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• A plane crashed in Costa Rica on Sunday, killing all 12 people on board. According to Costa Rican authorities, 10 of those passengers were US citizens.
• The crash happened near Punta Islita in the Guanacaste province according to Costa Rican officials who posted images of the burning wreckage amid a thicket of trees.
• It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. The identities of all the passengers were not immediately known.

Costa Rican authorities said a plane crash there killed 12 people on Sunday, including 10 US citizens, the Associated Press and Reuters reported, citing Costa Rican government officials. It happened near Punta Islita in the country's Guanacaste province, about 140 miles west of the capital San José.

The plane went down in a heavily wooded area. Photos released by the country's security ministry show the burning wreckage among a thicket of trees.

Laura Chinchilla, the former president of Costa Rica tweeted that her cousin, who was one of the crew members, died in the crash.

"There are no people alive," Security Minister Gustavo Mata said, adding that autopsies would be needed to confirm the total number and identities of victims because their remains were badly burned.

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

If BTC does not become a long-term trusted store of value, its likely price will be close to zero

The post As Prices Dip, Bitcoin’s Market Dominance Slips Towards New Low–and the Market is Better for It appeared first on CCN

It’s dipping season, folks.  Well, it was dipping season.  Yesterday, assets all across the cryptocurrency market were getting hammered, and the ubiquitous price dent had 89 out of Coin Market Cap’s top 100 turning red at the time of our first draft’s initial coverage. During this latest dip, Bitcoin went sub $13k.  As of press

The post As Prices Dip, Bitcoin’s Market Dominance Slips Towards New Low–and the Market is Better for It appeared first on CCN

The post Bitcoin Price Slightly Recovers as Ripple Market Cap Drops by $13 Billion appeared first on CCN

The bitcoin price has slightly recovered to above $13,500 as the market valuation of Ripple dropped by $20 billion overnight. Major Shift in Trend Since December 30, Ripple has regained $7 billion in market cap and is still demonstrating a valuation significantly larger than Ethereum, the third most valuable cryptocurrency in the market. Over the

The post Bitcoin Price Slightly Recovers as Ripple Market Cap Drops by $13 Billion appeared first on CCN

The post Bitcoin Price Slightly Recovers as Ripple Market Cap Drops by $13 Billion appeared first on CCN

The bitcoin price has slightly recovered to above $13,500 as the market valuation of Ripple dropped by $20 billion overnight. Major Shift in Trend Since December 30, Ripple has regained $7 billion in market cap and is still demonstrating a valuation significantly larger than Ethereum, the third most valuable cryptocurrency in the market. Over the

The post Bitcoin Price Slightly Recovers as Ripple Market Cap Drops by $13 Billion appeared first on CCN

The man behind the sign steps into the light to reveal his motives. In a year beset by savage infighting, Bitcoin Sign Guy took a stand, with a small action that not only broke the internet, but raised the spirits of a beleaguered bitcoin community then ravaged by a years-long intellectual war. Were we all Satoshi? Maybe not in 2017. But, we were all "Bitcoin Sign Guy." Read more:

The post Australian Bitcoin Investors Claim Banks are Shutting Down Their Accounts appeared first on CCN

Bitcoin investors in Australia have claimed that major banks including National Australia Bank, ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corporation, have started to freeze the bank accounts of cryptocurrency traders without prior notice. Major Banks Called Out Earlier this week, Australian cryptocurrency trader Alex Saunder publicly called out all of the major

The post Australian Bitcoin Investors Claim Banks are Shutting Down Their Accounts appeared first on CCN

• Artificial intelligence took the world by storm in 2018, but its impact on the tech world is hard to measure.
• Because the technology is woven into everything a modern tech company does, it doesn't show up in a profit and loss statement, for example.

One of the biggest tech trends of the year is also one of the hardest to quantify.

Artificial intelligence has started to creep into almost presentation, product announcement and business plan from Silicon Valley in the last 12 months, and it's for a good reason. Artificial intelligence, when it works, can solve a lot of problems that were previously impossible.

"[AI] is one of those 'submarine trends,'" Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC, told Markets Insider. "It's impacting the tides, but it’s below the surface, so it's very hard to see it."

Even though a large number of companies have started working on their own AI technologies, its impact on the bottom line is almost impossible to see.

Google is a good example. As nearly every other flagship phone released this year used two camera lenses to create a blurry background in photos. Google used a single lens on its Pixel 2 phones and relied on its AI software to blur the backgrounds of photos. Even though AI enabled a core feature of one of the company's flagship products, it's hard to attribute what direct impact the AI systems had on sales of the phone.

In other companies, AI's impact is even less obvious. Netflix is using AI to decipher its users' preferences, and present interesting content based on only a few key indicators. It seems to be working, as the company's subscriber count continues to increase, but the cost of developing the recommendation engine isn't broken out in the company's financial statements, and it's hard to predict how good an AI-less recommendation engine could be.

"It's very hard to see that impact from a financial perspective; it's hard to find their line in the P&L that says this is artificial intelligence, but it's in there in terms of the expenses," Mahaney said. "And it should be in there in the form of more relevant and more effective services."

Perhaps then, the best way to quantify AI's impact on the tech world is to look at how much is being spent on research and development at the top tech companies.

Tech companies outperformed the general market by a wide margin in 2017, and Mahaney said that the huge investments tech companies make in developing new technologies is one of the biggest reasons for continued earnings and stock price growth.

"I've... been struck by how consistent the aggressive investment has been by these companies. All these companies have been spending aggressively on new areas of growth," Mahaney said.

That high level of investment in AI and other technology is likely to continue in 2018, which Mahaney says is a good indicator of the companies' future performance. The only thing that could really stop tech companies next year is a general rotation out of tech and into other areas, Mahaney said. "You know, famous last words — but they've been very consistent the last three years."

Read about Mahaney's other predictions for tech in 2018 here.

SEE ALSO: 2 Berkeley grads are using AI to make stock-buying decisions — and it could change investing forever

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

"Bitcoin is a fraud." Four small words ignited a maelstrom when JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon took the stage at a conference in September. The blockchain world was never quite the same again. In response, bitcoin became the talk of Wall Street, and in that dialogue a beast was unleashed that maybe ... just maybe ... took bitcoin out of obscurity, to its new peaks above $10,000.

Weaker pound will continue to boost exports and lower borrowing costs allow consumers to keep calm and carry on, but it ain’t smooth sailing

Forty years ago, Ian Dury and the Blockheads released Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3 – listing some of the better things in life even as Margaret Thatcher became prime minister in the months following the winter of discontent.

Fast forward to the opening days of 2018 and fresh political tumult threatens to cripple Britain once more. But there are some reasons to be cheerful about the prospects for the UK economy. Despite the political to-and-fro of the past year, the UK economy enters 2018 in better health than many would have given it credit for.

It's good to be Charlie. After years of working at the first "Bitcoin Unicorn," Lee stepped out on his own in 2017 to take up arms against those who would delay bitcoin technical development. His weapon? The cryptocurrency network: litecoin. With the network – once languishing, now revitalized – Lee pulled no punches, becoming the opinionated voice of reason in a market that's known for its insanity.

It's good to be Charlie. After years of working at the first "Bitcoin Unicorn," Lee stepped out on his own in 2017 to take up arms against those who would delay bitcoin technical development. His weapon? The cryptocurrency network: litecoin. With the network – once languishing, now revitalized – Lee pulled no punches, becoming the opinionated voice of reason in a market that's known for its insanity.

If crypto assets really are the "Craziest Bubble Ever," then Naval Ravikant is the movement's elder statesman. The founder of AngelList, Ravikant didn't talk much about startups in 2017, instead preaching the gospel of the ICO on Twitter in 140-character bursts that were part roadmap and part prophecy for a burgeoning industry. In the process, he helped open doors for a new wave of innovative cryptocurrency projects, giving a vital boost to an industry that had all but been locked out of Silicon Valley following bitcoin's 2015 correction.

• A bitcoin was worth $13,324 at 12.30 p.m. (GMT) on New Year's Eve.
• It was up 4% on the previous 24 hours.
• A single Bitcoin has increased in value 13-fold since January 1.

Bitcoin started the final day of 2017 with an increase in value, and looked set to end the year on a high note.

The cryptocurrency was up more than 4% as of 12.30 p.m. on New Year's Eve 2017, according to data from Markets Insider.

Its value was $13,324 per coin, having gained more than $540 in value over a 24-hour period.

Bitcoin had a rocky ride over the Christmas period, swinging from below $13,000 to above $16,000 in the final week of the year.

Bitcoin was still down on its all-time high of $19,843 per coin, which it hit around December 17, 2017, before a sharp fall in which it briefly dipped below $11,000.

The cryptocurrency was still down 12% on its value one week before, but was trending upwards into the new year.

If the price holds steady for the rest of New Year's Eve, Bitcoin will finish 2017 be up around 1,300% from its value at the start of the year, when it was hovering around $1,000.

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NOW WATCH: Thursday’s big net neutrality vote could drastically change the internet — here’s what it means for you

From upstarts overtaking bigger rivals to tech firms valued more than superstores, 2017 was a year of seminal moments

2017 was year marked by mini-upsets in the business world that, taken together, represented a changing of the old guard and a new establishment taking shape.

Technology fuelled a revolution which saw upstarts in retail, manufacturing and finance overtake the long-established players. Whether it was payment cards or Bitcoin trumping cash or currencies, or the battery coming of age over the internal combustion engine, these were seminal moments.

The post $1 Million Bitcoin Ransom Reportedly Paid for Kidnapped EXMO Executive appeared first on CCN

On December 26, 40-year-old IT specialist and bitcoin exchange executive Pavel Lerner was kidnapped in Kiev, Ukraine. He was reportedly forced into a Mercedes-Benz Vito by unknown assailants wearing dark clothes and balaclavas. Lerner, a leading analyst at cryptocurrency exchange EXMO, stopped answering the phone after leaving the company’s offices. Speaking to Reuters, Anton Gerashchenko, an

The post $1 Million Bitcoin Ransom Reportedly Paid for Kidnapped EXMO Executive appeared first on CCN

I keep hearing about Bitcoin. I don’t get it. Can you explain if it is a good investment?

Call it the biggest short in history. China took plenty of actions against cryptocurrencies in 2017, banning ICOs, shutting down domestic exchanges and all but taking a match to what was once one of the industry's largest and most thriving ecosystems. But if China is setting a course apart from the world, Yao Qian may be its biggest asset. The man in charge of rethinking bitcoin on behalf of the world's largest state isn't just empowered, he seems to know crypto inside and out.

Speak softly and carry a big SegWit? If bitcoin saw its biggest and most controversial change this summer, the evolution can all be traced back to one developer. Still, the founder of the controversial startup Blockstream and the network's most prodigious coder, Pieter Wuille, is a bit of a mystery. In an industry with no shortage of egos and bluster, though, Wuille is a rarity, choosing to let his code do the talking for him.

The post Bitcoin Facing Decisive Year in 2018, Says Legendary Investor appeared first on CCN

Elevation Partners co-founder and tech investing legend Roger McNamee said that he believes 2018 will be a decisive year for bitcoin. Why 2018 is Decisive for Bitcoin Speaking with CNBC, McNamee — an early Facebook investor — explained that next year will be crucial in determining whether bitcoin’s ascent is sustainable over the long-term or

The post Bitcoin Facing Decisive Year in 2018, Says Legendary Investor appeared first on CCN

Master of the ASICBoost, conjurer of Antbleed... Perhaps no character in the pantheon of industry leaders has been the subject of more conspiracy theories than Mr. Wu, a passionate bitcoin believer who's been reviled for his views. The young co-founder of Chinese mining giant Bitmain, he might not exactly be the villain we all believe. But, what might be for certain is that if there's a title for "most misunderstood," Wu would win hands down.