The post Bitcoin Hype Luring New Investors Into Stock Market appeared first on CCN

It’s no surprise that the hype around bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has turned many consumers — particularly younger ones — into investors as they chase the market’s unprecedented returns. Cryptocurrency Hype Luring New Investors Into Stocks One might assume that this bitcoin fever would result in decreased inflows to the traditional stock market, at least

The post Bitcoin Hype Luring New Investors Into Stock Market appeared first on CCN

The post Bitcoin Price Analysis: After Giddy Heights, Bitcoin Sees a Steady Decline in Price appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The post Think Coinbase Employees Engaged in Insider Trading? Deal With It. appeared first on CCN

Investors who are incensed at the allegation that Coinbase employees engaged in insider trading before the exchange added support for bitcoin cash should probably reconsider their decision to invest in cryptocurrency, according to a prominent venture capital firm executive. Coinbase to Investigate Alleged Employee Insider Trading As CCN reported, Coinbase made the surprise announcement on

The post Think Coinbase Employees Engaged in Insider Trading? Deal With It. appeared first on CCN

The GOP's plan to cut taxes is done. President Donald Trump still has to sign the bill into law, but it has cleared its biggest hurdles, passing a vote in both the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The bill is largely expected to provide a boost to stocks, in part because of a lower corporate tax rate and tax repatriation holiday. Some companies have already announced plans for the cash coming their way, but the stock market shrugged off the news.

The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq all posted slight losses on Wednesday.

Here's the scoreboard:

• Dow: 24,725.90, -28.85, (-0.12%)
• S&P 500: 2,679.26, -2.21, (-0.08%)
• Nasdaq: 6,960.96, -2.89, (-0.04%)
• US 10-year yield: 2.46%, +0.08
• WTI crude oil: $58.10, +0.61, (+1.06%)

1. IT'S DONE: MASSIVE REPUBLICAN TAX BILL PASSES CONGRESS IN GENERATIONAL OVERHAUL. The bill now goes to Trump to sign.
2. AT&T is handing out more than $200 million in special bonuses because of the GOP tax cut. The company wasted no time in announcing how it would use its tax-plan windfall.
3. Trump's tax plan could bring $250 billion into the US — here are the companies set to benefit most. Qualcomm and Apple are among the companies at the top of the list.
4. Rich homeowners in blue states are among the biggest losers in the GOP tax bill. The GOP's tax bill is set to disproportionately affect homeowners in affluent parts of the US.
5. Trump applauds 'Obamacare repeal' in the tax bill — but there's a big problem with that claim. Trump said the bill's repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate "means Obamacare is being repealed," which isn't true.

Other Stories

Trump's stock market braggadocio neglects a key constituency that helped elect him

2 GOP senators are postponing their bills to stabilize the Obamacare insurance market

The creator of $17 billion cryptocurrency litecoin has sold his entire stake

Bonds around the world are getting crushed

Chipotle is sliding after customer complaints of vomiting and diarrhea at an LA restaurant

SEE ALSO: IT'S DONE: MASSIVE REPUBLICAN TAX BILL PASSES CONGRESS IN GENERATIONAL OVERHAUL

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The Fed is trying to prepare for the next recession without causing it

•  The New York Stock Exchange is diving into the digital currency market.
•  It asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission permission to list two bitcoin-linked exchange-traded funds.

The New York Stock Exchange is looking to dive into the burgeoning cryptocurrency market.

The exchange group asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission for approval to list two bitcoin ETFs on its NYSE Arca Market, according to a filing dated December 19.

The so-called ProShares Bitcoin ETF and ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF would provide investors an investment product by which they can bet on bitcoin futures products.

"According to the Registration Statement, the investment objective of the Fund is to seek, results (before fees and expenses) that, both for a single day and over time, correspond to the performance of lead month bitcoin futures contracts listed and traded on either the Cboe Futures Exchange (“CFE”) or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (“CME”)," the filing said.

NYSE is not the issuer of the ETF, according to an email from a NYSE spokeswoman. Brown Brothers Harriman, the private bank, would serve as custodian for the funds, according to the filing.

Rival exchanges Cboe and CME both launched bitcoin futures contracts in December, which allow investors to bet on the future price of bitcoin. The red-hot cryptocurrency, which is known for its spine-tingling volatility, has captured the attention of both Main Street and Wall Street.

This appears to be the NYSE's first major foray into the nascent digital coin space. It is, however, an investor in Coinbase, the cryptocurrency trading platform. 

Chicago-based Cboe has also asked for the green light from the SEC to list two bitcoin-linked ETF, according to a filing.

ETFs have been viewed as the next step, following futures, in bitcoin's maturation as an asset class.

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

GDAX, the digital asset exchange run by Coinbase, has resumed trading of bitcoin cash hours after its initial – and tumultuous – effort.

• Chipotle's stock dropped on Wednesday amid reports that another one of its stores could be tied to an illness outbreak.
• Traders were woefully unprepared for the selloff, with downside hedges sitting at their lowest level in a decade before the news.

As if Chipotle's latest health scare wasn't bad enough for those who own the company's stock — which dropped as much as 4.6% — it also appears that traders were blindsided by the latest selloff.

This can be seen through a measure of downside hedges, which sat at a historically low level heading into Wednesday's decline. Traders were paying the lowest premium in at least 10 years to protect against a decline in Chipotle's stock, relative to bets on an increase, according to Bloomberg data.

In addition, short interest on Chipotle — a measure of bets that the stock will fall — declined by $836,000, or roughly 14%, in the two months leading up to the Wednesday's scare, according to data compiled by financial analytics firm S3 Partners. That implies investors were getting increasingly confident about the company's upside potential before this latest patch of weakness.

It's a tough break for Chipotle investors, who likely thought the stock had nowhere to go but up after hitting a five-year low in October. The company's share price had been cut almost in half since December 2015, when an E. coli outbreak sickened 80 students at Boston College. Chipotle also dealt with a norovirus scare in July. And shares had been showing signs of life of late, rebounding 17% from their 2017 low through Tuesday.

These latest developments are sure to make stock traders even more wary of Chipotle's stock going forward, considering the now-everpresent threat of yet another outbreak taking a bite out of shares. At the very least, based on how quickly and aggressively health scares have hurt Chipotle up to this point, one would think those continuing to hold the stock would at least buy some hedges.

SEE ALSO: Traders are cranking up bets that the stock market will go crazy

Join the conversation about this story »

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

The start of Bitcoin Cash trading on the Coinbase exchange was supposed to be a great opportunity to get into a major new cryptocurrency while its values weren't yet through the roof, but that's... not how it panned out. Coinbase froze transactions j...

AT&T says it is going to pay a $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 employees in the US after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is signed into law. 

The law passed through both chambers of Congress on Wednesday. The bill, which is awaiting President Donald Trump's signature, reduces the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% and allows a one-time repatriation of overseas cash, providing a big boost to America's biggest companies. 

"Once tax reform is signed into law, AT&T plans to invest an additional $1 billion in the United States in 2018 and pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 AT&T U.S. employees — all union-represented, non-management and front-line managers," a company said in a press release. "If the President signs the bill before Christmas, employees will receive the bonus over the holidays."

This story is developing.

Join the conversation about this story »

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

 A mom from Arkansas, a major donor to Republican causes with very little experience in technology, wants to invest $50,000 in bitcoin. A man from Switzerland curses during a Skype call because his Korean over-the-counter exchange went down during a massive trade. An entrepreneur placed a Trezor bitcoin wallet worth $150,000 on his car key chain. Another futurist is Tweeting late at night about… Read More

• Delta Air Lines says it lost $25 million-$50 million in revenue because of Sunday's power outage at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
• The airline had to cancel over 1,400 flights on Sunday and Monday.
• It resumed normal operations on Tuesday.
• Delta plans to talk to Hartsfield-Jackson and the local power company about compensation for the losses.

Delta Air Lines lost between $25 million-$50 million in revenue due to Sunday's power outage at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a representative told Business Insider. The representative said the airline would talk to Hartsfield-Jackson and Georgia Power, the electric company that provides power to the airport, about compensation for the losses.

The airline had to cancel over 1,400 flights on Sunday and Monday after a fire in an underground electrical facility caused the airport to lose power for 11 hours. By Tuesday, Delta resumed normal operations in Atlanta, as over 90% of its Atlanta flights arrived on time.

Delta's recovery time was much faster than for previous disruptions. In April, Delta lost $125 million after canceling 4,000 flights over the course of a week due to severe storms in Atlanta. A computer failure at New York's JFK International Airport in August 2016 resulted in a $150 million loss and 2,000 cancellations. Delta said its speedy recovery from the Atlanta power outage resulted from new preventive measures the airline put in place to respond to unexpected disruptions.

SEE ALSO: A woman's tweets perfectly capture the insanity at the Atlanta airport during the 11-hour power outage

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 stock market rally benefits mostly wealthy Americans, according to a report from Credit Suisse.
• Just over half of Americans own any stock at all, and the bulk of holdings accrue to top earners.
• "Only higher net worth households tend to own appreciating financial assets."

President Donald Trump is fond of pointing to the stock market’s rally in the last year as a sign of his administration’s success.

Never mind that the increase in share prices started in March 2009, in the wake of a historic financial crisis, and maintained solid momentum under President Barack Obama before marching to new records under Trump.

Regardless of who gets credit, the president should be cautious about boasting of Wall Street’s rally as if it were equally beneficial to all Americans.

The reality is much different: "Only higher net worth households tend to own appreciating financial assets," says a new report from Credit Suisse.

Just over half of Americans own any stock at all, and most of the holdings are concentrated at the very top of the income distribution, as the following chart shows in stark clarity.

"Above the 90th percentile of net worth, around 70% of families had some equity exposure, but for households between the 50th and 75th percentile, the share of equity ownership was below 20% in 2016. Ownership went down for all groups after the crisis, but again the decline is most noticeable for less-wealthy households," the bank’s economists wrote.

So before the president goes around bragging about the market, he should remember his audience. It may play better with the Mar-a-Lago crowd than at one of his signature "campaign-style" rallies aimed at working class voters.

SEE ALSO: There's an easy way to show the stock market rally has little to do with Trump

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why bitcoin checks all the boxes of a bubble

Ron Paul said today that he believes the U.S. government's monetary policies have fueled the rise in the price of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

The post Pantera Capital’s Morehead Predicts Bitcoin Price Will Drop 50% Next Week appeared first on CCN

Dan Morehead, CEO and founder of Pantera Capital and a digital currency investor, told CNBC’s Squawk Box bitcoin’s price could fall 50 percent next week to last month’s lowest levels. In the long run, however, he said bitcoin will far surpass its current prices. Big blockchains such as bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are still young

The post Pantera Capital’s Morehead Predicts Bitcoin Price Will Drop 50% Next Week appeared first on CCN

The post Pantera Capital’s Morehead Predicts Bitcoin Price Will Drop 50% Next Week appeared first on CCN

Dan Morehead, CEO and founder of Pantera Capital and a digital currency investor, told CNBC’s Squawk Box bitcoin’s price could fall 50 percent next week to last month’s lowest levels. In the long run, however, he said bitcoin will far surpass its current prices. Big blockchains such as bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are still young

The post Pantera Capital’s Morehead Predicts Bitcoin Price Will Drop 50% Next Week appeared first on CCN

Welcome to Finance Insider, Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours. Sign up here to get the best of Business Insider delivered direct to your inbox.

US Treasurys are slipping on Wednesday ahead of the House's second vote on the GOP tax bill. Bonds markets across Europe and Asia are also selling-off, sending yields higher.

The House passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Tuesday, but needs to vote again Wednesday after three pieces of the bill were deemed in violation of the so-called Byrd rule. It would be an identical version of the bill the Senate passed just after midnight on Wednesday.

As the House version passed on Tuesday, the Treasury yield curve bear-steepened, meaning that long-term rates rose faster than short-term rates as traders speculated on quicker growth. On Tuesday, the 30-year yield had its biggest increase in a year. The benchmark 10-year yield rose to its highest level in nine months, and has climbed by about 14 basis points since December 15. 

Here are the headlines on the tax bill:

• "Are you living in a fantasy world?": 'Today' show host grills Paul Ryan on tax bill
• Paul Ryan just undercut a major Republican argument about the GOP tax bill
• Here's what America's biggest companies plan to do with all that cash coming back to the US
• Investors will probably win big from tax reform — but about half of Americans don't own stocks
• Here are the areas of the stock market that'll get the biggest boost from Trump's tax overhaul
• The GOP tax bill is a huge gift to the US auto industry
• Americans have already made up their minds about the tax bill — and it looks brutal for the GOP
• LOPEZ: The worst part of the GOP tax bill has nothing to do with the economy
• "Irresponsible, reckless, unjust, and just plain cruel": Democrats blast GOP tax bill after it passes
• Here's how your tax bracket could change in 2018

In Wall Street news, Jefferies is surging and snatching back business from Wall Street's top investment banks. Wall Street’s brightest young analysts shared their best career advice. And the cryptocurrency market is now doing the same daily volume as the New York Stock Exchange. You can get the latest news on what's going on in cryptocurrencies here. 

Lastly, Lockheed Martin wants to make a supersonic jet that could travel from New York to London in 4.5 hours.

Join the conversation about this story »

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

• Chipotle shares are down more than 2% after several customers reported illnesses after eating at one of the company's restaurants.
• The burrito chain has had problems with customer illnesses before.
• Watch the stock price of the company move in real time here.

Chipotle shares are down 2.80% at $304.39 apiece after several customers reported illnesses after eating at a Los Angeles location.

Business Insider's Hayley Peterson reported a total of five cases were self-submitted by customers on the iwaspoisoned.com website. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea were all reported as symptoms, and the Los Angeles Health Department said it's investigating.

Chipotle says it's aware of the reported incidents and is heightening sanitation measures as at its Pico Boulevard location in Los Angeles as a precautionary measure. The chain also said that it had not been contacted by the customers and the reports did not have "clinical validation."

Chipotle faced similar customer complaints at its Sterling, Virginia location earlier this year. As a result, the company temporarily closed that location, and shares sank about 7% in response to the incident. 

Read more about the reported illnesses here.

SEE ALSO: Another Chipotle restaurant is under investigation after customers complain of vomiting and diarrhea

Join the conversation about this story »

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

• Chipotle shares are down more than 2% after several customers reported illnesses after eating at one of the company's restaurants.
• The burrito chain has had problems with customer illnesses before.
• Watch the stock price of the company move in real time here.

Chipotle shares are down 2.80% at $304.39 apiece after several customers reported illnesses after eating at a Los Angeles location.

Business Insider's Hayley Peterson reported a total of five cases were self-submitted by customers on the iwaspoisoned.com website. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea were all reported as symptoms, and the Los Angeles Health Department said it's investigating.

Chipotle says it's aware of the reported incidents and is heightening sanitation measures as at its Pico Boulevard location in Los Angeles as a precautionary measure. The chain also said that it had not been contacted by the customers and the reports did not have "clinical validation."

Chipotle faced similar customer complaints at its Sterling, Virginia location earlier this year. As a result, the company temporarily closed that location, and shares sank about 7% in response to the incident. 

Read more about the reported illnesses here.

SEE ALSO: Another Chipotle restaurant is under investigation after customers complain of vomiting and diarrhea

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why bitcoin checks all the boxes of a bubble

• Net Element's stock rose as much as 300% on Tuesday following news it was launching a business unit focused on blockchain technology.
• The company said it was partnering with blockchain and crypto expert Bunker Capital.
• Net Element is the latest company to see its market cap rise following a pivot to cryptocurrencies or blockchain. 

Shares of Net Element soared more than 300% on Wednesday after announcing the launch of a new blockchain-focused business unit. They have since pulled back and are up 254% at $18.60 apiece.

The company said its new business unit will become a "decentralized crypto-based ecosystem" that will help directly connect merchants and consumers using blockchain technology. The unit will also focus on identifying and investing in innovative payment-processing services through the use of blockchain technology and its own development teams.

Net Element is partnering with Bunker Capital, a firm that preps, promotes and markets initial coin offerings and offers blockchain and cryptocurrency expertise.

Net Element's move into blockchain comes on the heels of a number of companies announcing a pivot to cryptocurrencies or blockchain technology. Most recently, Future Fintech Group announced a pivot from selling juice to building financial technology for the agricultural products commodities market. Its shares rose as much as 221% on the news. 

According to CoinMarketCap, the market capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency universe has reached over $600 billion in December. It was at just $17 billion in January.

Subscribe to our Crypto Insider newsletter for the best of blockchain every day.

SEE ALSO: Citron Research gets short Riot Blockchain, says it's reached 'full mania'

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

The post ‘Conflict of Interest’: Litecoin Creator Charlie Lee Sells His Entire LTC Balance appeared first on CCN

Litecoin creator Charlie Lee revealed on Wednesday that he had liquidated his entire LTC balance and donated it to the Litecoin Foundation, although that does not mean he is abandoning development of the fifth-largest cryptocurrency. Charlie Lee Sells Entire LTC Balance Early Thursday morning, Lee announced on Reddit that he had sold his entire LTC

The post ‘Conflict of Interest’: Litecoin Creator Charlie Lee Sells His Entire LTC Balance appeared first on CCN

The post How Bulletproofs Could Make Bitcoin Privacy Less Costly appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The post NYSE Owner Files to List Two Bitcoin ETFs on Arca Trading Platform appeared first on CCN

The operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed rule change that would allow the exchange to list two Bitcoin ETFs on the NYSE Arca trading platform. ICE Files to List Two Bitcoin ETFs on NYSE Arca According to the proposal (PDF), which

The post NYSE Owner Files to List Two Bitcoin ETFs on Arca Trading Platform appeared first on CCN

Welcome to Crypto Insider, Business Insider’s roundup of all the bitcoin and cryptocurrency news you need to know today. Sign up here to get this email delivered direct to your inbox.

Bitcoin took a hit Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, falling as low as $15,848, after Coinbase announced it would support bitcoin cash, sending the spinoff flying to new records. Here’s the scoreboard as of Wednesday morning:

• Bitcoin (BTC): $16,873.78 (-4.10%)
• Ethereum (ETH): $808.55 (-1.23%)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCC): $3,570.59 (+32.36%)
• Ripple (XRP): $0.715 (-4.2%)
• Litecoin (LTC): $317.33 (-6.7%)

1. Coinbase has been accused of insider-trading after bitcoin cash's price surged 40% following the enabling — and subsequent disabling— of the token by the cryptocurrency exchange. "Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter," CEO Brian Armstrong said in a blog post.
2. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee had faced similar allegations. He announced in a Reddit post on Wednesday that he had "sold and donated" all of his litecoin holdings over recent days, motivated by criticism from people that he was trying to influence the price of litecoin with his tweets.
3. Global cryptocurrency markets are now averaging the same daily trading volumes as the New York Stock Exchange. 24-hour trade volume in the cryptocurrency market passed the $50 billion mark on Wednesday, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.com. The NYSE generally averages from $25 - $50 billion per day. 
4. Still new to cryptocurrency trading? Business Insider Intelligence has your your essential guide to buying and selling digital tokens. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin's wild volatility could soon start shaping other markets

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The Fed is trying to prepare for the next recession without causing it

Welcome to Crypto Insider, Business Insider’s roundup of all the bitcoin and cryptocurrency news you need to know today. Sign up here to get this email delivered direct to your inbox.

Bitcoin took a hit Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, falling as low as $15,848, after Coinbase announced it would support bitcoin cash, sending the spinoff flying to new records. Here’s the scoreboard as of Wednesday morning:

• Bitcoin (BTC): $16,873.78 (-4.10%)
• Ethereum (ETH): $808.55 (-1.23%)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCC): $3,570.59 (+32.36%)
• Ripple (XRP): $0.715 (-4.2%)
• Litecoin (LTC): $317.33 (-6.7%)

1. Coinbase has been accused of insider-trading after bitcoin cash's price surged 40% following the enabling — and subsequent disabling— of the token by the cryptocurrency exchange. "Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter," CEO Brian Armstrong said in a blog post.
2. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee had faced similar allegations. He announced in a Reddit post on Wednesday that he had "sold and donated" all of his litecoin holdings over recent days, motivated by criticism from people that he was trying to influence the price of litecoin with his tweets.
3. Global cryptocurrency markets are now averaging the same daily trading volumes as the New York Stock Exchange. 24-hour trade volume in the cryptocurrency market passed the $50 billion mark on Wednesday, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.com. The NYSE generally averages from $25 - $50 billion per day. 
4. Still new to cryptocurrency trading? Business Insider Intelligence has your your essential guide to buying and selling digital tokens. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin's wild volatility could soon start shaping other markets

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The Fed is trying to prepare for the next recession without causing it

Welcome to Crypto Insider, Business Insider’s roundup of all the bitcoin and cryptocurrency news you need to know today. Sign up here to get this email delivered direct to your inbox.

Bitcoin took a hit Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, falling as low as $15,848, after Coinbase announced it would support bitcoin cash, sending the spinoff flying to new records. Here’s the scoreboard as of Wednesday morning:

• Bitcoin (BTC): $16,873.78 (-4.10%)
• Ethereum (ETH): $808.55 (-1.23%)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCC): $3,570.59 (+32.36%)
• Ripple (XRP): $0.715 (-4.2%)
• Litecoin (LTC): $317.33 (-6.7%)

1. Coinbase has been accused of insider-trading after bitcoin cash's price surged 40% following the enabling — and subsequent disabling— of the token by the cryptocurrency exchange. "Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter," CEO Brian Armstrong said in a blog post.
2. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee had faced similar allegations. He announced in a Reddit post on Wednesday that he had "sold and donated" all of his litecoin holdings over recent days, motivated by criticism from people that he was trying to influence the price of litecoin with his tweets.
3. Global cryptocurrency markets are now averaging the same daily trading volumes as the New York Stock Exchange. 24-hour trade volume in the cryptocurrency market passed the $50 billion mark on Wednesday, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.com. The NYSE generally averages from $25 - $50 billion per day. 
4. Still new to cryptocurrency trading? Business Insider Intelligence has your your essential guide to buying and selling digital tokens. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin's wild volatility could soon start shaping other markets

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The Fed is trying to prepare for the next recession without causing it

Welcome to Crypto Insider, Business Insider’s roundup of all the bitcoin and cryptocurrency news you need to know today. Sign up here to get this email delivered direct to your inbox.

Bitcoin took a hit Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, falling as low as $15,848, after Coinbase announced it would support bitcoin cash, sending the spinoff flying to new records. Here’s the scoreboard as of Wednesday morning:

• Bitcoin (BTC): $16,873.78 (-4.10%)
• Ethereum (ETH): $808.55 (-1.23%)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCC): $3,570.59 (+32.36%)
• Ripple (XRP): $0.715 (-4.2%)
• Litecoin (LTC): $317.33 (-6.7%)

1. Coinbase has been accused of insider-trading after bitcoin cash's price surged 40% following the enabling — and subsequent disabling— of the token by the cryptocurrency exchange. "Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter," CEO Brian Armstrong said in a blog post.
2. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee had faced similar allegations. He announced in a Reddit post on Wednesday that he had "sold and donated" all of his litecoin holdings over recent days, motivated by criticism from people that he was trying to influence the price of litecoin with his tweets.
3. Global cryptocurrency markets are now averaging the same daily trading volumes as the New York Stock Exchange. 24-hour trade volume in the cryptocurrency market passed the $50 billion mark on Wednesday, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.com. The NYSE generally averages from $25 - $50 billion per day. 
4. Still new to cryptocurrency trading? Business Insider Intelligence has your your essential guide to buying and selling digital tokens. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin's wild volatility could soon start shaping other markets

Join the conversation about this story »

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

Welcome to Crypto Insider, Business Insider’s roundup of all the bitcoin and cryptocurrency news you need to know today. Sign up here to get this email delivered direct to your inbox.

Bitcoin took a hit Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, falling as low as $15,848, after Coinbase announced it would support bitcoin cash, sending the spinoff flying to new records. Here’s the scoreboard as of Wednesday morning:

• Bitcoin (BTC): $16,873.78 (-4.10%)
• Ethereum (ETH): $808.55 (-1.23%)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCC): $3,570.59 (+32.36%)
• Ripple (XRP): $0.715 (-4.2%)
• Litecoin (LTC): $317.33 (-6.7%)

1. Coinbase has been accused of insider-trading after bitcoin cash's price surged 40% following the enabling — and subsequent disabling— of the token by the cryptocurrency exchange. "Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter," CEO Brian Armstrong said in a blog post.
2. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee had faced similar allegations. He announced in a Reddit post on Wednesday that he had "sold and donated" all of his litecoin holdings over recent days, motivated by criticism from people that he was trying to influence the price of litecoin with his tweets.
3. Global cryptocurrency markets are now averaging the same daily trading volumes as the New York Stock Exchange. 24-hour trade volume in the cryptocurrency market passed the $50 billion mark on Wednesday, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.com. The NYSE generally averages from $25 - $50 billion per day. 
4. Still new to cryptocurrency trading? Business Insider Intelligence has your your essential guide to buying and selling digital tokens. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin's wild volatility could soon start shaping other markets

Join the conversation about this story »

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

Welcome to Crypto Insider, Business Insider’s roundup of all the bitcoin and cryptocurrency news you need to know today. Sign up here to get this email delivered direct to your inbox.

Bitcoin took a hit Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, falling as low as $15,848, after Coinbase announced it would support bitcoin cash, sending the spinoff flying to new records. Here’s the scoreboard as of Wednesday morning:

• Bitcoin (BTC): $16,873.78 (-4.10%)
• Ethereum (ETH): $808.55 (-1.23%)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCC): $3,570.59 (+32.36%)
• Ripple (XRP): $0.715 (-4.2%)
• Litecoin (LTC): $317.33 (-6.7%)

1. Coinbase has been accused of insider-trading after bitcoin cash's price surged 40% following the enabling — and subsequent disabling— of the token by the cryptocurrency exchange. "Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter," CEO Brian Armstrong said in a blog post.
2. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee had faced similar allegations. He announced in a Reddit post on Wednesday that he had "sold and donated" all of his litecoin holdings over recent days, motivated by criticism from people that he was trying to influence the price of litecoin with his tweets.
3. Global cryptocurrency markets are now averaging the same daily trading volumes as the New York Stock Exchange. 24-hour trade volume in the cryptocurrency market passed the $50 billion mark on Wednesday, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.com. The NYSE generally averages from $25 - $50 billion per day. 
4. Still new to cryptocurrency trading? Business Insider Intelligence has your your essential guide to buying and selling digital tokens. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin's wild volatility could soon start shaping other markets

Join the conversation about this story »

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

• Bitcoin cash is trading higher after a slate of announcements from Coinbase.
• The popular trading platform is working on enabling bitcoin cash trading on its platform but is facing volatility troubles.
• Watch bitcoin cash's price move in real time here.

Bitcoin cash is up 32.03% on Wednesday to $3,5456.90 after Coinbase, the popular crypto trading app, enabled and then disabled enabled then disabled trading of the cryptocurrency.

Coinbase said it would enable bitcoin cash trading for the first time Tuesday evening, and did so for about two minutes. But the company said action was too volatile and it temporarily shut down trading and cleared all orders.

Trading is set to resume at 9 a.m. PT Wednesday, though initial trades will be made in "post only" mode to establish liquidity in the market, according to the company.

Bitcoin cash was created as an offshoot of the original bitcoin in August. The new coin was designed to be faster than its predecessor and was built on bitcoin's existing transaction history. That meant people who owned bitcoin before the split were eligible to receive an equivalent number of bitcoin cash tokens when the cryptocurrency was created.

Coinbase originally opted not to allow bitcoin cash trading on its platform, but surprised users by reversing its decision on Tuesday. The price of bitcoin cash popped on the news and made additional gains on Wednesday as Coinbase readies to resume trading on its platform.

The company is investigating the possibility of insider trading by its employees who had prior knowledge of the announcement. Bitcoin cash started rising before Coinbase's announcement, which led CEO Brian Armstrong to announce he was looking into the potential activity.

Armstrong said he will not hesitate to terminate any employees who violated company policies.

Read more about Coinbase's bitcoin cash announcement here. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin cash soars above $3,000 after Coinbase says it will offer trading of the cryptocurrency

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NOW WATCH: Why bitcoin checks all the boxes of a bubble

NYSE Arca has filed with the SEC for a proposed rule change that would allow for the listing of two exchange-traded funds tied to bitcoin futures. 

• Facebook's video on-demand service, "Watch," could easily bring in $12 billion in sales by 2022, Brent Thill, an analyst at Jefferies, wrote in a note.
• The social media company's data-driven approach to video content by employing user-engagement data to tailor videos to its audience will help drive revenues.
• Shorter and lighter video content will help Facebook differentiate itself from video-streaming peers.
• To view Facebook's real-time stock price, click here.

Facebook's "Watch" tab could be the social media giant's best bet yet as the video on-demand service could deliver up to $12 billion in revenue over the next five years, Brent Thill, an equities analyst at Jefferies said.

Thill believes Facebook's push toward "Watch" content won't significantly impact Facebook's operating margin, because it's investing in lighter content that should draw in more revenue per user.

The "Watch" tab was introduced in mid-2017 as a way to provide "snackable" video content to users from professionals and personalities, such as Marshawn Lynch and Mike Rowe. The short-form videos "should help drive time spent, more repeat visits, and eventually higher ARPU (average revenue per user)," Thill wrote in a note.

Facebook's data-driven "video first" approach has by and large paid off as the company uses its consumer engagement data from video watchers and users to curate and create videos specifically geared toward them. 

With many video streaming players out there, Facebook is able to differentiate from the pack because it goes for lighter, "snackable" content as opposed to the premium long-form content that other companies are pursuing. 

Other digital and media players have spent billions of dollars on content spending, but Facebook's data-driven approach, as well as its data sharing, will help it rein in its margins, Thill said.

"Facebook's spend will ramp in areas that sees engagement amongst the community, as opposed to making big bets on long-form content," he said.

Facebook's stock is trading at $179.98 per share, up 54.11% over the year.

To read more about the one thing that could steal the FANG stocks' thunder, click here.

SEE ALSO: TOP TECH ANALYST: Only one thing could stop the FANGs from skyrocketing in 2018

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NOW WATCH: Why bitcoin checks all the boxes of a bubble

• Facebook's video-on-demand service, "Watch," could easily bring in $12 billion in sales by 2022, Brent Thill, an analyst at Jefferies, wrote in a note.
• The social media company's data-driven approach to video content by employing user-engagement data to tailor videos to its audience will help drive revenues.
• Shorter and lighter video content will help Facebook differentiate itself from video-streaming peers.
• To view Facebook's real-time stock price, click here.

Facebook's "Watch" tab could be the social media giant's best bet yet as the video on-demand service could deliver up to $12 billion in revenue over the next five years, Brent Thill, an equities analyst at Jefferies said.

Thill believes Facebook's push toward "Watch" content won't significantly impact Facebook's operating margin, because it's investing in lighter content that should draw in more revenue per user.

The "Watch" tab was introduced in mid-2017 as a way to provide "snackable" video content to users from professionals and personalities, such as Marshawn Lynch and Mike Rowe. The short-form videos "should help drive time spent, more repeat visits, and eventually higher ARPU (average revenue per user)," Thill wrote in a note.

Facebook's data-driven "video first" approach has by and large paid off as the company uses its consumer engagement data from video watchers and users to curate and create videos specifically geared toward them. 

With many video streaming players out there, Facebook is able to differentiate from the pack because it goes for lighter, "snackable" content as opposed to the premium long-form content that other companies are pursuing. 

Other digital and media players have spent billions of dollars on content spending, but Facebook's data-driven approach, as well as its data sharing, will help it rein in its margins, Thill said.

"Facebook's spend will ramp in areas that sees engagement amongst the community, as opposed to making big bets on long-form content," he said.

Facebook's stock is trading at $179.98 per share, up 54.11% over the year.

To read more about the one thing that could steal the FANG stocks' thunder, click here.

SEE ALSO: TOP TECH ANALYST: Only one thing could stop the FANGs from skyrocketing in 2018

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NOW WATCH: PAUL KRUGMAN: Bitcoin is a more obvious bubble than housing was

• No reason a custom deal can't be struck for the City of London, Bank of England governor says.
• Speaking to the Treasury Select Committee, Mark Carney said that he doesn't "accept the argument that just because it has not been done in the past, it can’t be done in the future."

LONDON — Bank of England Governor Mark Carney believes there is no reason that the City of London cannot be covered by any bespoke Brexit deal.

Speaking to the House of Commons' Treasury Select Committee on Wednesday afternoon, Carney was asked about comments from the EU's top Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier claiming that the UK's financial services sector will not be included in any Brexit deal if the UK leaves the single market.

"There is no place [for financial services]. There is not a single trade agreement that is open to financial services. It doesn’t exist," Barnier said in an interview earlier this week.

Barnier said the result would be a consequence of "the red lines that the British have chosen themselves. In leaving the single market, they lose the financial services passport."

Carney disputes that approach, telling the TSC: "I don’t accept the argument that just because it has not been done in the past, it can’t be done in the future."

"We’d just walk away from progress if that were the approach we took to issues," Carney said appearing to take a swipe at Barnier's comments.

"The UK financial system is, like it or not, is effectively the banker for Europe in the most complicated bits of finance, the wholesale markets, the equity underwriting, the derivatives, FX trading.There are substantial economies of scale that benefit both sides," Carney told the committee.

"We have a system and a set of regulations that have been significantly, significantly improved over the course of the last decade, that means that we can operate that system, both responsibly and reliably."

"From a trade perspective, if you’re going to have trade in services, we are now in a position where you can have free trade in financial services, or some form of cooperative arrangement in financial services," Carney continued.

"That’s because you have very high common standards, you have high transparency about who implements them, and existing modes of supervisory cooperation."

The future of the City of London and the wider UK financial sector has been up in the air since the Brexit vote, with fears about the loss of the so-called financial passport causing many overseas lenders to announce plans to set up new EU operations away from the UK.

The passport is a set of rules and regulations which allow UK-based finance firms to trade with and sell their services into Europe, and is tied strongly to membership of the European Single Market.

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

• US Treasurys are extending a sell-off this week on Wednesday alongside major bond markets in Europe and Asia. 
• Some investors are speculating that tax cuts could stoke economic growth and alter how the Fed approaches interest-rate increases. 
• There's also concern that the Fed's reduction of its bond purchases would increase the market's supply.
• The 30-year bond had its worst sell-off in a year on Tuesday, while the 10-year yield has climbed to its highest level in nine months. 

US Treasurys are slipping on Wednesday ahead of the House's second vote on the GOP tax bill. 

Bonds markets across Europe and Asia are also selling-off, sending yields higher.

The House passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Tuesday, but needs to vote again Wednesday after three pieces of the bill were deemed in violation of the so-called Byrd rule. It would be an identical version of the bill the Senate passed just after midnight on Wednesday.

As the House version passed on Tuesday, the Treasury yield curve bear-steepened, meaning that long-term rates rose faster than short-term rates as traders speculated on quicker growth. On Tuesday, the 30-year yield had its biggest increase in a year. The benchmark 10-year yield rose to its highest level in nine months, and has climbed by about 14 basis points since December 15. 

Here's the scoreboard of Treasurys as of 8:51 a.m. ET:

• 2-year +0.1 bps at 1.865%
• 5-year +0.2 bps at 2.235%
• 10-year +0.2 bps at 2.486%
• 30-year +0.3 bps at 2.855%

According to Bloomberg, this sell-off is also happening as investors unwind trades that had bet the yield curve would flatten. There's also concern that the Fed's reduction of its bond purchases would increase the market's supply, putting more downward pressure on prices and raising yields. 

The difference between between longer- and shorter-dated Treasury yields, such as 2- and 10-year yields, recently fell to their lowest level in a decade, prompting a debate across Wall Street about whether it's signaling, this time around, that the economy is about to slow down.

With the Fed now raising interest rates, Treasury yields are becoming more alluring to bond-market investors as a source of income. Notably, the two-year yield has now climbed to match the S&P 500 dividend yield for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, Bloomberg data shows.  

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last week that the central bank's most recent economic forecasts should not be seen as estimates of the impact of tax cuts.

SEE ALSO: Here's what 12 Wall Street pros are predicting for the stock market in 2018

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NOW WATCH: Why bitcoin checks all the boxes of a bubble

The post Bitcoin Price Recovers Past $17,000 as Bitcoin Cash Surges appeared first on CCN

Bitcoin price recovered past $17,000 on Wednesday morning, even as the bitcoin cash price continued to surge as a result of its listing on Coinbase. As CCN reported, Coinbase and GDAX abruptly listed bitcoin cash on their trading platforms last night, further inciting volatility in an already rocky market. To make matters worse, the rollout

The post Bitcoin Price Recovers Past $17,000 as Bitcoin Cash Surges appeared first on CCN

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Youbit, a small South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, filed for bankruptcy and announced that it's shutting down, after suffering its second major cyberattack and theft this year. The exchange previously had 4,000 Bitcoins, worth about $73 million, stolen in April, and announced another breach on Tuesday morning.

Youbit hasn't revealed how much has been stolen, but did say the amount is worth 17% of the assets on its platform. It's told investors they will recoup only 75% of the cryptocurrency they held on the platform, and said it's stopped trading and is working to mitigate losses. The Korea Internet & Security Agency is now investigating the matter.

Youbit's case is extreme, but should still serve as a warning to other crypto players.Youbit is a rare instance of a crypto exchange shutting down as the direct result of a hack. While this is likely at least in part because Youbit is small (a single big player, Bithumb, holds 70% of the South Korean market), and therefore less able to sustain a loss than larger peers, its case also suggests that if a heist were big enough, larger players could find themselves in a similar situation, even with greater security spending.

And there's every sign that they should be cautious: Tether, a US blockchain tech company that issues a cryptocurrency pegged to the dollar, had $31 million worth of assets stolen in a breach, and other big names like Parity and NiceHash have succumbed to cyberattacks and thefts in recent months. Bithumb was also hacked earlier this year.

Even if crypto companies were to boost their cyber defenses, they would still face a major struggle. This is because, regardless of the state of their defenses, such companies have a broader problem to contend with: their attractiveness as a target. Most cryptocurrencies, notably Bitcoin, have seen stratospheric gains in past months, making them a powerful lure for cybercriminals.

Moreover, cryptocurrencies are often harder to track, which likely serves as a further incentive for thieves. These factors suggest that cryptocurrency companies — whether exchanges or wallets — are being heavily targeted simply because of the assets they deal in. As such, they arguably face an even tougher struggle against cybercrime than most other financial institutions.

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• Canadian billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife were found strangled in the basement of their mansion last Friday.
• Police think Sherman might have killed his wife, then killed himself. The couple's children don't believe the police's theory.
• Sherman had been caught up in a political lobbying scandal before his death.

Mystery continues to shroud the deaths of a Canadian billionaire and his wife, who were found strangled in their mansion last Friday.

Barry and Honey Sherman's real estate agent found the couple dead in the basement of their property, which they had just put up for sale for $5.4 million (£4 million). There was no sign of forced entry to the house.

Five days on, the circumstances surrounding the deaths remain unclear, with the Sherman family strongly denying leaked details of the police investigation.

The police theory that the family has rebuked

Initial post-mortem examinations showed the couple died from "ligature neck compression," or strangulation from tying or binding, the Toronto Police Service said on Sunday.

Officially, police have marked the deaths as "suspicious" and a homicide — but not murder. However, Canadian newspapers have cited a police theory that deaths were part of a murder-suicide.

Citing a "Toronto police source," The Globe and Mail reported on Saturday that investigators were working on an early theory that Barry killed Honey before killing himself. The newspaper said the pair were found hanging from a railing near their basement pool.

The Toronto Sun also cited "sources close to the case" as saying Honey may have been killed in another spot in the house, then moved to the basement, where she and Barry were discovered.

But press reports have put the Shermans' family at odds with the police. The couple's children slammed any notion of suicide, saying in a statement on Sunday:

"Our parents shared an enthusiasm for life and commitment to their family and community totally inconsistent with the rumors regrettably circulated in the media as to the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

"We are shocked and think it's irresponsible that police sources have reportedly advised the media of a theory which neither their family, their friends nor their colleagues believe to be true."

The couple had been planning a trip to Florida with their friends later in December, with Honey arriving on December 18 and Barry arriving a week later. The couple were discovered dead on December 15.

Honey wrote in an email to her friends last Monday, as cited by The Globe and Mail: "Looking forward to getting together in Florida...Please let me know your dates south asap so i can place in my calendar… Looking forward to hearing back asap. Xoxo Honey."

The political scandal Sherman was trying to shut down

Since Sherman's death, there has been an increased focus on his political lobbying.

Around the time of his death, Sherman was trying to quash an investigation into whether a political fundraiser he held for Prime Minister Trudeau in 2015 violated lobbying rules, the Toronto Star reported on Tuesday.

In August 2015, Sherman hosted a $1,500-per-head fundraiser for the Liberal Party at his house, which was attended by Justin Trudeau, who went on to become prime minister two months later.

Since January, Canada's federal lobbying commissioner has been investigating whether the fundraiser violated government rules, which say lobbyists cannot lobby officials they helped get elected.

Sherman and his pharmaceutical company, Apotex, were registered to lobby the Prime Minister's Office months after Trudeau took over the role, according to government watchdog Democracy Watch, which filed the complaint against the billionaire.

Sherman sued the lobbying commissioner earlier this year in a bid to shut down the investigation. In May, the billionaire called the probe an "unanchored fishing expedition" pursued in "bad faith," Canadian news site iPolitics reported.

Canada's lobbying commissioner, Karen Shepherd, confirmed on Tuesday that the investigation would continue despite Sherman's death.

Police are also continuing their inquiry, with homicide detectives now leading on the case.

SEE ALSO: This Canadian billionaire and his wife were found dead in the basement of their mansion — and police are treating it as 'suspicious'

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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

Bitcoin cash is resurgent today, despite some controversy over the cryptocurrency's listing on the Coinbase exchange.

• Equity strategists across Wall Street have been reluctant to price tax reform expectations into their already-bullish forecasts.
• A successful GOP bill could lead to even more optimistic estimates, especially in areas like small caps, banks and tech.

With the GOP tax bill inches away from passage, many experts are expecting a fresh wave of strength in equities.

Sure, strategists across Wall Street are already bullish on the prospect of more stock gains through the end of 2018. But many of them have been reluctant to push the pedal to the metal, tempering forecasts until tax reform was done and dusted.

Now, with a technical vote in the House of Representatives as the lone remaining obstacle, it's time to take inventory of the areas of the stock market set to get the biggest boost. After all, according to UBS, the benchmark S&P 500 as a whole could end up surging 25% when all is said and done. And JPMorgan would seem to agree.

Small-cap companies

This group of stocks with smaller market values is much more domestically focused than broader indexes, and are thereby expected to see an outsized benefit from measures intended to boost US businesses. As such, the S&P 600 index of small caps has already outperformed as investors anticipate a possible windfall of gains.

A report from Jefferies on Wednesday reflected this dynamic, with the most highly-taxed companies in the S&P 600 outpacing their larger counterparts over a long period of time. This can be seen in the chart below:

Banks

The banking sector has long been one of the areas singled out as having huge upside potential in the event of a successful GOP bill. The reason is simple: banks pay a high effective tax rate, so a cut would be a huge help to their bottom lines. Not to mention that optimism around US growth is also something that trickles down to banks, which serve as major lenders.

Speaking of which, banks are poised to realize a double whammy of bullishness, with the Federal Reserve already having raised interest rates in December. That's widely expected to translate to more interest income. Given these two drivers, it's hard to not be bullish on the group.

Technology companies

The repatriation tax holiday in the GOP's plan is expected to be the big driver of gains here. Many of the most heavily weighted companies in the tech sector are multinational corporations that get a large portion of earnings overseas. The ability to bring those profits back at a more appealing rate is expected boost the stock prices of these companies, while also stimulating the US economy.

It must be noted, however, that tech has seen some weak patches in recent weeks as investors have questioned just how much of a boost the group will get from the corporate tax cut. According to a recent study from S&P Global, tech has the third-lowest tax rate out of any industry.

Still, many experts foresee gains from repatriation activities outweighing what could be a muted reaction to a lower effective tax rate.

The most highly-taxed companies

This is an all-encompassing category that includes stocks from all sectors, and it's the most obvious takeaway from the GOP tax plan. The companies paying the most in taxes have the most to gain from a cut. Simple as that.

Investors have been pricing this in for some time, as indicated by the chart below. But if Wall Street strategists are to be believed it has further to run.

SEE ALSO: GOLDMAN SACHS: Here's how to make a killing in a market that's barely moving

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

• Top former executives from oil giants Shell and Eni are to stand trial for an alleged $1.1 billion bribery scheme, an Italian court ruled on Wednesday.
• This is the biggest corporate bribery trial in history, and relates to alleged corruption in a deal done over a Nigerian oil block.
• The trial is due to begin in March. Shell and Eni denied any wrongdoing.

LONDON — An Italian judge has ordered former executives from oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and Eni to stand trial over an alleged $1.1 billion bribery scheme.

Mrs Justice Barbara handed down the ruling on Wednesday, stating top executives are to be tried on charges of aggravated international corruption for their role in a $1.1 billion deal for Nigerian oil block OPL 245 in 2011. The trial is set to begin on March 5 next year.

"The Nigerian people lost out on over $1 billion, equivalent to the country's entire health budget, as a result of this corrupt deal," said Simon Taylor, co-founder of campaign group Global Witness.

"They deserve to know the truth about what happened to their missing millions. We welcome the prosecutor’s efforts to bring this case to trial. It will be the biggest corporate bribery trial in history — and act as a warning to others who see corruption as a route for quick financial wins," he said.

In April, Shell admitted it had dealt with convicted money launderer and former Nigerian oil minister Dan Etete in relation to a $1.1 billion payment for the oil block in 2011, although it had previously claimed it only paid the Nigerian government.

This came a day after the publication of an investigation by Global Witness and Finance Uncovered, which alleged Shell executives and Italian oil company Eni had known the money was being paid to Etete via his front company, and that it would be used to bribe Nigerian officials.

Those ordered on Wednesday to face trial include Shell's Malcolm Brinded, former Executive Director for Upstream International and two former MI6 agents employed by Shell. Eni's CEO Claudio Descalzi, former CEO Paolo Scaroni, Chief Operations and Technology Officer Roberto Casula are also to face trial.

Shell said in a statement, "We are disappointed by the outcome of the preliminary hearing and the decision to indict Shell and its former employees. We believe the trial judges will conclude that there is no case against Shell or its former employees."

Eni said in a statement, "Eni’s Board of Directors has reaffirmed its confidence that the company was not involved in alleged corrupt activities in relation to the transaction. The Board of Directors also confirmed its full confidence that chief executive Claudio Descalzi was not involved in the alleged illegal conduct and, more broadly, in his role as head of the company. Eni expresses its full confidence in the judicial process and that the trial will ascertain and confirm the correctness and integrity of its conduct."

Italian NGO Re:Common called on former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to apologise to the Italian and Nigerian people for defending Descalzi’s appointment as Eni CEO in 2014.

“This case heralds the dawning of the age of accountability, a world where even the most powerful corporations can no longer hide their wrongdoing and avoid justice," said Lanre Suraju, chairman of Nigerian NGO Human and Environmental Development Agenda.

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

• In 2016, Delta Air Lines ordered 75 Bombardier C Series airliners.
• Boeing claims the Delta order was only possible because low prices made possible by Canadian government subsidies.
• Bastian said Boeing only complained to the Commerce Department because it couldn't win in the marketplace.
• The Delta CEO also said that the C Series has more US parts than the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. 

Delta's CEO Ed Bastian is speaking out against Boeing's claims that its business was harmed by the airline's order of 75 Bombardier C Series jets in 2016. 

In April, Boeing filed a complaint with the US Department of Commerce claiming that its business was harmed when Delta received unnaturally low prices on the Bombardier jets made possible only through Canadian government subsidies.

In filing their complaint with the Department of Commerce, Boeing took a major risk in alienating Delta, arguably the world's largest operator of Boeing aircraft. When asked, Delta CEO Ed Bastian seemed to be truly baffled by why Boeing would want to pick such a fight.

"I haven't gotten a good answer," he told Business Insider in a recent interview. "I've asked Boeing that question many times."

Some in the industry believe Boeing went on the offensive to snuff out an up-and-coming competitor in Bombardier. Something it failed to do in the 1970s when a fledgling Airbus entered the US market.

However, Bastian has his own theory.

"Boeing, as has Airbus, has tried to do everything it can to keep the (C Series) from the market through conventional means; through marketing, pricing, and with United they gave them a huge bargain on the 737-700 to avoid them taking the Bombardier plane," he said.

"When they could no longer win in the marketplace, and they couldn't win in the marketplace with us because they didn't have anything we wanted, they went to the government," Bastian told us.

Delta and its quest for a good deal

For years, Delta's fleet strategy has been to buy cheaper, older, and less fuel-efficient planes. This flew against conventional wisdom during the 2000s when oil prices were north of $100 a barrel and the airline's rivals were scrambling for new planes with better fuel economy. 

Instead of investing in pricey new jets, Delta spent its resources reinforcing the airline's highly respected maintenance department. So when the fuel prices plummeted, Delta was left with cash on hand to spend at its leisure. 

Since 2013, the airline has sped the acquisition of new aircraft that are more efficient and cheaper to maintain. This includes spending tens of billions of dollars on Airbus A321ceo/neo, A330ceo/neo, and A350XWB jets. 

But it is Delta's 2016 order for 75 next-generation Bombardier C Series jets that has everyone in the aviation industry talking. The order made Delta the 100-seat airliner's North American launch customer and its largest operator in the world.

"It's innovation in the marketplace. It's a wonderful technology," Bastian said of the Canadian jet renowned for its advanced carbon construction, spacious cabin, and fuel-saving engines.

Delta certainly got a great deal on the planes. But Bastian doesn't think it is anything out of the ordinary. 

"As a launch customer, we got launch customer pricing just like every single launch customer on every single aircraft product whether it's made by Boeing or Airbus or Embraer or Bombardier," he said emphatically in reference to Boeing's claims. "I don't see how Boeing can justify harm when they don't have the product. That has mystified me all along."

Boeing hasn't a produced a 100-seat airliner in more than a decade. According to Delta, Boeing could only offer 20 second-hand Brazilian Embraer regional jets in place of the C Series.

The Bombardier C Series is good for America

By early October, the Department of Commerce proposed that a 299.45% tariff be levied on the C Series jets bound for Delta.

"We're not going to pay the tariff and we are going to bring the airplane in," Bastian told us. "The (C Series) has more US content than the Boeing 787. So Boeing needs to really pay attention to what they are saying."

On October 16, Airbus acquired a controlling interest in the C Series program and announced that aircraft bound for US customers will be assembled at its plant in Mobile, Alabama. US assembly is a potential workaround if the tariff is indeed enforced.

"The C Series is north of 50% US content even before final assembly," he said. "With the final assembly (in Alabama) that number is closer to 60%."

"I think the Airbus investment in the C Series is brilliant," Bastian added. "It will bring more jobs back to the US, the fact that you're going to have final assembly in Mobile, is good for our country, good for Alabama, and good for Delta certainly."

SEE ALSO: Delta's CEO explains why airline computers fail and how tech will change flying

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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

The post Coinbase Probes Insider Trading Allegations with Bitcoin Cash Launch appeared first on CCN

On December 20, employees and contractors of Coinbase, the world’s largest bitcoin brokerage and wallet platform, were accused by many members of the bitcoin community for insider trading. Abrupt Bitcoin Cash Price Surges Occurred in the Past Amongst the many critics was George Kikvadze, the vice chairman at Bitfury, who described the sudden surge in

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Dave Lutz, head of ETFs at JonesTrading, has an overview of today's markets.

• The US Senate passed the GOP's tax bill last night, but the House will have to revote on Wednesday due to procedural issues.
• Global markets are mostly in the red.
• Bitcoin slipped below $16,000 early on Wednesday but has since recovered most of its losses.

Here's Lutz:

Morning!   US Futures are higher, led by a 40bp pop in Russell, after the Senate passed the Tax Bill last night (due to procedural issues, the House must vote again this AM) – but the headers say “Congress Dives Into Shutdown Drama Hours After GOP Win on Taxes” as the Friday deadline for a deal looms.   Transports looking for a nice day w/ FDX up 2%+, while Tech is rebounding from yesterday’s weakness.   Mostly red in Europe, with the DAX off 15bp as Utes and Telecom are still reeling from yesterday’s yield surge.  Spain underperforming ahead of the Catalan poll tomorrow, with IBEX off 60bp.  London outperforming as Miners continue to rally.   Volumes light, with FTSE’s turnover 30% below average.  In Asia, Nikkei added 30bp as Fins jumped - Hang Seng lost Small as Tech stumbled - Shanghai down 30bp - KOSPI off 20bp - Aussie up small to 9year highs as banks and miners hold rallies.  Volumes were terrible however, with most Asian exchanges trading 25% light 

Bund Yields holding yesterday’s biggest gains in 5months on headers discussing a shift from Bond Purchases by the ECB, while the US 30YY is holding yesterday’s surge, the biggest in a year, and the 10YY is nearing yesterday’s peaks.  The DXY holding a slight bid as Sterling cannot stay upside $1.34 – The $/Y thru 113 and the Krona jumping as inflation forecasts were boosted.  Ore was up small in China, and we have Copper adding 70bp to trade at 3week highs.  Gold is up 30bp despite the $, while the Bitcoin has recovered from a 7% whack in Asian hours to trade 3% higher on the day.   WTI adding small as API data showed a much bigger draw into DoE later, while Natty is still enjoying a “polar Vortex” bid.  

Here are the 10 things you need to know today.

SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know before the opening bell

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NOW WATCH: Why bitcoin checks all the boxes of a bubble

Dave Lutz, head of ETFs at JonesTrading, has an overview of today's markets.

• The US Senate passed the GOP's tax bill last night, but the House will have to revote on Wednesday due to procedural issues.
• Global markets are mostly in the red.
• Bitcoin slipped below $16,000 early on Wednesday but has since recovered most of its losses.

Here's Lutz:

Morning!   US Futures are higher, led by a 40bp pop in Russell, after the Senate passed the Tax Bill last night (due to procedural issues, the House must vote again this AM) – but the headers say “Congress Dives Into Shutdown Drama Hours After GOP Win on Taxes” as the Friday deadline for a deal looms.   Transports looking for a nice day w/ FDX up 2%+, while Tech is rebounding from yesterday’s weakness.   Mostly red in Europe, with the DAX off 15bp as Utes and Telecom are still reeling from yesterday’s yield surge.  Spain underperforming ahead of the Catalan poll tomorrow, with IBEX off 60bp.  London outperforming as Miners continue to rally.   Volumes light, with FTSE’s turnover 30% below average.  In Asia, Nikkei added 30bp as Fins jumped - Hang Seng lost Small as Tech stumbled - Shanghai down 30bp - KOSPI off 20bp - Aussie up small to 9year highs as banks and miners hold rallies.  Volumes were terrible however, with most Asian exchanges trading 25% light 

Bund Yields holding yesterday’s biggest gains in 5months on headers discussing a shift from Bond Purchases by the ECB, while the US 30YY is holding yesterday’s surge, the biggest in a year, and the 10YY is nearing yesterday’s peaks.  The DXY holding a slight bid as Sterling cannot stay upside $1.34 – The $/Y thru 113 and the Krona jumping as inflation forecasts were boosted.  Ore was up small in China, and we have Copper adding 70bp to trade at 3week highs.  Gold is up 30bp despite the $, while the Bitcoin has recovered from a 7% whack in Asian hours to trade 3% higher on the day.   WTI adding small as API data showed a much bigger draw into DoE later, while Natty is still enjoying a “polar Vortex” bid.  

Here are the 10 things you need to know today.

SEE ALSO: 10 things you need to know before the opening bell

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NOW WATCH: This is why you should be buying gold

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The creator of litecoin is no longer an investor in the cryptocurrency, according to a post he authored on Reddit Wednesday.

Exchange startup Coinbase is taking steps to ensure its policies were followed over allegations employees may be trading on preferential information.

Business Insider recently published the Rising Stars of Equity Research, a comprehensive list of Wall Street’s brightest young sell-side analysts.

We spoke to dozens of finalists, all under 35 years old, about the stock market, their careers, and what has helped propel them to success at such a (relatively) young age.

One thing that was echoed by nearly every single rising star was the importance of mentors. We’ve rounded up some of the best nuggets of advice from the Rising Stars of Equity Research. Here’s what they had to say:

Make your own luck

"My Dad told me to 'make your own luck' – that’s not to say people don’t just get lucky (they definitely do), but he was saying you need to do a lot of hard work ahead of time to put yourself in a position to catch a break, rather than just waiting around ‘hoping’ to catch a lucky break.

—Jessica Fye, JPMorgan

Be honest

"The best piece of advice I’ve ever received (and try to pass along whenever someone asks) is to be honest with yourself. Have the (sometimes difficult) internal conversation to understand what you are good at, rather than what you want to be good at.  That doesn’t mean to sit back and stay within your comfort zone. But everyone has their own innate set of skills; so figure out what those are, then nurture and stretch them. Said another way, swing for the fences, but know your best pitch.”

—Simeon Siegel, Nomura Instinet

Know your strengths

"The best equity research-specific advice I ever received came from a PM while I was at my first conference. He pulled me aside and told me that an analyst has three roles: (1) know the industry you cover and its dynamics, (2) know a company’s business model inside and out, and (3) be a great stock picker. A good analyst can do one of these, a great analyst can do two. The best analysts know which of these three is their strength, and makes a career of it.

—Stephanie Davis, Citi

Humility

"The best piece of advice one of the — if not the — best biotech analyst on Wall Street once gave me early in my career is: 'No matter how much success you’ve had, you can never have enough humility.' I have found it to be very insightful and try to incorporate it in everything that I do."

—Tyler Van Buren, Cowen

You can see the full list of Rising Stars on Business Insider Prime here>> 

SEE ALSO: How Wall Street's brightest young analysts are viewing the markets today

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NOW WATCH: We talked to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman about tax reform, Trump, and bitcoin

Before you take the plunge into buying Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, know the risks

The post (+) The Overall Influence of Bitcoin Forks Explained appeared first on CCN

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The post Danish Central Bank Chief Wants You to “Stay Away” from “Dangerous” Bitcoin appeared first on CCN

The director of Denmark’s central bank has warned investors to “stay away” from bitcoin, comparing the cryptocurrency to “tulipmania” in the 1600s. In an interview with state broadcaster DR published this week, Danmarks NationalBank director Lars Rohde warned investors to steer clear of bitcoin, calling it an alternative to casinos that is “dangerous”. In translated

The post Danish Central Bank Chief Wants You to “Stay Away” from “Dangerous” Bitcoin appeared first on CCN

How low can bitcoin go? A look at the charts suggest a bearish price reversal could extend through the weekend.

• Global volume in cryptocurrency markets passes $50 billion, close to the average turnover on New York Stock Exchange.
• The comparison is inexact but highlights just how popular digital currencies have become.

LONDON — Global cryptocurrency markets are now averaging the same daily trading volumes as the New York Stock Exchange.

24-hour trade volume in the cryptocurrency market passed the $50 billion mark on Wednesday, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.com.

That is close to the average daily volumes of trade on the New York Stock Exchange this year, which has ranged between $35 billion and $50 billion, according to historical data. Daily trading volumes on the London Stock Exchange hover around £5 billion.

The comparison is inexact, as the cryptocurrency market is arguably closer to the foreign exchange market, which has daily volumes of over $5 trillion.

But it highlights just how hot the cryptocurrency market has become in 2017. Unlike the foreign exchange market, cryptocurrency trading is largely done by small-time, retail investors, making it closer to the stock market (although there are huge institutions playing in the market.)

Investors have flocked to cryptocurrencies in 2017 due to the eye-catching returns of bitcoin, which has grown by around 1,500% against the dollar. A boom in "initial coin offerings", where startups issue their own cryptocurrencies, has also created a raft of other digital assets for investors to speculate on. There are now over 1,300 cryptocurrencies in circulation, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

But many people within the financial industry have expressed concern about the largely unregulated market. The UK's top financial regulator warned earlier this month that people should be prepared to lose all the money they invest in bitcoin and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has called cryptocurrencies a "scam."

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

Coinbase is investigating whether staff ignored orders to keep its Bitcoin Cash launch secret.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has become the latest financial watchdog to issue a warning on the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies.

Here is what you need to know. 

The GOP tax bill is on the verge of becoming a law. Senate Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by a 51 to 48 vote along party lines, leaving only a technical vote in the House as the last remaining obstacle before the bill can be sent to President Donald Trump's desk. 

America's biggest companies say they'll pay down debt with repatriated cash. A Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of 302 US companies found 65% of respondents plan to pay down debt with at least some of the money that is brought back into the country as part of the one-time repatriation of overseas cash that's included in the GOP tax plan. Meanwhile 46% say they'll use at least some of the cash to buy back stock. 

The 10-year hits a 9-month high. The benchmark yield crossed 2.46% on Wednesday. It hasn't been that high since March. 

Litecoin's founder unloads his entire stake. Charlie Lee, the founder of litecoin, has dumped his entire stake in the digital currency after receiving criticism that he was trying to influence its price with his tweets.

Coinbase is investigating insider trading in bitcoin cash. Coinbase is looking into whether employees tried to profit from advanced knowledge the exchange would allow users to buy and sell bitcoin cash. The exchange halted bitcoin cash trading four hours after it was launched. 

Uber suffers a big blow in Europe. The European Court of Justice, Europe's top court, ruled on Wednesday that Uber is a transport service, meaning EU states will have more authority to scrutinize and regulate the company. 

FedEx boosts its guidance. The package-delivery giant beat on both the top and bottom lines and raised its full-year fiscal 2018 earnings per share forecast to a range between $12.70 and $13.30.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+0.88%) outperformed in Asia and France's CAC (-0.18%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.24% near 2,688.

Earnings reporting remains light. Blackberry reports ahead of the opening bell and Bed Bath & Beyond releases its quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data trickles out. Existing home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. 

Join the conversation about this story »

Here is what you need to know. 

The GOP tax bill is on the verge of becoming a law. Senate Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by a 51 to 48 vote along party lines, leaving only a technical vote in the House as the last remaining obstacle before the bill can be sent to President Donald Trump's desk. 

America's biggest companies say they'll pay down debt with repatriated cash. A Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of 302 US companies found 65% of respondents plan to pay down debt with at least some of the money that is brought back into the country as part of the one-time repatriation of overseas cash that's included in the GOP tax plan. Meanwhile 46% say they'll use at least some of the cash to buy back stock. 

The 10-year hits a 9-month high. The benchmark yield crossed 2.46% on Wednesday. It hasn't been that high since March. 

Litecoin's founder unloads his entire stake. Charlie Lee, the founder of litecoin, has dumped his entire stake in the digital currency after receiving criticism that he was trying to influence its price with his tweets.

Coinbase is investigating insider trading in bitcoin cash. Coinbase is looking into whether employees tried to profit from advanced knowledge the exchange would allow users to buy and sell bitcoin cash. The exchange halted bitcoin cash trading four hours after it was launched. 

Uber suffers a big blow in Europe. The European Court of Justice, Europe's top court, ruled on Wednesday that Uber is a transport service, meaning EU states will have more authority to scrutinize and regulate the company. 

FedEx boosts its guidance. The package-delivery giant beat on both the top and bottom lines and raised its full-year fiscal 2018 earnings per share forecast to a range between $12.70 and $13.30.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+0.88%) outperformed in Asia and France's CAC (-0.18%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.24% near 2,688.

Earnings reporting remains light. Blackberry reports ahead of the opening bell and Bed Bath & Beyond releases its quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data trickles out. Existing home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET. 

Join the conversation about this story »

Here is what you need to know.

The GOP tax bill is on the verge of becoming law. Senate Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by a 51-48 vote along party lines, leaving only a technical vote in the House as the last remaining obstacle before the bill can be sent to President Donald Trump's desk.

America's biggest companies say they'll pay down debt with repatriated cash. A Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of 302 US companies found 65% of respondents planned to pay down debt with at least some of the money that is brought back into the country as part of the one-time repatriation of overseas cash that's included in the GOP tax plan. Forty-six percent say they'll use at least some of the cash to buy back stock.

The 10-year hits a 9-month high. The benchmark yield crossed 2.46% on Wednesday. It hadn't been that high since March.

Litecoin's founder unloads his entire stake. Charlie Lee, the founder of litecoin, has dumped his entire stake in the digital currency after receiving criticism that he was trying to influence its price with his tweets.

Coinbase is investigating insider trading in bitcoin cash. Coinbase is looking into whether employees tried to profit from advanced knowledge the exchange would allow users to buy and sell bitcoin cash. The exchange halted bitcoin cash trading four hours after it was launched.

Uber suffers a big blow in Europe. The European Court of Justice, Europe's top court, ruled on Wednesday that Uber was a transport service, meaning EU states will have more authority to scrutinize and regulate the company.

FedEx boosts its guidance. The package-delivery giant beat on both the top and bottom lines and raised its full-year fiscal 2018 earnings forecast to a range of $12.70 to $13.30 a share.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+0.88%) outperformed in Asia, and France's CAC (-0.18%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.24% near 2,688.

Earnings reporting remains light. BlackBerry reports ahead of the opening bell, and Bed Bath & Beyond releases its quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data trickles out. Existing-home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET.

Join the conversation about this story »

Here is what you need to know.

The GOP tax bill is on the verge of becoming law. Senate Republicans passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by a 51-48 vote along party lines, leaving only a technical vote in the House as the last remaining obstacle before the bill can be sent to President Donald Trump's desk.

America's biggest companies say they'll pay down debt with repatriated cash. A Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of 302 US companies found 65% of respondents planned to pay down debt with at least some of the money that is brought back into the country as part of the one-time repatriation of overseas cash that's included in the GOP tax plan. Forty-six percent say they'll use at least some of the cash to buy back stock.

The 10-year hits a 9-month high. The benchmark yield crossed 2.46% on Wednesday. It hadn't been that high since March.

Litecoin's founder unloads his entire stake. Charlie Lee, the founder of litecoin, has dumped his entire stake in the digital currency after receiving criticism that he was trying to influence its price with his tweets.

Coinbase is investigating insider trading in bitcoin cash. Coinbase is looking into whether employees tried to profit from advanced knowledge the exchange would allow users to buy and sell bitcoin cash. The exchange halted bitcoin cash trading four hours after it was launched.

Uber suffers a big blow in Europe. The European Court of Justice, Europe's top court, ruled on Wednesday that Uber was a transport service, meaning EU states will have more authority to scrutinize and regulate the company.

FedEx boosts its guidance. The package-delivery giant beat on both the top and bottom lines and raised its full-year fiscal 2018 earnings forecast to a range of $12.70 to $13.30 a share.

Stock markets around the world trade mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+0.88%) outperformed in Asia, and France's CAC (-0.18%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.24% near 2,688.

Earnings reporting remains light. BlackBerry reports ahead of the opening bell, and Bed Bath & Beyond releases its quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data trickles out. Existing-home sales will be released at 10 a.m. ET.

Join the conversation about this story »

The post Bitcoin Cash Surges by 50%, Market Optimistic on Coinbase Integration appeared first on CCN

The Bitcoin Cash price has surged by more than 50 percent over the past 24 hours, triggered by the South Korean market’s abrupt increase in demand and the integration of the cryptocurrency by Coinbase. Coinbase Briefly Halts Bitcoin Cash Trading Due to Volatility Earlier today, on December 20, the global cryptocurrency exchange market’s largest brokerage

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• International Monetary Fund says that Brexit has "the potential to reshape the structure" of the British economy.
• Fund says that financial services are likely to be hardest hit, although manufacturing may also face significant changes.
• Possible shifts in the way the UK economy is structured could have important implications for the UK's productivity growth, which the IMF says "will be the primary determinant of UK living standards in the long run."

LONDON — Leaving the European Union has "the potential to reshape the structure" of the British economy as the UK's future relationship with the EU becomes more clear, the International Monetary Fund said.

On Wednesday, the IMF published the conclusions of its recent mission to the UK — a standard visit carried out by IMF staff to monitor the state of the British economy — and said that it sees the potential for a shift in the way Britain's economy is structured as Brexit alters the sectors that are most important to the UK's growth.

"The impact will depend on the nature of the final agreement, and may take many years to fully materialize. However, in the coming years agriculture, manufacturing and services will all be affected by changes in the trade framework, regulatory structure and labor market," the fund's concluding statement said.

The fund gave particular attention to Britain's financial services sector, which is a major contributor of both output and tax revenues, but faces an uncertain future as it prepares to lose its financial passporting rights with the EU. 

The passport is effectively a set of rules and regulations that allow UK based financial firms to access customers and carry out activities across Europe. Many non-EU lenders use the passport to operate a hub in the UK and then sell services across the 28-nation bloc.

It is, however, tied inextricably to membership of the European Single Market, which Britain is set to leave during Brexit, meaning that those passporting rights will also be lost. The IMF sees this as a major concern.

"The financial sector, which represents about 7 percent of GDP but accounts for around 10 percent of tax revenues and 14 percent of exports, may be particularly affected in the absence of an agreement that allows the majority of EU-facing financial services currently provided from the UK to remain there," the IMF said.

Earlier on Wednesday, it was reported that the Bank of England is planning to propose a set of new rules that will allow certain European lenders offering wholesale finance to keep operating as normal in the UK once Britain leaves the EU, possibly addressing one of the biggest issues for the sector after Brexit.

Other sectors that could be particularly impacted, the IMF said, include manufacturing, which relies heavily on international trade, both for selling finished products and importing parts to build those products.

"Manufacturing firms with complex and lengthy international supply chains, such as in the automobile industry, could also face significant challenges," the fund said.

As it stands, the UK's economy is heavily focused on the services sector, with roughly 78-80% of GDP generated by output from that sector. By contrast, manufacturing contributes around 15%. Construction adds another 5%, while agriculture is worth roughly 1% of GDP.

Possible shifts in the way the UK economy is structured, the IMF said, could have important implications for the UK's productivity growth, which it says "will be the primary determinant of UK living standards in the long run."

"The challenge the UK faces in this respect is sizable: even under the baseline assumption that labor productivity growth doubles to 1 percent from the ½ percent annual average since the financial crisis, potential growth will be only about 1½ percent per year in the medium run," the IMF said.

Productivity has been a long running issue for Britain, and has effectively not grown since the financial crisis, leading Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to  talk of a "lost decade" for the economy late in 2016. 

Elsewhere in its concluding statement, the fund said that it expects UK growth to be around 1.5% in 2018, a similar figure to 2017.

"Inflation is expected to fall gradually but stay above target, implying further pressure on real wages and private consumption," it said.

"Strong global growth will provide ongoing support for exports, but firms are likely to continue deferring some investment decisions until there is greater clarity on the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU."

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

A lot of people moved to Washington DC, Alaska, and Wyoming in the last couple years.

The US Census Bureau's American Community Survey asks a set of questions about economics, demographics, social characteristics, and housing to about 1% of the US population each year. Among the many topics on the survey, respondents are asked whether they moved houses in the previous year, and if so, where their previous house was.

A handful of states had 4% or more of their population moving to that state in the previous year:

• Washington, DC: 8.7%
• Wyoming: 4.6%
• Alaska: 4.3%
• Idaho: 4.3%
• Colorado: 4.1%
• Hawaii: 4.1%
• Nevada: 4.1%
• Arizona: 4.0%
• New Hampshire: 4.0%
• North Dakota: 4.0%

This map shows the percentage of each state's population over the age of one year that responded they had moved from a house in a different state in the previous year, according to the 2016 ACS 1-year estimates:

SEE ALSO: If you can solve one of these 6 major math problems, you'll win a $1 million prize

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

• Jefferies on Tuesday reported record earnings, driven by a strong year from its investment bank.
• It's part of a resurgence for the firm, which jumped two spots to 9th in US investment banking revenue.
• Investing in talent in recent years while others retreated has helped the bank snatch back market share, as has growing its business with private equity firms.
• "If you do nothing too stupid or arrogant during the good times, you can take advantage during the bad times," CEO Rich Handler told Business Insider.

Jefferies announced on Tuesday a monster fourth quarter that helped the bank generate the best annual revenue and profit figures in its 55-year history. 

The firm, whose fiscal year ends a month earlier than the rest of Wall Street, reported annual revenues of $3.2 billion, up 32%; investment banking revenues of $1.76 billion, up 48%; and profits of $358 million, up from just $15 million last year — all three records. 

The robust performance is part of a resurgence for Jefferies, which jumped two spots to 9th in US investment banking revenue — which includes fees for providing loans and advising on mergers and acquisitions, debt capital markets, and equity capital markets — according to Dealogic's preliminary 2017 results released earlier this week. 

It's the only independent bank in the top-10; the rest of the list is comprised of bulge-bracket conglomerates with massive global operations. 

Jefferies CEO Rich Handler says the bank is catching up on some of its competitors and stealing market share in part because it has been investing in talent the past couple years — especially in telecommunications, healthcare, energy, and industrials — while others were more gun-shy. 

"Our recent strategy was to basically shrink our balance sheet and invest in quality bankers and quality people," Handler, who has run Jefferies as CEO since 2001 and is the longest-tenured chief executive on Wall Street, told Business Insider.

He added: "Our industry expertise has improved and it's pretty robust. Quite frankly, we're in a good position, as many of our larger competitors have pulled back."

Handler, who joined the firm in 1990 and has been a managing director since 1993, has a knack for staffing up when others are retreating. He also added to his roster after markets got choppy in 1998 and 2001, and after the financial crisis in 2008, he said. 

"The hardest thing to do is to invest when things are not going well," Handler said. "It sounds kind of trite. If you do nothing too stupid or arrogant during the good times, you can take advantage during the bad times. We have done that fairly well over the past three decades."

Getting in on the private-equity boom

The fruits of that investment were on full display in the firm's fourth quarter, which saw record investment banking revenues of $529 million, a 27% increase from last year.

M&A advisory is up, but the independent bank has especially gained ground in underwriting debt and equity. For the full year, DCM revenues more than doubled to $649 million, while ECM revenues climbed 47% to $345 million.

That's partly a function of Jefferies snatching up a hefty chunk of business from private equity firms, an industry that is booming right now with record amounts of fundraising and dry powder, according to Handler.

Through the first three quarters of 2017, Jefferies pulled in just shy of $300 million in fees from financial sponsors, as buyouts firms are often called in the industry, an 18% increase from the same point 2016, according to data from Thomson Reuters. 

"We've gained a lot of market share on the sponsor side because of the breadth of our sell-side assignments," Handler said. "When you sell companies to the sponsor community, you tend to get the financing too."

Given that private-equity firms typically rely on debt to finance acquisitions, establishing ties with these clients helps explain why Jefferies' debt-underwriting business doubled this year. 

It's all adding up to a lucrative 2017 for Jefferies' bankers. The firm is paying out $1.83 billion in compensation to its 3,450 employees around the world.

While payouts of course vary based on individual and department performance, that works out to an average of $530,000 per employee — the highest mark since the financial crisis in 2008.  

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

• Newcastle has been named the number one place to visit in 2018 by Rough Guides.
• The definitive guide includes a range of cities, countries, and regions.
• The US Civil Rights Trail, set to open for the first time on January 1, was the runner-up.

Newcastle, England has been named Rough Guides' number one place in the world to visit in 2018, beating out the likes of Malta's Valletta, New Orleans' nightlife, Malawi's landscapes, and Cuba's booming tourist trade to first place.

The northern hub may be best known for its partying spots, bitter temperatures, and that fantastic bridge, but Rough Guides believes that "the capital city of the northeast" has more to offer tourists than cheap double-vodka-red bulls and a charming accent.

The definitive list of the best countries, cities, and regions praised Newcastle for its "Geordie geniality, lively nightlife, burgeoning restaurant scene, fantastic museums, and architectural feats."

The city is also the host of the first ever Great Exhibition of the North — a series of exhibits, street performances, technological innovations, and interactive experiences open to the public, which will take place next year — earning Newcastle further praise from the Rough Guides panel.

Commenting on the list, Coralie Modschiedler, Senior Web Editor at Rough Guides, said: "This year, we wanted to include destinations that will be big news next year but also look at places that are underrated, up-and-coming, or newly back on the tourist map."

Two destinations were selected to represent the UK in Rough Guides' top 10. As well as Newcastle, Wales' rolling hills and lush landscapes earned the country a place in the listing.

Over in the US, New Orleans' jazz culture, street parties, and food scene caught the guide's attention, while the US Civil Rights Trail, set to open for the first time on New Year's Day 2018, was named the overall runner-up.

Here are Rough Guides' 10 top travel destinations for 2018:

1. Newcastle, England

2. Civil Rights Trail, USA

3. Malawi

4. Valletta, Malta

5. Wales

6. Cuba

7. Russia

8. New Orleans, USA

9. Chile

10. Sierra Leone

SEE ALSO: The 25 places you need to visit in 2018, according to the world's top travel experts

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

The post India’s Tax Authorities to Issue Notices to 500,000 Bitcoin Traders appeared first on CCN

India’s Income Tax (IT) department is set to issue notices to up to 500,000 bitcoin adopters trading the cryptocurrency in exchanges across the country. India’s tax suits are widening their probe into bitcoin investments and trading after last week’s visits to at least 9 bitcoin exchanges in various parts of the country. At the time,

The post India’s Tax Authorities to Issue Notices to 500,000 Bitcoin Traders appeared first on CCN

• Litecoin founder Charlie Lee said in Reddit post he has sold his entire holding of the cryptocurrency.
• Lee pins his decision on criticism that his Twitter posts about the currency were attempts at personal enrichment.
• Lee says he will remain involved in litecoin and cryptocurrencies more broadly.

LONDON — The creator of one of the largest alternative cryptocurrencies has exited his entire stake in the digital currency, citing a "conflict of interest."

Charlie Lee announced in a Reddit post on Wednesday that he had "sold and donated" all of his litecoin holdings over recent days. He said the move was motivated by criticism from people that he was trying to influence the price of litecoin with his tweets.

Lee wrote: "Whenever I tweet about Litecoin price or even just good or bad news, I get accused of doing it for personal benefit. Some people even think I short LTC! So in a sense, it is [sic] conflict of interest for me to hold LTC and tweet about it because I have so much influence."

Lee, a former Google and Coinbase employee, created litecoin in 2011 as a quicker and cheaper alternative to bitcoin. As of Wednesday morning, it is the fifth largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over $17 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

"Litecoin has been very good for me financially, so I am well off enough that I no longer need to tie my financial success to Litecoin’s success," Lee said in his Reddit post.

Lee didn't disclose how many litecoins he had sold at what price but said his actions had not affected the price of the asset.

Litecoin is down over 6% against the dollar at 10.00 a.m. GMT (5.00 a.m. ET) on Wednesday morning. However, the cryptocurrency was already falling prior to Lee's announcement and his post does not appear to have affected the price.

Lee said he will remain committed to the Litecoin project and cryptocurrencies more generally.

"I’m not quitting Litecoin," he wrote on Reddit. "I will still spend all my time working on Litecoin. When Litecoin succeeds, I will still be rewarded in lots of different ways, just not directly via ownership of coins. I now believe this is the best way for me to continue to oversee Litecoin’s growth."

You can read the full Reddit post here.

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

• Litecoin founder Charlie Lee said in Reddit post he has sold his entire holding of the cryptocurrency.
• Lee pins his decision on criticism that his Twitter posts about the currency were attempts at personal enrichment.
• Lee says he will remain involved in litecoin and cryptocurrencies more broadly.

LONDON — The creator of one of the largest alternative cryptocurrencies has exited his entire stake in the digital currency, citing a "conflict of interest."

Charlie Lee announced in a Reddit post on Wednesday that he had "sold and donated" all of his litecoin holdings over recent days. He said the move was motivated by criticism from people that he was trying to influence the price of litecoin with his tweets.

Lee wrote: "Whenever I tweet about Litecoin price or even just good or bad news, I get accused of doing it for personal benefit. Some people even think I short LTC! So in a sense, it is [sic] conflict of interest for me to hold LTC and tweet about it because I have so much influence."

Lee, a former Google and Coinbase employee, created litecoin in 2011 as a quicker and cheaper alternative to bitcoin. As of Wednesday morning, it is the fifth largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over $17 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

"Litecoin has been very good for me financially, so I am well off enough that I no longer need to tie my financial success to Litecoin’s success," Lee said in his Reddit post.

Lee didn't disclose how many litecoins he had sold at what price but said his actions had not affected the price of the asset.

Litecoin is down over 6% against the dollar at 10.00 a.m. GMT (5.00 a.m. ET) on Wednesday morning. However, the cryptocurrency was already falling prior to Lee's announcement and his post does not appear to have affected the price.

Lee said he will remain committed to the Litecoin project and cryptocurrencies more generally.

"I’m not quitting Litecoin," he wrote on Reddit. "I will still spend all my time working on Litecoin. When Litecoin succeeds, I will still be rewarded in lots of different ways, just not directly via ownership of coins. I now believe this is the best way for me to continue to oversee Litecoin’s growth."

You can read the full Reddit post here.

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A group of university economists believe bitcoin is no threat to the financial stability, though regulatory oversight needs to be increased.

The post Bitcoin Price Falls Below $16,400, Loses Nearly 15% in Major Correction appeared first on CCN

Bitcoin price has declined from $19,000 to $16,390 over the past 24 hours, as the bitcoin dominance index dipped dropped to 47 percent and alternative cryptocurrencies in the market surged in value. On December 20, the bitcoin price decreased by more than 10 percent, and its market valuation dropped from a weekly high of $331

The post Bitcoin Price Falls Below $16,400, Loses Nearly 15% in Major Correction appeared first on CCN

• Bank of England set to announce plans that will allow EU banks to keep operating in the UK more easily after Brexit, the BBC reports.
• Plans centre around allowing EU lenders to operate branches, rather than subsidiaries in Britain.
• New proposals are likely to be announced later on Wednesday when the BoE publishes its findings on its "Approach to the authorisation and supervision of international banks, insurers and central counterparties" at 1.00 p.m. GMT (8.00 a.m. ET).

LONDON — The Bank of England is expected to propose a set of new plans that will allow certain European lenders offering wholesale finance to keep operating as normal in the UK once Britain leaves the EU.

The BBC reported early on Wednesday morning that the central bank will propose that EU banks currently operating branches in the UK will be allowed to keep operating through those branches, rather than being made to set up new UK subsidiaries — which would be both time consuming and costly for banks.

These new proposals are likely to be announced later on Wednesday when the BoE publishes its findings on its "Approach to the authorisation and supervision of international banks, insurers and central counterparties" at 1.00 p.m. GMT (8.00 a.m. ET).

Due to current EU regulations, most major European lenders operating in the UK do so through branches, which offer an easy, cheap way of moving money and services around the continent.

Branches hold the added bonus that for lenders banks can quickly pull cash back to their main business — say for instance, Deutsche Bank moving money back to Germany — in the event of a major crisis. That can be bad news for customers, who can lose access to financing.

Subsidiaries on the other hand are a far more complex form of business structure that essentially forces banks to create a new version of themselves that becomes a UK company. They must conform with tougher rules on capital buffers, tying up more cash.

"Encouraging EU banks to continue to operate in the UK will help preserve financial stability for the UK and the EU and will help defend London's position as an open global financial centre," Miles Celic, head of the lobbying group TheCityUK said in a statement.

The future of the City of London and the wider UK financial sector has been up in the air since the Brexit vote, with fears about the loss of the so-called financial passport causing many overseas lenders to announce plans to set up new EU operations away from the UK.

Those fears were compounded somewhat this week when the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier ruled out a free trade deal with Britain which includes financial services unless Britain remains in the single market.

"There is no place [for financial services]. There is not a single trade agreement that is open to financial services. It doesn’t exist," Barnier said.

You can read the BBC's full story on the Bank of England's proposed rules here.

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

• The luxury department store had flat revenue and made a loss of £7.6 million in the year to April.
• Harvey Nichols blames refurbishment of its flagship Knightsbridge store for the performance.

LONDON — Upmarket department store Harvey Nichols swung to a £7.6 million loss last year as a costly refurbishment of its flagship site hit sales and pushed up costs.

Accounts for Broad Gain (UK), the vehicle which owns Harvey Nichols, blamed the refurbishment of the flagship Knightsbridge store for a 0.6% fall in group turnover to £193 million. The department store spent £10.6 million in the year, most of which went on the refurbishment.

As a result of the work, which closed parts of the stores for a period, the company slipped from a pre-tax profit of £2.5 million in 2016 to a pre-tax loss of £7.6 million in the year to April 2017.  Harvey Nichols had net assets of £148.9 million at the end of the period.

Founded in 1831, Harvey Nichols is known for its high-end clientele and stocks luxury brands such as Gucci, Prada, and Chanel. The department store has eight locations across the UK and employs over 1,700 people.

Harvey Nichols said it is facing "increased competition from retailers that exclusively operate online" and said the current trading environment remains "uncertain." But it said trading so far this year has been in-line with expectations.

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

The post Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance Refuses to Recognize Bitcoin appeared first on CCN

Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance has reportedly refused to acknowledge or recognize bitcoin and has banned financial institutions from trading with the cryptocurrency. Citing sources, an Arab Times report revealed that the ministry and the Central Bank of Kuwait have forbidden the banking sector and companies under its regulatory purview from trading in bitcoin – after

The post Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance Refuses to Recognize Bitcoin appeared first on CCN

• Bitcoin price drops more than $1,000 to fall below $17,000 per coin.
• The drop comes after one of the largest crypto trading platforms, Coinbase, launched and then suspended trading in bitcoin cash — a spin-off of bitcoin.
• Total cryptocurrency market capitalisation passes $600 billion.

LONDON — The price of bitcoin has dropped below the $17,000 mark during trading early in the European morning on Wednesday following a series of troubling developments for the cryptocurrency in recent days.

According to data from Markets Insider, the price of bitcoin has dropped by close to 6% just after 8.10 a.m. GMT (3.10 a.m. ET) losing more than $1,000 in value to trade at roughly $16,500, as the chart below illustrates:

Wednesday's price fall comes after news on Tuesday that Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, was to allow the trading of bitcoin cash — a spin-off of bitcoin that launched earlier in 2017.

However, just hours after bitcoin cash trading started on Coinbase, the site suspended that trading after bitcoin cash's price spiked, prompting concerns about possible insider trading by people who had been pre-briefed about the announcement.

"Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter," Coinbase's CEO Brian Armstrong said in a blogpost.

"If we find evidence of any employee or contractor violating our policies — directly or indirectly — I will not hesitate to terminate the employee immediately and take appropriate legal action."

Also on Wednesday, a group of Australian researchers published the findings of a study that showed almost half of all transactions in bitcoin are associated with buying and selling illegal goods and services, including drugs, weapons and pirated software.

Using techniques usually associated with forensic accounting, the group of researchers led by Talis Putnins, a Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, found that blockchain technology underpinning bitcoin holds significant promise for revolutionising many industries.

"But this sort of illegal activity risks stunting the adoption of this technology and limiting the potential benefits to society," Putnins said, according to our colleagues at Business Insider Australia.

Compounding the day of bad news in the crypto world, on Tuesday a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange said it is shutting down filing for bankruptcy after it was hacked for the second time this year, highlighting concerns about security as trade in bitcoin and other virtual currencies boom.

Youbit announced on its website that it had been hacked at 4.35 a.m. local time on Tuesday, causing a loss worth 17% of its total assets.

Despite that, according to crypto tracking website coinmarketcap.com, the total global market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies has now passed $600 billion.

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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

• Missguided's sales jumped 75% to £205.8 million in the year to March 26. 2017.
• Online fast fashion retailer slips to a loss of £1.6 million after opening its first shops.

LONDON — Missguided, the Manchester-based online fashion retailer, saw sales jump 75% to over £200 million last year.

Accounts filed with Companies House show revenue hit £205.8 million in the year ending March 26, 2017. Online sales in the UK grew by 40%, while digital sales growth was over 100% in the US, France, and Germany and 42.5% of Missguide's turnover came from international sales.

Despite the sales jump, Missguided slipped from a profit of £381,000 in 2016 to a pre-tax loss of £1.6 million this year.

Missguided blamed the loss on its push into physical retail. The company opened stores in Westfield shopping centre in London and Bluewater shopping centre in Kent during the year. Set up costs meant its retail operation lost £2.4 million.

Missguided manufactures and sells fast fashion items targeted at 20-something women. The company has made a name for itself thanks to its rapid development cycle, meaning it can keep up with the fast-changing fashions of the Instagram generation.

The company was founded by 34-year-old Nitin Passi, an entrepreneur who started the business eight years ago with a loan from his family.

Missguided is one of a number of online fashion retailers that have grown to prominence in the UK in recent years. Others include Boohoo and Scotland's Quiz. Both of these rivals are listed on the stock market and Missguided has been tipped for a float itself. The Mail on Sunday reported last month that it has been valued at £700 million.

Missguided spent heavily on TV and poster advertising last year and the company said its active customer numbers rose from 1.9 million to 2.8 million as a result.

Employee numbers rose from around 290 to close to 430 during the year. The business is owned by a company registered in the secretive British Virgin Islands, meaning the exact ownership is unclear.

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NOW WATCH: We talked to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman about tax reform, Trump, and bitcoin

 Charlie Lee, the former director of engineering at Coinbase, is selling almost all of his holdings in Litecoin (LTC), the cryptocurrency that he founded in 2011. Lee explained in a post on Reddit that he is selling all of his LTC coins — bar a number of physical coins he keeps as collectibles — to avoid the conflict of interest that comes with his influence and position as LTC… Read More

The startup released an open-source compiler that translates between Ivy, Chain's high-level smart contract language, and low-level Bitcoin Script.

• Beckham Brand Holdings paid out £28.95 million in dividends over the last two years.
• Payout shared between three shareholders: Victoria Beckham, David Beckham, and Victoria's former manager Simon Fuller.
• Beckham Brand Holdings owns Victoria's fashion brand and a vehicle that owns David's image rights.

LONDON — David and Victoria Beckham's business empire paid out £28.95 million in dividends over the last two years, accounts show. 

Accounts for Beckham Brand Holdings shows that the company paid dividends of £10.2 million in 2016 and paid out £18.75 million in 2017. 

A spokesperson for the Beckhams confirmed that the dividends were paid equally to the company's three shareholders: former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, retired footballer David Beckham, and Victoria Beckham's former manager Simon Fuller.

It means that Victoria and David Beckham, married since 1999, shared £19.3 million between them. That works out at around £400,000 a month each over the two year period.

Beckham Brand Holdings owns the couple's various business ventures, including the high-end fashion label Victoria Beckham and DV Ventures, a company that controls David's image rights.

Beckham Brand Holdings made a profit of £16.19 million last year on revenues of £47.52 million, accounts show.

Revenues at DV Ventures rose by £1 million to £11.12m thanks to partnerships with Diageo, LVS Group, and AIA Vitality, among others. A one-off payment from Hong Kong-listed Global Brand Group over an image licensing deal helped propel profits at DV Ventures to £24.9 million.

Victoria Beckham's fashion company had revenues of £36.3 million last year but, as Business Insider reported on Tuesday, the group's losses rose by 78% to £8.4 million due to heavy investment.

David and Victoria Beckham have a combined estimated net worth of $450 million (£336.7 million), according to The Richest. 

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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

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

1. Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary broke months of media silence to defend his decision to recognize unions for the first time in 32 years, saying it would allow his airline to expand and help to keep staff costs down. O'Leary said the move was his idea and that he would not step down.

2. German energy company Innogy said its chief executive Peter Terium was leaving the company immediately, just days after the company issued a profit warning that sent its shares tumbling. Terium will be replaced in the interim by Uwe Tigges, chief human resources officer, until the supervisory board decides on a successor.

3. Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has an 11-percentage point lead ahead of next year's presidential election, giving him a sizeable advantage even after new rivals formally entered the race. The former Mexico City mayor Lopez Obrador has vowed to combat inequality and corruption, but some international investors are concerned about suggestions that he might reverse parts of the government's 2013-14 energy legislation.

4. Billionaire Marcelo Odebrecht, the highest-profile executive imprisoned in Brazil's massive graft scandal, was released from jail on Tuesday to continue his sentence for corruption under house arrest. The former chief executive officer of Odebrecht, Latin America's largest construction firm, was arrested in 2015 during an investigation dubbed Car Wash that exposed billions of dollars in kickbacks to politicians and executives at state-run companies in exchange for inflated contracts.

5. Saudi Arabia's economy minister said that his country was studying the idea of creating a national privatisation fund to facilitate sales of state assets. "Personally I think it is a valid concept," Mohammed al-Tuwaijri said in an interview. 

6. EU antitrust regulators are set to clear Lufthansa's acquisition of insolvent Air Berlin's subsidiary LGW after the German carrier agreed to give up some Dusseldorf airport slots. Lufthansa also pledged not to apply for additional slots if they go back to the pool.

7. Britain's pensions lifeboat voted against Toys R Us UK's proposed rescue plan, casting doubt on the plan's progress ahead of a crucial creditors meeting on Thursday. Earlier this month the British arm of Toys R Us said it would seek creditor approval for a restructuring plan involving closing at least 26 of its 105 stores in 2018 and reduced rent on the stores that stay open.

8. BNP Paribas plans to move 45 internal finance jobs from Paris to Lisbon. BNP Paribas already has more than 1,800 employees in Portugal, according to a recent job advert posted on its website through which it was recruiting for its Group Finance Service hub in Lisbon.

9. Mexican prosecutors are failing to systematically punish money launderers and tax authorities are too lax with potential drug money fronts such as real estate and luxury goods firms, according to a draft report on Mexico's efforts to fight illicit finance. The report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international organization that sets global standards for fighting illicit finance, highlights the tiny dents made by Mexican prosecutors in the financial networks of drug gangs and corrupt officials.

10. Jefferies has posted record revenues and profit for the year ended November, following buoyant debt and equity underwriting activity in the final three months of the year. The independent US investment bank said investment banking revenues in the quarter to the end of November jumped 27% from a year ago to US$528.7m.

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

 Coinbase is investigating whether its employees took advantage of inside knowledge to profit on the launch of bitcoin cash (BCH) when it was added the popular crypto exchange. The company, which recently raised $100 million at a valuation of $1.6 billion, finally added support for BCH — a fork of bitcoin — on Tuesday after much demand from users. But, in true Coinbase fashion,… Read More

• Coinbase said Tuesday evening users wouldn't be able to buy and sell bitcoin cash four hours after it said trading of the cryptocurrency would be enabled on its platforms.
• CEO Brian Armstrong said the company is looking into whether employees tried to profit from advanced knowledge of the news.
  
• Bitcoin cash is a spin-out cryptocurrency of bitcoin that was created in August.

Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, shocked the crypto-world with its announcement Tuesday evening that it would allow users to buy and sell bitcoin cash.

The news sent bitcoin cash, the spin-off cryptocurrency of bitcoin launched in August, to an all-time high above $3,609 per data from Markets Insider. On Coinbase's GDAX platform, the price of the cryptocurrency reached well above $8,000 per coin. That appreciation began slightly before the announcement on some exchanges, raising concerns about insider trading among employees aware of the news before the announcement. 

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a post early Wednesday morning that the company was looking into the matter.

"Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter," he said. "If we find evidence of any employee or contractor violating our policies — directly or indirectly — I will not hesitate to terminate the employee immediately and take appropriate legal action."

The price spike appeared to put pressure on Coinbase. Nearly four hours after the San Francisco-based firm announced it was supporting bitcoin cash trading, it said users wouldn't be able to buy and sell the cryptocurrency until Wednesday.

"An update on Bitcoin Cash for our customers: sends and receives are functional," the company said in a tweet at 11:15 p.m. ET. "Buys and sells on Coinbase.com and in our mobile apps will be available to all customers once there is sufficient liquidity on GDAX. We anticipate that this will happen tomorrow."

Ouch.

The company said in a blog post it disabled trading because of "significant volatility."

In addition to bitcoin cash spiking by almost $1,000, cryptocurrency trading volumes reached an all-time high above $49 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Coinbase has struggled to fully function under such demand in the past.

On December 12, the company halted trading of litecoin and ether as the two cryptocurrencies reach all-time highs.

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

• Coinbase said Tuesday evening users wouldn't be able to buy and sell bitcoin cash four hours after it said trading of the cryptocurrency would be enabled on its platforms.
• CEO Brian Armstrong said the company is looking into whether employees tried to profit from advanced knowledge of the news.
  
• Bitcoin cash is a spin-out cryptocurrency of bitcoin that was created in August.

Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, shocked the crypto-world with its announcement Tuesday evening that it would allow users to buy and sell bitcoin cash.

The news sent bitcoin cash, the spin-off cryptocurrency of bitcoin launched in August, to an all-time high above $3,609 per data from Markets Insider. On Coinbase's GDAX platform, the price of the cryptocurrency reached well above $8,000 per coin. That appreciation began slightly before the announcement on some exchanges, raising concerns about insider trading among employees aware of the news before the announcement. 

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a post early Wednesday morning that the company was looking into the matter.

"Given the price increase in the hours leading up the announcement, we will be conducting an investigation into this matter," he said. "If we find evidence of any employee or contractor violating our policies — directly or indirectly — I will not hesitate to terminate the employee immediately and take appropriate legal action."

The price spike appeared to put pressure on Coinbase. Nearly four hours after the San Francisco-based firm announced it was supporting bitcoin cash trading, it said users wouldn't be able to buy and sell the cryptocurrency until Wednesday.

"An update on Bitcoin Cash for our customers: sends and receives are functional," the company said in a tweet at 11:15 p.m. ET. "Buys and sells on Coinbase.com and in our mobile apps will be available to all customers once there is sufficient liquidity on GDAX. We anticipate that this will happen tomorrow."

Ouch.

The company said in a blog post it disabled trading because of "significant volatility."

In addition to bitcoin cash spiking by almost $1,000, cryptocurrency trading volumes reached an all-time high above $49 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Coinbase has struggled to fully function under such demand in the past.

On December 12, the company halted trading of litecoin and ether as the two cryptocurrencies reach all-time highs.

Join the conversation about this story »

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

The post Philippine Regulators Push For Unified Rules on Bitcoin Investments appeared first on CCN

Philippine regulators are pushing for a unified rule on cryptocurrencies like bitcoin – when used as investments. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it would coordinate with market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission to draft rules if bitcoins will be used as a platform for investments in the country, reports GMA Network. BSP Deputy

The post Philippine Regulators Push For Unified Rules on Bitcoin Investments appeared first on CCN

What happened after all the fear, uncertainty and doubt of 2017? Bitcoin became stronger than ever, according to developer Jimmy Song.

 After just announcing full support for Bitcoin Cash, buying and selling on Coinbase and GDAX is temporarily disabled. For about an hour Coinbase and GDAX were both showing Coinbase Cash prices at around $8,500, which is almost three times higher than the $3,500 price it’s trading at on all other exchanges. But for most of this time trading was disabled, so it’s not clear if… Read More

• China lists the names and personal details of 8.8 million debt defaulters on a public website.
• Those defaulters can't fly or use high-speed trains, book fancy hotels or enroll their children at expensive schools.
• Naming and shaming is growing across the country, with automatic messages playing on mobile phones and the names and photos of defaulters being promoted on screens in buses and public lifts.

China maintains a public blacklist of debtors that effectively restricts their movements and their spending habits.

The country's highest court publishes the names and ID numbers of "dishonest people" on its website and restricts those people from flying domestically, using high-speed trains, or enrolling their children at expensive private schools.

Defaulters are also prevented from staying at hotels with three-stars or more. They also face tougher exams if they want to join the civil service, and are charged higher fees for booking cars. The bans work by linking to a person's ID number. Some people used their passport when travelling to circumvent the ban, but that loophole now appears to be closed.

The site was created by the Supreme People’s Court in an attempt to make people comply with verdicts to repay their debts. Restrictions are placed on "high-expenditure consumption" and "consumption not necessary to sustain normal life or businesses" for individual defaulters as well as the legal representatives and CEOs of companies that default.

The list launched in late 2013 with 31,259 names and within two weeks it had been visited 180,000 times.

Since then, 8.8 million debtors have been added to the list.Together, they have been prevented from flying 8.7 million times and denied 3.4 million high-speed train tickets.

Earlier this year one defaulter was fined $15,000 for travelling on a first-class flight while another underwent plastic surgery to try and evade detection by authorities.

The blacklist also limits defaulter's job prospects. Several major employers first check the creditworthiness of job applicants and more than 170,000 people on the list have been denied executive positions.

"It is hoped that by imposing such inconveniences on their daily lives, debtors will be encouraged to pay back the money they owe in a timely manner," the court said in its statement earlier this year.

Provinces are using people's own phones to shame them

In August, a court in the southwest Sichuan Province began leaving recorded messages on the phones of 20 debtors.

When someone rings a defaulter, this message plays: “The person you are calling has been put on a blacklist by the courts for failing to repay their debts. Please urge this person to honour their legal obligations.”

Three other provinces have trialed similar programs and another province rolled out messages on the phones of 492 debtors.

But in one Beijing district, eerie court-mandated messages aren't only being used for people who haven't paid their bills.

According to Chinese publication Sixth Tone, any of the hundreds of millions of people who have the anti-virus Qihoo 360 app will be informed — via a pop-up message that says, "Included on the list of dishonest individuals" —if they have contact with someone who hasn't paid staff or child support.

Names and faces will soon be promoted on buses and in the media

The Supreme People’s Court is partnering with the Communist Party's Publicity Department to begin widely shaming anyone who doesn't repay a bank loan, the South China Morning Post reported in October.

The name, ID number, photograph and home address of bank defaulters across the country will now be able to be published in newspapers, radio, and broadcast on television, as well as on screens in buses and public lifts.

According to the report, local governments were also instructed to create name-and-shame databases — searchable by anyone — before the end of 2017.

Regional courts will provide the details to local media outlets, who will then run the databases.

In Guangzhou, in southern China, 141 people have had their personal details displayed on screens in buses and commercial buildings.

The debtor blacklist was the first step to an all-encompassing social credit system

Since the debtor list was first created, state-media reports repeatedly described it as the first step toward creating a China-wide social credit score of trustworthiness.

China's credit scoring system will be rolled out nationwide in 2020, but for now eight pilot systems are being run. One of these, Sesame Credit, is run by the Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial.

In 2015, the Supreme People's Court began working with Sesame Credit, which then deducts credit points off people who default on court fines. Once rolled out, the lower a person's social credit score the fewer opportunities and more restrictions they will face.

But for now, the debtor blacklist appears to be working. Last month, the Supreme People's Court reported the list "has made more than 1 million of them voluntarily carry out court orders."

SEE ALSO: How South Korea names and shames tens of thousands of tax-dodgers every year

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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

Coinbase launched bitcoin cash exchange trading Tuesday, but operations were anything but smooth. The feature was abruptly pulled after going live.

 Coinbase has just added full support for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) – meaning you can now send, receive, buy and sell the cryptocurrency. All users will also be credited an amount of Bitcoin Cash equal to their Bitcoin balance during the hard fork that occurred August 1st, 2017. Bitcoin Cash trading will also be available on GDAX, Coinbase’s institutional-focused exchange. Immediately… Read More

• Bitcoin cash, an offshoot of red-hot bitcoin, was soaring after Coinbase said it would enable trading of the cryptocurrency on its platform.
•  Bitcoin cash was trading at $3,338 a coin at 7:40 p.m. ET, according to Markets Insider data.

Bitcoin cash jumped by more than $600 after Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, announced Tuesday evening it would soon enable trading of the bitcoin offshoot.

The cryptocurrency, which was formed after a fork of the bitcoin network in August, was trading above $3,000 a coin for the first time at an all-time high of $3,338 at 7:40 p.m. ET, according to data from Markets Insider.

Bitcoin cash, a sort of clone of the original bitcoin built to scale faster by processing more transactions, was not supported by Coinbase when it went live on August 1. As such, users did not receive one bitcoin cash for every bitcoin they owned as users on some other wallets and exchanges did. Coinbase said Tuesday, however, that users who owned bitcoin at the time of the fork would receive their tokens.

"All customers who held a Bitcoin balance on Coinbase at the time of the fork will now see an equal balance of Bitcoin Cash available in their Coinbase account," the company said in a statement.

On Coinbase's GDAX exchange bitcoin cash was trading at a premium to the overall market, reaching as high as $9,500.

Bitcoin cash supporters claim the coin better reflects the vision of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of the Bitcoin blockchain.

Roger Ver, one of the original bitcoin cash backers, tweeted Tuesday that bitcoin cash was the true bitcoin.

"The reason there is so much hostility from Bitcoin Core towards Bitcoin Cash is because Core knows they have stolen the name but are advocating a completely different system than what was originally described by Satoshi," Ver said on Twitter."Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin."

The bitcoin/bitcoin cash schism is one iteration of an ongoing battle within the bitcoin community over how to scale the red-hot coin.

Other bitcoin offshoots include bitcoin gold, bitcoin silver, and even super bitcoin.

As for bitcoin, it was trading down as much as 10% against the US dollar Tuesday evening, dropping nearly as low as $15,800 a coin. It was trading at $16,344 at last check.

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

• Bitcoin cash, an offshoot of red-hot bitcoin, was soaring after Coinbase said it would enable trading of the cryptocurrency on its platform.
•  Bitcoin cash was trading at $3,338 a coin at 7:40 p.m. ET, according to Markets Insider data.

Bitcoin cash jumped by more than $600 after Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, announced Tuesday evening it would soon enable trading of the bitcoin off-shoot.

The cryptocurrency, which was formed after a fork of the bitcoin network in August, was trading above $3,000 a coin for the first time at an all-time high of $3,338 at 7:40 p.m. ET, according to data from Markets Insider.

Bitcoin cash, a sort of clone of the original bitcoin built to scale faster by processing more transactions, was not supported by Coinbase when it went live on August 1. As such, users did not receive one bitcoin cash for every bitcoin they owned as users on some other wallets and exchanges did. Coinbase said Tuesday , however, that users who owned bitcoin at the time of the fork would recieve their tokens.

"All customers who held a Bitcoin balance on Coinbase at the time of the fork will now see an equal balance of Bitcoin Cash available in their Coinbase account," the company said in a statement.

Bitcoin cash supporters claim the coin is the true bitcoin and better reflects the vision of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of the Bitcoin blockchain.

Roger Ver, one of the original bitcoin cash supporters, tweeted Tuesday that bitcoin cash was the true bitcoin.

"The reason there is so much hostility from Bitcoin Core towards Bitcoin Cash is because Core knows they have stolen the name but are advocating a completely different sysem than what was originally described by Satoshi," Ver said on Twitter."Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin."

The bitcoin/bitcoin cash divide is the result of a long-standing divide in the bitcoin community over how to scale the red-hot coin.

As for bitcoin, it was trading down as much as 10% against the US dollar Tuesday evening, dropping nearly as low as $15,800 a coin. It was trading at $16,344 at last check.

This story is developing check back for updates.

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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

The post FinTech Stock LongFin Surges 2,600% Following Blockchain Company Acquisition appeared first on CCN

The cryptocurrency world’s recent heights, with Bitcoin surpassing $19,600 per coin, and Ethereum reaching a new all-time high above $850, are seemingly heavily influencing the way traditional investors look at some stocks. Fintech firm LongFin (Ticker: LFIN) recently saw its value surge as much as 2,600%, following a press release. The press release revealed that

The post FinTech Stock LongFin Surges 2,600% Following Blockchain Company Acquisition appeared first on CCN

• UK house price growth set to slow to a halt next year, according to poll of chartered surveyors.
• "Following a pretty lacklustre finish to 2017, the indications are that momentum across the housing market will be lacking as 2018 gets underway," said RICS economist Tarrant Parsons.

LONDON — The UK housing market is in a rut, and price growth will likely grind to a halt next year, according to the RICS housing forecast for 2018.

RICS, whose predictions are based on a poll of chartered surveyors said house prices would flatline next year because the market is being dampened by factors including stamp duty, political uncertainty around Brexit, and a lack of housing stock, which leaves potential buyers with a very limited choice.

"Following a pretty lacklustre finish to 2017, the indications are that momentum across the housing market will be lacking as 2018 gets underway," said RICS economist Tarrant Parsons.

"With several of the forces currently weighing on activity set to persist over the near term, it’s difficult to envisage a material step-up in impetus during the next twelve months.

"A real lack of stock coming onto the market remains one of the biggest challenges, while affordability constraints are increasingly curbing demand in some parts. Given these dynamics, price growth may fade to produce a virtually flat outturn for 2018."

UK house price growth has continued to slow throughout 2017. Mortgage lender Halifax said prices grew 3.9% in the year to the end of November, down sharply from 4.5% in October, although monthly price data can be unreliable.

The prediction from RICS, which is based on a poll of chartered surveyors, is below other mainstream forecasts.

Estate agents Savills expects prices to grow by 2% next year, while accountants PwC forecast 3.9% growth over the year.

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