• Japanese company GMO Internet Group will start paying employees partially in bitcoin in 2018.
• Employees can receive payments from about $88 to $881 in bitcoin.
• The company invests in the cryptocurrency.
  

A Japanese internet services provider will start to pay employees partially in bitcoin, according to cryptocurrency watcher CoinDesk. 

Beginning in 2018, GMO Internet Group will give employees the option to receive payments from 10,000 yen (about $88) to 100,000 yen (about $881). Employees will also get an additional 10% of the salary they choose to receive in bitcoin as an incentive.

GMO has an interest in promoting bitcoin. It is set to launch a new cryptocurrency mining operation in 2018, and actively trades bitcoin.

Bitcoin is rising in popularity, with people using bitcoin to pay for private schools and buying homes.

But some still urge caution. World renowned economist Robert Shiller said bitcoin was "the best example of a bubble."

Read the full article at CoinDesk »

SEE ALSO: Someone is selling a 'spectacular' penthouse in Miami — but they're only accepting bitcoin

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: THE BOTTOM LINE: Bitcoin mania, a Nobel Prize-winning economist talks Trump, and a deep dive on unstoppable tech stocks

Prosecutors have accused a New York woman of using credit cards to purchase bitcoin and then launder those funds to send money to ISIS.

The post Garzik Forks UnitedBitcoin Away from "Maximalists" to Support Altcoin Communities appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The post Garzik Forks UnitedBitcoin Away from "Maximalists" to Support Altcoin Communities appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

• The Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal net neutrality rules on Thursday.
• Many of the major telecom companies were down after the vote.

The Federal Communications Commission, chaired by Ajit Pai, voted to reclassify the internet as a Class I utility, turning over so-called net neutrality regulations put in place in 2015.

After the vote on Thursday, blocking, throttling and paid prioritization by internet service providers will no longer be prohibited. Pai and his fellow Republican commission members have said reversing the rules will return the telecom industry to a period of light-touch regulation that will spur growth and investment in the sector.

The new rules are not set to go into effect for 60 days, in which critics are sure to file lawsuits to stop the rules from going into place. To no avail, the two Democratic commissioners, as well as many members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, asked Pai and his commission to delay Thursday's vote.

Many of the largest internet providers in America started the day down in anticipation of the FCC's vote, and all but Comcast ended the trading session lower than their open. The S&P 500 started the day in positive territory but ended the day down 0.39%.

Here's how the major internet providers ended the day after the vote:

• Verizon (VZ) -1.04% at $52.34
• AT&T (T) -0.79% at $37.74
• T-Mobile (TMUS) -1.27% at $62.56
• Sprint (S) -1.05% at $5.63
• Comcast (CMCSA) +1.40% at $39.12
• Charter (CHTR) -0.10% at $328.68
• CenturyLink (CTL) -1.67% at $16.47
• Telus (TU) -0.74% at $37.62
• Time Warner (TWX) -0.46% at $89.65

Read more about the net neutrality vote, and what it means for you, here.

SEE ALSO: The FCC is expected to repeal net neutrality on Thursday — here's what that means for you

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what bitcoin futures could mean for the price of bitcoin

• Each year, JPMorgan makes an annual tongue-in-cheek list of bond market awards.
• The bank named Jay Powell the central banker the year while giving Janet Yellen the lifetime achievement award.
• Check out all of the awards below.

JPMorgan makes an annual tongue-in-cheek list of bond market awards. Here it is for 2017...

Bond of the Year – Veolia 0% due 11/20. It’s not that a BBB-rated French company was able to borrow at ZERO percent, it’s that they actually charged lenders a premium for the privilege of holding their debt: 100.078 on the reoffer, or a negative yield to maturity of -0.03%! Either lending in the public markets isn’t what it used to be or we’ll look back on this as another symptom of over-exuberant monetary policy distortion. My only question is, if they had over EUR 1B in interest, why did they only issue EUR 0.5B?!? For those wondering, I am happy to report that we passed on the new issue.

Central Banker of the Year – Jerome “Jay” Powell. Honestly, I love the choice. He’s a very balanced blend of real markets experience and official institutions ideology. He’s willing to challenge the consensus views at times, but once a decision is made, he has a history of getting behind it and making it work. But how on earth did he do it?!? He was on no-one’s list at mid-year, yet effortlessly took down Cohn, Yellen, Taylor and Warsh. We should keep a very close eye on him – he’s politically more astute than he gets credit for. Now, Jay…just painlessly ‘normalize’ and deregulate so that you get re-nominated next year!

Lifetime Achievement Award – Janet Yellen. She’s done it! She’s the first Fed chair in about 40 years without a recession on their watch. She also started the normalization process with both rates and the balance sheet…while keeping the economy rolling ahead and the capital markets humming. I hope we continue to hear her policy musings in the future…she’s one cool lady!

Currency of the Year – Mexican Peso. Wait a minute…wasn’t that currency supposed to be dead and buried with a new US president and administration hell-bent on ‘America first’ and protectionist policies? It’s a powerful reminder that a currency can get oversold and that there are two sides to the trade. Congrats to Banxico for stepping in to support their currency with a powerful policy response and to the investors that happily went along for the ride.

Comeback Player of the Year – Developed Market Government Bonds. I know I’m a bond manager but, frankly, I’m getting a little tired of this. Wasn’t this supposed to be the year that we saw central banks tighten monetary policy, stimulus from DC and government bond yields reset at higher levels? The global economy is just fine and inflation is OK – sure, we’d like a bit more of both – but where is the need for these emergency central bank policies that are keeping real yields at zero? While it is true that the yield of the entire US Treasury market is up about 25 bps this year, longer maturity yields are actually down and the Treasury index has generated a positive total return of over 2% so far in 2017. It’s time for central banks to take the punch bowl away and let bond yields find their own level without the distortion and price-insensitive buying they have created.

Unsung Hero – The Yield Curve. So important, but so misunderstood. If it weren’t for a flattening yield curve, bond market returns would look poor if not negative. In some respects, it was just BAU: the Fed raises rates and the curve flattens around where investors play ‘guess the terminal Fed funds rate’. This time around, moderate inflation expectations and the ongoing torrent of cash exported from overseas into the US market also weighed on the long end of the US yield curve. It has since created some anxiety in the markets as flattening yield curves are the traditional precursor to recession. We’re not worried. For the time being its pretty normal and we’ll see what happens to the curve when the Fed and ECB dial down the size and growth in the balance sheets. What WOULD worry us is an inverted yield curve.

BTW: the runner up in this category was European bank capital notes. Good yield, tidier loan books and onerous regulation designed to prevent another crisis – what’s not to like?

Villain in a Leading Role – Bitcoin. I confess that I was getting worried about a month ago. Every asset class and asset was so well behaved, I wasn’t sure we would even have the award this year. And then it happened – like a holiday miracle – Bitcoin went vertical. We know the unprecedented amount of money printing has created significant asset price inflation – but where was the bubble? We always have one at this stage in the cycle which needs bursting. One of the great definitions of an asset bubble is that you can graph the price of the asset on a logarithmic chart, and if there is upward curvature in the line – BUBBLE! Well, here it is. I’m not going to waste my time explaining the sound concepts of ‘store of value’, ‘blockchain’ or ‘digital currency’. They will all make more sense to me once a central bank administers them. But moves of 10-20% in a day reek of monetary excess and mania.

Rookie of the Year – Cross Currency Swap Basis. Who knew that this little known domain of currency and bond geeks would emerge into the spotlight as the prerequisite for understanding 2017 capital market flows? In short, the pools of capital resident outside the US are finding their way into US assets, and are then hedged back to their home currency. The calculation on the cost of the currency hedge is based off of the differential in short term interest rates and helps to quantify the yield and/or return potential of the investment. For the bond market, shape of the yield curve in the US and the home market are important, for other asset classes, not so much. Anyway, when the cross currency swap improves, foreign flows accelerate into the US; when it declines, flows tail off. Fed normalization is going to make this a heck of a lot more fun in 2018!

Runners up – Corporate bonds and municipals. Just grinding appreciation all year…every back up was met with buying…BORING. Tax reform ought to impact these sectors next year as both the amount and type of issuance should change along with the base of potential buyers.

Most Valuable Player – QE. I really wanted ‘volatility’ (the absence of it) to be the MVP, but I just couldn’t do it. We knew that the vast pool of money printed via QE was sloshing around the markets and depressing volatility while inflating prices. There was no point fighting it, and we along with other investors made money by just going with it. Sure the macro economy was fine…sure corporate fundamentals were improving…sure central banks were being patient in withdrawing accommodation. But how to explain the rich valuations across markets? The benign backdrop simply created the cover for the vast pools of liquidity to flow into markets. This time next year it will be different. The global Central Banks’ aggregate balance sheet will shift from expansion to contraction. Then we will see if investors had been picking up nickels in front of a steamroller since Q1 2016!

SEE ALSO: The definitive guide to buying your own bitcoin

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The disturbing reason some people turn red when they drink alcohol

US stocks fell amid mounting worry that the GOP tax bill will struggle to pass the Senate.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2% and the more tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 declined 0.3%.

First up, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 24,510.11, -75.32, (-0.31%)
• S&P 500: 2,652.10, -10.75, (-0.40%)
• Nasdaq: 6,856.53, -19.27, (-0.28%)
• US 10-year yield: 2.35%, -0.003
• WTI crude oil: $57.12, +$0.52, +0.92%

1. Disney will officially buy 21st Century Fox's film and TV assets for $52.4 billion. Fox shareholders will receive 0.2745 Disney shares for each unit of Fox stock they own. Disney also announced that it would buy back $10 billion of stock to offset the share dilution from the deal.

2. How you feel about Trump's economy probably depends on whether you own stocks. A survey conducted by Public Policy Polling shows that economic sentiment is much higher for voters that own stocks currently.

3. Ripple’s XRP overtakes bitcoin cash as 3rd largest cryptocurrency. It's surged more than 75% over the past 24 hours, propelling it to a market cap of $32.029 billion, trailing only bitcoin and Ethereum.

4. One group of traders has risen to dominate bitcoin trading. Japanese men in their 30s and 40s are the biggest drivers of the bitcoin boom, according to Deutsche Bank.

5. The Fed could pump the breaks on bitcoin's 1,500% rally. Don Ross, the CEO of CODA Markets, a Chicago-based dark pool, thinks further rate hikes could pump the breaks on the cryptocurrency's rally.

ADDITIONALLY:

Here's how the latest Fed rate hike will hit your wallet

Rupert Murdoch laid out his vision of TV's future after the Disney-Fox deal, and it raises a lot of questions

The FCC repealed net neutrality — here's what that means for you

Disney and 21st Century Fox used 4 words that should make employees nervous

The Fed’s forecasts for the economy confirm what everyone already knows about the GOP tax cut plan

A company investing in the future of bitcoin tech is splitting its stock in 10 after it soars 1,600%

SEE ALSO: How you feel about Trump's economy probably depends on whether you own stocks

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: THE BOTTOM LINE: The iPhone X's biggest myth, investing overseas, and why you should buy gold

US stocks fell amid mounting worry that the GOP tax bill will struggle to pass the Senate.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2% and the more tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 declined 0.3%.

First up, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 24,510.11, -75.32, (-0.31%)
• S&P 500: 2,652.10, -10.75, (-0.40%)
• Nasdaq: 6,856.53, -19.27, (-0.28%)
• US 10-year yield: 2.35%, -0.003
• WTI crude oil: $57.12, +$0.52, +0.92%

1. Disney will officially buy 21st Century Fox's film and TV assets for $52.4 billion. Fox shareholders will receive 0.2745 Disney shares for each unit of Fox stock they own. Disney also announced that it would buy back $10 billion of stock to offset the share dilution from the deal.

2. How you feel about Trump's economy probably depends on whether you own stocks. A survey conducted by Public Policy Polling shows that economic sentiment is much higher for voters that own stocks currently.

3. Ripple’s XRP overtakes bitcoin cash as 3rd largest cryptocurrency. It's surged more than 75% over the past 24 hours, propelling it to a market cap of $32.029 billion, trailing only bitcoin and Ethereum.

4. One group of traders has risen to dominate bitcoin trading. Japanese men in their 30s and 40s are the biggest drivers of the bitcoin boom, according to Deutsche Bank.

5. The Fed could pump the breaks on bitcoin's 1,500% rally. Don Ross, the CEO of CODA Markets, a Chicago-based dark pool, thinks further rate hikes could pump the breaks on the cryptocurrency's rally.

ADDITIONALLY:

Here's how the latest Fed rate hike will hit your wallet

Rupert Murdoch laid out his vision of TV's future after the Disney-Fox deal, and it raises a lot of questions

The FCC repealed net neutrality — here's what that means for you

Disney and 21st Century Fox used 4 words that should make employees nervous

The Fed’s forecasts for the economy confirm what everyone already knows about the GOP tax cut plan

A company investing in the future of bitcoin tech is splitting its stock in 10 after it soars 1,600%

SEE ALSO: How you feel about Trump's economy probably depends on whether you own stocks

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: THE BOTTOM LINE: The iPhone X's biggest myth, investing overseas, and why you should buy gold

• The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate 25 basis points to a range between 1.25% and 1.5%.
• Don Ross, the CEO of CODA Markets, a Chicago-based dark pool, thinks further rate hikes could pump the breaks on bitcoin's eye-popping rally.

"I don't like to feed the beast, but it's hard to resist."

Don Ross, the CEO of CODA Markets, a Chicago-based dark pool, is talking about bitcoin.

He's a skeptic of the red-hot digital coin, which this year has soared an eye-popping 1,500%. The rise of bitcoin, which at last check was trading at $16,519 a coin, has taken both Wall Street and Main Street by surprise. But Ross said its appreciation makes sense. And might be connected to the activity of the Federal Reserve, which Wednesday announced a hike in its benchmark interest rate.

"The reason why it is believable is because of our outgoing Fed chair and her predecessor and the amount of credit that has been created in the last decade," Ross told Business Insider in an interview. 

The Fed, under chair Janet Yellen and her predecessor Ben Bernanke, kept interest rates at/near zero from 2009 to 2016. The Fed rate is the basis for how much banks charge people to borrow money. When the rate is low, credit is cheap and people borrow more.

"When the amount of leverage in the financial system or credit not backed by savings greatly exceeds the value of the actual assets of the global economy, which is currently the case, fundamentals have nothing to do with the prices at which things trade at," he said.

Momentum has everything to do with those prices, according to Ross.

"The interest rates are so low, there's so much funds that need to get invested somewhere and it is impossible to get a yield," Ross said.

Momentum can feed on itself because as asset prices appreciate investors think they got in on the right move and go in more. According to Ross, further hikes of the Fed's interest rate could potentially take the wind out of bitcoin's sails.

"There's no fundamental reason for why bitcoin is going up, and it won't be a fundamental reason why it goes down," he added. "It will be some catalyst or trigger and that could be the Fed raising interest rates."

SEE ALSO: A company investing in the future of bitcoin tech is splitting its stock in 10 after it soars 1,600%

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Economist Jim Rickards on gold versus bitcoin — intrinsic value is meaningless for both but the bitcoin prices aren't real

This week:

• Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget discusses the meteoric rise of bitcoin. He references a recent research note published by former Merrill Lynch chief investment strategist Richard Bernstein, who refers to the cryptocurrency as "bitcon." Blodget walks through Bernstein's assertion the bitcoin meets all five characteristics of a bubble: available liquidity, leverage, democratization, new issues and turnover. The good news for bitcoin speculators is that Bernstein thinks the rally will continue until the Fed siphons off liquidity.
• Business Insider editor-at-large Sara Silverstein, who is generally a bitcoin enthusiast, recognizes that it could be a bubble, but nothing like past catastrophic ones like the tulip bubble. She says it could end up drawing some parallels to the tech bubble, however, because after that market blowup, tech remained a large asset class and a big part of the market. Blodget then points out that there's no real way to value bitcoin, and that efforts to do so are absurd. In the near to medium term, Silverstein still sees lots of money flowing into bitcoin and the cryptocurrency space at large.
• Blodget and Silverstein then discuss the argument that we're nearing "peak media" in the US. According to a recent study, the average US adult spends 12 hours a day consuming tech and media, and Blodget says that's been driven by the rise of the internet. He doesn't see the amount of time used to consume media increasing meaningfully going forward.
• Business Insider senior editor Josh Barro sits down with Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and distinguished professor of economics at the City University of New York. They start by addressing the one-page sheet released by the Treasury department this past week, which argued that President Trump's economic policies — including the tax bill — will shrink the government deficit. Krugman says that the gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast put forth was pulled out of thin air, with no backup. He notes that the projections are roughly nine times that of the Joint Committee on Taxation's forecast. Krugman says that even the most ideal policy in the world would fail to boost GDP by 7%.
• Barro asks if the tax plan as proposed will boost economic growth at all, and Krugman says he's not particularly optimistic about it. He notes that many of the studies that have been done don't touch on the impact of the national deficit on growth, and says that many of those organizations are using an inexact definition of growth. Krugman says that even if GDP ends up being positive, gross national product could end up being negative.
• Barro then poses the question of whether corporate tax cuts will significantly benefit US workers. Krugman says that there will probably be some positive impact, but only in the longer term, not in the immediate term. He predicts that US workers won't see a noticeable wage increase in the next five years. Krugman then goes on to say that, overall, the tax bill won't have a pronounced negative effect on conditions in the US. He thinks that when the economy is near full employment, we should pay down debt and not run up additional obligations, but ultimately doesn't see any sort of crisis resulting from it.
• Krugman doesn't attribute the recent run up in stocks to the GOP tax bill. He notes that stocks are up about the same amount all around the world, which is certainly not specific to Trump. In terms of the economy, he doesn't think Trump deserves credit for how strong it is, considering no actual policies have been put into place. He also mentions that the economy has been adding jobs at a steady rate for years now.
• Krugman shares his thoughts on the Fed, and says that while he saw no reason to push out Yellen, that Jerome Powell will be an adequate replacement. However, he says he's afraid of Fed board appointments, considering the GOP has been defiantly wrong about everything monetary for the past decade. He does note that the board hasn't historically had much impact on policy, with the chairman controlling a great deal of it.
• Barro asks Krugman for his thoughts on Trump's threats with regards to global trade, including a withdrawal from NAFTA. Krugman says something like that would be a huge issue, and points out that there's no such thing as American manufacturing — that it's more accurately described as North American manufacturing, considering how interconnected the US has become with Mexico and Canada. He says disrupting NAFTA would be very costly, and says that trade will be the way we can tell whether there's any Trump unorthodoxy left. From a labor perspective, Krugman says that immigrant workers aren't competing with US-born ones anymore, but rather other immigrants. 
• In the Fidelity Insight of the week, Silverstein sits down with Matt Fruhan, a portfolio manager at the firm, about where there are opportunities in equities. He says that his funds have started tilting a little more towards value in the last couple years. On a three- to five-year basis, he says he looks at earnings growth and yield, relative to valuations. Fruhan notes that growth has picked up in the last few years, with tech leading the way. He says that quantitative easing has led to an abundance of capital in the market, something he doesn't see as particularly sustainable.
• Fruhan shares his thoughts on FANG stocks, which he says are loved by consumer and are offering a great deal of growth. He notes that companies like Facebook and Google have done a great job penetrating the online ad market and taken a lot of share. Fruhan then says that in order for the companies to hit current estimates, they're going to have to gain even more advertising market share. He thinks that until we see slower growth or different capital costs, it's going to be tough to change how the market values these mega-cap tech companies.

Join the conversation about this story »

• Airbus used an A380 on a test flight to draw the outline of Christmas tree over Europe.
• The plane will soon be delivered to Emirates.

On Wednesday, Airbus took a brand new A380 superjumbo on a test flight over Europe. Instead of charting some arbitrary route, the test pilots decided to deliver some holiday cheer and drew an outline of a Christmas tree in the skies over Germany and Denmark.

The route included detours to draw ornaments and a trip north to Denmark for the tree topper.

The flight, which took five hours and 22 minutes to complete, began and ended at the Airbus facility in Hamburg, Germany.

The A380 used for the flight is expected to be delivered to Emirates in the near future and will be one of the more than 100 Superjumbos in the airline's fleet.

This isn't the first time an aircraft manufacturer has gotten creative on a test flight. In August, Boeing test pilots spent 18 hours drawing the outline of a 787 Dreamliner across the United States.

SEE ALSO: Delta has agreed to buy $25 billion worth of Airbus jets

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NOW WATCH: The 5 issues to consider before trading bitcoin futures

South Korean investors can't get enough of XRP, and its price continues to soar.

The post Ripple Price Leaps Another 32% as FOMO Sets In appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

The post South Korea Moves to Regulate Domestic Bitcoin Trading, Exchanges appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

It's been a good year for bitcoin investors but a terrible one for those who hoped that the cryptocurrency would become the de facto tender for the internet. Satoshi Nakamoto, its creator, may be dismayed at what has become of the project, intended a...

• Many cryptocurrencies, even ones smaller than bitcoin, have seen big gains in recent weeks.
• XRP, founded by Ripple, has overtaken bitcoin cash as the third-largest digital currency by market cap.
• Check out the live price of Ripple's XRP here.

Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has seen a tremendous gain of 78.2% over the past 24 hours, propelling it to a market cap of $32.029 billion and making it the third-largest digital currency. It trails just bitcoin and Ethereum, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

Founded in 2012 by what was then known as Ripple Labs, XRP aims to use blockchain technology to speed up cross-border money transfers and bank settlements. Currently, most of those transactions are facilitated on Swift, a much older network that can often take days to send money internationally, with high fees. 

Here's how the rankings now stand, according to coinmarketcap.com:

"I think a lot of this is simply the market better understanding the realities of digital assets performance (speed, throughput etc)," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Business Insider on Wednesday. "There is - appropriately - a lot of excitement about the potential - but XRP is very uniquely positioned to actually be able to deliver on the promise."

XRP is up 2,469% so far this year.

SEE ALSO: Ripple's XRP is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump in market cap this week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A senior investment officer at a $695 billion firm breaks down tax reform

• Many cryptocurrencies, even ones smaller than bitcoin, have seen big gains in recent weeks.
• XRP, founded by Ripple, has overtaken bitcoin cash as the third-largest digital currency by market cap.
• Check out the live price of Ripple's XRP here.

Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has seen a tremendous gain of 78.2% over the past 24 hours, propelling it to a market cap of $32.029 billion and making it the third-largest digital currency. It trails just bitcoin and Ethereum, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

Founded in 2012 by what was then known as Ripple Labs, XRP aims to use blockchain technology to speed up cross-border money transfers and bank settlements. Currently, most of those transactions are facilitated on Swift, a much older network that can often take days to send money internationally, with high fees. 

Here's how the rankings now stand, according to coinmarketcap.com:

"I think a lot of this is simply the market better understanding the realities of digital assets performance (speed, throughput etc)," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Business Insider on Wednesday. "There is - appropriately - a lot of excitement about the potential - but XRP is very uniquely positioned to actually be able to deliver on the promise."

XRP is up 2,469% so far this year.

SEE ALSO: Ripple's XRP is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump in market cap this week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A senior investment officer at a $695 billion firm breaks down tax reform

• Many cryptocurrencies, even ones smaller than bitcoin, have seen big gains in recent weeks.
• XRP, founded by Ripple, has overtaken bitcoin cash as the third-largest digital currency by market cap.
• Check out the live price of Ripple's XRP here.

Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has seen a tremendous gain of 78.2% over the past 24 hours, propelling it to a market cap of $32.029 billion and making it the third-largest digital currency. It trails just bitcoin and Ethereum, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

Founded in 2012 by what was then known as Ripple Labs, XRP aims to use blockchain technology to speed up cross-border money transfers and bank settlements. Currently, most of those transactions are facilitated on Swift, a much older network that can often take days to send money internationally, with high fees. 

Here's how the rankings now stand, according to coinmarketcap.com:

"I think a lot of this is simply the market better understanding the realities of digital assets performance (speed, throughput etc)," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Business Insider on Wednesday. "There is - appropriately - a lot of excitement about the potential - but XRP is very uniquely positioned to actually be able to deliver on the promise."

XRP is up 2,469% so far this year.

SEE ALSO: Ripple's XRP is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump in market cap this week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A senior investment officer at a $695 billion firm breaks down tax reform

• Many cryptocurrencies, even ones smaller than bitcoin, have seen big gains in recent weeks.
• XRP, founded by Ripple, has overtaken bitcoin cash as the third-largest digital currency by market cap.
• Check out the live price of Ripple's XRP here.

Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has seen a tremendous gain of 78.2% over the past 24 hours, propelling it to a market cap of $32.029 billion and making it the third-largest digital currency. It trails just bitcoin and Ethereum, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

Founded in 2012 by what was then known as Ripple Labs, XRP aims to use blockchain technology to speed up cross-border money transfers and bank settlements. Currently, most of those transactions are facilitated on Swift, a much older network that can often take days to send money internationally, with high fees. 

Here's how the rankings now stand, according to coinmarketcap.com:

"I think a lot of this is simply the market better understanding the realities of digital assets performance (speed, throughput etc)," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Business Insider on Wednesday. "There is - appropriately - a lot of excitement about the potential - but XRP is very uniquely positioned to actually be able to deliver on the promise."

XRP is up 2,469% so far this year.

SEE ALSO: Ripple's XRP is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump in market cap this week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment

• Many cryptocurrencies, even ones smaller than bitcoin, have seen big gains in recent weeks.
• XRP, founded by Ripple, has overtaken bitcoin cash as the third-largest digital currency by market cap.
• Check out the live price of Ripple's XRP here.

Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has seen a tremendous gain of 78.2% over the past 24 hours, propelling it to a market cap of $32.029 billion and making it the third-largest digital currency. It trails just bitcoin and Ethereum, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

Founded in 2012 by what was then known as Ripple Labs, XRP aims to use blockchain technology to speed up cross-border money transfers and bank settlements. Currently, most of those transactions are facilitated on Swift, a much older network that can often take days to send money internationally, with high fees. 

Here's how the rankings now stand, according to coinmarketcap.com:

"I think a lot of this is simply the market better understanding the realities of digital assets performance (speed, throughput etc)," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Business Insider on Wednesday. "There is - appropriately - a lot of excitement about the potential - but XRP is very uniquely positioned to actually be able to deliver on the promise."

XRP is up 2,469% so far this year.

SEE ALSO: Ripple's XRP is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump in market cap this week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment

• Many cryptocurrencies, even ones smaller than bitcoin, have seen big gains in recent weeks.
• XRP, founded by Ripple, has overtaken bitcoin cash as the third-largest digital currency by market cap.
• Check out the live price of Ripple's XRP here.

Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency has seen a tremendous gain of 78.2% over the past 24 hours, propelling it to a market cap of $32.029 billion and making it the third-largest digital currency. It trails just bitcoin and Ethereum, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

Founded in 2012 by what was then known as Ripple Labs, XRP aims to use blockchain technology to speed up cross-border money transfers and bank settlements. Currently, most of those transactions are facilitated on Swift, a much older network that can often take days to send money internationally, with high fees. 

Here's how the rankings now stand, according to coinmarketcap.com:

"I think a lot of this is simply the market better understanding the realities of digital assets performance (speed, throughput etc)," Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Business Insider on Wednesday. "There is - appropriately - a lot of excitement about the potential - but XRP is very uniquely positioned to actually be able to deliver on the promise."

XRP is up 2,469% so far this year.

SEE ALSO: Ripple's XRP is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump in market cap this week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment

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Disney has agreed to acquire 21st Century Fox's film studio and a large chunk of its television production assets for $52.4 billion. Here's what you need to know:

• Disney is spending $52.4 billion to arm itself for a war with Netflix
• Disney has struck an industry-changing deal, and now "everybody is talking to everybody"
• How Hollywood will fundamentally change after the Disney-Fox deal
• Netflix is shrugging off the Disney-Fox deal 
• Disney and 21st Century Fox used four words that should make employees nervous
• Bankers on the Disney-21st Century Fox deal are set to make a $150 million payday

In related news, the Federal Communications Commission is voting on a net-neutrality repeal. You can follow that live here. 

On Wall Street, Citigroup's new managing-director list is out — here are the investment bankers and traders who just got promoted. And we asked two of Citigroup's top executives what they look for when hiring senior investment bankers.

The head of UBS's £1 trillion wealth management business has left in a major board reshuffle. And a partner has left Tourbillon Capital, a struggling New York hedge fund.

As expected, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate. Here's what you need to know:

• The Fed’s forecasts for the economy confirm what everyone already knows about the GOP tax cut plan
• YELLEN: Bitcoin is a "highly speculative asset"
• Something doesn't add up in Janet Yellen promise of higher wages
• How you feel about Trump's economy probably depends on whether you own stocks

In crypto news: 

• One group of traders has risen to dominate bitcoin trading
• ALBERT EDWARDS: Ignore the bitcoin bubble and pay attention to what's going on in the stock market
• German exchange Deutsche Boerse mulls launch of European bitcoin futures
• A company investing in the future of bitcoin tech is splitting its stock in 10 after it soars 1,600%
• Someone is selling a "spectacular" penthouse in Miami — but they're only accepting bitcoin
• ICO funding soars above $4 billion as US regulators crack down

Lastly, people travel thousands of miles to sell Christmas trees on the streets of Manhattan — meet an Alaskan family who has been doing it for 21 years.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Warren Buffett lives in a modest house that's worth .001% of his total wealth — here's what it looks like

• On Thursday, Disney said it's buying 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets for $52.4 billion.
• The move is widely seen as the company gearing up to go to war with Netflix.
• Netflix investors seem unphased by the acquisition, sending shares of the company higher after the deal was announced.
• Watch Netflix's stock price move in real time here.

Disney announced its $52.4 million plan to buy many of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets on Thursday, in a move that many are calling the precursor to a coming war with Netflix.

Netflix investors seemed to shrug off the implications of the Disney-Fox deal, with shares of the company trading up 2.37% at $192.38 after it was announced.

As various interested buyers circled 21st Century Fox, Disney stood out because of its video streaming service, which is set to launch in 2019. Disney previously said it would pull its content from Netflix to start its own streaming service. Adding 21st Century Fox's assets to its content lineup could make it a real competitor to Netflix.

Disney is buying many of Fox's entertainment assets, including its movie studio, which brings in a lot of new intellectual property to the company. The rest of the industry is like to follow suit, through mergers and acquisitions, in order to offer their widest range of content possible.

Netflix shares are up 50.88% this year.

Read more about the Disney-Fox deal here.

SEE ALSO: IT'S OFFICIAL: Disney will buy 21st Century Fox film and TV assets for $52.4 billion

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what bitcoin futures could mean for the price of bitcoin

[…]

The post Venezuela’s Fiat Currency is Declining Rapidly and Bitcoin is Taking Over appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

• Americans who own stocks are much more likely to have a favorable view on what President Donald Trump has done to the economy, according to a Public Policy Polling survey.
• The S&P 500 is up 25% since Trump's election victory last November.

If you play the stock market, then you're far more likely to approve of what President Donald Trump has done to the economy.

That's according to a survey conducted by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP), which recently collected the opinions of 862 registered voters. The survey found that 41% of participants who own stocks think their personal economic situation has gotten better this year, while only 15% say it's gotten worse.

That's a far more optimistic reading than the one put forth from respondents who don't own stocks. Just 24% of those in the group say their economic situation has improved, according to PPP. Meanwhile, 29% reveal that their personal circumstances have worsened.

The disparity in the survey results shows just how big of an impact the stock market's torrid post-election rally has had on the psyche of Americans fortunate enough to ride the wave. The S&P 500 has surged 25% since Trump's victory in November 2016, creating $5.6 trillion in corporate market cap — blockbuster numbers by any measure.

And while the biggest direct impact of Trump's proposed policies on individuals will come under the new tax plan, people with a stake in the market have been able to enjoy a lucrative ride to record highs in the meantime. At the same time, those without positions have waited patiently for tax reform that may or may not improve their economic situation.

It's important to note that, despite Trump's attempts to take credit, the stock market hasn't necessarily risen to new highs because of anything specific he's done. US corporations are currently enjoying a prolonged stretch of impressive earnings growth, which has historically been the biggest driver of stock gains. The Federal Reserve's continued monetary accommodation has also emboldened companies and investors alike.

But regardless of why equities are so strong, there's no denying that strong stock gains are enough to assuage the economic concerns of those invested in the market. And it might not be too late to put some skin in the game.

The majority of equity strategists across Wall Street are calling for the S&P 500 to continue rising through the end of 2018. So even though stocks look expensive, they could still be a good investment. And who knows, maybe it'll even improve your perspective on Trump's economy.

SEE ALSO: A $200 billion quant fund says one of the biggest concerns about how companies will spend their tax savings is overblown

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NOW WATCH: How to buy and sell bitcoin using one of the most popular cryptocurrency apps on the iPhone

• Ethereum reached an all-time high of $749.85 Thursday morning, before taking a 13% nosedive,
• It's currently trading down about 1%, near to $690 per token.
• The cryptocurrency now has a market cap of $64.858 billion, according to coinmarketcap.com, with Ethereum maintaining its spot as the second-largest digital currency, behind only bitcoin.
• Many digital currencies have seen boosts this week after bitcoin futures began trading Sunday. Bitcoin and Ethereum have gained 23% and 52% respectively since the launch.
• Unlike bitcoin, Ethereum’s underlying blockchain includes support for “smart contracts” in addition to payments and money transfers.

• Watch Ethereum's price move in real-time here>>

SEE ALSO: Ripple is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump this week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment

• Ethereum reached an all-time high of $749.85 Thursday morning, before taking a 13% nosedive,
• It's currently trading down about 1%, near to $690 per token.
• The cryptocurrency now has a market cap of $64.858 billion, according to coinmarketcap.com, with Ethereum maintaining its spot as the second-largest digital currency, behind only bitcoin.
• Many digital currencies have seen boosts this week after bitcoin futures began trading Sunday. Bitcoin and Ethereum have gained 23% and 52% respectively since the launch.
• Unlike bitcoin, Ethereum’s underlying blockchain includes support for “smart contracts” in addition to payments and money transfers.

• Watch Ethereum's price move in real-time here>>

SEE ALSO: Ripple is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump this week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment

• Ethereum reached an all-time high of $749.85 Thursday morning, before taking a 13% nosedive,
• It's currently trading down about 1%, near to $690 per token.
• The cryptocurrency now has a market cap of $64.858 billion, according to coinmarketcap.com, with Ethereum maintaining its spot as the second-largest digital currency, behind only bitcoin.
• Many digital currencies have seen boosts this week after bitcoin futures began trading Sunday. Bitcoin and Ethereum have gained 23% and 52% respectively since the launch.
• Unlike bitcoin, Ethereum’s underlying blockchain includes support for “smart contracts” in addition to payments and money transfers.

• Watch Ethereum's price move in real-time here>>

SEE ALSO: Ripple is crushing litecoin with an $18 billion jump this week

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment

• Ripple, also known as XRP, has more than doubled in price this week.
• On Friday, A group of Asian banks plans to test the technology for global money transfers. 

Ripple, a cryptocurrency focused on bank transfers, is up 48% in the past 24 hours after following a report major banks in Japan and South Korea plan to test the coin on Friday. The digital coin has gained $18 billion in market cap since Monday morning.

The group of Asian banks hopes to reduce global money transfer times to the less than one day, while cutting costs by 30%. Currently, most international money transfers use a banking network called Swift, which can take days for money to reach its intended destination. 

This week’s gains mean ripple now has a total market cap of $24.26 billion, according to coinmarketcap.com, putting it in fourth place behind bitcoin, ethereum, and bitcoin cash. It recently passed litecoin, which has also seen a big jump in price, but not enough to maintain its place in the rankings.

Ripple could see another bump later Thursday, as it is scheduled to be demonstrated live on Japan’s "Nikkei Morning Plus" TV show at 5 p.m. ET (7 a.m. Friday local time).

Earlier this week, Ripple placed $55 billion of the cryptocurrency in escrow in order to provide confidence to investors and reduce its volatility. It also recently inked a deal with American Express and Santander bank to send international payments on its blockchain.

CEO Brad Garlinghouse plans to drum up support in an ask-me-anything livestream Thursday evening.

He tweeted: 

Bitcoin is still easily the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency, and saw a boost of 24% this week after futures contracts for the digital currency began trading on Cboe Global Market’s exchange Sunday. 

The price of one XRP is up is up 2178% so far this year.

Watch ripple's price move in real-time here>>

SEE ALSO: Litecoin creator issues stern warning after the cryptocurrency doubles in a single day

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment

• Ripple, also known as XRP, has more than doubled in price this week.
• On Friday, A group of Asian banks plans to test the technology for global money transfers. 

Ripple, a cryptocurrency focused on bank transfers, is up 48% in the past 24 hours after following a report major banks in Japan and South Korea plan to test the coin on Friday. The digital coin has gained $18 billion in market cap since Monday morning.

The group of Asian banks hopes to reduce global money transfer times to the less than one day, while cutting costs by 30%. Currently, most international money transfers use a banking network called Swift, which can take days for money to reach its intended destination. 

This week’s gains mean ripple now has a total market cap of $24.26 billion, according to coinmarketcap.com, putting it in fourth place behind bitcoin, ethereum, and bitcoin cash. It recently passed litecoin, which has also seen a big jump in price, but not enough to maintain its place in the rankings.

Ripple could see another bump later Thursday, as it is scheduled to be demonstrated live on Japan’s "Nikkei Morning Plus" TV show at 5 p.m. ET (7 a.m. Friday local time).

Earlier this week, Ripple placed $55 billion of the cryptocurrency in escrow in order to provide confidence to investors and reduce its volatility. It also recently inked a deal with American Express and Santander bank to send international payments on its blockchain.

CEO Brad Garlinghouse plans to drum up support in an ask-me-anything livestream Thursday evening.

He tweeted: 

Bitcoin is still easily the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency, and saw a boost of 24% this week after futures contracts for the digital currency began trading on Cboe Global Market’s exchange Sunday. 

The price of one XRP is up is up 2178% so far this year.

Watch ripple's price move in real-time here>>

SEE ALSO: Litecoin creator issues stern warning after the cryptocurrency doubles in a single day

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment

• Ripple, also known as XRP, has more than doubled in price this week.
• On Friday, A group of Asian banks plans to test the technology for global money transfers. 

Ripple, a cryptocurrency focused on bank transfers, is up 48% in the past 24 hours after following a report major banks in Japan and South Korea plan to test the coin on Friday. The digital coin has gained $18 billion in market cap since Monday morning.

The group of Asian banks hopes to reduce global money transfer times to the less than one day, while cutting costs by 30%. Currently, most international money transfers use a banking network called Swift, which can take days for money to reach its intended destination. 

This week’s gains mean ripple now has a total market cap of $24.26 billion, according to coinmarketcap.com, putting it in fourth place behind bitcoin, ethereum, and bitcoin cash. It recently passed litecoin, which has also seen a big jump in price, but not enough to maintain its place in the rankings.

Ripple could see another bump later Thursday, as it is scheduled to be demonstrated live on Japan’s "Nikkei Morning Plus" TV show at 5 p.m. ET (7 a.m. Friday local time).

Earlier this week, Ripple placed $55 billion of the cryptocurrency in escrow in order to provide confidence to investors and reduce its volatility. It also recently inked a deal with American Express and Santander bank to send international payments on its blockchain.

CEO Brad Garlinghouse plans to drum up support in an ask-me-anything livestream Thursday evening.

He tweeted: 

Bitcoin is still easily the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency, and saw a boost of 24% this week after futures contracts for the digital currency began trading on Cboe Global Market’s exchange Sunday. 

The price of one XRP is up is up 2178% so far this year.

Watch ripple's price move in real-time here>>

SEE ALSO: Litecoin creator issues stern warning after the cryptocurrency doubles in a single day

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One market expert says the financial system could collapse at any moment

[…]

The post Bitcoin is a “Highly Speculative Asset”, Says Federal Reserve’s Yellen appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

The post Japan's GMO Internet Group Will Pay Thousands of Workers in Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

• Disney is buying Fox's film studio and a large chunk of its television production assets for $52.4 billion.
• Bankers orchestrating the megadeal could earn more than $150 million.

After months of intrigue and rumors, Disney announced Thursday it has a deal to buy 21st Century Fox's film and TV assets for $52.4 billion, the latest in a flurry of megadeals in the back half of the year. 

Bankers representing the two media conglomerates are set to earn another giant payday of as much as $155 million in deal fees, according to Jeffrey Nassof, director of consulting firm Freeman & Co. 

JPMorgan  and Guggenheim Partners will split $60 million to $70 million for representing Disney on the deal, while Centerview Partners, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs will split $70 million to $85 million for advising Fox. 

Goldman Sachs will earn another $15 million to $25 million for arranging the $9 billion bridge loan on the deal. 

It's shaping up to be a very lucrative month for dealmakers at Goldman Sachs and Centerview Partners. The two firms also advised on opposite sides of the $69 billion CVS-Aetna deal announced last week — a transaction that could produce as much as $600 million in advisory and financing fees when it's all said and done. 

SEE ALSO: Disney has struck an industry-changing deal, and now 'everybody is talking to everybody'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Economist Jim Rickards on gold versus bitcoin — intrinsic value is meaningless for both but the bitcoin prices aren't real

• The cannabis industry doesn't have widespread access to banks, and conducting business with only cash has its risks.
• Many dispensary owners are excited about using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to solve this problem, but it's not a miracle solution for a number of reasons.
• That hasn't stopped cryptocurrencies from trying to elbow their way into the industry. 

The rapidly-growing cannabis industry has a cash problem, but dispensary owners around the country say cryptocurrency isn't a miracle solution.

Most banks won't take cannabis cash, so dispensaries in states where the sale of cannabis is legal have been forced to explore alternative payment solutions as they are locked out of even the most basic tools of doing business, like opening a checking account and accepting credit cards as payment.

That's a huge problem for an industry that's expected to hit $10 billion in sales this year and $24.5 billion by 2021. 

Cannabis dispensaries pay extremely high taxes 

Dispensaries often pay penalties for submitting taxes in cash, even though they are barred from opening lines of credit. And a section of the tax code prevents businesses that deal directly with cannabis, like dispensaries, from deducting legitimate business expenses.

It all adds up to cannabis companies paying an effective tax rate of 65 to 75%, according to the New Federalism Fund, a nonprofit organization advocating for the cannabis industry.

And there are obvious security risks — including theft and accounting fraud — that come with handling and storing large amounts of cash. 

Bitcoin is the opposite of what dispensaries need right now 

But while cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin may seem like a logical solution for cannabis companies to get around the cash problem, it's the opposite of what dispensaries need as the industry struggles for legitimacy under federal prohibition, according to cannabis CEOs. 

Krista Whitley, the CEO of Altitude Products, a Nevada-based cannabis company, said while she's "very enthusiastic" about cryptocurrency's potential to solve problems in the cannabis industry, it can "draw unwanted attention," on otherwise law-abiding dispensaries.

When she approached Nevada's cannabis regulators about using cryptocurrency, they threw cold water on the plan. "It's definitely on our radar for the first quarter of 2018," Whitley said. 

Cannabis dispensaries also must meet strict reporting standards to ensure that no cannabis is diverted to the black market to avoid taxes.

A number of software platforms help dispensaries report seed-to-sale data to state regulators. But using cryptocurrency would muddy the trail. Since cryptocurrencies are entirely digital, that would likely bring extra scrutiny onto dispensaries, and could invite federal interference. 

"We have too many strict state and federal standards to meet, and right now, the cryptocurrencies don't allow us to meet those high standards," Zachary Zises, a dispensary owner in Chicago told Green Markets Report, a cannabis-industry focused publication.

That won't stop the cryptocurrencies from trying 

There are a number of cryptocurrencies geared toward cannabis, despite the industry's reticence.

Potcoin, which advertises itself as a secure solution for the cannabis industry's banking problem, has resorted to publicity stunts — like sending Dennis Rodman to North Korea — to drum up enthusiasm for the currency, though it's worth noting that the coin gained 11.99% since Tuesday to hit $0.33. 

And Paragon Coin, whose CEO is former Miss Iowa Jessica Versteeg, has attracted some negative attention on blogs and social platforms like Reddit. Some prominent crypto-watchers have called the coin overhyped and, like Potcoin, it has relied on celebrity endorsements.

Still, some dispensaries and cannabis companies are starting to experiment with cryptocurrency.

One startup, POSaBIT, uses cryptocurrency as an intermediate step to let customers buy cannabis products with their credit cards, Bloomberg reports. POSaBIT places kiosks in dispensaries in legal states like Washington and Colorado, where a customer can use their credit card to buy Bitcoin, which can then be redeemed in the store. 

The cannabis market banking issues will probably go away 

Some in the industry believe the banking issues may get resolved before the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Sen. Cory Gardner, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, is working on whipping up the votes for an amendment to the House version of the Republican tax bill, which would allow cannabis dispensaries to claim standard deductions. Gardner tried to tack this onto the Senate bill, though he pulled the amendment before the bill was voted on. 

Flowhub, a business management platform for the cannabis industry, also announced earlier this month it was entering a partnership with Canna Pay to provide cashless payment to dispensary partners in legal states.

While both cryptocurrency and the legal cannabis industry are still relatively new, it's not yet clear whether the two are a match. 

"We're actively monitoring it," Whitley, of Altitude, said. "We're hoping the issues with cryptocurrency will get worked out by the end of 2018." 

SEE ALSO: The legal marijuana market is exploding — it'll hit almost $10 billion sales in this year

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NOW WATCH: What happens to your brain and body if you use Adderall recreationally

Ripple's XRP cryptocurrency is scaling new heights today, but the rally looks overbought, according to price chart analysis.

• Japanese men in their 30s and 40s are driving the cryptocurrency market. 
• They overtook their Chinese counterparts after regulators started to shut down exchanges. 
• Many Japanese retail traders are engaged in leveraged trading, using borrowed funds, and a survey showed that they are generally less financially literate than their US counterparts.

Japanese men in their 30s and 40s are the biggest drivers of the bitcoin boom. 

Forty percent of bitcoin trading between October and November was conducted in yen, according to a Nikkei report cited in a note by Masao Muraki, a global financial strategist at Deutsche Bank. 

Japanese investors, mostly men, came to dominate trading after regulators started to shut down cryptocurrency exchanges in China.

"More than a few Japanese investors positively value volatility," Muraki said in a note on Thursday. He continued: "Japan’s investment style is typified by a combination of low-risk, low-return deposits and high-risk, high-return investments."

Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, leapt 127% between October and November. In December, it has taken out six $1,000 milestones and continues to grow in popularity as more people try to profit. On Sunday, CME Group will be the second trading venue to launch futures trading, one week after Cboe Options Exchange. 

Many Japanese investors are engaged in leveraged trading, using borrowed funds. 

"We think that retail investors are shifting from leveraged FX trading to leveraged cryptocurrency trading," Muraki said. "Japan accounts for a high 54% of global foreign exchange margin trading (leveraged FX trading), so Japanese retail investors are major players in FX markets."

However, many retail investors could use the help of professional brokers. Muraki cited a survey by Japan's Central Council for Financial Services Information which showed that retail investors in the country are less financially literate than their US counterparts. 

SEE ALSO: Someone is selling a 'spectacular' penthouse in Miami — but they're only accepting bitcoin

DON'T MISS: Bitcoin bull Tom Lee has identified 12 stocks that are perfect if you don’t want to own it

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NOW WATCH: The 5 issues to consider before trading bitcoin futures

• Disney beat out other companies circling 21st Century Fox's entertainment businesses, and will buy film and TV assets for more than $52 billion.
• Shares of both companies are slipping on the news.
• Watch Disney and Fox's stock prices move in real time here.

Disney announced its plan to buy 21st Century Fox's film and TV assets for $52.4 billion. Fox shareholders will receive 0.2745 shares of the new Disney and one share of the spun off broadcast company for each current share of Fox. 

Shares of Disney are down 0.72% at $106.84 and 21st Century Fox is weaker by 0.85% at $32.47 in early trading on Thursday.

Disney agreed to buy many of Fox's entertainment assets, including the film studio and a large chunk of the television properties. It leaves behind the broadcasting network and stations including Fox News and Fox sports channels, which will be spun off into a newly listed company immediately prior to Disney's acquisition.

Disney said it will buy back $10 billion of stock to help stymie the dilution from the new Fox shareholders.

The deal is now pending regulatory approval, which isn't guaranteed as AT&T's $84.5 billion acquisition of Time Warner hit an unexpected roadblock from the US Department of Justice earlier this year.

Disney is up 0.44% this year while 21st Century Fox is up 12.81%.

Read more about the deal here.

SEE ALSO: IT'S OFFICIAL: Disney will buy 21st Century Fox film and TV assets for $52.4 billion

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what bitcoin futures could mean for the price of bitcoin

Money is flowing out of bitcoin and into the "small cap" markets.

The post Bitcoin Price Posts Slight Decline But Altcoin Markets Set New Records appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Money is flowing out of bitcoin and into the "small cap" markets.

The post Bitcoin Price Posts Slight Decline But Altcoin Markets Set New Records appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Soon after an all-time-high above $17,630 on the CoinDesk's price index, bitcoin prices are starting to look towards sub-$16,000 levels.

[…]

The post This Russian Presidential Candidate Wants to Legalize Bitcoin appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

• Disney has agreed a deal to buy 21st Century Fox's studio and television production assets for $52.4 billion.
• The companies said in a press release the acquisition will result in at least $2 billion in "cost savings from efficiencies."

Disney has agreed a deal to acquire 21st Century Fox's studio and television production assets for $52.4 billion. 21st Century Fox shareholders will receive 0.2745 Disney shares for each 21st Century Fox share they own.

In the press release announcing the deal, the companies used four words that should make Disney and 21st Century Fox employees nervous: "cost savings from efficiencies."

"The acquisition is expected to yield at least $2 billion in cost savings from efficiencies realized through the combination of businesses, and to be accretive to earnings before the impact of purchase accounting for the second fiscal year after the close of the transaction," the release said. 

In corporate speak, "cost savings from efficiencies" indicate areas where investment bankers or the firms involved in the deal have identified redundancies or opportunities to make the combined company leaner, thus saving on costs.

While synergies can also mean cutting redundancies in things like software and machinery, a large chunk of the savings typically comes from reduced employee headcounts.

As we've pointed out, these synergies often aren't what they're cracked up to be and don't help earnings after mergers. Many of these cost-cutting measures may never come to fruition.

Bob Bryan contributed reporting. 

SEE ALSO: 

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NOW WATCH: Here's what bitcoin futures could mean for the price of bitcoin

Greg Dwyer, head of business development at BitMEX, a bitcoin derivatives exchange based in Hong Kong, talks with Business Insider executive editor Sara Silverstein about what investors should know about trading bitcoin futures. Following is a transcript of the video.

Sara Silverstein: Help me understand how these bitcoin futures are going to work. Your betting on a future price of bitcoin. What is the underlying, what's the reference point, how do they decide? I've seen a lot of different bitcoin prices every single day.  

Greg Dwyer: There are two main contracts being launched. There’s the CBOE and the CME which is coming out a few weeks later. The CBOE is pricing against the Gemini auction which settles at 4 p.m. eastern time. Whereas the CME is looking at a more broad, diverse index comprising of four exchanges. That's going to be referenced at 4 p.m. London time.

Silverstein: So explain to me what are the issues for having an underlying like bitcoin that isn't something that's regularly traded on an exchange.

Dwyer: Well first of all is the fact that bitcoin trades 24/7. Whereas these contracts are only going to be trading basically 24/5. They’re closed for the weekend plus they have these trading limits in place of 20% — hard limit up and down. So potentially we could see no trading occur. If there's a 20 percent move over the weekend. And it opens that limit up on Monday and then no one's going to be able to open or close positions until the following day.

Silverstein: Which is likely.

Dwyer: Right, so this also introduces, I believe, five other concerns given the fact that this does not trade like a regular, say, stock on an exchange, such as the NYSE. Market manipulation, also there’s potential of systems overloading. There’s potential of DDOS attacks, there’s hard forks, and finally the way that these contracts are margined.

Silverstein: So Market manipulation, how does that work?

Dwyer: So let's take the CBOE contract for example. This is one exchange which compromises a relatively small amount of bitcoin dollar-traded volumes globally. So there are concerns that they could be priced — adverse price movements — due to this illiquidity. Or some bad actors in the space trying to move the price at settlement. The CME contract being more diversified on four exchanges alleviates this problem a bit.

Silverstein: And what about the DDOS attacks? What is that?

Dwyer: DDOS basically means that you're trying to take down a system by overwhelming it with a large amount of traffic from various sources. We’ve seen various exchanges this week become partially unusable because they've been subject to DDOS. So this could be a large issue going into settlement and we see DDOS happening on these exchanges thus making settlement unlikely.

Silverstein: And what about the margin? How concerned are you about the fact that your margin requirements are going to be in cash versus like on the BitMEX exchange people are holding their their margins in bitcoin. So if you have a short position and bitcoin goes up by 10X. Then all of a sudden your margin requirements go through the roof and if your margin’s held in bitcoin, you’re covered. But if it's held in cash that that's not the case.

Dwyer: Exactly, it's not easy to cash out bitcoin from an exchange and thus use to cover your unrealized losses on your short position. So this is going to introduce a very interesting element in to how the prices are actually going to evolve for the forward structure of the futures curve.

Silverstein: Explain to me what the system overload issue is.  

Dwyer: Recently we’ve seen a number exchanges have performance issues. With the run up to $19,000, we saw a number of exchanges collapse under the pressure. They crashed and they went down for half an hour to a few hours. Other exchanges had issues whereby you couldn't submit orders or if you could, you weren’t getting fills back until several minutes later.  As we get more institutional money coming in and arbitrage across the various exchanges between spot, futures and so on, we should see more and more flow coming in. And this presents a real problem for exchanges — how are they going to handle with this increased amount of volume. Over the past year, we’ve seen volumes go up from 80 times. And I imagine that they are going to increase by another 10X before the end of the year.

Silverstein: So explain to me what happens if your underlying forks, because this is not something we see with any other futures contract.

Dwyer: So there needs to be clear guidelines as to how the futures exchanges are going to handle this. They could think of the fork as potential dividends that they reinvest. So, in fact, the Nasdaq has come out stating that they’re going to treat this as a reinvestable dividend and they’re going to look at the prices of some of the parts. Now from what I understand CME and CBOE haven't come out with any clear guidance yet as to how they’re going to treat the fork. And this is a real issue because some exchanges might be listing the original bitcoin, under the same name bitcoin, whereas you might have some other exchanges listing the new chain bitcoin as bitcoin. So now you have different types of bitcoin being traded, but still under the same term — “bitcoin.” So as a futures exchange where they’re trading bitcoin futures, this presents a problem in pricing the contract. So they need to come up with clear guidelines as to how they’re going to solve this problem, which they have not as of yet.

Join the conversation about this story »

A Greek court has given the green light for the U.S. extradition of Alexander Vinnik, the alleged former operator of bitcoin exchange BTC-e.

• Disney will buy Fox's film studio and a large chunk of its television production assets for $52.4 billion.
• Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger will remain at the company through 2021.
• The deal announcement follows months of interest from multiple parties, including Disney, Comcast and Verizon.

Disney has agreed to acquire 21st Century Fox's film studio and a large chunk of its television production assets for $52.4 billion. Fox shareholders will receive 0.2745 Disney shares for each unit of Fox stock they own. 

The package that Disney is buying reportedly includes Fox's A&E and Star TV networks, as well as its regional sports operation, movie studios, and stakes in Sky and Hulu, among other assets. The deal will leave Fox with its news and sports assets.

Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger will remain with his company through 2021 to "provide the vision and proven leadership required to successfully complete and integrate such a massive, complex undertaking," Orin Smith, lead independent director of the Disney Board, said in the press release. There was some speculation Iger could leave Disney to enter the 2020 election.

The deal announcement comes amid considerable interest for Fox from not just Disney, but also the likes of Comcast and Verizon. The Wall Street Journal and CNBC reported in November that Comcast and Verizon had approached Fox about buying at least part of the company, providing the first signs of a bidding war.

Now that deal terms have been agreed upon, the new entity will have to contend with rating declines across many large cable networks as more consumer opt for cheaper and more customizable web-based services.

This story is developing.

SEE ALSO: WALL STREET: More blockbuster mergers are coming

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NOW WATCH: How to buy and sell bitcoin using one of the most popular cryptocurrency apps on the iPhone

• Bank of England leaves monetary policy unchanged, with its base interest rate remaining at 0.5%.
• Britain's central bank had been widely expected to leave policy unchanged after raising interest rates at its last meeting in November.
• "Any future increases in Bank Rate are expected to be at a gradual pace and to a limited extent," BoE says.

LONDON — The Bank of England left monetary policy unchanged in December, as had been widely expected.

After raising interest rates for the first time in more than a decade in November, the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street was always set for a quiet month, and that proved so, with the bank leaving interest rates unchanged at 0.5%, and leaving its £435 billion cap in place for its QE programme.

The bank's Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to leave rates on hold.

At its November meeting, the bank hinted that the path of interest rates could steepen somewhat in the coming year or so, signalling the potential for another rate hike in early 2018, and possibly even another towards the end of the year, should the economy remain reasonably robust.

That view was maintained in December, with the MPC saying that it "remains of the view that, were the economy to follow the path expected in the November Inflation Report, further modest increases in Bank Rate would be warranted over the next few years, in order to return inflation sustainably to the target."

"Any future increases in Bank Rate are expected to be at a gradual pace and to a limited extent."

The bank made clear that Brexit remains the most important influence on the British economy right now, saying that: "Developments regarding the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union – and in particular the reaction of households, businesses and asset prices to them – remain the most significant influence on, and source of uncertainty about, the economic outlook." 

With inflation still rising thanks to the depreciation of the pound since the vote to leave the EU last summer, the bank faces a key trade off, balancing that inflation with the slowdown in the economy, dwindling consumer spending and declining inward investment.

Inflation hit 3.1% in November, more than one percentage point above the bank's Treasury mandated 2% target, meaning that Governor Mark Carney must now write a letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond explaining why that is the case.

"In line with the procedure set out in the MPC’s remit, the Governor will be writing an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, accounting for the overshoot relative to the target and explaining the MPC’s policy strategy to return inflation sustainably to the target," the bank said.

The pound was little changed against the dollar after the decision, reflecting the lack of surprise in the markets at the decision, as the chart below illustrates:

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NOW WATCH: The 5 issues to consider before trading bitcoin futures

The saddest thing is, we've had plenty of bubbles before now to warn us.

[…]

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Here is what you need to know. 

The Fed hikes rates. The US central bank on Wednesday lifted its key interest rate 25 basis points to a range between 1.25% and 1.50%, and said it sees three rate hikes in 2018. 

The FCC is set to vote on repealing net neutrality. A repeal would be good for large telecommunications and internet companies, and likely mean higher prices and fewer choices for consumers.

It's a big day for central banks. The Swiss National Bank, Bank of England and European Central Bank all meet on Thursday.

The head of UBS' $1 trillion wealth management business departs. UBS Wealth Management boss Juerg Zeltner will leave the bank at the beginning of 2018. He will be replaced by Martin Blessing, the former CEO of German lender Commerzbank.

Ripple becomes the 4th largest cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency designed for banks and global money transfers reached a market cap of $18.64 billion on Wednesday, surpassing litecoin as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency.

Deutsche Borse is thinking about launching European bitcoin futures. German exchange Deutsche Boerse says it will take "some time" before any decision on launching futures contracts is made.

A company investing in the future of bitcoin tech is splitting its stock in 10. The Crypto Company, which builds out the capital markets infrastructure for cryptocurrencies and trades on the over-the-counter market, announced plans to split its stock in 10 after soaring more than 1,600% since December 1.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+0.68%) outperformed in Asia and Germany's DAX (-0.54%) lags in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.26% near 2,670.

Earnings reports trickle out. Adobe, Costco and Oracle release their quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data is heavy. Initial claims, retail sales, and import and export prices will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Then, at 9:45 a.m. ET, Markit PMIs will be released. The US 10-year yield is up 3 basis points at 2.37%. 

Join the conversation about this story »

Here is what you need to know. 

The Fed hikes rates. The US central bank on Wednesday lifted its key interest rate 25 basis points to a range between 1.25% and 1.50%, and said it sees three rate hikes in 2018. 

The FCC is set to vote on repealing net neutrality. A repeal would be good for large telecommunications and internet companies, and likely mean higher prices and fewer choices for consumers.

It's a big day for central banks. The Swiss National Bank, Bank of England and European Central Bank all meet on Thursday.

The head of UBS' $1 trillion wealth management business departs. UBS Wealth Management boss Juerg Zeltner will leave the bank at the beginning of 2018. He will be replaced by Martin Blessing, the former CEO of German lender Commerzbank.

Ripple becomes the 4th largest cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency designed for banks and global money transfers reached a market cap of $18.64 billion on Wednesday, surpassing litecoin as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency.

Deutsche Borse is thinking about launching European bitcoin futures. German exchange Deutsche Boerse says it will take "some time" before any decision on launching futures contracts is made.

A company investing in the future of bitcoin tech is splitting its stock in 10. The Crypto Company, which builds out the capital markets infrastructure for cryptocurrencies and trades on the over-the-counter market, announced plans to split its stock in 10 after soaring more than 1,600% since December 1.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+0.68%) outperformed in Asia and Germany's DAX (-0.54%) lags in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.26% near 2,670.

Earnings reports trickle out. Adobe, Costco and Oracle release their quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data is heavy. Initial claims, retail sales, and import and export prices will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Then, at 9:45 a.m. ET, Markit PMIs will be released. The US 10-year yield is up 3 basis points at 2.37%. 

Join the conversation about this story »

Here is what you need to know. 

The Fed hikes rates. The US central bank on Wednesday lifted its key interest rate 25 basis points to a range between 1.25% and 1.50%, and said it sees three rate hikes in 2018. 

The FCC is set to vote on repealing net neutrality. A repeal would be good for large telecommunications and internet companies, and likely mean higher prices and fewer choices for consumers.

It's a big day for central banks. The Swiss National Bank, Bank of England and European Central Bank all meet on Thursday.

The head of UBS' $1 trillion wealth management business departs. UBS Wealth Management boss Juerg Zeltner will leave the bank at the beginning of 2018. He will be replaced by Martin Blessing, the former CEO of German lender Commerzbank.

Ripple becomes the 4th largest cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency designed for banks and global money transfers reached a market cap of $18.64 billion on Wednesday, surpassing litecoin as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency.

Deutsche Borse is thinking about launching European bitcoin futures. German exchange Deutsche Boerse says it will take "some time" before any decision on launching futures contracts is made.

A company investing in the future of bitcoin tech is splitting its stock in 10. The Crypto Company, which builds out the capital markets infrastructure for cryptocurrencies and trades on the over-the-counter market, announced plans to split its stock in 10 after soaring more than 1,600% since December 1.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+0.68%) outperformed in Asia and Germany's DAX (-0.54%) lags in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.26% near 2,670.

Earnings reports trickle out. Adobe, Costco and Oracle release their quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data is heavy. Initial claims, retail sales, and import and export prices will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Then, at 9:45 a.m. ET, Markit PMIs will be released. The US 10-year yield is up 3 basis points at 2.37%. 

Join the conversation about this story »

• Albert Edwards believes that bitcoin is distracting investors from a huge overvaluation in the equity markets.
• Societe Generale's pessimistic analyst says arguments that stocks are climbing because of a strong corporate profit recovery are misplaced.
• "Amid all the focus on the parabolic rise of Bitcoin it has gone almost unnoticed that, following its rapid ascent, the main S&P Composite index is now most overbought since 1995."

LONDON — Albert Edwards has a new warning: Stop focusing on the bitcoin bubble, and look instead at what's happening in the equities market.

Edwards, Societe Generale's uber-bearish global strategist uses his weekly note to make a comparison between the widely accepted bubble in the cryptocurrency bitcoin, and the US stock market, which he believes is currently wildly overvalued.

"How do you know when an asset price rise has turned into a bubble?" — Edwards asks in his Global Strategy Weekly.

"In the non-virtual world, valuation is often a good starting point. A bubble can also be identified by the steepness and persistence of any price ascent as doubters and naysayers are swept away in a tidal wave of bullish froth. That is something the main S&P Composite Index certainly shares with Bitcoin."

Justifications for the rapid ascent of US stock prices, which have reached new record highs almost continually in 2017, largely focus on the idea that corporate profits have recovered sharply, and are set to continue to do so.

Edwards doesn't buy this argument, saying that the "the underlying profits recovery looks increasingly fragile and indeed on some key measures a rapid deceleration is underway."

"Amid all the focus on the parabolic rise of Bitcoin it has gone almost unnoticed that, following its rapid ascent, the main S&P Composite index is now most overbought since 1995. Yet even this overvalued, overbullish and overbought market might not be enough to unleash the dormant bear," he says, pointing to the chart below:

In recent months in the markets, bitcoin has dominated media discourse. That's largely because of its meteoric ascent, which has seen its price rise by more than 1000% in 2017, climbing from around $900 per coin in early 2017, to as high as $17,000 in December.

US equities, meanwhile, have continued to climb throughout the year, going more and more unnoticed as the year progresses.  Now is the time to pay attention to the huge overvaluation (in Edwards' eyes at least) in that market.

"As well as overvaluation, we showed recently that the extreme bullishness currently prevailing among professional advisors has not been seen in markets since (just before) the 1987 crash," he writes.

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• Andrey Melnichenko's £360 million ($480 million) "Sailing Yacht A" has been spotted again, this time in the Port of Gibraltar.
• The 142.8-metre vessel boasts 300 ft masts, eight decks, a huge swimming pool, and an underwater observation pod.

Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko's £360 million ($480 million) "Sailing Yacht A," one of the largest private sailing yachts in the world, has been spotted docked at the Port of Gibraltar. The yacht underwent final tests at the port in May before it was handed over to its owner.

The 142.8-metre vessel boasts 300 ft masts that are taller than Big Ben, and counts eight decks (connected by a series of lifts), a free-floating spiral staircase, a huge swimming pool on the top deck, and an underwater observation pod among its stunning features. France's Philippe Starck is behind the design.

Onlookers and yacht enthusiasts shared some close up shots of the vessel while it was docked at the port.

The style of the yacht has divided opinion, but it is nevertheless one of the most closely followed superyachts in the world.

As the sun set the vessel apparently prepared to set sail again.

Owner Andrey Melnichenko is worth an estimated $13.7 billion (£10.2 billion), according to Forbes.

Business Insider last reported a sighting of Sailing Yacht A in Ibiza in September, when UFC star Conor McGregor stumbled upon it while holidaying with his family. McGregor proceeded to freak out at the sheer size of the vessel and took some up close shots of it while on his jet ski.

SEE ALSO: A Russian billionaire's £360 million superyacht has been spotted in Ibiza again, this time by Conor McGregor — and he's freaking out

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This is one of the best responses to Jamie Dimon calling bitcoin a fraud that we have heard so far

[…]

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[…]

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• Shares in retail giant Sports Direct were down 11% on Thursday morning after it released a first-half results statement which disguised plummeting profits.
• The group claimed "spectacular" trading performance but analyst Michael van Dulken said reported profits fell an eye-watering 69% after adjustments.

LONDON — Shares in retail giant Sports Direct were down up to 11% on Thursday morning after it released a first-half results statement which disguised plummeting profits.

The budget sportswear chain, owned by billionaire Mike Ashley, claimed a "spectacular trading performance" with profits up 23% in the six months to 29 October and revenues up 4.7%, implying healthy margin expansion.

But Michael van Dulken, analyst at Accendo Markets, said those figures are only true "once you adjust for all manner of things," including, but not limited to, "excluding gains from FX moves and property sales, and ignoring more significant losses from fair value adjustments to unhedged FX forwards and options contracts, losses on strategic investments, and fair value movements on derivatives."

Once those adjustments are factored in, reported profits fell 69%, van Dulken said.

Shares were down 7.12% at 10.00 a.m. GMT:

Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst and fund manager Hargreaves Lansdown, said the firm was hampered by poor governance practices and said the group's new-format stores had not shown the "spectacular" trading performance claimed by Ashley.

"Sports Direct’s corporate governance practices continue to attract headlines for all the wrong reasons, with independent shareholders rejecting an £11m payment to Mike Ashley’s brother on Wednesday," he said.

"Unfortunately, the lack of transparency also stretches to the "Selfridges of Sport" initiative. Mike Ashley has described trading at the new format stores as "spectacular," but it’s difficult to see evidence of that in the numbers. Improved profits are being driven by cost cuts rather than sales growth – which is actually negative in the UK."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This is one of the best responses to Jamie Dimon calling bitcoin a fraud that we have heard so far

The Indian Income Tax Department has conducted raids at major bitcoin exchanges across the country seeking data on tax avoiding users.

• German exchange Deutsche Boerse looking at launching bitcoin futures trading.
• The Frankfurt-based exchange made clear that it will take "some time" before any decision on launching futures contracts is made.
• Reports come just days after Cboe launches the first bitcoin futures contracts.

LONDON – German exchange group Deutsche Boerse is considering launching its own bitcoin futures, potentially becoming the first European exchange to do so.

"We are thinking about futures, with which private investors and institutional investors can protect existing investments in Bitcoin or set for falling prices of the cryptocurrency," the exchange group said in a statement to German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche on Wednesday.

In a separate statement, the Frankfurt-based exchange made clear that it will take "some time" before any decision on launching futures contracts is made.

Wirtschafts Woche reports that Deutsche Boerse wants "to first clarify how to deal with the sharp fluctuations" in the price of bitcoin before making a decision. The company couldn't be immediately reached for further comment.

If Deutsche Boerse were to launch bitcoin futures, they would be traded through the exchange's Eurex platform. 

Last week, Chicago-based exchange operator Cboe began offering bitcoin future contracts, becoming the first exchange to do so. Later this month, CME, the world's biggest exchange group, will also start offering futures contracts.

Cboe's product is the first that gives institutional investors such as hedge funds and asset managers exposure to bitcoin. The market allows them to speculate on the future price of bitcoin without having to directly buy and hold the digital currency. This skirts any regulatory and custodian issues that might be presented by bitcoin.

Institutional investors have grown increasingly interested in bitcoin as the cryptocurrency's price has continued to rise. 

The launch of futures on the Cboe last Sunday led to a sharp increase in the price of bitcoin, with both futures and spot bitcoin trading significantly higher.

Bitcoin has seen its price rise by more than 1000% in 2017, climbing from around $900 per coin in early 2017, to as high as $17,000 in December, as the chart below illustrates:

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NOW WATCH: The CIO of a crypto hedge fund reveals why you should be cautious of the ICO bubble

• The UK housing market continued to flatline in November.
• Price falls are still falling in London, according to the RICS monthly UK residential market survey.
• RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said the national slowdown is being driven by factors including the run-up to Christmas and Brexit-related uncertainty.

LONDON — After years of runaway growth, the UK housing market is flatlining.

A monthly survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors showed its index fell to zero in November from +1% in October, broadly consistent with no national price change over the period, while price falls are now widely-reported in London.

Here's how it breaks down regionally:

RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said the national slowdown is being driven by factors including a pre-Christmas lull in activity and Brexit-related uncertainty, while there is little evidence so far that the government's move to lift stamp duty for some first-time buyers is having a positive impact.

"It is perhaps not surprising that the headline indicators for both prices and activity are subdued as Christmas approaches," he said.

"But once again the feedback we are receiving from respondents points to quite marked differences in trends across the country. It is clear from the results than the mood music in London and the South East is very much flatter than elsewhere and interestingly, the forward looking indicators suggest this is likely to persist into the new year."

"It remains to be seen whether the scrapping of stamp duty for first-time buyers announced in the Budget will provide much of a lift for the market."

Respondents to the UK residential market survey also said the market is unlikely to gain much momentum in the coming months, suggesting activity will continue to be impacted by the continued shortage of new instructions, alongside general economic uncertainty.

London slowdown

Over the next twelve months, surveyors' price expectations series return to positive positive in virtually
all UK areas with one notable exception: London, where sentiment remains firmly entrenched in negative territory.

The dire outlook for London house prices reflects other mainstream forecasts.

Estate agents Savills forecasts that prices in Greater London will fall 1.5% over 2017 then fall by a further 2% in 2018, before stabilising in 2019 and returning to growth the year after.

The London slowdown — which is already starting to bite, with Nationwide measuring negative price growth in the third quarter this year — is being driven by bloated prices in the capital, slow progress in Brexit negotiations, and worries about further interest rate hikes from the Bank of England, which drive up mortgage costs.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Economist Jim Rickards on gold versus bitcoin — intrinsic value is meaningless for both but the bitcoin prices aren't real

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• UBS Wealth Management boss Zeltner to depart in major boardroom reshuffle.
• Zeltner will leave the bank at the beginning of 2018, with his future destination unknown.
• He will be replaced by Martin Blessing, the former CEO of German lender Commerzbank.

Juerg Zeltner, the president of UBS's near £1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) wealth management business is stepping down and will be replaced by boardmember Martin Blessing, the former CEO of Commerzbank, it was announced on Thursday.

Zeltner, who has been with UBS for his entire career, spanning three decades, will retire from the bank at the beginning of 2018, UBS said on Thursday morning.

Blessing, who is currently president of personal and corporate banking, will be replaced in that role by Axel Lehmann, the group chief operating officer.

Lehmann's role as COO will be taken by Sabine Keller-Busse, who is currently HR chief.

Commenting on Zeltner's departure, UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti said: "His impact on the positive development of our international wealth management business and the firm over the past years deserves particular recognition and I wish him all the best."

It is not yet known what Zeltner's next move is, although there is some speculation that he could replace the recently departed Boris Collardi at private bank Julius Baer after Collardi suddenly departed to join Pictet Asset Management in November. 

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NOW WATCH: Economist Jim Rickards on gold versus bitcoin — intrinsic value is meaningless for both but the bitcoin prices aren't real

• Online grocery retailer Ocado said on Thursday a shortage of drivers had driven down sales for the quarter to December. 
• The retailer said the problem had now been "largely resolved" and it is optimistic about the coming year.
• Ocado also announced an increase in retail revenue of 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

LONDON — Online grocery retailer Ocado said on Thursday a shortage of drivers had driven down sales in recent months, in its quarterly trading update.

A "lack of drivers" in some regions meant the retailer was unable to grow sales as much as it would have liked, although Ocado said this issue had now been "largely resolved."

"While we continue to report sector leading double digit sales growth in our retail business, a shortage of capacity, with the lack of drivers in certain locations being the largest factor, restricted our sales growth," said Ocado CEO Tim Steiner.

"While this driver shortage has now been largely resolved, there was some short term impact on average orders per week over the period," he said.

Earlier this year, Ocado said it was working with tech startup Oxbotica to test grocery deliveries using self-driving cars. This would require the customer to take their shopping out of the vehicle, rather than have it hand delivered to their door by a driver.

In more positive news, the group's trading update reported a growth in retail revenue of 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year, and that average orders per week were up 50% since the beginning of the quarter.

Ocado also announced an international partnership with French food retailer Groupe Casino. 

The group is currently working to open a new customer centre in South East London in 2018, in order to be able to process an additional 200,000 order per week.

"We look forward to the coming year with confidence," said Steiner.

Ocado shares were up 3.45% as of 11:32  GMT (06:32 EST) on Thursday.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Economist Jim Rickards on gold versus bitcoin — intrinsic value is meaningless for both but the bitcoin prices aren't real

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Good morning! Here's what you need to know.

1. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate, as was widely expected. The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee voted after a two-day meeting to increase the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, to a range of 1.25% to 1.50%. 

2. MPs will have a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal following a rebellion by backbench Conservative MPs on Wednesday evening, in a major defeat for Theresa May's government. An amendment was tabled to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill by Conservative MP Dominic Grieve which sought to give Parliament the power to either approve or vote down any Brexit deal reached between British and EU negotiators before exit day in March 2019.

3. Japan's army of retail investors, have emerged as a major force in bitcoin's spectacular rally. They now account for an estimated 30-50% of trading in the cryptocurrency as it spikes to record highs.

4. Britain cannot renege on commitments made during Brexit talks, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator told the European Parliament. EU leaders are expected this week to judge that "sufficient progress" has been made on the rights of citizens, the Brexit divorce bill and the Irish border to allow negotiations to move to the next phase.

5. Czech President Milos Zeman has sworn in a new minority government led by a populist billionaire after his centrist movement won landslide parliamentary elections. Andrej Babis' ANO (YES) movement won 78 seats in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament in October. 

6. Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz said his government was determined to confront corruption with "justice and decisiveness." In a televised speech to the country's consultative Shura council, Salman also said Saudi Arabia will work to enable the private sector to become a partner in development.

7. Palo Alto-based Robinhood, a zero-commission stock broker, announced on Wednesday that it would start offering free options trading to its more than 3 million users. An option allows an investor to buy or sell an asset or security — say a stock or a currency — at a certain price at a specified date in the future. Options allow investors to bet on the price of an asset in the future, or to hedge their bets elsewhere against an unexpected price swing.

8. Ripple, a cryptocurrency designed for banks and global money transfers, has more than doubled in price since Monday, overtaking Litecoin as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. It now has a market cap of $18.64 billion.

9. The mysterious volatility trader known as "50 Cent" has lost $197 million in 2017 betting on a spike in the VIX, which would accompany a stock market shock. 50 Cent is starting to slow down, deploying roughly 20% of the contracts he had outstanding over the summer.

10. Just days after crossing the $17,000 mark, bitcoin briefly slumped below $16,000 per coin on Wednesday. The spike in volatility triggered a two minute halt to bitcoin futures trading on Cboe Global Markets’ exchange, which launched bitcoin futures on Sunday, according to John Spallanzani at GFI Group. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This is one of the best responses to Jamie Dimon calling bitcoin a fraud that we have heard so far

Good morning! Here's what you need to know.

1. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate, as was widely expected. The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee voted after a two-day meeting to increase the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, to a range of 1.25% to 1.50%. 

2. MPs will have a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal following a rebellion by backbench Conservative MPs on Wednesday evening, in a major defeat for Theresa May's government. An amendment was tabled to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill by Conservative MP Dominic Grieve which sought to give Parliament the power to either approve or vote down any Brexit deal reached between British and EU negotiators before exit day in March 2019.

3. Japan's army of retail investors, have emerged as a major force in bitcoin's spectacular rally. They now account for an estimated 30-50% of trading in the cryptocurrency as it spikes to record highs.

4. Britain cannot renege on commitments made during Brexit talks, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator told the European Parliament. EU leaders are expected this week to judge that "sufficient progress" has been made on the rights of citizens, the Brexit divorce bill and the Irish border to allow negotiations to move to the next phase.

5. Czech President Milos Zeman has sworn in a new minority government led by a populist billionaire after his centrist movement won landslide parliamentary elections. Andrej Babis' ANO (YES) movement won 78 seats in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament in October. 

6. Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz said his government was determined to confront corruption with "justice and decisiveness." In a televised speech to the country's consultative Shura council, Salman also said Saudi Arabia will work to enable the private sector to become a partner in development.

7. Palo Alto-based Robinhood, a zero-commission stock broker, announced on Wednesday that it would start offering free options trading to its more than 3 million users. An option allows an investor to buy or sell an asset or security — say a stock or a currency — at a certain price at a specified date in the future. Options allow investors to bet on the price of an asset in the future, or to hedge their bets elsewhere against an unexpected price swing.

8. Ripple, a cryptocurrency designed for banks and global money transfers, has more than doubled in price since Monday, overtaking Litecoin as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. It now has a market cap of $18.64 billion.

9. The mysterious volatility trader known as "50 Cent" has lost $197 million in 2017 betting on a spike in the VIX, which would accompany a stock market shock. 50 Cent is starting to slow down, deploying roughly 20% of the contracts he had outstanding over the summer.

10. Just days after crossing the $17,000 mark, bitcoin briefly slumped below $16,000 per coin on Wednesday. The spike in volatility triggered a two minute halt to bitcoin futures trading on Cboe Global Markets’ exchange, which launched bitcoin futures on Sunday, according to John Spallanzani at GFI Group. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This is one of the best responses to Jamie Dimon calling bitcoin a fraud that we have heard so far

Good morning! Here's what you need to know.

1. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate, as was widely expected. The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee voted after a two-day meeting to increase the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, to a range of 1.25% to 1.50%. 

2. MPs will have a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal following a rebellion by backbench Conservative MPs on Wednesday evening, in a major defeat for Theresa May's government. An amendment was tabled to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill by Conservative MP Dominic Grieve which sought to give Parliament the power to either approve or vote down any Brexit deal reached between British and EU negotiators before exit day in March 2019.

3. Japan's army of retail investors, have emerged as a major force in bitcoin's spectacular rally. They now account for an estimated 30-50% of trading in the cryptocurrency as it spikes to record highs.

4. Britain cannot renege on commitments made during Brexit talks, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator told the European Parliament. EU leaders are expected this week to judge that "sufficient progress" has been made on the rights of citizens, the Brexit divorce bill and the Irish border to allow negotiations to move to the next phase.

5. Czech President Milos Zeman has sworn in a new minority government led by a populist billionaire after his centrist movement won landslide parliamentary elections. Andrej Babis' ANO (YES) movement won 78 seats in the 200-seat lower house of Parliament in October. 

6. Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz said his government was determined to confront corruption with "justice and decisiveness." In a televised speech to the country's consultative Shura council, Salman also said Saudi Arabia will work to enable the private sector to become a partner in development.

7. Palo Alto-based Robinhood, a zero-commission stock broker, announced on Wednesday that it would start offering free options trading to its more than 3 million users. An option allows an investor to buy or sell an asset or security — say a stock or a currency — at a certain price at a specified date in the future. Options allow investors to bet on the price of an asset in the future, or to hedge their bets elsewhere against an unexpected price swing.

8. Ripple, a cryptocurrency designed for banks and global money transfers, has more than doubled in price since Monday, overtaking Litecoin as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. It now has a market cap of $18.64 billion.

9. The mysterious volatility trader known as "50 Cent" has lost $197 million in 2017 betting on a spike in the VIX, which would accompany a stock market shock. 50 Cent is starting to slow down, deploying roughly 20% of the contracts he had outstanding over the summer.

10. Just days after crossing the $17,000 mark, bitcoin briefly slumped below $16,000 per coin on Wednesday. The spike in volatility triggered a two minute halt to bitcoin futures trading on Cboe Global Markets’ exchange, which launched bitcoin futures on Sunday, according to John Spallanzani at GFI Group. 

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