Monthly Archives: July 2017

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Bitcoin is Permanently Superior to Paper Money in Ways – German Business Magazine

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Bitcoin is Permanently Superior to Paper Money in Ways - German Business Magazine

Bitcoin is Permanently Superior to Paper Money in Ways – German Business Magazine

While many mainstream media personalities and analysts remain skeptical about bitcoin (and often rehash misinformation), others are beginning to give cryptocurrency an honest appraisal.

The latest comes from leading German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche, which recently published an article praising bitcoin. “The Revolution of Cryptocurrency,” written by economist Thorsten Polleit, argues that the advent of cryptocurrency set off a monetary revolution that could eventually supplant fiat national currencies.

Public fiat money, he explains, possesses four inherent flaws:

1. Inflation

2. Monetary distribution inequality

3. The tendency to produce boom-bust cycles

4.The temptation to increase national debt

Polleit states that cryptocurrencies avoid these and other flaws due to market competition. As long as no currency has a state-mandated economic monopoly, consumer demand should favor better coins.

However, it should be noted that not all cryptocurrencies resist the flaws Polleit finds in fiat money. Many cryptocurrencies are inflationary, although their rate of inflation is generally fixed rather than variable. Cryptocurrency distribution models can also exhibit inequality, and there is much debate about what constitutes a fair coin/token dissemination method. That said, by divorcing monetary policy from the national government, one will avoid the final two flaws of public money.

Polleit believes consumer demand for bitcoin will likely increase as fiat money loses purchasing power and national governments reduce or even eliminate cash transactions. He foresees the potential for blockchain-based currencies to “make…Fiat money worthless.”

Despite this bullish tone, Polleit urges investors to approach cryptocurrency speculation with caution. As he states (translated into English):

While many mainstream media personalities and analysts remain skeptical about bitcoin (and often rehash misinformation), others are beginning to give cryptocurrency an honest appraisal.

The latest comes from leading German business magazine Wirtschafts Woche, which recently published an article praising bitcoin. “The Revolution of Cryptocurrency,” written by economist Thorsten Polleit, argues that the advent of cryptocurrency set off a monetary revolution that could eventually supplant fiat national currencies.

Whoever obtains [cryptocurrency] should know that he does not invest, but speculates. Unlike in the case of shares or bonds, they do not have a recognized and tested valuation formula – the same also applies to raw materials or art objects. You can not even estimate whether the price you pay is justified with regard to the “intrinsic value” of the [coins].

For this reason, he seems to favor colored coins tied to physical assets, such as gold.

Diverging from other pro-bitcoin analysts, Polleit encourages investors to avoid currency speculation. The sensible investor, he says, should instead continue to invest in “great companies” and take a long-term approach to the markets. The monetary revolution may cause economic upheaval, but he explains that solid companies will continue to bring positive returns no matter what currency–or cryptocurrency–they use to transact business.

 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden Entrepreneur

 

Author: Josiah Wilmoth

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

$100 Billion Cryptocurrency Market Showing Signs of Maturity as Mainstream Investment Appeal Grows

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$100 Billion Cryptocurrency Market Showing Signs of Maturity as Mainstream Investment Appeal Grows

$100 Billion Cryptocurrency Market Showing Signs of Maturity as Mainstream Investment Appeal Grows

Cryptocurrency has burst onto the financial scene like a blazing comet, offering investors a new asset class to grow their wealth, hedge against instability and escape the grips of central banking. As the market for digital coins crossed the $100 billion mark, hedge funds and major institutions suddenly found themselves scrambling to make sense of the shadowy world of cryptocurrency.

For the most part, investors no longer question the viability of cryptocurrency, but are instead exploring what shape this evolving market will take.
 

Cryptocurrencies Come Into Their Own

Though highly volatile, cryptocurrencies have been on a dramatic upward trajectory for the past year. In the case of bitcoin – the pre-eminent digital coin founded in 2008 by a person or entity called Satoshi Nahamoto – the bull market is at least seven years old. The success of bitcoin has spurred a bevy of other so-called altcoins, many of which have latched on to the success of the flagship digital coin.

Bitcoin’s share of the global cryptocurrency market has quickly diminished as alternative payment systems hit the market. At the time of writing, bitcoin represented roughly 41% of cryptocurrency market capitalization. By May, digital currency alternative Ethereum had surpassed half of bitcoin’s market value.

Several other currencies have also crossed the $1 billion mark this year, including Ripple, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Dash, NEM, IOTA and Stratis. Many more are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
 

Key Investment Drivers

The growth and widespread adoption of cryptocurrency-as-an-asset has dividend analysts and investors seeking to understand the nature of the bull market. The market’s dramatic rise through the first six months of the year has raised fears of an asset bubble with dangerous consequences. But proponents of digital currency say the market has plenty of room for growth as investors seek alternative asset classes. They cite several key investment drivers as proof that cryptocurrencies aren’t overbought, but are instead maturing.

1. Hedge against instability: Despite their volatility, cryptocurrencies are seen as a hedge against central bank intervention and other forms of fiat-currency related instability. China is the most prominent example, as mainland investors have poured into bitcoin to diversify away from yuan devaluation. This compelled the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to initiate a four-month freeze on bitcoin withdrawals.

2. Increased regulatory certainty: Earlier this year, the Japanese government legalized bitcoin as a form of payment and initiated capital requirements, cyber security laws and annual audits. Japan’s Accounting Standards Board is also in the process of developing a standard government digital currencies.

3. Store of value: Digital payment systems like bitcoin are mined, which makes them scarce digital resources that offer many of the same investment benefits as commodities. Bitcoin has a fixed issuance schedule with a finite supply of 21 million coins.

4. Greater investment appeal: Bitcoin’s success has triggered a fresh wave of buying interest from various segments of the market. Institutional investors and banks have expressed a greater interest in buying bitcoin. Nine of the world’s biggest banks – including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse – are developing a common standard for blockchain that could also hasten the appeal of cryptocurrency-as-an-asset.

5. Decentralized payment system: Today, more than 100,000 merchants accept bitcoin as a form of payment. As the evolution away from fiat currency continues, demand for distributed digital money that exists beyond the purview of central banks will likely grow.
 

Price Volatility Continues

Despite their widespread appeal and unrelenting gains, cryptocurrencies are prone to dramatic price swings. This trend is expected to continue as the market slowly matures.

Cryptocurrencies sold off again on Friday, with five of the world’s top-ten coins posting weekly losses of 9% or more. Ethereum suffered the largest setback, while bitcoin managed to pare losses. IOTA, BitShares, NEM and IOTA also faced heavy losses.

With more than 700 digital payment systems on the market, analysts caution that not every cryptocurrency offers investment value. Some are clearly riding the coattails of bitcoin, while others are benefiting from speculation.

At the same time, there’s still plenty of room for disruption as alternatives to bitcoin vie for capital. Analysts observe that the the cryptocurrency market will likely see significant diversity for the foreseeable future.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

David Ogden entrepreneur

 

Author: Sam Bourgi

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Wall Street Strategist Sees Bitcoin at $55,000 by 2022

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Wall Street Strategist Sees Bitcoin at $55,000 by 2022

    

Tom Lee, strategist at the firm Fundstrat, has released his estimate on the value of Bitcoin by 2022,

In the next five years

Lee, an expert in market commodities and stock valuations, has made his estimate based on Bitcoin’s limited supply and market stabilization. He’s not the first to make such bullish predictions either. Ronnie Moas, the famous stock picker and strategist has also suggested substantial upside, even in the near term.

What's driving the demand?

Lee believes that one of the main market drivers for Bitcoin is a cannibalizing of gold demand. As the economic situation continues to present concern for many investors, vehicles like Bitcoin can be a way to store value similar to gold and other precious metals. The limitation on supply, as there can be no more than 21 million inherent units, and the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies make Bitcoin a safe harbor in times of economic uncertainty,

according to Lee.

"In other words, substantial upside exists in owning cryptocurrencies here”.

Lee did accept the reality that Bitcoin is wildly volatile, considering that the its annualized volatility is 75 percent, but also argued that gold had the same effect in the late 1970’s, saying, “gold's volatility approached 90% from 1971 to 1980 as the U.S. abandoned the gold standard — hence, we expect this to improve over time."

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

China and Japan Are Largely Responsible for the Current Success of Cryptocurrency

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China and Japan Are Largely Responsible for the Current Success of Cryptocurrency

China and Japan Are Largely Responsible for the Current Success of Cryptocurrency

 

The adoption of digital currencies on both the individual and institutional level in China and Japan is propelling cryptocurrencies to ever greater heights. However, some are still skeptical that they are the finance systems of the future due to their current volatility.

 

CHINA AND JAPAN’S CRYPTO CRAZE
 

The age of cryptocurrencies is upon us, and two countries in particular have been instrumental in their stratospheric rise: China and Japan.
 

Cryptocurrencies have become popular in China due to the government’s stringent control of the yuan — a power they occasionally exercise by artificially devaluing the currency for trading purposes. With private wealth in China growing, affluent individuals have found a more stable and accessible alternative to the yuan in cryptocurrencies.

 

Additionally, China has an abundance of cheap energy and hardware, which facilitates crypto mining (the process through which new blocks in the blockchain are created and transactions are verified). Chinese exchanges run mining “pools” to generate these blocks, and these efforts constitute 60 percent of Bitcoin’s total hashrate (the speed at which Bitcoin operations are completed).

 

Japan got its foot in the cryptocurrency door at the beginning of 2017 when the market in China experienced an institutional and systematic crackdown, with the most potent measure being a ban on all cryptocurrency withdrawals. This caused an increase in Japan’s trading volume, which grew from one percent to as high as six percent.

 

Cryptocurrency adoption was further amplified by currency turbulence in the country. Quantitive easing lead to extremely low interest rates, which have occasionally even become negative, meaning that it costs an individual to save money. As in China, cryptocurrencies therefore became viewed as a more stable asset than the native currency, so more people have chosen to invest and store their money in them.

The final piece in the cryptocurrency success puzzle for both countries is increasing institutional acceptance. In China, this takes the form of the country’s Royal Mint, which has invested resources and money into digitizing the yuan and promoting blockchain technology. Japan, meanwhile, began accepting payments in stores using cryptocurrencies earlier this year, and its three largest banks — MUFJ, Mizuho, and SMBC — have all backed the country’s largest Bitcoin exchange, bitFlyer.

 

A WORLDWIDE REVOLUTION

 

The enthusiasm with which China and Japan have embraced cryptocurrency systems has contributed to their worldwide success. Virtual currencies have become more popular and valuable than the vast majority of people could have anticipated upon their inception around a decade ago. The value of a single bitcoin has risen from roughly $0.00075 to $2,500, and the market cap for all cryptocurrencies has exceed $100 billion.

 

The success of cryptocurrencies is also reflected in their increasing adoption by formal institutions. Wall Street is making moves to start using cryptocurrency systems by next year, a Swiss town called Zug has begun to accept payments in bitcoins, and the Gemini Trust in New York has been licensed to trade ether.

However, some worrying news concerning cryptocurrencies has emerged as well. Recently, in spite of claims that the systems are highly secure, hacks have lead to personal information being leaked and exchanges have been robbed, one to the tune of $79 million.
 

In addition, while cryptocurrencies may be more stable assets than the native currency in Japan and China, they are not absolutely stable. In fact, they are currently far from it, and though prices continue to rise, rapid drops are not uncommon, and public opinion can have a major impact on value.

 

Mark Cuban illustrated the issue perfectly — when he took to Twitter to assert that Bitcoin wasn’t a currency, its valuation dropped rapidly. Even more recently, Ethereum lost $4 billion worth of market value when a bogus story that its founder, Vitalik Buterin, had died in a car crash was published on 4chan.
 

Cryptocurrencies are clearly on the rise, and due to their successes, they can no longer be dismissed as a niche monetary system. The pertinent question is will this rise will lead to the worldwide adoption of an entirely new currency and finance system?

 

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

david Ogden Entrepreneur

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

SmartPlay.Tech – New Game, $3,000,000 Trading Volume and Macau Partner

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SmartPlay.Tech –
New Game, $3,000,000 Trading Volume and Macau Partner

    

The win-win roulette launch

The beginning of the month was marked by the release of a new win-win roulette, which amount of players surpassed the activity in the previous blockchain game, released by the developers in late February. The success of the project was achieved due to the uniqueness of the solution, favorably differing from other products of this segment. Focusing on a large number of players unfamiliar with the world of blockchain technology and crypto currency, the founders set a goal to expand the popularization of the platform among ordinary users. For this purpose, a whole strategy was developed to create and promote the project including the maximum simplification of the game start without plugins installation, playing for free and the absence of commissions for placing bets. No deposit solution in less than a month attracted 12,800 players who were able to get up to $ 10 for participating in the new roulette testing. Feedback of satisfied users has been spread across forums and social networks, creating an additional advertising effect. At the end of the month, the total amount of bets placed by the players was almost 8 million RLT with the number of rounds played approaching to 570,000, which exceeded the blockchain roulette statistics parameters for 4 months by 43 times.

Having built up the active loyal players’ base SmartPlay.tech founders added the possibility of refilling the account with RLT tokens. Users are given a bonus of up to 50% to their first deposit, which makes it possible to receive 0.025% of each bet regardless of the game outcome. In the near future developers plan to connect the balance of win-win roulette to the system of dividend distribution in order to resume payments and increase their frequency. In addition, to further expand the base of players will be added the ability to deposit ETH.

Exchange statistics

June was a record for the volume of trading and the value of the token on the exchange. RLT more than once held record positions in the amount of transactions made on Livecoin which total monthly value comprised $ 2,872,000. On June 9th, SmartRoulette token reached another record with the price soaring to $1.

Project development In mid-June, in order to attract and build up the audience of players, the project started to be advertised on more than 370 crypto-currency and gaming sites. On a regular basis press releases are posted on the top 20 news outlets and aggregators with the base of active users engaged for the distribution of the information about the project using a whole system of so-called bounty campaigns. In the second half of the month the developers presented the first version of the affiliate program. On unique market conditions earning 0.5% from each bet of the referred player became available not only for professional webmasters and advertisers, but also for ordinary users. In this case, the weekly commission is charged regardless of the player’s game outcome, unlike most affiliate programs. At the moment 23 major affiliate websites are participating in the promotion of the project.

Cooperation with the big partner from Macau

The main news of the outgoing month was the beginning of negotiations between SmartPlay.tech and a major gambling partner with a significant stake in the gambling and hotel business of Macau. The decision to make a big investment in SmartRoulette project was made by the partner after a detailed review of the developed solution. According to him, the project favorably differs from competitors in the presence of a working solution oriented to ordinary players and unique opportunities provided both to players and investors, however its rapid promotion requires aggressive marketing in order to occupy a significant market share and raise its competitiveness. According to the founders’ calculations the conclusion of cooperation with a partner having many years of expertise and a high level of competence in promoting online gambling will increase the project’s capitalization and its share of the presence in the international gambling industry.

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

How Balanced Cryptocurrency Portfolio Looks Like: Investment Tips

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http://seriouswealth.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/How-Balanced-Cryptocurrency-Portfolio-Looks-Like-Investment-Tips

How Balanced Cryptocurrency Portfolio Looks Like: Investment Tips

A large number of investors have started to purchase cryptocurrencies as a short-term and long-term investment, a safe haven asset and an experimental investment to develop a proper understanding of the market and the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

As a result, even the initial coin offering (ICO) market, which is yet to showcase a viable product or a decentralized applications with an actual active user base, have begun to attract hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few months.

In fact, Tezos, Bancor and EOS, the three largest ICOs to date, have raised more than $485 mln, with the ICOs of EOS and Tezos still ongoing. However, none of these three ICOs have completed the testing phase of their software, leading many analysts to describe the ICO market as a bubble.

Still, the vast majority of investors in the cryptocurrency market are purchasing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ethereum Classic as long-term investments.

A large portion of investors within the cryptocurrency market wholly support the monetary policy, vision and purpose of popular cryptocurrencies that have evolved into useful alternative financial networks and decentralized infrastructures for decentralized applications.

 

What is a balanced cryptocurrency portfolio?

As mentioned above, the purpose of investing in cryptocurrencies varies greatly for investors. Most Bitcoin investors consider Bitcoin as a safe haven asset and a digital currency and have purchased Bitcoin expecting it to become a major alternative financial network which could compete with global banking systems and reserve currencies such as the US dollar in the far future.

If an investor remains unclear about the structure, purpose and monetary policies of certain cryptocurrencies and is investing in specific cryptocurrencies as an experimental investment to learn more about the market and various cryptocurrencies, it will be smart decision to maintain a diversified portfolio of a few different cryptocurrencies.

http://seriouswealth.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cryptocurrency-portfolio

 

Investment tip from Andreas Antonopoulos

On June 13, Bitcoin and security expert Andreas Antonopoulos revealed his personal investment strategy in establishing a balanced portfolio of crypto assets. Antonopoulos wrote:

“Yes, I own a few different crypto assets as part of a small but diversified portfolio. I only risk as much as I'm willing to lose.”

The latter part of Antonopoulos’ statement is what most investors in the cryptocurrency market fails to consider. The entire cryptocurrency market is still at an early stage, and most cryptocurrencies remain extremely volatile. Hence, investors should not be investing more than they are willing to lose, especially if their investment is experimental and speculative.
 

Also, it will be beneficial and efficient for investors to utilize platforms such as Cyber Fund’s cryptocurrency portfolio builder Satoshi Pie, which allow investors to track their investments in real time in terms of change in value and performance against other assets.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

Author: Joseph Young

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Blockchain – “Bitcoin with Haircut” or Replacement for Inefficient Banking System?

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Blockchain – “Bitcoin with Haircut” or Replacement for Inefficient Banking System?

    

Following other major banks and financial institutions

such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, the New York-based $335.4 bn banking giant, has started to utilize Blockchain technology to automate high throughput transaction processing. Most operations and settlements facilitated by banks including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs require significant manual verification and labor. In most cases, bank wire and transfers can take at least five days to three weeks, due to the requirement of manual approval required by financial regulations, money transmission policies and KYC and AML systems globally. Although it will be more accurate to describe the efforts of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan as the development of Blockchain technology-inspired systems rather than Blockchain-based decentralized applications as by law, banks are required to have strict control over their transactions and settlements.

“Blockchain vs. Bad Banking”

At the Blockchain Arica Conference hosted on March 2, Bitcoin and security expert Andreas Antonopoulos explained in a talk called “Blockchain vs. Bad Banking” that the actual Blockchain technology used by Bitcoin and other successful public Blockchain networks such as Ethereum require much more than the conventional “Blockchain technology” itself.

Antonopoulos stated:

“Blockchain is the technology behind Bitcoin. Which is incorrect. Blockchain is one of the four foundational technologies behind Bitcoin and it can’t stand alone. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying to sell it. Blockchain is Bitcoin with a haircut and a suit you parade in front of your board. It is the ability to deliver sanitized clean, comfortable version of Blockchain of Bitcoin to people who are too terrified of actually disruptive technology.”

Then what are banks actually building?

Cryptographic evidence and signatures are essential in most cryptographic platforms such as Blockchain networks as they allow financial service providers to record time stamps of settlements of assets and transactions in an immutable ledger. Because the vast majority of banking systems are centralized, they are vulnerable to sophisticated hacking attacks and security breaches. However, with the usage of Blockchain technology, banks such as JPMorgan Chase can process high throughput transactions efficiently and most importantly, securely.

JPMorgan: Blockchain will replace inefficient banking systems

Alex Liu, the CEO of AMIS, the Blockchain infrastructure provider that partnered with JPMorgan recently and joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance in its early days,

stated:

“The protocol is a vital part of efforts aimed at building the next evolution of the Internet of Value, similar to the creation of the TCP/IP protocol earlier in the history of computer networks.”

More to that, Liu explained that the JPMorgan Chase development team would showcase a new technology called proof of authority (PoA), a consensus protocol that would allow the verification of pre-approved nodes. Whether the pre-approval process of nodes will become an issue in the future regarding security and network efficiency will be answered by the public launching of JPMorgan’s launch of its PoA Blockchain in the near future. At the moment, JPMorgan Chase and AMIS remain absolutely confident that Blockchain will replace inefficient, insecure and centralized financial networks in the upcoming years, to optimize the settlement process of assets and transactions for users and customers.

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Bitcoin could nearly double and reach $5,000 soon, says Standpoint Research

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Bitcoin could nearly double and reach $5,000 soon, says Standpoint Research

Bitcoin could nearly double and reach $5,000 soon, says Standpoint Research

 

Bitcoin traded near $2,600 Wednesday, according to CoinDesk.

Standpoint Research founder Ronnie Moas said the digital currency could rise to $5,000 "in a few months."

"This is not something I could keep my hands off of," Moas said.

Stock research analyst Ronnie Moas said he bought bitcoin this weekend and thinks it could reach $5,000 within a year.

 

"$5,000 could happen in a few months. It's only starting to gain traction right now," Moas, founder of Standpoint Research, told CNBC in a phone interview Wednesday. "It's starting to spread like wildfire right now."

He pointed out that since only 21 million bitcoin can ever exist, increasing demand for the digital currency will naturally drive its price up.

Bitcoin briefly tripled in value this year, hitting a record $3,025.47 on June 11, according to CoinDesk. The digital currency traded Wednesday near $2,600, still more than double its Dec. 31 price of $968.

"This is not something I could keep my hands off of," Moas said. "What would be more painful than losing [money in cryptocurrencies] is not acting."

The research analyst said he invested a few hundred U.S. dollars each in bitcoin, ethereum and another digital currency called litecoin through Coinbase.com. After he releases a 40-page report on cryptocurrencies in the next few weeks, Moas said he plans to invest more in them.

The research analyst's view on bitcoin joins the optimistic views of others on Wall Street. On Sunday, Goldman Sachs' technical analyst Sheba Jafari said in a note that bitcoin could rise as high as $3,915.

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Bitcoin could nearly double and reach $5,000 soon, says Standpoint Research Bitcoin could nearly double and reach $5,000 soon, says Standpoint Research

Stock research analyst Ronnie Moas said he bought bitcoin this weekend and thinks it could reach $5,000 within a year.

"$5,000 could happen in a few months. It's only starting to gain traction right now," Moas, founder of Standpoint Research, told CNBC in a phone interview Wednesday. "It's starting to spread like wildfire right now."

He pointed out that since only 21 million bitcoin can ever exist, increasing demand for the digital currency will naturally drive its price up.

Bitcoin briefly tripled in value this year, hitting a record $3,025.47 on June 11, according to CoinDesk. The digital currency traded Wednesday near $2,600, still more than double its Dec. 31 price of $968.

"This is not something I could keep my hands off of," Moas said. "What would be more painful than losing [money in cryptocurrencies] is not acting."

The research analyst said he invested a few hundred U.S. dollars each in bitcoin, ethereum and another digital currency called litecoin through Coinbase.com. After he releases a 40-page report on cryptocurrencies in the next few weeks, Moas said he plans to invest more in them.

The research analyst's view on bitcoin joins the optimistic views of others on Wall Street. On Sunday, Goldman Sachs' technical analyst Sheba Jafari said in a note that bitcoin could rise as high as $3,915.

Goldman Sachs says bitcoin could rise another 50% Goldman Sachs says bitcoin could rise another 50%

"In the next 6 to 12 months you're going to have a little bit of a hysteria," Moas said. However, "this has a long, long way to go before it gets to bubble territory."

Moas' reasoning is so little of global capital is in cryptocurrencies right now that the young digital currencies can absorb more of those funds without becoming overvalued.

McKinsey Global Institute estimated that the value of the world's stocks and debt rose to $212 trillion in 2010.

On the other hand, CoinMarketCap data showed the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has grown from below $20 billion at the start of this year to about $100 billion, still less than a tenth of a percent of global capital markets. Bitcoin has a market value of about $42 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

"There will be scams, there will be accounts wiped out, there will be people that get hurt, like every other technology that is going on," Moas said. But "I think the cryptocurrency is here to stay. I think we're in the second inning of a 9-inning ball game."

Many, including some on Wall Street, believe that the blockchain technology behind bitcoin can fundamentally change the way the world operates, just like the internet did.

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

david ogden entrpreneur

 

Author: Evelyn Cheng

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

Markethive

Fourth Largest Cryptocurrency Exchange Was Hacked. Users Lose Ethereum & Bitcoin

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Fourth Largest Cryptocurrency Exchange Was Hacked. Users Lose Ethereum & Bitcoin

    

Bithumb, the world's fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume,

confirmed a security incident during which an unknown hacker was able to make off with an yet undetermined amount of funds. Clues that something was wrong emerged on Thursday, when South Korean users, who make most of Bithumb's userbase, started complaining on a local social network about losing control over large funds stored in their Bithumb accounts. A day later after these complaints, the company officially admitted the breach in a blog post on its website, albeit it did not provide any meaningful details.

Attacker hacked Bithumb employee's PC

More facts came to light on Monday, when pressured by local media, the company revealed that the breach occurred after an unknown attacker hacked the personal computer of a Bithumb employee, from where he stole the details of over 31,800 Bithumb users — about 3% of the platform's entire userbase. According to local media [1, 2, 3, 4], the hack took place at around 22:00, local time, on Thursday, June 29, and the documents the hacker managed to access contained data on customer names, email addresses, and mobile phone numbers.

Soon after, Bithumb users started complaining online that someone was draining their accounts. It is unclear how the hacker gained control to targeted accounts. Some users reported losses as big as 10 million won ($8,700) worth of cryptocurrency. Local media grossly estimates that the attacker made off with billions of won in cryptocurrency, but Bithumb never confirmed the exact amount of stolen funds.

Bithumb promises to reimburse users

Based on a blog post published on Monday, the exchange doesn't seem to know the exact amount of money the attacker took. Nonetheless, in a gracious move, the company is willing to provide compensations of up to 100,000 won ($897) per affected user until midnight July 5. "As soon as the amount of damages is confirmed, we will reimburse the entire amount of damages," said Bithumb in an official statement.

According to user complaints, the hacker stole both Bitcoin and Ethereum from user accounts. Besides being the fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, Bithumb is also the Internet's second largest Ethereum trading platform by volume. Bithumb told South Korean media it contacted law enforcement last week and informed them of the theft. Two months ago, an unknown attacker hacked fellow South Korean Bitcoin exchange Yapizon and stole 3816.2028 Bitcoin (over $5.5 million). This is not the only Ethereum-related hack that took place this past we

Chuck Reynolds


Marketing Dept
Contributor
Please click either Link to Learn more about -Bitcoin.

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member

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Bitcoin and Decentralized Networks are the Future, Says University Professor

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Bitcoin and Decentralized Networks are the Future, Says University Professor

Bitcoin and Decentralized Networks are the Future, Says University Professor

 

Lorenzo Fioramonti, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), who also directs the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation, recently published a write-up stating that money systems are in the process of transitioning from “centralized authority to decentralized networks.”

Cryptocurrencies represent a significant part of such decentralized networks. According to Fioramonti, there is a growing demand for digital currencies. On one hand, he exemplified with the recent adoption of cryptocurrencies in the world. Japan regulated bitcoin in April 2017, while the Russian government – who threatened virtual currencies last year – made a U-turn and even President Vladimir Putin met with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. In addition, China halted its initial freeze on bitcoin exchanges in the country, therefore, the major BTC exchanges in the country resumed trading in June 2017. In the United States and Australia, digital currencies are experiencing higher adoption rates, in addition, the Oceanian country will soon exempt traders and investors from goods and services tax.

The professor stated, in the near future, cryptocurrencies will “become much more common as methods of payment for a wide range of purchases, from online shopping to the local supermarket.” Not just developed, but developing countries are making efforts to implement digital currencies in their economies, Fioramonti wrote.

In Venezuela, where the current economy is facing major problems, bitcoin has become “the leading parallel currency”, the professor wrote. While the official national currency of the South American country is worth almost nothing, bitcoin can be used to perform transactions, buy food along with other basic necessities, and to purchase products from overseas countries bypassing the strict controls on capital.

Local innovators in East Africa implemented the use of cryptocurrencies in cross-border transactions. An example for this is BitPesa. According to the professor, the popularity of cryptocurrencies in South Africa is also on the rise. Since the Nigerian government failed its citizens by conventional money, local traders and activists believe digital currencies has a potential to democratize the economy. Verengai Mabika, founder of BitFinance in Zimbabwe, stated bitcoin is an attractive alternative for conducting online payments and remittances, which “constitute the backbone of the economy.” Verengai told Fioramonti that 37 percent of BitFinance’s customers use cryptocurrencies for savings since the 2008 hyperinflation resulted in the collapse of the Zimbabwe’s financial institutions.

Fioramonti stated that decentralization is the “core of this new trend.” According to the professor, the use of cryptocurrencies “will make economies more resilient against shocks and will support more equitable and sustainable development, by putting users in the driver seat and reinforcing local economic development.”

David Ogden
Entrepreneur

 

Author: Benjamin Vitáris

 

Alan Zibluk – Markethive Founding Member