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Vermont has passed a new bill that tweaks state law to account for digital currencies.

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A litecoin mining pool seemingly pulled the plug over the weekend, stoking accusations of theft and fraud.

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Despite the aftermath of a governance scandal in early 2016, US alt lending giant Lending Club seemed to be on track for a slow but steady recovery at the end of the year.

Its results for Q1 2017, published on Thursday, however, indicate its improvement has stalled, and reveal few significant changes within the organization.

Overall performance is generally down, despite some minor bright spots. Origination volume slipped 1% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) from $1.99 billion to $1.96 billion in Q1, marking a 29% year-over-year (YoY) decline from $2.75 billion in Q1 2016.

This is likely why net revenue also fell QoQ, by 5% from $130.5 million to $124.5 million in the period. Admittedly, losses narrowed from $32.3 million in Q4 2016 to $29.8 million in Q1, but only by 8%. Banks also apparently continued to regain their confidence in the company, now accounting for 40% of investment in the platform, up by 7% QoQ, and 6% YoY. While the declines in originations and net revenue were mild, so was the narrowing of losses; meaning that overall, performance was relatively stagnant.

Lending Club again stated that it's pursuing growth, but gave little evidence of how it's doing this. In the results call, CEO Scott Samborn pointed to continued investment in growth areas, including Lending Club's technology platform and its underwriting capabilities — but these are the most basic elements of its business, rather than new initiatives. This suggests that the company doesn't have a clear growth strategy or measurable goals. And while it's possible that it wants to return to the growth rates it saw in 2014, this would require more dramatic changes than we have so far seen. It's also worth noting that several of its peers have stopped chasing outsized growth, having decided it's unsustainable in the long run, which should give Lending Club food for thought.

John Heggestuen, director of research at BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

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 the payments ecosystem.

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The post The Newly President Elect of France, Emmanuel Macron, Might be a Bitcoiner appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Sunday night, John Oliver merely pointed out a problem (again), and the results were pretty predictable if you're familiar with the last time he did similar. The most recent episode of HBO's Last Week Tonight's main segment concerns net neutrality an...

Tesla shareholders are having their best year since 2013. After stalling for three straight years, shares of Tesla are up 44.3% in 2017.

Last week, a team of UBS equity analysts tore up the investment thesis behind Tesla, sending the stock down 5%.

The team, led by Colin Langan, wrote, "The absolute downside for the TSLA stock is material as we believe any significant problems with the current or future products would likely cripple the company in the early stages of its growth." They gave Tesla a $160 price target and said in a worst-case scenario shares could fall as low as $43.

However, the stock has bounced back, and in a note to clients circulated on May 8, Evercore ISI analyst George Galliers defended the stock and urged Evercore clients to buy it. 

Galliers reiterated his "Outperform" rating and $330 price target for Tesla, implying 7% of upside. Here's Galliers:

"Tesla is an extreme growth story with unit sales +51% last year and automotive revenues +70%. The introduction of the Model 3 will support similar/ stronger growth this year and next. Meanwhile, further out, the company expects the growth rate to be maintained, with CEO Musk commenting last year that he expects “roughly 50%ish [unit] growth from there [2018]”. To put Tesla’s growth in context, we note it took Porsche 10 years and four product lines to grow from c35k units to >100k. Tesla is on course to achieve similar growth in only 3 years."

Galliers said that while Tesla's growth is rapid it does come at a cost. Tesla's spending grew 38% last year, way above the industry average of 6%. Evercore said that a stabilization in spending is unlikely to happen until Tesla has exhausted global demand and filled out their product offerings to include a more traditional line up of sedans, SUVs, and trucks. 

Evercore does not belive Tesla will hit their 2018 target of delivering 500,000 units. The bank predicted 369,000 units in 2018 and 500,000 on a twelve month rolling basis by 2019. Evercore said such a performance would still be good enough to send the stock higher. 

Gaillers made it clear that going forward, the Model 3 will be the key to Tesla's near-term success or failure.

"Tesla’s top-line developments over coming quarters will ultimately be determined by the launch cadence of the Model 3," Gaillers wrote. He believes that the risks surrounding the Model 3 have diminished and that orders for the Model 3 "are without precedent."

Galliers said that the Model 3 represents the largest preorder event in automotive history with hundreds of thousands preorders in place, and expects it to be a hit. 

Click here for a real-time Tesla chart.  

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NOW WATCH: These are the small, agile new aircraft carriers meant to take F-35s into battle

An upgrade to the litecoin codebase is inspiring new strategies from blockchain developers seeking eventually to build on bitcoin.

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An upgrade to the litecoin codebase is inspiring new strategies from blockchain developers seeking eventually to build on bitcoin.

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The post Bitcoin-Based Korean Foreign Money Transfer FinTechs See Regulatory Respite   appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

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The post Australia Commits to Kill Bitcoin Double Tax Despite Delay appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

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The post Indian IT Giant Wipro Sees $80 Million Bitcoin Demand in Bio Attack Threat appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.