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The head of the U.S. Federal Reserve warned Congress that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are dangerous to “unsophisticated investors” and should not be considered real currencies. Fed Chair Powell Criticizes Cryptocurrencies Jerome Powell, who became Fed chair in February, succeeding fellow cryptocurrency critic Janet Yellen, said on Capitol Hill that “relatively unsophisticated investors see the

The post Bitcoin Not a Real Currency, Risky for ‘Unsophisticated Investors’: Fed Chair Powell appeared first on CCN

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

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The 3 men who steered the US through the 2008 crash think we're forgetting lessons from the crisis

Three men who played a central role in the US response to the 2008 financial crisis have voiced concern that the country may be forgetting the lessons learned from the crisis.

Former Treasury Secretaries Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner, and former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke took part in a roundtable last week to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis, The New York Times reported. Paulson was head of the Treasury when the crisis struck in 2008, Geithner was head of the New York Fed during the crisis then took over at the Treasury under Obama, and Ben Bernanke was Federal Reserve Chairman during throughout the crisis.

"It is important that people focus on the lessons… We are not sure people remember everything they need to remember," Paulson said.

A throwaway comment from Goldman Sachs' CFO shows how automation is changing Wall Street

Goldman Sachs CFO Marty Chavez on Tuesday provided a window into the dramatic shift taking place across Wall Street as technology touches everything from trading to investment banking.

The CFO's comment, made during a second quarter earnings call with analysts, suggests that the firm is beginning to move away from a decades-old focus on the compensation ratio.

The significance of the comment cannot be overstated at a firm where the ratio has been a key metric, both for insiders as well as investors, since its beginnings as a public company in 1999.

Bitcoin's mad 10% spike could have been a short squeeze

The huge spike in bitcoin's price on Tuesday may have been driven in part by a squeeze on leveraged short sellers, according to market commentators.

Bitcoin jumped more than $600, or about 10%, in a short amount of time on Tuesday. The cryptocurrency broke above $7,000 for the first time in about a month thanks to the rally. It remained above that level on Wednesday, trading up 1.13% against the dollar, at $7,397.86, at noon BST (7 a.m. ET).

Tuesday's rapid price surge didn't appear to correlate with any immediate news, and some market commentators have pinned the rise on a short squeeze.

"The assumption is this is a combination of some sort of short squeeze and some new money coming in" to the market, Mati Greenspan, an analyst with the trading platform eToro, told Business Insider in a phone interview on Wednesday.

In markets news

• Berkshire Hathaway is jumping after Warren Buffett signals buybacks are coming
• Analysts can't agree whether Britain is heading for a 'BINO' Brexit or a 'disorderly' no deal

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NOW WATCH: The man that won the Nobel Prize in economics for contract theory shares his thoughts on smart contracts

TechCrunch is partnering with August Capital for Include Office Hours on July 27. From 3:30-5:00 pm (before the Summer Party), founders will have the opportunity to get key insight and feedback from Villi Iltchev, Lisa Marrone and Abie Katz. Founders can apply here. Founded in 2014, the TechCrunch Include program works to leverage the broad network and resources […]

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

• Airbnb investor SC Moatti is among the few dozen investors who stand to turn a huge profit if the home-rental startup goes public in 2019, as many believe it will. 
• Moatti, a managing partner of Mighty Capital, said she first used Airbnb as a host. The user experience blew away her expectations.
• She decided to invest because she says Airbnb could be at least four times as much as its current $31 billion valuation in the future, has "virtually no competition," and "infinite" inventory.

The first time tech investor SC Moatti met entrepreneur Joe Gebbia, the two were sweating it out at a Japanese martial arts class in San Francisco.

It wouldn't be Moatti's last encounter with Gebbia, an aikido enthusiast and one of the richest young tech founders in America. His startup Airbnb was last valued at $31 billion, and Moatti is among the few dozen investors who stand to turn a huge profit if the startup goes public in 2019 (though Airbnb has been quiet on the subject).

"Call me a sucker, but I'm totally a fan," Moatti said.

Moatti is a managing partner of Mighty Capital, a growth-stage venture firm she launched in 2016 with the some of the money she made selling her previous company to Facebook.

The modest $13 million fund invests almost exclusively in product-driven companies, via deals that she sources from her organization Products That Count, which puts on networking events for more than 200,000 product managers and entrepreneurs.

When an investor in the Products That Count network told Moatti that there may be a spot for her in one of Airbnb's funding rounds, Moatti jumped at the opportunity. However, she declined to share which round of financing she participated in.

Airbnb has completely upended the hospitality industry. For many guests, especially younger generations, "it is the way to travel," Moatti said. For many hosts, it's part of their livelihood. On any given night, over 2.5 million people stay in an Airbnb rental.

"For most people, this is financially a game-changer. When you start to have that kind of impact on people's lives, it's really hard to just disappear," Moatti said.

"Airbnb has virtually no competition," she went on. "Yes, there are others who do it, but in terms of the brand recognition, the runway, the traction they have, it's sort of unparalleled. I'm comparing to HomeAway, I'm comparing to Marriott. There's immense room to grow without having a ton of competition. It's very rare."

With a valuation of $31 billion, the private company is almost worth Hilton and Hyatt combined. Moatti believes Airbnb could be worth at least four times as much in the future, surpassing the world's largest hotel chain, Marriott, in value.

Airbnb added a number of hotels on its platform in February, which Moatti suggests is evidence of the company's enormous potential. It's grown beyond its beginnings in helpint users rent out their spare rooms to offer at least 15,000 hotel listings and new lines of business like its "Trips" product, which lets guests book experiences like going truffle hunting or driving classic cars.

"Their inventory is infinite," Moatti said.

Try before you buy

Moatti's first interaction with the home-rental startup was actually as a consumer.

After she sold her mobile software company to Facebook in 2012, she planned to travel for a bit. She listed the spare bedroom in her apartment on Airbnb, which was quickly becoming something people not only talked about but actually used.

"At the time, it was a little out there," Moatti said.

She was nervous for her first booking, so she reached out to customer support. The agent recommend Moatti make her guests feel welcome, tell them it was her first time, and maybe leave a gift. Moatti treated the couple to some cheese, chocolate, and a bottle of wine.

"They loved it. And actually, we stayed in touch. We became friends," Moatti said.

Indeed, Customer support has blown away her expectations.

Airbnb recently sent a photographer to her home to take stunning images of the apartment for her listing — helping Airbnb attract customers, and Moatti to woo travelers looking for accomodations. 

Moatti boasts that she's now a "superhost," a recognition that she is highly rated, responds to requests quickly, and frequently lists her room on the service.

When the opportunity to invest came along, Moatti said the decision was obvious.

"I'm excited because on a very organic, experiential level, it's a great product. It got me addicted, and I review dozens of products," Moatti said.

See also:

• The CEO of a startup that's raised a modest $57 million in funding explains how he's outlasted all of his better-funded rivals — and the lesson to be learned
• How to build a business that makes money early on, according to the partner of a $400 million investment fund
• A first-time CEO's first big decision crashed the company and almost got him fired — but he bounced back to buy his biggest rival and grow his company to $1 billion
• The CEO of a $15 billion tech giant explains his decision to keep the company in Canada when VCs told him 'move or no deal'
• How a 29-year-old went from dropping out of an Ivy League college to leading digital strategy for America's largest health insurer

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: An early investor in Uber, Airbnb, and bitcoin explains why it's actually a good sign that no one is spending their crypto

• Airline consumers are spending tons of money on additional fees for things such as seat selection, checked bags, and meals. 
• This is because of a relatively new airline business model where services are "unbundled" from the ticket and sold a la carte. 
• Airlines were driven to use unbundling techniques after a variety of changing economic factors affected the industry.
  

Have you ever noticed how we're bombarded with fees when buying an airline ticket? 

It seems like there's a charge for everything, whether it's checking a bag, choosing a seat, ordering a meal, or using overhead space. A ticket can cost one price and then there are a number of other additional fees after that.

While it feels like we're spending an arm and leg, air travel is statistically cheaper today than it was in the past. Mainly, the negative impressions we have of paying more come from the out of pocket costs that accrue once we begin check-in. And there's a reason for this. The main culprit for increased—and additional— costs is the concept of unbundling, which only emerged once airlines were forced to create new lines of revenue in the wake of changing economic conditions. 

The birth of unbundling

The price of crude oil shot up to $132 a barrel in the summer of 2008, hitting airlines especially hard. Looking to claw back revenue without raising ticket prices, airlines began the process of unbundling, or separating various costs of services like baggage check, security check, seat assignments, meals, wi-fi use, and early boarding into their own price points.

According to Bob Mann, President of RW Mann & Company, an airline analysis firm with over 40 years of experience in the industry, American Airlines was the first to charge $20 for a baggage check. 

"With that out of the box pretty much everybody else did it," Mann said. "It was the first big gasp of how to get unbundling started," Mann said. 

Things took off. By 2011, unbundling was embraced by the entire airline industry. What's more, Mann said these ancillary fees are not subject to the 7.5% Federal Excise Tax, which applies only to domestic airline tickets sold in the U.S. This loophole gives the industry even more reason to charge these fees. 

"It gives them a huge incentive to do it," Mann says, adding that this is not regulated by the Department of Transportation. "You can give away the airfare and then charge everybody for every other element."

This practice has been especially successful for low-cost carriers. With four major airlines in America — United, Delta, American, and Southwest — controlling more than 80 percent of the domestic market, smaller airlines like Spirit can offer lower ticket prices but charge multiple fees to make up for the difference. 

"Low-cost carriers have a cost advantage versus the legacy carriers (i.e. American, Delta, United)," president of Hamlin Transportation Consulting, George Hamlin told Business Insider. "In order to overcome that (legacy carriers) started to unbundle and created a basic economy fare."

And there's no telling if or when the practice of unbundling will cease. Customers appear willing to pay these prices and fees, as 2.5 million people fly every day in and out of U.S. airports.   

"The old joke is when are we going to pay to use the toilet?" Hamlin says with laughter. "Right now it looks like unbundling is on the upswing."

But how did we reach a point where we need to worry about airlines charging us just to use the restroom? 

How we got here: Deregulation

First, it's important to understand how radically different the airline industry used to be. Prior to 1978, air travel was treated as a public utility rather than a business. The Civil Aeronautics Board federally monitored where airlines could fly and what they could charge, leaving carriers to compete on services like seat comfort and food quality. 

"Airfares at one point were completely bundled," Hamlin recalled. "Even hotels were included in it and the food. You paid one price and it was all-inclusive for everything."

Prices were high, but at least they were consistent. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act which stripped the CAB of its power. This created a newly free market that spurred the rise of low-cost carriers. It also changed the industry forever by leading to greater consolidation once many legacy airlines failed in the '80s and '90s. But a greater change was on the horizon, with the internet increasing in popularity and usage by the mid-1990s. 

Cutting out the middle-man

Before the internet existed, if you wanted to book a flight, you'd typically go through travel agencies. These travel agencies used global distribution systems like Amadeus and Sabre to figure out airline routes and prices and make reservations. Airlines themselves would pay a distribution cost to these third parties which brought them, passengers. According to Mann, that all changed in 1996 when the airline companies discovered the internet. 

"They all said 'Hey, this is crazy. We can't do business like this,'" Mann said. "They said 'We don't need an intermediary and we can't pay for an intermediary.'"  

So airlines created a direct system of contact with their customers—websites—where travelers could purchase tickets directly. 

"Airlines decided we can one-up this. We can create fare groups that include different kinds of amenities." Mann said, noting that Air Canada was the first airline to launch fares with different attributes on their own website in 2005. "What enables (unbundling) is technology, specifically, changes in distribution technology."

By the late 2000s, technology combined with high fuel costs to change airline pricing in a whole new way. And as we move toward the end of the 2010s, it doesn't appear airlines will cease with the unbundling tactic anytime soon. 

"I see it getting more gradual over time," Mann said. "It’s big money." 

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 13 best airlines in the world in 2018

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NOW WATCH: An early investor in Uber, Airbnb, and bitcoin explains why it's actually a good sign that no one is spending their crypto

Grayscale Investments, the fund provider behind the Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC: GBTC), said that it is onboarding nearly $10 million in new investments every week, and the majority of that capital is coming from institutional investors. The New York-based firm, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Digital Currency Group, made the announcement in its newly-released Digital

The post Bitcoin Investment Trust Creator Adding $10 Million in New Investments Every Week appeared first on CCN

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk is more active, and candid, on Twitter than the average Fortune 500 CEO.
• But he's become increasingly combative on the platform, responding to criticism in a tone that has alarmed some investors.
• While Musk has said he would try to use more restraint on Twitter, he accused one of the divers involved in the Thailand cave rescue of being a pedophile on Sunday and said he would bet money to back his accusation. He later deleted the tweets and apologized. 
• Musk may not change his ways until they have a significant negative impact on Tesla, Eric Schiffer, chairman of Reputation Management, told Business Insider. 
  

Tesla has a problem that has nothing to do with production rates, market share, or balance sheets: its CEO, Elon Musk, can't stop tweeting.

Musk is far more active, and candid, on Twitter than the average Fortune 500 CEO. In some ways, Musk's engagement is savvy. He will respond directly to customers, provide updates about Tesla's products, and make jokes that humanize him in a way that is rare for an executive at a multibillion-dollar company. 

But Musk has also become increasingly combative on the platform, responding to criticism in a tone that has alarmed some investors, said Gene Munster, a managing partner at the venture capital firm Loup Ventures, including those who, like him, are optimistic about Tesla's future.

"I've directly talked with investors who are believers in the story, but now are talking about his behavior and feeling uncomfortable about that," he said.

Musk has become more combative on Twitter

Musk has lashed out at people who write or report information that reflects Tesla in a negative light, including reporters from Reveal, The Information, and Business Insider, among other publications.

He has also had a contentious relationship with Wall Street analysts. In April, Tesla's stock fell 5.16% after Musk mocked analysts who were worried about the company's financial health.

In an interview published on Friday, Musk told Bloomberg he had believed he could "attack" people who addressed negative tweets toward him, so long as they attacked him first, but said he would attempt to limit his interactions with critical tweets.

"Generally the view that I've had on Twitter is if you're on Twitter, you're in like the meme—you're in meme war land. If you're on Twitter, you're in the arena. And so essentially if you attack me, it is therefore OK for me to attack back," he said.

"If somebody attacks you on Twitter, should you say nothing? Probably the answer in some cases is yes, I should say nothing. In fact, most of the time I do say nothing. I should probably say nothing more often."

But two days after the interview was published, Musk accused one of the divers involved in the Thailand cave rescue of being a pedophile and said he would bet money to back his accusation. The diver, Vernon Unsworth, had said the miniature submarine Musk designed and sent to Thailand to help with the rescue would have been ineffective and was merely a publicity stunt.

Musk said Unsworth was incorrect, and that he would prove the submarine would have worked as intended.

"Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it," Musk said in a tweet he later deleted.

"Bet ya a signed dollar it's true," he later said about the accusation.

Musk later deleted the tweets and on Wednesday gave an apology on Twitter. 

Any news may be good news for Musk

Tesla's stock fell 3.5% on Monday morning, and Jamie Anderson, a partner and portfolio manager at the asset-management firm and Tesla investor Baillie Gifford, told Reuters Musk's tweets were "a regrettable instance." 

Anderson had previously expressed concern about Musk's conduct on Twitter to Bloomberg.

"We are very supportive, but we would like peace and execution at this stage," he said. "It would be good to just concentrate on the core task."

According to Eric Schiffer, a public relations consultant and chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, Musk's temperamental style on Twitter may be a deliberate strategy, designed to keep him and Tesla in the news. While controversy around his Twitter use may have negative effects in the short run, it creates a larger audience for when Musk promotes Tesla's products.

In each of the annual reports Tesla has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission since it went public in 2010, the company has credited the media as a significant driver of sales, so Musk may subscribe to the idea that any news is good news. According to Schiffer, Musk won't change his ways until they have a significant negative impact on Tesla.

"This won't end until he sees it negatively cripple his stock price or future funding requirements in a meaningful way," he said. "Otherwise, you're going to continue to see this, because it's been, in his mind, effective."

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

If you've worked for Tesla and have a story to share, you can contact this reporter at [email protected].

SEE ALSO: I tried Tesla's Autopilot for the first time — and it was nerve-racking at first

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Another billionaire has officially jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon. The latest addition to the burgeoning group of bitcoin billionaires is Marc Lasry, the co-founder of Avenue Capital Group, an investment firm with $9.6 billion in assets under management. Speaking with CNBC, Lasry — who is also a co-owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks — said

The post Bitcoin Price Could Reach $40,000 Within Years: Billionaire Marc Lasry appeared first on CCN

• Grayscale Investments put out its first Digital Asset Investment report, showing record-breaking stats for its business. 
• The firm raised $250 million in new assets during the first six months of the year, the strongest pace of inflows ever for such a period. 

Bitcoin is trading down more than 45% since the beginning of the year, and the market for digital currencies has shed billions. 

But for one crypto investor, this bearish backdrop has been coupled with a spike in investor interest.

Grayscale Investments, a subsidiary of Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group — which launched in 2013 — put out its first Digital Asset Investment report, showing a steady growth of net inflows into its funds during the first half of 2018. 

According to the report, the firm raised $250 million in new assets during the first six months of the year, the strongest pace of inflows ever for such a period. 

Grayscale, which manages $2 billion in assets, runs a number of bitcoin funds including its Bitcoin Investment Trust as well as one for XRP, bitcoin cash, and ethereum.

The majority of the interest this year, 56%, came from so-called institutional investors, according to Grayscale's report. Such a figure could indicate the space for digital currencies is shaking off its scrappy roots as a retail-majority market. 

At the same time, over 300 crypto funds have launched to invest in digital assets, according to a report by Autonomous NEXT released this week. 

The report found the market for initial coin offerings has continued to grow this year and Wall Street firms are moving quickly to adopt technologies related to crypto, echoing Grayscale's findings that institutions are more interested in the market. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This impact investor says stop trying to help people without including them in the conversation

• Grayscale Investments put out its first Digital Asset Investment report, showing record-breaking stats for its business. 
• The firm raised $250 million in new assets during the first six months of the year, the strongest pace of inflows ever for such a period. 

Bitcoin is trading down more than 45% since the beginning of the year, and the market for digital currencies has shed billions. 

But for one crypto investor, this bearish backdrop has been coupled with a spike in investor interest.

Grayscale Investments, a subsidiary of Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group — which launched in 2013 — put out its first Digital Asset Investment report, showing a steady growth of net inflows into its funds during the first half of 2018. 

According to the report, the firm raised $250 million in new assets during the first six months of the year, the strongest pace of inflows ever for such a period. 

Grayscale, which manages $2 billion in assets, runs a number of bitcoin funds including its Bitcoin Investment Trust as well as one for XRP, bitcoin cash, and ethereum.

The majority of the interest this year, 56%, came from so-called institutional investors, according to Grayscale's report. Such a figure could indicate the space for digital currencies is shaking off its scrappy roots as a retail-majority market. 

At the same time, over 300 crypto funds have launched to invest in digital assets, according to a report by Autonomous NEXT released this week. 

The report found the market for initial coin offerings has continued to grow this year and Wall Street firms are moving quickly to adopt technologies related to crypto, echoing Grayscale's findings that institutions are more interested in the market. 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This impact investor says stop trying to help people without including them in the conversation

Paxful says business is surging in developing nations, where mobile phones are abundant and cheap, but access to exchange platforms remains scarce.

Bitmain, the Chinese bitcoin mining giant valued at $12 billion, is cementing its presence in Israel by planning to triple its employees at its domestic development center. In an aggressive expansion of its research and development center in Ra’anana, a city in western Israel, Bitmain is looking to recruit over 40 employees to add its … Continued

The post Bitcoin Mining Giant Bitmain is Tripling its Development Center in Israel appeared first on CCN

• Bitcoin jumped around 10% in a 20 minute period on Tuesday, with no obvious news spurring the price rise.
• Market analysts say new money coming into the market could have created a short squeeze, forcing traders who bet against bitcoin to buy the digital currency to cover their losses.
• You can follow the live bitcoin price on Markets Insider.

LONDON — The huge spike in bitcoin's price on Tuesday may have been driven in part by a squeeze on leveraged short sellers, according to market commentators.

Bitcoin jumped over $600, or around 10%, in a short amount of time in afternoon US trade on Tuesday. The cryptocurrency broke above $7,000 for the first time in around a month thanks to the rally. It remains above that level on Wednesday, trading up 1.13% against the dollar to $7,397.86 at 12 p.m. BST (7 a.m. ET).

Tuesday's rapid price surge didn't appear to be correlated to any immediate news and some market commentators have pinned the rise on a short squeeze.

"The assumption is this is a combination of some sort of short squeeze and some new money coming in [to the market]," Mati Greenspan, an analyst with trading platform eToro, told Business Insider in a phone interview on Wednesday.

A short squeeze occurs when short sellers — who have bet against bitcoin's price hoping to profit from declines — are forced to buy bitcoin to cover their positions. Short bets can have nearly unlimited losses — or profits if they go right — and so investors buy the underlying asset to close out their position.

Analysts at startup London Block Exchange said in their Wednesday morning market email: "While over the past few months we've seen several stop runs aimed at liquidating longs, it seems these fast price moves are being propelled by the cascading reactions caused by short orders closing, i.e. those who were betting against the market being forced to exit their positions."

LBX flagged an apparent note from Cumberland, a bitcoin liquidity provider that is owned by Chicago's DRW, that was posted on Twitter. In it, analysts say $6,850 was likely a key stop-loss point for short sellers — the level at which many decide to cover their losses by liquidating short positions.

"According to our calculation, roughly $180,000,000 [worth of short positions] were liquidated on BitMex during the 20+ minute period between BTC's initial spike and when it topped off," the note read.

BitMex is a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency-derivatives platform that allows retail investors to short crypto contracts and futures. The platform offers leverage of up to 100 times. CEO Arthur Hayes told Business Insider in January that the platform had notional daily trading volumes of $1 billion on its platform.

"Liquidity is always a bit thin in this market, Greenspan said. "It doesn't have the same processes and automation as most of the traditional assets. Certainly, there would be shorts getting liquidated."

However, Greenspan said new money coming into the market may have been the initial spur that pushed bitcoin above $6,850, triggering a train reaction.

"What I'm seeing is that at the time of the spike, volumes definitely spiked at the time but what's interesting is that US dollar volumes spiked as well," he said.

Around $135 million worth of bitcoin was traded using dollars in a 15-minute span during the spike, Greenspan said. That compares to 5-minute volumes of between $1.5 million and $2 million in the 20 minutes leading up to the spike.

Greenspan said he believes the jump in dollar volumes suggests new money was coming into the market.

"Generally speaking, if you're talking about seasoned crypto traders that are going in and out, that would be done in Tether," he said. Tether is a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar that is used by many leading crypto exchanges to provide dollar-like liquidity.

Greenspan added that he couldn't prove the spike in dollar volumes was due to new money coming into the market, nor could he say how many people or institutions were likely behind the volume. He said volumes from exchanges Bitfinex and Coinbase Pro climbed on the day.

Cumberland's note also flagged the possible role of breakout traders in the rally. Breakout traders are technical analysts who enter the market once assets breach certain levels which they believe signal the start of rallies.

Matthew Newton, a market analyst at eToro, said in an email: "A great technical setup yesterday may also have helped spur prices forward."

Greenspan said: "Certainly it could have to do with the fact that it broke above that $6,800 level, that could very well be the catalyst. On the other hand, the breakout [above $6,800] could have happened because of new money coming in."

SEE ALSO: 'You just have more people annoying you:' The CEO of a cryptocurrency platform offering 100x leverage explains why he turns down investor cash

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Bitcoin could witness a minor technical correction before rising to the $8,000 mark.

The volume of bitcoin, the most dominant cryptocurrency in the global market, has risen by two-fold in the past week, supporting the recent mini bull rally of the crypto market. Last week, CCN noted that the low volume of bitcoin is a concern for the short-term trend of the market. For instance, on July 9,

The post Bitcoin Volume at $6.4 Billion, Up 2x Since Last Week as Crypto Market Surges appeared first on CCN

• Universal basic income, a scheme which offers money to citizens with no strings attached, gaining traction in small pockets of the US and other countries.
• Chicago City Council is being presented with a plan to trial giving 1,000 families $500 per month as a pilot scheme.
• It would need to pass a committee phase and a vote before being put into practice.
• 36 of Chicago City Council's 50 lawmakers have co-sponsored a bill, which could be a good omen.
• If implemented, the scheme would make Chicago the largest US city to trial a universal basic income among its citizens.

Chicago could become the largest city in US to test a universal basic income programme, if its local government takes up a new proposal to start handing out $500 a month to some households for free.

City lawmakers have voiced support for legislation that would trial a basic income scheme for 1,000 families in Chicago.

A bill, proposed by Chicago lawmaker Ameya Pawar, has started the legislative process by gaining support from 36 of the city's 50 alderman, who vote on local laws.

Pawar spoke about his plan with news website The Intercept, where he said that he was proposing the scheme in light of the threat of automation to the workforce, and to provide a lifeline to the majority of US families he said have very little money in the bank for emergencies.

The legislation will now be deabted by aldermen on the city's Committee on Workforce Development and Audit.

If enough members are in favour of the plan, it will then be put before the City Council for a vote.

Chicago law means the mayor could then veto the proposal if he doesn't approve, but that in turn can be over-ruled by a two-thirds majority in the council.

Pawar told the Intercept he is hopeful that the council and mayor will support it, but it's not yet clear what the level of support will be.

A universal basic income scheme is already in place in Alaska, where up to $2,000 is given to a citizen a year from a state fund. Other parts of the US are also looking to trial a universal basic income, with an 18-month trial to begin for 100 families in Stockton, California in 2019.

Finland began a universal basic income trial at the beginning of 2017 that gave 2,000 unemployed Finns €560 a month, tax free. There was a plan to expan it to cover working people as well, but the scheme was pulled in favour of other social welfare projects.

SEE ALSO: Google futurist and director of engineering: Basic income will spread worldwide by the 2030s

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NOW WATCH: An early investor in Airbnb and Uber explains why he started buying bitcoin in 2009

Morgan Stanley is set to announce second quarter earnings results Wednesday morning.

Here's what analysts are expecting and other themes to look out for. 

• Revenue: $10.08 billion
• Net income: $1.96 billion 
• Earnings per share: $1.11
• Return on equity: 10.1%
• Trading: Investors will be looking for insight into whether the bank witnessed further growth in its trading business, specifically fixed income, which posted stellar results in the first quarter. They're also watching to see if the bank can sustain its market share in equities, where it leads Wall Street. Other big banks, with the exception of Morgan Stanley rival Goldman Sachs, saw strong gains in their stock trading units in the second quarter.
• Succession: Morgan Stanley in July made several big promotions, which hinted at who might replace CEO James Gorman one day. With Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein announcing his retirement this week, investors will be listening closely for any clues about when Gorman might too step down.  
• Macro environment: Bank CEOs have said that Trump's tariff talk hasn't yet impacted client activity, although BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has said otherwise. Investors will be looking to Gorman for any additional color on how a potential trade war is hurting or helping the bank. 

SEE ALSO: A rising star at Morgan Stanley who helped turn around an ailing business has landed a big promotion

ALSO READ: A trading unit Morgan Stanley left for dead could be 'the most exciting business' if 2 things happen

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• Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner, and Ben Bernanke have warned that the lessons of the 2008 financial crisis are in danger of being forgotten.
• Paulson was head of the Treasury when the crisis struck in 2008, Geithner took over under Obama, and Ben Bernanke was Federal Reserve Chairman during the crisis.
• The trio said that the rising US budget debt, a "dysfunctional" political system, and a drive to loosen reforms put in place after 2008 could combine to endanger the economy.
• "It is important that people focus on the lessons… We are not sure people remember everything they need to remember," said Paulson.

Three men who played a central role in the US response to the 2008 financial crisis have voiced concern that the country may be forgetting the lessons learned from the crisis.

Former Treasury Secretaries Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner, and former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke took part in a roundtable last week to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis, The New York Times reported. Paulson was head of the Treasury when the crisis struck in 2008, Geithner was head of the New York Fed during the crisis then took over at the Treasury under Obama, and Ben Bernanke was Federal Reserve Chairman during throughout the crisis.

"It is important that people focus on the lessons… We are not sure people remember everything they need to remember," Paulson said.

President Trump's administration has been spearheading a loosening of Dodd-Frank, the law passed after the financial crisis to tighten financial regulatory loopholes. The 2010 saw was designed to make the US financial system more stable and help avoid another crisis.

The rules dictate that banks with over $50 billion in assets are considered systemically important so became subject to tighter restrictions. In March, Congress voted to expand this limit to $250 billion, complaining that the lower limit had restricted lending. But Paulson, Geithner, and Bernanke warned that loosening this legislation could endanger the economy.

"We let the financial system outgrow the protections we put in place in the Great Depressions and... made the system very fragile and vulnerable to panic," Geithner said. "One of the most powerful lessons from this crisis should be that you want to work very hard to make sure that your defenses are robust."

The trio also voiced concern about the large budget deficit in the US and the mounting debt pile, which is projected to reach $33 trillion in 2028. This combined with what they called the US' "dysfunctional" political system could cause trouble if another financial crisis were to strike, they said.

"We need to find a way politically to bring the same level of overwhelming force and creativity to the range of other daunting challenges facing the American economy," Geithner said.

SEE ALSO: The Federal Reserve just rolled out major changes to a key post-financial crisis Wall Street regulation

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• The Airbus A330neo is Europe's answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
• Airbus Americas CEO Jeff Knittel believes the lower sales of the A330neo is due to a soft than normal widebody jet market as well as an unfavorable replacement cycle for older planes.
• Knittle said he believes sales will pick up once the A330neo enters service. 

The Airbus A330neo is Europe's answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Instead of creating brand a new aircraft from scratch as Boeing did with the Dreamliner, Airbus decided to optimize the existing Airbus A330ceo or "current engine option" jet that has been around since the mid-1990s. 

Airbus launched the updated A330neo or new engine option at the Farnborough Airshow in 2014. Since then, the A330neo has netted 224 orders from airlines around the world with Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia X as its largest customers with 66 on order. The A330neo's only US airline customer is Delta with 25 orders on the books.

While 224 orders in four years are nothing to scoff at, the A330neo has lagged behind the rival Dreamliner in the sales department. The Boeing jet has taken more than 400 orders in the same period and has sold nearly 1,400 units since 2004. 

According to Airbus America's new CEO Jeff Knittel, the A330neo's lack of sales can be attributed to a soft widebody jet market and the replacement cycle of existing airliners.

"The widebody market, in general, has been slower over the past year or two and some of that can be attributed to the replacement cycle," Knittel told Business Insider at the 2018 Farnborough International Airshow. 

The current generation Airbus A330ceo is still on sale and is one of the most popular widebody airliners in the world. As result, Knittel said, the A330 is still a "relatively young aircraft" in many operators' fleets and have not hit their replacement cycle yet.

"When you have airplanes that are older, the analysis to flip them out and put in new airplanes is much easier and in most cases fairly obvious," the former chief of executive of airplane leasing firm C2 Aviation Capital said. "But the A330ceo is a good airplane with good range and has been improved a lot over the past 10 years."

This has led many potential buyers to hang on to their current fleet of very capable planes a little longer.

"As the replacement cycles come and as the A330neo enters peoples' fleets, I think you will see sales accelerate on that airplane because they will see that (the neo) is a fundamentally improved aircraft over what was already a very good aircraft, to begin with," Knittel said.

The A330neo features updated aerodynamics, fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, and the big brother A350's AirSpace interior design. 

SEE ALSO: Take a closer look at the $300 million Airbus A330neo — Europe's answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

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This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.