If there is one thing to take away from most cryptocurrency ICOs as of late, it is how most of them run into some issue sooner or later. The Status ICO, for example, caused quite a few issues. The Monaco ICO needs to get tokens reissued, a process which is expected to be completed soon. It is evident there are a lot of issues behind the scenes which need to be worked out sooner or later. Below is a brief recap of recent ICOs currently resolving initial issues.

Although the SONM ICO has been quite successful in its own right, it is not without flaws by any means. A lot of people were surprised when the team announced they would accept multiple cryptocurrencies other than Ether. In hindsight, that was probably a bad decision, as it is causing major delays for ICO investors. More specifically, the team is still in the process of allocating tokens to investors who used currencies other than ETH to invest in the ICO. A very problematic development, and one that can linger for quite some time.

To make things even worse, a fair few investors are not too happy about the way things have been run. It is a bit unclear where this beef is coming from, but some investors have demanded a refund. Sorting out these issues takes up a lot of valuable time as well, which further delays the SNM token from getting listed on big exchanges. It appears SONM will sort things out shortly, but it is something to take into account.

The Status ICO has been subject to a lot of speculation and misinformation over the past week or so. It appears the smart contract used for the ICO was not full, but with the large pending queue of transactions, a lot of investors could not make a contribution. As a result, the Ethereum network got clogged up and started slowing down quite significantly The team feels this is no ones fault, as blockchains are highly experimental technology, and Ethereum is still in the testing phase. An interesting statement, although not a lot of people will agree.

Moreover, the Status team somewhat regrets using a dynamic ceiling for their cryptocurrency ICO. It is one of the main reasons why so many Ethereum transactions took place, as the maximum amount of Ether was a lot higher compared to what the team initially hoped to raise. It caused quite a bit of confusion and a lot of scaling issues for the network. It is evident this test was a good one, as it shows the Ethereum network is far less capable in this regard than most people think.

The Monaco ICO has proven to be quite successful, as many people feel this cryptocurrency debit card can make a big impact. Unfortunately, the ICO has been a bit of a hit-and-miss so far. Granted, the project raised a good amount of money, and people from all over the world invested in the crowdsale. That is where the good news ends, though, as none of the investors have received their official MCO tokens so far. The team is working together with TokenMarket to reissue the coins as quickly as possible.

The tokens have to be reissued because of an issue in the initial smart contract, which could cause multisig wallet incompatibility. All of the tokens have been issued on the Kovan testnet, and so far, things appear to be going quite well. However, it will take a few more days until all tokens are issued to investors, due to the ongoing Ethereum network issues. If all things go according to plan, tokens should be issued and tradeable by June 27th in the evening, at the latest. It is good to see TokenMarket work on this matter alongside the Monaco team.

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Top 3 Recent Cryptocurrency ICOs Sorting Out Major Issues The ... - The Merkle

The Fed appears to soften its stance good for bonds

The Fed must be worried about the path of oil prices given the disinflation it is creating around the world. Canada was another country last week to report headline inflation below expectations and meaningfully below the previous months number. Total consumer price inflation fell to 1.3% year-on-year compared to 1.6% in April. Even aside from the drop in headline inflation, core inflation is on the slide. The Bank of Canadas three favored measures of core inflation fell to a cycle low of 1.33%. A June rate rise by the Bank of Canada looks unlikely, and hence the loonie (CAD/USD) continues with an upward bias.

The concerted efforts of some Fed governors to talk up the need for further Fed rate rises looking increasingly foolish. At least in the past weeks schedule of speeches Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, the Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan added a bit of balance into the dialogue with the market by suggesting that at the very least there needs to be a pause in Fed rate rises.

U.S. 10 year yields ended the week at 2.15%, hardly changed on the week. One and three-month yields fell though reflecting the Fed speeches and the weakness of oil prices. One-month money at 76bps was the lowest since May 26th. Also, consider that two-year government bond yields at 1.34% are not much changed from where they started the year (1.22%) despite 50bps of Fed rate rises.

The U.S. 10 year government bond still looks like a rock solid investment for longer-term investors hoping for the prospect of a positive real yield. The Fed still looks unlikely to consistently hit its 2% inflation target given the structural headwinds in the economy. I still see a greater risk of the U.S. 10 year yielding 1.80% in the next 12 months rather than the 2.5%.

Cryptocurrency the struggle for recognition

With the markets still deeply skeptical about central bankers and their policies and whether conventional asset prices are sustainable, investor attention has increasingly strayed to cryptocurrencies. Year to date many cryptocurrencies have given some extraordinary returns. Cryptocurrencies have achieved some massive gains since the start of the year. MaidSafeCoin, for example, is up 478% year to date and Ripple is up an extraordinary 4500%, yes four thousand five hundred percent. However as many investors realize, exceptional gains in asset prices cannot be achieved over the longer-term without seeing significant volatility (risk). Cryptocurrencies saw a further wave of volatility last week with many correcting sharply until a recovery on Friday. Bitcoin, for example, saw a drawdown of 7% through to Thursday to follow up from a 25% correction from 12th -15th of June. Ethereum corrected 12%. Coinmarketcap.com lists 100 cryptocurrencies that are actively traded of which around 60% are no longer mineable so in fixed supply.

It is easy to write off the cryptocurrency as a freak show however if that were the case why are the Russian and Chinese central banks considering their own digital currencies? Also recently the President of the Bundesbank Dr Jens Weidman was addressing the issue of cryptocurrencies at a Bundesbank policy symposium. At this stage, it is difficult to come to any strong conclusions on the future role of cryptocurrency, however from my economics textbook I recognize cryptocurrency as a (volatile) store of value and a unit of exchange. A small meaningful start has been made for global acceptance.

The eurozone is still rocking and rolling.

Eurozone confidence is on the rise, and there is a real air of reform and change, even if remains mostly a political aspiration. To be sure, the French President is increasingly seen in the EU as the real deal in contrast to the stumbling efforts of the U.S. President. Euro-area consumer confidence in May moved to a 16 year high and is very close to an all-time high. The pick up in confidence is leading economists to think about raising their eurozone second-half GDP forecasts.

Eurozone industrial confidence has moderated in June slipping to 55.7 from 56.8. However, we wouldnt read too much into this slip back. The level of eurozone confidence is still consistent with a healthy GDP growth of 2.5% to 2.7%. In the detail of the survey, the manufacturing sector showed further improvement while the service sector slipped back. The robust manufacturing sector confidence is a positive considering the 6% rise in the value of the euro versus the dollar in the past two months, which must have eaten into the competitiveness of some firms.

China A shares finally make it onto Main Street and into the MSCI indices.

MSCIs decision to add 222 A shares to its benchmark came as no great surprise but still helped the China A index to rise 3% on the week. The decision came after four years of consultation and is the final acknowledgement that China deserves a position on Main Street. The first move is to add just 5% by value of the China A shares into the MSCI indices. Goldman Sachs estimates that potential buying from emerging market fund managers that follow the indices could be $12bn which amounts to about a days traded volume. Its a start by MSCI to including China on a much greater scale in the future. Goldmans estimate (sign-in required) that on full inclusion foreigners could end up owning around $430bn by value of China A shares. MSCI will add the shares in two tranches in May and August 2018.

India all signs point to lower interest rates if only the Indian monetary authorities would believe them.

The Indian monetary authorities continue to acknowledge the lower than expected inflation but are still hesitant to fully believe it. They prefer to wait for further evidence that the fall in inflation will persist. The lower oil price will provide some ongoing support to lower inflation, however, the path of food prices is far more important to the inflation basket with a 57% weighting compared to 6.3% for fuel and light. The Indian Metrological Department continues to forecast a normal monsoon. One of the committees members Dr Dholakia argued for 50 bps cut in rates. The bond market for certain wants to believe Dr Dholakias vision of where official interest rates will move. The Indian government 10-year government bond yield has rallied from around 7% in May to just below 6.5%.

In my view, Indian local bonds continue to offer value for those that have access to the market. The currency is pretty solid against the dollar and this is one of the few parts of the world still offering such as high nominal yield against the backdrop of a country truly making significant progress in its reform program.

GCC markets - waiting for the good news

The GCC financial markets remain challenged by the ongoing geopolitical issues and the weakness in the oil price. The publication of the demands of the Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain on Qatar only served to heighten worries that the current impasse could continue for an extended period.

There is some stress in the Qatar riyal although this is mainly in the offshore market. To-date no one would question the commitment of the Qatar Central Bank to supporting the dollar peg. Qatars credit rating remains at risk given the S&P downgrade on June 7th and the negative watch. However, a precipitous fall in the rating looks very unlikely in these initial stages of the dispute. The upward pressure on Qatar bond yields is likely to continue on the back of some foreign selling and even just a passive absence of foreigners from the market.It seems the oil market wants to see some a supply side shock through a cut in OPEC production before the current bout of oil price weakness is reversed. Oil moved into a technical bear market last week. U.S. light sweet crude fell to $43.00, twenty-two percent down on the price at the start of the year. The downward pressure on prices has been exacerbated by the unwinding of long positions held by speculators. These long positions still pose a threat to the oil price with the unwind possibly only partly complete.

Saudi Arabias MSCI reward for reform

There was some good news in the GCC with the long-awaited inclusion of Saudi Arabia in the MSCI emerging market indices. The main equity index responded by rising 5.5%. The inclusion of Saudi Arabia is a reflection of the ongoing reforms in the capital markets, including added regulations and improved technology. HSBC calculates that the market will see upward of $9bn of flows into the market as a consequence of its inclusion in the indices. MSCIs inclusion sets the scene for the Aramco IPO at some stage next year.

Saudi Arabia equities continue to be primed for some further upside. The level of the equity indices more than discount the current level of oil prices. As local investors return from their Eid holidays we suspect that local institutional investors will be back buying.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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CIO Weekly - Cryptic Fed Helps Cryptocurrency | Seeking Alpha - Seeking Alpha

A June 2017 staff discussion note from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggests that banks should consider investing in cryptocurrencies more seriously than they have in the past. According to the IMF staff team responsible for the note, including prominent economists such as Dong He, Ross Leckow, and Vikram Haksar, "rapid advances in digital technology are transforming the financial services landscape." These members of the IMF feel that such transformations generate new opportunities for consumers as well as service providers and regulators. The ultimate message of the report seems to be one of support for cryptocurrencies, as it outlines some of the ways that the fintech industry might be able to provide solutions for consumers related to trust, security, financial services, and privacy in this area.

One of the key findings of the IMF report is that "boundaries are blurring." This means that the borders between intermediaries, service providers, and markets, previously well-defined, have become blurry with the advent of new technology related to digital currencies and cross-border payments. Along with the blurring of these boundaries, the authors of the report suggest that "barriers to entry are changing." This does not, however, mean that barriers to entry are universally being lowered. Rather, they are being lowered in some situations but raised for others, particularly "if the emergence of large closed networks reduces opportunities for competition."

Absolutely key in the view of the authors of this report is that "trust remains essential." With less reliance on traditional intermediaries, consumers are turning more toward new networks and providers. The facilitation of this transfer on a large scale requires significant levels of trust in security, privacy, and efficiency. Along with this, and perhaps contributing to a new sense of trust, is the authors' conclusion that "technologies may improve cross-border payments" by serving better and more cost-efficient services, by lowering compliance costs, and by working to fight against terrorism financing.

In the view of the IMF authors, the financial services sector is poised to make the change toward cryptocurrency involvement. That being said, the report suggests that "policymaking will need to be nimble, experimental, and cooperative" in order to successfully navigate this crossing. Simultaneously, regulatory authorities will have a careful job to do: they must balance efficiency concerns and stability tradeoffs. In order to be willing to enter into this world, regulatory authorities will likely need reassurance that risks including cyberattacks, money-laundering, and terrorism support can be mitigated without harming the innovative progress of the digital currency world. To do this, the authors believe that regulators might need to increase their attention on activities and that governance will need to be strengthened. If all of these things take place, the IMF authors believe that banks could integrate cryptocurrencies successfully.

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IMF Urges Banks to Invest In Cryptocurrencies - Investopedia

Ripple may be the latest craze in the cryptocurrency world. Although its price still lags far behind Ethereum and Bitcoin, it has nonetheless gained 3800% in recent months, catapulting it to the number 3 spot on the list of over 100 cryptocurrencies with regard to market capitalization. What's more important, perhaps, is the technology that Ripple offers aside from its currency. The Ripple blockchain protocol has gained recognition by more than 60 major financial institutions around the world, with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi one of the latest to incorporate it into its practices. Ripple has, in this way, broken a barrier that virtually no other cryptocurrency has, by finding a way to integrate itself within the broader financial world. To some, this spells a new way for the future of the digital currency industry. To others, though, Ripple has some significant security weaknesses. What could bring down this rising star?

A recent report by Technology Review discusses how Ripple has made use of a "small world" philosophy. According to this way of thinking, virtually anyone in the world can be connected to anyone else via approximately six steps. "Strangers" can thus be connected to one another via a few intermediary people, all of whom know each other in some capacity. For Ripple, this idea holds for transferring money: Ripple users establish connections with other users that they trust, and then funds are transferred along a chain to reach the ultimate recipient in a transaction.

Within Ripple, if a user has connections to two other users, the amounts of funds entrusted to each will likely vary, while the total transferred is kept constant in order to generate liquidity. Each user has an incentive to act as the intermediary, as he or she receives a small payment for the role. With this protocol, Ripple allows users to move funds quickly and for much less money in transaction fees than many other methods of money transfer. This has popularized the system with many banks that would have otherwise not been interested in a cryptocurrency.

The openness with which the Ripple network operates has, on the other hand, also allowed for vulnerabilities to develop. Researchers at Purdue University have found that, although the core of the network remains highly liquid, that the structure also allows for attacks on certain nodes within the network to cripple some users' access to funds. In fact, some 50,000 wallets may be immediately at risk if such an attack were to occur. However, the researchers suggest that the fact that they have been able to detect weaknesses in Ripple's system is actually a good thing, as the conventional world of banking often lacks transparency in this regard. Having identified those weaknesses, Ripple's developers may be able to work to correct them.

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What is the Biggest Security Threat to Ripple Cryptocurrency? - Investopedia

The cryptocurrency market may register a momentary overall price drop, led by Bitcoin and Ether as it undergoes a correction before recovering. Read more...

The cryptocurrency price rally may soon hit a temporary hurdle, leading to a slight fall, before picking up the pace again. The forecast was made by Fred Wilson, a cryptocurrency investor, and partner at Union Square Ventures. Wilsons prediction closely follows a general price drop pattern exhibited by most of the cryptocurrencies in the past 24 hours.

Wilsons statement in his recent blog post was quoted by one of the financial news outlets. He said,

My gut says we are headed for a selloff in the crypto sector.

However, given the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies and a variety of influencing factors driving its price, Wilson takes a step back to indirectly state that even though there are all the indications of a selloff, it still might not happen as expected. It is followed by encouraging words about the long-term future of the cryptocurrencies. Wilson wrote,

But of course, I could be wrong about that. I am wrong a lot. But honestly, I dont really care. I will keep buying into this correction or rally, whatever it turns out to be. Because the more important question is where these assets will be in five or ten years. And I have a lot more conviction about that one.

Ethereum has emerged as a strong cryptocurrency in the recent weeks after its price surged from under the $100 mark to cross $300 in no time. As it continued to trade strongly on various exchanges, the unexpected flash crash of ether on Coinbases GDAX exchange, where the price momentarily fell to $0.10 ended up causing a significant disruption to the ongoing trading trend. Coinbase has been since then working on compensating the traders for their losses.

In the same blog piece, Wilson also offers some investment advice to the millennials looking to invest in cryptocurrencies. He advises people to invest in small amounts at regular frequency and to not maintain all investments in cryptocurrencies. By spreading funds over, they minimize the risks associated with cryptocurrency volatility and any other developments that might impact the value of digital currencies.

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Cryptocurrency Market: Is There a Price Drop around the Corner? - newsBTC

Some traders who lost money in this week's ethereum "flash crash" are going to be credited for their losses, the GDAX cryptocurrency exchange announced on Friday.

The price of ethereum, the alternative digital currency to bitcoin, crashed as low as 10 cents from around $319 in about a second in trading on the GDAX on Wednesday. The exchange blamed the move on a "multimillion dollar market sell" order.

In a blog post on Friday, vice president Adam White said the exchange was "confident all trades this week were executed properly, however, some customers did not receive the quality of service we strive to provide and we want to do better."

Therefore, the GDAX will create a process to credit customer accounts which experienced a margin call or stop loss order as a result of that crash, he said.

Those affected customers will have their ETH-USD account restored to the equivalent of the account at the moment prior to the rapid price drop.

Some traders apparently lost a lot of money during the crash. On the social forum Reddit, users complained of losing large sums of money from $3,000 to $9,000.

Others saw it as an opportunity to make money. However, White noted that the exchange will honor all buy orders filled during that time.

"We view this as an opportunity to demonstrate our long-term commitment to our customers and belief in the future of this industry," White said.

CNBC's Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.

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Cryptocurrency exchange to credit traders for ethereum 'flash crash' - CNBC

Back in 2013, during the height of the GPU bitcoin mining craze and before ASICs had taken over the market, prices forvideo cards reached absurd levels. This primarily impacted AMD, since GCN-based cards were vastly better at Bitcoin and Litecoin mining than their Nvidia counterparts, but the end result was awful for enthusiast gamers. GPUs that normally wouldve sold for $200 to $300 were, in some cases, commanding $600 to $800 price tags. Eventually the market cooled down as more customers shifted to ASICs, which both outperformed GPUs and offered a performance-per-watt metric no graphics card could match.

Now were seeing the same thing happen again only this time, its hitting both AMD and Nvidia cards. The GTX 1070 should be selling for around $330, and I can confirm Ive seen it around this price in the not-so-distant past. Today, Newegg shows the cheapest GTX 1070 at $459, as shown below:

But this isnt just an Nvidia problem; AMD is taking a beating as well. UpgradeYourTech keeps track of product SKUs over time, and maps how they change over weeks and months. Check out whats happened to the RX 580 since that card launched just a few months ago.

On June 6 of this year, the Asus ROG Strix RX 580 topped out at a whopping $849.99. Today, its a steal at just $658.90. At first glance, this might seem like a great thing for both AMD and Nvidia, since after all, higher GPU prices means more money, right?

Wrong.

Back in 2013 when Hawaii launched, cryptocurrency miners sent the price of AMDs entire GCN family into the stratosphere. AMD, however, hadnt changed its prices, which means AMD wasnt making a cent of the additional revenue that OEMs like Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, and Zotac were raking in. Now, if you were a serious cryptocurrency miner at the time, buying an expensive AMD GPU instead of an NV card might have made sense, given the enormous performance disparity between the two. One difference between then and now is that people are mining Etherium, not Bitcoin. My admittedly rough understanding is that NV cards are far more competitive now than they were at BTC mining back in 2013.

It may have made sense for miners to pay huge cost. But it made no sense at all for gamers. At the time, I theorized this could cause AMD trouble down the road. While it took several years to get concrete data on what happened to AMDs GPU sales, I was absolutely right.

AMDs graphics sales have begun to rebound, but the company has fallen hard the past five years. Figures like these made a deal with Intel easier to imagine.

If you go back and compare the peaks in AMDs saleswith the companys product launches, youll find theres a relationship between the two. (Higher sales figures sometimes lag product launch dates, depending on when a GPU debuted within the quarter.) But look at what happened in Q3 2013. The launch of Hawaii and the excellent R9 290 and R9 290X barely budged AMDs sales. In fact, sales went into a steep decline thereafter.

True, Nvidia responded with the GTX 780 Ti to counter the R9 290X, and yes, the reference R9 200 cards had loud default blowers. But third-party fan designs later solved that problem. It didnt matter. The cryptocurrency market had blown out AMDs addressable market, and by the time BTC mining had moved to ASICs, Nvidia had launched its GTX 900 series (Maxwell).

If you want to strike it rich mining Etherium, new GPUs may be a great investment but neither Nvidia nor AMD is likely to be happy about the long-term impact on their own businesses.

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Cryptocurrency Craze Sends GPU Prices ... - extremetech.com

Entrepreneur's have officially gotten their hands in the cookie jar of the cryptocurrency world. And believe me that's a good thing.

TenX, who is launching their highly anticipated ICO this coming Saturday has figured out how to solve one of the biggest problems for people that are involved in cryptocurrency -- actually spending the currency.

The worlds of entrepreneurship, cryptocurrency and Initial Coin Offerings are officially merged and entrepreneurs are raising 10s of millions of dollars to fund their companies. Bancor, Status and Basic Attention Token were prime examples of tokens/startups who collectively raised millions of dollars through ICOs.

The problem TenX is solving and why their ICO will likely also do very well is that nobody can actually spend cryptocurrencies at 99% of businesses without having to wait days to exchange it through a centralized exchange bankinto Fiat (government issued currency), or jump through other major hoops.

TenX has built an iOS and Android app that serves as both a wallet and a decentralized fee free exchange, then adds a debit/credit card functionality on top of that to let you spend your cyrptocurrency anywhere you could use VISA or Mastercard. (They send you a physical card.) It also converts it to local currency, meaning it pretty much works in any country.

As of right now TenX's platform officially supports Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Dash, amongst others.

Vitalik Buterin the founder of Ethereum is also an official advisor to the company. Historically, any ICO that he has backed has done phenomenally well. Another big factor for ICOs that typically do well is when they already have their tech built. TenX has a fully functioning and tested iOS and Android version and is ready to get it out in the everyones hands.

The ICO is scheduled for June 24, 2017 at 9am New York Time. 1 Ether will be worth 350 PAY tokens. Here is a link to their full whitepaper.

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TenX Figured out How to Make Cryptocurrency Spendable Immediately In Real Life - Inc.com

It is rather interesting to see this trend extend to Russia. The country has always had an uneasy relationship with cryptocurrency.

There is still a large shortage of graphics cards in various parts of the world. Things are getting out of hand in Russia, that much is evident. A new article shows how cryptocurrency mining in the country is picking up. As a result, the shortage of video cards becomes a lot more apparent. It is unclear if this situation will grow worse over time. For the manufacturers, this is good news, though.

About two weeks ago, it became apparent cryptocurrency mining is intensifying all over the world. Given the recent price surges of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, that is to be expected. Not everyone wants to buy specific hard to mine cryptocurrency. Instead, a lot of people are reverting to using graphics cards. This has become somewhat of a problem for the global supply of these products, though. Russia seems to be affected the most by this development right now.

As we have seen over the past few weeks, prices for graphics cards are skyrocketing. That is only normal, as demand is intensifying as well. In Russia, GPUs are up by as much as 80% in price. This affects both retail and second-hand prices. Some people are buying hundreds of graphics cards at once, which puts a lot of strain on the available supply. Manufacturers such as AMD and NVIDIA will not be too bothered about this sudden demand, though.

A lot of media outlets still think people buy graphics cards to mine Bitcoin. That is not the case, as GPUs have been incredibly inefficient for some time now. Instead, users will mine Ethereum, Litecoin, ZCash, or even Monero. All of these currencies can be mined easily with graphics cards. Users will still need a proper motherboard which supports as many graphics cards as possible, though. Setting up a GPU mining farm is not as easy as most people would think.

It is rather interesting to see this trend extend to Russia. The country has always had an uneasy relationship with cryptocurrency. Now that the country is keeping an open mind toward Bitcoin and consorts, mining is growing in popularity. It is good to see graphics cards getting more love, as they were rendered nearly obsolete not too long ago. Thanks to popular alternative currencies, this hardware gets a second lease on life.

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Shortage of Graphics Cards Intensifies in Russia as Cryptocurrency ... - newsBTC

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 Cryptocurrency 'Ethereum' Crash By 99.9% Of Value, Not SurprisingEconoTimes Proactive Investors UK -CNBC -Investopedia -The GDAX Blog all 34 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

Peter Denious, head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, said were in the midst of a virtual currency bubble, and like all bubbles, it will eventually burst.

That doesnt mean investors should necessarily steer clear. Aberdeens venture capital arm, which has about $1.8 billion entrusted in early stage funds, is considering investing in funds that hold blockchain-based companies and digital coins, Denious said. Still, he said the cryptocurrency boom thats attracting millions into startups and spurring triple-digit gains in their digital tokens isnt sustainable.

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A lot of lessons will be learned and a lot money will be lost, before a lot of money can be made, Denious, who is based in New York, said in an interview. Prices right now arent being driven by network usage, theyre being driven by speculation that tokens are going to appreciate. Its a gold-rush mentality. The winners will be those who are really creating highly disruptive, network-based businesses.

Technology companies have raised $646 million this year in so-called initial coin offerings, more than six times the total raised last year, according to Coinschedule.com. The rapid surge in token prices, doubling on average since they start trading, has convinced investors to hand over millions to early stage developments in fundraising rounds that often close in minutes. The hype has driven coins for ethereum, the network on which many of the projects are built, to surge to about $300 from $8 at the start of the year.

All that hype is making Denious, and many others, a little skeptical. Digital currencies potential to disrupt venture capital is also raising flags.

Read more on how network congestion is hindering trading in digital coins

ICOs are allowing early stage companies to bypass venture capital. Denious said this funding mechanism will persist even after the market cools, but it will co-exist with VCs as token sales only make sense for companies that benefit from a blockchain-based decentralized network. Venture capital firms can also be more helpful in building companies, through expertise and connections.

So whats an institutional investor to do with a world-disrupting asset, thats also over-heated? Denious said hes focused on finding funds with expertise in the field and a good track record. He has talked to four or five funds focusing on blockchain-based companies so far, declining to name them.

Aberdeens interest is a sign that blockchain companies and their digital tokens have the potential to reach a wider investor base in the future. Denious said he doesnt doubt that will be the case.

The ingredients are all there for a new asset class, he said. Were in need of restoring what the internet initially offered, which is the power of decentralization. The power has re-centralized in the hands of a few market participants and this technology can disrupt that. The potential is exciting.

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Aberdeen Says Cryptocurrency Bubble Will Burst Even If Coins Change Finance - Bloomberg

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 2.7% to $14.36 on Thursday afternoon, after climbing 16.9% in the past five trading sessions. Nvidia stock was down 0.3% 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

The FBI is requesting $21m and 80 new employees in abid to investigate emerging tech that could help the agency combat cybercrime.

In a budget request for fiscal year 2018, sent on 21st June, Andrew McCabe, acting director of the FBI, testified to the White House that the agencyis facing what it believes aresignificant challenges in gaining access to digital information even when it has the legal authority to do so. This notably includes cases that involve "drug traffickers using virtual currencies to obscure their transactions".

It is also the same narrative that the FBI's former DirectorJames Comey put forth last monthbefore theSenate Judiciary Committee.

The challenge, the agency has said,is that the FBI now requires more financial resources to investigate technologies and decipher information transmitted on the darknet. Elsewhere, it is also engaging in dialogues with companies that provide suchtechnology to educate them on the "corrosive effects" that information inaccessibility has on "public safety and the rule of law".

Earlier this year, the privacy-encrypted digital currency Monero (XMR), for example, drew attention from FBI for similar reasons.

A special agent working at the FBI's Cyber Division in New York City said at an event that the agency has concerns such technology will set roadblocks for criminal investigations.

"Developing alternative technical methods is typically a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process," the agency said.

FBI image via Shutterstock

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Illicit Cryptocurrency Use Targeted in Proposed 2018 FBI Budget ... - CoinDesk

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 downgrade it in early April. (See also: Why AMD and Nvidia Are Poised For Their Biggest Drops.)

Pacific Crest isnt the only Wall Street firm that is 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

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 ... Cryptocurrency Hedge Funds Generate Huge Returns As Bitcoin SurgesValueWalk Payza Adds 50 Bitcoin Alternatives to its Cryptocurrency ExchangeFinance Magnates Cryptocurrencies: the world beyond bitcoinsLivemint MyBroadband -CoinTelegraph -SMN Weekly (blog) all 40 news articles »

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

A lot of cryptocurrency users are looking for ways to make their coins generate more revenue. One could argue trading other currencies and assets is the right way to go. Then again, not everyone wants to take this route. Lending Bitcoin on exchanges is another way to generate a small profit over time. Below are three of the main platforms where cryptocurrency lending is quite popular these days.

Surprisingly enough, Japanese exchanges do not shy away from lending services. To many people, this will come as a big surprise. Then again, the open regulation in the country allows for more leniency when it comes to these types of services. Coincheckintroduced cryptocurrency lending quite some time ago, and they recently improved the service even further. As of right now, lenders will earn a maximum interest rate of 5%, which is quite generous.

It is evident the main focus of Coincheck lies on Bitcoin lending. However, the platform also supports additional currencies, including Monero, Factom, Augur, Ether, and XRP. All loans will be refunded together with the usage fee when the loan period ends. It is not possible to exchange currencies by lending them, which is only normal. No lending platform supports that functionality at this time.

Storing funds long-term in an exchange wallet is never a good idea, and the Bitfinex users found that out the hard way about a year ago. That being said, the platform still provides lending services, referred to as Margin Funding. This feature effectively allows users to provide funding in the form of multiple currencies to Bitfinex traders. Users can determine their own return rate, duration, and amount, as is the case with any of these three platforms.

It is rather interesting to note Bitfinex users can lend money in fiat currency as well. Most platforms only support cryptocurrency, yet this exchange is quite different. It is possible to borrow USD as well, which is quite interesting. It is unclear how popular lending is on Bitfinex right now ever since the platform got hacked last year, though. Then again, it is an option well worth considering for everyone who wants to explore lending options in the world of cryptocurrency.

No one will be surprised to learn most of the cryptocurrency-oriented lending is taking place on Poloniex right now. The company has been a great source of lending services over the past few years. Poloniex also supports a wide range of currencies, which certainly helps to move things along. Right now, the platform supports currencies including Bitcoin, Ether, Doge, Dash, Litecoin, and others. There is no fiat currency lending on Poloniex, though, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

There appears to be quite the market for lending on Poloniex, which is good to see. Then again, more competition also means a lot of people will earn a lot less money as a result. Competition in cryptocurrency lending is both a blessing and a curse, depending on how you want to look at it. Right now, the loan offers for Bitcoin are at around 0.15%, which is quite decent. Do keep in mind the loan offers often outweigh the loan demands, though.

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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Top 3 Cryptocurrency Lending Platforms - The Merkle

Quantave, a London-headquartered company developing trade life-cycle infrastructure for digital assets, officially entered their closed beta-testing phase today. The infrastructure aims to openthe digital asset market to institutional traders and investors, transforming the way they engage and transact, while ensuring the safety and security of their assets. Quantave is now testing the model with its initial partners.

The existing trade-lifecycle infrastructure that underpins the cryptocurrency market has, until now, been largely unsuitable for institutional investors. Accessing liquidity has been complex due to the fragmented nature of the market requiring repetitive onboarding and capital management processes.

Quantaves solution simplifies access to liquidity in the market by providing a secure trade-lifecycle structure that is tried and tested in traditional markets.

For the first time, institutional participants such as family offices, fund managers, hedge funds, FX brokers, market makers and authorized participants will be able to access multiple broker-dealers and exchanges via a unified gateway, reducing complexity and resulting in a deeper pool of liquidity.

To reassure investors that they can engage in the market without conflicts of interest, Quantaves infrastructure incorporates independent, EU regulated intermediaries to provide a clear distinction between the execution and asset safeguarding functions.

Traditional markets have evolved with key roles isolated from each other with the objective of reducing risk and creating healthy competition. We aim to emulate this with our infrastructure. Both institutional investors and liquidity venues will benefit; investors will be able to transact confidently across multiple venues through independent asset safeguarding and execution functions, ultimately reducing risk. Liquidity venues will benefit from an increase in order flow as investors are able to enter the market via a proven channel. This is a very exciting time for this industry and marks a first step to accessing and unlocking liquidity in this increasingly sought after asset class.

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Quantave enters closed beta for unified cryptocurrency liquidity gateway - CryptoNinjas

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