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Bitcoin Magazine, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Millennials welcome new industry dynamics, but they have their own motivations for supporting the ascendancy of open-source, decentralized blockchains, many of which are unique to trends common for their generation. Regardless of the reasons for their backing, millennials are indisputably crucial to the survival of blockchains. Now the largest population on Earth, millennials also enjoy more collective buying power than any other group, with $200 billion in discretionary income in 2017 expected to increase significantly this year. More so than their financial support of blockchain solutions, decentralized ledger technology also speaks to millennial values. While some of their motives for loving blockchain technology are shared with peers, there are additional reasons blockchains cater to millennial tastes over any other audience. Disenfranchisement by the SystemA generation that bears the burden of their predecessors’ financial mishaps, there is significant evidence showing that millennials are poorer than their parents were at the same age. With historically low wage growth and unrelenting inflation, this specific constituency is largely bereft of shelter in one of the biggest financial squalls of all time. Alongside student loan debts of almost $1.5 trillion in the United States alone, many millennials have largely given up hope of a healthy financial future. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies represent a small rebellion to the average millennial — a chance to go against the grain and deploy their money as they see fit. Furthermore, blockchain-based efforts toward disintermediation and reducing the role of centralized authorities is a fitting driver for millennials to embrace these concepts, especially when considering their wariness toward institutionalized corruption. Rejection of Traditional Financial ProductsDespite the volatility of the cryptocurrency market, millennials see it as a more trustworthy alternative to traditional financial products like stocks, bonds and even insurance. There are many reasons why this young group’s preferences swing in the opposite direction of their parents’, but the likeliest is that they witnessed the 2008 financial crisis firsthand and don’t feel comfortable or in control as stakeholders of this system. Who would trust products that can be obscured and manipulated to such a worrisome extent without consequences? Better to participate in a newer market where entrenched stakeholders have less sway. The evidence is resoundingly painted by the numbers when considering more millennials are choosing not to invest at all, keeping their money in cash. In fact, according to a survey of U.S. adults conducted by Bankrate, millennials prefer real estate, cash and even gold ahead of stocks. With bitcoin viewed as digital gold and other digital currencies remaining outside the realm of mainstream finance, it is no wonder that millennials prefer asset classes which distance them from the traditional financial products pushed by Wall Street. Achieve the Pipedream LifestyleOne of the more troublesome trends in the millennial market is that millennials are more willing to spend big, even if they lack the funding to support their lifestyle. Part of the reason is greater exposure to media with a convincing materialistic message, which encourages to find fulfillment in entertainment, vacations, clothes and other luxuries instead. A general lack of money is no barrier to this lifestyle as many see the financial deck stacked against them regardless. Nevertheless, the blockchain sector has found solutions to get around this financial quagmire, letting younger generations enjoy life without having to participate in the status quo. Cool Cousin, for example, is a blockchain project which lets users hire local experts during their vacation and get a great and authentic experience. The service, and platforms like it, leverage millennial ideals to create low-cost alternatives that don’t sacrifice the experiential aspect of the venture because of financial concerns. Tech Savviness and UtilityThe first generation to mature alongside the internet, millennials are a distinctly tech-savvy group. They can understand and appreciate the benefits of blockchain technology, especially its participatory aspect. For younger investors and entrepreneurs alike, the initial coin offering (ICO) model represents a more accessible, democratic way to invest in new ideas or to launch their own, without jumping through the hoops present in the status quo’s investment arena. Millennials are eager to become not just customers but also stakeholders in the applications of tomorrow and have a real knack for picking easier solutions. Blockchains empower millennials to become part of the platforms they believe in and thus create more comprehensive and better models for various technologies. Offering more than simple financial services, this trend has led to an explosion in high-tech offerings which disrupt established paradigms. In the field of computer processing, for instance, Golem provides an intriguing case study in harnessing decentralized network power for broader uses. Participants on the platform earn tokens by sharing processing power and pay tokens for the privilege of using a remote supercomputer that draws on this network’s parallel processing capabilities. Millennials have taken to this new investment model and are determined to see their generation’s crucial apps on the chain. Building a New WorldMore than having a stake in the future, millennials want to use blockchain technology to build it with their own hands. The digital ledger is a revolutionary tool for promoting pure transparency, which is a word that has little relevance to today’s politics, financial markets and business world as a whole. Millennials love the internet, but this also makes them intimately aware of its downsides, namely that it only exacerbates media bias, corporate control and political obfuscation. Many in this age group see open-source blockchain technology as an accountability tool, one that will create a better system for voting, sharing data and advertising for instance. Already, services like Horizon State and others are creating platforms that make voting and other democratic tools more accessible and transparent, further empowering younger generations. Ushering in the FutureMillennials are growing up and can no longer be characterized as the youngest and most naïve generation. They’re waking up to the inequity present in the world and are hyper-aware of the status quo’s faults as well. Blockchains provide not just productive ways for them to air their grievances but also social and financial tools allowing millennials to demonstrate what the problem areas are and, at the same time, exactly how to fix them. While the future for blockchain technology is anything but clear, if millennials have their say, it will not only stick around but grow and flourish. This is a guest post by Reuben Jackson. Opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Media or Bitcoin Magazine. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine. |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
"I think electric cars and autonomous vehicles will be great things," he wrote. Gates then cast doubt on Hyperloop, Elon Musk's proposed high-speed transit system. "I am not sure the hyperloop concept makes sense — making it safe is hard," Gates said. Gates didn't elaborate on the safety issues surrounding Hyperloop and how they will be difficult to solve, but it's easy to see where he may be coming from. First proposed by Elon Musk in a 2013 white paper, Hyperloop would place people in pods and send them through tubes at speeds that could exceed 500 mph. Aside from the safety concerns that could arise from traveling at exceptionally high speeds, Hyperloop would likely rely on a network of underground tunnels that have yet to be built. While Musk's tunneling company, the Boring Company, is trying to build that network, it will need to secure the approval of a large number of local governments. (Some have given approval for test tunnels, others have been skeptical.) Other figures in the transportation industry, like former Delta CEO and current Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson, have cast doubt on Hyperloop. Anderson said Hyperloop wasn't "realistic right now" in September and said infrastructure investment should be focused on repairing bridges and tunnels. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin |
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ExtremeTech, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
AT&T lost its argument to avoid all regulation in court, but it's talking out both sides of its mouth on the subject of paid prioritization. The post AT&T Loses Battle to Cripple FTC Authority, Details Plans for Paid Prioritization appeared first on ExtremeTech. |
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CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The post Coinbase is Sending 13,000 Customer Records Over to the IRS appeared first on CCN Coinbase investors knew this day was coming. The top US cryptocurrency exchange for bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin on Feb. 23 notified the 13,000 affected investors by email, informing them the other shoe had dropped. Coinbase will comply with a judge’s ruling in a California federal court to share customer data of 13,000 of its users … Continued The post Coinbase is Sending 13,000 Customer Records Over to the IRS appeared first on CCN |
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CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The post Coinbase is Sending 13,000 Customer Records Over to the IRS appeared first on CCN Coinbase investors knew this day was coming. The top US cryptocurrency exchange for bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin on Feb. 23 notified the 13,000 affected investors by email, informing them the other shoe had dropped. Coinbase will comply with a judge’s ruling in a California federal court to share customer data of 13,000 of its users … Continued The post Coinbase is Sending 13,000 Customer Records Over to the IRS appeared first on CCN |
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Inc, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST A lawsuit filed against Craig Wright, who claims to have invented bitcoin, on behalf of his dead business partner's estate could reveal the truth, orfalsehood, behind Wright's claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto. |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST 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. The US entertainment giant Comcast surprised global stock markets on Tuesday with a £22 billion ($30 billion) bid for Sky, Rupert Murdoch's European pay-TV giant. Murdoch, who owns 39% of Sky through 21st Century Fox, has beentrying to take full control of Sky and now faces a rival offer. The bid could throw a wrench in the works for Fox's $54 billion deal with Disney to sell assorted media assets, which included Sky. Comcast, led by CEO Brian Roberts, has offered £12.50 a share for Sky, but shares in the London-listed business were trading at £13.39 by early afternoon in London, suggesting investors believe a bidding war will now heat up. That bidding war could pit three of the most powerful men in the media business against one another: Murdoch, Roberts, and Bob Iger, with some analysts now suggesting Disney could make a bid. Here's our story. In related news, a tiny three-partner boutique scored a key role on Comcast's Sky bid. And in other deal news, more than 50 tech startups could IPO this year. Bank of America's top tech banker told us two key reasons for the boom. In markets news, the new Fed chair just made his first public statements — and traders don't like what they heard. "What we've seen is incoming data that suggests a strengthening in the economy," Jerome Powell told members of the House Financial Services Committee. His rosy outlook was enough to prompt markets to become nervous about the prospect of four rather than three rate rises this year. Stocks veered lower, while yields on the 10-year Treasury note, which move opposite to its price, climbed to 2.9%. The US dollar jumped by 0.56% against a basket of major currencies. Elsewhere in markets news:
And in crypto news:
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Bitcoin Magazine, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Malware attacks continue to garner a great deal of attention in the tech world. Short for “malicious software,” its intent is to damage or disable computers and computer systems. Now researchers from the cyber security firm Imperva say they have found the source of 90 percent of remote code execution attacks in December 2017: cryptomining malware. In a blog post dated February 20, 2018, Imperva assesses the recent spike in cryptomining malware attacks. They specifically examine the amount of money the brazen attackers are walking away with, while providing risk management advice to organizations seeking to steer clear of them. Below are some of the key findings:
Varun Badhwar, a security expert and CEO and co-founder of cloud threat defense company RedLock, noted in an emailed statement to Bitcoin Magazine that the skyrocketing value of cryptocurrencies has captured the attention of audiences around the world, including hackers. He believes that it is becoming far more lucrative for hackers to steal computing power for mining cryptocurrencies than to steal data. Badhwar also notes that we are seeing cryptojacking attacks on organizations to leverage the computational power within their networks. This is a much stealthier tactic since the activity often goes unnoticed at large organizations where there is remnant or underutilized computing resources. He cites a number of cryptomining incidents that the RedLock research team has already uncovered within AWS and Azure environments belonging to large multinational organizations such as Gemalto and Aviva. He sees all of this is just the tip of the iceberg and believes that this type of cybercrime will increase in scale and velocity in the near future. “The primary attack vector for these attacks is compromised credentials which are used to infiltrate environments, spin up compute instances and perform mining operations. As a result, organizations should institute stringent user access policies and vigilantly monitor user activities for anomalous behavior,” says Badhwar. Nick Bilogorskiy, senior director of Threat Operations at Cyphort, added in an email response to Bitcoin Magazine: “The story with cryptomining malware and cryptojacking is really about Monero and Electroneum. Bitcoin mining difficulty is already too high and it cannot be mined effectively on CPUs, only on special purpose hardware.” Bilogorskiy says that the price of these cryptos has more than doubled in the last three months, which makes mining it even more profitable. It also helps, he says, that Monero, like Dash and ZCash, are private coins, making them practically untraceable and "safe" for criminals to use. Laments Bilogorskiy: “Cryptomining malware allows attackers to monetize the power of computers that they have compromised. Cryptojacking allows them to reach an even larger scale by taking over the browsers of website visitors.” He concludes: “Increasingly, the energy and the CPU processing power is becoming the new currency of the dark side of the internet. These new crypto attacks are like leeches, sucking the power out of our homes and businesses, crashing computers and melting our phone batteries.” This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine. |
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CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The post Goldman Sachs is Also Sweating on Cryptocurrencies as a ‘Business Risk’ appeared first on CCN Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein might say that the investment banking giant does not have a “Bitcoin strategy,” but the company is now admitting that cryptocurrencies pose a business risk to the firm. Goldman Sachs Lists Cryptocurrencies as Business Risk The firm made this disclosure in a document dated Feb. 26 and filed with the US The post Goldman Sachs is Also Sweating on Cryptocurrencies as a ‘Business Risk’ appeared first on CCN |
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CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The post Bitcoin Millionaire 50 Cent Flips, Denies Owning Cryptocurrency appeared first on CCN In courtroom documents obtained from his bankruptcy hearings, rapper 50 Cent admitted he never owned any Bitcoins. He had previously boasted owning the cryptocurrency, having accepted Bitcoin as payment for his 2014 album, Animal Ambition. Initially reported by TMZ, the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, collected around 700 Bitcoin in Animal Ambition album The post Bitcoin Millionaire 50 Cent Flips, Denies Owning Cryptocurrency appeared first on CCN |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
The airline is offering one-way tickets from New York to European cities like Reykjavik, Iceland, Berlin, London and Paris, that range from $99 to $149. But there's a catch: The low-cost carrier will only sell 800 of the tickets. So if you want to book a cheap flight from the New York area, you have to act fast. The 800 tickets will be divided between Newark Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport, where the airline will begin service on April 27. Here's a list of the available deals: $99
$149
The discounted tickets are available starting today on Wow's website for flights departing between April and June. "We are excited by the success of our Newark Liberty International Airport partnership and are looking forward to offering New Yorkers more flight options with John F. Kennedy International Airport," WOW Air CEO and founder Skúli Mogensen said in a statement. "As always, our goal is to make travel more affordable and accessible providing high-value to those looking to expand their horizons through traveling the world." WOW Air's low-cost model means the airline offers discounted fares regularly and buyers can generally get affordable tickets year-round. But the carrier has become known for its sales where it offers a limited amount of tickets for extremely discounted prices. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin |
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Bitcoin Magazine, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Tezos Foundation, the Zug, Switzerland-based nonprofit that governs the now $1 billion worth of assets for Tezos, a blockchain project that has yet to launch, just added to its board four new members: Olaf Carlson-Wee, Pascal Cléré, Marylene Micheloud and Hubertus Thonhauser. In addition to the two new members announced last week, this brings the total number of people sitting on the foundation board to seven. “The four new board members bring a tremendous amount of experience and know-how into the foundation, both in terms of technology and leadership. I am looking forward to working closely with them to assist in the timely launch of the Tezos network,” said Ryan Jasperson, Tezos Foundation president, in a statement. The Foundation now has reorganized completely with all three of the original members, including former president Johann Gevers, gone. It also strongly resembles T2, the seven-member rival foundation introduced by Jasperson last month in an effort to wrestle control away from Gevers, the previous president. Since October 2017, Gevers and Tezos founders Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, who control the Tezos proprietary code through a Delaware corporation, were locked in a bitter battle. Among the new members of the Tezos Foundation is Carlson-Wee, the founder of Polychain Capital, a cryptocurrency hedge fund and early backer for the Tezos project, having purchased tokens well in advance of the ICO. Carlson-Wee offered to serve on the Tezos Foundation board in December 2017 but apparently was rejected by Gevers. Micheloud, the only woman on the board, is a retired Swiss computer scientist; Cléré is an executive at Alstom Digital Mobility; and Thonhauser is a partner at a venture capital firm in Dubai. The addition of the new members should help to clear a path for the long-awaited launch of the Tezos network, which will enable contributors to the project to redeem their “tezzies” tokens and begin trading, perhaps getting a return on some of the funds they put into the ICO, originally pitched as a “fundraiser.” In its statement announcing the new members, the Foundation did not mention a timeline for the launch. Although, Kathleen Breitman may have hinted at a launch in the next few weeks, last week, she told The Wall Street Journal that Tezos does not have a launch date yet. While the emergence of an all-new Tezos Foundation appears to indicate a win for the organizers of the Tezos project, the Breitmans have yet to make any official statements on the rapid change of events in the last week. The couple have also not said anything about whether they have reached a settlement over the large bonus that Gevers tried to claim for himself in September 2017. The project is still facing several class action lawsuits accusing them of selling securities. Although the Breitmans previously asked the foundation for help in covering the legal fees surrounding those lawsuits, the new foundation board members have not yet commented on what their policy will be in footing those bills. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine. |
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Bitcoin Magazine, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The most important question to ask any decentralized blockchain protocol is: “How do you protect your protocol from ‘incumbent’ companies?” While many emerging protocols promise disintermediated commercial interactions between people, it is critical that these protocols are weary of corporate giants with FOMO. After all, most decentralized protocols are open-source – copying their code is free and 100 percent legal. A Stark Ideological JuxtapositionThere is a disconnect between the utopian ideologies of decentralized “Web 3.0” developers and the ideologies of those whose livelihood depends on traditional business models. For “Web 3.0” developers, their goal is to create a decentralized protocol that maximizes value for users and removes middlemen. However, for those whose traditional business model is built around fungible services or middlemen economics, decentralization is a threat. Quick Example: Decentralized Cloud StorageAmazon, Microsoft and Google are gatekeepers to the $25 billion cloud storage industry, estimated to reach a total market size of $92 billion by 2021. These corporations rely on a traditional dollar-for-service business model and proprietary infrastructure to create a profit. There are two major problems with cloud storage in 2018: sensitive data is stored on centralized servers, and it is susceptible to single points of failure. In 2017, major security breaches plagued headlines: hackers exposed both the sensitive data of 143 million Equifax users, and the personal information of 57 million Uber users stored on Amazon’s servers (which Uber tried to cover up by paying the hackers a $100,000 ransom). However, decentralized cloud storage promises a cheaper, safer way for users to store their data. Sia, Storj, Filecoin and MaidSafe are all protocols promising decentralized cloud storage. Decentralized Cloud Storage ModelInstead of storing their information on the servers of large corporations, users can securely store their data on decentralized clouds utilizing peer-to-peer networks. For example, users with extra hard drive space can rent out their space as a place for other users to store their information, similar to an Airbnb for data. The decentralized cloud storage model has several benefits:
How the Incumbents RetaliateShould any of these decentralized cloud storage providers steal significant market share away from the incumbents, there will be blood. Imagine a scenario at Amazon that goes something like this: Intern: Mr. Bezos, have you heard about Sia? Due to their lower hosting rates and network effect, they’ve taken away 10 percent of the cloud storage market in the last year. (This percentage has been exaggerated for effect and roughly translates to $2.5 billion in 2018.) Jeff Bezos: How do we stop them? Intern: Well, because these decentralized protocols are open-source, they’ve essentially done all of the work for us. We don’t have to go out and build a protocol. Instead, we can use the one that Sia has already created. All we have to do is “fork” their code ... In the context of decentralized protocols, a “fork” is a change to the software of a decentralized protocol that creates two separate versions of the blockchain with a shared history. We will legally download and copy Sia’s open-source code and use it for a decentralized Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosting protocol. The best part is that any “fork” of Sia will be available to customers automatically (because the blockchain keeps a shared history), should the customers desire to switch. So, we will be able to acquire existing Sia users seamlessly. Not to mention that the Amazon brand has a much larger network effect than Sia and over a million users of our centralized cloud storage. Jeff Bezos: Maniacal laugh The Cost of Switching ProtocolsWhen deciding between decentralized protocols, key factors considered by users are:
In this fictional example, Nicolas, a user of standard sophistication who has experience storing data in the cloud, is searching for a decentralized cloud storage provider in 2021. He is deciding between the Sia protocol and the fictional Decentralized Amazon Web Services (DAWS) protocol, Amazon’s “fork” of Sia. Instinctively, Nicolas compares cloud storage prices between both protocols. DAWS costs around $0.75 per TB per month, and Sia costs around $1 per TB per month. DAWS is fractionally cheaper. Unbeknownst to the public, Amazon has elected to run DAWS at a loss, supplementing this strategic decision to maintain the lowest price with revenue from its other lines of business. Sia, on the other hand, charges slightly higher rates. Even though the protocol is operating “at cost,” network fees to maintain the protocol are higher than those of DAWS. Sia can’t run their protocol at a loss because they aren’t a conglomerate and have no other supplemental business units. To Nicolas, decentralized AWS seems like a “better” option, because it comes with additional AWS features and functionality that he is already familiar with. Nicolas already knows AWS, and has been an Amazon Prime customer for a few years. He is aware of the late-2016 AWS Uber hack, but Amazon has assured the public that they are taking all precautions necessary to secure data. Besides, DAWS offers cryptographically encrypted, decentralized cloud storage. Nicolas’s data isn’t being held by Amazon, but by a third party. The DAWS protocol is just facilitating an Airbnb-style open market for data. Nicolas spends equal time exploring Sia’s website, but doesn’t see an order of magnitude better (around 10x better) value proposition. He decides to use the DAWS protocol. Millions of other users searching for decentralized cloud storage go through a similar process, and the majority also chooses DAWS. Decentralized storage providers (the ones who offer their hard drive space) also prefer DAWS because the protocol offers higher returns on rented-out storage space than Sia. Jeff Bezos wins again, so does the Amazon platform, and so do all his users. How Does a Decentralized Protocol Protect Itself?This is tricky. There is a fine line between maintaining the open-source nature of the decentralized “Web 3.0,” while protecting intellectual property and code. Not to mention, keeping incumbent corporations with FOMO from “incumbent forking” protocols. Open-source movements are phenomenal because they truly inspire world-changing collaboration. But, there is a cost. What happens when source code –– a protocol’s only proprietary technology –– can be legally downloaded, copied and used commercially by another group? How are startups supposed to disrupt industries when industry incumbents have legal access to their secret sauce? If society truly becomes open-source, the only factors that will keep protocols defensible in the long term are an exceptionally talented team, a loyal community and significant network effect. Perhaps new open-source licenses (similar to the MIT License) can be developed, with provisions that somehow prohibit cold-blooded corporations with FOMO from forking protocols and taking commercial advantage of a decentralized movement (oh, the irony). I believe in decentralization and the open-source movement, but I’m playing devil’s advocate. The purpose of this piece is to elicit a response from open-source protocols –– and to begin discussions about defensibility in a decentralized world. Sia is only one example of many open-source protocols that can be forked by an incumbent company. It would not be surprising if executives of incumbent companies will be more concerned with their bottom lines and expenses, rather than the “fair practice” and decorum of open-source projects. So, we, as a community looking to ensure longevity of the decentralized movement, must consider this crux before corporations make their moves and potentially begin “incumbent forking” protocols. This is an opinion piece by Erik Kuebler. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Media or Bitcoin Magazine. Erik Kuebler holds Sia tokens. This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine. |
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CoinDesk, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST A cryptocurrency brokerage based in Israel won't have its bank account closed – for now – thanks to an intervention by the Supreme Court. |
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Engadget, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani is the CIO of the Private Wealth Management Group at Goldman Sachs where she guides the investment strategy for clients with over $10 million in assets. Mossavar-Rahmani joined Business Insider's Sara Silverstein to discuss cryptocurrencies. Following is a transcript of the video. Sara Silverstein: And are your clients worried and are they are they interested in cryptocurrencies? Are they interested in bitcoin? Are they worried that it's gonna destroy the market? What are you hearing from clients? And what's your point of view? Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani: Cryptocurrencies are the hot topic. One of our colleagues, Mary Rich, has actually spent a lot of time on it and — She's so much in demand, because everybody wants to talk to her and learn more about cryptocurrencies, learn about blockchain. Our view is that while we like the concept of blockchain, and think it will evolve into a useful tool for companies, for the financial industry, we think cryptocurrencies in their current format, meaning that in the current incarnation, are in a bubble. We actually have a couple of very interesting exhibits in our report. And the report is available for any of your viewers who would like to see it on the Goldman Sachs website. And we show the returns of cryptocurrencies against other asset classes that have been in bubble territory. So for example, we compare it to the TOPIX in 1990. We compare it to the Nasdaq in 2000. And what you can see is that, basically, these other big bubbles that we've had look like a flat line, even compared to tulip bulb prices, tulip mania in the 1600s, which was a bubble. We always talk about tulip mania. The bitcoin prices are astronomical. Then we compare that to Ether, and Ether is even more astronomical. So clearly, these valuations don't make sense to us. In addition, we think that these currencies have major shortcomings. Is there room for a digital currency, maybe sponsored by one of the major central banks like the Federal Reserve? Yes. Could it be incredibly useful? Could it reduce transaction costs? Yes. But not these ones. Silverstein: And how connected is it to the rest of the market, could there be if all of it blows up? Will it impact other people's portfolios? Mossavar-Rahmani: That's an excellent question. And clients ask us if the dot-com bubble bursts or when subprime mortgages led to the downdraft and eventually the global financial crisis, could we see something similar from the impact of cryptocurrencies coming down? But cryptocurrencies are a much smaller part of the global economy, whether you compare it to US GDP or global GDP, it's less than 1% of global GDP. And so in terms of the impact, it'll have some impact. There are a lot of people who have set up various exchanges, infrastructure, hedge funds in that space, so obviously, they will get hurt. But it's a very, very small part of global GDP. |
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CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The post Litecoin Price Posts Lonely Decline as LitePay Debit Card Launch Fails appeared first on CCN The Litecoin price posted a lonely decline on Tuesday after LitePay’s much-anticipated debit card launch was scrubbed at the last minute and delayed indefinitely. Litecoin Price Makes Lonely Retreat The cryptocurrency markets continued to shake off their weekend slump on Tuesday, and most large-cap cryptocurrencies posted strong returns against the US dollar. But while the The post Litecoin Price Posts Lonely Decline as LitePay Debit Card Launch Fails appeared first on CCN |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
Pagaya, a New York-based asset manager, landed $75 million in debt financing from Citigroup, the Wall Street giant, the company announced Tuesday. The company said it would use the funds for its so-called Opportunity Fund, which will utilize nascent technologies such as machine-learning and big data to invest in loans originated by tech lenders such as Prosper and LendingClub. The peer-to-peer lending space has experienced significant growth over the last five years, propelled by low interest rates. Still, money managers face a question: Which loans are worth backing? That's where Pagaya comes in. They use technology to help clients figure out which loans are worth investing in based off their risk profile. "Traditional models of asset management don't serve the needs of institutional investors in a digital age," said Pagaya's cofounder Gal Krubiner. "Pagaya's track record in delivering consistent, positive returns to LPs since inception is a testament to our advanced approach." A spokeswoman declined to comment specifically on those returns. Still, the company which was launched less than two years ago has raised $200 million in capital. "We are proud to support Pagaya as it grows and launches new initiatives," Ari Rosenberg, head of consumer finance at Citi, said in a statement. "This transaction is a great example of the continuing evolution of consumer credit as an asset class and growth opportunity." Rosenberg isn't blowing smoke. Consumer borrowing is up big, according to a Wall Street Journal report. As noted by the Journal, consumer debt increased by 5.5% in the fourth quarter of 2017 from the prior year to $3.82 trillion - the highest level since the Fed started tracking it in 1999. SEE ALSO: Messaging app Telegram says it'll offer investors a refund if its ICO flops — but there's a catch Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin |
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Inc, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST "Im a keep it real I forgot I did that," he wrote on Instagram at the time. (Only, maybe it wasn't so "real.") |
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TechCrunch, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
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CoinDesk, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Bitcoin cash is on the rise amid rising volumes, but can it break out of the bearish falling-channel pattern? |
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CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The post Сryptocurrency Wallet Rahakott Has Added Two More Currencies: Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin appeared first on CCN This is a paid-for submitted press release. CCN does not endorse, nor is responsible for any material included below and isn’t responsible for any damages or losses connected with any products or services mentioned in the press release. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned The post Сryptocurrency Wallet Rahakott Has Added Two More Currencies: Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin appeared first on CCN |
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CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The post Сryptocurrency Wallet Rahakott Has Added Two More Currencies: Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin appeared first on CCN This is a paid-for submitted press release. CCN does not endorse, nor is responsible for any material included below and isn’t responsible for any damages or losses connected with any products or services mentioned in the press release. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned The post Сryptocurrency Wallet Rahakott Has Added Two More Currencies: Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin appeared first on CCN |
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CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The post Bitcoin Price Leads $30 Billion Market Rally appeared first on CCN The cryptocurrency market cap gained $30 billion on Tuesday, bolstered by a comprehensive advance that saw more than 80 of the 100 largest coins and tokens rise against the value of the US dollar. The Bitcoin price was the day’s headliner, soaring 10 percent to threaten the $11,000 threshold, but a number of other cryptocurrencies … Continued The post Bitcoin Price Leads $30 Billion Market Rally appeared first on CCN |
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CryptoCoins News, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST The post Owning Bitcoin Gets Easier in 2018 with Cold Storage Coins™ appeared first on CCN This is a paid-for submitted press release. CCN does not endorse, nor is responsible for any material included below and isn’t responsible for any damages or losses connected with any products or services mentioned in the press release. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned … Continued The post Owning Bitcoin Gets Easier in 2018 with Cold Storage Coins™ appeared first on CCN |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
The series A round was led by New Enterprise Associates, which was joined by 8VC, Amgen Ventures, Pear Ventures, Lux Capital, Menlo Ventures, Allen & Company, Nest.Bio, Omega Funds, Goodman Capital, and LifeForce Capital. Senti CEO Tim Lu, who is also a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and runs the Synthetic Biology Group, told Business Insider that the startup's aim is to create "circuits" using synthetic biology that could better program cell therapies — in which human cells are injected into the body — to be safer and more effective when treating conditions including cancer and autoimmune diseases. Supercharging cell therapiesThe work Senti's doing is part of a new area of medicine known as cell therapies. In 2017, the Food and Drug Administration first approved two highly personalized cancer versions of cell therapy, known as CAR T-cell therapy (CAR is short for chimeric antigen receptor). These treatments — approved for certain forms of blood cancer — aren't your run-of-the-mill pill that can be mass produced. Since the therapy is made from a person's own immune system, the process can take about three weeks. To start, a doctor removes some white blood cells, the part of our body's immune system responsible for combatting infections and foreign substances, from a patient. In a healthy body, the immune system can recognize abnormal, cancerous cells, but for people with cancer, it doesn't recognize that the cells are spreading. Then the cells are taken to a manufacturing facility at which point the cells are reengineered to recognize cancer cells and wipe them out. Those reprogrammed cells are sent back and administered to the patient. What Senti wants to do is reprogram those cells using synthetic biology in a more complex way, by creating "circuits" that could go after more than one aspect of a person's cancer, potentially adapting as well to the changes within it and making it safer to use. Synthetic biology is based on the idea that we can now program cells to do what we want. In that way, it's like computer code, except for instead of 1s and 0s, it's A, T, C, and G, the building blocks that make up DNA. Staying in the world of computer programming, the difference between the cell therapies that exist today and the ones Senti wants to build is essentially the difference between a computer program that can simply say "Hello world," and one that can be responsive, Lu said. These circuits could then be applied to either the super personalized treatments or possibly one day treatments that are mass produced so that patients could be treated without having to wait a few weeks. Lu said the funding will be used to get its results and get them ready to one day go into clinical trials, as well as help the company build up its platform for programming cells. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
On Tuesday, Nomad raised $12 million in its series B round led by Polaris Partners. First Round Capital, RRE Ventures. .406 Ventures, which had invested in Nomad's $4 million Series A in 2016, joined in the series B round as well. Connecting doctors to hospitals that need them in the US is critical, especially as the country is expected to face a shortage of 90,000 physicians by 2025. Nomad currently works with about 30,000 doctors and 1,500 medical facilities in 12 states. The aim with this next round is to continue the geographic expansion for both nurses and doctors, with the goal of being in all 50. "It gets us close to that with this financing," Nazem told Business Insider. The plan is to use the funding to keep building out their product, which connects freelance medical professionals to facilities that need extra help. How freelance healthcare worksRight now, temporary healthcare jobs are usually connected via agencies. The process can take a long time, and it requires doctors to provide a lot of information along the way. It can also be expensive for the health systems that have to pay to find the workers. These agencies also don't connect doctors to telemedicine jobs, which is where Nazem said Nomad can step in. Altogether, the market for temporary healthcare staff is about $15 billion, according to Nomad. Instead of going through agencies, Nomad uses a site to connect doctors and nurses to healthcare systems directly. Doctors can search for gigs by specifying which state they want to work in, or which electronic medical-records system they know best, among other filters. On the flip side, healthcare providers can supply a lot of information about the job in hopes of finding someone who's interested. Through the site, the two parties can directly negotiate a contract that works for them, with Nomad helping by providing malpractice insurance for the doctors. In the end, Nomad takes a 15% cut, a rate much lower than the typical 30-40% commission brokers and agencies take. The goal is to take over that market to become the go-to resource and "dominant player" in the temporary healthcare marketplace, Nazem said. DON'T MISS: The entire healthcare business is being redrawn — and it's anybody's guess what's going to happen next Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
Here is what you need to know. Jerome Powell testifies before Congress. Fed Chair Jerome Powell kicks off his semi-annual Humphrey Hawkins hearing on Tuesday, appearing before the House Financial Services Committee. He will conclude on Thursday with the Senate Banking Committee. Morgan Stanley has a new market outlook that defies both Goldman Sachs and Warren Buffett. Morgan Stanley says the worst of the bond market sell-off is over, conflicting with bearish commentary floated by both Goldman Sachs and the billionaire investor Warren Buffett. New home prices in China's largest cities keep falling. New home prices in China’s largest cities continued to fall in January, weighed down by a raft of buying and selling restrictions introduced by regulators from late 2016 to curb speculative activity in these markets. Prosecutors demand a 30-year prison term for South Korean President Park Geun-hye. If found guilty of charges including bribery and abuse of power, Park would be the third South Korean president convicted of crimes, the AP says. Warren Buffett offers his 'strongest argument' against a practice investors are doing in record numbers. Margin-debt balances — loans individual investors take from their brokers to beef up their portfolios and maximize returns — rose to a record $665.72 billion in January, according to data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. 50 Cent reportedly told bankruptcy court he never owned bitcoin. Rapper 50 Cent told bankruptcy court that media reports "falsely stated" he made $8 million in bitcoin and that he has "never owned, and does not own, a bitcoin account or any bitcoins, and to the best of his knowledge, none of his companies had a bitcoin account from 2014 to the present." Comcast opens a bidding war for Sky with a surprise offer. Comcast announced its bid on Tuesday, offering £12.50 ($17.46) per share, or £22.1 billion ($30.7 billion). That represents a 16% premium to the current offer from Disney. Stock markets around the world trade mixed. Japan's Nikkei (+1.07%) outperformed in Asia and Germany's DAX (-0.16%) trails in Europe. Earnings reports keep coming. Macy's and Toll Brothers report ahead of the opening bell while Weight Watchers releases its quarterly results after markets close. US economic is heavy. Durable good orders will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before S&P home price and consumer confidence cross the wires at 9 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. ET respectively. The US 10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.87%. |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
Here is what you need to know. Jerome Powell testifies before Congress. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell kicks off his semiannual Humphrey-Hawkins hearing on Tuesday, appearing before the House Financial Services Committee. He will conclude Thursday with the Senate Banking Committee. Morgan Stanley has a new market outlook that defies both Goldman Sachs and Warren Buffett. Morgan Stanley says the worst of the bond market sell-off is over, conflicting with bearish commentary floated by both Goldman Sachs and the billionaire investor Warren Buffett. New-home prices in China's largest cities keep falling. New-home prices in China’s largest cities continued to fall in January, weighed down by a raft of buying and selling restrictions introduced by regulators from late 2016 to curb speculative activity in these markets. Prosecutors demand a 30-year prison term for former South Korean President Park Geun-hye. If found guilty of charges including bribery and abuse of power, Park would be the third South Korean president convicted of crimes, the Associated Press says. Warren Buffett offers his 'strongest argument' against a practice investors are doing in record numbers. Margin-debt balances — loans individual investors take from their brokers to beef up their portfolios and maximize returns — rose to a record $665.72 billion in January, according to data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. 50 Cent reportedly told bankruptcy court he never owned bitcoin. The rapper 50 Cent apparently told bankruptcy court that media reports "falsely stated" he made $8 million in bitcoin and that he had "never owned, and does not own, a bitcoin account or any bitcoins, and to the best of his knowledge, none of his companies had a bitcoin account from 2014 to the present." Comcast opens a bidding war for Sky with a surprise offer. Comcast announced its bid Tuesday, offering £12.50 ($17.46) a share, or £22.1 billion ($30.7 billion). That represents a 16% premium to an offer from 21st Century Fox. Stock markets around the world trade mixed. Japan's Nikkei (+1.07%) outperformed in Asia, and Germany's DAX (-0.16%) trails in Europe. Earnings reports keep coming. Macy's and Toll Brothers report ahead of the opening bell, while Weight Watchers releases its quarterly results after markets close. US economic data is heavy. Durable-good orders will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before S&P home price and consumer confidence cross the wires at 9 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.87%. |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak admitted in a talk that he was scammed out of several bitcoins by a scammer using a common technique. The Economic Times reports that Wozniak spoke at the newspaper's global business summit, and during his on-stage appearance he discussed cryptocurrency. "The blockchain identifies who has bitcoins, Wozniak said, "that doesn't mean there can't be fraud though." "I had seven bitcoins stolen from me through fraud. Somebody bought them from me online through a credit card and they cancelled the credit card payment. It was that easy! And it was from a stolen credit card number so you can never get it back." Wozniak's seven missing bitcoins equate to around $74,000 (£53,000) in lost money. That likely won't be a concern for Wozniak, though, who is worth around $100 million (£71 million), according to CNBC. Wozniak said that he sold all but one of his bitcoins. "I didn't want to watch the price everyday … I sold all except one. It was enough to experiment," he said. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: What it's like to pretend to live on Mars for 8 months |
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CoinDesk, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST As bullish indicators strengthen, bitcoin now looks set to extend gains to $11,000 or higher, chart analysis indicates. |
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CoinDesk, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Cryptocurrency VC firm Digital Currency Group has confirmed an investment in bitcoin startup-friendly Silvergate Bank. |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
The tiny advisory firm, founded just four years ago by former Morgan Stanley and UBS bankers Sir Simon Robey and Simon Warshaw, has landed a series of huge deals in recent years. The latest is a role advising Comcast on its surprise £22 billion ($30.7 billion) bid for Sky. Comcast announced its bid on Tuesday, offering £12.50 per share for the company. Investment banks Evercore and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are working on the deal alongside Robey Warshaw. Comcast's bid represents a premium of £1.45 on Monday's closing price for Sky shares and a 16% premium on the current offer from Murdoch's 21st Century Fox. Robey Warshaw's role on the offer suggests 2018 could be another bumper year for the Mayfair-based partnership. The firm brought in £72.7 million in revenue in the year ended March 31, 2017, an increase of around 70% on the previous year, after scoring roles on a series of huge takeover deals. The firm advised Reckitt Benckiser on its $17 billion offer for baby-formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition, among others. The performance translated to huge sums for employees.The firm paid out £8.9 million in salaries to its 13 staff members last year, giving an average pay packet of £684,000. Meanwhile, the three partners do not draw salaries but instead take a slice of the profits. The highest earner took home £37.3 million last year, according to accounts filed in January, which is more than the firm's total profit of £36.6 million in 2016. The partners shared a total profit pool of £63.3 million ($85.2 million) last year. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
The bank disclosed the spending in its full-year results on Tuesday. Virgin Money said it expects to begin testing its new digital bank in the second half of the year. App-only banks have become one of the hottest trends in finance over recent years, with fully licensed players such as Monzo, Atom, and Starling Bank springing up and aspiring banks such as Tandem and Revolut also pulling in users. Virgin, itself a challenger brand, is jumping on the digital bandwagon, hoping that its new digital bank will "allow us to expand into the current account and linked primary savings markets." The bank said in its results: "The Virgin Money digital bank will be underpinned by next-generation technology and architecture, offering customers a Universal Account that can be personalised to create a unique proposition tailored to individual needs." Virgin Money partnered with core banking startup 10X, which was founded by former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins, in November 2016 to help develop the new bank. Virgin is not the first High Street lender to develop a digital side brand. Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks launched a digital-only current account, B, early last year. Virgin Money's full-year results show a 13.5% rise in income to £666 million last year and a 28% rise in pre-tax profit to £273.3 million. CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia said in a statement: "We generated market-beating growth across our core products as we continued to capture high-quality market share in mortgages and credit cards. "Broadening our customer appeal through the development of our SME and digital bank propositions will provide access to a wider pool of UK retail banking revenues and further diversify our funding base." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
The elder de Rothschild, 75, will hand over chairmanship to his son Alexandre, 37, in the summer, according to a report from the Financial Times on Tuesday. Alexandre, who is current executive deputy chairman at Rothschild, first joined the bank during the financial crisis in 2008, moving from private equity firm Argan Capital, where he was a manager for around three years. Prior to that, he worked briefly for the now defunct bank Bear Sterns. According to Rothschild's website, Alexandre was appointed to the bank "to focus primarily on the establishment of the Rothschild Merchant Banking division." Rothschild declined to comment on the FT's report. The investment bank is one of the oldest in the world, having been founded over 200 years ago by Mayer Amschel Rothschild, after which five of his sons established banking businesses around Europe. Rothschild & Co. is the financial holding company for all the family's banking interests, covering investment banking, corporate banking, private equity, asset management, and private banking. It had a half-year revenue of €852 million, according to its most recent results. The firm has roughly 2,800 employees in 40 countries, according to its website. You can read the Financial Times' full story here. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
Comcast announced its bid on Tuesday, offering £12.50 ($17.45) per share for the company. The bid represents a premium of £1.45 ($2.02) on Monday's closing price for Sky shares and a 16% premium on the current offer from Murdoch's 21st Century Fox. The deal would value Sky at £22.1 billion ($30.9 billion). Sky's shares jumped over 18% at the open in London on Tuesday to trade above Comcast's offer price, suggesting investors now anticipate a bidding war.
Comcast, which owns TV networks such as E! and NBC, as well as Universal Pictures, said the deal represents a "strategic opportunity to acquire a leading content and distribution business in the UK and Europe." Brian L. Roberts, Comcast's chairman and CEO, said in a statement: "We think Sky is an outstanding company. It has 23 million customers, leading positions in the UK, Italy and Germany, and is a consistent innovator in its use of technology to deliver its customers a great experience. "Sky has a proud record of investment in news and programming. It has great people and a very strong and capable management team." Liberum's media analyst Ian Whittaker said in a note to clients on Tuesday morning: "There is a strong rationale for Comcast to acquire Sky as it would give it immediate leadership positions in the UK, German and Italian Pay-TV markets and a presence in Spain. "At the moment, Comcast does have presence in these markets mainly through its NBC Universal film and TV assets but this would give it a very powerful distribution pan-European network." Crashing Murdoch's deal
Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox owns 39.1% of Sky, which Murdoch helped found in the 1990s. Murdoch has long coveted the remaining 61%, with a previous £8 billion ($11.2 billion) takeover attempt was derailed by the News of the World phone-hacking scandal in 2011. 21st Century Fox restarted takeover plans at the end of 2o16 but has repeatedly run up against regulatory hurdles. The competition watchdog said in January that the deal would be "against the public interest" as it would give the Murdoch family too much control over UK media. Fox has already agreed on paper to sell its stake in Sky to Disney as part of a $52.4 billion (£37.5 billion) package of film and TV assets. At the time the deal was announced, 21st Century Fox said it remained "committed to completing its proposed acquisition of the shares in Sky it does not own." Comcast was one of the interested bidders in Fox's entertainment assets, according to multiple reports. Comcast 'confident' it can get the deal doneOne of the competition watchdog's main objections to Murdoch taking full control of Sky was the fact that he could exert pressure on Sky News' editorial line. The 86-year-old already fully owns The Times of London, The Sun, and The Wall Street Journal, and the UK watchdog feared full control of Sky would give him too much potential control. Comcast's Roberts said in a statement: "We are confident that we will be able to receive the necessary regulatory approvals."
Liberum's Whittaker said: "We expect this deal to go through as we do not think Fox (or Disney, who are acquiring the Sky assets as part of their purchase of various Fox assets) will want to get into a bidding war, especially given the complications surrounding Sky News." Comcast said it plans to keep Sky headquartered in Osterly, will maintain its current staffing levels, and will invest in creating more high-quality content. Roberts said Comcast thinks the Sky deal could increase the US giant's international revenues from 9% of sales to 25%. Roberts said: "We hold the management of Sky in high regard and would welcome the opportunity to meet with them and the independent directors of Sky to discuss our plans for the business, particularly with respect to maintaining Sky's strong platform in the UK. In due course, we very much hope that the independent directors will recommend our proposal." Boutique London firm Robey Warshaw advised Comcast on the offer, as well as investment banks Evercore and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Ken Rogoff on the next financial crisis and the future of bitcoin |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
While bitcoin steals most of the headlines, with wild price swings making and breaking fortunes by the hour, a hard core of extra-secure currencies are starting to worry police forces the world over even more. Two major law enforcement agencies briefing Business Insider named the same currencies when asked what developments in crypto technology worried them the most: monero, zcash and dash. Monero (market cap $4.5 billion) is a cryptocurrency created in 2014 that uses a harder-to-trace blockchain than bitcoin, and is easier to switch with other units. Zcash (market cap $1.4 billion) was built in 2016 and is not completely private by default, but has features which can flip the currency to a "shielded" variant making it hard to trace. Dash (market cap $4.9 billion), formerly known as darkcoin, was originally derived from litecoin but has significantly more privacy features. Jarek Jacubchek, a cybercrime analyst at Europol, the unified European police agency, told us: "We can see a quite obvious and distinct shift from bitcoin to cryptocurrencies that can provide a higher level of privacy." "So basically, you can achieve a higher level of privacy using these 'altcoins', and these altcoins are either using stealth as the basis, like monero. There are also coins like dash that do not have stealth addresses, they have transparent addresses, but they have a mixing process that is part of the protocol." The problem with this is that it means police forces can't easily tie transactions to individuals, which limits their ability to identify suspects, to gather evidence of criminality, or to seize criminal proceeds.
His comments echo those of Detective Inspector Tim Court of London's Metropolitan Police, who named monero in a briefing to crime reporters late last year. Though he didn't specify others, Court added: "We see on certain dark marketplaces some cryptocurrencies being openly pushed because they offer an extra layer of anonymity." Both zcash and dash fit this profile. Many of the platforms trading in these currencies actively resist efforts by police to acquire information from them, Court said, in contrast to more mainstream crypto infrastructure which has established procedures for providing information. Jacubchek explained that using altcoins is a mark of sophistication in criminal organisations, not least because they need to use multiple exchanges and multiple currencies in order to access the high-privacy coins like monero. Both men also emphasised that no cryptocurrency is inherently criminal, but are tools which can be used for ill, and these three seem especially prone to it. Bitcoin is overwhelmingly still the medium in question, according to analysts. Tom Robinson, the cofounder of cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic, told Business Insider that "the vast majority of illicit activity in cryptocurrencies is still taking place in bitcoin, because of its ease of exchange and more advance infrastructure." But bitcoin exchanges are increasingly using the same stringent checks which much of the traditional finance world uses: requiring ID, proof of address, and in some cases even a selfie, before they will let you do business. At the same time, police forces are getting faster, more diligent and more competent at tracing cryptocurrency transactions in bitcoin. As a result, many criminals who think they are being sneaky by using bitcoin actually create more of a paper trail and hasten their own capture, according to Jacubchek, who helps police from EU member states carry out traces. The flipside to this is that well-organised criminals are moving even further into technology that can frustrate the efforts of police forces to catch them, and put them even further beyond the reach of the law. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: I've used the iPhone for 10 years and these are my favorite tips and tricks |
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Business Insider, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST
While bitcoin steals most of the headlines, with wild price swings making and breaking fortunes by the hour, a hard core of extra-secure currencies are starting to worry police forces the world over even more. Two major law enforcement agencies briefing Business Insider named the same currencies when asked what developments in crypto technology worried them the most: monero, zcash and dash. Monero (market cap $4.5 billion) is a cryptocurrency created in 2014 that uses a harder-to-trace blockchain than bitcoin, and is easier to switch with other units. Zcash (market cap $1.4 billion) was built in 2016 and is not completely private by default, but has features which can flip the currency to a "shielded" variant making it hard to trace. Dash (market cap $4.9 billion), formerly known as darkcoin, was originally derived from litecoin but has significantly more privacy features. Jarek Jacubchek, a cybercrime analyst at Europol, the unified European police agency, told us: "We can see a quite obvious and distinct shift from bitcoin to cryptocurrencies that can provide a higher level of privacy." "So basically, you can achieve a higher level of privacy using these 'altcoins', and these altcoins are either using stealth as the basis, like monero. There are also coins like dash that do not have stealth addresses, they have transparent addresses, but they have a mixing process that is part of the protocol." The problem with this is that it means police forces can't easily tie transactions to individuals, which limits their ability to identify suspects, to gather evidence of criminality, or to seize criminal proceeds.
His comments echo those of Detective Inspector Tim Court of London's Metropolitan Police, who named monero in a briefing to crime reporters late last year. Though he didn't specify others, Court added: "We see on certain dark marketplaces some cryptocurrencies being openly pushed because they offer an extra layer of anonymity." Both zcash and dash fit this profile. Many of the platforms trading in these currencies actively resist efforts by police to acquire information from them, Court said, in contrast to more mainstream crypto infrastructure which has established procedures for providing information. Jacubchek explained that using altcoins is a mark of sophistication in criminal organisations, not least because they need to use multiple exchanges and multiple currencies in order to access the high-privacy coins like monero. Both men also emphasised that no cryptocurrency is inherently criminal, but are tools which can be used for ill, and these three seem especially prone to it. Bitcoin is overwhelmingly still the medium in question, according to analysts. Tom Robinson, the cofounder of cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic, told Business Insider that "the vast majority of illicit activity in cryptocurrencies is still taking place in bitcoin, because of its ease of exchange and more advance infrastructure." But bitcoin exchanges are increasingly using the same stringent checks which much of the traditional finance world uses: requiring ID, proof of address, and in some cases even a selfie, before they will let you do business. At the same time, police forces are getting faster, more diligent and more competent at tracing cryptocurrency transactions in bitcoin. As a result, many criminals who think they are being sneaky by using bitcoin actually create more of a paper trail and hasten their own capture, according to Jacubchek, who helps police from EU member states carry out traces. The flipside to this is that well-organised criminals are moving even further into technology that can frustrate the efforts of police forces to catch them, and put them even further beyond the reach of the law. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: I've used the iPhone for 10 years and these are my favorite tips and tricks |
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CoinDesk, 1/1/0001 12:00 AM PST Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he once lost seven bitcoin, worth more than $71,000 today, to a ruse involving a stolen credit card number. |
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BTC 1Ds3KqhsPph3YQuLJ8CfVTABX9U4iiZU47 LTC Lh7g1DWj3DV9h5YJ8A9HRtN9iEyTH3125R DOGE DLQ8tyW1kAoG4DTNhzFGdgwhQkZSJsPqCf WDC WfYMYdYVsCBvhTY3yuzsqDDvDT6RRKDoYQ
Craig Wright, the Australian who has previously claimed to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, is the subject of a multi billion dollar lawsuit. Wright is being sued by the estate of David Kleiman, who was thought to have co-created the cryptocurren...
Back in 2016, Amazon’s Japanese rival Rakuten acquired Bitnet, a bitcoin wallet startup that it had previously invested in, to help it work on blockchain technology and applications. Today, one of the first fruits of that deal has come to light. The company is planning a new cryptocurrency called Rakuten Coin — built on blockchain technology and the company’s existing… 
Sky is well-known in Europe for its live football broadcasts, as well as premium content such as HBO's Game of Thrones and in-house productions such as Fortitude and Britannia.
Comcast said in its bid document: "While Comcast does own a substantial international operation in the UK, with more than 1,300 employees, the Company has only a minimal presence in the UK media market. Comcast therefore does not believe that this Superior Cash Proposal should create any media plurality concerns in the UK."
