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Wanchain wants to distance itself from the idea that it is merely a Chinese-based Ripple.

• Charlie Munger, the 94-year-old vice chairman at Berkshire Hathaway, ripped into bitcoin on Wednesday. 
• "I detested it the minute it had been raised," he said. 

Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger just ripped into bitcoin. 

The 94-year-old vice chairman at Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway referred to bitcoin as a "noxious poison" Wednesday during a shareholder meeting for the Daily Journal, a publishing firm for which Munger serves as chairman and director.

"I never considered for one second having anything to do with [bitcoin]," Munger said, according to a report by Yahoo Finance's Julia La Roche. "I detested it the minute it had been raised. The more popular it got, the more I hated it."

Munger thinks the government needs to step up its game when it comes to regulating the cryptocurrency. 

"Our more relaxed approach is wrong," he said. "The right answer is to step on it hard. It's the government's job."

During a hearing on Capitol Hill earlier this month, J. Christopher Giancarlo, the chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, said the agency would take a "do no harm" approach to cryptocurrencies to spur innovation in the nascent market. 

"I believe that 'do no harm' is the right overarching approach for distributed ledger technology," Giancarlo said. "With the proper balance of sound policy, regulatory oversight and private sector innovation, new technologies will allow American markets to evolve in responsible ways and continue to grow our economy and increase prosperity."

As for Munger, the cryptocurrency reflects the idea that "everyone wants easy money" more than it does human ingenuity. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin is down 45% this year — but that's not what's worrying cryptocurrency exchanges

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NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

• A passenger on a Lufthansa flight from Germany to New Jersey in August posted a YouTube video of a child screaming, climbing on a seat, and running through the aisles.
• The video suggests the child was disruptive throughout the eight-hour flight.
• Some viewers have sympathized with the child and his mother, while others have criticized them.

Sitting next to an upset child is every airline passenger's worst fear — but a YouTube video taken by a passenger on a Lufthansa flight from Germany to New Jersey in August takes it to another level.

The Daily Mail first reported the video, which shows a child yelling, climbing on a seat, and running through the aisles. The video, titled "Demonic child screams and runs through an 8 hour flight from Germany to Newark," suggests the child was disruptive throughout the entire flight.

"That was a nightmare — eight hours of screaming," a person is heard saying at the end of the video.

Some viewers on Twitter sympathized with the child and his mother, arguing that the child may have a condition that would make air travel uncomfortable.

"I have one of these at home," one person wrote. "He drives me nuts. Nothing mom can do and I feel for her."

Others criticized them.

"With parenting like this, that kid's destined to be President one day," one person said.

Lufthansa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Here's what others on Twitter had to say about the video:

SEE ALSO: Terrifying video shows jet engine falling apart mid-flight on its way from San Francisco to Honolulu

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NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

• A United Airlines Boeing 777 and a Delta Air Lines Airbus A330 both made emergency landings due to engine problems on Tuesday.
• Both planes landed safely, but the five passengers on the Delta flight were injured during the evacuation.
• Engine malfunctions are increasingly rare these days but do still occur.
• Modern twin-engine airliners are designed to fly hours on end using a single engine.

On Tuesday, a United Airlines Boeing 777 landed in Honolulu missing the cowling or cover on the front one of its engines.

United Airlines won't confirm whether the incident rendered the engine operable, but images of the engine after landing in Hawaii along with passenger statements of severe vibrations would indicate it was likely shut down by the flight crew.

Later on Tuesday, a Delta Air Lines Airbus A330 made an emergency landing shortly after taking off from Lagos, Nigeria due to a problem with one of its engines. Five passengers suffered "non-critical" injuries while evacuating the plane from emergency slides.

According to Flightglobal, the United Boeing 777 and the Delta Airbus A330 were powered by different versions of Pratt & Whitney's PW4000 turbofan engine. 

Pratt & Whitney was not immediately available for comment on the matter.

Also, it is too early in the investigation to tell what caused the two incidents. 

Fortunately for the passengers and crew, both twin-engined airliners involved are designed to fly for substantial amounts of time on a single engine.

Should I be worried?

So, should you be worried when an airliner loses an engine?

Sometimes.

Instances of an airliner losing an engine are obviously not unheard-of. It can and does happen. Most of the time, the pilot diverts and no one is injured. Even in the most catastrophic failures, the casing around the engine is designed to contain the damage caused by the failed engine. In other words, a contained engine failure.

In rare and extreme instances, a failure can cause damage beyond the engine casing.

Last October, Air France Flight 66 suffered one of these uncontained engine failures on a flight from Paris to Los Angeles. One of the Airbus A380's four engines malfunctioned causing the fan blade and the entire front of the unit to sheer off mid-flight. Fortunately, the plane was able to land safely in Canada. 

In such cases, the big worry centers around the extent of the damage to the plane caused by flying debris from the engine. It is unclear how much damage the failure did to the aircraft beyond on the engine, but the plane was able to be flown back to Paris a few weeks later.

But there have been documented incidents where an engine failure has caused severe damage to the aircraft.

In November 2010, another Airbus A380, Qantas Flight 32, suffered a catastrophic uncontained engine failure caused by a leaking oil feed pipe. Flight 32 was able to make a safe landing even though the aircraft suffered significant structural damage and damage to several important flight management systems.

It should be noted that the Qantas A380 and the Air France A380 are powered by engines from two separate manufacturers with fundamentally different design philosophies.

The Air France aircraft reportedly involved in the incident, F-HPJE is a seven-year-old Airbus A380 powered by four Engine Alliance GP7200 turbofan engines. Engine Alliance is a Connecticut-based joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and General Electric. While the Qantas Flight 32 was powered by four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.

The take away here is that even in the most severe instances of engine failure from recent memory, the airplane and its crew have been able to bring its precious cargo of passengers to safety. 

While the loud noises and jarring vibrations may be distressing, it likely feels far worse than it actually is. 

One engine? No problem.

Long-distance and transoceanic flights have traditionally been flown by three- or four-engine wide-body airliners. This is because when it comes to the engine count on an airliner, aviation thinking dictates that there is safety in numbers.

But as modern turbofan engines have become more reliable, engine failures have become far less common. As a result, most airlines have turned to twin-engined mini-jumbos that are more fuel-efficient.

These days, the three-engine airliner has gone the way of the dinosaur, and the four-engine jumbo jets that once dominated the skies are well on their way toward extinction.

But engine failures do still happen. As terrifying as they may be for many of the passengers, though, losing an engine on an A380 means there are three more perfectly capable of safe flight. 

Even on twin-engined airliners, an engine failure is not a huge problem.

When an aircraft is flying without one of its engines, it tends to fly at a lower altitude and work the remaining engine(s) harder. This makes the plane less fuel-efficient and reduces range. However, the vast majority of twin-engine long-haul airliners can perform this maneuver with no significant reduction in capabilities.

Before a twin-engine airliner is allowed to fly long-distance routes over large bodies of water or through uninhabited regions like the Arctic, it must be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for ETOPS or Extended range Twin Operations.

When an aircraft is certified, part of the assessment is based on the plane's performance when flying on a single engine.

For example, the Boeing Dreamliner is certified for ETOPS-330. This means that the aircraft can fly routes that take it as far as 330 minutes (five and a half hours) of single-engine flying time from the nearest viable airport.

Other twin-engine airliners, like the Boeing 777, are also certified for ETOPS 330. The Boeing 767 is certified for as much as 180 minutes of ETOPS. Airbus' popular A330 and new A350 have been certified for ETOPS flying beyond 180 minutes, while the new A350 has been certified for ETOPS of up to 370 minutes. 

SEE ALSO: I flew on the most controversial Emirates flight in the world — here's what it was like

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NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

• Business Insider caught up with the JPMorgan Chase CEO in the South Bronx on Tuesday, where the bank was announcing the expansion of its Entrepreneurs of Color Fund.
• We asked him about inflation concerns, the bank's five year, $20 billion dollar investment in the US, and its healthcare initiative with Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway.
• He also talked about the role corporations have to play in their communities, saying that "as long as we're doing [...] well we always participate in the community, just like if you owned a corner bakery store, you would participate in the community."
• We also asked him why he's said he won't run for office. "I just don't think it's my nature," he said. "It's not what I've been trained to do, I've never run for office, I've never thought of things like that, so I think you have to be a sort of kind of person to be a politician."

Jamie Dimon's pleased with the economic progress the US has made in recent months. But there's still more to do. 

Business Insider caught up with the JPMorgan Chase CEO in the South Bronx on Tuesday, where the bank was announcing the expansion of its Entrepreneurs of Color Fund. He talked about the fund, JPMorgan's big bet on brick-and-mortar bank branches, and wages. The bank in January announced it was raising wages for 22,000 US employees who work in its branches and customer-service centers, as part of a $20 billion investment in its US business.

He also discussed the US economy, highlighting faster-than-expected growth and rising wages. But he said there's still a lot more to do, especially around infrastructure and education. 

"America is still the greatest country on the planet," he said. "You know I get to travel the world and see all that. That does not mean we don't have some serious issues we have to fix."

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation. 

Matt Turner: You're here to announce funding for an Entrepreneurs of Color Fund here in the South Bronx. Why are these schemes so necessary, do you think?

Jamie Dimon: So, we started this when we went to Detroit, and we were trying to help the city of Detroit. And when you look at what cities need, affordable housing, jobs, work skills — my wife is working hard on work skills under a foundation called Here to Here.

But obviously one of the things is to get small businesses up and running and vibrant. So, a lot of minority entrepreneurs don't have the back up money they need. And sometimes you get a city contract, you get a special kind of loan, to help them grow and to come and grow locally. So, hopefully this funding here will kind of start the process and help accelerate local lending.

Turner: We sat down not far from here in May in the South Bronx when you announced some funding for a skills initiative. A lot has changed since May. What has has changed for the better in that time, do you think?

Dimon: We went to the Alfred E. Smith School and I hope that people watch it. There are some great schools teaching kids great things, they have jobs when they get out earning $40,000-$60,000 a year.

So since we last met I guess in May, the global economy has been growing faster than people thought. The American economy has been growing faster than people thought. That's a good thing. And it's hopefully leading to wage increases and obviously jobs.

I think it's going to entice more people back in the workforce. So I'm a little, people worry about too much low unemployment, I think it's good if you get more people working, I think it's a good thing.

Turner: And what hasn't changed? What are the areas where there's much still more work to do?

Dimon: Well I think, that's a big question. America is still the greatest country on the planet. You know I get to travel the world and see all that. That does not mean we don't have some serious issues we have to fix. And those issues are around infrastructure, we're unable as a community anymore to actually build proper infrastructure on a timely basis.

You know there's a bridge that connects Staten Island to New Jersey, it took twelve years to get the permits, and there's already an existing bridge which could've fallen down and hurt people. So infrastructure, education, I think competitive global taxation was important to get it done. You know, proper regulation.

If you look at a lot of regulations, we get scored by the OECD, we've gone from being the least bureaucratic nation to one of the most bureaucratic nations. It stifles small business formation. That's one thing. So if you look at small business formation, it's lower than it's been in any other recovery. So I think a lot of these things hold back American growth, they've held back wages, they've held back jobs, they've held back incomes. And we have to ignite that to get things going again.

Turner: JPMorgan recently announced a five year, $20 billion dollar investment in the US. Can you just talk me through the thinking behind that? What led to that?

Dimon: So we said when tax reform is gonna happen, it is gonna increase the after-tax profits of US-based companies. It's gonna bring a lot of capital back to the United States, which is a absolutely fabulous thing regardless of how that capital gets used. But we were thinking about what can we do to accelerate growth, both because of tax reform and regulatory reform, and we actually asked all of our people. It wasn't like I did it myself.

We're gonna do more affordable housing. We're gonna do more lending, little incremental lending, in LMI [lower and middle-income] neighborhoods and mortgages. So making more mortgages to people, so make housing affordable to people. Small business initiatives. So this small business initiative is one of the ones we're doing. We're announcing today in San Francisco, we've tripled the one we're doing in Detroit. If these things work we might actually do more. So there are more work-skill initiatives.

You know we have this thing called The Fellowship Initiative, we get kind of troubled minority kids in high school who may not get through and we wanna get them through, give them a job, get them training, get them into college, and get them through college. And so now we're doing maybe 120 a year of that. So to the extent we can use some of this to help society, we wanna do it.

We also very importantly increased wages, minimum wages, in the major cities to $18 an hour. That's $36,000 a year. And remember our folks already get medical, full medical, full dental, pension, 401k. So we try to take care of our people. And we also reduced the deductible for lower-paid employees, those making less than $60,000 a year, because we did all this research and the people don't have the wherewithal to take care of a problem.

That problem could be your car needs to be fixed, but it also very often is medical. And so if you do your wellness stuff now, if you take care of yourself, if you don't smoke, we give you kind of benefits and the deductible effectively goes to zero. So we've kind of really made it easier for folks to get proper medical care.

Turner: In terms of the tax reform and regulatory reform, what was holding you back from doing that before, that investment? Is it that tax reform accelerated it and it was something you would've done eventually?

Dimon: We announced opening 400 branches and the regulators, the regulators weren't actually asking banks to expand. They wanted banks almost not to expand, and therefore, with some regulatory reform, with tax reform, it gives you a lot of reason to say, 'You know what, let's be more ambitious and aggressive when growing.'

So we announced we're gonna be opening 400 branches in cities we're not in, like Washington DC and Philadelphia and Boston. And when we go into a city, remember, we come in just like you saw here. It's not just that we have a branch, but we have small business lenders there, we usually do philanthropy there, we usually have middle-market companies, private banking, credit card, mortgages, LMI [lower and middle-income]. We put branches in LMI neighborhoods. So expansion's a good thing and we're gonna hopefully expand more in America.

Turner: You mentioned wages. You chose to do an hourly wage increase as opposed to the one-time bonuses a lot of other companies did. So what was your thinking behind that and doing it that way?

Dimon: We already had a one-time bonus. Years ago we put in place, we'd ask how many people don't put money into a 401k and therefore don't get the match. It was surprising, something like 40,000-50,000 people. And they don't do it because they couldn't afford it. It wasn't because they didn't want the match. So when we found out that many, many years ago we started making contributions in their 401k. Again folks making under $60,000 dollars a year. So we're looking at more permanent wages and things that we could afford to do. And remember that opening those 400 branches is also 5,000 jobs.

Turner: I wanted to come to the branches in a moment. Just on the inflation aspect, because you mentioned it a moment ago, the market correction that we had last week was at least somewhat triggered by fears around inflation and wage growth that was higher than expected. How much of a concern should that be going forward?

Dimon: If you'd asked me in May I would've told you that, sometime down the road, if we're going a little bit faster than we think, people are gonna be afraid of wages and inflation. And it's kind of so predictable, okay? So the important thing is the higher growth.

You know, now you're climbing the wall of worry. Okay, we have higher growth, wages may be going up, we all wanted it, but the flip side of that is that interest rates may go up and inflation may be a little higher than people think. I think the job growth and the employment growth is more important than that. Of course the markets always readjust to changing expectations, and now the expectations change. You also have central banks reversing the purchase of bonds and those are legitimate concerns but again if you have jobs and wages that's more important.

Turner: And in terms of the speed and severity of the correction last week was that a concern for you?

Dimon: No.

Turner: Do you just think that's perfectly normal?

Dimon: I know it will shock your public. I spend almost no time worrying about something like that. We serve clients, markets fluctuate. Markets will always fluctuate. Markets have always fluctuated. You know, to me, again, the important thing's the economy. You know if you add inflation and then growth is declining, yeah then you should be much more worried. But it's not about the stock market, it's about the people and their jobs.

Turner: You mentioned the branches. You're opening in 400 new locations. What was the thinking there? That seems like a contrarian bet when a lot of other people are closing branches right now. So what was the thinking there and what will those branches allow you to do going forward?

Dimon: Branches are still critical to business, okay? Remember, this may be surprising to some but the average branch, 25% of the business is small businesses, literally from the immediate community, who need access to a branch, cash, currency, checks, et cetera.

The branches are getting smaller so the nature of branch is changing. The amount of tellers is coming down so the operational nature is changing. But you have more mortgage loan officers, more small business officers, more investment officers, helping people. So yeah, branches are important to opening accounts. Those are important to serving governments. If you can't take deposits locally, generally you can't serve the government locally, by law.

They're important to middle-market customers. They like to have a branch there for their employees and stuff like that. So, they're still a critical part. These branches we're talking about are in cities where we are not. So we're kind of, you know, we're expanding our wings a little bit and going to places we are not.

Turner: And you mentioned healthcare. JP Morgan's announced an initiative with Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway. How did that come about and what are you hoping to achieve there?

Dimon: Look, America has an issue, okay? We spend 17% of our GDP in healthcare. You know we have the best of all worlds, some of the best healthcare in the world. And the worst of all worlds. We don't do very good preventive medicine. It cost too much. Warren Buffett calls it the tapeworm of Corporate America.

Going into deductibles was important to get you to shop a little bit but hasn't really worked really well. So I tell people, JP Morgan Chase already buys a billion and half dollars of medical, and we're self-insured. Think of this, we're already the insurance company, we're already making these decisions, and we simply wanna do a better job.

And in conversation with Warren, and someone who works for him called Todd Combs, who's one of my board members, who's exceptional, and Jeff Bezos, we said we know we can do more. We know we can do more just thinking through every single part of it. Both the customer-facing part so you might be able to get look at more data on your phone and stuff like that, getting you to do wellness.

I mean 20% of our medical expense is at end of life and a lot of people don't wanna go through it, they go through it in a hospital. So maybe we need a legal change of that. A lot of people over-utilize certain medicines, but they also under-utilize it. And, it's also silly they have no wellness. Like if you take care of yourself, I think smoking and obesity, I forgot the number, account for 25% of all medical expenses. Well that's us!

So you know, there are ways that when you face this maybe we can change things to make it much better for everybody. We want happier employees, better medical outcomes, and I do think at the end of the day that'll actually be cheaper.

Turner: There's a lot of talk right now about the role that corporations have to play in their communities, their responsibility to stakeholders beyond just shareholders, and to quote Larry Fink, the need for corporations to benefit society in some way. In what way are businesses stepping up? I know about JPMorgan's efforts here, but more broadly in the conversations you have with CEOs elsewhere, how are they stepping up?

Dimon:  I think honestly these big companies have been doing this my whole lifetime. So I remember I worked at American Express when I was 26 years old, and all these companies take care of their people, they educate their people, they've been philanthropic.

If you go to back to Chase and JPMorgan, you know 50 years ago they were among the first to do things like that, and to support medical benefits for employees, the first to support medical benefits for gay partners, those are wonderful things. So of course you want to be a good community citizen.

And so I think all the companies do it, I don't know any big company who isn't pretty extensively involved in communities. They all do it their own way. We're experts in financing and affordable housing and things like that, but other companies are experts in technologies or drugs where they can bring different things to the population. I'm the Chairman of the Business Roundtable, and there's a booklet we put out about all the things companies do on work skills initiatives, technology initiatives, and it's pretty extensive.

Turner: Is there a perception gap there then? Just earlier Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz said he wishes that what JPMorgan here was doing was contagious.

Dimon: Yeah. I think he means here. I think he means right here in the South Bronx, and sometimes, you know one company can accelerate something in one place and yes, yes we should do that.

So I've never been conflicted between shareholder value, being a good community citizen, and I tell people if I don't run a good, healthy, vibrant company, all other bets are off. I mean that is the number one thing. And that is the number one thing we do even here. Small business, consumers, loans, we finance companies and I have to do that well.

But as long as we're doing that well we always participate in the community, just like if you owned a corner bakery store, you would participate in the community. You know, you might help your local synagogue, your local church, your local mosque, you might help the local Little League team, you might employ a couple kids over the summer to help restock the store or repaint it, that's, we all do that. That's called humanity.

It shocks me that people think that's a surprise that we should do that. Of course there's some businesses out there who're rapacious and you know it's all about how much money you're gonna make but that's, people are that way. There are some people, that's the way they are. It's all about the money. But most big companies aren't quite that way.

Turner: And you've mentioned the need for infrastructure investment. You mentioned it again earlier. The administration has come out with its plan, how confident are you that something gets done now?

Dimon: You know first of all, let's talk about how bad it's gotten. If you analyze American infrastructure we've gone from, I'm talking about 20 years ago, from among the best to among the worst of developed nations. And it's around regulations, bureaucracy, approval processes, financing processes.

My God, how did we like get like that? America, the can-do, wonderful nation of America? So we've got to fix it. It is a wide variety of things. So it's not just a budget, it's the permitting that needs to get done, its the regulations around it, it's all these various things. So it's a big deal.

Studies have come out that literally say we need, I forgot the number, $3 trillion? But if we don't do the $3 trillion it'll cost us more. Okay, it's costing us more. And then if you believe in, you know, carbon pollution, the FAA, we don't have the system most other countries have where your flights will be 20 minutes less, and CO2 pollution would be 20% less. We can't seem to have the political will to do that. I mean, shame on us.

Turner: You've said repeatedly you don't want to run for office. Why do you think the question keeps on coming up, and why are you so insistent that the answer is no, that you don't plan to?

Dimon: I see the question come up with hundreds of people. I have lots of friends where it's come up for them too, and look, I just don't think it's my nature. It's not what I've been trained to do, I've never run for office, I've never thought of things like that, so I think you have to be a sort of kind of person to be a politician.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

• A recent software update to Fiat Chrysler's UConnect infotainment system has caused the system to reboot every 45-60 seconds in some vehicles.
• UConnect's customer support Twitter account said the problem was related to SiriusXM Travel Link services and added that they would be temporarily shut down in the next 48 hours.
• Customers expressed their outrage on Twitter and other online forums.

Fiat Chrysler updated its UConnect infotainment system this weekend, and it's causing the system to reboot in some cars every 45-60 seconds, Jalopnik first reported. That means some Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, and Ram owners can't listen to music, map directions, or use their rear-view cameras without constant interruptions.

On Tuesday, UConnect's customer support Twitter account said the problem was related to SiriusXM Travel Link services — which provide information like gas prices and weather — and added that they would be temporarily shut down in the next 48 hours to stop the constant reboots.

Since the problem arose, some customers have taken to Twitter and online forums to vent. 

"This is beyond unacceptable by Chrysler IMO," a user wrote on a Chrysler Pacifica forum. "They have known of the issue for days and have provided no resolution or fix. The car is more or less undriveable with any level of comfort or confidence."

"This has been extremely frustrating and annoying," a Twitter user wrote. "Completely unacceptable for how much we pay for the vehicles and services."

UConnect powers the touchscreen system in Fiat Chrysler vehicles which allows users to control music, navigation, Bluetooth functions, and seat or cabin temperature, among other functions. The system also powers the car's SOS feature, which a driver can use to notify emergency services in the case of an accident.  At least one user claimed that this feature was not useable because of the glitch. 

Fiat Chrysler did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Here's what people have been saying on Twitter:

SEE ALSO: We've reviewed more than 40 sedans during the last 2 years — these are the ones that impressed us the most

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

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.

Business Insider sat down with Jamie Dimon for a wide-ranging interview. The contrarian CEO of JPMorgan said he isn't losing sleep over the stock market's biggest fear: faster wage growth stoking inflation.

He told us that while higher-than-expected wage growth and central-bank tightening were legitimate concerns, job growth was more important.

"If you had inflation and growth declining, then you should be much more worried," he said. "But it's not about the stock market. It's about the people and their jobs."

Check out the full interview.

Meanwhile, that fear of inflation reared its ugly head again Wednesday. Just when it looked like the US stock market was picking itself up off the mat after suffering a sharp correction, it got the worst possible news: inflation rose more than expected in January. Major indexes wasted no time in reversing pre-market gains as futures contracts dropped more than 1% following the data release.

Here's what's going on in the markets:

• The 10-year nears its highest level since January 2014 after CPI tops estimates
• Morgan Stanley's US equity chief explains why the recent meltdown signaled the 'final stage' of the bull market
• Wall Street needs to brace for an even bigger inflation scare
• An investment chief at JPMorgan's $2 trillion funds arm says 'the US is losing its fiscal discipline' — and that's a huge risk for markets
• ALBERT EDWARDS: There's a hidden risk that could accelerate the collapse of the market's long-running 'financial Ponzi scheme'
• Bitcoin rallies as South Korea quells fears of a cryptocurrency ban
• Ripple CEO: Most cryptocurrencies will go to $0
• Netflix jumps after announcing a deal with famed 'Glee' producer Ryan Murphy

A new lawsuit casts doubt on what billionaire Steve Cohen's deputies have been saying for years. A female employee at Point72 Asset Management, Cohen's investment firm, on Monday filed a lawsuit claiming widespread discrimination against women.

The world is minting millionaires quicker than Goldman Sachs can keep up with them — and the bank is making a fortune off of them. The investment bank says it was 'freaked out' by a rumor that Trump would personally kill the Amazon/Whole Foods deal because of Jeff Bezos.

The tech sector has $2 trillion in firepower to do deals — and now's the time to strike. Barclays says Oracle just needs one "last missing piece" in its cloud business — but it's a big one. Here's how a startup with no VC funding landed $140 million in Chinese deals and partnered with Tencent.

There's something about Trump's infrastructure plan that's eerily reminiscent of his real estate deals, according to Pedro da Costa.

The search for new Alzheimer's treatments just faced another setback — here's where researchers are looking now.

Snapchat may be winning back digital influencers with help from recent screw ups by YouTube and Instagram. Tim Cook explains why you're never going to visit the inside of Apple's new $5 billion headquarters.

Lastly, these 50 romantic photos show why everyone misses Barack and Michelle Obama.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Amazon is shaking up a healthcare industry that's ripe for disruption

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.

Business Insider sat down with Jamie Dimon for a wide-ranging interview. The contrarian CEO of JPMorgan said he isn't losing sleep over the stock market's biggest fear: faster wage growth stoking inflation.

He told us that while higher-than-expected wage growth and central-bank tightening were legitimate concerns, job growth was more important.

"If you had inflation and growth declining, then you should be much more worried," he said. "But it's not about the stock market. It's about the people and their jobs."

Check out the full interview.

Meanwhile, that fear of inflation reared its ugly head again Wednesday. Just when it looked like the US stock market was picking itself up off the mat after suffering a sharp correction, it got the worst possible news: inflation rose more than expected in January. Major indexes wasted no time in reversing pre-market gains as futures contracts dropped more than 1% following the data release.

Here's what's going on in the markets:

• The 10-year nears its highest level since January 2014 after CPI tops estimates
• Morgan Stanley's US equity chief explains why the recent meltdown signaled the 'final stage' of the bull market
• Wall Street needs to brace for an even bigger inflation scare
• An investment chief at JPMorgan's $2 trillion funds arm says 'the US is losing its fiscal discipline' — and that's a huge risk for markets
• ALBERT EDWARDS: There's a hidden risk that could accelerate the collapse of the market's long-running 'financial Ponzi scheme'
• Bitcoin rallies as South Korea quells fears of a cryptocurrency ban
• Ripple CEO: Most cryptocurrencies will go to $0
• Netflix jumps after announcing a deal with famed 'Glee' producer Ryan Murphy

A new lawsuit casts doubt on what billionaire Steve Cohen's deputies have been saying for years. A female employee at Point72 Asset Management, Cohen's investment firm, on Monday filed a lawsuit claiming widespread discrimination against women.

The world is minting millionaires quicker than Goldman Sachs can keep up with them — and the bank is making a fortune off of them. The investment bank says it was 'freaked out' by a rumor that Trump would personally kill the Amazon/Whole Foods deal because of Jeff Bezos.

The tech sector has $2 trillion in firepower to do deals — and now's the time to strike. Barclays says Oracle just needs one "last missing piece" in its cloud business — but it's a big one. Here's how a startup with no VC funding landed $140 million in Chinese deals and partnered with Tencent.

There's something about Trump's infrastructure plan that's eerily reminiscent of his real estate deals, according to Pedro da Costa.

The search for new Alzheimer's treatments just faced another setback — here's where researchers are looking now.

Snapchat may be winning back digital influencers with help from recent screw ups by YouTube and Instagram. Tim Cook explains why you're never going to visit the inside of Apple's new $5 billion headquarters.

Lastly, these 50 romantic photos show why everyone misses Barack and Michelle Obama.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Amazon is shaking up a healthcare industry that's ripe for disruption

Moody's Investors Service said today that it doesn't believe the launch of bitcoin futures will hurt the creditworthiness of either CME or Cboe.

• Dealmaking is off to a hot start in 2018, and it could continue thanks to the huge amount of cash available to public companies for transactions.
• Firepower for mergers and acquisitions has surged to more than $5 trillion in the past year, according to research by Citigroup. That's up from $3.3 trillion at the beginning of 2017. The large increase is partly attributable to the new tax law. 
• Citigroup says now's a great time to do deals. If companies sit on cash for too long, they could expose themselves to pressure from activists. And deals struck in volatile periods tend to outperform. 

Aside from the roughly 10-day span when markets see-sawed violently and volatility ran amok, mergers and acquisitions have been off to a hot start in 2018. 

Global mergers-and-acquisitions volume hit $449 billion through mid-February, up 21% from 2017, according to a client report by Citi’s Financial Strategy and Solutions Group. Nearly half of that is from megadeals larger than $5 billion — such as the $18.7 billion Keurig-Dr. Pepper deal or Blackstone Group's $17 billion buyout of Thomson Reuters' financial data business.

Deals have been welcomed enthusiastically as well, giving the acquiring company a 3.6% one-day stock boost on average. 

And thanks to an enormous cache of M&A firepower exceeding $5 trillion, dealmaking could continue to surge despite the recent bout of market turmoil, according to Citi.

Citi explains that M&A volume historically tracks with M&A firepower, and the bank estimates that firepower, which it defines as "the sum of a company’s readily available cash and debt capacity within its credit rating" stands at $5 trillion to $5.5 trillion for the S&P 500, excluding financials and utilities companies. That's up from $3.3 trillion at the beginning of 2017. 

The boatload of new cash is primarily attributable to the new tax law, and Citi says companies across all sectors will be impacted.

"Not all of this increase is due to multinational companies gaining unrestricted access to their foreign cash holdings," Citi said in the report. "Domestically focused companies will also see an increase in their debt capacity due to larger after-tax cash flows available to delever following an acquisition."

The technology sector has seen the largest increase, doubling from $1 trillion to $2 trillion in available dealmaking cash. Analysts across Wall Street have recently been making cases for various tech deals, with Barclays suggesting Apple should buy Dropbox, and Citigroup saying there's a 40% chance Apple will buy Netflix. Morgan Stanley meanwhile has identified tech companies FireEye and Conduent as potential takeover targets.

The cash, of course, is not evenly distributed among companies. In tech, the Apples and Googles of the world have a disproportionate amount of firepower available to them. 

So should we expect a rash of acquisitions from the FAANG stocks? On the one hand, excess firepower means increased competition for assets and potentially high-priced bidding wars — especially in consolidating sectors like healthcare. There's also the return of market volatility, which tends to dampen dealmaking. 

On the other hand, conditions are still ripe in general for M&A, and the ever-growing presence of activists could force these companies' hands. While it may be temping to "simply accumulate cash," Citi says companies with large cash balances become prime targets for the likes of Nelson Peltz and Paul Singer.

Additionally, Citi notes that volatility actually doesn't mute returns over the long haul. In fact, the opposite is true, according to Citi's analysis: "The median deal announced in high-volatility periods delivered 9.4% two-year excess returns, compared to only 5.7% for deals announced in less volatile periods."

The take-home message to companies: What are you waiting for?

SEE ALSO: The world is minting millionaires quicker than Goldman Sachs can keep up with them — and it's making a fortune off of them

DON'T MISS: Inside JPMorgan's big contrarian bet on brick-and-mortar bank branches

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

It turns out that high-end graphics cards are fantastic for mining non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies, which has led to a global shortage of GPUs. Gamers are livid at the lack of supply, especially as prices skyrocket on secondary markets. But they're not...

The post Ripple Partners Saudi Arabia’s Central Bank to Plug Banks on a Blockchain appeared first on CCN

Fintech giant Ripple has inked a new partnership with the Saudi Arabia’s defacto central bank to pilot instant cross-border payments on a blockchain among domestic banks in the region. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the central bank for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), has entered an agreement with Ripple to launch a sweeping

The post Ripple Partners Saudi Arabia’s Central Bank to Plug Banks on a Blockchain appeared first on CCN

• Delta Air Lines announced that its 80,000 employees will receive $1.1 billion in profit sharing.
• Over the past 5 years, Delta employees have earned more than $5 billion in profit sharing.
• In January, Delta reported $3.6 billion in total profits for 2017

For the fourth year in a row, Delta Air Lines employees have earned more than $1 billion in profit sharing. The Atlanta-based airline announced on Wednesday that its 80,000 employees will receive $1.1 billion for their exemplary work in 2017.

"This is the fourth year in a row that Delta’s profit sharing has topped $1 billion — a milestone no company in history has ever achieved," the airline's CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement. "Delta people are the reason for our success and Valentine’s Day is our favorite day each year as we celebrate the incredible results our people have delivered."

Delta employees received $1.1 billion in 2015, $1.5 billion 2016, and another $1.1 billion in 2017.

The airline has paid out more than $5 billion in profit sharing over the past half decade.

In January, Delta reported $3.6 billion in profits for 2017, down 18% from the $4.4 billion the airline made in 2016.

According to Delta, total annual compensation at the airline has increased by 80% since 2008. This includes a 6% raise in base pay in 2017 and an 18.5% raise in 2015.

Delta isn't the only airline sharing the wealth with its employees. United Airlines employees earned $349 million in profit sharing for 2017. American Airlines staff earned $241 million. Southwest employees earned $543 million. While Alaska Airlines staff — including Virgin America and Horizon Air — will get a $118 million annual performance bonus.

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

FOLLOW US: on Facebook for more car and transportation content!

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

Ripple has struck a deal with Saudi Arabia's central bank on a pilot program that will see banks in the country trial the company's tech.

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SEE ALSO: South Korea’s defense ministry is taking steps to keep soldiers from getting caught up in the cryptocurrency frenzy

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NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

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SEE ALSO: South Korea’s defense ministry is taking steps to keep soldiers from getting caught up in the cryptocurrency frenzy

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NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

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SEE ALSO: South Korea’s defense ministry is taking steps to keep soldiers from getting caught up in the cryptocurrency frenzy

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NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

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.

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SEE ALSO: South Korea’s defense ministry is taking steps to keep soldiers from getting caught up in the cryptocurrency frenzy

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NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

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.

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SEE ALSO: South Korea’s defense ministry is taking steps to keep soldiers from getting caught up in the cryptocurrency frenzy

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NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

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.

What else is happening:

SEE ALSO: South Korea’s defense ministry is taking steps to keep soldiers from getting caught up in the cryptocurrency frenzy

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NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

Harshita Arora is an aspiring entrepreneur and technologist--and learning firsthand about sexism in tech.

While in Davos, Business Insider's Sara Silverstein interviewed Adam Ludwin, co-founder and CEO of Chain, for a special edition of Crypto Insider. The following is a transcript of the interview.

Silverstein: And this is the biggest question that I have coming out of the these conversations at Davos — everybody is telling me that blockchain can solve all these different problems. I understand why blockchain makes sense for not being able to sell the same asset twice. That makes sense to me. What else — why is blockchain used as a solution for so many things, and why is that any better than a centralized database?

Ludwin: So I think the primary reason around the hype for blockchain is it's just a part of the hype cycle we're in. It's, sort of, captured the zeitgeist of digital transformation and a lot of folks are looking at it as a panacea for a lot of different things. When it's not. It's a tool like many other tools in your modern software suite. And it should be applied where relevant. And in the case of financial institution a relevant place to apply it would be where it's important for a particular product or service to have either more trust from third parties or to engage third parties in building a network without a traditional intermediary. That's really where it's most relevant. So I'm also equally, sort of, surprised maybe dismayed by the type of — let's call them — airport advertisements that I see proclaiming blockchain to be the cure-all for every corporate ail. it's not.

Silverstein: And when you sell — when you're talking about of a software for an institution, because when we look at bitcoin and all these currencies, every person that's involved in the network has a copy of the database right? So they can all verify that. But when you're talking about selling it to an institution, who are you getting that integrity from where is that security coming from?

Ludwin: Right, so let's start with bitcoin. So as you rightly pointed out in the case of bitcoin, the model is peer-to-peer network — no predetermined intermediary. There are, in fact, intermediaries in bitcoin known as miners, but they're not predetermined. They have to compete and you never know which one's going to actually process those transactions. And that all serves a purpose, which is to create an alternative payment rail that's censorship resistant, meaning no one can stop anyone from transacting on that network. And whether that is useful really depends on your context.  For some people in some places, having the ability to transact with someone else without censorship is important — whether those are you know people that are facing strict capital controls, or in a country of hyperinflation. Because in a particular place if you donate to a non-profit, you go to jail for political reasons. There's a lot of legitimate — I would call them — civil society reasons why bitcoin is a powerful mechanism. Very different context if your talking about an organization like Visa or Nasdaq, where we don't need miners, because we already know in advance who's going to process those transactions; who's going to order and ensure that no double spending is happening.

At the same time, the value that they see and gain from the technology is being able to cryptographically prove to third parties that they're not manipulating data; no one in their company has manipulated any data — intentionally or accidentally; no hackers have changed any state. So it's simply about increasing the robustness of that institution. It's a security and transparency innovation when we use it there. So very different uses — both in my mind legitimate, but both serving different goals depending on how it's deployed.

Join the conversation about this story »

The post Western Union Taps Ripple for Blockchain Trial appeared first on CCN

Western Union, the world’s largest money transfer service, has revealed that it is conducting a blockchain-based payments trial with Ripple. Western Union CFO Raj Agrawal confirmed the long-rumored partnership during an interview with Bloomberg, stating that the company was testing the efficiency of blockchain transactions. Agrawal told the publication that its blockchain efforts are still

The post Western Union Taps Ripple for Blockchain Trial appeared first on CCN

• South Korea stunned cryptocurrency markets in January by considering a ban on exchanges.
• An official has quelled those fears, saying the government will work to make crypto more transparent, according to Bloomberg.
• Bitcoin is up more than 8% Wednesday morning. You can track its price in real-time here.

Bitcoin is up more than 8% Wednesday morning, mirroring the broader cryptocurrency market, after the South Korean government appeared to backpedal on its reported plans to ban crypto mining and exchanges in the country.

In a video posted to the presidential website Wednesday, South Korea’s minister of Governmental Policy Coordination, Hong Nam-ki, said the government would look at making cryptocurrency trading more transparent, instead of banning it outright, as previously feared, Bloomberg reported.

In January, news reports of a potential ban fueled selloffs that wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars of value from cryptocurrency markets around the world. Since then, more than 200,000 South Korean citizens signed an official government petition denouncing the proposed ban.

Bitcoin today remains the largest digital currency by market cap, and is now trading at $9,160 at the time of writing. That’s up more than 50% from its trough just below $6,000 on February 6. Bitcoin currently accounts for 35% of the total cryptocurrency market value, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

The total market value for cryptocurrencies is up 7% in the last 24 hours.

SEE ALSO: Sign up to get the most important updates on all things crypto delivered straight to your inbox.

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NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

 Millions of idiots trying to mine  so they can be part of the latest, stupidest and most irresponsibly hyped get-rich-quick tech craze are hindering the actual important work of finding out if aliens exist. This revelation, first reported by the BBC, has ruined my Wednesday. I generally stay quiet on the cryptocurrency and Bitcoin front, not because I hold any strong position in either (I… Read More

Litecoin is outshining gains seen in other large-cap cryptocurrencies Wednesday, though the fundamentals of the move may be in question.

The post Bitcoin Price Spikes to $9,300 as Bulls Notch Another Victory appeared first on CCN

The Bitcoin price punched through $9,000 on Wednesday, enabling bulls to notch another victory as the market sorts out the flagship cryptocurrency’s short-term future. Bitcoin Price Spikes to $9,300 Over the course of the past week, the Bitcoin price had established a base at $8,000, seemingly bringing an end to a market free-fall that had … Continued

The post Bitcoin Price Spikes to $9,300 as Bulls Notch Another Victory appeared first on CCN

• Litecoin is up 27% Wednesday morning, as all cryptocurrencies appeared to get a boost from South Korea's backpedaling on plans to ban exchanges.
• Litecoin cash is expected to fork from the original coin on Sunday evening. 
• You can track the price of litecoin in real-time here>>

Litecoin is up more than 27% Wednesday morning, more than any other major cryptocurrency, as its first 'hard fork' date approaches.

When litecoin hits block 1371111 — expected to happen at around 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 18 — litecoin cash will split from the litecoin blockchain, and give every litecoin holder 10 new coins for every one litecoin they own, the litecoin cash foundation announced Tuesday. 

The new currency is not connected to the original litecoin in anyway. Its creator, Charlie Lee, has warned that any fork could likely be a scam, merely using the litecoin name as marketing.

"Any forks that you hear about is [sic] a scam trying to confuse you to think it’s related to litecoin," he tweeted. "Don’t  fall of it and definitely don’t enter your private keys or seed into their website or client."

Still, the team behind litecoin cash maintain that the new coin will make several improvements over the original litecoin — and that it is far from a scam.

Specifically, the team claim that litecoin cash’s new algorithm, called DarkGravity, allows the mining difficulty to be adjusted on every cryptographic block. Litecoin’s mining difficulty can only be adjusted every 2016 blocks. This allows the network to be more flexible to demand for mining power.

"While this [naming] convention isn't ideal, it will be instantly understood by most hearing the name that Litecoin Cash is a hard fork of Litecoin,” Litecoin Cash foundation's design lead, Michael Wyszynski told Business Insider. “We have no doubt that there will be Litecoin forks in the future that will be scams, as well as things presenting themselves as hard forks that are nothing of the sort."

Litecoin is currently on block 1368604, according to BlockCypher, meaning there are 2507 blocks until the fork, at the time of writing. Blocks are currently taking anywhere from one minute to six minutes to process.

Most cryptocurrencies are in the green Wednesday morning, likely given a boost by South Korea’s slight backpedalling on plans to outlaw cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.

News reports the South Korean government would move to ban cryptocurrency mining and exchanges outright sent waves of fear and selloffs throughout the global cryptocurrency market in January, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars of value.

Still, the rate of new cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) hasn't slowed in 2018, despite rampant volatility and price swings of 10% in either direction for most coins. 

"If 2017 was the year of Bitcoin, 2018 will be the year of altcoins," Yoni Assia, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange eToro said in an email. "As investors seek new opportunities and diversification within their portfolios, attention will shift away from the mainstream cryptos towards new challengers in the market."

SEE ALSO: JPMORGAN: Bitcoin miners are in a 'hash rate arms race'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

• Litecoin is up 27% Wednesday morning, as all cryptocurrencies appeared to get a boost from South Korea's backpedaling on plans to ban exchanges.
• Litecoin cash is expected to fork from the original coin on Sunday evening. 
• You can track the price of litecoin in real-time here>>

Litecoin is up more than 27% Wednesday morning, more than any other major cryptocurrency, as its first 'hard fork' date approaches.

When litecoin hits block 1371111 — expected to happen at around 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 18 — litecoin cash will split from the litecoin blockchain, and give every litecoin holder 10 new coins for every one litecoin they own, the litecoin cash foundation announced Tuesday. 

The new currency is not connected to the original litecoin in anyway. Its creator, Charlie Lee, has warned that any fork could likely be a scam, merely using the litecoin name as marketing.

"Any forks that you hear about is [sic] a scam trying to confuse you to think it’s related to litecoin," he tweeted. "Don’t  fall of it and definitely don’t enter your private keys or seed into their website or client."

Still, the team behind litecoin cash maintain that the new coin will make several improvements over the original litecoin — and that it is far from a scam.

Specifically, the team claim that litecoin cash’s new algorithm, called DarkGravity, allows the mining difficulty to be adjusted on every cryptographic block. Litecoin’s mining difficulty can only be adjusted every 2016 blocks. This allows the network to be more flexible to demand for mining power.

"While this [naming] convention isn't ideal, it will be instantly understood by most hearing the name that Litecoin Cash is a hard fork of Litecoin,” Litecoin Cash foundation's design lead, Michael Wyszynski told Business Insider. “We have no doubt that there will be Litecoin forks in the future that will be scams, as well as things presenting themselves as hard forks that are nothing of the sort."

Litecoin is currently on block 1368604, according to BlockCypher, meaning there are 2507 blocks until the fork, at the time of writing. Blocks are currently taking anywhere from one minute to six minutes to process.

Most cryptocurrencies are in the green Wednesday morning, likely given a boost by South Korea’s slight backpedalling on plans to outlaw cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.

News reports the South Korean government would move to ban cryptocurrency mining and exchanges outright sent waves of fear and selloffs throughout the global cryptocurrency market in January, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars of value.

Still, the rate of new cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) hasn't slowed in 2018, despite rampant volatility and price swings of 10% in either direction for most coins. 

"If 2017 was the year of Bitcoin, 2018 will be the year of altcoins," Yoni Assia, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange eToro said in an email. "As investors seek new opportunities and diversification within their portfolios, attention will shift away from the mainstream cryptos towards new challengers in the market."

SEE ALSO: JPMORGAN: Bitcoin miners are in a 'hash rate arms race'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

• Litecoin is up 27% Wednesday morning, as all cryptocurrencies appeared to get a boost from South Korea's backpedaling on plans to ban exchanges.
• Litecoin cash is expected to fork from the original coin on Sunday evening. 
• You can track the price of litecoin in real-time here>>

Litecoin is up more than 27% Wednesday morning, more than any other major cryptocurrency, as its first 'hard fork' date approaches.

When litecoin hits block 1371111 — expected to happen at around 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 18 — litecoin cash will split from the litecoin blockchain, and give every litecoin holder 10 new coins for every one litecoin they own, the litecoin cash foundation announced Tuesday. 

The new currency is not connected to the original litecoin in anyway. Its creator, Charlie Lee, has warned that any fork could likely be a scam, merely using the litecoin name as marketing.

"Any forks that you hear about is [sic] a scam trying to confuse you to think it’s related to litecoin," he tweeted. "Don’t  fall of it and definitely don’t enter your private keys or seed into their website or client."

Still, the team behind litecoin cash maintain that the new coin will make several improvements over the original litecoin — and that it is far from a scam.

Specifically, the team claim that litecoin cash’s new algorithm, called DarkGravity, allows the mining difficulty to be adjusted on every cryptographic block. Litecoin’s mining difficulty can only be adjusted every 2016 blocks. This allows the network to be more flexible to demand for mining power.

"While this [naming] convention isn't ideal, it will be instantly understood by most hearing the name that Litecoin Cash is a hard fork of Litecoin,” Litecoin Cash foundation's design lead, Michael Wyszynski told Business Insider. “We have no doubt that there will be Litecoin forks in the future that will be scams, as well as things presenting themselves as hard forks that are nothing of the sort."

Litecoin is currently on block 1368604, according to BlockCypher, meaning there are 2507 blocks until the fork, at the time of writing. Blocks are currently taking anywhere from one minute to six minutes to process.

Most cryptocurrencies are in the green Wednesday morning, likely given a boost by South Korea’s appearance of backpedalling on plans to outlaw cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.

News reports the South Korean government would move to ban cryptocurrency mining and exchanges outright sent waves of fear and selloffs throughout the global cryptocurrency market in January, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars of value.

Still, the rate of new cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) hasn't slowed in 2018, despite rampant volatility and price swings of 10% in either direction for most coins. 

"If 2017 was the year of Bitcoin, 2018 will be the year of altcoins," Yoni Assia, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange eToro said in an email. "As investors seek new opportunities and diversification within their portfolios, attention will shift away from the mainstream cryptos towards new challengers in the market."

SEE ALSO: JPMORGAN: Bitcoin miners are in a 'hash rate arms race'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

• Litecoin is up 27% Wednesday morning, as all cryptocurrencies appeared to get a boost from South Korea's backpedaling on plans to ban exchanges.
• Litecoin cash is expected to fork from the original coin on Sunday evening. 
• You can track the price of litecoin in real-time here>>

Litecoin is up more than 27% Wednesday morning, more than any other major cryptocurrency, as its first 'hard fork' date approaches.

When litecoin hits block 1371111 — expected to happen at around 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 18 — litecoin cash will split from the litecoin blockchain, and give every litecoin holder 10 new coins for every one litecoin they own, the litecoin cash foundation announced Tuesday. 

The new currency is not connected to the original litecoin in anyway. Its creator, Charlie Lee, has warned that any fork could likely be a scam, merely using the litecoin name as marketing.

"Any forks that you hear about is [sic] a scam trying to confuse you to think it’s related to litecoin," he tweeted. "Don’t  fall of it and definitely don’t enter your private keys or seed into their website or client."

Still, the team behind litecoin cash maintain that the new coin will make several improvements over the original litecoin — and that it is far from a scam.

Specifically, the team claim that litecoin cash’s new algorithm, called DarkGravity, allows the mining difficulty to be adjusted on every cryptographic block. Litecoin’s mining difficulty can only be adjusted every 2016 blocks. This allows the network to be more flexible to demand for mining power.

"While this [naming] convention isn't ideal, it will be instantly understood by most hearing the name that Litecoin Cash is a hard fork of Litecoin,” Litecoin Cash foundation's design lead, Michael Wyszynski told Business Insider. “We have no doubt that there will be Litecoin forks in the future that will be scams, as well as things presenting themselves as hard forks that are nothing of the sort."

Litecoin is currently on block 1368604, according to BlockCypher, meaning there are 2507 blocks until the fork, at the time of writing. Blocks are currently taking anywhere from one minute to six minutes to process.

Most cryptocurrencies are in the green Wednesday morning, likely given a boost by South Korea’s appearance of backpedalling on plans to outlaw cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.

News reports the South Korean government would move to ban cryptocurrency mining and exchanges outright sent waves of fear and selloffs throughout the global cryptocurrency market in January, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars of value.

Still, the rate of new cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) hasn't slowed in 2018, despite rampant volatility and price swings of 10% in either direction for most coins. 

"If 2017 was the year of Bitcoin, 2018 will be the year of altcoins," Yoni Assia, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange eToro said in an email. "As investors seek new opportunities and diversification within their portfolios, attention will shift away from the mainstream cryptos towards new challengers in the market."

SEE ALSO: JPMORGAN: Bitcoin miners are in a 'hash rate arms race'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Microsoft President Brad Smith says the US shouldn't get 'too isolationist'

The post $200: Litecoin Price Spikes 25% Ahead of LitePay Launch appeared first on CCN

The Litecoin price leaped by nearly 30 percent on Tuesday in response to the announcement that payment processing startup LitePay would officially launch in less than two weeks. The rally enabled LTC/USD to crack the $200 barrier, and it raised LTC/BTC to its highest value in nearly three years. Litecoin Price Leaps to $200 Litecoin

The post $200: Litecoin Price Spikes 25% Ahead of LitePay Launch appeared first on CCN

The post $200: Litecoin Price Spikes 25% Ahead of LitePay Launch appeared first on CCN

The Litecoin price leaped by nearly 30 percent on Tuesday in response to the announcement that payment processing startup LitePay would officially launch in less than two weeks. The rally enabled LTC/USD to crack the $200 barrier, and it raised LTC/BTC to its highest value in nearly three years. Litecoin Price Leaps to $200 Litecoin

The post $200: Litecoin Price Spikes 25% Ahead of LitePay Launch appeared first on CCN

• The Federal Reserve is reducing its holdings of Treasury bonds at a time when the US government is about to ramp up issuance amid surging budget deficits. 
• Bob Michele of JP Morgan Asset Management, says he's closely watching the trend, but believes there will be enough overseas demand to prevent a crippling spike in US borrowing costs. 
• "There’s no doubt that what we’re seeing coming out of the budget, the US is losing its fiscal discipline, and you’ll see increased supply coming out of the Treasury at a time when the Fed is reducing its holdings," he said.

The Treasury is about to ramp up its issuance of new bonds as budget deficits spike, at a time when the Fed is reducing its own holdings. That's putting enough upward pressure on US interest rates to shake the stock market out of a prolonged bullish stupor. And that has the attention of big-time money managers.

Bob Michele, JPMorgan Asset Management’s chief investment officer for fixed income, currencies and commodities who oversees $470 billion in assets, told Business Insider he is paying close attention to the dynamic of a market that will see a ramp-up in supply in the wake of tax cuts and other measures while the US central bank, long a buyer of last resort, begins to reduce its presence. 

"I worry about that," he said. "There’s no doubt that what we’re seeing coming out of the budget, the US is losing its fiscal discipline, and you’ll see increased supply coming out of the Treasury at a time when the Fed is reducing its holdings."

Still, Michele thinks the influx of foreign capital from ongoing monetary stimulus at the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan will be sufficient to prevent 10-year yields from rising much above a range of 3% to 3.25%. 

"We just see from our position the flow of money coming in from Asia and Europe into the US market," he said.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Pedro da Costa: What’s your take on the market action since the volatility started?

Bob Michele: With the complacency that has been created across markets, it wasn’t surprising that when there was a correction it was going to be pretty violent and choppy one. That’s what we’re in the midst of.

Fundamentally our view hasn’t changed. We think the global economy is in pretty good shape. We think that inflation is picking up a bit, and the central banks are going to be gentle in how they normalize because they don’t want to risk recession.

All of this tells us that we want to take advantage of the correction, maybe let it run its course a bit longer but look at opportunities to add risk. In the funds that I manage we’ve already done some of that where we’ve added some credit, some high yield, some convertible bonds and some emerging market debt.

da Costa: Do you have any concerns about the US corporate sector given that this is where some of the market’s worries seem to lie?

Michele: From our perspective corporate credit looks great. None of us can remember a time when corporate America has had more financial flexibility.

Since the financial crisis, companies have stripped costs out of their operating model and have been operating a very lean and efficient platform But now it’s got this enormous tax windfall that’s coming which leaves a considerable amount of after-tax income for companies to spend.

That’s generally been reflected in the spread tightening we’ve seen in corporate bonds, particularly high yield. And we think they’re going to use it in quite a number of ways. Certainly they’re going to use it to invest in capex because they are seeing a pick up in consumption.

The other thing that’s very important to us is recognizing that a lot of tax reform has gone to the consumer. So consumers will have a lot more disposable income to spend which should be good for topline sales for corporate America. So we feel companies are in a pretty good spot, the global economy is accelerating, they’ve gotten costs under control, they’re going to have a lot more after-tax revenue to spend and if we’re right about consumption picking up as the consumers also have more money to spend, that’s good for topline growth.

da Costa: Any particular sectors?

Michele: We like some of the small and mid-sized industrial companies, the manufacturers in the high-yield market, those look pretty attractive to us. It seems like they’ll be large beneficiaries of tax reform and the pickup in consumption. Already our analysts are telling us that those companies were seeing their order books filling and they were doing some hiring so that looks pretty good.

We also like banking and finance. We’ve been investing in the additional tier-1 securities at European banks, so those have gone through a bit of a correction and we see the banks as very healthy having built up their reserves and capital buffers because of the regulators over the past several years. And as economies improve and interest rates continues to rise we should see that in their net interest margin and see lower charge-offs.

We’ve also added in convertible bonds, particularly on tech companies that have come under pressure where we know the management and are comfortable with their operating structure. And so from a credit perspective we like them and we want a bit of an upside kicker through the convertible.

Those have been three areas in the last day or so that we’ve added.

da Costa: Until recently gradually rising bond yields had been seen as a sign of expectations of an improving economy. And then suddenly there was enough of a spike in the 10-year that stocks freaked out.

Michele: If we think about the last couple of weeks, we all know that there had been over-investment in selling volatility because we’ve seen that unwind and you can see it in the data whether you look at the move or the VIX. Everyone was selling vol and picking up incremental carry in return.

It’s difficult to know what was the ultimate trigger but it very well could have been the back up in yields, where as support levels for the bond market got taken out at some point you reached a level close to 2.875% where the losses in portfolios, particularly in the risk-parity portfolios triggered some de-risking on the equity side, and once that happened that suddenly triggered incremental vol and then everything where you had vol-related investment and leverage unravel. So I’m comfortable with people pointing the finger at the bond market. That was the one market that was selling off gradually and could have been the pin that pricked the bubble.

It’s been interesting that the Fed has been raising rates for over two years, they started in December 2015, but they’ve done it at the most gradual pace in history of the Fed so that the market has been able to absorb it.

We expect expect four rate hikes this year. We think there’s enough growth and inflationary pressure that they’ll want to do every other meeting and they’ll want to get to something that looks more normal. That would normally be a concern for the equity market except now you do have higher earnings coming in from first of all the massive tax reform — forget about how the companies spend the windfall, just the math of tax reform is going to create higher earnings. And then if you any sort of fiscal stimulus from the budget that’s going to add more to earnings.

So I always believe that every asset class has a certain discounting rate. The equity market has a discounting rate and you have to figure out at what point does that discounting rate become high enough to trigger a broader more lasting recession or a broader more lasting correction. The one thing that offsets that is higher earnings growth. So I think that’s what we have to watch in the next couple of years, is the growth in earnings versus the rise of interest rates.

If the Fed does four hikes they get rates to 2.25% to 2.5%, that’s slightly positive on a real-yield basis. That’s historically accommodative by any measure. It’s even difficult to see the 10-year getting much above 3% to 3.25%, so I think we’re pretty close to topping out on the ten-year for the time being. If we’re right the equity market can absorb all of that with great ease.

Central banks, Fed tightening has historically been a concern but they’re doing it from such a low rate that it’s just going to take them a while to get to something that looks normal. I don’t think 2% to 2.5% is normal. I think if you’re targeting a 2% inflation that’s effectively a zero real yield.

The other thing to remember is the ECB and the Bank of Japan are still printing money right now. If you look at the ECB, even though they’ve tapering quantitative easing to 30 billion euros per month, that’s still 30 billion in new cash that immediately buys bonds and then spills over into all asset classes. So you still have that stimulus. I think this time next year they’ll have ended QE, I don’t think they’ll have begun the balance sheet run-down that the Fed did and we don’t think they’ll have begun raising rates. So you’re going to have a large balance sheet at the ECB and minus 0.4 of a percent yield in the front end of European markets — the US market is going to look attractive, you’re going to see money come into the US market. 

And the Bank of Japan this time next year very well could still be printing money, through QE, and you’ll likely still have minus 0.2% [rates], and you’ll see money exported out of Japan to the US market. So those are the kinds of things that will cushion the backup in yields in the US.

da Costa: What about the prospect of increased Treasury issuance due to surging budget deficits at the same time as the Fed withdraws as a buyer of last resort?

Michele: I worry about that. I think there’s no doubt that what we’re seeing coming out of the budget, the US is losing its fiscal discipline and you’ll see increased supply coming out of the Treasury at a time when the Fed is reducing its holding. But I think that’s what gets us up to 3, 3.25% and we just see from our position the flow of money coming in from Asia and Europe into the US market.

So there are buyers of a backup [in yields] and as long as monetary policy is so accommodative and they’re running negative policy rates in those markets you’re going to see that money come in and support the US market.

The one thing that changes all of this is inflation. Because what we’re all talking about is a Fed looking to get something more normal in policy,  we’re talking about supply/demand — and those are well telegraphed to the market and the markets I think can price those in realistically and absorb them.

Even the amount of supply coming from fiscal spending in the US I don’t think will panic the market. What panics the market is rising inflation expectations. So if you see a sharp rise in prices, whether it’s core CPI [consumer prices excluding food and energy], personal consumption expenditure and wages, people will immediately look to the central banks and the Fed in particular to accelerate their tightening.

da Costa: Wasn’t it that 2.9% gain in average hourly earnings reported Friday that helped set the market off in the first place? 

Michele: And if you think about where we could be by mid-year, you could see average hourly earnings up 3.5%.

da Costa: Which would be a great thing right? Shouldn’t we be cheering this?

Michele: Well, as William McChesney Martin said, the role of the Fed is to take the punch bowl away. So if they fear that inflation is going to accelerate then they are going to try to lean into that more aggressively, and certainly that will cause the Bank of Japan and the ECB to move forward any plans to raise rates.

So it’s some concern of accelerating inflation. I don’t know what level will be concerning. What’s the only thing we’ve seen in the last few days: Walmart’s raising wages, Apple is raising wages, CVS is raising wages, AutoNation is increasing employee benefits.

You’re going to see that in the wage data.  How willing the Fed is to look through that, we’ll see how the rest of the economy looks.

Supply/demand, normalization as it is, I think we can absorb that, general rise in rates to 3-3.25%, but expectations of an inflation surprise will lead to concern that the central banks will be more aggressive in draining the punch bowl and I think that’s what would really rattle the bond market and that would ripple through the capital markets.

da Costa: What role does the currency market play in all of this? Steven Mnuchin made an unusual comment for a Treasury Secretary welcoming the weak dollar. Do you think the dollar’s weakness is just a natural part of the cycle?

Michele: Until recently, the dollar’s weakness to us looked like a bit of profit-taking and a recognition that actually Europe was doing a lot better and China was growing again and the emerging markets had recovered. So it was more a balancing out the strength in the dollar with the rest of the world doing well.

Given what we’ve seen come out of the budget and the prospect of a fiscal spin, the lack of fiscal discipline is slowly going to be modeled into everyone’s FX model and that will lead to a slow dollar deterioration. The lack of fiscal discipline is a pretty dramatic impact to a currency. So even though the US economy looks like it will be doing well, the rest of the world is doing well and I think the dollar becomes the odd man out. And you’ll see the dollar drift lower. I think the emerging markets are the likely beneficiary.

SEE ALSO: The chief strategist at a $695 billion money manager tells us why 'we're at a watershed point in markets'

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• UK law firm Royds Withy King advising on three divorce cases involving cryptocurrencies.
• One case involves a crypto haul worth £600,000.

LONDON — A UK law firm is advising on three divorce cases involving cryptocurrencies.

UK law firm Royds Withy King said on Wednesday that it is working on three cases where "spouses are seeking the disclosure and a potential share of cryptocurrency assets."

The cases involve bitcoin, litecoin, ripple and ethereum.

Two of the cases are understood to involve small sums but the third involves cryptocurrency worth £600,000. The husband in the case initially invested £80,000 in cryptocurrencies, a sum that has ballooned thanks to the bull run in the market before Christmas.

The cases, which are in South West London and Oxfordshire, represent a nascent new area for divorce lawyers. Cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated around the world, existing in something of a grey area.

Vandana Chitroda, a partner in Royds Withy King's Family team leading the divorce cases in London, said in an email: "These are the first cases we have seen, and we expect to see many more.

"We believe that cryptocurrencies will be a significant feature in a large number of divorces. Whilst cryptocurrencies are volatile, they are not going to go away. It is important that if you believe your husband or wife has invested in or purchased cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, and you are separating, you tell your legal adviser."

The recent cryptocurrency boom is not just generating new business for divorce lawyers, with many tax advisors and accountants also seeing an uptick in enquiries about how to properly account for their crypto gains.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The CEO of $445 billion fund giant Principal Global Investors says everyone has the economy all wrong

• UK law firm Royds Withy King advising on three divorce cases involving cryptocurrencies.
• One case involves a crypto haul worth £600,000.

LONDON — A UK law firm is advising on three divorce cases involving cryptocurrencies.

UK law firm Royds Withy King said on Wednesday that it is working on three cases where "spouses are seeking the disclosure and a potential share of cryptocurrency assets."

The cases involve bitcoin, litecoin, ripple and ethereum.

Two of the cases are understood to involve small sums but the third involves cryptocurrency worth £600,000. The husband in the case initially invested £80,000 in cryptocurrencies, a sum that has ballooned thanks to the bull run in the market before Christmas.

The cases, which are in South West London and Oxfordshire, represent a nascent new area for divorce lawyers. Cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated around the world, existing in something of a grey area.

Vandana Chitroda, a partner in Royds Withy King's Family team leading the divorce cases in London, said in an email: "These are the first cases we have seen, and we expect to see many more.

"We believe that cryptocurrencies will be a significant feature in a large number of divorces. Whilst cryptocurrencies are volatile, they are not going to go away. It is important that if you believe your husband or wife has invested in or purchased cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, and you are separating, you tell your legal adviser."

The recent cryptocurrency boom is not just generating new business for divorce lawyers, with many tax advisors and accountants also seeing an uptick in enquiries about how to properly account for their crypto gains.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The CEO of $445 billion fund giant Principal Global Investors says everyone has the economy all wrong

• UK law firm Royds Withy King advising on three divorce cases involving cryptocurrencies.
• One case involves a crypto haul worth £600,000.

LONDON — A UK law firm is advising on three divorce cases involving cryptocurrencies.

UK law firm Royds Withy King said on Wednesday that it is working on three cases where "spouses are seeking the disclosure and a potential share of cryptocurrency assets."

The cases involve bitcoin, litecoin, ripple and ethereum.

Two of the cases are understood to involve small sums but the third involves cryptocurrency worth £600,000. The husband in the case initially invested £80,000 in cryptocurrencies, a sum that has ballooned thanks to the bull run in the market before Christmas.

The cases, which are in South West London and Oxfordshire, represent a nascent new area for divorce lawyers. Cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated around the world, existing in something of a grey area.

Vandana Chitroda, a partner in Royds Withy King's Family team leading the divorce cases in London, said in an email: "These are the first cases we have seen, and we expect to see many more.

"We believe that cryptocurrencies will be a significant feature in a large number of divorces. Whilst cryptocurrencies are volatile, they are not going to go away. It is important that if you believe your husband or wife has invested in or purchased cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, and you are separating, you tell your legal adviser."

The recent cryptocurrency boom is not just generating new business for divorce lawyers, with many tax advisors and accountants also seeing an uptick in enquiries about how to properly account for their crypto gains.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The CEO of $445 billion fund giant Principal Global Investors says everyone has the economy all wrong

Here is what you need to know.

Morgan Stanley's US equity chief explains why the recent meltdown signaled the 'final stage' of the bull market. "We're very late-cycle in the economic expansion, and I measure that primarily through the labor market," Morgan Stanley's chief US equity strategist, Mike Wilson, told Business Insider's Joe Ciolli. "We're at full employment or just below it, and to me it's pretty clear that there's not much slack left in the economy — and that's usually the final stage of a market cycle."

Get ready for the Year of the Dog. The Chinese New Year takes place Friday, bringing in the Year of the Dog, which is a good time to be cautious when it comes to finances, according to this year's CLSA Feng Shui Index.

The UK economy grew slower than Europe's for the first time since 2010. Eurozone economic growth came in at 2.7% for 2017, while UK growth was just 1.5%.

The Japanese yen hits its best level in over a year. The yen gained almost 1% in overnight action, hitting 106.84 per dollar, its strongest since November 2016.

Chipotle picks a new CEO. Chipotle soared as much as 10% following Tuesday's closing bell on news it had chosen Taco Bell's CEO, Brian Niccol, as its next boss.

Western Union confirms it's testing transactions using Ripple technology. Raj Agrawal, the company's chief financial officer, told Bloomberg that efforts were in a "testing phase."

Uber's loss narrows. The ride-hailing app saw fourth-quarter revenue climb 61% year-over-year to $2.2 billion as its loss narrowed to $1.1 billion.

Stock markets around the world are mostly higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+2.27%) led the gains in Asia, and Germany's DAX (+0.71%) is out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.37% near 2,673.

Earnings reports keep coming. Dr. Pepper Snapple and Molson Coors report ahead of the opening bell, while Cisco Systems and Marriott International release their quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data picks up. CPI and retail sales will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.83%.

Join the conversation about this story »

Here is what you need to know. 

Morgan Stanley's US equity chief explains why the recent meltdown signaled the 'final stage' of the bull market. "We're very late-cycle in the economic expansion, and I measure that primarily through the labor market," Morgan Stanley chief US equity strategist Mike Wilson told Business Insider's Joe Ciolli. "We're at full employment or just below it, and to me it's pretty clear that there's not much slack left in the economy — and that's usually the final stage of a market cycle."

Get ready for the Year of the Dog. The Chinese New Year takes place on Friday, February 16, bringing in The Year of Dog, which is a good time to be cautious when it comes to finances, according to this year's CLSA Feng Shui Index.

The UK economy grew slower than Europe for the first time since 2010. Eurozone economic growth came in at 2.7% for 2017 while UK growth was just 1.5%. 

The Japanese yen hits its best level in over a year. The yen gained almost 1% in overnight action, hitting 106.84 per dollar, its strongest since November 2016.

Chipotle picks a new CEO. Chipotle soared as much as 10% following Tuesday's closing bell on news it has chosen current Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol as its next boss. 

Western Union confirms it's testing transactions Ripple technology. Raj Agrawal, the company's chief financial officer, told Bloomberg that efforts were in a "testing phase" and there was nothing so far in the process that would be a "big unlock."

Uber's loss narrows. The ride-hailing app saw fourth-quarter revenue climb 61% year-over-year to $2.2 billion as its loss narrowed to $1.1 billion.   

Stock markets around the world are mostly higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (+2.27%) led the gains in Asia and Germany's DAX (+0.71%) is out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.37% near 2,673.

Earnings reports keep coming. Dr. Pepper Snapple and Molson Coors report ahead of the opening bell while Cisco Systems and Marriott International release their quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data picks up. CPI and retail sales will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.83%.

Join the conversation about this story »

The post Japanese Regulator Warns Unregistered Macau-Based Crypto Operator appeared first on CCN

Japan’s primary financial regulator has warned an unregistered Macau-based cryptocurrency exchange operator against soliciting investors in Japan. Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has issued its first warning under the country’s revised payment services law – which recognizes bitcoin as a legal method of payment – to Macau-based Blockchain Laboratory, an unregistered firm reportedly pursuing investors

The post Japanese Regulator Warns Unregistered Macau-Based Crypto Operator appeared first on CCN

Bitcoin looks set to test the $10,000 mark soon, unless the Chinese Lunar New Year throws a spanner in the works.

• Goldman Sachs' private wealth management business is bustling, adding $17 billion in long-term assets in 2017.
• The firm's 700 wealth advisers each generate a staggering $4.5 million in revenue on average.
• CEO Lloyd Blankfein expects the business to keep growing as the world continues to churn out more millionaires.
• "The world seems to be growing rich people faster than we can grow advisers to cover them," Blankfein said. 

Business is good if you're a wealth adviser at Goldman Sachs, as millionaire clients are popping up quicker than the bank can keep up with.

Business is humming in general at Goldman Sachs — the firm reported a healthy $32.1 billion in revenues last year — apart from the firm's fixed income trading business, a former profit center whose recent struggles have been well chronicled. 

But the firm's private wealth management business is especially bustling, adding $17 billion in long-term assets in 2017, up from the $12 billion it added in 2016, according to a presentation given by CEO Lloyd Blankfein Tuesday at the Credit Suisse Financial Services Forum. 

"Wealth creation is expanding at a fast clip, and given the strength of our offering and brand, we haven't seen the limits of where this segment of the market can grow," Blankfein said at the conference.

The investment bank has just over 700 private wealth advisers who brought in a staggering $4.5 million in revenue each on average — which is "much higher than our large bank competitors," Blankfein added. That works out to more than $3.1 billion in revenue driven by advisers.

Rival Morgan Stanley generates far more absolute revenue from wealth management — about $16.8 billion in 2017 — though it takes an army of more than 15,700 advisers who serve a much broader and less affluent client base. The bank reported $1.1 million in annualized revenue per adviser last year.Goldman Sachs focuses its efforts narrowly on uber-wealthy clients. Though the bank has branched out to the masses with its Marcus brand, the minimum investment needed for its private wealth management services is $10 million. Its typical client has at least $50 million.

Fortunately for Goldman Sachs, the world is minting more multi-millionaires than the bank can keep up with. There are roughly 36 million millionaires today, according to the Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse, up from 27 million a decade ago. The tally is expected to grow to 44 million by 2022.

"The world seems to be growing rich people faster than we can grow advisers to cover them," Blankfein said.

To keep up in the game of millionaire client whack-a-mole, Blankfein says Goldman Sachs expects to increase its adviser ranks by 30% by 2020.

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NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

• The eurozone's economy outgrew the UK for the first time since 2010.
• EZ economic growth was 2.7% in 2017, according to preliminary estimates.
• That's compared to just 1.5% growth in the UK, whose economy remains under pressure from Brexit uncertainties.

LONDON — For the first time in seven years, the Eurozone's economy grew quicker than the UK's last year, data from Eurostat confirmed.

Eurostat released its preliminary growth estimates for the final quarter of 2017 on Wednesday, which showed the bloc of euro nations growing at a combined 2.7% over the course of the year, having expanded 0.6% in the final quarter alone.

"Industry helped drive the euro-zone’s 0.6% expansion in Q4, and the outlook seems bright," Stephen Brown, an economist at Capital Economics said.

Comparatively, data from the UK's Office for National Statistics released in January showed the UK economy growing by 1.5% in 2017, as the uncertainty surrounding Brexit dragged on both consumption and investment, slowing growth down.

By contrast, the eurozone is positively flourishing, as it finally kicks into gear following years of recovery from the debt crisis which plagued the Single Currency area from 2011 onwards.

Wednesday's data is no great surprise, and came in in line with forecasts, but does act as confirmation of the divergent economic fortunes of Britain and its neighbours across the channel.

"Overall, these data confirm that the expansion in the Eurozone is broad-based across all the economies," Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said in an email.

The broad based expansion of the eurozone economy is once again in contrast with the UK, which remains heavily reliant on the dominant services sector for the majority of its growth.

"The dominant services sector, driven by business services and finance, increased by 0.6% compared with the previous quarter," the ONS said in its January release.

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NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

The post Dubai Gold Trader Earns First Cryptocurrency Trading License appeared first on CCN

A Dubai-based gold investment and trading firm has become the first company in the Middle East to receive a government-backed cryptocurrency trading license. Dubai gold trader Regal RA DMCC has received a trading license by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), allowing the company store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and other altcoins in a “deep

The post Dubai Gold Trader Earns First Cryptocurrency Trading License appeared first on CCN

The post Dubai Gold Trader Earns First Cryptocurrency Trading License appeared first on CCN

A Dubai-based gold investment and trading firm has become the first company in the Middle East to receive a government-backed cryptocurrency trading license. Dubai gold trader Regal RA DMCC has received a trading license by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), allowing the company store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and other altcoins in a “deep

The post Dubai Gold Trader Earns First Cryptocurrency Trading License appeared first on CCN

• Bank of England agents' survey shows that real wages will grow by 3.1% in 2018.
• That's well ahead of 2017's 2.6% growth, and would mark a return to real wage growth.
• Rising inflation since the Brexit vote has squeezed the pockets of the British people.

LONDON — Wage growth in the UK is set to pick over the course of 2018, with overall incomes growing for the first time since early 2017, the Bank of England's monthly agents' survey shows.

The agents' summary of business conditions, which polls the central bank's operatives in the UK's regions to create a holistic picture of what's going on in the economy, showed that businesses expect wage growth to increase to 3.1% in 2018, up from 2.6% last year.

With inflation expected to fall from its current level of 3%, that means Brits are set to see their real wages grow, albeit slowly, over the course of the year — a condition that has been largely absent for workers since the vote to leave the EU in June 2016.

"The survey indicated that companies expected an average pay settlement rate of 3.1% in 2018, compared with 2.6% in 2017," the Bank of England said.

"The 2017 outturn was higher than the 2.2% that had been expected in last year’s survey, reflecting larger settlements across a broad range of sectors.

"The increases in pay settlements in 2018 are also expected to be broad-based, with only the construction sector expecting pay settlements in 2018 to be the same as in 2017.

"Total labour cost growth continued to pick up, largely due to a combination of recruitment difficulties, the rising cost of living and the increase in the National Living Wage," the survey added.

Here's the Bank of England's chart (the pale blue diamond is where wage growth is expected by the end of the year):

Between 2008 and 2014 inflation outstripped pay, causing real wages to fall. Although this was reversed in 2015 and 2016, last year saw a renewed fall in real wages following the Brexit referendum and drop in the value of the pound. Inflation, which was at 0.5% in June 2016, rose to 3.1% in November 2017. Meanwhile, wage growth was 2.4% in October 2017.

Falling real wages come at a time when unemployment in Britain is at a near record low, with the unemployment rate at just 4.3%.

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NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin

The post Australian Bank CBA Bars Cryptocurrency Buying on Credit Cards appeared first on CCN

Australia’s largest bank has banned its customers from buying cryptocurrencies like bitcoin using its credit cards, starting today. Citing a lack of regulation and high volatility of cryptocurrencies, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has discontinued credit card purchases of cryptocurrencies. The curb will also extend to Perth-based Bankwest, a bank fully acquired by the

The post Australian Bank CBA Bars Cryptocurrency Buying on Credit Cards appeared first on CCN

• Kay Swinburne MEP: "My French colleagues were obviously on a mission from 2009 to try and actually get, before Brexit, as much back to Paris as they could."
• Swinburne helped counter Lagarde's efforts to force business out of the City by drafting reports that supported the business being done in London.
• Swinburne helped "set the scene" for Mifid II, EU financial legislation that has just come in and "could have been a lot worse."
• Current efforts to force euro-denominated clearing out of London and into the eurozone post-Brexit "run counter to the global thinking," Swinburne said.

LONDON — International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde wanted to use European legislation to force financial business from London to Paris when she was the French finance minister, according to a senior British MEP.

Tory MEP Kay Swinburne told Business Insider that she collaborated with Downing Street to block Lagarde's efforts by drafting a report defending high-frequency trading, an area vulnerable to attack.

"My French colleagues were obviously on a mission from 2009 to try and actually get, before Brexit, as much back to Paris as they could," Swinburne told BI. "Obviously it was our mission to stop that."

The IMF, where Lagarde has been managing director since 2011, declined to comment on Lagarde's behalf.

'They were already preparing reports'

Swinburne, who first became an MEP in 2009, said she met Lagarde shortly after joining the European Parliament. Lagarde told her she planned to use an upcoming legislation review as a means to force business back to France.

"Christine Lagarde was finance minister of France at the time and any women on econ [the EU's Economics Committee] — there weren’t that many of us — she decided to take us under her wing and take us out for lunches and dinners to introduce us to the world of politics and financial services," Swinburne said.

"She took me for lunch on my very first month there and told me the plan that they had with the Mifid review that was coming up in 2010. They were already preparing reports to set the scene for taking back trading from London and putting it back in the national exchanges."

Mifid — the "Markets In Financial Instruments Directive" — came into force across the EU in 2008 and standardized the regulation around investment services across the bloc.

An unintended consequence of the regulation is that it provided a boost to London's financial economy, as secondary share trading businesses set up in the capital to service clients across the EU, rather than being based locally or shares trading on national exchanges.

Lagarde, who was French finance minister from 2007 to 2011, planned to draft reports ahead of the official review of the legislation because "whoever takes the initiative usually gets the leading edge and the commission then follows," Swinburne said.

'It’s all to counter Christine Lagarde’s reports'

After discussing the situation with senior colleagues, Swinburne said she enlisted the help of then-Chancellor George Osborne to produce a paper illustrating the benefit of the current financial setup, in a bid to defend London from Lagarde's efforts.

"We got a parliament position paper that said, HFT [high-frequency trading] isn’t bad, you need to put a framework around it but you can do this," Swinburne said. "Algorithmic is just normal trading, at speed, using computers so you need to have rules and procedures for checking that the algorithms don’t do any damage."

The paper, published in 2012, was titled "The Future of Computer Trading in Financial Markets: An International Perspective" and was produced by the UK's Office for Science with funding from the Treasury.

The report's author, Professor Sir John Beddington, wrote that "commonly held negative perceptions surrounding HFT are not supported by the available evidence" but said that "policymakers are justified in being concerned about the possible effects of HFT on instability in financial markets." He provided "clear advice on what regulatory measures might be most effective in addressing those concerns in the shorter term, while preserving any benefits that HFT/AT [algorithmic trading] may bring."

Swinburne told BI: "We set that scene. It’s all to counter Christine Lagarde’s reports. We started playing the game that the French had played so well knowing that Mifid was going to be potentially the biggest disruptor to the future of capital markets in London."

Mifid II came into force in January 2018, imposing stricter rules on a range of financial activities. Swinburne said she is pleased with how the implementation is going in the UK and said the legislation "could have been a lot, lot worse."

'Counter to the global thinking'

France is still agitating to try and win financial business back from the UK, this time using Brexit as a means to lobby for new rules that would force business from London.

Shortly after Britain's 2016 EU referendum, France's then-President Francois Hollande said Britain couldn't retain its key euro clearing role after it leaves the EU. Since then, French ministers and EU officials since have repeatedly suggested that clearing of euro-denominated trades should move from London to a eurozone member country post-Brexit.

Clearing houses manage credit risk, acting as a middle-man in swaps and derivatives trades to guarantee the contract in the event that one of the parties involved goes bust. The acceptance of English law and widespread use of English language has made London a hub for clearing globally.

Swinburne said: "Do you actually reduce your risk by forming a new CCP [central clearing counterparty] in the eurozone to clear euro-denominated assets? The question resoundingly is no.

"You increase your risk because you reduce your pool of clearing members, you reduce the number of individuals exposed to this, you reduce liquidity. In moments of crisis, when everything starts to freeze, you have no repo market that can support it, you've got no clearing members that can step in and actually offer you a buffer.

"Therefore, you’ve actually reduced your ability to withstand a storm. It so runs counter to the global thinking on why you need CCPs in the first place."

Swinburne said European politicians are now starting to realise this, telling BI: "Now they’re starting to realise that a swap, which is the major market that London actually holds, is just that: there’s another currency on the other side of it. There’s no point having clearing of just one side, you need the other side too."

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John Perry Barlow fought for an open internet. Late in life, he cautioned blockchain innovators that the technology could be liberating or oppressive.

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1. Italy's Northern League would aim to pull Italy out of the European Union if Brussels refused to re-negotiate fiscal and immigration rules, its economics chief said. The eurosceptic League is the principal ally of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia in a center-right coalition that leads polls ahead of the March 4 vote.

2. UBS Group has appointed former Investcorp executive, Gabriel Aractingi, as head of its ultra-high net worth business in Saudi Arabia. Aractingi previously headed the Saudi business for Bahrain-based Investcorp , having joined the investment firm in 2016 from Morgan Stanley.

3. Pernod Ricard has not yet seen any impact from the legalization of cannabis in some parts of North America but is monitoring the situation closely, its chief executive said. Alexandre Ricard told reporters the company was looking for any impact the legalization of cannabis has on its brands but had seen none so far.

4. Blackstone said Jonathan Gray will take over from Tony James as president, setting him as successor to Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman. Gray, who was already widely recognized internally as heir apparent to Schwarzman, will become president and chief operating officer and James will stay on as executive vice chairman.

5. The European Commission will decide next month whether to take legal action against nine member states for breaching EU air pollution rules. EU Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella had told ministers from the nine nations, including the bloc's biggest economies Germany, Britain and France, at a meeting last month that Brussels' patience was running thin.

6. French advertising group Publicis has won a multi-year contract with Daimler's Mercedes-Benz brand to become its global digital agency, hailing the award as one of its most important for years. "This was without a doubt the biggest pitch in the industry over the past 18 months, and one of the most significant wins for the group in many years," said Publicis Chief Executive Arthur Sadoun in an internal memo.

7. German Social Democrat leader (SPD) Martin Schulz stepped down with immediate effect on Tuesday. He said the party's committee had backed parliamentary floor leader Andrea Nahles as his successor.

8. A new German government will not change its policy regarding Britain's looming departure from the European Union, an official said. The conservatives and center-left SPD have agreed they want to renew their 2013-2017 "grand coalition." 

9. Apple shareholders defeated two shareholder proposals. One asked the company to ease its rules for letting shareholders nominate directors to the board and the sought to get Apple to form a human rights commission.

10. Rupert Murdoch's Sky has agreed to pay £3.58 billion for a three-year deal to show 128 English Premier League matches a season from 2019/20. Rival BT said it had agreed to pay £885 million to show 32 games a season for three years, after five of seven packages were auctioned on Tuesday.

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Using bitcoin's lightning network can be dangerous – but it could also help propel the cryptocurrency toward its next growth stage.

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Someone has to power all the Bitcoin.

• The engine of a plane traveling from San Francisco to Hawaii fell apart mid-flight on Tuesday.
• Photos and videos shared on Twitter show the terrifying incident as it unfolded.
• Flight UA1175 ultimately landed safely, with one passenger calling it the "scariest flight of my life."

Passengers on a United flight from San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii, were shaken on Tuesday when one of the plane's engines began to fall apart mid-flight.

Photos and videos posted on social media show the parts peeling off the Boeing 777-222 aircraft's engine in mid-air, with its inner workings becoming steadily more exposed. "Scariest flight of my life," one passenger tweeted.

Flight UA1175 sent out a distress alert on its approach to Hawaii, and ultimately landed safely at 12.38 p.m. local time.

In a statement to Business Insider, the airline said:

"United flight 1175 traveling to Honolulu from San Francisco landed safely after the pilots called for an emergency landing because of a loss of the engine cowling (the covering of the engine). Our pilots followed all necessary protocols to safely land the aircraft. The aircraft taxied to the gate and passengers deplaned normally."

It is not immediately clear what caused the problem and United Airlines was unable to confirm whether the engine beyond the cowling had been damaged during the incident. 

However, the airline did confirm to Business Insider that the aircraft involved in the incident is tail number N773UA. It's a Boeing 777-222 delivered to the airline in 1994. In fact, it is the fourth Boeing 777 ever produced. According to Airfleets.net, the plane was powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney PW4000 turbofans. 

Pratt & Whitney was not immediately available for comment. 

It should be noted that the Boeing 777 is designed to fly on a single engine. 

A video posted on Twitter by Erik Haddad, a Google engineer on board the flight, shows the engine's casing flaking and shaking mid-flight.

"I don't see anything about this in the manual," he joked in another tweet.

Maria Falaschi, a marketing consultant on board, also shared photos — calling it the "scariest flight of my life."

It's not the first time in recent memory an aircraft engine broke apart mid-flight.

In October 2017, an Air France Airbus A380 suffered an uncontained engine failure which caused the front of one of its four engines to come off mid-flight while on its way from Paris to Los Angeles. Fortunately, no injuries were reported and the plane was able to divert to Goose Bay in Canada. 

In 2010, a Qantas A380 had a near-disaster when huge chunks of one of its engine casings blew off four minutes after take-off. The pilot managed to shut down the engine and safely land the aircraft after the incident, which was caused by a faulty oil pipe.

The damage in that incident, however, was to the rear of the engine casing on the Airbus super-jumbo rather than the front.

Additional reporting by Paul Colgan.

SEE ALSO: Why you shouldn't panic when an airliner loses an engine

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 In the age of altcoins, at least one news site is taking a novel approach to making ends meet. Salon announced today that it would give readers a choice between turning off ad-blocking software or “allowing Salon to use your unused computing power” in order to access their content. If you say yes to the latter deal, Salon will then invite you to install Coinhive, a software plugin… Read More

• The long-suffering electric-car outfit Faraday Future hopes to turn the page on what has been a rough couple of years for the company.
• A new, Hong Kong-based investor has promised a $1.5 billion infusion — $550 million of which is already in the bank, a source familiar with the company's business dealings told Business Insider.
• The company says it plans to recharge its operations, beginning with a supplier summit at its Los Angeles-area headquarters Tuesday and Wednesday. Bosch, LG Chem, Fuji Technical & Miyazu, and Velodyne are among the suppliers in attendance.
• Lingering challenges are still on the horizon as Chinese regulators pursue Faraday Future's top executive, Jia Yueting, over hundreds of millions in unpaid debt.

More than two years after it first emerged from stealth mode and pitched itself as a "Tesla-killer," Faraday Future is best known not for making high-tech, 1,000-horsepower electric cars. Instead, the unpaid bills, lawsuits, an employee exodus, and public bickering with former executives have defined what had once been a potentially exciting new challenger in the race to build the next great electric-car company.

Faraday Future's top backer, Jia Yueting, drew his line in the sand early, in spring 2016, when he said "We hope to surpass Tesla and lead the industry leapfrogging to a new age" in an interview with Reuters. He was talking about Faraday Future, just four months after a lackluster debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. That month, the company had hosted a well-attended ceremonial groundbreaking for its proposed factory in North Las Vegas.

Today, North Las Vegas is on an indefinite hold, and Faraday has been drowning in debt in the US, while Jia, the company's founder and chief executive is also being pursued by Chinese regulators for hundreds millions of dollars in unpaid debts tied to his companies there.

Now Faraday is hoping to turn the page on a tumultuous couple of years. With new cash on hand and plans to start fresh, the company is hosting a suppliers' summit at its Los Angeles-area headquarters to show it's not giving up just yet. A number of suppliers are expected to attend the gathering, including Bosch, LG Chem, Fuji Technical & Miyazu, Velodyne among others.

“Our goal was for suppliers to walk away with renewed confidence about our plans and our funding," Faraday's head of supply chain Pablo Ucar said in a press release.

New money

According to a source with knowledge of Faraday Future's business dealings, the company has secured about $1.5 billion in new investment. The source did not reveal the investor's identity, saying only that it is a Hong Kong-based entity.

Faraday received $550 million of that investment so far. About $300 million arrived in early December, according to the source. Another $250 million was received earlier this month. Receipt of the remaining $950 million is contingent on as-yet-undisclosed project milestones.

Faraday has had a rough time trying to keep its bank accounts from drying up over the past year. That struggle reached a critical point as far back as January 2017, when former executives told Business Insider that Faraday was just weeks away from bankruptcy. Those bankruptcy rumors resurfaced last fall.

Last spring, the company brought on former BMW exec, Stefan Krause as chief financial officer. Krause launched a worldwide blitz to raise $1 billion in cash for Faraday. It was mostly unsuccessful, and Krause left the company to open his own electric-car startup, prompting an intellectual-property lawsuit.

A car factory in a farm town

Faraday Future announced last summer that it would set up its inaugural factory in Hanford, California, an unassuming agricultural town between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Hanford wasn't Faraday's first choice. Its stalled assembly plant project in North Las Vegas was all but abandoned after it missed millions of dollars in payments to AECOM, its construction partner at the time, and work at the site was halted.

Faraday insists that those tumultuous days are in the rear-view now. A source familiar with the factory plans tells Business Insider that Faraday will announce a new general contractor for the Hanford site, and that work will get underway within the next 30 to 60 days. That work includes installation of robotics and assembly equipment originally purchased for the North Las Vegas facility, the source said.

“We are well into the process of design and permitting, and have begun planning our recruitment cadence," Faraday's global manufacturing exec Dag Reckhorn said, according to a company press release.

"As of February 1st, the property has been completely vacated, so we will move forward on construction and equipment by the end of the quarter," Reckhorn said. A portion of the presentation Reckhorn gave to suppliers on Tuesday that was seen by Business Insider proposes the Hanford factory will be up and running by December 2018.

A new, mass-market vehicle

Faraday says it will speed up production of its 1,000-horsepower FF91 electric vehicle, which had remained in beta as recently as last year. The company is touting an ambitious plan to bring a production version of that car to market by the end of 2018.

Faraday has made many promises about the FF91's production timeline, and given that prototypes have yet to reach critical development milestones like physical crash-testing, it is not entirely certain whether the company can pull it off.

For now, Faraday seems undeterred. A source with knowledge of the company's product timeline says it even plans to launch a second vehicle, the FF81, for the Chinese mass-market. The source describes the FF81 as a smaller version of the FF91 — a vehicle expected to carry a six-figure price tag. It's not yet clear how much the FF81 will cost, but an official unveiling is expected to happen at an upcoming showcase in Beijing.

For a company like Faraday Future that has had countless false starts, multiple scandals, mountains of debt, and little more to show for its work other than breathless self-promotion, you would be forgiven for expressing some healthy skepticism about the company's latest survival pitch.

But Jia Yueting and a handful of the company's most loyal believers remain committed as ever, for better or worse.

SEE ALSO: The billionaire who controls electric-car startup Faraday Future is being pursued by another company he founded for billions in unpaid debt

DON'T MISS: Faraday Future, once seen as a 'Tesla-killer,' is said to be in shambles as cash runs low and executives flee

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