Category Archives: Cryptocurrency

One-third of investors will not put their money into cryptocurrency because they feel theymissed the boat, according toresearch.

The new report, called The Great Cryptocurrency, polled 2,000 UK savers about their investment plans for 2021and found30 per cent will not invest in cryptocurrency due to feeling it is a missed opportunity.

Despite this, the six-page report published by think tank Parliament Streetfound 31 per cent of investors admittedthey expected the price of bitcoin to hit a valuation of 50,000 this year.

Over the weekend the value of bitcoin surged past $60,000 - or just over 43,000 - for the first time.

But the reluctance to plough savings into cryptocurrency was echoed by chartered financial planner Alan Chan.

The director for London-based IFS Wealth & Pensions, said: As far as our clients are concerned, Id say 99 per cent of them are not interested in cryptocurrency because they understand that they are not an investment and they are akin to gambling.

"You can see that from the extreme volatilities that you can literally lose everything you put into it. They have no intrinsic value and pay no interest or dividends.

"If investors want a flutter with a small part of their portfolio and are willing to accept the risk of losing it all then thats fine, but to put all your assets into bitcoin or whatever the latest coin is would be completely reckless. Investing with hindsight is a fools game.

"Our clients prefer traditional assets, like equities and bonds, which have over a 100-year track record of delivering returns over a number of different market conditions and cycles."

The survey revealed 55 per cent of respondents revealedthey have no plans at all to invest in cryptocurrency this year.

Additionally, 52 per cent admitted that they are still more likely to invest money into traditional assets such as gold, stocks or shares, than into cryptocurrency.

Stephen Kelso, cryptocurrency expert and head of capital markets at ITI Capital, said: Many traditional investors are still cautious of cryptocurrencys volatility and have been cautious about adding it to their investment portfolios.

"The nomenclature cryptocurrency has deterred many who have perceived it to be anti-establishment rather than as the increasingly relevant store of value against the rapidly accelerating debasement of fiat currencies."

According to the data, 37 per cent of investors felttraditional assets, such as stocks and shares, were too risky at the momentdue to the economic downturn caused by Covid-19.

As a result, cryptocurrency, and especially bitcoin, have appeared to become an increasingly legitimate option as an investment asset, with 29 per cent revealing that they would never have considered investing in cryptocurrency before the most recent bitcoin bull run, but they are now.

Bitcoin has also been buoyed by other external events, such as Elon Musk and Teslas endorsement of the digital currency which saw its value surge.

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Investors feel they 'missed the boat' on cryptocurrency - FT Adviser

QINGDAO, China, March 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SOS Limited (NYSE:SOS) (the "Company" or "SOS") announced todaythat it has successfully installed its second fleet of 5,000 cryptocurrency mining rigs. Together with its prior fleet of 5,000 mining rigs, the Company expects the combined fleet to have the capacity to calculate an average of 353 Peta-Hashes per second (PH/s) for mining Bitcoin and 707 Giga-Hashes per second (GH/s) for mining Ether (ETH). These hash rates are subject to numerous factors, including down time for maintenance, reconfiguration and other variable factors that may materially impact computing performance in the future.

The Company also announced that on February 24, 2021, it was awarded its first Bitcoin from successful mining activities. SOS Chairman Yandai Wang commented, "This is a significant milestone for our Company. To memorialize this event, SOS is creating a commemorative gold coin that will serve as a tangible representation of our first mined Bitcoin. We anticipate that this will be the first of many future mining successes, as we continue to execute our cryptocurrency mining strategy."

The Company's board of directors also commissioned an independent review of the Company's cryptocurrency mining activities. As part of the review, payments from multiple mining pools were traced to SOS through the public Bitcoin and ETH blockchain ledgers. The review also validated SOS's control over certain electronic wallets and that the rate of Bitcoin and ETH payouts received in those wallets was generally consistent with the expected productivity of the Company's deployed fleet based on its hash rate capacity.

The Company expects to generate at least 41 Bitcoins and 909 ETH in the first quarter of 2021, based on various assumptions relating to down time for its fleet, worldwide hash power and other operating conditions. SOS Chief Financial Officer Steven Li elaborated, "These expected mining results reflect only a partial quarter of operations, since our current fleet of mining rigs was only recently installed during the first quarter. Our output should grow in future quarters as we receive and install our third batch of mining rigs and have a full quarter of operations for our current rigs."

These mining results do not include any financial results for the Company and do not address the Company's other, non-mining operations, such as the Company's marketing data, technology and solutions for emergency rescue services. United States generally accepted accounting principles for cryptocurrency mining are complex, emerging and uncertain. Cryptocurrencies may not be recognized as cash or cash equivalents, and mining activities may not qualify for revenue recognition. Cryptocurrencies have no inherent value, are not legal tender recognized by any governmental entity, and might not be able to be converted into fiat currencies. Investors are advised not to place undue reliance on mining results alone, without considering other financial and non-financial metrics.

About SOS Limited

SOS is a high-technology company providing a wide range of services to its corporate and individual members, including marketing data, technology and solutions for emergency rescue services. Recently, SOS began rolling out its cryptocurrency mining business and plans to develop insurance and security management solutions for digital assets and cryptocurrencies. SOS transforms digital technology into data-driven operations through research and development of big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things, blockchain and artificial intelligence. The Company created an SOS cloud emergency rescue software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform with three major product categories: basic cloud (medical rescue card, car rescue card, financial rescue card, mutual assistance rescue card), cooperative cloud (information rescue center, intelligent big data, intelligent software and hardware), and information cloud (News Today, E-Commerce Today). The Company's corporate clients include insurance companies, financial institutions, medical institutions, healthcare providers, auto manufacturers, security providers, senior living assistance providers and other service providers in the emergency rescue services industry. For more information, please visit: http://www.sosyun.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including, but not limited to, our expectations for future financial performance, business strategies or expectations for our business. These statements constitute projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements, and are not guarantees of performance. SOS cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Words such as "may," "can," "should," "will," "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "target," "look" or similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements. Specifically, forward-looking statements may include statements relating to the Company's:

These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release and our management's current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

These risks and uncertainties include, but not are limited to, the risk factors described by SOS in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). These risk factors and those identified elsewhere in this press release, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from historical performance and include, but are not limited to:

Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in deciding whether to invest in our securities. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

SOURCE SOS Limited

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SOS Installs Second Batch of 5,000 Cryptocurrency Miners and Gives First Quarter Mining Projections - PRNewswire

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Inflows into cryptocurrency funds and products have already hit a record $4.2 billion for the first quarter, reflecting growing institutional investor interest, CoinShares data showed.

FILE PHOTO: A representation of virtual currency Bitcoin is seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration taken March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

The previous high for crypto inflows was $3.9 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, driving total inflows for 2020 to $6.7 billion, the asset managers data shows.

Bitcoin, the worlds largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, has had the most inflows so far this year with $3.3 billion, while ethereum was second with $731 million.

Bitcoin hit a record high of $61,781.83 on Saturday, but has fallen since then as investors consolidated gains and amid plans by India to ban cryptocurrencies.

As bitcoin moves into the mainstream and captures greater attention, it will likely draw further scrutiny from regulators in the United States and Asia, Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com, said.

On Tuesday, the virtual currency was at $55,415.

The potential for more scrutiny and tighter regulation remains the biggest headwind for bitcoin, Cohen added.

Crypto assets under management have also surged to a peak of $55.8 billion, CoinShares data showed. Last year, AUM for the sector reached $37.6 billion. Five digital asset investment providers now oversees assets of more than $5 billion.

Grayscale is still the largest digital currency manager, with $43.73 billion in assets, while CoinShares, the second biggest, oversees nearly $5 billion in assets.

CoinShares analysis further showed investors continue to choose investment providers that simply track the price of digital assets, so-called passive funds, over those that have active management strategies.

Passive funds have AUM of $54.1 billion, compared with $786 million for those with active strategies.

Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Alexander Smith

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Cryptocurrency inflows hit record high of $4.2 billion, CoinShares says - Reuters

Cheddar is partnering with StackCommerce to bring you the Cheddar Shop. This article doesnt constitute editorial endorsement, and we earn a portion of all sales.

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Prices subject to change.

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Learn to trade cryptocurrency using algorithms with this quantitative training bootcamp - Cheddar

The online cryptocurrency and stock brokerage platform Etoro has announced the company is going public via a deal with a special purpose acquisition company called Fintech Acquisition Corp V. The Etoro merger is a $10.4 billion deal, backed by the banking entrepreneur and Fintech Acquisition Corp V chair Betsy Cohen.

The popular cryptocurrency trading platform and stock brokerage service, Etoro, has plans to go public with a $10.4 billion merger. The merger was invoked by a firm called Fintech Acquisition Corp V, and investments also stem from the Japanese company Softbank and the finance managers Vision Fund 2.

The deal is a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) as it leverages the proceeds from an initial public offering (IPO) to take private firms to the public venue.

In addition to the merger with Fintech Acquisition Corp V, an acquisition business, the firms Fidelity Management & Research, and Wellington Management also added a $650 million common share private placement.

The recent announcement from Etoro, follows Coinbases attempt to go public this year and Krakens CEO Jesse Powell also disclosed his exchange is considering an initial public offering next year. The mining firm Northern Data AG is reportedly planning to go public as well with an estimated $500 Million IPO.

Because Etoro offers a stock brokerage service combined with options to trade cryptocurrencies, the firm is a competitor of Robinhood.

The online trading platform Robinhood has already held an IPO and more recently, the firm reportedly had to raise funds over the Wall Street Bets fiasco. On January 29, 2021, New York Times reporters detailed that Robinhood had to draw a line of credit from six banks.

Since 2007, Etoro has gathered roughly 20 million registered users who invest in digital currencies, stocks, and other traditional markets. According to Reuters, after the Etoro announcement Fintech Acquisition Corp Vs shares jumped more than 15% before the bell.

Additionally, Betsy Cohen is a well known businesswoman that has been known for participating in SPAC investments.

What do you think about Etoro announcing the company will go public via a merger worth over $10 billion. Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Cryptocurrency and Stock Trading Platform Etoro Aims to Go Public Through a $10.4 Billion SPAC Deal Finance Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

An artwork by Beeple which exists only as a digital file and was sold as a nonfungible token for a staggering $69.3 million at an online auction handled by Christies on Thursday was bought by an investor known only by a pseudonym and who paid for it with cryptocurrency, the auction house said Friday.

I feel like I got a steal, said the buyer, who goes by the pseudonym Metakovan, in a Google Meet interview (without video) that was arranged by Christies.

Metakovan, the founder of the Metapurse, a fund that collects nonfungible tokens or NFTs, said he would be paying for the work and Christies fees in Ether, a cryptocurrency. As we speak, Im sending the last transaction, he said.

The work he bought, Everydays The First 5000 Days, is a collage of all the images that the digital artist Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, has posted online since 2007. The image had been specially created, or minted, by the artist for Christies timed one-lot online auction as an NFT. Such digital collectibles have no physical existence, but are given proof of ownership and authenticity using blockchain technology. Everydays, a JPG, was the first digital-only NFT auctioned by Christies.

For the sale of the NFT, whose value had been far from clear at the outset, Christies had offered to accept payment in Ether for the first time, a move that some saw as bolstering the currencys legitimacy. But the auction house has so far not announced a willingness to accept cryptocurrencies for the more traditional artworks it sells.

With bids that had started at just $100, the two-week timed auction was extended by some 90 seconds as a deluge of last moment bids pushed the price up to the equivalent of $69.3 million, and Metakovan, whose real name was not given, was the successful bidder, according to Christies. The result made Beeple, who is little known in the mainstream art world, the third most expensive living artist at auction, after David Hockney and Jeff Koons.

I was quite anxious at the end, said Metakovan, who had only previously bid at one Christies auction, recalling the final frenzy of online bids during the 90 seconds of extra time at the Beeple sale. But Im used to bidding at crypto auctions, said Metakovan. I dont know how I would have performed if it had been a live sale.

The underbidder, Justin Sun, the owner of the software company BitTorrent, said earlier on Twitter that he was outbid by another buyer in the last 20 secs by $250k.

Metakovan said that his funds collection, founded in 2016, had never sold an acquisition and was acquiring a wide variety of NFTs.

We see NFTs as a larger space; there are so many different kinds, said Metakovan, who started his collection in 2016 by buying land in virtual worlds. In 2019, he paid about $111,000 in an auction for 1-1-1, the first digital car for the blockchain game F1 Delta Time. It was the highest priced NFT sold that year.

Last December, Metakovans collection also acquired a complete collection of 20 Beeple NFT works at the specialist Nifty Gateway online marketplace.

But paying the equivalent of $69.3 million (which converted to 42,329.453 Ether) for a Beeple, for a work of art that doesnt physically exist? He said he felt it was a good deal. This still has a long way to go, said Metakovan.

Continue reading here:
The $69 Million Beeple NFT Was Bought With Cryptocurrency - The New York Times

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) The owners of Latin American-Southern fusion restaurant Soul Taco in Richmond have opened up a new pop-up dining concept called JewFro, blending their Jewish and African roots.

Co-owners Ari Augenbaum, Narine Hovnanian and Trey Owens were also behind the holiday pop-up Jingle Belle, which served holiday-inspired food and drinks at the site of the former Belle eatery and bar from Halloween until New Years Day. JewFro has taken over the same space and is scheduled to be there until March 28.

Literally from when Jingle Belle closed until JewFro opened [] was just all research and product development, Owens said. We had to kind of start immediately because the corned beef and some different things have to brine and have to sit.

After the success of Jingle Belle and the feedback from the community, Owens knew he wanted to offer another pop-up experience to the City of Richmond. Pulling from his own culture and that of his business partners, JewFro was born as a way to both educate and entertain people through food.

Its ed-ertainment, Owens said. Were committed to the craft and committed to the whole idea of it, so were going to do it and do it right.

For Owens and Augenbaum, that meant sticking to authentic recipes, even as they combined their cultures.

Theres a lot of similarities, a lot of things that really pair well together, Owens said. On the menu, youll find lots of traditional dishes from different regions.

The menu was inspired by dishes from all over Africa, including Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana and Nigeria, as wells as the the Middle East and Europe to incorporate Augenbaums Jewish heritage. Almost everything is made from scratch, and much of the ingredients on the menu are locally sourced.

Its so many different iterations and so many different things just all coming together, Owens said. For me, it made it worth it, even before JewFro opened, when my chefs were looking through at all the different recipes.

With the team at JewFros commitment to authenticity, there may be dishes on the menu that many restaurant patrons are seeing for the first time. But theres a tool to help.

On the menu, literally on the back of it, we have a glossary of all of the different terms that are in there that people might not be familiar with, Owens said.

At JewFro, Jewish and African cultures intersect not only in the food, but also through the dcor. Owens said he was inspired by the Civil Rights movement in the Middle East, which, in 1971, saw the rise of the Israeli Black Panther Party. Founded in 1966 in California, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was originally formed to patrol Black neighborhoods to protect residents from acts of police brutality. The name was later changed to the Black Panther Party as the groups ideals evolved.

During the 1970s, the Black Panthers were an Israeli protest movement of second-generation Jewish immigrants from North Africa and Middle Eastern countries, working for social justice for Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews.

Owens said he was wanted to bring that intersection of African and Jewish culture into JewFro, so he thought of 70s culture.

The 70s were a time where I mean, I wasnt alive, but I wish I was but, from what I see, its the free love society, everybodys being groovy, he said. I wanted to bring that in.

Those who visit JewFro will see disco balls, flowers and metallic streamers bringing the space to life.

Its really us just trying to stick into the community and trying to find what kind of new and innovative things that we can bring them that they can appreciate and, in turn, us connect with them and go from there, Owens said.

In fact, Owens said that JewFro is hoping to stick around a bit longer.

Officially, JewFro will be open until the end of March, he said. We are looking to keep it going. If there is a local restauranteur in the City that [] wouldnt mind sharing their space, wed love to move the concept there.

Owens said that much of the drive to keep a pop-up concept running is to be able to continue to work with Phil Zimmer, who either oversees or makes everything that patrons tasted at Jingle Belle and now have a chance to try at JewFro.

I just cant let him go, Owens said. He is two years clean and he is an amazing public speaker, and he has been instrumental in bringing people on the team that are also in that struggle to stay sober.

While Owens said that finding people to hire for the pop-up has been a challenging, it has also been rewarding because the people who have been brought on to the JewFro team make it clear that they want to work. If not through JewFro, Owens said that he hopes to keep them employed through another pop-up in the works.

#EXCLUSIVE @8NEWS: Soul Taco is planning a futuristic-themed pop-up concept later this year that will accept cryptocurrency, making it the first restaurant in #RVA to do so. Current pop-up JewFro will be open at the former Belle location on Main St. through the end of March. pic.twitter.com/cVIfUP3HbB

We will be doing another pop-up coming very soon, he said. That is going to be a futuristic concept, and we will be accepting cryptocurrency. Well be the first restaurant in the City to do so.

The details of this next pop-up are still being finalized, but Owens said that it will likely be run out of Soul Taco, which will then continue to accept cryptocurrency after the pop-up closes.

The team at Soul Taco is also looking to make its first move across state lines, eyeing a new location in Baltimore, Md.

Originally posted here:
Soul Taco owners open JewFro dining concept, with plans for another pop-up accepting cryptocurrency in the works - 8News

Big firms and individual traders are makinghuge gains in the cryptocurrency marketevery day. These profitsand the technology behind themseem like magic to those of us still wrapping our heads aroundBitcoinand other virtual currencies, which have quickly moved from the underground to the Wall Street big leagues.

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A stunning price rally that has caused cryptocurrency Cardano (ADA) to explode almost 600% over the past three months is causing many in the industry to scratch their heads and wonder whats behind it.

Billionaire Michael Novogratz, the current chief executive of Galaxy Investment Partners, took to Twitter last week to find out why ADA, which was trading as low as $0.12 in December, is now trading at around $1.02.

Last question before I go shower, can anyone make a real bull case for $ADA? Does anyone build on it? Use it? Why is market cap so high? Should it be a funding asset? Its one of the few cryptos I havent traded in my life, Novogratz asks on Twitter.

At one point in the last three months, the market cap (the total value of all coins in issue) of ADA had risen so much that it was briefly the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, lagging only behind bitcoin and Ethereum. Cardano currently boasts a total market value of close to $34bn, making it the fifth-largest cryptocurrency on that measure, shows data by CoinMarket Cap.

Cardano (ADA) was released in 2015 and has spent most of its time since ranked within the top ten cryptocurrencies by market value. The coin runs on Cardanos own blockchain network.

Touted as the next big thing after Ethereum, the Cardano blockchain can be used to build smart contracts, protocols and decentralised applications. It was co-founded by mathematician Charles Hoskinson and by former Ethereum co-worker Jeremy Wood, to build a more scalable and secure blockchain network, two things Hoskinson believes Ethereum will find difficult to fully achieve.

Cardanos platform is made up of two layers: the Cardano settlement layer (CSL) and the control layer. The former acts as a unit of account and allows token holders to send and receive ADA immediately at very low transaction costs.The latter is a set of protocols that have many functions, including running smart contracts, ensuring security, and facilitating identity recognition.

Novogratz is not the only one casting doubts on why ADA has risen so much. I am not aware of a single popular application deployed on Cardano, nor have I seen any enthusiasm for the platform among developers, says Nic Carter, co-founder of research company Coin Metrics. I am truly mystified as to why it is enjoying a resurgence in popularity.

Uncertainty about the drivers behind Cardanos rise has not deterred retail investors from taking a punt on the cryptocurrency. Cardano has garnered a loyal audience on Reddit, the same forum that was behind a rally in several meme stocks at the start of the year, including GameStop, which has risen by just under 1,300% since the start of the year alone.

Cardano prices have been rising as Ethereum is considered too costly for developers, Hoskinson argued in a recent interview with Bloomberg. He predicts that Cardanos blockchain will eventually surpass that of Ethereum.

According to Hoskinson, Cardano differs from Ethereum in a number of important ways. Firstly, in the way that all the nodes in the network agree on how transactions (blocks) are added to the blockchain. There are two main methods: proof of work (PoW) and proof of stake (PoS).

Proof of work is currently the most popular method and the one used by Bitcoin. It relies on miners to solve a difficult mathematical puzzle and share the proof before blocks can be added. The downside is that PoW uses a great deal of energy because it takes so much work.

Proof of stake, on the other hand, allows owners of the blockchains crypto-tokens to stake some of their cryptocurrency. Miners are then selected from those with a stake to add blocks to the chain. Holders can allocate their coins to pools and earn a cut from the transaction fees generated when they are confirmed and added to the blockchain.

Cardano already uses proof of stake. Ethereum, meanwhile, is in the early stages of moving to PoS from PoW.

Secondly, Cardanos price growth may also have to do with the fact that the blockchain has a number of uses. It acts as cash in the way that bitcoin does; however it also holds voting rights. Usually, miners are the ones who vote to make changes to a blockchains protocol. But holders of Cardano coins can vote to make these changes, giving them a greater role in determining the future development of the cryptocurrency.

In all, Cardanos remarkable rise could be due to promises that it will eventually surpass Ethereum in its usefulness more than 100 companies are in the process of transitioning away from Ethereum to Cardano, claims Hoskinson.

In particular, earlier this month, Cardano went through its much anticipated Mary update which paved the way for users to be able to create unique tokens, including non-fungible-tokens (NFTs). These are digital files which represent ownership of a certain asset, and have also become the latest crypto craze. That factor might explain the renewed interest in Cardano better than anything else.

That said, for all that the network went through the Mary update, there are concerns developers are yet to embrace it, as Crispus Nyaga, investment analyst at Investing Cube puts it. So from that point of view, Cardano probably has a long way to go before it surpasses Ethereum.

And of course, while Cardano has undoubtedly exploded in value in recent months, this is not that unusual in the context of cryptocurrencies. Its always worth remembering that big winners already this year including Elon Musks favourite, Dogecoin (up more than 1,100% since the start of the year), which is quite literally a coin created to satirise the craze for crypto. So maybe theres nothing more to it than Cardano being the latest coin to hitch a ride on the current mania.

Dominic Frisby has put together a downloadable Beginners Guide to Bitcoin for MoneyWeek subscribers, which includes a bonus section on other cryptocurrencies. If youre not already a subscriber,sign up now to get the report plus your first six issues free.

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Whats behind the meteoric rise in obscure cryptocurrency Cardano? - MoneyWeek

TipRanks

Its time to check in with the macro picture, to get an idea of just where markets are headed in the coming months. Thats what a JPMorgan global research team, headed up by Joyce Chang, has been doing. The JPM team starts by noting the sell-off in US Treasury bonds last week, pushing up yields as investors acted in response to inflationary fears. However, the rise in bond yields steadied on Friday, and Changs team does not believe that inflation is the great bugaboo its made out to be; her team sees a combination of economic growth and fiscal stimulus creating a virtuous circle of consumer spending fueling more growth. They write, Our global economics team is now forecasting US nominal GDP to average roughly 7% growth over this year and next as targeted measures have been successful in addressing COVID-19 and economic activity is not being jeopardized. Global growth will exceed 5%... What this means, in JPMs view, is that the coming year should be good for stocks. Interest rates are likely to remain low, in the firms estimation, while inflation should moderate as the economy returns to normal. JPMs stock analysts have been following the strategy team, and seeking out the stocks they see as winners over the next 12 months. Three of their recent picks make for an interesting lot, with Strong Buy ratings from the analyst community and over 50% upside potential. Weve used the TipRanks database to pull the details on them. Lets take a look. On24 (ONTF) The first JPM pick were looking at here is On24, the online streaming service that offers third parties access for scaled and personalized networked events. In other words, On24 makes its streaming service available for other companies to use in setting up interactive features, including webinars, virtual events, and multi-media experiences. The San Francisco-based company boasts a base of more than 1900 corporate users. On24s customers engage online with more than 4 million professionals every month, for more than 42 million hours every year. As can be imagined, On24 saw a surge of customer interest and business in the past year, as virtual offices and telecommuting situations expanded and the company has now used that as a base for going public. On24 held its IPO last month, and entered the NYSE on February 3. The opening was a success; 8.56 million shares were put on the market at $77 each, well above the $50 initial pricing. However, shares have taken a beating since, and have dropped by 36%. Nevertheless, JPMs Sterling Auty thinks the company is well-placed to capitalize on current trends. The COVID-19 pandemic, we believe, has changed the face of B2B marketing and sales forever. It has forced companies to move most of their sales lead generation into the digital world where On24 is typically viewed as the best webinar/webcast provider. the 5-star analyst wrote. Even post-pandemic we expect the marketing motion to be hybrid with digital and in-person being equally important. That should drive further adoption of On24-like solutions, and we expect On24 to capture a material share of that opportunity. In line with these upbeat comments, Auty initiated coverage of the stock with an Overweight (i.e., Buy) rating, and his $85 price target suggests it has room for 73% upside over the next 12 months. (To watch Autys track record, click here.) Sometimes, a company is just so solid and successful that Wall Streets analysts line up right behind it and that is the case here. The Strong Buy analyst consensus rating is unanimous, based on 8 Buy-side reviews published since the stock went public just over a month ago. The shares are currently trading for $49.25 and their $74 average price target implies an upside of 50% from that level. (See On24s stock analysis at TipRanks.) Plug Power, Inc. (PLUG) And moving over to the reusable energy sector, well take a look at a JPM green power pick. Plug Power designs and manufactures hydrogen power cells, a technology with a great deal of potential as a possible replacement for traditional batteries. Hydrogen power cells have potential applications in the automotive sector, as power packs for alt-fuel cars, but also in just about any application that involves the storage of energy home heating, portable electronics, and backup power systems, to name just a few. Over the past year, PLUG shares have seen a tremendous surge, rising over 800%. The stock got an additional boost after Joe Bidens presidential election win and his platform promises to encourage Green Energy. But the stock has pulled back sharply recently, as many over-extended growth names have. Poor 4Q20 results also help explain the recent selloff. Plug reported a deep loss of $1.12 per share, far worse than the 8-cent loss expected, or the 7-cent loss reported in the year-ago quarter. In fact, PLUG has never actually reported positive earnings. This company is supported by the quality of its technology and that techs potential for adoption as industry moves toward renewable energy sources but we arent there yet, despite strides in that direction. The share price retreat makes PLUG an attractive proposition, according to JPM analyst Paul Coster. In the context of the firm's many long-term growth opportunities, we believe the stock is attractively priced at present, ahead of potential positive catalysts, which include additional pedestal customer wins, partnerships and JVs that enable the company to enter new geographies and end-market applications quickly and with modest capital commitment, the analyst said. At present, PLUG is a story stock, appealing to thematic investors as well as generalists seeking exposure to Renewable Energy growth, and Hydrogen in particular. Costers optimistic comments come with an upgrade to PLUGs rating - from a Neutral (i.e., Hold) to Overweight (Buy) - and a $65 price target that indicates a possible 55% upside. (To watch Costers track record, click here.) Plug Power has plenty of support amongst Costers colleagues, too. 13 recent analyst reviews break down to 11 Buys and 1 Hold and Sell, each, all aggregating to a Strong Buy consensus rating. PLUG shares sell for $39.3 and have an average price target of $62.85, which suggests a 60% one-year upside potential. (See Plugs stock analysis at TipRanks.) Orchard Therapeutics, PLC (ORTX) The last JPM stock pick well look at is Orchard Therapeutics, a biopharma research company focused on the development of gene therapies for the treatment of rare diseases. The companys goal is to create curative treatments from the genetic modification of blood stem cells treatments which can reverse the causative factors of the target disease with a single dosing. The companys pipeline features two drug candidates that have received approval in the EU. The first, OTL-200, is a treatment for Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), a serious metabolic disease leading to losses of sensory, motor, and cognitive functioning. Strimvelis, the second approved drug, is a gammaretroviral vector-based gene therapy, and the first such ex vivo autologous gene therapy to receive approve by the European Medicines Agency. It is a treatment for adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA-SCID), when the patient has no available related stem cell donor. In addition to these two EU-approved drugs, Orchard has ten other drug candidates in various stages of the pipeline process, from pre-clinical research to early-phase trials. Anupam Rama, another of JPMs 5-star analysts, took a deep dive into Orchard and was impressed with what he saw. In his coverage of the stock, he notes several key points: Maturing data across various indications in rare genetic diseases continues to de-risk the broader ex vivo autologous gene therapy platform from both an efficacy / safety perspective Key opportunities in MLD (including OTL-200 and other drug candidates) have sales potential each in the ~$200-400M range Importantly, the overall benefit/risk profile of Orchards approach is viewed favorably in the eyes of physicians. At current levels, we believe ORTX shares under-reflect the risk-adjusted potential of the pipeline... The high sales potential here leads Rama to rate the stock as Outperform (Buy) and to set a $15 price target, implying a robust 122% upside potential in the next 12 months. (To watch Ramas track record, click here.) Wall Street generally is in clear agreement with JPM on this one, too. ORTX shares have 6 Buy reviews, for a unanimous Strong Buy analyst consensus rating, and the $15.17 average price target suggests a 124% upside from the current $6.76 trading price. (See Orchards stock analysis at TipRanks.) Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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