Mashable

This Ethereum flash crash shows how cryptocurrency markets are super risky Mashable The price of ether, the cryptocurrency of the suddenly hot Ethereum platform, has since rebounded and is trading back at about $318. The crash, however, remains as a big reminder that this is a volatile, new market. Plenty of people have made small ... Ethereum Plunge Highlights Crypto-Currency Fears - DailyFXDailyFX Here's How Traders Lost Millions in the First Ethereum Flash CrashMotherboard Ethereum cryptocurrency hit by 'flash crash' after plummeting from US$319 to just 10 centsProactive Investors UK EconoTimes -CNBC -Futurism -The GDAX Blog all 33 news articles »

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This Ethereum flash crash shows how cryptocurrency markets are super risky - Mashable

Think bitcoins surge of more than 30 percent in the last week is impressive? Check out what some of its cousins are up to.

The market capitalization of digital currencies has soared over 50 percent to more than $90 billion in the past seven days asthe frenzy around cryptocurrencies reaches a fever pitch. Demand is swelling as more companies embrace the technology backing the method of exchange and some investors see it as a haven from political uncertainty across the globe.

Numerous alternative cryptocurrencies, or "altcoins," have emerged since bitcoin broke into public consciousness in 2013. Companies can sell new tokens through initial coin offerings, or ICOs. Ether, a digital currency linked to the Ethereum blockchain, has more than doubled its worth in the last week and is currently the second most valuable cryptocurrency, behind bitcoin. The value of zcash, the cryptocurrency that announced a partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Monday, has grown by nearly 200 percent.

Read more on industry perspective about the surge in bitcoin

Bitcoins slice of the pie has shrunk recently as its peers have gained share. It now dominates about 45 percent of the overall digital currency market, down from around 85 percent in February,according to data from CoinMarketCap.com. Meanwhile, Ethereums share has increased to more than 20 percent from 7 percent in February.

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Cryptocurrency Mania Goes Beyond Bitcoin - Bloomberg

Chipmaker Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), which has had a good run in the stock market this year, just added another Wall Street bull to its corner thanks to the rise of cryptocurrency and the need for high-end graphic cards to mine the digital currency.

Pacific Crest Securities, which downgraded Nvidias shares a couple of months ago, reversed itself Tuesday, raising its rating to sector weight from underweight all because of cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. "Meetings with desktop graphics card manufacturers indicated a sharp reversal in sales trends expected for the seasonally weaker 2Q, with surging demand from cryptocurrency miners in China and Eastern Europe," analyst Michael McConnell wrote in a research note to clients Tuesday that was covered by CNBC. "The sharp increase in demand from cryptocurrency miners has rapidly depleted excess channel inventory carried into the quarter."

The analyst also pulled his $99 price target on shares which closed at $157.09. NVDA stock is up more than 55% since the start of the year and, as CNBC pointed out, is about 45% higher since Pacific Crest Securities downgraded it in early April. (See also: Why AMD and Nvidia Are Poised For Their Biggest Drops.)

Pacific Crest isnt the only Wall Street firm bullish on Nvidias prospects. People mining for the coins use high-end graphic cards, with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) seeing the most demand. The computer-created coins can either be held or sold for a profit. (See also: What is Bitcoin Mining?)

Earlier this month, RBC Capital analyst Mitch Steves was prompted to reiterate his outperform rating on shares of the chipmaker after running a "thought test" to see how its graphic processor compared with AMD's. Using the GTX 1070, a graphic processor Nvidia introduced last year, and putting it up against AMDs Radeon 580 semiconductor, the analyst set out to see how the chips would perform while mining for Bitcoin and Ethereum, two popular cryptocurrencies. Based on his experiment, Steves found there isnt much difference between the two while mining for Ethereum, but while building a data center environment for Bitcoin, where the cost of electricity becomes more important, the older Nvidia chip performed better than the AMD processor over the course of a year.

With the price of the two currencies skyrocketing in recent weeks, it is not surprising analysts are getting more bullish. Pacific Crest warned in the research note the euphoria could be short lived. "In terms of demand sustainability from the cryptocurrency market, desktop graphics card manufacturers are skeptical, referring to the one-quarter demand surge in 2013, which was followed by an inventory correction," McConnell wrote. "Most desktop graphics card manufacturers surveyed expect strong demand to last until late-July or August, but visibility is extremely low given the volatility in cryptocurrency prices."

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Nvidia Bear Now Bullish on Cryptocurrency Mining | Investopedia - Investopedia

Bitcoin Magazine

Op Ed: How Cryptocurrency Holders Can Diversify While Deferring Taxes Bitcoin Magazine With the historic rally in Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are more investors than ever seeking to diversify their newly expanded cryptocurrency holdings. Whether this diversification involves exchanging cryptocurrency for fiat, other cryptocurrencies or a ... Cryptocurrencies: the world beyond bitcoinsLivemint Cryptocurrency Hedge Funds Generate Huge Returns As Bitcoin SurgesValueWalk Payza Adds 50 Bitcoin Alternatives to its Cryptocurrency ExchangeFinance Magnates MyBroadband -newsBTC -SMN Weekly (blog) all 50 news articles »

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Op Ed: How Cryptocurrency Holders Can Diversify While Deferring Taxes - Bitcoin Magazine

Ethers Rise

Bitcoinhas achieved record highs this year: currently, its worth almost three times as much as it was for most of January. Even so, Ethers success this year is eclipsing Bitcoins, given that Ether has risen an unbelievable 4,500 percent in 2017. When we rang in the new year, Ether was worth only around 5 percent as much as Bitcoin, but as of this week, The New York Times reports that outstanding units of the Ether currency were worth around $34 billion. . .82 percent as much as all the Bitcoin in existence.Click to View Full Infographic

Ether is now backed by not only the usual tekkies, but major corporations such as Accenture, Microsoft, Toyota, Intel, and JPMorgan Chase. These companies are becoming part ofEthereums planned global computing network(which will require Ether to use) on the ground floor. Furthermore, Ethereum is gaining traction among cryptocurrency users, with 94 percent feeling positive about the Bitcoin alternative. Only 49 percent report feeling positive about Bitcoin, according to CoinDesks report on a recent survey. Recent trends seem to indicateEthereums value will surpassBitcoins soon an event cryptocurrency enthusiasts have termed the flippening.

Ethereum and Bitcoin share many important qualities. Both are maintained and hosted by volunteers all over the world, and tracked by a network of computers, rather than acompany or government. Private exchanges establish the prices of both, and people can buy and sell them at market rates ortrade them.However, Ethereum was created to do far more than work like digital currency. The Ethereum computer network can also run computer programs and do computational work; functions otherwise known as decentralized applications, or Dapps. This has attracted a massive community of programmers who all contribute their labor to improving the software. In turn, companies have started using the Ethereum network as a base for other programs. JPMorgan Chase, for example, is creating a monitoring system for trading. Some corporate Ethereum users are creating their own Ether currency-free versions of the software, althoughmany observers believe that these software programs will eventually be connected to the Ethereum network.

The rapid boom of both Ethereum and Bitcoin showcase not only the massive potential of blockchain technology, but the volatility of the cryptocurrency world. The Bitcoin community has, at times, been plagued by technical issues and struggles with hackers demanding ransom, and illicit activity like online drug sales. Ethereum has problems, too like the DAO heist in 2016. However, challenges like these are not unexpected in totally new systems, and both Bitcoin and Ethereum have been robust enough to recover well. NYT reports that their combined value is now worth more than the market value of PayPal and is approaching the size of Goldman Sachs.

The idea that companies and individuals will choose to use the computing capabilities of the Ethereum network, as well as the currency, is still speculative. More conservative investors want to see extensive evidence before they make this kind of choice, and right now they dont have that much to go on.

Meanwhile, Bitcoins choice to use retail acceptance of its currency as an entry into mainstream commerce through companies like Expedia and Overstock.com is less risky. Even still,that strategy does run the risk of less savory retailers like drug traffickers. blockchain technology, the basis for the software, is clearly secure, but Ethereums strategy may prove more successful over time.

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Ether is King of Cryptocurrency For Now - Futurism

Robert Viglione is the co-founder of Zen, a blockchain-based private borderless decentralized platform for communications andtransactions. The technologyisdesigned to support very high data survivability even in adversarial environments. It was inspired by Bitcoin, Dash and Zcash.

The London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!

Yesterday Viglione talked with Finance Magnates about the state of cryptocurrency adoption in different regions around the world such as Venezuela and Africa, how fast the technology could take over digital finance, the response in academia to his interest and even the possibility of new micro-nations being crowdfunded with an ICO.

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

In addition to co-founding ZenCash and being part of its core team, Robert Viglione is a PhD candidate in finance at the University of South Carolina, doing research on crypto-finance, asset pricing, and innovation. Heteaches Intro to Investments and Bitcoin & Blockchain Applications in Finance and runs the university crypto-club.

His other crypto industry experience includes being part of the core team for ZClassic, Head of U.S. & Canada Ambassadors for BlockPay, and consultant to BitGate, a Norwegian exchange. He has written for CoinDesk and Bitcoin.com.Viglione says that one of the most fun projects he isworking on at the moment is helping with the development of the blockchain strategy for the Seasteading Institute aPeter Thiel backed venture tocreate permanent settlements at sea outside the control ofany government.

Robert is also a former physicist, mercenary mathematician, and military officer with experience in satellite radar, space launch vehicles, and combat support intelligence.

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ZenCash's Robert Viglione Talks Borderless Cryptocurrency and More - Finance Magnates

Shares of GPU makers Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) havegotten a shot in the arm recently thanks to a resurgence in the cryptocurrency mining market.

But what's behind the recent boost in cryptocurrency mining demand? It's coming from China and Eastern Europe, where miners of an alternative cryptocurrency called Ethereum are buying desktop graphics cards in droves, according to analysts. Mining is the process of verifying cryptocurrency transactions, at which point the transactions are added to the public ledger, called the blockchain. New cryptocurrency is created every time a transaction is verified, and those mining it make money whenever they do so.

The growing cryptocurrency mining market has contributed $100 million worth of GPU sales for Nvidia in the last 11 days alone, according toRBC Capital Markets analyst Mitch Steves.The demand has led to greater confidence on Wall Street that Nvidia and AMD will be able to rise above a seasonally weaker fiscal second quarter.

Shares of AMD were rising 2.9% to $14.39 on Thursday afternoon, after climbing 16.9% in the past five trading sessions. Nvidia stock was nearly flat on Thursday, but has advanced 6.5% in the past five days.

There is a frequent misconception that GPUs are primarily used to mine Bitcoin, the more common cryptocurrency, but in recent years, people have switched to ASICs chips because Bitcoin requires more powerful processors.Any time a bitcoin is mined, it gets harder and harder to mine the remaining ones,said Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon. Users will build small, high-end computers and download programs to mine the currrency, which means that the GPUs are usually running all day long.

As Bitcoins became harder to mine, users began to switch to custom-designed ASICs (application-specific integrated circuit) chips because they needed more powerful equipment that could run the mining programs and still make a profit. If miners used GPUs to mine bitcoin, they would spend more money on electricity than they would make in profit, said RBC analyst Mitch Steves.

Ether, meanwhile, was designed to consume less electricity and tobe mined via GPUs.

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Why Nvidia and AMD Continue to Ride the Cryptocurrency Mining Wave - TheStreet.com

One one level, Ripple is another cryptocurrency in an ever-growing list of fledgling products, hoping to earn a place in the wider world of business and finance. While the value of Ripple's currency, XRP, is well below $1 per unit, making it a mere fraction of the value of Ethereum or Bitcoin, Ripple nonetheless sports the third-largest portion of market capitalization as compared with the rest of the cryptocurrency industry. But aside from its growing position as a currency, Ripple is drawing more and more attention from banks and financial institutions around the world for another crucial reason, too: the blockchain technology behind the currency itself.

A recent profile on Ripple by American Banker reveals that the San Francisco-based startup has its sights set on creating an "internet of value," a worldwide network system for financial transactions. Ripple's goal is nothing less than the ultimate freeing of monetary value, allowing assets to flow instantly and seamlessly between mobile systems, public blockchains, and bank ledgers. The goal is a massive one, and yet Stefan Thomas, Ripple's chief technology officer, stands behind his company's ability to enhance banking around the world. "We're not the disruptors, we're not the guys who come in and tear everything down," he stresses.

For the time being, though, Ripple seems to occupy at least two different spaces. First comes the cryptocurrency side, and success in that area has not come as quickly as some would have liked. John Light, a consultant working with multiple startups that have integrated Ripple's technology into their systems, indicated that Ripple has "had something of an identity crisis about who their customer is, and what problem they are trying to solve."

First, the company aimed to build a new currency that would improve upon Bitcoin. This was a key component of the instantaneous transactions goal, as Bitcoin has been racked with problems relating to the system's processing capacity which has left some users waiting for days for their transactions to clear. Beyond that, though, Ripple differed from Bitcoin and other digital currencies further, even at its earliest stages. Ripple's leaders disagreed with other cryptocurrency enthusiasts who suggested that the new currencies could replace banks or even government currencies. Rather, Ripple aimed from the beginning to work with banks to make global assets even more liquid.

With roughly 60 financial institutions around the world sporting Ripple technology, the company is seeing its vision begin to take shape. However, the fact that the currency itself has not gone away makes the list of offerings that Ripple presents somewhat confusing. If banks and investors around the world are to continue to gain interest in Ripple, it seems that the company will be best served by streamlining its offerings further into the future.

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Ripple Cryptocurrency Aims to Make Global Assets Liquid - Investopedia

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By Brad Chacos

Senior Editor, PCWorld | Jun 20, 2017 11:19 AM PT

Its a bad time to be building a mainstream gaming PC or an Xbox One X-rivalling rig. Cryptocurrencys current price bubble ravaged Radeon pricing and availability weeks ago, and now that its nigh impossible to find a Radeon RX 570 or RX 580 at reasonable costs, Nvidias graphics cards are drying up, too.

Searching Newegg for the GeForce GTX 1060 shows only two 3GB versions available, and theyre going for $20 to $30 over the cards $200 MSRP. You can find many more 6GB GTX 1060 cards, but theyre all selling at wildly inflated prices as well. The 6GB cards dipped down to $240 or less around the time the Radeon RX 580 launched, but now every model except one sells for $270 to $310and that lone exception still sells for $260. A similar situation exists on Amazon, with only a single backordered EVGA 3GB GTX 1060 going for anything near MSRP.

The GeForce GTX 1070 finds itself in even more dire circumstances. Ostensibly a $380 graphics card, the cheapest one you can find on Newegg right now is $472, and most are going for more than $600. The cheapest GTX 1070 I can find on Amazon costs $450. Do not buy a GTX 1070 at those prices. Many models of the more potent GeForce GTX 1080 still sell for $500, or slightly more for customized versions. Picking that up over a $600 GTX 1070 is a no-brainer for gamers.

PCWorlds guides to every Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon graphics card can help you figure out what every modern GPU is capable of, while our guide to the best graphics cards for PC gaming provides a more holistic view of todays hardware market.

Pricing history for Zotac's GTX 1060 AMP! graphics card.

The story behind the story: Mainstream graphics card prices are skyrocketing due to pricing bubbles for cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Zcash, which rely on GPU horsepower to operate. Check out PCWorlds coverage of why its impossible to buy Radeon cards if you want to know more.

Miners may be making money hand over fist, but the craze is making it damned near impossible to build a gaming PC without breaking the bank. Nvidias rumored to be creating a specialized GPU mining graphics card to compensate, but until these bleak times subside, your best bet for finding a reasonably priced GPU is probably to find used hardware in your local area. Its no surefire bet, though, as even second-hand and older graphics cards are increasing in price in response to the overwhelming demand.

Senior editor Brad Chacos covers gaming and graphics for PCWorld, and runs the morning news desk for PCWorld, Macworld, Greenbot, and TechHive. He tweets too.

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Nvidia GeForce prices skyrocket as cryptocurrency miners snap up supply - PCWorld

The People's Bank of China (PBoC) has issued a new warning alleging that cryptocurrency projects are misusing its name in an effort to defraud investors.

Issuedon 15th June,the announcementsought to make public the issue, while clarifying thatthe central bank has not issued any digital currency or authorized any institution to do so. Adding to that, it reiteratedthat there is no digital currency marketing team at the PBoC, nor does the institution consider applications of the technology legal tender.

The PBoC went so far as to warn Chinese consumers that so-called "digital currencies issued by PBoC" could be a part of a pyramid scheme.

The PBoC concluded that:

"We call on the public to establish a correct concept of money, cherish the RMB and maintain a normal circulation of RMB together."

In broader context, the comments are the latest that find China's central bank stepping up its regulation of the cryptocurrency sector. (Earlier this year, it sought to aggressively police domestic exchanges amid a surge in the bitcoin price.)

Lending plausibility to the scams, they also come at a time when the PBoCis actively increasing its blockchain research and development, and former representatives of the institutionhave begun to up about the technology and its potential impact.

RMB image 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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Warning: Cryptocurrency Scams Are Posing as China's Central ... - CoinDesk