A Massive 500 Bitcoin Sell Order Hits Binance For First Time in a While, Heres What It Means – newsBTC

Bitcoins recent movement up towards its 2020 highs at $9,200 caught some bears by surprise, as it appeared to elucidate a significant amount of strength amongst BTCs bulls.

Bears are currently fighting back, however, as one whale just put up a 500 BTC market sell on cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which could be one of the factors behind the cryptos inability to stabilize above $9,000.

Coupled with this bearish BTC sell order is the fact that Bitcoins open interest is about to hit $1 billion, which is a level that has historically been touched just prior to massive selloffs.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading up 2% at its current price of $8,950, which marks a slight decline from its daily highs of $9,150 that were set yesterday evening when bulls attempted to push the crypto back towards its 2020 highs.

In the near-term, the resistance at this level appears to be growing increasingly strong, and unless bulls generate significant buying pressure, this latest rally could ultimately result in a bearish double top formation.

One factor that has heightened the bearishness of the rejection is the fact that a whale just placed a 500 BTC sell order worth nearly $4.5 million on Binance, creating a sell wall that may prove to be insurmountable for bulls.

Theres something we havent seen in a long while. A 500 BTC sell on [Binance], Hsaka, a popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, explained in a recent tweet.

For as long as this sell wall is in place, all the buy orders around BTCs current price will be absorbed, thus leading it to stagnate or drift lower.

Another factor that could lead Bitcoin to see some further bearishness is the fact that Bitcoins open interest is just a hair beneath $1 billion.

The reason why this is important (and bearish) is because historically BTC has incurred sharp selloffs each time its open interest balloons to this level.

Open interest on #bitcoin is currently at $943 million. Every time weve hit $1 billion weve seen a pretty big sell off. Lets see if this time will be different, Jacob Canfield a prominent crypto analyst on Twitter explained in a tweet.

The coming several hours will likely provide insight into the long-term significance of these recent developments, and will provide clarity as to whether or not the latest rejection at $9,150 will mark another local high.

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A Massive 500 Bitcoin Sell Order Hits Binance For First Time in a While, Heres What It Means - newsBTC

Bitcoins 15% Weekly Gain Could Send Ethereum Flying: Heres Why – newsBTC

Over the past few days, crypto assets from Bitcoin and Ethereum to Dogecoin and Maker have surged higher.

Since bottoming in the $8,200 range, the leading cryptocurrency BTC has surged as high as $9,425, marking a 15% gain. Although ETH, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has closely trailed Bitcoin, some say that a bigger surge for the altcoin will soon come to fruition.

Indeed, below, you can see Ethereum still trading below last weeks high of $177, despite Bitcoin trading as high as 3% above its previous local high around $9,200.

Cryptocurrency trader Trajan of Split Capital recently noted that Ethereums volatility is currently lagging behind that of BTC. Despite this, he noted that as soon as ETH finds its legs, the price of the leading cryptocurrency can soon see a price of around $200 a further 15% gain from the current price of $175.

He isnt the only one that thinks so.

Cryptocurrency trader Polar Hunt recently noted that ETH has been trading in a descending broadening wedge pattern, an often bullish price pattern, since July of last year. With this in mind, the trader wrote:

Current BTC price action is only here to shake you out of ETH before $238.

Satoshi Flipper, a prominent cryptocurrency trader, recently noted that Ethereums weekly chart is showing relatively bullish signs after bottoming around $120.

He specifically noted that theHeiken Ashi candles, which are a special charting technique used to more easily determine trends, have turned green on the weekly chart,suggesting a medium-term bull trend is forming.

Flipper added that Ethereum has broken out of a falling wedge structure that constrained price action for six months, boding well for bulls.

Not to mention, analysts are currently expecting the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin to continue to push higher over the coming days, further supporting the bullish case for ETH.

Continued here:

Bitcoins 15% Weekly Gain Could Send Ethereum Flying: Heres Why - newsBTC

Bitcoin Risk-Return a Different Beast Compared to Amazon: Analyst – Cointelegraph

Bitcoins (BTC) risk-return is a different beast compared to even the darling of the stock market of the 2000s, Amazon.

That was the conclusion drawn by one of the cryptocurrency industrys best-known analysts and the creator of a uniquely accurate Bitcoin price model.

Uploading a chart showing BTC risk-return versus Amazon stocks, U.S. bonds, gold and the S&P 500 on Jan. 24, PlanB showed Bitcoin behaved completely differently as an investment.

Amazons significant losses in the year 2000, combined with its revered recovery ever since still keeps it far below Bitcoins risk-reward ratio.

Bitcoin is a different beast! PlanB summarized, describing Amazons position on the chart as much closer to normal.

Amazons share price appeared to shake off revelations involving Saudi Arabia allegedly hacking CEO Jeff Bezos this week. Both $AMZN and BTC nonetheless fell over the past seven days, with the latter potentially reacting to uncertainty stemming from China.

Bitcoin risk-return vs. major investments. Source: PlanB/ Twitter

The impressive contrast comes days after Cointelegraph reported on Bitcoins risk-adjusted returns outperforming every major investment offering based on a four-year investment.

Then, PlanB appeared to hint that four-year periods the time between each reduction in the new Bitcoin supply could continue to boost performance.

Further, cryptographer Nick Szabo added, the susceptibility of traditional instruments to react to government and central bank meddling in currency markets meant Bitcoin was a natural fit for long-term, or low-time preference, investors.

PlanBs price model, stock-to-flow, has correctly called much of Bitcoins historical behavior and continues to forecast a level of $100,000 for BTC/USD in 2021.

At current levels, markets continue to conform to stock-to-flow, at $8,300 trading just below its suggested range. Before the next halving in May, $8,300 is, in fact, the average price the model says Bitcoin will trade at before moving significantly higher.

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Bitcoin Risk-Return a Different Beast Compared to Amazon: Analyst - Cointelegraph

BitMEX Open Interest Hitting $1B Could Be Bullish for Bitcoin This Time – newsBTC

Experts believe bitcoins explosive price rally is about to hit an end as a trend-defining technical indicator screams sell.

Bitcoins Open Interest (OI) is approaching $1 billion on BitMEX. Historically, whenever the total valuation of unsettled contracts touches the said valuation, bitcoins price in spot markets plunge. In September 2019, for instance, the cryptocurrency underwent a significant sell-off, dropping by up to 26.21 percent when the BitMEX OI reached $1.03 billion.

BitMEX OI hitting historically leads to massive bitcoin bearish corrections | Source: TradingView.com, Scalpex

It dipped in a similar manner in August and July 2019, showing a positive correlation between the OI and prices.

Open Interest indicator works in conjunction with two more technical data: Volume and Price. If all the parameters are going up in tandem, then it means the underlying assets uptrend is strong and bullish, and, therefore, should continue to trend higher, as shown in the table below.

Open Interest against Price and Volume | Source: Investopedia

In the current scenario, bitcoins price is rising alongside volume and open interest. That shows a great level of engagement from retail investors, driven by a multitude of fundamental factors, including halving, the Coronavirus outbreak, the Federal Reserves expansionary monetary policies, and booming demand for safe-havens against a potential correction in the global equity markets.

Angel investor Anondran believes that BitMEX OI is not a strong bitcoin price forecaster. In a tweet published today, the full-time crypto trader noted that the $1 billion price ceiling is more psychological than practical, adding that booming interest in bitcoin futures could send the valuation up towards $1.3-1.5 billion as well.

High OI literally means that a lot of longs and shorts are being opened, which indicates interest in Futures trading, he added. The fact that Bitmex has been able to hit this mark despite a ton of new competitors, coupled with dead Spot volumes shows $BTC price is currently priced by Futures.

Bitcoin could undergo an interim bearish correction to the downside to neutralize its overbought scenario. That is visible in the cryptocurrencys daily Relative Strength Indicator (RSI), as shown in the chart below.

Mld price correction awaited as bitcoins uptrend slows down | Source: TradingView.com, Coinbase

The RSI is reversing from 70, hinting a mild downside in the coming daily session. That could push the price to test the blued 200-daily moving average first. If broken, then the price could test the 50 percent Fib support right below at circa $8,499 for the next pullback.

On the other hand, continuation in the uptrend could have traders test the $9,500-10,000 area as the next resistance. If BitMEX OI stabilizes above $1 billion, bitcoin could explode above $10,000.

Continued here:

BitMEX Open Interest Hitting $1B Could Be Bullish for Bitcoin This Time - newsBTC

Nothing Special Bitcoin Slumps 6% on Coronavirus, Chinese New Year – Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) has shed 6% in a week thanks mainly to Chinese New Year and uncertainty over coronavirus, commentators are suggesting.

Analyzing Bitcoin price data along with Chinese stocks performance on Jan. 24, social media resource Light said a slump in performance had spread to cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency market daily overview. Source: Coin360

Over the past several days, it notes, Bitcoin has in fact broadly correlated with stocks. Such behavior is reminiscent of what many perceived as a reaction to another global event the Iran crisis earlier this month.

China coronavirus-driven risk-off blanketing Chinese equities and Bitcoin. Iran correlation, now Chinese equities, Light commented.

The analysis summarized:

If there was ever a statement to the effect, Bitcoin has now made it to the global stage.

Bitcoin vs. Chinese equities. Source: Light/ Twitter

Coronavirus continues to spread beyond China, despite authorities attempts to contain it by imposing travel bans and boosting healthcare provision.

BTC/USD has lost just over 6% in the past seven days and at press time trading at $8,300. The virus factor comes at a sensitive time historically, data reveals, with Chinese New Year traditionally creating sell pressure for Bitcoin.

Compiled by trader and analyst Alex Krueger, figures circulating on Twitter show that in the run-up to the celebrations, Bitcoin returns often turn out negative.

In 2019, they averaged around -0.2% losses for the week prior, but Krueger himself appeared unperturbed by the results.

Nothing special, he summarized on Jan. 22.

As Cointelegraph reported, critics have protested against the theory that Bitcoin price action is directly influenced by geopolitical or other world events.

Nonetheless, issues involving China tend to impact the market conspicuously, against the backdrop of a blanket crypto trading ban imposed by Beijing in 2017. The country still accounts for the majority of Bitcoin mining activity.

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Nothing Special Bitcoin Slumps 6% on Coronavirus, Chinese New Year - Cointelegraph

Elon Musk Reveals His True Opinion on Bitcoin and Crypto – Cointelegraph

After a long and cryptic series of tweets on Bitcoin (BTC), SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk elaborated his stance on cryptocurrencies in a Jan. 20 podcast. Noting that hes neither here nor there on Bitcoin, Musk focused on its use for illegal transactions.

The billionaire has recently been in the spotlight for several short and cryptic tweets related to cryptocurrency. On Jan. 10 he published a tweet saying Bitcoin is *not* my safe word.

This follows an equally cryptic tweet from April 2019, saying Cryptocurrency is my safe word.

But while they were generally considered to be jokes, especially in light of previous tweets where he pledged to take Tesla private at $420, Musks early history is deeply tied to the financial technology industry.

In 1999, Elon Musk founded X.com, an online bank that through later mergers became PayPal. He mentioned the company in the podcast, noting:

If PayPal had executed the plan that I wanted to execute on, I think it would probably be the most valuable company in the world.

The interviewers then asked what Musk thought about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, given their spiritual similarity to X.com. Musk replied that hes neither here nor there on Bitcoin.

While referring to Satoshis white paper as pretty clever, he prefaced by saying that his stance on cryptocurrencies gets the crypto people angry. He continued:

There are transactions that are not within the bounds of the law there are obviously many laws in different countries and normally cash is used for these transactions. But in order for illegal transactions to occur, the cash must also be used for legal transactions. You need an illegal-to-legal bridge. That's where crypto comes in.

Musk noted that cash is increasingly harder to use, but any alternative would have to be usable for both legal and illegal purposes, as it doesnt count otherwise.

Even though he may not be entirely sold on cryptocurrencies, Musk sees a clear purpose for them:

You must have a legal to illegal bridge. So where I see crypto is effectively as a replacement for cash. I do not see crypto being the primary database [for transactions].

Despite the negative connotation from being used for illegal purposes, he emphasized that hes not being judgmental about crypto. In Musks view, the governments overreach in certain aspects:

I think there's a lot of things that are illegal that shouldn't be illegal. I think that sometimes governments just have too many laws about the missions that they should have, and shouldn't have so many things that are illegal.

While not a full endorsement, Musk is not exactly opposite to cryptocurrencies. In an earlier part of the interview, he said that banks are in trouble though he primarily referred to competitors such as Stripe.

The rest is here:

Elon Musk Reveals His True Opinion on Bitcoin and Crypto - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin, ETH, XRP, And LTC Rally Fades: What’s Next? – Forbes

INDIA - 2020/01/23: In this photo illustration a Cryptocurrency Bitcoin logo seen displayed on a ... [+] smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Fortunes are changing in cryptocurrency markets. A rally that began three weeks ago lost steam last week.

By Saturday evening, Bitcoin was down 6.43%, ETH was down 7.38%, XRP was down 8.44%, and LTC dropped 11.20%. Bitcoin slid back towards the key $8,000-mark.

The retreat was board with only 18 out of the top 100 cryptocurrencies advancing and 82 dropping.

That's a significant change from the previous when 90 cryptocurrencies advanced out of the top 100.

And it came as the spread of coronavirus unsettled financial markets.

That should have come as a surprise to digital asset experts. Bitcoin has emerged as a safe-haven asset in times of global uncertainties, according to some studies. And should have been rallying rather than retreating last week.

koyfin_20200126_081340494

Is Bitcoin's pull-back just the pause of the rally or something more serious?

Christopher Brookins, Founder and CIO at Valiendero Digital Assets, thinks that Bitcoin is re-affirming his previous position that the rally takes a "breather."

"At the time of writing, the Hurst Exponent is still recovering from oversold levels and its recent "breather," with a value of 0.52, he says. The resumption in upward trajectory after its brief consolidation and value still being far from overbought territory bodes well for price in the near to mid-term."

Brookins' estimates apply the Hurst exponent (H) model, which is rooted in mathematics founded by Benoit Mandelbrot, to determine if a financial market is trending or not.

Screen Shot 2020-01-25 at 7.40.21 PM

He's watching the $8400 (short-Kumo Cloud) and $8600 (long-Kumo Cloud), but he remains bullish in the digital currency, in the face of the upcoming halving.

And he sticks in his previous prediction that ETH price increases are unlikely to last for a sustained period, and that will lag behind BTC.

"As stated prior, given the dramatic reversal in Hurst values to overbought, ETH price increases are unlikely to last for a sustained period in 2020," he says. "Furthermore, given the divergence between ETH and BTC Hurst values, we expect BTC to begin demonstrably outperforming ETH over the coming weeks and months."

Screen Shot 2020-01-25 at 7.52.55 PM

He also sticks with his prediction that LTC price increases are unlikely to last for a sustained period. They will also lag behind BTC.

"As stated prior, given the dramatic reversal in Hurst values to overbought, LTC price increases are unlikely to last for a sustained period in 2020," he adds. "Furthermore, given the divergence between LTC and BTC Hurst values, we expect BTC to begin demonstrably outperforming LTC over the coming weeks and months."

Screen Shot 2020-01-25 at 7.58.50 PM

Excerpt from:

Bitcoin, ETH, XRP, And LTC Rally Fades: What's Next? - Forbes

Crypto Price Analysis & Overview January 30th: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Monero, and IOTA. – CryptoPotato

Bitcoin

Bitcoin saw a further 10% price surge over the past week as the number 1 ranked cryptocurrency breaks above the $9,000 level. It had found major support at $8,255 (short term .382 Fib Retracement), which allowed it to rebound and climb. Bitcoin went on to rise into resistance provided by the November high at $9,430 before stalling.

If the buyers continue to drive Bitcoin higher, the first level of resistance is located at $9,476 (1.618 Fib Extension). Above this, resistance lies at $9,600, $9,800, and $10,000. On the other hand, if the sellers regroup and push BTC lower, initial support is expected at $9,250. Beneath this, support lies at $9,000, $8,700, and $8,250 (200-days EMA).

Ethereum saw an impressive 7.50% price hike this week as it returns to the January highs at $178. It managed to rebound from the support at $158 (.382 Fib Retracement & 100-days EMA), which saw it climbing higher above the 200-days EMA at $173.

Looking ahead, if the bulls continue to bring the coin above the January highs, resistance can be expected at $181. Beyond this, resistance lies at $185 (bearish .618 Fib Retracement), and $193 (1.618 Fib Extension). Alternatively, if the sellers push lower, the first level of support lies at $173 (100-days EMA). Additional support lies at $165, $159 (100-days EMA), and $152.

Against Bitcoin, ETH dropped by a total of 3% before finding support at 0.0185 BTC and rebounding to climb to the current price of 0.0187 BTC. ETH dropped beneath 0.0188 BTC, but the support at 0.0185 BTC has stopped it from slipping further lower this far.

If the buyers can bring ETH above 0.0188 BTC, resistance lies at 0.019 BTC, 0.0191 BTC, and 0.0195 BTC (100-days EMA). On the other hand, if the sellers push beneath 0.0185 BTC, support lies at 0.0181 BTC, 0.018 BTC, and 0.0179 BTC.

XRP saw a somewhat muted 3% price increase this week as it trades at $0.235. It held firmly at the $0.218 support (short term .5 Fib Retracement) but was unable to overcome strong resistance at $0.24. It even briefly spiked higher toward $0.25 but quickly reversed and fell.

Looking ahead, If the buyers hold $0.2345 and push higher, resistance lies at $0.24. Above this, additional resistance lies at $0.245 (bearish .5 Fib Retracement), $0.25, and $0.257. Alternatively, if the sellers push XRP beneath $0.2345, support lies at $0.218, $0.212, and $0.21.

Against BTC, XRP dropped by a total of 5%, causing it to break beneath the strong support at 2600 SAT to reach 2525 SAT. XRP did spike lower today, creating a fresh 2020 low at 2500 SAT, but it quickly rebounded back above 2525 SAT.

Moving forward, if the bulls can rebound from the 2525 SAT support, resistance lies at 2600 SAT. Above this, additional resistance lies at 2710 SAT, 2750 SAT, and 2800 SAT. On the other hand, if the sellers push and close beneath 2525 SAT, support lies at 2500 SAT, 2455 SAT, and 2400 SAT.

Monero saw a sharp 11% price hike over the past week as it performed better than Bitcoin. It had found support at $60 last Friday, which allowed it to rebound higher above the 200-days EMA and back into the January highs at around $70.

Looking ahead, if the bulls can bring XMR above $70, resistance is located at $73.75 (1.618 Fib Extension), $75.77, and $77.85 (long term bearish .618 Fib Retracement). Alternatively, if the sellers cause XMR to turn away from $70, support lies at $64 (200-days EMA) and $60. Beneath $60, support lies at $58 and $54.

Against BTC, XMR pretty much moved sideways with a small 2% price increase on the week. The support at 0.0072 BTC allowed XMR to rebound higher to reach the current level at 0.0074 BTC. However, there is still major indecision within the market as the RSI zig-zags above and below the 50 level.

If the RSI can remain above 50 and push XMR/BTC higher, close resistance is located at 0.0076 BTC. Above this, resistance lies at 0.0077 BTC (200-days EMA) and 0.008 BTC (1.272 Fib Extension). Alternatively, if the sellers push XMR lower, support is expected at 0.0072 BTC (.5 Fib Retracement). Beneath this, additional support lies at 0.00696 BTC, 0.0068 BTC, and 0.00643 BTC.

IOTA saw an extraordinary 31% price explosion this last week, bringing the price for the coin up to $0.297. It had climbed as high as $0.31 but ran into resistance provided by a 1.414 Fib Extension, causing it to roll over and fall slightly. This latest price move brings the total monthly price increase up to 86% for IOTA.

Looking ahead, if the bulls continue to climb higher from $0.297, resistance lies at $0.312 and $0.32. Above this, additional resistance lies at $0.335 (1.618 fib Extension) and $0.362. Alternatively, if the sellers push IOTA beneath $0.296, support lies at $0.27, $0.25 (200-days EMA), and $0.22 (100-days EMA).

Against BTC, IOTA surged into resistance at 3300 SAT breaking above the 200-days EMA where it has currently found support. IOTA has now increased by a total of 43% against BTC in January alone.

Looking ahead, if the bulls bring IOTA above the 3300 SAT level, resistance lies at 3470 SAT, 3564 SAT (bearish .382 Fib Retracement), and 3780 SAT. On the other hand, if the sellers push beneath the 200-days EMA, support lies at 3000 SAT, 2700 SAT (100-days EMA), and 2560 SAT (.618 Fib Retracement).

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Crypto Price Analysis & Overview January 30th: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Monero, and IOTA. - CryptoPotato

The Invisible Global Currency Thats 24 Times Bigger Than Bitcoin – Forbes

dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

How many credit cards do you have? If youre like the average American, you carry four in your wallet.

Chances are your credit cards are from different banks. But if you dumped out your wallet on the table and laid all your cards side by side, youd notice something odd.

While all the cards are from different banksand they all have their own special privileges, prestigious names, and color schemesmost have one thing in common:

Visaor MasterCardstamped on the bottom right.

Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) Created a Global Currency

It hardly matters what bank you use. At the end of the day, your card likely needs Visa or Mastercards payment network to function.

Over 80 million stores accept Visa or Mastercard. With one of their cards in your wallet, you can buy stuff anywhere in the world.

Visa and Mastercard have effectively created a universally accepted moneya global currency. $13trillionflowed through their networks last year. Thats 24X more than Bitcoin processed in 2019, according to CCN.

They make money by taking a small cut of each transaction, like a tollbooth on a highway. Both Visa and Mastercard are minting record profits, and their stocks have handed investors tremendous gains:

Visa and Mastercard

Heres why this is important for you.

Banks Stranglehold on Money Is Weakening

For many decades, weve had to deal with banks to move money. If you wanted to cash your paycheck, wire money, or get a credit card, you often had to talk to a banker.

These days, you can do all these things without ever stepping foot inside a bank. You can even get a mortgage without ever talking to a human banker!

Sending money no longer means writing a check and waiting three days for it to clear. Now you can send and receive money instantly withPayPals (PYPL)Venmo.

Roughly 50 million Americans use Venmo every month. You can even pay your taxes with PayPal.

Have you ever usedSquares (SQ)little white box that swipes credit cards? It plugs into your smartphone to turn it into a cash register. Over two million small businesses use it to accept cards instead of cash.

And getting a credit card no longer requires filling out piles of paperwork and answering a bankers questions. Smartphone giantApple (AAPL)made a splash when it debuted its shiny new titanium credit card last August.

These disruptors will end banks as we know them. Nobody cares if banks have fancy lobbies with marble floors these days. Most Americans just want a fast and convenient way to manage their money.

I havent stepped foot in a bank in years. And foot traffic into branches has fallen close to 50% in the past decade.

Many folks assume old money companies like Visa and Mastercard are in trouble too. These folks are wrong.

Visa and Mastercard Are Untouchable Stocks

What few people realize isall the "money disruptors I just mentioned are plugged into Visa and Mastercards networks.

Apple designed its titanium card to resemble its sleek products. But did you know it runs on Mastercards network? And credit cards from PayPal, Square, and Stripe all have Visa or Mastercard logos.

These disruptors arent ripping out the pipes of our financial system and trying to cut out Visa and Mastercard. Instead, theyre partnering with them, sending even more money flowing through their networks.

Remember, each time you pay with a card, Visa and Mastercard collect a small fee. In fact, even when you pay with your phone, these giants make money.

Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay, are simply apps built on Visa and Mastercard networks!

Nobody Can Touch These Untouchable Stocks

How we move money around and pay for things has changed for good. Yet these changes have only cemented Visa and Mastercards dominance.

Theyve built payment networks nobody can match. More than 30,000 banks use their credit cards. There are 3.4 billion Visa cards alone in circulation!

And now partnerships with PayPal, Square, and others are injecting a new wave of growth into Visa and Mastercard. Visas sales shot up 11.5% last year to a record $22 billion. And Mastercards revenue jumped 20% to $14.5 billion.

They Are Two of the Most Consistently Impressive Businesses Ive Ever Analyzed

Visas profit margins are 5X better than the average US stock. It turns 52 cents on every dollar into pure profit. Mastercards profit margins are 3X better than the average S&P 500 company. If youre investing for the long haul, you could do a lot worse than owning these two undisruptible tollbooth stocks.

Get my report"The Great Disruptors:3 Breakthrough Stocks Set to Double Your Money".These stocks will hand you 100% gains as they disrupt whole industries.Get your free copy here.

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The Invisible Global Currency Thats 24 Times Bigger Than Bitcoin - Forbes

One of the Vail Valley’s fur-baby favorites, Dr. Julie Alt, is calling it a career – Vail Daily News

EAGLE One of your fur babys favorite humans is calling it a career.

Veterinarian Dr. Julie Alt is a fourth-degree black belt and breast cancer survivor who helped pioneer pet acupuncture and traveled twice to Africa with her college roommates to treat both people and their creatures.

Her retirement reception is Sunday afternoon in Eagles Brush Creek Pavilion.

Castle Peak Veterinary Service will continue with Dr. Denny Simonton, Dr. Steve Conlin and Dr. Jennifer Wells.

I am so fortunate to have had this wonderful friend, colleague, and business partner for the past 31 years, Simonton said. It has been a great run along the way and we have built something very special at Castle Peak Vet.

Julie Helm Alt was born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1958. Her mother and siblings moved to Oakland, California, in 1973. She graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs with a biology degree, and from the University of California Davis with a degree in veterinary medicine in 1985.

Between Colorado College and vet school at UC-Davis she worked in the Eagle-Vail Animal Hospital with Dr. Bill Nusz large animal practice. She was told that Eagle needed a vet. She finished up at UC-Davis, hung her shingle in Eagle and Nusz sent his small animal cases to her. She started on a shoestring in a log cabin on the corner of Broadway and Highway 6. It was the mid-1980s and many of Eagles businesses were boarded up following the oil crash.

Things picked up quickly, though.

The town and I grew up together, Alt said.

She soon needed some help, so she brought in Simonton. Theyve been together since 1989.

Her vet clinic had an X-ray machine before the doctors office did. The docs used to send their patients to their vet clinic for X-rays.

There were the calls in the middle of the night from people asking for help for their kids. Fishhooks in legs were remarkably common.

People took their dogs skiing and ran over them. The skis cut the dogs and Alt sewed them up.

Castle Peak Vets was home to Willy the Cat, the mayor of Chambers Avenue. Willy wandered around to other businesses to greet people as a successful politician would. Alt would get a call at 2 a.m. saying the cat was in the bar and asking what they should do with him.

Willy was even entered in Eagles Flight Days parade as the mayor of Chambers Avenue. A massive cat named Meatball soon joined the Castle Peak crew.

Alt married her husband, Myron, in Eagleand raised sons Brian, 23, and Wyatt, 21.

She earned a fourth-degree black beltin karate, studying with James Lee.

Julie Alt is an absolute warrior. She comes from a family of military officers in Japan. Her energy, motivation, heart and spirit are unmatched. As long as I have been in the martial arts, I have never met another person like her, Lee said.

Alt traveled twice to Kenya with her college roommates from UC-Davis for humanitarian tours through the African Network for Animal Welfare and Vet Treks, which arrange working tours for veterinarians.

Alt and her traveling partners stuffed as many medical supplies as they could into a few duffel bags to treat both people and their creatures spaying and neutering to help curb the overpopulation of animals, taking care of donkeys and the people who depend on them, and giving rabies vaccinations around 3,000 each trip.

As recently as 2014, Kenya had 6,033 rabies cases. The U.S. had one that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The World Health Organization estimates that 55,000 people die from rabies every year; 44% of those are in Africa.

Rabies is a scary, scary thing, Alt said. If we can make a difference in how people can handle rabies in their country, its a great thing. Even the little bit you do can add up. In those villages, it can make a difference.

As her retirement draws nearer, testimonials have poured in from current and former clients.

Like the times Alt sat on the floor with Chewie, Lora Silagys dog, until Chewie calmed down. No other vet has put as much care into my babies as she has, Silagy said.

Julia Denault Parkers cat Molly was near death at age 7. Alt took care of her and Molly lived to 19.

Julie is one of the most passionate, compassionate, fearless, caring people I have ever met. She cries when the owners cry. She hurts when her patients hurt, said Kelley Church Bontempo. She is a wonderful teacher to all of us who have gotten the privilege to work side by side with her and an amazing veterinarian and is a pillar of our community.

Shes not completely done. Alt will stay involved with animals because she loves it. Shell do some animal acupuncture and pretty much anything else she wants to do, and not much she doesnt.

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One of the Vail Valley's fur-baby favorites, Dr. Julie Alt, is calling it a career - Vail Daily News

The psychology and physiology of propaganda: A study of the radicalization of women – University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

With the help of a $716,065 grant from the National Institute of Justice in 2016, professors from the University in collaboration with those at other colleges and the Federal Bureau of Investigation combined theory with science in their study of the radicalization of women by ISIL.

During a two-part project, Janet Warren, professor in the department of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences, aided by Gregory Saathoff, professor in the departments of public health science and emergency medicine and the FBIs conflict resolution specialist, developed a framework to describe this phenomenon based on accounts of western women who devoted their lives to committing acts of terrorism.

To test their model, Warren and Saathoff turned to founding director of the School of Data Science Donald Brown for help with gathering and analyzing relevant data. Mojtaba Heidarysafa, a doctoral candidate in the department of systems and information engineering, also joined the research project during the data collection phase, in which the team enrolled women ages 18 to 35 from the University and wider Charlottesville communities who volunteered for the study and were compensated for their involvement. Participants attended one of two sessions in which researchers recorded their emotional and physiological responses to propaganda.

As a result, a general pattern emerged regarding womens reactions to certain types of violent visual stimuli, confirming the possibility that a model could be created to show how women become radicalized. The researchers hope these findings could assist in preventing women from being recruited into terrorism.

Each woman completed a consent form reviewed by the University Institutional Review Board. Researchers provided women with the ability to discontinue their involvement in the study at any point and reimbursed them regardless of whether or not they completed the study. Furthermore, each participant had access to a tamer set of images, of which two women took advantage, as well as guidance after the study if she felt deeply affected.

Warren noted that similar studies often focus on men. But her consultant work with the FBIs counterterrorism efforts inspired her to consider the ramifications for women, Warren immediately considered the ramifications for women.

I thought it would be really interesting, as we were all together in these meetings talking about risk assessment and terrorism, for the first time to start a study on women, Warren said. Most research done on very violent crime is done on men I have often followed these huge areas of research and asked, How does this apply to women?

Saathoff collaborated with Warren to understand the overall trajectory of womens conversion to terrorism. He stressed the need to characterize the process not only as a means of pursuing criminals but also as a means to provide insights and strategies that could protect women from plots to recruit them.

In society we often learn through media anecdotes, and that is one way to become aware of these issues, but to truly understand the situation, its important to understand how this occurs in a large number of cases, Saathoff said.

First, Warren, Saathoff and their partners constructed a risk assessment model to outline the radicalization process. To successfully summarize and explain that transformation, the team hoped to find 300 women with sufficiently detailed court and investigation records but doubted the feasibility of that goal. When they uncovered almost five times as many women, researchers chose to analyze the 300 with the most robust court and investigative reports.

Over the next couple of years, Warren, Saathoff and their research team produced a risk assessment model that identifies not only aspects of a persons life that could increase the likelihood of her radicalization, but also preventative measures to proactively impede radicalization efforts. The hope was to generate a cohesive framework for analysis of potentially dangerous individuals for use in government agencies.

We were trying to do something that integrated what people in different countries were talking about, what we thought was interesting, what was in our academic research and make something that was more translational and international in terms of its broadness, Warren said.

The model incorporates the theory that risk and protective factors can be viewed as two ends of a spectrum. The factors in and of themselves are not diametrically opposed aspects of a persons life. Rather, their intensity and outlets determine someones likelihood to adhere to extremist beliefs.

Warrens three-stage framework pinpointed these elements. Beginning with the propensity for radicalization, individuals can transition to mobilization and eventually action and capacity for terrorist exploits. Key factors that dictate progression from state to state include morality, self-regulation, setting, physical activity and perception of alternatives.

Many women we have found who embrace this new identity are doing that because of unhappiness with their current situation, Saathoff said. Travel to another country is sometimes an escape, and its facilitated by those who would specifically tailor the message to the individual person Its remarkable how compelling and powerful that seduction can be.

Second, the team looked to Donald Brown, founding director of the School of Data Science, for help with gathering concrete evidence to support their theory, specifically as it relates to propaganda. Warren cited propaganda as a powerful recruitment tool that can persuade people to completely change their outlook. Though many studies dissecting the conscious reactions to materials disseminated by extremist organizations exist, Warren emphasized the lack of research on physiological indicators of emotional responses.

We actually know what people are thinking consciously, but weve got to try and grab some data about how theyre reacting unconsciously and see whats more powerful, or were never going to get a handle on [propaganda], Warren said.

According to Mojtaba Heidarysafa, doctoral candidate in the department of systems and information engineering who joined the research team for data collection, the initial phase of the data collection portion of the project consisted of 45 women probing the internet for content they believed could contribute to radicalization campaigns.

With the permission of the University Information Security Department and the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology, researchers enabled women to investigate the dark web, a conglomeration of networks with restricted access that facilitate anonymous, illicit interactions. The U.S. National Security Agency reports that terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda utilize the dark web to maintain communication across their global network, as well as recruit new individuals to their cause.

We were also able to [connect] women and allow them to go into the dark web if that was something they were interested in doing, Warren said. The University was fantastic in giving us the freedom we needed to pursue this.

An additional 45 women who identified themselves as Muslim, non-Muslim conservative and non-Muslim liberal attended four sessions in which they viewed a series of images depicting extremist activities. During these sessions, researchers monitored eye gaze, pupil dilation, heart rate and galvanic skin response which tracks sweat gland activity to determine the arousal level and emotional state of participants.

While the first session contained neutral pictures of everyday objects to create a baseline for participant responses, subsequent sessions depicted white nationalist campaign posters and violent acts by jihadist, alt-right and alt-left groups.

We showed them all of these pictures, Heidarysafa said. When looking at hangings or beheadings, all of them had a non-neutral arousal response What we found was that no matter the background, there was a reaction.

In fact, Warren, Heidarysafa and Brown contributed to a pending publication that suggests pupil dilation and the aspects of images that attracted womens gaze were largely consistent across participants, regardless of their religious or political affiliations. In other words, the pictures play a larger role in individuals emotional response than certain major components of their identity. The authors of the study claim the commonalities point to patterns applicable to multiple cases of radicalization.

As this preliminary research project draws to a close, with a portion of the final papers and the results published in 2018 and 2019 and more to come in 2020, Warren said she and her colleagues already applied for an additional grant to expand their efforts and replicate the study with men. In doing so, Warren aims to take full advantage of the resources at the University to create materials useful for the FBIs observations of and interventions for at-risk individuals.

Usually academic researchers dont work with the FBI, and the FBI doesnt necessarily want to work with academic researchers, Warren said. The most important thing is the relationships exist so that we could do this research.

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The psychology and physiology of propaganda: A study of the radicalization of women - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Sealand Community Council to decide three new positions by co-option | The Leader – LeaderLive

CURRENT members of Sealand Council will decide which people fill the three available positions to join them in becoming community leaders in the area.

In a process called co-option, the ten presently serving councillors will vote for their three preferred choices to join Sealand Community Council on March 16.

Any people who wish to put themselves forward as candidates for the role must do so before the deadline on February 28.

In order to apply to become a new community leader in Sealand, potential candidates must send a letter of application to the council clerk.

The application letter must detail why you want to apply, why you would be good for the role, and a section describing yourself.

Current councillors will then have the chance to look over any applications that are sent in before voting for their three ideal candidates at the next council meeting after the deadline, which falls on March 16 and will be held at Sealand Primary School.

Council Chair, Cllr Barbara Hinds, will head the vote which will also involve councillors Jean Fairbrother, Bob James, Christine Jones, Norman Jones, Mikael Khan, Alex Lewis, Mike Walker, Mary Southall, and David Wisinger.

This method to determine the next three community councillors for Sealand comes after the deadline to call a local election passed on January 16 without anybody putting themselves forward for the position to trigger an election in the area.

The three available positions at Sealand Community Council have arisen following the recent resignation of Rhondda Whittaker, and the disqualification of Sarah Wilson and Shelley Webber.

Ms Wilson and Ms Webber were both disqualified as a result of not attending a meeting for six months, while Ms Whittaker offered her resignation on December 7, 2019, citing the fact that her current and future commitments would affect her council duties.

To apply to become a new community councillor for Sealand, send your letter of application to the council clerk, Peter Richmond, by email on: sealandcc@googlemail.com.

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Former Fund Manager from Haitong International Asset Management Joins Singularity Financial Executive Team – Yahoo Finance

HONG KONG, Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Singularity Financial Limited ("SFL"), Hong Kong's leading financial and technology marketplace, announced today that Dr. Mark Chen, former fund manager and research head of alternative investmentfrom Haitong International Asset Management Limited, joined the company as a co-founder and director to lead the company's green finance and ESG efforts.

Mark has over 20 years of experience in asset management, macro analysis, equity/bond research, and financial reporting. He has a PhD in Accounting and Finance from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a Master of Economics from University of International Business and Economic in China.

Prior to joining SFL, Mark was managing director for Zhengqi International Asset Management Limited, as well as investment director for Zhengqi(HK) Financial Holdings Limited, a financing platformof China's leading investment firm Legend Holdings Corporation. Before that, he was a fund manager and head of research of alternative investment for Haitong International Asset Management Limited, a subsidiary of Haitong International Securities Group,the largest mainland-backed stockbroker in Hong Kong by net assets. Before starting his investment career, Mark received more than five years of investment analyst training through Vision Finance Asset Management Limited and ABCI Securities Company Limited.

Beyond portfolio and risk management, Mark took on a few leading positions in China's leading financial news agencies such as China Business News, 21st Century Business Herald and Securities Daily; today he is a popular influencer for Chinese financial media such as Sina and Tsinghua Financial Review, and a frequent contributor to international publications such as Journal of Corporate Finance, Frontier of Business Research in China. Mark published a series of best-selling financial books covering subjects such as "Cryptocurrency and Virtual Assets," "Buying China, Investment Thesis from a Hedge Fund Manager," "Winning Strategies in the Stock Market," and "Entrepreneurial Drive Research."

"Mark is a fantastic addition to our team with a wealth of operational and financial management experience,"said Ada Zhao, Managing Director of Singularity Financial."With the introduction of green finance and fast-moving disruptive technologies, we are looking forward to benefiting from his decades of expertise providing analytic solutions and strategic planning to our customers."

About Singularity Financial

Singularity Financial Limited("SFL") is Hong Kong's leading marketplace providing tools and services to support disruptive technologies and sustainable investments. For more information, please go to http://www.sfl.global.

Press Contact Carl Huang Singularity Financial Limited +852 9623 6835 233185@email4pr.com

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Why the Singularity may be the key to World Peace? – Thrive Global

Tout Comprendre, cest Tout Pardonner.

Translated from French to English:

To Understand All, is to Forgive All.

Humanity is richer and more advanced than ever, yet we are more divided than ever. Why?

I believe the root cause is a lack ofTrust,Compassion, andUnderstandingof each other.

In the words ofJaggi VasudevorSadhguru, Founder of Isha Foundation (for which I am a volunteer), there are no Good or Bad people, just Happy and Miserable people.

People oscillate between Good and Bad, and in fact, by making the Duality of Good vs. Bad, one inherently places oneself in the Good bucket, and in doing so, implicitly create a Bad bucket with Bad people.

This process where humans create these types ofDualitiescreates a vicious cycle that has plagued humanity since the dawn of our existence. Duality is inherent to any intelligent species like Humans, but disastrous when also coupled with theHuman Ego.

Duality is the Fundamental Source of all Human Suffering outside of our Control.

Id argue the distinction Good vs. Bad is the worst duality created by mankind. Across religion, politics, media, and personal relationships this duality is the fundamental source of allhuman sufferingthat is within our control, a philosophy shared by the Stoics of Greece.

Dont choose to be Good over Bad; Choose to be Happy over Miserable.

I believe there will be a fundamental shift in this next decade of the Roaring 2020s, largely driven bydeep technologieslike machine learning,blockchain technology,andquantum computing. This will be the first step towards the inevitableTechnological Singularitythat will forever change humanity as a species.

Through a series of articlesyet to be published, andstaggered over a long period of time, on seemingly diverse and unrelated subject matters, I wish to convey my deductive reasoning why I believe theSingularity may be the key to solving World Peace.

I understand the claim is quitebold(and may perhaps appear nonsensical), but I promise to share with you my lifes understanding of these matters in a completely, logical manner.

From Singularity to World Peace

As this publication and the series of articles to published may be contrary to popular belief, I ask that you please suspend your disbelief before you have read the entire series, and ask any questions right away where you dont follow the logic or dont understand the subject matter.

If you find any gap in what I am saying because, in a brief amount of words, I am trying to convey some very profound things. The subject matters highlighted are all quite complex and still active areas of human research, so dont confuse lack of my knowledge with lack of truthfulness.

1. Technology: Quantum Computing

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more aboutIBM Quantum Qhereand theSchrdinger equationhere.

2. Religion: Heros Journey, The Bible, and Reality as a Dream

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more about theTwo Great Mythologieshere, theBible Projects missionhere,Samsarahere, Mayahere,Brahamhere,Karmahere, theKalpaunit of timehere, the scientificAge of the Earthhere, andNature of Realityas aLucid Dreamhere.

3. Physics: Quantum Mechanics, M-Theory and Gravity

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more aboutSchrodingerhere,M-Theoryhereand theHolographic Principlehere.

4. Chemistry: Lipid Bilayers and Pi Resonances

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more aboutLipid Bilayershereand the significance ofPi Resonanceshere.

5. Language: Chomsky Hierarchy and A.I. Storytelling

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more about theChomsky Hierarchyhereand AI-written novel1 the Roadhere.

6. Literature: Infinite Jest, Poetry, and the Iliad and the Odyssey

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more aboutInfinite Jestby David Wallace, theSierpinski Trianglehere,Homers the Iliad and the Odysseyand its connection to the theOrigin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mindby Julian Jayneshere.

7. Neuroscience: Delta Brainwaves, Pineal Gland, and Orch OR

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more about moreRen Descartesviews on thePineal GlandhereandOrchestrated Objective ReductionorOrch ORmodel forHuman Consciousnesshere.

8. Music: Lyre of Greece, Resonance, and Chinese Wuxing

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more aboutResonanceinWavelet Transformshereand the ChineseWuxinghere.

9. Math: Quantum Particle Spins and Constants of Nature

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more about theRational Numbershereand theStandard Model of Physicshere.

10. Philosophy: The Hard Problem of Consciousness

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more about theHard ProblemofConsciousnessandQualia / Experiencehere.

11. Biology: Darwinian Evolution and Artificial Intelligence

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more aboutDarwins Lifehereand the self-taught AI programAlphaGohere.

12. Computer Science: Machine Learning

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more aboutDeep LearninghereandArtificial Neural Networkshere.

13. Meditation: Spirituality, Yoga, and Understanding

Understanding or Awakening is the Journey from Duality to Nonduality.

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more aboutSamadhihereand practitioners ofTranscendental Meditationhere.

14. The Stimulation Argument

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more about theSimulation Argumenthere, theFine-tuned Universehere, Adinkra Symbols inAfrican Arthere, Adinkra Symbols inSupergravity Theoryhere,Error Correcting Codeshereand its connection to theNature of Realityhere.

15. Towards the Technological Singularity

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more about theTechnological Singularityhere.

16. Towards World Peace: the United Nations

Article to be publishedhere.

Learn more about theDalai Lamahereand theUnited Nationsmissionhere.

Ending exactly where we started, asMother Naturehad always intended.

Tout Comprendre, cest Tout Pardonner.

A New G10 must form to include Switzerland, China, the European Union, Australia, Japan, Israel, the South/North Korean Union, Iran, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Humanity must unite as One for us to survive as a species on Earth, for us to avoid the the probable exinction of Humans by the disastrous effects of human-inflicted Climate Change that will materialize this century.

I will leave this space below open for your own interpretation of the readings.

Y O U R S T R E A M O F C O N S C I O U S N E S SHEREO R N O W H E R E

Finally, I want to share this Singular ad fromCoca-Colaaired during the 60s aboutUNITY.

We are all Brothers and Sisters deep down; Trust, Compassion, and Understanding will be the key to World Peace, and will save Humanity from its self-destructive behavior.

On a hilltop in Italy,

We assembled young people

From all over the world

To bring you this message

From Coca-Cola Botters

All over the world.

Disclaimer: the views expressed in this article are those solely of the author and do not reflect the views of Aidos Inc., Hydra Capital Advisers LLC., Radna Intellectual Ventures LLC., or Sustainable Media Corp. Aidos Inc., All Rights Reserved.

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Why the Singularity may be the key to World Peace? - Thrive Global

Diane Francis: The future is faster and better than ever as tech reinvents the world – Financial Post

LOS ANGELES Peter Diamandis is a friend who happens to also be a serial entrepreneur, medical doctor and aeronautical engineer who founded the XPRIZE Foundation, Singularity University, Human Longevity, Planetary Resources, Space Adventures, and biotech Celularity, among others.

We live in the most extraordinary time in history, he said recently at his Abundance360 annual conference for high-net-worth entrepreneurs. The next 10 years will see more changes than occurred in the past 100 years.

His latest book was released this week, The Future is Faster than You Think, and is a survey of how the world will be reinvented, industry by industry. He draws historical comparisons to make the case for optimism: In 1920, we could only find four innovations: the first commercial radio station, the hand-held hairdryer; the Band Aid; and traffic lights. By contrast, last year saw tens of thousands of technological and scientific breakthroughs.

He believes the world is entering a new roaring twenties which will result in transformative goods, devices, services, business models and human behaviour. In a chapter called the Acceleration of Acceleration, he lists some principal accelerants that have been, and will be, behind ongoing and rapid change.

For example, huge savings for people in developed countries, in terms of time and money, occurred with the invention of Google search, iPhones and massive data storage capability. This time and money has been reinvested to execute more of the same types of time and money saving innovations. For instance, the cost of sequencing the genome in 2001 was US$100 million and now it can be done for only US$100. And the value, in 2012 dollars, of all equipment contained in todays iPhone in 2012 dollars is US$1 million the cameras for photos and video, storage, facial recognition, telephones, laptops, search and artificial intelligence capability.

Crowdfunding, underpinned by blockchain technology, is enabling the raising of billions for more research and development. And brain enhancement techniques to boost memory and concentration will also improve research outcomes.

Augmented reality will go mainstream and allow consumers to play, learn and shop via headsets, glasses or implants. Robots and toys or appliances will remember our faces and voices and preferences. Drones will babysit and take videos. Voice commands will replace typing and predictive algorithms will anticipate our needs.

By 2029, co-founder of Singularity University Ray Kurzweil says artificial intelligence will be smarter than humans. This will provide smart collaborative tools for workers, professionals, analysts and leaders to enable them to find smarter solutions to their challenges. Put another way, this decade will offer Alexa and Siri on steroids that will act as personal executive assistants to anyone at an affordable price.

Advancements in renewable energy, batteries and local power grids will accelerate leading to lower costs and higher performance, democratizing power globally.

Besides flying cars and the Hyperloop, space travel will become a tourism and commercial option. The future of food, finance, education, shopping and real estate will profoundly change. As more people have access to technology, more problems can be solved and the more capital is available to find those solutions, he said.

Diamandis is an inveterate optimist but realizes that technology in the wrong hands has and can create new problems. To be clear, there will still be terrorism, war, and murder. Dictatorship and disease wont go away. But the world will quietly continue to get better, he concludes in his book.

He also cites one of his favourite books, The Better Angels of Our Nature by Harvards Steven Pinker, whose figures demonstrate progress and that war, strife, disease and poverty are at historical lows.

To him, technology is part of a continuous march toward abundance to meet the needs of all humanity.

Financial Post

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Diane Francis: The future is faster and better than ever as tech reinvents the world - Financial Post

7 Business Models Reshaping How We Work, Live, and Create Value – Singularity Hub

Some of the most potent innovation taking place today does not involve breakthrough technologies, but rather the creation of fundamentally new business models. For most of history, these models were remarkably stable, dominated by a few key ideas, upgraded by a few major variations on these themes.

In the 1920s, it was the bait and hook models, where customers are lured in with a low-cost initial product (the bait: a free razor) and then forced to buy endless refills (the hook: blade refills).

In the 1950s, it was the franchise models pioneered by McDonalds. Or take the 1960s, where we got hypermarkets like Walmart.

But with the internets arrival in the 1990s, business model reinvention entered a period of radical growth. In less than two decades, weve seen network effects birth new platforms in record time, bitcoin and blockchain undercut existing trusted third party financial models, and crowdfunding and ICOs upend the traditional ways capital is raised.

We are now witnessing seven emerging models slated to redefine business over the next few decades. And today, while countless businesses are anchored by a mentality of maintainingcompeting solely on operational executionit is more vital than ever to leverage these business models for success in the 2020s.

Each is a revolutionary new way of creating value; each is a force for acceleration. Lets dive in.

(1)The Crowd Economy:Crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, ICOs, leveraged assets, and staff-on-demandessentially, all the developments that leverage the billions of people already online and the billions coming online.

All have revolutionized the way we do business. Just consider leveraged assets, like Ubers vehicles and Airbnbs rooms, which have allowed companies toscale at speed. These crowd economy models also lean on staff-on-demand, which provide a company with the agility needed to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. And its everything from micro-task laborers behind Amazons Mechanical Turk on the low end, to Kaggles data scientist-on-demand services on the high end.

Example: Airbnb has become the largest hotel chain in the world, yet it doesnt own a single hotel room. Instead, it leverages (that is, rents out) the assets (spare bedrooms) of the crowd, with more than 6 million rooms, flats, and houses in over 81,000 cities across the globe.

(2)The Free/Data Economy:This is the platform version of the bait and hook model, essentially baiting the customer with free access to a cool service and then making money off the data gathered about that customer. It also includes all the developments spurred by the big data revolution, which is allowing us to exploit micro-demographics like never before.

Example: Facebook, Google, Twittertheres a reason this model has transformed dorm room startups into global superpowers. Googles search queriesper dayhave risen from 500,000 in 1999, to 200 million in 2004, to 3 billion in 2011, to5.6 billiontoday. While more users are becoming aware of the valuable data they exchange in return for Googles free search service, this tried-and-true model will likely continue to succeed in the 2020s.

(3)The Smartness Economy:In the late 1800s, if you wanted a good idea for a new business, all you needed was to take an existing tool, say a drill or a washboard, and add electricity to itthus creating a power drill or a washing machine.

In the 2020s,AI will be the electricity. In other words, take any existing tool, and add a layer of smartness. So cell phones became smartphones and stereo speakers became smart speakers and cars become autonomous vehicles.

Example: We all know the big names incorporating AI into their business modelsfrom Amazon to Salesforce. But more AI startups arise each day: 965 AI-related companies in the US raised $13.5 billion in venture capital through the first 9 months of last year, according to the National Venture Capital Association. The most highly valued of them all is Nuro, a driverless grocery delivery service valued at $2.7 billion. Expect AI to continue transforming most businesses in the 2020s.

(4)Closed-Loop Economies:In nature, nothing is ever wasted. The detritus of one species always becomes the foundation for the survival of another species. Human attempts to mimic these entirely waste-free systems have been dubbed biomimicry (if youre talking about designing a new kind of product) or cradle-to-cradle (if youre talking about designing a new kind of city) or, more simply, closed-loop economies. These models will grow increasingly prevalent with the rise of environmentally-conscious consumers and the cost benefits of closed-loop systems.

Example: The Plastic Bank, founded in 2013, allows anyone to pick up waste plastic and drop it off at a plastic bank. The collector is then paid for the trash in anything from cash to WiFi time, while the plastic bank sorts the material and sells it to the appropriate recyclerthus closing an open loop in the life cycle of plastic.

(5)Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs): At the convergence of blockchain and AI sits a radically new kind of companyone with no employees, no bosses, and nonstop production. A set of pre-programmed rules determines how the company operates, and computers do the rest. A fleet of autonomous taxis, for instance, with a blockchain-backed smart contracts layer, could run itself 24-7, including driving to the repair shop for maintenance, without any human involvement.

Example: While DAOs are just beginning to emerge, the platform DAOstack is working to provide these businesses with tools for success, including reliable crypto-economic incentives and decentralized governance protocols. DAOstack aims to create businesses where the only external influence is the customer.

(6)Multiple World Models:We no longer live in only one place. We have real-world personae and online personae, and this delocalized existence is only going to expand. With the rise of augmented reality and virtual reality, were introducing more layers to this equation. Youll have avatars for work and avatars for play, and all of these versions of ourselves are opportunities for new businesses.

Example: Second Life, the very first virtual world created in 2003, gave rise to a multimillion-dollar economy. People were paying other people to design digital clothes and digital houses for their digital avatars. Every time we add a new layer to the digital strata, were also adding an entire economy built upon that layer, meaning we are now conducting our business in multiple worlds at once.

(7)Transformation Economy:The Experience Economy was about the sharing of experiencesso Starbucks went from being a coffee franchise to a third place. That is, neither home nor work, but a third place in which to live your life. Buying a cup of coffee became an experience, a caffeinated theme park of sorts. The next iteration of this idea is the Transformation Economy, where youre not just paying for an experience, youre paying to have your life transformed by this experience.

Example: Early versions of this model can be seen in the rise of transformational festivals like Burning Man, or fitness companies like CrossFit, where the experience is generally bad (you work out in old warehouses), but the transformation is great (the person you become after three months of working out in those warehouses). Consumers are no longer searching for merely pleasurable experiencesthey are looking for challenges that transform.

What all this tells us is that business as usual is becoming business unusual. And for existing companies, as Harvards Clayton Christensen explained, this is no longer optional: Most [organizations] think the key to growth is developing new technologies and products. But often this is not so. To unlock the next wave of growth, companies must embed these innovations in a disruptive new business model.

And for those of us on the outside of these disruptive models, our experience will be better, cheaper, faster.

Bettermeaning new business models do what all business models dosolve problems for people in the real world better than anyone else.

Cheaperis obvious. With demonetization running rampant, customersand that means all of usare expecting more for less.

But the real shift is the final shift:faster. New business models are no longer forces for stability and security. To compete in todays accelerated climate, these models are designed for speed and agility.

Most importantly, none of this is in any danger of slowing down.

(1) A360 Executive Mastermind:If youre an exponentially and abundance-minded entrepreneur who would like coaching directly from me, consider joining my Abundance 360 Mastermind, a highly selective community of 360 CEOs and entrepreneurs who I coach for 3 days every January in Beverly Hills, Ca. Through A360, I provide my members with context and clarity about how converging exponential technologies will transform every industry. Im committed to running A360 for the course of an ongoing 25-year journey as a countdown to the Singularity.

If youd like to learn more and consider joining our 2021 membership, apply here.

(2) Abundance-Digital Online Community: Ive also created a Digital/Online community of bold, abundance-minded entrepreneurs called Abundance-Digital. Abundance-Digital is Singularity Universitys onramp for exponential entrepreneursthose who want to get involved and play at a higher level. Click here to learn more.

(Both A360 and Abundance-Digital are part of Singularity Universityyour participation opens you to a global community.)

This article originally appeared ondiamandis.com. Read theoriginal article here.

Image Credit: Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

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7 Business Models Reshaping How We Work, Live, and Create Value - Singularity Hub

Decoding the Brain Goes Global With the International Brain Initiative – Singularity Hub

Few times in history has mankind ever united to solve a single goal. Even the ultimate moonshot in historyputting a man on the moonwas driven by international competition rather than unification.

So its perhaps fitting that mankind is now uniting to understand the organ that fundamentally makes us human: our brain. First envisioned in 2016 through a series of discussions on the grand challenges in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, the International Brain Initiative (IBI) came out this week in a forward-looking paper in Neuron.

Rather than each country formulating their own brain projects independently, the project argues, its high time for the world to come together and share their findings, resources, and expertise across borders. By uniting efforts, the IBI can help shape the future of neuroscience research at a global scalefor promoting brain and mental health, for stimulating international collaboration, for ethical neuroscience practices, and for crafting future generations of scientists.

It takes a world to understand the brain, said Caroline Montojo of the Kavli Foundation, which offered support to the project. When we have the best brains and the best minds working together, sharing information and research that could benefit us all.

The initiative, at the time of writing, includes Japans Brain/Minds, Australian Brain Alliance, the EUs Human Brain Project (HBP), Canadian Brain Research Strategy, the US BRAIN Initiative (BRAINI), the Korea Brain Initiative, and the China Brain Project.

The IBI comes at a time when global research divisions are prominent. Established national projects, such as the BRAINI and the HBP, have notably different goals at the operational level. The BRAINI, for example, prominently champions developing new tools to study brain functions, whereas the HBPs ultimate goal is to recreate the function of a human brain inside machines.

Even within single countries, divisions in practical paths forward have been, mildly put, chaotic. Chinas Brain Project, announced officially in 2016 and kicked off two years later, was plagued by different opinions on focus: should it be on solving brain disorders, or understanding the neurobiology behind cognition, or focused on engineering problems that more intimately link human brains with AI?

Then theres the underlying political milieu, where certain countries are cracking down on international researchers for fear that they may be stealing or selling trade secrets. To all these divisions, the IBI took a stance and said noits time to work together.

The biggest challenge that were facing is to really understand how the brain works, the mystery of the brain, to crack the code, said Dr. Yves De Koninck of the Canadian Brain Research Strategy. If were going to make the really big leap changes in the level of understanding of how the brain works in health and disease, we need to have global collaboration, I mean thats just absolutely vital, added Dr. Linda Lanyon at the IBI Data Standards and Sharing Working Group.

The IBI is best viewed as a grassroots organization driven by the views of neuroscientists across the globe, rather than a bureaucratic entity following the views of a select few. In a way, the IBI organizes itself similar to the United Nations, with a five-year strategic plan, multiple working groups, and a governance structure.

Its clear that the IBI benefited from a global recognition, and subsequent establishment, of large-scale neuroscience projects to understand the brain. Yet any single initiative is like the blind men and the elephant parabledespite millions (or even billions) of dollars in investment, due to the brains complexity each can only probe a small part of human brain function.

However, even with different end goals, findings from each project will likely benefit each otherif properly shared in an easily-interpretable manner (the Kavli Foundation also backs a standardized format for neuroscience data called Neurodata Without Borders 2.0). Tools developed from BRAINI, for example, will likely benefit brain mapping initiatives around the world, and neural simulations can inspire insights into brain disorders or better paths towards brain-machine interfaces. A synergistic international effort could provide greater overall impact and better utilization of precious research funding, the authors argued.

Working across political aisles is already tough; now imagine sharing terabytes of data across international borders to someone you hardly know. The IBI aims to provide a platform that explores new models of collaboration among scientists so that, to put it bluntly, no one gets screwed out of their recognition. In addition, the IBI also works outside the ivory tower with private and public funding bodies, industry partners, and government-related agencies on the social, economic, and ethical impacts of neuroscientific discoveries and their translation.

Thats huge. The initiative comes at a time when technological advances are increasingly making it easier to skirt ethical considerations and move forward with iffy research projects. Making human-animal hybrid embryos to understand the roots of intelligence? Conducting brain stimulation trials that may slowly change a persons personality? Linking multiple human minds into computers by probing their brain waves? These futuristic projects abound and will only grow in number as our ability to crack the neural code improves.

The IBI argues that neuroscientists across the globe need to take a moral stancesimilar to emerging projects for ethical AIto guide research in an ethical manner. With several countries infamous for pushing moral boundaries also joining the alliance, the IBI may put an international leash on less-savory projects going forward, while respecting diverse cultural frameworks.

IBI group members stressed that the initiative isnt meant to be bureaucratic. Rather, its adaptive and allows the organization to be shaped by the scientific community over time, the authors said. Integrating multiple goals of various brain projects together, the IBI serves as meta-middleman to promote coordination, share resources, and help unite different ideas on the future of neuroscience.

This IBI is quite unique in trying to go from the very microscopic scale of the synapses that encode information within the brain, all the way up to how the information manifests itself in human cognition and animal behavior, said Dr. Linda Richards of the Australian Brain Alliance.

Despite being years in the making, the initiative is just crossing the starting line. With a solid infrastructure now in place and enthusiasm amassed, an immediate focus for the IBI is to establish and develop the core working groups that are making progress toward short-term deliverables, the authors said. The execution of a five-year plan to propel neuroscience research forward will need considerable debates on specific aims, approaches, and technologies, but will also add to a foundation for collaboration and priority-setting across the world, they added.

This is a new era of neuroscience, where neuroscientists will have access to large datasets and new ways of sharing in a collaborative manner internationally, said Richards.

Is IBIs vision nave? Maybe. The most impactful technological advancements of our ageflight, nuclear weapons, conquering space, the Internethave all stemmed from the minds of a relatively small group of people working under duress from other people. But when it comes to truly understanding the brain, the basis of who we are and what we believe, the root cause of divided opinions and worldviews, the organ that could one day be directly manipulated and fundamentally alter humanity as a speciesfighting for a global consortium is the least we can do.

Image Credit: adike/Shutterstock.com

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Decoding the Brain Goes Global With the International Brain Initiative - Singularity Hub

Time travel discovery: THIS is how you could move back and forward in time in a black hole – Express.co.uk

Space and time are intertwined, called space-time, and gravity has the ability to stretch space-time. Objects with a large mass will be able to stretch space-time to the point where our perception of it changes, known as time dilation. The more mass an object has, the more it stretches and slows down time.

For example, Sagittarius A* the gigantic black hole at the centre of the galaxy would almost be able to stretch time to a point where it almost comes to a complete standstill.

Sagittarius A* has a radius of 22 million kilometres and a mass of more than four million times that of the Sun.

In other words, it is very dense.

And because it is so heavy, it has the ability to completely stretch out space-time, and travelling towards its centre means time would almost come to a standstill for you.

However, if you were somehow able to travel back out of a black hole, you could theoretically reverse the arrow of time.

Jeff Koch, a former physics professor, wrote on Q&A site Quora: Time does lose its arrow in a black hole. You could move back and forth in time.

But there is a major stumbling block if you were trying top achieve this.

The gravitational pull of a black hole is so immense that not even light can escape its grasp, so once you are closing into the singularity, a one-dimensional point where gravity becomes infinite and space and time become curved, there is no turning back.

READ MORE:Black hole mystery: Could discovery be a massive neutron star?

Prof Koch continued: But you cant avoid the singularity, because you are always forced to move forward in the radial space direction towards the singularity. You can not stay in one place or move away from the singularity.

Getting to a black hole would also be a major stumbling block.

In fact, the nearest black hole to our planet is located 6,523 light-years away. One light-year is 5.88 trillion miles.

The farthest humans have been from Earth is 248,655 miles (400,171 km) in 1970 as part of NASAs Apollo 13 mission when the craft swung around the far side of the moon it took almost three days to get there.

DON'T MISSTHIS is where you will travel to if you fall into a black hole[INSIGHT]First photographed black hole producing jets near to speed of light[STUDY]Scientists stunned by monster black holes in dwarf galaxies[ANALYSIS]

There are a few ways in which a black hole can form.

Scientists believe the most common instance is when a star, thousands of times the size of the Sun, collapses in on itself when it dies - known as a supernova.

Another way is when a large amount of matter, which can be in the form of a gas cloud or a star collapses in on itself through its own gravitational pull.

Finally, the collision of two neutron stars can cause a black hole.

The gist of all three ways is that a massive amount of mass located in one spot can cause a black hole.

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Time travel discovery: THIS is how you could move back and forward in time in a black hole - Express.co.uk

This Marvelous Machine Splits Moon Dust Into Oxygen and Metal – Singularity Hub

Like the settlers of old, space explorers will live off the land. But if self-sufficiency on Earth is difficult, its orders of magnitude more challenging in space, where there are no trees to build shelter, no plants and animals to eat, no water to drink, and no breathable air.

Like The Martians Mark Watney, future space explorers will have to use a heavy dose of science-y resourcefulness to survive hostile environments on the moon and Mars. Luckily, also like Mark Watney, theyll have access to some of the brightest brains on the planet.

Some of those brains, currently working at the European Space Agency, are making a machine that transmutes moon dust into oxygento breathe and make rocket fuel withand metal for building.

Truly, the surface of the moon is a barren wasteland. Its like being exposed to the vacuum of deep space with the modest benefit of a little ground under your feet and dust on your boots.

Its this dust, fine, grey, and bone dry, that may prove to be an invaluable resource for lunar homesteaders. Known as lunar regolith, moon dust is 40-45 percent oxygen by weight. Bound up in mineral and glass oxides, oxygen is the most abundant element on the moons surface.

Oxygen is also, obviously, necessary for breathable air, and its a key ingredient in rocket fuelbut you cant breathe or fuel ships with moon dust. Which is where ESA comes in.

The ESA team, led by University of Glasgow PhD candidate and ESA researcher Beth Lomax and ESA research fellow Alexandre Meurisse, is adapting an industrial method developed by UK company, Metalysis.

Called molten salt heat electrolysis, the process involves heating up a basket of simulated moon dustwhich is a close approximation to the real thingand calcium chloride salt to 950 degrees Celsius. The researchers then split off the oxygen with an electric current, leaving behind a pile of metal alloys.

The process can separate 95 percent of the oxygen in 50 hours, but in a pinch, 75 percent can be extracted in just the first 15 hours.

The team unveiled a proof-of-concept last October, which they said was a significant improvement on other similar processes that produce less oxygen or require far higher temperatures. And theres room for improvement. To that end, the team announced last week theyre setting up a new oxygen plant in the Netherlands to further refine things.

A key goal is to reduce the temperature. The higher the temperature, the more energy you need. And energy will be in finite supply on the moon. The team doesnt have a target temperature in mind, Meurisse told Singularity Hub in an email, but they believe they can do better. How much better depends on how lower temperatures affect other aspects of the process (like efficiency).

In addition to oxygen bound up in lunar dust, we know the moon has water. Though the details are still somewhat shrouded in mystery, scientists believe the moons water takes the form of ice in permanently shadowed areas at the poles.

Well need water to drink, of course, but we can also separate it into its elemental components, hydrogen and oxygen, by electrolysis. Provided we can get to the moons ice, how does the ESA processs energy requirements stack up to the electrolysis of water?

Meurisse said the two resources will likely have different trade-offs to consider (though we may well need need both to support a sustainable presence on the moon).

Because ESAs process involves high temperatures, its very energy intensive compared to water electrolysis which can be done at room temperature. But moon dust covers the entire surface as far as the eye can see. Grab a shovel and bag some up. The moons ice, on the other hand, will be rarer and much more difficult to mine, and we arent sure of its composition or what kind of processing itll require to make it usable.

Theres also something else to considerthat pile of metal left over once the oxygen has been pulled off and siphoned away. This metal may prove to be a reliable building material, something the ESA team will also look into exploiting in the coming years.

Could [the metals] be 3D printed directly, for example, or would they require refining? Meurisse asked. The precise combination of metals will depend on where on the Moon the regolith is acquired fromthere would be significant regional differences.

Next, the team will build a pilot plant that could operate on the moon (but wont be sent there yet) by the mid-2020s.

In the longer term, if the technology proves scalable and space-worthy, it could help make the moon into a gas station for spacecraft in Earth orbit and beyond. Manufacturing fuel on the lunar surface may prove more cost-efficient than dragging it up from Earth. Ultimately, explorers may use moon dust to breathe, build, and fuel missions across the solar system.

Image Credit: NASA

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Captain Marvel Faces the ONE Avenger Who Can Stop Her Rampage – CBR – Comic Book Resources

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Captain Marvel #14, by Kelly Thompson, Lee Garbett, Tamra Bonvillain and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.

Vox Supreme, the powerful mutated Kree who nearly destroyed the Inhumans, is using Captain Marvel to kill her fellow Avengers in a bid to get their genetic material. Threatening the lives of innocents all around the world with a series of hidden bombs, the villain has forced Carol intoa new costume through which he can monitor her actions to ensure her compliance. However, Captain Marvel hasproven tricky so far, hiding Thor and Tony Stark/Iron Man inside Singularity's pocket dimension and substituting clones for her comrades to buy time as she figures out how to diffuse Vox Supreme's bombs.

As she continues her quest in Captain Marvel#14,Carol comes face to face with an Avenger she might not be able to match: Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk.

RELATED:X-Men: Whats In Marvels Next Wave of Mutant Comics

After explaining the situation to Thor and Tony in Singularity, Carol reports back to Vox Supreme, who threatens to kill more innocents if she doesn't work faster. The villain suspects Captain Marvel is attempting to undermine his operation due to the time she's spent in Singularity, where he's unable to monitor her. Ultimately, though, he decides he's still getting what he wants. His plans for the clones isn't entirely clear, but their genetic material is indeed furthering some nefarious goal.

Captain Marvel proceeds to pursue her next target: Avengers chairman T'Challa/Black Panther. Heading to find Black Panther just outside of Palo Alto,the Wakandan hero gets the jump on Carol, blasting her out of the sky. However, since he doesn't know his attacker is Captain Marvel due to her new suit, he's caught off guard by her immense powers and is knocked out.

That's when She-Hulk arrives.

RELATED: Marvel's She-Hulk Show Reportedly Starts Filming This Summer

Created by Stan Lee and John Buscema, Walters first appeared in 1980's Savage She-Hulk #1. She got her powers after receiving a blood transfusion from Bruce Banner/Hulk, her cousin. Although she's not as powerful as her unstoppable cousin in most conditions, She-Hulk is still incredibly formidable and retains more of her personality and sense. Currently, she's a member of the main Avengers team and has proven herself an absolute powerhouse in their battles.

When She-Hulk comes on the scene inCaptain Marvel#14, she hits Carol with a massive punch that sends her flying. Captain Marvel immediately admits that she wasn't expecting to take on She-Hulk.

With the clock ticking before Vox Supreme kills more innocents, Captain Marvel will now have to fight She-Hulk and subdue her long enough to get both her and Black Panther into Singularity. Jennifer Walters is definitely someone you don't want to fight without a plan, but Captain Marvel's anonymity may give her a major advantage. However, even if she does succeed, Carol is only making Vox Supreme stronger and furthering his malicious plans by bringing him Avengers clones. So unless she can figure out a solution soon, she'll have even bigger problems than a Hulk.

Captain Marvel #15 releases Feb. 19 from Marvel Comics.

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Captain Marvel Dies Recreating One of Her Finest Moments of the '90s

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