Coin News

• Litecoin was gunning for $300 a coin on Saturday, according to data from Markets Insider.
• The surge follows a surprising announcement by Charlie Lee, the founder of the digital currency.

Litecoin, the sixth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was gunning for $300 a coin on Saturday after weeks of declines.

The coin was trading at $283 at the time of writing, according to data from Markets Insider. That's up more than 16% against the US dollar.

The digital currency fell below $300 after its founder Charlie Lee, a former developer at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, said he would sell all of his holdings to avoid conflicts of interest. It fell from around $320 on December 20 to $210 just two days later as rumors swirled the interwebs around Lee's intentions in selling off his coins.

Some cryptocurrency watchers said the move indicated that Lee had lost faith in the digital currency, while others said he was swapping his litecoin for positions into other digital currencies.

Saturday's gains represent one of its biggest rallies since Lee said he would sell his holdings.

It also follows another surprising announcement by Lee. He took to Twitter on December 30 to say he would "need to step away" from litecoin for it to thrive.

"Seeing how people lost trust because I sold makes me more convinced that it was the right move," he said. "Litecoin was too centralized and dependent on me. Eventually, for Litecoin to succeed, I need to step away."

He said he would wait until it returns to all-time highs before stepping aside. Litecoin peaked above $380 a day before Lee said he would sell his holdings.

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin went bonkers in 2017 — here's what happened as the cryptocurrency surged more than 1000%

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• Litecoin was gunning for $300 a coin on Saturday, according to data from Markets Insider.
• The surge follows a surprising announcement by Charlie Lee, the founder of the digital currency.

Litecoin, the sixth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was gunning for $300 a coin on Saturday after weeks of declines.

The coin was trading at $283 at the time of writing, according to data from Markets Insider. That's up more than 16% against the US dollar.

The digital currency fell below $300 after its founder Charlie Lee, a former developer at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, said he would sell all of his holdings to avoid conflicts of interest. It fell from around $320 on December 20 to $210 just two days later as rumors swirled the interwebs around Lee's intentions in selling off his coins.

Some cryptocurrency watchers said the move indicated that Lee had lost faith in the digital currency, while others said he was swapping his litecoin for positions into other digital currencies.

Saturday's gains represent one of its biggest rallies since Lee said he would sell his holdings.

It also follows another surprising announcement by Lee. He took to Twitter on December 30 to say he would "need to step away" from litecoin for it to thrive.

"Seeing how people lost trust because I sold makes me more convinced that it was the right move," he said. "Litecoin was too centralized and dependent on me. Eventually, for Litecoin to succeed, I need to step away."

He said he would wait until it returns to all-time highs before stepping aside. Litecoin peaked above $380 a day before Lee said he would sell his holdings.

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin went bonkers in 2017 — here's what happened as the cryptocurrency surged more than 1000%

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Ripple's recent price rise could lead to a self-fulling cycle of appreciation for the cryptographic asset.

• The New York Stock Exchange is looking to list a number of funds linked to bitcoin futures on its NYSE Arca venue.
• The leveraged ETFs, which go long and short, would multiple the spine-tingling volatility of bitcoin.
• Some products could also expose investors to more risk.

The New York Stock Exchange is asking regulators for permission to list five new funds linked to bitcoin futures on one of its markets, according to a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The new leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, planned by ETF-maker Direxion Asset Management, are designed to track trading in bitcoin futures markets, not bitcoin itself. The leveraged ETFs, according to the filing, seek to provide investors returns that multiply returns in the underlying market.

"The 1.25X Bull Fund, 1.5X Bull Fund, and 2X Bull Fund ... seeks daily leveraged investment results (before fees and expenses) that correlate positively to either 125%, 150%, or 200% the daily return of the target benchmark," the filing said.

For instance, a 1% move up in the price of bitcoin futures would ideally translate into a 1.25% move in the price of a share of the 1.25X Bull Fund. Such products also expose investors to more risk. If an investor were to go long by buying a share of the 1.25X  Bull Fund, and bitcoin dropped, their losses would be multiplied by 1.25.

On the other hand, the inverse ETFs, or so-called "bear funds," provide a way for investors to profit on bitcoin futures going down by offering returns that "correlate to two times the inverse (-200%) of the daily return of the target benchmark."

To be clear, leveraged and inverse ETFs are an investment product designed for the very short term and typically don't achieve their investment objectives over the course of weeks or months.

If approved by the SEC, they would trade on NYSE Arca, a secondary marketplace.The exchange said the products would "enhance competition among market participants, to the benefit of investors and the marketplace."

NYSE, however, used this exact language in a separate filing dated December 15 for an unrelated product it was seeking to list on its NYSE American market.

The New York Stock Exchange has multiple filings with the SEC regarding bitcoin-linked products. As previously reported by Business Insider, the exchange asked regulators to approve two bitcoin ETFs in a December 19 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 volatility, has captured the attention of both Main Street and Wall Street.

Bitcoin is up 26% since the start of the year. In 2017, it roared by more than 1,300%.

A spokesperson for NYSE declined to comment on the matter.

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin's share of the crypto market hits an all-time low as 'alt-coins' go wild

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• JPMorgan Chase has created an internal tool to make sure its ads don't end up next to unsavory content on YouTube.
• The company's proprietary algorithm plugs into YouTube's API to select "safe" channels for it to advertise on.
• From more than 5 million channels the brand has winnowed the list down to 3,000 YouTube channels that its ads appear on.
• "The model that Google has built to monetize YouTube may work for it, but it doesn't work for us," said Aaron Smolick, executive director of paid-media analytics and optimization at JPMorgan Chase.

When some brands' ads ended up next to troubling videos on YouTube last March, JPMorgan Chase responded by pulling its ads from the platform.

Dissatisfied with YouTube's slow response, the bank decided to take matters into its own hands and create an internal tool to make sure that its ads don't end up next to unsavory content on YouTube, only going back to YouTube after testing the tool.

The company developed its own proprietary algorithm in-house, and it plugs into YouTube's application programming interface (API) to select "safe" channels for its ads to appear on at scale. The algorithm was built by its internal programmatic and media-buying teams.

"When news broke about ads finding their way next to horrific pieces of content, we paused our efforts and pulled our ads from YouTube," Jake Davidow, the executive director of media and channel strategy at JPMorgan Chase, told Business Insider. "We wanted to figure out a scalable solution and make sure we got it right."

The technology consists of 17 layers or filters, which allow the bank to separate what it deems as good or safe YouTube channels from the bad or unsafe ones. One of the filters, for example, looks at the total video count on a channel, which automatically sifts out channels with one-off viral videos. The bank also looks at channels' subscriber counts, the general topics channels focus on, language, and even the comments on different channels' videos.

"The model that Google has built to monetize YouTube may work for it, but it doesn't work for us," said Aaron Smolick, executive director of paid-media analytics and optimization at JPMorgan Chase. "The attention of protecting a brand has to fall on the actual people within the brand itself."

The move reflects an increasing skepticism among major marketers regarding digital advertising, with issues of ad fraud, transparency and brand safety coming to a head in 2017. With their ads ending up next to dicey videos or being viewed by bots instead of humans, many advertisers have begun taking charge themselves by bringing advertising in-house and slashing the number of sites and channels they advertise on.

YouTube in particular has been a conundrum for advertisers. The platform came under fire in 2017 for a spate of incidents where ads ended up next to questionable videos, and brands were not exactly happy with its tackling of the problem. But YouTube is too big for most global advertisers to turn away from, even if they don’t have full confidence in it. Users watch an average of 40 minutes a day on YouTube globally.

The bank started white-listing — or pre-approving sites that its ads run on — in March, culling the number from 400,000 down to 5,000, and about 10,000 at present.

It began working on the YouTube algorithm in August and rolled it out in October. From over 5 million channels, it says that it has winnowed the list down to 3,000 channels on YouTube that its ads appear on. The bank says the algorithm has a success rate of 99.9%. The brand also continues to conduct regular manual checks on its channels as well as develop the tool further to make sure that it is foolproof.

"The biggest lesson for us was that we realized that it wasn't a black-and-white conversation with good guys or bad guys, but a gradient," Smolick said. "It isn't necessarily about brand safety, but rather brand appropriateness. That's the next evolution of the debate, with each brand deciding what's appropriate for them and what's not."

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The post Litecoin Price Jumps Nearly 30% as Founder Lee Remains Upbeat appeared first on CCN

Litecoin price posted one of the biggest gains today, jumping from $236.76 at the start of the day to a high of $305.66 around noon Saturday (UTC), marking a 29% gain, before sliding back to $290.08 at the time of this report. With a market valuation of $15.85 billion, Litecoin is the fifth largest crypto by

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The post Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash Record Large Gains, as Altcoins Fall appeared first on CCN

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash, cryptocurrencies that are considered as reserve assets or safe investments in the highly volatile cryptocurrency market, has recorded large gains over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin and Litecoin’s Major Gains Throughout today, January 6, the value of many alternative cryptocurrencies have declined. Cryptocurrencies which had recorded massive gains in

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The post Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash Record Large Gains, as Altcoins Fall appeared first on CCN

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash, cryptocurrencies that are considered as reserve assets or safe investments in the highly volatile cryptocurrency market, has recorded large gains over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin and Litecoin’s Major Gains Throughout today, January 6, the value of many alternative cryptocurrencies have declined. Cryptocurrencies which had recorded massive gains in

The post Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash Record Large Gains, as Altcoins Fall appeared first on CCN

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The post (+) Week in Review: Altcoins, Stocks and Gold Shine as 2018 Underway appeared first on CCN

• Federal Reserve officials are increasingly concerned that low inflation may be more persistent than "transitory," and that could slow the pace of interest rate hikes.
• A flat yield curve, where long-term interest rates are unusually close to short-term rates, is a bad sign for the economy and is also a reason for Fed officials not to raise rates further.
• The Fed's forecasts still point to three interest-rate increases this year, but doubts from investors could lead to market turbulence later in the year.

Federal Reserve officials are becoming increasingly conflicted about whether to keep raising interest rates. That could spell trouble for a breathless stock market rally that many investors feel has already entered bubble territory. 

At the center of the debate is a chronically-low inflation rate that signals the US economy and the job market are still operating below their full potential, despite the unemployment rate sitting at a 17-year low of 4.1%. 

One of the Fed’s preferred inflation measures stands at just 1.5%, well short of the central bank’s 2% target, and there are fears that weak inflation expectations portend a further period of relative softness. 

Minutes from the Fed’s December meeting highlighted that tug-of-war, offering ammunition to both monetary policy hawks (who favor speedier rate hikes) and doves (who prefer to wait-and-see). 

"With core inflation readings having moved down this year and remaining well below 2%, some participants observed that there was a possibility that inflation might stay below the objective for longer than they currently expected," the minutes said.

For now, the central bank's hesitance is not a major cause for concern as investors bid the US stock market to ever loftier highs. But if the rally begins to peter out later in the year as some expect, then a gap between market expectations of Fed action and the Fed's own forecasts could increase market volatility. 

Low inflation may sound like a good thing, but when it’s pervasive and persistent it can signal weak wage growth and a lack of demand for labor. Fed officials have long assumed a falling jobless rate would lead to stronger inflation pressures, but have consistently been disappointed.

"There is still confusion and disagreement about inflation," said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies, in a research note. 

"Policymakers also set the stage for different approach to addressing the inflation objective and how to decide if this objective has been met," he added. "The hawks continue to be rate normalization gradualists. The doves are perpetual pessimists who view rate normalization as an anathema, and will grab any available straw to slow the process."

That raises considerable uncertainty around the Fed's own projections for around three interest rate increases this year. 

Bend it like the yield curve

A second key dilemma is also giving some policymakers pause about further interest rate rises: the unusually narrow gap between short-term borrowing costs and their long-term counterparts, known in market parlance as a flat yield curve. When long rates actually slip below short-term ones, the yield curve is described as "inverted," something that  usually precedes a recession. 

"This is a massive curve flattening and if the Fed continues to raise the policy rate" the curve may well invert, Daniel Alpert, founding managing partner of Westwood Capital, LLC, told Business Insider. "In the past that’s always signaled a recession."

The Fed has raised interest rates five times since December 2015 to the current range of 1.25% to 1.5%. The gap between two-year Treasury notes and those on ten-year notes is currently around just a half percentage point, suggesting investors expect neither stronger growth nor accelerating investment returns in the foreseeable future.

The minutes said "several participants thought that it would be important to continue to monitor the slope of the yield curve."

In addition, "some expressed concern that a possible future inversion of the yield curve ... could portend an economic slowdown, noting that inversions have preceded recessions over the past several decades, or that a protracted yield curve inversion could adversely affect the financial condition of banks and other financial institutions and pose risks to financial stability."

Roberto Perli, a former Fed economist who is now co-founder and partner of Cornerstone Macro, wrote in a research note that "'several' is not a majority, but is also more than the few FOMC members we heard expressing concerns about a flat curve publicly in recent months.

"Since the curve is likely to continue to flatten, it could become one more issue that could prevent the FOMC from reaching the 2.75% terminal rate it currently projects," he said.

Both St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker expressed concern about the flat curve and the prospect of an inversion in interviews late last year.

"We should just [maintain] a slow removal of accommodation to minimize the risk that [a curve inversion] would happen," Harker said. "I want to make sure we don’t exacerbate that problem."

SEE ALSO: A key recession indicator is getting closer to the danger zone — and the Fed can't ignore it

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This is a submitted sponsored story. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned in the content below. Following the partnership with Bitcoin PR Buzz, as well as the establishment of legal groundwork in France as a SCIC, ARK continues forth with the beta release of

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• The details of supposedly anonymous cryptocurrency transactions may be revealed in the future, according to an expert in the field. 
• Those taking steps to conceal their identities for dubious reasons may be identified by law enforcement as detection tools improve.
• Blockchain transactions leave traces, which could be analysed if algorithms are cracked in the future.

LONDON — The individuals behind and details of supposedly anonymous cryptocurrency transactions will likely be revealed as technology develops in the future, according to a cryptocurrency expert.

Although many users of cryptocurrencies value anonymity, particularly when using them in transactions on the dark web, advances in technology and law enforcement tools mean this secrecy is not guaranteed forever, Garrick Hileman, an economic historian at the University of Cambridge, told Business Insider.

"It's like taking a blood sample from Lance Armstrong from 2005 — at that time, there was no way to test for the particular drug he may have been using, but through preservation you can, retroactively," said Hileman.

Bitcoin has soared in value this year, rising over 1,000% against the dollar so far. This has prompted both increased interest and concern from investors and financial executives. European and UK authorities are planning to crack down on bitcoin as concerns grow that cryptocurrencies are being used to facilitate financial crimes and launder money.

Since blockchain transactions are recorded, future law enforcement officials may be able to go back and reveal the details of sales and users, even if they do not have the tools to do this today.

"We will see a lot more of this," said Hileman. "Anything that can be made can be unmade."

Already, said Hileman, bitcoin has proven to be less anonymous than many people had initially thought. As a result, some alternative cryptocurrencies, like monero, have gained ground on bitcoin on the dark web. Privacy technology is also constantly evolving, and services exist to launder cryptocurrencies to make them even less traceable.

But, says Hileman, the systems that are supposedly anonymous have "never been mathematically proven to be secure — they just haven't been cracked yet."

It's difficult to predict when these algorithms will be cracked, he said, and it won't necessarily be tomorrow. "The key is you preserve those records, and later do a Lance Armstrong."

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• Revenue at Office up 75%, profits up 280%.
• Board warns outlook "uncertain" due to "low economic growth prospect," but said Office is in "strong position."
• South African group Truworths bought Office for £154 million in 2015.

LONDON — Sales at shoe shops Office and Offspring nearly doubled last year and profits quadrupled, new accounts show.

Accounts filed with Companies House this week show that revenue at Truworth UK Holdco 1, which owns the Office and Offspring chains, jumped by 75% to £298.6 million in the year to July 2017. Profits surged from £5.3 million in 2016 to £20.3 million. The group paid £3 million in UK tax.

Part of the rise in sales and profits is down to an accounting quirk — 2016's numbers represent just a 50-week period due to a change in the group structure, while 2017 is accounted as a 53-week period. But average weekly sales still rose from £3.3 million to £5.6 million when this impact is stripped out.

Office declined to comment when contacted by Business Insider. The company's directors said in the accounts that the strong performance came despite "tough trading conditions."

Conditions are "expected to remain uncertain, with low economic growth prospects" the directors said, but: "The board remains confident that the group is in a strong position to continue to grow and invest for the future."

Office was founded in 1981 in Kensington, West London. The chain specialises in footwear, selling everything from Nike and Adidas trainers to smart leather shoes. Offspring was launched as a more youth-focused spin-off brand in 1996.

The Office group was snapped up by South African retail group Truworths in 2015. Truworths purchased 89% of the business for £154.1 million. Office's management owns the remaining 11%, which the option to cash out this year.

Office operates across the UK, Ireland, and Germany, but the bulk of its revenue last year came from the UK, accounts show. The group has 118 stores, as well as concessions in the likes of House of Fraser and Selfridges.

Staff numbers dipped from 3,129 in 2016 to 3,028 last year but wages rose. The group went from spending £24.6 million on staffing costs to paying £42.1 million.

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• Mercedes-Benz outsold BMW in the US luxury-car market for a second consecutive year in 2017.
• The company's success is due in part to its robust lineup of SUVs, which American buyers have been snapping up en masse in recent years.
• It's not all bad news for BMW, though. The automaker recaptured the No. 2 spot among the best-selling luxury brands in the US, pushing Lexus to third place.
• Audi and Jaguar Land Rover sales are also on the rise.

Mercedes-Benz held on to the No. 1 spot as the best-selling luxury automaker in the US, according to 2017 auto sales data released this week.

The brand beat out BMW, which came in second, with Lexus taking third place.

Mercedes-Benz's success is due in part to its focus on the SUV market. American buyers have largely shunned traditional four-door sedans in favor of crossovers and SUVs in recent years. Sales of light-duty trucks — which include small, midsize, large, and luxury SUVs — accounted for nearly 10.9 million of the 17.2 million vehicles sold in the US last year.

The current Mercedes-Benz lineup features seven different SUVs, ranging from the entry level GLA to the top-level G-Wagon. The G-Wagon, by the way, has been around since the 1970s. And more than 40 years on, it remains one of Mercedes-Benz's best-selling trucks despite presenting itself as basically the same big, boxy four-wheeler for more than 40 years — save for some incremental refinements along the way.

Reviving BMW's aging SUV stable

As for BMW, the brand's SUV lineup is equally robust in terms choice, but it is aging.

BMW buyers largely opted for the X4 and X5 models over the others in 2017. Sales of the smaller X1 were also up in December, according to BMW. But the automaker is looking to revive its SUV stable in the near-term. It will introduce the brand-new X2 at the Detroit auto show this month. A full-size X7 is expected down the line.

Adding more SUV choices can only be good news in a US auto market teeming with eager buyers. And BMW and Mercedes-Benz are by no means the only ones in the game. Audi is seeing success with its newly redesigned Q5 crossover and the Jaguar F-Pace, which hit the road in 2015, has earned solid gains.

Not to be outdone, Lexus and its underdog rival Infiniti also added to their four-wheel offerings recently. Lexus introduced larger versions of its popular RX line at the Los Angeles auto show in November. And Infiniti took the wraps off of its QX50, which features a breakthrough new engine.

SEE ALSO: Americans are spending a record amount of money on new cars and trucks

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