Category Archives: Bitcoin

Tether (USDT), the oldest and most popular stablecoin, diverged significantly from its peg to the U.S. dollar during bitcoins (BTC) recent price drop.

But rather than seeing the move as a defect of the stablecoin, whose market cap stands at $52 billion, some analysts and exchange executives say the tether premium shows the tokens growing use as a safe-haven asset in almost-anything-can-happen-at-anytime cryptocurrency markets.

During a crash, traders will race to sell their bitcoin in exchange for tether, which is similar to the U.S. dollar in that it is recognized as a temporary safe haven amidst extreme price volatility, Kaiko, a blockchain data analytics firm, wrote in an April 19 newsletter. A sudden increase in buying pressure for tether often has the effect of causing positive drift from the stablecoins one-to-one peg.

Related: BitGo Adds $600M in Insurance Capacity to Comfort Big-Time Bitcoin Holders

The idea of tether as a safe haven might seem incongruous, given the nagging questions over the stablecoin issuers credibility and financial backing. The company behind the stablecoin published an attestation in late March to verify its assets, after agreeing to an $18.5 million settlement with prosecutors in New York state.

Yet tethers market value has more than doubled from about $20 billion at the start of the year, a sign of traders growing embrace of the stablecoins convenience and efficiency as the de facto form of cash in cryptocurrency markets.

Tethers price rose above $1.004 as bitcoin started falling early Sunday. That was tethers highest level since March 2020, when the likely economic damaged from the coronavirus and related documents first became apparent, triggering a sell-off in a broad range of assets from stocks to cryptocurrencies.

Robbie Liu, market analyst at OKEx Insights, said tethers price increase may also be the result of demand from cryptocurrency derivatives traders who scrambled to line up USDT as collateral to meet margin calls.

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Related: Anonymous Dogecoin Donor Pays Adoption Fees at Florida Dog Shelter

First, the price of bitcoin dropped, and then the tether premium started to spike, Liu said. This market behavior is consistent with the previous flash crash, seen on February 22.

Read More: First Mover: Laser Eyes Cant Stop Correction as Bitcoin Tumbles to $53K

Adding to the picture, tethers price in Chinese yuan (CNY) was sold at a premium on crypto exchange Huobis over-the-counter (OTC) desk even before Sundays market correction.

Under normal market conditions, the price of tether expressed in yuan should match that of the U.S. dollars exchange rate with the Asian currency.

A spokesperson from Huobi told CoinDesk that the connection between the timeline of the tether premium on Huobis OTC desk and Sundays sell-off is not strong.

Instead, the price for the tether-CNY pair has traded at a significant premium recently. That price gap suggests there was elevated demand from Chinese traders and investors, who routinely use dollar-pegged stablecoins as an on-ramp to cryptocurrency markets. Fiat-to-crypto trading, or buying digital assets with government-issued cash, is banned in China.

Du Jun, co-founder of Huobi, told CoinDesk through a spokesperson that the USDT premium over the Chinese yuan happened as many traders were cashing out their crypto profits from the sharp price runup in many alternative cryptocurrencies that occurred in prior weeks.

The recent frenzy over dogecoin (DOGE) and other altcoins has attracted new investors to the crypto market from China, Du said, helping to cause the tether premium as demand for stablecoins rose on the OTC desk.

The sudden rise of dogecoins value this month had pushed the total market capitalization of the dog-themed joke token above that of xrp (XRP), historically one of the largest cryptocurrencies. At press time, dogecoin was the sixth-biggest cryptocurrency in the world, with a market capitalization of nearly $50 billion, according to Messari.

There are many reasons for the appearance of the tether premium, but at the core, it is about the supply and demand, Du said.

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During Bitcoins Latest Price Crash, Tether Premium Shows Where Money Went - Yahoo Finance

Gibbs Wealth Management President Erin Gibbs and B. Riley National chief market strategist Art Hogan discuss cryptocurrency, insider 'sell' transactions, and which stocks to watch.

Bitcoin, the world's biggest cryptocurrency, battled back Monday following a weekend flash crash.

BITCOIN SLUMPS 14% AS PULLBACK FROM RECORD HIGH GATHERS PACE

Prices hovered near $56,000 late in the day Monday after previously plunging as much as 14% to $51,541 on Sunday, wiping out the majority of its gains from the previous week which led to a record-high value of $63,200 as tracked by Coindesk.

Bitcoin's recent gains were fueled by the historic stock market debut of cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase, which launched a direct listing on the Nasdaq on April 14. Shares of Coinbase, which trade under the ticker COIN, opened at $381 apiece, giving the company a valuation of about $99.5 billion.

According to cryptocurrency analytics firm Bybt, bitcoin set a new record in liquidations on Sunday, resulting in roughly one million positions worth a total of about $10 billion being wiped out.

Multiple factors are believed to be connected to bitcoin's drop.

Data website CoinMarketCap attributed bitcoin's selloff to a blackout in Chinas Xinjiang region, which reportedly powers a lot of the digital currency's mining.

Meanwhile, some reports have speculated that bitcoin's drop could possibly be connected to concerns that the U.S. Treasury may crackdown on money laundering through digital assets. A spokesperson for the Treasury did not immediately return FOX Business' request for comment.

Binance's recent quarterly burn of over 1 million BNB tokens, worth about $595 million, has also prompted fears of market uncertainty.

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Despite bitcoin's drop, many big-name crypto investors are still bullish.

On Sunday, Tyler Winklevoss, founder of Winklevoss Capital Management, along with his twin brother Cameron, and the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, encouraged investors on Twitter to buy the dip.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz added in a tweet that the drop was "inevitable" but that it's nothing to worry about over the long-term.

"Markets got too excited around $Coin direct listing," Novogratz said. "Basis blowing out, coins like $BSV, $XRP and $DOGE pumping. All were signs that the market got too one way. We will be fine in the medium term as institutions coming to the space."

"In the shorter term we will need to rebuild a trading base," he added. "Market damage doesnt heal overnight. Good luck out there."

Bitcoin Foundation Chairman Brock Pierce told FOX Business in a statement Monday that while he would like to see how the market settles over the next to days, he remains extremely bullish.

"This is just normal volatility in the Bitcoin market, and the pullback only brings us back to where we were two weeks ago," Pierce said. "I still think that all of the conditions are favorable to increase in the medium-and-long term, and I am - as should others - be actively looking to invest more across the space."

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The volatility comes as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continue to see growing acceptance.

The Bank of England recently announced it would create a Central Bank Digital Currency as well as a task force to explore its uses.

China is also working on a digital yuan, which it is reportedly considering rolling out during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Li Bo, deputy governor of the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) also referred to bitcoin as an "investment alternative."

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Bitcoins nosedive: What happened and whats ahead? - Fox Business

In anticipation of the market debut of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, bitcoinhit a record high of over $64,000Wednesday morning, according to data from Coin Metrics, although it settled at around $62,000 by 4:45 p.m. EST.

But billionaire investor Mark Cuban doesn't think this surge will be the peak for bitcoin.

"It's not inconceivable that the number of people that own [bitcoin] could more than double," Cuban told CNBC Make It just before Coinbase went public.

Although, "[t]hat's not to say the price won't increase in volatility and/or go down in price significantly," he says, "but the opportunity for it to go much higher certainly exists and I think over the long-term, it's the more likely case."

Cuban has been at the forefront of the recent wave of interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Personally, Cuban has a portfolio of bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital coins (and he has a Coinbase wallet); he owns crypto-assets, like NFTs, or nonfungible tokens; and he has invested in companies in the space. For example, he invested in NFT marketplace Mintable in March and bought Coinbase shares on Thursday, he said.

Like other supporters of bitcoin, Cuban sees the cryptocurrency a store of value that will appreciate over time some bitcoin evangelists even predict the cryptocurrency will hit $300,000 by year-end.

"The price of [bitcoin] is built on supply and demand," Cuban says, as there is a finite supply of bitcoin available due to its algorithm. "We know what [the] supply is.There is no reason for the demand not to increase."

Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam also told CNBC on Wednesday that he doesn't believe the cryptocurrency market has reached a top.

"As somebody who's been working in crypto for 10 years, I've heard that statement hundreds, if not thousands, of times," Ehrsam said. "I think it will be volatile from here, but that's just the nature of such a huge technology coming into existence."

However, those wary of bitcoin say it's too speculative, volatile and risky to invest in. There also could be future regulation by the government. The latest Bank of America Fund Manager Survey, for example, found that about 74% of respondentsthink bitcoin is in a bubble.

But to Cuban, bitcoin is "a better alternative to gold, and it's going to continue [to be]," as he recently said on "The Delphi Podcast." "That's why I own bitcoin and why I never sold it."

Bitcoin is trading at around $62,650 as of Thursday at 11:23 a.m. EST.

This story has been updated to reflect that Mark Cuban bought shares of Coinbase.

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Mark Cuban says bitcoin is far from its market top: 'The opportunity for it to go much higher certainly exists' - CNBC

View the high-resolution of the infographic by clicking here.

Oil is one of the worlds most important natural resources, playing a critical role in everything from transportation fuels to cosmetics.

For this reason, many governments choose to nationalize their supply of oil. This gives them a greater degree of control over their oil reserves as well as access to additional revenue streams. In practice, nationalization often involves the creation of a national oil company to oversee the countrys energy operations.

What are the worlds largest and most influential state-owned oil companies?

Editors Note: This post and infographic are intended to provide a broad summary of the state-owned oil industry. Due to variations in reporting and available information, the companies named do not represent a comprehensive index.

National oil companies are a major force in the global energy sector, controlling approximately three-quarters of the Earths oil reserves.

As a result, many have found their place on the Fortune Global 500 list, a ranking of the worlds 500 largest companies by revenue.

*Value of Iranian petroleum exports in 2019. Source: Fortune, Statista, OPEC

China is home to the two largest companies from this list, Sinopec Group and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Both are involved in upstream and downstream oil operations, where upstream refers to exploration and extraction, and downstream refers to refining and distribution.

Its worth noting that many of these companies are listed on public stock marketsSinopec, for example, trades on exchanges located in Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York, and London. Going public can be an effective strategy for these companies as it allows them to raise capital for new projects, while also ensuring their governments maintain control. In the case of Sinopec, 68% of shares are held by the Chinese government.

Saudi Aramco was the latest national oil company to follow this strategy, putting up 1.5% of its business in a 2019 initial public offering (IPO). At roughly $8.53 per share, Aramcos IPO raised $25.6 billion, making it one of the worlds largest IPOs in history.

Because state-owned oil companies are directly tied to their governments, they can sometimes get caught in the crosshairs of geopolitical conflicts.

The disputed presidency of Nicols Maduro, for example, has resulted in the U.S. imposing sanctions against Venezuelas government, central bank, and national oil company, Petrleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). The pressure of these sanctions is proving to be particularly damaging, with PDVSAs daily production in decline since 2016.

In a country for which oil comprises 95% of exports, Venezuelas economic outlook is becoming increasingly dire. The final straw was drawn in August 2020 when the countrys last remaining oil rig suspended its operations.

Other national oil companies at the receiving end of American sanctions include Russias Rosneft and Irans National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). Rosneft was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2020 for facilitating Venezuelan oil exports, while NIOC was targeted for providing financial support to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an entity designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

Like the rest of the fossil fuel industry, state-owned oil companies are highly exposed to the effects of climate change. This suggests that as time passes, many governments will need to find a balance between economic growth and environmental protection.

Brazil has already found itself in this dilemma as the countrys president, Jair Bolsonaro, has drawn criticism for his dismissive stance on climate change. In June 2020, a group of European investment firms representing $2 trillion in assets threatened to divest from Brazil if it did not do more to protect the Amazon rainforest.

These types of ultimatums may be an effective solution for driving climate action forward. In December 2020, Brazils national oil company, Petrobras, pledged a 25% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. When asked about commitments further into the future, however, the companys CEO appeared to be less enthusiastic.

Thats like a fad, to make promises for 2050. Its like a magical year. On this side of the Atlantic we have a different view of climate change.

Roberto Castello Branco, CEO, Petrobras

With its 2030 pledge, Petrobras joins a growing collection of state-owned oil companies that have made public climate commitments. Another example is Malaysias Petronas, which in November 2020, announced its intention to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Petronas is wholly owned by the Malaysian government and is the countrys only entry on the Fortune Global 500.

Between geopolitical conflicts, environmental concerns, and price fluctuations, state-owned oil companies are likely to face a much tougher environment in the decades to come.

For Petronas, achieving its 2050 climate commitments will require significant investment in cleaner forms of energy. The company has been involved in numerous solar energy projects across Asia and has stated its interests in hydrogen fuels.

Elsewhere, Chinas national oil companies are dealing with a more near-term threat. In compliance with an executive order issued by the Trump Administration in November 2020, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced it would delist three of Chinas state-run telecom companies. Analysts believe oil companies such as Sinopec could be delisted next, due to their ties with the Chinese military.

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Visualizing the Power Consumption of Bitcoin Mining - Visualcapitalist - Visual Capitalist

Bitcoins may be selling like hot cakes, but global investors are wary of a bubble brewing there. The latest global fund managers survey by BofA Securities showed that 74% of fund managers think bitcoin is just a bubble.

The increased adoption of cryptocurrencies by institutional investors has translated into a massive rally in this asset class.

In the past one year, the price of bitcoin has risen by many folds from around $10,000 to more than $63,000 recently.

Interestingly, the findings of the survey coincide with the stock market debut of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, on the Nasdaq.

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According to the survey report, bitcoin was the second most-crowded trade after technology stocks, with 10% of the respondents expecting the former to outperform other asset classes.

While bitcoins returns may be mouth-watering, the meteoric rise of cryptocurrency should be taken with a sack full of salt.

Today, bitcoin and ethereum hit new all-time highs of 63,200 BTC/USD and 2,230 ETH/USD, respectively, bringing the crypto market into unknown territory. Positive signs from miners and likely the first publicly-traded company to pay the board of directors in bitcoin contribute heavily to this unknown territory," Mads Eberhardt, cryptocurrency analyst at Saxo Bank, said in his blog on 14 April.

The question which should be raised in this context is what happens the day the table turns, and miners start selling their increased bitcoin position," he added.

On the other hand, only 7% of those surveyed see the US equities in a bubble.

Whereas 25% of the respondents think it is in an early-stage bull market, 66% view this current up move in US equities as a late-stage bull market.

Further, the survey report pointed to a continued risk-on mode, with net overweight allocation to equities rising to close to an all-time high of 62%.

The optimism surrounding equities has remained largely intact among global investors, aided by hopes of a faster global economic recovery and rising corporate profits.

Around 85% of fund managers are expecting global profits to improve over the next 12 months.

Besides, despite some countries struggling to contain the pandemic, covid is not among the top three risks. A mere 15% of those surveyed were worried about it.

Global fund managers see the tantrum in bond markets as the biggest tail risk to their portfolios, followed by inflation and high taxes.

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Fund managers think bitcoin is in a bubble, but not equities - Mint

Bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds are closer than ever to becoming a reality, but approval is still a ways away, one market analyst says.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is currently reviewing VanEck's second proposal for a bitcoin ETF. Officials now have roughly two weeks to decide whether to approve, reject or extend their review window.

Even with Coinbase's direct listing reinvigorating interest in the cryptocurrency market, prospective bitcoin ETF issuers will still face obstacles, says Bitwise Asset Management chief investment officer Matt Hougan.

"The crypto industry has gone through this massive institutional maturation. Every aspect of it has improved significantly over the past five years, over the past three years and over the past year. Coinbase going public is just another part of that narrative," he told CNBC's "ETF Edge" this week.

"So, absolutely, we're getting closer to a bitcoin ETF. I continue to think it's a matter of when and not if, but we're not all the way there yet," he said. "The SEC has been asking good questions and companies like Bitwise and others have been working to address those. But I do think we're getting closer."

The nomination of Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs executive who taught a class on cryptocurrencies and blockchain at MIT, to lead the SEC could push things forward, Hougan said.

"I think it helps in that it's a new administration, a new, fresh set of priorities and that he's an expert on this space, but I don't think there's any magic sauce," the CIO said.

"The market has to be good enough, has to be institutional enough, has to be mature enough to support an ETF before the SEC greenlights one. But the good news is I do think we're closer to that point today than we were in the past, and I really think we're getting there."

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We're closer to a bitcoin ETF, 'but were not all the way there yet,' market analyst says - CNBC

You don't need your own crypto wallet for Bitcoin, but it could make sense in some circumstances.

There are plenty of places to buy Bitcoin, but how should you store it? You can leave it in the same place you buy it -- for example, if you buy your Bitcoin through Cash App, you can hold it in your Cash App account as long as you want. On the other hand, you could hold your Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in your own wallet. In this article, we'll take a look at the security risks of both options, and whether a separate cryptocurrency wallet is necessary.

Leaving your Bitcoin at the exchange or brokerage you bought it from is generally a very secure option. While security protocols vary by exchange, there are three types of security that most top cryptocurrency exchanges use to ensure customer accounts are safe:

However, none of these security measures can protect you if your account is hacked and someone transfers your Bitcoin without authorization. So, while keeping your Bitcoin at an exchange is fairly safe from hacking incidents, it's very important to protect your passwords and other authentication measures. After all, once someone transfers your Bitcoin out of your account, it's gone.

Technically, even if you leave your Bitcoin with an exchange, you're using a Bitcoin wallet. However, it's known as a custodial wallet, since a third party has custody of your funds.

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The other option is to get your own Bitcoin wallet, which gives you full control of your Bitcoin and its security keys (private codes that prove you own the Bitcoin). And there are a few different subcategories.

There's no one-size-fits-all answer. But for most people, leaving Bitcoin in the custody of an exchange is perfectly safe, assuming you take proper steps to safeguard passwords and other authentication methods. However, if you have a large quantity of Bitcoin or you simply want your digital currency to be as secure as possible, a Bitcoin wallet can be a good idea.

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Do You Need a Crypto Wallet to Store Your Bitcoin? - Motley Fool

The New York Times

China fined the internet giant Alibaba a record $2.8 billion this month for anti-competitive practices, ordered an overhaul of its sister financial company and warned other technology firms to obey Beijings rules. Now the European Commission plans to unveil far-reaching regulations to limit technologies powered by artificial intelligence. And in the United States, President Joe Biden has stacked his administration with trustbusters who have taken aim at Amazon, Facebook and Google. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Around the world, governments are moving simultaneously to limit the power of tech companies with an urgency and breadth that no single industry had experienced before. Their motivation varies. In the United States and Europe, it is concern that tech companies are stifling competition, spreading misinformation and eroding privacy; in Russia and elsewhere, it is to silence protest movements and tighten political control; in China, it is some of both. While nations and tech firms have jockeyed for primacy for years, the latest actions have pushed the industry to a tipping point that could reshape how the global internet works and change the flows of digital data. Australia passed a law to force Google and Facebook to pay publishers for news. Britain is creating its own tech regulator to police the industry. India adopted new powers over social media. Russia throttled Twitters traffic. And Myanmar and Cambodia put broad internet restrictions in place. China, which had left its tech companies free to compete and consolidate, tightened restrictions on digital finance and sharpened an anti-monopoly law late last year. This year, it began compelling internet firms like Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance to publicly promise to follow its rules against monopolies. It is unprecedented to see this kind of parallel struggle globally, said Daniel Crane, a law professor at the University of Michigan and an antitrust expert. American trustbusting of steel, oil and railroad companies in the 19th century was more confined, he said, as was the regulatory response to the 2008 financial crisis. Now, Crane said, the same fundamental question is being asked globally: Are we comfortable with companies like Google having this much power? Underlying all of the disputes is a common thread: power. The 10 largest tech firms, which have become gatekeepers in commerce, finance, entertainment and communications, now have a combined market capitalization of more than $10 trillion. In gross domestic product terms, that would rank them as the worlds third-largest economy. Yet while governments agree that tech clout has grown too expansive, there has been little coordination on solutions. Competing policies have led to geopolitical friction. Last month, the Biden administration said it could put tariffs on countries that imposed new taxes on American tech companies. The result is that the internet as it was originally conceived a borderless digital space where ideas of all stripes contend freely may not survive, researchers said. Even in parts of the world that do not censor their digital spaces, they said, a patchwork of rules would give people different access to content, privacy protections and freedoms online depending on where they logged on. The idea of an open and interoperable internet is being exposed as incredibly fragile, said Quinn McKew, executive director of Article 19, a digital rights advocacy group. Tech companies are fighting back. Amazon and Facebook have created their own entities to adjudicate conflicts over speech and to police their sites. In the United States and in the European Union, the companies have spent heavily on lobbying. Some of them, acknowledging their power, have indicated support for more regulations while also warning about the consequences of a splintered internet. The decisions lawmakers make in the months and years ahead will have a profound impact on the internet, international alliances and the global economy, said Nick Clegg, Facebooks vice president of policy and communications. Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister, added that Facebook hoped the techno-democracies in the U.S., Europe, India and elsewhere would work together to preserve and enhance the democratic values at the heart of the open internet and prevent it from fragmenting further. Kent Walker, Googles senior vice president of global affairs, also called for nations to coordinate. Balkanized, inconsistent regulations wont help and could actually make things worse, he said. But done right, well-aligned rules can promote innovation, increase competitiveness and help consumers and small businesses. Amazon said it welcomed scrutiny, but the presumption that success can only be the result of anti-competitive behavior is simply wrong. Apple, Alibaba, its sister financial company Ant Group, and the Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent, which owns the WeChat app, declined to comment. While a tech backlash has gathered momentum for years, it escalated in December. That was when regulators and lawmakers globally made a series of announcements on two main paths of attack against the industry: antitrust and content moderation. On Dec. 9, the Federal Trade Commission and nearly every state filed bipartisan lawsuits accusing Facebook of acting anti-competitively. Less than a week later, European policymakers introduced a competition law and new requirements for blocking online hate speech. On Dec. 24, Chinese regulators opened an antitrust investigation into Alibaba after scuppering an initial public offering from Ant. Antitrust and content moderation have been where tech companies are most vulnerable. Google, Facebook, Apple, Alibaba, Amazon and other companies clearly dominate online advertising, search, e-commerce and app marketplaces, and have faced questions about whether they have unduly used their clout to buy competitors, promote their own products ahead of others and block rivals. The companies also face scrutiny about how hate speech and other noxious online material can spill into the offline world, leading to calls to better control content. The antitrust push has especially sharpened in the United States, with landmark suits filed against Google and Facebook last year. Republican and Democratic lawmakers have said they are drafting new antitrust, privacy and speech regulations targeting Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon. They have also proposed trimming a law that shields sites like YouTube, which Google owns, from lawsuits over content posted by their users. This is a monopoly moment. Not just for the United States but for the entire world, David Cicilline, D-R.I., chairman of the House antitrust subcommittee, said in a statement. Countries need to work together in order to take on the monopoly power held by the largest tech platforms and restore competition and innovation to the digital economy. Biden has also picked tech critics for key administration roles. Tim Wu, a law professor who supports a breakup of Facebook, joined the White House last month, while Lina Khan, a law professor who has been influential on tech antitrust, was nominated to a seat on the Federal Trade Commission. In Brussels, European Union officials are working on new laws to force Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to speedily remove toxic material and disclose more information about what they allow on their sites. A proposed antitrust law would also lower the threshold for intervention against platforms. European officials are also taking aim at emerging technologies before they become mainstream. Draft regulations, to be released Wednesday, will address the risks of artificial intelligence, potentially restricting how companies use the software to make decisions and influence peoples behavior. As the power of digital platforms has grown, its become increasingly clear that we need something more to keep that power in check, Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission executive vice president overseeing digital policy, said in a recent speech. Some tech companies have issued legal threats and ultimatums against the new rules. But they have also bowed to government demands in several countries. Australia offers a glimpse of that. Over the last year, the country dueled with Google and Facebook over a proposed law that would require them to pay news publishers for content shared on their platforms. To protest the legislation, Google threatened to make its search engine unavailable in Australia. In February, Facebook blocked the sharing of news links completely. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web and a critic of tech power, said he opposed the Australian law because people would not be able to link freely on the web. He called that inconsistent with how the web has been able to operate over the past three decades. Australia passed the law anyway. Facebook and Google are now paying some media companies for news. The starkest turn against the tech companies has been in China. For years, Beijing blocked foreign websites and policed content on domestic platforms, but let homegrown tech firms like Alibaba and Tencent buy rivals, develop new products and expand. That changed last year. In regulatory and legal proposals, Beijing telegraphed its desire to bring to heel an industry characterized by cutthroat competition and huge influence over sensitive political issues like labor and data security. Even so, few were prepared for the whip-crack speed of Beijings enforcement. In November, officials halted Ants initial public offering days before it was scheduled, then opened the anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba in December. The one-two punch was a shocking blow to Jack Ma, Alibabas founder and an entrepreneurial icon, who in October had riled state media after he likened state-run banks to pawnshops. Beijing ratcheted up pressure on Mas companies this month with the $2.8 billion fine of Alibaba. On April 12, China also ordered Ant to undergo a rectification plan to change the way it runs investment and credit products. The next day, regulators summoned 34 of Chinas largest internet firms, including Tencent and ByteDance, the owner of the video site TikTok, and instructed them to give full play to the cautionary example of the Alibaba case. The companies were given a month to conduct a self-inspection and publicly promise to curb anti-competitive behavior and follow Chinese laws on everything from data protection and taxes to speech. Within a day, ByteDance had pledged to actively follow the guidance of law enforcement. Baidu, a search engine, vowed to resolutely curb false propaganda. Chinas leaders take very seriously having a subservient, quiescent private sector, said Jude Blanchette, a China scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Even before the meeting, at least one Chinese tech executive had gotten the message. On a call with analysts last month, Martin Lau, Tencents president, struck a conciliatory tone toward the authorities. I think its important for us to understand even more about what the government is concerned about, he said. Tencent, he added, will be even more compliant. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. 2021 The New York Times Company

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Bitcoin Plunges, Taking Other Cryptocurrencies With It - Yahoo Finance

In this article we will take a look at the 10 best crypto, bitcoin stocks to buy instead of overvalued Coinbase. You can skip our comprehensive analysis of the crypto industry and go directly to the 5 Best Crypto, Bitcoin Stocks to Buy Instead of Overvalued Coinbase.

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) went public on April 15 with a market capitalization of $86 billion. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong became one of the richest men in the world after the listing, with some 40 million shares he owns in the firm equating to almost $16 billion in value. The company was founded by Armstrong in 2012 and is one of the largest crypto exchange platforms globally and facilitates the buying, selling, and storage of digital currencies, including giants like bitcoin and ethereum.

The platform has more than 56 million users internationally out of which more than 6 million use the exchange every month. On the back of increasing trade, the firm generated more than $1 billion in annual revenue last year, up more than 135% compared to the preceding year as the pandemic boosted cryptocurrency-linked platforms. It has so far hosted transactions worth more than $335 billion from more than a hundred countries.

News media has described the public listing of Coinbase as a watershed moment for the crypto industry that will usher in the crypto gold rush and make the new technology mainstream. However, there is reason to exercise extreme caution as reckless finance advisors bully investors into betting on crypto. There are several reasons for this. Coinbase was valued at over $85 billion when it listed, a capitalization that stock experts believe is overvalued. Peter Cohan, an American businessmen and financial expert, has termed the firm not worth the price.

The numbers would seem to back this opinion. Coinbase, on the day it went public, was valued near the market cap of investment bank HSBC Holdings plc (NYSE: HSBC) and larger than other traditional names in the banking industry like UBS Group AG (NYSE: UBS) and Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: SAN). These banks have trillions of dollars worth of assets under their care and have years of experience of how to turn them into profits. The higher valuation of Coinbase seems a little confusing in this context.

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David Trainer, the CEO of investment research firm New Constructs, has compared the valuation of Coinbase to the boom in aviation and auto manufacturing industry over the early part of the second half of the twentieth century, saying that many companies were valued highly at the time but precious few have survived. However, even though Coinbase may be overvalued, there is still reason to be bullish on the crypto industry in general. The momentum that seemed to have favored traditional finance in the battle against fintech is definitely shifting.

The entire hedge fund industry is feeling the reverberations of the changing financial landscape. Its reputation has been tarnished in the last decade, during which its hedged returns couldnt keep up with the unhedged returns of the market indices. On the other hand, Insider Monkeys research was able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that outperformed the S&P 500 ETFs by more than 124 percentage points since March 2017. Between March 2017 and February 26th 2021 our monthly newsletters stock picks returned 197.2%, vs. 72.4% for the SPY. Our stock picks outperformed the market by more than 124 percentage points (see the details here). We were also able to identify in advance a select group of hedge fund holdings that significantly underperformed the market. We have been tracking and sharing the list of these stocks since February 2017 and they lost 13% through November 16th. Thats why we believe hedge fund sentiment is an extremely useful indicator that investors should pay attention to. You can subscribe to our free newsletter on our homepage to receive our stories in your inbox.

With this context in mind, here is our list of 10 best crypto, bitcoin stocks to buy instead of the overvalued Coinbase.

Riot Blockchain, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT) is a Colorado-based Bitcoin mining company. The firm supports Bitcoin blockchain through the industrial-scale mining of the cryptocurrency. Riot employs more than 7,000 miners for the purpose and is currently based in the United States only. The company is one of the largest publicly traded crypto mining operations in the world and has plans to expand to countries outside the US in the future. It is placed tenth on our list of 10 best crypto, bitcoin stocks to buy instead of the overvalued Coinbase.

It has a market cap of more than $4.2 billion and reported more than $12 million in annual revenue in December 2020, up almost $6 million to the previous year. The 52-week price range of company stock hovers between $5.3-$0.6. Earlier this month, Riot announced that it had acquired Whinstone US, a firm operating colocation data centers for cryptocurrency mining. The share price of Riot stock jumped more than 5.5% earlier in the week after it announced that its March Bitcoin production had risen 80% compared to the previous year.

HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (TSXV: HIVE.V) is a Vancouver-based company focused on the use of supercomputing assets and cloud software for the mining of popular cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin. The company says that the operations provide shareholders of the firm an inroad into the margins associated with crypto mining. The share price of the firm is closely linked to Bitcoin and as Bitcoin prices rise, HIVE stock skyrockets as well. It is placed ninth on our list of 10 best crypto, bitcoin stocks to buy instead of the overvalued coinbase.

The company has a market cap of more than $1.2 billion and posted more than $29 million in annual revenue in March 2020, down slightly from $31 million the year before. The 52-week price range of HIVE stock lies between $5.75 and $0.16. Last month, the firm announced that it inked a strategic partnership deal with financial services firm DeFi Technologies for a share swap arrangement. Under the deal, HIVE would receive 10 million DeFi shares for 4 million HIVE shares. The transaction is expected to be complete by the end of this week.

Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA) is a Las Vegas-based firm that mines cryptocurrencies. It concentrates on the blockchain ecosystem and digital assets The company has plans to expand current operations of more than 2,600 Bitcoin miners to 103,000 miners in the coming years. The proprietary data center of Marathon, located in Hardin MT, has a maximum power capacity of 105 Megawatts. The company is placed eighth on our list of 10 best crypto, bitcoin stocks to buy instead of the overvalued Coinbase.

The firm has a market cap of more than $4.25 billion and posted more than $4 million in annual revenue in December 2020. The 52-week share price of the firm tell a story of every other cryptocurrency firm, a high-risk, high-reward game, as it hovers between $57.7 and $0.3. Last month, the company announced that it had entered into a deal with crypto technology firm DMG Blockchain Solutions to license proprietary Blockseer technology of DMG for crypto miners in North America. Marathon has also launched a North American Bitcoin mining pool.

Argo Blockchain plc (LSE: ARB.L) is a London-based cryptocurrency firm that focuses on large scale mining of digital currencies. The mining operations of the firm are located in locations scattered the United States and Canada. The firm claims that the operations it engages in are more energy-efficient mining - crypto mining consumes a lot of electricity - than those of other firms. These efficiencies translate to better overall margins for the firm in the longer term, something it markets to potential investors across the world.

It has a market cap of more than $1.05 billion and posted close to $6.8 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2020, down slightly from $6.9 reported in the preceding quarter. The 52-week price range of company stock is $4.6-$0.9. In January, the firm reported that it had mined 96 Bitcoin in December 2020, down from 115 Bitcoin mined in the previous month. Peter Wall, the CEO of Argo, said the firm was excited as the crypto market had entered the new year on a roll and more widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies was expected in the year.

Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ: CAN) is a China-based technology firm that makes computer hardware like microprocessors. The company specializes in Blockchain servers and microchip solutions for use in bitcoin mining. It is also involved in the assembly, supply chain, and distribution of system products. The firm has stakes in the artificial intelligence and data center business as well. It was founded in 2013 and is placed eight on our list of 10 best crypto, bitcoin stocks to buy instead of the overvalued Coinbase.

It has a market cap of more than $2.1 billion and posted more than $68.5 million in annual revenue in December 2020, down more than $140 million from the previous year as the pandemic hit the sales of the firm. The shares of the firm have been soaring on the back of rising Bitcoin prices. The 52-week price range of company stock lies between $39.1 and $1.7. On April 15, a law firm announced that a group of investors may initiate class action against the firm for alleged securities fraud.

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Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- China is considering a plan that would see the central bank assume more than 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) of assets from China Huarong Asset Management Co., helping the state-owned company clean up its balance sheet and refocus on its core business of managing distressed debt, people familiar with the matter said.Under a proposal thats still being finalized and could change, a unit of the Peoples Bank of China would assume assets from some of Huarongs unprofitable operations, the people said, asking not to identified as the discussions are private. Further details on how the arrangement would work couldnt immediately be learned.Separately, China Huarong International Holdings Ltd., the offshore unit that issues or guarantees most of Huarongs dollar bonds, is in the process of transferring distressed assets worth tens of billions of yuan into a separate offshore entity called China Huarong Overseas Investment Holding Co., one of the people said. The move is aimed at improving the financial health of China Huarong International, the groups main link to overseas funding, the person said.Bloomberg has previously reported that Huarong proposed an overhaul plan to Chinese regulators that would involve offloading its money-losing, non-core businesses.If the PBOC proposal comes to fruition, it would mark a significant show of government support for a company that has faced intense investor scrutiny after missing a deadline to report earnings at the end of March. Speculation about a looming debt restructuring sent Huarongs dollar bonds to record lows last week, stoking fears of market contagion and prompting some investors to reconsider assumptions about implicit government guarantees that have underpinned Chinas credit market for decades. Huarongs bonds have swung wildly in recent days amid conflicting signals about the companys fate.While the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said last week that Huarong was operating normally and had ample liquidity, authorities have remained quiet about whether the government will offer any financial support. Its unclear whether Chinese regulators have given Huarong any specific guidance related to its offshore bonds.The PBOC said it couldnt immediately comment when contacted by Bloomberg on Wednesday. The CBIRC and Huarong didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.The news suggests that the central government is examining options to provide bail-out solutions to Huarong, said Dan Wang, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in Hong Kong. The potential involvement of the PBOC, which is experienced in handling distressed financial institutions, also gives the market more hope that the Huarong saga will be dealt with in an orderly way that is less likely to incur losses for offshore bondholders.The companys 4.5% perpetual bond gained 6.4 cents on the dollar to 79.8 cents on Wednesday, while its 3.75% dollar bond due in 2022 climbed 5 cents to 87.7 cents.With nearly 1.6 trillion yuan of liabilities and a vast web of connections with other financial institutions, Huarong is among Chinas most systemically important companies outside the nations state-owned banks. Its also majority-owned by Chinas finance ministry, making it a closely watched barometer of the governments willingness to backstop debt of troubled state-owned enterprises.Policy makers have been trying to dial back support for unprofitable SOEs to reduce moral hazard in recent years, but theyve yet to allow a default by a company controlled by the central government. While Chinese SOEs reneged on a record 79.5 billion yuan of local bonds in 2020, most of the defaulters were linked to regional governments and none were considered as systemically important as Huarong.Worries about the companys fate have been most acute among offshore bondholders, in part because most of Huarongs dollar debt contains a form of credit protection called a keepwell agreement that has yet to be fully tested in court. Its unclear whether Huarong would be compelled to make good on more than $20 billion in dollar bonds if its offshore units -- especially China Huarong International -- were unable to repay.Huarong and Chinas three other main bad-debt managers have nearly $50 billion in outstanding dollar bonds, or about 8% of Chinas overseas investment-grade credit market, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Huarong is the third largest Chinese financial issuer in international markets, according to S&P Global Ratings.The plan being discussed for Huarong has some similarities with the one enacted for troubled Chinese lender Bank of Jinzhou Co. in 2020. Two state-run entities, including one backed by the PBOC, injected 12.1 billion yuan of capital into the bank and assumed 150 billion of its distressed assets. The support package was widely viewed as an attempt to minimize ripple effects on the financial system, after authorities jolted markets in 2019 by seizing control of Baoshang Bank Co. and forcing some corporate creditors to take haircuts.Among the other Huarong measures under consideration by regulators is the transfer of the Chinese governments stake from the finance ministry to a unit of the nations sovereign wealth fund that has more experience resolving debt risks, a person familiar with the matter said in mid-April. Regulators have held several meetings to discuss Huarongs fate, people familiar have said.The PBOC plan is the latest development in a saga that has enthralled China watchers since 2018, when Huarongs then-chairman Lai Xiaomin was accused of bribery in one of the countrys biggest-ever financial scandals. Under Lai, who was executed earlier this year, Huarong moved far beyond its original mandate of helping banks dispose of bad debt. The company raised billions of dollars from offshore bondholders and expanded into everything from trust companies to securities trading and illiquid investments.Despite Huarongs history of mismanagement, some market observers have said the costs of allowing the company to suffer a major default probably outweigh the benefits.We see little for the government to gain in letting such a major crisis happen in an effort to eliminate moral hazard in SOEs, Citigroup Inc. analysts including Eric Ollom wrote in a recent research report. A financial crisis would likely result in a return to substantial monetary stimulus to counter any financial instability. The more likely policy outcome seems to be to remind investors of these risks but keep the fallout well contained.(Adds analyst quote and bond reaction in eighth and 9th paragraphs.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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Bitcoin ETF From 3iQ and CoinShares, Canadas 4th, Begins Trading on TSX - Yahoo Finance