never be possible to establish beyond reasonable doubt who really created bitcoin. Hopes that bitcoin would become broadly used helped buoy its price to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalisation was $13 billion compared with today's $7 billion. Wright told The Economist he would exchange bitcoin he owns slowly to avoid pushing down its price. HOME RAIDED In December, police raided Wright's Sydney home and office after Wired magazine named him as the probable creator of bitcoin and holder of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency. At the time he made no comment. The treatment of bitcoins for tax purposes in Australia has been the subject of considerable debate. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) ruled in December 2014 that cryptocurrency should be considered an asset, rather than a currency, for capital gains tax purposes. On Monday, the ATO said it had no comment while police were not immediately available for comment. If Wright is Nakamoto he "is now the leader of a movement", said Roberto Capodieci, a Singapore-based entrepreneur working on the blockchain, the technology underlying the currency. That movement ranges from libertarian enthusiasts to central banks experimenting with digital currencies, all of which pay homage in some way to Nakamoto's writings. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore, Matt Siegel in Sydney and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Nick Macfie, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Philippa Fletcher)
[Social Media Buzz]
LIVE: Profit = $639.65 (7.98 %). BUY B19.40 @ $420.00 (#VirCurex). SELL @ $446.56 (#Bitfinex) #bitcoin #btc - http://www.projectcoin.org || 3 hours 59 minutes left in Bid period - Price $BCR Bittrex 0.00000251 BTC #fintech #Bitcredit 2016-05-03 16:00 pic.twitter.com/KZgGEGjLVm || One Bitcoin now worth $451.42@bitstamp. High $452.00. Low $440.78. Market Cap $6.999 Billion #bitcoin || #FLOZ 0.00000054 BTC(-46.00 %) | Market Cap 2 BTC | Volume(24h) 0 BTC | Available Supply 4,322,629 FLOZ || 1 KOBO...
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446.72, 447.98, 459.60, 458.54, 458.55, 460.48, 450.89, 452.73, 454.77, 455.67
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Given the historical Bitcoin prices from the last 90 days, predict the next 10 daily closing prices. The historical prices are: 211.32, 226.90, 233.41, 232.88, 247.85, 253.72, 273.47, 263.48, 233.91, 233.51, 226.43, 217.46, 226.97, 238.23, 227.27, 226.85, 217.11, 222.27, 227.75, 223.41, 220.11, 219.84, 219.18, 221.76, 235.43, 257.32, 234.82, 233.84, 243.61, 236.33, 240.28, 243.78, 244.53, 235.98, 238.89, 238.74, 237.47, 236.43, 253.83, 254.26, 260.20, 275.67, 281.70, 273.09, 276.18, 272.72, 276.26, 274.35, 289.61, 291.76, 296.38, 294.35, 285.34, 281.89, 286.39, 290.59, 285.51, 256.30, 260.93, 261.75, 260.02, 267.96, 266.74, 245.60, 246.20, 248.53, 247.03, 252.80, 242.71, 247.53, 244.22, 247.27, 253.01, 254.32, 253.70, 260.60, 255.49, 253.18, 245.02, 243.68, 236.07, 236.55, 236.15, 224.59, 219.16, 223.83, 228.57, 222.88, 223.36, 222.60.
|
[Bitcoin Technical Analysis for 2015-04-19]
Volume: 15021500, RSI (14-day): 34.82, 50-day EMA: 246.92, 200-day EMA: 270.92
[Wider Market Context]
None available.
[Recent News (last 7 days)]
Your first trade for Monday: The " Fast Money " traders gave their final trades of the day. Tim Seymour was a buyer of the TUR (NYSE Arca: TUR) . Steve Grasso was a buyer of TWTR ( TWTR ) . Brian Kelly was a seller of the TLT (NYSE Arca: TLT) . Guy Adami was a buyer of BX ( BX ) . Trader disclosure: On April 17, 2015, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Tim Seymour is long T, BAC, BX, C, DAL, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, EWP, SUNE, TWX, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, CHL, IBN, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX, TUR, VALE.Steve Grasso is long AAPL, EVGN, MJNA, PFE, T, TWTR, GDX, BAC, BTU, his firm is long AMD, AMZN, NE, OXY, VALE, RIG his kids own EFG, EFA, EWJ, IJR, SPY. Brian Kelly is long BTC=, CTRL calls, GSG, BBRY, SPY puts, he is short 30-Year Bond Futures, he is short Yuan, today he covered U.S. Dollar, today he sold Euro, today he sold EEM, today he sold GLD. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck. More From CNBC Top News and Analysis Latest News Video Personal Finance || Your first trade for Monday: The "Fast Money" traders gave their final trades of the day.
Tim Seymour was a buyer of the TUR(NYSE Arca: TUR).
Steve Grasso was a buyer of TWTR(TWTR).
Brian Kelly was a seller of the TLT(NYSE Arca: TLT).
Guy Adami was a buyer of BX(BX).
Trader disclosure: On April 17, 2015, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders:Tim Seymour is long T, BAC, BX, C, DAL, DIS, F, GE, GM, GOOGL, INTC, EWP, SUNE, TWX, Tim's firm is long BABA, BIDU, CHL, IBN, MCD, NKE, NOK, SBUX, TUR, VALE.Steve Grasso is long AAPL, EVGN, MJNA, PFE, T, TWTR, GDX, BAC, BTU, his firm is long AMD, AMZN, NE, OXY, VALE, RIG his kids own EFG, EFA, EWJ, IJR, SPY. Brian Kelly is long BTC=, CTRL calls, GSG, BBRY, SPY puts, he is short 30-Year Bond Futures, he is short Yuan, today he covered U.S. Dollar, today he sold Euro, today he sold EEM, today he sold GLD. Guy Adami is long CELG, EXAS, INTC, Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck.
More From CNBC
• Top News and Analysis
• Latest News Video
• Personal Finance || Established Bitcoin Media Platform Bitcoinist.net Receives Significant VC Investment And Announces Inside Bitcoins Partnership: Trusted Bitcoin news and tech review source Bitcoinist.net is pleased to announce a significant investment to expand its operations, and a new partnership with the leader in the Bitcoin conference industry; Inside Bitcoins
LONDON, ENGLAND / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2015 /Bitcoinist.net, a Bitcoin media company founded in early 2014 and dedicated to being an independent voice for the cryptocurrency community, is pleased to announce an additional investment round into the company. Bitcoinist has been a cornerstone of the Bitcoin industry, providing news and reviews since early 2014, and will use this investment for an aggressive expansion plan. Bitcoinist.net's original investor, Zoltan Tokay, has invested an undisclosed amount into the site in recognition of the many milestones that the company has achieved.
For the last year, the Bitcoinist team has been at nearly every Bitcoin conference to show support and provide coverage. As the entire Bitcoin industry has grown, so has the Bitcoinist team and its reach. Earlier this month, Bitcoinist.net andInside Bitcoinsjoined together in a monumental deal. The Inside Bitcoins news section will now syndicate news articles and reviews from the Bitcoinist team, and vice versa. Scott Fargo, Editor-in-Chief at Bitcoinist.net, shared his thoughts on the new partnership:
"We atBitcoinist.netare happy to provide news and other content to Inside Bitcoins, the leader in the Bitcoin conference industry. We are looking forward to providing coverage of their world wide events as well."
Bitcoinist has already taken steps towards securing additional partnerships with key entities in the cryptocurrency industry. Look out for future announcements from the Bitcoinist team. For more information about Bitcoinist, please visit (www.bitcoinist.net). Inside Bitcoins is produced by Meckler Media. More information on MecklerMedia can be found at their website (www.mecklermedia.com).
About Bitcoinist
Bitcoinist LTD. is a private limited company registered in the United Kingdom. Since early 2014, Bitcoinist has provided industry-leading reviews, commentary, and news on cryptocurrency and technology. Notably, Bitcoinist has become a leading source for independent Bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency mining hardware reviews. Since being founded in February 2014 by Mate Tokay, Norbert Kovacs and Zoltan Tokay, Bitcoinist.net has grown into a dedicated international team.
For more information about us, please visithttp://bitcoinist.net/
Contact Info:
Name: Vivien GalEmail:[email protected]: BitcoinistAddress: 1 Hova Villas Brighton & Hove BN3 3DH, United KingdomPhone: +36302722409
SOURCE:Bitcoinist || Established Bitcoin Media Platform Bitcoinist.net Receives Significant VC Investment And Announces Inside Bitcoins Partnership: Trusted Bitcoin news and tech review source Bitcoinist.net is pleased to announce a significant investment to expand its operations, and a new partnership with the leader in the Bitcoin conference industry; Inside Bitcoins
LONDON, ENGLAND / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2015 /Bitcoinist.net, a Bitcoin media company founded in early 2014 and dedicated to being an independent voice for the cryptocurrency community, is pleased to announce an additional investment round into the company. Bitcoinist has been a cornerstone of the Bitcoin industry, providing news and reviews since early 2014, and will use this investment for an aggressive expansion plan. Bitcoinist.net's original investor, Zoltan Tokay, has invested an undisclosed amount into the site in recognition of the many milestones that the company has achieved.
For the last year, the Bitcoinist team has been at nearly every Bitcoin conference to show support and provide coverage. As the entire Bitcoin industry has grown, so has the Bitcoinist team and its reach. Earlier this month, Bitcoinist.net andInside Bitcoinsjoined together in a monumental deal. The Inside Bitcoins news section will now syndicate news articles and reviews from the Bitcoinist team, and vice versa. Scott Fargo, Editor-in-Chief at Bitcoinist.net, shared his thoughts on the new partnership:
"We atBitcoinist.netare happy to provide news and other content to Inside Bitcoins, the leader in the Bitcoin conference industry. We are looking forward to providing coverage of their world wide events as well."
Bitcoinist has already taken steps towards securing additional partnerships with key entities in the cryptocurrency industry. Look out for future announcements from the Bitcoinist team. For more information about Bitcoinist, please visit (www.bitcoinist.net). Inside Bitcoins is produced by Meckler Media. More information on MecklerMedia can be found at their website (www.mecklermedia.com).
About Bitcoinist
Bitcoinist LTD. is a private limited company registered in the United Kingdom. Since early 2014, Bitcoinist has provided industry-leading reviews, commentary, and news on cryptocurrency and technology. Notably, Bitcoinist has become a leading source for independent Bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency mining hardware reviews. Since being founded in February 2014 by Mate Tokay, Norbert Kovacs and Zoltan Tokay, Bitcoinist.net has grown into a dedicated international team.
For more information about us, please visithttp://bitcoinist.net/
Contact Info:
Name: Vivien GalEmail:[email protected]: BitcoinistAddress: 1 Hova Villas Brighton & Hove BN3 3DH, United KingdomPhone: +36302722409
SOURCE:Bitcoinist || Established Bitcoin Media Platform Bitcoinist.net Receives Significant VC Investment And Announces Inside Bitcoins Partnership: Trusted Bitcoin news and tech review source Bitcoinist.net is pleased to announce a significant investment to expand its operations, and a new partnership with the leader in the Bitcoin conference industry; Inside Bitcoins LONDON, ENGLAND / ACCESSWIRE / April 16, 2015 / Bitcoinist.net, a Bitcoin media company founded in early 2014 and dedicated to being an independent voice for the cryptocurrency community, is pleased to announce an additional investment round into the company. Bitcoinist has been a cornerstone of the Bitcoin industry, providing news and reviews since early 2014, and will use this investment for an aggressive expansion plan. Bitcoinist.net's original investor, Zoltan Tokay, has invested an undisclosed amount into the site in recognition of the many milestones that the company has achieved. For the last year, the Bitcoinist team has been at nearly every Bitcoin conference to show support and provide coverage. As the entire Bitcoin industry has grown, so has the Bitcoinist team and its reach. Earlier this month, Bitcoinist.net and Inside Bitcoins joined together in a monumental deal. The Inside Bitcoins news section will now syndicate news articles and reviews from the Bitcoinist team, and vice versa. Scott Fargo, Editor-in-Chief at Bitcoinist.net, shared his thoughts on the new partnership: "We at Bitcoinist.net are happy to provide news and other content to Inside Bitcoins, the leader in the Bitcoin conference industry. We are looking forward to providing coverage of their world wide events as well." Bitcoinist has already taken steps towards securing additional partnerships with key entities in the cryptocurrency industry. Look out for future announcements from the Bitcoinist team. For more information about Bitcoinist, please visit ( www.bitcoinist.net ). Inside Bitcoins is produced by Meckler Media. More information on MecklerMedia can be found at their website ( www.mecklermedia.com ). About Bitcoinist Bitcoinist LTD. is a private limited company registered in the United Kingdom. Since early 2014, Bitcoinist has provided industry-leading reviews, commentary, and news on cryptocurrency and technology. Notably, Bitcoinist has become a leading source for independent Bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency mining hardware reviews. Since being founded in February 2014 by Mate Tokay, Norbert Kovacs and Zoltan Tokay, Bitcoinist.net has grown into a dedicated international team. Story continues For more information about us, please visit http://bitcoinist.net/ Contact Info: Name: Vivien Gal Email: [email protected] Organization: Bitcoinist Address: 1 Hova Villas Brighton & Hove BN3 3DH, United Kingdom Phone: +36302722409 SOURCE: Bitcoinist || Is London Becoming The World's Bitcoin Hub?: Last month, the British government threw its weight behind bitcoin saying it would create new regulations to prevent money laundering through cryptocurrency exchanges and work together with fintech companies to come up with a set of rules to govern the use of cryptocurrencies.
The proposal marked a major step in making the UK a hub for investors and small businesses interested in digital currencies.
Now, London is quickly making a name for itself as one of the most bitcoin-friendly cities in the world.
Attitude Is Everything
Although London has made a name as the largest currency trading destination, for many the city doesn't seem like a home for bitcoin.
With Silicon Valley launching some of the world's most successful tech companies and New York famous for its financial clout, London isn't often pictured as an innovative place for bitcoin enthusiasts.
However, the city has made its intention to create an environment that fosters bitcoin innovation clear in recent months as the bitcoin scene continues to grow.
The City of London's government has said that growth opportunities offered by finance technology like digital currencies are a welcome addition to the city's economy and Finance Minister George Osborne has openly expressed his desire to make Britain a leader in the fintech space.
Some saythat it will be that positive attitude which will attract more and more bitcoin firms to bring their business to London.
Related Link:New App Allows Seamless Bitcoin Investment
Government Involvement
In addition to Britain's decision to work together with digital currency businesses to develop a set of standards to govern cryptocurrencies, the region is also making it easier for bitcoin-based businesses to file their taxes.
In 2014, Britain decided to amend its tax law and make bitcoin trades exempt from value added taxes, something most other countries have yet to decide.
UBS On Board
Swiss BankUBS AG(NYSE:UBS) is planning to join London's fintech scene later this month by opening a dedicated blockchain technology innovation lab which will research ways to integrate blockchain into financial services.
Although UBS is not the first bank to tout the potential benefits of blockchain, the technology powering bitcoin, it is the first to go public with its research plans.
See more from Benzinga
• EU Policymakers Express Frustration As Greek Bailout Talks Flatline
• U.S. Department Of Defense Hopes To Pick Up The Pace With 'Better Buying Power 3.0'
• Marijuana Legalization Supporters Delivered A Blow With Schedule 1 Ruling
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Is London Becoming The World's Bitcoin Hub?: Last month, the British government threw its weight behind bitcoin saying it would create new regulations to prevent money laundering through cryptocurrency exchanges and work together with fintech companies to come up with a set of rules to govern the use of cryptocurrencies.
The proposal marked a major step in making the UK a hub for investors and small businesses interested in digital currencies.
Now, London is quickly making a name for itself as one of the most bitcoin-friendly cities in the world.
Attitude Is Everything
Although London has made a name as the largest currency trading destination, for many the city doesn't seem like a home for bitcoin.
With Silicon Valley launching some of the world's most successful tech companies and New York famous for its financial clout, London isn't often pictured as an innovative place for bitcoin enthusiasts.
However, the city has made its intention to create an environment that fosters bitcoin innovation clear in recent months as the bitcoin scene continues to grow.
The City of London's government has said that growth opportunities offered by finance technology like digital currencies are a welcome addition to the city's economy and Finance Minister George Osborne has openly expressed his desire to make Britain a leader in the fintech space.
Some saythat it will be that positive attitude which will attract more and more bitcoin firms to bring their business to London.
Related Link:New App Allows Seamless Bitcoin Investment
Government Involvement
In addition to Britain's decision to work together with digital currency businesses to develop a set of standards to govern cryptocurrencies, the region is also making it easier for bitcoin-based businesses to file their taxes.
In 2014, Britain decided to amend its tax law and make bitcoin trades exempt from value added taxes, something most other countries have yet to decide.
UBS On Board
Swiss BankUBS AG(NYSE:UBS) is planning to join London's fintech scene later this month by opening a dedicated blockchain technology innovation lab which will research ways to integrate blockchain into financial services.
Although UBS is not the first bank to tout the potential benefits of blockchain, the technology powering bitcoin, it is the first to go public with its research plans.
See more from Benzinga
• EU Policymakers Express Frustration As Greek Bailout Talks Flatline
• U.S. Department Of Defense Hopes To Pick Up The Pace With 'Better Buying Power 3.0'
• Marijuana Legalization Supporters Delivered A Blow With Schedule 1 Ruling
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Is London Becoming The World's Bitcoin Hub?: Last month, the British government threw its weight behind bitcoin saying it would create new regulations to prevent money laundering through cryptocurrency exchanges and work together with fintech companies to come up with a set of rules to govern the use of cryptocurrencies. The proposal marked a major step in making the UK a hub for investors and small businesses interested in digital currencies. Now, London is quickly making a name for itself as one of the most bitcoin-friendly cities in the world. Attitude Is Everything Although London has made a name as the largest currency trading destination, for many the city doesn't seem like a home for bitcoin. With Silicon Valley launching some of the world's most successful tech companies and New York famous for its financial clout, London isn't often pictured as an innovative place for bitcoin enthusiasts. However, the city has made its intention to create an environment that fosters bitcoin innovation clear in recent months as the bitcoin scene continues to grow. The City of London's government has said that growth opportunities offered by finance technology like digital currencies are a welcome addition to the city's economy and Finance Minister George Osborne has openly expressed his desire to make Britain a leader in the fintech space. Some say that it will be that positive attitude which will attract more and more bitcoin firms to bring their business to London. Related Link: New App Allows Seamless Bitcoin Investment Government Involvement In addition to Britain's decision to work together with digital currency businesses to develop a set of standards to govern cryptocurrencies, the region is also making it easier for bitcoin-based businesses to file their taxes. In 2014, Britain decided to amend its tax law and make bitcoin trades exempt from value added taxes, something most other countries have yet to decide. UBS On Board Swiss Bank UBS AG (NYSE: UBS ) is planning to join London's fintech scene later this month by opening a dedicated blockchain technology innovation lab which will research ways to integrate blockchain into financial services. Story continues Although UBS is not the first bank to tout the potential benefits of blockchain, the technology powering bitcoin, it is the first to go public with its research plans. See more from Benzinga EU Policymakers Express Frustration As Greek Bailout Talks Flatline U.S. Department Of Defense Hopes To Pick Up The Pace With 'Better Buying Power 3.0' Marijuana Legalization Supporters Delivered A Blow With Schedule 1 Ruling © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Comstock Mining Announces First Quarter 2015 Results: VIRGINIA CITY, NV--(Marketwired - April 16, 2015) -Comstock Mining Inc. (the "Company")(NYSE MKT: LODE)today announced selected unaudited financial results for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2015.
First Quarter 2015 Selected Strategic and Operational Highlights
• Costs applicable to mining revenue were reduced by 22% when comparing Q1 2015, to Q1 2014.
• Weighted average gold grades improved 63% to 0.039 opt in Q1 2015, from 0.024 opt in Q1 2014.
• Weighted average silver grades improved 113%, to 0.734 opt in Q1 2015, from 0.345 opt in Q1 2014.
• Silver to gold production exceeded an 11:1 silver:gold ratio in Q1 2015, up from 9:1 in Q1 2014.
• Metallurgical yields improved to 81% in Q1 2015, from 74% in Q1 2014.
• Strip ratio improved to 1:1 for the first quarter of 2015, down from the 2014 average of 4.8:1.
• Encountered significant high grade intercepts from Succor-Holman mineral patents drilling program.
• Commenced moving State Route 342 ('SR-342'), accelerating operational and community benefits.
• Expanded our landmark special use permit for mining and mine development.
• Expanded our land position, acquiring lands immediately adjacent to our mine area and leach pad.
• Expanded our existing heap leach pad consistent with recently expanded Water Control Permit.
• Enhanced Senior Mining, Financial and Environmental Management, adding operational, environmental and financial strengths to our team while reducing overall costs.
First Quarter 2015 Selected Financial Highlights
• Mining revenue was $5.9 million in Q1 2015 as compared to $5.6 million in Q1 2014, an increase of 6%, resulting from higher gold ounces produced and higher average gold price per ounce.
• Costs applicable to mining revenue was $3.7 million in Q1 2015, as compared to $4.8 million, net of silver credits, in Q1 2014, a decrease of 22%, primarily due to mining cost reductions.
• General and administrative expenses were $2.1 million in Q1 2015, as compared to $2.2 million in Q1 2014, primarily due to lower labor costs of $0.5 million, offset by severance of $0.4 million.
• Net income was $1.3 million, or $0.01 per share for Q1 2015, as compared to a loss of $3.8 million, or $(0.07) per share, for Q1 2014. The improvement resulted from lower costs, higher revenue and the elimination of certain liabilities that strengthened our balance sheet.
• Net cash generated by operating activities was a positive $0.2 million in Q1 2015, as compared to a cash use of $2.4 million from operations in Q1 2014, or a 109% improvement.
• Net cash used for investing was $3.1 million for the first quarter of 2015, primarily from $1.7 million for strategic land purchases and $1.1 million for the expansion of the processing facility.
• Net cash provided by financing activities for the first quarter of 2015, was $1.8 million comprised of proceeds of $4.4 million from the Revolving Credit Facility, partially off-set by a $2.7 million pay-down of other long-term debt obligations. Cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2015 were $4.2 million.
• Total long-term debt and capital lease obligations were $14.1 million at March 31, 2015, including $5 million outstanding on the Revolving Credit Facility.
First Quarter 2015 Selected Production Highlights
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"We have continued our crusade for lower costs into 2015, with substantially improved grades, yields and strip ratios while reducing absolute spending wherever possible. We also commenced the re-routing of SR- 342, and have safely accelerated many operating, environmental and community benefits. These achievements have positioned us for profitability throughout 2015," stated Corrado De Gasperis, CEO of Comstock Mining.
ProductionMetal pours totaled 4,695 ounces of gold and 56,482 ounces of silver, during the first quarter of 2015, as compared to 4,507 ounces of gold and 49,358 ounces of silver in the first quarter of 2014, a 4.2% increase for gold ounces and a 14.4% increase for silver ounces. The Company crushed and stacked 157,612 dry tons of mineralized material, delivering 6,083 estimated ounces of recoverable gold and 115,689 estimated ounces of recoverable silver to the leach pads with weighted average gold grades of 0.039 ounces per ton.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2015, the Company realized an average sales price of $1,280.25 per ounce of gold and $15.94 per ounce of silver. In comparison, commodity market prices in the first quarter of 2015 averaged $1,219.22 per ounce of gold and $16.72 per ounce of silver.
Operating Costs and Cost ReductionsDuring the first three months of 2015, actual Lucerne Mine costs applicable to mining revenue were $4.6 million, $3.7 million net of silver by-product credits as compared to $5.8 million, $4.8 million net of silver by-product credits in the first three months of 2014, representing a 22% reduction of costs applicable to mining revenue.These costs applicable to mining revenue also include depreciation of $1.5 million and $1.3 million, for the first quarter of 2015 and 2014, respectively.
During 2015, the Company continued reducing costs applicable to mining revenue, targeting over $5 million in reductions this year as compared to 2014. The Company has already realized $1.0 million of savings from reduced labor, drilling and blasting and fuel in the first quarter of 2015, as compared to the first quarter of 2014. The Company has also identified $1.5 million of potential cost reductions in all other non-mining activities, including general, administrative, land and environmental areas and has already realized $0.3 million in the first quarter of 2015, as compared to the first quarter of 2014. The Company incurred $0.4 million in severance costs during the first quarter, in mining and general and administrative expenses, associated with organizational cost reduction activities.
Exploration and Development (including Underground)During the first quarter, the Company announced that the drill program on the East-side of the Lucerne continues to reveal higher-grade gold intercepts that further define a near-surface, broadening zone of high-grade gold mineralization in the Succor and Holman mineral patents. These results represent significant progress towards the first major objective in the 2014-2015 exploration and development drilling program (the 'Program'), representing a comprehensive drilling and evaluation of high priority targets including the Succor and Holman. All data, to date, suggests these claims have excellent potential for economic mining and metal recovery. The current drill program resulted in the following summary of intercepts:
Table 1: Summary of Drill Program
[["", "", "", "", ""], ["", "", "", "", ""], ["", "", "Succor", "", "Holman"], ["No. Holes Drilled", "", "80", "", "39"], ["Strike Length Drilled (ft)", "", "700", "", "575"], ["No. 10' intervals with intercepts > .015 Au opt.", "", "166", "", "55"], ["No. 10' interval with intercepts > .100 Au opt.", "", "22", "", "3"], ["No. drill holes with intercepts > .100 Au opt.", "", "20", "", "2"], ["", "", "", "", ""], ["", "", "", "", ""]]
Table 2: Average Grades for Drill Intercepts Greater than .015 Au opt.
[["", "", "", "", ""], ["", "", "", "", ""], ["", "", "Succor", "", "Holman"], ["Avg Au opt.", "", "0.056", "", "0.047"], ["Avg Ag opt.", "", "0.259", "", "0.333"], ["", "", "", "", ""], ["", "", "", "", ""]]
Underground DevelopmentThe Company recently completed extensive geological development and modeling, incorporating all available data, including existing drill holes and historic underground mine maps, amongst other geological information and is preparing to develop the underground portion of the drill program. The sectional compilation resulted in several important findings. The work confirmed that the lode is comprised of a group of northwest trending, sub-parallel mineralized structures, rather than a simple vein system confined to a single fault zone. These structural groups coalesce into a single zone in the central part of the East-side area and diverge to the north and south to create zones up to 600-feet wide. The Company also discovered dike-like masses of quartz porphyry that have intruded into the main lode and have a direct relationship to the known mineralization.
Out of this extensive geologic work, a definitive underground target has emerged, specifically that part of the lode occupied by the above described mineralized mass of quartz porphyry, as well as the neighboring wall rocks. This conclusion is based on surface drill hole results, metallurgy, and proximity to the current Lucerne Mine floor, as well as past mining knowledge.
The results from the underground program will be incorporated into existing sectional data and, along with newly derived grade shells and grade models, an initial, phased internal reserve model will be created for this area. Developing a new underground access to the quartz porphyry structures and the almost adjacent Woodville Bonanza structures represents a significant opportunity for an accelerated, efficient underground mine plan in the Lucerne Area.
http://www.comstockmining.com/files/flipbooks/Proposed-Underground-Drill-ProgramLooking-NW-From-Top/
Evaluation of Existing Mine DumpsDuring late summer through autumn of 2014, the geological and environmental teams undertook a systematic evaluation of historic mine dumps throughout most of the central part of the District. Quantifying and understanding the nature of legacy contaminants and identifying the extent of mineralization with the potential to increase mineable resources were the two primary objectives. Overall, significant tonnages of mineralized dump materials were quantified. Most tonnages are directly to the east of the Lucerne mine and average around 0.025-0.035 opt Au. Dumps sampled for this evaluation are located within Gold Canyon, Storey County, on the east side of SR-342, and west of Silver City in Lyon County. Dumps sampled include the Silver Hills-Donovan (Eastside), Woodville, Lady Washington, Keystone, New York, and Oest. Total tonnages inventoried total over 640,000 tons.
"These near-surface drill results represent exceptionally higher grades than our current average mine grades. These discoveries of near surface, high-grade minerals on the East-side of Lucerne, the development of high-grade vein structures for underground feasibility and the discovery of good grading historic dump materials all provide immediate potential for expanding our operations," continued Mr. De Gasperis.
HOPE Gold CoinOn March 30, 2015, the Company received 300,000 coins ("HOPE Coins") issued by the HOPE Gold Coin Charitable Trust (the "Trust") as payment (and partial pre-payment) on the Mineral Rights License Agreement entered into by the Company with the Trust on October 9, 2014. The HOPE coins are considered a cryptographic currency. The Trust represents one of the first organizations effectively leveraging existing block-chain technologies and was recently named one of the top 25 companies on the Sand Hill Bitcoin Innovative Disrupters list. The HOPE Coins are being sold by the Trust for $10 each.
Hospitality SegmentEffective April 1, 2015, the Company entered into an agreement to lease the Gold Hill Hotel. The Company retains ownership to the land and Gold Hill Hotel properties while leasing the facilities to independent operators. Historically, the hospitality segment operated at a net loss but based on the current lease agreement, the Company does not expect any future net losses and more likely, prospective net lease and rental income.
SR-342 RealignmentIn early February, NDOT closed an approximate two-mile section of SR-342, south of Gold Hill, as a safety precaution following roadway cracking and area specific sinking during a weekend of heavy rains. The area of sinking is above a historic mine-shaft dating back to the early 1900's, and that portion of the road sits on old mine dumps and looser fill, that has a history of instability and, in some cases failure. The Company owns the land, with NDOT granted prescriptive rights to operate the state roadbed over that private land. Storey County, NDOT, the Company, and other applicable regulatory agencies evaluated several remedies for the realignment of SR-342. The route will be realigned to the east of the historic shaft, enabling safe travel, continuing operations and important reclamations, while positioning the area for future mining and development.
The realignment will occur over two phases, with Phase 1 completion taking approximately 10-12 weeks and Phase 2 requiring an additional six months. Phase 1 begins with the Company removing the unconsolidated fill that now exists above the base bedrock level and beneath the existing road followed by construction of a bypass road upon the base bedrock. Additionally, the historic Silver Hill Shaft will be capped permanently.
http://comstockmining.com/sr-342-construction-2015
Once Phase 1 is complete in June, the road will be reopened during construction of the second phase. Phase 2 includes removal of additional material on the east side of the canyon and will conclude with a tie in of the south end of the newly constructed alignment. A short closure will be necessary toward the end of Phase 2 for the tie in and completion of the realignment. The project is estimated to last through December of 2015, with an estimated cost of $3 million.
CorporateCash and cash equivalents on hand at March 31, 2015 totaled $4.2 million. Total long-term debt and capital lease obligations at March 31, 2015, were $14.1 million as compared to $13.5 million at March 31, 2014. For the remainder of 2015, the Company plans on spending approximately $3.5 million in capital expenditures, primarily the road realignment project and some infrastructural development. The Company also plans to pay down an additional $6.6 million in debt obligations, including $3.4 million on the Revolving Credit Facility.
OutlookThe Company expects to be cash positive from operations throughout 2015, while expanding our mining activities during the third quarter, including exploration and development of an underground Lucerne mine, a second Dayton mine plan and commencing the Dayton permitting.
Mr. De Gasperis concluded, "Our goals for this year are to ensure the lowest cost operating parameters and expand Lucerne, including a tremendous underground opportunity, while developing and commissioning Dayton. We expect to be cash positive from operations throughout 2015, while expanding our mining activities during the third quarter, including the initial underground target."
The Company will host a conference call today, April 16, 2015, at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The live call will include a Q&A with accredited institutions, investors and analysts immediately following the prepared remarks. The dial-in telephone numbers for the live audio are as follows:
North American Toll Free: 1-866-253-4737International: 1-416-849-4292
The audio will be available, usually within 24 hours of the call, on the Company website:http://www.comstockmining.com/investors/investor-library
About Comstock Mining Inc.Comstock Mining Inc. is a producing, Nevada-based, gold and silver mining company with extensive, contiguous property in the Comstock District and is an emerging leader in sustainable, responsible mining, including concurrent and accelerated reclamations, soil sampling, voluntary air monitoring, cultural asset protection and historical restorations. The Company began acquiring properties in the Comstock District in 2003. Since then, the Company has consolidated a significant portion of the Comstock District, amassed the single largest known repository of historical and current geological data on the Comstock region, secured permits, built an infrastructure and commenced production in 2012. The Company continues acquiring additional properties in the district, expanding its footprint and creating opportunities for further exploration, development and mining. The near term goal of our business plan is to deliver stockholder value by validating qualified resources (measured and indicated) and reserves (proven and probable) of at least 3,250,000 gold equivalent ounces from our first two resource areas, Lucerne and Dayton, and significantly grow the commercial development of our operations through coordinated, district wide plans that are economically feasible and socially responsible.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release and any related calls or discussions may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about Comstock. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements about matters such as: future prices and sales of, and demand for, our products; future industry market conditions; future changes in our exploration activities, production capacity and operations; future exploration, production, operating and overhead costs; operational and management restructuring activities (including implementation of methodologies and changes in the board of directors); future employment and contributions of personnel; tax and interest rates; capital expenditures and their impact on us; nature and timing and accounting for restructuring charges, gains or losses on debt extinguishment, derivative liabilities and the impact thereof; productivity, business process, rationalization, investment, acquisition, consulting, operational, tax, financial and capital projects and initiatives; contingencies; environmental compliance and changes in the regulatory environment; offerings, sales and other actions regarding debt or equity securities; and future working capital, costs, revenues, business opportunities, debt levels, cash flows, margins, earnings and growth.
The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "plan," "should," "intend," "may," "will," "would," "potential" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of doing so. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical and current trends, current conditions, possible future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, representations or warranties and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Some of those risks and uncertainties include the risk factors discussed in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of our annual report on Form 10-K and the following: current global economic and capital market uncertainties; the speculative nature of gold or mineral exploration, including risks of diminishing quantities or grades of qualified resources and reserves; operational or technical difficulties in connection with exploration or mining activities; contests over our title to properties; potential dilution to our stockholders from the conversion of securities that are convertible into or exercisable for shares of our common stock; potential inability to continue to comply with government regulations; adoption of or changes in legislation or regulations adversely affecting our businesses; business opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, us; changes in the United States or other monetary or fiscal policies or regulations; interruptions in our production capabilities due to unexpected equipment failures; fluctuation of prices for gold or certain other commodities (such as silver, copper, diesel fuel, and electricity); changes in generally accepted accounting principles; geopolitical events; potential inability to implement our business strategies; potential inability to grow revenues organically; potential inability to attract and retain key personnel; interruptions in delivery of critical supplies and equipment raw materials due to credit or other limitations imposed by vendors; assertion of claims, lawsuits and proceedings against us; potential inability to maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial reporting; potential inability or failure to timely file periodic reports with the SEC; potential inability to maintain the listing of our securities on any securities exchange or market; and work stoppages or other labor difficulties. Occurrence of such events or circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows or the market price of our securities. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements by or attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement.
Neither this press release nor any related calls or discussions constitutes an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. || Comstock Mining Announces First Quarter 2015 Results: VIRGINIA CITY, NV --(Marketwired - April 16, 2015) - Comstock Mining Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE MKT: LODE) today announced selected unaudited financial results for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2015. First Quarter 2015 Selected Strategic and Operational Highlights Costs applicable to mining revenue were reduced by 22% when comparing Q1 2015, to Q1 2014. Weighted average gold grades improved 63% to 0.039 opt in Q1 2015, from 0.024 opt in Q1 2014. Weighted average silver grades improved 113%, to 0.734 opt in Q1 2015, from 0.345 opt in Q1 2014. Silver to gold production exceeded an 11:1 silver:gold ratio in Q1 2015, up from 9:1 in Q1 2014. Metallurgical yields improved to 81% in Q1 2015, from 74% in Q1 2014. Strip ratio improved to 1:1 for the first quarter of 2015, down from the 2014 average of 4.8:1. Encountered significant high grade intercepts from Succor-Holman mineral patents drilling program. Commenced moving State Route 342 ('SR-342'), accelerating operational and community benefits. Expanded our landmark special use permit for mining and mine development. Expanded our land position, acquiring lands immediately adjacent to our mine area and leach pad. Expanded our existing heap leach pad consistent with recently expanded Water Control Permit. Enhanced Senior Mining, Financial and Environmental Management, adding operational, environmental and financial strengths to our team while reducing overall costs. First Quarter 2015 Selected Financial Highlights Mining revenue was $5.9 million in Q1 2015 as compared to $5.6 million in Q1 2014, an increase of 6%, resulting from higher gold ounces produced and higher average gold price per ounce. Costs applicable to mining revenue was $3.7 million in Q1 2015, as compared to $4.8 million, net of silver credits, in Q1 2014, a decrease of 22%, primarily due to mining cost reductions. General and administrative expenses were $2.1 million in Q1 2015, as compared to $2.2 million in Q1 2014, primarily due to lower labor costs of $0.5 million, offset by severance of $0.4 million. Net income was $1.3 million, or $0.01 per share for Q1 2015, as compared to a loss of $3.8 million, or $(0.07) per share, for Q1 2014. The improvement resulted from lower costs, higher revenue and the elimination of certain liabilities that strengthened our balance sheet. Net cash generated by operating activities was a positive $0.2 million in Q1 2015, as compared to a cash use of $2.4 million from operations in Q1 2014, or a 109% improvement. Net cash used for investing was $3.1 million for the first quarter of 2015, primarily from $1.7 million for strategic land purchases and $1.1 million for the expansion of the processing facility. Net cash provided by financing activities for the first quarter of 2015, was $1.8 million comprised of proceeds of $4.4 million from the Revolving Credit Facility, partially off-set by a $2.7 million pay-down of other long-term debt obligations. Cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2015 were $4.2 million. Total long-term debt and capital lease obligations were $14.1 million at March 31, 2015, including $5 million outstanding on the Revolving Credit Facility. Story continues First Quarter 2015 Selected Production Highlights 1Q 2015 1Q 2014 Mining Operations Tons Mined 316,199 947,852 Processing Tons Crushed 157,612 205,686 Weighted Average Grade Per Ton Au 0.039 0.024 Weighted Average Grade Per Ton Ag 0.734 0.345 Estimated Au Ounces Stacked 6,083 5,016 Estimated Ag Ounces Stacked 115,689 70,989 Estimated Au Equivalent* Ounces Stacked 7,669 6,140 Au Ounces Poured and Sold 4,695 4,507 Ag Ounces Poured and Sold 56,482 49,358 Au Equivalent* Ounces Poured 5,470 5,290 * Au Equivalent ounces = Au ounces (actual) + Ag ounces (actual) ÷ the ratio of average gold to silver prices 72.91 63.14 "We have continued our crusade for lower costs into 2015, with substantially improved grades, yields and strip ratios while reducing absolute spending wherever possible. We also commenced the re-routing of SR- 342, and have safely accelerated many operating, environmental and community benefits. These achievements have positioned us for profitability throughout 2015," stated Corrado De Gasperis, CEO of Comstock Mining. Production Metal pours totaled 4,695 ounces of gold and 56,482 ounces of silver, during the first quarter of 2015, as compared to 4,507 ounces of gold and 49,358 ounces of silver in the first quarter of 2014, a 4.2% increase for gold ounces and a 14.4% increase for silver ounces. The Company crushed and stacked 157,612 dry tons of mineralized material, delivering 6,083 estimated ounces of recoverable gold and 115,689 estimated ounces of recoverable silver to the leach pads with weighted average gold grades of 0.039 ounces per ton. For the quarter ended March 31, 2015, the Company realized an average sales price of $1,280.25 per ounce of gold and $15.94 per ounce of silver. In comparison, commodity market prices in the first quarter of 2015 averaged $1,219.22 per ounce of gold and $16.72 per ounce of silver. Operating Costs and Cost Reductions During the first three months of 2015, actual Lucerne Mine costs applicable to mining revenue were $4.6 million, $3.7 million net of silver by-product credits as compared to $5.8 million, $4.8 million net of silver by-product credits in the first three months of 2014, representing a 22% reduction of costs applicable to mining revenue. These costs applicable to mining revenue also include depreciation of $1.5 million and $1.3 million, for the first quarter of 2015 and 2014, respectively. During 2015, the Company continued reducing costs applicable to mining revenue, targeting over $5 million in reductions this year as compared to 2014. The Company has already realized $1.0 million of savings from reduced labor, drilling and blasting and fuel in the first quarter of 2015, as compared to the first quarter of 2014. The Company has also identified $1.5 million of potential cost reductions in all other non-mining activities, including general, administrative, land and environmental areas and has already realized $0.3 million in the first quarter of 2015, as compared to the first quarter of 2014. The Company incurred $0.4 million in severance costs during the first quarter, in mining and general and administrative expenses, associated with organizational cost reduction activities. Exploration and Development (including Underground) During the first quarter, the Company announced that the drill program on the East-side of the Lucerne continues to reveal higher-grade gold intercepts that further define a near-surface, broadening zone of high-grade gold mineralization in the Succor and Holman mineral patents. These results represent significant progress towards the first major objective in the 2014-2015 exploration and development drilling program (the 'Program'), representing a comprehensive drilling and evaluation of high priority targets including the Succor and Holman. All data, to date, suggests these claims have excellent potential for economic mining and metal recovery. The current drill program resulted in the following summary of intercepts: Table 1: Summary of Drill Program Succor Holman No. Holes Drilled 80 39 Strike Length Drilled (ft) 700 575 No. 10' intervals with intercepts > .015 Au opt. 166 55 No. 10' interval with intercepts > .100 Au opt. 22 3 No. drill holes with intercepts > .100 Au opt. 20 2 Table 2: Average Grades for Drill Intercepts Greater than .015 Au opt. Succor Holman Avg Au opt. 0.056 0.047 Avg Ag opt. 0.259 0.333 Underground Development The Company recently completed extensive geological development and modeling, incorporating all available data, including existing drill holes and historic underground mine maps, amongst other geological information and is preparing to develop the underground portion of the drill program. The sectional compilation resulted in several important findings. The work confirmed that the lode is comprised of a group of northwest trending, sub-parallel mineralized structures, rather than a simple vein system confined to a single fault zone. These structural groups coalesce into a single zone in the central part of the East-side area and diverge to the north and south to create zones up to 600-feet wide. The Company also discovered dike-like masses of quartz porphyry that have intruded into the main lode and have a direct relationship to the known mineralization. Out of this extensive geologic work, a definitive underground target has emerged, specifically that part of the lode occupied by the above described mineralized mass of quartz porphyry, as well as the neighboring wall rocks. This conclusion is based on surface drill hole results, metallurgy, and proximity to the current Lucerne Mine floor, as well as past mining knowledge. The results from the underground program will be incorporated into existing sectional data and, along with newly derived grade shells and grade models, an initial, phased internal reserve model will be created for this area. Developing a new underground access to the quartz porphyry structures and the almost adjacent Woodville Bonanza structures represents a significant opportunity for an accelerated, efficient underground mine plan in the Lucerne Area. http://www.comstockmining.com/files/flipbooks/Proposed-Underground-Drill-ProgramLooking-NW-From-Top/ Evaluation of Existing Mine Dumps During late summer through autumn of 2014, the geological and environmental teams undertook a systematic evaluation of historic mine dumps throughout most of the central part of the District. Quantifying and understanding the nature of legacy contaminants and identifying the extent of mineralization with the potential to increase mineable resources were the two primary objectives. Overall, significant tonnages of mineralized dump materials were quantified. Most tonnages are directly to the east of the Lucerne mine and average around 0.025-0.035 opt Au. Dumps sampled for this evaluation are located within Gold Canyon, Storey County, on the east side of SR-342, and west of Silver City in Lyon County. Dumps sampled include the Silver Hills-Donovan (Eastside), Woodville, Lady Washington, Keystone, New York, and Oest. Total tonnages inventoried total over 640,000 tons. "These near-surface drill results represent exceptionally higher grades than our current average mine grades. These discoveries of near surface, high-grade minerals on the East-side of Lucerne, the development of high-grade vein structures for underground feasibility and the discovery of good grading historic dump materials all provide immediate potential for expanding our operations," continued Mr. De Gasperis. HOPE Gold Coin On March 30, 2015, the Company received 300,000 coins ("HOPE Coins") issued by the HOPE Gold Coin Charitable Trust (the "Trust") as payment (and partial pre-payment) on the Mineral Rights License Agreement entered into by the Company with the Trust on October 9, 2014. The HOPE coins are considered a cryptographic currency. The Trust represents one of the first organizations effectively leveraging existing block-chain technologies and was recently named one of the top 25 companies on the Sand Hill Bitcoin Innovative Disrupters list. The HOPE Coins are being sold by the Trust for $10 each. Hospitality Segment Effective April 1, 2015, the Company entered into an agreement to lease the Gold Hill Hotel. The Company retains ownership to the land and Gold Hill Hotel properties while leasing the facilities to independent operators. Historically, the hospitality segment operated at a net loss but based on the current lease agreement, the Company does not expect any future net losses and more likely, prospective net lease and rental income. SR-342 Realignment In early February, NDOT closed an approximate two-mile section of SR-342, south of Gold Hill, as a safety precaution following roadway cracking and area specific sinking during a weekend of heavy rains. The area of sinking is above a historic mine-shaft dating back to the early 1900's, and that portion of the road sits on old mine dumps and looser fill, that has a history of instability and, in some cases failure. The Company owns the land, with NDOT granted prescriptive rights to operate the state roadbed over that private land. Storey County, NDOT, the Company, and other applicable regulatory agencies evaluated several remedies for the realignment of SR-342. The route will be realigned to the east of the historic shaft, enabling safe travel, continuing operations and important reclamations, while positioning the area for future mining and development. The realignment will occur over two phases, with Phase 1 completion taking approximately 10-12 weeks and Phase 2 requiring an additional six months. Phase 1 begins with the Company removing the unconsolidated fill that now exists above the base bedrock level and beneath the existing road followed by construction of a bypass road upon the base bedrock. Additionally, the historic Silver Hill Shaft will be capped permanently. http://comstockmining.com/sr-342-construction-2015 Once Phase 1 is complete in June, the road will be reopened during construction of the second phase. Phase 2 includes removal of additional material on the east side of the canyon and will conclude with a tie in of the south end of the newly constructed alignment. A short closure will be necessary toward the end of Phase 2 for the tie in and completion of the realignment. The project is estimated to last through December of 2015, with an estimated cost of $3 million. Corporate Cash and cash equivalents on hand at March 31, 2015 totaled $4.2 million. Total long-term debt and capital lease obligations at March 31, 2015, were $14.1 million as compared to $13.5 million at March 31, 2014. For the remainder of 2015, the Company plans on spending approximately $3.5 million in capital expenditures, primarily the road realignment project and some infrastructural development. The Company also plans to pay down an additional $6.6 million in debt obligations, including $3.4 million on the Revolving Credit Facility. Outlook The Company expects to be cash positive from operations throughout 2015, while expanding our mining activities during the third quarter, including exploration and development of an underground Lucerne mine, a second Dayton mine plan and commencing the Dayton permitting. Mr. De Gasperis concluded, "Our goals for this year are to ensure the lowest cost operating parameters and expand Lucerne, including a tremendous underground opportunity, while developing and commissioning Dayton. We expect to be cash positive from operations throughout 2015, while expanding our mining activities during the third quarter, including the initial underground target." The Company will host a conference call today, April 16, 2015, at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The live call will include a Q&A with accredited institutions, investors and analysts immediately following the prepared remarks. The dial-in telephone numbers for the live audio are as follows: North American Toll Free: 1-866-253-4737 International: 1-416-849-4292 The audio will be available, usually within 24 hours of the call, on the Company website: http://www.comstockmining.com/investors/investor-library About Comstock Mining Inc. Comstock Mining Inc. is a producing, Nevada-based, gold and silver mining company with extensive, contiguous property in the Comstock District and is an emerging leader in sustainable, responsible mining, including concurrent and accelerated reclamations, soil sampling, voluntary air monitoring, cultural asset protection and historical restorations. The Company began acquiring properties in the Comstock District in 2003. Since then, the Company has consolidated a significant portion of the Comstock District, amassed the single largest known repository of historical and current geological data on the Comstock region, secured permits, built an infrastructure and commenced production in 2012. The Company continues acquiring additional properties in the district, expanding its footprint and creating opportunities for further exploration, development and mining. The near term goal of our business plan is to deliver stockholder value by validating qualified resources (measured and indicated) and reserves (proven and probable) of at least 3,250,000 gold equivalent ounces from our first two resource areas, Lucerne and Dayton, and significantly grow the commercial development of our operations through coordinated, district wide plans that are economically feasible and socially responsible. Forward-Looking Statements This press release and any related calls or discussions may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about Comstock. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements about matters such as: future prices and sales of, and demand for, our products; future industry market conditions; future changes in our exploration activities, production capacity and operations; future exploration, production, operating and overhead costs; operational and management restructuring activities (including implementation of methodologies and changes in the board of directors); future employment and contributions of personnel; tax and interest rates; capital expenditures and their impact on us; nature and timing and accounting for restructuring charges, gains or losses on debt extinguishment, derivative liabilities and the impact thereof; productivity, business process, rationalization, investment, acquisition, consulting, operational, tax, financial and capital projects and initiatives; contingencies; environmental compliance and changes in the regulatory environment; offerings, sales and other actions regarding debt or equity securities; and future working capital, costs, revenues, business opportunities, debt levels, cash flows, margins, earnings and growth. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "plan," "should," "intend," "may," "will," "would," "potential" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of doing so. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical and current trends, current conditions, possible future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, representations or warranties and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Some of those risks and uncertainties include the risk factors discussed in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of our annual report on Form 10-K and the following: current global economic and capital market uncertainties; the speculative nature of gold or mineral exploration, including risks of diminishing quantities or grades of qualified resources and reserves; operational or technical difficulties in connection with exploration or mining activities; contests over our title to properties; potential dilution to our stockholders from the conversion of securities that are convertible into or exercisable for shares of our common stock; potential inability to continue to comply with government regulations; adoption of or changes in legislation or regulations adversely affecting our businesses; business opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, us; changes in the United States or other monetary or fiscal policies or regulations; interruptions in our production capabilities due to unexpected equipment failures; fluctuation of prices for gold or certain other commodities (such as silver, copper, diesel fuel, and electricity); changes in generally accepted accounting principles; geopolitical events; potential inability to implement our business strategies; potential inability to grow revenues organically; potential inability to attract and retain key personnel; interruptions in delivery of critical supplies and equipment raw materials due to credit or other limitations imposed by vendors; assertion of claims, lawsuits and proceedings against us; potential inability to maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial reporting; potential inability or failure to timely file periodic reports with the SEC; potential inability to maintain the listing of our securities on any securities exchange or market; and work stoppages or other labor difficulties. Occurrence of such events or circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows or the market price of our securities. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements by or attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement. Neither this press release nor any related calls or discussions constitutes an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. || Brad Garlinghouse Joins Ripple Labs as Company's First Chief Operating Officer: SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 16, 2015) - Ripple Labs today announced that it has appointed Brad Garlinghouse as the company's first Chief Operating Officer. The former Hightail CEO and longtime Yahoo! executive brings a history of disciplined growth and execution to the newly created position. "We are very excited to have Brad join the team," said Ripple Labs CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen. "Brad's experience will be invaluable as we advance our focus from building a strong pipeline to execution and exceptional growth. We share a vision for the future of finance and the creation of an Internet of Value in which value exchange is as fast, free, transparent, and secure as information exchange is on the Internet today." Prior to serving as CEO of Hightail, formerly known as YouSendIt, Garlinghouse was the President of Applications and Commerce at AOL. During a six year tenure at Yahoo!, he held a number of senior roles. Previously, he spent time as a Partner at @Ventures and in business development at @Home Network. Garlinghouse serves on the boards of Ancestry.com, Animoto, and Tonic for Health. He holds a BA from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Harvard Business School. "Ripple Labs is an incredible team, all joined by a shared passion to change the world -- the energy, commitment and expertise is unmatched," said Garlinghouse. "There is already incredible momentum for Ripple as a new infrastructure for global payments, and the opportunity to define the actual framework for the Internet of Value is an order of magnitude bigger than anything else underway in payments today." Ripple Labs is the global leader in distributed financial technology and standards. The team supports the adoption of Ripple, a settlement protocol that enables the world's disparate financial networks to securely transfer funds in any currency in real time. Banks, money transmitters and clearing houses can use Ripple as an alternative to correspondent banking to facilitate straight-through processing with no reserve funding required. Earthport , the largest open network for global bank payments, and three banks in the United States and Germany recently announced Ripple integrations. Ripple was created to enable the world to move value as easily as information moves today, giving rise to an Internet of Value (IoV) akin to today's Internet of Knowledge. For more information about Ripple Labs, please visit http://www.ripplelabs.com . For more information about Ripple, please visit http://www.ripple.com . About Ripple Labs Ripple Labs is the global leader on distributed financial technology. The team supports adoption of the Ripple protocol, an Internet of Value (IoV) that enables the free and instant exchange of anything of value. The San Francisco-based startup is funded by Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, IDG Capital Partners, Core Innovation Capital, FF Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bitcoin Opportunity Corp. and Vast Ventures. Story continues Named one of 2014's 50 Smartest Companies by MIT Technology Review, Ripple Labs' team of 100 is comprised of deeply experienced cryptographers, security experts, distributed network developers, Silicon Valley and Wall Street veterans. They contribute code to the open-source software, as well as develop tools for and recruit financial institutions and payment networks to use Ripple. The team shepherds a movement to evolve finance so that payment systems are open, secure, constructive and globally inclusive. About Ripple Ripple is an Internet protocol that interconnects all the world's disparate financial systems to power the secure transfer of funds in any currency in real time -- enabling an Internet of Value (IoV). As settlement infrastructure, Ripple transforms and enhances today's financial systems. Ripple unlocks assets and provides access to payment systems for everyone, empowering the world to move value like information moves today. For more information about Ripple, please visit http://www.ripple.com . Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2803991 View comments || Brad Garlinghouse Joins Ripple Labs as Company's First Chief Operating Officer: SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 16, 2015) -Ripple Labstoday announced that it has appointed Brad Garlinghouse as the company's first Chief Operating Officer. The former Hightail CEO and longtime Yahoo! executive brings a history of disciplined growth and execution to the newly created position.
"We are very excited to have Brad join the team," said Ripple Labs CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen. "Brad's experience will be invaluable as we advance our focus from building a strong pipeline to execution and exceptional growth. We share a vision for the future of finance and the creation of an Internet of Value in which value exchange is as fast, free, transparent, and secure as information exchange is on the Internet today."
Prior to serving as CEO of Hightail, formerly known as YouSendIt, Garlinghouse was the President of Applications and Commerce at AOL. During a six year tenure at Yahoo!, he held a number of senior roles. Previously, he spent time as a Partner at @Ventures and in business development at @Home Network. Garlinghouse serves on the boards of Ancestry.com, Animoto, and Tonic for Health. He holds a BA from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
"Ripple Labs is an incredible team, all joined by a shared passion to change the world -- the energy, commitment and expertise is unmatched," said Garlinghouse. "There is already incredible momentum for Ripple as a new infrastructure for global payments, and the opportunity to define the actual framework for the Internet of Value is an order of magnitude bigger than anything else underway in payments today."
Ripple Labs is the global leader in distributed financial technology and standards. The team supports the adoption of Ripple, a settlement protocol that enables the world's disparate financial networks to securely transfer funds in any currency in real time. Banks, money transmitters and clearing houses can use Ripple as an alternative to correspondent banking to facilitate straight-through processing with no reserve funding required.Earthport, the largest open network for global bank payments, and three banks in the United States and Germany recently announced Ripple integrations.
Ripple was created to enable the world to move value as easily as information moves today, giving rise to an Internet of Value (IoV) akin to today's Internet of Knowledge. For more information about Ripple Labs, please visithttp://www.ripplelabs.com. For more information about Ripple, please visithttp://www.ripple.com.
About Ripple LabsRipple Labs is the global leader on distributed financial technology. The team supports adoption of the Ripple protocol, an Internet of Value (IoV) that enables the free and instant exchange of anything of value. The San Francisco-based startup is funded by Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, IDG Capital Partners, Core Innovation Capital, FF Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bitcoin Opportunity Corp. and Vast Ventures.
Named one of 2014's50 Smartest Companiesby MIT Technology Review, Ripple Labs' team of 100 is comprised of deeply experienced cryptographers, security experts, distributed network developers, Silicon Valley and Wall Street veterans. They contribute code to the open-source software, as well as develop tools for and recruit financial institutions and payment networks to use Ripple. The team shepherds a movement to evolve finance so that payment systems are open, secure, constructive and globally inclusive.
About RippleRipple is an Internet protocol that interconnects all the world's disparate financial systems to power the secure transfer of funds in any currency in real time -- enabling an Internet of Value (IoV). As settlement infrastructure, Ripple transforms and enhances today's financial systems. Ripple unlocks assets and provides access to payment systems for everyone, empowering the world to move value like information moves today. For more information about Ripple, please visithttp://www.ripple.com.
Image Available:http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2803991 || London stakes its claim as global bitcoin hub: (Repeats Wednesday item) * UK authorities want to promote financial innovation * Government also aims to curb bitcoin use in crime * Bitcoin backers say UK attitude makes London attractive * World's biggest bitcoin networking group is London-based By Jemima Kelly LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - London, centre of the $5-trillion-a-day global currency market, now wants to be home to a controversial upstart - bitcoin. British authorities have come out in support of digital currencies in the name of promoting financial innovation, while proposing that regulations should be drawn up to prevent their use in crime. But it is technophiles who are leading the drive to make London a real-world hub for trade in web-based "cryptocurrencies", of which bitcoin is the original and still most popular. Every Tuesday evening in a trendy cafe in London's Shoreditch neighbourhood, a group of digital currency enthusiasts gathers to discuss ideas, "vape" from e-cigarettes and exchange their pounds for bitcoins in a dedicated "ATM". With more than 2,200 members, CoinScrum, run by a former derivatives trader who left the world of traditional finance to work on a digital currency start-up, is the biggest bitcoin networking group in the world. Its meetings draw a mostly young, mostly male crowd - some amateurs, others who have come to Britain to start bitcoin businesses. Already the capital of traditional currency trading, London is competing with San Francisco's web expertise and New York's financial clout as it pushes to be the foremost financial technology - or fintech - centre in the world. Last month the British government announced plans to regulate digital currency exchanges to prevent their use in money-laundering, and to help to develop a set of standards for cryptocurrencies. Backers of bitcoin praised this for lending legitimacy to the currency - which unlike traditional money has no printed form and remains outside the control of central banks - without stifling innovation. "London has been the home of financial innovation for hundreds of years," said Nicolas Cary, co-founder of Blockchain, which provides bitcoin data and "wallet" software for storing the currency. "It would be a historical mistake not to make this the home of digital currencies. There's an incredible amount of talent and experience here." Just over 14 million bitcoins are in circulation, worth around $3.1 billion at the current exchange rate of around $220 each. Bitcoin brought 29-year-old Cary to Britain two years ago from Denver, Colorado. He joined forces with Ben Reeves, then a 22-year-old computer science graduate, to develop the Blockchain wallet, spending the first year working out of a two-bedroom apartment in northern England. Story continues Now Blockchain, named after the technology behind bitcoin, is the world's biggest wallet provider, with over 3 million users. Last year it raised over $30 million in its first round of funding, including from billionaire Richard Branson. POSITIVE ATTITUDE While some people argue that London lags New York overall as the centre for traditional finance, many say the latter's attitude to digital currencies - including a state plan to impose a "BitLicense" on bitcoin start-ups - makes London more attractive for the growing number of businesses dealing in the budding technology. "What we see in the UK ... is a different attitude," said Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, a Washington DC-based non-profit advocacy group for digital currencies. "It's a very positive attitude, one of: this is an amazing innovation, we're going to have to have some kind of regulation in terms of money laundering, but let's do this in a constructive way, in partnership with the technologists and the industry." Detractors worry that digital currencies make it easy for users to buy products anonymously from websites like Silk Road, an underground marketplace for drugs and other illegal goods which was shut down in 2013. But advocates argue that using cash for illicit trades is easier and less traceable, pointing out that most U.S. banknotes are contaminated with cocaine. Asked about bitcoin, the governing body for the City of London financial district said authorities needed to be "alive to the potential risks and take strong action if they find evidence of abuse or criminal activities". But the employment and growth opportunities offered by the fintech in general were to be welcomed, it said. Britain made bitcoin trading exempt from value-added tax last year. Other countries have yet to decide how to tax bitcoin, since its independence from any central bank means it does not fall into the traditional definition of money. However, Australia has made bitcoin transactions subject to goods and services tax. That helped to drive CoinJar, an Australian company that allows users to buy, sell and spend bitcoins, to move its headquarters to London last December. INVESTMENT Later this month Swiss banking giant UBS will open a technology lab in London to explore the wider application of the technology in the financial services industry. Finance minister George Osborne has said he wants Britain to lead the world in developing fintech, highlighting the potential of digital currencies. Last year investment in fintech firms in Britain and Ireland more than doubled compared with 2013, to $623 million, representing 42 percent of such investment in Europe, according to consultancy Accenture. Alongside the new regulation and standards, the British government promised an additional 10 million pounds ($15 million) for a research initiative that will look into the blockchain technology behind digital currencies. It is the blockchain - essentially a ledger of every bitcoin transaction that is virtually impossible to tamper with - that the Bank of England has also said could be revolutionary. Central banks, it has said, could eventually issue digital currencies of their own. Dozens of others have copied this technology to set up their own digital currencies, though none has so far managed to knock bitcoin off the top spot. TANTRIC MASSAGE Londoners can change cash for bitcoins at seven ATMs in the capital, and use them to pay for anything from tantric massage to a designer dress, a pork chop to a pint of beer. One company even allows rent on property to be paid in bitcoin. Back in the trendy "Vape Lab" e-cigarette cafe, one young bitcoiner was putting 800 pounds' worth of 20 pound notes into a bitcoin ATM in exchange for the digital currency. "I just sell bitcoin to others, because they don't know how to do it, so I take advantage of that and I make a profit," he said. ($1 = 0.6774 pounds) (editing by David Stamp) View comments || London stakes its claim as global bitcoin hub: (Repeats Wednesday item)
* UK authorities want to promote financial innovation
* Government also aims to curb bitcoin use in crime
* Bitcoin backers say UK attitude makes London attractive
* World's biggest bitcoin networking group is London-based
By Jemima Kelly
LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - London, centre of the $5-trillion-a-day global currency market, now wants to be home to a controversial upstart - bitcoin.
British authorities have come out in support of digital currencies in the name of promoting financial innovation, while proposing that regulations should be drawn up to prevent their use in crime.
But it is technophiles who are leading the drive to make London a real-world hub for trade in web-based "cryptocurrencies", of which bitcoin is the original and still most popular.
Every Tuesday evening in a trendy cafe in London's Shoreditch neighbourhood, a group of digital currency enthusiasts gathers to discuss ideas, "vape" from e-cigarettes and exchange their pounds for bitcoins in a dedicated "ATM".
With more than 2,200 members, CoinScrum, run by a former derivatives trader who left the world of traditional finance to work on a digital currency start-up, is the biggest bitcoin networking group in the world. Its meetings draw a mostly young, mostly male crowd - some amateurs, others who have come to Britain to start bitcoin businesses.
Already the capital of traditional currency trading, London is competing with San Francisco's web expertise and New York's financial clout as it pushes to be the foremost financial technology - or fintech - centre in the world.
Last month the British government announced plans to regulate digital currency exchanges to prevent their use in money-laundering, and to help to develop a set of standards for cryptocurrencies.
Backers of bitcoin praised this for lending legitimacy to the currency - which unlike traditional money has no printed form and remains outside the control of central banks - without stifling innovation.
"London has been the home of financial innovation for hundreds of years," said Nicolas Cary, co-founder of Blockchain, which provides bitcoin data and "wallet" software for storing the currency. "It would be a historical mistake not to make this the home of digital currencies. There's an incredible amount of talent and experience here."
Just over 14 million bitcoins are in circulation, worth around $3.1 billion at the current exchange rate of around $220 each.
Bitcoin brought 29-year-old Cary to Britain two years ago from Denver, Colorado. He joined forces with Ben Reeves, then a 22-year-old computer science graduate, to develop the Blockchain wallet, spending the first year working out of a two-bedroom apartment in northern England.
Now Blockchain, named after the technology behind bitcoin, is the world's biggest wallet provider, with over 3 million users. Last year it raised over $30 million in its first round of funding, including from billionaire Richard Branson.
POSITIVE ATTITUDE
While some people argue that London lags New York overall as the centre for traditional finance, many say the latter's attitude to digital currencies - including a state plan to impose a "BitLicense" on bitcoin start-ups - makes London more attractive for the growing number of businesses dealing in the budding technology.
"What we see in the UK ... is a different attitude," said Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, a Washington DC-based non-profit advocacy group for digital currencies.
"It's a very positive attitude, one of: this is an amazing innovation, we're going to have to have some kind of regulation in terms of money laundering, but let's do this in a constructive way, in partnership with the technologists and the industry."
Detractors worry that digital currencies make it easy for users to buy products anonymously from websites like Silk Road, an underground marketplace for drugs and other illegal goods which was shut down in 2013.
But advocates argue that using cash for illicit trades is easier and less traceable, pointing out that most U.S. banknotes are contaminated with cocaine.
Asked about bitcoin, the governing body for the City of London financial district said authorities needed to be "alive to the potential risks and take strong action if they find evidence of abuse or criminal activities". But the employment and growth opportunities offered by the fintech in general were to be welcomed, it said.
Britain made bitcoin trading exempt from value-added tax last year. Other countries have yet to decide how to tax bitcoin, since its independence from any central bank means it does not fall into the traditional definition of money.
However, Australia has made bitcoin transactions subject to goods and services tax. That helped to drive CoinJar, an Australian company that allows users to buy, sell and spend bitcoins, to move its headquarters to London last December.
INVESTMENT
Later this month Swiss banking giant UBS will open a technology lab in London to explore the wider application of the technology in the financial services industry.
Finance minister George Osborne has said he wants Britain to lead the world in developing fintech, highlighting the potential of digital currencies.
Last year investment in fintech firms in Britain and Ireland more than doubled compared with 2013, to $623 million, representing 42 percent of such investment in Europe, according to consultancy Accenture.
Alongside the new regulation and standards, the British government promised an additional 10 million pounds ($15 million) for a research initiative that will look into the blockchain technology behind digital currencies.
It is the blockchain - essentially a ledger of every bitcoin transaction that is virtually impossible to tamper with - that the Bank of England has also said could be revolutionary. Central banks, it has said, could eventually issue digital currencies of their own.
Dozens of others have copied this technology to set up their own digital currencies, though none has so far managed to knock bitcoin off the top spot.
TANTRIC MASSAGE
Londoners can change cash for bitcoins at seven ATMs in the capital, and use them to pay for anything from tantric massage to a designer dress, a pork chop to a pint of beer. One company even allows rent on property to be paid in bitcoin.
Back in the trendy "Vape Lab" e-cigarette cafe, one young bitcoiner was putting 800 pounds' worth of 20 pound notes into a bitcoin ATM in exchange for the digital currency.
"I just sell bitcoin to others, because they don't know how to do it, so I take advantage of that and I make a profit," he said. ($1 = 0.6774 pounds) (editing by David Stamp) || More Dirty Dealing at the DEA: $113,000 Stolen in Credit Card Scam: It’s been a tough month for the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Just yesterday, lawmakers grilled the agency’s commissioner over a report alleging that DEA agents have participated in several “sex parties” with prostitutes funded by drug cartels. A week before that, one DEA officer was charged with stealing Bitcoin from the federal government and laundering money while working at the center of the investigation into the Silk Road last year.
Now, the agency is back under the spotlight once again as a former officialpleaded guiltyto defrauding the government out of more than $113,000.
Related: Feds Busted for Stealing Bitcoins, Extorting Silk Road Founder
Maryland-based DEA employee Keenya Meshell Banks, who was in charge of issuing government credit cards to federal workers, admitted to issuing 32 cards to dozens of fake DEA employees that she created. Federal investigators said Banks then used the cards to withdraw cash from ATMs around the Washington, D.C. metro area.
The DEA isn’t the only agency to be hit with credit card fraud. Last year, federal investigators alleged that employees of Jobs Corps, a Department of Labor training program, were blatantly abusing government-issued charge cards that were intended for travel but instead used on personal items like trips to the hair salon and cellphone bills.
Related: Prostitute Partying by DEA Goes Way Back
At the time, auditors said Jobs Corps workers racked up at least $250,000 in improper purchases at taxpayers’ expense, while flagging another $4 million as “questionable transactions.”
Likewise, employees at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service havealso been flaggedfor improper use of government charge cards. The problem has been so widespread across the federal government that Congress passed legislation back in 2012 requiring agencies to frequently review their purchase card programs.
The Office of Management and Budget also issued newguidelineswarning that workers caught improperly charging their cards could face dismissal, or like DEA employees Banks, criminal charges. Banks is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
• The Government’s $125 Billion Slap in the Face to Taxpayers
• How to Build a $400 Billion F-35 That Doesn’t Fly
• Lawmakers Took 1,912 Trips Last Year on Someone Else’s Dime || More Dirty Dealing at the DEA: $113,000 Stolen in Credit Card Scam: It’s been a tough month for the Drug Enforcement Agency. Just yesterday, lawmakers grilled the agency’s commissioner over a report alleging that DEA agents have participated in several “sex parties” with prostitutes funded by drug cartels. A week before that, one DEA officer was charged with stealing Bitcoin from the federal government and laundering money while working at the center of the investigation into the Silk Road last year. Now, the agency is back under the spotlight once again as a former official pleaded guilty to defrauding the government out of more than $113,000. Related: Feds Busted for Stealing Bitcoins, Extorting Silk Road Founder Maryland-based DEA employee Keenya Meshell Banks, who was in charge of issuing government credit cards to federal workers, admitted to issuing 32 cards to dozens of fake DEA employees that she created. Federal investigators said Banks then used the cards to withdraw cash from ATMs around the Washington, D.C. metro area. The DEA isn’t the only agency to be hit with credit card fraud. Last year, federal investigators alleged that employees of Jobs Corps, a Department of Labor training program, were blatantly abusing government-issued charge cards that were intended for travel but instead used on personal items like trips to the hair salon and cellphone bills. Related: Prostitute Partying by DEA Goes Way Back At the time, auditors said Jobs Corps workers racked up at least $250,000 in improper purchases at taxpayers’ expense, while flagging another $4 million as “questionable transactions.” Likewise, employees at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service have also been flagged for improper use of government charge cards. The problem has been so widespread across the federal government that Congress passed legislation back in 2012 requiring agencies to frequently review their purchase card programs. The Office of Management and Budget also issued new guidelines warning that workers caught improperly charging their cards could face dismissal, or like DEA employees Banks, criminal charges. Banks is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: The Government’s $125 Billion Slap in the Face to Taxpayers How to Build a $400 Billion F-35 That Doesn’t Fly Lawmakers Took 1,912 Trips Last Year on Someone Else’s Dime || Is It Time To Invest In Cuba?: OnTuesday, President Barack Obama told Congress that he was planning to take Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism in an effort to restore diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba after decades of tension.
Congress will have 45 days to review the decision and decide whether or not to block it, but most are expecting that the removal will happen.
The improving relations between Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, mark an important turning point for the Caribbean nation's economy and gives investors a reason to look to the island for new opportunities.
Investment In Cuba
Taking Cuba off the terrorism sponsor list is only the first step in a long process of diplomacy, but some are already gearing up for new investment opportunities.
Thomas Herzfeld, who manages theHerzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund(NASDAQ:CUBA), is now setting up a private equity fund that will invest directly in Cuba. Herzfeld toldCNBCthat the fund will invest in sectors expected to grow with improving U.S. relations like tourism, construction and telecom.
Related Link: A Busy Week For Eurozone Finance Ministers And Central Bankers
Risks
Although the lack of foreign investment in Cuba makes it an interesting opportunity for aggressive investors, the nation still carries a high degree of risk.
For one, the effects of an improving relationship with the U.S. are unlikely to make any real impact on the Cuban economy for quite some time. Additionally, the country's small population and low wages make it a difficult place to start a business.
See more from Benzinga
• New App Allows Seamless Bitcoin Investment
• A Busy Week For Eurozone Finance Ministers And Central Bankers
• Cryptocurrency Finds A Place In Education With Smileycoin
© 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || Is It Time To Invest In Cuba?: On Tuesday , President Barack Obama told Congress that he was planning to take Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism in an effort to restore diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba after decades of tension. Congress will have 45 days to review the decision and decide whether or not to block it, but most are expecting that the removal will happen. The improving relations between Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, mark an important turning point for the Caribbean nation's economy and gives investors a reason to look to the island for new opportunities. Investment In Cuba Taking Cuba off the terrorism sponsor list is only the first step in a long process of diplomacy, but some are already gearing up for new investment opportunities. Thomas Herzfeld, who manages the Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund (NASDAQ: CUBA ), is now setting up a private equity fund that will invest directly in Cuba. Herzfeld told CNBC that the fund will invest in sectors expected to grow with improving U.S. relations like tourism, construction and telecom. Related Link: A Busy Week For Eurozone Finance Ministers And Central Bankers Risks Although the lack of foreign investment in Cuba makes it an interesting opportunity for aggressive investors, the nation still carries a high degree of risk. For one, the effects of an improving relationship with the U.S. are unlikely to make any real impact on the Cuban economy for quite some time. Additionally, the country's small population and low wages make it a difficult place to start a business. See more from Benzinga New App Allows Seamless Bitcoin Investment A Busy Week For Eurozone Finance Ministers And Central Bankers Cryptocurrency Finds A Place In Education With Smileycoin © 2015 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. || London stakes its claim as global bitcoin hub: By Jemima Kelly
LONDON (Reuters) - London, center of the $5-trillion-a-day global currency market, now wants to be home to a controversial upstart - bitcoin.
British authorities have come out in support of digital currencies in the name of promoting financial innovation, while proposing that regulations should be drawn up to prevent their use in crime.
But it is technophiles who are leading the drive to make London a real-world hub for trade in web-based "cryptocurrencies", of which bitcoin is the original and still most popular.
Every Tuesday evening in a trendy cafe in London's Shoreditch neighborhood, a group of digital currency enthusiasts gathers to discuss ideas, "vape" from e-cigarettes and exchange their pounds for bitcoins in a dedicated "ATM".
With more than 2,200 members, CoinScrum, run by a former derivatives trader who left the world of traditional finance to work on a digital currency start-up, is the biggest bitcoin networking group in the world. Its meetings draw a mostly young, mostly male crowd - some amateurs, others who have come to Britain to start bitcoin businesses.
Already the capital of traditional currency trading, London is competing with San Francisco's web expertise and New York's financial clout as it pushes to be the foremost financial technology - or fintech - center in the world.
Last month the British government announced plans to regulate digital currency exchanges to prevent their use in money-laundering, and to help to develop a set of standards for cryptocurrencies.
Backers of bitcoin praised this for lending legitimacy to the currency - which unlike traditional money has no printed form and remains outside the control of central banks - without stifling innovation.
"London has been the home of financial innovation for hundreds of years," said Nicolas Cary, co-founder of Blockchain, which provides bitcoin data and "wallet" software for storing the currency. "It would be a historical mistake not to make this the home of digital currencies. There's an incredible amount of talent and experience here."
Just over 14 million bitcoins are in circulation, worth around $3.1 billion at the current exchange rate of around $220 each.
Bitcoin brought 29-year-old Cary to Britain two years ago from Denver, Colorado. He joined forces with Ben Reeves, then a 22-year-old computer science graduate, to develop the Blockchain wallet, spending the first year working out of a two-bedroom apartment in northern England.
Now Blockchain, named after the technology behind bitcoin, is the world's biggest wallet provider, with over 3 million users. Last year it raised over $30 million in its first round of funding, including from billionaire Richard Branson.
POSITIVE ATTITUDE
While some people argue that London lags New York overall as the center for traditional finance, many say the latter's attitude to digital currencies - including a state plan to impose a "BitLicense" on bitcoin start-ups - makes London more attractive for the growing number of businesses dealing in the budding technology.
"What we see in the UK ... is a different attitude," said Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, a Washington DC-based non-profit advocacy group for digital currencies.
"It's a very positive attitude, one of: this is an amazing innovation, we're going to have to have some kind of regulation in terms of money laundering, but let's do this in a constructive way, in partnership with the technologists and the industry."
Detractors worry that digital currencies make it easy for users to buy products anonymously from websites like Silk Road, an underground marketplace for drugs and other illegal goods which was shut down in 2013.
But advocates argue that using cash for illicit trades is easier and less traceable, pointing out that most U.S. banknotes are contaminated with cocaine.
Asked about bitcoin, the governing body for the City of London financial district said authorities needed to be "alive to the potential risks and take strong action if they find evidence of abuse or criminal activities". But the employment and growth opportunities offered by the fintech in general were to be welcomed, it said.
Britain made bitcoin trading exempt from value-added tax last year. Other countries have yet to decide how to tax bitcoin, since its independence from any central bank means it does not fall into the traditional definition of money.
However, Australia has made bitcoin transactions subject to goods and services tax. That helped to drive CoinJar, an Australian company that allows users to buy, sell and spend bitcoins, to move its headquarters to London last December.
INVESTMENT
Later this month Swiss banking giant UBS will open a technology lab in London to explore the wider application of the technology in the financial services industry.
Finance minister George Osborne has said he wants Britain to lead the world in developing fintech, highlighting the potential of digital currencies.
Last year investment in fintech firms in Britain and Ireland more than doubled compared with 2013, to $623 million, representing 42 percent of such investment in Europe, according to consultancy Accenture.
Alongside the new regulation and standards, the British government promised an additional 10 million pounds ($15 million) for a research initiative that will look into the blockchain technology behind digital currencies.
It is the blockchain - essentially a ledger of every bitcoin transaction that is virtually impossible to tamper with - that the Bank of England has also said could be revolutionary. Central banks, it has said, could eventually issue digital currencies of their own.
Dozens of others have copied this technology to set up their own digital currencies, though none has so far managed to knock bitcoin off the top spot.
TANTRIC MASSAGE
Londoners can change cash for bitcoins at seven ATMs in the capital, and use them to pay for anything from tantric massage to a designer dress, a pork chop to a pint of beer. One company even allows rent on property to be paid in bitcoin.
Back in the trendy "Vape Lab" e-cigarette cafe, one young bitcoiner was putting 800 pounds' worth of 20 pound notes into a bitcoin ATM in exchange for the digital currency.
"I just sell bitcoin to others, because they don't know how to do it, so I take advantage of that and I make a profit," he said.
($1 = 0.6774 pounds)
(editing by David Stamp) || London stakes its claim as global bitcoin hub: By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - London, center of the $5-trillion-a-day global currency market, now wants to be home to a controversial upstart - bitcoin. British authorities have come out in support of digital currencies in the name of promoting financial innovation, while proposing that regulations should be drawn up to prevent their use in crime. But it is technophiles who are leading the drive to make London a real-world hub for trade in web-based "cryptocurrencies", of which bitcoin is the original and still most popular. Every Tuesday evening in a trendy cafe in London's Shoreditch neighborhood, a group of digital currency enthusiasts gathers to discuss ideas, "vape" from e-cigarettes and exchange their pounds for bitcoins in a dedicated "ATM". With more than 2,200 members, CoinScrum, run by a former derivatives trader who left the world of traditional finance to work on a digital currency start-up, is the biggest bitcoin networking group in the world. Its meetings draw a mostly young, mostly male crowd - some amateurs, others who have come to Britain to start bitcoin businesses. Already the capital of traditional currency trading, London is competing with San Francisco's web expertise and New York's financial clout as it pushes to be the foremost financial technology - or fintech - center in the world. Last month the British government announced plans to regulate digital currency exchanges to prevent their use in money-laundering, and to help to develop a set of standards for cryptocurrencies. Backers of bitcoin praised this for lending legitimacy to the currency - which unlike traditional money has no printed form and remains outside the control of central banks - without stifling innovation. "London has been the home of financial innovation for hundreds of years," said Nicolas Cary, co-founder of Blockchain, which provides bitcoin data and "wallet" software for storing the currency. "It would be a historical mistake not to make this the home of digital currencies. There's an incredible amount of talent and experience here." Story continues Just over 14 million bitcoins are in circulation, worth around $3.1 billion at the current exchange rate of around $220 each. Bitcoin brought 29-year-old Cary to Britain two years ago from Denver, Colorado. He joined forces with Ben Reeves, then a 22-year-old computer science graduate, to develop the Blockchain wallet, spending the first year working out of a two-bedroom apartment in northern England. Now Blockchain, named after the technology behind bitcoin, is the world's biggest wallet provider, with over 3 million users. Last year it raised over $30 million in its first round of funding, including from billionaire Richard Branson. POSITIVE ATTITUDE While some people argue that London lags New York overall as the center for traditional finance, many say the latter's attitude to digital currencies - including a state plan to impose a "BitLicense" on bitcoin start-ups - makes London more attractive for the growing number of businesses dealing in the budding technology. "What we see in the UK ... is a different attitude," said Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, a Washington DC-based non-profit advocacy group for digital currencies. "It's a very positive attitude, one of: this is an amazing innovation, we're going to have to have some kind of regulation in terms of money laundering, but let's do this in a constructive way, in partnership with the technologists and the industry." Detractors worry that digital currencies make it easy for users to buy products anonymously from websites like Silk Road, an underground marketplace for drugs and other illegal goods which was shut down in 2013. But advocates argue that using cash for illicit trades is easier and less traceable, pointing out that most U.S. banknotes are contaminated with cocaine. Asked about bitcoin, the governing body for the City of London financial district said authorities needed to be "alive to the potential risks and take strong action if they find evidence of abuse or criminal activities". But the employment and growth opportunities offered by the fintech in general were to be welcomed, it said. Britain made bitcoin trading exempt from value-added tax last year. Other countries have yet to decide how to tax bitcoin, since its independence from any central bank means it does not fall into the traditional definition of money. However, Australia has made bitcoin transactions subject to goods and services tax. That helped to drive CoinJar, an Australian company that allows users to buy, sell and spend bitcoins, to move its headquarters to London last December. INVESTMENT Later this month Swiss banking giant UBS will open a technology lab in London to explore the wider application of the technology in the financial services industry. Finance minister George Osborne has said he wants Britain to lead the world in developing fintech, highlighting the potential of digital currencies. Last year investment in fintech firms in Britain and Ireland more than doubled compared with 2013, to $623 million, representing 42 percent of such investment in Europe, according to consultancy Accenture. Alongside the new regulation and standards, the British government promised an additional 10 million pounds ($15 million) for a research initiative that will look into the blockchain technology behind digital currencies. It is the blockchain - essentially a ledger of every bitcoin transaction that is virtually impossible to tamper with - that the Bank of England has also said could be revolutionary. Central banks, it has said, could eventually issue digital currencies of their own. Dozens of others have copied this technology to set up their own digital currencies, though none has so far managed to knock bitcoin off the top spot. TANTRIC MASSAGE Londoners can change cash for bitcoins at seven ATMs in the capital, and use them to pay for anything from tantric massage to a designer dress, a pork chop to a pint of beer. One company even allows rent on property to be paid in bitcoin. Back in the trendy "Vape Lab" e-cigarette cafe, one young bitcoiner was putting 800 pounds' worth of 20 pound notes into a bitcoin ATM in exchange for the digital currency. "I just sell bitcoin to others, because they don't know how to do it, so I take advantage of that and I make a profit," he said. ($1 = 0.6774 pounds) (editing by David Stamp)
[Social Media Buzz]
current #bitcoin price (winkdex) is $223.71, last changed Sun, 19 Apr 2015 04:59:00 GMT. queried at: 05:02:42 || current #bitcoin price (winkdex) is $225.33, last changed Sun, 19 Apr 2015 09:50:00 GMT. queried at: 09:52:42 || current #bitcoin price (winkdex) is $224.83, last changed Sun, 19 Apr 2015 15:05:00 GMT. queried at:… http://dlvr.it/9SVfzc #bitXbit || 1 #BTC (#Bitcoin) quotes:
$223.49/$223.50 #Bitstamp
$222.00/$222.75 #BTCe
⇢$-1.50/$-0.74
$224.35/$224.38 #Coinbase
⇢$0.85/$0.89 || curr...
|
224.63, 235.27, 234.18, 236.46, 231.27, 226.39, 219.43, 229.29, 225.85, 225.81
|
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