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BlackRock Global Chief Investment Strategist Richard Turnill argued Tuesday (July 11) that loose monetary policy has resulted in a huge run up in cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, but it doesnt pose a risk to the financial system.

According to a report in Reuters, Turnill said bitcoin price movements could be influenced by easy monetary policies that were instituted by central banks following on the heels of the global financial crisis that started in 2007 and lasted until 2009. The gains in cryptocurrencies could also be a sign the market could be in a bubble.

I look at the charts, and to me that looks pretty scary, Turnill said at a media briefing in New York covered by the newswire. He and his BlackRock colleagues have been telling clients to remain invested in global stocks despite the risk and despite warnings from some strategists that prices are too high. As to the speculations, hes not concerned about the broader implications from the wild movements in the digital currencies.

Theres no evidence that if that price went to zero tomorrow that thered be any broader financial implication over time, but to me it is [an] example of where youre getting some big price movements in the market.

BlackRock isnt the only one to warn about a bubble in cryptocurrencies. Those same concerns have hurt Ethereums price this week. According to a news report, the digital currency has been having a tough go of it lately, falling more than 45 percent since hitting a record high of $400 in mid-June.

There is talk that the cryptocurrency market is reaching a bubble after Mark Cuban said bitcoin, the Ethereum competitor, was already in bubble mode. I think its in a bubble. I just dont know when or how much it corrects, Cuban recently tweeted, noted the report. When everyone is bragging about how easy they are making $=bubble.

Following those speculations, came a statement from Jeffrey Kleintop, Charles Schwabs chief global investment strategist, who, according to the report, also suggested bitcoins price was in a bubble and in one not seen before.

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BlackRock Strategy: Cryptocurrency Speculation Doesn't Present Systematic Risk - PYMNTS.com

Veteran Japanese cryptocurrencyexchange Btcbox has announced that it will be establishing a subsidiary to target the Hong Kong bitcoin markets. The subsidiary, MBK Asia Limited, will operate in partnership with Japanese investment bank, MBK CO. Ltd.

Also Read:Rollout of 260,000+ Bitcoin-Accepting Stores in Japan Begins

Japanese bitcoin exchange Btcbox will be establishing a Hong Kong bitcoin exchange subsidiary in partnership with investment bank MBK Co. Ltd. The proposed subsidiary, MBK Asia Limited, this week announced that it has filed for registration as an incorporation within Hong Kong.

Btcbox has been operating since 2014, making itone of the oldest bitcoinexchanges in Japan. Since 2016 the company has increasingly geared its operations toward altcoin trading. Despite its longevity, Btcbox has struggled to capture a significant share of the Japanese cryptocurrency markets, posting the first profitable single month in the companys entire history this May.

Japanese investment bank MBK has already reaped benefits from its pending entry into Hong Kongs cryptocurrency markets. The recent liberalization of Japans regulatory stance toward bitcoin and dramatic rise in price seen by many cryptocurrencies have inspired sharp gains in the share price of Japanese businesses with exposure to virtual currencies with MBKs shares rising in price by approximately 17% since February.

MBK has traditionally engaged in the provision of equity investment, debt financing, fund management, and merger and acquisition advisory. The move to enter the cryptocurrency markets is a notable diversification for MBK, which was first founded in 1947 and has traditionally been associated with Japans post-war manufacturing and merchant banking sectors.

The establishment of Btcboxs subsidiary has been largely inspired by Japans permissive regulatory climate, with the company perceiving recent regulations as a likely catalyst for both recent and future growth. In April of this year, demand for virtual currencies has been increasing more than ever since the revised fund settlement law etc. came into effect in order to optimize the service on the virtual currency. Btcbox has also seen an increase in customer assets under management expected from an increase in new customers, as well as an increase in sales of bitcoin.

The Hong Kong-based subsidiary also announced future plans to negotiate partnerships to provide remittance and settlement services to the international finance markets.

Do you think that Btcbox will be successful in capturing a significant share of the Hong Kong bitcoin markets? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and BTCbox

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check ourtoolssection.

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Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange BTCBox Enters Hong Kong ... - Bitcoin News (press release)

Former Credit Suisse Group AG trader Nikolay Storonsky is getting $66 million from investors including Index Ventures to help grow his two-year-old banking startup in the U.S. and Asia and enabling it to offer cryptocurrency trading.

His London-based Revolut Ltd. raised the money in a round that included Balderton Capital and Ribbit Capital, according to a statement on Wednesday. Storonsky, 32, will use the funds to expand in Asia and North America, and let customers hold cryptocurrency. He also plans to gather $5 million in crowdfunding from consumers on Seedrs later this month.

Source: Revolut

Revolut, which Russian-born Storonsky founded two years ago with former Deutsche Bank AG technology developerVlad Yatsenko, makes money from fees on ATM withdrawals and takes a cut from merchant charges on payments in shops. As early as next week, it plans to let customers hold, exchange, spend and transfer virtual currencies such as bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum for free, profiting from the price differences between buyers and sellers as opposed to charging commission.

Adding cryptocurrencies and the ability to buy and sell them is a big step forward for a financial organization, Storonsky, who used to trade equity derivatives, said in an interview. Big banks are looking at us and seeing what were doing, for future things they want to add to their product pipeline, but theyre very slow.

For more on digital startups challenging European lenders, click here

The cryptocurrency sector has lost about a third of its market value since peaking in early June, pushing it into what traditional equity market analysts label as a bear market. Bitcoin, the largest of the digital currencies, is down about 20 percent from its peak of $3,000, reached June 12. Smaller rivals such as ethereum are getting hit even harder.

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Storonsky is among former bankers such as ex-JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive Blythe Masters and erstwhile Barclays Plc Chief Executive Officer Antony Jenkins who are taking advantage of new technology to win customers in an industry dominated by their old employers. Although most fintech firms have yet to achieve significant scale and profit, the startups as a whole are threatening to upend banks handicapped by creaky computer systems.

Revolut, which currently employs 140 people in London, Krakow and Moscow, plans to open offices in New York and Singapore and hire about 20 more staff, according to Storonsky.

The Asia and North American growth plan will come in parallel to expanding in Europe. These are big markets, theres huge demand for our products, he said. Weve got waiting lists and now is the time to enter.

Continued here:
Ex-Credit Suisse Trader Raises $66 Million for Bitcoin Push - Bloomberg

Investors looking to make an investment in an exciting new area are increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies. It's no wonder why: Bitcoin, the leading digital currency by market capitalization, has gained nearly 200% since the beginning of 2017. Ethereum, the next biggest currency, has gained more than 3,000% over the same period. (See also: Why Ethereum Prices Reached Record Highs.)

There are new currencies added to the list every month, and a sharp uptick in the number of initial coin offerings, or ICOs, means there are many other new startups and ventures related to the burgeoning crypto industry as well. As investors move to place their assets in the digital realm, demand in other areas seems to be drying up. In fact, gold may have been the most heavily impacted by the recent gains in the cryptocurrency world.

Cryptocurrency supply has actually dropped fairly significantly in recent months, according to a report by Business Insider. The rate of Bitcoins added to the market has more than halved in the past 12 months, from a rate of 9.3% to 4.4%.

If mining continues to slow down, Bitcoin won't reach its theoretical maximum number of 21 million Bitcoins until the year 2045, if not later. As supply has dwindled, prices have continued to rise.

It seems that the opposite may be true for gold. Gold production has climbed significantly since 2009, now sitting at 3,100 metric tons. This constitutes a record high level of production of the precious metal.

Tom Lee, managing partner and head of research for Fundstrat Global Advisors, indicated in a letter to clients that "cryptocurrencies are cannibalizing demand for gold. Bitcoin is arguably becoming a scarcer store of value. Investors need to identify strategies to leverage this potential rise in cryptocurrencies."

What could the future look like for the prices of Bitcoin and gold? Fundstrat's research indicates that prices for the cryptocurrency could climb by about eight times over the next five years, with Bitcoin prices reaching $20,000 during that time.

If the scenario turns out more bullish, Fundstrat believes Bitcoin could surge to more than $55,000 by 2022. What would happen to gold during that period? "Our model shows gold's value being relatively static against a rise in Bitcoin," Lee suggested.

Lee believes that if central banks begin to invest in Bitcoin and other digital currencies, that could speed up the process by which Bitcoin takes the place of gold in the international markets.

"Already central banks have looked into this possibility. In our view, this is a game changer, enhancing the legitimacy of the currency," he wrote. Of course, there are also analysts who believe a potential crash or bubble collapse is imminent in the cryptocurrency space, so only time will tell what will happen. (See also: Goldman Sachs Takes Bearish View on Bitcoin.)

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As Investors Turn to Cryptocurrencies, Gold Suffers - Investopedia

Cryptocurrency mining is a difficult and costly activity. Miners must pay to build rigs capable of vast amounts of processing power, and then the rigs themselves must be powered with large quantities of electricity. It's all a careful balance between how much the operation costs and how much profit it is able to generate. (See also: What Happens to Bitcoin After All 21 Million are Mined?)

With mining operations for Ethereum, one of the leading digital currencies on the market today, taking up the same share of electricity as that of a small country, miners have to be careful that they aren't spending more than they are making. Because of that, some mining operations have begun to look to solar-powered rigs, set up in the desert, in order to reduce mining costs and make the largest profit possible. (See also: Chinese Investment in Bitcoin Mining is Enormous.)

Mining operations with the tools and resources to be able to set up solar-powered rigs in the desert are finding that it is a good investment. Once you have paid for the solar panel system itself, the cost of mining is virtually free. Getting rid of a hefty electric bill which typically weighs down mining operations leaves more room for profit.

The Merkle recently documented a mining operation focused on Bitcoin in this manner. The setup has been running successfully for almost a year and currently uses 25 separate computing rigs. The process has been so profitable, in fact, that the miner running the operation plans to increase the number of computers to 1,000 this fall.

In the case of this particular desert miner, the individual mining rigs cost about $8,000. This cost has included all solar panels, power controls, batteries, and the Antminer S9 ASIC processor. When fully operational, each miner brings in a profit of about $18 per day.

Of course, a cheap mining operation is only part of the equation. In order for miners to make a tidy profit, the price of the cryptocurrencies they are generating must remain high.

In the case of the mining operation in question, Merkle suggests that Bitcoin prices must stay above $2,000 in order for the operation to be profitable. Considering that the price of most cryptocurrencies is highly volatile, and that drops of 205 or more have occurred in many individual days, this keeps a certain element of risk present in any mining operation.

It seems likely that more and more miners will turn to areas in which renewable energy is easily accessed. Iceland has already become a popular destination for Bitcoin miners thanks to its fast, virtually limitless internet. Miners looking to move to the desert should be cautious for other reasons, though: mining in the heat can cause rigs to break down more easily.

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Is Solar-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining the Next Big Thing ... - Investopedia

Money is changing. Just a few years ago saw the invention of Bitcoin, the world's first cryptocurrency, and today there are thousands of these cryptocurrencies being used by people all around the world including variants like Ethereum and Litecoin.

But what is a cryptocurrency? How does it work? There has been no shortage of explainers during Bitcoin's rise, but this new one from Youtuber 3Blue1Brown explains the whole process from the bottom up to give you an understanding of cryptocurrency as if you had invented it yourself:

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In a typical currency, such as U.S. dollars, transactions are handled either through exchanging cash or via electronic transfers. These electronic transfers are managed by large banks that we trust to keep our money safe and our transactions honest.

To create a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, we first have to take the responsibility of keeping track of transactions away from banks and manage it ourselves. The first step is to create a ledger of everyone's payments to everyone else. This ledger will keep track of who owes money to who and records everyone's payments to each other.

The next step is to prevent people from cheating by adding transactions that one party much not agree on. One easy way to solve that problem is by requiring both people in the transaction to sign off on the payment. Each participant can add their "digital signature" using public/private key encryption so that everyone knows the transaction is legitimate.

But there's one last problem: Who owns the ledger? In a traditional currency system a bank would maintain it, but we're supposed to be building a currency that doesn't need banks. Instead, everyone has their own ledger, and all transactions are made public so everyone updates their ledger at the same time.

In this way, everyone can safely exchange money without worrying about whether the people handling it are trustworthy. Instead of trusting a central bank or a government to insure our transactions, we can simply use cryptography to force everyone to play fair. While cryptocurrencies are still in the early stages, in a few years they might be the preferred way to make payments all over the world.

Source: 3Blue1Brown

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How Cryptocurrencies Really Work - Popular Mechanics

This is a sponsored story. CCN does not endorse, nor is responsible for any material included below and isnt responsible for any damages or losses connected with any products or services mentioned in the material below. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned below.

In less than 2 days, we will congratulate ATB Coin Crypto-Lottery winners. The Grand Prize fund of $20.000 is to be shared between 5 randomly chosen investors. The process and the results of lottery will be announced on a special page on ATB Coin website. The lottery will be held at 6 p.m. on July 11th for registered users who invest a minimum 200 ATB. For each 200 ATB, the investor gets one lottery ticket. The larger the amount invested, the greater the chance to win.

Prize funds are:

During the ICO, which still remains open today, the newly introduced cryptocurrency ATB Coin has already attracted 1700+ investors. Such an interest in this cryptocurrency is due to the numerous advantages of ATB Coin that is going to be the most secure, fast, and flexible, according to analysts. The strongest features of ATB Coin allow it to stand ahead of competition:

Being the one cryptocurrency combining the newest technologies, ATB Coin has all chances to overcome well-known inefficiencies within government central banks and other cryptocurrencies. Join ATB Coin, invest now in cryptocurrency of the future!

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Cryptocurrency ATB Coin Offers Investors a Crypto-Lottery for the $20.000 Grand Prize. Only 2 Days Left! - CryptoCoinsNews

Mumbai, July 10:

Crypt currency guru Amit Bharadwaj has launched an e-book Cryptocurrency for Beginners, which seeks to provide context and clarity on cryptocurrencies.

This is his third book in the series, after Cryptocurrency Trading for Beginners and Cryptocurrency Mining for Beginners.

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are set to transform the world with their efficient solutions. However, the promise and power of cryptocurrencies remain to be unleashed meaningfully - as limited awareness across stakeholder categories, plays spoilsport, Bharadwaj said.

My book has a simple objective - making the readers realise that blockchain is just like the internet or a motorbike - one doesnt need to know the underlying technology to use it. The book empowers readers with requisite knowledge of the concept of blockchain and helps them appreciate its massive potential, he added.

Amit Bharadwaj is founder of Amaze Mining & Research Ltd.

(This article was published on July 10, 2017)

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Crypto currency guru Amit Bharadwaj launches e-book - Hindu Business Line

The initial coin offering (ICO) craze is getting ridiculous. The latest evidence: A cryptotoken called Useless Ethereum Token has raised over $40,000 in just under three days.

Heres its pitch: UET is a standard ERC20 token, so you can hold it and transfer it. Other than that nothing. Absolutely nothing. And the offering still has four days to go before it closes.

Useless Ethereum Token is part caustic satire, part artistic intervention. Its anonymous creator, who goes by UET CEO, told the New York Observer: I realized that people didnt really care about the product. They cared about spending a little bit of money, watching a chart and then withdrawing a little bit more money. So why not have an ICO without a product, and do so completely transparently just to see what happened?

Indeed, token offerings have already raised $327 million in the first half of the year, according to research by trade publication CoinDesk. That doesnt account for monster raises in the interim, like the EOS offering, which attracted over $200 million worth of ether in about two weeks, according to research firm Smith and Crown.

UET is not the only gag cryptocoin. Another newly launched one is FOMO Coin, which promises a remedy to speculators with a fear of missing out on the next hot ICO. Get in before its too late! its website exhorts readers. Weve been working on FOMO Coin for at least two hours. FOMO Coin has only attracted $6.50 in ether so far.

FOMO Coins creator, a software developer in Ireland named Jamie Farrelly, told Quartz he had indeed only worked on it for a couple of hours. Its a real token, I had a few hours to spare, he said. Plus the current ICO situation is nuts. Had to make people think a bit more about it.

Joke coins have a history of taking on a life of their own in the cryptocurrency world. Just look at dogecoin, the granddaddy of humor-based cryptocurrencies. The doge in question is a Shiba Inu dog named Kabosu who was photographed looking askance at the camera, an image that then transmogrified into a viral meme. In 2014, as bitcoin was becoming exposed to the mainstream for the first time, a community sprung up online to create a cryptocurrency inspired by the meme. It raised $30,000 for the Jamaican bobsled team to compete in the winter Olympics.

But that wasnt the end of it. Since then, dogecoins value has risen about 20-fold, to a high of over $400 million for all the dogecoin in circulation in Juneand thats despite the fact that no one has touched its code for about two years. Joke coin investors are laughing all the way to the bank.

Read next: The new cryptocurrency gold rush: digital tokens that raise millions in minutes

Excerpt from:
Ethereum ICO: people invested thousands of dollars in "Useless ... - Quartz

The increasing energy consumption by cryptocurrency mining operations has surpassed the energy requirements of many smaller nations. Read more...

While some continue to praise Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as the beginning of the new world order, there are some who believe that the very digital currencies might spell doom by accelerating global warming. The dissent against Bitcoin and other PoW based cryptocurrencies is fueled by the extent of mining operations. As the mining hardware continues to become more powerful, the mining difficulty rises proportionally to maintain a constant emission of new tokens.

An increase in mining difficulty also means increasing energy requirements. According to reports, the recent rise in Ethereum value has led to an increased interest among the cryptocurrency community members. Many people have taken up Ethereum mining using graphic processors.

The increasing demand for graphics processors has not only caused a scarcity of GPUs in the market. It has, in turn, increased the energy consumption. According to reports, the total energy consumed by the Bitcoin network has risen to 14.54 terawatt hours (TWh) per year. The energy requirement is expected to further grow with the growth of the community.

It puts the total amount of energy required to process each Bitcoin transaction at 163 kWh, equivalent to the amount of energy used by an average household in the United States for five and a half days. A further extrapolation puts the electricity consumption of Bitcoin network to be equivalent to the overall annual energy consumption of Turkmenistan, that ranks 81 in energy consumption ranking on a global scale.

While Bitcoin network takes the first place when it comes to overall energy consumption, Ethereum isnt far behind. According to the report, the total annual electricity requirement for Ethereum mining is equivalent to that of Moldova (with an energy consumption ranking on 120) at 4.69 TWh. Each Ether transaction uses an average of 49 kWh, which is equivalent to one and a half days worth of electricity for an average US household.

The upcoming Bitcoin scalability options and Ethereums impending switch from Proof of Work to Hybrid Proof of Stake algorithm may lead to a significant reduction in the electricity consumption trends.

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Cryptocurrency Electricity Requirements Surpasses Annual Energy Consumption of Few Nations - newsBTC