Wednesday, August 8, 2018

📌 The biggest announcement of 2018, SEC delays ETF, and buyer beware

 MUST READS 

The NYSE's Owner Wants to Bring Bitcoin to Your 401(k). Are Crypto Credit Cards Next?


Let's start big. On Friday, the Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), parent of the New York Stock Exchange, announced a new crypto ecosystem with heavyweight partners such as Microsoft, Starbucks, and Boston Consultant Group (BCG).

Why do many folks already consider this the biggest story of 2018?
 
  • 🏦 Mainstream adoption and infrastructure. This will offer consumers and institutions a federally regulated way to buy, sell, store and spend digital assets.
     
  • 🔐 Institutional-grade custodianship. This will allow for IRA's, 401(k)'s and institutional investors to start investing in BTC.
     
  • 💵 Liquidity. The project is backed by Starbucks – who not to mention, has more mobile payment users than Apple Pay – Microsoft and BCG. All companies are here to create a legitimate cryptocurrency payment system.

📉 Crypto Skepticism: A Short-Term & Long-Term Perspective


At CoinSnacks, we won't always present our readers with bullish stories. The bears often more times than not will present us with some compelling cases, smacking us back down to reality.

Take Tuur Demester. He's long on BTC... just not for the remainder of 2018. And has well-research data to prove his point.

On the other hand, we have Paul Krugman. The same Nobel-prize winning economist who in 1998 predicted that the impact of the Internet on the economy by 2005 would not have been greater than the fax machine's. Classic.

Here's his latest jab on crypto, published by the New York Times.
 

Cryptocurrency Pump and Dump Schemes Generate Big Coin


Dozens of trading groups are manipulating the price of cryptocurrencies on some of the largest online exchanges, generating at least $825 million in trading activity over the past six months—and hundreds of millions in losses for those caught on the wrong side, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. [paywall]

Source: WSJ analysis of CoinMarketCap.com trading data
 

Where Insider Trading Thrives, and Democratization is an Afterthought


This company might make you cringe, but it's making it's investors very rich.

Built around abusing insider trading and marketing hype with ICOs for profits, they turned $20M into $200M in less than a year. Whether its genius, unethical, or the combination of the two... we introduce you to FBC Capital of Beijing.
 

 DEEP DIVE 

A Culture War is Brewing Between Bitcoin's Old and New Money


As bitcoin's price soared in recent years, bitcoin's Old Money and New Money coexisted with only occasional conflict. But this year, a prolonged slump has wiped out more than $100 billion in wealth, and the ensuing panic over how to stabilize the currency has incited a Gatsby-esque class war.
 

📝 Ether as a Store of National Security


Is there a future scenario where significant value could accrue to ether without it becoming a monetary store of value?

There are undoubtedly significant flaws with this rough model and many "ifs" in this thesis that make it improbable. There are still major questions on Ethereum scalability and the ability for the network to be able to effectively scale to meet demand and maintain sufficient decentralization.

However, it's still helpful to consider best case scenarios and alternative addressable market opportunities for ether without it becoming a monetary store of value.
 

TELL YOUR DAD TO GIVE US BITCOIN: How a Hacker Allegedly Stole Millions by Hijacking Phone Numbers


California authorities say a 20-year-old college student hijacked more than 40 phone numbers and stole $5 million, including some from cryptocurrency investors at the blockchain conference, Consensus.
 

 SPONSORED 

🔊 AMA: Crypto Expert Teeka Tiwari Q&A –TONIGHT at 8PM EST


Tonight at 8pm, join cryptocurrency expert Teeka Tiwari for a live Q&A session.

Ask him anything.

Hear the answer to your most burning questions. He won't give personal advice, but what he will reveal could make you a fortune.

Click here to register before 8pm ET.

 

 REGULATORY FRONT 

🇨🇳 China, Blockchain Technology & Regulation: An Introduction


In recent months, China has developed an international reputation for being opposed to blockchain technology and crypto assets in government, enterprises, startups, and investment. This reputation stems from the large number of regulatory measures, bans, and restrictions placed on blockchain companies since September of 2017.

Here's a look at how although China had set the stage for cryptocurrency regulation, it hasn't shied away from blockchain technology.

 

SEC Delays VanEck-SolidX Bitcoin ETF Decision to September


In a surprising move for some (we warned you!), the SEC announced yesterday that they were pushing back their decision on the VanEck-SolidX Bitcoin ETF to late September. Call it a good thing, or call it delaying the inevitable... everyone can agree government doesn't exactly move at a convenient pace.

Regardless, we're in overtime now, and we'll just have to wait a little longer to see if our team won or lost.

 

SEC Commissioner: Misplaced Focus from the SEC over Bitcoin ETF


Meet Hester Peirce – crypto's newest hero and favorite SEC Commissioner.

Haven't heard of her? Well apparently many others hadn't as well, until her Twitter account exploded from about 1K to 10K in about 2 days. Why the adoration? ...After the SEC denied the Winklevoss ETF a second time, she released a dissent in which she claimed the SEC was denying people a great institutional investment opportunity.🔥 Preach it Hester. 🔥

 

 CHART OF THE WEEK 

Bitcoin (BTC) is currently at a place where it could bounce. If NOT, the next major levels of support are (i) about $5,750 which would be close this bear markets prior low point... and then (ii) to about $5,000 which takes us to a key support level within the very long term up-trend channel. Both are identified by red circles on the chart above.

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Here are today's ten most important Bitcoin stories, efficiently ranked & summarized by smart humans, not algorithms:

$BTC (12:25 p.m. EST): $6,472.10 (-9.20%) // 90-day high: $8,362.59 // 90-day low: $5,755.25/ / More

$BCH (12:25 p.m. EST): $599.46 (-15.32%) // 90-day high: $1,663.91// 90-day low: $599.46 // More

$ETH (12:25 p.m. EST): $363.32 (-11.39%) // 90-day high: $790.72 // 90-day low: $363.32 // More

$LTC (12:26 p.m. EST): $64.22 (-13.94%) // 90-day high: $162.87 // 90-day low: $64.22 // More

$XRP (12:26 p.m. EST): $0.33 (-17.79%) // 90-day high: $0.86 // 90-day low: $0.33 // More

Here are the 10 most important stories about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies today

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1. The price of bitcoin dropped early Wednesday, trading below $6,500 per coin at one point. The fall coincided with the US Securities and Exchange Commission's decision to delay a final ruling on an ETF from investment firm VanEck and financial services company Solid X. Their proposal would back the ETF with actual bitcoins rather than futures. The SEC said it will now rule on the proposed ETF by September 30. -CNBC

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2. XRP and litecoin continued declines early Wednesday, both hitting their lowest prices of the year. XRP dropped to $0.33 per coin, an 89 percent drop from its high eight months ago. Litecoin also hit a yearly low, dipping below $70 per coin early Wednesday and continuing to drop into the early afternoon. These drops, along with the falling price of bitcoin, saw the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies drop below $250 billion. -COINDESK

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3. West Virginia will allow military stationed overseas to vote with a mobile app secured with blockchain technology. Military members will be able to cast their vote in the 2018 mid-term elections – for both federal and state offices – with the app. West Virginia debuted the app in tests during this spring's primary elections in West Virginia. It has since undergone four audits, including its cloud and blockchain infrastructure, and officials did not find any security problems. –COIN TELEGRAPH

West Virginia to allow military to vote on blockchain
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4. Microsoft has debuted a new Blockchain-as-a-Service product. The tool specifically allows businesses to deploy flexible instances of ethereum tailored specifically for enterprise environments. More importantly, Microsoft's solution allows users to build applications on an ehtereum blockchain that is not secured by a Proof-of-Work algorithm. As a result, users do not need to worry about mining. -CCN

Microsoft unveils new blockchain-as-a-service platform
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5. The crptocurrency space is filled with speculators, not drug dealers. Lilita Infante, a member of the US Drug Enforcement Administration Cyber Investigative Task Force, said speculation makes up about 90 percent of the cryptocurrency transactions she has monitored. Just five years ago, she said, about 90 percent of transactions were tied to criminal behavior, but that number has now dropped closer to 10 percent, she said. -BLOOMBERG

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6. dYdX, a financial startup, has created an ethereum derivatives product that will allow investors to short ethereum. The open-source platform is built on top of decentralized exchange protocol 0x, and uses smart contracts to allow investors to trade ether tokens that function as options contracts. A number of cryptocurrency exchanges already offer derivatives contracts for altcoins, but they predominantly require users to deposit funds into exchange-controlled wallets. -CCN

Startup creates way to short ethereum
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7. Marcus Lemonis, star of "The Profit" on CNBC and CEO of Camping World, is not interested in bitcoin. "I like good old American cash," Lemonis said. "I like it in my pocket and I like it in the bank. And what I would encourage people to do is, if they're interested in something like [bitcoin], explore it — but nothing replaces good old-fashioned cash." -CNBC

8. Here's some good advice on how to adopt blockchain for GDPR compliance. These tips can be helpful as more and more governments adopt data ownership laws. –INFORMATION WEEK

9. IBM is a big believer in blockchain. A recent survey said only 1 percent of executives currently deploy blockchain at their firms but IBM believes there is still untapped potential in the technology. -QUARTZ

10. Check out this story on bitcoinClean, a cryptocurrency that incentivizes miners to use create energy. Forbes sat down with founder Walter Komarek to discuss the coin. -FORBES

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Written and curated by David Stegon. He has been a reporter for 15 years, the past 10 focused on technology. Follow him @davidstegon.

Editing team: Lon Harris (editor-in-chief at Inside.com, game-master at Screen Junkies), Krystle Vermes (Breaking news editor at Inside, B2B marketing news reporter, host of the "All Day Paranormal" podcast), and Susmita Baral (editor at Inside, recent bylines in NatGeo, Teen Vogue, and Quartz. Runs the biggest mac and cheese account on Instagram).

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From the Forums

Bitcoin vets are accustomed to price swings.

Is litecoin oversold?

Core trolls are posting differing ideas.

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