Coin News

New research has found that unless the price of bitcoin goes up, there will be little room for new miners to compete. In "Minting Money With Megawatts", released this September, Sveinn Valfells of Flux, Ltd and Jón Helgi Egilsson of the University of Iceland conduct a broad analysis of the health of transaction processing on […]

Bitcoin Press Release: MineCoin, the cryptocurrency of blockchain based Minex Crowd-business Management and Investment platform is now available for subscription. September 2, 2016 Kyiv, Ukraine – Minex is a secure, investor friendly platform created by a team of Ukrainian developers. The platform is designed to solve some of the recurring issues faced by the modern […]

The post Minex Platform Opens Subscription of MineCoin Cryptocurrency appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Cyber-thieves are making away with the cryptocurrency Monero after compromising file transfer protocol servers with a malware that exploits its target’s CPU and power resources.

The post Crypto-Crooks Steal Monero Using Compromised FTP Server Swarm appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Straits Financial has become the first U.S.-based futures commission merchant to integrate BitPay as a payment option for their customers....

The post Straits Financial Integrates Bitcoin Payments for Futures Trading appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

By law, airlines are required to compensate travelers for flight delays or cancellations, but as anyone who has tried knows, the process is a nightmare. So much so that some businesses thrive solely on their offer to buy your claim and carry out the compensation process on your behalf. That is about to change. FlightDelay, […]

The post Blockchain to Disrupt Air Travel and Insurance with FlightDelay appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Bloq Economist and Bitcoin Hivemind creator Paul Sztorc has been fascinated with prediction markets for many years, and he views these...

The post Sztorc: Digital Cash and Prediction Markets Share Similar Histories appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Brexit was boost for the virtual currency, which in some ways is become to the digital age what gold has always been for people worried about current affairs

Bitcoin price sold off $50 in a single hourly candle during US daytime, yesterday. Trend remains up. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now. Bitcoin Price Analysis Time of analysis: 14h00 UTC Monday Bitstamp 4-Hour Candle Chart From the analysis pages of […]

The post Bitcoin Price Outlook Remains For Advance appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Despite widespread economic uncertainty in recent months, the Bank of England (BofE) indicated last week that it has not been distracted from its plan to enable a "fintech transformation" of the financial services industry.

The plan was first unveiled by BofE Governor Mark Carney in June, and in a speech last Thursday, chief cashier Victoria Cleland reiterated that devising a regulatory approach to fintech remains a priority for the bank. She also highlighted the bank's continued research around central bank digital currencies (CBDC). 

A CBDC is a digital version of a national currency, which can theoretically be held in accounts owned by individuals or businesses at a central bank. Right now, only a small number of financial institutions are typically able to hold accounts at central banks, and everyone else must hold an account with one of those financial institutions.

Cleland outlined two significant areas related to CBDCs that the BofE is researching: 

• Economic implications of a CBDC — specifically the possible reduction of the availability of credit. The ability to hold money at a central bank would likely lead people to move their money out of existing deposit accounts and into central bank accounts. That's because, unlike commercial banks, the central bank does not lend out deposits, so people might consider their deposits to be safer there. But this could lead to a reduction in deposit funding at commercial banks, which would negatively impact their ability to make loans, likely resulting in a significant reduction in the availability of credit. The risks this could pose are still being fully explored and understood, according to Cleland. 
• Technical feasibility of using blockchain technology to create a CBDC. Blockchain technology seems the most likely candidate for such a task, given its capability for creating multiple immutable ledgers and instantly recording transactions. But it is still very much experimental, and Cleland questioned whether the technology is the best way to achieve the necessary scale a CBDC would require. She also highlighted that the resilience and security of blockchain-based technology are still relative unknowns, as are the potential operational requirements. The BofE has already started to address these questions — it published a set of Digital Currency Research Questions for external researchers to ponder in July 2016, and Cleland stated that the bank is still very keen to receive responses.

Cleland also reiterated that the BofE continues to look for new opportunities to leverage fintech to the bank's advantage through its fintech accelerator, which launched in June. This indicates that, despite the challenges the bank currently faces, it still believes that fintech offers significant benefits to central banking operations.  

Blockchain technology, which is best known for powering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is gaining steam among finance firms because of its potential to streamline processes and increase efficiency. The technology could cut costs by up to $20 billion annually by 2022, according to Santander.

That's because blockchain, which operates as a distributed ledger, has the ability to allow multiple parties to transfer and store sensitive information in a space that’s secure, permanent, anonymous, and easily accessible. That could simplify paper-heavy, expensive, or logistically complicated financial systems, like remittances and cross-border transfer, shareholder management and ownership exchange, and securities trading, to name a few. And outside of finance, governments and the music industry are investigating the technology’s potential to simplify record-keeping.

As a result, venture capital firms and financial institutions alike are pouring investment into finding, developing, and testing blockchain use cases. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, have begun researching the technology in-house, or have helped fund startups with products rooted in blockchain. 

Jaime Toplin, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on blockchain technology that explains how blockchain works, why it has the potential to provide a watershed moment for the financial industry, and the different ways it could be put into practice in the coming years.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Spending on capital markets applications of blockchain is expected to grow at a 52% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2019, according to Aite Group, to reach $400 million that year.
• Banks and major financial institutions are working both collaboratively and independently to develop blockchain tech. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, like R3 CEV or Chain. And many are investing in the technology on their own as well.
• Putting blockchain to use for real-world transactions is likely not that far off. If working groups' tests are successful, firms could be using it to transact real value as early as the end of this year and we could see widespread industry application within the next few years. 

In full, the report:

• Examines the funding increases that are pouring into blockchain
• Assesses why blockchain is becoming so popular and what factors are driving up increased research and development
• Explains in full how blockchain technology work and what assets make it valuable and vulnerable
• Identifies pain points in the financial industry and profiles how various firms are using blockchain to solve them
• Demonstrates the challenges to mainstream adoption and their potential solutions

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of blockchain technology.

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U.S.-based brokerage house Straits Financial LLC will accept bitcoin via payment processor BitPay to become the first U.S.-based Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) to do so. Straits users will now be able to fund their investment and trading accounts with bitcoin. A boutique brokerage house, Straits’ acceptance of bitcoin will allow users to trade assets such […]

The post Bitcoin Accepted by Futures Trading Brokerage via BitPay appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Joe LaVorgna, chief US economist at Deutsche Bank, is again raising warnings about a corporate profit-led recession.

In a weekly note to clients, LaVorgna argued that the still declining profit margins of US corporations means that a recession is closer than one may think.

"Corporate profits declined -4.7% annualized last quarter, and compared to a year ago, they were down -4.9%. In fact, profits have declined on an annual basis for the last five consecutive quarters, an extremely rare occurrence outside of recession."

The thinking is this: Companies see their profits and profit margins declining and in order to stem the tide, they cut back on costs. Cutting back on costs includes no longer hiring workers and eventually laying off people. This gets Americans concerned about their personal finances, so they spend less, which hurts economic growth. This becomes a vicious circle and ends in a recession.

One of the arguments against this bearish line of thinking has been that the margin decline was concentrated in the energy sector, and that as oil prices recovered from earlier this year, when they were at their lowest point in over a decade, the margin decline would ease.

This is no longer true according to LaVorgna.

"Importantly, the decline in corporate profits is no longer just due to the well-advertised weakness in the energy and export sectors," said the note.

"Case in point, pre-tax domestic corporate profits (without capital consumption adjustment) excluding the energy sector and Federal Reserve Banks were down -5.2% over the four quarters ending in Q1 2016."

LaVorgna noted that increases in hiring and wages along with declining profits are pressuring margins per worker, his preferred measure of profit margins, for the largest corporations. Of note, net trailing 12-month margins have been on the decline as well and are negative year-over-year according to FactSet. 

The Deutsche Bank economist highlights, as we have before, that in every business cycle since World War II a decline in profit margins has come before a recession. Typically, the decline precedes a recession by eight or nine quarters, though it can be as long as 16. This signals to LaVorgna that a recession is nearby.

"The current business cycle is already the fourth longest in the post-WWII period, and as we mentioned before, productivity growth has been abysmal," said the note.

"Hence, there is little cushion for the economy to absorb any negative endogenous shock. Moreover, the corporate debt-to-GDP ratio suggests that imbalances are building."

To be fair, both margins and overall profits are showing some improvement. In fact, earnings per share for the S&P 500 companies declined by only 1.8% in the second quarter according to S&P Global market Intelligence, much better than the 5.8% decline expected, and earnings growth is expected to go positive in the coming quarters.

Additionally, both margins and overall profits are coming down from record highs and still remain well above their pre-recession average.

Despite this, unless margins recover, their decline will be a constant refrain for anyone forecasting a recession in the short-term, as LaVorgna has been for a while now. Whether or not that comes to pass remains to be seen. 

SEE ALSO: Here's who holds the world's $60 trillion in sovereign debt

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NOW WATCH: Paul Krugman weighs in on the Apple tax debate

Questions have been raised as to whether or not blockchain technology is secure enough to prevent cyber criminals from targeting the financial services. As bitcoin continues to gain wide acceptance in a number of countries, establishments, and services, companies are turning to its underlying technology, the blockchain, as a way of verifying transactions electronically with […]

The post Can the Blockchain Deliver Security to Banks Against Cyber Attacks? appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Traditionally, gold has been the most trusted form of currency, globally. Up until the 1970’s, most paper currencies were backed in some...

The post Op-Ed: Imagine if Gold Exchanges Were Treated Like Bitcoin Exchanges appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The blockchain’s immutability, one of its greatest strengths, could also prove to be one if its greatest limitations, given the need to reverse certain activities in financial services, argues Richard Lumb, an Accenture executive, writing in The New York Times. Lumb noted the bitcoin blockchain’s immutable record clashes with evolving privacy laws, such as newly-proposed […]

The post Accenture Executive: Blockchain’s Immutability Its Own Worst Enemy appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

In an effort to tackle money laundering through virtual currencies like bitcoin, two prominent law enforcement agencies – Europol and Interpol have announced the establishment of a working group. An announcement from late last week has confirmed the establishment of a new working group looking into money laundering with digital currencies. The group is established […]

The post Europol, Interpol Unite to Combat Bitcoin Money Laundering appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Teambrella, a peer-to-peer insurance system that utilizes bitcoin wallets and multi-signature addresses, recently released a demo on its website to show how the self-insurance system works. Teambrella uses bitcoin multi-signature addresses to allow users to manage the flow of funds in a trustless, decentralized way. It will initially offer supplemental coverage for collision car insurance […]

The post Now, a P2P Insurance Platform That Uses Bitcoin Wallets & MultiSig appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

 Do you own a dog or a cat and also hold down a job that takes you out of your house? Chances are that if you do, you’ve bemoaned a common challenge: how do you make sure your pet doesn’t get too lonely while you are away? A project called Doge Ball, presented today at the Disrupt SF 2016 Hackathon, has developed a new piece of hardware that could be the answer. Part influenced… Read More