While the movement from traditional banking and financial institutions to cryptocurrency investments has been slow for some, others have been biding their time and waiting for the appropriate moment to make the switch. According to a recent report by Coin Telegraph, John Mack, the former Chief Executive Officer for Morgan Stanley, is in the latter category. Mack is reportedly preparing to enter the cryptocurrency game and is looking to launch an ICO at some point later in the year. Why would Mack be interested in joining cryptocurrency investors in the hottest new trend?

Mack's project at this time is Omega One, a platform which he says "is going to be transformative because it benefits the entire ecosystem--making crypto assets cheaper and easier to access," according to the report. Mack claims that he has been following and investing in digital currencies for several years, and he feels that Omega One is uniquely prepared to transform the industry. His investments in the startup were reportedly made via Venture One, a portfolio company which he backs privately. The goal of Omega One seems to be to push digital currencies into broader public view, making them more available and attractive to potential investors. Mack is currently the sole investor in this project, although his status as a finance legend will likely draw in other interest as time goes on.

According to Alex Gordon-Brander of Omega One, his company provides "the bridge between traditional capital markets and the crypto markets." Omega One, he says, "will provide everything from balance sheet intermediation and a trusted counterparty." He points to the "very first signs of institutional adoption of crypto markets" as a sign that his company has an interested and eager audience, as well as room in which to make an impact.

Analysts at Coin Telegraph suggest that Mack's move into the cryptocurrency space has been strategically timed, as the cryptocurrency market itself has grown and matured significantly over the past year and a half. With a clear sign that institutional investors are interested in entering the field, there remains a bit of mystery as to how these investors could best make use of their assets. This is where a company like Omega One could come in, or at least that's what Mack and the company's leaders hope. Regulation and education regarding the digital currency world are some of the largest barriers at this point. Experienced financial professionals like Mack may hope that their background in trading securities and assets of all kinds will allow them the benefit of being able to learn about and improve upon the way that cryptocurrencies are bought and sold, too.

Omega One will reportedly offer clients the opportunity to hold native tokens. It aims to launch via an ICO at some point later this year, after August and before December.

See the article here:
Morgan Stanley Ex-CEO to Launch Cryptocurrency Game-Changer - Investopedia

South Korea's national legislature was the site of a public hearing on Tuesday in which recently proposed cryptocurrency regulation saw new discussion.

According tolocal media reports,Korean lawmaker Park Yong-jin used the forum, over which he presided, to call for consumer protections to be added to the bill.Aimed at laying the groundwork for regulation in South Korea, the public hearingcomestwo weeks afterPark first unveiled the plan, which would capture cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether.

Panelists in the hearing includes lawyers, professors, an official from South Korea's top financial regulator (the Financial Services Commission), as well as a victim of a cryptocurrency-related Ponzi scam.

As such, much of the focus of the talk was on strengthening consumer protections for industry startups and technologists.

Park, in particular, voiced concerns that trader protection is a difficult task without a legal basis, stating:

"Without a legal framework, we can neither regulate, nurture, nor support the cryptocurrency-related industries. Also, the legal vacuum prevents those who committed virtual currency-related crimes from being punished."

Still, there were positive remarks as well. Jung Sun-seop, a professor of law at Seoul National University and director of its Center for Financial Law, argued thatthelaw should legalize cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.

Lee Dae-ki, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Finance, argued that the trading and brokering of cryptocurrency should be regulated prior to the currency itself, due to their potential for criminal abuse.

Likewise, Chae Won-hee, a representative of a group of Ponzi scheme victims, said the punishment on cryptocurrency-related criminals should be toughened to prevent financial scams.

Kim Yeon-june, representing the FSC, said the government had yet to decide whether a cryptocurrency should be brought under financial regulations.

Korean national assembly building via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Korean Lawmaker Calls for Consumer Protection in Cryptocurrency Bill - CoinDesk

- Recent cryptocurrency losses have been pulled back.

- Volatility remains until new proposals come into force.

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Fears that blockchain may split into two, creating two different bitcoins (BTC), have lessened in the past two days as bitcoin miners have begun to support a new bitcoin improvement proposal (BIP) that would help solve the long-running scaling problems. The proposal BIP 91, would introduce SegWit2X to the blockchain to help speed up the transaction time from the current limit of 1 megabyte every 10 minutes. According to many in the industry, BIP 91 would make implementation of SegWit2X less risky and would decrease the probability of a blockchain split (hard fork).

Over the past couple of days, bitcoin miners have begun signalling support for BIP 91 by adding a piece of code to each new block transaction. If the required 80% support is reached before August 1, the new protocol would be locked-in, lessening the chances of a hard fork. The activation window is 336 blocks and if the 80% target is hit, BIP 91 locks-in and after another 336 blocks are mined it becomes activated.

The latest signalling rate is seen just under 80% of the last 144 blocks mined with several of the largest BTC miners already showing their support for the new proposal, including AntPool, BitClub, Bixin, BTC.com and BitFury.

With the chances of a blockchain split lessening, the price of BTC and most other digital currencies have recovered from Sundays heavy sell-off. The future though may be less certain with the recent volatility underscoring the need for cryptocurrency traders to tread carefully in the weeks ahead. The chart below shows BTC still trading below its 100-day ema with a potential resistance level around $2419.

Chart: Bitcoin Four Hour Timeframe (June 14 - July 19, 2017)

Chart by IG

Ether (ETH) in the meantime has seen even sharper swings than peer bitcoin slumping from $225 on Sunday to a $137 low before rebounding to trade over $257 late Tuesday.

Chart: Ether Three Hour Chart (July 7 July 19, 2017)

Chart by TradingView.

Ethereum however, may soon come under increasing State regulation, over the recent surge in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), the cryptocurrency markets equivalent of traditional equity Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).

Market Moves/Capitalizations July 14, 2017.

Cryptocurrency

Price/Change%

Market Cap

BITCOIN

$2307 -0.94%

$37.971bn

ETHEREUM

$221.4 +9.5%

$20.68bn

RIPPLE

$0.176 -3.21%

$6.765bn

LITECOIN

$41.93 -4.84%

$2.183bn

ETHEREUM CLASSIC

$15.45 -2.03%

$1.448bn

--- Written by Nick Cawley, Analyst

To contact Nick, email him at nicholas.cawley@ig.com

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Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin Retains Gains as Hard Fork Fears Recede - DailyFX

News world

Governor of the Austrian Central Bank Ewald Nowotny warned users about the speculative nature of virtual currency. Nowotny also serves as a member of the governing council of the European Central Bank (ECB).

On July 19, governor of the Austrian Central Bank (German: Oesterreichische Nationalbank) Ewald Nowotny warned against cryptocurrency usage in an interview with newspaper Kleine Zeitung. Nowotny worries that the general public fails to grasp the potential psycho-social ramifications of a virtual currency correction. When asked about Japans recognition of bitcoin as a means of payment, Nowotny expressed his reservations.

Bitcoin is not a currency, he said. Bitcoin lacks the one thing that makes a good currency, namely stability. Instead, he classifies bitcoin as an object of speculation.

His hesitation is understandable, especially in light of bitcoins impending User Activated Soft Fork. Nonetheless, cryptocurrency has taken root in Austria. sterreichische Post, Austrias official postal services provider, recently announced its partnership with a Vienna startup to allow the exchange of euros for bitcoin.

Significantly, Nowotny is not completely pessimistic about cryptocurrency. He explains that Austria does not ban it as a banknote, but acknowledges that you have to let the people know what they are doing. Previously, he had compared cryptocurrencys popularity to the Tulip Crazeof the 16th century Holland.

Nowotnys measured approach is exactly what a concerned public would hope for in a central banker. He recognizes the inherent dangers and seeks to insulate the Austrian economy.

[Bubbles] can have negative psychological effects, he said. This is the danger we see but I would not overrate it either.

As a member of the European Central Banks governing council, Nowotny may inform the approach of his colleagues. In May, ECB president Mario Draghi encouraged the close study of distributed ledger technology.

Quotes translated from German using Google Translate.

Matthew is a writer with a passion for emerging technology. Prior to joining ETHNews, he interned for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the OECD. He graduated cum laude from Georgetown University where he studied international economics. In his spare time, Matthew loves playing basketball and listening to podcasts. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

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Governor of Austrian Central Bank Advises Cryptocurrency Caution ... - ETHNews

In Brief After a rough weekend, Bitcoin investors, miners, and developers are cautiously optimistic: after hitting historic lows, the cryptocoin's price went back up on Monday.

After a rough weekend of historic lows, Bitcoin prices began to recoveron Monday, reachingover $2,300, signaling a crisis averted for now.Its also an optimistic sign that the potential network hard fork may be avoided, with more bitcoin shareholders, miners and developers,warming up to a proposed solution.

Bitcoin prices dropped dramatically beginning Friday and continuing well into the weekend. Economic forecasts had suggested that the most turbulent period in the cryptocoins history wasimminent. It didnt come as a complete surprise, as many were expecting the so-called Bitcoin Civil Warto ensue between miners and developers, after a deadlock in deciding what direction the cryptocurrency should take amidst increased blockchain traffic.

Miners wanted to increase Bitcoins block-size limit, while developers have proposed moving data off the main blockchain network, which would diminish the influence miners wield. The scaling solution in question is the Bitcoin Improvement Protocol (BIP) 91, which makes theSegWit2x update and the BIP 148compatible. Essentially, it would make it easier for the SegWit2x update to be adopted, while at the same time avoiding the split that BIP 148 might cause.

To lock in by July 31, BIP 91 only needs 80 percent miner support unlike BIP 148, which would require 95 percent. With increased support for BIP 91, the expected July 31 to August 2 bitcoin splitcould still be averted.

Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.

Continue reading here:
As Cryptocurrency Prices Recover, Bitcoin War May Be Averted - Futurism

Hackers hijacked cryptocurrency trading platform CoinDash on Monday just as it was in the middle of its initial coin offering, or ICO. It's the first known breach of an ICO, this season's hottest fundraising method.

CoinDash, an Israeli startup, planned to raise capital by selling its own digital tokens in exchange for the cryptocurrency Ethereum , which is similar to Bitcoin . But just 13 minutes into the token sale, which began at 9 a.m. ET Monday, an "unknown perpetrator" hacked CoinDash's website and changed the address for sending investments to a fake one, the company later announced on its website . That diverted millions of dollars in contributions to the attacker.

While the CoinDash ICO still managed to raise $6.4 million from early investors, the hacker stole $7 million worth of Ethereum before the company was forced to pull the plug on the token sale. Despite the losses, CoinDash promised to dole out its tokens accordingly to everyone who participated in the ICO before it was shut down, whether or not they sent funds to the correct address.

"Reminder: We are still under attack. Please do not send any [Ethereum] to any address, as the Token Sale has been terminated," CoinDash said in the statement.

The incident is likely to put a damper on the enthusiasm surrounding ICOs. The offerings are similar to stock market initial public offerings, or IPOs. But there are two key differences: ICO investors receive cryptocurrency instead of equity, and the offerings face far less regulation.

ICOs have had a banner year. In 2017 alone, such token sales have raised at least $540 million, my colleague Jeff John Roberts reported in a recent Fortune Magazine story, "Why Tech Investors Love ICOsand Lawyers Dont." A month ago, a single ICO raised as much as $147 million; another raised $35 million in just 30 seconds .

The CoinDash hack is reminiscent of another large-scale Ethereum heist last year, when attackers breached a blockchain organization called the DAO and stole more than $50 million that had been raised in an ICO a month earlier. But the DAO hack occurred after the token sale had already ended.

To CoinDash, which hyped its ICO with modified promotional imagery for HBO's Game of Thrones , the breach is a blow both financially and in terms of its relationship with customers, some of whom suggested on social media that the attack could have been an inside job.

For its part, CoinDash pledged to investigate the breach and move on. "This was a damaging event to both our contributors and our company but it is surely not the end of our project," the company said in its statement.

More:
Hackers Just Stole $7 Million in a Brazen Ethereum Cryptocurrency Heist - Fortune

Cryptocurrency mining is the process of using GPUs, or graphics cards, to invest in, and profit from, the value of digital encrypted currencies. In recent times there has been something of a boom in the value of cryptocurrencies, meaning that miners have been snapping up GPUs.

However, in the last few days there has been a swift decline in the value of both Bitcoin and Etherium, leading to many miners selling their GPUs. According to CoinDesk, there have been 260 entries on Ebay for 'Etherium mining rig', all bar three of which appeared online after July 11.

That date is significant because thats the day after Etherium hit its peak of $400 to put that in context it was only worth $10 a unit on January 1. The value of cryptocurrencies plummeted after that, with the market losing $10 billion over the weekend and Etherium hitting a low of $133, although it's since recovered to around $200.

If you want to take advantage of the sudden glut of GPUs on Ebay, youre going to have to know what youre looking at, as they are definitely packaged for the purpose of mining, even though they're essentially just powerful gaming GPUs.

It's worth bearing in mind that months (or years) of mining could shorten the life expectancy of graphics cards if they've been used a lot, but the savings you get may be worth the risk. As the rigs usually contain a number of GPUs specifically calibrated for mining, it will require a few friends and a little expertize to get your cheap GPU.

If plowing through mining rigs sounds like a lot of work, you may still see a discount in the price of GPUs in the coming months as the diminishing demand may well have a knock-on effect on GPU cost.

If we see any change in GPU prices, we'll let you know.

From CoinDesk

Via PC Gamer

More here:
Now could be a good time to pick up a secondhand graphics card as ... - TechRadar

Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper announced on Monday that he has bought 10% of all tokens in the initial coin offering (ICO) of Credo, a new cryptocurrency meant to solve the problem of email spam. The CEO of BitBounce, Stewart Dennis, who is heading the project, sat down to talk with Finance Magnates about his solution and the ICO process.

Learn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!

The interview was broadcast live and a video recording is available here:

Draper made tidal waves in the investor community last month by investing in the companies that created Tezos and Bancor. He was also the winner of the US Marshals Bitcoin auction, making him one of the leading owners of Bitcoin.

Token offerings allow entrepreneurs a new way to transform society. They are doing everything from banking the unbanked to streamlining how people transact business to helping secure peoples identities. Credos solve the SPAM problem, allowing legitimate advertisers to pay to connect, while allowing people to put value on their time and attention, said Draper.

Draper previously made multiple investments in Credos parent company BitBounce.

Credo and BitBounce were developed by husband-and-wife team Stewart Dennis and Alexis Roizen-Dennis. Stewart is a Stanford Computer Science graduate and leads engineering for the company. Alexis studied art at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and leads design for the company. The team also created the SaaS product suite called Turing Cloud, which gave them their experience in developing email software.

Credos official ICO for the public is taking place on July 26th.

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Solving the Email Spam Problem with Cryptocurrency - Finance Magnates

In BriefCryptocurrencies fell over the weekend, reaching record lowsand loosing billions in market cap. While they've since recoveredthe losses, it shows just how unpredictable the cryptocurrencymarket truly is. Cryptos Rise (& Fall)

Over the weekend, cryptocurrencies suffered one of the most severe decreases in value in history when their market cap fell from a record high of $116 billion in June to $60 billion on Sunday July 17. Early this week, themarket has started to rise again, but the plummet will not soon be forgotten:throughout the day on Sunday, Bitcoin dropped from over $2,000 to as low as $1,758.20, and Ether fell 20percent to $130.26.Click to View Full Infographic

As of Tuesday morning, it seems thedownward trend has ended, with all major cryptocurrencies reporting rising rates again: Bitcoin is back over $2,000 once more, with Coin Market Cap reporting the currency is now trading at $2,307 (9:00 EST), while Ether has risen from a low over the weekend to a current value of $196.58. The total market cap has regained losses of around $10 billion,according to Coindesk.

Despite the improvement, however, cryptocurrencies are a long way off the meteoric successes they enjoyed in June, where they saw a market cap as high as $116 billion. Since then, Bitcoin has lost around 30 percent of its value, with its highpoint being $3,000 in contrast to todays figure of roughly $2,000. Ethereum has suffered even more severely, dropping from $395 to $164. Despite these falls, 2017 remains a record breaking year for cryptocurrency overall.

There have been, according to Venture Beat, three main reasons for the 48 hour cryptocurrency flop.

First, the bitcoin civil war that seems imminent as of August 1st when the Bitcoin improvement proposal 148 is set to activate. For one, theproposal concerns the possibility of increasing the cryptocurrencysblock size, (a decision which has divided miners and investors).At any rate, and regardless of the eventual decision, the uncertainty right now has caused many investors to liquidate their virtual assets.

Second, a flurry of startups have chosen to get out of the game afterprofitable rounds of investment derived from initial coin offerings (ICOs). Two particularly striking examples are EOS: after raising $200 million worth of Ether earlier this month, they have been offloading it to Bitfinex and TenX, which raised 200,000 ETH ($67 million at the time) in its token sale 30 percent of which has already been sold. This contributes to uncertainty and danger in the marketplace, which can precipitatedecreasing value.

Third, the presence of amateur sellers that the bitcoin market attracts through its fundamental lack of regulation and policing can have a multiplier effect on every market movement, namely throughfrantic, if not occasionally panicked, buying and selling practices.

While the ultimate success of cryptocurrencies remains speculative, one thing we know for sure after observingtheir activity over the last few days is that financial currencies remain volatile and prone to unpredictability.

Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.

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Cryptocurrency Hit Record Low Values Over the Weekend - Futurism

Digital currencies are decentralized, peer to peer currencies that are not influenced by the actions of governments or central banks. They run on open source platforms, and can be traded against fiat currencies, or as funds, at leading trading platforms. Blockchain technology has revolutionized e-commerce and financial services, and more banks are adopting this dynamic technology to process financial transactions.

Digital currencies have come a long way since inception after the global financial crisis of 2008/2009. Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, an individual, or group of individuals, who have since disappeared from the scene. Their legacy remains however, with a myriad of digital currencies now available on the market. These include Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum and hundreds of others which are rapidly garnering the attention of e-commerce retailers, traders, banks, financial institutions, and even regulatory authorities around the world.

One of the worlds premier financial trading platforms, eToro has launched a CryptoFund. This fund tracks the activity of cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin and others. The precise asset allocation in the CryptoFund is as follows:

The bulk of the CryptoFund 84% is comprised of Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum. In June, the fund tracked negatively with losses of 4.65%, followed by month-to-date declines in July of 25.64%. The eToro CryptoFund is a trading option, meaning that registered clients can benefit from price movements in the fund regardless of direction. At eToro, there are currently over $300,000 worth of assets under management (daily reading) with the CryptoFund, with hundreds of traders.

Since this is a CopyFund, it is possible to follow successful traders, copy their trades and profit accordingly. The increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies is a result of several factors, notably their increasing adoption in e-commerce, their rarity, and the anonymity that is afforded to traders. Compared to fiat currency which is completely controlled by governments and central banks, cryptocurrency offers multiple trading opportunities. This fund has a market capitalization of at least $1 billion with monthly trading volumes in excess of $20 million.

eToro management carefully monitors the individual components of the fund and if any of them dips beneath $1 billion, or if trading volumes are less than $20 million, a currency could be dropped from the fund. The cryptocurrency with the highest market capitalization is Bitcoin at $40 billion, but others like Ethereum and Litecoin also have high market capitalizations. The precise weighting assigned to individual currencies in the fund is determined by the portfolio manager at eToro.

The Crypto Copyfund is traded as a CFD (contract for difference) which is a derivative trading instrument. eToro management protects traders with the limits imposed on the daily trading activity of the CryptoFund. If the limit is exceeded, the funds trading activity will be closed for the day. This is done to maintain stability in trading activity, much like the major indices on Wall Street.

eToro is a strictly regulated financial trading enterprise. Only traders from accepted jurisdictions can register, deposit, and trade cryptocurrency online. In the United Kingdom, eToro is registered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and operates under the name eToro UK. The minimum required deposit is $5,000, and clients are required to be UK residents.

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Trading Cryptocurrency the eToro Way - newsBTC