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This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

• Tom Lee, the noted bitcoin uber-bull, says that the once-hot cryptocurrency will break out to new record highs in July.
• He argues that the majority of bitcoin selloffs are "V-shaped," and says that recoveries take 1.7 times the length of the downturn.

Bitcoin's foremost bull is at it again.

Tom Lee, the managing partner and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, says that the once-hot cryptocurrency will make a comeback for the ages and re-test record highs by July.

It would be an incredible rebound for bitcoin, which plunged as much as 70% after reaching an all-time high of $19,511 in mid-December. And while this may seem nuts, Lee has data to support his assertion.

He analyzed the 22 prior occasions that bitcoin dropped more than 20% and found that, during bull periods, recoveries take 1.7 times the duration of a decline. If that trend holds, the cryptocurrency would achieve a full recovery in 85 days, which means July.

One caveat is that this is only true when bitcoin is in a bull phase. And while it may seem surprising that we're still in one, Lee argues that we are, citing a longer-term upward trend.

"73% of bitcoin bottoms are V-shaped," Lee wrote in a client note. "This recent 70% decline is severe," "We can see a case for bitcoin’s resilience here given the sharpness of the recent decline."

SEE ALSO: BlackRock is using robots to better predict the future of the economy

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• Hedge funds are expected to pull in $41 billion in fresh assets this year, according to a survey by Deutsche Bank.
• That's a drop in the bucket for the $3.2 trillion industry, but it's striking because hedge funds for years have not met their clients' return targets.
• Event-driven, fundamental equity long-short funds and volatility funds are the most in-demand strategies, according to the survey. 

Hedge funds are expected to pull in $41 billion in new cash this year, with event-driven, fundamental equity long-short fund and volatility funds the most in-demand strategies, according to a Deutsche Bank survey. 

The hedge fund clients surveyed by Deutsche Bank included family offices, endowments and foundations, and pensions – and in all, the bank came to the conclusion that investors were optimistic about hedge funds following a "strong year" of performance in 2017 (HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index 2017 return: +8.68%).

To be sure, $41 billion is a drop in the bucket for the $3.2 trillion industry. Still, the increase in capital is striking. That's because from 2014 to 2016, hedge fund clients surveyed by Deutsche Bank said hedge funds had not met their return targets.

In 2017, however, the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index ended up 8.68%, the best annual performance for the index since 2013, and ahead of survey respondents' average return target of 8.22%

Marlin Naidoo, Deutsche Bank's global head of capital introduction and hedge fund consulting, said he thinks renewed interest in funds is due to their higher recent performance and improved fee arrangements.

"Managers were definitely coming to the table more in 2017 around innovative fee structures," Naidoo said. "Whether it's reducing management fees, or hurdle rates, the fact is that investors have been able to get a lot more done."

Event driven funds are especially in demand, according to the survey, with Deutsche Bank reporting that "respondents anticipate the active M&A environment to continue as markets remain supported by a strong outlook for global growth and the loosening fiscal and regulatory stance of policymakers worldwide."

Long-short equity funds, which had been out of favor, are also seeing renewed interest from hedge fund clients. "As global policy makers gradually move away from easy monetary policy and risk assets begin to decouple, many believe that equity valuations will be more reflective of underlying fundamentals, leaving bottom up stock pickers well positioned to extract alpha," the report said.

However, it's still competitive for managers to raise assets, Naidoo said.

SEE ALSO: Chenavari, a $5.4 billion hedge fund, told investors it thinks 'we could experience a similar pattern as the 1987 crash'

DON'T MISS: A new lawsuit casts doubt on what billionaire Steve Cohen's deputies have been saying for years

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

The leading cryptocurrency continues to be a roller coaster as it bounces back from a big dip.

• JPMorgan in a recent note outlined how bitcoin, since it is decentralized, would hit a speed bump if there were a shock to the economy. 
• Since bitcoin are released at a set rate, there's no way for the system to handle a liquidity crisis during such an event, the bank said. 

A key component of bitcoin's design might be its achilles heel during a financial meltdown, according to JPMorgan. 

In a big note on crypto and blockchain, the bank said bitcoin's decentralized network would not be able to address a liquidity shock. When such events have occurred in the US - most notably after the financial crisis - central bankers pumped extra cash into the economy to make up for a decline in lending and spending in the private sector. Since there's no central entity that controls the bitcoin network and the number of coins released each year is fixed at a certain rate, such a liquidity infusion would be close to impossible. Here's the bank:

"The ability to provide adequate liquidity is a hallmark of a well-functioning market, but more so during times of crisis. One benefit of fiat money (legal tender issued by a central bank), is that it can be used to provide emergency liquidity from the outside. This is the role central banks play as the lender-of-last resort."

Bitcoin evangelists, however, told Business Insider that JPMorgan's case rests on the assumption that printing money to shore up an economy is a good thing. 

"This is a classic case of creating the problem you offer to solve, and exactly why bitcoin exists," said Aaron Lasher, the chief marketing officer at Breadwallet, a cryptocurrency tech company.

"Why do we have the need for "emergency liquidity" in the first place?"

Lasher says it all boils down to the fact that economies are based on fiat currency, which can be printed at the whim of central bankers. 

"So banks have no incentives to manage liquidity risk precisely because the marginal cost of printing more dollars by the central banks is zero, providing a guaranteed backstop against sustaining losses incurred by excess risk taking," he said. 

Arthur Hayes, the chief executive at BitMEX, a peer-to-peer crypto trading platform, said in an email to Business Insider that such policies ultimately translate into inflation in other financial assets.

"If money printing solved the ills of economic collapse, Weimer Germany, Zimbabwe, and most recently Venezuela would be the most productive and economically sound societies on earth," Hayes said.

"Money printing delays the inevitable," he added. "Without the ability to print base money at all, any institutional that extended credit would be evaluated by the market on its ability to responsibly originate loans."

Business Insider's Fed watcher Pedro da Costa said it's important to note the difference between failed states printing money "willy nilly" and developed countries such as the US implementing certain monetary policy. 

"The US is not Venezuela," he said. "From a monetary standpoint, the US dollar is the reserve currency. Venezuela is exposed to currency risk, needs to sell oil in dollars. Apples and oranges."

SEE ALSO: JPMorgan explains why a bitcoin ETF is a 'holy grail' that could change the game

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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: So how does — but your blockchain, many blockchains exist without a cryptocurrency.

Ludwin: Right

Silverstein: So how important is the connection between the two or do you envision a future of blockchain without cryptocurrency?

Ludwin: So I think there's this false dichotomy that's pretty popular at conferences like Davos where you hear — you hear many different languages at Davos. But when I don't understand what someone is saying, I just assume they're saying, "you know, I don't like bitcoin, but the underlying blockchain technology..." I think I know how to say that in 20 languages now.

So yeah, I think it's a false dichotomy. Like I said, they're both useful and they're actually on more of a continuum than people appreciate. So a lot of the work we do, for example, is linking private blockchain — where there is no cryptocurrency — into a public blockchain.

But to answer your question, you're right our protocol does not have a cryptocurrency. And the reason for that is we don't need one, because the cryptocurrency — or cryptoasset — its purpose is to provide an economic incentive to a decentralized operating group.

Silverstein: To keep it going?

Ludwin: To keep going and we don't need that, because we already know who's going to run the business. So yes, we could create a currency to cash in on the the hype, but we're much more interested in building a real business. And so that's why we're focused on that. And that's not to suggest that there's anything wrong with creating new cryptocurrencies. Again, I think it's just such a different context; it's hard to compare them. And I think over time, especially this year, I think one of the big trends is they'll converge more than people are expecting.

Silverstein: They'll converge in what way?

Ludwin: They'll converge in the following way — we have different payment networks and financial markets all around the world quite fragmented; there's very little mesh or interoperability between networks. So right now, for example, if you're in China, and you open up the Alipay app and you want to send money out of China, do you know what option you have? Do you know what it says in the app? It says Western Union. So, you know, I think that is going to change. I think the interoperability between say WhatsApp — if they ever have payments — and Alipay will be something that looks somewhat like a public blockchain. So I think that's where we're going to see real penetration and links between the existing financial institutions — some of which run blockchain architecture, some of which don't — and public networks, which will, sort of, drive interoperability. And then in parallel, I think you'll continue to see cryptoassets that are serving, you know, these alternative software models that for many people, don't get them anything new, but for certain people in certain contexts, it's really a good solution for them.

Silverstein: And why does the blockchain software — why does that always come with the word integrity?

Ludwin: Because the core innovation and in a blockchain — now a blockchain by the way is just a data model; it's being used — to meet — to address a lot of different things in, you know, corporate marketing at an event like Davos. But the technical reality is blockchain's just a data model. It's a database innovation. And that innovation is applying cryptography to every transaction update in that database, so that anyone can independently verify whether there's been a change to the database and can independently verify therefore, sort of, the state of say a balance in a checking account, or the current custodian of a security, or the current owner of a cryptocurrency.  So it's really in the context of an institution using a blockchain, it's really about increasing the trust in them. But, as I think many people know, a blockchain can also be used without an institution — in other words a trust replacement in a more decentralized model. But in our view, a blockchain is as relevant as an accounting model as it is as a mechanism to create decentralization. It just depends on the design goal and the intention of the company or group that's deploying the technology.

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The post Western Union Confirms XRP Integration of Ripple Blockchain Trial appeared first on CCN

Western Union has formally confirmed that its Ripple-based blockchain trial will include XRP integration, making the money transfer giant the largest firm to test XRP in its internal payment flows. As CCN reported, Western Union confirmed rumors about the partnership on Wednesday. Details about the trial were slim, but it seemed unlikely that XRP was … Continued

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The post Bitcoin Price Tests $10,000 as Market Cracks $475 Billion appeared first on CCN

The cryptocurrency market recovery continued on Thursday, with nearly every top 100-cryptocurrency rising in value against the US dollar. The Bitcoin price headlined the advance, testing the $10,000 for the first time since Feb. 1. Ripple, meanwhile, surged on the surprising news that money transfer behemoth Western Union is trialing XRP integration in a pilot

The post Bitcoin Price Tests $10,000 as Market Cracks $475 Billion appeared first on CCN

The post Bitcoin Price Tests $10,000 as Market Cracks $475 Billion appeared first on CCN

The cryptocurrency market recovery continued on Thursday, with nearly every top 100-cryptocurrency rising in value against the US dollar. The Bitcoin price headlined the advance, testing the $10,000 for the first time since Feb. 1. Ripple, meanwhile, surged on the surprising news that money transfer behemoth Western Union is trialing XRP integration in a pilot

The post Bitcoin Price Tests $10,000 as Market Cracks $475 Billion appeared first on CCN

A group of startups are givingloans in exchange for cryptocurrency collateral, plus interest, so people can access their crypto wealth without cashing out.

• Bitcoin is up more than 5% Thursday, above $10,000 for the first time in just over two weeks.
• Other cryptocurrencies are also up as crypto recovers from its early-February slump.
• You can track the price in real-time here>>

Bitcoin passed $10,000 a coin Thursday afternoon, making for the first time in just over two weeks its trading above the psychological hurdle.

The flagship cryptocurrency, which still accounts for 35% of the total value of all coins, is up 5.7% Thursday. 

Bitcoin slumped at the start of February, but has been gaining steam again over the last week or so. It remains well off its all-time highs of over $19,000 reached just before Christmas.

It's hard to pin an exact reason on bitcoin's recent rally. The price dip and then recovery has matched rather tightly the recent drama in the US stock markets.

The London Block Exchange, a startup building a UK-based crypto exchange, writes in its Thursday market update: "Tomorrow is the first day of the Lunar New Year and some families are replacing their red envelopes of cash for bitcoin gifts.

"In each of the past three years, the crypto markets have experienced corrections three weeks before this important day."

Meanwhile, bitcoin continues to be a topic of discussion for many in the financial world. 

Charlie Munger, the 94-year-old vice chairman of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, called bitcoin "noxious poison" on Wednesday, while Llew Claasen, the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, forecast that the cryptocurrency will go to $40,000.

Oscar Williams-Grut contributed to this report from London

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

Bitcoin's price is back above $10,000.

Austrian authorities are pursuing suspects across Europe in an alleged bitcoin scam that led to millions of dollars in losses for investors.

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Warren Buffett has disclosed his latest investment bets, and Wall Street has been busy responding to the Oracle's latest moves. 

Buffett's nearly $400 million investment in Teva Pharmaceutical made a lot of investors quite a bit of money, with the company surging 11% in after-market trading. But it also made life miserable for Teva's short-sellers, as their roughly $1.2 billion position on the company proved to be a sitting duck once Teva shares started surging.

Apple stock surged after Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway upped its stake.

Business Insider recently caught up with Buffett's new partner in healthcare: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. We talked with Dimon about the bank's healthcare initiative with Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway, its $20 billion investment in the US, and why he won't run for president.

Peter Thiel is leaving Silicon Valley and possibly Facebook's board after his relationship with Mark Zuckerberg soured.

Here's what's happening in the markets:

• Wall Street’s favorite new thing to worry about may already be in the rearview mirror
• A $5.4 billion hedge fund told investors it thinks 'we could experience a similar pattern as the 1987 crash'
• The world’s largest hedge fund is betting big against Europe
• GOLDMAN SACHS: These 17 stocks offer the best bargains in the market right now
• Gun stocks reverse early gains after the Florida school shooting
• Bitcoin is nearing $10,000 for the first time in 2 weeks

Amazon is bigger than Microsoft for the first time. A star Amazon analyst thinks the company will make up to $4 billion from advertising in 2018.

If brands really want to scare Facebook and Google, there's a simple way to do it. Facebook will need to re-register consent from all its users in Europe under the EU's new privacy laws.

There's a new bug that can crash any Apple device with just one simple character.

Lastly, meet the richest people in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, who are worth more than $17 billion combined.

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Two long-standing staffers at $5 billion quant hedge fund PDT Partners have left, according to people familiar with the matter. They are:

• Daniel Pugh, who headed trading operations and worked at PDT for ten years, and;
• Michael Shpigelmacher, a senior investment researcher who worked at the fund for six years. According to his LinkedIn page, Shpigelmacher "created and managed proprietary investment strategies for a multi-billion equity portfolio, combining cutting edge AI research with innovative economic and financial models."

Their destinations are not known. A spokesman for PDT Partners declined to comment. 

PDT was founded by Pete Muller, a quirky math whiz known for his love of music.  

After a long sting at Morgan Stanley in the 1990s, where he created the PDT unit, he needed a break and went on sabbatical, traveling the world and playing music in the New York subway, he previously told Business Insider. Music has played a major role in balancing his career ever since.

He eventually went back to PDT and spun out the unit in 2012.

We covered a fundraising concert in 2016 during which Muller sang about a divorced hedge fund billionaire named Ken. He also went on a music tour last year.

MUST READ: Billionaire hedge fund legend Paul Tudor Jones used a quote from Shakespeare to sound the alarm on a financial bubble

SEE ALSO: Wall Street is blaming a familiar culprit for the latest stock market bloodbath

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

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'

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'

The post Hedge Fund Managers Pounce on Bitcoin Volatility appeared first on CCN

Sophisticated hedge fund traders are drawn to speculation, as evidenced by a more than a twofold increase in the number of crypto-driven hedge funds in recent months. Fintech analysis firm Autonomous NEXT told CCN hedge funds are currently overseeing between $3.5 billion and $5 billion in assets under management (AUM) across 226 crypto funds, in … Continued

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The post Austrian Bitcoin Scam: 10,000 Victims Lose 12,000 BTC ($115 Million) appeared first on CCN

An alleged scam involving investments in bitcoin in Austria has reportedly affected over ten thousand investors in the country and around Europe. Details are emerging about an Austrian investment scheme, dubbed “Optioment”, where its operators have reportedly stolen some 12,000 bitcoins (approx. $116 million in current prices) from over 10,000 victims invested in the scheme.

The post Austrian Bitcoin Scam: 10,000 Victims Lose 12,000 BTC ($115 Million) appeared first on CCN

 The UK government has directly accused Russia of being behind the so called NotPetya ransomware attack last year — which quickly spread around the globe, including affecting businesses in Spain, France and India, demanding payment in Bitcoin to unlock infected machines. Read More

The post ‘Humans Die. Cryptocurrencies Don’t’: Why You Should Begin Planning Your Estate Immediately appeared first on CCN

Five years ago, 26-year-old Matthew Moody was killed as the result of a tragic plane crash in California. Moody, a prolific Bitcoin miner, left behind what is likely a small fortune. “My son was actually one of the earliest people to mine it,” said his father, Michael Moody, in a Bloomberg interview detailing the family’s

The post ‘Humans Die. Cryptocurrencies Don’t’: Why You Should Begin Planning Your Estate Immediately appeared first on CCN

Lawyers say the anonymous nature of digital currencies could prove tempting for those trying to hide wealth.

 Popular payment enabler Stripe announced plans to end support for bitcoin last month, but crypto exchange Coinbase is stepping into the gap after it released a new option for online merchants. Coinbase — which is best known for its service that converts fiat into bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash — is valued at $1.6 billion after raising $100 million last year. The… Read More

 Popular payment enabler Stripe announced plans to end support for bitcoin last month, but crypto exchange Coinbase is stepping into the gap after it released a new option for online merchants. Coinbase — which is best known for its service that converts fiat into bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash — is valued at $1.6 billion after raising $100 million last year. The… Read More

The recovery of the wider crypto market is looking stronger by the day, and litecoin is leading the way.

 After London sent ripple’s of shock through Silicon Valley last year, by denying Uber a renewal of its private hire vehicle license, the city’s transport regulator is doubling down on its scrutiny of the impact of app-based ride operators like Uber. Read More

The post Litecoin Price Cracks $235 as Rally Extends Another 16 Percent appeared first on CCN

The Litecoin price extended its rally on Thursday, rising 16 percent to briefly crack the $235 barrier and achieve its highest mark in a month. Litecoin Price Rally Continues Yesterday, the Litecoin price achieved the $200 mark and raised LTC/BTC to its highest value in nearly three years. Today, Litecoin’s bullish advance continued, and LTC … Continued

The post Litecoin Price Cracks $235 as Rally Extends Another 16 Percent appeared first on CCN

The post Litecoin Price Cracks $235 as Rally Extends Another 16 Percent appeared first on CCN

The Litecoin price extended its rally on Thursday, rising 16 percent to briefly crack the $235 barrier and achieve its highest mark in a month. Litecoin Price Rally Continues Yesterday, the Litecoin price achieved the $200 mark and raised LTC/BTC to its highest value in nearly three years. Today, Litecoin’s bullish advance continued, and LTC … Continued

The post Litecoin Price Cracks $235 as Rally Extends Another 16 Percent appeared first on CCN

• Cryptocurrencies don't stand a chance at usurping national currencies, according to JPMorgan. 
• That's because they fail to meet the major criteria of a currency. 
• Even if they did, the network effect of major currencies is too strong. 

You might have heard this before. 

Cryptocurrencies are a bad store of value and a bad unit of account. As such, they're a bad form of money. 

JPMorgan made that case in a wide-ranging note on cryptocurrencies sent out to clients on Friday. While the bank said it may make sense for some investors to include digital currencies in their portfolios as a hedge, it doesn't view any cryptocurrency as a "legitimate competitor" to sovereign currencies. 

"The huge volatility of the price of cryptocurrencies-with respect to either traditional currencies or to a basket of goods and services-has made use of cryptocurrencies as a unit of account impractical," the bank said. "Only hobbyists are using cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange, at least for conventional transactions for goods and services." 

This point has been made by some of the most notable Wall Streeters, including Bridgewater's Ray Dalio and OakTree Capital's Howard Marks. But JPMorgan goes one step further. The bank notes that even if a cryptocurrency were to meet the criteria of a currency, it still would have a very difficult time giving a national currency a run for its money because of the network effect of fiat. Here's the bank's reasoning (emphasis their own):

"At any rate, even a hypothetically stable-value cryptocurrency is unlikely to compete with the dollar for transactions in goods and services, in say, Chicago, or to compete with the euro in Stuttgart. Economists have long viewed successful, i.e. relatively price-stable, currencies as natural monopolies in a given geographic area. This particular natural monopoly arises as a result of the inherent network externalities: pricing a New York meal in yen makes little sense as almost all customers will be holding dollars."

The only area where cryptocurrencies could compete with national currencies as a medium of exchange, according to the bank, is in the black market. 

The bank's argument echoes that of its chief executive Jamie Dimon, who in September 2017 famously called bitcoin "a fraud." The billionaire banker, who has since stepped away from those comments, also once said bitcoin is only useful for criminals and "a kind of novelty."

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

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Here is what you need to know. 

Wall Street needs to brace for an even bigger inflation scare.  While concerns about inflation and higher interest rates have recently rattled investors, an even bigger shock could emerge in April and May due to what economists describe as an adverse base effect: because last year was unusually low, the rate of change could be larger than normal.

The 10-year is at its highest level in 4 years. The benchmark yield is up 10 basis points at 2.92% since Wednesday morning's CPI report. It hasn't been that high since January 2014.

Lloyd Blankfein gives Trump credit for the economy. The Goldman Sachs CEO told CNNMoney, "If the president didn't win and Hillary Clinton won ... I bet you the economy is higher today than it otherwise would be."

Bitcoin nearly hits $10,000. The cryptocurrency hit an overnight high of $9,980 a coin. It's currently up 1.54% at $9,621.

The rand surges after Zuma resigns. The South African rand touched a two-year high of 11.6014 per dollar in overnight action following the news that the country's embattled president, Jacob Zuma, had resigned. 

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway loads up on more Apple. Berkshire upped its holdings of Apple by 23% to 31.2 million shares, a 13F released Wednesday showed. It's stake is now worth $165.3 million.

Cisco's revenue is finally growing again. The computer-networking company said revenue rose 3% year-over-year to $11.9 billion in its fiscal second quarter, reversing a two-year decline.

Chinese markets are closed for the Chinese New Year. They will reopen on Thursday, February 22.

Earnings reports keep coming. Waste Management reports ahead of the opening bell while CBS and Shake Shack release their quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data is heavy. Empire Manufacturing, initial claims, PPI, and the Philly Fed will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before industrial production and capacity utilization cross the wires at 9:15 a.m. ET. The NAHB Housing Market Index is due out at 10 a.m. ET. 

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Here is what you need to know.

Wall Street needs to brace for an even bigger inflation scare. While concerns about inflation and higher interest rates have recently rattled investors, an even bigger shock could emerge in April and May because of what economists describe as an adverse base effect: Because last year was unusually low, the rate of change could be larger than normal.

The 10-year is at its highest level in 4 years. The benchmark yield is up 10 basis points at 2.92% since Wednesday morning's CPI report. It hadn't been that high since January 2014.

Lloyd Blankfein gives Trump credit for the economy. The Goldman Sachs CEO told CNNMoney: "If the president didn't win and Hillary Clinton won ... I bet you the economy is higher today than it otherwise would be."

Bitcoin nearly hits $10,000. The cryptocurrency hit an overnight high of $9,980 a coin. It's now up 1.54% at $9,621.

The rand surges after Zuma resigns. The South African rand touched a two-year high of 11.6014 per dollar in overnight action following the news that the country's embattled president, Jacob Zuma, had resigned.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway loads up on more Apple. Berkshire upped its holdings of Apple by 23% to 31.2 million shares, a 13F released Wednesday showed. Its stake is now worth $165.3 million.

Cisco's revenue is finally growing again. The computer-networking company said revenue rose 3% year-over-year to $11.9 billion in its fiscal second quarter, reversing a two-year decline.

Chinese markets are closed for the Chinese New Year. They will reopen next Thursday.

Earnings reports keep coming. Waste Management reports ahead of the opening bell, while CBS and Shake Shack release their quarterly results after markets close.

US economic data is heavy. Empire Manufacturing, initial claims, PPI, and the Philly Fed will all be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before industrial production and capacity utilization cross the wires at 9:15 a.m. ET. The NAHB Housing Market Index is due out at 10 a.m. ET.

Join the conversation about this story »

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

The post Cryptocurrency Market Records Large Gains, Litecoin Surges by 30% appeared first on CCN

Over the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has recorded large gains, as every major cryptocurrency including bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin recovered in value. Bitcoin and Ethereum Bitcoin demonstrated an 11 percent increase in price, moving closer to the $10,000 mark, which analysts often describe as the psychological threshold for the cryptocurrency.

The post Cryptocurrency Market Records Large Gains, Litecoin Surges by 30% appeared first on CCN

The post Cryptocurrency Market Records Large Gains, Litecoin Surges by 30% appeared first on CCN

Over the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has recorded large gains, as every major cryptocurrency including bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin recovered in value. Bitcoin and Ethereum Bitcoin demonstrated an 11 percent increase in price, moving closer to the $10,000 mark, which analysts often describe as the psychological threshold for the cryptocurrency.

The post Cryptocurrency Market Records Large Gains, Litecoin Surges by 30% appeared first on CCN

The post Cryptocurrency Market Records Large Gains, Litecoin Surges by 30% appeared first on CCN

Over the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has recorded large gains, as every major cryptocurrency including bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin recovered in value. Bitcoin and Ethereum Bitcoin demonstrated an 11 percent increase in price, moving closer to the $10,000 mark, which analysts often describe as the psychological threshold for the cryptocurrency.

The post Cryptocurrency Market Records Large Gains, Litecoin Surges by 30% appeared first on CCN

Having hit two-week highs, bitcoin is now aiming for the $10,000 mark, but further gains may be transient, the charts indicate.

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This is a submitted sponsored story. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned in the content below. Undoubtedly, blockchain has become a subject of great interest and a field of booming innovations. Aside from many bitcoin geeks and pioneering groups, recently more and more financial … Continued

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A spate of major cryptocurrencies are looking to lightning network-like systems as part of an effort to scale their platforms for more transactions.

• Persimmon chief Jeff Fairburn says has said he never wanted his £110 million bonus and announced plans to give away a "substantial" amount of the money to charity.
• "I would like to make it clear that I did not seek these levels of award nor do I consider it right to keep them entirely for myself," said Fairburn.

LONDON — The chief executive of FTSE 100 housebuilder Persimmon has said he never wanted his £110 million bonus and announced plans to give away a "substantial" amount of the money to charity.

Jeff Fairburn said he received the windfall as part of an uncapped bonus scheme which was in place before he became chief executive in 2013.

He said he initially planned to take an "old-fashioned approach" and keep his philanthropy private. 

"It’s now clear that this belief was misplaced and so I am making my plans public and recognise that I should have done so sooner," he said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

"I would like to make it clear that I did not seek these levels of award nor do I consider it right to keep them entirely for myself."

"Once it became apparent that our outperformance would lead to a very significant award for me, I made plans to use a substantial proportion of the total to support the charities that are particularly important to me and my family."

He did not say which charities would receive the money or how much he would give away.

Persimmon's chairman and the head of its pay committee were forced to quit in December last year following outrage over the uncapped pay scheme, which saw three of the firm's top directors earn over £200 million the month previously.

Shares in the housebuilder were up in early on Thursday morning:

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• Shares in Standard Life Aberdeen dive after Lloyds announces withdrawal of assets.
• Lloyds will pull out £109 billion held on behalf of Scottish Widows, the pension business it owns.
• Lloyds was the firm's biggest single client, and its £109 billion stake represents around 17% of Standard Life Aberdeen's assets under management.

LONDON — Shares in Standard Life Aberdeen, one of the UK's largest asset management firms, dived on Thursday after it was announced that Lloyds Bank plans to withdraw a £109 billion portfolio held.

In an announcement to the stock market, Standard Life Aberdeen said that Lloyds has informed it of plans to withdraw the assets, managed on behalf of Scottish Widows, the pensions business owned by Lloyds, because following the recent merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management, it is now a direct competitor.

"Given the merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen has resulted in our assets being managed by a material competitor, it is now appropriate to review our long-term asset management arrangements to ensure they remain up-to-date and that customers continue to receive good service and investment performance," Antonio Lorenzo, Scottish Widows' CEO said in a statement.

Lloyds was the firm's biggest single client, and its £109 billion stake represents around 17% of Standard Life Aberdeen's assets under management.

Here's the statement from Standard Life Aberdeen:

"LBG and Scottish Widows have informed SLA that Scottish Widows and LBG's Wealth business intend to review their long term asset management arrangements including those services that are currently undertaken by certain legacy Aberdeen entities under arrangements covering in aggregate c£109 billion of assets under management (the "AUM") and agreed by Aberdeen with LBG at the time of Aberdeen's acquisition of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership from LBG in 2014."

"We are disappointed by this decision in the context of the strong performance and good service we have delivered for Lloyds Banking Group, Scottish Widows and their customers. We will be discussing the implications of this with Lloyds and Scottish Widows," Keith Skeoch and Martin Gilbert, the co-CEOs of Standard Life Aberdeen said.

SLA's shares cratered at the open following the announcement, falling almost 9%, before recovering. By 8.30 a.m. GMT (3.30 a.m. ET) shares are now down around 5%.

Here's the chart:

Standard Life Aberdeen is the largest British asset manager, looking after assets worth £646 billion in total. The firm was formed in 2017 when Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life merged in a deal worth around £11 billion.

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

• Bitcoin up over 3% on Thursday morning and closing in on $10,000.
• Other cryptocurrencies are also up on Thursday morning, as the crypto sector recovers from a slump in early February.

LONDON — Bitcoin is climbing on Thursday morning and closing in on $10,000 per coin for the first time in just over two weeks.

Bitcoin is up 3.6% against the dollar to $9,825.91 at 7.55 a.m. GMT (2.55 a.m. ET). As the chart at the top shows, bitcoin slumped at the start of February but has been picking up again over the last week or so. It still remains far off its all-time highs of over $19,000 reached just before Christmas.

It's hard to pin an exact reason on bitcoin's recent form. The price dip and then recovery has matched rather tightly the recent drama in the US stock markets, but this may be simply a correlation rather than a causal link.

The London Block Exchange, a startup building a UK-based crypto exchange, writes in its Thursday market update: "Tomorrow is the first day of the Lunar New Year and some families are replacing their red envelopes of cash for bitcoin gifts.

"In each of the past three years, the crypto markets have experienced corrections three weeks before this important day."

Meanwhile, bitcoin continues to be a topic of discussion for many in the financial world. Charlie Munger, the 94-year-old vice chairman of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, called bitcoin "noxious poison" on Wednesday, while Llew Claasen, the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, forecast that the cryptocurrency will go to $40,000.

Here's how the other top 10 cryptocurrencies by trading volume are doing this morning:You can see live cryptocurrency prices here.

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Cisco has released new information about a bitcoin phishing scam that involves websites masquerading as Blockchain.info.

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

1. A top official for a US financial regulator is urging players in the burgeoning cryptocurrency sector to boost their self-policing. Brian Quintenz, a Republican commissioner with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said the industry should consider adopting self-regulatory standards while the government mulls its best approach in policing the new technology-driven space.

2. Russia's En+ Group has invited international banks to pitch for the sale of $1 billion (£720 million) of shares in the company that manages the aluminum and hydropower businesses of Russian businessmen Oleg Deripaska, Reuters reported. Deripaska and family members own 76.6% of En+, which has assets in metals and energy.

3. Fossil's shares soared 79% on Wednesday as short sellers rushed to cover their positions. The watchmaker posted a better-than-expected increase in sales in the fourth quarter of 2017.

4. Apple is in talks to buy storage chips from Yangtze Memory Technologies, a move that would mark the iPhone maker's first buy from a Chinese memory chipmaker. Apple will use these chips in new iPhone models and other products for sale in the Chinese domestic market specifically, the Nikkei reported.

5. Opel, the German carmaker now owned by France's PSA Group , said a new version of its Corsa city car would be built exclusively in Zaragoza, Spain, from 2019. This includes a fully electric version that will start rolling off the production line in 2020.

6. General Electric said that its chief communications officer and senior adviser, Deirdre Latour, would be leaving the company in mid-March to pursue other opportunities. Linda Boff, GE's chief merchandising officer, will take on the added responsibilities as interim head of communications, until a replacement is found.

7. Ghana reported an outbreak of the dangerous H9N2 bird flu virus on a farm in the southwest of the country, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health said. The virus infected and killed 4,225 poultry birds out of a flock of 16,822.

8. 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. 

9. A group of academics and technology experts will soon launch a blockchain-powered network that will reward quality research with its own cryptocurrency called Mosaic. Mosaic, the decentralized network, aims to provide research by the first quarter of this year to an industry struggling with misinformation and lack of quality analysis, said Garrick Hileman, the project's co-founder.

10. Cryptocurrency investors launched a lawsuit against Coincheck, seeking to force the Tokyo-based exchange to allow them to withdraw assets worth $183,000. The money has been frozen after last month's $530 million heist of digital money.

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

• House prices in London are falling.
• That's unusual — prices in the capital have been characterised by decades of turbo-growth.
• Here are the factors driving the slowdown.

LONDON — Something very unusual is happening to house prices in London: they're falling.

New figures from Acadata on Monday reported dramatic price falls in the capital. The data firm said London prices dropped 4.3% in the year to January, the biggest fall since August 2009. That echoes every other major index, with RICS and Nationwide also reporting price falls in recent months.

For two decades, the market has been characterised by turbo-growth. The average house price rocketed nearly 500% from £98,000 in January 1998 to £485,000 in January 2018, compared to the £227,000 UK average:

So what's driving the current slowdown? The answer is a heady mix of sluggish economic data, Brexit uncertainty, and bloated prices. Here's the breakdown.

1. Mortgage problems

"There are two things that are going to fundamentally shape the UK market over the course of the next ten years: Mortgage regulation and interest rates," Lucian Cook told Business Insider last year.

In 2014, the Bank of England introduced rules which ensured banks could only make 15% of mortgages on their books more than 4.5 times the borrower's salary. That makes life particularly hard for buyers in London, where the affordability gap between salaries and house prices is biggest. The ONS says that seven of the 10 least affordable local authorities are in located in the capital.

"Mortgage regulation is designed that people don't overstretch themselves. But what it does is cap the amount people can borrow relative to their income, and that keeps deposits high for first-time buyers and for home-movers generally," Cook said.

2. Brexit uncertainty

Mortgage issues combined with Brexit-related uncertainty are a bad mix for house prices in the capital. Negative sentiment around Britain's EU exit appears to be holding buyers back from moving house and that, in turn, is hitting demand and driving down transaction volumes, meaning the number of houses being bought and sold.

"London’s housing market has been pushing up against the limits of mortgage regulation and affordability for some time," Savills research analyst Lawrence Bowles said last year. "The Brexit vote was the tipping point that slowed price growth."

“Greater economic and political certainty should trigger a return to growth in 2020, though this will be capped by borrowing constraints as gradual increases in the cost of mortgage debt impinge on affordability.”

3. Bloated prices at the top of the market

Prices falls are concentrated in the most expensive areas of London, where a £1 million property counts as a bargain and affordability is the most stretched. The top 11 of London's 33 boroughs are down an average 7% annually, according to Acadata.

Kensington & Chelsea remains the most expensive borough, with an average price of £1,805,000, but prices have fallen sharply there by 12.9% in the last year — more than £200,000. Prices in Camden fell 10.8%, the City of London by 18.2%, and in Wandsworth by 12.7%.

Price falls are much less acute at the lower end of the housing market. The 11 cheapest boroughs have seen a modest fall of 1.3% over the year overall, according to Acadata.

A bounceback in 2020

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

Here are Savills' five-year regional forecasts in full:

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The post Report: Litecoin Gains Popularity on the Dark Web appeared first on CCN

Litecoin, according to a new report published by Recorded Future, is now the second most popular cryptocurrency token on the Dark Web. The report undertook a longitudinal analysis of digital communications avenues available to users on the dark web and found that nearly 30 percent of Dark Web vendors accept Litecoin. Report Findings Whilst Bitcoin

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The post Report: Litecoin Gains Popularity on the Dark Web appeared first on CCN

Litecoin, according to a new report published by Recorded Future, is now the second most popular cryptocurrency token on the Dark Web. The report undertook a longitudinal analysis of digital communications avenues available to users on the dark web and found that nearly 30 percent of Dark Web vendors accept Litecoin. Report Findings Whilst Bitcoin

The post Report: Litecoin Gains Popularity on the Dark Web appeared first on CCN

• Llew Claasen, the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, predicted its namesake cryptocurrency will hit $40,000 a coin by the end of the year, but only after more sideways trading.
• Claasen also predicted that 90% of all other cryptocurrency projects will fail.
• But that failure is OK, he says, because it indicates that people are experimenting and taking risks with cryptocurrencies.

REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA — If you're a bitcoin believer, the head of a key advocacy group for the cryptocurrency had some words on Wednesday to either strengthen or weaken your faith, depending on which part of his remarks you focused on.

On the optimistic side, Llew Claasen, the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, predicted its namesake cryptocurrency will hit $40,000 a coin by the end of the year (it's currently trading above $9,000). On the other hand, Claasen predicted that 90% of all cryptocurrency projects overall will fail.

But even that isn't all that bad, he said.

That kind of failure rate "is not unusual to cyptocurrency," Claasen said in an appearance at the Startup Grind conference. He added that it's an indication that the projects are trying "something new and exciting and super-risky."

Of course, to some degree, the failure rate might also be linked to a growing number of get-rich-quick schemes formulated by scam artists looking to cash in on the cryptocurrency craze. Already this year, some five different cryptocurrency projects have shut down amid accusations of fraud.

Claasen did express some concern about everyday investors "risking life savings on projects that are high risk," and cautioned investors to not invest more in these coins than they can risk losing. But in an interview with Business Insider after his talk, he said he thought the market would sort through such scams and prevent them in the future. Already, investors were learning to avoid such dodgy investments, he said.

"In this case, I do believe this is a problem the market is good at solving," he said.

Claasen is only the latest to predict a high failure rate for cryptocurrency projects. On Tuesday, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of crypto company Ripple, predicted that most digital currencies will eventually become worthless.

Claasen's talk was on what investors should know before investing in bitcoin. He gave his prediction for the currency's eventual value at the end of his session.

He made clear that he didn't think bitcoin would make a steady climb to $40,000 a coin. Instead, he predicted that the volatility the cryptocurrency has seen in the last three months — during which time it hit an all-time high of around $20,000 a coin before losing more than half of its value — would continue for the next three to six months. During that period, bitcoin prices will likely stay flat, he said.

"The market is nervous because of how dramatic the correction was," he said. "That's good. It gives us time to work on the technology before the next bull run."

SEE ALSO: This internet veteran wants to steal Amazon's video business by putting blockchain on 'zombie' computers — and he's already raised $25 million

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NOW WATCH: Economist Ken Rogoff: Cryptocurrencies will eventually be regulated and issued by the government

• Llew Claasen, the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, predicted its namesake cryptocurrency will hit $40,000 a coin by the end of the year, but only after more sideways trading.
• Claasen also predicted that 90% of all other cryptocurrency projects will fail.
• But that failure is OK, he says, because it indicates that people are experimenting and taking risks with cryptocurrencies.

REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA — If you're a bitcoin believer, the head of a key advocacy group for the cryptocurrency had some words on Wednesday to either strengthen or weaken your faith, depending on which part of his remarks you focused on.

On the optimistic side, Llew Claasen, the executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, predicted its namesake cryptocurrency will hit $40,000 a coin by the end of the year (it's currently trading above $9,000). On the other hand, Claasen predicted that 90% of all cryptocurrency projects overall will fail.

But even that isn't all that bad, he said.

That kind of failure rate "is not unusual to cyptocurrency," Claasen said in an appearance at the Startup Grind conference. He added that it's an indication that the projects are trying "something new and exciting and super-risky."

Of course, to some degree, the failure rate might also be linked to a growing number of get-rich-quick schemes formulated by scam artists looking to cash in on the cryptocurrency craze. Already this year, some five different cryptocurrency projects have shut down amid accusations of fraud.

Claasen did express some concern about everyday investors "risking life savings on projects that are high risk," and cautioned investors to not invest more in these coins than they can risk losing. But in an interview with Business Insider after his talk, he said he thought the market would sort through such scams and prevent them in the future. Already, investors were learning to avoid such dodgy investments, he said.

"In this case, I do believe this is a problem the market is good at solving," he said.

Claasen is only the latest to predict a high failure rate for cryptocurrency projects. On Tuesday, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of crypto company Ripple, predicted that most digital currencies will eventually become worthless.

Claasen's talk was on what investors should know before investing in bitcoin. He gave his prediction for the currency's eventual value at the end of his session.

He made clear that he didn't think bitcoin would make a steady climb to $40,000 a coin. Instead, he predicted that the volatility the cryptocurrency has seen in the last three months — during which time it hit an all-time high of around $20,000 a coin before losing more than half of its value — would continue for the next three to six months. During that period, bitcoin prices will likely stay flat, he said.

"The market is nervous because of how dramatic the correction was," he said. "That's good. It gives us time to work on the technology before the next bull run."

SEE ALSO: This internet veteran wants to steal Amazon's video business by putting blockchain on 'zombie' computers — and he's already raised $25 million

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Economist Ken Rogoff: Cryptocurrencies will eventually be regulated and issued by the government

The post Bitcoin Miners Flock to the ‘Buckle of the Power Belt’ appeared first on CCN

Wenatchee, Wash., which a local daily dubbed the ‘Buckle of the Power Belt’ for its vast hydropower potential back in the 1920s, is drawing in bitcoin miners these days. The state’s Columbia River- fueled dams are famous for their hydroelectric power, which produces cheap energy rates and which is an attractive feature for people interested

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