Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

Keep the megadeals and uncertainty coming, it's great for us in the news business. Not so much for some investors that may have not seen the recent tech sell-off coming or who haven't been following this missive where all I seem to do is harp on M&A and activism. But, we'll get to that later.

Despite a serious sell-off, TheStreet was focused on two hot names in tech: Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) that have seen a recent boost given the cyberattacks that have ravaged multinational companies and put a spot light on cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

TheStreet's Annie Palmer writes that the two are in a heated battle to design chips optimized to mine Bitcoin. According to many on Wall Street, there is going to be one clear winner in this battle.

Outside of tech, the oil markets held steady on Thursday, a rare occurrence for the commodity that has been on a roller coaster ride for as long as I can remember. Crude oil prices held onto gains to close higher for a sixth session in a row. West Texas Intermediate had surged 1.1% a day earlier, even after an increase in domestic stockpiles.

I told you we would get to activism and M&A ... Let's talk about the second merger to rock everyone's world in the past two weeks (after Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) , which I can't help but go on and on about: the merger of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) and Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) .

Thursday got off with a bang as the two companies announced a revised deal that includes about half of Rite Aid stores as opposed to the roughly two-thirds of them that were included in the original deal. Whether you think the new deal will be enough to pass antitrust officials is one thing, but the fact that Fred's Inc. (FRED) may be in trouble, much to the displeasure of activist David Einhorn, or the fact that CVS Health (CVS) may have to do something to help keep itself relevant seem to be two safe assumptions.

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Photo of the day:Happy birthday to the iPhone

Ten years ago, people were lining up to buy the very first generation of Apple's (AAPL) new product, the iPhone. Initially priced at $599 for an 8GB model, the device was more expensive than most other phones on the market, but the novel touchscreen, capacity for music and inclusion of the Safari web browser made the hefty fee worth it for many. Now, a decade later, the price has actually climbed even higher for a first-generation iPhone because of its collectible value--as long as it's new and unopened. Currently, the product that was first released to the public on June 29, 2007, is selling for $4,000 on eBay unopened and in its original packaging.

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Nvidia, AMD Battle for Cryptocurrency Supremacy; Oil Markets Steady -- ICYMI Thursday - TheStreet.com

One of the world's largest technology hardware makers has announcednew graphics cards (GPUs) aimed at the cryptocurrency mining market.

Taiwan-based manufacturer Asus revaeledtheMining RX 470 and Mining P106,which were designed to handle the energy and heat intensive process of mining. Though not expressly pitched as such, the release is undoubtedly aimed at capturing some of the interest in mining ethereum. Bitcoin mining, by comparison, has evolved to a stage in which application-specific integratedcircuits, or ASICs, are required to compete.

Cryptocurrency mining is a process by which new transaction blocks are added to the distributed network. When this happens, new blockchain tokensare introduced to the system and awarded to the miner as compensation in this case, a profit is achieved when the cost of electricity and the operation itself is lower than the revenue generated by selling those tokens.

According to today's Asus announcement, the new cards are "engineered especially for coin mining, positioning the products as capable of providing "maximum mega hash rates at minimum cost".

Interest in cryptocurrency mining has led to reported shortages of GPUsin the global market. One hobbyist miner recently told CoinDesk that local tech stores have run low on the cards, adding that online marketplaces like Newegg, Amazon and eBay, among others, are also largely out of stock.

It's a situation that echoes the earlier "GPU rush" from 2014, when mining activity around alternative cryptocurrencies like dogecoin and litecoin led to similar price increases and a decline in available inventory.

Shortages aside, ethereum network data suggests that more hash rate is coming into ply as time goes on.

According to etherchain.org, the mining difficulty which rises as more hashing power is brought online nearlytripled from 27th April to 27th June.

TheRX 470 will be available worldwide, according to Asus, while the Mining P106 card will be available in China and Eastern Europe only,beginning in July.

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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Asus Announces New Graphics Cards Focused on Cryptocurrency Mining - CoinDesk

On one hand, it's hard for many investors not to be excited about the meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies in the past few months. Bitcoin has roughly tripled in value since the beginning of the year, Ethereum is up by about 40 times, and Ripple, one of the newest arrivals on the scene, gained a shocking 3800%. What's more, the total market cap for the cryptocurrency industry has been steadily increasing as well, and more and more businesses are finding ways to incorporate digital currencies into their models and payment systems. However, with all of this excitement about the new industry, there are also many analysts approaching with caution. Aberdeen Asset Management is one of the latest firms to do so, suggesting that there is a virtual currency bubble which will, at some point, eventually burst.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management had some words of caution for investors considering the cryptocurrency field. Peter Denious said that "prices right now aren't being driven by network usage, they're being driven by speculation that tokens are going to appreciate. It's a gold-rush mentality." Denious and others point to the rapid increase in the number of initial coin offerings, or ICOs, as well as the quick gains in the price of tokens upon listing as two signs that a bubble is in effect. ICOs are tremendously successful, with many companies operating in the blockchain space making millions of dollars in minutes, even if they have no proven or distinctive idea backing their token.

It may be important to note, however, that digital currencies are not the only assets which have seen gains to record levels in recent months. The returns on the leading cryptocurrencies so far in 2017 have been unparalleled in other areas, but other asset classes have also made impressive gains. Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices are at record levels, despite the widespread uncertainty surrounding global markets. At the same time, housing prices seem to have mostly recovered from an earlier burst.

Coin Telegraph suggests that the increase in asset prices may be due to large degrees of liquidity across global markets, thanks to quantitative easing by many central banks around the world. Considering this possible reason for the gains, it may not be just a cryptocurrency bubble that eventually bursts. If there is, in fact, a burgeoning bubble in either the real estate or equity worlds, those could have serious and long-lasting effects on the worldwide economy. As cryptocurrencies are untested, it's more difficult to say what the impact of a bubble burst would be in that area.

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Beware Cryptocurrency "Gold Rush Mentality": Aberdeen Asset Mgmt - Investopedia

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.s stock fell Wednesday, bucking the sharp gains enjoyed by its peers and the broader stock market, amid growing concerns that cryptocurrency miners may start going elsewhere for their graphics cards.

The chip-makers stock AMD, -2.43% closed down 1.3% at $13.23, paring earlier losses of as much as 2.3% at an intraday low of $13.09. With volume of 84.8 million shares, the stock was the most actively traded on the Nasdaq exchange.

Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX, -1.64% climbed 1.8% and the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.21% rallied 0.9%.

Analyst Christopher Rolland at Susquehanna Financial said that after a recent trip to Asia, he can confirm recent media reports that key rival Nvidia Corp. NVDA, -2.15% will release two new cryptocurrency-specific graphics processing units (GPUs) during the third quarter. Nvidias stock surged 3.5% to snap a four-session losing streak.

As these new products are more price competitive, they may pose a risk to AMDs current offerings in the market, Rolland wrote in a note to clients. [The] new cards may upset AMDs alt-crypto coin dominance.

Nvidia said it had no comment. AMD did not respond to a request for comment.

AMDs stock has run up 16.7% year to date, after rocketing nearly fourfold in 2016, fueled by news that Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.83% would use AMD chips in its new iMac Pro. It also got a boost from a surge in demand from cryptocurrency miners and hard-core gamers and optimism over the release of new Epyc chips for the enterprise market.

Dont miss: AMDs stock extends rocket climb, fueled by tremendous graphics cards demand.

See also: AMDs stock takes another Epyc leap.

Nvidias stock hasnt been far behind, soaring 42.2% year to date after more than tripling in 2016, on the back of a strong showing in the server business and the potential for strength in the autonomous vehicles market.

On Wednesday, Mizuho Securities analyst Vijay Rakesh reiterated his bullish stance on Nvidia, while raising his stock price target to $17012.0% above current levelsfrom $145.

While the gaming business has been soft so far this year, conservative gaming estimates for the second half of the year could see upside, as near-term cryptocurrency and mining trends are driving GPU shortages and pricing, combined with new auto wins and ramps at ZF, Rakesh wrote in a research note.

Although AMD has held a dominant position in the cryptocurrency market, Susquehannas Rolland said that position could be threatened by the lack of supply of AMD GPUs and from a cost-reduced part supplied by the competing Nvidia. But perhaps not for very long, as AMD also have its own new offering coming soon, Rolland added.

We note that while contacts did not mention upcoming AMD mining-specific cards, some media reports suggest their coming arrival, perhaps favoring a modest swing in competition back to AMD, Rolland wrote.

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AMD's stock falls as Nvidia's upcoming cryptocurrency GPUs pose a ... - MarketWatch

By

June 28, 2017, 1:18 PM EDT

In a world were financial transactions are largely electronic, central banks are exploring the idea of using virtual currencies, even as cyberattacks and price swingsdominate the headlines.

"The central bank digital currency would be like a paper bill except digital," Dartmouth College economics professor Andrew Levin said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. For example, "it would be representing a U.S. dollar, but it would be basically free to use."

Dartmouths Levin tells Bloomberg TV why central banks are exploring the move to digital currencies.

Source: Bloomberg

Whereas credit cards charge transaction fees and interest, and paper currencies can be costly to process, digital currencies could be a "real benefit" to small businesses and consumers, Levin said.

Central banks from across Europe and Asia are looking into virtual currencies. In March, Vietnams central bank said it was "seriously" studying the possibility of using bitcoin. The Peoples Bank of China has run trials of its prototype cryptocurrency, and the Danish central bank is considering minting e-krone. But Federal Reserve Board Governor Jerome Powell said in March the U.S. central bank is not considering a digital currency.

For a replay of the inaugural Bitcoin Facebook Live show launched yesterday.

Skeptics have questioned whether one of the key features of cryptocurrencies -- their decentralized nature -- makes them a good fit for central banks. But in a recent proposal published by Levin and Rutgers University economics professor Michael Bordo, the pair said central banks could provide a secure store of value in their own digital currency.

"In contrast to bitcoin, the value of the central banks digital currency would be fixed in nominal terms," Levin and Bordo wrote. "Moreover, the central banks digital currency could be implemented using an account-based system, thereby avoiding the resource-consuming mining operations involved in generating virtual currencies like bitcoin."

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Some Central Banks Are Exploring the Use of Cryptocurrencies - Bloomberg

After a major crash yesterday, in which some $21 billion were erased from the cryptocurrency market, a recovery was seen over the past 24 hours, as key currencies climbed back. While it is too soon to call it a trend reversal, it is possible that the crash was caused by a major sell-off that has since subsided.

Ethereum rebounds to $300 before correcting again

The recovery seen in the cryptocurrency market did not skip Ethereum, as it nearly reached the $300 mark yesterday, before correcting back to around $270. After three consecutive losing days, the worlds second largest cryptocurrency finished yesterday up by around $20. In addition, Ethereum traders continue to be very active, keeping trading volumes above $2 billion yesterday.

Bitcoin flirts with $2,500

After adding more than $100 to its value yesterday, Bitcoin continued its positive trend this morning, reaching the psychologically important $2,500 milestone, then correcting slightly. Bitcoins market cap briefly fell below the $40 billion mark yesterday, but managed to climb back.

China wants to push blockchain technology

The Peoples Bank of China has announced a five-year plan to promote the integration of blockchain technology, which serves as the underlying infrastructure for most major cryptocurrencies. The bank has also looked into using a cryptocurrency of its own, which could mean that China might be the first government in the world to fully embrace cryptocurrency technology. It is unknown if the bank intends to develop a new currency, or convert the Yuan to blockchain technology, however, it is still a major seal of approval for the cryptocurrency market from the worlds second-largest economy.

This article was first posted onEtoro.com/blog, a Premium Trading Partner.

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Recovery Seen in Cryptocurrency Market - CryptoCoinsNews - CryptoCoinsNews

Kx Systems, a subsidiary of First Derivatives plc (FD), and provider of the kdb+ time series database, announced today that Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange (BitMEX), a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, has expanded the use of kdb+ within its trading platform.

The London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!

Kdb+ is widely used in the financial services industry to power trading and risk management platforms, setting industry records for speed, performance and stability in high performance applications. These attributes are increasingly recognized across a range of markets requiring fast analytics on big data, such as manufacturing and retail, while Kx is also said to be at the forefront of the use of predictive analytics, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.

BitMEX is a trading venue where all deposits and withdrawals happen on the Bitcoin blockchain. Started in 2014, current trading volume exceeds US$3,500,000,000 per month of derivatives products. The firms founders have experience in equities derivatives trading, algorithmic trading systems and high-performance web applications. They explain that building on the foundation of their experience creating market making and high frequency trading systems with kdb+, the engineers at BitMEX are continuously expanding their offerings.

Arthur Hayes, CEO of BitMEX, said: With kdb+ we can dynamically change and add new features and bring new products to market within two hours. Having this speed gives us a significant edge. Another advantage to using kdb+ is we know that our numbers are correct all of the time. This is important when you are dealing with lots of leverage and other technologies. We can be confident to offer high leverage because we have audited, reliable results. Our competitors can barely do these calculations within the day, they go offline to do this.

Mark Sykes, COO at Kx Systems, said: We are increasingly seeing kdb+ being used for streamed event processing and in-memory analytics, as well as more traditional time-series storage. BitMEXs extraordinary growth, cementing them as the worlds most advanced derivatives exchange for virtual currencies, tracks with their expanded use of Kx software, perfectly illustrating how our technology is transforming new markets. We look forward to working closely with BitMEX as they continue writing their success story.

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Leveraged Cryptocurrency Exchange BitMEX Adopts First ... - Finance Magnates

The reason Im so much fun at parties is that my idea of a good time is to lecture everyone on cryptocurrency. I can pretty much talk bitcoin and blockchain with Hamiltonian fervor all night.

Ever since I began writing about cryptocurrency in general in 2013I believe this story I wrote for Esquire in fall of that year was the first ever mainstream media mention of Ripple (on whose board I now sit) I have been making one point to anyone who will endure my what is cryptocurrency lecture. People are all wrong about the difference between cryptocurrency and real money.

By real money, people invariably mean fiat currency issued by a government. To counter the argument that real money is somehow safer than crypto Ive pointed to Argentinas 40 percentinflation rate, or the Weimar Republic, and its famous wheelbarrows full of money to buy a loaf of bread (which was arguably intentional as Germany sought to repay Treaty of Versailles debt with devalued deutsche marks). And of course the world has watched in horror as Venezuela has devalued the bolivar to the point of meaninglessness.

These are not hypothetical examples. If you think this is all futurist theoretical BS, read up on the devastating effect hyperinflation is having as it transforms what was once South Americas most promising economy into a hellish nightmare in which people are eating their pets. Governments constantly, reliably, invariably and maddeningly ruin their own currencies by giving in to the temptation to overprint it. The beauty of bitcoin is that, like gold, the entire supply of it that will ever exist on earth (21 million coins), is known about, finite, and will never increase.

Still, as powerful as these examples aresome from recent second-world countries and others from past first-world countriesthey do not vividly resonate with Americans. That makes perfect sense. The U.S. dollar, after all, has been so reliable that the very countries I am criticizing, like Argentina and Venezuela, turn to the greenback and use it as a shadow currency to store value as their own money fails.

Even when we see American commodities change dramatically in price, like we witnessed with gasoline in 2008 when it reached $4.11 in July and fell to $1.84 in January, people dont readily seem to connect that its not just gasoline fluctuating but American money fluctuating. If my $10 bought 4 gallons of gas on October 1 and two gallons of gas on November 1, gas doubled in price just as the buying power of the American dollar was cut in half. Its the same thing. (Not precisely the same, actually, but close enough for the point Im making.)

So what Ive been searching for in these years of evangelizing and explaining the revolutionary power of cryptocurrencyincluding bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin, this new one BAT that Im interested in and othersto transform basically everything, are examples that will resonate without sounding like Im talking about 1930s Germany or the struggles of the second world. These last few weeks, I think Ive got what I need. And it comes heartbreakingly from my home state.

Illinois faces financial distress thats unprecedented for any American state. Without a budget for two years and sitting on top of over $15 billion in unpaid bills, the state is, to use a phrase that State Comptroller Susana Mendoza borrowed from Bonfire, hemorrhaging money as the states spending obligations have exceeded receipts by an average of over $600 million per month over the past year.

While the United States Constitution prevents a state from declaring bankruptcy the way places like Detroit and Orange County have, the situation is so dire that the Tribunes prestige columnist, John Kass, is only partially kidding when he calls for the state to be divided up between its five Midwestern neighbors.

Again, this is not just wonky penciling. The people of Illinois are being crushed by the burden imposed by a state that cannot pay its bills. The Chicago Public Schools, for example, must now pay 9 percent on its adjustable bonds because they are rated as junk. S&P is warning of a negative credit spiral and threatened to lower its rating even further if the state cannot hammer out a budget by July 1, which is less than a week away.

In other words, a bridge that used to cost $100 million to build because thats what it cost to borrow the money from bondholders, now might cost $150 million. Just as we saw in the gasoline example, anytime something costs more US dollars for the exact same product, you can look at it as the cost of a bridge going up, or you can look at it as the value of a dollar falling.

Thats why I believe in cryptocurrency.

Illinois cannot print its own money. I dont know what theyre going to do to crawl out of this mess. But there is no denying that all governments, including the United States, have manipulated their money supplies for political ends. And thats why I am so bullish on the future of cryptocurrency.

This isnt about whether bitcoin will soar to $5,000 or sink to $500. I think either is possible and equally likely, and Im not looking to give investment advice. All Im saying is that I trust currencies that are cryptographically enshrined and limited by the hard realities of math, at least as much as I trust human beings who are subject to the allure of popularity and other shiny objects.

The best book about cryptocurrency is Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper. And the parts of it that most moved me occurred when he described how this incredibly complicated and novel technology actually affected human lives. One of the early innovators of the bitcoin ecosystem was Wences Casares, who founded Xapo and a bunch of other crypto-friendly fintech startups. When Casares was growing up in Patagonia in the early 80s, the Argentinian government was messing with its currency to disastrous effect. First, they issued a new peso, exchangeable for 10,000 of the old peso. When that failed, they rolled out something called the austral, which was worth 1,000 new pesos (ie, 10 million of the currency that had been in use two years earlier). The inflation rate was more than 1,000 percent a year. Casares describes his mother carrying two grocery bags filled with moneyher wages. He and his sisters rushed with her to the store to buy what they could because the market employed people who did nothing but walk the aisles all day repricing items.

These math-based moneys from the future have a lot of user-unfriendliness and even getting money into and out of accounts can be a customer service hassle. But bagfuls of nearly worthless cash are not an unimaginable reality for millions of people on the planet. Thats the human reason Im willing to continue to bore people with cryptoevangelism.

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Illinois Is Venezuela and the Solution Is Cryptocurrency - Observer

TenX has big plans to change the world of cryptocurrencies. How will they do it? One word: liquidity. An ongoing issue plaguing the digital currency landscape is the question of how to make use of virtual money in real-world spending applications. Generally speaking, only the top few cryptocurrencies see a large enough trading volume and liquidity in order to be viable in this way and on a large scale. TenX, a startup which recently earned $34 million in seven minutes with their initial coin offering, or ICO, believes that they have a solution.

The startup, a 2017 graduate of Paypal's incubator program and based in Singapore, has prepared a debit card to facilitate the spending of blockchain assets in the real world. A report by Bitcoinist outlines some of the technology behind the card. On the front end, the card will use a payment system, and on the back, it will use COMIT. This protocol allows disparate blockchains, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, to communicate and interact with one another without having to generate a common token between them. Theoretically, this will speed up transaction times and allow for real-world applications that would not have previously been possible.

Beyond the debit card, TenX has also reportedly developed an app for iOS and Android which will assist in the process of introducing the TenX currency, called PAY, into the real world. Inc.com reports that the app will act as both a wallet and as a decentralized, fee-free exchange. Beyond that, the app will also include a debit/credit card functionality as well. It seems that TenX may be preparing both digital credit cards as well as tangible plastic cards for use. In either case, the user would theoretically be able to make use of the card at any brick and mortar store where they would use a standard credit card. To further facilitate these transactions, TenX has provided for the card to convert the digital currency which is stored within it into the local fiat currency, allowing for global use. This last point in particular is especially helpful, as a barrier to spending virtual currency in the past has been the necessity to convert it into local currency, adding a timestaking additional step and potential fees.

For the time being, TenX's platform supports Dash, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, among other lesser-known currencies. The company has ties with Ethereum, as Vitalik Buterin, the founder of the latter, is an official advisor to TenX. The app is fully functional and ready for distribution into the broader world. More and more talk is emerging about cryptocurrency debit cards as a possible way of linking the virtual with the tangible. TenX hopes to lead the charge in bringing cryptocurrency spending into stores across the globe.

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Could TenX Make Cryptocurrency More Usable In the Real World? - Investopedia

The world of cryptocurrency ICOs has been on fire as of late. In most cases, these ICOs cause quite a bit of strain on the Ethereum network, which is anything but enjoyable. It now appears a lot of projects are running so-called pre-ICO token sales as well. This allows teams to collect even more money, while investors get cheaper tokens.

The concept of a cryptocurrency ICO has been documented quite a few times already. In fact, we have a whole series on this particular market phenomenon, which covers most of the information people need to know. Although investing in a cryptocurrency ICO can be quite lucrative, it is taking longer for tokens to get listed on decent exchanges. This causes a lot of users to get quite nervous about their investment, which is understandable.

This brings us to how cryptocurrency ICOs are currently developing. The money is raised a lot quicker compared to how much time it takes to sort out technical issues, refunds, and getting listed on exchanges. To a lot of people, this makes no sense, especially when projects raise over $10m during their ICO. Surely they could use that money to speed up the listing process and make investors a lot happier? Unfortunately, that is not how things work right now.

Contrary to what most people expect, there is a lot more to getting listed on an exchange than just paying a fee. Especially where ERC20 tokens are concerned, as smart contracts need to be audited by a third party. This causes some delays, which means some investors will panic sell on smaller exchanges as a way to minimize losses. If this trend keeps up, a lot of ICO projects will go under well below they even get a listing on Bittrex or Poloniex. That is very unfortunate, to say the least.

This brings us to a somewhat newer phenomenon, which is known as a pre-ICO token sale. As the name suggests, a pre-ICO allows investors to buy tokens before the official crowdsale begins. In most cases, these pre-ICOs raise a much smaller amount of money, and offer tokens at a lower price with a substantial bonus. More specifically, finding a pre-ICO with a bonus of 40% or more compared to the ICO price is not all that uncommon.

It is worth noting a pre-ICO often uses a very different smart contract compared to the actual ICO itself. This is done to separate funds and ensure these is no confusion. However, it can also create some uncertainty regarding how much money has been raised in total. Since the pre-ICO numbers are not included in the actual ICO numbers, there can be some sort of a discrepancy. Plus, it also means there may be far more tokens issued than people initially assume.

When a project launches a pre-ICO token sale, they need to do their due diligence. Being transparent about the money raised and the number of tokens issued is of the utmost importance. Onenegative side effect of pre-ICOs is how early investors often sell at ICO prices once a token hits an exchange. In doing so, they still make a very big profit and cripple the tokens price in the process. A pre-ICO is an amazing investment opportunity for a quick buck, but it can hurt the projects appeal and credibility when large amounts of tokens are sold at bottom prices.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Cryptocurrency ICO vs Cryptocurrency Pre-ICO The Merkle - The Merkle